Post by Yva on Oct 22, 2008 1:59:36 GMT -5
Yva Darrows is traveling through the Eastern Plaguelands. She's tired, covered in road dust, and rather intent on finding each and every person she can to show them the picture she has in her packs. She sees an armored man near a tower, and she kicks her dreadsteed towards him.
*****
Yva yells: Pardon me.
Yva purses her lips, peering at the stranger.
Yva says: Sorry to trouble you.
Yva smiles brilliantly.
The man turns, two pinpoints of blue beneath his helm searching as he carefully wipes blood from his greatsword.
The man says: Madam?
His voice echoes hollowly.
Yva says: Looking for a man.
Yva rifles through her bags, humming almost frantically.
Yva says: Wondering perhaps if you've seen him.
She pulls out a scroll and tosses it onto the ground at his boot.
The man says nothing. His gaze travels from the mounted woman down to the scroll, which he retrieves with a curious delicacy.
Yva says: I have no idea what name he might go by now, but that's his face. His name at one time WAS Balthasar. Likeness is close, a good friend drew it.
The man says: The artist...knew this man?
Yva says: You could say that.
He doesn't look up from the portrait.
Yva says: I'm very very good at conjuring when I need to. And an image . . . overly simple. My memory is precise.
The man says: Very well, I would think, then.
Yva nods and smiles, but it doesn't go to her eyes.
The man says: Why are you looking for him?
Yva says: . . . we traveled together and I thought he was . . .
Yva makes a motion with her hand.
Yva says: I thought perhaps I'd done something terrible. Again. I don't want to explain this one too.
Yva laughs though it's not pleasant.
The man says: There's not many that would risk the Ebon Blade for one man.
Yva says: I'm Yva Bloody Darrows. I do whatever I damn well please.
The man says: You always did.
The man reaches one hand up to the back of his neck, a dull -snick- sounding from his blackened armor as something lets go.
Yva quirks a brow.
Yva says: Pardons?
The man pulls his helm off. The face beneath, pale-skinned and hollow-cheeked as it may be, is undoubtedly that of a living man.
Jakob says: And I count myself lucky in that regard.
Yva stares.
Yva says: . . . I don't know what your people can do.
Yva retreats some.
Jakob drops his helm on the ground almost carelessly, laying his sword next to it, and walks over with a weary smile on his face.
Yva says: What trickery is this? I don't have a lot of patience with . . .
Jakob says: Are you this accustomed to misfortune?
Yva snorts.
Yva says: You have no idea.
Jakob lifts his gauntleted hands.
Yva pulls her horse away again but she can't stop staring.
Jakob says: It's me, Yva. I can't imagine how you've been searching this long, or...why.
Yva says: It *can't* be.
Jakob says: Sometimes I think that myself.
Yva says: Because I wasn't going to be responsible and . . . it can't be.
Yva seems emphatic.
Jakob says: Howling Fjord, Lady Darrows. The gorge west of the great lake - three cultists, ten scourge servitors. And you, and I. And only the two of us walked out - but not until the next morning. You remember.
Yva says: Hell.
Yva looks down.
Yva says: There are good priests, but not this good.
Jakob says: I've yet to meet one.
Yva swallows and hums, and stops humming to swallow again.
Yva says: How? You look like you and . . .
Jakob approaches again, cautiously, to help Yva down from her horse. It's a bit awkward - it's very clear he hasn't held anything but a sword for some time.
Yva looks at his armor.
Yva says: . . . you're not dead.
Jakob says: No.
Yva says: . . . is this him then?
Yva pinches the black armor to see if it's real.
Yva says: His work? Magic?
Jakob says: Aye, in a way. I was...you remember the last we saw. When...
Jakob pauses.
Jakob says: When I lied to you, told you to flee.
Yva takes a deep breath.
Yva says: I thought I'd killed you. I thought my ICE had killed you.
Jakob says: I spent a great while wishing that it had. They caught me.
Yva pauses to root through her bags again. She pulls out another scroll with sealed wax along its edge. She looks like she wants to be angry but she's having a really difficult time of it. Instead, she stares at her felhound, the letter clenched in her fist.
Jakob says: There was a death knight, some lieutenant of...Himself. He asked me if I wanted another chance at life, under a new master. I turned him down, of course.
Jakob follows her gaze, seeming to address the dog.
Jakob says: And then I woke with His voice in my mind. The Lich King doesn't give us choices.
Yva says: I want to scream at you. But I can't.
Jakob says: Thank you.
Jakob looks back.
Yva says: That letter was to Davien, to tell her I'd killed you.
Jakob says: Oh.
Yva says: She'd have put me somewhere until they could find a way to kill me. That was the bargain we made. If I slipped and someone else was lost . ..
Jakob closes his eyes, extinguishing two flickering points of blue.
Yva smirks.
Jakob says: I'm so damned sorry, Yva.
Yva says: For what. Not being stronger than Arthas? Boo that.
Yva is trying to be matter of fact.
Jakob says: I was a coward. For a very long time.
Yva says: You're not referring to recently. I'd hope you aren't anyway. I'm hoping this is some reflection on a past time before you knew me, because I don't think you've been a coward.
Jakob says: It doesn't take much courage to slaughter the unthinking dead. No, I...I told you why they sent me to Northrend with you.
Yva says: You survived Arthas, and you're better for it. What's past is past and we can't change that. I of all people know that.
Jakob says: I...yes. I am.
Yva says: Good.
Jakob opens his eyes again.
Jakob says: I /have/ to be.
Yva says: You have a new opportunity, Jakob. You're *alive*. I suppose the station carries some stigma with it.
Yva waves at the armor.
Jakob looks around the hills.
Jakob says: I certainly don't feel like it. Alive, that is.
Yva says: Well you look it.
Yva motions at her face.
Yva says: Here and . . . I'm so glad didn't give up on you. I thought I'd seen you.
Yva pulls a nailfile from her packs and tries to do anything but look at him, instead concentrating on her nails.
Jakob says: Seen me? You mean - after?
Yva says: Thought. Wasn't sure, but hope is foolish sometimes and will . . . .
Yva nods.
Yva says: With His people. Then what happened happened, and you ended up with Mograine's brood I'm guessing. It was an off-chance, but one that paid off.
Jakob says: You /did/ see me, then. Aye. Highlord Darion...I was with him at Light's Hope, when we were freed. He's had me on patrol, establishing our power here in the Plaguelands. Some of our people have been...
Jakob trails off and then laughs.
Jakob says: /Damn/ me, but I'm terrible at this. We're not a stone's throw from the home I have.
Yva says: Terrible at what? This isn't exactly something one can . . . Oh I don't even know.
Yva looks miserable.
Jakob says: Being alive. Come inside, Yva. I don't want to know how long you've been lurking out here.
Yva says: . . . fine. Yes of course.
Jakob steps forward, carefully taking one of Yva's hands in both of his gauntlets.
Jakob says: But it wasn't for nothing.
Yva stares again.
Yva says: Well no, it's not. This changes things of course. For the better for you.
Jakob says: I'd well say.
Yva says: You're not dead. Not Arthas's puppet. I am so much better off than I was when I rode here this morning.
Jakob 's face appears far more relaxed than it was at first, some of the tension giving way to relief.
Yva says: Wueten believes he is cursed. That every woman he cares about, romantically or . . . even as friends? That they're doomed. That his very presence destroys them.
Jakob says: I think I see where this is going.
Yva says: I was beginning to think it was contagious. He blamed himself for me, at one point. And of course I'd assumed you were just another thing lost and now you're not. And I know I should be jumping around like a buffoon, but I am . . . What's the bloody word. Afraid? Not quite, but it's the best I can do.
Jakob says: When all you see are tears, there's something frightening about a smile.
Jakob immediately winces.
Jakob says: And then you see, Lady Darrows, why I am not a poet.
Yva says: Poets are just over-paid philosophers, and they never said anything extraordinary. Just talk and talk and . . . quite like I'm doing right now.
Jakob says: Come inside.
Yva nods.
Jakob picks up his helm and sword and heads up the hill, politely falling into stride behind Yva.
Jakob says: Right into that tower. It's not much, but nobody else seemed to want it.
Yva scratches Fladdhun under the chin before leaving him on the outside steps to guard.
Yva says: Be good.
Yva looks around.
Jakob's watchtower is furnished like a pentinent's cell, with a cot, two chairs, and a great deal of floor. A thick oak door in the back is securely locked and barred.
Yva says: Sturdy. Could use some drapes.
Yva grins.
Yva says: . . . maybe a rug.
Jakob says: Women. Thirty seconds and you're already bloody redecorating.
Yva says: I was teasing.
Jakob leans his sword against the wall, grinning.
Jakob says: So was I.
Yva says: So were you.
Yva frowns.
Yva says: When did I get so terrible at being happy to see you?
Jakob says: I think we both need a great while to adjust to the concept of being "happy." I am, though. You know that. I knew you'd make it out alive, and I suppose I hoped you'd simply forget about me and carry on. Well, not forget. But..move on.
Yva hums quietly and pulls her cloak off. She brushes at her skirts, wincing at the road dust.
Yva says: I don't have many friends. I don't have many people that are willing to tolerate my eccentricities. I won't give up on someone easily.
Jakob says: Well enough.
Yva says: But now that you're safe, and fine, I can see about the rest of it.
Yva rolls her hand and is once again finding something interesting to look at that's not him.
Jakob says: What have you been doing since you returned from the north?
Yva says: Waiting. Watching. Ever watchful.
Jakob says: For me? No.
Jakob chuckles.
Jakob says: There's so much else coming out of the north.
Yva says: You don't know me quite as well as perhaps you'd like to believe then.
Yva eyes Jakob up and down.
Yva says: I don't stop until I get what I want. And even if I found out the worst? It was an answer. I was owed the damn answer. So I went back to my human cities, and played games with my human acquaintances and waited. And when I had word of what was going on out here, I came back.
Jakob sits down on his cot, looking a little stunned.
Yva says: What? Too honest?
Yva smiles.
Jakob says: I am the king idiot of all the world's bloody idiots.
Yva says: I doubt that. I married him once already.
Yva sighs.
Jakob laughs, a sound dry and dusty from disuse.
Yva says: Are you all right?
Jakob says: I'm well, Yva. I'm very well indeed.
Jakob says: I'm just regretting...
Yva busies herself with her skirts again.
Yva says: It's fine.
Jakob says: Up north, I did what I did because I couldn't decide. Between my heart and my duty, between...so many things. It all came down to a decision between you and the Queen. It seems a very easy decision now.
Yva says: . . . I never made you make a choice. I didn't want you to make a choice. And now everything's different.
Jakob says: Of course not.
Yva says: You don't have to choose anything. You're a new man. Quite literally.
Jakob removes his gauntlets, smiling abstractedly.
Jakob says: And that's where we disagree, Yva.
Yva looks up.
Jakob says: I have to choose /everything/ now. Every step of the way.
Jakob gets to his feet.
Jakob says: I'm rather looking forward to it.
Yva says: I would say I see, but I don't. A minute ago you said something about wanting me to move on?
Yva laughs but it's tight.
Jakob says: Before everything happened. When I was in that cave waiting for death to happen, I had all kinds of foolish thoughts. It was as if I was watching players put on a performance, and I'd read the script they drew from. Everything I did was ordained to end in that cold hell - and it got worse. But now, everything is open before me. It's... I've started all over again, and it'd be difficult to be happier.
Yva says: It will be fine. The living world is one full of opportunities. Why do you think I saturate myself in it?
Yva smiles at Jakob.
Jakob 's eyes flicker to the door behind Yva as he says that last.
Jakob says: Aye. I'll need to speak to you on that, to be sure.
Yva says: That's quite fine.
Jakob takes a couple steps closer, probably within the personal space boundary.
Jakob says: I'm going to need something to do with myself.
Yva says: I have ideas. I'm not sure many of them are decent. Especially now.
Yva mutters but she's smiling to herself.
Jakob lifts a hand, the fingers brushing Yva's cheek. Her /cold/ cheek.
Yva tries not to flinch.
Yva says: You feel different.
Yva sighs.
Jakob doesn't respond at first, his fingers tracing the line of Yva's jaw, something unreadable in his eyes.
Jakob says: And you...
Jakob 's eyes flicker to the doorway in the back, and he drops his hand with only a brief lingering in the air.
Yva mutters to herself.
Yva says: Is that why then? Because you're different and I'm not?
Yva hums a line and then stops.
Jakob 's eyes widen.
Jakob says: Yva, no.
Yva says: Oh? You let me think you were dead, hoped I'd moved on.
Yva looks at her hands and snaps an icicle off.
Yva says: I don't regret finding you.
Jakob quickly tries to take both her hands again.
Yva almost sounds fierce.
Jakob says: Nor would I, for all the world. You /waited/ for me. I'd never have expected that.
Yva says: I told you why. But it's all going to change now isn't it.
Jakob says: I know.
Yva finally fully looks him in the face.
Yva says: You won't be Sylvanas's man, that is good, but you're free to be your own and live in *Stormwind* With people, who won't be like me. That's not a bad thing, just different.
Jakob tries to smile, a little disbelievingly.
Yva says: You'll get a real woman though, of course. On the eventual.
Jakob says: Does this look like Stormwind to you, Yva? I'm a long ways from... From anything. I'm a soldier again. It's all I'd hoped for after I got this second chance.
Yva says: . . .well, you got a gift even if it was painful to get. I'm almost jealous. Almost.
Jakob says: Aye. And now I have another.
Yva stops talking and stares.
Jakob 's grip tightens on Yva's hands.
Yva says: I see.
Yva can't quite help that ice at her feet. It's spreading.
Jakob says: Understand - it can't all change. There's nothing yet /to/ change. Everything I'd known was gone, and now...
Jakob shakes his head.
Jakob says: It's all new. Whatever it is, it begins here. With you.
Yva says: I'm dead. You're not. This is not a fairy tale. It's not even a gods damned comedy.
Jakob 's eyes tighten.
Jakob says: Dead.
Yva says: Well facts are facts. I dont look it, I don't smell it. I don't even act it. But I am.
Yva's ice seems to retreat some, but it's still chilly around her.
Jakob looks at Yva, one corner of his mouth curling up in an incongruous smile. Without saying anything, he leans over to press his lips to hers, apparently incognizant of the ice - or for that matter, the chill of her mouth.
Yva freezes at first, completely still, and then finally she kisses him back.
Jakob pulls back, that faint smile still on his lips.
Jakob says: Tell me that again /now/.
Yva says: . . . no I don't think I quite want to.
Yva smiles too.
Yva says: Out of all the things I could have pictured coming out here - demon's own. I thought you might not know me. I wasn't even sure it was YOU. Now it is you. You're different, but still Jakob, and you still seem to like me about.
Jakob says: It's strange. Weeks since I...came back to myself, and whenever I thought of you, or anyone I knew, it was the way you think of a book read long ago. Well loved, but not real.
Yva says: Well loved? You can't take that back.
Jakob says: You can keep it.
Yva launches herself at him and hugs him She lays her head against his shoulder, her grin huge.
Jakob catches Yva with appropriately little effort. It's almost automatic, in a familiar sense.
Yva says: Tell me though, one thing? What stopped you from finding me? Truly?
Jakob says: Truly?
Yva nods.
Jakob says: Fear, I suppose. That stays with me too.
Yva says: Fear of what? Of me?
Jakob says: A little, I suppose. I'd found a...space to fit into. Everything had changed, and the Highlord gave me a duty.
Yva says: You know I'm harmless. Quite like a puppy.
Yva stands on tiptoe and nips his ear.
Jakob says: Puppies sometimes become very frightening dogs. I've seen it.
Yva says: I think you just called me a dog.
Jakob says: I was afraid of moving forward...yes, well, you'll have to pardon me. I'm rusty.
Yva laughs at Jakob.
Yva says: It's quite fine.
Jakob says: Have to learn things all over again.
Yva slides a hand to his cheek and just lightly touches his warm skin.
Yva says: You're warmer than you were. So odd.
Jakob says: It'll happen.
Jakob tilts his head just slightly. It's a very convenient height difference.
Jakob says: I hardly even notice, or think about it.
Yva kisses his chin, and then his cheek, seeming to work her way up.
Yva says: I am glad for you here.
Yva kisses his jawline.
Yva says: I'm glad I found you. Though all of this is bloody confusing.
Jakob seems quite content, for a bit, to let the situation carry on to its natural conclusion. His eyes seem to settle on the doorway of their own accord, and he tenses perceptibly.
Yva winds her fingers behind his neck.
Jakob says: Damnit all.
Yva blinks at Jakob.
Yva says: Hmmmm?
Jakob makes a not-too-forceful attempt to disengage himself.
Jakob says: Inspections. I forgot.
Yva says: . . . pardons?
Jakob says: If you can call them that. One of Lord Darion's lieutenants will be here to check up on my little watchpost.
Yva says: Oh.
Jakob says: I should...report.
Yva says: I see.
Jakob says: I'll just meet him outside. It'll not take long.
Yva says: Should I stay here then, or are you . . .
Jakob says: Can...
Jakob licks his lips.
Yva sighs.
Jakob says: Can you wait for me? Just a bit.
Yva says: Of course.
Jakob says: There's some things I very much should tell you. It'll be just a moment.
Yva says: All right. I have some things I can keep myself busy with. Burning Davien's letter to start. Books.
Jakob says: Mm. I have a few. Have to have /something/.
Yva tries not to look uncomfortable.
Yva says: No it's fine. Go.
Jakob pauses for a bit, then kisses her again.
Jakob says: Keep that. I'll be back for it.
Yva smiles, though she looks bewildered.
Yva says: Of course. Now shoo. Get it over with.
Jakob steps back and retrieves his sword and gauntlets.
Jakob says: Duty calls, and all that.
Yva says: Mmm hmmm.
Jakob strides off, his smile slipping almost immediately out of sight.
Yva digs around in her bags, searching for a book, a letter, any distraction. She looks up, her eyes scanning the place where Jakob just stood. Not only is he gone, but so is her felhound. She whistles for Flaadhun.
Yva says: Where ARE you, Dog?
Yva searches around the tower, finding her felhound digging at a hidden back door. He's snuffing and rooting like he's found something interesting.
Yva puts her hands on her hips.
Yva says: Move.
Yva looks at the door, pursing her lips. She watches the dog dig at it.
Yva says: MOVE.
Yva lifts her hand and lets her ice out, flowing it over the bars. She waits until it covers the bar completely, and then she squints her eyes. The dog, wisely, moves. She watches dispassionately as the ice shatters it into pieces.
She examines the lock and a chain beneath the bar. It's standard metal, nothing magical or advanced. She flows the ice over it too, waits until its coated, and blasts that open as well. The dog noses its way inside the hidden room.
Yva says: . . . you have to be kidding me.
Yva whistles for Flaadhun. She feels her way down the steps and holds her hand up. There's a faint flicker of fire on her palm.
Mara Balthasar is a beautiful woman, with lustrous, auburn hair. Her eyes are hidden behind the very obvious blue-cold touch of Arthas - the glow is bright through the darkness. She is chained to a large beam leaning across the wall, chains over her limbs, chest, stomach and neck. Also across her neck, just peeking out from under the collar of her simple cotton shift, is a ligature mark, presumably from hanging.
Yva stops and STARES.
Yva says: . . . who the hell are you, if you don't mind me asking.
Balthasar returns the stare, without a blink. Her voice, when it comes, is scratchy, hoarse.
Yva begins to hum.
Balthasar says: Balthasar.
Balthasar tilts her head just so, a slightly bemused smile touching her pale lips.
Yva says: Full of humor aren't you. Who ARE you?
Balthasar says: There's precious little else in the dark, I've found.
Balthasar rattles a chain as evidence.
Yva rolls a darkly glowing orb around in her palm, letting it flit over her fingers.
Yva says: How long have you been here?
Yva begins to pace.
Balthasar says: A good question. Little way to gauge the passing of the sun and moons...
Yva says: How'd you get here then.
Balthasar lets her glowing eyes move away from the warlock and roam around the dark room.
Balthasar says: Not of my own accord.
Yva says: Who brought you here.
Yva 's voice is flat. She instinctively reaches her hand down to the felhound, burying her hand in his mane.
Balthasar returns her Lich-borne eyes to the warlock.
Balthasar says: My little brother. Fancies himself a noble knight, you know. Are you the damsel, then?
Balthasar smiles softly, teeth stained with something dark.
Yva says: I haven't been a damsel in about five years.
Yva grits her teeth.
Balthasar says: Oh, don't tell him that.
Yva says: His name. Your brother's *name*.
Balthasar says: Balthasar as well, lady. Jakob Balthasar, knight of Ebon Hold, these days.
Yva says: BLOODY HELL.
Yva stamps her foot.
Balthasar says: And I am Mara Balthasar, knight in service of Arthas Menethil.
Yva mutters to herself.
Balthasar observes the reaction with that same air of amusement.
Balthasar says: Was my little brother a little less than honest with you, m'lady?
Yva smiles coldly.
Jakob , if not quite running, comes walking very swiftly indeed into the basement, sword in hand and visor down. It's not the most opportune moment, but there really ISN'T one for something like this.
Yva says: That isn't much of your business, m'lady.
Balthasar says: You shouldn't expect very much more of young knights...
Balthasar looks to Jakob as he enters, a smile still on her pale lips.
Jakob pulls himself to a halt at the head of the chamber, faceless in black iron.
Yva says: I do suppose mentioning a chained bloody scourge knight in the basement would have been nice to know about, but then, how do you bring that UP.
Yva is still speaking through grit teeth. She does not turn around.
Jakob just sort of stands there, possibly trying to form a sentence. Eventually he puts his sword down on the ground and reaches up to unbuckle his helm.
Balthasar says: Much like you just did, I'd think. Sir Balthasar, you do m'lady here an injustice...dishonesty's not suited for a knight. Didn't you tell me that, once?
Balthasar simply sounds pleasantly amused, like some one at a dinner party had used the wrong fork.
Yva hums quietly beneath her breath. THe soulstone on her knuckles is rolling faster and faster over her hand.
Jakob says: I...meant to tell you on my return. When I figured out how.
Balthasar leans back against the wooden beam she's chained to as she watches the two.
Yva doesn't turn around.
Yva says: Dare I ask what you're planning to do with her?
Jakob says: Cure her.
Yva says: You don't cure people of Arthas, Jak.
Balthasar says: Maybe he'll listen to you? He doesn't seem to believe me. He's only putting off the inevitable with this.
Balthasar rattles her chains again.
Jakob looks back, some steel entering his...shall we say, discomfited expression.
Jakob says: She's my sister.
Balthasar says: But Jak's always been an idealist.
Yva walks backwards and ends up against a wall. She sags a bit.
Balthasar nods at Jakob, looking unsurprised - the smile fades from her lips, leaving her with an inhumanly blank expression made worse by her steadily glowing eyes.
Yva says: Love is not quite so simple as just exterminating your big sister once you've found her. I can see the problem.
Jakob says: Extermin - Yva, I have to help her.
Yva says: I just said as much, didn't I?
Yva still won't look behind her, or to her side. She seems transfixed on the woman chained to the wall.
Jakob says: Aye. I'm sorry, I'm...well, I'm mostly just sorry.
Balthasar lets her eyes focus on Yva, empty of expression.
Yva says: How long has she been here?
Balthasar says: Perhaps the lady thinks extermination would be the help.
Jakob , at a loss, steps over to the wall to relight one of the torches, which has gone out.
Jakob says: Two weeks, three. Between that much.
Yva turns her attention back to Mara.
Yva says: I think exterminating you is sending you back to Arthas. I'm not such an idiot. And I think you matter too much to Jak for me to take that decision into my own hands. I'm not so heartless.
Yva crushes the soulstone and watches the felhound lick up the dust.
Balthasar gives a little 'tutut' sound, which is painful to listen to with her hoarse voice.
Jakob looks over his shoulder at Yva, smiling faintly.
Balthasar says: And how will your heart feel when I kill him, m'lady?
Balthasar considers for a moment, eyes returning to Jakob.
Balthasar says: Or maybe our lord would like her in your place, little brother?
Jakob turns at that, facing his sister squarely.
Jakob says: See that, Mara? Independent thought. Hardly fitting of a good servant.
Yva finally looks at Jak.
Balthasar says: A good servant, no, but a -knight- should always keep an open mind to what can serve her King the best.
Jakob says: I'll remember that when you are one again.
Jakob turns back to Yva, an incongruous smile on his face. It's quite obvious that he's putting on a brave show.
Balthasar says: I am one, little brother, and I ache with concern that you aren't.
Jakob says: My sister. Much less fun to argue with than when we were children. She has an uninvited guest, you see.
Yva doesn't smile back at him. She's too intently staring at the woman against the wall.
Yva says: I'm not a gift to be given to anyone's king. I'm also not about to let someone I care about be returned to a place they loathe.
Balthasar says: You can lie to yourself all you'd like, little brother, but He was never uninvited.
Jakob 's smile sags only slightly.
Yva says: So how does one cure someone of Arthas?
Jakob says: That's the part I'm still working on. But it worked on me. Admittedly, a rather...singular event.
Yva says: Who "cured" you.
Jakob says: Tirion Fordring. He broke the binding, it appears. Sadly, I don't have the Ashbringer on hand.
Balthasar says: He did, and it hardly mattered.
Jakob says this rather too casually, still studying his placid sister as well.
Jakob says: Hers is...
Yva says: What hardly mattered. The Ashbringer?
Jakob says: She's no puppet. I've already stricken that through. But some death knights...
Balthasar says: The Ashbringer, the battle, Mograine's betrayal, none of it mattered to me, my lady, because my little brother is denying himself the truth.
Balthasar raises her chin, nearly proudly showing off the ligature mark dark against her white skin.
Yva says: Oh she's independently thinking all right. Someone hanged you.
Balthasar says: I hung myself, a sacrifice to my King. I picked up the runeblade. I asked for this, I made myself this and I walk proudly with His touch.
Yva says: Bloody hell.
Balthasar says: Jak seeks to cure -loyalty-. And -dedication-.
Jakob 's face hardens.
Jakob says: You /asked/ for this like a woman asks to be raped with the knife at her throat, Mara. And it matters not. The Bloody Prince gives no choices.
Yva says: All loyalties aside, Arthas's influences run deep. You can't really be sure you wanted to hang. He may have wanted you to.
Yva shrugs.
Balthasar stares at Jakob, the glow in her eyes flaring in a burst of something near anger.
Balthasar says: Jak wants to cure me of all the ideals he once wanted so badly...tell me, my lady, has he been the proud and noble night he always wanted to be? Brave and stalwart? An honor to our family's name?
Jakob folds his arms and says nothing, looking steadily at Mara.
Yva thinks on this a moment.
Yva says: I'm never one to look to someone's past because my own is a vase riddled with cracks. To me, he's been nothing but those things. I cannot speak of anything else. There is a strange nobility in what he's trying to do here.
Balthasar watches Yva, then turns to meet Jakob's eyes.
Balthasar says: I wonder if the rest of the 16th legion and Priestess Rivers would think the same thing, Jak. Do you think so?
Jakob manages to keep looking back at Mara, his face largely expressionless, but it's obvious that an arrow has found its target.
Jakob says: I wouldn't. All the more reason to do better.
Balthasar smiles slightly, stained teeth shadows in the dark.
Balthasar says: Thank you for the honest answer - I doubt any of them would be able to reply quite so eloquently.
Jakob says: And you? Do you think yourself courageous?
Yva slides down the wall and pulls the felhound into her lap, just peering at Mara above its back.
Balthasar says: I know there's nothing to fear with my King's blessing. I'm unsure if that's courage.
Yva says: He'd have you think nothing else. A weak king is not worthy of following. Unfortunately, the king in this case is a liar and a madman.
Balthasar says: Give me a king that's not lied and I'll give you a very weak ruler, my lady.
Yva says: It never makes it right.
Yva shakes her head and stands up.
Balthasar says: Then I suppose you've some words for Jak and his little lack of information.
Jakob says: And give me a servant that sits back and lets herself be lied to, and I'll give you a coward. And you, sweet sister, never were that.
Jakob smiles, a little wistfully.
Balthasar says: Let me loose, little brother, and we'll see who sits back and who takes action.
Jakob smiles thinly.
Jakob says: We already saw that. It's how you came to these chains.
Yva says: So what, you came to blows and brought her here? In hopes of re-educating her on the error of her allegiances?
Jakob says: She came to kill me.
Yva says: . . . why.
Yva peers at Balthasar searchingly.
Jakob looks back at Yva, eyebrows lifted.
Jakob says: She's my sister.
Balthasar says: Because he's my brother, and our King knows who best to send to deal with those who've stepped of the path. I gave him a chance.
Balthasar looks from Yva to stare at Jakob, a hint of sadness in her eyes.
Balthasar says: A choice.
Jakob says: She did. Very kind of her. Your master, Mara, was less generous.
Balthasar says: Our Master. You shouldn't lie to me with -those- eyes, dear brother.
Yva says: I don't see a lot choosing on his part. He was taken, twisted, and then freed. Anyone will struggle for survival, even if it means chaining something you love in the basement.
Yva frowns.
Jakob says: She won't.
Jakob looks back to Yva, his voice rather less argumentative than it has been.
Jakob says: She just sits here. Day after day, telling herself the same lies. It wearies, and pains.
Yva says: I can see that.
Balthasar closes her eyes calmly.
Balthasar says: Patience is a virtue.
Yva says: From a purely analytical standpoint, something needs to disrupt her calm. I cannot help you in that regard, but all magics require a catalyst. And unraveling them is the same, because what this horrible possession IS is a twisted magic. One I cannot touch or understand.
Jakob says: Aye. It goes bone-deep. I could ask in Ebon Hold, but...
Balthasar says: But they'll want to kill me, won't they?
Jakob says: They will.
Balthasar says: And they won't listen to just one knight, will they?
Jakob says: Highlord Mograine would call death a blessing, rather than service under the Bloody Prince.
Balthasar says: Ah, Jak, you think you've changed so much, walking away from Him.
Jakob says: Not so very much. Just in a few important places.
Jakob smiles sadly.
Jakob says: I aimed to model my life after the people I admire most. You may recall one of them.
Jakob walks over to the wall, looking down at his sister.
Balthasar says: You've traded a pulse for your loyalty. May it keep you warm in the cold...
Balthasar opens her eyes and looks past Jakob.
Balthasar says: And in cold arms.
Balthasar stares at Yva.
Yva flinches.
Jakob 's face twitches, and he pauses, stooping over Mara.
Jakob says: Her name is Mara Balthasar. She's somewhere in there. I hope to find her soon.
Balthasar continues staring at Yva as her mouth moves, soundlessly, just a word or two. She says nothing as a ghoul rises from the dirt of the basement and attacks Jakob, only to be hewn to pieces.
Yva says: Your brother has many choices ahead of him to make. If nothing else, I'll be his friend. And I'll try to help him make his choices wisely.
Jakob puts his sword away, sighing.
Jakob says: She'll do that every so often, you see.
Jakob looks over his shoulder.
Balthasar says: Then I'm afraid you'll need to be removed as well. And a shame, you're a very well spoken lady.
Balthasar moves her mouth, the ground near Yva's feet starting to crack.
Yva says: There have been many *many* who have tried to remove me from the equation, my dear.
Jakob whirls back around, one iron fist slamming open-palmed into Mara's shoulder and shoving her back against the wall.
Jakob says: Once is /enough/!
Balthasar is pinned to the wooden beam hard, her shoulder soft under Jakob's plate fist - she reacts with a mindless growl and gibber, her entire body changing to a furious frenzy, writhing in her chains.
Jakob says: Oh fucking -
Yva says: . . . what is happening.
Balthasar 's hair goes brittle, in spiked spires, her eyes sinking deep into a face that suddenly appears ghoulish, gray skin and jutted jaw, her teeth cracking out of her mouth in broken, stained fangs.
Jakob is driven backwards under the sudden surge of force from his sister's body, as much a result of the sudden mutation of her flesh as the vast physical force exerted by her horrific frame.
Balthasar continues to gibber, now nothing remotely human, the very tendons and muscles writhing under her dead skin.
Jakob says: One....nnngh...bloody /time/...
Jakob surges to his feet, gauntleted fist locked around "Mara"'s writhing throat, holding her up against the wall with surprisingly little effort.
Jakob says: GO BACK.
Balthasar tries to lunge at Jakob, the chains /barely/ keeping her in check, though his arm does a better job of it.
Balthasar says: Hngggrrr!
Yva mutters an incantation beneath her breath, shadows swirling around her hands.
Jakob 's voice is a harsh, crackling whisper. As he turns slightly, the reason becomes clear - his face is a paper-thin mask over bone, drawn tight and blackened, with hollow blue-lit pits for eyes and no nose to speak of.
Yva stares.
Jakob says: You lost me, worm, and you'll lose her too!
Balthasar hisses, dark blood flecked spittle dripping from her broken, jutting jaw, snapping for Jakob's inhuman deathmask of a face.
Yva says: Jakob . . .
Jakob 's grip tightens. Beads of ice crystallize on his gauntlets, and even from where Yva is standing, the chill is palpable.
Jakob says: Gifts cannot all be returned, Lady Darrows.
Yva says: She didn't do this to you. Because by all that's unholy I will END her if she did.
Jakob can't really modulate his voice to anything other than a whisper's nightmare right now, as he holds the monster in his sister's dress against the wall.
Jakob says: No.
Balthasar squirms, under Jakob's plated palm the tendons in her neck flex and seem to be trying to burst out of her.
Jakob says: This is the Lich King's blessing. This one, I didn't let him keep. As is what...my sister has become. It happened the first time I saw her. She returns eventually.
Yva immediately drops her shadows.
Jakob continues to hold Mara at arm's length, staring at her, teeth gritted - though it's hard to tell, with no lips and the skin drawn back from his mouth.
Jakob says: As...do I.
Yva hums quietly and paces.
Balthasar gives another lunge, powerful enough to rattle her brother's arm, though between his grip and the chains, she can't seem to break free, giving a gibbering babble of fury.
Yva says: It's you beneath there. It's you in there.
Yva says this again beneath her breath, almost trying to convince herself.
Jakob says: Very much so. I'm...afraid I'm going to have to be rude and not look at you while I talk, my dear.
Yva says: I don't care. I just want this figured out.
Jakob says: This?
Yva says: Her. What to bloody do with her. Because this situation can't continue for both of you like this. Something has to change.
Balthasar slumps forward, the horrid changes melting away to leave her exhausted and human - an even hoarser whisper out of her cracked lips, to Jakob's ear.
Jakob pauses, his grip on Mara's throat loosening substantially, but waits for some few seconds before stepping back, head lowered. When he turns, he is Jakob again, looking as if he hasn't slept for days.
Jakob says: Thank you.
Yva says: For what?
Yva rubs her arms like she's cold.
Jakob says: Wanting to help her.
Yva says: I want to help you. She's how to do it.
Balthasar slumps to back to the ground, chains rattling, the glow of her eyes banked.
Jakob smiles.
Yva's eyes flick between the two of them.
Jakob says: All the same.
Yva says: There are things to discuss, but not here. And perhaps not now. You need rest.
Jakob says: I...
Yva frowns.
Jakob sags slightly.
Jakob says: You're likely right.
Yva says: As for you.
Yva points at Balthasar.
Yva says: You better be worth all this.
Yva shakes her head.
Balthasar looks at Yva from slitted eyes.
Yva whistles for her felhound.
Balthasar says: He and I are alike, lady. We both lie. Remember.
Balthasar closes her eyes, exhausted.
Yva eyes Jakob up and down.
Jakob says: You're much better at it.
Jakob leans over and kisses Mara lightly on the cheek.
Yva heads up the steps.
Jakob says: Until tomorrow, sweet sister.
Jakob follows.
Jakob says: Yva, I meant to tell you when I came back. I...needed to think of how to phrase it. How did you find her?
Yva laughs, but there's not much humor to it.
Yva says: The dog found her.
Jakob says: Damnation. I'm going to have to do something about that.
Yva says: Damnation what? That the dog found her?
Yva suddenly looks angry.
Jakob says: I...don't want anyone finding her.
Yva breathes hard through her nose.
Jakob says: You're the first, the only person I'd have told.
Yva holds up her hand.
Yva says: Not now. Rest. You need rest, and this discussion will happen, but not now. You look like hell.
Jakob says: I...as you will.
Yva says: I would likely be needlessly harsh right now. Because I don't know what else to be.
Yva shivers.
Jakob says: Of course. I'm sorry.
Yva says: Stop apologizing. Let's just discuss this tomorrow. Please.
Yva hangs her head.
Jakob sits down on the cot, removing his armor, looking up to meet Yva's eyes once.
Jakob says: She's all I had.
Yva says: I know, I know.
Yva looks around for another place before sitting on the cot beside him. As he tries to get up, to give her the cot for the night, she shakes her head 'no' and wordlessly insists he stay. Though the cot is small, they somehow manage to both fit without actually touching one another.
*****
Yva yells: Pardon me.
Yva purses her lips, peering at the stranger.
Yva says: Sorry to trouble you.
Yva smiles brilliantly.
The man turns, two pinpoints of blue beneath his helm searching as he carefully wipes blood from his greatsword.
The man says: Madam?
His voice echoes hollowly.
Yva says: Looking for a man.
Yva rifles through her bags, humming almost frantically.
Yva says: Wondering perhaps if you've seen him.
She pulls out a scroll and tosses it onto the ground at his boot.
The man says nothing. His gaze travels from the mounted woman down to the scroll, which he retrieves with a curious delicacy.
Yva says: I have no idea what name he might go by now, but that's his face. His name at one time WAS Balthasar. Likeness is close, a good friend drew it.
The man says: The artist...knew this man?
Yva says: You could say that.
He doesn't look up from the portrait.
Yva says: I'm very very good at conjuring when I need to. And an image . . . overly simple. My memory is precise.
The man says: Very well, I would think, then.
Yva nods and smiles, but it doesn't go to her eyes.
The man says: Why are you looking for him?
Yva says: . . . we traveled together and I thought he was . . .
Yva makes a motion with her hand.
Yva says: I thought perhaps I'd done something terrible. Again. I don't want to explain this one too.
Yva laughs though it's not pleasant.
The man says: There's not many that would risk the Ebon Blade for one man.
Yva says: I'm Yva Bloody Darrows. I do whatever I damn well please.
The man says: You always did.
The man reaches one hand up to the back of his neck, a dull -snick- sounding from his blackened armor as something lets go.
Yva quirks a brow.
Yva says: Pardons?
The man pulls his helm off. The face beneath, pale-skinned and hollow-cheeked as it may be, is undoubtedly that of a living man.
Jakob says: And I count myself lucky in that regard.
Yva stares.
Yva says: . . . I don't know what your people can do.
Yva retreats some.
Jakob drops his helm on the ground almost carelessly, laying his sword next to it, and walks over with a weary smile on his face.
Yva says: What trickery is this? I don't have a lot of patience with . . .
Jakob says: Are you this accustomed to misfortune?
Yva snorts.
Yva says: You have no idea.
Jakob lifts his gauntleted hands.
Yva pulls her horse away again but she can't stop staring.
Jakob says: It's me, Yva. I can't imagine how you've been searching this long, or...why.
Yva says: It *can't* be.
Jakob says: Sometimes I think that myself.
Yva says: Because I wasn't going to be responsible and . . . it can't be.
Yva seems emphatic.
Jakob says: Howling Fjord, Lady Darrows. The gorge west of the great lake - three cultists, ten scourge servitors. And you, and I. And only the two of us walked out - but not until the next morning. You remember.
Yva says: Hell.
Yva looks down.
Yva says: There are good priests, but not this good.
Jakob says: I've yet to meet one.
Yva swallows and hums, and stops humming to swallow again.
Yva says: How? You look like you and . . .
Jakob approaches again, cautiously, to help Yva down from her horse. It's a bit awkward - it's very clear he hasn't held anything but a sword for some time.
Yva looks at his armor.
Yva says: . . . you're not dead.
Jakob says: No.
Yva says: . . . is this him then?
Yva pinches the black armor to see if it's real.
Yva says: His work? Magic?
Jakob says: Aye, in a way. I was...you remember the last we saw. When...
Jakob pauses.
Jakob says: When I lied to you, told you to flee.
Yva takes a deep breath.
Yva says: I thought I'd killed you. I thought my ICE had killed you.
Jakob says: I spent a great while wishing that it had. They caught me.
Yva pauses to root through her bags again. She pulls out another scroll with sealed wax along its edge. She looks like she wants to be angry but she's having a really difficult time of it. Instead, she stares at her felhound, the letter clenched in her fist.
Jakob says: There was a death knight, some lieutenant of...Himself. He asked me if I wanted another chance at life, under a new master. I turned him down, of course.
Jakob follows her gaze, seeming to address the dog.
Jakob says: And then I woke with His voice in my mind. The Lich King doesn't give us choices.
Yva says: I want to scream at you. But I can't.
Jakob says: Thank you.
Jakob looks back.
Yva says: That letter was to Davien, to tell her I'd killed you.
Jakob says: Oh.
Yva says: She'd have put me somewhere until they could find a way to kill me. That was the bargain we made. If I slipped and someone else was lost . ..
Jakob closes his eyes, extinguishing two flickering points of blue.
Yva smirks.
Jakob says: I'm so damned sorry, Yva.
Yva says: For what. Not being stronger than Arthas? Boo that.
Yva is trying to be matter of fact.
Jakob says: I was a coward. For a very long time.
Yva says: You're not referring to recently. I'd hope you aren't anyway. I'm hoping this is some reflection on a past time before you knew me, because I don't think you've been a coward.
Jakob says: It doesn't take much courage to slaughter the unthinking dead. No, I...I told you why they sent me to Northrend with you.
Yva says: You survived Arthas, and you're better for it. What's past is past and we can't change that. I of all people know that.
Jakob says: I...yes. I am.
Yva says: Good.
Jakob opens his eyes again.
Jakob says: I /have/ to be.
Yva says: You have a new opportunity, Jakob. You're *alive*. I suppose the station carries some stigma with it.
Yva waves at the armor.
Jakob looks around the hills.
Jakob says: I certainly don't feel like it. Alive, that is.
Yva says: Well you look it.
Yva motions at her face.
Yva says: Here and . . . I'm so glad didn't give up on you. I thought I'd seen you.
Yva pulls a nailfile from her packs and tries to do anything but look at him, instead concentrating on her nails.
Jakob says: Seen me? You mean - after?
Yva says: Thought. Wasn't sure, but hope is foolish sometimes and will . . . .
Yva nods.
Yva says: With His people. Then what happened happened, and you ended up with Mograine's brood I'm guessing. It was an off-chance, but one that paid off.
Jakob says: You /did/ see me, then. Aye. Highlord Darion...I was with him at Light's Hope, when we were freed. He's had me on patrol, establishing our power here in the Plaguelands. Some of our people have been...
Jakob trails off and then laughs.
Jakob says: /Damn/ me, but I'm terrible at this. We're not a stone's throw from the home I have.
Yva says: Terrible at what? This isn't exactly something one can . . . Oh I don't even know.
Yva looks miserable.
Jakob says: Being alive. Come inside, Yva. I don't want to know how long you've been lurking out here.
Yva says: . . . fine. Yes of course.
Jakob steps forward, carefully taking one of Yva's hands in both of his gauntlets.
Jakob says: But it wasn't for nothing.
Yva stares again.
Yva says: Well no, it's not. This changes things of course. For the better for you.
Jakob says: I'd well say.
Yva says: You're not dead. Not Arthas's puppet. I am so much better off than I was when I rode here this morning.
Jakob 's face appears far more relaxed than it was at first, some of the tension giving way to relief.
Yva says: Wueten believes he is cursed. That every woman he cares about, romantically or . . . even as friends? That they're doomed. That his very presence destroys them.
Jakob says: I think I see where this is going.
Yva says: I was beginning to think it was contagious. He blamed himself for me, at one point. And of course I'd assumed you were just another thing lost and now you're not. And I know I should be jumping around like a buffoon, but I am . . . What's the bloody word. Afraid? Not quite, but it's the best I can do.
Jakob says: When all you see are tears, there's something frightening about a smile.
Jakob immediately winces.
Jakob says: And then you see, Lady Darrows, why I am not a poet.
Yva says: Poets are just over-paid philosophers, and they never said anything extraordinary. Just talk and talk and . . . quite like I'm doing right now.
Jakob says: Come inside.
Yva nods.
Jakob picks up his helm and sword and heads up the hill, politely falling into stride behind Yva.
Jakob says: Right into that tower. It's not much, but nobody else seemed to want it.
Yva scratches Fladdhun under the chin before leaving him on the outside steps to guard.
Yva says: Be good.
Yva looks around.
Jakob's watchtower is furnished like a pentinent's cell, with a cot, two chairs, and a great deal of floor. A thick oak door in the back is securely locked and barred.
Yva says: Sturdy. Could use some drapes.
Yva grins.
Yva says: . . . maybe a rug.
Jakob says: Women. Thirty seconds and you're already bloody redecorating.
Yva says: I was teasing.
Jakob leans his sword against the wall, grinning.
Jakob says: So was I.
Yva says: So were you.
Yva frowns.
Yva says: When did I get so terrible at being happy to see you?
Jakob says: I think we both need a great while to adjust to the concept of being "happy." I am, though. You know that. I knew you'd make it out alive, and I suppose I hoped you'd simply forget about me and carry on. Well, not forget. But..move on.
Yva hums quietly and pulls her cloak off. She brushes at her skirts, wincing at the road dust.
Yva says: I don't have many friends. I don't have many people that are willing to tolerate my eccentricities. I won't give up on someone easily.
Jakob says: Well enough.
Yva says: But now that you're safe, and fine, I can see about the rest of it.
Yva rolls her hand and is once again finding something interesting to look at that's not him.
Jakob says: What have you been doing since you returned from the north?
Yva says: Waiting. Watching. Ever watchful.
Jakob says: For me? No.
Jakob chuckles.
Jakob says: There's so much else coming out of the north.
Yva says: You don't know me quite as well as perhaps you'd like to believe then.
Yva eyes Jakob up and down.
Yva says: I don't stop until I get what I want. And even if I found out the worst? It was an answer. I was owed the damn answer. So I went back to my human cities, and played games with my human acquaintances and waited. And when I had word of what was going on out here, I came back.
Jakob sits down on his cot, looking a little stunned.
Yva says: What? Too honest?
Yva smiles.
Jakob says: I am the king idiot of all the world's bloody idiots.
Yva says: I doubt that. I married him once already.
Yva sighs.
Jakob laughs, a sound dry and dusty from disuse.
Yva says: Are you all right?
Jakob says: I'm well, Yva. I'm very well indeed.
Jakob says: I'm just regretting...
Yva busies herself with her skirts again.
Yva says: It's fine.
Jakob says: Up north, I did what I did because I couldn't decide. Between my heart and my duty, between...so many things. It all came down to a decision between you and the Queen. It seems a very easy decision now.
Yva says: . . . I never made you make a choice. I didn't want you to make a choice. And now everything's different.
Jakob says: Of course not.
Yva says: You don't have to choose anything. You're a new man. Quite literally.
Jakob removes his gauntlets, smiling abstractedly.
Jakob says: And that's where we disagree, Yva.
Yva looks up.
Jakob says: I have to choose /everything/ now. Every step of the way.
Jakob gets to his feet.
Jakob says: I'm rather looking forward to it.
Yva says: I would say I see, but I don't. A minute ago you said something about wanting me to move on?
Yva laughs but it's tight.
Jakob says: Before everything happened. When I was in that cave waiting for death to happen, I had all kinds of foolish thoughts. It was as if I was watching players put on a performance, and I'd read the script they drew from. Everything I did was ordained to end in that cold hell - and it got worse. But now, everything is open before me. It's... I've started all over again, and it'd be difficult to be happier.
Yva says: It will be fine. The living world is one full of opportunities. Why do you think I saturate myself in it?
Yva smiles at Jakob.
Jakob 's eyes flicker to the door behind Yva as he says that last.
Jakob says: Aye. I'll need to speak to you on that, to be sure.
Yva says: That's quite fine.
Jakob takes a couple steps closer, probably within the personal space boundary.
Jakob says: I'm going to need something to do with myself.
Yva says: I have ideas. I'm not sure many of them are decent. Especially now.
Yva mutters but she's smiling to herself.
Jakob lifts a hand, the fingers brushing Yva's cheek. Her /cold/ cheek.
Yva tries not to flinch.
Yva says: You feel different.
Yva sighs.
Jakob doesn't respond at first, his fingers tracing the line of Yva's jaw, something unreadable in his eyes.
Jakob says: And you...
Jakob 's eyes flicker to the doorway in the back, and he drops his hand with only a brief lingering in the air.
Yva mutters to herself.
Yva says: Is that why then? Because you're different and I'm not?
Yva hums a line and then stops.
Jakob 's eyes widen.
Jakob says: Yva, no.
Yva says: Oh? You let me think you were dead, hoped I'd moved on.
Yva looks at her hands and snaps an icicle off.
Yva says: I don't regret finding you.
Jakob quickly tries to take both her hands again.
Yva almost sounds fierce.
Jakob says: Nor would I, for all the world. You /waited/ for me. I'd never have expected that.
Yva says: I told you why. But it's all going to change now isn't it.
Jakob says: I know.
Yva finally fully looks him in the face.
Yva says: You won't be Sylvanas's man, that is good, but you're free to be your own and live in *Stormwind* With people, who won't be like me. That's not a bad thing, just different.
Jakob tries to smile, a little disbelievingly.
Yva says: You'll get a real woman though, of course. On the eventual.
Jakob says: Does this look like Stormwind to you, Yva? I'm a long ways from... From anything. I'm a soldier again. It's all I'd hoped for after I got this second chance.
Yva says: . . .well, you got a gift even if it was painful to get. I'm almost jealous. Almost.
Jakob says: Aye. And now I have another.
Yva stops talking and stares.
Jakob 's grip tightens on Yva's hands.
Yva says: I see.
Yva can't quite help that ice at her feet. It's spreading.
Jakob says: Understand - it can't all change. There's nothing yet /to/ change. Everything I'd known was gone, and now...
Jakob shakes his head.
Jakob says: It's all new. Whatever it is, it begins here. With you.
Yva says: I'm dead. You're not. This is not a fairy tale. It's not even a gods damned comedy.
Jakob 's eyes tighten.
Jakob says: Dead.
Yva says: Well facts are facts. I dont look it, I don't smell it. I don't even act it. But I am.
Yva's ice seems to retreat some, but it's still chilly around her.
Jakob looks at Yva, one corner of his mouth curling up in an incongruous smile. Without saying anything, he leans over to press his lips to hers, apparently incognizant of the ice - or for that matter, the chill of her mouth.
Yva freezes at first, completely still, and then finally she kisses him back.
Jakob pulls back, that faint smile still on his lips.
Jakob says: Tell me that again /now/.
Yva says: . . . no I don't think I quite want to.
Yva smiles too.
Yva says: Out of all the things I could have pictured coming out here - demon's own. I thought you might not know me. I wasn't even sure it was YOU. Now it is you. You're different, but still Jakob, and you still seem to like me about.
Jakob says: It's strange. Weeks since I...came back to myself, and whenever I thought of you, or anyone I knew, it was the way you think of a book read long ago. Well loved, but not real.
Yva says: Well loved? You can't take that back.
Jakob says: You can keep it.
Yva launches herself at him and hugs him She lays her head against his shoulder, her grin huge.
Jakob catches Yva with appropriately little effort. It's almost automatic, in a familiar sense.
Yva says: Tell me though, one thing? What stopped you from finding me? Truly?
Jakob says: Truly?
Yva nods.
Jakob says: Fear, I suppose. That stays with me too.
Yva says: Fear of what? Of me?
Jakob says: A little, I suppose. I'd found a...space to fit into. Everything had changed, and the Highlord gave me a duty.
Yva says: You know I'm harmless. Quite like a puppy.
Yva stands on tiptoe and nips his ear.
Jakob says: Puppies sometimes become very frightening dogs. I've seen it.
Yva says: I think you just called me a dog.
Jakob says: I was afraid of moving forward...yes, well, you'll have to pardon me. I'm rusty.
Yva laughs at Jakob.
Yva says: It's quite fine.
Jakob says: Have to learn things all over again.
Yva slides a hand to his cheek and just lightly touches his warm skin.
Yva says: You're warmer than you were. So odd.
Jakob says: It'll happen.
Jakob tilts his head just slightly. It's a very convenient height difference.
Jakob says: I hardly even notice, or think about it.
Yva kisses his chin, and then his cheek, seeming to work her way up.
Yva says: I am glad for you here.
Yva kisses his jawline.
Yva says: I'm glad I found you. Though all of this is bloody confusing.
Jakob seems quite content, for a bit, to let the situation carry on to its natural conclusion. His eyes seem to settle on the doorway of their own accord, and he tenses perceptibly.
Yva winds her fingers behind his neck.
Jakob says: Damnit all.
Yva blinks at Jakob.
Yva says: Hmmmm?
Jakob makes a not-too-forceful attempt to disengage himself.
Jakob says: Inspections. I forgot.
Yva says: . . . pardons?
Jakob says: If you can call them that. One of Lord Darion's lieutenants will be here to check up on my little watchpost.
Yva says: Oh.
Jakob says: I should...report.
Yva says: I see.
Jakob says: I'll just meet him outside. It'll not take long.
Yva says: Should I stay here then, or are you . . .
Jakob says: Can...
Jakob licks his lips.
Yva sighs.
Jakob says: Can you wait for me? Just a bit.
Yva says: Of course.
Jakob says: There's some things I very much should tell you. It'll be just a moment.
Yva says: All right. I have some things I can keep myself busy with. Burning Davien's letter to start. Books.
Jakob says: Mm. I have a few. Have to have /something/.
Yva tries not to look uncomfortable.
Yva says: No it's fine. Go.
Jakob pauses for a bit, then kisses her again.
Jakob says: Keep that. I'll be back for it.
Yva smiles, though she looks bewildered.
Yva says: Of course. Now shoo. Get it over with.
Jakob steps back and retrieves his sword and gauntlets.
Jakob says: Duty calls, and all that.
Yva says: Mmm hmmm.
Jakob strides off, his smile slipping almost immediately out of sight.
Yva digs around in her bags, searching for a book, a letter, any distraction. She looks up, her eyes scanning the place where Jakob just stood. Not only is he gone, but so is her felhound. She whistles for Flaadhun.
Yva says: Where ARE you, Dog?
Yva searches around the tower, finding her felhound digging at a hidden back door. He's snuffing and rooting like he's found something interesting.
Yva puts her hands on her hips.
Yva says: Move.
Yva looks at the door, pursing her lips. She watches the dog dig at it.
Yva says: MOVE.
Yva lifts her hand and lets her ice out, flowing it over the bars. She waits until it covers the bar completely, and then she squints her eyes. The dog, wisely, moves. She watches dispassionately as the ice shatters it into pieces.
She examines the lock and a chain beneath the bar. It's standard metal, nothing magical or advanced. She flows the ice over it too, waits until its coated, and blasts that open as well. The dog noses its way inside the hidden room.
Yva says: . . . you have to be kidding me.
Yva whistles for Flaadhun. She feels her way down the steps and holds her hand up. There's a faint flicker of fire on her palm.
Mara Balthasar is a beautiful woman, with lustrous, auburn hair. Her eyes are hidden behind the very obvious blue-cold touch of Arthas - the glow is bright through the darkness. She is chained to a large beam leaning across the wall, chains over her limbs, chest, stomach and neck. Also across her neck, just peeking out from under the collar of her simple cotton shift, is a ligature mark, presumably from hanging.
Yva stops and STARES.
Yva says: . . . who the hell are you, if you don't mind me asking.
Balthasar returns the stare, without a blink. Her voice, when it comes, is scratchy, hoarse.
Yva begins to hum.
Balthasar says: Balthasar.
Balthasar tilts her head just so, a slightly bemused smile touching her pale lips.
Yva says: Full of humor aren't you. Who ARE you?
Balthasar says: There's precious little else in the dark, I've found.
Balthasar rattles a chain as evidence.
Yva rolls a darkly glowing orb around in her palm, letting it flit over her fingers.
Yva says: How long have you been here?
Yva begins to pace.
Balthasar says: A good question. Little way to gauge the passing of the sun and moons...
Yva says: How'd you get here then.
Balthasar lets her glowing eyes move away from the warlock and roam around the dark room.
Balthasar says: Not of my own accord.
Yva says: Who brought you here.
Yva 's voice is flat. She instinctively reaches her hand down to the felhound, burying her hand in his mane.
Balthasar returns her Lich-borne eyes to the warlock.
Balthasar says: My little brother. Fancies himself a noble knight, you know. Are you the damsel, then?
Balthasar smiles softly, teeth stained with something dark.
Yva says: I haven't been a damsel in about five years.
Yva grits her teeth.
Balthasar says: Oh, don't tell him that.
Yva says: His name. Your brother's *name*.
Balthasar says: Balthasar as well, lady. Jakob Balthasar, knight of Ebon Hold, these days.
Yva says: BLOODY HELL.
Yva stamps her foot.
Balthasar says: And I am Mara Balthasar, knight in service of Arthas Menethil.
Yva mutters to herself.
Balthasar observes the reaction with that same air of amusement.
Balthasar says: Was my little brother a little less than honest with you, m'lady?
Yva smiles coldly.
Jakob , if not quite running, comes walking very swiftly indeed into the basement, sword in hand and visor down. It's not the most opportune moment, but there really ISN'T one for something like this.
Yva says: That isn't much of your business, m'lady.
Balthasar says: You shouldn't expect very much more of young knights...
Balthasar looks to Jakob as he enters, a smile still on her pale lips.
Jakob pulls himself to a halt at the head of the chamber, faceless in black iron.
Yva says: I do suppose mentioning a chained bloody scourge knight in the basement would have been nice to know about, but then, how do you bring that UP.
Yva is still speaking through grit teeth. She does not turn around.
Jakob just sort of stands there, possibly trying to form a sentence. Eventually he puts his sword down on the ground and reaches up to unbuckle his helm.
Balthasar says: Much like you just did, I'd think. Sir Balthasar, you do m'lady here an injustice...dishonesty's not suited for a knight. Didn't you tell me that, once?
Balthasar simply sounds pleasantly amused, like some one at a dinner party had used the wrong fork.
Yva hums quietly beneath her breath. THe soulstone on her knuckles is rolling faster and faster over her hand.
Jakob says: I...meant to tell you on my return. When I figured out how.
Balthasar leans back against the wooden beam she's chained to as she watches the two.
Yva doesn't turn around.
Yva says: Dare I ask what you're planning to do with her?
Jakob says: Cure her.
Yva says: You don't cure people of Arthas, Jak.
Balthasar says: Maybe he'll listen to you? He doesn't seem to believe me. He's only putting off the inevitable with this.
Balthasar rattles her chains again.
Jakob looks back, some steel entering his...shall we say, discomfited expression.
Jakob says: She's my sister.
Balthasar says: But Jak's always been an idealist.
Yva walks backwards and ends up against a wall. She sags a bit.
Balthasar nods at Jakob, looking unsurprised - the smile fades from her lips, leaving her with an inhumanly blank expression made worse by her steadily glowing eyes.
Yva says: Love is not quite so simple as just exterminating your big sister once you've found her. I can see the problem.
Jakob says: Extermin - Yva, I have to help her.
Yva says: I just said as much, didn't I?
Yva still won't look behind her, or to her side. She seems transfixed on the woman chained to the wall.
Jakob says: Aye. I'm sorry, I'm...well, I'm mostly just sorry.
Balthasar lets her eyes focus on Yva, empty of expression.
Yva says: How long has she been here?
Balthasar says: Perhaps the lady thinks extermination would be the help.
Jakob , at a loss, steps over to the wall to relight one of the torches, which has gone out.
Jakob says: Two weeks, three. Between that much.
Yva turns her attention back to Mara.
Yva says: I think exterminating you is sending you back to Arthas. I'm not such an idiot. And I think you matter too much to Jak for me to take that decision into my own hands. I'm not so heartless.
Yva crushes the soulstone and watches the felhound lick up the dust.
Balthasar gives a little 'tutut' sound, which is painful to listen to with her hoarse voice.
Jakob looks over his shoulder at Yva, smiling faintly.
Balthasar says: And how will your heart feel when I kill him, m'lady?
Balthasar considers for a moment, eyes returning to Jakob.
Balthasar says: Or maybe our lord would like her in your place, little brother?
Jakob turns at that, facing his sister squarely.
Jakob says: See that, Mara? Independent thought. Hardly fitting of a good servant.
Yva finally looks at Jak.
Balthasar says: A good servant, no, but a -knight- should always keep an open mind to what can serve her King the best.
Jakob says: I'll remember that when you are one again.
Jakob turns back to Yva, an incongruous smile on his face. It's quite obvious that he's putting on a brave show.
Balthasar says: I am one, little brother, and I ache with concern that you aren't.
Jakob says: My sister. Much less fun to argue with than when we were children. She has an uninvited guest, you see.
Yva doesn't smile back at him. She's too intently staring at the woman against the wall.
Yva says: I'm not a gift to be given to anyone's king. I'm also not about to let someone I care about be returned to a place they loathe.
Balthasar says: You can lie to yourself all you'd like, little brother, but He was never uninvited.
Jakob 's smile sags only slightly.
Yva says: So how does one cure someone of Arthas?
Jakob says: That's the part I'm still working on. But it worked on me. Admittedly, a rather...singular event.
Yva says: Who "cured" you.
Jakob says: Tirion Fordring. He broke the binding, it appears. Sadly, I don't have the Ashbringer on hand.
Balthasar says: He did, and it hardly mattered.
Jakob says this rather too casually, still studying his placid sister as well.
Jakob says: Hers is...
Yva says: What hardly mattered. The Ashbringer?
Jakob says: She's no puppet. I've already stricken that through. But some death knights...
Balthasar says: The Ashbringer, the battle, Mograine's betrayal, none of it mattered to me, my lady, because my little brother is denying himself the truth.
Balthasar raises her chin, nearly proudly showing off the ligature mark dark against her white skin.
Yva says: Oh she's independently thinking all right. Someone hanged you.
Balthasar says: I hung myself, a sacrifice to my King. I picked up the runeblade. I asked for this, I made myself this and I walk proudly with His touch.
Yva says: Bloody hell.
Balthasar says: Jak seeks to cure -loyalty-. And -dedication-.
Jakob 's face hardens.
Jakob says: You /asked/ for this like a woman asks to be raped with the knife at her throat, Mara. And it matters not. The Bloody Prince gives no choices.
Yva says: All loyalties aside, Arthas's influences run deep. You can't really be sure you wanted to hang. He may have wanted you to.
Yva shrugs.
Balthasar stares at Jakob, the glow in her eyes flaring in a burst of something near anger.
Balthasar says: Jak wants to cure me of all the ideals he once wanted so badly...tell me, my lady, has he been the proud and noble night he always wanted to be? Brave and stalwart? An honor to our family's name?
Jakob folds his arms and says nothing, looking steadily at Mara.
Yva thinks on this a moment.
Yva says: I'm never one to look to someone's past because my own is a vase riddled with cracks. To me, he's been nothing but those things. I cannot speak of anything else. There is a strange nobility in what he's trying to do here.
Balthasar watches Yva, then turns to meet Jakob's eyes.
Balthasar says: I wonder if the rest of the 16th legion and Priestess Rivers would think the same thing, Jak. Do you think so?
Jakob manages to keep looking back at Mara, his face largely expressionless, but it's obvious that an arrow has found its target.
Jakob says: I wouldn't. All the more reason to do better.
Balthasar smiles slightly, stained teeth shadows in the dark.
Balthasar says: Thank you for the honest answer - I doubt any of them would be able to reply quite so eloquently.
Jakob says: And you? Do you think yourself courageous?
Yva slides down the wall and pulls the felhound into her lap, just peering at Mara above its back.
Balthasar says: I know there's nothing to fear with my King's blessing. I'm unsure if that's courage.
Yva says: He'd have you think nothing else. A weak king is not worthy of following. Unfortunately, the king in this case is a liar and a madman.
Balthasar says: Give me a king that's not lied and I'll give you a very weak ruler, my lady.
Yva says: It never makes it right.
Yva shakes her head and stands up.
Balthasar says: Then I suppose you've some words for Jak and his little lack of information.
Jakob says: And give me a servant that sits back and lets herself be lied to, and I'll give you a coward. And you, sweet sister, never were that.
Jakob smiles, a little wistfully.
Balthasar says: Let me loose, little brother, and we'll see who sits back and who takes action.
Jakob smiles thinly.
Jakob says: We already saw that. It's how you came to these chains.
Yva says: So what, you came to blows and brought her here? In hopes of re-educating her on the error of her allegiances?
Jakob says: She came to kill me.
Yva says: . . . why.
Yva peers at Balthasar searchingly.
Jakob looks back at Yva, eyebrows lifted.
Jakob says: She's my sister.
Balthasar says: Because he's my brother, and our King knows who best to send to deal with those who've stepped of the path. I gave him a chance.
Balthasar looks from Yva to stare at Jakob, a hint of sadness in her eyes.
Balthasar says: A choice.
Jakob says: She did. Very kind of her. Your master, Mara, was less generous.
Balthasar says: Our Master. You shouldn't lie to me with -those- eyes, dear brother.
Yva says: I don't see a lot choosing on his part. He was taken, twisted, and then freed. Anyone will struggle for survival, even if it means chaining something you love in the basement.
Yva frowns.
Jakob says: She won't.
Jakob looks back to Yva, his voice rather less argumentative than it has been.
Jakob says: She just sits here. Day after day, telling herself the same lies. It wearies, and pains.
Yva says: I can see that.
Balthasar closes her eyes calmly.
Balthasar says: Patience is a virtue.
Yva says: From a purely analytical standpoint, something needs to disrupt her calm. I cannot help you in that regard, but all magics require a catalyst. And unraveling them is the same, because what this horrible possession IS is a twisted magic. One I cannot touch or understand.
Jakob says: Aye. It goes bone-deep. I could ask in Ebon Hold, but...
Balthasar says: But they'll want to kill me, won't they?
Jakob says: They will.
Balthasar says: And they won't listen to just one knight, will they?
Jakob says: Highlord Mograine would call death a blessing, rather than service under the Bloody Prince.
Balthasar says: Ah, Jak, you think you've changed so much, walking away from Him.
Jakob says: Not so very much. Just in a few important places.
Jakob smiles sadly.
Jakob says: I aimed to model my life after the people I admire most. You may recall one of them.
Jakob walks over to the wall, looking down at his sister.
Balthasar says: You've traded a pulse for your loyalty. May it keep you warm in the cold...
Balthasar opens her eyes and looks past Jakob.
Balthasar says: And in cold arms.
Balthasar stares at Yva.
Yva flinches.
Jakob 's face twitches, and he pauses, stooping over Mara.
Jakob says: Her name is Mara Balthasar. She's somewhere in there. I hope to find her soon.
Balthasar continues staring at Yva as her mouth moves, soundlessly, just a word or two. She says nothing as a ghoul rises from the dirt of the basement and attacks Jakob, only to be hewn to pieces.
Yva says: Your brother has many choices ahead of him to make. If nothing else, I'll be his friend. And I'll try to help him make his choices wisely.
Jakob puts his sword away, sighing.
Jakob says: She'll do that every so often, you see.
Jakob looks over his shoulder.
Balthasar says: Then I'm afraid you'll need to be removed as well. And a shame, you're a very well spoken lady.
Balthasar moves her mouth, the ground near Yva's feet starting to crack.
Yva says: There have been many *many* who have tried to remove me from the equation, my dear.
Jakob whirls back around, one iron fist slamming open-palmed into Mara's shoulder and shoving her back against the wall.
Jakob says: Once is /enough/!
Balthasar is pinned to the wooden beam hard, her shoulder soft under Jakob's plate fist - she reacts with a mindless growl and gibber, her entire body changing to a furious frenzy, writhing in her chains.
Jakob says: Oh fucking -
Yva says: . . . what is happening.
Balthasar 's hair goes brittle, in spiked spires, her eyes sinking deep into a face that suddenly appears ghoulish, gray skin and jutted jaw, her teeth cracking out of her mouth in broken, stained fangs.
Jakob is driven backwards under the sudden surge of force from his sister's body, as much a result of the sudden mutation of her flesh as the vast physical force exerted by her horrific frame.
Balthasar continues to gibber, now nothing remotely human, the very tendons and muscles writhing under her dead skin.
Jakob says: One....nnngh...bloody /time/...
Jakob surges to his feet, gauntleted fist locked around "Mara"'s writhing throat, holding her up against the wall with surprisingly little effort.
Jakob says: GO BACK.
Balthasar tries to lunge at Jakob, the chains /barely/ keeping her in check, though his arm does a better job of it.
Balthasar says: Hngggrrr!
Yva mutters an incantation beneath her breath, shadows swirling around her hands.
Jakob 's voice is a harsh, crackling whisper. As he turns slightly, the reason becomes clear - his face is a paper-thin mask over bone, drawn tight and blackened, with hollow blue-lit pits for eyes and no nose to speak of.
Yva stares.
Jakob says: You lost me, worm, and you'll lose her too!
Balthasar hisses, dark blood flecked spittle dripping from her broken, jutting jaw, snapping for Jakob's inhuman deathmask of a face.
Yva says: Jakob . . .
Jakob 's grip tightens. Beads of ice crystallize on his gauntlets, and even from where Yva is standing, the chill is palpable.
Jakob says: Gifts cannot all be returned, Lady Darrows.
Yva says: She didn't do this to you. Because by all that's unholy I will END her if she did.
Jakob can't really modulate his voice to anything other than a whisper's nightmare right now, as he holds the monster in his sister's dress against the wall.
Jakob says: No.
Balthasar squirms, under Jakob's plated palm the tendons in her neck flex and seem to be trying to burst out of her.
Jakob says: This is the Lich King's blessing. This one, I didn't let him keep. As is what...my sister has become. It happened the first time I saw her. She returns eventually.
Yva immediately drops her shadows.
Jakob continues to hold Mara at arm's length, staring at her, teeth gritted - though it's hard to tell, with no lips and the skin drawn back from his mouth.
Jakob says: As...do I.
Yva hums quietly and paces.
Balthasar gives another lunge, powerful enough to rattle her brother's arm, though between his grip and the chains, she can't seem to break free, giving a gibbering babble of fury.
Yva says: It's you beneath there. It's you in there.
Yva says this again beneath her breath, almost trying to convince herself.
Jakob says: Very much so. I'm...afraid I'm going to have to be rude and not look at you while I talk, my dear.
Yva says: I don't care. I just want this figured out.
Jakob says: This?
Yva says: Her. What to bloody do with her. Because this situation can't continue for both of you like this. Something has to change.
Balthasar slumps forward, the horrid changes melting away to leave her exhausted and human - an even hoarser whisper out of her cracked lips, to Jakob's ear.
Jakob pauses, his grip on Mara's throat loosening substantially, but waits for some few seconds before stepping back, head lowered. When he turns, he is Jakob again, looking as if he hasn't slept for days.
Jakob says: Thank you.
Yva says: For what?
Yva rubs her arms like she's cold.
Jakob says: Wanting to help her.
Yva says: I want to help you. She's how to do it.
Balthasar slumps to back to the ground, chains rattling, the glow of her eyes banked.
Jakob smiles.
Yva's eyes flick between the two of them.
Jakob says: All the same.
Yva says: There are things to discuss, but not here. And perhaps not now. You need rest.
Jakob says: I...
Yva frowns.
Jakob sags slightly.
Jakob says: You're likely right.
Yva says: As for you.
Yva points at Balthasar.
Yva says: You better be worth all this.
Yva shakes her head.
Balthasar looks at Yva from slitted eyes.
Yva whistles for her felhound.
Balthasar says: He and I are alike, lady. We both lie. Remember.
Balthasar closes her eyes, exhausted.
Yva eyes Jakob up and down.
Jakob says: You're much better at it.
Jakob leans over and kisses Mara lightly on the cheek.
Yva heads up the steps.
Jakob says: Until tomorrow, sweet sister.
Jakob follows.
Jakob says: Yva, I meant to tell you when I came back. I...needed to think of how to phrase it. How did you find her?
Yva laughs, but there's not much humor to it.
Yva says: The dog found her.
Jakob says: Damnation. I'm going to have to do something about that.
Yva says: Damnation what? That the dog found her?
Yva suddenly looks angry.
Jakob says: I...don't want anyone finding her.
Yva breathes hard through her nose.
Jakob says: You're the first, the only person I'd have told.
Yva holds up her hand.
Yva says: Not now. Rest. You need rest, and this discussion will happen, but not now. You look like hell.
Jakob says: I...as you will.
Yva says: I would likely be needlessly harsh right now. Because I don't know what else to be.
Yva shivers.
Jakob says: Of course. I'm sorry.
Yva says: Stop apologizing. Let's just discuss this tomorrow. Please.
Yva hangs her head.
Jakob sits down on the cot, removing his armor, looking up to meet Yva's eyes once.
Jakob says: She's all I had.
Yva says: I know, I know.
Yva looks around for another place before sitting on the cot beside him. As he tries to get up, to give her the cot for the night, she shakes her head 'no' and wordlessly insists he stay. Though the cot is small, they somehow manage to both fit without actually touching one another.