Ink and Blood

By Asnee

Chapter 8 Of Youth and Panties

AN: No net atm. Dad threw a hissy and took my modem. Over my uncle's house with my mom, hanging out and drinking a few hard lemonades. XD

Disclaimer: I own RO.

Seyren: slash slash slash

Or not.

x X x

Seda Alumani was asleep. Soundly, even. Curled up into a ball and breathing deeply, her nose twitching once or twice. Sometimes, she would sigh and turn over, or whack at some invisible enemy, giggling. Ryxam was sitting at the end of his own bed, watching her breath rise and fall in her small chest. His father's necklace glimmered like a drop of blood on the sheets. Despite the brief calm that had settled over the guild, he found himself growing quickly depressed. The stress of the upcoming fight was a major part of it, but he realized the brown-haired sage (now snoring and kicking) in his bed was also the cause of a lot of trouble. Her overall weakness concerned him, among other things. It would be so easy now, to reach forward and break her small neck. She'd barely have time to open her eyes in sleepy shock. He shook his hair, trying to purge the thought from his already fried nerves. No way.

He'd never been the protective type. Even after the death of his mother and his semi-raising Ludi all by himself, he had never developed those instincts. His father was the opposite. Eremes was such a warm, sociable person...hard to believe he was the bloody monster his enemies described him as. "Sound of Fangs Eremes". Hmmf. More like "Falls asleep with his kids on the couch and pisses his wife off Eremes". He rose soundlessly from his bed, striding over to the simple desk. A few formal reports, an oil lamp...Aha. His dad's reports. The guild was fairly anal about the paperwork actually, and his dad's messy reports proved a small window into his life before his...abduction. He pulled them out and climbed carefully back onto bed, gulping when the sage yawned. She kicked her leg up, and he dodged it nimbly, sweatdropping. Oops. Panties. White panties. Cute. What're they called...big in the butt and crotch but narrow along the sides. Chaste, yet alluring. Yep. Heaven forbid he be dragged along with Ludi on another shopping extravaganza. Back when she was only a regular assassin, she made him buy clothes for her. Assassins of the cross made fairly massive cash, and...she was still getting her katars and such...Erk. Her threat had been that if Eremes ever came back and found out he didn't treat her right, there would be trouble.

Truth. So. Panties.

She curled back up in a ball, hiding the panties but revealing a lot of thigh. Which was somehow more attractive. He smacked his forehead. Idiot. Not the time to be fantasizing. The reports were gripped tightly in his hand, and he squinted in the semi-darkness at them. His keen eyesight was suited for this...kind of. Having one eye made things slightly more difficult though. He held a finger to the paper, tracing his father's messy scrawl. Obviously he didn't like paperwork. Strangely enough, he remembered sitting on his father's lap for a few of them, eight and already more than interested in the family business. His mother, Alena, had been an assassin, too. White haired and beautiful, and very stern. She took careful care of her children. When she died, the duty fell on Eremes's shoulders. He did fair enough, but struggled due to his never being around. Then he met Ludi's mother, a human named Dekka. She was a bit of an air head, and never quite in the clear about what was going on with her husband. He told her he was a mercenary, which was fair enough and plenty respectable. Ryxam was seven when Ludi was born. Dekka loved both him and her own child. Living in Morroc with her and Ludi were actually some of the happier days of his life. He started training with his father, then. Ludi began studying as an acolyte to be a priestess like Dekka.

It wasn't long before she found she prefered running her hands carefully over her father's katars and various other weapons. More than once, Ludi had been caught training in...something more violent than healing. Seda snorted in her sleep, mumbled about her dislike for cabbage, and he found a pale foot in his lap. He sighed, and put the folder over her foot. Man, was she a restless sleeper. His vermilion stare focused on the amulet. Her father had given her that, somehow. Through some pretty advanced magic, it seemed. Hmm. Eremes was smart, sure...but this sort of thing...transcendent dreaming, or whatever it was called. Oh my. He flexed his knuckles in thought, picking dirt out of his fingernails. Who would he have known...

He thumbed through the reports, going back to earlier ones. There was a drawing of a somewhat-familiar woman on the page. Drawings were not uncommon in reports. They served as a helper on suspects and targets, especially if they hadn't been seen in a while.

She looked a little like Seda. The glasses were smaller and balanced delicately on the woman's nose, which was a bit bigger than Seda's, he noticed. Her face was narrower, and her eyes were sharper. Also, her hair was piled on top of her head in a bundle of curls. " Proff. Merilyn Tredes" was scrawled messily under it. Huh...Her mother? Things began falling to place in his head. He looked from the sleeping sage to the woman on the parchment. A scholar would certainly know how to transcendent dream. He took a deep breath. Scholars focused on more supportive magic, and things that revolved around knowledge, stars, and all things in between. Wizards specialized in well...blowing things up. Which was very fine and dandy, in his opinion. (Unless you were on the receiving end of a vexed wizard. Hello there, first failed mission as an assassin.) His eye travelled back to the locket---and he nearly smashed into Seda, who was blinking up in his face, her hand on his knee.

"Sup?" She blinked sleepily. It was hard not to laugh at her, she looked so bleary...Some people had no brain when they were half asleep. His dad was one of them. His early-morning demands as a child were more often than not answered with "Sure, when I figure out what planet I'm on." He blinked and leaned back, actually a bit startled. She looked down at her hand on his knee, and quickly moved back, bringing her hand away with her. "N-ne, s-sorrrrryyy," she yawned, then blinked and looked down at the bundle of parchment in his lap. "Whatcha reading?"

"Dad's old reports," he grumbled, noting the way her eyes lit up at the sight of words. Sages. Pif. He handed the page to her. She was awoke instantly, a shiver running down my spine.

"Ryx...that's my mom."

He nodded glumly. "I thought as much, Miss Alumani."

"Seda."

"Miss Seda." He rolled his eyes and took the parchment back from her. When he looked up, she was holding the bloodstone up to the gold light of his room.

She squinted at it, and then held it up to his face. "It's your eye," she wanted to whisper, but found herself slumping back and falling asleep, stone humming in her hand. Ryxam, of his own accord, shrugged. Whatever. Some people were just like that. He looked around the room. The floor looked kind of cold. Uhh...Okay. Carefully, he laid down next to Seda, his back to her. So what. He was more than mature enough to share a bed with a girl. And he was far from a virgin. So it wasn't intimidating. Even so, the heat seeping from her skin was comforting, and he found himself asleep with a piece of her hair in his fingers anyway.

x X x

"Ouch." There was blood seeping from seven-year-old Seda Alumani's chubby finger. She let down the book she was holding to suck it, whimpering a bit. Twelve year old Byri meandered over to study his sister's misery, point, then laugh. This made her cry outright. There was a brief shuffle and the sound of the front door, and their father came from the patio.

"Byri! You didn't attempt to kill your sister again, did you?"

"N-no! The book did it, I swear--OW," the little blonde got a bonk on the head. Seda continued crying as usual, reaching for her father. Byri rolled his eyes. She really was a little attention monger. The lord knight picked up his daughter, shushing her and shaking her a bit. She sniffed a few times before laying her head on his shoulder and looping her arms around his neck, letting him carry her out to the patio. The younger Alumani grumbled and followed his father out. Meri Alumani stood with a small frown on her face.

"Another paper cut, Seddy?" The auburn-haired woman asked, pursing her lips. Seda nodded into her father's shoulder, raising her finger. The scholar tapped it once, letting the heal clip she had pinned in her curls do the work. It was more than enough, needless to say. "Better?"

"Yes, thank you mama," The little girl chirped. She was instantly better, it seemed. Her father put her down and put his massive hand on her head. She looked up, still sucking the finger.

"Go get your book and come sit with us."

The tot nodded and ran back into the house, a blur of little red sandals and a blue and yellow sun dress. Byri sulked. "Daaaad, when are you gonna show me that lance technique?"

"When, uh...," Byran looked shifty. "Uhhh." Meri smacked her husband.

"I will kill you. Even if you ARE my own husband."

He rolled his blue eyes. "Fine fine, c'mon kid." He dragged a spastic son towards their backyard. It was at that exact moment Eremes Tyrik popped upside down from the door frame, successfully making Seda (who had been trotting back outside with her book, which was half her body height), turn back and run inside screaming. Meri threw a rock at Eremes. He caught it without looking, turned to her, and then proceeded to swallow it.

"Idiot!"

Eremes hoisted himself to a standing position, then peered back inside the house. "Sorry to uh...interrupt your whole family thing. I know it's hard with Byri's missions and your school...shit." Meri shrugged, squinting back down at the thick volume in her lap, and wondering if even demons could digest rocks.

"Eh? Don't you have your own brat?"

"Brats, plural! Little bundles of snot and joy."

"And urine!" Came the cry from a back yard, and it was promptly followed by an "OW" when his son proceeded to smack him in the thigh with a wooden sword for the comment. "Well you DO pee a lot...", came the mumble after that.

Eremes sighed and looked back to the scholar lounging in a wicker chair. "How're you doing otherwise, Meri?" He settled into a crouch, his red eyes focused on her. She quirked an eyebrow.

"Eh, same old same old. Still working on that project?"

"It's up again."

"The project?" She didn't look up from her book, turning a page.

"No. The labs."

Her knuckles whitened on the book's edge, her pretty face paling. "Recken---".

"Yeah," the hitman of sorts said softly, lowering himself to the ground, his head resting on the arm of the patio chair. "We just got word...Howord Alt-Eisen's been missing a month now."

"And Seyren Windsdor almost two...", the redhead mused, looking down at her friend. "I'll get Byri. How soon do you want to set out?"

Wine-colored eyes caught hers. "Almost immediately. I don't know how fast he's moving...And, your kids...".

"They'll understand. We go away a lot."

"We may not come back this time."

She paled slightly, but her small hands remained folded in her lap, clutching the book. "I can't...don't know how...".

Eremes shifted against the chair. "I didn't know how to word it. It's easier for my kids, I guess. Ryxam is used to not knowing if I'm coming home or not. But Ludi is so tiny...".

Meri's brown eyes were bright. "We'll make it home. I know we will."

x X x

Dearest Ozias,

I have taken leave of you, my friend. Our time was short, lucrative, and sweet. I hope we cross paths (and weapons) again. Until then, I wish you the best of luck in finding someone who will let you be on top.

Love,

Ryxam Tyrik of Loki's Cross

"I can still kind of see the note on your chee--".

"SHUT UP."

x X x

"Who the hell is THAT?"

A few voices whispered that and other such things, watching a lord knight walk through Payon one blustery day. He moved somewhat awkwardly, pausing to gaze intently a tree, maybe run his hands over it. He would then meander over to a building, lean close, and inspect it. The four tables was a popular spot, just outside the inn. People sat with their glasses in their laps, looking confused.

"Another one," Lieran Zolstis mumbled, gazing carefully at the red-cloaked man. His own drink was long since drained on the table, and he was running a sharp-nailed finger along the edge of the glass, studying the man under heavy lashes. Hmm.

"Whattya mean, another one"? Came the slightly-drunken inquiry. The gold-eyed proffesor looked at his whitesmith brother, who was fairly shitfaced. "There's lots of lord kites. And they all fllyyyyyyy with read cloaaaaaaksssss---HEY."

The blue-haired scholar swiped the drink and downed the rest of it. "Idiot. Don't you think him and that sniper seem odd?"

"Ohh, the floaty people."

Lieran squinted at Kuu. "Huh."

"One of dem came into mah shop earliah...said he wanted uh...axe...stuff," the dark-haired smith mumbled, raising himself to a sitting position and looking thoughtful. "He had uh...funny eyes. Tons of money too, like whoa. And he didn't have a cart!" Kuu hiccuped. "Weird, eh? Imagine dat, a whitesmith w'out his c'cart...," he sighed. "The blonde was cute t-though, eh? Wuz her face. Oh. Blonde. Cecil."

Lieran thanked the gods for his brother being a hornball, just this once. "Oh?"

"She-she was real shy. Quiet, stayed behind the smith. But I t-talked to her n' she seemed nice. Said they were coming home to Midgard from a long trip." He scratched his head in thought, his brown eyes a bit shiny from the booze. "Said she was Cecil Daemon, when I asked her name n' guild...n' rank in the snipers...n'...YOU DRANK THE LAST OF MY SCOTCH."

The scholar put his hand on his chin, blowing a piece of navy hair out of his face and pushing his glasses. Daemon, Daemon...he knew that name. But from where. He continue wracking his brain as Seyren proceeded to waltz by, not even looking at him.

No, nobody there were them. They were all fine. Plenty innocent. Where were the brothers St. Ludel.

x X x

AN: Cut short, I know. I don't think I'll have net again for a while, so kinda rushed. Sorry! ; And ta da, cameos. lobs proffesor plushie at Sal