Aara doesn't speak as they ready the horses to go. Instead, she pulls her white gloves from her saddlebag and wipe the blood off her hands and swords before turning them inside out and tucking them away. He didn’t even put up a fight, she thinks, biting her lip hard. He
made a deal with a god to save his son and did everything he could to help us
to this end. Otto, I hope it is what you truly wanted. I hope my own Ustadh
made me into a worthy assassin for such a teacher and friend.
Pressing her forehead against Kasida's saddle, she considers her promise to Otto. If there was one
thing a Mashi Al’Maut understood, it was her responsibility to her dead. I can't tell Goddard, not ever. And I can’t put Otto's name on me, she thinks,
panicking slightly. Goddard would know somehow, even if it were in Arabyan. I’ll have to put The Guardian of the Stone, and
keep it at that.
Goddard pats Zhane before he climbs up onto the saddle with a sigh. "It's finally done..." He suddenly looks up at Katarina and he squints at her. "You enjoyed that didn't you?" Goddard places a hand over his chest. He doesn't have any scars from the ordeal but he remembers feeling everything as it was happening and wishing it would all end sooner.
ReplyDeleteAara flinches when she hears him talking to Katarina. I did that, too. Taking a deep breath, she turns and tries to smile. "You know, Kasha, I should be upset with you. I always said that if anybody was going to kill Nuur'eni, it would be me."
ReplyDeleteKatarina gives sly smile at the two while tucking a lock of hair behind an ear. "Why Goddard, why would you think that I would take pleasure in hurting you? I just find the irony amusing, that I gave you the shaft.
ReplyDelete"Really, Arta? I was simply following Otto's orders. 'If Goddard cannot complete the ritual himself, you are to make sure it is finished.'
"While thing have turned out for the best, I must ask if his death on your hands was something you could live with?"
Aara looks away, afraid of what they might see on her face. "If it meant keeping him out of his power, yes." He'll never forgive me for what I do have to live with.
ReplyDeleteGoddard snorts. "I was going to kill myself if I could have moved, but I couldn't, so I asked for help." He looks up at the sky thoughtfully as they ride through the quiet woods. "I don't know what ritual I was supposed to be doing, but I don't think anything went the way it was supposed to. I was apparently a necessary ingredient, and without me, it couldn't happen. Maybe..." he looks down at the back of Zhane's head. "Maybe I wasn't supposed to live after the ship wreck...none of this would have been possible if..." his voice trails off and he closes his eyes.
ReplyDelete"No one else could have accomplished everything you have," Aara murmurs. "You wouldn't be here if you weren't meant to live that day."
ReplyDeleteKatarina shrugs. "All the talk of destiny... those mages at the college couldn't guess their way out of a wet sack, but apparently Otto knew what was needed for the ritual while Nagash seemed to know our every move like he was moving pieces on a chess board only to get outplayed on the last move. Pffft... fate."
ReplyDelete"Fate is real. Events can just be changed, and different paths can be taken," Goddard mutters. "One can get a general idea, but you can never be truly certain of what is going to happen."
ReplyDelete"Father always seems to know everything," he chuckles softly. "He's earned a lot of chocolate."
Aara clenches her jaw, forcing her expression to be impassive. He's going to talk about him...it's natural. Be stone. Be one of the Mashi Al'Maut, Aara.
ReplyDelete"Yes, he has earned more than his fare share," she offers.
Katarina ponders Goddard's words for a minute. "I'll grant you that no one can truly be certain, but it feels like that if events can be changed then fate can be changed as well.
ReplyDelete"Think about it. This whole thing seems fated even to the essence of the tasks that were needed. If you had never stumbled across the trail of the first book? If I had decided not heed Otto's missive to help? If Aara had never left Araby? If we had walked into a different inn and never met Zor-grat? If Theo had set up his cart somewhere else in the city that day?"
Aara shrugs. "Perhaps others like us would have met with Goddard. Perhaps Tannin's deaths changed our course. I simply do what I can, fated or not."
ReplyDelete"So if you are fated to settle down and raise many babies?" Katarina replies with an air of innocence and a knowing smirk.
ReplyDeleteAara shrugs again. "Uzzaya leads and I follow...however dark the path."
ReplyDelete"She says while changing a dirty diaper." Katarina quips with a giggle.
ReplyDelete"What gives you an indication that I'll allow Rayya or anyone else to marry me off?" She asks sharply. "I've earned my freedom, and I'll not have you make jokes about it."
ReplyDeletePutting her heels to Kasida, Aara rides ahead.
Goddard quietly listens to the girls talking. Everything turned out for the best, but for some reason, he feels sad.
ReplyDeleteMASTER!
He smirks. "That's what's wrong...Arha...you aren't attached to me anymore are you?" But...why feel sad about that...
Yes I am Master...but...I can't leave you...I will never leave you...
Goddard tries to hide his smile from the ever loyal familiar. "Yeah yeah yeah," he mumbles then looks at Aara as she rides on ahead. "Poor lecai...don't bother her, witch," he says to Katarina. "At least if she ever had children, they'd be half elf and not half ogre," he laughs. "But thank Sigmar those things just cannot exist..."
Katarina giggles louder. "Oh Arta! I won't jest about your many babies if you don't jest about my husband." She calls out after her friend.
ReplyDeleteTurning to Goddard and shakes her head. "Don't go mentioning either one around your colleges. All we need is some mage trying to do just that. Though I wonder, what would call a half-halfling?"
Alone, Aara clenches her fists. Get it together, Aara. Katarina was so out of her mind that she doesn't know what just happened. You can't grieve for Otto. Remember what Ustadh told you, and be still for Uzzaya's sake.
ReplyDeleteTaking a deep breath, she slows her horse to a walk and makes a mudras for strength.
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ReplyDeleteKatarina grows serious for a moment. "Thank you for healing me, again, Goddard. My insanity was frightening and I was probably a danger to myself and others in that state. Still, insanity would have been a small price to pay for Nagash's defeat and the saving of the world.
ReplyDelete"While we have already sacrificed much, it feels odd that the final battle would not claim at least one of us. You were restored and I was healed. Can it be that happily ever after?"
As Aara slows back to them, Katarina smiles again. "So now that this is done, what do you plan to do?"
Goddard scratches his head. "I don't feel like it's happily ever after. But...I've been through a lot of strange things. Maybe I just need time to relax."
ReplyDeleteHe laughs. "I think I'll have father wait on me hand and foot for a few days. I've earned a rest I think."
"I don't know. To be honest, I didn't expect to live through all of this," she admits, "so I haven't thought about it. Maybe I'll stay here a little while."
ReplyDelete"While I'm here, there's some things in Altdorf I want to visit. But then I think I might travel to Bretonia before visiting Araby again."
ReplyDeleteAara fidgets with her reins. "I can work anywhere. All I have to do is send a letter and I'll start receiving assignments. Where I am is really of no importance." She sighs and looks up at the trees. "But I think I want a rest before anything else."
ReplyDelete"Rest will be grand... yes! In bed that is not on a ship!" Katarina says clapping her hands together.
ReplyDeleteA grin escapes her. "You mean you don't like a narrow bed with a thin mattress? I found mine to be quite comfortable," she adds, sending a sly look to Goddard.
ReplyDeleteKatarina catches the look and flashes a grin back at Aara. "I imagine it's a little more enjoyable when you aren't violently sea sick. But if the company is good..."
ReplyDeleteShe winks at Aara.
Aara shrugs, grinning. "At some point I'll return home. I need to see my Ustadh's tomb again. What will you do later, when you're done traveling? Any familial duties to fulfill or tasks from your order?"
ReplyDeletePursing her lips in thought she sighs. "The last time I saw any of my family was shortly after being returned home. And that was only Mother and Aunt Mishka, who are also in the the Sisterhood. Thinking on it, I saw Alenka last when I was seventeen... so I have not seen any of my family in six years."
ReplyDeleteShe gets very quiet for a minute and looks down at her saddle. "If the Sisterhood feels the need to assign me anything, they will get in touch. I was kind of like a road warden after they found me sane and uncorrupted, unless they feel the need to change that I suppose that's about all they have waiting for me.
"I would like to see my family again though if only briefly... so much must have changed with them."
After a moment, Aara speaks again. "I think I'm afraid to go home. I don't want to see the tombs or hear about what happened at the palace. There's also a matter Siba's last letter mentioned- I don't want my name and face to be so well known. Here...I can be no one."
ReplyDelete"I know how you feel. Here... I am free to choose my own life."
ReplyDeleteLooking over at Goddard, she reaches out and squeezes his hand. "We all have, hyati. But Otto's away, remember?"
ReplyDelete"Well...I can't go and get him. My stuffy cousins wouldn't appreciate my presence," Goddard chuckles. "I'll just wait until he gets back! He'll get bored with that tower again eventually."
ReplyDeleteOr he won't ever get back... Instead of voicing her thoughts, Aara smiles. "How about we stay at the college and hire someone to wait on us hand and foot?" she suggests with a grin. "We'd get service and a laugh out of their nerves."
ReplyDeleteGoddard laughs. "Funny lecai. We couldn't pay anyone enough money to walk through the front door, let alone walk up all those stairs and into the room. We'd have to go back to my tower if we want service like that in a terrifying place."
ReplyDeleteHer face falls flat. "Can we not?" she asks. "If you want to leave, we could go just about anywhere else and have room service."
ReplyDeleteGoddard laughs again then speaks softly. "Don't worry lecai. If i can help it, I would never go there ever again. And I would never want you anywhere near that place again."
ReplyDeleteShe breathes a sigh of obvious relief. "I'm glad to hear it." After a moment, she perks up a little. "Nuur'eni, we should go see a marquist when we get back! I've kept a list and I think I'll be able to finish one of my arms!"
ReplyDelete"I'm guessing you can't add Nagash to that list. And I doubt the Guardian of that stone offered you his or her name before the battle, either." Katarina ponders aloud.
ReplyDeleteNo, I can't... "I can give titles," she explains, "similar to how I've done in the past for bandits or goblins and such." Aara runs her hand over her other arm, looking down at the inked names and titles. "They're for me, anyway. So I don't forget."
ReplyDelete"I feel like cheering about the fact that you will be able to finish an arm isn't necessarily the best reaction," Goddard chuckles. "And does it necessarily need to be just you who finished the job? I think having Nagash mixed in with the other names would be rather impressive."
ReplyDeleteShe grins. "It's something to celebrate. It solidifies my reputation. If my Ustadh were alive he would gather as many of us as possible and have a party to show me off. There would be lots of fancy dresses and gifts. Not many make it this far and manage to stay alive, and I'm so young still."
ReplyDelete"Then we'll throw you a party when we get back to Altdorf! And then you can have another party later in Araby. Just...don't expect the one I throw to have any fancy clothes or gifts or decorations or food...basically anything fancy."
ReplyDelete"Not even chocolate?" Katarina asks
ReplyDeleteShe laughs. "That's not necessary. I'll just revel in the knowledge that we've made it out of all this alive and that it's finished."
ReplyDelete"Chocolate isn't really fancy," Goddard smirks. "But I guess I don't see it that way because I can always find it easily. We just never have a lot because father is a hog and eats it all in one sitting."
ReplyDeleteWould you stop talking about him? It's killing me.
ReplyDelete"You can be just as bad," she reminds him.
"If I can get to it," he laughs and then sighs. "I can't wait to throw myself in my bed. If I can get into Altdorf without anyone wanting to cut my head off that is. I hope they forgot all about that whole...chaos infected situation." He coughs and Katarina could swear she heard her name in his cough.
ReplyDelete"I just want the same bed for more than a few hours- preferably one that doesn't have dirt and rocks as a mattress."
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ReplyDeleteKatarina blushes heavily at being reminded of her mistake. "I have apologized for that on many occasions. It was an accident that even occurred had I not slipped that the elf swordsman we had traveled with had fought that fiend in Kislev.
ReplyDelete"Besides, how many years has it been since then? I'm sure your name is of no importance to the Templars beyond being in some dusty tome."
Aara chews her bottom lip, certain her own mark would garner no love from them. "Two, maybe," she answers. "I'm not sure, it's hard to keep the time in so many different climates. I hope you're right, Katarina."
ReplyDelete"They didn't hassle us when we docked, but they were experiencing a plague of undead at the time..." she pauses in thought
ReplyDelete"Are you sure that you haven't been to Altdorf in all the time we were parted?"
"It's easy to slip in and out unnoticed when you're only in the city a day or two," she explains. "But if Goddard and I are going to stay for any length of time, it could be a concern. All the same, I hope they've had better things to occupy their thoughts than our little company."
ReplyDeleteGoddard shrugs. "I guess we'll see huh? I think I can stay hidden until they clean things up. And that may take a while."
ReplyDeleteAara nods. "And as long as I keep my shirt on, I can handle anything that needs to be done outside the college for you. Magic notwithstanding, of course," she adds with a chuckle.
ReplyDeleteKatarina tries to stifle a snicker. "You could always ask, Zor-grat, Theo, or myself. While I would like to speak with Otto briefly during the visit, I would like to spend as much time in other... atmospheres than the your College."
ReplyDeleteAara holds her breath, thankful that Otto had left a note at the college. I won't be able to keep it a secret forever, his absence will be noted. But for a little while...
ReplyDelete"Father won't be home so soon," Goddard sighs. "That would be convieniant. He'll take as long as possible to return when he can just apparently magically poof everywhere..."
ReplyDeleteKatarina makes a face as she remembers the sensation of teleporting. "Understandable. Poofing did seem somewhat convenient if you enjoy that sort of thing.
ReplyDelete"When we get back we should have a big dinner or something. A feast for saving the world. Our own holiday."
"I agree. But first- a bath." Aara sighs dreamily at the thought of a steam-filled, fragrant bathroom and a tub large enough to lay in. "I've missed being clean. Bathing in a river or creek doesn't exactly do the job."
ReplyDelete"That is the best plan!" Katarina confirms with a nod. "It has been so long... and not being able to wear any perfumes or oils in the wild. I don't know what would have smelled worse, us or the undead."
ReplyDeleteAara sniffs at her dirty hair and scowls. "Them, I think."
ReplyDeleteKoroush stands on the balcony of his palace, staring out over the wadi toward a not so distant oasis wondering. He thinks to himself, wondering if his message reached his friends, would they be able to come or even be willing to assist him. His thoughts trail off to the golden haired priestess from the north. He softly mutters to himself,"I'm sure her heart could never be as cold as her homelands, surely she has a fire to keep herself going in those long winter months..."
ReplyDeleteKoroush smiles to himself and then desends the stairs into the courtyard and surveys the horses and camels there. He picks a few and has on of his advisors pay the dust-covered herders for them. He watches a few small children play in the water buckets by the well and laughs as thier mothers scold them harshly for wasting water in times such as these. His face goes hard at the reminder of what is in front of him and his peoples, hoping against hope they will see another harvest and those small children might see adulthood the they can have children of thier own to love.
Koroush wanders into the cool shade of the palace and begins to go over the maps and letters of promise he has recieved from a few close family friends and prays to the gods it will be enough.
Goddard looks up at the sky then out ahead into the woods. "We should probably stop soon," he suggests. "Altdorf is still a ways off and as much as I would love to hurry up and get into a bed, I really hate the idea of wandering around the woods in the dark. I don't know if I trust the 'wild' anymore."
ReplyDelete"After all we've been through, its a miracle that any of us can hasn't barricaded themselves in a room never to go outside again." Katarina says with a sigh.
ReplyDelete"I guess ignorance really is bliss."
"Don't think I'm not considering it," Aara grumbles, climbing down and stretching. "I think a nice little house with thick high walls and a cellar full of wine sounds like heaven."
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't take them long to dismount and set up camp. Goddard plops down by a fallen log and yawns. "It's going to be strange now. No more running around and collecting books or fighting monsters. At least I don't intend to keep that sort of thing up. For now anyway," he chuckles. "It'll be nice to relax."
ReplyDeleteAara makes a vague sound of agreement as she wanders through their tiny campsite, trying one seat and then another before settling on pacing. Exhausted emotionally and physically, all she wants to do is relax and rest, but she can't seem to find anything remotely comfortable. So she paces and chews on the knuckle of her forefinger.
ReplyDeleteGoddard watches Aara with a raised brow for a few moments before he speaks. "Are you alright lecai? You don't have to worry. Everything is fine. When we reach Altdorf, we'll get you some tea and I know it won't be as nice as Araby, but we'll get you some oils for a hot bath. Just think about that. Wouldn't that be nice? I'll even give you a massage!" he grins.
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm not alright.
ReplyDelete"Yes, I'm fine," she lies, glancing at him. Without warning, she throws her arms around him and buries her faces in Goddard's robes. "I love you," she whispers in Arabyan.
He's surprised, but only for a few seconds, before he puts his arms around her and holds her tightly. "I love you too." Goddard sighs and then chuckles softly. "Would you really have missed me so much if that were the end for me? You would have been fine. Just relax and rest lecai. We'll be back in Altdorf tomorrow and we can put all of this insanity behind us."
ReplyDelete"Yes," she answers softly, snuggling into his arms. "I would miss you more than I could bear. Is there any way I can tempt you to go back to Araby for a long visit? We could stay in the cities and avail ourselves of the finest there is to offer."
ReplyDeleteGoddard thinks for a moment then nods. "As long as you promise to not hit me again if I just can't control myself," he says pitifully, rubbing his jaw, "We can definitely have a long visit in Araby." He laughs and holds her tight. "We can watch the ridiculous camels, and take long hot baths and eat sweets. Maybe we can do something normal. Instead of sparing, we can dance to actual music."
ReplyDeleteBiting her lip, she traces the scar on his jaw. "I won't ever hit you again," she promises softly. "Not even if you ask me."
ReplyDeleteHis eyes grow wide and he looks at Aara with concern. "But...I mean...you can...just not that hard..."
ReplyDeleteAara blinks away burning tears and tries to smile. "Well, maybe if you beg a little," she concedes. "Maybe by then I'll have learned to share."
ReplyDeleteHe chuckles softly. "I'm sorry. I'm terrible. I don't know why you stay with me."
ReplyDeleteLooking away, she traces the embroidery on his sleeve. "I could say the same thing," she murmurs. "I still don't understand."
ReplyDelete"You're the opposite of me," he grins. "You're beautiful, strong, sweet, considerate. And I'm...well...none of that."
ReplyDeleteWith a real smile, she reaches up and tweaks Goddard's nose. "You're all of those things. And you wouldn't really hurt anyone. I'm the cold hearted killer," she giggles.
ReplyDeleteGoddard smiles back, happy to see such a smile on her face. "I would hurt someone if I could," he says almost pouting. "I'm sure I'd also hurt myself in the process but the job would get done."
ReplyDelete"You're certainly good at hurting both of you in the process," she agrees. A pang of guilt rolls over her, and Aara's smile melts away. I can't tell him. I can't bear to see the way he'll look at me then.
ReplyDelete"We should rest," he says softly, trying not to frown at her fading happiness. "We're all drained. When we get back to town, you'll feel better. Everything can feel normal."
ReplyDeleteShe nods, snuggling into his arms and drawing his cloak around them. "I'm sure I will," she murmurs against his arm. "Everything will feel normal soon."
ReplyDelete