A/N: *puts a shield around herself* Hello, readers! Please don't kill me? I'm a bad person, and I don't really have a reason for not updating before this (is university a valid reason? You should see the number of reports I have to write) but I haven't abandoned the story, not by a long shot. I lose faith in my writing skills quite a bit (which then makes me wonder why I decided to write something of this scale) but I'm persevering. And all of the reviews that for the first two chapters have made it all better! (Review responses will be at the bottom of the page).
This isn't a chapter; well, the first section is more or less a short continuation from the end of chapter 2, and the second part is a section that for some reason I couldn't appropriately fit in to chapter 3 (which is in the making).
So here is my peace offering. I hope you enjoy it =)
Tanya sighed and her lips pressed in to a straight line as Rothen finished telling her that there was an immediate Meet being held in the Guild Hall.
"And after you had just sat down for a meal, as well," the servant murmured disapprovingly. She placed the covers back on top of the dishes. "And you barely touched your sumi..."
"I will eat as soon as the Meet ends," Rothen assured her. "You needn't worry over me so much, Tanya - I am a grown man."
She tsk-ed slightly and turned to face him. "A grown doesn't skip his morning meal."
Rothen would have chuckled if it weren't for the warning look that Tanya was giving him. "I was in a rush," he said, only sounding slightly defensive.
Tanya's nostrils flared and she turned away to dispose of the now-cold sumi sitting on the table, muttering "Magicians!" under her breath. Rothen allowed a small smile to escape him. It was unusual for a servant to act so familiar with a magician but Rothen had known her before she started working for the Guild. Since her father had been the servant of Rothen's mentor, Lord Margen, the two had seen each other occasionally around the gardens. She had only been a child then, but Rothen humoured her with magic tricks as he had done with Dorrien later in life.
Rothen was readying himself to leave when he heard the knock at his door. Extending his will he let the door swing inwards and was surprised to see Osen standing on the other side.
"Lord Osen," he greeted. "I had expected you to be at the Guild Hall already. Please, come in."
"Thank you, Lord Rothen," Osen replied, stepping in to the room. "I'm afraid I cannot stay long. I just ..." The magician trailed off nervously.
Rothen frowned at the younger man. "Is there something wrong?"
"No," Osen admitted, shaking his head slightly as if to clear it. "I'm aware that Akkarin is staying in your rooms waiting for Sonea to wake, and I was in the Healer' Quarters this morning - the Administrator has woken up - when I thought ..." His eyes darted nervously to the closed door which led to the room where the black magician was. " ... Does Akkarin know that Lorlen is alive?"
"..." Rothen blinked in surprise. "I-I don't know."
Osen sighed. "We should tell him. I know that Lorlen would like to see him."
"Of course." Rothen walked towards the closed door and knocked it once. "Then we shall tell him before we attend the Meet."
\./
Lorlen lay awake in the Healing Quarters, two days after he had been found buried under the rubble of the collapsed house.
And found by a Thief no less, Lorlen mused. Sonea's friend, if I'm not mistaken. I shall have to thank him... if I ever find him. He sighed, and then winced as the action caused a sharp pain in his ribs. Ah, so I haven't completely healed either.
His only visitors so far had been Lady Vinara and Osen (although Vinara didn't so much visit him as ask him question about how he felt and examined him for a ridiculous amount of time). Osen had stayed as long as he could, and Lorlen noted that the younger man looked strained and tired. Since he had temporarily taken over the role of Administrator it had been up to him to look after the Guild - a task that was wearing him down. Lorlen willed himself to heal faster so that he could take the weight off Osen's shoulders.
Unfortunately, will-power alone cannot speed the healing process and since he had no energy left to do the job himself he could only wait. Besides, Lady Vinara would not be happy if Lorlen tried to heal his own injuries. With a sigh, he realised he was stuck in the Healing Quarter's until the stern Head of Healers thought he was ready to leave ... which might not be for over a week.
Weariness began to overtake him, so he decided that a nap would do him some small amount of good. He closed his eyes and waited for sleep to take him.
When he awoke after a few hours, he was no longer alone.
A dark figure was seated in the chair beside his bed. The man was hunched slightly, his hands clasped in front of him and a brooding expression on his face. It looked as if he were trying to bore a hole in to the floor.
Lorlen smiled. "You're going to develop wrinkles if you keep frowning like that."
Akkarin, having been deep in thought, looked up in surprise. There was evident relief in his eyes when he saw the Lorlen was awake. He huffed slightly at the other's comment. "I see you're no different than usual," he remarked, but there was a touch of a smile at his lips. "How do you feel?"
"Surprisingly well, considering that a house collapsed on top of me." Lorlen frowned. "I told you not to Heal me, Akkarin."
Akkarin sighed and looked away. "I couldn't just leave you there," he said softly. "And I only put a small amount of energy in to you. Just enough to keep you alive." The frown returned. "I thought it hadn't worked..." He took a deep breath. "I believed you were dead."
"So did I," Lorlen said. Then he chuckled. "You can imagine my surprise when I woke up."
Akkarin managed a small chuckle. "Indeed." He sobered. "I'm sorry for not visiting you sooner. I only heard from Osen today that you were ... So, how long do you suspect you'll be in here?"
"That depends," Lorlen said, accepting the change of subject. "My right leg was badly damaged in the rubble, and several ribs are cracked. Lady Vinara wants to keep me in here for the next, although I believe that I'll be ready to leave in a few days." He spoke the last sentence with a slight grumble. "Apparently any assurances that I am fine will go straight over the Healers' heads. Honestly, Vinara's molly-coddling will get very tiring soon."
Akkarin's lips twitched slightly. "Ah, so it's true what they say."
"What?"
"That Healers make the worst patients."
Lorlen blinked at his friend and then let out a short laugh. "I suppose it is. Ah ... How is Sonea?"
Akkarin lent back in his chair and smiled softly. "She is fine, though she hasn't woken since the last Ichani was killed. She used a lot of magic to Heal me."
Lorlen's eyebrows rose. "You needed healing?" he asked, alarmed. "What happened?"
"A knife to the chest," Akkarin grimaced, remembering the pain and he unconsciously rubbed the area to the right of his heart. "I thought I was dying but Sonea wouldn't let me go. She is rather stubborn like that."
"It's good to hear that she is well. Does anyone know when she will wake?"
"No, but I rather hope it is soon. She..." Akkarin trailed off.
Lorlen raised an eyebrow and leant forward slightly. "She?" he prompted. "Come now, Akkarin you can tell me anything. We are friends, are we not?"
As soon as the words left his mouth Lorlen knew it was the wrong thing to say. Akkarin stilled and Lorlen could feel the tension rising in the room. Since learning the truth about why Akkarin learnt black magic he'd had conflicting feelings about where their friendship lay. He was glad that Akkarin hadn't learnt it purposefully, but as a necessity to escape Sachaka and slavery. He understood why he continued to practise it in Imardin and by doing so he had kept the city safe for years. He understood why Akkarin had lied to him and forced him to wear the ring.
He understood why Akkarin did it all, and in that moment he knew that he had forgiven everything. Their friendship may have been broken, but broken things can fixed.
Akkarin looked Lorlen in the eye. "Are we?"
The black magician probably would never admit it, but Lorlen could hear the vast uncertainty in his voice. He gave Akkarin a crooked smile. "Of course we are."
And just like that, the air between them was cleared. Akkarin smiled and relaxed again. "Good," he replied softly.
And nothing else needed to be said.
A/N: I hope you liked that! The first draft of the scene between Lorlen and Akkarin went on for 3000 words, but it didn't fit in with the mood. Maybe I'll include it in a later chapter. And I hope I've completely cleared up the 'Administrator Paradox' (as now dubbed by ColinatorGXu!) that existed in the first version of this story. For anyone who can't remember, this was how it went...
'Sonea swallowed down her nerves as she stood in front of the Guildhall a week later. Like the last time, there was a guard standing around her, but it was nowhere near as big as it was then. Akkarin stood beside her, conversing quietly with Lorlen (A/N: Yes, he's alive!) and Lord Balkan.'
Haha ^_^ It was just "BOOM! Lorlen lives!" and that was it. Silly me =P
And now...
Review Responses from Chapter 2
Nhu Angel- When you find out where I'm going with this story, your reaction will be *GASP*. I hope so anyway =) And hmm, Akkarin's father? I never considered that. Maybe it's about time that Sonea met them...
nightwatchman707- And there shall be more Dannyl/Tayend!
Anzer'ke- What an awesome review! You flatter me =3 I agree with you on the length-quality ratio in chapters. I noticed that in the first version of my story, and I think I've been overdoing it a bit in this version too. I'm going to work on not putting excessive detail in to every chapter written. I have not plan to put any smut in this story, or any vivid sex scenes. Kissing is probably about as far as it will go!
ColinatorGX- lol, Administrator Paradox =P
Rilawa & Sepia: Okay, a) Dannyl/Tayend is canon, and they are both going to be included in the story, and b) please, no death threats. They DO NOT make me write any faster.
Laura- I completely agree. I need to refine Akkarin ALOT. Especially in all of the outtake scenes I wrote about two years ago . But I like to think that now the immediate threat is over and he doesn't have this huge secret any more, he can afford to be a bit more open. But only to his friends of course!
So thank you for all your reviews! And I hope that you take some time to review this chapter as well =D
