"Reta," Rhost says. "Made something."
"Besides, giant tarantulas? I'm having enough trouble working out how to sell my 'travel the world in a caravan and find True Love' idea as it is. Brigands, yeti and courtly intrigue are all sexy and romantic. They work. Giant spiders? Not sexy! Not romantic!""Giant spiders am definition of sexy and romantic!" Reta protests.
"Not to your average longshanks, they're not," counters Kalimac. "I've got to cater to my core demographic."
<I'm here.>
<I did a striptease for Liothonae at her bachelorette party, because I thought she should get a chance to have one and I thought a stranger might upset her,> she says a little tonelessly. <I should have checked with the two of you first to make sure that was all right, but I didn't. I don't really have any excuse for it. I told Melinda last night, and I'm telling you now as well because lying by omission is a bad habit from my last relationship that I need to break.>
<I'm sorry.>
Alaric gives his adopted daughter a queer look, as though running through any number of possible responses. He finally settles on: "I love you, bint."
"Me am love you too, missier," Reta replies.
"Not to your average longshanks, they're not," counters Kalimac. "I've got to cater to my core demographic."
Reta puts a comradely arm around Kalimac's shoulders. "It am sad that only smaller people of world like you and me understand true meaning of romance," she says. "Giant spiders."
"Reta," Rhost says. "Made something."
Reta looks terribly excited. "What? What am it? Am it am present? Am it shiny?"
Her hands run up and down her mate's arms, a solid force of being present with him.
To the north, you can still see the now distant peaks of the towering Wall of the World. To the south, still possibly hundreds of miles away, you can just start to make out a line of darker green on the horizon that may be the start of the Forest of Spirits.
Rhost looks off in the distance, then shakes his head. "World is big," he says.
The first day back on the road, when the caravan has settled down for the day and Rhost heads into the food area to cook, he finds Mel next to a cutting board half full of chopped veggies, fast asleep with her head cushioned on her arms.
Rhost carefully sets aside the board of half-chopped veggies, and watches Melinda sleep, thinking.
Digging deep into his culinary stash, Rhost starts water heating and drops in a small dried fish.
<Yes. If it matters, she was clothed, and I wasn't naked, and I didn't touch her anywhere sexual. I guess it doesn't matter. I should stop trying to defend myself.>
Reta looks terribly excited. "What? What am it? Am it am present? Am it shiny?"
"Better," Rhost says. "Sharp." He looks over toward Alaric and Melinda. "Present time?"
Reta looks terribly excited. "What? What am it? Am it am present? Am it shiny?""Better," Rhost says. "Sharp." He looks over toward Alaric and Melinda. "Present time?"
"Ours are at the caravan" Mel says with a brilliant, excited smile. She looks at Reta, "Up to you, do you want some presents here and some after, or all after?"
"Ours are at the caravan" Mel says with a brilliant, excited smile. She looks at Reta, "Up to you, do you want some presents here and some after, or all after?"
"Reta should get presents all day," she answers.
"I don't understand why there would be a striptease in the first place, Z." She says with a shake of her head, "I don't get celebrating joining your life to someone you love by participation in sexual act with someone else."
"And I don't really understand why you would want to..." She shakes her head, "Why didn't you just ask Shae to strip for Lio if it was so all-fired necessary to have a stupid and hurtful tradition appeased?"
The whole time Mel stays close to Alaric unless he pulls away from her.
<I didn't know it was a sexual act!> she says, her voice almost tinged with hysteria. <I didn't know it was a stupid and hurtful tradition! It's obvious now that everyone knew it but me, but I didn't.>
<I thought it was a performance piece. I used to perform wearing less than that all the time. And I thought it was a performance someone does at a bachelorette party, and the fiancee doesn't do it because it's supposed to be individual for just one of them.>
<I didn't know it would hurt you. It never occurred to me. I didn't mention it because I honestly believed neither of you would even care, I wasn't trying to hide it because I didn't know there was anything that needed to be hidden. Do you know why I told you about it last night? Because I actually thought you were going to be upset that you weren't invited. It was only when I realized you were hurt that I figured out that I had done something terribly, terribly wrong.>
<So I'm a moron. I'm stupid. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. There was something everyone knew was wrong and I didn't. Something that was apparently cheating on you and I didn't know. I'm an idiot. I thought it was supposed to be funny.>
<I know I'm in the wrong. I know I should have known, should have realized, I'm not saying I'm not in the wrong. I won't do it again, I won't do anything like it ever again, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.>
"Besides, giant tarantulas? I'm having enough trouble working out how to sell my 'travel the world in a caravan and find True Love' idea as it is. Brigands, yeti and courtly intrigue are all sexy and romantic. They work. Giant spiders? Not sexy! Not romantic!""Giant spiders am definition of sexy and romantic!" Reta protests.
Lio nods. Apparently she agrees with Reta.
Mel nods cheerfully. |The spiders weren't as bad as the polar bear chimera. That buried the caravan for a week.||You are ... perhaps aware that this is abnormal?| Enqbatu asks hesitantly.
Lio also nods to this, in agreement.
It is the sound of someone with no vocal cords trying to scream.
<Cast whatever spells you want on me tonight. To compel me to tell the truth. Right now, if you have them. Or look as deep in my mind as you want. Now. It's open, I'm hiding nothing. I didn't know.>
Her words start coming out in short, jagged bursts.
<You know why I. Didn't tell you? Because I felt bad. That I was going to a party without you. Thought you would be sad. That you weren't invited. To a party. So I said. Just going for a few drinks. To spare your feelings. Oh I felt so guilty. That was what I thought. Was my big sin. I hadn't told you. It was a party. Melinda came later. And I felt so awful. It all came spilling out. I'm so sorry. You weren't invited. To the party. Babbling about everything. Then saw her get hurt. By something I didn't even know. Would hurt her.>
She is sobbing in great wracking heaves, the high-pitched keen faintly audible whenever she exhales.
<I didn't know it was wrong. No one ever told me it was wrong. I thought it was like kissing someone in a play. I thought it was a performance. I thought it was innocent. I didn't know it wasn't innocent.>
<If I had. Just said. Oh I'm going to a bachelorette party. Oh I'm going to do a striptease, how fun. You would have told me. Maybe yelled at me. That would have been all right. Better than this. Because then I wouldn't have done it. But I didn't tell you. Because I didn't want you to feel bad. That you weren't invited to a party.>
<So hate me for being so stupid I didn't know, if you want to. Or didn't realize. Or hate me for not telling you about the stupid stupid party if you want to. But I'm not lying now. I'm not. I didn't know. I would do anything to take it back. I'll never do anything like it again. I promise. But I didn't know. If you need. Since you deserve. Proof of that. You can have it. I won't mind.>
Her arms go around him, holding him. Then one hand reaches over to Zaiobe, squeezing the other woman's hand.
"Not to your average longshanks, they're not," counters Kalimac. "I've got to cater to my core demographic."Reta puts a comradely arm around Kalimac's shoulders. "It am sad that only smaller people of world like you and me understand true meaning of romance," she says. "Giant spiders."
"Well, it is true that we enjoy a unique perspective," replies Kalimac.
His face betrays nothing of whether or not he personally agrees with Lio and Reta as to the romanticism and sexiness of giant spiders.
"Well, it is true that we enjoy a unique perspective," replies Kalimac.
1d20+18
His face betrays nothing of whether or not he personally agrees with Lio and Reta as to the romanticism and sexiness of giant spiders.
Alaric narrows his eyes, trying to read the notoriously poker faced cavalier.
When Kalimac's facade proves as impenetrable as always, Alaric shakes his head in admiration.
<Then I would like to ask you, beg you, both of you, to make just one leap of faith.>
<I would like you to believe that if this happens just once and only once, it was a terrible mistake and not ... who I am.>
<I'm not asking you not to be hurt or disappointed. I'm not taking back my offer to let you verify that I was sincere in everything I've said tonight. And I'm not saying I haven't done something awful, even if I didn't mean to.>
<And I realize that even if you agree, I only get to ask this once, ever, because if I ever do anything like this again, it's a pattern. It'll mean I haven't learned and that's ... me. Who I am. And you'd be well rid of me.>
<But I would like to ask you to believe that someone, a person, me, can make an awful mistake, and hurt the people she least wanted to hurt, and learn from it, and never do it again. And give me the chance, one shot at it, to prove that to you.>
<Please.>
So, it's with the same morbid wonder of a man picking at his wound that he asks softly: "Why was Lio upset with you?"
<But I brought up the subject with her because, last night, with the air of a woman asking someone not to mention that she had ordered fried foods although she was on a diet, she suggested I not tell you because the fact that Melinda was her great-granddaughter might discomfit you.>
Her tone is bleak. <And now I am sure you will say that if someone asked me not to tell you, I must have known it was wrong. But I didn't. I was puzzled. I thought she was having some strange quirk about you because she disliked you. Which, it turns out, she was, just far more severe than I had thought. And I am sure that you think if she had such a strong reaction this morning, she must have sworn me to secrecy last night and made clear it was important. But she didn't. She mentioned it in passing like something almost irrelevant. As I recall, I shrugged and said something along the lines of, 'I don't see why it would even come up in conversation.' Because I didn't know that anyone would care.>
<Her comment had seemed so unimportant that I quite literally momentarily forgot about it when I was apologizing to Melinda for not telling her about the party. Before I knew what Melinda was upset about, I mildly berated myself for forgetting that Lio hadn't wanted me to mention it. I went into Lio's room this morning expecting her to be slightly upset that I had mentioned it to Melinda and, having seen Melinda was upset by it, wanted to tell you as well. Instead, she told me I had betrayed her and ruined her life.>
She curls up into a little ball, her hand still extended to Melinda's.
<I feel like I am in some nightmare where all the damning evidence, all of it, points to me knowing it was wrong, that I must have known it was wrong. I am asking you to believe, begging you to believe, I will undergo any test you want to show you, that the evidence can be equally explained by the truth, which is that I had absolutely no idea whatsoever that I was doing something horrible.>
<That I didn't mention it because I didn't know it was important. That I thought Lio's comment was simply more of her grousing about you, as she sometimes does.>
<Please believe me. Please believe it was all a mistake. Please make the leap of faith. Please.>
Lio quietly climbs back into the bed you share. Although she's taken her boots off, she's fully dressed otherwise. She cuddles against you, and closes her eyes. If you happen to open yours, you can see how emotional she is, how upset. But she doesn't say anything, she's taking comfort in your presence.
"Well, it is true that we enjoy a unique perspective," replies Kalimac.
His face betrays nothing of whether or not he personally agrees with Lio and Reta as to the romanticism and sexiness of giant spiders.
Kalimac does not in fact find giant spiders romantic or sexy. They're fine as a challenging foe (and deep inside he wishes there were more accomplished riders in the caravan to justify trying to tame a couple of tarantulas for riding). But not romantic.
But he's too fond of Lio and Reta to let on.
He shakes his head. "Well, I suppose that tells me the value she places on those relationships."
"Love?" quiet, sad. A hand brushes his arm as he stalks past.
"I don't think Z meant to hurt us..." her voice raw, clearly hurt but hating seeing him in pain more.
He turns to Zaiobe, the pain covering his face. "I love you. I think... I think that's what matters here most. I can't trust you. Not yet. And not around her. And I can't... I can't touch you. But maybe with some time. Maybe I can forget what you did."
He sighs. "Lio... it's no secret she and I have never gotten along. I initially believed we had incompatible personalities. I told her as much. No one's fault. Now? Now I see what she really is."
Rhost carefully sets aside the board of half-chopped veggies, and watches Melinda sleep, thinking.
Digging deep into his culinary stash, Rhost starts water heating and drops in a small dried fish.
A while later, when the water has boiled at the kitchen is starting to fill with wonderful smell, Mel picks up her head, blinking sleepily. With a yawn, "ohh... I'm sorry Rhost. I started with veggies because it is nice to have fresh food again after the crown and I just meant to close my eyes for a minute."
A while later, when the water has boiled at the kitchen is starting to fill with wonderful smell, Mel picks up her head, blinking sleepily. With a yawn, "ohh... I'm sorry Rhost. I started with veggies because it is nice to have fresh food again after the crown and I just meant to close my eyes for a minute."
"Keep strength up," Rhost says, seasoning the small pot of fish soup. "Hard part coming."
Rhost produces a small knife, and passes it over to Reta.
It's a small masterwork dagger. There is a design etched into the blade, which appears to be the head of a horse viewed in profile -- eye X'd out, and tongue lolling.
"kontra l-żiemel," Rhost says.
Rhost produces a small knife, and passes it over to Reta.
It's a small masterwork dagger. There is a design etched into the blade, which appears to be the head of a horse viewed in profile -- eye X'd out, and tongue lolling.
"kontra l-żiemel," Rhost says.
Alaric shoots Rhost a surreptitious thumbs up, then turns around to make sure Skygni's plate is full. He still looks scared of the massive wolf, but darn it, that's his daughter's pal.
"Ours are at the caravan" Mel says with a brilliant, excited smile. She looks at Reta, "Up to you, do you want some presents here and some after, or all after?""Reta should get presents all day," she answers.
Sometime later, Myri approaches Reta and family.
"Hi Reta. I have something for you too. It's a little used, but I think you'll like it. Um, that is if it's okay with your Mom and Dad." Myri's eyes flick towards Alaric for a moment as she pulls out the wand sized wrapped parcel from the belt behind her back.
Wand of Flame Arrow, 4 charges left
Rhost produces a small knife, and passes it over to Reta.
It's a small masterwork dagger. There is a design etched into the blade, which appears to be the head of a horse viewed in profile -- eye X'd out, and tongue lolling.
"kontra l-żiemel," Rhost says.
"It am lovely," Reta says, looking it over. "Reta never am trusted horses either. She am keep extra sharp watch while am on guard duty, and if one am step out of line, bam! Right in evil horse eye. Thank you."
Sometime later, Myri approaches Reta and family.
"Hi Reta. I have something for you too. It's a little used, but I think you'll like it. Um, that is if it's okay with your Mom and Dad." Myri's eyes flick towards Alaric for a moment as she pulls out the wand sized wrapped parcel from the belt behind her back.
Reta unwraps the parcel and looks puzzled but happy at the wand inside. "This am wonderful," she says. "Reta am always wanted a stick."
<I won't ... be around Lio. Our friendship was pretty definitely ended this morning.>
<I never meant to hurt you. I love you. Both of you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.>
Lio quietly climbs back into the bed you share. Although she's taken her boots off, she's fully dressed otherwise. She cuddles against you, and closes her eyes. If you happen to open yours, you can see how emotional she is, how upset. But she doesn't say anything, she's taking comfort in your presence.
She does not ask questions, but simply holds you.
"Keep strength up," Rhost says, seasoning the small pot of fish soup. "Hard part coming."
Mel pushes herself up, the heavy burden having stolen her normal easy grace and hugs the big man. "Thank you," her smile going wider as her nose picks up on the piscine flavoring. She looks up her eyes sparking with a mixture of happiness, excitement, and just a edge of fear. "She's worth it."
Reta unwraps the parcel and looks puzzled but happy at the wand inside. "This am wonderful," she says. "Reta am always wanted a stick."Sometime later, Myri approaches Reta and family.
"Hi Reta. I have something for you too. It's a little used, but I think you'll like it. Um, that is if it's okay with your Mom and Dad." Myri's eyes flick towards Alaric for a moment as she pulls out the wand sized wrapped parcel from the belt behind her back.
Myri chuckles, "You're being way too nice." She shakes her head, "It's a wand of Flame Arrow. You can use it to light your arrows on fire for 30 minutes and not destroy them before you get the chance to shoot. It's only got four uses left, but at 50 arrows per use, that's potentially up to 200 little fiery, flaming goblin arrow arcs through the sky." Myri actually seems to be a little concerned about that prospect, but Reta's been very good about not lightning the caravan or surroundings on fire so far. "though I'll remember that next time. she mumbles to herself.
Although you are still in Hongal, the large troop of mounted, armored warriors that approaches the Caravan wears livery that Miyaro identifies as being the Jade Regent's, from Minkai.
"You!" the man at the head of the troop shouts when they are still some distance away. "All southbound Caravans on this road are to be searched. Step away from your wagons and keep your hands visible."
Ameiko, out of sight, turns herself into a slim blond woman, and quickly passes out potions to Reta, Zaiobe, and Buttersnips.
Although you are still in Hongal, the large troop of mounted, armored warriors that approaches the Caravan wears livery that Miyaro identifies as being the Jade Regent's, from Minkai.
"You!" the man at the head of the troop shouts when they are still some distance away. "All southbound Caravans on this road are to be searched. Step away from your wagons and keep your hands visible."
Ameiko, out of sight, turns herself into a slim blond woman, and quickly passes out potions to Reta, Zaiobe, and Buttersnips.
Although you are still in Hongal, the large troop of mounted, armored warriors that approaches the Caravan wears livery that Miyaro identifies as being the Jade Regent's, from Minkai.
"You!" the man at the head of the troop shouts when they are still some distance away. "All southbound Caravans on this road are to be searched. Step away from your wagons and keep your hands visible."
Ameiko, out of sight, turns herself into a slim blond woman, and quickly passes out potions to Reta, Zaiobe, and Buttersnips.
Kalimac prepares to talk to the soldiers. He will tell them things that may be true. From a certain point of view. Well, maybe not even then. But what he says will certainly sound true.