"I could, but you'll go away again. I spent many years breaking hearts, I'm afraid of mine breaking," Sienna sighs. "It's why I never said it before. I don't know if I can now."
As the party winds down, Skaar glances at Godrick and then nudges Corda. "I need to talk to the old paladin. You mind fillin' up my tankard one last time Wildcat?"
While Corda's busy, the big orc flags down Godrick. "Sorry to ruin the end of the party but we need to talk 'bout Sefirous."
"What is it?" Godrick asks.
"What happened to the brave girl that was slinging fire around a few hours ago?" Cyna asks.
"There's a difference between toasting a monster and admitting feelings," Sienna says softly. "You don't care how the monster feels. It'd probably eat you, stab you or somehow make your life miserable anyway. If you hurt its feelings, you can get over that without a problem."
"Sefirous found me outside town while I was buryin' those bones. I don't think he's gunna attack anytime soon but I'd feel better if I knew Corda and Valwick were safe in the meantime. Were you able to come up with somethin' to keep the bastard away?"
"I've spoken to Michael. He can put some sigils around Corda's shop and the fort, but not much more than that. We still don't have enough supplies or money to protect all of Valwick," Godrick answers.
"It'll have to be enough", the big orc grunts. "I'll make sure to thank the boy 'morrow. G'night Godrick."
"Good night, Skaar," Godrick says with a firm hand on the orc's shoulder. "Things are changing. For the better, I hope."
"Certainly Sweetie." She replied as she took his tankard.
Skaar answers Godrick with a grunt and then notices Drago's sudden presence.
"I've got a few. What is it Drago? Somethin' on your mind?"
”I know exactly what you mean sweetheart.” Sādhanā says quietly. ”It feels like there are suddenly a world of things to explore, and I can’t wait to explore them with you.”
Clara spends a few more minutes staring at the horizon. "We should get some sleep. Falling asleep during our wedding would be bad form."
Rubbing the back of his neck, Drago nervously said, "Well, as you may recall, I have a certain...exotic taste. I've been talking with Esmerelda, and she gave me an idea of how to deal with it. She mentioned training herself to not rely on blood. I was thinking, if you were to help with that, then I would be stronger in more ways than one."
Bringing Skaar his tankard, Corda heard Drago's proposal. "Hey! What about all of the work I put into that potion?"
Drago's cheeks flushed from embarassment, "I'm sorry Corda, I didn't mean to waste your time."
Taking Sienna's hand Cyna replies. "Alright. I'm not going anywhere so take as much time as you need, Sienna. For now lets get some rest, the next few days are going to be exhausting."
Skaar takes the tankard from Corda and wraps an arm around her. "Thanks Wildcat."
"We can start trainin' again. Did you have somethin' in mind?"
Sienna composes herself. "Yeah, okay. Let's head on back."
She stands, her hand still in Cyna's.
Turning to Skaar again, he said, "Well, you tried to show me some moves earlier to help me if I were to fight someone barehanded. While that's a nice thing to know, I believe I should stay away from that, so as not to be tempted to drink blood again. Instead, I think it would be better for me to learn how to avoid getting struck and how to move about a fight properly."
Sādhanā laughs quietly. “Would make for quite the story though,” Resting her chin on Clara’s shoulder she gives her a little squeeze. “Let’s get to be my love, tomorrow should be quite the day.”
"I just ask the gods it goes smoothly," Clara sighs, taking her love back to the fort.
Cyna says goodnight to Hadrinn and anyone else left at the party before leading her friend back to her room.
Sienna falls on the bed. "Well, I cut down on the drinking a little. Proud of me?"
Ylrhea sits at the door of the fort, watching the waves lap at the shore. She looks up as she sees Sādhanā and Clara approach.
"Hey..."
"Oh hi, Ylrhea right? We haven't really gotten a chance to interact much, sorry."Sādhanā says with a wistful smile.
"Yeah, it's alright. You've got a lot going on," the gnome says. "I just wanted to apologize for earlier. Some things just got the best of me..."
Skaar nods in agreement. "We'll start with defense then. I'm prolly better takin' the licks anyway", the big orc laughs.
Drago shares in the laughter, "Given what I've seen? Yes you are." Seeing the party die down, and having heard Cyna say her farewells, the Sorcerer said, "Well, I think I'll call it a night. See you in the morning." With that, approached Elena, "Shall we retire for the night, my love?'
Cyna climbs onto the bad. "Of course I am."
"Do you think we pushed Ylrhea too much tonight with Drago? She seemed quite upset." Cyna asks.
Elena nods and stands. "Yes. I can't believe my mother sold those pins. I guess I should be happy that they were appreciated."
***
Clara looks at the gnome. "You look haunted, Ylrhea. Care to talk about it?"
Sienna frowns. "Maybe, but I think it's something else. She used to take a good ribbing. Maybe something changed while she was locked up."
"It's nothing..." Ylrhea says. "I...just...it's been hard since losing so many friends to have some again."
"Was it something that happened at the party?"
Putting his arm around her waist, the two of them headed for the Fort. "Are you upset she sold them?"
"No...Well, it was kinda Sienna's joke," Ylrhea explains. "When Chalandra bought me from Vencious...she had a necromancer working for her...Ixen..."
She stops, sniffling a little. "He did things..."
"No, we talked about it," Elena replies. "But I wasn't very proud of the first few I made. Those tigers were not that good."