Kai and the Hero

Sleep was something that Nygozy had required above the rest but after a long time of doing so in Kai's arms she had to move and that's when her unconscious mind nudged her brain into activity, realizing that she was not in some form of bed. Her eyes opened and she looked up at Kai, the contemplative expression upon his face making her try to assess his thoughts.

He was normally so stolid with no expression, even when he gave her his opinion on things it was in the same tone, the same inflection and without feeling so seeing something on his face gave curiosity reign.

Her mind wandered back to what had happened to put her in such a spot in the first place and she sighed in resignation at the memory. ((
More Politics))

"You are warm." She said as she smiled at him from against his chest, "How long have I been out?"

Kai, lost in thought, hadn't noticed the hero had awoke. It was her voice that called him from his mind. "You are warm. How long have I been out?"

"You were fairly worn out. So I'd say..." He paused a moment "An hour? Maybe longer. Aside from that hero, are you all right?" Kai looked down at her, a brief look of worry crossed his face, he quickly resumed his typical emotionless look.

He had all but forgotten he was holding on to her and suddenly became aware of the fact. The dalish relaxed his grip on her slightly, but did not give any sign he would let her go or set her down.

"Not too bad, I'd say." She let her head settle back against his chest, also not indicating the wish to be let go. It was pleasant to just be held and to feel that someone was there for her no matter what, "I'm doing better, I think. That was just ... too much."

Nygozy closed her eyes and relaxed but she had to open them to watch the one, bright blue eye, "I am sorry for the spectacle. You probably have seen many spats but ... well, I suppose that it's different when you have a reputation. It makes me feel like less of a person or ... I don't know. There is so much of a name to live up to and image."

Kai continued to hold the dwarven hero and nodded "It wasn't the first fued I've witnessed but it was certainly the most...." He paused to think of a word but gave up after a while and changed the subject. "Well anyway, watching the fued wasn't a bother really. I'm just relieved that you will recover."

He offered her a quick, short smile. "And also....you are no less of a person, you are strong and well suited to be the hero. You've done all of your tasks well and no mere outer image was what makes that true."

Now what in the world had he been considering saying there? There was no sure way to gain from his eye what he was thinking and she tended to not want to look too far into that anyway. Assumptions would only cause trouble and she preferred to have knowledge over guesses.

"Yes, I will recover. It is something I was not looking forward to and there was much more than I expected but I will recover." She smiled back, "That is gracious but the truth is that no hero is one without an accompaniment. Without others I could never have gotten that far."

Nygozy sighed, "At least all of that part is over and we can get back to normal life. There is a lot for me to think about when it comes to Ali. The main thing is, he is not suited to being a king."

He nodded again. "Other people can be helpful for some things. But they can also be a hinderance depending on the tak at hand...In my case as an assassin, the latter is usually the case."

He looked down at Nygozy as she sighed "I could have told you from the start he was not fit as a ruler, he's far to unsure of his own decisions one thing."

There was little more to say regarding others helping but his comment about him being a hindrance as an assassin made her smile, "I am just glad you were not sent to me as a hindrance."

She chuckled and teased, "Well you were not with us from the start." Nygozy tapped his nose with a finger and smiled, "I did not want him to do this but other people were more influential than myself. He did not want it and was not going to do it until Eamon spoke to him about responsibilities and shoved it down his throat. It was quite sad."

Kai looked at the hero, confused and a bit surprised by the tap "Despite that, in my brief meetings with him I knew he was not fit to be a king. If he had dedicated himself to it more however, he may have gotten over his weaknesses, in time."

"In time he could have if he had truly wanted the position." She sighed, "But that's the crux of it all. Let's talk about something better than that. We can go check out the head warden's room if you like. It should be fun for you to snoop and make sure all is fine with the arrangement."

"We'll go there then" Kai rose from the position he had been sitting in, still holding the dwarf. "Shall I carry you? Or whould our hero like to walk to the Warden's room?" He smirked slightly at her

"Ok let's go." Nygozy grinned, "Nah. I think I will relax right here, if you don't mind."

Kai shruged and smiled a bit "I don't mind at all" he said as he carried the dwarf out of their little room and into the warden's room "You're fairly light-weight"

Nygozy chuckled, "Now aren't you sweet? Lots of guys love to bother women about how heavy they are." She teased as he walked.

Kai shook his head with that same small smile, it felt weird. Smiling. He couldn't recall the last time he smiled, even a little. "There's nothing sweet about it, I don't sugar coat my words and say silky things you want to hear. I am not Zevran. I speak the truth, you are light."

"And you are a serious man. You did know that assassins are allowed to let loose sometimes?" She joked as they got to the room, "Like this ..." She put the back of a hand on her forehead then let her head loll back as if she were swooning and used a voice much like pampered high borns, "Oh my you are carrying me over the threshhold. The excitement is too much." Then she pretended to faint.

"I am not serious due to my being an assassin. There are certain things that have built up over my life and I have learned to deal with them without emotion. Sometimes I have to do this to face the problem and get through it quickly, sometimes it is to avoid mistakes, and sometimes I do it to avoid causing internal, emotional pain. The gods know that when it comes to internal pain I-"

As Kai spoke he saw how honest he felt he could be. It surprised him and made memories try to surface, memories he wasn't ready to face, so he made homself be silent.

Nygozy kept quiet as Kai started to speak of things he'd never said before. He seemed to be opening up then he shut it down and she wondered as to what more he was thinking of saying. She booted the door to her suites but it did not open and she huffed and tried again, "Internal pain is hard to get over and it is rather difficult when someone has wronged you badly." She snort chuckled, "By the stone, I remember the first day my mother rented me out for some booze. Yeh, we all deaden the emotional pain, assassin, hero or Mabari."'

Well that was too easy to say and with such simplicity. How did he unknowingly pull that out of her and without pain?

Kai was surprised by what he heard from Nygozy. Her mother sold her for alcohol? He hadn't expected that, he felt a need to hold her and protect her when he thought about it. Then he noticed her touble with the door and gave it a good kick that sent it flying open.

As he stepped inside he gave a small sight, the hero was able to tell him something from her past. So he decided to do what he's never done and share a piece of his.

"So your mother did that then..." he started softly. He tried to think of something he could tell, it was hard after all of those years working to block it all out "My father..." he started "Was generally a good man, and I looked up to him but there were times he could be like that as well. He would drink too much and would come home in a rage...

I was the oldest son in the family So I've taken more than my share of pain foe my brother and my mother. My father's blows were strong and fast, even drunk. I suppose that's part of why he was such a good assassin."

That door opened rather well for him. Conveniently it hit the wall and came back just enough for her to hook her boot enough to flick it closed with a loud click. Then he was telling her a story as well. That was much easier than she had ever thought it would be. It did not surprise her so much as made her feel saddened having to deal with much the same as she had to.

"It is surprising how fast they are drunk, I know. You learn to be quick but when you have a sibling or other parent you are protecting then that doesn't help. If you avoid too much then it just makes them madder and go after everyone around." She shook her head, "It seems your father had more strength than my mother though. Her strength was in her words. Yes her hits hurt, especially when she got something to hit you with but the words. She could flay a nug with her talk alone."

Nygozy looked confused for a moment, "So ... why did you become an assassin with your father being such a jackass? I wouldn't think that you would want to do the same job as him."

"Words are quite powerful" He nodded recalling many times how his brother would come crying to him, telling how some of the older children called him things.

He looked down at the hero. "Why would I become an assassin? For a few reasons. As I said, though my father was that way there were times I could look up to him. Aside from that there's the fact that I didn't know of many other places I could go once I left my clan. Of course there's the most important reason too....I became an assassin to get revenge on someone..."

"So with your father it was only when he was drunk." She thought of her mother and tried to figure out when she'd ever been sober. Oh yes, when she was having a hangover, "Revenge is quite a motivator. I am assuming this person required a locking up in the Deep Roads or it would not have been a revenge wish. Hmm ... I know good places to lock people into there ..."

Kai nodded and gave a more relaxed smile. Despite the subjects of coversation Kai felt at ease, more at ease than he could ever recall since leaving his clan. "You'll have to show me some time"

"Since you never leave my side I don't think that's a problem." She smiled up at him, looking in his eye, "We will have to go back there some day." Nygozy hoped he would not be around for the last time she would be going back there. He would flip. Wait ... why would she believe that Kai would show that much emotion for her? It seemed unusual but ... by the stone he was so sweet. And he was opening up to her. Her hazel eyes became soft as she thought of that.

Kai gave a little nod, he wondered why The hero made him feel so at ease. He saw the soft look in her eyes and thought aloud "What're you thnking?" He almost hadn't noticed he said it.

It had not been noticed on how she was looking at him but when he asked her the question she tilted her head down and looked at his chest, her cheek against said body part, "Just future things. Nothing to worry about."