Silveredge peeked around the dark, empty Raibeart family shrine room. Quietly, she slipped inside the room's curtains and moved directly into the shadow of a tall shelf, disappearing into it. Around the room, other shadows undulated- swelling and contracting as though they were water.
Seconds after the Shadar-kai entered, Sarai walked into the room. For a moment, she paused just inside the curtain, looking around herself with a frown. The afternoon sun flirted with the northern facing guestroom windows, not daring to come any farther in than it had to. Sarai stepped up to one of the two sets and looked out, but seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she turned around and walked back out of the room.
Everything was still and quiet after the sound of her footsteps disappeared. The occasional whooshing of the bellows, sucking and pushing the air, combined with the sound of metal being worked, blotted out the more natural sounds of birds, insects, the distant bustle of the marketplace.
"Where's dog?" an alto voice said calmly.
"Amadelle was sitting at the gate to meet us when we returned. Seeing that he was tired, we walked to the docks together, and sat down for a while. He will sit with her for lunch, but perhaps he will return to us for supper."
The sun slipped slyly through the sky, sending the shadows turning toward the eastern side of the house. The alto voice hummed in understanding for a few moments before its owner spoke again.
"They worked you hard, then?"
"A bunch of thieves tried to take advantage of the last leg of the trip, but they were perhaps a bit overconfident. My lord Kronmyr's archers saw them while they were still some distance away; they didn't surprise us as they wanted to."
The honeyed alto broke into a laugh that floated through the room.
"I didn't ask whether or not the rest of the Sunfire got worked, Edge!"
"Your handmaiden didn't work very hard," the delicate answering voice replied with the beginning of a chuckle warming her words. "Niku charged into one of them before the archers even said anything to anyone else, and when your handmaiden's magic reached through her chain to embrace one of them, the rest of them ran screaming away."
"Good thinking, using your chain that way- and if dog keeps this up, he's gonna really prove that battle tattoo of his right."
"He enjoyed himself immensely- and so did the chain. I wonder if it would be even happier if I took it to an arcanist and had it imbued with ice magic of its own."
"Nevermind that it might be happy about conducting cold because its coming from you, eh? Did anybody else in the Catacomb Crazies have enchanted weaponry?"
A few moments of quiet thought went by, punctuated by the loud hiss of hot metal hitting cold water. Aleksei's booming laugh overpowered the dying end of the hiss, and was joined by Stephen's, which was hardly any quieter.
"Only Elder Vhalan had an enchanted mace- or at least I suspect it was enchanted. He would not let me touch it, so perhaps he feared it would do me harm."
"I thought you said he was attacking you when you were in his room that time."
"Well, that was immediately before-"
"Yeah, he probably didn't care much about the harm the weapon would do to you, if he attempted to do more harm with a different weapon."
"Elder Vhalan has a unique way of demonstrating his preoccupation for the handmaiden's welfare. He punished my failure to speak of and for myself with the embrace of his chain."
The alto voice gave a voiced exhalation that was part exasperation and part fear. "Gods, Edge, I don't know how you pretend that people who hurt you are nice people. 'Elder Vhalan' sounds like a proper asshole!"
"Some lessons are learned by force," the light, gentle voice replied. "And such lessons are... unlearned, I suppose... with a force greater than the first... teacher... employed."
And silence stole through the room again, as the shadows on the eastern side of the room stretched across, avaricious of the other side. A very distant bell announced the arrival of the first hour after noon, just barely making itself heard over the pounding of metal that echoed below. Whispering steps brought the shorter, more slender Salone into the room. Unlike her sister, she didn't bother looking around herself to check whether the recipients of her message were present or not.
"Mama says that she's held back some biscuits and tea water for you both," she said very quietly. "She's lying down, but I'll be in the kitchen, if you want to come down for it."
The small girl turned around and left the room as calmly as she'd entered it, with as much certainty that her words had been heard as if she had seen their hearers.
"There's a bunch of your people here," the alto voice noted after the room had been left in peace for a few moments. "About ten of them. All taking orders- well, I guess nicely worded suggestions- from a very old Human woman- her name's Anubit, which doesn't sound native. She said it differently than the others did, so, I think she's not from here originally. They're all various shades of Humans- which I suppose isn't weird, around here. They don't live in a burial ground, but they keep the house that they congregate in pretty funeral-worthy- grey and black sashes everywhere, couple of jars that look like they could be urns. And they don't sing in the mornings. They say the same thing as you do, but they just say it. In this kind of flat monotone. It's not as... um... pretty, I guess, and they're missing the old man's last phrase. About if he dies, just carry on, blah-blah, -whatever-whatever. That part's not even there."
Silveredge stepped away from the shadow that the family altar had been creating, leaving it smaller in her wake. Spying a piece of paper on the makeshift bed that she hadn't noticed before, she knelt down briefly to recover it.
"You must have spent a lot of time looking over the place, to bring me back so much information about it," she noted as she picked the paper up. "No doubt it took a bit of time away from whatever job you're working."
"I haven't gotten a job yet," the alto voice replied, its natural brashness somehow dimmed. "I didn't... I don't think I'm up to it yet."
Silveredge allowed the surprise that she felt to surface on her face, for once. "All this reconnaissance you ran on this coven... for me... and you don't think...? Has anyone visited?"
"Well, Cloud visited twice, yes. Left that, the second time. Either it's for you, or somebody forgot that I can't read."
"Yet," Silveredge said firmly, turning around and looking up into the rafters of the room. "Me riendo, Mi; I don't see you."
" 'Me rindo,' quieres decir," the alto voice replied. "Infernal is tough. You add one vowel, and it changes the whole word- 'riendo' is laughing."
"Me rindo," Silveredge corrected herself, still looking around. "And some words in Elven are the same. A misplaced consonant, and a common compliment becomes an unspeakably insulting curse."
Mi'ishaen stepped inside the still-open window and sat down on the wood-and-stone sill. "Over here; I figured the rafters would be way too easy. That first brat gave me a fright though; she was only about... I dunno... two or three feet away from me? Good thing she's got all the the perception of her pop's hammer."
Silveredge crossed the room, letter still in hand, and sat next to Mi'ishaen, purposefully laying her hand on top of the crimson skinned one. The two smiled at each other for a second, and Mi'ishaen very carefully placed her horned head on Silveredge's shoulder.
"I missed you. Missed seeing you around. Even when you were in the market or in the catacombs, you know, you were around. You know?"
"I know." Silveredge turned her head so that she could very delicately kiss Mi'ishaen's forehead. "I gave it some thought, as you asked, and I think it would be most useful for you to learn Common first."
Mi'ishaen smiled, lifted her head, and waited for Silveredge to turn her head again. The two made eye contact, and Mi'ishaen allowed herself to get closer.
"As slowly as you want," Silveredge encouraged.
The Tiefling did just that, cautiously approaching the Shadar-kai's lips, and closing her eyes when they met. That first contact was brief, and the two parted smilingly.
"More?" Silveredge prompted when Mi'ishaen had opened her eyes again. Mi'ishaen nodded without saying anything, her cheeks even redder than normal. Silveredge shifted herself on the sill so that she could face Mi'ishaen a little more, then tilted her head just slightly as she leaned forward. Mi'ishaen bit her lips with a twinge of excited anticipation, then leaned forward herself to give a longer kiss- one that pressed harder and ended with the playful nipping of lips.
"You're getting good at this," Silveredge encouraged, lifting the hand that Mi'ishaen wasn't holding and lightly tracing the largest curl of the Tiefling's horn. "Will you show me when I do something that feels good, or that feels bad? You don't have to say anything- only shake your head if it feels bad, and nod if it feels good. That way, I'll learn what you like- okay? I'm... I'm casing you- like the Hawke manse, hmm?"
And the two giggled together quietly, like those who share a secret sometimes do.
