Teuila’s telepathic avatar approaches mine, but she can see I’m in no condition to explain just how hurt I am. Or why I am as hurt as I am. I continue weeping, and choking back my sobs. Knots and lumps form up and down my throat repeatedly, stronger each time I manage to clear one.
Teuila draws a spear seemingly from nowhere, and suddenly chaos breaks loose. Everyone first tries to shirk away from her then darts past her out the door as she strides into the tavern. Tiktik appears from beyond the doorway, just peeking her head in at an angle from around the corner as she leans almost horizontally to stay out of the fleeing patrons’ paths.
It’s only early in the noon at this point, so we’re at least not costing Keeley a lot of valuable patronage, but I feel even more horrid for this hassle. I begin to allow myself to pass out as blood seeps from splinter-driven holes in my face and forehead. Sadly, unconsciousness won’t take me. I’m stuck in this world that I’m so saddened by, that I keep failing. I can tell that Teuila checks on me momentarily before passing me and stomping into the kitchen. She has words with Keeley and Marshal, but I’m in and out of focus, barely able to comprehend half the time.
Keeley snarls something about lies, and Teuila snarls in return, “Come off it Keykey! Reggie slew a -DRAGON- for you ingrates! Do you know how much it breaks their heart to kill at all? How much it tears them apart? How much they never, ever, ever wanted to harm a dragon, because their best friend is the nicest, sweetest, dumbest little dragbutt that ever lived!? Reggie did that. Reggie did that! They did that! Reggie doesn’t lie to people they’re trying to protect!”
More words are exchanged, and I can tell Teuila turns her ire towards Marshal, “You and your sis—, wait, wife? Fine, whatever! I, look, my Airhead wants to save you, all of you, everyone in your whole country! That’s a tall ask at the best of times, with everyone cooperating! They gave me the reins, so I—. Glp. I have to make it happen. Because I’m about to lose the love of my life, to some stupid magic poisoning bullcrap that I can’t stab or strangle or fight with my fists or do anything about! I, I need to give them this. We, we can’t fail you too. I want you safe too. You’re good people. Just. Just please don’t make it harder. Everyone goes through hurts, but please. Just, just leave us alone. We’ll go. I’m sorry for your bar. We’ll pay for it.”
Teuila’s voice cracks several times as her volume lowers and lowers. Her admitting her love for me, and the near inevitability of my loss strikes deep into her heart and wedges there, twisting agonizingly. She barely refrains from breaking down into sobs herself. Instead, she gulps back a knot in her throat, spins around and marches to my side. She leans down to scoop me up, and I don’t resist as I snuggle into her arms.
Keeley’s left mitt reaches for Teuila’s shoulder while her right holds back her cleaver, and unimaginable ire is painted across her face according to my danger wraps. Marshal calmly takes her wrist in one hand, and the cleaver in the other.
Keeley drops to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks as she mutters, “Every, stupid, worthless, know-nothing, careless, reckless, adventurous cuss! They all—!” Her words catch momentarily as she mutters, “They all die.” Her anger picks up once more as she begins to iterate with fury, “Get out. Get out. Get out! -GET OUT-!”
Teuila rips her shoulder away from Keeley’s grip. She then fishes for, and spills the contents of a pouch of coins on the floor nearby as she carries me away from the Keel Over. She does something I don’t expect at all, and drops me into Tiktik’s waiting arms. Teuila then leaps away into the sky, aiming for the western plains. Tiktik half-carries, half-drags me back to our cart, and I shamble inside it with her. I’m cried out, and emotionally numb. Teuila must be going to warn the plains Colossi of the impending calamity. Good for her. She’s fast enough, she can be there and back within a day or so, instead of the several it would take us by cart.
Tiktik nudges me gently as she sits cuddled close to me, seemingly trying to both comfort and distract me. I slowly realize my eyes are open and have been unblinking. They’re fiery hot, itchy, irritated. I slowly, painfully force myself to blink repeatedly, despite the scratching and tearing that occurs across my eyeballs, until it finally feels natural to blink again.
Tiktik asks, “Reggie? Chum? Pal? Sweetie? I’m starting to lose my connection to you two. Do you think Teuila and you want me to be a part of that mental space with you two still? Would it help distract you or anything to make it permanent? Should I drop the topic? I’m okay if things just changed. You’re good people. That, that there? It hurt to watch. I knew Keeley lost a child, I didn’t know just, just how much it--. I’m sorry pal. Are you okay?”
Tiktik plays with my hair, pokes my ribs and sides and cheeks, and continues gently prodding and exploring me for things that might draw me back to reality from my numbness. I slowly turn to face her, pain drawn across my face. She pokes both of my cheeks backwards and upwards, forcing a smile for a moment, without using magic to truly force it upon me. This wonderfully kind, compassionate, powerful, sweet, beautiful sorceress is sitting here with me, when she could be enjoying hot food and a bed, or sneaking about town playing pranks, or info gathering, or whatever she wanted to do.
I need to make sure she gets back to the Hidden Heart. Even if Littlebit isn’t interested in being her romantic partner, she just, she should be home. Her family can’t possibly truly hate such an amazing, earnest, lovable woman. Wait, she was asking about making our telepathic bond permanent. I’d certainly be willing. I’ve got enough of the ruby paste to finish making it permanent. I wasn’t certain we were all going to consent when I first started the enchantment. I kind of figured that Teuila would become enamored of Tiktik. She has such a wide open heart. I also fall for wonderful people rather easily myself, so it’s not like there was really any doubt I’d want to finish bringing her in. Does this amazingly sweet goofball truly want to be a part of this crazily emotional mess?
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Tiktik’s chibified telepathic avatar shows up in my mindscape, fritzing slightly as it appears to be a strain keeping the connection made. She nods almost timidly, having apparently been reading my thoughts. Tiktik’s avatar jokes, “Heck chum, even your super honest thoughts about a gal are flattering pal.”
The smile on the mental avatar wanes as she avoids making eye contact with mine. She nearly mumbles, “A, about Littlebit, and the fam. I, I’m in no rush. Honestly I’m scared to go back. It hurt. Nothing like what you just went through, maybe, sure, but I’m not ready. Not sure I’ll ever be, and that’s saying something for a Fae. I mean, you know us, long lived and all. Out here? In your heads, the two of you? This, this feels the most like, like home, err, well, like a second home. Warm, kind thoughts flowing around me, making me feel all fuzzy. I really don’t want to have to give it up already, but if it’s too hard on you. I understand.”
I flash Tiktik a weak smile in both think space and meat space. I raise a brow to see if she’s truly ready as I fish out the remaining lower value ruby paste that should be enough to finish cementing the permanency of our bond. She knows I’m going to need to, well, at the best of times, I’d probably need to cover a fairly large surface area on such a petite woman. I’m not at my best right now. Tiktik flashes me a sad grin and looses a cute bell-like laugh.
She offers, “Come on, we’re Fae. It doesn’t mean anything if you have to touch me to put a spell on me. Unless you want it to. We both know that’s not why you’re feeling this way about touching me though. Something is planted in your head, something that isn’t yours, that makes you embarrassed about stuff like that. It’s okay chum. Whatever you need. Time to be okay, or to ride out some sadness, or space where I’m not in your face, or for me to back off entirely and keep my clingy thoughts to myself. I—, yeah. I’m good. Either way. Us three are going after the shite lord together, and whatever you need won’t change that.”
It’s like she can’t help saying things that make me want to give myself over into the feelings of falling in love with the little goon that she is. I close my eyes and shake my head in a sad half laugh at myself about how frequently I tumble into feeling strongly about people in ways they probably don’t intend.
Tiktik nudges me in meat space as her telepathic avatar weakens. In the physical world she states, “It’s a Changeling thing buddy. You all fall hard, and fast, but it tends to be temporary. I don’t know any of you that form as deep and powerful a connection as you and Teuila have. Or you and Luni or Linti, based on what Bud’s been telling me is written across your soul. I’m flattered, really. You know my heart belongs to Littlebit, whether she wants it or not. I, I wouldn’t mind giving myself over to comfort. To that feeling. With you and Teuila. But I know it wouldn’t be the real thing, sort of. It wouldn’t be what you two have, and it wouldn’t be what I want with Littlebit. It would still be nice though. Es-especially with a whole mental world to explore together. Even if it’s just this beautiful grassy hill. I’m ready, and I want it, if you are, and you do.”
My heart catches in my throat, and I know that if I don’t hurry up, Tiktik might lose her last remaining connection to our telepathic bond. I don’t know how recasting the bond would go, even if Teuila were here to be able to do so at the moment. There are so many unique variables that the spell doesn’t account for. It doesn’t expect a partially crafted permanency to be applied. It doesn’t expect to be binding people from different worlds who have an entirely different type of telepathy residing beneath it. It doesn’t expect there to be sentient weapons and artifact equipment along for the ride. It probably doesn’t expect the idiot that casts the spell to fall in love with whoever shows up in the mindscape.
Tiktik nudges me with a lighthearted, playful reminder not to be so self-recriminating. I flash her a weak smile as I quickly begin applying the enchantment permanency enhancement to her, and she disrobes from her neck to her waist. I gulp and blush, attempting to keep my eyes locked with her eyes, to avoid gazing at anything else. Tiktik rolls her eyes and directs my face to look where I’m runocrafting, because I’m making sloppy mistakes by not paying attention. Crap. Okay, I can fix some of this, I have to fix some of this, or I won’t have enough material to finish the spell’s permanency structure. It just, glp. Means more attention to detail down around here.
I fidget as blush steams its way up my face and nearly slams my eyelids shut. I feel a tad faint, but I gulp and press onward. Tiktik slowly rotates for me, climbing into my lap to make it easy to reach as much of her as necessary, and she finishes by straddling me, waiting for me to finish up the last runes across her belly that should finish the enchantment’s permanency enhancement. I cough and gulp, trying not to get worked up, and I try to tear my gaze away from her, well, her everything. She rolls her eyes and looses a tiny tinkling laugh.
As I finish the final rune to set the enchantment into place permanently, I sense a renewed vigor added to our telepathic connection. I also sense Tiktik fighting herself in deciding whether or not to really lay into teasing me with her bare torso. The mortified expression I wear as my eyes flash wide while I’m able to slightly read her mind almost seems to cement the answer in her mind. She giggles and leans against me, hugging me tightly.
I fidget as I steam to high heavens, blushing so hard I nearly faint. I don’t even notice when or how she fully re-adorned herself in her garb. Especially since it feels like her arms are still tightly locked around me. Err, then again, she’s a powerful sorceress, it’s probably nothing to her to conjure her magic hand to pull up a shirt or anything like that. Tiktik kisses my cheek and rests her head in the crook of my neck. Her intimate teasing gives way to a loving platonic embrace that leaves tears of gratitude streaming from my eyes. I don’t know which of us needed this more at the moment. I wish Teuila were here to feel our bond with Tiktik cementing.
I’m able to sense waves of emotion sweeping over Tiktik as her mind wanders to her home. There’s so much sadness, regret, joy, longing, so very many deep, full, vivid emotions spiraling about even just near the surface layer of Tiktik’s subconscious. I nuzzle my cheek against hers and wrap my arms around her tightly. Now that neither of us is worrying about awkwardness or teasing or flirtation or spellcraft or anything, my senses return to meat space, heightened, and I pick it up again, the vibration. The epicenter has been following us. Whatever’s causing the rumble is getting closer to The Brook. At this point, it’s maybe a day out to the east at its current pace.
Tiktik furrows her brow as she pulls away slightly. She gazes vaguely easterly, and seems unable to sense what I sense. She scoops up some of the now defunct gem dust, and the larger particles of dried glue, and scatters them on the floor and the opposite seat. Her legs wrapped around my torso squeeze tightly as she leans away to gaze intently at essentially free-seated sand grains. We both notice the dust begin to shift outward from the slight mound she’d poured it into. She’s verified my senses. Something’s causing the ground to shake, and that something is getting closer.