Latest revision as of 21:35, 22 February 2021

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Irrin Soshenkra Vasri

Fallen Aasimar Sorcerer with a black dragon bloodline, wandering the countryside of Shou Lung. He wanders almost like someone in search of something...

Backstory

Home

Hsiang lies on the northern edge of the Wak'an peninsula, between the Yellow Sea and the Celestial Sea. I practically grew up on the beach. It was just me and my mom really, but we were very close to my aunt Reyla and my cousin Faeona. Faeona's dad and mine had left on day on a great adventure, and never returned. We had a lot to talk about, Faeona and I, even as children. I guess our moms did too.

The earliest memories I have were lying in the sand on the beach, staring at the brightness of the sky through closed eyelids, listening. My mother would play lute, and Faeona would sing, and the ocean would sing with her, and the whole world would dance around us. I could feel it spinning and tilting and whirling, night into day, stars swirling around us like a whirlpool. My mother said I had an "overactive imagination" when she talked to the other parents in the village.

I loved my cousin's voice.

Thallaza

I was ten years old the first time I heard a second voice join the song. Soft and ethereal, it was unlike any other singing I had heard -- even Fae's voice couldn't sing like that.

At the end of the song, my mother put her hand on my shoulder. When I looked, she was smiling.

"It's your turn, love." She tilted her head down the shoreline, to where a tall woman with rich blond hair stood, staring intently at me with brilliant blue eyes. She gestured for me to come walk with her. I looked to my mother, confused, but she just smiled and squeezed my shoulder "It's ok, Irrin. She's the kindest soul I know."

I went.

"My name is Thallaza," she said. Her voice was somehow still musical, even when she spoke plainly.

"Uhm." I sounded ridiculous. Why couldn't I make reasonable words? "Nice to meet you...uh, ma'am. I'm Irrin." I felt my face flush as soon as I said it.

"Yes, love. I'm aware." I could hear the smile in her soft voice. I looked up sharply, and just for a moment, like an overlay on top of the real world, her skin shone silver, her hair glowed bright gold, and her eyes lit up like sapphires in the sun. The immaterial glow of wings, more a suggestion than a reality, unfurled from her back, huge and bright and feathered. "I'm your guardian angel." She paused. "And your great-grandmother. Well, more generations removed than that, but it pains me to keep count these days."

"My..." I blinked stupidly.

"Ages ago, I had a child with a man from Hsiang. She chose to make her home here, and her family has stayed ever since. I watch over them. I spoke to your mother, when she turned ten, and told her the same story. As she said, today, it is your turn to hear a little bit about your past." Somehow, we had come to the very point of the peninsula, despite it being easily several days' journey away. She gestured to a wide, flat rock near a long, flat tidepool. "Sit with me? There are some stories I love to tell..."

I still loved my cousin's voice more.

The First Lapse

I resented my mother for leaving me alone. Mom needed materials for her woodwork shop, and she had to journey to Lo Shan to get them. Of course she did. If she didn't stock the shop, we didn't eat. That didn't matter. I still resented it.

I resented Aunt Reyla for falling sick the day my mom left. Fae needed to take care of her mom. I would've done the same, if it were my mom who was sick and Aunt Reyla who was away. That didn't matter. I still resented it.

I resented the ocean for singing all the louder, without my mother and Fae to accompany it. Of course it continue to beat the shore, to advance and swirl and recede. What choice did it have? That didn't matter. I still resented it.

I resented her lute for sitting, silent, in her room. I seethed. I boiled. I didn't understand what rage was. I didn't understand who I was anymore. The world swirled and spun and spiraled around again. Someone had pulled the plug, and everything was running together down the drain. What are those crashing noises? Why are there splinters in my hands? Why is Fae looking at me with such grown-up worry in her eyes?

* * *

Slowly, I realized the room around me was in complete disarray. I was still holding the neck of the lute in my hands -- cracked and splintered, the body smashed, the strings connecting some of the fragments together.

"What..." Fae whispered. "Irrin. What did you do?"

I looked up at her, confused, overwhelmed, and words would not come. Tears came more easily. She walked across the room in three strides, and just silently hugged me, until I could speak again.

"What do I do Fae? I don't know what happened. I just...want to fix it."

Fae looked at me, and smiled. "So fix it, then." She looked me straight in the eyes. "You have at least two more days before your mom gets back. Do whatever you can to make this right again. You have a guardian angel -- speak to her, and maybe she can give you guidance. Just don't expect her to do the work for you." She kissed my forehead. "I believe in you, Rin."

"Thank you," I whispered. She had said that before, and it had always felt right. Today, for the first time, I didn't feel like I deserved it.

She stood, and turned to leave. "I just came to get some supplies for my mom. She's getting better." Fae paused, just outside the door in the hallway, and looked back. "I'll come check on you? Tonight maybe?"

"Thank you." I had a tingling little feeling I'd be saying that to Fae a lot.

"Chin up, Rin." she said, and disappeared back down the stairs.

* * *

Hours later, the room was straightened and cleaned. Every item was put away, neater than it had been before. The bed was made, the desk was cleared. There was nothing else left to do, except...every shard, every splinter, every shred that was once her beautiful lute was laid out on her desk. Broken and useless.

I stared at it. I swore at it. I wracked my brains for anything I could do. I had tried to glue the neck once, but that only made it worse, and there was no way it would ever work on the shattered body of the instrument. I sat in the opposite corner of the room, staring at the desk, moonlight streaming in through the window as though to highlight the horrible thing I had done. I closed my eyes, and thought to myself -- Thallaza, please give me hope. I don't know what to do. I don't know what I am. I need help. Please, help me. I thought it over and over.

And then she was sitting next to me, glowing dimly silver, just like the moon.

"I'm so sorry, Irrin. Truly, I am. What you are facing today is not easy." She took my hand in hers. "Your blood is at war with itself. I should have seen it sooner, but...my line has always chosen travelers, and I have never known their histories." She shook her head.

"But...can you help me?" I asked her.

Her face took on a deep sadness. "I can be here with you, Irrin. I will always be here with you. Please, never forget that. No matter what happens, no matter what you do, I will always be with you. But, I cannot solve this for you. What I can say is this: your problem and its solution are inseparable. You have the power to make amends. You will always have the power to make amends, if you choose to. So, if that is what you truly wish, you must keep trying."

She sat with me, in silence, holding my hand until I woke up, somehow knowing what I needed to do.

I sat at the desk, and lined up all the shards like the pieces of a puzzle. Slowly, painstakingly, I found where each piece needed to go, what it connected to. I started at the bottom, holding the two smallest pieces together. I closed my eyes, and focused my mind, and a tiny burst of magic flowed through my fingers. The two smallest pieces joined, like new. I took a deep breath, and picked up the next piece. And the next. And the next.

The sun was sinking, and I was covered in sweat, re-aligning and attaching the neck of the lute, when I heard a gasp at door. It was Fae, checking on me again.

"Rin...how?" she asked.

"Just like you said." My voice sounded strained. I realized I must look an absolute mess. "I asked my guardian angel." She watched as I mended the neck, then repaired each string in turn, then slumped unwilling right out of the chair and onto the floor. I'm lucky the room is small -- with a few swift steps, she caught me before my head hit the floor.

The Second Lapse

I disliked Dei the first time I met him. Fae thought he was pretty, and I had to agree with that, but I still didn't like him. She thought I owed him a chance. Right up until she didn't anymore.

She was in tears when she told me about it. I couldn't even process all the words, like some strange haze had descended. There was a film over the world, separating me from everything else. He had cajoled, he had plied her with drink, he had carefully gotten her alone. He had pushed her, pulled her, left marks on her wrists. I wasn't sure if she said he had actually kissed her, or just that he tried. He didn't care how many times she said no. He had slapped her across the face. She leaned on my shoulder and sobbed.

No one makes my Fae cry like that. The anger was strange, cold, unfamiliar.

By coincidence, it was the next day, late in the evening, that I chanced upon him up a side street. No one else was there. The sky was dark, the moon was new, and my anger was terrifying in its speed. Magic surged, and acid covered him, before I even registered the thought. He gasped, and another bubble of acid flew from my hand to splash him. He never even saw me -- he just fainted, his skin burning and clothes dissolving in spots, as the second bubble burst over him.

I stood, stock still, not even breathing. For an instant, I didn't even regret it. That instant scared me the most. Then, Thallaza's voice came back to me, in my mind.

"You will always have the power to make amends, if you choose to."

I crept up to him. He was still alive. All I could do was tear a strip from my cloak and bind his wounds. He seemed stable. He was breathing when I left.

I'm not proud of the way I fled. In the years since, I've come to realize I was running away from myself, more than anything else. I was lucky -- he lived, though he wasn't pretty anymore. No one ever learned who was behind the attack.

The Final Straw

"Rin, you know I get to pick who I care about, regardless of your approval."

"I know Fae, I just don't want you getting hurt."

"I can take care of myself you know." Her face flushed, and her eyes sparkled brightly. She stabbed at the sand with a stick, digging aimlessly.

"Whatever, you don't even want my opinion, I get it."

"That's not what I said, and you know it."

"It might as well be. You talk to me less and less. You listen to me less and less. Every day, Fae. Don't try to tell me otherwise."

"I'm allowed to spend time with other people, Rin." Her voice was growing quiet and dangerous.

"Yeah." I couldn't keep the disgust out of my voice. I couldn't look at her either. I was so busy trying to push that feeling back down, I didn't feel the rage coming. She saw it first.

"...Rin?" The sharp, steely tone was gone, replaced with fear. I didn't answer.

"Rin, it's...it's going to be ok." Her soothing voice was too little, too late, and I was too late to stop the cold anger rising again in the pit of my stomach. I turned my eyes on her, in all my fury, fingers already tingling.

I remember a clear vision of the terror on her face, looking in my eyes, the ocean outlined behind her, meeting the sky in the distance, completely out of place against the fluffy white clouds. In that moment of terror, she turned and fled, and I stopped her.

"DON'T YOU DARE RUN FROM ME."

The words felt strange, but the meaning was clear. A ray frost sprang from my hand, and she slowed. Another, and another, and she fell. I stood, rooted to the spot. By the time I unfroze, I swear the sun had moved in the sky. She was still lying there, frost in her hair, face down in the sand. She couldn't breathe like that. Why wasn't she breathing? Why wasn't she moving? Why couldn't I wake up from this nightmare?

* * *

I brought her to the only temple in town. I had wiped the frost out of her hair, off her shirt. I had brushed the sand from her face. Her eyes were already closed, her beautiful eyes, or I may not have been able to look at her at all. Tears streamed openly down my face. I carried her in as gently as I could, trying to convince myself she was sleeping.

The priest in attendance took one look at me, at her, and silently went to fetch the high priest. He too seemed to assess and judge in a single glance, and bade me bring her back to an empty room with a bed and some medical supplies. I laid her gently on the bed, arranging her gently into a comfortable sleeping position, without even thinking about it.

"What happened, son?" He was a gentle old man, with wrinkles and gray hair and wise eyes. My mouth must have been working like a fish, but no words came out. "Take your time," he said. He looked her over, then turned back to me, clearly waiting for an answer.

"I...She...She's dead," I whispered.

"Yes," he replied.

"I can't fix it," I whispered.

"No," he replied.

"Can you help her?" I asked, my voice hollow and unfamiliar.

"Perhaps." His eyes seemed to stare straight through me, for a moment, and then focus again on my face. "I have the skill, but there is a cost that must be paid. We are a small temple, and unfortunately do not have the means to perform such advance magic as the raising of the dead without funds."

Fresh tears slid down my face. "How...how much...does it cost?"

He raise his eyebrows. "Five hundred gold pieces."

I think I fainted for a moment. I'm pretty sure I somehow slumped to the floor. I definitely buried my face in my hands and sobbed. He waited patiently, as if it weren't a done deal that he should just kick me out now.

"Well?" he said. "What will you do?"

I was quiet for a long time. He waited.

"Someone older and wiser than I once told me, 'You will always have the power to make amends, if you choose to.'" I looked at him, and he looked at me, and I could tell he knew exactly what had happened on that beach. He knew who I was. He knew what was buried inside me.

"And is that what you are choosing to do, by coming to me for assistance?"

"Yes. Please. I'll do whatever I can. I'll give you whatever I have. But please -- she can't wait for me to find that much money, I can't..." my voice broke.

"Of course." He spoke softly, with an intense look. "I can Raise her today, but you may not like the terms of the agreement I would require."

"Anything." My voice was finally strong and fierce, with the knowledge that there was something I could do.

"Even a Geas?" he asked quietly.

My heart skipped a beat. With the barest hesitation, I nodded.

"Very well. You will work off your debt for a year and a day. You will be required to tithe something each day. You may work here for credits, or bring money, as you choose. You may not journey more than a day's walk from Hsiang without my permission. When your debt is paid, I will release you from the Geas."

I nodded again.

"I must have your word that you understand and agree."

"Yes. I understand, and I accept your terms." It felt like I had just sold my soul, despite it being damaged goods.

"Very well." He murmured a soft prayer, gestured to me, and re-stated his directive to pay the debt. Then he turned to a locked cabinet in the corner, and retrieved a flawless diamond. It fractured the sunlight, scattering it around the room in fleeting rainbows, like nothing I had ever seen. Fae would have loved seeing the light dance. He prayed again, and it dissolved into dust, and Fae's eyes opened.

"Welcome back, my child," the high priest said, taking her hand reassuringly.

I buried my face in my hands again. I didn't even deserve to look at her. I couldn't even choke out an apology. What was there to say? She already knew everything. No words could change what I had done.

* * *

I ripped apart my room, finding every random coin I'd ever lost in my pillows, everything I could possibly sell for a penny. I put a page on the odd-jobs board in town -- farm work, furniture repair, fixing any odds and ends. I cashed in all my memories at the pawn shop for two shiny gold pieces, and brought them with my loose change back to the temple that night.

There was a different attendant out front. I asked if I could speak with the high priest. At first he refused, but when I said, "Please Father, I owe him a debt," he grew quiet. He went into the back, then returned and allowed me to enter.

I went to the same room. The high priest was here, but Fae was gone.

"She was feeling stronger with a bit of rest, and has gone home to her mother," he said, when my eyes involuntarily lit on the empty bed. "She's a feisty one, isn't she? I see a bright future for her." His eyes twinkled.

"I've brought my first payment," I said meekly. I handed him my coins.

"Well, that's promising." He took a scroll from the desk. "What is your name, son?"

"Irrin." He wrote it, and paused. He looked at me, expectantly.

"Oh," I said. "Uhm. Irrin Shoshenkra Vasri."

"Well, Mr. Vasri, I will ensure all of our attendant priests know your name, and to note down your daily tithe. That way, you will not have to explain yourself nor wait for me each time."

"Yes, sir, Father, sorry to have bothered you again."

"It's no bother, son. You will request me again when you bring your last payment, and otherwise are not required to do so." I could feel the tingle as his voice changed to issue a command.

"Yes Father."

Home No Longer

My mother didn't understand how I worked so hard and never had any money, but I was an adult now, and I wasn't about to tell her the whole story. She knew I was hiding something -- but whatever she thought it was couldn't be as bad as the truth.

Aunt Reyla too could tell something was up between us. Fae had just told her mom "someone" had attacked her on the beach, and then she woke up again at the temple, with the high priest holding her hand. She said it was too confusing, all a blur beforehand, but I could see in her eyes that she remembered just fine. My mom and Aunt Reyla would exchange glances every time Fae and I spoke to each other, the emptiness in our voices ringing loud and clear.

And then there was Thallaza.

She was the only one I never felt judging me. It's hard to describe what it is to have a literal angel in your life. It became clearer and clearer to me through the year that compassion and hope were the true colors of her aspect. On the toughest days, she would come back to my dreams, just to sit by me, to hold my hand or let me lean on her shoulder. And the next morning, invariably, I would awake more rested, calm, and ready to begin again.

All Debts Means All Debts

I counted the days left, and the debt left. I worked days, I worked nights, I skipped meals. I had a deadline to meet, and failure was not an option. I had no plan for the rest of my life, just one clear vision of myself leaving Hsiang of my own free will and not looking back. When the last month arrived, I put a calendar up on my wall, and crossed off each day.

It was four days before the deadline when I arrived at the temple and asked the attendant if I could speak with the high priest. He smile, squeezed my shoulder almost fondly, and went to find him. A moment later, I was whisked back to his office once more.

"You've grown, young Mr. Vasri."

Perhaps I had. He looked the same. I bowed my head.

"Am I to understand you are ready to settle the last of your debt?"

"Yes, Father."

He withdrew his scroll from the desk. "I believe eight gold pieces remain -- a not insubstantial sum. I was worried you may not make it." He peered at me intently, uncomfortably.

"As I'm sure you know, much of my work has been in repairs. Due to the unfortunate storm damage to some of the homes up Farmview last weekend, my work was in high demand."

"And so, of course, you were able to raise your prices?"

I raised my eyes. "I let my customers set my wage, Father, when their need is no fault of their own." He had never commanded that I earn the money fairly, but I knew I would be judged if I did not.

"It takes a strong soul to make amends, without turning around and doing injury, however mild, to another." He smiled. "Place the final sum on my desk," he commanded. Almost without thinking, I did as he required. He glanced at the coins, quickly confirming the count, and marked down the amount in his scroll. He read through it once more, I suppose to check the figures and be sure everything was added correctly. He drew two lines at the bottom, and signed on one of them.

"Please review and confirm you agree your debt to the temple has been fairly paid in full. If you are satisfied, you may sign your name."

I had been over the numbers in my own head so many times, all I needed to see was that he had a zero at the bottom of the page. I signed.

"Irrin Shoshenkra Vasri, I release you from your Geas. You have kept your promise and paid your debt. Any who ask here shall be told that your word is sound." I could feel the change, a subtle shift in the world around me, like the difference between looking at the sky through a glass windowpane or the open air. One weight had been lifted from my shoulders, only to be replaced by another.

My debt was paid, but I had not finished making amends.

* * *

It was the same spot on the beach. I had considered whether she would come at all, whether she would be more likely to if I chose a different place, but ultimately, I needed to close this in the same place I had opened it. My debt was paid, my bags were packed, my room was cleaned, and the note to my mother was already sitting in the middle of my desk. The only thing left was the hardest part of all. I stared out at the ocean, my mind blank.

"Rin?" It was softer than I'd heard her voice in a year.

"Fae." I turned to face her.

"Rin, if this is -- "

"Please, Fae." She fell silent. "Fae, I..." You'd think I would have rehearsed this, planned where to start, played it over and over in my head. But no, here I was, with no words.

"Rin, you don't have to."

"Yes, I do. I'm sorry, Fae. I never apologized to you. There are no words that could ever be enough, and so I didn't try, and I should have. I should have tried every day. Every single day, I should have found you to say I'm sorry." It came out all at once, words tumbling on words.

We were both quiet for a moment. Fae had such a strange look on her face, like she couldn't figure out what I was thinking.

"I miss you, Rin," she finally said. "I just want my cousin back."

I shook my head. "I don't think I am who you think I am anymore, Fae." She shook her head, and took a breath to speak, but I plowed on before she had the chance. "If I find your Rin out there, Fae, I'll bring him back for you. In the meantime...well, congratulations on your engagement. I see how you love him. And he takes care of you. You'll be safe together. Without me."

I watched her eyes slowly fill with tears, when she realized I was leaving. Just like her dad. Just like my dad.

"Rin -- ""

"Please," I said again.

She huffed in irritation. "They never came home. Please. Please be careful out there."

I smiled, but it was a pale, empty smile. "I have a guardian angel, Fae. I'll be fine."

"Yeah, but she clearly doesn't keep you out of trouble."

"No, she doesn't," I said, turning around to leave. "But she's always, always there to help me pick up the pieces and put them back together."

Marakinth

Yentai had yet another of the usual dim, crowded taverns you find in every town. I suppose it's the only type of establishment my budget allows. Though, there is occasionally something comforting about being surrounded by so many people without having to actually talk to any of them.

He spotted me first. Brass Dragonkin. I didn't ask, but I'm sure it was the eyes. It's always the eyes. He had a lot of questions, about some monastery up in the mountains that I'd never heard of, and some great evil who attacked it. I did honestly wish I could help -- he flared with such intensity when he asked about the massacre. And yet, he didn't seem disappointed when I had no helpful information.

"Anything you want me to say to it, if I ever meet this evil of yours? I'm pretty accomplished at swearing in Draconic, if that's your style," I said.

"Just let me know. I will find a way to destroy it if I ever find out who was behind the attack." Ok, so, not much for a snide joke I guess. I can live with that. At least he has a goal.

Once he figured out I had absolutely no useful information for him, I assumed he'd disappear back into the crowd, on to the next target for interrogation, but no. He seemed resigned, like this same conversation had played out in every dim, crowded tavern in every town. He was content to drink and talk. It was good to spend a little time with someone who knows the world isn't all sunshine and roses and glory.

Turns out, he was heading north also. I'm not sure either of us necessarily asked the other to travel together so much as we both arrived at the idea around the same time, and started talking as though it was agreed. Certainly, it would be nice not to travel alone for a while. At least as far as Kai Shan.

On the road

After so long traveling alone, it does take a while to get used to another person being there all the time. The random noises, the annoying habits, the snoring at night...although, for some reason, with Marakinth, there wasn't as much pressure to keep up the mask I wear in public. I think that's why the arrangement worked at all. It was a relief to travel with someone who didn't need to fill the air with words all the time. Knowing what he'd seen, from the things he asked about his monastery...well, it did explain a lot about why he found me in that crowd.

I'd forgotten how much easier it is to set up and break down camp with two people, rather than doing all of it alone. He had a lyre with him, this Marakinth character, which seemed to be quite important to him. I didn't pry, of course. How hypocritical would that be? It was pleasant to have some music while cooking over the fire, on the days we managed to take a rabbit or some other small game. He's a better hunter than I am, and it was certainly nice to rely less on dried rations. Within a few days, we had tacitly worked out a routine for setting up and breaking down camp, and fell into a comforting daily rhythm.

As we sat one night, with the fire burning down and the darkness deepening, I had taken out my woodcarving tools and gone to work on a small chunk of the spare firewood. Kin was tuning his lyre, in the otherwise quiet night, when there was an unexpected THUNK, and an off-pitch tone followed by an odd moment of silence. He mumbled something I didn't quite catch, but when I glanced up, it was clear something had gone wrong with one of the strings on his lyre. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes narrow, as the normal outdoor sounds reclaimed the silence.

"Do you have a spare?"

"No," he growled. I raised my eyebrows, and he sighed. "Not this gauge. It's broken too many times."

"May I?" I must've looked appropriately thoughtful, or respectful, or something like that, when I held out my hand. Somewhat to my surprise, he actually handed me his prized possession. I looked it over. The highest string was stretched -- unusable, but not entirely broken. I unwound it carefully from the tuning peg, removed the peg, and looked it over. Not only was this peg thicker than the others, it had a rough spot where the string wrapped.

As I chose a tool from my kit, and started to shape the peg, where the string would wrap, I could've sworn I could feel Kin holding his breath. I thinned the peg, smoothed it carefully, and began re-wrapping the string. Before pulling it taut, I paused to cast Mending, to repair the damaged section, then slowly brought the string up to tension. It held, and the adjustment was smoother and finer. Kin was looking at me strangely when I held the instrument out to him.

"A...friend of mine played lute." I'm pretty sure I looked away, as he took the lyre back from me. "The construction is surprisingly similar. I'm no skilled artisan, to be sure, but a small adjustment can go a long way. You should find it easier to tune that string from now on."

He adjusted it carefully, and plucked a few chords. The string sounded like new.

He was still playing when I went to sleep that night.

Bandits

Kin heard them first, and raised the alarm. Well, really it was more of a mix between an indignant bellow and a sharp battle cry, but it served its purpose. It brought me flying up out of my bedroll in an already wide-awake state, in time to see at least a half-dozen bandits swarming into our clearing. They approached almost in formation, like some kind of combat unit who had trained together, not just your average highway thugs. I assessed the situation quickly, thanking my lucky stars I was not facing this onslaught alone.

As I was gathering my wits to act, and forming a plan, I heard Kin growl under his breath about the fire dying down, and saw him stumble in the dark. Right, Dragonkin need light. I can do that. I reached out and put a yellow, sunlight-tinted glow on my tent. It was enough to light the clearing at least. I could see his eyes lock on target, taking in the scene the same way I had, calculating a plan.

I can only assume they couldn't see Kin clearly in his bedroll, and just saw a camp of two with minimal weapons and simple gear. They probably thought it would be easy money to swipe some stuff and ride on.

They were mistaken.

Seeing the group coming at him in formation, the Dragonkin took up his spear, but didn't ready it immediately. First, he took a deep breath and unleashed his fire on the front of the group. With the whole attacking force suddenly looking a lot crispier than they had a moment ago, and the front line swiftly approaching that spear, I threw an Acid Splash at the back of the line.

Kin brought his spear up to meet the front line's charge, and I started targeting the rest of the back line with rays of frost, focusing on any who tried to run away. A few solid hits from my companion, and one lucky Chaos Bolt from me, and the attacking force was reduced to a pile of corpses.

We stood a moment, catching our breath, looking at the fallen attackers.

"Well. Now what?" I asked. Kin shrugged. "Now we dig a big hole, I guess," I muttered. Not how I wanted to spend my night, but even though we spoke precious few words before daybreak, I think both of us were keenly aware of how that fight would've gone without the other there to fight alongside.

Kai Shan

(arriving at town, deciding to stick together longer)

Into the Jungle

(heading into the Hai Jungle)