Recent content by Zael

Zael gave it a little thought. "Don't know if I will or if I won't." And that was the truth of the matter right now. A truth that might change, but as Zael sat there, getting tended to by Martha, in the tail end of taking a licking in Vel Kastula, and with the full cost of his dream staining...

"I appreciate it, Mar," said Zael, sitting beside Lumen in his own chair by the table. Funnily enough, Zael found that he couldn't bring himself to call Martha "Ma"—just stung a bit too deep. Because she had a kindness and a sweetness about her, and Zael thought about how nice it would have been...

"Zael," he said to the old woman, not seeing much of a need for using a false name. "And, yeah, we had ourselves a bad time back that way." If there was one thing the Academy couldn't take credit for, it was Lumen's approachable, personable demeanor. And it wasn't insincere neither, like...

Lumen got interrupted in making her offer, but Zael got the gist of it. And damn was it good to be reminded that he had friends, especially ones on the other side of the whole Gilram or Anirian Loyalist divide. He didn't quite know how this problem of his was going to play out, but any friend he...

And in the wake of Lumen's question Zael kept his silence for a long while. It was not an effort through said silence to avoid an answer, for his face bore the hallmarks of a man in deep consideration. And, indeed, he had a lot of reckoning to do. All of it, from the Bloody Graduation to Vel...

I'd rather neither of us get hurt from here on out. That probably wasn't too big an ask from their allotments of luck. And at least on Zael's end, he wasn't looking to get into any more fights for a good long while. The Republic might have other designs of Lumen's time, though. Zael pursed his...

Zael smiled when Sable mentioned Elbion. It was what he himself was planning on doing, keeping his word to Kristen and listening to Yuna and leaving Vel Anir behind for good. No ifs, ands, or buts about it this time. He'd been sold a false bill of goods his whole life: Vel Anir was that, the...

Zael grimaced but held in any protests—any gasps or groans. Owing to Lumen's practiced control, what pain there was came from the shock and suddenness of the cold, lasting but a moment on his skin. And then the sharpness of the cold became that very cooling balm, and even the pain of his...

Heh. Shit. Zael was lucky to get what information he did out of Kristen. And she told him only what he strictly needed to know, and no more, and this only on account of Kristen believing Sable could put him six feet in the ground if—as was her suspicion—there was any trickery afoot. But Sable...

THE HIDDEN CAMP AT MORNING Sleep clung at Zael's eyes, but it was nothing he hadn't dealt with before in the Academy. All through the night he and Sable rode, Zael on the back of Sable's horse, what for lack of his own mount, of course. They made good time while darkness lasted, crossing the...

Medic. Healer. Discount apothecary. Any would be nice, but Zael had something of a bad feeling about it, like he'd used up what luck he had in getting him and Lumen out of Vel Kastula relatively intact. Well, makin' do was something he'd plenty experience of, so there was that. "Yeah, I'm gonna...

There came a keen ringing in Zael's ears right after the impact. Kress, he had to have smacked his head harder than he would've liked. But even through the ringing he heard Lumen's question on that very topic. "Ahhhhhhhhhh, fuck," Zael groaned. "This is like that time Edric broke my damn arm...

Zael grinned back. "I can trace letters about as good as any first year Initiate," he said. And for a brief second there, he was reminded of his old joke he used to tell when shit looked grim: at least the Academy taught me how to read—and write, in this case. Well look at the monster they...

Holy shit, Sable had one hell of a grip. Zael felt his feet rise up off of the ground for a moment there before he was put back down. Well hell, if he'd'a known that was coming, he would have at least stretched his own arms out to give him a hug back. Wouldn't be anywhere near as good a hug as...

He'd a moment, there, when Lu wrapped her arms around his neck, that he thought about the Ball in Elbion. The dance. Doin' a little somethin' like this. Little time for a stroll down memory lane though. The door of the home was breached, and men entered, full of aggression. "Here we go," Zael...