Private Tales Scorched Earth

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn should have been ravenous after the night they had been through. Instead he half filled his own bowl with a lightly spiced porridge and walked them back to a table. He said little as they ate, but he did place his hand over hers for a short while. Breaking their traditions didn't matter as much as keeping some form of contact.

He said little on the way to Aretta's tent. There was an idemni at the door, he held up a hand for them to wait and stepped through the flap. There was a deep groan from inside. The idemni returned and waved them in.

Aretta was on the ground on a pile of blankets. There were smears of dried blood around her. She was pale, droplets of sweat rolling from her brow. An old lady knelt beside her, but three more idemn formed a ring around the tent. They faced inwards.

"So...the wounds aren't going to get me..." Aretta hissed. "Just need...to fight off the disease..."

Raigryn's expression fell.

 

[Fife]

Raigryn didn't speak. There had been a time when they had lived like this and it had been fine. Today, however, it was not fine -- at least not completely. Fife didn't interrupt the quiet with attempted conversation and made her small responses without trying to coax more out of him. She let it be and left him to his thoughts for her own.

While she couldn't know what his were, hers were hectic. The noise of the emotional of the Idenmni drew her from whatever thoughts she pursued like her eyes automatically shifted to follow the moving bodies.

She did turn her hand over beneath his. Fife looked up to him, expression soft and open. He still said nothing. That was alright. She loved the sound of his voice, but she was not afraid of his silence.

Fife walked close to Raigryn on their way to Aretta's tent, but it wasn't until they were there that she finally understood what felt different about it. It felt like Belgrath in the hours before siege. It was the jitters of nervous hands and the anxiety of forced smiles. It was the awareness that something was coming. Knowing that didn't settle her one bit.

Neither did seeing Aretta. As Raigryn could soundly attest to, Fife's bedside manner was about as affectionate as a stray cat's. She hung back behind Raigryn and glanced around the tent nervously, eyes flitting from person to person, and only touching Aretta briefly. She didn't look well at all, and that was alarming.

As was to be expected, she was quite frank about her situation. Fife had her hands curled at her side to divert the crease between her brows, but there was an obvious worry in her eyes as she glanced to Raigryn. His expression did her worries no favors. It wasn't good, and she knew that, but her worrying and him worrying were two different levels of trouble.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn took one step closer and dropped to one knee. Aretta was strong, but it was a vicious disease. Up close he could see that the wounds were not bleeding much into the bandages. She may have stayed down more from the impact than the damage the claws had done.

"Normally it only takes a day to know which way it will go," he said quietly, pragmatically. "It can be managed if it takes hold, you could..."

"No." In that one word Aretta found her strength. "If it takes me..." She turned her head to the guards who were dancing inwards. They wore their swords from the belt in Aretta's house. That meant they were prepared to use them.

 

[Fife]

Hanging back, Fife wondered if it might not have been better to let him tell her instead before she reminded herself that she had wanted to come and see for herself. If she was upset or uncomfortable, it was because she hadn't wanted it to be sugarcoated for her comfort later. The cold honesty of things had never bothered her before. It only did now because she had learned to allow herself to care about people.

Her gaze followed Raigryn's to see what she already knew. These guards were not here for her safety.

Fife had always been angry and more than a little bitter her whole life, and this time it wasn't any different. She didn't like this, but it wasn't within her power to change it or help. Like a great many other times, she bit her lip and did nothing. It would be how it would be and they would know by sunrise tomorrow.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn should have known the proud woman wouldn't have accepted that fate. He could swing between optimism and pessimism and had been doing so all morning. Faced with reality his spirit dropped. The first thing that he did was reach for Fife. His hand started at her elbow and slid down to weave into her hand.

"Fife," said Aretta quietly. "You were very brave. Do not...let Raigryn ruin your training." For almost the first time she managed a faint smile. With a heavy sigh she laid her head back.

Raigryn turned for the guards. "Fetch more guards, hold your damned nerve. Don't panic and strike. It isn't done until she transforms fully for the first time."

 

[Fife]

She was unsure if Raigryn's reach for her hand was to comfort her or seeking his own comfort. Regardless, Fife curled her fingers into his.

And maybe it would have been better to have not really known. A lesson to be had even here, as morbid as it was. Self-discovery was, as she had well learned, an uncomfortable process that she often paid for in pain and grief.

No matter how hard she tried or how much pressure she felt from the Idemni culture, the corners of her mouth wobbled mercilessly and her eyes welled up. Fife nodded, obedient and attentive as always, and managed to hold in her sniffle.

She wasn't giving up on Aretta yet. She had every intention of blindly clinging to the idea that she would be just fine until it was ripped from her hands.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn didn't close himself off from her at all. There was no putting on a brave face to an empath. He either closed himaelf off or he let her feel the colour of his pain. There was no projecting fake emotions. He squeezed her hand a little tighter.

"We will come and see you this evening," Raigryn promised.

"You outsiders. Always so emotional."

Raigryn could feel her keeping her emotions in check, however as a kindness he took the edge of her fear too. He suspected she knew from the glance she gave him.

Raigryn took a step back to leave, unless Fife had more to say.

 

[Fife]

Raigryn's mind was open and transparent (to her, at least), but Fife was closed tightly. She didn't want to feel his trepidation or Aretta's fear. Gods willing, Aretta would walk away from this with an incredible story to tell. But she had always thought of her as so resolute and controlled. Fife wanted to keep it that way. In the event of the worst, she didn't want her last memories of Aretta to be the lingering taste of her fear, sharp and bitter as blood in her mouth.

She saw it nonetheless, just like she felt Raigryn's grasp tighten. Yet, in spite of the mood, she had to bite back a grin. She was amused at her calling Empaths emotional -- as if they could be anything else.

When Raigryn moved to go, Fife followed, as she had nothing more to contribute. She kept her hand tight in his to offer as much comfort as she took. The moment they were outside, however, she rubbed the tears from her eyes.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn wrapped as hand around the back of Fife's head, stroking over the top of her braid. Aretta had been a mentor for Fife for some time now. He had to remember that she had so few constant people in her life.

There was Belduhr, who wrote to her, himself and her Idemni teachers. That was about it. To lose one of the first few was going to be a blow. A Ray of hope cut through his feelings. It wasn't too late for her to fight it off.

With his arm now draped across his narrow shoulders, he guided them towards the stables. After the claustrophobic caves and the weight of the news they needed some air.

 

[Fife]

The weight of his hand was a comfort. It wasn't yet familiar, and her shoulders twitched at the touch that was still unexpected. A week or three or twelve weren't going to chase away a decade of habit so easily. But she relaxed and quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up straighter. She wasn't going to cry in front of Raigryn, much less whatever Idemni were on the paths.

Fife was grateful to be steered toward the stables. She slipped out from beneath Raigryn's hand to walk briskly ahead of him to their stalls. A soft whistle of their names got Socks' attention, and the spritely pony nickered quietly and lifted his nose over the gate at her.

She hadn't even come to see them yesterday. Fife felt a little guilty about that now. A lot had happened in the last few days. Hopefully they didn't resent her too much for it. Pausing at the gate to rub the bridge of Socks' nose, she looked back at Raigryn.

Stay or ride? she asked. Both would be fine by her. Anything would have been fine, so long as she was doing something. He could have asked her to sort grain from rice and she would have done it gladly.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Lets get beyond the city walls for a while," he offered. Raigryn patted Dusty briefly and turned to get their tack.

Fife was keeping herself closed off. That was fine. She needed her moments of privacy to try and process this without his intrusions.

It was years since he had first met Aretta, but in many ways Fife had know her better. Even if that experience had been from a different perspective - that of a student - she had spent long hours in training.

Raigryn didn't want to leave right away if she didn't pull through. He couldn't, not on those terms. With Aretta gone and his relationship strained with Maellarn it would be hard to turn his back on this place.

"You think they want to go for a gallop?"

 

[Fife]

Fife nodded in agreement. While she wasn't sure how wise it would be to venture outside of the stone walls, she doubted that he would have suggested something potentially dangers. Especially today. Raigryn could be a little absent-minded, but he was neither foolish nor stupid.

Socks was pushy as she brushed his back. Thankfully she had forgotten most all of her fear for him and Dusty. She whistled in admonishment and signed at the pony (as if he could understand any of it). When Raigryn brought her tack, she looked as annoyed as she felt -- a whole lot.

He will. Socks was acting like a brat and would be getting a run whether or not he protested. And Dusty would do as he was told to. In terms of personality, the horse was as interesting as a day old loaf of bread.

Fife made to saddle her pony but let out a quiet gasp. Her tack thumped to the ground and Socks danced aside with a little toss of his head as if to admonish her. She glared at the saddle as she rubbed her complaining shoulder. It was a worthy scapegoat. Perhaps she had forgotten she was supposed to be mindful of her bruised and strained left side. And maybe it was hurting a bit worse today than it had last night.

Sighing, Fife turned to Raigryn. Please help? After being independent in this regard, she really didn't like asking him for help. Yet the fact stood that she had no business lifting a whole saddle today. At least her temper was burning through any lingering sorrow. It took her mind off of Aretta and the camp and Maellarn and werewolves and all of the other sudden uncertainties after months among the Idemni.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn gave a slow nod. It was easy for him to let his emotions through those walls. It was harder to pull himself out of his own head.

He was worried about Aretta, but there was a lot more running through his thoughts. Images of the dismembered idemni who had been left spread across those caves. Had he really been a spy, or had that bit of information been a fabrication of Maellarn. He didn't know and he might never known. It wad the kind of thing that irked him deeply.

"Your right side is alright?" he asked her, as he lifted the saddle. She could have torn her own arm using Fury like that too. Socks wasn't staying entirely still to be helpful this time, but he worked quickly.

"Nothing heavy with the arms for a few days I think."

 

[Fife]

She steppd aside to make room for him, going to rob Socks' nose and quiet the eager pony some. Raigryn asked after her right arm, and she nodded.

It isn't hurt. She half turned so he could see where she delicately tapped the back of her left shoulder in indication. This alone, she finished when her hand was free. It was the part that had been bruised in her carelessness in practice a few days ago. Had that been this week?

Fife nodded again and resumed holding Socks' head. It meant no sword, no bow, and probably no climbing. Most objects could have been considered heavy lifting to a woman of her stature. While she didn't like the prospect of being relatively useless, she also didn't like the idea of exacerbating the strain into something worse.

She'd toed a careful line with her Fury. Her moment of temper dissipated and when Raigryn was finished, she cast guilty eyes upward. She'd half expected to be lectured on the matter. That he didn't take the opportunity was... telling? Somewhat concerning?

No Fury lesson? she asked, flashing him a small smile. Her slight disappointment was unfair, an inclination to argue when she was already feeling upset -- not unlike yesterday. Fife wondered how long it would be before she made him regret learning how to talk to her with that.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

One stark white eyebrow went rising up. It wasn't the question. It was her body language, her attitude. He couldn't tell whether she was challenging him to give her a telling off or to skip the lesson for once.

"A lesson? Well, when you're trapped in a cave by a werewolf use whatever you can to not be eaten. But try and balance the use of your aspects if you can't. Find ways to use them all."

Raigryn finished with Socks but stayed beside Fife's pony. He was wondering how she would react to him drawing down this middle ground between admonishment and ignoring the topic completely.

 

[Fife]

To her surprise and satisfaction, he actually responded with a lesson. Fife was trying to keep her smile reined in a bit, but the effort only ended up making her look more arch. Not that she hadn't also meant to be arch. He was always going to find things to talk about for too long, and she was always going to jest him for it. It was a small thread of normalcy, and she clung to it.

She patted the pony's nose and nodded to the end of his lesson. Regardless of any results of their small argument last night, Raigryn was still very much her mentor in the Aspects and their discipline. It was within his right to ensure that she understood where she had gone wrong and to offer suggestions and instruction to correct her. She liked him as a teacher and she liked learning their mutual magic.

He lingered by Socks when he finished, however, as if waiting for something. Fife met his eye and nodded again.

I will be better. Like she was planning to leap into trouble like that willingly any time soon. It was a good lesson. Fife knew damn well that she wasn't ready to be throwing more than one Aspect at once, but she could learn to be more versatile and include some variety for the sake of her balance.

But that wasn't the mood she wanted to start their ride in. Her lips twitched into a smirk and she climbed up into the saddle. The pony was eager to go today and she had to turn him in a circle to face Raigryn again.

Long night, old man. Can you keep up? she asked him, smirk widening into a teasing smile.

She didn't want to be in a bad mood forever. She didn't want to think and she didn't want him to look so damn serious. Fife wanted to see him smile, for him to let go of some of the gloom in his mood and just enjoy something before rejoining reality.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

It had been a long night. It was hard to mentally reconcile the two sides of the night they had been through. It felt as if they were from almost two different lives.

Raigryn managed a smile back. He knew what she was doing. It woke him up to the realisation that it was what he should have been doing. He should have been trying to lighten the mood after she had come face to face with the stuff of nightmares.

Admittedly the plague ghouls must have been some amount of preparation, but the point stood.

"I may be old, but I'm also a better rider," he offered. He offered it with a very grown up poke of the tongue as he climbed into the saddle, offering her ample time to claim a headstart.

 

[Fife]

Fife answered the gesture in kind, if only with a little more emphasis. Letting Socks turn away, she held him back to a peppy, prancing walk that struggled to burst into a trot until they were clear of the tents. A courtesy she would have normally made, even without the excess foot traffic.

As soon as she was clear of tents and walkways, however, she guided him out of the camp and its walls. The same arms that sheltered her here like loving arms felt smothering today. She was glad to be beyond them.

With a sharp whistle, she loosened the reins and bumped his barrel tummy with her heels. Socks' head came up and he sprang forward with as much oomph as the stout little pony had. Fife didn't know where they were going and simply let him go where he wanted, only throwing a smiling glance back to see where Raigryn and Dusty were.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn managed just a little burst of laughter as Socks walked away. He dropped to a knee to finish getting Dusty ready to ride, adjusting the straps. As always, the horse was perfectly placid.

Taking his time, he gave Fife a serious headstart. He took a slow, steadying breath. It had been a long, long time since his world was turned upside down quite like this.

He took his time weaving through the tents and into the open space. They weren't leaving today, but for the way he felt as he cast his eyes over Indretar they may as well have been.

A cooler climate and some milder food would be welcome. Belgrath would make a pleasant change.

"Yah!" he called as he rounded the wall, past the mural he truly despised. He had Fife in his sights and started to close the distance.

 

[Fife]

Raigryn must have given them a ridiculous head start. Fair, given her pony's shorter legs and fat belly. She didn't see him the first time, but looked back the second to see him urging Dusty beyond the mural walls. Her face split on a wild grin he couldn't see.

He was inevitably going to catch up to her, but not that quickly. She didn't bother herself with backward glances, rather focused on the terrain ahead. Not that there was much of it. Fife let Socks go where he wanted, only guiding him away from what sparse elements existed in the dry red landscape.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn let Dusty stretch his legs. After being tossed by the werewolf against solid rock there were aches and pains that the pace reminded him of?

He rose past and would have worn a grin but for the bugs out in the sun. Once there was some distance between them he swung dusty around in as tight a circle as he could managed to come around.

He ended up riding alongside her. Enjoying the breeze in his hair and the distance from his troubles. Too much time, he thought silently, had been spent putting his troubles behind him and moving on. Yet he always seemed to find a different danger.

 

[Fife]

Dusty overtook Socks as easily as one could have suspected. Fife was grinning, cheeks whipped red by the wind and the short hairs around her face pulled from their braids. But properly disheveled was a regular state of existence for her.

She slowed Socks to ride beside Raigryn when he turned Dusty in a circle. Much to her pony's relief; he had burned through his energy for the week and was breathing hard. Fife reached forward to scratch beneath his mane.

You are better at riding, she signed to Raigryn, a concession. It probably wouldn't have made any difference if she'd had a full-sized horse. That was fine. She knew she could beat him at a footrace on any given day, Aspects or no. He could beat her at anything with age and experience, except that.

Eased into the slower pace, she took in the landscape as they rode. It was strange and hot, nothing like they had seen east of Elbion. She didn't dislike it -- not at all. After months here, it felt almost as natural as Elbion's walls.

But like all places before it, it was a stopping point. They had never meant to stay here forever. She hadn't meant to stay anywhere. Fife glanced across the gap between them briefly, her head full of things in spite of her attempts to keep them out.

One such thought made her heart flutter, her stomach flip, and her eyes move quickly away. But it also made her smile to herself.

Where will we go? she asked, rather out of nowhere. Fife looked to him again. A place with more... music? She had to spell the word, as one of many she had no sign for. With an edge of mischief to her grin, she whistled a particularly bawdy tune they had heard somewhere or other, replicating it with far more clarity than the original, inebriated tavern patrons had.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Where to go? Well I think we need to drop your book back off with my librarian friend and then on the Belgrath again. We can stop off at Elbion briefly, but like before we have to be very careful about the Empathy."

He smiled as they rode, watching her carefully. Raigryn was glad that she was thinking forwards. He assumed, with everything that she had been through, that looking ahead rather than backwards was like breathing to her.

"You know what I'm looking forward to? A room with curtains rather than a tent. So I can draw them shut and sleep in all morning."

 

[Fife]

The whistle devolved into a hiss of laughter, but she sobered considerably mentioning the book. She blinked and raised her hands to protest.

I haven't finished it. Like he was suggesting it had to be back tomorrow. She had only just started to get to the story itself. Fife would take a while yet to read it, no matter how engrossed she was.

Leaving meant they had to practice their Empathy in secret again, too. She nodded but silently lamented that. Perhaps she had grown too comfortable here. Maybe they both had.

She smiled nonetheless and laughed along to the prospect of a dark room and sleeping in. Fife shook her head. The things they were focusing on to make leaving easier was amusing. She wanted food and music, and he wanted to sleep in. Nothing stopped him from doing that here -- except, perhaps, the heat of trying to shield oneself from the sunlight with blankets.

A warm bath, she countered with a sigh. The cold lake was unrivaled in its ability to wake her up, but it wasn't exactly the best for soothing aches and relaxing tired muscles.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Oh a warm bath," he agreed emphatically. He rolled his eyes at the thought. "I think I've forgotten what warm water feels like."

Raigryn was also looking forward to not having to bathe every single day. It seemed entirely unnecessary to him. He didn't need to smell of soap all the time. It was an idemni obsession.

"We can take our time for you to finish the book. Another few days here and several on the road. Being on the road will be quite a change. When we stop somewhere we won't have to pay two rooms."

Raigryn said that without giving it enough thought, making an assumption that he shouldn't.

Her sign language wouldn't let her communicate with the world. But it would let her communicate with him and that meant a very great deal. It changed everything. Everything had been changed.