Into the Sewers Epilogue (Naomi)

From Toosigma

Title	Into the Sewers - Epilogue
Author	Philip Mann - Naomi
Campaign	Convergent Threads
Session	Intersession
Posted
Game Date

The weather warmed over a couple of days, back to the more comfortable temperatures. The early morning rain had not been so heavy, but one could still count on the walks being damp at first light. Waking early to watch the sunrise, Kayli and Naomi wandered through the streets on the way back to the Eyrie. They enjoyed the quiet time to meander along seemingly random routes through the streets together as they learned about Sharn and each other. Kayli found that it became easier for her to get out of bed each successive morning because their little adventures took her into areas on the Menthis Plateau that she had never been to. The new sights and sounds brought Kayli to understand the draw Naomi felt to adventure.

Without the safety of her love, however, she may never have ventured into many of the places that they went together. Naomi was always confident, even when small groups of menacing-looking men lined the streets where they walked. Kayli was worried at first, but there seemed to be something about Naomi that made her feel safe. Perhaps it was this same feeling, like a protective aura surrounding the elf, which kept the would-be assailants on the sidewalks as the two girls journeyed together down the middle of the streets. Regardless of the reason, she felt the wonderful woman who held her hand must be the bravest person in the world.

One such morning, on their way down from their special place near the University District, Naomi led them down a spiraling set of stairs that Kayli had not taken before. Once near the bottom, Kayli could see a warforged setting out boxes of flowers and she thought it an odd profession for him.

Stopping before the displays, Naomi inquired, “See something you like?” as she waved her free hand across the myriad of colors.

Kayli, considering only that they would look and move on, pointed at a delicate orchid that caught her attention. The petals of the exquisite flower had colors blended from the most brilliant sapphire and emerald, into the purest white. It seemed to call to her with its delicate beauty. “I like that one.”

Naomi gave a little smile and a nod of agreement and turned slightly away from her partner. Kayli thought they were leaving and took a step to follow, but she bumped into the short elf. She looked up and saw Naomi, arm outstretched, holding coins for the warforged. He picked up the delicate flower and handed it to her with a nod, taking her coins without counting them.

“What are you doing?” Kayli asked, seeing how very expensive the flower was.

Naomi turned to Kayli with a wide smile that made the taller girl feel as if she would melt onto the walk. “I’m showing my adoration, love.”

Reaching up, she laced her fingers and the flower into Kayli’s hair, behind her left ear, securing it with a pin that she concealed in her hand. Naomi then caressed her cheek as she saw tears begin to well in Kayli’s eyes. Kayli knew the meaning of the flower placed on her left side instead of the right, and she knew that Naomi would not have done such a thing on accident.

Kayli’s attention was suddenly drawn to a beautiful red flower that the warforged was presenting to her. She had seen this sort of flower before and the last time was when Naomi had returned to work wearing one in her own hair. The Dwarf Anthurium looked so beautiful then, even hours old, and this fresh morning flower was made even more beautiful in this moment.

“She likes this one, miss.” The warforged florist spoke in a warm but mechanical tone. “She has bought this one before, and I cannot allow two beautiful women to leave her with only one so adorned with my wares. No charge.”

Kayli thanked him for the gift as she took the flower. She set it into Naomi’s hair, also on her left side admiring how the bright red seemed to be a flame in the platinum blonde locks. She did not need a pin as the elf’s very heavy hair clung to the stem with just the right amount of force.

“I am yours,” Kayli said.

Naomi wiped the tears from Kayli’s cheek and, standing on her toes, kissed Kayli gently. “And I am yours,” Naomi answered.

The girls stared into each other’s eyes for a long while, emeralds and sapphires gazing into each other, oblivious to the morning bustle surrounding them. Kayli thought she would burst with emotion, as if the feelings of her and Naomi coexisted in her heart. She knew that they were growing closer every day, but she was not prepared to feel the emotional pulse of the beautiful flower before her.

A broad smile spread across the elf’s face as she saw the wonder cross Kayli’s. She brushed Kayli’s hair behind her left ear, gently gliding her fingers around the edge of her ear and over the object she had placed there along with the flower. Feeling the strange thing attached there, Kayli’s hand shot up to feel it, but Naomi caught her hand and guided it to her own.

Kayli’s fingers pushed through Naomi’s hair, caressing the delicate pointed ear underneath. Its shape was now very familiar to her, as familiar as her own, but she immediately found what Naomi had directed her to.

Low on her ear, Naomi was wearing a beautiful ear cuff made of twists of silver, gold, and copper. It had clearly been made by a master craftsman, with the tiny rubies scattered lightly through the braded metals. The stones gleamed with an inner light that Kayli felt as much as saw.

Brushing Kayli’s ear, “You have one just like it.” She chuckled softly before continuing, “I slipped it on you with the flower you picked.”

Eyes widening at the fabulously expensive gift, Kayli chided, “You spend far too much on me, my dear.”

“Please don’t be angry with me, Kayli.” Naomi began as Kayli could feel the mild confusion within her partner. “I wanted us to know that each is safe when we are apart. I’m sorry, I should have asked before putting that on you.”

Kayli felt sorry immediately that she remanded Naomi. “I didn’t mean that exactly,” Kayli began to explain. “I only meant that the money you spend on me, it makes me feel…I don’t know…obligated I guess.”

“Can I not dote on you then? Can I not buy you things just because it makes me feel good to do it?”

Kayli, feeling the confusion in Naomi in a very tangible way, began to get confused herself. “I…I just don’t want you to spoil me too much, I guess. Papa said that we should never expect gifts, but I’m afraid that I might get used to getting them from you and I might start to expect them.”

“I expect to keep giving them to you, dear, unless you do not want me to. Besides,” Naomi chuckled, “you will be a famous singer with wealth and fame pouring in, and you just may feel like doting on me then.”

“I don’t know about the wealth and fame, but I will certainly lavish you with love if not gifts.” Kayli said as she rubbed her own ear cuff. She took Naomi’s hand and thanked the warforged florist as she led them back on their route toward home. Once they were a small distance away she said, “I feel a little strange, like I can really feel what you are feeling.”

“That’s because you can feel what I am feeling when you concentrate on me as you are now,” Naomi explained. “But there is more to it if you want to hear.”

Understanding spread across Kayli’s face, replacing the confusion that she had confessed. “Please, tell me everything.”

Naomi’s own confusion abated along with Kayli’s. “There is something else to these, something very special.”

“More special than being able to feel what you are feeling?”

“Oh, my love, I can feel what you are feeling as well. They work both ways. We will both know when the other is happy or sad, angry or scared, bored, or anything else that we can feel just by concentrating on each other.”

“That’s incredible!” Kayli said, almost squealing.

Naomi continued, “But, that is not all. One time each day you can concentrate on me and whisper a short message that I will get no matter how far apart we are.”

“Whisper?” Kayli asked, somewhat confused, “you mean like talking to myself?’

“Yes, love, just like that.”

“But I will really be talking to you?”

“Well,” Naomi began, “you will be creating a message that will traverse the land and sea to find me as if carried on a seeking wind. If I am very far away, it may be some time before I hear your words…”

“Like how long?”

“Oh, it is quite fast, though the distance and other factors can make it take longer.” Naomi felt that her inability to give a direct answer confused Kayli. “I couldn’t send a message until you had yours, so I do not know exactly how long it can take. What I do know is that we will be able to feel what the other is feeling exactly when we concentrate.”

“So,” Kayli inquired, still fingering her new adornment, “how does this work?”

“To feel, as you know, all you have to do is concentrate on me. Imagine I am right in front of you and you will be able to feel what I am feeling.” Seeing and feeling that Kayli understood that she continued, “To send a message, you must do the same thing and then whisper my name. Everything that follows in the next few seconds will begin the journey to my ear. Mine works the same way, except that I say your name.”

Magic, even in a city such as Sharn, was not something that everyone had. The power that Naomi commanded to make such items sunk in to Kayli with an emotional thud. She learned something new and interesting, or gained new understanding of her mysterious and spectacular lover every day. All she could reply with was, “Wow…”

Kayli stopped in the middle of the street and pulled Naomi to her. They hugged and rocked together for long moments. “Why are you so wonderful to me?” She asked while trying in vain to fight back tears of joy.

Naomi said nothing. Instead, she squeezed Kayli to her with much of her substantial strength. When she let go, she looked up into Kayli’s eyes as she rose up on her toes to lightly kiss her.

Their eyes slowly opened together as they parted. Kayli could feel the pure emotions flooding into her through their magical connection. A tear dropped from Kayli onto Naomi’s cheek. Kayli felt paralyzed, her eyes were locked onto Naomi’s and their souls knotted together between them. Only when the elf spoke could Kayli tear her gaze away, becoming aware that she had been holding her breath.

“Kayli,” Naomi began, fighting for the right words, “I…we…I mean…”

Kayli knew exactly what she meant, however; she could feel it within her even as Naomi struggled to bring voice to her feelings. She sensed adoration and love in so many facets. She felt longing and trust, but she also felt an unspecified fear within her love, but she understood it all. She understood because she felt these things within herself. “Nobody could ever drag me away from you, Naomi.”

With open hearts and closed mouths, the girls silently made their way back home. Hand in hand, they absorbed themselves in the emotional bond that found pure expression through Naomi’s art. As they approached the Eyrie, Naomi could feel the sense of uncertainty creep into Kayli’s feelings.

“What’s wrong, love?” she inquired.

Though Kayli dismissed the inquiry by shaking her head, but she could not hide her feelings. Kayli’s hand crept toward the orchid in her hair and her eyes turned toward her companion who was watching her through concerned eyes.

“I…I’m not ready for them to know,” Kayli explained. Worry and concern for her family spread across her face and through the link shared by the girls.

“Kayli, it’s not right to hide…”

“I know, I know!” Kayli retorted through her frustration. “It is just that, I keep thinking I should be introducing them to this wonderful guy I met. Don’t you…I mean what if they don’t like that I am in love with another woman?”

Naomi, feeling somewhat hurt, answered, “I have never given it any thought, Kayli. My heart is not a slave to the perceptions of those around me, save the one I love. I would care for you no more or less were you a man.” She considered her question with utter seriousness before she spoke again, “Do you now question whether or not you wish to stay at my side no matter what befalls us or who tries to come between us?”

Kayli felt Naomi’s hurt flow into her, and she felt herself crushed under the weight of her question. She never meant to hurt Naomi in any way, but her indecision was coming into conflict with two of her love’s most precious traits: her honesty, and her forthrightness.

“Naomi, please…” Kayli began as she brought the elf’s hand to her lips. She held Naomi’s hand cupped in both of hers, and she stared at the perfectly shaped fingers and golden nails as she searched herself for answers. “I…we will tell them…soon…but I just need some more time to figure out how…”

“It pains me to deceive them, my love.”

“I know, Naomi, I really do.” Kayli stated with the same frustration she had every time this topic came up. This time, however, it was different. This time she knew that Naomi was not going to let her change the subject.

“Then why delay, love?”

“Please, I just need a little more time,” Kayli began. “I want to honor my parents. I want them to know that I have fallen in love with you for the right reasons, not in the hope that you will drag me out of the house into a life of adventure.”

Naomi began to understand Kayli’s motives and why her fears were holding her back from telling her parents. “So, you want to have your career well on its way before you tell them?”

“Yes, please, will you grant me that?”

“Kayli, I want you to be happy,” Naomi explained. “I also want your parents and the whole family to be happy as well.” She paused as she thought for a moment, before she continued with a sigh. “I will not tell them until you are ready, but…”

“Oh, thank you!” Kayli interrupted.

“But…I will not lie to them either. If I am asked I will tell them the truth, you must know this of me.”

“I understand,” Kayli resigned. She had seen Naomi pour her most precious secrets out before her and her father. “I know you are honest and you will not lie. Those are some of the qualities that I admire about you…”

Without a word, Naomi removed the orchid from Kayli’s hair and started to place it on her right side to denote that she was available, but Kayli stopped her.

“Naomi,” she confessed, “I would rather not wear it at all if it is not to announce to the world that my heart belongs to you. I will not create the lie that I am available…I don’t want to lie, I’m just not ready to announce ‘us’ to the world…not yet.”

Naomi smiled and removed her own flower. “Then neither of us shall be so adorned.”

“The other gift you gave me,” Kayli said as she pulled her hair back to reveal the ear cuff, “I shall never remove it…ever.”

“Nor shall I, my love, nor shall I.”

The girls walked the last few blocks back to the Eyrie speaking quietly about unspecified plans for the future. In the throes of new love, nothing except “forever” occurs to them…