Owain could not stand to be in this prison any longer. It was too full of pain, too many memories continued to bombard his mind. He rose stiffly, wiping at his face with the palm of his glove. The sentinel collected his weapons and helm in silence, Alecto watching him mournfully. "I-" He cleared the tightness in his throat before starting anew. "I have not the heart to slay you, my killer and my friend. You too were but a pawn in another's game. When I tell Ranni of these revelations, I will ask that she consider that before she…well, I will seek what justice for you that I might."
Alecto did not reply, only remaining seated on the stone of the gaol. Owain had hardly ever seen the woman look anything less than prim and proper, the sight disturbed him more than it should have. Before he could once more use his key to leave the prison, she reached out at him hesitantly. "Wain…what of Tiche?"
Memories of the girl running around his study with princes Mohg and Morgott rushed through his mind. "I've heard no news of her."
"Oswald made no mention of her?" Alecto's face soured even further.
Owain frowned. "No; and I have not questioned him. I do not know if they are still…courting." What an odd turn this conversation had taken, to be discussing his squire's romantic life with the woman who'd cut his throat.
"If he should know of where she is, pray, send for her and keep her safe. Tell her I-" Her voice wavered. "Tell her I was wrong, tell her that I bade her remain at Oswald's side."
Owain narrowed his eyes, here too was he missing something. He nodded anyway. "I will do as you wish, Alecto, in the name of our long friendship." He exited the gaol after a moment of tense quiet.
Osgalath perked up at the sight of Owain, trotting to him to bump his head into the sentinel's chest. He met brows with his friend for several steadying breaths. What heavy revelations he'd had today. This would…this would take time for him to process. "You truly are a lord among horses, Osgalath." He kissed his steed's brow with a sad smile. "Thank you for being at my side, my friend." Osgalath of course said nothing, but his whiney of excitement felt like a sincere reply. Owain tied his helm and armaments to the horse's saddle. He needed fresh air and free hands to think properly.
Owain frowned up at the darkened sky, surely it was not approaching evening yet. He squinted in confusion. The cathedral was only perhaps two hours from the manor by horseback. He could see the manor-town from his high vantage point, a menacing mass of clouds swirled above it. A blizzard? In the spring? How would- ah. Owain leapt atop Osgalath in a rush, he had a very bad feeling that this unusual weather was his fault.
His worry only grew as the clouds in the distance continued to swell, sheets of snow blasting down. After only a few minutes, the storm had doubled in size; Owain began to see flakes of ice in Osgalath's white mane.
Abruptly, blue mist surrounded him in a wild vortex, convalescing into a far too wild-eyed Ranni floating before a very startled Osgalath. She swooped to run her hands along Owain's face, his arms, his chest; as if verifying he was real. "When I-I felt thine magic ripped from my sight, I rushed to the manor only to be met with a clueless knight and a set of missin' armor. I thought thou wouldst stay home, husband! Where thou goest, I go, dost thou recall?" Her hands were trembling, her cheeks stained with frosted trails.
He pulled her gently from the air, settling her securely in his lap; using his borrowed cloak as a makeshift pillow. "Forgive me, Ranni. I did not mean to worry you." He kissed her temple, it was moist with sweat despite the cold. Had she thought perhaps he'd died? Oh what an idiot he was. The blizzard had followed her here, but they were in a bubble of calm and warmth. Poor Osgalath must have been terribly confused. "I had no idea the evergaol would hide me from your sight." He murmured.
The witch let out one last huff of settling nerves before kissing him with great force. Her nails made small divots in the skin of his neck, her fingers fumbling to his pulse point. Owain cursed his shortsightedness, he should have known better than to leave without penning a note for Ranni; even if he hadn't expected her home until the evening. Since their reunion, Ranni had been exceptionally over protective and her emotions seemed to oft run away from her. Her soul had yet to settle, he thought. Ranni sometimes woke him with her nightmares; she spoke in her sleep and the words were never comforting. His princess feared losing him again more than anything else.
It was only after she'd kissed him senseless that she pulled away, fury unlessened. "I had thought thee-" Her voice hitched. "Such fear stoleth mine senses; such terrible fear, Wain . " They matched breaths, a calming ritual she'd started recently. "Thou shalt have to apologize to the castle staff, mine terror becamest their own rather quickly." Her nose scrunched, as if just processing what he'd said. "Evergaol? Which one? For what purpose wouldst thou venture to such a place?"
The conversation that he'd had with Alecto came once more to the forefront of his mind, he frowned. Ranni was already distraught, this knowledge would only incense her further. His eyes found the only recently rebuilt manor-town; perhaps it was better that he told her this news far away from their subjects. "I worry at your coming wrath. Pray, send Osgalath home to the stables."
The roiling storm above was a pale shadow of the storm within her gaze. Osgalath disappeared beneath them in a bright mist, Ranni floating them slowly to the ground. "Dare not coddle me, Wain." Warm fingers took hold of his chin, forcing his attention.
"I only beg caution, Ranni. Caution and patience."
She sneered in clear frustration. "Yes, two things I am well known for. Enough already, lord commander; explain thyself!"
Owain was silent, he brought her brow to his, wrapping her tight in his arms, hoping his hold would keep her centered. Hers was a presence always welcome in his mind, no barriers did he raise against her as she searched through the hours of his day. When at last she viewed entire what had transpired in the gaol, she pulled from him quickly. Their waking views met, worried gold against horrified blue.
Her face was frozen in shock, eyes over-wide, mouth agape. For a brief, foolish, moment; Owain thought mayhap she was controlling her temper. Then the air around them was flooded with so much chaotic mana that he lost consciousness.
His eyes slammed open to the greatest storm he was certain Liurnia had ever seen, Ranni was white with rage, cerulean lightning arcing out from her in powerful flashes. The witch slowly floated from the ground where he lay. Owain tried to reach out to his wife. He failed.
He regained his senses once more; Ranni was screaming but he could not hear her over the overwhelming winds; long gone was their bubble of safety. "Ran-" His sight again shuttered black.
He rose to his knees with a roar; damnit! He could not stay conscious from the pressure of her wild magic! His fumbling hands wrapped around her slim ankles just before she rose out of reach. "Ranni! Ranni, I am here! I live!" He called out over the deafening winds. Owain pulled her to him as gently as he could.
He could hear now, her screams, the horrible wails that tore her dulcet voice to a crackling hoarseness. "-slew thee, all for no reason at all! All this war and all this death and all mine suffering; all for nothing!" She snarled. Tears streamed freely down blotchy cheeks. Pale teeth bared in slipping wrath.
"The fingers will-" He reared his head back from her shoulder, blinking away encroaching darkness rapidly. Fie, the weight of this magic was too great! "The fingers will pay! Ofnir will pay!" He slurred.
More incoherent screams flew from his bride before she buried her face into the crook of his neck with a low moan. Owain felt the sharps of her teeth as she bit him, her nails as they pierced the flesh of his nape in her flailing desperation. The sentinel used all his force of will to stay awake, he could feel the horrifying magic around them beginning to at last ease as she roared out her frustration. Ranni was feverishly whispering into his chest but the wind remained too wild and he could not make sense of her words.
His shaking hands made soothing motions into her back; his cloak wrapped around them both. Owain knew she still sometimes struggled in grounding herself, so he hoped this might aid her. "Justice will be done, wrongs righted. Be not afeard, Starlight." He murmured softly into her ear. The air around them continued to calm until the winds died in full, only the heavy clouds remaining above them, ominous and foreboding. The land that had just been green with spring was now laden with thick snow.
"Silence thy righteous heart for a moment, I doth not crave justice, but vengeance." She said wetly, face still tucked to his throat.
Owain hummed. "The two can be one and the same, wife."
Ranni pulled back, eyes alight with malice. "I shall start with Alecto."
He sighed. "Ranni, she was just a tool of-"
"I doth not care!" She bit out. "Thou wouldst truly deny me mine fury against the knife that stole thee from me?"
Alecto should receive fair treatment, even after…all she'd done. He frowned. "She was used , just as you. Just as I! It is not right to damn her for that which she did not know."
Ranni ripped herself from his grasp; the wind beginning once more to rise. "She should hath killed herself then, and saved us all the trouble! I will tear her treacherous heart from her chest, Owain."
"Do not sully your-"
"Mine hands are far too soaked in blood for me to begin caring now, husband." He rose after her, hands held out placatingly.
"I would at least give her what justice I could, Ranni. Do you not pity her?" Her face contorted in rage; ah, he should not have said that.
"Pity? Pity will not give me back our stolen years! Any that had a part in your death…I hate them. I hate them with every piece of me." Her voice rasped as she heaved in a gasp. Owain nervously eyed the storm above them, it was swirling anew, churling menacingly. He stumbled after her, the air too, was getting heavier. "With all mine heart and all my soul doth I curse them." She screamed.
"Ranni, please! You must calm-" He cringed at his own stupidity. Why? Why had he said that?
The princess of Caria loosed an inhuman shriek and Owain's sight flickered out for a moment. "I shalt be calm! Calm and contented and demure! When all our enemies are dead, Owain! When all that have ever looked upon thee in anger lie slain at my feet, I shalt be calm. When any that would dare to even dream of moving against us, art butchered and fed to my wolves; then I shalt be calm!"
He shielded his face from the biting winds even as he made to take her in his arms once more. "I should not have said that, beloved! I am sorry! Please, she may yet have knowledge we can use! Do not slay her rashly in your anger!"
His princess said nothing, her chest heaving with each rageful breath. Was there a man alive as dimwitted as he? He thought likely not. Over the cutting gale and despite their growing distance, he still heard her caustic whisper. "I will take from her, every day and every moment, I will steal from her tenfold the years she hast stolen from me. Thou may have thy justice for others, my noble prince-consort; but this one will suffer mine heartbreak just as keenly as I." Ranni flew almost too quickly for his eyes to follow in the direction of the evergaol.
What had been a few minutes ride for Osgalth was nigh half an hour's mad sprint for Owain; a task all the harder to perform in full sentinel plate. The clouds above were rapidly clearing, had Ranni finally calmed down? He was gasping for air by the time he reached the edge of the clearing that held the evergaol. To his great surprise, Ranni sat curled in a ball on the grass just beside the stone platform of the prison. "Ranni!" He called as he rushed to her side.
His princess looked up at him slowly, eyes unfocused. "Wain." She whispered softly.
"Ranni? What…are you alright?" He focused on calming his thundering heart. Why did she look so very lost? She was clearly unharmed, at least physically.
"No." She broke into a weak sob. "No, I am far from 'alright'."
His knee sank into the grass as he knelt to hold her to him, careful not to press her too forcefully against his armor. "Tell me, what has affected you so?"
She turned her face to his, kissing him sweetly. "I canst not bear anymore talk today, sweet husband. I wish to go home, I wish for warm tea, for mine books, for a bath, f-for rest." She stuttered ever so softly. Just what had he missed?
"Let us away then, that I might give you all you wish for." Her spell to transport them home was wordless and swift; leaving them in their quarters.
She was silent in the bath as he brushed her hair. She was silent as he bade Arista bring forth steaming tea. Silent as he carried her favorite books to her side. Ranni would not speak. It was only when she curled herself against him to sleep, that she broke her quietude. Her soft cries were low, shuddering gasps of harrowed mourning. "Ranni?" He questioned softly? She replied only with frantically grasping arms around his middle, her cheeks wet against the skin of his chest. What had his princess seen to be so very shaken?
"I will remain at your side, my brightest shining star. Whensoever you are ready to speak, I shall be there to listen." Lithe fingers interlaced with his, soft lips pressed a tender kiss to the hollow of his throat. In the gentle dark of their quarters, Owain frowned. He was quite worried for his wife.