Snide and Prejudice (Duvalyon)

[Navisya Curare]

As he took her hand again, Navisya made a surprised noise and at first went along with him. She began silently knitting together an apology for her sister. Considering someone of Duvalyon's position, it might have been important to warn him of her sister's radical ideas. How could she have known Aessila was planning a confrontation? Really, how off would Navisya sound if she started mentioning the strangest details about her family? Suddenly, Navisya sensed the wind changing direction,if there could be wind in Kalinor—and she could swear she felt cool air flowing from Duvalyon's tall form. He turned around again, and Navisya's hand was her own. If Duvalyon meant to stun Aessila, he had succeeded. His first wave of snide remarks were met with the same indignance he had already been acquainted with. The girl's amber eyes flickered between his while the words formed in her mind for what could have been a well-worded retort. Navisya was helpless to stop it. This evening was degrading quickly. Aessila's retort was never spoken. Duvalyon's addendum killed the words in her throat. Her eyes went wide and she stepped backward, as if someone had struck her in the face. For a moment, it seemed the medic had won the duel. Now he could savor his victory over the ignorant. "Whoa. Wait, wait." Navisya returned to the battle, disrupting Duvalyon's line of sight. There was a new look of contempt framing her fiery yellow eyes. This one was designed just for him. Aessila began to muster a reply, but Navisya briefly turned and stopped her with a look and a gesture. The younger woman complied with surprising obedience. Navisya faced the medic again. "Did I hear you right, Duvalyon? Did you just bring my dead mother into this?" She let out a mirthless, incredulous laugh. "My mother who died only three seasons ago? What is the matter with you?" Navisya's words became pointed and angry. They were not fueled by spite or pride as they had during their last meaning, but disappointment and residual grief. She shook her head and ran a hand over her hair. "Children. Both of you." She lifted her head, glaring at Duvalyon. "You couldn't let it lie, could you? You just had to get the last word in. Gods' sake, you're a grown petching man." Here,finally was the Duvalyon she remembered from the Place of Purging. "Still not a shred of dignity in you." A loud sigh escaped her. "And tonight was going so well. Zlynge! I just got home! I don't need this."

[Duvalyon Hellebore]

Duvalyon's last edged observation rang louder than it should have. The room had reduced itself to tense murmurs and withdrawn from the smoldering circle of conflict. The medic had woken up suddenly in a strange place, miles from where he intended to be. Navisya was flaying him with her yellow eyes and Aessila was stunned at her loss of control over the confrontation. He had been publically berated without preface and heard his race defamed, and now, Navisya was turning on him because he had been honest with a brat. Navisya's angry scolding only pushed him further into indifference. Every word made her smaller to him by the second... until he heard a faint tremble of disappointment. He looked down for a thread thin moment. She said it had been going well, as if she had wanted his overtures to be successful. His unbound hair was suddenly useful as it gave his expression a piece of privacy. But Duvalyon realized something that turned quiet chagrin into a calm before another gale. "Your sister knew full well who you were meeting tonight." He spoke at a volume that both discouraged further attention to those without and demanded it from those within. "I've been duped by the pair of you, so she could tell me our entire race is evil, harvesters especially." His eyes had shifted from burgundy to red and were now including Navisya in their grudge. "Fume all you want. I'm defending your mother to her ungrateful daughter, and from how recklessly she talks, it seems I'm the only one who ever has."

[Navisya Curare]

I've been duped by the pair of you. Pure shock swept across Navisya's face, her golden eyes briefly becoming saucers. Duped? He thought Navisya was involved in Aessila's childish agenda? Besides the insult to her personal integrity, was he really so conceited? "Of all the… By Viratas, Duvalyon." She had the gall to put chiding in her tone. Rather than grow angrier, her disappointment deepened. Her eyes shut themselves and her head sank into her hand, black nails scratching into her ashen hair. Navisya refreshed the air in her lungs before she spoke again. "Is that how you feel? You think this is all about you? Could you consider, just for a moment, that perhaps I'm the one who was exploited so my stupid, selfish sister could get to you?" The accusation had cut deep—mostly because until now, Navisya had been enjoying his company. She knew his opinion of her was soured from a bickering match they'd shared years ago, but somehow this complete lack of respect for her felt like a betrayal after all the smiles and dancing. Navisya couldn't notice the crowds that had gone quiet around her. She was hurt and struggling not to show it. She had been the one to suggest they give this meeting an honest try, which she would now almost regretted. Of all the worst possible things that could have happened tonight, it seemed like every one of them had. She shook her head. "This isn't about my mother, Duvalyon. Nor my family. Fact is you were willing to turn around and leave this be until my sister called an insult at your back." Navisya placed a hand over her heart, but kept her head down, afraid of losing her composure. She didn't want to look at Duvalyon anymore. His shadow in front of her had suddenly become dark and terrible. "I can't stand to be here any longer." Navisya turned to Aessila with a tired look, fury that had burned so hotly that it had already reduced itself to embers and ash. The younger Curare looked more fearful than guilty, looking closer to tears than the hunter was. Curious and appalled looks came from all around her, but Navisya's embarrassment was already at its height. She wondered where Kelswyn was and thought Reverin must have been restraining her somewhere. With a final sigh, she stepped quickly away from Duvalyon, snatching her sister roughly by the arm. "I am so furious with you right now."

[Duvalyon Hellebore]

In the cartography of Duvalyon's personality, there was a border dividing significantly different landscapes of emotion. In a span of chimes, it had been crossed. Unsuspecting travelers would gape as the deep wood was starved into a merciless tundra. As Navisya spoke, she dwindled in Duvalyon's attention. Though he looked at her, it was only because the statue had been posed thus. His face was chilled apathy, incapable of alteration. If she had burst into wild tears, he might have passively watched. Experience had taught him a woman's tears could be deceitful and abundant. The golem. That's what the surrogates called him at the Purging. A monster devoid of feeling that would crush a child's skull in its cold hands if properly bit to do so. He hated the name for both its deep truth and profound falsity. Now, as Navisya made her case, and with it opportunities for him to understand, he was frozen in limb and thought. Prior contempt made him deaf and dumb, like a proper golem. He apathetically watched his briefly happy evening rush out of the room in a swirl of red and pale gold. With alarming ease, Duvalyon returned to the party for a few chimes. Quickly bored and a little tired he made his exit. On the crawl home he began to awake. By the time he slipped into his house, he could remember Navisya's parting expression. When he finally went to sleep, he was still unsure whether her face pained him or not.