Heir of Iron

The walls, that would do. The big man took his steaming bowl and ascended the granite stairs, pushing through the fortress proper to the edges of its fortifications. Following a long turret up to a catapult nest that had survived the siege unscathed, he looked about himself. It was empty of sentries after the warning to be away from the walls, but Bart felt safe enough with the First Blade at his side, even if he'd left his armor near a cot in the barracks. The big man sat down at the edge of the battlements, tucking himself into the hollow of a crenelation as a table, looking out across the battlefield and the last foxfire glow of the ravening Wild Hunt patrolling the field. His eyes turned up to the moons again, his first good view of them in a year, large and full as they ascended the horizon over the sharp-edged, stony spears of torn earth extending out along the Kingsroad. The moonrise had more to offer his mind than before, the meaning behind the Twin Maiden Moons weighed on his heart as he ate, watching them rise with naught to keep him company but the faint caress of the wind and his thoughts. It was quiet. A good quiet.

"Hey," came a familiar voice, in a familiar context. Bart turned his head a bit.

"Hey," he responded to Lidia, the little thief settling down in the crenelation next to him, her face flushed and almost shy as she met his eyes, shoulder to shoulder with the big Paladin, leaning gently against him. He leaned back, just a bit.

"I been lookin' for ye for a spell. Sommat the boys saw ye goin' up here, so..." she spread her hands. She wore much of what he expected, but her soft clothing and exposed limbs had been traded for a shirt of mail over a padded gambeson, bracers, and gloves over her delicate hands. Her fiery red hair still was bare though, save for her signature red cowl and scarf, all still wrapped around her in comfortable familiarity.

"I needed a bit of quiet, that's all." Bart answered, looking back up at the moons, "It has been a full day, to say the least." Lidia laughed at that a bit, nervousness in her tone.

"That's puttin' it mild as plain oat mash," she agreed, threading her fingers together as she looked up at the stars and their two sister satellites along with him. Silence fell over the two of them again, a comfortable blanket as he ate and the two simply abided in that quiet.

"Gram seems a doughty soul," Bart said after a long while, licking the bits of cheese from one finger as he turned his bi-colored gaze on the little changeling, her eyes gleaming with the inhuman shine in the night's dimness — and her face with the blush.

"Ye... he's a good 'un." she hedged and bit her lip a bit. "Cithara seems... well, she's a right pretty thing. Gorgeous and uh..." she hedged back into silence, Bart grinned at her.

"Are we to dance around it all day? Yes, Little Sister — Cithara and I are together. I love her as my Lady, Patron of my Order... and as a man does a woman." he said, and the little thief's eyes went a bit wide, and she colored a bit more, eyes flickering across the middle distance.

"... So ye've... you know." she met Bart's gaze a moment then made a circle with two fingers and bawdily thrust her index finger into it. Bart laughed.

"We have, I will not besmirch her by giving you details," he said, and Lidia held up her hands, waving them in mild panic.

"God's Blood nae do tha'!" she spat, her face a furious red hue.. yet she paused and gnawed her lip once more; "I mean... well... does it ye know..." she swallowed, her curiosity burning her from within, and the red of her face showing it. "Ye know... fit together, right." Bart grinned at her and looked back to the moons.

"Like I was made for her. In all ways," he answered succinctly, and the little changeling's blush did not fade a bit with that answer, but she nodded furiously, folding her hands as Bart took a long sip of the waterskin he'd carried with him, offering it to her out of kindness — to occupy her hands, and her mouth before she kept going. The little thief eagerly took it, sipping happily to wet her suddenly dry mouth.

"Does Gram 'fit' with you properly as well?" he asked, hurling a spear into the elephant in the room without hesitation. Lidia coughed and spat out a mouthful of water as it went clear up her nose, the fit of hacking brief as she shook her head, wiping her mouth.

"Nae ye fookin' prick." she hissed at him but was smiling as she said it. "... Ye noticed, did ye?" she asked, and Bart nodded, smiling at her.

"It was a surprise, but hard not to notice. You look at him as Naima does Rashid." Lidia sighed, folding her arms.

"I know. Nae a person here who dinnae know I guess," she said, but she was still smiling as she hugged herself, leaning her shoulder into Bart's. "When ye... fell. He was there to offer me comfort." she said and hesitated... "... not like ye'd think. He... prayed with me." she said and Bart raised an eyebrow at that.

"He's a man of the Faith then?" Lidia nodded.

"Paladin in all but name, fer all ah'm concerned," she said, trembling. "He... was a good man tae me, Bart," she said, smiling down at nothing in particular, clearly seeing not the stone but recent, warm memories. She paused a minute, looking back up at Bart.

"Will ye God want me? I'm not... one o' his, not all the way through," she said, her alien eyes gleaming with worry. Bart reached out, putting his arm around her. She shivered but leaned in close to his chest, letting him simply hold her there.

"God would love anyone who asked, even the Queen's monsters were offered solace under his Lidless Eye, as were the Sidhe... Cithara already has designs upon you, at the very least," he said, having seen the familiar gleam of possessiveness in her eyes when she'd met the little thief. Lidia's heart fluttered a bit, and she took a deep breath.

"Gram said as much, not as... particularly as ye, but... well ye're shaggin' a literal goddess I cannae just assume ye don't know better," she said, getting a snort out of Bart for that. "Anyroad... Gram prayed with me. Taught me ye faith... more than the wee bits I 'membered from me Da." she continued, seemingly more comfortable in Bart's familial embrace.

"It... well it dinnae jus' happen in any fashion, I decided..." she frowned a bit, looking up at him. "Promise me ye won't be mad?"

"Why would I be angry at you for wanting what your heart wants?" Bart asked her, leaning his head down to press a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm 'shaggin' a Unicorn, I feel I have lost much ground to judge others upon for matters of love." he answered, getting a childish giggle from the young changeling as he said the word 'shagging' in a horrible approximation of her Heartlands accent.

"Well... o' course, but... well when ye fell... I felt a hollow space. Right 'ere." she said, touching her belly. "Ye'd filled in that space, I dinnae even realize how much. Big, strong Bart," she said, shivering a bit. "I needed sommat like that. Gram was... Big. Strong." she smiled, an intimate smile Bart felt he did not deserve to see. "Warm. Inside an' out. Just like ye were but..." She bit her lip.

"I ne'er saw ye in... any romantic way, nae offense intended but..." she smiled at Bart, meeting his gaze. "Ye're my big brother. All muscles and smiles and bigness. Like Da was. Good, big, dependable men ye both." she said and looked away. "Gram was... is, more. He dinnae fill in the same spots, but new ones next door, ye know?" Bart nodded wryly, scratching his bare chin.

"Yeah, I do. Now, at least," he said, and she nodded. Puffing out her cheeks as she blew out her breath.

"Well, tae make a lot of sobbin' soft-hearted shite short, we spent time together. He simply was... there, where nobody else was," she said, shrugging. "Naima and Rashid were so very busy, so much tae do when you're powerful. Th' dandy was stuck in his own shite. Nae one o' us was truly well when we thought ye gone." she explained, Bart's face fell at that, looking away from her and getting a bump with her shoulder in answer. "'Ey, don't be like that... it's not like ye went out ye way tae die."

"No, but I am plagued by such choices — putting myself at risk with no thought of the hurt it causes my loved ones," he said, and she reached out, grasping his hand and giving him a smile, a warm sort of smile that was only for him.

"Iffin' ye stopped darin' the cosmos tae do the worst they can, ye wouldn't be you anymore. Yer stubborn, and brave and I cannae tell some days iffin' its 'cause ye are valorous — or just too dumb to know better." she said, squeezing his fingers.

"Thanks... Little Sister." Bart said pointedly, squeezing her hand back. He had heard such words from Cithara and others... but such recognition from the stalwart, cagey little changeling was meaningful to him in ways he couldn't parse. She nodded, taking a breath.

"Gram is a good man, Bart," she said, shaking her head. "He would nae even touch me at first, even when I made it clear I fancied his looks," she said. Bart grinned at her wickedly.

"It's the mustaches," he said confidently, and she blushed, puffing her cheeks at him a bit.

"... Ye, It is a bit. I like mah men tae look like men," she said implacably, earning another smirk from Bart.

"Ah, so this is why you and Nazir jockey like fresh recruits." he said, stroking his chin; "Although, Nazir is hardly the foppish dandy we met in Lachheim." he hedged, getting a disgusted snort from the girl.

"Ugh, that painted popinjay? Ach, ne'er in a million years, big brother," she spat, shaking her head. "He's a good man, but I cannot stand the constant cock o' th' walk routine," she said, shaking her head, giving Bart a bit of a glare and he held up one hand.

"Easy, easy, I get it. No more interruptions," he said, miming locking his lips with an invisible key, Lidia gave him an obscene gesture casually and leaned against his arm.

"Nae, ye were right. Nazir... he and I are tae much alike really. Scrappy and shite. Ne'er would happen... but Gram." she went quiet a moment, eyes wide and full. "He's special... forgettin' bein' tall and strong and quick as a whip, he's dedicated." she breathed, looking up at Bart with great big eyes.

"Ye prolly understand that better than anyone else, but he has so much... passion, for his duty," she said, smiling. "It's comforting, tae be honest. He would nae touch me, calling me 'Little Redcap' and giving me the grace of his pretty tongue an' soft words." she said, looking up. "You know he composes music?" Bart raised an eyebrow.

"Music huh? Nazir must love that." Bart remarked thoughtfully, Lidia grinned.

"Aye, that part is true. The two o' them together, two voices o' the angels singin' jus' for us." she said a bit dreamily, shaking her head. "I had tae climb him to make my intentions known, ye helmets are a fookin' pain in the arse tae remove, jus' so ye know," she said with a hot blush on her cheeks. "Worth it though... nae my first kiss, but..." she hugged Bart's arm a bit. "... should have been."

"I'm glad," Bart said, pulling her close to squeeze her, getting a little cry from her as her ribs creaked.

"Ye gods, Hayseed." she hissed, pushing at his chest a bit; "Ye muscles have muscles now, fookin' Lady's Teats," she said, getting Bart's eyes up at her tiny bit of blasphemy, she made a face suddenly, meeting Bart's gaze. "Oh... right I suppose I should nae use that one anymore..." she said, Bart nodding.

"Besides, her teats are fabulous, do not take them in vain," he said, and Lidia's face once again heated as if her blood had reached a rolling boil under her skin, causing Bart to cackle darkly at her embarrassment, earning himself a little dig of her elbow into his ribs.

"Anyroad." She continued, over Bart's tittering. "I staked my claim in sight o' god on him... in perhaps a less than godly way, but he still would nae touch me more than a mite," she said, a bit of frustration in her voice. She frowned. "He told me 'Such wants are desperation, not love. Slow is the fires of the heart.'" she said, assuming his careful, cool tone in slight mockery, her breath in a soft huff. "An' then he kissed me so hard I lost th' feelin' in my toes," she added in a quiet voice, causing Bart to grin.

"I've had a few of those." was all he said, and she nodded furiously.

"So... that's all of it. I think ah' love him, Bart. Well and truly." she said, shaking her head. "Ah'm sure if he'd caved, ah'd have jumped his bones in grief an' need and been worse for it, instead..." She looked at her fingers, flexing them a bit. "He jus' took me hand... and held it through the hurtin'," she said, looking up at Bart with wide, vulnerable eyes.

"He took me hand, an' asked nothin' back but me love Bart. I cannae believe such a thing, but he did."

Bart's surprise was only overwhelmed by his happiness, Lidia deserved this. She deserved so much. He took her little hand, leaning her against his shoulder again as she drifted to silence, he had nothing to offer that... his words would just be pablum, the reassurance she sought he could only deliver with touch — touch that both of them had been denied all their life. The familiar, familial touch of siblings.

"What's she like... ye know... intimately," Lidia asked after a long several minutes. Bart raised an eyebrow and she frowned; "Like Gram is, not in the bedchamber you fookin' brick." she hissed, getting a fresh smile from Bart as he leaned forward onto an elbow, propping his chin in his palm — he could feel her presence somewhere close, downstairs — likely with the faithful, or more likely still with Naima, speaking warmly of her distant sister.

"She is... immense, deep like an ocean, I can lose myself in her touch, her scent, her warm, welcoming eyes. She fills in all the places that were empty with her love, she put me back together after Parias nigh-on killed me," he said, and Lidia reached up gently, touching his face by the golden prosthetic eye, he shook his head.

"Nay, that was... someone else. An unexpected friend, another time — I'll tell you about him," he said and she nodded. Daedolon was a difficult conversation to have... and he simply had not the strength to relive the year of brutal training at the moment.

"How can ye... you know... love her, like that?" She asked him in a timid voice, "Isn't that like sommat like lovin' a 'superior officer'?" she asked, hedging around what she clearly wanted to ask. Bart shrugged.

"She is beyond me, but I apparently was... made for her," he said, looking off towards the twin moons as they coasted across the sky slowly. "It seems trite, yet it is truth. I am... I am some tool of fate." he said, Lidia's gaze never wavering from his face as he stared beyond. "A figure of some loose prophecy none speak of nor know... but I know that I was made to love her, built for her to measure by my life's circumstances," he said solemnly, a smile breaking his face as he looked down at her.

"Imagine that, fated to fall for the Queen of Love. 'Tis like a storybook with half the pages soaked in blood," he said and fell silent for a long while as the little thief laid her hand on his heart, leaning against his arm again.

"Ye say it... an' I believe you. Incredible as it be tae hear... I believe you." she said, looking up at Bart with a smile. "Ye heart's too big for any ol' lass o' the dales, makes a queer sort o' sense you'd only be filled by someone with a heart too big for the whole world," she said, squeezing his hand.

"She's great and terrible. I have gazed into places through her that no man was meant to, and yet I walked them unafraid... she makes me want to be better, to push forwards for eternity until she, I, and our love are all that is left." he breathed, and Lidia looked up, eyes a bit wary.

"Surely that's bein' a mite poetic..." she hedged nervously, and then... Bart sighed. His shoulders sank a bit and the little rogue pressed closer to him. "... It's nae poems and pretty words, is it Bart?" she breathed. He shook his head, meeting her gaze.

"I... spent a year in her constant care. She... radiates life. The very essence of vitality at all times, just being near her speeds healing, charges the blood and bones with vigor..." he took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "... Extends life." Lidia's own gaze went wide.

"Ye... ye were with her a year..." she murmured, putting two and two together. She'd always been smarter than Bart as well, his adopted Sister and Brother too, sharp where he was dull. Bart sighed.

"I... will likely live forever, so long as I remain at her side," he said in quiet finality. "If the claws of a beast or the blade of a foe do not end me early... I will see the end of this world, and whatever waits beyond."

The words struck Lidia like a blow, and she fell silent. Curling around his heavy bicep with both arms, she pressed her face into it, her grip growing painfully tight. A pain he bore without complaint.

"Ye... ye won't leave me, then. Not ever, right?" she said, hissing through unshed tears. "Ye almost broke that promise once... ye won't do it again, right?" she begged him in a small tone. Bart smiled, but it was full of sorrow he had yet to parse.

"I don't know, little sister. I will try my best, God's Blood I'll tear the earth asunder and pull down the stars to keep that promise if I have to," he said, and she squeezed him ever tighter, her grip stronger than it had been before — like Nazir, the months of siege had hardened her, inside and out.

"Ye promise?" she asked again, her voice small, childlike... but he reached out and took her face in his palm, all of his new scars and tanned skin stood out against her pale, freckled face — it had new scars as well, a thin line across the bridge of her nose to just beneath her right eye.

"I promise. As I promised Cithara... until the Pale Dawn calls me," he said and she nodded, sniffling hard but not crying, not yet.

"I still 'ave to carry th' Moons," she said quietly, leaning her cheek on the man's arm. "I can't put the world on my back, ye still only got the shoulders broad enough for that."

"I've been exercising, I think I can manage the world, and you too," he said softly, and she smiled, and then the tears fell and she hugged him. Not his arm, not around the back — she pressed herself between him and the rampart and burrowed herself into his chest, weeping tears of happiness and relief into him.

"Oh god Bart... it really is you..." she breathed, the second time that night he'd heard that phrase, she looked up at him with naked relief. "I... we all feared, ye had been taken by the fae, or that the Lady was... not as she seemed, ye seemed so... different. So much more that ye had been. But it's really ye under all the armor and glamour." she bawled to him, her ugly crying face reassuring more than anything else could be. He hugged his friend — his sister truly — back, and for the second time that night, he simply held someone deeply important to him as they let themselves go in his arms. The concerns of his self and soul seemed to be shared... they truly must have thought him lost.

"I am myself... just tempered, sharpened, and made as I should be," he said to her, and she leaned back, looking him up and down. At his broad chest, scarred hands... and the golden gleam of his prosthetic eye... but also the gentle softness of the blue one she recognized.

"That ye are... could ye..." she swallowed hard, wiping her dripping nose on a sleeve. "Could ye tell the Lady... tell her thank ye," she said, hugging him tightly.

"Thank ye, for bringing my big brother back."

"She knows. She felt it the first time you laid eyes upon her," he said, and she shook her head.

"I dinnae care. Tell her anyway. My heart's mine, and I'll spill its bloody contents on my own time." she sniffed defiantly and huddled close to him again. They fell to silence as the shapes of the wild hunt twisted and danced below on the field in their grim revelries.