Thar Shaddin

What Drayel saw when he walked through the door was not what he expected. There, sitting almost happily on a crooked chair near the creaked table was the old crooked man with a twisted smirk and beady eyes. He must have looked funny, opening the door with a girl hanging onto his hand then having a deer in the headlights look when he saw such a friendly scrawny man.

A few moments of silence hung heavily between them, Drayel with his hand still on the nob gaping openly at the 'ohohohoho'ing old man. He couldn't believe his eyes. He simply couldn't. Still, there he was. That stupid old geezer that caused all this trouble, smiling like nothing happened. His lips twitched.

"Ohohohoho, it took you quite a long time to find me." the old man mused. "Here I thought you'd have taken her here first!"

"What.... in the name of the CREATORS ARE YOU DOING IN MY FAMILY'S HOME?!" Drayel roared nearly ripping the doorhandle from the door itself. "HOW DARE YOU!"

He never felt such a fury. How dare he come here! After all that crap, rings and bondings, to show up drinking tea like he belonged there. Drayel wasn't sure what kind of sick fool this was but he couldn't care less. He just wished he hadn't left his sword at the brothel so he could ring that idiot through.

"Settle your anger." The man hummed pleasantly. "It was the place I thought it would be appropriate to sit in. After all, this is where your parents were killed no? Not many people you'd take to the same place where your worst memory lies."

Drayel bristled but said nothing, furious to the point of trembling.

Don't. If I lunge, I'll pull Talia's arm out. He growled as he forced himself into a seething glare.

"Remove this bond." He spat furiously. “Remove it now!”

Talia jumped at Drayel's reaction to the old man. Personally when she first saw him she was rather relieved it was him. After all they had spent a day trying to find him and here he was just waiting for them. At first she couldn't understand the reason for his outrage, sure she was a little upset at the old geezer for messing with them but it wasn't until the old man had responded to Drayel that she understood his anger.

"Drayel, calm down." She said quietly, facing him and putting a gentle hand on his chest as if she could actually hold him back. "If you make such a fuss chances are he will just keep us stuck together, the whole 'attract more bees with honey' approach you know? Anyways" she grinned up at him. "You can go after him much better once we aren't attached, which won't happen if you kill him first."

Turning to the old man she dropped a little curtsy before beginning. "We have learned a lot, and I may even venture as far to say that we had some fun. But we both have lives that require the use of both hands, even if we stay together I Drayel can't be pulling me along during his possibly dangerous missions, and of course I can't work my job or even care for a family if I have to pull him along with me." Talia blushed a bit at the last part and hoped that Drayel didn't see her as presumptuous here but that she was merely trying a more tactful way of reversing this spell.

"I was guided by the spirits to bring your hands together in friendship." the old man cooed. "Through this friendship, a bond of trust and care that grows with each passing moment. It will be needed for the long voyages ahead."

"Yeah?" Drayel snarled lowly though he kept himself at bay. Barely. Feeling Amara's hand on his chest made his temper waver, fear of harming her pushing his rage aside. Needed to keep his head. "SO you stuck us together because a bunch of dead people thought it was needed?"

"Precisely." came the happy chuckle.

"Idiot."

"Now, to rate your pasttimes!" the old man cooed as he reached over and grabbed their joint hands (when did he even get up?! Drayel wondered) before smiling up at them. "If it is not satisfactory then I have decided to keep hands joint until they are~!"

"OI!"

"Yes... Yes... Ye- Oh." His cheery tone halted into one of unimpressed irritation. His smile vainshed as well and suddenly Drayel missed it. Severely. Instead the old man bristled and his voice felt like it poured ice into his veins. He shuddered "You were interuptted. Multiple times I see. No. No this shall not be done. Though, not your fault.... what to do, what to do."

"DRAYELSIE!" The old crone smashed through the door with the head guard hot on her heels. "Drayelsie!! MY LOVE! TELL ME IT ISN'T SO!"

"Oi! I HAD TO WALK IN A WOMAN'S BATHHOUSE AND NEARLY DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!" The guard freaked.

"Mother, Father, and the Creators above save me from this wretched place." Drayel moaned as he simply turned his face around and flumped into Talia's shoulder. "I wish to run away Amara, flee. Flee as though I am a fugitive from the law."

"I will do one better." the old man chuckled as he reached over and simply pulled the rings from their fingers. Startled, Drayel held onto Ama's hand and watched as the old man clamped a hand on the crone, then on the guard and smiled. "I'm told you're in need of friendship....."

Talia had turned to look at the old man when he started talking, all the while keeping her hand on his chest....partly to just remind him to keep calm and maybe a little bit because it was a very nice chest and she could feel his heart beating, a fascinating feeling.


She was surprised when the old man somehow suddenly appeared in front of them but as he grabbed their hands he held her breathe while looking at him eagerly. She did not understand how he was planning in going about rating their pastimes...unless he had been following them the whole time. As he bristled up from what he had seen (through magic or his own stalker ways) Talia let out a soft whimper, she didn't mean to but she was worried about what this meant. Sure Drayel was a nice guy, more so even she would even be willing to consider....but wait that wasn't the point. The point was no matter how nice the guy was she wanted her own two hands for herself and go back to a normal life instead of running from people.

As if reading her thoughts they burst through the door, the crone whining and the guard freaking out causing poor Drayel to practically collapse on top of her. "Oh cut it out creep" she snapped at the old woman the moment she was able to get a word in, "Dray isn't interested, never was, never will be."

She turned to the guard to snap at him to but as she stopped before she spoke instead looking at her freed hand that she had raised. It was no long attached to Drayel's! She wiggled her fingers and then quickly clasped her hand behind her back with a grin, there was no way she was letting the old man near them anytime soon.

Looking up to where the old man was, holding their rings and chanting something very familiar, Talia couldn't help but start to giggle. If she had half an idea of what was about to happen, then she knew that this was going to be good.

"LET ME GO!" the old hag howled as she jerked violently on the guard's arm.

"QUIT THAT! YOU'RE PULLING OUT MY SHOULDER!" barked the guard as the two of them struggled fruitlessly against each other.

"Well, this is quite entertaining." Drayel mused as he, Talia, and the old man sat at the table and watched, each drinking a cup of tea. "I may not like you old man but I like your tastes. I find it rather... comical."

"Kekekekekek. Of course you do sonny." The old man beamed as he cackled in that whispy dry tone. "All those who aren't compatible are always amusing to watch."

"Yeah. This is like food and a show for free." Shade agreed as he took a swig from Drayel's mug. Drayel blinked before looking back at the Shifter with frowning disbelief.

"You weren't here a moment ago." Drayel stated flatly as he eyed the man sharply. "and leave my drink alone!"

"No." was the cheery response. He glanced over at Talia and winked. "So, how's it feel to have your hand back?"

A heavy thump and Shade was imprinted with the shape of Drayel's fist on his skull. Glaring at the unconscious dog he snorted in distaste before glancing up at Talia and blushing before looking away again. The old man gave him a sly look that went unnoticed.

"We..... We should probably head back now." Drayel muttered as he kept his eyes on the still squabbling pair. "I'll walk you to the bakery, if you'd like."

Talia looked down at the passed out shifted, "Well why did you do that?" She questioned Drayel with a bit of a frown. "He seemed nice enough and he was only being polite....wasn't he?" She shook her head at him, really, where was this guy coming from! Most likely that would remain a mystery.

"But fine I'll accept your offer to take me home. I don't know how safe I'd be travelling alone like this." She grinned while looking down at the now short, guazey, purple dress. "Shall we stop by the inn and grab that cake too?" She frowned again looking at Shade. "Shall we get him up and take him with us? That way we can split the cake up and send him on his way. Of course," she quickly added, "if you would rather just take me straight home I don't mind. I understand if you don't want to spend more time then you have to with me. This all must have been a terrible inconvenience to you." Her voice had softened and she stared at the floor.

Why am I feeling sad? she wondered to herself I wasn't my fault that we were stuck together for so long so I shouldn't be filling guilty about anything really....well besides almost drowning him.

Drayel looked down at her, his eyes watching as her shoulders dropped and her voice trailed off. He may not be the best people person, but he could see she didn't want him to leave just yet. In fact if anything she looked rather sad to see him leave. His eyes softened as he let loose a low chuckle.

"We'll get the cake and leave it at Lucy's." Drayel said gently as he gave her a half smirk. "I'm sure we can spare the whole cake though, Lucy has a little girl and Shade's a big eater. Between those three the cake will be finished."

He felt his heart sadden a little at the thought of leaving her be, though he hid it with a cocked eyebrow and a slight smirk. Still, he stuck out his elbow to her, offering her his arm to her in a way of quiet intent. He offered her a smile then gently lead her out the door and back towards the city.

"Come on then Lass, let get you home."

Talia smiled softly and took Drayel's proffered arm. One might have thought that by this point she would want to keep her own hands to herself but she really didn't mind the chance to be able to be close to him of her own free will. It didn't take long for them to pick up the cake and drop if off at Shade's residence. The little girl was more then happy to see the big wedding cake and while the mother grumbled about all the sugar that probably in the cake, Talia knew that she was grateful.

Finally reaching back home, Talia stopped at the door to the bakery. Looking up at Drayel she smiled up at him. "Thanks for walking me back home, I wouldn't have blamed you if you had run off the moment we became unhinged." She laughed before pausing. She really didn't know how this was going to end. After all they were really just strangers who had been thrown into together by some random guy. They really had no reason to ever see each other again.

"I guess this is goodbye. Thanks for putting up with me and being such a gentleman. I am sure I could have had it much worse if it was someone else." She cocked her head and looked at him for a second, "Here is my token of thanks." And with that Talia went up onto her tiptoes and planted a soft kiss on his cheek before quickly turning on her heels and rushing through the bakery door, covering her blushing cheeks with her hands.

She grinned to herself as she ran up the stairs to her room, flopping on her bed. It was a good ending to a very interesting adventure. If she never heard from him again, well it would just be a crazy dream. And if she did....well she would just wait until that happened.

Drayel stood dumbfounded at the front of the bakery. His eye were large and his mouth gaping in a loose 'o'. Then, slowly a large blush covered his face and a grin cracked his cheeks. Throwing his head back he let out a loud roar of laughter, startling a nearby line of fat lazy pidgeons from their roost.

"Not many ladies held onto my arm before, and sure she was a pretty woman. Maybe I'll go back and see her tommorrow. 'Buying bread' ought to be a good enough excuse." Drayel chuckled as he turned from the door and strode almost cheekily down the street. "Poor woman won't know what to do with me. Baha! I sound almost like those poor sods back at the farm."

Drayel paused in his walk to glance up at the sky, his lip twitching in amusement. He snorted sharply at it before letting out a loud stern declare, just to be sure the Creators knew his opinions. "Still, I damn well hate merchants!"