The Echo of the Enemy

[Taische]

Taische led her mother through the tame woods and cultivated fields that surrounded Radasanth. Their brown skin and plain clothing let them blend easily into the bracken of the forest, and anyone who observed them through the meadows would see no more than a bobbing black dot that skimmed just above the tall grasses and a vivid red wave that flowed just behind it.

The two half-wild O'Sheeans had no need for the roads that wound Storm out and around before bringing him back to his target location, so though they didn't have Attila's long stride or speed, they shouldn't arrive too far behind the temperamental lightning mage.

Truth be told, Taische wasn't sure if she really thought it best to intervene in her uncle's affairs. If they stopped him from doing something bad to someone, he would just hate them even more. He would yell and swear again, and he might even try to hurt them.

If he hits me or mom, mom will probably kill him, and he'll die terribly, and then I haven't stopped the thing I saw. The little girl cast an azure glance back at the woman who followed just a stride behind her unshod heels. But what if he's the one who's going to get killed? Is he trying to kill someone who isn't trying to kill him and others? He's a violent man, and he hates us. No, I think he doesn't hate mom. Just me. Maybe we should leave him?

Her mom had said they couldn't save everyone, and that sometimes bad people had to die so that innocent people could live. Taische had even seen that in action a few times. She'd witnessed her mother kill people in combat, but those people hadn't given Karuka any choice. Was her Uncle Storm not giving these people a choice? What if they were protecting people? He definitely had a dark side.

Maybe everyone can live. Even if Uncle Storm hates us now, he'll be alive to maybe not hate us later.I think that would be best, if everyone can live.

Behind her, Karuka walked with the same confident, unfaltering stride that she always had, but Taische saw something simmering in her mother's expression. She'd seen the firmly set brows and unwavering gaze before, usually when her mom had a goal, but the hard line of her pomegranate lips was something new entirely. Would it be better for her to decide that they shouldn't go after all?

They walked until morning had nearly waxed into noon, when the redhead suddenly put a hand on the little girl's shoulder, stopping her cold. The two stood for a few seconds in the dim green light that filtered through the thick canopy. The only sounds that trickled into the dense grove around them were the rowdy territorial disputes of songbirds and the ever-present drone of insects. They couldn't hear combat, or anguish, or even the rhythmic strides of a horse.

"Wait here, Taische."

The child whirled around, eyes wide in surprise. "But I thought this was something I had to do, because I Saw it!"

Karuka shook her head slowly. "Wee bit, y' saw death. Y' saw violence. Where y' see violence, y' might well have t' participate if y' go t' seek it out. Y' might walk int' a situation where y' have t' kill t' stay alive." The older clairvoyant looked down at her daughter with a serious and sad expression. "Y've seen violence. Y've seen death. Y've seen some ay horrible things. Some of those things I vowed t' protect y' from, an' I didn't. Some of those things y' walked yerself int' despite me tellin' y' t' not. But until yer old enough, I'll keep y' from th' worst of what th' world has t' offer as best I can."

"But-!"

Karuka stood straighter and her eyes flashed cold fire. "This isn't up fer yer arguments, an' I wasn't askin' if y' wanted t' stay behind. I've only a few short years left t' protect y', and I will damn well do it if I can. Wait here. If y' aren't in this grove when I come back, I'll find us a house an' we'll not leave its walls fer a month."

Taische set her jaw and sat down, kicking at a root. One hour, her mother was teaching her things so she could grow up, the next, she was treating her like a defenseless child. "I've been in fights before," she pouted. "I can hold my own."

"Not t'day. Taodoine." The phoenix pulled its gaze away from a family of scurrying squirrels in the branches, paying keen attention to his master's call. "Stay here. Make sure she doesn't go anywhere."

Taodoine obediently hopped to a branch and clacked his beak at Taische, trying to get her intention and invite the sullen girl to play. It didn't work.

"I'll be back soon. Stay put." With that, Karuka vanished into the forest, leaving her daughter tucked away behind a wall of greenery and thorns. With any luck, trouble would keep clear of the child for once.

[Storm Veritas]

Attila was a great horse, and moved effortlessly with Storm on his back as though he were carrying little more than a saddle upon his hard, broad back. The wizard had worked hard to break the contentious beast, whose power and will kept any ranchers from bothering with him. Recalling his own relationships, Storm Veritas thought the whole thing sounded entirely familiar. A smile crept across the face of the aging magician; perhaps both he and his stallion were just general pains in the ass.

”Chuff…. Whee!”

In uncharacteristic fashion, the horse bucked slightly and looked off at the woods on Storm’s left side. The brush was thick, dense, and unpassable; this stretch of forest would slow him from the well-beaten road. Something over there had caught the attention of the great horse, an excited bray as though it was an old friend.

“Easy, fella. Probably just a goddamned squirrel or boom-beetle zipping down the poplars. No reason to get your nuts in a twist.”

The large farmhouse of Letho Ravenheart had popped on the edge of the horizon, a brightly lit outlier behind rows of untended grass fields. The unkempt greens were disheartening; the home wouldn’t be much of an ambush spot if the Marshall had already skipped town.

”Son of a bitch… stay here, big fella. Stay safe and keep those ears perked.”

The magician’s whispers left the ebony hued Attila satisfied, as the tall horse remained at the forest’s edge, sniffing around and happily seeking the welcome disturbance somewhere within the brush. For a loyal steed, Attila barely noticed as his master slipped into the grasses.

The electromancer took sight of the farmhouse as he approached, skirting the edges of tall grasses to avoid detection. Toppling tall grasses would catch the eye of even the laziest of lookouts, but the rich, warm aroma of grain doubled as a wonderful cover as he moved ahead quickly. As he closed, the house appeared better tended, in spite of the lien placed by the city and the untended farms.

Not paying the town, and not leaving. Enough money to keep the farm kept up without bothering with the fields. Letho always seemed to prideful to let the fields run wild; he must be laid up.

Mixed feelings twisted his stomach in knots as Storm moved forward, contemplating his path of action. What precisely he planned to do upon arrival eluded him; he was torn between conversation and carnage. The pendulum swung rapidly from vengeance to fence-mending, as Letho Ravenheart had been both a friend and enemy in times gone by.

“Always looked down at me for my selfishness, like he wasn’t a man of needs himself. That big prick –DID- save my ass a time or two, at least before he tried to erase me.” The whispers he offered himself helped his thoughts process more quickly; and it was a necessity. He hadn’t hesitated to seek some sort of conflict with the legend, but hadn’t bothered in his infinite wisdom to finalize a plan. Veritas continued to proceed with caution, moving swiftly across the soft road that cut between fifty-yard squares of tall grass.

Not much activity at the house; only one horse out front. Do I knock on the door and come direct, or wait him out?

Storm’s eyes took a keen gaze on the outhouse, a small wooden construction some fifty yards behind the farmhouse. Every man would visit at some point, and no one was on the top of their game when they had to pay homage. It was settled, and he remained in his deep squat some hundred yards from the house as he planned out the best-fit path to work around the house.

”Click-chick!”

“Real slow, don’t move. Keep those hands out wide and slow, and don’t think about anything cute with that lightning bullshit of yours.”

Someone had gotten the drop on Storm, as he felt the cool metal barrel pressed firmly against the back of his skull. Where the stranger had come from was a complete mystery, but at this point it didn’t much matter.

Shit.

[Karuka]

The sinister silence held for several seconds, letting Storm's stomach sink and giving his assailant time to savor his victory over the electromancer. Then vines erupted from the ground, wrapping around the men like rope and wrenching them apart. The firearm let loose a crack as loud as thunder as the ambusher reflexively tensed up, but the bullet burrowed uselessly into the soil instead of fatally into its target's brain.

Startled screams and swears sounded from around the field, telling of nearly half a dozen others who had come for Storm's head. Grunts joined profanity as the men started struggling against their binds, but the sounds of effort turned to pain as the vines clamped down ever harder.

"I'd stop strugglin', if I was any of y'. Th' harder y' fight, th' tighter yer held. These vines can break bones, if y' resist too much." The voice traveled from the edge of the field, rolling and lilting without warmth. Its owner walked up the path with the graceful confidence of a lioness strolling into a clump of gazelle fawns. Stray bits of grain and grass caressed her face, hair and shoulders as her long, toned legs devoured the ground between her and her quarry.

Eyes as blue and cold as Berevan ice scanned the unkempt field, skewering each man in his turn with a form of disdain. The expression only hardened when she reached Storm and the man with him. Her left hand rose slowly, making the vines holding them twist and rise up so that the electromancer and ambusher were both at her eye level.

She spared Storm the intensity of her glare for the first moment, instead skewering the unshaven man beside him. "Understand this. I've come a very long way in th' last few days, an' I've no patience fer games or lies. If y've evidence of crimes this man has committed or a legitimate grievance with 'im, then of course he must answer t' y'. But he'll damn well first answer t' me."

Her eyes shot to Storm for a second, then went back to the bandit, whose apprehensive hazel eyes had fixed themselves on the redhead's golden face. He opened his mouth to speak, but she didn't let him get a word out.

"Which of ye bastards is in charge?"

[Storm Veritas]

Given the options, Storm wondered temporarily if he’d have preferred taking his chances with the gunman to listening to Karuka’s admonitions. The gunmen, since there were roughly a handful, and they all stupidly came after the electromancer with their thick, metallic weapons. It was as futile a strategy as shoveling sand against the sea; Veritas was soured of the opportunity to see the look on the face of his trapper when the gun flew out of his hand as though pulled by the invisible hand of the Wind God.

Could have fried these bastards like marshmallows over campfire, and figured out where the hell Letho actually is. None of that shit’s going down with Madam Manners sitting over my shoulder like some glorified, judgy cricket.

Karuka, on the other hand, was entirely more frustrating to deal with. She was wildly powerful – much more gifted in diverse magics than he was – and held onto that annoyingly rigid moral code. It wasn’t as though she were some prudish priestess, however she held an inflexibility when it came to the greater good that stood firmly in the path of progress. The newly-entangled, farmhand-dressed contractor looked at Storm with wide eyes, as though the magician would lend him some guidance in dealing with the scarlet haired beauty that had burst seemingly from the clouds upon them.

Good f*cking luck, there, Jackson. You figure out how to deal with her, I’ll be taking diligent notes.

“The lady asked you a question. I wouldn’t recommend making her angry.” In spite of the cold glare that O’Sheean had originally shot his way, Storm remained defiant with his charming tone.

“Well, you can tell her I got two big nuts here that she can suck on. Do your worst – our lot aren’t some group of soft-spined rats like your type.”

A fantasy instantly filled the mind of the wizard as the possibility of exploding upon this band of merry idiots flooded his front brain. To flash and dance amongst them, spraying blood like an abstract artist, dashing with bolts of white and blue between swiping drags of titanium and steel. To watch them twist, squeal, and beg for their lives. To watch a man cry like a child as Storm pulled the iron from his blood through his skin. It was a lovely dream, and one he wouldn’t have a prayer of enjoying in the presence of his beautiful, would-be better half. Instead, he stood motionless, thoughts migrating to Taische.

Where’s the little one? Hasn’t been that long since they were reunited; I expect that she didn’t spend much time hunting out a babysitter. Of course, that gods-forsaken bird is hard to miss, and I don’t see him.

Patient, Storm bit his lip and avoided either beheading the bold fool who spoke against Karuka or laughing at him. How she reacted to the imbecile would certainly hint at the location of the daughter that Storm had begrudgingly grown to adore.

[Karuka]

Karuka’s eyes hardened when her demand was met with an insult. Her fingers twitched ever so slightly. The vines around the speaker twisted hard, and a series of loud, wet CRUNCHes and POPs sounded from his right arm. For a second, the man merely looked at her with bewilderment. Then the pain hit and he started screaming.

“I’ve said I’m not in th’ mood fer games. Perhaps y’ didn’t b’lieve me, but I hope y’ do now.” The redhead let the man fall to the ground in agony, though vines still slithered over him like sinister constrictors. She planted the butt of her spear into the ground and crouched over him, glaring prevalida daggers into a face that had gone pale and clammy with pain.

“I’ll ask again, though I think I know th’ answer.” The accent dropped from her voice, taking it from a rolling growl to a tone as flat and harsh as a serrated blade. “Do you have legitimate, legal proof of grievance against this man, or do you not? Choose your words with care. The next thing I snap on you will be much more precious than an arm.”

The man shook in fear, starting to hyperventilate. If he didn’t answer her soon, Karuka knew he would soon be too shocky to answer her at all. Fortunately for that poor soul, and possibly the souls of his companions, he had a few moments of clarity left in him.

“H-hired! We were- we were hired. I can’t say by who. The contract’s in-”

“I don’t care.” Karuka stood up. “Leave now. All of y’. Take th’ way north. Go west or south, an’ I’ll kill ev’ry single one of y’. Any man doubles back t’ try an’ fill his contract, I let this smug bastard here kill ev’ry single one of y’.” She obviously meant Storm.

“If y’ understand me, say yes. If y’ don’t, I’ll repeat it. If y’ don’t understand because y’ intend t’ fight, I’ll kill y’. If any man bends fer his weapons after he’s released, I’ll kill him. Do all of y’ understand?”

A chorus of ‘yes’ and even a lone ‘yes, ma’am’ erupted, and Karuka released the binds on all but Storm. One of the men did bend for his pistol, but the vines whipped around so quickly and viciously that he didn’t even see what took him down. The rest of the ambushers wasted no time in clearing out, and the redhead’s eyes tracked them into the cover of the trees. Her earth-sense tracked them further. Once they were out of sight, she freed Storm as well.

“Taische saw yer death a few days ago, though she didn’t know it was yers. She dragged us all th’ way down here t’ keep that from happenin’. But what’ve you done, Storm Veritas, t’ get yerself int’ so much trouble out here?”

[Storm Veritas]

Sufficiently more pleasant than having Karuka rain hell upon him was to watch her do her dirty work upon others. She was the most caring and selfless soul he’d encountered in all of his travels upon the great mystical plane, which made her penchant for savage violence all the more satisfying. All the same, while she had certainly saved him again, she had let the attackers leave far too easily.

A few beads of sweat ran down the electromancer’s forehead as he looked up at the statuesque redhead. She was magnificent; an image of power, grace, and intelligence covered carefully behind the adorable shucksy dialect from some God-forsaken land. His stomach turned in a mix of reverence, appreciation, and selfish annoyance.

You could have either killed them all, or let me know who hired them. Either way, there’s a chance for me to put an end to this nonsense and figure out who came out to take me.

I mean, shit… I’ll find out who sent them either way, but this will be a hell of a lot tougher.

Rubbing the back of his skull, the depression in his hair from the butt of a pistol reminded him of the absurdly idiotic trap he had walked into. Like a novice, he had failed to vet the area, expecting the abandoned farmland was, in fact, vacant. The wind moved the tall grasses around them in a gentle dance as the aging wizard opted for some much-needed humility.

“You should know by now that my… ahem… ego can run a lot larger than my brain sometimes.” His eyes danced around for Taische, certain the girl wasn’t far from them. The doe-eyed savant was the only girl in the world that Storm would censor himself for.

“I was contacted, contracted, and shipped out here to settle a debt. It’s a long overdue one, a blood-feud that began long before I met you and became all respectable.”

Standing, he brushed the dirt from his knees and straightened his dress clothes, pulling taut the linens and leathers that made him look like the world’s richest ranger. His daggers were tucked neatly in the small of his back, his fingers slicking his hair back against his head. A sheepish grin crossed his face as he eyed Karuka; her wisdom catching the absurdity of his statement.

’Respectable’ my ass. She knows you’re every bit as trustworthy as an old man’s fart. She may have pulled you back towards something that could be described as “human,” but let’s not go crazy.

“Thank you.” His statement was simple, his right toe tucking behind his left ankle as he bowed from a tall stand, one arm across his chest and other extended wide into the warm air. The gesture was dramatic, but perhaps not unwarranted. “I’m sure you’re getting tired of saving my scrawny ass by now.”

Seeking the tree line, he searched briefly. Attila was likely still in the brush, and if the big stallion was, there was really no mystery regarding the location of the little magician with impossible potential.

One more smile as Karuka sized him up, deciding on if she would kill him or kiss him.

“Safe to presume the little one found her pony?”

[Karuka]

Karuka’s jaw dropped in a sort of resigned indignance at Storm’s admission to his purposes at the abandoned Ravenheart Estate. He had walked into an obvious trap like some foolish teenager for what?

The redhead gritted her teeth so hard they threatened to crack, then a long sigh, as sad as it was outraged, escaped through her nose. “I wonder sometimes, what could we have been if yer lust fer...fer violence and vengeance, gold an’ glory, wasn’t more powerful than yer… than what y’ feel fer me.”

She couldn’t call his feelings love, though she had believed it not so long ago. He’d run into a fight that wasn’t his on her behalf, and Karuka hadn’t known what she’d call love if it wasn’t risking one’s own life for someone else’s well-being. But he’d never actually said the words, and now she wondered if it wasn’t simple jealousy, a hoarding of people he viewed almost as possessions. When he slipped back toward the thoughtless hedonism that had defined his own youth and she pulled away, he had become petulant… and possibly even cruel to the one person toward whom she would tolerate no abuse.

She shook her head to forestall anything he could say, sending her red locks flying around her head and shoulders. “If th’ horse an’ th’ girl are t’gether, it best’ve been him that found her. If she’s not where I put her, there’ll be a reckoning. Come. Though she fears y’ an’ is convinced that y’ hate her... or us, she’ll want t’ see that y’ escaped the binds of yer own makin’. After that, what y’ do will be on yer own head.”

[Taische]

Taische sat in the thicket after her mother left her, sulking silently. Taodoine wouldn’t let her wander and she’d rather sit still outside for an hour than have the run of a mere four walls for an entire month. For days her mother had asked her what she wanted to do about the signs she’d seen in the bird flock. DAYS! She, Taische, had led the way. She, Taische, had made the decisions, from which way to go to what to do. And then, at the very last minute, suddenly it was too dangerous!

Dangerous! As if she hadn’t been in the middle of a great battle. As if she hadn’t ducked and dodged from two powerful elemental magic users when they were angry. As if she hadn’t knocked Rayse on his butt! As if she couldn’t have sent Uncle Storm back into the drink! She could have! She had just chosen to back down because maybe one day he could stop hating them if she backed down, and he couldn’t have if she’d carried out her threat.

She could handle herself if it got dangerous. She couldn’t even remember her first staff lesson, and she could barely remember her first magic lesson, they’d been that long ago. And she had a really heavy yo-yo as a weapon, too. She was strong enough to face some danger.

But she’d go crazy if she got locked in a house for a month, so all she could do was pout.

It wasn’t too long into her wait that a horse’s snort and whinny broke through the branches, and the faint clip-clop of hooves stopped just on the other side of the brush. Instinctively, the child ducked deeper into the greenery to hide from any bad guy who might have found her, and the phoenix flattened against his branch with wings outstretched and feathers bristling. His job was to protect his little sister, and nothing was going to get past him.

They both straightened up at the voice that conversed with the horse, and Taische would have stood up if not for Taodoine’s warning hiss. Part of her wanted to burst out of the bushes and tell him he was going to be in trouble if he kept on, and part of her feared what he’d do to her if he caught her on her own. Before she could decide, Storm had decided for her, and left the horse and the woods for the dangerous fields.

With the road silent, except for Attila’s sniffing and searching, Taische crept forward. Her little brown hands burrowed through the bracken until she found herself nose to snout with Storm’s big black stallion, and she kissed his nose before he quite realized he’d reached her.

Attila snorted, backing up a couple of steps in surprise. When he saw the girl properly, he tossed his mane and bobbed his head in a happy greeting, and Taische giggled, starting to come out onto the narrow dirt road.

Taodoine landed between them in an angry orange heap, clacking his beak at the girl and raking his claws through the air to keep her back.

“Ta!” Though irritated, Taische stayed in the bushes so that her pet didn’t tackle her into the clearing. Attila snorted and stomped his agreement with the child’s complaint, but a flap and a grumble from Taodoine explained the situation. Attila thought about it for a moment, looking between the bird and the girl, then in the direction Storm had gone. The muscles along his neck and withers rippled and he let out a low neigh before turning his muzzle to the tender shoots of grass. The matter was settled; Taische couldn’t leave the thicket.

“Ugh!” Taische huffed, foiled. She just wanted to say hello to her horse friend before her uncle got back and they both went away again. A silence pervaded the forest for a moment, and then she shoved some hair out of her face and looked at the phoenix again.

“Okay Ta, mom said that I couldn’t leave the clearing. She didn’t say that Attila couldn’t come in. And even though she didn’t say he could come in, she knows and likes him, because he’s a good horse. So would that be okay?”

Taodoine thought that over, then flapped back up to a branch. Attila looked at Taische, then looked pointedly toward the Ravenheart farm. He also had someone to wait for.

“You can get out when he comes back. There’s an entrance for a horse only just up a bit, if you look. Besides… I have oatmeal cookies.”

The thought of treats and scratches was too much for the horse to resist, so he made his way into the little clearing to spend time with his girl. True to her word, Taische fed him cookies, and an apple, and some carrots, and some of the flowers that she wound into his mane. He even let her stand on his back afterward so that she could reach the bright yellow summer plums that grew wild in the grove. A little teamwork would get them both a sweet treat, and the famously cantankerous horse was canny enough to know when to work with someone, instead of against them.

[Storm Veritas]

The hesitation Storm felt when dealing with Karuka proved well founded. She was a nearly perfect character, but willfully shortsighted when it came to matters of tolerance, understanding, or adaptation. The world was black and white to her, and the greyscale universe within which Storm traveled could just as easily have been the Astral Plane for all she understood it. Moonwing herself could descend down upon them once more and be defeated more easily than she could grasp and process the complexity of a man who wrestled with the demons of human desire. Her words and lack of recognition regarding his affection broke loose some connection that tethered him to any sort of reason. Her words barely finished when he burst out with a frustrated spray of words.

“Enough! Gods, enough! Shit!”

Standing in the tall grasses, Storm’s eyes affixed themselves upon the empty farmhouse, now clearly sun-bleached and abandoned, a totem of broken promises and unfulfilled possibility. There was nothing there for him, although the words of O’Sheean reminded him that perhaps there was nothing for him elsewhere.

You pull away, forcibly separate yourself, thrust that sweet little shit of a kid upon me and get angry when shit goes sideways. Then poison her mind with the affirmation… ‘Yes, Taische, the bad man -MUST- hate you, because there’s no way he’d be mad at the situation otherwise.’

His hands sat on his hips as the breaths came fast and hard; he struggled not to pop off emotionally despite her baiting. Karuka was all but taunting him at this point; short of physically poking him there was little more she could do to force him to lash out. At some point, the strain of managing her broadly swinging attitude proved too much.

“You’re too smart for this blend of bullshit, and you know it. I know you -have- to see it; that the drinks, the throwaway women, the combat… they’re the only outlet I have left.

“I mean, shit… I don’t know ass from elbow on raising a kid, certainly not a magically gifted one with a penchant for stirring up hell and causing chaos. Nevertheless, I did my best to manage her, did my best to care for her, watch for her, and make her feel special. New dress, delicious foods, a day in the city. When things didn’t work, you were quick to cut bait and decide me a failure.”

His breathing fought to race on him, his heart thumping hard against the front of his chest. The wizard’s nostrils flared and fingertips hummed as his body reacted to the sensation of conflict. There was no violence pending, but his frustration, his anger, it was very real. Only the one he loved could hurt him so easily.

“She thinks I -hate- her? Are you f*cking kidding me, Red? Look inside yourself and tell me for a second that you think I’d hesitate a moment to skin any man alive that dare lay hands on her. Hell, I damned near killed the boys that tried to hurt her, and that was while pulling punches in a half-assed street fight. I got angry BECAUSE I cared; if you don’t see that then for all your magic you need to recalibrate those eyes of yours.”

It was likely that she was going to grow as upset at him as he had become, or possible her own words were simple venting. Regardless, he wouldn’t stand for his sacrifice not being recognized.

“And you!! God, Karuka, how do you not see it? How do you not see that EVERY. GODDAMN. THING. I’ve done has been either for or because of you?”

His eyes blazed white in the spite of the bright sun, a fire lit within him that demanded he speak his peace. His temper had been blown, but he would channel it. He would be heard.

“Going back for you in Dheathain. Traveling to that disaster of a city that is Jormungstandt to fight Moonwing. Back over to Corone and through the woods to meet with Seth. Doing my damnedest to take care of that sweet little magical monster of yours. Do you think ANY of that was done for my health, or for the massive windfalls of cash that became them?

“No. Of course not. I did them because of YOU. Because YOU give me purpose, and challenge me, and actually cared for ME, and not just my wallet or my connections. Wherever we’ve traveled, you’ve been an anchor for me. A compass, showing me the path. A lover, and an actual, no-shit, honest-to-God friend.”

His tongue flicked quickly over his lips as he raced, looking down at his toes as he’d been carrying on too long already. He had to finish; she couldn’t interrupt. These were the thoughts he’d practiced in his head a thousand times.

“There are two types of actions I have here in this awful, f*cked up world. The actions I perform for purpose, for my O’Sheean ladies, those are the actions that have a mission behind them. Aside from those, there are just fillers. If I’m not working to build something with you all, then I’m drifting, and looking for action to either fill my pockets or invent some sort of purpose. SOMETHING to give me a reason to move forward. Shit, ANYTHING to keep me from thinking about what you’ve taken away.”

Resigned, exasperated, and exhausted, Storm inhaled deeply as his eyes studied the sparsely seeded grasses that danced between them, indifferent to the outpouring the normally introspective electromancer had just spewed. As the magician finished, the wind whistled through, breaking any silence with an eerie whisper.

[Karuka]

Karuka let the singing wind have its say in their conversation, absorbing Storm’s words and thinking them through. She heard his pain, his frustration. She heard the deep, soul-crushing loneliness that had clamped itself to him like a yoke upon his throat. Her heart ached for him, and in that moment she missed him like a caged bird misses the free sky.

“Y’ can’t think it was easy t’ tell y’ t’ leave, Storm.” Her own voice was quiet, like the summer wind after a raging thunderstorm. “After all we’ve been through t’gether, from th’ time I was barely more than a girl myself…”

She shook her head, an expression more of regret than of rage. “We stayed three days where y’ left us. At any moment, if y’d decided that y’ wanted t’ be a family with me an’ with my so-small, so-willful little girl, we’d have welcomed y’ back. But I needed t’ know that the man who should have been her father would be a father to her. That y’d seen she’s not an easy child t’ handle on her best days, that y’d be ready t’ step up an’ handle it. An’ maybe that wasn’t fair. Maybe I could’ve set y’ up better t’ succeed. Instead, I trusted you. I trusted yer judgment. I trusted you with th’ safekeeping of th’ life I value more than anything in this world or any other.”

Karuka drew in a shaking breath and looked up at the cotton ball clouds rolling across the afternoon sky. “Gods above, Storm! I forgot, fer a day, where I ended an’ you began. That’s my fault, not yers. I took a hard line b’cause I was angry an’ disappointed, an’ b’cause I thought that either y’d come back after a few days, head clear an’ heart ready t’ make us work, or y’d realize that y’ weren’t ready t’ be anything more than a free spirit, unburdened by responsibility. Unburdened by anyone who expected anything of y’. Have y’ any idea how I hurt when y’ never came back? An’ then t’ find out y’d taken up company with a man who’d as soon sell a person as a cow!”

The redhead sighed and her shoulders slumped. “When I heard that, I felt like such a fool. Such a fool t’ hope that y’d grown beyond th’ handsome, lecherous brute I met on th’ boat t’ Fallien so many years ago. But there’s always that one th’ heart can’t let go of, isn’t there? An’ we dare t’ hope fer that one. We dare t’ try.”

She tilted her head to lead him back through the fields and woods to where she’d stashed her daughter. “How are we t’ know how y’ truly feel, Storm, when y’ve shown us yer back so often? Thrice, since we met in Dheathain, y’ left of yer own will. Once, I sent y’ away. But we’ve been dancin’ this dance fer an ay long time, Storm. We meet, we love, we save each other, we part. We can’t keep doin’ this. We need t’ be t’gether, or we need t’ be apart.”

The redhead turned her eyes back to the villainous, heroic electromancer who had meant so much to her over the course of her entire adult life. “D’ y’ dare t’ try, Storm, t’ really make us work? Or shall we part as no more than friends?”