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| Details |
| Author: | Alli |
| Summary: | After the successful fight against the Scarlet Crusade, Siamus writes to Aze to invite her again to his ship. Things go well, until they get a little foreboding. ~3000 words. |
| Rating: | M for Mature 17+ |
The ships of the Fallon fleet are now moored in one of the few Icecrown anchorages: around the atoll formerly known as Onslaught Harbor. Despite the leaden, moonless menace of sky — a heavy grey verging on black even at this twilight hour — the ships look to be at peace. The victory of two days past has laid a sort of tranquility over the fleet, the buzz of restless tension drained from the sailors and marines that move in the rigging or across the decks, and from two of the ships a sea shanty is being sung in a call-and-response between them.
The Lady Blanche herself is quiet but in that same good-natured way. A cluster of marines sit around a barrel on deck playing a dice game, a sailor seated tailor-fashion nearby splices rope, and two others stand at the port rail fishing.
Siamus himself, dressed casually, is leaning against the quarterdeck wall, his arms folded across his chest, in genial conversation with a wiry, dark man.
A dark speck appears in the distant sky, but it isn't long before it resolves into the shape of a dark-feathered gryphon skimming through the air at an inadvisable speed. The rider leans low over the gryphon's back, dark cloak billowing behind in the wind. As gryphon and rider approach the ship, they slow and carefully land mid-deck, the gryphon's talons rapping quietly against the wood.
Aszera Sunstrike dismounts smoothly, sure of her welcome, and the gryphon is instantly forgotten behind her. It waits for a few moments, perhaps uncertain at the speedy dismissal, but then takes back to the air. Aze is dressed in her usual dark leather armor this time, better for warmth and the ride over. Aze's cheeks are slightly reddened from the wind, but she's smiling as she turns, checking for a friendly person.
A friendly person has straightened up from his comfortable lean against the wall at the sight of the arriving gryphon, and is smiling in Aze's direction now. The other men on deck survey her, some with interest, some to exchange knowing smiles, some with disinterest who immediately resume what they were doing.
"Miss Sunstrike," Siamus calls courteously, and approaches her. "Ye look well. A pleasure to see ye again."
Aze's smile widens and she strides toward him, either not noticing or not caring about the knowing smiles.
"Captain," she says, stopping only a pace away, leaving it to Siamus how and if to close the remaining distance. It's almost like someone might have spoken to her regarding human nobles' habits of discretion. "Always happy to see you and this lady again, too." Aze taps one booted toe lightly on the deck.
"Ah, I'm sure she's likewise glad to see you. I was just about to go below. Would ye care to join me?" What a coinkidink.
"Certainly, Captain, I would be delighted to go below with you," Aze says with a playful grin. As she shifts slightly closer, anticipating taking his arm, she adds, "You know, I could actually tour the rest of the ship someday. Not… I know your people are strict about that sort of thing, but an actual tour."
Siamus offers his arm obligingly, and gives her a raised-brow look of faint, pleased surprised. "I'd be glad to give ye one. Perhaps… in the morning?" He opens the door to usher her through to the corridor. There is a smile in his voice.
Aze curls her arm to rest at his elbow, and allows him to lead her along. Once they're in the corridor, out of earshot of the other sailors, she adds, "I was glad to hear from you. I wasn't really sure if it was just… the novelty, for you. And that I came on pretty strong."
Siamus cants his head, still smiling. "Did ye? I like a lady who knows what she wants. And I hoped it wasn't forward of me to send to ye again, but the worst that could happen was ye said no." He shrugs genially, and then adds. "Glad ye didn't, though."
Aze shrugs in response, using the motion to brush her arm gently against his side. "Well, like you said, I know what I want. And I take it this means things went well, with the Scarlets and my sister and brother-in-law?"
"Very well indeed, aye. I've a mind to enlist them again for another project upcoming, before I'm summoned home in the next little while." Siamus pauses to open the door to his cabin, releases Aze's arm to slide his hand down her back again, ushering her in ahead of him with his palm warm against the base of her spine.
"Yeah?" Aze says, turning towards him as they pass into the privacy of the cabin. She tilts her head back slightly, almost as if looking up at him, and presses gently back against his hand. "That's good to hear. She can be a little… much, sometimes. I've been pretty busy myself, or maybe I'd volunteer too. You should really see me in action."
"Oh?" he says, a smile in his voice. "I expect I'd like very much to see ye in action." He closes the door behind them. "Will ye be at the Citadel wi' the Argent Crusade when they breach the gates?"
That last question would not ordinarily sound flirtatious or innuendo-laden, but Siamus somehow manages it.
Aze reaches up one hand to touch his cheek, trace his beard. The touch is affectionate, but it might be that she's checking if it's still there. "I will be, yeah. I'm with a team, specializing in frost wyrms. We're going to crush them." She smiles, and for a just the briefest moment her teeth look a little too sharp. Then the moment passes, and she's just Aze again, smiling. "I guess you'll be busy with your next project?"
He is indeed still bearded. He tips his head absently into her touch. "A frost wyrm specialist, are ye? I'm impressed." His tone is genuinely and unflirtatiously (for once) impressed. Siamus likes a woman who can handle her dragons. He does not seem fazed by her sharp-toothed enthusiasm for dragon-handling.
"And my next project — well, the one I'd ask your sister's help with shouldn't take us but a day, and I fear I'll miss the breaching of the Citadel itself when ye manage it. Soon, now, I expect? But I'll be called back to Stormwind before it. My daughter's due any time now. And once I'm in Stormwind, there's business before the House to manage, and the like."
"Right, politics," Aze says absently, resting her other hand at the side of Siamus's waist. If she has any worries about whether an ex-Illidari sin'dorei woman is an appropriate lover for a member of the Stormwind House of Nobles… ha ha no, she's not thinking about that at all. "Shame you'll miss this one, but… politics and new daughters, all good reasons to head home."
She tilts her head up toward him and falls silent for a moment, something a little more guarded coming into her expression. "Where will you go after that? I'll be… that is, I… I've never been to Stormwind, obviously."
"After that, I can't know." He shakes his head, smiling down at her faintly, and slides his own hand around her waist to pull her closer against him. "If the war here is done — tides willing — then I'll be back to privateering and politics. Unless we're deployed elsewhere." He does not say against the Horde but, you know. Could be war against the Horde. "Would ye like to be to Stormwind?" The question is idle, amused. "And would ye like a drink?"
Aze yields to the pull, sliding her own hand around his back as she presses against him. "Yeah. I mean, yes, to both. I never really left Quel'thalas before," she probably means before the Third War, "And when I came back from Outland it was all… different. But most of my friends are from there now. Everyone will just… disappear."
Siamus starts to step away to move toward the cupboard, then decides he doesn't really want to do that and attempts to walk Aze with him without relinquishing his hold on her. "Whiskey or rum? And most of your friends… are in Stormwind?" He arches a brow.
Aze has good footwork, she walks with him step by step to the cupboard, dropping her hand from his cheek to his shoulder. "Whiskey's fine. They probably will be, once we win. Sil, the Aspenwoods, Alaisa, and… Ben probably counts. Even the Argent Crusade, they might head back there, the humans. That's what happened after Outland, everyone just disappeared. Most of my elvish friends are…" Aze falters, a flicker of something bleak in her expression for just a moment. She amends the sentence to something less mood-ruining, with, "Most of my friends seem to be human these days."
"Hm," says Siamus. They have reached the cupboard, and he takes her by the waist to lift her and set her atop it, then stoops and eases her leg aside so that he can actually open the cupboard door to get a bottle and two glasses out. "Sil, the Aspenwoods, Alaisa… Lysander?"
"Yeah, Lysander. Good dancer." Aze lets him set and pose her, and props herself up with her one hand behind her on the cupboard. With the other, she reaches up to the neck of her armor. "I'm not going to be as easy to unwrap this time… I had to dress for the ride. I mean, the one on the gryphon."
Siamus laughs as he pours the drinks, and cuts her a warm sidelong look. "The unwrapping has its own appeal when there's such a pretty gift beneath." He offers her a glass, and sweeps her with a look. "And I must tell ye it's fetching wrap.
"Sil, the Aspenwoods, and the Lysander girl, though — we've a great many mutual friends, it seems. The Aspenwoods are near neighbors, and my sister's close wi' the Lysander lass. She's sailed wi' me before. Lady Alaisa, I mean."
Aze smiles, accepting the compliments and the glass of whiskey. She takes a sip, and seems to consider Siamus. "Seems we do. Was that how she came up to Northrend? If so, you met her before I did. It was for, well…" Aze flashes a quick smile. "I met her pretty soon after she arrived, I think? If your sister's anything like her, we might get along. She's smart. The dancing, and… she knows more languages than I do, which is a lot."
"I suppose I must have met her before I brought her up here. We've known the Lysanders some while and I'm of an impression that Ta's been friends with the girl for years. The languages are why I took proper notice; on the voyage north wi' me, she was full of questions." He picks up his own glass for a sip, shifts in closer to Aze, runs the knuckles of his free hand idly down the front of her leather armor from neckline to waist. "How many languages d'ye know? Common, Thalassian…?"
"Mm," Aze agrees, either with the list or with his touch, which she shifts towards slightly. "Eredun, of course. And I pick things up from people around me. Bit of Draenei, Nazja… that sort of thing. I tried to find one she couldn't answer me in."
Siamus shifts closer. With his free hand he lifts her hair away from the side of her throat; he leans in to kiss her, there, and then brushes his lips against her earlobe. Which is a gross word but I can't just say 'ear' when we're talking about an elf because that's pretty nonspecific; there's a lot of ear.
"I could teach ye some of one she couldn't answer ye in," he murmurs. "That's what she was full of questions on before. Though who can say, she may have learnt it by now." He straightens away for another sip of his drink. "Ye should come to Fallon House, perhaps, when the war's through. Stormwind and all your friends nearby. Well, I can't say for Sil, but I expect he'll wind up somewhere thereabouts, Stormwind or the like."
Aze sighs happily and sinks her free hand into his hair, running it to trail lightly along the back of his neck. And then she hears his words - her breath catches for a second as her eyebrows raise. And then she probably protests that it's too generous… ha ha, no of course she doesn't.
"I would love that," Aze murmurs back. "All of that. Kul Tiran? And I could… do you speak Thalassian?"
"I do not," he says, and sets his glass down beside her on top of the cupboard to put his hands on her thighs. "I'd try to learn some. And it's old Kul Tiran, aye. No' much spoken even on the isles anymore, only a few traditional sorts."
He pushes her thighs apart and presses himself in between them, bends his head again to nuzzle the side of her throat. "When the war's done, then," he breathes against her skin, "ye come to Fallon House." Another kiss, and then the brief touch of his tongue against her skin. "But for now, ye come to bed. Shall I see about that unwrapping?"
TIME PASSES
Aze floats up to awareness with a vague sense that something is wrong. It takes another moment for her to place where she is, and then to recognize the sound of harsh breathing from the man next to her. She rolls a little, rests one hand on his chest, and feels his rapid heartbeat. Nightmare, that's all. She moves a little closer, touching skin to skin in what comfort she can give, and sighs quietly.
Siamus turns his head away fitfully, makes a low, trapped groan of protest. Abruptly, a full-body tremor jerks through him. He stills at once, but his breathing has changed again. He lies too alertly tense to be asleep.
Aze lies there unmoving for a few breaths, but he doesn't speak or seem to be drifting back into sleep.
"You okay?" She asks softly.
Silence a moment. "Aye," he says. "Fine."
It is another moment before he shifts, though, relaxes fractionally. He turns toward her, lays a hand briefly on her hip. "Sorry to wake ye," he says quietly. "I need a drink. Would ye like one as well?"
"I wake easy," Aze says sleepily, and then she pauses, maybe taking stock of exactly how drunk she is right now. "Yeah, could use one. Doesn't really chase away nightmares for me anymore, though. Does it usually work for you?"
Another silence.
"No," he says. "Not as much. But it helps me sleep."
He draws away in a rustle of blankets, and there's a brief, chill draft as he turns back the bedclothes to get up. The cupboard door opens and closes in the dark, and the neck of a bottle clinks against glasses' rims.
The bed shifts as he settles back onto it beside Aze and offers her a glass.
Aze pushes up into a sitting position, unworried (beyond a brief shiver) with her state of undress as the blankets fall, and takes the glass.
"I guess it helps, for me, if I drink enough," Aze says, holding the glass steady in front of her before taking a sip. "But I don't do that anymore. What was…? I can stop asking if you want. But was it the kind of nightmare better to talk out or the kind better to just forget?"
Siamus has a drink before he answers her. "I am not, as a rule, prone to discussing them. I've been told that's a bad habit, though. This was… a new one." He speaks quietly, his frown audible. "There was a dead man in it. An old friend. One of the ones we lost in Icecrown waters last time. It feels like — something's wrong."
He shrugs, shifting against her. "But I'm no prophet, either. It's more likely these waters only disagree wi' me."
"Something's wrong," Aze repeats, trailing her free hand lightly over where his kraken tattoo lies (she has a good memory). "This whole land feels off to me, more than half the time, but… could it be a Tidesage thing? Or just… bad associations here?"
"The latter, I'd have thought. The sea here feels… bad, but not… like this. But my shaman — we've a shaman aboard, and she thinks there's something amiss as well. It's probably — the first of these dreams I had was to do with a conversation I had wi' her, so that may be all it is." Siamus has another sip of his drink and then stares into the darkness.
"Shamans, hmm…" Aze says, taking another sip of her own while she ponders. "I knew some shamans over in Outland. Broken, mostly, the Ashtongue. Perceptive, though. If yours says there's something wrong… is she usually good at picking these sorts of things up?"
"I couldn't tell ye," Siamus says dryly. "I've known her all of… four months? But she seems to know her business, aye. Not a lass given to theatrics or guesses."
"Then… if there is something amiss, and it wasn't theatrics," Aze's brow draws down. "And whatever it is, it's in your dreams, too… what would you do about it?"
"I don't know," he says. "I don't know it. If we're being warned, truly, of a thing — I've no idea what we're meant to do about it. Brace ourselves? For what, I couldn't tell ye."
"I don't like the sound of that," Aze says, taking a rather large gulp of whiskey. She settles in the bed, resting her head on his shoulder. "But the world has never much seemed to fucking care what Aszera Sunstrike likes. I've had my share of nightmares come true, and I'm still here, so… maybe we just brace. If something's amiss in the water, we watch the water. Wait for a clearer warning, figure out how to survive it."
Siamus shifts again, this time to wrap his arm around Aze's shoulders and pull her closer against him. All he says, though, is, "Aye. We wait for a warning, and we brace."