Khy'eras

Artemis felt warmth and softness against his chest. He stirred, waking slowly, unsure of where he was. His awareness of his body spread, the warmth following, and he realized he was curled against someone. He was on his left side, their legs were entwined, and their bodies were pressed close together. He didn't remember how he got here, but the faint lingering headache told him it probably involved an excess of alcohol. Though, given the closeness of his bedmate, they'd clearly both been willing participants. He felt the faint scratch of fabric and decided perhaps they'd both had too much, then simply decided to sleep things off when neither could remain awake.

The gears in his head ground slowly forward as he came further out of the fog of sleep. He enjoyed the rare morning after. Most he brought to bed didn't stay the night, but those who did typically enjoyed a second tumble to greet the day. He smiled and gently pulled his companion closer. The blind exploration was always an indulgent pleasure.

Kat was awakened by Artemis’s stirring, feeling his hands draw her against his hips. His arousal was most evident, and though sleepy, she let out a soft moan. His fingers slid under her nightdress and curled across her stomach, brushing lightly at the underside of her breasts. Another hand slid along her thigh, curling and kneading before sliding into the hollow of her hips. He pulled her against him with a firm tug, making his desires clear.

She turned in his grasp, rolling to face him. Before either spoke, she pulled his lips towards her own, giving him a long, lingering kiss. The kiss seemed to draw energy into her, and her hands began to explore him. The press of their lips became more passionate, more urgent; she felt his hands roaming along her hips, her back, squeezing and stroking warmth into her.

She gently pushed him onto his back, and moved smoothly atop him, cautious of his fragile state, but also completely in the moment. His eyes opened and he smiled up at her as she settled onto his hips.

“Artemis,” she breathed, between kisses. She shivered and straightened, removing her nightdress, taking his hands and tugging them to her chest insistently, before leaning in for another deep kiss.

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Kat lay with her head on Artemis’ shoulder, her fingers making gentle scratches on his chest, letting out a long, contented sigh.

Were anyone to tell her she would be in such an intimate situation with a man, she’d either have laughed or rolled her eyes. She was no stranger to physical pleasure, but she never stuck around for this part; this was new to her, and she was most certainly not displeased with it all.

“So, we- we did that!” she said, with a shiver and small laugh. “And for someone who was on the brink of death, I have to commend you.” She arched her head to look up at him, taking the chance for another soft kiss. “That was worth the wait.”

The Katarya that the world saw was gone; the cold exterior was replaced by a woman who was indulging in the moment, not allowing herself to think of what it meant, or where they would go from here. Right now, she was completely present. “I don’t know what that meant to you… I’m not even sure what it meant to me.” She took his hand in her own. “But it meant something. You don’t have to feel the same way- you don’t have to feel anything at all, but…” she shrugged a little as her voice trailed off. “I just wanted to say that.”

“You know, I think I can feel my spirit getting stronger. Perhaps we could try this out a few more times and see how we feel then?” he asked her, grinning before kissing her lightly on the lips. She turned on her side, pulling him towards her so that the two were entwined, she was wrapped in his arms once again. She was tired, but it was a pleasant tiredness, and she could also tell that his energy was not fully spent, as his hardness pressed at her thighs. She smiled, reaching back to take him in her hand.

The sudden and very loud knock on the door caused Kat to near jump out of her skin. Her brow wrinkled in annoyance. “Go away!” she shouted.

The voice on the other side of the door was clear in its conviction. “Cook has called for you.”

“Oh,” she said, and turned to look at Artemis. “Oh, dear.” She (reluctantly) slid from his embrace, and began pulling on her clothes. She ran her fingers through her hair, frowning. “I look a mess!” she exclaimed. With no time to sport her usual braid, she simply knotted her hair up and hoped it would suffice. “Be prepared for- well, I’m not too sure. I haven’t the time to tell you how much I’ve messed up over the last few days, but no doubt you’ll be quickly apprised.” While she was twisting her hair Artemis wiggled his way into a spare swain's outfit. He selected a particularly heavy set of trousers, but realized attempting to conceal their activity was likely a lost cause. She glanced at the door. “Shall we?”

Artemis approached the iron-banded oak door and hesitated, as he always did. He looked back to Katarya and nodded to firm his resolve. His knock resounded through the heavy wood, and the door slid open with a click. The room's usual dim and dour appearance was banished by a crackling stone fireplace Artemis had never noticed before. Cook's normally cluttered desk was cleared, only a handful of crisp parchments spread out on the massive rosewood table. Across from the massive man, there were three chairs, with Ksenia seated nervously in the far seat. Cook was reading a document and made no move to guide them. Reading the mood, Artemis moved into the room and settled into the central chair, leaving the last for Katarya.

Cook made no notice of them settling in, he simply continued to read the document he held with careful scanning eyes. It was several long moments before he placed the document on the table and cleared his throat.

"I'm glad you've arrived, we can get to business," he said, locking eyes with each of them in turn as he spoke. "I've received a number of reports about each of you. Complaints," he said, his eyes jumping to Katarya. "Compliments." His eyes moved to Ksenia this time. "And Concerns," he said, his vision boring into Artemis' slowly whitening face.

"To begin, I'd like to compliment the newest crafter to accept a contract," Cook said, smiling and motioning to Ksenia. "You're doing a wonderful job, and I have several requests to provide you with tasking for improvements to staff workwear and personal equipment."

Cook's smile faded as he turned his focus away from Ksenia. "Unfortunately, as you are directly tasked, I am forced to keep you here during the discussion with your handler." Cook sighed and flattened his palms on the table. "I'm told you have something to share with me, Miss Frost," he said without taking his eyes away from Artemis. "Would you care to summarize your findings now, to avoid any repetition?" he asked as Artemis squirmed in his seat.

Katarya took her seat next to Artemis with a quick, nervous smile to Ksenia by way of greeting.

The Witch had managed to look partly presentable, but vainly wished she'd had a chance to braid her hair; it gave her a more severe look, which she found useful during confrontations; while other women might soften themselves for such exchanges; especially with a man, Kat preferred to be intimidating ... though she doubted she could ever intimidate Cook. Even Nyx, who sat on her shoulder remained silent and still.

When he turned his gaze to her, and the word 'complaints' was raised, she gritted her teeth, but maintained an outward appearance of respectful attendance. She cleared her throat. "Well, first of all, welcome back Cook ... this place just isn't the same without you!" She gave a small smile, but it faded as she didn't get one back. "I can understand why people might be a bit put out with me, Cook, but I have had the worst week of my life, thus far. Hopefully the worst I'll ever suffer through. I don't want, or expect your sympathy, I say only for context." She leaned forward a little. "I hired out two of your staff; Artemis and Marcy, to help retrieve a very valuable item from my shop ... which someone had burned to the ground. When we went to retrieve it, we were attacked by some thugs and a mage of some talent. Something happened there ... which I'm sure Mr. Black will happily fill you in on, as my understanding is a bit hazy ... but it resulted in my coming into possession of an orb, with a heart inside it." She sat back a little. "I'd never encountered anything like that before, so I used scrying magic on it. That led me to discover Marcy's location - she had been captured during the fight - and so, I decided to investigate."

She raised her chin a little. "I shan't apologise for doing so; Marcy was a ... is a friend of mine, and I wanted to know who would burn down my house, ruin my life, and try and steal from me the most valuable thing I own." She said, firmly. 'Perhaps now is the time for some humility'. She said to herself. "Marcy is being held at the estate of House Nyshasa, and by a certain lord ... I even have a name: Gideous, and despite the Houses' distaste of magic, he was an extraordinarily skilled mage." She dipped her head a little. "In order to get all of this, I had to actually go to House Nyshasa ... and I'm afraid I caused a bit of a ... a ruckus."

She looked at him, her eyes all serious. "Cook; the sense I got from this man ... he hates Marcy, and anyone like her. He has absolute conviction in his belief that she, and everyone like her, which essentially means everyone in your family, should be wiped away. Myself included; though I don't know if that's because he hates witches, wants my Book, or because of my association with The Goose."

Kat watched the man's face, which showed nothing. "And ... and that's about it." She finished, hoping the information provided would be enough to offset all the hassle she had caused.

Ksenia had kept her eyes on the floor since she’d been called into Cook’s room; since she’d begun working for Artemis, she’d learned that Cook was the head of their little family and he was not a man to disrespect. She was glad to see Artemis up and about, though he and Katarya were both red-faced and disheveled.

As Cook spoke to her, Ksenia flicked her eyes up to his face. “Thank you, Cook,” she said quietly. “I would be happy to take on any requests that other people may have.” Returning her eyes to their lowered position. “As you say, I do have a current on-going assignment. If Artemis is willing, I don’t mind splitting my time to make everybody happy.”

Ksenia clasped her hands and set them on her thigh. She knew now she wasn’t going to be scolded, but being in the same room made her feel almost as guilty. Don't attract attention and maybe they won't reprimand me too, Ksenia's mind directed. Stay still. As she listened to Katarya describe all that had passed since Ksenia had fixed Kat's dress, Ksenia's eyes widened but she didn't look up or over at Katarya.

She breathed shallowly in an effort to be as quiet as possible. Her hands felt weirdly distant, as if they weren't attached to her. She heard Cook's low rumble as he replied to Katarya, but she wasn't quite sure what he had said. Hopefully Artemis's response would repeat enough that she could figure it out, so that she would know what not to do to risk Cook's ire. Swallowing, Ksenia forced her attention to Artemis's voice.

Artemis felt his mind reel at the enormity of the events Katarya was listing off. His eyes widened, and his eyebrows rose with each passing moment. When she mentioned the orb, he found himself whispering, "Oh, a mage heart." A great number of things suddenly started to make sense. Why Cook was back a few days earlier than he expected, why he felt like he'd had far too much to drink for a week, why his body still felt frail despite also feeling rested. His ears started to ring, and Katarya's speech muffled until all he knew was a swirling pair of terrifying thoughts, 'I died, she killed me. Died- killed, me.'

He started to sweat profusely, becoming painfully aware of all the holes in his memories. The little cracks and rough edges for things he should know. His hands started to shake, and he could feel his mind losing its grip on the here and now. 'Am I even awake, is this even happening?!' he shouted inside his head. Bile rose in Artemis' throat, and his fingers clenched the sides of his chair. 'Don't die,' he heard her in his thoughts, like a mockery of his failure. 'You were never good enough. Never smart enough. Never fast enough. Now you're dead. Trapped here to be tormented for eternity.'

He threw up violently, his body convulsing as his muscles spasmed and released without rhyme or reason. He fell from his chair onto the floor, whimpering softly in terror and pain. Then, just as he felt the pain was going to sear the last of his thoughts away, blackness descended, and he fell still.

Cook looked to Artemis as Ksenia mentioned him. He could plainly see something was making her terribly uncomfortable, but he hadn't heard of any mishandling on Artemis' part. The boy was one of the rare thieves with a conscience, and none of the staff would have allowed him to harm her regardless. For his part, Artemis seemed to be shocked by the revelations the Witch had shared. Cook was surprised. Certainly, it was unfortunate, but they'd always been in a kind of proxy war with the various houses. These things happened when you held power in Fellsgard, no matter how localized.

"Artemis, do you have anything to add to your companion's rather extensive tale?" Cook asked the boy. He waited a breath for the Thief to respond, but when nothing came, he looked at his charge more closely. Artemis was shaking, swallowing heavily, and looked as if he'd seen a whole host of ghosts. Then he was sick and crumpled to the floor in a rictus of suffering. Cook lept up, his chair clattering to the floor as he dashed around the great table. "Oh gods no," he said in a strangled shout. "Go! Get Robert and Deborah," he said in a commanding voice, locking eyes with Katarya.

"This can't be happening," Cook said as he lifted Artemis onto his lap, holding his head to stop the boy from suffocating in his own vomit. He gently stroked the Thief's arms and chest, speaking to him in hushed whispers. Then Artemis started to convulse again, and Cook's eyes widened in panic. "Go to a room crafter. I don't want you getting hurt here," he said to Ksenia as he tried to keep Artemis' head from hitting the floor.

Ksenia snapped her eyes toward Artemis when he vomited. She shrank back in her chair as Cook came around the table. Cook had barked at Katarya to get Robert, but Ksenia didn’t notice whether she’d moved or not. Artemis’s face was so pale as he thrashed in Cook’s arms. Ksenia got up slowly and prepared to speak, to ask if she should do something, when Cook told her to leave. She nodded, shaking, and shoved her chair against the wall. As she crept to the door, she pulled the other two chairs out of the way for Robert to come in.

Kat watched as her lover dropped, and for a moment she froze as Nyx cawed out loudly in panic.

When Cook barked his orders at her, she hesitated for a moment, thinking she should be the one taking care of him, not Deborah and certainly not Robert ... what had that man done to Artemis? Anger mixed with anguish as she forced herself to rush out of the room.

She grasped a passing man's arm. "Get Deborah and Robert, now!" She ordered, and then, when his eyes narrowed: "Cook's orders! That seemed to put a fire under the man, who shot off to do as he was told.

Kat stood outside of the room a moment, thinking. What did this mean? What was happening?

Her mind went back to when Artemis had been brought in, and Robert had performed some kind of ritual on him. She had not known what he was doing, but her mind was her best asset, and she began to put things into place. "He hadn't been breathing ..." she said aloud, as if just realising what that meant. Then he had been given that potion ... why had she not questioned what it was? That was most unlike her! And Nyx ... Nyx had not been near Artemis ever since that day, staying away, even on a night when the raven would usually find a spot on the bed to sleep.

What had happened to Artemis? What was happening, now?

She turned to go back into the room, but was pushed aside as the two requested staff hurried in. She pushed down her childish indignation, and followed, her eyes wide with fear ... the fact that Cook was cradling him in such a way; her blood ran cold. "Ny'tha ..." She prayed.

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"How long has he been awake?" Robert demanded as he moved through, rather than around, Katarya. He didn't turn for her answer, moving as quickly as he could, keeping a silver bottle safely in his closed palm. "I told you to get me, Idols take you, woman," he hissed before she could answer. "You can't just expect an unanchored soul to settle back into things. He needs to be carefully tended, and now I have to-" Robert stopped as Artemis' thrashing slowed, and the Thief started to wail.

"Everyone, close your eyes, or you won't see ever again," he growled as he moved beside the now still patient. The Ritualist waited for a beat, trusting those around him to obey his orders. Then he clapped his hands loudly. There was a ripping sound, like the tearing of a dress caught on a nail. The air grew deathly still and terribly cold. Robert chanted in a flat tone, "E caa oui cbened, Lmyfehk vun namayca. E taho oui ouin vnaatus, E peht oui du drec bmyha. Oui femm ghuf meva, Oui femm maynh byeh. Oui femm vaam cythacc, Oui femm caag muja. Fedr draca nihac yht funtc, E peht oui ykyeh du ouin sundym luem." When his voice faded there was a loud whump of air collapsing.

Artemis gasped loudly as bursting forth from the depths of the ocean. He coughed, a green silvery liquid dribbling down his chin and onto his already ruined tunic. His cheeks and neck were marked with a shining silver pattern centered around his mouth. There was a faint ring of frost around him, already melting away. As the Thief coughed again and took a more regular breath, the silver faded, melting into his skin.

"Robert, tell me what I need to know," Cook said softly into the silence of the room. He held onto Artemis' shoulders like the boy would turn to dust if he let him go.

"He's back again, complete. Whole. Though he'll likely have nightmares for a long while," Robert said as his entire body sagged in exhaustion.

Artemis twitched and tried to turn his head, but Cook's hands held fast and only his eyes moved. Nyx flapped her wings and hopped over to land on his chest. She warbled softly at him, tilting her head back and forth. Artemis let out a soft cough, and then a faint whisper, "Hey, Girl," he said before his eyes closed. His chest rose and fell slowly, but firmly.

Katarya was far too worried to snap back at Robert, instead following them in and standing, feeling more helpless than she had felt since her mother had passed before her young eyes. She covered her eyes as Robert instructed; the snap of power as he worked his unholy spell drew the breath from her lungs, and her pendant near burned her chest.

When he gasped with air, she was flooded with relief. She moved to his side, heedless of the others, for there was no way she was going to be held back from him, and reached out to touch his face as he fell asleep. "I didn't know ..." She whispered. Then her eyes seemed to burn as her head whipped round to look at Robert. "I had no idea what you had done! Do you just assume we're all versed in what you can do?! In what you did?! She took a breath, and looked back to Artemis. "Thank you," she also said to him, softly.

She glanced up at Cook. She wasn't sure if she was surprised or not by how he held Artemis, but it was a moving sight. "I would have never have hurt him, if I'd have known." She said. Her jaw set in a familiar way; a look of determination on her face. "This won't end. Not while there is that ... monster of a man out there trying to kill your family. And I want to help. She touched Artemis' cheek. "I'd rather do it with you, but I will go after him myself if you won't have me. He took everything from me, and now ... he almost took the man I ... he almost took the man I love."

Katarya looked up to Cook, her eyes were so full of emotions; pain, regret, hatred, and love. "Please."