15th of Ash, 120
A lot had been revealed since he woke, and not all of it was comfortable. Cojack was missing; he had been since Arkash last saw him. He'd been taken captive by a strange pale elf and a mild-mannered avialae, who chained him to a bed in the middle of an abandoned lumber-processing mill. He lost his left arm, and was unable to open his left eye for reasons he didn't know. Part of him suspected it was also damaged in his 'incident' as the pair called it, but he couldn't know for sure.
He'd had the notion that the two didn't want to harm or kill him. Mostly because he'd tried to fight his way free shortly after he woke, and the worst they did was hold him down. Arkash had a little bit of wiggle room with how he could behave. Still, he didn't want to bite them or wound them with his claws; they were helping him in some strange way, after all. He believed the two meant well, but as for their intentions for him, he didn't know.
At his inquiry, both the Avialae and the woman alike looked at one another with uncertainty. He'd asked for the whole story, from the beginning. But it was a long one. They'd likely already overloaded the young Rathari with information and news that he likely didn't need to know. But, Fayeth was nothing if not transparent. "Asmodei is my husband; we've lived in Nivenhain for the best part of two seasons." That was a good place to start. "I don't tell you this lightly, but I am cursed. Ordinary food cannot sustain me."
Arkash furrowed his brow. "Whachya eat, then?" Even he knew everything needed to eat something or other. Did she absorb nutrients from the soil?
"Mortal flesh," she replied. Arkash reeled a bit. Was she serious? He hadn't known her long, but she didn't seem like the type to joke about such things. Even so, to eat another person was... the thought... it frightened him. She was some sort of predator, then. He and Asmodei alike were potentially on the menu.
"...You dun' mean animals, do 'ew?" Arkash asked as he pressed his back into the filthy mattress. Fayeth shook her head. "...Alive?" The elf nodded. Arkash's blood ran cold and he began to shake. She was going to eat him!
"I'm not going to eat you, Arkash," she spoke with something of a disappointed sigh. "I didn't eat your arm either if that thought crossed your mind."
Arkash couldn't help but watch her with unparalleled caution. Even if she didn't eat his arm, what stopped her from eating him as he was? Nothing. And she still stayed her jaws. Arkash had nothing to fear, and the more he thought about it, the more his sense returned. They wanted him alive for reasons that he didn't know.
"I can eat animals and corpses, too... but it's...-"
"-Not as good?" Arkash finished her sentence for her with a question, and she nodded in response.
"Yeah... It's like living off scraps. And why should I when there are so many people in this wretched city that deserve it? ...You can relate to that, can't you?" Fayeth's eyes were on him. She was measuring him. How would he handle such a comparison?
The Rathari furrowed his brow at first. What did she mean? Arkash too had lived off scraps for the most part of his life, and when he took to thievery, he spent money on luxuries and good, filling foods. Was that what she meant? Arkash stole from higher castes, however. People that could afford to lose a little profit here and there. Was that the reason she killed those men in the alley all those months ago? Did she target criminals? The lizard roused from his thoughts, then bowed his head to the lady. She was right; he could relate. The woman smiled.
"That's what I was doing in the alley when we first met; luring the less-savory folk to their death with a purse full of farthings and an innocent, lost smile. You'd be surprised at how many people in this district are ready to take that bait." Fayeth was particularly open with her methods, her point of view. She was open in general, and it threw Arkash off. The thought that she murdered people disturbed him only in regard to how easily she did it.
Was he comfortable with that? Arkash could easily name a dozen humans off the top of his head that he wanted to hurt... but to kill them? Most of them were awful, sure. Arkash had even killed one in a bloody fight himself. He didn't regret what he'd done; it was him or Barry. In a way, it was Fayeth or the vermin that crawled the city streets at night. Arkash didn't just understand, he sympathized. But only to an extent. "If it's jus' thugs 'n mean fellas, I dun' see the problem..." he admitted quietly.
Outside the heat of a fight, those words still weighed on him. They were still people, even if they were cruel. Was Brodie a person worthy of sparing? The thought brought his arm to tense while he sat there. people like Brodie, even his brothers, they deserved to die. So, Arkash clung to his hatred. It carried him through his uncertain footing on the subject.
Fayeth grinned contentedly, then bowed her head. "I only take what I need to get by," she clarified. Despite Arkash's hatred, it still made him shiver to know that she referred to people's lives. "Now where was I... Right, that's how we met for the first time. In a city of scum, weaklings and cowards, you stuck your neck out to help a lady who'd been cornered in an alley by two men far bigger than yourself. I-" She looked to Asmodei, who quietly paced behind the rathari. "-We, admired your bravery. And when Asmodei questioned you, you kept your word. Our interest piqued, and we began to watch you."
"Wait-" Arkash lifted his hand to pause, and the shackle pulled tight on his achey wrist. Fayeth held her tongue. Arkash stared for a moment, unresponsive.
"-What is it?" She quizzed and glanced at Asmodei. It was so much, all of it. Those people in the room with him saw something in him, something good? Righteous? He was so far from that. Arkash wouldn't so easily be convinced.
"I'm not... whatcha think I am," he lifted his gaze to the pale elf. "I'm not what youer sayin'. I'm jus' a ne'mless Rathari; I steal shit'n hurt fellas that cross me. 'm not bre'v, or honest... I'm jus'-"
"-Wrong." Spoke Asmodei, who approached from Arkash's side. Arkash dejectedly looked to the Avialae; he'd compared what he saw in himself to what the two saw, and he found himself wanting. He was so far from what others believed him to be. "You're not like the others, Arkash," he spoke in Vithmi, which in turn widened the rathari's eye. "You stand for what you know is right and fight injustice where you see it."
Arkash shook his head. Asmodei was wrong. "I'm just a criminal-," he spoke back in his own tongue with a much more refined accent.
"Why? Because you broke a few laws?"
"Well... yeah." That pretty much described a criminal.
"Law is the ball and chain that those in power slap on your ankle from birth to keep you in line. To keep you submissive, beneath them. Adhere to those rules you never agreed to, or die in the mud, rot in some cage that you were thrown in on some other man's authority."
Arkash stared at the knight with a wide eye. Something about the way he spoke stirred a certain... familiarity in the pit of his stomach. It fluttered about the culmination of his being and touched the depths of his soul. He didn't know it, but his purpose heard Asmodei. "The law-" he started in opposition.
"-Perpetuates power for those born into it and breeds weakness below." Interjected the avialae. "Rulers of all kinds cow and oppress the masses with tools like the law. Their order is just a means of growth for themselves, a method of organizing the common people into working toward their easy, free lives." Asmodei brought his hand to rest on the lizard's shoulder and lowered to kneel at his bedside so that he could look Arkash directly in his eye.
Arkash looked back while his mind worked in circles. Everything Asmodei said... They were the words of a madman, but it all made sense to Arkash. Perhaps not entirely, but it felt right. His purpose pulled on him then, and though Arkash didn't know what it was, he was compelled to follow it's lead. "That's... right." Spoke Arkash with recognition in his eye. "I think I understand."
Asmodei bowed his head in turn. "Then you understand that the laws you follow are your own. You know what's right and wrong; you know it in your heart." Arkash's eye twinkled at the avialae while he thought.
"I... You're right. I guess that's true, yeah. Okay." For the first time since Arkash had woke, he smiled.
A lot had been revealed since he woke, and not all of it was comfortable. Cojack was missing; he had been since Arkash last saw him. He'd been taken captive by a strange pale elf and a mild-mannered avialae, who chained him to a bed in the middle of an abandoned lumber-processing mill. He lost his left arm, and was unable to open his left eye for reasons he didn't know. Part of him suspected it was also damaged in his 'incident' as the pair called it, but he couldn't know for sure.
He'd had the notion that the two didn't want to harm or kill him. Mostly because he'd tried to fight his way free shortly after he woke, and the worst they did was hold him down. Arkash had a little bit of wiggle room with how he could behave. Still, he didn't want to bite them or wound them with his claws; they were helping him in some strange way, after all. He believed the two meant well, but as for their intentions for him, he didn't know.
At his inquiry, both the Avialae and the woman alike looked at one another with uncertainty. He'd asked for the whole story, from the beginning. But it was a long one. They'd likely already overloaded the young Rathari with information and news that he likely didn't need to know. But, Fayeth was nothing if not transparent. "Asmodei is my husband; we've lived in Nivenhain for the best part of two seasons." That was a good place to start. "I don't tell you this lightly, but I am cursed. Ordinary food cannot sustain me."
Arkash furrowed his brow. "Whachya eat, then?" Even he knew everything needed to eat something or other. Did she absorb nutrients from the soil?
"Mortal flesh," she replied. Arkash reeled a bit. Was she serious? He hadn't known her long, but she didn't seem like the type to joke about such things. Even so, to eat another person was... the thought... it frightened him. She was some sort of predator, then. He and Asmodei alike were potentially on the menu.
"...You dun' mean animals, do 'ew?" Arkash asked as he pressed his back into the filthy mattress. Fayeth shook her head. "...Alive?" The elf nodded. Arkash's blood ran cold and he began to shake. She was going to eat him!
"I'm not going to eat you, Arkash," she spoke with something of a disappointed sigh. "I didn't eat your arm either if that thought crossed your mind."
Arkash couldn't help but watch her with unparalleled caution. Even if she didn't eat his arm, what stopped her from eating him as he was? Nothing. And she still stayed her jaws. Arkash had nothing to fear, and the more he thought about it, the more his sense returned. They wanted him alive for reasons that he didn't know.
"I can eat animals and corpses, too... but it's...-"
"-Not as good?" Arkash finished her sentence for her with a question, and she nodded in response.
"Yeah... It's like living off scraps. And why should I when there are so many people in this wretched city that deserve it? ...You can relate to that, can't you?" Fayeth's eyes were on him. She was measuring him. How would he handle such a comparison?
The Rathari furrowed his brow at first. What did she mean? Arkash too had lived off scraps for the most part of his life, and when he took to thievery, he spent money on luxuries and good, filling foods. Was that what she meant? Arkash stole from higher castes, however. People that could afford to lose a little profit here and there. Was that the reason she killed those men in the alley all those months ago? Did she target criminals? The lizard roused from his thoughts, then bowed his head to the lady. She was right; he could relate. The woman smiled.
"That's what I was doing in the alley when we first met; luring the less-savory folk to their death with a purse full of farthings and an innocent, lost smile. You'd be surprised at how many people in this district are ready to take that bait." Fayeth was particularly open with her methods, her point of view. She was open in general, and it threw Arkash off. The thought that she murdered people disturbed him only in regard to how easily she did it.
Was he comfortable with that? Arkash could easily name a dozen humans off the top of his head that he wanted to hurt... but to kill them? Most of them were awful, sure. Arkash had even killed one in a bloody fight himself. He didn't regret what he'd done; it was him or Barry. In a way, it was Fayeth or the vermin that crawled the city streets at night. Arkash didn't just understand, he sympathized. But only to an extent. "If it's jus' thugs 'n mean fellas, I dun' see the problem..." he admitted quietly.
Outside the heat of a fight, those words still weighed on him. They were still people, even if they were cruel. Was Brodie a person worthy of sparing? The thought brought his arm to tense while he sat there. people like Brodie, even his brothers, they deserved to die. So, Arkash clung to his hatred. It carried him through his uncertain footing on the subject.
Fayeth grinned contentedly, then bowed her head. "I only take what I need to get by," she clarified. Despite Arkash's hatred, it still made him shiver to know that she referred to people's lives. "Now where was I... Right, that's how we met for the first time. In a city of scum, weaklings and cowards, you stuck your neck out to help a lady who'd been cornered in an alley by two men far bigger than yourself. I-" She looked to Asmodei, who quietly paced behind the rathari. "-We, admired your bravery. And when Asmodei questioned you, you kept your word. Our interest piqued, and we began to watch you."
"Wait-" Arkash lifted his hand to pause, and the shackle pulled tight on his achey wrist. Fayeth held her tongue. Arkash stared for a moment, unresponsive.
"-What is it?" She quizzed and glanced at Asmodei. It was so much, all of it. Those people in the room with him saw something in him, something good? Righteous? He was so far from that. Arkash wouldn't so easily be convinced.
"I'm not... whatcha think I am," he lifted his gaze to the pale elf. "I'm not what youer sayin'. I'm jus' a ne'mless Rathari; I steal shit'n hurt fellas that cross me. 'm not bre'v, or honest... I'm jus'-"
"-Wrong." Spoke Asmodei, who approached from Arkash's side. Arkash dejectedly looked to the Avialae; he'd compared what he saw in himself to what the two saw, and he found himself wanting. He was so far from what others believed him to be. "You're not like the others, Arkash," he spoke in Vithmi, which in turn widened the rathari's eye. "You stand for what you know is right and fight injustice where you see it."
Arkash shook his head. Asmodei was wrong. "I'm just a criminal-," he spoke back in his own tongue with a much more refined accent.
"Why? Because you broke a few laws?"
"Well... yeah." That pretty much described a criminal.
"Law is the ball and chain that those in power slap on your ankle from birth to keep you in line. To keep you submissive, beneath them. Adhere to those rules you never agreed to, or die in the mud, rot in some cage that you were thrown in on some other man's authority."
Arkash stared at the knight with a wide eye. Something about the way he spoke stirred a certain... familiarity in the pit of his stomach. It fluttered about the culmination of his being and touched the depths of his soul. He didn't know it, but his purpose heard Asmodei. "The law-" he started in opposition.
"-Perpetuates power for those born into it and breeds weakness below." Interjected the avialae. "Rulers of all kinds cow and oppress the masses with tools like the law. Their order is just a means of growth for themselves, a method of organizing the common people into working toward their easy, free lives." Asmodei brought his hand to rest on the lizard's shoulder and lowered to kneel at his bedside so that he could look Arkash directly in his eye.
Arkash looked back while his mind worked in circles. Everything Asmodei said... They were the words of a madman, but it all made sense to Arkash. Perhaps not entirely, but it felt right. His purpose pulled on him then, and though Arkash didn't know what it was, he was compelled to follow it's lead. "That's... right." Spoke Arkash with recognition in his eye. "I think I understand."
Asmodei bowed his head in turn. "Then you understand that the laws you follow are your own. You know what's right and wrong; you know it in your heart." Arkash's eye twinkled at the avialae while he thought.
"I... You're right. I guess that's true, yeah. Okay." For the first time since Arkash had woke, he smiled.
