Fable - Ask The Scent of Lost Magic

[Neith]

Neith had paid for a large double room on the corner, giving her a view of both the dock, and the street. She'd near worn tracks on the floor between both windows by the time Rok fluttered down onto the sill and tapped at the window, riffling the rivulets of raindrops from his feathers. He cawed and clicked at her as she opened the window and she brought him inside to perch him on the chair by the hearth.

She was already behind the door when he knocked it, and she pulled it open and dragged him into the room. "Did you get it? What happened? Are you alright?" she assaulted him with questions as she tugged at his wet cloak. She had let the room heat up, and dry clothes and a blanket warming by the hearth, and a pot of soup and tea simmering away. She'd also found time to clean the room a little better for the sake of occupying her mind.

 

[Kyril]

Ky shivered, his head nodding to her questions.

As he opened his mouth to speak he found his teeth chattering, though whether it was from the cold of the rain or his body screaming in objection he wasn't sure. "I-i-i g-got it."

More than he had thought. More than he had expected. Slowly he moved, holding onto Neith for a few seconds before he stopped and let the pack slip from his shoulders. It landed on the ground with a muted thud, and then toppled onto it's front.

The half pulled strings let loose, and from the pack spilled dozens of gems.

Each one held a rare beauty to them in dozens of different colors. Green, Red, Blue, yellow, and strangely enough there were a few that seemed to defy any sort of description of color at all. They seemed to constantly shift and change.

Ky breathed slightly. "There is...d-double what you need."

More than he had promised.

He had managed to get in and out of the vault unseen, had even managed to make it out of the estate. Though it had been a struggle. Half-way through he had nearly vomited all over the Duke, and more than once he'd been asked if he was alright.

Still, his mission had been a success...as far as he could tell.

 

[Neith]

Relief washed over her so fast she near vomited with elation. All they had to do was wait here, board their ship out of here, and they'd have made it. She only prayed that the Duke didn't realise that his valuables were missing before then and shut the city down, but she pushed the thought from her mind.

Her gaze fell on the pack and the precious stones that tumbled from it, her gaze widening for a moment. Her mouth had gone dry, and she lapsed into a still silence as she stared in awe, her eyes distant in thought. That was more than enough. She could escape with that, start a new life..

She turned back to him and without warning threw her arms around him, the dampness from his rain soaked clothes seeping into hers, but she didn't care. After a moment's firm grip she let him go and removed his wet cloak, leaving him to lean on the chair.

"Get into those warm clothes.." she told him and moved to ladel some of the broth into a bowl and pour tea. "And thank you.." she added with a glance back to the gems. He hadn't had to take that much, and he hadn't had to give it to her either. "We'll split it." she nodded. She'd still have enough to get out of Elbion with a fraction of what those gems were worth.

 

[Kyril]

Ky was stunned.

First by the fact that she threw herself around him in a tight embrace, and then again when she began to strip him of his damp clothes. The Mages mouth opened in objection, but the words died on his tongue as another shiver set his teeth chattering.

As the damp clothing was discarded Ky was left shivering, and for the first time she would see just how skeletal he actually was. It seemed as though skin and bone were one and the same, his frame thin enough that a strong wind would be enough to knock him over.

His head nodded as she spoke of splitting the prize, reaching out towards some of the clothes. "In for a copper, in for a gold."

Ky said by way of explanation.

The pile of gems had been inside of a chest, and Ky had decided to take nearly two thirds of it. The scroll of illusion he'd then used to cover the base, leaving the rest to simply cover what was fake.

He hoped it would hold up to scrutiny.

"J-j-just have to lay low." Ky said, his head swimming slightly as he pulled on the clothes she had set out and slowly sat himself down into the chair.

 

[Neith]

Neith couldn't help but stare at the ribs and prominent hills of his spin as they protruded so prominently from his pale skin, her brow furrowed, and she added another ladle full of broth to his bowl. she set it down to bundle the warm blankets around him, a basin of warm water set at his feet to steal the cold and aches back out of his bones.

"Eat this." she urged as she set the soup down in his lap, and a mug of hot tea was set down on the table beside him.. "You'll feel better soon." she assured, and went to scoop the bounty back into the pack, and slip it under the bed for now.

She came to sit in the chair opposite him, now that she could finally relax a little, her muscles stung with the release of tension. The raven fluttered to the arm of her chair and nibbled at her knuckles, and so she stroked his feathers to the clicking sound of approval.

 

[Kyril]

The words, he knew, were a lie.

Things would only get worse for him from now on. At least for a little while. He could already feel the churning of his stomach, the ache in what was left of his muscles. The cravings had set in, the pain and hurt that came with his need.

It was there. "Thank you."

Ky said quietly, still shivering as he let himself slowly sip on a spoon full of broth. The liquid was barely anything at all, but it seemed to burn his stomach as it fell down his throat.

Still, he did his best to keep it down. Did his best to hold in the bile.

It wouldn't be long before he could no longer stomach even this.

 

[Neith]

Her lips twitched with a small smile. Of course they were a lie, but at least he'd warm up, perhaps even manage to sleep for a few hours before they could leave. The herbs she'd used in his tea should help him relax at least.

"You're welcome." she answered, watching him as he ate. His frailty reminded her of her father's and her jaw clenched and released for a moment. She knew that this was going to be tough, that he'd be in pain, take fevers, hallucinate, lash out and beg. She'd seen it all before, and she wasn't looking forward to it in the slightest.

"You should try and rest for a while after you've eaten. The bed is warm.." she gestured with a jerk of her chin, the handle of a copper pan filled with smouldering embers warming the mattress.

 

[Kyril]

Ky glanced at the bed for a moment, almost weary of it. He knew that rest was what he needed, that his body called for it, but...

The sooner he went to sleep the sooner he would wake up in pain. The aches, the hurt, the desperation would all be there. The cravings would truly set in and he would be a ruin of his former self. Fingers tightened for a few seconds, scrunching on the side of the bowl as he took shallow breaths.

"Soon." He said in quiet rebuke, a bit of fear clinging to the word.

Ky didn't want this. He didn't want to feel the hurt, go through the Withdrawals. If he could have a choice at all he would have gone back to never taking the Lyrum at all, would have taken away every accomplishment and discovery he'd made during the drug.

All so he would not have to suffer now.

"Do you have anyone waiting for you in Elbion?" He asked quietly, thinking of his father, his mother. "Parents? Siblings?"

He had none of the former. "Friends?"

Ky had none of those either. Not anymore.

 

[Neith]

Dark eyes narrowed gently as she sensed the fear in his tone but she didn't comment, sipping at her tea instead. His question was met with hesitation and a moment's silence before she answered, dropping her gaze into her cup and watching the loose leaves swirl around the bottom of it.

"Just my father.." she sighed softly. "Perhaps I might take him back to Oban when I return.." she gave a weak smile, knowing that it wasn't that simple, regardless of how pleasant the thought.

 

[Kyril]

He nodded. "A less turbulent place."

Ky didn't know if that was true. Elbion and Alven were the only cities he had ever been to. The latter was more alive than the former, though in a different way. Then again he didn't even know the whole of Elbion, just the college really.

A small smile touched his lips.

"I have always wanted to see Alliria. Visit the College of magic they have there." Another place to study, to learn. "The Bayou as well, the school of shadows there."

He mused. "Perhaps even Ivladrin."

The College than many in Elbion called a fortress of dark sorcery and evil. Many rumors swirled around Ivladrin, though Ky did not know if even half of them were true.

 

[Neith]

"It was a good place to grow up, the gryphons always fascinated me. But women are second class citizens, and women with magic in their blood.." her head shook.. "Part of me is glad to have left, but I would like to see it again." she smiled nostalgically.

Her smile grew as he mentioned Alliria.. "We sailed to Alliria.. I have fond memories there. Their festivals were almost as good as Oban's...Almost." she laughed under her breath, pulling her legs up into the chair to hug them and rest her chin atop her knees.

"I've heard some mages speak of Ivladrin.." her head tilted. "I didn't think that'd be your sorta place.."

 

[Kyril]

He smiled as she evoked the memories of her childhood, listening to talk about gryphons. He had heard of them of course, even studied and used a few of their feathers for rituals. "Ludicrous."

Ky said, furrowing his brow as she spoke of women holding only second class.

"Some of the greatest Maester's at the College are women." The idea that somehow a woman was unequal to a man was utterly...gross to him. He could still remember some of Professor's Syvis' lectures. She had been a masterful teacher.

A smile touched his features when she spoke of Alliria.

He would not go for the festivals of course, such things were...utterly foreign to him, but he enjoyed the smile that touched her face when she spoke of it.

Ky mused when she moved onto Ivladrin. "It is a place of knowledge."

The College's reputation was not good. Most marked it as a place of evil, of dark sorcery and blood magic, but Ky knew better than to assume.

"Knowledge itself is not inherently evil, just the people using it." He shrugged. "I would like to at least see for myself, rather than listen to the word of others."

Though he doubted he would ever see it, given that it was half a world away.

 

[Neith]

She blurted out a laugh. "I was lower than scum to you when I showed up at your door." she reminded with amusement. A shrug rolled over her shoulders.. "Women aren't allowed to perform magic in the city, not unless they're told to. It's mostly kept a secret. My father kept mine a secret.. Women with magical blood are sought after by the noble families, strengthens the blood lines. They want sons, of course." she sighed quietly.. "My life would have looked very different if we'd remained there."

Her lips pursed when he justified his reasoning for wanting to visit Ivladrin and she nodded lightly at the answer. "Fair enough.. You should go, then. After you've spoken to your father.." her head tilted.

 

[Kyril]

Ky looked at her as if he'd insulted her somehow. "That had nothing to do with your Gender."

It was a paltry defense.

The truth was that Ky had been taught from an early age that no one was worth much unless they proved they were. His father had instilled that in him early on. It was why he had never made many friends at the College, why Evelynn had really been the only one to care for him at all.

He frowned for a moment at the memory of his assistant, thinking back to her for just a split second before he pushed the painful memory aside.

"No one should be used for their abilities." He knew that better than most. "Least of all for...breeding."

Ky felt bile stir in his stomach at even using the word in such a context.

For a moment he remained quiet, thinking on what she had told him of Oban and feeling no small amount of disgust. It was ironic, of course, given what she had pointed out. A hypocrisy in it's own way.

After a few seconds he answered. "Perhaps I will, if I survive my trial."

He mused.

 

[Neith]

"No, just my social status.." she smirked, but the amusement didn't meet her eyes as she lowered her gaze. Her nose wrinkled too as he put it that way, but it was often as simple as that. She did spare him an awkward glance..

"Yes, well. That reality doesn't only apply to Oban.." she commented dryly. She had been used for her abilities for some time now, and the thought was a bitter one that made her wince as though she'd eaten a sour grape. She got up from the chair, Rok ruffling his feathers in agitation as she made her way to the window. It seemed calm outside, no bells tolled, no guards rushed the streets. The cats had the run of the place.

"I'm sure you can get yourself out of it.." she shrugged, glancing back at him with a light smirk and drawing the frayed curtain closed.

"Drink your tea. It'll help you relax for a while.."

 

[Kyril]

Kyril considered her quietly for a moment, knowing that what she said was true.

Even in the college things had been more...favored for certain students. He himself had been one of them. His father's name and the tutelage he had received before his acceptance had given him an edge over most other apparentices.

It had taken him years to truly understand that. He frowned for a moment, looking down at the tea and taking another sip as she beckoned him. "You have enough coin to make your own reality now."

Ky pointed out quietly.

Money made the world turn. With enough of it one could do whatever they pleased. As long as you were smart.

A sigh escaped him, his head growing more and more woozy as he sat there. Eventually he let out a loud sigh, half pulling himself up from the chair. He swayed slightly, holding himself on the table.

"Perhaps it's time I get some rest." Even with the pain that would come when he woke.

 

[Neith]

"I suppose I do.." she answered with a light smirk.. "You know, there was a time when I wanted for nothing. I wasn't always rock bottom.." she muttered quietly as she went to pull back his blankets and fluff his pillow.

She tidied up after him, and climbed onto her own bed to sit and sip her tea.

 

[Kyril]

Ky lingered for a moment by the table, watching her in thought. "No?"

There was no mockery in his tone, no teasing. He was genuinely interested in what she had 'once' been. There was an air about her, a stiffness that spoke of something more than a street urchin. He hadn't seen it at his door, but now it was obvious.

Before he had just assumed Cyrus had taught her a thing or two, but now that seemed less likely.

"What were you then?" Ky asked as he slowly made his way towards the bed, realizing for the first time how much the runes had actually taken out of him.

He swayed slightly as he stepped, catching himself on the wall.

 

[Neith]

Neith's lips pursed as he asked her to elaborate and she sighed quietly, figuring there was no harm in telling him a little more, considering they were about to spend two weeks in a cabin together with him at his most vulnerable. It made sense that he know a little more.. He didn't even know her name.

"Like I said, I grew up in Oban, and my father was a spice merchant. A particularly wealthy one. Those are, pretty much considered nobility in Oban. We had a manor, and land. I had a handmaiden." she laughed under her breath.

"My father didn't cope after my mother died. He stopped trading, stopped travelling. He just, drank. It took a few years for his wealth to dwindle to nothing, but the moment it did was the moment the nobility of Oban turned their backs on us." her jaw clenched, her tone a bitter one.

 

[Kyril]

Ky listened to the story carefully as he sat himself down on the bed.

Had he been better informed, had he paid any attention to politics and the downfall of merchants he might have been able to puzzle it out. Unfortunately her father was not a famous mage, and thus he had been unimportant to Kyril.

So he just sat and listened, nodding his head. "Yeah. They tend to do that."

Ky said quietly, more sad than bitter.

His own friends had turned on him, his father had turned on him. They had not been nobles, but the notion was the same. He frowned for a moment, looking up at her.

"I am sorry." The fault was not his, but his empathy extended all the same. "How did you end up in Elbion then?"

He asked.

 

[Neith]

Her lips thinned with a forced smile and she shrugged as he apologised. She'd accepted it a long time ago, and survived thus far.

"My father wanted to try and find me a mentor, I was only a child.. Honestly I think he thought it would be better for me to leave me in someone else's care. He was probably right, but I refused to leave him. He wound up taking the same road that you did." she lifted her gaze to him and then dropped it back into her cup..

"Cyrus gave us work, and a place to live.. Well, a dry place to sleep, at least." she huffed quietly. Their one dingy and damp room could hardly be called 'living', it was surviving and only just.

 

[Kyril]

Ky scowled. So that was it, how she'd fallen in with Cyrus. A flicker of anger crossed his features, spiking through him, though in truth he didn't even really know why.

Why should he really care about her? Why should he get angry for her? Was it empathy? Did he care about her? Or was it the Lyrum spiking in it's side effects again? Lips thinned for a brief moment, and he pushed those thoughts away.

Now wasn't the time to analyze. "I understand."

Kyril said quietly.

He didn't need more of a picture what that 'work' was, or what the situation had likely spiraled into since then. It was obvious from the other things she had said in their time together.

Slowly he shifted on the bed.

"Your father..." He began slowly. "You will get him away from Elbion?"

 

[Neith]

That little spike of his seemed to thrum in the air slightly, her gaze narrowing. She wasn't sure what the emotion was, it might have been disgust for all she knew.

Her fingers combed through her tawny hair, pushing it back from her bruised face as she nodded to him. "I hope so. Cyrus won't just let us walk.. But I'm sure I can manage." she answered and set the cup down to flop back onto the bed, staring up at the beams above.

"He says I should leave him, whenever Cyrus sends me out on hunts." she huffed and shook her head.

 

[Kyril]

He frowned for a moment as he laid back down on his own bed, letting out an involuntary groan as his body suddenly protested at being made to go horizontal.

Ky felt the aches in his muscles begin, the slight pangs of pain, the hurt that came with the cravings. He knew that by morning he would be in agony, curled up as little more than a ball. A breath filled his lungs, his mind trying to drag back to the conversation.

"Parents want what's best for their children." He commented quietly, bitterly.

"Or..." Ky added. "What they think is best."

That was what his mother had always said. The excuse he had been given about his father every single time that he had complained.

He wanted only what was best for Ky. That was why he had been pushed so hard. Why he had such weight on his shoulders. It was always what was best for him. "I'm sure you can drag him away, Cyrus will be too distracted by something shiny in his face."

 

[Neith]

The bitterness was evident in his tone and she huffed quietly.. "He did.. He just, lost his way." she answered. She wouldn't have abandoned him when he'd needed her most, and she couldn't leave him there. Cyrus made it clear enough that if she didn't return each time she was sent out, that her father would pay the price, and so each time she returned.

She laced her fingers behind her head and let her eyes closed with a quiet "Mhmm.." as she sighed.

"Get some rest Kyril.." she mumbled, intending on resting her eyes for a little while.

"And my name is Neith."