“Fickle fucks, dreams.” She patted his shoulders and let her hands slide down his back and off, a gentle prompt for him to turn round. “Do you not recall or not want to recall?”
-
She could feel those scales as she slid her hand down...
“...They’re always...just nonsense.” He straighted up, trying to act more composed.
-
That...was not going to make anything weird. She refused to let them. “It doesn’t have to make sense out here, you just need to get it out here,” she encouraged. “...You always did feel worse when you bottled your nightmares.”
-
“...These aren’t normal nightmares.” ...Alright, that was the wrong thing to say. Ryland did not need to be verbally acknowledging that things were strange - it only made it feel more real, and all this needed to stop. Being. Real.
-
“Maybe; maybe not, but that really isn’t the point, is it? The point is that they’re keeping you up,” Kiran said as if it were such a simple thing. “Talking about it may not stop them, but it does help you cope. I can’t punch them for you, but I can listen; now, just like when we were kids.”
-
“I’m not a child!” Ryland snapped. Then he grit his teeth. Ice take him... Adults didn’t have to yell about being adults. “I... This shouldn’t...be...something...”
-
Kiran breathed through her frustration before continuing levelly. “What, this shouldn’t be something you’re going through cuz you’re too old for nightmares? Funny enough, if the last eight months have taught me anything, that is precisely not how that works.”
-
“...” Ryland closed his eyes. “If the last eight months taught me anything, it’s if I don’t keep my feet on the ground and I start...indulging in thinking too much, bad things happen.”
-
She could see that she’d pushed too hard, but ignoring this wasn’t going to make it go away... “Bad things like...?”
-
He shuddered. ...If he said it, it would be too real. ...but if he didn’t say it, he wouldn’t know how to find answers, right?
...But saying it also meant reliving....
Ryland rubbed his threaded fingers together. “...Things....happen to other people. They can...do things if... I-” He scoffed and shook his head. “I don’t know! I don’t know what happened, I don’t ...”
-
He was clearly getting agitated and experience taught her too well that wouldnt gelp him sleep. As if he could even pretend to try when he was this scared “...ok,” she said, reaching up to tug his shoulder down toward her lap, which she patted with her other hand. It used to work as a short term solution, though that was before he’d gotten sober. “You don’t have to talk about. We’ll just sit here in the quiet until one of us falls asleep.”
-
Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it... He really was too tired to do a watch shift, wasn’t he? He only thought to fight when he was already halfway down. ...But maybe some things did need to be real. If only so he could fight back. “....I don’t know what to do...”
-
Damn, she thought she’d had him. “...kinda vague,” she said softly, running her hand through the hair on the back of his head. “...what to do about which part?” There were kind of a few at the moment. It was probably too much to hope they weren’t connected and could be handled individually.
-
All of it. “...Veriki. Where to start.” Probably the least of his worries, but the embarrassment of admitting defeat was sinking in fast. Maybe he could just get them off the topic quick...
-
It was definitely a distraction, and not even a good one seeing as she was nearly certain it hadn’t pertained to the dream at all, but...whatever got him either talking or back to sleep. “I was thinking about that on watch. I dunno what kinds of options are even there. A library maybe? A shaman? An apothecary? Either way we gotta get set up with funds fast or we’ll be sleeping in alleys...”
-
“Didn’t happen to have your purse on you to pay for those drinks, did you? Don’t tell me you had a tab...”
-
“Like I’m pretty enough to start a tab in Fort Salité,” she chuckled, then sobered. “...actually...Old Man Grieves doesn’t trust me to have a tab after I took a swing at one of the scouts. It was a whole...thing--Anyway, I have enough to get myself dinner and a couple of drinks, seeing as he also cuts me off after three now. It won’t get us very far.”
-
(Ryland)”....You know this is why I’m the one who has to do the protecting, right?”
-
(Kiran) “Yes, the world in which yours is the cooler head is definitely the safe one.”
-
“Glad we agree.” Stupid Kiran and her stupid comfortable, warm lap... He ended up finishing his reply with a yawn.
-
Kiran chuckled softly, a relieved smile pulling at her lips with his yawn. “All the more reason you can’t leave me unattended anymore. Your future husband is just going to have to accept this as a package deal, lest I become a menace to society.” Vael was blood family and went without saying, but Kiran? She wasn’t stupid. She’d seen the way women behaved, how they confined and controlled their husbands once they’d been wife’d up.
They were definitely of an age, each of them. Getting a little old to be unwed, some might say. Both of her dearest friends were fine men, and attractice to boot. She’d swear to all the stars individually that any partner they chose would be lucky beyond measure. And thus the dissolving of their trio to various romantic partners was definitely a concern that had started kicking around in her head before Ryland had gone missing. Something she’d shoved in a box in the closet of her mind while he’d been gone. They’d still have time though, at least while they figured out this Kiel assassin and the scales situation...
-
“Shut up,” Ryland mumbled. “Husband....”
-
Kiran pulled up her hood with her freehand and settled back against the wall to sleep. She kept up the gentle head pats as she drifted off, but otherwise didn’t move so as not to disrupt the scout. As much as she hated that it was necessary, she couldn’t deny that the return to this position was grounding for her. A visceral reminder that he was back, and that he needed her in however small a way. ...Kiran would have to make sure and teach his future wife this trick, when the time came.
GOOD LINES
NOW WE’RE BACK TO THE REST OF THE STUFF THAT I NEED FOR CHAPTER 6
He shifted back to his feet. “May the Stars bring you sweet dreams for the rest of the night.” He nodded to Kiran, then headed back to his post.
-
“Thanks....” Ryland did appreciate Vael’s earnestness. The sincerity did mean a lot. So he saved the snark for when his cousin was back outside. “Doubt the stars are gonna start giving a shit out of nowhere...”
-
“It might just overflow the day’s weird quota if they did,” Kiran agreed.
-
“....Don’t fucking tempt them. I’ve seen weirder at this point....”
-
“...I’d be more concerned about the possibility, if they were inclined to pay attention in the first place.” And thus the loop begins again.
-
So when he eventually woke and didn’t feel the need to close his eyes again after a few minutes, he knew it had to at least be day. He’d gotten rest. Finally.
-
“Hope the winds will agree,” he replied, expression growing more serious. “Old Man Grieves said the weather was wreaking havoc on the supply line from down south.” Maybe the trouble would follow the supply caravan and skirt around them… “With luck or the Wind’s blessing, the weather will stay at our backs. And push us forward.”
-
“Well, you have a talk with the wind. I trust it to listen to you more than me.”
-
He chuckled. “I shall,” he assured.
-
Hey, they had a smith and a tanner on their team. Chances were good they could fix broken things. Or something. They’d see where things went, wouldn’t they?
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
-
And while Vael watched outside, Ryland slowly worked toward his cooking efforts.
-
Vael did take the time to speak to the Wind, the Snow, and the Sun as kept watch. Whether they heard his prayers - or chose to acknowledge them - was up to them. But he could pray, and pay respects. It seemed silly sometimes, but he held his spirituality close. Something his mother had instilled in him long ago that he never let go of. It seemed to work with the forge!
-
Kiran started to stir just as the cooking was finishing. It took a moment to gain her bearings, but the scrunched assessing in her face eased into relief when she realized it was Ryland cooking.
He was home.
Or as near as it could be, given none of them were likely to go back to the Fort any time soon. If ever, she thought as the rest of the previous evening’s events caught up to her.
“Morning,” she mumbled, her voice thick with sleep.
-
“Morning. You actually sleep?” He poked at the roasting roots. Ryland did pride himself on making food well, even if he lacked ingredients. “Or did you hover and make sure I was breathing all night?” The smirk wasn’t on his lips, but rather in his voice.
-
“You were exhausted, not sick, and I’m not your wetnurse,” Kiran scoffed as she sat up. “Since you’d so graciously come to your senses about not rabbiting on us, I slept. If that’s what one could call being frigid and unconscious. How was the rest of your sleep?”
-
“Shit.” He got one of the shoddy knives they managed to salvage, stabbed a sweet potato, and held it out to her. “But I slept.”
-
“I am very aware that we are in peril, Ryland. You’re scared. And you’re never scared. Not since...anyway. I get it. You don’t have to be an ass about it.”
-
Ryland looked back to the fire. “....Maybe not...” he said quietly as he scratched at his thigh. “...It’s just not... This isn’t normal. Not even for me.”
-
“I can see that,” Kiran sighed, eying him. “I’m sure I can speak for Vael when I say we didn’t think we were following you out here to frolic through the daisies.” She hesitated before closing the distance enough to shove Ryland’s shoulder just a little harder than strictly joking. “...but maybe let’s not tell Vael about that guy’s choice of dinner attire, hm? Our man’s gotta keep food down if he’s going to keep up today.”
-
That managed to jerk a small smirk and a snort from Ryland. “Yeah. Probably smart.” He glanced at Kiran, then sighed as he looked away again. “...Just remember I wasn’t around you two for the last eight months, just like you didn’t have me. You get yourself killed, I will murder you.”
-
“Yeah yeah, love you too, asshole.” Kiran rolled her eyes and shoved the last of her potato into her mouth.
-
“Uh-huh.” ...Maybe Kiran could sass Tienja to death...
-
Kiran stretched tall as she exited the shelter, but only for a moment before bundling the cloak back tightly around her. Shit, that wind had bite.
-
Ryland, meanwhile, got a potato ready for Vael, and handed it over as soon as he sat. “Try to get two of these down.”
-
“Try he says,” Vael retorted with a laugh as he plopped down to the ground and took the potato. “I promise, it won’t be that hard, even without butter.” He grinned, then happily took a bite. “Ah, ha’h fa’tha’thoh!” It wasn’t like he didn’t expect it to be hot, but… er, he had his moments.
-
Ryland snorted. “And you call yourself a blacksmith....”
-
“Hey,” he said around the bite, pointing a finger at him. He swallowed the bit before continuing. “I don’t use my mouth to forge, asshole. My jaw would be far more chiseled if I did.” He smirked. “What’s our tentative goal for today, O’ Scout?”
-
“Not a bad plan,” he agreed with a nod. He’d keep an eye out for salving herbs. Healing had never been his first choice, but it had made sense to learn some basics, seeing as he was around fire and weaponry all day every day. He knew a few things! “You look far more rested today. How are you feeling? And don’t just tell me you’re fine.” He quirked a brow.
-
“Alright. Not fine. But better than yesterday.” He got his own potato and started in on it.
(KIRAN BEING CONCERNED ABOUT THE THREE OF THEM MESHING AGAIN)
Kiran shrugged. “You know what I do, but at least we’re in good hands. I swear if he gets a big head about all the things we don’t know, though, I really will drown him in the snow...”
-
He chuckled. “Oh, you can let him have a little ego boost,” he said. “This is what he does for a living.”
-
“What’d that look like just now, a dress-down? I’m trying Vael!” Kiran looked into the fire and took entirely too large a bite of potato to talk around, all the better given her face was intent on projecting her much needed heat into the surrounding air.
There was no small part of her that wanted desperately to pick back up where they’d left off eight months ago, with the jabs and the teasing and the sass, like nothing had happened; and yet, she couldn’t stop herself from pushing, from snipping too often or too hard. She’d been so damn angry at Ryland. For leaving, for staying gone, for not getting word to them. That anger had flared white hot on the third day he was gone and she had spent months shoving it down because it just wasn’t fair to be mad when they didn’t even know if he was alive to be mad at. The relief of seeing him again had broken the dam in the tunnels and she’d thought she could finally let go of all of it. But learning he hadn’t had a choice in any of it? Here she was, back to stomping it down, burying it in worry for him. Sheesh, for all of them.
...Had she forgotten how to be around him? How to be the three of them?
-
Vael scooted closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “… This is how we take back control of what we is happening,” he said quietly. “For us, and for Ryland. We won’t lose him again, Kir.” No matter what was happening.
-
Kiran leaned into him, swallowing heavily and probably too soon to be healthy. “He better damn hope not,” she said quietly. “...I don’t think I can do it twice”
-
“Neither can I,” he agreed. “Which is why it won’t happen. You and I won’t let it.” He leaned his head against hers for a moment, then sat up again so he could more easily continue to eat. “I firmly believe we can do anything as long as we stay together. So that is what we will do, whether the Ancestors will it or no.”
-
Kiran nodded. “...yeah. Yeah, you’re right. We just gotta stick together and everything’s be fine.” She knew that, it just...bore reminding.
-
“… y’know, we talked about leaving to try to find you a couple times,” Vael said quietly as he let that settle on his brain. “We had no idea where to even start… and less of an idea of how much we just don’t know about traveling, let alone by foot.” They probably would have gotten themselves killed…
He ran a hand over his hair with a small frown. “Think I’m glad we didn’t make the attempt, even if I wish we could have found you sooner…”
-
Ryland set the canteens near the fire, keeping his eyes cast down. “....I don’t blame either of you for not leaving the fort for me,” he said, reasonable and quiet in that way that made Vael proud and Kiran uncomfortable. “You’d be crazy. And I would have come back just to die yesterday.”
-
“If we were going to leave for any reason, it’d be for you,” he gently corrected. “But we couldn’t have helped you if we’d gotten ourselves killed…”
-
“You need to understand, cousin. You and Kiran?” His expression became more resolved than the man had likely ever seen. “I would defy the Sun, the Moon, and all of the Ancestors for the two of you. So. You’re not going to go down. We’re going to figure it out. Together.” And there was no other option.
-
...they didn’t know. And if Ryland could help it, they wouldn’t know. So he kept his mouth shut. “... Drink.” He handed off the canteens to them. “It is past dawn.”
-
He took a canteen and took a drink from it. “We better get moving then.”
-
Kiran took her canteen in silence. For once. If she said anything else she definitely wouldn’t be able to keep the anger in check. Goodness sake, she’d honestly hoped that he’d gotten past the martyr crap...
-----------------------------------------------------------
As the sun began to kiss the sky with dusty rose and newly kindled flames, Vael stood and stretched with a soft sound. He would take the quiet. It meant they’d gotten to rest.
As the sun peeked above the horizon, he ducked into the shelter, pausing as he took in the sight of Kiran and Ryland. Must’ve had more nightmares… Still, this was a familiar scene, and there was some odd comfort in that. Shaking himself, he shifted near them and gently tapped Kiran’s boot.
“Hey, Temper and Trouble, the Sun has just crested the horizon of Mother Sky. It’s time to wake.”
-
“Which one is Temper and which one’s Trouble?” Kiran asked groggily, straightening from her mild slump into a stretch. She’d let Ryland up at his leisure. It was hardly the first time Vael had found them like this.
-
Ryland shifted a little....
-
“I think that depends on the day,” he replied with a chuckle. “C’mon, Ry, I’ll get a fire going.” He tapped his cousin’s shoulder with a small smile before turning to start on said fire.
ORIGINAL
-
Kiran frowned down at him. Odd, he wasn’t usually this light a sleeper, no matter how much he’d slept. She scratched at his scalp with a little more force than the soothing. “C’mon Ry. It’s morning and Vael is hungry. Time to do wife shit.”
-
(ryland) The scalp scratching seemed to help him finish waking peacefully enough. “Hm...? Wife shit...?”
-
“Breakfast, please.” Kiran kept up the scratching until Ryland moved out of position. “Vael has been up half the night.” Because that was how watch worked...
-
(Vael) “I am quite famished,” he replied with a chuckle.
-
“....I coulda taken a shift...” He slowly sat up. As soon as Kiran wasn’t scratching at his scalp, he rubbed at himself, and then scratched at his thigh.
-
That...was the same spot he’d been scratching yesterday. New scales maybe? She wouldn’t push it. He’d done plenty to avoid acknowledging this was even happening last night. Maybe once they got settled in Veriki.
“Oh you will tonight, never you fret,” she assured him. “After that lovely little stroll yesterday, watch was brutal.” She had been sore and half frozen and so damn tired and she just wanted to sleep...But Ryland needed the extra night of rest, whether he’d admit it or no.
-
Vael took note of the scratching as well, but kept quiet for the moment. The fire started, he stood back up again. “All right, let me know when food is ready,” he said. And while he was back on watch, he’d look about at what vegetation was in the area. If he could crush up a bit of salve, maybe Ryland would even use it.
-
“Well good. Happy to make you do some work.” ....He didn’t break down at all last night. Why would that even be a question? He was fine. And he would be fine while he cooked.
-
“Yes, because idle and I have ever been friends,” Kiran chuckled, shoving his shoulder. “...seemed like you slept the rest of the night ok?”
-
“....Yeah.” Ryland nodded quickly. “Yeah, I slept. Better than I have.”
-
“Good. It’ll get easier with time. Always does. And we’re here in the meantime.” Kiran yawned into a full stretch, now that he lap was free.
-
Ryland nodded. “...Did you sleep?”
-
“Yeah,” she assured him. “And before you get all indignant, I didn’t even count your breaths or anything else weird. I was out not long after you.”
-
“...Smart. Today we get out of the snow, and we don’t stop until we are.” And then survival would become tricky if that creep managed to track them down, but...he’d find a way.
-
“Oh, if that’s our end goal for the night, we’ll make great time.” Kiran was all to eager to get out of this crap. The cold wasn’t usually so bad, but inside the Fort it wasn’t slicing into you.
-
“We might even find game... Just question is how we’d hunt it....”
-
“Trapping I could manage with what we have, but I dunno about hunting. And that would kinda require we come back to a place. Which we could do in a pinch outside Veriki if money gets tight,” Kiran rubbed the back of her neck as she pondered. “I’d rather we sleep inside the city, safety in numbers and all, but I could do trapping for food, sell the pelts. Save us some coin. We save up for a decent bow and we’d be pretty set.”
-
“That’s the plan then. You’re in charge of getting us meat. Vael can get us plants and money. I can work on the shelter part.” It wouldn’t be so simple, but it was a start.
-
“...that easy, huh?” Kiran’s smile was smug. It was a solid, simple enough plan, really. They were a team, each member playing to their strengths for the good of the group. And that...felt really, really nice.
-
“In a snap.” Ryland snorted. “Hopefully Vael approves.”
-
“Long as we stick together, I can’t imagine he won’t,” Kiran nodded. Ryland was definitely skeptical of this plan, and yes there would be complications. It couldn’t possibly be as simple as just...basically settling down in Veriki, but...it was a start. Why the idea sent a thrill through her she couldn’t guess. Once they had the food, shelter, money situation settled, they could figure out what was happening to Ryland. Shouldn’t take more than a few days to get that far.
“...Do you think that assassin will track us down in town?”
-
Ryland pinched his lips. “...Depends on how long his leash is...”
-
“Do you think he’s got a time limit? I imagine his...master, I suppose, will have other ah...targets for him, eventually...”
-
Kiran then saw something she’d never seen before. Ryland had been nervous, even terrified in his younger years, before. But the subtleties in his face didnt give away that he was scared. No. He was haunted. “....No. She wants me.”
-
Kiran would absolutely destroy the monster who put that look on his face, if it was the last thing she did. “...well, tough shit. She can’t have you.” Her voice quivered with rage, quiet though it was.
-
“No, she can’t. She absolutely.... I cannot go back there.” He cleared his throat. “....And I won’t.” Potatoes....!