“Safekeeping.”
Thea’s quiet voice was loud in the corridor; Sabina and her family’s noise already fading as they made their way up the nearby stairs. Jadis was momentarily confused as to why she would utter the unexpected word, but a second later the realization came to her and she understood. Thea had a promise to keep, and she was fulfilling that promise.
The dark figure that stepped out from a poorly lit doorway was tall and slender, though her build was partly obscured by the ridiculously loose shift she was wearing. The long shirt drew Jadis’ attention almost as much as the bright red eye that peaked out from the woman’s thick bangs, mostly because of how hideously drab it was. Grayish purple and baggy to the point that it was falling off the woman’s shoulders, it looked like something that wouldn’t even fit her all that well, despite Jadis’ greater size. Despite how ugly the clothing was, it did do the job of making Jadis want to see what was underneath the dull shift quite well, since what she could see of the woman’s pale right shoulder indicated she wasn’t wearing anything else.
The woman in the baggy shirt was around six feet tall, so certainly bigger than the average woman though not all that impressive in height compared to Jadis and many of her companions. She had black hair that had little strands and whisps of gray mixed in, though it didn’t appear to be from age but instead a natural color pattern. Her hairstyle was shaggy and short, giving her a permanent case of bedhead, and only one of her bright red eyes was visible from under the thick mess.
While she hadn’t picked up on it at first sight, the feature that clued Jadis into who the woman was, was the pair of black and gray wings she had on her back. The room she was exiting had been dark enough that Jadis hadn’t seen them at first glance, but as she stepped out into the corridor, they became visible.
“Hello Noct,” Dys greeted the woman. “Good to meet you off the battlefield.”
Noct nodded her head slightly in greeting, then turned her attention to Thea. Stepping closer, she reached out with her left hand, which held Thea’s serrated spear. The former soldier silently passed the ringed halberd to the dark woman and took her own weapon back. When the exchange was done, the two women stared at each other for a long moment, not saying anything.
“Is that a, ah, c—catchpole?” Thea asked, breaking the silence.
“Yes,” Noct nodded once, her voice somewhat rough and husky.
“It’s v—very nice. Strong.”
Noct nodded as if in agreement to the compliment. Then, after a few seconds, she quietly responded with a compliment of her own.
“Good spear.”
“Thank you,” Thea smiled sheepishly at the other woman. “It was a g—gift, from D—Dryads.”
Noct nodded again, making a humming sound as she did so. Then, the two fell silent again, the full breadth of their conversational skills apparently exhausted.
“Okay,” Dys cleared her throat after making the decision to not let the oddly awkward interaction continue. “Noct. We’re going upstairs to eat with Aelius and everyone else. Did you want to join us?”
The dark woman stared at her for a moment, then nodded her head again in agreement. Slipping back into the room for just a second, she deposited her weapon inside before exiting again and stepping forward to stand next to Dys, patiently waiting for her to take the lead. When Thea realized what Noct was doing, she let out a little gasp of realization and held up her spear.
“I sh—should go put this away,” she said with a tinge of embarrassment.
“We’ll wait for you,” Dys told her as the brunette quickly scurried away.
That left Dys alone in the corridor with the shaggy-haired winged woman still staring at her.
Jadis felt like she could be forgiven for not immediately recognizing Noct. Even though she couldn’t call on the excuse of being foggy brained anymore, not since she had been awake for quite a while at that point, she still felt she had a good justification. The last time she had seen Noct, the woman had been covered head to toe in straps, chains, and belts. She felt like it was probably unfair to call what the Seraphim wore into battle bondage gear; Jadis was certain there had to be a good reason for the odd design of Noct’s armor. It still looked like something out of an S&M fetishist’s wet dream to her, though. In any case, she had not expected the woman underneath the tightly fit leather and metal to look quite so disheveled and unkempt. The Noct of last night had given off the impression of a powerful dominatrix that was on the hunt. The Noct in the corridor before her looked like a lazy goth girl who had just rolled out of bed and hadn’t had the time to put on her makeup. Not that a person couldn’t be both, just that Jadis hadn’t put the two together at first thought.
“Thanks for your help last night,” Dys said to the black-winged Seraphim. “I’m sure sticking Vinea with the poison spear helped whittle its health down. Thea wouldn’t have been able to get close.”
Noct’s expression didn’t change much, but Dys noticed her lips pulled down in a slight frown at the mention of the Demon Prince. She didn’t respond to Dys’ words beyond that, though, and silence once again filled the air between them.
“It was a tough fight,” Dys tried again, hoping to get more than an unblinking stare out of the other woman. “Cut it close more than a couple of times.”
“Yes.”
Well. It was more than silence, Jadis supposed.
“Severina mentioned that Glanum is sort of your territory,” Dys persisted, determined to get more than a single syllable out of the reticent Seraphim. “Do you have your own home, or do you stay here with Aelius often?”
She wasn’t surprised to find that Noct had slept the morning away in Aelius’ home. Not since he had so kindly opened up his manor for Jadis and her many companions to rest in. It made sense to her that he would let the other Seraphim in the area stay as well, though if Noct was from Glanum, Jadis wasn’t sure why the dark-haired woman wasn’t sleeping in her own home. Noct was clearly an adult and was probably older than Jadis. She had to have her own property by that point. If she didn’t, did that mean she lived elsewhere and just stayed with Aelius when she was in town? And if that was the case, did it mean Tacitus was in the house, too? Or did he have his own home elsewhere in the city and it was just Noct who stayed with Aelius?
Noct took a few seconds to respond, letting the silence hang between them as she stared at Dys with the one, unblinking eye. When she finally did speak, her words sparked confusion both for their phrasing, and their content.
“My home,” the woman said as she pointed at the floor beneath them.
“Your… home?” Dys repeated slowly. “You mean, you live here, too? But, I thought this place belongs to Aelius and his wife. If you live here, too, that would mean… oh! Duh. Are you related?”
Dys practically kicked herself for not catching on sooner. Aelius and Noct were both Seraphim. Avatar populations were small since they usually didn’t breed as quickly as most other mortal races. Chances were decent that any Seraphim found in one area would be related to each other, distantly if not directly.
“Parents,” Noct agreed with another bob of her shaggy head.
“Ah,” Dys made a noise of understanding. “Okay, that makes so much more sense now. Sorry I didn’t catch on sooner, didn’t mean to make things awkward. I was talking with Aelius for a while there and he didn’t mention that you were his daughter. What about Tacitus? Is he…?”
“Brother.”
“Alright then,” she smiled wryly at Noct’s answer. “Good to know. Any more family hiding in the woodworks I should know about? Just to make sure I don’t stick my foot any further into my mouth.”
The strange, black-winged Seraphim looked down at Dys’ feet for a moment, as though she was considering the logistics of the proposed scenario. After a moment, she looked back up at Dys and shook her head.
“No.”
Jadis was spared from further attempts at getting Noct to speak in a sentence that went longer than two words by Thea hurrying up to them, sans spear. With her return, Dys happily resumed the trek up the stairs to the second floor where her other selves and most of her companions were already gathering in the large dining hall that Aelius had set up for them. Noct trailed behind Dys and Thea, saying nothing, but apparently intent on joining the group for the coming meal.
By the time Dys, Thea, and Noct arrived at the door to the dining hall, the large space had filled up considerably. Not only were Jadis’ lovers in there, but Sabina’s father and brothers were, too. So were most of her other companions, though some trailed in after Dys. Tegwyn was on one side of the room, chatting with Aelius, Nevan and Orla. Nearby was a small group consisting of Terrance, Cora, Humbert, Violetta, Alban, and Alex, who were all listening to Villum boisterously retelling the story of his killing blow on the Dead Head Matriarch. Meli stood alone by one of the open windows, eyes closed and basking in the sunlight, while most everyone else was paired off and talking quietly with each other. Jadis didn’t see Maeve in the room, but that didn’t mean the Fetch wasn’t around. Jadis made a mental note to pay close attention to any servants that might come and go while they ate, since there was a high likelihood that one of them would be the shape changer in disguise.
It wasn’t until after Dys entered the room that a figure she was half expecting to see showed up.
The late arrival was a huge, bulky man that had to be more than seven feet tall. His thick, wide torso was balanced on top of tree trunk sized legs, and his broad shoulders barely fit through the door to the room. His identity was revealed the moment he squeezed inside, though, as his bright blue wings came into view.
“Hello Tacitus,” Dys held out her hand to the giant Seraphim, greeting him right away since she was near the door. “It’s nice to finally meet you properly.”
“Hello,” the hulking man replied in a gravelly tone that reminded Jadis of a diesel engine. “Well met.”
Now that she was seeing him without a helmet on, Jadis could see a family resemblance. Not between him and Aelius; no, she wouldn’t have guessed they were related at all. But there were similarities between him and Noct. Tacitus too had shaggy, black hair that fell over his face, though his eyes were covered completely, almost like he was a giant, bipedal sheepdog. What she could see of the man’s face was similar enough to Noct that it was easy to tell that they were siblings, though his cheeks were broader and his lips were bigger than his sister’s. Jadis guessed that the two took after their mother, since they didn’t look much like their father at all.
It was at that moment, while she was studying the differences and similarities between the two and their father, that Jadis realized that there was one extremely significant variance that she hadn’t noticed at first. As Tacitus approached his father and the two hugged in a familial embrace, she studied them closely. Specifically, she searched for Tacitus’ eyes, hidden under his shaggy bangs. When he tossed his head back, she saw them clearly. Bright blue, the color of his wings, in fact, but lacking one noteworthy feature that Aelius possessed. Double checking Noct, Jadis saw that she was the same. Red eyes that shone slightly with the light’s reflection. Almost supernatural in their luminosity, but decidedly round.
Both Tacitus and Noct were the same. Their irises were round, instead of cross-shaped like their father, or Severina, or literally every other Seraphim Jadis had ever met.
How was that possible? As far as Jadis knew, the shape of a Seraphim’s eyes was a defining feature of their species, just as consistent a factor as their wings were. It was like seeing an elf without pointed ears, or a gnome without the blueish markings on their skin. Such variations just didn’t happen.
Or did they? Jadis freely acknowledged that she was no expert. She hadn’t been on Oros for quite a full year yet, though she thought she might be getting close to the anniversary of her rebirth. In any case, others would know better than her what was normal. She might be getting confused over nothing, a mere fluke of genetics that resulted in a few Seraphim who didn’t have the unusually shaped eyes that she had come to expect from their kind. Still, it was an oddity, and Jadis’ curiosity burned to find the answer to the question.
As she was trying to come up with a tactful way to ask Severina why her distantly related family members had weird eyes, two bestial forms lumbered into the dining hall. All other thoughts were quickly pushed to the side when she saw them. Partly because the sight of one of them eased her final worry as far as her loved ones went. But also because the other figure answered Jadis’ question regarding Noct and Tacitus, while raising many more.
Noll strode into the room, clean and looking refreshed. He had a bandage over one eye, indicating that it was still missing, but he looked unruffled by the loss. He was wearing his full armor, which looked almost completely undamaged by the previous night’s battle, and he had a small grin on his muzzle. The sight of her mentor looking pleased was confusing, since he rarely wore his emotions on his face, but Jadis figured out the reason quickly enough. Noll’s long curved sword hung at his hip, which meant he had managed to recover the undoubtedly powerful and expensive weapon from the Demon pit.
As happy as Jadis was for the old wolf, she was far more distracted by the other person who walked into the dining hall at his side. At first, Jadis mistook the huge, shaggy figure for Odilia. Why Noll would have the obnoxious Valbjorn with him she had no idea, but the bear-like figure had the same height and build so it was the first place Jadis’ mind went. However, the longer she looked, the more it became apparent that this Valbjorn wasn’t the detestable commander she had confronted the previous night.
This woman’s fur was darker and even shaggier than Odilia’s had been, to the point that her features were hard to discern under all of that fluff. Her muzzle was short like the commander’s had been, but the nose on the end of her snout was pink instead of black. Her eyes were bright red, but rather than threatening, their round and open nature made her look more cute than intimidating. She also had, Jadis couldn’t help but notice, a rather impressive bust that was not hidden at all by the white and red robe she wore with a cinched waist.
As Noll strode over to stand by Dys, Aelius broke away from his son and walked up to the female Valbjorn with arms open wide. The two embraced, then exchanged a quick but loving kiss that made Jadis’ eyebrows reach for her hairlines.
“Thais, my love,” Aelius said as he leaned back from the much taller Valbjorn. “Have you finished your priestly duties for the day?”
“A healer’s work is never done,” the bear woman rumbled in a voice like a gravel waterfall. “But my magic is spent for now. At least the worst injuries are settled.”
“Thank Valtar for that,” Aelius smiled as he ushered his wife further into the room. “And Charos. But most of all, thank Jadis and her companions for their timely arrival. Who knows what the butcher’s bill would have been without them.”
“Unaffordable, I’m sure,” Thais grumbled as she walked with her husband up to Jay, who was standing with Aila and Eir to either side of her.
“Jadis, this is my wife, Thais,” Aelius introduced the Valbjorn to her. “Thais, this is Jadis, as well as Aila of Red Tree and Eir Aedraheill.”
“Lovely to meet you all,” Thais said as she immediately embraced Jadis in a crushing bearhug. “You do the gods’ good work. Bless you.”
Still a little bemused by the revelation, Jay nevertheless hugged the bear woman back as tightly as she was given. While the only other two Valbjorn she had ever met had been pricks, the same did not seem to be true of Thais. As the shaggy furred priestess broke away from Jay and warmly hugged both Aila and Eir, Jadis made the snap judgement that she liked this woman. She seemed like a truly kind person, and the more Thais talked, the more Jadis could understand why Aelius had fallen for her.
“Such a collection of beauties you all are,” Thais was saying, one heavy paw still on Eir’s shoulder as she looked over the others who were starting to gather closer. “I’m surprised you aren’t all priestesses in Lyssandria’s service. Oh, and this must be Alex! I’ve heard so much about you. Come here and let me see you properly, young woman.”
Jay watched in growing amusement as Thais fussed over Alex, who patiently let the Valbjorn look over her. As she did so, Aelius stepped closer to her side and cleared his throat, getting Jay’s attention.
“I see you have already met my son and daughter,” the Seraphim smiled up at her. “I had meant to introduce you all more formally, but my wife can be difficult to herd.”
“Hey, don’t worry about ceremony around me,” Jay grinned down at the man. “I’m not exactly the formal type.”
“Good,” Aelius nodded. “Then, if you would not mind lending me your aid one more time, would you help me usher everyone to their seats? I’m certain that the food will taste better warm rather than cold.”
“With pleasure,” Jay answered. “I hope you made a lot, by the way. I’m not exactly a dainty eater.”
Glancing between his bear of a wife and his barn-sized son, Aelius smirked.
“My cooks are always up for a challenge.”
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