Interlude IX
The Homestead Seven Reunion
Not all members of the Homestead Seven managed to keep in touch, especially after each chose their intended career path. This was why it was odd that Dathney of all people chose to host a graduation ceremony of all things. A few of the members were already on assignment and were unable to attend. Chief among those unable to attend were Liana and Illia who took advantage of the advanced program and opted to get out as fully qualified War-Wizards first. Javison too had also graduated early, but unlike the others he managed to get a weekend pass.
Jema and Hanna being the two elite officers were the ones who acted as hosts for the get together. Both looked resplendent in their elite officer uniform, black with gold trim. Javison was the first to arrive wearing his officer uniform black with silver trim, and a myriad of badges that showed off his qualifications. He felt a little awkward arriving without a date. Next came Kalana who brought a date of sorts. Kalana also being an elite officer wore the black with gold trim uniform quite splendidly.
“Sorry for being late, but this is my friend Marcy Kline.” Kalana said.
“Oh, welcome Marcy.” Hanna said with a somewhat questioning tone.
While it had been said that anyone could bring along a guest, the wording indicated that any guests should be a romantic nature.
For her part Marcy was nothing too exceptional. She was an elite officer wearing the standard black with gold trim.
“Might I ask why you brought a friend?” Jema asked. Her words and tone were somewhat rude for an officer, but most had learned to be accepting of Jema’s brashness.
“I was going to state that, but figured I’d wait for all of us to get here first.” Kalana said.
“I’m here. Sorry about being late.” Telka said, as she appeared. As she was the last of the homestead seven that had sent an RSVP for the occasion the rest relaxed slightly. Telka was the only one who wore a slightly different uniform, being a healer, her uniform was designed to be spotted by all. Since she was a healer, she would be considered a non-combatant on the battlefield. As such her uniform was a resplendent white with gold trim that also signified her ranking as an elite officer.
Seeing all the gold trim uniforms around him, Javison suddenly felt a little awkward. He felt that he had been given a chance for excellence and had somehow squandered it. This of course was a lie; he had taken what had been given to him and exceeded all expectations. He had worked studiously, pushing his mind and body ever forward in the hopes of becoming much better than he was. He had even managed to go from being a standard cadet to an officer. Yet, when compared to those around him, he realized he had a long way to go.
“Nonsense. You are precisely on time.” Hanna said, waving her hand and gesturing for Telka to take her place. Due to their only being enough seats for five, as no one had indicated they would be bringing a plus one, the table was only set for five. Fortunately, the staff seeing the motioning of Hanna, and seeing that there were five elite officers and one regular officer at the table, they acted. Within seconds a sixth chair had been procured and brought to the table where Telka promptly sat down. She was now positioned next to Marcy and Hanna.
As she moved to sit down her hand inadvertently graced Marcy’s hand causing a ripple of energy to briefly pulse between the two.
“Oh.” They both cried out in unison.
While everyone at the table were advanced mages and thus able to see the exchange of mana. Only Kalana and Telka truly knew what that meant. Telka for her part just stared at Marcy in shock for a second as she appeared to just see her for the first time.
Marcy too looked up to see Telka but was somewhat at a loss for why the sudden intensity.
Seeing the two Kalana just smiled coyly to herself as she grabbed a goblet of water to hide her knowing smile. While exchanging electricity between humans is a common occurrence. For elves the act of exchanging electricity is a bit more intimate. There were old wives tales about the exchanging of currents when first meeting someone being a sign of a great future together. In fact, many elven love stories begin with just such an event.
Telka herself thought the idea a myth. She had never exchanged currents, not even with Lykan. For her to suddenly exchange currents now was a bit shocking for her. She felt a slight blush, as she could read the currents that had been shared. She could read the personality and the base character that was Marcy.
This was why such events were extremely intimate. If the elf was skilled enough, they could gain a lot from such an exchange. They could see the person’s true being, their personality, and more importantly see how they would work together with that person.
Telka felt all the emotions from the exchange and couldn’t help but be intrigued by the person who possessed such strong will and strength of character. Telka too grabbed her goblet of water, but only to hide the sudden blush that had appeared on her face from the interaction.
“Oh, wow.” Marcy said, as she too looked at Telka. It was clear that she had been moved by the exchange but failed to grasp the importance of such an event. All Marcy knew was that her heart was suddenly racing from the sudden jolt, a lot more than it ever had from any simple discharge of static electricity. She knew something had happened and meant to ask about it, but suddenly saw Telka seem a bit flustered.
It was odd seeing a dark-skinned elf blush, was blush the right word? No, it had to be a blush, as even the skin around her neck became noticeably redder. She meant to comment but was quickly pulled out of her own thoughts by a sudden question.
“Hello Marcy, welcome to our little gathering.” Hanna managed to say, once again gaining the attention of everyone at the table. This was a gesture that Telka was very thankful for, as she was trying both to calm herself and to see what the jolt meant.
“Now Kalana, I do believe you said you were going to explain the sudden guest?” Jema said, cutting off Hanna. By this point everyone was used to Jema’s brash personality, and everyone just decided to go with her abrupt nature.
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“Yes, about that.” Kalana said, drawing out the moment and giving a slight glance at Marcy who appeared to still be processing the exchange of powers. Marcy was in the process of looking at her left hand and rotating it slowly to see if there was a scorch mark. Seeing this Kalana inwardly chuckled but wanting Marcy to focus for the moment gently placed a hand on Marcy’s arm to get her attention.
“My friend Marcy here might have information we might be interested in.” Kalana began and paused long enough for to make sure all eyes were on her. Even Telka was watching her, though it was clear that from her angle she could see both Marcy and Kalana from the same viewpoint.
“Marcy here actually grew up in the same town as a boy we are all familiar with.” Kalana said.
“What? Who?” Javison asked, not quite picking up on all the social cues that were being displayed.
“She grew up in Abberty village from Tython. The same village where a Lykan Vita was born and raised.” Kalana said, now everyone who had been only partially paying attention had their gazes locked onto Marcy. Even a few of the waiters who were nearby also perked up at the sudden revelation. Topics involving the man who could perform all three old-world laws were always hot topics. Now to be able to hear about his childhood from a distant country no less, now that was worth noting.
With that everyone just stared at Marcy. Marcy for her part blushed from all the sudden attention.
“Is it true?” Javison asked, excitement creeping into his voice.
Marcy for her part just nodded. Then after a second managed to speak, “yes. He and I were both evaluated at the same time.”
“What happened? I know he would never speak of his past. At least not that far back. He said he was kicked out of his village, but never explained.” Jema asked. Once again, her blunt personality coming full on display.
Marcy nodded, a sad look filling her gaze as she seemed to recall the moment in question. “Yes, he was kicked out for being a null.”
GASPS!
Even a few of the waiting staff who had heard the claim gasped out. Hanna and a few others who heard the gasps from outside their table turned to see the now embarrassed waitstaff suddenly moving away to find other things to tend to. Once the intruding wait staff was dealt with Hanna turned her gaze back to Marcy. This was apparently a cue for her to continue.
“Well, he isn’t a, you know, now.” Javison said, not wanting to say the word again.
Marcy shook her head. “No, he isn’t. That much is clear. I don’t know what he did, but he managed to change his path. I felt bad for him, being shamed by the entire village like he was. He just stood there stoically watching on, as everyone he knew glared at him.”
Hearing her speak caused more emotions to shine on her face. Hearing the sadness in her voice, Telka was overcome with a want to sooth the woman before her. Then not thinking about it, she placed her hand over top of Marcy’s. Such a simple gesture, but one that caused a second surge of energy to pass between the two.
Once is a coincidence and can often be chalked up or rationalized away.
A second time, that was the basis for a pattern. Feeling the surge of energy pass between them. There was no way to rationalize this away. There was clearly a connection being made. Without even realizing the two both locked eyes with each other and entered a soul gaze.
During this time, the souls spoke plainly with one another. While the minds were complicated and liked to doubt and second guess intentions. Souls spoke on a different wavelength. Souls were eternal, meaning to waste time on trivial matters such as what ifs and if onlys was outside of their want. For something to matter, to truly matter to the soul they would act on their own first. That is exactly what the two souls did during the soul gaze, the souls went past the filter of the psyches to the bodies they were currently tied to and peered deeply at one another for compatibility. In that one moment, the moment between the span of breaths the two souls saw into each other and agreed to form an attachment. While no one present could see the connection, everyone at the table could feel the release of energy from the union.
From that moment on Telka and Marcy would have a tie between their two souls. This was both a blessing and a curse. This meant they could be the best of lovers, or the bitterest of enemies. Such was the life of an elf.
Everyone stared at the two who seemed to be lost in each other’s gazes.
Cough.
Jema loudly coughed to draw attention back to her and the important topic at hand.
“So! What happened next?” Jema asked once everyone looked at her.
Marcy continued, telling stories about Lykan as a boy. How he would read all day after training with to wield the spear. How she would watch his shirt cling to him as he read diligently. All the while she spoke Telka never moved her hand away, not that Marcy minded. There was only one change when Marcy’s hand felt clammy from all the touching, so she moved her hand to firmly hold Telka’s. This shocked Telka, as she had apparently become unaware that they were still touching, as their bond felt so natural that she had failed to notice.
The two sat like that, until the meals arrived. Where they both needed to use both hands. All the while the group spoke out about anything and everything dealing with the military, with Lykan, and what was to come next. There was a war brewing in the Belkins as an unknown source had suddenly arisen to power and was conquering territories everywhere. Due to their treaty, the Belkins were enlisting the aid of Sidhertha, which of course meant they were likely to be pulled into the new military actions.
The dinner broke down gradually. Jema and Javison had their own private conversation at the other end of the table. Hanna, and Kalana both left, seeing as they were the odd people out of the two budding relationships.
“Well, I will call it a night. Have a great evening.” Hanna said gesturing to both groups.
Kalana for her part gave a similar goodbye as she too rose to leave.
Then came the time when both Jema and Javison opted to leave together. Suddenly being the last two, Telka looked shocked. She knew the dinner was over, but part of her wanted to stay to remain with Marcy. Somehow after the meal their hands once again found each other. Telka looked at the hand and didn’t want the moment to end.
“I don’t want this to end.” Telka said.
“Then don’t. Dinner is over, but that doesn’t mean this is.” Marcy said, looking down and squeezing the hand in her own.
Hearing that Telka smiled then offered. “Care to go for a walk?”
“I’d like that.” Marcy smiled as they stood up. They made a check on the bill, only to find that Hanna had taken care of that when she left.
Realizing they were free they began their walk. They spoke about everything and nothing. The one thing they didn’t speak about was Lykan, there had been far too much of that earlier. Also, both didn’t want to have to admit that they at one point had feelings for the man. The same person who inadvertently brought them together, if only in a coincidental nature.
Finally, the topic moved on to a slightly more personal nature.
“So why is it that you don’t have a last name?” Marcy asked innocently.
Hearing this, a slight look of sadness filled Telka. But she marshaled forward with a response. “When elves have members of their family, even a sister, a distant relative, something, they have a last name. When an elf has no last name, it either means they were kicked out of their family, or that all remaining members of their family were killed and thus they are alone.” Telka managed.
Hearing that, Marcy felt a pain in her heart. “Oh, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
“No. I want you to know.” Telka said, holding up their hands and giving a gentle kiss to the back of Marcy’s hand. It was a simple gesture, but one that sent chills running down Marcy’s spine none-the-less.
They stood there; eyes locked for a second.
“Can we talk about something else?” Marcy asked.
“Well, now that you know of mine. What of your family?” Telka asked.
With that Marcy’s face too dropped. “My family is, or rather was in Tython, though I don’t know what is happening there now with the war going on.”
Telka just winced as she realized “this is quickly going downhill. Can we start over from where we were two minutes ago?”
Hearing that Marcy laughed and nodded. “I…I’d like that.”
With that the two spent the rest of the evening together talking about anything and everything that didn’t deal with their families.