#larka krieger

[fellkrieger123]

Prompt #4: Clinch

Larka was beside herself in panic. What if her father said no? She could already see the look of exasperated annoyance on his face. Even with the bandages that always covered his eyes, she could tell. The former knight wanted nothing to do with the Duskwight man sitting before him, flailing his arms as he nervously talked to him.

“You’re worrying too much,” Fell said, leaning against the wall. The triplets were standing outside of Cain’s study, ears pressed against the wall as Larka peered into the room. “It’s going to be fine. I’m sure Father is going to agree.”

“You don’t know that!” Larka said, wringing her hands together nervously as she began pacing back and forth. “Look at him! He hates this! He hates him! I don’t know what I’m going to do if daddy says no!” She covered her face with her hands with a small wail. “He has to say yes! He has to, he has to!”

“He said yes to Adelaide,” Raise said, his ear still pressed against the wall as he reached for Larka, grabbing her arm to stop her pacing. “Shh, quiet, I can’t hear what they’re saying!”

“You’re pretty desperate,” Fell noted, eyebrow raised as he looked at his older sister, who skidded to a stop when Raise grabbed her arm. “You’ve known this guy for, what? Four moons? Honestly, I’m shocked, you’ve never been the type to rush headlong into things. Marriage seems like a huge step.” Larka flushed, turning her back to her brothers and placing a hand over her stomach. There was a moment of silence before a look of realization came over Raise and Fell’s face and they whipped their heads around to stare dumbfounded at their sister.

“No!” Raise gasped, tearing himself away from his spot at the wall, rushing his sister and grabbing her arms. “You’re not! No way! I can’t believe it!”

“I haven’t said anything!” Larka protested. Fell was on her other side in an instant, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her.

“You don’t have to! He got you pregnant, didn’t he?!” Fell wailed, loud enough for the men in the other room to hear.

“You did WHAT?!” Cain’s voice echoed through the room and the man he had been talking to paled as Cain slammed his hands on the desk. The whole thing shook from the force, and Cain grabbed blindly for his staff before finally finding it. He brandished it as a weapon, and Vega jumped to his feet, holding his hands up in submission.

“Ah! I’m sorry! Don’t hit me!” he cried, wincing as the staff cracked loudly on the table.

“Oh, oh, don’t tell me what to do, little man, you got my precious little girl pregnant!” Cain clammed the staff on the ground, making his way around the desk. He gave Vega a forced grin, reaching out and gripping his shoulder so tightly that Larka could have sworn she heard his bone creaking. “Hoho, you better believe that you’ll be marrying her now. You’re going to take responsibility for what you did to my girl!”

“Daddy!” Larka cried, rushing up and taking Vega’s hand. He laced his fingers with her, a worried look on his face as Cain’s lips twitched, somehow looking even more annoyed than before. “Please! That’s why we’re here! We love each other!”

“I’m going to kill him,” Raise intoned from the door, cracking his knuckles as he stepped forward. “Rip out his intestines and strangle him with them. Tear out his spine and beat him with it.”

“Not before I get to him, dear brother,” Fell replied, ominously stepping up behind Vega, who flinched. Larka let out a whimper, gripping Vega’s hand tighter. He gave her a reassuring squeeze before bowing deeply to Cain, nearly cracking his face against the older Elezen’s.

“Please, sir! Even if she wasn’t bearing my child, I would want this!” he said, And a look of surprise came over Cain’s face. “I love your daughter! I promise I’m not just going this just because I-I-” He stumbled over his words.

“Because you knocked her up?” Raise said unhelpfully but quieted when Larka shot him a glare. Cain was silent for a long moment before heaving a heavy sigh, finding his way back around the desk and sitting. He leaned forward, folding his hands in front of his face, silent for a long moment before speaking.

“I don’t really have much of a choice at this point,” he grumbled, turning his face towards Vega, who stiffened under Cain’s sightless gaze. “Fine. You can take Larka’s hand in marriage. But!” He interrupted the look of joy that crossed both of their faces, pointing a finger in Vega’s general direction. “You need a proper home before you can do so! And a stable income so you can take care of her and the baby! I’ll put in a word with the Merchant’s Guild. We’ll find you a job- I won’t have any husband of my daughter risking his life working as a mercenary.”

“W-what? Really?” Vega asked. Cain nodded. "B-but, sir, no merchant will hire someone like me-"

“Larka only deserves the best,” he added, and Larka let out a sigh of relief as Cain nodded once. “If I can't get you a job, you can work for me. Once you get settled in, you two can be married. But only then.”

‘Oh! Oh, daddy, thank you!” Larka cried, running around the desk to throw her arms around him. Cain let out a grunt and sighed, a slightly forced smile crossing his features once more as he reached up to pat her back gently. Raise and Fell looked at each other and let out a groan, but said nothing else. Fell crossed his arms and pouted, and Raise looked at Vega, eyes narrowed as he slid a finger across his throat. Vega swallowed before looking back at Cain, trying to ignore the murderous glares that bore into his back.

“I promise to make Larka very happy!” He swore, bowing again, and Cain sighed.

“Good. Now off with you two. By the Fury, I need a stiff drink...” Larka giggled, running up to Vega and throwing her arms around him. He laughed, pulling her into a tight embrace and spinning her around

She beamed up at him as he leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her lips. This was it. Her happy ending- having a child with the man she loved and was going to marry.

Nothing could be better than this.

[fellkrieger123]

Prompt #7: Nonagenarian

The first patient Larka lost after her mother died was an old man named Allen. She had been taking care of him for a few moons, treating him carefully, like a glass doll, and he would tease her constantly, promising the young girl he still had a few years left in him before he kicked the bucket. But still, she had been so careful with him. It had only been a few moons since her mother slipped away into the lifestream, and she couldn’t bear another loss so soon.

He was a kind man, with a little bit of a potty mouth, but Larka grew to love him, probably more than a healer should for an ailing patient. He would give her sweets he bought just for her. He would tell her stories of how he met his wife, how they had fallen in love. His face would beam with pride when he talked about his daughter, telling her how she had moved to Ul’dah to follow her dream to be a Goldsmith, and though he hadn’t heard from her in years, he was sure she had become the best the Guild had ever seen. Larka often wondered if this was what it was like to have a grandfather, to be spoiled with treats and interesting stories. She enjoyed being around him.

He had a condition similar to Fell’s, where sometimes he would have a hard time breathing like there were cobwebs in his lungs. She was familiar with how to heal the condition, so the Guild had given her the man as her patient, always calling for her so she could wrap healing light around him, to pull the cobwebs from his chest. It made her better at helping Fell, though her brother’s condition was not quite as bad as Allen’s. Allen required near-constant healing, coming in once a week, where Fell only required it maybe once every other moon. She was grateful for the chance to be able to help both of them better.

A whole moon before he died, he found himself unable to leave his bed, so she would go to him. She would let flowing light flow through him and would be overjoyed when she heard the stuttering sound of him taking a deep breath. He’d thank her, and she would stay, brewing him tea and helping him hang his laundry. It was so sad, to see him alone. Since he had not heard from his own daughter in years, and his wife had passed away the spring before, he was lonely, and Larka saw that. So she took special care of him, so he wouldn’t be alone.

It was because of him that she began to work on a bitter tea that would ease his symptoms. She would test it on Fell, having him breathe in the steam and drink the herbal tea, watching how he would react. It was the day he died that she finally finished the tea, overjoyed that she could make this man’s life easier, rushing to his side only to find him dead in his bed.

She wept as the other Conjurers took him away. It was too soon, too soon after her mother left them, and the grief gripped her tight, digging its claws into her as one of her seniors comforted her. 

“It’s alright, Larka,” he soothed her, though it didn’t help much. He gently rubbed her back as the teenager sobbed into her hands. “It was his time.”

“It’s not fair,” she wept, and the man nodded.

“It never is,” he said gently. “But you were with him, Larka. You took good care of him. Look at him. Do you see the look on his face?” She didn’t want to look but did anyways before they wrapped his body in soft burial linens. His face was calm, like he was simply sleeping, a small smile on his lips. “Do you see how content he is? That’s because of you, dear.”

That eased her heart a little, and though the tears still flowed down her cheeks, she felt her heart calm, just a little bit. The older Conjurer stayed with her when they went to his funeral and soothed her once more when she cried as they buried him.

“It’s alright to be sad,” he told her. “And it’s alright to be angry. Use those feelings to help other patients. Use that energy to help make them better.”

So she did. Larka lost many patients after Allen, either to disease or accidents or even when the moon fell from the sky and brought injured soldiers to her. She would remember the sorrow of losing her friend and work as hard as she could so others wouldn’t lose their loved ones, but sometimes, it was just too late. And she would weep but move on and try with all her might to save anyone she could.

She still remembers Allen with a heavy heart, but she is always grateful to him, for teaching her a lesson. For teaching her how life could be fleeting but still full of love and happiness and sorrow and pain. And though she still cries after every person lost, she moves on.

She would never forget her old friend. She would live and work and remember him and be forever grateful for meeting him.