Avinalyn was unaware that their decision to shadow Reela in Sunyu Foorst would prove to be this beneficial. They watched her storm away from the centaur twins once they started arguing and she found a quiet room at the tavern.
But the nice thing about centaur cities is the lack of glass windows.
They waited in silence, just listening to Reela on the phone.
"Reela, you're lucky you're my daughter. Otherwise I would fucking kill you for that goddamn heart attack you gave me, but only after I've checked you into a fucking mental hospital because what the actual fuck are you talking about?"
They recognized her father's voice from the last time he called. They had a feeling that letting Reela keep her phone was the right choice. Trying to get her password would have been more difficult. She's too smart for that. Untrusting of their intentions, and for good reason.
But simply letting her make the mistake of calling her dad on speaker was far easier. And overall harmless towards their standing with the girl. It's not their fault she didn't account for the fact that they might overhear the things she says.
More specifically, the things her father says.
"I have to find four mages? Healers or whatever the fuck you said? Do you know how many fucking mages are in Manatria?"
"I'm guessing less now that you've been there," Reela chuckles.
Avinalyn smiled to themself. 'Manatria.'
Her father is in Manatria. Not only that, but for some reason she may have found a lead towards finding Regan. Something about healers? Four of them in Manatria, but they don't understand what use that is for the search.
So they remain quiet and listen, hoping for more information to escape Reela's lips.
When someone taps their shoulder.
They gasp and their hands flare up with a small flame, but they disperse it before it can catch to anything. They quickly whip around to see, with no surprise, Mog crouched in a tiny bush beside them.
They sigh and step away from the window. They would love nothing more than to burn a hole through the orc's empty head, but they can't risk Reela catching on to the fact that they're eavesdropping. They can't jeopardize the discretion they've acquired since letting Reela keep that shard.
Avinalyn glares their warning at Mog and motions her away from the tavern wall, and Mog happily nods before she stands up from the bush and walks further into the forest. Avinalyn follows, sparing cautious glances over their shoulder at the window, when they stop a safe distance away with Mog standing proudly in front of them.
"What are you doing here?" they growl and straighten out their shirt, still glancing back at the tavern, when Mog sighs and grabs them gently by their shoulders to get them to look up at her.
"Okay, Boss... As your friend—"
"We're not friends," Avinalyn snaps and grabs her wrists to shove her hands off of them.
Mog clears her throat and nods stiffly. "Whatever you say, Boss. Anyway, I'm here because – and this is a safe space – I'm starting to get a wee bit... concerned," she says as Avinalyn briefly looks back over their shoulder. "About you. And, well... Your obsession. With Reela."
Avinalyn stops looking at the tavern to glare up at Mog. "I am not 'obsessed.' I am dedicated to the task given to me by my employer, and I am going to complete it," they state and straighten their shoulders. "And it would be easier without you getting in my way. I was just learning valuable information before you interrupted," they say and Mog slowly nods.
"Yeah, see, that's the problem. Before when I would interrupt you, you threatened to kill me. But now you just get mildly annoyed, which isn't you!" she huffs and crosses her arms.
They tilt their head up at her and squint their visible confusion. "You're... upset that I'm not threatening to kill you?"
"Yes! Don't you see how you're affecting the people you care about?" Mog exclaims.
"Mog, I do not care about you in the slightest."
Mog gasps and her smile returns as she pats them on the shoulder. "See! You're already starting to sound more like yourself! So, I was thinking, you take a break! You've earned a day off from stalking Reela and hunting her dad and all that stressful stuff. What do you say?" she offers.
Avinalyn stops to consider for a moment. Mog doesn't understand their situation at all, but expecting her to get even a fraction of it is asking for too much. If they don't stop, Mog won't either. Luckily, tricking Mog is probably the least challenging thing they will ever attempt to do.
"Fine. We're going to Manatria," they state and take out their rift shard with a feigned smile. "I'm sure getting out of Letroseli for a bit will do wonders for taking my mind off of Reela."
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Reela sits on a stool at the end of the bar with her head down and a flagon in front of her. Toya is sitting next to her arm, occasionally trying to steal a drink but Reela fends her off with her free hand. The tavern seems to be much quieter since the bard left. Fortunately, there've been no more fights which is honestly surprising considering where they are.
Still no sign of Corb or Todo, however. She's honestly starting to get a little concerned. She would go look for them if Toya wasn't essentially holding her hostage until she talks about what happened with Avinalyn.
She really hasn't given it much thought, probably in self-preservation of her poor feeble sanity.
Or because she just doesn't fucking know what to make of it.
"Why would they kiss me?" Reela mutters into her arm and takes a drink of whatever the hell the shit in her mug is. Alcohol in Aramora is a fucking game of Russian Roulette. Who knows what's going to happen, but you seal your fate by playing no matter what you get.
Toya yawns and stretches out her legs before sneezing and looking at her. "I take it the guess that it was because they like you is off the table?" she asks. "Didn't you say they tried to kiss you before?"
Reela groans and sits up to rub her hands over her eyes. "I did not say that," she states. "I don't know what they were going to do the first time I was at their castle. It could have been anything, but I'll never know because Mog barged in," she grumbles.
What the fuck were they going to do?
"You... sound upset about that," Toya points out and Reela glares down at her.
"I'm upset by how fucking confusing that asshole is," she corrects. "I just... Why the hell would they think that kissing me would be a fucking 'gift'?" she scoffs and bitterly shakes her head.
Toya sneezes and her tail swishes in the dust of the floor. "Probably because they're a narcissist who thinks they can woo anyone they talk to," she says. "But why not ask Todo about this stuff? I'm flattered you want my input, but I wanted juicy details, not to play the therapist."
Reela resentfully laughs. "Right. Because telling the guy who just a few days ago was assuming I was sleeping with Avinalyn that they just kissed me wouldn't look bad for me at all," she huffs. "Which is why I'm telling you, because you don't have a choice but to keep your mouth shut."
"I was created based on a deaf, mute chick. Fucking ableist," Toya huffs and stands up. "Just for that, I'm going to get Todo. Be right back!" she says before hopping from the counter to the stool beside her, then to the floor to scurry to the door. Reela makes no attempt at stopping her and instead just closes her eyes and waits about two seconds before hearing a thud.
"Fuck. Can you get the door?"
Reela sighs and before standing up, forces herself to take a deep breath and another drink. There's no way she can finish whatever this is. She thought drinking would help her feel better, but for some reason she's not really in the mood to drown her sorrows. Corb and Todo are both on edge right now from just being in Sunyu Foorst, which she guesses leaves her to be the responsible one. It fucking blows.
She makes her way over to open the door for Toya, and the fox rushes out and down the street. Reela begrudgingly decides to follow. She needs to regroup with her friends anyway to come up with a plan.
But Toya stops and sits at the end of the road with a tilted head. When Reela reaches her, she sees what stopped her and she sighs at the sight of Corb and Todo in the center of the road, still at each other's throats. Only now the petty bickering seems to have escalated into actual shouting passed between the brothers.
A small crowd has gathered to watch them argue. Mostly centaurs who occasionally toss out encouragement to keep fighting. But among the centaurs, she also spots an Adaliaen woman with short shoulder-length white hair and bright yellow eyes leaned against a tree, watching the fight in silence.
Reela shakes her head with an irritated groan and makes her way over to the woman, since she's the only other Adaliaen here and thus she's less afraid of getting punched in the face for talking to her. Maybe she saw what escalated the fight.
The woman glances over as Reela steps up to her with her arms crossed and her attention still on her friends. "So which one's yours?" she snickers and Reela sighs again with a spiteful chuckle.
"Unfortunately, both," she grumbles. "Do you know what happened?"
The woman shakes her head. "No. Just centaurs being centaurs. Do they ever really need a reason to fight?" she shrugs. "Why else would they be endangered?"
Reela keeps her focus on Corb and Todo. Sure, this woman has a point. Centaurs seem to be inherently self-destructive. But she thought that Corb and Todo somehow would have more sense than that. Towards each other, at least. But apparently she was wrong.
Todo growls at Corb and crosses his arms. "You're making this a bigger deal than it needs to be. Aramora wasn't our fault, so why the hell should we listen to everyone telling us it was? Our tribe and our family are innocent and you want to act like we're the guilty ones?" he snaps and Corb scoffs.
"Well, what if they're right? We don't know what the fuck happened in Ecrin! What if Nesosa was wrong? She—"
"Don't go there," Todo warns. "She saved the world!"
Corb spitefully snickers. "Yeah, tell that to our parents—"
Even if he was going to say more, it's cut off by Todo stomping forward and throwing his fist across Corb's face. Corb grunts and rears back to charge at his brother to throw a punch of his own, and the gathered audience cheers.
What is going on today? Reela knows that Corb and Todo bicker a lot, but this is too fucking far. It's as if just stepping into this city has given both of them some primal fucking instinct to hate each other.
Reela growls and sprints over. "Guys, knock it off!" she exclaims and jumps back to get out of the way when Corb's punch almost staggers Todo into her. She grabs Todo's arm and pulls him back, when he stops to look back and see the anger in her eyes.
His face softens and she feels some of his tension ease, but Corb again just charges at his brother. With a growl, Reela lets go of Todo's arm and steps around him to block Corb's path and meet his eyes with a furious glare.
"Corb, stop," she demands, and he stops his charge with a growl of his own.
"But—"
Her eyes flash with darkness. "Stop."
Without a word, he immediately stands down and takes a step back. She can see the rage lingering in his eyes, but other than that he's completely unreadable.
Reela tries to take a deep breath, but she herself feels too angry to form any clear thoughts. What the hell has gotten into Corb and Todo today? She knew that Corb has been on edge which naturally has gotten on Todo's nerves, but why the fuck would they decide to fight in the middle of the street in a city of centaurs who the majority would want both of them dead? She thought that Todo at least would see how stupid that is, and yet he threw the first punch, which is very unlike him.
She glances between the twins and shakes her head irritably. Seeing the onlookers watching with disappointed faces only adds to her anger. "I don't know what the fuck has gotten into you guys today but it needs to fucking stop. You're acting like godsdamned children and I'm the youngest one here!" she snaps and darts her glare between Corb and Todo again. "We're here to find Adaste and that's it. So if you two would prefer to bitch at each other all day, then feel free to go home and fight all you want. I'll find my dad on my own if I fucking have to!"
Reela turns on her heel to start storming away, just as another centaur woman approaches and the crowd parts for her. The Endile centaurs bow their heads and hold their fists to their hearts as she passes, and judging by the bronze jewelry and armor adorning this woman's broad, muscular form, it's safe to assume this woman is someone important to the Endile Tribe.
"Ev'rybody at ease. If thare is going tae be fightin', at least keep it physical. Mindless shouting back 'n' forth gets boring after a while," the woman sighs and glances between Corb and Todo, completely overlooking Reela and just brushing past her to approach the brothers, who stand with their arms crossed and attention turned spitefully away from each other to watch this woman.
But as Todo takes in her appearance, his stance shifts and his shoulders straighten with a look of shock and possibly a hint of fear. "Wait... You're Calphurnia Val'Endile," he takes a small step back. "You led the Endile Tribe in Kilead before Aramora was destroyed," he shudders and tries to cover it up by clearing his throat and stiffening his posture.
Corb scoffs and rolls his eyes. "No wonder the tribes want to kill each other with a tyrant in charge..." he mumbles and Todo growls at him.
"Corb, shut the fuck up and show some respect," he snaps.
Calphurnia chuckles in a snide and looks the brothers over. "Lads, save th' petty arguing fur later. Right now, ah would speak with th' two o' ye in mah keep. Let's go," she says firmly before motioning them forward and starting to walk away towards the mountain shadowing over Sunyu Foorst, and she stops briefly to glance back and squint her vibrant golden eyes at Reela. "'N' yer... 'friend' may join us, if she must."
Todo starts following Calphurnia without a second thought. Corb doesn't move at first, but with a glance from Reela and seeing her glare, he sighs and begrudgingly joins them on their trek up the mountain.
About halfway up, Reela realized she fucking hates mountains and walking and the act of walking up a mountain. Fortunately for her, Corb was lagging behind enough that he was willing to offer to carry her the rest of the way up. She'd normally ask Todo, but he's following Calphurnia closely, but at a respectful distance.
Reela knew Todo still held some buried fascination for his centaur culture, but she honestly thought he had more or less abandoned it when he started forcing himself to let go of his violent nature. Most of centaur culture revolves around war and fighting, but maybe it's the honor part that Todo holds on to.
Or maybe the fact that centaurs can pull however many bitches they want. She's heard stories of all the Val'Dernak's family prostitutes. It sounds fucking great. If her family worked that way, then maybe Cree wouldn't have been so fucking depressed whenever Regan was gone for weeks to months on end. That man could've used some pony pussy for the lonely nights. But no. 'Monogamy' and all that shit.
Once they arrived at the peak of the mountain, Reela slid off of Corb's back to walk herself through the towering doors of the keep, and from up here, they can see for miles. She can see the silhouette of Aramora across the vast distance of the jagged Recharn Sea. She can almost make out the shape of Lithonilynn to the northwest, seeing the white coat of snow over the mountains. She sees the massive forest that hides Greanleif and merges with the pine mountainous forest of Sunyu Foorst below them.
Calphurnia stands in front of her throne at the back of the massive hall, stoically holding her head high with the banner displaying the bronze-colored crest of the Endile Tribe, a symbol of a horse with its head high and a soldier clad in bronze armor holding a sword and shield riding on its back.
Todo kneels without question when she stands waiting, but Corb doesn't make any moves to even get closer to his brother or Calphurnia. Reela merely nudges him forward to at the very least try making him engage in whatever this is about.
Calphurnia stares down at Todo for a moment before turning her gaze to Corb standing at the center of the room with Reela. "When ah heard there were Val'Dernaks in Sunyu Foorst, ah should hae expected it would be ye two, Todobus and... Corbonius," she narrows her eyes on Corb for a moment before looking down at Todo again. "Ye were Galian's boys, correct? Yer father was Evgenia's biggest arse-kisser. 'N' yer sister... Well. A'm sure ye awready ken how we al' feel about that whole situation," she tisks and shakes her head.
Reela used to regret the fact that she never got the chance to visit Kilead before Aramora was destroyed. But today has changed her mind. Kilead was at war with itself in its final moments. Even as the world was about to burn, they couldn't put down their swords and get along for just five minutes to see how stupid it all was.
And even now, ten years later, it is still very stupid.
Corb huffs and returns the Endile Tribe leader's glare. "Yeah. The welcome wagon when we got here made it pretty fucking clear," he states. "It may've been ten years ago, but if you're all spiteful enough to hate us for what our sister did, then I'm spiteful enough to not give an actual fuck about whatever 'respect' you're waiting for. You're getting nothing from me."
Todo huffs and growls as he glances back at his brother. "Respect and honor among tribes is part of our culture."
"Yeah, but we never took any fucking vows to say we have to kiss the ass of whoever swings the biggest sword," Corb mutters.
Reela just lowers her head in her hands and watches. She's taking this moment to calm down, but also she knows how scary centaur Tribe Leaders can be, especially towards outsiders. She would rather not piss off the leader of the most violent of the three tribes. The Endile Tribe is notorious for being brutal and unforgiving, and Calphurnia is the peak of that mountain.
Todo turns forward again and lifts his head to meet Calphurnia's eyes and he holds his fist to his heart. "'The blood on my blade is the honor of my path. My Tribe; blood of my blood and bone of my bone. I give to thee my strength, for my Tribe is my sacrament and my fidelity is my gift. I swear by my sword to live, breathe and die to honor the Kirix name,'" he recites proudly with a spite-laced tone.
Corb snickers and shakes his head. "Wow, congratulations, you're just as much of a kiss-ass as our dead dad. Good for you."
Calphurnia chuckles and slowly nods as she steps towards Todo, completely ignoring Corb. "A'm surprised ye remember th' vows, Val'Dernak. After ye 'n' yer brother abandoned yer people tae live among th' weakness o' humans 'n' elves," she spares a snide glance at Reela before looking down at Todo again. "Th' Val'Dernak name isnae even one worthy o' bein' called true centaurs anymair, considering th' fact that th' only remaining members are honor-less deserters."
The woman now turns her focus to Reela and motions her over. "Come forward, girl," she orders.
Reela tenses and starts walking over, and Corb sighs before he does the same, probably just because he doesn't want to stand alone in the center of the room. As arrogant as he is, Reela knows that Corb must be extremely uncomfortable in this setting and dealing with it alone is probably worse than with at least his friend if not his brother.
Reela clears her throat anxiously. "Listen, I'm sorry if this has caused any inconvenience, but we're just here for—"
"Silence!" Calphurnia barks and reaches back for her spear, and Reela instantly shuts up and takes a step back, accidentally bumping into Corb's arm since she was unaware of how closely he was following her. "Ah ken how ye Adaliaens see us centaurs. Just waiting fur us tae kill ourselves tae git us off o' yer continent. But remember yer place. Ye will speak only when ah permit it. Understood?"
Reela wordlessly nods, again feeling her frustration return. She just wants to find Adaste. Well, she wants to find her dad more than anything. But hopefully Adaste will know something or will even be the person who has him. Unlikely, but a lead is a lead however futile it turns out to be. It's better than nothing.
Todo glances back at Reela to see the irritation and fear on her face, but he says nothing. However, Corb growls at the Tribe Leader. "And there's that infamous Endile superiority bullshit I had crossed my fingers had died with Aramora. We're just here to find some healer and then we'll leave. So will you help us or not?" Corb crosses his arms.
Calphurnia speaks again, this time in a calmer, more condescending voice. "Ah dinnae care what ye'r 'ere fur. This may nae be Kilead, but we follow th' same rules as we did ten years ago. An honor-less centaur is tae be shunned. Ye will receive nae help from anyone 'ere unless ye restore nae only yer own honor, but th' honor o' th' Val'Dernak name," she declares.
Todo's head slightly perks up, meanwhile Corb just scoffs.
"And just how the fuck are we supposed to do that?" Corb asks, and Todo quickly stands up and turns around to face him with a glowing smile.
"The Warrior's Test," he states and starts bouncing eagerly. "That's how Nesosa restored her honor. That's what deems centaurs as worthy defenders of their home."
Corb's glare deadpans on his brother and once Todo sees that Corb isn't nearly as happy about this as he is, he stops with his excited fidgeting and starts to lose his smile. "In case you forgot, Nesosa was forced to take the Warrior's Test. We don't have to do shit."
Calphurnia huffs complacently. "Then ah guess ye kin be on yer way without getting help wi' finding Adaste Mar'Eveis. Mah Tribe 'n' ah will give nae assistance tae shunned deserters 'n' outsiders," she lifts her hand to motion them away, when Todo steps forward.
"I'll do it," he declares with his head high and his smile returned.
Calphurnia slowly lowers her hand and eyes him curiously with a grin. Meanwhile both Corb and Reela watch him with glares. Reela's is out of concern. She's heard about how dangerous the Warrior's Test is. The way it essentially works is the 'survival of the fittest' law of nature. Anyone who survives is proven to be strong enough to be a worthy defender. The rest simply die.
And no offence to her homie, but the closest he's ever come to being a 'warrior' is the one time he played as a barbarian in Kitty's D&D campaign.
Meanwhile Corb's glare is no longer just out of annoyance. He looks livid.
Todo takes another step towards Calphurnia and holds out his hand with his palm facing up. "I will take the Warrior's Test and restore honor to the Val'Dernak name so that our legacy may continue as worthy defenders of our people and our home. If you'll allow, I'm more than willing to accept the blood contract and face the trials," he states and holds the woman's firm gaze.
Calphurnia merely smiles and turns away to retrieve from an ornate box lined with bronze trimming, a silver dagger with a leather grip and the shape of a horse's head in bronze as the pommel. She turns around to face Todo again and slowly walks over, stopping in front of him with the dagger.
She wordlessly grabs his outstretched wrist and slices the blade across his palm. He slightly winces but keeps a strong face as Calphurnia turns back to the ornate box and slides the blood-coated blade of the dagger into a slot in the top, and it clicks into place effortlessly.
The box briefly glows, and Todo's body illuminates at the same time. As the light fades along with the surge of magic he felt through his veins, the Tribe Leader returns to stand over him.
"Very well, Todobus Val'Dernak. At dusk, ye will set out tae th' ruins of 'Knoyadin' at th' heart o' th' forest 'n' begin th' Warrior's Test. As ye probably awready ken, there will be three trials ye must undertake. Th' Trial o' Courage, th' Trial o' Aptitude, 'n' th' Trial o' Honor," she states and Todo nods eagerly.
Reela just watches in silent concern. She knows it's important to centaurs to honor their family name, but she thought Todo was the smart one. What the hell is he thinking?
Calphurnia continues. "'As is custom, ye must choose one person tae join ye 'n' observe, but nae interfere in any way. Who will ye bring wi' ye fur this endeavor?"
Reela's face deadpans when Todo smiles and looks back at her without a second thought.
"Reela? Do you want to—"
"Nope," Reela stops being silent and shakes her head as she steps back and moves around Corb. "While you're out getting yourself killed, I'll be here looking for Adaste and hopefully finding a lead so we can get out of here," she says and simply turns around to start walking towards the door.
She didn't say it, but hopefully Todo will realize the real reason she doesn't want to go with him pretty quickly.
As Reela leaves out the front of the keep, Todo's downcast gaze leaves the doors to meet Corb's glare.
He's left with no other options.
Calphurnia smiles contentedly. "Sae be it. Corbonius, ye will accompany Todobus fur his Warrior's Test 'n' observe as he either restores honor tae yer family name, or dies trying."