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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 1990846" data-attributes="member: 63">Episode Five - The Bigger Man, Part I, Section VIGathered together again safely, the group celebrated surviving the scuffle.  Though the fight had worried Lacy at the time, now that it was over, Babb was laughing at nearly everything that had happened.“<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />, you actually cut off his arm?”Lacy laughed at Babb’s exuberance.  Allar just looked embarrassed.“Well,” Allar said, “This sword is . . . it’s just too sharp, I think.  Really, it’s not so much my skill as how good the sword is.”“Bah,” Babb scoffed.  “You put me to shame today.  Even if I had been there, I would’ve just fallen my ass in the water and drowned.  You took down twelve guys!”“They took down five,” Lacy said.  “Allar got four, and Tri’ni one.  Arthur and Hunter got the rest.”Allar shrugged.  “Well, I’m just glad there were enough witnesses to prove it was self-defense.  I do not want to get arrested on Hunter’s behalf.”Hunter was standing relaxed with them, in the common area of their suite at the inn.  He had smoothed things over when the city guard had arrived; one of the guardsmen actually seemed to be his friend.  To Lacy’s surprise, most of the guards had been more amused than worried by the attack.  After losing a coin toss to Hunter, Arthur had gone off with the guard to deal with the paperwork of arresting their attackers.“Hey, sorry for getting you involved,” Hunter said.  “Chester thinks he can take my place in the Elementalists.  It used to be that if you defeated the current mage, you could take his place.  The idiot doesn’t realize we don’t do things that way anymore.”Lacy asked, “Can the guard actually arrest him?”Hunter shrugged.  “I’ll deal with it.  Hopefully he’ll get the point before he gets himself killed.  If they do catch him, they’ll cut off his hands so he can’t cast spells.  Doesn’t matter if he does get my position.”David, who had been looking guilty for not having helped out, said, “I’m just relieved nobody got hurt.  Well, not hurt much, at least.  But Allar’s used to injury.”Allar smiled back at David’s sarcasm.  His shirt was off so Lacy could apply a dressing to the wound on his back.  Her healing magic had caused more harm than good to him, but he was in good spirits.  His skin was warm to her touch, and it pleased her that at least for the moment she did not have to worry that being in contact with him would disrupt her magic.“Speaking of injuries,” Hunter said, glancing at Tri’ni.He let his words hang for a moment, and Tri’ni nervously looked at the tear in his pant leg where she had stabbed him in the thigh.  She smiled endearingly, then hesitated.  His wound was healed, and the water mage had cleaned out the blood with a flick of his hand.Hunter continued, “You did a pretty good job taking out that one guy from behind.  On the ship.”He grinned, his tone showing that he was not angry about the accidental attack.  Tri’ni smirked back.Lacy said happily, “You look proud of yourself.”“Yes,” Tri’ni said.  “It, um . . . it felt good to be doing something.”Hunter leaned next to Lacy.  “So, this is the girl you were talking about.  She’s got spirit.  I like her.”“You should,” Tri’ni said matter-of-factly.Hunter laughed.  “Damn, you and Vic would get along great.  I’d better keep you away from him, though.  He might act improperly to a young lady.”“Another rival of yours?” Allar asked.“No,” Hunter said.  “I told you I’ve only got the one rival.  Vic’s my water boy.”To the collection of confused expressions, Hunter explained.“Vic – Victorious – is my nephew, and my apprentice.  But he’s only fifteen years old, and he still thinks he has to prove himself to me.  So I keep him busy with an irrigation project on my island.  It teaches him how water works, makes him think, gets him out of my hair.”“You own an island?” Lacy asked, awed.Babb huffed.  “It’s probably not even a big one.”“You want to come visit?”  Hunter glanced to Allar, then leaned down close to Lacy.  “Because I can get us there in, like, an hour.”Lacy blushed even though she knew Hunter had intended more to goad Allar than to entice her.  Before she could reply, Tri’ni spoke.“You can teleport too?  That doesn’t seem very much like a water power.”Hunter paused, briefly looked stymied, then said, “You are right!  I can only do it over water.  Let me guess: you were at the Wayfarer’s today.  They impressed you, did they?”David said, “We’re trying to find a tutor for Tri’ni, to teach her magic.”“Huh,” Hunter said.  He looked off for a moment, thinking.  “I wonder . . . no, no.  He’d just get all pissed again.”“What is it?” Lacy asked.Shaking his head, Hunter waved off the question.  “I was going to say that Dunne needs an apprentice.  Dunne’s the air mage in our group, and he’s very old-”“We know,” Babb groaned.  “Lacy’s rambled on and on about him.”Allar held up a hand.  “Well, wait a moment.  If he needs an apprentice, what’s the problem?”“Dunne, he. . . .”  Hunter hesitated, like he was not sure if he should reveal a secret.  “Dunne hasn’t had an apprentice since before I joined the order.  He’s had a dozen or more in the six hundred years he’s been in the order, and they all were killed for one reason or another.”Lacy drew in a breath.  “I can see why everyone says he’s bitter now.”David snickered.  “I’d be a little bitter if I were that old too.”Babb laughed, but the rest of the group glared at him.  David shrugged.  “Would he be against just meeting Tri’ni?”Hunter considered, then saw Tri’ni’s eager expression.  He laughed.  “I’ll tell him how she attacked me.  That will probably earn her a few points.  Looking serious, he added, “He’s a mean son of a bitch, just so you know, but I’ll see what I can do.  Shouldn’t be a problem.”For a moment Tri’ni looked ready to clap, but then she faltered and looked down.  Lacy watched as Babb put his hand on her shoulder, and she wondered what had happened with the Wayfarers.“Are we still planning to go to a show of the Wayfarers?” Lacy asked.  “Hunter mentioned he might be going.”“They said we could come for free,” Tri’ni said with forced enthusiasm.  “Evening of the day after tomorrow.”Lacy smiled back at her encouragingly.  “Good.  Good.  Hunter, we have enough to keep us busy for tomorrow, certainly.  But if you could tell us how to reach Dunne, we could take Tri’ni the day after tomorrow, then meet afterward at the theater?”Hunter looked intrigued.  “I’ll send directions by tomorrow evening.  Sounds wonderful.  I’ll be there.  I just hope my rival doesn’t show up.”He waved and turned to leave.  As he passed Allar he said, “I meant Chester, by the way.”With a wave of his hand, the door opened for Hunter, then closed as he left.  Allar tensed and released a frustrated sigh, and Lacy softly rubbed his shoulders to relax him.*    *    *It had been a long time since she had come, and the temple had been hard for Lacy to find so late at night, but Seaquen had followers of any religion one could find in the world.  Vanessi’s temple here was small, in a cluster of religious buildings devoted to the old Seren pantheon.  It felt more like home than anywhere she had been for the past two years.Vanessi was one of the eight children of the sun – four gods, four goddesses – and she had always been jealous of her sister Meliska.  Both sisters cherished births and the protection of life, but Meliska also held power over the day, so she was more loved by their father.  Vanessi’s strongest domain was the power of nature; capricious though nature could be, Vanessi promoted that being in control of the world around oneself was the best way to bring good fortune.  It was this belief Lacy had always had trouble with, for she seldom felt in control.Now she was praying, kneeling before a flaming brazier.  Her offering was meager – a sheet of paper on which she had written her promise to take control of her feelings for Allar, after she had experienced what Hunter offered her.  Vanessi did favor lovemaking, after all.She folded the piece of paper, recited its words silently to herself, then tossed it into the flames.“What was that?” a voice asked in Cavalesh.Lacy turned to see the young priest who was tending the temple this night.  He was a local, of Cavaleshi stock, and she looked down, worried that he would want her to leave because she was Xaopin.“I was just making an offering to Vanessi,” she said.“You’re Lyceian,” he said, noting her accent.  “It’s an honor to have you here, sister.”She frowned.  “I . . . it sounded like you wanted me to leave.”The man clapped lightly and laughed.  “Oh, no.  Most people simply toss in coins.  Oh, please, don’t think I’m angry.  If you could have given, I’m certain you would have.”She looked down, then laughed weakly herself.  “To be honest, I was worried that you were angry because I was Xaopin.”“Oh,” he said.  “Don’t be silly.  Not everyone here in Seaquen is like that.  Actually, I think you’re kind of pretty.”She smiled politely, but the compliment did not please her.  Lately more than enough people had been noticing how she looked.  No one ever seemed to care to really talk to her.  She started to sigh, then remembered her pledge to the goddess.Steeling herself, she stood up and looked down at the young priest.“Oh, my,” the man said.  She knew he was surprised to see how tall she was, but that did not worry her.“Why do you worship Vanessi?” Lacy asked, moving closer.The man stammered, scratching the back of his neck.  “I, um . . . oh, I like how she, um, helps us be in control.  Of our lives, that is.”She smiled at the irony of the man’s nervousness, but looked into his eyes, so he would think she was smiling for him.  She put a hand on his shoulder, and another on his hand, and the man gaped, looking up to her.“I was at another temple,” Lacy said softly, “far to the north.  The priestesses of Vanessi there had a very special ritual.”To help the man, she guided his hand to the small of her back.  He slid his hand slowly up her back, then down, moving just barely closer.“What are you doing?” he whispered.She leaned close, pressing against him.  Across his lips she whispered, “Making an offering.”</blockquote>

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