Private Tales A new world

[Raigryn Vayd]

Fife would heard movement first. Then she would catch the glint of wide eyes at the bottom of the bag. A quiet, but harsh sound came next. The sound of Jocelyn grinding her teeth together. A soft grumble followed.

Raigryn rolled his eyes but didn't say anything else. It crossed his mind that if they left the city to the east they might actually get to see their kind in the wild. It wasn't easy. You had to find their nests in the day and by night you would never spot one.

He waited to see how patient Fife would be. The lunasloth would probably come forward eventually. That had definitely sounded like a token protest to him, not the stern telling off he'd been given the evening before.

 

[Fife]

There was a sound of movement from within the bag and her heart fluttered in excitement and relief. She'd believed him that the sloth was still there, but hearing the proof eased out her crumpled worries. She peered into the bag, catching a glimpse of great eyes, and she smiled warmly. Very softly, she whistled Jason's name again.

Fife was, above all else, persistent. When she set her mind to a task, she would go to great lengths to see it through. And waiting for Jason to emerge from the bag for a treat was easy compared to slipping past the Elbion guards into deeper parts of the city. She was content to wait out the lunasloth. The grinding and grumble made her smile, and she wiggled the bread tauntingly before she sat perfectly still once more.

She'd been worried about the little creature, and unless Raigryn interrupted the standoff, she was determined to wait until it came out of hiding to take the treat.

// Raigryn Vayd //

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn watched with interest as two personalities faced off to see who would break first. He looked down at his hands, one now crossed over the other in his lap. He liked to think that he didn't look quite so old yet. The silver was distinguished. It was his fingers that showed the years the most, the corners of his eyes too when he had a clear mirror.

The lunasloth started to break. It wasn't Raigryn - who had dropped her - after all. She edged forwards inch by inch. A hand reached out slowly, but eyes stayed on Fife.

Raigryn stayed silent. Jason wouldn't be that hungry. Would have gone hunting moths in the night otherwise. A small bridge of trust was being formed between the pair and he didn't want his voice to interrupt that.

 

[Fife]

Jason slowly began to creep closer, and Fife remained perfectly still. Her eyes never left the creature's, though a small smile pulled gently at the corners of her mouth. So long as the lunasloth didn't retreat and Raigryn didn't call her away from the task, she was settled in to wait.

She'd caught pigeons before, at the heart of several winters when even the rats had become scarce. Lying still and waiting for the birds to come to her had required less energy than running from guards or chasing down cats. This was, of course, a bit different, but Fife was no less determined. Her hand was steady as it held the bread aloft and her body hardly seemed to move even with breath.

// Raigryn Vayd //

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Jason sniffed at a finger of the offered hand, wrapping her toes around it to keep it still. In one excruciating, slow movement the lunasloth used the forearm for purchase. Using it like a branch Jason would take hold with gripping fingers and tail before nibbling at the bread.

If Fife took her arm from the bag the lunasloth would stay there. Until she saw Raigryn of course, at which point some additional grumbling and chastising would ensue.

 

[Fife]

While catching pigeons and starlings had had a fair reward (not starving to death), waiting for Jason to climb onto her arm was far more rewarding. Her smile crept across her face as gradually as the lunasloth that made her way out of the bag. Waiting until she began to nibble on the bread, Fife gently stood up and backed into her seat.

She turned to Raigryn with a bright smile and the silent pride aged her expression -- not quite boy, not quite woman. She grinned happily before looking back to Jason and carefully raising a finger to scratch behind her ear.

The weight of yesterday seemed to have lifted, the tension her her shoulders eased and her eyes clear. Though she still felt vaguely foggy, she was warmed by the relief that both Jason and Raigryn were okay. She forgot, for the moment, the talk of siege and the orcs, and simply enjoyed the quiet while she scratched Jason.

// Raigryn Vayd //

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Something tugged at the back of his mind, but he paid it no heed. Instead he chuckled at the pair.

"Traitor," he laughed at Jason. His response was another quite rumble of teeth scraped together. None of the male lunasloth he had owned had been this mardy. Few knew anything much at all about their social structures and communities. They were not easy creatures to observe.

Perhaps when no one was around to watch they stopped moving at a glacial pace and had very complex social interactions and hierarchies. If, as he suspected, some aspect of that was magical then it might be impossible.

"Well I guess she can ride on you when we go out."

 

[Fife]

Fife gave Raigryn an apologetic glance, but had to bite back a hiss of laughter at Jason's disgruntled rumble. She felt sorry for him, really. He'd dropped Jason to give it a chance to cut loose and she was upset with him. Unfortunately, Fife couldn't chastise the lunasloth any more than she could reassure Raigryn that she was just sulking.

She paused her scratching, however, when he told her Jason could ride with her when they went out again. Fife pointed to herself, a lopsided grin and raised brows returning that youthful, boyish look to her features. Glancing toward the tray and his cups, she pointed to him and offered a thumbs up, inquiring brows hiking up as she nodded gently. Are you ready, then? It was a silly question. Of course he was going to be ready. He'd been as surly as Jason not too long ago, but she asked it anyway.

// Raigryn Vayd //

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Grumpy creature," he told Jason. Not that it would help matters. If the sloth took a liking to Fife, he was going to have to show the lad how to train Jason properly with treats. He didn't keep them to have fluffy companions, but to give him the benefit of exceptional eyes in the dark.

"Let me get changed and I'll meet you down at the bar. Navern will be back before long and he might have found a crossbow for you."

He kept the concern from his face but he could also feel the change in the city. The undercurrent of concern at the encroaching threat. Sometimes, to an Empath, a city could feel like a living being on its own. Emotions rippling out until it was one feeling from a hundred souls.

Despite his confidence there was a chance he would have to leave Belgrath with Fife before the danger reached them. For now, there was crossbow operation to teach as well as a shield of Avarice.

 

[Fife]

Nodding, Fife carefully positioned Jason on the tray. She had to wait a moment for her to uncurl from around her arm, but when she was settled with her heel and all the bread crumbs she could want, Fife set the cups around her and placed the tray on the table.

Returning to the chair, she picked up his shirt and gestured between herself and Raigryn. He'd said before that he may need her help and she didn't imagine lifting his arms to put his shirt on was recommended. But he was a grown man and if he told her to go she would.

Or she might argue. He was spoiling her by letting her express her opinions, and she had always been a bit stubborn. He'd scared the daylights out of her, whether she'd been too numb to feel it or not. A bit of fussing was in order.

// Raigryn Vayd //

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

He managed the shirt himself, but Raigryn had been forced to ask for help getting his right arm into his spare coat. Whilst it was warm inside the city one couldn't go walking around the streets in just a tunic. He had liked his other coat, but it was ruined beyond repair now.

There was almost no one at the bar. They could hear squads of dwarven warriors rushing around outside. A fully armoured dwarf didn't move quietly.

"News?" he asked of the owner.

"A full orc horde from the Blightlands at the gate," came the reply. "Four thousand at least."

Raigryn smiled at Fife. "Don't worry. Like I said, would take ten times that number months to take this city." He could vividly remember his first battle. The confusion of the melee and how every bit of fencing technique seemed useless in the chaos. It was a hard thing to consider objectively.

Navern pushed his way through the door, carrying a bag that looked exactly the right shape. He headed right for them and set the bag down on the table.

"Ho there Raigryn. Took me time, armourers all in short supply today. This is a bit light for war."

Raigryn lifted the crossbow from the bag. It was well finished, with smooth polished curves. Decorative metal plates adorned the sides, runes had been etched into it. They weren't magical, but made the weapon look distinctly expensive.

"Bit fancy?"

"Probably an order for a young one that got cancelled," Navern explained.

"Find somewhere I can show you how to use this?" Raigryn asked Fife

 

[Fife]

Fife let him dress himself, gathering Jason into her pouch to give him a semblance of privacy without being too far. Which was good foresight, since she had to help him into his coat.

The tavern below was quiet, but the street outside was not. Tailing Raigryn, she craned her neck to see out at the commotion, not quite putting the pieces together until he asked after news and the innkeeper responded. The siege. Fife had forgotten and was a bit pale when Raigryn turned to assure her all was well. He seemed so confident, and she wasn't very good at reading his feelings to be able to tell otherwise -- he was sealed up tight as a safe, well beyond any attempts at probing she could manage. She nodded.

The same young dwarf from before entered, carrying a bag as he approached Raigryn with a greeting and further news on the state of the city. But it was the little crossbow he withdrew that had Fife's attention.

"A bit fancy" felt like an understatement to her. She looked up at Raigryn with an incredulous look when he addressed her, pointing to herself. This was for her? Her brows were high with surprise as she turned to look at the weapon. It was too nice! Just like everything else he had given her thus far -- the clothes, the boots, the pony, his patience...

But her surprise quickly turned to an excitement almost as great as when he'd gotten her the pony, and she nodded eagerly at his query.

// Raigryn Vayd //

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

It was fancier than Raigryn had expected too. Especially for the coin he had parted with. He had expected a very plain piece of kit to practise with. The Dwarves worked to the currency of favours and grudges as happily as they did the precious metals they mined.

Raigryn might not have had much coin to his name, working off what he could garner town by town these days, but he had a wealth of favours across Arethil. He suspected Navern had passed a favour down the line to find this gathering dust somewhere.

It was hard to tell where the balance book was with a dwarf until a favour wash called upon. Navern had always been an honest sort at least.

"Range'll be pretty free today if ye wanted to see how it works?" Navern asked them both.

 

[Fife]

Naveen suggested the range would be free and Fife nodded again before turning to Raigryn with a small smile. She enjoyed learning, a notion helped greatly by her mentor's experienced and patient tutelage. He didn't make her feel stupid when she didn't understand things and he generally laughed off any flubs with the confidence that she would do better next time.

And she had wanted to be made useful. She'd not hesitated that morning to agree to the suggestion of learning how to wield such a weapon. If she was going to follow Raigryn into trouble like the duckling she was, then being able to defend herself (at the very least) would make her feel easier about the potential for trouble.

Yet as she turned back to the crossbow, the intimidation was there. She'd used her little knife on a couple of unpleasant occasions, but this was something else entirely. Though she had seen crossbows held by plenty of guards, she suddenly couldn't remember how they'd been holding them. She cast Raigryn a look of uncertainty. She wasn't going to make a move to pick it up before she was told to do so, admittedly nervous.

// Raigryn Vayd //

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn noticed the look. He slid the crossbow across the table towards her. She wasn't going to be able to wind it back far enough to really do any damage. Even though it was on the lighter end of dwarven crossbows it still required a cranequin to wind it.

"It looks quite complicated but its not too hard. Need to wind it properly though as there are lots of fiddly bits that can be broken," Raigryn said.

"So probably best not to let Raigryn show you!" Navern declared. He took the cranequin from his bag, expecting an explanation.

Raigryn raised an eyebrow at the dwarf. "Basically you wind it with that, set the string here," he said pointing to parts of the crossbow, "then aim it and point the trigger." He looked to Navern for approval with a sardonic smile.

"Well, even you could explain that far. We'll go down the range lad and I will show you how it works. Rule one is don't shoot it without a bolt on it. Pull the trigger fully wound without a bolt and there's a good chance it'll fly apart in yer hands."

 

[Fife]

Raigryn pushed the crossbow a bit closer and she picked it up. It was both heavier than it looked and not heavy at all. She tried to remember how she'd seen guards holding them, but it felt ungainly and awkward for her. However, just testing the weight of it in her hands eased her initial apprehension of it. Raigryn addressed the simplicity of the weapon and she nodded, not sure if she liked the idea of holding breakable fiddly bits.

Navern's jest worked up a smile, but the device he produced from the bag wiped it away. Fife had no idea what she was looking at. Trying not to feel too stupid, she held the crossbow out for Raigryn to explain the premise of how it all worked together. It was deceptively simple, which made her feel better and she nodded at the two. She was feeling a bit nervous, even with the fog between her and her emotions, but she was eager to try. Smiling, she nodded once more at Navern's offer to show her how to do it.

Fife looked down nervously at the crossbow once more at his warning. Don't shoot it without a bolt. She wasn't going to be testing the advice to find out exactly what that meant. Thinking back to the sound of the crossbow snapping in the hands of the mounted assassin in Elbion, she inclined her head in understanding.

It was a lot to take in, but she liked to think she picked up on things quickly enough. If she'd been able to grasp the basic concepts of Empathy, surely learning how to handle a physical object would simpler. Right? With a more confident grin, she looked up at the two men.

// Raigryn Vayd //

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Let's go over and point that thing down the range eh?" Navern suggested as Raigryn leaned towards the winch. It was, admittedly, a very good idea. They headed for the range which was almost entirely empty.

Soneone had brought in hay and formed targets by tightly binding them with twine and rope. Outdoors people usually formed targets by forming mounds of compressed earth. There was no soil down here. Just the smooth faces of rock. Raigryn didn't like being surrounded by the stone for too long.

Navern decided that he was in charge of this activity. He took towards the targets and showed her how to wind the bow and prepare it with a bolt. One that he drilled into the centre of the target from twenty yards out. It was a lighter crossbow. With the cranequin it could be loaded quite quickly, even if it would have been almost impossible with bare hand.

Navern handed it to Fife. He kept the bolts to himself.

"Now just go through the steps to wind it slow like," he asked.

 

[Fife]

The range was simple and amounted to what she would have expected of it. Not that she had much of an idea of what to expect beforehand. It was, as Navern had implied it would be, mostly empty. Good. Fife would have fewer witnesses if she did something stupid in the learning process. The dwarf was a fair tutor, but it was strange having somebody who wasn't Raigryn showing her anything. It was strange to think how quickly she'd adjusted to this new way of life, how normal it felt already. She cast Raigryn a look of uncertainty before giving Navern her undivided attention for the lesson.

With an eye for detail, she noted the process and the pieces. In his experienced hand, it appeared deceptively simple, and when he passed the crossbow to her she was shaking from a mixture of excitement and apprehension. Teaching herself how to wield her little boot knife had been one thing. But this?

Fife followed his directions and did her best to repeat what he'd done before her. The cranequin was awkward and she wasn't sure how far back to crank it before the pin would set the trigger, but she managed to get it drawn and the cranequin removed without making a fool of herself.

There was still time, she realized as she lifted it for Navern's inspection. He'd not given her any ammunition, and she couldn't blame him. She wouldn't have given a twelve-year-old boy the bolts either. As it were, she allowed him to show her how to hold the crossbow properly and once more it felt... off. Fife did as she was instructed, mindful of the trigger as Navern loaded a bolt, and aimed. She braced for the loud snap as she pulled the trigger and her arrow clipped the top right corner of the target.

Properly red in the face she sighed and cast Raigryn a flustered look. She knew she wasn't going to be great at it the first time, but she'd hoped to at least soundly hit the target, no farther away from it than she was.

// Raigryn Vayd //

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn had moved to stand just a few metres back. He offered a casual shrug to her flustered expression.

"Don't worry about where the bolts go for now. Practise loading it and firing it. If you have cause to use it you want to be able to do that without even thinking about it," Raigryn offered.

"But you also don't want to get into any bad habits," Navern explained. "So try and get it a little higher into the groove of your shoulder. Up in here. Then sight and squeeze the trigger. Squeeze gently until it goes off."

It seemed the dwarf was keen to show off his knowledge of the crossbow. Raigryn wasn't entirely sure why, but he suspected it was a matter of pride to the budding ranger. Navern handed her the cranequin once more to go through the process. He would do that until all twelve bolts had been launched into the target.

 

[Fife]

She looked between the two, interested (albeit somewhat confused) by the slight contradictions. Not wanting to wade into an argument she couldn't contribute to, however, she found a happy middle ground: she adjusted her form and did her best to do as Navern instructed her while also becoming familiar with the loading process in between. It was cumbersome and it seemed to take her ages in comparison the few moments he'd taken to even shown her. Her aim wasn't improving much, either much too high or much too low, and she had troubles keeping the thing steady.

After the six more shots had been fired, her arms were aching a little from the new activity, and the bolts had missed their mark terrifically. Something wasn't right, and as she removed the cranequin in preparation for the eight shot, something clicked. She held her knife in her left hand. She spoke to Raigryn with her left hand. When she tried to focus on things in the distance, she used her left eye. Instead of putting it against her right shoulder, after Navern loaded the bolt she raised it to her left.

She didn't hit the center, but she was closer. Having figured out what had been wrong, she fired the last four times from the left, each one progressively getting closer to the center as her aim improved. Though none of them could be considered "center", she felt more confident with the results. Mediocre at best was good enough for her and she smiled back at Raigryn, proud of herself for figuring out what had been wrong and having done an okay job at something new. Her ears were ringing and her arms were going to be tired from the new use but she was glad for it.

// Raigryn Vayd //

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Such an expert, yet he doesn't check which eye the student is aiming with..." Raigryn muttered.

The dwarf very slowly crossed his arms over his broad chest. One bushy eyebrow rose slowly as he turned his gaze towards Raigryn. The old empath merely chuckled.

"Looking much better like that lad," Navern said, deciding not to address Raigryn directly. "I'll go get the bolts."

The dwarf ambled off and Raigryn stepped closer. "That's looking good," he told Fife. "Like I said, it's a fiddly thing so you need to practise. From a few metres out even that light bolt will rip through chain mail with the right point on it."

He wasn't sure that talking about what the weapon could really do to a person was the right way to go about this. He had a lifetime of being in danger behind him. Raigryn had trained as a battle mage from a young age, augmenting his swordsman ship with the more subtle abilities of an Empath. At no point had he intended for Fife to follow that path, but the world was not a safe place for anyone.

 

[Fife]

Taking a break from cranking and firing while Navern fetched the bolts, she smiled between the pair. There was a familiarity that she was admittedly curious about, but wouldn't inquire after. She wasn't even sure how she was supposed to broach that question feasibly with her limited vocabulary with Raigryn.

But she smiled at her mentors, feeling her confidence rebuilding after her early mistakes. Raigryn's remark, however, was slightly distressing. It was easy to look at the hay target and take her time firing. She knew keenly how different practice was from implementation. The first time she'd had cause to use her little knife, she'd been shaking so badly at the river as she'd washed clean that she'd nearly dropped the knife into the quick-moving waters multiple times. It hadn't gotten any easier the second or third times. Yet her continued status as a member of the living spoke enough to its necessity, and she needed no further coaching on the matter.

Her smile turned sober and she nodded to indicate that she understood, opting to watch Navern down the range rather than looking at Raigryn. Hoping this skill was one she didn't have to use anytime soon was naive. Hope was something she'd not carried much with her over the years, but determination and stubborn resolve were. She was the adamant type and she would practice until she couldn't crank the cranequin or lift the bow any more if he asked it of her. It was better done now, when her feelings were still blunted and she couldn't reach her Aspects.

// Raigryn Vayd //

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

As he watched Fife practise for several more ends of bolts he wished that he could be the friendly scholar. He could have told the boy that everything in the world was safe and kept him sheltered from it all.

The naga had raided Alliria at night and blight orcs were assaulting one of the gates of Belgrath. Times were difficult and Raigryn had never kept too far from danger, even when he hadn't been searching for it. He had to be hard now, lock out some of his sympathy and watch as Fife rehearsed the new skill with an enviable determination.

"I think that's probably enough for now?" he suggested a while later. Fife had the quiver himself now, hanging the cranequin from the belt between shots.

 

[Fife]

She was getting used to the process of loading and firing the little crossbow (though it wasn't quite so little to her). Her arms were tired, but her aim had improved slowly. She'd struck the center of the target by mostly luck a time or two. At some point, Navern turned over the bolts to her and she took over the task of retrieving them herself. It was tiring work, but worthwhile, and when Raigryn called for her to be finished, she gave him an assessing look before nodding. He was probably right. Fife could have kept going until her arms refused to hoist it again.

Her arms felt very much like the jam they'd put on bread that morning as she pulled her bolts from the target, having to put her body weight into the process of freeing them where her arms failed her. Returning to Raigryn, she puffed out her cheeks with a breath of air and shook out her free arm. She was tired, but she was smiling at the both of them. Turning to Navern, she raised her hand to her mouth and extended it forward with a slight bow. Thank you. He'd been a good teacher, if a bit surly when Raigryn was sassy.

// Raigryn Vayd //

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Navern was better boasting about being a better teacher than he was at accepting thanks. He muttered something that might have been "of course" and gave a sharp, shallow nod.

Raigryn, recognising Charity, skimmed just a little. He put it straight to work on binding the wound across his back. There were orcs in the mountains. They were at the gates. He would need to be able to lift and swing his sword again.

"I might get some rest for a while lad?" Raigryn said. "That's all yours now. Need to take care of it."

He had just shown Fife how to use a weapon to kill a man. Later he would show him how to defend himself with magic. Using a crossbow had far less margin for error and self-harm than an offensive spell. He held a small regret for it, but there was no more point getting upset about this than a bad storm. The world was the way it was.