Cris tells Alaia a little about his past.
After dinner, they dispersed around the ship. A lot of the secondary
crew were going to their cots for the evening and the night watch was taking
their positions. Gerty remained in the galley cleaning up with Ismay, Kyl began
to mop the floor, and Ziggly went back to the wheel. Cris held Alaia's hand as
they walked up on the deck. He was silent as the breeze hit them under the
night sky. The lanterns were lit all around the ship, supplying a soft glow
around them. Faintly, Ziggly could be heard singing and laughing to himself.
Alaia was content, despite the things that had been discussed during
dinner. Her hand was in his and the moment that breeze hit her face her eyes
closed, her smile lifted and she stepped closer to him. For now, for this
moment at least, she felt just about perfect. Only Ziggly singing broke the
spell and it was broken by her own soft laughter as she shook her head.
"He's such a pain," she said softly.
"Hmm?" Cris turned to the upper decks. "Oh. Yeah. Good
friend though." It was obvious that he wasn't all there.
Alaia's eyebrows rose as she looked up at Cris. She gave his hand a
little tug to get his attention. "What are you thinking about?"
"What he said. He's right. Once Tia knows, she'll stop at
nothing." He sighed and walked toward the edge, looking over at the dark
waters.
She sighed softly; there wasn't going to be any ignoring this as
much as she might want to. "Then I.. guess I better know a little more
about what's going on. I don't know anything about her or... anything."
He smirked. "Where do I begin?" He continued to look at the
water. "Did I ever tell you about The Captain?"
She couldn't help but frown and her gaze dropped because there were
things they had never discussed before, things that neither of them had asked.
She didn't mind not talking about her own history but it bothered her not knowing
his. She gave a wavering little sigh. "No, not really."
Cris nodded. "Have I told you about my human father?" He
turned to look at her. The expression on his face was calm and more focused
than before.
And now she was uncertain, chewing nervously on her lower lip and
rubbing at her cheek. "I think so..."
He blinked and stared at her, now a bit worried. "You don't know
much about my past, do you?"
When she blinked it was to ward away the tears that were building in
her eyes. She offered him a feeble smile when she looked up at him and most of
the blood seemed to have drained from her face. "As much as you do about
mine. I... didn't need to know. It... it wasn't my place and then we were this
all of a sudden." Her gaze slid away from him then and she wiped at an
escaping tear with the back of her hand.
Cris reached for her face and wiped the tear away. "I'll tell you
all about me and why Tia is a concern, and then you can tell me everything
about you. Yes?" He smiled warmly and caressed her cheek tenderly.
She looked so worried when she'd been so happy before but she nodded
and stepped closer until she could rest her forehead against his chest.
"Ok."
Cris kissed her head and took a deep breath. "The man who
is...was..my biological father met my mother, a woman who came from a lower
class than he. They had a few flings and when she found out she was carrying
me, he told her to leave the city. My mother didn't know that he was engaged to
a powerful noble. He told her that if she ever returned, we would both be
dead." He moved away from her and faced the ledge again. "I never
knew him, but mother said he was a magister. Magic wielder." He turned to
look at her with a small smile, "That is why she never wanted me to dabble
with magic. When I was younger, I started to show signs that I was capable of
doing the same as he, but she made sure that I didn't."
She listened closely, nodding at the things she already knew and
locking on to the ones she didn't. She would never forget a thing he told her.
The mention of magic had her perking for a moment but she said nothing of it,
not yet. She simply nodded and wished once again that she'd known his mother.
"In her travels, she ran into the Darkmoon Faire. They took my
mother in and I was born months later as a member of the caravan." He
smiled as he paused and continued, "It was fun. The faires were neat, but
it wasn't always easy. In between faires, we had to find a way to make ends
meet. My mother started as a flower vendor. She would go into Stormwind or
Thunder Bluff. However, that wasn't enough and she didn't want me to starve,
so..." He closed his eyes and sighed, "So she worked at nights....out
of our wagon." He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "I never
approached her about it. She managed to feed us. And because of that, I have
always treated the girls at the brothels with respect and appreciation."
She moved closer as his story continued and by the time he had
reached the more unsavory parts of his mothers work she was wrapped around his
arm. And she hugged his arm that way, rubbed her cheek gently against him; she
certainly didn't mind where he had been or what his mother had done to survive
and that was her only way of showing it without interrupting him. She gave his
arm a squeeze and placed a soft kiss to his bicep.
"One of those men was a human who started to show up earlier and
more often. Mother introduced him as Marcus, someone who traded for a living
and one day, she told us that they were going to marry." He chuckled a
little and leaned his head against hers. "A human wanted to marry my
mother, a beautiful elf with a child. But they did, and I had a father. Marcus
actually cared. He raised me as his own. He made sure that I listened to his
lessons and I did." He smiled and looked at the water. "What I didn't
know about him, and I'm sure my mother did, was that before he became a trader
and a notary, he was a pirate." He looked at Alaia with a small smile.
Alaia gave a small, thoughtful smile and finally broke into his
speech to utter just one overly soft comment. "I happen to like
pirates." Of course she really only meant him and that was all she had to
say.
He chuckled softly. "My mother didn't want me to know that. So I
didn't. Mother passed away and eventually, so did Marcus. On the day he passed,
I met The Captain. He was this bearded, scruffy man who swore upon Marcus'
deathbed that he would take care of me. I didn't know that he was a pirate
until The Captain told me. It was then that I was introduced to the world of
piracy." He shrugged. "The Captain was a dog, as many of us are.
Woman after woman after woman. One of those women was a troll with pink hair
and gray eyes. If you were to see her now I can promise you she looked the
exact same way years ago. She never ages." Cris shuddered a bit.
"This was Tia'Zula. The Captain had her around for a while. She was a
healer of confidence. We could always go to her and she would take care of us.
Eventually, the Captain found another woman. And another. And another. At
first, Tia threatened to kill off his crew, meaning us, but he gave her work,
so she remained with us. She always watched me, now that I think about
it." He sighed.
This was what Alaia didn't know and what she wished she'd asked long
ago. She listened to this with extra care and tried to form a picture of Tia in
her mind. Her brow furrowed more and more as Cris went on. "So this...
mess was always coming," she murmured. She didn't want to interrupt but
she couldn't keep the thought to herself.
"Well, at that time, I wasn't indebted to her. That happened when
I died." He remained silent for a few seconds. "I had broken away
from the Captain then. I had my own ship, my own crew, and when that damn death
knight..." Without thinking, he touched the scar on his neck. "...The
crew didn't know where to take me, so they took me to Tia. She healed me and
placed the shark teeth around my neck. The center one was to capture souls. To
please the spirits, she said." He shook his head, his eyes closed. "I
don't believe that now," he whispered. "I hated what I had to do. I
could have died if I didn't kill anyone, so many died to keep me going."
She couldn't keep from frowning and finally released his arm to push
beneath it and get her arms around his waist. She just held onto him tightly,
gripping his shirt in her hands while she listened.
"She was with us for a long while. So many times she wanted me. Intimately,
but no, I refused. It wasn't right. She hated that. I started to rebel against
her wishes and that's when she started to act...odd." He blinked.
"When she found out I had married Niela..." He closed his eyes and
sighed. "She betrayed us that day I was caught."
She tipped her head to look up at him, this time confused. "But
I thought she was still with you after you met me. What did she do?"
"We suspected something wrong about her, so she was with us when
we sailed to keep an eye on her. On one of those trips, she managed to tip off
the Horde of what we were going to do. She was on the airship when we were
caught. She removed the shark tooth, broke the spell, and sent it to
Niela."
Such a heavy sigh fell from her lips and a pouty, angry expression
slipped across her face. She would have held onto him tighter if she could have
done so without hurting him. Instead she settled for burrowing in as much as
she could. "So... she's insane basically."
He nodded. "She does something with those souls. Something that
keeps her looking the same for years and years. I don't know what she's up to
now, but I know...I know that she knows. I know that she invaded my dreams. I
know we're in danger." He looked at her, worriedly. "I'm sorry I have
brought this upon you."
For the first time that night she looked concerned, truly concerned.
After a moment she released him and pulled away so she could face him and press
her fingers to his lips to silence him. "No apologies," she said so
softly. "With you is where I want to be, whatever that brings." She
gave such a soft sigh then and slid her fingers from his lips so she cradle his
cheek and stroke it so gently with her thumb. "We need to figure out how
she's linked to you and if we can break it."
He nodded. "Yeah." He gazed out at the dark waters. "I
know we do."
He was watching the water but her eyes were locked on his face.
"Is there anything else I should know?"
"I don't know if she knows what you look like. She may think
you're Niela, for all I know. Be wary of trolls." He sighed and closed his
eyes. "I'll try not to let her see you in my dreams."
"What is she, exactly? I know she uses magic and that she heals
but there are all kinds of magic and all kinds of healing."
"I don't know exactly. She uses spirits. She uses herbs and skulls
and blood. Hair and skin." He shook his head. "I don't know. I'm not
that knowledgeable in magics."
"Well. I am." She chewed thoughtfully on her lip for a
moment. "And what I don't know I can usually find out. I just...
want her out of your head."
He nodded again. "We spent so much time together. She must have
bits of me everywhere."
"Probably," she sighed. "If she uses blood and...
things... I don't know how to counter that. I don't know if you can counter
that without someone dying. She's a troll so whatever she considers herself I'm
guessing it's more than simply mage or shaman, that would just be something to
let her get by in public, wouldn't it? If what she's really practicing is
voodoo. That's not quite as acceptable." She chewed on her lip
again, her brow furrowing in thought though she went silent.
"I’ve thought about it," he muttered. "Just ending it
all to keep her away from everyone. I’ve thought about it." He smirked a
little, "But then again, I've survived so many times, I don't think death
is in my future."
That comment drew her from her thoughts and brought a severe frown
directed at him. "No, it's not. And I was talking about her anyway." If
her brow could furrow more it did then. "If she can get to you from a
distance, we can get to her from a distance." Her eyes narrowed in
thought; she was coming up with something.
He looked at her and sighed softly. "I need you safe, Alaia.
Remember that, please." He kissed her head. "We need you safe."
She sighed, drawn from her thoughts once again. "I will be. But
that doesn't mean that I can't help figure things out. I'm the one with all the
books, remember?" She wrinkled her nose up at him playfully. "But I
think we need to find someone who knows more about this kind of thing. Maybe a
druid would be helpful."
"I don't know." Cris turned around and looked at the passed
out Ziggly. "I'm hoping this trip is worthwhile. I don't even know where
we're gonna go at this point."
"Where we're meant to be." She offered him an encouraging
smile. "And I think, until we figure things out, that if Miss Tia wants to
spy on your dreams we should feed her a few false ones to follow." She
flashed him the cheesiest grin. "That I do know how to do."
He looked at her, lifting an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Oh, it's easy to make yourself dream about something specific.
It just takes a little thought. Usually. And if that doesn't work you just need
to be too tired to dream. But dreams are good. I'd rather you have dreams of...
flying fish than no dreams at all." She smiled. "You might wake up
laughing then and that would be an awfully nice way to wake up."
He chuckled a bit. "Very well, we will try
it." He hugged her, but careful not to squeeze her delicate body too
tightly.
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