Totally have had this done and just forgot to post it
Word Count: 1148
Summary: Xarian is paid a surprise visit by the last person he would expect.
Warnings: Minor violence
@daily-writing-challenge
Xarian had been silently working on his dining room table, going over the edges with different gouges and other tools to carve out an intricate design around its edge. It had been going quite well at that, which never happens. No matter how good you are at any specific skill, there are always going to be mistakes. They can be actively minimized, but they still happen. Xarian was working on one very particular one when a knock came from the front door. He blinked several times as he looked up, he was not expecting company. So who could it be? He set down the gouge he was using and moved to the door, placing a hand in the handle before calling out.
“Who’s there?”
“Xarian. It’s me, it’s Sera.”
His head spun. He had not been expecting any visitors at all, but he would never have expected a surprise one to be his sister. His mind raced, running back to when they first ran into each other during the battles in Kul Tiras. He had no idea she had been raised, let alone raised with the abilities she now had.
“Xarian? Can you please open the door?”
He slowly opened the door, his deep blue eyes met her now pale blue ones and he hesitated. He took a deep breath and opened the door fully, stepping to the side to give her the space she needed to come in. She does and he closes the door behind her. They move to his table, the side he had not been working on, and he pulls out a chair for her. She shakes her head and even laughs softly.
“Always tryin’ to be the gentleman, huh?” But her voice was less amused and more condescending.
“Just tryin’ ta be polite like mother taught us. Why are ya here Sera? Last time you was here ya made it pretty clear ya didn’t wanna see me for a while..if ever again.” He snaps back, letting go of the chair and crossing his arms.
“I didn’t, but it wasn’t like that damnit. You know I just was talkin’ about tryin’ to find me and figure shit out.” She had stopped in the middle of the room, keeping her distance.
“Coulda fooled me, little sis.”
She shook her head, crossing her arms now with a huff. She opens her mouth to say something then just frowns. Xarian could feel the air in the house getting colder around them the more angry she got. Those wonderful abilities. She shook her head and put her hands on her hips with a deep scowl.
“Xarian…gods, you…The reason I came here was to ask you if you are keepin’ tabs on me? You havin’ me followed?”
He squints, staying silent as he stares at her. Apparently that was all she needed to confirm his guilt because the room around them became ice cold. He glances around him, his arms dropping to his sides and he tensed. He did not like the way this was feeling all the sudden.
“Sera..yes, I did. But only cause ya didn’t give me no choice. Ya just left, didn’t say where, didn’t say what, when, none a that. We may got our differences right now, but you’re still my sister and I still want ta know your safe..”
This answer only caused the room to become colder, the anger on her face growing.She steps towards him very aggressively but Xarian stood his ground.
“You..you are jus’ like him. Ya know that?” She pokes him in the chest with each word, which didn’t bother him. That is until she said the last three. Those pokes he suddenly felt a stab of cold in his chest with each one. He took a step back and rubbed a hand on his chest, but this did not change his response.
“Like who? Father? Oh, shame on me for wantin’ ta make sure my family, the only family I fuckin’ got left, is safe. Yes, I am the same twisted picture ya got of Father. The same one that just ain’t true!” This time he pokes her back. They never did see eye to eye on their Father. Xarian always looked up to him, wanted to make him proud, honor him. Especially when he died. Sera on the other hand, only saw his actions as him doing everything he could to keep her contained, to keep her from doing the things that she wanted to do. Like he was a dictator to her, who ruled with an iron fist.
Sera let out a exasperated roar. “Wantin’ to make sure I’m okay? More like stop me from doin’ things ya don’t want me to do!” She shoved him again and another pair of ice cold jolts shot through his chest. This time Xarian -really- felt it, but Sera wasn’t done. “Where were you when I really needed it? Where were you when the orcs came?! Huh?! When Mom needed you?! OFF PLAYING HERO FOR THE LIGHT!” Sera shoved him again. Since she was risen Sera had gained considerable strength, and even though he was quite a bit bigger than her, this last shove sent him crashing through the dining room table he had been working on. Gouges and chisels fly through the air and Sera looks on, her face contorted with anger.
“You were always so devoted to your precious light, but not enough to be home with us!”
Xarian did not respond. He couldn’t, his body was ice cold, but the chills he was feeling were not from that. They felt feverish. He tried to move, to will any part of his body to move but even his thoughts were sluggish. So sluggish that he could not even indicate something was wrong. Sera had absolutely no idea what she had just done, and instead of checking on him she let her anger get the better of her and assumed he was not responding out of his own stubborn anger. She let out another exasperated growl and turned, knocking over a pair of shelves by the door as she simply left the house. She did not bother to close the door, did not bother to come back and check on him. Xarian lay in the splintered remains of the table, trying to move but unable to.
He knew that was how she felt, that even the happiness they felt when they found each other was overshadowed by the fact he was not there and that she held it against him. He had tried to explain how he had left the order, was no longer that person, but it didn’t matter. She hadn’t forgiven him, and now as he lay there, his only movement the shudders that ran through his body, he was starting to wonder if he would ever get a chance to try again.
"Oy, let em know chow's ready," Zexx grunted as he set the heavy cauldron down in the center of the main deck of the Wayfarer. Rey letting out a groan as she stood up and limped over to the passage leading into the hold to let out a scream into the depth of the ship.
"Soups on!" Rey yelled once, twice, and three times before limping back toward her father. She looked a mess after the entanglement with raiders recently, patched burns crisscrossing her face, arms, and neck to match a harpoon she took to the calf. Zexx could only chuckle as he felt a kinship in the beating she took, he likely should be a bit more worried since his daughter could have well died but he could tell by the hungry look on her face the soup was going to do wonders for her.
"Thanks, dad," Rey said with a grin as she breathed in the spicy scent of the chicken and hominy soup, her limp carrying a bit of a skip as she made for a crate to sit and eat.
Gendry and Eld came up next, the older man helping the much younger man up as the thin metal stilts supported him but had yet to be fully utilized for him and his wounded body. Gen smiled to his father as he saw the cauldron and continued to take shaky steps with Eldridge across the deck, soon finding another arm sweeping under him to support him from Rey. "I got him, pops."
Usually the old man would grunt and scowl at being called something far to close to home, but at the moment he just nodded wearily as he let the younger Candell take over with her brother. Standing up straight with a wince as he rubbed his back to hobble toward Zexx and the cook pot, his face weary and bearing similar burns to Rey from the chase the other day. Accepting the bowl with a grunt of thanks as he made for a spot on the steps to the deck, a dark shadow pacing him in silence before laying before his partner as Eld began to eat.
From above in the solar masts came the circling form of a black bird, fitting to be so much like her grandfather but look like her father Gwynn's form shifted from bird to human without missing a beat. She was getting stronger and more capable as the months had passed since they came to this universe. The amount of energy and power she had had to control to get them out of the Shadowlands to the great beyond should have driven a normal person mad. Her own mismatched eyes looked into the opposite of her in the face of Zexx as she accepted a bowl of soup with a smile. "Thank you, father."
Zexx would nod to Gwynn as he watched her move to sit with her siblings and listen to them talk, her face quiet for the most part as she listened to Rey prattle and Gen reply in kind before being fed bites of soup himself. The hero for hire's heart ached for the young man, but also swelled to see him face such adversity with patience and strength. The days wouldn't always be like this, but for now he'd hope more like today for Gen.
Lumbering forth from the hold would come Madame Eloise Granville, stretching her form with a grunt as who knew how many vertebrate popped to resound in the air. The giff nodded to Zexx with the humor in her eyes, but raised a hand in polite refusal to the food as she found a place to rest. Her thick hands unhitched her guitar from her belt before adjusting the strings and board with a nod as the notes grew tighter.
"Gonna give us a song tonight, Madame Granville?" Zexx asked as he stirred the contents with a nod to the steam as it drifted up from the iron pot.
Eloise gave a tilt of her head as she answer. "Indeed, Captain. I figured it best to earn my keep while aboard your ship."
"Just nothing too loud, please." As the prodigal daughter emerged from the hold at last, Xaya looking just as bad as her sister and grandfather as she fiddled with a few bandages about her neck. "My head is killing me."
"I'll see what I can do, Miss Candell," Eloise replied with that familiar flash to her eyes as she rested the guitar in her lap.
Zexx fished another bowl up and ladled out the soup for Xaya as she arrived. "Yer late."
"There's seven of us," Xaya answered with an eye roll as she took the bowl. "It's not a dwarven chow hall."
"Have you seen Rey eat?" Zexx grinned to his eldest daughter, who for almost a second gave a smile back much like his before it quickly dropped away.
"Thank you, dad," Xaya added quietly as she went to have a seat near the railing giving the finger back to Rey as she passed as the younger Candell had heard the joke at her expense. Rey still raising it as she yelped up to her feet to come back to the cauldron.
"Got some more?"
"Plenty for ya, kiddo." Zexx smiled as he scooped out another serving for her as Eloise began to gently pluck away at her guitar under the starlit sky of Teetolar in the great empty of Wildspace and beyond.
Tinnaire gave a long and satisfied sigh as she slipped into the hot springs. She was in appropriate water wear--it was hardly a private place--but the pool was quiet tonight. Steam rose around her, water burbled softly, and the sounds of nature--both crickets and birds singing--lulled her There was one of those big soup events going on more directly in the town, so she had taken the chance to slip away from the crowds.
She draped a warmed towel on her head and closed her eyes. Tinn swore she could feel the gentle caress of the starlight on her shoulders and the brisk kiss of the breeze. Goosebumps rose on her arms and a smile curled her lips.
She’d heard the mineral infused water was good for sore muscles and scars, and the idea was too charming to do anything but accept. Validity did not really need to factor into it. Whatever it took to recover.
Being alone wasn’t so bad. But neither was company, and she let herself experience the moment of longing, before letting it wash through her and slide away down into the depths of the dark water.
Her eyes opened a crack and she felt a tug at her heart, staring up at the night sky.
The compress sat cold over Luminash’s eyes, evening sun illuminating his tent at the Expedition base camp through the open tent flap. He could tell time had passed by the steady dimming of light through the cloth draped over his face. Since the attempted rescue of the lost explorers at Eon’s Fringe, the sand-wreathed images had not ceased, following him back through the waygate and even into his work.
Writing had become a trial. For every word committed to the page in his own pen, he could see - or feel, perhaps, was a better word for it - other possibilities, his own hand writing other perspective, other potential answers. At times, he heard Jaskian’s advice or input, others he knew he had written alone.
In the morning, a consultant from the Timewalkers would arrive, and Luminash hoped he could reach an understanding of what had happened if they put their minds together. Though, were he to concentrate hard enough...
He knew an answer would come. He knew, in fact, precisely what the Timewalker would look like. Or could look like. What the answer was, however, was far less clear, but he knew that whatever outcome was reached, he would recover from the ordeal stronger than before.
Then, he supposed with a heavy sight, he would need to see about pulling the lost pair of fools from the trap they had fallen into after all.
Day 1 - February 19
Love is in the Air / Weakness
FIORENZE
Day 2 - February 20
Opportunity / Eternity
PYRAELIA
Day 3 - February 21
Velvet / Consequence
LYNESSE
Day 4 - February 22
Influence / Distant
SHEIZARA
Day 5 - February 23
Ambition / Relentless
FIORENZE
Day 6 - February 24
Devoted / Trauma
FIORENZE
Day 7 - February 25
Event / Recovery
LYNESSE
Most of my stories this time around were part of one shared storyline, if you'd like to read everything in order with additional stories by other DWC writers, you can find everything in chronological order here!
It was probably for the best that he passed out soon after rushing through the portal. Between the smoke inhalation and the pain from the burns littering his arms and chest, it was all too much for his body to handle. The last thing he saw before he collapsed was one of his neighbors lying very still nearby; but before he could ask about his grandparents, eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped.
While he was out, they brought him to one of the healer tents and carefully had to remove the shirt material that had been fused into his skin. As much pain as he was in when he finally woke up, he was happy not to have been awake for any of that. It was dark outside when he stirred, bloodshot eyes cracked open and he immediately groaned in pain. Next to his cot sat a small vial of red liquid and a large jug of water with a little sign that read ‘drink us’. Typically, a healer would have attended to him the moment he woke up, but given the overwhelming number of others that needed healing, this would have to do.
He did as the note suggested, downing the vialing before chugging a good half of the water. It was a bit of a process given both arms and hands had been wrapped in bandages. Almost immediately, everything was thrown up before he broke into a coughing fit for a good few minutes. Still, no one came. One of the nearby elves who also had his hands covered in bandages picked up one of his own vials and brought it to Garren, “Here son, you can have this one. Drink a little slower, yeah?”
Garren tried to thank him, but when he opened his mouth to speak no sound came out. His vocal chords and lungs felt horribly raw from all the smoke, so instead he just nodded in gratitude. This time, he drank much slower, washing the red liquid down with a few sips of water before setting the jug aside. It only took a few minutes for the drugs to kick in, numbing things just enough so it didn’t feel as if every nerve in his body was firing off at once.
Again he tried to speak to the older elf that had since returned to his bed to lay down, but nothing came out. He needed to find his grandparents, they would know what to do now. He wobbled briefly upon standing, but eventually began making his way through the large tent. He stopped by every cot just to be sure and when he decided that they weren’t in here, he stepped outside into the night air and halted in his tracks. There were dozens of tents lined up in rows with healers rushing around and looking completely exasperated. It was a chaotic mess. He couldn’t stop any of them to ask, he would have to find them himself.
This was going to take a while.
After a couple of hours, he made it through only a few tents before an older priestess finally stopped him. She looked frazzled and exhausted, as if she hadn’t slept in days. “Hun, what are you doing? You should be resting. Which one is your tent?”
He tried to speak again, but still no voice. It was then that he finally cracked and began sobbing, dropping down to his knees as those sobs turned into racking coughs.
The priestess bent down and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a careful hug before removing a small pad of paper and pencil from her pouch, handing it over to him. The pencil was pressed between both palms with a wince as he awkwardly wrote while she held the pad: ‘Grandparents?’
“You’re looking for your grandparents? Okay, I understand. Did you see them here in the camp at all?”
He shook his head.
She couldn’t hide her frown. “We have a registry of those we have here. Now keep in mind it’s not complete cause some folks haven’t woken up yet to tell us who they are. So if they aren’t in there, that doesn’t mean anything.” She helped him up to his feet, wrapping an arm gently about his shoulders before leading him towards one of the side tents. “You just write down their names, and your name if they don’t have it yet. That way you all can find each other.”
Unfortunately, they never found each other. With bodies unable to be recovered, most of those that didn’t present themselves within a couple weeks were assumed to be dead. His grandparents among them.
Those were the most difficult weeks of his entire life; the grief he felt far outweighed any of the physical pain. While the recovery process for his burns didn’t take too long, there was a part of him that felt he could never heal from this loss. He wasn’t alone in that feeling; the Kaldorei were a changed people now, there was no going back.
