“Whoring me out without permission,” Reven finally answered. “Same story, different scum overlord to worry about. Are you… you’re… you’re not wearing anything again, are you?”
Serai looked down at herself, naked as the day she was found. Not but a few minutes prior she’d been in a lovely linen dress. That dress was nowhere to be seen now. The woman hated clothing like snow hated the sun.
“We are home,” she stated. Reven sighed. A compromise had been made: outside, she needed to cover up properly; at home, clothing was entirely optional and, thus, usually absent.
“We are,” he repeated, moving to his bed with a heavy sigh. Serai followed, watching him in her curious way. “You did well tonight.”
Serai smiled. She played drums during his performances and was learning to dance from Ajana when the other woman was feeling up to it. While the quirky girl could not hold a tune to save her life, she could bang out a beat with the best of them. A few times now, Reven had considered leaving with Serai, especially given how things were progressing between himself and the thief- taker. Guilt usually kept him from storming out the door. Without Liam and Ajana, Reven would still be lost and wandering if not worse. The difference was he didn’t need them anymore; they needed him.
“You are thinking loud again,” Serai said, drawing his attention to her. She always pointed out when his thoughts wandered. He snorted softly but grinned at her. She never invaded his thoughts, respecting what little of his privacy he still had and keeping whatever secrets she gleaned to herself.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
“You are feeling better?” she continued. He’d had another episode according to Liam though he could not recall it. Sometimes he did, sometimes he didn’t.
This time, again, according to Liam, Serai calmed and pulled him out of the episode with very little effort. Reven nodded, letting the silence linger a little.
“Is Malek hunting tonight?” he asked when things grew uncomfortable. The drake stayed further out in the desert away from the city but was often found curled just outside the back door in the early mornings. He liked to torment Liam that way. Reven never asked how the drake managed to follow them all the way to Mahala. It was usually best not to question magical creatures too much.
“Yes. He likes the desert. He explores the metal caves beneath the sand.”
“That’s good. That should… metal caves?” Reven asked. One of their contracts involved exploration of the Campo de Arena, something neither bard nor thief-taker were prepared to handle yet. Learning what Malek knew did not make that prospect seem any better. Having the drake around took some getting used to, but he was as normal to the bard as Serai was - which was saying a lot. Liam complained endlessly, but he had a rather hateful relationship with the drake, constantly arguing with Malek despite no one else hearing the creature speak. Serai said it was a rare gift to hear the voices of the audeas - whatever those were. Liam said it was a crock of shit. Reven wondered what the thief- taker would say about these metal caves.
There are sky city ruins beneath the sand, Beloved.
Now Reven growled. The voice pestered him, invaded his mind uninvited and sent uncomfortable shivers down his spine.
“Do you want to meet him?” Serai asked.
“Meet who?” Reven snarled, palming his temple without looking at Serai.
“The voice in your mind,” she giggled. Reven turned a suspicious frown at her. “I can hear him too. He does not like Liam much, but he is like Malek.”
“A drake?” Reven asked, smirking at the knowledge that whatever this voice was did not like the thief-taker either.
“No, but like him. Do you want to see him?” There was part of the bard that wanted to say "no", but a larger part that needed the validity of a physical being.
“Azure,” Serai called softly. Reven watched her, then watched an orange-feathered bird fly through the window and land on her shoulder. On closer inspection, Reven could see that the feathers blended out to a blue that matched the color of Serai’s eyes. It was easily the size of a large house cat and painfully familiar to the bard. He stood from the bed, taking a step forward, peering, then stepped back again.
“You…” he breathed out. “Five years… you’ve been following me for five years making me feel like a lunatic! Why!”
That was not my intent, Beloved.
“Don’t call me that! What do you want from me!”
“Azure is your audeas,” Serai explained though, in reality, it explained nothing. She noticed. She had mentioned the word in Avir too, after his fever broke, claiming that the lack of an audeas was what made him sick in the first place. “Uhm… he is… your… Malek!”
Reven frowned. He didn’t quite understand Malek’s relationship to Serai. He tempered her vast amount of Power, though the how and why were lost on the bard.
“How… how is that even possible?” he asked as confusion replaced annoyed anger.
“Because you are a Vessel,” Serai answered then added. “Ehm… a Speaker.”
Reven blinked. Speakers were Powerful casters; usually revered casters depending on the nation and culture. He was… no one.
“Come, I will show you,” Serai said. She extended her hand to him, glancing briefly at Azure. The bird took flight once more, loitering on the windowsill. Reven eyed the bird - a phoenix if he was not mistaken - and Serai, but finally relented, taking her hand.
As always, her hand was cool, soft, and much smaller than his own. With his hand in hers, he was suddenly reminded of how fabulously naked Serai was and felt his pointed ears grow hot in the dark. It was not the first time he’d thought about her in that fashion, but the current situation made his stomach flip over on
