Traveling Companions
Log Info
- Title: Traveling Companions
- Place: Wilderness Pointe
- Summary: Rune and Harkashan stop at Wilderness Point and finally have a conversation about the events that separated them previously. Despite the pain of the conversation, they agree to travel together again, to whatever end may come.
With travels leaving Alexandria for a moment - Harkashan needing to visit Mictlan in order to get some specific supplies - Rune and Harkashan have a short stop-over at Wilderness Pointe on their way up north. They've just left their steeds with the local caretakers, and Harkashan is waiting at the exit for Rune.
His molten gaze is looking in her direction, patiently waiting for her to step up to him. His sizable height - though she's been surrounded by larger Sith-makar now - that much more obvious when close to eachother.
When she finally gets to him, he rumbles a deep gruff tone for a moment, before remarking; "I missed you." Words that have been rather long coming. What with them having actually met up days ago now. "And I am sorry." Though he doesn't immediately explain what he might be sorry for.
It had only been a matter of a few days since Rune had come to Harkashan's rescue in the forest. Even in that short time, there had been moments that felt almost like the old days. A shared look at a strange situation. A laugh that comes unbidden and welcome in a moment of joy. Each seems to harken back to long months of travel with their old party. A time that, perhaps, had seemed lost, forever.
Rune had just finished tending to her mount, showing her usual tenderness to such creatures. The beast is different than the one she had in the past, this one being a younger bay stallion with a white blaze. There is even some reluctance on handing the horse over to the caretakers, showing that she already has a tight bond with her mount.
When she finally does step forward, Rune seems aobut to say something, when his comment catches her off-guard. It had been days, and their reunion hadn't quite been what she'd expected. So, she just looks at him, her brows furrowed slightly. "I..." She starts, and then swallows the thought down with a shake of her head. "What do you have to be sorry for?"
The male lets out a long rumble of a sound again as she furrows her brow and starts with that singular word. Any time he's broached anything even related to the topic - or someone brings up death around her - she has been... flighty. Her reluctance in broaching the topic, of acknowledging what happened, has made it so that Harkashan has not touched on it either. Death is a difficult topic, and especially amongst the Softskins, there are a rather varied way of handling it.
"For abandoning you." The man answers gravely. "And for not welcoming you back with more open arms." Two things that have both been firmly at the top of his mind. "If I had been more careful, we would not have been ambushed like that. You wouldn't have..." He pauses for a moment. There is shame in his eyes. In his expression. Subtle, expressed the way Sith-makar express it, rather than the exagerated manner around humans. "... you would not have had to sacrifice yourself for me."
"Abandoning me?" Rune's head tilts slightly. Uncertainty plays in the set of her lips and the slight tap of her fingers against her side. It's obvious that she isn't really sure what he's referring to.
The comment about his less than warm welcome, well... that gets more of a reaction. Rune looks skyward, letting out a sigh. "We haven't seen each other in, what? Almost a year?" She asks, a bit of moonlight playing across her features. The clouds are sparce in the sky, leaving mostly clear view of the stars. "Did I expect more of a warm welcome? Of course." Her blue eyes flick towards him, "Do I blame you for not providing one? No." The Half-sil shakes her head.
Then, he starts to talk about that day. That day...
"I don't know what you're talking about, Hark." While that look of confusion lingers on Rune's features, there is something about it that seems to come across as if it were only... surface deep. The flick of her eyes, the slight tension in her muscles. Harkashan knows this 'softskin' well. To others, it might seem like she truly has no idea what he is talking about. But Harkashan would know those subtle tells.
Harkashan's eyes are seeking s he listens to her. Watching that tap of her fingers and the way she reacts. She's known this particular Sith-makar to be rather watchful. In dealings with Merchants, he was always quick to pick up on when softskins were trying to pull one over on him or others of his kin.
So she knows when he's reading her. And she knows when that heavy rush of pale condensation blows past her from his nostrils, that he's a bit frustrated. He doesn't tend to lie to anyone about things. He doesn't have a particularly good 'pokerface' - aside from people having trouble reading Sith-makar normally.
"You do. But I will respect that you do not wish to speak of it yet." He answers her with a very firm tone. He doesn't add anything like 'when you trust me' or 'when you are ready to let me in', because he doesn't want to blackmail her or do anything of the sort. He will let her come to him when she wishes to come to him about the matter.
Instead, he steps forward slightly and wraps his arms around her, and with those big lizard arms of his, pulls her into a hug. One hand into her hair, the other to her back. His body as warm as she was used to back then on those colder jungle evenings. "At least permit me to you a warm welcome." He then rumbles, his heavy tone resonating against her.
While Rune is very well aware of how keen an eye Harkashan has, he also would know just how good she happens to be at obfusgating her own feelings and intentions. It is not only a self-defense mechanism, but also something that has come in handy from time to time, using her words to get out of difficult situations.
She also knows very well when her ruse has been seen through. Her lips part, as if she were about to say something, and that next moment she is being pulled into the Sith-makar's embrace. It seems to cut off her words for a moment, causing her eyes to brim with moisture that she refuses to let fall. In the end, she just lets out a breath and every so slowly returns the hug.
"I've missed you too... big guy." Rune finally admits, but it's also obvious that she's still not quite letting her guard down completely. When she does lean back, the shorter female lets out a sigh. "I don't want to talk about it." She confirms, a deep breath drawn in and let out again. "It haunts me..." Rune admits, her voice growing softer. "When I close my eyes. When I sit too long in the quiet. It never really leaves. So... I'd rather not summon it more to the forefront than it already is." Clearly, the trauma is still all too fresh for her.
"What I can say for certain is that... I have no memory of what happened afterwards." Blue eyes turn his direction, filled with uncertainty. "I don't know if it was days, or weeks, or months... All I know is I couldn't shake the cold afterwards. Not for a long time."
The big Sith-makar bumps the bottom of his jaw against Rune for a moment, and tucks her a bit closer against him for a moment. If he's noticed that she's got moisture growing, he's not letting it be known. He's just glad that she is returning the hug - that's where he's at. Feeling her arms around him again.
Of course, that rumble deep in his throat lets her know that he's pleased and emotional about the matter as well. He just shows it differently. The way his tail sways against the ground for a moment, then curls near her leg. The way his growl elongates. It's the more subtle things.
He figures, if she hangs around him for long enough, she may deal with it on her own terms. After all, he is a Death Singer. Death is, for better or worse, all around him.
"I believe you." He answers her, though he feels it need not be said. He always tells her when he doesn't believe her. "Then let us continue our travels, so you do not need to sit still for too long. And so that your mind can focus on togetherness and adventurer again." He remarks, clawing into her hair a bit for a moment, before releasing her from the hug for the time being. His posture remains open, letting her know that the opportunity isn't passing, and can he re-taken.
"There will be warmth at your side, as long as I am near."
The motions of affection are familiar enough to offer a bit of warmth on the still cold night. "Mmm." Rune is quick to brush at her eyes, trying to dismiss the tears that she refuses to let fall. She has always put on that 'strong' face, rarely willing to expose weakness. Likely because such things are frowned upon among many Makari. The problem is, Llyranesi are known for their depth of emotion, so it shows some remarkable control.
She doesn't linger in that embrace for too long. Like before, the weight of the topic at hand is enough for her to want to escape dealing with. It might almost seem like a rejection, but it's more obviously a person who is struggling with matters within themselves. Rune starts to walk, pulling her ankle free in the process and looking back with a brief, appologetic expression.
"We don't have to continue onward. The horses need rest, anyways." Rune lets out a breath that hangs slightly in the air. "I just need something to do." As his hand ruffles her hair, the shorter female gives him a glare, but it's a familiar, playful one. "Hey!" That feels more normal. She runs her own hand through the dyed locks and huffs once.
The offer, though, it leaves her halting. "You really want to make this a permanent thing again? Traveling together after all this? After what happened?" Though he had just offered, Rune still seems uncertain. "I'm sure you've got important things to tend to, if your travels have lead you out of Am'shere."
The Sith-makar follows after the half-sil as she shifts away. "I do not mean now." He rumbles in regards to moving onwards. He was making a more generalistic statement. At her complaining 'Hey!', he quirks his muzzle slightly and answers; "Hey." As if he is saying hello to her for the first time in a long long time.
Stepping with her, his gait is long. It is rather easy for him to keep up with her. Until she halts, at which point the Sith-makar has to suddenly stop too so he doesn't just bump into her and knock her over.
There's a bit of a grind in his halting step, and he moves to the side of her. Probably a more comfortable position either way to travel.
"I do." His answer is straight to the point, and rather quick. No hesitation, no doubt in his voice. The kind of tone of someone who has already thought on the subject and has come to a conclusive decision.
"My travels have importance to them. But they falter in their importance now, if I do not journey them with you." He expresses to her, without explaining to her that... were it not for her sacrifice, he would not even be here. After all, that would be returning to that painful topic. He'll explain that to her later.
"So, I invite you to travel with me, as I will travel with you. Just like the old days." In as far as their 'short' time together is the old days.
A hint of color passes across Rune's freckled cheeks at that little return of her 'hey'. Somehow, that felt different than their past interactions. Enough so that she looks away quickly and pulls her cloak around her. For all her charm, there are times the rogue is still an awkward, librarian's daughter.
The confirmation from him has her letting out a sigh of relief. "I'd... really like that. It's been hard traveling by myself these past months." Rune is still vague about just how long she's been back. It seems, perhaps, that she doesn't have a good grasp of that time. "But... you know my travels tend to be a bit chaotic at best."
It's at that point she looks back at him, "Carrying messages and packages. Taking odd jobs like that one with the tavern ghosts." She rattles off these things, then takes out the strange necklace that she still hangs on a chain from her neck. Harkashan had sent her to her eternal rest wearing that and here it is. "Not to mention trying to figure this thing out. I haven't made any progress since we unlocked that piece here while we were traveling in Am'shere." Rune runs her thumb along one part of the necklace.
"I guess, I'll offer the same in return. Wherever you need to go, I'll follow." She doesn't know exactly why he has come through the portal, but that seems to matter little in this case.
"I might remind you that just yesterday, we strolled up into a bar, and punched a few ghosts." Harkashan answers Rune when she warns him that her travels tend to be a bit chaotic. "I do believe that I am very well aware of what I am... what is the term... 'signing up to'?" He always struggles a bit with softskin phrases like that. But his memory isn't half bad.
"Yes, like that one." He then repeats as she mentions the tavern, and the packages. He looks down at her as she takes out that necklace of hers.
He reaches out and puts his hand over the necklace, hiding it from sight beneath his large clawed hand. "All in good time." He simply answers her.
He then retreats his hand and motions to the market, trying to get her moving again. "I'm feeling hungry. Your treat." He notes with a sly look on his face.
"Signing up for." Rune corrects. Then, she shifts to draconic and repeats a similar idiom in their tongue. It always sounds a bit strange when she speaks in his home language. Her wording is near perfect, that isn't the problem. It is more that as a half-sil, her voice has a light and almost musical quality. When speaking draconic, she tends to pitch it lower, giving her voice a strange timbre.
There is a look of surprise when he covers the necklace, and perhaps a brief glimpse of some disappointment. The necklace is what had brought her to Am'shere in the first place, it seems that the mysteries within still drive her. Even so, that look passes quickly as she tucks it away again, offering a shrug of her shoulders.
She might have dwelled on that, except them he is declaring that it is 'her treat' to provide dinner. "Me?!" Glare. Glare. "You earn coin just by waving your hands and muttering nonsense." She protests. Ahh, this is also familiar. Rune does understand magic, but there is some subtle jealousy there over those gifted with divine or arcane abilities. "/And/ you eat twice as much as I do in a sitting." She huffs, but there is a playfulness to it all.
"Fine. Come on. Let's get you fed before you decide to get too hungry and barbeque the horses instead." Rune walks onward, their dynamic seeming not quite back to normal, but perhaps this is the first step towards getting there.
"Signing up for." He repeats after her, nodding and speaking to some of the draconic idioms she speaks of. A lot of them have to do with kin and clan, or the color of scales. That, and ancient dragons. There's somehow always some ancient dragons involved - which has meant learning a lot of names for the half-sil. Or at least, titles.
He sees that disappointment then, and corrects her understanding; "I mean to say that we are not in a hurry. But I will of course assist you on the matter of the necklace." Saying that they are not in a hurry meaning that he plans to stick around with her for a long, long time. A statement that holds a certain kind of promise and importance what with the things that happened - yet, without bringing attention to it.
Then, her treat. He doesn't seem to budge on this matter at all. In fact, he just gives her a sly and hungry look. "I'll have you know it is rather costyly to wave my hand and mutter nonsense. That tavern situation alone cost me twenty-five gold pieces." He expresses to her. "Do you know how many jerkies I could buy with twenty-five gold pieces?" A lot. The answer is a lot.
Followed by a playful; "Are you calling me fat?" At her saying he eats twice as much as she does. A big huff coming from him, big white fumes coming from his nostrils. On he goes.