I was tagged in this picrew again, this time by @blinkdoge, specifically for tiefling ocs! These two are from Owlcat's Pathfinder series!
Arzhela Varn (she/her), chirurgeon alchemist, neutral good, maegar romance
Birgir Fjarason (he/him), spirit warden shaman/forester hunter, lawful neutral, ulbrig romance
If you see this, let's have a look at YOUR tieflings.
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Owlcatober 2023 + Memory
Hi everyone! Here's my submission for prompt #9 Memory. This is my first time taking part in a monthly event like this. :D
Game: Pathfinder Kingmaker
Characters: Maegar Varn, Varn's General (Isanne Kanmir)
Rating: G
Wordcount: 1,257
Summary: Maegar Varn's life is close to its end and his General Wife has some reminiscing to do on all the adventures they've had together. Warnings for death and mentions of pregnancy.
You can read it here on AO3 as well!
In the years since the Queen’s encounter with the Lantern King, Varnhold has grown robust and peaceful. The Varnling Host patrol the plains of Dunsward, assisting the common folk and the Nomen centaurs. Many hours had its leader, Maegar Varn, present in the throneroom of Tuskdale, advising and perhaps fighting with the Queen. For this service, his retirement was well protected and ensured. Now his final adventure was about to begin.
The large four-postered bed lay shrouded in furs and fabrics. Censers heavy with incense fill the room, hiding the scent of illness. The heady smoke hides the walls and windows from her view. With a shaking hand outstretched, Isanne Kanmir-Varn finds her way to the chair set beside the bed. Here she sits herself down with a crackling back.
Once robust, Maegar Varn is now withered and pallid. It is the shadow of his 84th year. Their children have been born and grown in what felt like a blink to her, but was really the breadth of his natural life. His grandchildren had even blessed them with their births, sprouting up like little flowers in the garden of their hearts. Both had contributed to the deep smile lines on his face. Much of the white hair that lays haloed around his head had come from many hours of chasing the children around the village and the ensuing shock of childish actions.
His breathing comes low and belabored. Clerics had come and gone, shaking their heads and offering empty platitudes. Isanne sighs as she watches him. The time to call the Priest of Pharasma comes soon. She leans over and grips his hand. Maegar’s skin is clammy.
“My love, can you hear me,” Isanne calls out to him.
With a groan, Maegar opens his eyes and looks at her. His brown eyes are now bloodshot. A weak smile comes to his lips.
“Do you want me to call the priest,” she asks.
“Nay. Isanne… tell me something cheerful. This room is driving me mad.”
She shifts in her seat, thinking back to all the adventures they’ve had. She has been at his side since he was a young man. When they first met, his face was clean of the scars that now riddle it. Starting there would be good.
“Do you remember when we met in Pitax?”
That weak smile broadens.
“You were drunk on Liacenzan wine. It made me happy I left Vikke at the inn. She was four then. Too small for the japes of men.”
Isanne pauses, envisioning in her mind’s eye her daughter; the only child she had had that was not by Maegar. Now the younger woman was somewhere in Absalom, seeking her own fortunes. It had been difficult saying goodbye to the child that had followed her across the world and into war. It should not have come as a surprise that a soul so alike her own would also seek adventure.
“I remember you comparing me to some bodice ripper heroine you had read about.”
“Kigelia the Lusty Elven Washerwoman,” Maegar adds, voice weak, but full of humour. Isanne rolls her eyes at the name. In his drunken stupor, he had made the grave error of assuming one elf had to be alike all of them. Especially if they looked similar to the crude drawing on the front of the book. It was not something he would have said had he been sober, but she hadn’t known that then.
Isanne continues to describe the resulting duel; how she had taken her anger to the streets. Her kinetic blade of stone against his dual daggers. The way her eyes had trailed to his form, a strongman’s body - a mixture of protective fat and sharp muscle rippling underneath. Even at that first awkward meeting the attraction had been strong. It had come so naturally for her to ask who he was and what he did. The fact that he led the Varnling Host was a pleasant surprise; she had already decided she needed to know him without that.
“I am glad you didn’t hate me for that one,” Maegar whispers, his eyes growing heavy.
“Should I let you rest, my love?”
He weakly shakes his head and then tilts it like a puppy, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.
“Nay, tell me more. Give me more stories for the road.”
With tears forming, she regales him with more stories of their time as mercenaries. Tales of lizardfolk trophies distributed, boggards slain and even the tale of Noose, hiding between Rostland and Issia. Her heart pounds in her chest and her leg bounces with the fear of what is coming. Still she continues on. The story of Lostlarn Keep brings a frown to his face and she switches the story to the Queen’s rescue of her. She remembers waiting in the Beer Mug Inn with Linzi, convinced that Maegar was dead and the Queen a liar. Both halflings, Queen and Bard, had beamed when Isanne had run straight into Maegar’s arms at his arrival to the small tavern. She remembers the desperation of the kiss marking their reunion.
“I thought you had died, you know,” Isanne says, shaking her head with the bitterness of the memory.
“I could say the same of you! I thought I had finally found my Lady Varn and off you went without me.”
Isanne laughs, the only cheerful sound the room had heard in weeks.
“Hmmm. You must remember our wedding then, no?”
A hint of mischief enters his voice, “I remember the night then especially well.”
That memory is a pleasant one. The wine had been like a river; the cakes and pastries like mountains. The Queen and her companions had attended as well. Linzi had harassed Ekundayo before scribbling details in her book. She remembers the citizens discomfort at the little goblin Nok-Nok who had stuffed his face eagerly. Fortunately the amenities of the party had been enough to keep the tension from growing. There had also been the Queen, shifting back and forth from enjoying the company of Octavia and Regongar to sitting with the quiet, mysterious tiefling Kaessi.
Their twins had come along nine months later; the first of what came to six. Every birth had stressed out Maegar to the point where he followed her like a little, lost kitten. Then when the child’s cries filled the air, he would immediately come to her side, fawning over her and the little one. Yes, they had many happy years with their children. Reminding him of little moments spent with them brings a smile to his tired face. Eventually he stops responding, eyes closed and chest rising and falling shallowly. She tells him about how much their children will miss him. She asks him to say hello to Cephal for her when he makes his way into Pharasma’s Boneyard. Isanne lays her head against his chest, listening to his fading heartbeat.
It happens in the quiet hours of the night. She awakes with a start, upset at having fallen asleep. Looking over to his face, Isanne realizes he is gone. That the end had come while she slept feels like a rock in her gut. Tenderly, she moves the hair from his face. Then she leans and brings his hands to a rest on his chest. Before leaving to get the cleric for Maegar’s last rites, she whispers close to his ear.
“Thank you for loving me, Maegar. If I could do this all again, I would pick you every time.”
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