#i could write backstories for all my named animals all ffxivwrite i love them

[fistsoflightning]

stardew fantasy

ffxivwrite2022 02: bolt v. to dart off or away.

tehra’ir & valdis. post-6.2, blink & you’ll miss it no-real-spoilers MSQ mention. 719 wc.

All things considered, this section of the Cieldalaes was having a pleasant afternoon, even if Tehra’ir would much rather sleep until sunset and enjoy the night air instead. Refreshing sea breeze, warm sunlight, surprisingly temperate with decent humidity—good enough conditions that he’d sat down on the beach to work on the nets and soporifics needed to catch some of the island fauna. A very peaceful follow-up to dipping in and out of the void the Thirteenth had become.

Well. Mostly peaceful, if you could ignore the flock of apkallu eagerly cawing at a line of fish dancing through the air. 

"You said you wanted to catch the red apkallu that Zaya was having trouble with," Valdis said from beside him, picking a rolanberry out of the basket and tossing it into her mouth, "so I lured out a few apkallu."

Tehra'ir had… so many questions.

Best to start small, he supposed. "Jus' 'ow many do ye figure is a few, again?"

Valdis blinked owlishly, her ears still dripping seawater. She’d put her baskets of jellyfish and milk fish up on the rocks with him, but she was still standing in the shoal with her fishing gig in hand, which apparently doubled as a replacement for her usual staff. He didn’t want to know when she had the time to learn magic from the Nu Mou, or what terrors she had to commit, because usually Valdis learned new spells by absorbing her target’s aether after death.

“Three or more,” she said, after a moment’s consideration.

“Right,” he said, watching as two of the apkallu started fighting over a fish that had lowered enough for them to bite and pull it down. They could not keep all these apkallu. The mammets were already baffled enough by Zaya’s herd of sheep. “An’ what do ye call that?”

Valdis grabbed another rolanberry before she turned to look at the havoc she’d created, tipping her head in confusion. “A few. Oh look, there’s the red one.”

Sure enough, the apkallu of paradise had waddled into the still-growing crowd of hungry apkallu, maybe half a head above its peers as it shoved its way to the middle. Around its neck was two thin loops of leather, connected by manasilver clasps and a small lazurite pendant in the middle.

“That’s th’ same one that hopped th’ twig when Zaya was ‘ere,” he noted grimly, reaching down for the nets he’d finished just as Valdis returned from spearfishing. He was sort of regretting not stopping by Naldiq & Vymelli’s for his daggers now, but Tehra’ir also wasn’t in the mood to kill a poor (if sticky-beaked) apkallu, even if it mean looking like a fool. Hopefully he wouldn’t need the modified soporifics. “Val, take one.”

The Viera stuck her fishing gig into the sand and obligingly picked up the larger of the two nets, squinting closer at their target. “Is that Ryne and Thancred’s nameday gift to Zaya?”

Tehra’ir shucked off his sandals before he hopped down into the shoal with Valdis, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Th’ bastard rooked it off Zaya last time they came down ‘ere searchin’ for salt,” he said, remembering Zaya’s stormy expression when they’d returned to the hideaway early that morning with a bag of rock salt and yet another sheep. It was a small miracle Thancred hadn’t noticed yet.

Valdis gave a small hmm in response. “I wanted to take a nap,” she lamented, looking mournfully at the dry clothes Tehra’ir had been keeping safe for her and her big sunhat, “but this is pretty important, huh?”

It was, unfortunately, but that didn’t mean it had to be all business. “First one t’ catch ‘im names th’ bastard,” Tehra’ir offered, retying his bandana tight around his wrist. No point in getting the necklace back if it meant losing something else.

“Sure,” Valdis said. When Tehra’ir looked back up, he caught a few sparks dancing around her head. Maybe it was a trick of the light… or he was about to learn that Valdis could, in fact, use anything as a casting focus.

So long as it got them the damn apkallu. “Ye benar not rook yer way t’ victory.”

“Won’t have to,” she declared, gripping the net tight in her hands with a bright grin. “I’m gonna call him Rolanberry.”