Private Tales Crossing Over

[Syuri]

Syuri's crystalline eyes followed the fae in silent scrutiny as he circled them. If she'd learned anything about fae it was that she didn't trust anything about them. Her gaze narrowed at his answer and her gut churned nervously at how uncertain it seemed. She had seen Keernan's magic several times now, it'd saved them both. It seemed a steep trade, but it wasn't her predicament to consider.

She looked to Keernan as the healer came to lead them away, and she reached to take his hand. "It's your choice.. But it seems, extreme." she frowned and tucked herself in close to him in attempt to lend some support. Mango was clawing her way out of her bag to peek over her shoulder and swat at fireflies.

 

[Keernan]

They were led down towards the water's edge. Keernan reached out, scratching behind mango's ear. The cat at first found this a distraction to its hunting, but mango soon had his eyes closed and head tilted towards him.

"We can think about it," he said. Even though he was the one to be subjected to Rushel's experiments but she was tied to him and at risk from The Aralyssian too. He didn't know how far her reach extended, whether they could simply outrun her or were damned to have her perpetually on their heels.

"It does sound extreme," Keernan said. He grimaced in pain as he walked. It had felt like being torn apart when the Aralyssian had a hold of him. Not something he wanted to experience again.

The edge of the water harboured a thick patch of giant mushrooms. Some of the mushrooms tilted up to look at them. Beneath the brim of wide flat mushroom was a face. Under the surface was a relatively human body, smaller patches of mushrooms across patches of its skin.

"Who's hurt?" it croaked.

 

[Syuri]

She couldn’t help but smirk at Mango’s purring by her ear, the sound reminding her that they were safe for the time being, and so she pulled in a deep breath and sighed. They were okay, he was okay. Perhaps she might even rest easy.

It does sound extreme.

Syuri shot him an uncertain glance and a tight-lipped smile, hoping they’d have some privacy to talk about it, but somehow she felt that there were eyes and ears everywhere hear. That thought was only confirmed as the mushroom spoke, sending a jolt through her and eliciting a short squeal quickly silenced by her hand slapping to her mouth.

She blinked down at the creature, feeling her skin heat under her palm. “Oh..” she muffled and sheepishly lowered her hand to her chest, pressing it against her racing heart. “I’m sorry I..”

Her throat cleared and she looked to Keernan. “He is.” she said, trying to offer an apologetic smile to the little thing and disguise her awkward curiosity.

 

[Keernan]

"No need to be sorry," croaked the creature. There was a slightly femenine tone to its voice. At least there was by their standards, whether those applied or not was another matter. Its height and wrinkled features made it look like an old lady had stayed in one place for so long they had been overgrown by mushrooms.

"I did not mean to surprise you."

It lifted itself out of the water. It did have legs and it climbed up over the gentle bank and towards Keernan.

"Ah," it went, seeing the blood stains. "Lie down."

With surprising strength its two small hands tore a much larger opening to investigate.

"Animal bite? Anything poisonous?"

 

[Syuri]

Syuri smiled curiously at the creature as she watched, and she settled herself down next to Keernan, idly stroking at Mango's ears as the feline poked her head over Syuri's shoulder to watch too.

"I'm not sure what they are.." Syuri answered with an uncertain glance to Keernan. "Some sort of hound.." her brow quirked, assuming the little fae would no doubt know more than they did about what they were.

 

[Keernan]

"I recognise them, but I don't know their naaaaame..."

Keernan had some tolerance for pain, but his voice rose an octave and trailed off when the mushroom creature poked the wound with a long nail.

It licked the blood from its finger.

"Hmnph, not poisoned. And I know poisons."

Keernan wasn't in the mood to reply. He had gone more than a little pale.

"I have a paste that should clear this up quickly. I will need to pack the wounds. It will hurt. This is the worst of the damage?"

 

[Syuri]

Syuri winced slightly at Keernan's pain, her hand reaching to offer a firm squeeze at his shoulder.

"I hope so.." she answered the creature's question, a lilt of a question in her tone as she looked to Keernan. As far as she knew he'd only been bitten the one time.

She'd been too busy looking around to have noticed Mango climbing out of her bag and sniffing around. The ginger cat approached the fae creature with hesitance and reached a paw to gently bat at it.

"What do you call this place?" she asked, looking over her shoulder to search through the glowing grasses, wondering where Rushel and the others he was with had disappeared to. "Rushel, said something about removing a spark.. Do you know how it's done?" she asked, her tone significantly lower as she turned back to regard the mushroom, thing. Noticing Mango she reached abruptly for the feline and pulled her into her chest with an awkward apology.

 

[Keernan]

"Rushel? What is that young fool up to now?" croaked the walking, talking fungus. It shook its head and made a noise of irritation.

"Casnedath was much quieter when they weren't all following that lout around. I don't know what a spark is."

The creature pulled free a thick leaf that had been sat on the top of the water. The faint bioluminesence around the edge of the leaf remained. It started to mix a dried up flower.

"It's...another spirit. Inside me," Keernan said quietly. "He wants to..."

Keernan went very silent, very suddenly. The paste has been applied to the wound without warning. He didn't cry out, but went very still and pale.

"Not my area of expertise," the mushroom replied. "Is that food?" It asked, pointing at Mango.

 

[Syuri]

Syuri couldn't help but smirk as it seemed her first impressions of Rushel were not misplaced. Her head tilted as she idly scratched at Mango's ears.

"Cas-nedath?" she repeated with the lilt of a question. "Is that what this place is called?" she asked. "Is he in charge?.." she added and cleared her throat as she realised how many question she was barraging the little fae with.

She looked back to her as she asked about food, her eyes widening in horror at what she was pointing at. "Food? No. She's my cat. A, uhm.. companion." she blinked and looked to Keernan, about to speak when she realised the ghastly colour his skin had gone.

"Are you alright?" she grimaced and looked down at his leg.

"That is, safe, right?..." she asked quietly, quirking a brow at the fae.

 

[Keernan]

"Safe? Safe? It is safer by far than a hole in the leg," it replied, shaking its head. Droplets of river water rolled down the smooth, round surfaces of its mushroom layers.

"Hmm. He has gone a little pale." It turned its head from Keernan to Syrui, trying to figure out if he really had lost colour. It would have been difficult to tell a loss of colour from her alabaster skin.

"Oi," it said, poking Keernan's shin, "are you in pain."

Keernan nodded through a grimace. "I will...be fine."

"See? He's fine," it said, with concern. "Casnedath is probably as far as you can see in either direction up and down the vale. And my name is Torlak and you are very welcome."

 

[Syuri]

Syuri winced slightly as it seemed she'd offended the creature in some way and she resorted to biting on her lip rather than asking any more questions.

She cleared her throat and offered a tight-lipped smile to Torlak, giving a light nod as she claimed that Keernan was 'fine'. He certainly didn't look fine.

"We should go get some rest."

"Thank you, Torlak." she nodded, and rummaged in her pack, pulling out some wrapped up sweetbreads and offering it to the creature. She had no idea what they ate, but the last thing she wanted was to be in debt to a fae.

 

[Keernan]

Torlak did not have eyebrows. If they did then they would have been raised in curiosity at the offering. No complaint was given so it seemed there was a chance it was going to be eaten.

Keernan took a long, slow breath. The fire around the wound wanted to spread its flames further up his leg. Trying to put it from his mind he slowly stood up. Moving didn't aggravate it very much.

One of Rushel's hunters was still lingering. He casually approached when Syuri suggested rest. He was taller than Rushel by a head. His shoulders seemed oddly proportioned to his waist. He didn't move like the Arallysian, smooth and fluid, but with an awkward, loping gait.

"Come, you can get some sleep," he said, leading them directly towards the sloped cliff of one side of the vale.

"It does hurt," Keernan admittedly quietly. "But in a good way. Like it's healing. I hope."

The rocks were not plain. Vines of deep purple stretched across the face in a tight weave, even over places where straight staircases had been hewn into the stone. In loose rows great leaves reached out from the wall. They let off a deep red bioluminescent from the ridges that gave them strength. It took Keernan a long study to realise they were using these leaves like beds.

He could see fae climbing up the stairs and edging along and dropping into them. Keernan wasn't even sure if they were leaves or flowers.

 

[Syuri]

Syuri tucked a disgruntled Mango back into her bag and slung it over her shoulder, the ginger cat's head poking out to stare around at the curiosities. Everything was different here. Plants and birds and trees she'd never seen before. Creatures she'd never known existed at all watched them from here and there as though they were the strange ones.

"I hope so too.." Syuri murmured quietly, sticking close to Keernan as they followed behind the hunter. She was finding it extremely difficult to allow herself to trust that they were safe here but she tried to hide her uncertainty under a shy smile. If they were going to murder them in their sleep, they wouldn't have bothered helping Keernan at all...

She stopped to watch as fae dropped into the large leafy hammocks which seemed to cocoon around them, and she glanced to Keernan with a light smirk. "Beats a forest floor.." she shrugged. The hunter lead them down the stairs and along a ridge to where their strange leaves waited, and Syuri felt instantly tired as she breathed in the soothing aroma that seemed to surround the plants. She squeezed at Keernan's hand, hugged her pack to her chest and let herself fall into the cradle.

 

[Keernan]

Keernan had to devote a lot of his attention to pushing the pain down and following their guide. That spark of curiosity still burned bright.

As Syuri fell back into the supporting plant he grinned. It lasted for a just a few moments before his face twisted into a grimace. A few slow breaths and the worst of the pain ebbed away. One last step to go.

Even seeing Syuri on the naturally grown platform he felt a flutter of nerves. They were high enough that if it broke away it would be a painful tumble. Keernan stepped out after her.

"It's like a hammock," he declared as he settled down. The faint pulse of bioluminescent light surrounded them. Up above no stars had made their home in the sky. There were only the bright and bold moons.

 

[Syuri]

Mango crawled out of Syuri's bag to perch on her chest, the feline's claws curling into her coat as though afraid she might plunge to her death at any moment. Syuri winced at the sharp grip and laughed quietly, hugging the cat gently to her and stoking her fingers through her bedraggled fur to offer some reassurance.

"Mhmm.." she answered distantly as Keernan spoke, her gaze on the moons with a small smile on her lips. She sighed deeply and turned to look at him, holding out her hand in the hopes that he'd take it. "I'm glad we're together." she breathed. She'd come to care about him and the thought that she'd so quickly lose him to the fae queen or whatever she'd claimed had resided within him had been a difficult thing for her to deal with. Whether or not they were truly safe here, she wasn't sure, but that they were together was what mattered most to her right now.

Whatever perfume the flowers emitted was soporific and her eyes were slowly drifting shut. She tried to keep talking to Keernan, though all that tumbled from her lips were incomprehensible mumbles as sleep claimed her and dragged her deep.

 

[Keernan]

"I'm glad too," he said quietly. He was not sure she heard him. Mango heard, but the cat wasn't paying any attention. Despite being an arboreal creature she would rather climb a tree she knew than be carried up unfamiliar slopes by an elf.

The dull throb of his wound kept him awake for longer. Mango watched him and stalked the perimeter of their bed for the night. Keernan peered out across the vale.

It was, he decided, a rather beautiful sight. He could not have imagined a place like this, let alone guessed that he would end up here today. He didn't control the flashes of memory that came to him but nothing in this place was familiar.

Keernan looked down at Syuri, finally resting peacefully. He hadn't been prepared for her shock in the morning. It was hard to even imagine what it had been like for her.

She had placed a lot of faith in him. When her village had tried to turn him away to when she had followed him beneath the waterfall. It must have been close to breaking her.

---

A spider - or something close to one - scuttled across the workbench. It stopped next to a small device of brass and glass before winding its little arms into the mechanism. Something clicked and it scuttled away.

"Better," Rushel declared, snatching the device from the table. The tinkering creature scuttled into one of many small holes in the rockface behind the table. He didn't turn to look over his shoulder at the arriving hunter.

"A creature of rock and fire you said?" he asked.

"That was what I saw."

"And he is recovering?"

"It seems that way. They are resting now."

"A creature of rock and fire," mused Rushel. "I would have liked to have stolen the secrets that old shaper kept when he was alive rather than scrounging what is left of his power now."

"Should we worry about her?"

Rushel shrugged, overconfidence in his ease of movement. "She wouldn't be so bold as to come here. She had power, but it doesn't extend this far yet."

 

[Syuri]

Whether it was the stress and exertion of the past day, the knowledge that she and Keernan were both safe and that he'd be alright, or whether there was some ataractic qualities to the flowers and leaves that surrounded them, was uncertain, but Syuri slept soundly cradled in the leafy hammock. She slept so deeply that there were no dreams to worry about and every ache she'd ever felt seemed cured.

The soft morning light caressed her cheek, waking her as gently, and she stretched and sighed deeply, a smile on her lips as she looked at Keernan. Mango was purring, still curled up on her chest, the sound only growing stronger as Syuri's fingers combed through her bedraggled fur and scratched at her ears. Louder still was the sound that Syuri's stomach was making as it demanded attention.

She reached to Keernan, her fingers trailing down his arm hoping to wake him gently if he was not already awake.

 

[Keernan]

He smiled faintly as his eyes blinked open slowly, blue and amber, the two moons of Arethil regarding her. Keernan winced. His free hand went to his leg before he remember what had happened.

Instead of poking an open wound his fingertips found new - if raw - skin. His expression turned to one of surprise and he sat upright sharply.

"Hmm," he went, parting the tear in his trousers to look at the bright red patch of skin.

"Sorry...I think I meant good morning," he said, turning back to Syuri. There was a soft breeze across the rock face, but it didn't disturb the plants they had taken for beds. He could make out the shapes of resting fae much further down the natural wall.

 

[Syuri]

There was something about the first lazy smile of the morning that made her want to kiss him. She bit on her lip to staunch the urge, still laced with uncertainty over whether she'd ruined any such thing between them, or whether it had been a one-time thing. She wasn't one to presume, but she could appreciate the experience of such a thing regardless.

"Good morning.." she answered huskily. "How are you feeling?.." she added in a sigh as she turned to properly face him, Mango still held against her chest.

After such a pleasant nights sleep, she didn't feel like she was in so much of a rush to leave this place. Perhaps her trust had grown after the hospitality they'd been shown, or perhaps whatever perfume that emitted from the flora around them had settled into her brain.

 

[Keernan]

"Whatever that paste was it still hurts like hell but..." Keernan twisted so she could see the fresh skin forming under the tear in his trousers.

Keernan kept his weight on his shoulder and offered a smile. There was enough strain at the corners of his eyes to reveal the intense pain still emenating from his leg. It was contrasted by the relief that shone through his smile.

He reached out, almost tentatively, and placed a hand on her waist. Mango twisted about on Syuri's chest, no doubt in the feline's mind that he was reaching out to provide a stroke.

 

[Syuri]

Syuri's brow rose as she looked down at the healing wound, a breathy laugh tumbling from her lips in relief that whatever it was, it was clearly working. His pain was difficult to witness, however, and her brow furrowed again, propping herself up on an elbow.

"We should stay until you feel well enough to walk. Otherwise we're just making ourselves vulnerable." she sighed, and her eyes fell on the hand that rested on her waist. Her cheeks warmed, and dimpled as she smiled at him. Now with an unsaid permission to show affection she lifted her hand to slide it onto his cheek and her thumb moved in a slow caress.

"We get through this together. Right?.." she smirked, leaning to graze her nose against his, followed by a whisper of a kiss to the corner of his lips, ignoring the paw that was currently prodding at her chin.

 

[Keernan]

It struck Keernan that he had not known Syuri for very long at all. He had been quite content exploring the world on his own. Even given the danger he faced he had absorbed everything in wonder. It had always felt like the spirit that had brought him back from death, a raw and curious thing. That very foundation was shaken now by new knowledge.

Feeling that he had been content on his own was also being challenged. He had not known companionship for very long at all, but the idea of losing it had hurt. The idea of losing her had hurt.

"We get through this together," he echoed, turning to place a soft kiss on her lips.

"I had only promised to walk you to the next town," he recalled. He also remembered giving her the option to get safely away from him. Something she had refused.

 

[Syuri]

Syuri laughed under her breath and grazed her nose against his.. "That's alright.. We haven't reached the next town yet." she kissed again and sunk into the warmth of his side to cuddle into him.

"So, what is our plan? I mean.. After getting breakfast.." she frowned. Obviously, that was top priority.

 

[Keernan]

"I don't know," he replied honestly. He rarely planned ahead and he'd never been quite as lost and out of his depth as he was now. To an extent, he did not mind either. They seemed fairly safe. What he really wanted was more of her time. He wanted to reaffirm what had started beneath that waterfall and lose sense of where he ended and Syuri began. Another time, when they had more privacy than this open rock face.

He could see people coming down from their own perches. There weren't many here, but then the fae were not like humans who huddled in their thousands in cities. They were more individual, more unique both in appearance and talents.

He heard someone climbing up close to them and turned away from Syuri. It was their guide from the previous day. He offered no apology for intruding on what little privacy they had.

"Our Lord sends his apologies. He will be quite busy today. You could join our afternoon hunt, if you are up to it?"

It sounded more like a challenge than a question.

 

[Syuri]

Syuri's lips twisted in thought, and she spent the brief moment of quiet (aside Mango's purring) combing her fingers into his hair, pushing it back from his face and admiring both the polished amber and shards of ice in his eyes. She thought of Rushel's offer, her brow furrowing gently at the thought of how removing the so-called 'spark' might change him, and she was quite glad to know that he hadn't at least decided on going through with it.

She'd been deep in the thought when the male's voice jolted her from it, having been paying no attention to her surroundings. "Perhaps we might.." she retorted, picking up the challenge in his tone and finding it difficult to resist. She'd grown up with an older brother, after all..

Still, it seemed they'd be spending at least another day here before any decisions had to be made, and she'd enjoy the respite in the meantime.