Evernight

[Elle Joyner]

"Important to..." Blinking, Minette leveled her gaze on Thalion, and unbidden, color rose to her cheeks. She hadn't anticipated, not for a moment... the possibility that he might actually care for her. She had assumed that the reason he protected her was an effect of being better than his mother, of being, deep down inside, a good man. But that he might have guarded her so close because she was important to him? But then, it made all the sense in the world, didn't it? He had never been shown kindness, or compassion. He had never been special to anyone. She had made it a point to be different than what he knew. It was reasonable to assume that would impact him..


He rose, and Minette followed suit, her hands grazing the cloak as she inspected it. It would hold together - she'd only take a few inches from the lower end of it - but it would certainly do little in the frozen north. Still, there was a lot of ground, and a lot standing in their way. It would be difficult enough, making it there. The state of their wardrobe was simply something they would need to worry about when they arrived at the moment. If... they arrived. It had occurred to her more than once that she was holding him back, and now, more than ever that seemed painfully apparent.


Thalia would stop at nothing to win... That was her very nature, and if her victory rested on Minette being bait for him, it only stood to reason that Minette was more of a danger to Thalion than anything else he might face in the world of Evernight. She would get him killed, or worse, for the simple fact that he didn't hate her.


"...I never thought..." Frowning softly, she lowered her gaze, "I've been such a burden to you. From the moment I arrived... Thalion, I'm so sorry. I only ever wanted... Well, I don't know what I wanted, honestly. I just... At first you a means to survive, you knew the world and the creatures in it, and I knew with you I would be safe. But... but I can't imagine, now, facing Evernight without you." Her eyes focused on her nails, brittle and broken, caked in dirt, she sighed, "But I won't be the reason she hurts you. You should go... You should go, and leave me here. I... I'll only slow you down, and if she means to use me against you, I can only hope that something finds me before does."

 

[Mordecai]

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“Stop being stupid, we don’t have time for it.”


Thalion was on his feet, but it was painfully obvious he was hurting. It was all across his face and he had to lock his knees to keep his balance because every quiver in his muscles threatened to topple him straight back to his ass again. He had brought his hand up to his leather shoulder guards, pulling the straps tighter and adjusting the heavy chunks of armour into a more comfortable position. He didn’t truthfully know how much ground he’d be able to cover that day, but he hoped he’d be able to hold up for long enough to put at least some distance between them and the dragon battleground.


Stepping over to the wall of the crevice, he managed to pull himself up and vaulting back on to the forest floor. A grunt of pain escaped him as he fell to his knees before stumbling back to his feet, his hands immediately going to his sides as the pain incited back up through him like flames building from hot coals. Muttering a few curses below his breath, Thalion did what he could to shake off the discomfort but sweat was collecting down the back of his neck and his face had begun to lost colour again. God, he didn’t know if he had what it took to move at all.


“Come on, Minette. I really don’t have the strength or energy to pull you up out of that crevice. You’re dumb if you think it’s just my mother. Whatever comes for you—dragon, my mother… even Fal, I’d come for you. You’re smarter than this and we don’t have time to argue about this so… are you comin’ or am I going to have to hurt myself worse dragging you behind me kickin’ and screamin’?”


Massaging his knuckles in to his sides, the pain began to quench again. He shuffled towards the scene of the battle, managing to find his satchel and the two halves of his bow. He spun them around a few times before tossing them aside because they were useless. For weapons, that left Minette’s blade and the secondary one he kept in his bag. It could only do so much, but if he could learn to control the magic.


No… no, he didn’t want to do that. He curled his hands into fists, swallowing down a sigh.


He couldn’t become like his mother.

 

[Elle Joyner]

There was a frustration in duel nobility. She wanted to protect him, but he wanted the same for her, and in their mutual desires, there was no real compromise. It would do little good for her to try and stay away from him, if he was going to feel compelled to keep watch over her. But whatever his sentiments, whether it was out of obligation to her kindness, or something deeper, a greater admission, she couldn't deny that it was a pointless effort to push him away.


It was frustrating, but it was also immensely endearing and as she moved to the edge of the crevice, she felt a smile form, unbidden at his brash words, spoken as affectionately as she imagined Thalion could. Pulling herself free, she watched him for a moment, shaking her head, "Even Fal, Dear Thalion? I really must be important to you." The smile fading, ever so slightly, she glanced around at the carnage the dragon left in it's wake, a sigh escaping, "She will come, of that we have no doubt. You're important to me, too, Thal. Please... be careful."


Leaning down to adjust her boot, she straightened, glanced around again. The odds were stacked against them, and they had so very little in their favor, but they had come this far, and they had managed to survive because they had something worth fighting for. In the end, that was what mattered. They would carry the weight of their burdens together, and they would find a way to endure, to defeat Thalia...


And if Minette had anything to say about it, she would find a way to show Thalion how wrong his mother was about him. She could see it still, etched in his features, that fear that had taken hold of him when he had defended them against the dragon. So much had changed, in so quick a time. Stepping forward, she reached out, covered his hands with her own, meeting that dark gaze, "...We'll figure it out. One day at a time, we'll figure it out."

 

[Mordecai]

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His fingers uncurled and relaxed at the warmth of her hands covering his. He turned his eyes to meet hers, offering a smile that was entirely insincere. He had no reason to smile and only felt compelled to do so because it seemed like she needed that response from him. “Maybe,” he shrugged, sliding his hand free of hers and giving her a soft pat on the shoulder to coax her forward, “I hope we do.” But he wasn’t so sure. Every battle they survived seemed to knock them back a little further.


Now, his mother would be after that with more vigour than ever before and they were without a true weapon and Thalion was badly injured, despite the fact that he pushed through it with his teeth gritted. “I’ll do what I can to be careful. We’ll just have to wait and see what she throws at us.” They would have at least a few more hours before the Watchcrew could pick up the scents and piece together what had happened, but the mark had been burned upon the soil and the Earth of Evernight. Thalion had magic and the mark of it scorched the loam. They would come and they would discover.


They began walking and if it hadn’t have been for his new boots Thalion would have fallen a long time back. Each step was painful and growing more so the farther they travelled. He was growing weak, painfully so, but his senses were prickling and alert, following every sound and movement around them. They had only managed a few miles before Thalion finally stopped and fell with his back against a tree, gripping pitifully at his side.


“Hell, at this rate, maybe you should be the one to leave me behind. If they capture me, they’ll just… let you go.” She wouldn’t be important to his mother anymore. He cracked a grin, laughing bitterly at the thought. “Minette living out her days in Evernight. You could do it, you know. You’re plenty strong and smart. You’d figure it out after a few close encounters.” He rolled his head to the side, just giving himself a moment to try and breathe away the pain that was ripping him apart.


Everything hurt… every inch from the top of his head all the way down to his toes. “See those berry-looking things over there?” he nudged his head towards fruit, little berry-shaped clusters hanging on a low vine, “They’re edible, you can eat them. Kinda tasteless, but they’re filling.”

 

[Elle Joyner]

The smile never reached his eyes, but Minette had no delusions that he would feel much effect by her words. They were hardly encouraging, considering all that they were up against. They had survived thus far, but the danger was hardly over and done with. In fact, if they were honest, it was probably only going to get worse from here on out. And they were in no shape to take on anything - not so much as an oiler. They needed a rest, longer than one night in the Antropoes village. They needed to heal.


Following after him, trying desperately to fight the discouragement building up within her, she nodded slowly at his words. Wait and see. That seemed to be a large part of the problem. There was simply no way of knowing what lay ahead of them... what Thalia had planned, and no real way to protect themselves from it, except directly in the moment... and as they were? That was a dangerous path to take for someone in the best of shape, but they were falling apart... limping, groaning, broken pieces...


They walked, in silence, uncertainty and fear settling on her chest like a weight, her ankle more sore by the moment. When Thalion paused, she was all too grateful, and as she sank down against a trunk, she looked over at him, frowning softly at his words, "Now who's being stupid? While I appreciate the vote of confidence, I'm hardly a seasoned warrior, Thal. And even then, there's not much I can do against those beasts that are bigger than me. I'd be eaten in a day, probably by one of those absurd plants we saw in Tanglerot."


Chuckling softly, she reached for one of the berries, popping it in her mouth, then taking a small handful, she brought them to him, holding them out, "Here. Eat. You need to keep up as much strength as you can. And we need a plan. We can't keep going at this rate, Thal. You're hurt... and without rest, you'll never heal."

 

[Mordecai]

"I'm just kidding," he said with the first genuine smile all day. "You would survive just fine, but I'm not going to leave you." She could probably figure it out in time, but if he could make it easier for her, he would. Even if he didn't have much fight left in him, he knew the land... He knew the secrets and the map. He could find where they needed to go, and he knew exactly where that was. Unfortunately, it was still quite a hike... A hike through some seriously mountainous territory. It'd be a slow two days, at least, seeing as between his sides and her foot, they were barely hobbling along.


"I have a plan, actually," he explained as he reached out and plucked the handful of berries she had brought over to him and took a few into his mouth. They tasted bland, like slightly sweetened water, but they helped quell the ache in his belly all the same. "About two days from here, there is a place called the Ethereal Falls and it has minor healing powers. It won't, like, make everything perfect again but it'll speed up our healing and the area around it has a lot of food sources. We won't be able to stay long, too dangerous with my mother's hunt, but it'll give us a chance to put some of the pieces together again." The water there could provide some relief to their injuries. It was no miracle maker, it wouldn't bring the dead back or entirely heal a broken bone, but it'd do enough to push them ahead and that is what they needed. They didn't need a miracle, but they did need some hope.


"We'll go there first and once we get some rest, we shall proceed to the desert than up north." It would be their safest option, he believed. It wasn't perfect or garaunteed, but what ever was in a place like Evernight? "Let's rest here tonight, what do you say? I don't think I can go much farther, honestly." Not without falling apart or over or both. Sinking down until he was sitting with his back to the tree, he folded his arms across his chest. Even if they only got a few hours, it was a few hours they both desperately seemed to need. His eyes fell shut almost immediately and his head lolled back. "Eat as many berries as you can. Before we leave, I'll fill my bag." After all, he didn't have any rations left and they'd need to eat.


Berries seemed to be what was on the menu.


Sighing, Thalion dozed off almost immediately but seemed to stir every ten or twenty minutes. He would shake away just long enough to crack his eyes open and peer around, listening, before allowing himself to doze off again. He could never be too cautions, especially now, especially with Minette. Finally, after only a few hours and the night thick in the air, he rose to his feet with the help of the tree. A windless, pained moan passed between his gritted teeth. "Minette? We should go."

 

[Elle Joyner]

A smile, when disingenuous could make discouragement all the worse, but when it was real? When it was real and brightened the light in his eyes, it was all she could do not to cry for joy at the sight. She needed it, more than she was willing to admit, to know that he hadn't given up, to know that he still had fight in him. And of course he did. He'd endured so much without her, there was nothing, no reason to think he couldn't continue now, just because things were a little different. And as long as he was willing to fight, she was willing to follow...


The moment he was ready to give in... that was the moment Minette's life was forfeit. Even if Thalia cared little for her, now... Thalion meant too much to Minette to let that horrible witch have him. She would stand little chance against the woman, but she would try. Oh, she would try.


Sinking down beside him, she ate quietly, nodding as he mapped out the plan. It was a good one - and seemed to be the best chance they had for survival, even if it was a good ways away. But they would make it. They had to - or they were undoubtedly as good as dead, anyway. A few hours rest, here and there, some berries? It was hardly going to keep them alive, and injured as they were, it was going to take a miracle... And healing water was as good as a miracle.


When she'd finished eating, she filled his bag as he'd suggested, and with the bag full, she settled beside him again, but as quickly as he'd dozed, Minette found herself restless, too afraid to drop her guard, too anxious to rest. Keeping watch, her hand on the knife at her side, she listened, listened for anything suspicious, for anything at all, and all the while, her eyes flickered back to Thalion, to see the rise and fall of his chest... to remind herself he was alright.


Eventually, exhausted, she managed a few minutes rest, but almost as soon as sleep claimed her she heard Thalion's voice, felt him stir and as he rose, she blinked her eyes opened and with a weary nod, pulled herself upright.


"Right... Let's go, then."

 

[Mordecai]

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Two days. Two long, painful days that Thalion barely managed to scrape through. The ache in his bones was painfully obvious and the limp in his step had gotten worse. He barely talked during the last day to the Falls, mostly because he didn’t have the air in his lungs left to vocalize anything. The colour had leeched from his skin, leaving behind sheens of sweat and heavy panting. The terrain below their feet grew rough and he stumbled awkwardly over every rock and crevice, kicking up dirt and pebbles as he went.


Two long, painful days of walking for an hour, and stopping to rest for fifteen minutes because he couldn’t go any further. The ache in his ribs was growing worse and he knew he needed to rest… he knew all this walking was having an adverse affect on his health. It was the start of the third day that he could finally hear the water; twenty minutes of stumbling later, it came into view. The water tumbled down the mountainous hillside in a series of mini-waterfalls.


The water tinkled in a laughing sort of way and it was hard to not imagine that this was the type of place where faeries might live. The water itself was white and frothy, but possessed a sort of dull blue light that could only be seen when the eyes weren’t focusing on it, for the moment his vision focused on the surface, the tint seemed to vanish… as if afraid it’d disappear. Behind them, the great mountains loomed—cold grey crevices holding the blood of many men and creatures. While the lower passes wore a cloak of greenery, the peaks were crowned with a headdress of ice. Without having to speak a word to her, Thalion assumed Minette knew the place to be sacred.


Sliding his boots off, then his cloak, and last his shirt, Thalion dumped all of his belongings into the grass except for his breeches before approaching the water. It was cold and seeped into his toes as he took the first step into the section of pulsing stream. It stole his heat. He pressed onward, step by step, until he disappeared entirely below the surface. The freedom was as intoxicating as if he were swimming in mead. He could move in any direction or even just stop and float for a while, not even birds could do that.


His air bubbles make their way to the surface with every exhale; they were the only thing down there in a hurry to leave. Finally, he resurfaced and pushed his hair away from his face. A dull ache in his body remained, but was waning.


“Come in, Minette.”

 

[Elle Joyner]

Her ankle had not fared well, but if Minette was anything, it was resilient. Thalion was a mess - pale and weak, surviving, no doubt on will alone, and even that seemed to be fading fast. They had been traveling so long, and the extent of his injuries was hardly apparent on the surface. For a time, she wondered if they'd even make it. It was through teeth grit tightly that she managed on her own, but each step was agonizing and only grew worse the further they went. Giving up was no option, but a part of her had begun to wish that it was.


And then the sounds of water came and for the first time in days, Minette felt her strength renew, her hope. They were so close. So very close, and if they could just push on for a few more hours, everything would be alright. Digging in, giving every ounce of energy she had remaining, Minette moved as quickly as she could, following after Thalion, spurred on only by a sense that they were very nearly there. She could feel every thread of nerves in her leg and ankle, feel the bruises through the boot and the scrapes, inflamed and raw. Sweat beaded down the back of her neck and her joints ached to the core, but she pressed on until finally... finally...


The view was unearthly - like nothing that Minette could imagine. Pools of water, incandescent, streaming down the face of the hills... trees lined the sides of the river, boasting strange, enormous fruits, and along the ground, wild flowers grew like grass.


Without meaning to, she slowed, and her eyes did their best to take it all in, but there was too much and the pain in her leg distracting. Beside her, Thalion moved and he heard the splash, but he was already beneath the surface by the time she turned to him and with a small, weary smile she pulled off her own cloak and sat down to gingerly remove her boot. When he breached the surface of the water, she was already at the shoreline and with cautious steps on the aching ankle, she moved down the bank and into the water.


It was... there were no words for the sensation, except to say Ethereal was the right name for the falls, in every way. She could feel it, like liquid light, pouring into her, working around her ankle and leg, wrapping around it, warm and soothing, and sinking deeper into the pool, she closed her eyes, letting her hair fan out behind her, letting go of everything... and only when the sensation had passed did she open her eyes again, moving them to Thalion with a thoughtful frown, "...Is it helping...?"

 

[Mordecai]

[/heightrestrict]​

He undulated in the water lazily, just floating there and closing his eyes and letting all the heat seep from his bone marrows. Even though he knew he was cold, he couldn’t feel it. He couldn’t feel anything except for the rising and falling of his lungs as he breathed. He was just letting his limbs do the thinking for him. The water was so refreshing, allowing it to take all of his worries away. He stretched out his arms, opened his palms and released all bodily tension when he heard Minette’s voice nearby.


His eyes split open, his dark eyelashes clumped together and lining his equally dark eyes. “I feel better,” he said, sighing and dunking his head back one more time, dropping his body below the surface until his feet brushed the smooth pebble bottom. He moved back to the shallower water by the edge and slipped out of water, pulling himself back on to the shore and sitting down on the grass. His hand pushed the hair back away from his feet, spreading a spray of droplets out behind him as he leaked water better than a leaky faucet.


The nasty bruising all up and down his side remained, but the swelling had gone down considerably and the flexibility and strength had returned. His expression had relaxed and the pain seemed to have eased out from him, allowing the line of his shoulders to ease until he looked almost normal again. Sitting back on his hands, he kept his feet bouncing below the current of the stream. The lake glistened, mirroring the dazzling the dazzling assemblage of glittering stars hanging on to the last tail of night as the sun transitioned into the sky.


Unaware of his own heart beating or the rise and fall of his chest, he drifted into semi-consciousness. “How about you?” he asked, his voice husky, deep, and slathered in sleepiness. “Feeling any better?” He had watched her those last few hours, especially. She had been limping badly, gritting her teeth through every ounce of pain. She was stronger than she gave herself credit for.


“Come here.”

 

[Elle Joyner]

She'd been worried for him, though it hadn't been clear to her how worried until they had finally reached that water and the weight of agonizing fear had lifted from her chest, watching him dive beneath the surface. Her ankle... it would have healed on it's own, but he was growing weaker by the day, and the chances that the dragon had done more damage than they could see were high enough that there had been no relief for her near panicked thoughts. She'd slept so little, her eyes trained on him, diligently... ready, in case things got worse. She would have, if she'd needed to, carried him there on her back... ankle, be damned.


A sigh of relief escaped at his words and smiling, she nodded, "I'm glad. You... you scared me, Thalion. I... I've never seen anyone endure what you have and walk away, and certainly not for the span of two days. Just when I think I've seen the extent of your courage..." He would argue, or brush it off, but it didn't matter anymore. He couldn't keep her from seeing it. Not really. He was strong, and brave, and whatever he thought of himself, those were not the qualities of a soulless coward, useless and broken, no worth to the world.


As he continued, she wiggled her toes in the water, and her smile brightened, "It's better... I imagine it will still carry some pain, but nothing like what it was before." Really, she could scarcely feel the ache at all anymore. The water was healing, indeed, but part of her wondered if it wasn't also greatly due to the release of fear, of stress. They had a momentary respite, time to recovery, to rest... and she had needed that, gravely.


He moved and with an air of weariness, sank down on the shore and for a moment she studied him, but she could see no indication that he was anything but tired. The water had done it's job, but they had still come so far, and traveled for so long. As he called her over, she pushed herself back to the edge of the ridge and carefully, testing her ankle for baring, made her way out of the water to sink down beside him.

 

[Mordecai]

[/heightrestrict]​

“It wasn’t really courage,” he mentioned off-handedly, “Just survival instinct.” He knew he had to survive so Minette could survive because while he did truly believe that she could survive Evernight on her own, she was weak and wounded, she didn’t know the terrain, and didn’t know where was safe to go. Those were all gifts he could bestow on her and when he inevitably was pulled away from her as his mother drove the stake deeper between them, he could leave knowing she could survive comfortably on her own… knowing where to go, what to do, what to eat.


She listened to his beckoning and swam from the water to the shore, plopping down lazily next to him. He hooked his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer for just a second. “All the plants around here are edible. I never said they were good, but they’re edible.” They had already depleted their store of berries from the few days before, so they’d need to fill up on what they could, when they could, at least until Thalion could find a replacement for his bow. Speaking of which, his mind jarred with memory as he gave her a shoulder a pat and moved to rise back to his feet.


The morning sun was generous with its warmth and he ignored his pile of clothes—letting himself dry naturally by the wind and the rays. He did, however, snoop around the small clearing they had found. There were lots of trees nearby and he tested the wood on each one by snapping off twigs and bending them. Some snapped right away, some could be bent around entirely, and some stiff gave only a little before slowly cracking. It was that wood that h wanted—the wood in the middle—not too stiff, not too bendy.


Hacking off a large limb of one of the trees, Thalion returned to the shore after fetching his blade and plopped down next to her. Silently, he began to chip away at it. The hunk of wood didn’t look like much, but it would… in time. In a lot of time. “We’ll stay here a day or two. We may be feeling better, but we still need rest. We also need to figure out what we’re going to do for you in the North—clothing wise.”

 

[Elle Joyner]

Survival. That was his most favored excuse, wasn't it... Still... she could hardly argue with him. It made sense, after all.


His arm slung around her shoulder and Minette blinked, color rising to her cheeks, turning her pale skin pink. Apart from their brief dance, which had seemed almost childish, and that time in the caves, when he'd protected her from the flames, she had not been so close to him. In the light of the water, that tourmaline shimmer, she could see flecks of gold in his eyes, like constellations in the sky. It was a moment, barely a moment, and then he released her and he was up again, but Minette's heart was still racing, her mind swirling with thoughts.


He returned with a branch and while the answer seemed simple enough, she couldn't quite grasp it. She felt hazy and confused, and there was an element to the air near those waterfalls that she could have sworn made her lightheaded. Her ankle felt ages better, but she had missed out on so much sleep, and the weariness, certainly was getting to her worse than she'd anticipated.


Nodding as he spoke, though barely hearing him, Minette turned back to the water. She wanted to get back in... to let it heal her mind as well, the tumbling, complicated mess that it had become, but she was relatively sure that wasn't possible. Rest... rest was certainly the right answer, but all the same, she felt restless. Carefully, rising, she moved closer to the edge of the water, her eyes drifting up to the cascading falls and with a soft sigh, she wrapped her arms around her body.


"...It's beautiful here." Clothing. He'd mentioned clothing, but she didn't want to think about the north. About continuing on, into the danger and the turmoil. Rather aggressively, her eyes began to sting and shaking her head, she blinked away the sudden dampness, "...Like nothing I've ever seen. It's strange to think a place like this could exist in Evernight... Or anywhere, for that matter."

 

[Mordecai]

Thalion could practically taste her exhaustion on the air and when she wrapped her arms around herself, he knew it was time for her to sleep. She needed it, desperately, and if she couldn't think about their journey, Thalion would think about it for them both. "Come on," he said, his tone genuinely soft and almost affectionate. At least as affectionate as Thalion's voice would ever sound. Setting the wood aside, he scooped her up and brought her over to the shade of a tree, pausing only to kick up his cape as he went. It was plenty warm, but it would grow colder through the night.


Collapsing down with her still in his arms, he brought her across his lap and covered her with his cape, tucking in her little form against himself. "Get some sleep," he murmured, bringing his fingers through her hair a few times before letting his eyes close and head fall back against the trunk of the tree. "Get some rest now and we'll worry about food and everything else in the..." He voice stopped as a yawn cut through him, "in the morning."


The wound on his side was mostly gone, but the dark circles under his eyes couldn't be healed by water, magic or not. Only sleep could help that now, and once his eyes closed once more, he happily dozed off without restraint. It was hard not to feel safe alongside the crashing of the waves down the damp stones. Maybe they weren't actually safe there, not really, but Thalion slept like he was curled up in a bedroom in his lover's arms.