Ink Forged

~Familiar Face~

Maevus trudged along, following her silent guide through the twisting streets of Valmor. After he'd made that snide comment about the queen's eye being on her, he hadn't said two more words to her.

The silence was beginning to grate against her nerves.

Quiet when you were alone was one thing, quiet when you were with someone else was quite another. 

Maevus tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, unable to stop herself from sneaking a glance every few seconds at her silent companion. She still had seen nothing more of him than the lower half of his face.

He was covered from head to toe. Even his hands were shrouded in strips of dark cloth that also served to bind his sleeves tight. The only visible skin was that of his fingers and, again, the lower half of his face.

Maevus' ears were still ringing slightly from the lightning blast he had nearly hit her with. The more she let herself think about it, the angrier she got. He could have killed her! He could have killed Doren and inevitably Delna would have died from a broken heart.

Her lip curled back from her teeth and she hissed, "I still owe you for almost killing me."

Volt didn't respond.

"You sent a freaking lightning bolt at me!" Her voice rose to a near shriek and Volt turned his head away. "Don't you think you at least owe me an apology or something?"

He still didn't answer.

Maevus opened her mouth, but was cut off by a shout: "Hey! Dragon Lady!"

Her heart sank as she turned and found a mint-green head bobbing and weaving through the crowd. Volt let out a small sigh as she stopped, then cocked his head, his hood shifting slightly.

Maevus caught sight of a pattern of stark black lines across his right cheek, but couldn't make out what it was before Savrin swooped down upon them. He skidded to a halt right before them and said, "I seem to remember telling you to meet me in Faldana's Square, Dragon Lady."

"Don't call me that," she muttered. "And I never agreed to meet you, you know," she added as Volt snorted. 

Savrin rolled his eyes, then blinked twice before turning slowly to face Volt. A cute blush spread briefly across his high cheekbones before he glanced at Maevus. "Have you... already joined the Carneri Guild?"

"I—your," Maevus shook her head, "guild is the Carneri Guild? But you didn't say that—I mean." She sighed. "Never mind."

Savrin glanced between her and Volt once more. Volt still hadn't offered so much as a greeting to his guild-mate, but that didn't seem to surprise the Blood-Charmed Encant. Brushing a loose strand of green hair back behind his ear, Savrin gave her a small smile. 

"So if you haven't joined yet... does that mean you are?" Savrin asked, raising his eyebrows hopefully.

"I didn't have much choice," she muttered.

"What did you do?" He already sounded resigned, making Maevus bristle at the implication.

No matter how accurate it was.

Maevus pursed her lips and turned to Volt, crossing her arms. "Why don't you tell him? Since you're so cozy with the queen, you probably know even better than I do what happened."

"Wait, what? The queen? Whose queen?" Savrin asked, his already pale skin going even whiter.

Maevus gestured wildly behind him, in the direction of the castle. "Your queen!" She cast a harsh gaze toward Volt. "He nearly turned me into barbecue on her order. Is the whole Carneri Guild happy to be her magickers, or is it just you two?"

Savrin opened his mouth, deep red eyes shifted to Volt. But before he could say anything, Volt let out a soft snarl, turned on his heel and stalked off down the road. His cloak swirled around him in a wind no one else felt and he disappeared between one blink and the next.

"You shouldn't have said that, Maevus," Savrin said, his demeanor turning grave. "Volt doesn't want to work for the queen anymore than you do." 

She crossed her arms, turning her face away, scowling. She refused to feel guilty. Certainly not toward someone who had hurt one of her dragons.

"Come on," Savrin said with a sigh. "I guess that means I'm taking you to the guild."

Maevus let out a small huff, but didn't bother arguing. Briefly, she glanced back over her shoulder to the spot Volt had disappeared from, something twisting unpleasantly in her gut.

While they walked, Savrin pressed her for details on her meeting with the queen. She eventually gave under the ceaseless stream of chatter and told him about what had happened in the street just beyond the castle. When she was done, Savrin let out a low whistle.

"Sounds like you should have just let this Voron guy take care of it."

A flash of guilt hit her at that. But it was too little, too late, and all she could hope was that Voron wouldn't get in any further trouble on her account. She would need to find some way to make it up to him though. 

Especially when he had been so kind to her. 

Her hand crept up to her chest, gripping the pendant through her shirt. It flared slightly at her touch, and she was startled by the disapproval that was radiating off of Savrin.

Maevus quickly let go of the pendant, the magic fading away as soon as she did. A quick peek at Savrin didn't betray any of that feeling. His face remained smooth and unconcerned, but the pendant never lied.

"Are you mad about what I said to Volt?" she ventured, making Savrin start in surprise. 

He frowned, an endearing crease appearing between his eyebrows. Then he shrugged. "What you said wasn't very nice. Especially that magicker bit," his voice was dry as he said that. She opened her mouth to defend herself, but then he added, "As for Volt... that's more complicated. He's complicated and he doesn't speak to anyone. Ever." 

Maevus looked over at that, opening her mouth to say he'd spoken to her, but something made her pause. That same unpleasant feeling as before twisted in her gut, but before she could say anything, Savrin started speaking again. 

He shook his head, loosely secured hair fluttering around his face. "So I suppose you don't really have to worry about him. He doesn't speak to anyone, and he doesn't work with anyone either. However, I would advise not saying something like that to anyone else. Volt might not care enough to do anything about it, but this guild has some, ah... let's go with big personalities, and any damages come out of your pocket."

"I'm not going to cause any damages!" Maevus said indignantly.

Savrin gave her a skeptical look and she growled at him, but then they turned a corner onto a new street.

Holding an arm out before him, he gestured grandly to a red-painted building with a sloped, tiled roof and five rows of sparkling windows. "Welcome to your new home, Dragon Lady," he said with a wide grin.

Maevus gaped up at the massive building. Her mouth turned dry as she realized how many Encants must belong to this guild—how successful the guild must be to boast such opulent headquarters in such a nice part of the city.

"Come on," Savrin said gently. "Let's get you introduced to the master."