Silver Eyes

A/N - god I suck at getting chapter out on time. Severe ADHD. (Okay, not really, I just like to procrastinate). So here's the talk - and the longest chapter to date. Which isn't saying much,I know. I have two ideas for Asahi finding out D'rian's secret. One will happen next chapter, the other not for a few. If my stalkers review then I'll choose the one for the next chapter. A few votes on the poll would be nice as wll ;) See, I won't beg, but I'm not above bribing! Enjoy :)
smint45 - thank you again for the review, and enjoy your holiday!

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The two stared at each other. Well, Asahi stared, D’rian was actually staring at the ground, but the Knight couldn’t possibly know that, as his face was once again hidden. The redhead had already finished breakfast, and now the silence stretched on uncomfortably. After what seemed like hours, but in reality had probably only been two minutes, Asahi sighed and spoke.

“What are we going to do with the girl? We can’t possibly bring a child with us, but we can’t leave her here, she’s far too young to take care of herself. And unless sleep deprivation was causing me to hallucinate, she has fox ears. I couldn’t kill a little kid just for not being human, and I’d like to think the other Knights wouldn’t either, but apparently some of the regular soldiers are perfectly fine with it.” The disgust D’rian had been fearing only showed up with the last few words. He felt his heart lift back up to somewhere near where it was supposed to be, but was still cautious.

“And a tail or two. What of Tyr?” D’rian didn’t mention the old Fae had already passed away, he wanted to see what Asahi thought of an adult non-human. The scowl on the Knight’s face didn’t bode well.

“You know as well as I do he’s not going to live, if he hasn’t already died. We’ll bury him and the rest of the villagers before we leave.”

Well, that hadn’t worked out the way he wanted. “You don’t have a problem helping people you’re supposed to kill?”

“I’m respecting the dead. Whether or not they’re dangerous doesn’t exactly matter at this point. And I think I could handle a child, no matter what abilities she has.”

The tension in the room was getting worse. D’rian wasn’t about to announce his heritage, and Asahi wasn’t going to say whether he knew or not. Luckily the hood hid the tick he was developing from the stress. He nodded, slowly. “Then I guess we better get started. It’s going to be a lot of work, and best to get most of it done before the girl wakes up. We can decide what to do with her once we’re done and she’s awake. It’s possible she may be able to hide her fox traits.” Or he could do it for her, but no use mentioning that.

The Knight gave him another indecipherable look that made him incredibly nervous. Finally he turned and walked out of the kitchen, D’rian following him. With a - sort of - compromise in place, the two started the grisly task of burying the dead. Thankfully the stasis shield had been in place, so the smell wasn't overwhelming, but it was far from pleasant, especially with all of the small bodies that they found. Asahi quickly assigned him to digging graves, which had D’rian back aching within half an hour, even with the subtle use of power to help lift the dirt. His energy levels were still depleted, and either way he was going to be exhausted by the time he was done. It was also mind-numbing work, which gave him far too much time to think.

It was obvious that Asahi was disgusted at the wholesale slaughter that had taken place here. He also seemed to be against bringing Naia with them because of the danger to her. The problem was that he had a very valid point. D’rian could easily hide her features, and key the spell to her own energy so that no matter what, even if both were unconscious, the illusion wouldn’t fade. No, the real problem came from the fact that they were supposed to be tracking down dangerous criminals and not babysitting. As dangerous as it was, and as much as the Fae didn’t like it, they would have to find someone to take her in, and quickly. The next town would be the best bet. So long as she got a better chance than he had - even at eight D’rian had some knowledge of how to use his abilities, and basic survival skills. Even with the instincts from her fox form Naia was too young to survive on her own.

He wondered how many other towns had met the same fate this one had. The map they had was clearly outdated - would they walk into another town and find only empty shells of houses left? After twenty years there would be few signs of habitation but knowing what they did now, it would be obvious what had occurred. It also made him think, for the first time in a long while, about his own parents, or family. He could remember the man who had told him to run, and even though his memories were foggy he had known that was his father. He couldn’t remember a name, or his mother, or if he had any siblings. After talking with his Gramps and Gram they had figured he had gotten amnesia either from the traumatic events or from a head injury. They couldn’t find a scar that would indicate an injury, but they weren’t about to rule it out. Not that it mattered much - the fact stood that he had forgotten the first eight years of his life. Normally not very important times, but since with them went the memories of any family or friends he might have had, it hurt a lot more. It also felt disrespectful - D’rian was almost definitely the last one alive, and he couldn’t even remember names to mourn.

His thoughts had taken a decidedly depressed cast, and he cursed himself internally for getting trapped working for the king who had caused all of this. But unfortunately there wasn’t anything he could do until the king decided he wasn’t needed anymore. And even that was dangerous because ‘not needed’ could easily become ‘dead’. If this mission didn’t expose him or get him killed, it only took one look at his inhuman eyes to get him sent to his death. Or the king might replace him and decide he was too dangerous to let leave. If the king’s paranoia got worse, he might even decide all wizards were too dangerous and do a full scale slaughter like he had done with the non-humans.

D’rian took his frustration out on the ground pushing the shovel in almost savagely. The job was going quicker than he had expected, and punctuated by the Knights far too frequent visits with the bodies of the villagers. He kept a magical ‘eye’ on the girl, he wanted to make sure she stayed asleep not only to heal, but because waking alone and stumbling out to see everyone you’d ever known dead would be traumatizing for a child her age. She grew restless a few times, but each time fell back into a deep sleep without much help on the wizard’s part.

After sending Rian off to dig, Asahi started the grisly task of collecting the bodies scattered throughout the houses. It was better than other burial duties he had for the fact that most had died in their sleep, and the wounds were small and fatal. The problem stemmed from the fact that the bodies he collected were civilians, innocents who hadn't done anything wrong.

He had grown up under the king's decree against non-humans so he had no practical knowledge of them. The rumours had escalated and most of the people in his generation and younger thought of them as inherently evil. It was an eye opening experience for him to be doing this. These people didn't deserve this, and it was clear that the non-humans weren't given any chance to leave the country before the slaughters began.

He was also curious about Rian's odd behaviour since they got to the village. He had known that the wizard had some knowledge of non-humans, but it seemed like the other man was more involved than that. He had been older when the decree had gone into place; it was possible he had friends or neighbors who had been non-human, or seen the slaughter up front. It made the Knight suspicous of his motives for working for the King; although given the length of time he had been at the palace if the wizard had assasination in mind he was taking an awfully long time to go about it. Perhaps he had gone hoping to influence the King's opinion and found out too late that he wasn't going to get anywhere that route? As a Knight he would have to be more watchful; it was his duty to guard the King, regardless of how little he cared for the task.

The way things had been going it wasn't likely that Rian was going to slip up if he was hiding something - it was only yesterday that Asahi had even gotten a glimpse of the man's face and that was after he had passed out. If the Knight had less morals he'd try to get the man drunk. But that wasn't worth risking the friendship he was starting with the wizard over his curiosity and idle thoughts. His instinct said that Rian's secrets weren't dangerous to anyone but himself, and he may be young but he was still one of the best Knights. Besides, if he waited patiently enough, perhaps Rian might even tell him on his own. It was a nice thought, if unlikely.

His musings kept him from concentrating too much on what he was actually doing, and soon enough the houses were emptied. There was no point to cleaning anything, if someone was crazy or antisocial enough to try to live here, they could clean up the house they chose themselves. The last body was laid in the graves that Rian had dug, and the only thing left was to fill them both in. Asahi searched around for another shovel, and started working next to the wizard. For a while nothing was said between them, and the companionable silence that they had achieved during their journey came back, much to Asahi's relief.

Finally Rian finished the last in his row and leaned on his shovel, clearly exhausted. "We should get cleaned up quickly. The girl was ready to wake up a while ago and I've been keeping her asleep. She's going to be upset enough without waking up in an empty house."

"Sounds good. You recovered enough to heat us up some water? I'll go get it from the well." The wizard gave a short nod, and walked rather stiffly towards the house they were staying in. Asahi headed towards the centre of the town. Another interesting part of the stasis spell that Rian said had been on the town - the water in the well was still there and fresh, even if it had been sitting stagnant for twenty years. A few trips and he had filled a large enough tub for them both to rinse off, if not wash completely. They could do that later when they had more time. The little girl would need to bathe as well. He grimaced, luckily Rian seemed to do well with kids - he thought they were cute and all, and was looking forward to being a father (in the far future) but he didn’t do well with them. He thought he had a good decade to get used to dealing with them.

They washed off quickly, just enough to get the dirt and blood off, and went back to the girl’s room. She was showing signs of waking, and Rian was obviously not stopping it this time. Slowly, slit pupiled amber coloured eyes opened, blinking sleepily. The ears on the top of the head twitched, and then lay back flat. Asahi would have thought it adorable if she wasn’t so clearly scared. Luckily Rian knew what to do. He had knelt down by the foot of the bed, keeping far enough away to try to keep from appearing too threatening.

“Naia?” Rian spoke softly, barely discernable from where Asahi stood by the door. “Your grandfather asked us to take care of you sweetheart. There’s…they can’t take care of you anymore, but they love you and wanted us to take you somewhere to be safe. Do you understand hun?”

Both men held their breath. She was too young to really understand the concept of death, but it would be devastating to be told you were leaving your home and your family. It was also uncertain how much she could remember of the attack. Sure enough, tears started to well up in her eyes, and it was obvious Rian was restraining his initial instinct to hug the girl. It didn’t appear to matter however, as she threw herself forward, clutching at his robe, sobbing. The wizard didn’t stop himself this time, wrapping his arms around her, rocking gently and rubbing her back. Asahi shifted nervously, trying to not draw attention to himself. He may not be wearing the armour of a Knight, but his appearance was most likely scarier than Rian’s, even if just because of his height, and it would be good if she trusted at least one of them.

It didn’t take too long for her tears to dry up, dwindling into hiccupping sniffles. She was simply still too tired to cry longer. Once they had completely subsided, Rian released her gently. “Would you like some breakfast now Naia? There’s still some eggs and bacon left I can make for you.” Face still buried in the wizard’s robe, there was a small nod, but no movement. After a minute, it seemed he had come to a decision, and stood, picking the little kitsune girl up with him. Once Rian had turned around, Asahi could see two small fox tails hanging rather apathetically. It seemed her tails were a sign of her emotions like animals were then, and he hoped they’d be able to cheer her up quickly. One good thing about kids - at this age they seemed able to bounce back from practically anything. If she couldn’t remember the attack itself, and if he and Rian were able to keep her from seeing any signs of it, then her recovery would be quick.

Asahi followed the two into the kitchen and set about making a small breakfast for Naia, as well as some more for himself and Rian; assuming the wizard was as hungry as he was from all of the physical labour of the morning. The girl was still clinging tenaciously to the other man, and the Knight felt his doubts go up. She had already lost her entire town, and if she got attached to Rian only to have him give her to another family to raise it would be horrible for her. It seemed his parental skills weren’t completely lacking as he already felt guilty about the future abandonment.

He set the plates in front of the two and sat down himself. There was silence as the three ate - two ravenously and the third only picking at her food. Asahi and Rian were done and the wizard was still trying to get Naia to finish her meal. “Rian” Asahi started quietly, “I’m going to go get supplies ready since you seem to be a bit stuck.” There was a nod from the wizard, and the little girl didn’t even so much as twitch when he spoke. ~Glad to see I’m so wanted around here.~ Shaking his head ruefully, he went to the stables to get the saddle bags to fill. No matter what they were leaving as soon as the sun rose the next day. He hadn’t wanted to get stuck here for one night, no less two.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Asahi filled the saddle bags, checked over the horses, looked at the rest of the domestic animals and herded them together to make it easier to release them the next day, filled the tub twice(once for himself, and again for Rian and Naia who had to take another half - bathe as the girl still refused to let go of him) *, and cooked dinner. Each time he passed the wizard he mumbled sorry, but Asahi truthfully didn’t mind. He liked being kept busy rather than allowing his mind to linger on his thoughts like they did this morning, and it’s not like he was going to demand that Naia let go of him to help. The girl took comfort in his presence and that was enough for him.

They took up similar sleeping locations, with the exception of Rian getting pulled halfway in and out of Naia’s too small bed, and after a very unsatisfactory sleep both men were up and getting ready to take off. Luckily Naia had let go during the night so Rian was free to help Asahi make breakfast and saddle up the horses. She was still clinging to his leg after she woke up, but it was an improvement at least. They led the three horses to the northern edge of the town, and Asahi jogged back to let the livestock out. The grain and other feed he had left out the night before, so now the poor beasts at least had a fighting chance at survival. It was a shame, but there was no way he and Rian would be able to herd that many diverse animals to the next town, and there would also be a lot more questions. Racing back to the horses (his mount wouldn’t startle at the livestock, and Rian’s gelding probably wouldn’t either, but he wasn’t sure on the mare) he reached where Rian stood with the horses. Their hooves were wrapped although Rian had coaxed the girl to mount as her feet wouldn’t fare well on the dangerous ground either. Soon enough, the two men had mounted and they were trotting briskly through the burned woods, praying fervently they would get to the next town by dinner and be around living people again.

tbc...

*Additional A/N - just to be clear, I basically mean that he's sponging himself and Naia off while dressed. Not the most hygienic, but I wouldn't be comfortable getting naked in front of a four year old, or having said four year old naked in front of me (different with your own kids, I know) I'd end up feeling dirtier afterward. If that is clear, and you think this A/N is redundant, let me know ;)