IV
The huge assembly hall of the Old Thaumaturgan Academy was only halfway filled, Maera realized sadly. She remembered times, when the Inquisition was still young and less influential, when there were many more students in the ways of magic, alchemy and history. She pushed that thought aside, it made her feel old. Lifting her chin defiantly, she contented herself by looking over the faces of the students that were there, despite the Inquisition's oppression and the dangers that being a mage student brought.
Between the old stone pillars, covered in dusty golden sunbeams that floated in through the roof, merely a few hundred students were seated on the benches, together with teachers and scientists. The high roof was made of copper and painted glass and looked like a rainbow soulstone from below. Statues of long dead mages and alchemists were perched between the carpets that covered the walls. Maera stood next to the Archmage on the dais, a tall Dark Elf with an awe-inspiring aura. Master Cornix, the chief alchemist and some other leading scientists and professors were present as well. All kinds of species were assembled down on the benches, different kinds of Elves, humans, Dwarves, Dragonelves, two Orcs even, and many mixed-bloods. The Academies accepted those willing to learn, no matter their species or origin, and that was the reason the Inquisition hated them for. Besides teaching science and magic, that is.
The Archmage rolled out the parchment the Bigot himself had sent him this morning, and read.
"In the name of his Highness the Grand Inquisitor and the sacred Inquisition, we declare that the teaching of any race other than pure-blooded humans, as well as hosting those godless creatures, is strictly prohibited. This takes effect immediately. Violation will be punished by the stake." He lowered the parchment. Down in the hall, an angry murmur had erupted, and shouts of protest could be heard.
The Archmage spoke again. "My dear students and colleagues, you've heard the news. We will have to adapt to the situation. This is not the first time the Inquisition puts restrictions on us. Times are changing, and obviously the Empire is eager to ban certain species from our ranks. As our chief scientist in literature and leading Librarian, Maera, please explain to our students what will happen now."
Maera stepped forward, taking the parchment from the Archmage. She rolled it up and held it in one hand as the whole hall fell quiet to listen.
"Well, what will we do with those new laws of our dear Inquisition? Screw them. We'll keep on teaching and working like we always did, and keep on supporting the rebellion. Fuck the Inquisition, and the Bigot!"
She ripped the parchment into half, and then again, and again, until she had a handfull of tiny paper pieces, and while the whole hall was echoing with cheers, she tossed the paper into a brazier, where it burned to ashes.
It didn't take the Inquisition long to punish them for what they did. Somehow, through spies probably, the Bigot found out that the heretic conditions in the Academies stayed unchanged, and quickly he threw new obstacles in their ways.
Maera was shocked when she heard that the delivery of some alchemic ingredients and inks had been canceled, and the ware was lost. None of these things were too valuable, but it threw back her research, as they were vital for her experiments and she needed them now. She had to ask the alchemists to order new supply, only to find out that they also lacked important equipment due to belated deliveries and import restrictions.
"You alright, Maera?", Wennyn, a gentle Woodelf-human hybrid, asked her carefully when she stormed out of the big laboratory in the cellar.
Maera struggled to regain her composure. She didn't want anybody to notice how close she was to losing her mind.
"I'm fine. It's just that there's another important delivery lost, and it happened to be mine", she said, forcing a smile. Her smile faltered when Ragnasil strode around a corner as if he had just been waiting there. She rolled her eyes.
"Oh, great. Come on, spit it out. Make your little jest about me playing with dead animals again, we can all use a little fun now", Maera huffed sarcastically.
"Why should I be so crude?", Ragnasil replied with fake indignation. "Since you aren't going to continue your little baubles for quite some time, as it seems."
Maera stared daggers at him, her hands forming tight fists. Her left ear twitched. If she stayed just one more second, she knew she would explode, and Ragnasil was just waiting for her to lose her temper. Desperately suppressing the boiling rage building up inside her, she strode past the Elves with as much dignity as she could muster.
"If I can help you in any way, just let me know", Wennyn offered.
"Thanks, I'm fine", Maera hissed through clenched fangs. Feeling tears sting in her eyes and the gloating gaze of Ragnasil at her back, she marched up the stairs. She didn't want any bloody help. Maera was a person that preferred to take care of problems herself. Wennyn was really nice like most of the alchemists and Maera was sure she was just trying to be helpful, but the last thing she could use now was Ragnasil catching wind of that and spreading word that the odd Dragonelf girl was having a good cry on Wennyn's shoulder like some fucking baby. Still, Maera was angry and sad all the same, and the frustration about the trouble the Inquisition caused them together with those haughty comments fucking Ragnasil had made when he heard about her failed experiments was all too much for her, and she locked herself in her chambers. Tossing an empty ink jar out of the open window and cursing like a sailor, she stomped up and down the room. Bryn hooted indignantly about the noise she made. Sighing, Maera took the barn owl from her perch and stroked her feathers to soothe her. Her eyes welled up, and she angrily wiped away a tear. This sucked. She clung to the thought of seeing Styx again, and that he would at least offer her some diversion in bed. She tried her best to calm down to not look all weepy when he arrived.
After a mission in which he had to guide an Orc rebel through the town unseen, Styx came back to the Library to visit Maera. He made his way up the walls of the Thaumaturgan Academy, the large building shrouded in bold shadows in the light of the evening sun, and nimbly climbed through a window in Maera's chambers. He decided to surprise her, so he sneaked up on her jumping from shelf to shelf, until he reached her desk.
When Styx saw her, he quickly noticed that something was wrong. He hesitated, staying in the shadows.
Maera was crying quietly, her head buried in her arms on the surface of the table.
Styx was disconcerted. For a second he thought about leaving. Maybe she would prefer to be left alone, considering her bad mood. Barging in sentimental stuff was not really his thing, as well as butting into things he had no business with. That only brought unnecessary troubles. On the other hand, seeing Maera cry stirred something in Styx that he couldn't really wrap his mind around, and it hurt him in a strange way. Somehow he knew that just leaving wouldn't make that gnawing feeling better. He blinked, then made up his mind.
Silently, he approached her, but as she heard him coming she quickly turned away to wipe the tears from her eyes, not knowing that he'd already seen them.
"Styx! It's so nice to see you, come here. How are you?", she asked, placing her hands on his shoulders.
Styx could clearly see her eyes still looked tear-stained, but she acted like there was nothing wrong. Not very convincingly. Apparently, he realized, she tried to hide whatever she was so sad about. Styx shuffled uncomfortably as he came to the conclusion that there were just two ways for him to react: He could play along and also act like he didn't see her cry, have a nice time with her and probably get down and dirty later on. That was the easy and probably the most comfortable and smartest solution. He could really use some fun now, being tired and exhausted after his mission. The other possibility would be to waive the sex, ask her about her problem and… well, talk about it with her, probably. Styx wasn't really good at comforting others. He had big troubles comforting himself most of the time, how could he do this for others without making it worse? Styx struggled with himself. Join the farce and get some sweet treats? Hell yeah, he really longed for that. But with knowing that Maera was sad… Somehow, he doubted that it would be that much fun. It would be kinda lopsided. That had never really bothered him before, but Maera was not just some random girl one pays to have fun with. She was different. Special. In every other place and time, Styx would have chosen his own needs over everything else without even hesitating for a heartbeat. But in this case...
Styx, with a small part of him believing that this was a stupid idea, decided to go in uncharted waters.
"Maera... There's something seriously wrong, isn't there, little beauty?", he asked, placing two fingers under her chin and lifting her face up a little.
"What...? No, I'm fine", she said. "It's nothing. Come one, you must be hungry and tired, let me get you a cup of mead..."
"Don't you give me lame excuses! I've seen you long before you saw me, I know that you are sad. Come on, tell me what's troubling you."
She hesitated. "I... No, it's nothing, really. I mean... I don't want to annoy you with that matter. We meet to have fun together, and I don't want to be a mood killer. That's not what you came here for, I'm fine..."
A voice inside Styx yelled at him ferociously to take the offer, forget the stupid soppiness and finally get himself some pleasures.
No. Maera was really troubled by something, but apparently she expected him to do just that: Ignore her problems and use the time they had for fun stuff. She didn't want to be a turn off and really feared that he might become annoyed by her bad mood. A very rarely used part of Styx's mind was hurt by that thought. He didn't want to use her as a relaxation tool, that would be really shitty of him. He wanted her to smile again.
"Listen, Maera. You are going to fetch us some mead, then we'll sit down together and you can tell little old Rakash all that is troubling you. I insist." That made her laugh a little, but she still sniffed her nose.
"... Alright, fine. But I need to feed Bryn first..."
"I'll do that for you. You get the mead and cups and some pillows. Now go, move your pretty butt", Styx said. A while later, Maera and Styx sat down comfortably on a pile of pillows next to her sleeping chamber with some mead. Maera looked sad again.
"Bryn can be such a bitch. She bit me!", Styx complained, glancing at his hand.
"You called her a little fatty. Don't think I didn't hear that!" She tilted one of her long ears.
"Why, she started it", Styx grumbled. "Anyway, now tell me what's wrong."
"Are you sure you wanna hear that? You won't be bored...?"
"Maera, please. I won't be bored, I promise. How could I possibly enjoy what we do if I know you are sad?" He shuffled over to her and put his arms around her so her head rested on his chest. Pressing her closely against him, he nuzzled her crown. "Please, tell me", he said softly, stroking her hair.
Maera's eyes welled up and she burst into tears, sobbing quietly while he held her close. She told him everything that troubled her at the moment, about the new laws of the Bigot, the lost delivery, about how her research was a bad spot right now because of the Inquisition's restrictions and some other personal things that came with that, about some of the Librarians she didn't really get along with...
She poured out her heart to him, and Styx lent her an ear patiently. It surprised him genuinely that listening to her wasn't awkward or boring or annoying. He honestly felt with her, and since he hated the damn Inquisition as much as she did, he really could understand her frustration about all the troubles they caused the Academy. And what she told him about that haughty Elf really made him angry. He felt oddly determined to make her happy again.
"Awww, don't you worry about that asshole Ragnasil. You should feel sorry for him!", Styx told her.
With a confused frown, Maera glanced up at him, sniffing her nose.
"Why the hell should I feel sorry for him?"
"Because the stick he's got shoved up his ass must hurt him pretty badly. I mean, imagine how he must feel with that thing. It's a miracle he can still walk."
Maera burst into laughter.
Styx couldn't help but grin proudly as she shook in his arms, now from laughing and no longer from being sad. He had tried his very best to comfort her as good as he could and it worked! He was more than relieved that she accepted his help. She must be going through a lot of shit right now, he could imagine. Thinking of that gave him a slight sting.
"You know, I kinda feel a little guilty...", he started. "Most of the trouble the fucking Bigot causes you is because the Brotherhoods and rebels are pestering him, and he takes out his anger on you science-guys. It's part my fault. 'Cuz I'm so damn efficient in being a pain in the ass of the Inquisition."
"Since when do you care about us science-guys?", Maera asked, laughing.
"Since I've come to know you."
Maera blinked, eyes wide. Styx could have kicked himself in the butt for uttering such soppy stuff, but when a slow, touched smile stretched her lips and she tilted her head to passionately kiss him, he couldn't help but shiver with pleasure. He returned the kiss, satisfied that she felt better.
"We keep on pestering the Inquisition because it's worth it", Maera explained. "They are a bunch of racist, fanatic, discriminatory, self-righteous, self-important pricks and if we can offer any help, and be it only passive by supplying the opposition, we will do that."
"You guys are nuts."
"It's not so different from what you do, Styx. You said yourself that you are the biggest pain in the Inquisition's ass there is!"
Styx laughed dryly. "I do it for the gold."
"Guess what, us scientists get paid too for our efforts. Though it's more barter than actual payment. Still, you'd never take a contract from the Imperial side, if they had the nerves to offer you one. You do what you do because you think what the Empire does is wrong. You got ideals. That's part of what I like so much about you, Styx." He tensed a little at that, feeling awkward. He quickly pushed his face in her hair and playfully bit her ear, which made her snicker.
"You guys are still nuts. Brave, yeah, but nuts. You especially, little beauty. The bravest nut of them all."
Maera laughed and rubbed her head against his neck. "I'm not. I'm just a boring bookworm who plays at poisoner from time to time, and I'm not even succeeding. Damn, sometimes I just wanna run away, away from all those wimpy assholes, from the paperwork and the bureaucracy, out into the wild. Have some adventures." Her eyes started to look wet again.
"What is holding you back?"
Maera blinked at him. "I... I don't know. I love what I do, my books and reading and knowing stuff. I'd just like some little diversion from time to time. It's been so long since I've been out of the whole Academy-business. The things you tell me are so damn exciting..."
Styx had to laugh. "Well, if I could choose between a warm fire and a good book after some nice tumble in bed and getting soaked in rain and stinky human blood while a horde of guards is chasing my ass, it's an easy choice." Styx grinned when Maera laughed again. "Still, if you long for a little trip outside, we can do that. Maybe take your chubby owl with us and stay away from the paperwork for a while. What do you think?"
Maera smiled warmly. "I'd love to do that." She kissed him, which was good as it hid his awkward expression. All this fussing was all a little too mushy for his taste, but still... Seeing her smile again drove chills up his spine. It felt so damn good. Definitely worth it. Styx could feel that Maera really cherished his efforts to make her happy again. He knew that she was tough as nails and stubborn as a mule, and still she dared to share her troubles with him, show him a weakness. It didn't elude him that that was something pretty damn special. Like everything about her was. Here he sat, still clad in his blood-stained dirty assassin's gear, cuddling a fucking Dragonelf beauty and playing the big comforter instead of screwing her on the bed like he should. Fucking weird, and still he enjoyed it. And the most surprising thing about this was that Styx enjoyed making Maera smile again just as much as he enjoyed making her smile the more carnal way. Sure, he always felt a little horny when she was around, but right now he was content just to be with her and talking to her, without any dirty business going on.
It was strange.
Refusing to think about this any further, he asked: "Got some more wine?"
"Sure, here you go."
She poured him some wine and snuggled up to Styx while he drank, his strong arm pressing her against him while the world outside was getting dark. The candles Maera had lit around the pile of pillows the two sat on were casting their dim golden lights, and in the dancing shadows the Amber mark on Styx's shoulder shone brightly, his yellow eyes lighting up as she lifted her head to kiss him once more.