Completed Reckoning

[Rebecca Fourtuna]

Rebecca's brow furrowed at the question.
Her eye's never left the fire as she responded.
"This l-life? happiness?"
She spoke those words like they were a perplexing puzzle she had never been asked to solve.
She seemed to tense for a moment as lightening cracked the sky and the cabin was shaken by thunder.

She drew closer with a slight shake.

Her ears went back in fright as it passed and she continued.
"I remember a little of my old life. I was born in the slu-slums of Airithel. My parents quickly s-sold me to slaver's with no name given to them. He then sold me to pirates.."

Her eyes seemed to glaze over in the fog of the past as she spoke.
Remembering the creaks of the boat and the sting of the lash.

"There was a storm...They wrecked here and I was thrown overboard. My old master killed the surviving pirates..
The slaves w-were below decks..N-none survived. I was s-serving the captain food when it happened...Th-through the rain and ri-rising water...Philip found me, gave m-me a name,and raised me to survive here. He was a guide in days past. Gu-guiding ships through the bayou for coin. P-pirate or not, but his de-decision to help them would soon be his un-undoing...."

Another crackle of lightening made her place her head in Lazule's lap with a flinch and whimper..

"One day the p-pirates he guided decided they would not pay when they docked at his home on the shore. They stabbed him and threw him to the bayou. Th-they locked his wife in his home before burning it to the ground with her inside. Th-they thought him dead. It was th-their greatest mistake." she said.

Her voice muffled slightly by the shirt and her lap as the storm raged on outside.

"He v-vowed to never let another sm-smuggler, pi-pirate or slaver through the b-bayou. He would never allow an-another rudder to grace our waters. H-he kept that vow, and wh-when the pirates re-returned knowing the way he showed them through....He took his vengeance. He tied them all to the mast and set the ship ablaze. Leaving it to drift back out to sea on the winds of their screams. So-oon...No pirate gracing his territory was safe..He taught me the waterways...Taught m-me how to survive here...He never pitied me or showed me un-undo mercy. And one day...A sh-ship entered our shores..He-he went to take care of it....and returned w-w-wounded..."

As she spoke her voice tightened. Her tail did as well keeping Lazule even closer like she was scared she would vanish into thin air.
"He laid down and told me to fetch water...I did so and when I returned.."

Tears were streaming down her cheeks and her eyes were clenched shut.

"He made me promise to continue his oath. To continue his fight, he said he loved me like his wife..The woman I am named after...That I was the daughter he never had.. and...Then... He....he...."

She trailed off as she tackled Lazule with more force than she undoubtedly had meant to. Her tail coiling up her back and her arms wrapped around her in a hug as she wheezed between sobs.
Her shoulders shook, rocked with the weight of true grief.
Grief a girl her age should not know with such familiarity.
She just sobbed for a long while holding the hunter close. Nuzzling her tear streaked face into the crook of her neck. After a while she seemed to gather herself together.

"And so i kept my word. I honored his memory with every pirate I killed. Their blood fed the bayou for years as I worked tirelessly...Alone.."

She released Lazule as she sat away from her. Her knees drawn to her chest as her tail now wrapped around her self.

"And then word of the m-mist came. It was a red ab-abomination...Word was that it would spread if not contained, and so I left my home and journeyed there to help...But I was captured there...Demons of unspeakable evil lived in those mists...I was lost...Alone...and broken...They offered to make me whole...To give me direction...They killed me...And buried me in the earth of a world that I know not its location...When I-I emerged...I was this...I fought..I lost limbs only to have them return, I lost blood for it to be replenished...M-My thirst for flesh gnawed at my very b-being...I Remember not how I returned...But i washed up on these shores...and they were back..In my absence pirates had consumed this land...No one to protect them. The bayou bone collector had died they said...And in a sense...They were correct. I was no longer a human...Fueled by rage and hunger consuming my thoughts...Only the memory of Philip kept me sane...And as I worked...M-memories came back and my humanity returned to me. The villagers rejected me. They knew me as R-rebecca. D-Daughter of old P-phillip...Not this thing.."

She spat looking at her claws and skin like it's very existence disgusted her to be trapped inside.

" My appearance turned their stomachs...and I do not blame them for their fear, and yet still I worked and still I work now..S-so happiness? I would n-not say that is what I-I find here...I-It is simply all I have....A-All I know..."

She looked disgusted at her own appearance. She scooted away from Lazule like she was doing her a favor. How could she be loved again..Even by her debt holder.
It was foolish to force such a burden on another. She stared at the floor ashamed by her out burst.
"Im s-sorry.."
She said quietly.
Surely her new master was shaken and disgusted by her touch.
It was undoubtedly pity with disgust under the kindness.
Like a diseased kitten fed scraps from the sheer pity it had the ghaul to draw breath.

 

[Lazule]

A sheer opening. An outpouring of self. All amidst the flashes of lightning and the rumbles of thunder.

Her story. Hers to tell. And she had told it.

The man named Philip. His tragedy. The cruelty visited upon him that would become the vengeance visited upon the rough men of the sea. The inception of the legend. His wounding. His undoing. Violence had found him, as it would all who practiced it, given enough time. A carrying on. Of spirit. In name and in deeds.

The girl's fierce clutching taking Lazule by surprise. A rapid blinking, and her hands hovering just above Rebecca's back. Unsure. Not of what the girl had suffered, but how she could possibly help her. If she could. The crying into Lazule's neck. She could comprehend the pain of loss and she could extend sympathy but in this specific instance she could not empathize, for she had not known it herself.

And the girl cried for a time. Perhaps it was by simply being here and offering such a shoulder to lean on and a neck to cry into that Lazule had done some measure of good for Rebecca, however small. Providing her with something that she had so clearly lacked and so clearly desired yet could not have all up until now. This tiny thing. This brief connection. Someone to look upon her and not recoil in horror and someone to hear her and know the truth of her being. Yes. Something good.

Lazule's hands stopped shaking.

And she listened to Rebecca tell of the red mists. Lazule had heard of them too late, for when she had approached the site of one gathering of mists in the Spine they had all receded. Only a desolate field of dead plants and a new portal stone remained.

Demons. Inside the mists. Horrid things unnatural to Arethil and inherently unholy in being. And so they in their infernal guile took advantage of Rebecca's pain. Her suffering. Buried her and changed her. And thus it was that her form changed. Once human. Now different.

And now, so changed, she had come back to the only home she had ever known. A purpose held by default. Lazule did not know the struggle of finding and tacitly choosing purpose. She never had to.

A look of disgust from the girl at her own body, and Rebecca shied away. Stared down at nothing. Apologized.

The gap between them. Lazule looked to her, the gap more than simple distance. It was perhaps good to be present with Rebecca, but it alone was not enough. Again, as it had been, she was at a loss for what to do. A desire to help but a lack of awareness of the proper route. She stood on foreign ground. Lost. What could be done?

Her eye moved about as she thought. Considered. Looking here and there and there and here. And back to Rebecca.

They did have something in common. In a way not exact but very similar. Pariahs of form. She had lied about it for so long. Lied about all the things surrounding it. Lied for the sake of herself and for the sake of others. And she would undoubtedly continue to lie about it in the future. To tell the truth in this regard was...unprecedented.

But she was in unprecedented company. Rebecca was uniquely qualified to understand. Perhaps in the sharing Lazule could bring the comfort to her that she so needed. Form a bond of trust. In the knowing each of them would have of the other.

Yes.

It was time to tell the truth.

Lazule summoned what bravery she could muster.

Shifted her body toward Rebecca such that she would sit beside her again. Gently placed her hand upon that spot on her back that she preferred.

Smiled. Held it.

And said softly, "This body is not my own. I was not born. I was assembled."

 

[Rebecca Fourtuna]

This body is not my own, I was not born...I was assembled..

"W-what?..." Rebecca said as her sobs ceased.
She looked back to see Lazule moving closer a smile on her face which did not vanish instantly.

Rebecca had seen fleeting smiles on her face but this felt extraordinary...A smile..For her...A gift not given easily and given to someone who truly cherished it.
Rebecca returned the smile as the last of her tears dripped down her cheeks. She then felt the hand on her back. That place she could never reach..Her master had been given space..

A way to distance herself from the monster before her...And Lazule had chosen to fill it on her own.

No one was forcing her to be close to her now. Rebecca heard no note of pity in her debt holders voice nor saw it in her eyes.
Only comfort.

Even a dim amount of understanding.

Assembled...

A trait they both shared it seemed..

Perhaps she did understand...

Rebecca slowly uncoiled herself as she slid her head back on to Lazule's lap gently.
Her tail nudged Lazule's hand for scratching as it slipped back around the hunters waist protectively and she began to purr.
"A-a-assembled? I-is that why y-you have this?"

She asked reaching out to slowly touch the metal plate poking through the shirt. Her finger traced a the scar line snaking from it for a moment before her palm rested there.

She moved her hand away and slid back down to resting on her lap.

Her eyes blinked with genuine curiosity.

An expression more suited to a girl her age more so than the twisted expression of grief that it had bore during her story.

She sat silently purring waiting for scratches and the story of her master.
She would not prod for details. She would listen to what Lazule had to say.

No more than she wanted, and no less.
She felt as if her master simply needed someone there to listen as she did herself.

 

[Lazule]

The rain a constant about them. Enclosing them in the cabin. A togetherness in circumstances present and past.

Lazule scratched Rebecca's back. Glanced down when she touched the plate upon her chest. Looked back to her when her hand had gone. Her face. The terrible sorrow in it gone, or perhaps lessened such that it was no longer readily apparent. Yes. It was a step in the right direction. A relating of self. The simple knowing Rebecca could have; that she was not entirely alone.

Lazule nodded, answering her question with the gesture.

And she said, "You are in company that understands. I am an imperfect imitation. And this has been a cause of distress for others. Of fear. It is a primal response, for people to fear what they do not understand. And so I have lied. For their sake. For my sake."

And she scratched. Looked about the cabin as she thought and then looked back down to Rebecca. Her smile holding. "There was a girl. Who was viciously mauled by a monster. A werewolf, to be precise. It shredded her legs so she could not run, ripped off an arm when she fought back, slashed out an eye in its rage, and tore her heart from her chest and feasted upon it, leaving her ragged corpse."

And she scratched.

"Her family was absolutely distraught when her body was found. Her mother. Her four brothers. But her father most of all. Such was his grief that he refused to accept her fate. And he was powerful mage in his own right. So his sons, the girl's four brothers, all set out to collect what their father required. Reagents for a potent spell. They had gathered all but still the spell required life. And so the girl's mother volunteered."

And she scratched.

"But the resurrection failed. For the girl had no heart. And her mother's sacrifice was thus in vain."

And she scratched.

"Still, the father refused to give up. He devised a new spell, and again his sons set out to gather what was required. And so they had. But what was missing, again, was life. Life for life, as the Thread of Mortality dictates. He told his sons that for the spell to work, he would need all four of them. And selflessly, bravely, all four of them volunteered. But what he did not tell them was that their beloved sister, his daughter, would not be brought back. For while her reassembled body remained, her spirit was gone."

And she scratched.

"And it was from their sacrifices that the father created the Life Fire. And he placed it within his daughter's chest where once her heart had been. And there he sealed the wound with a plate of particular metal to contain the Fire."

She scratched.

"And I awoke. A blank slate. Knowing not even the first words he spoke to me. The names I would later learn. Those who died so that I might be created."

Her smile faded. A solemn look.

"Lena. Adela. Zachariah. Ulric. Liam. Elijah."

 

[Rebecca Fourtuna]

She felt the sadness in Lazule's heart. The names she listed spoke like daggers into her soul, and yet they brought comfort to her as well.
Rebecca understood those stabbing pains..The pains of love lost...But for that love to be lost it had to be had at some point. A reminder of sacrifice and loss had to once be a feeling of love and happiness or it would not carry such pain with it.
She snuggled closer to her debt holder. Reaching out and placing her palm once again to the plate.

"The f-flame..Lena. Adela. Zachariah. Ulric. Liam. Elijah" She muttered with reverence.

A new found understanding of its importance replacing er look of curiosity.
She had never been one to lie, but the way her master spoke the weight of such lies could build over time..

Even if it was for peoples own good.

"Tha-Thank you for telling me...Im n-not alone.."

She muttered letting her hand slide away once more giving her master a warm smile that said

"I am here for you as well. Until death.." More than her words could ever convey.

 

[Lazule]

Lena, the daughter so cruelly slain.

Adela, the mother who gave her life for hope.

Zachariah, the eldest brother who so inspired the others.

Ulric, the second eldest who fought the fiercest on Lena's behalf.

Liam, the third eldest who strove to be like his father.

Elijah, the youngest brother who volunteered to give his life first.

For she would not be without their perishings. Her creation one that was only achieved with loss. She knew and understood well that her being was never intended, that Father did not and could not love her as he did his daughter Lena. For she was not her. She was an artifice of a human, a walking sculpture of a child lost, a doll that pretended at life. And she inhabited the body of Lena, chanced only into being by the failure of Adela's sacrifice, and the Life Fire which took the place of Lena's bygone heart brought to manifest only through the courage and love of the four brothers.

Those six she could never meet. Those six she could never directly give thanks and gratitude for the rare opportunity most brief and most precious of all. Life.

But Father had shown her the way.

Her eye glancing down at Rebecca's hand upon the plate secured to her chest. "Yes. You are not alone."

Looking to her when her hand receded. "We are things not human, and yet we are humane. Ours is a hard road. One without kin, and that is the secret and terrible fate of being unique in the world. But there is solace to be found in purpose. In devotion."

The gentle circling of her hand upon Rebecca's back. Steady as she scratched. "My Father, He who created the Life Fire, bestowed upon me a way of being. And it has brought me peace my whole life. I am the Hunter, I am the Slayer. And there is nothing but that. And in this purpose so clear I find only joy. I protect the innocent from the ravenous monsters which seek to predate upon them. For in his failing to save his daughter Lena from death, I am that which he so constructed as a measure to prevent as much of that same sorrow from manifesting again. To bring forth a righteous reckoning upon the wicked of Arethil. This I will do until the Fire fades, and I am no more."

She regarded the girl. A soft gaze. Caring. Well-wishing. "I believe you must find purpose. One that commands your devotion such that the giving of it is nothing but joyous. Whether that purpose is fulfilling your promise to Philip here, is at my side in my travels, or even elsewhere and presently unknown, it is not mine to say but yours to discover. I believe then you will find happiness, and you will be content."

 

[Rebecca Fourtuna]

"P-perhaps it is time for me to move on. I have b-bared the will of Phillip's f-final wish for a long time...He would w-want me to happy a-and I think I have found a new p-purpose. T-to keep your flame burning as long as it is p-possible...And I can n-not do that from h-here. I will b-be by your side un-until the end Master Lazule.."
She said softly.

She rose with some regret written into her features from giving up the scratches, and re stoked the fire before relaxing back by her masters side.
Her tail wrapped back around her waist and she stretched with a yawn before curling up next to her.

"And your wrong...We a-arent without kin. You have me.."

She said as her eyes closed and her breathing relaxed.
She was soon dreaming sweetly with cat like mewls of happiness as her dream world embraced her.

 

[Lazule]

You have me.

Companionship. Camaraderie. Hers was a path solitary. Others would come and go, ephemeral joinings, and it was she who remained. Brief unitings in causes specific instead of in a cause general.

And thus being in unprecedented company, came the promise of something which before had merely been fleeting at best. A joy to share in her cause with another so like-minded. And even if fate and circumstance conspired to wrench them apart, for a time or in permanence, then they still had the awareness.

Lazule, of Rebecca. Rebecca, of Lazule. They who were imperfect. They who in appearance seemed human yet in truth were not. They who perhaps would be ostracized and feared should that truth be known yet they who fought regardless on behalf of those who would so ostracize and so fear.

In this they would always be family.

The weight of the revelation warmed her chest.

"I have you," Lazule said as Rebecca closed her eyes.

And as the girl slept Lazule listened to the patter of rain and collected the fork and the knife and with small and delicate bites finished her fillet of fish.

Yes. There would be monsters to slay.

Together.

* * * * *​

Dax stood behind the wheel of his ship. Land merely a thin line to off the portside. The boundless waters of the Asherah Ocean around his vessel. They were getting closer to the port cities serving Belgrath. Perhaps halfway there. Once he saw the mountains of the Spine on the land, he would know the journey was nearly complete.

They'd passed by a number of other vessels. Most likely bound for Alliria.

And now another approached. He and the crew had seen it coming for a while.

With the waning of the sun the distance was such that they could see it clearly.

"Sir..." said the first mate. His voice hollow. "That's the Night Runner."

Dax squinted in the fading light.

Gods. The scythe figurehead. It was the Night Runner. The vanished ship now sailing toward them. But her sails were in tatters. Her hull blackened.

And something obscure moved upon the deck.

 

[Rebecca Fourtuna]

Rebecca woke suddenly. She was curled around Lazule.
The storm had past leaving the bayou flooded and life resuming as normal.

Birds fluttered between the branches of the cypress trees and other wildlife seemed to pick up where they left off. She stretched and yawned as she rose quietly hoping not to wake master Lazule if she was asleep.

Still stark naked as she picked up the bundles of clothes by the wash tub and, after filling up the tub with water, began to wash the clothes. After washing she strung them up on a clothes line that ran out attached to a branch of the tree they currently inhabited. Rebecca then set about with breakfast.

She took the dirty dishes from the night before and dumped them in a bucket that was next to the table.
She got the fire going again and began to boil water before adding a dark brown powder and the aroma seemed to fill the cabin. She then stepped out into the deck and dove once again into the water.
After a long struggle even more than the night before she arose from the muddy depths toting a 6' alligator with one hand, climbing back up the tree with the other.

She dropped it on the deck with a wet thump.
Pulling out her hunting knife she began to skin and gut it. Soon a skin was drying on the deck and the meat was cooking over the fire. She then plucked a small wooden pipe form the mantle of the fire.

She loaded it from tobacco from a small clay pot from the cupboard next to the spices. She picked up a small ember from the fire and placed it on top of the tobacco in the pipes bowl.
Puffing it as she stepped outside onto the deck.

Letting her feet dangle over the edge she took a deep inhale off of her pipe before exhaling a large cloud of smoke with a contented sigh.
After her smoke she emptied her pipe of the spent ashes and shouldered open the door.
Pulling the alligator meat and kettle from the fire before pouring the strong smelling brown almost black liquid into two twin tin mugs and placing the slabs of gator meat on two square wooden plates.

"Breakfast master Lazule." Rebecca called out softly.

She cut the meat on one plate into small neat square bites before tearing into her own slab with her bare hands.

 

[Lazule]

Never dreams.

The images of places and people and things, the surreal world beyond Arethil. Such was not in her domain to experience. The mere recounting of them, testimonies of their existence. From Father. From other humans. Other peoples.

Hers was a restful blackness. A vague awareness amidst the formless dark of mind. Nights concealed behind her eye, lacking stars and moon. Brief reprieves necessary for body and mind, even if the Life Fire yearned to continue fulfilling her purpose.

And Lazule awoke.

She had fallen asleep where she sat. The fire before her reinvigorated. And it was morning now, the storm having moved on, and a serene quiet outside by comparison. The song of birds and the welcome light of the sun.

She looked around. Rebecca wasn't inside. But there was more meat over the fire.

Still. A ritual to perform.

Lazule stood and walked out of the cabin and onto the deck and there she saw Rebecca, pipe in hand, sitting with her legs over the side. A smile offered. And Lazule walked to the easternmost side of the deck and faced the rising sun, its light obscured to a degree through the branches and leaves of the trees.

She closed her eye and let the warmth bathe her. Slowly spreading her arms out wide in a gesture most welcoming. Gratitude. For the sun and the light it gifted upon Arethil. The Life Fire of the World.

And in this pose she stayed for a time.

A whispered thanks, and she slowly brought her arms back down to her sides and walked back inside the cabin.

Breakfast. The smell of the meat paired with something else. Lazule went to the blanket that had been laid out and sat back down as she had the day prior. Accepted the plate with the meat. A tiny gift, from Rebecca. She had cut the meat into little squares, the manner of bites Lazule would have taken. It was thoughtful, and it warmed the fire in her chest.

"Thank you, Rebecca," Lazule said. Taking a bite of the meat and a drink from the tin mug. A brief surprise. The taste of the drink was strong, matching the potency of the aroma. She blinked, and hazarded another sip. Unique. She'd not had such a drink before.

After a few more bites of her breakfast, she said, "Rebecca. Do you know of a town or village where we might find fare back to Liadain or Epressa?"

 

[Rebecca Fourtuna]

Rebecca perked up when she heard Lazule speak.
She shoveled the rest of her meal down her gullet in a way many would find "disturbing." before chugging down the brown liquid.

She held up her hand for Lazule to wait a moment longer as she poured another mug full of the liquid before drinking that one down in moments as well.
Her tail was jumpy as it swished back and forth with a sort of jittery energy about it.

"I-I do m-master." She said softly as she pulled their now dry clothes from the clothesline and placed her dish and mug into the bucket beside the table.
She doused the fire with some of the washtub water before the rest went out the window falling into the water below with a crash. "Markel and B-Bast are fi-fishermen who s-stay along the coast. They have a sloop that can t-take us to s-shore." She smiled momentarily.

"I pay him in skins, and the alligator skin I just obtained..We just need to wait for it to dry..." She said with her eyes narrowing.

She was still naked as she sank into a pouncing stance with a sly grin.

"...So we have a few moments...TO PLAY!" She said with a playful growl.

She cloaked before she pounced on her master suddenly. With a playful purr she wrapped her in a hug. Her tail wrapping around her. "I need scratches in exchange for your freedom."
She seemed to say as she snuggled her face into Lazule's neck purring fiercely.
It must have been a long time since she had a friend to snuggle and play with. While she was human she had very animal needs as well, such as play, exercise and not to mention snuggles and scratchy's.

"Did you sleep well?" She asked licking her face and waiting for her scratch ransom to be paid.

 

[Lazule]

Lazule watched Rebecca eat and drink. A passivity to it, her watching. She made neither a face that hinted at neither approval nor disapproval of the manner in which Rebecca conducted herself. That simple regarding, lacking judgment.

And Rebecca put out the fire. Lazule watched, and as the water hissed and flashed to steam and the fire vanished she lowered her head cupped her right hand over her left fist and held them to her chin and closed her eyes. Quietly, she said, "Farewell. May you share your warmth and light again."

Thanks given to the flame, she relaxed and looked to Rebecca. She did indeed know of men who could help them. A bartering. Skins for fare. A certain sorrow felt for her, Rebecca, for the girl would be leaving all she knew. But the spirit of Philip and the memory of home she could carry with her. And in the traveling and the trials and the fulfillment of purpose there would be, if she was much like Lazule, a joy that could not be obtained living as she had been in the Great Bayou.

Rebecca seemed to be taking it well. She was lively, in fact. Looking ready to pounce.

A few moments to play.

She disappeared. A confused look from Lazule. What exactly did she mean--?

And the girl pounced on her. A far cry from yesterday, the full fury of her strength severely restrained. Still, Lazule toppled backward, teetering from sitting to laying, her back rolling gently on the blanket. Her confusion persisted, as clearly evident on her face. But the girl was hugging her and nuzzling her head against the crook of her neck. She desired closeness often.

Play. Closeness. Things Lazule was not used to.

"O-Oh! Oh. We...we do have a f-few moments."

Yes. Things she was not used to. But things which were not unpleasant.

She reached up her right hand. Nails against the fur which ran down Rebecca's spine. She glided her hand down. Slow and steady. And then up. Slow and steady. Again and again. She did so enjoy those scratches. Perhaps it did or did not qualify as play but Rebecca would likely enjoy them nonetheless.

A half-smile. And Lazule said, "Yes, I did sleep well. I acquired rest. The sound of the rain, I find, is...peaceful. Quite peaceful."

A curiosity, then, as Lazule looked to Rebecca. "Will you miss it? Your home here?"

 

[Rebecca Fourtuna]

Rebecca rolled over and launched Lazule into the air before catching her lightly with her tail and dropping her a small distance. Catching her lightly in her arms as she rolled back over on top of her licking her face once again before her face grew pondering and serious as she rolled off of Lazule.

She pondered for a moment as she rose and pulled her clothes on, before folding Lazule's and offered it to her with a small bow.

"I havent r-really th-thought about it.."

Her tail swished back and forth thoughtfully.
"But Phillip is w-what made this place my h-home, and a-after him it was h-his will that stayed me."
She then smiled at her warmly.

"B-but I have you a-and your w-will...So my home is y-you.." She said seeming to warm to the idea even more as she realized thats what she wanted when she voiced it.

 

[Lazule]

"Oh!"

Lazule didn't expect that, to be tossed into the air and caught and set back down all so suddenly. Yes, she also had not expected the earlier cloaking and pouncing either. This was the nature of play. Like an amicable, mutual, and very restrained violence, wherein victory was not in the slaying of the other but in the shared engagement of frivolity for both. Unfamiliar ground. For her life had been learning, preparation, and then execution; Father knew the weight of the task and purpose he would bestow upon her, and as such would spare no time for any distractions. Lazule had not even conceived of the notion of play until she had journeyed out on her own, having seen children in Elbion and other places.

And Rebecca licked her face. Multiple times. That, Lazule couldn't yet conceive of a reason for yet. Still, she offered a smile which only her mild confusion made wan.

There would be time to learn. How to properly engage in play so as to not unintentionally harm Rebecca or others. It was one of her greatest fears, to accidentally bring about suffering to those innocent. This, she suspected, was the primary source of the shakes that so frequently came upon her as she dealt with people.

For she had been blessed with many a deadly tool, her potential for violence great. And without proper care and respect for that which she wielded would tragedy therefore find an avenue to slip into being, brought forth by reckless hands.

Rebecca, in this respect, she admired greatly. Her command of her immense capacity for physical strength was incredibly precise and controlled. Within her resided the power to rend the bodies of men apart, and also within her the softness of a gentle touch, and she at will could effortlessly switch between them.

"Thank you, Rebecca," Lazule said as she accepted her clothes from her. She took off the white shirt with the hole and old lingering bloodstain and took care to fold and respect it as Rebecca had. She laid it down and set about clothing herself. Her garments back on, she started with her armor.

Home. With her. Is her. A brief pause in the reattaching of her greaves as she pondered it.

"I am glad," she said. Looking to her. "That my mere being will bring you joy. It has not for any other."

 

[Rebecca Fourtuna]

"Ah...Others don't understand..."
Rebecca said with a pout lingering on her expression for a few moments before passing as she did a small flip and caught her self mid-flip leaving her hanging upside down by her tail as she swung for a moment listening to her new master as a mile began to play across her lips.

"But we understand. So we can be something to each other we both have never had."

She continued to smile as she kept her gentle rhythmic swinging.

"Your my debt holder..My friend...And my home..." She then hid her hand behind her mouth as she snickered with a good natured giggle.
"And I will be the person who will love you, rip the heads from your foes, snuggle you, tear the wicked asunder with rightious wrath like wheat before the scythe of the reaper, play with you, and most importantly, makes sure you dont get yourself killed charging head long into something you "Can totally take down..." But you cant..." She trailed off with a sigh.before sniffing the air. "Gator skin will be dry enough soon then we can head out." She closed her eyes and enjoyed her gentle swing.

"I'm glad I didn't kill you earlier. I mean obviously I was going easy on you..Imagine if I hadn't been.." She said with a sly grin her eyes still closed completely oblivious to any consequences the comment may have. Safe in the knowledge that Lazule would most likely be flummoxed by her joking and have no response.
So She sat smugly confident.

 

[Lazule]

Lazule worked at donning her armor. Listened and glanced to Rebecca as she did. A minor double-take when, upon glancing at Rebecca again, she was hanging upside-down, where before she hadn't been. An abrupt change. But an infectious smile.

"My friend. And my home."

A contemplation of the words Lazule repeated. She had neither. Father was not a friend, not in the truest sense of the word, for they were not equal; he was as a God to her, she his creation. And she had known some acquaintances in her travels, in Elbion and Alliria and smaller towns, but none whose presence brought her comfort instead of a degree of anxiety. And they were fleeting, parting ways once the hunt had been completed, the monster of their objective slain.

Father's Spire was not a home, either. For she had no attachment to it, now that Father was gone. It was merely the place she had been when she came to be and first woke into the world. She felt no longing for the stones and bricks and wood and glass that comprised it. And neither was the Monster Slayer Academy a home. There she spent a great deal of time, refining the magic Father taught her and studying the various monsters and ravenous beasts of Arethil. But once she learned and practiced enough to be content, she felt no obligation to return.

Here. With Rebecca. A promise of things different.

A unity of purpose. A coalescing of cause. For they knew one another deeply, understanding and accepting. Yes. Rebecca was right. To each the other was something never had before. A friend, and a home. It warmed the fire in her chest to think it.

Breastplate on. Spaulder secure. Tabard on. A buckling of her last belt, and Lazule was dressed again. Still she sat, waiting for the lizard's skin to dry.

...Imagine if I hadn't been.

Lazule looked to Rebecca. Said in a way matter-of-fact, "It would have been a tragedy, as it always is when good fights good. Neither of us would know what we both now know. I, too, am glad--"

She stopped. Considered. Her eye fixating on various points in the cabin as she did. Then she said, "You 'went easy on me'? So...you could have killed me if you so wished?" An askew glance. Another consideration. The look back. "I am curious. What prompted you to restrain yourself? I saw how you aided the human girl, and thus had my doubts of you being the monster of legend I sought. For you, I do not know what it could have been with regard to myself."

 

[Rebecca Fourtuna]

"Oh-h.."
Rebecca was taken aback by the question.

"I thought I already explained..I didnt smell p-pirate in your hair..I didnt see pirate I in your eyes.. So I h-had second g-guesses about whether a-a fight with you would be j-justified.." She said after a moment of pondering.

Her eyes remained closed as she continued to gently sway by her tail.

"The s-skin is dry..W-we can take it to b-buy a way o-off this r-rock."

She swayed once more before she flung herself gently into a small flip down.
She packed swiftly, and as she didnt seem one of many possessions.
It was a simple task and soon she was walking out with a spare bark brown cloak, and a large bag of gold she pulled from the trunk at the base of the bed.

A small leather case with an assortment of darts and a quiver of crossbow bolts, The can of dark brown powder, a kettle that seemed made for the powder, her pipe, tobacco, a thick leather bound journal along with a small bundle of quills, and finally a small bottle of ink before pulling the drawstrings on her knapsack, and shouldering it.
She then moved to the other side of the bed. She pulled four items from underneath.
A suit of light brown leather armor, a large two handed great sword, a crossbow, and a quiver of bolts.

She blew the dust off each one in turn before strapping it on.
The sword was almost taller than she was, and had tick marks going up the sheathe.
The leather bound handle seemed covered in marks as well.

She slung the crossbow over her shoulder along with the quiver and advanced out of the door after a small thoughtful glance around her cabin.
She rolled up the skin and tucked it through a leather loop on her knapsack before presenting her bag to Lazule.

"Hold o-on to this for me will y-you?" She asked with a small bow as she presented her back for Lazule to .

"And h-hold tightly if you w-would please m-mmaster.."

 

[Lazule]

It was true. Rebecca had said that Lazule had come on a boat that reeked of them, of pirates. This spoken after her initial pouncing. She did then...smell her up close. Had she the ability to so acutely discern scents? It was hard for Lazule to fathom, but it made sense that such would be so. A product of her transformation, much like the visible feline and reptilian qualities. An incredible asset, to so accurately hunt via scent.

That had to be what saved her. Saved them both, rather, from suffering tragedy. The second guessing. The doubt. For they both knew their enemy, and they both correctly surmised that the other was not what they hunted. A thin line of judgment. A failure thereof catastrophic for the hope of the world.

"I am glad that you did not see a monster in me. Nor I you. If perhaps we are viewed as such by others who do not understand, it will not matter. For there is solace in our purpose, in the shared undertaking thereof. Our home travels with us."

A small smile. And she stood when Rebecca said that the skin was dry. Watched as she procured it and her collection of belongings. Her armor. The crossbow and the ammunition for it. The greatsword, characterized by markings denoting something of worth to remember. Her journal.

Lazule followed Rebecca out.

"Yes. I will do so," she said as she accepted the knapsack and secured the straps tightly to her shoulders.

Hold tightly.

A slight hesitation. That minor resurgence of nervousness, brought on by proximity. Paradoxical, given all the instances of contact that had occurred within the cabin. A fickle thing, her fear of potentially harming those innocent. It might arise strongly, it might arise weakly as it had now, or--rarely--it might not arise at all.

But Lazule did as asked. Just as she had when Rebecca first displayed her astounding capacity for physical strength and ability to leap while so encumbered.

She held on to Rebecca tightly. Ready.

 

[Rebecca Fourtuna]

"Alright, here we go." Rebecca said.

She dashed to the edge of the porch before flying into the air. Her tail caught a branch as they began to fall through the trees.

She began to swing from tree to tree with scarcely a stop.
The trees seemed to blur into a mix of brown and green.

Animals seemed to be exploring the change to the landscape.
She finally stopped as they neared an end to the tree line.

A dock sat next to a water way that seemed to bleed into the ocean like a burst vein. A small sloop sat moored to the dock.
It was out rigged for finishing. Nets hung like limp spider webs and the smell of fish death hung heavy in the air as well.

As Rebecca landed her nose scrunched up, and covered it with her hand. An old man sat on the edge of the dock his fishing pole extended out over the water with a cork floated above it.

"B-Bast?" Rebecca asked slowly. Dropping to all fours she slipped the alligator skin from her knapsack and slowly setting it next to him. He didnt even look at her as his hand shot out with incredible speed and scratched behind her ears. Her tail curled as she purred.
The man smiled and stopped giving her a scratch to pat her head.

"Markel is in the ship." He said simply.

Rebecca simply nodded and turned to Lazule nodding towards the ship.
A young man sat in the boat. He seemed scared of Rebecca and kept giving Lazule curious looks.
He said nothing as Rebecca moved and sat in the boat. She waited for Lazule to climb in as well before curling up with as much of her body as could be fit on Lazule's lap before closing her eyes for the long journey.

" Return quickly my son."

Was all Bast said as the boy nodded wordlessly and prepared to make the ship ready to sail.
Soon they were drifting away from the dock and quickly out into the sea.
She tilted herself up slightly looking over Lazule's left shoulder taking one last look at her home as the sea breeze pushed through her hair gently.

"B-Bye Philip..."

She whispered before laying her head back down on Lazule's lap. Her tail wrapped around Lazule's right arm, coiling up her arm like a velvety snake over enough of her shoulder for the tip to tickle her earrings.




-Rebecca End-