Fate - First Reply “Because I had to. I don’t know if anyone else would have taken the job. Well, one other did…” - Evangeline Clark, Farmer.

[suneater]

The husband coughed. It was obvious how awkward he’d felt about this matter. His wife had sent for him without a discussion. He knew she was stressed, and he was too, but this was a strange way to go about it. Ransom was difficult but not impossible for them. They did okay for themselves. It might take a while but they could do it!

Guess that didn’t matter now.

Now, he sat across from suneater, a veritable folk hero, in his own living room and was just watching the terrifying man sip tea through his knight’s helm. He reached over to hold his wife’s hand. He gave her a look that said ‘I hate this, but I understand.’

suneater set the tea cup down on a coaster atop their poorly built living room table. He was gentle out of fear that he may break the thing if he poked it too hard. He looked up through his rusting helmet at the distressed couple and extended an open palm.

”the other i’ve invited has not arrived yet it seems. they will take the monetary reward all themselves. may i see the note?”

The husband was shocked at how soft spoken he was. It was no more comforting, but it was so… quiet. He reached into his pocket and revealed a bloodstained piece of paper. He unfolded it, the yellowing pages crunching with every turn. It was a foul note with foul threats. He didn’t want to look at it again. He handed it towards suneater, who took it slowly.

-Evening, Mr. And Mrs. Clark.-
It seems your daughter, Nadia, has chosen to refuse payments on debts owed to us-
Due to this, we shall be taking her into custody until her dues are fulfilled.
She will be given water. She will not be fed.
She will die.

Bring all the coin you have to the patchy field of dead grass in the midst of Makers Meadow.
You will be seen, and we can discuss your daughter’s release.
​

suneater was never amused by these sorts of things. Extortion was a pitiful business. He folded it back up and began to think carefully. No full decisions could be made until the one he’d offer the reward to arrived.

 

[Empyrean]

Raea loved people. She loved how wonderful and terrifying they were. Their complexities were the greatest gift they could bestow to the world. They were equal parts mystery and marvel. There was no shortage of the extraordinary--not especially in Arethil.

So when a strange young woman with strange golden eyes was in need of coin--it only served to reason that joining forces with another strange man with strange eyes granted her a boon where she wasn't constantly questioned and watched as if she were trouble.

To find like-minded souls in the world was a rarity for Raea.

She had already been in contact with suneater, where she was there to assist in any way that she could. Her flavor of Empathy was an artform she was learning to master in unique ways. Lately, she was keen to test the theory she could track people's strongest emotions. She had no formal training as a healer, and needed to make her own way in life. No one was willing to take her on and hire her, so she was working to pay for her own travels.

Their exchange was brief and it was something she had seen before. Debts unpaid, people taken hostage in exchange for money. It was not the first time she had hunted scum, she doubt it would be the last. However, she felt better prepared with Rysorian's training, her own set of knives and another head in the game.

When she had arrived, it was the husband who greeted her--his nervousness palpable even without the need of Empathy. He looked at her as people did--with suspicion and doubt--and Raea endured it because it was expected. He let her in and lead them to join the others, however she remained standing to suneater's left when she realized he was reading.

There was a brief nod to him--she felt comfortable no introductions were needed; She was dressed for everything but an afternoon chat. Raea leaned enough that she scanned the letter and pursed her lips with a frown, "I wager they know we're here and why." She remarked dryly. "Plan?" She inquired of suneater.

 

[suneater]

As his colleague arrived, he offered her a turn of his head and a brief nod as well.

"yes, i've made clear our intention here."

He handed Raea the note so that she could see the mess for herself. It was a pity, really. Men turned monster for their own monetary gain. suneater had never suffered the need for currency. His reputation and often led him to free meals and lodging anyhow. And some people refuse to let him walk away without taking the money they had offered. That wasn't what he was after, though.

"our plan is as simple as it is delicate. Evangeline here did not call upon my aid for a conversation with bandits."

His masked face turned towards the mother of the kidnapped once more.

"no, that's never why i'm called. as long as you understand that Raea, we can proceed."

 

[Empyrean]

"I'm only a conversationalist when I need to be." She reassured suneater, reading the letter properly before returning it. Typically, when it came to rescuing children, she found herself in charge of them. It was not a task delegated to her, it was simply a strange fact of the matter. Raea preferred it, like a piece to a puzzle she felt the satisfaction of the situation clicking together. It was the right thing.

She was most comfortable with the discarded, the unwanted, the abandoned and the outcast. But children were (mostly) innocent and the natural gravity of looking out for them had always been strong. Nadia might be a different case given her age, but the fact remained. Raea felt more like a protector than she ever had before. The shadows quivered and danced for her now and if she had to call on them to assist--she would. And they would do so with unyielding loyalty.

Ganzaya himself might delight, for he had always had a soft spot looking after others. After all that was how they had met and he has been with her in the shadows ever since. Yes, Raea understood what suneater had implied.

Sometimes the monsters were the men. "I'm ready." And she meant it.

 

[suneater]

"wonderful."

suneater rose from his seat. It was a wonder how he hadn't shattered the chair with all the gear on his back. The folk hero looked to the husband slowly and pointed to the door.

"you need to leave for this part."

The husband and wife shot glances at each other. They both looked panicked and confused.

"N-no, why would I do that? It's my daughter as well and I need to know you're going to bring her back!"

suneater shuffled. The clank of chainmail being echoed off the acoustics of the room as he walked a few steps closer to Mr. Clark. He put a hand on Mr. Clark's shoulder and shook his head.

"it is irrelevant. my payment comes next, and you are not who called me. this is not your burden to bear. that is a task solely for Evangeline. per my contract, only the person who sends for me is allowed to take part in the payment. you would cause unnecessary sway in her decision making, convince her to find another way, and you are not the one who is making the decision. Evangeline is. Mr. Clark, please exit your home for the next few minutes."

Mr. Clark was shaken entirely just by the closeness to the warrior. He looked at his wife Evangeline for some sign of comfort or a voice of reason for her not to be left alone with these two killers. But, as he looked at her, he saw the resolve in her eyes. Tired though it was, her glance spoke strength. She signed up for this. She knew what it meant.

Mr. Clark looked at suneater and then at Raea. He didn't have any more words of argument. Slowly he walked towards the front door. He opened it with a groaning creak, and looked back to Evangeline one more time, but suneater was standing in front of her. Mr. Clark exhaled slowly before stepping outside and closing the door behind him.

suneater sighed of relief.

"oftentimes, that is much more difficult." He spoke with a twinge of a laugh hanging on his words. The Black Market Hag walked over to his seat once more and conjoined with it. He slapped both legs with his hands.

"okay Evangeline. where is your sun?"

She looked a tad confused at first.

"Do you not mean my daughter?"

"no ma'am, not your child. your sun. the thing that shines brightest in your life. the thing that you cling to with hope and love. allows you to leave your bed at its rise. where is it?"

 

[Empyrean]

Raea watched, equal parts focused and curious. Suneater himself was a curious entity–if one could call him that. He moved with such carefulness that it was as though he were attempting to restrain himself. She could feel the coolness at the nape of her neck, her hair hanging loose today. Beneath the veil, she felt the shadows quivering, struggling to manifest and participate in what little light availed itself to their creation. Though they made no audible sound, Raea always felt as if they had a language–a soft sigh, a feather-light whisper that only the arcane could perceive.

Her head twitched–as if she acknowledged they were there in her ear. Ganzaya was near, unseen, unknown. It was as though through the light and darkness of the world around them he spoke quietly, ever-watchful. The skin along the nape of her neck prickled in waves that traveled down her arms to the tips of her fingers.

Danger…

Danger…​

Raea felt the tips of her fingers unconsciously brush against her knives, as if reassuring her newly trained fingers they hadn’t gotten up and vanished. Their correspondence had been brief–and Raea knew from experience that just because someone answered a call to help didn’t mean the caller was any manner of hero or savior. She showed as much confusion as Evangeline had, her nose wrinkling as brows furrowed.

Why suneater wanted to know these things, Raea couldn’t perceive to understand. But she felt something–something at the tip of her existence, the edge of her being–a feeling, a knowing. Some preternatural warning that he was no ordinary man. Though she had hung back, Raea watched Evangeline as carefully, the woman’s husband also on the mind and decided she needed to be closer to a light source, nonchalantly wandering across the room to the nearest lamp. By the grace of her Nazrani blood she moved soundlessly, and opted to keep quiet and observe.

If she crossed her arms it looked too forced and awkward. If she left her hands down and free near her knives, she appeared nervous. Instead, she leaned against the wall with her hands behind her back, and she felt the coolness of Ganzaya there.

If there was danger, she need only to move and he’d aid his Mistress.

Hope. The things that made each day worth it to go on. She wanted to ask–to question the queerness of the inquiry. What did that have to do with their task at hand?

Is this why he isn’t taking payment? Something in her heart sank as she sat on that notion.

 

[suneater]

“I do not understand what you mean by that.” The woman looked as confused as she did worried at the response he’d given. suneater did not mean it as a threat. It was in his contract. It always was. But people never knows what he mean by it.

“I will eat your sun. Other payment is entirely in your hands.”

She’d continued to offer the warrior the money. She’d insisted upon it during their correspondence. So this request was bizarre and concerning. Had she not given him what he’d wanted?

”it is simple, Evangeline. the object you hold dearest. be it a letter from a loved one to a locket given to you from a now deceased parent, something acts as your sun. it is to be given to me.”

At his words, Evangeline’s eyes briefly flickered towards their fireplace. Atop it sat an urn and suneater noticed her eyes movement towards the urn.

“ah, i see.”

suneater stood up from his seat once more. The same groan came from the chair that seemed about to shatter from the weight of its adversary. suneater walked towards the fireplace, each floorboard attempting to warn of his impass with creaks and whines of their own. A gentle hand was placed on the urn as he lifted it from its resting spot and he examined the ornate thing.

Silver, likely fake, unfortunately. But it was still pretty. It was hand made and very well so. It showed depictions of cranes and dragons swimming in the sky together. They looked northern, perhaps from Nordenfiir make.

“who was this?” He asked.

“My mother. She asked to be cremated by dragonfire. She was a strange one. Obsessed with creatures with wings. But we love her through death, and so she stays with us.”

“that’s lovely of your family to keep her memory. i will be sure to show her some of those winged creatures.”

In an instant, suneater reached into his cloak and revealed a small chain. He began to wrap the urn of the client’s dead mother in the chain to affix to his person.

Evangeline stood up and shouted,

“No! This was not part of our deal! You will not trade my mother for my daughter, put it down immediately sir!”

suneater paused his entrapment of the urn momentarily. He did not look towards Evangeline. He did not look towards Raea. He looked simply at the urn. Unmoving, unagitated.

“Mrs. Evangeline Clark. tell me, do you value the dead over the living?”

“What a proposterous question, they are both family!”

“i see. so this urn of grey ashes is worth the same as your daughter. the daughter that breathes for maybe a week longer. i suppose if she was made ashes, you would value her the same, would you not, Evangeline?”

His voice grew dark when he said her name. It slithered like a serpent to reverberate the waves of sound. In the blink of an eye, maybe faster, he stood in front of Evangeline. Not two inches away from her. His helmeted face peered down at the now terrified lady of the house.

“YOU MUST HAVE FORGOTTEN MY NAME, EVANGELINE. THE REASON YOU SUMMONED ME, AS WELL. WHAT A PITY THAT YOUR DAUGHTER WILL ROT FROM YOUR INABILITY TO DECIDE.”

There was no longer any patience or softness in his tone. He was a serpent looking down at prey. He did not even pity her. He was fucking disgusted by her.

“IT IS YOUR ATTACHMENT TO THE MATERIAL THAT MAKES YOU INCAPABLE, EVANGELINE. I AM THE WORLD SERPENT, EATER OF SUNS, THE BLACK MARKET HAG. CALL ME WHATEVER YOU LIKE, BUT DO NOT CALL TO ME FOR AID AND THEN MAKE DEMANDS OF ME, EVANGELINE CLARK. I AM A MONUMENT TO YOUR PALTRY BELIEF IN OBJECTS. A GRAVEYARD OF MEMORIES THAT YOU ALL FORGET SOONER OR LATER.

YOUR SUN IS A DEAD WOMAN WHO DOES NOT THINK OF YOU IN HER AFTERLIFE. WHAT KIND OF LIGHT IS THAT? BRIGHTER THAN YOUR DAUGHTER WHO WOULD SEE ANOTHER FIFTY YEARS?”

Evangeline stood motionless against the imposition of the harrowing figure. His presence had quadrupled, weighing the entire room down with a horrid air that one might almost be able to see. This was suneater at his truest.

Not a hero.

Not a warrior.

A serpent.

 

[Empyrean]

Raea was many things to many people.

A friend, a healer. An ear or a voice of reason when the moment called for it. Yet in that moment her voice left her—as did her wits when suneater’s patience was tested—and so was her strength. With widened eyes, Raea shrank against the wall—too stunned for much else in the moment. She felt his voice crawling along her skin, it sank in and reverberated through her bones, her teeth, her mind—he was everywhere at once and it felt like an immense pressure, the likes of which she had never felt before.

After the initial shock subsided, Raea reached for the hilt of her blade. Her hands had become toughed and calloused from weeks of training with Rysorian who was determined to teach her the deadliest way for a young woman to arm herself when out and about. Raea was petite, and smaller weapons felt easier and less clumsy in her hands. Daggers and blades became a familiar weight in her palm, and she felt the familiar security of having one in her hand.

It felt like the night Rysorian, Garrod and Cassandra had all come into her life; When fates align, trouble ensues. And now, here again she was under duress from something less than human—or perhaps he was more, she couldn’t readily tell. Suneater pressed Evangeline to make an important—if not impossible—decision. Memories—these are things Raea can’t afford to lose. Her memories fueled her, they drove her—the deadliest night of her life was burned into her memories. She needed to remember why she was out running these odd jobs, collecting information as she went. The supernatural seemed to stalk her no matter where she went—or perhaps she was simply unconsciously attracted to it.

Still, something precious. And Evangeline was forced to the ugly realization of what she truly held most dear. Was it the mother who raised her, taught her what she knew before leaving this world, or the daughter she birthed, to whom she would teach all that and potentially more?

Only when Raea felt that her knees had stopped trembling—that she had some slippery grasp of her wit and will—did she lean to the wall for support as she reoriented herself.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered—what was her sun? What could she possibly give to suneater? Evangeline had something to lose. Her mother—even if dead, or her daughter—even if alive.

What did Raea have to lose if not her life?

The immense amount of suffering she endured since the loss of her family, the everyday struggles for answers—there was a darkness there that festered and blossomed like poison over time. Every day felt darker, bleaker—and though her companions and—dare she call them, friends?—had brightened her life to some degree, the gnawing, aching feeling that she needed answers ate away at her.

That finding Roen would be some manner of salvation for her.

“Wait!” Raea called, though she could not be sure that she was heard. Relinquishing the blade hilt, the woman crossed to Evangeline, an arm coming around her in some paltry show of solidarity. In truth, Raea was equally frightened if not more of suneater’s outburst. “Wait.” She spoke again, exercising some manner of patience—or so she hoped.

“You’re forcing someone to make an extremely difficult, but human decision!” Raea turned to face Evangeline, “Every second you weigh your options is another moment your daughter is in danger.” Despite the exoticness of her own golden eyes, she held Evangeline’s gaze, the woman perhaps still stunned by suneater, “His payment is beyond me, I’m only here for coin.” She admitted, urgency in her tone, “But he may very well decide for you. Will you choose?”

It was a miracle her voice didn’t break. Having even her side to suneater felt like it was an unwise decision. He was a tall, imposing thing, otherworldly in design. As if he could fill the whole room if he wanted to. It was an unbearable feeling on her heart. He was something terrible and fearsome and awe-inspiring all at once.

If Evangeline couldn’t decide—it wasn’t suneater that would make the choice for her.

It’d be Raea.

 

[suneater]

suneater's presence intensified at the interruption. He had not anticipated Raea's interjection and there was a lot to decipher about it. The emotions she displayed, the fact that she wasn't entirely disagreeing with him. She spoke to Evangeline like a person, which he truly and wholly hated. Her decision wasn't a hard one. A living daughter versus her mother's incinerated corpse? How was there even thought to be had?

Because that's what people were taught. People were taught to tie connection to the meaningless. Emotion to the stale. He detested it. He hated it so much it physically twisted his stomach in knots. suneater wanted to strangle them both for even contemplating an alternative.

But her words. Raea's. She spoke with them strength and conviction. She did not see suneater as some all-powerful being like so many did. He simply wasn't, after all. But she rejected his demeanor and his presence with her words. Defied the mighty with humility.

"INTERESTING."

And with that the presence deflated. suneater seemed to be his normal height once again. He had always been, of course, but he can make himself seem the size of the whole room. Evangeline did not look at him again. She opted for the kinder woman while her eyes welled up with tears.

suneater wandered back to his creaking seat and looked at the pair of them.

"well then, Evangeline. please choose."

 

[Empyrean]

Raea flinched.

Whatever suneater was--she was no match for him. But even golden-eyed girls had silver tongues and knew how to talk her way through a situation when she needed to.

"Your mother is beyond your help now--ashes to ashes, dust to dust. But your daughter is very much real and alive. Decide in your heart which is most important. All suns must set at some point in our lives." She thumbed Evangeline's tears away with a careful sort of tenderness--as if she were a mother, as though Evangeline were her child.

It was a strange feeling, something in the pit of her stomach. Though she never fancied herself to meet a suitor or have children, the idea of being a kind, motherly figure felt as if the world had somehow shifted and clicked into place. It was a strange time to have such a strange realization.

"I'm sorry, if he scared you." She spoke quietly to Evangeline as suneater came to a seat. She thought she could feel his footsteps reverberating through her now, as if his presence still heavily weighed on her. "Walk me through your thoughts. Why is your decision difficult for you?" Raea put emphasis on the words for you. Raea knew, unquestionably, she would choose to save her own daughter if it were in her.

But she was not a mother.
And she was not Evangline.

She had to be mindful that not everyone could make a rational decision. Or perhaps her decision wasn't rational at all compared to Evangeline's. Everyone was different. Everyone was human.

Sometimes Raea wondered if her humanity was different than others, as a certain impatience washed over her. She glanced over her shoulder at suneater and nodded; she had a feeling he wouldn't do much until he was certain he had his pay. The least she could do is try and speed up the process.

 

[suneater]

Evangeline Clark was not a hero. She was just a scared woman whose fear had been exacerbated by the demon of a man who remained in her home. Rhea had calmed her a bit, made her think this through. Truly consider what it may mean to not give suneater what he's asked for.

She tried not to look at the cloaked figure sitting like a statue in the midst of her living room. Her peripherals continued to betray her as she tried to keep her focus entirely on Rhea. suneater noticed, but was unfazed. Deep down, he did know how difficult he'd made things. He always did this.

There was a good reason. At least in his head. He meant every word he'd said to her even if it had been said cruelly. It wasn't joyous for him. People made that assumption a lot when they saw the way he forced decisions. As if it were some sick game for the mercenary. In truth, it was just that people rarely considered the weight of their decisions. He just wanted them to understand. And fear was a powerful motivator.

Evangeline went to open her mouth and speak but closed it. She was in her heart still undecided. To throw away the woman who'd loved her and raised her was unspeakable. But of course, she knew she would never throw Nadia's life away for anything. Her mother would have made the same choice.

She stared at the urn that sat atop suneater's knee. It was half wrapped in chains and made the Nordenfiir appearance all the more menacing. She began to nod, choking on her next words.

"O-okay. Take it."

suneater did not revert to his boisterous self nor did he seem to react at all. Evangeline was a predictable woman. It wasn't her fault, nor was it a detriment to her character. But this young girl needed saving. And he needed his payment. This was the only way to have moved things forward.

"okay, Evangeline."

And with that, he began finishing the wrap of chains. As well as affixing it to his person.

 

[Empyrean]

Raea was shifting from the side to side with subtle anxiety and excitement. Her eyes never left Evangelines, golden and steady–hardly the anxious creature that existed beneath the surface of her skin. She had come to save lives–and perhaps that was a foolish notion. Naivety was perhaps a weakness she hadn’t thought of before. Raea half turned to suneater, but didn’t speak–not yet.

She wanted to reach for Evangline’s head. To comfort her like a mother might a child. It was silly, for Evangeline herself was a mother, and Raea was no one. She doubted she would ever have children–people found her too pretty and strange to make lasting relations with her. And so, Raea moved and survived as she needed, but always within Alliria. Now, she was emboldened–joining forces with people she had never met before, with powers beyond what she could comprehend, all with the same goal.

This time, she did turn to suneater and nodded, “You have your boon. We have our accord. We bring her daughter back–alive.”

Raea emphasized this last word as if she would not accept anything less or she’d find the gods herself if she had to. She knew better than most that a life without family at all was a lonely existence. “Evangeline, I would stay here with Mr. Clark. Do not open your doors for anyone that isn’t us or Nadia. Do you understand?”

Evangeline’s eyes betrayed her to the urn that was ensnared by suneater, but Raea’s tone and gaze were firm, “Do you understand, Evangeline?” It was enough–enough to catch her eyes and give a nod of asset, though tears threatened to well and spill.

Raea’s lips pressed firmly together before she turned fully to suneater, “Maker’s Meadow. Is it far from here?”

 

[suneater]

Raea was a curious one. She seemed to hold so much fear of him and yet still enough audacity to make demands of him. It was intriguing. She was someone he could talk to for hours, he thought. Raea was a truly brave individual.

“there is no other option. nadia will be returned here without a scratch.”

The urn he’d fashioned to himself banged against his chainmail as he took his next steps, marking it as his possession. He walked towards the door while Raea finished speaking with Evangeline. It was passed the point that she likely had any interest in speaking with him. Most would have been done much sooner. Evangeline was not as weak as she made herself seem.

His iron gauntlet gripping the door handle, he stopped at Raea’s question.

“it should be no longer than a quarter days travel on foot. if we leave now we will arrive just at night fall.”

 

[Empyrean]

Quiet words were exchanged--the sort that were reserved for comfort and reassurance. Raea wondered more and more--what could she gain from suneater at the expense of her own sun? Perhaps, some day, there would be a time where she needed his help. To what lengths? She wondered if he could be yet another valuable asset to assist her in tracking information down about her true heritage.
At last she left Evangeline and her husband behind and together began the onset of the journey to Maker's Meadow.

"I'm sorry." She said after a long moment of uncomfortable silence. It was a deflated apology--as if she were ashamed of herself and the way she acted--perhaps it was too rash of her? She was hardly aware a lot of times.

Raea was a lot of things to many people. Sometimes, the shield that took abuse and had to withstand the worst of blows. "I shouldn't have intervened that way. I--I didn't know what to expect. I was afraid you'd hurt her..." She answered honestly, truthfully--and not so shy about it.

"Truth be told there's a lot of things in the world I'm ignorant about. Allira is my home and for the first time I have the gall and gumption to leave it." She had also learned the hard way not to mince words too harshly and to simply avail herself to the situation as needed. They had the same goal, and she was more than prepared if he, for whatever reason, betrayed his intentions.

It was not the first time she had been crossed or double-crossed on a job gone awry, and she wasn't keen on that mistake happening again. The empath would always have the upper hand in conflicts--the ability to sense and perceive intentions gave her a split second of reaction, though she didn't always pay attention to it.

"What does it feel like--if, if I may ask?" Raea stuttered, suddenly realizing it may not even be appropriate to ask, but she burned with curiosity having seen it in action, "What is it like to take something so precious from someone? Why must it be like that?" She half turned, jerking a thumb back at the Clark's household as it retreated the further they moved on.

 

[suneater]

"horrible."

He answered the moment she stopped speaking. He'd been down this road before. Had this conversation. This whole experience was one that felt pretty familiar to him.

"i'd be a cruel man to find joy in what had transpired there. it's not as if i do it for no reason, though."

The path the walked was well traveled. Carriages and merchants passed them by as they made their way towards Maker's Meadow. A sad place to have to spill blood. Tainting the beauty of it. The sun at it's highest, they'd be enveloped in warmth as they continued on. Years of living in Amol-Kalit made the heat rather paltry to the man clad in metal and mementos.

"people's suns, their treasures, they make them understand the gravity of their situations when asked to sacrifice them."

A chained hand placed upon the recently acquired urn, his fingers softly tracing its inlay.

"it also shows me their true intentions. Evangeline revealed darkness in her heart today, even if it was subtle. i never ask people if they're willing to kill or watch die, since that is my part. she showed it though. with her love for her daughter. she would watch any man die for her."

He stopped a moment on their trail and sighed.

"this place forgets the weight of death. people kill and kill and don't remember who their victims are. they don't consider their families, their history or their class or their future. if they want me to kill, they will give me their sun. they will be reminded of that weight."

 

[Empyrean]

Suneater had stopped, and Raea paused just behind him. What he said had provoked a kind of sadness in her--if only because there was a kernel of truth to it.

"I lost my whole family to death. And they lost their family. And that family lost family, and friends. Everyone died and I'd be remiss in saying I wouldn't give many things to find out or understand who was behind it, and why." Raea admitted it out loud for the first time. The thing that had been in her mind for most of her early life.

"Their corpses were put on display throughout. As if a mockery. As if it were an amusement or sport for them. Drained of their blood. Terror on their faces." A shadow fell over her features, brows knitting as she could remember. "But they didn't kill me. I took this job because the journey isn't cheap, but if it puts me one step closer to just...just understanding. Just processing. It was a sick thing, to murder so aimlessly. To leave them that way. To leave me to see it all. It was...traumatizing."

Raea felt as though she understood more, and feared less. Suneater had reasons, and his logic was not unfounded--what wouldn't a person do or give up if it meant the safekeeping of something precious. A treasure. She was no one's treasure and so she felt she was kept alive for a purpose. Something unspoken, unbidden. She was meant to go on this journey and seek her answers.

What would she give up to achieve those answers? "I sometimes wonder if my journey is foolish." She took survey of their surroundings, inhaling deeply. Feeling less reserved and more outspoken, "I chase a name that may or may not be real, for knowledge that may or may not exist and yet--the drive. The drive!" She curled a fist and shook it close, pressing her lips to the knuckle thoughtfully before it fell to her side limply.

"I think," She spoke carefully, "That we all have a touch of darkness. What wouldn't we do for the thing or things we treasure the most? But to give it up...that is something else entirely." She couldn't stop the path of her thoughts then, and in a way found her encounter with suneater the most curious. He was pushing her to think in a way she had never thought before, to survey her choices in a way she hadn't surveyed them before.

What was her sun? Would she give it up? "Maybe there's just something wrong with me!" She half-heartedly joked with a quiet laugh. Of course there was, but she was here and proving to be of use to someone like suneater as they trekked along. "I've killed, and gotten others killed. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, I can't say for sure anymore. More than likely all of the above. Still...the weight is there, you're right. I can't imagine being free of it."

She thought back to Evangeline's choice. "A woman who wanted to feel the kiss of dragonfire. I wonder what kind of woman her mother was? I wonder if Evangeline will..." She trailed off in thought, murmuring quietly. "...what happens? What happens when you take--eat, their sun?"

 

[suneater]

She had a lot to say. He didn’t blame her if these were the thoughts that had plagued her for however long. He always appreciated those who truly considered the weight of death. Her situation was a bit different.

A mockery, Raea said. A horrible display. Those who revel in showing the world their atrocities. He knew these types. Often those involved in the dealings of humans. Mafias, empires, kingdoms, etc. The organizations that have the means to act out such nightmares.

He turned to face her. His expressionless helmet looked at her with a lowered aura.

“their sun will witness what i was asked to do. they will stay with me until the day that i am inevitably cut down.” He reached around his chainmail and pulled out a yellowing, stained piece of paper.

“this was the first sun i ever claimed. it will never leave my side.”

He placed it back into his person and punched it back into the spigot that held it.

“Raea, you should quiet your chase.” He spoke confidently.

“the answer you seek may be out there. but what are you willing to give for it? what will you do with that information? what will the ‘why’ accomplish? you will meet your trauma again and live it tenfold. and you may perish in the process.”

The wind whistled through the rings of his chainmail. The paper he’d displayed flapped haplessly against the metal and the sun began to pass by their persons as it headed towards slumber. Traffic on the road seemed to be dying down as they stood on the side of it. The world calmed as they spoke.

“huh.” He said with a shrug, before turning around to continue their journey.

“our eyes are the same color.”

 

[Empyrean]

For a moment, Raea didn’t move. She didn’t breathe, and her world felt titled and somewhere off kilter.

It was the kind of moment she read about in books, where time stilled. It was the kind of moment when some ethereal creature like the elf kind passed her way—something so immeasurably beautiful, old, and timeless simultaneously. Somehow, that is how their exchange felt in that moment—as though it might stretch forever and ever.

But then it passed, and Raea blinked slowly, commanding her lungs to breathe again, to re-ground herself and anchor herself back to reality. She couldn’t say whether suneater simply had this profound effect on others. He was everything and ordinary all at once. She had never met another who had the same eyes as hers—not in all of Alliria that she could find. Chasing rumors and speculation, but never had she seen any budding truth. Now, here, of all the jobs to take, of all the people to ally with—suneater made a simple observation and though Raea couldn’t see—couldn’t confirm. She somehow understood it to be true. It was not that suneater couldn’t or wouldn’t lie to her—for all that she knew he could have lied to her all the while, poised for the right moment to take her down (though to what ends she had yet to decide other than her own unique eyes).

Still.

He encouraged her to stop and it was this, of all things—not the common sense of his after thoughts, no, no—she had no time to think about the practicality of his words—no. It was his confidence that she should cease that somehow caught her off guard.

“I-I know I’m a small fish in a large ocean.” She said, trying to steady her words so that she could voice her thoughts with composure, “Magick—however deep those roots go into Arethil, I confess I don’t know or understand a-and maybe I never will. But my life—my whole broken life I’ve been—I don’t know. Misled? Dismissed? Misunderstood? Ostracized? For what--?! Some gift and eyes I didn’t choose to have.”

Now she paced after him to catch up, for he had wandered ahead when she had paused.
“I just--I just want to understand why—of all the people I loved near and dear—why I was spared their grisly fate. There has to be…something more. Something more to what I had, what I lost and what I’ve gained—and why. I can’t help my obsession over it. I just…I don’t know. I need to know why! Something destroyed the life I had—and it wasn’t human—I’d stake my life on that. If just one person could just—just, be honest with me about any of it. To help me understand? That’s worth so much more than living an idle life of lies, dismissals and misdirection.”

Raea thought long and hard about suneater’s words, well into the early evening. Would she rather die knowing the truth or go on living this pathetic life accepting only thinly veiled excuses, mind games and ostracization? There were times her arms crossed and she furiously rubbed at her arms—not because she was cold, but because her skin crawled with the phantom echoes of those negative feelings, her empathy crawling along her skin with ethereal power in response.

“Where do your eyes come from?” She finally asked with a small measure of guarded curiosity, the question weighing on her mind. Even with this perhaps insignificant confession, Raea could gain some kernel or insight. “How did your magick cultivate?”