RP:Don't Be Such a Sword-in-the-MUD

Part of the Dissonance Theory Arc

Summary: Still furious, Lionel tracks down Quintessa. Ignoring yet another schism of Xicotl's, he challenges the changeling to answer one last question. But her answer leaves him feeling foolish enough to set the whole charade aside, and in a stunning turn of events, the two vow to deal with Quintessa's godly dilemma together.

Desolate Path

Lionel hadn't overheard Khitti speaking with Quintessa about the girl's need to speak with Bradyn. Yesterday, during that spat aboard the Tranquility, Lionel had already exited the library before any such words could be overheard. As such, he hadn't the faintest idea that his fortunes would fill up so swiftly, and that the changeling he'd vowed to kill would arrive so soon. Hidden behind strange rock formations jutting out of ancient cliffs, the Catalian kept himself concealed in a black cloak which billowed with the rising wind. It was a stormy day, so stormy in fact that day seemed black as night. Lightning zigzagged across the sky much the same as it had when the two sword-wielders had most recently battled. The world felt colder now, colder and wetter and altogether cracking at its seams. In fact, the earth did shake, a tremor that erupted into a fissure which yawned wide -- not so wide as the chasm in the Sage Forest, nor even half as much, but more than wide enough for a person to fall through and vanish… forever. It was Xicotl's doing, and there was little doubt in Lionel's mind on that front, but nothing emerged from the pit and nor did the tremors continue. But the storm remained, fierce and furious, a breeze like gale almost overwhelming his human senses. He was out in plain view now, nearer to the road, yet views were anything but plain; the rain was like a shield to most eyes, distorting his image or obscuring it altogether. But he was there. Waiting.

Quintessa hadn’t taken Bloodbeak with her to Cenril when she visited Khitti, so this day, unlike many others, she was without her cockatrice mount. Being forced to walk through this sudden storm, however, didn’t bother her. Quintessa quite liked the rain, in fact. It concealed her movements while under her cloak, the darkness the perfect cover for her trek north even if she wasn’t trying to conceal her movements today. For all she knew Khitti had cleared her of her wrong doing and was free to do as she pleased under the protection of her mentor, provided she behaved herself. Quintessa wasn’t planning on being bad today, so perhaps naively, the changeling does not notice the silhouette of the man in plain view. It wasn’t the rain that concealed Lionel, her hag-borne eyes aided her well enough in that arena, but her own thoughts served as the distraction the catalain needs to get the drop on her, if that is indeed what he was planning on doing.

Lionel was thrice surprised in rapid succession. The first surprise came when nothing crept out of the chasm. Nothing crept out of the Southern Sage's, either, but he'd heard reports in recent weeks of fissures in the earth which summoned outpourings of zombie-like creatures -- thralls, no doubt. Multiple unsolved murders in the western reaches were presently being investigated by the Warrior's Guild as potentially related to Xicotl. This was a welcome surprise. It meant he'd be free to come back here later when the rain ceased and go rock-diving on his own terms. The second surprise was Quintessa herself; she seemed to emerge as if part of a shifting shroud through the storm, a ghost leaving a watery imprint wherever she traversed. But she was real, of course, and she seemed determined. That led to the third surprise. She didn't see him. He saw her, but she did not see him. Unexpected. And perhaps even more welcome than the lack of thralls infesting these dead plains. Before he had given conscious thought to his actions, his sword was drawn. Shimmering steel, sharp and serrated. He was still some ways away from her now; he would need to close the gap, and fast. And so he did. Moving so lightly that hardly a sound was made, even in this muddy expanse, the surefooted Catalian leapt forward when he was still several meters away, splashing down in front of the changeling but rising so rapidly, bringing his katana to guard his exposed frame so swiftly, that it was unlikely Quintessa would be able to strike him first. "I'll ask you one thing," Lionel said, inadvertently echoing himself from several days past. "What is it that you desire? Is it fame? Is it glory? Is it rulership? Or is there a woman's heart beating inside you, worthy of survival?"

Quintessa stops as Lionel intercepts her, her icy blue and golden hazel eyes peering out from the darkness of her invisibility cloak as the enchantment fades away to reveal her. The expression on the changeling’s face is one of exhaustion, of a woman who always seemed to be working on one thing or another. “A woman’s heart?” Quintessa tilts her head to the side in curiosity, but that normal smile that graced her lips whenever she typically did this was missing. The girl seemed emotionally drained. “I’m famous enough already,” she begins, her hands making absolutely no movement to draw her sword. “Glory was a fun idea when I was thirteen, and rulership?” She shrugs. “Sure, I dream of being Queen, like any other girl, but not for the reasons you might assume.” Quintessa’s head straightens back to its original alignment. “But right now the only thing I desire is finding my lover so I might embrace her. I want to break her sister’s curse and win her heart the right way- the hero’s way. Do you find an issue with this?”

Lionel studied Quintessa for a few seconds. Those few seconds felt to him like an eternity. She truly was drained. The venom on her tongue had been turned to ashes of its own accord. She wanted something… ordinary. Lionel respected those who found solace in the ordinary. The demon in his gaze yesterday afternoon was gone. In her stead, he once again saw the girl. Unbeknownst to him, Lionel himself wore that self-same face, a boyish face beneath his years, a face worn down by exhaustion, the face of a man who always seemed to be working on one thing or another. Slowly, he lowered his sword tip-first into the mud. He plunged it deep into the earth, deeper and deeper still, until scarcely a shimmer remained and only the hilt could be seen in full. "We don't have to like each other," he spoke plainly. "But in light of your answer, I'd prefer we didn't kill each other."

Quintessa can’t help but finally crack a smile as a chuckle escaped her pale lips. “Kill me now or kill me later, it’s really all the same I suppose, but I really want to see Karasu one last time.” Quintessa lazily takes a few steps forward as her monotone voice continues to drone on. “It was always her I wanted deep down. When I was a child I imagined being a famous hero, like in my books. I imagined winning the heart of a fair princess and ruling a kingdom of my own… But that’s all bullshhite. This game the nobles play?” She shakes her head, “I don’t have to explain it to you- you used to be a prince, right? Not much to rule over these days, I reckon.”

"I never learned the game," Lionel answered. "My childhood was spent on the run, being shuffled from one alleged benefactor to the next until I was just old enough to realize not a single one of them cared for anything but wealth and power through my name." He watched Quintessa's approach, thinking to himself that she still looked something like a ghost in this rain. "I never learned it, and I'm glad for it. Because it's as you say -- it's bullshhite. I can count on two fingers the number of rulers I've ever known who had the people's interests in their mind and not their own, and neither of them can make a real damned difference in this world because their positions forbid it. They're surrounded by the nobles, playing their game." Lionel stepped to the side now, just to the left of the hilt plunged in mud. "Catal is dead," he said out-of-turn, replying at last to Quintessa's prior inquiry. "The price of making enemies with creatures capable of setting entire nations aflame in moments. I could have let that be the end of me; I could have collapsed into the rain and buried myself in it. Instead, I decided that Catal is a cautionary tale. A tale I'll never allow Lithrydel to suffer. So if your heart's desire is as you claim it to be, then let me offer you something directly, right here and right now. Let me help you against your own foes, because your cause isn't steeped in the selfishness I feared after all. Let me fight by your side, because I don't want Lithrydel to burn, and I'd rather Karasu didn't burn either. Or you."

Quintessa gazes up at him, her sapphire and topaz eyes still catching what little light could gleam off of them in this storm. She seems conflicted, with obvious pain hidden behind those mismatched hues. “I don’t want Lithrydel to burn.” she repeats, “I never wanted any of this. I just wanted to get strong enough to protect myself and the things I love. I wanted to protect my homeland, Vailkrin, I still do! They don’t call me the ‘Shield of the East’ because I don’t have the people in mind. The games I play in the Dark Lands- I don’t do that for personal gain,” She pauses, shaking her head, “Sure, I take advantage of my position at times, but I have never shirked on my responsibilities as warden. Keeping people like Larewen Dragana from splitting my homeland into a civil war. From people like Vasili or Xzean from causing discontent. I alone have maintained the fragile peace of Vailkrin. Do people really claim it is my selfishness that drives me to do this? Lionel,” she sighs, her eyes falling from his, “If I thought I could come to you about this… About the Elder Thing I made a deal with… Well, perhaps we would not be standing in the rain right now. Forgive me for assuming you were like the old men that are currently holding me back in Xalious.”

Lionel decided that enough was enough. There was no need for the cautious steps anymore; at this point, if she was secretly planning to kill him, frankly she had earned the kill. Whether it was divine intervention or seasonal weather patterns that did it -- Lionel would always bank on the latter and shun the notion behind the former -- the rain cleared up a bit as he reached out and took her hand in his. It was a remarkable shift from recent events by any sane metric, but more than that, it was probably the first time he had outwardly expressed care for the girl in any sense. It wasn't something he consciously gave much thought, and he certainly didn't expect it to come as any less of a shock to Quintessa as it did to himself. "Nevermind what other people think," he said. Deep down, he knew he was referencing himself. But that foolishness had passed now that he could truly listen to her. Without outbursts from either of them, without added voices muddling his selective perception. "If the old men in Xalious always had their way, this land would have succumbed to darkness several times over just in the last decade, trust me. Inaction is a fatal action. But you're right -- there's no good reason for us to be in the rain at all." He let go of her hand after a time, not only to guide them elsewhere but because there was a creepy footnote in his mind that if he held onto it for too long people would start to get the wrong idea here, including himself. And that was just wrong on so many levels. "I'm here," he added some time later, "and I want to help."

Quintessa resisted the urge to jerk away when Lionel grabbed her hand, instead tensing at what her brain was telling her was an attack. Men did not usually reach out for the changeling for any other reason but to strike her, but when Quintessa felt that his soft grip was without aggression or debauchery, she relaxed. “I have to care sometimes,” she admits, looking up from their connected hands with the hint of a smile. “I need to be kept accountable, otherwise I’ll give in to the darkness. The call is… undeniable.” She stares at him for a long moment, wondering too if she should confide in him about what was going on in Xalious. “One of the Provosts, Kanaame Tsuji, threatened to kill me… I wanted to mention this to Khitti last night but…” She glances back in the direction of Cenril as Lionel’s hand slips from hers. “I’m not sure if I’m in your power to help, Imperator, but I promise we’ll sit down and figure it out together soon. You’ve always been willing to give me a chance, so I owe you that same courtesy.”