Fantasy Primacy [Closed]

[cleopat]

“If I am this power source,” Tamsin started, giving Varick and quick squeeze, “then I will navigate that how I see fit.” Out of sheer curiosity, she would work with Kirsikka to see what all this means. Maybe it could help her discover what she truly was.

Who she was. Who her family was.

“Oh!” Tamsin stood up abruptly. “That reminds me. I know it’s a long shot, but I have something to show you that you may be able to help me figure out, since you’re from the North.” Tamsin hoped that was the case, at least. Maybe she was being too optimistic, but that’s all she had.

Who else was going to be cheerful and optimistic in this world?

“Wait here, I’ll go get it.” Tamsin only made it to the doorway before rethinking it. Her bag was all the way in the stable with the horses. It would just be easier to have her come along. “Actually, follow me, please.”

She walked as fast as her legs would carry her without running. Would this mage actually be able to help her? It was a long shot, she knew it, but if it came from her father, who may have lived in the same area at some point, then maybe Kirsikka could help.

Or Tamsin was just completely delusional.

“Long story short, I was giving a dagger recently,” she said as they reached the stable. “Apparently it’s a family heirloom, and given the other secrets my family have kept from me, I know nothing about it.” She reached into her bag and drew out the jeweled dagger. “I was hoping you can help me out.”

 

[Lucyfer]

At least right now, Tamsin wasn't shying away. She was still uncomfortable, that was easy to see, and so was Varick, but she was at least moving forward this time. She wasn't arguing much about just being a hard, at any rate.

And she had a clue.

Kirsikka nodded as she was told to wait, then chuckled as she was told to follow. Varick did, as well. He kept a distance, but he tailed them to the stables anyways. Kirsikka disregarded his presence as Tamsin explained and presented an ornate dagger.

'Oh what fun.' Kirsikka knew about enchanted items and learning how they were enchanted safely without it backfiring on her. "I can look into it, if you'll let me borrow the dagger."

Kirsikka didn't have a use for one.

She didn't really know how to use weapons effectively to begin with, let alone one for such close range. "I have numerous methods to make enchanted items give up their secrets, but it does t
ake time."

 

[cleopat]

Tamsin hesitated with the request. She didn’t know if she wanted to give up a family heirloom that she had just inherited a decade after her parents’ passing, but her gut told her to trust Kirsikka. That the mage was on her side.

So with a sigh, Tamsin nodded, “Alright, you can borrow it.”

Did a mage even have use for a dagger?

“I guess we’re stuck with each other anyways,” she chuckled, an attempt to diffuse the situation. She began to lead them out of the stall now with Kirsikka possessing the dagger, and Drazhan and Mikhail back in the open area.

“Our lovely Drazhan here is going to get the archespore sap for your spell,” Mikhail announced, as if it was some grand news Kirsikka didn’t already know about. “And since I need some as well and willing to pay handsomely, I’m sure our other Primal would be willing to join the quest?”

Tamsin glanced back at Varick, quite intrigued to see how he’d react to the potential of being alone with Drazhan. Two Primals leave, one comes back…

 

[Lucyfer]

Kirsikka took the dagger gingerly. She wasn't all that concerned with cutting herself since it was sheathed, but it was still a precious item. As they came out of the stable, Drazhan and Mikhail were there, with news. Kirsikka resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Varick scoffed. "I'd do better alone. Having to protect him will only slow me down and this isn't an hourly job." Varick refused to be nice, apparently.

"Drazhan handled plenty of monsters in Pomachion."

"With a mage." Varick reminded, because it did make a difference. Varick was no mage, he couldn't assist in that same way. He also wasn't eager to drag Drazhan out of every problem he got into. "I'm not guaranteeing his life if you insist on sending him along."

Kirsikka didn't expect him to, but she was angry he discounted Drazhan so easily. Thank again…so had she when she learned how young Drazhan was. And she didn't know how long ago he put off monster hunting.

Varick did.

"How much do you need?" Varick opted to get to the business, addressing Kirsikka.

She looked to Drazhan in answering. "For six potions, I need 3 cups of sap."

 

[cleopat]

Drazhan frowned at Varick’s callous nature. No, it wasn’t surprising in the least, but that didn’t mean it still didn’t stung.

This was the man that raised him, after all.

“With a mage who wasn’t exactly up to fight.” He sent Kirsikka an apologetic look, but it had been true. She did help with some monster killings, but she had also struggled internally at great lengths, and Drazhan could tell it affected her in every way.

And now he wasn’t so sure where she was at with all that.

“I can handle myself again fucking archespores.” But they were nasty buggers and they both would need to tread carefully. When Kirsikka addressed him, he looked back at her and nodded. “And how much did you want?” He addressed Mikhail.

“Just one cup, but if you somehow come upon more sap than that, I’ll pay you even more. The both of you.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Varick did arch a brow as Drazhan declared that Kirsikka couldn’t fight. This was the Boreal Wind. The one who decimated an entire army, and killed the bandits that had held him and Tamsin up in mere seconds. He wasn’t buying that she couldn’t fight. He fully believed she helped blast through most of the trouble in Pomachion, but if Drazhan wanted to go prove himself, Varick would allow it.

He knew the amount of sap to get.

He’d get it. Whether or not Drazhan came back was not his responsibility. “Fine. I assume you can make a portal to take us there. How are we getting back?” Varick asked. Kirsikka stepped back into the stable, and came back with the mirror she had initially offered to Tamsin. She handed it off to Drazhan.

“I can see through this. I’ll be sending you to,” she sighed, thinking of the place that the Ordo Sors used to cultivate archespores, “the graveyard a few miles out from Logaweirs. Archespores are known to grow there with some frequency, so I expect you should be able to find a few. I’ll give you three hours, then I’ll use the mirror to make a portal to bring you back.”

“Fine.” Varick could find it on Drazhan’s corpse if need be.

Kirsikka opened a portal from the memory of the pond within the cemetery, a place for peaceful meditation, once upon a time. The archespores would be beyond that area, but she wasn’t just going to throw them to the wolves.

 

[cleopat]

Drazhan took the mirror and pocketed it somewhere safe where it shouldn’t break during battle. Not against archespores, at least.

Three hours to get the sap, assuming the beasts were still there. Sounded easy enough.

He watched Kirsikka bring up the portal, and once fully activated, he paused before the portal, looked back at Kirsikka and gave her a wink, before he stepped through it, coming upon the meditation pond void of anything that would attack them immediately.

He stepped out of the way to give Varick room to come through the portal, and in that time, Drazhan took in the surroundings, gauging for any other threats that may attack them.

~~~

Tamsin watched the two Primals go through the portal with a slight frown on her face. It felt silly, but she hadn’t been apart from Varick for a long length of time for a while now, always by each other’s side since they started traveling together. Now, she was with two mages, one she vaguely knew thanks to a weekend together.

The other, the war criminal, she still didn’t know what to think.

“Well there’s no sense in waiting out here for them like they’re soldiers going off to war,” Mikhail said. “Let’s go back inside, and we can occupy our time some other way.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Varick went through, a bit too huffy to offer much to Tamsin, bothered by his own frustrations with all of this. He was through first, and once he had a good idea of the location, he was walking again.

He didn’t know precisely where the archespores were, of course. He hadn’t hunted in a sorcerer’s graveyard before. However, he had an idea they’d be furthest from Logaweirs, and he knew what direction that was in once he had his bearings.

He didn’t pause for Drazhan.

He didn’t even look back as he trekked west. ‘Fire. Fire would be good.’ Not that he was likely to find fire here, but he hadn’t exactly taken off his gear. His mind ran through his equipment he had on him, that wasn’t left with Marzipan, trying to deduce if he had anything amongst his pouches for fire.

‘No.’

The graveyard also didn’t seem active any longer, though he understood why that would be. Logaweirs was now in the hands of the Council of Light. ‘Did she consider that? They wouldn’t want an archespore infestation to continue….’ He was starting to think this might all amount to nothing, but he didn’t say that.

He’d search the area.

He’d have the sap or he wouldn’t, and if not, she likely had other places in mind. Or Mikhail would.

~***~

Kirsikka tried not to acknowledge the wink. She really didn’t want to, but her lips still quirked up a bit. She was still happy for it, that last acknowledgment, before he went off. She shut the portal after them, as Mikhail declared they go do something. She had plenty to do.

“I’m going to start looking into this dagger,” Kirsikka said, “that should occupy plenty of time,” and leave Mikhail and Tamsin to catch up. They needed answers about Tamsin, and this dagger was the only real clue they had right now.

She may as well use the time wisely and not worry about Drazhan.

“I shouldn’t need anything,” she added for Mikhail’s sake, “but I’ll let you know if that changes.” Most of what she could do to get items to reveal their secrets didn’t really require the potions or powders most mages would use. She could usually feel it out, or use reflective magic to get it to show the truth.

Mirrors were fun like that.

 

[cleopat]

Varick remained mute after coming through the portal, and after he set off on his mission. Drazhan both liked and hated that. Surely, after those decades, Varick had something to say, right?

But the bugs singing in the bushes were louder than the elder Primal was.

Drazhan didn’t protest in the direction Varick went, but he did begin to wonder why he didn’t go ahead and prepare to fight the archespores, even if they haven’t seen one yet. The creatures were difficult to kill, except with fire. And Varick knew this.

Surely he wasn’t losing his touch in his old age.

“Are you going to prepare a fire?” he had to ask. Most of Drazhan’s bags were back at Mikhail’s, but he just so happened to have a fire starter of flint and steel with him, still on his personage from the last campsite they built. “I know you haven’t forgotten that.”

~~~

Mikhail tutted at Kirsikka. “We have been apart on less-than-acceptable terms for several years, and now when you come back, you spend more time doing something than actually conversing with me. I’m sure that dagger thing can wait a bit longer.”

Tamsin giggled at Mikhail’s words, but she wouldn’t oppose them. Yeah, she was eager to see if the dagger actually meant anything, but it wouldn’t hurt if Kirsikka had a bit of a break.

“I am your host, and as your host, I command you to come with us and actually talk. None of that moping nonsense you do.” Mikhail wrapped an arm around Kirsikka’s shoulders and steered her into his cottage, where he gently pushed her onto a couch.

“And besides, you just met Tamsin. Maybe to help answer these unknowns, you should actually get to know more about her.” Tamsin wouldn’t argue with that. And she knew the stories and songs of the Boreal Wind, but it was clear there was much more to the mage than the stories suggested.

 

[Lucyfer]

Drazhan followed.

Varick wished he hadn’t. He wished he’d gone another direction, and it would lead him far from the archespores, but of course, he didn’t. He tailed Varick and asked about fire, the thing Varick hadn’t prepared for, because he was too damn frustrated with everything.

“Worry about yourself.” Varick said coldly. “Don’t concern yourself with my business or how I go about it.” He knew the fire situation. He also knew he didn’t have any fire, but that wasn’t really going to stop him from handling the archespores. They could be handled without fire. It was more difficult, but Varick had done worse things than that.

He could have offered a pithy excuse of not wanting to alert the Council of Light to their presence, but that was a weak excuse. The Council was likely not watching the graveyards closely, and if they were? They were mages. A fire wouldn’t be what caught their eye first, Kirsikka’s portal would have tipped them off immediately.

It didn’t seem to.

Not yet, anyways.

~***~

‘Well I didn’t come here to talk.’ Reminding Mikhail that she came there, both times, under duress, would be impractical. He knew that. He didn’t care. He wanted to be entertained, and he likely had ulterior motives for wanting to talk to all of them, so Kirsikka sighed as she let herself be dragged into the house and put onto a couch.

“One of us, Mikhail, has to have a work ethic.” Although it could be argued Malina got all the work ethic in Mikhail’s family. It was just a shame she didn’t use it for anything useful, or good. “But fine. There’s a chance I’d lose track of time, so I’ll waste the three hours with you two.”

She did get too caught up in work. That would be bad if she left Varick and Drazhan out there for six hours. And Mikhail did have a point about her probably needing to get to know Tamsin, but she wasn’t exactly Miss Friendly, and she hadn’t been looking to know Tamsin as more than, well, her role.

Which wouldn’t be a great way to start things off.

“I’m sorry to have surprised you with all of this, Tamsin,” Kirsikka offered that much, “Two years on the run kind of…rushes a person.” And then the mages showed up to kill her, rushing it even further. “I haven’t really had time to stop and do anything else.” Let alone get to know a person. Or keep up with old friendships.

 

[cleopat]

Well, Varick was just being rude! Drazhan was actually attempting to work together, and Varick wanted none of that. He could have at least pretended to not want to kill him until after the mission was over, so they could get it done as quickly as possible.

“If you’re grouchy because you have no way to prepare a fire, I have a fire starter on me.” If Varick cared. He probably didn’t, but Drazhan would offer.

But also Drazhan was irritated by…everything. Everything about Varick.

“Are you this grouchy with that bard you’re traveling with?” He still didn’t know the full extent of that relationship. He just knew it was weird. Varick never dated in the time Drazhan knew him. “I hardly believe she’s capable of protecting herself.”

~~~

Mikhail gave a satisfying grin as Kirsikka bowed to his wishes and came along with them. “I knew you would find some sense. You’ll find that it will be much better to spend those three hours with us instead of losing track of time and forcing those two Primals together longer than promised.”

He was certain that one of them would come back dead if that was the case, and he didn’t want to tell Kirsikka he wasn’t placing his bets on Drazhan.

Tamsin was a bit surprised that Kirsikka apologized, and it showed on her face. The stories she had heard about the Boreal Wind…but then again, how much was a story? How much was the truth? “It’s okay. I can’t quite understand what you’re going through, but I can only imagine all the thoughts racing through your mind right now.”

It could make a woman go mad. Or, madder.

“Let’s start over.” Tamsin gave her a bright smile and held out one hand. “Hi, I’m Tamsin, and I’m a traveling bard.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Of course Drazhan had fire starter. Varick didn’t want to take it. He wanted to ignore the offer, but his pride wasn’t that important compared to his life and getting back to Tamsin so she wasn’t stuck with…well…them. Drazhan and Kirsikka. They wouldn’t be good guides for her, even if they might be able to guide her to the answers she needed.

So he paused, “If you have fire starter, then get a fire started and don’t waste time asking questions.” He should have known better, but of course, he didn’t. He knew enough that Varick wouldn’t have wasted time if he had a fire starter, but couldn’t just get one started.

No, he wanted to talk for some fucking reason.

“I have no reason to be irritated with Tamsin.” So, no, he wasn’t grumpy with her. He also didn’t need to speak about her to Drazhan, when he was just seeking something to compare. “You know precisely why I don’t want you here, there’s no reason for your probing questions and pointless comparisons." Varick didn't have time for the stupid games, "Speak your piece, or shut up so we can get this job over with and be apart that much sooner."

~***~

Kirsikka didn’t really see the point in introducing herself again, and she rolled her eyes at Tamsin’s suggestion, though kept a sardonic grin on her face as she took the hand, “Hello Tamsin, I’m Visionary Kirsikka of Mont Pellinor, a war criminal.” It had been Kirsikka of Kheimon. It still was, but Mont Pellinor felt more right, given how much of herself had changed since then.

And she was working towards accepting those changes, including what that meant for Dravon. If she marked it as a point in her life – or her new life? Second life? – perhaps it would help her move on faster.

Although it wasn’t as neutral a greeting as Tamsin gave.

She couldn’t give that. She was a war criminal. If she wasn’t a war criminal, then she was a mage practicing illegally. No matter what, she was a criminal, she might as well make it clear the degree of criminality. “The Visionary is more of an honorary title without the Ordo Sors around anymore, but I still held it. Under protest.” She hadn’t wanted it, as much as she also knew she fucking deserved it.

She had never truly kept the Ordo Sors as a solid enough foundation to be a Visionary, until the Ordo Sors fell. “I met Mikhail there, along with his insufferable sister. He eventually left it behind to live his little cottage life.” A touch of tease. She couldn’t go far on that, and wouldn’t. They’d said enough to be on good enough terms again, and she knew better than to rile up her own sensitivities about his decisions.

Up until the war, she’d been glad he left. It gave her a place to retreat to during her times away and fights with the Ordo Sors. With Dravon.

 

[cleopat]

Drazhan tightened his hands into fists, biting back the first remark that came to mind. Oh, Varick was just as frustrating as he remembered. Should he rile up the elder Primal even more? Or focus on his task to start a fire?

But Varick spoke more, and whatever was holding Drazhan back from speaking more snapped.

The fire starter remained clenched in Drazhan’s fist, momentarily forgotten with his ire.

“You know when I first left, I didn’t have the intention of leaving forever. I was raised something I had no say over, and it was all I ever knew, but I wanted to know more. At the time, I thought that just temporarily leaving for a few months would get that out of my system forever.” But everyone had stopped listening after the word ‘leaving’. He never quite explain himself like he wanted to, but none of them were terribly great with words.

“And after the argument, well, fuck, I thought maybe I was meant to go somewhere else. To do something else.” He recalled the bitter words exchanged between the two of them as he focused a bit too hard on the fire starter to create fire.

~~~

Tamsin beamed as Kirsikka played along, even if it was obvious she didn’t want to. “Well nice to meet you Miss Visionary Kirsikka.” It was quite the mouthful, but a badass title nonetheless. If she didn’t think too much on the war criminal part, and why she was labeled as one.

But how true were the stories she heard?

“A title held under protest? That’s kind of badass.” And the Ordo Sors was where she met Mikhail, and a sister, apparently. That made sense, as they were both mages. “Don’t forget those taverns away from the cottage he visits.” Mikhail chuckled at that one. It was how he and Tamsin had met after all.

“More guests, Mikhail?” groaned a voice coming down from the stars. Malina entered the room, her form enveloped in one of her brother’s robes. Her hair was unkempt, her eyes were rimmed with red, fresh from a breakdown a few hours earlier. Laying her eyes on Kirsikka, she gave a disgusted groan, but stopped when she noticed Tamsin.

“Who’re you? You look familiar.” Maybe one of the victims of the Council of Light, but Malina hardly remembered any of her victims with rare exceptions.

“My name is Tamsin, the bard.”

“A bard, huh? I think I’ve seen you perform before. Wait, why is a bard here?” At that, she turned to Mikhail, as if Tamsin couldn’t answer the question herself.

“I’ll explain later,” he simply said.

 

[Lucyfer]

Varick heard Drazhan, but not really. It was the same bullshit Drazhan had spouted years ago – he wanted to leave, he didn’t have a choice, and he wanted to know what else was out there. As if any of the Primals had a choice or say in the matter. As if any of them hadn’t once humored the idea. Any who did humor it, did so quietly, and secretly. They tested the waters when they were between missions, and found they couldn’t escape it.

Drazhan made a fuss, started an argument, and stormed out.

“Because a mercenary is an immensely different line of work, isn’t it?” Varick asked, almost deadpan. “I am sure people like it so much better to learn that someone with yellow eyes has no qualms killing them for the right amount of gold. I am sure you found a much better place in the world on your own.”

Alone.

He didn’t have the Primals to support him any longer.

Perhaps that was indeed how he liked it.

In either case, he was doing a shit job at getting the fire started, and their raised voices drew attention. Varick sensed it with the slight tremble in the ground, and managed to move away just as a vine with a bloom erupted from the ground. His sword was drawn in an instant and the bloom hacked off, but it still opened up to spill out a poisonous pollen.

Varick was out of the way of that dust in seconds, and already rushing, following the trail of slightly disturbed ground to find the archespore.

~***~

Naturally, Malina was still there. Naturally, she would also wake up. Kirsikka returned the dirty look when it was thrown her way, but didn’t greet Malina otherwise, let her get distracted with Tamsin and Mikhail for a moment.

She did, however, roll her eyes at the way Malina’s question was brushed off. “Tamsin, this is Mikhail’s sister, Malina. Malina, Tamsin is the one I went to go find, the one who has some connection to your god.” Would she ever stop bothering Malina about that decision? No, never. She would never be allowed to live that down.

“Mikhail said I needed to hang around and talk rather than research, since I gave Tamsin a bit of a scare in finding her, and also had to deal with a few assassins sent from the Council. As per usual, they failed.” She was still there, no doubt to Malina’s irritation – although she’d also bet to Malina’s joy, if only for the way Kirsikka pissed off the Council.

“I won’t be here longer than necessary.”

 

[cleopat]

While Drazhan wanted to argue that it was different, that being a mercenary wasn’t the same, he couldn’t, because he knew Varick was right. And while there were the few that tended to ignore or didn’t care about his eyes and what he was, the vast majority weren’t like that.

But there had been one ray of sunshine during those years. “I did find something better in the world.” Sophia.

Who had been cruelly taken from him.

But now, there may be a second chance with Kirsikka.

Nothing more could be said before something came at them. Drazhan felt the tremble as well, right as he managed to get the fire started. He jumped out of the way of the vine as it erupted from the ground, and in his other hand, he quickly put away the fire starter to grab his sword instead, holding the torch with the other.

Drazhan followed after Varick as he trailed after the disturbed ground. The ground led them to a large oak tree, hundreds of years old. Under the branches and leaves was the archespore, firmply planted in the ground but using the tree as support.

It was a giant, hideous flower with sharp leaves that mimicked teeth. It lunged after them, and Drazhan lifted the torch, which the creature flinched away from.

~~~

Malina didn’t correct Kirsikka in suggesting she had a god. Too much energy. Malina left the god behind, and if there was truly a god, they didn’t deserve her praise or worship. Not after being fed lie after lie for so long, promised so many false things.

“A connection? You?” Malina said, brow raised in disbelief. “But you’re so…” she trailed off, trying to find a word that wouldn’t terribly insult the woman who hadn’t done anything yet to annoy or anger her. “Tiny.”

Tamsin was not in the least bit surprised of the word being used to describe her. She had heard it many times. No one ever expected her, and yet people were always surprised by her singing. Or, now, by her supposed connections.

She was honestly just as surprised by that as everyone else.

“And the Council won’t stop sending assassins after you until they are taken care of.” A part of Malina was relieved that Kirsikka was there then, if the Council had been trying to kill her. Oh, how she would love to see their pissed off faces.

Would they try and send some after her next, since she left?

A problem for another day.

Malina wouldn’t say another word though before continuing onto in the kitchen to grab her first bite to eat in a while.

 

[Lucyfer]

As the archespore flinched away from Drazhan, it also reared back and attempted to spit acid at him. It didn’t regard Varick with much fear, sans fire, so it wasn’t as prepared for his upward strike. Of course, his blade didn’t cut all the way through, even with his strength – the hide of the archespore was thick.

It was enough to upset its aim for the acid, and Varick let go of his blade, allowing it to hang as he reached out and grasped the long stem when it turned towards him with both hands. Naturally, it thrashed, and tried to get the acid on Varick as he held it, but he held it.

“Just the flower,” he told Drazhan, intending to hold it long enough for Drazhan to set it aflame. If they burned too much, there’d be no sap to get. They had to be careful with that.

Just as they had to be careful with the fact this one wasn’t alone, and the others had grown in close enough proximity to start to be aware of the assault on this archespore. Soon enough, their own vines would start to show up, with their own poisonous pods, to deal with the two primals.

~***~

Tiny was stupid enough for Kirsikka to let her head fall into her hand in second-hand embarrassment for Malina. Malina really was out of it. She clearly needed to go back to sleep, but Kirsikka was never that lucky. She would at least spare Malina further embarrassment by addressing the other bit.

“I know. That’s why Drazhan is getting archespore sap so I can make a new disguise,” that way the Council couldn’t find her, “they weren’t this dogged after the first year. Killing Wydan must have upset them.”

They were still a nuisance, but usually if she slipped and forgot a potion for a week, she wouldn’t be immediately found. She had more leeway. Not much, though. Sadly. “Although I’m not clear where you were going, and what you hoped to find, Tamsin. You didn’t seem to be heading north.” So, not to Kheimon.

Perhaps they could stay at Mikhail’s for a bit, for Kirsikka to figure out a few things, before aimlessly wandering. Or at least, having a goal in their wanderings.

 

[cleopat]

Drazhan dodged any acid flung his way, mindful to not drop the torch. When given the opening as Varick held onto the archespore, he reached with the torch and lit the flower aflame. The monster shrieked and wriggled in pain until it stopped and went limp.

“Are there any-” Drazhan felt the vine wrap around his ankle before he could finish his sentence. He struck out with his sword, slicing off the piece of the vine before more vines appeared to grab at the Primals.

Drazhan waved the torch around, either setting aflame part of the vines, or scaring them back a bit to give them enough time to think and plan. Soon the monstrous flowers appeared. “I think we may have enough sap,” he commented dryly.

Watch out for the vines and poison. Simple enough.

~~~

Malina, in the kitchen, could still clearly hear Kirsikka. She snorted. “You killed someone they were going to kill. Of course that upset them. You took their prize away.” And it was hilarious, but Malina wouldn’t say that.

And she continued on to find something to eat, tuning out the conversation from the other room.

Tamsin, once the conversation was directed back at her, shook her head at Kirsikka. “No, we weren’t headed North. I only discovered my connection to the North, and possibly Kheimon, not long ago at all.” Traveling up North was never a priority, but it may now be after visiting Varick’s friend.

“We’re going to visit an old friend of Varick’s in Tresse. Were hoping she could help us figure out what I am and what…all of this means.”

“Who is this friend?” Mikhail wondered. “Is she some kind of practed mage?”

Tamsin shook her head. “No. At least, not to my knowledge. She’s a siren. She was the only person we could think of that may be able to help me out.” But now they also had Kirsikka, though she didn’t seem to know anything either. “After that, we were talking about heading north if we didn’t get any answers.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Drazhan’s question was answered before it could be asked. Varick didn’t bother addressing it, but moved hastily following the path of yet another vine, mindful of the tremors of the ground as he tried to get to it. It wasn’t as straightforward as he would have liked it to be, of course.

Not with so many, and most picking him over Drazhan, given his lack of fire. The vines he could cut, though. He could evade the poison that exploded from the buds, as well as the acid from the flowers, but once he got to the flowers – that’s where his life became difficult. Hacking the flower off the stem was hard work. Hard work he was up for, but hard work all the same.

Especially evading other archespores.

He hated groups of them, but he wouldn’t call to Drazhan. Drazhan was dealing with his own archespores, and they were cutting them down, one by one.

Eventually, they would indeed have more than enough sap.

~***~

‘A Siren?’ Kirsikka didn’t know what a siren would know about this. It made no sense, unless it was just a connection that Varick was hoping would be useful. She still frowned at it, and glanced at Mikhail to see if he had any thoughts. If he did, he certainly didn’t voice them.

“I’m not sure how a siren would know anything,” Kirsikka noted, “but I imagine Varick has a good reason for wanting to see her. She must have shown knowledge of things akin to this, so he was hoping.” Desperate, perhaps. “At least traveling to Tresse will be quicker once I can make the potion, and then up north.”

Everything was quicker with portals!

Even though Kirsikka was going to get tired of the potions quickly. Only because of Drazhan. Everything was easier to endure before he showed up. Now she was going to hate being in a guise around him. Paranoid if he’d like the look the guise more. Or if he’d hate it. And never being able to enjoy anything in it…damn the luck.

“How did you even meet Varick? He wasn’t hunting you for causing trouble with your magic, was he?”

 

[cleopat]

With how many archespores there were surrounding them, Drazhan began to not care how he killed the remainder, as they already had plenty killed in a way they could still harvest enough sap, and then maybe some beyond what was needed.

He moved with his Primal speed to set fire to any part of the plant he could reach. The vines, the stems, the flowers, and evaded the poison and acid when one managed to get the chance to spew at him.

They had a decent pile of the flower heads, and soon they were surrounded by burnt and chopped up remains with acid scars in the grass around them.

Soon no more archespores attacked them, and the graveyard was just as silent and still as before. There was no tremble in the ground, and no distant sounds could be heard. “I think that’s it.”

~~~

Mikhail only shrugged when Kirsikka looked his way. He didn’t know this siren, despite knowing a lot of humans and non-humans alike, but he imagined anyone could be of use to anything, given their own personal background.

Tamsin shrugged, “I believe she’s helped him out with missions before.” A show that Varick trusted her, and so Tamsin would trust her as well. But she also couldn’t remember the details of any of those missions at the moment. Still, at the time, it was their only option. Tamsin had known nothing about Mikhail’s location or where he lived, so he hadn’t been an option to her.

At Kirsikka’s question, Tamsin shook her head with a chuckle. “Oh no, he wasn’t. I didn’t even know I had magic when we first met, which was a few months ago.” Only a short time traveling together, and already she felt like she couldn’t travel further without him by her side. “I was traveling by myself, when I was attacked by this giant snake creature. He just so happened to be nearby when he heard me scream, and he came and killed the monster.”

Mikhail cooed, “Well isn’t that romantic? Your own knight in shining armor.” Tamsin scoffed, amused by how she imagined Varick would respond to that statement. Not pleasantly.

“We ended up traveling together to Ritherhithe since we were both on our way there. Again, he ended up rescuing me when this cursed creature lured me into the sewers, and during that whole fight, my powers first manifested. After that, he volunteered to help me figure out what was going on, and we’ve been traveling since. ”

“And thus he was your knight in shining armor again,” said Mikhail with an amused grin.

 

[Lucyfer]

The archespores were dead. It took quite a bit more work than Varick hoped for, but that was to be expected when he didn't have fire. Now they just had to collect the sap. He did, at least, have a flask on him. He dumped the water out as Drazhan announced the obvious.

So he just grunted, "Gather what you can." Not that he figured Drazhan would delay. "Then we can get to safer ground." This wasn't safe. The shadow of the Council of Light could never be safe for two Primals. "You should burn the corpses once done."

He went about cutting into the stems and draining the sap silently. It would be a while before Kirsikka retrieved them. He wasn't looking forward to that wait, but he had no choice.

He couldn't let her know they were done, after all.

When he was finished up gathering sap, however, he did stand off to the side to at least wait this time for Drazhan to catch up so they could get off the cemetery grounds. He didn't have a particular destination in mind, just away.

~***~

Kirsikka resisted making any such comments about Varick, as Mikhail easily did. He was clearly transfixed with Primals. She was tempted to make a comment on that, but just rolled her eyes at him instead.

"Varick seems honorable enough. I only met him once before - didn't know his name then, I just needed ingredients," she chuckled at how similar it was to now, only the stakes were far different. "He got them pretty quick."

She didn't even remember what she'd needed. It had been so long ago she was lucky to remember his face. It was a shame he and Drazhan had issues, though. That would complicate this situation.

That was their problem, though.

And Drazhan didn't want her to kill anyone so she couldn't solve it the simple way…a way that would admittedly complicate everything else.

 

[cleopat]

Not that Drazhan had expected Varick to say anything more to him, he was still a bit peeved that Varick didn’t seem willing to talk more about anything save for the sap.

Drazhan followed Varick in dumping out his flask and filling it with as much sap as possible, but he wished the older Primal would say more, or else this would be a long and awkward bit until Kirsikka summoned them.

He burned the bodies as instructed and joined Varick off to the side, who was still silent. Drazhan could never stay so quiet for so long. It was too painful.

Silence reminded him too much of death.

“So, are you intending to talk to me at all, or are we to remain silent for however much longer we have?” he said once they set off to their unknown destination.

~~~

“Too bad Varick is already spoken for,” Mikhail said with a slight pout. “Who wouldn’t want a big, rough Primal with a loyal and honorable side? It’s so hard to find someone like that.”

“Even if this Primal wasn’t spoken for, you’re not exactly a monogamous person,” Malina said as she came out from the kitchen with a bowl of hot porridge. She debated something for a minute, indicated by the expressions on her face and the flicker of her eyes darting across the room, before she made her way to an empty chair near Mikhail.

“And sorry Mikhail,” Tamsin said, “but I don’t think Varick will fancy sharing the bedroom with an additional person.” Mikhail mocked pouted, and Malina gave a disgusted look at the thought of her brother in any such position.

“Oh well,” he said with a heavy sigh. “I’ll just look forward to any stories you may have to share about him. And you, Kirsikka,” he turned to his long-time friend, “tell me more about how you and Drazhan met. I don’t think you ever really said. And also tell me of the moment you realized you felt something for him.”

 

[Lucyfer]

One thing Varick had not missed was Drazhan’s mouth. The man never knew when to shut up and just be silent. As the bodies burned, he tried again, “I have nothing to say to you that hasn’t already been said, Drazhan.” Had he not made this clear already?

Drazhan left.

Varick owed him nothing.

They’d shared their parting words, hostile and full of venom, years ago. Varick had warned Drazhan of what would happen, that he would lose the fellowship, that he would lose him, and he had ignored it. He’d taken himself off to go have any other life, so Varick was giving him that – his other life. Which meant, Varick wanted to interact with him as much as he wanted to interact with most other people.

Okay, admittedly less than that. He didn’t want to interact with Drazhan at all. He was good with silence. He could sit in it for hours. “You may have had no intention of leaving forever, but I told you that was what you were doing. You made your choice." His voice was hard, but not harsh. It was that firm voice he'd used so often when making rules he allowed no arguments on, always, in his mind, for the best. Now he was laying down a rule for himself, as much as Drazhan. "I am not taking you back under my wing. You do not get to return to your siblings in arms, or come home to Geot Draath. I am not forgiving you.”

He kept his gaze on the fire.

“Live with it.”

~***~

The thought of Varick in a relationship was an odd one, although admittedly, the thought of Primals in a relationship at all was an odd one. Drazhan occupied a strange spot, being an ex-Primal – so far as the organization went – but Varick was obviously still one. That was why he had such tension with Drazhan. ‘How does this work?’

Not a question for now. Possibly ever. Mikhail could wheedle that information out if he desired it. Kirsikka was curious, but knew such questions usually meant reciprocating information.

So she just smirked at Malina’s own comment towards her brother, and Tamsin’s continued denial of Varick by taking a threesome off the table. It made Kirsikka chuckle, because no, that was indeed hard to imagine. Admittedly, she didn’t know Varick well at all, and people did hide odd things about themselves.

At Mikhail’s question, she gave a long-suffering sigh. How dare he out her with Malina and Tamsin in the room? He ought to know that was a surefire way to have her deny everything. Which she shouldn’t do for Drazhan’s sake, but…still. She didn’t like it. “You know better than that,” she still noted, “I’ll tell you how we met and nothing else,” he could find out when they weren’t dealing with strangers.

“It’s not that exciting. I needed an escort through Pomachion. Wydan set up the meeting.” Shame Wydan was a coward at the end, but he’d at least done her this good turn, “So I met him, negotiated payment, and got on my way.” A shrug, “No grand drama behind it, I’m afraid, just necessity.”

 

[cleopat]

Of course Varick had nothing more to say. He never had anything to say, did he? Especially when emotions were involved.

But he did continue, and Drazhan looked at him hard. “I am not asking you to take me back under your wing. I am not asking for some grand reunion where we hug things out and everything is okay, because it’s not, and you would never allow yourself something so sentimental.”

Did Varick ever show emotion to Tamsin? Would he allow himself to confide in her on matters close and personal to him?

The ring that once belonged to Sophia rested heavy on his chest as he thought about the evenings spent with her, talking about everything in their lives and childhood.

“I’m not even asking for forgiveness, although mutual forgiveness would be nice.” Would Varick accept an apology if Drazhan offered it? He wasn’t about to find out.

Drazhan sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “What I’m asking for…is a truce.”

~~~

Mikhail sighed as Kirsikka did not give him the romantic answer he wanted, but he would let it rest. There may truly be no romantic story, or there were more details than she was letting on due to present company.

His sister and a stranger wouldn’t be the best to reveal scandalous details in front of. Maybe later, if given the chance.

“Maybe no grand drama, but I’m sure something happened on the journey,” Tamsin said. “Maybe some daring rescue, or slaying some magnificent beast.” The bard in her wanted some grand tale to tell and sing to the audience, even if she didn’t know Kirsikka or Drazhan. She could still tell their stories.

Malina snorted wordlessly into her porridge.

“At least one of us in here is a romantic and is willing to give me something,” Mikhail said. “I need some form of entertainment.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Varick did snort at Drazhan’s criticizing tone of what he would and wouldn’t allow. No, of course he wasn’t about to hug this out. He wasn’t going to forgive Drazhan. There would be none of that. Drazhan had done nothing to earn forgiveness, and Varick doubted he ever would.

So all Drazhan wanted was a truce.

Varick arched a brow. “Do we not have one?” it seemed they did. Neither of them were trying to kill each other, and Varick didn’t plan to go out of his way to do so. Otherwise he would have hunted Drazhan down long ago.

“You live your life. I live mine. We’ll go our separate ways once we’re able.” They’d tolerate each other on this journey to help Tamsin, and then part ways. That’s all Varick assumed could be part of a truce, but he’d let Drazhan clear up what he meant by it.

~***~

“Oh yes, plenty happened on the journey,” Kirsikka took on a sardonic tone as she gestured towards Malina, “she blinded me in one eye and gave me some nice new scars, for one,” the gesture was also to show the burn scars on her wrists, “but I gave her a crisis of faith and ruined her entire life, so I think it’s fair.”

It was not fair.

Kirsikka wanted her damn eye to work again.

She shook her head, “You should know very well neither Malina or I are romantics, Mikhail. You’ll have to stick to Tamsin if you want those stories.” All she had were tragedies lately. Sure, they’d overcome some monsters, saved some elves from a rabbit hunt, and other things…but it all blurred into a story of someone on the run.

Not romantic.

Not daring.

Just a part of a larger tragedy.

 

[cleopat]

No, Drazhan didn’t see them with a truce currently. “Since I feel like you would rather rip my head off than talk to me, I don’t think we do have a truce.” And that hurt.

It made him realize how large the hole in his chest felt.

He lost all of the Primals, including the one he considered a father, and then some years later, he lost the woman he loved. All he knew was loss, and here it was, an opportunity to try and heal that void, but the other Primal wanted nothing to do with him.

“And I know you’ve realized we’re going to be stuck together for a while,” as he wouldn’t be leaving Kirsikka anytime soon, and she would be helping Tamsin, “so we might as well try to clear the air. Make the tension less palpable, for the sake of Tamsin and Kirsikka.” Or the entire journey may just be a bit too awkward for everyone.

~~~

Malina gave Kirsikka a look, and Mikhail quickly shot her a look of his own, and she diverted her gaze back to her porridge. Rule one of claiming sanctuary on my property: no fighting at all. I don’t care what happened between the two of you.

Tamsin silently raised her brows and looked between the two mages, just wondering what their story together was exactly. It sounded exciting! But infuriating for the both of them.

Mikhail then shrugged. “I can only hope you would give me the details I want. Oh well, another time maybe.”

“You can always go to the closest tavern and make your own romantic story,” Malina chimed in, deadpan. “Well, maybe romantic isn’t the right word?”

Mikhail tutted. “If I go to the tavern for romance, it’s to finally find someone for you, dear sis.” Malina gave him a sour look, not liking the idea in the least. Not some drunk idiot from the local tavern.