Private Tales Steppebound

[Ispir Sione]

Ispir would wince a bit as she yanked her arm free, frowning softly up at Ria, and the people would begin to murmur more harshly as the old man leaned on the staff and commented dryly.

"Seems the flame of battle still burns in your belly. You'll need more control of that to face the trials of the shrine."

A grey-blue eye would squint at her from under impressive wrinkles. Wisdom, even for a human's lifespan, shone dimly there and he would grunt softly. An old grey tongue would lick dried lips and he would sigh.

"Somethin' tells me you'll struggle with them mightily. Even as great a warrior you are. Your little friend is more the mind it would prefer...."

Jabbing his staff in Ispir's direction the short bard would blink, place a hand against his chest, and silently mouth "ME!?" before the old man continued speaking.

".... but ye've done us a kindness. Hardened soul that ya are. I think you'll allow me to give ya the first question now....."

The old man lowered the staff and the crowd went quiet. Ispir would give a bewildered look but nod, a bit numbly, before looking up at Vyx'aria as the old man met her gaze and asked.

".... If you were me and you were asked to give your greatest secret to a pair o' livin' shadow and light.... would ya?"

Vyx'aria​

 

[Vyx'aria]

"Seems the flame of battle still burns in your belly. You'll need more control of that to face the trials of the shrine."
​

Vyx’aria stared at the old man without expression.

Fire in her belly.

The phrase earned nothing more than a faint tightening at the corner of her mouth. If refusing to preen before a cheering crowd was what passed for fury on the surface, then their standards were as thin as their walls.

She listened as he spoke.

".... If you were me and you were asked to give your greatest secret to a pair o' livin' shadow and light.... would ya?"

​

Shadow. Light.

Crude labels, hammered together with all the subtlety of a drunk philosopher. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, standing motionless while he finished speaking as if indulging a child who believed himself profound.

When the question finally came, she folded her arms across her chest.

“I wouldn’t trust any secret,” she said coolly, “nor advice, from a man who mistakes prejudice for wisdom.” Her gaze flicked briefly toward Ispir then returned to the old man. “You see what you expect to see,” she continued. “And build riddles around it.”

She shook her head once, already done. She was not going to play games.

Then she turned and began to walk away, silver hair shifting at her back, leaving the question and the crowd behind her without another word.

Ispir Sione

 

[Ispir Sione]

The crowd would erupt into murmurs as Vyx'aria made her statement. Head shaking, hair rippling like a silver waterfall, proud footsteps carrying her away from the old man and the village. Ispir, meanwhile, wasn't even sure what 'prejudice' had happened though the old man would capture his attention with words after a moment. Even as his one good eye watches Vyx'Aria go.

"And here I was going to give my thanks. But she mistook me pointin' out her use o' shadow magic for her race."

The old man gave an incredulous chortle.

"As if I'd be calling one of our heroes some slur. Seems to me she's the one who has some prejudice against honest village folk, expecting that of me."

Shaking his head he would shift his gaze to Ispir, studying the small bard, who would respond as he shyly scuffed the ground with his shoe.

"Well to be honest she is kinda cranky....."

The old man would give a low, considerate hum before asking rather bluntly.

"So, young master, what are YOU hiding from her exactly?"

Ispir would blink, surprised, aquamarine orbs widening as he tilted his head.

"H-Hiding? Me!?"

The old man would nod, studying Ispir more thoroughly before clicking his tongue.

"Most folk wear their strange habits on their sleeves. If a fella wears his pants on his head or eats oranges with the peel on then ya know what's wrong with him right away. Heh. Even that Drow woman, with her pride and secrets....."

He paused and Ispir expected another pseudo-philosophical point before the old man's face turned hard for a moment and he finished.

"..... she's a bitch."

Ispir nearly choked on his own saliva before the old man continued.

"But honest about it so..... What about you? Yer too nice, too dolled up, too bright. So yer either trying too hard or ya got her own shadows to cast young master."

Ispir would swallow and, fiddling with one of his twin tails, avert his eyes, and step back from the old man.

"I don't.... I don't know."

The old man would huff a small laugh and nod.

"I see. Well, you better not let her get away hmm? Woman like that'd march into the arms of a demon if she thought it were proving a point. Who knows? She might just need a little light to find her nose, before she buries it into too much of someone else's business."

Ispir would nod, slowly, finding the old man odd but turn around to scamper after Vyx'Aria in a hurry!

Once they were gone the old man would hobble into the church, turning his old eyes up to the statue of Aionus still standing amid the flames, and the possessed corpse would collapse as the power animating it left it in a slow, drifting silver mist that would coalesce around the statue and.... Vanish.​

 

[Vyx'aria]

Vyx’aria did not slow as she left the village behind.

She pulled her cloak back over her shoulders, settling its familiar weight against her frame, and drew the hood up once more. The silver of her hair vanished beneath shadow, her face returning to anonymity as the noise of the village faded into smoke and distance.

Then she heard footsteps.

Light. Too quick. Too close.

Her stride faltered just enough for her to glance back, crimson eyes narrowing beneath the hood as she took in the sight of Ispir scampering after her.

She stopped. “…What are you doing?” she asked.

There was no anger in it. Just honest puzzlement, as if she had already filed him away under temporary inconvenience and was surprised to find him still present.

Ispir Sione

 

[Ispir Sione]

Ispir, with that chilling staff hefted over his shoulder like a vagrants hiking pack, would falter a bit at Ria's question. Their own expression twisting into one of bewilderment as earnest aquamarine met narrowed crimson. Their reply was slow, almost wary, as they ventured.

"Ummm.... Following you?"

Their confusion would vanish as they beamed a smile.

"We haven't found that shrine yet, after all! And if some wheezy old geezer can't help us find it then we can just do it ourselves!"

He would give an emphatic nod and wave his staff at her for emphasis.

"Besides! Not even one day of adventuring with you and I already got this cool new staff."

Ispir would then squint at the horizon, the sky beginning to run with rivers of yellows, orange and crimson like splatters of the most vibrant paint across a canvas.

Vyx'aria​

 

[Vyx'aria]

Vyx’aria’s gaze lingered on him.

Cheerful. Radiant. Brimming with so much light it was almost absurd.

She thought of the way he had soaked in the villagers’ applause and attention. Someone like him could have stayed. Been adored. Played his songs, told his stories, gathered affection like coins in a pouch. And yet..

He followed her.

Her crimson eyes narrowed slightly, thoughts flitting across her expression in flickers: suspicion, amusement, confusion. But when none of them found a home, her face slowly eased. The sharp line of her jaw relaxed. The tightness behind her eyes softened.

“You are….a curious creature,” she said at last.

Then she turned. Her boots crunched against the road once more.

But this time, her stride changed. It was no longer long, loping paces built for solitude and her height. She adjusted. Subtly. Just enough that he no longer had to scamper to keep up.

The sun was setting ahead of them, streaking the sky in blood and fire. A relief for her after a full day of the glaring sun in her eyes. For a long time, there was only silence between them. Then Vyx’aria asked, “…You can’t see very well in the dark, can you?”

Ispir Sione

 

[Ispir Sione]

Ispir would turn their beaming smiling into something resembling a grin before he snorted and flourished his cap at Vyx'aria in a VERY charming bow. Hardly breaking stride before he perked back up into a stride beside her and gave her a cheeky grin in response to being called a curious creature.

"You're pretty cool too Ria!"

Came his response before he made a dramatic motion with his new staff.

"Besides! You took out like.... twenty bandits all by yourself! Like.... some sort of awesome hero! Brave. Dangerous! Umm.... maybe a little cranky.... Hehe...."

He would rub the back of his head with the hand not holding the staff and shrug sheepishly only for silence to consume the space between them. It went on for some time, Ispir idly studying the runes on his staff, only to perk his head up as Ria asked him if he could see very well in the dark. He shook his head enough to send his twin tail braids whipping around.

"Nope! I mean, as well as any other human really but umm...."

A sudden gurgle from his stomach made him blush and Ispir would gingerly take Ria's hand. Dextrous, soft, fingers touching her without an ounce of fear. The hands of a pianist, or a painter, definitely no warrior or nobleman, gently trying to hold her to a halt as he stopped walking and, if successful, he would clasp his hands together and lift his gaze up to her. Eyes brimming with an earnest, heartfelt need for food as he asked.

"We could... maybe stop to camp for the night? And eat some food too maybe.....?"

Spoiler: A Heartfelt Plea

 

[Vyx'aria]

Vyx’aria halted mid-step, her brows gently knitting at his comment.

“Cool?” she echoed blankly, crimson gaze flicking sideways at him. “I am hot.”

There was no irony in her voice, only an unfiltered statement of fact, one that reflected her rising discomfort in the lingering heat from the earlier inferno. A breath left her nose, sharp and tired, and she muttered something in Drow under her breath about sun-scorched nonsense.

Then she felt it: fingers brushing hers.

She paused fully as Ispir’s hand clasped hers, not yanked, not tugged, but held. Soft. Small. Completely lacking in calculation or fear. She blinked down at him, as if she were seeing him for the first time. That face. Those ridiculous eyes. The unshakable sincerity beaming up at her like a torch in a crypt.

He was starving, wasn’t he? That noise was so loud she was sure nearby creatures heard.

A long, exhausted sigh escaped her lips. “Very well,” she said, tone reluctant but not harsh.

She turned away, loosening the ties of her cloak with a flick and fanning her collar to cool herself slightly. “Set up shelter. Somewhere shaded. I will hunt.”

She started off into the brush, her voice low and trailing behind her, “Do not attract wolves.”

Ispir Sione

 

[Ispir Sione]

Ispir laughed, genuinely laughed, as Vyx'aria misunderstood what 'cool' meant and called herself hot. It was not a mean laugh, not the barbed, hissing, cutting chortles of an adversary but a genuine, smiling giggle as he simply nodded at her statement. Not saying a word even as his cheeks flushed just a little bit.

"Mhmm."

Was the only noise he made by way of reply.

As she agreed to his request Ispir would grin so wide his eyes seemed to glow only to falter for just a moment as she said she would hunt. But it was a short-lived thing and he would give her a single, firm nod.

"Right."

Stepping back to begin looking and allowing her past him Ispir would pause when her voice reached him. A hidden smile gracing his features as he lowered his eyes, his stomach doing a rather unexpected flutter, and he would nod quickly before murmuring for only himself to hear.

"Okay.... maybe you're not so mean Ria......"

With that said Ispir would scout the steppes for a while, eventually finding a place to stay inside a cave system that seemed to have formed out of a singular outcropping of rock in the otherwise rolling steppe. The rock was jagged, seemingly unnaturally moved, but also dripped softly with water from a nearby small lake up above. Ispir would set about conjuring small orbs of blue light around the cave, and briefly considered trying to let Ria know where he was somehow but.... she was a good tracker so he didn't doubt she could find him.

Sure enough once Ria did find him Ispir would be toward the back of the cave, kneeling in front of a small pool of water that had gathered there, facing away from her in the dim light, and when he heard her approach he would speak.

"Ria! You won't believe this but there's was a surprise in our cave."

Spinning around to show Ria the surprise in a flurry of aquamarine clothing he would then cheer.

Spoiler: The Surprise!

"Look how CUTE he is!"

 

[Vyx'aria]

Vyx’aria stepped silently into the cave, boots whispering over stone, bearing the fruits of her labor in the form of two plump rabbits slung over one shoulder, roots and fruits bundled in the crook of her arm. She’d been gone long enough that most would’ve assumed she wasn’t coming back.

But Ispir had made that exceedingly easy. His trail had been so obvious it may as well have had breadcrumbs and glowing arrows. She didn’t say that aloud, but the slight quirk to her brow as she set the food down suggested she was thinking it.

She took a moment to glance around their makeshift camp, eyeing the jagged outcrop, the shimmer of water, the faint blue orbs of light bobbing gently overhead. Hm. Clever enough. She gave a nod of silent approval, already crouching to start on a firepit when…

"Ria! You won't believe this but there's was a surprise in our cave."

​

She whirled around, weapon in hand and ready to fight.

And there was Ispir. Beaming. Holding out… a frog.

Her mouth parted slightly, ready to tell him it’d roast up just fine, when she caught the glimmer in his eye. The awe. The fondness. The ridiculous glee.

She blinked.

Brows raised a fraction. And then, without a word, she simply stared at the frog, then at him… and said nothing. No approval. No mockery. Just… a quiet surrender to the absurdity.

Instead, she turned to resume building the fire, but paused.

Her eyes drifted upward. And for a moment, she forgot everything.

The sky stretched above them in unending sprawl, jeweled and impossibly bright, the stars crisp and cold and real. They didn’t have skies like this in the Underrealm. Not ever. It was something she never got used to. Not fully. And maybe never would.

She sat there like stone, lips parted just slightly, silver lashes catching the starlight, the firepit forgotten. Quiet awe radiated from her posture, her eyes drinking in every drop of that celestial ocean.

For that moment, she didn’t look like a cold killer or former queen.

She looked… undone. Not by fear or fury, but by beauty. By the quiet majesty of a world above her that no blade could touch, no pride could shield her from. The stars didn’t care who she was. And yet, they let her look anyway.

Ispir Sione

 

[Ispir Sione]

Ispir would giggle a bit and pet the frog gently with a finger before whispering to it loud enough to make sure Vyx'aria heard.

"I think she likes you."

Before gingerly placing the front down into the pool and joining Ria in building the fire, but he paused as she did, a brief spark of worry that she had spied some threat over the steppe but... no. No instead Vyx'aria was caught in a sensation Ispir knew all too well. Gently peeling off his cloak to lay it out by the fire as a makeshift sleeping mat, and to give Ria plenty of time to live out the wonder of the stars on her own, he would only join her once that was done.

Gently touching her arm with his, not quite bumping her, he would join her in staring up at the stars and smile. His aquamarine eyes seeming to reflect the entire night sky as he whispered in a non-serious voice.

"I have them all memorized you know?"

Leaning into her a bit he would point up and off to the right to a cluster in a line, five stars in total, with two offset to their own path and three forming a completely straight line. Apparently the short bard WAS actually serious.

"THAT is Tychan's Belt."

Moving his arm so it went across her field of vision at a diagonal angle he would point to a particularly bright grouping in the shape of a diamond, an outright luminous blue star in the center and he would whisper up at her.

"That one is Astra's Heart."

Taking a second to lay on his back in the soft steppe grass Ispir would smile up at Ria and pat beside him, one hand lacing behind his head, and if she either joined him or denied the invitation he would use his free hand closer to her to point straight up at a cluster in a rough "U" shape, the stars almost green in color that formed the "U", with two tiny blue-white stars nestled into the valley of the "U" shape.

"That one is Metisa's Cradle."

Glancing over at Ria he would soften his smile.

"Have anything specific you wanna know about them?"

Spoiler: Looking At The Stars Together