#cerothyn

She moved to leave the small hospice that was in Booty Bay and Cerothyn was waiting for her outside of it. “Katlinne-”

“Do not speak to me,” she instantly laughed, though it was far from humorous. She was trying to keep herself composed and Cerothyn wouldn’t listen. He knew her anger all too well, that was what frightened him more than anything in this moment. She was more like him than she wanted to be and he could already tell she was about to do something reckless. A hand grasped her shoulder to force her to look at him and she went to swing. He caught it in his fist and shook his head.

“You already hit me once, lass. Don’t think I’m going to let you land another so soon,” he chided. “You can’t go after him.”

“The hell I can’t. Look at him! If you gave a shit about your son you would be going after him too.”

“It’s not that simple,” he said, pain lacing his tone.

“Maybe not for you.” She jerked out of his hold and moved to leave again.

“Kat he will kill you! Be smart about this.”

Riley waited patiently in the spot he had whispered to Katlinne, he knew the fiery blonde would show. Rielen had told him to send a message to Cerothyn now that Camsyn had received his and so he did, picking on the weak and luring out the other now that he had learned of her. Emery had opened his mouth to Riley, unknowing that he was giving the wrong uncle information about he and his sister. He almost felt bad for the poor kid, but it was strictly business after all. He heard a crunch of a stick and a smile formed across his features, “ah, the mysterious one has arrived.”

Katlinne had never killed someone, gods and she couldn’t believe she was really going to try. She had been trained for it but never before had she wanted to take a life, she knew though that she wanted to kill Riley. Blinded by anger she instantly lunged for him, vanishing into the darkness and reappearing behind him. Riley was no fool, the moment she disappeared he turned to face her and took the tip of her blade into his stomach as his hand caught her wrist. He used his force to push her backwards, his leg catching hers to topple her over.

She was quick to roll when he tried to send a kick, doing her best to get back to her feet. It wasn’t quick enough, however, and she felt a sharp jerk by her hair as he pulled her up. He sent a punch to her stomach, she felt the wind sharply leave her body and disorient her. As she tried tried to go for his face, anything, to get out of his hold he hit her again. Kat stumbled backwards and tried to get back up but this time she was kicked. “Stay,” he said smugly and lowered himself to her level. “Do you really think you would be able to beat someone like me, darling? It’s really unfair, I’m a lot older than you are.”

Her lip twitched and she sent a fist flying right for that god awful mouth. She wanted him to shut up, to eat his very words, and she reached for a blade again. It drove into his side much to his surprise and Kat felt her heart freeze within her chest for a split moment. It wasn’t a killing blow and she knew this, she knew this would only cause him to come unhinged with anger. She ripped the blade free and as she went for his throat he was already on top of her. His weight crushed her beneath him and she let out a coughed breath from the sudden impact. His fist connected to her face, once. Twice. She felt her consciousness slipping and all she could think about was Emery. “I told you, you wouldn’t win.”

“I didn’t plan on it,” she said with a bloodied smile. Her blade fell to the ground and as Riley looked at it, he felt the sickening realization that she had poisoned him. Katlinne was met with the brunt end of his dagger against her head to knock her out cold and her body was scooped up in his arms. He now had to make it back to his father, and this time, with a gift.

Nakedness isn’t a thing that Ary sees as sexual, but she’s also mindful that being naked isn’t polite. So, if she’s alone and she’s naked, it doesn’t bother her so much – nor does it really bother her if she’s around close ( female ) friends. As long as they’re comfortable with the idea and it’s only for a short amount of time, ( say if she’s trying on clothes ) she doesn’t mind.

The only other people who might see her in a state of undress are her brothers and maybe Reli – but that would entail she’s gotten part of her dress stuck or needs someone to help her zip it up.

“Why are you so mad at me?” Emery asked, frowning.

“I’m mad because you went behind my back and set up a little daddy/twin meet up when I expressed that I wasn’t interested. He doesn’t want us.”

“You don’t know that!”

“Okay, let’s say he does, Emery. I don’t want him, can you get that through your head? I don’t want anything to do with him or his family. I don’t care that you went and talked to his niece Lolly, Lola- whoever. Didn’t she say he had another son? How’s that working out for him? Is it everything he dreamed?”

“Kat, he’s been through a lot from what I was told.”

“So have we! I don’t want to see the disappointment on your face when you don’t get what you’re wanting from him. Even if he accepts you, you’ll never be in some big happy family. You’ll just be the boy who suddenly showed up who shares blood with him. A bastard. The poor orphan kid who he never knew; the person people will constantly prod about.”

“Do you always have to be such a-” Emery sighed and cut himself off, he hated fighting with Kat. He began shoving things into his backpack and spoke to her once more before leaving, pausing at the door to do so, “I’m going to meet Aryette, his friend that he’s sending, with or without you. I’d rather you be there with me. We’re supposed to be a team.”

“Oh so now he’s sending a little delivery girl to meet his kids for him. What a winner,” she scoffed. Though upon hearing Emery’s last sentence her scowl turned into a frown. She grabbed her drink and finished it, letting the burn sting her throat. She slammed her cup down onto the table with a loud sigh and stood up to follow after her brother who was already well down the road by now most likely.

“Let’s get one thing straight,” she began on the comm. “I’m doing this for you. That’s it.”

The city itself was just as he remembered, he and Kat hadn’t been in Silvermoon in a few years due to sneaking out of the orphanage when they were sixteen and heading straight for Booty Bay. The two have lived in a dingy, small apartment ever since, Kat tried to be optimistic and say it was at least near the water. However, all the ships that came in and out of the harbor, all the yelling and singing, and most importantly the drunks soon took that optimism away.

Songbird’s Lounge was something that was new, it was also the type of place that Emery had never been inside and if Kat were there now she would have had a lot to say about the establishment. The moment those doors opened it was as if he had stepped into an entirely different universe. The smokey atmosphere was similar to the faire, but the half naked women walking around wasn’t. They all seemed to head upstairs where the music was coming from. Emery looked around at the various types of people there and they were all, well, shady and dangerous looking. He lifted a hand and nervously wiggled his fingers at a few with a goofy smirk before he headed towards the bar.

“What can I get you? Wait- Emery? What are you doing here?”

“Oh man! Oliver? How’s it been?” Emery eagerly asked the boy he had known from the orphanage. “I heard you were bar tending, never would have expected in a place like this though.”

“Yeah. It’s different. Still doesn’t explain why you’re here though. Come here for the drinks?” he asked sarcastically.

“I’m looking for uh, oh hello there,” Emery was cut off by a woman walking by and winking at him. “Wait, right. Lolette. Is she here? Does she still work here I mean.”

“Lola owns the place, yeah she’s in the back.”

“Owns the place? Wow,” he said before letting out an impressed whistle.

“Want me to get her?”

“Probably want to take me to her, it’s a bit personal.” Oliver nodded in response and led Emery to the door in the back of the lounge. He knocked a few times and once it was opened a small, short ivory haired girl peered out from behind the black curtains that draped around the door frame. She smiled at Oliver and looked to Emery.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, this is an old friend of mine named Emery, he needs to talk with you privately if that’s okay?”

“Of course,” she said and moved out of the way so he could enter. Oliver offered Emery a small smile before returning back to his post at the bar and Emery walked inside Lola’s office. He stared at her with a small amount of shock from how much they could have passed for siblings. Was this his sister? Cero didn’t want kids though, right? “So, what can I do for you?” she asked as she sat down in her large chair behind her desk. The inside of the office cancelled a lot of sound out from the outside, though when the beat picked up from the upper floor where all the dancers were you could hear the faintest boom of music.

“Uh. Right. Your last name,” he saw the name on a name plate on the desk and laughed a little to himself. “That answers that. Can I ask if you know a man named Cerothyn?”

Lola’s brows lofted and she nodded. “He’s my uncle, is he okay?” there was a hint of worry to her voice, suggesting to Emery that he was in her life. Which was good, maybe. She wasn’t his sister though, which meant this woman was his cousin. Maybe the blonde hair was a strong trait? Little did he know it wasn’t. A majority of all Zeddicus’ had black hair and those who didn’t were usually picked on or ostracized.

“Oh he’s fine- well actually I don’t know. I don’t know him? He’s- oh god please put the knife down! I’m his son!” Emery yelled out which caused Lola to pause in her actions. She had been so scared that this might have been one of the men who had kidnapped Cero sometime last year, and where she usually would have played it cool since she trusted herself with her shadow magic, Lola still hadn’t gained her abilities back thanks to Aiden.

“What?” Lola asked in disbelief.

“I’m his son! You know he and my mom had se-”

“-I know how sex works.” She looked Emery over and suddenly laughed, it wasn’t evil or anything like that, no she was laughing at something very unknown to him. “Sorry. I just thought- sorry to scare you. I’ve had a lot happen recently and Cero gains a lot of enemies.” She leaned back and her expression softened, mostly from pity for the boy. “I’m going to be honest with you right now, Cerothyn doesn’t like kids, but he’s been a lot easier to deal with ever since he was kidnapped a year ago and nearly killed. Maybe you’ll have better luck telling him who you are than Nikklaus did. They started to eventually get along, at least.” She shrugged.

“Nikklaus?”

“He’s your older brother. Well, half brother if you want to get technical. The first illegitimate child of his that showed up. Let’s just hope there isn’t anymore,” she teased.

“Well, actually- I have a twin sister.”

Zeddicus. Zeddicus. Zeddicus.

Then he would remember how Kat reacted, a part of him wanted to wait like he had told her, but at the same time- maybe it would be best if he just looked around a while without her. There wouldn’t be any harm in doing that, right?

“Still down about that letter?” an older man asked before he blew out a ring of smoke. “How’re you going to find him anyhow? You can’t get your hopes up, ya know? You’re a good kid. Don’t let them ruin that.”

Emery sighed before smiling. “I know not to get my hopes up and I plan on going to the city to find him since I have his name. Which means I might need a few days off, plus I also might need you to cover for me if Kat comes snooping around looking for me.”

A small shake of his head was given. “You can have the days off, but if your sister comes around there’s not much I can do. Bossy that one and mean,” he added with a laugh. “What’s his name? I could ask around the Faire, maybe they’ve heard of him or something. You never know.”

“I doubt it, but Cerothyn Zeddicus. The letter said he’s always gone or somethi-”

“-Zeddicus?” The man suddenly interrupted and leaned forward to eye Emery over, mostly his hair. “There was a little blonde that used to work here a few years ago that had that last name. Small thing, but she was an elf. Can’t be a coincidence with a name like that.”

“Really?” Emery stopped shoving things into his bag and looked at him.

“Yeah. She works in the city too now. Some lounge in the Row. Ask for Lola, that’s her. She’s a nice thing, but that lounge- might want to keep your coin bag at home. Even you don’t have fast enough hands to stop someone from robbing you.”

“I wont get pick pocketed,” he laughed.

The man remained staring at him with a serious look. “No one said anything about pick pockets.”

Ary tried to rush past Reli after Cerothyn and the others. Almost instantly, as if he had been expecting it, Reli grasped onto Ary’s small arm and twisted it to keep her in place.

“Stop it! What are you doing? He could need my help,” she snapped out and the rogue merely looked at her with no ounce of sympathy.

“I don’t care,” he stated. In return Ary tried to pull her arm free and move towards Cero once more, Reli twisted it just enough more to start causing pain if she continued. “I will break your arm if you keep trying.”

“You’re hurting me,” she stared at him angrily. “You would seriously do that? Hurt me over trusting me?” she asked in disbelief.

“I don’t trust that you wont get yourself killed with my uncle. He’s reckless enough to let you join along in his merry little band of idiots and yes I know all about it. I’ve known all about it. If you thought I wouldn’t find out, you’re stupid too.”

“Reli. I’m an adult. Let go of me,” Aryette instantly retorted, her patience wearing thin.

“You don’t always get what you want, so get over it. You’re not going, they can find another healer. Did you ever maybe think for a second that he could be using you for your magic? That you’re replaceable to him?”

“STOP acting like this is about Cero or that he’s some horrible person. I’ve trained for this my entire life, I’ve healed him on countless adventures, and I will not forgive you if something happens to him, to your family, because you can’t seem to get it through your head that I’m not some irresponsible child all because you were hired to watch out for me. This isn’t the time for fighting when we could both be in there-”

“-Do you think I’m not worried about him? I am, but he gets himself into dumb situations all the time and comes out fine. He’s been a criminal his entire life, you’ve been sheltered, there’s a difference.”

“I am not sheltered. I’ve witnessed things that you don’t even know because you don’t care enough to ask me. Things he cares enough to ask!”

Reli stopped and looked at her. His face contorting into one of hurt and anger. “Right, because Cerothyn gives a shit about you more than I do. He was around for years. He’s your best friend. He puts your safety before his,” he said sarcastically. “Fine, think that all you want, but it still doesn’t change my decision because unlike him it wont bother me if you’re pissed off at me for making the right choice for you as long as that means you’ll still be breathing by tomorrow. So suck it up.”