Short chapter :) Lot's of stuff, thou!
...
Loss
...
Long brown lashes fluttered. Lupine eyes opened slowly; the green irises thin around dilated and unfocused pupils.
The world was a soup of color and blinding light. The air was heavy; it carried the weight of the Snowflake Mountains.
And there was pain.
Pain in every nerve, in every thread, in every bone, in every beat of the heart. Pain; pain in every last remaining scar.
No. No, please. Please, take me, please do not leave me here. Please do not make me face another dawn without her.
Soft fingers caressed gently over his hair. They had been there for some time; but he hadn't felt them. Again and again they stroked. They had a comb. Here and there they paused; here and there they worked out a knot. How long must that have taken them, to get his hair to lie relatively untangled? When was the last time a woman had combed his hair? His stomach churned. Tears brimmed along his eyes.
It's over. Isn't it over? Please take me; I am ready to go.
The comb paused, and the fingers separated a very small amount of hair into three divisions. Each was gently and meticulously straightened; and then the fingers began to twine them together.
Why did the half-ogre's sword not pierce my breast as I finished him? Why was she there? Why would she not let me pass?
The fingers finished the braid and started on another. He trembled, his breath rough with pain. So much pain. A hand returned to soothe him, petting over his hair and shoulder. A warm body sat beside his; a hip and leg making contact with his back.
I promised her. I promised I would look after her. Her and her sister. Tears dripped down his face. Do not abandon me to this alone, Night hunter! Please... please, I know not how to- how to-
The hands upon him were not oblivious to his wakefulness, or his pain. He heard soft breath nearby as someone leaned over to observe. The hands rested uncertainly upon his skin. Then- with the hesitance of a child- fingertips slowly drifted up the scars and the side of his neck, and slipped up against the backside of his upturned ear. His eyes closed to slits.
It was I that turned aside Tazok's sword. It was I that... Not yet... I can't... I won't... go yet...
The touch trace gingerly along the back and edge of his ear, as if afraid of hurting him. He might have chuckled; there were only the ghosts of pain left anymore, and little of a real living thing left to hurt. And yet... and yet he felt it. He felt the pain. But he felt the touch, sending soothing whispers out through his body.
Help me. I have to keep... Please teach me. Please help me quell this, if only for a short while. W-what must I do? What need is there left of me?
Suddenly, with rich clarity, Kivan thought of the drow.
Above her he saw Shevarash's eternal mortal enemy: he saw Araushnee, elfin goddess of destiny, with webs spidering over her body as her skin darkened from brown to black and her hair spiraled white; as the rivers ran red; as she became the betrayer of the elven race, and descended as the demon Queen, Lolth.
He thought of the cleric, the drow, Viconia; with her yellow hood framing her haughty smirk, and the glimmer of her infravision blazing out from the depths of her soulless red eyes. His fingers clenched slightly, and his teeth grit tightly together.
I will give you her heart.
His fingers loosened. His jaw relaxed. Aegis was usually rough and coarse; encompassing and bold in everything she did. But the touch against his ear was so delicate it almost tickled. Up and down the fingertips traced, each caress singing along his nerves in soothing tremors. The pain was becoming easier; and for awhile perhaps he dozed.
The hands had left his ear and returned to braiding. He was more cognizant, and the old ghosts of scar pain had receded. His ribs were presently damaged; he realized. And his fingers ached; what was left of them. But these were not intolerable. Slowly he tuned in to the sounds of breathing, and the feeling of the braiding.
And then suddenly he realized something was very amiss. The woman beside him-
It's not mellon'nin?
It had never been. Thinking back, he was sure he had not felt the aura of Death nearby; it wasn't Aegis. Fingers were too soft, and too slender; but it was also not Imoen for the same reason it was not Aegis. Who else would touch him? So intimately? Not Jaheira. Branwen knew better, and was neither gentle. Which other woman might braid his hair? Xan might if he were particularly worried.
Kivan rolled sharply onto his back and into the leg of the woman beside him.
Sitting there, her black fingers still caught in his hair and her crimson eyes widening in alarm, was Viconia.
...
A number of people woke up to the sounds of shouting. Xzar propped himself up on both hands, blinking slowly. Aegis mumbled something dazedly in either Auld Thari or whatever ancient language had served as the base for Zhentarim Argot. Shar-Teel rolled over. Ajantis had scrambled upright and out of his sleeping bag before he was even fully conscious, and had his scabbard in one hand and his sword in the other.
"V-viconia!" Dynaheir sputtered in alarm, crawling out of her blankets and stumbling to her feet. "Aegis!"
"Aegis!" Ajantis shouted simultaneously, and Xzar clambered off of her just in time for the ranger to leap dazedly to her feet. Minsc was also getting up; and so was Khalid.
Ajantis had dropped his sword and scabbard at his pack and rushed forward bare-handed. There was a splash. Aegis blinked sleepily."Gods damn it!" she sputtered. Then she bolted forward when she realized that Viconia and Kivan were in an unarmed grapple, they had just wrestled one another into the central fountain. "He's going to try to drown her!"
"Or the other way around!" Ajantis exclaimed, horrified. He already had a good lead on them.
"His hands are maimed!" Dynaheir shouted in reminder to them.
Ajantis skid to a halt by the fountain just as Kivan snarled and Viconia surged out of water, gasping in air and grabbing furiously at the wild elf's neck. He hissed at her, grabbing at her head and attempting to shove a thumb through one of her eyes.
"Break free of him!" Ajantis shouted, clambering into the fountain
Viconia was coughing out water. It was a surprisingly deep pool. "I'm- trying! A-Ahh-Aj-AJANTIS!"
There was nothing which could get a paladin moving faster than a damsel in distress; and Ajantis grabbed hold of Kivan's arm and twisted the wrist outward just in time to spare Viconia a gruesomely efficient blinding. "Let GO of her!" he commanded angrilly
Kivan turned a vicious glare on him, his eyes flaming green. Someone had combed out his hair; and braids of elvish fashion had been woven into it. "You are a paladin!" Kivan shouted in a raspy bellow. "She is an evil god's cleric! Do you want to fall from Helm's grace!?"
Ajantis floundered backwards a step in surprise. Kivan immediately threw his weight back into Viconia; but the cleric had been ready for such a move. She kicked out at his leg as he surged forward, and with a scream she had reversed their positions and had the leverage of being on top. Kivan snatched and grabbed for purchase against her throat and shoulders, but with his hands so wounded he could barely put up a proper fight in such a position.
Viconia had nearly had one of her eyes pulped into its own socket, and she was in no merciful mood. With a rush of adrenaline, she brought her closed fist down on the elf, and struck him full across the face. She hit so hard she stumbled slightly, but when Kivan tried to throw her off again she clung to her-position with a grit-toothed and vicious fury.
"Viconia!" Ajantis exclaimed, sloshing back towards them. "Back off!" What a time for Kelddath's Sirines to be absent from the sanctum, busy as they were tending to him after Branwen's healing! Those few acolytes who remained were stunned over what to do.
She lifted a hand to strike at the struggling elf again. Ajantis floundered forward to grab at her arm. Viconia saw him coming. She screamed again, releasing Kivan and throwing both her elbow and her weight into the paladin's solar plexus. Ajantis went down with a sharp and unvoiced release of air, splashing under the water.
Kivan scrambled backwards, regaining his footing. Viconia threw herself at him. Kivan whirled her into the water. Viconia hauled him down with her and kicked off the ground. They both went under the surface; but she was the one who got on top. Her fingers grabbed tightly at his throat, her white hair drifting up in a mane about her. They struggled, kicking at the ground and writhing.
Dynaheir and Khalid skid to a halt as they reached the fountain; but Aegis and Minsc vaulted straight in. The rangers seized hold of Ajantis first, grabbing hold of the paladin's arms and pulling him up out of the water.
Ajantis, who had inhaled water and nearly suffocated, had nevertheless stayed conscious. He choked out a rush of fluid and blood, grabbing feebly at the rangers' shoulders. Minsc gave him a thunderous pat upon the back.
"Kivan!" Aegis shouted. "Minsc, hold him!" She tried to pull free, but Ajantis collapsed and so she was rendered momentarily trapped by trying to keep him upright. "Khalid- Dyn-!"
"I-I-!"
Viconia surfaced with a coughing gasp near the edge of the fountain. She grimaced and then, with a shriek of anger, she heaved Kivan back up out of the water, and shoved the Wild Elf face-first onto the fountain edge.
The fluid-filled intake of air he made was music to Aegis' ears. Then he was coughing painfully over the side of the fountain, water coming up from his nose and mouth as he held feebly to the ledge.
"Kivan!" Aegis exclaimed as Khalid reached forward to grasp the wild elf's shoulders and absolutely did not let him go free. Ajantis was managing to stand. Dynaheir was making eye contact with Viconia, who had stood upright in the fountain behind Kivan and whom was glaring at his head. The drow's whole body was quivering with rage. Aegis hurriedly tried to slosh over. "Kivan!"
The wild elf seemed to finally take note that Aegis was calling for him, because his head perked up at the sound of her voice. Still breathing heavily past moisture, he turned to try and catch sight of their leader. The person he saw first was Viconia. His teeth grit together.
The drow screamed. She didn't scream a word; she just belted out an inarticulate sound of rage at him and threw out her arms as if inviting another attack.
The wild elf stared at her. Dynaheir took in a slow, relieved breath.
Viconia stomped a foot closer to him, and she screamed again, her face flushed with anger and frustration.
"Viconia!" Aegis shouted, reaching the drow's side and grabbing her shoulder. "Back off! You're alright? Leave it!"
Viconia spat. "Oh! Oh I'll leave it!" she shrieked. "I should have left it!" Aegis was confused what she meant, but the drow quickly sloshed to the side of the pool a good yard away from Kivan and floundered out over the edge. She grabbed at her hair with fingers like claws, as if she could barely contain herself. Then with another angry sound, she stalked away from the pool and tried to get far away from anyone who might speak to her.
Xzar and Pretzels both swiveled their heads to follow her as they passed. Ajantis gaped. Shar-Teel pulled her pillow over her head and shouted something muffled about 'trying to sleep!' The three or four acolytes in the chamber looked somewhat violated.
Aegis stumbled up to Kivan and hooked an arm around his waist that she might pull him out of the water. Khalid helped her, and then Kivan slumped to the ground at the fountain's side as he tried to catch his breath.
When they were all out of the fountain, and Ajantis and Kivan were no longer hacking up fluid, Aegis abruptly broke out laughing. It was a very inappropriate time to laugh; but then Aegis was starting to build up a repertoire for laughing at such times. Again. Kivan peeled open his eyes to look at her, and she saw he had quite the lovely purple bruise forming over one. She smiled down at the Wild Elf, and then crouched down close to him.
"Good Morning, Kivan," was what she said. Exhaustion was settling back into all of them.
He didn't say anything for a moment, his chest still rising and falling heavily. Then an equally inappropriate smirk slipped over his face, and he closed his eyes and tilted his head back against the fountain. Somehow, Aegis being present helped keep back the deluge of agonizing thoughts. "Where are we?" he rasped weakly.
"The Song of the Morning, in Beregost," she told him as an acolyte hurried up and offered healing to Ajantis.
"H-how did I get here?"
"Ae-aegis carried you the w-whole way," Khalid informed him. As Aegis suspected, he did not at all mind that she'd nicked his clothing.
Kivan's memories slipped back together. He lifted his head a little and peered at them. "Branwen?" He was a little afraid.
"Branwen and Xan were both alright last time I checked," Aegis supplied. She glanced to the acolyte, who nodded.
That relieved him. He looked around to make sure everyone else was accounted for. His eyes widened. "Imoen?"
"She's safe, too," Aegis waved tiredly. "They're coming in behind us. Worked out anyway; we didn't have enough horses."
Kivan sagged his weight back into the fountain and nodded. "I... I left her side. I left her," he admitted in a guilty whisper.
"She's safe," Aegis repeated. "So are you, for that matter, although you just soaked everyone's only clean clothing. What happened?"
Kivan was quiet a moment, grimacing as if in pain. Then he shook his head and admitted in an uncharacteristically confused voice: "I don't know."
Aegis raised a brow but then yawned in exhaustion and straightened. Kivan wasn't hysterical; honestly, that was good enough for her. Some wordless understanding suggested he wouldn't be jumping the drow on her return. "Well can... can someone go talk to Viconia to make sure-" she yawned again and rubbed her face, "-she's okay, then?"
Dynaheir nodded. "I will do this," she volunteered, and then when no one disagreed she hurried off after the drow. Aegis waved wordlessly at Minsc to suggest he should follow at a respectful distance; and he somehow managed to interpret the gesture correctly despite extensive exhaustion and without referencing a hamster, which was fairly impressive. He hopped off after the two women.
"You okay, Ajantis?" she asked of the squire, who had just finished paying the acolyte both for services rendered and a bit extra for the disturbance. "You went down pretty hard." She didn't mention the religious stuff Kivan had shouted at him.
Ajantis placed a hand on his hip and ran another through his hair, turning quite a bit of thought towards the question. Then he lifted his head and gave Aegis a tolerant and even slightly amused expression.
"I am starting to wonder if they hit me because they know I can take it," he drawled with surprisingly good humor. "And through doing so, redirect energy that would be disastrous elsewhere. Well, much as I shall endeavor not to martyr myself to their immature outbursts in the future, I am actually fine. I'll speak with Viconia when she's calmer."
Kivan glanced at the knight, but said nothing. Aegis just nodded and decided that, when she had more brainpower, she'd give some thought on how to better help or accommodate the knight-squire. He'd turned out to be a surprisingly robust party mainstay for a holy man sandwiched between two homicidal and emotionally unstable women. "The hells time is it?" she asked after a moment, offering an arm down to Kivan. They grasped each other at the forearm, and she hauled him to his feet.
"I'd wager about four in the afternoon," Xzar decided, hopping up to where they were assembled. "We may wish to head into Beregost before it gets dark." Then he looked at Kivan. "As for you, I must ask that you please refrain from kissing my girlfriend at any and all available points in the future. Elf or not, it leaves me incredibly confused."
The wild elf blinked in surprise. Then a purplish color rose up in his cheeks, and his eyes widened slightly.
"Well you can kiss her on the forehead," Xzar thought after a moment. "That's cute, I suppose. Or the cheek, that's fine too." His eyes sharpened. "But nowhere else! All those other places are mine! Mine, do you hear!? Mine! Yes. Hmph. Ahem. Well." He sniffed and waved a hand. "Do we have an understanding, then?"
Kivan grunted an affirmative.
...
The Jovial Juggler had become the party's inn; and while an argument could be made that it might be prudent to turn in at Feldepost's or the Burning Wizard while the party was so beaten up and a bandit camp had just been burned, Aegis wanted to get the news to Officer Vai of the Flaming Fist. No one wanted to blunder about between multiple inns with night coming at such an exhausting time.
Aegis stood in front of Vai for several moments, blinking. Vai looked at her expectantly. "Hold on. Words will come to me, I'm sure they will," Aegis assured her.
"We burned the bandit camp," Xzar supplied helpfully, his eyes half-lidded.
"Tazok's dead," Kivan agreed, weaving slightly. His energy from earlier had dissipated, and he looked ready to pass out again. Vai looked to them both sharply, and then back up at Aegis.
"Right! That!" Aegis agreed. "We found the bandit camp and razed it. Tazok the half-ogre is dead, Khosann the Black Talon leader is dead, and we drove off the Chill leader."
Vai's eyes widened appreciatively.
"He left on a dimensional rift riding a giant flaming hell horse," Aegis recalled. "But he said something about not being paid enough, shouted 'retreat,' and then there weren't many bandits left standing at that point anyway. Right?"
"Yeah. I'm covered in the rest of them," Shar-Teel croaked from nearby, shuffling up beside her leader. The fightress was in a state of incredible dishevelment; limed in blood and gore and with her hair tousled up like a hag's mane. She looked miserable, or as if she was suffering from an incredibly painful hangover, but what she said was: "Fucking great night."
Ajantis came up behind them. "Officer, Aegis, I'd be happy to conduct the debriefing over a cup of coffee in a minute." Then he looked to Shar-Teel, and produced a key he'd just retrieved from the innkeeper. "But first, I want to make sure she doesn't pass out on the stairs." The fightress muttered something inarticulate and rude, and didn't protest as the paladin took her shoulder and made to steer her shuffling up to her room.
"My appreciation for paladins has been going up lately," Aegis decided, trying to figure out how Ajantis managed to remain good-looking and put-together when all the rest of them looked like disasters. Then she remembered that Ajantis hadn't been doing stupid things like charging into enemy lines screaming he was death come for them with two bodkins lodged in his lungs.
"I-I- w-will h-help d-debrief h-her, Aegis," Khalid offered, already looking alert even after such a short rest. "B-but I will w-wait for Sir Ilvarstarr for, eh, o-obvious r-reasons. K-kivan, you look exhausted. W-would you like to share acc-comodations?"
The wild elf looked briefly at Aegis, and then grunted and let the half-elf tug him off. Khalid was supportive and said very little; he could tell Kivan was barely holding himself together.
"I love everyone," Aegis decided with a happy sigh, as somehow her job had just covered itself.
"Delegation!" Xzar giggled, taking her hand and tugging her gently along.
Vai watched them leave, still silent, an incredulous expression pasted immobile upon her face.
"Did they just say they broke up the bandits?" someone exclaimed, stumbling out of their chair.
...
The tavern was in an excited uproar by the time Minsc, Dynaheir, and Viconia reached it. This was fortunate, as Viconia had no illusions cast upon her and was reliant entirely on her yellow hood to keep her safe. Ajantis and Khalid had finished delivering their rendition of events, and Ajantis excused himself to join the drow. He reached out and touched her arm but Viconia, surprisingly, recoiled from him. "Don't touch me," she snapped. "Just show me where Shar-Teel's rooming, male, and leave me be!"
Ajantis straightened, confused. Had Viconia not screamed for his help when Kivan was attempting to gouge her eye out? And had he not helped her? What was the reason for this cold shoulder? Did she feel guilty for striking him? That seemed unlikely. Was she angry he'd attempted to drag her off of Kivan? That also didn't seem to make any sense.
Well, perhaps he would let her get a solid night of rest and, if the problem still persisted, he might ask Dynaheir for advice. Shar-Teel and Viconia were natural roommates anyway, especially when too exhausted to cause trouble. "Very well," he submitted, and gestured that she should lead the way upstairs. Viconia scowled, tugging her hood down farther and then pushing her way through the crowd. Ajantis pursued.
Once upon a time, he had tried to float the argument that it was inappropriate for non-married persons of opposite genders to share rooms with one another. He'd been completely ignored, much to his chagrin. But months later, he had come to understand his fellows' reasoning: Adventuring was stressful and emotionally draining work. Who slept next to who wasn't quite as important as making sure everyone slept soundly and felt safe.
As they reached the top of the staircase, Ajantis wasn't entirely certain how he felt about losing his volatile roommate. He gave her the second key to Shar-Teel's room, and gestured to the correct number. Viconia entered. Before she could shut the door, he stepped into the threshold and held it open with his foot.
"Viconia?"
"What!?" she hissed, tearing her cloak from her shoulders and throwing it over the empty cot's headboard and sloughing off her pack. "I am exhausted, fool! Leave me to sleep!"
"I wanted to ask if you knew what a Kissmoot was," he told her.
"A what!?" she snapped, grabbing hold of her tunic and hauling it off viciously, hoping to drive him from the room with the threat of nakedness. Ajantis just looked politely down and away from her.
"The Kiss of the Lady," he clarified. "It's a ceremony. Have you ever heard of it?"
"What are you babbling about!? No! Now leave me alone!"
A smile rose to glow over his face then, and it was as if a hundred pounds had been lifted from his shoulders. "I didn't think so," he said quietly. "Sleep well, Viconia."
...
She came in quietly, and tried to make no sound; but he was awake on his cot. He had decided to pray before bed, and she'd chosen to enter only a minute after he'd finished. He listened as she made her way over to the bed, and to the sounds of her cloak and pack reaching the floor. The mattress rustled as she sat down on the bed.
She climbed in under the blankets, and tried to make herself comfortable.
Ajantis smiled to himself, and tried to sleep.
Her voice came across quietly; as if testing to see if he was awake: "Ajantis, what is a Kissmoot?"
He collected his thoughts. Be careful. Don't belittle her. "The stuff of nightmares. With gory details grizzled old men tell to young folk to scare the wits out of them on long autumn nights."
She shifted and huffed slightly. "Why did you ask me about them?"
"Kissmotes are rare and infamous ceremonies conducted by forces of evil and chaos. Nights of slaughter and acts of gross spiritual perversion."
"And?"
"They are Sharite ceremonies."
Dead silence stretched between them.
"I realized you had come into your faith alone, and so I thought maybe-"
"-and you thought what? Do you suppose me soft and gentle because I do not know about these surfacer rituals? You are going to be very sorely disappointed, jaluk. I am just as ruthless as any-"
"-as Lolth?" he pressed.
"You know nothing. Nothing. Do not speak of Lolth when all you have ever heard is stories."
"Viconia, I just-"
"You what? You wish to hope I am not truly 'that bad,' is that it?"
He frowned. "I do not think you are," he pointed out. "I have seen you tend to those who are wounded, and-"
"You stupid, stupid boy," she accused, her voice dropping into a full, low, and vicious tone that he had never before heard from her. "You want to hear of slaughter, boy?
"Let me tell you of slaughter! I have murdered countless of my own people, from ruthless matrons to quavering children; all in the name of power and glory. I have been to the surface and raided your world beneath black moons, and crushed the bodies of the elderly and the weak, and dragged those valuable as slaves back to the underdark in chains. I have tortured men to the brink of madness or else to sadism; I have fed them screaming to spiders and goblins; I have ravaged their bodies with poisons and screamed out the name of my goddess as I finally delivered their souls unto the abyss."
Ajanatis rolled over, sitting up slightly and staring at his roommate with wide eyes. She was turned away from him.
"You want to hear of spiritual perversion?" she spat. "When I ascended to the role of one of Lolth's High Priestesses, I stood nude before an enclave my sisters and their favorite and most attractive male prisoners. I summoned into our chambers a great and powerful yugoloth from the depths of the demonweb pits. And as incense rolled over the chamber, and my sisters sunk to the pillows in a great and bloody orgy, I copulated with the yugoloth at the head of the ceremony, and I screamed in lust and joy and agony for the love of my goddess."
The man gaped at her, his face drained of all color, his expression utterly slack.
"Do you not realize how old I am!? Do you not realize what I have done with my life, or what being drow means!? Speak not of Lolth to me, paladin! Ask me not of Sharran rites and presume my naivety makes me innocent! You know nothing- you are a silly, innocent boy scarcely out from behind your mentor's shield! You are no true knight; merely a lowly squire; and you know nothing of the world or its cruelties. You know nothing of evil!
"You. Know. Nothing!"