Oralia’s clothes clung to her skin uncomfortably tight. To her annoyance, no amount of tugging could keep her linen undershirt from riding up past her stomach. The stubborn garment moved with a mind of its own, bunching beneath her leather jerkin despite how many times she yanked it back down. The only reason the infernal shirt hadn’t navigated all the way up to her neck was on account of her chest, which was currently serving as an unwitting barricade. Those, too, were being unreasonably annoying. As of late, no manner of binding seemed to keep the pair under control. Her flesh was heavy, and ached–and gods forbid she complain about it without someone commenting about it being her time of the month!
Oralia clicked her tusks at the thought. If she received one more offhand remark about her body’s cursed reproductive cycle, she would ensure the speaker wouldn’t live to see another month again.
“You doing alright there, boss?” Rali’s voice called from beside her.
Oralia stopped fidgeting with her clothing, painfully aware once more that she was not alone and probably making a scene. Oralia chose not to answer the question directly, as Rali likely already knew her answer. “I will be substantially better once we are on the road.”
“Told you we should have slipped out before dawn.”
“That you did,” Oralia sighed, opting to keep the addition of ‘and I regret not listening to you’ to herself.
Her irritated gaze swept across the bustling streetway. There was a crowd gathered at the city gates twice the size of the last one to see Oralia’s team on their way. A makeshift platform had been erected alongside the wall. Some official dressed in a garish tunic and tights was atop it, pouring their soul into a heartfelt speech, tears and all. As much as Oralia would have preferred to sneak out unnoticed, their need for supplies and a few pack animals capable of carrying it all had slowed her departure by several days, giving the city time to amass a going-away party.
Included amongst the theatrics was a token of honor that, from Oralia’s position as far away from the platform as she could manage, looked to be a repurposed brass medallion on a ribbon necklace. She half wondered if the words ‘first place for half yard sprint’ were still etched into the metal or if they’d managed to get it buffed out in time. As she had no desire to partake in the political theatre, she’d sent Ellisar’s body double in her place instead. Kalihn beamed bright, enjoying every moment of the attention as she accepted the award with far too much grace to be believable.
Shifting her gaze, Oralia spied Captain Bernstein several persons down from where she and Rali lingered at the back of the crowd. He was doing his best to keep his composure, but every time he looked in Rali’s direction, his proud shoulders drooped just a little farther. If Oralia’s team lingered at the gates any longer, someone would have to scrape the poor captain off of the cobblestones afterwards. It wasn’t helping that each time he worked up the nerve to approach, one of the Stoneclaw brothers would hook their arm through his and drag him away, insistent on knowing the history of some mundane piece of architecture.
Judging from Rali’s stiff posture, it was highly likely that she had orchestrated the interference herself. A means to avoid hearing whatever was on the captain’s mind, no doubt.
While it didn’t solve the issue with her clothing, a little teasing would, at the very least, provide a momentary distraction from her growing list of bodily discomforts. Oralia leaned closer, whispering to Rali, “Is that the captain’s jacket you are wearing?”
“What?” The dwarf’s brown eyes bulged, nearly doubling size. “No!”
“It is. I can smell it. He wears a very unique cologne.” Sandstone and cypress, if her nose was to be believed.
Rali’s lower jaw opened and shut, but strangely no words came forth. What a rare treat, Oralia thought, catching her mouthy lieutenant so off guard she couldn’t even form a half-assed retort.
“I do not know how you manage, Ralizak. It was only a few hours before dawn when you staggered out of my apartment this morning.” Oralia watched from the corner of her eye as Rali’s face went from pale to beet red. “Did you get any sleep?”
“As a matter of fact, I did.”
“Ah, must have been between rounds then. Good for you.”
Rali whirled around, wagging her finger at Oralia as she hissed between her teeth, “I know you think you’re funny, switching the roles around on me so that you’re the one giving me shit about my romantic life for once, but I’ll have you know it’s not working.”
“Clearly.”
“I just wanted a little company, is all. There’s nothing wrong with that!”
“As I said, good for you.”
“And so what if I’m wearing his jacket? I left mine at your place and I was cold. I’m only borrowing it. It doesn’t mean anything. Stop reading into it!”
Having had her fun, Oralia paced her hand on Rali’s shoulder and smiled. “It is a good look on you.”
Rali’s rigid shoulders deflated beneath Oralia’s touch. With eyes wide and filled with dread, the dwarf’s listless gaze slowly swept across the gathering, as though seeing, but not taking any of it in. “I think he’s going to ask me to stay.”
“Gods, Rali.” It was Oralia’s turn to go ashen in the face. “It was only one night!”
Rali’s wilting expression begged to differ.
“No?” It wasn’t so much a question as it was a statement of utter disbelief. “How long has this been going on?”
“A few weeks…” The dwarf’s voice trailed, before adding, “After we arrived here in Fairguard.”
“You have been in a secret relationship for two months?” The signs had been there all along, Oralia supposed. The coy glances, the smiles, the way Rali often threw things at the back of the captain’s head and then ran. Oralia hadn’t realized what had been taking place between the two constituted flirting but, then again, she had never been well versed in the art of flirtation to begin with. The only reason she’d ever caught on that Sascha had feelings for her was because he said so, to her face, repeatedly.
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“Alright, hold it right there, miss.” Some of Rali’s fire returned and she went back to throwing her fingers in the air. “One, it’s not a relationship. You know I don’t get involved with those. It’s like, I dunno, a fling, I guess? And, two–”
“Does the captain know it is only a fling?” Oralia interrupted. Again, while not well versed in the courting practices of dwarfs by any means, it seemed unlikely that a mere ‘fling’ of any walk-of-life would invite the other half to live with them afterwards. Unless of course Oralia was misinterpreting what ‘stay’ meant. That one seemed rather straightforward, though.
Rali ignored Oralia’s question in favor of powering right on through to her next point. “Secondly, just because you didn’t know, doesn’t mean it was a secret.”
The revelation stung more than she expected it to. Oralia’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “You told someone else before me?”
Rali must have caught the hurt on Oralia’s face. Her arms dropped to her sides as she issued a remorseful sigh. “Well, no, not exactly. I intended to keep it a secret, but then Mul went and barged into my room without knocking one night and saw more than he bargained for. The little shit still hasn’t let me live it down. This whole stupid courting me thing was his misguided attempt at blackmail. Was anyway. Now he does it just because he thinks it’s funny.”
That was a lot of information to process. Amidst the deluge of tiny revelations, Oralia noted the suspicious lack of details concerning the captain and his would-be proposal. “Rali, are you,” she paused, unsure if she even wanted an answer on the subject, “considering staying?”
Rali’s eyebrows pressed together into a dark line. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“It is alright if you are. You are allowed to make your own–”
“Are you out of your blooming mind? How dare you!”
Rolling her eyes, Oralia resigned herself to silence, allowing Rali’s outrage to run its loud and, inevitably, short course.
“No! We’ve got schemes in the works! And we both know you can’t get shit done without me.”
That much was true. And as dearly as it pained Oralia to break up whatever was or was not going on between them, she needed Rali by her side for the trials to come. It seemed only fair considering their current scheme was mostly Rali’s idea, after all. Although Oralia agreed on the principle of the mission, she still didn’t see why she had to spearhead the damn thing. Let someone else save mortal-kind for once! She was old. She was tired. Her feet hurt. Risking life and limb was a young person’s game.
The last one, she vowed to herself, full well knowing even she didn’t believe it. It was a nice thought, though.
A startled cry caused Oralia to turn her head. She watched as the Stoneclaw brothers dragged Captain Bernstein further away, once more, talking loudly over his weak protests. “I have never seen Mul and Lingon quite so enamored with the captain before,” Oralia remarked. “I shudder to think how much it cost you, Ralizak.”
“Who said I had anything to do with that?”
“Your face.”
“Ugh. Do you know how much booze I had to fork over to get those two numbskulls to do what they normally do for free any other day of the week? Too much!” Rali crossed her arms with a scowl. “Mul offered to do it for a kiss, of course. I countered with my fist instead and then after some posturing we settled on a compromise that didn’t involve me strangling him.”
They exchanged knowing glances.
Rali pursed her lips, allowing Oralia’s unspoken question to hang in the air over their heads for several seconds, before clarifying the matter. “The strangulation was his idea. Not my thing.”
A faint smile pulled at Oralia’s lips. “And you accuse me of going to great lengths to avoid my feelings.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about, boss,” Rali said, tugging the ends of her new jacket with a sniff. “All I really wanted was this here fancy new jacket. You know how hard it is for me to find stuff that fits in the shoulders.”
A deafening round of applause sounded as the main speaker stepped away from the makeshift platform and shook hands with Kalihn, signifying the theatrics had come to a close at last. Thank gods.
“Shall I do the honors?” Rali asked.
“Please, before someone starts another round of speeches.”
The dwarf’s baritone voice rang out across the cobbled road, reverberating off of the stone wall and closest buildings. “Look alive ye swabbies! We’re heading out. Move it or lose it.”
Their departure would have been much swifter had they mounted the horses and taken off at a gallop. Alas, that would have meant leaving Sascha behind as he dared not sit on any animal smaller than an elephant. Kalihn was also a poor rider and probably would have fallen out of the saddle just outside of the gates–calling into question how the notorious Sergeant Farrow had managed to forget how to ride since her time on the mountain. Thus, they were forced to proceed at a painful walk. Rali, fortunately, was ensuring it was a fast walk at the very least.
They were through the gates, down the winding dirt road, and into the trees in record time. Behind them, the cheering eventually died down. Oralia kept a watchful eye on the gates in the event the people were cheering because she and her company were finally gone from their city. To her surprise, the gates did not slam shut behind them.
“Yoohoo! Rali, hold up,” Kalihn trotted to the front of the procession where Rali and Oralia strolled together. “Captain Bernstein asked that I give this to you.”
Rali’s stare fixated on the sealed envelope in Kalihn’s hand for longer than necessary. Finally, with her eyes darting back and forth around her to be sure no one else saw, she took the letter and quickly stowed it into the confines of her jacket. “You saw nothing.”
“Well that’s not true. Almas handed me the letter personally and asked that I–”
“Nothing,” Rali reiterated with a hiss.
Kalihn held up her palms innocently. “Sure, sure. Whatever you say.”
“And what happened to speaking like a pirate, bucko?”
With a plaintive sigh, Kalihn managed an unenthusiastic, “Aye, aye. Whatever you say, Cap’n.”
“That’s better. Now, let’s discuss this serious lack of commitment to your character. I feel like you still haven’t embraced the true essence of Ellisar.”
“For the last time, I’m not eating slugs.”
“You are doing a marvelous job, Kalihn,” Oralia congratulated. “As I mentioned before, now that Fairguard is behind us, there is no reason for you to keep playing the part. You are free to be yourself.”
With her part in securing New Adderwood’s independence complete, Oralia no longer had a need for stand-ins for Ellisar and Snag. Soldiers, however, were a different story. Dewpetal was already proving well worth the money and Oralia was inclined to keep paying the goblin for as long as there were funds to do so. Kalihn was…less useful.
Oralia had done her best to let her off gently, but the elf wouldn’t hear of it. Kalihn insisted she stay on, if not for money, then to make a name for herself. She swore to learn the ropes and prove herself useful, insisting that by the end of the ongoing strife, everyone on the whole continent would be familiar with the name Kalihn Whatever-Her-Surname-Was. Kalihn’s assertation probably would have been more impactful had Oralia bothered to remember the elf’s full name. Oh well.
“Really?” Kalihn perked up at this, her long, golden hair cascading off her shoulder as she did so. “Does that mean Dewpetal and I can stop holding hands now?”
“Holding what?” Oralia turned, but Rali was already scuttling away, stifling snorts of laughter with her hands.