Chessa steps gingerly among the hay beds where the Lahanian servants sleep. She approaches the lone elf in the room sitting in a deep trance on a bed of hay. Her nose wrinkles as she kneels in front of Cinis. “You’ve been drinking.” She whispers as she brushes, matted locks of fiery red hair away from his closed eyes.
Her golden hair billows slightly as Cinis responds with a stone-rattling belch.
“Chen fuion!” She pokes a finger into Cinis’ wrinkled forehead and topples him onto the hay. “Is now a bad time?”
Cinis chuckles quietly. “Quiet, you’ll wake the servants.” He mumbles. “I’m fine. Just a few drinks with Tripp.”
“It doesn’t sound like any of them will wake. I do love the sound of human snoring. So dear,” Chessa smiles and lays down on the hay, propped up on an elbow. She picks a piece of hay out of his tangled hair. “You should consider washing your hair after that swim in the ichor. Consider soap.”
“Are we discussing my hygiene or do you want to hear about your nephew?” Cinis grumbles.
“I want to hear about you too, silly." She pokes one of his old scars. "My, my, one of your first nights sleeping inside in decades. This should be quite a story.”
“We broke camp, and I showed the youngling how to find food and water. While we did that, we had a talk about what he’s doing here. I was surprised to hear that we’re here for similar reasons. He wants to stop the disease with me. He also has guidance of his own from a ‘friend’ that he wouldn’t be more specific about. We found the donkey. Oh, and Loofen doesn’t know he’s here. It’s been a few weeks.”
She is quiet for a moment. "Children need to make their own decisions."
Cinis turns his head to look at her. “His ‘friend’ tells him that he needs the Ironfists."
Chessa sighs and flops onto her back and gazes at the stone ceiling. “From the Giantslayer. So you’re off to Borun’s Camp?”
“Yeah, it’s to get into a Hall of Memories. It’ s possible that any of these could be the source of the ichor to the forest here. Besides, it’s much easier to keep an eye on Fonfon if we travel together.”
Chessa turns her head slowly to look into Cinis’ eyes. “But…”
“Yeah, he’s not here now. He’s upstairs with the Duke. On the way to Borun’s Camp we ran into the hunting party. Fonfon gussied himself up with…” Cinis gestures around his face with his hand. “They chatted and then he was invited to … stay the night.”
She giggles. “Are you blushing? Is that the one thing that makes Cinis, Ember’s Son, uncomfortable?”
He turns his gaze back to the ceiling, ignoring the question. “We’ll be off to Borun’s camp tomorrow at first light. Tripp was going on about the second Princeand his family visiting tomorrow via Arcanum transport. I definitely don’t want to be around for that.”
“Fonfon might be too tired for first light from all the-…”
“No. Please, no.” Cinis groans. “Tell me something about yourself.”
“You know I can’t do that,” She wipes a dark droplet from her forehead that wasn’t there before and sits up. “Time to go but tell me one more thing. Did you tell him about me?”
Cinis closes his eyes. “No. I told him I saw an Udi plant growing from the ash that day.”
Her voice begins to sound dull as if muffled. “Well, you did see that too. You know you can tell him if you like.”
“I know, I will eventually. I told him I see visions of coming disaster.”
“You used to. Now you always close your eyes.” she says as her soft voice fades into the snores of the servants.