Kiran let the quiet fall around them. There wasn’t anything else to say on the subject; they both agreed he wasn’t going back. She didn’t want to think about what he might do if he got desperate to prevent that outcome. Between Kiran and Vael, they wouldn’t let it come to that. Someday, perhaps, Ryland would be ready to unburden himself of what she’d done to him, and Kiran and Vael would be there to catch him. But that day wouldn’t be while they were still running.
Vael, may the ancestors ever smile on him, had always been one to lend a gentle hand or a warm embrace in comfort. Kiran and Ryland however, didn’t touch often, not anymore. Not in the daylight, anyway. They’d wrestled plenty growing up before puberty made things awkward for a while and changed the boundaries. But outside the quiet darkness after a nightmare, they mostly kept to themselves. And so it was odd that in this moment she didn’t hesitate to think as she reached around his waist and pulled herself to him for a side hug, resting her head on his shoulder in silent solidarity.
-
Ryland hesitated in accepting. It was deeply familiar and yet still felt unreal to be around the people he trusted most. Trusted enough to not immediately shove away, even if the general instinct was there. Kiran got a separate set of instincts, though, ones that apparently just needed a good dusting. And those instincts were there to let her be comfortable. “...Just so you know,” he said quietly, “if you need to be angry at me still, you can.”
-
“...I do need to be angry,” she said after a bit. “...I just don’t really feel like being angry at you is going to make it better. Sure, maybe you should have tried to get a message to us when you came back North before you were captured, but it wasn’t your fault that you were thrown out in the middle of the night in the first place. That you couldn’t get to us for help. That you were held captive for months. That we were left in the dark, not knowing where or how or even if you were. Knowing what little I do about what you went through, I feel like an ass for being mad at you in the first place. I-” she cut herself off as her voice threatened to give out on her, and breathed. At least from this angle he couldn’t see her face.
“About the only thing I can justify being angry at you for is the absolutely bullshit idea that we wouldn’t help you when you did find your way to us. That you didn’t trust us enough not to leave you behind to deal with this alone. That after being gone for so long we wouldn’t care enough to do everything in our power to see you safe.” She rubbed the back of her free hand across her nose. She was definitely not leaking. It was the cold.
-
“....” Ryland nodded. “...Fair. ...Just...you saw what was after me. And we nearly did get caught...”
-
Kiran sighed, reluctantly. “Yeah. Yeah I did. And if the tables were flipped and there was a way to keep that thing away from you and Vael...no matter how much I’d want you both with me, I can’t say I wouldn’t have tried to get you to stay either. So we come right back around to needing to be mad, I just...can’t really point it at you.”
-
“Yeah, you can. I can take it. ...Do not dare make any ‘thick skin’ jokes,” he mumbled.
-
“You pull that ‘don’t stop, keep up’ crap again today, like there’s any other option?, and I just might change my mind about being mad at you,” she chuckled. It worked, she was only too aware now that she was mostly warm, but the fair and rational part of her brain did not function with a face full of snow.
-
In nearly any other situation, she’d have thought the scales pretty. From her brief gawking, the sheen and color were lovely. But Ryland was definitely not in a place to hear that at the moment.
-
“If I was actually worried you were falling behind, you woulda got it from me.” He smirked as he turned the potatoes. “That was to keep you two awake.”
-
“I accept that as a fully valid tactic.” Kiran finally extracted herself from his side, though she didn’t go far. “It even worked. Yesterday, I learned that I become a feral creature while we’re trudging through the snow. So. I trust you to do what needs done, just... fair warning for when we stop, I suppose.”
-
“You say that like you aren’t feral the majority of the time.” He gave her a snarky glance.
-
“Oh, I’m feral?!” She scoffed a laugh. “You spend half your time in the wilderness with minimal contact to humanity while you’re on assignment. You come home and it takes hours for you to communicate in anything but pointed stares and glances.”
-
“That’s only because everyone is irritating.” His smirk turned to a very satisfied smile.
-
She opened her mouth to counter but...”Y’know, I cant even argue with that...”
-
And that got a short, genuine laugh from Ryland. “And that’s why we put up with each other.”
-
“Wonder what Vael’s excuse is,” Kiran laughed. “Both us specifically and all the people as a whole...
-
“He’s less irritating than we are,” Ryland said matter-of-factly.
-
“Ahh,” Kiran said, as though this were a revelation. “That would do it, yeah. And I suppose he gets practice for everyone else by putting up with us. Well, you anyway. I’m a delight. Snow trudging not withstanding.”
-
“Y’know lying is an irritating trait, right?” Ryland smirked.
-
“Oh, I do. Which is why I should be commended for not pummeling you into the snow with your ‘I’m fine’ crap,” she sighed, something wistful on her face as she settled back from the proximity. “...I missed you, Ry. We missed you. So much.”
-
Ah fuck. Not fair, taking advantage of a well-placed turnabout and an emotional pull... Ryland sighed. “...I know,” he said quietly. He missed them, too. Desperately. And he hated feeling desperate, but he was desperate for them. ...He also missed everything that he wasn’t going to get back. His post, his place, his skin. Occasional nights without nightmares, a world where he was ignorant of Tienja, a life where he never met the queen...
-
Kiran must be feeling sentimental, or maybe ill, because even as the sun was up she reached out to pat his shoulder. A quiet acknowledgment, but no further emotional pressure. And no more bickering or soul baring. There’d been too much of that already today for either of their comfort.
She tucked herself back into her cloak and against the wall of their shelter, determined to get a little more rest while breakfast manifested.
-
Breakfast. Breakfast was a good thing to concentrate on...
When it was ready, he called for Vael, and then put a second round on for eating later. “We only stop today if we absolutely have to,” he reminded them as they broke in.
-
“The fewer stops we take, the sooner we’re out of the snow,” Vael agreed between bites. He would never be mad for potatoes, even if it was the only thing they had, heh. There was still an urgency to get as far south as quickly as they could, but there was also an excitement. How often had they talked about making for Veriki and getting out of the cold? Even if the circumstances weren’t great, it was still a pipe dream that was on the verge of coming true.
And if they were lucky Mother Sky had dropped a ton more snow on the ground behind them.
-
“And the sooner Kiran can trap us some meat,” Ryland added.
-
“… That sounds like an excellent reason to hoof it,” Vael said with a grin. He liked potatoes! But damn, protein sounded good.
-
“We live to serve,” Kiran said, biting into her potato and breathing around the still-too-hot morsel. “May the land be fruitful.”
It wasn’t quite winter, not technically, regardless of what the weather was like at the Fort. With a little luck there’d be evidence of small game near wherever they stopped tonight and they could have meat with breakfast.
“So today we get out of the snow. How much further to Veriki?”
-
“The farmlands start at the foot of the hills. ...Technically, we can get through them and then head north a short ways. Shelter against the cliffs. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about making shelter...”
-
“That sounds like a good plan,” Vael replied with a nod. “Farmland… that’ll be a sight.” He chuckled.
-
Kiran didn’t hide the small smile at the idea of finally seeing more of the world than the walls of the Fort. “Farmland’s good for small game, or so I hear.” It’d be a simple life, but something about settling down and taking care of the basics with these two woke up some sense of peace she hadn’t looked at since they were kids. Not that it would be that simple all told.
-
“It is. Got along alright myself. ...can get a little work from the farmers, too. I just had to wear a scarf around my neck. For ‘sun protection.’“ Ryland snorted.
-
Kiran quirked a brow as she looked him over. She’d always been a little jealous of his work as a scout, impressed by the many skills he’d acquired to survive out there, proud of his well-rounded competence. All jesting aside, he would make someone a fine husband someday, if he could find a wife willing to handle his sometimes long and often perilous absences. This, though, was unexpected. Farming? Something about the fact that he’d just found work down here when he’d been ousted from home was twisting her up inside. She was again proud that when things were rough he’d find a way to pull through; a little sad that he’d figured that out here and without them; and once again oh-so-angry that he’d had to do it at all. “Well look at you, all well-travelled...
-
“Well traveled and sweltering. Definitely the sort of work you don’t want to do with a shirt on.” Ryland was humbly cool and calm about those same abilities. It was what he did. Likely the reason why, even if he hadn’t found a wife, the few times he wanted nightly company he didn’t have much trouble finding it.
-
“Not sure I’d want to do farm work,” Vael said as he considered it, though quite impressed that Ryland had managed! “I don’t mind being dirty, but I’m not sure I’d want to dig around in actual dirt. Nothing wrong with it, mind, but I’d take the heat of a fire over the Sun’s too-watchful gaze.” He chuckled.
-
“You could handle it, Vael,” Ryland said. “It’s boring, but it’s using your hands. Soothing, repetitive. Kiran...” He looked like he was considering a dig. Really, a dig at her would have been perfectly normal. But instead he went with, “she might need something that pushes back. Gives her a challenge.”
-
“Hm… something to consider if the smithy won’t have me, then…”
-
That was...surprisingly astute. Not that Ryland wasn’t observant, often infuriatingly so, just...she wasn’t sure how to take the genuine appraisal. Should she be worried he hadn’t delivered it with a barb? Had she broken something between them this morning? Pushed too hard? Been too soft?
...Maybe he was struggling to re-find their footing too. Life for her and Vael had been more or less the same aside from his absence. Ry had obviously been through some unthinkable trials. It’d make sense to take time to get back into things, but she’d seen glimpses; she had hope things would return to more or less normal between the three of them.
Fucker just better not be saying goodbye with that kind of shit.
“Nooo, thank you. Give me the struggle with another creature over digging any day. You keep us paid; I’ll keep us fed. Ryland’s handling shelter. And we’ll all meet for drinks in the evening to celebrate. We’ll make a great team.” She raised her half-eaten tuber in a toast.
-
He tapped his potato to hers with a smirk. “I’ll ‘eat’ to that,” he replied.
-
Ryland nodded. “Good. Maybe I’ll be able to keep you alive. ...Y’know they worship or...anti-worship death? The Te’ils? They’ll talk to it like it’s a person. Or the sun. ....They’d say something about dodging him.”
-
He quirked a brow. “Really? That…” Oh, hm, he paused to consider that… “That is a fascinating concept…” Death as a person…
-
Well that change of subject didn’t help concern about the scout. “What, like ‘he’s’ just always hunting you?”
-
“....Sort of. If you are cursed, he...Navatoro, I guess they call him...he will actively hunt you. And people like Tienja are supposed to...channel him, I guess.”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
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“...Life is hard enough without making up things to be horrified by,” Kiran shook her head.
-
Ryland stared at his breakfast. “...I wish I made him up...”
-
“… Tienja or Navatoro?” he asked gently.
-
“....Shit. Both.” Ryland snorted. “Maybe if I made Navatoro up I could snuff him out, too....” He sighed...a little too heavily.
-
“…maybe it’d be worth making an appeal,” he noted. “How do they appease this Navatoro?” Maybe if they could appease this force of the Te’ils, his instrument would be appeased as well… If he was following this right.
-
Kiran quirked a brow at Vael. “You’re entertaining this woo-woo nonsense?”
-
“It’s not woo-woo to them,” he pointed out. “And maybe if we can show some amount of respect to their death god, Tienja might find himself satisfied enough with that.” He shrugged slightly. “It’s worth considering, isn’t it?”
-
Ryland looked at the fire. “...” He took a very deep breath as he sank into his thoughts.
-
“Ok, sure, getting in our enemy’s head can’t hurt,” Kiran conceded. “But even if we accept the premise, what’re we gonna do? I mean, if it were any other force to appease, then maybe. But we’re talking about death, right? Asking him not to visit sounds like asking him to not be death. Sounds more disrespectful than running or fighting. Heck, at least if we off this lunatic, death gets...I dunno, fed? He gets a life even if it’s not Ry’s. Bribing death to just go away seems worse to me.”
-
“People die all the time,” he replied. “So do animals, plants - it’s as prolific in its existence as is life. It’s not asking that death be defied, just that death not be directed by someone else over what would otherwise be our natural end.” He shrugged slightly. “If they can appeal to death to take someone sooner than they might otherwise have found their way to the grave, then why can’t we appeal to death to return to that natural path? In theory, death can do as it damn well pleases…”
-
“If death can do as it damn well pleases, isn’t it doing that by setting this Tienja on us? Why would incense and meat or whatever change his mind?”
-
“But Death didn’t set Tienja on us; the Queen did. And maybe that’s the key. Does the Queen have more of a say than Navatoro, god of death? And is Tienja the hand of Navatoro, or the tool of a conceited Queen who believes herself above their death god?” He pointed at her. “Maybe that is the question to ask.” … if the assassin would let them ask anything…
-
“...not a bad point.” Kiran took another bite of her potato, mulling over the possibilities. “Maybe Tienja doesnt have Navatoro’s...i dunno, blessing or influence or whatever. Surely a god wouldnt have just decided not to see us in the storeroom. Hell, maybe Navatoro is already on our side. Do we know how they appease Navatoro? Maybe we send up some thank yous...”
-
“Navatoro isn’t on our side.” Ryland’s voice was dark as he cut in. “He isn’t on the queen’s side. He isn’t on any side. He does what he wants...”
-
“If Navatoro does as he wants, and Tienja is supposed to be some representative of him, then why is he on a fetch quest for a queen…?”
-
“He’s not....” Ryland closed his eyes. Talking about this was dangerous. Things happened when he spoke. Speaking made things feel more real...
But...if it was going to go away, he had to face this and defy it.
Ryland took a deep breath. “Tienja isn’t a representative. He isn’t loved by the spirits. ...He’s...he’s like a slave.”
-
Vael frowned at that. “… How?” he asked. “We’ve witnessed some small amount of what he’s capable of. How is he a slave?”
-
“...is it that tonic you mentioned? They keep him tame with the poppy extract and the booze, then wind him up with a tonic?”
-
Tonic? He’d missed that conversation. He quirked a brow at that.
-
“The tonic makes him a slave to the queen. ...The madness...” Ryland sighed, took a bite of his breakfast, and thought has he chewed. Then he sat up. “They believe their gods choose vessels to do their work for them. Take over. Or talk to them and force them to do their will. They say Tienja is chosen by Navatoro. To...do whatever the shadows command. ...I saw him...a couple of times when the opium was wearing thin and there wasn’t any sport to put him toward. He just looked...broken. ...I don’t know if he was ever a proper man, but whether he ever was or never, the Te’ils think he’s there to channel their death god. And the queen keeps him so she can channel the death god’s will. ....If we can kill him, it would probably be mercy.” Ryland tore off another chunk of potato.
-
Vael frowned at that. “That is… That is monstrous,” he said quietly. Of all the things he thought he’d feel for the mad assassin, pity hadn’t been a guess.
Maybe their next mission needed to be regicide…
-
“Fuck, don’t make me feel bad for the guy who’s chased you ragged for a week, Ry,” Kiran lamented. “Look, your life means more to me than his. If it’s ginna come down to one or the other, it isn’t a choice. ...But if there’s a flicker of something in there when the drugs wear off, maybe we can...I dunno, find a way to lock him up and get him sober? Seems like not sending him back to the Queen is a good idea all around...”
-
“I wonder how long the drugs last,” he noted. “If he did chase us all the way here, it’s at least two days from the fort, but that’s even further from his tribe, right?” And if he didn’t go back after he was chased off…
He sighed. “I agree, I won’t let him take you, or any of us, but… if he could be redirected to save himself, that… that would be the better option.”
Yeah, Vael had a gentle heart. He was fierce when it was needed - or when he was protecting his loved ones - but it wasn’t like he didn’t look for a peaceful solution to most things first…
-
“I can agree to with that.” Ryland clenched his jaw for a moment. “The queen shouldn’t get him back if we get the chance. ....She’s more dangerous than him...”
-
He nodded slightly. “Sounds like it,” he murmured. Then he snorted. “Maybe he’ll decide to use his skills to take out his oppressor.” That would be best all around.
-
Damn, had their mission taken a sharp turn. “If we’re going to consider holding the man captive for a while, we have to stay out of his reach long enough to get settled into a place to do that,” she sighed. “Nevermind that capturing him in the first place will be a feat of its own.”
-
“...First let’s get safe,” Ryland said firmly. “I might be crazy, but I’m not suicidal.”
-
“Good to know!” He chuckled softly. It was a relief to hear that confirmation though, even if he wasn’t entirely cognizant of why. “I support this plan.”
-
“Good.” Ryland finished his potato and wiped his gloves on his pants. “And if you behave maybe I’ll tell you about the nice gods.”
-
“Ohhh, story time with Ryland?” Kiran grinned. “It’s been a long while since you’ve regaled us with tales of your adventures...”
-
“… I would be okay with this,” he replied with a chuckle. “I am admittedly curious of their beliefs.” More so now that be knew a little…
-
Ryland snorted softly. “...Yeah. Maybe later. The good ones. They’re...not all horrific. So I’m told.” He smirked softly at Vael. “They got one who has the sun as his shield.”
-
“What!” He laughed at that. “As a shield? That- how?!” Oh he was already tickled, but also intrigued!
-
“His name is Sun’Ra. God of justice. ....Which, y’know, I’m questioning how good he is at his job.” Ryland rolled his eyes. “But yeah. He....uses the sun to blind the wicked or something.” He started putting the fire out as he spoke.
-
“Okay, that makes more sense than as a literal shield,” he replied with a chuckle. How could any of them be good at their jobs? How did they manage to not be distracted by this or that thing happening? Or would that be why injustice happened in one place and not another…?
-
“It’s weird. And my Te’iltic is rough. ....Better than it used to be,” he mumbled, “but still.”
-
Kiran was more than happy to listen to them discuss this weirdness. She didn’t have to believe in the Kiel’s gods to accept that belief as a driving factor for the major players in their situation.
And she couldn’t deny how much of a relief it was to see Vael light up about this, now that Ryland was back. He’d always been buoyant. Spirits take her, the pressure that optimism had put on her to bottle her anger was not insubstantial, even if inadvertant. But the weight of the grief and worry in his cousin’s absence was there, if one knew where to look; and Kiran most certainly knew where to look.
-
“You should teach us,” he suggested. One never knew when such a skill might come in handy. If they had to stay on the move, maybe they’d run into neutral - or, ancestors preserve him, friendly - Kiels at some point. Being able to communicate wouldn’t be the worst thing.
-
Ryland secured his hood as he looked at Vael. “You wanna learn?”
-
“Can’t hurt,” Kiran shrugged into her pack and adjusted her cloak. “Maybe all of this’ll make more sense in their language.” And if it so happened that she was able to do more business that way, so much the better.
-
“I absolutely want to learn,” he replied. “… I still hope we won’t always be enemies, but even if so, it would be advantageous to know. Especially as they seem to also be learning Kyarian.” They’d heard the assassin use it.
-
“Welp, first lesson.” Ryland stood up. ““Tyck.’ Good for when you’re pissed off or if either of you see a man with a big dick.” He smirked and headed outside.
-
Vael laughed. Oh this would be the fun way to learn!
-
“Tyck,” Kiran tried out the new phrase with a nod before following him out. Always was nice to have new swears!
-
And it was great to practice while collapsing their shelter! Perhaps language lessons would keep them moving today, heh!
-
And so the day’s journey began! Ryland was more prone to looking back than yesterday. It was hard to believe they’d get away so easily. ...Not impossible. The winds had done more than their job, and Tienja had to get safe from the fort before he could go after them, right? Still...it felt easy. So it also felt wrong.
But they did make it. The hills were snowy on the way up, but on cresting them, they looked down on...a land of green below, and further out, a stretch of blue so wide it faded into the burning colors of the setting sun...
-
“Oh… look at that,” Vael breathed in awe as they looked across the land. “I’ve never seen the ground so green.” The Sun’s hand was definitely upon this place more than it was back home. The Snow had claimed the north for herself, but the Sun’s reach was still far.
-
“Oh, wow,” Kiran whispered in awe. “That...the blue just keeps going...” She’d never seen anything so expansive but snow...
-
“Yeah...” Even Ryland couldn’t help but be impressed. He’d come when it was mostly golden. All that green... And seeing the ocean from that vantage again... “...Makes you wonder why our idiot families stay up north.”
-
“...and why we didn’t leave sooner,” Kiran agreed. Maybe if they had, they could have avoided all of this weird...
-
“Well… we’re here now,” he said with a smile. “And all the more grateful to leave the snow behind.” At least for a while. All respect for the Snow, especially since she seemed to have helped in their escape, but it would be nice to be away from the cold her embrace brought with it.
-
“That, my friend, is so very true,” Kiran stretched ad surveyed the land below as well as their remaining sunlight. “Plans for shelter tonight?” She didn’t see anything she recognized as natural shelter, and they’d left the snow too far behind to build another cave, and it hadn’t been dense enough for a few hours anyway.
-
“There are caves in the cliffs.” Ryland started them walking again. “If we hang around left halfway down, there are paths that should take us to them.” He looked around for people that obviously wouldn’t be there, and then pulled his hood down, bunching it so it would still cover his neck.
-
“Sounds like a plan. Hah, sleeping in a cave! What a thought.” This was an actual, proper adventure at this point! He fell into step behind Ryland, content to greet the warmth as they stepped fully across that threshold!
-
They had to pause to get torches together before it got too dark. And soon they were near enough the ocean that it permeated the air around them. When they managed to find a cave - one that had been slept in before, if the remains of of a fire pit were to be believed - they were treated to the sounds of the waves that were just beyond.
-
That....oh Kiran could get used to that. Far more soothing than the whistling of wind through the Fort. “Can’t complain for not having to build shelter for the night,” she said, setting down her pack and stretching. “Watch should be easier, too. Only the one side to approach from really.
-
“Oh, listen to those waves,” Vael sighed. “I am looking forward to formally meeting the Ocean.” He chuckled as he set his bag down. “Do we still have wood, or will we need to finish off our hide and fabric sources?”
-
“We have enough to burn for dinner, which should be enough.” Ryland fumbled with the clasp of his cloak, uneager to take it off. Except he knew it would get too warm...
-
“I’ll get it started then,” he said. He was already too warm in his many layers, but he hadn’t scales to worry about showing off should he strip a few off…
-
Ryland took a deep breath, then removed his cloak and set it aside. What he really took his time with was his gloves... When they finally did come off, it was plain he’d shown them the more transformed hand, but the other also had two silver nails and a few scales.
-
Kiran couldn’t help watching, but she did try not to stare. Her back had been turned when he’d shown Vael his hands. She hadn’t been ready to look further then. But now? If Ryland wasn’t so horrified by them, if the scales hadn’t already cost him so much, strange or no, they’d be beautiful. As it was, their aesthetic value, the way they managed to accent and compliment his deft hands, only made it easier to resent them. If they were going to destroy his life, they could at least have the decency to be hideous. Maybe with more time, as they otherwise recovered a sense of normalcy, that resentment would fade.
“We’ll find you some lighter gloves when we get to Veriki,” she said quietly. “No point in you being miserable.” She had to imagine someone favored a thin, breathable material in the summers down here. Leather and hide would always be warm, but she was skilled with a needle. Even if they couldn’t find gloves, if they could find a suitable fabric, she’d whip some up herself.
-
Ryland pinched his lips. Then he nodded. “Yeah. ....Maybe a lighter shirt, too. If it doesn’t cost us everything we have.” He tossed the gloves aside, then massaged his hands as he sighed. “....You didn’t at least find an undershirt or something, did you....?”
-
“If I have any luck catching food, we’ll get you clothes and Vael bindings first thing,” Kiran affirmed. The could save costs and share a single room in an inn. Wouldn’t be any more cramped than the snow caves had been, and they’d long chased off the awkward of the three of them sharing a room.
“One of these should have some to fit you, damn tree that you are...” She rifled through the closest pack to see which clothes she’d ended up with. She’d packed the bags all the same otherwise, didn’t want them all entirely ‘tyck’ed if they had to lose a pack on the run, but had lost track of which sizes were where on their trek.
-
“Is he a tree because his shoulders are broad or because you’re short?” Vael murmured with a smirk as he coaxed his baby flame to light.
-
She had found an undershirt, though sitting in storage underground hadn’t done it any favors.
Ryland nodded. “...Good enough.” He undid the ties that kept his current shirt closed at the neck. “Spent enough time being shirtless. Sorry to disappoint.”
-
“I may never recover,” Kiran deadpanned.
-
“We’ll pick a very nice place to bury you.” He smirked briefly before he removed his shirt. ...There were a couple scales along his collarbone. Some down his sternum. A few red patches of skin near those areas and dotted elsewhere. Neither of them had long to look before he grabbed the undershirt and put it on...but that left his elbows and the back of his upper arms exposed, as well as his neck were he to turn around. He then sat down to remove his boots a bit sullenly.
-
They had progressed quite a bit, hadn’t they? He should be able to find something for those red patches, now that they were in a greener area. He’d yet make a salve for the itch…
-
Hoooo, there were a lot more of them than she’d realized at first. ...it really was unfair that they caused him so much grief.
...Moon and Stars, was she ogling? Ryland?? She should have taken that damn hunter up on his offer of companionship.
She brought her attention deliberately back to the places where the skin was clearly irritated. “How much have you’ve been picking at them?”
-
Good question. It had to be worse, with his nails becoming so sharp. Maybe they could find a file…
-
“.....I try not to,” he grumbled. “They do bleed. I’m not stupid...”
-
“You’re many things, Ry, but never stupid,” Kiran assured. No matter how many times she accused him otherwise. Empty insults were the safe ones to throw around, after all.
That they bled was perhaps more surprising than it should have been. They were well and truly embedded then.
-
“We’ll take the time to make a salve tomorrow,” he said aloud. “Now that we have plants to work with. Is it just itching, or is there pain as well?” That would determine whether he just sought for soothing or also looked for a way to numb the skin a bit…
-
“…Only before the skin dies falls off.” Veiled anger was the only way he was getting through talking about his condition. “Y’know. Like it does.”
-
He reached a hand out to Ryland’s shoulder, the touch gentle. Would that he could take the burden from him… But as he could not, he would do what he could to soothe the skin. Content the fire was catching, he eased himself to take a seat next to his cousin.
-
Ryland sighed. “I don’t want pity.” He wasn’t snapping, just…warning.
-
“Never,” he assured. “But sympathy for the discomfort.” Maybe they could spring for a bath… The soothing herbs could be added to the water.
One step at a time. Reach Veriki and find work.
-
Ryland nodded. “…All I know about them is that you can’t pull them off. And they…do at least protect your back pretty damn well….”
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“What, like armor?” That was curious. And fortuitous, considering an assassin was after him.
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“Yeah. They….they at least have use….”
-
Kiran’s chest seized at the idea that he’d discovered as much the hard way. That he could have been struck down and they’d never have known...
“...small favors.”
She finally decided to sit across from the men round the fire. Night or no, Ryland didn’t respond much better to sympathy than to pity. One of them was enough, and Vael was the smoother choice anyway...
-
“Yeah.” Ryland sighed. “…Fuck it, think we can get food first thing?” He dragged over the bag with their remaining tubers and dumped it onto the cave floor. They could each have four if they ate it all. And damned if he wasn’t hungry…
-
“Probably,” he said, reaching for his purse. “I hadn’t taken the time to put my last payment in my money box before heading to the tavern.” And they never did pay for their drinks, heh. He wasn’t going to just leave coin lying around, though, so it’d gone into his purse for the time being. He handed the bag to Ryland.
-
“Oh good…” Ryland looked inside. “Yeah… If we can get some staples that we can travel with, that’ll be a good start. Maybe bread.” Oh. Oh he’d made the mistake of thinking about fresh bread…. His stomach immediately growled.
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Kiran grinned, her own stomach echoing not far behind. “Cheese?” She asked, like they just had money to throw around.
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“…….If you can. A little cheese.” They could all use the fat, frankly. And he missed cheese… “But butter or lard would be smarter.”
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“Ugh, butter, please,” Vael replied with a chuckle. “Better flavor.”
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“I will concede to butter, for now,” Kiran sighed. “Soon as we get established though...”
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“Right.” Ryland got to roasting. “….I am taking my shift tonight.”
-
“I’ll even let you pick first or second. Vael should stick with third shift.” Kiran nodded. He seemed hale enough today, and she’d hardly complain for the extra sleep. She was no stranger to labor, tanning being what it was, but she had definitely not done this much walking--let alone trudging--basically ever.
-
“Thank you,” the incorrigible morning person conceded with a smirk.
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“I’ll take second,” Ryland said. “I’ll make you take second when you decide to piss me off.”
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Kiran quirked an eyebrow. “Vael, I’m not sure if that was a challenge or a threat...”
-
“Both, Kiran. It was both.” He laughed.