She knows that she was already pretty exhausted after walking through miles of snow and then sleeping on the cold stone floor of a cave, but the longer she follows Mog, the more she wants to just curl up into a ball and either sleep, or simply die.
Mog had said that Ceelyaer wasn't too far away, but this is starting to feel a lot like 'too far' to Reela. Her body feels weaker and her eyes droop the longer they go on. Her shoulders hang low as her arms have grown heavier and she has to drag her feet over the forest floor, and in her fatigued state she's too out of it to realize that she's making a lot of noise for someone who can't defend themself in case of attack.
At least her hands and shoulder have been slowly getting better. Reela had asked Mog at some point about why it's taking so long for the elixir to take effect, and Mog reassured her that it's just how it works. Some elixirs work faster and some work slow. She guesses this one is an elixir that people would take before going to bed so they would be healed when they wake up.
But Reela, like an idiot, is still awake.
Maybe that's why she feels so tired. Maybe it's the elixir. Like a pain reliever that also helps you sleep so you don't know the actual agony you're in through the healing process.
After a while, Reela starts nodding off. For just a moment, her eyes close and her body shuts down, but she manages to snap herself awake once her knees hit the ground and she gasps which catches Mog's attention. The orc stops walking and turns around to see Reela catching her breath on the ground.
Reela grumbles her frustration and looks up as Mog walks over and tilts her head down at her. "Are you sure we're going the right way? At this rate, it's going to be dark soon..." she mutters and Mog laughs. The sound is almost forced, but Reela is too tired to pay it much mind.
"Is it?" the orc scratches the back of her head and looks around. "Nah! It's not going to get dark! Trust me, we're almost there!"
"Then why does it feel like we've been walking in circles all day?" Reela huffs. "You don't know where we're going, do you?"
Mog chuckles awkwardly. "What? Nooo. Of course I do! It's around here somewhere, I promise!"
Very reassuring.
The orc kneels down to pat Reela on the shoulder, making her slightly wince. The pain may be healing, but it's still there. "Ow... Again, Mog, that's my bad shoulder..." she reminds her for what feels like the hundredth time.
"Is it? Whoops. My bad!" Mog clears her throat. "Sorry, I can be kinda forgetful sometimes."
Reela glares at her. "I've noticed. Seeing as it seems you've forgotten where the town is," she huffs and takes a deep breath before pushing herself to get back up. Mog stands with her and bites her lip which you'd think would be difficult for an orc, but apparently not. "But whatever. We still need to keep moving, so let's go..." she says and starts walking without waiting for Mog to catch up.
The orc hurries after her and again, catches her by her shoulder. Again, her bad shoulder. "Actually, I think I remember it being this way," she lets her go and motions what Reela thinks is North, but at this point she's lost all sense of direction. "Follow me!" she says and begins walking again.
Reela shakes her head with a sigh, but follows anyway.
She keeps following Mog for about another hour, which is when she notices the sky starting to fade to an orange hue. That's when she stops in her tracks and crosses her arms. "Alright that's it. You don't know where you're going. It's going to be dark soon and I don't want to get caught in the night. So either figure your shit out, or I'm going to try finding this place on my own," she snaps.
At this point, she's too drained to be polite. Her mind and body are exhausted – more exhausted than it feels like they should be. Again, she wonders if it's on account of the elixir, but slowly that assumption starts to shift to suspicion.
Mog balks and shakes her head. "Look, I'm sorry. I promise I'm really trying here..." she snaps her fingers. "If you're getting tired, I think I have a stamina elixir here somewhere!" she starts reaching for her bag, when Reela growls.
"No more elixirs! Where is this fucking town?!" she shouts, which causes her head to spin and she momentarily off-sets her balance. She stumbles a bit to the side and manages to catch herself on a tree and hold her head to try and pull herself together, but the dizziness persists.
Mog takes a step towards her and her brows furrow. "Uh... Are you okay, Reela?"
"I'm fine..." Reela mutters, but stops herself as she slowly lowers her hand to stare at Mog. The orc is watching her with only a hint of concern in her eyes. But mostly curiosity. "...I never told you my name."
Mog stares at her with blank eyes. "Oh," she chuckles nervously. "Right."
Reela reaches for her boot knife, when Mog rushes over with her hands out defensively. "Okay okay, look. Please don't kill me. I promise this isn't what it looks like!"
"Really? Because it looks like you've been trying to tire me out," Reela growls and draws her knife. Not that she knows what she's going to do with it. Her head is still spinning and she can tell that if she lets go of the tree, she's going to fall over. But she guesses it's better to have it just in case.
Mog winces with a sheepish shrug. "Well... Not exactly," she says. "Mostly I was just waiting for it to be night."
Reela tries pushing herself to stand up a bit straighter without lowering her hand from the tree. She has to shake her head again to keep herself focused as her mind is swiveling. At this point, she thinks it's safe to assume something was definitely wrong with that 'healing' elixir.
"Why?" she demands.
Mog chuckles anxiously. "...Because night is when werewolves come out?"
Reela tilts her head in question, but before she's able to process what she said, she's knocked to the ground from behind. She lands on her stomach with a grunt and she tries to turn herself over to see with the fuck is happening, but a massive hand is pushing down on her back to keep her pinned.
She can feel the claws threatening to pierce her skin through her dress, which makes her try to keep still. Though, that isn't hard as she hears the low rumbling growl and feels the hot breath that reeks of fish for some reason breathe down her neck. The fear alone is what gets her to freeze in place.
Ohhh. She said werewolves. Now she gets it.
She wants to fight back against the beast holding her down, but even she has enough sense to know that would be fucking stupid. All she can manage to do is crane her neck back just enough to see over her shoulder is the beast's face, which is a mistake because now she's pretty sure that when she inevitably passes out, she's going to have nightmares about this thing's chilling blue eyes.
Reela turns her attention away from the scowling beast when Mog clears her throat. "Yeah... Um... Sorry about this," the orc says and Reela watches her slowly approach with her axe in her hand. "Really, it's—It's not personal or anything, just..." she nervously chuckles with another shrug. "It's a living."
Reela growls up at her and tries to move her arm with her knife, but a second mottled hand covered in black fur pins her wrist to the ground with another low growl.
And as she had been anticipating, the second her attention was away from Mog, the blunt end of an axe hits her over the head and the last thing she hears before falling unconscious is a nervous "I'm sorry?" from the orc.
Yeah. Bad luck runs in the family alright.
Of course her second day in Letroseli would end with a motherfucking werewolf. Because why the hell would anything ever be easy? She really hopes Cree is having a better time over in Manatria, because so far, Letroseli fucking blows.
Reela wakes up to feeling tight bindings around her wrists behind her back. She's sitting in a chair, but she can't distinguish much more than that just yet. Slowly, she blinks her eyes open to see that once again, Mog is filling her view.
She's now in a room with stone walls and wooden support beams. There are a few lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and strewn about the room are barrels and crates, as well as a couple wine racks.
The orc is watching her with squinted eyes and pursed lips, but she smiles and leans back with a relieved sigh. "Hey! Good morning," she says awkwardly. "Look... No hard feelings, right?"
Reela glares up at her and says nothing. She's pretty sure her face says it all.
Mog nods sharply. "Right. I'll just take that as a 'maybe,'" she says and takes a big step back.
Before Reela can say anything, a sigh from across the room catches hers and Mog's attention and they both look over to see someone that Reela doesn't recognize. A woman wearing vibrant but dark blue gypsy-esque garbs. She has long spiky black hair and dark skin and poking out from her hair is a pair of black cat ears and flicking irritably behind her is a slender black tail.
But what Reela immediately notices is her icy blue eyes that seem to glow in contrast to her dark skin. She doesn't know why, but they look familiar.
The Tus'Felnis woman rolls her eyes and glares at Mog. "Give it a rest already. You did your job, M'Venaas did hers, now it's the boss's turn. We're not making 'friends' here," she hisses. Knowing what she knows about the way it seems every Tus'Felnis that's not Nisha speaks, Reela can only assume 'M'Venaas' is her name.
Mog pouts and crosses her arms. "Well not with that attitude..." she mutters, getting a dry laugh out of the Tus'Felnis.
"You'll have to pardon her 'attitude.' She was perfectly content in Narvadin, but Avinalyn doubted your ability to actually do your job," she growls. "And thus, here she is."
Reela sighs and slumps back in her chair. Of course Avinalyn is behind this. How is that even possible? If this M'Venaas was apparently in Narvadin, that's on the complete opposite side of Aramora from Letroseli. Reela just got here about three days ago now. There's no way M'Venaas could have gotten here in three days, so either she's talking bullshit, or something weird is going on. And more than the normal weird. Magic weird.
On cue, a door behind Reela opens and then closes. She glances back over her shoulder, and immediately she feels the hope leave her body. Of course it's Avinalyn. Because why the fuck wouldn't it be.
Back in the dungeon, they were beaten and bruised and they looked like they had been sitting there for weeks without sleeping or bathing. Whether or not that was true is a mystery. But now, their blonde hair is cleanly styled back in layers with the rest that's not tied back hanging past their shoulders. They're wearing a loose satin red robe over their black shirt and pants.
Now that they don't look all mangled and brooding, they appear to be a bit younger than she thought before. Maybe in their early twenties. But despite how they've cleaned up, they still have the smile of an ass.
Reela sighs once again and turns forward to sink even further into her chair. "Yippee... The psycho squad's all here..." she murmurs with an annoyed eyeroll. She hears Avinalyn chuckle softly as they enter the room and walk around her, but they don't say anything. At first, she's glad for this. Every time they speak, she feels either stupid, or annoyed.
But the way they're just watching her in uncomfortable silence is even worse.
Unsure of what to do, she turns her gaze back onto them, but the moment she meets their eyes, they simply flash her a smile before turning away to face Mog and M'Venaas.
Were they really just waiting for her to look at them?
Avinalyn holds their hands behind their back and nod to Mog. "Feel free to collect your payment on your way out," they say simply. Reela forgot how much she hates the way they talk. All slow and menacing like a fucking Disney villain.
Mog clears her throat and tilts her head. "Wait... That's it? But what about Reela?"
"I tasked you with recovering her. The rest is my business," they state and turn their attention onto the Tus'Felnis. "As for you, Ven. Go to Lithonilynn. In my..." they glance back at Reela with a small smirk that makes her want to punch them across the face again. "...Eagerness to get here," they look to the Tus'Felnis again. "I may have left some... assets behind. Acquire one or both. Either works for me."
M'Venaas rolls her eyes. "Are you fucking kidding her? You want her to go all the way to Lithonilynn – which is freezing fucking cold – and then come all the way back?" she balks which gets a low laugh out of Avinalyn.
"You're a Mar, are you not? Just use your magic," they turn away from her to face Reela again with a smile. With a huff, Reela looks away.
M'Venaas growls and steps away from the wall. "Fine. But after this, she better get to go home. M'Venaas hates the cold," she states.
Avinalyn shrugs. "It all depends on whether or not my guest chooses to cooperate," they say and without looking away from Reela, lifts their hand to motion for Mog and M'Venaas to leave.
The Tus'Felnis growls under her breath, but takes her leave. Mog lingers for a moment, catching Reela's glare to show her an empathetic frown before she follows M'Venaas out the door and closes it behind her.
Reela sighs and shakes her head, when Avinalyn slowly kneels in front of her with their forearms rested on their knees. She can see out of the corner of her eye that they are watching her and trying to catch her eye, but she stubbornly keeps her eyes on the wall. She even does one better and just closes her eyes entirely. 'Suck it, asshat.'
But she just hears them softly chuckle again. "Are you comfortable?" they ask.
Reela scoffs and opens her eyes. "Are you fucking kidding me? Oh yes, absolutely! I feel like I'm having a nice relaxing day at the spa filled with piña coladas and hot women rubbing my shoulders!" she snaps her glare to them. "Who the hell has ever gotten kidnapped and thought to themselves; 'You know, this is alright. I'm perfectly fine with this!'?" she exclaims and slumps back again once she's done with her little rant.
Avinalyn merely shrugs with a content smile. "Well, I suppose it all depends on the company of the kidnapper."
"Alright then, you Stockholm syndrome freak. Whatever gets you off I guess," Reela huffs and looks away again. The one thing Cree had taught her that she never understood until now was how to act if she was ever interrogated. His number two rule was to annoy and/or confuse the person interrogating her until they give up. So finally, her skills of being a little shit might pay off.
Avinalyn just chuckles again and stays kneeled in front of her in silence for a moment. Dammit, they're doing it again. Staring at her and probably waiting for her to look at them so they feel like they've gained some sort of small victory.
Lucky for her, she's spent years practicing how to ignore people.
So instead of letting her curiosity get the better of her, she distracts herself by looking around the room more. She guesses it actually looks more like a cellar of some sort than a room. There are no windows, so she can't tell what time it is. At least she feels a little more rested. Despite the situation she now finds herself in, at least that sleeping poison Mog had spiked her health elixir with really worked wonders for her insomnia.
All train of thought is swiftly ended when Avinalyn apparently tires of waiting and gently grabs Reela's chin to turn her face to look at them. She shakes her head with another scoff to get their hand off her face.
They lower their hand with a contented smile. "I am pleased to see that you survived the fall," they say.
"What, after you dropped me off a fucking mountain?"
"I didn't drop you," Avinalyn corrects. "You chose to let go."
Reela snickers and burns a sharp glare at them. "Yeah, to get the hell away from you. What does that say about your personality?" she snaps, and Avinalyn sighs and slightly shakes their head. She really can't tell what this person's deal is. What do they want from her? Is she missing something or are they really just this fucking insane?
Avinalyn slowly stands up and steps off to her side. "I told you that hurting you wasn't my intention."
She blurts a laugh. "Yes, because nothing hurts about third-degree burns. I don't know what kind of fire kink you have, but for normal people, that shit hurts," she asserts.
They slowly nod and take a step closer to reach down and, once again, turn her face up to look at them. And once again, she shakes their hand off with an irritated growl.
"I said that it wasn't my intention," they state. "So whatever pain I caused you, you provoked me to do it."
Reela huffs. "Dude, you fucking suck at apologies."
"Does it sound like I'm asking for forgiveness?" they tilt their head innocently. She calls bullshit on there being anything 'innocent' about this asshole. They start to walk around her again so she stops following them with her gaze.
"Then what are you asking for?" she sighs. "You clearly went through all this trouble to get me here. Why?" she demands. Might as well get to the point and hopefully make this end quicker.
They stop behind her. "When we met, you were interrogating me," they pause with a small chuckle. "Poorly. But I won't hold that against you. It was your first time, after all," they say and she can just hear that cocky fucking smile in their voice.
She knows that she would be able to see them if she turned her head back over her shoulder, but she opts to keep her eyes forward and continue to be the stubborn little shit she was born to be. What, are they going to grab her face again and snap her fucking neck?
"But now..." Answering her mental question but stopping all other thoughts from entering her mind, she suddenly feels their hand on her neck and they slowly pull her head back to rest against the chair and they lean over her shoulder to speak into her ear.
"It's my turn to be asking questions."
Reela just slowly turns her face to look at them with the most confused and uncomfortable expression she thinks she's ever had in her fucking life.
"Why... the fuck... are your hands so cold?" she balks. "You were literally blowing fire off your fingertips before. What, was that all just a fucking parlor trick?"
Feeling victorious, she watches the threatening composure on their face slowly shift to confusion. They just gently release her neck and hold their hands behind their back as they resume walking around her, finally looking away from her with their eyes on the floor holding a contemplative look.
After a moment, they stop in front of her. "You're..." they pause to look her over before meeting her eyes again. "...Not like most people."
Reela snorts and rolls her eyes again. "Okay cool. So I'm a pick-me girl now. Glad that's established. Same time next week?"
Again, they pause and just stare at her. She thinks she's actually succeeding in her efforts to confuse them to the point of potentially giving up and letting her go. They seem to be genuinely at a loss for some reason.
After a moment, they step towards her and rest one hand on the arm of the chair and the other reaches up to cradle her cheek. She grimaces and tries to lean away, but their hand follows. But they say nothing this time.
"Why – the absolute fuck – do you keep touching my face?"
Avinalyn curiously tilts their head as they lower their hand to grab the other arm of the chair, but they don't move back. Despite their obvious confusion, they still show her a composed smile. "You mean to say you aren't enjoying it?"
Reela just laughs. "What the fuck are you talking about? Isn't this supposed to be an interrogation?" she snorts and leans back in her chair. "You are fucking terrible at this!"
This time, they chuckle too as they finally lean back a bit. "Would you prefer if I used my knife?" they ask, getting a snicker out of Reela but she keeps her mouth shut and turns her face away. She purses her lips and bites her tongue, but she can't help but keep snickering to herself.
Avinalyn narrows their eyes and studies her face closely as she tries to fight her giggling. "Something amuses you, Reela?" they ask, getting her to hesitantly turn her face back towards them, but she doesn't meet their eyes and just snickers again.
'Don't say it.'
She's gonna fucking say it.
"...That's what she said," she mutters quickly with another snort and keeps giggling to herself.
Avinalyn just stares at her for a second, seemingly in shock. She sees them slightly open their mouth to speak, but nothing comes out and they just sigh with a chuckle as they let go of the chair to step back and appear to gather their thoughts with another small laugh.
Were they actually amused by that?
They look down at their hands and trace one of their palms with their thumb and slowly nod. "...You asked why my hands are so cold," they start and glance back at her. "It's because I never learned how to control my magic. Not from the Dev'al Ordon. Not from anyone. I had to adapt to the uncontrolled nature of it..." they turn to face her. "Ice. Snow. The cold helps to dull the heat, but it doesn't stop it. Like a wild beast, it's safe until it's provoked." They start walking back over and lower one hand, but they keep the other raised.
Reela just watches them in question, when they stop in front of her again. Without a word, they calmly lift their finger, which sparks a small flame that balances elegantly on their fingertip. They move the flame towards Reela's face, but stop before letting it get close enough to burn her, but she can feel the heat against her cheek so she slightly leans back.
She stares up at them, and she sees their glare. The threat in their eyes.
"So don't provoke me."
Reela purses her lips and glances down at the flame in front of her face. It feels no hotter than a burning candle. She glances up at them again for just a moment before returning her attention to the flame. She contemplates a thought and if the inevitable ramifications would be worth it.
Guess she'll find out.
She quickly blows out the flame.
Avinalyn stands almost speechless for a second, as if they don't even know how to respond to that while Reela is a snickering giggling little shit and trying to suppress her utter satisfaction at seeing the sheer look of disbelief that just dawned over Avinalyn's face because she knows that she's fucked after that.
Worth it.
But instead, Avinalyn quietly chuckles and lowers their hand.
Reela clears her throat between snickers and nods to them without lifting her head. "...Continue," she says cheekily.
Avinalyn sighs and shakes their head, giving her a slightly appraising look mixed with anger. Like they're uncertain if they should be mad or impressed. "You're a clever girl, Reela."
Is that what they're calling it?
They slowly kneel down in front of her again and place their hand on her burnt shoulder, which makes her tense. The pain may be healed now, but she remembers that it was their hand that had burned her in the first place. "Maybe you'll be clever enough to answer my question..."
"No I will not marry you," Reela shakes her head.
"I—" they stop. "...Wait, what?"
Reela shrugs carelessly. "Sorry, you're just not my type. I prefer a partner with more... laxity? Is that the right word?" she looks up in thought, catching a glimpse of their face. "Oh, was I reading the room wrong? Sorry, that's my bad. Please, continue," she flashes a cheeky grin.
For just a second, their hand flares with the scorching heat she remembers and she yelps and tries to move her shoulder away from them, but the burning quickly fades again. They warm their palm enough to tempt the pain they just gave her, but they keep the temperature steady.
"Tell me, Reela," they warningly rub their thumb over her shoulder, making the burn sting a bit. She sits as motionless as she can and even holds her breath to sit as still as possible as she silently awaits their question.
They slowly stand back up without removing their hand from her shoulder and languidly moves their other hand to grab the back of the chair, right beside her head.
"Where is your father?"
Reela just stares dumbfounded up at them and tilts her head.
"...Wait, what?"