Note: Yes, I know things were sad last chapter, but there is a
reason.heehee
Again: I KNOW I don't own Dragonlance, but I DO own Alira! So there! (sigh, I wish I had Raistlin, though.) Chapter 6:
Alira woke up, not realizing she had drifted to sleep, and found that the storm had weakened. The thunder was less frequent, and the rain not as frantic.
Raistlin, who had also eventually given in, was still sleeping.
Alira got up and stretched, working the cramps from her back and neck and sighing loudly as she wiped her face. The fire had gone down, and she could see that Raistlin was probably cold from the way he was curled up. She wasted no time in bringing the fire back to life, though it wasn't nearly as strong as before.
Raistlin awoke to the sounds of sizzling meat and frying bread. The scent reached his nostrils, beckoning, pushing him to wake. For once, he was hungry.
"Want some?" Alira asked, using a fork to pull a slab of bread and a few sausages off the frying pan. She held the plate to him, and he took it gratefully, thanking her with his eyes.
They ate quietly, listening to the rain and occasionally looking up to see what the other was doing. They finished in silence.
"Here, I'll take them." Alira said, reaching out for his plate and utensils. He coughed, and Alira shoved his tea into his hands, already made.
She inched over to the mouth of the cave, thrusting the dishes out for the water to take care of. He chuckled.
"I never liked doing dishes." She said, with a smile.
Suddenly, for no reason at all, they both laughed.
Alira took out the wine again, getting bored and wanting something to do other than study. This time, she poured a full cup for herself, and then for Raistlin.
"Be careful! This is strong stuff, and if you drink it too much too fast, you'll be drunk before you swallow!" She warned, taking a rather large sip out of hers.
Two minutes later, they were sitting down, laughing wildly about random things and having no idea about what they were talking about.
"You know.I never, ever had a girlfriend.'cuz CARAMON took them ALL!" Raistlin giggled wildly, screaming.
Alira burst into a fresh bout of laughter. "Guess what? Me too! No! Caramon didn't take 'em.they just were afraid of my maaagical powersh!"
Now, the smart part of Alira was wondering how on Krynn Raistlin got drunk. He definitely had more self-control than that. There had to be a reason. Her subconscious decided to mess with her drunken mind.
"Hey.why did you get drunk!" she said obstinately, as though getting drunk was her special privelage.
"'Cuz I'm trying to get over aaaall of my troubles." He hiccupped.
"You don't have troubles.you're the special magical mage." She hissed.
"Yah! I have lotsa troubles! I killed my brother during my test! And, and, I think Fistandeelus has taken something from me, but I really don't know.and, and.I'm still a virgin! HAH!" he cried.
Alira went into detail about all the things that were bad about her life ("I accidentally set a cat on fire once!) and they soon both passed out.
"Why did you do that!" Mishakal cried to her consort, Paladine.
"I know it doesn't look right now, love, but I believe this will help them both out later."
"How can being drunk and losing consciousness help anybody? All they found out was that they are both virgins, and now Alira knows about him killing his brother and being linked to Fist.an.dantilus." The Goddess of healing slowed down considerably when she realized what she just said.
"No, you don't mean to." she started, staring wide-eyed at her beloved God of goodness.
"Yes, love, I do. For those who have loved can never forsake love." He told his love, and they both left together, leaving the matter of Raistlin Majere and Alira Lintharin Calion to fate now.
Strangely, the two red-robes awoke with no signs of hangover. They had no idea at all about what had happened, only that they had fallen asleep and re-awoken later to find that the storm had reduced to a trickling drizzle.
"I'm going mad. We have to leave." Alira ordered, standing tall next to Raistlin. They were about the same size, so it was difficult for her to seem very commanding in front of him. "Do you think you can ride, despite your cough?"
"We are already abominably late, I think I can withstand a drizzle if it means we might get to Qualinesti quicker." He said, his voice taking on its usual dreary cynical tone.
With both of them working, they had the cave clean in minutes. They each donned a heavy cloak and left the cave, doing their best to ignore the rain. Raistlin and Alira rode next to each other, and they kept their hoods thrown over their heads.
"Well, this isn't that bad." Alira said cheerfully, as the drizzling began to slow. The sun seemed to peek through, as though struggling for freedom.
"It could be worse." Raistlin agreed.
"What robes did you think you would attain before your Test?" she asked, a question common enough among young mages who had just won their robes.
"I did not think about it. I was more preoccupied with wondering if I would pass." He replied truthfully. "And you?"
"Most mages say they thought they would end up in Solinari's order. I knew I didn't want black, but I wasn't too sure about white, either. I never took my own guess, but I suppose I was just so undecided that red was all that was left to me." She answered.
"Few people would be so truthful." Raistlin said.
"I know."
"Do you have many friends?" He asked her, keeping his face from her eyes.
"I did, at one time. But when I first went to learn magic, I slowly lost them all. Before long, it was only the magic that I cared about."
"What about now?" He asked earnestly.
She turned to face him, and saw that his golden eyes shone even from the depths of his hood. It was frightening. "The magic.is all."
Her reply was final, but it obviously didn't satisfy Raistlin.
"Do you believe that, truly?"
"Don't you?" she countered, suddenly feeling defensive. Of course magic was all to her, that was why she was able to pass her Test.
"Magic is all I will ever have," he said softly.
"Do you believe that?" she attacked him, aggressively challenging his beliefs.
"Of course I do!" he snapped. "But do you?"
"As much as you believe, I believe." She stated confidently.
She was more right than she would ever know.
It was getting dark. The rain had stopped, but the reek of it was everywhere. The horses were slicked from hooves to belly with mud; a few flecks even hit the boots of the riders. The crickets chirped madly, and the frogs competed.
Alira knew then that they were in the land of the Elves, but they had not yet reached the city. They were very close, though, and Alira was certain they would reach it before Solinari and Lunitari met in the sky with Nuitari.
She was right. They arrived shortly, going straight to where they were told to go: the very place where the Speaker of the Sun resided.
"You are late." An Elf met them in the small audience room they were taken to. They still dripped mud.
"Oh, really, I couldn't tell. In case you didn't know, there was a rather bad storm out." Raistlin's rude side was showing, and it pricked the Elf's ego.
"Of course I noticed!" the Elf snapped. "I was directed to tell you something you might deem important to know. For once, Astinus has sent one of his representatives to Qualinesti to visit you and tell you something of importance. But because you took so long, he is now in Solace. I was directed to tell you that it would be prudent if you went there, now. We will, however, be more than glad to allow you to stay here for a few days in order to recuperate from your journey."
The young Elf's politeness was clearly only present through force of will. He escorted them, his face a mask of ice, to the tower they would be staying. Their rooms were next to each other, but drastically different. It must have been some Elven fluke, or perhaps magic, that molded the rooms to their inhabitant's personalities.
While Alira's was plain, it had simple luxuries. A desk with parchment and quills ready for a studious mage, a delicate, intricately carved wardrobe, beautiful chairs carved from some rare woods, and a huge four-poster bed with a draping canopy of gauzy material embroidered with green leaves and brilliant red flowers. The floor was carpeted with prized Elven carpets that were a beauteous representation of nature at its finest. She smiled, and turned around to face the forbidding but beautiful Elf who had escorted her and Raistlin there.
"Please, give my regards to the Speaker, and thank you for escorting me." She said, reaching out and hugging him close. Elves don't mind such contact, to them a hug and kiss is certainly an appropriate greeting. The hug she gave the un-named Elf was purely and obviously one of polite acceptance.
Raistlin couldn't understand why it boiled his blood.
"You are certainly welcome. I will have a few servants bring your things to your room later. You will find suitable clothing and a set of robes in the wardrobe. I will send someone with your meal later. If you two wish to eat together, perhaps discuss traveling plans, there is a room straight down this hall, next to the bath-room, that will most definitely be empty and available." He said, considerably nicer when he realized that Alira was kind.
She bade Raistlin and the Elf good night, and closed her door. She could hear the doors opening and closing as Raistlin entered his room.
First things first, she wanted a bath! Luckily for her, the bath-room was not far. She opened the wardrobe, hoping for a bathrobe to be included, and was pleased to see that they Elves had thought to leave one there.
Alira stripped out of her damp, mud-stained clothing and slipped into the warm, fluffy robe, tying it tightly about her waist and slipping her feet into slippers. She quietly opened her door. The hall was well-lit, and warm, so she stepped out and slipped towards her objective.
Opening the bath-room's doors, she was happy with the way the room was set up. There were five other doors, and behind each door was the actual bath and toilet. Choosing the first one, she twisted the door-handle to see if it was locked. It wasn't, but she still cracked it open a tiny bit to be sure no one else was there.
Alira held her breath when she realized that her suspicions were correct. Someone was there. It was obvious who it was, for there were very few people in the world with brilliant golden skin and shoulder-length silvery hair. His back faced her, luckily. Raistlin had beaten her to the bath. Quietly she closed the door, suppressing a girlish giggle.
She closed the door as quickly as she had opened it, and made her way to the second door. This one, she found, was empty. The one flaw she had found so far with the hospitality of the Elves was that the doors didn't have locks. But as far as Alira was concerned, that was practically nothing.
She drew the bath, surprised to see that it was warm, and slipped the luxurious robe from her skin. The room itself was tiled in some fine marble, but around the bath it was some strange material that Alira didn't recognize. The pool was tiled, though she did not recognize that material either. She slipped in, finding herself submerged to her chest in the deepest part, and to her waist in the shallow half. She sunk herself to the bottom, dunking her hair.
Alira bathed quickly, watching as the revolutionary water system managed to drain all the soapy water away and replace it just as quickly with fresh, clean warm water. When she was finished, she noticed that the water had a light perfume of roses to it. She smiled as she dozed in the steam-filled room, enjoying the feel of the lapping water against her bare skin. Her hair was soft, and smelled sweet and clean. Alira was, in all, very content.
Finally, though, she felt she had to leave the soothing rose-scented waters. Too much of a good thing can be bad, after all. With a sigh, she pulled herself from the tub, which was sunken into the floor, and walked, quickly, to her robe. It was surprising, how marvelously beautiful and yet functional the Elves managed to make everything. She saw towels near the hook, and decided to towel herself off before slipping in.
When she was finally ready to leave, she was clean, comfortable, and dry but for her hair, which she wrapped in a towel. She opened the door, and found Raistlin next to her, tying his robe closed around his waist. This towel-robe left considerably less to imagination of the body than his red ones. She could tell that he was built much as his brother, only with fine bones and a bit more of a delicate strength kind of structuring. Had he worked his muscles more, he could definitely be buff. He had strong shoulders, though they were used to hunching, and a narrow waist that was used to coughing. He was fairly tall, now that she thought of it, seeing that he was also a bit taller than she was.
"Alira." He said, more of a greeting than a realization.
"Hello, Raistlin." She said, still in a calm, soothing, philosophical mood from her time in the bathing room.
He had time to contemplate his feelings about that hug in his room, and in the bath, and it was half-explained notions and dozens of other reasons that explained his next action. It really wasn't a conscious decision. It was confusion that drove him to it.
Raistlin moved awkwardly forward, at the last minute, bringing his arms up and encasing Alira in them. At first shocked, especially since she wore nothing under these robes, Alira actually stiffened in his grip. He was going to let go, sensing her discomfort, but then she put her arms around him, holding him as tightly as he held her.
Her head felt perfectly natural, it fit perfectly in that little nook of his shoulder. Her eyes closed. Suddenly, she could tell every degree they shifted in their embrace.
Raistlin was done with this experiment. He pulled his head from its leaning position against her fragrant hair, and slowly pulled away from her, feeling her arms slide from him as his slid from her.
Without a word, they stepped back, studying each other, and he walked out of the room.
Alira waited until she heard his door close to go to her room.
Again: I KNOW I don't own Dragonlance, but I DO own Alira! So there! (sigh, I wish I had Raistlin, though.) Chapter 6:
Alira woke up, not realizing she had drifted to sleep, and found that the storm had weakened. The thunder was less frequent, and the rain not as frantic.
Raistlin, who had also eventually given in, was still sleeping.
Alira got up and stretched, working the cramps from her back and neck and sighing loudly as she wiped her face. The fire had gone down, and she could see that Raistlin was probably cold from the way he was curled up. She wasted no time in bringing the fire back to life, though it wasn't nearly as strong as before.
Raistlin awoke to the sounds of sizzling meat and frying bread. The scent reached his nostrils, beckoning, pushing him to wake. For once, he was hungry.
"Want some?" Alira asked, using a fork to pull a slab of bread and a few sausages off the frying pan. She held the plate to him, and he took it gratefully, thanking her with his eyes.
They ate quietly, listening to the rain and occasionally looking up to see what the other was doing. They finished in silence.
"Here, I'll take them." Alira said, reaching out for his plate and utensils. He coughed, and Alira shoved his tea into his hands, already made.
She inched over to the mouth of the cave, thrusting the dishes out for the water to take care of. He chuckled.
"I never liked doing dishes." She said, with a smile.
Suddenly, for no reason at all, they both laughed.
Alira took out the wine again, getting bored and wanting something to do other than study. This time, she poured a full cup for herself, and then for Raistlin.
"Be careful! This is strong stuff, and if you drink it too much too fast, you'll be drunk before you swallow!" She warned, taking a rather large sip out of hers.
Two minutes later, they were sitting down, laughing wildly about random things and having no idea about what they were talking about.
"You know.I never, ever had a girlfriend.'cuz CARAMON took them ALL!" Raistlin giggled wildly, screaming.
Alira burst into a fresh bout of laughter. "Guess what? Me too! No! Caramon didn't take 'em.they just were afraid of my maaagical powersh!"
Now, the smart part of Alira was wondering how on Krynn Raistlin got drunk. He definitely had more self-control than that. There had to be a reason. Her subconscious decided to mess with her drunken mind.
"Hey.why did you get drunk!" she said obstinately, as though getting drunk was her special privelage.
"'Cuz I'm trying to get over aaaall of my troubles." He hiccupped.
"You don't have troubles.you're the special magical mage." She hissed.
"Yah! I have lotsa troubles! I killed my brother during my test! And, and, I think Fistandeelus has taken something from me, but I really don't know.and, and.I'm still a virgin! HAH!" he cried.
Alira went into detail about all the things that were bad about her life ("I accidentally set a cat on fire once!) and they soon both passed out.
"Why did you do that!" Mishakal cried to her consort, Paladine.
"I know it doesn't look right now, love, but I believe this will help them both out later."
"How can being drunk and losing consciousness help anybody? All they found out was that they are both virgins, and now Alira knows about him killing his brother and being linked to Fist.an.dantilus." The Goddess of healing slowed down considerably when she realized what she just said.
"No, you don't mean to." she started, staring wide-eyed at her beloved God of goodness.
"Yes, love, I do. For those who have loved can never forsake love." He told his love, and they both left together, leaving the matter of Raistlin Majere and Alira Lintharin Calion to fate now.
Strangely, the two red-robes awoke with no signs of hangover. They had no idea at all about what had happened, only that they had fallen asleep and re-awoken later to find that the storm had reduced to a trickling drizzle.
"I'm going mad. We have to leave." Alira ordered, standing tall next to Raistlin. They were about the same size, so it was difficult for her to seem very commanding in front of him. "Do you think you can ride, despite your cough?"
"We are already abominably late, I think I can withstand a drizzle if it means we might get to Qualinesti quicker." He said, his voice taking on its usual dreary cynical tone.
With both of them working, they had the cave clean in minutes. They each donned a heavy cloak and left the cave, doing their best to ignore the rain. Raistlin and Alira rode next to each other, and they kept their hoods thrown over their heads.
"Well, this isn't that bad." Alira said cheerfully, as the drizzling began to slow. The sun seemed to peek through, as though struggling for freedom.
"It could be worse." Raistlin agreed.
"What robes did you think you would attain before your Test?" she asked, a question common enough among young mages who had just won their robes.
"I did not think about it. I was more preoccupied with wondering if I would pass." He replied truthfully. "And you?"
"Most mages say they thought they would end up in Solinari's order. I knew I didn't want black, but I wasn't too sure about white, either. I never took my own guess, but I suppose I was just so undecided that red was all that was left to me." She answered.
"Few people would be so truthful." Raistlin said.
"I know."
"Do you have many friends?" He asked her, keeping his face from her eyes.
"I did, at one time. But when I first went to learn magic, I slowly lost them all. Before long, it was only the magic that I cared about."
"What about now?" He asked earnestly.
She turned to face him, and saw that his golden eyes shone even from the depths of his hood. It was frightening. "The magic.is all."
Her reply was final, but it obviously didn't satisfy Raistlin.
"Do you believe that, truly?"
"Don't you?" she countered, suddenly feeling defensive. Of course magic was all to her, that was why she was able to pass her Test.
"Magic is all I will ever have," he said softly.
"Do you believe that?" she attacked him, aggressively challenging his beliefs.
"Of course I do!" he snapped. "But do you?"
"As much as you believe, I believe." She stated confidently.
She was more right than she would ever know.
It was getting dark. The rain had stopped, but the reek of it was everywhere. The horses were slicked from hooves to belly with mud; a few flecks even hit the boots of the riders. The crickets chirped madly, and the frogs competed.
Alira knew then that they were in the land of the Elves, but they had not yet reached the city. They were very close, though, and Alira was certain they would reach it before Solinari and Lunitari met in the sky with Nuitari.
She was right. They arrived shortly, going straight to where they were told to go: the very place where the Speaker of the Sun resided.
"You are late." An Elf met them in the small audience room they were taken to. They still dripped mud.
"Oh, really, I couldn't tell. In case you didn't know, there was a rather bad storm out." Raistlin's rude side was showing, and it pricked the Elf's ego.
"Of course I noticed!" the Elf snapped. "I was directed to tell you something you might deem important to know. For once, Astinus has sent one of his representatives to Qualinesti to visit you and tell you something of importance. But because you took so long, he is now in Solace. I was directed to tell you that it would be prudent if you went there, now. We will, however, be more than glad to allow you to stay here for a few days in order to recuperate from your journey."
The young Elf's politeness was clearly only present through force of will. He escorted them, his face a mask of ice, to the tower they would be staying. Their rooms were next to each other, but drastically different. It must have been some Elven fluke, or perhaps magic, that molded the rooms to their inhabitant's personalities.
While Alira's was plain, it had simple luxuries. A desk with parchment and quills ready for a studious mage, a delicate, intricately carved wardrobe, beautiful chairs carved from some rare woods, and a huge four-poster bed with a draping canopy of gauzy material embroidered with green leaves and brilliant red flowers. The floor was carpeted with prized Elven carpets that were a beauteous representation of nature at its finest. She smiled, and turned around to face the forbidding but beautiful Elf who had escorted her and Raistlin there.
"Please, give my regards to the Speaker, and thank you for escorting me." She said, reaching out and hugging him close. Elves don't mind such contact, to them a hug and kiss is certainly an appropriate greeting. The hug she gave the un-named Elf was purely and obviously one of polite acceptance.
Raistlin couldn't understand why it boiled his blood.
"You are certainly welcome. I will have a few servants bring your things to your room later. You will find suitable clothing and a set of robes in the wardrobe. I will send someone with your meal later. If you two wish to eat together, perhaps discuss traveling plans, there is a room straight down this hall, next to the bath-room, that will most definitely be empty and available." He said, considerably nicer when he realized that Alira was kind.
She bade Raistlin and the Elf good night, and closed her door. She could hear the doors opening and closing as Raistlin entered his room.
First things first, she wanted a bath! Luckily for her, the bath-room was not far. She opened the wardrobe, hoping for a bathrobe to be included, and was pleased to see that they Elves had thought to leave one there.
Alira stripped out of her damp, mud-stained clothing and slipped into the warm, fluffy robe, tying it tightly about her waist and slipping her feet into slippers. She quietly opened her door. The hall was well-lit, and warm, so she stepped out and slipped towards her objective.
Opening the bath-room's doors, she was happy with the way the room was set up. There were five other doors, and behind each door was the actual bath and toilet. Choosing the first one, she twisted the door-handle to see if it was locked. It wasn't, but she still cracked it open a tiny bit to be sure no one else was there.
Alira held her breath when she realized that her suspicions were correct. Someone was there. It was obvious who it was, for there were very few people in the world with brilliant golden skin and shoulder-length silvery hair. His back faced her, luckily. Raistlin had beaten her to the bath. Quietly she closed the door, suppressing a girlish giggle.
She closed the door as quickly as she had opened it, and made her way to the second door. This one, she found, was empty. The one flaw she had found so far with the hospitality of the Elves was that the doors didn't have locks. But as far as Alira was concerned, that was practically nothing.
She drew the bath, surprised to see that it was warm, and slipped the luxurious robe from her skin. The room itself was tiled in some fine marble, but around the bath it was some strange material that Alira didn't recognize. The pool was tiled, though she did not recognize that material either. She slipped in, finding herself submerged to her chest in the deepest part, and to her waist in the shallow half. She sunk herself to the bottom, dunking her hair.
Alira bathed quickly, watching as the revolutionary water system managed to drain all the soapy water away and replace it just as quickly with fresh, clean warm water. When she was finished, she noticed that the water had a light perfume of roses to it. She smiled as she dozed in the steam-filled room, enjoying the feel of the lapping water against her bare skin. Her hair was soft, and smelled sweet and clean. Alira was, in all, very content.
Finally, though, she felt she had to leave the soothing rose-scented waters. Too much of a good thing can be bad, after all. With a sigh, she pulled herself from the tub, which was sunken into the floor, and walked, quickly, to her robe. It was surprising, how marvelously beautiful and yet functional the Elves managed to make everything. She saw towels near the hook, and decided to towel herself off before slipping in.
When she was finally ready to leave, she was clean, comfortable, and dry but for her hair, which she wrapped in a towel. She opened the door, and found Raistlin next to her, tying his robe closed around his waist. This towel-robe left considerably less to imagination of the body than his red ones. She could tell that he was built much as his brother, only with fine bones and a bit more of a delicate strength kind of structuring. Had he worked his muscles more, he could definitely be buff. He had strong shoulders, though they were used to hunching, and a narrow waist that was used to coughing. He was fairly tall, now that she thought of it, seeing that he was also a bit taller than she was.
"Alira." He said, more of a greeting than a realization.
"Hello, Raistlin." She said, still in a calm, soothing, philosophical mood from her time in the bathing room.
He had time to contemplate his feelings about that hug in his room, and in the bath, and it was half-explained notions and dozens of other reasons that explained his next action. It really wasn't a conscious decision. It was confusion that drove him to it.
Raistlin moved awkwardly forward, at the last minute, bringing his arms up and encasing Alira in them. At first shocked, especially since she wore nothing under these robes, Alira actually stiffened in his grip. He was going to let go, sensing her discomfort, but then she put her arms around him, holding him as tightly as he held her.
Her head felt perfectly natural, it fit perfectly in that little nook of his shoulder. Her eyes closed. Suddenly, she could tell every degree they shifted in their embrace.
Raistlin was done with this experiment. He pulled his head from its leaning position against her fragrant hair, and slowly pulled away from her, feeling her arms slide from him as his slid from her.
Without a word, they stepped back, studying each other, and he walked out of the room.
Alira waited until she heard his door close to go to her room.