Fireworks [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczN7jxRmlilhnWHaSTrt-ycBbClC4fgoMsfu2YCQ-yeIHBk6REZv5GxAgZRd4fosubRyF5u8GQR89B12DHmjxeIRmxEkaiPT8McS6ycEZngDdw9HFo_YtzfebOhRGu2wLunoJVj7e-U2S24y_f4Uqbm_=w613-h919-s-no-gm?authuser=0]
Patricia wasn’t sure how to feel about walking in to retrieve her niece only to find her in the arms of the man she had begged to leave them the day before. Nor did she know how to respond to the pile of furry tails all over the six people in said niece’s bed of cloudy nebula.
Saiya was snuggled into Dazien’s side with Presley lying with every tiny limb stretched as far out as they could go between the voxen and Wayfarer. Rayna was almost as bad as the child as she lay horizontally across the others’ feet, loudly snoring away.
She found herself wondering if this was how they normally slept when out on the tundra, spending days, if not weeks at a time, on the road or in the wilder parts. She had never thought to ask or see how Uriel’s [Fortress of Solitude] worked for them.
Patricia cleared her throat to try to gently wake one of them, but nobody stirred. Her eyes narrowed at the snoring toddler in the middle, and quietly asked, “Do Emanations even sleep? I know Obsidian Casters don’t, which leads me to believe your originator doesn’t either.”
“I can sleep!” Presley said, promptly sitting up in the bed, and causing every other Caster to start awake, “But vessel sends a signal message to wake me up!”
“Gods, Presley! I almost punched you!” Rayna said in annoyance at the sudden alarm.
The child giggled and then quickly looked contrite as she said, “Sorry, Ray-ray.”
“Rayna?” Phoenix asked in confusion, wild curls going in every direction, “When did you arrive?”
“Only like an hour ago if that weird clock on the non-wall is right,” the bard murmured, rubbing sleep from her eyes, “Should have told me we were doing a slumber fest.”
Dazien rolled his eyes, “It wasn’t exactly planned. Presley tried to drag me in here pantsless because Phoenix had a nightmare.”
“Not appropriate, Presley,” Patricia scolded, “I’ve told you that just walking into people’s rooms unannounced was a violation of privacy; even between family.”
“Auntie Pati said emergencies were okay!” the child retorted, standing up in the bed, “It was an emergency!”
Phoenix covered her face with both hands as she grumbled, “You’re making me sound like I’m five and incapable of surviving a bad dream.”
Uriel chuckled softly from beside the Wayfarer as he sat up and said, “Most five-year-olds don’t suffer the same traumas we do, Princess. Jacob said we shouldn’t be ashamed of our struggles, remember? I’m sure he’s told you that by now.”
“Yeah,” Phoenix replied with a yawn and stretch, “I have another session with him today too. Yours is tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah,” he confirmed as the group started to vacate the large nebula that served as a bed, shrinking in width as the bodies decreased.
“When are we going back out on the tundra?” Rayna asked, “I’m assuming we’re still taking the monster hunting missions, yeah?”
“That’s actually what I came to discuss with you all,” Patricia interjected, “Though I wasn’t expecting to find you all… like this.”
Saiya frowned at her and stated, “It wasn’t anything to disapprove of. As Dazien said, we were comforting a friend struggling with a nightmare.”
She gave a relenting sigh and tilted her head in acknowledgment, “I understand that now, but that was not the impression I got when I arrived. Technically, you are all old enough to make your own choices in who you sleep with but I do want to remind you of the social implications around that choice. Especially you two now,” Pati added, pointing between Phoenix and Dazien.
Then she waved her hand in the air, dismissing the topic, “But that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I know it’s short notice, but the day after tomorrow, we will be holding Dazien’s Noble Reveal.”
There was a beat of silence before Dazien surprised her by saying, “Is now really the best time for that? I mean, I’m honored to have one, but the blood moon is–”
“Still likely months from being over. We had Phoenix’s during it, and we will have yours as well.”
Phoenix spoke up next, more in confusion than objection, “But Paul won’t be able to–”
“You, as Regent, will be taking his place during it,” she preemptively answered.
That caused the Wayfarer to blanch as she practically begged, “Please, no. I barely managed to walk across that room and talk with strangers because Paul was there to support me! There’s no way I can do the same thing for Daze!”
The gemite chuckled, “I think it’s going to be more like me taking Paul’s place in that regard.”
Patricia smiled, “True. Phoenix will just need to walk with you across the room and sit up on the dais for a bit while making niceties with the other nobles.”
She turned to the voxen twins and added, “You ladies are, of course, invited to attend again as well. I expect there may even be more visiting nobles in attendance this time as it will be both a chance for them to get closer to the Gods’ Chosen and an opportunity to see the World Tree since we will be holding it here.”
“Here?” Phoenix repeated in surprise.
Dazien, however, didn’t seem to take the redirection she had offered as he fixed his gaze on her, crossing his arms over his chest, and asked, “What about Uriel? Are you going to force him to stay away?”
She looked between the two men, suddenly wondering if she had miscalculated Uriel’s concern for his partner and friend and instead revealed what she had suggested earlier. Perhaps the mage didn’t care if his secrets destroyed them.
As her eyes lingered on Uriel, her question unspoken, the man subtly shook his head in response. She relaxed slightly, hoping he was merely looking for the right time to follow her advice, and she said, “He is not a noble. Both of you were not invited to Phoenix’s reveal, not as any personal slight but simply tradition. You understood this before, Dazien.”
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The gemite looked away in obvious annoyance, “I understood, but that doesn’t mean I support such an outdated tradition. It is an important life event, and I want the people who are important to me to be there to celebrate with me.”
“It is an event for the sake of the aristocracy, Dazien, not for you personally,” she tried to point out, “We will celebrate you as a family, with friends in attendance later. This, however, is to show the other Houses who their newest peer and potential rival is. It is politics, pure and simple.”
“That’s still no reason to keep Uriel–”
“It’s fine, Daze,” the cinderen interrupted, walking over to calm the slightly younger man, “I’ll just hang out in your room and read. Enjoy the fact that I’m not in Phoenix’s shoes,” he added with a smirk.
“Thanks,” the Wayfarer said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, “Enjoy reading while I die from anxiety causing my heart to simply stop working.”
Uriel chuckled, “That’s one way to get out of the party.”
“That’s not funny,” Patricia chided the pair, “You shouldn’t joke so lightly about dying like that.”
The room oddly went still at that as all five party members turned to stare at her in a mixture of surprise and confusion. That caused her to become confused in return, “What? I know some people like dark humor like that sometimes, but we’ve lost too many people recently for me to find it funny.”
“It’s not,” Phoenix said, “Sorry, I mean, I joke like that a lot of times. It kinda helps break the tension, but I didn’t mean to make death seem so trivial. I understand most people don’t come back from it.”
“Nobody comes back from it, Phoenix,” Pati stressed, suddenly uncertain about the full extent of the Wayfarer’s magical education, “You know there is no magic that can bring back the dead, right?”
“Right, sorry, I knew that.”
The priestess shook her head sadly as she said, “If there was, I think the world might riot for that power,” she glanced at each one of them as she said, “I know I would if it meant bringing any of you back should you fall while protecting the rest of us from monsters. I understand it’s a risk worth taking, but I never want to have to go through another memorial for one of you or any of my family.”
“We don’t want that either,” Dazien replied softly.
Patricia nodded and gave a smile, “Good. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make things so solemn. I know the news I brought wasn’t exactly the best, but it’s one night of uncomfortable politeness, and then you can proudly say to people that you are Dazien Wayland now.”
She gave an indulgent look towards Rayna, “The day after that, you all can return to Tulimeir to get your next mission with the AOA,” then she nodded towards Saiya, “And see if there are any temple quests for an Acolyte needing to be done. I’m not entirely sure what duties you have committed to with the Traveler yet.”
Saiya glanced towards the others, “Well, they gave me some reading materials while I’m busy with AOA missions, but it will be a good chance to check-in. Though I may do that today while Phoenix is meeting with Priest Jacob.”
“Ah, well… Sounds good,” Patricia said, “I guess I’ll let you all go now; just don’t be late for the party, please.”
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Uriel knew that Pati refusing to let him attend the Noble Reveal was likely not an attack on him directly, but it still stung. It was another reminder that he didn’t belong beside the people who both shone so brightly, figuratively and literally.
The longer he thought about Patricia’s words, the more he found himself agreeing. He knew he didn’t deserve to be with them. He had caused his parents’ deaths, he didn’t want to be the death of this new family as well. Despite Priest Jacob’s and Dazien’s continual denial of it, the fact remained that he was a family-murdering monster that could only promise destruction.
He had been debating for quite a long time now to just come clean with Phoenix about his secrets. The first time he had mustered the courage was in a spur-of-the-moment decision when they were alone in the rooftop garden of the Wayland estate right after Paul had fallen into an indefinite slumber.
Uriel had wanted to warn her that people had a good reason to fear him. That he would only bring cataclysm wherever he tread. He had been interrupted, though, by the goddess Champion. He hadn’t been entirely sure what to make of the divine timing of that but had definitely lost his nerve to bring it up again.
The second time was when Phoenix had called him her ‘best friend,’ which both thrilled and terrified him. It made him realize just how close they had gotten and just how much more devastating his inevitable betrayal would be. He couldn’t justify not telling her and agreeing to her notion that they were best friends.
Patricia had given him another option to consider, and he wasn’t sure which betrayal would be worse for Phoenix –the weight of his secrets or his abandonment for her own good.
Dazien knew his secrets already, and he had watched them cause nothing but strife for the gemite over the years. Forcing the Defender, who hated lies, to keep his secrets out of a sense of duty to protect him. Burdening his partner with the truth and his own fears.
How much worse would it be when Daze would enter the spotlight of nobility in a mere three days? Would people dig into the gemite’s past and current affairs? Would they dig into him and use his secrets as a point of leverage?
Only a handful of people in the entire city knew exactly what he was, which was likely the only reason he had managed to live in relative obscurity so far. His partner becoming much more important could change that, however. Abyss, maybe others already knew from digging into Phoenix and her party members.
He clenched his fist in frustration. They would be leaving for Tulimeir shortly, and now would be a better time than most to finally tell her.
Then she could go complain about his betrayal to Priest Jacob, who was one of those few people who knew everything about him. Perhaps Jacob could help explain why he had to keep it a secret and why it was better if she stayed away from him…
“I’m going to tell her,” he said aloud in an attempt to convince himself.
Uriel took a shaky breath and then knocked on the bedroom door that now had the simpler label of “Sister Phoenix” upon it.
“Come in,” the Wayfarer responded from within. He opened the door to peek inside at the bright cosmos of a room. She smiled warmly at him and waved him over, “Oh, hey! I was just finishing adding some things to my room. Come look at this.”
He shut the door behind him and made his way over to the little moon alcove to look at what she was holding. It was a picture of all of them passed out asleep in her bed this morning.
“Turns out Presley has visuals everywhere, which was nice to get this picture, but I’m going to need to have a talk with Pati about ensuring some privacy measures, I think…”
Uriel swallowed, recalling why he had scrambled to get clothes on in the middle of the night, and said tightly, “Please do, and make sure to destroy anything already captured.”
She laughed, “Yeah, I’ll make sure the showers and baths are off limits too,” the Wayfarer added, placing the picture on the carved-out desk before turning to ask, “So what’s up?”
“I wanted to talk with you about something important before Dazien’s reveal,” he began carefully.
“Is it to not trip and fall on my face, dragging Dazien down with me?” she asked with a chuckle, taking his hand to lead him over to the sitting area and selecting a nebula sofa to sit on across from the miniature sun providing warmth in addition to the light.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine in Lord Wayland’s stead,” he tried to reassure.
Phoenix gave a sigh, curling her knees up to her chest as she looked up at him, admitting quietly, “I wish I could just wear a mask so no one can see how nervous I am.”
“I could help with that,” a powerful feminine voice said from the chair off to their left and the divine aura that washed over them had the pair tense at the arrival of yet another goddess.