It was a quiet day in Adeluna. As a matter of fact, it seemed to be pretty quiet everywhere in the realm now that everything had returned to its rightful order after the fallout between the Goddesses of Life and Death. It seemed just the perfect time to get out and get a drink with friends. Black boots clicked on the cobblestones in the cool mid-winter air, plumes of steam escaping the lips of those who walked the streets in the mid day coastal gloom, the sky above threatening yet another storm. 

It was such a different climate to the Sundering Gardens, where is was always the warmth of the harvest season. He looked forward to getting out of the chill.  Adraejen Porthyrius pushed open the door to the Winking Mermaid Tavern in Adeluna and took a deep inhale of the smells of ale, food, tobacco smoke. It wasn't so different from his favorite haunts in Wyllmochvar. The tavern was relatively empty at this time of day, since most people were out working, but there were still some people sitting among the tables and booths and at the bar. His face had become a little familiar to the workers there, since he spent a bit of time here while letting his youngest girl visit her family that lived outside the town. He nodded to the man working at the bar and moved to his favored table near the fireplace, but beside a window. 

It seemed a fair place for a meeting, especially one that there was to be nothing underhanded about it, which might have been a bit different for him. This was just going to be a drink with a friend. Frankly, he wasn't sure if Dalanesca was even going to accept his invitation for the pair of them to get out of their respective shrines and meet on 'neutral' ground and maybe discuss, or at the very least, put to rest the happenings of the past few weeks. Things had been uncomfortable the past week, with both of them trying to raise the child Angela in tandem, and had relatively little time to actually talk about what had happened. Now that Angela had started to grow again, and was once more becoming herself, he thought it was probably time that he and Dal had a good… heart to heart didn't seem to be the right term, since both might have at one point been considered heartless. But still, they needed to have a chat, just as people.

When Dalanesca had received word from one of her Mutes that her company had been requested by Adraejen, or Drae, as Angela had always referred to him as, she was unsure on whether or not to accept the invitation.  According to Angela, he held no ill will towards her, even though he would have every right to - but Dalanesca still had trouble trusting the words of others.  There were many reasons for Drae to wish ill upon her, among them her downright attempted murder of his wife, and near-injuring of his children.  

It took her a while, but she eventually decided that accepting the invitation was to be in her best interest.  He had requested her presence at the tavern in Adeluna, and it was a place she felt rather comfortable in.  Perhaps a good drink would dim the edginess of their discussion, and this prospect made her feel even better about the meeting.  It eased her mind a bit further that they were meeting in a public place, which meant less of a chance that Drae was planning something sinister.  She knew that it was rather silly of her to keep thinking the worst of him.  She had not spent much time around him, but he had never done her any wrong.

She knew the place that he had suggested rather well - in her mortal life, she had spent a lot of time at the Winking Mermaid obtaining contracts for assassination… and it had been where she had first met Marth.  He had hired her, to help him on a mission, and things had spiraled from there.  Her ascension, their romance, their marriage… all had been a result of her meeting him in that place.  The happy memories filled her mind as she pushed open the doors of the tavern.

She was dressed a fair bit out of the ordinary for the location, but her aura shielded her divinity from view from any patrons who did not already have any sort of relationship with her.  This ability allowed her to travel through the mortal realm without being known for who she was, making her worldly travels a bit less stressful.  She spotted Drae shortly after entering, and made a bee-line for him, to the table towards the fireplace.  She stood, not sitting quite yet, and addressed him.  “Hello, Adraejen,” she said, rather formally.  A barmaid walked by and she flagged her down, ordering a whiskey and allowing Drae to place his order as well.  With a flourish of her black skirts, she sat at the chair opposite him, her blue eyes looking a tad warmer than they usually did.  “So tell me, is this a friendly meeting, or should I keep my guard up?” she asked, though the tone of her voice suggested that it was mostly a joke.

Drae looked up as the door opened and the hint of a satisfied smile played on his lips. He had half expected her not to show up at all, even though she had formally accepted the invitation. He was happy she had, it suggested that maybe the who debacle of the past few weeks could become a distant, albeit uncomfortable memory. She was all formality, greeting him in her manner that if Drae hadn't known better, one might have thought it was cold. He cast her a charming smile nonetheless, and asked for a glass of wine when the barmaid took the Goddess' request for whiskey. He looked at Dalanesca's dress, and quirked an eyebrow at her. 

"I invited you to a drink, not a tea party," he said with a chuckle. "No reason to get all dressed up on my account," he said lightly. He leaned forward and considered her question. "Well, that depends on you, I guess. You're not going to give me a reason to attack, right?" he asked simply with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "Not that I'd dare. The last thing we need is another skirmish between Life and Death, and I don't like the prospect of me being smack in the middle of it," he pointed out reasonably. "The world probably couldn't handle it either," he added with a wave of his hand before he sat back again. 

"I just wanted to see how you were doing. We both may have been raising Angela, but we barely saw anything of each other, Dal. You're my wife's best friend, my son's Godmother, and I am concerned for your well being." 

His steely gaze looked her over, searching for signs that might have suggested the stress she was under. After everything that had taken place, he knew that he had to have his own signs of weariness; slight bags under his eyes, worry lines creasing his forehead, slight down turned corners of his mouth, heck, maybe even the slightest hintings of silver in his otherwise raven hair. He did his best to remedy these things, but becoming a father, and a husband to the Goddess who was subsequently 'killed' and then brought back to life as a mere child was something he was sure had aged him almost as fast as Angela had aged. If it hadn't, he silently thanked the Great Tree and the Soul Stream for letting himself remain as young as his elvish heritage had blessed him. 

The barmaid returned with their drinks, and Drae slowly swirled the wine in his glass, examining the color through the gray winter light that filtered through the thick glass panes of the tavern windows. 

"How are you holding up?"

”Oh, come off it,” she said, waving her hand at Drae with a dismissive motion.  She knew that her garb was a bit outlandish for the dank tavern that the two had met in, but she felt no need to change the way she dressed.  ”And believe me, it wasn’t for you, either,” she said, but there was no sense of anger or sarcasm to her words.  ”I saw it unnecessary to change my appearance to come to the mortal plane.  Besides, I have an incognito aura,” she added.  ”When the people in this tavern look at me, they see a plain, average looking woman - in fact, they are probably looking at you and wondering who the hell I am,” she said, and the tone of her voice made it rather apparent how amusing she found that fact.  

”And no, I will give you no reason to attack.  My transgressions have passed and fortunately nothing was permanently damaged… just temporarily.  I am lucky to be surrounded by level-headed individuals,” she said, and it was clear that she was speaking of Drae.  ”There will be no more fighting between any of us, I pray,” she added, and she most certainly meant it.

”I appreciate the sentiment,” she said, and the words were truly heartfelt.  ”This is no easy task that you and I have undertaken.”  She ran a hand through her ebony colored hair, and a sigh escaped her lips.  ”The fact that you are concerned for me, after everything that you have been through at my hand, says something about your character,” she said rather softly, giving him a warm smile.  ”Angela is truly lucky to have you in her life, in every respect,” she said.  

She could see in Drae’s appearance that it had been tough on him.  ”I’ve got things to occupy my time now,” she answered to his question of how she was holding up, and it was rather clear that she would not be delving into any further detail as to what those things would be.  She accepted her drink from the barmaid, and took a deep drink before continuing speaking.

”What about you?” she asked, going back to the notice she had taken earlier.  ”How have you been since the events took place?” she asked.

"I wouldn't classify myself as level-headed," Drae commented. "I just have a unique perspective on the entire situation. Simply put, I've been there before, I know how that grief can consume and all you want to do is punish the one you perceive as being the wrong-doer. The only difference here is that I got my justified revenge, and I didn't threaten to destroy the world. Fates know what would have happened if I had your or Angela's power back then."

He chuckled softly. "I'm not sure who is luckier, actually. Being with her has changed my life drastically to say the least," he said as he took another sip of wine. He didn't pry, he knew better than ask what Death could have been doing to fill her time. He sighed heavily. 
"I'm doing all right now that things have calmed down. Never expected that I would end up having to play 'Daddy' essentially to Angela ever in my life, and I thank the powers that be that she has finally grown up again. I think I went through every emotion ever possible for a parent to go through with Angela in a week that every other parent on Revaliir goes through in a lifetime. How I'm not completely gray right now is beyond me," he chuckled as he rubbed his face. "You got a taste of that though, since she did spend a lot of time with you," he sighed. "I think the worst part was all the candy, and the booby-traps that were set in the pantry to keep her and Iva out of the sugar bin and jams," he sighed. "I ended up on the worst side of a flour-sack booby trap. I'm sure that the maids are still cleaning up my trail across the shrine," he mused. 

He looked at Dalanesca. "We are looking for him, you know," he said slowly. "I've been doing some research on planar travel. I am confident we might pick up a trail…"

”Level-headedness is rather subjective, if you ask me,” waving her hand once more, however she dropped the appendage to her side as Drae continued speaking.  While she was not happy to hear that someone else had experienced suffering such as she had, it was a cold comfort that she was not alone in having gone through such turmoil.  ”I may have gone a bit overboard,” she said, well aware of the understatement that her words made.  ”I am not so sure if it was a good or a bad thing that I was not completely in control of my new sphere at that time,” she said.  ”If I had better control, perhaps things wouldn’t have gone so poorly… or maybe, they would have been worse.”

”I can’t imagine how,” she said, rather sarcastically, as she knew all too well what type of things Drae would have had to been dealing with, having Angela in her childlike state.  ”I’m glad to hear that things have relaxed for you, to say the least,” she said, raising her cup to him in a gesture of solidarity.  ”Having her around Domus Tenebris was… interesting.  Did you know she made my guest I have staying with me - a male guest - wear a bonnet and apron and have a damned tea party with her?” she said, nearly laughing at the incredulity of her statement.  ”I found it mildly more odd that he went along with it, but I suppose an omnipotent being in the form of a child is still a force to be reckoned with, isn’t it?” she said, dismissively laughing.  ”And believe me, I know all too well about the candy and the sweets… It seemed that every night I was catching her raiding the pantries, one night her entire face was coated with sugar crystals.  I didn’t get the pleasure of a flour trap, though,” she said, chuckling slightly.

When Drae indirectly brought up Marth, Dalanesca’s expression grew rather somber.  ”I know.  Everyone is…” she said, her voice fading off slightly as though she were paying attention to something else altogether.  ”I’m beginning to lose hope, if you want me to be perfectly honest,” she said, and her voice indicated that she was most certainly truthful.  ”I’ve decided that dwelling on his disappearance is not the best option, and if we find him, I will approach that situation in due time,” she added.  ”I can’t very well wait forever - he wouldn’t want me to,” she said.  ”He would say that it was in my best interest to move on with my life and make something without him,” she said, a hint of finality to her words.

It was rather clear to Dalanesca that Drae was the perfect partner for Angela.  It seemed that he would not put up with her sassiness, and that the two balanced one another rather well.  ”I am glad to see that Angela has you,” she reiterated.  ”She’s a very lucky woman… but in turn, you are as well a very lucky man.  She is selfless, in all truth,” she said, and the guilt that she felt over the altercation that had taken place was fairly clear in her eyes.

Drae looked at Dalanesca, and actually reached over to put a friendly reassuring hand on her arm. 
"Listen, Dal. If you mean that, then all you need to do is tell us to stop looking. If you feel that Marth would rather you move on, just give the word," he told her flatly. No one wanted to give up on Marth, but truthfully it felt that the biggest reason they were looking for him was for Dalanesca. Some people might keep looking for the sake of finding Marth, but if the Goddess of Death was ready to move on, Drae wouldn't search for her sake. 

Drae smiled as Angela was brought up again, and at their lucking in having one another. He chuckled softly. "I'll never understand what possessed her to fall in love with a selfish bastard like me. You are right, she is completely selfless. And then there's me… I bound her soul in a prism of pure Lacriamium in order to keep from losing her, and not for the sake of Life, but for me," he admitted. He made no secret about it. He didn't pretend to be selfless. He had learned the 'hard way' about being noble and self-sacrificing. That was how he ended up a werebear. "But, despite my obviously mortal flaws, she's remained faithful to me… and I count myself lucky." 

He lapsed into silence and sipped his wine, and looked out the window at the dreary Adeluna winter day.