Private Tales Cut Our Teeth & Break Our Bones

[Maseno Luana]

Dreadlord Academy
3:00 AM

The sound of footsteps echoed deftly in the hall beyond Thraah's cell door, paused just outside for a brief moment, then continued on.

A folded letter slipped beneath her door.

The handwriting within was neat, slightly slanted, and written in crisp, black ink.

Thraah,

The moment you read this, pack your things for a mission to the south.

Speak of this to no one, those who need to know already do.

I will be awaiting your arrival at Point Revere.

~ Maseno Luana

 

[Thraah]

Thraah's Room
5:15 AM

Her eye opened and she knew it was already morning. but it was different, earlier.
"Fwua?"
With lazy effort she raised her hand and waved it through the air igniting the candles placed painstakingly inside the cavities to her stone walls. Without windows it was hard to tell but it FELT like the sun wasn't up yet.
Sitting up sideways she stretched and yawned and scratched her head then stretched again. Her routine was slow so she liked to get it done. Rushing always ruined her flow.
When she stood up she noticed the letter but took her time eyeing it against the flickering of the candles.
"Damn, more mysterious gifts."
Thraah stepped over to the letter and bent to pick it up, there she stayed on her honkers and ripped it open to read.
*BADUMPUMP*
The candles glowed brighter about her as she read it again. Then she read it a third time.
"Fuck!"
Up she shot like a beanstalk and immediately wiped some self conscious phantom of drool from her mouth as she began to think.
A mission? Maseno wanted her there, wanted her... stop. MISSION. Important, big deal.
He said about a mission, he was heading out soon? Did she imagine that?
It was hard to remember exactly what they had talked about only a week or so ago. Again she looked at the letter.
"...pack your things..."
What things?
"...south?"
She rubbed her eyes with the back of her wrist.
"Fucking, hokay!"
When she opened her eyes again she was wide awake, her mind being switched from *wonder* to *do*.
She firstly changed into her traveling clothes which were much like her regular clothes except she also wore a pair of auburn tights and a red travelling cloak with bycocket, also red.
The Academy had drilled her in survival so she took her backpack in which all manner of blankets and tools were held including tinderbox and waterskin.
That was it, all good to go except, she stared at the letter she had left on the foot of her bed as she prepared.
Secrecy was implied in the letter, so leaving it was a bad idea, then again taking it could be worse. Information was power and even the vague direction of "south" was enough for a clever person.
With a pained look she burned the second material gift given to her at the Academy save for a scrap at the bottom where Maseno Luana had written his name. That scrap she put into her top drawer under the letters from home.
As she left a wave of her hand had all the candles flutter out and she locked the door behind her.
The others would be waking up soon so she took a deep breath and began to make her way to Point Revere.
It wasn't hat long a journey and the sun rising was always a nice thing to have happening about you. Despite the colder days the sky was clear and blue by the time she arrived.
"I'm here!" She said, perhaps too cheery for mission etiquette.

 

[Maseno Luana]

Thraah would find Maseno waiting alone with naught but the company of his chosen horse. Point Revere overlooked the crash of the seas far, far below and an overcast sky met them with the promise of storms to come. Maseno wasn't often one for esoteric signs, but his gaze had affixed itself to the grey of the horizon where it met the dark and churning ocean waters with a sense of forboding. Something about this mission disturbed him and gave him a great deal of pause.

Choose someone you trust.

Zana's words had never felt so heavy, and she had spoken many a weighted thought to him over their years together as Mentor and Apprentice. Maseno had immediately thought of his sister, who he trusted with his life, but just as immediately turned away from the idea of bringing her along. Not because he did not think her capable, but because he knew their target well enough to foresee what it might do to her fragile mind. Silas he trusted as well, but his friend was away on his own mission.

Were there others? Perhaps, but the only other Initiate his mind gravitated to on the subject of trust was Thraah. Yes, he believed he trusted her and trusted in her to be the right choice for such a dangerous encounter. If only he could have spoken more on it in his note, she might not have arrived with such ... enthusiasm.

Dark green lined the black of his traveling cloak and from within the deep hood Maz turned to look over his shoulder at her arrival on foot. A frown briefly filtered over his expression but was quickly overcome by an appreciative smile. It was good to know he could count on her, he would certainly need the steadfast support of a friend in the mission ahead.

"So you are," Maseno turned to approach her, his gaze quickly shifting back toward the road she'd followed and the long distance behind her to ensure she'd not been shadowed, "come, we must be on our way. I will explain more as we ride."

He had hoped she'd make her way here on a horse of her own, but he'd also not specified. His mistake, but the less details in his note the better. This would only set them back a short amount of time if he pushed his horse. The charger lifted its head from the grass, an unremarkable brown gelding with a thick white blaze and dark mane. Maseno not being slight of build meant he required a strong steed, which worked in his favor to sit two astride when the need arose such as now.

Picking up the reins, he quickly mounted up into the saddle, then brought the horse around and offered Thraah his hand to pull her up behind him, "Do you recall Proctor Ilverstein," he began once she was settled into place. Reins pressed the horse off from the grassy knoll and back to the footpath, to take the road south where his words were whipped away in the rising winds of the seaside cliffs, "the one with the power over bone?"

 

[Thraah]

*Oh, nice horse, wait!*
When Maseno offered her his hand she just took it and...
*BADUMP!*
Oh, that was still happening.
"Ummm, okaaayeeeEE!!"
Maseno had lifted her up with some ease, she suspected he was using his power but couldn't be sure, he was VERY cut after all.
Next thing Thraah knew she was sitting on the back of the horse, its powerful body beneath hers and Maseno in her arms, again.
It just happened where were her hands supposed to go if not about his waist? That's normal! She was being normal. Normal secret mission to ride out in the morning on horseback with a handsome boy who doesn't do that?
*BADUMP!*
Mercifully Maseno gave her the perfect distraction.
"Eh, yeah I remember them. Fucking weirdo, had a weird smell reminded me of a potion place I used to run errands for. What about em? They lost or something?"
*Don't fijit, he'll think you're copping a feel and you're not doing that, you're holding on because if you don't you're gonna fall off!*
Thraah felt her body begin to get noticeably warmer.
She desperately wanted him to just keep taking. Tell her why she was here.

 

[Maseno Luana]

Most of the underclassmen from last year, namely his class and below, had been purposefully left out of the loop of what had happened at the graduation. Maseno knew now only due to his involvement in the Taskforce ... though the fact that his family just so happened to be one of the Great Houses that charged itself with knowledge and secrets also helped. In this instance, Thraah's ignorance proved both a curse and a boon and he found himself momentarily frustrated with his position.

Not of her arms about his waist, no, but his restrictions on how he could speak to her about their mission.

"He was one of the rogue Proctors that orchestrated the graduation massacre last year," Maseno went on, "after which he went missing and it is believed he along with several others joined the ranks of other high-ranked Rogue Dreadlords. He has since been sewing chaos and bedlam across the outlying Anirian territories, distracting the Guard from their task at hand of apprehending the rogue leadership."

He winced into a particularly strong wind that whipped up and over the cliffsides, bandying about the ruff of his horse's mane who snorted in wary distaste.

"Recently Ilverstein had been apprehended for questioning and information but he gave up very little and managed to escape," Maz frowned as the notion of his next words shifted through his thoughts, "our mission is to track him down from his last known location and kill him."

 

[Thraah]

Thraah was quiet for a bit after that.
There was a lot to process.
Suddenly where her hands were seemed not important at all.
So they were out to kill this Proctor, a Dreadlord.
"I..."
*I don't think I can do this!*
*I'm scared!*
*I wish I wasn't here!*
It was all true and yet not strictly THE truth. Why did he call on her? She was a fair fighter, sure and not terrible at strategy but even her pyromancy was considered nothing special. Dreadlords won battles, alone. They held fortresses singlehandedly and commanded the big stuff, gravity, blood, weather... Thraah set things on fire, she was a walking tinderbox.
She put her head against the back of his shoulders and tried to think of something to say.
Her arms coiled just a bit tighter about Maseno's waist when she realised that of all the many powerful, strong and capable people Maseno could have asked to come he had asked her and that wasn't nothing. How many times had he done this? Had he been made to do it alone?
"I'm with you."
She managed to say in a determined tone against the biting shriek of the wind.
Deciding that part of her being there was to keep them from getting hypo... hippo... the chills she kicked up her heat a bit and brought them all, even the horse, into a nice toasty bubble of warm air. It was hard to keep it up against the rain, she didn't have that kind of control yet, but it would keep the chill from their bones.

 

[Maseno Luana]

Houri would not have hesitated, knowing the dangers posed by this mission. Nor, he surmised would Silas. Both of them were powerful in their own rights and both of them had faced great dangers on their own. Maseno recognized how very little he truly knew of Thraah beyond their training and their very small social encounters. Realized that perhaps he was asking too much from her here, risking more than he had any right to on her behalf. He felt the weight of her worry as she sank forward into his shoulders and for a moment he nearly pulled his horse to a stop.

Then he felt her squeeze his middle and just barely heard her words over the gale.

Her warmth suffused him and even the horse seemed to ease a bit. Maseno took both reins in his right hand and pulled his left to hug it against her arms at his waist, squeezing back, "Thank you. I need someone with me that I can trust, I knew that could be you."

He was not without his own apprehensions. Ilverstein was a Level 1 Dreadlord and the single greatest challenge that Maseno had ever taken on without the help of Zana. She had entrusted him with this and he meant to prove to the Archon that he was worthy of her years of mentorship. Now he just needed to succeed and ensure Thraah's safety along the way.

No pressure.

With a nudge of his heels Maz ushered his horse forward into a steady lope. They had a lot of ground to cover before night drew across the lands and not enough time on their side.

Moving steadily along the coast and stopping only a few times to rest, stretch, and check their barings, they made better time than anticipated. As the afternoon waned into the darker evening hours, their vantage point above the seas flattened out into level grasslands that gave way to patchy sand dunes and seafront towns. The sound of the ocean surge beneath the stormfront greeted them at a village called Nagshead. While the rains had stopped, the winds kept up their merciless whipping.

"This is the last place he was seen," Maz said to Thraah over his shoulder as he pulled the horse to a stop just within the village limits, "go ahead and find the inn while I get the horse a stall for the night. See if the innkeeper knows anything."

 

[Thraah]

*Oh walking, please no.*
Thraah's legs and butt hurt from the days long travel, she just wanted to lay down in a hot bath.
But this was work so she silenced that part of herself and put on her game face.
"I'm on it."
She she said and turned to enter the town limits.
The town was small but alive with people in the darkening day.
The inn was a red tiled roof building with white walls and black beams two storey's high.
Thraah took a breath before going in and was almost instantly knocked over by a red faced woman as she tried to leave at the exact same time.
Thraah might have singed the woman's hair but again, this was work. No time for petty grudges.
Upon entering she made her way quickly to the bar.
The landlady looked older than the sea itself but still had plenty of vigor.
Thraah wanted to be her when she was older.
"Hey." She said.
"Can I get an ale, two, two ales please and eh. I'm looking for someone. You ever hear of a fellow named Ilverstein? Heard he was here recently."
She waited for an answer and the ales with what she hoped was an innocent smile.

 

[Maseno Luana]

Finding the stables proved to be an easy enough thing. A stable lad met Maseno as he walked the horse in through town, his arm raised against the winds. They had to practically yell at one another just to hear, and eventually gave up for hand gestures. Maseno followed the boy down the road and lead his horse in through the half bay door, heaving a heavy sigh as silence fell once the door had rolled shut.

"Quite the irreverent gale," Maz said as he took a moment to look around. It was a large barn with a row of stalls on either side. If he had to guess, they likely rented horses to people that arrived at the port.

"A wot?" said the boy as he took the gelding.

"The winds," Maseno recognized he had to adjust his speech, "angry aren't they?"

"Oh aye," replied the boy with a wide grin that was missing a few teeth, "Kiva be thrashin the seas 'fore sumthin. I 'eard she lost her pet."

"Her pet?" Maz asked curiously.

"Tha great kraken, demon o' the sea, ain't you 'eard of it?"

He found himself wanting to know more, but pushed the want aside for the time being and feigned a nod, "Yes, of course, the kraken." Likely just another sea story told through the songs of sailors. Tales of contrition and warning, as many were, "I suppose you hear many stories from the folk who pass through here."

"Aye," the boy nodded strongly as he began pulling tack from the horse and slinging it over a nearby rail, "the sea brings in all sorts. Nobles to nobodies," he guffawed at his own cleverness of word.

Maseno smiled, "How about Dreadlords?"



Thraah would get nothing from the old biddy except her ale order and a tight-lipped stare of a woman who wouldn't be bothered by her youth. Maz arrived shortly after Thraah picked some seats and sat down beside her. He kept his voice low and leaned toward her as he spoke, "He has left his mark here ... the stable boy went pale and mute as soon as I so much as mentioned Dreadlord," and accepted the mug she passed to him, "thank you, what is it?"

 

[Thraah]

Thraah brightened as Maseno entered the room. Sitting up a bit and straightening her shoulders.
She hummed then Maseno said about the stable hand.
"Yeah the barlady isn't talking either. You think he's still here?"
Thraah took a drink and let it sit on her tongue. Bitter things got better if you left them. Trying to avoid the taste was a myth. You can only let it become something you like.
She swallowed when he asked about it.
"It's ale, not bad... But I wouldn't call it good."
Maseno looked troubled by the mission so she tried some banter.
"Are all super secret missions this exciting?"
Thraah had no idea if she was trying to tell a joke.

Maseno Luana

 

[Maseno Luana]

"No," Maseno's brow lowered in mild concern as he surveyed the inn's tavern area. It wasn't what one would call busy, but with the storms at at sea he suspected most ships would not be trying to make port until the waters settled, "I do not sense anything here that would make me think he is. We may be too late ... he could have left by sea."

It did not seem likely, though. Not going off the routine Ilversmith had made for himself. He traveled inland, along the outskirts of Anirian territories sewing chaos and fear, creating distractions for the Guard to take their attention away from the bigger problem.

He gave the mug a glance and then a sip, wincing slightly at the bitters. He usually preferred a smoother, darker ale but this would do just fine, "It is certainly ale," he agreed with her over a wane smile, then shook his head.

"No, most missions are terrifying," the open admission came naturally for him. Maz was not too proud to admit his fears, "but often I do not have enough time to dwell on that aspect. My Mentor moves too quickly for that."

 

[Thraah]

So this was Maseno.
The other one, the one who would rule when the world was his.
Efficient and direct. Honest and serious and concerned.
And unhappy.
Thraah's brow furrowed over her eyes as she drank.
"By sea? Can we go after him?"
Thraah was okay on a boat but they tended to be made of wood. In a combat scenario she would have to hold back.
"Well, maaaaybe we should take a moment. Get our bearings and see if anything comes up. He was here, so someone is bound to talk."
She wasn't just thinking of information.
Maseno had ridden all day with her. The horse was exhausted and she could tell he was tired but too worked up to rest. She wanted to give him another way than just marching off into the storm to follow a madman.
"At least until we've had a night's rest?"

Maseno Luana

 

[Maseno Luana]

"By sea? Can we go after him?"

"Not tonight," Maseno replied, his eyes drifting to the golden liquid of his mug and watching the slight sheen of his gaze reflect back at him within the agitated ripples, "not until the storm passes." But he wasn't really expecting to need to take to sea. Zana had begun to teach him to listen to his instincts, and right now his instinct was telling him that their target had not left land.

A nod concurred with Thraah's thoughts, "Yes, I find a bit of rest and patience often pays off. I will get us rooms for the night. Would you like a bath?"

 

[Thraah]

Rooms, plural.
"Rooms?"
Thraah cocked an eye at Maseno.
She did want a bath but didn't want to let Maseno out of her sight. This was a strange place and could be dangerous.
"Just get one room."
Was that too desperate?
"With two beds."
Too coy?
"And a screen."
Even more coy.
"And I'll take the bath there."
Perfect.
She smiled over her drink and winked at him.
"No peeking. And you'll take one too. It'll help you sleep."
Thraah was slightly concerned with how Maseno might react to being told what to do but she was here to support him and if that meant badgering him to cleanliness then so be it.

Maseno Luana

 

[Maseno Luana]

He'd settled into his ale, pausing over a slow sip as Thraah made her demands. With every addition, the line of his brow crept upward another smidgen.

Goodness, mercy of Eshva. The girl had quite the way of herself now that they weren't on the horse. He thought he was making the gentlemanly offer of separate rooms so that she might have her privacy. The cost was no issue - he had coin enough to spare for the entire mission. Maseno could only surmise there was something else going on here.

He decided that Thraah was covering up her fear with humor and he'd not poke at her for it.

"As you wish," he murmured a low reply, the barest trace of a smile in his expression as he stood from his seat and moved to speak with the hostess about their accommodations. In short order she had them set up on a first floor room, a two-bed room that adjoined to a separate bath shared between another suite. There was only one tub to speak of - Nagshead wasn't a rich town and this wasn't a high-end inn. Maseno would have been perfectly fine with sleeping in the hayloft of the stables were he on his own, but knowing what life Thraah had come from he felt compelled to offer her some creature comforts while he could.

She had agreed to risk her life with him on this mission, it was the least he might do.

"Please," Maseno gestured toward the bath, "ladies first. Take all the time you need. I must meditate."

 

[Thraah]

It was a nice room or so was nice to Thraah's expectations.
And the bath had it's own room... Swish.
She still didn't like the idea of leaving Maseno alone but he was capable and she would be just in the other room. Her travel bag hung on her shoulder and she hung her cloak and hat up to dry. Then removed her boots.
"Alright."
She said, checking the door and wedging a chair against it. It wouldn't really keep anyone out but any intruder would have to slow down then she checked the windows. Simple hinge locks which she made sure were fastened. It was grim outside. Wind howled and rain spat at the glass.
"Looks secure."
Looking at Maseno as he readied himself for his own meditation she still didn't feel like leaving him alone and that had less than she had expected to do with the fact they were sharing a room.
*BADUMPUMP!*
"EH, have good meditations. I'll not use all the water."
And in she went to the bathroom.
It was a rather small room. The bath was tucked into the left, another door was straight ahead and to her right was the answer to all her questions.
A hole in a step with a bucket and pulley.
Looking down the hole she saw the tank of water that must have been filled from the town well.
"Hmm."
She nodded to herself at the design.
"Fancy."
Next was the other door which she opened. Nobody was in the other room and the door had a simple sliding block lock like the one she just entered. While she didn't plan on locking the door to her and Maseno's room, this room was a potential weakness so she locked it.

The task of filling the tub was time consuming.
"Hope you've not fallen asleep!" She said thinking about Maseno after the third bucket. She stopped at six. Comfort was one thing but waste another.
Before getting in she primed herself with a lot of heat. Stepping into a bath and feeling the sizzle of contact was always a rush.
Cold flash on skin turning to vapour almost instantly.
By the time she had submerged herself the room was steaming.
Soap was provided and a brush also so she got to work.
When she was finished and scrubbed raw she lay there for a bit. Head looking up and elbows out of the tub as she played with her hair in her fingers.
It would be another day or so before she'd shave it again.
Her mind flittered quickly from her hair to Maseno and the mission to the quite frankly terrifying sounding rogue Dreadlord and back to settle on Maseno.
She could scream, then he'd come running in.
She knew he would.
She could pretend she saw a rivvet scurrying on the ceiling with it's venomous fangs and that his heroic entry scared it away... Let Maseno be her hero for a bit.
It was a nice thought as she lowered her head and dipped her lips below the water.
Her hands rested on her stomach and the scar that ran along her belly. Neat and precise. Her Mother's work.
Sometimes she though she could see it glowing beneath her skin but mostly she reasoned that was her imagination.
The gemstone rested within her now, giving her power and keeping her warm. Right under her heart.
She wondered if Maseno had any scars. If any of the stories they told were about who he was and if he wanted anyone to share them with. He probably did have someone like that already, it might even be Stormy or Zee.
Maseno seemed to have it all except that he didn't. He didn't have peace, not in his mind or in his life. He was always striving and moving and that's not bad really but it can kill a person just as easily as a bow or a dagger, just not as fast.
"Haaaa, what do I do for that?"
Thraah mumbled the words under the water, letting bubbles tickle her nose as they burst on the surface.
The room was very warm now, like a sauna.
She thought about leaving the bath and checked her fingers.
Pruning up a bit at the tips.
She'd wait a bit longer, give Maseno more time to finish getting... Whatever meditation gives him.
She focused on the gemstone and the water began to boil.

Maseno Luana

 

[Maseno Luana]

Maseno smiled faintly after her as she made her way into the bath and hoped it would not be the last pleasant experience of her life before facing the rogue Dreadlord. So much about the mission had worked to fray his nerves, specifically the notion of putting another Initiate in harm's way. Yet facing great danger was the whole meaning of their lives, was it not?

How humbling. How depressing.

He supposed there were those Initiates that craved the challenge. As he quietly removed traveling affects and neatly hung or folded them on a chair, he thought of those like Fennec, Ivan, Mieri ... the ones that truly embodied the old ways. No fear. Eager claws. He thought on himself and how he used to live that way. It had been exhilarating, exhausting. His old anger had grown roots so deep he still struggled with it. Cultivation through meditation. Churning the foundations of his soul, gently but firmly tilling those stubborn roots away each time they threatened to regrow.

The air that filled his lungs was cold and thick with the scents of the sea. How long had it been since he'd seen the ocean? Maz looked out the window, a meager frown settling on his face as the darkness of the evening forbade any view. He turned away and moved to the center of the room between the two beds and there he lowered himself to his knees, feet flush beneath his seat against the floor. It was painful to prostrate in this way on the floorboards, but with pain often came clarity.

He breathed that lungful out, eschewing the frisson of mounting concern.

Closed his eyes, let his hands settle lightly atop his thighs, his head tilt forward ever so slightly in a modest bow to the universe.

That is how Thraah would find him, undisturbed by her sounds or presence.

 

[Thraah]

Thraah did not dry herself conventionally. Instead she simply heated her core until the moisture evaporated from her skin and hair. It was a quick enough process but refilling the tub for Maseno was not. She did him six pales of water, then a seventh for luck.
Unlike her Maseno could not heat the water herself so after she had changed into her night clothes she plunged her arm into the water to warm it.
When it was done she smiled thinking it would be a pleasant little gesture for him.
"He won't get it all the time!"
She remarked to herself.
"But he has been through a lot so. Yeah this is good."
Pleased with the steaming water she turned and opened the door back to their room.
"Yo, Maseno... Your... Turn...?"
He looked asleep.
"Aaaare you asleep?"
Wow did he sleep like that?
Did the heartless monsters of the great houses train their kids to sleep like stumps?
No, that was silly. He's doing his thing, his meditat...medicina... He's doing his Maseno thing that Maseno does.
Thraah had just never seen it before.
"Huh. Well, I drew you a bath."
She said sauntering over to the bed closest the door to the hall and lay down on it.
"Water's gonna stay warm but not forever."
From the headboard she could see his back and how he was sitting.
It looked painful.
Thraah felt a pang of pity for him. To be so driven was always shown as a good thing but in the slums of her family home she had seen folk work themselves to death for nothing and didn't like the idea of Maseno meeting that fate.

Maseno Luana

 

[Maseno Luana]

Meditation could mean and be many things for him, but today it was a journey back through the first scriptures of the Oran Texts and the Codices of Eshvan. A thousand year-old words spilled seamlessly through his thoughts, recited and memorized over the years from repetition of their pages. The temperature of the room had dropped about ten degrees while Thraah soaked and kept subtly dropping as he continued.

They invoked the blistering of footpads and the wasting of muscle. The rattled breaking of bones and the glistening flood of viscera. The dry sense of the desert on the tongue and the ever-wrenching pangs of hunger in the starving. Beget scenes of suffering and the karmic balance of goodness and righteousness. These were the trials and tribulations of those far less fortunate than he. These were the very real possibilities for the future of those he failed to protect.

Eshvan was a gracious diety, but she was not without her humbling realities of balance.

He could hear her voice and the sound of her re-entry to the room. Could feel her magical presence, too, and it felt odd but he was far too deep into the Codices to pay it much attention. One could not simply just stop at whim when so deeply invested into the scriptures. Doing so was akin to defacing her book by dog-earring a page to come back to later, as if fulfilling the lessons to be learned weren't worth the time or penance compared to the materialistic matters of substance.

Pushing through, to the end of the present script, he switched then to a closing prayer and wound down divisions of faithful gratitude the equivalent of 'and if I die before I wake, I pray Eshvan my soul to take. Amen.'

Maseno smiled faintly where he sat and took in a slow breath. He could smell the soap she'd used and feel the warmth returning to the room now that his mind no longer pulled it from the air, "No I am not sleeping," the Initiate replied with a low chuckle. His eyes opened and turned to look at her, candle light flames illuminating amber, "there are simply some methods of meditation that cannot be brought to an abrupt close without... consequences."

He pressed that slow breath from his chest in a heavy sigh and slowly got to his feet. Knees sore, Maseno headed into the bath area to find the water ready and still comfortably warm. A warmth that nestled itself deeply into his chest, "Thraah, at the risk of blasphemy - you are a saint. Thank you."

A gesture of his hand pulled a rolled linen towel from a nearby shelf that he sat on the bench along the wall behind the bath. In quick order he was undressed and lowering himself in.

"You told me of your siblings before," the warmth was kind on his knees and doubly on his muscles, "will you speak more on them?"

 

[Thraah]

The door was open.
He left the door open.
Maseno left the door open a crack so they could talk.
Thraah fidgeted with her hair on the bed, combed it out repeatedly with her fingers.
"Aheh, uh sure. Well I'm the oldest. Then there's the twins, Kraah and Haraah. They're two years younger than me..."
How was it that there was whole room of bits and things and her gaze kept wandering to the door?
"They're the best. We used to steal sweet nuts from Picker Street... There's a market there, well there used to be before..."
Before the revolution.
Turbulent thoughts of family made her lay down flat and turn her back to the room.
Shutting it out here was both easier and harder than being alone in her cell.
"Then there's Ruraah, Duraah and Taraah. They're from my Momni but we... I guess you'd call them my half sisters. I never liked the term."
Maybe if she closed her eyes.
"They're just my sister's yaknow."
She ground her palm into her eye but it just came away wet.
"I, eh, they do this thing when they play it's, it's like a word game. Taraah always starts with "Fee" and Duraah will say "Fi" and then Ruraah says "Fo". Then, aheh, they repeat adding so it's "fee-fee fi-fi fo-fo" but..."
Thraah realised that she hadn't spoken of her family to anyone in a long time and it made her chest ache for them.
"... Then they, they add "fum" to it every third time so it's"fee-fee-fum fi-fi-fum fo-fo-fum..." And *sniff* aheh, it just goes on until somebody misses it and, and then they just laugh. Heh."
She didn't feel like laughing but was afraid of what she'd do if she didn't and she hated hysterics.
So she gritted her teeth and screwed up her face and took a deep breath like she always did when she thought her heart was breaking and hoped to be done by the time Maseno was.

Maseno Luana

 

[Maseno Luana]

He listened. He heard. The strain of grief beget by time and distance lived away. She loved her family, it was clear the way she spoke of them, and she missed them terribly. Maseno felt his expression leaven for her pain - one he knew just as well, if not deeper for his losses.

"They sound wonderful," he intoned, impressing lightness to the words. He recalled their conversation after their small interlude by the tree, how she'd touched upon the importance of her graduating and doing well to provide for her family ... and then promptly directed the conversation back to him. It was nice that she was so willing to speak more on her family now.

"I enjoy this naming convention of your family," he smiled, "the Luanas have one as well...some call it honoring our ancestors, others a lack of creativity to come up with new names," a self deprecating chuckle followed, "I am the fifth Maseno in our family tree. Houri is the fourth of her name..."

 

[Thraah]

"They're the best, heh."
Maseno was talking but she didn't see him in her minds eyes. She didn't even feel her heart race when he splashed a bit of water and she remembered what he was doing.
It felt like a lump of dead stone was in her chest... Well, another stone.
"Yeah it's, it's a thing."
An Imp thing.
Thraah kept her eyes shut tight and her body still. She didn't want to start thrashing at her feelings. She didn't want to tell Maseno where her family was from or imagine what the heirs of a noble house would think of her if they knew.
Why did all of this become so hard to think about?
"So you guys just use the same names over and over, heh. Sounds confusing. Like, I'd hate for someone to have my name. Even if it was my kid."
Fuck, don't think about kids while crying on a bed talking to Maseno fucking Luana.
Thraah buried her face into the pillow and breathed slowly through it.
This was the farthest thing she could ever have imagined a night with him would, SHOULD be like.
What she wouldn't give to be high right now to be anywhere else than here feeling this.
The room felt hotter now. She was kicking off a lot of heat. Like anger heat but different if despair had a warmth this was it.
The proximity of Maseno was juxtaposed to the proximity of her family. Wanting one and despising the other was becoming unbearable as she teetered around the edge of the reality that they couldn't align. Not really.

Maseno Luana

 

[Maseno Luana]

A broad smile fixed on his face.

"The Maseno's are usually separated by at least two generations, so it's not terribly easy to find oneself in a room with another..." a ponderous sound reverberated in his chest as he wondered if the Maseno most prior to him was even still alive. He wasn't entirely sure that he was.

A bit more splashing before the sound of the tub draining into the catch echoed in.

Maseno strode back into the room a few moments later in not but a pair of loosely fitted green linen training pants that clung to his trim waistline and bunched just above his ankles. It was quite warm in the room which he found equal parts comfortable and curious.

"Is... something wrong?" he raised a dark brow at the girl presently smothering herself face-down on her bed.

 

[Thraah]

Thraah didn't answer right away. She took her time, sniffed a bit but didn't turn around. Just slid one leg over the other.
"I'll be fine. I just, I miss them. I've never been away this long."
Almost a year.
She wiped her face against the pillow and took better control of her breathing.
"It's nothing really, really."
More than her family she wanted Maseno to just forget he saw her like this. Thraah had worked hard to not let anyone see her cry. Heavens knew there was plenty of reason for it but she was among Dreadlords now and there were many who preyed on such things. Maseno didn't, she trusted that but the habit was strong formed and hard to break.
Worst, this was a mission, she needed to focus.
"It won't slow me down. I won't let it. I'll be okay."
To be perfectly honest she wasn't sure if she was telling that to Maseno or herself.

Maseno Luana

 

[Maseno Luana]

The desire to throw a blanket over her was strong. He'd fallen still to listen, observe, understand. Thraah didn't need a blanket, she needed a hug, but that was neither a physical possibility or - he believed - appropriate given their current circumstances. Comfort was important, but he feared giving it now would only enable.

He needed her sharp. Needed her to self-regulate.

The floorboards squeaked and groaned under his weight as he stepped over to her bedside and placed a calm hand on her shoulder.

"I know," a gentle but firm squeeze, "get some rest. We leave at dawn."

He lingered for a few moments longer, his silent way of telling her he cared, then stepped away. The same hand gestured with an open palm to the room, then curled his fingers in. The various candles and their flames flickered out all at once.