Starry Resonance

Yvain was going to lead Nora to bed after they both quickly cleaned themselves up in uneasy silence, but she preferred for them to stay under the hot running water. Seeing as it had a positive effect on her, he agreed to her request. Now they were both sitting on the floor with Nora resting against his c.h.e.s.t.

"I'm...not sure where to begin," Nora said, sounding unsure of herself.

Yvain considered her for a moment. "Just start from the beginning and move forward steadily. No need to rush, we can be a bit late."

"The beginning huh," Nora said with a small pause. Seemingly making up her mind she spoke, "I wasn't born into this world the way you would expect. It would be more accurate to say that I came into it." She laid her head back against Yvain's shoulder and, looking at the ceiling, continued, "I never had a mother or father, brothers or sisters, grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts. It's the curse of my kind, though with time I've learned that the real curse are all the emotions mortals are forced to endure."

Yvain couldn't believe what Nora was implying. "You mean you're,"

"Yes, I'm a goddess. The goddess of dragons."

Yvain's knowledge on gods and goddesses was even less than that of the monster races. It was part of what he and his companions learned about when they created Draconian's Tavern. But they were only told of their existence. It was only thanks to Nelimir's obsession that they managed to piece together some semblance of deeper understanding. But out of all the things his friend had learned, Yvain only cared about one fact, and remembering filled him with terror.

He wrapped his arms tighter around Nora and buried his face in her neck. "Then you're immortal?"

"Can I become immortal?" Yvain asked with a steady voice. No matter what he felt he didn't want to worry Nora with his own fears. He waited for her to speak with baited breath but Nora didn't say anything. Her silence began to create a sense of impending doom until she hugged his hands into herself and spoke with a quiet voice, "No."

"I see," was all Yvain said. That meant that there would come a time when they would have to separate. Would she live on to find another man? Would she forget him with enough time? He had never thought about having children before, but now that he had found Nora, and knew what she was, a myriad of questions and worries started forming in his mind relating to the topic.

Nora kept going, "It's one of the things all starchildren have had to learn how to live with, as well as their partners." As if knowing what he would ask next, she explained, "Starchildren is the name all gods and goddesses are given inside our memories when we come into this world."

"Was your ex-husband mortal?"

Yvain saw Nora nod. "We come to this world because we can't feel any type of emotion in ours. Our interests lie in those who have had them since birth."

No emotion? He tried to imagine how such an existance would be like, but it was impossible to do so. It would be like trying to imagine how a man, blind since birth, percieved their surroundings. He wanted to ask Nora more about her experiences, but he didn't want to move away from the point of the conversation.

"Then, what's bothering you?"

So far water had been constantly falling on both of them. The steam was enough that Yvain had some trouble seeing anything and his skin was already a vivid red, but his full concentration was on Nora. She took a deep breath and exhaled all of it.

"One thing you should know about dragons is that their love for things of worth is unparalleled. While humans might be considered greedy, it doesn't compare to the avarice of a dragon. It can be from anything to power, social status, ability in a craft, ideals they wish to fulfill." Nora's voice weirdly turned more hostile as she spoke. "Anything they d.e.s.i.r.e, they d.e.s.i.r.e it with an almost maniatic fixation. It serves as a double edge sword that can destroy or create."

"Being the goddess of dragons, I was coveted by almost every male and female of my race," she said.

"Wait, I thought your race were the starchildren?" Yvain couldn't help himself and asked.

"That's true, but I'm also the goddess of dragons," Nora said, her brows furrowed while trying to find a way to better explain her origins. "You could say that I'm a starchild in spirit, but a mortal in body. While I'm a goddess, I am also a dragon."

Yvain was about to ask what it meant to be mortal in body, considering she said she was immortal, but decided to just give a sign of understanding and allow her to continue.

"Well, many tried to court me over the passage of time. But the one who finally managed to catch my interest was the dragon emperor." Hearing Nora talk about another man she felt something for filled Yvain with anger and jealousy, but he remembered what she had told him. If the emperor was Nora's ex-husband then his death should not have been a small matter. Further still, this meant that she was the empress of the dragon race. What was the dragon empress doing in Empryon?

"He was a leader loved by all. Everything he did was for their sake. As such it didn't take long for me to fall for him." Yvain could hear a bubbling discomfort coming out of her tone and rubbed her back to try and calm her down. Nora sighed and pushed back into his touch.

"The problem was that I only saw that aspect of him. Yes he was a man kind to his subjects, but he was also someone that coveted to be above all. Yet, his wife was the goddess of dragons. No matter how much he tried he would never be above me. Even if I didn't care or want power, who I was inherently took control away from him. In his eyes I was a source of endless turmoil. And so he did everything he could to make me seem smaller than I actually was in front of others and in front of him. His closest subjects allowed to treat me as any other commoner."

Yvain tried to hold his fury in as he spoke in a sharp tone, "Why didn't you stop him? Or them?" He felt Nora's hand on the arm that was still covering her stomach and realized he had been pressing too hard. She chuckled, as he quickly eased the pressure, and turned around to kiss him.

"Remember what I said about the nature of dragons? I'm pretty greedy myself. And as the goddess of dragons one of the most important things to me is the prosperity of my people. No matter what he did to me, he still saw to it that the race prospered. And my own position was a source of strength for everyone. But..." Nora stopped, and didn't talk anymore. Yvain waited for a moment but Nora didn't finish what she was going to say.

Seemingly lost in her thoughts, Nora's shoudlers jumped. This time she turned around completely and straddled him, but made no move to do anything more. She simply stared at his eyes.

"But I'm also a mother," was all she said. Nora kept quiet trying to see how he would react.

Keeping an impassive expression was impossible. Nora was a mother. She had a child with another man. Most likely the emperor of the dragon race. How old was it? Did it become the new emperor or empress? Would he be able to accept it as his own? Would he even have to? Did he want to? What kind of person was it? Would this affect his place in the guild? If he knew one thing for sure is that he couldn't abandon Nora, not anymore. And the way she told him the truth and the way she looked at him now gave him a bad premonition which he decided to voice.

"Is your child okay?" he asked doubtfully.

Nora pursed her lips and shook her head, tears forming. "I don't know."

Yvain took her cheek in his palm. "What happened?"

"The one good thing to come out of my marriage was the birth of my daughter. In that moment I wasn't just after the well-being of my race, but of hers. It became my new greed. Unfrotunately it wasn't the same for her father. She just became the new tool by which he could torment me and keep me in place."

Besides anger, Yvain was becoming more and more disappointed by what he was hearing. Was this what the monster races were like? The perpetual evil advertised in Empryon? He wasn't expecting a paradise, but he also wasn't expecting this.

"However that became his mistake, and allowing it to happen became mine. Inside my own inner conflict I allowed him to treat her as he see fit." Nora's voice was starting to break, more and more tears rushing down and mixing with the water as she spoke, "I would try to comfort her as much I could but turned a blind eye to her plights. The betrayal I kept seeing in her little face robbed me of sleep and appetite."

"Your daughter was there right? Killing her father in front of her wouldn't have been the right choice regardless of the circ.u.mstances." Yvain thought of his friend's family. Similar responsibilities, but a completely different make up.

Despite her tears Nora smiled and kissed Yvain softly. "You're right. But I should have at least tried to bring her away sooner. I just...I didn't really understand the lengths at which that bastard would go."

Yvain looked at her confusedly.

"What I did to him completely crushed his ambitions. It showed him just how powerless he was if I wished it. So I immediately became an enemy." Nora was looking past Yvain, probably thinking of all the ways the situation could have gone differently. "He couldn't keep me in control anymore so he once again went for my weak point, this time selling my daughter. The bastard sold her to a damn slaver from Empryon."

"What?" Yvain said incredulously. He could see that Nora thought he was shocked at her words, which he was. But what really threw him off was the mention of a slaver from Empryon dealing in those of the monster race. It should be impossible. If not then they would be seeing non-human slaves all the time.

Nora nodded and kept going, not realizing what he was thinking. "He directly told me what he had done and, like a fool, I rushed to rescue her. Not giving a second thought as to why he would tell me where she was heading in the first place."

"So you being in the dungeon..."

Nora nodded. "Yes, he only sold our daughter so that he could remove me from our home and eliminate me far away from prying eyes."

Her precense here now made sense. She was looking for her daughter. But the weight of her words finally struck him.

Nora grabbed the hand that was still on her cheek and lovingly looked at Yvain, "We killed him."