Sorrow
Sorrow slouched in one of the deck hammocks, one bare foot hanging over the edge. He tipped up the stoneware mug in his hand, savoring the ale that Ivar and Annie had procured for the ship. Tendrils of steam curled from the cup, dissipating as it rolled across his cheeks. Cocking his head, he thought for a moment. "The Blue Haven College of Lore?" He twitched his foot, making the hammock swing. "It was bigger back in those days. It's still there, I just don't think the library is as large anymore. I think most of the collection was sent to the bigger guildhall in Riverport." He swatted at some flying insect that had fluttered across his vision. "That was before my time. I've been there, but it's not extensive. We could check it out. Not sure if we could convince them to part with any works, though."
Nevil
Inman walked into the cabin. Nevil could tell that the weight on his shoulders was heavy, pushing him down. It was palpable. Almost visible. He looked at her wordlessly, his face haggard and his eyes bloodshot and weary. His lips moved slightly, and a barely-perceptible whisper escaped them. Nevil realized he was talking to himself. "I have to keep going," he muttered. "We have to..."
He sighed, his gaze never leaving her face. "Maggie..." he took in a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly, shaking his head. "I thought I was going to watch you die."
He cleared the space in the tiny cabin, pulling her hard into his embrace. He was trembling. "You've always been the strong one," he whispered. "But...this is so hard. I'm not a stupid young man anymore...full of myself and thinking we're both immortal...today broke me." She could feel his heart fluttering against her breast, and she wasn't entirely sure his cheek against the top of her head wasn't wet with tears. "I don't think I've ever felt so helpless."
Nevil breathed deeply for both of them as she pulled him closer, pressing her face into his chest. "I know, love. You were... and I couldn't..."
A flash of memory ignited in Nevils mind, fresh with a heat that ran down her spine and made her fingers pull at his shirt.
Her face grazes the dirt as she shelters under her shield. Only brief glimpses of where Inman fell could be found between the edge of the shield and the circling pairs of small bloody steel boots. 'Get up my love. Eldath help me, I can't save us both.'
A rush of thunder and fury erupts all around, Shep's powerful hooves appear through a cloud of dust, revealing another glimpse. Atalaya's hesitation. Horror drapes her face while she evaluates what lay at her feet. ‘No, what does that mean! I'm too far away, but Atalaya can…’
But the shrill and wicked cry of a redcap charging Cirilli pulls her attention from Inman's battered form. Its dark face delighting in death and chaos. 'She will not make it in time. God Atalaya, not Cirilli too.'
Smoke and Sage... Inman's smell and touch pulls Nevil's awareness back into his arms.
Her voice cracks as she tries to hold herself together. "Today was hard... We both chose to risk death to protect the group. You though... you were..."
Another flash as the memory consumes her mind.
Inman roars with pain as he pulls himself to one knee. With a hand clutching his side, his dark hair a stark contrast to his ghastly white face. Blood flows through his fingers. Time slows. His blood stained lips part with whispers, casting everything left at the charging foe. Steam forms from the blood soaking Inman's left hand before trails of flame explode toward the redcap. It's chared body slumps before Cirilli whose bow, drawn and ready, turns to the remaining foe.
Nevil gasps, broken from her memory. Tears fell restrained and slow down her face as she slipped a hand under his shirt. Just to feel that he was warm and whole. "Not me, you... you were dying... bleeding out, when you cast to protect Cirilli... I know because... I could feel you slipping when I healed your wounds."
Nevil looked softly at Inman, taking in his whole presence. "I can go on because I have faith my love... not in the way you'd think... but in you, and this family we've found. I have faith that the choices we make for each other, and the measured risks we take, give us the best chance to survive together.”
Inman was struggling to steady his voice. He took in a deep breath, pulling her hard against his chest. "We have to keep going," he whispered. "Maggie, I want to take you and go away, somewhere else...somewhere safe. But I can't. We can't. We have to see this through." He was defeated, trying to scrape together his fortitude. In his soul, he was getting up, spitting out the blood, clenching his fists. He groaned, dropping his chin possessively onto her head. "If we fail, nothing else will matter anyway."
He pulled back, looking into her face. His blue eyes were electric in their reddened rims, swimming and wet. "I love you so much." His voice was a strangled rasp. "No matter what happens. Never forget."
Nevil could see the fearful ache in his eyes. "Oh, my love... No that's not possible... come here… be still with me." She took his hand and led him to the bed. Holding his gaze as she gently pushed him to sit, his hands draped her hips as his eyes begged understanding from above.
Standing close she wiped his cheek with her hand. "I have been a marked woman for a long time. From when we kept each other in Seaton, before we were separated by time, and distance, and uncertainty."
Nevil laid him back, boots and all, upon the bed. Propped on an elbow, laying by his side, still holding his gaze and with her hand over his heart. "No, love. I need not remember... I am forever marked… by you.”
Nevil leaned in, pressing her body against his, softly affirming in his ear, “So, should my mind fail, or the beat of my heart fade, should we again be separated by time and distance, I will still keep you near me... you have been and still are, etched on my soul.”
Atalaya
Boz sat tensely in the faded velvet chair in the manor study, watching Atalaya's face. He scruffed his fingers through his beard, agitated, and then gripped her hand. "I know we should not be parted, my Iubita. I have been thinking about this since the fight with the wolves." He sighs, waving his free hand as if to collect his scattered thoughts into some semblance of a neat pile. "I feel...I feel I must. I...cannot pass on this chance. "I've needed this so desperately, to meet someone that could answer questions. I have so many."
He grips her hands with both of his. "I am torn, Iubet. My heart cannot be in two places at once, though it needs to be. I would never consider this if not for Nevil and Inman accompanying you and Sorrow."
His breath catches. and his green eyes are desperate, intense. "I hate this. We will talk every day, yes? I'm so afraid. Just for a few days. Promise me you'll be back."
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