Side Story - Adventurers 1: Fireside Reunion

 AN: Yep, they still exist!

Arden awoke with a start as something cold splashed against his face. Quickly he left his bedding, raised weapon in hand, only to lower it a moment later as he saw Enrya with an empty bucket in hand giggling madly.

"I told you countless times that you should secure your tent," Enrya said, vanishing a moment later. The bucket was left hanging in the air for a moment before falling with a clatter to the ground.

"Why do you always do this?" Arden said to the empty air in front of him, a flick of his wrist removing the water from his person. "At least I don't have to change now."

"That's new," another voice remarked from behind him. "I did not know you became a mage while I was gone."

"Jayren!" Arden exclaimed, turning around and embracing the woman in a hug before she could escape. "I didn't expect you two to return any time soon."

"A happy coincidence," Jayren replied, slowly patting Arden's head as if he was an overly excited puppy. "You can let go of me now."

"Perhaps you two should get a room." The crisp voice of Merius interrupted their reunion. "Or a tent, as it were."

"Our gloomy Elf is still gloomy, I see," Enrya quipped as she left herself down next to the quiet mountain of a Beastkin that was Perian. The stoic paladin silently offered the resident rogue one of the pieces of meat he had been preparing, an offer Enrya gladly took.

Arden let go of Jayren, rubbing the back of his neck as he took a step away from the mage. "I think he is jealous. I got myself a blessing and he did not."

"And who would bless you, Arden?" Jayren asked with a quirked eyebrow. "It's not like you are devoted to anyone."

"Aperio," the man replied. "Roland had to dig pretty deep to find anything about her. I am still not sure I believe what he told me."

"Aperio?" Jayren appeared to think about the name for a while. "Does she have anything to do with all the System messages we have gotten lately? That some new Goddess could just remove Vigil and Inanis doesn't sit well with me. Nor with others, as everyone is in quite a stir over it. One of the reasons we're back earlier than expected."

"She isn't new," Perian said, the low rumble of his voice quieting the rest of his group. "Roland knew of her, and I have prayed to Kensar for an answer. My God has told me what she is."

"And?" Arden asked. "Care to enlighten us who the mother of Ferio actually is?"

"Aperio, the Sacred Goddess," the paladin said as his eyes stopped on Arden. "Kensar told me that she is the Creator. The First. Even if my God says we have nothing to fear from her, I cannot help but worry. Three Gods have already fallen since her return, after all."

"And has your God given you the order to smite me for my infidel ways?" Arden asked in an obvious attempt to annoy the paladin.

"He has not," Perian replied, returning his attention to the meat above the fire. "But he has told me to be wary. A blessing brings great change; not all of it is necessarily good, or even wanted. If Aperio truly is who Kensar believes, we cannot say what the blessing she gave you may turn into."

"I wish Roland was here," Enrya mumbled between bites of her meal. "He is really good with this stuff."

"He is old and wants to spend time with his family," Merius remarked. "Not something we should keep him from."

Jayren eyed the Elf, sitting down next to Enrya after a moment. "None of us have the luxury of starting with a century long life, Merius. I might now be able to have children that match the lifespan of your kind, but I have had to repeatedly endanger my life in order to do so."

"Neither do Humans or Beastkin have to wait years for a chance to have children," Merius said, his voice slightly lower than before. "Neither do you have to be scared of them dying if you try to raise them on Vetus."

"Why is it like that, anyway?" Enrya asked, slowly reaching for another piece of meat. "Seems like something nature would have taken care of over the years."

Perian handed the hungry Human another course of her meal, cleaning his hands with his towel before he spoke. "This continent is cursed. The Elven children are more sensitive to the ambient mana and it can have adverse effects. Other races seldom have this problem, though we have met a Human that should have had similar problems here as a child."

"He is right," Merius agreed, taking his own ration from his bag. "Thaddeus, I think that was his name, experiences what nearly every Elven child does before the Keltar."

"And what that is will remain a mystery, as you never tell us," Arden sighed. "This is why Humans don't trust Elves and Beastkin. You have too many secrets."

Merius shrugged in response. "And you have a history filled with empires that took both our ancestors and enslaved them. Trust is difficult to earn once lost." His last words were accompanied by a sharp look at Arden

"Are you seriously still stuck up on that?" the Human asked with a sigh as he let himself fall onto the grass. "I don't know why she picked me, man. Besides, she isn't even an Elf. She just looks like one." The Creator… He shuddered slightly at the thought.

"You are still the least suitable person for a blessing," the Elf muttered.

"You know," Jayren began, a small smile spreading across her face. "I think I agree with Merius for once. You aren't exactly what I would consider a usual blessed, Arden."

The Human only huffed in reply. "Of course you would say that."

"They aren't wrong, though," Enrya said. "As far as I know, you were never devoted to a God, nor are you now despite having met a Goddess face to face." The rogue paused briefly, tapping her fingers against her leg as she thought. "Couldn't you just pray to her and ask why she chose you? Oh! And ask if we can meet her! I want to meet a Goddess."

"You don't want to meet her," Merius said. "She thought Arden wanted to challenge her and proceeded to knock us unconscious with just her voice. No Jayren, you would not have been able to shield yourself from it. And I thought she was just an Elder…"

The mage faked a pout at the Elf's words. "I wouldn't claim that I could. If she was just an Elder I might have asked to spar with her. But, seeing as she is quite a bit more than any of us had thought, I doubt that would a good idea."

"She might just accept your sparring offer," Arden said with a light shrug, a gesture that went mostly unnoticed as he was laying on his back. "Aperio does not seem particularly, well, godly?"

"It does not matter what she appears to be. We know what she is and what she can do. Assuming she is benevolent is foolish." The low rumble of Perian's voice caused the others to quiet down. "Neither should we allow a blessing to divide our group."

Nobody responded. Only the crackling of the fire was audible, underlined by the occasional sizzle of the meat Perian was still cooking.

"So gloomy," Enrya said after a while longer. "I guess they forgot how to have fun while we were gone, right Jayren?"

"Perhaps," the woman replied, poking at Arden's side. "I would like to know how a blessing turned this doofus into a mage."

"I'm not a mage," Arden replied, swatting Jayren's hand away. "I still prefer my daggers and my bow. The water thing is something I figured out after using one of my new skills."

"And here I thought we finally had someone else with interest in the arcane," Jayren said. "Merius might be good at what he does, but he is also, well, Merius."

The Elf in question just raised an eyebrow before he continued reading the book he had retrieved from his storage skill. "We may follow the same Goddess, Jayren, but our interest in magic differs wildly."

"That's why I hoped my favourite bowman had finally found something in the arcane that he liked. But, perhaps, I should meet his Goddess instead? If she truly is the Creator she would be able to answer so many questions!"

"Yes!" Enrya agreed, her voice slightly muffled by the food in her mouth. "Introduce us to your Goddess," she continued after swallowing.

Arden sighed before he sat upright. "And how do you expect me to do that? She might not behave like any other Goddess, but she still is one." ...Even higher up than a Goddess.

"You could always pray to her," Jayren said. "I know Mayeia is always open to listen to her followers. Perhaps Aperio is similar in that regard?"

"Maybe," Arden replied. "But I doubt it. She did not strike me as the social kind."

"Still worth a shot. Worst case, she doesn't respond, best case, we get to meet a real Goddess!" Enrya seemed a bit too eager to meet the winged Goddess for Arden's taste.

Aperio might have blessed him, but she had not really cared about what he had done since then. I only got that vague message along with the title. What, exactly, the Goddess would consider a disappointment was something he still didn't know.

"That is not the worst case," Merius said after a moment of silence, glancing up from his book. "She could decide to blow us up like the moon."

"Do we even know that was her doing?" If she made all of this, I'd think she wouldn’t want to destroy it.

"There are not many who would destroy a part of Vigil’s representation," Perian said, finally putting away his utensils as the last bit of meat had been cooked to his liking. "It also coincided with his death. While Kensar did not confirm it for me, he did not deny it either."

"And Gods say as much with the words they don't speak," Enrya said mockingly. "At least I think that's what Roland said."

Perian huffed lightly at the rogue's words and carefully wrapped the prepared food in red leaves. "The druid is correct. With a few exceptions, the Gods speak in riddles and mysteries."

"Or they are quiet..." Arden mumbled to himself.

He did not move when Jayren shuffled behind him and gently pushed his head into her lap. "You need some rest and a new mission, Arden. Leave being gloomy to Merius, he is really good at it."

A small smile spread across Arden's face as he took a relaxing breath. Jayren was right. He should focus on something else, a task that was much easier now that she had returned. Even when he knew that Jayren was more than capable of protecting herself, he still couldn't help but worry. It was a habit that had not helped his health over the last months.

"I am not gloomy," Merius said, his eyes still fixed on his book. "I am sufficiently mysterious."

"Your jokes are also better," the Human mage deadpanned. "Please don't become a second Merius."

"I didn't plan to."

Before silence managed to settle onto the group, a yawn from Enrya echoed through the clearing. "I hope you did not plan on moving for a while, ‘cause I haven't slept in days."

"We don't have an assignment at the moment, and Merius wanted to study some of the plant life here," Perian said, pulling a pillow and blanket from his pack and handing it to Enrya. "You know what that means."

"A good sleep for me," the rogue said, taking the offered items from the paladin. "And boring waiting for you. Well, maybe you get to watch Jayren and Arden stare into each other's eyes or something."

Perian just shrugged and produced a small notebook and pen, flipping through the pages for a moment before he set his eyes on Jayren and Arden. After he had glanced between the pair and his book a few more times, Perian began to draw.