Ice part 8

Keluri's voice sounded ragged as he spoke. "Yes, the whole city was burnt to the ground. The beast Taskaru attacked the city and burned it all to the ground. My father was the only man in town that could stand up to him, and he almost died." She just looked at him. After a moment she got up and sat next to him, not really understanding what he was so upset about.
"The past is the past." She said at last. "And you are all alive, aren't you?" Keluri nodded.
"My father taught me so much, and I want to find the man who saved him that day." Any anguish left his face, to be replaced with determination. She didn't understand why something that had happened so long ago (and not even to him) should be so important, but it obviously was. She didn't understand Keluri's need to explain the past, when she could remember so little of her own.
"Perhaps a better goal than mine." She admitted softly, as close as she would come to speaking of her intent to return to the north. Keluri just nodded, emotionless, and stood. He seemed to be so wrapped up in his own history he no longer remembered her own. Silently he gathered things for bathing and went into the bathroom, still without a word.
Ice watched the door as mist clouded the dim glass further, and the sound of water falling filled the room. She couldn't think of anything to say, but his vulnerability had struck true, truer than the confidence he wore all other times almost like a mask. She went to sit on her own bed and curled in on herself, pondering this.
He stayed in the shower longer than before, and she had plenty of time to think about his reaction. It seemed an odd weakness to her, to be so focused backwards. But eventually she shrugged it off as a Pasu curiosity and turned her thoughts away. Keluri said nothing when he emerged from the bathroom, with the bandage on his arm to hide the silver markings. He lay back on his own bed and stared up at the ceiling, quiet.
She looked over at him in some concern. This was the quietest he had been in the entire time Ice'd known him. At last he sighed and spoke. "Have you ever almost lost someone you love, Ice?" Keluri asked. She thought, at first, that he was referring to his father, and how close his family had come to seeing such a death.
"No." She said, when she realized he needed an answer to continue. She didn't want to admit that as little as she recognized the feeling, his care for her came the closest. She didn't know what love felt like, or how to recognize it when it came. Ice admitted silently, to herself, that she didn't know much of anything besides how to summon blades and kill.
"Have you ever met someone that you didn't know what to say to them? Or how to act? Or think?" Keluri didn't look at her, his gaze was still focused on the ceiling. But Ice had to stop herself from jerking away. It was like he'd read her mind, plucked from it the very feelings she had around him. She opened her mouth to reply that of course she hadn't, but the lie dried her throat, and she had to swallow. Looking away from his still form at last, she found it easier to speak to the window.
"Yes." She admitted. She did not say that it was him. Keluri took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"I hope that person know it." He said despondently. "You are worth it." When he opened his eyes again, they shone with something like tears. She knew, because her head had whipped around at those first words and she stared for a long time at him, eyes wide.
Apparently he hadn't been reading her thoughts, because if he knew so much about how she felt around him, he seemed blind to the other facts. Suddenly frustrated with his ability to draw her out, and then leave her stranded, Ice stood over him, hands on her hips. "You blind idiot." She told him, and leaned over to kiss him. Keluri smiled, soft hands reaching up to pull her down beside him.
"I was blind, but now I see." He whispered, touching his lips to her forehead. She didn't know where the words were from, but they sounded familiar. She laughed slightly, reaching a hand up to curl around his cheek, and pull his face down towards hers. Keluri consented to another kiss, his warmth seeming to spread out and encompass her.
He pulled away just enough to stare into her eyes, his face still serious. "You have the most beautiful eyes, Ice." He said softly. "I could stare into them forever." Perhaps she blushed, it was hard to tell. She certainly never had before. Most people didn't like her eyes; they looked quickly away whenever she met theirs.
"Thank you." She whispered back, before kissing him. Keluri grinned back at her.
"We might have to do this more often." He said jokingly. Ice didn't quite snort, but it amounted to the same thing.
"Only if you promise to behave." She teased him back. Keluri laughed.
"Anything you wish," He said with a smile still on his face. "Anything at all." Underneath the joking, though, she knew he was serious. Ice rested a hand on his chest and put her head onto it, so that her chin wouldn't be digging into him.
"I'll let you know if I think of something." She said. The otter put his hands behind his head, never looking away from her, his smile never fading.
"Anything you want at this moment, madam?" He asked with exaggerated courtesy.
"Another kiss will do." She says, her own smile brighter than any expression she's worn in a long time. Keluri kissed her neck first, up along until his lips brushed her cheek.
"May I?" He asked softly. Ice didn't bother to answer, but leaned forward to kiss him. His warm arms wrapped around her, and this time she didn't stop for him to speak.

The next day she went with him to see if Jason was at the Ace's Guild, though she waited outside. The sun was shining brightly, though there were clouds looming on the horizon, and she stood in the shade of an overhanging window ledge, watching the crowds. Ice leaned her back against the cool stone, tapping one foot against the pavement. She really didn't think the fox would be there, but Keluri had insisted they come and see.
A moment later he reemerged from the building, shaking his head. He came over to stand beside her, muttering. "You would think that they would know where the leader of the Guild is." He said, making a face. Looking up, he caught the eye of a wolf Pasu moving through the crowds towards them.
"You looking for someone?" The deep voice of the wolf took her by surprise at first. Though maybe it shouldn't have, the grey-furred Pasu standing a head above even the taller-than-average Keluri. What might have been a sword handle stuck out from behind his shoulder, but that and his height was the extent of identifying features on this wolf. He wore a grey shirt and cloak that matched his fur, with black trousers and dark leather boots.
"I certainly wasn't." She said, looking him up and down before answering coldly.
"Well, your friend here was just looking at me. Or was it just the crowd in general?" The deep voice was rough, with the edge of a growl even in the friendly tone. Ice looked over to Keluri, wanting an answer. She didn't like the look of this wolf.
The otter remained silent for a long moment, sizing up the Pasu as if he was a threat. "I was looking for Jason." He said at last, and Ice relaxed a hair. The stranger's ears flicked with interest at the name, and she leaped on the possibility he knew where the elusive fox had gone.
"You know him?" She asked at once.
"Sorry, don't know him." The wolf said, a heart-beat behind her. "What does he look like?" She didn't put an ounce of stock behind this random Pasu finding the Guild leader. "If you want help searching?" He prodded after a moment. She shrugged and looked to Keluri for the answer. When the otter didn't speak at once, the stranger turned away. "Or not." He said over his shoulder.
"He hasn't been in for a few days." Keluri spoke at last, raising his voice a little to be heard over the crowd. "If you'd like to help, he's a fox, with a spade on his sleeve. The card type." Ice looked at him with a slight interest. She hadn't known that.
"I'll keep my eye out, but I do have a question for you." The wolf said, still only half turned towards them.
"Yes?" Keluri nodded to acknowledge the comment.
"Do you know a good place to stay, or at least get something to eat?"
She rolled her eyes; she had been expecting something a little more exciting. This, at least, she knew an answer to. "There's a nice in down that road," She pointed to the side street where they'd had lunch the other day. "We had lunch there yesterday. Good food."
Finally the wolf turned away, waving as he did so. "Thanks," He called over his shoulder.  "I just got into town and am a bit hungry, you two look like you haven't eaten today, would you like to join me. Or am I wrong?"
"I never eat much." She said with a shrug. She really didn't want to eat lunch with someone she didn't know the name of.
"What about you?" The Pasu asked, turning to Keluri.
"I could do for some food." The otter said with a shrug.
"Oh, by the way, I never got your names." The stranger said, which Ice thought was a bit late.
"We never got your's either." She said, not willing to take the first move.
"Keluri Airell, of Escorus. This is Ice." Keluri said, brushing aside her comment. She glared at him, but the only effect was the make the wolf smirk.
"Name's Conor," He said. "Well, now that we are introduced, let's go get something to eat." Keluri smiled and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her along to catch up with the wolf.
Just then Conor came to a complete stop. "How about one of you lead," He said easily. "Since I don't know where it is."
She shook her head and slid out from underneath Keluri's arm. "I'm really not hungry." She said, no longer angry. "I'll just wander."
"Take care of yourself." Keluri said, not moving to recapture her. "Shall we eat?" He suggested to Conor. The wolf nodded, and the two marched off in the direction of the cafe.
Ice really didn't have anything to do, she just didn't feel like eating something and getting to know yet another person. She explored the city, falling back into herself for a while. No one spoke to her, most of them actually avoided her, only the shopkeepers perhaps feeling obliged to stay near their businesses, did not move away when she drew near.
Their fear didn't bother her, she was oddly comforted by it. Keluri was the exception she had never dreamed of finding, and for a while she took her mind off of the streets she was walking and thought of him. She loved him, there was no getting around it now. What she didn't know was how much that love meant, how much it defined her.
As the sun set and she returned to the inn, Ice paused outside of an alley. A cloaked and hooded figure disappeared into the stinking refuse, the flash of dark cloth attracting her attention. The murmur of voices came to her, too faint to make out individual words. Ice was debated going closer, when someone was suddenly coming towards her. The figure brushed by without looking up, something indistinguishable clutched in one hand. It hesitated when it saw her, standing a pace behind, but then rushed onward.
Ice curled her lip, she seriously considered going going after him just to tell him, in no uncertain terms, what she thought of his shove. But eventually she decided against it, shrugging and continuing on towards their inn.
The sounds and color of the common room was an assault after the quiet darkness of the street outside. She paused to get her bearings, and saw Keluri with the wolf in one corner of the room.