Completed Silver Bladed Dreams

[Zephyrine]

Zephyrine sighed and conjured up a seat, perching herself on it as she sat opposite from Kor. Her hands disappeared into her the thick fur lined coat she wore, generating more heat for herself. "Couldn't have sent that in a letter? It's freezing out, Kor. What personal business would have you out here in the cold?" She did all she could without her teeth chattering as she spoke. Her breath turned cold in the air, the soft plumes swirling from her mouth like she were truly a dragon.

"Do you need a hand?" She raised a dark brow, it almost disappearing under her hat to keep her head warm.

Kor

 

[Kor]

Kor turned his head to face her, the dark bags under his eyes standing out against his cloudy white pupils. Even by his standards, he looked exhausted. Still, he found the energy to roll those milky orbs at her all the same. "Forgive me, you weren't so forward-thinking as to leave me an address." Even if she had, he admittedly would have likely forgotten to inform her. It had been a long night, and his work wasn't done just yet.

"As for the cold..." Kor hummed, looking back up into the cloudy sky above them. "I've actually always been quite fond of this weather. Something about the individual flakes falling onto me, the way that sound echoes off of the snow on the ground, making everything silent..." Kor trails off, shrugging before turning back towards the door of the dorm building.

"Come inside, I have tea on. Wanted to talk to you about your friend anyways." Kor slipped into the dorms, walking carefully up the stairwell to the left to reach the second floor where his room was. It was slow, watching him climb steps, but even with a bird to guide him, he'd had a few accidents that had left him wary. "There are... birds." He cautioned her, looking over his shoulder. "But they won't pay you any mind. I promise."

Zephyrine

 

[Zephyrine]

Zephyrine let out a snort. No, it was not like her to tell people where they could find her and annoy her, but she at least thought he had a messenger pigeon at his disposal.

She followed him, still wondering if he was mental for embracing the snow and cold, but the warmth inside the dorms was instant. Zephyrine relaxed, hesitating a moment as he admitted to birds. More than one.

"It's fine." The past few weeks she had been working on shields and reaction time, enough to stop the force of a bird. "I don't think you're annoyed enough at me to be wary." She cleared her throat, but did not take back what she had said. She still couldn't trust, but she was here. That should speak volumes louder than her admittance.

Kor

 

[Kor]

Kor let out his own snort back at her words, the bird on his shoulder turning its head to briefly look back at her as they walked down the quiet hallway of the second floor. Most of the Initiates were in classes or holed up in their rooms to keep warm, but these halls wouldn't stay quiet for long, Kor was sure.

"If I was annoyed at you..." Kor stopped in front of his door, pulling out his key and unlocking the latch holding it shut. "I wouldn't have warned you in the first place." Though they had agreed upon a partnership, there was not yet any level of trust between the two of them. That, he knew, would take time and effort, if it were to ever occur at all.

Pushing open the door to his room, Kor quietly stepped inside to the dark dormitory. His curtains had been taken down and replaced with a set that blocked out sunlight, and the only visibility came from the light leaking in from the hallway behind them, casting two tall shadows across the floor. The bird perched on his shoulder flew across the darkness and pulled at the string on the curtains, tugging them open to reveal the entire scope of Kor's chamber.

Aside from the bed, there seemed virtually nothing meant for him; Nearly all of the space was dedicated to his feathered companions. Cages of all sizes hung from the ceiling, containing all of the birds that Kor had taken the most hands-on approach in caring for. Each was full of bedding and food, and the Initiate had seemingly rigged up a water dispenser to his ceiling that drip fed water into small bowls in each cage via tube. On the walls were tools, avian study books, and medical equipment.

A table across the room from his bed held a large glass container, much more spacious than the cages. Straw lined the bottom of the container, and a large candle burned beside it. Nestled in the straw was a Cardinal, feathers as red as Zephyrine's hair, laying on its side and breathing awkwardly.

The birds all began to make a commotion at the sudden light, but stopped at the raising of Kor's hand.

"I found her with a broken wing outside the dormitory. I think a younger student launched a stone at her."

Zephyrine

 

[Zephyrine]

She tried to ignore the fact she was aware of a great number of avian stares, even if Kor silenced them. She followed him closely, not saying a word of how she would be standing closer to him than she intended, but fear certainly had a merciless hold on her.

Her eyes then fell onto the young cardinal, cradled into the straw. It made her soften. Zephyrine lowered herself to her knees, allowing herself to be eye level with the bird.

"And you can fix it? The wing?" She asked in a soft voice, not wanting to startle the crimson bird.

Kor

 

[Kor]

It was Zephyrine that Kor's bird watched now, as the blind boy kept his cloudy eyes trained in the direction of the wounded bird. The warmth of the candle was his guide, subtle but present against his face as he stepped in behind her and gave a slight tilt of his head. There was something else in her voice now, something he'd never heard from her before.

"Yes, but it will take time to heal." He answered. "Even after the bone is set, she will be staying with me until she can fly again. I'll feed her and monitor her progress, and when the time comes..." Kor reached out and placed his palm on Zeph's shoulder, gently pulling to signal her to move. "She can fly freely, or stay with me. Whichever she prefers." Kor finishes as he slides in front of the container where she'd been kneeling.

With a snap of his fingers, the bird acting as his eyes flitters over and perches itself on the edge of the container as Kor lifts the lid. Carefully, the Initiate scoops his hands underneath the Cardinal and raises them up and out of the straw bed and onto a small cloth folded on the table. Stirring, the bird makes a weak sound, attempting to move its wings, only for one of them to twitch in pain, obviously bent at an incorrect angle.

"I know many think me a freak, one that enslaves birds. Perhaps brainwashes them with magic..." Kor mutters, delicately grasping the broken wing with only two fingers of his left hand, as his eye-bird hops about to give him the angle that he needs. "But I do not force any of these creatures to obey me. They choose to, because I've raised them myself. They're as much my children as they are my pets, they've known me for their entire lives, most of these birds."

In a quick and fluid motion, Kor snaps the wing back into place. The cardinal chirps sharply in pain, then appears to settle down again, burying her head in the cloth underneath her as Kor takes both it and her and places them back in the straw.

"There's some seed in a small pouch next to my bed. Zephyrine, would you please bring it to me?"

Zephyrine

 

[Zephyrine]

Zeph carefully got out of the way, standing behind Kor to watch him do his work.

Her stomach dropped seeing Kor work the wing, her chest tightening at the pained chirp of the cardinal.

She welcomed the distraction of moving towards his bed. Her eyes averted the birds, moving carefully and very aware of her movements. Her head felt as if she was going to explode, aware of being watched. She found the pouch, opening it to see if it truly was seed and nudged Kor's shoulder with it to alert him where she held it.

"And how long will it take to heal properly? Until they can fly with it?"

Kor

 

[Kor]

Kor took a rag hanging from the side of the table and gently wiped any soiling from his hands, as if this was a process he'd undertaken hundreds of times before. Zephyrine's question was met with a shrug of his shoulders. "It varies. I don't have any way of knowing the extent of the damage done to the wing tissue, so I have to adopt a wait-and-see approach. Sometimes it's a week, sometimes it can take over a month"

Sometimes, they didn't leave at all. A couple of the birds living with him now had met Kor through this same scenario, and grew so attached to them that they rejected independence. Archene was one such bird, the Red-Tailed Hawk that Kor often brought along on missions where combat was expected.

Kor took the seed from Zephyrine and left a small bit of it in the container with the sleeping Cardinal, tying the bag and placing it nearby. Then, he turned towards his companion leaning back on the table and crossing his arms. "Larkin wants in. I don't trust him completely, but you're right... Something is there. If we can get him over himself, I think he'd make a fine enough ally."

Zephyrine

 

[Zephyrine]

"He is an ally." She raised a brow at him. Larkin had been the first person she trusted so easily, and that first day in Vel Zrada only proved that their friendship was fated to happen as it did. "He is no fighter, but I don't think that exactly matters, does it?" They weren't out here building an army. Zephyrine wasn't sure of Kor's skillset, but she landed a good punch and he did not resort to physical retaliation.

It was clear who would be the strength if trouble were to come their way once they left this place.

"Besides, he needs out of here. He has an anger... that is only fueled the longer he remains here at the Academy." She crossed her arms and stared into Kor's unseeing eyes. She refused to look at the bird that became his eyes, still not comfortable by how exposed she was to so many of them in such a small space. "I leave for Vel Castere soon. Someone has agreed to taking me on as an apprentice to learn the forge. I will be gone... close to two months. Do you think you can look out for him while I am gone? You know... for me?" Zephyrine never knew true family. Proctor Caddel was a father figure to her, but there was no true familial love there. Larkin made her feel like she had a brother in him. He was protective, badgering her into listening to him speak about looking after herself first before the Academy, and even the idea of traveling along to Vel Castere was a lecture itself.

"I think I would feel better if I knew he wasn't going to be... alone."

Kor

 

[Kor]

There was a strange feeling that came with being looked at in the eyes, even when one was blind. Kor could not see her gaze pointed at him, even from the bird he looked through, as she'd turned away from it. He could feel her stare though, Somehow, he knew. Enough that the hairs on the back of his neck stood up a bit, bristling at the uncomfortable eye contact.

Zephyrine was unused to the birds being in her space, of their unwavering eyes that lingered on her at all times. Kor was similarly unaccustomed to Zephyrine's presence in a place that was usually his own, the way she now looked at him. Not with anger, but with the smallest hint of pleading as she asked a favor of him.

"Two months?" He repeated. It was good that Zephyrine had taken his advice, found a mentor to help her broaden her abilities outside of the Academy's curriculum. Still, he didn't sound entirely fond of her departure. "Good. That will definitely come in handy. My condition leaves me ill-fit for forge work." Most of his birds could not handle the heat, and couldn't provide him the sight he would need for such a thing.

"Do you think you can look out for him while I am gone? You know... for me?"

Something about the way she asked him unsettled him. Kor grimaced slightly, biting the inside of his cheek as he felt his head turn towards the window in an attempt to avoid the gravity of such a request. Zephyrine, he'd grown somewhat used to. Larkin? Their first encounter had been... somewhat prickly.

"I said I'd met with him. I never said I could tolerate him alone for two months."

He wanted to refuse, wanted to tell her she shouldn't leave if she was so damned worried about the boy. But then... to do so would be rather hypocritical. It was he who told her she should seek to improve her skills, he who'd sought her out and formed the partnership they now shared.

Kor was many things, but he was not a hypocrite. Zephyrine had been true to her word since the start, hadn't left him alone.

In this, he could repay that.

"Fine." He sighed concededly. "For you."

Zephyrine

 

[Zephyrine]

Zephyrine did not falter as she waited for the definitive answer from Kor, and once she heard it, relief flooded through her and took form in a smile.

"Thank you. I don't expect you to hold hands and make merry... just, work with him. Like you do with me. His magic is interesting..." Zeph relaxed a little.

"You know... I am excited to get away from here for a while. The travel to Vel Castere is about three weeks to and from... but they just confirmed one month to train me in the forge." She found a spot to sit at the edge of his bed, mindful not to mess the sheets or lean to close to the birds nearby. "It is daunting, though. To be away from the only home I have known for that long." She frowned, knowing it was bittersweet to leave but want to stay.

Kor

 

[Kor]

Zephyrine's talk of leaving home led Kor's eyes elsewhere, his mind drifting away into some reflection of a memory locked away in the back of his mind, the only place he could truly look without vision. Did Zephyrine consider this place a home? Kor had never had such a thought. This place was an in-between, a means to an end just as where he'd grown up had been.

And yet... he couldn't deny that he never missed that aviary in Vel Numera. That some nights, in his introspective moments, he didn't regret what he'd done to the couple that had raised him from a child. Regrets made one weak, and he dispelled them promptly. Even so...

"Will it be hard to leave?" He found himself asking, "The Academy, I mean? You've shared with me your frustrations with this place, but you also speak of it fondly. As if... you might feel attached to it somehow." Kor didn't understand the concept of a home. A place to rest and call your own, maybe, but the security and warmth that people would associate with the word... it was lost on him.

Zephyrine

 

[Zephyrine]

Zephyrine lifted her head to look at Kor, no longer finding his unseeing eyes to be eerie.

"I think a home is somewhere that has seen the bad days and the good days... The Academy has been my constant for most of my life. I was... four or five when I came here. I had a family, small, but Proctor Caddel treated me well and was proud of every challenge I met successfully. I... lost my family... but I have Larkin now." She smiled. He had done his best to check in on her, spend time with her so to ensure she had been taking things easy as the Healer Proctor had advised, but Zephyrine knew her limits.

"If you are worried I might change my mind on our agreement, then be rest assured. As long as I have you and Larkin, then... I think I can brave the world outside this place." Zephyrine dropped her gaze, unsure if her honesty would be too weird to speak concerning Kor. Allies, friends... Zeph was not sure what to call each other, but she knew that they would have each other's back regardless. That was what a friend was, was it not?

"I... would like to think of you as a friend. Even if you annoy me at times, but..." Here, she grinned, lifting her gaze again. "It feels nice to have someone to talk to about my growth, to have an invested interest in helping me do better."

Kor

 

[Kor]

Kor found himself wishing that he could find some common ground in Zephyrine's reply, that he could somehow relate to her words and perhaps understand her even the slightest bit more. Alas, she spoke of family, of friends. One of those concepts Kor had only recently begun to understand, and the other was still as foreign to him as ever.

"I never knew my family." Kor found his sightless eyes wandering, towards the gentle breeze that crept through the cracked window of his room. He closed his eyelids against the wind, letting it roll over his face. "Left me on a random doorstep after I was born, didn't want anything to do with me. An elderly couple lived there, took me in." It was the first time he'd spoken of the couple since he'd arrived at the Academy, to anybody.

"They owned a small aviary. That's where I learned to... do what I do." Not only had he been taught to care for the birds by his surrogates, but it was also where he'd discovered his ability to link with them in a way that granted him sight. "Sometimes, I miss the aviary, but... No matter how hard I try, I could never bring myself to miss the old couple. They weren't my family. I was thrust upon them. Just as I was you. If I'd not sought you out myself, you'd never have paid me any mind."

Kor paused, his face falling as he realized how that must have sounded to her. Sometimes, he'd learned, truthfulness was not the only important factor of words. Especially if one wanted to maintain an alliance. Sometimes, you had to mix in a dash of personal vulnerability.

As much as he loathed it.

"I'm glad I did, though. This... having somebody around. It can be nice. Moreso than I thought possible."

Zephyrine

 

[Zephyrine]

"...If I'd not sought you out myself, you'd never have paid me any mind."

And he knew it to be true. She had not bothered to learn about Kor before their meeting, had written him off as an Initiate not worth her time... but hadn't she learned so much from him already?

"I'm glad I did, though. This... having somebody around. It can be nice. Moreso than I thought possible."

Zephyrine stared at him, sure he could feel her doing so.

The way he said that... the words he chose to speak. Honesty. As he always had been with her.

"We will make you a new aviary... when we find somewhere to settle, you and I can sit down and plan on how you want it." She promised, her voice soft. It felt different hearing his past, more... rewarding of her trust. Perhaps if they were the affectionate type of people, they would hug and smile, but the two were similar in mind. Words were more reliable, and Zephyrine seldom promised anyone anything of her time.

"I, too, am glad for this... you have made me see a purpose, a new goal." He had helped guide her out from the smoke and darkness of aimlessness.

Kor

 

[Kor]

Kor's eyes widened at Zephyrine's words, briefly the blind boy was unsure he'd heard her correctly. Even once he was certain that he had, a wave of doubt and suspicion assailed him. He'd made certain to lay out that he was training Zephyrine for his own benefit first, and hers second. This alliance was a means to an end, one they would mutually gain from. It was not a work of charity.

The same could not be said of what she offered him now. Zephyrine loathed birds, thanks in some small part to him. Why would she confront such a fear for his sake and nothing else? The very notion baffled Kor. Slowly his eyes trailed from where her voice originated to the floor he stood on, silent contemplation thinning his lips. and brows knitting in befuddlement.

"You'd... do that for me?"

It was impossible to not hear the restrained excitement in his voice, like a child being teased with a toy they'd wanted for months. Kor was not one to complain about his living situation, but even he would admit his dorm room was... unsuited for housing his birds. The idea of having a new aviary to spend his time, a place he could be alone with his thoughts and his flock, secluded from the outside world...

It made him happy.

"Why? I haven't done anything to deserve that. You gain nothing from helping me."

Zephyrine

 

[Zephyrine]

Zephyrine's head fell to one side in thought, knowing that what he said was true but her time spent with him had proven they were meant for something greater, but she couldn't have gotten here without his help and guidance. "And what do you gain from helping me? I... I am not offering this to get something out of it." She shrugged, turning to look up to the nearest bird. Zeph tensed, shying away a little but held firm in her place.

"I... don't have many friends. You probably knew that when we first met, but.. none have looked out for me the way you and Larkin have. I at least think that... that we are friends."

Kor

 

[Kor]

There was a long swath of silence, as Kor's face twisted into some strange combination of emotions that he couldn't properly organize. There was that word again, the word she'd spoken to him. 'Friend'. It had been months since the last time he'd heard it used in reference to him, and it still confused him just as much as it had then.

"There was another girl who called me a friend here." He muttered, crossing his arms as though it was some sort of barrier that would shield him from the phrase, prevent it from affecting him, in denial that it already had. "She disappeared only a few weeks later." It had been gut-wrenching, to feel affection for something that wasn't an animal for the first time in his life, only to be left behind almost immediately.

"When I sought you out during your training... I was trying to fill that spot. I'm loathe to admit it, but I found myself feeling 'lonely'. I'd hoped maybe I would find something similar in you."

Kor gave a brief shake of his head.

"I didn't. This isn't the same. But I'm not displeased with how it's gone so far."

Zephyrine

 

[Zephyrine]

Did either of them think they would be here on this day when they had first met?

He happened upon her, feral and wild, and he too showed his anguish that day.

Zephyrine averted her gaze to her hands on her lap, fidgeting. "I've never had cause to make an ally... or to grow a friend.You and Larkin both are more than that to me." Her dark brows knitted together. If she said these words, would that create a curse on her, befall another misfortune on her life?

"I never had a family. But right now... you and Larkin are the closest things I want to protect. I am older now, stronger. If anyone comes against you, they will have to fight past me." She didn't feel this strong with Thraah, whom she felt as if she were along for the ride of getting to know people, or... she did care about her friends, but not to the same degree she felt about Kor and Larkin. They were all similar, from unknown families and only knowing the Academy truly as a somewhat comfort.

"When we go... I promise to protect you and Larkin. I will be your shield and sword... and the defensinve walls that will be around our house." Here she smiled, musing and humouring herself. "Of course, I will protect the aviary too. My handiwork will never be harmed lest the offender wishes for a swift death."

Kor

 

[Kor]

It was difficult for Kor to formulate any kind of response to Zephyrine's vow. The creatures who lived in this room with him, they were all loyal and devoted to him, they would do whatever he asked, whatever it took to help him. When the birds had come to his aid, Kor had molded himself after their kind, allowed himself to be the leader of the flock; more animal than human, at least mentally.

To receive such a thing from a person. From a woman who'd known him so briefly, had so little reason to place her faith in him... It brought a flutter to his chest, a sensation he'd never felt before. Embarrassment? Confusion? Anxiety? Perhaps some bewildering cocktail of the three.

"Zephyrine, I..."

He wished that he could see her. That he could look at her with his own eyes and see that she was real, that he wasn't the victim of some obvious deception. So deeply ran his distrust that he could not simply accept such a pledge of loyalty. A pledge of friendship.

In lieu of the sight he did not possess, Kor walked carefully across his room towards the voice speaking to him, reaching out with a hand in search of the speaker. His palm would come to rest atop her head, fingertips lightly pressing into her scarlet hair.

"Thank you." He finally muttered, almost a whisper under his breath. "My friend."

Zephyrine

 

[Zephyrine]

Zeph lifted her head slightly to peer up at him, his hand moving with her as she smiled. The gesture was strange, but right all the same. She was not one for affectionate hugging, nor a kiss on the cheek like Thraah had done once upon a time. The warmth between them was safe, it was a comfort.

"Who knew we would regard each other this way when that first day of meeting, I punched your gut and I got attacked by birds." The smile was heard in her words, creeping up at one side of her lips as she chuckled. "Funny thing is, when I told Larkin of that story, he was not fazed. But... I appreciate having someone there to push me to my limit... I guess it reminds me of the Proctor and their old ways, but I always saw perfect results."

Kor

 

[Kor]

Kor found himself sniggering at Zephyrine's choice of words. Yes, she'd considered herself just a few steps away from flawless when they'd met. Her reaction to Kor's criticism had been hostile to say the very least. But then... Kor hadn't exactly come to her with the best of intentions either.

"Perfection under the controlled environments they provide us and perfection, in reality, are two very different things. In the world of this Academy, you'd hit every mark they asked of you. The moment I challenged those standards, I was asking for a fight."

In hindsight, perhaps he should have retaliated with less force. Zephyrine still couldn't look his birds in the eyes for more than a few seconds at a time. Letting his hand fall from her head to his side, Kor turned to look at the injured cardinal, knowing exactly where it was even without his sight.

"But I need to learn too. I have a habit of disallowing any reliance on another, when my goals and wishes are unattainable alone. Especially for one with my condition. Perhaps, if I can learn to trust you, I will not have to isolate myself in such a manner."

And trust her he did, to a degree. Larkin was still an unknown variable, but Zephyrine had faith in him and that was enough for Kor to at least give the boy a chance. Slowly walking back to his desk, Kor leaned forward and inspected the bird with a finger, running a tip along its wing.

"I think you've done all you can for me, right now Zephyrine." He called back to her. "I'm certain you don't wish to spend the remainder of your day cooped up in here..." Kor turned his head just enough for her to see the smile on his lips, perhaps the most genuine she'd ever seen from him.

"Relax today. I think you've earned it."

Zephyrine

 

[Zephyrine]

It warmed her to see him smile, to see that his whole face changed with the little effort the muscles in his face had pulling up the corners of his mouth.

"Well, with this sort of weather, I think I can go find a quiet place to read." She stood, careful not to startle the birds around her with sudden movements. "Need to make a start on reading up on basic healing. I think the greenhouses have some plants I can practice on..."

Zeph lingered by the door, brows furrowed with thought. "You'll let me know how the cardinal is going, won't you?" She knew he would, and only after he gave her a nod, Zephyrine was satisfied enough to open the door slowly and slip out.

It was meeting with Kor and spending time getting to know Larkin more that made her believe there was something else to strive for here at the Academy. Her old mentor and adopted father was no longer around to steer her in the one direction. It was the first time she realised she had full autonomy of herself.