What Doesn't Belong (Lyra)

[Fawn]

4th of Ash, 121

Spending the previous night with Mino should have left Fawn smiling, beaming, glowing even. But like a spell the second she had left his arms her whole world darkened. The blanket of night wrapped around her heart before the moons had even risen and a numbing chill set into her bones as if the warmth of the sun did not exist.

It was high noon. The wind played with her copper tresses and teased her to join in it’s dance. But it’s invitation was unfounded. Fawn blew back at a strand of hair as she passed by the sunset lit Skyforge on her way to Lyra’s shop.

‘Lyra’...

Like a whisper on the wind, the woman’s presence had been inescapable and yet missed. Not like she’d missed Mino but like she missed the structure of her family. Could they be called that… ‘family’... now that they were dead?

But Lyra was like family. Why? Not that she’d get an answer by asking the corners of her mind. But the truth of her connection with the strange woman pulled her up the steps to the shop. Had the door always seemed so large? Had the inside always seemed so… dark? With the door slowly opening unlike all the other times she’d slammed it open Fawn trudged inside.

She wondered if Lyra would be angry with her for taking an entire season to return, or for not writing at all. Not that she cared at that moment. She was angry already with the woman for whatever nonsense she’d spout. So what if she took that long? So what if she didn’t write? Lyra wasn’t the caring type anyways, she’d said that herself. So it didn’t matter.

At this point Fawn only hoped her room was still hers.

”Ahm back.” She called out, straightening her crimson red dress and dropping her bag on the floor by Lyra’s desk. It was silent for too long. Was she even home?
”Oi, if yer not here ahm gonna steal yer grimoires.” Not that she cared if Lyra answered but coming back to a silent house was chilling. It was too similar to... No. The lass shook her head to brush away the flashbacks. Not now. Not now.

[Lyra]

"You have returned." Lyra's voice came from up the stairs and was followed by the sound footfalls. Lyra herself materialized from the shadows that she idly pushed away from her as she reached the final step, where she paused to study Fawn. She scanned the red dress, her eyes lingering on the bag before they drifted up to look into Fawn's. Her expression didn't change, but she could hear through the melodies the anguish inside. The rhythms of anger, the wavering notes of sadness and regret which were muffled by darker melodies.

The silence was broken by the sound of rustling cloth as Artur poked his head out from within Lyra's collar, flicking his forked tongue at Fawn before disappearing once more. Lyra's gaze broke as she stepped off the staircase and into the shop proper.

"Perhaps it is for the best. The shop is closed for the day, and I have given the employees the day off." Her words were conversational and she said them as she walked past Fawn toward the door, taking a cloak from a hook and wrapping it around her shoulders. The cloak was black with gold trimming, a match to her usual robes.

"I am off to check on the manor." Lyra said, opening the door and looking back to where Fawn stood, "You may join me if you wish."

Lyra long ago learned that there were some things people did not wish to talk about, and despite how long she had stayed away Lyra knew Fawn would return to her eventually. Still, she did reach out and smooth the edges of the anger that seemed fit to spike at any moment. It was more habit than kindness, or so she would think if she stopped to consider.

[Fawn]

Footsteps interrupted her thoughts, and the vision of Lyra quieted some deep need she’d somehow not realized had gone unfulfilled. Her heart didn’t feel lighter per se, but less erratic, as the woman eyed her over.
”Aye… I’m sorry I dinna write…” Not that she cared to get into why. She peered at Lyra then, eyes lingering much less than they always had seemed before looking away and tracing the patterns of wood on the floor.

”So… you can stand other people's company now, aye? Or did’ya replace me?” She asked, half mockingly. There was something comforting in that. Like the burn of a candle flame upon her fingers or the all too quick slip of a blade through the first layer of skin. Although this time it had been intentional.


Her dull green eyes followed Lyra across the room when she picked up the stunningly crafted clock. And with a raised brow Fawn stepped forward too. ”Ye got a manor? How’d ye manage that?” Both feet taking her, as if by instinct, to stand just behind the woman.

”Lead the way.. “

She did want to talk about it. But Lyra was cold. If Fawn said anything, she thought she’d make up some excuse as to why she was bored by the conversation, or if she started talking maybe she wouldn’t even listen. And if she did say anything else… probably nothing useful. Whatever inkling of kindness Fawn had seen in her in the past was only that- an inkling.

And thus Fawn kept quiet as the pair walked into the busy street she’d just escaped. Though she couldn't tell if it was the company or something else that calmed the anxious heart beating inside her chest.

"...I'm going to learn magic. Rickter's teaching me.. so I may be gone for a few days coming up."

[Lyra]

"It is not the company of others that I dislike, but rather incompetence." Lyra said as she passed Fawn, smiling slightly, "Present company excluded of course."

Lyra held the door as Fawn passed through before closing and locking it with a key around her neck. With a glance over her shoulder Lyra smiled, "Much has changed since you have been away."

She let that answer hang in the air, offering no other explanation as she walked past Fawn and waved a hand for the girl to follow. The path lead them west through the Jeweled plaza, toward the banks of lake Udori. The journey was a quiet one, Lyra content to listen to the melodies of those they passed, though she paid special attention to the girl who walked just behind her. She could hear the twisting emotions and skimmed the surface thoughts like another scribe might skim a document of interest. It seemed things had changed for her as well, and where once there had been a warmth Lyra felt a chill. She was curious, especially when she sensed a familiar bite she had not expected to feel from the girl.

When Rickter was mention Lyra looked back over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow but she did not speak right away. They had been walking for several minutes, and they turned north now toward where new construction was underway. Great pillars were being erected, and the start of a grand entrance was slowly taking shape.

"You may do as you wish." her pace slowed as they drew closer, stopping several feet back from the entrance where Lyra turned to look at Fawn fully, "Magic is a powerful tool, useful for many things. Be'lym can teach you much, though I suspect what he can show you will not be suited for your purpose."

There was a pause as Lyra set her hands on her hips, tilting her head and smiling a knowing smile

[Fawn]

Four months ago Fawn might have become giddy at the idea that Lyra admitted to enjoying her company. But there wasn’t even a flash of recognition on the girl's face as she passed through the door.
”I suppose it has.” She noted, shoulders held rigid and eyes locked forwards.

Something about being around Lyra made her desire… more. Just more. Whatever was on her mind, whatever goals she had, the woman pulled some deep, dark passion from her that might scare most to see such change in her. But to Fawn it felt freeing and powerful. Perhaps it was because Lyra herself was more. Whatever she said she’d do, she did, and she did with perfection.

Fawn wanted to be like her.

The walk was comfortingly quiet. Like sailing gently through a cold, mirror-like lake with a single oar and a lighthouse in the distance. She knew where to go. And she had her path to get there. Now she only needed information and magic.

As they came upon the construction Fawn’s stiff expression softened slightly and surprise took over. ”Wow Lyra, I dinna ken ye had this kinda coin. Care to share?” She said, a small smirk pulling at her lips. The first in months. Though, not out of happiness. The girls gaze reluctantly pulled away from the columns as Lyra moved her attention to Fawn.

Her brow knotted together. ”And what makes ye think that? What makes ye think ye ken anythin’?” She bit out behind a sharp tongue that hid angry insults behind her lips. She knew better, but she felt more than she knew. And there was only so much holding back she could do anymore.

”Whatever. Unless yer offerin’ to help, I’ll stick to trainin with Naila and Rickter.” Fawn moved past Lyra then and began meandering around the various half-finished structures. It was laughably haughty. It angered her. She had sold nearly all of her belongings, her horse, begged distant family in her town for help, but at the end of the day she couldn’t even afford to keep her adoptive mothers ranch from being taken away.
And yet here was Lyra, spending gods knows how much gold on a building whose windows would be worth more than her entire home. She bit her lip. Could she steal from her? Maybe even buy the land back, hell buy her whole town?

It felt like someone had left a boulder upon her chest.

A deep breath. As much as she could, at least. She closed her eyes and leaned against one of the pillars, letting one of her hands rest upon the cold, smooth surface. She imagined the smooth rocks at the bank of the river near her home. The way the water would rush over her feet and wash the dirt of the path away. Slowly the boulder lifted until all that was left was an empty, hollowness. Like she’d been scraped dry.

Fawn turned back to Lyra with shallow, shadowed eyes.

”How do I become like ye?”

[Lyra]

It was quick, but Lyra saw a Fawn smiled however briefly. Some part of the child was there, but something had tempered the innocence into anger, and bitterness. She remained silent, smiling after Fawn as she walked away having said her words in anger, but Lyra followed anyway. She watched the girl as she moved from pillar to pillar as if their cold, unmoving surface might afford her some support. Unfortunately, Lyra knew all too well the support she desired could not be found in stone.

Fawn sounded of whistling wind and flutes off-key, swaying from one thought to another without regard for proper pitch or prose. She listened quietly, following slowly after the girl but never matching her pace completely. Her hands folded in front of her Lyra watched with interest as Fawn struggled, weighing what she saw and what she felt with what she had once held valuable. That was something Lyrielle had always enjoyed, that moment when a person began to question everything they had ever known to be true and right. It was intoxicating, alluring in a way pleasures of the flesh could never be. The flickering of a weakened soul in the winds of life was a sight that she could never tire of.

Inward Naila shifted, her focus coming back to the present as she felt the shift in Lyra's thoughts. She said something, but Lyra ignored her.

Two men carrying a large wooden beam walked by as Lyra came to stand beside Fawn. She gave them a nod and a small wave before her gold eyes returned to Fawn. She looked at her differently, seeing past the image of a child to the woman inside, the hollow existence that she had become. No, not hollow, for even as she reached out with her senses she heard the drums that called for blood.

Instead of answering, Lyra asked a question of her own, "Who is it?"

She left the words in the air, one had extended even as her magics spun a web around the girl's mind. She played with the music, creating a concerto that rang of emotions to match and heighten Fawn's, and more there was a thread there that pulled her focus to Lyra. Lyra's smile faded slightly, "I sense the darkness within you. I hear a soul which cries out for vengeance, for blood."

Her smile returned slightly as Naila struggled to be heard beyond the barrier Lyra erected in their mind, "If you desire help, then I shall grant your desire. As I said, what the pup can teach you is not suited for your purpose."

[Fawn]

After what she’d been through not much could shock Fawn anymore. So when Lyra spoke up and asked who it was, the girl did not break eye contact. She’d been planning this conversation in some part of her mind for weeks, knowing that eventually she’d have to speak of it. Of whoever it had been that left her orphaned and alone.

”I donna ken...”

It was then she turned away. Facing the columns and a set of stairs that led up to the foundation of the mansion, Fawn cast a harsh glare at the ground. The music of anguish and resentment danced around her in a chaotic waltz. Her anger was leading sadness through each step to taunt and tempt the girl to let go of all she held dear.

But she didn’t break. Her breath slowed and she gritted her teeth, blowing through trembling lips to force her mind, weakened like a crack in ice, from shattering completely.

”I arrived home and they were murdered. I…” She bit her lip. ”I needta’ find out who it was.” Fawn turned her head towards Lyra again but her back was still facing the woman. ”And I will make them take responsibility.”

She’d said it outloud for the first time. It felt like poison, and she could feel the regret of her choice lingering on her tongue like poison. But the regret stood no chance against her anger. It was like a baby bird floating in the ocean, fighting to find its way to shore before it was swallowed whole by the unending sea. The tendrils of that poison anger wrapped around her heart and pulled her down. Deeper. Into the conviction of her choice she sunk like a stone. She didn’t care at that moment what people would think of her, and with feet planted firmly beneath her she gazed back up at the woman who had taken her in.

”Teach me, then.”