My heart pounds as I hear the door open and footsteps walking carefully in to the room.
"I can smell you, love." Bav's voice sends chills down my spine, straight to my core.
My insides quiver and I feel the wetness flood between my legs. My heart pounds like crazy, knowing he's about to find me.
*Sniff*
Ba-bump. Ba-bump. My heart is beating so fast, I'm surprised I could hear him sniff the air for my scent.
"Does this excite you?"
I can hear the surprise but amusement in his voice and know he is grinning ear to ear.
When I feel like he's right on the other side of the curtain, I tense preparing myself to pounce on him. My hearts beating so fast I'm surprised he has not discovered me by it thudding in my chest. I can't take the anticipation any longer and throw the curtain around him, wrapping him up in it with me.
"You found me." I giggle, pulling him closer with my arms wrapped around him.
"That I did." He hums, holding me closer, pressing his body against mine.
The look in our eyes says it all. We're both aroused and wanting each other again. His lips find mine and I gasp as he pushes me against wall.
"Ech- hmmm!" Some one clears their throats in the room, making us both freeze, shocked.
"I'm perfectly aware that you two are wrapped up in my curtain. I am also of sound enough mind to know, that you have a perfectly adequate room that would be a more appropriate arrangement for your displays of affection for one another."
Who ever this is, is annoyed, possibly angry, but is not approaching us from where ever he is in the room. Bav and I, we unwrap ourselves from the curtain, scanning the room that is now bright from the open curtain.
At first, I don't see who's in the room with us, but as my eyes focus, I stop in my tracks. He is a male version of my mother, they could have been twins. The same nose, brow, dark brown hair that was almost black, same eyes, identical except for being a male.
I could feel Bav doing a double take between myself and the man before us. Even the man was scrutinizing me up and down, a confused pinch to his brow, but his eyes wide and jaw slack in surprise.
"Abi?!" The man exclaims, covering his mouth with his hands and then drops them. "No you're not her...." He shakes his head and crosses his arms. "Who are you two? Why are you here and what are you doing in my room?"
I gather myself quickly, stepping forward with a light bow of my head, "My sincerest apologies, sir. We came here with the Priests and Priestesses of the temple. We were having a bit of fun, since we just arrived. We had no intention of invading your quarters, or for displaying such intimate acts in front of you. I am Rakara." I motion to Bav, "This is my husband Bavarthos."
I stand there fidgeting, just for a moment. I pull at the top of my skirt and quickly ask, "Who's Abi, sir?"
The man does not wear priestly robes, but wears a simple grey tunic and pants that make his amber and honey skin stand out. His hair is curly and tight, mirroring my own, only shorter. I observe him, observing me, unnerving as it is, with my head held up high.
He runs a hand over his face, sighing, "Someone else... I am Alden Glass, but everyone from the temple calls me Soot's. I am the caretaker of the Nether Space. I remember Griven mentioning that they were waiting on the rest to show up.... Are we waiting on anyone else?" He looks us over, crossing his arms.
"No, Mr. Glass. We are all here, I do believe." Bavarthos informs him.
"Soot's. I go by Soot's. Now that introductions are over, I would prefer if you would take your leave of my quarters." Soot's hand gestures to the door, annoyed and ushering us to leave.
"Yes, of course, Soot's. Our sincerest apologies, good day." I grab Bavarthos and we exit Soot's quarters and begin our descent of the stairs.
"Kara, darling?" Bavarthos grabs my attention when we've made it to the bottom of the stairs.
"Yes?" I shake my head from my thoughts of this Alden Glass, or Soot's, who looks like he could be older brother, or cousin, maybe even uncle.
"That man shares a striking familiarity with you, could you not agree?"
"Yes, I believe I should go find Flair. He might be able to answer my questions about who he is." The thought flashes through my mind as we make our way back to the main hall before the stairs.
We walk outside the doors to find Marco still in the garden.
"Hello, brother Marco, right?" I ask politely, hesitating to interrupt his work.
He stops pulling the soil up around the plant, takes a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes his brow of the sweat that dots his brow.
"Aye, it is, Mrs. Langridge. Mr. Fairchild. What can I help you with? You must be eager to learn something. We'll go over your training schedule tonight over supper, if that's why you're here." He leans against the long handle garden hoe, casting an amused look at us.
"Actually, brother Marco, we are curious about the man in the tower that we... stumbled upon by accident."
His brows pick up in surprise, "Soot's? What did he do?" Marco sighs, "I swear that old codger..."
I quickly inform him, waving my hands quickly, "No! No, you misunderstand me. He didn't do anything, we invaded his room, in the tower, unknowingly. That being considered, he merely had us leave after introductions and we apologized. I'm just merely curious because of..."
"The striking resemblance between you two?" Marco finishes my sentence for me.
"Yes. That is exactly what I was curious about."
Marco chuckles, "He's an Ignis too."
Bav cuts in, "He introduced himself as Alden Glass though?"
Marco nods, "Yes, he's an Ignis from his mothers side of the family. So like Flair, he's a relative of yours. However, he's known for not saying much but having a fiery attitude and prefers to live here alone as the caretaker. He likes to keep to himself mostly, hence why he's the caretaker of this place. Best to steer clear of him while you're here. You don't want him going off on you, he set Veyr's(Vay-er) hair on fire once for asking too many questions, it never did grow back either."
I feel my eyes widen in shock as Marco breaks out into deep rambunctious laughter. "HAHA! I'm just kidding! Veyr keeps his head shaved as a preference, it grew back, eventually."
"You tease me, brother Marco." I sniff, with a forced frown, trying to hide my smile. I did fall for his joke after all.
"Apologies, come follow me. I'll get us acquainted with the kitchen, so we can help to start preparing supper. There," He points to some baskets by the fence, "you can grab a basket and help me carry those to the kitchen. Can either of you cook?" He asks, setting his garden tool next to the fence and grabs a basket of potatoes and squash.
"Oh I'm not too shabby. I can make things edible I believe."
I take the basket of carrots, turnips, and cabbage, while Bav grabs the corn, tomatoes, and herb basket.
That made Bavarthos chuckle as we entered the kitchen and began helping out making supper.
Everyone had slowly joined us in the making, cooking, cleaning up and setting of the table. We had fun, talking, laughing and some of us teasing each other. I noticed that the elderly priests seemed more lively here, moving better, and didn't look nearly the same age as they did when we first met. Everyone seemed to be in a great mood as we started taking the food out to the table.
All except for Soot's, who only arrived once the food had been placed out. He just sat and filled his plate with out saying hello or anything to anyone. Everyone else acted like this was normal which brought what Marco had said earlier about him. That he didn't say much and kept to himself.
As we finished eating, he left his plate on the table and went to leave, but Amara called out, stopping him.
"Soot's I need you present for this discourse." She stood up as he turned around, pulled his chair back out with a loud screech across the floor, taking his seat with a huff.
"Alright, I shall get started." She grumbled under her breath and rolled her eyes at Soot's behavior.
"Rakara thank you for joining us and allowing us to bring you here to teach you what you need to know about being a catalyst. I know you've met some of us, but now I'll introduce you as their student and explain their areas of expertise. I will be your elemental guide."
I nod, acknowledging her words as she motions to Griven, "Griven will be your enchantments teacher." Griven gives me a warm smile. "Marco, your plant medical uses and poisons. Veyr, is combat and physical endurance. Calire (Kay-leer) will be disguises and camouflaging in any situation and environment. Synthea (Sin-they-a) will help you channel energies from your environment. Carthure (Car-thur) is our dietician and will help educate you on the best diet for you. Flair is our Historian on Catalysts and our societies fall from faith, and will elaborate on the Ignis Bloodline..."
"No, I'll teach her about the bloodline, I can do a better job of it anyways." Soot's grumbles, cutting Amara off, making everyone go slack jawed in his direction.
Amara gathers herself by quickly closing her mouth and laughing anxiously, "Very well, thank you Soot's. Maybe you wouldn't mind teaching her the mastery of her flame?"
The trepidation in her question has me on edge as I glance towards Soot's. His austere expression as he crossed his arms and bore holes through my skin with his eyes would make anyone uncomfortable. I couldn't help but fidget with my fingers in my lap, but still held his gaze.
"Fine, if she's up to par and follows the rules." With a roll of his eyes he turns his attention to Amara, "Am I done here then?"
Amara nods, still looking anxious but shocked as well. Soot's stands noisily, moving the chair out of the way and takes off leaving the dining room empty of all sound.
"Did he just..?" Marco points in the direction that Soot's left, asking Amara the question.
"I think he just did." Amara still looks stunned, while I ask myself, 'I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing....'