Erandur may have lived most of his life in the Pale, but he still felt the cold quicker than a native born Nord like Gideon. So it was no surprise he woke first to the cold, silent room. Well, silent except for the rattling snores he'd come to associate with Sam.
Stoking the fires back to life lit up the place enough to see the bench across from them was empty. Worried, he checked their bed first. Seeing Telki curled up and happily dreaming allowed the half-formed panic to subside. Never let it be said he couldn't learn from his mistakes.
Waking Gideon to help him move Merc, they both poured the sleeping Imperial into bed next to Telki. It was somewhat adorable watching the two curl around each other without waking, the blankets swirling in a nest around them.
"Okay, what are you thinking and why aren't we crawling into bed with them?" Gideon was not one to beat about the bush, but rather run right over it.
"I don't think Romulus was as asleep as we thought." Erandur hazarded. "Someone put Telki to bed."
"And he couldn't have woken up to the cold and put her to bed?"
Erandur started to say something, and then cocked his head to actually think about it. "Alright, that is possible. Imperials are even more cold-natured than I am." Here he smirked at Mercutio. "When they aren't wearing heat enchants."
"In any case," he continued, "Romulus is nowhere to be found in the inn. That, more than anything else, has me wondering if he overheard us. He has a propensity for wandering off when feelings happen."
"Well then, let's go find him. I think we need to actually talk." Gideon secured his hammer to his belt and his shield to his back, throwing his cloak over both, and waited impatiently by the door for Erandur to grab his own mace and cloak. Both men then headed out into the night to find Romulus.
The snow was-impossibly-falling harder, though the wind was all but absent, leaving the puffs of downy white to settle wherever they fell. The harbor was frozen over, but there was the suggestion that the snow had fallen over a trail sometime in the past hour.
With the seasoned practice of a man long used to reading trails and combat scenes, Gideon fell to following the quickly disappearing tracks Romulus had left, using his shield as a snowplow as he went. The trail wandered so much and haphazardly, Gideon started to wonder about the man's mental health, or if the storm was proving too much for him. It even petered out once or twice, making it hard to figure out which way he went.
"Look there," called Erandur. "Does that look like a fresh trail headed towards Nightcaller?"
"You have got to be kidding me."
"Maybe he needed to commune with Mara to figure himself out?" Even Erandur sounded doubtful on that sketchy idea.
"Oh, there will definitely be a heart to heart had tonight." Gideon bulled his way up the path, shoving snow to either side as high as his head in places. It felt like forever before they reached the door, the front of which was miraculously free of snow, enabling them to slip inside without needing to fight the elements. Both Erandur and Gideon went stone still at the soft voice filling the air with so much pain.
Rommy was sitting in the middle of the front pew, tossing something lightly up in the air and catching it without really looking at anything. The object glinted in the candlelight as it rose up and down, being caught easily in his graceful hand. "You really do like toying with us, don't you? Didn't you get your fill of that last time? What is it about me you hate so much anyway?" he muttered, barely audible in the empty chapel. The only sound besides a slight metallic ringing every time the object whirled into the air was the susurration of snow hitting the stone outside.
Erandur and Gideon shared a look, then moved purposefully, one to either side of him, bookending him between their warmth, and waiting to let Romulus start the dialog. He sighed instead, catching the object and simply holding it in his fist, not looking at either of them.
"When you arrest people, generally the conversation starts with 'Halt, criminal scum!'" he informed the figures on either side, doing a credible imitation of the guards in Cyrodiil.
"Probably, but conversations between friends start with. 'How can I help?'"
"We're friends now? When did that happen?" he inquired, a note of real surprise in his voice as he continued to stare straight forward.
"You think we share the good mead with just anyone?" Gideon cheerfully informed him.
"You shared it with Sam," he pointed out.
Gideon shrugged, "As you said, he comes attached." He leaned back, bumping shoulders lightly with Romulus as he did. "Besides, you gave us the idea for the prank. Admit it, you enjoyed it."
"Actually, Sam sober is a terrible idea. You do not want that man's brain working at full capacity," he warned them, entirely honest. The last time Sanguine was sober he had launched an attack on Argonia until the Hist trees bribed him with enough sap to go away. This, of course, had been his plan all along.
"Scarily enough, I can see that." Erandur hummed thoughtfully. "As to the other thing we overheard as we came in, do you want my thoughts on it?" He gave Romulus a crinkly side eye. "And yes, you have a choice."
"Then no, I don't," he replied bluntly, looking down at his clenched fist.
"Then we'll be happy to just listen, then." Gideon offered from the other side.
"Nothing to say," he averred, rising quickly and moving for the door.
"Did it never occur to you, that perhaps if you stopped running, and accepted what you're being offered, it wouldn't hurt so damn much?" Gideon's voice followed him like a particularly annoying ghost.
The door shook as Rommy tried to open it, but it seemed to have swollen shut. He sighed, leaning his head against it. "Come on," he growled, pounding on it lightly with one hand.
"Seems someone thinks you need to have this conversation." Erandur wondered at the sealed door. Time enough to sort that out later, he had a sneaking suspicion in any case.
He turned, leaning his back against the door and glaring at them both. "I don't," he growled, throwing the thing up once more and catching it, as if he couldn't help the gesture. The enchantment on it flickered along its golden surface.
"If you didn't, would you be this upset?" Erandur shrugged helplessly from where he was still sitting, but turned so he could talk to Romulus. "Loss is pretty inevitable. What you are doing to yourself is missing out on the parts that makes that loss tolerable in the first place." He eyed the ring Romulus kept flipping. "Would you trade away one moment, even knowing what followed? Why would you deny yourself that sort of comfort now?"
His eyes glowed briefly, and he whirled, punching the door, "You call this tolerable?" he snarled, glaring at the shattered crater in the wooden barrier. The Mad God was close to taking over, but the Aedric temple helped. Not that he wouldn't have welcomed Him at this point, but...No, he couldn't let Him out again. He'd lost so many of his people last time he'd lost himself to the madness, and every time it happened, he lost a little more of the man he used to be.
"No, because you won't let us help! You're trying to bear it by yourself. Nobody was meant to walk alone. Yet here you are, trying, and it is tearing you apart." Erandur saw the crater, and he promised himself the nervous breakdown that he fully deserved after he dealt with the man capable of putting that kind of hole in him, first. If he freaked out now, they'd lose Romulus, and quite possibly, their lives. He wished Telki were here.
As if answering his silent prayer, a familiar knock came through the cratered door. Knock-knock-a-knock-knock . Knock. Knock.
Rommy froze as if paralyzed, simply staring at the door a moment before pulling his bloodied knuckles back from the divot he'd left there (damned Aedric shields), his hand automatically losing its grip on the ring. It bounced across the floor, the small, metallic ringing it made as it hit the cobbles bell-like. He watched it as though his life depended on it.
"Excuse me, I'm missing a pair of knuckleheads and an Imp-ossible mage. Anyone here seen 'em?" Telki pushed the door open, and took in the tableau before her. She let her eyes follow to the tiny ring everyone seemed to be staring at. Silently, she picked it up, turned it over in her hand, and offered it back to Rommy with a questioning look.
Snapping the bones of his hand back into place with absolutely no expression on his face, he reached out and took the ring, eyes boring into hers a moment. "Thank you," he said softly, heading out the door.
"Oh no you don't, you do not get to run away!" Telki stomped her foot. "I don't get quiet for just anybody, boyo!"
He paused, snow swirling in complicated eddies around him. "I highly doubt you get quiet for much," he sighed, not actually teasing her or meaning it cruelly. She just liked to talk.
"I would for you, if you'd talk to me?"
Shoulders slumping as if someone had let the air out of him, he sighed again, not facing them. "What do you want?" With his current luck, a storm worthy of Talos would descend upon him if he tried to take another step anyway.
"Let's start with why you had to snap your hand back together, and work from there? I'll even send the boys back to the inn, if it'd help."
"What's the point? They would know everything you do within a week, anyway," he said, sounding just a tad bitter about it.
"Oh really? Why would I tell them something that didn't concern them?"
That did get a small smile out of him, and for the first time since walking out the door he gave her a jaundiced look, "When you're involved, everything concerns them."
"They might think so; I do not, and it'll be my judgment being used, thank you." Telki sniffed daintily, her answer as prim as any proper lady of Cyrodiil.
"Well, in answer to your first question, I became very angry at the door, and so I don't think they would be very comfortable leaving you with me right now," he answered, regarding his hand. After a moment, he manipulated the bones a bit more, Healing them.
"Boys, I know it's hard, but would you please trust my judgement this once?"
"Compromise? We wait there where the rocks are? We'll be out of the wind, but close enough if something happens," Erandur offered and Gideon nodded. They both knew Telki had the better chance of getting to the meat of the matter. People skills were her strongest suit. They also knew they'd never forgive themselves if the unthinkable happened, and they weren't there.
"Works for me. Rommy?" Telki looked at him with all the hope in her heart. He had to agree.
"I don't much care what they do," he replied morosely.
"As long as you'll talk to me, neither do I, come inside where it's a bit more comfortable, okay?" Telki tugged on his arm, and the boys filed out to wait by the rocks.
"I'd...really rather talk out here," he protested, loath to go back in the shrine. The chaos that made up half his being now was contained there, it was true, but he also felt stifled, and watched. "And I can't guarantee I'll answer everything you ask, but you can ask."
"Then help me drag a bench out here. We're going to be a while, and I refuse to sit on cold stone."
Instead, he set a fire rune down on the stone, the heat it produced turning the snow to steam instantly. Giving it a moment he collapsed onto it, setting it off without apparently harming him, and patted the stone beside him. "See? Nice and toasty."
"The list just keeps growing." She murmured before folding herself neatly down beside him, snuggling herself into his side. "So, the boys think you're interested, you seem interested, but you're balking, and I have a feeling it involves that ring. How much you willing to share on that?"
There was a long pause. "You know," he said at last, "when I was still a boy I hated it when my tutor asked open-ended questions. Can you try something a little more specific?"
"Why were you running from Gideon and Erandur?"
"I did not run," he said with immense dignity. "There was some walking, and a little shuffling, but no running."
"Okay, why were you shuffling and walking away from Gideon and Erandur?" Telki may have been smiling at his affronted dignity.
"They wanted to interrogate me and I wasn't feeling particularly gregarious," he answered.
"Hmm, what were they wanting to interrogate you about?"
"Your Priest wanted to impart me with the wisdom of his goddess. Specifically, he wanted to know if I wanted to hear his thoughts on the matter. I did not." He sighed, stretching out his legs and looking at his feet, as a small child might when they haven't quite associated the things they step on with the ones they can wiggle.
"I bet I know what it was, too." Telki looked lost in a memory, and not a pleasant one. She shook it off. "But, this isn't about me, it's about you, and trying to help you out. You're so sad, I can tell even when you try your hardest to hide it."
Rommy paused, noticing her moment of preoccupation. "What were you remembering?" he inquired softly.
"A husband and wife we found dead on the road. Bandits had happened. I was so mad. I had found the woman's journal, and she'd been worried for her husband, so she insisted on going along.
"They were so in love, and if Mara was so great, why did she let that happen? And it was Erandur that helped me deal with it. He said 'Mara cannot change what people decide to do, she can just help us find the people willing to make it easier along the way. She gives us each other to lean on.'
"So yeah, maybe I'm some big bad destiny-bound Dragonborn, but it's Mara that put people like you in my path, and Mercutio, and Erandur, and Gideon to help me deal with getting through it all." Telki tilted her head up to look at him. "I can't explain it like he can, but did it make any sense to you?"
He was regarding her with wide eyes. "Up until the part about Mara putting me in particular in your path, yes."
"Pfft, you may be the single most important person she put in my path." She teased. "Who else is gonna teach me the uber-spells to protect myself and My Boys?"
Snorting, he lay back on the stone, looking up at where a wisp of sky shone briefly through the clouds before being obscured again. It didn't matter; he could still see everything. All the great wonder and the emptiness beyond.
Telki had shifted with Rommy, now propped partially on his chest. "Please don't just disappear on me."
Looking up into her face, he said softly, simply, "I'm not going to stay, you know. No matter what you want, or even what I want, I can't stay."
"Can you come back?"
He shifted uneasily. "Maybe. But…" he sighed. He didn't age. There was a limited window to seeing her at all, even sporadically. And...it really was best for everyone if they didn't get that far. "You can ask me one question. If I can answer it, I will, even if I don't want to," he promised. He had no idea why he said that. Madness, probably.
"Why are you denying yourself the one thing you so obviously need?"
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. That would be what she asked, wouldn't it? The ring dug into his hand as his fist tightened around it. Opening his eyes, he made himself look at her. "Because I had it once and I lost it horribly."
Telki mulled that over, giving it the attention it deserved. "Did it never occur to you that we may be the balm you need to help deal with that?"
"I would break you all very badly," he informed her matter-of-factly. "You're not the only one with...a bit of a past that can come back-or chase you all over-or materialize thirty feet high swinging a mace."
"Hmmm." Telki thought that through. "Weren't you the one that said I was practically impervious, at least as long as I had a purpose? Or something to that effect. Yes, you might break me, or you might save me, or maybe we can save each other. That is all going to depend on the choices we make. Unless you're hiding foresight in your pockets, you don't know any more than I do. But I know I enjoy your company, and I'm pretty sure you enjoy mine. Don't forget that little glimpse you gave me. I KNOW you're worth the risk." Telki was prodding his chest by that point, trying to drive her point home.
He caught her hand in his recently broken one, the ring digging into both of them now. "You might live through it," he told her, lifting his other hand and pressing lightly against her chest, "but will this?" The hand lifted to her head, "Or this?" His eyes grew distant gazing up into hers, then passed them into her mind, and he added, "What would it do to you,I wonder?"
Telki wasn't going to back down. Her jaw was set and her voice was steady. "You are worth the risk, and I refuse to allow such a strong man, such a caring man, to continue to let fear make his decisions for him."
"I'm not afraid for me, Kitten," he said, brushing some of her hair away from her face. "Do you know what happened to…" he trailed off and sighed, hand falling back beside him. "I really, really don't want to go through that again, Telki, and this time I'd be hurting more than just one person. You mean everything to those knuckleheads."
"They mean everything to me, too. That's the thing about love, it multiplies what's there. Should something happen to me, the loss would be divided by them, comforting each other. Who is there to catch you, though?"
He thought about that a moment. "You don't love me, Kitten, you just met me."
"Come inside, you tell me." Telki dared him, offering him her hand and an open door, giving him pause. It was possible. One of the reasons people just didn't do what she'd so casually done-touching another person's soul like that-was because you were able to see their true selves. He'd avoided doing that not just out of professional courtesy.
Pushing her up gently, he shook his head as he sat up. "I'm not...I don't think...I don't know if I can do this," he finally got out.
"I just want to curl up around you right now until you figure it out. It physically pains me seeing you like this."
"You'd freeze to death waiting," he sighed, staring out over the cliff to the sea.
"I'll figure out those fire runes of yours. Apparently, I'll have time." She curled herself back under his arm. "That is, if Paarthurnax wasn't pulling my leg."
"What, with the longevity of Dragonborn? You don't need to worry about that. The line of Septims alone show that you'll probably live long passed other people." There was a moment before he added, "Though you do all seem to get yourselves into trouble long before you have a chance to be doting grandparents."
"Added to the natural inclination of Khajiit, yep, I'm up the creek without a paddle. But like the guy falling off the Throat of the World, 'so far, so good.'" Telki budged under his chin with her head. "So, willing to see where this particular trail will go? You know you're going to miss me already."
Closing his eyes against the night, Rommy wrapped his arms around her. "If you really want, I'll show you where it went before, and then maybe you'll understand."
"Make me a promise. Okay?" Telki had a pretty good idea that what she was in for was horrific. Still, he was worth it. She knew it, obviously her guys had figured it out, too (why else would Erandur try to give his 'Mara sends you the people you need' speech?).
"Promise is such a strong word," he winced.
"Honey, we both know you're about to show me your worst nightmare. If I can stand it, or help you stand it, I want you to give us a try, please?"
Rommy nearly groaned. She would. "There's...another reason. And it has to do with my...subjects. You are needed here. You live here. You could never come back with me, and I have to go back."
"Well, obviously, you don't stay there all the time, it's not like I don't understand someone having to hare off after responsibilities. You should see my rotation schedule for my youngens."
Great Saints and Seducers, of course she would have children. He sent a little sideways glare at the temple, as if it was Mara's fault. The statue smiled at him benignly through the door. Thinking for a moment, he finally capitulated slightly. "If I show you, and you don't...turn away, then I promise to visit, and see what happens. Is that acceptable?" Telki smiled at him as if he'd just given her both Masser and Secunda. She wrapped both arms tightly around his waist.
"Just so's y'know. I accept your terms. Be prepared to visit as bloomin' often as possible.
With a shudder, he found the door in his mind, ensured the one next to it was tightly sealed, and pulled her in.
.
.
The city was unrecognizable. Teetering white stone burned and charred, tumbling into the streets in sudden avalanches as they overbalanced. People were screaming everywhere, and Mar-his mind shied from the name. He couldn't think on that. He couldn't stop to remember that he'd just lost his best friend right before his eyes, the man that had given his life some kind of purpose besides mere survival and the well-being of his family. He had to find them. The attack was over; they were safe.
Figures darted toward him, tried to speak with him, but he ignored them as he went from supposed safe haven to safe haven, not finding them. No one had seen them. They were supposed to be elsewhere. No, that had been destroyed; all the people had been moved.
Where were they?
Night fell as he searched. Looters came out-they always did. There weren't enough guards in the world to stop people from acting on their worst nature when they were desperate. People ran out of still-burning houses with their arms full of ornaments, others simply hauling blankets full of food or provisions. He saw a youngish Bosmer rip something right out of the hands of an older human woman. That one went down with a dagger in his throat. Others fell to his magic as the looting turned to rioting, and frightened people finally got the courage to flee the crumbling city, seeking some kind of organization they weren't likely to get. There was a hole in the prison wall, and escaped criminals caused chaos as they hid themselves amongst the frightened populus. A man tried to waylay him, demanding...something. He wasn't listening. Not until the man used the sword in his hand, anyway. Blocking with a dagger, he threw fire right into the mugger's face, sending him screaming back. Romulus didn't wait to see if he lived or died, he needed to keep moving. There was only one more place they could be.
He turned the corner and skidded to a halt, falling to his knees in shock.
Loose bits of thatch danced around in a dervish of wind before falling limply onto the cobbles of the street, joining the fallen littered about like so many abandoned toy soldiers. The building wasn't there. A pile of rubble with something vaguely like a footprint along the outside lay where the pottery had been. Where their house had been was just...blocks. And stones. He didn't realize he was digging in them until he heard her call his name. Ducking under some beams that wouldn't hold for very much longer, he saw her, and his heart stopped.
"Felicia!" he screamed, kneeling next to her. Her hand moved vaguely in his direction and he grasped it, instinctively going to block off her pain with a spell. He wasn't a healer, he didn't know how to fix this. Her grey skin had an ashen hue he'd never seen before, her violet eyes were cloudy. A cut on her brow wept dried blood into hair nearly the same shade. It wasn't nearly enough to account for the overpowering tang of copper in the air.
"R...Rommy," she whispered. "Did…" she gasped, the rock that covered her from her belly down making it difficult to breath. Bloodied foam specked along her lips. "Did you find him?"
No. No no no no. "What?" he got out, his mind numb, unable to comprehend her words.
"He...ran in here. He was scared," she coughed. More red flecked her lips. "The safe house was destroyed, and our guards were...I got us away, but he had to run."
Quickly looking around, he shut his eyes tightly for a moment. There was nothing here. Five years of toil and love and struggle, getting disowned by his family and Felicia giving up her life with the Guild, and there was nothing left but rubble and singed rock. Opening his eyes again, he squeezed her hand reassuringly. "He's right here," he lied, lifting his other hand to cast Detect Life. There were no signs, not even the mice they could never fully evict. "It's not safe in here, so he's outside. M-Martin's got him."
A small smile flickered across her face. "Oh, good. Do take care of him, hmm? You've always been...so...wayward…"
"Felicia?" he whispered, vision burring. "Felicia?" Her hand was cold. Her hands were never cold. She was Dunmer; she was like a furnace all the time. He needed to warm her. Pulling her gently against him, careful not to jostle the rocks too much and hurt her, he whispered, "Wake up."
Tears blurred out his vision; he couldn't see. At length he realized it was because the sun had fully set, and the fires were out. It should be raining, he thought. He wasn't sure where the idea came from but it was there. He glanced up, seeing the stars through a hole above them, but something about seeing them seemed so wrong. They were so bright, and cold, winking down at him. They were beautiful, and something about that struck him as very wrong. Bringing his eyes back down, he sat there with her, enveloped in darkness.
There was a sound behind him after some time had passed. He wasn't sure how much, it all ran together. One never-ending nightmare. He could see again, though. It was a clear, white light. A bird was singing somewhere.
"Romulus?" someone said. He recognized the voice, but he wasn't able to register more than that. Feminine, soft, and raspy, as if she had been crying.
"Did you find my son?" he asked woodenly. His throat hurt. Vaguely, he realized some of the screaming he'd been hearing all night had been awfully close by. How odd, he could have sworn the street was deserted.
There was a very long pause. Strange to be aware of it after losing time for so long. It was as if reality was shifting slightly. A dark chasm opened in his mind, yawning before him. He teetered on the edge of it, gazing in. Something in there beckoned him.
"I'm so sorry, Romulus."
.
.
Romulus came to himself feeling as if his chest would be crushed by the desperate clinging arms of one Telki Tailkinker. It took him a moment to puzzle out the verbal barrage currently being sobbed into his increasingly wet chest. "Never never never again. Not ever, you will not be going through that ever again if I can help it. I will browbeat all Nine Divines if I have to, take a stick to every single last Daedra, but you will not go through that again. You hear me? You. Are. Mine." Telki had pulled herself up face to face to deliver that last bit of important information.
He blinked at her in bewilderment, vaguely aware that his own cheeks were wet. Why in the names of all his Daedric brothers and sisters was she clinging to him rather than running off to her men for comfort?
"Telki…" he said slowly, unsure if she understood or not. "I'm hers. Part of me will always be hers." And part of him would always be in that chasm her loss had ripped in him.
"Pfft. And I'm Gideon's, and Erandur's, and Merc's and yours. Love don't have limits, does it?"
A little bit of amusement entered his eyes. "You sure do get attached quickly." Reaching up, he brushed her curls off her forehead. "You sure everything is alright up here?" Just to be sure, he checked. She was unlikely to be his vassal anytime soon, though she certainly was quirky.
"Probably not, I did spend an interesting afternoon in Pelagius' head. But my cousin Rihandi would assure you I wasn't right well before that ever happened."
"I'm still trying to figure out how you can be insane without being, well, insane," he said, very confused.
"Is it that big of a problem? I'm me, that's all I can tell you for sure. That, and you promised to give us a try." Telki's smile dimmed. Was he trying to weasel out of it? Was he not interested after all?
He tilted his head, regarding her. "Why don't we start with breakfast? It's about dawn."
"Dast it, and I used all the bacon yesterday. Wanna help me catch a horker?"
He sputtered. "Catch a horker?" he echoed.
"Well, we'll have to butcher it, too. Do you know how to render bacon?"
Looking vaguely horrified, he blurted, "I will summon a Dremora Merchant and buy you bacon if you never ask me that again."
"Deal." Telki eyed him curiously. "Just how much truck do you keep with Daedra? I mean, you summoned a Saint for pity's sake."
Pretending to be offended, he said "Can't a man just like to Conjure things? Maybe some days I want a dog, so I summon a Familiar. Some days I need bacon, so I summon a Merchant. Is that so wrong?"
Telki squeezed him comfortingly. "Love, there's a big difference between summoning an ethereal hound, and summoning an entity that might take exception to the summons, and rip your heart clean out your chest if you get the pronunciation just wrong enough." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And don't pretend mistakes can't happen."
"Not to me!" he said cheerfully. The worst he could do was accidently summon one of Dagon's, and he'd killed half of them at one point or another, so they tended to run in the other direction before he covered them with flower crowns or lace or something. "I don't recommend calling Daedroths, though. Touchy subject."
Telki shook her head. "Let's get on with the bacon procurement. I'm sure Gideon's stomach thinks his throat's been cut by this point."
"As long as Giddy is assured that your throat hasn't been cut, and comes up here looking to avenge you…" he paused, shaking his head. "I don't like my own mental images. Anyway, this stone is freezing my rear, and we still have some walking ahead. Shall we?"
"Well I tried to get you to help me get a bench, but no." Telki huffed as she got up and offered a hand (or both) to help Rommy up. "Yes, let's assure my Boys all's right with our world and all that. And bacon."
Rising, a thought occurred to him, and he looked at her nervously. "Um...about the Boys…"
Telki quirked a curious eyebrow. "Yes?"
"Do you...I mean...I'm not altogether certain I'm ready for regular...Um…" His was struggling so badly with how to word this question. Finally, he sighed and just dove in with both feet. "It has been a very, very long time since I had sex at all, and while I don't object in principle...Oh, Saints...I'm not sure I'm ready to try that just yet."
"If you just want a slow relationship with me, that's fine. Gideon is as straight as they come. He thinks of Erandur and Mercutio more like brothers than anything else...and not a 'Sam' sort of brother, either. Does that help straighten your worries out? They know I love them, and I'm not going to leave them just to be with you. " Telki winked at him. "I'm a past master at time management."
Giving her a look that stated he clearly wondered what he had gotten himself into, he summoned a Dremora Merchant into the snow. The daedra looked annoyed for a moment, then his expression cleared to one of startled respect when he saw just who had summoned him. "My Lord! Is there something you need?"
"Mostly, for people to quit calling me that," he grumbled. Turning to Telki, he waved a hand. "Ask for whatever you want."
"Thank you, Love." She kissed his cheek before turning to the Dremora, whose expression flashed to speculative for a moment, eyes darting between the pair. "Thank you for coming. Do you perhaps have enough horker bacon on hand to choke a herd of mammoths? And some sage, thyme, and rosemary? Some hickory chips for the fire would be nice." She gave the poor Dremora her best "pretty please" smile. "Do you have all that perchance?"
Bending double so that his nose nearly got dunked in a drift, the Dremora sputtered that he could get it, where would they like it? He would deliver for no extra fee, of course! Rommy waved his hand tiredly, his other rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Deliver it to the inn below us, please. Put it on my tab."
"Of course, sir!" he replied, then vanished as if he couldn't do so fast enough.
"It'll probably be there by the time we get back," Rommy told her.
"Never thought I'd see the day." Telki looked puzzled, tapping a finger against her teeth in thought.
"What feat shall I perform next?" he asked, making a joke of it. "Would you like to slide down the hill on a daedric dogsled? I hope not, because I'm not actually sure if those exist," he added quickly.
Telki grabbed his nearest arm, hugging it to her tightly. "Nah, shield sliding is much more fun. How about, give me a proper kiss?" Telki dared from lowered fluttering lids. "How's your courage feeling about that?"
He smiled, but there was a hint of sadness there. "I just...relived that. Maybe later?"
"Yeah, you did, didn't you. Why did you do that?" Telki hugged his arm closer to her. "Why did you think that would make me want to run?"
"Because that's what you have to contend with. I might never get over that. It's been…And...did you feel it? I lost myself that day. I started to go mad," he stopped himself there. He daren't go further.
Telki snorted, angry all over again. "You don't 'get over' missing someone! You don't 'get over' loving someone. You simply find people to help you deal with it, and learn to add to those you love. That is Mara's gift, to always have someone there to love you and remind you that you are worth being loved."
Passing the rocks. Telki waved gaily at her guys. They'd managed to make themselves a proper little camp, including a cheerful firepit. "Hey darlins! Let's head back to the inn for breakfast, sound good?"
Regarding what they had set up, Rommy muttered, "And they call me a Conjuror." Camping had never been his strong suit.
The men looked up at her call, Gideon sighed, and passed a small bag over to Erandur, who folded it into his belt, smirking. "About time, I've been listening to his stomach growl for the past half hour." Telki took a moment to enjoy the sight of Her Boys walking down to her. They moved easily, and were practically poetry in motion. How'd she get so lucky?
"Well then, we'd best hustle. I've still got to cook once we get there. Shall we?" Telki offered her other arm, both of them moved to take it at the same time, but Gideon's bulk was more than Erandur could work around.
Gideon budged Erandur "Why don't you go buy something with my money?"
"Eggs! I totally forgot to order eggs!"
"What, is there a 'speak with chickens' shout you didn't share?" Erandur was grinning at her.
'No, silly, the Master Conjuror here summoned a merchant. There should be bacon aplenty waiting on us, but I forgot eggs. So." Telki unlatched long enough to shoo Erandur towards town. "Go get eggs!"
With that, they ambled down to Dawnstar, which resembled so many mounds of white at this point. By the time they made it back to the inn, three of the four were freezing and the fourth was doing a pretty good impression of it.
Safely inside the inn, Mercutio stretched, reveling in the comfort of a warm bed and the feel of one of his partners beside him. He could hear Gideon and Telki talking about breakfast; with just a bit of imagination, he could imagine they were back at the RiverWood farmhouse. Then he heard Erandur talking, and his eyes snapped open. If the three of them were up...? Slowly, dreading what he was about to see, Mercutio turned his head.
Sam smiled up at him, not a trace of guilt on his smug face. "Hello, Muffin," he said, snuggling.
Telki and Erandur both jumped a foot at Mercutio's yodeling wail of horror. Gideon was already moving towards the room.
"What the what?" Telki was about to go after Gideon.
Erandur looked around. "Rommy, who was watching Sam?"
Rommy followed his look around with one of his own. "Her," he said, pointing to the passed-out-drunk lady under one of the benches.
"Oh no! Poor Mercutio!"
"Do I need to get a bucket of snow for you two?" Gideon leaned against the doorframe, trying mightily not to laugh at poor Mercutio's plight. Sam was wrapped around him like a clinging vine, but for once, his hands were plainly in sight and not groping. Wonders never ceased.
Sam spotted Rommy behind the big Nord and brightened considerably. "Brother! You made it back!"
"Could someone please extricate me now? This passed uncomfortable ages ago." Mercutio tried valiantly to wriggle free of Sam's grip. Sam just hugged him harder, pouting up at him.
Deciding he should probably step in before hands or-Aedra forbid-weapons got involved, Rommy shot a green light at the Breton, paralyzing him mid-pout, walking over and peeling him off the other Imperial like a barnacle. "He must really like you," he told the other man, awkwardly hefting his friend up. Glancing at Gideon, he said, "He's kinda unwieldy like this. Care to take the feet?"
"My pleasure. His room?" Gideon deftly grabbed Sam's paralyzed feet, and followed Rommy's lead.
"Just a bench, I think" he replied. "That way we can keep an eye on him. He'll use invisibility spells if he thinks he can get away with it."
"Insistent devil."
"You really don't know the half of it," Rommy laughed, placing Sam more gently than he deserved on a padded bench and patting his hair back into place. "You get terrible bedhead. Now," he said, glancing up at Telki. "I'm sure they're curious. I'll get breakfast started, you tell them what you think they need to know."
Telki nodded, rather bowled over by the trust he just placed with her. "Wow, you know how to overwhelm a girl. Are you sure you'd rather not tell them what you want them to know?"
"I'd...actually prefer not go over it again myself, if that's all the same to you," he said bluntly.
Telki huffed and pouted, stamping a foot. "As if that's any of their business! Really!" Telki rolled her eyes.
Flickering a glance at Erandur, whose thoughts had been loud and clear back in the Temple, he said magnanimously, "Still, I did sort of...leave a dent in something I shouldn't have. They have licence to worry. If they have questions, I don't mind so much if you answer them. I just don't want to have to talk about it myself just yet." Touching her cheek briefly, he said, "I don't mind. I'm just going to go see where the Merchant stored everything."
"Okay, as long as you're sure." She kissed his palm as he drew it back.
"I'm sure," he said, repressing a shudder. He wasn't sure, but he trusted her, and had the growing desire for them to trust him. That would never happen if he couldn't trust them back.
"Please take Sam with you; you're about the only one that can keep him from mischief. Please?"
"I can't guarantee he'll stay down there if he gets bored," he warned her, but threw the still relatively stiff mage over his shoulder like a sack of protesting potatoes and headed toward the back of the inn.
"Careful!" the Breton protested, though he was enjoying the close-up of Rommy's rear. "Are you going to tell them the rest?" he asked after a moment. His "brother's" silence was all the answer he'd expected, and he sighed. It seemed old Sanguine had to do everything.
.
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Hi people! Thanks for reading this far. This chapter was a bit more angsty than the previous, thanks to my Angst Baby. Pretty sure I had Wynni blubbering when we wrote it. ;) Also, I am taking questions on all my OCs and stories on Tumblr again. You can ask anonymously and don't have to be a member of the site, or just PM me a question here and I'll send you a reply and just post it there. For my Dragon Kin readers, I hope to have the new chapter up within two weeks, but this one is difficult for me, and real life is being a butt.
Thank you everyone who read and reviewed! You all are awesome!
Little-Insomniac: Sam would probably enjoy a muzzle way too much, tbh. And of course Rommy bakes! He's charming, witty, handsome, and talented-he has to take after me somehow! :P
areslindragon: Thank you!
afeleon276: This Rommy has Sheo a bit more under control than DK Rommy, for reasons that will be revealed next chapter. We will see Sheo a little, but there will be no Brain Pie or skipping rope.
Wynni: When you're blue and you don't know where to go to why don't you go where fashion sits?