#^I honestly thought the name sounded a bit elvish

[rhobeta-and-epsilon]

I wanna see Leridan he seems silly /pos

My favorite parts from that time lord name poll I did:

- people saying they didn’t recognize redred but it sounded so stupid that it had to be a real time lord name

- veklin losing, because she has the ultimate time lord name and I’ll stand by that

- multiple people saying they knew leridan was the fake because it sounded too normal

[lissomelace]

THE EUROPA CLIPPER LAUNCHED THIS MORNING, AND I AM SO NOT NORMAL ABOUT IT!!!!!

Space is so fucking awesome. We're headed to one of JUPITER'S MOONS!

Every time a launch happens, it makes the latent space enthusiast in the back of my brain jump up and down. It also derailed all my plans for today. I did have plans.

Instead, someone made one comment about how I could now maybe make mission patches on my embroidery machine, and the space thing crossed over with my current hyperfixation (silm) to produce THIS:

Mission patch for the launch of Gil-Estel! A bit messy, but a good place to start!

Design and linguistics details under the cut, because I put WAY too much thought into it and now must talk SOMEONE's ear off about it. Feel free to ignore this bit:

So, to start: Elvish NASA. I chose to call them Vardildi Elengolmo Vilciryamoyë, or VEV. The Followers of Varda, Astronomers and Astronauts. This could very much be totally wrong. Vardildi is Varda+the suffix used in Yavannildi, the followers of Yavanna. Elengolmo comes from the coined word for astronomer, Elengolmë (star-lore), with the -o suffix from nolmo, wise person. Vilciryamoyë takes the vil- from the root of vilya, meaning air, sky. ciryamo is mariner, and yë is the suffix added to the second word meaning 'and'. (I may be very, VERY wrong on this! If anyone has better ideas, I very much welcome input/guidance/constructive criticism)

So I stuck the tengwar for this on either side of the patch. (None of the tengwar is all that legible, though, I'm working on getting that sorted out) Most NASA mission patches don't actually have NASA on them, but I put it on anyway. Here is the tengwar and the start of a logo I made an attempt at (the tehta is supposed to be a shooting star, but that did NOT come through clearly in the embroidery [because it's tiny]):

(Probably going to try to make an elvish NASA patch before too long, honestly)

Most NASA patches (from research I did with great self-restraint here) have the (last) names of the astronauts. Not sure if they also have the name of the craft or if that's generally somewhere else, but I put both--Eärendil Ardamírë (his fathername and mothername) are the tengwar at the bottom of the patch, and Vingilotë is written on the keel of the ship. None of these are legible because they are small, and my machine has limits. It's a work in progress. Also I apologize for the bad lighting in the photo.

NASA patches sometimes also have a mission motto. That's the tengwar across the top of the patch here-- aiya Eärendil elenion ancalima, Hail Eärendil, brightest of stars (a common cry among elves and Frodo [when facing Shelob]).

(I half wanted to do something a bit more funny--maybe something like 'Now I have become Venus,' or 'Do I get to come down?' but this was a bit easier since it comes pre-translated into Quenya and tengwar, and also I have no faith in my Quenya translations that are any longer than a word)

The horizon is flat because Númenor exists, in the middle there between the shore of Middle-Earth and a teensy bit of Valinor and the Enchanted Isles.

The design for the Silmaril is sort of taken from the heraldic device Tolkien designed for the Silmarilli (though it isn't clear), and it is rayed with the six-pointed star from Eärendil's device. (I stuck the moon phases from the same source around the edges as well)

This was really fun, even if it might be the silliest thing I've ever made! It definitely needs some workshopping--i don't mind the black lines framing some sections from the background fabric, but I might try turning all the tengwar into lines of stitches instead-the satin columns really are illegible.

I now need to restrain myself from doing some sort of NASA/Astronaut Earendil AU, because it now sounds kind of fun (I do not have the background knowledge for this)

Sources:

NASA patches here: https://www.shopnasa.com/collections/patches

Quenya translations here: https://www.elfdict.com/

Tengwar transcriptions here: https://www.tecendil.com/

And if you want info on the Europa Clipper mission, here: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/europa-clipper

Embroidery digitization done with Embrilliance Stitchartist 1, embroidery done with a Brother SE630 machine. Thread is Brothread Cotton and YLI cotton bobbin thread, with a little sulky rayon on the Silmaril. Cloth is a black linen from Fabric Wholesale Direct.

[invinciblerodent]

5, 6 and 17 for Marcus and Bellara :3

(oh, in these shots they even look a little bit like the leads in a fantasy-flavored romantic drama, that's fun. That was very much unintentional, lol.)

5. Do they have different cultural backgrounds (e.g. a Rook who was raised in Antiva with Harding who was raised in Ferelden)? If so, do they ever share parts of their culture with each other? If they're similar, how do they celebrate their culture together?

Yep, very different! With her being Dalish and him being a Nevarran mortalitasi, I don't know if there is much more different one can get- but I feel like it works, since with their backgrounds within that culture (both scholars/researchers, both with a vested interest in the Fade, history, and the way things work, etc.), there is quite a lot for them to connect over- though since he is one of the Mourn Watch (with not much life experience outside of that), I think he finds it easiest to connect based on their different cultures' burial practices.

Which... doesn't sound like a very fun thing, but it mirrors nicely some of the Dalish practices, and the veneration of the dead and the burial practices of a people is rooted in history, in belief, in respect as well as loss. (I particularly like the thought of relating the Emerald Graves and the Ancestral Pageants a bit!)

I think it's her personal quest's end that'll bring them actually the closest on this, with him being essentially almost a grief counselor in his everyday, and the experience of sharing that, her needing him and him being her rock in such a vulnerable moment will definitely be a meaningful experience for the both of them.

Outside of that, I've mentioned before that Marcus has a very good ear for languages- I really like to think that Elvish kind of sticks to him like dirt, both through their studies, and the time spent together, so I feel there is a lot to play with there, too. (Maybe he'll be the one on the team to actually remember the full name of the power crystals, lol.)

6. What is their favorite thing to do together? Do they share any hobbies? Does your Rook teach their partner their own hobbies? Does the partner teach Rook theirs?

Oh, I like how this ties into the other- and there is quite a bit there too!

But instead of going on for hours again, I think I'll just emphasize one: skating the Minater in winter is a very sweet image in my mind.

I read somewhere that, like the other games with no discernible time skips, Veilguard is also supposed to roughly take a year's time, so I like to think that the beginning and the endgame are roughly during late spring, so there's a portion of the late-ish game part where the relationships are established, but it's the absolute dead of winter.

I like to imagine Marcus taking her skating then. And while he's not very good with most physical activities (he's a city mage, most of the time he gets winded running up a flight of stairs- honestly I've been kinda toying with the thought of leaning even more into it, and giving him some sort of a chronic condition, that's up in the air tho), but if there's one thing he is, it's a decent skater.

.... there is no ice in Arlathan tho. Or if it does get cold, there are no rivers peaceful enough to freeze over. So teaching her to skate, and then having spiced tea and chestnuts after would be really cute for them.

17. What is your Rook's favorite thing about their partner? What is the partner's favorite thing about Rook?

Marcus' favorite thing about Bellara is her enthusiasm, no doubt. I think he, being very cautious and self-aware as he is, finds it both very impressive, and very cute how she throws herself into things, how she dares to experiment, and lets herself get excited- which also inspires him to let himself do the same, and let his white-knuckled grip on his filter and his composure loosen slightly. She makes him laugh, and that's not a feat easily accomplished.

On the flipside, I think what she likes about him IS that composure- how he radiates this sort of calm, this feeling that he knows what he's doing, even when he's not. I think she appreciates his self-awareness, and also that he's cautious without being judgemental, that he's kind without being condescending, and that he gives good advice without being preachy. That kind of thing.

(Oh, on that note, I just recently heard the line she says at one point about how, when meeting Rook, she was "like 'wow!'", so I kinda also like to think that yeah, his face also ranks quite far up on the things she likes about him, lol. There's no shame in admitting that, he too immediately thought that she was very cute when they met.)

[druckkugelschreiber]

Rules: Google and post the meaning of your OC’S name (if you made their name up or they go by a nickname, post an explanation of how it came to you)! bonus if you can find something for their last name too.

Thank you for the tag @judithmactir ! very excited to talk about my babies!

So, I'm not talking about all my OCs cause the gods know I have more than one person should, but a select few will be under the cut

Arae

Starting with Arae, who I do sadly not have a picture for, as I can't settle on a faceclaim and get a comission, but I'm going to link her fanfiction series I have up on Ao3 because she is my baby and is easily one of my most important OCs to me.

I handpicked her name for everything she goes through in the story and it means: "In Greek mythology, the Arae were female spirits of curses, particularly of the curses placed by the dead upon those guilty of their death"

Nydhena

Those who were with my in my Dragon Age hyperfixation of course know my baby. I made up her name myself and for over two years the scrap of paper where I brainstormed her name has been living on my desk (I thought I lost it, but it's right there all the time).

Nydhena is made up of the elvish for 'nydha' midnight and 'ena' blessing, so her name means Midnight Blessing, originally I wanted to go for something with Raven, due to her vallaslin, but it didn't sound as good as this one.

Theres

She's the main character of my latest big the old guard project. The origins and single meaning of her name are a bit indecisive, some examples are: the huntress, the animal that is hunted, sommer and or harvest. I can't settle on one meaning but huntress is very cool

Rieka

Gotta talk about her even though I'm not writing for her anymore. She's form a marvel fic and I handpicked her name for the meaning it carries: power of the wolf (it's one of the meanings)

I'll stop here because otherwise I will keep on talking forever about my OCs and their names. I'm very picky about my OCs names ^^

Honestly I wish I could have said something about Caliane but that name does not have a meaning on it's own. I have it from a book series i love to read (Guild Hunters) and it's fun and infuriating that the great name doesn't have a meaning I can find (I could probably find a derivative meaning but anyway)

[jeannedarkterraguard]

Exandria Unlimited episode 1 thoughts:

-it's wierd not having sam doing some crazy shit for the ad

-holy fuck! That intro is impressive

-starting out with inspiration? Wow!

-halfling fighter for liam? Interesting choice...

-Lisa just informed me that the air ashari have something to do with campaign 1 but refuses to tell me what exactly...

-dorian storm... blue skinned bard... i'm guessing air-genasi (mostly because of the name "storm") maybe water-genasi or triton?

-druid for ashley? Not what i was expecting. Also are they using faun just as another name for satyr or did they use a homebrew race?

-so fearne is clearly circle of wildfire right? With the fire spirit/monkey and her "not gentle" magic... i won't speculate on subclasses for characters that haven't chosen one yet but as a druid she already has one at level 2 soooo...

-i'm already in love with fearne...

-dariax and dorian... i can already tell that i'm going to confuse those two names a lot

-he's sleeping on a roof? Must have been a wild night

-a dwarf sorcerer? Cool, i love sorcerers. Probably the only full caster class (besides cleric but that's different) i ever considered playing as. No idea what his subclass could be though...

-"i'm gonna wash myself and my spear" -mathew mercer 2021

-and a warlock... that's a pretty caster-heavy party.

-okay but what race is opal? Human? (Half-) Elf? Aasimar? Maybe even kalashtar? Everything's possible and i'm exited to find out.

-do not try to outdrink the dwarf... yep my character sirene learned that the hard way too

-so opal peed on his spear... Mystery solved everyone! time to end the episode...

-okay now i'm in love with opal too. Screaming for food instead of just looking is... honestly relatable.

-and now she's screaming for her grandma. This is great

-not even an hour in and we're having a literal pissing contest... i'm already sad there's only gonna be 8 episodes because i know i'm gonna need more

-bacon lips? Bacon Lips?!? BACON LIPS?!?!? please tell me that's not a real thing

-matt just listing of city-names... in the world that he literally created 😆 he could just make them up on the spot and say they exist

-they're all just missing a week? Wow!

-time is a weird soup. I feel like essek would agree.

-"Ooh!" Let's file that under: 'things you don't want to hear from your DM after you make a saving throw'

-i know he said it's just decoration but wouldn't it be funny if that thing actually was a working compass and dariax just continually wanders north?

-holy shit! Dariax has just NO impulse control. I think matt is enjoying this

-the way ashley said 'insight check'. Fearne is just the cutest

-yep, just a gardener...

-oh my god! Now opal is screaming for the city guards.

-and now she's asking if they actually want the city guard to come... kinda late for that

-thordaks attack... this is now the third time that Lisa literally jumped up from the couch with joy and i have no idea why. I feel like i should watch campaign 1...

-one and a half hours in and the party decided to become criminals... i'm more and more convinced this is just a normal d&d campaign but as a speed-run

-wow, it kinda took me a second to realise that they're actually all siting at a table together in the uk'otoa bit

-orym is babysitting? Yeah that seems accurate

-common and elvish. So that rules out kalashtar and aasimar...

-yeah if you don't want people to bother you just carry around stuff and act like it's important to carry that stuff

-aand dariax has shit on his face... again.

-what the hell was that accent, fearne?

-he's got Bless? Divine soul sorcerer?

-wait do the players not know each others class? That sounds... potentially dangerous but admittedly also very fun

-"why are we all idiots?"🤣

-darkvision, blindsight and tremorsense?!? What the hell?!?

-well, good news is: they found the Crew...

-Yeah dariax. Put this obviously evil crown on. What's the worst that could happen?

-have you ever had such a bad day that when someone wiped blood on your shoulder your only thought was: 'Well at least it's not shit'?

-"Not infernal but you recognize the lettering" so i assume it's abyssal

-or just comic sans that's even more obviously evil

-500 PLATINUM!!!!!

-oh great now dorian is vomiting ichor

-chaotic good: vomit. Neutral good: nearly vomit. Chaotic neutral: nothing. So this thing doesn't like good alligned characters

-time is a sandwich now? I thought it was a weird soup

-ankheg? At level 2? Wow aabria wasn't lying when she said she wasn't afraid to kill them.

-"It's in a cage" Yeah sure but it can still spit acid and honestly i'm surprised it hasn't already

-no darkvision so yeah opal is a human

-illusory script... sharpie... Really what's the difference?

-"Let's make ourselves a little more suspicious" wow this episode is just full of great quotes

-initiative!!!

-first blood! Opal just atomized that dude

-wait so dariax has the crown in a papoose... i feel like i've seen something like that before on a different d&d show...

-okay opal is a hexblade warlock

-holy shit opal! That was brutal

-and matt gets the hdywtdt!

-opal how could you lie to your friends like that?!?

-could someone please heal dariax?!? That man is clearly suffering

-wait are they now stealing from poska?

-obliterating 4 dudes in less than a minute and then they take like half an hour to get through a door

-40 pounds of residuum? So that's another 20000 gold. Just to check: is the goal of this to accumulate so much money that it will colapse the economy, rendering all currency worthless?

-now i kinda want them to just randomly find a Baby somewhere

-we get post-credit scenes?

final thoughts: i really liked this episode and already can’t wait for the next. my favourite character so far are (perhaps unsurprisingly) fearne and opal. and while i don’t like dorian and orym as much that’s mostly because i’m just not a big fan of bards and fighters but i’m sure they will grow on me. Aabria’s DMing style (while substantially different from matts) is really fun and honestly it was barely noticable that Aimee and robbie were new to the game. Seeing Matt as a player was just great.

[rainydaymiddleearthimagines]

Destiny Calling:Chapter 3

You and Aragorn felt almost like parents to your group at times, whether that be because of the height difference or the fact that Merry and Pippin both were so hyperactive like children, always rambling on about the proper times of the day for food. Which according to what they were saying, was almost hourly. The hobbits watched you, finding you to be the most suspicious because you never removed your hood. You walked through the woods, you being the one taking lead. Aragorn was familiar with the lands and where they would take him if he wandered far enough but small trails away from roads were more your specialty. You were quicker than him, which of course, he didn't mind.  You after all, could listen to nature.

You weren't exactly excited to make your way home either, seeing as when you left Elrond was summoning all great leaders and adventurers to Rivendell. You knew dwarfs were to be in that group. You didn't hate dwarves by any means, you actually sided with their reasonings on a lot of things. But they hated elves, assuming that none of them understood their logic or way of life. The only plus was that Legolas would most likely respond. You didn't tell Aragorn but once the ring had a proper master you were leaving with the group that would take it to Mordor. Elrond was not happy with your insistence but you brought up your father's failure to see the ring to be destroyed and told him that one or two people were clearly not enough. Hell, from the sounds of it, you weren't even sure an army would succeed.

"Where are you taking us?" Frodo asked as you moved deeper into the woods. "Away from any main roads." you said, ducking under a branch as you moved. You stayed silent most of the way leading them, unsettling the rest of the group. Aragorn, whenever he'd let you choose rather than just wandering or leaving to a specific destination, took this as focus. The hobbits however, took this as plotting. "How do we know this Strider and Y/n is a friend of Gandalf's?" Sam asked quietly, assuming you wouldn't hear. Both you and Aragorn exchanged a look but said nothing, allowing them to speak in ignorance to your abilities to hear them. "We have no choice but to trust them." Frodo muttered. "But where are they leading us?" Sam asked. You stopped, turning to him. "To Rivendell, Master Gamgee...to the house of Elrond." You said. Honestly it would be so easy for you to just explain that you were an elf. But it would be far more difficult to explain your royal status than your genetics. You were so awkward and uncomfortable in this moment. If you just would've removed the hood at the inn you'd be in the clear.

You walked along a small path, now out of the trees in the open. Aragorn was walking ahead with you now. You noticed two of the hobbits stop and you turned, making Aragorn turn. "Gentlemen, we do not stop until nightfall." Aragorn sighed. "What about breakfast?" Pippin asked. "You've already had it." you said. "We've had one, yes. But what about second breakfast?" He asked. You and Aragorn looked at Pippin with a blank stare before both of you began walking again. "I don't think they know about second breakfast Pip." Merry said. "What about Elvenses, Luncheon, Afternoon Tea, dinner...he knows about them, doesn't he?" Pippin asked. Aragorn pulled two apples out of your horse's pack. "Do not feed into this." you sighed. "Y/n, if we don't they will complain the entire time." He muttered. "Our children will be spoiled." You muttered, earning a grin from him as he tossed Merry an apple. He caught it with a surprised look but ate it. Pippin's apple smacked him in the face, earning a smile from Frodo.

After walking for a while, Merry tripped, making you stumble. You turned around, noticing his leg. "You cut yourself." You said. He frowned. "Darn roots, I didn't see it I suppose." He admitted. "Pippin. Come with me, we need to find herbs so infection doesn't set in." You said, getting up. Pippin walked with you. "We need Bailroot, sounds odd but—" "I know, Sam taught me some things." Pippin assured. "Sam knows plants?" You asked. "He's a gardener." Pippin said earning a "Ah" from you.

You walked through the forest before kneeling to a plant and cutting it. Pippin kneeled next to you, using a small dagger to cut it but it broke. You chuckled, handing him a dagger of your own. He took it with a nod as a thank you, cutting the plant. You took it and he sighed. "You haven't really said much to us... Is there a reason why?" He asked. You looked at him and sighed. "I'm going to be honest, I've been waiting for one of you to say something. I'm not usually this awkward or rude." You said. He chuckled. "We don't bite Miss Y/n." He said. You smiled and stood up. He handed you your dagger. You halted him. "Keep it. I use my swords more anyway." You said. He walked for a little bit. "Why did you keep your hood up this whole time?" He asked. You laughed nervously. "I uhm... Kind of reacted to strangers by lifting my hood and it's been too long to take it off now.." you muttered. "What are you hiding under there anyway?" He asked. You sighed and peeled back the hood, showing your ears. "YOU'RE AN—AN--" "SHHHHH!" you hushed. "Why would you hide that!?" He asked. "Because not everyone takes kindly to an elf." You muttered.

A very true statement. You actually did spend most of your time in any villages with Aragorn with your hood up the entire time. You heard many, many, MANY negative opinions on our race, mostly on how many of them had a "holier than thou" way of life. "We're not everyone. Sam has always wanted to meet an elf!" He said. "Just... Pippin please. Don't say anything it's just easier." You said softly. He looked in the direction of the group before slowly nodding. "It's alright Y/n... I won't say anything unless you want me to." He agreed. You gave an appreciative smile, nodding before lifting up your hood and walking.

You both walked back, you helping Merry with his leg. "There. Good as new." You said before  beginning the journey again. You all pushed through, crossing through the lands before ending up at Weathertop. "We will go hunting for food. Do. Not. Leave. This. Spot." you said. They nodded before you and Aragorn went off. "You seem very tense on this trip Y/n." Aragorn said. "I feel like I have to be, they think like children... They don't even know the weight of what they're carrying." You said. "Why haven't you removed your hood?" Aragorn asked. "Honestly? It was a panic response. I didn't want them to know I was a princess and my pin isn't exactly..." "Hiding your status." He nodded. "Precisely." You sighed. Aragorn kneeled to a berry bush. "Don't think I didn't notice your comment earlier." He said. "Comment? What comment?" You asked. " 'Our children will be spoiled'." He said with a chuckle, cutting berries off the bush. You shook your head with an eye roll. "Surely you've thought of this as well." You said. "We've been lovers for what most consider to be a VERY long time, yes I have thought of us having children." he said with a smile.

You felt a change in the air and your head snapped back in the direction of weathertop. "Aragorn." You said, noticing the small fire those idiots made. "Shit." He muttered before you heard the shriek. You both sprinted, running as fast as you could as Aragorn was trying to make a torch. You drew both of your swords, charging into battle as Aragorn held his sword and a torch. You fought one away from Sam, handling another by Pippin before Aragorn handled the final one. You let out a small breath, before seeing Sam kneeled next to Frodo. Both you and Aragorn kneeled by his side, you examining the wounds as Aragorn lifted the blade. "He's been stabbed by a Morgul blade." Aragorn said, tossing it to the side as the blade dissolved to dust. "Do something!" Sam begged. "This is beyond my skill to heal, he needs Elvish medicine." Aragorn said calmly. You shook your head. "We have to wait for it to be near daylight." You said. "why!?" Merry asked. "Do you want those things to come back, or should we light another fire to encourage them!?" you snapped. He went silent and you sighed.

You reached the woods, the light slowly climbing as you looked for herbs. Frodo groaned and you turned to him shaking your head. "Is he going to die?" Pippin asked. "No. He is passing into the shadow world, he will soon become a wraith like them." You answered. You heard the shriek and you sighed. "Sam, do you know the Athelas plant?" You asked, recalling a brief comment on him being a gardener. "Athelas?" Sam asked. Aragorn paused, remembering its common name. "Kingsfoil." He said. Sam recognized it then. "Kingsfoil. Aye. It's a weed." He recalled. "It may slow the poison." you said. "Hurry!" Aragorn urged. You three rushed through the woods, Aragorn and you running in the same direction. "Over here!" You said, Aragorn kneeling to the plant and getting it. You ran back, looking at Frodo as he groaned in pain. "Strider, he will not make it." You muttered, Sam running back. He frowned. "Y/n, What can we do? We're doing what we can right now." He said.

"We're six days from Rivendell. We'd never make it unless..." you sighed, closing your eyes. "No." He sighed. "Aragorn, emme don't have limbe -o a cilme símen. (Aragorn, we don't have much of a choice here.) " The hobbits looked at you confused. "What are they saying?" Merry asked. "No clue." Pippin muttered. "Ni cannot let tye linne- on your her-, vamme yare I wraiths are still eth tar.(I cannot let you go on your own, not while the wraiths are still out there.)" he said. "Aragorn. Please. Estel i ni pole- care- sina. Ni pole- at least get him ana Arwen. (Aragorn. Please. Estel i ni pole- care- sina. I can at least get him to Arwen.)" You pleaded. He knew there was no stopping you and he sighed, looking at your horse and then you. "Ride hard, do not look back." He said. "Ni mel tye." You said, Sam noticing the look in your eyes when you said that. "Ni mel tye too." He said to you, his hand lingering over yours as you held Frodo close. You sighed before riding off. "What are you doing, those wraiths are still out there!?" Sam asked, ignorant to Aragorn's pain of sending you off on your own.

You raced through the woods, the sun finally becoming noticeable before you heard another shriek. "Fuck." you whispered, terrified to even look around you as you held Frodo close, riding at full speed. Arwen lended you her horse, telling you it was faster. You decided to put that to the test, racing through the woods, bobbing and weaving through the trees. You raced to the creek, the group clearly gaining on you. You halted, as did they because of the water. "Give up the halfling, she-elf." The witch king demanded. You drew your sword. "You want him, come and claim him." You hissed, noticing someone had rode in behind you. The wraiths attempted to cross but you heard your sister's voice, using water magic behind you. You crossed the creek, pulling yourself away from becoming collateral damage as as water washed them out. "Thank you." you breathed before Frodo winced.

You frowned. You could feel him dying. "No, no...Frodo, no! Frodo, don't give  in...not now!" you breathed. Arwen dismounted as you brought him off the horse, kneeling to the ground with him. Arwen put her hand to his forehead. "What grace is given me, let it pass to him. Let him be spared. Save him." You prayed. You felt some sort of energy leave you as you said this, Arwen raising a brow. "Arwen he-he's dying." You breathed. "We will make it Y/n, do not fear." She assured. You both got on your horses, riding as fast as possible to Rivendell.

You handed him off to the medics, you leaning on the base of the fountain in the courtyard as you finally let yourself breathe. "He should be fine." Arwen said, walking over. You let out a breath of relief. "Good...Good." You said. "He however, is not the only patient we've had." She said. "Who was the other?" You asked. "Gandalf." she said. You closed your eyes. "Saruaman has betrayed us." you said. "Yes, he woke up saying that." she said. She sighed, pulling your hood back for you. She noticed how your hair looked, noticing the lack of leaves that tended to... Show up in your hair. "...You didn't take off your hood the entire time around them, did you?" She asked. "No, I did not." you admitted. "So they have no idea you're an elf?" She asked. "No." you admitted. "...Or that you're—" "A princess? No. They do not know." You admitted. Arwen sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You need to get ready." She said. "I am not getting ready, Aragorn and the others are still out there!" you said. "Elladan spotted them two hours ago, they will be here soon." She said. You sighed. "This is ridiculous." You muttered. "Having to fight you into a dress is ridiculous." She said, pushing you in the direction of your room. You mocked her sentence and she smacked you. "Ow!" "You survived countless attacks, I assure you a small slap does nothing." She huffed. "Speak for yourself- a small smack my ass!" you whined as she dragged you off.

[ink-and-flame]

Intensity Guarded

Kinktober Day 16 Prompts: Massage (receiving) ~ Forced nudity (around others) ~ Praise (verbal) Fandom: Original [Auchendale Universe] Tags: exophilia, massage, praise, Dom/sub, rough oral sex, angst Pairing:  Orc(m)/Human(f), Darnok/Lia, Gorvaal/Lia

[Authors Note: Due to my old wrist issue acting up pretty bad I ended up not finishing Kinktober. I still have the prompts and I will be doing them for NaNoWriMo, along with some other short stories I had planned. Once this is posted hopefully I can finish up the series soon, but there might be some other stories posted in between the chapters. That being said. Hang onto ya butts, it's gonna be a wild ride.]

After the event Lia was both physically and emotionally exhausted. Darnok had taken her back to the hotel that night and all thoughts of the word Taledras was pushed from her mind as he showed his appreciation for her throughout the night. There was a level of passion, intensity, even possessiveness to the way Darnok took her that night. It went beyond their usual scene play, even beyond how their sex normally felt. If Lia didn’t know better, she would think there was a level of desperation to it, something she had never felt from him before. 

There was no sleep to be had, even though she was tired to her core, she could not say no to Darnok when he expressed his need to have her. The sun was streaming through the curtains as Lia fell back against the pillows exhausted. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to drive home after this, and she honestly felt like she could sleep for a week once she got there. She smiled at Darnok who had the strangest look in his eyes.

If Lia wasn’t mistaken he looked worried or afraid, but that made no sense to her and she just leaned up giving him a kiss before scooting out of the bed and hobbling to the bathroom to get clean. If she had work the next day, she would have thought about complaining that she could barely move. As it was, she honestly would do it again if given the chance. Being so thoroughly fucked put her in a great mood even if her body protested.

The shower was quick, she didn’t want to hog all the hot water and knew it was probably past time for Darnok to leave. She dressed in the spare clothes she brought and waited for him to finish. He took a little longer than expected but Lia was all smiles when he stepped out of the bathroom. His body was always a sight to take in, and freshly showered was no exception. Even in a casual and relaxed state he was impressive. So very handsome and sexy. It had changed how Lia saw men. None could really compare to him and she had a hard time finding humans attractive at all anymore. 

With her lover standing before her, Lia wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at him with a smile, placing a small kiss on his hairy chest and nuzzling her face there. His arms around her felt perfect and right and Lia found she did not want to let go. Part of her was tempted to invite him to her home, but that was a line she still wasn’t sure she could cross. 

“I know you need to leave, and I need to get home, but this really was wonderful.” Lia smiled and tugged Darnok down so she could kiss him.

Darnok stroked her face and kissed her forehead. “I can’t wait to see you again, it might be a couple weeks, I will have to check our schedule again.”

“That's ok. I know we sometimes have to take longer breaks. I don’t mind.” Lia laughed. “I may need the time off after all that.” 

Darnok chuckled and hugged Lia picking her up. Even as worry filled him and threatened to overwhelm him. He was waiting for the other shoe that he knew was coming. For now he had to do his best to pretend everything was ok as he braced himself for the inevitable fall out. Every time he was with Lia it made him question some of his life choices. There was a part of him, a small part but it was getting louder every day, that wanted to forget his life and run away with her. 

Lia meant so much more to him than he was willing to admit. It was well past too far and he knew the mistakes he had already made. The promises he had already broken. Yet there was something about Lia that made him willing to compromise himself. This last event threatened to destroy the careful balance he had created and the way others looked at Lia, it drove him mad. Now, more than ever, he could lose her. The idea of anyone having her this way, in any way, it made something ugly rise up inside of him.

Jealousy? Possessiveness? Darnok wasn’t sure what to name it, but both words fit. He wanted Lia to be his and only his. Yet he knew this desire to be unfair. Mostly to her. He had longed to tell her the truth, to be honest with her, but the way she looked at him. She adored him, he could see it in her eyes. The truth would take that away. She would mean less to him, and eventually she would move on to someone who could actually give her everything. Not just as a dominant, but as a partner.

Darnok knew the hug had probably gone on a little too long, but he was reluctant to let her go. He smiled and kissed her again, letting it linger, wanting to take her right back to that bed and have her all over again, but he couldn’t.

“Oh Lia, you are such a little temptress. If I don’t let you go now, I never will”

“Well, we could stay?” Lia offered 

Darnok could see the small bit of hope in her eyes and he hated knowing he had to crush it. “If I could Lia, we would already be back in that bed. You in my arms, your body against mine.”

“I know, I know, we both have lives outside of this. Maybe in a few months we can take another vacation? Or next year?” 

That was a plan he could get behind. If he didn’t do it too often, it could be easily worked into his schedule. “That is a perfect idea, but it will have to wait, we haven’t been back from the last one long enough I am afraid. But I can start planning. Did you want to help or should it be a surprise?”

She was so cute when concentrating and Darnok couldn’t stop smiling at her. It was clear that Lia was really putting thought into the question and not just jumping at an answer. Weighing the options. Both had clear benefits and either worked for him, he was curious what she would choose.

“You know what. As much as I love to plan things and I want to feel like I have some control, even a little. I think I want you to surprise me.” Lia admitted seeming surprised with her own answer. 

“Then I will surprise you. Though we have plenty of time. It is ok if you change your mind, but you can’t change it once any tickets have been purchased. I will let you know before I start booking things that way we can revisit ok?”

Darnok stroked her face and smiled when she agreed. Watching her grab her bag and walk out was hard, but he knew he had to let her. It was getting close to check out time and as it was, he would be late getting back home. Something he was sure to hear about once there. 

When she got home Lia was too tired to think and she forced herself to eat something before crawling into bed. Her sleep schedule was a mess after that and it took her a week to straighten it back out. It also took about that long for that nagging feeling in her head to have a voice and she suddenly remembered what the orc had said. What was a Taledras and how did Darnok have one. 

Was it something significant? Well, she had a computer and the internet so she would just look it up. It sounded elvish, so she assumed it was something important or at least expensive. Though the more she searched it seemed like it was a person, or people. An influential and old fae family  had the last name Taledras, so she had been close with the elvish but not quite. Maybe it was a political thing and he had one in his pocket. That would be something. Having someone from an influential fae family owing you meant you had power and a lot of it. 

Lia did feel a little guilty. As tempted as she had been in the past, she never looked Darnok up. She didn’t want to invade his privacy. If he wanted her to know something he would tell her and she understood him wanting to keep some of his life separate. Now she was prying and while it didn’t feel good, that little nagging voice wouldn’t let her stop. 

The search continued turning up information that only led to more questions. She only had to assume it was political. She was ready to stop her search until she saw a picture. One with Darnok in it. He looked so incredibly handsome in his suit, striking really, standing there posed. Though she felt a twinge when she looked closer. At first the woman next to him just appeared to be standing by him, but upon inspection Lia could see her arm hooked around his. 

The woman was very clearly fae. Tall, with a lithe form. Her eyes seemed otherworldly, almost glowing. The delicate almost crystal looking antlers sprouting from her head. She didn’t even appear to be standing in the photo, more floating, but that was probably Lia’s imagination. She was beyond what a word like beautiful could convey and Lia’s heart began to break. There was a familiarity with how the woman had her arm looped in Darnok’s. It was clear that they were a couple by the way they stood, the way the photo was framed. There was no caption to indicate their relationship, but Lia could feel it just by looking at the photo.

This was what Darnok was hiding. This was what he was keeping separate. Lia  had long suspected that he was in a relationship, but the trip and everything after made her rethink that. Now she was back to being lost and confused. If he was in a relationship, then why did he still go to the club? What kind of relationship did he have that allowed this. It had to, and small things started to make sense. 

He must have some kind of agreement with her. Something that allowed him to continue with her, but it was still confusing and it hurt. By the gods above and below it hurt. Lia pushed away from her computer and walked out to her living room just sitting on her couch as her mind ran circles in her head. She stared at the wall for hours, just thinking, just letting her mind wander over every conversation she and Darnok had.

All the signs had been there, all the little things. It was why she had suspected that he was in a relationship in the first place. All of his little hesitations, the way he kept her at emotional arms length. How he sometimes spoke to her. Lia was his sub, yes, but that was all. He didn’t love her, it was just sex. Domination and sex. 

The sun was rising, peeking through the windows. Lia had not slept. She only sat on her couch, her mind racing as her thoughts swirled. She was more hurt than angry, but the anger was there. The anger was easier and she gripped it hard. If sex was all it was, then sex was all it would ever be. Lia had to find a way to accept that and move on. Clearly Darnok was not who she thought he was and she had to find a way to heal. 

First, she had to let him know that she knew, but what if she was wrong. What if her eyes were seeing things that weren’t there. Maybe it wasn’t a relationship and she was just looking for evidence of something already convinced she would find it so her mind filled in the gaps. Yes she suspected he was in a relationship, but really she had no proof. Considering everything she knew of Darnok it was possible the woman was a business partner of some sort or just someone who was powerful like he was. 

Lia had learned a little about Darnok during her search and he was indeed quite rich and powerful. She didn’t understand most of it and wanted to retain some privacy so she did not dig. It was possible it was a social thing, something where powerful families simply did things together. Maybe being seen together was all that was needed and there really was nothing there. 

Somehow, out of sheer desperation and a need to protect herself. Lia had managed to calm herself down and convince herself that the relationship she imagined was just that, one she imagined. She would give Darnok the chance to be honest with her and if he wasn’t in a relationship then maybe there was still a chance for them. He did want to take her on vacation, there was no way he would do that if he were already taken. 

Being sleep deprived helped. Lia managed to push enough of her stress out of her mind to take a hot bath and a nap, waking up feeling somewhat refreshed but melancholy. A feeling that managed to linger the next few days as she went through the motions of work and life. The weekend was approaching quickly and for once Lia was not enthusiastic. Something her coworkers noticed but said nothing about. 

By the time the weekend arrived she was looking for any excuse that she could use to get her out of going to the club, but nothing sounded real enough and she knew Darnok would easily see through her lies. She wasn’t ready to confront him, to tell him she snooped or about what she had found and where her mind went. There was a small part of her convinced that the relationship was real and she was just trying to protect herself. If she never confronted him, then she never had to worry about reality and everything would be ok.

Arriving at the club Lia felt strangely at ease and found it calming somehow. She stepped into the lounge and had a drink while she chatted with Lucien, Zane, and Ember. Everything seemed normal and Lia felt calmer than she had in days. Leaning on Ember and laughing while Zane tried to get Lucien to join in with the laughter. It was fun, and even when Darnok showed up, Lia had expected all the fun to die but it didn’t. Instead it felt normal. As if nothing was different at all.

Lia sat with Darnok, smiling. They chatted quietly as people passed in and out of the lounge. She turned when Lucien spoke, addressing them both. 

“So what is on the menu today? I know we had a delightful time at the event, but small scenes can be just as good, or are we just going to sit in the lounge and talk all night?”

“Well, Gorvaal will be coming by tonight. I had promised him a scene with Lia here. I am not sure if it will be public or not.”

Lia didn’t remember anything about doing a scene with Gorvaal. The other orc was attractive, but she barely knew him. Maybe all the stress had made her forget something they had planned and Lia felt a little bad. She wanted to disagree, find a way to get out of it, but she didn’t want to be a bad sub. Didn’t want to give Darnok a reason to be disappointed in her. 

Instead she remained silent and looked around the lounge to see if the other orc was there. It was possible he wasn’t a VIP so they would need to leave the lounge to meet him. For now she tried to relax but couldn’t seem to.

“What scene were we going to do?” Lia asked

Darnok smiled and stroked her cheek. “Gorvaal was so impressed by you at the event he insisted on having some time with you. You are to be fully nude for the scene, that was something he would not budge on, but I know you prefer to take your experiences slowly when they are new to you. He will touch you, but I have made it clear that there will be no sex unless you really want it.”

Lia felt relief wash over her. She would have at least a little control over what was happening in the scene. Being naked wasn’t so bad, but she wasn’t sure why it was insisted upon if she didn’t need to have sex. Of course non-sexual nudity had been a theme in their scenes a few times so it wasn’t entirely unusual. Though it made her wonder what Gorvaal could possibly want if not sex?

Soon enough Lia would find out when Darnok led her from the lounge to one of the back rooms on the other side of the club. It was similar to the room they had used that first night, but set up a little differently. Gorvaal was already there, sitting in a chair with a charming smile. He really was quite handsome, differently so from Darnok, but his frame was just as powerful. 

Gorvaal stood and greeted them both. “I am honored that you would allow me a scene with your lovely little sub. She was a surprise to me, that is certain. I did not know humans could handle orcish lovers so well. I am impressed with you little one.” 

Lia was flattered and felt her skin flush at the compliment. She felt weirdly shy, considering that she had done scenes with others before, this felt different somehow and she felt kind of like she did the first time she met Darnok. She could feel her skin heating up with the flush that was covering her now. For some reason her nipples were already hard. Maybe she just had a thing for orcs. He wasn’t Darnok, but Gorvaal was incredibly handsome.

He stood just as tall as Darnok, and seemed just as broad. While Dar was a bit softer around the middle, it seemed there wasn’t a bit of fat on Gorvaal’s muscular frame. His thick hair was long and pulled back from his face. Some of it was loose down his back, the rest was in braids with decorations in it. He was too clothed for Lia to get a better look at his body, but his voice. Did all orcs have voices so deep you felt it in your core? It certainly seemed like it. She was certain just listening to the two of them talk could probably get her there. Maybe it was something they would be willing to test out. 

As it was, Lia was uncertain what would be expected of her and couldn’t seem to get past her nerves enough to speak. She let Darnok handle things, which wasn’t all that common. Yes he was the dom, but when they were working out a scene she was always free to give her input. For some reason Lia struggled to speak. She felt shy, nervous, uncertain. As handsome as Gorvaal was, something about him put her a little on edge. It was probably just his size and how intense and formal he seemed compared to how relaxed Darnok was. 

Darnok could sense that Lia was nervous, or more it was just obvious to him. He knew her body language well and he wasn't sure why, other than Gorvaal being an orc. Everyone else she had done a scene with was smaller than him except Lucien who was taller but more lithe. Or it was just that Gorvaal was new and not someone she was used to seeing in the club the way the others were. He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. 

“Lia, be a good girl and strip down for us, then I will help you onto the table ok?”

Lia looked around the room and noticed there was a massage table off to one side. She nodded, not wanting to disobey Darnok or seem like an unruly sub so early on. Stepping away from the two orcs Lia moved over near the storage basket at the back of the room. She noticed both males followed and glanced at them before beginning to strip. She dropped her shoes in the basket, then tugged off her shirt. Lia made a show of stripping each bit of clothing off and running her hands over her body as she revealed it to both the orcs watching her. She could see the hunger in Darnok’s eyes mirrored by Gorvaal and Lia felt powerful and sexy. To have two strong, and clearly powerful individuals desiring her was a heady thought and it helped her to forget some of her worries from before. 

Once stripped she moved over to the table, looking for a way to get up on it that wouldn’t make her look graceless and clumsy. Darnok stepped over and helped her onto the table, lifting her and placing a kiss on her cheek as he let her get settled in. Lia felt cherished and loved in that moment. Nuzzling at his face she settled on the table laying face down, assuming that was what she needed to do, but didn’t relax just incase she was wrong. 

“Good girl.” Darnok stroked a large hand over her ass, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I am going to sit in that chair over there. You can call me if you need me, but Gorvaal is going to be the one touching you. He is going to give you a nice massage. I hope you let yourself enjoy it Lia.”

She lifted her head and looked at him curiously. Not sure what he meant by that. Did he think she was going to turn down a massage just because she didn’t really know the orc giving it, or was there more to this than she realized? Settling back down, she decided not to look this particular gift horse too hard in the mouth. As far as she was concerned this was going to be an easy and relaxing session, something she really needed. 

A pleasant hum escaped her as she felt large warm hands stroke over her skin. Gorvaal was just petting her gently, his hands teasing her skin lightly. It felt nice, warming her a bit. She heard a small click and figured he had some massage oil. When it hit her skin she was pleasantly surprised that it was nice and hot. It helped relax her even more as she felt the heated oil slide across her skin. It wasn’t as intense as hot wax, but still warm enough that it had just the edge of a sting to it, something Lia liked. 

The feel of Gorvaal’s big strong hands stroking over her skin made her shiver a bit. He was gentle, and not gripping her too hard as he worked over her back and shoulders. Slowly the pressure increased until she was moaning. He was strong enough that there was just the barest edge of pain, but it hurt in a good way and Lia found herself relaxing deeply. Her little sounds of pleasure seemed loud in the otherwise silent room, but she was too relaxed now to feel self conscious about it. 

“So beautiful, such soft skin, you are an exquisite little human.” 

As his hands slid down, Lia found herself enjoying it even more. When he gently groped and massaged her rear she had to fight the urge to lift her hips a bit in preparation for a spanking. Slowly she began to feel arousal as his hands smoothed over her thighs and she spread her legs more, revealing herself to him. Her calves hurt the most and his firm massage helped ease the soreness there, by the time he hit her feet, Lia was practically boneless.

As Gorvaal’s hands moved back up her thighs, Lia spread her legs more. This time he massaged her inner thighs, and she could feel his thumbs brushing her outer lips. The touch was light, it almost felt accidental until he did it again a bit more firmly. This time his thumbs made her lips and folds part slightly to reveal her opening. By the third time, she could feel and hear how wet she was just by the sound and her face flushed. Now she could hear his breathing, it was heavier and she squirmed as one thumb swiped over her wet folds before his hands pulled away from her.

“Roll onto your back, now it is time for the other side.” Gorvaal rumbled.

Lia obeyed, but it was a little bit of a struggle to move as she was almost too relaxed. She managed to catch a glimpse of him licking his thumb and her cheeks flushed even darker. Settled onto her back Lia looked up at him with curious eyes. Her legs were now together again, but her hard nipples made her continued arousal obvious. She wiggled a bit on the table as Gorvaal’s eyes roamed over her body. The hunger in those eyes was even more intense than before and Lia felt her breath quicken just slightly.

“So well behaved, such beauty. You are so sweet, so desirable, do you have any idea what you are doing to me?”

This time he started at her feet, working his way up her calves again, and over the tops of her thighs. His thumbs brushed over her mound briefly, but he moved onto her hips and gently up her stomach not using much pressure at all. Once he reached her breasts she noticed that he was aroused. Straining against his pants as his thumbs brushed over her nipples. She moaned and arched into his touch slightly, but forced herself still. She wasn’t sure what reactions were allowed and wanted to look to Darnok for guidance. 

Turning her head she saw him, watching her with the most intense gaze she had ever seen. There was something raw, almost possessive in how he watched them. His eyes lingered on her body, but then they would glance at Gorvaal and if Lia didn’t know better she would swear there was something like jealousy in Darnok’s eyes. 

Gorvaal’s touch distracted her as his hands roamed back down to her thighs after he teased her nipples. She found herself spreading her legs at his gentle nudging and his thumbs rubbed over her folds again. This time he stroked just a little more firmly and Lia could feel herself tingling and wanting to arch into it. The more he rubbed her the more her clit began to throb. As he pushed her legs open a little more she whimpered. His thick fingers only massaged her outer lips and folds. He never pushed inside and he didn’t rub her clit. 

“Ah, yes, perfect, you obey even the smallest, most subtle of signals. Your enjoyment and pleasure arouse me little one. Do not hide how you are feeling. Let me see you, see all of you.” Gorvaal lavished Lia with praise as he rubbed over her body.

Lia began to feel needy and was close to begging but stopped herself. She turned and looked at Darnok. His hand was palming his crotch as he watched them and Lia felt her desire spike even higher. This time she couldn’t stop her hips from arching off the table when Gorvaal’s thumbs spread her folds open. Lia could feel her own arousal drip from her core and out of her. Her eyes were shut tight for a moment as she tried to calm herself.

Opening them she saw Darnok stroking his cock and she moaned loudly, spreading her legs open even further as her clit throbbed. She whimpered and looked up at Gorvaal who was watching her curiously. She chewed her bottom lip and lowered her hips back to the table trying not to seem as desperate as she felt. His gentle deep laugh both warmed her and made her feel a little sheepish. 

“Eager little one? I did not want to push too far. Would you like for me to do more?” Gorvaal turned to look at Darnok. “I think he would enjoy your pleasure. I will only use my hands, as promised.”

Lia hesitated and then nodded. She was blushing harder now. Something about Gorvaal making her feel shy and hew. She honestly expected him to go straight for it but he didn’t. He continued to just rub over her hips and thighs, his thumbs occasionally rubbing her outer lips spreading them a bit. She was confused and her expression mirrored her thoughts. 

“Look at him little one, look at your dominant. He needs to see your face. You will get no pleasure until you do.”

Turning her head she looked at Dar, his gaze so intense she felt almost burned by it. Her breath quickened as she watched him, watching them. His large hand stroking his thick cock slowly. His arousal and need is clear to her. She wanted him, she needed him inside her. She couldn’t stop the whimper in her throat as just seeing him like this made her core clench hard. 

Her whimpers turned to moans as Gorvaal’s hands pushed her thighs open wider. This time he used his fingers to stroke over her slick folds and finally brushed near her clit. He didn’t even have to touch it directly and she was arching off the table. He rubbed around it, only grazing the sides gently. She had been teased before but never like this. 

Gorvaal took as much care massaging her intimately as he had done for the rest of her body. There did not seem to be any rush and he was clearly content to continue to tease her. His thumbs rubbing her folds as he used his fingers to slide on either side of her clit. Fearing punishment Lia kept her gaze on Darnok. Though she wanted to close her eyes and arch into the touch, or beg for more. 

When Gorvaal finally ran his thumb over her clit, Lia almost came. She was close, right on the edge. Her hips arched up hard, and she cried out loudly. Her eyes closed for just a moment, but thankfully she was not punished. She watched as Darnok sped up, clearly close as well. She held back, waiting, not only for him, but for permission to cum. She wasn’t sure she was allowed to cum. Though she would disobey just to hit her release at the same time as Dar. 

She needed more, wanted more and Lia whimpered and rolled her hips into Gorvaal’s gentle yet firm touch. She was panting slightly from the effort of not cumming each time he brushed her clit with his thumb. Each touch was a bit more firm and lasted just a bit longer. 

“I am so impressed with you. I can tell you are on edge, ready for release. You have neither begged nor cum without permission yet. Are you waiting for your dom to give you permission?” 

Lia whimpered and glanced up at Gorvaal then back at Darnok. She wasn’t sure if she was allowed to answer and her distress became clear. 

“Lia my darling. You may cum when your body is ready. I give you permission. I love seeing your pleasure. It arouses every part of me.” Darnok growled as he stroked himself, holding back his own release. “Cum for us my dearest. Show us your pleasure.”

There was no stopping it now. Lia was on edge already, her pleasure reaching its peak as she felt almost overwhelmed by the experience. Watching Darnok but not able to touch him was a new kind of torture. Being uncertain if she could cum but feeling the need reminded her of the wager, a torture she wasn’t ready to repeat but did enjoy in small doses. When Gorvaal’s thumb rubbed up and pressed on her clit she couldn’t stop herself. 

Lia arched off the table and came with a loud cry. Her thighs were shaking as she felt herself squirting just a little bit. Her eyes opened in time to see Darnok find his own release, his grunt of pleasure making her tingle. Lia was desperate for more. One orgasm simply wasn’t enough. She still felt her core clenching, her clit throbbing as she arched again, needing to feel more. Turning her head she caught Darnok’s eyes. She could see that he too was still aroused. Turning she looked up at Gorvaal and saw that his arousal was probably more intense than her’s or Darnok’s as he was the only one to not find release. She blushed as he licked his fingers with a smile. 

“What a lovely sweet taste you have Lia, I wonder if you would allow me more?”

She looked to Darnok who nodded and she spread her legs for Gorvaal. She was a bit surprised at his enthusiasm. Only a few had ever been so eager to do this. Most men from her past had to be convinced or bribed into it which dampened the pleasure. But like Darnok, Gorvaal seemed to genuinely enjoy the act, moaning as he lapped over her folds and pushed his tongue inside of her. 

Soon she was rolling her hips against his face as he licked and sucked on her clit. It wouldn't take her long to find her release this was. She was still eager, still needed penetration, but Gorvaal’s tongue was damn near magical. She hadn’t felt anything quite like it, heavy and thick and so flexible. 

When he sucked on her clit Lia was lost, crying out again with her release. Her hips arching and rolling against his face, her fluids coating his chin as she begged for more. She whimpered and whined loudly when he pulled away and reached for him without thinking. Movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention as Lia turned and saw Darnok stand. 

“We have been rude dearest Lia. You have enjoyed yourself, but our guest has not. Perhaps you can show him just how talented your own oral skills are?”

Lia could see how eager Gorvaal looked. She was still aroused and if she did this maybe she would be rewarded with penetration. She nodded, looking at both orcs. “How do you need me?”

“Here, let me help you.” Darnok had removed his clothing as they had been speaking, clearly coming to a decision.

He walked over to her on the table and gently tugged her up so that her head was hanging off of it. Adjusting the height of the table so that either orc could easily penetrate her throat. Darnok gestured for Gorvaal to come over. 

“I know you saw her performance at the event, and I know how tempting it is.  A human that can take an orc in their mouth. I assure you. She can. Go ahead. I know her signals, I will watch to make sure she stays safe.” 

Darnok gestured to Gorvaal to go ahead and remove his clothes and step to the front of the table. He kept a close eye on Lia, wanting to be sure that she was ok with what was happening. She had seemed nervous before, which was a concern, but now she seemed eager. That made something ugly rise within him. As much as he loved watching her pleasure, there was a bit of a twist within him seeing someone else cause it. 

Made worse by the fact that it was another orc. He felt that jealous possessive feeling rise in him again, knowing full well how much trouble it meant that he felt it at all. He was trying to fix this, correct it before it became too late, and this was the only way he knew how. Swallowing his own jealousy, Darnok braced himself to watch his Lia be used for pleasure by another. 

Keeping a close eye on Lia, Dar watched as Gorvaal rubbed the tip of his cock against her lips. A slow tease to get her to open up. It was different. Watching someone else do this. Even if he had seen it before. She had performed oral sex on others, he had watched, and it hadn’t made him feel like this. Maybe it was because Gorvaal was a powerful orc, someone with high standing among the clans, someone that would be considered a rival had he been courting Lia. Either way, Darnok had to work to keep his expression neutral and his emotions in check. If Lia Sensed any distress from him she could unintentionally be hurt. 

Lia stayed in position, despite it making her a little dizzy to have her head like this. She knew this position would make it easier to take the orc in her throat and she wanted to show Darnok what a good sub she was. Also, if she was really pushed to admit it, Lia was a little excited. This was her first time with an orc that wasn’t Dar and she was curious how it would make her feel. If all of her excitement was tied into her emotional attachment, or if maybe she just had a thing for orcs. 

When Gorvaal teased her lips with his cock, she opened her mouth obediently and lapped at the head of his cock. Her tongue sliding over the tip, tasting the wetness there. It was salty, tangy, a taste she strangely enjoyed and only wanted more of. When his cock started to slide into her mouth Lia squirmed ever so slightly. She was still aroused, still wanted more for herself, and she knew this would only make that worse. 

Lia had found that she loved doing this, taking her partners in orally. She had a bit of a growing fetish for it and when her and Darnok practiced to get her to take more, it always got her so excited. This was no exception and she was thrilled to be able to show off her skills. She had not been able to take much when she first met Darnok, now, she could take him to the base of his cock, and hold it. There was something about it, something that sparked arousal in her. To be able to take so much, it almost seemed impossible. 

As Gorvaal pushed into her throat slowly Lia moaned around him, knowing the soft vibrations would tease and excite him, well she hoped they would, they always did for Darnok. She could almost sense his excitement with how he paused, and the grunt that escaped him. Soon he was pushing in less gently and she knew to stay relaxed and breathe carefully through her nose. 

Lia was patient, remaining still as Gorvaal carefully worked his cock in and out of her mouth. She could easily take more, but it was clear he was trying to be careful. Wanting to show off a bit she swirled her tongue around the head when he pulled back, and moaned louder when he pushed in. She sucked on his cock the deeper he pushed and swallowed once he was in her throat, so he could feel it tightening around him. She would have smirked when his hips snapped forward suddenly, but her mouth was far too stretched. Clearly she had pushed his control a bit and he was now struggling to keep from getting too rough.

Darnok smiled slightly as he watched his companion struggling to maintain his control while using Lia’s mouth. He knew from experience just how difficult it was not to give into that desire to thrust. How hot and wet her mouth was, how tight her throat felt. His own cock was hard, listening to her moan, remembering how it felt. He wanted that for himself, but he could be patient. Placing a hand on her thigh he squeezed, letting her know he was there, stroking her skin, praising her without words. 

“Don’t worry Gorvaal, Lia can take quite a bit. I am proud of how far she has come. When we first met all she could take was the first few inches, now, she can take all of me. It isn’t always easy, but we are working towards that. She trains herself for this. Go ahead, test her skills, I am watching carefully, I will let you know when you need to ease up.” Darnok brushed his fingers over Lia’s mound, feeling her wetness without even having to touch her folds.  “Trust me Gorvaal, she enjoys this.”

Taking those words as permission, Gorvaal pushed his cock further into Lia’s throat with a groan. Not quite all the way, but more than half. He was shocked, even though he had seen her take cock before, it was still a surprise to feel it himself. Even orcish women struggled to take this much. He wasn’t small, if anything he was like Darnok and above average for their race. His thighs tensed as he pushed in just a little more. Her throat was so tight and each time she swallowed around him he thought he might lose his mind. The constricting tightness of her throat was unlike anything he had ever known. All it did was increase his lust and desire for this human. He wanted more than her mouth, he wanted all of her. 

Slowly Gorvaal began thrusting, his movement hesitant as he still feared harming Darnok’s pet. Though he was certain if he called her that the woman would take offense. It was the reality of what she was though. Her position in his life. Gorvaal wondered if he could coax her into being more open with him, of offering herself to him as well. He craved a sweet little pet like Lia, and if she ever decided to leave Darnok, he would gladly take her for his own. His thoughts faded as pleasure began to over take his mind. His thrusts growing more intense and erratic. His need to rut starting to take over. He wanted to test her limits and found himself doing so. 

As she moaned around him, sending pleasant vibrations through the shaft of his cock, Gorvaal finally gave in and snapped his hips forward, pushing his entire length into her mouth, his heavy balls resting on her face. Looking down he could see the bulge in her throat, the outline of his cock sitting heavily and deeply inside her. He held himself there, in awe of her abilities. Only when he felt her struggle slightly did he pull out to the tip, letting her breath. 

“Fuck me, that is.. That is the most impressive thing I think I have ever seen.” Gorvaal’s voice was husky and he knew he would cum soon. 

Lia took a few deep breaths, proud of herself for taking as much as she did and holding it for so long. Her vision had gone a little swimmy right before he pulled out, but somehow that just aroused her more. She could feel herself dripping and each time Darnok touched her, she thought she might cum. His fingers were always so close to where she needed the stimulation, but he always seemed to miss her clit, or he was avoiding it on purpose. She couldn’t see his face, so she wasn’t sure if he was teasing her intentionally, or just touching her absently to remind her that he was there and watching over her. 

It was hard not to feel pleased with herself, hearing Gorvaal finally lose his cool a bit. He had always been so proper when he spoke, it made her just a little giddy to know she was getting to him. His next thrust into her mouth let her know just how close to that edge his control really was. He thrust almost his entire length in, and it took her a moment to adjust, but she did easily. Swallowing around him and moaning as he pushed deeper and deeper. The feel of his heavy balls resting on her face aroused her more as he finally pushed his full length into her throat and held there. It was hard to breathe and she felt light headed but it just made her want more. 

Darnok was watching carefully, knowing that there was a fine line between what Lia could handle and what might injure her. Seeing her take Gorvaal so deep, the way his cock made her throat bulge. As envious as he was, it was also arousing. He dipped his fingers between her legs feeling her slickness, she was wet and hot, he could tell she would orgasm from this with just a little help. Sliding a finger inside of her, Darnok hummed as he spoke in a deep soothing voice. Praising Lia when she did well seemed to encourage her to try even harder. 

“You are doing so good little Lia, pleasing our friend so much. Oh how beautiful you look like this. His cock so deep in your throat. I love seeing you this way, I love seeing how far you have come. Please show our friend just how good you are, how perfect you can be.” 

It was hard to watch, as Gorvaal began to thrust into her throat in earnest. Not because Darnok feared for Lia, but because he wanted her all to himself. Something he had to break, a need he had to shed. That didn’t make it easy, and he made sure to not let his mind wander too much. Orcs were strong as as Gorvaal began to lose himself, Lia was in a bit more danger. She was handling it so well though, and Darnok couldn’t be more proud. 

Lia struggled a bit to breathe as Gorvaal moved faster and harder. Darnok was usually more gentle with her while doing this, but for some reason, this rough treatment excited her. It made her moan louder, deeper around him, which only increased his thrust. Her core clenched around the finger inside of her, and her hips raised up as she felt herself getting closer to release as Gorvaal fucked her throat. She moaned loudly when he hit particularly deep, his balls slapping against her face. 

Her eyes rolled back a bit as her vision got a little dim around the edges. She could breathe, but not as well, and the lightheadedness only made her core clench and her clit tingle even more. She was so close, she could feel it. She wanted to cum, and she wanted Gorvaal to cum in her throat. 

When he thrust forward hard, holding his cock as deep in her throat as he could. Lia came, crying out around him as she felt his cock swell in her throat. Even though she came without added stimulation, Darnoks thumb pressed against her clit drawing her orgasm out, as Gorvaal roared with his orgasm. His cock swelling more and pumping cum deep in her throat. She could barely breathe and honestly thought she might pass out, but it was one of the most intense orgasms she had experienced and Lia felt herself wanting more. 

Gorvaal pulled out suddenly and Lia coughed and gasped for air when he did. She thought she heard talking but it was too far away, muffled. She felt incredible and was smiling, mumbling, not really sure of what she was trying to say. She felt strong arms around her and a warm wet cloth on her face. She leaned into the strong body holding her, and the world went dark.

[thedreadgay]

fuck it, i’m making my own: a dragon age elvish dictionary

HELLO EVERYONE!!! presenting the fruit of my staring at my computer screen and muttering fake words to myself: a dictionary compiling my translations and expansions on dragon age elvish. i really love working with elvish; for fics, to come up with names for my protags, to understand canon elvish a little more, for whatever the fuck u want! but i found dragon age wiki incomplete, a lot of people (myself included) aren’t comfortable using project elvhen anymore cause of the guy behind it, and there are just some things i wanted to have elvish words for but there weren’t any. SO, i thought, fuck it! i’m making my own dictionary and guide to elvish!!!

a lot of these words are from canon, whether we know the definition of them or i deduced/guessed what the words meant myself. a couple words are from project elvhen b/c i had already used it long ago to make names for my elf protags, but im stealing these few root words and they're ours now. and a lot i also made up myself! whether by combining words from canon, taking a couple from tevene (since it seems a few tevene words come from elvish), basing them off real life languages like hebrew or yiddish (just as personal jewish experience lol), taking a bit from tolkien elvish, or just playing around with sounds until i figured out something i liked that sounded elvish.

consider this also layman’s elvish. i’m by no means a linguist, but i’m really interested in language and trying to learn a few more! i fucking SUCK at grammar tho and honestly, so does elvish. since it’s a cipher it’s kind of a mess but we love her that way. grammar? don’t know her! elvish doesn’t know her either!!!! that’s why im like, fuck it dude, do what u please!!!!!

if ur curious about how i came up with or translated certain things, check out my elvish tag or send me an ask/reply! and if ur looking for something specific in my posts, u can open the page and use ur browser’s ‘find in page’ search function. so without any further ado: elvish.

A-G || H-Q || R-Z

A

-aan: long, great

abelas: sorrow, to be sorry

abelath: apology

adahl: tree

adahlen: wood, forest

alas: ground, earth

all: life

ame: keeper

amelin: name, one’s essence, lit. ‘keeping blood’

-an: place

a’nansal-in: ‘one who is another blessing’ or ‘my child’s blessing’, granddaughter, grandchild (fem)

anar: year; pl. anaris

andar: weed, pl. andaris

ar: i, first person pronoun

aravas: travel

arela: parallel

arelin: cousin, lit. ‘parallel blood’

arla: trap, binding

as, -as: to act, an action

asha: woman, feminine gender

ashir: sleep

assan: arrow

athim: humility

athila: share, lit. ‘humble giving’

athillethal: a term for in-laws, one kin is shared with, lit. ‘shared kin’

athlan: call

atisha: peace

avare: oath, covenant, bond

avarellan: ‘one i have an oath of love with’, wife, spouse (fem)

avarellen: ‘one i have an oath of love with’, spouse (neutral)

avarellin: ‘one i have an oath of love with’, husband, spouse (masc)

B

bal: deep

balaur: griffon

ban: black

banal: never, nothing, void

banalethal: ‘not kin’, implies severing of ties

banal’ras: shadow, lit. ‘no light’

bell: many

bellanaris: eternity, a concept of time more than infinity, which would be u

bor: throw, toss

bora: loss, lost

bor’assan: bow, lit. ‘arrow thrower’

D

da-: small, little

da’enansallan: ‘little one who is a blessing’, the youngest daughter (fem)

da’enansallen: ‘little one who is a blessing’, the youngest child (neutral)

da’enansallin: ‘little one who is a blessing’, the youngest son (masc)

da’lan: girl, little girl (fem)

da’len: child, little one (neutral or unspecified)

da’lin: boy, little boy (masc)

dar: to be

daras: being, existing

dell: noise, noisy

delltash: ‘quiet your noise,’ essentially ‘shut up’

denn: out

desen: to hold

din: dead, the dead

din’an: death

dir: the self

dirth: knowledge, secrets, tell; speak in the sense of sharing knowledge or understanding, as opposed expressing something, which is nuven

dirthara: learn

dirthavaren: promise, lit. ‘spoken oath’

dirthera: to tell tales

dor: grey

dor’balauren: grey griffons, a name for the grey wardens

durgen: stone

durgen’len: dwarves, lit. ‘children of the stone’

dys: luck

E

ea: bird

elgahren: ancestor, lit. ‘spirit elder’

elgar: spirit

elgar’arla: a binding circle to hold a spirit or demon, lit. ‘spirit trap’

elgara: sun

elgaras: sunlight

eltia: a head covering meant to symbolize awareness of divine presence, the gaze of one’s ancestors watching over them, or to better connect with the spiritual; lit. ‘spirit veil’

eludinaras: moonlight

eludinas: the moons, luna and satina

elune: the larger moon, luna

eluneras: the light of luna

eluvas: to see, to look

eluvian: mirror, lit. ‘seeing glass’

elvhen: elves, the people

elvhenan: the elven empire, the place of the people

emabria: embrium

emma: within

en: short

ena: emerge, led

enansal: blessing

e’nansal-in: ‘one who is another blessing’ or ‘my child’s blessing’, grandchild (unspecified or neutral)

enansallan: ‘one who is a blessing’, daughter (fem)

enansallen: ‘one who is a blessing’, child (neutral)

enansallin: ‘one who is a blessing’, son (masc)

enasal: joy in triumph, joyous relief

enasalin: victory

enaste: favour

enfenim: to fear

eo: skill, skilled

era: tale, legend, history

eth: safe

evanura: prosperity

F

falon: friend

falon'fen: 'friend of the wolf,' as in the dread wolf, meaning someone who consorts with untrustworthy people

fan: precious

fantia: crown, tiara

fel: slow

fen: wolf

firida: green

G

ga: go, move

gaera: walk

gaerasyl: run, lit. ‘walk like wind’

ghil: guide

glandival: belief

[make-me-imagine]

Hi there! Could I ask for ship with male from CM and LOTR (except Hobbits, please)? Im 5’8’’ female with pale skin and dark curls, which I struggle to accept as its my biggest insecurity when it comes to physical traits. Im INFP, stubborn, sarcastic and creative. Love making handmade gifts for people I care for and collecting books. Addicted to listening to music, chocolate and coffee. I’m afraid of spiders and ladybugs. Could you do 10 for LOTR and 2 for CM? Thank you!

Special 5k Ship Event (Read post if your going to request)

-

Enjoy! I hope they came out alright for you :)

Criminal Minds: 

I ship you with Reid. He would find you absolutely beautiful, and would tell you everything he loves about you anytime you are feeling insecure. Sometimes you are afraid that your stubbornness might push him away, but he finds it a bit endearing and would never let anything like that affect him, as he knows that he can be a bit of a handful himself from time to time. He also collects books, so anytime he buys one for himself he buys you at least one that he knows you would love to have. Also, his desk is lined with smaller gifts you’ve made him and he loves every single one so much.

Prompt 2: First Kiss

You walked side by side as you left the restaurant, having just parted from Derek and Garcia. Looking up towards the sky you let out a small yawn. 

“I’m kind of surprised you came” Reid began “I know you’ve been a bit overworked lately”

“Well I needed a break, and you know I love going out with you guys, especially you” you smiled, nudging him with your arm.

He smiled bashfully as he stuck his hands in his pockets “I’m glad you came”

You and Reid had gone out on a few dates, but had yet to make your relationship official. Both of you were just a bit too shy to do so.

“I saw that there’s gonna be a chocolate festival down town in a week or two, I thought you might wanna go with me”

“A chocolate festival?” you asked excitedly “That sounds awesome, I’d love to go!” you smiled happily at him.

His own smile widened at your reaction, his gaze fell to your lips as he admired you. Suddenly he reached out and grabbed your hand, stopping you from walking. You turned and eyes him quizzically.

“What’s wrong?” you asked.

“Oh, no, nothing, I just” he paused before smiling lightly “You’re beautiful when you’re excited”

You smiled sheepishly, looking down at your feet “Thanks Spencer”

“Uh, can I-” he stopped as you looked up at him “Can I kiss you?”

You paused, shocked yet excited by his question. You smiled at him before taking a small step closer “Yes. You can kiss me”

He smiled shyly as he pulled you closer to him. His nose brushed yours as he paused to look into your eyes. His eyes glanced down at your lips before he leaned slowly forward, connecting his lips with yours.

The kiss lasted a few second before he pulled away, making eye contact with you again. You two shared a smile before he pulled you into another kiss.

Lord of the Rings: 

I ship you with Legolas. He would find your appearance somewhat ethereal, and if you’re not an elf in this world, you should be. He finds that you have a somewhat calming effect on him, and he often seeks your council when he is frustrated. He dislikes that you are insecure, and though he doesn’t quite understand why you have insecurities, he never tries to talk down to you or make you seem stupid for them. 

Prompt 10: Secret Admirer

[[We’re going to pretend chocolate exists in middle-earth for this]]

It wasn’t long after your visit to Mirkwood that you suddenly found gifts placed at on the balcony of your room. First it was a single golden bloom, then a notebook with a cover etched with elvish poetry, after that it was a set of elvish books. Each one of these gifts was wrapped in a delicate golden ribbon. 

The gifts were amazing, but you wondered who would admire you so much as to leave them for you. What if it was someone whose feelings you could not return? You’d hate to break someones heart.

Or maybe, it was just an elvish custom? Probably not honestly.

These were the thoughts running through your mind as you wandered down the path outside of the forest. Maybe it was a courting ritual? But then why the secrecy?

“Y/n”

Your name was spoken so softly that you almost didn’t hear it over your own thoughts. Turning, you see your new friend Legolas smiling at you.

“Oh, hello Legolas” 

He walked toward you “Are you alright? You seem distracted”

You thought about telling him of the gifts, but quickly changed your mind. You had quickly grown fond of the blonde elf, very fond indeed. And if he were to think someone else was courting you, maybe that would stop whatever chance you had with him. If there as any at all. Unless...no. It wouldn’t be him.

“I’m alright” you smiled “Just thinking of home” 

“You miss it?”

“Some of if” you looked toward the forest “My family, friends, and the food, especially the chocolate”

“Chocolate?”

“Yes, it’s a sweet, desert like food, you can’t find it near here” you explained.

“I see” you and Legolas began walking side by side “Tell me more of your home”

~~[Time skip]~~

You had been in Mirkwood for over a month, and Legolas had been away for the last two weeks. He went off on some quest, not too far from your homeland. 

And surprisingly enough, you hadn’t received a gift from your secret admirer in that same amount of time. So, you deduced that either, it was one of the men who went with Legolas, or it was Legolas himself. 

You wanted it to be Legolas, was that wrong? You weren’t sure. Instead of focusing on that thought, you tried to focus on the fact that maybe it was one of the men that left with him. The more you hoped it was Legolas, the more disappointed you’d be if it wasn’t. 

After another day of these thoughts drifting around your mind, you returned to your room one late evening, not long after hearing the news of Legolas’s return. You wondered when you’d get to see him. As soon as you entered your room, a package on your balcony caught your eye.

As you walked out onto the balcony, you saw it was a small satchel, tied shut with the familiar golden ribbon that had been left behind on each previous gift. Carefully picking it up, you untied it. As the fabric fell open you were surprised to see several delicately wrapped pieces of chocolate.

Your conversation with Legolas from a few weeks prior flashed through your mind. Did this mean that it was really him?

As soon as you thought this, a voice startled you from behind “I hope they are the ones you enjoy”

Your head snapped in the direction of the voice. Your eyes met the familiar blue ones of the blonde elf. “Legolas” you breathed out. He smiled as he stood from his previous seated position on the side of your balcony. “It was you then. Leaving me these gifts”

“Yes” he responded, stopping in front of you “I was not sure how you would respond to my affections, so, I thought I would express them from afar. Until tonight that is” he spoke smoothly, though, he did so avoiding your gaze. It seems that even he got shy.

“I hoped it was you, but I thought myself foolish to think so”

He locked his eyes with yours “Why? Every elf in mirkwood would seek your affection if-”

“If?”

“If they had not known how I felt” he finished, glancing at the landscape “I made sure no one else would try” he chuckled at himself.

You looked down at the chocolates, before looking up again only to meet Legolas’s intense gaze as he took another step closer to you. 

“Since you said you hoped it would be me, leaving you these gifts, then I hope that means you return my affections?”

You smiled shyly at him “It does”

His own smile widened at your answer. Taking your hand in his he pressed a gentle kiss to your knuckles “Then I will take that as meaning I can begin to court you” he let go of your hand before walking to the edge of your balcony.

“Court me?” you asked following to the edge as he began to climb over.

He looked up at you “Of course” he smiled “I intend to win you over completely” he finished, before quickly descending and disappearing into the night.

[thelastspeecher]

D&D AU - Elf Kid Adventures

Hhhh I wanted to post this a couple days ago but work was busy af this week and I didn’t have the time nor energy to finish it up until today.  But here it is.  Some upbeat cheerful cute stuff to go with the good mood many of us are in tonight.  Have some adorable smol content in my D&D AU (where, for context, the McGuckets are elves and Stan is half-orc and half-elf), discover what Stan is short for in this AU, and join Stan as he realizes that he might be crushing on a member of his party.  (Hint: Stan isn’t short for Stanley.)

Enjoy.

——————————————————————————————

              The sudden burst of light that had accompanied the defeat of the necromancer faded.  Stan rubbed his eyes, trying to get rid of the afterimages.

              My hands feel…softer than usual.  He opened his eyes to look at his hands. His jaw dropped.  Shit.  Before Lute or Angie could see him, Stan hurriedly ducked behind a nearby boulder and looked himself over.  What’s the damage here?  One thing was for sure.  He was a lot smaller and skinnier than he had been a moment ago.  Dread built in his gut.

              A lock of red hair fell in front of his eyes.

              “Oh, fuck,” he whispered.  Spotting a puddle of water, Stan rushed over.  “Gods, no!”  The boy staring back at him wasn’t the rugged orcish man of mere minutes ago. “No,” Stan whined.  His reflection was skinny and gap-toothed, with wide golden eyes and freckles of the same color spilling across his cheeks.  Rambunctious red curls framed his cherubic face.  

              Stan continued to stare, distressed, at his reflection.  As an adult, there were only three things to suggest one of his parents was an elf: his pale skin, his golden eyes, and his long, pointed ears.  Normally, said ears were hidden by his hair, but now, they stuck out of his fiery locks.  No matter how hard he looked, Stan couldn’t find a single remnant of his orcish heritage, not even his pride and joy – his tusks.  

              I’m probably around twelve, then.  They started growing in when I was thirteen. Stan carefully probed around his mouth with his tongue, confirming that his tusks hadn’t come in.  I forgot just how much I used to look like Mom. If Stan didn’t know any better, he’d say the boy staring at him was a full elf.  Angie and Lute could probably tell, though.  Since they’re actually full elves.

              “Stan?”

              Speaking of…  Stan closed his eyes.

              “Yeah?” he called back.

              “Are ya okay?”  The voice was higher than usual, but sounded like it was probably Angie.

              “I’m fine.  I’m just gonna stay here.”

              “We have to regroup and figure out our next move,” Angie said, being annoyingly logical.  Stan groaned.

              “Fine, but don’t say anything, okay?”  He took a deep breath, then emerged from behind the boulder.  The second Angie and Lute laid eyes on him, their mouths dropped open in shock.

              “Yer a ginger,” Lute said flatly.  At least, Stan thought the boy who looked the equivalent of a six-year-old human was Lute.  The mop of dark hair covering his eyes made it a bit difficult to know for sure. “Do ya dye yer hair or somethin’?”

              “No, it got darker when I got older.  I look more like my Pops now, but I used to look like my Mom.”

              “I’ll say,” remarked the girl that was presumably Angie.  She walked over and looked Stan up and down.  “You look full sun elf.”  Stan’s heart did a strange backflip.

              “…Really?”

              “Oh, yeah.”

              “So, what exactly happened?” Stan asked, eager to change the topic away from his appearance.  Angie sighed.

              “I don’t rightly know.  I took down the necromancer, reversin’ him stealin’ our life force.  But I ain’t sure why it had this effect.”

              “You don’t know why we wound up twelve, and Lute wound up six, then?” Stan asked.  Lute turned red.

              “I’m still technically older ‘n ya,” Lute protested, marching over.  Angie put a hand on top of her brother’s head, quieting him.

              “Yes, Stan, we are both the equivalent of twelve-year-old humans, while Lute has become the equivalent of…”  Angie looked down at Lute.  “Honestly, a bit younger than ya first guessed.  Five years old, I think.”  Lute’s jaw dropped.  Stan snickered.  “Lute was closer to the necromancer than we were.  Maybe that was an influence?”

              “Whatever happened, I’m just glad our clothes shrunk with us,” Lute muttered.  He rubbed his eyes.  “Oof, I’m tired.”

              “You can ride on Daisy while we travel,” Angie suggested.  She whistled, and her wolf marched over.  “She’s big enough to support ya.”

              “Sounds great,” Stan interjected.  “But where are we traveling to?”  Angie and Lute looked at each other.

              “Ma ‘n Pa?” Lute suggested.  Angie nodded slowly.

              “I think they’re our best bet.  They have centuries of experience in multiple fields of magic, after all.”  Angie smiled. Stan’s heart did another backflip. “And we didn’t head too far from ‘em when we set up our station.  So’s it won’t take too long to get there.  If we don’t run into any problems, we should get there ‘fore nightfall.” Stan scoffed.

              “We’re gonna run into problems.  We’re fucking kids!” he said dismissively.  Lute nodded.

              “Fer once, I agree with Stan.”

-----

              Lute snored softly from his perch atop Daisy. Angie looked ready to pass out as well. Stan didn’t feel much more awake himself.  He dragged his feet down the path supposedly leading to the elf settlement near the McGucket farmstead.

              So much for getting there before nightfall. If that hag hadn’t slowed us down… Stan yawned.  During their trip to the settlement, they had stumbled across an old lady who promised to help them.  Lute, younger and tired, had convinced Stan they could trust the woman. But they soon found out they couldn’t, and after an exhausting fight, they’d barely managed to escape.

              “The sun’s startin’ to rise,” Angie mumbled.  She rubbed her eyes.  Sure enough, the forest around them was beginning to lighten as the sun peeked over the horizon.  “We stayed up the whole night.”

              “‘We’?” Stan scoffed.  “You guys fell asleep at that lady’s house.  I’m the only who hasn’t had a second of shuteye.”  Suddenly, a man melted out of the woods.  Stan took an instinctive step back.

              “Children, what business do you have here?” the man asked in crisp Elvish.  Angie stepped forward.

              “Lenny-” she started.  The man’s eyes widened.  He walked over to Angie and crouched down.  Much like Lute and Angie, he had copper skin.  His dark hair was pulled into a ponytail, revealing his long, pointed ears.

              “Banjoleanna McGucket?” Lenny asked, aghast.  Angie nodded.  “You look less than a century old!”

              “Lute’s less than half of one,” Angie said, nodding at Lute sleeping on Daisy.  Lenny looked over at Daisy.  His eyes widened even further.  In the dim light, they faintly glowed green.  “We were cursed.  All three of us.”

              “Three?”  Lenny’s gaze fell on Stan, who was still eyeing the strange wood elf warily. “Ah.  I assume yer not s’pposed to be a child, either?”  He had the same accent Angie and Lute did.

              Must be a local thing.  Stan nodded.

              “I’d certainly hope so.  No proper parent would let their young son wander the woods at night.”  Lenny walked over to Stan and tilted his chin to look more closely at him.  Stan allowed it to happen.

              I’m too tired to bother protesting.  Lenny raised an eyebrow.

              “Hmm.  We don’t often see sun elf nobility around here.”

              “What do you-” Stan started.

              “I’ve spent time with our mannered cousins.  I know noble sun eyes when I see ‘em. What’s yer name?”

              “Stanaximus,” Stan mumbled, giving his full, elvish name. Lenny picked Lute up off Daisy. Lute continued to sleep.

              “Stanaximus, Banjoleanna, follow me to a place where you can rest.  While ya sleep, I’ll contact the McGuckets.”  Lenny walked away.  Stan and Angie quickly followed.  Angie nudged Stan.

              “What?” Stan hissed.

              “Why didn’t ya say you were half-orc?” she whispered.

              “I don’t look like it.  By the way, what kind of name is ‘Lenny’ for an elf?”

              “It’s short fer Leandreas.”  Angie frowned at Stan.  “Yer really goin’ to keep yer orc parentage under wraps?”

              “Yeah.  At least, until we’re not surrounded by elves.”

-----

              Stan’s eyes slowly drifted open.  He wasn’t in the same room he’d fallen asleep in. Panicked, he sat bolt upright. He, Angie, and Lute had fallen asleep at the guardhouse Lenny brought them to.  Now, though, he was in what was clearly a bedroom.

              “Oh, perfect timing!” a voice chirped.  Stan looked at the entryway to the room.  A wood elf man stood there, beaming at Stan.

              Judging by his nose and that he looks just like Lute, this must be Mr. McGucket.  Stan swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

              “Stanaximus, right?” Mr. McGucket asked.

              “I, uh, I go by Stan.”

              “Stan.  Got it.” Mr. McGucket walked over and handed Stan a pile of folded clothing.  “Go ahead and get changed, then meet us downstairs in the kitchen.  The missus and I would like to look ya over so’s we can get started on reversin’ that curse.”

              “Okay,” Stan mumbled.  Mr. McGucket smiled at Stan again, then left, closing the door behind him.

              A few minutes later, Stan traipsed downstairs. He was immediately greeted by the scent of something sweet baking.  His stomach growled loudly.

              When was the last time I ate?  He followed the delicious smells to a cozy-looking kitchen. Angie sat at a table with her father and an elf woman she greatly resembled.  That must be her mom.  Lute was nowhere to be seen.  At the sound of his footsteps, the McGucket parents looked up.

              “Stan, come over here ‘n pop a squat,” Mr. McGucket said cheerfully.  Stan hesitantly walked over to the table and took a seat next to Angie.  Busy reading a book on curses, Angie didn’t look up.  Mrs. McGucket looked at him with a studious gaze. “Well, Sally?”

              “I’d say Lenny’s assessment was accurate,” Mrs. McGucket said.  She lacked the accent of her husband and children, instead speaking Elvish in a manner that was similar to how Stan’s mom spoke it.  “Young man, you look an awful lot like the sun elf nobility I spent a lot of time around before eloping with Mearl.”

              “…You spent time with sun elf nobility?” Stan asked. Mrs. McGucket nodded.  Before Stan could ask a follow-up question, his stomach rumbled again.  Mr. McGucket’s hazel eyes twinkled.

              “I’ll get ya somethin’ to eat, son,” Mr. McGucket said, getting up from his chair.  “After you’ve gotten some food in yer belly, we can examine ya to get an idea of what kind of curse we’re dealin’ with.”  Stan nodded. Mrs. McGucket raised an eyebrow.

              “You’re a bit lacking in manners, Stanaximus,” she commented.  “I’d expect someone of your station to know that you’re supposed to thank someone for a favor.”

              “Oh, uh, I-”  Stan rubbed the back of his neck.

              Great, I’m already fucking up pretending to be full elf.

              “Angie, were you and Lute poor influences on this young man?” Mrs. McGucket asked her daughter.  Angie looked up from the book she was reading.

              “What?  No!”

              “I don’t know if I believe that.”

              “Ma!” Angie whined.  Mr. McGucket placed a plate in front of Stan.  Stan immediately recognized the food he’d been given.  It was a bread made of polenta and honey, and a rare treat that his mom would make on special occasions.  It had even been served the same way he remembered from his childhood, sliced and slathered with butter.

              “Honey loaf,” Stan said quietly.  Mrs. McGucket beamed.

              “I thought you might enjoy a taste of home. Sun elf recipes can be difficult sometimes, but this is one that’s worth the hassle.”

              “…Thank you,” Stan said.  Mrs. McGucket’s smile broadened.

              “Of course, hon.”

              As Stan ate the honey loaf, he glanced at Angie next to him.  She was still engrossed in her book, her silver eyes darting back and forth.  The sunlight caught her hair, making its already golden hue look near metallic.  Her green freckles were more numerous than they had been as an adult; he could see them trailing past the ends of her short sleeves, down her forearms.  Eventually, Angie looked at him.  Stan’s heart did a weird flip.

              “Is there somethin’ wrong?” she asked.

              “Huh?”

              “Yer starin’ at me,” Angie pointed out.

              “Oh, I was just, um, you- you have more freckles,” Stan said weakly.  He could feel his cheeks burning, but wasn’t sure why.  Angie rolled her eyes.

              “So do you.  By which I mean that you actually have freckles.  Ya didn’t before.”  Angie’s eyes lit up.  She closed her book.  “Oh! By the by, I mentioned that ya never got any lessons on magic as a kid, and my ma offered to help ya out!”

              “I mean, the reason I never got lessons was ‘cause I’m no good at it,” Stan mumbled.  Angie huffed.

              “It could easily be the other way,” she said, punching his shoulder playfully.  Stan grinned despite himself, his cheeks continuing to burn.  He looked back at the McGucket parents.  They were exchanging a knowing look.

              What are they so smug about?  Stan opened his mouth to ask why they were smirking, only for Mrs. McGucket to speak before he could.

              “You know, Angie, you being a kidlet again, it reminds me of when you were this age before,” Mrs. McGucket said, stroking Angie’s hair.  “When Max courted you, it was when you were in your sixties, right?”

              “Yeah,” Angie confirmed.  Stan’s heart began to race.

              “Such a sweet boy.”

              “Angie, you have a suitor?” Stan blurted out. Angie frowned at him.

              “I was courted when I was in my sixties and clearly ain’t married now.  What do you think?” she asked.

              “Fine, I just- why didn’t you say anything about it?” Stan stammered.

              “Because it was decades ago.  Why are ya so upset about it?”

              “I’m not upset,” Stan said.  He looked to the McGucket parents for support.  The knowing look was back.  “I’m just-”  Stan stopped his sentence abruptly, the blood draining from his face.

              Heart jumping around, blushing, jealousy? Stan wiped his suddenly damp hands on his borrowed pants.  Sweaty palms?  Shit. Stupid kid body, stupid kid hormones!

              “Just what?” Angie prompted.

              “…Never mind,” Stan mumbled.

              No, you don’t have a crush on Angie.  You don’t! You-

              “Yer such an oddball,” Angie said, chuckling. Her laughter sounded like bells. Butterflies fluttered in Stan’s stomach.

              …You do.  With a cheeky smile, Mr. McGucket took the empty plate from Stan. And her parents know.

              “Stanaximus, have you ever courted before?” Mrs. McGucket asked idly.  Stan swallowed.

              This won’t end well.

[decadentenemyturtle]

The Great Unknown

Chapter 22

Words: 2,593

Pairing: Thorin x Reader

Warnings: Bad language, mostly cursing.

Translation: Gabil Lukhudel = Great of (all) lights

Âzyungel= Love of (all) loves

All the chapters of The Great Unknown

It talked. The bloody thing talked. You opened your mouth, then closed it. Why did it talk to you? How could it even talk? What was it? Some hullucination made by dark magic of the woods mixed with your fuzzy brains? What where you even suppose to answer to it?

"Whooo... aree... yooou?" it asked again. Right, your name. You should start by telling your name. But was telling your name to this thing a good idea? This or that, staying quiet wasn't a good option, you were sure of it. The elk turned now fully towards you and was probably going to ask you the same thing third time, when you took a deep breath and told it your name. For a while elk stared at you and then it shook it's head.

"No. Yooou aare not (Y/n). Remember.... whoo youuu.... aaaaare" elk said, sounding far too much of Mufasa from The Lion King. You frowned and folded your arms. What did it mean, remember who you are? Or did it refer to the story you had heard of Glorfindel and Shael? About you being their daughter? You didn't evevn know the name of that kid! Or if you even were this kid from the story!

"I'm (Y/n)! That's all I know of myself!" you shouted, frustaded. Because that was the truth. You didn't know who or what you were. You were just you, (Y/n). But, the elk turned away from you, not saying anything else to you. And then it was gone, hidden by the dark forest. Yeah. Right.

"FUCK you too!" you shouted after the thing. For a second you hoped that some hungry creature would find it and eat it. Mean thing to think about a forest God, yes, but fuck it. Your head was throbbing with a headache. How nice was that?

You lifted your left hand to message your temple, but stopped when you heard an voice. For an second you weren't sure what that voice was, it was just... It was a voice, alright?

When you opened your eyes, you saw tall, red haired... elf maiden? ... pointing an arrow to you. Ah... So that was what you had heard. Someone sneaking up to you and loading their weapon. You sighed and let your hand drop back to your side. Just great, this was all you needed. But no, there was more. A blode elf jumped down from a tree, calling this red haired elf as "Tauriel". Then his icy blue eyes turned to you, and you felt some sort of an familiarity in this person.

And just because the two of you looked at eachother.

And he must have felt somehing similar when looking at you, because his face fell. This Tauriel threw an look to you and then she turned to look at Blondy, talking to him in elvish. And after few seconds Blondy threw an look at her and answered. You didn't understand them, and you felt uneasy with this familiarity with this Blondy. You wanted to run, but you felt like a trapped deer, ready to be killed.

So, when this Blondy turned back to you, and addressed you by asking who you were - you weren't ready for this question after the weird God deer, because honestly, you didn't know who you were - you shook your head, took a step back and then you turned, and ran. And then you saw it, saw your savior. The raging river was just there. And the elves were just behind you.

You turned as a an otter and then, just as you were going to feel little preassure in your stomach when you started to fall towards the water, a hand catched you and withrew you back to the land. Altoguht, you weren't released from the grip. Instead, you were turned and met with two, maybe a little confused eyes of Tauriel, the one who caught you.

"What...?" you heard Tauriel ask. "She was just a daughetr of man! And now.... now... she's... Did you see...?" She was shocked, how surprising. You sighed. Just as you were ready to bite her hand, the Blondy took you and locked his eyes with you. You growled at him, well... Atleas you tried....

"Cute as always, cousin" he said and you froze. Did he just you call you his COUSIN?!

  Thorin sat in his lonely cell and recalled the moment they had realized they had lost sight of (Y/n).

Panic.

Shouting.

Cursing.

Helplesness.

Then Bilbo was gone. More panic.

Thorin himself felt these things.

There was no hope. She should have gone with Gandalf, Thorin knew. Somehow Thorin just knew. Some things would have turned right, if she had, but now? No hope, no hope, no hope, no hope, no hop.....

And then, the spiders. And after they were attacked by these wile creatures, the darkness came siddenly, with a little hint of pain and sting in his lower belly. And then Thorin had received his nightmares. Nightmares of involving (Y/n). They were so... strange. She was tall, but still Thorin knew she wa not in age yet. Just a chil, maybe a teen at most. Like he was. They both were crying. Mahal, Thorin realizised at some point, he was there with her, in a battlefield. Orcs and animals and elves and dwarves, and screaming everywhere.

And then.... And then... he had...

Thorin's eyes threw up to meet Bilbo's blue ones. He had heard a voice...

"Should I get you lad's out of here, or is sulking in here something you'd rather do?" Bilbo asked, grinning a little. Those few dwarves who were awake and had heard Bilbo, shout-whispered his name. And Thorin felt a little spark in his heart. Spark of hope.

"Bilbo! Is... is she with you?" he asked. But when Bilbo shook sadly his head, Thorin felt his heart sink. She was still lost. She was lost for him. His Gabil Lukhudel. Thorin's eyes dropped back to the door of his cell. His Âzyungel was lost for him. Probably forever. Thorin heard a sound and the the door opened. And then Bilbo spoke.

"C'mon on now, Thorin. Let's go find (Y/n). She's a clever woman" Bilbo's voice was kind, and Thorin found himself lifting his eyes to meet Bilbo's kind ones. He would desserve to be one of the uncle's of his babe's, Thorin suddenly thought. And then Bilbo's eyes took that knowing clint, and how he smiled that wide, toothy grin of his- and added "She's far more a glever and stronger woman than we thought. More than enough to be a queen of the Lonely Mountain. Mere spider's wont get her" 

And a tear fell down Thorin's cheek. A queen under The Mountain was more stronger than he had thought. And he believed it now.

Thorin nodded and walked to the door.

"My wife is stronegr than I believed. And I thank you for reminding me from that" Thorin said, smiling a little. And Bilbo grinned, keeping the cell door open for Thorin. "She is stronger than she herself thinks"

"She's not yer wife yet, laddie" Dwalin tried to humor Thorin from few sells away. Thorin turned to glare the direction where Dwalin was, but then he sighed.

"She will be, soon" he murmured more to himself than anyone else. And then he, and the rest of the company, followed Bilbo to the cellar's. Their bulgar had some sort of an better idea for escaping than the front door, which, the more Thorin tought about, was better and safer idea. So, he ordered the other's to hide in the barrel's and the then down they went, first dropping down to the river and then they travelled alongside the river.

Everything had went well, until their escape was stopped by a sudden shout in elvish and guard of the river gate, well, did his job and closed the gate. Thorin cursed, and tried to slam the gate open, but in vain. Nori, Kili, Dwalin and Bifur jumped off from their barrels, and together they managed to tackle the guard down, Dwalin and Nori opening the gate. Then the four jumped down to their barrels, and the journey could finally continue.

  Thranduil stood in his throne room, alone with four guards, facing a far away wall, not really seeing anything. His mind was occupied by many things.

So many things had changed just in a few days. One of the guards had entered in throne room about twenty minutes ago, claiming that Thorin Oakenshield with his dwarven company had just escaped via river, hiding in the empty wine barrels.

None of them should be hurt, my lord, the guard had said. But, just as the dwarves had escaped - after few of them had taken down the guard in watch over the river gate after it had been closed- handful of orcs had stumbled from the forest. A little too late, it seemed, since they seemed to be after the dwavres as they didn't pay as much mind to the elves as one would think, and they ran alongside the river after the barrels, the guard mentioned.

They were in luck, Thranduil thought. The number of the spider's were rising, as were the orcs near Dol Guldur. They had no need for these sudden orc raids. Thranduil didn't want to send his scouts after these horrible creatures, didn't want to risk their lives. They had taken too many of his loved ones, and the king did not want to put his subjects in on a danger, even if they voluntered to go outside of the walls of his kingdom.

Then, Thranduil's thoughts were ceased by none other than his trusted guard, Feren. He looked a bit rigid, and concerd. That was enough for Thranduil to know that something was wrong. Very much so.

"My Lord, it's your son... One of the guards at the front gate just informed me. Legolas and Tauriel have left, most likely after the orc scout" Feren informed. Thranduil closed his eyes and released an shaky breath. No, he thought. Not another one of his closest ones.

  You stared at Blondy, your jaw hanging down a little. Tauriel, who still stood next to this Bondie, stared at him, her jaw also hanging in shock.

"Cousin?!" she managed to chocke. Blondy turned to her and his brow rose. Tauriel turned to you and then back to Blondy. "But.... I thought.... I thought all the Guardians were dead" Your eyes snapped to Tauriel and your tail wiggled a little. The Guardians? Did she mean... Could she possibly mean Shael and her people? The Maiar's who could transform themselves into an animal's?

"Yes. I heard my father once talk about them, with Feren. He mentioned that aunt Shael had managed to save her daughters life, or rather her... soul. Her fae... Would you, please, turn back to your... normal form?" Blondy told Tauriel, saying the rest for you a little annoyed. You sighed, and bondered an second if you should nibble his hand, and then dismissed the idea, turning back to human. Blondy's hand setteld on your shoulder after you had turned, and you noted that you were much shorter than he was.

Well... What a surprise, you were about as tall as a dwarf, maybe a head taller than Thorin.

"Better, blondy?" you asked, letting the annoyance be heard in your voice. And then you noted a little smile rise in corner of the Blondy's face.

"Still calling me blondy, it seems...." he murmured. You threw an look to Tauriel, but decided she would not be any help for you. She looked far too amused, even when she did try to hide it. You took a deep breath and then released it.

"Would you please explain me, what the actual fuck is going on?" you pleaded. Both Blondy and Tauriel turned serious as their gaze fell on you. "I'm sorry to say this, but... I don't know you. I don't remember you. Neither of you. I don't remember being an... what you called it? Guardian? I don't even remember ever, never living in... HERE. All I know and remember of me being (Y/n), an adopted daughter of Regina and Robin, that I lived in Stoorybroke and then in NY. And then.... when I had a fight with my adoptive mother, I... went to an walk and found myself in here, traveling with Gandalf and.... Oh fuck me...." you rambled, losing your nerve. Then, when you remembered than there was this stubid wizard called Gandalf, did you remeber that little, weird company from past few months, who these two really were...

Your brains really had failed you. Thanks, stupid, dark forest, big God like deer roast, headache, these stupid elves from scaring you and taking your mind elsewhere. You forgot the movie.

If these two were here, it meant that your friends had escaped, which meant that... You turned even more pale, and turned towards the river, and the big lake and the Lonely Mountain far in the horizon.

"Oh no..." you whispered and then you turned back to the elves, who were eyeing you.

"You didn't happen to see thirteen dwarves on your way here?" you asked, looking at your so-called cousin and his red haired friend. They shared an look and then they turned to you, both looking a little grim.

"Please don't say they are friends of yours" Blondy said, looking a little disappointed. Your eyebrow rose and you grossed your arms. Right, he didn't like dwarves, and neither did Tauriel. Expect for the one specific.

"One of them may be my loved one, but oh... I don't know..." you answered sarcastically. Blondy stared at you, his jaw clenching, and then, finally, he sighed, turning away from you. You turned your eyes to Tauriel, and frowned at her natural expression. She was rather good at hiding her expression's, when she wanted to, or she didn't like Kili, or then he was alright. You prayed for the latter.

"Are they alright? Is anyone of them hurt?" you decided to ask from her. Tauriel shook her head a little.

"None of them is hurt.  They manages to nock down one of our guards, and the orc pack came few minutes later after they escaped" she answered. You nodded, accepting her answer. You could somehow sence that she was telling the truth. And the little hesitation she held back. You had to smile at that.

"You love one of them? Who?" Blondy asked, his back still turned towards you. You turned your eyes to him and bit your lower lip. You didn't trust him enough to tell him about you and Thorin. You didn't trust him to tell the truth about anything he had said before. Not without you not knowing the truth yourself.

"Now that is none of your business" you told him, glaring at his back. Blondy sighed and turned around to look at you. He didn't look angry, rather... disappointed and sad? You felt uneasy at this, not quite sure why he wasn't angry at you being in love with an dwarf. Like you excpeted him to be.

"I just don't understand why you would love an dwarf, when it was his race that got your mother and you entire race killed" he said, locking his eyes with you. You felt your insides freeze. You knew threre was more to the story that you had heard, but... still... This was not what you had expected.

Tag-list;

@lidda @bee-wrecker @queendarkmuffin @silencegetawayfromme @kettnerjanea @sdavid09 @ealasaid @jumpingmanatee @fab-notfat @bae-age @fricking-ghoul @k-youre-a-fantasy @dumbgopher1 @maddybeck01 @naminalati @leah-halliwell92 @evyiione @tschrist1 @red608 @aliendaddiesneeded @letsbeinspiredby @jotink78 @dragongirl642 @shxrrybomb @awaiting-pointless-dreams

[minaim-blog]

Moon Stroke in Xadia - 1 - The First Mistake of Many

Forward for the Caring

When and where this fanfiction takes place is largely unimportant as the purpose of this work is merely to have Callum and Rayla interact as a couple while facing troubles in Xadia from both Elves and Humans. Zym is not present and I’ve changed the ages of Callum and Rayla to be slightly older; they’re around eighteen or so. One could say this takes place after the events of Season 3 or in an alternate universe. Human and Elf relationships are frowned upon in this setting compared to how they are in The Dragon Prince as hinted by the show. “Artemia” is my own name for the Moon-Shadow Elf Territory. Thank you for reading and enjoy.

“Callum, hurry up will you.” Rayla whined, “You’ve been getting ready for an hour, they’ll close up town before we can make it.” She sat on the root of a large tree and used one of her knives to carve into its trunk while Callum worked around the corner out of sight. The two of them had ventured through the wilderness of Xadia for some time together for a ‘vacation’ as they called it. Their journey had multiple reasons: the two of them wanted an opportunity to tell the people of the world that Zym, the prince of the dragons, had been returned to his mother and that a new era of peace was at hand for humans and elves alike. They found out very early on in their journey that they had no need to be messengers, as the news of the dragon prince spread to all corners of the elf and human lands as if by the wings of dragons. Callum also wanted an opportunity to venture through Xadia and learn about the six primal sources first hand, and Rayla wanted a chance to learn about human customs, since it seemed that humans and elves would be getting to know each other better in their newfound peace. They agreed to be each other’s guide, Rayla to Callum in the land of elves, and Callum to Rayla in the land of humans. Secretly between them, they both wanted an excuse to spend some time together with just the two of them in their newfound relationship.

Their journey had brought them far from the nest of the dragon queen to Artemia, the land of the Moon-Shadow elves, where Callum hoped to learn about the moon arcanum and Rayla hoped to reconnect with her home as best she could. They chanced upon a small Moon-Shadow Elf village in their journey and knew they risked a chance of Callum being discovered as a human if the two of them went in. They were both exhausted of the wilderness and  decided to take the risk, as they hoped to get some finer comforts that were unavailable to them over the past few weeks. They agreed that he would have to disguise himself if they were going into the village, but the two of them had very different opinions on what was considered ‘good enough’ for a disguise. Callum called back to her behind the tree, “Hey I’ve only been at this for like twenty minutes at most, and I want it to be convincing this time. Do you want a repeat of Caldera?”

“We’re not going to have a repeat of Caldera.” She retorted annoyed, “I’m clearly Elven, just stick close to me and don’t draw attention to yourself.”

“Yeah but it’s pretty hard not to draw attention to yourself when everyone else has horns and only four fingers.” Callum showed his hand from around the tree to Rayla and wiggled his five fingers to her.

“So wear the cloak and gloves you have and stay quiet.” Rayla shooed him and then crossed her arms as she sat on the root, “Honestly it’s a lot easier than you’re making it out to be.”

“I know it’ll be easy.” He said reassuringly as he worked, “We’ve done this before. But those other times have taught me that all it takes is for someone to notice something off about us at a glance before they do or say something. So I’m just trying to make it take a little more than just a glance to notice something’s wrong. We’re in Moon-Shadow Elf territory-”

“Artemia.” Rayla said irritated with her arms still crossed. She lost count how many times she had corrected him on it.

“Yeah, Are-Tre-Maya.” He butchered, “So I think we better bring our ‘A’ game.” There was another pause as he worked, then he continued, “I mean, we’re dealing with elves who do nothing but sneak and lie. So you tell me, how careful should we be?”

“Sneak and lie!?” Rayla jumped off her root and yelled to him in shock, “What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“Uh…” He moaned back to her and tried to find his words but Rayla found hers first,

“No, please. Don’t bother.” She began mockingly and crossed her arms leaning on the tree, “I know exactly what you mean.” She pouted before she continued, “‘Oh no! We’re in mean-moon-assassin-land now!’” She said exaggerated and placed her hands to the side of her face, “‘And me poor little lass still thinks they’re not blood thirsty killers!’” Her exaggerated tone subsided and she sat back on her root as she continued a bit hurt, “Not everyone here was raised an assassin like me. And we’re certainly not killers and liars!” She shouted to him then continued softer as she stared at the root, “Honestly I thought you knew better by now.”

Rayla couldn’t see Callum, but she knew he must have been fidgeting as he said nervously, “Yeah I-I know. I know you’re not sneaking monsters. That was a bad choice of words on my part…” There was a brief silence as Callum collected his thoughts, and then said, “It’s that-well all the magic I’ve seen in the moon arcanum is really focused on making illusions and how we perceive the world around us. So I thought just maybe Moon-Shadow elves would be a bit harder to fool than others…Sorry.”

Callum ended his apology quietly and Rayla could sense the regret in his voice, but even though she knew he did not mean to insult her she still felt hurt. She started playing with her knife and said slightly miffed, “Yeah well…maybe word your thoughts a bit better next time.”

There was silence between the two after she finished, which Rayla didn’t like as it reminded her too much of their fights. It was rare that the two of them fought over anything, and when they did she thought it was always about the dumbest of things: What direction should they go in and who got them lost? Who’s being risky, or stubborn, or just dumb? Who should be up front and who should support in a fight? Should they or should they not be open to people about their relationship? After their fights they always separated themselves from each other to sit in silence when it was over. She always felt horrible when they did this, even while she was brooding. She always wanted to go back over to him to hug and make up, but her pride usually wouldn’t let her. She assumed Callum’s pride wouldn’t let him either or if it wasn’t pride, which she wasn’t sure how much he had, she thought it was hesitation he had on approaching her. When she thought about how he responded to her and how quiet he was she was worried that he hesitated now in speaking to her. She started fidgeting as she thought about whether she shouldn’t have spoken so coldly to him, or if she should speak up and tell him everything was fine between the two of them, or if she should just wait it out so he could finish his disguise finally and then he would see that she didn’t have a problem with him at all. As she thought about this she realized she was now the one hesitating, which Runaan would have hit her for if she was training with him. “Never hesitate. Hesitation is death.” He would say to her, and while she didn’t think her hesitation now would led to her or Callum’s death, she still found herself anxious about the two of them. In the middle of her thoughts she heard the soft sound of wood whittling, so he was merely focused and not upset. Relieved, she said playfully to him “I hear you, don’t you go dulling out my knife for your silly costume.”

“Hey I heard you scrapping on the tree trunk the whole time I worked, so don’t accuse me of anything. Plus you could probably cut through stone with these things. What are you working on over there anyway?”

“Uh…” Rayla said as she looked down on the root where she carved out a heart surrounding hers and Callum’s initials. “It’s a surprise for you after you show me your disguise.”

“Okay. I shouldn’t be much longer anyhow.” He said absent mindedly to her.

She stabbed her knife violently into the trunk and looked down at her carving. She hadn’t thought about what she was doing initially and only noticed that she was making what looked like a heart halfway through. She normally wasn’t one for ‘mushy couple stuff’ as she would have called this, but when she saw the opportunity she didn’t shy from it. She wrote her own initial in the decorative Elvish script that Ethari had taught her when she was little. She was going to write Callum’s in similar fashion, but remembered him teaching her the basics of the human script. She decided that for what they were to each other it would be more appropriate for her to write his in the human script. When she looked down onto it now, and even while she was writing it, she thought Callum’s initial didn’t match him at all. She thought the human script for ‘C’ was too simple and didn’t illustrate how smart and capable she knew he was. Compared to her own initial which she thought was far too decorative and elaborate for her and didn’t speak to who she was as a person. Not that she didn’t think she was capable, she knew very well that she was. But she felt that the ornateness of the script betrayed her as someone who was more creative and smarter than she really was. To this end she thought that the script used for hers and Callum’s initial should have been switched, but she was fine with waiting for another opportunity, rather than correcting it now. She was interrupted from this thought by Callum who said excitedly,

“Alright I think I’m ready. Get ready to meet elf Callum!”

“It’s about time. Why’d you hide yourself from me anyway?”

“Well I wanted it to be a surprise. How often do I get to be the one who wows you?” He said as he stepped around the tree and Rayla almost gasped when she saw him. He had gathered supplies on their trip through Xadia to assist in making a more believable disguise when the opportunity arose and was secretly hoping to impress her. This was why he didn’t let her see him until his disguise was finished, as he thought that when she saw it done it would be more impressive. He had managed to make markings around his eyes that looked similar to hers, he also applied a blush to his face that gave his skin a tone similar to Moon-Shadow elves, and hidden under his hair where two wooden horns wrapped to his head by a string. He went up to Rayla and grabbed her hands before he said giddy, “I used those blue-berries we found the other day for my tattoos, and the mist-flower’s pollen for my skin, and my horns are just wood attached to a leather band under my hair. What do you think pretty good huh?” Callum said in a rush and he raised her hands in excitement, which Rayla saw beam in his eyes as she looked at him. She didn’t think she could have told him his disguise was bad if it was.

“It looks really good Callum.” She said unsure of what else to say. It was definitely another leg up from just a pair of gloves and a hood, but there were plenty of signs that gave it away as a costume. As she looked over his disguise a wicked idea came over her and she smiled wryly. “But it’s not perfect. Moon-Shadow hair ranges from snow white to grey silver and very rarely black, but never brown.” She pointed to his hair as she said this and Callum closed his eyes while rubbing the back of his head and smiled. She grabbed onto his face which caused him to open his eyes, “You did a good job getting the skin tone right. It helps that the mist-flowers are used for blush but it’s not coming off unless you scrub very hard, and it’ll itch like you wouldn’t believe.” At her comment he already felt his face grow itchy, but he wasn’t sure if it was the pollen or in his mind. She continued and went over his markings meticulously,, “And the markings on our faces are largely symbolic. It’s not crazy to think we might have the same but that might put up a few friendly questions for whoever meets us.” She brought her own face close to his before she continued and said, “And I’ve never seen another Moon-Shadow elf with green eyes like yours.” Callum blushed as their eyes meet.

“Well I guess I’ll just have to wear my hood and gloves like you said.” He said dreamily as he brought his left hand to her face and stared back into hers.

“Yeah. And about that.” Rayla said hesitantly before she grabbed Callum’s left hand. She then twisted around and brought him to his knees as she pinned his hand to the root on top of her carving. “Your extra fingers are the biggest problem with your disguise. So they’re going to have to go.”

She said this as she brandished her knife in her hand. She remembered when she was younger that one of the other assassins did what they called ‘four finger fillet’ on her as a hazing ritual and hoped to do something similar to Callum as a joke. He even had spread his fingers over the root to make it easy on her. She tried it once or twice on herself before but she had cut her fingers by accident, so she went slowly on him to be sure she wouldn’t hurt him.

“Let’s see…” She said curiously as she started to stab the knife between his fingers. She was going slowly as a precaution but still wanted to worry him a bit. So she was forceful in her strikes to keep up the illusion.

“Uh…Rayla?” Callum said as he tried to reach for her with his free hand. After he did Rayla lifted up her leg and pinned his free arm to his side.

She stopped stabbing in between his fingers and tapped each of his deliberately with the flat of her knife as she said, “Your pink-o’s the most obvious choice, but that’s just going to leave you with an extra bit of flesh on the side of your hand, so that’s not going to look convincing. Your index can’t go for the same reason. And you’re going to need your ring finger eventually.” She paused for a moment without realizing what she said and turned to Callum on the ground as she smiled wryly to him again, “You just won’t be able to be rude to your other human friends anymore. But hey, that’s the price we pay for a convincing disguise for you.”

Callum tried to smile back up to Rayla, but he was nervous as he spoke, “You’re not really going to cut off one of my fingers…Are you?”

Rayla looked at him dead in the eye and said, “Try me.” She then threw her knife in between the gaps of his fingers which caused him to scream, “Rayla! My hand!”

“Lighten up will you? I was just joke-” She began to say when she looked down and saw human blood pool at Callum’s hand and her knife cut through his middle finger. In a panic she shouted his name as she let go of him and pulled the knife out of his finger. “Callum? Are you alright? I was just-” She began to say as she grabbed his hand but Callum only pulled it away and hugged it to his chest as he swore under his breath. She tried again to speak to him and stuttered as she said concerned, “You’re alright aren’t you?”

He yelled at her, “No, I’m not alright! You fucking cut me!” He looked at her with anger and tears in his eyes from the pain. Then he looked down and cradled his hand in pain. She was dazed by what just occurred and unsure of what to do. She had seen Callum angry before but never like this, and she still processed what happened. She stepped back unconsciously from him and looked down at her hands and saw his blood on them as she thought to herself,

“I cut off his finger… I cut off his finger!” She must have said this out loud, or Callum knew what she was thinking because he said,

“You didn’t cut off my finger! It’s just cut really bad and you maybe hit the bone. I don’t know.” He swore to himself again, “Just get me something.”

Rayla snapped out of her shock and immediately went to their supplies and began rummaging for the bandages they kept, but in her stress she forgot where they put them. “Bandages, bandages, bandages…Ah! Where’d we put them?” She said to herself as she made a mess of their supplies.

“They’re in my bag with my sketch book.” Callum called out to her, “They should be right next to it.” He swore yet again as he hugged his hand.

Rayla went to his bag and dumped out everything and picked up the bandages that fell out and ran over to Callum. She knelt down with him and pulled his hand away and started to wrap the bandages around his entire hand.

“Callum? Callum I’m so sorry.” She said to him quickly, trying not to cry, “I was just trying to play a joke and impress you with that dumb game the assassins taught me when I was little. I didn’t mean to cut you, you know I’d never hurt you, please I’m sorry.” When she finished he spoke tensely in a manner that suggested he tried to subdue his emotions,

“It’s fine Rayla.”

“No it’s not! I almost cut your finger off!” She said as she grabbed onto his hand and pulled it tightly towards her.

“Well could you maybe just bandage my finger and not my whole hand!?” He said in anger from the pain she caused by grabbing his hand tightly. She was shocked again by his outburst and paused for a moment to look at him. After he saw her reaction he winced slightly and relaxed his grimace. The two of them looked down and saw his left hand completely wrapped in bandages. “I mean no one will notice I have five fingers now but…” He tried to make a joke but it didn’t lift Rayla’s mood. Still tense she unwrapped the bandages from his hand and looked at his middle finger. She couldn’t tell if she cut to his bone like he said as there was dried blood all over it and the wound was still bleeding.

“We have to wash this.” She said with little emotion as she collected herself and ran off to their supplies. Callum protested and said they didn’t have anything to wash it with when she took out a water sack they had for drinking water and brought it over. “Rayla we need that.” He said, knowing they were running low on water.

“We’re right by a town, we can get more.” She said angry, and tried to hide her concern. She poured the water over his cut and wiped it with the bandages harshly which earned a slight wince from Callum as he asked her to be careful. She told him to not a be a baby as she continued to wipe it a bit less strongly. When she was done with the water sack she threw it away and examined his finger. It still bleed so she wrapped the bandages around his finger tightly and tied it off. Even once she was finished Rayla couldn’t stop looking at his hand and would not look at him. After a moment he asked if she was okay and she lifted up her head and said in a hoarse voice,

“Am I okay? Callum I-I’m sorry…” She brought her hand to her hair and began fidgeting with it as she talked, “I wasn’t thinking - and I’m so stupid! I don’t know how I can ever make it up to-” She wiped away the few tears she couldn’t stop herself from shedding as she spoke but was interrupted before she could finish by a kiss from Callum. They closed their eyes and kissed each other for a moment until he pulled away from her and shared hug. She asked almost crying, “You’re not mad?”

Callum breathed in sharply before he said, “I’m fine.” He paused for a moment and said, “But that was dumb. That was really dumb.”

She began to cry again and said uncontrollably, “I know, I know. That was dumb and stupid and I don’t know what I was thinking.”

He shushed her and said gently, “I’ll be fine.” They were silent for a moment as they hugged, and Rayla choked back tears as she did. He continued, “It could always be worse, you could have got me in the heart. Even though you kind of already did.” Callum said in an attempt to be charming.

She almost cried out as she said, “Don’t even think about that! It’s bad enough that I hurt you, but I don’t even want to think about…” She couldn’t finish, and placed a hand over her mouth. A vison of her throwing her knife into his heart flashed through her mind that she couldn’t stop from thinking of.

Callum felt her horror and hugged her tighter as he tried to calm her, “Hey don’t worry. I’m fine, I’m fine. Really.” Then they were silent again and rocked back and forth as they hugged. After a moment Callum said, “I like your carving by the way.”

“Oh my gosh, that.” Rayla said, some tension left her voice and was replaced by embarrassment.

“What? I thought it was cute.” He said jokingly.

“It’s stupid. I don’t even know why I made it. And now your blood’s all over it.”

“Well at least the heart part is more accurate now.” Callum statement earned a slight groan from Rayla, and he took some comfort that she returned a little bit to normal. After another moment he continued with a little hesitation and asked, “Do you really think I think of you as, ‘my little lass?’” He felt the need to ask her as he could never think of her as anything close to a ‘little lass.’ She was a strong, capable, and dependable warrior. Above all else, she was brave and kind. He felt that if either of them had to be called a ‘little lass’ or little anything, it should be him.

“I mean…” He felt her take one of her arms off of him as she fixed her hair before she continued, “We’ve kind of been together for a while now, so… I’d hope so.”

He paused for a moment before he said, still unsure of himself, “Do you…want me to call you ‘my little lass?’”

           She exhaled her breathe sharply in a small laugh as she said, “I mean if you did, I wouldn’t mind.” Callum thought he could be very dense when it came to social ques, but even he couldn’t miss that. She wanted him to try a pet name for her, he wasn’t sure if he liked it yet but he wouldn’t definitely try it. At least when the best moment for it to be used arrived. There was another brief pause before he changed the subject and said gently,

“We should probably hurry up and head into town before everyone turns in for the night.”

Rayla pulled herself away to look at him and said concerned, “I’ll go into town myself, you should just stay here and rest.”

“But I worked so hard on my disguise, I don’t want to let it go to waste.”

“Your disguise isn’t so good with your blood all over it.” Rayla said as she and Callum looked down to where he hugged his hand to his body. It had a patch of dried blood on his clothes. “That’s going to make too many questions if somebody sees that.”

He got up and went towards their supplies, “I’ll change into another shirt then, and you should probably clean my blood off yourself too.”

She looked down at herself as she knelt on the ground and saw she still had his dried blood on her hands and a small amount on her clothes. She disconcertingly wiped her hands over the grass and tried to remove it. Then she saw the water sack she threw away some feet from her. She grabbed it and squeezed it over her chest to try and get the last remaining drops of water out to clean her shirt.

Callum saw her do this frantically as he went through their ruined camp for his clothes. Then he asked unsurely, “Don’t you have another shirt somewhere?” He remembered seeing her wear another shirt once or twice during their vacation, but she didn’t bring as many sets of clothes as he did. More often she would only wear her assassin armor and it would stink of her body odor if she didn’t bathe too often. But that did not always bother him, more often he would enjoy her scent for reasons that he was still unsure of. She said frantically to him as she tried to wipe herself clean,

“Not of my armor, and there’s no way I’m changing out of this.” She threw the water sack away towards him and said unsatisfied, “I’ll just have to wear something over it.” As she got up she tapped her head in realization, “I’ll wear my cloak too. That’ll probably be better since we’ll match. Callum where are you going?” She asked concerned as she saw him with a new shirt and his cloak in hand as he started to leave the campsite.

“I’m just going to change into a new shirt. I shouldn’t be more than a second, then we can go.”

As he went out of sight Rayla went over to their supplies to grab her cloak. She groaned slightly as she saw the state she put their camp into with all their stuff strewn out over the place. She decided that the mess could wait until they got back to clean up and sorted through it to find her cloak and what little money they had left. They only had seven coins and she was worried their expenses would be too strained. They didn’t start out with much money when their journey began, as they thought they wouldn’t run into too many opportunities to use it. They originally had thirty pieces, but after paying a familiar friend for passage over the Midnight Desert to Artemia and a few other mishaps they were down to their current sum. She hoped it would be enough to buy medicine, but it might not be enough for some food. At the very least she could forage for food or they would be go hungry for a little while. She put her concerns aside for the moment and found her cloak. Then she draped it over her shoulders and fastened it to cover the upper part of her chest and pulled her hood over her head. Since Callum would have to wear his hood over his head the whole time she thought it would be best if they matched as closely as possible. When she was done she heard him say behind her that he was ready and asked if she was ready as well. She turned around and saw him in a new shirt with his cloak on, his wooden horns made points at the top of his hood, and his scarf was lose around his neck under it. She went up to him and fixed his scarf tightly around him as she said, “The only thing we’re going into town for is some medicine for your hand.”

Callum’s stomach growled, “How about some food too?” He said in response.

Rayla’s stomach growled as well, after which she said, “Yeah. Some real food would be nice.”

____________________________________________________________

There was little daylight left as the sky turned to dim twilight when the two of them made it to the village. It was a relatively small settlement, but it had a few other buildings besides homes where the two of them hoped to find services of some kind. When they spotted it earlier Rayla had scoped it out from a distance but never entered it. She recognized the area as being nearby the main highway but knew the road leading from the village was out of the way to anyone traveling on it. While she had never been to this village before its distance from the border and small size gave it no reason to possess a concealing spell, so they would have no issue entering it. The two of them huddled together out of sight behind a tree up the road from the entrance as they spoke.

“How good of a look did you get when we passed by this place earlier?” Callum said to her as he hugged his hood to his face.

“Pretty good.” She said cheerily, “It’s small but not too far off the main road. I’m sure they must have a few shops or even an inn to get something.”

“Yeah but any guards or people we have to worry about?” He said in a hoarse whisper.

“It’s a village Callum.” She said plainly not bothering to whisper, “But yeah, they might have a night watch setup or maybe even some official guards. But nothing we need to worry about.”

“Nothing for you to worry about sure. But I’m in a no-go territory for humans.”

“Where’s that confidence from earlier?” She said playfully to him, “Isn’t that what the disguise’s for?”

“It is but I don’t want us thrown out, or worse.” He said still whispering between in his teeth.

“We’re not going to get thrown out. Just let me do the talking, and keep you head down. Now come on, I’m starving!” She said as she grabbed his left hand and started to run up the road towards the town. He called out her name and she felt some resistance from his hand. She remembered his injury and lightened up on it as she slowed down to jog. As they got closer to the town Callum could make out two individuals under a lamp by the side of a building. They sat down at a table where they focused intently on a game they were playing. He assumed it was some form of chess from the shape of the pieces, but he was unsure if elves shared the same rules as humans, or even if the game was similar. As they went up the road the person facing towards them got the attention of the other at the table, then he got up and grabbed a lantern as he went to the road to meet them.

“Woah!” He said warily as he shined the dim lamp towards the two of them. He said businesslike in a thick Moon-Shadow accent, “State your name and business.”

Rayla raised her hood so they could better see her face and said cheerfully as she went up to him, “My name’s Rayla, and me and my friend are just looking for a bite to eat.”

He moved the lamp towards the two of them and brought it closer to Callum. It was a foggy yellow, and seemed to be lite by a type of fire-fly as the light danced and faded in and out within it. Callum could see the man was young but older than him and Rayla by a number of years at least. His face was clean shaven, and he appeared physically fit and strong. He had a single marking of a vertical line that went from just above his brow down to his cheekbone over his right eye, and that was the only marking Callum could see of his. The man said somewhat suspiciously as he examined them, “Where are you and your friend from, Miss?”

“I’m from a small village by the Silvergrove.” She said as she relaxingly crossed her arms, “You’ve probably never heard of it. And he’s from up north.” She gestured to Callum, who waved meekly to him with a forced smile. He had on gloves to hide his fifth finger, but he was very conscious of the bandages on his finger that gave a very pronounced bulged to it.

“Does your friend have a name?” The man said without missing a beat.

“His name’s Callum.” She said, still cheery.

“Is he mute too?” He said somewhat annoyed.

“Hi, it’s me. I’m Callum.” He said quietly and waved his hand awkwardly to him.

Rayla leaned towards the man and whispered teasingly, “He’s a bit shy.”

“Aye.” The man said skeptically, “And just what are you two doing here?”

The man spoke in a confused tone, which puzzled Rayla. She replied growing confused as well, “Um…Looking for food. Didn’t I tell you that?”

“No, not that. I mean what brought you here, of all places?”

“O! We’re on vacation!” She said cheerfully.

“Vacation?” He repeated dubiously as he turned his head to the side at her.

“Yeah, a vacation!” Rayla smiled as she went back next to Callum and grabbed his hand. She continued, “We didn’t come looking for this town. The two of us just wanted to get out and see the world, and that brought us here!”

The guard stood and examined the two of them, and for a moment neither of them spoke. Finally he asked, “How long have you two been on this, ‘vacation?’”

Rayla turned to Callum and said more to herself than to him, “A while now. It feels like forever.”

Callum massaged the back of his neck with his free hand as he said, “It’s been a few weeks at least since the Storm Spi….ire.” He spoke without thinking initially and the name of the Dragon Queen’s domain slipped out. He was unsure what exact story Rayla wanted to give them, but he felt that place put a damper on whatever she was going for.

The guard’s skepticism returned tenfold as he asked, “You’ve been to the Storm Spire?”

“Oh yeah!” Rayla said quickly, trying to cover the mess Callum made, “That was the point, of course! Go out and see the world and all that, and now we’re here!” She ended with a small forced chuckle.

The man looked them over once again with renewed interest. He noted their weather stained cloaks, and that they carried almost nothing with them apart from a small bag and an empty water sack. He asked with some concern, “Do you have much money?”

Rayla admitted, “No, not really. We got enough for some food and the basics.” She added reassuringly in case the guard wouldn’t let them into town without some money. She continued bombastically, “But really we’ve just been roughing it. Get that real adventurous experience. Worked pretty good so far, mostly anyway.” She said the last part lowly to herself as she turned away and remembered the recent injury she gave Callum. He turned towards her and forced a small laugh and smile.

The man turned away from them awkwardly towards his counterpart who had sat quietly at their game the entire time. The other guard only shrugged. The one they had been dealing with turned back to them and said honestly, “Fair enough. We don’t get too many travelers aside from lost ones anyway.” He coughed slightly and continued, “Apart from our regular traders that is.” He turned away from them and pointed up the road as he said, “Most of the shops should be closed now but the inn’s open. Follow the main road straight ahead till you get to the center. You’ll see some stalls and the few shops we have there. And you can’t miss the inn to far from it. It’s the biggest building there, should see some lights and hear the noise of it.” He turned back to them, “I don’t think we’re lucky enough to get any music tonight, except maybe Jubal if she’s in the mood for it.” He looked them over once more before he thought something over and said, “If you’re just looking for a bite, speak to the inn keeper and tell them Farkas sent you. He owes me favor.”

Rayla dashed away and towed Callum along as she said cheerfully to them, “We will, thank you! And enjoy your game!” The two of them waved to the guards and they waved back as Farkas said,

“Enjoy your time in Loruthven!”

They made their way towards the center of town, and while Rayla focused on the path ahead Callum took the time to examine the village as they went through it. Multiple homes dotted the area. The buildings incorporated trees and mimicked nature where they could but many of them were no bigger than small hovels built into or around the trees. The trees there were far less dense than the forest that surrounded it, so he was able to see the sky in between the canopy as they marched through it. Besides the homes there were sparce boulders and small stone structures with runes carved into them along the path, but many of them looked to be forgotten to the wayside. He found the architecture and general feel of the town similar to Rayla’s home, but he thought Loruthven lacked much of the grandeur of the Silvergrove. Not to say he thought the town looked dull. While he thought that the town was rather quaint, Moon-Shadow towns were still very new to him, so any and all matters of it peaked his interest. The path they followed was dirt with a few stones lade into it and it was worn down from continuous use by the townsfolk. Besides the elves in the town, he saw small animals scuttling around in between the buildings. Some of them he recognized as ones Moon-Shadow elves kept as pets, and he likened them to cats or dogs, but their behaviors were only vaguely close to them, if at all. One of them was like a racoon with similar body size and appendages, but the face of it was cat like, and it possessed a deep azure coat. His past experience with them said they were playful animals, but very territorial and pack oriented. One of them swiped at a lantern to get the insects within it, and had to be shooed away by someone. The lanterns they passed were lite by glowing insects like the guard’s and hummed in a deep yellow. There were only a few lanterns in the town, and all the ones they passed by were hung from other people’s homes, so much of the path was becoming dim in the oncoming night.

He had been told by Rayla that Moon-Shadow elf communities were very closely knit. According to her if one member of the community was suffering hardships all of the others would pitch in to help them, and any refusal to do so would be greatly looked down upon. After they got out of sight of the guards Rayla pulled her hood back down to match Callum, so as to make him less conspicuous by comparison. The town was close to empty and they only saw a few people as they made their way. The ones they passed by looked at them in surprise and Callum felt some nervousness at their stares. Rayla handled every brief interaction they had with a wave, cheery demeanor, and occasional “hello” or other small remark. She always made a small tug at him whenever they passed by someone, which did not help the sharp pain in his finger, but he kept quiet about it. The townsfolk only paid them a brief glance at every interaction; no doubt they were only surprised when they saw a new face in town and carried on their way. Callum thought that either his disguise was working, or that everyone was too preoccupied with getting home for the night to notice them. He felt relatively secure, whatever the reason was, so he said to her in a low voice while he admired the town, “This is really nice. Are all Moon-Shadow towns like this?”

Rayla slowed down slightly and went next to him as she said, “For the most part, yeah. But this one’s really small. But I guess we are in the middle of nowhere, so it’s expected.”

“What are all these ruins from?” He said as he pointed to one of the stones.

She paused in their march as she took notice of one of them for the first time and said disinterested, “Oh, couldn’t tell you.” She continued to walk and tow him along as she said, “Good old Runaan never gave me much of an education aside from fighting. And Ethari probably told me about them at one point but it never really stuck. That’s more egghead stuff you’d be into.” She said teasingly to him and then playfully elbowed him in the side before she continued, “Good work mentioning the Storm Spire back there by the way.”

“Sorry.” He grunted as he massaged it, “Guess we’re not mentioning the Dragon Queen then?”

She looked around briefly before she said, “Preferably no. Let’s just be an innocent young couple out and about.” She hissed out her next words in a low tone, “I’m definitely not a wanted woman but I don’t think a ‘deserting assassin’ would be welcome here.”

“You really think someone would recognize you for that?”

She thought on his question before she replied thoughtfully, “Maybe, I don’t really know. The Silvergrove’s a big deal around here and word travels fast. There aren’t wanted posters of me or anything, but a young girl trained as an assassin? Only so many people could fit that.” They passed by another person just as she finished speaking, and was worried that they could have heard something. She ended abruptly when she saw them and made a forced smile as they exchanged glances. Her and Callum waved to them awkwardly but the individual paid them little attention and walked past them without trouble.

She let out a sigh of relief but had nothing else to say. Callum said quietly, “But didn’t we save the Dragon Prince? I know the whole warrior-assassin thing is important but doesn’t that count for anything?”

She thought over what he said for a moment before she said reluctantly, “Kind of, but it’s complicated. Even the Dragon Queen’s blessing only goes so far.”

“Yeah, I get that.” He said as he ruminated over his own interactions with the Dragon Queen before they left for their vacation. He agreed with Rayla but he still felt disappointed that no one here could know what she did for the world. He said dishearten, “So that’s it then? We’re just going to lay low?”

“Preferably, yes.” She said flatly before she turned to him and whispered jokingly, “We kind of need to with a human anyway.”

“Are we still going to the tavern then?” He asked curiously.

“Might as well if we can get a meal.” She said lightening up a bit before she turned to him, “Free food is free food. Just let me do the talking like how I did with that guard and we’ll be all set.”

“And was that offer a normal thing that guard did? Meaning for elves?”

“That ‘favor’ thing? Yeah I guess, compared to humans anyway.” Rayla said after she reflected on it briefly, “I think mostly it’s that he feels bad for us, since we’ve been on the road for a while. And he probably think we’re one of those lost travelers he mentioned.” She said the last part as a joke to him.

“Aren’t we though?” He said teasing her.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to see all Artemia had to offer?” She said returning his tone.

“Yes, but I think it would be good if we knew where we were going half the time.”

“Oh, but getting lost is half the fun when we don’t have anywhere to be.” She laughed lightly before she continued, “Plus I know most of the general lay of the land here, I’m never really lost.”

“Yeah.” Callum said flatly as a thought came to his mind. He didn’t want to discuss that again and possibly start another fight so he changed the subject, “How much money do we have anyway?”

“Enough, I think.” She said as she tried to be sure of herself and squeezed his hand tighter, “Somebody should have a salve or something at a stall somewhere and we can get water at the inn.” She turned to him before she continued, “How’s your finger?”

“It’s okay. You’re kind of squeezing it tight.” He squeaked out entreatingly.

At his comment Rayla let go of his hand suddenly and quietly apologized. She rubbed the back of her neck and after a moment crossed her arms and said, “Even if we can’t find anything I could always make something myself. I learned a thing or two from Runaan and Ethari. We’ll be fine.” She said the last statement more to herself than to him, and hes knew it. He rubbed his own neck before he said,

“You know, my other hand is fine.” He waved his right hand to her. “We can hold our other ones if you want.” She gladly agreed without saying a word and readjusted herself on the path as she grabbed his right with her left. Callum loved how their fingers seamlessly interlocked with each other’s whenever they held hands. He was unable to interlock with hers completely because of the gloves, but he still loved to hold hers regardless.

She pecked him on the cheek before she said coyly, “A little different, grabbing each other’s offhand. Isn’t it?”

He replied facetiously in an instant, “If by offhand you mean that almost came off hand, then yeah. Different.”

She let out an annoyed sighed, then leaned her head on him and mumbled, “Don’t push your luck.” And he replied with a laugh.

They walked for a few more minutes until they came to the center of town. It was a small ruin and encircled around it were a few shops that all appeared to be closed for the day. Straight ahead underneath an archway of the ruin Callum saw the largest building of the entire town, presumably the tavern. Out from it shinned lights from lanterns and warm fires, and in the silence of the night the two of them could hear the bustle in it from where they stood if they tried to listen. Before they went to it they wanted to spy out the center more closely in case one of the shops was still open. He thought all the shops would have been rather lacking in the day time. Most of them were only small stalls which were big enough for only a few trays of whatever goods they could sell. He assumed they must have been for produce or an open air market. Besides the stalls he saw a sign for what he believed to be a butcher and a smith, but no sign for a doctor. Just as he was about to finish his search, Rayla called for his attention. She pointed to a woman who swept underneath a stall to the far side of the market. She suggested that they should go over and speak to her for information and then they approached her.

“Let me do the talking.” She said to him before they reached her, and Callum made no response of refusal. The woman’s stall was close up for the night as she swept, and the only thing out were empty shelves and a half full sack on the ground. They approached a small distance from her and only said something when the woman looked up and realized they were there. Rayla waved her free hand and said politely, “Hi. Sorry to bother you, but my friend and me were looking for something specific. Could you help us?”

The woman was old enough to be their grandmother but not ancient. She had similar markings to Rayla’s, was a little plump, and shined with a kind radiance as she spoke to them. “Of course. What do you two sweethearts need?”

Rayla let go of Callum’s hand and approached the woman as she rubbed the back of her neck again. She said embarrassed as she stumbled through her words, “I uh, accidentally…My friend got this really bad cut.” She settled on and continued, “I don’t know if you have something for it, or know someplace would go for it. Cause I’m worried it’s too bad to just leave as it is.”

“Well of course.” She said kindly, “I don’t have much for that myself but I could try to help. Could I see your friend’s cut?” She said as she looked past her towards Callum. Her and Callum’s eyes meet for a moment but he was unable to meet her gaze for long. He looked down and away from her as he clutched his left hand with his right.

“That’s…going to be kind of difficult.” Rayla dragged out.

“Oh, and why’s that?” The woman said curiously. She did not see anything wrong with the way Rayla spoke or Callum acted.

“Well uh, you see…” She stumbled out, as she tried to buy time to think of an excuse. The woman replied with affirmative as she did. Then an idea came to her and she leaned closer to the woman as she said, “The cut’s on his uh – rear.” She whispered the last word sharply to her for emphasis.

“Oh.” Was all the woman said as she processed what she heard. After a moment her eyes went wide in surprise and she responded with a deep, “Oh!” and continued concerned, “Well that will make things a bit harder. How did your friend get cut there?”

“It’s a long story. And kind of embarrassing.” Rayla said as she blushed slightly. She blushed at the concept of her lie, but she was thankful it made it more convincing.

“Oh yes. Of course, of course. No need to worry about it.” The woman said consolingly, “My dear husband got a similar injury after he fell on some tools doing house work. The poor man was sore sitting down for almost a month, even with the medicine the doctor gave him.”

“You have something then?” Rayla said hopefully, “We don’t have much money, but I could trade you something for it.”

The woman laughed softly, “Oh no. That well over a few years ago. But the same doctor’s still here.” She pointed past the center up another road and said, “Follow that path till you get out of town, and a short ways up you’ll see his home. A great big tower taking up a whole tree. You can’t miss it.” She focused back on her sweeping after she finished. Rayla went to grab Callum’s hand and say goodbye to her when she said, “How long will you two be in town for?”

They stopped in their tracks and Rayla turned around to say, “Not too long. We might go to the tavern after we see the doctor but we’re just passing through.”

“Well I was just thinking, you might have better luck finding him in there than his home.” She motioned to the tavern, “He’s usually out wandering about town this time of night. And before you go, you look like you could need some of this.” She bent down to her sack and pulled two fruits out of it. “These were left over from today and they’re too ripe to keep any longer, but I’m sure you could use them. No need to pay me.”

She went up to them and put one in each of their hands. Rayla was overjoyed at her generosity. She was worried that they wouldn’t be able to afford to feed themselves and take care of Callum’s injury. But by the generosity of the guard and the old woman she was sure they would be well taken care of tonight. She thanked her profusely and Callum shared another glance with the woman as he thanked her and walked away with Rayla. The woman waved them goodbye and after they were out of ear shot of her Callum leaned into Rayla and said jokingly, “My rear? Really?”

She laughed lightly at his comment and said, “I had to think of some reason why we couldn’t just show her your cut. Least now we have a story to tell the doctor.”

“Are we going to his house then?” He said as he took a bite of the fruit.

“Well she said we’d have better luck finding him at the inn, and we still have that favor to cash in. So let’s try our luck there first.” She said optimistically and tugged Callum along as they went around the ruin. He was glad he convinced her to hold his offhand, as he imagined he would have felt pain in it as he was tugged along. As they made their way around the ruin Callum took the opportunity to study it more closely. It was a series of menhirs and dolmen that encircled another ring of similar structure, and at its center was a slightly raised mound. Callum thought it appeared to have been a theater, or temple, or some other place of importance like the Moon Nexus, but it was discarded like the stones throughout the town. He admired the ruins as they walked around it and paused for a moment as he tried to find a symbol he recognized or another way to tell what purpose it held. Rayla tugged him along as he stopped and told him not to hold them up. He went along with her at her pushing and was unable to find anything, its significance lost to him. He accepted that it would only remain a curiosity for the brief time they were there and continued with her towards the inn.

The inn was no means big by his standards. It was about the size of a large house and the main hall of the winter lodge could have probably held the entire building. A large tree grew out of its center and vines overtook one outside portion. Its panels were silver-grey in color like the other buildings in the town, and part of the building seemed to lean to the side. They entered it and were greeted by dim lighting and the murmuring of different conversations throughout it. There was a large fire that roared in the back, and few lanterns hung from the ceiling which gave the inn a dim lighting throughout it. It was relatively packed, and everyone was busy socializing at their tables and the bar about one thing or another. Only a few spots were open, and they saw even fewer places were the two of them could settle inconspicuously. But no one gave them a glance or noticed them as they entered, so they thought they would be able to enjoy a meal without issue.

Rayla spied an empty table in the corner and pointed it to Callum as she said, “There’s an empty spot over there. Go sit down and I’ll grab us some food.” She pecked him on the cheek as they parted and she went over to the bar to order something for them. The elves of Xadia never produced alcohol of any kind, so Callum would have been greatly confused by its lack of it. It was similar to bars in the lands of humans only in that it was the area where someone would go if they wanted to be sociable with others. She approached it, and saw the bar was operated by a man. He looked older than Farkas, Rayla thought he looked around middle age or perhaps older. He was slightly top heavy with large, fat hands and he had a thick, dark-silvery grey beard. He let out a hearty laugh that could easily be heard among the bustle of the inn as he conversed with another patron, and he had a smile that wrapped around from one ear to the other. And at each end of his mouth were crescent markings that curled around it. She waited for him to stop laughing before she said politely, “Um, hello. I don’t mean to bother you, but me and my-”

She was interrupted before she could finish by the man who sad loudly in a gruff voice, “What? Can you speak up lass?”

She continued louder, “My friend and I were looking for some food, and we were sent here by Farkas. He said something about helping you return a favor.”

“He did. Did he?” The man said dubiously as his smile disappeared and he brought a hand to finger his beard, “And how’s the favor being returned?”

“A meal for me and my friend. Of… whatever you think the favor is worth.” She would have said ‘of course’ but decided against it, since she did not know what ‘favor’ Farkas had done for the man.

The man scuffed at Rayla’s response and looked her up and down before he gestured to her and asked annoyed, “Any reason why you’re dressed all cloak and dagger? And where’s your friend, is he invisible?”

She raised her hood up so he could better see her face and apologized to him, “Sorry, we’ve just been traveling. Force of habit. And he should be right over there.” She turned around and pointed towards the table she told Callum to sit at. He was hunched over in a chair in the corner and watched her as she spoke to the man. He waved meekly to her and she returned the wave.

She turned back to the man and his expression was unchanged. He continued annoyed, “And why isn’t he up here with you?”

“He’s a bit shy.” She used the same excuse from earlier, but the man didn’t seem anymore satisfied by it. He scoffed again before he called out,

“Jubal? Jubal!” Rayla heard a word of affirmation and turned to see a woman who must have worked at the inn. She was jostled from a conversation she had with another patron, and turned to attention at the call from the man. She was older than Rayla, and she thought she must have been close to Farkas’ age. She had white hair in a bun, was a bit plump, and clutched a pan nervously as she looked towards them. Rayla thought her markings were very intricate and beautiful, she had numerous ones which highlighted her facial features, but over her left eye was a marking similar to Farkas’. The man continued, “Go to the kitchen and grab a meal for this girl and her friend.” Jubal agreed without a word and went off towards a back room of the inn. After she disappeared the man said, “That’ll be four silver pieces.”

She questioned with some concern, “What about Farkas’ favor?”

“That is with his favor.” The man said bluntly, “Normally it’s four per meal, but I’m only charging you for one. Food isn’t cheap around her lass.”

She agreed with the man’s reasoning, and begrudgingly produced the money for him. After he accepted it she took out her water sack and said, “Will you charge to fill this with water?”

“For that, no.” He said and took it from her and went to fill it. While he was gone she took a moment to examine the inn’s patrons more closely. There was a good mix of people there, most of them were around Farkas’ age or a bit older, and she only saw a few people around her age. She was reminded of her own home as she looked around and saw how happy everyone was and thought she would have liked to spend a few days there just to get a sense of normalcy back. She knew that with Callum it was out of the question, they could only hang around and be so close to other people without someone realizing he was a human. She didn’t begrudge Callum for this, she only wished things could have been different. After a moment the man returned with her water sack. He handed it to her and asked, “Is that lad you’re with your sweetheart or something lass?”

“Him? Yeah, I’d like to think so.” She replied fondly as she looked over her shoulder towards him.

“Well make sure he grows a spine. Will you?” The man said gruffly.

After she heard him the smile she had on her face faded away. She replaced it with a scowl as she turned around to him and said tersely, “Aye. I could do that.” She crossed her arms as she finished. And as she looked at the man she thought Callum had a bigger spine than he could ever have.

The man only coughed at the silence that followed to break the awkwardness and said, “Your food will be out in a moment. Jubal will bring it right over.” He waived her away and went back to his other patrons. She replied with a thanks she didn’t mean, and as she walked over to Callum she thought about a dozen nasty words she would have called the man if she didn’t want to be inconspicuous. She stomped over to the table, Callum fiddled his fingers and didn’t notice her until she was at the table. When he saw how upset she looked he asked concerned,

“Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine.” She said as she sat down next to him and grabbed his wrist before she kissed him lightly on the lips. She whispered sharply into his ear, “That man’s an asshole.”

He looked past her towards the bar where the man was and laughed lightly as he said, “You didn’t hurt him at all, that’s pretty good.”

“I don’t want us kicked out.” She said annoyed, “The most I would have done is say a nasty word or two, but I still want to lay low.”

“Was the favor worth anything?”

She said frustrated, “Not much by the way he acted. Back home I’d pay a coin for a meal; two if I wanted Moon-Berry surprise. But he would have charged us four coins each if it weren’t for the favor.”

“Yikes.” He said alarmed by the differences. “Why’s that?”

“Couldn’t tell you.” She said flatly as she slouched over the table. “He just said something about food being expensive around here.”

Callum reflected on what she said for a moment before he said, “I guess it kind of makes sense. We are in the middle of nowhere. I don’t really know how the economy works here but back home the farther I’d go out from a city the more expensive things would get. Stuff’s just easier to get there.”

She sighed and said, “Whatever the reason is he’s still a jerk.”

Callum patted her back and said soothingly, “Well, let’s just hope the food is good.” After he finished he looked up and saw a woman approach them with plates in hand. He sat up strait and Rayla sat up after she saw her too.

She placed the dishes on the table in front of them along with a drink and said to them, “Here you are. Must be a nice change of pace after being out in the wilderness. Let me know if you need anything else.”

She turned to leave but Rayla stopped her and asked, “Actually we could use one more thing. Jubal right?” The woman turned to her and replied with affirmation. Rayla continued, “We were looking for the doctor earlier and someone said he likes to hang out here sometimes. Is he here tonight?”

“The doctor?” Jubal said questioningly, “No. Haven’t seen him at all today. You need him for something?”

“Yes, but we know where his house is. We can always find him later.”

“You sure? If it’s important I could have someone fetch him.” She looked over both of them as she finished, and took a longer glance at Callum than was usual. He was unsettled by the odd glance she gave him and turned away from her uncomfortably.

Rayla grabbed her attention quickly and said reassuringly, “Thanks, but it’s nothing to worry about. Just some medicine we could use, but it can wait till we’re done eating.”

Jubal was slightly off put by Rayla’s demeanor but ignored it and said resignedly “Alright. If you say so. Just call me if you need anything.” Rayla thanked her again and she went away from them without another word.

The two of them were silent for a moment until she was out of earshot. Then Callum cleared his throat and said quietly, “Now I know how you felt when we had to sneak you around back home.”

She laughed lightly at his comment and said, “Hey, I think things are going pretty good.”

“Yeah but it’s still nerve racking.” He picked up a wooden spoon and poked at his food while he said, “I’ll have to make better disguise next time we do this. Not sure how to get the hair color right though.”

“Your hair’s going to be the least of your problems until we can do something about your accent. If you want others to think you’re a Moon-Shadow elf anyway.”

“I could always do my earth elf impression.” He smiled to her.

She spitted out a small laugh she couldn’t stop and said, “No way. If an Earth-Blood heard you they’d kill you on sight just for that.” They both shared a laughed and then she continued, “Let’s just enjoy the food for now and then we’ll see if we can find the doctor.” She picked up her own spoon and began to eat without another word, and Callum did likewise.

The dishes and utensils provided to them were entirely wooden, including the cups which only had water in them. On his plate was a small assortment of various foods. Most of it consisted of mixed vegetables he didn’t recognize, they were lightly seasoned but a salty taste permeated in all of them. They were various colors and sizes, and he thought they were cooked enough to be mushy. Besides the vegetables were sparse amounts of meat which tasted gamey, with a fruit based dressing drizzled over it. Rayla told him that while Moon-Shadow elves were not vegetarian most of their diet consisted of plants, with sparse meat thrown in. Besides the vegetables was a sort of rice-like grain which was snow-white with a coarse texture, and it tasted overbearingly sea-salty. It didn’t taste bad but he was unprepared for how salty it was, and reeled after he tasted it. After Rayla saw his reaction she said, “The white stuff is sea-rice from down south. I never really cared for it myself but Ethari could never get enough of it. Same for the rest of what’s here, it would have been a real treat for him.” She ended warmly as she thought of her uncle back home and continued to eat.

Callum took another spoon full of the rice and examined it carefully. Before he ate it he said, “You said it’s from down south. How south we talking, Sea-Elf south?”

She replied annoyed while she ate, “Yes Callum. Sea-rice comes from Sea-Elves. If it wasn’t completely obvious.”

He didn’t respond to her immediately, even though he didn’t like the tone she gave him since everything was still foreign to him. He thought over the implications of why a Sea-Elf dish was present in Moon-Shadow elf inn, then he asked her, “Just how far south did you take us?”

She paused eating when she heard his question, then her own realization came to her. She looked down at her plate and realized that it wouldn’t make sense for a small town inn to have a sea-elf dish unless it was readily available. Especially considering how the owner stated food was expensive there. She said slightly surprised, “Huh. Pretty far I guess. Oh well, no biggie. I wasn’t planning on taking you towards them but we can get directions after we leave. The Earth-Blood elves aren’t too far of a trip around them. Then you can meet your relatives.” She ended playfully and continued to eat. Callum was annoyed that she didn’t seem to care how directionless their journey was, especially since he thought she had gotten them lost a few times. He was about to ask how she managed to take him and Zym all the way to the Storm Spire without getting lost when he noticed someone approach their table from the bar.

He was tall, thin, had a darker complexion, and wore more decorative, but not gaudy, Moon-Shadow garments than the rest of town. He had silver hair in a bun with a silver needle through it, and the rest hanged down to his shoulders. He looked young but his eyes held a deep understanding that threatened to consume whoever looked into them. Over his face was a marking in the sharp of an open triangle or a mountain. It apexed on the bridge of his nose and the two lines went down his face and ended just below his lips. Rayla felt his presence or noticed Callum as he looked at him, and the two of them saw him as he made it to their table. “Hello.” He said in a deep, gentle voice, and it put them at ease, “My name’s Aubrey, they said you were looking for me.”

Rayla was slightly confused and said, “Uh, no. Least not for you specifically. Are you the doctor?” Aubrey said that he was, and after a brief pause he looked them over and politely asked if he could take a seat with them. She said that he could; he thanked her and grabbed a nearby chair and sat down across the table from them. After he sat down he folded his hands over the table and said very courteous,

“Now, and no rush since I know you’re still eating, but how could I help?”

Rayla was pleasantly surprised, she was still upset after her bad interaction with the barman and thought Aubrey was charmingly polite. In a way his kindness reminded her of Ethari. She gestured to Callum and said, “He got this really bad cut, and we were wondering if you might have some medicine so it doesn’t get infected or anything. We’d show you it but the cut’s on his, uh, rear.” She fiddle with her hands nervously as she said the last part to him. She was glad she came up with the lie earlier but it still seemed awkward for her.

“I see.” Was all he said before he looked over to Callum and examined him. He said somewhat humorously to them, “You’re sitting rather comfortably for someone with a bad cut on their rear-end.”

Rayla chimed in quickly and said, “Well of course! Callum’s tough!” She then punched Callum on the side of the arm which caused him to let out a small moan of pain. He rubbed the side of his arm and said entreatingly,

“Ow! Rayla…?”

She apologized to him and then heard a small laugh from Aubrey. He said gently as he laughed, “Yes, very tough I can see.” He breathed deeply before he continued, “Well, I don’t have anything here but after you’re done eating you’re more than welcome to come to my home. I’m sure I’ll have something for you there. Is that alright?” Rayla said that it would be. He stood up immediately after she was done and said, “Excellent. I’ll be at the bar and leave you two alone. No need to rush, I’ll be ready whenever you are.” Rayla thanked him cheerfully, and then they saw him walk back to the bar and sit down. They watched him there for a moment before Callum said warily,

“He’s…interesting.”

Rayla said, “Really? I think he’s nice.” She took another bite of her meal as she asked, “You don’t like him?”

“No. But, do you think he suspects anything?” He said cautiously as he turned to her.

“I think the only thing he suspects is that you don’t have a cut on your rear-end.” She said jokingly in between her chewing, “Besides that, so long as he has what we need and he doesn’t ask too many questions he’s fine by me.”

Callum continued to eat his own food as well and didn’t say anything further. He thought the doctor seemed peculiar in a way he wasn’t used to or could completely describe. But he decided not to share his reservations with her, as he was worried he could have possibly offended her. He was unsure if it was merely Moon-Shadow manners and customs he was unused to or if Aubrey was odd in general. He also felt the man had an aura about him that he wasn’t familiar with, and the mage within him felt that was reason enough for suspicion. He looked up from his dinner towards the bar where he sat and studied him for a moment. Aubrey spoke to the other patrons at the bar, but none of them seemed to have any misgivings with him as they socialized. They talked for a moment and then he must have said a joke, as everyone at the bar roared into laughter that could be heard over the general noise of the inn. Callum felt satisfied with his observations and somewhat guilty at his suspicion and went back to his meal. “What that is, is you being judgmental Callum” He thought to himself as he ate. He decided he should have no more concern with him than Rayla or any other member of the town did. He figured if there was a problem they could handle themselves.

Almost as soon as that thought entered his mind Rayla said decidedly without looking up from her meal, “I want you to go back to the camp and rest while I go with him.”

Callum was shocked by what sounded like an order from her and turned to her as he replied, “What? Why?”

She stopped eating and said coolly, “You don’t need to go if all we’re doing is getting some medicine. He’s not going to look at your finger and it’ll just be safer for you to skip out.”  

“If it’s safer-!” He began to say loudly but then checked himself after he remembered where he was. He looked around timidly and saw no one noticed, then he continued, “If it’s safer for me not to go why are you going with him by yourself?”

Rayla only stared at him before she brushed the side of his hood up and hissed out, “Hello, Mr. tree-for-horns. Do you want him asking questions?”

“He’s not going to ask anything we can’t answer.” He said firmly.

She asked harshly, “What’s with your confidence all of a sudden?”

“It’s not all of a sudden.” He said defensively as he folded his arms, “What’s with you wanting to ditch me all of a sudden?”

She felt caught by his accusation and said, “I’m not ditching you, I’m keeping you safe.” Part of this was a lie. She did have a small concern that Aubrey could discover he was a human, but for the most part she was sure his disguise was good enough to fool him so long as she did most of the talking. The main reason why she wanted him to go back and let her deal with the doctor herself is because she was sure they didn’t have enough money to afford medicine. She planned on offering to do work for him as compensation, or at the very worst steal it, but she hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Whatever she had to do she didn’t want Callum to know about it. She didn’t want him to feel that he was a burden on them, and because she was responsible for his injury she had to make it right.

Callum did not realize this and only thought her concern was their ability to hide. He said cautiously as he whispered sharply through his teeth, “Safe? From what?” He wondered if Rayla felt similar suspicion to Aubrey as he did. While he decided to disregard his suspicions a moment ago he would be more than fine with renewing them if she felt the same way.

“From him finding out you’re…you know.” She said annoyed and gestured to him as she spoke. They had argued in hoarse whispers but she still felt hesitant to mention everything in case someone could hear.

He disregarded her concern and said, “He’s not going to.” She didn’t say anything in response but he saw her fold her arms and look disapprovingly at him. He reassured her, “He’s not. Like you said all we’re doing is getting some medicine. All we have to do is walk with him, maybe make some light conversation, buy it at his home, and leave.”

She disregarded him and let out a small groan before she brought her hands to her head and said frustrated, “You’re just adding another thing that can go wrong again Callum.”

He was annoyed that she decided to bring up a similar point she made when they argued not too long ago. Previously they had been in a fight with wild animals and Rayla told him to hang back while she handled them. She was almost injured at one point in the fight but Callum prevented it when he placed himself in between the animal and her and used the ‘Aspiro’ spell at the last moment. She appreciated the help later but at the time she was upset he didn’t listen to her, which Callum took as her blaming him. She told him that because she was the more experienced fighter he should listen to her in a fight and that since she was stronger he should be in the back where he could support her with his spells. He agreed that she was the more experienced fighter and that he should listen to her advice, but he felt he was more than capable of handling himself and that they should fight together. She told him that he would get in her way and that having him up front would only add another thing that could go wrong. By the end of their fight he gave into her, much to his disappointment, even though he enjoyed their cuddle afterwards. Ultimately he understood her reasoning for her battle tactics and wanting him to go back to the camp, but he wasn’t going to leave her simply because he didn’t want to. He remembered another point she made about when it was time to stick together, so he brought it up now, “You always tell me to stick close when it’s time to hide. But now when we’re hiding in plain sight you want me to leave? What if I’m caught without you? I won’t really be safer then.”

She gawked before she pointed and tried to start, “That’s – that’s very different!”

“How is it different?” He asked quickly to throw her off.

She tried to find her words but nothing came, she was so angry he used her own point against her. After a second she said, “Hiding in a ditch together is one thing, but trying to keep someone from finding out you’re human is another!” She was angry enough to be incautious in her words but she still spoke in a hoarse whisper. Callum replied,

“How is it? If I’m caught without you I’m dead. Better to just stick close and whatever happens at least we’re together.” She tried to interject in the second he paused but he continued before she could and said decisively, “Whatever it is you’re saying it doesn’t matter. I’m coming. That’s it.”

She paused for a moment at his final statement and leaned back in her seat before she tapped her hands on the table a few times in the silence. An annoyed look came over her face when she realized she couldn’t say anything to make him go back to the camp. She looked to him and he gave her a smug look, then she raised her hands up in defeat and said exasperated, “Fine. Fine. You want to come along, that’s fine. Just keep your mouth shut and it’s fine.”

She ended looking away from him and crossed her arms again. Callum felt that he had won their argument but was worried she would hold this against him later even if nothing went wrong. He still didn’t want her to go alone so he said nothing further and went back to eating his meal. She did likewise and they finished in silence. Afterwards they got up from their table and went to the bar for Aubrey as he made conversation with the other patrons. Almost as soon as they stood up he finished his drink in a large sip and walked over to meet them half way. When he reached them he asked how their meal was, and Rayla responded half-heartedly that it was good. He was satisfied with their response and said very little besides an exchange of pleasantries to them. Before he left he said his good byes to the bar, “Goodnight Conry, don’t let the others string you out too much.”

The man Rayla interacted with earlier responded in between serving his patrons, “Goodnight Aubrey. Careful not to let those two out of your sight. They’re little assassins you know.” He let out a roaring laugh as he ended. Callum and Rayla felt a bit uneasy at his comment, and she let out a nervous chuckle after she heard it. Aubrey jokingly agreed that he would keep an eye on them and waved Conry goodbye before he left the tavern with them.

The outside air was a stark change to the warm, stuffy, atmosphere of the tavern. Callum and Rayla were happy they had their cloaks. The air had cooled and they wrapped their cloaks close around them where before they wore them loosely in the tavern. Night had completely taken over the village while they ate. Besides the dim yellow light of the few lanterns in the village, and sparse fireflies, the surrounding area was illuminated by the light of the moon. Rayla looked up at the sky past the clearing of the town center and spied it, but she would have been able to tell how brilliant it was even if she was blind. It was in waxing gibbous, but still a bit more than a week away from full. Unfortunately for her and Callum she still wasn’t sure how to describe her connection to it. When she t0ried to explain how it felt to gain powers from it she said it felt exhilarating, but as natural as breathing. She also said that trying to explain it to him was like trying to explain an emotion. She focused on the moon for a moment too long and Callum and Aubrey pulled her away so they could continue to his house. She came out of her daze and followed them. She still wanted Callum to wait at the camp, and she had one more trick up her sleeve. Once they were a small distance from the inn Rayla went up to Aubrey and asked,

“Aubrey, could I ask your personal opinion as a doctor?” He was slightly surprised by her question but replied that she could and she continued, “If my friend’s injured don’t you think it’s best he goes back to the camp and rests while I get him some medicine?”

Aubrey stopped walking and turned to examine both of them. After he did he pointed to Callum and said, “If your friend wants to go back and rest, he can since he doesn’t want me to examine him. But if he feels able to he’s more than welcome to come. My personal opinion is that he should if he wants to.” He turned around to the path ahead and raised his hand up before he said positively, “Besides, I have a feeling both of you would love to see my home.”

At his response she let out a small sigh and resigned. She hoped Aubrey would have agreed with her argument and that she could have persuaded Callum to hang back, but she thought all in all it could be worse. She went to grab Callum’s hand so they could hold each other’s as they walked but he resisted and would not give it to her. She was confused but thought she must have grabbed his injured hand by mistake. She went to his other side and reached for that one but he resisted again and folded his arms over his chest in a humph. She understood his hint, but was very surprised by his actions and thought he was extremely petty. She folded her own arms and huffed next to him as they walked. Aubrey noticed this as they walked behind him and he let out a small chuckle that both of them heard. He turned around to them as they walked and asked Callum teasingly, “I take it your injury was the result of a ‘lover’s quarrel.’ Correct?” Both of them were shocked by his question and Rayla let out a mortified “No.” Callum asked how he got that idea and Aubrey responded light-heartedly, “Nowhere. Nowhere at all.” And he chuckled to himself again as they walked.

They continued for a few moments in silence, which left Callum alone to his thoughts. He was unable to read Rayla’s mind but he could tell easily that she was unhappy with him. Yet he was uncertain whether she was more upset that he refused to go back to camp, or that he wouldn’t hold her hand. He understood her worries, especially since he had them as well, but he believed her demands were completely unjustified. No one in town had discovered or at most even suspected he was human. The only hairy interaction they had was with the guard, and that was only because he brought up the Storm Spire. What angered him the most was that she attempted to use Aubrey against him. He thought that even if Aubrey told him to rest at the camp he would have refused and came with them as he said he would have. But Rayla’s attempt to go behind him, even in this small way, was incredibly egregious to him. While he was very upset he thought perhaps his actions were petty as well. He thought she only wanted to keep him safe, so he questioned whether he was right to distant himself from her when she had good intentions. He also desired to hold her hand, which he felt was a stronger push to forgive her. He wondered whether he could be too soft or easily persuade by Rayla because of how much he cared for her, and worried that was a bad thing both for himself and them as a couple. Before he could think deeper on the matter he was interrupted in his thoughts by Aubrey who said idly,

“We don’t usually see too many travelers visit here. Where do you two hail from?”

Rayla looked away from them off into the distance and responded gently but still peeved, “I’m from around the Silver Groove and he’s from up north.”

Aubrey turned around as he walked and said curiously, “How much farther north? A bit more past the Silver Groove or out of Artemia?”

Rayla turned to him and said annoyed, “Why are you asking?”

He turned away from them unoffended and shrugged before he said, “Just making conversation.” They walked for a for more seconds before he asked, “How long have you two known each other?”

“Rayla and I meet a few months ago.” Callum said, “We’ve really just been traveling since then, because we wanted to see the world and all.” He picked up the lie she told the guard from earlier. He found it easy to tell since it was all true, it just excluded details other wouldn’t understand.

He saw Aubrey scratch his chin from behind as he said, “That’s right, the two of you saw the Storm Spire didn’t you?”

Callum felt a pit fall into his stomach after he heard that. Rayla turned her head quickly to him and asked dubiously, “Where’d you hear that?”

He responded without emotion, “I was out of town on a walk and ran into Farkas after you left him. I like to keep tabs on the village, since I’m responsible for their wellbeing. And he told me about how you two had apparently been all across Xadia to the Storm Spire.” He turned around and smiled to them before he said, “That must have been quite the trip.”

Callum stuttered as he said, “Uh…yeah it was really a trip.”

Before he could say anything further Aubrey said enthusiastically, “I’ll say. The closest way to it is a three week march in either direction around the Midnight Desert. How was that journey?”

He stuttered for a second as he thought of a response but Rayla said kindly, “It’s a really long story.”

Undeterred, Aubrey continued, “I’m sure it must be, but I’d love to hear it. Did you two go by the North or South route?”

She responded very curtly, “Like I said. It’s a really long story, and I don’t want to be rude but we’re really just tired from traveling for so long. Otherwise we’d tell you all about it.”

Aubrey apologized and said sympathetically as turned to the path, “Of course, my apology. If you’ve been traveling for as long as you say you must worn out. You choose the perfect place to rest, Loruthven might not have much to see but it’s very calm.” He turned to face them again and asked, “Do you think you’ll be staying long?”

Rayla drew out her response as she thought about it herself, “Uh…We’re not sure actually. We’re camped not too far from here, but we’ll probably just rest a day or two before we move on.”

“Strange.” He said more to himself than them, “I don’t know how you two could be so tired you can’t speak but ready to leave in little more than a day.” He paused for a moment for them to respond, but neither of them said anything besides a contemplative moan. He turned back to the path and disregarded them with a wave of his hand as he said, “But as young as you are I can’t imagine you want to be still for any longer than you have to. I was the exact same way when I was your age. There was always something else to see. Speaking of which, we’re here!” He ended as he extended his arms ahead in exclamation.

They made their way through the forest outside of town into another opening where Aubrey’s house was. His home occupied a fair amount of land, a small iron and stone wall encircled his property and bore similar designs and runes to that of the stones found within the town. The gateway was open and when they passed through it they saw a beautiful garden that took up a vast majority of the grounds. They were bewildered by the beauty of it, and looked around themselves as they struggled to take in everything at once. Callum saw menhirs and dolmen dotted around the garden like statues, but they were very well kept unlike the ones in town and all of the runes engraved into them were legible. Rayla grabbed his attention as she pointed out the numerous trees, hedges, plants, and colorful flowers of the garden. He took in the beauty as it was brought to his attention, but he was drawn to a very special tree in the garden. It seemed to beckon him to it by an empowering radiance, that appeared to be more than a simple chance encounter. When his eyes saw it he grabbed Rayla’s hand and called her to look at it and her breathe was taken away when she saw it. Off on one side of the garden, placed in an area of honor was a beautiful tree that wasn’t the largest in the garden but it was easily the most distinguishable. It appeared similar to an elder tree and bore fruit that looked similar to elderberries, but the tree itself exuded a silvery luminescence in the moonlight and its berries appeared to have dim stars glowing within them. As they looked at it they were filled with a calming radiance that neither of them were sure how to describe.

Aubrey approached them as they were captivated by it and said gently, “You have a keen eye Callum.” They were struck from their daze and both to turned to look at him as he spoke, “This is a very rare tree that was once common in Loruthven and long ago in all of Artemia. Its true name is lost to time, but it’s more commonly known as a ‘Moon Tree.’”

“Moon Tree.” Callum said the name to himself. He felt the name did not capture its magnificence but he pondered on its meaning all the same. “It’s close to the Moon Arcanum?” He asked.

“Yes, more so than others. But its significance could be said another day. Are you a scholar of the arcanum.”

“No, not really.” He replied quickly, but gently. “It’s just beautiful is all, and I get where the name comes from.”

“Indeed.” Aubrey said as he looked and admire it himself. He ended his gaze and turned to them before he said, “I happy to see you made up quickly.” He gestured to their hands, which they had held unconsciously the entire time. They both looked down and after they realized it they were a bit flustered. Part of them felt they had not been angry with each other long enough to make up yet, such was the unspoken game they played, but they did not stop holding hands. They were happy to enjoy the garden together, and even if they could not say it to each other, they knew what each of them were upset over was not worth it. Aubrey spoke again and said, “But we’re getting side tracked, I should have what you need in my home. This way please.” As he said this he made a straight line towards a large tree in the center of the garden.

Rayla and Callum were very impressed by the extravagancy of his home compared to the rest of the village, but they had only taken notice of the gardens and failed to notice his house. As the old woman said his house was a large tower that took up the entirety of a large oak tree. The tree itself appeared to be ancient but very healthy despite the tower built into it. From the outside they could see windows, doors, and balconies built into and outside of the tree, and it appeared to contain many floors within which lead to the top until no further additions could be seen behind the foliage. They approached the front door which was light purple in color with silver knobs and hinges. They marveled at it for a moment before Aubrey produced a key. He went inside and they tried to followed him but before they could he closed the door behind him without a word. They were puzzled that he left them outside without any mention and Rayla turned to Callum as she asked, “He did say, ‘This way please’ right?”

“Yeah. I thought he did.” Callum said confused.

“Maybe he’s getting the medicine inside to bring out to us.” Rayla said, and Callum agreed with her. They waited outside for a moment but Aubrey did not appear. Rayla knocked on the door and after a second they were surprised to see it open it a crack.

Aubrey poked his head out and said, “Yes? Is something the matter?” He seemed to be as confused as they were.

“Uh…no. I don’t think so.” Rayla began to say slowly, “But… could we please come inside?”

At her request Aubrey brow’s picked up in surprise, and he opened the door wide to them as he said apologetically, “Yes. Yes absolutely. Please come right in.” Rayla and Callum both looked at each other before they went in and shrugged. They were unsure what to make of the situation but assumed it was a simple slip of the mind on his part. They entered his home and were greeted by a wave of warmth that was almost overbearing compared to the night air. It wasn’t stuffy but it smelled like an old home, with furniture and walls from ages past. The inside was dimmer than outdoors since the entranceway possessed few windows to allow light in, and a few unlit glass lamps hung from the walls. Aubrey closed the door behind them gently and ushered them to a side room. When they entered it they realized the heat emanated from that part of the house. It was a side parlor that was dimly lit by a calm, orange glow from a fireplace in the wall. They could make out green seats arranged in a sitting area close to the fire with a matching rug on the floor, and cabinets lined the walls along with old paintings and other artwork. Once they entered the room Aubrey turned to them and said upset with himself,

“Please forgive my rudeness. I live out here on my own and always close the door behind me out of habit. When you didn’t follow me I just assumed you were admiring the workmanship of the house and I began putting my things away before you knocked on the door.” He rubbed his hands over his face exhausted before he said apologetically, “I should have invited you inside. My sincerest apology.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Rayla said as she removed her hood from her face. The warmth of the room made it unbearable to have it on, and she felt bad for Callum since he wouldn’t have the luxury to remove his.

When she removed it Aubrey grew a worried look on his face and approached her as he stuck a hand out towards her. His facial expression and gesture gave her anxiety and she unconsciously steeped away from him as Callum began to step between them. Aubrey asked in a concerned voiced that soothed both of them, “Rayla, did you cut yourself too?” He presented part of her hair forward that was covered in dried blood.

Her eyes went wide and she remembered all of Callum’s blood she got on herself when she injured him. She thought she must have touched her hair before she wiped her hands clean but she couldn’t remember. She pulled her hair back and said nervously as she fiddle it, “Oh no. That must be from Callum after I tried helping him. Must have gotten it all over myself without realizing.” She made a small forced laugh, as Aubrey brought his hand that touched her hair to his face. He seemed to smell his fingers and then a shocked expression came over his face which concerned both Rayla and Callum. Then after an instant Aubrey’s expression changed to disgust and he let out a violent coughing fit as he said in between coughs,

“Excuse me…I must have touched something foul earlier…just… a moment and I’ll get your medicine…” He excused himself from the parlor as he coughed and left the two of them alone. Even after his cough faded away into the house they only stood in the parlor, dazed by what happened. A second later Callum looked to Rayla, who looked off towards the direction Aubrey went, and brought his face to her hair and breathed it in. His sudden gesture snapped her out of her daze and she pushed him away as she said embarrassed,

“What are you doing?”

He stuttered for a moment as he said very warmly, “I mean…I didn’t think it smelled bad.”

Rayla blushed and walked away from him towards the couches as she said, “I know it doesn’t. It’s probably your blood and whatever else is mixed with it that he couldn’t stand.” She sat down and crossed her arms.

Callum sat down at her right and said teasingly, “Uh, probably not. More than likely I’m just used to your pungent musk by now. When was the last time you took a bath by the way?” He stuck his head towards her obnoxiously as he ended.

She pushed him away lightly and said annoyed, “More often than you, I bet.”

He was unable to keep out a small chuckle as he said, “No, I’m pretty sure I bathe more than you. By a lot actually. I think even Ezran bathes more than you, and he hates baths. He told me once that when he’s King he’d outlaw them. But frankly I’ve always enjoyed them, even the outdoor ones. That’s why I’ve been so keen on finding a nice little waterfall or stream for us to clean our stuff in every so often. You really should use the next one we find. Or change into another set of clothes every once in a while. ” She replied with affirmation  in between each of his statements but he went on until she almost yelled out,

“Alright I get it!” He reeled back at her response and they looked at one another for a moment. He was slightly taken aback by her outburst and he could see she was angry, but it only hid her embarrassment. Silence returned and she continued, “I’m a pig and stink like one too. No need to rub it in.” She brought up her knees and hugged them as she stared into the fire. Which consumed her fascination as Callum spoke,

“I didn’t say that. Just that maybe you could clean up in river every once in a while.” She rolled her eyes at him but he continued, “And I didn’t say I don’t like how you smell. And honestly…” He blushed as he continued embarrassed, “Honestly if anything I kind of like it.” He said in a rush.

“You what?” She turned to him in surprise but he could not look at her. He continued and grew more embarrassed as he went on,

“I mean…” He struggled to put the thoughts he’s had into words, “You’re…really athletic.” He turned to her quickly and smiled sheepishly as he occasionally dropped her gaze, “And I guess, whenever you fight, or work, or push yourself. – I mean – You get really sweaty.” He swallowed, “And just seeing you like that and then knowing what you smell like when you’re like that. It…it does something for me.” They shared look with each other after he finished. But he couldn’t even look at her for more than a second before he turned away embarrassed. He felt his cheeks get warmer and looked into the fire and thought it would feel cool compared to his face.

Rayla didn’t say anything for a moment. She brushed part of her hair behind her ear and turned to him as she said embarrassed, “You like when I’m sweaty and gross?”

He turned to her to speak but only opened and closed his mouth as he tried to decide and find his words. Eventually all he said was a definitive and sudden, “Yes.” A shocked look came over Rayla after he said it and he had to look away from her. He thought she wouldn’t understand what he meant, and wondered if he even understood himself. He worried that she would think he’s weird or gross, and thought that was exactly what she believed now.

As he felt this way she grabbed his left hand softly, and he turned to her after she did. She looked uncomfortable and said as she looked in his direction but towards the floor, “I don’t mind if you do. In fact I…kind of like it.” She looked him in the eye as she finished but only for a moment, and Callum saw her blush.

“You do?” He exhaled more than spoke as relief entered him.

“Yeah.” She drew out slowly and then tried to be wryly, but she was still embarrassed as she continued, “And if you want, maybe we can…get closer, next time I am.” She tried to look at him in the eye again, but she couldn’t.

“Yeah.” He said breathlessly. She turned to him after he did and he continued, “I’d like that.” They looked at each other for a moment as they both blushed and smiled like idiots. Nothing else was said between them, and then without realizing it they inched their faces towards each other. They closed their eyes when they were about to touch and kissed each other gently. It was a small but passionate kiss when they started, but it quickly grew more intimate and involved. Neither of them was the sole initiator, as was typical when they kissed, but they both found themselves wanting more of the other. Callum reached up with his good hand towards her hair. He let it fall in between his fingers and then went up to her ear and around to the back of her head and pulled her closer for the kiss. Rayla liked to be handsy whenever they kissed in private. She was conscious that they were in someone’s home but she reached up under his scarf and groped his neck and collar bone with her right hand. He let out a small shiver, as was typical whenever she did something like that, but they did not slow. They stayed like this for a second until Rayla grabbed his left hand and squeezed it tight unconsciously. The pain he felt in his hand caused him to retreat from their kiss for a second but he did not say anything. Rayla noticed this and softly asked concerned,

“What’s wrong?” She squeezed his hand tighter, as the moment made her forget his injury.

Callum winced and said, “Nothing. But maybe…” He gestured to his hand and Rayla instinctively retracked herself from it as if it was fire. She scrunched her face up in anger and lowly called herself stupid under her breath. He tried to reassure her and said her name as he began to reach for her again. He didn’t want to stop, he just wanted her to be gentle with his injury. Before he could get much further he was interrupted by Aubrey who said,

“Pardon me.” When they heard his voice they both looked towards him and saw that he stood in the middle of the room a few feet in front of them before the fire. They did not notice when entered the room, and while they both were very much occupied they felt that he almost appeared suddenly before them. He continued, “I don’t mean to interrupt but I should have something for your friend.” He put out his hand which held a small vial with a grey substance within it. They began to get up from the couch and he continued, “I understand that because of the nature of your injury you’d prefer me not to see it, but this should help with the healing and pain of it if you apply it daily.”

“That’s great.” Rayla said relieved and went up to him, “How much for it?”

“Fifteen silver pieces.” He said plainly.

When she heard the price she felt her heart dropped into her stomach. She understood from the tavern keeper that prices where more expensive there, but she thought it must have been five times more expensive than what she would have bought back home if she had a cut. She began to say desperately, “We-we got three pieces now. But I’m sure we can figure something out, can’t we?” She began to walk closer to him as she spoke and Callum followed her and said her name gently.

Aubrey dismissed their worries and said, “Yes, of course we can. I do need of a few household chores done actually. Ingredient shopping, delivery, cleaning, firewood chopping.” He turned to the fire at his last comment and admired it as he said, “The fires seem to be dying now, speaking of which.”

Rayla said, “Yeah, it must be getting late. I’ll give you what money we have and be here first thing in the morning.” She held out her hand but Aubrey pulled the vial away and said softly,

“There’s no need to leave now.”

She continued anxious, “Well, not to worry you but our camp is a good walk away, and we kind of need this. So if we could just uh, grab it and go-” She made another step towards him but Aubrey held up his hand and said,

“No. Like I said there’s no need to leave. You two are more than welcome to spend the night.” Neither Callum or Rayla said anything but they both let out a prolong, “uh” at his offer. Aubrey dismissed their refusal and gestured them to the hallway and asked them to follow him, which they hesitantly agreed to. He guided them through the halls of his home as he said, “I have a guest room with a bed for each of you. It’s where my niece and nephew stay when they visit but they haven’t been here in a while.”

Rayla said, “That’s really kind Aubrey but we couldn’t possible put you through the trouble.”

He again dismissed their worries, “Oh no, no trouble at all. I absolutely love the company.”

She tried to dissuade him as she was sure they would have trouble keeping the lie and said, “Sure and we appreciate it, but me and Callum really like our privacy.”

He said confidently, “And privacy you shall have. Right this way.”

It was a short walk from the parlor to the room he spoke of. It was on the second floor up a narrow winding stair case down the hall to a small door at one corner of the house. He opened it to a small dark room. He stepped inside and tapped at two small glass lanterns at either wall, and they lit up by fireflies that danced within. There were two small beds at each side of the wall with enough space between them for two people to stand snuggly together. The bed on the left had a cyan blue blanket, and the right was red. Both of the blankets looked faded from use, but the beds were neat and still looked very comfortable. High at the back wall was a small window that let in moon-light, and at the foot of the beds were two small pine drawers. Their smell permeated the room. After they got a look of the room Aubrey stepped out and said, “This’ll be your room for as long as you stay here. There’s a chamber pot down the hall, and I only ask you clean up after yourselves if you use it.”

They both thought the room looked cozy and would have loved to spend the night after traveling through the wilderness for the past weeks. But they were hesitant that Aubrey could’ve discovered them. Rayla said, “This is really nice, but we can’t stay.”

“Well why not?” It was a simple question, but she was hard press to give an answer to it. Callum was the one to answer and said,

“We can’t just leave our camp. What if someone takes our stuff?”

Rayla thanked him in her head for the cover, but Aubrey was undeterred and said kindly, “Your camp will be just fine if left alone for one night. We have so few travelers here, and even fewer thieves.” They had an odd but pleasant feeling as he said this, and by the way he looked at them so warmly. They felt very much at ease as he continued, “You can work off your debt while you live here. And I know you want to keep your injury private, but at least if you stay here I can get an idea of how my treatment is working. Plus, I think you two have earned one night in a warm bed.” Rayla looked at Callum under his hood for a moment but neither of them spoke as they thought over his offer. Aubrey said to the silence, “And of course you’re more than welcome to join me for breakfast tomorrow. I make a delicious Moon-berry surprise.”

At Moon-berry surprise Rayla was heartbroken. It was so long since she last had one, but she couldn’t make Callum spend the night while hiding. She was about to regrettably refuse his offer when Callum said, “I’ll probably skip on breakfast. It sounds nice but I’ll just try to rest my rear if that’s alright?”

“Of course, no problem at all.” Aubrey said and presented the vial to him, “Dab your finger into it and only apply the ointment that comes out sticking to it. Do that every day until it runs out or your cut heals. Do you understand?” Callum replied that he did and Aubrey turned to Rayla and continued, “I realize you’re short on money so I’ll let you keep what you have. You’ll just have to do a bit more work for me in return. You could even stay and work for me for extra money after you repaid your debt if you want.” He paused for a moment before he added, “I ask that you please don’t explore my home until I show you around more tomorrow, but do you need anything else?”

Rayla replied dazed, “I - no. Nothing at all.” She turned to Callum and said, “You’ll be fine staying here?”

Callum said, “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

Aubrey interjected, “Considering your friend’s injury I’d think you’ll be more than fine staying here for bit. Anything else at all before goodnight?”

           They replied that there wasn’t, so he wished them goodnight. He told them the lamps would dim themselves if left alone and went to his quarters. They entered their room and closed the door behind them, and Rayla sat down on the Cyan bed to examine it. It felt somewhat stiff but a far cry from sleeping in the wilderness. She tapped at the bed before she turned to Callum and said, “You don’t mind?”

Callum removed his hood and wiped his brow as he said, “Sleeping in a bed? No. It’ll be annoying to spend the day locked in here without my sketch book, but I’ll manage.”

He sat down at her left, and she leaned on him as she said, “I can always grab it for you if you want.”

“No, better that you just do whatever work he has in mind so we can leave before tomorrow ends.” He grabbed her hand and said sweetly, “Do you want to share a bed?”

She smiled wryly and leaned into his face before she said, “Nope. I’m good.” She got up from the bed and went over to the other with a small bounce.

“What, but why?”

“Oh, cause I’m still just a little bit mad at you.” She said teasingly and began to remove her cloak.

He let out a small moan, “Aw, but why? This’ll be nice, and we’re safe here.”

“I know we are.” She removed her armor and revealed her undershirt. Her armor still had dried blood on it from earlier. She wrapped her cloak around it and stowed it inside the drawer. She said still teasing, “But now I have to make sure he doesn’t bother you too much while I do all the heavy lifting tomorrow.” She turned to him smiled and said not angry at all, “So I’m still a little mad.”

He folded his arms and said grumpy, “I’m still mad you cut me but I thought we made up?” She let out a small wince she thought he didn’t notice. He continued, “It’s fine now. We got medicine and I’m sure it’ll heal up in no time.” He paused as he waited for a response from her but she didn’t say anything. He said, “Is there another reason you don’t want to?”

She relaxed and went to kneel on the floor in front of him. She said tired, “No, not really. I’m just not in the mood right now. Okay?” He replied that he understood. She touched his face and said, “Tomorrow when we’re back on the road we’ll cuddle all night. Deal?”

“Deal.” He said, and the two of them leaned in to kiss each other. After they parted she told him to apply the ointment before bed. He said he would and pulled off the cork of the vial; he was greeted with a harsh acidic smell. He removed his gloves and bandages to get at his cut. When he did he felt minor pain as the bandages exited his wound, and subdued a small grunt from the pain and dipped his finger into the solution. He felt a sharp discomfort in his finger after he did, but from his experiences with medicine it was expected. She helped him reapply the bandages just as the light of the lanterns faded. Then she got up and went to her bed and said goodnight to him, and he returned the sentiment. He removed his horns, cloak, scarf, and shirt and placed them on the drawer before he settled into his bed. He was happy that the blush from the mist-flowers would last until he took a bath, but he already felt itchy like Rayla said he would. Despite his itchiness and pain in his finger he relaxed into sleep and a deep peace came over him that he had not known since before he was out in the wilderness.

He dreamed lucidly but it only carried him to a small room like the one he slept in. He dreamed he was alone in bed and was shackled to it by an unbearable fatigue and could not leave it if his life depended on it. He tried to look to his side for Rayla but he could not see beyond his bed. Then a shadow of a silhouette of a person appeared before his bed. He felt its presence was close to the aura of the moon and thought it was her but, that it was distorted and shadowed. She drew closer but it she seemed a hundred miles away even so close as she was. She leaned down to him and kissed him lightly on the lips, he tried for more but she retreated as she leaned over him. He thought he saw he smile before she kissed his lips once, and then began to kiss down his face until it reached his neck just above his collar bone where she touched him earlier. The kisses started light but grew until they reached his neck, where she almost consumed him. At the climax he felt all of her weight on him and a fatigue worse than before, but immense pleasure he had never known before. He felt consumed by her and desired it, he tried to reach around her and embrace her but he was too weak to even do that. Eventually his dreamed faded into a black void, full of neither rest nor peace. Until he awoke the next day.

______________________________________________________________

Post Commentary

           (Small update at end of chapter) I shall disappear now that this chapter is posted. I’ll update either this story or ‘Date Night’ whenever I see fit, and expect these comments to be deleted upon an update or in preparation. If you have further questions contact me here or on my Tumblr. Peace for now.

[naerryn]

Fragile Tension (Part One)

Part Two

“How many coffee is that now?”, my partner Lea asked bemused when she sat down at the edge of my office desk as she’s eyeing the steaming black coffee next to my laptop.

“Six? I am surprised you’re really drinking this dishwater.”, she asked in the blue, tugging some of hair messy curly hair behind her round ears and I noticed dark circles around her chocolate brown eyes, even through her almond brown skin tone concealed a lot of her tiredness.

“Better than nothing.”, I shrugged her comment off and added some milk and sugar into the porcelain mug. Nightshift at the Magic Task Force facility was always an unpleasant experience, to say the least. Either nothing was going on and you had to fight sleep for ten hours straight, or the crazy shit was blowing up right into our face. There was nothing in between.

At least, there weren’t many other agents in the building at this hour. Especially almost to no elves.

“Oh, guess what.”, Lea started talking again, obviously I was part of her plan to fight off her desire to sleep while I was stirring my coffee with a silver spoon. I hummed in respond, waiting for her to continue talking.

“I heard Agent Arlon bitching about the public speech your mother held in the elf district of Seattle today. Shame for all elves and the usual bullshit.”

��And here I thought you head something new.”, I replied with a dramatic roll of my eyes, taking a sip from my almost to sweet tasting coffee. It was an open secret that the bigger part of the elvish society considered my mother to be their personal Dark Lord. Or antichrist, how humans liked to say in such a matter.

She worked since decades for a real equality between all races, not just one that stood on paper. Growing up privileged, my mother sympathized at a very young age with creatures that weren’t lucky enough to live behind guarded walls and enjoy the best unaffordable education for over 60 % of the planet.

Her speeches back then were waved off as youthful flaws, but when she felt in love with a human and decided to give birth to the first halfbreed of the elvish kind, that crossed the line for most elves.

It was socially tolerated to have a secret affair with humans, but that’s were the comfort zone ended. Being in an official relationship would be a scandal to an alarming extent and the pressure to much to bear, but breeding with a different race, that was a social death sentence.

I lived my childhood in the elf district of New York City, moved with my parents to three more elvish districts around the country before we finally settled in Los Angeles. Still a lot of hate, but at least there was enough other gossip that we could live our lives in peace for most parts. There were only heydays of hatred whenever mother did one of her more passionate speeches about equality or wanted to enforce a new law that didn’t benefit the needs of the elves.

“One should think that they are more discrete with you being around.”, Lea said thoughtfully, taking one of the elder files that rested on my desk and flipped through the pages.

“Nah, they love it when I walk in to listen to their shit. Hoping I will cry my eyes out about it.”

Back when Lea and I got paired up roughly three years ago, she thought I am just one of those arrogant elves that fill the halls of the department, thinking that everyone should bow to them. But that impression dissolved into dust when she witnessed me getting bullied by elvish coworkers on a daily basis.

I may looked like them, minus the pointed teeth and the bright, light colored eyes, those were human, I got treated like an abomination since the day of my conception. Even by my elvish grandparents.

A loud ping echoed through the open space office and the door of the elevator opened with a swift motion, revealing the Agents Kandomere and Montehugh to be back from a field trip.

I growled at the sight of the buff elf, with his dyed blue hair slicked back nicely and his silver-blue eyes scanning the room as he entered the room with his partner.

“Behave.”, Lea hissed quietly, but we both knew that Kandomere heard every word we would exchange from now on, even if he would be five rooms apart from us.

He was the personification of my archenemy. The second I laid eyes on his silver gorget, etched with the sentence “Elves above all. Above all elves.” in Övüsi, the elvish language, I decided to hate him with a burning passion.

And after a heated debate in a team meeting around a year ago, where it wouldn’t have taken much for us to strangle one another to death, our human partners decided to keep us separated by all costs. And it worked until now.

I didn’t came around to notice how he clenched his strong jaw as his piercing eyes landed on me, heard his heartbeat quickening and he let out a deep breath.

“Can’t he breath even louder.”

“[Y/N]!”, my partner hissed again, this time a bit more aggressive, her eyes dancing between me and the two arrivals and I could swear I noticed a pleading look on Montehughs face directed at Lea.

“Why don’t we go to the archives? Decoding some ancient languages? What do you say, [Y/N]?”

“No.”

“Well, I could go for something small to eat, Kandomere.”, I heard Montehughs booming voice, looking around the room casually before glancing at his partner, who was striding through the room in my direction.

“Then go.”, he said callous, passing Lea and my desk with stone cold features before I could hear the chair of the desk right behind mine being pulled back. So that’s his first move, I thought to myself and decided to slurp on my coffee rather unladylike.

I felt his death glare literally on the back of my head, but at this very moment, I couldn’t care less. Instead, I had to hold back myself from laughing about Lea and Montehugh, who were unable to cope with their (half-) elvish partners.

Montehugh, who still stood close to the elevator, walked the invisible path Kandomere previously moved on, but he came to halt right next to Lea and myself.

“Long time no see... So, how is it going?”

“Well, it’s always the same, Ulysses.”

“Ulysses?”, I blurred out with a raised eyebrow, watching the two humans with an answer demanding look in the eyes and judging the of Kandomeres sharp breath we were sitting in the same boat.

“That’s his name.”

“I know, but since when are we addressing each other by first name?”

He’s with the enemy, I thought to myself, as I tried my best not to let that thought become visible on my facial features.

“I have friends beside you, [Y/N].”

“Friends?”, this time, it was Kandomeres sonorous voice filling the air as he rose his voice and I slid back while remaining on the chair to be able to look at him and the two human.

“Since we can’t bring the two of you to team meetings without starting the apocalypse, we started talking during the breaks and stuff.”, Montehugh said in defense, crossing his arms in front of his chest while Lea slipped down from the desk to stand next to him.

“Oh really?”, Kandomere and I said at the same time, quickly glancing at one another before turning our attention back to our partners.

"You both are behaving ridiculous. I mean, look at you.”

“She’s right. You know what, Lea and I are getting some supper and you guys can burn down this place if necessary, but don’t get us involved anymore.”, and with that being said, Montehugh and Lea turned their backs on us and headed straight for the elevator and just a blink of the eye later, they were gone behind metallic doors.

“That’s your fault.”, Kandomere said in a low growl, interlocking his hands in front of his face while staring at me with arched eyebrows.

“My fault?”, I asked him outraged, placing a hand on my chest as I swirled around to face him. He remained silently, his silver-blue eyes staring me down without blinking.

“This is hardly my fault. You”

“I have done nothing.”

“Of course. How could I forget that our godlike Kandomere isn’t able to do anything wrong. Elves above all. Above all elves. Right!”, I yelled at him and both of us rose to our feet, only a desk kept us apart from one another.

At first, there was pure rage shown on his face, but with every heavy breath that he exhaled, his strong features began to soften.

“So this what it was all about the entire time?”, Kandomere asked me calmly, tilting his head while he scanned my features for any sign if he found the final clue to solve a case that caused him a lot of headaches.

Unwittingly, I backed away a small step, meeting the desk I said behind for the last two hours with my backside while my full attention rested on the elf in front of me.

“What are you talking about?”, I muttered under my breath and felt awed by the sudden change of his demeanor as I watched Kandomere pointing at his silver gorget, his piercing light eyes locked with mine.

“You hate me because of a piece of jewelry?”

“I hate you for everything this piece of jewelry stands for.”, I told him honestly and I could tell by the look on his face what he was thinking at this very moment. That I was sounding just like my mother.

“I have nothing against other races.”

“But?”

“But I think most need supervision.”

“By elves?”, I wasn’t beating around the bush, but neither was Kandomere, and I crossed my arms in front of my chest while he walked around the desk, now standing an arm-length apart from me as he leaned against the desk.

“Yes.”

I snorted in respond, shaking my head in disbelief about his dusty, old fashioned views. Sadly, this view was shared by most of those elitist pure-blooded elves. An awkward silence took a firm grip of us, mentally going through the usual better and worse reasons to believe in each of our views.

Those debates were held millions of times, there was no good reason for the two of us to start it on our own. Nothing new would come out of it. Everything that someone could say on that topic was already said by older, more wiser elves then us.

“But that doesn’t mean that I hold any resentment towards you.”, Kandomere said after a long pause, slowly coming closer to me in small, graceful steps. I bit my lower lip, avoiding his gaze for a split second before looking back up to meet his eyes.

“I find it hard to belief.”

“Really?”

“Really.”, we exchanged our words quickly, and he came to stop right in front of me, the tip of his expensive designer shoes touching mine softly. He smelled like smoke of an open fire mixed with the scent of leather and roses. It left me wondering for a moment if there was someone waiting for him at home, but that thought left my racing mind as quickly as it entered.

“Then, would you allow me to prove you that my words are honest? All I want is a chance and time.”, he spoke calmly, looking down at me through half closed eyes.

“I have to think about it.”, I whispered, flinching away from him before I grabbed my jacket, which rested on the back of my chair before I stride towards the closed elevator.

I felt his eyes burning in the back of my head with every step I came closer to my escape, his smell still etched into my mind and the sonorous sound of his voice echoing in my head.

I needed a clear head, and here, with him, I wouldn’t be able to get what the back of my head demanded. That’s at least what I told myself as I waited for the elevator to show up, feeling like it’s taking longer then usual for it to show up on our floor.

With a loud ping, the door glided to one side and I quickly entered the small room to press the button for the ground floor. Turning around on the spot, my eyes landed on Kandomere one last time before the doors closed automatically.

The silver-blue orbs of his were pleading me to stay, to come back to him and sit down on the some chairs, talking about this and that and making first steps on getting to know one another. I lowered my head, avoiding his gaze as the door closed the engine of the elevator starting to lower the cabin to it’s destination.

(2184 Words)

[invinciblerodent]

Oh-oh! 25 and 7 for oc asks for your tavs

Also, please tell me how Petyr is pronounced, I keep reading is as Peh-TIER, but I'm starting to suspect it might just be Peter

OC Ask Game!

25) The name you chose for your OC, why did you chose it?

oh to unleash the nerdery

For Arvid's name, I was just thinking that dwarf aesthetics generally have a bit of a... half Art Deco, half Viking feel going on for them? so I just thought that leaning into that Scandinavian angle a little bit would be fun. (I was also really fixated on studying Swedish at the time, but I didn't really want to use a specifically Swedish name, so I went with one my little search said was quite common all over Scandinavia, and one I could obnoxiously overpronounce in my head.) (Like the way I tend to read it to myself is with a very grossly exaggerated Swedish accent, lol.)

His last name, Trygg, I chose kinda in the same vein as how J.R.R. Martin did the bastard children's names in GoT depending on the country: it's just... it just means "safe" in Norwegian. I thought it'd be fun for him to have a name that's... not really a name, but more just an adjective, a placeholder given to him out of necessity by the monastery where he was raised. (Which ended up working out really nicely with him getting "Dekarios" to call his own at the end!)

(A fantasy!Norwegian first name and fantasy!Greek last name sound really silly together ngl, but a part of me really loves how strange it is because it's his. Like yeah, people do sometimes wind up with silly names because of their spouses. It's love.)

Iona, as I was kinda developing her, her first placeholder name was "dove" (because of one line of a Dove Cameron song lol) - and I admit, I did just google what names might have similar meanings, in that dove/freedom/independence/autonomy/rebirth vein of things, and one website said that Iona, in Scottish (I believe?) is supposed to mean "dove".

I don't.... fully believe that was correct because I haven't been able to confirm it elsewhere since, but by the time I looked into it further, I got attached to the name, and it... got stuck.

Her last name/maiden name (which is what she uses now), "Raedir", I tried to make a pompous, quintessential Elf Name (to go with her Long Draconic Bloodline), but at the end of the day, it's... really nonsense. Translated, it'd mean something like "unicorn dust", derived from the words "raer" (unicorn) and "mithardir" ("white dust"/snow?), but that meaning is sort of just there to amuse me, because I was looking at a lot of medieval tapestries with unicorns on them at the time.

(One weirdness about it is that, while I know it's supposed to be pronounced "eye-ona" in English, with my Hungarian brain I kept reading it as "ee-yona" on accident. So I decided that "eye-ona" is the "human" pronunciation, and she deliberately went back to pronouncing it the "elvish" way, as "ee-yona", when she started using her maiden name again.)

(A little benefit- if someone is looking for an "Eye-ona" Birchlight, they're not gonna find her. Nope, there's only an "Ee-yona" Raedir here.)

As for Petyr, you're actually reading it perfectly right, lol! I deliberately wanted it to be a little misleading and obnoxious, like it sometimes is in old fantasy novels from like the 70's and 80's. Like sometimes a character will have a very normal name that's spelled- and consequently pronounced in a ~fantasy~ way?

Honestly, I just looked at my build/concept, and thought.... "He's Peter, but stupid. That's it. That's his name. I hate it, it's perfect." So the "-tyr" is pronounced like the god Tyr's name. I don't... really have an answer why, but I do really like the thought of him having to always explain that no, it's not Peter, it's Peh-TYR, like in Tyr, how is this so bloody hard.

"Wildbrook" came from a similar thought, I kinda just... wanted the most "80's fantasy ranger dude" name I could think of, and just like how it is with his whole existence, the fact that I like it actually does bother me a little bit lol.

+1:

"Raymond Percival Trevelyan" is basically "Knightly Knightson Canonlastname". "Raymond" means "protector/protecting hands", "Percival", I took from Sir Percival, one of the knights in Arthurian legend, and Trevelyan, as in the last name given to the human Inquisitor in DA:I.

Back in the day, I was leaning really into the whole "archetypal hero character" theme. He was just... a young, pious, knightly idealist who went from said piousness and idealism to absolute disillusionment (and a much less formal relationship with religion). Now, it sounds pretty tongue-in-cheek, to have the Big Strong Former Hero Of The Lands brandish such a deeply pompous name.

7) Does your OC have a favorite and least favorite food?

OH this one is fun!

Okay, so one of my favorite pieces of headcanon that carries across franchises is that dwarves' superior poison resistance translates in them to an extreme tolerance of spice. Like most human foods, they just taste completely bland to to dwarves.

So I like to imagine that Arvid, having grown up in a monastery and eating mostly things prepared with it being shared with non-dwarves in mind, is just... kind of resigned to things not having a lot of flavor. He'll say nice things when asked for his opinion of course, but more often than not, he's simply eating just to put the calories in- no real favorite or least favorite to speak of there. It's more about the physical sensation of not being hungry anymore.

Gale is of course horrified when he learns this (what do you mean my cooking is bland to you, I cooked every meal you've eaten in the past year????? have you just not had food you've liked in a year??????), and makes it his personal mission to learn to cook traditional dwarven cuisine.

He, uh. He winds up accidentally poisoning himself more than once. But his husband is very, very endeared (if worried) and appreciative of the gesture.

Iona has no such troubles- having been a housewife for such a long time, she's a decent cook, but she's used to preparing meals she... didn't really like much at all. All sorts of roasts and steaks, various pieces of dead animals, the occasional potato maybe- and she, in true elf fashion, is no fan of meats in general.

So during their travels, the only time she cooks is the first night ever, when it's just her, Shadowheart, and Astarion (they toss together a weird, bland stew from just a couple potatoes and a fistful of sage they scrounged up- they didn't even notice that Astarion just pushed the food around a bit, they were so out of it), but as soon as Gale joins up, she categorically rejects even touching a wooden spoon.

It's only after the game, living with a person who makes zero demands of her in regards to food, that she finds joy in food and cooking. She can finally make whatever she wants, whenever she wants it, and she experiments as much as she can. All she has to forego is garlic. (Which, well, you win some, you lose some.)

She's.... sometimes successful. But whatever it ends up being, whether it's good or bad, she is the only one who has to eat it, and she bloody well delights in it.

Petyr has been mostly self-sufficient for 20+ years at this point. Most of his food is homegrown or wild-caught, and like with everything else, he learned by experimentation.

I like to think that he doesn't really think of himself as a good cook, but he is infuriatingly good at this too, like he is at everything else.

Like he'll agree to whip up something quick for the group a few tendays into their journey, and make fucking...... perfect venison steaks, with a wild rice- and fresh mushroom risotto, and a gorgeous red wine sauce. Gale can't decide whether to be impressed, or livid. Petyr just shrugs like, "I kept myself fed in the forest for 20 years. What'd you think I was doing in that time, grazing?"

He too is, I think, in the "whatever puts meat on your bones is good enough" mindset when it comes to favorites, but for some reason I think he'd love a good, nice cheese. That'd be something he can't really make himself, so it'd be a special treat to get on his monthly little supply-trips.

[shy-magpie]

RQG 154

Wherein red stringing occurs. Liveblog under the cut:

 Not much hype this week, just a lot of being quietly thrilled RSB got the beginning of the episode dedicated to us. I hope the rest of the fandom doesn't feel like Bryn plays favorites. Its sweet he back reads and answers questions but its nothing he wouldn't do in official. Last week was such a gift that I think it cut down on hype for this week because even if (Alex forbid) they immediately time skipped to the end of the week, quarantine still got us amazing backstory and character moments. Unless Alex gets truly desperate and has someone attack the inn or infects both the new kids, the characters are safe from physical danger so no fear hype either.

Yes I want follow up on that Hamid & Zolf conversation: I am so proud of him for calling Zolf out on being patronizing (I can't believe I didn't see earlier with his family, of course that's the aspect that got to him) and they need to figure out how to deal with the chain of command. Zolf already seems more willing to get input on his decisions so its mostly losing the attitude when things happen like Hamid casting lights. Yes I also want Cel to talk about themself more, but I am fine with waiting until they aren't locked up with no privacy. Azu's backstory is coming out at a decent pace and Helen spoils us so not even worried about not hearing more about her becoming a paladin. I am curious if Alex thinks its worth bonding with the new kids and this better not be a set up for splitting the party. So enough pre episode babbling, final bets on if they play with the brorb now or wait until they can take it to Cel's? Gotta love that music. Oh they do want to get back to things! Listen to how fast they're talking. That's nice I wouldn't have thought they'd be as excited about the pure RP backstory and character bits as they get about a boss fight. No Alex neither players nor fans want to skip anything. I will concede that further conversation was unlikely to be productive that night so the morning makes sense. There was only one corridor! Barnes is still using the stairs to get some space. Some might see it as a sign he is infected or afraid of infection but honestly not wanting to puppy pile with a group as tight knit as the party especially while they are shaking out their issues is valid. Azu checks on Carter who passed out drunk face down. Zolf is sleeping in. With Hamid's family issues, Bryn being so careful to specify he has a healthy relationship with alcohol every time makes it a lot easier to not tense up listening. Oh My God thanks Bryn! I know he said the beginning of the episode was dedicated to us but I was expecting a throw away line not a proper red stringing scene! I am grinning so big right now. Azu is watching Hamid Cel is sleeping curled up with the sealed bottle of elvish mead. Because Lydia is as much a criminal as Bryn just plays a longer game. Speaking of criminal, Ben really plays up this rivalry from Azu & Zolf covering similar roles and its a really close second to the rank thing between him & Hamid in character arcs I'm interested in. I think both are aiming towards a happy ending but no idea how the middle is going to play out. I don't think it's aiming for a "this party isn't big enough for two of us". Alex is encouraging this. This is great just going to get a clip of this rather than attempt to transcribe on first listen. Bryn/Hamid is laying this out so clearly: The knowns, assumed, and questions are being labeled nicely. (I wonder if our little discord helped him refresh his memory so he'd be able to match how much Hamid would remember in character.) Bryn also goes 3rd person? Hope it isn't a stress tell like Alex. Yes Bryn is obsessed and as a listener its is utterly charming when he shows up in RSB or Official and is unabashedly as big a fan of the show as us. Zolf wakes up to Hamid red stringing. Thank goodness he isn't letting security concerns lead him to putting the brakes on. I know there was some concern that if one of them was infected sharing they could pass on anything they talk about. As long as they don't get too specific about classified info, using the time and frankly just having a project to distract them is a good idea. Plus in my mind Hamid always looks so hurt when Zolf pulls on the reigns. Lilliana is not allowed to be the connecting thread. Oh seed is finally being addressed. Aw Hamid handed Cel a glass of water. It really is the little things I love about this show: 1)told you he has a knack for leadership: anticipating the needs of team members even as they diverge from his own 2)He does see Cel as a team member not just someone he worked with, you don't hear him cooing over Carter 3)does it quickly then moves on, because as a gentleman he thinks it's what anyone would do. 4)speaking of, I wonder that Azu & Zolf haven't done rounds. its not like they have anything to save the spells for and the field is only in the cell.

Svalbard! Do not taunt us, does Ben have any idea how much we want to see the science dwarves of the north? Um hmm, vindi-fing-cation. I know it wasn't exactly a huge insight but the mixture of science and various schools of magic is key to my theory on what “Erasing The Line” refers to. Oh Frankenstein in this world is such a concept. Plus it makes Mary Shelley canon. Aw Alex thought we'd never get to this bit of lore. Thank you Blue Veins info being given as whole instead of bits & pieces.  Ooh and Barnes is taking it. Time to get a sense of who he is when he's not swinging a sword. Navel engagement with Blue Veins? Hive mind! Minimize harm? Not dead. Paladins are complicated, maybe a rumor, maybe transfer of allegiance. Cyborg kraken Cyborg Zolf Oh splitting the kraken to make more Barnes just checks out as the conversation goes over his head Called it I told you it was a sensible test. (ETA Zolf’s fart test) (ETA: Re: people with Blue Veins) No lies, no embarrassment, very literal. Other instances? Riots London->Paris->Europe Not safe to go to London If you're in their presence you are highly likely to be infected, mass infections,  not passed by corpses? Memetic effect? Tick tock. Ben and Alex have one of their friendly tussles as Carter decides its a me may Yes he did! And Helen name dropped us! I know I'm just a little part of the brigade but I'm going to to be smug for at least a week that we are so good at what we do one of the actual players looked to us. Hey Lydia is welcome too. Paperwork time! Yeah yeah I knew security was going to be used to undermine Hamid. At least it isn't Zolf and they aren't trying to make him look rash for the whole idea. Getting new info from the paperwork is a bit different than talking about what they already know. Make the place bigger? Nice spell Zolf. If this leads to Animorphs again... Oh I was thinking more like a big horde somewhere you could check stone in & out of a stone plane of existence ties in with elemental lore right? Seriously "Cure Hangover" isn't a spell? Or do Zolf & Azu just not approve of using their magic that way? Intoxicants have to fall under mild poisoning, right? Do the studying later in the week? That's a fair compromise; even if Zolf is still presenting it as an order he is explaining instead of giving his advice or IDK putting it to a vote. I'm not positive but I think Lydia is suggesting they go over their character sheets in character. Alex is not amused. Lydia sounds pleased with herself. Perception check? Azu hears someone knocking something over upstairs. Azu tries to not wake Carter as she listens at the door. It had to be her foot in his mouth. Multiple people in the inn. Carter tries to pick the lock. Azu & Carter start bickering. Carter is perception penalty. The inn is being searched Zolf suggests they wake Wilde up by making a racket. Cel hears the door being unlocked. Voices speaking muffled Japanese. Cel just shouts "Hey what's going on?". Zolf joins in. Azu uses her armor to make noise. Thump of someone hitting the floor! Wilde's voice! Lots of feet? Yes Helen, what if it is the kobolds? Oh god what if Skraak checked on them and found out they were in cages underground? Poor guy would think Wilde is their Shoin. Bryn clarifies Hamid shouts out to Wilde Zolf forbids them leaving the basement Cel shields themself. Azu goes for her armor Barnes is keeping Carter from going for the lock again. Hamid casts Fear (!oh that’s a new one isn't it) I assume #jail is already full of angst criminals connecting Hamid's bully days and him going from S1!Hamid scared of every fight to now casting fear as a way to control his enemies). Also these better be his enemies because I still don't put it past Alex to set us up for a tragic misunderstanding. Dragon roar and dragon face is how he casts fear Ok Rusty Quill LOTR night sounds awesome Zolf helps Azu put on her armor The other feet flee Zolf cries out for Wilde as loud as he physically can but still won't let them risk infecting Japan by leaving quarantine early. Oh if that ain't a fic and a half. A set of small claws! It is a kobold End the episode with the kobolds?  

[ftb-writes]

It's here! The Hellboy fic!

So I looked up Bethmoran Elvish, and it turns out that the team that made Hellboy 2 based their language on Gaeilge, more commonly known as Irish. So I used Gaeilge myself for the Bethmoran spoken in this fic, however we all know how Google translate can be. So for any native speakers out there, let me know if I got something wrong!

*leannán - lover, Bethmoran Elvish

**mo stór - my darling, Bethmoran Elvish

***mo ghrá maith, ná fág mé arís - my good love, never leave me again, Bethmoran Elvish

****Claíomh - lit. sword, the name given to Nuada's bladed weapon, Bethmoran Elvish

The smell in the place is atrocious. The whole building reeks of death; no one is missing from the other units, and this empty, destroyed apartment seems to be the epicenter of the stench. Hellboy wrinkles his nose in disgust, and glances across the room to where Liz is picking through the trash with Abe. "Hey, sweetheart, remind me why we agreed to come back to the BPRD?"

"We need money," she sighs, "and the kids need an education." She tosses a piece of torn metal onto the steadily growing pile of fake clues. The pile of real clues is still non-existent, so far, and Hellboy can tell it's frustrating the three of them as much as the agents milling around in the other rooms. "This place is a dump," Liz continues, tossing a chunk of drywall onto the pile. "You're sure this is where whoever was trying to resurrect the elf twins was staying?"

"Oh, most definitely," Abe assures. "Their magical signature is quite incredible." The fishman tosses a ball of string onto the side of the fake clue pile, and Hellboy watches it tumble lazily down to the floor. "Almost as demonic as yours, Red." He shudders and rejects another chunk of drywall almost as soon as he picks it up. "I don't enjoy the thought of just what they are. I especially dislike the thought of them being anywhere near Princess Nuala."

"Don't worry, Blue, we'll protect your girlfriend," Hellboy assures, gazing through a few holes in the ceiling toward the cloudy night sky. "Found anything?"

"Not yet," Abe starts to say, as his webbed fingers land on a discarded bottle. "Oh!"

Manning stomps into the room then, frowning. "Well," he demands, "can we hurry this up? Please?"

Abe motions them closer. "You will all want to see this."

Liz and Hellboy lay their hands atop Abe's, and Manning cautiously places his hand on Abe's shoulder. "Go on, Blue," Liz tells the fishman. "Show us." The room seems to rewind in a blur of color and motion before fading into darkness. When the light comes back they see--

Sitting on the floor, leaning over and scribbling frantic calculations upon large pieces of parchment, is John Thaddeus Myers. The room is much cleaner now, not destroyed, but still empty save for John himself. The parchment is covered in scrawling Latin phrases, runes, diagrams, and occult symbols, and John swigs from a half-drunk bottle of Mexican Coke -- the bottle Abe now holds.

He is muttering to himself. "Almost there, leannán,* I'm so close, soon," he whispers, the Bethmoran language seeming to come like second nature to him. Myers sounds crazed with his fervor. His pen flies across the parchment. "Yes!"

John sits back, triumphant, and the watching agents know enough about the occult to recognize an incredible revival spell -- complex, unique to the situation. The agents shiver.

"Well, not half-bad," John tells himself. "'Specially for a rush job." He reaches into the front of his coat and gently extracts an old sepia photograph. It's bent slightly in the upper right corner, and as John carefully, lovingly, straightens it out, the agents can see the subject.

Prince Nuada glares out of the photo, hand raised as if to block his face. "Need to get a better shot of you," John says to the photo. "You look so grumpy in this one." He chuckles. "But you'd be secretly proud of me, I think. It took me a whole week of calculations, but I got it done. Oh, you'll be so disapproving over this. 'Sleep, John,'" he grumbles, clearly attempting to imitate the prince. "'Eat, John. You need to take better care of yourself, John." John sighs. "It's your fault," he tells the picture sullenly, "worrying me when you suddenly go quiet. I get home and find out you tried to kill all humans and got yourself knocked off instead."

He tucks the photograph away and gathers all his work into an orderly roll and stands. He glances around the room and clutches the roll to his chest. "Now, lovelies, think you could trash the place for Daddy?"

John darts from the room as a veritable swarm of tooth fairies erupt from the vent in the wall.

Abe looks horrified and intrigued in equal parts when he sets the bottle back down. "Either Agent Myers has never been human, and was just hiding it well," he breathes, "or something alarming has taken his place. We must find him. Now."

"We needed to find him three weeks ago!" Manning glowers and heads out of the room, motioning his scurrying underlings out of the way. "He never reported in when he returned to the states. We wrote him off as just taking a break to recover from Antarctica."

"You think Voodoo could be involved?" Hellboy looks between Abe and his wife. "Kid sounds cookoo. I mean, he can't honestly think that elvish prick likes him."

"It could be a possibility," Abe allows, "but Voodoo would leave its own magical signature. Either this is a side of Agent Myers we did not know existed, or John has been possessed by a powerful demon."

"Let's go," Liz says, worry in her voice, and Hellboy frowns at the spike of jealousy he knows by now is irrational. "Whatever's going on, he obviously needs help."

"I'll admit," Hellboy sighs, "this doesn't look good from any angle. I just hope whatever's happened, boy scout isn't in any pain. I'd feel a bit bad about that."

Abe, on his way out of the apartment behind everyone, notices a red line half-buried under some dust and rubble. He clears the drywall and blows away the dirt to discover a cracked handmirror -- the glass has a pentagram carefully drawn on it, surrounded by runes. It was clearly old, as the cracks marring the glass also cracked the paint of the pentagram. The runes are ones Abe recognizes, a spell meant to disguise true form.

He picks it up and gets an impression of Myers smashing the mirror himself, his face contorted in fury, his surroundings hazy, tears streaking down his face. What events led to John destroying this mirror did not matter as much as the act of destruction itself, and the reminder that it was his choice, not the person who had made the spell. Ending the spell on the mirror had been freeing, and it was a defiance John had felt necessary with his whole being. John hates being lied to, and Abe can feel the betrayal John had felt.

"Blue?"

Abe blinks up at Hellboy and offers up the cracked mirror in explanation. The fishman tucks the mirror away and looks around one last time. "It's strange," he comments, realizing something that should have been niggling at him the whole time. "This particular apartment unit has no windows, and none of the other tenants' units had tooth fairies inside. Where did they all go?"

Hellboy shrugs. "Maybe they followed Myers?"

Abe swallows. "For all our sakes, let's hope they went to the nearest entrance to the Troll Market."

Northern Ireland proves just as grey and windy as the last time Hellboy's team had been there nearly a year ago, but they're surprised and relieved when they find Nuala waiting outside the cave housing the dormant Golden Army. Abe embraces her tenderly, and she smiles softly and touches his arm, a silent communication passing between the two before she turns yellow eyes on the other agents.

"I know not who he is to my brother," she tells them hurriedly and motions them into the cave. "But my brother has not attacked him."

The gears on the floor are still, and the trio of agents are shocked to see Nuada cradling the Crown in his hands. Myers appears to be pleading with the prince. The former agent has his hands outstretched, and Nuada's elegant fingers quake, just for a moment, and he shakes his head.

"I'm not upset," Myers murmurs, voice soothing.

"You should be," Nuada whispers, hoarse. "You have every right."

"Nuada," John whispers back, fonder than any of the agents have ever heard from him, and when John reaches the last few inches and lifts the Crown out of Nuada's hands, the elf does not stop him. Tears are rolling slowly down Nuada's cheeks. John tosses the Crown away, hard, and the elf winces as the artifact shatters, tiny pieces skittering away amongst the gears. John lurches forward to embrace Nuada, and the elf trembles in John's arms, his own stiff at his side.

"If anyone can see how terribly cruel humans can be," John breathes in the prince's ear, "it is me, but this isn't the way. I swear, I'm a good seventy-five percent of your impulse control."

"Eighty," Nuada counters softly, and John laughs quietly. "I apologise all the same; I worried you."

"I am a bit upset about that," John groans. "You're half-feral, truly. But I put up with it, don't I? Just like you put up with all my little idiosyncrasies."

"Such as leaving your partially-devoured meals on the couch?" Nuada leans his head into John's and hums contentedly. "I did not believe I would ever miss that, mo stór,** but I did miss you, quirks and all."

John purrs at the admission. "Mo ghrá maith, ná fág mé arís."***

Nuada lifts a shaking hand to cup the back of John's head, and John preens and curls closer to the elf. Nuada swallows and loops his other arm around John's waist. "Can we go home, mo stór?"

"Of course, leannán," John says and moves back, but not far enough to completely seperate. "But first, may I borrow Claíomh?"****

Nuada snaps his head toward his sister and the agents, as if just noticing he and John are no longer alone. His arm tenses around John's waist, tugging him near-imperceptibly closer, but he releases the former agent to draw the weapon.

To the agents' shock, Nuada passes the blade to John. Nuala frowns, settling a hand on Abe's arm once more.

John turns fully to face them, Claíomh held up in warning. It's not very effective; Myers is, at his core, a good man with a pure heart. Hellboy can see in his eyes that he doesn't really want to fight old friends, not to mention that the elf John moves to protect is much more intimidating than the human.

"Agent Myers," Abe calls over the gears. "Please, just come quietly." John's face twists, his gaze hardening, and in a flash of hellfire, John's form rips free of its humanity.

Huge demon horns arch up and away from John's head, grey at the base and shifting to red about halfway up. His skin has turned the same slate-grey, his eyes blink open to reveal purple slit irises and deep red sclerals and bright blue pupils. His nails have lengthened and sharpened, and his fingers turn red at the last knuckle, like his horns. A long tail, also turning red halfway down, whips back and forth behind him, though John's tail is nearly twice as long as Hellboy's. His clothes, too, have changed, and the demon John has become wears nothing more than an overlong breechcloth and golden body jewelry.

This is too much skin for Hellboy's comfort and he reals back and chokes. "An incubus, boy scout? I wouldn't think you had it in you."

John, for his part, looks terribly flustered, ducking his head and flushing lilac. Behind him, Nuada slips out of his armored overcoat and drapes it around John's shoulders.

"I forgot my clothes always change, too," John whines, turning to hide his face against Nuada's chest. The elf mumbles understandingly and reaches around to pat John's back.

"You are still new to this," Nuada reasons, "and you are getting much better. Remember when you would completely lose your clothes and be naked as a babe?"

John pulls back to smack the elf's side. "You said you wouldn't bring that back up!"

"I lied," Nuada chuckles, and the agents are shocked to realize he's teasing Myers. Liz sputters and steps forward.

"John--" she starts to scold, but Myers cuts her off.

"Liz, please, don't say something I'm going to hate you for."

His tone has turned harsh, and his expression's stony when he turns back to them. "Please. You won't have anymore trouble from Nuada again, you won't hear anything from either of us. Just leave, and don't look back."

Nuada coughs lightly. "I might be wont to cause some trouble for them."

"Try again," John sighs.

"I will not cause anymore trouble," Nuada mumbles, pouting, and it's such a strange look on her brother's face that Nuala laughs.

"If you keep him out of harm's way," she calls, motioning the agents away from her brother and John. "Then we will leave you two to go. I do not wish anymore strife between my brother and I. But know this, John Myers: if you hurt my brother, I will not stop the BPRD again."

John's eyes narrow, mistrust evident in his expression, and his tail twitches as Abe moves forward and holds out the cracked handmirror.

John freezes at the sight, and he slowly moves across the gears to stand in front of Abe. Delicate fingers gently take the mirror from the fishman, and Myers lifts it to gaze at himself in the cracked glass. "You found it?"

"I thought you would want it back." Abe looks John over and swallows. "Your human parent didn't tell you until much later in life, correct? They used this to keep you from changing form and discovering the truth." Abe sounds hurt, his eyes sympathetic. "John, I can't imagine -- I'm so sorry, that someone you should have been able to trust could cause you so much torment."

John's eyes water, and he presses the mirror over his heart. "Thank you, Abe."

Nuada is suddenly behind John, and Abe is proud that he manages to keep from jumping like Hellboy and Liz do. Nuada draws Myers back into his own chest, presses a tender kiss to the demon's temple, never taking his eyes off Abe.

"Abraham," he greets tersely. "You will look after my sister. Or I will not hesitate to kill you."

John pinches Nuada's arm where it's looped around him, and Nuada growls softly. "I will not, John, do not dissuade me."

Nuala bows and leads the three BPRD agents out. "I am glad that ended bloodlessly."

"I don't like this," Hellboy growls. "We need to drag them both back--"

"Hellboy, please," Abe holds up a hand to settle the man. "In his human disguise, John's magical signature was dulled. When he revealed himself, I felt John's true power. If John had wanted to, he could have thrown all of us into Hell itself without batting an eye. Despite hiding them from the outside world, John has truly mastered his demonic abilities. He is a dangerous being to cross. We would do best to let him be if he is willing to behave."

Liz frowns and shrugs. "I guess we don't really have much of a choice, then. But hey, at least now there's proof that Myers was never trying to steal me, Red."

"What?" Hellboy frowns himself. "What do you mean?"

"He's gay," Liz snickered. "So if he'd been trying to split us up, it would be to get with you." She smirks and turns to head back to the trucks.

"Don't even joke like that," Hellboy grunts and follows her.

Abe and Nuala giggle between the two of them, and Abe can't be angry at Myers's strange loyalty to the prince if it means Abe can have Nuala back in his life. He has missed her, and he touches her arm so she can feel how deeply he cares for her. The princess beams at him and takes his hand.

"Shall we," she asks, motioning after their friends.

Abe looks over his shoulder as they walk away, and sees John and Nuada peering out of the cave at their retreating backs, John's human form carefully in place. A single tooth fairy sits on John's shoulder.