R'sath, Tower of Starlight - Part 5 - Avery

A.N. - Avery is my girlfriend's OC. I was struggling to figure out which reward Ahsch would take when I was writing and asked for some advice, then jokingly suggested Avery as a marriage candidate. That joke is no longer a joke - and isn't that how it always goes, my gf says - and we're both THRILLED by where it's led. Hope you all enjoy, and if you do, thank my gf for her amazing character!

Edit - added a picture of Avery, courtesy of my gf!

If you worry much more about this you're going to start smoking from your ears - and cause mine to combust, Mahat grouched.

Ahsch sent an apologetic thought his familiar's way, but his gaze stayed on the alternating image of Dorin's shoes as the attendant guided him through the highest - and by far largest - floor they had been on yet. Michlas may have been an important member of the government, but he was essentially still a servant to the royals. Lord Avery Odestag was, herself, a royal, and therefore the Odestag suites were almost two dozen floors above Michlas' office.

Of course he didn't warn me ahead of time, the Dominant Mage thought. That would have been too easy.

Probably a move on Avery's part, see how you react to being off-balance and unprepared, Mahat suggested. Ahsch couldn't find fault with the reasoning.

Before long, Dorin came to a halt outside a door. Heavy, dark wood framed a large, golden stag's head. The antlers were a raised pattern against the door, a forest of tines and branching paths, and a knocker hung from the stag's mouth. Glancing back at his charge and receiving a nod, the servant raised the knocker and firmly rapt twice - the sound was almost like a muted gunshot, and seemed to echo beyond the door.

A few moments later, one half of the door swung inward, and a figure stepped out to greet them. Easily three inches taller than Ahsch and built like a bodybuilder, the construct was covered in a porcelain shell, the spaces between sections each a miniature piece of art on their own as they displayed the clockwork beneath, gears the size of a hand down to pieces possibly smaller than a pinhead intermeshed in beautiful utility. Dressed in noble servant's finery - which Ahsch noted was ironically _not _an Earth butler's usual look - the automata was most striking for the yellow eyes that revealed a intelligence behind them. A soul.

Butler glanced at Dorin, then turned his attention to the hrafthi, past him and down to beast-form Mahat, and back to the boy, doing a quick once-over. "Mister Ahsch, I presume?" The boy nodded. "Excellent. Lord Odestag is expecting you. Please, come in." Ahsch could hear slight clicks and whirs in sync with the automata's speech. Once they were inside - the door closing with barely a sound - the boy glanced around, his gaze resting on a painting in the entrance hall, opposite the door.

Taking the center of the image sat an older man, his face lined with a mixture of age and weariness, but also laughter. To his right, coming up just a few inches shy of his shoulders, was a young girl, maybe eight or nine years old. Knowing what he did about how long such a painting could take, Ahsch expected that her cheeks must ache from the missing-teeth-revealing smile she was giving. Unnaturally bright blue eyes glinted even through the paint, and a pair of backswept horns - dark red towards the base and fading to black towards the tips - was framed by a trio of brown braids, one down the middle of her head and the other two on the outside of each horn. A mechanical arm, porcelain and inlaid with some gold, reached out to rest on the man's knee. Just in front of her, coming up to her belly, was a young boy, maybe a few years past being a toddler. He was also grinning, though showed only one missing tooth.

The left side of the painting was covered by a drape, revealing only the edge of a green dress. "I'd offer to take your coat," Butler interrupted Ahsch's inspection of the painting, "but I see you don't have one. I will show you to the study."

The Dominant Mage and his familiar found themselves between the two servants as they followed the Odestag construct through a short maze of hallways to eventually reach a study. "If you would be so kind as to wait here, Lord Odestag will join you shortly. Your attendant and I will be nearby."

Ahsch glanced at Dorin, a hint of concern in his gaze, but the servant just smiled and gave a subtle nod. Nodding once to himself, Ahsch then looked back at Butler and gave a firmer nod. "Of course. Thank you."

The automata gave a slight bow. "My pleasure." The two servants left, the door swinging shut with a slight click of the latch, and the hrafthi looked around the room. A fire burned on the outer wall - which also housed a window that gave an oddly low view of the Capitol - and Mahat quickly made her way over and curled up, a gentle purring sensation caressing Ahsch's mind as she made herself comfortable. Shaking his head in amusement, the hrafthi took in the shelves of books; the small, tidy, and possibly little-used desk centered on the far wall; the pair of comfortable chairs and endtables perfectly positioned to allow easy conversation; the cabinet near the desk that clearly held a wide assortment of various **** and expensive glasses; and the rocking chair between the fire and the window, a small table beside it bearing several books, one of which was open and facedown to save the page. A glance at the cover of the open book revealed the title, A History of Automata; From Golems to Dolls.

"So, you want to marry me."

Ahsch jumped, barely avoiding knocking the table and books over as he wheeled about. Mahat was up in an instant, her Master's adrenaline and her own surprise putting the familiar on alert. Standing beside one of the easy chairs was a woman, quite similar to the girl in the painting. She was taller, though still about a half-foot shorter than the hrafthi, and had much deeper curves at the chest and hips. An assortment of piercings adorned her head, including a septum piercing, lip and an eyebrow ring, and no fewer than a dozen rings and studs in her six-inch-long, pointed ears. Her hair was unbraided, and the sides shorn flat, letting the oh-so-slightly red-tinted locks fall freely to her shoulders. Her head was tilted, a lazy, amused smirk quirking one corner of her lips higher than the other, and she held a wine glass in one hand.

"Uh... Lord Odestag, I assume?" Ahsch eventually asked.

The smirk grew. "Ahsch, I assume?" she replied, a hint of a laugh in her voice. The boy swallowed and nodded, and with a slight bounce in her step, the woman turned, gracefully stepped closer to the chair, and draped herself across it, her legs thrown with sensual carelessness over one of the armrests while she leaned on the other. "Have a seat," she said, gesturing with her drink to the other chair.

The hrafthi did as she bid, and made himself as comfortable as he could in the quite comfortable chair. That comfort did little to relax him, nor did Mahat's presence at his side as she came over and set her haunches down, her head peeking over the armrest. Ahsch wasn't sure how she had managed it, but neither he nor his familiar had heard the royal woman enter the room - and they both had Enhanced Senses up.

They sat in silence for a long moment. Long enough that Avery Odestag took a long sip from her glass, her gaze never leaving Ahsch, then lowered it and repeated the first words she had said in a more deliberate, yet still teasing tone. "So... you want to marry me."

Ahsch coughed, his face heating. "I, uh... Michlas, er, _Lord _Michlas suggested that... well, that it would be... good?"

The pierced eyebrow raised, but the amused expression went nowhere. "So you don't want to marry me, you want to do something 'good,' whatever that means." The smirk grew again. "I guess that could be me," she winked.

"I-I... that is..."

Calm down and be blunt, Mahat interjected. That's what Michlas said.

The hrafthi closed his eyes, and took a deep, ten-second breath, before slowly starting his explanation, his eyes opening and fixing on his host's gaze. "Kir... Lady Celes is offering me a reward for saving her life. Among those was the hand of a 'minor noble' in marriage - though my understanding is that House Odestag is a middling family. I am... Due to certain... circumstances, I feel that I have some responsibility for Lady Celes, and it's clear to me that she wants - or possibly needs - help. What form that help should be, I don't know, but when I asked Lord Michlas which reward would the the 'right thing to take,' he suggested marriage. I think that he had you in mind specifically.

"So do I want to marry someone I'm only now meeting? Bluntly, no. I want to do the right thing. I know I bring almost nothing to the table, but I can promise to do my best by you and your House."

Avery gazed at him for a long moment, then slowly took a sip, never breaking eye contact. "Hmm," she finally responded as she lowered the glass. "You're interesting."

Ahsch blinked. "Um... thanks?"

"Drink?"

The boy blinked again. "Y-yes?"

Avery put her glass down on a table, then reached up, grabbed the rim of the chair, and effortlessly vaulted over. Ahsch gaped slightly. No wonder Michlas described her as a 'remarkable dancer,' he thought.

Lord Odestag strode over to the liquor cabinet, tossed open the glass doors, and ran a finger across the various labels. "Let's see... if you want, we can get water or coffee, or... there's rum, vodka, wine... ooh, Eldflower Liquor, that was a gift..." She looked over her shoulder with that same, lazy grace she seemed to wear like a second skin.

"I... wouldn't want to impose on a gift, I'm sure you're saving..."

"I offered, so don't worry about things like that," Avery interjected, waving his concern away.

He swallowed. "Then... I've never tried Eldflower Liquor."

"Sweet, not too potent." She thought for a moment, then quirked her smile the other way, the corners of her lips changing which was higher. "Good for a conversation where you need your faculties intact."

Ahsch nodded. "Let's try it."

The slow, pleased stretch of her smirk told him that he made the right choice. Picking up a dark violet bottle and a pair of crystal glasses, the royal sauntered back over, set the glasses down, then popped off the amber-colored stopper, which Ahsch realized on a closer look was actually amber, with small flower petals frozen within. Avery poured a measure into each glass, then stoppered the bottle and handed her guest one of the glasses. "To... fruitful marriage negotiations," she toasted, clinking her glass to his and taking a slow, deep drink.

The hrafthi mirrored her. The liquor was almost cloyingly sweet, cut by the burn of the ****, with a tart note of elderberry. His next few swallows were heavy, but he managed to get another grin from Lord Odestag by the time she finally lowered her own glass.