Chapter Forty-one: The Chess Master
The softness and shallowness of the snow was one of those uncomfortable things that nobody wanted to acknowledge. Because of that, yesterday's return to Novus wasn't the triumphant reunion that any of them had been expecting. It shouldn't be misunderstood; it was still a happy time for everybody involved, the thinning snow and melting ice simply cast a shadow over it, and that shadow seemed to be continuing today.
It was late in the morning when Callum finally arose. No one begrudged him a little extra sleep in light of not only the past months of rigorous training, but also the danger that loomed ahead. The house was quiet as he moved through it, leading him to think everyone else must have been up by now.
Callum stopped at the bottom of the stairs, were a small mirror hung on the wall. His hair was looking a little ragged after the months out of town, but he otherwise looked well-rested. His eyes dropped to the scarf worn by his reflection, knowing that there was the beginning of a huge red scar hidden beneath it. Turning back to himself, Callum searched his own gaze, though he couldn't imagine what there was to see. Some deeper wisdom maybe? An answer as to where to go from here? A flicker of approaching insanity? He saw nothing different which was at once disheartening and comforting. Despite everything, it was still him.
A pair of thin arms snuck beneath his arms and snaked around his lower chest as a slim body pressed against his backside. Callum smiled, seeing in the mirror that Rayla had come up behind him and rested her head on his back.
"Hey." he told her, turning around in the elf's grasp to face her and wrap his own arms around her.
"Hey." she replied, quickly melting into the embrace. "I waited for you."
Callum gave a short, sheepish laugh. "Yeah, sorry about that. It's been a busy couple of months, you know? So, where is everyone?"
"Your aunt left on some kind of morning patrol a couple of hours ago, Ezran took Mira into town for something or other, and Soren is probably still at Zephyr's."
"Oh yeah, he did decide to spend the night with her." Callum remembered. He thought warily of how things would be when they met up because Soren seemed to be set on something that night – something that couldn't be spoken of in the presence of a small child – and by the look he had given Callum, the former guard clearly intended on bragging. Callum winced. "He's going to try to tell me about it, isn't he?"
"Probably." Rayla said as she extracted herself from his arms and led him to the couch, where they settled in together. "He'll probably also ask why we haven't done things like that before, with us having been together longer."
This led to another small bout of laughter from both of them. The biggest reason was simply because neither wanted to incur Amaya's wrath. After discovering that humans and elves were capable of breeding, the woman had sat Callum and Rayla down in private and spelled out to the mortified pair that she was much too young to be the equivalent of a grandmother, and so it would be their heads if she ever caught wind of them doing such things.
"I'll just tell him it's not a good time to risk it." Callum said, pulling her to his side and allowing her to lean on him. "I'm not even sure I want you in whatever's about to happen now."
"I can take care of myself, and anyone else who comes along." Rayla retorted before she gave a puzzled pause. "When did talking about Soren turn into us talking about having kids?"
Callum shrugged. "Speaking of, how's your mother doing?"
"She's itching for something to do." Rayla said, having paid her parents a long visit last night. She had seen that her mother's stomach was getting larger. It had somehow solidified to Rayla that in less than a year, she'd really have a little sibling. "Dad barely lets her leave the house. Oh, that reminds me, he wants to talk to you." When Callum appeared to tense, Rayla quickly added: "He says it's nothing bad, he just wants to talk."
"Unless he finds out what we were just talking about." Callum half-joked. He didn't really think Lain would risk his relationship with his daughter over hypotheticals, but he'd heard some scary things about overprotective parents.
Amer was too on edge to be disorientated at the astral plane. It was only the second time this had happened to him. He looked at Aaravos who was watching Callum and the Moonshadow elf exit their home.
"Why are we spying on these freaks?" Had he not also been so exhausted with fear, maybe Amer would have also held his tongue better.
"Only a sensible precaution." Aaravos answered, not taking his eyes off of Callum in particular. "Our dear Callum has connected to all arcanums and needs only to master the magic of the last four primal sources. A feat that couldn't possibly take less than a full year. Possibly two if he wants to be thorough."
"Than he's not an archmage yet?" Amer asked.
"We mustn't underestimate our enemies, Amer." Aaravos said, not looking away from Callum. Amer eyed the Startouch elf, trying to not be too obvious with his anger. He despised the man as much as anyone and he wished he had the courage to at least attempt to overtake him. It would be easy, he told himself, and he'd be hailed as a hero even if he failed. So why couldn't he make a move?
"You are perfectly welcome to have whatever emotions you wish for me, it doesn't matter." Aaravos said, finally looking away from Callum and to Amer, who's eyes widened in horror. Seeing as Aaravos seemed to always have that smirk and those eyes that burrowed into your soul, Amer had chosen to deem this expression unreadable. "As I told you, there will be no trouble if you play your part correctly. What lies beyond that is your own affair."
"I hate you." Amer said, meaning for his tone to be seething but unsure if he succeeded in it. Aaravos didn't seem effected either way. Deep down, Amer could see why. It was such a toothless statement, with all that this elf had done assuming half of those nursery stories he'd heard as a boy were true, along with what was verified by history.
"Many seem to." Aaravos said, his voice not holding a hint of caring. "I don't require your respect, only your obedience. If it would ensure your loyalty, might I make a suggestion on a new target? Someone to…take things out on, as it were?" This seemed to get Amer's attention. "The entire reason I was able to return to this plane was because of the mage, Viren."
Amer was quiet, listening. He'd heard Aaravos thank Viren before killing him, claiming to have owed him. But what target could he be? He was dead. Aaravos went on. "He may be gone, but his line lives on."
Realization dawned on Amer as Viren's son approached Callum and the two began talking. Yes, if everyone at least knew that he had wiped out the line of the dark mage who resurrected Aaravos, they'd have to respect him. People would revere him, his fellow Sunfire elves would welcome him home and he'd regain his Princehood. No! No, that treacherous sister of his would regret what she did and step down as queen, then she'd go into exile to be with the humans she loved so much and he could bring the Sunfire elves back to greatness as their king.
"I'll destroy them both." His words were serine, almost dreamy, as he let his imagination run wild. "You can handle Callum and whoever else, but those two are my kills."
Aaravos was amused by this statement. It was quite the shame he and Claudia never got along to start with; they were quite alike in many ways. Still, his grin grew at the look on the little fool's face. Oh yes, he had struck the right chord this time.
Soren grinned cockily at an uneasy-looking Callum, both blissfully unaware of the vengeful epiphany that had been set on the young soldier.
"Okay, I-I really don't need to know anymore." Callum raised his hands in a plea for silence before things got too graphic, and Soren gave an amused chuckle. "And anyway, you two haven't been together that long. It's kind of early to be getting physical."
"Oh, how would you know?" Soren asked good-naturedly. "How long have you and Rayla been together, almost three years now? And I've never heard about any –" Soren paused to look around them, finally seeing some children playing with a ball not too far away. He carried on, turning back to Callum, and chose his next words carefully. "Uh, playtime, between you two. Unless –"
"No, no, no!" Callum interjected hurriedly, the hot blush on his cheeks such a contrast to the cold morning air that it almost burned painfully. "We haven't. And if we did, I wouldn't go around bragging about it."
"Why is that, by the way?" Soren asked. "You two pretty much lived together at the Storm Spire before, and you can barely go a day without getting cozy. It just seems weird to me."
Callum's blush of intrigue turned to one of embarrassment as he quickly and discreetly recounted Amaya's old promise to make him and Rayla sorry for it if she found out they had done anything that would likely render her late sister a grandmother and herself a great-aunt, which even today, she claimed to be much too young for. Embarrassment turned to aggravation when, come the end of the story, Soren burst out laughing.
Somehow, in the next hour, Callum had managed to lose Soren. As he sauntered through the village, he looked around in a lax manner. He spotted Zephyr and Rayla talking in the distance, and by the way Rayla was covering her ears and making a disgusted face and Zephyr was looking at her like she was being immature, he could imagine that Zephyr, like Soren, greatly enjoyed their night together.
At another point, Callum stopped to watch a small group made up of Mira, Ezran, Bait, Ellis and Ava. Mira and Ava were playing, and Callum was first surprised, then uncomfortable, to see Ellis look at him longingly, with the same look of adoration that a lot of girls gave him. Discomfort turned to worry when Callum's eyes turned to Ezran, who was staring at him with a mixture of jealousy, betrayal and apology. Callum moved on, keen to get away from this scene; he knew this was another talk he now needed to have with his kid brother, but one potentially family-destroying conversation at a time.
Within ten minutes, he was at Lain and Tiadrin's home, sitting opposite the man at their dining table. Callum sat almost obediently, trying to look as none-threatening as possible as he returned the elf's look, which was somehow awkward and dignified at the same time. Tiadrin – who Callum had seen was indeed visibly pregnant now – had ushered him and Rayla in almost eagerly and dragged her bewildered husband from wherever he was. She'd been unmindful of Lain's annoyed gaze that chased her out of the room. Rayla followed her mother at her insistence, clearly just as confused as Callum. He imagined they were just in the other room.
Plucking up his courage, Callum spoke. "I'm not what you always imagined for your daughter, am I?"
"No, you're not." Lain's voice was even and calm. "Rayla aside, no one could have imagined anything like you could possibly exist only five years ago. But mage or not, you're still a human."
"I love your daughter." Callum told him, his heart flooding with affection for the young elf just in the other room. "And she loves me. You and your wife, your unborn child, you live here now, not with the other elves. You don't have to worry about honor anymore."
"Yes, I'm aware." Lain said, "But it's the mentality that I grew up with. I see nothing wrong with valuing personal honor, nor does Tiadrin, and we plan to raise our coming child to value the same. Of course, we did raise Rayla in the same way."
A prick of annoyance tinged Callum at the words. He knew that Lain probably didn't mean to insinuate, even without an unhappy tone, that he considered his daughter dishonorable; they both knew that Rayla was very honorable, she just placed her ideals over that honor.
"Stubborn girl, but I love her with all my heart." Lain said with a tired-sounding sigh as if remembering what must have been a rough time raising such a headstrong child. "And I do want her to be happy. If her happiness truly lies with you, then I suppose it's no choice of mine." Callum blinked, hardly believing what he'd just heard. "You two have my blessing, so long as you take care of her."
Managing to contain his joy, Callum asked: "What made you change your mind?" And Lain told him about Amer showing up months ago, and how it had shaken Lain to his core to hear his own words spilling from that pathetic lump's mouth.
"So, what are you thinking of learning first?" Soren asked. It was afternoon and getting colder as the sun retreated, so the boys, Rayla and Zephyr had regrouped as they headed for home for a hot meal. Ezran and Mira, they understood, were already home.
"I'm not sure." Callum said. "I mean, I know I don't know any star spells, but I don't even really understand that primal myself, so I don't know what would be useful."
"Maybe talk to Kaiya?" Zephyr suggested. "Didn't she once say her daughter was a star mage?"
Callum thought about it as a chill overtook him, and not just from the icy breeze. It was a shutter of realization as he stopped to observe the shadows cast by houses and trees, how they faded and darkened with each cloud that passed over the sun. His mind went back to some months ago to his refusal of Aaravos following their visit to Aviana. That shadow spell he'd seen. If he was looking for useful, he'd need to know that spell.
Author's Notes: All glory to the Undertale reference! Rant time: It's always bugged me in media when people are shocked to get pregnant when they've been going at it like rabbits. One would think that where babies come from would be common knowledge among adults, but apparently not, and Amaya doesn't seem like the type who would overlook the possibility. Okay, rant over. Anyway, sorry if this was boring or even a little sloppy, it was mostly just set up for coming chapters, in which things are going to start picking up. Review.