A Wizard's Peace - Chapter 7

The timbre of his voice, warm and comforting; the way his features softened as he looked her way, severity melting into smiles he doled out generously only to a favored few; the sparkle in his rich amber eyes; the way his dark hair fell loose on the rare occasions he left it unbound; these were the details that snuck into her reverie and chased her waking moments. It was no wonder her heart ached constantly.

Raya had spent the morning working in a field on the far side of Reithwin. It had been weeks since she'd last seen or heard from Rolan, or anyone outside a few. Ena had found them a tiny cottage they could hide away in, the pair working side by side to clean it out and make it serviceable again. It wasn't much but at least they had somewhere to sleep and make food. She had just returned as she noted the looming figure of Halsin sat outside the door patiently whittling as he waited.

"Ah, Raya. I knew you'd come back eventually," he greeted her as she drew closer. "Would you sit with me?"

Raya put down her basket and did as asked without speaking. She saw a familiar raven nearby and braced herself, shooting the bird a warning look.

"Ena's here too I see," Halsin chuckled, following Raya's gaze. "You both look well enough though. Tired around the eyes, but, overall...," he trailed off as he considered first the rudely staring raven then the young elven woman beside him. "You know what I am about to ask, I suspect."

Raya sighed, shook her head and looked ready to make an attempt at escape though she remained where she sat. "There is nothing to talk about, archdruid. I think Ena and I are alright out here. Do you need us at the Reach? Is there help we could give?"

The weary nature of her voice; her manner told him more than the words she spoke. "The Reach does well and you are always welcome back there at any time. Both of you. I do worry about your safety out here. Yes, I know, each of you can handle yourselves but still."

"Obie is by often. He has a fondness for the woods out back," was Raya's delicately evasive response.

"You do know he is but a very large cub, right? He has become a great hunter in the time since the camp disbanded but he is still young. I never thought I would know an owlbear raised by a dog but there are stranger things that have happened," he chuckled.

"He's quite sweet. Protective. He probably talks to Ena, but I am not privy to the conversations," she replied, relaxing into the safety of a simple subject.

The raven cawed loudly, a reminder she was there and paying attention. Raya shook her head as Halsin grinned. It was not a grin that lasted long.

"You know why I am here," he began, his voice quiet and kind. "So many worry about you both. You, especially. What happened between you and Rolan?"

The temptation was there for Raya to simply turn and walk away. It was a subject she had no desire to delve into. Her heartache was her own. She did get to her feet, meandering away only to walk back in a slower version of the pacing a certain tiefling wizard was all too good at.

"It was all because of Aleida. He only ever looked after me because he felt obligated by whatever she'd done for him. Simple Raya, she can't take care of herself, so let's send someone she won't suspect as a proxy to babysit her and lull her into a sense of normalcy that did not exist."

The bewilderment that etched Halsin's face was intense. The words were spilling out though and he knew better than to interrupt. The raven hopped from where she had been perched to alight on the archdruid's broad shoulder, settling there as they listened.

"He told me once that there were no debts between us while the whole time his every action towards me was to repay one he felt he carried. I feel so small, so foolish. I thought he cared. I thought he was sincere. I should have known better. People vie for the approval and pleasure of the Hero of Baldur's Gate. Her dumb, fragile sister is an easy conduit."

The raven squawked angrily, Halsin raising a hand to touch her head to quiet her before he turned his gentle gaze back to Raya. "Do you truly believe that? That that's all things were? That that's all you are?"

She paused in her meandering to look up at the archdruid, the written plain across her lovely features. "Yes."

Halsin regarded her in silence for several moments. He abruptly bent to pick up a rock, throwing it at the young woman without warning and without checking his strength in doing so. She did not flinch, instead turning to catch it and throw it back fast enough that he had to jump away to miss being struck. The raven flew to a nearby windowsill with an indignant caw. The archdruid approached her, looming over her before he went to shove her lightly. She ducked with ease, sweeping her leg behind his knees and leaving Halsin sat hard on the ground.

"I'm sorry!" she blurted as she reached out both hands to him to help him back up.

He was smiling as he got to his feet on his own, shaking his head at her. "You think yourself weak. I think you simply cannot see yourself very well. You are powerful, Raya. Stronger than maybe some give you credit for by far. It's what caused so much trouble in the illithid colony I suspect. They saw you as either a threat or an asset and they sought to make you the latter."

Raya looked stricken, her breath quickening as a feeling of panic gnawed at her. Halsin closed the distance, laying his hands on her shoulders. "Breathe, little one," he urged.

She closed her eyes, shaking as she tried to push her mind far from flashbacks that tore holes in her soul. She was still shaking when she felt someone come up behind her and embrace her. Ena was back in human form as she held her sister and rested her head on her shoulder.

Halsin withdrew his hands as he watched the sisters, his gaze soft and distant. Raya held Ena's arms as they wrapped around her, her head bowed as she slowly stopped shaking.

"There is a young man out there who knows your burdens because the ones he carries are similar. Ask your sister his tale or better, ask him or his siblings. When you're ready, of course," Halsin said as he watched the pair. Ena's sharp blue gaze softened with gratitude as Raya's head remained bowed. Raya eventually did nod once.

"Maybe one day. Not today, though," she answered in a shaky voice.

"In your time," Halsin replied as he gathered his whittling and prepared to leave.

"Thank you, archdruid."

He smiled, not bothering to ask her to call him any different in that moment. He stopped to embrace the pair before he headed off, Ena and Raya left stood side by side. Ena shook her head, then turned to take her sister's face squarely between her hands.

"My hero."

The words were hoarse, pushed out with a voice so long unused. Raya's brows shot up, her gaze searching her sisters before she clasped her hands over Ena's and touched her brow to hers. Eventually Raya drew Ena's arm around her shoulder and put her own around Ena's waist before the two went inside.

~~~

Meetings, accounting, ordering, researching, studying, practicing: there were always ways for Rolan to fill time. He had become adept at it since everything that happened at the Reach. He evaded conversations about anything more than business or the superficial, artfully sidestepping invitations for social events and just about anything that might draw him away from working. He ate because he had to. He drank because he needed to. He spoke only because others required it of him.

Insulating himself was safe and right, he reasoned, both for himself and all around him.

It was early afternoon when he returned to his library after gathering some paperwork at the shop. He crossed to his desk, lost in reading one of the papers he carried. It was not until he sat down that he realized something was different. Something was off. He slowly looked up from the pages in his hand to notice the disarray on his desk.

Flowers. So many flowers.

A riot of spring color overwhelmed the normally orderly and austere space. Some spilled onto the floor while a few sat atop the nearby lamp.

"Gods above what is this all...," he muttered in confusion as he tried to make sense. "If this is some kind of prank," he went on, turning aggravated and bleak as he rose. He was stalking across the room, his temper preparing to flare when he heard a dull 'thud' across the room. It was enough to make him stop and look.

High upon one of the massive bookshelves sat a familiar ginger feline. She preened, tidying her coat and enjoying how the sunlight made her beautiful fur positively radiant. She began to hop down, shelf by shelf, making the long journey from so close to the vaulted ceilings down to the floor below as Rolan looked on. Once she reached the bottom, not a treasure disturbed in the process, she went to sit by the book she'd so kindly knocked down.

"Ena what are you doing here...," he said slowly, cautious in his approach of the cat. Seeing those unsettling blue eyes was almost a relief, confirming his suspicions about the identity of the fluffy intruder.

His answer was a feline huff before she rubbed her head against the book and walked around it, sitting on the other side and looking up at him expectantly.

The mage sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before he reached down and picked up the tome. "There, are you happy?"

She offered nothing but a haughty look in response. Rolan sighed, studying the beautiful cover of the book that left little indication as to its contents. It was clearly well loved, the spine well-worn and the pages looking a bit rough at the edges. His curiosity was piqued as he opened it up.

"'A Poet's Guide to Flowers'... Ena, I am a mage not a gardener or a poet. What are you getting at here?"

He could have sworn the cat rolled her eyes. She got up, trotting towards his desk and shifting back into the human form he'd seen before. Her curly locks were wild, this time laced through with minute strands of green ivy. Her freckled features were more sun kissed than her twins, a few scars standing out pale on her arms and the back of her shoulders. She wore a sleeveless shirt and pants cut off at the knee this day, no shoes to be seen which left her steps near silent on the luxurious carpeting. Rolan found himself unable to watch her, the echoes of who he wanted to see versus who he saw difficult to bear.

Ena would not accept that. She knocked on the desk edge to make him look up again before she gestured at the heap of flowers. Then she pointed to the book, then the flowers, then the book again.

"Heal. My. Hero."

The words were a fight for her to speak. The mind and body seemed confused as to how to connect the wires needed to get them out, but Ena pushed through. She made her gestures again as Rolan looked on in surprise over hearing her voice.

"I am no healer, though. No herbalist."

It was Ena's turn to pinch the bridge of her nose. She shook her head and walked straight over to him, opening the book he held and pointing to the word 'poet' in the title. She turned a few more pages, showing him the book's real purpose. Slowly, a flicker of light returned to his features.

"I think... I think I see what you mean. Of course the sky knows what the earth needs. Who sees her better?" Rolan said in low tones, faint whisperings of hope stirring within him. He moved impulsively but stopped, growing formal and reticent once again as he lowered the book. "May I hug you, Miss Ena?"

Her reply was an easy one, the druid seizing the wizard in a hug that made him cough for how tight it was and how it surprised him. It did not linger, Ena stepping away soon enough to start towards one of the doors leading out to a balcony.

"Where are... That's how you got in, isn't it," Rolan realized.

Ena smiled, waggling her brows before she shifted into her raven form and took flight.

"I must remember to close those doors," he told himself as he walked to his flower-strewn desk, curious book in hand as he settled in to figure out the puzzle before him.

~~~

Cal was in a bind. People were asking after Rolan regularly in the shop, others were confused about meetings he was missing... It was so unlike the orderly, punctual Master of Ramazith's Tower.

"Terrible cold, you see. Yes, of course, finest healers, all of that. I'll let him know you stopped by. Our deepest apologies...," Cal said yet again, the recitation growing exhausting as he finally managed to get the last person to leave the shop's offices. He went out to the balcony overlooking the shop itself and the till below.

"Lia can you handle things for a while?" he called down. She turned, looking as tired as he felt when she nodded.

"I think so. Closing is soon enough anyway. You alright?"

"Just going to check on our poor unwell brother," he answered blandly.

"Convey my well-wishes," she called as Cal headed off to return to the tower proper.

Days had passed since Rolan had locked himself in his library. He came out only to answer basic needs, missing encountering his sister and brother almost entirely. He left a note on the door stating he did not wish to be disturbed for anything. The worry it caused his siblings was manifest. Cal was just about to finally break the door down when he was caught halfway up the stairs by a familiar voice.

"Cal! How wonderful to see you!" Gale exclaimed as he too started up the stairs. "How are you and Lia? How's Rolan?"

Cal couldn't decide if he was happy or frustrated to see Gale. That wizard's timing was always so uncanny. "Lia and I are alright. Rolan is, well, Rolan. Locked himself in the library three days ago and we can't get him to come out."

"Locked, you say? Exceptionally odd. Is he eating and drinking?"

"Yes."

"That's a good sign. He must be making some kind of breakthrough with some research then," Gale offered, ever optimistic. Cal, however, looked doubtful.

"I was just going to interrupt him."

"How about we avoid that," Gale suggested. "How about we go to the shop? I'll see what I can help out with there since I wanted to pick up a few things from there and the herbalist. Oh, I can even cook us all dinner when I am done. The tower does have such a wonderful kitchen after all, almost rivals my own."

Cal could not resist the warmth in Gale's manner. The man had such a vibrant way, the idea of cooking for them making his whole being brighter. "Are you sure? Where's Aleida?"

"Oh, you know. Off doing heroic things," he jested as he turned to head back downstairs. "More like she is visiting her sisters after growing frustrated with the speed of letters. Yes, I made her promise to keep her temper in check."

"That woman could scare the eyes off a beholder," Cal noted, mildly terrified at the idea of it as he joined Gale.

"It's why I love her," Gale chuckled.

Rolan poked his head out of the library just in time to hear their conversation fade away entirely. He made a soft, puzzled sound before he withdrew once more and returned to his project.

Cal and Lia had long gone to bed after a night of delightful food and stories with Gale. They had needed such a night, their sides sore from laughing as they finally retired. Gale had lingered to clean up before he approached the still lit library. He knocked once, then braved opening the door.

"Rolan? It's ...," the words cut off as Gale stepped inside.

The tiefling wizard was sitting in the middle of the room surrounded by the flowers that had once littered his desk. They were organized by type and color, pieces of paper strewn about as he carefully worked on arranging a bouquet. He looked disheveled there in his shirtsleeves, pants and socks, his hair unbound as he consulted pages then flowers in turn.

"Gale! Did you know there's a whole language here..."

Gale's brows went up as he slowly strolled closer. "I have heard poets speak of it. Romantics adore it. It was something I only passingly learned a thing or two about."

"Ena left me all of this and asked me to help Raya. I... I think I've finally figured it out," he said tentatively as he got to his feet.

"Ena... spoke to you?"

"Yes."

If Gale's brows got any higher, they would be in his hairline, so vast was his surprise. "I see. And somehow flowers are involved, because of course they would be. Druids, you know? Hmm," he replied, looking over the array upon the floor.

There was something about the bouquet that frustrated Rolan as he studied it. He finally slumped, rubbing his aching forehead between the base of his horns as he sighed. “There’s something missing. I can’t figure out what I just can feel it.”

Gale took the time to move a few of the piles of flowers and papers aside so he could join the tiefling, sitting on the floor nearby. “Talk to me? Do the flowers say what you want them to say?”

Rolan studied the ones he held, the morning glories, the forget-me-nots, the lily of the valley and the few small sunflowers, the stems wrapped in a strand of ivy. The colors were vibrant, mostly purples, blues and whites with a splash of yellow from the sunflowers and all of them seemed to mean exactly what he wished he could put into words himself. It was everything he thought of her held in the palm of his hand. “I think so, and yet…”

“And yet?”

“How do I prove I see her? Wholly, undeniably her? As she stands now, not anything else?”

Gale studied the younger man as he spoke, a subtle tilt to his head as he pondered how to answer so weighty a question. “What would no one else think she needs or wants?”

Something about the answer to that made Rolan give a short laugh, but a quick sound before he shook his head. It got an inquisitive look out of the other wizard. “Gale I cannot stop the sun in the sky for anyone, nor can you.”

“We do try such things sometimes, don’t we,” he could not help but to say with a short, all too self-aware chuckle.

“We do,” Rolan allowed, contemplative anew. Silence threatened to linger on before he sucked in a breath. “How confident are you with enchantment?” he asked Gale abruptly.

“Well, I cannot say I’ve practiced it lately, but I have done my fair share. Do you have something in mind?”

“I think so. I will need your help and a jewelers. We can get the latter come morning but for now, come with me. I think I know just what we need from the vaults.”

Gale groaned. Last time he had ventured into the vaults was before Ramazith’s Tower came into the hands of its current, far more reasonable master. “Please tell me you’ve got a more orderly way of getting through it. I do not need my eyebrows singed off again.”

“I am the master of this tower, of course I do,” Rolan said blandly as he got to his feet. He stepped over the remaining flowers carefully and laid the bouquet on his desk, whispering a mild enchantment over it to keep it cool and fresh before he turned his exhausted but energized attention on Gale.

“Shall we?”

“Only if you promise to rest, and properly, once we’re done. Write down what you need from the jeweler I will take it myself in the morning,” Gale answered, a hint of sternness on the words.

Rolan sighed, relenting with a nod. “Fine.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

The wizards set off into the depths of the tower and its vaults, invigorated by the tantalizing prospect of a project ahead.