Private Tales Light After Dark

[Gerrard]

"No, no just a slight pain behind my eyes from the drink," he replied, very specifically.

His fingers found the hem of his shirt, sliding tentatively upwards over the plane of his midriff. The skin was tender, but smooth. No more rough edges and inflammation. New skin.

"I think you might have managed to use a healing spell somehow," he murmured quietly.

 

[Audreyn]

She turned from her crouch, eyes widening at the sight.

"Uhhhh," was all she managed, lips parting in shock. She fell back on her butt and yanked off the bandages, her right hand looking like his wound, while her left remained blistering and raw.

"That's some serious magic medicine we drank last night." With some... questionable side effects. She dropped her hand, looking around the room glumly. "I can't believe I did this, or that. Ugh. You think they'll let me wash dishes to pay for this all?"

 

[Gerrard]

"No, I don't think so..." he said through a grimace. In truth he was just recalling how bad the damage was. "I'll find a carpenter."

He blinked to clear his vision, but the sun refused to stop burning his eyes.

"Did you heal your hands too?" he asked. He finally summoned the determination to sit upright.

 

[Audreyn]

"One of them." She tried to open and close her left hand and could only grimace at the pain. The other was utterly smooth, red yet healed over from the harm that had been there.

"I really did this?" She murmured in disbelief. She ran the good hand through her hair and clutched at her head, aching there too. She groaned. No wonder her pa would get so grumpy in the morning. This hurt.

"I really fucked up yesterday-- and he's really-- he's really still alive?" Her throat clenched in emotions.

 

[Gerrard]

"He is, yes. For now, he might not even survive that," his voice turning suddenly grave.

Gerrard turned his shoulders to face her, casting his eyes over each of her hands in turn. Managing that on instinct was not normal.

Gerrard didn't believe in fate. Life was what you made of it, what you took from it. Yet was she a missing piece of the puzzle he was trying to solve?

He turned his line of thought away from that. Instead he focused on what had happened the night before.

"I promise I'll do everything I can to keep you safe from him and his kind. If one day you decide to settle this score... I'll help you with that too."

 

[Audreyn]

She glanced up at him, eyes growing glassy with a wave of emotions. She surged forward, wrapping him in an abrupt, tight hug around his torso.

And then just as quickly she yanked back, clearing at her throat and trying to brush away the improperness of hugging someone she barely knew in her night dress.

Well, not barely knew. She trusted him with her life now. That had to give wiggle room for some things.

"Thank you," she managed, brisk as she cleared the emotions from her throat. "I'm hungry. Are you hungry? I'm going to get us some food."

She pushed herself onto her feet, stepping over him in the floor.

 

[Gerrard]

"Alright," he said softly, giving her an awkward pat on the back before she pulled away.

Gerrard considered the question, unsure of the answer. He definitely was hungry, but his stomach also seemed to want to do some interesting acrobatics.

"Why don't we get on with the morning, get dressed and go and eat at the bar?" he suggested. At the very least he needed some water.

 

[Audreyn]

Audreyn hesitated, then nodded. Yes, getting out of this room would be good. A moment to pretend the mess around her didn't exist. She hiccuped, wavering in place before finally locating her.... burnt dress. She frowned, turning from it and going to one of the new ones instead.

The time was spent quietly, both moving slowly as they favored headaches. Eventually she was ready, to be found sitting by the legs of his bed once he stepped out dressed himself. She grunted, trying to wedge the broke leg back underneath. She achieved literally nothing.

She frowned up at him.

"You can sleep in my bed."

She stood, moving to the door with him.

 

[Gerrard]

"I'll pay for him to get it fixed. If it can't be done today then the bedding on the floor is more comfort than can normally be found on the road," he said. "Or we get another room."

That was assuming that they didn't get thrown out when he explained what happened. He opened the door and stepped out, not quite feeling ready for the day.

"In the cities some of the enterprising merchants have started selling something called insurance. You pay a fee and if something is broken they pay for it. Sort of like gambling in my opinion. But even if such a practise had made its way out here I doubt it would cover magical accidents."

A bit of smalltalk about nothing of any consequence put a small distance between himself and the conversation that had come before. He needed time to let that sink in.

"Awful noise last night?" came an enquiry from behind the bar. The innkeeper was wiping a gladd with a cloth so dirty that Gerrard could only imagine was making the glass more murky.

 

[Audreyn]

Audreyn flushed as she stumbled into the bar top. "I-uh. We need new legs for his bed," she mumbled, looking appropriately embarrassed. The bar keep raised a brow, giving Gerrard a heavy look up and down.

"That so?"

"Mhm, yup." She rocked back on her heels, missing entirely the levity of the man's tone. "Listen, canwejustgetbreakfast? Head hurts," she complained, voice a mumble.

 

[Gerrard]

The barman levelled them both with an amused stare. The pause that followed managed to carry a note of accusation. Gerrard sensed the man was on the cusp of commenting further when he turned away and barked for some breakfast towards the kitchen.

"Water, porridge, bread and jam," the innkeeper said. He didn't offer any choices, but at least he didn't voice the thoughts going on in that small mind of his. "Boy, go fetch Bob the carpenter!" he called out.

Gerrard took a seat at one of the small tables. "I wish he wouldn't shout," he muttered to Audreyn with a wince.

The innkeeper brought out a large jug of water and a pair of cups. "You can pay the bill for that. And promise you two won't bounce the other one 'til it breaks."

 

[Audreyn]

Audreyn's neck seemed to recede back into her shoulders, deep regret drawing out the urge to fold smaller and smaller. "Yessir.Won'tdoitagain,'promise."

She grabbed the cup and pulled it to her, going to shove her face into the lip and suck in air until it stuck to half the face it had swallowed. She remained like that, wishing for him to just go and for the cup to actually be full of water.

With a snort and an amused look tossed Gerrards way, he left.

She sat up, pulling the cup off her face with a pop.

"It's not like I do it on purpose. Everyone sets things on fire at first ... right?"

 

[Gerrard]

Gerrard tilted his hand from side to side.

"Not always at the start of their journey, but you're obviously late to being trained. If it is of any consolation I have set fire or caused damage to many valuable items and locations."

Gerrard seemed fairly relaxed about that. Yet he subconsciously itched at the scars that had come with his new title.

"My experiments are cutting edge, they will always carry risk."

 

[Audreyn]

Her tongue stuck out of her mouth as she managed to pour the jug into both their cups without a spill.

"Experiments? Oh, that's right, you said you did those before," she noted, eagerly pulling her cup to her and drinking deeply. Only once it was empty did she smack her lips and put it down, her discomfort eased to some degree.

"What kinda experiments?" She pulled the jar back to her.

 

[Gerrard]

"Magic was not gifted to us by some spirits or gods. There are laws that the world follows and we worked out how to use these to create magic."

With both hands he made a small circle on the table in front of him.

"There is everything we know now and there is everything outside of that we don't know. By experimenting we expand out knowledge, create new spells." He made a larger circle on the table.

"Sometimes we have a dark time and we actually lose knowledge." He shrank the circle. "Sometimes we're discovering something for the second, third or fourth time. We have no idea how the portal stones work. None."

 

[Audreyn]

She looked up at him, a curious edge behind the drawn expression. She would never drink again, she swore it to herself in that moment.

"Portal stones?" She echoed, clearing out her throat. "What are those?" The serving boy came at that moment, his arms loaded with their porridge and bread. She hurried to create space for him, taking the plates and shoving them every which way. Without further ado she shoveled spoonfuls into her mouth, realizing abruptly she had not had dinner the night before.

 

[Gerrard]

"Portal stones, they can essentially teleport you between places in the world. We don't know how they work. We can't replicate the magic. I have some theories on the subject."

It occurred to him that she hadn't eaten too. He waved a spoon in her direction as he offered more general advice.

"Don't drink whiskey on an empty stomach. Wait, did the bottle survive last night?" he asked suddenly, eyes widening a fraction. Would have been an awful waste.

 

[Audreyn]

"I dunno, did anything survive last night," she grumbled around her spoon. She sighed around her glass, the third serving sitting heavily in her stomach. She slumped against the table, picking at her bread and eating slower.

"For medicine it doesn't feel good. Is this why people keep drinking? To like ... keep numb and run from this?" Yet even as her head went on the table, she couldn't deny that she was feeling that much better. Food. Water. A little bit of magic to heal one of the hands. She could be sitting in worse. She could be dead.

 

[Gerrard]

"We did," he said bluntly. "And that was because you managed to stop. Despite my foolishness in trying to teach you after drinking."

The corner of his lips twitched upwards. It was not often he admitted his mistakes. His voice then took on a much more casual tone.

"And then you managed to heal me with magic without any training. Which is quite remarkable by the way. Still, I hope the whiskey survived."

 

[Audreyn]

Remarkable? She balked into the table, the surface cool on her face.

"It's magic. Should be able to do 'nything if you put your mind to it. Shoulda put my mind to healing both hands, dun know why I didn't." She rolled her head to the other side, sighing in bliss at the spreading cool before she sat up with a protesting groan.

"We're not actually gonna go hit the road today now ... right?" She blinked hard, sitting up in a slight puff of excitement. "We promised to stay for the bed costs." Win!

"So we can't until that's done."

 

[Gerrard]

"Depends. You won't be feeling a thing from the drunk by midday. By comparison I will only have learned just how much I'm going to be suffering from this hangover."

He winced at some voices passing the window. It had been his call to get up and move on with the day. It was one he was starting to regret.

"When was the last time you drank too much?" he asked, deciding to take the conversation somewhere lighter for a moment. That was his thought, which was quickly analysed and found to be distinctly stupid. It meant sending her thinking about the past.

 

[Audreyn]

"Uhhh..." She picked at her bread, turning it to crumbs on her plate.

"Christmas party last year I had four things of ale. Thought I was drunk then." She sighed heavily, wishing right now was anything like that pleasant buzz that had her making a giggling fool over herself in front of the butcher's son.

The next morning had barely a cotton mouth.

She drew quieter, falling into the memories.

 

[Gerrard]

"Trust me, imagine what you're feeling now, then double it. That's what I'm going through."

Gerrard had little evidence for this, which did go some way against his philosophy on the world. He knew that his hangovers were far worse than when he was a young man in his twenties, but his tolerance was probably a lot stronger.

"Just take more time when you drink," he offered. "Enjoy a whiskey slowly and then it won't hit you like a catapult stone when it sets in. Is the light bothering your eyes yet?" he asked. Despite his complaints he was beginning to find some amusement in their predicament.

"Magical hangover cure. Someone needs to invent one."

 

[Audreyn]

"Only if I open them," she reasoned, letting them close for a moment.

"Hmmm," she mulled, resting her cheek into her hand and letting her face siiiink and stretch against it.

"Well if there's not one, lets make it." She picked up her head, yawning into his direction. "What's the word for heal and whats the word for head?" She looked at him expectantly, entirely serious about this inquiry. She saw no reason this wouldn't work. This was what magic was for.

 

[Gerrard]

Gerrard didn't immediately address her question. He took a moment to consider it.

"I'm not sure what we need to heal," he stated. "Alcohol is like a poison. But we're no longer drunk so I assume it's mostly left our systems. So is it your head that is damaged or is this a symptom of something else?" His voice tailed off as he continued to think about it himself.

"A detoxifying spell could be modified but its too late. I don't know the cause to formulate a spell. Well, if I don't know that...then what is the worst symptom?" he asked. Clearly his little mental journey was going to continue of its own accord now she had started it.