Growth

Ione’s heartbeat pounded in her chest and ears as they quickly took another corner down another alley trying to escape the soldiers following after them. She quickly looked down to her side to the young teen she found alone, heading towards the edge of Arx.

She wasn’t sure as to what it was that alerted the soldiers to their location, one second the two of them were sneaking away, out of everyone’s radar, and the next they had to run from the small crowd of them hunting them down. Ione focused on the weight of the trembling hand in her own upon hearing the shouting behind them grow closer. She was sure she could fight off one of them, but being able to fight both of them, and keep the child safe, there was surely no way they would both make it out completely unscathed, so they had to run.

They were close to the edge of the city when Ione caught sight of a human man in the doorway of an abandoned house. From the distance they were at, the only thing that she could be certain of was that he was wearing common clothing, maybe some light padding, but whoever he was, he didn’t seem to be a soldier. Taking a risk, she turned to head towards the stranger. Once she was close enough, she recognized his face, seeing him escort civilians and wounded from the city beside her more than once. She let out a breath of relief, before quickly making their way over to him, closing the distance and gaining his attention.

“Go, go!” She ushered as she handed the child off to him, turning around to see one of the guards turn the corner of the street, immediately noticing her. “Get him to safety, I won’t be able to lose them with him.”

He quickly took the child with him, taking him down a street and out of Ione’s direct line of sight without question or a glance back to her. She couldn’t deny the pang of fear that settled in her chest from the unknown of the child's escape without her by his side.

Grabbing her bow from her back, Ione turned back towards the enclosing guards, and nocked an arrow as one of them, the elven man on the left, laughed at the action.

“Is that supposed to scare us?” he asked, as he pulled his longsword from the sheath at his side and rolling his eyes once Ione only trained her weapon to his movements. 

She let out a soft breath and tightened her grip around her bow, focusing on him and quickly studying his movements, willing her magic to her bow as she glared at him, feeling the spell take hold onto him. She smiled then, releasing the string, sending the first arrow into his shoulder and quickly firing another towards him, just managing to slip between two strips of his armor and into his abdomen. “I don’t know, you tell me?” She asked, hoping to keep their attention, maybe even getting them to forget the boy she was with.

The elven soldier yelled out, in pain or maybe in surprise, as her arrows struck him before he closed the distance between them, lunging at her, but swinging wide, allowing her to duck underneath the sword, but he quickly recovered, faster than she thought he would, and managed to slash across her side before she could dodge out of the way.

A yell ripped from her throat when she was hit at her side with another swipe from a sword, from the other soldier, a tiefling man. She tried to duck from his next hit, but he still managed to get her in the arm.

Ione swallowed loudly as she took a step back to ready herself, her head already throbbing from the pain. She grabbed another arrow, wincing at the pain from her arm, before she saw something in the corner of her eye from the other end of the street.

Mareona jumped at the voice beside her, one had going to the bone dagger at her waist before her senses caught up to her body and she realized who had spoken.

“Ione.”  She breathed, relief coursing through her like strong wine, sapping all the tension from her bones. “What are you doing here?” It was both tremendously comforting and unspeakably odd to be sitting here looking into the other woman’s face. Scant weeks ago they had shared a dance in a glittering ballroom. Then Ione had looked like a fairy queen, all silver and blue and shining. They’d swept across the dance floor leaving magic shimmers in their wake and when the music hand ended Ione had kissed her hand and Mare thought her heart might burst from heat and happiness. 

That night was a million miles away now, so distant it might have been a dream, and now Mareona barely recognized her friend. Gone was the shimmer of silver stardust, Ione looked exhausted, dirt streaked and battered. She was still beautiful though. Mare shook the thought away, it was the lack sleep she told herself, the loneliness of the last week. She realized she was still staring and tried for a tired smile.

“I can’t say I’m sorry to see a friendly face.”  She said then sobered. “But I’m sorry you’ve found yourself here.  Are you alright?”  A thought occurred and she stiffened, it should have been her first, her only thought.

“You aren’t hurt are you?”  She asked, reaching out as if to be certain. “You haven’t been injured?” 

With everything happening these recent days, Ione should’ve known better than sneaking up on someone like she did, no matter who it was. And even if there were people who weren’t fighting and were specifically here just to get the citizens of Arx out, to assume they weren’t always on edge or scared was foolish and stupid. So when Mareona immediately went for hip, Ione readied an explanation, but the fear vanished before she got the chance.

“Sorry for scaring you,” she said softly, as she took in the face of the woman sitting next to her, a small frown settling on her lips. When they had first met not two months ago, she could’ve sworn that the other woman was something of a dream; beautiful and elegant, holding herself with confidence and surrounded with an ethereal glow, and somehow she had still said yes to dancing with Ione, even though no one in their right mind would have denied her the chance. Seeing her now, though, with tired eyes and a deep set crease between her eyes, Ione wanted nothing then to take that pain and worry from her friend, to be able to see the sparkle in her eyes and her brilliant smile again.

“I’m…” She started, the word ‘okay’ dying on her tongue before it even had a chance to reach her lips, she knew no matter how hard she tried there would be no way to make it sound real. She had yet been able to get an uninterrupted nights rest, and fighting people was very different to fighting beasts and monsters, it had gotten harder before it got easier to try and convince herself that she wasn’t just as bad as them. There were dark bruises littered over her skin, and pains that seemed to reach to her bones, every movement burned and only seemed to get worse every morning rather than better, and she thought if she were to lift her arms over her head, there was a chance that the cut that rested on her side could open again. There were plenty of clerics around them, and if she were to ask or tell them that she was hurt, they wouldn’t hesitate to help her, but the citizens of Arx needed all the attention first, she could let her body heal once she knew everyone else was fine. “I’m tired, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. I’m tougher than I look.”

Mareona’s hand was gentle and soft on her arm and Ione almost wasn’t expecting it, despite tracking the movement. “And you?” Ione eventually asked, looking away from her arm to look back to face her again.

ioneseseri‌:

Ione gently pet the dog as she slowly moved closer to the hurt leg, as to not frighten her more, and to make sure that she didn’t accidentally touch a sore spot. Grabbing the wrapping from her bag, she began humming a soft song before she started wrapping, much like a mother would to soothe a crying child who had scraped their knee and they had to patch them up.

As she started wrapping, she tried to keep her touch gentle, but the dog growled lowly, but never moved to snip at her, in what Ione could only hope was an understanding that she was only trying to help. She tried to move slowly enough to not scare her but also quick enough to not put her on edge, and by the time she was finishing off the wrap, the dog seemed to be relaxing back into Cass’s lap. Despite the dog not belonging to Cass, she couldn’t help but smile at the show of quiet affection between the two.

“I don’t know how close you live, but my inn isn’t too far from here. We can take her there, get her out of the streets unless you’d rather somewhere else?”

Jax stroked the dog’s fur gently as the woman began to gently wrapped the injured leg, doing her best to keep the animal calm. She could tell the dog was nervous, but at least trusting that the two were trying to help her. After a moment, Ione was done, and the dog relaxed once more. “See?” Jax said to her softly. “Not so bad. That feels better, huh?” She smiled, giving her a gentle scratch behind her ears.

Jax looked back up at Ione at her question. “I actually don’t live too far away either… I think your inn is closer, though.” Jax looked down at the dog. As much as she already felt a strong connection to the dog and wanted to take care of her, she knew realistically she wouldn’t be able to. She was always away. The snakes were different, both Elias and Amyru were able to travel with her. A dog? Not so much. And she wasn’t sure her mother would be able to take care of a dog on her own. “Your inn would be a much better bet. We could get some more food in her, and then I guess… figure it out from there.”

Time: Early morning, February 10th Location: Pearl Plaza, Arx Status: Open

When news had reached her of Arx, Thalra had first assumed the whole thing to be some terrible rumor that had been blown out of proportion. She had hoped, that when she sent a message to Nil that he’d respond that he was already on his way out of the city, that he’d missed the attack entirely and was on his way home. When she was met with silence, it was like a hole had opened up below her suddenly and swallowed her. There was a terrible ringing in her ears and a pounding in her head as the silence stretched on from seconds to minutes and she knew like she had known countless times before that no response was coming.

Her breathing became shallow and fast and the next thing she knew she was sitting on the floor of her home in Myrefall and at least an hour had passed by the position of the sun outside. Minutes afterwards, she had her satchel packed and was out the door, a strange blankness on her face and a whiteness to her knuckles where she gripped her flying broom. It took all day and all night for her to reach Arx, but in the early morning light she saw the columns of smoke spiraling up over the horizon and new she was close.

Now she made her way through the streets quietly and invisibly, exhausted and feeling as if she was all at once heavy in her bones and also absent from the frame of her body and floating just outside it. She was not thinking of Nil, or why he had not responded, only that she had to find him. When she came across the body of one of Ivana’s soldiers on a recently vacated street that was stained with blood and littered with wreckage, Thalra stood over him and reached out her hand, letting the invisibility drip off her so that she was now visible, but standing very still.

Her shadow though, that began to move. The dark mirror of her outstretched arm shook as if awakening from a long slumber and shot out towards the body of the broken soldier. It became a snake, hungry, opening its jaw wide as it reached the body and sunk its fangs into the shadow of the dead man. Within seconds it had swallowed the flickering mass whole and the snake slithered back to rejoin Thalra’s form. With a shudder, and in the blink of an eye, Thalra took the form of the dead man, his last memories overlaid themselves on to her brain like a web. She knew his name, his rank, the captain he followed.

Then, a sound from the other side of the street caught Thalra’s attention and her gaze snapped up from the body of the dead man whose form she’d just stolen. Someone was here with her. Thalra said nothing, hesitated, unsure if they had seen what she’d just done.

Ione had started walking the streets of the city once the sun started to rise, trying to find any common folk hiding from the chaos and death that the soldiers that stalked the same streets, bringing nothing but death and destruction in their path. The past few days have seemed to bleed together; waking up in the early morning, walk the streets of the dying city, trying to find anyone who survived the initial attack, get them out, come back and repeat. She knew that some days have passed since the first day, but however many days that was, she was unsure.

She tried to stay closer to walls and heavily shadowed areas, the swirling darkness that surrounded her looking more natural with the darker surroundings and she could only imagine that if there was someone hiding in these streets, they would try and find the most natural camouflage available to them.

It didn't take long for her to find someone, the sound of a hushed conversation coming from an abandoned building she was passing, windows and door both missing, allowing any sound loud enough to escape, but along with the hushed conversation, came the heavy steps of an incoming soldier, also within the building, who most likely heard the same thing. She began to move to the doorway, hoping to get to whoever was hiding inside before the soldier did. However when she got there, the only thing she could do was watch as he struck the two strangers down, without a second thought, and her stomach felt heavy, her heart heaver, and instead of making herself known to the man, she ran.

Once she felt she got far enough, she pressed herself against the wall of an alley as she pressed her palm to her mouth, eyes closed and breath heavy, her eyes stinging with the threat of tears and the continual exposure to the thick smoke that surrounded the city. The image of the two innocent folk burned against her eyes and she snapped her eyes open, a sob ripping from her throat and it was then that she realized she stopped thinking about keeping the spell that her hidden.

She looked around briefly, the sight of another soldier standing at the end of the street, standing over the body of a fallen comrade, staring back at her. As they locked eyes, anger filled her, angry with herself for running and for what she just witnessed, and didn’t think twice about grabbing her longbow and firing, swearing when her first arrow went wide, quickly grabbing another arrow and firing again. She thought about running, but she instead stood her ground, staring the man down. She started this fight, and she would stay to finish it.

Date: February 19th 

Time: Sunset

Location: A few miles outside Arx

Status: Closed for @ioneseseri

The sun was just beginning to tip below the horizon when Mareona let her weary feet cease their movement and for a moment tipped her head back to feel the cool breeze on her hot face. She’d been in Khaggon when word of the attack had arrived, and then she’d wasted precious time trying to decide what to do. She had no place in Rolland’s army, but neither could she simply stand by and do nothing while an entire city full of innocent people suffered for crimes that weren’t theirs. By the time she made it to the port city it was enshrouded in chaos, and for a time she’d simply focused on helping the next person she came across, one after another in an endless parade of broken and bloody faces. The children were the worst. Her first night there she’d tried to help a young family. Only the father and oldest daughter had made it out alive and Mare was sure that once she allowed herself more than a few hours of rest at a time their faces were not something she’d be able to forget. 

Getting into the city had been relatively simple, one woman alone, particularly one with her training had little trouble slipping past the guards but getting back out again had proved considerably more difficult. It was only in the last few days that she’d been able to make any real progress, gathering small clusters of  townspeople and escorting them out of the city, sneaking and fighting by turns. The camp that was spread out before her wasn’t much, one of many ragged enclaves collecting those too lost or wounded to travel far, but she’d spent the last three days doing everything she could to ensure those fleeing the burning city made it to relative safety beyond the front lines of fighting that still raged. She wasn’t the only one engaged in such work, all around her other souls labored tirelessly to provide shelter and care.  And that wasn’t even considering Rolland’s forces that had flooded Arx in the last week. She tried not to wonder where Avi was in the midst of it all, or any of her new acquaintances, (her friends?) for that matter. She had long since learned that dwelling on such things was less than useful. And being useful was all that mattered for the time being. 

With a sigh she lowered herself onto a waiting stone and ran a hand through her filthy hair. She should head back out, getting people out of the city was easier under cover of night and she could make several more trips before dawn if nothing disastrous happened. Just a few minutes. She told herself, letting her head drop into her hands, fingers rubbing gently at her aching eyes, she’d rest for a few minutes and then head back into the fray.

The stress from the past few days were finally starting to catch up to Ione as she left Arx for what would most likely be the last time for the night. The weight of a wounded man she found hidden under some rubble slowed her down more, on top of her own exhaustion beginning to set in. She hadn’t given herself time to really sit and rest since she woke up to the chaos and destruction of the city of what she assumed to be the first day of the attacks. She had gone into the city expecting to only help the people of Arx out of the war zone, but she found herself getting into more fights with soldiers than she’d ever imagine herself getting into. And every time she left the city, it was only when she had a survivor by her side, and more times than not, covered n wounds herself from protecting someone else. Everything felt sore, and the dead weight on her side wasn’t helping with anything other than slowing her down, but every time she got to the village outside of Arx, she pushed away any healer then came her way.

Nights have begun to get harder and harder for her recently, she wouldn’t consider herself a fighter, at least not one  like the soldiers out there, nor was she a healer, and when she had time to sit and think about everything happening around her, it gave her time to second guess everything she did, every misstep she took, but more than that, when she closed her eyes at night, all she could see behind her eyes were the dead and dying that she couldn’t save. Ione had killed plenty of beasts and animals in her years of training back home in Anari, but she had never killed another person before, never seen so many dead up close and in numbers like this until recently. She didn't think she could sleep the first night she was in the city, but when sleep did somehow find her, it was restless and she woke up feeling more tired than she did when she went to sleep.

As soon as Ione could see the lights from the village, she couldn’t hold back the sigh of relief. It was only getting darker, and she knew that it wouldn't be too long before she couldn’t see a few feet in front of her, and she wasn’t sure how much longer she would be able to carry the man she carried, but still pressed on. When she got close enough to the village, she was greeted with a healer who took the man from her side, and she could tell by his breathing evening out that they were already using a healing spell on him. Another healer walked up to them, a man who she was familiar with, and he placed his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged his hand off before the healing spell could take effect on her and she walked away from him with a soft thank you and empty smile, before he could try and convince her otherwise.

She was ready to try and find a resting spot for the night, even if the thought of what sleep tended to bring these days wanted her to try and stay away forever. She almost didn't see her sitting there, off to the side away from everyone else. Ione couldn’t see her face, but she could imagine that Mareona held the same tiredness that everyone else seemed to carry with them recently. A few moments passed, with her just standing there, debating if she wanted to bother her before she finally walked over and sat next to her.

“You now, when I said I would see you again, I didn't then it would be like this,” she said gently, placing her hands in her lap and looking over to the woman at her side.

Ione sat at the bottom of the staircase that led to the basement of her establishment, silently waiting for Jax to arrive. They had talked about it briefly, them teaching her a little hand-to-hand combat in the chance that she ended up in a situation where she wouldn’t have time to grab her bow or if she didn't have her bow on her at the time. She could feel her nerves building in her chest, never having actually been in a close encounter fight before, other than small arguments with drunk politicians where she was safe behind the bar. She hadn’t known Jax for very long, and whether it was a stupid decision on her part or not, she still trusted them to an extent that she was allowing them into her home, and into a position where they would have the upper hand.

At the sound of the door opening above her, she stood quickly and turned around and saw Zasil holding the door open, standing next to Jax, who loomed over Zasil in the Abrams’s persona at the top of the stairs. She slapped a smile onto her face, waving to Vera who stood behind the two of them, before nodding a silent thanks to Zasil before she closed the door behind Jax, once they stepped down into the stairwell.

“She didn't give you any trouble, dd she?” she asked, once they reached the bottom of the stairs. She led Jax to the open space of the basement she had created earlier with the help of Zasil. A moment passed and she shoved her hands nto her pockets and turned to face them. “I don’t really know how to start something like this,” she said, her smile becoming a little more sheepish at the confession.

He raised his eyebrows in consideration. The bag of gold even looked like it held some weight to it; he guessed it would even exceed the reward offered in the first place. A smile played over his features, content with the offer. He didn’t know this guy, probably wouldn’t have ever met him under any other circumstance. He needed to pay his rent, this would do it. Besides, he seemed to be having a good time, anyway.

But then he locked eyes with Ione, who seemed less than content. He sighed- he’d already seen what she could do when she didn’t approve of something. Though he had half a mind to take the money and run before she had the opportunity to stop him, the other half wondered how far he would get before she caught him and took the gold back.

He sighed, reluctantly putting a smile onto his face.

“I have another shirt in my cart! It might be a size or two too small, but it’ll just show off how big your arms are!“

Fauna squinted, shaking his head in consideration. Didn’t seem convinced. With even more reluctance, and no longer bothering to hide the discontentment on his face.

“I also… have alcohol… that I could share.“

He peered over at Ione with an annoyed gaze.

Ione smiled when she was met with Leo’s heated gaze, not trying to hide her obvious enjoyment of seemingly having the upper hand at the moment, although she had a rising suspicion that he would only play along for so long until he either got bored or agitated. 

Watching at Fauna’s eyes widened at the prospect of more free alcohol, she smiled wider at the beginning idea’s of a plan; Leo seemed to have fun and excited when he was presented with a challenge, and if she could somehow turn this into a competition, then she might not have to fight with him the whole way through the night.

Looking away from the two of them, she glanced around the room trying to find any trace of his forgotten shirt, wandering away from the two of them when she couldn’t see it in the near vicinity around them. She almost felt bad about leaving Leo to babysit the drunk Lord, but not bad enough to not look for it.

After a short time of wandering in what seemed to be circles, Ione finally gave up on looking for the shirt, and started making her way back to the two boys. When they were finally in her sight, she almost thought of just showing up empty handed, but the idea of the smug look on Leo’s face was enough for her to understand that that was a bad idea.

“Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find your shirt, but if you come with us, there might be a new shirt and some food waiting for you,” she said, as she found a place at Fauna’s side, throwing an arm around his shoulder. She watched as he seemed to ponder on the idea, his resilience on staying slowly fading before he eventually nodded, followed by a slurred ‘okay’ followed. Ione smiled, and glanced over to Leo, sticking her tongue out at him in a childish manner, as she slowly started to lead Fauna away.

Thalra gladly took the salt and began covering her food in it enthusiastically. Her tastes had changed drastically since she was a child, when she’d preferred meat to be nearly raw and stole the expensive cheeses from locked cupboards in the priests’ offices in the orphanage. She’d been ravenous back then too, always hungry and aching in the pit of her stomach, even before she and Nil had left the Underdark. She’d used to think her father had seen it in her, that he’d suspected. He’d always been just a bit more careful around her than he was around Nil. But still, whenever she ate food with too much salt or drank wine that rang with an aftertaste of bitterness, she thought of him, her father and her mother, preparing what meager portions of food they could scrape together in a city so deep underground that the world above was more fairytale than fact.

As she chewed and swallowed, her eyes focused again on Ione, a frown of sympathy instead of pity now gracing her features. “I can understand the instinct,” she said softly. “It’s difficult to stay in a place that constantly reminds you of the mistakes you made or the things you’ve lost.” In those early years after Nil had left her, it had been nearly torturous to see the food stalls in the markets during summer, where Nil had swiped fruit from when they were children. It was why, after nearly fifty years of his absence, she’d started travelling, staying for nearly two years in Kaivras before returning to Myrefall.

Ione’s next question surprised her, though it shouldn’t have. Thalra blinked at the woman, took a sip of her tea, and recovered. “I’m afraid my rates are a little more expensive than a few coppers,” she said, eyes narrowing over her cup before she set it down again and dropped the look of scrutiny she was giving Ione like she’d flipped a switch. “Besides, I’m only thinking of the past. I seem to be doing that quite a bit lately.” She paused thoughtfully, and when she spoke again, it was almost like she wasn’t speaking to Ione at all. “I think it’s all finally catching up to me. Feels almost like I’m being stalked by an animal in the woods at night.”

Ione nodded her head silently as she took another bite of food, despite the now almost sour taste in her mouth that seemed to follow with old memories that related back to Cordruff or Avi, watching as Thalra’s face changed with her statement of leaving home, a look of recognition settling on her features. She wondered, as she took a slow dragging sip of coffee, if Thalra had left her previous home on an act of her own like she had, or if that soft look on the drow’s face was a result of something less controlled, something of a theme she started to notice after she left Anari. “I’m sorry you have something like that to relate to,” she finally said, looking back to Thalra with a gently, sad chuckle. “Although I guess with everything going on, it's hard not to relate to.” 

She blinked at Tharla’s sudden mood change, expecting it, but not in the quick, silent way she delivered now, there and gone, both in an instant. One of the many things she has learned since moving, s that her pressing could end poorly, even if she was careful, or what she thought was careful. The paranoid, angry people who resided in Myrefall, different as they all seemed, all hated being questioned, and it seemed that Ione was far from learning her lesson, but she had learned to expect a reaction; loud and angry, threats and fists, and she didn't try to hide her surprise at her reaction, but she bounced back from it smoothly, albeit not like Thalra. 

“I’ve found the best way to get rid of your predator, is to make it your prey,” she said gently, idly pushing her cooling food around her plate as she spoke, thinking back to when she found herself deep in the forest, trapped between hungry, angry creatures, ready to make her dinner, but Ione new that an angry animal was different than what Thalra was talking about. She looked back to Thalra, daring to meet her eye. “It’s hard, easier with help, possible with help, and you don’t strike me as someone to bac from a challenge.”

Thea wasn’t completely sure what to make of Ione’s reaction. She seemed to react at the mentioning of Avi, but not in a way she expected. It seemed withdrawn, subdued, like she was holding back on … something. More than that was hard to read. “Oh, you knew him? That’s cool! The world’s so small these days.”

She watched Zasil exit the room, giving her a small wave as she did. Was this getting sensitive, or maybe the cook was on breakfast break?

“I suppose it kinda takes living in it to get the proper experience. I can agree that it’s not as colorful as this place, but it was still the place I knew for … 23 years or so.” She hoped that math was correct. “I’ve never been to Anari, but I’ve heard it’s warm there too. It’s really cold here, isn’t it? I keep needing to find thicker cloaks!”

“Mmm, yeah,” Ione said as she kept her gaze trained on her cup. She had known that Avriel had moved to Hegaehend, it was one of the few things that he did decide to tell her before he left, and when she moved to Myrefall, she had hoped that it would be large enough that they wouldn’t have to run into each other again, at least not this soon after everything had happened. Realizing a moment too late that her reactions could cause more confusion and questions, or come off as rude disinterest, she looked back to Thea and smiled. “I guess growing up on an island, I always assumed everywhere else was larger, more separated. It’s nothing like I expected,” she eventually said, trying to sway the conversation away from Avriel while trying not to be rude.

“I’ve never known a real winter until I moved here, that’s definitely for sure.” Anari was warm, warm and unpredictable in ways that never made sense, clear skies one day then storms out of now were the next. Ione had grown used to the weather, despite it’s chaotic nature, but compared to it out here, it had character to it, helped make it home. “If you don’t mind crazy weather, it’s a great place to be. And I don’t know if I’ll ever really get used to how cold it is here, I feel I can never get warm unless I’m indoors.”

Rinnil gave a small smile and glanced around the room once more as she went through a door towards the back and what he assumed was a kitchen. Again, his eyes landed on the two unconscious men sleeping off a night of heavy drinking. Old habits tempted him to check for a loose coin purse. But he resisted the temptation. It wasn’t the time or place, and without knowing how long Ione would be gone, he very much doubted that she would take kindly to him stealing from other customers.

As if to prove him right, she quickly returned with a muffin in hand. She offered it to Rinnil after eating a piece of it herself. He obliged and also took a piece, though it was more out of politeness than anything else. At her question, he paused and considered what to say. Confiding in Efrain about his insomnia had been different. The two men didn’t know each other very well, but he trusted Efrain and that was a rarity in itself. Even though he didn’t think this woman was too suspicious at the moment, he also had no idea who she was and he definitely didn’t trust her. He shrugged a bit after a moment and ate the piece of muffin he’d taken. “I like to be up when the sun is up,” he told her.

Ione let out a soft hum at his statement as she popped another piece of muffin into her mouth before she started talking again. “I can understand that. Too many things to do in a day,” she said. She hadn’t known late mornings since she was a young child, and even then, while many considered it to be a luxury, it would only be by accident that she found herself till asleep after the sun had risen. The days were shorter now, something she still had to adjust to, and it seemed to make sense now more than ever to be up early if you were to get everything done.

“I used to live by farms, not many people would sleep in, it took me a while to realize not everyone got up that early,” she laughed gently a she tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She had quickly wondered if mentioning that she once lived on a farm was something worth mentioning, but decided against it, as she had acquired her sleeping schedule long before then, and the farm was only one of the few things that just seemed to fit with it.

Mareona glanced up. A vision of a woman stood before her, the flowing yards of her skirt a gauzy cloud that caught the light in soft waves. Her face was gently flushed, though through what combination of the warm room, the good drink and her own nerves Mare wasn’t completely sure.  There was some hopeful hesitation in the other woman’s face though and Mare could feel her own pulse speed up at the thought that someone so lovely might be nervous talking to her. 

“Yes.”  She said, realizing she’d dragged the moment out too long. “Yes of course. I’d love too.”  She let herself be led onto the dance floor.  The band was playing something sultry and slow. It was easy to settle one are around her partners shoulders and twine their fingers together with the other. 

“So.”  She said, letting the music move through her body, pulling them into the dance. “Are you having fun?  I’ve never been anywhere quite so beautiful, It feels like a fairyland.”  Grinning she looked back to the other woman’s face, “Maybe we’ve falling into a story and some big adventure is about begin.” She flushed, feeling silly. “Anyway, my name is Mareona, thank you for asking me to dance.”

Smiling, Ione took the woman’s hand in hers and walked back onto the dance floor and through the crowd until she found a gap where they could comfortably dance. As she turned to face her dancing partner she stumbled only a short moment, finding that the woman looked more beautiful now, as they stood closer, the slower song within the room pulling them closer and Ione couldn’t believe that this goddess like stranger had agreed to dance with her.

The warmth of the woman’s hand coming to rest on her shoulder brought her out of her reverie, and she could feel her face heat with the flush that rose from her chest. She mimicked her, placing her hand on the woman’s waist, as their fingers laced together, and they slowly began to sway with the music.

“I am,” Ione said, as they slowly found a rhythm together, and she smiled up at her. “I’m not used to winters, but this is…” she trailed off as she looked around at the lights dancing off the decorations and the dresses and suits of the other strangers in the room, before looking back to her dancing partner. “It’s amazing.”

“I wouldn’t say no to an adventure with you,” Ione could feel as her flush grow, and she laughed gently and ducked her head slightly. “I’m Ione.” she looked back up at Mareona. “Thank you for dancing with me.”

Merrinyn paused her sobbing at the sight of the game’s new contender, though she did not with her licking of the icy cream. It was, after all, too delicious for her to resist and was the only reward for her attempt to win, despite her best effort to find out what the special prize was supposed to be. In a sense, continuing to consume it was the only course of action for her to take, considering her abysmal failure. Is she making fun of me? 

The triton narrowed her eyes at the human defensively, slowly and carefully turning her back to her with her arms crossed, though she made sure to keep watch on her still, all while taking another lick of her dessert. Merrinyn was, deep down, still curious, after all, and became even more so when the human took her turn at the counter next. She wanted to see if her efforts were better than hers. At the very least, should the human win the special prize, Merrinyn would then come to know what it was, being of close proximity to her. Alas, it seemed that they shared the same fate, with the other woman also only hitting the target once, though her victory did seem more admirable than the triton’s best effort.

Merrinyn stared at the human’s prize as the latter appeared to be offering it to her for reasons the triton wasn’t privy to. Was she giving me the spoils of her triumph? But why? Was the human pitying her? Did she think Merrinyn of lower status? Maybe she just did not care for the icy cream, with humans being much less resistant to the cold than tritons. That last reason sounded much more believable to her, much more practical, as humans, based on her most recent experiences, tend to be more practical. The hot drinks, the fashion suited to combat the cold… Humans were weaker to the lower temperatures than tritons. It is, after all, a well-known fact. The triton was glad the cold never bothered her as much.

Slowly, carefully, Merrinyn wrapped a free hand around the human’s icy cream, a smile forming on her lips without her permission, although her eyes warily moved from the tasty dessert to the human’s face. If it was freely given, it would be a waste to decline such a…fascinating creation. “Other…fun games? This one was rigged?” 

Her eyes immediately darted towards the oblivious man who had quickly, shamefully, shameful in his quickness, welcomed a new prey, the vile thing. With a glare at the cheating games master, she angrily licked her original prize, discreetly savoring its unfinished goodness, while her other hand kept its hold on the human woman’s icy cream.

Ione laughed gently watching the stranger slowly take her dessert, as she sipped from her hot chocolate, reveling in the warmth it brought to her hands after handling the cold ice cream if even for a short amount of time.  She was still having a hard time adapting to the colder weather of Hegaehend, growing up in warmer weather that lasted almost a whole year, even the slightest of cold breezes were enough to send a deep chill through her body despite the time spent here, and the idea of someone willingly eat something so cold was beyond her.

She wasn’t sure if she felt bad for giving the woman this information, her child-like innocence about the subject gone now, but she couldn’t help but wonder what else she knew little of, and hated to imagine the terrible ways that she could lose that innocence.

“People like to be challenged, if everything was too easy, we’d stop doing them,” Ione shrugged as she explained further. “So when you win something designed to try and make you lose, it makes you feel good,” she looked over to the woman with a smile. “It’s also why you see people try over and over again.”

Looking around the area around them, a game made to test strengths caught her eye and she turned to look back at the woman, pointing over to it. “There, people hit something to try and see how strong they are, they make it a competition. Or snowball fights, making snowmen, or, you can even try to win again,” Ione smiled gently.

“Your ex!” She gasped, already leaning in to listen. She’d never met Avriel, nor had she ever had the kind of relationship that she would consider romantic, but it didn’t take either of those things to know that her friend was sharing something important. Something close to her heart, and thus close to Briar’s. It was hard to think of a stranger as an enemy, but she knew that wounds of this nature once opened were hard to close. Though she knew it was a topic to be treated with care, it couldn’t simply be ignored.

“How long had it been?” Time was no antidote, nor was ignorance. She was still new to the idea of such conversations, using what simple people skills she had to try and stay on her friend’s side. Her kind, bleeding heart wondering if there weren’t two sides to the story was no help. In a situation so blurred, she had to trust that Ione would tell the truth, and with that she would move forward. She so desperately wanted these conversations, to be seen as trusting and good. A close friend, the kind to share secrets with. “What did he say?”

Ione couldn’t help but smile at Briar’s excitement over the topic and was reminded of one of her favorite aspects of her friend. Her curiosity of the subject matched Ione’s, but she knew that she cared about everything she said, and it helped with the dull pain resting in her chest, the adoration she had for her small friend. She didn’t go out of her way to talk about her love life with others, a part of her life she tried to keep solely her own in the deeper details, but with Briar looking at her with wide eyes, open and sweet, Ione wanted her to know, wanted there to be someone she could go to.

“It’s been about a year since we’ve seen each other,” she said as she looked down to her cup in her hands. A year sounded so long, like it was a lifetime away, but with the chaos of life around her, uprooting herself from her home and coming somewhere new, it almost felt like it all happened within a blink of an eye. “He didn’t say much, really. Though, I guess I didn’t give him much time to talk,” she let out a laugh, looking back to Briar. “He didn’t try to apologize again, or maybe he did, I honestly don’t know if he did.”

Day: January 10th Time: Dusk Place: Runswick, the Kristall Carnival Status: Open

Merrinyn has heard what a carnival was through her kind old landlady but she has never experienced one before. Her curiosity required satiation, so she made her way to where it was, the Kristall Carnival on the outskirts of Runswick around a large pond and field. The sight of the body of water made her smile. The sight of everything else? Her eyes have never grown so wide. At least not as far as she could remember. The silver tents, the sound of laughter and delight everywhere she looked, the hot drinks and sumptuous winter goods, especially the fashion being sold, all of these were astounding to the triton out of water. The peppermints in particular stood out to her.

Savoring the coolness of the treats in her mouth, she made her way through the crowd until something else caught her eye: A child throwing darts at flat snowflakes. No, they’re not actual snowflakes. They’re just in the shape of them, targets, and the child missed all three. Merrinyn watched the tiny human sob as her progenitor ushered them away. The wide-eyed triton took their place and heard from the bearded man with the receding hairline the mechanics of the game. Three darts, three targets. Hit them all, win something special. Hit just one, a free dessert. Without her notice or permission, Merrinyn’s lips formed a grin wider than her eyes were. It sounded easy enough. She was confident she would get that special prize. Her curiosity, after all, demanded that she figure out what the special prize was.

Her first attempt missed, though it was close, making her scowl in disgust. The second was more than enough to hit the bullseye, and without her notice or permission, both of her arms rose up to the sky and a cheer escaped from her lips, her face radiant with pride and glee. Unfortunately, her third and final shot was a complete and utter failure, missing the target wildly. Merrinyn instinctively dropped to her heels, covering her face in shame with her arms and bent knees. The bearded man’s laughter prompted her to stand back up, and when she did, he greeted her with the strange dessert, a tasty consolation prize. For a second or two, she just stared at the offered treat before taking it, without even looking at the man or thanking him, and walked away, consuming it as she did.

“I really wanted to know what that prize was…” She sobbed in between licks of the icy cream.

All the talk and buzz about the carnival on the days leading up to it is what attracted Ione to check it out once it had arrived and set up, but it was the people and the attractions that made her want to stay. She had missed it when it was around last year, and wanted to make sure that she wouldn’t miss it this time. Watching fantastical performers walk the streets, approaching random strangers, seeming to pay attention to families, which only widened Ione’s smile.

She hadn’t stopped at too many shops yet today, her only two stops of the night being to get a cup of hot chocolate, that she held in her hands, trying to warm them up, and a large knit scarf from an older woman, both helping her keep warm from the cold winter air and wind, but beyond those two, nothing else had caught her eye. She didn’t want to do everything all in one night when she would have a whole week to explore and enjoy the carnival, but she did make sure to take notes of a few games off on the sides of the roads that she thought would be interesting to come back and attempt on another night.

As she continued to walk down the roads, she couldn’t help but stop and raise an eyebrow at the scene in front of her. A grown woman, tears running down her blue tinted cheeks as she ate her ice cream cone as the man running the game laughed from behind the counter. Whatever it was that made the woman cry was apparently something that he was enjoying. She made her way closer to the game, enough to see the set up and understand the set up of the game, a family friendly target practice with darts. She looked to the woman at her side as she sobbed and Ione couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped.

She walked up to the counter and smiled at the man who had finished collecting the darts from the most recent attempt. He layed the darts in front of her and Ione picked one of the darts up and tried to feel the weight of the dart in her fingers. She knew most of these games weren’t made to be one, often weighted in the favor of the vendor. With the look of determination set on her face, she threw the first dart towards a snowflake before the man had the chance to finish explaining, watching the dart lean and fall heavily to the right. Quickly grabbing the next and adjusting her throw to how the last dart fell, letting out a soft ‘yes’ when the dark hit its target. Fresh off the excitement of hitting the second target, she threw the last dart, watching it hit the edge of the snowflake, but not able to stick the landing. She frowned slightly at the sight before her, but gratefully accepted the ice cream from the bearded man before she found herself back to the side of the stranger.

“Well, I don’t know what the big prize it, but,” she started, looking down at the ice cream she held in one hand and the hot drink in the other, quietly offering the woman her own desert. “I do know that there are other fun games that might not be rigged for you to fail.”

Well, shit. He did little to hide his shock, mouth falling open and eyes growing wide with shock. If anything, he had to be impressed by her abilities to see through his bullshit: he was really on his game. Hadn’t, hadn’t even broken eye contact. Still, she walked past him as if he were a child caught with his hand in a jar of sweets.

When he finally found the time to close his mouth, it twisted into a disappointed frown. That usually worked. Clearing his throat, he hustled to catch up with her.

“Fine,” he agreed; working with her was better than causing a scene that might draw unwarranted attention to the pair of them. Plus, she was clearly good at getting what she wanted; maybe he could step back and let her take the reins, split the reward down the middle regardless.

“But before I shake your hand, mind telling me your real name?” He took it as a small victory, eyes flashing a quick ha, I won this one at her. Good as she was at seeing through lies, telling them was apparently a different story. He got the feeling she wasn’t usually the type who felt the need to deceive in the first place, which was flattering on one hand, but it did beg the question of why she felt compelled to try it with him.

“It’s the way you said it,” he explained, “Didn’t sound familiar enough on your lips. A person spends their whole life saying their name, you know?“ 

His eyes flicked back to Fauna, who had snagged an entire tray of shots from a server. When he looked back to the girl, he knew she understood. Time was ticking, Leo wasn’t budging.

“Come on, we’re on the same side now, right?”

Ione stared blankly at Leo, only blinking for a moment at his question before she laughed at herself. She knew that she was terrible at lying and her annoyance with him had pushed the name from her lips before she had a moment to even think about it, as if him leaving this night not knowing her name would’ve been a victory. It wasn’t really much of a surprise that he had caught onto the lie.

She knew working with him rather than against him would make the night pass easier, without the lurching feeling of competition weighing over the both of them. Looking to Fauna, she sighed softly, as it seemed that he was only making the night worse for himself, and if she were to tell him her name now, or later tonight, it would still end with him having obtained that knowledge. “It’s Ione,” she eventually said, taking his hand. “Ione Seseri.”

After settling the small, short lived quarrel between her and Leo, she turned back to Fauna and continued to make her way over to him, although this time with someone by her side. “You seem like you’re having a fun time,” she said to him once they were close enough, grabbing his attention without startling him too bad. “But I hear your sister is looking for you.”

Fauna looked towards the both of them, a large smile on his face, but it didn’t fit well with Ione, it seemed too big, almost like it was something well practiced but never perfected. “I can’t go home, silly! It’s cold and I don’t have a shirt!” he shouted, his words slurred together and elongated to the point to almost incoherence, as he stumbled in place looking between the both of them. “Besides. I don’t,” he started before hiccuping, and going to take another gulp of whatever filled his cup. “I don’t want to go home. Here.”

Ione watched as he started fishing through his pockets before pulling out a bag of gold, holding it out to the both of them. There seemed to be a sizable amount of gold in the bag, more than his sister offered that landed her here in this party to begin with, but the gold didn’t interest her, not after really seeing the state he was in. She quickly glanced over to Leo and silently shook her head, only hoping that he felt the same way, and would still be willing to work together to help him rather than rob him.

Thea picked up some of fruit, reveling in how fresh and moist it still seemed before putting it in her mouth. It wasn’t entirely raw, much to her surprise, but it was a great balance to the fried meats and the eggs. She would’ve loved some more spices, but then again, she just enjoys spicy food a lot. It was just as good the way it was.

“I mean… There’s one of the priests back in Runswick. She’s pretty cool. I met a cleric at a ball once. There’s Avi too, I guess…” Her listing became closer to muttering as she went over the, admittedly few, people she knew at the top of her head. She made a face. “Not as many as I thought. Not sure why I was thinking of a crowd there.”

She used the opportunity to take a sip of her tea, warm and calming at this time of day. Nothing like a nice, hot drink to help the heart and mind!

“I guess you could call it a healthy mix of curiosity and a feeling of not really fitting in at home,” she responded with a shrug. “I love my family and all that, but it wasn’t really enough for me to stick around and die of boredom in the end. I always had a feeling that I was meant to be elsewhere.”

Ione stilled at the one name she had for the small list of people she had, quickly shoving a large forkful of eggs into her mouth to try and take a moment to take in the information. She had known that there was a chance that Thea had known Avriel, but she had hoped that she didn’t. And the fact that it seemed that he was the only person that she knew the name of just seemed to rub it in more, and Ione had to force herself to swallow the eggs, no longer feeling as hungry as she was earlier.

“Ah…” was all she managed as she turned to place the plate down to the side of her. She glanced over past Thea to Zasil and gave her a look that she hoped she would interpret correctly and let out a soft sigh of relief as she excused herself from the back room with her own small plate of food. “I knew him, I unfortunately can’t say much for the others.”

She took a sip of her tea as Thea explained her leaving home. From the small details and information given, it seemed that Ione could relate to some of her reasoning, but there was enough difference there to keep her wondering. Before Avriel had left, when he left her, he talked about more, more than Anari, and she still doesn’t know what he left for, she knew she wouldn’t be able to guess Thea’s reasoning.

“I can’t imagine the desert is much fun,” she laughed softly, flexing her grip lightly around her cup. “Home can be a tricky thing, I never thought I’d find a home out of Anari, but here I am.”