“Don’t Let Me Down”
Seratoph organises a meeting with Harph in the Golden Keg where things get just a bit more personal than intended.
Harph walked into the Golden Keg late at night, the moon at its peak while he entered. Already sitting in one of the chairs was another Kaldorei boy, alone while Colin continued serving those who would be coming in at such an especially late time that night. Harph took a seat right near Sera, while the younger of the two stared at the other with disdain, but reluctant compliance. They had to work together. It was for the greater good, and if he didn’t keep Harph on his side, then he would drive away the gang’s inside man for the Moonlight.
“S-So. . . I talked with Vervain.” Sera spoke, prompting Harph to look up while his ears involuntarily twitched.
“You did?” Harph asked, before taking a sip from his mug, the foam of the ale inside sticking to his beard. “I’m guessing you know that we’re. . .”
“Yeah.” Sera answered the question before it could even be asked. “C-Congrats, I guess.”
Harph studied the boy for a few seconds, while he crossed and uncrossed his legs from under the table. A strange tension was felt in the air now. Nothing terrifying, or angry, but a sensation that would feel as if it phased through the two of them, right through their chests, leaving behind something that felt cold and empty. “And I’m also guessing that isn’t all he said?”
Sera nodded slowly, before placing his elbow on his knee, leaning down slightly. “No. We s-spoke more.” He said, while using his free hand to brush off his side, near his stomach. “I-I. . . I get why you did it.” He stared Harph down with his brows lowered, but otherwise, his guard was down. “It doesn’t excuse it. But I-I get it.”
Harph then kept his legs still, and crossed his arms. “You two sure talked, alright.” He sighed, and placed his ale on the table, the wood making a gentle clunk. “Why don’t you elaborate on that? I ain’t here to play riddles, I wanna talk. And clearly, you do too if you set this up.”
Sera shook his head, biting back a tired smile. “I-I don’t wanna play either. I’m a-already dealing with enough riddle shit as it is.” He ran his hand along his eyebrows, rubbing away stress as if to keep himself going. “Y-You raised me as a fighter. Killer. Thief.”
Harph raised his finger. “Might I remind you how we even met, boy?”
Sera straightened his posture, taking a breath while he narrowed his eyes. “I was s-stealing silvers. I wasn’t stealing priceless artifacts, or expensive machines, or blackmail, or w-weapon plans. Not until you dragged m-me with you.”
Harph kept his index finger over his mouth, while his thumb pointed up towards his cheek. “Point taken.”
Sera continued. “B-But that was all you knew. And running away. . . Th-That was all I knew.” He leaned forward, and muttered, his voice going lower. “I’m done running away. And if you’re g-gonna stick with us, then I want to hear you say that you’ll be done with all that too.”
Harph lowered his hand down to his hip, before his left hand, made of metal, moved up and rested on the edge with the rest of his forearm. His expression seemed surprised, yet amused at even the notion. “Stop fighting, killing, and stealing? Sera, you know sure as shit that I am far beyond leaving that behind.” He scoffs, and begins pulling out a cigarette.
Sera stood, and pulled the cigarette straight from in between the older man’s metal fingers, and tossed it away on the ground, out of reach. “Hey!” Harph complained, looking at Sera with an offended expression.
“I-I wanna hear it. After this is all over and Aela is dead, you’re done with th-that shit. Go do something good for once.” He gazed down at him. “Say it.”
Harph shot straight up, nearly causing his chair to fall backwards behind him. “Sera. There are some things in a man that you just can’t change. Things just sometimes are the way they are. And you either let it kill ya, or you move on.”
Sera scoffed, not backing an inch away, despite him having the disadvantage in size, muscle, and overall force. The force in Harph’s voice, just how assertive it was, nearly drove Sera insane. He didn’t want to hear that things couldn’t be fixed, or changed. He wanted this to go his way or no way at all. “A-And what, you expect me to come running back into your arms? When all they’ve e-ever done was help steal and kill? I’m not g-gonna let you get me angry, not again. I-I’m learning to be better. What are you doing i-in the meantime?”
Harph growled, his face inches away from Sera with the height difference, along with his shadow casted by the candle practically swallowing the boy whole in his presence. “I am here to help you and your friends from getting slaughtered out there, godsdammit! You are a grown ass man, and--”
Sera scoffed in his face, a few bits of spit unintentionally flying onto part of the man’s shirt. “Vervain told me everything. How y-you’re trying to make it all up with me. What’s y-your plan? Stick around, do the horrible sh-shit we did together again, and expect us to frolic around like nothing happened?”
Harph placed a firm grip onto Sera’s shoulder, his silver eyes gazing directly into his gold as if he were trying to hypnotize him. “I have been doing my fuckin’ best to hold it all together here so that you and all your friends have a shot at this!”
Sera chuckled grimly, baring his teeth as if he intended to sink them into his throat. “Well I’m sorry to disappoint you with the fact th-that this isn’t easy.”
“The only fuckin’ way you could disappoint me right now is if you ended up exactly where I was at!” Harph nearly shouted, before letting go of Sera, causing the boy to stumble back a few feet. Sera’s face went from something to smug anger, to uncertainty within seconds. “Having to try and play both sides of this damn fight? Knowing people on both sides could kill you at any fuckin moment? Losing what little faith you’ve had over the past six years? Having to maybe kill the person you’ve been close to for over a hundred fucking years now? No shit this ain’t fuckin easy!” His shoulders untensed, resulting in a weak shrug. “You think I want that shit for you? The whole point is so that you don’t end up like me!”
Sera approached yet again, his voice much more quiet. “Then why did you teach me e-everything I knew?”
Harph slumped back into his chair, scoffing at the ground, before he looked up like a defeated man who just got jumped in an alleyway. “Guess you said it yourself. . . I didn’t know nothin’ else.”
Silence filled the keg as the two stared at each other, the uncomfortable atmosphere only growing. It wasn’t something inherently disturbing, as the situation could be mended within moments with anyone in their right minds, but neither of the elves in the keg were such people. One was juggling learning to grow up again, along with jobs, his social life, his religion, and his goal to defeat the Moonlight before they cause any devastation to the world. The other was trying to mend countless relationships without tearing apart any more, play double agent without getting busted from one of the sides, and come to terms with his massive fuck ups. Both of them made huge mistakes, and both of them had at least a common goal in mind, and only now a common mindset was being established.
“. . . Okay.” Sera muttered, nodding his head while he managed to plant himself back into his chair. “I-I’m. . . Look, Harph.” He placed his hand on the table. “I-I don’t know how this will end. Maybe Aela will die. M-Maybe she’ll get to line us up and gun us down in th-the end. Again, I-I don’t know.” He gestures towards Harph. “B-But I need to know that at the very least, you won’t g-go crawling back to her. That you’re with u-us at least until we’ve seen this all through.”
Harph took a deep breath while he sat in his chair, staring at his feet for a moment while he dissociated, his mind imagining different scenarios in the future for how the entire plan could pan out. Success or failure, sacrifice or loss, love or hate. He contemplated it all at once. He eventually brought his eyes back up to Sera, his body brought far enough against the seat so that his head was leveled. His lips parted for a few seconds, until he finally spoke. “I swear.” He spoke, more like a confession than a confirmation.
Sera leaned back with relief leaving his body, the sensation coming over his body like cool air on a laborer’s back. Unsure of what to say next, Sera only responded with a simple reply. Short, and to the point.
“Okay.”
The two would drink in silence for the rest of the night indoors, replaying the exchange in their heads over and over again, before they finally broke it off for the night. Just as the two left, and nearly split their paths from the front door, Sera called out behind him. “Harph!”
The man turned around, unsure what to expect from the boy now. “L-Look. I get you want to see me do better than you.” He gestures up and down at himself, before pointing to him. “B-But. . . I get you care. And I think you can do better too.” He turns, breaking eye contact, before marching onwards towards the gate to the nearby lakes. “Don’t let me down.”
Without another word, Harph watched Sera walk out of sight, disappearing to go elsewhere in the night. The man was left alone, and on instinct, he dug into his pocket for a cigarette. After a small moment, he pulled one out, alongside his square shaped lighter. He stuck the tip of the cigarette in between his lips, while bringing the lit up flame closer, but after a second, he suddenly snapped the lighter shut. He spit, leaving the would-be smoke on the ground, ready for someone more desperate to pick it up and have at it. In the meantime, he lost his appetite.
