Archives: Search for Azala
Chapter 17: Evening at the Inn of the Conjuress
The savage warrior was still waiting at the front gates, long after the sun had set. He had informed the guards what he was waiting for, so they paid him no mind. Conversation had been lacking, and he’d witnessed one shift change already. His companions’ fates worried him. Had they been in battle? Were they hurt? Did they fail? For all his concerns, he waited patiently, keeping a sharp eye on the horizon.
Luria slipped out of the inn at some point while the others were drinking and making merry. She loved to do those things herself, but ever since the trouble with all of Azala’s children springing up, it seemed that the others were distant. Sairina had to worry about Seri, Kitsa was concerned with Orion, and everyone else seemed to be brother and sister. Luria had never had any siblings and was feeling more than a little excluded. They hadn’t even seemed particularly worried about bringing Phaeton back. Seri was definitely preoccupied and Estas had completely forgotten about him in all of the commotion, most likely.
Luria noticed the guards grow a great deal more attentive as she approached. She quickly shuffled past them, oblivious to their leering, and latched onto Phaeton, pulling at his arm. “Come on, let’s go back now!” she said in a hurry. “Seri almost had her baby but then she didn’t and all the others came back and there was this crazy woman who pinned Estas to a table and Sairina didn’t have any shoes and—and—” she had to stop after nearly hyperventilating.
Phaeton wasn’t given much of an opportunity to react to Luria, as he was already on his feet and being dragged along by the arm. His dark cheeks blushed darkly at the closeness. He was so surprised that he couldn’t quite make out what she was saying. The words he was looking for—“the others came back”—was in there, but the mention of Seri and her baby also caught Phaeton’s attention, “Lady Seri had her baby?” he asked, obviously missing a part of that.
Luria shook her head and took a deep breath. She stopped dragging Phaeton and began walking at a normal pace. “I’m sorry, it’s been such a night, I got excited,” she said. “Seri went into false labor. I don’t really know what was going on—I don’t know much about that stuff, even Sairina didn’t. So she and Estas went to get a midwife. The midwife gave her something to put off the labor, but she isn’t doing too well.” She went on to explain the rest of the situation--how Lanir was wounded, and how they acquired a new volatile guest.
Phaeton followed along with Luria, taking in everything the half-elf had to say. At least Air was safe, but he was worried about this troublesome new half-elf that came with her, and Seri’s health. The two combined wouldn’t bode well. Luria and Phaeton returned to the inn, but Phaeton only wanted sleep. He had eaten while on his watch, so dinner was not necessary. As the entered the common room, Phaeton looked longingly towards the stairs. “I will retire for the evening,” he said, then lifted Luria’s hand to kiss her knuckles, though he would have preferred a real good night kiss. “I will see you in the morning.”
Luria’s face flushed completely red. “Th-th-that’s good!” she stammered. “See you later!” She waved her hand sporadically and stumbled off in completely the wrong direction before realizing that their beds were upstairs, nearly knocking over a disgruntled bar maid who was cleaning up for the night. “Sorry! Sorry!” she whimpered and turned back towards the stairs.
Phaeton watched Luria go upstairs with a slight smile on his face. Her awkward reaction seemed to reveal that maybe she was beginning to return his affections. With a lightened heart, Phaeton retired upstairs to his room as well.
* * *
After spending an hour talking and drinking with Air and Lanir, the normally teetotaler Y’ezela was quite drunk. “So Air...if you’d been a boy...what’dyer name be?” she said with a giggle. “Would you be like...Earth or Fire...or Water?”
Air drunkenly giggled. “It’d prolly be Earth ‘r Fire. May ‘haps it’d be Air still...I dunno.” She leaned across the table and poked her half-sister’s breast. “Yer so small there...it’s like a little pair of ‘ills on an o’er wise flat plain. ‘ow’re you supposed to attract a manling-thing with them small titters?”
Y’ezela gave an exaggerated pout, then poked Air back in the chest. “They’re no bigger then yers, and you don’t have a problem wif men!” Y’ezela replied.
Air pouted. “I like my titters fine!” she announced. “An’ I ‘ave more than enough trouble wit’ the male faction. Too much trouble. Ain’t worth it, I say. Men ‘re trouble. Oh yeah!” She said suddenly remembered earlier in the night’s conversations. “You an’ Lannie-boy ‘re childhood buds, aren’t ya? You sayin’ you two never wanted to grind hips ‘efore you knew?”
Lanir coughed uncomfortably at that. Sure, he had been attracted to Y’ezela, but when he found out she was his sister, those feelings had to die. The last few days had been awkward, but now he felt as if those feelings were on their way out. “We only knew each other for a few years in Raiden,” he replied. “Then we met again a couple weeks ago.”
Y’ezela blushed as darkly as possible when Air asked, but with her inhibitions lowered by alcohol, she had an answer for Air, “Well, he’s a good looking guy, but I dun wanna do that with my brother!”
“Lies and blashphemy!” Air slurred. “I see the way you two look at ‘ch other. Bruddah and sistah ‘side yer two are internested in each udder.”
“Noooo!” Y’ezela groaned. “If he wasn’t my brudder then mebbe, but he is, so it’s outta the question!” The half-elf bard took a drink of her mead as punctuation.
Lanir coughed intentionally at Y’ezela’s comments. Neither of them had spoken openly about their feelings for each other before they knew, but they didn’t need to say much. Both of them realized there had been an attraction, but Y’ezela was right, there could be nothing now that they knew. He didn’t want to talk about it though.
“I think I’ll be going to bed. Don’t stay up too late you two,” Lanir said, then stood and began to walk to the stairs.
“Psh,” Air grunted. “I’ll do whate’er I damn well ple—” the rest of her sentence was broken off by her head hitting the table in a dead sleep.
Hearing Air pass out again, Lanir sighed; it wasn’t good for her. The half-elf turned around to collect his sister, though he was a little grateful that he could. Last night, Orion had swooped in to take care of her instead of him, without giving him the chance to complain. Of course, it wasn’t as if he really spoke up on the subject...
Lanir knelt down and lifted Air out of her chair, then hefted her in his arms. At least she wasn’t too heavy, but he wasn’t the strongest of men. “Ez, will you lead me to your room?” he said, slightly strained.
“There she goes again!” Y’ezela giggled drunkenly when Air passed out. “She di’n’t eat again.” The bard tried to move as gracefully as usual as she stood from her chair, but she found her sense of balance wasn’t all there and she staggered to her feet. Giggling again at her own clumsiness, Y’ezela swayed and staggered to the stairs, leading Lanir along. “This’sway,” she slurred.
Lanir wasn’t nearly as drunk as either of the girls, and he watched Y’ezela with concern, hoping she too wouldn’t pass out. Instead, she only staggered her way upstairs, occasionally running into a wall, and finally led Lanir and Air to the room they had been assigned. After Y’ezela opened the door for him, Lanir hurried in to lay Air on one of the beds. “I’ll umm... leave her to you,” Lanir said to Y’ezela, then stepped out. “Good night! And sleep well, you need it.”
“Wait Lannie!” Y’ezela said, catching up to him just outside the door. To keep her balance, she leaned against the wall as he stopped in front of her. She felt like she had to get something off her chest, and it just seemed like it wasn’t so hard to say now. Maybe it was just the mead talking, though. “Joo know...” Y’ezela started with a slur and a shrug of her shoulders. “Air’z right... I did wanna...you know... But that’s in the past now that we know we’re brudder ‘n sister, right? We jus need ta get on wit our lives, yeah?”
Lanir blushed at how bluntly she put it, though it wasn’t exactly blunt to the average person. He really didn’t want to bring it up, but here it was, out in the open. “Yeah, it’s out of the question now,” he replied. “Honestly, I’m starting to get over it. It was just a crush.” It was true, though the feelings were still in the distant reaches of his mind. He’d be over her soon enough though...but he’d probably always feel a little jealous for anyone she did chose.
“Good!” Y’ezela said with a big, drunken grin. “Any girl that gets you is lucky! An’ I’ll be there fer the wedding, and it’ll be PERFECT!” The bard threw her arms around Lanir, hugging him in an entirely platonic, fraternal way—at least, the best she could manage.
Lanir blushed as Y’ezela suddenly hugged him, but he couldn’t wait to be away from the drunken honesty. He hugged her back, then said goodnight, hurrying her off to bed. Once she shut the door, he breathed a sigh of relief and went to join Phaeton in the room they were sharing yet again.
* * *
Kitsa had spent as much time as possible soaking in a hot bath. Sairina had been in the room with her for part of the time, but Kitsa didn’t care to be social, and neither did she, apparently. There were no impending births, everyone was safe at the inn, and the looming threat of a sandstorm was a day away. She pushed all concerns from her mind and let them seep into the water. The only thoughts that pervaded her mind were those of Orion.
It was nearly an hour before she realized that her water was no longer warm, but she felt invigorated. After drying off and dressing again, she left the bath to find Orion, but he was no where to be seen in the common room. Instead of wasting her time searching the entire inn, she asked a barmaid if she had seen him. Apparently he had gone outside, and Kitsa hopped he hadn’t gone far.
Stepping out of the inn, she didn’t have to search far; he was standing against the wall, looking at the sky. “Are you enjoying the view?” she asked. Glancing toward the sky, she noted how much clearer it seemed in the desert than other places she had been. She also noticed the glowing ring around the moon, a sign of bad weather that she knew of. That must have been what alerted Valkyria to the coming sandstorm; Kitsa hadn’t bothered to look at it when they were out here earlier.
“It has been a long time since I have taken the time to look. I had almost forgotten what the stars looked like.” Orion’s eyes dropped to ahead of him, to the nearly empty street. The occasional passerby was all there was. All of the families had closed up in their homes, comfortable with their loved ones. Fathers and mothers with their sons and daughters. Beneath every star was the life of a person, he had once been told. Their fates were intertwined somehow. Never did he feel more real as a person than when he looked to the nighttime sky.
Orion finally turned to Kitsa. “You look vibrant. Did your bath refresh you?”
Kitsa smiled a little at the comment about looking vibrant. “Yes, it was relaxing,” she replied. The quarter-elf sidled up alongside Orion and wrapped her arm around his. She had been spending the time thinking mostly of him, and now she only wanted to be closer. She wanted to forget about the job for now, while their employers slept. “Perhaps you should take one as well. It would be good for you,” she suggested. And I’ll join, a more mischievous side of her thought.
“Perhaps I will.” Orion intermingled his fingers with hers. The simple sensation of her smooth skin satisfied him. Despite her closeness, he looked down, not at her. Something strange came over him. It was a peculiar sensation, an emotion the likes of which he did not recognize. It was a pain. It was an ache for him to speak everything that ran through his mind, fantasies of running away from adventuring, finding a place where they felt comfortable, living a life away from killing and conflict--things he had never wanted before. But the things of which he thought were far too early. Nothing would have pleased him more to speak, but he knew better than to.
“You are right.” The best thing, it seemed, was to wash all of it away. To soak away the blood, sand, and sweat. “I will get that bath tonight.” Perhaps it will soothe my pain for a time. “But I would delay anything if only to spend a moment under the stars in your presence.”
Kitsa blushed at his romantic words again, and gripped his hand in return. I should let him have his peace. It is too soon for that, she thought. “As you wish,” she said softly. Laying her head on his shoulder, she looked up to the stars and began her own musings on what the future might hold for them...
He needed nothing else but this moment. It was not the passion, the lust, that he cared for. It was the most simple of things: a touch, a sound, a warmth. The chords struck in him were done with the most subtle of hands. And they came together to play a melody unlike even Ento might be able to make.
Orion had had his fill of the stars. While Kitsa looked up, he looked down to her. With a careful, steady hand, he drew her hair back behind her ear. “What do you see?”
Kitsa was about to point out a constellation, but he was looking at her. Was he even thinking about stars now? Kitsa turned her attention to Orion, then asked, “What do you mean?”
Orion smiled softly. “Every person sees something a little different when they look to the evening sky. I once knew a man who...” Orion looked up to the stars, his heart aching in sadness, “well, he saw the life of a person in every star. He said that everyone had their own star to watch over them.” Orion pointed to a bright star, perfectly white. “That was his. And mine was next to him, faded behind his.” Orion looked back to Kitsa. He had the oddest expression, a gentle ripple of pain underneath his compassion for her. He didn’t mention the part where he was supposed to stay with Orion for the rest of their lives.
“There is a magic about them. Their light reaches us and we remember each other. I think there was some truth to his words. Now, what do you see?”
The quarter elf smiled softly at Orion’s story, though it was sympathetic as well, seeing the pain in his eyes. Whoever his friend was must have meant a lot to him. Returning her gaze up to the sky, Kitsa thought. “My mother’s culture believes that under which star you were born under determines who you are and what your future holds,” Kitsa replied, after a moment. “I do not know if people believe the same things on Lodoss, but my father never believed it as seriously as my mother.”
She began to scan the stars for her constellation, but it was much further to the north here on Lodoss than in the Azarns. “There,” she said, pointing to a faint constellation in the northern sky, if one looked hard enough, the form of a bird in flight could be made out. “That is the Albatross, the star I was born under. My mother told me that those born under that star were restless and adventurous, and that it was of the Fire element. They are destined to never settle in one place. Well...there are many other aspects, but I don’t remember it all. My father always told me that my desire to adventure was from him, not the stars, because I was much like him.”
Orion’s concept was much better than hers, she thought, and much more personal. The Azarnian astrology was much too broad for her tastes, even if what she did recall resonated with her personality. She was always more inclined toward her father’s beliefs anyway.
“And do you believe it, that the stars hold sway over your fate and your adventurous spirit?” Orion asked softly. “Are such things in the hands of these lights?”
“I am inclined to agree with my father, though I do not require much of those teachings...” she replied. With a soft smile, she wrapped her arm around Orion’s waist and moved around in front of him. “I would rather believe that when I chose, I may settle down to spend the rest of my life with someone, and have a family,” Kitsa said, clearly implying who that someone may be by the blush on her cheeks. “I do not wish to have the stars determine my fate.”
Orion smiled. “I am glad, then, for I cannot imagine waging war against the stars if only to see you free to choose how you shall live.”
Kitsa returned Orion’s smile, then leaned in to kiss the elf lightly. Kitsa then laid her head against his chest and glanced up toward the the stars. “I much prefer your friend’s idea about the stars,” she said. “Perhaps you could chose one for me?”
“A star has been there forever for you,” Orion replied. His hands slid to her hips and pulled her in front of him. “All you must do is find it. Now close your eyes...” When she did, Orion pulled her hand aloft, up towards the sky. “Now follow your heart. Let it guide your finger until you feel something and want to stop at that feeling...” Orion smiled, wrapping his free arm around her waist to hold her close.
Kitsa couldn’t keep from smiling as she felt him holding her. Though she was hoping to see what he might pick for her, this exercise was just as enjoyable. With her eyes closed, Kitsa’s pointed finger traveled across the sky. She relaxed, allowing herself to feel something that would tell her to stop. Her hand slowly crossed the stars until she finally felt like she had found a good spot in what her sense of direction told her was the northeastern sky.
The quarter-elf opened her eyes to see a bright cluster of stars in the dusty band of stars that encircled the skies of Forcelia. One near the bottom of the cluster was where her finger had fallen. “There,” she said. Seeing the grouping, she was reminded of her goal in coming to Lodoss; finding family. There were about seven stars all together, though she didn’t bother to count each one. “Perhaps that is my family,” she mused with a small smile. “My father, my mother, all the family I have yet to met...and even those I will never meet.”
Orion’s lips curled softly. “Look close and memorize it. Just as you will move through life, so too will your star move through the sky. And while you will never lose the ones around you in one form or another, never again will you, or your star, stand in the same exact spot, or moment, as you do now.” Orion too looked up at its tiny brilliance. He would not forget its place.
A light breeze blew down the way, picking up a bit of dust on the empty thoroughfare. “It seems as though a chill is growing. Shall we return inside?”
Orion’s words lifted Kitsa’s heart; he spoke so beautifully about the stars, and aside from that, he had opened up so much to her in these few moments. “We should,” she replied softly, but first, she wanted to show him how what he said made her feel. Kitsa turned around in his arms, then pressed her lips to his.
So enraptured was the silver elf that he did not ever expect them to ever move from their own spot, despite his own suggestion. At first, he was surprised. But as a wave of what must have been love overtook him, his arms pulled her tight and returned every bit to her in a passion that he could never remember having before. Time held no sway over this moment under the stars and never would its passing wear away the memory of it. Without a thought in his mind, Orion was sure of this. He needed no thoughts to know the gentle caress of Kitsa.
He let their lips part ways naturally. The air between his and hers was an exquisite cold, both thrilling and painful. The words kept echoing in his mind: “Never again will you be in this same place, in this exact moment...” He was too right. Already, it was over. The moment passed. But Orion wouldn’t let that go. Instead of breaking away to go inside, he stumbled forward and took her back into a kiss again, just as powerful. And it lasted.
They broke again. He took a breath, unable to formulate thoughts on the lusty desires he was not aware he was capable of. Orion’s eyes never left her. “I’m sorry... but one did not seem... adequate...”
Her heart pounding in her chest that rose and fell with her heavy, impassioned breath, Kitsa held onto Orion, her arms around his neck, and one leg wrapped around his. “You are right,” she replied with a smile. She wanted more, but was Orion ready for that? The quarter-elf reached up to stroke his cheek, then run her fingers through his silvery hair, simply enjoying being this close. The chill of desert night was getting to her though, and her hair was still damp from her bath. “We should go in,” she said, pulling away, though she took his hand and began to draw him toward the door.
Orion nodded and took her hand to lead Kitsa inside. “To catch a cold in a desert would be quite embarrassing, wouldn’t it?”
