Private Tales Scorched Earth

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn nodded towards one of the tables and sat them down. With a conspiritorial glance around them he snuck her bowl closer and added a dash of milk.

"I hope no one saw that," he whispered. He was grinning now, looking a much younger man than the weary traveller who had approached the town.

"The young idemni won't be cruel," he explained. "They won't go easy on you too. Administering pain and injuries against a lesser opponent is really seen as...well they look down upon it."

Raigryn took a big chunk of flatbread and used it to soak up some sauce as it cooled. He made a satisfied groan. A few weeks away and other foods had seemed very bland.

 

[Fife]

He picked a table to sit down here, and Fife followed, a duckling plodding along after him. Raigryn pulled her bowl over and added a splash of milk to it, and she glanced around. It seemed that no one had and she offered an equally covert grin as she pulled her bowl back without any more to do about it.

He was spoiling her. He had been for the last year. It would be just as spicy tonight and tomorrow and every meal after that. Fife mixed in the milk to soften the spice of her meal and took a bite, hiding her grin behind the back of her had as she shook her head at him.

Raigryn was in a good mood. She might have commented on it, but worried that if she did he might rein it in. If he was in this good of spirits after being mauled, perhaps she needed to kick him in front of trouble more often. He'd been in bright spirits after their encounter with the orcs as well. And then after the golems and the bandits... A trend, then. Was it for her sake so she didn't worry as much, or for himself?

She set down her spoon to sign, letting the thoughts go for now.

Tell me about your companions? she asked, then paused. She thought back to how many people he had named and held up a finger for the three of them on one hand beside a singular one for him on the other hand. When you were gone, she added.

He was missing words she knew now, and she really didn't want to have to try spelling compaions in imaginary letters on the table, but she would if that's what it took. She knew next to nothing about him outside of the handful of snippets he had offered up and his history about this place in particular. Fife was curious.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Oh, are you sure you don't want to spoil the surprise of meeting them? No, no, that makes them seem far more interesting than they are."

"I know quite a few people who feel...removed from the world. Maybe not removed. But they want to do more good than they want to take orders from kings and queens. Yes I think that summarises it well."

Raigryn chewed thoughtfully. Fife needed to know that he wasn't training her with grand intentions. It seemed important to make that clear now.

"Sythas is a bit of an experimentalist. She plays with alchemy and spells and feels that if they go wrong that she's led a good life. Hythera has a magic spear that talks to her. That produces more amusement than any joke she has ever attempted. And she has never tried to make a joke but if she did it would fall flat. The spear however is hilarious. "

 

[Fife]

Spoil the surprise of meeting them? Fife gave him a quizzical brow. When would she meet them? Unless he planned on seeing if she could get mauled next time instead of him -- pass the torch, so to speak. Fife, for one, would prefer to stay as far from more demos as humanly possible.

He talked about them and, to say the least, they sounded very interesting. Alchemy and talking, joking spears. How did she argue that he was contradicting his own suggestion that they weren't interesting? But they sounded like just the sort of people he would know and get along with. Oddities. Adventurers. Raigryn knew all sorts of people, it would seem. He himself was rather peculiar and singular.

How long have you traveled with them? It was a roundabout way to ask how long he had known them, but it worked. She kept eating, watching him as he spoke.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Travelled with them? I haven't really..well I suppose u might have from time to time. It is more like a group of old acquaintances. People who are helpful when you can't figure something out on your own. I have not got so many people in the world I can depend on.

"I should say that I am not giving you training with an expectation you help some wider group of people. I've not got some holy quest for you to join Fife. This is for you, so you will be safer. On our adventures."

Raigryn smiled even as he chewed. Too much talking and too little eating meant that his meat was getting cold already.

 

[Fife]

Her answering look was dubious. Not so many that he could depend on, but they were still here. He had called in more than one favor on her behalf now. How many more would he use yet? With no ulterior motives, she still didn't understand why he was doing what he was doing.

It was a question that had plagued her for a year. Why? What man in his right mind went out of his way so much for some random kid who had tried to rob him? Why bring her here and give her all this, even after she had deceived him? Could it really be as simple as honest kindness?

Fife had stopped trying to understand much of Raigryn and summarily lumped it into the pile of things that she simply didn't know him well enough to answer. She didn't even rightly know what she wanted the answer to be. Would she be happy knowing she was the same as all these Idemni -- a regret he couldn't mend, so he patched up what he could of the remaining pieces?

The answer to that thought stung. She had watched his face as he spoke, but looked down at her bowl. Our adventures.

Small, old worries cropped up. How long did this last? He surely didn't plan on having her with him forever. At what point did he turn her back into the world? When she had learned enough Empathy and skills he could sleep well knowing she wouldn't get herself killed in the first month? When she was an accomplished mage? Or when they found out what practical employment she could sustain herself with?

Fife wasn't afraid of silence; it had ruled her life long enough that it couldn't have been anything but bitterly familiar. Now, however, it was more frustrating than ever. The more says she learned to communicate to him, the less she seemed capable of really saying what she wanted to.

Good. Thank you. Fife offered back a small grin, but it only seemed genuine after a moment before she continued. I am not fond of demons, you understand.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

He could feel the sting of that frustration. Raigryn watched Fife carefully.

How much more are you waiting to say? He mused. It wasn't hard to understand that it was still a barrier. Their hand signals covered only so much. He could talk at her all days. Some days he did manage to keep up talking through most of a day. She was still limited. It was still hard to imagine those early days where it had taken a long back and forth just to work out her name - or his name at the time.

"You want...to ask more about them?" he asked, missing the point. "I'll be taking extra lessons in sign to catch up. We can do some writing later of course too."

 

[Fife]

His question missed the mark, and she looked up with a small nod. It was a fib. She did want to know more, but that wasn't what was on her mind presently. What was, however, was not an easy conversation to have with a mute in a public place. Fife didn't want to ever have that conversation, if she was being honest. She might prefer to have reality dumped suddenly in her lap someday than to know it was coming.

So a nod and a small sign of approval. The Silent Way had given them a base platform of communication, and there was still a lot she had to learn with it, but it was intended to be supplementary to a spoken language and convey simple ideas. They still had to fill in more complex thoughts and concepts.

So maybe she just needed to get a lot better at writing so she could at least participate fully in a conversation -- no matter how poor her spelling.

Can I write to Belduhr? she asked rather suddenly, softly whistling the dwarf's name sound. She looked up from her bowl. I want to write more. And she had a favor to ask him. Not that Raigryn needed to know that.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn worked on finishing off his meal rather than expanding upon his answer. He saved a chunk of flatbread to wipe the bowl clean. They were going to have to find some good pub food when they left this place. Bad pub food would just seemed bland and dry.

"Belduhr?" he asked. The request caught him by surprise. "Yes, of course you can. It would be good practise too.

"Would you like to see if Ylerial could learn some of the silent way with us?" Raigryn asked. "Which would in itself pose a challenge..."

It wasn't a brilliant leap of logic but he thought that another soul to communicate with couldn't hurt. They must have started finding some ways to convey things to one another already.

 

[Fife]

While she didn't know how courier systems worked in the Idemni camp, she knew he had received a letter. She'd never written one before and didn't even know where to begin in getting it from here to there, but Raigryn would know. More lessons in being a normal person.

Fife perked up to the idea of teaching Ylerial the Silent Way, nodding emphatically. They got on well, for not understanding much between them. There was a sort of camaraderie that had stemmed from two months of swinging swords at each other every day.

I would like that. She grinned.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"A raven can go from here to Elbion, but if he is further afield a runner will have to take the letter on. Perhaps it will get taken with a convoy through the portal stones.

"I will ask Aretta later. I still don't know the circumstances of how Ylerial came to be with the Idemni. You haven't learned anything?" Raigryn asked, ever eager for gossip.

He was genuinely relieved to see that she liked the idea. Raigryn had never thought if himself as a particularly reliable teacher. Taking on so much responsibility for someone else was not something he had ever expected to walk into. Or be woken into.

Every little step forwards filled him with a Joy that he would not give up for any amount of magic.

 

[Fife]

She gave him as much of her attention as she could finishing her meal. It was interesting, things she'd never had the means to learn before. She smirked and shook her head at the question if she knew about Ylerial. He was a righteous gossip, unlike her. It was a surprising aspect of his personality. Good guy Raigryn, merciless gossip.

Cleaning her bowl and downing the last of her milk, she wiped away her mustache before picking up both sets with emphasis. She would wash his (seeing how he was at the current disadvantage of one arm) before they met Maellarn for their next lesson.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Maellarn did not have any sympathy for Raigryn's injury. He was still expected to try and sign with his right, even from the edge of his sling. Raigryn was fairly stoic in accepting this and tried to do his best anyway. It was not the first time he had suffered an injury and had to work through the recovery.

Later...we can be...teaching...words and signing. Raigryn tried when they were left to converse alone for a few minutes. He assumed the poisoner had gone to discipline someone for making a bad batch.

"This is going to take me time to get back into," he apologised for Fife. "But you could practise writing to teach me some words I've missed?"

 

[Fife]

Fife might have been patient and forgiving, but Maellarn wasn't. She could blend into their culture, quiet and straight-faced, but perhaps even Fife was too soft. Or just too soft with Raigryn. She'd fought other kids to the ground over shoes, let her peers go hungry to hoard what precious scraps she'd managed to lift, and had been unafraid to wield a knife when it was called for. But she helped her mentor in and out of his baldric and carried his bowls. She'd let him off the hook for Dusty's dirty coat.

However, Fife couldn't help reaching out to adjust his fingers, correcting his gesture in much the same way he corrected her spelling. Maellarn had left them alone briefly, and her easy grin slipped back into place.

You are doing well, she commended him. You missed... You were away. I learned a lot. She managed to piece together what he didn't know into something he did know. Weeks. He had missed whole weeks of learning.

But she grinned wider. My writing will be bad. She had scrawled some on the slate, but it wasn't the same if he wasn't correcting her.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Master and student, don't feel things like that...

Raigryn silently chastised himself as she adjusted his attempt with a grin. It was just a phase, he immediately decided. Just working through the realisation that Fife was not a boy one step at a time. It wouldn't last.

"I have noticed that the directions and words of murder are very easy and some very basic conversational concepts are complicated I can't help but feel that we will start making shortcuts.

"And if your writing is bad you can correct my sign and I will correct your words but in the end we will understand one another better," he laughed. "I will ask for some more lessons whilst you're sparring in the morning too."

 

[Fife]

She laughed. There were half a dozen things she could have said on that front, but didn't. Shortcuts in an assassin's language. It seemed rather silly, honestly -- like they bad gone about this all backwards. There was surely some sign language out in the world that wasn't attached to a martial culture, but instead he had picked this one.

She agreed; extra lessons would keep him busy and help him catch up. Still, Fife lived to tease him.

Good. I like to talk fast, she signed with quick gestures. I am a poor teacher.

He would catch on sooner or later. Raigryn had figured out her gestures with only guessing for the longest time. Having another person to translate it verbally had to have been a thousand times easier.

Granted, that person was Maellarn. Oh well. He had been a collegiate, right? He should have been used to difficult instructors.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Maybe I should try and do a whole day without speaking," he suggested suddenly. "I am supposed to be an empath but I'm often caught out by how...hard it is to understand what it must have been like. I can feel your frustration when you want to communicate more but I still don't feel like I appreciate that fully."

"Teaching is something that is hard to teach. You will learn it with practise. Especially with a stubborn, old and slow to learn student. I'm sure you will have an easier time with Ylerial."

 

[Fife]

Her smile slackened in surprise. It was an incredibly considerate suggestion. Raigryn spoke so much. A lot, really. He seemed to get in trouble for that here. Giving it up wasn't going to be easy.

On the one hand, it would give him perspective where he apparently wanted it. On the other, she didn't want him or anyone else to live without it. He was still behind in his sign lessons; that would only make it more difficult. But if it was only temporary, and in an educational setting, it wouldn't be so bad.

Her eyes had wandered as she thought about it, and Fife nodded almost reluctantly. He wasn't going to like it, but if he really wanted an idea of what it was like, there was no better way.

She did, however, roll her eyes and hiss in a breath of humor at his self-deprecation. She wouldn't argue that he wasn't stubborn, but she wouldn't fault him for being slow to learn. He was trying. Fife couldn't have asked for even that.

How old are you? she asked, hand flicking to humor. It was only after she asked that she realized that might be a sensitive issue, but also that she didn't even know. Age was such a strange thing to guess.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn watched her carefully. His proposition seemed to have sent her into deeper thought than he had expected. How many people had ever tried to understand her in her life? They had attacked her, stolen from her, tolerated her at best. It was all building a picture of how little he really knew her. At least in some ways.

"I am three decades older than you and the less said about that the better. Hmm. I wonder if I had the choice between a spell to learn faster and one to prevent eye rolling which would I choose?" he mused.

"Oh I am going to have a hard time not talking for a whole day," he laughed. "How old did you think I was anyway?"

 

[Fife]

Three decades? Her brows rise sharply. So that made him.... what? Almost fifty? No wonder he complained so much. Fife didn't have a great idea of if that was really old or not, but it seemed like a lot. She was lucky to be around twenty.

What she would have given to be able to quip back to his sarcasm! How rude! She gave his foot a soft tap with her own in protest, all the more she could chastise him.

He wasn't the only one who could get catty, however. Asking how old she thought he was just asked for it. She raised her brows and shook her head, puffing her cheeks as she blew out a breath of disbelief. Making the sign for old, she drew it out and added emphasis. SO old.

It true arch fashion, she had to poke fun at him for taking a stab at her. She stood with an expression of complaint, put her hands to the small of her back and did the same damn stretch she'd seen him do a hundred times if she'dseen it once. Familiar enough with it, she did a good impression of his morning aches.

She was, of course, sure to do it out of his reach. She hadn't forgotten lessons of switches and rocks yet.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn laughed again at that. It was a noise she wouldn't have heard much at all during his time away. The idemni could smile and laugh, but they always kept such restraint over their outward emotions. Her empathy would be brimming over if she had gently borrowed.

The idemni were one of the few people who still sought the services of an empath if available. If emotions were overwhelming then they could simply be bled away safely.

His laugh trailed off and Raigryn cast his eyes downwards. Her laughter drew something else from him. Something that made him feel a little shamed of himself still.

"That old eh? Well now I feel like I shouldn't have given you the warm side of the tent!"

 

[Fife]

Fife took her seat again, letting him off the hook. She liked seeing him in a good mood. Whether or not his recent mirth was put upon or genuine, it was a a pleasant shift -- much preferred to the pensive, brooding version of him.

Do you want it? she asked, brows raised in question and still smiling softly. I am young. It more or less conveyed what she wanted. He had been polite to give her the warm side, but she was far more resilient than he was.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"No, no. It is not actually the cold that makes my back ache in the mornings. Just a lot of life catching up on me. Those...campaigns...the fighting...it takes a toll."

Raigryn waggled the fingers of his right hand at her.

"Injuries build up over time. You know, it is really nice being able to converse more now isn't it? The language might be limited but it is so much quicker than guessing games or writing."

The whimsy had gone from his expression but he kept smiling. It was a different kind of picture, painted with the colours the idemni found so abhorrent.

"Now I was supposed to learn a new word before the poisoner came back..." Raigryn said, turning his eyes towards the caves. He hoped to never find out what went on down there.

 

[Fife]

She was trying to be serious again, but the glow of humor remained. You be safe, she told him. He would have to be careful from now on. Otherwise he would go off on some adventure and not come back.

Except he wasn't leaving again without her, she reminded herself. That, more than anything, kept the slight curl at the corners of her mouth.

She followed his gaze to the caverns and pursed her lips. A new word, a new word... Her eyes scanned around for something she could teach him. Snapping when she got it, Fife pointed to a point on her lower back on either side. But that was pretty vague. With a mischievous smirk, she imitated a stabbing motion. She pointed to the spot again and made the sign for it. Kidney. It was an odd choice. Maybe they had been teaching her more than she thought.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Kidney? Of course. What's the gesture? I'm trying to think now if there have been any ways to kill a man that we have not learned in sign? Drowning? I don't think we have learned drowning? Probably not so common here..."

Raigryn watched her hands carefully and repeated as the shape of their teacher appeared at the entrance to the caves.