Private Tales In the Warm Ale

[Samantha Black]

"Definitely not Edric," Ral smirked and withdrew her hand as she watched Everleigh eyeball it.

"Sorry," she picked up her drink instead, "habit."

There wasn't really anyone within her squadron that disliked being touched, though Davi was a bit more sensitive about it to start he was slowly coming round. The comraderie she shared with her fellow Knights was a close-knit thing, like family, and no one questioned or worried about a hand on the shoulder.

"I'm not sure I want to give a name yet, I haven't broached the topic with them. But they are the right sort of person for the role and in the right position of society to get the attention their words would need. If they're keen, I can put them in touch with you."

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Ralene dropped her hand. Her shoulder was free of the warmth and weight it had momentarily brought. A part of Everleigh felt like she had made a mistake, but of what exactly, she couldn’t discern now. She wondered if it would be another thing to keep her awake tonight.

“It’s a good habit to have.” Everleigh said. She was quiet as she considered the offer and as she considered her feelings— the real ones she kept hidden. She thought about the future she would be taking, how all of this was just the in between time before she made her next move.

There was a sinking feeling in her gut.

“Okay.” She said finally. There was no guarantee in this. Whoever it was that Ralene had in mind, they could refuse. Not just refuse to be the face of this idea, but refuse to even speak to Everleigh. “If it happens, it’ll happen.” But Everleigh would keep her optimism to a bare minimum. “Let’s hope I don’t get in too much trouble before then.” The playfulness was back, the seriousness pushed aside to be saved for when she was alone.

“You’ll keep my secret about my winning strategy for tonight, won’t you?”

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

That was the sort of pragmatism she didn't often see with others. If anything, Ral was the pragmatic one among the collective of fellow Dreadlords. Either way, she tipped her mug to that sentiment and took a drink, brows raising at the renewed mischief of her companion.

"No idea what yer talkin' about," Ral smirked into her mug before finishing it off with a heavy swig and setting it down on the bar. Evie's secret was safe with her.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

The grin grew wider, more genuine. There was something about Ralene that Everleigh liked. Was it her demeanor? No, something less broad. Her humor? Possibly. But this attribute that Everleigh was suddenly so keen on hadn’t just appeared today. No, it was something she caught on back in the Blackwood.

Dependable. That was it. Ralene was dependable, more so than any other in their class.

How frightening, Everleigh thought. She got off from the stool.

“Watch my drink for me and make sure no one spikes it?” As if it would do anything to her if someone did. She spun on her heel. “I gotta finish this real quick.” One of the contestants was asleep on the bar top, using his arms as a pillow. Everleigh prodded him awake, although by his bleary-eyed expression it was clear that he had no idea where he was, much less what he had been doing.

“Right, break’s over boys, let’s continue!”

---

It was easy money. Everleigh was happy enough to pay for the drinks used for the contest while still able to have a coin purse that was heavier than before. With the groans and grunts of disbelief, Everleigh had begun to act at least somewhat intoxicated. She couldn’t do anything about not having that glazed over look in her eyes, but she could mimic well enough that particular sway people had when drinking too much.

She even “accidentally” knocked over a empty mug to make the act believable. Her footsteps were too quiet, still seeming too precise even as she pretended to use the counter to help steady herself as she made her way back to Ralene.

“Not bad, right?” She whispered about her act. “I think I got it down.”

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

"Sure," Ralene replied absently, having only watched the scene unfold for a short while before delving into her current reading fix. Ser Heron Blare kept journals of all his wanderings and advetures from all across Arethil. Each journal covered an area of the world, some areas had multiple journals. Aside from the stories the man more than adequately kept, the journals were filled to the brim with information one might only glean from such a lifestyle. More than once they had proven useful aside from providing entertainment for the mind and imagination.

In this instance, while she had not felt particularly compelled to watch Everleigh's drink for any reason (she could think of no legitimate reason to do so), Ral also hadn't been quite ready to turn in for the evening yet. A bit of reading over a small tumbler of local liquor hit the spot.

She looked up and over at Everleigh, brow raised in amusement as she glanced back to her defeated opponents, "but I think they're too drunk to tell otherwise."

And she too pretty for a man to really care either way.

"I've been thinking ... I'd like to know more about what changes have been made at the academy after I left," the more information she had about the present state of things, the better she could make her case to the person she had in mind as their voice, "but I also want to get out of my armor. Join me back at my room at the inn for one last drink?"

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Dark brows raised up in surprise at Ralene’s suggestion. She had assumed they would go their separate ways with mild content at their chance meeting to then lose it’s vividness as it blurred with other nights in another’s company.

She was hesitant in answering, mostly because of being unsure what sort of things Ralene would ask and if she would somehow be able to discern that Everleigh had made such a grand mistake months ago. If Ralene knew just how much she had fucked up, getting bested by an initiate, going berserk, a report made about her and her inability to teach, everything they had discussed tonight would be tinged with a new thought, a new color.

“Oh, then you can show me that tattoo you got.” Everleigh said instead, her upturned eyes looking like a sly fox in children’s stories. She noticed the book in Ralene’s possession and said nothing of it. Ralene didn’t look like much of a reader, at least not with all her armor strapped on.

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

Lots of cogs and wheels turning behind those violet eyes. Ralene almost felt compelled to assure Everleigh her intentions were benign and ... mundane. They didn't know one another well enough for Everleigh to understand that Ral lived her life in the open and had she ill intent she would not hide it. They would not even have had the conversation tonight, had that been the case. But as things usually went, it wasn't about her at all.

Everleigh was worrying about her own issues. Thinking about herself. In the end, they were all rather self-centered, weren't they? Guilty as charged.

Ralene snorted at the tattoo comment, thinking to herself that Ev would get a lot more of an eyeful than she was expecting, "Sure, if you really want to see it." She folded the journal closed and tucked it away once more in a leather utility pouch hung from her belted waist. Tab paid and tumbler emptied, Ralene nodded for the purple-haired woman to follow and off they went into the quiet night street.

Didn't have far to go either, the inn was just a short walk away. Before long she was unlocking the door to her room and stepping inside to the warmth of a fire crackling in a fireplace. Paid extra for the larger suite if only to have access to the warm bath and fireplace after nearly a two month long journey roughing it in the saddle between here and Aliria, then back again.

An armor dummy stood in a corner, naked and forlorn - but not for long.

"Make yourself comfortable," she told Everleigh, though Ral doubted there was a need as she began the slow process of unbuckling, untying, and unclipping her many layers.

"Feels different, you know," Ral began as she carefully stacked leather strappings on a side table, "coming back here without the shadow of the Academy looming. Almost like I can finally appreciate what I was raised to protect."

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Everleigh was glad that Ralene was a woman who enjoyed warmth. Stepping into her room at the inn, Everleigh was pleasantly surprised at how there was already a fire going. She wasn’t going to complain about the chilly night air, then again, what dreadlord would she be if she complained all the time and she had complained enough for two months anyways tonight.

She did, however, stand there awkwardly once inside, moving closer to the fireplace instead of standing right by the door. Even more awkwardly was how she watched Ralene undress. Everleigh pulled her long violet braid over her shoulder, beginning to play with the ends and pinching out any split ends she saw just so she wouldn’t keep staring. Where else was she supposed to look?

Soon enough, she was looking up. Everleigh wasn’t rude enough to speak to Ralene while fiddling with her hair.

“That’s nice,” Everleigh said. She didn’t share the same sentiment as Ralene, but then again, she was still at the Academy, perhaps worse now than she had been last year. “But… almost?” Everleigh inquired with a bird like tilt of her head.

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

Having eyes on her while undressing was not at all a new sensation and Ralene held no awkwardness of her own on the matter. Nonchalant as a basking gator, she continued the task at hand layer by layer, setting pieces on the dummy as they were plied from her own figure. Soon the entire collection had been transferred over, leaving Ralene in the linen underlayers of tunic and breeches.

But... almost?

"Haven't been away long enough to forget the aftertaste," Ral replied, and then almost as if Everleigh's own thoughts had somehow drifted into her own, she looked over to the young woman by the fire, "and you never got away at all."

She didn't say it, but the stoic look of cold blue eyes behind dark kohl may have suggested pity, but they didn't linger long, "I've got a bottle of mead in here somewhere from Alliria..." She had said one more drink, hadn't she? Ral turned from the armored mannequin and moved across the room to the saddlebags set at the foot of her bed and stooped to seek out said mead.

"Do you enjoy it? Training the next generation I mean."

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

That was a good way of putting it: an aftertaste. The Academy did linger, even many months later, as Everleigh had come to learn from those she had come across in brief segments. She lifted her tongue behind her teeth, gliding her piercing across and finding comfort in the sound ringing in her head.

“Someone had to stay.” Why it was someone like her out of their class she had no idea. She had wanted to leave so badly. She had fought for it. It wasn’t an aftertaste for her. It wasn’t any taste at all. Lately, Everleigh had found her meals no longer held flavor. “There’s no one there to cause trouble if I’m gone.”

Everleigh managed to grin, if only because she found it funny that Ralene was actually pulling out another drink. Everleigh couldn’t get drunk and Ralene had to leave early, and the irony in there somehow kept Everleigh from brooding on her past mistakes.

“I like the younger kids.” Everleigh said easily, not needing to lie. She didn’t consider it training, there was something more she had to do. It wasn’t how to punch, how to throw a knife, how to be indomitable even with broken bones— it was nurturing them in a way that wasn’t familial but familiar.

“Like the preteens. Or better yet, the real little ones. The sevens and eights. They’re always so… happy. There’s a quiet one, Bazterrica who likes to give thumbs ups to everyone instead of saying ‘good work.’ And a sassy one, Ottessa, who’s so quick with her words you’d think she was years older. There’s a spunky one, Kresselring, who…” the smile grew wider, “works hard every day, even on free time. You should see the way he runs around and how he puffs out his chest whenever he’s about to do something foolish, thinking it’ll impress everyone. Ugh, the other day he climbed up on the stable roof just to grab a training sword that had gotten stuck up there.”

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

Had her doubts that there wasn't anyone around to cause trouble. By her knowledge, plenty of Proctors did that well enough on their own. There had also been more than enough trouble makers in the class below them - enough to keep Kristen on her toes for sure. Sounded like an excuse, but no more of an excuse than what others used to support their own choices. Very very few of their class had a solid plan for post-graduation and Ralene counted herself among those lucky few. Despite the revolution, her plans hadn't changed a bit aside from adding on two more people to them.

She had Davi and Elias ... or at least she would have Elias if he'd ever fucking show up.

But where was that damned bottle?

"Sounds like you're enjoying it at least," she remarked with a glance back to find an earnest smile on the other woman's face. It was attractive in a way that her usual facade was not. Naked in sincerity.

"But I'm not convinced they need you there to cause trouble," her eyes narrowed faintly over her own amusement, though it shallowed out over a loud sigh as she returned to her search. The mead wasn't important, not really, Ral just didn't like being idle. Looking for it gave her something to do with her hands.

"Kids make me uncomfortable," the admittance came with no amount of embarrassment or lie as she lifted her worn and calloused hands to look at them, many of her forearm tattoos now visible from her pushed-up sleeves, "they're so ... flimsy. Feel like I might knock one unconscious for a simple pat on the head."

Bull in a fine-ware hutch? She could rate her strength well enough with other adults, but kids ... there was no telling just how fragile they really were until a terse squeeze to an arm resulted in splintered bones. It had happened before and she'd not been prepared for it. Oh look, the bottle. She reached for it, clasping a hand around the neck of it and pausing, "Do you think they're safe now with the new management implemented since our graduation?"

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

There was a chance that if Ralene were to pat Everleigh on the head she could be knocked unconscious, too. Everleigh looked down at her hands as if she needed to compare them to Ralene’s. As if she needed to compare her smaller stature to the force that was Ralene.

“Well. I have some extra padding on me. If I hug them I won’t be crushing their rib cage.” Everleigh shrugged. “But the little kids are gross. They’ll wipe their nose on you or cough right in your face if you aren’t careful.” The worst part was it wasn’t even on purpose and somehow Everleigh felt like she had to be patient or else she’d end up scaring them. “Maybe keeping them at bay is a good idea.” It was hard to do with how cute they were with their big eyes and endless energy.

Everleigh tried to focus on Miklan’s wide smile as he ran around outside when Ralene asked a question that Everleigh didn’t know how to answer. Did she give her opinion? It was so biased, a miasma of bitterness and confusion from facts or rumors pretending to be facts and it hung in her head like a thick fog. There was the easy answer: to lie, but when she had done that already and Ralene hadn’t liked it.

“Sometimes.” She said, thinking of Salak. He wanted a change, had told her as much, she just didn’t believe he could change it. She didn’t think he was one of the bad ones. Same with Proctor D’Amour, she also wasn’t one of the bad ones. And the bad ones? Oh, how they could make her shut up and remind her of what awaited her if she refused to obey. There were also the ones in the middle, they kept to themselves and whispered among themselves, making invisible lines in the sand that shouldn’t be crossed.

“They had a dance. An initiate was found dead at the Academy. Another initiate went missing from the dance to then be found mutilated in the Elven Quarter. Some initiates are still wishing for the old way, others are appreciating the new way and doing as they please, no longer fearing punishment. It’s very much still a mess. There’s just no fast solution for a problem that requires time.”

Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

A rueful chuckle followed the "padding" comment that was nothing short of genuine Ralene humor. Everleigh had certainly filled out into quite the shapely woman over their years at the academy and Ral was certain that aspect of her had drawn in all the wrong attention. But that amusement easily died on her lips into a quietude of dour listening when her purple-haired fellow continued on.

It was hardly the answer she was hoping for but Ral had never been known as much of an optimist. It would have been surprising if Everleigh had spelled out a song to the tune of safety and growth and she wasn't sure she would have believed it if that had been so. This was the truth and she knew it because the truth was complicated and often ugly.

Two initiates dead even after the absolute massacre of their graduation. The nobles had promised change and not delivered. The Guard had promised order and failed. Ralene eased back onto her heels where she squatted, bottle of mead coming to rest on her lap, and loosed a despondent sigh. After a few moments to collect her thoughts, a short nodded followed and she pushed up from the floor to stand again.

"I'm sorry that you're going through all this alone," she said as she approached the fireplace and unstoppered the bottle, "there's not much I can do to help you now but if you ever need anything in the future, just send word to Vel Castere."

Ral fixed Ever with an expression that was naked behind its scars with honesty as she lifted to offer the bottle to her, "Try it, I promise it's better than the ale at the tavern."

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

“There’s no reason for you to apologize.” Everleigh said quickly, somehow feeling uncomfortable with… was it pity? Sympathy? It was hard to decide why it made her feel lesser, why her first reaction was to push her shoulders back and lift her chin up high; why she felt the need to look stoic and have her voice devoid of emotion; and why, worse of all, she felt she needed to prove to Ral she didn’t deserve pity: heartless, relentless, tenacious dreadlord who needed nothing but herself.

Clearly, there was plenty of unresolved trauma that Everleigh didn’t have the time to sift through, much less fix. So she took the bottle of mead instead and focused on Ral’s face with a curious look.

“Well, I’ll hold you to that promise.” She said before taking a sip. There was a moment of contemplation, Everleigh not quite handing the bottle back and then with a apologetic smile that enhanced the gluttony glimmering in her eyes as she took a full swig. She handed it back to Ral. “You’re right. This is better. Dangerous that it tastes this good. I bet it gets people drunk in no time.”

Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

“There’s no reason for you to apologize.”

"I know," Ral replied with an uncomplicated look and watched with an easy smile as Evie tested her promise.

“You’re right. This is better."

Ral's smile broadened smugly, "I know," she said again and took the bottle back. Turning on her heel she nodded in confirmation, "Sure does," and took her own healthy swig of it. How she would have liked to drain the entire thing and sink into her bed for the remainder of the evening. Alas.

"Still want to see that tat?"

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

The smug look that was entirely Everleigh Ebersol resurfaced.

“That is why I followed you here, isn’t it?” With little decorum, Everleigh knelt down, making herself comfortable by the fire and sitting with her legs criss-crossing at the ankle. “If you need a little more liquid courage before doing so…” She gestured to the mead with a hand. “Go ahead. I am actually very patient.”

Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

Ralene wasn't looking at her, but she thought she detected that smugness in Everleigh's tone. The mead found its way to the nightstand as the Knight approached her bed. Many believed her to be humorless, having given most of her fellow initiates the coldness of detachment and disregard. Ral had saved the quirks of her own personality for those she trusted ... and for those within Holstag's regiment. Her true family, if anyone ever bothered to ask her.

Everleigh had never been witness to it before tonight, so far as she could recall, so when she goaded her on with liquid courage the rueful chuckle could not be held in check. The warrior's shoulders shifted under the sincerity of her laugh and a glance passed back over her shoulder, "If you want me to undress slowly, all you have to do is ask..."

Her tunic was pulled over her head in short order, leaving the chiseled muscles of her back bare to the flicker of firelight. Nearly every inch of her skin was marked and marred by ink, by scar, by scarification. Runic alchemy symbols and sigils followed bone or sat above specific parts of her body that corresponded to organs beneath. It continued out of sight beneath the hemline of her breeches, around the cut of her ribs, and over the edges of her broad shoulders to her front. Only that at mid-chest was covered by a chestwrap of leather and canvas.

The tunic she let drop to the bed. Truth be told, Ral did not expect anything of this beyond conversation, but flirting was a fun past time and Everleigh seemed to know the game. She took up the bottle again and moved to join, settling down beside her with her back to the flames. Felt nice. Made her yearn for a long, hot soak back home in Castere.

Followed by a massage from Elias and she'd be right as rain.

Ral set the bottle between them, then worked the buckles at the front of her chestwrap where the bulge of her own significant bosom was kept strongly in check. Not quite as ample as Everleigh's own, but most that hadn't seen Ralene without her armor truly had no idea what shapes lie beneath. The buckles loosed, she pulled the piece away to bare all to Everleigh. Every scar, every hidden tattoo along her chest, and breathed a long, deep sigh of relief as she set it aside.

"This one," she tapped a finger at the orcish tribal sigil sitting upon her sternum just above and between her breasts. The bottle found its way to her lips again for another swig.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Dark brows raised up slowly, first in mirth and mischief but then they stayed as they were for another reason entirely. Everleigh hadn’t realized before that there was something intimate in watching another undress. Perhaps there had been a sense of it with Henk, but then again, that whole night of debauchery was more like a fever dream to her that she tried not to linger on.

Liliana had tossed away her clothing without a care, as if they were a hindrance, strutting out about the underground hot spring like she were some goddess that didn’t need mortal threads. Zael hadn’t realized that as he moved around the tub in Arnim, making his water hot, that Everleigh had peeped through one of the many holes to catch glimpses of his form— and while that had been fascinating, she couldn’t get the whole picture of the lines and contours that made him. Erland never seemed to wear anything other than pants when Everleigh did go to the brothel, but the way he undressed had never been alluring.

Perhaps it was because Ralene had stripped herself of her armor first and neatly put it away. Or was it the fact that as she took off the tunic, Everleigh’s gaze quickly caught on the chestwrap that was very much like her own but not. Most likely it was from the plethora of of stories that seemed to cover her skin, overlapping with perverse harmony that made Everleigh realize a new symbol or scar every time she looked.

Ralene came back to the fireplace, momentarily facing her and the sheer shock of Ralene’s body reflected in every aspect of Everleigh’s face: Ralene’s back and arms, yes, that had been expected. Somehow, Everleigh had never once considered that Ralene to carry soft femininity. She wasn’t sure why she expected Ralene’s chest to resemble a man’s, other than it being the armor she wore and the deepness of her voice. It was hard to look away, even when Everleigh realized she was gawking too many seconds too late.

“Ah.” She said finally. “That one.” Her eyes found the tattoo, glancing down once more to appreciate and compare. In this moment, she wished she could get drunk, or even just a little bit so as to keep her cool. Her face felt hot and not from the warmth of the fire behind Ralene. Her violet eyes lingered where they shouldn’t, only able to look away as she distracted herself by the dreadlord taking another drink of mead.

“I hope it doesn’t mean anything silly like limp-cock. You know Titus? He got a tattoo in Elvish, thinking it meant ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’ Something like that.” There was an ache now that suddenly became noticeable to the purple proctor, in her back and shoulders and neck. She ignored it, forcing her gaze not to leave Ralene’s face. “Someone who had actually studied the language pointed out that it really said ‘head empty, ass wide, small man.’”

Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

Everleigh's lingering gaze met a woman of calm confidence. She could look as long and as much as she liked, so far as Ralene was concerned, it bothered her not at all. On the contrary, it was almost reassuring to be stared at in such a manner, especially by one she considered rather attractive herself. Ral had never been self conscious, but sometimes she did wonder if everything her body had endured by her own hands, the hands of the Proctors, and the hands of her enemies, made her repulsive to others.

Surely some day she'd cross someone who would retract at the sight of her.

But Everleigh didn't, and her awkwardness made it all too clear that even if she didn't necessarily like or felt attracted by what she saw, she was at the very least interested in it. Interest was half the battle.

A sputtering cackled answered the plight of Titus, Ral bit into a hearty laugh, "What a dumbass." She tempted another drink from the bottle and shook her head, "Noh, it is the symbol of friend or ally to the clan." Her brows pinched as her legs folded up to support her arms, "Supposed to give safe passage through the clan lands should I ever encounter them. Seemed like a great offer at the time, unfortunately I was too drunk to think about the fact I'd have to get half naked to show it to them should I ever have to. But at least I didn't put it on my ass like Ella did."

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

There was a tilt of her head, a small shrug of her shoulders, and a hard stare at the corner of the room until she was certain that when she looked back at Ralene, it would be her face and not her breasts. She succeeded, mostly.

“If I was a orc I don’t think I’d complain in getting a free show.” She couldn’t be certain, but she figured orcs appreciated all aspects of a woman, and why wouldn’t it be a woman that held such strength in her form already and also had huge— “I wouldn’t.” Her eyes went back to Ralene’s and suddenly she laughed, nervously but it opened her up nonetheless. “Sorry. You’d think because I have them, I wouldn’t care but it’s… I just didn’t think, well… you know.”

And she hoped Ralene did know because Everleigh sure as hell didn’t. And in case Ralene didn’t know, and because Everleigh didn’t want to admit to her not knowing, she moved the conversation along.

“You gotta get your stuff custom made too, I bet. It always cost so much extra to actually get stuff that really fits.”

Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

Her awkwardness was amusing and more than a little endearing.

"Didn't think what?" Ral eyed her, half smirking, half judgementally suspicious, "that I was a woman under all my metal?"

One last swig from the bottle before she purposefully stoppered it again. Had to stop. She'd already had more than enough for the night and she was beginning to feel it. That pleasant haze had begun to settle in and if she partook any more she was liable to try some things with Everleigh that could ruin the mood.

Or make it better. She didn't know.

"I make my own," Ral said as she slowly pushed herself to her feet to take the bottle back to her chest and stash it away again, "had my own I made custom at the Academy - until Schwarz melted it off me at graduation." A faint look of disgust crossed her face as she stowed some items around the bottle to keep it from being jostled about, "Now I'm stuck with standard supply Knight armor until I get a chance to make more. Whenever the fuck that will be."

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

“That’s right,” Everleigh said, not daring to try her luck with the questions, even if she would say that yes, she did think Ralene was a woman under all the metal. That hadn’t been what flustered her. She hadn’t realized Ralene would be such a pretty one, and there was a lot of confusion with that thought. She had gotten a similar nervousness about her when Liliana was naked and walked about so with all the confidence in the world. Ralene had a similar confidence. She was more dreadlord-like than she had thought, if she was attracted to confidence and while also wanting to challenge it.

“You have a skill.” A useful one. Perhaps if Everleigh had the sort of patience and passion needed to make armor, she wouldn’t have to shill out an arm and a leg every single time. She didn’t even bother with wearing all the fancy metal stuff, preferring her leathers and clothing stuffed with wool— not because it was more comfortable but because it allowed her to use her own skill set better.

Absently, she went to tracing the studs on either side of her middle finger.

“Too bad you can’t make a detour back to the Academy.” Everleigh stood up. “How long would it take you to make new armor if you already had everything you needed? A few hours?”

Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

Ralene gave a sudden bark of laughter, "If only."

A couple hours to make an entirely new custom set of armor? Not even magic could do that, and magic she had in spades, no thanks to the aforementioned academy.

"It took me the better part of six years to make the full set I had," she admitted after having to think on it a bit. But that had been time spent in her rare off-hours between missions that might sometimes last months. There were long stretches of time, too, where she hadn't the materials to work with, or the knowledge of how to make what her mind envisioned. Years spent learning, tweaking, breaking, failing.

"But with no interruptions... all the time and materials and tools I needed? A month, maybe longer. Even still..."

Her cold blue gaze struck through the dimness of her room back at Everleigh, not unkindly but with intent, "I'm not ever returning to the Academy if I can't help it."

She stood again and stretched, her fingers flattening against the ceiling above while her spine cracked a staccato of long hours spent in a saddle. Then with a lazy motion she took up a clean black tunic and pulled it over her head, granting her companion recovery from the sight she'd been privy to. Ral's hands next went to her hair where she began to unravel the braid and the metal bands holding it together, "The General granted me access to the forges in Vel Castere so I could work in them. He sent me for training abroad in Alliria to learn to craft Portal Stone Keys from a dwarven Master Smith. I suspect eventually he'll grant me leave to make new armor for myself once I've earned it..." a rueful smirk worked its way onto her face, "Maybe by the time I've made Commander and retired from the field... when I no longer have need for it."

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Everleigh had always thought herself to be patient but she knew after Ral had spoke that she didn’t have the patience that was required to make armor. She also lacked the passion one needed to make it, which it seemed Ralene had plenty of. She wondered if leather armor was easier, decided that it was, but also decided that it would take too long for her to learn because she lacked not the intellect but the passion to do it.

She remembered Zael’s words, his promise. She thought of Ral’s previous offer, her feelings towards the Academy.

“Portal stones keys are useful,” Everleigh said, watching Ral undo her braid. She couldn’t comment on the General, couldn’t even comment on the future of Ral being a Commander. She was certain she’d be able to do such a thing, but once again, Ral had that passion.

“Here. Let me help.” Everleigh finally got the courage to move to Ralene herself. It must have been because she was no longer half bare to the purple proctor. “You’ll go bald before you need to if you don’t take care of your hair.”

Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

That last part earned a larked brow from the Lieutenant. What made her think she didn't take care of her hair? Ral had never been a vain person and mostly kept her hair short at the academy. In her last year before graduation she'd started letting it grow out, and now it fell down past her shoulders for the first time in over a decade. Truth be told, she kind of liked it longer and she didn't mind the upkeep. It was a new look for her new life as Samantha Black, not that her present company was aware of this evolution of identity.

"That so?" she decided to play coy on the subject and give the authority to the girl with the long, lovely purple tresses. Everleigh had always kept her appearances up and for certain she had more experience in the finer points of hair care than she ever did.

"Then by all means," Ral gestured to the chest at the foot of the bed for Everleigh to sit on, "teach me."

She'd take her seat on the floor before her where Ev would have easy access to her thick, black mane.