"You have?" he perked up, straightening a little as the lure of new knowledge was dangled before him. "What is it like? I've heard it mentioned by some of the Fae, but I'd like to know what you thought about it." For the Fae he had spoken to it was simply a place they had grown up all their lives knowing. But Amalia, he was sure, would appreciate the strangeness of the place, and the beauty of it. She would describe it in ways he would understand, being as human as he had become.
"Then we will try," he said with a softer smile, trusting in her optimism to open doors that he had been too cautious to force.
He had hoped to comfort her with his suggestions, and Kiada's name fell easily from his tongue, the young Harpy dear to his own heart, even as their lives had become at least temporarily tied together by a promise to Ludo. Even before that, however, they had forged a bond that the matter of his kingship and the blight had strained but not broken. Suggesting Deimos took effort, however, and though he tried to do so lightly there was too much baggage there to hide entirely. He drew in a slow breath at her question, thinking back to the never-easy relationship he and the mountain had. In the end he moved to sit on the ground beside the chair, looking up at Amalia solemnly.
"Many things," he said, trying to find a smile for her, but the expression wouldn't come. "Some good... but just as many bad. I'm not sure he's ever really gotten past my leading you into the Greatwood, and into the Fae ambush. Oh, he's forgiven me for it... I think. But he's never really trusted me since then. We can still work together, sometimes even well. But there is always that doubt in his eyes when he looks at me, whenever there is danger or something of importance on the line." It was the bard who looked away then, a faint grimace marring his brow. "I don't know if he ever told you... what the Tulmhainar told me. That the serpent still lived in the Spire basement, that the Tulmhainar had protected him from the gasses, but with her passing he would not live long without help. That the way to get rid of them would take a combination of elemental magics. That I had gone to Remi, to Vai, to Rory... and to him, to go down and see if we could clear the place out. Both for the serpent and because there might have been a link between the poison of those plants and the sickness in the Greatwood, before we knew just how insidious the blight truly was." He glanced up at his sister, his friend, and at last found a smile though it was a sad one. "I had tried to tell you, too, in the wake of our last foray down there together but... it was too soon. We were all too shattered. And after what happened to Safrin I wasn't sure I dared ask you to go down there again."
He hesitated, then drew an unsteady breath and continued. "And i was afraid to ask him, too. But... Zariah had threatened you over my disappearance, and so Deimos threatened me. All by implication, but he looms quite impressively when he's trying to be intimidating," he added with false lightness that didn't reach his eyes. Eyes that looked down again in shame a moment later. "We spoke... harshly to each other, that day. I said things that I regret. Things he didn't deserve. He gave me ultimatums, cast aspersions on my ability to protect my friends and doubts upon my strength. We... did not part on good terms. And when I accepted that cursed offer of kingship from Edy, he was the first to question my intentions. The one who opened that gathering with anger in his eyes and ice in his voice and set the tone for all else that followed."
He had slumped as he spoke, bringing up memories that were bitter on his tongue as well as his mind. "We can and will work as a team when people need us, have no fear of that. But we are... abrasive to each other. He does not speak enough, and I speak too much, and we find all the raw points and chafe them when we are together."
"Then we will try," he said with a softer smile, trusting in her optimism to open doors that he had been too cautious to force.
He had hoped to comfort her with his suggestions, and Kiada's name fell easily from his tongue, the young Harpy dear to his own heart, even as their lives had become at least temporarily tied together by a promise to Ludo. Even before that, however, they had forged a bond that the matter of his kingship and the blight had strained but not broken. Suggesting Deimos took effort, however, and though he tried to do so lightly there was too much baggage there to hide entirely. He drew in a slow breath at her question, thinking back to the never-easy relationship he and the mountain had. In the end he moved to sit on the ground beside the chair, looking up at Amalia solemnly.
"Many things," he said, trying to find a smile for her, but the expression wouldn't come. "Some good... but just as many bad. I'm not sure he's ever really gotten past my leading you into the Greatwood, and into the Fae ambush. Oh, he's forgiven me for it... I think. But he's never really trusted me since then. We can still work together, sometimes even well. But there is always that doubt in his eyes when he looks at me, whenever there is danger or something of importance on the line." It was the bard who looked away then, a faint grimace marring his brow. "I don't know if he ever told you... what the Tulmhainar told me. That the serpent still lived in the Spire basement, that the Tulmhainar had protected him from the gasses, but with her passing he would not live long without help. That the way to get rid of them would take a combination of elemental magics. That I had gone to Remi, to Vai, to Rory... and to him, to go down and see if we could clear the place out. Both for the serpent and because there might have been a link between the poison of those plants and the sickness in the Greatwood, before we knew just how insidious the blight truly was." He glanced up at his sister, his friend, and at last found a smile though it was a sad one. "I had tried to tell you, too, in the wake of our last foray down there together but... it was too soon. We were all too shattered. And after what happened to Safrin I wasn't sure I dared ask you to go down there again."
He hesitated, then drew an unsteady breath and continued. "And i was afraid to ask him, too. But... Zariah had threatened you over my disappearance, and so Deimos threatened me. All by implication, but he looms quite impressively when he's trying to be intimidating," he added with false lightness that didn't reach his eyes. Eyes that looked down again in shame a moment later. "We spoke... harshly to each other, that day. I said things that I regret. Things he didn't deserve. He gave me ultimatums, cast aspersions on my ability to protect my friends and doubts upon my strength. We... did not part on good terms. And when I accepted that cursed offer of kingship from Edy, he was the first to question my intentions. The one who opened that gathering with anger in his eyes and ice in his voice and set the tone for all else that followed."
He had slumped as he spoke, bringing up memories that were bitter on his tongue as well as his mind. "We can and will work as a team when people need us, have no fear of that. But we are... abrasive to each other. He does not speak enough, and I speak too much, and we find all the raw points and chafe them when we are together."
