CALLI & GALE: BLACKHEART TO HEART

Taking place during Adventure Log XXII: On The Move

The Flowers of Korvosa were milling around their camp for the night, stretching out sore muscles from a long day of riding they were not yet used to. Taylan was tending the fire, while Byron and Travis began discussing the watch assignments for the night over some stew Nightingale had made for everyone. The dapper gentleman brought two bowls over to his young charge, handed one to her, and they found a clear patch of grass to settle in for the meal.

They tucked in, and after a few minutes he spoke, “You know, it’s interesting Orisini made you that offer. It’s similar to something I, myself, have been doing in the evening from time to time.” His voice was pitched low to avoid it carrying to others, and he kept his eyes on his meal.

She looked at him with one delicate eyebrow raised, and decided against interrupting.

“I’ve been taking care of some of the lower-level pond scum around the city. I was asked to find someone, and what I discovered was a situation where a family had been captured, tortured, and forced to work against their will. In saving those people, I found it was a small part of a much worse whole. People of Korvosa without much to their name are being preyed upon in disgusting ways, and the guard,” he sneered, “have had all sorts of excuses for why they aren’t taking any of it seriously. So when I can, when I find the people responsible for things I’d rather not describe to you, and I put an end to them. Permanently.”

Both her eyebrows were up, now. “So that’s where you’ve been sneaking off to! Why wouldn’t you just tell me about that? We could have helped!”

“I didn’t want to bring the party any danger.” He looked at her when he said ‘party’ and she knew exactly what he meant.

“Everything we’re doing is dangerous!”

“Well, this was before what we did got quite so intense,” he looked over at the others to ensure they hadn’t noticed the leap in pitch of Calli’s voice.

“Oh. So this has been going on for a long time.” Her brows furrowed.

They had both stopped eating. “Us getting our start as a party is what inspired it. It felt good to be making a difference.”

“So you remember the last time we had a conversation like this, and I specifically asked if there were any other lies?”

“It wasn’t a lie!” He lied.

She laughed at the audacity and gestured widely with a hand, “Really?! My parents, my training, and you’re going to go with ‘a lie of omission doesn’t count?’”

“No! No. I just honestly thought it was safer for everyone if you didn’t all know.” He was speaking faster now, trying to defend himself in anticipation of what he imagined she’d say. “I hoped you couldn’t be implicated for what you aren’t aware of. That any blow back would be mine alone. But I’ve realised, with all that has happened, that’s stupid. And then I worried about you finding out… and what you’d think of me. But Calli, the things these people are doing… some of them were harvesting organs from some of the less common races and selling them off as medicine during the plague!”

Her narrowed eyes went wide, “Oh my Shelyn…”

“These are the sorts of things the guards are either stretched too thin to deal with, or are paid to look the other way.” He took a deep breath. “Some of the guards are good. But there are many who aren’t, and the people are suffering for it. Someone has to stand up for them, right? And as the heroes of Korvosa, isn’t that the sort of thing we should be stopping?”

All the initial arguments she’d been formulating left her, and she slowly nodded. “Yeah.”

He continued speaking, the confession having started now unable to be stopped, “I agree there are bigger things that we as a party need to focus on. But I can’t just forget about these smaller people getting lost in the chaos.”

She tilted her head, “How many vigilantes does Korvosa have?!”

Nightingale hadn’t expected that, and burst out laughing.

“You’ve admitted to murdering, so you aren’t The Fallen. We know who Blackjack is. So the spooky one with the unnatural sword doing acid damage…” As the pieces became more obvious for her, she suddenly had a suspicion why Vencarlo may have asked her and not his protege. Maybe he already knew. When he didn’t speak, she took it for confirmation, and moved on. “I don’t know why I’m asking, but are there any other lies? There will come a time I no longer ask.”

“No, I don’t think so. That was the last of it. I didn’t want our friends and family brought in as things that could be used against us, so I used the disguise to keep my nighttime justice separate from our daytime heroics. But obviously the world has changed since then.”

She grimaced, “Yes, they hate us anyway.”

“They hated us when we were just saving people. Now that we’re dismantling those putting people in danger, they despise us. But I still think it might be best if we keep up the ruse in general. Maybe the whole party doesn’t need to know just yet. Like, Travis. And Byron.”

She’d taken another bite of her cooling food, but rushed to swallow at this request. “Do you not trust them? After everything?”

“Our experience with them tells me I don’t think they’d take it well. If they’re in a rage they’re perfectly happy dispatching the trash, but once that passes they’re confusingly lawful.”

“It is a bit hypocritical. I’ve been trying to work out where the separation is.”

“They’re allowed to have their own opinions,” he primly retorted and took a bite of his own stew.

“When we’re all out together in a fight they’ll rip people apart with their bare hands, they revel in it! But outside of the fights when we’re discussing what might need doing with a target, they act like murder is wrong.”

“Maybe they feel I’m too cold about how I speak of it?”

“It isn’t as if you’re getting joy out of it, you aren’t cheering over the bodies and waving to a crowd.”

“Maybe they’re not comfortable with how detached I am from the action. Maybe it is worse- to be emotionless,” his voice was flat as he poked at a potato in his bowl. Calli smacked him lightly on his shoulder, and he looked at her in bewilderment. “What was that for?!”

“You aren’t allowed to be detached and emotionless,” she chided gently.

“Just about killing the bad people, my dear.”

“Well, we can’t escape that anymore, can we?” She sighed. “Okay.”

“I just feel it’s something I’ve needed to do. After everything that happened with you and….” he faltered.

Her fire reignited at the suggestion that their shared trauma, which she still felt partly responsible for, drove him to do this, “If something had happened to you on one of those nights and you had gone missing, we wouldn’t have known where you were, if you were even alive, how do you think that would have helped? To lose you and not know why?”

“Okay, no, that wouldn’t have helped-” he saw her winding up to continue scolding, “BUT that could happen to any of us at any point! Plucked off the street in the middle of the day by a green dragon or the escaped rakshasa!”

“But in those situations there’d have been witnesses to tell us about it.”

“My body would’ve been found.” He knew this was a poor defense.

“Would it? Not fed to an otyugh, as we’ve done ourselves to dispose of others?”

“I mean, there’s always a chance.”

“You’re not allowed to run off anymore like that. You have to let me know,” she stuck out her lower lip when he looked like he was going to protest. Her voice took on a childish whine, “I’ve got to know where you’re going!”

He conceded, knowing she’d only get worse. “I will tell you when I’m going out.”

She gave a sharp nod, and her gaze drifted over the other party members. Byron was cuffing Taylan upside the head for making the campfire into a large bonfire, while Travis worked to bring it back under control. They sat in silence for a few moments watching the chaos. “How do I get a bodyguard for my bodyguard?” she mused.

He again startled himself with laughter. “If it makes you feel any better, what if I took a sidekick?” It was her turn to laugh. “A second person to help me while I’m out, to watch my back.”

“Well I’ve already decided I’m going to turn down one offer because our hands are full with what we’re doing, so I won’t go. You don’t want me to tell the brawlers. So whom are you going to enlist?” her voice was full of amusement as she tried to think of his potential options.

“Another young soul, an orphan, who could use a parental figure to guide him.”

Her mind ran over Travis’ orphans at the manor. “There were a couple of the orphans who made decent rogues, that’s true.”

“Think closer to home.”

“Daesha still has her mom…”

“Closer,” and he looked over at the other half-elf in the party.

Calli looked again at Taylan. “This is a joke. Isn’t it? This has to be a joke.”

“He’s powerful. He has the same feelings I do about needing to stop those preying on the people.”

“He is powerful, yes, but I don’t think he’s successfully kept a single secret in his life!”

“Well for Alice’s sake, let’s hope he can keep this one.”

“You speak of wanting to keep people safe and you’re going to bring the Dragon Boy?”

Nightingale shrugged, “Well, I’ve never left a witness to tell, anyway.”

“Well THAT seems ominous!”

“A criminal witness,” he clarified. “And… Dragon Boy figured it out,” at this sheepish admission he took another spoonful of stew.

“Taylan?” Her voice dripped in disdain, “How?”

“He caught me sneaking in with blood on my shoes the other morning.”

“Well that’s just a Wealday in Korvosa.”

“Look, I’m as shocked as you.”

“Now, hang on, three-fifths of the party can’t know what’s going on and hide it from the other two. They’ll be pissed when they find out, and I don’t particularly want them to dislike us.”

“It’s not much of a disguise if everybody knows.”

“Well? You’re already in an adventuring party.”

“So are you! You’re in a party and you’re a noble,” he reached up and wiggled the magic hairclip that allowed her to keep her dual identity.

“And they know that, because I trust them. We trust each other with our lives, whatever form that may be in.” She put down her half-empty bowl so she could cross her arms.

He looked between her and the other men a few times and gave it some serious consideraton. “Fine. But I get to decide when I tell them.”

“Okay. Deal.”

“I don’t think there’s any point telling them right now while we’re traveling, it isn’t relevant.”

“Just make sure it comes from you. You don’t want them to find out by mistake through Taylan. They might be offended he knew before them,” she gave him a pointed look.

“It’s not my fault he figured it out first. I thought you’d be quicker on the uptake.” The bard hit his shoulder again, slightly harder, as he grinned, “I trained you better than that.”

“I’m not happy about it. But, you’re not dead yet, so…”

“I’ve been doing good work! The reason the alchemist brings me those interesting potions is because I saved his family.”

“Ohh, that makes so much sense!” She harrumphed and picked her bowl back up. “I know I don’t necessarily need you as a shadow anymore, but I don’t want you to vanish entirely.”

“I’m not planning on it.” He put an arm around her for a gentle squeeze. “This isn’t a suicidal courting of death, I’m just trying to keep other people from having to lose someone.”

“Be careful. And also, now that they’re coming at us at all hours, you might not want to be using up all your juice on extracurriculars.”

“That’s true. I doubt we’ll be doing much of it on this journey, anyway. Who am I going to protect? I see a cricket over there menacing some ants.” His voice got even more quiet as he continued joking, “Should I Blackheart up?” A pause, and then, “Did you want to see the outfit?”

She hadn’t considered he’d have a costume.

“You are a bard, wouldn’t it be good to be the first bard to write a proper song about…?”

“Oh, that’s underhanded. And of COURSE! Although now I have two songs I need to have finished by the time we return to town,” she lamented. The two of them left their bowls behind and went over to Calli’s tent, where Gale entered first and let her know when she should come in.

He wore a black fencing uniform, with the heart target patch painted black. The difference in fabric made it stand out in spite of the color, and she understood where the name had come from. He had a black fabric neck gaiter pulled up that covered him below the eyes to the suit. His hat was gone, and his usually tame pony tail was removed, letting his brown hair hang lose in curtains around his head. It was an intense figure within the tent, and she imagined how much more serious it would seem looming out of the darkness in an Korvosan alley.

“I can tell you some of the things that have happened.” He remembered the butchered recounting he’d overheard in a pub of one of his early outings. “The real stories. For your songs.”

“Well we do have hours and hours and hours of travel. It will help pass the time!” She finished taking in the details of his alterego and stepped out again so he could change back. She spoke to him through the tent as he did so. “It looks good. I’m not used to you looking so… dashing.”

His voice, confused, returned a hesitant, “Thank you?”

He heard a mischievousness enter her words,“Maybe it means while you’re out saving people you might come across a damsel to rescue?”

“Ah. I mean. I’m normally covered in the blood of other people.”

She looked across the camp to where Byron was inspecting the hippogriff egg they’d rescued. “That doesn’t bother everybody.”

From within he laughed, “I know, look at Byron.”

Having been called out, she added, “It’s passionate!”

Nightingale, once more in suit and bowler, exited the tent with a serious expression. “Please stop trying to push the romance for me. I’m not dead.”

“I’m not giving up on you.”

“No, just let me decide when it’s time.”

Chastised, she nodded.

“If there does come a day I feel like I can, and that I don’t hear her voice in my head…”

Gently she touched his arm,“You’ll probably never forget her voice.” More defensively, “And I haven’t bothered you til recently! Now that you don’t watch me as closely-”

“I have found a way to occupy my time.”

“This is not a social life! You need friends to visit-”

“I’m visiting people.”

“You need conversation-”

“Conversations are definitely taking place.”

Exasperated Calli burst, “Would you stop! Fine. Maybe I’ll give you a little longer. But you aren’t allowed to close off the world.”

“I haven’t closed off the world.”

She poked him in the gut, "You’ve gotten awful grumpy lately.”

“There’s a lot to be grumpy about!”

“That’s why we have to work extra hard to counter it with sunshine.” She gave him a bright smile as she retrieved their bowls with the remains of their dinner.

“You can be the sunshine in my life.”

“That’s a lot of pressure,” she passed him his meal.

“You’re doing very well at it so far.”

They had been wandering back towards the others when Calli stopped, “Taylan?”

“He just needs some guiding. Like you did.”

“Touché. But it did take you a few years.”

“I’m hoping in a few years the town won’t need Blackheart anymore.”

“And then there’ll be a social group?”

Resigned, Nightingale gave a simple,“Yes.”

She held out a hand, “I’m holding you to that.”

He took it and shook once, “Deal.”