Private Tales Scorched Earth

[Fife]

He seemed to like the idea as much as she did. Fife's eyes returned to watch him speak and her smile glowed with more honesty. A warm bath and a late morning. She could easily think of worse ways to spend a day.

The color in her cheeks flared up at the reminder of a shared room. Like she needed to be reminded. It was there, in the back of her mind -- a dull ache and a quiet whisper that made her all too aware of his hands and his smile. When she stole a glance at him again, it was the man she knew as well as Elbion streets. But it was also a man who she was only just beginning to see.

It was all sudden and new. The difference between her world yesterday and today was staggering. But Raigryn seemed happy, and that made it much easier.

Fife smiled back and bobbed her head in agreement. Perhaps some of those mornings he spent sleeping in, she could take advantage of with some reading --if there was enough light after he'd pulled the curtains, anyways.

We will leave soon? There was a decided crease in her brow. As she relaxed, her reflexive mental walls did, too. Not that he would need Empathy to note the worry and sadness in her great gray eyes. A few days. They would know today whether or not Aretta pulled through. Bearing that in mind, perhaps leaving was the best for them.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn gave a hard tug on the reins as Dusty tried to speed up. The dull horse always did as he was told, but apparently he wanted to stretch his legs a little more.

"Just a few more days," he confirmed. "I want to know that Aretta is on the mend before we go."

Or to pay his last respects, he did not say.

It was nice to have a plan at least. It was not much of one but it was a direction. He was almost always on the move now, but it was important to know which way he was going.

"Want to head upstream and find somewhere to relax by the water?" he asked.

 

[Fife]

Fife nodded and it became a plan. She sighed and looked ahead to the rolling ruddy landscape. Hopefully they would see Aretta improve and not the inverse. But she was trying not to think on that right now, she reminded herself. This ride had been to clear her mind of such thoughts for a little while.

A spot to sit and do nothing sounded fantastic. Her smile renewed with a little more joy as she inclined her head to agree. It was still early, but it was already warming up. A short rest before returning would do the horses some good, and Fife (in spite of not knowing how to swim) liked to be near the water. From a safe distance, anyhow. Perhaps there would be birds?

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

There was in fact a bird. A long-legged water bird watched them curiously as they came to a halt. After a few moments it decided that it didn't like them and took off. It looked quite ungainly in the sky with its long legs trailing behind it.

"You know that it is also fine for us to take some time for just...us..." Raigryn suggested as he settled Dusty.

"It seems an odd thing to say but we've been so busy learning or with my sticking my nose into things."

He turned away from the horse, looking for a spot with some shade near the water.

 

[Fife]

She was, as he should have expected, excited about the bird. Fife gasped softly upon seeing it and slowed Socks. One might have made some profound connection to her admiration of the freedom they possessed. Honestly, she just thought they looked neat. She liked the odd ways they conducted themselves and birdsong was always beautiful.

But they never stayed as long as she liked. Too soon, the lanky bird took flight and left them for a less crowded place. Fife watched it as Socks came to a halt, not as quick to dismount as Raigryn.

She had swung her leg over and was sitting sideways in the saddle when he spoke. Fife's cheeks were pink from the wind to help disguise her surprise. Time for just them?

Her stomach knotted and she quickly busied herself with hopping down from her perch. Collecting Socks' reins gave her some time to chew on that idea.

What would we do? she finally asked when he could see her hands again. Fife felt a bit stupid asking, but she was at a loss. Frankly, she knew nothing about how any of this worked. It was all new and foreign -- an aspect of a normal life she had never been exposed to. Was there more to talk or think about? And it wasn't like she had a list of hobbies and interests besides learning Empathy to draw from.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Well we would..."

Raigryn started with such confidence and conviction, but it soon fell away as he tried to answer the question. After travelling alone for so long he only crossed paths with friends from time to time. It was never for very long.

"...we would find creative ways to waste time. In an enjoyable way. We could...see a play in Elbion, just watch the boats coming in and out of the Alliria Strait. Just enjoy being together."

He offered an apologetic shrug for his unspecific answer, though he was still smiling. He sat on a rock, keeping his gaze on Fife as he had learned to do, and started to undo his boots.

 

[Fife]

It wasn't a terribly strong answer, but it was more than she could have thought of. Her brows rose and she blinked. Alliria? There was a lot she hadn't seen, in more than the sense of cities and continents. Theatre. Straits. Ships. Fun things with no purpose than being together.

I would like that, she told him with a renewed smile before she tied off Socks and came to sit beside Raigryn.

Can we go... She had to spell out dance, but did so with a smile amplified by the memory she conjured for the remark: the overly friendly patchwork dog woman dragging her through a crowded ballroom. When Raigryn had found her again, she'd been full of sweets and giggly from champagne.

Not the same, she amended. She raised her gaze to meet his rich brown eyes with a look that bordered on timidity. Fewer people. You and I.

And probably less sugar and alcohol.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"I would like that too, very much actually," Raigryn replied after a moment's thought. Fife had quite enjoyed herself at the last one. It had definitely been a first, but he enjoyed entertaining the notion of truly experiencing that together.

"Perhaps not a college ball at Elbion. I was recognised last time. As just a common scribe I don't get too many invites but we'll manage something. Might be a bit less champagne and a bit more rum and beer than the last one," he laughed.

Raigryn finished unlacing his boots, removed his socks, hitched up his breaches and stepped out towards the stream. The pebbles were nice and smooth and the water clear.

 

[Fife]

Raigryn agreed and, like several other ideas, it manifested into a plan. Loose, undefined, and vague, but one she would anticipate nonetheless. Fife merely laughed. The woman who had recognized him had made her skin crawl; living in Elbion, it was impossible not to recognize the name Ebonheart. Fife would not protest avoiding her and anyone like her.

Tucking her legs to her chest, she folded her arms on her knees and rested her chin on them. It was comfortable in the shade and she was content to wait on the rocks while he cooled off. Her eyes tracked his movements and her smile lingered even after he turned away from her.

Nothing had changed and yet everything had. Fife mused the subtlety of it. It was as strong as the tightness in her chest, but as soft as the drift of her gaze. It was the excitement of planned nothingness and the gentle tug of a smile on her lips. Every bit of it was still overwhelming and new, and the reality of it hadn't settled in yet. Fife would float along the warm currents until the dreamy golden haze faded and the real colors of the world returned.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

The future had, for Raigryn, been fairly limited in scope. He had thought as far ahead as leaving Indretar and not far beyond it. He was reactive to the world around him. Perhaps because any of his plans had been so completely shattered years before.

Raigryn spread his toes and enjoyed the cold water rushing over his feet. No one was trying to soap him up, which was also nice. A hot bath that could be enjoyed in silence really did appeal to him.

"I need to get you to activate the portal stone this time," Raigryn said as he padded back out of the water. He shook droplets from his feet and left a trail of dark footprints on the rocks as he returned to Fife. He sat beside her, immediately occupying a piece of her personal space in a way they were still becoming accustomed to.

 

[Fife]

Chin resting on her folded arms, she merely watched him cool off in the water. Fife was always observing, always watching. Spectator had once been her role in life, after all. She sat up when he came back, uncoiling her arms and relaxing her legs.

You want me to do it? He had shown her how when they had first gone to Belgrath. One might have expected the use of the portal stones to be safeguarded knowledge, when in reality it was as simple as knowing what rune to choose. I can. A show of self-confidence. Fife smiled. She was far from the timid, half wild thing she had been when they'd met.

A truth mostly evidence by only a moment's pause before she shimmed closer to rest her head on his shoulder. She did so with her arms around her knees once more, but it was no less an exercise in comfort.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

She couldn't see the smile that the simple act elicited. Instead Fife would feel the warmth of his reaction. Raigryn placed a hand over hers on her knees.

It was a nice change for the contact not to come with a flutter of nerves. For a man getting on in his years it was nice to feel such sharp excitement from time to time, but he just wanted to feel comfortable right now. The sound of water rushing by seemed to carry away some of concerns. They wouldn't go far.

"You can," he echoed softly.

Raigryn lifted his hand from her knee and tilted his head closer to hers. He raised his arm and pointed across the water. In the sparse reeds something tested its wings. From the shape of its beak he guessed it was a fish hunter.

 

[Fife]

There was a power to the simplicity of the moment. Fife had raged against the forced silence of her life, but was coming to know the quiet's value in tandem with her own strengths. What had once been a bane she now welcomed and hid inside of its familiarity.

The rest of the world and its worries would go on without her, but she was willing to miss it for a little more of this.

Raigryn lifted his hand to point and she followed it to the bird. A soft inhale was all the more acknowledgement she could give him as she focused on the fisher. She vaguely recognized it by its long beak and stout body. A fine bird, even if she had no idea what it was or was capable of.

She saved her questions. Asking meant Raigryn would have to look away -- something she knew he would do without question, even from his leisure -- and that simply wouldn't do. There was no hurry.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn went very still. For a few moments he was hopeful that they would see it dive. The bird stopped focusing on the surface of the water and turned its attention to preening its bright feathers.

Sighing in mild disappointment, Raigryn placed his hand back on Fife's knee.

"Thought it was going to try and fish then," he whispered. "We should go to your little spot again before we leave."

 

[Fife]

Though the bird eventually turned its head to preen, Fife was glad she hadn't pestered Raigryn. It had been a few minutes of innocent distraction for both of them. He even sounded a little disappointed that it wasn't doing anything else. A fishing bird? Its attributes made a little more sense with that in mind.

He still whispered, though, and Fife only had a nod in answer to the suggestion. She did like her spot, high up and removed. He wouldn't catch her arguing -- even when the suggestion came attached to the reminder that they were leaving.

Seeing how the bird was rather dedicated to its grooming, Fife lifted her head and looked up at Raigryn. It took her a moment to think on how she wanted to ask her question before she raised her hand to sign.

You have a place you want to see? Or... Fife rolled her hand and chewed her lip before spelling frends (albeit, incorrectly). She smiled.

Leaving wasn't only going to be difficult on her. He might have been accustomed to coming and going, but Fife understood that there was a difference between necessity and what made one happy. Very often, it seemed, he placed the latter in a secondary position of importance.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"There are people I'll good and talk to before we leave," he replied. More than anything else, he wanted to bid farewell to Aretta, one way or another.

His gaze rose from her hands to her eyes and stayed there. For an empath he had let his own feelings sneak up on him all too easily. They had changed slowly over time. Then he had kept them in check. Now, looking down at Fife, he could let them wash over him without a mote a guilt.

"We will come back here you know?" he said to Fife. "They accept our kind here, it will always be a refuge. And it's important to me. Even more important to me now, because of you. Because of us."

Saying out loud felt like another step towards giving those feelings a real home.

 

[Fife]

She knew he would. Fife, for one, wanted to say goodbye to Ylerial. It would be an odd farewell, as the language barrier still existed between them. She wasn't sure if Ylerial would miss her much, but she was as much of a friend here as Fife had. More so than the women who scrubbed her and braided her hair in the morning. Did she say goodbye to them, too? Farewells were odd things.

She let him catch her gaze and held it. When they had first met she had avoided the contact. As they had come to know one another, however, she had learned to trust it. She had learned to trust him.

His feelings were open and honest and, while somewhat staggering at first, the same gold threads were woven into her own. Perhaps it was only startling because she answered it in kind.

Fife exhaled a breath of laughter and broke the gaze first. Was he always going to be so intense about this, or was this something that settled with time? She didn't know that she could take too much of it and yet wanted more of it.

You can't talk to me like that, she told him, making a sign for humor. She wore a playful grin as she looked up again. I may get used to it.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

She had reminded him of so much of life he had been missing out on. Raigryn knew that he had just been existing, waiting for the thing that finally killed him.

There had been a gulf between their respective places in this relationship. Slowly at first and then very, very suddenly, they had crossed that space.

"Wouldn't want that," he chuckled. He placed a kiss on the crown of her head.

Together they looked out across the water. Being comfortable in silence together was something they had known for a long time.

"Think you can suffer a whole day of me?"

 

[Fife]

The lines that he had carried in his features were, for the time being, forgotten. Job accomplished, she laid her head on his shoulder unce more to watch the reeds and grasses sighed in the subtle breeze. The river spoke its soft language of murmurs and giggles. Birds came and went, and time ticked by slowly, unnoticed.

She couldn't help laughing at his question. Fife lifted her head and raised a quizzical look at him. What an odd question -- like he was hard to put up with.

One day? She lifted her chin and smirked, brow hitching upward. It may be too much. But she laughed, arch grin softening, and leaned to bump her shoulder against his.

I like you. Remember? I like listening to you. I like to be with you.

She wasn't going to be immune to the heat in her cheeks for a while. Fife might have been cheeky and combative, but she was unaccustomed to saying how she felt. She wasn't yet accustomed to the feelings themselves.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"I'm glad you do!" Raigryn chuckled, pretending it was surprising news. "Because we might have more days where all we do is spend time together without any plans or goals."

Just like that, he could think of a hundred ways to spend a day without going anywhere. A warm summer's evening spent reading, or a full dinner and dancing even though you felt too heavy. He hadn't started this thinking of a future. Suddenly he was.

"How big is the largest bird you've ever seen Fife?" he asked.

 

[Fife]

Fife hissed in her odd, silent way of laughing. Days on the road together, nights spent in strange locales, slogging wet clothes and pinecones in her bed roll? She didn't know who else she would want to spend it with. No one else even remotely came to mind.

His question was first answered by a moment of thoughtful silence and a smile.

The giant eagle we saw. Over the wrong mountain city. She spelled out eagle and had no better way to describe the city that had sprung from the side of the mountain. It worked.

Not counting that... She pursed her lips and tipped her head. The one we saw together? She shrugged. There were only small birds in Elbion. Smart black birds. Fat gray birds. A lot of small black birds with stars.

She described ravens, pigeons, and starlings the only way she knew how without butchering some spelling -- a deliberate choice to spare him the headache. Perhaps she had been admiring birds a lot longer than she had thought.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn laughed and it was not silent.

"Oh. Yes. The giant eagles. Which we might try and find. Or not. If those things can carry a man on the back then they could carry one in the talons.

"Crows and pigeons and starlings. Starlings are much more interesting in the marsh reeds. They take off in great flights and form shapes in the air. Won't see that near here.

"We might see some vultures on the way back. How would you like to see the ugliest birds in the whole world?"

 

[Fife]

Fife shuddered, albeit with a smile, to express how much she liked the thought of being packed away by a giant bird. No thanks. She was hideously easy to carry, even by human standards. To a giant bird? As easy as a cat carried a flea.

She watched him as he spoke, smiling idly, and decided she was going to have to find more things of interest. He was a veritable font of random knowledge, and it was a shame to waste it on something as trivial as birds.

Still, he thought of things for her sake. She nodded. They had seen the carrion birds far off and she had seen a smaller kind in the distance before. But she had no idea what they looked like up close. How were they ugly?

She was not, however, ready to venture back yet. Fife ruffled through her brain for something to ask him back to waste more time. She wanted this reprieve to last a little while longer.

What do you like? she asked. Doing so, she realized just how little she still knew about him. There wasn't much to know about her; she really was as empty and boring as her collection of rocks, sticks, and feathers. Fife felt honestly guilty she had never stopped to ask him about himself more.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"What do I like? Well..." Raigryn said. He sighed thoughtfully. He didn't have an immediate answer because he hadn't given it a great deal of thought.

"Good food, good beer, good company. Time when I can sit down and do very little at all but enjoy leave and quiet. The kind of things that when they're taken away you notice them the most."

Of course for Fife she had come from having nothing at all to enjoy he didn't dare ask if there was anything she had been able to do to bide the time back then.

 

[Fife]

Of course the first thing he remarked on was food and drink. Why wasn't she very surprised by his answer? He was, for an enigma, somewhat predictable.

The second half of his response was more thoughtful. It was a feeling she somewhat understood. Fife never had much to lose, but she had lost all of what little there was.

She watched the water flowing steadily by as the quiet that wasn't really that quiet returned. A bird was warbling somewhere and there was a steady hum of insects. Fife was, however, utterly silent in the middle of it. Her dark eyes observed and her mousey ears listened, but no part of her volunteered sounds to join nature's song.

Her mind drifted, too -- a current of thoughts that flowed one into the other until it was difficult to tell how she had arrived at the question.

If you could go to the beginning and change everything, would you? Fife watched the river for a moment after asking before lifting her eyes to him.

// Raigryn Vayd //​