Walking On Fire

[Silence Sei]

((Closed to Zerith))

Sei Orlouge had acquired a Phoenix. The beast, known only by Hu'Vayn to the Ixian Knights, had made a nest of sorts atop the highest tower of the castle. Most of the time, the bird just rested in the nest, careful not to disturb those within. As of late, however, the legendary beast had been squawking at all hours of the night, keeping many members within Ixian Castle awake.

Sei actually slept better when he had noise, so his giant familiars cry did not phase his hours one bit.

However, eventually the cries began to become a problem for many members within the fortress. Sleep deprivation and higher stress levels lead to more fights that Jensen Ambrose and William Arcus were -not- the cause of. It was this that finally caused the mute to express some concern for his bird. He had known that the stubborn animal would not answer him unless he used the pinion that the fire-feathered friend gave him, but he did not ever once think that by making his home at Ixian Castle, Hu'Vayn would become homesick.

Sei Orlouge's phoenix missed Fallien.

After figuring this out, Sei decided that he would leave for the sandy continent immediately. Radasanth and whatever doom-imposing threat came this week would have to wait. For now, Sei was concerned about the animal that had decided to make a new home in Radasanth with him. He was concerned about his friend.

Of course, the telepath's concern for the bird perhaps should have been more directed towards the Dracosius family...

[Zerith]

“Zerith, wake up!!”

Truthfully, the halberdier had been trying to feign being asleep for the past minute or two. His head pounded from the endless squawking of that bird to the point where he was seriously considering getting up out of bed in the early hours of the morning and going to give Sei Orlouge a piece of his mind. However, Zerith knew he had a more important issue that demanded his attention in the form of a screaming baby that was wailing like a banshee in the next room. Little Siela didn’t know any better, all she knew in her tiny little world was that the loud noise woke her up and terrified her. So she did the first thing all baby’s did and cried.

Between the two of them, the halberdier had always been the lighter sleeper between him and his wife. While he would have normally climbed out of bed to look after his daughter by now, the commotion Hu’Vayn was becoming notorious for had already kept the prince up for several nights and it was finally taking its toll on him. “Please just go back to sleep,” Zerith pleaded with Jasmine, even with Siela although she couldn’t have possibly heard him. Slowly, his rolled over so he was facing away from the princess and groaned. “It’s just that stupid bird again.”

Zerith was jolted awake a moment later as Jasmine’s boney elbow suddenly jabbed into his back. After verbalizing his surprise with a yelp, he quickly spun back around only to see his mage staring back at him. Her facial expression clearly showed she was upset with him and the dark tint of amethyst in her iris’ only made it more evident to him that she wasn’t exactly proud of her husband at the moment. “Our daughter is screaming in the middle of the night because of that thing again, and you can’t even bother to get out of bed and check up on her?”

“Does is always have to fall on me to coerce Siela to go back to sleep?” the warder shot back defensively. “You’re more than capable of taking care of her yourself.”

“You know I can’t do that right now!” she snapped at him as if she thought he was being inconsiderate. “My back aches, my head hurts and my legs cramp up during the night. How am I supposed to take care of her when I feel like this?”

Zerith should have known that Jasmine would play the pregnancy card. After just recently hitting the halfway marker of carrying a child to full term, it was now impossible for her to hide the growing bump that occupied her midsection. Luckily for her, their friends were excited for the couple with Jensen and Stephanie being the two biggest supporters of the Dracosius’. Stephanie had quickly offered her support to Jasmine as the symptoms began, and now that they were in full swing it meant that everyone had to be patient with the princess and understand that she wouldn’t be able to do things as easily as they were before. Despite the fact that he knew this, a small part of Zerith couldn’t help but feel like she was using the same excuse yet again. Hu’vayn had woken the Siela up the night before, and even the night before that and Zerith was the one who had gotten up on both occasions. But even though he believed it would have be fair for Jasmine to deal with their baby just once, Zerith still loved her enough that he really didn’t want to get into another fight with her. So he did what any loving husband would do and took one for the team.

He got up out of bed without protest.

Leaving the warmth of his left Zerith’s bare chest open to the cool air, creating goosebumps along his forearms and inadvertently made the halberdier rub his upper arms to try and maintain the comforting temperature he had just seconds ago. When his bare feet touched the ground they rested on a thick, plush carpet that carried a feeling of security with it when the prince would wiggle his toes and feel the fibres tickle the spots in between each digit. As he struggled to fight against his heavy eyelids, the halberdier shuffled his feet forwards and began to head for Siela’s screaming voice while being careful to not bump into anything as stumbled through the darkness. Thankfully he already had the experience of making several trips to the nursery in the middle of the night, so every step he took and turn he made felt familiar. So by the time he reached the white door that lead to his daughter, the entire trip couldn’t have lasted longer than a minute at most.

By the time he entered the room his eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, so he was clearly able to see the small form of his little girl standing in her crib, facing the door while her delicate fingers were wrapped around the railguard. She must have been able to recognize the silhouette the prince cast against the moonlight that entered through the window, for as soon as Zerith entered Siela stopped crying. “Dada,” she pleaded as she sniffled, while the dark shadows concealed the rosy hue to her cheeks. Exhausted, she lifted her arms up to express what she wanted. Something the halberdier was more than willing to do for her.

“It’s okay sweetie, Daddy’s here,” Zerith reassured her as he quickly approached the crib. Hu’Vayn’s squawking grew even louder, and it was then that Zerith realized how easy it was for the fiery bird to wake Siela. The window to the nursery had been opened just a crack in order to let the cool breeze and fresh air into the room, but that meant it also made the incessant racket from the phoenix even louder. Even though it was absolutely unintentional, a slight sense of guilt flooded Z’s sense of self as he realized he had been the one that opened the window just after laying his baby down to sleep. “Come on,” he spoke as he picked up his little girl and immediately shut the window. “How about we go get you a nice, warm bottle and then you can lay down between Mommy and Daddy for a bit?”

The warder was just about to reach the door when Siela quickly spun her head back towards her crib and began to fuss again. “Boo!” She cried as she stretched her arms to something in the darkness. “Boo!”

“Wow, how silly of us? How could we have possibly forgotten Boo?” the prince asked his tiny blessing before he quickly spun around and rushed back to the crib. With the 15 month old child held tightly in one arm, he reached his other over the rail and down upon the mattress and fumbled around for something. Eventually his felt something soft, and he quickly flashed his daughter a smile, “There he is!” When he retracted his arm he held a pink, plush monkey in his fist. Siela didn’t waste a second after her eyes lit up with happiness, quickly snatching the stuffed animal and cuddling it for all it was worth.

The trip to get a warm bottle of milk was mostly uneventful. As Siela was content to just cuddle her favourite toy and watch as the man that held her multi-tasked. Zerith moved like a pro, with the routine having been performed so many times that he occasionally bragged to his wife that he could do it with his eyes closed. The process only took a few minutes, and by the time it was over Siela was already gulping down her milk as if it were air, while Boo was safely tucked under her arm. After a brief check of her pink sleeper that was covered with images of teddy bears and rainbows to see if she needed a diaper change as well, Zerith was relieved to see that one wouldn’t be needed and hurried back to his warm and inviting bed. Once he had carefully set Siela up in the middle, the halberdier slowly slid back into his place, rolled over onto his side, draped his arm over Siela waist and finally closed his eyes again. The feeling of doing a job well done of being a good parent never felt so good.

“Zerith?” the soft voice of Jasmine called out to him in a whisper. There was a quiet shuffling of the covers as the princess rolled over to face her family. “Zerith? Are you still awake?”

A deep groan emanated from the noble’s throat to show some sort of response. “Yeah, I’m still up,” he returned reluctantly with his eyes still closed.

The gentle caress of Jasmine’s soft lips on his cheek was barely recognized by his brain. “Thank you for taking care of her, honey. I was scared we would have just gotten into another argument, and you decided to just get up and tend to her. I want you to know I really appreciate what you do for me, and Siela.”

A slight smile slowly spread on the face of the Ixian Knight, and as he yawned he stretched his arm further until he could feel it reach behind his wife and pulled the two ladies he loved most into a tight hug. “Word has it that Sei is going to Fallien. I think I’m going to go with him.” he mumbled.

“What? Why would you suddenly decide to go to the desert? You hate the desert.”

A small sigh escaped Zerith’s lips before he answered. “I want to go to make sure that when Hu’Vayn comes back to the castle it won’t want you or our baby up in the middle of the night anymore. You two deserve to get all the rest you can get at night.”

Everything was silent for a minute or two, making Zerith believe what he said was everything Jasmine needed to hear and she had just decided to go back to sleep as Siela was quickly dozing off nestled between her parents. Yet just as he was hovering on the edge of falling back into whatever dreams awaited him, the warder swore he heard his mage say one last thing to him.

“Have I told recently told you how much I love you?”

[Silence Sei]

The first lights of dawn began to rise into the horizon, and Sei was already up and packed for his journey. The thing about raising four dauhters was that the father never had to worry about never packing enough for himself. Anita had granted her father her backpack to use, as well as her bottle of constantly refilling holy water. Kyla had packed clothes so the mute would not sweat until his clothes were soaked. Emma, the most practical of the four, managed to pack several bottles of water and food to keep the Mystic hydrated. Ella, the youngest of the sisters, managed to put in a few of her toys so her daddy would not get lonely on the journey to Fallien. It warmed the mute's heart to know that these girls were so concerned with looking out for him.

He made his way to the stables rather quickly. With every step he took, the mute made sure not to wake anybody sleeping in the castle. He had divided tasks of his every day routine between Emma (for practical matters), Anita (for matters of war), and Jensen Ambrose (whom Sei named 'Captain of Deciding What The Troops Eat') to make sure that everything stayed in order during his absence. When he had arrived at the stables, he could hear the sounds of the horses waking up, foals feeding on their mothers, and the same mothers eating the hay provided to them by the early morning stablehands. Every so often, the smell of manuere would hit his senses, causing the Mystic to wrinkle his nose in diguist.

By the time he made it to the end of the stables where all the Nine Generals kept their steeds, his horse was already prepared. The pony that Sei had chosen for his on had been bred by the two strongest horses in the castle. Named Rayd for the passionate heat he gave off, Sei admired the rather large beast. The two brown spots on the horse's calves were perfectly groom, as well as the rest of the hair on his crimson frame. The stablehands took good care of their Lords horse, despite the beasts stubborn nature for not obeying most of the people within Ixian Castle. Sei smiled to the creature, who calmly approached his master and nuzzles against his shoulder. The mute replied by patting the steed on his neck, prompting the animal to lower itself. The Mystic then mounted his steed and patted his neck twice, causing it to raise up and start walking out of the stables. The Hero of Radasanth waved at the passing stablehands as he left on his journey, his eyes so focused on his soldiers it took the mute a moment to realize that the horse had stopped.

Looking forward, Sei saw Zerith already mounted on his creature, a stern look of confidence in his eyes. The Avatar of Alerar knew that arguing with the halberdier would be pointless. The mute recognized that look in his eyes as the same his daughters had when they were determined to go with him. Sei smiled and patted the side of Rayd's neck once more, the horse walking past Zerith as Sei nodded to his Ixian Captain.

"Well then, let's go," Sei spoke into Zerith's mind, knowing that there would be plenty of time to talk about Zerith's own motivations on the trip to Fallien. The mute looked up to the air, hearing the caw of his large bird as the feathered beast soard overhead towards the desert country. In response, Rayd neighed and shook his head, to which Sei smiled and looked back to Zerith.

"Looks like its going to be an interesting journey..."