Eirena gripped the edge of her stall as a chill ran through her body. She swallowed hard, attempting to quell the storm in her stomach as it churned dangerously. Thinking back, she wondered where she could become ill. In the past month, she had scarcely deviated from her usual route, although the constant stream of new visitors to the city had brought occasional "presents" with them, in the form of unwanted ailments. Sleep had been eluding her as of late as well; one particular nightmare had been plaguing her dreams.
"Lysa!" she would scream futilely, waking to find her voice hoarse, her throat raw, and her children crowded by her side, brushing the tears from their caretaker's face, worry apparent by the way they huddled near her side.
In hindsight, the culmination of these two factors, sleep deprivation and continued exposure to outsiders, was probably what had caused Eirena to slip under the weather. When it was time to close, Eirena was silently grateful. Today was the one day of the week where the children prepared dinner. She trudged home, pulling her shawl tighter around her shoulders to ward off the sudden cold.
The sun had not yet set, lingering lazily in the sky, but that made no difference. It was six months past summer, and although Caldeum was known for its sunny atmosphere as a tropical paradise, it too experienced winter, in the form of dreadful gusts and early sunset. Like many deserts oases, Caldeum was frigid at night, especially in the dead of winter, which was one reason why Eirena had opted not to open during the night market. She pitied the fools who did, as they often lost limbs to winter's wrath
"Welcome back!"
A horde of small, grubby hands greeted her at the gate, relieving her of whatever burdens she'd been carrying. The youngest children never failed to do so, often lifting her spirits as they vied for her attention. Miriel, the youngest, at six years old, dashed up to her with a small, crumpled ball in hand.
"I made this for you!"
"That's wonderful!" Eirena exclaimed, taking the ball and feigning liveliness, "Have you all been behaving?"
"Miriel made a mess today, and Emm broke one of your favorite pots," announced a new voice. Eirena turned to see the glum face of Uzziel, her eldest child. Behind him followed Zadok, the second eldest. At 13 and 12, the two were in charge of entertaining the others and were mature beyond their age. If she had the luxury to do so, Eirena would have liked to have given them a childhood, but her current situation would not allow for that, and so the burden fell onto the boys.
Eirena smiled, ignoring her growing headache, and ruffled the hair of both boys. "What's for dinner?"
"Nothing." Uzziel said, pointedly. "We're out of meat."
Sighing, Eirena rummaged through her pockets, pulling out a ten gold coin, which she placed the coin in Uzziel's expectant palm. "Be back before sunset, understand?"
"Yes, Mother!" they nearly shouted, skipping happily out the door. It wasn't often that they got to go to the markets, so to do so was a special treat.
Eirena pinched the bridge of her nose, hoping to ease the pounding in her head. It didn't help. Looking around, she surveyed the day's damage. Two broken pots, one trampled garden plant, and it looked as if a tornado had decimated her room. All in all, not so bad. Locating her favorite blanket, Eirena announced to nobody in particular, "I'm taking a nap. Nobody bother me for at least half an hour!" and plopped down on her cot, slamming her eyes shut for the first real sleep she'd had in weeks.
"Mom! Mom!" came a shriek, "There's a weird man outside! He's scary!" Eirena sprang to life, grabbing her wand, stumbling as blood rushed to her head causing a bout of light headedness. Running to the front of her home, Eirena readied her wand, prepared to ward off an attacker, as she flung the door open with the might of a giantess, pointing her weapon menacingly in the face of her foe.
"Hi." Kormac stated, sheepishly. "Perhaps I should have told I was visiting." He raised a gloved hand to scratch his head. "Is right now inopportune?"
Eirena's bottom lip quivered as she bit back a scowl. Several seconds passed before two youthful faces popped out from behind the Templar.
"We found him in the marketplace and brought him home! He's your friend, right?"
Kormac extended his arm, his hand grasping a large burlap sack, which he held as if he were presenting a peace offering of some sort. Eirena stared at the bag, startled when it began wriggling viciously, and then it—IT CLUCKED?!
Snatching the sack from Kormac, she made to open it.
"No wait—" Kormac grabbed for the back, causing Eirena to pull away instinctively. In the process she dropped the thing allowing the bag fall open on the floor, unleashing a whirlwind of feathers and the behemoth that was a thoroughly enraged chicken into her home.
Children screamed out of fear and glee, running about as the poultry flapped haphazardly around. With the grace and speed of a sloth, Eirena lolled her head over to survey the damage. There were feathers absolutely everywhere, and she had just cleaned that room.
"Chicken on the loose!"
"AHHHH!"
"It's in the laundry!"
Training her eyes on the target, Eirena furrowed her eyebrows in concentration, uttering a single phrase. A bolt of energy shot from her wand, striking the chicken with a brilliant flash and a small explosion as the bird fell lifeless to the floor. The air became heavy with the smell of burnt feathers. A mix of smoke and arcane magic emanated from the charred corpse as everyone stopped, silently surveying the corpse of the poor poultry. So consumed were they in observing the smoldering thing that hardly any noticed when Eirena staggered, haplessly extending her arms as she found herself falling into a cold embrace with the floor, her consciousness fading.
The only thing that saved her the pleasure of a broken nose and a veritable concussion was Kormac's quick reaction; he just managed to grab her arm before she met with the ground, so that she fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. All the eyes turned to the only other adult present, as Kormac steeled himself for the impending storm. Then the screaming began.
A pleasant aroma wafted throughout the home, creeping into Eirena's nostrils. She stirred, drifting slowly into a state of pseudo-consciousness. Her head was throbbing, and her arm felt as if someone had tried to wrench it out of its socket. Without opening her eyes, Eirena gently massaged a spot on her arm where an inevitable bruise would sprout.
Turning to her side, Eirena grabbed blindly for the blanket, only to find none. Strange, she remembered going to sleep with a blanket just before the boys left to shop. Had they gotten back already? Wait, they did come back but—realization slapped Eirena in the face. She snapped her eyes open and sat up abruptly, only to slam her forehead against another. Grasping desperately at her head, Eirena gasped as her world exploded into flashes of light; she felt herself slipping into a faint. Gritting her teeth, Eirena willed herself to stay alert, and glanced up through squinted eyes to see an oaf standing dumbly over her, rubbing his head absently.
Their eyes met, and for a while, neither said anything, until Kormac finally enunciated, "Are you alright?"
"Alright is hardly the word for it!" Eirena hissed, no longer having the willpower to keep herself from going off on the Templar, "You come into my home and unleash a crazed poultry, then you try to knock me out again once I've finally come to. What are you doing here and what do you want?"
"Well, actually, you were the one who released the chicken, I merely handed you the bag." Kormac fumbled, realizing his error too late.
"I don't care!" Eirena snapped, her temper flaring. "You think you can come over to someone's home unannounced after breaking contact for half a year and expect them to accommodate you? GET OUT!"
Her yelling had, by now, attracted several of her wards, who crowded protectively around the man, much to her annoyance.
"Mom it's not his fault," Zadok pleaded, "we—he cleaned everything up, and look he's even making dinner!"
It was true. In her rage, Eirena had failed to notice that her home was, for once, clean, and that Kormac had donned her favorite pink and purple laced apron. Feeling her anger subside into weariness, Eirena relented, throwing up both hands.
"Fine. Wake me when dinner's prepared."
With that, Eirena flounced back down on whatever she happened to have been laying on—it was probably her cot, but she didn't know nor did she care—and shut her eyes. Kormac stood observing the sorceress just long enough to hear the sizzling sounds of a pot over-boiled.
"No!"
Twenty minutes later, Kormac was still stirring the stew. It had been a long time since he'd been back to the city. Half a year to be exact. All but a single week was spent escorting caravans. Asheara wasn't exactly the type to give a man a break.
Lifting the ladle, to his lips, Kormac tested the stew before adding some pepper he'd found in the cupboards while looking around. Eirena's kitchen was certainly an improvement to the campfires to which he was accustomed, and he very much enjoyed the fact that he could stand before the pot without the risk of burning his legs. He did not, however, enjoy the sheer quantity of food required to feed all the mouths. In fact, the cauldron he was using to cook stew was larger than some he'd seen the cooks in the mess hall of the Order use to feed their men. To feed the mouths of 32 children and two adults, one bird was not nearly enough. He'd had to run out to obtain three more, in addition to the one Eirena had obliterated in an artful display of deadly magic. It was still good to eat, he hoped. They would find out soon enough.
"Ahem," a voice came from behind him, one he recognized as Uzziel's. "Sir Kormac?"
Kormac turned to find the lad teetering nervously on his toes, his arms behind his back, so different from the exuberant youngster Kormac had met in the bazaar, one who, along with his brother, had basically dragged the Templar to their home. If not for them, Kormac would have alerted Eirena of his return, awaiting her invitation instead of barging into her home in an impromptu visit. Alas, there was no point in dwelling on what already had been done.
"Yes Uzziel?"
Kormac could see the boy wringing his hands behind his back as he stammered, "You're a knight right? You fight for the good guys?"
Smiling, Kormac set his ladle aside and patted the boy on the shoulder. The adolescent stiffened at first but then became visibly more relaxed.
"I'm not a knight, so you do not have to address me as 'sir." Just Kormac is fine. I'm of the Templar's Order, and my divine duty is to bring the light to humanity while ridding the world of its evils."
The pot began to bubble dangerously, prompting Kormac to resume stirring.
"So, you know how to fight!" Uzziel's eyes were glued to the small dagger Kormac kept on his hip at all times.
"Of course," Kormac chortled, "what of it?"
"Then!" The boy exclaimed, "Then you can teach me to fight!"
"Me too!" another voice piped, as Zadok emerged into the kitchen from the task of entertaining his other siblings. "I want to learn to fight too!"
Kormac crossed his arm, flicking hot bits of stew indiscriminately when he forgot to release the ladle. "Now why would I do that?" he interrogated, "What reason do you two have for wishing to learn the art of combat? Man a man have perished under my command."
Undeterred, the boys proclaimed in unison, "We want to protect everyone!" Their collective voices were loud enough to cause Eirena to shift in the next room where she rested.
"We want to protect our family," Uzziel explained, "and Mother. She does so much for us already, and—"
"And we want to help our mom!" Zadok interjected, "If we can fight, we can help her make money! We'll become strong and we won't have to rely on her anymore!"
Turning back to the stove, Kormac removed the pot and put out the flame. He allowed the boys to watch him expectantly as he calmly removed Eirena's apron and hung it back on the rack where he had found it. Placing both hands on his hips, he moved to loom imposingly over the pair.
"Now listen here. Eirena, your Mother, works very hard to support you all so you may live a better life. I can teach you to fight if you wish to protect her and your brethren, but," Kormac cut off the smiles that grew on their faces, "I will not teach you to sell your swords. It is far too dangerous and until you become of age, I'll not hear of you speak of relying on anyone other than her. She takes pride in caring for you and I will not teach you to put yourself in harm's way."
"What's going on?" Eirena cut off Kormac's tirade, standing bleary-eyed in the middle of the doorway. "Who's being harmed?"
"Mister Kormac is going to teach us to fight!" Zadok blurted, running off before Kormac had time to explain.
Uzziel followed suit, brushing past Eirena to join the others.
"They wish to protect you and raise funds. I believe they wish not to be a burden, but for children as young as they are, it's far too dangerous, and I was trying to explain to them that while I will teach them to fight, they should find other ways to acquire money. For instance, I know Haedrig is looking for a new apprentice, since the last one died about three years ago," Kormac rambled, while Eirena approached the bubbling pot to taste its contents, clearly oblivious to his longwinded statements.
"It's good!" she declared. Surprisingly, his attempt at stew was delicious, better than her own, even. "Is all of your cooking like this?"
"Well, I suppose. I have been told my pot pies could make demons cry."
"Why didn't you cook more often when we were journeying then?"
Kormac hesitated, staring at his hands before replying.
"You were…so insistent on cooking for us, and I saw the way you took special care to prepare our meals, especially when Lyndon was around, so I just… I didn't—" Kormac stopped and didn't continue, his gaze concentrated on his knuckles, now white as he gripped his hands together tightly.
Eirena blushed furiously, protesting, "I did not! I only—"
"I saw the way you looked at him, the way your voice became higher, your footsteps lighter, the way you laughed more easily in his presence, Eirena." His chestnut eyes now held hers, fierce with rivalry and accusation. "I'm not blind, Eirena. You know of my feelings for you."
Eirena stepped back, finding her back against the wall. The last thing she wanted to do now was to get into a verbal argument with the Templar, especially in her current frame of mind, but it seemed she was cornered.
"Is that why you're here?" Eirena huffed, "have you come to woo me? I'm not sure you're aware, Kormac, but I'm far too busy to entertain you and your delusions of romance!"
"Of course not! I just though you would like to hear the news!" Kormac was hollering now, in a way that was frightening, even to Eirena. She had never seen him this upset before. "How thoughtless of me to think that you might like to hear some news about the Prophet or the fact that the Black Soul Stone is missing! Pardon my intrusion!"
Red-faced with fury, Kormac aimed for the door, pushing brusquely past a stunned Eirena, stopping only to grab the sword and armor he had mindfully checked at the door. As he reached to re-equip his weapon, the Enchantress moved hastily to block his path, placing two hands upon his hand as it met the pommel.
"I'm sorry." Eirena apologized softly. She wrapped her fingers around his to pry them free of the sword in a way that, under different circumstances, could have been construed as holding hands. "I-I don't know what came over me. My mind is all muddled, and the house has been a mess. One of my sisters, Lysa has been calling to me in my dreams, I can barely support the children, and I have no idea what I'm doing anymore."
She leaned against the wall, heaving. "I think… I think I'm going to be sick." Doubling over, Eirena promptly retched all over Kormac's equipment, much to his horror.