A Light in the Darkness

[IamLEAM1983]

The big man remained close to her for a surprising amount of time. Not putting any weight on her, he seemed instead to be imprinting this contact, committing it to memory as thoroughly as he could. Initially, he'd only replied to her with a small nod, even as he'd closed his eyes and stood there, arms around her. Finally, slowly and with much reluctance, he let her go. Again, his eyes were big and seemed to ache with the need to say something. His tentacles quivered, and he finally settled with another nod.

"We should return to my apartments," he said, his voice quiet and vulnerable, even as a tiny bit of mirth returned to it. "You're starting to look shrivelled and leathery!" he observed, a timid scoff shaking him as he briefly raised one of her hands and marvelled himself at how wrinkly surface-dweller skin turned, once its protective oils were removed. A thumb brushed against her own, a bit of a smile returning to him as he seemed to be momentarily entertained by the bumpy texture of the digit's pad.

Wishing to save time, he coalesced new robes around himself and let his slightly shaken imagination loose in the confection of a new dress for his healer. There was more fabric now, as well as distant Phoenecian touches. Meris' hair was suddenly delicately braided into fine individual strands, a bit similar to the traditional Egyptian style. Even a fine line of something dark and sticky graced her eyelids - kohl, perhaps.

Meris suddenly looking so properly dressed would maybe draw comments from the concubines and their eunuchs, but the leader assured her he'd ensure the Chamberlain would be unable to see her as she'd become. Noble, that is, at least in the Augur's eyes.

[TennyoCeres84]

Flattered by the new dress, Meris went with the large Void Weaver back to his apartments. She knew perfectly well that their relationship would have to remain hidden from the Chamberlain and the rest of his staff. That charade entailed keeping her body language meek and subservient, despite the metallic clinking of beads in her hair and the faint swish of fabric as she walked.

[IamLEAM1983]

For the few days that followed, the Augur seemed to try and drink deeply from Meris' mind. There were more moments of quiet or even troubled silence, many more of ebullient cheer, and long hours of deep contemplation as he debated either with or against her, sharpening his knowledge of the surface world's morals, customs and expectations. Every day began and ended with a new hug, and he sometimes seemed content to leave her to the concubines merely so he could sit there and observe her. He even had the chance to show her how his harem gave him a bit of cultural superiority. The Squids' sense of humour was generally lacking, based on her previous experiences, but their religious leader shared a few clever gags he'd learned from other selkies and some humans - revealing just how quick-witted and generally playful he happened to be.

The first week since they'd begun seriously exchanging passed, and his health suddenly took a turn for the worse. He'd been eating very little in private, wanting to preserve his system from the shocking effects of the month's coming feast in honour of Harrogath. Still, the seventh day began with a hale Augur and ended with Meris finding her tutor in the ways of magic doubled over atop his dais, once again beaded with sweat.

As she sang to him and came to realize that she'd have to work harder than before to pull him from the brink, one crucial fact would sink in: she wouldn't get a third chance. As before, she was called to his bedside - only to find that he was in an altogether different mindset.

Although wracked with fever, her friend was standing, his back straight and his arms tied behind his back. She barely had the time to come in that he gestured impatiently, a telekinetic gust slamming the doors behind her.

"This must end, Meris!" he snapped. "I will not see another season if these fools are allowed to harm me once more!"

Lowering his voice, he hurried towards her. "I made you a promise, Meris. With your White God as my witness, I intend to be alive long enough to uphold it. I am to meet with the Oracles of each district in a week's time. You must heal me, and we must draw the perpetrator out!"

A hand came up, momentarily twisting itself into claws. "If so much as one of these wretches lays a hand on you, I-"

Unable to finish, he winced and began to shiver out of equal parts disgust and fever.

[TennyoCeres84]

Bringing in a basin of water, the mage hurried over to hm and supported him as much as possible. She guided him over to his bed and rested a calming hand on his arm. Her features were troubled, knowing how much was at stake.

"Settle down first. If ye collapse frae exhaustion, it's jus' gaunae make me job harder," Meris stated, sighing thoughtfully. She then whispered, "Bringin' down yer fever is easy enough, but this'll jus' keep bein' a vicious cycle if we dunno find th' culprit."

She leaned in closely to his ear and said, "I've been t'inkin' about a way tae find th' traitor. It's more than likely th' food yer cook brings ye is th' source of yer fever, as we thought. I cin weave an incantation meant tae track th' one taintin' yer food. This link could be timed tae "present" itself durin' th' meetin' wi' th' Oracles. How daes that idea sound?" she asked, dabbing a cool washcloth against his forehead.

[IamLEAM1983]

"It sounds good," approved the Augur. "I really must work on your safety, however. Eventually, some amongst my people will piece the facts together. They will understand what you are to me. Once they do, they will kill you - if I am not present or able to stop them."

He shifted his legs and slipped into bed with obvious frustration. Lazing days away might have been a decent and Augur-like occupation, but this one was inclined to think their days were precious, now more than ever. Productivity mattered.

"As much as it pains me to say it, Meris - I must show you how to defend yourself. How to kill. Singing and healing will no longer suffice. Unfortunately, I am the least adequate person for the more physical matters and could only impart you with the concepts supporting elemental magic. How you will go about tapping into via in such a remote place as Dalarath, I have no idea."

He then blinked thoughtfully. "I have no idea... But other Augurs have faced this problem. There is a solution to this problem in the Darkhallow. As for defense, there is man in my service. One of my eunuchs. He is from a land far and remote from your Orkneys, with a curiously dark complexion my agents have yet to encounter anywhere else than in the hot plains of the South..."

The Squid winced and took a hand at his old stab wound. "Call for Adewalé," he said, enunciating the Yoruba syllables, which would most likely feel rather alien to Meris' still largely Celtic cultural basin.

[TennyoCeres84]

Meris blinked at the Augur's request and mouthed the African name's syllables in an effort to correctly to learn say his name. She motioned for him to rest there and disappeared from his quarters, heading to where his concubines and eunuchs stayed. Once there, she said that the Augur requested Adewale's presence.

[IamLEAM1983]

The man who stood out from the group was one she wouldn't have seen before. She'd have seen other dark-skinned humans before, but none quite like this; probably because of the fact that most Weaver pools were connected to coastal areas around the world. In the Orkneys, Aldergard had already been conflated with Odin, leaving the Winter King free to float on tales of glory that rightly belonged to another being. The dragons of the Orient still stood in relative isolation, but the Weavers had easy access to Jippang, or Christopher Columbus' Cipango. Considering, Meris would've seen the burnished skin and almond-shaped eyes of ship-riding samurai that had been taken down below. A few of these men were curiously sullen, the Weavers being oddly careful about not letting blades near these specific prisoners. Stories circulated in the harem about one of them. He'd supposedly attempted to commit suicide in a most peculiar way... The Cantor had even seen a few distraught men with pointy beards and long and needle-pointed moustaches and oddly puffed shirts, with carved breastplates and funny metal hats. They and the topknot-wearing group could communicate, the more pale and hawk-nosed men apparently speaking bits of the almond-eyed men's own language.

Adewalé, however, was different. His people had never known the sea and had always lived in the plains and savannas. He was tall, taller than most other humans she'd seen before, and had been allowed to keep an armband of twined and dried grass on his left bicep. He was always given a weapon before leaving in the morning, and never seemed to serve directly in the Augur's court. He went off, more than likely to fill some other purpose. Sometimes, his nature as a eunuch was explained when one of the lowly administrators under the Augur came by and requested entertainment...

He was naturally toned by a lifetime spent near Nature's grasp, made graceful by lifelong tumbling he still struggled to explain to the other prisoners in their own tongues. He had everything a Squid stood to consider as an entertaining piece to defile.

Despite that, when Meris called his name, he stepped forward. "Yes, healer?" he asked.

For convenience's sake, The recent line of Augurs had designated English - or Old English, in this case - as the language to be used between slave pen members. While his tribesmen would go on some two hundred years before speaking English in an official matter, this specific Yoruba soldier spoke it almost like a modern-day West African. Accent aside, he was perfectly clear.

[TennyoCeres84]

"Th' Augur requested that I call fer ye, Adewale," Meris stated calmly. She didn't elaborate on the specifics of the Void Weaver's desire to have her learn self-defense out there in the open. The roane gestured for him to follow her back to the squid's apartment.

[IamLEAM1983]

Adé raised an eyebrow at her, but he otherwise followed along. At the sight of the Augur's condition, however, he frowned.

"Is this some new game you would like us to play, Your Highness?" he asked the Augur, to which the squid scoffed.

"No, man. I wish for you to train Meris as you have trained our youngest Arbiters. Teach her the ways of the Knife, the Spear and the Bow. Teach her to dance with her fists. You have as long as you require - even if this cuts into your availability for other matters.
- Not that I would complain," replied the Yoruba man in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I knew you wouldn't," confirmed the Squid, who seemed to slouch a bit into his bed and to grow more sleepy despite himself. "I will assist you... in my own way."

The ruler didn't speak or otherwise stir, instead very quickly shifting to laboured breathing and occasionally sonorous snoring. The frown his face displayed, however, seemed to suggest more intensive focus than simple slumber. Adé briefly looked concerned, only to recognize some sort of sign in the Squid's posture. He stepped closer and reset the man's hands on his chest with gestures carrying simple and honest respect, as odd as it would seem.

Adé looked back to Meris. "He is not asleep," he said. "Not like you or I would be, at least. He has gone to visit his Nzango, his god-place of dreams and knowledge, to help us. He will bring knowledge when he will awaken."

Centuries later, Meris would equate this to Shango, a Yoruba deity - and precursor, in some ways, to Baron Samedi.

[TennyoCeres84]

Meris nodded to the dark-skinned man and observed the Void Weaver as he assisted them. When Adewale gave his explanation of the Squid's actions, she figured he was in the Darkhallow he mentioned earlier. What knowledge he would retrieve and how that related to the Yoruban man made her curious as to what he would bring back.

As for his plans to have learn her a martial art and weapon skills, she was uncertain how well she would take it to it. She wasn't an imposing woman, even if she stood taller than most human women of the day, and she wasn't blessed with great strength. Her claws were blunt, and her pointed teeth could only do so much damage. Would learning to fight really boost her odds in surviving threats?