Common ☼ Language ☼ Thoughts
She didn't believe him.
It wasn't that Kalortah might not have been telling the truth, but Navyri knew of the feud between her city and his. She remembered the scouts that went missing on both sides, the obsession the Avriel had with finding Augiery. It was a futile effort that went both ways, but she imagined lounging on the jungle beaches nonetheless. Draped in diaphanous cloth, sipping from a gem encrusted goblet, listening to the sound of exotic birds. The sea breeze curling the edges of wind blown hair. How nice... But would she offend someone under their own roof? She smiled, dancing through their training, the feathers of her Tarouz retreating with ease, "I would bring myself. That's enough for your god, but not your people?" It was a rhetorical question, but one she found humorous nonetheless. She was surprised he had been able to deduct she was a Naer from their first meeting, but not her connection to Delroth.
All things considered, he had been rather preoccupied that evening.
She cocked a hip and tilted her head, watching and waiting for him to regain his breath. It was more mercy than she would have shown otherwise, but she was enjoying this conversation. Kalortah revealed the Avriel's hatred for Delroth and she laughed, "So I've been told."
There was not enough trust to tell him of Arithzma, of the first Avriel. She had lived his last memories, she knew of the relationship between the race and Delroth perhaps more than anyone alive. She wore those wings. She heard his voice in her head. But she would not tell him, oh no.
I like him, Arithzma whispered, the first time he had spoken in seasons. It was smooth voice, like flowing water. She had forgotten its sound and got lost in his presence when Kalortah shot forward, and the tip of his wooden blade pressed against her belly. Navyri blinked, brought back to reality. Look at that. He won.
"I would be careful if I was you," she looked up from the weapon, hands sliding up the edge and hooking onto his own, "You play a very dangerous game if you think that's all he wants, if you think he'd ever allow that."
Delroth, proven wrong by him? The Avriel were bold indeed.
If the Winged Calamity would be reconciled with his children, it would be because he wanted to. And it would not be him that would change. Were Immortals even capable of such things?
"I'm not just any bird. I am the Nightingale," Navyri expression changed and she shot out, grabbing Kalortah by the jaw. Her azure eyes burned with warning and she looked at him with cold warning, "I have gone to the edge of the world for him. I have torn out my own eyes for him. I have raised the Unknown for him," Her breath caught and for a split second, fear flashed across her face. Navyri gasped and the grip on his face softened, "He'll want more."
’He always does.’
Navyri sucked her teeth, and began to stroke Kalortah's face lovingly, as if her claws weren't previously ready to pierce through his cheek. An effort to wipe away the loss of control and a gesture that mimicked the very Immortal they spoke about. After forty arcs, his influence was inescapable and she cursed herself, "You will do what he wants, or all the training in Idalos won't matter. Death would be your sweetest relief." Navyri turned away suddenly, swiping her staff from the ground. It had been awhile since she had behaved so impulsively, and yet the horrors of what her patron had put her through refused to cease, repeating behind her eyes.
"I should not have grabbed you, now or then," Navyri admitted, the closest she could come to an actual apology although she didn't regret her warning. Following Delroth was not for the faint of heart. It had cost her everything, "You have to know."