Chapter 138
Tobias ascended the stairs, his form rigid, moving at a clipped and controlled pace.
"I'm ok. I promise I'm ok," Riley called out to him.
His motion didn't cease but the tension in his shoulders relaxed. Upon arriving, he went down on one knee, as Caedmon and Eastmund each glanced upstairs before returning to their ale, watching the room.
"What was that? It was like you were far away, but you never moved, just got very still," Tobias puzzled, pausing to pet her ears back.
"Grimm..." Riley replied, cocking her head in a scan, her way of looking right at him.
"The Celestial that put you together?" He rubbed at his chin in thought.
"I don't know if it was him or if he was just the welcome wagon, as it were; he's my guardian angel. By the Dead Gods, that's so weird to say; you'd think it would come with a trumpet solo and some cheesy 80's feel-good music," she quipped, feeling embarrassed.
"Ok, and what exactly did he have to say?" He wondered, choosing his mysteries.
"That the struggle lies in our past. That's it. No deus ex machina, no astounding revelations. I'm not some chosen one. I didn't even get transfigured into something newer and more powerful to beat the baddies... at least, not this time. Does it count if I ended up like this?" Riley, editing herself for once, at least a little, rose on her hind paws and flexed her forepaws so that Tobias could see.
"No thumbs, but I do have awesomely cosmic powers, but I've broken my ribs... uh... more than a few times. I'm pretty mortal for a superhero, not even Batman level. Well, maybe silver-age Batman level," Riley rambled.
"You're scaring me. You always go off like that when you're nervous." With a barely trembling hand, he pushed her ears back in a pet.
"I do? I guess I do... Those are the things I remember most, and I don't understand why, but it gives me comfort and adds wonder to this world. For everything that the humans on Earth achieved, Tobias, so many people were miserable. They sought escape in fiction and substances. There were all these high-minded ideals, but just behind them, the world was just as cruel as here, in some ways even more so," Riley looked down, scanning the floor.
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"Saying is easy; doing is where the work comes in," Tobias agreed before adjusting, crossing his legs, sitting against the doorpost, and pulling Riley into his lap.
Riley rested her head on his knee. "Who said that?"
"Granda," Tobias replied, his look growing wistful.
"I miss him too," Riley fidgeted, unable to get comfortable drawing near to something painful in her own soul, poking at her.
"What we do keeps them safe, even if it's indirect. Rangers serve the Ashenrealm; we protect the people outside of the normal command structures. As terrifying as it was to be selected, on the other side of it, this is one of the rare places where we can really make a difference every day," Tobias said, grappling in the dark and trying to reassure her.
"But what if I'm the reason all these people are dying? What if it's all happening because of me? What if it was because of what happened that led me to be here?" The questions raced out of her as if it were a living thing in its own right. Shuddering, she nudged harder against Tobias's knee with a whimper.
Tobias' eyes widened in revelation. "I don't think that's what Grimm meant. The first murders happened before you were here."
"But Mavora and Chadrick, since our trial, they seem focused on me. Why?" Riley pressed.
"We're dealing with some kind of wider conspiracy. This is way more than a monster hunt, which is why we have Eastmund and Caedmon with us. The fact that Mavora keeps popping up tells me Chadrick's involved, but he's too much of a sniveling prick to be anything but a dupe or a lackey. If it wasn't for his title, I'd throttle the little shit and shake the answers out of him, but I can't," Tobias spat the words.
"God, if you then could hear you now," Riley observed.
Tobias chuckled. "There was a time when I had a lot to fear from pricks like him. That time is over."
"I'm proud of you. I love you, Tobias," Riley said.
Her ears flushed as an awkward tumult of emotions flooded their bond.
"I love you too. Us ending up together truly wasn't luck, it was fate, I think. All I ever really cared about, outside of my family, was magic. Magic was always going to be my life, and now I have a partner to share that magic with, which has made it all the more special," he looked down with a gentle smile.
Riley's ears quivered. "So you aren't worried that I'm not some world-ending monster?"
"Only in a world of fruit trees," Tobias quipped.
The joke hit Riley like a speeding bus, sending her into fitful convulsions as laughter flowed out around her as a mental projection.
Tobias, drafting off her own emotional state, soon joined her. Tears flowed as he rested his head against the doorpost, gripping at his side.
Finally, Riley found her calm. "What's next then?"
"By ship or by bricks, we have to be on the dragon tomorrow, even if that means sneaking out under the veil. We report in, and we do what we do best, wage war from the shadows, end the threat, and move on to our next assignment just as Sabine said," he replied with conviction.
"Just that easy? It's hard to hit a target that you can't see," she countered.
"We know we aren't just looking for one monster anymore. All of these sorcerers and servants we've taken down is our biggest clue. We'll use their lives to triangulate and find the ones that don't want to be found. One way or another, we are ending this. Far too many have been hurt already, including you," Tobias growled.