#aralaia

Casmos jolted awake as she heard the sound of a horn just outside the camp, and then the sound of metal slamming into the side of her bedroll. She glared at the soldier standing above her, reaching for her shield with her left as she used her right hand to point at the soldier and direct holy energy into their chest. Her heart pounded as she got up and rushed out of the tent, morningstar in hand, freezing once she saw the destruction at the camp. Two-note was already up in the trees, using their crossbow to keep the soldiers at bay, Noxle was tearing through the soldiers one by one as they slowly wore him down, and Aralaia was standing in the back, desperate to keep Noxle on his feet. 

“Dont let any of them get away!” the captain called out, pointing his sword at the camp. “By order of Waterdeep, they will pay for their crimes!” 

Casmos gripped the hilt of her morningstar, slamming it against her shield before rushing out to the front with Noxle, bashing a few soldiers away from him. “Get away from my crew!” she called out. 

One of the soldiers slashed at Casmos, pushing her back. “Not until you pay for what you did!” 

“We didnt do anything!” Casmos yelled out, gripping the ankh around her neck. With a soft prayer escaping her lips, her golden eyes started to glow as a bright light seemed to wrap around her morningstar, becoming an almost hardened shell around it. “We were defending ourselves!” 

“Well, we did take down that tower and release all those ghosts,” Aralaia chimed up cheerfully, putting a hand on Noxle’s shoulder to heal his wounds. “And then we did harass their soldiers-” 

“Not helping, tiefling!” 

“Its the truth!” 

“Little Pink is right,” Noxle said as he turned around to let his shell take a barrage of arrows that came at Aralaia. “We did do that.” 

Casmos rolled her eyes and raised her shield to block the strike of a staff, her eyes going wide as she felt a fist slam into her gut and knock her back a few steps as her armor cracked. She coughed as she tried to catch her breath again, watching as the soldiers started to overrun the camp. Arrows were starting to rain down from the heavens as the archers became more bold, doing their best to raze the camp and push everyone back. All Casmos could do was raise her shield above her, glancing at her crewmates between breaths. 

She watched as Two-Note seemed to dodge each arrow, skillfully firing back between dodges. Noxle kept Aralaia under him as she healed his wounds and warded off as much of the damage as she could. Everything felt like it had started to fall apart once she had finally gotten the crew she could stand with, a crew she felt at home with. And now, she was about to lose her friends, her family. 

As the volley of arrows came to a stop for the archers to reload, Casmos stood up and dropped her shield. She closed her eyes as she finally caught her breath, her body starting to glow as she focused the divine energy that coursed through her veins. Two golden, angelic wings sprouted from her back as she was lifted off the ground, eyes opening as golden flames burned brightly in her glare. Her voice reverberated as she spoke, the ground nearly trembling as she dropped her morningstar to the ground and raised the longsword from her back. “By the fury of Horus-Re, leave us be!” 

The soldiers stopped as they looked up at Casmos, almost seeing a god in front of them. Swords and shields clattered against the ground as the soldiers took a step back, the captain raising his own as he shouted to the soldiers. 

“This is nothing but a trick!” the captain roared. “Arrest her!” 

“Leave her alone!” Noxle cried as he slammed into the captain, knocking him off his horse. 

The captain scrambled to get up, hesitating as he watched his soldiers turn tail and run away. “Run all you want, but we will catch you!” 

Casmos dropped out of the air, her wings disappearing in a burst of sunlight and the flames in her eyes dying down. She winced and held her shoulder, groaning as the pain from the battle finally started to run through her body. “The next time we go to a city, we try to keep out of trouble.” 

“But where’s the fun in that?” Aralaia asked, patting Casmos on the back to heal her wounds. “Besides, they started it.” 

“It doesnt matter who started it, I care about yo-” Casmos stopped as she coughed, trying to cover up what she had just said. “I care about whether or not my crew is alive. I already said I wasnt going to lose another crew.” 

Aralaia beamed as she pressed a finger to Casmos’s cheek. “You care about us.” 

Casmos grabbed Aralaia’s finger and pushed it away. “I never said that, Tiefling. I said I care about the crew.” She sighed and walked to the edge of the camp, looking out at the mess that was left in front of her. “But, I cant say I dont care about you guys,” she muttered to herself as she held the ankh around her neck. 

“Dont worry, Pretty Pink,” Noxle said as he picked her up. “She cares about you.” 

Casmos turned around to argue, wincing as she felt an arrow hit her ass. “Two-note!” 

“Stick up your ass! Stick up your ass!” Two-note cawed between what could only be thought to be laughing “Loosen up!” 

Aralaia perked up as she heard the sounds of footsteps echo through the halls of her god’s temple. With a smile, she rushed to the visitors, flowers in hand as happily yelled to them. “Welcome to the temple of-” Her words caught in her throat as a spear was thrust to her, stopping just shy of her throat. 

“Where is Casmos?” the mercenary holding the spear asked. “We heard that you know where she’s at.” 

Aralaia looked at the group of mercenaries and narrowed her eyes as she counted them. One with a spear, three with bows, one with a sword, and one that seemed to be a cleric like herself. “And you’re looking for her because you’re friends, right?” 

“Right, friends of hers,” another mercenary piped up. 

The mercenary with the spear rolled his eyes and pressed the speartip to Aralaia’s throat, being careful not to shed blood. “I’m not here to play games. Tell us where she is and we’ll be out of your hair.” 

“Last I heard, she was across the sea to help a caravan make their way back home,” Aralaia said calmly as she moved the spear away from her. “You missed her by a few days. Came by, grabbed an offering, then left by airship across the sea. If you leave now, you might get lucky and meet with her on her way back.” 

The mercenary pulled his spear back and smirked. “Thank you, cleric.” 

Aralaia sighed as she watched the mercenary group walk off, footsteps echoing through the halls of the temple again. She lowered the flowers to her side, disappointed as she made her way back to her work. “Maybe we can be friends when you come back.” 

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Aralaia!” 

Aralaia smiled and rushed to the entrance of the temple as she heard the familiar voice. With little warning, she slammed into Casmos and hugged her. “Casmos!” 

Casmos sighed and put a single arm around Aralaia to hold her steady as she practically rocked the two. “What have I said about lying to people trying to find me?” 

“I didnt lie… exactly.” Aralaia pulled back from the hug and started to place a flower into Casmos’ hair. “I told them you were across the sea. Which… you were. I just didnt tell them which sea.” 

“You couldve just told them where I was. MIght’ve saved me a bit of time.” 

“And let them try to hurt you?” Aralaia pulled back to admire her work with a smile. “I wont let anyone hurt my friends. And that includes you, grumpy pants.” 

Casmos shook her head, being careful not to lose the flower that Aralaia put into it. “I can take care of myself. You, Noxle, and Two-note know that.”