Holy Opposites 52

	Axio was trying to pray, but it wasn’t working.  He had his face buried in his arms, with his holy symbol clutched in shaking, bloodied hands.  He was in his room, leaning back against the headboard of his bed, trying to finish a single prayer.

	“Please,” he whimpered.  “Please, help…”

	I was listening from the door.  He hadn’t noticed in his grief that the door was open.  I hesitantly knocked, and he jumped a hand span.

	“Cavria!” he exclaimed.  He started to scramble up, but I put a finger to my lips.

	“Shh, Axio, it’s not an update,” I said gently.  “Just sit back.”

	He slumped against the headboard.  His face was swollen and red.  On a human, it would have been uncomfortable enough, but on his angelic face, it looked simply wrong.  “Cavria, I can’t even talk,” he mumbled.

	“I know, Axio,” I said.  I sat down beside him on the bed and took the holy symbol from his hands.  “I just want to help you feel less scared,” I said gently.  I wrapped an arm around his sagging shoulders.  “I know it’s hard to talk to Ryaire right now, so just listen to me,” I murmured in his ear.

	He closed his eyes and leaned against my arm.  He was so much taller than I was that he could have only managed it as scrunched up as he had been.  I straightened out his hair with my free hand and set his holy symbol down on the bed next to me.  I was quite aware that a Succubus sharing a bed with a Paladin in more or less any other circumstances would have been disastrous, but this was about as un-sexy as I could be.  He didn’t even react as my skin shifted back to its natural blood red.  I took his hand in mine and sighed to myself.  The blood was his.  He had gripped the badge so hard that it had torn his palm.  I let my divine healing pour into his hand and felt it heal.  “Trust us,” I whispered.  “Trust Ryaire, and me, and Luanea, and Doshellas, and… ah…”

	“Kyria,” Axio mumbled.

	“And yourself,” I finished as smoothly as I could contrive.  Nice.  I had forgotten the name of the woman I was trying to get Axio to remember.  “If anybody can save these kids, and Triera, it’s us.”

	“We’re fighting somebody we can’t even find.”  Axio rubbed his dry eyes.  He felt so young; it was almost pitiful.  My mind went back to the temple in Undermountain, and the sight of him so helpless broke my heart.  I knew him to be such a mature man and this helplessness wasn’t like him.  Then, I supposed an Aasimar would be somewhat less emotionally able to adjust to events this frightening.  An inherent sense of good and evil wasn’t always a good thing to have.

	I shut my eyes and ran my hand through his hair again.  “I know you can’t sleep right now, but I can help you feel better,” I said.  I lifted his glittering holy symbol and set it in his hands, then wrapped mine around his.  “Ryaire, I know you can hear us,” I said quietly.  I closed my eyes and started reciting a simple prayer.  It was an old verse, the first Solen had written once he had spun off the Church of Ryaire from the Church of the Martyred God.  All of us knew it by heart.

	‘Lady of the Young Lost, keep us in death.  Lady Ryaire of the Martyr, guide us in life.  Our divine mother, shield the souls of the children, and watch over the endless summer in your Arbor,’ I said softly.  I felt Axio’s lips move with mine.  ‘Teach us service and vigilance, Lady Ryaire, and patience.  To you we give our thanks and our love, for you do the same.  To you we entrust our souls.’  I felt Axio gradually relax as the simple prayer soothed his ragged mind.  ‘Above all, our beloved lady, deliver us from the hateful and the cruel.  In your arms will we find safety, and the children of the world will find your unending love.’

	‘Please.’  Axio spoke the final word aloud.  We sat in silence for a little while, before he spoke at last.  “Thank you, Cavria,” he whispered.  “I feel a little better.”

	I kissed the crown of his head and stroked the back of his hand so he would release the holy symbol.  “Maybe you should eat something,” I suggested.

	“I can’t.”  He held his stomach with his free hand and grimaced.  “Trust me.”

	“Okay.”  We sat there a while longer, listening to the noise outside as workers and healers tended to the children and hastily repaired the wall.  We doubted there would be another attack so soon, but it didn’t hurt to be careful.  Eventually, Axio leaned back against my arm and sighed.

	“Does somebody need me outside?” he asked.

	“No.  Solen and Cadderly are healed up, they can handle things.”  I resettled my arm around his neck and hugged him close.  “Just rest.  We’re going after them the second Embersson finishes locating the portal passwords.”

	“Yeah.  Did any of the Baneites realize he was there?  That could be trouble.”

	“Dunno.  None of the prisoners have awoken yet.”

	Silence filled the room again.  We sat there still, each lost in our thoughts.  Finally, he set our holy symbols aside and stretched.  “I think I just need to sleep, if I can,” he said heavily.  “You should too.”

	“Yeah, I should,” I said.  “I sent a message to Luanea to prepare.  They’ll be ready when we are.”  I squeezed his hand as he stretched out on the bed.  “Want me to stay here?”

	He blushed.  “Uh…”

	I shook my head.  “Just to stay,” I said.

	He looked down at his spacious bed and slowly nodded.  “Yes, I would,” he said.  He cleared his throat and blew his nose on his handkerchief as I shifted out of my tunic.  I lay down on the bed barefoot, showing him my underclothed back, and he settled down beside me.  I felt him hesitate, then awkwardly rest a hand on my shoulder.  “Thank you, Cavria,” he said quietly.  “I’m glad you’re here.”

	I smiled and rolled over.  He looked into my fiendish eyes without the vaguest hint of fear of me, and leaned over to kiss me on the forehead.  “Sleep well, Axio,” I said quietly.  “I’ll be here when you wake up.”


	It was no lie.  He slept fitfully, waking with a start more than once.  Each time, he would look wildly around the room, and then settle back down with a groan.  For the next six hours, he would go through the cycle, awakening long enough to be miserable before falling back asleep.  I debated getting him some wine to help him relax, but I decided against it; he was in no shape to get drunk.  Finally, I drifted off too.

	A knock at the door awoke me that evening.  I disentangled myself from my sprawling bunkmate and put my holy symbol back on.  I moved to the door and opened it a crack.  “Yes?” I asked.  “Axio’s asleep.”

	“Evening meal, sister,” a friar said.

	“Thanks.”  I shut the door and walked over to where Axio had curled up in the bed.  “Axio?”

	He stirred.  “Fmhuh, what?  Cavria?” he mumbled.

	“Supper, Axio,” I said.

	He slowly rose, looking quite a mess for his fitful sleep.  “Hmm.  Alright, thanks,” he said.  He paused as I pulled my tunic back on.  “Cavria… I’m sorry you got dragged into this mess,” he said heavily.

	“How did I get dragged into it?” I asked around a mouthful of shirt.  “This is my church too.”

	“Yeah,” he admitted.  “But now they’re targeting my family directly.”

	I smiled at the implication.  “And I’m in your family now?”

	“You may as well be,” he said.  He rose and started rooting around in his cabinet for clean socks.  “I do apologize if I made you uncomfortable.”

	“Axio, I swear, you apologize for things I haven’t even noticed,” I said with a chuckle.  I finished reattaching my belt and put my sandals on.  “What on Toril could you have done to make me uncomfortable here?”

	“Sobbing like an infant,” Axio said gloomily.  “I’ve not had a cry like that since I was fourteen.”

	“Well, you needed it.  I’d not think less of you.”  I affixed my amulet and felt the magic shift my appearance.

	“Or kissing you like that,” Axio continued.

	“I liked it.  I don’t know where you get this idea that friends can’t touch each other,” I remarked.

	Axio finally managed an apathetic snort of laughter.  “Doesn’t bother the Eilistraeeans much, that’s for sure,” he said.  He cracked his back and knuckles, and I heard his stress and uncomfortable rest pop loose in his joints.  “Humph.  Haven’t shared a bed like that before,” he admitted.  “Kind of awkward, but… it did feel nice knowing somebody was there,” he said wistfully.  “All right.  Let’s get some food.”