Freedom Pt. 09-10

"Tatiana... why?" the sorceress heard a heart torn asunder muttered behind her. She turned towards it, startled yet unafraid any longer. Casiama held a bow aloft, arrow nocked on its string with tears in her eyes.

Tatiana wondered why, herself. She shook her head meekly, wanting to apologize.

"I don't know," she said instead.

Casiama unnocked her bow, realizing she wouldn't attack the shivering sorceress. She didn't understand why she had it out in the first place, and wept instead.

"You should have told me, Vex, someone! Anyone... You didn't know how he felt! How miserable he has been for months now... and now with Sigi... and Silvia... He wasn't thinking this through properly," Casiama explained brittly. "He needed me, Tatiana. To keep him planted."

Tatiana kept her eyes timidly fixed on Casiama's. The wind picked up sharply above the pair, screaming its defiance to the situation.

"And I need him..." Casiama choked out.

"You're right. I didn't know," Tatiana said weakly. A gloved hand danced towards her chest, and Tatiana recalled the man's eyes. Those terrifying eyes. "But he... demanded that he go alone. So no one else would get hurt."

Casiama stepped forward softly, towards the edge of the pier. She knew not if she felt anger or sadness at Tatiana's words. Perhaps just a hideous pairing of both. If only Talos had known how hurt she was nonetheless, perhaps he would have stayed. Or perhaps it didn't matter to him.

Tatiana continued speaking with sight cast away from the elf.

"I know he wasn't worried of anyone else but you, Cass. Only you." Tatiana had expected the words to sooth the elf, but saw in her eyes that it had done the opposite.

"Is there anything you can do? To bring him back here?" Casiama asked her brittly, soon collapsing to the sight of Tatiana's wide eyes and shaking head.

"I'm sorry, Cass," Tatiana whispered through droplets of rain, the skies opening up above her.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Freedom Part 10: Windswept

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The winds howled over the port of Villjord this day, just as it had for a week now. An unrelenting storm had materialized the day after the reaver's assault on the town and then remained, just off the coast, blanketing the city with implacable gusts. Four travelers discussed their next steps in an alleyway, serious visages present on all faces.

Sigismund had died unceremoniously in his sleep the night before. None of the party had watched him pass, and no one was sure if he had muttered anything as his soul left the world to journey to the beyond. With his passing, there was no further reason for any of these four travelers to be in Villjord any longer. Especially since the one who kept them all together had disappeared days ago.

Talos was still missing. He had convinced Tatiana to teleport him to the reaver flagship four days ago, the vessel which had assaulted the city of Villjord with purple fire and a horde of axemen. His sudden disappearance hadn't done anything positive for his lover's psyche. Casiama shook with anger with every glance given her way, and had not calmed whatsoever for days now. She was as restless as the unrelenting storm.

Her animosity for the recent turn of events had convinced Tatiana to port Casiama to Talos' last known location, the reaver flagship. The elf did not have any other plan than that. Without Talos she was lost, adrift in a world that cared nothing for her.

Tatiana gasped, opening her eyes at a sudden revelation.

"I'm... sorry, Cass. I cannot sense the boat any longer," she murmured, shifting nervously on her feet as her hand retreated from the elf's arm.

"What?!" Casiama squeaked.

"It's... gone. I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry."

The elf shook her head rapidly. "No, no, no! Where is he, if not on the boat?"

A shrug. A nervous, apologetic shrug. "I don't know. Is... there anywhere else you would like to go?"

"There is nowhere else! Talos was... is..." Casiama shook her head, her words falling away from her sadly.

He's my everything. Talos could make anywhere feel like home, and was the only one she had known after her exile from Tor Valliya. Just last week, after the battle of Villjord, she knew with all her heart that they would spend their entire lives in one another's arms. But she... they...

"Guess we'll be goin' to Imperia, then," Markus said unceremoniously through the elf's sadness. Casiama wrinkled her nose, and pushed a hand out to Vex.

"Give me the farcaster before you leave, then. It does not belong to you," she said brittly.

The sorceress folded her arms, shaking her head. "No. If anything, the stones should come with us."

Casiama equipped her bow in an instant, nocking an arrow on its string by magic. She had it drawn and ready a second later, causing Markus to raise his hands.

"You shall not have it," she declared through her tears. "It doesn't belong to you."

Markus kept his hands up, speaking as if he weren't terrified. "Cass, come on. You can't kill us," he said as Casiama released her bow string, an arrow thumping into the wood not an inch above his hair. Vex, Markus, and Tatiana all glanced at the arrow in shock before turning to Casiama again, her bow already nocked with another.

"What I meant to say is that ya... wouldn't kill your friends. Right?" he asked unsuredly.

"Just give me the farcaster, Vex," Casiama repeated brittly, now pointing her bow at the sorceress. "It belongs to Talos."

Vex took a step towards the elf, pausing when the white-gold bow was swiveled in her direction. She spoke as kindly as she could. "Casiama, he's... look, giving us your caster isn't giving up on him. Just like me giving you mine won't bring him back."

"But you are giving up on him! Come on," Casiama retorted whimperingly, her bow shaking in her hand. "He wouldn't have given up on you..."

"Cass," Vex said, pausing to let the princess look into her eyes."He did. As soon as he forced Tatiana to make that portal, he gave up. On all of us," she replied flatly.

Casiama shook her head quickly, her gaze falling from Vex. She lowered her bow. "He didn't..."

Markus waved his hand at Vex, telling her to quiet, yet she spoke up again after a couple seconds of tears from the elf. "The farcasters will do us a lot of good, Casiama," she said softly, bringing a hand to her chest, "more than we could ever do alone. Talos would want that."

Casiama sniffled, dropping her bow to the ground. He wouldn't give up on her... but Vex was right. She grabbed the dull, purple stone from her pack, and looked it over intently. This wasn't giving up on him, she thought. Casiama stepped lightly towards the sorceress, placing it in her hand.

"If he comes back..." Casiama started, before shaking her head and turning around. She was much stronger when she didn't have to look her friends in the eye, and it was almost perceptible in her words. "When Talos comes back. We're coming for those stones."

Vex immediately placed the stone in her pack with a nod, then waved Tatiana over before Casiama could have a second thought. She had thought that she'd known the princess well enough, but had never seen her grief; Casiama's actions were now as unpredictable as the shifting winds, and as frightening as a tornado. She couldn't wait to be away from her, as much as it pained her to admit it.

"You can find us in Imperia, if you change your mind. Let's go, Tatiana."

The sorceress in black stepped between Markus and Vex, placing a gloved hand on the shoulder of each. She looked over Casiama's fatally-sullen frown before shutting her eyes, imagining a large checkerboard square beside a field, just outside the great circular stone walls of Imperia. The flaming, black void appeared before Tatiana to take her there, but a hesitation stopped her from porting to the capital of humanity. She still had work to do here.

The portal disappeared, and Tatiana had remained behind.

Casiama's mouth was left agape, a look half of confusion and half surprise on her visage. Tatiana stepped towards her, Dusk bounding right on her heels. She placed a comforting hand on the elf's shoulder, smiling through the strong winds which wildly blew her dress and hair about.

"You think he's still alive, Cass?" she asked softly.

Casiama nodded hesitantly, followed by another more confident. "I do."

Tatiana smiled. "Let's go find him, then."

The elf's lips were left quivering. She had never expected Tatiana to remain; the one who had forced Talos from her in the first place. Casiama finally smiled, finding a rare strand of sunlight in the everpresent storm. She stepped off, starting her search for her lover.

... but she did not know the way. "Um... where should we start?"

Tatiana shifted on her boots. "I believe I ported him to the northeast," she said softly, noticing the elf glancing in that direction.

"The shoreline north of the city, then. If he's..." Casiama glanced away, frowning. "He will likely be there."

-=-=-

"Talos!" Hilde shouted frantically, shaking the man who had collapsed on the floor of their small boat. Two palms pressed against his chest, waking him from dreadful slumber. His hand clutched his sword's pommel on instinct.

Talos rose startled, gasping for air. The rain fell around them in abundance with the wind, a merciful savior for two souls stranded at sea. Talos collected himself but for a moment before he opened his mouth to drink it in, the blonde Isbryggan girl beside him doing the same after stepping back to her side of the boat.

The pair had liberated the small vessel they were now on from the Mercy, then made a hasty departure as it and the other longships had burned down around them. The two souls had since been unable to speak to each other for their journey due to a language barrier, yet each owed the other their lives. And so, they had found each other amicable company.

That had been six days ago now, and their small boat had since been ravaged by the brutal, heaving seas for the entirety of their journey. They hadn't known where they were for a while now. But they were alive.

They weren't so much sailing their boat in these winds; they were only passengers to wherever the vessel would land, if it made shore at all. And Talos desperately needed to find shore again. He didn't need, or want, to find the shore for his own sake. He just wanted to see Casiama one last time. To tell her he was okay.

Yet, he couldn't find a way out of the predicament he found himself in. A never-ending helplessness washed over him as the waves crashed endlessly against their boat, and he understood he wouldn't be capable of steering the tiller even if he knew where he was.

So, he drank in the storm's rains as the boat was swept by the furious wind. He didn't know at the time that the winds were taking them towards an isolated bay to the north of Villjord. He didn't know he had fallen into another slumber just before their boat crashed against the rocks, either.

~~

He awoke slowly to a gentle caress against his cheek. A perfect, unimaginably graceful caress.

His eyes fluttered open under a clear blue sky, finding himself lying betwixt an endless field of swaying, golden grains, windswept by the most pleasant breeze. An unimaginably calming breeze. A delicate finger traced the most perfect lines over his chest. Over a beating heart.

He rolled onto his side, finding a familiar pointed-ear beauty laying next to him wearing naught but a smile. She supported herself weightlessly by her elbow, gazing into his eyes sweetly as she touched him with but a finger and a thousand years of love.

Gods, was she pretty.

"Talos," she whispered to him whimsically. He smiled, but found the greeting unfamiliar...

~~

Casiama raced towards the fishing boat that just washed ashore in an isolated inlet, a tiny blonde woman and a man familiar its only occupants. The girl was attempting to shake the man awake. Casiama hadn't been sure what had drawn her and Tatiana to this rocky bay, and the thought was as far from her mind as possible as she neared the boat.

"Talos!" Casiama shouted thinly.

Her lover's eyes fluttered open, a smile forming on his face. "Kianra..." he croaked.

"No, Talos! It's me! Your Cass," she replied brittly, tears raining from her cheeks as she knelt over him. She laid both hands on his chest. He coughed, sputtered, releasing some of the storm's product from his lungs.

"Oh... Hey, Cass. Figured you'd show," Talos choked out between a smile. She returned his expression, falling atop him as she wept with joy beneath torrential skies. Talos wrapped an arm around her back and cast his eyes towards the heavens.

"Don't cry, Casiama. I'm okay."

Casiama slapped him gently against his cheek. So unimaginably gently.

"You're impossible, Talos," she laughed through her tears.