This is an AU. I'm not a stickler for accuracy in the details of the Neverwinter universe such as gods etc. but I do try my best. This story does have explicit sexual content, 18+. If you are offended by sexual themes don't start reading! There is artwork for this story at my deviantart account under aeltari.
Sand and Kyrie wandered into the tiny village and sought out the well. Refilling their wineskins they stopped and looked around. A few children played with a leather ball, a couple of dogs muzzled around in the grass. A man rode by in a goat cart, followed by a young lady leading a brown and white cow. The village felt serene. Life just seemed to happen, unmolested by evil and the threat of darkness. They continued through, purchasing some more bread and cheese.
At the far edge of the village was a small cottage. A young woman with shoulder length auburn hair stepped out of a little wooden gate. She looked up and smiled, most likely expecting a friend or a neighbor. As her eyes met Sand's, there was a flash of recognition in the young woman's eyes and they grew large. She backed away a few steps and turned to go back into her yard.
Kyrie saw Sand make a quick motion with his hand and suddenly the woman could move no longer.
"Well, where are you going?" he asked amiably. "That's no way to treat an old friend, is it?"
The look on his face was one of pure amusement. Kyrie was confused. She looked at Sand quizzically but before he could respond, a little pale haired girl ran from the house to the gate.
"Momma! Come see! I made the feather stand up by itself!"
The young woman stood looking helplessly at the child. "Mama can't right now Marian. Please go inside. Your brother will be home soon."
The look on Sand's face turned from amusement to surprise as he watched Marian obediently do as she was asked. The young woman's voice contained a trace of fear.
"Sand, please release the bonds. My children need me. This is...a different time and a different place now...please..."
Sand walked over and stood in front of her. He tilted his head left to right, as if analyzing the young woman.
"As I live and breathe. Torio? A mother? And then now tell me, from where did you steal these children? I can't imagine they are yours."
Kyrie joined them and looked quizically at Sand then at the young woman. The latter's eyes refused to meet hers.
"Well met," said Kyrie softly. "My name is Kyrie. I see that you are aquainted with my friend Sand. What are you called?"
The young woman looked up at Sand with a frown and he simply raised his eyebrows and shrugged slightly. She turned and looked at Kyrie with a tentative smile.
"My name is Torio Claven," she said simply. "This is my home."
Just then an elderly man shuffled outside towards them. He walked with a cane and even with its assistance struggled with each step. Torio looked over at him and her eyes filled with concern.
"Grandfather! Please stop!"
To Sand, she said "Please let me go, he will fall if I don't help him!"
The old man stopped and peered in their direction. "Do we have guests, Torio? Why leave them standing outside? Please bring them in so we can have lunch. Come now."
Kyrie looked at Sand, her eyebrows raised in question. He motioned with his hand, and Torio moved quickly to the old man's side.
She helped him back into the house and called out for Kyrie and Sand to follow.
As they sat down at a rectangular wooden table, the pale little girl named Marian, walked up to Sand. She stood staring at him for a long moment, then she reached out and touched his face for a few seconds.
Sand didn't move, but Kyrie saw a smile flit across his face momentarily. Marian lifted her other hand and showed him a large feather, soft pink with streaks of black and grey. She held it up in front of his face then let go, the feather remaining there as if held by an invisible string.
The child's intense violet eyes never left his face.
"Oh, now that's very good!" exclaimed Sand. "Can you do this?"
He held his closed fist in front of her, spoke a few words and opened his hand. A rose floated there created entirely of flame.
Marian's eyes widened and she smiled. She tried to repeat his words, and opened her little hand to a rather sad, wilted flame that only lasted a moment.
It was Sand's turn to look astonished. The incantation was a difficult one, most assuredly not able to be recited by a child. He spoke the words again, slower, and the child repeated them. This time a tiny rose appeared for a moment before vanishing. Marian looked at him intensely, then her face broke out in a smile and she suddenly threw her arms around him.
Surprised, Sand caught the child and hugged her, his eyes closed, a smile on his lips.
Kyrie suddenly felt like crying. Overwhelming emotion washed over her in a flood. Her eyes filled quickly with tears and her eyes met a puzzled Torio's across the kitchen.
Shaking, Kyrie fled from the room and ran outside.
She hadn't been out there long when she heard footfalls behind her and felt a warm hand on her shoulder as she tried to control the sobs that tore from her. Turning slightly she saw Torio's pretty face looking concernedly back at her, and the young woman embraced her tightly.
She stroked Kyrie's hair, speaking words of comfort that seemed part of a relationship between them that that the sobbing Kyrie couldn't recall.
"'Im ever so sorry Kyrie. My heart bleeds for you, truly it does. I'm so sorry."
"I cant remember them! I had friends, I see them in my mind but…their names, their stories, why cant I remember? And… you, I feel as though I should know you, but I don't. And…and Cassi, we planned to…to…"
Kyrie sobbed uncontrollably until she could cry no more. She allowed her tears to subside, and wiped the leftover ones away with the back of her hand. Trying to smile through her tears she apologized for putting wet spots on Torio's shoulder.
"Please don't apologize for that. I deserve a lot worse." said Torio softly.
"What makes you say that? You said sorry...did Sand tell you, about...me? Or..."
Kyrie's eyes lit up. "Do you remember me? Do you know who I am?"
She didn't see Sand behind her, shaking his head slowly at Torio before stepping back into the shadows.
"Yes. I know you. I was...well, terribly unkind to you once. I have made some very bad mistakes and done many things I'm not proud of but...despite all of that you showed me mercy. I never forgot that. It was the first true mercy anyone had ever shown me in my life"
Torio's voice wavered.
"I owe you my life, Kyrie" she said softly, turning away to hide a tear, which she wiped away roughly. She looked long into Kyrie's eyes, then gently drew her fingers down the other woman's face.
"You deserve so much more then what happened. So much more. Both of you, deserved at least a happy ending, after the ..."
Kyrie grabbed Torio's hands. "What are you talking about Torio? Both of us...do you mean me and Sand? After what?"
Torio shook her head, a puzzled look on her face. "N..no. You and Casavir, the paladin...that was his name wasn't it? Weren't you betrothed or something? I thought that..." she looked up suddenly and saw Sand again, a storm brewing on his face.
Kyrie followed her gaze and turned. Sand strode menacingly towards Torio.
"I should silence you permanently, if not for those children." he said slowly and venomously. "Your mouth, Torio Claven, has caused FAR too much hurt to FAR too many people in its time."
Kyrie shook her head at Sand and said rather harshly "No, Sand stop this!"
Turning back to the auburn haired woman, Kyrie bit her lower lip and whispered. "What happened to my Cassi...Torio please if you know, tell me."
Kyrie felt the trembling inside her again, the desperate desire to hear the truth, but also to squelch it if it was not what she wanted to hear.
Torio looked defeated. Her shoulders slumped, her arms hung resignedly by her side.
"He died saving your life, yours and your friends. He was accorded full military honors and buried..." She cut off when she saw Kyrie slowly shake her head no.
The sunset eyes were filled with tears again, but her jaw was firm, lips tight. She raised her hands to Torio's shoulders and shook her, hard.
"NO. Don't you EVER say that to me. Not NOW, not EVER. My Cassi is NOT dead. I would KNOW. Do you hear me? Both of you? He is NOT dead. NOT!"
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"She's right you know." said Torio, looking down on Sand from the top of the stairs. "Casavir isn't dead. You know it too. And you aren't even going to do a damn thing about it, are you Sand? You call yourself her friend, and you won't even help her. In fact, have you even told her this?"
The ice dripping from Torio's voice didn't phase him and he looked back at her with a sneer.
"Aren't we the self righteous one? Weren't you the same one who framed then had her tried for the murder of an entire town? Weren't you the one who wanted to see her executed? Hmm? Torio? As I recall, it was you who wanted nothing more then to see us all enslaved by the King of Shadows. And why was that Torio? Your lover, Garius promise you a world of power? We all know how that turned out hmm? Does your Grandfather, or whoever he is, know this? What about your children...and I still don't believe you didn't steal them from some unsuspecting mother somewhere. That would be just like you wouldn't it?"
Torio's face changed. She walked slowly, heavily, down the stairs and faced him, pain and rage in her eyes.
"Yes, it would." she snarled. "It would be just like the girl from Luskan whose father tried to stab her to death in her sleep."
She tore open her blouse and showed him the ugly jagged scars on her shoulders and chest that marred the soft pale skin of her breasts.
Oh gods, Torio, thought Sand. All these years and I still cannot control my thoughts around you. Beautiful, wild Torio.
"It would be just like the girl who was thrown in a Luskan prison for stealing a loaf of bread, only to have the guards have their way with her night after night until she was forced to murder them in cold blood just to stop the pain. And you are right, Sand, it would be just like the woman from Luskan who thought she finally found someone who cared about her, who promised her a better life...until she failed him and he tortured her for weeks and left her for dead."
Tears streamed down Torio's face as she stood there, half naked before him.
"But it is not like the woman who was shown mercy and compassion by the Knight Captain of Crossroad Keep. Not like the woman who was told that the Captain had died saving the entire world. Not like the woman who was forced to leave the only real home she ever had on pain of death! No, Sand, that woman is no longer capable of trying to hurt and harm. All she wants is to help and heal and find forgiveness."
Touch me, Althraion, her heart begged. Hold me, forgive me for being a fool.
Sand stood motionless, speechless. The light from the glowstones on the wall illuminated Torio's tortured face as she sobbed quietly, unashamedly, staring straight at him.
Although the light was dim he knew her eyes were blue flecked grey, the lashes long and black. Slowly, he raised his hands and pulled the remains of her tattered shirt back over her nakedness. He saw that there was no guile, no deceit and no deception in her words or her eyes.
By the gods, Torio, he thought. Do you still dance? Do you use that lovely voice to sing to your children now? All those years of not knowing the truth behind the unbelievably evil actions of this woman, perpetrated only out of a desire to be loved, and to belong. Wasn't that the goal of every living thing? If his own life had been vastly different, could he truly say that he would not have done exactly as she had done in a desperate bid to heal a terrible pain inside?
"Torio," he spoke softly, hoping that their heated discussion had not awakened Kyrie. "We are travelling back to the Sword Coast. Crossroad Keep belongs to Kyrie by the King's decree. She wants to go back, even though she remembers nothing of the events. She still cannot identify our friends, and in truth, our enemies. Kyrie only knows what I have told her, and her own fragmented memories that come in fits and starts. I cannot talk to her about Casavir. I am hoping that seeing his grave might make her see...so she can move on and heal. She refuses the merest notion that he is gone."
"Because he isn't, Sand. He's not dead." Torio's breathing had returned to normal now that she saw he would no longer attack her with his vicious words.
"Isn't it just a rumor, Torio, a story?"
"No, it's not just a rumor. I believe it. I want to know what you are going to do about it."
Sand crossed his arms in front of him, his eyes narrowed at her. "Do about it? I'm going to take her home to Crossroad Keep so she can begin to heal and move on, as I already said."
"Move on...you mean with you? Come on, Sand, don't give me that expression of astonishment. It's all over your face. Every time you look at her I can see the love in your eyes. You want her to simply accept the death of the man she loves more then life itself, so you can be the hero and pick up the pieces."
Sand looked sad. As it was with you. All those years ago all I wanted was to be your hero but you didn't see me. I looked at you the same way once too Torio, a lifetime ago. But our ambitions left no room for love.
"I care about her, deeply."
"Then do the right thing, and help her get Casavir out!"
"Help her get Casavir out....do you not see, Torio, that our Kyrie is not exactly the same woman she once was? Are you that oblivious? She does not remember who she is, where she has been, nor even where she is going! I dread thinking what it will do to her when we reach the Keep and everyone but her knows who she was. I'm hoping her memory returns soon. For now, all she knows is her name, his name, and that I am her friend who is taking her home."
Torio crossed her arms and gave him a hard, unforgiving look.
"You are hoping that she will forget him, somewhere on this journey. You are hoping she will decide that accepting his death is the best course of action and take you into her heart, and her bed… instead. That's what this is really about isn't it, Sand? Well there is one real problem with your plan."
"Oh do enlighten me, Torio."
"She knows. She is bonded to Casavir in a way you have never known, and will never know. You can show her 100 dead bodies and tell her it's him, but she knows. And until that knowing stops she will never stop looking for him. If it takes her the rest of her life, that's the way it's going to be. If you have the slightest capability to love anyone at all, then help her."
Sand sighed and looked away for a long time. Oh, you stupid girl, he thought. There is so much you just don't know about me. When his eyes returned to Torio's there was a deep sadness in them that almost made her sorry for her words.
"What have you heard, exactly...and why am I thinking that this is the most ridiculous path I'm about to take, on the advice of a former enemy who wanted nothing more then to see Kyrie, and truly all of us, dead."
Torio suddenly smiled, and Sand felt that old longing for her stir up inside him again. Her eyes were so bright.
"You said former enemy. That makes me feel...good." She reached out her arms and hugged him, quickly, before he could react.
He flushed and cleared his throat, tensing up.
"Well...then...if you are finished molesting me, care to tell just what you have heard, about Casavir?"
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Several hours later, Torio and Sand were sitting outside on the small porch.
"Alright, let me see if I have all of this right," he said. "You left Crossroad Keep after the battle. Nevalle told you that you had to leave immediately, or face death at his hands."
"Yes. He told me he was giving me this one chance to get as far away from the Keep as humanly possible and to never return to the Sword Coast or he would have me executed. He said he was granting me this amnesty in respect for Kyrie, who had died stopping the King of Shadows."
Sand nodded. "So you left. Tell me again what happened. And exactly as it happened, please."
"I was about a month gone. A gypsy caravan was passing by and asked me if I wanted to travel with them. I agreed, it was rough roads to handle alone. We stopped outside of a small town, where a travelling cleric was holding a sermon. He talked to me, asked me where I was from. He said that my accent placed me in Luskan. I couldn't lie about it so I said yes, I had been raised there."
"And this cleric, he told you about Casavir?" asked Sand.
Torio knit her brow in thought. "He said that it was unfortunate for me being from Luskan, but that it was good that I had gotten out of there. He said any city that would arrest and try a hero of Neverwinter, and really the world, was completely evil in his books and he wanted to be as far from it as possible."
"You questioned him further, yes?"
"Yes! I thought that he was talking about Kyrie! I remember it so well. I was shaking with anger, and fear for her."
"What did this cleric say then?"
"He said that he had been summoned to the fortress, to help look for the group that had gone with the Knight Captain of Crossroad Keep to battle the King of Shadows. He didn't say much about what or who they found except for a paladin, terribly wounded and near death. He was tasked with trying to heal him. The cleric said that the paladin kept saying something that sounded like Kira, and he would not say anything else except to indicate how much pain he was in. When he said that, I realized that he wasn't talking about Kyrie at all, but Casavir."
"Go on." said Sand, watching her carefully, measuring her words, making sure the story was identical to what she had already told him before. Kyrie was fragile. If such rumors proved untrue, it most likely would destroy her, and he would go to the nine hells himself before allowing that.
"I asked him about the paladin further, he told me that he managed to heal him enough to move him to the church. There, it took four high level clerics several days to bring him back from the brink of death, at which time he identified himself as Casavir, follower of Tyr. That's when...well that's when the Luskans came into it."
"How was that?"
"Like I told you before, Sand, they came to the church and said that the man they had brought from the fortress was wanted in Luskan for a crime of murder. The cleric told them that this man had helped save them all from certain death at the hands of the King of Shadows. The Luskans refused to listen, they told the Clerics they had 4 days to bring the paladin back to normal so he could be tried in a Luskan court. This cleric refused, but his superiors told him they could not meddle in political or criminal affairs and that they had to let the paladin go with the Luskan jailers once the healing was complete. Casavir asked what had happened to the Knight Captain, and the cleric, when he told me this story, called her 'Kira'. He told Casavir that he was the only survivor of the battle, and that 'Kira' was dead. He said that Casavir completely lost interest in trying to fight against the Luskans when they came for him. He said he didn't care what they did with him. The cleric at that point left the church stating that they no longer cared to do what was right and just. He had been gone from the church the same time as I had been gone from the coast."
Torio shifted, her hand brushing Sand's. She reached up tentatively and touched his shoulder.
"Alth...Sand, there is a bit more. You wondered how I was so sure it isn't just a rumor."
He didn't flinch or move away from her touch, but his heart skipped a beat when she very nearly called him by his elven name. She moved the hand from his shoulder to brush back her hair.
"I saw him. I saw Casavir when the Luskans took him. Sand, he looked right at me. He knows I'm Luskan. I think he might believe I had something to do with it all. I need to help make this right, to...to attone for what I have done not just to Kyrie, but to everyone I have wronged. I don't...I don't want to go to the nine hells. Please...Sand, do you believe me?" Her lower lip trembled slightly as she struggled with her emotions.
Sand nodded very slowly, watching her eyes. No inconsistencies, no trace of deception on Torio's part. He then recounted his own run-in with the Luskan. Her gaze never left his for a moment, her face inches from his in the near dark.
He felt his insides tighten up, whether from her nearness or the reality of the situation he didnt know, but it was the threat to Casavir's life that weighed heavy on him.
Something needed to be done. But at this point, was it even possible that Casavir was still alive?
"Torio, I need you to be perfectly honest with me now, again. If what you have told me is true, if Casavir has been tried and found guilty of whatever outrageous lies Luskan accused him of, what are the chances that he is still alive?"
"If they knew that he was the betrothed of the Knight Captain of Crossroad Keep, the woman responsible for most if not all of their current troubles, I can promise you that he is now in a living hell from which death would be most welcome, and most assuredly unattainable."