Chương 217: Afterglow

"Dragonfly, mind if we take the final stretch on foot?" Will called over the rushing winds to his companion. They, along with the ever-present Laevyeth, were currently flying above the treetops south of Bastion where a familiar cliff formation had long since become visible in the distance which meant that they were almost back to the compound outside the astral space.

"Huh? Oh, sure!" Dragonfly called in return from where she sat astride her animated greataxe. She turned towards the ground which could be glimpsed beneath the trees below and Will did the same, letting his spear wings dissolve just before plunging through the foliage and instead taking the final part of the plunge in literal stride as conjured spears appeared to form a makeshift stair.

"Let's not take too long though. Sprite still has some trouble properly relaxing when I'm not around, and we've already been gone for three days."

"Of course, of course," Will replied as Laevyeth shifted into her humanoid form beside him, falling into stride while letting her fingers lightly entwine with his.

"What did you want to talk about? I assume that's why you had us set down?" Dragonfly asked, turning her head to look up at the taller elf.

"It is a question, albeit one that I fear might be a bit… delicate?" Seeing the look on Will's face, Dragonfly had to suppress her instinct of pure glee, and instead kept her features carefully schooled as she replied.

"Well, Will, I did suspect that this day might come one day. And as your friend, I am of course here for you. You see, when a man and a woman - or perhaps his spear? - likes each other very much, they sometimes-""Bah, not that question, Dragonfly. Kite and Serene did handle that in excruciating detail back when we were pushing towards bronze, remember? And besides, I am quite a lot more worldly these days," Will replied a bit annoyed, if also slightly embarrassed.

"But the topic isn't too far off though. I was actually wondering when you would actually go about and make an honest man out of Kite?" Dragonfly, having just started to prepare a carefully curated jibe, found herself choking on her words out of sheer surprise.

"W-what?" she managed to splutter, glad that she had already stowed her greataxe so that she wouldn't accidentally drop it and fell a tree or something.

"You see, I have been somewhat educating myself on the propriety of commoners. Honestly, I can't believe how you ever implied that the courtship of people of means is complicated. All of these soft rules and unspoken implications, and the more carnal aspects can just be inserted almost anywhere in the order of things… There's no rhyme or reason to it," Will sighed, and was able to easily keep going due to his still reeling friend.

"But I have seemed to make sense of some things, and I just wanted to make sure that you are not - what was the phrase? - roping Kite - no, stringing! - stringing Kite along." Dragonfly still couldn't do much more than stare up at Will in mute incomprehension when Laevyeth too broke in.

"My Lord, is that when one feeds another with false promises of a steady courtship, only to never deliver upon said promises while taking what one wishes from the dynamic?"

"That is how I understood it as well, my Lady. You are getting most apt at these things. Together we shall make sense of this world, one commoner-saying at a time," Will agreed before turning back to Dragonfly.

"Well, Dragonfly? What do you have to say for yourself? Kite is a most kind young man, and would not be deserving of such a-"N-no! No I'm not!" Dragonfly finally managed to protest.

"You're not?"

"Of course I'm not! Heavens, Will, do you really think I'd stoop to that?"

"Well, I sure hope not, Dragonfly. Stringing someone along, from what I've gathered, is considered most uncouth. As your friend, I of course would not want to think you capable of such, but seeing that the two of you have not made courtship of any kind public in years while anyone with an aura sense knows what you are doing most nights together-""Will!"

"Do you deny it?"

"N-no, but the house should have formations for privacy…"

"It does, but once one or both of you emerge in the morning, it isn't exactly subtle. Oh, believe that I have learned the word for this as well… Afterglow! Yes, that's it! But back to the matter at hand. Dragonfly, if you aren't stringing Kite along and - I assume - neither is he you, then… Then I don't really know what is going on. You both spend almost all available time close to one another. You always sleep in the same bed when possible.

I have seen neither of you make any kind of advances towards someone else, unless I missed something while away of course. And seeing you together at any given moment, it's like you're just so… comfortable around one another. Completely at ease. Heavens, your auras are even mingling seemingly of their own volition. Yet there always seems to be some intangible thing that is never spoken of."

Dragonfly once more found herself a bit stunned as Will counted each of his observations off on his fingers, and as he finished the elf even stopped on the path and properly turned to face her.

"I honestly thought I had a lot of this figured out, Dragonfly, but now I found myself fumbling in the mists once more. Would you please, then, help me understand?" A short silence followed, with Dragonfly continuing to stare blankly at her friend and his companion, and Laevyeth eventually broke in once more.

"My Lord, it would seem that Dragonfly seems unable to answer thee."

"Well, my Lady, I can see that. But I do wonder why-""You?!" Dragonfly's exclamation had them both fall silent, even though it was one conveying utter disbelief tinged by outrage rather than any actual anger.

"Heavens… I'm standing here, in the middle of the forest, and getting served some actual good - if unwitting - points about a relationship. By you, Will?" She turned to stare off along the forest path, where Kite's family compound had started to become visible in the far distance, as she continued her dazed mumble.

"And the worst thing is… that you're right. Oh, capricious heavens, you're right. I'm… not sure if I can live this down…"

"My Lord," Laevyeth leaned in, murmuring in Will's ear as Dragonfly kept going on, as if in a world of her own.

"Is… this a normal reaction to topics such as this?"

"I… am not sure, my Lady," Will replied.

"It seems that I have yet to learn a lot about-" All three of them suddenly fell silent though, their earlier musings abruptly cut off like silk thread before scissors as the gold-ranked aura suddenly registered to their senses. It was thick with the crackling powers of the thunderstorm and was approaching fast. Very fast. No words were needed as the three set off in a blur towards the compound ahead of them, which seemed to be the destination of the swiftly moving presence.

But compared to a gold-ranker, their speed might well have been a crawl. The trio, Laevyeth now carried in her spear form once more, had only reached halfway to the compound before a streak of lightning rushed in across the skies from the west, casting stark shadows as it bathed the area in a gold-white, flickering light. For a brief moment it stopped above the gates to the compound, solidifying into an absolutely enormous avian shape of shimmering feathers and crackling, destructive fury.

Dragonfly, Will and Laevyeth had only the time to glimpse it for a moment as it dropped something from its huge talons before immediately streaking off once again, continuing to the southeast in a flash.

"Heavens," Dragonfly breathed as the spiritual pressure lessened abruptly.

"What was that?"

"I will make a most humble guess -," Laevyeth said, her aura nudging the others as if pointing towards the gates in the distance, "- that it might have been a delivery." As it turned out, the dropped shape had been a tree. It was around five meters tall, with a trunk with gray-brown bark free of branches ending at a flat-topped crown of dark green needles. And, curiously enough, it stood planted in a huge clay pot.

"Is… that a pine tree?" Dragonfly eventually ventured as the charging group slowed down now that the possible danger seemed to have been a false - if terrifying - alarm.

"It looks not too unlike some of those growing at the top of the cliffs up north."

"Distinctly magical too," Will remarked, walking a wide circle around the tree as he regarded it.

"Silver rank. Rare to feel such a distinct aura from a tree too." They all tensed again though, as the surface of the tree rippled. And from its bark, as if grown over the span of mere heartbeats, a silhouette emerged. Humanoid, if off, the being was well over two meters tall with distended proportions.

Its surface looked a lot like the gray-brown bark of the tree, if smoother in most places than the scaly, rough tree, and thin, flexible branches covered in needles sprouted from its head to drape across its form like a long cloak. While the being looked distinctly regal as it swiveled its head to regard them with eyes like a deer, its posture bordered somewhere between confused and wary.

"Home. Kite?" It asked in clipped and heavily broken trade speech, voice low and hinting towards the feminine.

"Uhm… Greetings," Dragonfly eventually ventured, easing up from her ready stance somewhat.

"Home. Kite?" the being asked again, more insistently.

"Yes, this is Kite's home. But how do you know him? And what in the heavens was-" Dragonfly began, taking a hesitant step forward. She quickly stopped though, as the motion caused the needles of the creature's 'hair' as well as the tree behind her to grow slightly, taking on an ominous green glow.

"I assure you that we mean no harm," Will called, making a show of raising Laevyeth to his side and leaning the butt of the spear against the ground in a more relaxed way.

"We are friends of Kite. This is indeed his home." The odd tree-woman looked from Will to Dragonfly before she eventually seemed to accept his words as the needles settled down. Oddly though, she gave Laevyeth only a passing glance as the outworlder shifted back to her humanoid form.

"Good. Home. Kite. Accord. As- astral. I go." And with that, the new arrival took a step down from the clay pot which held her tree and started walking towards the gates of the compound. The others could feel a surge of mana from inside the tree before it too joined her, walking on gnarly roots which emerged from unseen holes at the bottom of the pot to let it follow in an ungainly walk. Will, Dragonfly and Laevyeth looked on in silence for a moment before, again as one, they started after her.

"Sweet heavens above, what has Kite brought home this time?" Dragonfly murmured in disbelief.

"Come, we'd better help sort this out."

"And as to my question before?" Will replied, walking briskly.

"Well, if you of all people pointed it out, it would seem that Kite and I have some things which we will need to have a good conversation about. But that will have to wait until he gets back. And we make sure that the odd tree-woman doesn't wreck his home due to some misunderstanding."

Anasta Temren, branch director of the Adventure Society's Heavenward branch, looked out her window and over the bustle of the capital which was slowly settling down slightly as dusk painted the city streets in shades of amber and peach. The city never entirely slept, of course, but as it wasn't a true metropolis of the world, it hadn't yet come to the level and concentration of essence-users to make the day-night cycle mostly irrelevant. As a gold-ranker, Anasta didn't need much sleep either.

But that didn't mean that she didn't appreciate the scant few moments when she could truly sit down in one of her most comfortable armchairs - an old and worn thing which had been one of the few pieces of furniture that she ever bought as a new essence-user - and enjoy a good book. And it also didn't put her beyond a surge of irritation as the tranquil moment was broken mere minutes after she had well and truly settled into what was supposed to be a relaxing moment.

"What part of this situation does not convey 'off duty'?" she asked aloud as a now all-too familiar aura had made itself known from the shadows beneath her armchair.

"My apologies, director, but I decided that I'd much rather risk the clan's esteemed client to be cross with me for interrupting her reading rather than risk her fury for not having given her important information as soon as we had compiled it," the voice of Obsidian Crow said from beneath the cair.

"The clan does pride itself in its results, even though this current foe you have pitted us against seems to have been ensconced in the city for far longer than we might have suspected, given their skill and prepared means of escape." Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Their gold-ranker still giving you trouble?"

"I am not beyond admitting that we are, so far, still at a standstill. Their ability in detecting and scattering my webs is most impressive, if bothersome. But it does explain a few of the difficulties and blind spots I've had in the past."

"And what is this information important enough to warrant this visit?"

"As you know, our targets seems to have become more active in recent times. That we suddenly got these hints has been most suspicious, but so far our careful investigations have only proved the tidbits to be correct. There is some project underway, but exactly what is still beyond us. The activity in the city is growing more chaotic, and the sects sure aren't helping things the way they've begun their usual posturing and sabotaging before the upcoming Grand Proving in two years.

But from a few recent near-escapes of some of our identified targets through portals, our ritualists have managed to determine that our quarry might have been sending people north again. Not in any significant numbers, and so far only silvers and below from what we know. But we do not know where exactly, or to what purpose."

"So? Why not just pursue?"

"Given the intensity of the goings on here in the capital, the clan does not have many agents left to spare, especially given the wide, wide net we would need to throw out. And this trail is but one of many. But, as pointed out by my esteemed junior brother, we might be able to call upon help in this case. The north is perhaps your organization's most solid foothold in the kingdom right now, after all."

"Ah. The guild. You wish for us to contract their help in looking for these wayward targets?"

"Little Crow suggested that it might be worthwhile, and I agree. It should not be any of our target's major movements or plans, but every move of theirs we can disrupt can teach us something. And the Autumn Wanderer's guild have proven good at finding local troublemakers in the years past." Anasta leaned back for a moment, forcing down the impulse to rub the bridge of her nose as she pondered. And eventually answered.

"We'd better be circumspect then. I'll assign additional funds for you, and you will be our intermediary with said contracts. Gods above, to think that I'd be forced to sneak contracts out to our own members… But if the sects learn of me showing this guild some obvious kind of favoritism, it will only fan the flames for now."

"Flames that, if you'll excuse me for pointing it out, already seem to burn hot and bright."

"Indeed. But that is more for the guild's sake rather than mine. They have been a great asset so far, way beyond expectations. I hope to see them grow enough so that they're too big for the sects to make another attempt at stamping them out. And I assume that I don't need to worry about your discretion?"

"Of course not, director. The Tengu's clan is most pleased with our cooperation so far. I will see it done." The presence in the shadows retreated, and Anasta leaned back in her chair once more. Her thoughts wanted to pick up this trail immediately, adding it to the tapestry which already unfolded in her mind as she tried to keep track of the exceedingly complex network of goings-on in the Hua-Xi heartlands. But this time, Anasta shoved the impulse to the side.

Her gold-ranked mind wouldn't forget anything, and an hour or two of her actually getting to relax wouldn't change the grand scope of things either.

"Well, little Beauty. We are finally back home," Kite said in relief as Riz's portal had closed behind them, leaving the pair standing outside the family's compound. Feeling the crispness of the winter air and familiar smells - including a distinctly lower level of floral scents to be found - really brought home the feeling of a proper homecoming. Glint, in turn, only sent him a vague assent before once more tucking in for some beauty sleep in her bottle.

Not even a silver-ranker could spend more waking hours than recommended during the last two days shopping without it eventually catching up to them, after all. The mood of the compound felt a bit strange as Kite entered though. Nothin hostile or entirely amiss. Just… Tense? His aura senses quickly revealed the source, however, who seemed to be located in Auntie Dove's garden along with both aunties, Dragonfly, Will and Laevyeth while both Spring and Raven seemed to occupy themselves inside the main house.

Pulsing his own aura got a reaction from everyone present too, and Dragonfly came sprinting around the corner soon after, crashing into him like a comet. The hug was disappointingly brief though, as she soon disentangled herself from him and looked at him with some concern.

"Kite, were you expecting a tree-woman to show up at our doorstep?"

"Actually, I was," he replied, making sure to not let go of her hand as the pair continued towards the rest.

"A dryad named Verdant Evergreen. She's supposed to be our help in understanding the tree inside the astral space. Still, I'm surprised that she got here before me. I did portal, after all."

"We'll get to that part," Dragonfly replied with a forlorn look seeming to indicate that there was a story there.

"But yes, she's here. And she's been asking after the astral space too. It's just… We weren't too keen on just letting a random tree-woman - sorry, dryad - in there just on her word alone. Dove has, fortunately, been the best of us at keeping her in a good mood." As they arrived into the gardens, Kite did indeed find their dryad visitor along with what he assumed was a tree belonging to her that sat in a huge pot nearby. He also noticed a distinct difference between her and Despina the Bloom Shepherd.

Aside from their difference in rank, Despina had looked a lot closer to the humanoids of Vitesse and most other places of the world. While her skin had been barklike, with distinct deer eyes and ivy hair, it had still been the proportions of what he would have expected of a woman; complete with curving figure, bust and all. This Verdand Evergreen did not share many of these traits, with her very tall form and elongated proportions.

Her build was thin and she definitely looked more akin to a tree than a person in most of these regards.

"But Despina did say that she had spent little time around people of our kind," he thought as they approached where the Dryad was currently having some kind of simple conversation in broken trade speech with Auntie Dove who was empathetically nodding and even taking notes as they were inspecting a bushel of dream nettles.

"Is this what dryads more often look like? It's more reasonable to assume that Despina is the one who has changed somewhat to fit in, assuming that they can control their appearance." Dove and the Dryad turned to look at Kite and Dragonfly as they approached, with his auntie directly going over to embrace her adopted son.

"Oh Kite, this is wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!" she cooed in delight as she let go.

"Verdant Evergreen - she said that's her name - is apparently here to help us with the tree! And she has such insights into my gardens too. Why, the few pointers she has already given me are just marvelous!"

"I'm… glad that you've taken to her already," Kite said, aware that the dryad was giving him an impatient look from behind his auntie.

"I honestly thought that I would be here to greet her myself, but she seemed to have somehow arrived before me."

"Ah, yes, apparently it was some kind of… colleague of hers? We had some trouble finding the right words. Laevyeth did help translate some though. Such a dear, that spear. But anyway, apparently there was a gold-ranked bird of some kind who carried her here. I never even saw a glimpse, just flashes of lightning and then, not long after, Dragonfly and Will came leading her into the compound."

Kite could only nod at that, once more realizing that his life had no doubt grown interesting in the years since he began his adventuring career, and finally turned to more properly greet the dyad who was still waiting for him.

"Greetings, honored Verdant Evergreen," he said with a proper bow.

"I am called Kite Flown in on Winds of Fortune. But please, call me Kite. Welcome to my home." The dryads looked down on him in silence as he spoke, and gave little to indicate that she was listening beyond eye contact. As he finished though, she spoke.

"Astral space. Tree inside?"

"It is. I will show you," Kite replied, glancing at the additional tree which the dryad seemed to have brought.

"Do you… need anything before we go? Make a place for yourself?" The dryad, following his gaze, eventually replied.

"No. It follows. Go tree now. Dove. Come too," she finished, gesturing for the alchemist.

"Then we go. Follow me," Kite said, gesturing for the mountainside and finding it a rather amusing sight that the tree in the pot joined them too in an odd walk-crawl upon animated roots.

The tunnel leading into the space did prove some slight problems though as it was too low to incorporate the five meter tall tree, but with the dryad's hesitant blessing he and Dragonfly helped to carry it horizontally as they could determine that its crown would just barely fit through the aperture in one piece, with the others following in their wake. Once more into the astral space with its purple sands, Kite couldn't help but marvel at the gargantuan tree now dominating its skyline.

Its azure vibrancy was so far undiminished since he last saw it, and from what Auntie Dove had told Kite it had continued to settle into its new environment. And even though she didn't ostensibly show it, Kite could feel a good amount of awe in the aura of the dryad as well as she stopped and gazed upon it. He went up to her side, addressing Verdant Evergreen after giving her a few moments to really take it all in.

"Beautiful, right?"

"Yes."

"What will you need to study it further? Anything we can bring you?" At that, Kite got a more quizzical glance in return, but after a short burst of translation from Laevyeth and her innate outworlder powers, the dryad eventually shook her head.

"Time," came the eventual reply.

"And tree." The last statement was directed towards her own tree which was once again moving of its own volition.

"Then we will look forward to further cooperation," Kite said, giving the dryad a bow once more.

"We are in your care, Verdant Evergreen. May the heavens bless our endeavors together."

"You sure had quite the trip this time too, from the sound of it. Perhaps you'll need to take me along to Vitesse someday too. Those spires sound like something one should experience at least once during a lifetime," Dragonfly said from where she sat in front of a mirror in the bedchamber that was ostensibly hers even though Kite rarely - if ever - slept anywhere else. As always, his lover was trying to wrangle her hair into a semblance of submission before going to bed.

And as always, Kite found the view captivating.

"It sure was something," he agreed, floating just above the edge of the bed in meditation wearing silken slacks and a simple shirt.

"It was a most exciting trip, but once again I feel that remembering it as I retell it to those dear to me is even more gratifying. I'll have to give Auntie Dove and Auntie Crow their gifts tomorrow too. It just didn't come up tonight, with all the questions."

"At least the guild is probably set after this too," Dragonfly continued, even though Kite got the sense that she was either working up to something, or avoiding it. And while his usual way was to just give her some time to find her words, this time Kite instead decided to go about things a bit differently.

"Also true," he replied, even as he rose and went over to his dimensional bags at the other end of the room.

"But such matters can wait until tomorrow. As for now, I would like to give you your gift. If you would have it, that is."

"Oh?" she asked, perking up and winking at him.

"If the pattern holds true is it perhaps a gold-ranked axe?"

"Hah, one could think so. And I will indeed keep that in mind, even if silver rank remains a long journey yet. No, this is something else. I did go to the city of flowers, after all. Close your eyes please." Dragonfly did, and Kite retrieved his prepared gift while setting it up on the table in front of her.

"Ooo, something elaborate. You sure are taking your time," she noted as he fussed over the final details before eventually deciding that this was as good as it was going to get.

"Well, it is done. You may look," Kite said, trying to hold the surprising - and slightly annoying - nervousness churning inside him at bay. He would not have chosen this gift had he not already been quite certain of how it would be received. Dragonfly opened her eyes and immediately gasped in a most satisfactory way, even holding her hands to her mouth as she took in the arrangement before her.

"Oh, Kite. They're.. They're beautiful…" she breathed, and Kite had to agree. Arrayed on the table before them was a low, wide vase filled with soil and decorative moss. And from it, six flowers grew in an intricate arrangement. In their center were a pair with sturdier stems and wide petals, one seeming made of stone and the other just exuding an odd sensation of strength.

Accompanying them were a rose which seemed to burn with a constant, inner fire, a lily whose petals were mostly translucent and shimmering not entirely unlike the force fields of an essence power, a fierce red series of orchids whose fronds were shaped like the heads of a double-headed axe and finally a single dahlia who stood like a hole in the world.

"One for might and one for resolute," Kite said, pointing to the central two flowers in turn.

"And fire and barrier probably explain themselves. Axe was surprisingly distinct, but it was when I found the odd void flower that I came up with the idea. They truly have every kind of flower imaginable in Vitesse. And seeing that I found all of our base essences, I found that if felt… right… to entwine them all together. Like us." Dragonfly sat and took it all in as he explained, even though she reached out and squeezed his hand the whole time.

But when Kite was about to continue, she instead turned and put a finger to his lips.

"Hush, at least for a moment. Come." She didn't seem in any way troubled, rather the opposite in fact, so Kite dutifully let himself be led to the edge of the bed where Dragonfly had him sit down before gently seating herself in his lap so that she straddled him, her face ever so close to his. She then leaned in slowly, and her lips were just about to touch him when she softly asked;"May I?" Kite and Dragonfly had kissed many times before, but so far it had always been during sex.

During their everyday life, affection had always been plentiful through hugs and other moments of closeness, but no kisses. And this left her current question carrying a whole world of new meaning infused in those two simple words. As did Kite's simple reply.

"Always." And so, the two leaned into each other, and what should have been a familiar sensation instead turned out to be something delightfully new as their auras also melded into one another as the union gave new meaning and color to their spirits mingling. Neither had any idea of when they eventually came out of it, as neither did need to breathe after all, but as they sat there and looked at one another, it was Dragonfly who spoke first.

"I'm sorry for interrupting you, as I am certain that you would have had the most earnest and forthright words prepared for me. Ones that would make me all flustered and blushing all over. And I do so ever want to hear them. But Kite… Someone very recently pointed out that there was something pretty obvious which I haven't told you. Shown it, perhaps. But I haven't told you. And perhaps not myself too, even though I've known."

"Then it sounds like we've had surprisingly similar conversations lately-""Oh hush. Just let me finish and be first, or I'll never live it down. Not after who actually gave me said pointer. Kite, I love you."

"And I love you, Dragonfly," he replied with a smile, and they lost themselves in yet another kiss, one most liberating as a certain unspoken matter had finally been brought to light. And this time, it was Kite's turn to speak first after they managed to separate.

"I did indeed have words prepared, as I had that day when I awaited you in Gilded back at iron rank. But at this moment I must admit that I am more curious who actually gave you said pointers." Silence. Over a dozen seconds passed as Dragonfly blushed deeply, before eventually managing a reply.

"Will."

"What? Did I-""It was Will, Kite. Triumph of Indomitable Will. The most clueless man beneath the heavens," she all but whined, head leaned backward in shame.

"And the worst part is that he was right. I had been avoiding this matter. Probably because I was still afraid to lose someone I actually loved. Even though we're awesome silvers now, not early irons. And even though you've always stuck by me and always come back. I was probably… just afraid, Kite. But if Will of all people could see what I really felt about you and what we really are… I'm sorry, Kite. I just couldn't live down the thought of not taking some kind of initiative here.

Please forgive my prideful ways."

"You are forgiven, my ardent Dragonfly," Kite replied with a grin, before cheekily adding; "Even though you will have to tell me of this conversation of yours. It sounds most amusing." Dragonfly stuck her tongue out in response before she gently, but firmly, reached out and pushed Kite's chest to have him fall to the bed behind him.

"Tomorrow," she said, voice clearly indicating that she had other things in mind for this particular moment. But before they lost themselves in one another and certain amorous activities which were also cast in a new light by the evening's confessions, Kite thought he could faintly hear Dragonfly murmur something beneath her breath.

"Afterglow? I'll show you afterglow…"