Leonidas sat in the solar staring into the fire as it roared in front of him. His muscles ached as he breathed, the weight of the armor still on him after he had returned home. He held his helm in his hands, looking down at the worn marks and scratches it had from other battles and skirmishes.
He saw Jeanne sitting down next to him, causing him to jump in his seat.
“What’s with you,” she said to him.
“I completely forgot you were in here.”
“You invited me in here!”
“I know, and I still forgot.”
“Are you that out of it?”
“I think I am, honestly.”
“Gods, it really has been a day.”
“That’s putting it lightly.”
“You were pretty amazing with your staff there.”
“Hmm?”
“When you crunched that one murmek’s head.”
“You weren’t too shabby yourself.”
“Oh, you’re too kind.”
“You literally smashed her head into a murmek’s skull.”
“That was pretty impressive,” she said, bobbing her head back and forth. “How are you holding up?”
“Honestly, I would like go visit somewhere relaxing. Where troubles are few, and laughs are plentiful. Though knowing my luck, something outrageous would happen.”
“You seem to have the weirdest of luck.”
“It’s enough to keep me alive, but by the gods everything else just goes crazy.”
“You might feel better if you took off the armor.”
“Yeah, might be a good idea. Plus, I think a bath would be in order.”
“You take baths?”
“Jeanne, I do not have the energy or the patience for this lunacy today.”
“That’s fair.”
Leonidas rose to his feet, then turned to Jeanne. “Come on, I want to see you something.”
“Is this your non-existent collection of spoons?” she asked him, rising to her feet.
“Where the hell did you get that?”
“I do not know,” she said, with a slight slur.
“Are you drunk?”
“No, just tired.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right.”
They came down to the first floor where Leonidas pulled on a candle holder attached to the wall. A section of the wall opened up, revealing a set of stairs leading to a lower level. Journeying down, Leonidas turned to Jeanne, saying, “So when I moved in here, I found there was a fake wall installed. Once I figured how to open it, I found this!”
He tapped a sconce on a wall, which immediately lit up, causing several others to come to life and illuminate the whole room. Revealing a room with immaculate tile work. Frescos of monsters, animals, athletes, warriors and diving beings decorated the walls. The floors had an intricate, almost hypnotic, geometrical pattern. Leonidas saw Jeanne look at the design, blinking repeatedly.
“You, all right?” he asked with a chuckle.
“This pattern is something else,” she replied, “Not sure what, but something else.”
“Yeah, it took me a while to get used to that, too,” he then knelt down and put his hand on the floor. “But that’s not all, feel the floor.”
Jeanne took a knee and placed the back of her hand on the floor. “It’s warm!”
“Yeah, there’s a heating system underneath the floors. Comes in handy when its winter.”
“This doesn’t make sense; this has to be hundreds of years old.”
“Probably close to a proper millennium at this point.”
“But this isn’t shouldn’t even be here. This would predate the first years of Calaband’s reign.”
“Something I’ve learned in my wanderings, society has a wonderful knack to simply build over what was there before. And then assume it’s been lost.”
“And how did you get to look so nice?”
“Oh, that’s easy. I had a few favors to call in from clients. This paid off a few bills, and worth every copper.”
Jeanne went over to the small pool, sitting along the edge and touched her fingers over the surface of the water. “This is warm, too,” she said, smiling.
“Definitely a step up from bathing in a wooden tub,” said Leonidas. “Plus, the water gets cycled out, so it there isn’t a build up of grime, mostly.”
“This is really lovely here, Doc.”
“It’s not a bad place to unwind and forget the cares of the world.”
Jeanne looked towards a room where a curtain hung from a rod just above door. “Is that the room where all your truly malevolent activities are hidden?” she asked.
“Or it’s the changing room.”
“Oh! I thought you, you know …”
“Just stripped out here?”
Jeanne nodded.
“Oh gods, you are something else.”
“I’m taking that as a compliment.”
“Of course you would. You want to change first?”
“Don’t mind if I do,” she replied. As she pulled the pulled the curtain back, she turned to Kveldulf. “No peeking,” she said playfully.
“I still have a will to live,” he said under his breath.
He moved over to one side of the arch, leaning back against the wall.
“You need help with the boots?”
“No” she said, struggling. “I am … oh gods … I’ve got this!”
“You sure?”
A series of growls and curses proceeded. “I sure!” As Leonidas started to wheeze laughing, he heard a loud thud from the other side.
“I would to rescind my previous statement. I need some help.”
“I’m coming,” said Leonidas as he pulled the curtain back and saw Jeanne on the ground, her right leg up in the air. “That one first?”
“Please,” she said quickly.
He grabbed the heel and toe of the shoe and began pulling, causing her to slide along the floor. They looked at her foot and he said, “Maybe we should have you sit?”
“That might be prudent.”
“Did … was that towards me?”
“I don’t know,” she replied.
“Oh gods,” he said, shaking his head.
Once her boots were removed, he handed her a pair of sandals. “You’ll want these so you don’t burn your feet on the floor,” he said to her.
“Good to know, now get out you pervert!”
“I – I’m just going to leave that alone,” he said as he left the changing room.
Back on the other side, he waited until she emerged, her towel wrapped snug around her torso. She sat on the edge of the pool again, running her fingers over the surface of the water and brushing locks of hair behind her ear. Leonidas smiled softly, admiring how serene and peaceful she made him as she sat there.
She looked up at him. “Everything all right?”
“Yeah,” he said, “Was just thinking of something.”
“Well, go change, I’m don’t want to be the only person here with just a towel on,” she said, shooing him to the change room. He removed his armor and placed it in the shelf area in the changing room. After fitting the sandals to his feet, he folded his clothes as he removed his them and stretched his neck and torso before wrapping the towel around his hips.
He stepped back into the bathing area. Seeing Jeanne already in the pool, her head resting on the tile edge and her arms stretched out. As he removed his sandals and entered the pool, she said with her eyes still closed, “I didn’t say you could come in.”
Dipping his fingers into the water he flicked water droplets onto her face, making her scrunch her face as they touched her skin. “That was rude,” she said to him.
“And this is my house, and my bath.”
“And?”
“You should be more respectful to your host.”
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“And?”
Leonidas looked up to the heavens, tapping his hand on an underwater step and shaking his head. “And I invited you into here.”
“Yes, yes you did,” she said bopping his nose.
He leaned back, resting his arms on the pool’s edge. “I’m not even going to try.”
Jeanne moved closer, wrapping her arm around his chest. “Does this help?”
“I think I can manage,” he said before lightly chuckling, kissing her forehead.
“I thought so, you little baby.”
“I’m not above admitting that.”
She giggled. “You know, there’s something I don’t understand.”
“What’s that?”
“I’ve known for a while now. And I know you’re not into boosting about yourself, but it sometimes seems like you’re putting yourself down.”
“I do?” Leonidas asked, surprised.
“Yeah, it sometimes seems like you see yourself less than who you are.”
“I do?”
“I mean, anytime we’ve been in a tight spot, I’ve never seen you run away.”
“You never saw me in the Outlands, Jeanne. I did more than my fair share of running.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah, there was one time I was being chase by these aquatic creatures as the rest of this group was exploring a ruin.”
“How many of them were there?”
“My group or the creatures?”
“The creatures.”
“Oh, about a half dozen, easily.”
“Did you abandon the ruins?”
“Gods no, that meant they would’ve been jumped without warning.”
“So, you kept those things busy until the others came?”
“Yeah.”
“Was, there any other times you had something like this happen?”
“I remember being chased by a few hell-hounds and a feldragon once.”
“What?”
“Oh, I was out gathering ingredients and such, and collecting soil samples for experiments when some hell-hounds started chasing me. And then a feldragon decided to join the fray. That … that was fun.”
“How did you escape from that?”
“Well, there was this cave I knew with a little alcove you can climb into that has a passage to the other side of a little mountain range. It was too high for the hounds to climb and the dragon couldn’t fit into the hole.”
Jeanne stared at Leonidas, dumbfounded.
“What?” he asked her.
“Was there anything else you want to add?”
“Well, there was that time I organized an impromptu triage in the middle of a battle.”
“Was this the only time?”
“For that engagement, yes.”
“How many were there?”
“Oh, let’s see. There were the Battles of The Deathlands, The Morass, The Respite, of Paradisus, and the final one at The Camlann Fields.”
Jeanne shook her head rapidly. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Did I say something?”
“Let’s go back over this shall we?”
“I’m all ears.”
“You survived in the woods after being beaten and with both hands broken …”
“… And with potentially two necromancers after me.”
“And with potentially two necromancers hunting you. You kept a half-dozen, fish people from ambushing your friends.”
“Actually, only two were friends, the rest I’d consider professional acquaintances.”
“Whatever, and then you fought in five battles?”
“Truth be told, the battles were before the fish people.”
“Again, whatever. And you survived being chased by monsters?”
“Then there was that time,” said Leonidas before Jeanne put her index and middle finger over her lips.
“That is enough, you shush,” Jeanne said to him.
Leonidas simply nodded his head.
“I don’t know what those people saw you as when you were in the Outlands, but for me, you need to give yourself more credit than you have been.”
Leonidas tried to speak, but Jeanne tapped his lips again.
“No! I’m not done.”
“Hrmm.”
“Since I’ve know you, not once have I seen you run from danger; once. You may not be doing the front-line work, but you don’t run either. And those two incidents don’t count. Because there’s a big difference between being brave and being stupid. And you might lack some common sense, …”
“That’s a fair statement.”
“… but you’re not stupid. And anyone who can’t see that is an utter fool. A brave man isn’t someone who runs into danger to with the hopes to win glory or treasure. It’s someone who knows those risks and does it for nothing more than they know it’s the right thing to do. And you’re one of the bravest men I’ve met.”
Leonidas turned away for a moment before looking back at Jeanne. “You know I think that’s the first time any one has ever called me brave before.”
“Ever?”
“Ever.”
“What did they usually call you?”
“Mostly unhinged. Though that varied from friendly jests to outright insults.”
Jeanne held him tighter than before, resting her head on his chest. “I can see why you wanted to leave.”
“Yeah, I doubt they did though.”
“Are there any you miss over there?”
“Not many, maybe three I’d actually go back for if they were in need of help.”
“So, what made you decide to move to Koulberg anyway?” Jeanne asked him. “Do you have any family out here?”
“If I did that’d be news to me. No, I came here mostly because in the city you usually have something going on. And there’s always someone who is getting hurt. Then, of course, you have the fact there’s some fighting going on, in case I want to help keep some soldiers alive.”
“So, no family then?”
Leonidas shook his head. “Not here at least.”
“Hmm,” Jeanne said, her fingers stroking his chest.
“What about you? Do you have any relatives here?”
“No,” she said shaking her head slowly. “And I doubt they’d want to speak to me if they did live here.”
“What do you mean?”
“I told you about my sister, right?”
“Of course.”
“Well, the man responsible. His father was the lord for our county.”
“Oh,” Leonidas said slowly.
“And he didn’t take too kindly to one of his ilk being beaten into a pile of visceral.”
“Not surprising.”
“So, when it was found out his men were searching for whoever was responsible, I left and joined the first mercenary company I could find. Which just happened to be Cold Company.”
“And your folks? Do you think they’re mad?”
“I can’t see them being thrilled at what I did. Nor with the repercussions.”
“Perhaps time will time or way or the other,” he said, caressing her side.
“Have you ever wanted to go back?”
“You mean like to my old home?”
“Yeah.”
“I mean, sometimes. Usually when I’m longing to return to my youth when troubles were few and far between. But even then, those were rare. What about you?”
“Sometimes. Usually when things are quiet and calm. Once everything is still and I have nothing occupy my thoughts. Then I dream of the fields outside my parent’s home. How the wheat and rye would sway with the wind. How the pine would make the air smell so fresh and alive. Or you could hear the sounds of animals around the farms going about their business and not have a single care in the world.”
“It sounded like a lovely place to live.”
“It was,” she said, voice beginning to break and her lips trembling, “It was.”
Leonidas held her close and caressing her head. “It’s all right, I’m here. I’m here.”
***
Leonidas stood over the fire place watching the eggs and sausages fry in the pan. He was beginning to turn them over as Jeanne arrived to the solar, wearing a thick blue bathrobe and slippers on her feet.
“How did you sleep last night?” he asked her as she sat next to him.
Jeanne stretched her arms in the air, letting out a relieve groan. “Not too bad, and you?”
“Best night’s sleep I’ve had in a while.”
“It is nice when things start moving in your favor,” Jeanne said looking over Leonidas’s shoulder.
“I will attest to that,” said Leonidas. “It’s always easier to sleep when you know you don’t have a target on your back.” He grabbed a kettle from the hearth and poured a dark brown liquid into Jeanne’s cup. “Let me get you some milk,” he said as reached for a petite pitcher and pour some of the contents into her cup, lightening the brew to a sandy tint.
“You know how I like my coffee?” Jeanne said, smiling.
“I try to remember the little things about people,” he said. “Tends to make the bigger decisions easier.”
She kissed his cheek. “You’re going to spoil me, if you keep this up,” she said as she moved over to the table.
“I don’t think that’ll happen,” he said to himself, smiling back at her.
A frantic knocking struck his door. Causing both to jump from their seats. “I’ll get that,” he said to Jeanne. Grabbing his sword and strapping it around his waist.
“You think that’s needed?” Jeanne asked.
“Better safe than sorry,” he said.
He went downstairs to the door. A loud slam of the door opening was following by the cheerful cries of Hypatia running up calling out, “Great news, every … one.” She turned to Jeanne, now staring at Hypatia with a stunned look in her eyes. “Hey, where’s the doctor?”
“He was downstairs by the door,” Jeanne replied.
“Why hello Hypatia,” said Leonidas in a strained voice, “please come inside.” Returning to the solar, he was rubbing his forehead, one eye partially closed and twitching and looking most thoroughly uncomfortable.
“Oh, sorry,” Hypatia said to him.
“It’s all right,” he said, “Would you like some breakfast?”
“Oh no, I already ate, thank you.”
“So what brings you over to this part of the city?” Jeanne asked.
“Oh!” Hypatia said with great excitement, “Allianna got us back our access to the special archives!”
“What?” Leonidas blurted out, the pain on his face dissipating.
“She told the archives to give us whatever access we needed for research and anything else we needed. I have collected so many inkwells and quills, I could just die!”
“Why did you get so many of those?” Jeanne asked.
“Because I can!” Hypatia declared proudly.
“Well, I know what to get you for gifts during the next Winter Solstice,” said Leonidas, rubbing his head once more.
“We should probably tell Silvius,” Jeanne said. “He’d probably want to get started with his research.”
“Already took care of that,” Hypatia said. “In fact, Doc, we we’re hoping you could help out with gathering materials to go over. As well as going over them.”
“Right,” said Doc, “Give me a moment to finish breakfast and I’ll be over there.”
“Mind if I tag along?” Jeanne asked.
“I’m going to say no, just so I can say I was obstinate. But yeah, of course you can come.”
“Good,” said Jeanne, rising from her seat as she took a long sip of her coffee. “I’ll go get dressed and I’ll be ready to leave.”
Jeanne moved up the stairs and closed the door as Hypatia turned to Leonidas and lightly tapped on the table. So? she asked, You and Jeanne?
Yeah, he replied, I wasn’t entirely expecting it myself.
I remembered when she contacted you when Kel was hurt. She thought you weren’t going to answer, Hypatia gestured, trying not to laugh.
There was a part of me saying not to reply, Leonidas said, a slight look of embarrassment on his face.
Gods, that would’ve been a bad scene, gestured Hypatia, stifling a laugh.
It wouldn’t have looked good on my part, Leonidas replied.
But what prompted the whole, you know, interest? If you don’t mind me asking?
Leonidas sat back, pondering the question. “I mean,” he said thoughtfully, “There’s really not one thing that did it. She was always been fair to my eyes, and while she has a knack for just driving me up the wall with some of her wilder antics, it’s hard not to be a little effected by her energy. Plus, she has an undeniable strength of spirit which I respect. And I think the biggest thing is I just like being around her. Though it has been nice not having her break into here and leaving wild animals in my place.”
“I could see that,” Hypatia said understandingly.
“How’s Selene doing, by the way?”
“She’s doing well,” Hypatia said with a warm smile. “Been keeping busy what with her ling of work.”
“I can imagine. Has the whole Council situation affected her business at all?”
“Not that I could tell. But I know there was some pressure by those rubbing elbows with the Council.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, you know, people saying they want to help women with achieving what want in life, yet they’ll treat female courtesans like nothing more than a living, breathing sex object. And on top of that these are the same people who treat their male counterparts as if they’re not real men.”
Leonidas shook his head. “Such profound sophists,” he said condescendingly.
“But with recent events being what they are, things have looking up. Though, that reminds me, Selene said she needed to set an appointment with you for a couple of her staff to get their examinations.”
“Hopefully once things calm down that’ll be more manageable.”
Jeanne came down from the bedchambers upstairs and entered the solar. “Did I miss anything?”
“Doc was just saying how much he loves your antics and jokes,” said Hypatia.
Leonidas just stared at her. “I want to say I am surprised, but I’m not.”
“Oh, that means I need to improve my sportsmanship,” Hypatia replied.
“No! no it doesn’t,” Leonidas insisted.
“Now I see why Jeanne loves to do this,” said Hypatia. “This is fun!”
“How good for you to see,” Leonidas grumbled.
“Should we be off then?” Hypatia asked, trying to catch her breath.
“Doc and I will meet you at the door,” said Jeanne.
As Hypatia left the room and made her way to the door, Leonidas rose from the table and was stopped by Jeanne, placing her hands on his chest.
“Do I have something on face?” he asked, moving his hand over his chin and cheeks.
“There is something,” she said, kissing him gently on his lips. “I like being around you, too.”
“Good to know,” he said lifting her hands to his lips.
“And good thing you didn’t say anything truly embarrassing.”
“I was about to say,” he said as they left to join Hypatia.