A/N: Take this as an addition of sorts to Edér's character arc. It's mostly fluffy snippets with a huge chunk of fluff in Acts III and IV. I hope you enjoy, and comments are always appreciated!
Act I
At first, he watched her because no one else was dumb enough to show such interest in the tree. Even glancing at it drew the loving attentions of Raedric's boot lickers, which was why he spent his time contemplating old Swithin swaying in the breeze. The old bastard could have let him take the fall, given that he would be next to dance the hempen jig. Should have, maybe.
Besides, she was much easier on the eyes.
The newcomer stared at the dwarven animancer's corpse, soft lips slightly parted. Bad idea doing that round here. Too many flies. He refilled his pipe twice before she finally blinked, rolling her neck and kneading it. Her nervous elf friend was on her in a second, and whatever she said made his eyebrows try to meet his hairline. He pulled her away from the tree quickly, shooting a glance at Urgeat.
Edér watched her approach with no attempt to disguise his interest. She looked away, then let her gaze dart back towards him before he caught it and held it.
"Seventeen and a half," he said with a smirk.
It didn't take him long to gather his belongings. He had been prepared for this day for years. Funny that most of what he had was from the war. Scale armour. Sabre. Shield.
He had to be crazy. But there was something earnest about her, and she had to be telling the truth. No one joked about Watchers these days.
Maybe both of them would get some answers in Caed Nua.
He pulled the door to his house shut for the last time and locked it out of habit. Don't know when he'd be back. If ever.
"That was a big sigh." She sounded sympathetic.
"Yeah. It's, ah, been a long time coming."
"Leaving, you mean?" She laughed at the look on his face. She had one of those easy smiles that wrapped right round her face, eyes dancing with glee. "Sorry. I couldn't help myself."
"Mmhmm. Come on, Nineteen."
"I thought I was Twenty-two." She looked more amused than annoyed.
"Nah. Watchers aren't real popular round here, remember?"
"Well, we've got a unanimous vote to leave right now before we all get hung or lynched." She grinned at Aloth, who smiled ruefully. "Come on. Let's go get some fresh air."
He was all too aware of her presence by his side. Had to be; she kept stopping dead in her tracks. Aloth very quickly learned to keep his distance.
As always, she was staring at...not much, as far he could tell. The Black Meadow was exactly that; didn't have anything besides burnt grass and the occasional set of dragon bones.
"You know, we agreed to not let you pick the sights when we went sightseeing."
She didn't seem to hear him, but a moment later, her skinny shoulders rose in an expressive shrug. "I didn't actually agree, you know." The smile she threw him was mischievous.
"Cease your mewling, Eothasian," the priest growled. His bulging eyes ran the length of her frame as he leered. "You'll see worse sights than the Watcher. Maybe you'll see her after she's been put to the flame, no different from the burnt out husk of your god. Will your cock still smoulder for her then?"
Edér opened his mouth but she lifted a hand. "How strange that you fear the fire more than any of us," she said softly.
She hooked her thumbs through the straps of her pack and walked away as Durance spat on the ground. The priest still trailed behind, all of them silent as the Watcher led them on.
He couldn't look at her without thinking about Maerwald, baggy-eyed and mad.
Bad way to go. Explained a lot about how there was something off about her. He thought about it as they camped in the ruin while the eastern barbican was being repaired. The black hound nosed at his hand and he scratched the old girl's chin. She stared at him with soulful brown eyes while he in turn watched the Watcher talk to Kana, arms folded and chewing her lip.
She looked up at his approach, expression strangely apprehensive until the dog licked her hand and she smiled.
They wandered the grounds, pointing out mice scurrying busily. She made vague promises to bring a cat or three to Caed Nua. A good old ginger tabby, with cucumber green eyes. Perhaps a fancy calico. He opined that she should get at least one that wouldn't bully the black hound.
He asked her to come with him to the archives in Defiance Bay. She agreed easily. They both knew she needed his shield (there were more than a few dents in the larder door that had been meant for her head), but she never asked him to stay.
She didn't seem like the type who asked for much.
And he owed her.
He wasn't surprised to see her when he opened the door. He had left them at the inn, pointing out that he would rather sleep in his own bed while they were in Gilded Vale.
"Hey." She looked up at him with guileless dark eyes. "Can I come in?"
He stood aside to let her through. She made a beeline for the fire, sighing in contentment as she rubbed her hands together vigorously to warm them.
"Is this where you grew up?" The question was gentle.
"Yeah. Looks a bit different now. We didn't have a floor back then. Was a good idea when you had Woden and me in the house. This one time, he tried to prove to me that candle wax didn't get used up when it was burned. Would have set the house on fire if it wasn't just a dirt floor." He made a face. "Could have been worse. Wanted to show it to me in the temple of Eothas but chickened out at the last second."
"I can't imagine that would have impressed your parents."
"Nah. They got used to it, having two boys." He exhaled slowly. "Really should go see them, when all this is done. Dunno what I'd tell them about all this."
"I'm sorry about the priests." She touched his arm briefly. "I hope they find peace in their next lives."
"Yeah. I hope so too. They were good people. No one should die like that." He tilted his head to look at her. "You don't have to worry about me. You did the right thing. Gave him a second chance. I think Eothas would have approved, if he could. Dunno if I could have done what you did, but it was the right thing."
The set of her shoulders relaxed. "I'm glad. I just wanted to make sure you were all right."
He shrugged. "As good as it gets. At least I can be in the Gilded Vale without feeling a tickle round my neck. The townies are good with you for now. But Raedric won't like what you're doing here. He's not real keen on giving people hope." He looked sideways at her. "You're good at that, Nineteen."
She grimaced. "May as well get a good dinner in before Raedric decides to make us swing. Tenfrith promised to whip up something special. And then if you want to stay with us at the inn, there's nice fresh sheets, but they've only got the big room for us. Given the choice, I'm not sure that I would choose to share a room with Durance either."
He looked around the dusty house. "We'll see. Always was more comfortable in my own bed."
"I do miss that," she admitted. "It would be nice to have somewhere to call home again."
"Yeah. This—this isn't home anymore. Hasn't been for a while." Not without his parents and Woden bustling about, joking as they got ready for dinner. His mother always found chores for them. Kept them out of trouble, she said. Him and Woden still managed to steal tasters from the stewpot, earning raps on the knuckles with a wooden ladle. Their father would look up from where he was smoking his pipe and shake his head. Should know better than to mess with your ma.
It never was this quiet at home. He'd spent too many evenings like this in the past years, when the only thing that broke the silence was the cracking fire.
She laid a cool hand on his forearm, her pretty face all soft and sad. She was far from home—or maybe she too didn't have a home anymore. "Let's go."
He doused the fire before they left, and figured he'd be too lazy to relight it for just himself later. He might not want to endure the priest snoring, but maybe a wink or two at Pasca might make a few changes here and there. The Watcher might be diplomatic, but she didn't know how to use her natural charms to get what she wanted.
"If it doesn't get cleaned, it's going to get infected, and then you'll be stuffed." She folded her arms when he arched an eyebrow. "I'll do it. I'm not a mad priest of Magran, so you can't object."
"Don't usually mind when a pretty lady wants me to take my shirt off, but I'm fine." She glowered, scrunching her button nose. Laughing at her made him cough painfully.
"Intact skin does not ooze blood. And your armour is in bad shape, which logically would imply that you are in bad shape." Another scale clinked onto the flagstones as he shifted his weight, leaning against the wall.
"Fine, fine. Only for you, Nineteen." He peeled his scale armour off with difficulty, grunting with the effort, and let it fall to the floor. The padded shirt underneath came off sticky with blood. She dragged a chair over for him to sit in, close to her bandages and a copper basin filled with boiled water. He couldn't help but wince as she cleaned the gash.
He didn't have to see her face to know that she was smiling. "It's all right to show that you're in pain, you know. And I wish you'd let me get Nedmar or one of the other priests. I'm not the best with this."
"Nah." He gritted his teeth. "Don't think they're too pleased about us killing Raedric, even if we did get rid of that necromancer."
He swore when she pressed firmly on the wound. "Sorry. Got to stop the bleeding. It could be worse, for what it's worth." She looked up at him. "There are cipher techniques to block pain. I'll check the library here, but I doubt they'd allow such blasphemy."
He laughed weakly as she bound the wound. "Suppose not. I'll be all right." He stood gingerly and she dug through the cupboards before handing him a clean shirt, turning her back while he struggled into it. "Had you pegged as someone who liked to get involved. Told ya that maybe I wasn't Nineteen after all."
She threw her hands up. "Fine, fine. Get some rest, Twenty. We'll get Tuatanu to have a look at your armour when we head back to the Gilded Vale. I'll have another look at the wound in a few days. Do let me know if you feel like you're dying before then."