[Immortal's Tongue] In Sickness & In Health

[Yeva]

27 Ashan 720

Yeva tightened the last buckle and slung the bag's strap over her shoulder. Her clothes were dry and her gear was readied. Double checking the laces of her boots, she combed her fingers through her hair and separated the curls into three sections, twisting and weaving into a simple three stranded braid that draped down the side of her neck. To keep it out of her eyes, Yeva secured it with a small leather tie and pushed the flap of her yurt back to step into the soft glow of the rising sun.

***

Yeva looked at the coin in her hand and stared into the distance, the dread in her stomach churning like uneasy waters. Everything was packed, she had no reason to stay in the little village, although all her work leading up to Linca's awakening still held her on edge. There was still more work to do, more things to see, and through it all, she had to wonder - Why her?

Because I am the Living One? The Storm Rider?

The Hero of Havardr?

She snorted at the titles, shaking her head. How quickly stories spread across the island, faster than wildfire. When she heard passing whispers, all she could think of was how dangerous such fanciful statements could be for the ego. Yeva had once been embarrassed at the suggestion of her name circulating hand in hand with the events of Faldrass, mortified even, but now the more tales her name graced, the less red her face turned. They could even stir a small smile from her when she wasn't worried about the fate of Scalvoris.

Have I grown arrogant?

Maybe she always had been... Or, maybe it was Cassion's doing.

It wasn't worth thinking about. Yeva flicked the disk into the air, the sound of waves freezing, suspended in time. She moved in slow motion, watching the magic flip in the air, coming down to land in her palm, where she smacked it on the back of her other hand. And then-

The ocean was gone, along with the dreary beach. She could smell moss and peat and the promise of recent and returning rain. Immortal's Tongue, she realized, and as she turned to find her bearings, Yeva tensed at the sight of a very large and looming figure. She stopped back reflexively, brows furrowed. Something about the Ithecal was familiar, "You are... a friend of Moseke's?" she asked, unsure as she tried to place the face.

It didn't take long for the woman to realize that materializing somewhere and then asking questions might not count much for a proper introduction. She could have just stumbled across a random pilgrim, the poor soul. Now that would certainly spark gossip! "My name is Yeva of Rharne... I am looking for-" Well... what was she looking for? She hadn't been told anything about the one who would be accompanying her, "Someone. I think they're to be my guard for a trip we are to make together," she searched his face for understanding and smiled, relaxing a bit more, "Since this is where I appeared, I thought this might be you." She couldn't shake the feeling that she knew this Ithecal in some way, although the number of lizard-folk she knew were few and far in between.

Then, quite suddenly, "Have we met?"

[Praetorum]

Praetorum had woken two nights ago to find a scrap of parchment on his shield, and a ship waiting in the harbor. The parchment, which Prae was completely certain had not been there when he'd gone to sleep, carried a simple, if somewhat surprising message.


Yeva the Living journeys soon to Immortal's Tongue; she will be in need of a shield to protect her. 


Yeva the Living. It had taken Praetorum only a moment to place the name. Even if he didn't know the woman, had never met her properly, he did not easily forget those who had died under his watch—and he could never have forgotten the one who returned to life shortly after. 



To be asked to keep her safe again—it had felt like a second chance, of sorts. 



So he'd packed up his things, said his goodbyes to Balthazar and Elisabeth, and flown towards the waiting ship. He had not been particularly surprised to find that they had been anonymously hired to take him to Immortal's Tongue by the quickest route possible. 



With Prae filling their sails with wind, the trip had taken just under two trials—and on the morning of the twenty seventh, he bid the crew farewell, and stepped out onto the docks, searching for his charge. His eyes landed on a handful of humans waiting, but none of them had the red hair he recalled Yeva having—nor the Order cloak (bright blue with a green hood, both colors a stark contrast to the charred bones bundled within as Vega cradled—)


Prae shook the memory from his mind. It didn't matter. She was alive now, and he intended to keep her that way. 



None of the other travelers waiting at the docks recognized the name or Prae's admittedly vague description; perhaps he had arrived early, then. Or perhaps he'd arrived late. Perhaps the best thing to do, he decided, was to wait near Ethelynda's shrine—she had been the one to send him, after all. 



As it turned out, he needn't have bothered. 



Prae stilled when, not five bits into his travel, a woman appeared out of thin air in front of him; his first reaction was of alarm, Suspicion rearing up to latch on to the frequency of a possible enemy. Then his mind caught up with what his eyes were seeing; or rather, who. 



Yeva of Rharne. Apparently, almost as confused as he was.



"I believe I am the person you're looking for—although it was the Shieldmaiden who sent me to you. Perhaps at the Earth Mother's request?" Prae shrugged sheepishly. He knew little of the relationship between immortals beyond those the empire had dealings with. He raised his right hand, showing her the mark emblazoned on the back of it. "I'm to be your shield in this trip." He told her, smiling it what he hoped was a reassuring manner. "Although you will have to catch me up on what this trip is. I was simply told you would be here, and would need a protector."



The smile faded slightly when she asked if they knew each other. "Only in passing." He said. He considered how to phrase his explanation, but found he didn't have the words to speak tactfully—so instead he elected to be blunt and straightforwards. "I was there in Rharne, when you died. Fighting the—" he gestured vaguely "—doomernickel, or whatever it was Vega called it."

[Yeva]

27 Ashan 720

"Ah," she raised a brow at the Ithecal's explanation. Shieldmaiden's request. Yeva had met a number of Immortal's now - Cassion, Tio Silver, Pier, Pre, Vri, Saiore, Yvithia, Moseke, but not yet Ethelynda. If it was at Moseke's request, would that mean she was now on that Immortal's radar? A strange thought, "I see."

Praetorum explained further. He did not know exactly what the journey entailed but revealed he had been present at her first death. There was an awkward silence that followed, but Yeva smiled and seemed to breeze past it while pulling out a folded piece of parchment from her back pocket, "Well, it's good to be back," she smoothed the paper and held it out towards the large companion. If Prae looked, he would see a hand drawn map of the island with a shrine circled, "Let's not waste time dwelling on the past. As Cassion would say, 'Something something, adventure awaits!'" The Man of Roads would probably laugh while looking a doomernickle in the eye, maybe even throw in one or two compliments at the nearby women while he was at it, "We should probably get moving, I'll fill you in on the way."

She looked at the map, studied it and then tapped the location while following the trail. The medic was not a good navigator but this wasn't her first time on Immortal's Tongue. Together they moved towards their quest, Yeva stepping quickly in hopes to match the Ithecal's long strides, "Long story short... since returning to Scalvoris, I've spent most of my time trying to help a man named Linca," she continued to reference the map, "He's a councilman and a chief of Havardr, a moving village normally on the coast... They're fishermen, mostly," she explained, "Well, on the start of the Cylus, he just... fell asleep; Coma."

"Linca's not an old man," Yeva was not sure how familiar Praetorum was with the nuances of Scalvoris. Every trial Yeva continued to learn, "His illness was quite strange and he's so private, no one knew anything. He doesn'e even have a family."

She was getting off track, lost in the details, "Anyway, sorry - Turns out, Linca was cursed by Lisirra. As I was looking into it, Tio Silver came to visit," Yeva had to fight to keep the edge from her voice, "He wouldn't just outright fix my dilemma, because that would be too easy, right? He did, however, give me this map. Turns out, Linca might have been poking into something called the 'chalice in the ruins'. A few arcs back, Tio had actually had a run in with something similar."

"I did some more digging, because if I'm being honest, I don't fully trust Tio. Immortal of Curses and all that," Not to mention the growing list of personal experience with the former-Yludih, "This is when I stumbled across Moseke. She was disguised as a beggar woman in a storm... We talked, she... she marked me," Yeva had felt the fusion of power as it had entered her during their embrace, but hadn't realized the form it would take until she had begun to undress that evening for bed and found a tattoo-like mark, in the shape of a seed on her chest, "She asked me what I had learned about Linca and I told her. That was when she revealed herself. These ruins were headed to, they're keeping some sort of balance that represents Moseke and all of her sisters."

Yeva had to pause for a moment, the excessive storytelling and information dump causing her to be a bit breathless in her power walking, "Moseke didn't say much, other than it was a place with traps, and spiders. She said it was very dangerous... And that I would need a guardian," she smiled at Prae, "That must be where you come in."

"Moseke gave me some moss that was to wake Linca - she said it also grows by the ruins - but prior, Tio claimed the moss spread a disease that was only curable by destroying it with fire... So, I do not know what that means... An illusion, maybe? It seems we will have to be careful in trusting what we see with our eyes."

Yeva shrugged after a pause, the two having walked quite a distance now. They still had a ways to go, but they were making good time, "Any questions?"

[Praetorum]

Praetorum’s eyes dropped onto the map of the island Yeva had pulled out, memorizing it for future reference. This was not a small island.

As they began to walk—with Prae being careful to keep from outpacing the smaller woman—he stayed silent, listening to Yeva’s explanation. Fates, but there were more than a few immortals tangled up in this. Lisirra, Moseke, Ethelynda, someone called Tio Silver—and hadn’t Prae briefly known a defier of that name back in Yaralon—and Moseke’s sisters.

So, this ruin they were going to would have traps. Prae wasn’t sure what kind of traps would come up, but that was good information to know.

“I do have a few questions. I’m not as familiar with Moseke and her family—knowing which immortals are her sisters would be helpful,” Prae said when she was finished. “I take it Lisirra is one, and from your mention of spiders, I’m guessing that Sintra—” the name slipped from his muzzle with no small amount of disdain “—is another. Are there more?”

“Also, did this Tio mention what effects the disease had? Or what this chalice looked like?”

Finally, Praetorum took a moment to focus, reaching out with his attunement spark to latch on to Yeva’s frequency. He’d keep an ear out for her tune, since she said there might be illusions at play. Attunement wasn’t perfect, especially where immortals were involved, but it was still better than nothing.

After a moment’s consideration, he decided it would be best if he told her what he was doing. “I’m an attuner as well as a shieldbearer. I might—only might, mind—be able to learn something useful once we’re there. And I’ll be keeping track of your frequency, so hopefully we can avoid being tricked by any illusions.”

“Once we reach our destination, do you know exactly what you need to do, or is this as much a gathering information sort of expedition? Based on what you’ve said, it sounds like this Linca might have disrupted something in the ruins to get cursed? Do we need to set it right?”