“You’re going where?” Tryilendarel moved around so he was directly in front of the woman, long fingers gripping her upper arms perhaps a bit more tightly than he intended.
“Tenebra, Trill. Please let go; I’ll be late to class if I dawdle, and I don’t want to miss my last day here.” Once the elf was no longer clutching her arms, she shifted her books to one hand and clasped one of his with the other. “I have been summoned there for training.”
“Training? In Tenebra? What could they possibly--oh.” Despite appearances to the contrary, the minstrel was not an idiot. Miraem had been surprised to discover that frequently-obscured bit of information, and it had lead to her paying more attention to Trill than she would normally give such a wayward man. “Mira, no, I thought you wanted to be a healer like your mother. Why would you go on some hare-brained mission that’s almost certainly going to get you killed?” Staying alive was far more important than some crazy quest, even if it would save the world, in Trill’s opinion. Let someone else worry about that, someone with more altruism and a less developed sense of self-preservation.
“No, that’s not quite right.” Miraem shook her head, but her voice held fond amusement. “I wanted to help people like my mother. Healing is just one way -- she might not have been a fighter, but she defended people as well. If I can help keep the Dark Lord from escaping, then I will do whatever it takes.”
Trill groaned in response. “My reasons are entirely selfish, but I’d really rather you didn’t die,” he said, trying to make light both of her intentions and the very real fear that she might not come back. Heroic stories were just that, /stories/, and things rarely went so well in real life. Besides, a fell beast wouldn’t be a great threat unless it had already defeated many who thought to put it down. For every hero that made it into songs, there were dozens more hopefuls that died awful deaths. What was more, he didn’t want to move on yet. He enjoyed being around Mira, and if she went off to Tenebra he’d lose that.
“You know I can handle myself,” she retorted, but she only managed to scowl at him for a moment before her expression became teasing. “Certainly better than you can.” The tall elf threw up his hands in mock surrender, grinning. “Touché.”
“I’ll come back, Trill, I promise. Though you may have found someone else by then.” The healer’s expression didn’t darken, but the hint of wistfulness in her voice caught at his heart, and he found himself saying words he hadn’t planned. “No you won’t, because I’m coming with.”
Miraem was surprised enough to stop walking. “What? ...Are you serious? You, head off on a ‘hare-brained mission’?” Her blue-grey eyes searched his lighter ones.
“Well...maybe not /all/ the way, but you’re going to Tenebra for training, right? So you have a while before you get to the part that’s an absolutely terrible idea. I’ll let you do that part on your own; I’d probably just get in the way.” The minstrel gave her a somewhat lopsided smile, and returned the sudden hug he received, though he winced as the corner of a book dug into his ribs. “Besides, I’ve never been to Tenebra. I wonder what their music is like...and it would be nice to go on a journey. It’s been a while, my feet are restless.”
~~~~~~~~~
“Why did I agree to this thrice-cursed journey?” Trill groaned, white-knuckled hands gripping the side-rail of the airship’s open deck. His face had a pale cast, and he stood slumped in misery. He /hated/ flying. Only being in the open air made him feel well enough to be anything resembling decent company, and Mira had already put up with him for some time. She was off somewhere else now, leaving him to suffer alone. “Uhhhn....”
Trying to distract his mind from his rebellious stomach, the tall elf turned his thoughts to the issue that was so often on his mind lately: Mira. Or rather, his relationship with her. She’d been going on this trip, and he’d just volunteered to come along for no good reason. What in the world had he been thinking?! He hadn’t, that was probably the truth of it. He’d not wanted to leave her yet, and so he’d just said he’d come with. And there, that was the real issue. It’d been over a year, more like a year and a half, and still his desire to stay outweighed his need to keep moving. It wasn’t like him, lingering so long, and the way he felt....
With grimace, he turned around and sat with his back to the railing, rubbing his face with one hand. He couldn’t even figure out how he felt. He adored Mira, yes, but he’d liked, even loved, dozens of women. It never lasted. Before long he would grow tired of the same streets, the same faces, and he’d desperately crave a change of scene. He might be flighty and footloose, but he knew himself, and never pretended to be anything he wasn’t. Well, with the possible exception of a complete fool, and he rarely said that outright. Still, he knew he wouldn’t stay, and he never promised he would. But this time, he did seem to be sticking around. Why?
It wasn’t that Miraem was any great beauty. Oh, she was pretty enough, with striking blue-gray eyes and features in a good balance. But her cheekbones were not as well defined as those of the ladies most considered beautiful, and her chin too strong, not to mention her unfortunate scar, and the freckles that grew more obvious with the kiss of the sun.
Nor was she the gentle and graceful lady that seemed to be the ideal woman, at least in the eyes of the general population. She was compassionate, yes, and helpful, and carried herself well, but there was a force behind her motions that would leave dainty, well-bred ladies turning up their noses. She was frank to the point of being rude, never hesitating to speak out if she thought something was wrong, and had no patience for arrogance or lies.
And yet he was drawn to her, her intensity capturing his gaze and his thoughts again and again. He’d noticed it the first time he’d laid eyes on her, a young woman who’d come to listen to his music at an inn and approached him afterwards. She’d had some questions about things he’d mentioned, and about the other races and continents, and they’d ended up talking for some time, only stopping when she excused herself because she had classes the following morning. Her bright eyes had turned up in his dreams that night. The irony, that the interest there was not because of him, but because of the things he could tell her about! But he’d still found himself checking his audience the following night, disappointed when she didn’t turn up. She made an appearance the evening after that, and this time Trill had gone to her when he finally begged off playing another song due to weary fingers. That night they’d talked far into the wee hours of the morning, as the next day was a rest day. Following his reverie, he’d tried to find where Miraem lived, hoping to spend some of the day in her company. That was already out of character for Trill. He could tell she wasn’t very interested in him, not in the way he generally preferred, so why had he sought her out? But the light that kindled in her eyes at the stories of what he’d seen and heard, it was like the glow of a fire on a cold night.
He’d tracked down her small apartment, in a modest building with walls that weren’t particularly thick. A pretty, though clearly untrained voice had drifted down the hallway. Trill was delighted to realize, when it stopped following his knock at her door, that Miraem was the source. He’d had to employ every persuasive trick in his considerable repertoire to wheedle another song out of her, but it had been well worth it.
The friendship grew from there, with the minstrel moving in a loose orbit around Mira, unable to completely break away. That wasn’t really an issue; he often stayed awhile in a city before moving on. And when their relationship turned into something more, he was happy to share what he knew of those things with her as well. But it reached time and past to be leaving, and he found he didn’t really want to. The idea of leaving her behind was not one he relished at all, and made him uncomfortable. And yet he didn’t want to be staying in the same place with no intention of leaving -- he hated being tied down and commitment frightened him. Besides, he tried to be honest with himself, and he didn’t want to make a promise he couldn’t keep. He was concerned that Mira might start expecting more of him than he wanted to give. He was troubled by the way he felt about her, not quite sure what it meant. He could tell he was mesmerized, like a moth circling a flame, and that always ended in disaster for the moth.
Trill brushed his windblown hair out of his face with a sigh, leaning his head back against the metal of the railing wall. He still wasn’t any closer to finding answers. But for the moment there was no hurry. He doubted the training would be over quickly. He’d figure this out eventually.
~~~~~~~~~
“Solid land, at last!” The exclamation was met with an amused expression by Miraem, and a shake of her head. She’d been around the minstrel long enough to recognize that while the sentiment behind it might be sincere, he was being overly dramatic. “Stop acting like an idiot,” she teased. “You’ll make a poor first impression.”
“And why should I conceal what is in fact the truth?” he returned, straightening to his full height. Already the color was returning to his cheeks, and he felt better. “For I am indeed a fool, though that may not be all that I am.” With a playful smile dancing across his lips he leaned in to give her cheek a kiss. “Never fear, I’ll do my best to keep from embarrassing you by association.” Mir a rolled her eyes, but couldn’t keep from smiling back, and the pair set off through the city. Trill had done a great deal of travelling, though he’d never ventured to Tenebra, discouraged by the frequent portrayal of the natives as rather violent. Mira had never ventured far from her home in Lucerna, until she’d gone to the capital to continue her studies. ēna Kristāla City was very different from the City of Light, and just as vast. She was very much an outsider here, though she tried not to gawk too much. Her pulse had quickened in excitement at being somewhere new, but she was nervous too. The healer glanced at the elf beside her, who seemed so collected, though she knew he was equally excited to be somewhere new after staying in the same city for a year and a half. And he’d said Tenebra was new to him as well, yet he seemed to have no trouble acting like this was just a day like any other. It was most likely because he’d already been so many different places. This might be somewhere new, but the experience itself was not. Mira felt a rush of gratitude for his presence. She was glad she’d have at least one person she knew around. It would help make things easier, especially when she’d be working toward something as important as stopping the Dark Lord.
They found their way to the walled-off property where they’d been instructed to go. It was a forbidding structure, with thorny plants around the gate, and the human was disappointed. She’d never feel comfortable, if this was an accurate representation of what the school was like. But she had a duty to give her best, and she squared her shoulders to approach the gate. A dragon adorned it, with a colorful gem winking at her in place of its eye. She pushed the gate open a bit further, surprised that it moved silently. She’d expected it to creak like a spooky house, but it moved silently. At least the place was well looked after, she supposed. Gripping the staff of her glaive a bit tighter, she ventured inside, and stopped in surprise. Unlike the exterior, the inside was lovely, a fountain dominating the center of the large courtyard, surrounded by all sorts of flowers and other plants. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad in Tenebra after all.
Trill could appreciate the garden, but something else caught his attention. He could see things gleaming towards the different corners of the courtyard, at least the two he could make out from where they stood, and he guessed the other four held something similar. The one to the right, in particular, drew him. “Mira, look at this,” he called in a hushed voice, touching her arm with his hand. She turned to follow his gesture, eyes widening in surprise. “There’s something there, I can feel it,” she commented, starting towards it. The pair moved so they could see what it was, a crystalline sculpture that glowed from within, but before they got too close the elf halted. “I don’t think we should get too close,” he said, frowning at it. He could sense the call too, but at the same time it was warning him off, and he was far more inclined to heed the warning than satisfy his considerable curiosity.
“I think you’re right,” the healer replied, turning to head further inside. “Come on, I want to meet the people here.”
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