Sorry for the late post, lost power due to a tornado and just got it back.
Cold, hungry, and exhausted, Eir wanted nothing more than to be back home in the capital, tucked into bed in her room in her father’s house where she would be warm, fed, and most importantly safe from any and all demons. She would readily settle for her small and plain temple-assigned room back in Far Felsen. A street corner somewhere near the city docks held a certain appeal as well, since it would at least be a more secure prospect than the cave she was currently in.
A big, warm, smoothly muscled arm gently pulled her mostly naked body a little closer to the firm and much larger body she was currently huddled up against. Two different kinds of warmth suffused Eir as she willingly pressed herself closer to the halfway reclined Nephilim that had embraced her. As she took a deep breath that was filled with Dys’ oddly sweet scent, she was forced to admit there was at least a silver lining to her current predicament. A large, strong, beautiful silver lining.
After the group had done everything they could to secure themselves in their temporary cavern shelter, cold trail rations had been passed out and they had eaten a little. The incorrigibly crass Kerr had started stripping off her armor shortly after, an act that had drawn some alarm from both her and the Nephilim. When Jay had pointed out the danger they were still in, it was the guard Thea who had responded.
“We can’t sleep in our armor all the time,” she had quietly explained while removing the remains of her own protections. “Wearing armor while resting or sleeping reduces the amount of stamina you regain and also slows any natural or skill-based healing you might have.”
A basic fact of life that Eir had neglected to remember. Comfort made a substantial difference in how much stamina was recovered during rest. Sleeping in a cold, dank, and demon infested cave wasn’t high on her own list of comforting places to recuperate, but Eir supposed wearing armor while trying to sleep in such an environment couldn’t be of much help to the goal of recovering one’s energy.
Jay, Dys, and Syd had conceded the point and soon all of them had unequipped their armor and had gotten out damp blankets and bedrolls to sleep on. There had been some small argument as to who should stay on watch and for how long, but the three sisters had been quick to point out that they had far more stamina than anyone else in the group and could still keep going for many hours more if necessary. Jay and Syd had ended up sitting at either of the entrances to watch and listen for any threats while the rest of them had settled down for some rest.
Aila, the tall human woman who was clearly a close companion to the Nephilim, had not hesitated to slip in close to Dys’ right side and embrace her in a frankly intimate display. Eir couldn’t help the pang of envy that throbbed in her chest when she saw how easily the woman was able to snuggle in close to the holy Nephilim. That envy, however, was quickly extinguished when Dys reached out and drew Eir to her left side, freely offering her warmth and comfort without a second thought.
That tight squeeze of Dys’ strong arm holding her against her was almost enough to make the whole terrible trip worth the trouble.
Almost.
Despite the pervasive weariness that was demanding Eir simply let go and slip into blissful oblivion, she knew she couldn’t sleep. Not yet. She needed to recover magic power at a greater rate than she would by normal regeneration. Her Will attribute was at twenty, so she was passively regaining twenty points of magic power every hour. It would take her twelve hours to fully recover her magic reserves. However, as shown by the horrid events of recent history, that wasn’t fast enough. If she had had more magic power available after their last rest, she could have healed Douglas for more and had more healing to spare for Busch. The two of them might still be alive then.
So, when Eir’s eyes closed, she did not drift off into slumber as much as her body craved for her to do just that. Instead, Eir prayed.
| Faithful’s Prayer Active Skill. Regenerate magic power at 3 times the rate of the Will attribute. The proper form of prayer must be maintained during the duration of the skill’s use or the effect will be cancelled. No other skills or spells can be in active use during Faithful’s Prayer. |
The skill’s description flashed into Eir’s mind as she focused on regaining her spent magic resource. With hands clasped and eyes closed, Eir was able to silently recite the scriptures and prayers of the Temple of the Nine as well as those that were more specific to her worship of Lyssandria, thus meeting the requirements of maintaining proper form. Fortunately the skill did not seem to have a problem with her being halfway lying down while cuddled up against Dys while praying, otherwise Eir might have suffered some rebellious thoughts against the gods for denying her Dys’ most absolutely necessary comfort when she truly needed it.
But there was no issue and Eir could immediately see that her prayer skill was working, therefore Eir had no need to think any negative thoughts at all.
Time passed in near silence as Eir lost herself in her prayers. It was easy to enter a kind of meditative state while she mentally recited scriptures. The drips of water falling from the cavern ceiling, the occasional skittering sound of some cave-dwelling insect, and the quiet breathing of the others were all a gentle background noise for her, nothing that needed her attention and therefore easily pushed to the background. The near omnipresent silence was what made it so obvious to Eir when Aila roused from her own slumber and got to her feet.
Approximately three hours had passed when Aila stirred, Eir could tell that much by how much magic power she had regained when she checked her status sheet. While Eir couldn’t see what Aila was doing, she could quite easily hear her as she stood and stretched, then quietly made her way to the far side of their camp where Syd was watching over the back entrance to their small tunnel.
Dys was still asleep, Eir could easily tell that much from the steady sounds of her breathing, as were Kerr and Thea. She supposed Aila could be offering to take over watch for Syd, she was sure the beloved child of Lyssandria could use her own rest, no matter the brave front she put on. Aila didn’t make such an offer, though. Instead, from what Eir could hear, the woman sat down next to Syd and asked an utterly bizarre question.
“Are you going to get enough rest with just one of you sleeping?” Aila inquired in hushed tones, barely audible to Eir’s sharp ears.
The question was so strange that Eir immediately lost all interest in her prayers. She instead focused her attention entirely on the two as they conversed.
“Probably,” Syd replied in an equally low voice, her naturally rich timbre sending a little shiver up Eir’s spine that she did her best to ignore in favor of keeping her attention on the conversation. “As long as some part of me gets rest, all of me benefits from it. It’d be better if we were all sleeping. Way better if we were all wrapped up in a pile with you. But I’ll manage.”
Aila chucked lightly. “I’d rather be in a pile with all of you, too. I say when we make it back to the city, we spend a whole week sleeping.”
“If you think sleeping is all I’d be doing when I’m in a naked pile with you for a week, you are sorely mistaken.”
“Oh, now it’s a naked pile?” Aila quipped, and Eir could practically hear the smile in the woman’s voice. “When did that happen? You’re just adding in extra details now.”
“Of course it’s a naked pile,” Syd scoffed. “When have I ever not been naked when you’ve been in a sleep pile with me?”
“I wasn’t aware it was a prerequisite.”
“Well, now you know,” Syd spoke with finality.
There was some silence then, which was fortunate, as Eir needed a few moments to collect her thoughts. Aside from the indecently attractive thought of Jay, Dys, and Syd jumbled together in a tangle of arms, legs, and other decidedly more sexual parts, the way Aila and Syd were talking had reminded Eir of her brief encounter with Dys during the battle on Alawar’s docks.
Dys had, for reasons unknown at the time, demanded that Eir heal her instead of her sister, Jay, who was in far worse condition. Dys had asked for trust, which Eir had given, and somehow healing the one had also healed the other.
Eir was no scholar when it came to classes or skills. She had received excellent tutoring from the best teachers her parents could acquire during her upbringing, but as her interests had always laid with temple work and Lyssandria, she hadn’t studied other subjects quite as fervently as she did her scriptures. Still, she had been no slouch or shirker of duties during her education, and she was well and certain that she had never heard of any skill that allowed one person to share their health points with another person. She supposed it was possible that an individual could have a skill or spell that enabled them to transfer their vitality from themselves to another, but if it did exist, she had never seen an example in either books or in action.
Additionally, there was something distinctly odd about the way Aila and Syd were talking to each other. It wasn’t a certainty, but it was almost as if…
Eir’s line of thought was interrupted by further words from Syd. The absolute dejection in her voice compelling Eir’s attention, if not the content of her statement.
“I really fucked up, didn’t I.”
“How so?” Aila spoke softly.
“I led us into this stinking cave,” Syd said, her voice aching with misery. “It was my stupid idea. I was trying to save everyone and look at what a good job I did of that. Should have fought the grundwyrms. I could have distracted them while everyone else got by. I should have just grabbed you and everyone else I could carry and swam for the ship. Or I should have come up with a way to kill that fucking piece of shit wretch mother. I’ve killed a matriarch before. I could have done it again if I’d just been stronger and smarter and better. Instead I brought everyone out of one death trap and into another. Ealdread, Falk, Garver, Busch, and Douglas are all dead because of my idiocy. How the fuck did I manage to screw up so bad that I got more than half of the people I was trying to save killed?”
“You’re wrong,” Eir answered Syd’s self-recriminations. “You didn’t fail them. It was never your responsibility to begin with.”
Dys opened her beautiful violet eyes to stare into Eir’s, the elf having moved up to face the sleeping Nephilim directly. Eir slid her fingers lovingly through Dys’ ivory white locks as she whispered soothingly to the beloved giant.
“Ealdread and the other guards were tasked with guarding you, not the other way around. They died with honor, fulfilling their duty to the best of their ability. They were fully aware of the risks that escorting you entailed, just the same as I. Don’t diminish their sacrifice by claiming you failed them. They succeeded in protecting you for as long as they were able. Even Douglas’ death is not a burden you should carry on your soul. He was an experienced mercenary who knew well the risk he was taking when he agreed to join this expedition. None of their deaths are your fault.
“If anything, you have kept those of us who remain alive when we would otherwise have had little chance of survival. We can’t know what would have been if we had chosen another course, but that is also the truth. We chose the course as much as you. We too saw this path as the most likely for survival. You didn’t make that choice for us.”
As she spoke reassuringly to Dys, stroking her head and hair, Eir placed a chaste kiss on Dys’ forehead, imbuing the touch with her healing magic, bringing the Nephilim back to full health while also blessing her with the soothing energies of her divinely gifted magic.
When Eir pulled back, Dys was still staring up at her, only her delicate yet powerful hands had wrapped around Eir’s waist, holding her gently.
“Thanks,” Dys said quietly after a deep inhalation and a pause. “I needed that, I think.”
“I will gladly support you, always,” Eir told her, purposefully ignoring the way her heart jumped when she said those words. “You have my trust.”
There was another, longer pause as the two of them stared into each other’s eyes. The silent moment was eventually broken by Dys when she quirked up a pale eyebrow and gave her a bemused look.
“So, when exactly did you figure out that I’m actually just one person, not three sisters?”
“You’re fucking WHAT?” Kerr loudly exclaimed from her bedroll a half dozen feet away.
“Ah, shit,” Dys cursed under her breath, the expletive Eir heard echoed by both Jay and Syd from where they sat on either side of the campsite.
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