Mystara: Dirge of Tomorrow Part II Prudence

Writer’s Note: And thus concludes my writing binge this weekend. I would also expect a rewrite here in the near future. But for now, a near final version of what I’ve been working on.

Part II: Prudence

A story of how Aramil Korellin came to know Lady Erela Ravyn

There was a feint knock on the door.

Aramil turned his head, eyeing the crack in the door out of the corner of his eye “Come in.”

A hand reached in and gently pushed the door ajar. The air in the room rushed out as the air equalized. A woman stepped into the open doorway, a hint of lavender tickling his nose as the breeze rushed by him and out the window. Turning his head to look back his desk facing the window he reached down and worked on a buckle around the gauntlet attached to his armor, “I’m afraid I don’t teach much anymore, Lady Ravyn.”

Erela took a step past the door, her eyes scanning the room for the first time, “We know—when you left over a year ago for the desert we knew. But when the legion returned we started to wonder.”

Aramil raised a brow and nodded, slipping off the gauntlets of both hands and setting them on the desk. He then reached up to unfasten his cloak, setting the broach down before him. “I’m surprised to see you, I fear last time we met we left on harsh terms.”

“You left for the desert not two days later, Sir Korrelin. I had hardly the chance to…hardly the chance to talk,” she replied standing ill at ease in the doorway.

Aramil turned around but avoided eye contact—instead he stopped just short of the bed in the room before the door, motioning her inside. Erela took a few more steps into the large room and turned around, her white dress brushing the stone floor gently with the sweeping motion of her arm that shut the door. Reaching with his hand behind his back Aramil struggled with the straps that held the chest piece on his body. With his other hand he motioned for her to take a seat at the edge of the bed. “I apologize for the lack of chairs, I rarely have visitors.”

Taking what now seemed to be much more confident steps, Erela walked closer to the bed and stood at its foot. “Your speech tonight was good. No one expected such an ambitious project—let alone from one man. I’m sure that Halav smiles on you this night.”

Aramil glanced up for a moment with a coy smile but tried kept his head down, concentrating on the straps behind his back, “It was on my list of things to do.”

Erela stammered and furrowed her brow, “Your list of things to do? Men just don’t build castles because it was something they wanted to do, Sir Korrelin.”

Aramil shrugged, tossing his chestplate on the bed in front of him. Erela watched the action, her eyes focusing on the engraving on the chestplate as it centered on the bed. Aramil reached down and picked it up, setting is aside the bed and focusing on Erela once again, “Most women would avert their eyes and look the other when a man undresses himself in such manner.”

Erela smiled sarcastically, “Most gentlemen would bid themselves a short leave to avoid such an inconvenience on their lady guest.”

Aramil refrained from biting his lower lip and forced a coy smile instead as he slide the layer of padding off over his chest and set it aside as well. For now he decided to remain silent, he was sure she wasn’t here to compliment him on his speech alone.

Erela, having sense the awkward silence sat on the edge of the bed and looked over her shoulder to the knight trying to unfasten the mithril plates around his legs. “Sir Korrelin, why am I a professor?”

Without a glance Aramil responded, “It’s Aramil.”

“Excuse me?”

Aramil peered up from his struggle, pulling free another leg plate from around his thigh in the process. “My name is Aramil—the professors, at the school, they call me Aramil.”

“You wouldn’t be called by your title?”

Aramil laughed, “My title? You mean titles? Titles mean nothing. Deeds express worth. You touch more minds than I ever have—your deeds surpass my own. For that reason, among others, you may call me Aramil. Diplomats, dignitaries, Kings, Queens, Lords—they call me ‘Sir.’”

Erela blinked and turned her head away, taking in the thought for a moment, then repeated her question, “Aramil, why am I a professor?”

Aramil looked up, resting his head on his knee and he finished unlacing his boots propped on the bed. With a grunt the knot came loose, “Because you ask the right questions.”

Erela tried to turn her head even further in the opposite direction, pretending to take in the sites of the side room full of oddities as she waited for her cheeks to cool down. Aramil slipped the other boot off and walked over to the desk once again, depositing his gear around the floor of the desk and looking out through the window to the quiet streets of Korburg at night. With a sigh he stepped over to the foot of the bed and sat back, his hands propping himself and resting his head between his shoulders held high. “Because you weren’t afraid to embarrass a man known from here to Glantri—or call him on his mistake.”

Erela swallowed and nodded, “Known for his deeds, not his name.”

Aramil smirked and closed his eyes, bowing his head slightly to the woman, “Well said, and quite generous.”

She managed herself before turning her head back around, trying to match the tone of the conversation, “As was your signature approving my teaching at your school. I…”

“Didn’t expect it?” Aramil finished.

She leaned in, “You were laying siege to Bao’Garan—your men came home telling stories about how you flew out and felled the dragon that tried to make but one pass on your camp. They laughed recalling how you had its head cast over the walls of the city. That seems a far cry from the man I knew who read us dusty tomes every other day of the week.

Aramil cast his eyes down, bringing them to focus on the lights in the streets coming to life as the keepers wandered down each street lighting the lanterns one by one. “Hence my respect for what you do. The sooner an end I find to the things I must do, the happier I will be.” He looked back, meeting her inquisitive eyes, “You teach, I’ve known little but struggle for forty years.”

Again silence filled the gap between the two. Erela opened her mouth to talk, but just as quickly closed it, forcing back a comment. Rubbing the wrinkles out of her dress in her lap Erela looked back over to the knight, “Thank you, Aramil.”

Aramil nodded in silence, moving his own attention to the adjacent wall. “It’s getting late Erela, we should both retire for the night. She too nodded in turn and stood up, her dress brushing against the floor once again to the door. Aramil followed, opening the door for her as would be expected. With her back to the knight Erela stepped into the doorway and turned back around, looking up to the weary looking man in front of her.

Exhaling softly and looking up into his eyes Erela searched his face for an answer to the moment. Aramil seemed to emanate sadness. She scanned his face till his eyes met her own, and closed her eyes, opening her lips softly.

The smell of lavender in the open and gusty doorway was almost overwhelming. Aramil looked down to her face and closed his own eyes, preserving the image of her soft features in the candlelight of the room in his mind. With a hand he reached in and caressed her cheek with his thumb, running his hand around along her jaw line and down along her neck.

She could feel the warmth of his breath across her face as he sighed and rested a hand softly around her neck. It settled there for what felt like an eternity before he gave a soft squeeze. Erela looked up back into his eyes and sighed herself, forcing a small smile of her own to combat the awkward silence. His words rang in her ears, “I…I should get some sleep…”

Erela took a final step back out of the door and hung her hands limply by her side. She swallowed and winced, scanning his eyes for any sign on his face, “Aramil, what does this mean?”

Aramil visibly tensed at her words, his mouth open to respond but at a loss for words. He swallowed, and relaxed himself, hovering in the candlelight in front of her, “It means I don’t want to hurt you.”