Burdens Are Lifted

Alexis had found herself getting lost looking into the flames of the fire place when Tarmen returned and pulled her out of her stupor. Man she needed to put a lid on that. She couldn’t drift off all the time when she had a fire nearby. Shaking herself awake to thank Tarmen, she moved over to inspect the clothes he brought with Voah, squeezing the absent minded Gonyaul‘s shoulder as she went.

“Can you work with that?”
she asked the ex-Arbiter.

After a pause, she added:

“And do you even want to go to where you would have to?”

Alexis was trying to make her mind up how to proceed. Yes, she needed to find a way to get to the shaft, but how? Going by what Voah had told her, the Brotherhood was joining the war effort. So heading towards Ostiarium was probably her best bet to get back on their trail.
But… would she just ignore everything else in favour of that?
There was an undeniable disconnect to the City of Stone. But those were still her people. She felt she could not just abandon them.

Gonyaul’s head tilted ever so gently in the direction of Alexis’ forearm when she squeeze his shoulder. It was a tender-looking reflexive gesture, even though his expression still showed he wasn’t mentally present. Very similar to a plant that when you rub it’s leaves, it naturally curls in on itself in response. At least it provided hope that the sweetness in his spirit was still in there somewhere.

The horse that Tarmen brought with him let out a whinny, followed by a blusterous discharge of air from its nostrils. Upon hearing the sound, Gonyaul’s eyes seemed to focus on the here and now. His posture also improved ever so slight as his head began to look upwards from his seated position in the direction of the noise.

The horse neighed, and Gonyaul stood slowly and turned to face it. The two making eye contact. A smile started to form on the young man’s face as through the fog in his mind was lifting when he started to recognize the horse. It was Amu!

Out of nowhere his disposition began to slowly improve. He whispered, “Amu?” The sudden sound from him, even though not much, was surprising to his party members. He hadn’t used words in quite a while.

Gonyaul made his way over to the horse and embraced its neck. Amu, who had always been rather indifferent to Gonyaul, seems to have changed her tune and was actually showing him affectionate attention. Perhaps having lost her initial owner and experiencing others, the horse realized how good she had it under his care.

A hint of Gonyaul’s personality was starting to bubble up to the surface again. He was ignoring everything else and conversing cheerfully in Vauxian tongue with Amu.

Over the past few weeks, Voah could feel the weight of the world bearing down on the entire party. At first, she just thought it was situational, but in no time she inferred that each of them was troubled in their own way. It was sad but comforting to know that she wasn't suffering alone the effects of Arcadia.

Now that they were at a true resting point in their journey, she couldn't help but notice some of the burden had been lifted. She also noted that whenever there was fire, Alexis seemed to lose herself in deep thought.

Gonyaul had often spoke of his second family at Greyriver steading and how Alexis had an infectious and beautiful smile that he wished he could preserve. Voah felt that she hadn't seen the mercenary smile often enough and presently, being in Desdem, her companions sitting with friendly and familiar faces around a hearth, Voah had witnessed the truth, the power of that smile. When Alexis smiled, Voah felt the hint of a smirk forming on her own face.

She thanked Tarmen for the purchases. The man had been sullen and soft spoken. Voah could see he was going through his own crisis of faith and doubted she had any words of comfort for him. She resolved to do what she could in their typical silent way, but honestly, maybe it was time to finally open up to words.

As for Gonyaul... he was despondent and much more reserved... it was understandable to an extent. He was having some revelations on the realities of life. Still, his eyes were full of some deep unfulfilled promise and quiet hope.

She watched his reunion with Amu she wanted to lose herself with him again... to surrender to depth of his eyes, the wonder and playfulness of his soul, and the tender but firm strength of his hands. Instead she looked away to the questions being directed to her.

"Yes, this should do just fine." Voah replied to Alexis. "As to your other question... I am having a hard time answering that myself." she gave the mercenary a soft smile.