Nearly an hour later, Sharmin and Ryonai sat on the edge of the bed, Sharmin finally well enough to be helped out of the bathroom. She and Ryonai stared out at nothing in a daze, and spoke little for a long stretch of time. Ryonai finally cleared his throat after a bit, the weight of the spell the head priest had cast upon him and the lateness of the night pressing down on him.
"This can work in our favor…we can just pretend the baby is mine." Ryonai said, his ears turning pink. Sharmin slowly turned her head to look at him, her expression weary and tired. "I mean…it's obviously you and Gatz's child…but if it's what it takes for them to believe that we're married, then we can use it." Sharmin perked up slightly as hope flared to life in her eyes, and she looked at him fully.
"So that means the spell will register that?" she asked brightly. Her hope quickly melted away as Ryonai's ears turned from pink to red, and he averted her gaze.
"I don't think it'll work that way…" he admitted hesitantly, clasping and unclasping his hands together nervously. "God, damn them for doing this, damn them!" he exclaimed in frustration, and stood. He wandered to the balcony doorway and leaned his elbow heavily on the door frame, and his head against his hand. "If only you weren't so in love with Gatz…then I could seduce you and be done with this without a second thought…but I can't." Sharmin felt her heart squeeze as he stared out at the ocean through the glass doors with a pained expression, and suddenly felt inspired to cross the room. Ryonai's eyes widened in surprise as Sharmin's arms slipped around his torso from behind, and he felt her press her head against his back. His breath came out in a shuddering sigh despite his best efforts at keeping himself calm, and he placed one of his hands over hers. Sharmin's heart involuntarily skipped a beat at the sound of his sigh, and suddenly her limbs felt heavy.
"I have a power…one that is hard to explain…" Sharmin began softly, shutting her eyes as she listened to his heartbeat through his back, "…but I can fix things in the past if I wish, to change the present." She opened her eyes slightly as Ryonai held his breath as he listened to her intently.
"How much can you change?" Ryonai asked in a hushed voice, his heart thudding loudly. She knew instinctively that he was thinking of Vuylay's disappearance, and she swallowed against a lump forming in her throat.
"Not much anymore…not since Emixia gave her life so you wouldn't have to die." She said, pressing her face against his back as tears stung her eyes again. Ryonai stared at his reflection in the window of the balcony, thick black clouds churning in the sky on the other side. Lightning danced through them, illuminating the dark room briefly with light. "During the war with Elmore, when you fought the former Dame of this castle, originally her sword found that hole Narlafayn had made with her power." Ryonai's throat tightened; Sharmin's words were nonsensical to him, words of a woman gone mad, but yet somehow…he knew there was truth in what she said. He didn't know how, but he could almost remember what she spoke of. She squeezed him tighter, and sniffled loudly. "You told me that you loved me…that you always loved me…and then you died in my arms. I would've chosen you then; if it would've saved you and Emixia…I would've chosen you long ago if it would've kept you from having the sad face that you have now." She hiccuped. The pain in his eyes had become too much for her to bear the weeks she'd been living in the castle. Ryonai still yearned for his wife, for someone to love, and her heart hurt at that. She still loved Gatz, but she was finding it hard to not reach out to comfort Ryonai at the same time.
"You stupid girl…you've always known my secret." He said in a soft, hoarse voice. Her eyes opened again as she heard the thudding of his heart start anew, and blinked in surprise as he jerked away from her. She looked into his face with large eyes as he grabbed her roughly by her arms, and then gasped lightly in shock through her nose as he kissed her. At first she tried hard not to recoil due to the guilt that had sprung to life inside of her, but in the end she relaxed and shyly kissed him in return. She knew that to save her life, and the life of the child- Gatz's child- inside of her, she had to give into this, at least only once. A devilish voice whispered in her ear and taunted her that she wouldn't be able to resist him after this…that it wasn't just going to be once.
Ryonai cupped her cheeks with his hands and broke the kiss to breathe, his breath heavy against her lips as he kept them only a hair's width apart. "In this room…there is no past or future…there is only now." He said breathlessly, slowly pushing on her and forcing her to walk backwards. She held onto his waist as they moved, afraid she would stumble and fall over her own dress if she didn't have balance. "In this room…there is only us, and what happens here shall never be known elsewhere." He kissed her again and reached around to the back of her dress, where he began expertly unlacing her corset. Sharmin blushed as she realized he was a master at removing women's clothing, and tried to remember to politely remove his in return. Gatz would end up frustrated with trying to remove her clothing and end up leaving half of it on her when they were truly desperate for one another; it was something different to have someone who knew what they were doing.
Her dress fell loose like a nightgown as soon as the corset was free from her body, and Ryonai kept her locked in a kiss as he quickly began undressing himself. Panic washed through her as she realized he was undressed in moments and pushing her down onto the bed. Her heart screamed at her to stop, it only wanted Gatz for an act like this…Ryonai was her old friend, the bully from her childhood that would make her cry…he wasn't her lover, Gatz was...only Gatz!
Her voice did not come however, and soon Ryonai was pushing her dress from her body with a soft whisper of material as it slid from the bed and onto the floor. She laid stretched out on the mattress, and blushed as Ryonai hovered over her to gaze at her entire body. She covered her breasts with her arms and crossed her legs, and glanced away from him. His gaze was hungry, and was the look of a man starved too long without relief. His hair fell over one eye as he looked down at her, giving him a very mysterious appearance that made Sharmin's heart flutter.
"You're more beautiful than I could ever have imagined." He said huskily, staring straight into her eyes. Sharmin's heart pounded with this, and the shrill protesting voice in her heart silenced itself. "Show me…" he commanded gently, shifting his weight onto one arm and coaxing her arms to move from covering her breasts with the other. Her blush deepening in shade, Sharmin glanced away from him again and slowly lowered her arms from her breasts as lightning illuminated the room again.
Her eyes shifted to her toes, where she involuntarily caught sight of his own nudity as he gazed at her chest for the first time. His manhood throbbed as she glanced at it, and she quickly returned her eyes to Ryonai's face with an even deeper shade of red gracing her cheeks.
Ryonai smirked at her with a drowsy expression, knowing exactly what she'd caught sight of. Her reaction was so innocent and pure, it washed away any lingering guilt he was having about bedding his best friend's wife. Sharmin was going to be his, the first girl he ever developed strong feelings for, and he was going to have her.
He acted gently with her, keenly aware of the awkwardness between them at first. It dissolved swifter than he would've imagined, and soon a feeling settled over the both of them, as if they'd been married for years. So this is a human…he thought, kissing away from her mouth and down her neck. With manly pride but moral embarrassment, Ryonai could boast that he'd had a woman from every known race—except Dwarf. As much as he'd grown to love each of them, he knew he would forever remember Sharmin as being the one that felt the best; the one that felt natural. This feeling intensified as release neared, and then whisked the both of them away.
A glow surrounded the both of them after, and they opened their eyes as the silky peace of release washed over them. Two green orbs sprung from their bodies and hovered overhead for a moment. They watched as the magic conjured light hovered about the room and then raced through the balcony and out into the stormy night. Ryonai let out a short laugh of relief, and then collapsed fully onto Sharmin.
"I guess that will satisfy them." He said breathlessly. He smiled slightly as Sharmin snuggled closer to him, and reveled in the feel of how she still twitched around him. He withdrew as he rolled off of her, and hugged her close as she tried to escape to the other side of the bed in embarrassment. "What's the matter?" he asked as she buried her face against his chest. He frowned as he realized she was crying, hot tears wetting his skin as she sniffled.
"I enjoyed it too much." She wept. Ryonai laughed aloud at her and hugged her with both arms.
"You and me both." He said with a smile, kissing the top of her head. She looked up at him and sniffled, and he cupped her cheek with one hand to wipe under her eye with his thumb.
"Can I tell you a secret?" she asked childishly. Ryonai smiled and raised his eyebrows in interest, waiting for her to continue. Sharmin blushed furiously, and glanced away from him quickly. "I might want it again." She said quickly, in a voice barely above a whisper. Ryonai feigned glancing around the room, and then pulled her up so that her ear was close to his mouth.
"Me too." He whispered huskily. Sharmin's eyes widened and she blushed a deeper shade. A tiny smile touched her face finally, and she settled in next to him. They were finding comfort in one another for now, but her heart still yearned for Gatz, and she knew his still pined for Vuylay. I'll find him soon…she told herself, and shut her eyes as sleep wafted over her.
Several nights later, Sharmin dreamt for the first time in a long time. She saw once again the strange world that Narlafayn had grown up in, the world of Vana'diel where she herself had been trapped for two years of time in this world. She saw the cat-girl she'd befriended, the girl who was Komugi's shadow in that world; the one that she thought she'd taken with her when she crossed back into this world. Kalline was nowhere to be found when she awoke however, and Sharmin worried for nearly a year that she'd been dropped elsewhere. Her intuition told her that was not the case, and the anxiety was forgotten quickly.
This time in her dream, Kalline sat in front of her smiling, and saying nothing. Sharmin was instantly hit with a yearning to see Komugi, as it had been nearly two years since she'd visited with her younger sister. Kalline stood up and approached Sharmin with a smile, and then collapsed upon her in a tight hug.
"Soon…Soon I'll see you again!" she said happily, nuzzling against Sharmin's neck. Sharmin woke as she turned her head to look down at the girl in shock, and stared at the curtain of the canopy bed in surprise. She blinked once, slowly, as sleep faded. Ryonai shifted and sighed next to her, and rolled onto his side, catching her attention briefly. It was still something she was getting adjusted to, but it seemed to be a great relief to her old friend to be able to hold and touch someone as he was no longer shy about doing to her. Their act a few nights prior seemed to satisfy the Church of Aden, as they hadn't returned after that. Still her heart ached for Gatz; Ryonai's comfort only satisfied her physical loneliness.
Scooting across the bed, Sharmin grabbed a robe from the end of it and pulled it on as she stood up. Padding silently across the room, she opened her dresser as quietly as she could and pulled out the tiny black velvet bag that Komugi had given her when she first left. With it in hand she tiptoed across the room and into the bathhouse, where she shut the door as quietly as she could. After lighting a candle, she sat on the side of the stone bathtub, and reached into the bag. She made a disgusted face as she felt something cold and slimy wriggling around in her hand as she withdrew it, and yelped and dropped it as soon as she saw it was a black slug. It writhed on the floor until Sharmin found her courage to pick it up again.
"Um…I want to see Komugi." She told it, remembering Komugi's command when she first gave her the bag. It stopped moving, snapped to an elongated shape as if rigormortis had settled into it, and before Sharmin's eyes began to bubble and churn. It grew hot in her hand and she dropped it with another yelp, lifting her feet off of the floor as it splattered and spread like a black pool. From its center rose a wooden doll Sharmin remembered being called a Sairon, a doll that usually roamed the caverns on Devil's Isle. Unlike the other Sairon's who had short blonde hair cut in a childish bob style, this one had a head of pink hair that touched the doll's shoulders.
The black pool underneath it receded, leaving it standing in the middle of the bathhouse. Its eyes glowed red, which faded in and out of blackness like a lighthouse's light. Sharmin stared at it for a long five minute stretch of time, before hesitantly placing her feet back on the polished stone floor. She glanced around the bathhouse curiously, unsure how this doll was supposed to bring her to Komugi, or Komugi to her.
"You have really bad timing, you know." Komugi's voice suddenly came, irritated. Sharmin jumped as the pink-haired Sairon's head whirred as it spun once and came to a stop looking at her. "Well? What did you want? I was in the middle of having …"
"Komugi?" Sharmin interrupted, her voice shocked as she realized it was coming from the doll. The doll was silent for a moment, and Sharmin blinked at it once. She tensed again as Komugi sighed heavily.
"I forgot, your brain can't fathom dark magic." She grumbled. "Don't worry Sharmin, I'm not inside the doll, it's just relaying images and sounds to me and I'm giving it my voice." She said in a tone one uses for an annoying child. The Sairon's head spun again to return it to facing forward, and the doll turned away from her. "Hey, this isn't your bathroom…where are we?" she asked curiously. The doll reached a hand up to pat the ornately carved oak towel closet, and Sharmin could almost see Komugi's eyes large with wonder.
"Innadril Castle, this is the Lord's bathhouse." Sharmin mumbled, suddenly embarrassed. The Sairon's head spun to look at Sharmin again, and she could almost see Komugi giving her a stunned look.
"Ryonai's place? Why are we here?" she asked, the doll's head spinning back. She shuffled across the room to inspect the other side, the doll's glowing eyes casting enough light to illuminate the bathroom in small patches. Sharmin took a breath and began relaying the events up until that point as the Komugi-Sairon wandered around the bathroom inspecting everything curiously. Sharmin winced and glanced up at the doll as she finished, readying herself for a violent retaliation from her sister. The doll had stopped moving however, and stood in the corner of the bathroom with her back facing Sharmin.
"Komugi?" Sharmin asked, slipping off the side of the bathtub. She took one tentative step towards the doll, and jerked back quickly as it turned around to face her.
"Why didn't you contact me sooner?" she asked in a soft voice. Sharmin blinked several times, surprised by her lack of reaction. Guilt gnawed at her stomach with the tone of Komugi's voice, and she glanced away from the doll uneasily.
"I didn't want to trouble you…" she began. She gasped and jumped as the doll suddenly pressed its hands to the sides of its head and let out a frustrated scream. "Komugi!" Sharmin hissed, rushing across the bathroom to the door. She opened it a crack and peered out, her heart thudding as she stared hard at the bed. Ryonai didn't seem to have heard it, and merely rolled over onto his back. Sighing in relief, Sharmin shut the door quietly and turned back to the doll.
"First your rape and now this, when will you realize you don't bother me, Sharmin?" Komugi cried. The doll fell to her knees and covered her glowing eyes with her hands. Its wooden face didn't change, but Komugi was most definitely crying. Biting her own lip to keep it from trembling, Sharmin fell to her knees beside the doll and hesitantly put her arms around it. The doll fell onto her lap with a sob, and clung to her nightgown like a child as she wept. A tiny smile touched Sharmin's face; it was just like the old days when they were children. Komugi cried for a while longer, and Sharmin swore she almost heard Zaken's voice murmuring faintly from the doll as well. She finally sat up when her tears had become sniffles, and wiped at her face (even though the doll's face was dry).
"So…how was he?" Komugi asked as the doll sat back on her knees. Sharmin blinked cluelessly, and tilted her head curiously, not following the direction of Komugi's question.
"How was who?" she asked blankly. Komugi sighed heavily and motioned towards the room beyond the bathroom door.
"Ryonai of course…you said you guys are faking being married so I can only assume you took advantage of all of the 'duties' that come with it. So I'm asking you, how is he in bed?" her voice took on a mischievous tone, and Sharmin began to tremble in embarrassment.
"Komugi!" she hissed again, covering her face as to hide the blush there. Again she could hear Zaken's voice come from the doll, although she couldn't understand what he was saying.
"Oho so you DID sleep with him." She said in glee. There was a moment of silence, and then she snapped (most likely at Zaken); "Oh shut up, I'd do him too if I were in her position. Ryonai was always pretty hot." Sharmin doubled over with her embarrassment, and curled against the floor. "Wow, he was that good, huh?" Komugi stated as the doll stood, her voice trembling with laughter. "Alright get up, I won't tease you anymore." She laughed, and the doll patted Sharmin gently on the head. Sharmin pushed herself back up, and glanced away from the Komugi-Doll, too ashamed of herself to look at her fully.
"Anyway, the magic will be fading soon, so I should get going. I'll contact you again when I have some news." Komugi said in a business like tone. The doll wandered across the bathroom and towards the arched stain-glass window behind the tub. She hopped up onto the sill, and pawed at the clasp until it came free.
"News?" Sharmin asked cluelessly, standing as the doll swung the window open carefully.
"After I find Gatz of course, what other news would I have?" she stated matter-of-factually, the doll glancing over her shoulder in an almost curious manner. "Ryonai's got a good ground force looking for Gatz, I have faith in that, but my ship will find him, or some trace of him, a lot quicker. Just enjoy yourself as much as you can until I get back. Ryonai cares about you, he won't treat you, or that new adorable baby inside of you badly." The doll turned back to the window, and jumped out of it without another word. Sharmin rushed to it as the doll disappeared past the ledge, and glanced over the sill with large eyes. Below her, just feet above the ground, the doll began to spin wildly like a top, and then took off into the night sky. Sharmin smiled at the doll's figure as it became a speck in the night sky, and felt, for the first time in a long time, a great sense of relief.
Time passed quicker than Sharmin expected. Soon she was giving birth again, but in the Lord's Bed instead of her own back on Talking Island. Ryonai had brought in the best Bishop from Heine, and Sharmin had found that this birth went surprisingly easier than the other two. A girl was born to her this time, her expression so cat-like even as an infant, Sharmin knew in an instant where the cat-girl from Narlafayn's old world had gone. She had crossed over with Sharmin…just in a way Sharmin had never predicted. The new baby's name was decided without much thought; Kalline.
As Sharmin held her new daughter for the first time, Ryonai suddenly pressed close and hugged both of them tightly. He pulled away from her to look in her eyes with an expression she'd only seen before on one other person close to her. Tears swam in his eyes as if he were the baby's father, and knowing filled Sharmin's being. Soon. She thought, drawing Ryonai down enough to kiss him boldly in front of the bishop.
The rest of the world, including the Church of Einhasad, accepted Kalline as Ryonai's daughter. Fitz was also quite happy to no longer be the baby of the family, and doted on his little sister as much as a two-year-old could. Even Hara and Ren were happy at a new prospective playmate. Ashland however, still hadn't forgiven Ryonai for taking the place of Gatz in his life, and ran to the playroom to be alone when Sharmin presented Kalline to them for the first time.
Ashland became unpredictable after that, and would do the best he could to get into trouble. At first the tutor that he shared with Hara and Ren insisted that it was just a phase that he would grow out of, but the day that Sharmin came into their nursery to find Fitz struggling underneath a pillow that Ashland was holding over his face, was the day this was put to an end. Ryonai, who hadn't stepped in a true father role out of respect for the boy's memory of Gatz, finally put his foot down and scolded the three-year-old.
"You're not my dad, you can't tell me what to do!" the boy shouted. Sharmin hugged a hiccuping Fitz close, comforting him, and gave Ryonai a helpless look. Ryonai didn't bat an eye, and leaned casually on the door frame to the nursery.
"I'm married to your mom, I think that makes me some sort of father to you." Ryonai said easily, staring down at the boy. Ashland's tiny face went pink with childish rage, and his shoulders scrunched close to his body.
"You're not my dad! Go away!" he snarled. Ryonai didn't move, and only stared at the boy patiently. "If you don't go away, I'm going to hold my breath until I die, I mean it!" he announced. Ashland had learned the breath holding trick from a playmate back on Talking Island, and would use it to get his way more times than Sharmin would like to admit.
"Go ahead." Ryonai said easily. Ashland hadn't expected permission from his threat, and stared at Ryonai with large eyes for a moment. Ryonai gave Sharmin a look as she made a tiny movement towards her eldest son, halting her from approaching him. She withdrew back farther, and returned to giving Fitz attention. She glanced at the back of Ashland's blonde head as he drew in a deep breath, and sighed heavily as the boy held it.
For almost two minutes, Ashland glared at Ryonai while holding his breath, his face turning pink, then red, and then a darker ashen color. Too stubborn to give up, Ashland began to fidget as the air in his lungs grew stale. He fell comically to his knees a moment later, with one hand at his throat as he clawed the air for relief.
"What's the matter? I'm still here and you look quite lively to me." Ryonai said in amusement, a smirk forming on his face. On his side and flopping like a fish, Ashland finally let out the air he'd been holding and drew in a gasping breath as he finally rendered himself unconscious. Sharmin gasped as her son passed out, and placed Fitz gently on the floor to scoot to his side. She sighed in relief as she found him breathing, and frowned as she looked up at Ryonai.
"That was unnecessary." She stated as Ryonai began to laugh. As frightened as she was at that moment, she would later have to admit that nothing did the trick of breaking him from that habit than that episode. Afterwords Ashland was afraid to even hold his breath to go under water when he went swimming with Hara and Ren. He seemed to respect Ryonai after that as well, even if he didn't see him completely as a father figure.
Two years passed. As Kalline grew, it shocked everyone but Sharmin to see that she'd given birth to a Komugi clone. Ferrol was confused as to how it was possible, as Komugi was in reality Sharmin's cousin. Sharmin had to deny her father several times to draw blood from the baby so he could study it in the lab office Ryonai had given him. Even Vlad, who slowly returned to his old self, had to be fended away from the baby with curious blue-gray eyes, who didn't seem remotely afraid of anything.
Life was peaceful between Ryonai and Sharmin. He was livelier than he'd been in ages, and even looked healthier too. Sharmin would admit quietly to herself that she'd grown quite fond of him, perhaps even to a loving point. They got along well, and rarely ever had a disagreement.
This peace was swiftly interrupted, as one evening while Sharmin sat on the beach watching Linit, Hara, Ren and Ashland play in the water, the doll she'd summoned two years prior suddenly dropped from the sky in front of her. Sharmin yelped as it stood up with clockwork clicks, and brushed the sand from its skirt.
"I really need to figure out how to land this thing better. I think I even felt that." Komugi's voice came bitterly. She looked around the beach curiously before shuffling to Sharmin's side and sitting down. "At the beach I see. How are things going?" she asked casually, ignoring Sharmin's shocked expression.
"Um…they're…great." She said hesitantly, trying to recover from her shock. A smile broke out on her face, and she leaned closer to the doll. "I had my baby, it was a girl! She looks just like you!" she began excitedly, wishing she'd brought Kalline down to the beach with her.
"Just like me?" Komugi asked in a nearly emotionless voice. Sharmin withdrew a bit and frowned, hurt by her lack of reaction. "If things are happy here, then I won't stay. I don't want to disturb it." She suddenly stated, the doll standing up again. Sharmin's heart began to thud hard in her chest, and she grabbed the doll's wooden hand.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, recalling clearly that Komugi said would return when she had news of Gatz. The doll stared at her silently for a moment before slowly sitting back down. She put one jointed, wooden hand over Sharmin's gently, and looked into her face with her glowing red eyes.
"If you're content with this life, then I can't tell you what I know, it'll ruin it." Komugi stated seriously. Sharmin searched the doll's face for a hint at what Komugi was speaking of, but there was no way for her to gauge her sister's emotions while she was speaking through a wooden puppet.
"Don't be silly, how can anything you tell me ruin my life?" she tried to ask in her best dismissive voice. It came out with a nervous laugh, and Komugi sighed.
"You can't tell her that and then just expect her to choose ignorance." Sharmin heard Zaken state in irritation. Komugi made a hissing noise, and then sighed again in exasperation.
"Fine." She grumbled. The doll twitched as Komugi returned to controlling it, and stood up again. "Sharmin, we think we've found where Gatz has gone." Sharmin's eyes widened and her lips parted as the fragile glass box she'd made of her new life suddenly shattered into millions of pieces, leaving her in a cold empty void. The doll pulled a worn map of the world from inside of her dress and spread it out on the sand in front of her.
Up in the castle, within the throne room, Ryonai suddenly sat straight in his chair as a jolt went through him and stared towards one of the high windows next to the vaulted ceiling. In the middle of speaking of city complaints, Amari looked up from his paper and raised an eyebrow at his reaction. Without a word Ryonai left his chair, and walked briskly towards the doors.
"We searched the entirety of the southern seas for these two years, trying to guess the path that the ship had taken. Over and over again we took the classic route I remember the Talking Island ship taking to Giran, but we didn't see them, or anything that would've caused a shipwreck." Komugi began, making the doll trace the path of the ship with its wooden finger. "It was also odd, as we looked into it, that there were no other reports of missing people from that ship, so we smelled conspiracy."
"Wait, Ryonai said the entire crew had been reported missing…" Sharmin began, recalling the first course of action that Ryonai took in trying to locate Gatz. The doll shook its head slowly, and dread began to settle in Sharmin's chest.
"We pulled a few strings at Giran Harbor and got that ship's travel log after some bargaining with the Warf Manager." Zaken's voice came eagerly now. There were some sounds of scuffling from the doll's head, and Sharmin got a strange mental picture of the two fighting inside of it. She swallowed the urge to giggle at it, and waited until they were through.
"I'm telling her this, go mend ropes or something!" Komugi snapped. The doll twitched as she regained control once more, and its hand moved back to Talking Island. "As the pervert vampire said, we got the travel log, and found out that for some bizarre reason, the ship was taking a slightly different path of travel, one that took him through here." The doll's finger altered quite a bit from the Giran course, and paused on a place where Komugi or someone had scribbled a whirlpool swirl. Sharmin felt her blood run cold as she stared at it, and looked up at the doll.
"What…what does that swirl mean?" she barely managed to ask. The doll shrugged, and sat back slightly.
"It's a dead zone for navigation. Our machinery began to give out as we got close to that area, so we couldn't see as much as we would've liked. One thing we noted however is that our compasses went haywire in that area, and the sky turned this bloody red color. I thought I saw an island, but I'm not certain because we had to hightail it out. If there's anywhere that Gatz could be, it's in that place; it's the only logical explanation." Komugi stated. "Hold on a second, I'm not done!" she exclaimed as Sharmin surged to her feet with large eyes. She had begun to tremble in anxiety and hope, the only thing filling her mind was finding a way to that swirl on the map, and searching for Gatz.
"What more is there for me to hear?" Sharmin asked impatiently, logic and reason far from her mind. The doll rolled the parchment up and stuck it back in her dress before standing.
"The crew on that ship, it's odd, but we found them alive and well and working the docks on Talking Island." Komugi stated, the doll brushing the sand from her skirt again. "It's funny…but the supposed official that Gatz was supposed to meet on that ship went by the name of Sir Alex Windawood...kinda funny, don'tcha think? Odd that a guy with the same name as the same ass who kicked you out of your house and tried to get you arrested was on the ship with your husband before it disappeared…"
"Mommy, look!" Ashland called, interrupting Sharmin and Komugi as he raced across the beach towards her. Now five, he was much better natured than he was two years prior, but was still a bundle of excess energy.
"Wow, he looks like Gatz." Komugi said in surprise as the boy paused for a moment to tilt his head curiously at the doll. Dismissing it with the disinterest only a child could have, he grabbed Sharmin's hand and placed a large conch shell in it.
"Isn't it pretty?" he asked, beaming at Sharmin proudly. Sharmin turned the white shell over in her hands curiously, and then looked at her son.
"Where did you get this?" she asked with a frown. Such shells could only be found on the far side of the reef, much too far for a five-year-old to swim. Ashland turned and pointed to the spot where they had been playing.
"That pretty lady gave it to me." He said. Sharmin followed her son's finger out to where a winged woman stood in the water with Hara and Ren, splashing them playfully. Sharmin squinted and took a step towards their play spot; the woman seemed familiar somehow…
"Vuylay?" Ryonai's voice breathed next to her. Sharmin jumped in startlement, and glanced over her shoulder. She hadn't heard him approach, and now he stared at the winged woman with the color drained from his face. Sharmin's lips parted as he rushed past her and towards the woman in the water.
The woman looked up as Ryonai charged through the water towards her, and both she and the children yelped in fear as he grabbed her roughly by the wrist and pulled her down as she tried to take to the air. The children screamed and fled from the shallow water to cling to Linit on the beach as Ryonai smacked the woman so hard feathers were dislodged from her wings.
"How dare you come back now!" Ryonai cried, not bothering to hide the grief in his voice. The woman who was once Vuylay struggled against him, but weakly as if she wanted to flee yet didn't. "Why didn't you return to me before? Why?" he yelled at her.
"I'm sorry!" the woman sobbed as well, crying loudly. "I was scared!"
"Scared of what? Don't you know how much you hurt me?" he asked, keeping a firm grip on her hand as she collapsed to her knees in the shallow water. "Didn't I love you enough? Didn't I protect you enough?" his shoulders shook as he cried, and Linit backed along the beach until she and the children were close to Sharmin.
"Wow, what happened to Vuylay?" Komugi asked, watching the display. She shook her head dismissively before anyone could answer. "I should go now, be safe Sharmin, and don't do anything stupid." Sharmin broke her gaze from watching Ryonai and the winged Vuylay to look at the doll as it spun wildly and took off into the air. She swallowed hard as she looked back at Ryonai and Vuylay; her time with him had ended, she felt, leaving only a duty that left her in the utmost grief to even ponder doing.
"Answer me!" Ryonai shouted, squeezing Vuylay's wrist. She cried out in pain and then sobbed, her other hand clenching the wet sand beneath the water.
"I'm not the same person I was when I left, I'm whole now!" she shouted angrily towards the water. She sobbed loudly and sunk into herself, her wings drooping pitifully in the water behind her. "I'm immortal, Ryonai, a half-god!" Her head whipped up quickly to face him, fear and grief written in her eyes. "I didn't want to live on forever and watch you die!" she cried. "Over and over again, you'd be reborn as a human and die as a human…I couldn't stand that grief!" Ryonai collapsed to his knees next to her, and stared at her helplessly as she leaned over and covered half of her face with her free hand to hide it.
"Come on." Sharmin murmured, herding the group of children towards the castle. Hara and Ren sniffled as they walked dutifully with her, and both clung to Linit's hands tightly.
"Is daddy gonna kill mommy?" Hara asked mournfully, looking up at Sharmin. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she looked down at the girl with hair such a light pink it was nearly white.
"You know that's your mommy?" Sharmin asked in disbelief. Both Hara and Ren nodded at the same time, and Linit hugged them close.
"She's been coming out to visit them for as long as I can remember, but she told us to not tell Uncle Ryo." Linit replied, looking away from Sharmin guiltily. A desperate look crossed her face and she looked back, tears swimming in her eyes. "I didn't think he was hurting this bad, he always seemed so happy in front of us!" she exclaimed, searching Sharmin for support. Sharmin gave Linit a half smile, and patted her on top of her tomato soup-red hair. The sting of rejection was heavy in Sharmin's chest despite the fact that her heart was still very much attached to Gatz, and she couldn't find words to comfort the fourteen year old with.
Back on the beach, Ryonai still sat in the water, clutching Vuylay's wrist and staring at her as she wept. Twice she tried to pull away when his grip went slack, but he clenched his hand and prevented her from fleeing. She winced as her peripheral vision caught sight of him moving, thinking he was going to strike her again. To her surprise he caressed her face instead, and she glanced up at him with large eyes.
"Don't leave me again, either of you." He said softly, his eyes full of pain. The woman who was once Vuylay's lips parted in surprise; he wasn't just addressing Vuylay, but Shizuka as well. He pulled her close in a desperate kiss, trying to convey everything he was feeling then with just the touch of his lips. She trembled as she again fought the urge to flee, but finally gave into the feelings in her own heart, and collapsed upon him.
As night fell over the lands of Innadril, Sharmin laid on Ashland's bed, snuggling both he and Fitz. Kissing both of their foreheads, she smiled sadly as she smoothed the hair from Fitz's face. All of her children seemed to be copies of everyone important in her life, and it warmed her heart. Fitz was a nearly exact copy of Ferrol, with an oval face and dark brown hair; although the older man insisted he looked more like Deirdre to him. Sharmin's childhood bad eyesight had been passed on to her son, but spectacles had been improved since she'd worn them. Fitz's glasses were small and quite classy, and Sharmin was relieved that he wouldn't get the same harsh teasing words that she'd received.
As the large grandfather clock in the hall chimed the hour, Sharmin swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. She moved off the bed gently as to not wake her children, and paused to kiss them both again. They both sighed, and Ashland rolled over to the spot she'd vacated to hug the pillow she'd been propped against. She sniffled softly as she moved over to the cradle where Kalline slept, and leaned over to kiss her daughter's red head.
"Please forgive me one day if things don't go as planned…" she whispered into Kalline's hair. The toddler sighed in her sleep like her brothers, and a tear escaped Sharmin's eye to land on her forehead. She quickly stood before more joined it, and wiped her face. She paused briefly at Hara and Ren's beds as well, to give them each a kiss on their heads. The twins were old enough to graduate from sleeping in the nursery, but like with Ashland, they preferred sleeping in one big puppy pile over the freedom of their own bedrooms.
Taking a breath to steady her nerves, Sharmin paused once outside of the nursery, asking herself if the decision she was making was the right one. The memory of seeing Ryonai with Vuylay stabbed her through the heart, and she winced. Yes, this decision had to be the right one; she had no role in this place now. Without even a backwards glance, Sharmin left the nursery and made her way towards the armory. Several night guards gave her a confused look as she passed their station, but no one stopped her.
It was uncertain to both how it happened, but after reuniting with one another down on the beach, Ryonai and his estranged wife somehow made it up to the Lord's Bedroom to reunite again, there. Just as Sharmin entered the armory elsewhere in the castle, the eyes of the winged woman sprung open.
Lying on her stomach, she lifted herself up to glance towards the balcony doors, trying to remember how they made it into the bedroom. Her unbound hair pooled on the bed by her elbow, like a pink-laced violet waterfall. She stood from the bed and wandered towards the balcony like a sleepwalker, her wings which she'd willed away hours before, returning and springing from her back in a shower of feathers. Her hair seemed to change in shade as she entered the bright moonlight streaming in the window, and she paused at the windows to look out.
"Shizuka." Ryonai's voice stated instead of asked. The woman at the window turned quickly with large eyes, shocked that he was awake. Hair that was just violet a moment ago was now the pale shade of powder pink that was Shizuka's, and she looked at Ryonai with a gaze that spoke of fear. Ryonai sighed and shut his eyes; it hurt his heart to see his ex girlfriend in front of him again like that, especially with the moonlight shimmering off of her new wings and naked body.
"I'd forgotten how nice the view was here…" Shizuka said, turning back to the doors and putting her hand on the glass. Ryonai's eyes opened again in surprise. Never had he heard Shizuka speak so seriously, or calmly. Her voice had always been either the bubbly happiness of a ditz, or the dark menace of an insane woman hell-bent on pleasing the goddess of death.
"You can see it every day now…" Ryonai said with a boyish smile, rising from the bed as well. Shizuka snorted through her nose and glanced at him again.
"It's best if I didn't. I've done too much to be accepted now." She said bitterly. Ryonai paused mid-step, his blood running cold with her words. A watery sniffle came from her as she stared out through the glass once more. As Sharmin had done to him two years prior, Ryonai crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her from behind, and hugged her tightly.
"I've missed you." Ryonai whispered, speaking to both parts of the soul in his arms. Shizuka sobbed once, and shook her head. She placed a hand on his arm, and relaxed into his hug.
"It's best if I disappear inside of her. She suited you so much better." Shizuka said softly, leaning her head against his chest. His eyes that he'd closed in pleasure opened slightly, and he rested his cheek on top of her head.
"You don't love me?" he asked softly, hurt by her words. Shizuka chuckled softly in her throat and then sighed.
"Right now I do…but it is her feelings." She said almost sadly. "That was the curse of the whole being put into two…there was only so much that could be divided. All of the senses of emotion, the ability to love…those were all bestowed to Vuylay. All that was left to the other half was unending hatred…I wasn't even allowed to feel during the times I most wanted to, it all went to her." She reached up to wipe her face with her free hand. "I was rather fond of you…I just couldn't feel it. I'm sorry I deceived you." She broke down into sobs with this apology, and Ryonai gently turned her around to hug her properly. They held each other for a long time, her mournful weeping finally calming to sniffles again. She pulled away from him gently, and wandered towards the bed again.
"I'm going to sleep now…for a long, long time." Shizuka said, laying down and pulling the covers over her. "She won't be able to find or sense me anymore…not until I wake many years from now." Ryonai took a step towards her, his eyes large. She was committing suicide within the body she shared with Vuylay essentially, but he was uncertain on how to stop it. He loved Vuylay and wanted that part back, but he didn't want Shizuka to disappear either. She smiled warmly at the look on his face, and settled against the pillows. "Thank you for caring so much…but don't you have another woman you should be attending to?" she asked with a soft laugh. Ryonai's eyes widened as he suddenly remembered Sharmin for the first time since Vuylay's return. Acting on instinct, he grabbed his robe from where it hung on the changing screen, and dashed out of the bedroom, pulling it on.
Shizuka chuckled as he ran off, and then sighed. Yes, to protect these people whom she'd done nothing but cruel things to…she had to disappear. Perhaps if she faded, he wouldn't try to search her out later. Taking a deep breath, she shut her eyes and let it out slowly, her hair returning to the pink-streaked violet as she exhaled. Although still in the appearance of the winged half-goddess she'd become, only Vuylay was left sleeping peacefully as Shizuka buried herself deep within Vuylay's psyche to sleep even longer. It was the only gift she could give to Ryonai and Vuylay…and she hoped it wouldn't be for nothing.
"Sharmin!" Ryonai shouted as he raced into the throne room. Now dressed in her old Avadon armor, Sharmin halted as Ryonai's voice echoed through the cathedral-like room. Gripping the shoulder strap of her travel pack tightly, she turned around and gave him a feeble smile. "Where are you going?" he demanded, hurrying down the stairs to the lower level. By the gods above, must all the women he felt were important run away from him?
"To find Gatz." She said bravely, facing him fully as he came to stand on the same level with her. "Komugi thinks she knows where he's disappeared to, and I intend to go bring him back." He paused mid-step to gape at her with large eyes.
"Tell me where…I'll send men there…" Ryonai said quickly, rushing towards her. She stepped back from him as he reached out to put his hands on her shoulders, and shook her head rapidly.
"I can't…I have to do this as secretly as I can. There are too many people who are working for that Alex Windawood right now, possibly even some of your own men." She said, looking away from him. She clenched the strap of her travel pack even tighter. "Besides…I don't have a place here after today, I'll just be in the way." She said in a hard voice. Ryonai let his hands drop, suddenly feeling helpless. There was nothing he could say to argue her words…despite the guilt over hurting her (and his own small grief over loosing her companionship), he knew she was right.
"What about your kids? How are they going to handle waking up and finding their mother gone?" Ryonai asked desperately. He had a bad feeling about the journey she was about to take, and he didn't like it.
"Already taken care of. It'll be hard on them, but they still have me at least. If you need us to go once she's gone, I've already got a house lined up in Heine." Ferrol stated as he entered the throne room. He put a hand on Sharmin's shoulder and squeezed it gently. "This trip is going to be hard on her, but what can you do when you're in love?" he asked, staring at the castle lord seriously.
"Finding another house won't be necessary." Ryonai nearly snapped, offended that Ferrol would assume that they were no longer welcome. He returned his attention to Sharmin, who stared at the floor now, visibly trying to fight tears. Sighing heavily he took her hand and squeezed it. "I can respect your not telling me where you're heading…but at least take someone with you. There's got to be someone in Haibane that you trust…" he said, trying to get her to look at him.
"That's taken care of too. I hope you can do without me for some time, sir." Zaren stated, stepping out of the shadows around them. "Valimos and I have assembled a small group of people we can trust from Haibane and our allies." Ryonai looked at him with large eyes, surprised by his appearance and then looked back at Sharmin.
"You did all of this behind my back?" he asked, his voice hard.
"Not behind your back…you were just…busy." Sharmin said hesitantly, a blush springing up on her cheeks. Ryonai's own ears turned pink, and he cleared his throat. Again, she was right, and he had to struggle to not lash out to bandage his wounded pride. Sighing once, Ryonai lifted Sharmin's face from its angle towards the floor, and kissed her. He kissed her in gratitude for everything she'd done for him, and kissed her in feeling for everything she'd become to him.
"That part I'm not giving back to Gatz, not for anything." He said in a husky whisper in her ear. He swallowed once as a wild idea crossed his mind, and hugged her close. Her breastplate dug into his skin, but he ignored it and tightened his hold. "If by chance you don't find him…just by chance…I can make it so that you're still welcome here as my wife." He whispered. Sharmin's eyes widened and she blushed as she realized what he was promising. He would abuse his power to give himself rights to polygamy…one of the only taboos bigger than a Paladin breaking their vows in the eyes of the Church of Einhasad…just for her sake. To give her a home when she felt she had none. He kissed her cheek as they parted, closing the chapter on their lives as lovers, and returning it to the one of friendship.
"Be safe, Lieve." Ferrol murmured, taking his turn to hug his daughter. He only called her by the name Deirdre had given her when they would be parted for a long amount of time, and it always tightened Sharmin's throat to hear it. He kissed her as well, and she flashed both of them a sad smile before exiting the throne room with Zaren.
Nearly a month later, Ryonai made an official announcement that he and Sharmin had divorced, and Vuylay was alive and well and still his wife. When asked about Sharmin's location by the Church of Einhasad, Ryonai made sure to specify she had disappeared after officiating the divorce with him, and was en route to reunite with her true husband-Gatz. The look of terror on Sir Alex's face was enough of an ego boost to keep him in a good mood for weeks, as he knew Alex was scrambling for a way to find her without having his treachery being found out.
However, right after this conference, Ryonai returned to Innadril Castle to find all three of the Windawood children in tears for a reason they could not speak of. They cried for Sharmin and for Gatz, even though they were all aware that neither parent was there at the time.
A week later, Valimos returned alone.