#kiono

when you’re trapped in your destiny, and the escape route is just as scary and deadly as submitting

She stood in her room in the Burnett estate, her back toward where she normally placed her desk, a bookshelf where the bed normally stood. In one hand she held the blank piece of paper from her desk. With the other hand, she drew a book from a shelf, allowing gravity to open it to a seemingly random page, knowing that it would contain the information she needed. She glanced at it and, indeed, it contained the record of a conversation with Izora. It confirmed her thoughts, but it cross referenced another book. 

She returned the book to the shelf and turned to the bookshelf behind her. This one stood where Izora’s bed normally stood. She held it loosely in her palm, this book also falling open to the only portion with words. She read the words carefully, then nodded. There was a hanging thread in her research. She just needed to find the right information to tie it up.

Thump. 

Kiono turned slightly, spying the culprit. She frowned at the thin book which lay beneath Izora’s desk. After a moment she managed to tear her eyes away from the book, misplaced and vile. She needed to focus; there was work to be done. She returned the book in her hand to its place on the shelf before scanning the spines of the myriad books for her next source. Most of them were relatively small, barely thick enough to fit a very small title. Some were loose pages which sat neatly in a nearby stack. Others were large, though they were mostly blank, actual books which she had not read through. These were usually large treatises on broader topics than she needed, so she had only read the relevant portions. 

She drew another book, again allowing it to fall open to the passage she needed. She glanced between the book and the page in her hand. The blank page began to fill with her writing as she began to piece together her thoughts. She reached the bottom of the page in the book, but the words continued. She turned the page. 

Thump.

“You’re sure everything will be okay?” the new page read. 

The book changed, thinner by far, but so much heavier. Kiono’s breath quickened. Not now. 

“No, but we’re going to try our best to make it that way.” 

Only the two lines existed on the page of this book. The whole book was this way, she knew. Spaced out, requiring so much effort to read. Each page turn was heavier than the last. 

And she knew she was unable to keep herself from turning to the next. She had never been able to stop. 

The sound of paper tearing filled the whole room, nearly deafening her as she indeed turned to continue reading. It was a dreadful sound which left her trembling. The writing on the next page was her own, large and bold, and that alone is why she could read it despite her hands shaking so terribly. It started out resembling her normal handwriting, but became larger and more erratic as it continued down the page. The ink pressed so deeply into the paper that it was any wonder it didn’t tear through multiple sheets. Every inch of the page was covered in the same two words. 

“It’s gone.” 

Over and over, she read those words, the panic with which they had been written threatening to consume her. She had to read every single one. Tears flowed down her cheeks. She didn’t want to read this. She wanted more than anything to forget the contents of this book. She didn’t want to read it. She never wanted to read it. 

She could hear fire burning as she turned the page. 

It was black. As though someone had dumped the contents of an inkwell on the book and smeared it across every available inch of white. It was still wet, she thought, though she did not touch it to be sure. She wanted nothing to do with the book. She was on her knees. Maybe it was the tears that made it wet. The page was empty. She felt empty. 

She turned the page. 

The words on this page were once again neatly printed, though somewhat faded. An empty static filled the air as her eyes glanced sightlessly over them. There wasn’t much left of the book, only a couple of lines, not even a dozen words. There had never been much to it to begin with. She did not read the rest of the book, allowing it to fall from her shaking hands. She hated this book. 

She struggled to her feet, her eyes slowly drifting back to the book. A misplaced book. A vile book. She retrieved it from the ground and turned to the closet door. In a movement fueled by fear and anger, she swiftly opened the door, flung the book onto the stack of books inside, and slammed it shut. A rose pattern laid into the wood stared back at her, though she did her best not to see it. Not when such horrible things lay beyond. She returned to the desk, books piled high on it, her every limb still shaking and tears streaming down her face. She wasn’t going to get much work done like this; she needed a break, a moment to breathe. She grasped the small bell and gave it a gentle ring.

She sat on the floor beside her chair in the inn. Her journal lay beside her, knocked from its place on her bed, opened to the place a page had been torn from it. She closed her eyes, swollen from crying, and blindly reached out to close her journal, to hide the torn page. Without lifting her hand from it, she slid it away from her, hearing it thunk softly against the far wall. She ran her hands over her face. She needed to take a walk or a bath. A glass of water perhaps. Something to calm her down. She needed— 

She heaved a shaky sigh. She knew what she needed. With some effort, she picked herself up and righted her desk chair. She sat down once more, noting how much of the candle had burned since she had last checked it. Too long. Her evening had been mostly wasted. She cleaned her notes and her books, placing all but one back in their drawers. She set out a blank page and traded her pencil for a pen. 

She knew what she needed. 

Meticulously, she wrote out the ritual. It was complex and took the remainder of the time she had allotted herself to work that night, but it’s what she needed, she thought. It was why she had allowed it to happen in the first place. She needed it. Even if she didn’t perform it the way Enooto wanted, she still needed to have it written. She needed access to it. As she placed the newly recorded ritual in the middle of an unrelated book, she could not help but let out a relieved sigh. 

He straightened his tie and adjusted his jacket. It wasn’t his usual attire, but he thought he looked pretty good. He could hear the music in the other room, striking a dancing tune. He didn’t recognize the song — he hadn’t recognized any of the songs that night — but it was relatively up-beat and enjoyable. It didn’t quite make him want to tap his toes along to it, but there was an identifiable cadence which he suspected allowed for dancing.

“Are you ready, Teer?” a voice called from behind him.

Given the the entire hallway was lined with floor-to-ceiling mirrors, he wasn’t sure how he had missed the arrival of the young tiefling. He could see her pale pink dress sticking out from either side of his legs, so voluminous that she took up quite a bit of extra space than she normally did. He stepped to the side out of instinct, intending to allow her visual access to the mirror. It was only after he had done it that he realized how silly it was.

“Oh, sorry. Yes, I am. Are you?” he asked, observing the girl. In addition to the incredibly floofy skirts, she wore a shawl which he knew to be Akaros, and her hair had been pulled back into tasteful braids, each tied with a small pink ribbon which matched her dress.

She smiled and looked up at where his voice had come from. “Yes, I am.” She then held out a hand, almost as though she was expecting him to place something in her palm. Instead, he reached down and took hold of it, then led her toward the nearest of the many single doors that led into the ballroom from the hallway.

The ballroom was incredibly packed, seemingly filled with hundreds of bodies. A great number of them were in the center of the room in pairs, arms wrapped around each other in a dance, billowing skirts forcing the dancers to stay several feet from other pairs to avoid injury. The edges of the room contained tables of food and those who were not dancing. A relatively small orchestra sat on a small, elevated platform in front of incredibly large windows which overlooked the city, their music filling the great room.

“It’s so loud,” Sors said, her free hand instinctively covering one of her ears.

Teer looked out over the crowded room, his height giving him a sleight advantage over Sors, seeking out their friends. He did not immediately spot them, unsurprisingly, so knelt down beside Sors so they would not have to yell to be heard over the excited din of the party-goers. “We can go back outside if you want.”

She shook her head, removing her hand from her ear and wrapping her fingers delicately around her shawl. “We should find the others.”

Teer nodded, though she could not see the action, and rose to his feet again. It would be a little tricky to navigate the room, but he had confidence in his ability to maneuver his way around people. Specifically avoiding them; if they got caught in conversation, he wasn’t sure how well he’d fair then. They moved along the edges, walking in the space between the dancing and those idling on the side watching or gathering snacks from the tables against the walls. It was a surprisingly crowded space, somehow more so than it had appeared from the entrance of the room.

Only about a quarter of the way across, Sors tugged on Teer’s arm, indicating that she wished to speak to him. “Teer?”

He stopped and looked at her, finding that she had lifted her arms in the air, like a small child who wished to be held. He considered for a moment the benefit of putting Sors on his shoulders, of having Akaros up high, looking for the others and conveying that information. But one look at Sors’ dress and he realized how bad an idea that was; he would himself be blinded by the pink material. He instead opted to carry her on his hip, the material he had used to make the tuxedo fit providing a softer than normal place for her to rest. At her request, he retrieved a small pastry from a nearby table and continued his way across the room.

The music transitioned through several songs as Teer worked his way through the people, examining faces as he went in search for his friends. He recognized a number of the people here, having met them over the course of their adventures. He greeted a few of them, a wave of the hand here, a brief “hello” there. Before he knew it, he had made a full lap of the room, his friends nowhere in sight. He considered going back around the room in the opposite direction, just in case he had missed someone, but it would be a waste of their evening if he spent the whole thing looking for people.

“Sors, would you like to dance?” he asked as the music changed once again, this time becoming one with a noticeable beat he suspected he might stand a chance of dancing to.

Sors smiled at him and wiggled until he placed her on the ground. She then took both of his hands and dragged him toward the edge of the dance floor, as though it had been her idea the whole time. He allowed himself to be led, then waited patiently as Sors placed both of her feet on his. Once in place, the two began a slow spiraling dance amid the other, more skillful dancers.

Teer felt oddly nostalgic about the dance. It was probably because he had once done the same with Evelynn when she was a child, pretending to be in circumstances incredibly similar to the ones in which he found himself. For a moment, it was difficult to remember that it was not the young elf girl standing on his feet as he danced for both of them.

“Are you having fun, Teer?”

The question pulled him out of the nostalgic daze he had accidentally fallen into. He looked down at Sors, her face turned toward him in turn. He squeezed her hand in reassurance. “I am. Are you?”

She nodded. Then wordlessly, she stepped off his feet and removed her shawl. She offered the ends of the draconic material to him. “You should dance with Akaros.”

Teer accepted the shawl on instinct, but did not make a move to do as instructed. “I should what?”

“You two should dance!” she said, beaming up at him innocently.

“I’m not sure I can dance with him,” Teer protested weakly, more perplexed by the logistics of it than anything. “Besides, maybe Akaros doesn’t want to dance with me.”

Sors’ smile did not fade even the slightest. “No, he does. He just doesn’t want to admit it.”

“No, I don’t. I don’t even know how to dance,” Akaros complained, his voice heard clearly in Teer’s mind.

Teer shrugged. “I don’t either, but that doesn’t stop me.”

“Maybe it should,” he grumped further. Teer could imagine him crossing his arms and slouching in his annoyance.

“Do it!” Sors urged, attempting to turn Teer around so he could no longer see her. “Dance!”

“Oh look, there’s Ephemera.”

At first, Teer thought Akaros was just trying to distract them, and perhaps run off on his own while they were distracted, but he too spotted Ephemera through the spinning dancers. She was shorter than usual, closer to the height of a regular person, though still a little taller and far more muscular. She was speaking animatedly with an impassive man of similar height and musculature.

“Ah, she seems busy,” Teer said, turning back toward Sors in an attempt to return the shawl to her.

“That’s definitely a reason to go bother her,” Akaros insisted slyly.

“I’m going to wait by Ephemera,” Sors said quickly, bouncing away from him, in a direction opposite of where Ephemera actually was.

Teer grabbed her shoulder before she got too far, dragging her to the side of the room to keep her from being accidentally trampled. He wrapped Akaros around her shoulders once more, knowing that he had been secretly providing the blind girl with directions. “Let’s go see her together.”

Sors pouted for a moment, but ultimately allowed Teer to lead her around the room toward Ephemera. She spotted them a ways out, waving at them with a grin. As they approached, the man with her said something to her and left. Ephemera smiled at him as he left, then greeted Teer and Sors warmly.

“Hey! Are you guys having a good time?” she asked happily.

“Teer won’t dance with Akaros,” Sors pouted, making grabby hands at Ephemera.

Ephemera obligingly scooped up the small tiefling and gave Teer a mocking scowl as she deadpanned, “How dare you.”

“I’m the worst robot roommate you could possibly ask for,” Teer conceded with a shrug.

“You don’t even want to know when the last time was he helped with the dishes,” Akaros said, the hint of a sneer in his voice.

“I don’t eat.”

“Sure, but you could still help with the dishes from time to time.”

“You don’t eat.”

“That doesn’t mean there aren’t dirty dishes that need doing.”

Ephemera raised an eyebrow in the direction of Sors’ shoulders. “Are they dishes from when you could eat?”

“Teer won’t help me clean them.”

“That’s disgusting,” Teer announced in genuine disgust.

Sors looked at Teer seriously. “It’s because you won’t help him clean them.”

“I cannot enter my mindscape without ludicrous levels of shenanigans.”

“Your what?”

“Oh.” Teer looked as confused as a robot without facial expressions could look. Was he really going to have to explain what a mindscape was in the middle of a fancy ball?

“Let’s go dance. I can explain it while we do that if you want,” Ephemera said, adjusting Sors so she was held out directly in front of her.

“Okay!” Sors said, swinging her feet happily, like a strange fish.

Still holding the small girl before her, Ephemera turned from Teer to take her dance partner for a swing. She paused, and looked at the warforged over her shoulder. “If you’re trying to find everyone, I’d, uh... recommend not trying to find Kiono. She and Concludion snuck off a while ago.”

“Ah,” was all Teer could say in response. If she was with Concludion, then she was probably doing just fine. Probably. He’d look for her later. “I’ll see about finding our host then. Have fun.”

“Haven’t seen her in a while either, but that’s due to her scurrying about more than anything. Good luck.” Ephemera nodded, then turned her attention back to Sors and their dance.

Teer watched them for a moment before returning to scanning the crowd. He hadn’t seen Miren that evening beyond a blur here or there as she busied herself with greeting guests and ensuring everything was going smoothly. He wasn’t entirely sure how to find her. The changeling had been wearing a very nice suit with the frilliest shirt he had ever seen, but that also allowed her to blend in with most of the other people wearing suits. She was also very short, the mass of bodies effectively hiding her from him. On top of all of that, he also wasn’t entirely certain which form she would be taking.

As much as he would have liked to have found her, after nearly fifteen minutes of hunting for her, he gave up. She was busy anyway, he decided with a mechanical sigh, though there was nobody around to appreciate the unnecessary indication of his emotions.

“Teer! Hey, Teer!”

He turned in the direction of the call, then, not seeing anyone, looked down. Emerging from among a nearby mass of legs was a goblin. Mingal wore the finery of a knight — he was still a squire, but Teer wasn’t entirely certain what the difference was when it came to attire — alongside the clearly goblin jewelry that marked him the co-president of his tribe. It was an impressive sight to behold.

“Mingal! I’m glad you made it alright,” Teer said happily. He had spent the day leading up to the party with Renn, and so the rest of the party had arrived apart from him. It was part of why he was attempting to find everyone now.

Mingal, exuding charm and refinement, smiled up at him. “There you are! I’ve been looking for you most of the night.”

“Ah, sorry, I was late coming down. Though I did find Sors and Akaros wandering the halls because of it.” Teer instinctively looked back toward where he had last seen Ephemera and Sors. After a moment of searching, he located them near one of the buffet tables. Ephemera’s friend seemed to have returned with a drink for her, and they had also accumulated Sylmore and Azaria in their small group.

“Oh good, you found Sors. She disappeared after we got here,” Mingal said with the hint of disapproval in his voice. “Akaros probably led her off, since she isn’t wearing her robe.”

“She would have done it with the robe,” Teer remarked, returning fully to the conversation at hand. “But it’s probably fine either way. It’s Renn’s house, so there’s some leeway there.”

“It’s rude,” Mingal retorted, but did not comment on the matter further. “Have you seen Kiono at all? She was leaving a little later with Izora and Concludion.”

“Ephemera has. Apparently she and Concludion snuck off together at some point.”

“Ah.”

“Mingal! Teer!” A familiar blue-haired teenager emerged from the bodies around them, immediately wrapping Teer in a hug. She knelt beside Mingal and gave him one as well as she continued. “It’s so good to see you!”

“I was with you for most of the day leading up to the party,” Teer objected, but without much conviction.

“I’m still allowed to be happy to see you,” Renn retroted, sticking her tongue out at him. “Are you guys having a good time?”

“Yes, I am,” Teer said as Mingal said, “Absolutely!”

“Oh good.” Renn appeared relieved, smiling at them both with just a hint of exhaustion.

“You seem to be working hard. Are you having fun?” Teer asked with concern.

She didn’t seem certain how to respond for a moment, thinking hard about it. After a moment, she gave him a genuine smile. “I am. Especially now that I’ve managed to find you guys.”

“It’s surprisingly difficult to find anyone in particular in here,” Teer said, casting a glance around the room.

“You should see how difficult it is from down here,” Mingal teased. “It’s all legs and material.”

“I hadn’t even considered that,” Teer said softly, pondering how he would look for someone from that vantage point.

Renn giggled, apparently imagining much the same scenario, but having encountered a more amusing element. “Have you found anyone else?”

Teer motioned toward the buffet table. “Akaros, Sors, and Ephemera are with the Burnetts over there for now. Apparently Kiono snuck off with Concludion a while ago.”

Renn frowned, once again finding some element of the scenario different from his own thought process. “Maybe we should go find them. There are some parts of the house that... Well, they shouldn’t be there.”

“Are they not marked off?” Teer asked, having earlier helped place polite barriers to prevent admittance to such locations.

“I wouldn’t be a very good host if I didn’t greet all of my guests,” Renn deflected.

Teer could not argue the matter. Regardless of reasons, he did want to find Kiono before the night was over, make sure she was doing alright. Instinctively lifting the goblin onto his shoulders, the trio slowly worked their way out of the ball room.

The rest of the house was less crowded, but people still lined the hallways, chatting and snacking on food as servers silently flowed among the bodies with trays of food and drinks. They spotted Jeffrey scuttling past, instructing the servants in quick, fluid motions. Renn checked with him, but he had not seen Kiono that evening. Eventually, the located Kiono and Concludion in the back garden.

Concludion, wearing the suit he had obtained in Oceanside, was leaning against a tree beside a small decorative pond, talking animated with his hands. His jacket had been removed and was hanging over a low branch, alongside several other layers from various outfits. Kiono’s head was resting in his lap, her bare feet on the edge of the pool, occasionally dipping her toes in the water, her dress spread out in all directions to form a cloth circle upon which they were resting. A plate of food clearly obtained directly from the kitchens sat between them.

“Are you two having a good time?” Renn asked as they approached.

Concludion halted mid-sentence, observing the newcomers. He eyes Renn warily before carefully saying, “Yeah, it’s... pretty okay.”

“Too many people,” Kiono said before taking a bite of a pastry from the tray, not looking at the group as she did so.

“We don’t have parties like this,” Concludion explained, motioning toward the house. “We came out here to sort of recharge I guess.”

“Completely understandable,” Renn said in her best hostess voice. She eyed the tray of food with marked amusement before saying, “If you need anything, be sure to let one of the staff know so they can get it for you.”

“Right, yeah, of course,” Concludion said, pretending not to notice Renn’s glance at their stolen goods. “Absolutely. Um... So, you’re Renn?”

“Wha— Yes,” Renn laughed after a moment of confusion. “I guess you’ve never seen me use this particular form before.”

“There weren’t really any family portraits, so... Yeah,” Concludion said by way of explanation. Kiono rolled her eyes.

“Where’s Izora?” Mingal asked, looking around for the tiefling.

“She went in for drinks.” He pointed at a spot nearby. The grass had been matted down, as though someone had been sitting there, and a second pair of shoes not belonging to Concludion sat beside Kiono’s. “She’ll probably be back soon.”

Indeed, the shoeless tiefling joined them after a moment, a tray of four glasses in her hands. She was dressed in a finer suit than Teer had seen her in before, with accents and jewelry far fancier than her daily attire. “Ah, our host has joined us. Happy birthday, Miss Worthing.”

“Thank you,” Renn replied, her face gaining a slight shade of pink. “Well, I’ll let you all continue. Like I said, if you need anything, let the servers know.”

Izora nodded cordially, returning to her spot in the grass.

“Who is the fourth drink for?” Mingal asked, voicing Teer’s thoughts.

All three spoke at the same time, each giving a separate response.

“None of your business.”

“Kitano.”

“A dragon.”

Teer could feel Mingal’s frustration, so lifted him off his shoulders and tucked him gently under his arm. “It sounds like you’re having a good time at least,” he offered.

“You’re doing a bad job of leaving,” a voice from the darkness said. Renn squeaked, surprised by the additional presence.

He didn’t exactly materialize from the darkness, but the feeling was similar as Teer’s senses processed that the man had been there the whole time. He was sitting under another nearby tree, reasonably within distance, but not under the one Concludion and Kiono were lying under. He was a strange sight to behold, wearing slacks and a white button down shirt instead of his typical attire. If he had been wearing a jacket, he had since removed it, presumably joining Concludion’s in the tree.

“Oh, hello, Kitano. I didn’t realize you were here,” Teer said, honestly not particularly surprised by his presence, if only because he was growing accustomed to strange things happening.

Kitano didn’t respond except to deftly catch the small pastry Kiono threw at him.

“Why are you here?” Renn asked. “This sort of thing doesn’t really seem like something you would normally do.”

“I’m here to protect Kiono,” Kitano said simply, examining the pastry in his hand.

“Protect her from what? With what?”

“Do you really want to know the answer to that question?” Kitano said, giving Renn a meaningful look before popping the pastry in his mouth.

“Just... don’t do anything to disturb others if you can,” Renn said after a moment, a hint of tiredness leaking into her voice. “I’m going back in now.”

“Alright. See you,” Concludion said, raising a hand in farewell.

“Have fun.” Teer turned to follow the changeling, waving at Concludion with his unoccupied hand. He caught up with Renn quickly, shifting Mingal to a more comfortable position. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m just...” She sighed and straightened a bit. “I’m going to let security know to keep an eye on him just in case.”

“Alright. Well, Izora is with them, so I don’t think there will be too much issue,” he said, surprising himself with how much he believed that statement.

“Better to take precautions,” Mingal offered, wiggling slightly to achieve maximum comfort from his position.