The Great Ones Bhathairk: The Aftermath

[Weylin Kyrel]

The hunter was nervous. He felt trapped. No, not trapped exactly. He felt more as if he had yet to snap the trigger but was still pressing ever harder down. Was this how hares and minx felt when encountering something new?

The orcess' words might have looked to be falling on deaf ears as jittery as the human was, but they weren't. He had heard everything she said perfectly. A slight frown escaped him. He focused his attention onto her when she finished.

"Dragons always bring trouble. Never seen one that hasn't destroyed everything around it." Weylin said as terrible memories of too many encounters with dragons floated to his mind.

After a second pause he went on. "Don't blame the tree and flowers for the dragon. They are just trying to survive in what is left too."

Weylin noticed a stray strand of hair had gotten loose from the orcess' head. He reached over slowly and pushed it behind her ear.

A slight smile crossed his lips. "That tree is Bhathairk now. Charred and blackened. But both will survive and sprout new growths. The flowers are like you. The dragon tried to drown you in blood. But you still reached past it to the warmth of the sun."

With that the hunter went back to his nervous looking about. More little sounds caught his attention. Every rustle of the wind some new monster ready to pounce him if he looked away.

Zeri Rekani

 

[Zeri Rekani]

ZERI'S RUINED HOUSE​

Zeri had not ever seen a dragon before the one that had been (living beneath?) Bhathairk emerged. And just the sight of the Black Dragon alone was enough to overwhelm her with true horror, to send her body into the deadly grip of shock. How could something be that big? From what she had heard and been told about dragons, the Black Dragon was an anomaly even among them, somehow having grown to a size that dwarfed all of Its kin.

And though Zeri did not know about dragons always bringing trouble, her first impression had been terrible and traumatic enough. So she nodded along. The Black Dragon had certainly destroyed everything around It, all callously without a care for what It was doing. There were monsters, and then there was the Black Dragon, so far as Zeri was concerned.

Which is why a look of bewilderment came over her when Weylin said, Don't blame the tree and flowers for the dragon. What? Did he not hear her? Those things were not natural. They looked like a tree, looked like a meadow of flowers, but they were not. They were the vile marks of a horrible monster. The Spirit of Earth was not in them. Zeri believed this as deeply as she could.

Weylin pushed with his hand a strand of hair from her face.

And then he said it.

That tree is Bhathairk now.

Zeri recoiled as if Weylin had abruptly slapped her clean across the face. Pure shock and disgust overcame her expression, her mouth hanging wide open. And she jerked again when he went on to say further that, The flowers are like you. The implication behind that statement made Zeri feel dizzy with boiling anger.

He went back to glancing about, but Zeri was absolutely fuming. She--with great effort--forced herself to close her eyes and calm down. Yet this calming was like the reduction of a wildfire down to a bonfire, still large and burning hot in its own right. Her hands were planted on the slab of rubble she was sat upon (the jerky under the palm of one), and her arms were locked rigidly straight.

She was going to talk and it was going to be mean. She knew it. She couldn't stop it.

"That tree...is a trophy...placed by a MURDERER...in the city I LOVE...atop the corpses of thousands of tribesorcs and MY MA...and YOU call it Bhathairk!? That THING is a symbol of destruction and death. It will NEVER--"

Zeri cut herself off. Flung the remaining half of the elk jerky back at Weylin. Then stood and stomped around the pile of debris and detritus, walking around what was once the front of her home to the back, where line of sight to Weylin would be blocked by the broken bricks and wood and all else.

She sat down on the ground cross-legged, this ground that was once green with grass and was the Rekani home's small backyard at one point. This ground that--not even a dozen feet from Zeri--terminated suddenly into a cliff that plunged down into one of the newly opened chasms where lava dwelled below. Yet another scar left by the Black Dragon Neha.

She had been so glad to see him.

Had been.

Weylin Kyrel

 

[Weylin Kyrel]

What had he said?

The orcess was displeased with the hunter. First it was her shocked expression then it was her venom filled words. She pounced on the unsuspecting human and tore at him with her claws.... And then she was gone.

What had he said?

Weylin froze up. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to think. More emotions and thoughts than one could process at once were flowing through him as freely as the lava through the city. Her words burned through him as easily and intensely as well. All he could do was sit there staring off where she had gone to alone.

What had he said?

Crunch.

The human quickly shifted his attention to the sudden sound all too close. His hand came to rest on his hatchet.

Smack.

Pain spread across the back of his head. The Wise One shook her hand after smacking him. A frown possessed her lips. He was shocked by it into a blank state. His state only caused her frown to deepen.

"Go apologize to her Pup. You spoke on things you do not know."

"Bu-"

A twitch at the corner of her mouth stopped him.

"Apologize. You are no druid. You can not feel the evil upon this place." The Owl Mother stared at him still frozen for a moment. "Now Pup."

The hunter did not hesitate this time. He got himself up and went to where the orcess had gone.

Steps slowed as he approached. He stopped. Sat. Observed her face for the first time that day.

After a bit of silence Weylin said to Zeri, "Sorry. I was wrong." He paused a bit. "Hit me. Make you feel better."

Zeri Rekani

 

[Zeri Rekani]

The "Backyard"​

Zeri sat, and the heat coming up from the chasm made the air close to its edge uncomfortably warm. Tiny beads of sweat dotted her forehead here and there, ran down the sides of her arms and the small of her back. Elsewhere in the city the fight to secure the ruins from the Risen went on, with every now and again the faint clash and clang of weapons being carried by the wind to her half-elven ears.

None of this would be happening if it were not for the Black Dragon. There would be no Risen, no fight to retake the city, no scores and scores of the dead, and no horrific rending of the earth. Bhathairk had been a beautiful place--Zeri knew it with all her heart to be so. And it was a place of true beauty then, before the Dragon had come. And now there were those caricatures, the Tree and the Meadow, ugly and disgusting things which pretended at that beauty. Yet in them were encapsulated the murder of innocents beyond counting, devastation of wanton measure, and the near extinguishing of an entire way of life. Zeri would never see Bhathairk as healed until that Black Tree and that deceitful Meadow were expunged from the face of Arethil.

And no one could convince her otherwise. So when Weylin sat down close by, she expected him to try and dig his heels in and to keep to his opinion, to try to convince her of this in the same vein as he had when speaking of the Spine and its rampant dangers. She didn't look at him as they sat in silence. She already had the words on her tongue, crackling with bitter energy and ready to be spoken once Weylin tried to make his case for the Tree and the Meadow. Two words: Go away.

But he didn't.

And Zeri's surprise briefly cracked through her hardened outward demeanor. In an almost petty way she wanted to be vindicated by an attempt to convince her out of her belief, to have another moment of righteous indignation. It was wrong, she knew it was wrong, but the fire of her belief was indiscriminate and it wanted simply to burn.

His straightforward, unencumbered apology was...disarming. Irresistible in its genuineness to the better angels of her nature. Five minutes may have went by after he had said it, and during this time the tenseness and anger throughout her blood cooled.

She breathed out through her nose.

Finally looked sideways to him.

Said, "It's okay."

A few seconds later, she cocked a small fist up to the level of her shoulder, her forearm like the long neck of a giraffe and her bent fist the giraffe's head. She half-heartedly punched across the gap between them in a perfunctory way, striking Weylin in the upper arm with barely enough force to nudge it slightly.

"I feel strongly about it, but..." The side of her mouth twitched. A flick of her eyes down. A little further down. Then back up to Weylin. "But I don't want to hurt you. I really don't."

And though she had apologized before, she did it again. "I'm sorry for the things I said to you back in the Spine. When you were still mourning. I was wrong too."

Weylin Kyrel

 

[Weylin Kyrel]

Weylin did the only thing he could do right now: wait. His gaze stayed on her face searching for any signs of what was on her mind. There was many things he began to notice that he hadn't before. The amber shade of her eyes was very pretty. Her skin was a lighter shade of green than the orcs he knew back in the Spine. Was her hair always dark green? He thought it was black before.

The hunter was studying over every little detail. Her ears were more fae like than orcish. The kind of piercings in them. The exact shape of her facial tattoo. She even had fangs rather than tusks. How had he not noticed all of this before?

Was he staring too much?

After blinking a bit the man finally looked away. The stray thought had brought a light blush to his cheeks.

The orcess spoke up finally spoke up. He looked back over to her and gave her a slight smile. Then more words followed along with a feathery punch. And then an apology. This brought a bit of a melancholy twist to his slight smile.

"Sorry you had to find out. Hoped you never would."

White had decided to come padding over to join them. She shoved herself right between them and then laid down her head on Zeri's lap. The good girl looked up at the orcess and gave her a look that said, "I like you but no funny ideas."

Weylin smiled down at the dog for a moment. A bit of petting was given to her. Then he looked back to the orcess. "You should have punched harder. Took a hit from a troll. Only some ribs. Weak as you are, feel like a pinecone dropping on me."

A slight smirk was directed Zeri's way.

Zeri Rekani

 

[Zeri Rekani]

The "Backyard"​

Sorry you had to find out. Hoped you never would.

"Yeah," Zeri replied in a far away tone. The sheer suddenness of it all was the most striking. She had gone to bed the night before the Black Dragon arose from the Bald Mountain just like any other night. Woke up before the sunrise and went on her morning run around her neighborhood and everything was so calm and peaceful and normal. And then the first earthquake happened, as abruptly and easily as Zeri could snap her fingers. From that point on...everything changed.

Zeri barely registered the dog's presence, or the dog's head resting in her lap.

Weak as you are, feel like a pinecone dropping on me.

She saw his well-meaning smirk, but her eyes dropped away regardless. Looking out first over the chasm that sharply terminated the former backyard of her home. Then down and away. At the ground and at nothing in particular upon it.

Weak as you are.

I couldn't even save my Ma. I was...I was...

Too weak.

It was true, and had she not admitted it to herself? She was not like the heroes she idolized, and never would be. She was a foolish girl, chasing dreams.

She became more aware of the dog. The touch of fur and the uncomfortable warmth. She scooted out and away from the dog, and in so doing in a little more away from Weylin as well. And Zeri drew up her knees and rested her chin on them and wrapped her arms around her shins, looking as small and vulnerable as she was.

"I just want to stay here for a while longer," she said. Talking to but not looking at Weylin. "Then...I don't...I don't know..."

She did have a goal in mind, the one path forward that was laid out clearly before her: finding her elder sister, Paola. But that was the destination, not the journey. In which direction she should take her first step toward it, even this she did not know at present.

And in the back of her mind, her imagined images of the Black Tree and the Meadow lingered.

Weylin Kyrel

 

[Weylin Kyrel]

Little too late Weylin realized the kind of impact his playful words had. Zeri visibly shrunk back into her little shell from them. She blamed herself. He had done the same. Still did the same at times. A feeling of shame tied far too deeply with sorrow. Regret after regret would pile up in an attempt to crush her soul. And it had been his words that sent her down this spiral.

The hunter frowned deeply. The orcess had pulled away in so many ways. Likely she wished to be alone right now. It was how he had felt. But he also knew how fatal that feeling was. It had lead him to living deep in the wilds avoiding all but prey and the only family he had left, White. He had even pulled away from her then. All it had done was reinforce upon him how alone he was with his family gone. Sadness that spiraled out of control. She would probably do the same.

So he gave her a moment to herself after she spoke. Then the human got up and moved over behind her. He sat down sliding his legs around her. Then he wrapped an arm around her waist while the other he used as a brace to keep himself steady.

"Okay."

It was all Weylin said. It was all he was going to say. He just sat behind her with her virtually in his lap. An arm was around her, a little reminder she was safe, and an arm steadying himself. He looked out over the city. The lava. The rubble. The smoke drifting from everywhere. It was all too similar to the one of his home when he had sat alone with only White in the past.

The large dog wasn't happy. The female was very sad and her head lay hadn't soothed her any. And now her human was closer to the female than he was before. The head lay had failed in keeping them a bit apart as well. Her day was going okay till now. Why was it suddenly going so not okay?

Zeri Rekani

 

[Zeri Rekani]

The "Backyard"​

Zeri stiffened slightly when she felt Weylin sitting close. The same protest that seemed to live just beneath her skin, the same that had protested the dog resting her head in Zeri's lap, sparked back up. But the impulse was weak and fleeting. It was complex, wanting to be alone at the same time as wanting the quiet comfort of a knowing, understanding presence, but one overpowered the other. And when Weylin slipped an arm around her waist, Zeri relaxed, the tenseness in her body and the guarded state of her mind loosening.

And she sat there like that. Sat folded in a diminutive ball with Weylin behind and holding her, in the backyard where to her back were the ruins of her home and to her front was the fiery chasm that was one of many scarring Bhathairk.

She thought of things ending. Sunsets that would not be followed by sunrises. The last time for many things, even if at the time she did not know they would be the last. Like with Grandpa, and the way he would lift her off the ground and she would hang on to his arm and how fun that was for her as a child. There was a last time for that, a last time for being with her family, and there would likewise be a last time she would see Bhathairk.

Time to let go.

Zeri waited a long time. A long time. The daylight shifted as she sat and tried to hold on to the past, watching and feeling and knowing that it would slip from her grasp and that she would have to let it.

And the time came at last when she was ready.

Goodbye, Rodon.

Goodbye, Gurrash.

Goodbye, Pa.

And finally,

Goodbye, Ma.

"May the Spirits guide your journeys," she whispered. A sob came. Then another. Her shoulders hitched and she pressed her face into her knees.

And she stayed like that until her eyes were dry. Until her breathing leveled out.

Until she lifted her head and rested her chin on her knees again.

Until she had let them go.

Weylin Kyrel

 

[Weylin Kyrel]

The orcess gave the initial protest that was tradition for those in deep mourning. But she gave in just as quickly to relax in one arm embrace. It was the thing Weylin needed but never had back when he lost his family. As much as White did for him, there was just some things only other humanoids could do for each other.

So when Zeri curled up further into a ball all Weylin did was make sure to keep his arm around her. He just needed to make sure she knew she wasn't truly alone.

In silence he sat with her. Hours likely had past while they just stayed there. The sun had made it further along its path. A whisper came from her, but he couldn't make out what. He didn't want to. It was not said to him. She had said it to those she lost. Then she began to sob again.

Quietly the hunter shifted his position. His legs crossed around the orcess like walls. He leaned over her like a root. Both arms came to be surrounding her in an embrace. Eyes closed. Face blank. She was left to sob and grieve and mourn in what privacy his body could provide for her.

In all of this he remained silent. She would speak when she was ready to be spoken to again.

White just padded over and sat behind her human. In her own little way she would support them both in this long, quiet moment.

Zeri Rekani

 

[Zeri Rekani]

Zeri thought for some time more after she had mourned. Her path upon returning from Thagretis was so clear, driven by a certain and attainable goal: reach Bhathairk, see her home again. But now that she had done it, the straight path diverged. She had her ideas on what she should do next, but...how to even go about them?

There was the Black Tree and the Meadow. Those foul monuments to death making Bhathairk ugly, serving as reminders of the city's darkest day. She had not laid eyes on either for herself yet, but she had overheard surviving tribesorcs and others talking about them out by the city Gates. The problem? A lot of them thought about the Black Tree and the Meadow the way Weylin did: that they were somehow part of Bhathairk now, that they should just live under the awful shadows of the Black Dragon's devastation that they cast. To Zeri they sounded resigned, like proud warriors needlessly surrendering themselves when what they should be doing was fighting.

There were other tribesorcs out there who felt like Zeri did--she knew it to be true. Knew it. Maybe she could convince them? Convince some shamans? Convince even some mages who have come from far away lands? She would have to. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't destroy the Black Tree herself. The Meadow, maybe, if she put it to the torch, but not the Tree. That would take a lot more.

Other than the Tree and the Meadow, and whether or not she did try to see both destroyed, Zeri knew she needed to go find her sister. But where to even begin? All she knew was that Paola had gone west. As far as Elbion? Annuakat? She didn't know. Paola could be anywhere in the world, and there was even the chance that she might come back to Bhathairk once the news reached her. Maybe. Or maybe not, thinking the destruction to be total and Zeri and the rest of the family to be dead. She...well she wouldn't be so wrong for thinking that. She might well spend some days in mourning, and then do the only thing she could do, the only thing Zeri herself could (and did) do now: move on.

Zeri pondered for a while. And thought that, maybe, she could try to rally support against the Black Tree before she departed Bhathairk to look for her sister. She might succeed, she might not, but she thought she needed to at least try. Bhathairk would never be her home--not the place she knew and loved--so long as those foul trophies left by the Black Dragon remained.

She spoke at last.

"I need to find my sister. She's out there in Arethil somewhere. I don't...I don't know where, but I've got to find her and let her know I'm still alive."

Then she took in a breath. She was sure Weylin would disagree or disapprove in some way, but she was resolute.

"But while I'm still here, I think...I'm going to try to rally some of my people against the Black Tree and the Meadow. I'd love nothing more than to see Bhathairk healed...and it won't be until those ugly scars are gone. As long as the Tree and the Meadow are still here, the Black Dragon remains. They are symbols of the death and destruction It caused. I won't stand for it. Not if I can do something to help."

And she thought she could.

She hoped she could.

(and that this, too, was not a dream she was foolish to chase.)

Weylin Kyrel

 

[Weylin Kyrel]

Still the mountain shelter the fertile valley, Weylin had yet to move. His arms and legs were still around Zeri and his head over her own. She spoke to him finally and it was towards reconnection with her sister. That was good news in all of this for once. There was still family left for her to find. It was an action he could agree with.

But he had trouble agreeing with her next statement. She was focused on getting rid of the tree and the flowers in the meadow. They were physical symbols of her emotional scars. A reminder of her trauma and lose.... He could understand that. He didn't agree with recklessly destroying nature, but pruning for the health of the forest was needed. Perhaps this was the same just for his friend's state of mind.

The hunter was quiet for a minute as he ran over everything in his mind. Finally he said, "Do we need help getting rid of them? We could set fire to the meadow and dig out the roots of the tree. Use heavy stones to pull it down and drag it off a cliff."

Weylin looked at Zeri waiting for her answer. Right now was not the time for him to question the morals of killing a few plants. Right now was the time for him to support the orcess in whatever would help her move on.

Zeri Rekani

 

[Zeri Rekani]

The "Backyard"​

That was...odd. Though Zeri was pleasantly surprised, it was hardly like Weylin at all to reverse his stance on something--especially as quickly as he had with this. She was prepared for it. Ready for the stubbornness. Ready to just let him stew in it and leave him here while she did what she needed to do, for herself and for all of Bhathairk. But he didn't, and she was glad for it.

Zeri worked her away out from Weylin's embrace, one squirming scoot at a time. Then she stood. Turned to face him.

And gave a definitive nod.

"Yes. We will need help. We can't just go and do this alone. I can't...I won't be the only witness. I know that there are others of Bhathairk who have lost as much as I have, some surely more. I know that they would want to see the Tree and the Meadow destroyed. I know that they would want to take part in it, too. The Black Dragon...from what I heard, the Black Dragon was too powerful--only a few people could even stand to fight it. This is their one chance, Weylin. Those others who have lost, who couldn't even attempt to fight the Black Dragon and couldn't do anything to save those they loved, this is the one thing that they can do."

Zeri was beaming brightly. Smiling beneficently.

"And I'm going to give it to them."

Zeri started walking, assuming that Weylin would follow. She collected her crude bow from the front of her ruined house and marched with a renewed and radiant purpose back the way she had come to arrive at her home.

Back toward the Gates.

Weylin Kyrel