The Black Knight of Tyr: Mercy

[Killthorne]

The temple of the Circle of Seven Daggers remained relatively untouched by the storm above. Arakiel spent the day with his children, keeping them company as best he could, while his mind kept wandering to the village and the last few days. Xavien, who was the most empathic of the twins, noticed his father's occasional drifts into deep thought, and finally tugged on his robe sleeve.

" Pa? Are you alright?" Xavien asked him, with a concerned look in his face, much like the way his father gets when the same feeling arises. Xavien's iridescent green eyes stared into his father's face looking for signs of trouble.

" Aye... I guess so. " Arakiel nodded to his boy, and it was all he could muster up. His mind was on the man Lyon, who he had threatened a few tendays back and was now residing in the 'Springs, and the mysterious storm and stick creatures that were all over Daggerdale. He glanced over to his daughter who was humming to herself, and playing with one of her dolls, and turned back to Xavien. " There was some trouble I got into again." He spoke quietly to his son, with all honesty on his face.

" Aye?" Xavien's face deepened in worry. For a boy of seven winters, he was beginning to understand the hard life of the dalesfolk of Daggerdale. " What is it, this time?"

" Well... " Arakiel hesitated with a small sigh. He smiled briefly, and turned to the concerned boy, speaking softly as to not stir his daughter playing nearby. " Yer father's gone an' done somethin' wrong a tenday 'er so ago. I told some people ta' leave that didn't... an' when they didn't I got real angry an' yelled at everyone, includin' yer mother. Finally, one o' them people left, but the other stayed behind. Also.... I gave the man that stayed, my sword." Arakiel turned a shade red at his sudden embarrassment, and his son's jaw dropped slightly.

" You gave him Malek's Reven--" Xavien was interrupted by his father's quick frown, and a finger to his lips. Both father and son, turned to look at Teia who had suddenly taken interest in them. Teia had grown into something of a bull-headed, fully-spirited, and worrysome girl. She usually would speak her mind bluntly, and would get upset easily if she was not allowed to help her father out. Arakiel's recent travels to Suzail to visit his mother made Teia very unhappy, as she really wished that she had gone with to see her grandmother.

Teia looked at them both with a slight frown, and crossed her arms across her chest. Arakiel and Xavien looked at each other momentarily and both gulped. They looked back at the pouting girl with the bright-yellow hair, and remained quiet.

" Hmph." She turned her nose up at them, turned away, and walked towards a nearby tree and disappeared around it's trunk, taking her doll with. Both father and son sighed with relief. Xavien and Arakiel returned their gaze upon each other.

" You gave Malek's Revenge to that man?" Xavien asked quietly and his face scrunched up in disbelief.

" Aye," Arakiel explained soft spokenly," he said he could do my job, so I gave 'em my sword. Yer pa was sorta frustrated at wit's end at that point." Arakiel half-grinned, again his cheeks flush with embarrassment. Xavien shook his head side-to-side barely, and looked at his bare feet, and unconciously wiggled his toes.

" This man has scars," Arakiel glanced down at his son's wiggling toes," all over his body. It's as if... he's been tortured er' maimed by somethin'. I sorta feel bad I accused the man o' bein' evil, when it looks as if evil has done nothin' but harm him." Xavien stopped to look into his father's hazel eyes. Xavien saw compassion and nodded.

" Is he gonna stay in the 'Springs then pa'?" Xavien asked with the curious tone to his soft voice. The boy's left eyebrow cocked upwards, like Arakiel's own mirror image, and Arakiel nodded once. The boy returned the nod, and looked ahead in thought.

" He needs help." Arakiel said softly, staring straight ahead at Aramis, the centaur, who was sneaking around the trunk of the tree Teia was behind, to peek at her. " But I am afraid that I cannot offer it. He seems pretty strong on the outside, yet somethin's just not right on the in. An' he's hidin' somethin'. Nay, he's hidin' alot." Arakiel frowned at the thought momentarily, but turned his thoughts around. Xavien pulled his legs towards his torso and rested his head on his knees looking up at his father with seemingly deep analysis.

" But I intend ta' make right, an' show that man fellowship an' compassion. I want ta' train him actually." Arakiel looked down at his son with a solemn face, and warm smile. " That is, if he wants me to. He thinks I am crazy." Arakiel grinned brightly, as did Xavien. They both laughed softly, and Xavien leaned on him.

" You're not crazy pa'." Xavien asserted his father, as Arakiel wrapped his arm around him. Arakiel leaned down and kissed the top of the boy's head, and the boy smiled warmly.

" Aye, well, I did get a bit too angry." Arakiel bit his lip.

" How angry?" Xavien asked, trying to conceal his smile but failing miserably.

" Like drawing out yer sword, an' ready ta' kill angry." Arakiel stared ahead and shook his head at his own folly. " I am lucky that some rangers kicked me outta the village though. It would be a shame ta' have killed him over this... an' ta' find out the man was already scarred by whatever tormented him 'afore, after he was dead... well, I'd be feelin' pretty sick about it. He deserves a bit o' mercy eh."

Xavien smiled content at his father's words and wrapped his arms around his father's chest. Arakiel ran his hand through the boy's charcoal hair, and sighed happily, as the thunder above rumbled and gained reverberation, as it descended down into the cavern and temple below.

~Killthorne~

[GlassRain]

loss.. of...words.

period.

[Mord]

"You havent seen the last of me Mr. Killthorne, mark my woooooords!"
*Runs off into the setting sun, cackling like an idiot*

[Mikayla]

Nice Killi, very nice. I like the drama unfolding and the repercussions it has away from the 'action.'