T. A. Star
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6 - All Tied Up
🕑 Added 2024-03-05 01:00:04 +0000 UTC
Dazien was sitting with his party in the center of the large room that Uriel had constructed for them with the Mage’s [Fortress of Solitude] ability at dawn. Taking advantage of both the ice fortress and Saiya’s soft singing with [Meditative Guide], they were cultivating their experiences at a good rate, finding it increasingly easy and intuitive to focus.
It had been a long week of almost non-stop fighting and they were all due for a rest. The party leader knew he had been pushing them hard but they all felt the desire to get stronger. The recent battle for Tulisuda showed them they had much further to go.
He knew that he had been struggling to process everything that had happened; his mind felt like it had been all tied up in knots that he had to slowly unravel. However, working with his party, finding a combat routine, finally getting to properly train his aura, and fighting dozens of monsters seemed to be helping an incredible amount.
Coming to terms with Phoenix’s immortality was both easy and difficult –an annoying contradiction. On one hand, it was a relief to know her recklessness and self-destructive abilities wouldn’t actually kill her. While on the other hand, it was a concern for more reasons than one. Aside from the need for secrecy, he didn’t want to become a leader willing to treat another’s life like it was an expendable resource.
He had almost lost his own life to save hers; learning that if the Emerald Caste feather had been just a few inches closer to his center, his heart would have been obliterated. That was the closest he had ever come to dying before and learning that Phoenix would have been alive without it made him question if he would or should have reacted differently. Uriel had to remind him that –even if Phoenix would have revived– they would have lost her portal and others would have died instead.
Dazien realized that he had been letting his frustrations with himself bleed into how he was behaving with the others recently and resolved to do better. Paul had spoken with him more during their training before they left about how to find ways to channel his anger into more productive outlets and he was still trying to figure out how best for him to do that. He found that these times of meditation were actually helping a lot in giving him time for introspection and reflection about not just his fighting but his behavior and emotions driving those actions and words.
Uriel’s temporary shelter of ice was the size of a large rectangular tent on the outside, the dimensional magic inside gave them plenty of room to live only slightly cramped, granting them two rooms and a large central space between them that they all currently sat in. The wall opposite the door was equipped with a small kitchen area that Dazien felt was fitting considering who the ability belonged to.
The only real complaint he had was that the side rooms were still too small for him to allow Rex to manifest and stretch his massive limbs. He had noticed fairly quickly that, while fairly subdued, his companion liked being able to watch the world around them. Their apartment wasn’t any better really and Dazien felt a bit guilty that he couldn’t give his majestic Familiar grander accommodations.
Despite wanting to be a king someday, the reality of his circumstances forced him to evaluate everything based on his actual need for it versus childish wants and envy. He had discovered though that he didn’t need shiny things to be happy. Most of his unhappiness that came from a lack of funds was from the feeling of not being able to provide for those he cared about. Both Uriel and Rex deserved more, not to mention giving back to the people who raised them, and he wanted to be able to give it.
His meditation was broken suddenly by Rayna staggering forward onto her hands and knees, her tails going to either side of her body, to brace herself as she suddenly became engulfed in pale blue flames.
He waved down Phoenix’s look of panic and said briefly, “It’s fine. Great, actually. Just watch.”
Dazien had never seen a voxen go through the ascension process into a new Caste, and it was both awe-inspiring and slightly horrifying, as they watched a third tail slowly unfurl between her existing two. The fur on it almost seemed wet at first before the sapphire flames licked at it and fluffed it right up like the others while the rest of her body became more refined. Muscles became more defined, skin less blemished, hair and fur more silken, and he swore she grew taller.
The party leader smiled at her once the ascension ended and said in all sincerity, “Congratulations on reaching the Sapphire Caste, Lady Rayna.”
The bard gave a nod, breathing heavily from all the changes her body had just undergone –despite not needing to breathe any longer– and he turned to the others as he suggested, “Why don’t we call it for today and get some rest? We’ve got another week’s worth of missions to get through so we’ll be heading out early and it will likely take Rayna a few days to recover.”
“I’ll… be fine,” the voxen gasped out, wobbling slightly from the disorienting feeling.
“It’s alright,” he insisted, “We both know the recovery time gets worse at each Caste. It’s normal for the Sapphire Ascension to take you out of action for about three days. You rest and we’ll just kill things a bit slower.”
The rest of them all agreed and Rayna surprised him by actually accepting the hand he offered to help her to stand, causing him to grunt slightly from the forgotten increase in weight ascending brought, and the Striker wished them a good night as she followed after the other women to get some sleep in the room the three shared.
His eyes were distracted by the Wayfarer who was excitedly congratulating the tired bard. Phoenix’s curiosity was infectious and he had always felt drawn to it but he let the trio depart without him. His gaze lingered on the chaotic mess of red curls and the adorable furry fox ears of the twins animatedly moving, as if adding an extra layer of meaning to their words that he hadn’t yet learned to translate.
“Have you thought about telling her?” Uriel’s voice interrupted his stray thoughts from beside him.
Dazien shook his head, shaking the distraction away, as the door to the other room closed and he refocused on his surroundings. He turned to his companion, asking quizzically, “What exactly am I telling who?”
“Phoenix. About your feelings towards her,” the cinderen said bluntly, then gave him a skeptical look when he remained confused, “Please, Daze, you might be feigning denial but it’s completely obvious to me.”
“What are you talking about?” He glanced back towards the door that the Supporter had disappeared through, “She’s a valuable teammate and our friend. I’ve told her this many times.”
“Wow,” the smooth voice said in disbelief, “Seems like it’s a bit worse and less feigned than I suspected.”
Dazien gave an annoyed huff and began heading towards their own room, “I’m too tired for games tonight, Uriel.”
The taller man smirked slightly and teased, “That’s not what you usually tell me.”
The Defender stopped abruptly and glanced back at his oldest friend as he asked in exasperation, “What’s gotten into you tonight?”
Uriel shrugged, “I’m just enjoying the experience of being the one who knows the other better this time,” then he gestured towards their shared room, “Want to just talk for a bit? No games or rope tonight.”
The gemite rolled his eyes and entered the room, starting to strip out of his dirty clothes by dismissing them into his [Armory] with a shimmer of golden glitter as the door shut behind him.
He felt the soft brush of Uriel’s hand along the golden scales trailing down his spine. His partner had started doing that whenever they were alone and the opportunity presented it; telling him it was a gentle reminder that even his Familiar thought he would be a king someday.
He shivered at the touch, not disliking it in the slightest, but managed to ask, “So what exactly are we talking about?”
“The woman you’ve obviously got more than just friendship in mind for,” the Mage stated and walked past him to take a seat in the only chair the small room offered.
Dazien just stood and stared at his friend for a long moment, processing the statement, before shaking his head in denial, “Nope.”
The cinderen chuckled, “What does that mean?”
“It means no,” the Defender said as he slumped onto the edge of the bed in his underwear and untied the small cord he had used to tie back his hair. He needed to remember to get it trimmed again when he got back to the city.
“Look, even if you were right, which I’m not saying you are,” he added as his friend’s smirk grew into a grin, “I don’t think she feels that way. Nor is it really the time to make things even more complicated.”
“I know how you get, Daze,” Uriel said, giving his own sigh, “You tend to fixate on the things you want to know more about. Your desire to question everything makes you a better leader, in my opinion, but you’ve always been fairly blatant when it comes to things that catch your interest. And you’ve made your interest clear from the day we both met her. Which is why you should figure out exactly what kind of relationship you want to chase with her.”
“Chase? She’s not prey.”
“That’s not what I meant,” the man scowled, “You know that I would never mean it like that.”
“But I still haven’t agreed that there’s anything more than friendship.”
“You might be able to lie to yourself but you’ve never lied to me, Daze,” his partner stated dryly, then rubbed his own face in apparent exhaustion, “I also don’t think Phoenix has the emotional capacity to love like you do. However, out of all your previous interests, she seems actually worth getting serious about.”
The warrior raised a brow at him and asked his own question, “Wait, you want me to court her? Are you saying you would actually support that? You’ve never seemed fond of any of the others.”
A look of annoyance crossed the cinderen’s face as they both recalled the past women and men that Dazien had gotten involved romantically with, “None of them actually cared about you beyond the surface; I think you know that too. Plus, I doubt they ever bothered to try and understand the explanations you gave about our relationship; if they even thought to ask.”
His face fell at the recollection and the warrior tilted his head in agreement, “You’re right. Which is why they never lasted long. You think Phoenix will understand us, though? She seems rather oblivious to matters of the heart, given what she’s told us about her past.”
Uriel nodded slowly and said, “If anything, I think she’d respect what we have, even if she doesn’t fully understand. Nor does she seem to care about how pretty someone is which is actually a good thing when it comes to you.”
The larger man paused a moment then added in clarification, “But it’s not about my support. I just want you to figure out exactly what it is you want with her before actually saying or doing something you might come to regret… again. Have you thought about what might happen to this party when you realize later that you’re attracted to her and she does or doesn’t feel the same?”
Dazien gave his companion a look of surprise and exclaimed, “No, because until you said something it wasn’t even on my mind!”
The Mage rolled ember eyes at him, “Come on, Daze. We both know it was only a matter of time before you noticed the signs like I have. This isn’t the first time we’ve been here and I doubt it will be the last.”
The Defender almost growled at him, “Just because I might find someone attractive doesn’t mean I have to chase after them. Gods, Uriel, you’re starting to sound like Priestess Yavuz telling me I’m a degenerate just because I’m willing to accept the fact that I can love more than one person.”
Uriel frowned and straightened, “That’s not what I meant,” the cinderen tugged at the earrings on his left and said a bit awkwardly, “Sorry, I just…”
The Mage let out a long sigh and seemed to restart his thoughts, “I’ve seen so many of your relationships crash and burn as quick as they started and, well… I know we’ve agreed not to interfere in other relationships that either of us might have unless there’s a problem, but this is a bit different. It’s… I actually care about Phoenix too. You’re both my friend and I just don’t want to see what happened before with the others happen to her too.”
Dazien relaxed slightly, finally understanding what was making his partner act so unlike his usual self and he gave a gentle smile, “Hey, she’s my friend too, remember? She’s already not like the others because of that fact. I’m not going to do anything that I think might hurt her and that includes rushing headlong into courtship.”
Then he added as an afterthought, “On a more positive note, my romantic relationships that begin as friendship have a pretty strong track record of not crashing and burning to the ground.”
The cinderen’s complexion flushed even darker at that comparison and the smooth voice murmured reluctantly, “Point taken.”
The mostly naked gemite gave a wicked smile and glanced at the bed as he asked, “Perhaps, I can prove the point further for you? Assuage some of your concerns about me ruining friendships?”
The Mage chuckled as though the man had known things would eventually turn in this direction, “I’m not sure if that will help prove my point or yours but I figured you might want to release some frustration in a healthier way than repeatedly stabbing already dead monsters.”
Dazien rolled his eyes, agreeing sarcastically, “Yes, I’m sure there are plenty of other things I could stab instead. One of which you might discover shortly.”
Then he tilted his head towards the blankets and pillows, “So, will you join me in bed?”
His partner smirked mischievously and asked, “Should I get the rope?”
He let out a laugh, shaking his head, “I think I’m too tired to properly tie any knots tonight. How about we just keep each other warm?”
Uriel’s smile softened and nodded obligingly, “As my king desires.”
Comments
Custus
Thanks for the chapter!
