A Dish Served Cold, Chapter 1: Wiry Redheads
R.Y. 775, Naru’s Laboratory, the Range Homes, the Hundred Kingdoms
Suggested Music: Lupe Fiasco – Words I Never Said
In a scene that was too become all too common in the coming years, Naru sat listlessly on the roof of the sturdy log building that housed her laboratory. She leaned back into an Essence focusing tower designed to assist in astrological readings, her form shielded from the view of most of the range homes. An empty bottle of cheap wine had been collecting cigarette butts for the last hour; the bottle had been full the hour before that. As Naru lit another, she smirked, recalling an interaction with Ash years ago regarding the very same custom. The Fire-aspected member of the Circle with No Name was notorious for utilizing spent alcohol containers as receptacles for the leavings of a good smoke, lest they litter the deck of his precious Geronimo. Naru, having heard about this from Ravenous Moon, Waning Heart, remarked to Ash that despite all her foibles, she’d never sink so low as to be smoking and drinking so relentlessly that collecting smoked cigarettes in recently-emptied wine bottles became the most convenient cleanup solution.
“Eating my words…” Naru thought to herself. She started laughing at the thought, nearly losing her cigarette as she did so. She was tremendously drunk; though associating with the Circle with No Name had endowed her with some level of tolerance, her small, mortal frame wasn’t built handle that much wine in that little time. The laughing seamlessly became crying, drenching her cheeks in hot tears. The situation was so pitiful that tears again became laughter, highlighting more than anything how broken Naru had become. Ironically, even drinking reminded her of Opal – the Grass-Spider had even monopolized the idea of self-medication in Naru’s memory. She had lost everything. Opal left her, Star and Sky were dead, and she was well-past any age she could reasonably expect to Exalt. While she was on amicable terms with many Grass-Spiders, including most of the Circle with No Name, those relationships would have to be redefined outside of the context of her now-defunct relationship with Opal. She was alone, virtually friendless, and felt powerless next to a cadre of Exalted assassins. She had the presence of mind to realize that suicide would be a foolish overreaction, though at the present moment she failed to see the harm in drinking herself into her next life. Maybe Opal had rubbed off on her more than she cared to admit.
“Now I would’ve thought a Lookshy Ranger would know better than to light up a cigarette whilst hiding in her nest.” Ravenous Moon, Waning Heart’s soft voice broke the din of Naru’s emotional rapids. Having hovered quietly up to the level of the roof, she took a seat against the next available wall on the four-sided Essence focusing tower, oriented perpendicularly to Naru. The tower wasn’t much wider than a person, so the two could easily see and hear each other. Despite Moon’s initial jest, she continued with a more concerned tone.
“Naru… This is the fourth night you’ve been up here… And I’m guessing that wine bottle isn’t from last night.” Moon leaned forward, peering around the corner at Naru, who replied after a moment spent regaining her composure.
“Nope… no it’s not… It’s not.” Although it seemed like Naru might have more to say, a silence hung between them for what seemed like an eternity. When it became clear that Moon wasn’t leaving, Naru spoke up again.
“She always used to sit the edge of one the benches in the lab while drinking a bottle of wine – always straight from the bottle – and heckle me while I was scribbling equations and symbols on the chalkboard. It’d be funny at first – it was cute for a few years, but later… I guess I should’ve seen it. One bottle became two. Wine became whiskey. Playful jests became antagonizing… full of resentment… It was like Opal, for all of her power, didn’t know how to get out, and started to hate me for it. And me, spending even more time down in that damn lab, even when I was with Opal, because I think I knew it wasn’t right anymore, but I didn’t want to see that. And so it just spiraled out of control… Anyway, this wine… always reminds me of that.”
She hiccupped and leaned back heavily into the post behind her, letting her head roughly tilt back into the cold iron surface. “Ugh. What the fuck,” Naru said, to nobody in particular. Moon stared into the night for a moment, planning her next action. Beginning to doubt her decision to come up at all, she knew full well that her friend would be inconsolable and it was still too soon for her words to be of any comfort to the heartbroken Naru. Moon’s own eyes began to well up with tears as she contemplated the situation and its undeniable pathos: Two mortal associates, their worlds crushed more or less solely by their involvement with forces so much larger, so much stronger than themselves – Star and Sky, her colleagues, her friends, her crewmates, in the scheme of things, were little more than collateral damage in a twisted game of gateway being played by Dragon-Blooded players. Two mortal associates, sitting on a roof at night, wondering if there was anything they could do about it. Moon didn’t stop Naru, even though she could plainly hear her uncorking another bottle of wine. Instead, she extended a hand.
Maybe Opal had the right idea when it came to coping.
Naru wordlessly passed Moon the bottle, who took a generous gulp of wine. It tasted as stale and dusty as the basement it probably came from. Moon sighed and rested the bottle on her thigh, still grasping its neck. She stood up, walking ninety degrees around the tower to the side Naru was sitting on. Moon looked down at Naru, giving her a sad smile and marching orders.
“Scoot.”
Naru wordlessly shuffled leftward, making enough room for Moon to support her back against the wall. Moon took a seat on Naru’s right, stretching her wings a bit upward, above her head, so as to avoid having her left wing rest squarely on Naru’s face. The position looked uncomfortable, but was no more unnatural for Moon than sitting with one’s hands clasped above one’s head would be for most people. Moon took another drink of the bottle, at which point Naru made a grab for it. Moon easily moved the bottle out of her reach, prompting an annoyed grunt from Naru, who voiced her displeasure.
“I didn't ask you to come up here, you know.”
Moon replied, “You didn’t. But I think I had to come up, because seeing you up here night after night, it was starting to look like you really believed you were alone here. And you aren’t. First of all, Opal breaking it off with you has no bearing on your value to the Order – remember, you guys met well after you were recruited. It’s not like you’re dead weight.”
Naru shot back, somewhat snarkily, “I’m not questioning –“ Naru hiccupped, then continued, “I’m not questioning my value as a pair of hands and a brain willing to read astronomical charts.”
Moon shook her head, taking another healthy drink of wine. After evading another attempted grab from Naru, Moon scolded her with a half-joking tone, saying, “You need to cool off for a bit. Besides, I’ve got some catching up to do.” Moon then continued her reply to Naru’s retort.
“Naru, you know that’s not at all what I was trying to say. I don’t know why I came up here, exactly, to be honest with you. At first I think I wanted company – I’ve spent so much time over the past few days trying to make sense of why Star and Sky had to die, and I don’t think I’m ever going to, and I think I just wanted someone I could just turn my mind off and be sad with… But after seeing you up here for a few days, and I started to think about how alone you must feel. Hell, I feel alone just with the Geronimo’s crew being two short. These are tough times. And I guess why I really came up here is tell you that aren’t alone, and you’re not just a utility – you’re the face of the Order’s associates.”
Moon paused for a moment; it was clear she had Naru’s attention, but for the wine bottle from which she was still being deprived. Moon shook her head with a small chuckle and handed the bottle to Naru.
“Here,” Moon said, “But you have to promise to hear me out.”
Naru nodded and delivered her gratitude in the form of a small smile – her first of the night – and took a long pull. As she did, Moon continued speaking.
“It’s not always easy to be mortal in this environment. I didn’t always know what my place was, and I wasn’t always so sure about trying to do what I do. I used to think my wings were something to be ashamed of – that they were a Wyld mutation dooming me to the life an outcast. I later found that they aren’t entirely an accident, but for a long time I had pretty minimal self-esteem. But I got out of my shell even while I thought I was still a Wyld mutant, and it was mostly because of you.”
Naru stopped her rampant imbibing and set the bottle down gently, looking at Moon with her red, swollen eyes, moving some of her matted hair out of her face. It looked like she was trying to say something, but couldn’t find the words, so Moon continued.
“Even before you were with Opal, you were never afraid of being mortal, and never thought twice about trying to keep up with the Dragon-Bloods. You worked however hard you had to, figuring out how to wield Essence – without any special predilection toward doing so, unlike a lot of us Essence users, studying hard enough to keep up with any of our astrologers, training day in and day out to make sure you weren’t a liability on the battlefield, and still managing to remain an authority on all things Seventh-Legion. That level of determination is pretty rare, and I don’t think you realize how inspiring it is. It’s easy to feel like you can’t make a difference here, but you’ve proven your value to the Order time and again, and you’ve motivated a lot of associates, including me, to do the same.”
Naru stared blankly at Moon in the silence that followed. It persisted to a point just shy of tension, when Naru finally spoke.
“I… don’t know what to say. I think that’s what I needed to hear, but I think that… “ she hiccupped several times and subsequently blinked several times, quite deliberately, trying to keep her head straight enough to remember what she was talking about. Apparently successful, she continued, “I think that I’m not in any kind of state to process my gratitude for you telling me that. So I don’t know what to say, but… thank you.”
Moon smiled, gently reaching across Naru’s lap and taking the wine bottle from her left hand. She set it beside herself, then stood up, smiling and extending a hand to Naru.
“How about you do me a favor, then, and come down from here? I think what you need is some sleep, and probably some willow bark tea in the morning, but what you need is most assuredly not more rooftop drinking.”
Naru, resigning herself to Moon’s sympathy, nodded and took Moon’s hand, pulling herself up. The first time she lifted up her foot, she nearly stumbled clean off the roof, prompting Moon to quickly jump backwards and catch Naru’s other hand; Moon was now holding both. She balanced Naru against herself while hovering just over the edge of the building’s rooftop, her wings fluttering quietly. Although the weight of another person was too heavy for Moon to fly with, she flew next to Naru and guided her in her walk to the ladder, hovering next to her as she slowly and clumsily made her way down it. Once they were both safely on the ground, Moon took Naru’s left arm and slung it around her shoulders, letting Naru brace herself heavily against Moon. Moon could tell from Naru’s progressively slumping posture that Naru’s last few gulps of wine were still setting in.
“Let’s get you home.” The two of them made their way to Naru’s cabin on the border of the proper Range Homes and the associates’ village, and Moon cautiously opened the door whilst still balancing a now-obliterated Naru. The cabin was unlocked; in a camp full of the world’s best thieves and assassins, locks had little meaning and many people had stopped bothering. As Moon leaned forward to light one the lanterns that hung from the cabin walls, Naru grinned sleepily and leaned in, planting a teasing kiss on what turned out to be Moon’s cheek thanks to a quick, deflecting head turn by Moon. Moon breathed a sigh of relief at having downgraded Naru’s advance to a playful peck, and eased Naru away from herself, carefully sitting the inebriated associate on her bed. As she did so, she supplied a gentle rebuff.
“While I’m flattered, darling, you are quite drunk and I don’t think either of us would be thrilled about that decision come sunrise.”
Naru laughed guiltily in response, before swaying a bit and collapsing onto her pillows.
Naru was certain she’d been in some fight that she barely survived. Her every muscle ached, her stomach turned, and more than anything, her head was in a pain she’d not felt in ages – or at least not since yesterday morning. A moment of hazy deduction led to the conclusion that she’d awoken in her own bed, and that was when some memories of the previous night returned to her, although they were limited. Rather than trying to process them, she looked angrily at the sunlight pouring in painfully through her window. The curtains were just out of reach from her laying position, so Naru instead pulled the sheets up as far up as they could go and buried her face in her pillow, groaning. There was a light rapping at the door; it was soft and measured enough that whoever carried it out must have been aware that Naru would be in a delicate state. It had to be Moon. Naru rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling for moment, piecing together what had happened the previous night and wondering just how embarrassing her behavior might’ve been. While Naru wasn’t keen on being reminded of it, she did remember Moon’s kind words.
“… Come in…” Naru said, somewhat hoarsely. She was parched.
Moon gently opened the door and closed it just as gently, stepping inside. She immediately walked to the edge of Naru’s bed and leaned forward to draw the curtains closed, mercifully cutting off the direct sun that had been tormenting the viciously hungover Naru.
Naru smirked as Moon leaned forward, thinking to herself, “Moon, always looking out… She’s too damn nice to me –“. That’s when Moon’s similar posture conjured an extremely blurred memory of a nearly stolen kiss, filling Naru with a dread so complete that she nearly forgot about the physical after-effects of her excessive binge drinking. At first she wasn’t sure whether or not she should say anything, but Moon wasn’t even a tenth as inebriated as she was, and certainly remembered. Naru sat up in bed, rubbing her bloodshot eyes miserably before breaking the ice.
“Fuck, holy gods… Moon, hey, I’m sorry about that. That was not…”
Moon chuckled slightly, holding up a hand and interrupting Naru, “Say no more, I get it. You have a thing for wiry redheads.” She hoped her jab about Opal wasn’t premature, but Moon wanted to lighten the mood. She wasn’t at all offended by Naru’s drunken attempt at a kiss; hanging out with Ash and Fay as often as she did, she’d grown rather desensitized to sexually open atmospheres. To Moon’s relief, Naru returned a self-deprecating laugh, leaning back on her elbows.
“Heh, seems I do. Seriously, though, what you said – if I, er, remember correctly – it meant a lot to me for you to come up there and say that. Sorry I wasn’t in such great shape… I guess we can leave it at that,” Naru replied with a pained chuckle.
Moon was busy in Naru’s kitchen, where she hung a kettle over a fire. She began muddling some willow bark, an infusion of which served as a modest painkiller, which Moon was relatively certain Naru was presently in great need of. As she used the rounded end of a wooden spoon to muddle the leaves, she said, “I meant every word of it. And, I must confess, while my praise was sincere, I had another motive for coming to talk to you.”
Naru slowly and carefully cast the blankets aside, and, still wearing last night’s clothes, got out of bed and staggered over to her kitchen table. As she walked, she replied, “Oh yeah?”
Moon nodded. “If you remember – and you might, you might not –” Moon smirked, “we talked about how easy it can be to feel powerless around here sometimes. But this whole Veil War… I mean, it’s not the Dragon-Bloods, the made members, who are out there in the trenches. It’s us. And if we’re the victims, why can’t we do something about it? I get that politics and whatever silly rules of engagement govern shadow wars between assassin clans prohibit, say, the Circle With No Name from going out there and striking at the White Veil Society’s associates, but we are not the Circle With No Name. We’re associates. And we’re pissed. I know that your life is pretty much a mess right now –”
Naru started to speak up as she eased herself into one of the wooden chairs at the table, considering a half-playful suggestion that her life wasn’t completely a mess, but realizing she had no leg to stand on, particularly in her present state, she allowed Moon to continue uninterrupted.
“—But I also know that Star and Sky were your friends, too. I know it won’t bring ‘em back, but whaddya say we give them the vengeance they deserve?”
Naru was a little surprised to hear such a suggestion from Moon, but despite what felt like a life-threatening hangover, the thought of some good-old-fashioned revenge sounded like a perfect way to break a slump and do right by her comrades.
“I like where your head is at, Moon. I’m in.”