RP:Questing For The Late Quizical
Summary: Irenic has to go back for Quizical's precious treasure.
Private Beach
Large campfire has been dug into this secluded beach surrounded by large grey stones to contain it. In the centre is a large stack of dry sticks and logs perhaps somebody is planning a get together here? This beach is in excellent condition as unlike the others it is fairly exclusive there is no littler to be found and smooth sand stretches for a fair distance in both directions you notice oddly that not even a single rock or piece of seaweed is out of place here and wonder if the owner has some strange enchantment on this area to keep it in it's pristine condition. You sigh contentedly as the waves crawl slowly up onto the shore leaving a darker shade of golden wet sand in their wake and wonder how long you can stay here enjoying the wonderful scenery, or how a cool dip might feel upon your tired frame.
Irenic had not realized this is where his flight wanted to automatically take him. This was the last place he saw the kid's smile and heard his amazement when he showed him the stars. He lands with a bit of a stumble for his weakened state; lack of sleep, nutrition and stress will do that to you. He was holding something as his footsteps slid from under him and he gently came down to his knees, but his wings were blocking view of what he was doing while leaned over. He set what looked like a small body down into the sands and continued to be leaned over the body with his wings spread over them. It seems his shoulders are shaking a bit as if sobbing, but that cannot be right… Right? Irenic is a callous man and quite immune to most emotions…. Right?
Eloni angled her wings in pursuit, she had come to explore places she had yet to see, but was sidetracked when she spotted the large wings in flight. They could only belong to one person. As he set down she would circle before spilling the air from her wings and touching down before him lightly. A playful smirk across her face, lips parted to give a playful jab in greeting but she froze in place, she knew that look, the shoulders, the near crumpled form kneeling before her. "E-Edlin?" Her voice soft, her movements slow as she inches towards the hunched form. He was crying, what in all the world's could make the man she knew cry so. Standing before him now she'd slide to her knees, her wings tenderly reaching out to hold the obviously grieving avian. "What happened?" Again her voice so very soft, but she knew with his keen hearing he would hear her.
Irenic flinched away and quickly stood up and turned his body from her while wiping his face. In doing so would show the sweet orphan boy she met in the Library that day laying lifeless in the sand with what dust caked on the boys skin and dried blood matted in his hair... He was dead. Irenic's arms crossed over his chest and she would tell he still felt pitiful for those wings hung as if lifelessly down his back even though his posture was rigid. A moment of quiet would pass as he couldn't even turn to look at her and tell her when a dust and bloodied hand griped over his eyes as if to hold in the mourn he was feeling.
Eloni looked to the dirty little body when the other avian spun away. Still non her knees, wings now shifting to cover the little orphan. Her head bowed as she spoke a prayer for him to the God of battle, to protect and watch over the boy on his way to his final resting place. A soft kiss is press to his cold forehead before she pulls herslef up. Moving around the little body a respectful distance she walks with purpose. Moving to stand before Irenic she says not a word, reaching his crossed arms open she wrapped him in a powerful hug. He figured it would rip himself away soon, but she held him tightly in silence. Her own fowl memories starting to bubble up, a similar scene though a much darker day.
Irenic accepts the hug of condense from Eloni as he ignored the grumble from his hungry stomach and upon seeing his face she would be able to tell he had not slept much the past few days and this man is possibly close to breaking mentally. He wipes his face once more and gently pulled he away by the shoulders, "Thank you... I know you did not know him." The menacing voice of his was weakened to a raspy whisper and he turned to look down at the boy once more, "I... I was like him," he sighs a shaken one, "I was starting to dread the day he would get adopted because I started to care for him like my own." His hands smooth his hair back which are also somewhat matted by debris and sweat, "I promised him I would protect him... I failed him." The last words spoken a little harder and rough before another awkward silence was leveled between them, "When I find out who did this..." he couldn't even think straight.
Eloni would not press for another embrace when he finally peeled her away, but her wing would stretch to hold his drooping ivory wing. Her eyes, now rimming with tears, shifted to follow his gaze to the orphan, "I didn't need to know him well to morn his passing, he was young with his life ahead of him... and a strong mentor to show him how to navigate it." Her wing pressed to his a little harder. A soft sniff proceeded the tears that started to roll down her cheeks. Hands coming up to brush them away to no effect. To many memories came back at once, a body only a little larger, shattered wings and armor. Arms cross and grip tightly to the opposite as she drops heavily to her knees, tears falling unabated now, eyes locked on the orphan. "F-find them... make them hurt.." Her voice sounding deep, full of renewed pure rage. Funny things the bad memories, they grow hazy to allow the mind to recover. But they can come back and strike you with the force or a war hammer. Shoulders slowly tremble as her head finally falls unable to look at him any more.
Irenic's wings perk up at the word 'navigate' and he looks up at the darkening skies as he repeated, "Navigate…" Those mismatched optics inspect the boy as he said once more, "Navigate.." He knelt next to the lifeless body now and started to go though his pockets, "Navigate!" His voice started to sound a bit insane now and earning it's gruffness back…. "Navigate, navigate, navigate…. Dammit!" He grunts and stands back up with a firm hand on the fellow Knight's shoulder, "I need to go find something he must have dropped… I can't… I cannot b-bury him without it. Can you just stay here with him, Dove?" As if he got the answer or assumed the answer was yes he flew off into the skies once more back towards Larket. He needed to find it, the spyglass he gifted the boy not more than a week ago as he never let it out of his sight and it must still be among the rubble of the (not so) Towering Tenements.
Eloni half heard the request and nodded she would, but he had already gone, searching for something dear to the poor boy. Her hands ball into fists, her right slamming into the sand, slowly pulling only to have her left strike the same spot. "The scales have already been balanced." She muttered over and over again several times before she finally relaxed. Wings slowly drooping she slid over to the little body, shifting to rear his head in her lap. Out comes her wings to cover them both, quite the mother sight it would seem, the avian protecting her child. She had been asked to watch him, she will keep his body safe until Irenic comes back, this is her charge and she will not fail again. Never again.