Taj and Aero: Advent of the Feather King

Rose didn't cry so much anymore as Demetri explained his time down in the dungeons that he had been trapped in, inwardly wincing at the imagined scene that was playing out in her head of what must have been done to him while he had been captured. But there was some lingering question, and as Rose mustered up the courage to ask it, she leaned forward slightly and wrapped her much smaller hands around Demetri's own, tugging it away from his face so that she could look at him properly without hinderance and to hopefully remind him that she was there to comfort him in any way that she could. "Demetri, how did they capture you?"

Demetri looked up to Rose as she took his hands in her own. A pained expression came on his face at her question. He had told her everything else...might as well keep on a roll and tell her what got him in this mess. "I was training in swordsmanship with my master...I had been with him for sometime around a year before...the floating things started coming around. They were not attacking anyone ....Soon they kind of stopped coming around so not one questioned it...I had yet to see one at this point...and then a man entered..." His captor, the man who had tortured him for two years...

"He started forcing information out of people, always asking for where he could find an avian...then he found my master...who sold me out as soon as the questioning started..." He stopped to recollect his thoughts with a sigh. "The floating things found me soon after...you know the rest from there..."

She had expected Demetri to tell her that his home had been similarly attacked by the floating monsters like her family had, but the truth that he revealed was much worse than that. Her eyes watered with renewed sadness when she came to grips with what he was telling her. "You were betrayed…" she whispered gently, squeezing his much larger hands with her own, feeling so much sorrow for him. "I'm so sorry." She mumbled, wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of one of her hands. "It's no wonder that you don't trust anyone…"

Demetri stopped, removing one of his hands from hers and taking his thumb to remove some of her tears. "Your tears bother me more." He said, unable to help himself. She was so upset for him and it would trouble him greatly to make someone else upset over his past troubles. She was far too sensitive a person and in a way he had come to admire that. He was rather the opposite, not understanding people and shutting them out without a second thought. He felt like he should worry more for herself than others, but he figured even if he told her she would not do it.

Rose blushed and laughed a little at his statement, leaning slightly into his hand when he removed some of those tears from her cheek. "I'm sorry, I can be such a baby…" She wiped at her own tears again, clearing her eyes temporarily of the excess liquid and met Demetri's gaze. "Demetri…" She swallowed once, gathering her resolve and her expression went soft, squeezing the one had that she still had in her possession. "I want you to know that I'd never betray you. I always want to be there if you need me."

Demetri smiled, a genuine smile came to his face. "You could not betray anyone as it is, I know you won't." While he said it he wasn't sure if he believed it himself. He could not see Rose doing anything to hurt anyone ever, but despite the person to get over the pain of betrayal from someone close was hard and this was the first time it had ever been addressed. Sure he might have thought about it, but he would always push it away. "Lets go back." He suggested, wanting to just go to sleep.

Rose half sniffled half laughed when he mentioned that there wasn't any way that she would betray someone anyway, glad that with their time spent together she had managed to convince him of that much. "Okay." She mumbled and stood, wiping at her tears and getting them out of her eyes and taking a few deep calming breaths. She wouldn't have minded going to be either at this rate, all the emotions having made her tired. "Thank you for sharing with me Demetri. I'm really glad that you did."

Demetri was not even sure why it was he had shared his past with Rose. He had never a want to talk about it but...He looked over to her and sighed quietly to himself. Pushy woman. Deep down somewhere, Demetri was glad he could talk to her though. Despite his awkwardness and not usually being known for his cheery demeanor. Something about her made him feel comfortable and it wasn't something he had been used to in all his years of living. When they made it back to the area where they set up shop, Demetri led Rose to the fire so she could see before finding a tree to scamper up in.

The next handful of days went by in a predictable fashion, the band of avians flying for Racksom in hopes that they could hear a rumor of where to head next, seeing as Demetri was no longer able to serve as a guide on this particular stretch. They trained in combat every evening before dinner, and otherwise had an uneventful trip save for a tryst into Racksom lake that ended in a lot of blushing and anger, the twins flying the next day with bruised cheeks from being punched in the face by an irate Oriana.

They arrived in Racksom, deciding to stay in the city since they needed food and other supplies fairly badly after spending nearly a week without restocking. The group split up in pairs for the most part, heading off in different directions with the promise to meet back at a little inn with cheap rates before it got dark that night. The twins made no such promise, fully intending on finding somewhere or someone else to bed down with, and so were the first to leave the main group with mischief fairly clinging to their retreating forms.

*~*

The southern part of the city had been rebuilt after the war, having suffered a great amount of damage during the initial attack during the greatest war to happen on the face of Dragons Cove in centuries. Among the new cobbled streets was a small little store that sold books and other paper goods of the like, lying just outside of the richer districts of the city. In the shop was a single woman, tending to her massive collection of leather-bound tomes with an absent sort of smile on her face as she rearranged things and stocked the shelves with new books. She was a small lass, petit being the best word to describe her thin lithe form. She wore a fawn-brown dress of modest cut and had her hair all tied up on top of her head, the wavy brown locks attempting to escape every once and a while, the strands of hair hanging in front of her face at which she would blow occasionally to get them out of the way. Most odd about the woman was perhaps her bright golden eyes, though for her race, it was not so uncommon, for she was an avian. The wings that sprouted from her shoulders were white on the inside, flecked with brown feathers, the tops of her wings a honeyed brown color with grades of white on the primaries broken with three stripes of darker brown.

She was in the middle of trying to stack one of the taller shelves, perched on top of a stool with her wings flared for balance, standing on the very tips of her toes to reach the top shelf and place the books that she had nestled away in the crook of her arm.

Ryleon excused himself from the group, wanting to get a look at the city. Talos never really traveled to this part of Dragon's Cove with them and for good reasons being the war, even though he was born here. It was odd to think that he was born here and not the coast or back in Turrich but he shrugged looking at the shops he passed. He came across a book store and peered inside to see a woman struggling to put a book on a higher shelf. Without much though, Ryleon walked in the door and over to the woman. He gently took the book from her hand, "If I may..." He said softly, easily putting the book on the shelf. He backed up a bit and smiled sweetly. "Looked as if you needed some help."

~*~*~*~

Oriana soon found herself left with Alex, Rose, and Demetri at the inn and for some reason she thought it spelled trouble for herself. Alex usually behaved a bit around Rose but with the recent developments of their relationship she did not know if that mattered or not. She knew one thing though, she herself would not touch a drop of beer or anything else. Not after what happened last time.

Demetri sat at the bar, not really doing anything as he waited for the time to pass. He was content that the bar itself was pretty empty or else he would be on the roof tops by now avoiding all the noise and nervousness for him.

Silvia looked up suddenly when a man's voice sounded from behind her shoulder, startled enough to loose her balance and drop the books she was holding, fairly toppling off of the stool that she had been standing on to reach the top shelf and falling directly on the one that had broken her concentration. She flung her arms around his neck, closing her eyes and expecting to go toppling to the ground, but instead found herself plastered to his chest. Immediately she jumped back, waving her hands in the space between them as some sort of apology. "I'm so sorry!" She said, her face heating up to a bright cherry red, embarrassed that she had fallen over so easily. "I can be such a klutz sometimes I just-" She smiled a little unsure, bending down to pick up her dropped books. "Thank you for putting that up for me. I really need a taller stool."

*~*

Rose was extremely happy that Demetri hadn't flown off yet, glad to see that his tolerance for mass amounts of other people had become a tad more flexible, though honestly this city wasn't nearly as busy as the capitol had been. Like Oriana, she had no intentions of drinking that evening, remembered clearly the events that she still couldn't remember and the resulting embarrassment that had formed from the night. Racksom might be more of an honorable city than Kaionar, but she wasn't going to trust her luck.

Alex on the other hand was suddenly incredibly curious about the alcohol here. Or more specifically the effect that it may or may not have on their gloomy companion. He hadn't ever seen the man drink, and since this was going to be the last time that they were in a city for a few days again he was more than interested to see what sort of person he was under the influence. He ordered a couple of pints and when they came he slid the second one over to Demetri. "I know that the girls have decided not to be any fun, but that means that we can't have a few drinks together." He said with a grin, lifting his mug slightly for a cheers.

Ryleon soon found that his help actually made things a lot worse as the woman came crashing down with some book. She she grabbed fold of him, natural reflexes took over and he grabbed her to steady her slight form. When she backed away with a blush on her face Ryleon was suddenly struck at how cute she was. She was small, and her soft blush made her features even cuter. Shaking head his to clear his thoughts, Ryleon bent down, picking up some of the books and putting them in a pile. "Oh, no, I am sorry for scaring you. I had not meant to."

~*~*~*~

Demetri soon found a pint of beer sliding his way and he stopped its movement by grabbing hold of it. He looked to Alex and then the beer. He had come to somewhat trust the man, his motives pretty clear and despite never having a drink before, Demetri lifted his glass slowly to clank it against Alex's. "Why are you not with Oriana?" He asked, not really minding the male company though. He took a sip of the dark amber colored liquid and let it run down his throat. It was odd, a cold drink burning? Shrugging, he took another sip and waited for Alex to answer.

She took the book from Ryleon that he had collected, settling them in the crook of her arm once more and smiled sheepishly at the man, glad that he was kind enough to help out. "Thank you again." She said, rising to her feet once all of the stray book were back in her possession and held out her hand in greeting. "I'm Silvia, my father owns this shop. I just take care of it for him. Or, well, attempt to take care of it." That shy smile came again to her face taking a moment to simply look him over. He was young, perhaps only as old as she was with boyish features despite the lean muscle she could see on his arms and in his chest. A mercenary? He looked too sweet to be a fighter, but there was a sword at his hip all the same. Very strange. He was cute too, his face and body more or less devoid of scars that indicated a hardened warrior.

*~*

Alex shrugged to the question, taking a quick sip of his own drink, noting that the brew seemed rather potent for the price, and smirked inwardly. All the better. "I figured that I'd give her some time to cool down after the escapades with the lake." He replied easily. She had been livid over the incident and with good reason, though that didn't mean that later tonight he wouldn't track her down and bug her until he got a kiss out of her. Or more… "But what about you and Rose?" He deadpanned, not letting on that he was insanely curious about the subject. They seemed closer than before, having a feeling that it had to do with their little adventure into the woods and the lack of scars on his body. He had been surprised to see Demetri without all of the markings that he had been accustomed to seeing on the man. Truly, Rose had performed a small miracle by alleviating the man of the physical evidence of his torture.

Ryleon shook her hand gently taking note of her soft skin and smiled back. "A pleasure, Ryleon is my name." He said, a light blush looming on his face. "Is there something I can do for scaring you?" He asked, looking at the books in her hand. In honesty he wanted to spend a bit more time with her if he could.

~*~*~*~

Demetri agreed that Oriana probably needed time to calm down, she was stomping around until they had gotten to Racksom only now cooling down that no one was messing with her. The twins really need a number to piss her off. He took a larger drink of his beer and looked to Alex. "Rose..." He sighed. "She is pushier than I had assumed..." He smiled slightly, downing the rest of his drink as a faint blush came on his cheeks. "Not in a bad way I think." He added. After a few minutes, Demetri started to feel weird, zoning out and then ignoring Alex completely to turn and face Rose. The look in his eye was completely different, something that held lust and perhaps even confidence. "Rose. Come here."

Oriana noted what was going on, seeing Alex at the bar with Demetri and sighed. "Come on, leave him alone. the twins caused enough damage the last time they got my brother drunk. Who knows what will happen to Demetri." She did not much notice the look in Demetri's eye and did not think twice that he would want to talk to her. They had been talking a lot after all. Oriana grabbed Alex's hand and led them outside of the inn.

Silvia blushed slightly at his offer for help, looking from the books in her arm to the top shelf that they were supposed to go on, chewing on her lips a bit before coming to a decision. "Well, if you really wanted to…" She handed over the books reluctantly, pointing to the top shelf. "I'd be so grateful if you could put those up there. Honestly, I don't know why the shelves have to be this tall…"

*~*

Alex finished his own pint, noting with a small frown that Demetri had stared acting strangely. He didn't miss the look that Demetri was giving Rose, and with a small smirk of his own placed his pitcher down on the bar top for the barmen to collect, following Oriana without much resistance. "Take care of 'em Rose!" Alex called in parting. To Oriana he simply squeezed her hand, walking closer to the woman than he normally would, a smile on his face. "I think he can look out for himself." He said with a chuckle, half wanting to know what the big man had in mind for Rose in his rather inebriated state.

Rose wasn't far away, half listening to the conversation going on between Demetri and Alex, half watching the ebb and flow of the people in the bar. Her attention was suddenly snapped to a single point when she heard first Demetri call her name, then Alex. Standing from her sitting spot, she walked to Demetri's side, giving Alex a slightly suspicious look before turning her attention on Demetri. "Yes?"

Ryleon happily took the books she offered him and put them on the shelves as need be. "So is this where you live- Er, not to say you live in a book store, I just meant are you native to here...er...I...Will stop talking now..." He got a dark blush on his face, and in his mind he couldn't stop repeating the word stupid over and over. He was acting as if he never spoke to a woman before. Stupid.

~*~*~*~

Oriana looked back, or rather up to Alex, first noting how close he was and then moving on to his comment. "Of course he can." She wasn't sure why the obvious comment was needed and could only hope she got Alex out of there in time to keep Demetri sober. Only if she knew that Demetri was already far gone. She walked with Alex and then stopped a short while later, still holding his hand without thought. "Uh...Where should we go..?" She asked, looking up to him.

~*~*~*~

Demetri had his eyes locked with Rose's and no one else, not even hearing Alex's comment. When she drew near, Demetri stood and closed the rest of the distance to her bending down and locking lips with her in a slightly rough kiss. He pulled back a moment later and put his mouth against her ear. "I need you."

At first Silvia wasn't sure what to make of his stammering ways, then giggled, holding a hand to her mouth as she did so. "I do live in the book store, actually." She replied with a smile, then pointed at the roof. "Up on the second floor I have a small living space to myself. Though, usually it's more full of books than it is with people but…" She shrugged, glancing up at the ceiling briefly. "But where are you from? I've never seen you before." Which honestly shouldn't have been surprising. Racksom was a big city, after all.

*~*

Alex thought long and hard on the statement, relishing the the fact that Oriana had grabbed his hand instead of the other way around. Perhaps he should get tipsy more often…? A smile formed on his face and he squeezed her smaller hand in his larger one, standing closer to her than the normally would when they stopped. "Anywhere, as long as it's with you." There was no trace of sarcasm in his voice, the alcohol having taken the ability to be overly clever away from him for the moment.

*~*

Rose's eyes widened when Demetri suddenly kissed her, hardly even able to react to the sudden gesture for all of her surprise. "N-need me?" She squeaked, her voice small and quiet. Her lips tingled slightly from the contact, and she fought very hard to not place her hands against her lips. "What do you need me for?" Though she asked, she had a pretty good idea what was on his mind, given the kiss, and her face heated up considerably at the thought. "Maybe we should get you back to the room…"

Ryleon smiled nervously, glad that the girl went along with what he was saying despite how it had come out of his mouth. Without thought, he looked up when she spoke of the second floor as if he could some how see it and then turned his attention back on her. "I see...I am really not from here...I live on the east coast, near...ish Turrich." He answered, suddenly missing his home, and his parents.

~*~*~*~

Oriana turned to face him, a slight blush on her features but she thought it well hidden. "Come now, be serious. I think Rose and Demetri need some time alone so the inn is out..." she looked around as if she could get some idea and then turned back to Alex, hoping to get a straight answer from him. "I mean, I suppose we can go look round outside town or something..." She honestly did not know and she had her concentrated game face on.

~*~*~*~

"As you wish." Demetri said, picking the woman up easily and taking her upstairs. He heard a few whistles but ignored them. When he got them in the room, he set Rose down and closed the door, pushing her against it and pressing his lips against her neck. "Ive needed you for a long time now..." He whispered almost painfully.

"Turich?" She exclaimed, suddenly excited. She didn't notice the sad look that he suddenly had on his face, quickly stepping around him and disappearing amongst the shelves. She reappeared holding some very weathered looking parchment in her hands, blowing dust off the top and laid it out on a table, revealing a map of the entirety of the continent. Her finger traced the coast line until she found the tiny mark that indicated the small village's existence. "Oh my! You certainly are a long way from home!" She turned a surprised gaze up at Ryleon, her voice clearly revealing her disbelief on the subject if her face already didn't "What in the world are you doing all the way here?"

*~*

Alex smiled and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "You're so cute when you blush." He mumbled into the top of her head, flexing his fingers against her hand slightly before raising it to his lips and kissing her knuckles. "Outside of town sounds good." Alex mumbled. "Like I said, if you're there, then I will be fine with it.

"To find my parents..." Ryleon tried to keep from from frowning, a small smile coming to his face instead. The only one who knew about the metal freaks of nature looking for people with wings only, was information Rose and Demetri knew only. Thus Ryleon did not think to ask if she had noticed any avians missing from the area. Who knew if she would know anyway, right? "They went missing a short while ago." Short? It felt like ages since he had seen them.

~*~*~*~

Oriana's blush grew darker as he kissed her head and then her hand and when he spoke. Sure, he had shown her affection before, but only a few times and in private moments with one another. Perhaps she still just wasn't used to it or something. Oriana led him out of the city listens as the sounds of Racksom died away as they got further out. "Its...oddly peaceful out here." She commented.

"Oh my…" Silvia bit her lip in worry, her hands clenching slightly on the old parchment. What a terrible thing to have your parents gone missing… Though he looked old enough to start his own family, she could only imagine what sort of emotional state that she would be in if her father disappeared from the face of the earth. That would be a dire day for her indeed. "And you think that they might be somewhere here in Racksom?"

*~*

Alex followed Oriana unwaveringly, totally willing to go wherever it was that the small woman cared to lead him. In the current state that he was in, he sort of hovered continually between normalcy and bliss, hardly anything able to burst the bubble of contentment around himself, especially with Oriana leading him by the hand. He nodded in agreement, looking around at the open evening sky beyond the city's walls. "It is." He pulled her closer so that they walked almost literally shoulder to shoulder, his gaze leaving the heavens and concentrating wholly on Oriana instead. "The night suits you well."

"We aren't sure, Perhaps thinking so..." He did not even know the direction they were going in anymore. Demetri no longer remembered where he was and none of them obviously knowing where their parents could be. Who knows long it would be before they found them. Were they even alive? He had no idea, but it certainly wasn't time to be sad over it. He offered the woman a smiled. "I'm sorry to have talked about something so depressing." He offered the apology.

~*~*~*~

Oriana stopped where they were, a good distance away from town but enough to still keep it in sights. "Interesting what one beer will do to you." She commented, and turned so she was facing him directly. She touched his face to feel if his cheeks were hot or not but in the cool air of the night it was hard to tell. "You feeling okay?"

Silvia shook her head quickly, looking slightly pained that he would dismiss the issue of his missing parents so readily for her benefit. It sounded quite terrible, after all. "If there's anything I could do to help…" She offered immediately, though really, what could she possibly do? She had many books and so knew many things, but she was no expert on kidnappings. "Do you know why they disappeared?"

*~*

Alex slid his hands over Oriana's pulling her hands away from his face briefly and kissing the center of her palms and then let her hands rest against his face again, holding them there with a light touch. "I've had a little too much to drink, I'm not sick." He replied with a chuckle, finding the notion that she would be so concerned for him slightly funny in his inebriated state.

Ryleon looked at Siliva with a bit of sadness. He did not see the harm in telling her. "No...We were attacked a few weeks back by these....things....and they were captured trying to protect me and my sister." He fiddled with another book in his hand, before putting it on the shelf. How long would it be until they found them and would they be alright when they did?

~*~*~*~

Oriana blushed, he was being so gentle with her that she did not know what to do with herself. Normally he was up front, even pushy in his ways of flirting with her and would never let her live a blush down but this...This made her heart beat painfully in her chest and she wasn't sure if she liked this reaction.

She could imagine how Ryleon felt, having his parents taken away after they'd sacrificed themselves to ensure that he got away, though the news that they had been captured by some unknown beings piqued her interest. "There have been disappearances around the city." She said slowly, trying to recall the rumor that she had heard on the subject. "A few weeks back, strange men wandered the streets interrogating people of the city, asking after those with wings… Later, others like you and I started going missing. Do you think… that might have been them…?"

*~*

"You always get so red in the face when I kiss you." Alex stated, setting Oriana's hands on his shoulders then dropped his own hands to her waist, drawing her close so that he could rest his chin on her head, inlaying her scent deeply. "You can be so cute sometimes." He chuckled, placing a kiss on her temple then her forehead, leaning back slightly to place a light peck on the very tip of her nose and finally her lips, lingering there longer than he had for the others.