24. “Just like I always was.” - For Loti & Raal :P
Loti x Raal24. “Just like I always was.”
It was just like the Hexlord, wasn’t it?
Always pretending he was the strong one; always pretending he was the one that everyone was afraid of, even though he was still young, still green. Too green, like fresh grass.
Loti raced through Dazar’alor, amidst the chaos. Civilians fled left and right; she had to help a women to her feet before continuing. Fire swept over one part of the palace.
It had been a while since the blood trolls had gathered the senseless courage to attack the city.
Raal had not been with his wounded Pakura’ai, and Loti - of course - was not going to admit that she was running back toward the fighting because she was worried about her new husband.
‘We couldn’t even have one week.’
The enforcers were doing an excellent job of fighting off the attackers, and Rastakhan, well. Of course the king was there, his magic taking care of the worst.
Loti had to stop in her search to help a small group of children; it set her back. She had to go with the flow of the crowds until she found a brute to take the kids to a safer place. It would take her ages to get to the docks at this rate!
‘… oh Loti, you’re so dumb,’ she chastised herself, finding the nearest bridge. She jumped off, skimming the surface of the water below as she shifted into her pterrodax form. One of the Pakura’ai mentioned they had seen Raal heading to the docks, hexing about twenty blood trolls on his way.
She’d seen the frog bodies. Raal did enjoy hexing anything he could.
As she soared up from the water, Loti grabbed a clawful of blood trolls unfortunate enough to be close to her feet. She flung them to the rocks below, but wasted no time basking in the satisfaction. The docks were mostly clear when she landed. Rastari were making quick work of any remaining blood trolls.
‘Best not to waste their time,’ Loti scoured the area for any sign of Raal, opting not to ask the enforcers if they had seen him. He wasn’t on the lower docks, by the boats, nor was he hiding on any of the vessels. His body wasn’t in the water, and Loti sputtered as she returned to the surface.
The wardruid would never admit that she felt sick with panic.
She was just about to go and check in with Rez’okun when a blast of wind shoved her toward the stairs. Loti bristled, prepared to fight tooth and claw with–
But there was nothing on the docks when she looked.
Blinking, she moved to go toward Rez’okun again, and was once more shoved by a blast of wind. This blow was strong enough to knock her off her feet, and Loti landed heavily on the stairs.
“Pa’ku…?” she muttered, staring at the rocks.
Zolani’s voice pulled Loti from her musings. The wardruid scrambled to her feet, shook her head at Zolani, and took the stairs two at a time until she was on the next landing. There was still some fighting going on here, and Loti hesitated.
“Please,” she found herself whispering, and Zolani started barking orders. A brutish blood troll was giving the Rastari trouble, but a gentle breeze pushed Loti toward the orphanage. She went.
What she saw would haunt her for months to come.
Her voice came out in strangled gasps. She couldn’t speak, and she rushed forward, grasping Raal’s face in her hands. For a brief moment, he was lifeless, head heavy in her palms.
And then his eyes shot open.
Raal grabbed her wrist tightly in his hand - somehow - and gave her the fiercest glare he could manage.
“Raal– Raal, it’s me, it’s Loti,” she whispered hastily. Immediately, Raal gave her the stupidest smile he’d ever given her.
She made a sound of frustration, and quickly thrust her palm into one of the spears that pinned him to the makeshift door on on the orphanage. She did the same to the other, and then wrapped her arms around his chest as best she could.
“You idiot,” she hissed in his ear, and refused to admit that hearing his weak attempt at a laugh brought her comfort.
“Someone,” he coughed, fingers brushing against her back. She slumped to the blood covered stone beneath them. Raal leaned against her heavily.
“Someone had to come back. To make sure the little ones were okay.”
“You should have come to get me,” Loti chastised, hugging him close. She could hear hints to movement inside the building, and the makeshift wooden doors began to pull away.
Loti was beginning to think she should have tried to clean the place up a bit. Frog bodies were everywhere, and not only that, but some of the blood trolls were only half changed. As if they had died seconds before the spell had ended.
The sight only served to make Loti all the more frustrated, “you’re so–!! So–!!”
“Brave? Cool?” Raal offered as children began to pour out of the building. Some of them doubled back, hiding behind the brute who had no doubt been holding up the main door, while others rushed over despite the blood and guts to crowd around Loti and Raal.
Loti snarled, “no!! You’re stupid! An idiot!! A suicidal maniac!!”
Her accusations were met with a chorus of defences from the kids. Most of them did what they could to wrap their little arms around Raal, and Loti felt him shift against her.
“So… just like I always was?”
Good humor was on his voice. He was smiling against her neck, and Loti sighed, leaning her head over his.
“Yes. Just like you always were.”
