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"You're getting sloppy, Fand!" Aniel calls out, laughing as she ducks under the swing of a sword, using her momentum to twirl on her right foot and pivot behind her attacker, the faintest scratch to the back of their neck from the poison-tipped dagger knocking them out, just enough to keep them unconscious with no real or lasting damage.
Even while the man is slumping to the ground, she checks to her left, where Fand is sporting a gash on his cheek from an arrow not dodged quickly enough. Her partner parries a new attack swinging at him, grunting at the sheer force of the sword bearing down. Pushing his own sword forward and knocking the guard off balance, he leaps back for the space to survey the scene. Aniel has barely a chance to call out “Behind you!” before he sweeps low, scooping up a handful of dirt and flinging it out to stun the man who had been creeping upon him.
“Cheater!” she calls out even as she entwines a leg with the guard Fand had knocked off balance, pulling his feet out from under him and kicking his sword away. A moment later, she jabs him with one of the many stun darts she keeps in her belt. Fand can use his distraction to knock out his guard with a sword pommel to the head, but it’s a somewhat less agile and elegant method than Aniel’s if she says so herself.
"There are no rules about playing fair when someone is trying to kill you," Fand pants, taking a moment to catch his breath. When he motions ahead of them, they both watch as further up the pass more guards form rank to stop the two warriors from reaching the temple.
"I wish they had listened when we'd asked them for the stone instead of making us fight them for it," she pants as they sprint up the path, zigzagging in opposite directions to avoid the arrows raining down upon them. She’s reaching out an arm to fling Fand further forward when he leaps from a rock, firing one spell after another in return, each designed to stun or send their target to sleep rather than doing any actual harm.
"They stole it from us first, I’m not going to feel that poorly for taking it back," Fand replies to her as she pulls out a long thin tube designed to fire her darts. While Fand is more skilled in the sword and spells, she has always relied on her agility and alchemy. They're close enough now for her to stun the remaining guards, the last falling to the ground just as they reach the temple steps. She's reaching out to slow the fall of the bulky guard who would have fallen on his face, always determined to cause the least amount of harm possible.
She feels her partner’s silver-eyed gaze before she looks over, reaching over and up to blot the blood still slowly trickling from his wound.
"You’ll ruin that shirt," he says. "Though I suppose the grass stains it has from tumbling down the hill have done that already."
"That was a strategic retreat," she grumbles back.
"You strategically retreated down half a mountainside," he says, laughing. They've both begun to tie up the guards, tossing any weapons out of easy reach.
"Joke's on you anyway," she mumbles, dragging a guard away from the door where he'd fallen. "This is your shirt."
The glare from the brunet sends her in response would make a lesser Amaurotine cringe, but she just laughs brightly. "It's your fault for leaving it at my apartment after we trained last week."
"I'm fairly sure you're the one that divested me of my clothes the second we walked through your door."
"I can not be held responsible for how delectable you look all sweaty," she replies, recalling slamming Fand against her door the second he'd followed her through it, hands in his hair, pulling it from the tie that had been holding it up. It'd been dusty from the training yard (and possibly the dirt she'd thrown in his face) and coated in sweat. But she's never cared about that before, and she's not about to start now. She's always loved combing her fingers through the shoulder-length locks.
"Later, Aniel, we have a relic to retrieve," he says in response to her eyes glowing bright, and she realizes she'd begun to trace his lean body.
"Fine, fine," she says, stepping inside the temple and dodging the relatively simple traps the villagers had placed around it. She revels in this part - knowing Fand's eyes are on her as she gracefully jumps and rolls her way around wires and over pits. He's leaning against a wall as he watches, not unconcerned but confident in her abilities. Others would think his guard is down, but she knows he could pull out his rapier faster than many would think is possible.
A moment later, she returns to his side, bearing the faintly glowing white crystal.
"Huh. Somehow, I expected more- I don't know, explosions when I grabbed this," she says, already knowing the words about to leave Fand's mouth.
"With you around Aniel," he begins, even as they hear rocks exploding in the not too distant area, "there's always an explosion."
"Explosions are exciting!" She says, eagerly bouncing on her feet. "Besides, I set these up earlier. Nobody will follow us now, and thus nobody else has to get hurt."
"Only you would blow something up to protect people," he says wryly, plucking the crystal from her hands and secreting it away in one of the many pockets she's designed for his clothes.
"Explosions just have a poor reputation!"
"Mhmm," Fand says while eyeing the smoke coming from the path that had once led back down the mountain, "and just how do you plan on us getting back to Amaurot now?"
Aniel grins widely, and she hears Fand groan in exasperation.
"You did not."
"She owed me a favor, and she mentioned she'd be in the area!"
"Why," Fand asks, slapping his hand to his face, "did she owe you a favor?"
"Well, Emet-Selch-"
"Stop. I do not want to become an accessory to whatever crime the two of you committed on a Convocation member."
" Please, Fand, it doesn't count when the crime is against her husband."
"Aniel, that is not even slightly how laws work."
"Ehhh… anyway, she should be here soon!"
At her words, the sound of a portal opening rips through the air, and a tall woman steps out, large, clunky boots heard before they hear her voice calling out, "Aniel! Thanks for the signal."
"Aniel, you said-" Fand says before Aniel starts talking, entirely ignoring the scolding she knows Fand is about to begin, "Phe! It's been too long!"
"You know how it is," she says with a sigh, "someone always needs something, and I wouldn't be much of a Traveler if I didn't travel." Her words sound exasperated, but the telltale smirk on her face gives away how much they both know she loves her job.
"Besides, if I hadn't been in the area, it seems like the two of you would be walking back to the city."
"You have my thanks, Azem, for the assistance."
"Fand, if you call me Azem one more time I will tell Aniel all about the time you-"
" Phe . As much as I'd love to catch up, I believe the villagers will eventually discover a way around Aniel's landslide. If we could?"
"Of course. Hades mentioned the two of you were in a bit of a rush, hop on through."
Aniel watches as Fand steps through the portal back to their home.
"You're going to tell me the story over wine tonight, right?"
"I wouldn’t dare consider doing anything else."
Excellent. She's been needing new blackmail material. First, though, they have to present this crystal to the Convocation.
"Do you know what this was about?" She asks as she follows Phe through the portal and blinks at her surroundings, realizing Phe has portaled them straight to the Capitol.
"The crystal? Yes. Naturally, it’s for--Elidibus didn't tell you?"
"Noooo?" She replies, looking over at Fand. Had she missed something? His expression seems almost as confused as her own, and she doesn't miss the slight twitch of his fingers like he'd been about to reach out for her but decided against it.
Phe snorts a laugh as she looks at the two of them, "Fand, Aniel, you're about to become a Convocation member. Welcome to the team."