The Princess and the Blade

[Soran Nightblade]

Ren frowned at his hand. Was it just the connection? Laurius's voice didn't sound right. He placed a second hand around the one holding the stone, as if to secure him. [Are you familiar with a sorcerer called Cian Parker? A specialist in ancient texts?]

[Emora Deen]

For the second time Laurius almost dropped the stone. [I know him,] he said, looking around. His gaze darted from corner to corner, tracing the lines of grout between stones like he was solving a puzzle. [Of course. The sisters can’t read it. They’ll want someone who can… If he’s at the citadel, that would be convenient… If not? Well, we’re in trouble…] Technically, they could be in some trouble if they found him. [Can you find a list of educators or postings? I don’t know if that is something Hajara would have. Every student of the citadel gets a posting. If you can find that, it will tell us where the sisters are going.]

[Soran Nightblade]

Ren's eyes dimmed as he searched his infallible memory and could think of nothing he'd seen that spoke of postings. [I will look,] he swore.

Havi was watching Laurius from his position on the floor. He only vaguely grasped the thread of their conversation, but the longer he tried, the more he woke up. Laurius was actually talking to Ren. That meant that before, what he heard had been Tenara's actual voice. He collected his long legs under him like a newborn colt, dangerously close to attempting to stand up.

[Emora Deen]

Laurius nodded, forgetting that Ren couldn’t see him. Then, quickly, he added, [Thank you…] A thousand things ran through his mind, but nothing could find its way out of his mouth.

Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he noticed Havitharon trying to get to his feet. He looked as if he’d come awake suddenly. Laurius looked at the stone in his hand, knowing that if Havitharon was more aware than he had been before, he would want to speak to Tenara.

[Find the information if you can. We will look here. Maybe we will get lucky and see the sisters waltz in. Maybe I will see you soon. For now… I think Havitharon needs his Yurivis.]

[Soran Nightblade]

Ren shivered. Lucky? Here he was trying to help him get to the sisters, but if he did find them.... The bloodsoaked memories were as clear as this very moment in his mind. [No one may hurt you,] he snarled through the stone, as if demanding his safety could make it so.

[Emora Deen]

Laurius thought of Oberin before he thought of the sisters or Cian at Ren’s outburst. [Of course no one will hurt me. I’ve got Havitharon and his feral daughter to look after me.]

[Soran Nightblade]

Ren tilted his head. "Feral daughter?"

Before Laurius could respond, Havi's hand clasped over Laurius's on the stone. The Ivis had made it to his feet and was now standing beside Laurius' albeit unsteadily. "Yurivis," he said quietly into the stone, as if awaiting a response from a ghost. "I am filled with regret. I should not have left your side without speaking with you first."

[Emora Deen]

"Daughter?" Tenara asked from where she stood next to him. She had taken her hand off to help give Ren some privacy, but standing and only hearing half the conversation made her too curious, and she felt she was missing something important. Ren had only just gotten it too. It was selfish to ask if she could have a chance with it...

"Is Havi okay?" she found herself asking without really meaning too, her fingers stretching out toward Ren's hand holding the stone.

---

Laurius looked at Havitharon, trying to wiggle his hands out from under the man's grasp, not wanting to be caught in between the two lovers. "I don't think she's on the other side. Give it a second. You're going to waste all that adorable groveling on thin air."

[Soran Nightblade]

Ren glanced at Tenara. "He is ashamed that he left without permission," he whispered uneasily. "To be honest, I do not believe he had a choice." He said it as though begging her for leniency, like it was an unspeakable crime. After all, his own Yurivis had broken his bond for the same crime. But he placed the stone in her fingers.

Havi seemed barely aware of Laurius's words. He squeezed both of his hands around the stone, trapping Laurius's fingers, and continued. "I am sorry, Yurivis," he murmured.

[Emora Deen]

Havitharon's voice filtered into her head as Ren was pressing the stone into her fingers and explaining that Havitharon hadn't had a choice in leaving. "I know," she said, to both of them, curling her fingers over the stone. The image of Havitharon in the snow, disappearing with her father blossomed in her mind. Before that, maybe she remembered the forest right after they returned from his world. But that had been so blurry it almost seemed like a dream. She was trying to remember when they had been near, and coherent, and for some reason she could only think of being with him in his rooms in his world.

["I know,"] she said again, nodding, though he couldn't see it. ["Are you alright? Are you safe? He's not getting you into trouble there, is he?"]

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi pressed his forehead to his hands, as if to deliberately make Laurius even more uncomfortable. [It is the opposite. Since leaving, I have doubted every decision I make here. I do not wish to make Laurius suffer for my principles, and I should focus only on our purpose here, yet I took the child anyway.]

[Emora Deen]

Tenara blinked, looking at Ren, but he no longer had his fingers on the stone and couldn't hear. Havitharon sounded a little strange, like he wasn't fully awake or had had something to drink. ["Child?"] she asked, sitting slowly in the tufted stool near her vanity. ["What... child did you take?"]

Laurius growled at Havitharon, trying to wiggle free. ["I don't want to be in the middle of this..."]

["In the middle of what?"] Tenara asked.

[Soran Nightblade]

Have finally noticed Havi's hands and scooped the stone away, setting him free. [We bought a slave from Laurius's professor,] he said. [She is here in the next room. Even if such things are normal here, I could not comprehend it, so I demanded her on impulse.]

[Emora Deen]

["Oh, Havi,"] Tenara said, staring at the stone and wishing she could see him as well as hear him. ["I'm sure you had to do it. You said she was a child? I would have done the same..."] It was such a far cry from the man she had met in the mud and followed to that boat, who had seemed to hate females so much, that she couldn't imagine him sticking his neck out for one, even a child. Now... ["You're a good man, Havitharon. I wish you didn't have to do this. I want you to com—I wish you could come..."] She almost said 'home', but... this wasn't his home.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi settled down heavily onto the floor where he stood, his long legs crossing under him. [It is a relief to hear your words. I will return to you any way I can. I am sorry I am not with you... Even with your family there, it must be difficult, returning there after everything that happened."