Takio didn’t so much as nod at her as she sat down. The conversation hadn’t gone anywhere. His friends still chuckled softly, murmuring quietly to each other. But as she set herself down with a groan, a pair of hands latched around her neck, cupping her chin. She jumped.
“Is that true, brother?” Natalin looked up as the hands tilted her head back. The brilliant gold-and-red form of Shiina drifted into view. The goddess’s eyes were fixed on her again, and the look pierced her to the core. “I have warned you before that-”
“Oh, don’t worry yourself over how I conduct me and mine,” Efren said. His tone was still light, but there was an edge underneath it that Natalin hadn’t heard before. “Her development is my concern, sister.”
“She is thirteen. In two years it will be her traveling to the different nations - and she is still unblooded? I cannot-”
“What of yours, then?” Efren said. He was sitting in his place, still, but slowly, he turned to face his Ascended and his sibling. “Should I throw her into business too quickly, and hope that she’s capable enough to pull herself out? How many of yours died in the learning until you found one that survived, Shiina?”
Natalin flinched. Shiina’s eyes weren’t gold, anymore. The color was deepening, fading through orange towards red as she watched. Her hands tightened against Natalin’s skin, her fingernails pressed in hard. There was no blood - yet.
“These are not matters for you to speak of, Efren,” she said, her voice carefully low. “This is none of your concern.”
“And neither is how I raise my Tideborn,” he said, offering her an easy grin. “So sit down and drink your damn spicewine.”
The goddess held Natalin a moment longer, her lips pressed into a thin line. And then she released the girl, stalking back to her seat in a surge of fiery hair. A leatherbound flask was in her hand before she’d so much as settled down.
“You said something about troubles in Naraan, didn’t you, boy?” Efren said, all hints of his previous anger wiped away behind a cheerful expression. “What’s that about? I haven’t heard anything like that.”
Takio swallowed the food in his mouth, reaching for his drink. Natalin sat back, letting the tension bleed from her shoulders. She could still feel Shiina’s hands on her neck, her face. But the conversation had finally turned back to the Charred - where it should be. She reached for the mug Efren had put in front of her, letting the smell of the liquor fill her nose and wipe away a little of the smoke Shiina had left in her wake.
“I’m sure it’s nothing, Everdeep,” he said finally, glancing towards Efren. “Just some troubles with a few of the clans.”
“I see, I see. Well, that seems normal enough, doesn’t it?”
“I believe so,” Takio said with a quick nod. His eyes flicked over towards his companions.
“My boy has been up and down the ranges all year,” Shiina said, dropping her flask to her laps as she raised one hand dramatically. “It seems like one thing after another. Really, no matter how often we tell them to simply obey the rules, they find some way to push the limits.”
“Stealing grazelands, letting their herds water wherever they please...there was one clan that actually tunneled into a rival’s mine to steal their vein,” Takio said, shaking his head. “That one came to blood, in the end.”
Natalin didn’t miss the way his hands tightened, or the loop on his belt that clearly would have held a sword on any other day. And she saw the scars that lined his knuckles, the back of his hand. He’d fought.
“It’ll pass,” Shiina said, the start of a smile tugging at her lips again as her eyes flicked towards her brother. “It always does. Simply another irritation to busy ourselves with.”
Efren frowned. “But it’s unusual for there to be a pocket of activity like this, yes?”
Takio shrugged, already turning back towards his friends. Their conversation was blossoming anew, pulling him away. Shiina chuckled brightly. “Perhaps, perhaps. It does seem oddly timed, but, well.” She shook her head. “Such is life, brother. You must be ready for whatever comes.”
“I’ll drink to that,” he said, raising his glass. She had her flask up a moment later. The two of them drifted further away from the rest of the conversation, quickly taking up their own little world as the Sanctuary buzzed on around them.
So was Takio’s group, Natalin realized. They were back to laughing, babbling to each other in rapid-fire Naraani that left her confused. And excluded. She could feel Antiel’s gaze on her for a single moment, and saw the chagrined look in his eyes, but he didn’t try to help include her, either. He just turned his attentions back to Takio, chuckling at some joke their friend made.
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Fine. So be it. Natalin fixed a polite, interested smile on her face, pushing aside all her frustrations, and nodded to each seer and citizen that crept past the head table. They were still coming, still talking idly with the Narai who would listen to them and offering reverent bows to Takio and Shiina. The liquor burned just as potently as she sipped at it, desperate for a distraction. She fought down the cough that bubbled up, her smile growing a hair at her success.
And still, the night dragged on.
Gerd was passed out, fast asleep on the mats across the way from her. Distantly, she could see the faces of the seers she knew, but there was no way they’d be able to come talk to her, and she knew they’d never think it appropriate, anyway. Efren was distracting Shiina still, the two entirely absorbed in each other, and Takio and his Narai were clearly enjoying their own company too much to talk with the young Tideborn.
How long until she could slip away? She cast an eye towards the back of the Sanctuary, to where a tall gap in the room’s dividers and screens led out towards the dock. It stretched off the tail of Efren’s domain, smooth wooden boards that hovered over the ocean’s surface. The waters stretched off to the horizon, smooth and mirror-bright and reflecting the glow of the moon. The sky overhead was pitch-black and full of stars.
It was night in full, then. Gerd wouldn’t consider leaving to be appropriate - but Gerd was sprawled out and snoring, his silver hair mussed and his cowl half-off. No one would even notice. Easing away from the table, Natalin pushed herself to her feet.
She was right. No one so much as glanced up as she stepped away, hesitantly at first but growing in confidence. Step by step, she slipped through the crowds, bowing and nodding to those who stopped her, until at last, she was free.
The night air was cold on her face. The Sanctuary had grown hot, she realized, the air muggy and filled with the breath of everyone who had packed into it. There were still people out on the dock, but fewer. She earned a few odd looks as she stepped all the way out to the farthest platform, the Sanctuary just a dark, distant shape, but no one stopped her.
Natalin smiled wearily as she leaned against one of the posts, lowering herself to the boards so that she could dip a toe in the water. Her dress was fighting her every step of the way, and her feet hurt from the stupid shoes she’d been put in, and her scalp ached from the pull of her tightly braided hair. More than anything, though, the frustration was still there, just under the surface.
He’d thought himself better than her. It was clear in every line of his expression, that stupid smirk and the laughter of his friends. And why shouldn’t he? She kicked at the water, her mood souring further. She was just a stupid kid, compared to him, even though they were only a few years apart in age.
Natalin leaned back with a groan, resting against the wooden post. It was no use. She’d do better. That was all there was to it. She’d show him, and make him feel like an idiot.
Staring at the stars, she tried to push away the sounds of the temple, pretending she couldn’t still hear the raucous laughter.
----------------------------------------
Her eyes slid open.
Natalin flinched, coming away with a jolt. Had she fallen asleep, right where she sat? Sure, she’d been tired, and more than a little stressed, but she shouldn’t sleep outside. Gerd would be angry if he caught her. Once he woke up himself, she thought with a cautious smile.
The sky overhead was still dark. It wasn’t morning, then. She breathed a quick sigh of relief, pushing herself upright and making for the temple proper as quickly as she could.
There were still a few stragglers inside the Sanctuary, she saw as she pushed her way inside. They leaned against the walls, laughing uproariously. The sight was enough to make her exhausted all over again. Shiina and Efren were still right where she’d left them. They didn’t turn when she passed, entirely engrossed in their conversation, but Natalin felt Efren’s hand ruffle her hair gently as she slipped past.
Sleep. She wanted sleep, to let the events of the day and the tiredness that sank all the way down to her mana-well fade away in blissful unawareness. She turned towards the wing that held her bedroom with a grateful hiss. Her room wasn’t far from the Sanctuary, and it had her bed, and-
Natalin stopped. The diviners’ wing where she lived was always quiet. Always. It was populated entirely by the elder clerics of Efren, who were by and large quiet, severe people.
Too late, she remembered that beyond it lay the guest wing. Only the best, for the honored visitors from afar. The normally peaceful hallway was filled with the sound of their voices, their laughter. It pressed in on her as she slowly stepped towards her room.
Her door did absolutely nothing to block out the sound. She could still hear them, after she’d slowly closed it. It echoed in her ears as she flopped down on the bed, loosening the buttons on her dress and reaching for her tunic.
Finally, when she was free of the horrible thing and back to some semblance of normalcy, she couldn’t bear it anymore. It just wasn’t stopping, and the last thing she wanted was to have his voice echoing around her bedroom, laughing and cracking jokes while she was trying to sleep. With one last wistful glance at her bed, she threw herself from the room again.
Neither of the Diviners glanced up as she slipped back into the Sanctuary. Sleeping in there was entirely improper. It was the place of the gods, Gerd had said, lecturing her over and over again, and not a place for her to treat as she liked.
But as she took a step inside, the driftwood warm on her feet, one of the tapestries on the wall shifted gently. Natalin paused. There wasn’t a breeze.
When she reached for it, taking the intricately woven fabric in her hand, she found a doorway waiting on the far side - and a cot, covered in warm blankets and smelling of saltwater. She cast one last glance towards the gods, murmuring her silent thanks. Efren’s amused chuckle rang in her ears, bothering her not at all.
Her head hit the pillow. She was out cold a heartbeat later.