#but will also be attempting to do cas things tonight as well once i wrangle these kids ;)

[queen-scribbles]

Complete Confidence

for @pillarspromptsweekly 82: March Forth. Had some fun with Keya and various associated OCs. Some of whom I now love entirely too much for them not existing before I wrote this.

Things were usually quiet at Caed Nua when the Watcher was gone. Sure, there would be the occasional attempt by bandits thinking they were weaker with their Lady gone. (They quickly found out otherwise) Or oozes and trolls would emerge from below, or a petitioner would take issue with seeing Watcher Illani’s representative rather than the woman in charge herself. (Especially when they learned her representative was an orlan.) 

Keya was well-accustomed to dealing with all of it. And she didn’t mind a little excitement, but she was also perfectly happy when things stayed calm. Boring to use her friend and employer’s word. This occasion--the longest Tavi had ever gone on one of her Dyrford trips--appeared to be following the pattern. One irate delegate who didn’t wish to deal with a “cat fucker”(she had to stop Ioan from punching the man in the jaw as he escorted him out), but otherwise things were humming along like normal.

Until one of the guards returned from patrol with reports of drake activity and xaurips tracks near the soutern edge of Caed Nua’s territory

“How sure are you, Caitha?” Keya asked, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. Tavi was going to be in Dyrford another three weeks, at least. If there was really a drake--especially one with a cult following it--in their territory, it couldn’t wait for her return. They’d need to deal with it now, before they attacked the fortress.

Caitha shrugged apologetically, smoothing a lock of nut brown hair back toward her bun. “I saw the xaurip tracks and, uh, drake leavings m’self, boss.”

“Damn,” Keya said with a sigh. She looped one of her narrow braids around her index finger and tugged it hard, forcibly resisting the urge  to chew on it as she thought. “How fresh?”

“A week old at most.” Caitha shifting uneasily. “It looked like a lot of xaurips,”

Well, that fucking clinched it. Keya let go of the braid to instead massage her temples. Illani owes me big time for dealing with this shit. “D’you think, before you go off duty, you could show a couple of the scouts--maybe Gjyra and Caed--where you saw it? On a map, I mean. See if they can track it, find either the drake’s roost or the xaurips’ camp. Better we take the fight there than let it decide to come here.”

Caitha nodded. “Sure thing. They in the barracks?”

“Dining hall, last I saw ‘em,” Keya replied, nodding her gratitude.  “Dismissed.”

Caitha thumped a fist to her chest and inclined her head slightly--”Boss”--before heading that direction. 

Keya waited until she was gone to drag one hand down her face and let her shoulders slump. She’d never hoped for one of the keep’s soldiers to be mistaken about something before, but fighting a drake would not be fun.

She would much rather things stay boring.

~~<>~~

Unfortunately, that was not to be.

Gjyra and Caed dutifully set off for the location Caitha marked. They returned, muddy and just a little bruised, almost a week later and corroborated Caitha’s report; there was a drake with a substantial xaurip clan worshiping it not quite two days out from Caed Nua. 

Keya gave herself all of five seconds to process and mentally grouse before reminding herself At least it’s only one, and heading for the barracks. She needed a team big enough to safely deal with the problem without leaving Caed Nua vulnerable while they were gone. Given what Gjyra had reported about the xaurip numbers(big enough clan for three high priests), things could get ugly real fast if they were under-prepared.

Ten seemed safe. For a single drake and a xaurip clan, ten was probably enough to handle them without risking the fortress’ safety. Caitha and Ioan both promptly volunteered as soon as she made her plans known.

“You know this won’t be easy, I hope,” Keya felt obligated to point out. Caitha nodded and Ioan smirked.

“Why d’you think I wanna come?” he shot back. “This is a threat you’ll actually let me hit.”

Keya rolled her eyes and sighed in fond exasperation. “One disgruntled bastard does not equal a threat. Didn’t want you causin’ a diplomatic incident with a fuckin’ lord over an insult I’ve all but gone numb to. Though your loyalty is noted and deeply appreciated. Try not to let it get you killed, huh?”

“Do m’best, but I can’t promise anything,” Ioan winked. 

“Bastard,” Keya grumbled, but couldn’t resist a smile. “Go get ready.”

“Yes, boss.” He saluted and darted for the barracks.

Caitha shook her head as she followed. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t forget anything important. Like his head. Or common sense.”

Keya laughed. “Thanks. Second of those might be a losin’ battle. His type ain’t big on common sense.”

Caitha stopped and raised an eyebrow. “His type? Do you mean elves or barbarians?”

Keya snorted. “Given who our real boss is and what she’s like, I’m tempted to say elves. But I was referrin’ to barbarians.”

“On that I’ll agree with you. Still, I’ll do my best.” Caitha resumed course for the barracks, and Keya headed for her quarters to gather her gear and check her armor.

~~<>~~

It took into the following day for them to be ready, but there were still plenty of daylight hours for them to get underway and make some good progress. And so, mid-morning, Keya led her small army(all volunteers; this was a dangerous task) forth from Caed Nua in hopes of dealing with this drake as quickly as possible so they could get home. 

They were a handful to wrangle; Ioan was not the only hothead with dreams of killing a dragon who volunteered. The bickering was largely tolerable, but she did have to issue some scoldings when things edged toward too heated. The weather was fair, however--typical of Early Summer, and they made good time down the road.

“How well organized did the xaurips seem?” Keya asked Caed and Gjyra as they walked.

“They’re xaurips, boss,” Caed said with a shrug. “This lot didn’t seem any more intelligent or stupid than average. There were a lot of them, though.” He scratched behind one ear. “Gjyra told you about-”

“The multiple priests, yes,” Keya nodded. “That’s what has me worried, they don’t usually share well. They’re pretty clannish and territorial, so for these three to merge and share one drake as their deity is unusual.” She chewed on the end of a braid in thought. “Did it seem like one of the priests was more important? Bigger headdress, more bone necklaces, or whatever? Like that clan maybe overpowered and absorbed the others?”

Caed shook his head. “They seemed pretty equal to me. One big happy family.”

Keya snorted at his wry tone. “Great. This will just be so much fun.”

“Some of ‘em definitely think so,” Caed commented with a laugh. “I think I heard Ioan and Ambili debating whether to hang the skull in the barracks or in the dining hall.”

She rolled her eyes, but couldn’t really blame them for their excitement. “Bold of them to assume they get a say. The Watcher’s the one who gets to pick, it bein’ her damn keep an’ all. She might take a suggestion from whoever kills it, but it’s her call in the end if she even wants it displayed.”

“Try telling them that.”

“Oh, I will. They don’t scare me. I need to address everyone tonight when we make camp anyway.” Keya skirted a mud puddle and almost ran into the lanky scout. ”I’ll just be real clear about what’s happening to the drake once it’s blazin’ dead.”

~~<>~~

There was some grumbling, as expected, when Keya relayed the reminder that night. But they all knew two things: she was correct, and the Watcher was generally laid back and open-minded when it came to Caed Nua’s decoration. So whoever killed the drake had a decent shot at the skull hanging where they wanted.

Following Caed and Gjyra’s guidance and Keya’s leadership, they made it within an hour’s march of the drake’s lair by the time they needed to camp again. Keya took the first watch along with Ioan, and was sorely tempted to murder him within the first hour, as his impatience and eagerness made him far too restless to sit still. 

“You keep fidgetin’ like that an’ I’ll use you as xaurip bait tomorrow,” she finally warned.

“Sorry. This is prob’ly the closest I’ll ever get to fightin’ a full dragon, and I guess I’m already excited about it.” He didn’t sound more than half-apologetic.

Oh, so many ways to respond to that. Keya doodled in the dirt with the toe of her boot as she picked one. “Longtime dream of yours, I take it?”

Ioan scoffed quietly. “Goin’ on eighty years.”

Keya snorted at the deadpan reminder of how long his race lived. He’d been dreaming of slaying dragons more than twice as long as she’d been alive. “Oh, is that all?”

He laughed, a little too loud, and caught himself when a sleepy oath issued from a nearby tent. “We could wait a few decades, let this beast mature into a full dragon, would that do?”

“It’s going to be a hard enough fight as a drake,” Keya groaned. “Let’s not. Especially since this one has a not-so-little cult. I’ve fought a drake before, with Tavi. Lemme tell ya, Ioan, they don’t go down easy.”

Ioan grinned, teeth flashing in the firelight. “Good thing we don’t either, ay?”

She admired his confidence, untested as it may have been. “I sure hope so.”

“C’mon, with you leadin’ us”--he nudged her with his elbow--”thing doesn’t have an ember’s chance in the White March.”

“Thanks.” Keya sighed, absently pinching the bridge of her nose. “Hope that’s enough. Sometimes numbers trump leadership, and there’s apparently a lot of xaurips.”

“Course it will be. We’ve got you and you’ve got me,” Ioan said playfully, spreading his hands in a mock-aggrandizing gesture.

Keya shot him a flat look. “We can slay them with your ego, is that what you’re saying?”

“Confidence, boss, not ego,” he corrected. “Complete and utter confidence.”

“Whatever lets you sleep at night,” she chuckled, and they lapsed into silence for the rest of their watch. Still, his encouragement and confidence warmed her.

~~<>~~

That warmth lingered all the way through the night and the next morning’s journey to the drake cave. Given the difficulty she’d had in the beginning getting some of the soldiers to take orders from an orlan, their willingness to follow her now was gratifying. (Though, to his credit, whatever flaws he had, Ioan had never been a problem in that regard) It dimmed slightly as they found actual xaurip tracks to follow, and she had a visual for how many Caed and Gjyra had meant by ‘a lot’.

As they stood outside the cave, she issued her final instructions. “Alright, Garet, Ambili, keep the drake’s attention while the rest of us take care of the xaurips. Then we’ll help you finish it off.” She saw the protest rising in Ioan’s eyes and spoke before he could. “You’re better use fightin’ crowds and you know it. Kill ‘em fast and you can have at the drake.”

He did know it, but Keya was sure Ambili’s smirk was still hard to ignore. “Yes, boss.”

She reached up and clapped a hand to his arm high as she could reach.  “Just thin the numbers some and you can switch focus.” She waited until he nodded to continue. “Caitha, Caed, you’re support. Keep back, bolster those who need it, but don’t get reckless. Everyone else, fight smart as well as hard.���

All of them nodded understanding, and in they went.

~~<>~~

It was a grueling fight. Keya hadn’t expected otherwise, of course, but anticipation and experience were two different animals. And grueling felt like a good word for a fight that claimed two of her men and injured damn near everyone else to some degree.

By the time she got the killing blow on the drake, it felt like vengeance for the lost as much as duty to protect Caed Nua’s territory. Still, for their odds, they’d come out rather well and she knew it. Especially since Caitha and Caed--the other two with healer’s expertise--escaped relatively unscathed, thank the gods. She didn’t have to do all the patching up by herself--

“Ow!” Ioan flinched and Keya pulled herself back to the task at hand with a self-recriminating wince.

“Sorry,” she said, loosening the bandages she’d pulled too tight.

“I know you like to joke about me havin’ a big head, boss, but I don’t think that’s the way to fix it,” he said dryly. He shot her a lopsided grin, the bandages over his left eye preventing its full spread.

Keya rolled her eyes. “At least you still have your sense of humor. Hylea forbid you lose that.”

She felt the shiver as he repressed a snort. “Gods, don’t make me laugh right now.”

“Sorry.” Keya glanced over toward where Caed was stitching a long gash down Ambili’s arm, and then back at Ioan. With him seated and her standing, they were roughly eye to eye, so she could meet his gaze as she added, “also sorry for stealin’ your dream.”

“What, ‘cause you vaulted off my shoulder to kill the damn thing?” Ioan asked, amused. “Why would you need to apologize for that? It was blazin’ badass.  ‘Sides, I still got to fight a drake, and this”--he lightly tapped the bandages--”is gonna make one Hel of a scar. That’s memento enough for me.” He rubbed at a bruise on his forearm. “An’ speaking of mementos, whatcha plannin’ to do with the drake skull?”

Keya smirked. “Keep in in my room so you bastards don’t fight over it. At least for now. Maybe when Tavi gets back I’ll talk to her about hangin’ it somewhere more visible.” She tied off the bandages and stepped back to survey her work, shooting Ioan a wink as she did. “You can come look at it whenever y’ want, though.”

“In your room? People really will talk, boss,” he deadpanned.

“Eh, let ‘em.” She wiped healing salve and blood off her hands with a rag, frowned at the clinging remnants in her fur. She’d have to scrub hard later.  “They’ve been talkin’ since the first time you were unruffled by havin’ an orlan in charge.  ‘Less it bothers you,” she amended.

“Nah.” Ioan shook his head and winked at her with his good eye. “Okay, gods, that was weird. But we know the truth.”

“True.” She gave him one last look to ensure he wasn’t bleeding through and the bandages looked secure. “There. You’ll live to fight another another day.”

“What a relief. I knew I was in good hands.”

Keya rolled her eyes at the teasing praise  “Get your shit together. You an’ Ambili were the last ones who needed to be patched up, and looks like Caed’s almost done with her.”

Ioan saluted off his good side with a playful ”Yes, boss,” and pushed to his feet.

Keya waited until he’d walked off to clean up the healer’s paraphernalia and start packing her things. It was going to be a long walk back to Caed Nua, made longer by injury, hauling the drake skull, and her own regret at the lives lost. She’d had men under her die before, once, and it never got any easier. Their losses keep this from feeling like a victory, but at least they’d succeeded at their goal and the drake was no longer a threat.

It took the entire journey home to convince herself that was a tolerable trade, despite Caitha’s reassurances and Ioan’s darkly-humored attempts to lift her spirits. If this was excitement, Keya reiterated to herself, she would definitely rather things had stayed boring. But at least she had good people around, who she was confident could help her through.

-----------------------------------------------

So in writing this I learned that Keya is not ‘M’lady’ or ‘Captain’ or anything else when she’s in charge. She’s just ‘Boss’, as both a title and a nickname. I feel like this has roots in her Deadfire/Explorer background; maybe she worked for someone who went by ‘Boss’, but she’s still being vague on those details.

Ioan(Ewan) and Caitha are her right hand people, just like she is for Tavi. They were the only one who never seemed to have any issue listening to an orlan, so she trusts them the most and they’re friends as well as underlings. So they banter, and she and Ioan trash-talk each other on occasion(Caitha’s more reserved, but she’s gotten some good verbal jabs in a coupe times).