When Volsair came to, it took him a while to open his eyes. He first noticed the gentle breeze that graced his skin, reminding him of a pleasantly warm spring day. Then his sense of smell came back to him, a floral smell, mixed with the earthy scents, of fresh ground herbs and the lingering salty smell of the sea.
Volsair opened his eyes, a low sigh escaped his lips as the light from the open windows nearly seared his retinas, forcing him to close his eyes again. He felt pain behind his eyes, he could hear the sound of footsteps on a flag stone floor.
Attempting to open his eyes again, he groaned, forcing his eyes to take in the light. It didn't take long for the room to come into focus. He was in a medical ward, beds lined the walls, all were unoccupied except for the one beside him. There was a window between each bed with pristine white curtains waving in the breeze. Underneath the window was an ornately carved end table with an earthen ware glazed pitcher and basin.
Volsair licked his dry cracked lips, and tried to sit up. As a reward, a shooting pain went through his chest, shoulders and down his arms, causing him to fall back onto his pillows with a moan of pain. The room spun around, causing Volsair's hands to clench his blanket until the room stopped spinning.
When the room stopped spinning, Volsair ran a hand over his chest, trying to see where the pain had came from. Under his calloused fingers, he felt bandages wrapping around his torso, collarbones and the forearm of his shield arm.
"Are you done trying to kill yourself?" came a familiar voice that sounded cross.
Volsair knew that voice anywhere, that musical voice, Cordelia the bard. "Hello sweetheart," he said, a smile pulling at his mouth. "How long was I out?"
"Too long for my taste." Cordelia said.
Volsair turned to see Cordelia, and it sure turned his head. Cordelia was now standing in the aisle between their beds. She was barefoot and wearing a white shift, with no sleeves, the hem came down just below her knees. The square at the neckline was left unlaced. Volsair could feel himself blush. "I take it you're one of my pure of heart healers?" he asked with a smirk "Here to heal the battle weary knight?"
"No!" Cordelia snapped, folding her arms under her chest.
Being serious...humm...I can have fun with this. I can't refuse this opportunity. It doesn't come that often. Volsair thought.
"I'm in the same predicament you are in." She said in a near growl.
"So you mean you're not a-" Volsair on purpose cut the sentence off, he was still smirking.
"Not that!" she said, looking like she could have smacked his arm for that, and him injured.
"You're always running into one form of danger or another. You never stop and think, how could this possibly end badly?" she took a step towards him.
"Ah-ah, no hitting. I'm injured, remember?" Volsair said.
"That's exactly the point!" Cordelia said "You could have died from internal bleeding all because you didn't-" Cordelia was cut off by the door to the medical ward opening, and in strode a healer, followed by who Volsair guessed was the Faerie Queen.
The lady had a way of making you feel small and insignificant, nothing more than a Honey Bee in a windstorm. They could feel the power and radiant flawless beauty emanate from her. The Faerie Queen's dress was a floor length bell shaped dress, with long sleeves and an open neckline. The dress looked like it was made of fresh autumn leaves, bright and full of color, blown off the tree branches two days before an autumn rainstorm, turned them a mucky brown. Her hair, color of spun starlight, was pulled back into a bun with ringlets on the sides. The parts of the hair pins that was visible, were clear multifaceted crystals, that was about the size of one of Cordelia's smallest finger nails. The Queen carried herself with refined grace, you could tell she was a Queen, even without an introduction.
"You are very much welcome to stay with us, Cordelia and Volsair of Eldoria." The Faerie Queen said. "We only request one thing, and that is once you leave us, you retrieve the Orb of Kat'leah from the abandoned city of Kat'cha'le. It was left behind when the city was abandoned during the Dragon Wars. "
"We'll do that. No problem your highness." Volsair said, just happy that the pain was starting to ebb away again. He preferred going on a side quest, and being healed up, as compared to being booted out of the medical ward, before he could completely heal.
Cordelia didn't fight him on the decision to preform the task for the Fae Queen. They could always discuss the decision later. Then Cordelia's stomach audibley growled.
The Fae Queen looked in Cordelia's direction, as the Healer began to take Volsair's vitals. "Non- Fae Food, is always available upon your request. " The Fae Queen said, "It's the same food that the Champions eat when they stay with us, you will be in no danger of being restricted to leave the realm."
Cordelia glanced over at Volsair. He was having to say AAHHH for the healer to look down his throat. The healer nodded, and made a note on a piece of parchment, that was on the end table. "Food would be a good place to start." Volsair said with a smile to the Fae Queen. "And thank you, your Highness. My companion and I have both had a long journey."
"Your highness." The healer said, reading off piece of parchment. "Champion Volsair, didn't break anything, but he did hurt his, shield arm, part of his back and the back of his shoulders. But, he is expected to be completely healed in a day or two."
"Thank you for examining him." The Fae Queen told the healer. She then turned to Volsair and Cordelia. "Food will be brought here, but I request Volsair to stay here, in the medical ward until the healer clears him, to be out and about. Cordelia is free to come and go as she wishes."
***
In two days, Volsair had healed to the point where he could move his arms, without the angry hornet of stinging pain, shooting up and down his arms. Volsair was then usually found down at the training grounds, attempting to perfect his near perfect sword forms. He was without shirt and shoes, his dark skin slicked with sweat, his breathing controlled. Volsair was using a training sword, he moved with the grace of a dancer, his blade an extension of his arm.
Cordelia had decided to get some practice in too. She was just down from him, using her knives attempting to run and hit the five targets without stopping. It required speed, grace, good aim, and at times a a small degree of luck.
Today was the day where she lacked most of those things. Instead of hearing the hollow thunk! of her knives hitting the target all she heard was the solid sound of them hitting ever where else but the target.
When Cordelia was retrieving her throwing knives, she looked over at Volsair, if anything to know if he needed another visit to the healer. Cordelia's jaw nearly dropped. She felt her face redden as she admired the prowess of his sword forms. His muscles that looked like they were chiseled by a great Eldorian sculptor. The emerald tattoo on his side that stretched to his back, flexed with his body, as if to emphasize his movement. Cordelia was about to close her mouth when Volsair looked over at her, apparently he knew he was being watched.
Volsair smiled a knowing half-smile, but continued his training routine. It was one thing to know somebody was watching you, it was another thing to let on that you knew you were being watched.
" Arquariagrada!" Volsair barked, bringing his training sword down in an overhead arch, the blade's shiny metal rippled, but maintained the form of a sword. Except for one thing, when he swiped his sword to the left a band of water came from the sword. As if the water was running down the sword. When Volsair brought the sword back, the band of water shortened. Then the band of water sprang forth, slapping the training dummy, sending it into a spin, with another slap from the water band, the training dummy fell with a clatter.
Brandishing his sword with flourish, he then put his training sword away, the spell ending when the sword left his hand. Voslair cleared his throat and said, "Alright Cordelia! You now have my attention."
Cordelia could feel her face growing hot. "Ah...uh..." she began, her brain trying to procure a sentence, that didn't come out sounding anything like ' he was good looking.' Being unable to come up with anything, she settled for "Wow, I didn't know you could fight using water like that."
Volsair's chest puffed up slightly. "It's not that hard once you get used to it." he said, not seeing any knife marks on the targets, Volsair asked "Not having much luck on target practice?"
"As of right now? Not really." Cordelia said stowing her knives in their hidden sheaths. "I can usually hit the target. I just seem to be having trouble today." she explained.
"May I offer a suggestion?" Volsair asked, rubbing his chin with his free hand.
"Sure." Cordelia said.
"Try adding a short sword to your Repertoire," Volsair suggested, "I'll teach you if you want, think of it as a thank you."
"I'll try the short sword." Cordelia said, remembering her protecting Volsair from the knight. She was barely able to hold the sword off with her knives crossed.
"What do you know about swords?" Volsair asked, picking up a training short sword from the sword rack.
"I know which end to hold," Cordelia said pointing to the point, "And that's the part you don't hold."
Volsair nodded, then began to explain the basics of sword fighting. Volsair would explain something, then about five minutes later quiz her on what they had just covered. Even though he knew more about the subject he didn't talk down to her. He tried to answer all her questions and they both had a laugh at any jokes that found their way into the conversation.
After the orientation presentation to sword fighting, Volsair decided to move onto a practical lesson, since one can know everything about a subject, but still not know how to do it. Volsair handed the training short sword to Cordelia, and picked up another training short sword off the rack. Then he began to teach her how to handle the blade. He would show her how to do the technique, then she would do it. On occasion, he would help her with her stance, or how she held the sword.
Cordelia's heart sped up when he helped her. Her breathing changed, even though the training so far hadn't been physically intensive, her breath caught in her throat.
"Your free to go."
"Huh?"
"From your explanation when we were riding, you and Alkanos, are not traitors. So you're free to go."
Cordelia sighed, "I'm going to stay with you for a bit. It would be more beneficial to travel together since we are both looking for him."
She felt his arms slip around her and take hold of her hands, to position them correctly holding the sword. His hands felt strong and calloused from years of weapons usage. He smelled like fresh pine, crushed herbs and the faint smell of salt.
She admired his muscled arms, that were as strong as the iron used when building the capital walls.
Volsair's hands slid up her arms, stopping on her forearms, his fingers gently examining the shape and feel of them.
Cordelia took a half step back, into him, her shoulders and his chest touching. She heard Volsair's breath catch. Cordelia smiled, she felt his warm breath on her skin, she liked how it felt. It had been a least fifteen years since she felt like this, to someone who aged differently from a human, fifteen years was nothing.
"You smell nice." Volsair said, putting his face next to hers, his nose in her long hair. he drunk in her scent. The smell of the sea, the salt air, the memory calling back, of that time he had gone to midsummer's eve festival at the seaside. The song he had heard, long before he had gotten his talisman. His hands fell from Cordelia's arms, looping around her waist.
Cordelia knew what was going on, she could tell when he came over to teach her how to use a short sword. He's not wearing his talisman! she thought, feeling him push her hair out of the way and begin to kiss the back of her neck. She liked the feeling, she wanted to kiss him back, but she felt conflicted. Just this once. she thought turning her head, Volsair stopped kissing her neck, he raised his head up, for someone who was under Siren magic, he was remarkably coherent.
Cordelia kissed him on the lips. She kissed him with her lips closed. His lips felt soft against hers, part of her wanted to drag it out, but she didn't. If he wanted her to kiss him, it wasn't going to be under the influence of Siren magic. Then she ended the kiss as quickly as it had happened. Volsair looked at her and blinked his eyes. He noticed his grip was still snug on her. His mind wasn't fogged over, and frankly, he still wanted to kiss her, for a long time, even though they were still on the training grounds.
"I'm sorry Volsair, I didn't know I was-"Cordelia fumbled for the right words.
"It's alright, I didn't wear my talisman on purpose." Volsair said, kissing Cordelia lightly on the cheek.
"What?!" Cordelia asked, pulling her face away from his. "Why would you do that?!"
"I wanted to know how it felt to be under the influence of your Siren charms. I knew you wouldn't try to kill me. I also found it rather enjoyable. " Volsair explained, with a smile.
"I wasn't using Siren magic other than what is on a normal day." Cordelia said "That's why you were able to explain how to use a sword. It might have overpowered you when you touched me."
"Also because I was open to its influence, I wanted to feel how it felt." Volsair said, "And Magic aside, I still want to kiss you."
Cordelia slipped out of his arms, "I would prefer you to wear your talisman. If anything so you wouldn't be magically led on." Cordelia said, once again feeling her face grow hot.
"You weren't leading me on. I wanted to be under its influence." Volsair explained.
"Well, it still wasn't right, for me to put you under it, even though that amount, is what I naturally exude in a day." Cordelia said, going on the defensive. Even though he wanted to feel the Siren charms, Cordelia still felt it was wrong. She had practically turned him into someone that was practically intoxicated on her, without meaning to, supernatural charm. What if he hadn't wanted to feel her magic? What if he had forgotten his talisman? Then what would have happened?
"Okay then, What about the people at inns? You turn on the charm when you sing for a room and a meal. What if they didn't want it?" Volsair inquired, playing Devil's advocate. "Would you still sing at an inn?"
"That's different. I'm singing so we won't have to sneak into a barn for a bed. And so we can get a decent not cooked on the road meal." Cordelia said a thread of an indignant tone working its way into her voice. "Also they could leave the common room at any time. I don't use the magic that much. If I did you would know it."
"Even with my talisman?" Volsair asked, lifting an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Trust me, even with your talisman on, you'll know it when I'm using the full extent of my Siren powers." Cordelia said crossing her arms under her chest, with a sly smile.
"Show me then. I Volsair the captain of the king of Eldoria's palace guard, wants to feel how your Siren magic feels." Volsair declared. "And I acknowledge that whatever I say or do, will be an effect of the magic."
Cordelia uncrossed her arms and smiled. You're on. she thought adding on, I won't go full Siren. Just a little more than what I do an inn. At least this time I know he wants to feel its effects."I'm not going to go full Siren, just more than what you felt earlier." she explained, "And if I smack you, don't get upset."
"So you smacking me, will be to get my common sense's attention?" Volsair asked.
Cordelia nodded, "If I can't get your attention any other way."
"Alright then, let's get started." Volsair said, setting the practice swords up on the sword rack.
Cordelia cleared her voice and ran her hands through her long voluminous golden hair. Then at a register, only Volsair could hear she began to sing.
"Weary traveler, come to me, be my guest.
You will find shelter from the road,
and have your rest."
She moved her hips in a tight circle, at the last word removing her scarf, and tied to her belt.
Volsair's mind was reeling, he was having problems getting his tongue to move to form words, he felt his heartbeat quicken, but he knew one thing. He wanted to be with her, do what she wanted. He felt like he could charge into battle against an army of angry trolls, armed only with a rolling pin if it would please her.
Seeing only that he had gone slack-jawed, she sang the verse again, this time brushing her hair back, and moving her hips in a circle throughout the song. She smiled when Volsair took a step closer to her. She allowed him to slide his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him. She killed the charm to allow him to come to his senses. She felt his well-defined chest as she slid her arms around his shoulders and neck. His muscles felt hard, his skin felt smooth and slick from his earlier workout.
Volsair's mind was beginning to clear from the Siren charms, but he decided to kiss her, if she hit him, then she hit him. She had given him ample warning. He smiled to himself when he leaned in and their lips touched. Volsair was expecting to get hit on the side of his head. But, Cordelia surprised him, by kissing him back, deepening the kiss.
Time seemed to move to a crawl right then. Cordelia noticed that Volsair's lips tasted like salt, his lips were soft and smooth against hers. Cordelia felt a swarm of butterflies bloom in her stomach, as the kiss continued.
Volsair could smell the salt air as they kissed, it wasn't overpowering, it was if he was right there on the seashore. He could taste the sweet berry juice she had drunk at breakfast that morning, it made him want to kiss her even more. His hand, staying on top of her shirt, slid between her shoulder blades. He felt her hair brush against his hand.
They weren't exactly sure who did it, but the kiss broke. Cordelia and Volsair blinked dumbfoundedly at each other. A moment passed without either saying anything, just trying to move their mouths, but finding a significant lack of words.
Then Cordelia had the bright idea to say, "So, sword fighting?"
Volsair blinked, he had originally come over to teach her how to fight with a short sword, but right then it would have taken the force of a late winter snowstorm, to force him to let go of her. He hated to admit it, but he didn't want to let go. Even though Cordelia had quit using her Siren magic, he still felt it in the pit of his stomach, for lack of a better word, he felt like millions of multilegged insects were dancing inside his abdomen.
"Yeah, sword fighting." Volsair said sleepily, his expression was as if he was dragged out of a good dream, and was intent on getting back into that dream. Shaking his head, they let each other go. Their training session began again, and they spent many hours after that continuing Cordelia's learning of how to use a short sword. This time, Volsair wore his talisman.
After Cordelia reached a point where Volsair deemed her ready, they began to incorporate in, using a shield at the same time. Cordelia didn't possess any sort of talent for sword fighting, but with her experience with using her knives, they were able to build on it.
***
Time passes differently in the Fae realms, as compared to the human world. Time passes significantly slower, at the same time it never got dark in the Fae realms, it just stayed either daylight or twilight. This allowed for so much verdant life in the Fae realms, and at the same time allowing Cordelia and Volsair to train, without having to worry about being stuck on the training grounds after dark. They would just train for a few hours, rest for a few hours then go back to training.
During Cordelia and Volsair's rest period, she taught him how to play a standard wooden flute. According to Cordelia, if Volsair could learn and remember all the forms he used in combat, he could learn to play a simple children's song on the wooden flute. Even though Volsair had learned how how to play the flute when he was still a Page, he allowed Cordelia to teach him how to play. It gave them another reason for spending time together, that didn't require sparring.
***
At one point during their stay with the Fae, Volsair and Cordelia helped out in one of the Fae kitchens. They didn't have to help, but they wanted to.
In the kitchens, Cordelia cut some vegietables on a cutting board. While Volsair, made sure the food was properly seasoned. There was other Fae working in the kitchens, but since it was an off time, there was only three Fae in the kitchens. This allowed Cordelia and Volsair to talk as they worked.
"- And then the Champion of Clohistan, fell off his horse." Volsair said, regaling Cordelia with a tale from his Champion training.
Cordelia was chopping a carrot into thin quarter pieces. "So part of your training, was preparing you to go on adventures and rescuing people?" She asked.
"It did. It also taught us how to -" Volsair said, but Cordelia cut him off.
"OW!" Cordelia exclaimed, dropping her knife onto the cutting board.
Volsair walked over to her. She was about to wipe her finger on her short apron, when he stopped her.
"May I please see it?" He asked.
"Sure." Cordelia said, offering up her injured hand.
Volsair took her hand, and gently examined it. He took the corner of his apron, and dabbed up the scarlet colored blood, surrounding the cut. The cut was shallow, but still deep enough to draw blood.
"I have just the thing for it." Volsair said, reaching into his herb bag, and, pulling out a small leaf. The leaf was Oval shaped with a point at the end. The leaf's color was green with bright pink veins, and, small Robin's egg blue spots dotted the leaf.
"This may sting a little. And hopefully when the cut heals, it won't scar." Volsair said, pressing the top of the leaf to Cordelia's cut, as lightly as he could, and still hold the leaf in place.
Cordelia winced as the herb worked its magic.
When it was over, the leaf was withered. Volsair removed the herb from the cut, then he cleaned up any blood that was left on Cordelia's finger.
"There you go. Good as new." Volsair said, not letting go of her hand.
"Thank you, Volsair. " Cordelia said.
Then he lifted her hand, and gingerly kissed her fingers. His lips barely brushing her skin. "Please, try to be a bit more careful next time." He said, lowering his voice.
Cordelia giggled. With a red streak, bloomed across her face. With a bit of regained self- control, Cordelia said, "I'll try. Thank you once again. Um...is kissing my fingers part of the healing process?"
Volsair smiled, and lowered her hand. "Only if you want it to ."
"Works for me." Cordelia said, and hugged Volsair at his side, using her free arm.
Volsair hugged her back, even though he was still holding her hand. "We were also trained to heal." He whispered.
After being cleared to leave the realm, without worry of being sent back to the healers, Volsair sent word to the Fae Queen about being ready to retrieve the orb of Kat'leah. The city of Kat'cha'le was outside of the realm. How to get there included a three-day trek through a swamp, just to get to another Fae realm where the city was.
***
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who ships Cordelia and Volsair? Just curious to see how this pairing would be received.
Anyway, don't forget to fav and comment. Even if you didn't like it, then please comment. I'm open to the feedback.
'Til Next Time!
~ Laura-the-bard