Eunice was only good to the edge of the sensation of the magic-practitioners compound that she called the College of War Wizards. Once the three women approached the city beyond the college's grounds, the Human female hesitated to move farther. Silveredge, knowing how uncomfortable Mi'ishaen would be if they were to remain anywhere nearby, asked for the most cost-effective tavern in the city, and got "the Dragon's Jaws" as a response.
Unfortunately, it was only after the Gnome charged the women two lions and ten silver for room and board that Silveredge began to wonder precisely what kind of money Eunice was used to seeing. With a bit of arguing, Mi'ishaen at least convinced the creature to allow Niku to sleep indoors instead of tied up outside, but charged an extra two silver for the privilege.
"Don't worry about it," Mi'ishaen counseled. "Let's just enjoy this tonight and worry about how we'll get our money back tomorrow. There are already too many guards outside to keep prowling the streets for a better option."
"Guards?" Silveredge had asked innocently, looking over the area.
"Like that sorry plainclothes paladin that's been tailing me since the cart let us off at the top of the street," Mi'ishaen replied, tossing her head over her shoulder toward what- to Silveredge- seemed like a commonly dressed woman. She sat alone at a table, and contemplated her flagon in a way that vaguely echoed Aleksei. "Come on, lady, be polite and give a wave," the Tiefling encouraged with what almost seemed like genuine amusement. "I've been shadowed by better than you when I was just ten years."
And at that comment, Silveredge watched the woman's face go stony cold. A few minutes later, she got up and left her table, flagon and all.
"You think you've upset whoever it was?" Silveredge asked, concerned. "If it was a guard-"
"It was; there's no hiding it," Mi'ishaen sighed. "At least Urmlaspyr was openly racist; these dolts're likely to deny it, all the while peering 'round corners and peeking out of windows at me like I'm some circus sight."
"Oh," was all Silveredge could find to say.
The food that came with the room was appropriate for how much it cost. The soup actually had vegetables in the broth, the bread was filling and as a plus, an overly-interested server slipped the pair an extra couple of ales. When Silveredge thanked him, Mi'ishaen had to grin at the Human male's body-wide blush- and Niku's not-so-subtle, growled response. Not too long after that, the ladies decided that it would be a good idea to get the hound upstairs, where he could demonstrate his displeasure with other males that neared Silveredge without causing the owner to rethink his decision. Silveredge discovered that Mi'ishaen didn't have any night clothes, and so gave her one of the plain robes from the coven, which gave the Tiefling a laugh. According to her, she would now look like a celebrant of dance, sex and passion in the day and a mourner of fate and death at night. This gave rise to a long conversation about Silveredge's conversion to the belief in the Raven Queen.
The zeal with which Mi'ishaen questioned Silveredge was surprising for the Shadar-kai. She was the most interested in how the Raven Queen managed to get into Nerull's domain to begin with and why she decided to put up with the way the gods treated her in response to her actions. It seemed the beginning of nearly every question was, "Couldn't she just have...", but Silveredge was patient enough to attempt to render a good answer to every one. There were a few queries that stumped her, but instead of giving a flippant or shallow answer, Silveredge asked for time to find a Shepherd to question.
"Well, never mind that," Mi'ishaen shrugged after Silveredge's third attempt at explaining how the expectation of death wasn't necessarily the same as welcoming it. "It's kind of just a quibble-"
"All questions are valid questions," she noted, "especially if they are ones that others have feared to ask, for whatever reason. A god that will not permit questioning is a god too weak to deserve worship."
At this comment, Mi'ishaen had turned her head slightly, so that her lengthening dark hair washed over her shoulder.
"Did the old man teach you that?"
Silveredge shook her head smilingly. "You did. Mikhail complained about you to your cousin while he was working with me. I don't know if they knew that I could still hear him."
"People should keep their eyes on you, is what," Mi'ishaen smiled, putting a friendly hand on Silveredge's upper arm. "You wound up the death of that thing. Obviously, you hear and see tons, and because you keep your head down, people don't know how close they are to being outed or offed."
"My time with the Drow did have its benefits," Silveredge smiled, bringing her own hand up to gently rest on Mi'ishaen's. "I sometimes miss the Underdark."
Mi'ishaen shrugged, allowing her hand to trail to Silveredge's lap so that it was sandwiched between two periwinkle ones. "One day maybe I'll see all these places for myself- the Ethereal Plane, the Shadowfell- the Underdark, maybe. Sometimes it sounds like they'd be kinda fun."
"The Underdark? Well, I guess sometimes it was," Silveredge agreed. "There was never a dull moment when I was there, I can tell you, with the houses all scheming against this one common enemy house. They're so much more deft at murder, the Drow. Much more polite. My people, when they want to do you in, they just do it. There's nothing lovely about it. Slice, stifle or poison, that's it. Brutal. Crude- artless."
"Gods, but you're vicious!" Mi'ishaen giggled. "An artless death, indeed. How would you do it? Say you wanted to kill me, how would you?"
"Well, it would depend on things, obviously," Silveredge replied, looking down at Mi'ishaen's hand. She began toying with it, tracing the bone structure there with the first finger of her other hand. "It would depend on what you were doing- what you were like. If you were living in a comfortable house with some man and your children, it would be quite different than if you were still alone, living on the rooftops of abandoned buildings."
"You just don't want to give it away," Mi'ishaen accused playfully. "You know I'd never do as somebody's mother or housewife. Well, if you had to, I hope you'd make it dramatic. Like a painting."
"I've seen a painting, once, of the Hells," Silveredge offered suddenly, pausing her movement. "There's more than one, but... the one I mean- this huge thing- it completely covered the entire wall of this one wizard's house. It seemed it was everywhere, even though it was only on the one wall. And because I couldn't possibly not stare at it, I closely considered all the souls being tortured by the demons- eyes gouged, bodies beaten, burned, run through by pitchforks, torn at by hellhounds, and the like."
Mi'ishaen sat back slightly, thinking. Silveredge, worried that she'd offended her, teetered on the edge of offering an apology before the Tiefling asked, "And what did you think of it? Honestly?"
"I wondered how all those souls had gotten there. How they could have been so careless," Silveredge replied very quietly. "But with time, I thought on the demons, and how they enjoyed their cruelty. It brought them great joy to crush these souls. And I wondered if somehow, somewhere, there might be someone who had gone to the Hells specifically to do that. To bring the joy that could only come from the domination of someone else. I wondered what such a relationship might be like, and if the demon would- or even could- appreciate it. I wondered if any of the demons were- maybe- in love, or something, and simply showed it in a different way... because not all the souls appeared to be in complete misery. There's a difference between simple pain and utter misery, you know."
Mi'ishaen pressed her lips together, but couldn't contain the smirk, which burst into a smile after only a few seconds. Silveredge, relieved that she hadn't been hurtful, smiled herself.
"You are the only person I've ever met to even consider the love affairs of demons," Mi'ishaen finally managed, putting the hand that had been in Silveredge's lap against one eye as she dropped her head. "What a romantic. Imagine going to the Hells to carry on a relationship- so that your beloved could enjoy themselves by torturing you? That's- it's just- I can't imagine what would even become of anyone who would do that."
"I think the demons could do with love the same as anyone else- except for you," Silveredge joked, poking Mi'ishaen in the side. "You wouldn't be miserable down there; you'd be too busy being put out. You'd probably say, 'How dare you, putting me here! You're jealous, because I've done better evil than you!' or something like that."
Both women discovered together that Mi'ishaen was ticklish, a fact that either the Tiefling had never known or simply forgotten. The gale of hissed giggling that followed as she fell back onto the bed with her arms wrapped around her tummy was irresistible, and Silveredge moved in mercilessly like the middle sister that she had been many years ago. Niku was at first concerned that the two were fighting without him, but hesitated when he noted that they had no weapons, and weren't hitting each other. At first the attack was quite one-sided, as it took Mi'ishaen some time to acclimatize to the new use for Silveredge's feather-light, lightning-fast fingers. When she did, however, Silveredge found herself on the receiving end of a former little sister's abilities. Apparently, years of picking locks and pockets had done a world of good in preserving the Tiefling's own tender touch. The two rolled back and forth in the bed for a few minutes before someone beneath them assaulted the ceiling with the top of a broom. Panting, the two lay flat on their backs and waited for the giggling to subside.
"I suppose people are trying to sleep, by now," Silveredge breathed.
"You know you're not smushing yourself up at my feet tonight, right?" Mi'ishaen managed as she sat up.
"Oh," Silveredge replied, surprised and pleased at the same time. "Well, should I-"
"Right here where I can tickle you some more when you least expect it," Mi'ishaen smirked. "Now, try and sleep knowing that!"
"Of course I can sleep knowing that," Silveredge replied, turning over so that she could look at Mi'ishaen. "I used to go to sleep wondering if I'd be awakened by the slap of a baked strap. Plus, I'm taller than you. Sometime or other, it'll be cold, and you will want to sleep in front of me."
"Oh will I, Iceblood?" Mi'ishaen joked, opting to ignore Silveredge's reference to her past for the moment. "You're kidding yourself. My ancestors solved my heat problems for me permanently long ago."
"We'll see," Silveredge smiled, reaching over to pull a stray strand of hair out of Mi'ishaen's face. "This is growing nicely."
"Yeah, I have to cut it soon," Mi'ishaen noted. "Get too long, and anybody can just grab hold of it and yank me wherever."
"If someone grabs your hair, you've but to turn around and punch the elbow joint the wrong way," Silveredge noted. "A bit of hair may tear out in the process, but your adversary will have, at best, a disjointed elbow."
"Vicious," Mi'ishaen laughed, closing her eyes. "I don't know how you can be so sweet and so vicious at the same time- it's like having acid and honey in one jar. Let's sleep in today; pretend we're law abiding citizens like everybody else and not nutters that consider the romantic affairs of demons and their torture-loving mortal sweethearts."
The morning came casually enough, stretching kindly gold rays over the two. In the night, they'd so jostled so that Silveredge lay on her left side, close enough behind Mi'ishaen to take her in her arms. In the chill of the night, Niku had hopped into the bed behind Silveredge, preventing her from rolling back over, and Mi'ishaen had indeed scooted herself backward for warmth.
Mi'ishaen awoke with sleepy confusion to the sound of the already-alert dog intently licking between his legs. When she slowly sat up and discovered what he was actually doing, she leaped out of the bed, waking Silveredge immediately. Niku stopped licking, more concerned about the disturbance than he was about finishing his intent, and hopped out of bed when Silveredge herself sat up.
"What's he doing?" Mi'ishaen asked, unconsciously patting herself down for patches of dog slobber. "Is that- is he-"
Silveredge rolled over and reached out her arms to Niku, who pushed his face into her own and panted open-mouthed for a few seconds before touching her nose with his own. After that, the Shadar-kai pulled her upper body back into the bed.
"He wanted a bath, that's all. I didn't realize that his skin was irritated- especially the skin down there. It's been bothering him a bit."
Mi'ishaen breathed a sigh of relief that she couldn't quite explain, then rubbed at some vague stiffness at the nape of her neck. "Well, I suppose we could really make this place deserve the coin and order up some wash water for the basin in here. We could demand that it be warmed- what do you think of that, dog?"
"Only the rich do that," Silveredge commented offhandedly. "So much work. It used to take me forever to heat enough water for Ashok to bathe in."
Mi'ishaen moved to inspect the washbasin. "You've got a point- if they heated the water, it'd probably have cost us both the- what are they? Tricrowns?"
"That's right."
"Well, a girl can dream," Mi'ishaen said as she straightened herself up and smoothed the grey robe against her skin. "There's a bell-"
"I can just-" Silveredge began, sliding out of bed.
"Don't even start. I'm already up; I'll go."
While the Tiefling left to do just that, Silveredge got up and crossed toward her pack. Noticing a mirror on her way, she stopped to consider the insides of her thighs and the small of her back. When she'd tired of this and was about to move away, a strange, fleeting figure moved outside, reflecting in the glass as it did. Awash in a brief, unexplained concern, Silveredge began making the bed and preparing to put her things in her pack.
Mi'ishaen returned with two servants behind her, both carrying water buckets. They dumped them into the tub, then held out their hands expectantly.
"I already paid for the water," Mi'ishaen replied, raising an eyebrow at the two young males.
"Yes, but you didn't pay for us bringing it, did you?" the older of the two replied simply.
"Go ask your boss for it; I'm not paying another copper," the Tiefling snorted. "If you want, I'll leave the water in the basin for the next person, save you a trip."
"C'mon, lady, we brought it for you, didn't we? You won't give us anything?" the boy insisted, pushing his hand out farther in front of her.
"Look, hasn't your mother told you anything about my kind?" Mi'ishaen tossed over her shoulder as she turned her back on the two. "You're lucky I don't slit your throats and eat your entrails raw, or something."
"You do that and the guard's up here in a minute to arrest you," the boy shot back. "I'm gonna tell you said that, then you'll have a watch set on you."
"A watch was already set on me, you little brat; what do you know?" Mi'ishaen groaned, turning around again. "I'm not paying you for bringing the water, and that is it. Tell your boss to pay you for your service, and if he won't, then take it."
"C'mon, Jonas, she isn't gonna," the younger boy urged, dropping his hand. "Told you she wouldn't."
"I'm gonna tell she said she was gonna take our guts out," the elder dug, taking the younger boy by the shoulder and shoving him in front. "I hope you fall on a spike, you mean old witch!"
"Die of plague, you grubby little runt," Mi'ishaen scoffed, watching the door close behind the pair. "Now just think- if I were Seyashen, I could actually make that happen. Pfft."
"The gods are wise," Silveredge said distantly, pulling off her robe and sticking her foot into the water. "If you had magic, hundreds would die for one cross word."
"Is that a compliment to the gods, a put down for me, or both?" Mi'ishaen laughed, pausing at the basin. A few quiet moments passed before her next statement. "Um... remember... um... the sea? In Urmlaspyr?"
By this time, Silveredge had acclimatized to the water and had sat down in it. She looked up, knowing exactly what Mi'ishaen was referring to at once.
"I should have asked," she said quietly. "I don't know what I-"
"Well, it wasn't bad, it just... um... I just don't know what... what it means, you know?" Mi'ishaen managed, rubbing at the spot at the nape of her neck again.
"It doesn't have to mean anything," Silveredge replied. "I wouldn't do it again-"
"No, that's... it was okay, I just..." Mi'ishaen sighed and looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds. "I haven't done that before. With anyone. Ever. So, it's just new, and I don't know if... if that's a thing, with Shadar-kai, or- ugh. I don't mean to be rude, this is awful."
"Or if it's just me," Silveredge admitted shyly. "That wasn't awful; I'm not offended. It's not a Shadar-kai thing. I... hope I didn't cross any cultural boundaries myself... I know as much about Tieflings as you do about the Shadowfell."
There was a delicate pause where Silveredge smiled hopefully at Mi'ishaen. When the Tiefling's face melted from self-consciousness into a faint, amused smirk, the Shadar-kai felt herself relax just a bit.
"I liked it," Mi'ishaen nearly whispered, feeling very girlish. "I did. I could've tossed you down into the water or thrown you off or something, but I didn't, and I... I knew I liked it. Is that aberration?"
"Aberration is the corruption of the Far Realm- and neither of us has ever even been there," Silveredge explained. "Those people didn't know what they were talking about. They're scared of Shadar-kai and magic workers, and I'm both. You know how being feared is- more than I could ever explain."
Mi'ishaen didn't say anything else. She simply lifted her own robe off her body and got into the basin. The two neared each other tentatively, completely aware of what they were trying to reestablish. But Niku, innocently impatient, leaped into the basin with them, splashing them with the clear, chilly water.
"Oh, he means business," Mi'ishaen laughed, the awkward tension completely gone from her. "Fine, dog, let's get this over with."
Just as the words left her mouth, a small folded bit of paper pushed itself under the closed door. Mi'ishaen, hearing and noticing the thing first, grew serious at once.
"Rafa doesn't know we're here, does he?" she asked very quietly.
"No," Silveredge replied, turning around to see the paper herself. "Although other Purple Dragons probably do. Their letters have seals, though- that one has none."
"C'mon, get up, we've got to go," Mi'ishaen urged in a hushed voice. "I certainly wasn't expecting any bloody letter."
"What do we do with the wash water?" Silveredge asked, getting out quickly and watching Niku turn around a few times in the basin before he too hopped back out and shook off. He completely soaked everything within five feet of him, including the women's packs.
"Ugh, dog!" Mi'ishaen groaned as she put the robe into her pack and took out the scarlet garb of Lliira. "Couldn't've waited another ten seconds to do that across the room?"
Silveredge considered her second robe, but put on her training slacks and tunic instead, wanting to be prepared for anything. This done, she began braiding her damp hair as tightly as she could, causing a puddle beside her as she did.
Mi'ishaen braided her hair much more quickly and managed to get on the dress before Silveredge finished her braid. When she'd packed all her things, she unmade the bed and pulled the sheets off. Twisting it tightly until it doubled as a rope, the Tiefling tied a knot around her things and another knot around Silveredge's things.
Silveredge prepared to go for the note, only to be whined at by Niku and stopped by Mi'ishaen.
"No, I'll do it-" the Tiefling said as she put both packs by the open window. "I'll get to the other side of the door. If it swings open, you've got to be ready."
Silveredge merely nodded, watching as Mi'ishaen moved to the other side of the door, then turned so that her tail could drag the note toward her. Sure enough, the door bolted open, and Silveredge blasted the oncoming attacker with an orb of pure magic energy. Both the attacker and Mi'ishaen were surprised, but Mi'ishaen recovered faster. Snatching a pillow off the bed, Mi'ishaen kicked the male's knees, then smothered him with the pillow. Silveredge ran around the other side of the male to hold his arms to the floor as Mi'ishaen smashed the pillow into his face, and Niku bolted through the open door and down the hall.
"Ugh- well, we won't be able to come back here, that's for sure," Mi'ishaen grunted as the male kicked his last before passing out. "I've got the note, let's go."
After Mi'ishaen untied their things, the two moved quickly out of the tavern-turned-inn, not stopping to say anything to the curious Gnome. Niku had stopped just inside of the tavern door, and other than a madly wagging stump of a tail, gave no indication of his excitement.
"Did you get a good look? What did he look like?" Mi'ishaen asked as they hustled past a few confused townsfolk.
"I didn't really- no, I don't know," Silveredge breathed, struggling to keep up. "Where's the-"
"Here, here; hang on, let's- this alley looks good for a few minutes' look at it. Quickly, now."
The two dodged into slender alley near the end of the block, and Silveredge put down her things to get a good look at the note that had almost cost Mi'ishaen a scraped tail.
"It's a message to look for a message," Silveredge puffed in disbelief. "It's apparently near the docks- oh, the Royal Docks, where we first landed."
"You're kidding- in the middle of all those damned-? Ugh," Mi'ishaen griped. "Well, it might be the Purple Dragons looking for you, since you wrote that letter for Rafa- c'mon, let's get out of here before that plainclothes guard- wherever she is- starts getting curious."
The two popped back out of the alleyway and strolled, with Niku following them, toward nowhere in particular.
"It's not sealed," Silveredge reminded after they'd crossed over their second block. "And it was followed up by someone who would have harmed us. We've only been here two days; there's no call for that. Even if they had wanted to put us in a position of weakness, they could just walk in and arrest us, for all anyone else would ask. This is more likely to be from your friends."
"Edge, I can't read," Mi'ishaen argued, too caught up to even think to be embarrassed about the fact. "Why would they send me a letter of any kind, much less a letter to find another letter?"
"Oh- oh, no," Silveredge frowned. "If the message is from them and it's for me, the attacker that followed included, it's possible that they're attempting to rid you of me. I imagine they're smart enough to get over the loss of the element of surprise. Since I managed to survive long enough to read this letter, a more coordinated attack may be waiting with the second."
Mi'ishaen's eyes narrowed nearly to slits. "The Royal Docks. Right now; the pair of us."
Niku barked once, then whined, and the Tiefling rolled her eyes as she turned around.
"My fault, dog. All three of us."
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