Private Tales Read between the lines

[Talus]

Talus didn't even seem phased by her use of magic. Perhaps it was the touch of her own hand, or the words that she interjected quickly, but all he did was take a deep breath.

A show of trust, perhaps. "I've been told fingers are important."

He joked, though he was a little bit more careful as he began to cut the basil once more. Cooking was something utterly new to him, but he tried to listen to the instructions she gave.

"I won't say you're wrong." Talus rebuked quietly. "But my experiences with the Houses has been..."

He trailed off, frowning a moment before continuing. "Not good."

Though admittedly he had never run into Luana before.

"One tried to kill me a few weeks back." Talus was still not entirely sure who had manipulated that situation. There had been too much obfuscation, too many layers, but he knew it had been one of the Seven.

 

[Zana]

Zana watched his chopping technique carefully for a while before nodding to herself and turning her gaze back to what she was doing which was adding the meat now the sauce had had time to thicken nicely. Once Talus was finished the herbs could go in too and then it was a matter of refining to taste. She shifted her weight so that she leaned more on one leg, her hand resting on the other hip as the other stirred the pot. She couldn't help the slight smile at his clear disagreement with what she said about Luana.

"What makes you sure they were trying to kill you specifically and that you just didn't get in the way of their real target?" she bit the inside of her cheek. What if it had been her own house? She was a valuable source of information and Ashur had seemed impressed by her recent performance with the Rous but that wasn't a certainty he would come to her with the deeper plots that were afoot.

"Ashur actually took me to a ball of theirs a while back. I met quite a few of the Heirs or Leaders of Houses. It was... interesting. It's like a whole different game they play."

 

[Talus]

"Well, if they were trying to kill someone else then they did a shit job by just showing up at my cabin." Talus said, smiling at her with a shit eating grin.

Assassins had been something new, but truth be told he had expected them since the moment he'd sworn to the Guard. Killing him was even more difficult than it was other Dreadlords, and that was really the only reason he'd managed to stay alive.

His head shook slightly. "They have their heads in the clouds"

Talus had met a scant few of the nobility, but each time he had the impression had not been a good one.

"They think they're on an entirely different level than us." It was clear that Talus did not agree, at least not anymore. At the same time his knife came down in a final chopping, finishing the task that she had assigned to him.

He placed the knife down, offering the cutting board to her.

 

[Zana]

"Thank you," the words were spoken softly and without really thinking as she took the board and went through the motion of adding the herbs in varying quantities as if she were on autopilot. She was busy thinking over everything he had said. She couldn't help but agree with him about the nobility; they didn't have a clue. The only one she had actually enjoyed being around was the now widowed Lady Luana who had married in to the family and it was more her sarcasm and dry wit she had appreciated than anything else.

"They really just showed up at your cabin?" she had been silent for a while but it seemed her mind had gone full circle twice and landed back on that point first. She sounded incredulous. It was a ballsy move to do it so blatantly, she had to begrudgingly admire that. "Were they Dreadlords or random hires?" it seemed foolish if they weren't Dreadlords and if they were Dreadlords it might be easier to trace who exactly it was. "I don't... understand why a House would want you dead for not choosing them. Is it your powers? Just a power move? Did you piss someone off?" she was just speaking her own thoughts out loud now. She paused to taste the sauce and then nodding to herself she brought another pot full of the spaghetti to boil.

 

[Talus]

He paused for a few seconds, wondering briefly just how much to tell her.

Zana had offered him secrets, he knew more about her than most anyone else...why keep this from her. Deep in thought he placed the knife down on the board. "It was some sort of assassin guild."

He said quietly.

"They were skilled, but not enough." A frown as he continued. "One of their members turned, and through them I learned that they had been hired by House Relek."

Zana would surely know the name. Relek was a now defunct minor House who had run into trouble with the Guard and Vel Anir itself. They had been accused of overreach and nearly starting a war, as well as gross incompetence. "Before I killed him, the head of their House told me that they were being used as a front for one of the Great Houses."

Though he had not said which, mostly because he'd been unable to.

A slight smile touched his lips at her next words. Head shaking. Talus wondered if she simply did not know the truth or just denied it.

"They want me dead because of what I represent Zana." He told her softly, his hand resting against the counter. "I didn't follow their plan. I didn't even swear to the King."

That at least had legitimacy through the ancient laws. "I did something no one else had. I changed the system. I defied them. All of them."

An stern expression pulled across his features.

"Tyrants will never stand for defiance." Passion returned to his voice. "No matter how small. No matter how little it is."

He looked at her, an almost sadness in his yes. "And whether you know it or not. Just by having me here...serving me dinner. You defy them."

 

[Zana]

"But..."

The more Talus spoke the more Zana realised just how blind she had been. Of course she had known the Houses were violent, volatile, and would do anything to hold on to power. She wasn't ignorant of those faults. She had seen her own house kill for money, for power, for protection. But getting rid of someone just because they didn't conform pushed her bleak picture of them further into the abyss. She hadn't ever considered Talus a threat when she had heard he had joined the guard. Shocked, yes. Confused also. But she had, if anything, thought he was damaging himself by not aligning with a House and had thus taken himself off the board so to speak. If there wasn't a threat then why neutralise it?

Emotions flicked across her face in quick succession then when she raised her eyes to look into his own and see the sadness there it rested finally on anger. There were rules, at least in her mind. Unspoken ones. You would get hurt if you failed. If you disobeyed. If you didn't serve Vel'Anir. But he hadn't done any of that by choosing the Guards and by coming after him... They had broken those unspoken rules which the Dreadlords had accepted to work under the yolk of. If they broke the rules then why should they serve?

She put her hand over the top of his where it rested on the counter and squeezed it.

"Talus I'm going to help you find what House did this, and I'll start with my own," if Luana had stooped to such a level she would be heartbroken but at least she would know where she stood. Where all Dreadlords stood in their mind. A grim determination set her jaw. "And if they have a problem with you being here well then fuck. them."

 

[Talus]

Talus smiled.

For a few seconds he did not know what to say to her, how to answer. He did not know if it was Luana, Sirl, or even Virak. All of them had their reason to want him dead, all of them stood in power above them all.

His fingers twitched for a brief moment as her hand collapsed over his. His eyes twitched toward their palms for a moment, his thumb stroking over hers as he took in a deep breath. "Helping me in the Guard is one thing."

Hesitation washed over him, but then he slowly reached up and cupped her cheek.

He had no idea if she would rebuke the gesture, but it felt right.

"But I won't have you sign your own death warrant." Not when she was the only one who had listened to him. Who knew his real motivations. Who had the slightest understanding of what he was trying to do.

 

[Zana]

Luana weren't as rigid with their Dreadlords about showing affection to one another. A comforting squeeze of the hand, or a brief hug even, was quite common amongst those who were close. Another thing permitted just because it helped with their image of being a House of the people, but Zana never really expected such things from other Dreadlords outside of her own. Except, maybe, Pirian, she thought of Evangeline who had laughed and joked with her in this kitchen as they had baked. She had felt more human too. So her body flinched a little when Talus cupped her cheek, hesitated in its rigidity, and then slowly relaxed into it.

"I'm not looking for permission," her voice was firm as her eyes flicked between his and she bit the inside of her cheek.

"What if another Dreadlord follows in your footsteps and they try the same thing with them? It's not just you they're attacking it's all of us. This is the one thing we actually get to control in our lives and they cannot infringe on that."

 

[Talus]

It was an argument that he couldn't really counter.

He had argued for choice, how could he deny her this one? Lips thinned for a brief moment, his thumb gently brushing over her cheek before his hand fell away. "Okay."

Talus couldn't deny it.

What she said was true. There would be others eventually, and if they let this stand the Houses would try to kill them too. Talus had been lucky. Fen had taught him to let the enemy underestimate him, to never show his true strength. That was the only reason they hadn't seen a Dreadlord or god forbid a Forsaken.

The thought of the Forsaken soured his tongue, another injustice that he couldn't right. His lips deepened in a frown.

"I won't stop you." Not like he could, if he tried. "But you have to be careful."

If she'd turned to the Guard he could have helped her, the Guard could have stood behind her, but if she was found snooping in her own House? Zana would be executed before Talus even heard of her 'betrayal'.

 

[Zana]

Her eyes closed briefly as his thumb stroked across her skin and then she sighed, shoulders slumping when he relented. Zana hadn't wanted to fight over the issue but she wouldn't have let him dictate what she did. If nothing else, she needed to know for her own peace of mind if the people she had been working for for her whole life had gone beyond the boundaries. She wasn't sure what she would do with that information but nevertheless she needed it.

"I thought I would just waltz up to Ashur and ask him point blank," her voice took on that blunt matter-of-fact tone so common amongst Dreadlords but her eyes betrayed her playfulness. "I've been in this game longer than you have - do you know how hard it is to keep a whole gift a secret? There's only four people in Luana who know and now you," her eyes flicked towards the sauce and she stirred it absentmindedly, bringing the spoon up to sample it before adding another few pinches of herbs.

"If it starts to get too much I'll leave Luana," Zana bit down on her bottom lip. It made her uncomfortable just thinking about the repercussions of that.

 

[Talus]

"Bold, but it might work." Talus said with a smirk. He'd never met any of the Nobles, not those of the Great Houses, but he imagined that such an action would startled them. The thought brought a bit of a chuckle from his throat.

Then slowly he thought about what else she said.

Five people.

He wondered briefly how many people knew about Fen's secret. Many knew tangentially of his own magic, but most did not know it's true depth. Though that was mainly because Talus himself did not know. Since that day during the executions he had been too afraid to really find out.

Talus wondered if it was the same for her. "I'll keep a room for you at the Cabin."

He offered with a smile.

"I doubt they'd let you keep all this." The Dreadlord gestured around him. It was a joke, but also serious in a way. If she needed to defect, Talus would welcome her with open arms. As would the Guard.

 

[Zana]

"A cosy cabin in the woods," Zana mused. "Statistically speaking that would make you a serial killer," her eyes flicked up towards him and then she crouched and checked briefly on the bread. A smell of garlic wafted out and her stomach answered with a growl. She hadn't quite realised how hungry she was. As she stood she followed the movement of his hand around her house and pressed her lips together to stop the grimace.

"This was an apology gift. Not all Luana Dreadlords live in such luxury, - they may be rich but I think they would end up bankrupt if they did this for everyone," she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and then brought the pasta off the boil, moving round him to drain it off in the sink. Steam billowed upwards and fogged up the small little window.

"As you saw the visions are painful and I can't always control when I get one though there are... ways," her jaw clenched and she slammed the lid down on the memories sharply of that place beneath the docks. "Do you remember the spate of murders a few years back with Dreadlords turning up dead with those odd symbols in their chest? Well they wanted to figure out when the next attack was going to be," she motioned to herself as if it was obvious how they had thought it were best to do that. She turned the heat off the sauce and meat and began to plate up the dish. Grey stretched and wandered over to see if he would be lucky with any spillages.

"I had a seizure from how many times they forced me under to get more details and I nearly died. I was in hospital for a month," she rubbed the back of her neck. "When I got out they set me up here," she took the bread out from the oven and slid it into one of her wooden boards to cool.

 

[Talus]

"I do a poor job of that then." He commented with a smile.

The expression immediately disappeared when she launched into her story.

He remembered those murders. At the time he and the others had still been in the midst of the Academy. They had been preparing for graduation when rumors of the murders filtered down to them. He couldn't quite remember how it had been solved officially, but Zana's explanation made sense.

A breath filled his lungs as he tried to contain his rage at her tale. "And it was one of them all along."

That much nearly everyone remembered. The deaths had been at the hands of a Noble, the head of a Minor House who had been using Rune magic to gain power for himself. The whole affair had been a massive controversy, and of course had set further restrictions on the use of magic within the city.

Not that those laws were really followed, by Dreadlords. They had been an excuse to ensure that the Great Houses could control even basic magics such as the Runes. Something that had hit the Guard and some smaller industries harder than most might have expected.

It was just another example of the injustice they all had to suffer. Dreadlords were slaughtered like cattle, another was nearly killed, and the culprit all along stood in the ranks of those with power. "A house doesn't seem enough."

He said quietly.

 

[Zana]

Zana set the the two plates down on the kitchen table and then brought over the garlic bread and set it between them.

"No, but it is better deal than the ice cream I used to get when I was 10 after the same ordeal," Sloan had tried her best to protect her and make the experience less horrific, but orders were orders and Brackard Cain was a horror onto himself. "It's why I was in the bookshop, I had a vision that book would help me somehow with my gifts. I've been having the same one for a week now but this was the first day I had to myself to go and find it," she sat down and motioned for him to join her.

"So this is spaghetti bolognese - oh wait," she stood up and moved to fetch the cheese and a grater. She leaned over the table to scatter a bit on top of his plate then did the same to her own and set the rest on the table should either of them want more. "Bon appetite."

 

[Talus]

Talus sat himself down and looked at the table.

The meal was like nothing he'd ever seen before. It seemed far more complete and whole than a simple pack of rations of the gruel that he usually got. He wondered if he should have chosen cooking instead of woodcarving.

It seemed somewhat more useful. "Thank you."

He offered as he picked up the fork and attempted to scoop at some of the pasta. The action looked very much like a barbarian attempting to play the lute, but after some difficulty Talus managed to get some of the food in his mouth.

"Thifs ifs Delifiouse." Talus declared with a mouth full of pasta.

 

[Zana]

Zana watched with increasing amusement as he tried to scoop up the food, her own fork hovering by her plate. Once he had managed his first forkful and declared what he thought she laughed and shook her head.

"You twist it like this," she demonstrated the movement of twirling the long pasta up with a combination of meat and cheese then put the neat parcel of food in her mouth with a small smirk. Once she had had her first taste she sighed and tucked in to her own meal. Grey let out a low whine as he paced between the two of them and wound about their legs. After a while she ripped off a bit of garlic bread and used it to mop up some sauce.

"So you said you did wood carving? What kind of things do you make?" her head canted to the side.

 

[Talus]

Talus ate as he was constructed, more carefully now in a less sophisticated mimicry of what Zana did. table manners had not exactly been something taught to him. Unlike some of the other Dreadlords, it had been clear to the Proctors that Talus was not meant for...sophisticated occasions.

"I started with easy things. Figurines, forks, spoons." That was what the book had said to do. Apparently it was important to learn the small things first and then build oneself up into the bigger pieces. "Now I do furniture. Most of my cabin is decorated with things I've made."

Of course, when the Assassins had come half of it had been smashed into pieces.

He was still bitter about that.

His mind however turned back to something else she'd said, a frown touching his face before he asked. "What do you think is in the book?"

 

[Zana]

Zana was trying to imagine what he described. Woodworking seemed like a good fit now she had gotten to know him a little better - he had a keen mind and clearly required something that was demanding enough to keep his attention but not something too hard that it became a chore. Making things with ones own hands fit all of that and left you feeling satisfied - in fact, she imagined it was quite similar to how she felt after cooking a good meal.

"I would like to see that," her voice was hesitant as if she were not quite sure whether if he would shoot down her unspoken request to see his home and his work. "What's your favourite piece?"

When he asked about the book her expression grew apprehensive and she begun to push the food around on her plate. She hadn't had a chance to look at it yet.

"I'm... I'm not sure. Anything would be helpful I've been working blind for my whole life. Nobody knows another with gifts like mine in Vel-Anir. It makes it... difficult to learn. The longer I can't the longer I have to deal with the ways we do know triggers them."

 

[Talus]

"You're welcome any time." Talus told her.

"A table." He continued with a smile. "It took me ages to make properly, designed it with my own crest and everything."

Embarrassment flashed over his features. "Not that it's official."

Technically his crest was that of the Guard's, but...well he'd added his own flare to it.

As she spoke of the book however he felt an odd pang in his chest. The more he learned about Zana the more he realized that they held some startling similarities with one another. His gaze settled on her, and he could help but feel an odd sense of connection.

"I understand." It was almost comical how much he understood. "I may not see into the future, but...It's the same with my magic."

Phase-walking as the Proctors had called it had been entirely unheard of before him. "I truly hope you find something."

He said as he rested his hand on the table and took a deep breath.

 

[Zana]

The hesitation disappeared and she stopped biting her lip the moment he announced she would be welcome and she put another forkful of food in her mouth as she listened to his description of the table and his crest. Her toothless smile brought out the dimples in her cheeks. What person hadn't mentally designed their own crest in truth? Emblems blazed everywhere you looked in Vel'Anir, Zana thought it would be rather odd if someone didn't think about creating their own and imagining it fluttering from a banner one day.

Zana tilted her head in thanks and then twirled her fork slowly about another piece of pasta.

"Can I ask... what your magic is? I've never been able to share a vision before but I felt... you in it with me in the store," when she had finished speaking she looked up at him and bit down on the corner of her bottom lip.

 

[Talus]

He frowned. "It's...hard to explain."

Talus wasn't trying to be evasive, he just was not entirely sure how to actually answer the question. Even her abilities were easy enough to quantify into words. His own? Well, he didn't exactly have the best vocabulary to begin with.

"I am able to...step into a different realm." He said slowly, trying his best to sound reasonable. "It's like an echo of our world."

He took a breath. "I can move through that realm. There's no gravity, no air, nothing. So I move faster than I could in this world."

Which was how he used the ability primarily and what made him such a strong duelist.

"But..." He frowned. "I can also interact with the Echoes there..."

He said Echoes, but he knew what they really were; souls. Everything had one in that realm. Even things that were not living.

 

[Zana]

Zana was bright, incredibly so, it was the only way it had been easily justifiable that even as a Third Level Dreadlord she often led missions instead of a Second of First Level. So as he spoke she followed, or at least she thought she did. Slowly she began to nod and finally put the forkful of food in her mouth as she continued to listen to his explanation.

She drummed her fingers on the table as she thought about it.

"And so... you touched... my 'Echo' when I was having the vision and that's how you joined it? Which, by the way, felt like I was running a mile with you on my back," Zana shot him a half hearted accusatory look but her thoughts were already moving on to the implications. She wondered if she could shared past visions with him in a similar fashion - they were easy enough to bring up and replay once she had had them once.

"And what exactly does a soul look like? How can you tell mine isn't whole?"

 

[Talus]

"Well I didn't exactly do it on purpose." He said with a nervous shrug. "Besides, i carried you home to make up for it."

A smile flashed across his lips, though her next question made it disappear.

He took in a breath. "It's hard to put into words. Sometimes it looks no different than the person, other times it's a twisted aberration of them, once it was..."

Talus shook his head.

"Yours is a simple after image, perhaps a bit...softer than you. Right now it appears somewhat faded." He told her. "As I said I barely caught it, might not have if it weren't for the second grafted on."

That was really what had caught his attention. Talus had never seen anything quite like it before, and it had been more than a little concerning.

 

[Zana]

"What did you think was going to happen when you did it?" Zana laughed at his justification as she picked up another slice of garlic bread and broke bits at to nibble at.

"That's so interesting..." and it was the truth, she found it fascinating to learn about what other people could do. She had yet to find two Dreadlords who were exactly the same - even Sloan and her twin hadn't shared everything. She slowed in her movements as another thought occurred to her and she set her bread down and leaned back a little in her chair fixing him with an odd look.

"Does it unnerve you being here with me with my misshapen souls? Like... do you see it all the time or can you switch between it?" she didn't want to cause him discomfort but there was little she could do about something she couldn't see herself nor, as far as she knew, had any control over the shape of.

 

[Talus]

"I didn't do it." He stated simply, not trying to counter her but just give a bit of insight into what had happened. "It just happened."

Talus could not control every facet of his abilities, though most of the time he could keep them in check. There were incidents where things had just...happened. Generally it was whenever he interacted with other magics.

His head shook. "That is an active choice."

Talus explained.

"I saw you walking in the street while I was in the other realm." A shrug rolled over his shoulder. "Right now you just look like you."