Fable - Ask The Road Home

[Kasimir]

Kasimir's lip twitched at the corner when he felt Nat's glare but he said nothing and kept his eyes shut as he enjoyed thrumming a soft and soothing tune to do with the evening. Now the tensions were disappearing it felt more fitting. His current tune was a twist on a lullaby he had once heard a father play his infant son before he had slit his throat. It was one of his favourite songs.

Sensing movement he forced himself to remain relaxed. People didn't often willingly come to him, even amongst the Forsaken he was a nightmare. In fact he was used as such by Handlers to the point that sometimes when the children grew up and found themselves paired on a mission with the living nightmare had had tormented them when younger. Though Nat was perhaps the closes to him in suffering from looking so inhuman, perhaps it did not bother her as much.

He kept playing even as she stopped in front of him and only seemed to pause in his melody when she propped herself against him. This was uncharted territory.

"As you wish," Kas spoke and cast his gaze to her, tracing the contours of her face before he tugged the trenchcoat from his own shoulders to drape about her instead like a giant blanket. Then he went back to his music.

 

[Rumer]

Rumer sighed without looking up at the woman and simply nodded silently. She couldn't win, but she'd take it as a lesson and would try to refrain from apologies from now on. It had always been such a natural thing to do when she made mistakes, but she supposed it had never really made a difference anyway, she was punished regardless.

She wanted to ask the woman about her magic, about lots of things, but she didn’t want to push it and her lips remained pressed shut.

A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth though as she watched Nathaira and Kasimir, and she moved to sit at the other side of the fire to curl up to listen to the music.

 

[Aila]

Aila said nothing else for the rest of the night.

She wouldn't have known what. Her eyes instead focused on the smoldering flames and thoughts of what the future might bring. She had lost all hope of running away long ago, and the idea of getting away was such a far flung dream that it didn't even enter her mind anymore.

Instead she focused on the hope that the next mission would be simple espionage instead of murder.

She had always preferred those missions, especially the ones that allowed her to meet new mages. Magics she had never encountered before were always exciting, the exhilaration of using a new ability was one of the few things she could actually feel.

That was what she thought about as the others drifted off to rest.

Not hope. Not freedom.

Only the next mission.

 

[Nathaira]

As you wish.

They were the first words he had ever spoken to her, and some of the only ones since. Kasimir wasn’t one to speak without good reason, and Nathaira respected that about him (even if it did make for poor conversation). They did not need to speak now, they only needed to rest.

He gave her his heavy coat and she eagerly cocooned herself within it, savoring the warmth that his body had left. She continued to lean against him, though her weight was likely nothing next to his stature and strength. She could feel the warm of his shoulder through her cheek, and her breathing slowed in rhythm with the lute.

The sounds were soothing, and they forced out other thoughts that liked to take advantage of the dark and quiet. Thoughts like the Baron’s horrified expression, frozen forever, or his wife’s screaming, or the stifled gasp of the servant girl she’d had to kill simply because she wandered into the wrong hallway at the wrong time. Nathaira did not feel guilt for these acts, so she told herself, but they enjoyed keeping her awake.

Soon she succumbed to sleep.

 

[Kasimir]

First Aila and then Nat. Kasimir watched them all succumb to sleep to the sound of his lute but he said nothing. They needed the rest. His fingers brushed against the strings like a lovers touch and he continued on the theme of lullabies after the first one ended, slipping into another gentle melody. He glanced up to see if Rumer had yet fallen asleep also and then lowered his gaze once more to watch his fingers play across the instrument.

"Come, sleep Rumer, I will keep watch. Nothing of shadows will haunt you this night," he preferred to sleep in the day. The night and the darkness were when he felt most comfortable and awake. He would struggle to sleep so it was a blessing to have an excuse to stay awake and take watch. He gently shifted his position and then moved Nat's slumbering form so her head was on his lap instead of his shoulder and folded the trenchcoat about her form.

 

[Rumer]

Rumer looked up as Kasimir spoke to her. She was enjoying the music but sleep wouldn’t come easily to her. She noticed the others were sleeping now too, and she was going to need the rest if she was going to manage more walking tomorrow.

She got up and crept over to sit herself next to him and curled up against his side, careful not to wake Nathaira.

She felt safer there, and it let her mind ease enough for her to fall slowly to sleep.