Private Tales The Lotus Amid Pines

[Dao Maho]

The carriage stopped and the footman opened the door. He was still wounded but doing much better. He stepped outside and held the door open as Maho stepped down from the carriage. She looked at the captain of the guard as he road up beside them.
She spoke to him in the common tongue, "Captain. Shall we make camp here? The next village can't be much farther, could it?"
He responded in far less fluent common, "It is wise to make camp here, Mistress Ambassador. It is dark and that bring many monster out of hiding. We make camp now and reach village in morning, we resupply there and continue to Alliria."

She nodded to ZafiraJade.
"Yes, we will make camp here. There is a clearing just up ahead off the road where we can set up our tents and water the horses. If you haven't eaten on the road we would be honored if you would join us for the evening meal."

With that invitation and the dainty smile of a hostess she climbed back into the carriage while they pulled into the clearing and began setting up camp. Wood was quickly gathered and three cooking fires were started. Metal racks and grills were produced to hold various pots and pans as water was put on to boil.

Maho came out of the carriage and began helping with the food preparation while others of her troop set to erecting large circular tents that looked more like huts.
Under her culinary care soon the smells of savory meats and delicious spices rose from the pots, and sweet smelling herb tea began to bubble in their kettles.
The first pot held small pieces of simmering meat, the second pot contained steaming white rice, and the third pot held mushrooms fried in oil.
Plates were produced as one by one the guards visited each fire to fill their plates. Plates were also offered to their guests, as well as small cups which they poured tea into.

Overall the camp was a bright spot in the dark. The men talked and laughed among themselves in their own language, eating with two sticks instead of forks. Maho sat with them with a gentle smile on her face but not talking.
A few of the guards would stand on watch, facing away from the fires to preserve their night vision. But a string of tiny bells were also strung in a circle around the tree line of the camp, evidently enchanted in some way which explained why the guards were alert, but not overly concerned about being surprised by anything.

 

[Belmont Lacroze]

As everyone set up camp with their tents and fires, Belmont had walked into a dense patch of forest approximately 100 feet away from the main site. He didn't trust himself to be within the vicinity of burning lights in the shrouding darkness and the noise of men. His paranoia kept him straying from everything. In the dense forest, he set up a bedroll and conjured a single flame that stood floating in mid-air that would serve as a light for him to navigate through his own campsite. As he finished setting up, he could smell foods he had long since forgotten.

He walked to the main campsite and noticed everyone around with bowls and utensils... sticks? It was peculiar but non-bothersome. He picked his own bowl filled with different foods all mixed together in a make-shift stew. He held the bowl to his face and bowed, praying to his god in an ancient tongue that sounded coarse and rough. He then took his hand and began transferring the food to his mouth and his tastebuds were in instant euphoria from the flavors. He hadn't eaten a rich meal in a long time and all he had eaten since then had been gruel and dead insects and the occasional corpse of an animal.

As he finished, he had decided that it was time to retire. He went over to Maho Dao and thanked her for her hospitality. He then ventured to Zafria and gave her a wink and smile before thanking her for half-healing his foot. He limped back to his makeshift campsite and sat and meditated on the world. He had always done this before sleeping and it gave him the perspective of how big the world really was. Consequently, he could also faintly tap into the life forces and maybe the occasional animal in the brush, though the power was hard on his heart and mind.

He sat in that same position for perhaps thirty minutes meditating, thinking. His breath grew small and concentrated. He was in a deep trance...

 

[ZafiraJade]

Nerves coursed through her system, eyes flitting back and forth around the camp.

It was a bright light. Too bright.

Zafira was accustomed to traveling in the dark - the only light present from the burning green fire from her palms.

This - this felt like the sun in the print of night. Maybe she was being a bit dramatic.

Zafira kept the conversation light - blending in with the guards, but being obvious enough so that they would know her. The one who had placed the dagger against her throat was surprisingly a funny person, and had been apologetic for his actions.

Despite the conversation, the laughs, and the teasing comments, a pressure bubbled in her chest. There was something about the ambassador that threw her off guard - she was perfect, watching them all with a mother-like smile. Looking at her, Zafira almost forgot her first impression on Maho - a girl who was definitely younger than her. Despite it, she carried a wisdom that was unnerving.

"So, how long do you plan to stay in Alliria?" Zafira asked the ambassador, a soft smile on her face.

She took a deep breath to relax herself. She didn't know why she was so wired. Zafira saw Belmont walk into his camp, his foot dragging with him lightly. Despite the gait, his walk was strong, arms swinging, confidence radiating from his step. A wink from him and a quick wave made Zafira chuckle. She rolled her eyes at him playfully before he left.

She didn't know him well, but she trusted him more than anyone else. Perfection made her suspicious. She stayed at the camp for a little longer, subtly asking the guards about their ambassador before taking her leave. Belmont had seemingly disappeared.

She saw him a few moments later with his eyes closed, a look of utter peace on his face. She memorized his features momentarily before accidentally stepping on a branch near him. Zafira winced, watching Belmont break from his stupor. "You disappeared on us," she said with a grin, settling on a log across from him.

 

[Dao Maho]

He guests weren't as sociable as she might have liked, but she didn't force them, simply attributing their introverted behavior to cultural differences and isolationist habits. It would indeed be difficult to mingle with people who spoke another language and said things you didn't understand, but at least the lady Zafira made a concerted effort.

When asked how long she would be staying in Alliria she took a sip of tea from her little porcelain cup.
"I plan on staying in Alliria for at least five years, after that I plan to move on to Elbion to establish relations there for another five years."
The most broad and very rough outline of her plans of course. She intended to accomplish a great deal in those first five years.

The lord Belmont had decided to make camp separate from them, which she didn't consider to be all that wise. She heeded that warnings of her captain that monsters do indeed come out at night and would be looking for just such loners in pursuit of an easy meal. She didn't doubt his strength, especially with his magic, but she was concerned all the same and she expressed her concern to lady Zafira before she went to join him.
"Lord Belmont shouldn't be alone at night. I am told that powerful monsters stalk these woods. Lesser creatures would avoid our camp, but the greater beasts wouldn't be so easily intimidated and may stalk closer. Both of you would be better off making camp with us, there is safety in numbers."
Her concern showed further in the ever so slight needling of her brows as she frowned.

As the night wore down the food was put away and the guards either prepared to take watch or prepared to sleep. Maho went into her tent and began her own preparations for bed, undoing the many ties, pins, and clips that held her hair up. She gently washed away the make-up around her eyes and off her face, removing her lipstick and finally she sat on her knees with nothing to hide behind. Now just an eighteen year old girl from the east.

She changed into her sleeping gown and went to bed.

 

[Belmont Lacroze]

Belmont's inner concentration broke as he heard a snap near him. As he was meditating, he could sense Zafira's life force already nearing him. His body merely transitioned itself back to reality once more as he heard the snap. He opened his eyes and felt as if he had just woken up from a deep sleep. He saw Zafira sitting on a lone log across from him.

"Big camps are not to be reckoned with. Noise causes the beasts to be drawn to the origin. Granted, there may be some strong ones out there but nothing I can't handle." He waved his index finger in a z motion and the flame went out. Only moonlight shone itself through the cracks in the trees and onto the ground with a brilliant white glow with visibility now depleting itself. Belmont stood and walked towards Zafira, sitting on the log beside her.

"Besides, it's a lot quieter here. It allows me to meditate and rest. No need for sleep." The wizard looked into Zafira's eyes and once more saw the brilliant color that filled them. He looked away and into the void of the woods and all around them wildlife seemed to be teeming. Crickets chirped and the occasional deer could be heard trotting near the brush. Belmont had really never stayed inside a forest before and he was never exposed to this much nature in his life. It calmed his mind and it gave him a greater advantage at meditating. He looked back at Zafira.

"Why aren't you at the main camp with the others?" He inquired.

 

[ZafiraJade]

"That is very impressive," Zafira said, surprise clear in her voice. It was an ambitious task - especially for a city like Alliria. She remembered going there for the first time ever - a sixteen-year-old girl with no parents and a new identity, a new personality. It had been difficult. The people were callous unless you showed strength. The streets were tough. You had to have a bite.

Not to say that the city wasn't beautiful. Zafira had made a home in Alliria and despite having resided there for plenty of years - was always left with a sense of wonder and surprise that no other city could fill her with.

Zafira all of a sudden felt herself humble. She typically prided herself in being nonjudgemental - yet had done the opposite with Maho. As she was about to ask another question, feeling herself soften, the ambassador expressed her concerns about Belmont. At her comment about the beasts, Zafira bit her lip.

It would be the bright light that would bring the creatures towards them, not their presence. "As long as you leave them alone, no creature will bother you. I've been in these woods multiple times before," Zafira stood up, ready to check on Belmont. "It's at the crack of dawn that we would have to worry," Zafira warned her, remembering the boar-like creature she had dealt with a while ago.

Zafira's fingers dug into the log as Belmont talked, entranced by the fire in his hand. It looked so incredibly different from her own power. Hers held less control, spinning around her as if were about to consume her. Belmont's, on the other hand, held more control - a precision that was fascinating.

"I think you're the only person in the world to not want sleep, Belmont," Zafira teased, leaning back against the log. He was next to her, so close that their knees were touching, shoulders pressed together. At his question, Zafira pressed her lips together, debating on the truth. A part of her wanted to tell him. The larger part wanted to keep quiet.

"For you, of course," she smirked, bumping his shoulder lightly. "Maho is concerned about your well being. Plus, you sitting all cross-legged in the middle of nowhere is slightly worrying," Zafira joked.

 

[Dao Maho]

She lay awake on her sleeping mat for a long time. Sleep was always a torment for her, visions of the past haunted her dreams, lives that weren't her own were being played out in her mind with ominous warnings. The whispers of her ancestors ran through her bloodline, the source of her magic and power handed down through hundreds of unbroken generations of the Dao family.

And so she lay in bed, terrified for when sleep will finally claim her and subject her subconscious mind to the horrors of her ancestors. Her father had said this was normal, that everyone in the Dao family experienced dreams of their ancestors and their bloodline. But her mother confided in her that nobody had experienced these dreams as much as Maho did.

She gripped the sheets and squeezed her eyes shut. It's because of these dreams that she was trained even more cruelly than her sisters since she often awoke sleep deprived which effected the image she presented, and she had to represent their whole family. She was trained to carefully control her face and posture so that not even the slightest hint of her personal suffering showed through.
But it was night time once more in a foreign land and she was left alone with herself and the ancestral blood she carried with her. During the day a blessing, at night a curse.

She could feel her blood stirring as sleep rose to claim her. It was beginning.
As she lost consciousness her body floated five feet above her sleeping mat, magic radiated from her body like a fountain.
The guards stirred but knew better than to try to approach their mistress now, so they just watched in awe as a magical wind blew around the camp and centralized on her tent.

 

[Belmont Lacroze]

Belmont focused his gaze into the forest still, his eye trained on the trees' silhouettes. His mind wandered slightly though still stood its ground in the present.

"Sleep is for those who have no worries. I always have to be mindful of places, even in peace. No matter where light is, there will always be a shadow that is shrouded in darkness." His voice trailed off into nothingness and carefully he looked at his feet. He left foot stood straight while the rights struggled to even bend at a forty-five-degree angle. He knew Zafira was joking, but underneath every joke must lie wisdom.

The wizard yawned and summoned more light and put it between his and Zafira's legs. The heat gave them a radiating warmth, like that of a mother's embrace to her poor boy.

"For you, of course," she smirked, bumping his shoulder lightly. "Maho is concerned about your well being. Plus, you sitting all cross-legged in the middle of nowhere is slightly worrying," Zafira joked.

"That's very sweet of you, m'lady though, on the other hand, Maho has nothing to fear. Yes, it may seem strange that a cripple would want to sleep alone in the forest but my experience with strangers had always been on the sour side of things. Even if her intentions strike true to good, there can only be so much of it." Belmont spoke of truth and experience. He had been alone for a long time and now with everything happening at once, he felt a bit overwhelmed though Zafira's company always made it better. He could not stop looking into her eyes. He felt lost in them and he knew that without a doubt he was attracted to her beauty. He always smiled as he did but on the inside he was nervous. A lass like her should not be in the woods but instead a safer place. The world was too cruel to those who do right.

 

[ZafiraJade]

Belmont wasn't looking at her. His gaze was focused on the dark forest in front of him which gave Zafira a good opportunity to observe him. He didn't look that much older than her, maybe four to five years older. What the hell had he seen that had made him so realistic?

It was a strange thought, Zafira knew it was. But despite all the bad that had happened to her, all the hardships she'd had gone through, Zafira still worked to find the silver lining. Still worked to look at the good side. Maybe she was too hopeful. Maybe she should be just as realistic. It would definitely help her not get screwed over as many times as she did.

Still, the sadness that filled Zafira for the man she had just met was startling. She let herself scoot a bit closer to him, leaning towards him.

Zafira shivered at the sudden warmth, putting her hand close to it to feel the heat radiate well onto her hands. She stayed silent for a few moments, enjoying the comfortable quiet surrounding them. Zafira so rarely found peace in silence with someone. She always wanted to fill it or usually use it to threaten someone who'd done something to her. She thought back to the bandit and winced.

"The light would be too blinding if there was never any dark. We wouldn't appreciate it as much," Zafira commented.

Yes, it may seem strange that a cripple would want to sleep alone in the forest but my experience with strangers had always been on the sour side of things

"You realize you're more than a cripple, right? That was not my first impression of you anyways," she remembered how she saw him earlier. He was terrifying, rugged, powerful. She hadn't noticed the limp on his leg only the fire burning within him, and the surprising calm he did the things that needed to be done.

Zafira suddenly saw a light from camp. She turned to it quickly and realized it was resounding from the ambassador's tent. Zafira bumped her shoulders with Belmont's, eyes focused in front of her. "Look at that," she murmured, already standing. Why weren't the guards doing anything? She put her hand out for Belmont to take.