Aidan

The Realms

Secondday, 4th week of the 7th month, Godless Age 597

Mid-morning

Starchaser village, Mistvale Highlands

Words have power... Aidan looked directly back into Ailis's eyes, doing his best to project confidence and authority. "I accept your debt. I understand why you did what you did, Councillor Ailis, but there are sayings from my homeland that I believe you would do well to consider. The ends do not justify the means; the road to Hell is paved with good intentions; power tends to corrupt. You were lucky, Councillor. I was able to fight my way back to return to Brighid—and to tell you what I saw. How many other sacrifices would that have been true for? How many sacrifices would have cost you your daughter as well?"

Ailis stoically accepted Aidan's criticism, inclining her neck towards him in acknowledgment, then turning her attention towards her daughter. "Brighid..." she started, her voice low and thick, then stopped and looked down at her trembling hands. Moving carefully, she picked up the book, inserted a ribbon to mark her page, then closed it. Her eyes scanned the spine as if reading it for the first time, then she stood and walked over to place the book upon a bookshelf. When she returned to her cushion on the opposite side of the table, her hands were steadier. "Brighid, you are the one to whom I have been the most monstrous of all. You are my daughter, my own flesh and blood," her voiced cracked and she reached blindly for her mug, drinking deeply of its contents before setting it back down on the table.

"You are my daughter," she said again, "but I have rarely treated you as more than a tool. A magnificent, beautiful tool who I love foremost in all the Realms, but a tool nonetheless. I cannot begin to enumerate my crimes against you, daught—" She stopped herself and blinked away tears. "Brighid. I will not ask for your forgiveness yet. Words have power, but actions reveal the truth. All I ask is that you allow me the chance to redeem myself. I do love you, little spark." She stopped talking, looking down at the table rather than up at her daughter.

Brighid stirred against Aidan as the room fell silent, but he acted first, sliding his arm from around her waist and half-turning on the cushions to face her. He could only see Brighid's face in profile, but he could tell that she was troubled, torn between love for her parent and mistrust from the way she has been treated. Aidan reached up to lightly brush the backs of his fingers against her cheek, drawing her attention. He gently turned her head towards him and leaned forward until their foreheads were pressed together and they could only see each others' eyes. He spoke in a soft, calming voice, intended for her ears but not kept from her mother's, "Know that I am here with you, no matter what you choose. If you want to give your mother another chance, or if you want to close this door now, or even if you decide to delay until a later time, I will still be right here at your side. Together, forever." She nodded very slightly, and he claimed her lips with his, taking a moment while her mother wasn't watching to give her a less-than-chaste kiss. He only intended to provide her with a jolt of positive emotion, but she snaked a hand to the back of his neck and pulled him in tightly to her as she deepened and extended the kiss.

Aidan wasn't quite sure how long the kiss lasted, but eventually, Ailis cleared her throat, and slowly, gradually, he and Brighid parted. Her eyes were bright and aware, but her cheeks showed that she wasn't totally unaffected either. She darted in to give him one more quick kiss, then let him go and turned back to face her mother, head held high. "When I returned from Ceallach Macht, and you acted the way you did, I hated you." Ailis flinched from the harsh words but did not interrupt. Brighid continued, her voice steady and calm, "But after Aidan returned to me and I heard everything he had to say, I came to a revelation. Consider this: I was born with a Trait which very clearly marks me as favored by the Brighaid, so much so that you yourself named me after Them and raised me with Their tenets as my guide. A little over twenty-one years later, less than a year after I took my place as an adult in the tribe, a human is dragged into the village having been found just outside, somehow far past our patrols. The very first time he slept within the confines of the village, in a hut no more than two dozen meters from my home, he had an extraordinary dream." She turned to Aidan and asked, "Will you tell that part of your story? The whole dream." The last was said with a bit of a smirk.

Aidan had no idea where she was going, but this was clearly his cue to follow her lead as she asked him to. He explained his dream to Ailis, up to and including the 'reward' she had given him. Brighid took his hand and pressed it to her lips, then asked, "What was it, precisely, that your Patron called you?"

Aidan tilted his head, thinking back, and said, in Divine Speech, "[Champion]."

[content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords]

Aidan was more than a little alarmed at the apparent over-reaction to a simple word. Going out on a limb, he used his Analyze ability to learn about Divine Speech.

Divine Speech: This is a Language of Power, and its words are connected to deeper truths within all things. As with all the Languages of Power, Divine Speech is inherently magical in nature, and the same Word can have very different meanings and effects depending on its context. Even those who cannot understand Divine Speech will be affected by the truth of its Words unless they have special protection.

Affected by the truth of its Words...? Quickly, he considered the Word he used, , and tried to mentally translate it to English. He decided that it meant something like, "One Who Carries the Mark of My/Our Favor and Kindles the Flames of Passion in Those He Meets." The translation was rough and inexact; "The Flames of Passion" meant simultaneously both passionate pursuits like art and music, as well as intense sexual pleasure.

Aidan turned to Brighid, looking sternly down at her. "You knew that would happen, didn't you? You tricked me into magically forcing myself on your mother. I am not best pleased, little mare." Ailis was slumped forward over the table, palms pressed to its surface to hold her up, her breath heavy and panting. She raised her head weakly at his angry tone, looking dazedly at Aidan. Brighid, meanwhile, weathered Aidan's displeasure with no apparent concern; she was pressing soft kisses against his shoulder. "Tell me, love. This was deliberate. Why?"

The flame-haired Paladin turned her emerald gaze upon her mother, then up at Aidan. She smiled at him dreamily from his shoulder, then said with absolute conviction, "Because you needed to demonstrate precisely what Mother was dealing with when she sent you to your death. I knew what you were going to say. I have been praying on it for several days. Your Patron named you 'One Who Bears The Mark of Our Love and Inspires Those He Meets to the Utter Heights of Passion'. I know what it means because your Patron is the Brighaid. You are Their Chosen one, Their immortal champion in the Realms, and Their hand is upon you."

She turned her attention back to Ailis, who had managed to slow her breathing and straighten her posture. "Mother, for once, it is you who has been outmaneuvered, and for once, I cannot be happier to be involved. I have been rewarded for my faith, brought together with one who completes me in a way I never realized I was missing. Aidan has been rewarded for his kindness and passion, and given the tools he needs to become what he was meant to be. At first, when he told me the truth of what happened to him, I was angry at the Powers who played with his life and brought him so far from his home. I was wrong, though, and it was Aidan himself who realized it.

"He was not brought here by the Brighaid; instead, They winnowed through the souls already caught in the net and plucked out the one, the single, shining soul which matched my own. They did not dump him in the middle of the wastes to wander alone; They carefully placed him here, where we would be drawn together, knowing that we would realize the truth on our own." Her voice grew fervent. "Many believe that fire is always rash, reckless, incapable of doing anything but consuming its fuel as quickly as possible. They are wrong. Embers can linger long after the flames have vanished, still just as hot as the fire which created them, and in time spark an entirely new conflagration."

She took a deep breath and turned her head to gaze with love and adoration into Aidan's eyes. "The Brighaid's flames have been but a thin, flickering light for generations, but we, Aidan, you and I and perhaps others we will meet along the way, we are the embers which will re-ignite the flame. The world now is filled with doubt, hatred, fear, and distrust. People do not create great masterworks for the sheer joy of their craft. Evil has been allowed to fester in the wondrous places of the past. But we are here now, given the opportunity to change that, to spread joy and love, to craft for the sake of making wondrous things, and to purify that which is tainted. They did not use us as tools. They gave us a purpose, and They gave us each other."

Brighid's faith and enthusiasm burned so brightly in her voice that she seemed truly radiant. "I am sorry for tricking you in this way, lord of my heart. I know that it was hypocritical of me, and I will accept whatever punishment you decide I deserve. I believe that this was the best, most effective, and least likely to backfire way to demonstrate who you are to Mother, and it would not have worked if you had known what would happen ahead of time. I needed your reactions to be genuine." She kissed his shoulder in apology. "Please understand that I do not believe either of us is being forced onto this path; the Three Flames have faith that we will honor and exalt them by following our hearts and keeping Them in our minds. They represent freedom, independence, and following your passion, not doing what others tell you to because they say so."

Well, the milk is already spilled; there's no sense crying over it. Aidan still gave Brighid a stern look before confirming what she had said. "'Honor thy words, honor thy friends, follow thy heart.' Those are the only commands I was given, and they are nothing I object to. I will travel this path with you, Brighid."

She gave him a dazzling smile, then lifted her head from his shoulder and turned her attention back to Ailis. "So, Mother, now that you see what your sins have cost you, I will place this in your hands. When you believe you have atoned, come to me again and we can talk of forgiveness. Until then, I still love you, and I would very much like to be your daughter anew, like when I was just a yearling."

Tears spilled from Ailis's eyes as she stood up. Brighid followed suit, and the two women embraced in a fierce hug. Brighid actually knelt down on her forelegs to even out the height difference as she held her mother tightly. After a few moments, Brighid looked over at Aidan and extended one arm to him, beckoning him to join them. He trailed his hand up her spine as he stepped into her embrace, then looped his other arm loosely around Ailis's back, just as she did to him.

His fiery lover stage-whispered in her mother's ear, "Do his hugs not feel wonderful, Mother? [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords]" She giggled at the incredulous look she got from both of them in response.

Aidan let out a mock sigh and said, "I apologize for her, Ailis. Clearly, I'm going to have to take a firmer grip of the reins with this one." His carefully-selected word choice caused the petite centaur's eyes to widen, but Brighid's breath caught in her throat, only to be let out a heartbeat later in a soft moan. He continued, "As you are undoubtedly aware, she can be a bit headstrong at times. I'm working on breaking her of that, but I've only just started, and progress is a little disappointing so far." He unwrapped his arm from around Brighid's waist and delivered a swat to her flank with a cupped hand, intended more to make noise than cause pain. "I assure you, though, give me some time, and I'll have her following the lead like a good girl instead of jumping the fence and galloping around, making a fuss for me to clean up after."

Ailis's eyes widened a fraction with each word until Aidan could nearly see all the way around her irises. She stood, rock-still and silent, for several seconds after he finished, and he started to wonder whether he had ruined everything. Then, the mage-Councillor snickered, chortled, and broke down into full-bellied laughter. Her arm tightened around him, and she pulled him into a genuine, tight hug. "I take it back, I do approve! It looks like you may finally have met your match, little spark. I would almost pay to see him put you through your paces; it must be a spectacular show." For the first time, Ailis seemed unguarded and genuinely happy.

Brighid beamed at him over her mother's head. "What do you say, Sir? Do you want to show my mother just how well you handle me?"

Before he could respond, Ailis interjected, still chuckling. "Before that road is traveled, I have one last thing that I need to say to you both. It will be short, I promise. Brighid, your appeal to the full Council is set for tomorrow night. Informally, and confidentially, the vote is already decided; Fionn was already a half-step ahead of me, and he was able to convince Anwn as well. You still need to be present to argue your case, and I expect you to argue it well, but unless things go terribly wrong, we will march on Ceallach Macht in force soon. I know you will be coming, as you swore an oath in my presence." Aidan gave Brighid a sharp look; she mouthed, 'tell you later.' Ailis tilted her head to look at Aidan and asked, "Do you wish to be part of the expedition? You have earned the right to accompany us if you wish, and I am sure Fionn would be able to find a use for you as a scout and guide if nothing else. But no one worth bothering with would fault you for remaining behind. The choice is entirely in your hands, I promise you."

Aidan didn't even have to think. "I have a score to settle with that rhyming asshole. I am in, all the way."