Episode 9: Both Temporary and Everlasting

27th of Frumentum

Jeremie stoked the fire, prodding at the dying orange flames. Ulrich was the first to join him, and the Mercenary seemed taken aback by Jeremie's ragged appearance. "Gods, Jeremie, You look like you were manhandled by a mountain troll." He teased, sitting adjacent to him.

"I didn't sleep last night. I had too many things on my mind." He explained. He sighed, dropping the iron poker in favor of twisting his wedding band. He considered removing it, but opted not to and slumped over.

"Is that why you left in a hurry last night?" Ulrich asked. Jeremie nodded, and Ulrich seemed uncomfortable for a moment. "If it makes you feel better, I don't sleep so well either. Honestly, I don't think any of us did, except maybe Odd or Laura, but they're…"

Jeremie nodded understandingly. "Yeah, I know. Though I don't really feel better." He smiled faintly. "I appreciate the thought, though."

They sat in awkward silence until Yumi joined them a few minutes later. Taking a seat near the fire, she smiled. "Good morning, boys. Nice to see you're not tearing at each other's throats."

Ulrich shrugged with a grin. "The day is still young."

Yumi chuckled. Her face grew serious. Quietly, she asked Jeremie if he had altered their course after the light provided by Aelita, offhandedly reminding him that the whole area was overrun with slavers. He simply suggested they move carefully through the area and send a scout or two ahead to watch for ambushes. Yumi's expression showed disappointment and he looked off into the distance for a moment before elaborating, "The other option takes us within a stone's throw of Arak-Muna on even ground with it so…"

Yumi let out a resigned sighed. "Well, hopefully we'll be far away from here soon."

Ulrich furrowed his brows. "Hopefully Laura won't arrest us for killing 'merchants'." He said sharply.

Jeremie shook his head. "She won't. Even she admits that no one will miss slavers."

Yumi smiled at him. "It's good to hear you say that."

Their conversation came to a stop as Laura emerged from her tent. Before even saying 'good morning,' she sighed and said, "Ulrich, stop glaring at me like that. I'm not going to force Aelita back into slavery. I don't support it." She sat down next to her fiancée.

Ulrich crossed his arms. "Talk is cheap. You haven't done anything to back up those words, but your actions have proved that you hate Aelita."

Laura sighed. "I suppose that's fair," She admitted, "but personally, I know slavery is horrible. We all know that. But I also know that I don't have the power to change it." She wore a stern expression. "One day, I will have that power, and when I do, things will change."

"I'll hold you to that, princess." He spat.

Yumi folded her hands into her lap. "What about Finson? Aren't you planning to charge her for his murder?"

Laura turned to the Colonist. "The authorities who investigated his death showed that he was selling something illegal—it was encrypted, so we don't really know if it was something as mundane as drugs or something as dangerous as espionage—but if she were to face trial, it is likely that my father would acquit her. Especially since her trial wouldn't come to pass until after the war is over, and then she'd be a war hero."

Yumi tilted her head. "But she murdered him. Your father would overlook it?"

"Finson was a constant thorn in his side. I remember him telling me that he'd give a medal to the elf that killed him." She half-sighed and half-laughed. "I guess now he has to follow through." Quietly, she added, "The magistrates, on the other hand, may feel differently."

Before a response could be offered, Jeremie whispered for them to be quiet. Aelita crawled out of her tent. "Good morning, everyone." She said cheerfully, just as she had every day. The group, excluding Laura, returned her greeting loudly in unison. They failed miserably at acting normal, and Aelita picked up on it immediately. She was visibly uncomfortable, though she said nothing and sat next to the fire anyway.

"How did you sleep, Kitten?" Ulrich asked.

"Fine. Like a rock, actually." Aelita said.

"Really? Even after last night?" Jeremie asked.

"I may have slept easier because of it." The Outcast smiled. "I've never spoken about that to anyone. It feels good to have it off my chest."

"It happened three years ago. Why worry about it now?" Odd said, startling the others who hadn't been paying attention. He joined them around the fire.

Yumi furrowed her brows. "I don't know, maybe to prove that you have a conscience?"

"I'm only worried about the slavers, or more specifically, I'm worried that our group isn't large enough to frighten them off." He clarified. "I feel bad about what happened to you, Aelita, don't get me wrong. But it doesn't do any good to worry about it now. It happened in the past; we couldn't change it even if we wanted to."

Aelita shrugged. "I guess that's one way to put it."

Jeremie looked up at Odd, who simply shrugged. Something flashed across the Wise Man's face, but whatever it was, he didn't pursue it. Instead, he poured out the fire. "We should get moving. If the slavers were able to set up an ambush for us, they likely have been following us and know our location. I don't think we should provoke them any more than we have to." The Heroes stood and began packing up camp, though Jeremie grabbed Laura's wrists and pulled her aside. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Of course, love. What is it?" Laura asked.

"Can your healing magic get rid of scars?" He asked quietly so as not to involve the others.

Laura narrowed her eyes. "You're asking for Aelita, aren't you?" She demanded. "Did she put you up to this? Are you under her influence?"

Jeremie shook his head. "No. Nothing like that. She hasn't even spoken about her scars, except a little last night. I was just hoping…"

"Hoping that you could put yourself back in her good graces by convincing me to close up old wounds?" She asked, sounding offended.

"No! Why are you so suspicious?" Jeremie asked. He held up his hand to stop her as she opened her mouth. "Don't answer that."

"If I'm being suspicious and that's not the reason, why do you want me to help her?" Laura's voice dripped with venom.

Jeremie stumbled over his words. "I just… want to take some of the pain away."

Laura raised her eyebrows, almost as if she had been hurt. "Do you still care about her?" She asked almost too quietly to be heard.

"Can your magic make scars vanish?" Jeremie asked. Either he hadn't heard her or he was ignoring her question.

Laura looked away for a moment, though eventually she turned back to him with arms folded. "If you can convince Aelita that I have no intention to hurt her, then yes, I can make the scars vanish. I don't know if she'll trust me, though. She never has before." She walked away heavy footed as if angry, but on her face was an expression of sadness.

Jeremie watched her leave for a moment, and then sighed. Yumi called for him to help her, and he obliged.

Later that evening the Heroes had camped inside of a cave, hopefully out of sight of the slavers that frequented the area. Odd and Ulrich had surveyed the caves thoroughly when Jeremie mentioned that sometimes slavers used the caves near their bases as hideouts when rival slavers or dissidents tried to raid them. They'd come back with nothing, and they were all able to relax.

After an awkward fifteen minutes of silence, Jeremie finally asked to speak to Aelita outside. She glanced over at Ulrich and Yumi, and while Ulrich simply shrugged, Yumi nodded. Aelita agreed, and they both walked out of the cave. "Did you need something, Jeremie?" She asked, folding her arms behind her back. There was something sad lying behind his eyes, and she wondered if he could feel the weight on her heart.

"Sort of. I…" His voice trailed off for a moment. "How are you feeling?" He asked suddenly, as if it had been a whim.

"Uh… how am I feeling?" Aelita repeated. "I suppose that I'm… managing. And how are you feeling?" She almost seemed amused, but confusion was written obviously on her face.

"I can't say that I feel any better." He admitted softly. There was a silence for a few moments, the only sounds coming from inside the cave. Odd must've told a joke; the others were laughing. Aelita moved as if to excuse herself, but Jeremie caught her. "I'm sorry. This isn't why I brought you out here."

She stopped moving, and looked at his hands. The Outcast unfurled his fingers from her wrist, and for a moment she considered weaving her own fingers through his. Instead, she dropped his hand and pulled back her own. "Yes, Jeremie?"

"I wanted to ask you about your scars." He said, a little less tactfully then he would've liked.

"What about them? They're scars; I don't understand your confusion." She laughed, though her heart wasn't in it.

"I… convinced Laura to heal them for you, if you want." There was no response. "Is that what you want?"

Aelita furrowed her brows and folded her arms. "Laura doesn't like me. Why would she agree to help me?"

Jeremie got defensive. "I asked her to. She listens to me, at least some of the time."

"So what? I can't think of any reason for Laura to want to decrease my suffering, especially if that suffering reminds me that I'm a dirty knife ear and I'll always be a slave!"

"Laura does not support slavery!"

"She may not support slavery, but she doesn't support freedom either!"

There was a long silence as the two stared at one another. Jeremie searched her eyes and asked, "This isn't about your scars, is it?"

Aelita shook her head, but her expression softened. "No, I guess it isn't." She leaned against the mountainside and looked up at the sky. Many of the stars were obscured by dark clouds that looked like they might bear rain, but the air did not confirm that. They were in the middle of a drought, after all. "The only question is this; is this about the blood magic or your impending wedding?"

"You should've known better than to turn to blood magic." Jeremie said firmly.

Aelita shot up from her semi-relaxed position and loudly said, "And you should've known better than to accept Laura's proposal!"

"It's none of your business who I marry! But so long as you're travelling with us, we have a right to know if you're dealing in witchcraft!" Jeremie pointed at her accusingly. "I stood up for you! Now if the magistrates find out, they'll think I was your accomplice! They'll think we were all your accomplices!"

"I didn't ask for your protection! I didn't ask for it and I don't need it! I've gone years between people finding out, and I never stay in one place for too long!"

Jeremie started arguing, but he threw up his hands. "I didn't come out here to argue!" He said, pacing.

Aelita folded her arms again as she averted her eyes. "Then why did you ask me out here, Jeremie?"

"I was trying to help you!"

"So you say, but that's not really it!" She walked further away from the mouth of the cave and spoke quietly. "You aren't happy, are you? Not with Laura or with anything that's happened since… you and I were ambushed."

"No, how could I be happy? You betrayed my trust and Yumi nearly died because you used blood magic to kill bandits!" Jeremie persisted.

"That's not it, Jeremie! If those were the reasons that you were angry or upset, you never would have let me accompany you this far!" Aelita protested. "At best, you would have taken me to Falcon's Bridge and chased me away as soon as I could stand on my own! But you didn't do that."

"What about you? If you were upset because I don't trust blood magic, you could've left weeks ago! You could have left the moment you found out about my view of blood magic in the aravel after we rescued Dhaune!"

"Jeremie, you know that's not why I'm unhappy." Aelita said, her voice pleading. "We keep dancing around this elephant in the room, hoping that it'll just vanish, like I had hoped the truth would. You keep hoping that one day you'll wake up and love Laura, and we both keep waking up and hoping that we've moved on but it isn't going to happen."

"Who are you to tell me what I will feel?" Jeremie demanded. Softer, he added, "Aelita, I—I'm sorry. There's so much going on; the war, these rivalries, treason, magic, travelling and everyone expects me to know what to do and… I'm just… really confused about everything right now. I—" She interrupted him, grabbing his face and pulling him into a kiss. It was awkward at first, but he fell into it as easily as she did. Aelita moved her hands to his neck, and he placed his hands around the small of her back. They stayed that way for several seconds before Jeremie woke from his daydream and pushed her away. She seemed awfully confused. "We cannot do this. I'm getting married."

"Laura doesn't love you. She may say that she does, but she doesn't. I love you, ma vhenan." Aelita pleaded, trying to grab his hands.

"At least Laura never lied to me! I can count on that she at least tries to do right, even if she falters!" Jeremie defended as he pulled his hands away.

"And I don't?" She questioned. "She wants to use you. That's all shemlen ever do!"

Jeremie furrowed his brows. "I'm shemlen too, Aelita!" He shouted.

She seemed flustered. "You know that isn't what I meant!"

"I understood what you meant loud and clear." He spat.

Aelita hung her head in shame, but it was momentary. She snapped her head back up and spat, "Tell your Imperialist wife that she can keep her magic! I'd rather have my scars than let her touch me." She folded her arms and turned her back to him. Jeremie threw his arms over his head, groaning loudly. He stormed back into the cave, and Aelita watched him leave over her shoulder. She shook her head and remained outside in the darkness for a long time until she heard snaps in the distance. Fearing slavers, she reentered the cavern, pretending not to notice Jeremie's blue eyes focused on her.