A few hours later...
Antimony trudged through the tavern door looking more like the corpses piled in the shadows outside than a living, breathing miqo'te. A thick, purple and brown coat hung from her arms and was strangely clean compared to her own mud-caked and thoroughly soaked form. She didn’t look around immediately when she entered, simply pausing to rest in the dim light, entire body drooping.
At a low, circular table on the lower floor of the tavern, K'airos, still garbed in her Blade gear, sat alone save for the company of a plate of pears, a jar of water, a mug, and a small bowl of sugar. She didn’t seem to have eaten more than one pear, despite the large amount still on the plate. Above, Antimony moved further in after a moment, turning to descend the stairs unsteadily. She stopped immediately, however, when she caught sight of the young woman alone at the table.
K'airos Thalen fails to notice Antimony. She's holding a pear covered in sugar between her hands. She stares at it with visible suspicion.
Antimony hugged the coat tighter to her chest, just watching K'airos for a time, and then took a slow breath and continued down the stairs. She stopped a couple steps away from the woman's table. When she spoke, her voice cracked with exhaustion and apprehension, “Air... ah, Ai--Excuse me.†Something stopped her from speaking her daughter’s name, and it broke her heart.
 K'airos's ears perked up. She faced Antimony, and it would seem like she was about to happily jump over the table to reach her. Instead, she shifted uncomfortably on her stool and smiled broadly. "Oh! You...look awful! Please, sit!"
Antimony wavered on her feet when K'airos spoke, as though the woman's voice were enough to topple her over. At the invitation, she warily took a seat, body folding down onto the bench slowly. Her tail shivered and twitched. “And... you look well.†She looked away from K'airos when she said this.
The red-haired girl poured a decent amount of water on her mug and passed it over to Antimony. "Here."
Antimony watched the mug for a time and then pulled an apple from the folds of the coat she carried, setting it on the table before taking the mug in two, shaking hands. Her ears drooped as she drank thirstily and then murmured a, "Thank you, Ai... ah."
“You are Antimony, I know! It's on the letter. And I'm K'airos! It's easy to pronounce. You should try!â€
Antimony looked pained for a moment and visibly struggled with her next words, "I am... happy to see you, Ai--K'airos."
K'airos smiled again. "So...you are going to the Shroud, still? I...ah...I still have the orders here, so I -have- to escort you...unless you asked for another guard." She sounded disappointed in that last part.
Antimony took another, long drink from the mug, her dirty fingers around it not yet steady, and then manages a brief look in K'airos's direction. The sight of her curls her tail close to her body but she manages, "I would... like it very much. If you were to accompany me."
“Of course! Just..." and she lowered her voice, leaning closer. "...let's not tell my sister about it. She has a bad temper!" Quickly, she returned to her original position. "Let's meet tomorrow at dawn at the tunnel just outside the Immortal Flames barracks. If it's convenient to you?"
Antimony bowed her head briefly, setting the mug down before she dropped it. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed out, "Yes, that... would be alright. I could use a night's rest, as it is." A pause, another, small glance towards K'airos as she searched for words to continue.
K'airos picked up the jar and held it a few inches above the table. "More water?"
Antimony nodded after a moment, and her eyes shifted to the bowl of sugar near K'airos. She couldn’t quite help herself when she said, "I... hope that is not all you're eating."
K'airos served the water and spilled out some of it when she looked at the bowl, her ears dropping in shame. "Wha- no! Of course not! It's...it's a dessert! And to make...up for...the...uh...sugar loss of running around in heavy armor..." she mumbled.
Antimony smiled briefly, the expression more sad than anything. "It's alright. You... deserve a treat, I'm certain."
K'airos smiles back. “I do! But...uhm...so! I was wondering how have you bee-I mean where are you from? And what do you do? It's been so long...! So long since I...uh...saw...someone. Uhm.†She stared at the still unbitten pears on the plate.
The older, tired woman watched K'airos quietly for a moment and then looked to the table. In the yellow light of the tavern, only half of her features were lit as she worked over several, conflicting thoughts. “I... was working in Ul'dah, until recently. But... before then, I lived in a city called, ah, Limsa Lominsa. It... is by the ocean. West.â€
K'airos leaned forward, looking at Antimony and raising both fists to shoulder level. "I've never been there! I just...kind of fell in Ul'dah and stayed here the past five years. You should tell me when you go back so I can escort you again! We'll see the ocean!" she said excited and hilariously ignoring that Antimony had probably seen the ocean a thousand times already.
Antimony seemed to lose her breath at that and took nearly a minute to recover, sipping from her water carefully. "That," she finally choked, cleared her throat, and blinked hard, "That... would be wonde--appreciated." Her tail stilled behind her and she added in a softer tone, "You would love the ocean, I think."
K'airos's tail, by contrast, had been slowly rising up until being basically touching the back of her neck, with a slight curve. Â "I'm sure I will!" She taps the extremes of her armored hands together various times, her eyes closed with excitement. "And what do you are you going to do in the Shroud?"
At this unexpected – but perfectly logical – question, Antimony’s expression went suddenly blank for several seconds. Then her hands folded carefully in her lap, only to worry her fingers there. "I had thought to travel to Coerthas."
K'airos tilted her head. "Why? That's so far north! You...you should stay in Ul'dah! There's nothing anyone else have that we don't." she nodded matter-of-factly.
Ears lying flat, she gave K'airos a deeply apologetic look. "I... do not think I can stay in Ul'dah. But... there is someone I might see in Coerthas."
K'airos kept tapping her gauntlets together. It was either very irritating or mildly rhythmic. "Friends? That's good! I don't have many friends...if any...I guess I just work too much, and the rest of my time is spent with Aijeen."
Antimony pressed her lips together and brought her hands up again to wrap them about the mug. The gesture only somewhat stilled their shaking. "Perhaps..." She blinks rapidly behind smudged glasses. "Perhaps you could... continue with me, into Coerthas."
K'airos took a long breath, smiling at that proposition. But then she dropped her shoulders, her smile shrunk considerably, and her ears dropped a bit. "That would be nice, but I Brass Blades don't operate outside Thanalan. Besides..." She raised the pear she was staring at maliciously before. "...someone has to stay with Aijeen."
Her grip on the mug tightening briefly, Antimony cast her eyes about the tavern before settling them on the far wall. "I... understand." A pause, a shiver that ran the length of her tail. "I had hoped... it is an unfamiliar place. And dangerous, I've heard."
“But...you have friends there, right? I'm sure they can help you reach them!â€
Antimony gave K'airos a brief look. "I do not... actually know anyone there. Aside from one, in Coerthas."
K'airos decided to stare at the pear in her hands. "Oh" she let out. "Oh!" she repeated, biting the pear and cheering up. "Ask your friend Ulanee to help you! If she could ask for an escort now she can surely ask for another there!"
Antimony drew in a slow breath and then turned her eyes to K'airos, what features that were lit in the partial light displaying her plea, "Are you certain you cannot come with me? It would mean the world to have you near once mo--" She cut herself off suddenly and ducked her head, dragging her focus to the mug of water.
K'airos bit sadly on the pear, right after dowsing it on the bowl of sugar. "I'm sorry. it could cause trouble between Ul'dah and the Gridanians." As she munched on the pear, her expression changed to one of disappointment. Maybe with the pear. "And I wouldn't know how to convince Aijeen to not follow me. It would be awkward."
Antimony's features trembled for a moment and she said, half to herself, in a faint voice, "Perhaps I... could stay here... But Aijeen..."
K'airos pondered for a moment. The pear, to her eyes, became a nasty fruit filled with bile and creepy eyes and a maw filled with teeth. It would be cute if it wasn't giving her a tummy-ache. Despite of that, she looked at Antimony and said: "I should be transferred back to Ul'dah shortly. I could ask for vacations! Do you think I need vacations? I think I need them! And you could come visit! And tell me about that city by the sea and how you've been for the last five years...for...for... no particular reason.â€
Antimony let out a shaky breath, bowing forward until her forearms rested on the table and her head nearly touched her mug. "Ul'dah..." The thought of the city - or rather, who remained in it - sent a shudder through her tail, and an expression that could be guilt crossed her face. "Per...haps." She closed her eyes. "I... do not wish to leave you alone."
“I'm not alone. I have Aijeen! And...well, you have your friend in Coerthas. It wouldn't be nice if you let him hanging up there in...whatever architecture they have up there.†The younger woman startled at her own words. “Or her! It's a her? I didn't want to insult him by calling her a him! Tell him -I MEAN- her I'm sorry!â€
Antimony smiled faintly. "He," she corrected and then sighed. "It was not a... planned thing. He would... well, he doesn't even know... ah."
“Oh.†K'airos cheered up visibly. If she was a torch, she would have exploded by now. "Then you can go back to Ul'dah! And when I go back I'll look for you and we can talk again!"
Antimony winced and then looked at K'airos out of the corner of her eyes. After a time, she just repeated, "... Perhaps." She blinked suddenly and dropped her head into one hand, murmuring, "I... may need a day or two to recover before any more travel, regardless, I believe. Do you..." She trailed off, unsure of the question she wants to ask.
K'airos picked up a pear and offered it to Antimony. "I have a room at the Eternal Sleep. With Aijeen. So let's not meet there!"
Swallowing, Antimony looked almost ill and managed, "Is there, ah, any...where else to stay in this town?" She took the pear after a moment, but only held it loosely in one hand.
Giving the older woman a long look of thought, K’airos eventually said, “K'airos Thalen: I don't think so. Maybe you could stay in the Church? It's close enough and the priests are good people. I'm sure they can let you stay there for a night.â€
Antimony furrowed her brow worriedly. "Is not Aijeen... she was with the... dead there."
“Oh. Right! Uhm...†Again K'airos thought deeply by looking to a random point in the stairs. “You'll have to stay in the inn, then. There's no other choice and, if Aijeen's going to find you are still here, then you might as well be comfortable!â€
Antimony Jhanhi shivered, the action continuing down into her tail, which curled against her hip. Its mud-matted fur cracked a bit. "I will... stay as far from your room as possible," she conceded.
K'airos nodded. “When we get back to Ul'dah, I'll show you all the things I confi-collected with the Blades! They are...ah...bonuses for doing a good work.†She nods again, mostly to reassure herself of that. Antimony Jhanhi blinks and shakes her head, somewhat dislodging herself from whatever haze she'd begun to fall into. She glanced towards K'airos and managed a weak smile. "I would like that. To... see your work."
K'airos hurried to pour more water in Antimony's mug. "I think you are falling asleep!" she smiles, amused. "You should get a room right away, before someone else takes them all away!"
Looking to her mug, Antimony forced herself to drink again and closed her eyes at the soothing liquid. When she finished, she cleared her throat and nodded slowly. "It has been d--well." She looked to the pear in her hand, the apple on the table, and took up the latter as well before gathering both them and the coat back into her arms. She looked to K'airos carefully. “You will... remain here for... two days?â€
“Probably! It's hard to say. Sometimes orders just come and I have to run all over Thanalan! But...it should be easy to find out if I moved. Just ask at the Immortal Flames. I'll let them know to let you know so you can know!â€
Antimony bit down on rising fear, displaying it only as a vaguely worried frown and a low set to her ears. "I do not wish to... lose you. Ah, lose sight of... well." Coughing, she stood suddenly, swayed in one spot and muttered, "I should rest. And... you as well."
K'airos stood up with a jump. She barely managed to not start hopping right away. “It was good to see you!â€
Antimony leaned forward slightly, almost as though to hug K'airos, but with the items in her arms and her own anxiety, the action failed. Instead she smiled sadly. "You cannot know how much so." Then she turned and made to head back to the stairs.
K'airos started hopping in place as Antimony moved away. She said nothing more and made no sound, except for the clinging of her heavy chainmail and the noise of her heels stomping against the stone floor. Under yellow light and harsh shadows, Antimony left the tavern at a heavy pace, her thoughts weighing her down more than her exhaustion.
Antimony trudged through the tavern door looking more like the corpses piled in the shadows outside than a living, breathing miqo'te. A thick, purple and brown coat hung from her arms and was strangely clean compared to her own mud-caked and thoroughly soaked form. She didn’t look around immediately when she entered, simply pausing to rest in the dim light, entire body drooping.
At a low, circular table on the lower floor of the tavern, K'airos, still garbed in her Blade gear, sat alone save for the company of a plate of pears, a jar of water, a mug, and a small bowl of sugar. She didn’t seem to have eaten more than one pear, despite the large amount still on the plate. Above, Antimony moved further in after a moment, turning to descend the stairs unsteadily. She stopped immediately, however, when she caught sight of the young woman alone at the table.
K'airos Thalen fails to notice Antimony. She's holding a pear covered in sugar between her hands. She stares at it with visible suspicion.
Antimony hugged the coat tighter to her chest, just watching K'airos for a time, and then took a slow breath and continued down the stairs. She stopped a couple steps away from the woman's table. When she spoke, her voice cracked with exhaustion and apprehension, “Air... ah, Ai--Excuse me.†Something stopped her from speaking her daughter’s name, and it broke her heart.
 K'airos's ears perked up. She faced Antimony, and it would seem like she was about to happily jump over the table to reach her. Instead, she shifted uncomfortably on her stool and smiled broadly. "Oh! You...look awful! Please, sit!"
Antimony wavered on her feet when K'airos spoke, as though the woman's voice were enough to topple her over. At the invitation, she warily took a seat, body folding down onto the bench slowly. Her tail shivered and twitched. “And... you look well.†She looked away from K'airos when she said this.
The red-haired girl poured a decent amount of water on her mug and passed it over to Antimony. "Here."
Antimony watched the mug for a time and then pulled an apple from the folds of the coat she carried, setting it on the table before taking the mug in two, shaking hands. Her ears drooped as she drank thirstily and then murmured a, "Thank you, Ai... ah."
“You are Antimony, I know! It's on the letter. And I'm K'airos! It's easy to pronounce. You should try!â€
Antimony looked pained for a moment and visibly struggled with her next words, "I am... happy to see you, Ai--K'airos."
K'airos smiled again. "So...you are going to the Shroud, still? I...ah...I still have the orders here, so I -have- to escort you...unless you asked for another guard." She sounded disappointed in that last part.
Antimony took another, long drink from the mug, her dirty fingers around it not yet steady, and then manages a brief look in K'airos's direction. The sight of her curls her tail close to her body but she manages, "I would... like it very much. If you were to accompany me."
“Of course! Just..." and she lowered her voice, leaning closer. "...let's not tell my sister about it. She has a bad temper!" Quickly, she returned to her original position. "Let's meet tomorrow at dawn at the tunnel just outside the Immortal Flames barracks. If it's convenient to you?"
Antimony bowed her head briefly, setting the mug down before she dropped it. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed out, "Yes, that... would be alright. I could use a night's rest, as it is." A pause, another, small glance towards K'airos as she searched for words to continue.
K'airos picked up the jar and held it a few inches above the table. "More water?"
Antimony nodded after a moment, and her eyes shifted to the bowl of sugar near K'airos. She couldn’t quite help herself when she said, "I... hope that is not all you're eating."
K'airos served the water and spilled out some of it when she looked at the bowl, her ears dropping in shame. "Wha- no! Of course not! It's...it's a dessert! And to make...up for...the...uh...sugar loss of running around in heavy armor..." she mumbled.
Antimony smiled briefly, the expression more sad than anything. "It's alright. You... deserve a treat, I'm certain."
K'airos smiles back. “I do! But...uhm...so! I was wondering how have you bee-I mean where are you from? And what do you do? It's been so long...! So long since I...uh...saw...someone. Uhm.†She stared at the still unbitten pears on the plate.
The older, tired woman watched K'airos quietly for a moment and then looked to the table. In the yellow light of the tavern, only half of her features were lit as she worked over several, conflicting thoughts. “I... was working in Ul'dah, until recently. But... before then, I lived in a city called, ah, Limsa Lominsa. It... is by the ocean. West.â€
K'airos leaned forward, looking at Antimony and raising both fists to shoulder level. "I've never been there! I just...kind of fell in Ul'dah and stayed here the past five years. You should tell me when you go back so I can escort you again! We'll see the ocean!" she said excited and hilariously ignoring that Antimony had probably seen the ocean a thousand times already.
Antimony seemed to lose her breath at that and took nearly a minute to recover, sipping from her water carefully. "That," she finally choked, cleared her throat, and blinked hard, "That... would be wonde--appreciated." Her tail stilled behind her and she added in a softer tone, "You would love the ocean, I think."
K'airos's tail, by contrast, had been slowly rising up until being basically touching the back of her neck, with a slight curve. Â "I'm sure I will!" She taps the extremes of her armored hands together various times, her eyes closed with excitement. "And what do you are you going to do in the Shroud?"
At this unexpected – but perfectly logical – question, Antimony’s expression went suddenly blank for several seconds. Then her hands folded carefully in her lap, only to worry her fingers there. "I had thought to travel to Coerthas."
K'airos tilted her head. "Why? That's so far north! You...you should stay in Ul'dah! There's nothing anyone else have that we don't." she nodded matter-of-factly.
Ears lying flat, she gave K'airos a deeply apologetic look. "I... do not think I can stay in Ul'dah. But... there is someone I might see in Coerthas."
K'airos kept tapping her gauntlets together. It was either very irritating or mildly rhythmic. "Friends? That's good! I don't have many friends...if any...I guess I just work too much, and the rest of my time is spent with Aijeen."
Antimony pressed her lips together and brought her hands up again to wrap them about the mug. The gesture only somewhat stilled their shaking. "Perhaps..." She blinks rapidly behind smudged glasses. "Perhaps you could... continue with me, into Coerthas."
K'airos took a long breath, smiling at that proposition. But then she dropped her shoulders, her smile shrunk considerably, and her ears dropped a bit. "That would be nice, but I Brass Blades don't operate outside Thanalan. Besides..." She raised the pear she was staring at maliciously before. "...someone has to stay with Aijeen."
Her grip on the mug tightening briefly, Antimony cast her eyes about the tavern before settling them on the far wall. "I... understand." A pause, a shiver that ran the length of her tail. "I had hoped... it is an unfamiliar place. And dangerous, I've heard."
“But...you have friends there, right? I'm sure they can help you reach them!â€
Antimony gave K'airos a brief look. "I do not... actually know anyone there. Aside from one, in Coerthas."
K'airos decided to stare at the pear in her hands. "Oh" she let out. "Oh!" she repeated, biting the pear and cheering up. "Ask your friend Ulanee to help you! If she could ask for an escort now she can surely ask for another there!"
Antimony drew in a slow breath and then turned her eyes to K'airos, what features that were lit in the partial light displaying her plea, "Are you certain you cannot come with me? It would mean the world to have you near once mo--" She cut herself off suddenly and ducked her head, dragging her focus to the mug of water.
K'airos bit sadly on the pear, right after dowsing it on the bowl of sugar. "I'm sorry. it could cause trouble between Ul'dah and the Gridanians." As she munched on the pear, her expression changed to one of disappointment. Maybe with the pear. "And I wouldn't know how to convince Aijeen to not follow me. It would be awkward."
Antimony's features trembled for a moment and she said, half to herself, in a faint voice, "Perhaps I... could stay here... But Aijeen..."
K'airos pondered for a moment. The pear, to her eyes, became a nasty fruit filled with bile and creepy eyes and a maw filled with teeth. It would be cute if it wasn't giving her a tummy-ache. Despite of that, she looked at Antimony and said: "I should be transferred back to Ul'dah shortly. I could ask for vacations! Do you think I need vacations? I think I need them! And you could come visit! And tell me about that city by the sea and how you've been for the last five years...for...for... no particular reason.â€
Antimony let out a shaky breath, bowing forward until her forearms rested on the table and her head nearly touched her mug. "Ul'dah..." The thought of the city - or rather, who remained in it - sent a shudder through her tail, and an expression that could be guilt crossed her face. "Per...haps." She closed her eyes. "I... do not wish to leave you alone."
“I'm not alone. I have Aijeen! And...well, you have your friend in Coerthas. It wouldn't be nice if you let him hanging up there in...whatever architecture they have up there.†The younger woman startled at her own words. “Or her! It's a her? I didn't want to insult him by calling her a him! Tell him -I MEAN- her I'm sorry!â€
Antimony smiled faintly. "He," she corrected and then sighed. "It was not a... planned thing. He would... well, he doesn't even know... ah."
“Oh.†K'airos cheered up visibly. If she was a torch, she would have exploded by now. "Then you can go back to Ul'dah! And when I go back I'll look for you and we can talk again!"
Antimony winced and then looked at K'airos out of the corner of her eyes. After a time, she just repeated, "... Perhaps." She blinked suddenly and dropped her head into one hand, murmuring, "I... may need a day or two to recover before any more travel, regardless, I believe. Do you..." She trailed off, unsure of the question she wants to ask.
K'airos picked up a pear and offered it to Antimony. "I have a room at the Eternal Sleep. With Aijeen. So let's not meet there!"
Swallowing, Antimony looked almost ill and managed, "Is there, ah, any...where else to stay in this town?" She took the pear after a moment, but only held it loosely in one hand.
Giving the older woman a long look of thought, K’airos eventually said, “K'airos Thalen: I don't think so. Maybe you could stay in the Church? It's close enough and the priests are good people. I'm sure they can let you stay there for a night.â€
Antimony furrowed her brow worriedly. "Is not Aijeen... she was with the... dead there."
“Oh. Right! Uhm...†Again K'airos thought deeply by looking to a random point in the stairs. “You'll have to stay in the inn, then. There's no other choice and, if Aijeen's going to find you are still here, then you might as well be comfortable!â€
Antimony Jhanhi shivered, the action continuing down into her tail, which curled against her hip. Its mud-matted fur cracked a bit. "I will... stay as far from your room as possible," she conceded.
K'airos nodded. “When we get back to Ul'dah, I'll show you all the things I confi-collected with the Blades! They are...ah...bonuses for doing a good work.†She nods again, mostly to reassure herself of that. Antimony Jhanhi blinks and shakes her head, somewhat dislodging herself from whatever haze she'd begun to fall into. She glanced towards K'airos and managed a weak smile. "I would like that. To... see your work."
K'airos hurried to pour more water in Antimony's mug. "I think you are falling asleep!" she smiles, amused. "You should get a room right away, before someone else takes them all away!"
Looking to her mug, Antimony forced herself to drink again and closed her eyes at the soothing liquid. When she finished, she cleared her throat and nodded slowly. "It has been d--well." She looked to the pear in her hand, the apple on the table, and took up the latter as well before gathering both them and the coat back into her arms. She looked to K'airos carefully. “You will... remain here for... two days?â€
“Probably! It's hard to say. Sometimes orders just come and I have to run all over Thanalan! But...it should be easy to find out if I moved. Just ask at the Immortal Flames. I'll let them know to let you know so you can know!â€
Antimony bit down on rising fear, displaying it only as a vaguely worried frown and a low set to her ears. "I do not wish to... lose you. Ah, lose sight of... well." Coughing, she stood suddenly, swayed in one spot and muttered, "I should rest. And... you as well."
K'airos stood up with a jump. She barely managed to not start hopping right away. “It was good to see you!â€
Antimony leaned forward slightly, almost as though to hug K'airos, but with the items in her arms and her own anxiety, the action failed. Instead she smiled sadly. "You cannot know how much so." Then she turned and made to head back to the stairs.
K'airos started hopping in place as Antimony moved away. She said nothing more and made no sound, except for the clinging of her heavy chainmail and the noise of her heels stomping against the stone floor. Under yellow light and harsh shadows, Antimony left the tavern at a heavy pace, her thoughts weighing her down more than her exhaustion.
"Song dogs barking at the break of dawn, lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm; and these streets, quiet as a sleeping army, send their battered dreams to heaven."
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