Ascending Legends

[BookWyrm]

For his part Dayn had a good nights sleep. The next morning he woke on his own, though he felt little better than he did the previous day. Arryn was in her usual place laying against his chest. He felt so weak, it was unusual for him. He had always been healthy, even more so once he had become a lycanthrope. But now he felt drained, almost like he has wasted away overnight.


Dayn did his best to rub the sleep from his eyes before he decided to wake Arryn. "Love, its morning." It was then that he was surprised to have his stomach growl. He looked down at his stomach, wondering if Arryn could actually feel the rumbles it had made.

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn looked up at Dayn and smiled tiredly. She chuckled slightly, saying, "Well, I can tell you're hungry. I'll get us some food." Arryn got up from under the covers, shivering bit at the sudden cold. "I forgot how much colder it is here. I'll adjust in a few days, but my... winter's come a bit early." Arryn walked into the main room, noting that her mother was already up and stoking the fire. "Food?" "Please ma'am?" Lenza smiled and nodded. "Of course. I'd ask you to help, but I know you can't cook." "Actually, Dayn's teaching me how to cook. I made some stew with him and it wasn't half bad." Lenza looked at her with wide eyes. "Gods, that man is a miracle worker."


Soon, Arryn brought a full tray over to Dayn. It was filled with sausages, bacon, oatmeal and berries, (having specifically asked her mother for "common southern food") and a mug of tea for each of them. She laid the tray on the bedside table and sat on the edge of the bed. She smiled and quietly asked, "How are you feeling, love?" She couldn't keep the look of concern from her eyes.

 

[BookWyrm]

"I can only hope better than I look right now." Dayn gave his best smile before looking down at the tray of food. "All we're missing now is coffee and it'd be the perfect southern meal." Dayn chuckled lightly before eating what he could stomach, which was surprisingly more than he had first thought. "I fear your mother is going to keep me bed ridden for a while, not that I would be any good at much else right now."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn shook her head. "I know her rules, you can come and go as you please, how did she say it...? 'But if you collapse in the street it's your own damn fault and you'll have to crawl back here yourself.'" Arryn laughed and ate some of the berries. She knew exactly where the bushes were that these had been collected from. She regretted not having pears, but winter in the valley meant little trade in fresh food. "So, the house next door has been fixed up as a kind of lodging for Night's Ascension members who are visiting. Nobody's there at the moment. When you're okay to move, would you like to go there with me?" She didn't want to mention that if they didn't, there was a slight risk of there being trouble.

 

[BookWyrm]

"Gladly. Hel, just getting up to walk sounds delightful." Dayn finished eating his breakfast and drained his cup of tea before leaning back. "Hel take it all." Dayn groaned as he turned, letting his feet touch the floor for a couple of seconds before trying his best to stand up. He reached out, propping himself against the wall as he eased onto his feet. "I can stand, but I'm not so sure about walking at the moment."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn moved to his side, taking his arm gently to support him. "Don't rush it, love, I can't really heal you at the moment. It's only morning, depending on how you feel, maybe we can move to the other house tonight. Okay love?" Dammit, this is my fault. I'm going ot kill the bastard that conjured the serpent so slowly....

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn sighed. Damn, this close to freedom. "That...would be nice." Dayn groaned as he eased back onto the bed and laid back. "I could always just simplify things and use four legs instead of two, but I have to remember that people are scared of giant wolves."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn nodded. "Especially in the North. Unlike the south, Northerners don't run or throw sticks, they hunt beasts down with enchanted dwarvish weapons. They'd use crossbows that could shoot through an oak trunk." Arryn laid down next to him, and put her head on his chest. "I'm sorry that this all happened to you, mo chroi."

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn wrapped his arms gently around her, slowly rubbing her back as they laid there. "It is what it is love. You can't blame yourself for what happened, neither of us knew." Dayn sat there for a little bit as he thought about her friends, the Night's Ascension, and her mother. "You haven't told anyone about me have you?"

 

[Dragongal]

"You mean the wolf? No, but I think Theodas is starting to suspect." She still felt guilt to some extent. Itwouldn't have happened at all if it weren't for her. "I wish we had never gone to ironcrest. They would have been fine without us. I always hated that city, and I let my guard down...." But then she remembered something. "You haven't met my friends yet. They did save us,after all."

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn felt a twinge in his stomach when she said one of them was starting to suspect of him. He knew he shouldn't worry, they were "friends" after all, but it would take a long time for him to trust others with the secret. Then again, would he be able to trust others with that knowledge? "No, I haven't yet. Tell me though," his curiousity (or was it worry) was getting to him, "why do you think this Theodas is on to it?"

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn said, "Well, the White Wolf ran beside us as they were bringing you back, and I think Theodas noticed. He noticed the spirit nature necklaces too. The wolves howling wasn't exactly inconspicuous, but I don't think anybody'd have thought much of it besides Theodas. His clan are Wood Elves - traditional, having stayed with the forests instead of integrating with humans. In fact, it was considered a marvel when he joined us, and my team is one of the few numbers of humans they'll allow contact with." She smiled softly, and added, "Don't worry about him - I'm certain he won't talk about it."

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn hadn't realized what was all going on when he was unconscious. He remembered the howling, and the time spent with the White Wolf, but everything else he didn't know of or wasn't aware of at the time. "As long as I'm not ostracized as a monster I can deal with a Wood Elf knowing what I am I guess." Dayn smiled as he thought about something. "I haven't been threatened within an inch of my life yet. I might be disappointed, neither of your folks have threatened my life or pulled out the silver." Of course Dayn had joked about the silver, he figured Arryn hadn't told Lenza about that. He gently rested his head against her's and closed his eyes.

 

[Dragongal]

"Probably because we're engaged now." Arryn sighed happily, glad that he seemed to be getting better. She just wanted to be close to him at this point. She accidentally drifted off to sleep, warm and safe in his embrace.


Across the road, Matthias leaned against a wall nonchalantly. He was rubbing a light scar on the left side of his face that ran from his chin to his cheekbone. "I'm glad to have her back, but there's always the slight risk with some of the villagers. But Inder won't talk until she'd gone, so they should be safe." "Once the noble is in a good condition, he is obviously a fighter, I think they could actually walk through the villager and they'd be fine. Nobody dares mess with her, especially as she seems to be her old self again, and with him next to her when he's healthy? I doubt there'd be problems." "I think Sirius is right on this one, those who still held out against her for the most part are neutral now, since nobody died when she was here a year ago. The few radicals are nothing she can't take care of. Of course, her real concern is their going after her mother."

 

[BookWyrm]

The White Wolf was content now that Dayn was awake and healing properly. He turned from the home and padded down the street towards the forest where a mist had formed, welcoming him into it's embrace as he disappeared from sight. As the mist slowly faded away a faint howl could be heard echoing from the forest around Rorich, and for several minutes afterward the forests were silent out of respect.


Dayn woke a couple of hours later, chuckling to himself as he saw Arryn asleep on his chest. He gently rubbed her back as he laid there, enjoying the intimacy in the warm room.

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn woke up slowly, looking to Dayn with a smile. She curled up closer to him, gently nuzzling his neck. "This would be how I imagine the holy place, if you weren't so badly injured." Arryn closed her eyes and just laid there for a bit, then she heard a door open in the main room. "Madame Eleran, may I speak to them very quickly?" "Only if they're awake. They've been through a lot, the both of them." Matthias walked into the room, smiling to see both of them awake, surprised to see Arryn doing something as affectionate as cuddling. "Glad to see you're both awake. How are you both?" Arryn adjusted her position a bit, looking at Matthias. "Personally, I'm tired. Dayn, this is Matthias. One of the ones who took care of me after the banshees and took a beating for my honor." Though Matthias was surprised that she mentioned the banshees around Dayn, he smiled and shook his head. "It was no problem at all. Besides, I got a fancy scar out of it," he said as he indicated the the scar on his left cheek. He was a tall man at about 6'2" with brown hair and brown eyes, and a calm, laid-back personality that made anyone stop and listen, which was why he'd become the daytime operations leader and earned the title Sol. A sword was on his belt, and his clothing seemed like it had seen better days, but that didn't stop his nonchalant smile.

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn would have preferred not to be interrupted at that moment, but since he was at the mercy of his hosts he figured he wasn't in much of a position to complain. "It means more to me than I could express. Without you caring for her I wouldn't have met her, so you have my gratitude on that behalf. And, she did mention that you were one of the people who came to our aid." Dayn laughed. "Suddenly it seems like I owe a lot of people a lot of gratitude." He smiled despite his pain.

 

[Dragongal]

Matthias shook his head. "Nearabout everyone on the team owes Atria even still - she's patched all of us up at least once, whether it was after a raid or not. But that's not what I came here to discuss. Kalie's property is entirely empty and prepared for you two to use. When Sir Dayn is better, by our guess, you should be fine to walk through the whole village - but it might not be worth the risk until Sir Dayn is healthy."

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn's smile turned to a frown. It almost seemed like Matthias was using the title more like an insult, whether or not he actually was Dayn wasn't sure of though. It still grated on his nerves, which were raw at the moment anyway. Great, already making an impression just because of my birth. But the mention of this property was something new that he hadn't known about. Or was that the house Arryn was talking about? So many things didn't make sense right now. "Just Dayn please, the title isn't required."

 

[Dragongal]

Matthias nodded. "Alright, then. So, what do you two think about staying at the other house for a while?" "We spoke about it. We should be moving there this evening or tomorrow morning. Thanks for the warning about the villagers, by the way." "No problem. I didn't mean to disturb you two, so I'll leave the two of you to rest." Matthias walked out, and Arryn adjusted herself so she was closer to Dayn. "Don't worry mo chroi, it's just that around here, title is expected. Northmen are quite fond of manners, it's just... how it is. Also, you have to realize, the first time I met a noble, he pranced in on his stallion, expecting all of us to bow and know who he was, and Kalie and I were playing in the street, Matthias was nearby. Kalie didn't bow, she just looked up to the noble and smiled, and he got off of his horse and smacked her, knocking her to the ground, and was going to start kicking her had I not tackled him and started beating him - I was eight then, I'd started training at seven. Matthias joined in on the brawl, the noble didn't stand a chance. He'd intended on claiming the village as his own - nobody took kindly to that, so he fled. See, we don't have any Lord we're under, so, there's been a few incidents like that - keeps us on our toes."

 

[BookWyrm]

"Great. Half way dead and at risk of being sacked." Dayn was trying to find the humor in it all and was failing miserably. "On top of that I'm a feared monster. Good thing we didn't arrive during Samhein." Dayn felt guilty about his complaining, even though he knew Arryn understood. Thoroughly frustrated now he sighed and shook his head. "Sometimes I feel like nobility is a damned curse. I have yet to find a good use for it."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn looked at him with concern. Dayn wasn't normally so bitter. "You got to become a knight-errant, afford nice armor to fight with. You've got a nice family. Everyone in Riverbend loves you. I don't think it's that bad. Besides, I didn't say they hated you, they just might be a bit nervsy around you, is all. We've met nice nobles before. Theodas won't care, probably - he still doesn't fully get humans. Kalie's just a sweetheart until you give her a job, so as long as you meet her when she's not busy, you'll make a fine first impression." Arryn nestled up against him, closing her eyes. "Besides, with your nobility, we can afford to make a house between Rorich and Riverbend."

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn kissed Arryn's head gently. "I'm sorry for being such a grump. I guess everything has just been getting to me today." Dayn laid his head back and stared at the roof. "Its not that, its the other things people don't talk about. The stigma that common people have towards you, most nobles don't care. But for me, I care. I don't want to have a reputation just because of the difference in my birth compared to others."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn thought for a few moments, then said, "I can understand that. But don't worry, not around my friends, you'll be fine. Matthias is just a bit protective over Kalie, that's all. I'm sure you two will get along just fine." Arryn didn't like having to be the positive one; it was unlike Dayn, and while she realized this was probably something he always felt, it didn't mean it didn't concern her. She laid in his arms for what seemed like at least an hour, dozing very lightly, when she heard something that made her head pop up. The door opened, and a low, gravely, thickly accented voice said, "Ma'am Eleran, we need your assistance doon by th' mine. Oon of me men got his arm caught by a rock, he' bleedin' bad-like. I doonoo if he'll e'en be a-livin' by the time we return."





Arryn looked at Dayn with wide eyes. "That's Norim talking. Someone must have gotten hurt at the mines... if he's bleeding out, I should use my magic... there's no guarantee Ma will be able to patch him up fast enough, especially considering how long it takes to get to the mines. They've nothing over there but dirty rags for medical tools. Can't bind a wound with that.... What should I do, my love?"

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn put his hand up, motioning towards the door with a tired smile. "You should go do what you do best. Don't worry about me, I'll be here when you get back."