This chapter brought to you by a headache, a case of the midnight munchies and drunken residents.
For all of you that are college bound, here are a few words of advice:
1.) When in doubt, eat like a toddler. A good way to avoid the freshmen 15 is to snack on dry cereal instead of items from the local vending machines. Plus, cheerios don't smear all over your homework.
2.) Drunkstupid. It's even worse if you were stupid before you got drunk.
3.) Your RA can tell if you're drunk, even if you think you are being cool and hiding it. Why? Because, drunks are stupid. That, and the sound of a resident yakking in the bathroom at 2 in the morning either means someone is drunk or has the flu, both of which your average RA is compelled, both out of worry and the urge to laugh at the stupid drunk, to investigate.
4.) The other people in your community will not enjoy the sight of your vomit filled trashcan in the morning because you left it there last night, nor the sounds of your yakking the night before, nor the stories of your drunken misadventures.
5.) A good way to avoid all but number 1 is to just not drink in the first place. It's only fun to the people telling the stories because they were too drunk to realize that it was a really crappy experience.
A note from your friendly, neighborhood Resident Assistant
A/N: As some of you have noticed, I have been playing around with the timeline for this story. I'm pretty sure that the way I want this to happen will disagree with the proper timeline, but here goes. At this point in the game, Kero and Eldan have never met. I've changed some things around and added an alternate plot to make this story fit in. Also at this stage in the game, Morna is in her late teens, early twenties, so this chapter takes place about 15 years after the last chapter. This chapter is kinda short, but is has some cute mushiness. I wanted to use this chapter to set up the relationships for the rest of the story. I realize that Kero probably does not flirt, but I do and I had fun making her flirt. Don't worry, nothing too girly for our kick butt merc!
Chapter 4
The golden grass whipped her long legs through her leather breeches as she ran, nimbly leaping over half-seen obstacles in pursuit of her prey, a nimble grasscat that was destined for her and year mates' cooking pot. She moved easily, breathing controlled and muscles moving smoothly under sweat-sheaned pale skin.
Above the waist she was clad in a brightly embroidered leather corselet that incorporated numerous hiding places for daggers. As she was being trained as a lady when she was not training as a warrior, the corselet served as a training tool to familiarize her with wearing the tight corsets that were now in fashion at court. She owned several such corselets, constructed for her by an armorer in Kata'shin'a'in. They had cost a fair amount, but were worth their weight in gold. She had some modified corsets tucked away that would serve her the same purpose when she arrived at Court. However, being as much Shin'a'in by adoption as Valdemaren by birth, she could not resist decorating her corselets and corsets with vivid embroidery. In keeping with her future transformation into a lady, the Healers made sure to keep her slathered in a potion that prevented her skin from tanning and burning, and her hands were covered in finely made leather gloves to keep calluses from forming too thickly.
Like her corselet, her skin was decorated with brightly colored tattoos. A lady did not normally adorn herself with tattoos, so hers sleeked around her stomach, back and hips, which were hidden under her corselet. Marek's hands were as skilled as his imagination was fanciful, and sea serpents swam with a fish Marek had called koi while flowers blossomed and hawks swooped down on grasscats. Her favorite tattoo, and probably the most dangerous tattoo she could have, was a tiny tattoo done in blue, spelling out Ceridwyn's name in Shin'a'in. That tattoo was located low on her side, blended in with a dragon chasing a koi. Down her spine, in tiny lettering and starting below her shoulder blades, was a Shin'a'in blessing that Marek swore would protect her. The bare spot between her shoulder blades was reserved for a very special tattoo that she would get after she accomplished her mission. It would be of the symbols on Ceridwyn's saddle. For now, it was too dangerous to have that particular tattoo, so she decided it would be a good victory celebration to let Marek do that one.
The scars on her face were nearly invisible after the treatment the Healers had given her over the last few years. She had grown her hair long and stopped using her favored braids so that she could practice styling her hair in the ways Jeri taught her and to hide other scars that were more obvious. The dark brown curls were currently pinned to the top of her head in an effort to keep her cool and comfortable in the dry heat of the Dhorisha plains. Some of the locks were longer than others, the remnants of her childhood. She had refused to let Alberich cut them so vehemently that she was now too attached to them to cut them herself. Those longer locks always remained braided and she had a supply of beads made from different materials to decorate the braids. Today she wore bone beads that had been painted a wild variety of colors and matched the embroidery on her corselet.
At last she cornered the grasscat against some of the bigger rocks on the plains and took careful aim. With a smooth exhalation of breath, she released the arrow that had been knocked on her bow and pegged the grasscat in a perfect shot that killed it instantly. As she drew her dagger and knelt to field-gut it, she heard a whisper of sound and turned, dropping into a defensive stance with the boulder at her back. Marek rose from the grass, grinning, holding out his hands to show them weaponless.
"You are getting better, love."
Morna grinned impishly, which suited her delicate, elfin features perfectly. "I should be, what with all the ambushing you do."
Marek matched her grin with a much broader grin, showing dimples and perfect teeth. His blue eyes sparkled and his dark braids still stuck straight up. The baby fat he had been troubled with all through their early teens had melted away to reveal a stunningly muscular body, which, Morna was proud to say, was her exclusive territory. Marek's short, squat body was also liberally decorated with tattoos, done by his mother. He did not have to hide them, unlike Morna, so they were as wild and exuberant as he was. Hawks decorated his shoulders and warsteeds galloped across his back. Sa'yen's masterpiece, however, was the exact picture of Morna's right hand over his heart. Marek noticed her survey of him, and blue eyes twinkled merrily in his tanned face.
"Mapping your territory?"
Morna smiled crookedly. "Something like that."
"Let's say I do a little mapping of my own?"
With that, he pounced, bringing her to the ground underneath him and began to disarm her. Before they could get too far, a snort brought them back to reality. Morna tilted her head back to meet the disapproving gaze of Kantor, and Alberich's equally disapproving gaze.
"A different prey, I sent you to catch. Too small, this one is. Back, throw him."
Marek grinned cheekily up at Alberich. "Alberich! Do you honestly believe-" He broke off as Morna placed a hand over his mouth. Ever so faintly, she could feel the ground shivering.
"Someone is coming. A lot of someones."
Kantor had raised his head and was sniffing at the wind as Ceridwyn trotted up beside them, followed by a formidable looking old woman on a grey warsteed who was followed by another woman, this one with long blonde hair and green eyes. A large creature Morna had learned from hard experience was called a kyree trotted alongside them.
:Tarma says to stand down, that it is her clandaughter, Kerowyn, and some of Kerowyn's mercenary friends.:
"I thought Kerowyn was in Menmelleth or Rethwellen or somewhere like that."
"She was." Tarma's harsh voice no longer startled Morna, not after the days she had spent at the old woman's side, learning her craft. Between Tarma and Alberich, Morna had been thoroughly beaten, taken apart and put back together again until she was a warrior of fine caliber. "Something bad has happened. She would not bring her mercenaries here otherwise."
As Tarma spoke, the riders became visible. The woman Morna pegged to be Kerowyn rode in the lead on a warsteed that looked the worse for wear. The mercenary's armor was damaged in some spots and Kerowyn herself appeared thin and worn. Another rider rode pillion behind her, his head lolling on her shoulder and his hands tied around her waist to keep him from falling off. Her fellow mercenaries were not much better, some with visible bandages, one in particular tied to his horse. Tarma's curse was quiet as she studied the group of about twenty mercenaries, and Morna rose to study them with her own senses when Marek rolled off her.
Kerowyn herself was of much interest to Morna. She had heard tales of Kerowyn from Tarma and the other Shin'a'in. Lately, the only news Morna had heard of Kero had carried an overtone of worry. It seemed that Kero's captain had been killed and another had risen to take his place. When bad leadership lead to a standoff between Kero and the replacement captain, Kero had once again learned that a sword that served women would not let her harm a woman. Now Kero rode with a band of freelance mercenaries that consisted of her friends from her old company that left with her. However, it seemed Ancar's empire building was not to stop with just Valdemar. He was eying Valdemar's neighbors more and more closely, even occasionally making forays.
As Kero's party pulled up to a halt in front of Tarma, Morna was able to see more details of the mercenary and her party. They were in even worse shape than she thought. Kero was listing in her horse's saddle, and if the marks under her eyes were any indication, she was riding in a haze of exhaustion. Her warsteed drooped, and Tarma's Ironheart sidled up to support the pair.
"What happened, Clandaughter?"
"Evil at work happened." Kero's voice was just as harsh as her Clanmother's, and she gratefully took the waterskin Alberich handed over. "Ancar infiltrated Rethwellen. Faram's dead. Local nobility is being overthrown everywhere. Luckily for Daren, we were up there to see him, maybe leach a few jobs off him or a place to stay, since we haven't been able to find a job in the last few months. Never saw it coming."
Tarma's eyes widened as she recognized the previously vibrant and charismatic Daren sagging against Kero. His hair was so blood matted and dirty that she had not realized it was him.
"Sweet, goddess."
Tarma reached out to relieve Kero and Hellsbane of Daren's weight, and Kethry moved up to help and steady Kero. In the end, Alberich had to move in and lift Daren from Kero's mount and settle him in Tarma's arms. The old warrior took his weight with ease, then tried to quickly move forward again as Kero's head lolled abruptly and her weight sagged.
"I have her."
Herald Eldan's Ratha surged forward and he caught the worn mercenary before she had even slumped all the way out of her saddle, pulling her up in front of him and settling her across his own saddle. Her head started to settle on his shoulder, then jerked up and she began to struggle.
"My friends-"
"Will be fine. The others will see to them."
It was only then that Morna realized other Heralds and Shin'a'in had ridden up during the commotion and were seeing to the other mercenaries and their horses.
"Rest." Eldan pushed Kero's head back down to his shoulder, and she did not fight him. Her eyes drooped closed and her body went limp in his arms. Ratha turned back toward the camp and began a smooth walk, careful of holes and rocks. Tarma gazed speculatively at the pair for a moment, then snorted softly and began following the cavalcade back to the tents. Alberich followed, leaving Morna behind with Marek and the dead grasscat.
"Well. 'May you live in interesting times' and all that."
Marek's words drew Morna's attention away from the trail of horses, Heralds, mercenaries and Shin'a'ins and back to him. He grinned cheekily and Morna was struck once again by how physically different they were from one another, yet how well they fit together. His face was chiseled, his jaw wide, his blue eyes glittered and he was built more along the lines of a short wide boulder with an attitude problem. She was tall and thin, as willowy as the plains grass that swayed in the wind. As unlikely a pair as ever, she thought, but we work. Then Marek shrugged abruptly and turned to finish gutting the grasscat she had dropped.
"Looks like this will all be over sooner than we thought. In the meantime, we need more meat. Those mercenaries looked hungry, and Mother has threatened to roast me one to many times for my own comfort. Let's go do some more hunting."
Unable to disagree with his cheerful logic, Morna shrugged, knocked another arrow, and followed him as he began hiking further out into the plains.
That evening, as Morna slept tucked in with Marek, Kero started awake and sat up with a gasp. She looked around her and reached for her sword at the same time, trying to remember where she was. She was in a large tent that she seemed to be sharing with a multitude of people. While the tent's style was distinctly Shin'a'in, there were several facts that disagreed painfully with her memory of the Shin'a'in lifestyle. One fact was that the tent seemed almost as if it had been constructed from several tents that were sewn together. In one corner, Kero even spotted a stylized Vkandis Sunlord while in another corner, she spotted several Valdemaren gods and goddess. Other designs romped around the tent walls, many of them appearing as if someone other than the original artists had drawn them. A quilt was displayed at one end of the tent that was distinctly non-Shin'a'in. The brownish fabric in the middle was surrounded by brighter colors, then more subdued leathers. The unfinished quilt was now sporting a thick band of even more colorful diamond shaped cloth pieces, almost eye-searingly bright.
The number of bodies in the tent disagreed with the traditional Shin'a'in lifestyle as well. Bodies lay haphazardly around the tent, almost as if they slept where they had collapsed. An older man Kero recognized from earlier in the day looked like he had established a regular spot for himself underneath the Sunlord, along with a woman she had never seen before. Most of the bodies strewn on the carpets and blankets were much younger than herself, and she spotted another pair she vaguely recognized from earlier curled together in way that spoke of comfortable intimacy and routine, as if they had slept in that boneless pile of intertwining limbs every night of their lives.
As Kero watched, a white head that she recognized as belonging to a Companion poked through one of the numerous open panels of the tent. It regarded her for a minute, then winked. Kero blinked, sure the horse had not just winked at her. Then she shook herself, reminding herself just what a Companion was. The Companion lowered its head to rub its velvet soft nose against the cheek of a sleeping youngster. When the lad rolled over, mumbling in his sleep, the Companion looked back up at her with a glint that Kero could only call mischievous in one sparkling blue eye. Then the lad came awake abruptly as the Companion dribbled a carefully aimed glob of green slime in his ear. As Kero's eyes widened and she fought back a gurgle of laughter, the lad sat up and began swearing as the Companion whickered in high humor and cavorted off. The other youngsters merely grumbled and rolled over at the disturbance, obviously used to it by now. The older man cracked an eye open and Kero saw him perform a visual assessment of the tent's residents. When the eye swept to her, it stopped, noticing she was awake. The other eye popped open, then owner of the eyes yawned and stretched before rising from his bedroll, making sure the blankets were tucked in securely around his mate so his body heat did not escape.
He moved easily through the tent, stopping to ruffle the lad's hair and offer a piece of cloth that was smudged in green streaks and obviously well used. The youngster that Kero was now estimating to be around twelve years of age, grinned and accepted the cloth, then began excavating the slime from his ear. The man continued on a circuit of the tent, his long grey hair swinging free about his broad shoulders, and his scarred face did little to hide his affection for the tent's inhabitants. Kero almost grinned when he "accidentally" tripped over the male of the pair that was comfortably entwined, causing him to curse and growl in his sleep before snuggling up tighter to his partner, a willowy brunette with finely honed muscles and a curious lack of a tan. Then the man arrived in front of her.
"Back to the land of the waking, you are. Good, it is, to awake see you."
Kero almost felt her eyes cross as her befuddled brain untangled his words, then she half-smiled.
"Sorry to disturb you."
"No matter, it is. This to drink, Sa'yen says. Gulp it fast, I say. Nasty, undoubtedly it is."
Kero accepted the skin from him, the opened it and sniffed the contents. "Blech."
"Drink, not sniff."
She raised an eyebrow at him, then toasted him with the skin before downing the contents as fast as possible, making a nasty face all the while.
"Healers. Gotta love the foul stuff they come up with." Kero became aware of her intense need for the latrine at that moment, and, after obtaining directions from Alberich, rose to see to that need. Once outside the tent, she nearly tripped over a man she also vaguely recognized from the previous afternoon, a Herald with two white streaks in his hair. He sat up abruptly in his bedroll, muttering something about Sunpriestesses and a hayburner. Then his eyes focused on Kero and she saw him physically jerk awake.
"You're up." His voice was hoarse with sleep.
Kero smiled. "Apparently."
He rubbed at his face and she heard his bristles rasp in the nighttime silence. "Do you need something? Water? Food? I can-"
"Latrine."
"Oh." He seemed embarrassed for a moment, then pointed in the vague general direction of the latrines. "That way. Do you need-"
Kero grinned. "I think I can do that by myself."
"Right." However, he rose from his bedroll and strolled amicably along next to her. She began to wonder if he actually did intend to be present while she relieved herself, but she realized that he actually had no idea what he was doing other than following while he thought up something reasonably intelligent to say to her. Kero could almost hear the mechanics of brain stuttering along, clogged from sleep and, dare she guess, infatuation.
"So."
Kero almost laughed. "So."
"Nice weather we're having, tonight, wouldn't you say?" Eldan mentally kicked himself and endured Ratha's chuckling in his mind.
Kero glanced up at the stars, then smiled and took mercy on him. After all, his struggles to sound normal were almost endearing. "I'd say so. Not too cool, not too hot. Perfect sleeping weather. Especially if you have a partner," she added wickedly. She heard him gulp.
"Right. Um. I'm going to go to bed now. Enjoy your-erm- I mean, I hope you sleep well tonight." He turned and was surprised he did not trip over his own two feet. :Goodness: he sent. :I haven't been like this since I was a lad!:
Ratha chuckled. :I think this is worse than when you were a lad.:
Eldan began trudging back to his bedroll, mentally kicking himself with every step he took.
"Wait!" Kerowyn's voice drew him to a stop. He turned, trying to keep the hope from entering his expression. "You never told me your name." Kero forced herself not to blush, realizing this was the first time she had found a man that truly interested her in a number of years. Blushing! At my age!
Eldan grinned, then stepped back toward her, holding out his hand. "Herald Eldan. And you are?"
Kero smiled cheekily. "Kerowyn shena Tale'sedrin, free-lance mercenary, at your service. I am pleased to meet you, Herald Eldan." She held her hand out to be clasped in traditional greeting, then felt heat rising in her cheeks as he turned her hand and bowed over it while lightly brushing it with his lips, his dark eyes twinkling up at her.
"As I am pleased you meet you, Kerowyn shena Tale'sedrin. I wish you a good eve."
With that, he rose from his courtly bow and began walking back to his bedroll, careful not to trip this time because he was too happy to feel his feet.
:Wait for it: he Sent to Ratha.
:Wait for what?:
:Wait for it…Now!:
Eldan turned back just in time to catch Kero glancing back over her shoulder at him. She smiled and quickly turned back to watch where she walking, biting her lip to keep from grinning too broadly.
:She smiled at me!:
:Indeed she did.:
:Ratha, don't you understand what this means?:
:I'm sure you will enlighten me.:
:She likes me!:
He almost felt Ratha roll his eyes. Eldan grinned, too happy to care about Ratha's exasperation. He found his bedroll and settled into it with a happy wriggle, then folded his hands behind his head and looked up at the stars, still grinning.
:She smiled at me…: