A/N: Timeline-wise a year or two before "T is for Tomb".
Thank you to RhiaLynn for Beta-reading!
V is for Vision (or, The Fate on Our Skin)
- It's a few long flights and a car ride to Kuwaq Yaku. The air is hot, humid, and straight out of Lara's memory. Jacob, on the other hand, has never been this far from home.
It's a few long flights and a car ride to Kuwaq Yaku. The air is hot, humid, and straight out of Lara's memory. Jacob, on the other hand, has never been this far from home.
Abby and Jonah take them in open armed but quickly fuss them onward not to burden them with the wedding preparations. Their travel plans were lax from the start to give time for a trip to Paititi. The valley calls Lara, and even if Jonah has been a steady messenger between the two worlds, she can't wait to see how Etzli has grown into his task.
Uchu waits for them at the river under the temple. Lara's steps quicken at the sight, leaving Jacob trailing a few steps and in a much more guarded manner behind her.
"Lara."
It's a greeting of sincere welcome but accompanied by a wandering eye towards the tall, older Caucasian man behind her.
"Uchu – Jacob. Jacob – Uchu," Lara starts in hopes that the trust Uchu has in her can be inched to include Jacob. She doesn't know why she wants Jacob to see Paititi. Maybe he looks generally all too lost to be left with Abby's extravagant family and the festivities. Or maybe she wants him to see other valleys dedicated to protecting ancient artifacts. Either way, she isn't sure of the motivation but pushes forward with Uchu who hasn't given any reaction towards a yes or a no. "Jacob is the leader of a similar valley very far away; they dedicated their lives to protect something similar to the Silver Box from Trinity."
She isn't sure if she is saying far too much for both parties, but she trusts them both and knows in her heart that their secrets are safe with each other. And it's not like either of the objects reside at their old place anymore.
"An ally against destruction," is the only reply Uchu gives neutrally in return and makes room for both of them in the boat.
The journey goes on with Uchu and Lara exchanging information about Paititi, Etzli's leadership, and her life. Jacob stays silent and tries to keep up with the conversation with his rusted Spanish. The happy upside is that his Spanish skills are from the time before which lessens the alienation.
Paititi was born anew from the ruins of the ended civil war. However, many lives were lost on both sides in the war, Uchu recites, which has slowed down the reconciliation. Still, Etzli has done a finer job than anyone could dream for someone so young.
The king in question welcomes them in the palace and beams at how Lara is still wearing his mother's colors, and the teen has grown, not only in height but in presence. Once again, Jacob gets a few longer, weighed looks but the brief explanation, and the fact that he is with Lara, grants him the audience. They overlook the valley from the palace and walk the old rebel paths in the outskirts of the valley with Uchu following on their tail. Etzli apologizes how the peace is still so fresh that seeing outsiders, especially someone completely foreign as Jacob, could raise issues. Lara gives Jacob's arm a soft squeeze as they walk towards Unuratu's tomb.
He always has the aura of an outsider. Even if Lara contemplates how smart it was to drag him here with her, she can't help but smile inwardly at the interest under Jacob's outwardly neutral presence. He is seeing something that he hasn't seen before, and he is impressed; would he open up about that feeling or not.
Jacob stays a courteous distance behind her as she leaves her respects at Unuratu's tomb. It's hard, but all three men look at her with equal understanding and she isn't sure what she has done to receive such a blessing in life.
Etzli promises to be at the wedding as he has grown close with Jonah over the years when the man has helped him see life outside the valley. However, before they manage to get out of earshot, the young man runs after them and tells them that Q'orianka had asked them to see her near the old, rebel base camp.
Uchu promises to wait for them by the docks until they come back. It's not an awfully long walk and Jacob can't help but take in the surroundings that Lara had fought her way through once. It feels odd to have been so far away; for centuries his life consisted only of the Geothermal Valley and the lands close to it. Enemies came from a different place, they had very little means to gauge. But now, his life consists of these places too. He takes a sidelong glance at Lara whose steps are as comfortable here as they were in Siberia, and still, he can see how she is not yet fully at home anywhere.
Maybe that is why her steps glide so effortlessly as they aren't meant to leave marks.
Eventually, they stop at a larger, longstanding cave that gives protection from the sun. Q'orianka is already near the fire and greets Lara by placing a hand on her arm. Q'orianka's pale eyes move to observe Jacob before moving back to Lara without a blink. Furthermore, there's an expression on her face that closes somewhere close to knowing. "I'm glad you came back to us."
"It's nice to be back," Lara reciprocates, while Jacob stays as an observer apart from a polite nod. Q'orianka bears more similarity to Sofia than just the eyes – this woman is a warrior. Jacob isn't sure if Lara knows any other type of people. Q'orianka's shaved hairstyle reminds him of the Remnants, but other than that, this is a different world, a world where people believe in different things and have different gods. It's a strange feeling all in all, because he isn't a prophet here. For so long that was the only identity he had allowed himself to have. No matter the wars that his people had to fight, the people in here have lived on just as fine.
It makes him feel small.
Lara seems to sense his mood as she glances at him with compassion in her eyes. It brings him back to the conversation only to hear Q'orianka ask them a favor, "– – It's based on Mariana's notes. Abby didn't tell you?"
"No, she didn't mention it. I think the wedding and her family and friends might have their hand in that," Lara smiles, earning an agreement from the woman. "Why didn't you say anything the last time I was here?"
Q'orianka looks at her with slight incredulity as if the answer was obvious, "You weren't ready yet."
Jacob notes the brief surprise in Lara's eyes, but she takes it in a stride, not questioning but curious. "What has changed?"
Once again Q'orianka's pale eyes smile before turning to look at Jacob, "You didn't have the healer with you." There is a heavy silence of three missed heartbeats before Q'orianka continues her voice laced with the accent, "Or am I wrong?"
The question 'How?' leaves Jacob's lips with his old rusty Spanish before he can stop himself because he must know.
"We see," Q'orianka answers cryptically and it fails to assure him because he is a stranger to this culture and his history with otherworldly powers is not entirely positive. Lara intervenes to guess that this was another part of Abby's grandmother's dreams and earns a sound of agreement from the woman. People having visions of the future is at the same time a familiar and a foreign concept to Jacob.
"The tattoo is to come on your left wrist. But with our equipment, the technique, and the extra requirements, there is a danger that it will go through the artery, plus the color hinders the blood from clotting. Mariana's notes included you both."
Lara is already nodding, not questioning about taking a potentially deadly image on her skin based on old notes about a dream seen by a woman who is not here to interpret them. To say that Jacob is wary would be an understatement. However, he has heard the story behind Unuratu's tattoo, the dream about the Yaaxil and Lara, and the importance of those visions to the war. Nevertheless, back in the Geothermal Valley and the Croft Manor, it had been much easier to accept the idea. Back when those things had been further away and already in the past.
It takes them a three-hour journey to reach the temple with Q'orianka's guidance. The sun is low, but there is no falter in Lara's steps. Q'orianka had explained that the eldest craftsman will do the tattoo with the help from the gods, as she is still too inexperienced to do something this challenging. Moreover, he is the same person who did Unuratu's tattoos which appeals to Lara's sense of meaning.
The temple is lit by torches and decorated with gold ornaments that make Lara crane her neck in every direction to catalog it all in her mind. The tattooist is an age-old man who almost bends over at Q'orianka's explanation of the task ahead. The inks are placed in small wooden bowls and accompanied by sharp reeds that make Jacob glance at Lara. He knows, it's pointless to talk her out about something like this. He does, however, ask what they are going to draw on her, but Q'orianka answers that the meaning will only come clear with time. The accent in her Spanish and his lack of vocabulary don't help the communication.
"The powder?" Q'orianka asks. "The tattoo will be made through it. The healing has to be constant," Q'orianka explains, straightening the old diary pages she gives to the tattooist.
The brief question in Lara's eyes is accompanied by a stronger hesitation in Jacob. There isn't anything particular per se but something in the idea of poking parts of the Divine Source into Lara's skin unnerves him. He has applied the powder to open wounds thousands of times, but with the power of the Source, the minimum amount is the best approach.
Nonetheless, he slowly unties the small leather bag from his belt.
Jacob tries to focus elsewhere, block out the walls and call in his faith. He is only certain enough when Lara meets his gaze from where she has already sat down on the woven rug that is supposed to provide some cover from the coldness of the stone floor.
She reminds him so much of Sofia and Alya sometimes: having faith when he falters.
It takes adjustments to find a comfortable place for Lara's left arm, Jacob's hands, and the tattooist. Her hand is covered in a thin sheet of the blue crystals, and in the end, Jacob murmurs his own faith the whole time the color and the faiths of a different culture are poked onto Lara's skin. He can see the wounds that come from the stabs, and he senses how Lara is trying to shun out the pain under her impassive mask as the hours crawl forward. He has been forced to maintain his wounds under the risk of being identified, so he can sympathize with the pain. He doesn't falter and keeps healing the wounds as it will all pass. They only manage to make the outlines and part of the coloring today, so Jacob and Lara opt to sleep at the temple, letting the old man rest.
The tattooing goes well into the next day but, eventually, the tattoo is finished and the old man leans away, leaving Lara and Jacob to stare at the new image on her skin. Few of her old scars shine through the color but they seem to be in just the right places – like they were intended to be part of the image. The black and red tattoo is smaller than Unuratu's tattoos had been but fills about half of the space from the underside of her wrist to her elbow.
Lara raises her arm to a closer inspection, eyes searching through the pattern which mainly consists of a red circle surrounded by a lot of ornamental black. "A solar eclipse?" she finally ponders, uncertain of her interpretation because, if correct, it has passed already. Or it could look like a new moon, but she has done her duty portraying Ix Chel as well.
Q'orianka seems to think of the same events but recites from Mariana's notes, "In the darkness, the destruction will wield judgment to achieve the truth."
It doesn't sound like a happy proposition and Jacob can see how Lara struggles to find an acceptable interpretation to the words, to connect it to something she already knows.
"Jacob?"
Both of their attention is taken by Q'orianka's words and how she gestures towards the tattooing kit. "The vision included you both."
Lara intervenes straight away and places her untattooed hand on his arm, "You don't have to do this."
He reads her eyes and glances at the message of darkness and destruction in her arm. He isn't much of a believer, not in stuff like this. Yet, he is a man of faith, and he believes fully that whatever the tattoo means, it will work for Lara, because he has seen it dozens of times, and he knows that the vision has two parts. If his faith led him to Lara, then he will follow through that path. And before he knows it, he nods his approval. Lara, however, doesn't immediately take her touch away and searches his face for the certainty and the reason before she moves to the side and lets him take her place.
She can't heal him when the reeds pierce his skin, but she is there and murmurs the words with him, head resting against his shoulder while massaging his other arm gently.
The pain is far from the worst that he has experienced and over much faster than with Lara's tattoo. When the tattooist is finished, Jacob is surprised – even if very relieved – that the picture is, in fact, a lot smaller than Lara's and would perfectly fit inside the circle on her wrist. But his biggest surprise is that it's a cross, a slightly different style than the ones popular in Kitezh but a sign of faith anyway. Lara's mouth parts next to him, but whatever she realizes is saved for later talk.
The tattooist moves to set his utensils aside, and Jacob has only one question for Q'orianka.
"The cross saves from judgment. It identifies you, gives redemption. It's home, the end, and the beginning."
Visions still feel like a foreign idea but Jacob doesn't oppose the adjunct. He doesn't agree with the redemption with his never-ending guilt, but other than that, at least the tattoo doesn't tie him to otherworldly creatures at war. Although, he cannot know that for sure.
Lara gives a final comforting squeeze to his arm before following Q'orianka's example and getting up. "So, mine is destruction and judgment, and Jacob gets redemption and home. From what – my judgment when I decide to destroy the World for truth?" Lara asks with a half-truth in her words. She knows Q'orianka's answer beforehand, but she must try.
"No one knows what the messages mean. This was all that was in Mariana's notes. The meanings will come to light when the time is right."
Q'orianka wishes them goodbye and promises to meet them at the wedding in four days. Uchu greets them warmly and takes an interested look at their new tattoos but repeats the same belief that having a tattoo foreseen to you was notable on its own and that fate will only reveal itself piece by piece.
They decide to head back to Kuwaq Yaku only after dawn, so Lara and Jacob set camp at Paititi at Unuratu's old place. Lara rolls to sleep in Jacob's arms with her back pressed against his front. Paititi was safe these days.
"Any ideas?" Lara ponders quietly when they investigate their tattoos side by side. The images have already healed, and Jacob brushes his thumb over Lara's skin. They both spot the slight glimmer in her skin based on how Lara turns her head towards it.
"None," Jacob murmurs against her hair. The foreboding feeling is still there, but there isn't much that he can do to it now.
"Yours reminds of your insignia," Lara contemplates and turns his hand slightly. "Ankh, too, with the round top portion," she adds as an afterthought.
"Egypt?" It's been time since Jacob has dwelled deeply into that particular history and he can feel Lara smile and wiggle more tightly against him.
"It symbolizes life. – And deities were pictured to have it in their hands to represent their power to revive human souls in the afterlife," she recites, her voice becoming distant and her hand stilling around his wrist before she turns her head to ask for his opinion.
The words about the tattoos circle on both of their minds, but Jacob simply kisses the side of Lara's head and they both relax at the gesture.
And it is in that silence when Jacob pulls both of their hands close to Lara's chest and encircles her hand with his. It's surprisingly cozy under the light blankets and in front of the fire. Even here, he has faith in them, for their future.