They spend the journey in comfortable, dull silence.
To tell the truth, the only reason it is comfortable or dull is that Amaya takes several naps, and therefore cannot fidget and twist and turn and drive Janai mad from it all.
Although Janai does not know it, she should be grateful for the most important of soldier's habits – the gift to nap anywhere and everywhere.
And if Amaya can nap on a horse without falling off, she can nap on a flying cat, too.
She holds onto Janai's waist, though. Just to be certain.
Amaya then slips in and out of consciousness for spirits know how many hours, although it is long enough that when she wakes, the elven army is nowhere to be seen.
By that point, the day has faded and the evening chill has crept in, and the first star in the sky has emerged from the curtains of dusk to greet them. Amaya shuffles closer to the Janai, who radiates with all the heat one would expect of a Sunfire elf.
Amaya sighs contently as warmth melts through her body. Now if only there was some way to procure one of these elves during the harsh Katolis winter marches and camps... Amaya eyes her elf thoughtfully.
Then in the light provided by the flying cat's two tails, she notices a flying insect of some description on Janai's neck. Amaya pulls a face and brushes it off quickly, but not quickly enough to miss the shiver that runs through Janai at Amaya's touch.
A smirk curls on Amaya's lips. Very interesting.
Like a curious child searching for jelly tarts, Amaya's outstretched fingers reach for Janai's neck once more. As if sensing her intent, Janai whips around, face flushed and furious.
"What do you think you're doing, human?"
"There was a bug," Amaya says innocently. Janai's scowl deepens.
Ah, of course. Amaya forgot. Janai can't understand sign.
Janai realises this at the same point that Amaya does, and turns back with a gruff exhale. Amaya ignores the twinge of disappointment.
The silence is tense after that.
By the time they approach the Storm Spire, the sun has disappeared and the moon is guiding them with its all-seeing eye above a clear twilight.
She sees soldiers milling at the base of the mountain, and after the inital wave of panic comes and goes, she realises they're Sunfire elves.
How in the cursed hellsdid they get here before Janai and Amaya? Exactly how fast are Xadian horses, and more importantly, where can Amaya get one? Her fingers tap in irritation against her thigh as she eyes the army narrowly.
Fucking magic.
Yet all thoughts of Xadian horses and their practicalities flee when she sees the dragon. Her hand jumps to her hilt, then stops. Amaya forces herself to take in a deep breath.
Allies, she reminds herself. They're allies now.
This dragon won't be threatening to burn everyone and everything she holds dear, at least not anytime soon. Just as the elves she marches with won't be skewering Amaya's soldiers with arrows and spears and spirits-forsaken magic. Something twists in Amaya's gut at the wrongness of it all.
Allies allies allies –
Janai turns around. "What is wrong, human? You're tenser than a yearling being harnessed for the first time."
Amaya grits her teeth and remains silent, but let's go of her sword hilt reluctantly.
Janai looks back at the mountaintop, and returns to Amaya with appraising eyes. "You do not like dragons."
Amaya snorts. A human disliking a dragon is not exactly a novel concept. What fantastic deductive skills her elf has, truly the reasoning of a geni—
"Stop looking at me like that."
Amaya makes her face go slack and dead-eyed.
"Don't look at me like that either," Janai says, as they draw closer to the ground.
Amaya is readying herself for a particularly impressive eye roll when she sees two figures emerging from the cave. She recognises two of them, and all of a sudden she feels beyond incandescent.
The cat angles down, the rapid descent sending Amaya's stomach swooping, and a small laugh of wonder escapes her.
Janai shifts around and gives her an odd with a wry smile.
But Amaya barely notices, barely feels the impact as the cat lands and she jumps off, racing towards Callum and Ezran.
Their faces are older, but their smiles are still the same. She envelopes them in her arms, squeezing them with all her might, closing her eyes with the effort. Everything is in its proper place.
Except the blasted Moonshadow elf.
The last thing she expects is for Callum to jump between them at the same time Amaya takes a single, threatening step forward.
Amaya stands there utterly nonplussed as Callum starts to ramble. She tunes in just in time to catch the stammered, "...but Rayla is our...uh...friend."
...fucking what?
She has hauled herself over mountains and out of prisons and through actual rivers of lava, all for her nephew to make cow eyes at baby Moonshadow assassin.
"Uh, looks like you have an elf friend now, too?" Callum says , staring over Amaya's shoulder.
Internally Amaya winced. Okay, so she wasn't in the best place at the moment to judge her nephew.
She glanced ruefully at Janai, who is crossing her arms and scowling. "We are not...friends." Janai sas through a clenched jaw. "She is my prisoner."
Right. And Viren is actually a beefed-up adoraburr. "She thinks I'm cute, she just won't admit it yet," she signs smugly to Callum.
He smirks, and Amaya turns around just in time to catch – something – on Janai's face. If Amaya didn't know better she would say it was panic.
Whatever the emotion is, it's washed away in an instant when Janai covers her face with crossed hands. "I am Janai, Golden Knight of Lux Aurea."
Amaya huffs in annoyance. The Sunfire Queen is still parading around as a knight, and it takes a great deal of effort to silence the petulant side of Amaya that desires nothing more than to out the elf as Lux Aurea's ruler.
"I've brought my city's forces, what is left of them. They wait at the bottom of the Storm Spire, ready to fight the monster who destroyed our home."
It is hard watching the hope bloom on her nephew's faces over the idea of a mere thousand soldiers against an army numbering in the tens of thousands. It means that until now, they had none.
Her nephew turns to an approaching Skywing elf. In the background, Amaya spots the baby dragon she can only assume is Azymondias, and Viren's firstborn brat. The spirits truly love jokes their little jokes; the son of Thunder, standing at the side of the son of the man who was responsible for his death.
"I know you said we should run, but we want to help. We want to fight."
The next few moments are a blur, with everyone speaking at once Amaya doesn't understand what Ezran is doing until the dragon is already in the air and she is left standing on the ground.
She blinks. And blinks some more. Strangely enough, it does not magically bring her runaway child nephew back. Nor does it magically make the other one less suicidally-inclined.
"Callum," she says mildly when she finally gets his attention. "Come here please."
Amaya tries for a gentle smile to put him at ease. It doesn't work.
"I...uh...I have a lot of work to do, Aunt Amaya."
Amaya drops her smile. "Not now you don't. You have some explaining to do."
Amaya is staring at the stars, sitting at the same spot where they landed when she feels the footsteps of someone approach.
"What did you say to your nephew? The mage, not the boy-king."
Amaya sighs. The last thing she wants to do right now is to struggle to talk to someone. "Unless I have somehow learned to speak in the last several hours," Amaya signs caustically, "why—
Janai hands her a rough book of papyrus and a charcoal stick.
Oh.
Amaya relents, and starts to write.
Janai's braids look black in the moonlight as she reads what Amaya wrote.
"You don't want them to fight? But they show much bravery and courage."
Amaya huffs, and writes a single word, circling it several times to highlight the point.
"I know they are children." Janai says with a sour look. "I am not blind."
Could have fooled me, Amaya scrawls quickly.
Janai ignores her. "I do not think you have to worry. I saw your king jump on a dragon as if it was a mild palfrey, and your oldest nephew has been shooting lightning around inside as a party trick, and not an unheard of feat for a human."
Amaya is silent for a few moments, thinking of Sarai and Harrow, of Khessa and Thunder, of Annika and Neha. She picks up the charcoal.
Sometimes even the most powerful fall.
The next day arrives, she can smell Viren's army before she can see them. It's the rank stench of unwashed bodies, of sweat and piss and horse shit, and it flows like a putrid river up to her nose. The rock she stands on tremors.
In her experience this alone means one thing: the army will be vast. It is a problem, even without taking into account the limited numbers of defenders Amaya has, as well as the traitor's dark magic. And that of his whelp.
Spirits.
Amaya glances over to Callum, who is trying to hold a one-way conversation with the flying cat, and in that moment she wishes nothing more than to whisk him as far away from this battlefield as possible. He is a child and her nephew, one of only two small, fragile pieces of Sarai she has left. The pounding in her head picks up; her panic increasing with every pulse.
He shouldn't be here, he can't –
A soft hand grips her wrist.
Amaya looks over to find Janai staring down at her intently, amber eyes molten. "If worse comes to worst, I have told two of my most capable Knights to get your nephews and the Moonshadow elf as far away from the Storm Spire as possible."
Amaya feels her heart slow, and she lets herself take a breath. How did she know? Amaya raises her hands to speak, and then lowers them with a scowl when she realises it's pointless. Janai can't understand sign.
Her knight taps her wrist, claiming Amaya's attention once more. Janai's look is contemplative. "Not that it helps, but there are others also his age on the battlefield. I don't like those so young fighting, but we need them if we have a chance of winning. Your nephew is a powerful mage. He must be. To be human and to have gained access to a Primal Source is imp..." She shakes her head, "was thought of as impossible, until now. We need him."
Amaya smiles softly. Sarai and Harrow may no longer be here to see their children thrive, but Amaya is. And she is proud enough for all three of them.
Hesitant, Amaya stretches out her hand to grasp Janai's shoulder, watching to see if Janai will accept her touch. The elf's eyes widen, but she lets Amaya hold her. Though Amaya couldn't string two sentences together at the moment even if Kazi was here to translate, she tries desperately to convey her gratitude for the comfort Janai has given her.
It must work, because Janai smiles, and it is everything.
It is honest and warm; a camp fire lit in the darkness of a frosty night, and Amaya decides then and there she wants to see a thousand more just like it. They are still staring at each other when all of a sudden the warm feeling she had burns hotter, brighter. Amaya finds her fingers drifting up to Janai's jaw, stretching up to meet smooth skin. Janai leans closer, eyes brilliant and mouth slightly apart –
The vibrations of the rock beneath them get louder.
Amaya hisses, and drops her hand from Janai's face. Here she is mooning over the thousand and one smiles some Sunfire Elf might give her, but to see a thousand more, Amaya might have to focus on just surviving today. She steels herself. All thoughts of desire are gone, but Amaya still finds herself checking Janai.
But Janai's jawline is iron as hers and a sneer is already curdling over her mouth. Amaya laughs. If there was anyone in this world that was her match, it would be Janai.
Of the two of them, it is Amaya that takes the first step down from the cave, moving to join Callum. At this point it is worthless to speculate who might win this battle, but one thing is for certain:
Those fuckers are in for it.
A/N: Please review if you have the time, I'm subsisting on a diet of comments and suggestions atm. Also I'm unbetaed, so please tell me if you spot any typos.