Elan Pt. 10 - When She Was Good

When She Was Good

----

Talos was home once again, atop a saddle as he rode along the Imperial highway in the chill and unforgiving wind. The trio of Talos, Vex, and Casiama had already ridden almost one-hundred miles in just four days, leaving the bustling metropolis and its acrid stench for the pleasantries of pine trees and but a hint of snow in the air. Grey clouds hung over them for the entirety of their journey, but had not yet graced the horse's hoofs with their sympathic gift.

Talos and Vex rode side-by-side, their horses just at a trot for now to let them rest from their previous half-mile gallop. Casiama rode far ahead from them pretending to scout ahead, but secretly rode alone to enjoy the pleasant songs of nature instead. A beautiful red-and-black bird tweeted its tune cheerfully for the princess, and she returned the favor with a smile of absolute glee. Casiama's head swayed gaily, her long brown hair draping sensually over her shoulders as she smoothly rocked in the saddle. She was home as well.

The humans either did not recognize or care for the tune, for they had instead turned to conversation and a hint of sport. Vex had shared one of her inventions with Talos, a complex toy she'd created to please the sons and daughters of lords. She could be seen throwing a small, golden orb into the air, which produced a glowing river of golden flakes behind it as it soared skyward, twisting this way and that as it ascended weightlessly.

Talos held up a forefinger then opened his palm, wordlessly telling the orb that he was ready to catch it. It immediately fell towards him, pushing against the world's pull magically to fall at a quarter the rate it should have. He caught it simply with a childish smile, then tossed it back to Vex over his shoulder enthusiastically.

"You know, this thing is pretty amazing!"

"You know, it's designed for children!" Vex exclaimed, imitating the wonder in his voice sarcastically. Talos tilted his head side-to-side, pursing his lips.

"Ah," Talos sighed. "There are moments I forget I'm not one, honestly."

"That's because you're a man," Vex sneered, tossing the ball into the air, "and all men fail to mature properly. It's why only us women are granted the spark."

He pondered on it, grinning when he caught the golden ball again. He tossed it into the air a moment later, his eyes following it skyward as it danced on the wind.

"You're lucky, then. Because if there were sorceressers, I'd wager they'd put you all out of business."

Vex laughed nasally, opening up the palm of her hand for the toy. "'Sorceressers?' You dolt."

"What?" Talos shrugged.

"It'd be 'sorcerers' moron. You drop the feminine tail, then affix the masculine," Vex explained as she threw the ball with the flick of a wrist. "What does Cass see in you, Talos? You're just as idiotic as all the rest."

He grinned. He thought of replying to her kindly, but decided to boast instead to win an argument that didn't matter. He caught the golden orb without looking at it. "She says I'm perfect just the way I am. Oh, and Alanna does too," supposedly, he thought. "Double oh, they decided I could see both of them at the same time."

"What?!" Vex exclaimed, only briefly containing herself before descending into raucous laughter. Talos shifted uncomfortably in his saddle, his gaze drifting towards Casiama riding far ahead of him. She glanced towards him, easily picking up Vex's laughter, and smiled before turning away a second later.

"Talos, there's no way they did!" Vex retorted wildly before laughing once more.

"Did too. Ask Cass," Talos responded childishly, throwing the orb as far forward as he could. It danced skyward and then hovered still, its golden trail now emanating from it lazily as it waited to be called again. Vex was howling with laughter, and had added the slapping of her knee to the ensemble.

"Could you imagine?!" she exclaimed through her snickering. "You wouldn't come out alive! 'Oh, maybe I'll get my mind disintegrated today'," she mimicked in a deep, insulting tone. "'Even better, I'll get an arrow to the lung instead!'"

Talos glared at her as she insulted his ideal lifestyle, then felt a pang of nervousness. He spoke once Vex had mostly calmed down, which took quite the effort from the sorceress.

"How would I smooth it out?" he asked seriously. Vex glanced at him, then restrained herself from laughing.

"My gods, you're serious," she said. He nodded. "I would... have no idea, Talos."

"Pretend you're in her boots, then," Talos offered instead. "What would make it work for you?"

Vex pursed her lips, staring off into the sky to ponder. She almost had forgotten the Heaven's Orb floating above her and opened her palm, summoning it back towards the ground. She disabled it, then almost put it in her pack before deciding to offer it to Talos. She handed it to him.

"Keep it," she said flatly. Talos' face lit up with a grin, and the orb was immediately placed in his saddlebag. Vex knew he'd get more use out of it than her, and she could make another with a couple silver's worth of material.

"I guess I'd just want to be kept in the know, ensure there were no secrets hidden from me. I can't imagine it working, but perhaps they're less jealous than I am," Vex said.

Talos mulled it over, wondering how that would even be possible with an enchantress in the mix. He wished he could speak with Alanna, now that he knew. "Thanks, Vex," he replied, more for the child's toy than the advice. Vex continued her train of thought, nervous that she was wrong.

"Don't rely on my ideas, though. Ask them instead. Every sorceress is different, and we're a little full of ourselves in one way or another," she explained. Talos rolled his eyes, failing to see the connection. Alanna had no faults that he knew of, other than youth. "Just tread carefully between their egos and don't pick sides," Vex added.

"Uh huh."

"Yep. It's simple, really. Just don't be you," she sneered. Talos decided to let it slide, knowing she meant well under it all.

"Let's get moving," he said instead. Talos urged his horse into a gallop once more.

--

A few days later, Talos, Casiama, and Vex found themselves in an inn in Taranto, a small barony situated half-way between Evora and the Imperial capital. Not many travelers frequented these roads during the harsh winters of the northwest provinces, and the inn tonight was no exception to that rule. The winds of winter had picked up intensely in the past couple days, and their travel had been slowed siginificantly.

The party was now situated around a table as they discussed their task, feeling concerned that there had been no sign of the one they hunted for the entire trek.

"We need to find another farcaster so we can triangulate the connection, Talos," Vex explained. "Racing around with nothing to go on is not working." Casiama was left shaking her head.

"I thought you said that there weren't any more," Talos replied.

"There might be. We could always get hints from the Catrionan library, I'm sure."

Talos twirled his boot knife through his fingers, contemplating the correct answer for the situation. He was of a mind to change course, feeling that Rayya would have likely shifted her destination a week ago once she realized she was being followed. He would have, anyway. And he had taught her much...

~~

Two years ago, Talos stepped through the streets of Tor Delara in the Duchy of the Spear, guiding his chestnut horse through the wide main avenue of the city. He was just returning from a contract in Seagard, where he had been hunting some mountain trolls who had ventured too closely to a lord's manor.

It had now been eight seasons since he had dropped Rayya off in Catriona for her schooling, and she had grown strong since then, he knew. The girl was capable of reaching out to him across vast distances now, capable of conversing with him even if he was on the other side of the Empire. Her constant communications had kept a wanderer planted. Kept him on track. He ached to see her again.

He had intended to stay in Catriona to wait for her, originally. But a wanderer quickly fell into old habits, and a man roamed the Empire for two years without purpose. He knew it wouldn't last this time, and longed to see his daughter once more.

I'm free! Talos heard a familiar, feminine voice flow across his mind. He responded in turn, beaming to hear from her again.

That's great, Rayya. I'm in the far north right now, but let's meet somewhere in between. Say, Renassus? Do you know of it?

He waited a moment for her response -- long-distance telepathy took its time, after all -- and absentmindedly stumbled into a food cart. Talos realized he shouldn't be walking and communicating with someone so far away at the same time, and stepped to the side of the path.

I do. I can't wait to see you, Talos. Ride Sofia with haste, and give her a pat on the rump for me. I'll be there in two weeks.

Two weeks? Talos would have to cover at least thirty miles a day, each day, to make the distance. Yet he smirked, and knew Rayya was worth the effort. Why spare the horse?

I will. Be safe, Rayya.

~~

Talos was shaken from his dream when Casiama expressed her defiance to Vex's idea.

"No! Alanna said she was coming this way, and that's the best we have. I say we stay on course."

Vex shrugged her shoulders, scowling at the elf. "Cass, come on. We've had zero leads this entire time. At least with my idea we'll have-"

"Not yet, Vex! At least wait until we get to Evora," Casiama retorted. The elf would not budge on the issue, having made a solemn promise to Alanna.

--

The snow was falling hastily around Rayya's form, the girl clinging to her cloak to warm herself in the brisk, chill wind. She stepped meekly down the icy road to Evora with a frown, her mind wandering over all manner of troubled ideation with hardly a soul around to quell her thoughts.

The world was out to get her. At least, that's what she used to believe. Without a friend to travel with, without a kind soul to talk to, Rayya had felt alone. Cold. And so very vulnerable.

Yet in piercing Casiama's thoughts, Rayya had come to learn what Talos now believed she had become. Rayya had always trusted him in the past, always accepted his advice when it was offered; the latest revelation was taken with just as little scrutiny.

He thought her a monster; a sick, demented child who slayed strangers she came across for no reason at all. At first Rayya had wanted to cry out, to defy the notion endlessly. Yet as she attempted to justify her encounters to herself, and all of what she had done... she found it hard not to believe him.

Just because a girl is paranoid doesn't make her feelings true. Just because an action is easy doesn't make it weightless.

She understood now. Her heartstrings tugged at her endlessly, and the guilt of many lost souls weighed her down as she trudged along the path. She hadn't forced another to any act since that miserable day in the capital. It wasn't in her anymore.

Fortunately Rayya still had a way out, a glimmer of sunlight shining through the void. She could still go to Evorus, find an item there to power the farcaster she possessed. With it, she could beg for Talos' mercy without response, asking endlessly until he forgave her.

Then, he would fix her. Just as he did so long ago.

But she had to get out of the cold, first. She decided on a desolate inn in the town of Taranto.

--

Talos fortunately saw the door to the inn swing open and noticed a blonde-haired girl walk inside.

A familiar girl.

"Wards, WARDS!" Talos shouted, jumping from the table in an insant and striding along the wooded slats of the inn towards the door. Vex pushed a hand to the table immediately, a small, shining bubble forming which just barely enveloped Casiama and her.

Talos noticed the startled look in Rayya's eyes as she watched him bound along the inn, the girl immediately turning around and running out the door. An enchanted inn-goer stood up then and attempted to block his path, but Talos easily shoved him aside with brute force as he ran.

Talos sped through the door, his elven lover on his heels. He held her back with a hand and glanced at her briefly.

"No! She'll kill you. I can block her out." Casiama frowned, but nodded. She understood all too well. Talos scanned east and west, spotting Rayya running with utmost haste down the road west-bound. Far too slow.

Talos sprinted, Rayya's form coming ever closer before him. He saw her slowing then turning around, watching the man she'd been trying to track down for months sprinting towards her with undeniable hatred in his eyes. She raised both hands skyward in defeat.

Talos was on her not five seconds later. He stopped just before her, looking at the girl he'd loved like a daughter not two years ago.

He wasn't sure what to say. Any semblance of pity that Talos had felt for her had been destroyed when she had attacked Casiama. He unsheathed his sword, Dawnbringer.

"Rayya..."

The frightened girl was now weeping as her world crashed down around her. "I don't know what you've heard, but all I did, I did to find you Talos! I did everything I could do..."

Talos shook his head, finally capable of parting his guilt from the dozens that had suffered.

"No, Rayya. You're fucking sick. How could you..." Talos' sight fell to his glowing sword, "how could you do that to Alanna?"

"I didn't want to! I didn't... she was good to me, Talos! It-it was an accident!" Rayya stammered as she fell to her knees in tears.

"Her baby... it's mine, you know," he whispered coldly a moment later.

"I didn't know!"

"I can't believe you... I looked for you for months after you went missing. I couldn't sleep for half a gods-damned year. Why didn't you reach out? We could have stopped all of this..." Talos found himself tearing up. The guilt came back.

"I tried, Talos!" Rayya shouted back through her own tears. "They found me again, caught me just outside Catriona. They put... they put some sort of collar on me that prevented my magic. When I finally escaped... reaching out didn't work, Talos! Finding you was the only thing that kept me going!"

None of that particularly mattered to Talos. He thought of Torvald, of Rayya's father the Marquis. Of the two dozen others that would still be alive had it not been for her. Of her attempt at taking from him all that he held dear.

She was beyond redemption. Rayya saw it in his eyes as he twisted his shining sword in the air towards her neck, and she knew she needed more time. To convince him to see things as they were. Of what they could be.

"I know I'm falling away. Because I... I'm always fearful without you beside me. Every thing that someone thinks, any thing that someone says makes me nervous and scared as if I were a child again!" Rayya was bawling as she begged for his mercy with wide, sad eyes. Forgiveness never crossed Talos' mind. "But you can make me better again... you can fix me. Just like before."

"I don't care, Rayya," Talos replied without hesitation. "Your actions have already spoken for you, long before today. Knowing you were out there, and knowing you could end Cass or Alanna at the drop of a boot... I'd never forgive myself."

"I'll change! Just give me a chance!" He didn't believe her. Could not.

"You were the only thing..." she mumbled with a whisper, her sight dropping to the floor in sullen realization; the final shackle that tied her to this world was here before her, now, holding a blade to her throat.

"Fine... then do it. End this," she begged as she pulled his wrist towards her, the tip of the blade just barely cutting into her soft white skin.

Talos thought back to a time, years ago, when he showed the girl at his knees the world. They had wandered aimlessly, together but alone, as they evaded her father's mercenaries for months. He taught her about the harsh truth of the world in those trying days. That the world just doesn't give a shit about two lost souls.

They had both come to terms with the idea back then. Rayya learned during their travels that happiness wasn't won or lost based on the world's acceptance of you. All the good you could ever ask for could be found in the thoughtful words and actions of one true friend. In one other soul that gave a damn.

And in return, Rayya had taught Talos simple human decency. Back when she was good.

He had prepared for this very moment for weeks, but in confronting the reality Talos realized he couldn't go through with his vengeance. He pulled his sword hand away from Rayya's grasp, and he gazed deeply into her eyes as the two souls grieved together once more.

Rayya smiled with hope, images of a long future together with him suddenly consuming her completely. His mind was now open to her, and a thousand thousand thoughts she had yet to experience flooded her soul with their mercy.

She had to reach out. She had to tell him how she really felt. Of how things could be.

"Talos, I-"

The snap of a bowstring. An arrow in her neck.

Talos barely registered what had happened before he fell to his knees, holding the dying girl in his arms as the snow fell around him. Her helpless gurgling slowly faded away, until all was silent but the man's grief. She reminded him once more of the young, frightened child he had rescued all those years ago. Back when she was good.

Half an eternity had passed before Talos realized he wasn't alone. Casiama stepped beside him softly with a hand on her bow, her eyes holding the cold visage of vengeance. Talos choked out one word to her.

"Why..."

"It had to be done, Talos," Casiama said gravely. She almost felt as if she needed to explain her actions to him before he replied a moment later.

"I know... I know," he muttered. "Thank you, Casiama. For doing what I could not."