26th of Ash, 120
Arkash's birthday had come and gone. He celebrated much the same as he had for the past seven or so; without celebrating at all. It had been the general theme for his birthday every year after Liu's death, including his eighteenth, which left him without a coming of age ceremony. That year was a little different from the rest, as Arkash had spent the day with a smile on his face and a full stomach. It was the first day that he could walk unassisted since he woke from his coma nearly two weeks prior. It was a day that saw both Fayeth and Asmodei beam with pride while they congratulated him.
True to their word, the couple agreed to help him search the streets for Cojack that day. They wrapped Arkash up with some of Asmodei's spare clothes, which fit him about as well as a blanket would have, and they were off. Arkash couldn't walk as long as he had been able to prior to his coma, and had to pause every once in a while to gather his breath. His legs were another matter of issue, as the muscles in them had already been worked to painfulness, but he soldiered on all the same.
Something that he found to be frustrating was a twitch that seemed to have crept up overnight. The more Arkash walked, the more he suffered the spontaneous muscle spasm in his left shoulder, arm, and neck. He'd be fine one moment, and the next would see him seized by his own nerves. Neither Asmodei nor Fayeth understood why it happened, but they did express concern for the young Rathari.
"How are you otherwise?" Asked the tall avialae, wrapped in plate armor.
How was he? Arkash looked over the decrepit streets as the sky showered the city with snow. None of it stuck, as the streets were too wet, but the air was still cold. It didn't feel right, and the open-world felt off in a way that he couldn't explain. It had been a while since he was outside, since he'd seen strangers. He just needed to adjust to it, he knew, but that didn't change the way that his body felt.
"It hurts to breathe," he replied in vithmi.
Asmodei widened his eyes, then fell to one knee to be eye level with Arkash. The rathari held in his tracks and took the opportunity to catch his breath while Fayeth looked over the pair. "What did he say?" She asked with a hint of worry.
"He's having breathing problems," explained Asmodei. Fayeth softened her brow, then took Arkash's shoulder in her hand. "It's probably just the cold air, Ark. That and you're still recovering. You learned to walk super fast; it's miraculous."
He didn't feel miraculous. "Yeah, youer probably right..." he answered in common then. Arkash drew as deep a breath as he could, and he found the stretch of his ribs to sting. It was painful on his muscles, bones, and lungs. After he exhaled that pained breath, he looked to both of them with a slight smile, then proceeded down the broken cobbled street. The two caught up with him easily. "This weh," he lead as he turned on a street, then proceeded due north.
Asmodei furrowed a brow, then called out to him. "Your house is east, Ark."
The Rathari paused again as he turned and stretched out his weary legs. There, he saw Asmodei point to the street he would have otherwise gone down if not for the fact that "I's Charga territory," he warned, then motioned his hand for them to follow. The two looked at one another, then followed the rathari.
"Charger? Is that some sort of animal? Asmodei has not told me of such a thing."
"Gang," Arkash corrected. "Bru'al, too. Go' lo's o guns an' all." Indeed. Their use of dragonshard firearms was what put the chargers among some of the more feared gangs in Lower Nivenhain. So, Arkash went around. It felt good to be informative, as he'd saved the two a spot of trouble down the line. Another glance was exchanged between the couple, but they followed Arkash regardless.
"Arkash," spoke Asmodei. "What are you hoping to find there? Your house is a ruin; there's no way Cojack will be there."
He knew that; they all knew that. Cojack wasn't there, but a clue to where he might have gone could have been there. The next stop was the woods, but that was a much longer trek, and Arkash doubted he had the strength or warmth to make it. "Anythin', really," he replied, then flinched as his bicep and shoulder tensed, and his claws tightened uncontrollably in a powerful twitch. As he lowered the limb, he stretched it out, then rolled his shoulder.
Asmodei frowned, but it wasn't as though Arkash could see it. The dead gray of his left eye stared on, unflinching. Fayeth came upon his sighted side, and he looked at her a glance before he returned his gaze forward. "Arkash," She spoke as though it was her turn to undermine his plan. "From what Asmodei has told me, your father is very sick. It's been almost two months since you disappeared... Have you considered the possibility that-"
"-No." Arkash interrupted her sternly. Talking and walking quickly became exceedingly difficult as Arkash struggled to catch his breath, so he paused a moment, then twitched once again, then a second time in quick succession. "-I ge'v 'im all my savin's- 'fore I ran. He coulda- lasted." Arkash seemed to miss the obvious problems with his idea. Perhaps out of his own will? Why would Cojack voluntarily live in squalor for two months? He must have believed Arkash had either abandoned him or that he'd been slain. There was no future for a nameless rathari as sick as he was alone in Nivenhain.
"Even so... If we do find him, are you sure you'll like what you find?"
"I'm gonna find 'im. Wiv or wivout you." Despite the harsh tone he assumed, he spoke nothing on what he might find. Perhaps deep down, he recognized that his situation was hopeless? After a moment's silence, Arkash exhaled a cold breath. "...I jus' need t' know 'es alright."
Another hour or so of walking saw Arkash's legs shake with fatigue. His whole body ached. They'd taken longer than it should have to arrive at his old home, mostly because the lizard had to stop to breathe every five minutes, but they made it all the same. No one seemed to recognize Arkash beneath his cloak-like garments, too.
He stared at the scene of the fire for a long moment or two with Fayeth and Asmodei at his sides. They were silent. It was a strange thing to behold; the fruits of his fury. Regret overcame him as he took a step toward the charred rubble. Memories flooded back to him; days where he and Liu had fixed Cojack's stew before he'd arrived home, the smell of a freshly-sawn plank to board a hole in the roof. Right there, in front of him, the keeper of all those memories was dead. Why? Images of struggle, blood, white-hot pain surged through his mind and his left side contracted in another twitch.
He'd believed he had to set it ablaze at the time, but it was all for naught. He was sentenced to death and no one had found Barry's body anyway. Asmodei's gauntlet met his shoulder, and the rathari tilted his head to try and place him on the sighted side of his head to no avail. "You don't have to go in there," he spoke with a calming voice.
The rathari smiled a little, then brushed Asmodei's hand from his shoulder. Without a word, he walked forward and passed the threshold of the door. As he looked at what it had become, he drew a sharp, startled breath. The support beams had collapsed and crushed the frame of the hearth. The floor was covered in a thick layer of ash and black stains darkened the two standing walls. Piles of charred rubble lined the back and right walls, which were missing and open to the cold air of the world beyond. To the right, a charred body laid covered in ash and debris. It was barry; no one had moved him.
Arkash shook his head. He wasn't there to inspect Barry. So, he proceeded to look about the broken remains of his home. Before he could take another step, Arkash paused. There were impressions in the ash, which indicated someone had been by. His heart began to pick up in pace as his eye traced the trail to... the hearth. Arkash took a knee beside it as Asmodei and Fayeth entered the broken home. While they looked about, Arkash ripped the loose floorboard from its resting place to reveal the hidey-hole they'd once stored all their money in. A stack of farthing bills laid wrapped with a piece of string inside, along with something that had been wrapped in animal skins.
The wrapping was oddly square shaped. And though Arkash hadn't succumbed to the curiosity that surrounded it before, he did wonder. Cojack had obviously been there. How else did a wad of cash wind up there? So, why didnt he take it? It belonged to him and Liu; he wasn't meant to touch it. He considered the parcel for a moment, then took hold of it while he held up the board with his stump arm and drew the skins from the hole. A raw, damp, earthy smell surrounded the parcel as he inspected it, then put it aside as he drew the bundle of farthing notes from the ground.
"Is that your stash?" Asked Fayeth as she knelt beside the rathari.
"It was, but I lef' it empty." Explained the lizard as he looked to her. A press of his knees on the ash-covered ground turned his body, and he gestured to the impressions in the ash. "Dun 'ose look like hoofprin's to 'ew?" It was hard to tell, given how old they were, but Arkash was convinced that Cojack had been there. "I's 'is, I tell 'ew. 'Es been 'ere."
Fayeth gave the the prints a long, inquisitive stare before she smiled. Sadness clung to the corners of her lips as she bowed her head. "Looks like it, yeah." Arkash's smile grew as their eyes met. "Wanna call it a day? You've walked pretty far."
His legs were pretty tired. He doubted he'd be able to make it to the forest as he was. "Soun's good," he replied. A pull of his leg saw him plant his claws on the ground, ready to stand, but his body didn't move as he pressed. He couldn't stand, which was a little embarrassing. "Ah... help me up, Fay?"
Arkash's birthday had come and gone. He celebrated much the same as he had for the past seven or so; without celebrating at all. It had been the general theme for his birthday every year after Liu's death, including his eighteenth, which left him without a coming of age ceremony. That year was a little different from the rest, as Arkash had spent the day with a smile on his face and a full stomach. It was the first day that he could walk unassisted since he woke from his coma nearly two weeks prior. It was a day that saw both Fayeth and Asmodei beam with pride while they congratulated him.
True to their word, the couple agreed to help him search the streets for Cojack that day. They wrapped Arkash up with some of Asmodei's spare clothes, which fit him about as well as a blanket would have, and they were off. Arkash couldn't walk as long as he had been able to prior to his coma, and had to pause every once in a while to gather his breath. His legs were another matter of issue, as the muscles in them had already been worked to painfulness, but he soldiered on all the same.
Something that he found to be frustrating was a twitch that seemed to have crept up overnight. The more Arkash walked, the more he suffered the spontaneous muscle spasm in his left shoulder, arm, and neck. He'd be fine one moment, and the next would see him seized by his own nerves. Neither Asmodei nor Fayeth understood why it happened, but they did express concern for the young Rathari.
"How are you otherwise?" Asked the tall avialae, wrapped in plate armor.
How was he? Arkash looked over the decrepit streets as the sky showered the city with snow. None of it stuck, as the streets were too wet, but the air was still cold. It didn't feel right, and the open-world felt off in a way that he couldn't explain. It had been a while since he was outside, since he'd seen strangers. He just needed to adjust to it, he knew, but that didn't change the way that his body felt.
"It hurts to breathe," he replied in vithmi.
Asmodei widened his eyes, then fell to one knee to be eye level with Arkash. The rathari held in his tracks and took the opportunity to catch his breath while Fayeth looked over the pair. "What did he say?" She asked with a hint of worry.
"He's having breathing problems," explained Asmodei. Fayeth softened her brow, then took Arkash's shoulder in her hand. "It's probably just the cold air, Ark. That and you're still recovering. You learned to walk super fast; it's miraculous."
He didn't feel miraculous. "Yeah, youer probably right..." he answered in common then. Arkash drew as deep a breath as he could, and he found the stretch of his ribs to sting. It was painful on his muscles, bones, and lungs. After he exhaled that pained breath, he looked to both of them with a slight smile, then proceeded down the broken cobbled street. The two caught up with him easily. "This weh," he lead as he turned on a street, then proceeded due north.
Asmodei furrowed a brow, then called out to him. "Your house is east, Ark."
The Rathari paused again as he turned and stretched out his weary legs. There, he saw Asmodei point to the street he would have otherwise gone down if not for the fact that "I's Charga territory," he warned, then motioned his hand for them to follow. The two looked at one another, then followed the rathari.
"Charger? Is that some sort of animal? Asmodei has not told me of such a thing."
"Gang," Arkash corrected. "Bru'al, too. Go' lo's o guns an' all." Indeed. Their use of dragonshard firearms was what put the chargers among some of the more feared gangs in Lower Nivenhain. So, Arkash went around. It felt good to be informative, as he'd saved the two a spot of trouble down the line. Another glance was exchanged between the couple, but they followed Arkash regardless.
"Arkash," spoke Asmodei. "What are you hoping to find there? Your house is a ruin; there's no way Cojack will be there."
He knew that; they all knew that. Cojack wasn't there, but a clue to where he might have gone could have been there. The next stop was the woods, but that was a much longer trek, and Arkash doubted he had the strength or warmth to make it. "Anythin', really," he replied, then flinched as his bicep and shoulder tensed, and his claws tightened uncontrollably in a powerful twitch. As he lowered the limb, he stretched it out, then rolled his shoulder.
Asmodei frowned, but it wasn't as though Arkash could see it. The dead gray of his left eye stared on, unflinching. Fayeth came upon his sighted side, and he looked at her a glance before he returned his gaze forward. "Arkash," She spoke as though it was her turn to undermine his plan. "From what Asmodei has told me, your father is very sick. It's been almost two months since you disappeared... Have you considered the possibility that-"
"-No." Arkash interrupted her sternly. Talking and walking quickly became exceedingly difficult as Arkash struggled to catch his breath, so he paused a moment, then twitched once again, then a second time in quick succession. "-I ge'v 'im all my savin's- 'fore I ran. He coulda- lasted." Arkash seemed to miss the obvious problems with his idea. Perhaps out of his own will? Why would Cojack voluntarily live in squalor for two months? He must have believed Arkash had either abandoned him or that he'd been slain. There was no future for a nameless rathari as sick as he was alone in Nivenhain.
"Even so... If we do find him, are you sure you'll like what you find?"
"I'm gonna find 'im. Wiv or wivout you." Despite the harsh tone he assumed, he spoke nothing on what he might find. Perhaps deep down, he recognized that his situation was hopeless? After a moment's silence, Arkash exhaled a cold breath. "...I jus' need t' know 'es alright."
Another hour or so of walking saw Arkash's legs shake with fatigue. His whole body ached. They'd taken longer than it should have to arrive at his old home, mostly because the lizard had to stop to breathe every five minutes, but they made it all the same. No one seemed to recognize Arkash beneath his cloak-like garments, too.
He stared at the scene of the fire for a long moment or two with Fayeth and Asmodei at his sides. They were silent. It was a strange thing to behold; the fruits of his fury. Regret overcame him as he took a step toward the charred rubble. Memories flooded back to him; days where he and Liu had fixed Cojack's stew before he'd arrived home, the smell of a freshly-sawn plank to board a hole in the roof. Right there, in front of him, the keeper of all those memories was dead. Why? Images of struggle, blood, white-hot pain surged through his mind and his left side contracted in another twitch.
He'd believed he had to set it ablaze at the time, but it was all for naught. He was sentenced to death and no one had found Barry's body anyway. Asmodei's gauntlet met his shoulder, and the rathari tilted his head to try and place him on the sighted side of his head to no avail. "You don't have to go in there," he spoke with a calming voice.
The rathari smiled a little, then brushed Asmodei's hand from his shoulder. Without a word, he walked forward and passed the threshold of the door. As he looked at what it had become, he drew a sharp, startled breath. The support beams had collapsed and crushed the frame of the hearth. The floor was covered in a thick layer of ash and black stains darkened the two standing walls. Piles of charred rubble lined the back and right walls, which were missing and open to the cold air of the world beyond. To the right, a charred body laid covered in ash and debris. It was barry; no one had moved him.
Arkash shook his head. He wasn't there to inspect Barry. So, he proceeded to look about the broken remains of his home. Before he could take another step, Arkash paused. There were impressions in the ash, which indicated someone had been by. His heart began to pick up in pace as his eye traced the trail to... the hearth. Arkash took a knee beside it as Asmodei and Fayeth entered the broken home. While they looked about, Arkash ripped the loose floorboard from its resting place to reveal the hidey-hole they'd once stored all their money in. A stack of farthing bills laid wrapped with a piece of string inside, along with something that had been wrapped in animal skins.
The wrapping was oddly square shaped. And though Arkash hadn't succumbed to the curiosity that surrounded it before, he did wonder. Cojack had obviously been there. How else did a wad of cash wind up there? So, why didnt he take it? It belonged to him and Liu; he wasn't meant to touch it. He considered the parcel for a moment, then took hold of it while he held up the board with his stump arm and drew the skins from the hole. A raw, damp, earthy smell surrounded the parcel as he inspected it, then put it aside as he drew the bundle of farthing notes from the ground.
"Is that your stash?" Asked Fayeth as she knelt beside the rathari.
"It was, but I lef' it empty." Explained the lizard as he looked to her. A press of his knees on the ash-covered ground turned his body, and he gestured to the impressions in the ash. "Dun 'ose look like hoofprin's to 'ew?" It was hard to tell, given how old they were, but Arkash was convinced that Cojack had been there. "I's 'is, I tell 'ew. 'Es been 'ere."
Fayeth gave the the prints a long, inquisitive stare before she smiled. Sadness clung to the corners of her lips as she bowed her head. "Looks like it, yeah." Arkash's smile grew as their eyes met. "Wanna call it a day? You've walked pretty far."
His legs were pretty tired. He doubted he'd be able to make it to the forest as he was. "Soun's good," he replied. A pull of his leg saw him plant his claws on the ground, ready to stand, but his body didn't move as he pressed. He couldn't stand, which was a little embarrassing. "Ah... help me up, Fay?"
