Khione

Khione Merchant & Smuggler

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Burlap Sack Chests The rough, stained material of this sack is scratchy to the touch. 0

Exiled Love Written by Archaeoraptor & FourLeaf

Even-tempered and calculating. In the same boat as her mate, Hestia. Of the two, she is the one that is easier to talk and bargain with, and is a buffer between Hestia and the rest of the world.
Khione could hear voices in the distance, slowly coming closer. She looked around frantically. “Hestia! Who's out there?”

Hestia lowered herself behind a stalagmite and stood still, trying to get a good listen. Were those voices? Holding her sack of loot closer, she whispered, “Doesn’t matter. We gotta go.”

Khione looked around, trying to see in the darkness. She could see a dark shape moving in the corner of the cavern, and quickly reached out to grab it. The shape made an odd sound and struggled to get away, but Khione forced it into her sack. “Alright, let's go.”

Hestia nodded quickly. That was an awfully strange-sized familiar… they were gonna make a fortune. Listening one last time to make sure she wasn’t going to fly into danger, she gave Khione a signal and hurried out of the cavern.

Khione hurried after her, the sack over her shoulder struggling and making odd noises. She paused for a moment and glanced behind her. Voices echoed through the darkness, but she couldn't see anyone following them. Khione sighed in relief, then turned and ran after Hestia.

Despite the voices, the Wildclaws were quick. Shadowed by darkness, they flew far out of range, eventually making a pit stop just outside the Southern Icefield. Khione’s sack had not stopped moving. Hestia couldn’t wait to see what they’d get out of this one.

Khione opened the sack slowly, dumping out the contents on the ground. A strange creature blinked up at her.

Hestia frowned. Without noticing she dropped her own sack to the ground. “What,” she said, squinting at the creature, “is that?”

“No idea,” Khione replied, tilting her head at the creature. “It looked like a centaur, so I grabbed it.”

“That… does not look like a centaur.” Hestia moved her face closer to get a better look, though not so close the creature could reach. Not that it had arms. But it had wings, and horns, and icy white eyes, and… oh dear. “I think this is a dragon.”

“A dragon? Are you crazy? That is not a dragon. There's no way it could be.” Khione began pacing back and forth, keeping her eyes on the strange creature.

The draconic-creature looked between the Wildclaws in silent bewilderment. Hestia, unable to shake the idea it was indeed not a centaur, glanced up at Khione disapprovingly. “Well, sure, it doesn’t have arms. But look at the rest! Scales, elemental eyes… I’ve never seen a beastclan like this.”

“It's certainly not a child of the Icewarden,” Khione growled. “If anything, it's a Shade-touched horror that got away.”

A twinge of anger prodded at Hestia’s throat, but she bit back the growl. “What makes you so sure? And what do we do with it either way?”

“You seriously think a deity would create that… that thing? Because I can assure you that no deity would create such a… a disgrace. We need to kill it.”

“Kill it?” This time Hestia spat out the word, and it wasn’t in the… definitely-not-a-hatchling’s direction. “Khione, you don’t find that drastic? At all?”

“Most certainly not. If a deity won't take it, then it's Shade-touched, and we should be rid of it before the clan finds out.”

“If a deity won’t take it,” Hestia repeated, contempt dripping on each word. “You would be the authority on who belongs in the Icefield.” She half-hoped Khione wouldn’t hear, but at the same time, was she making an effort to be quiet? “The very least we can do, if it won’t talk, is leave it for some other dragon to deal with.”

“Leave it for some other dragon, huh? You never do think anything through.” Khione stopped pacing for a moment to glare at Hestia. “If we leave it, then how can we be sure it won't come back and kill us? The best we can do is drop it off a cliff and hope nobody finds out.”

Hestia stood with a snarl. “Right, yes, yes, this little thing that can’t even talk is going to come back and kill us all. Typical Icefield dragon, though, aren’t you?” Then, in a mocking imitation, “Oh, yes, let’s kill this innocent young creature because I won’t admit I made a mistake!’ Why must you be so difficult?”

“And why would you want to keep it?” Khione snapped. “You really are following in your deity’s footsteps, aren't you? ’Oh yes, let's keep it because the Ice dragon said it's a bad idea.’ Seriously, Hestia, I thought you were better than that magma-blood of a creature you call a deity.”

Where to even—! Hestia flared her wings, as if making an attack display. “It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with common decency! I’m always the one listening to your plans, but I can’t even ask to not kill an innocent creature?”

Khione took a threatening step toward Hestia, growling. “I never said it had to do with me! It has to do with you and your terrible ideas!”

“Oh, now all my ideas are terrible.” Hestia started pacing, not taking her eyes off Khione. “No ‘thanks, Hestia, for being the lookout all these years’! No ‘wow, I’m sooo busy covering our hides all the time, I’m so glad you’re back at the clan keeping our, ahem, loot in check’! Every idea I’ve ever had is the absolute worst, just because I want to return this thing.”

The creature had not moved the entire time, thankfully. Though at this rate…

“Oh, really? So how do you explain the hundred treasure that leaves our hoard every week, huh? Because I noticed that only happens when you're here alone!”

“Some of us,” Hestia snarled, teeth gritted, “can’t afford to stand around freezing to death. Let’s not forget I’m the one who moved to the opposite territory for this.” Her gaze wandered back to the creature for a moment… pitiful little thing. And they could have avoided all of it if Khione hadn’t made one stupid mistake.

“Oh, so now I have to listen to you? What, are we moving to the middle of a volcano now?” She glared at Hestia. “I don't need to listen to you.”

“You don’t. Have. To listen to me. Khione.” The snarl in Hestia’s voice wavered. Khione wouldn’t actually attack her, right…? “I expected you to listen as, if nothing else, a decent partner in crime.”

“We’re more than just ‘partners in crime’, Hestia.” Khione paused for a moment, glaring at her partner. “I want that thing out of here by midnight.” She turned and stormed away.

Hestia narrowed her eyes. “Then act like it.”

No sooner did Khione turn away, Hestia returned to the hatchling, taking a moment to stare at its large, unblinking eyes. She was going to put it in the sack again, haul it off to the edge of the territory and drop it there, but…

“Don’t go too far,” she said. “I’ll figure out what to do with you later.”

It only felt like yesterday that Hestia had ushered the creature into a not-so-distant cavern. Out of sight, out of mind, right? She definitely wasn’t sneaking out to visit and feed it, more convinced by the day that it was in fact a dragon. No, her rift with Khione had healed for good, and she could sleep soundly by her mate once again.

Until the leader made an announcement.

Khione stormed into the cave, clearly upset about something. She growled softly to herself as she began to throw all of her valuables into a sack, as if she was preparing to leave.

Hestia blinked off the grogginess of an afternoon nap. Oh boy. “Khione? What’s wrong?”

“The leaders want to see us,” she replied. “It didn't sound good.”

Hestia frowned. If even Khione was packing her things… But Hestia left hers in place, blissfully unaware of the storm on the horizon. “I’m sure it’ll blow over, whatever it is,” she said. At worst they’d have to make a new cover for their familiar-stealing, right?

“It won't just ‘blow over’.” Khione continued packing. “They are here.”

They… A chill ran down Hestia’s spine. She’d only heard whispers about the rising wardens, but… Without a word, she hastily started throwing some of her belongings together.

Khione paused for a moment as a large shadow passed by their cavern. She hurried to the entrance and looked outside, then turned to Hestia. “We better hurry.”

“You are being exiled.” The fateful words hung in the air. Khione could practically feel the poison dripping from the leader’s words.

“Why? It's not like we did anything,” Khione snapped.

One of the Gaolers snarled at her and took a threatening step forward. “You have every right to be exiled, Shade-spawn. You aren't a true child of the Icewarden.”

“What she's trying to say,” the second Gaoler quickly interrupted, “is that we have detected traces of a… Shade-touched anomaly in the area. You and your friend are the only ones who have left the territory recently, on unofficial business from what I understand.”

“We did nothing of the sort!” Khione snapped. “So I like to take my partner out for a romantic night. You got a problem with that?”

Ha, ha, riiight, a romantic night… Hestia could only hope they were indeed referring to such an outing, and not one of… certain other events. But any nervousness she had was nonetheless engulfed by the injustice of it all — and seeing Khione so mad, too.

“You can’t just trod in here and make such baseless accusations,” Hestia said, lifting her chin. With a glance towards the leader, she added, “You’d really trust the word of two strangers over your longtime clan members?” Wrong as she knew she was, there was challenge in her voice.

“They are messengers of the Icewarden, not strangers,” Athara growled. The Guardian flicked her tail. “We choose to believe them because they are from the Icewarden, and what they say must be true. You choose to live in our territory, therefore you are obligated to follow our rules.”

Khione rolled her eyes. “And I suppose I fit in that category, too? Blindly following orders because I'm ‘lower’ than you?”

The ice-colored Gaoler took another step forward, growling deep in her throat. “You dare to question the order of those blessed by the Icewarden?”

Hestia kept her head high, but couldn’t help but step closer to Khione. “YES,” she wanted to yell, “WE DO.” But it was starting to dawn on her just why the Gaolers might have traced a suspicious trail to their clan, and she did not look forward to the revelation. Instead, for once in her life, she kept her mouth shut.

The second Gaoler paced back and forth, carefully watching the ice-colored Gaoler. “You are being exiled because your clan sees you as a threat.”

“We are looking into an incident,” Athara added. “Two moons ago, you two left the clan at dusk and did not return until dawn. Lookouts reported that the two of you returned with a third creature.”

Khione glared at Hestia. She didn't want to say anything in front of the leader, but she knew her partner had to be responsible. “A third creature, you say?”

Any pride Hestia had left internally shattered on the spot. She was suddenly keenly aware of the belongings she and Khione had packed. Though she did her best to stand her ground, she couldn’t help but stand ever lower. “Must have been someone following. You know how outsiders are,” she said, not looking at the Gaolers or Athara.

“You dare speak of outsiders when you yourself are one of them?” The ice-colored Gaoler snarled, baring her fangs at Hestia.

“Cavrana, wait outside,” the brown Gaoler said.

“Why? So they can get away with this?” Cavrana growled, turning on her partner. “I will not!”

“I said, wait outside. And that's an order.” The Gaolers glared at each other for a moment.

“Fine,” Cavrana growled. She stormed out of the cavern, mumbling something to herself about Shade-touched creatures and death.

The brown Gaoler rolled his eyes, then continued. “You have until dusk tonight to pack your things. Cavrana and I shall escort you to the border.”

Outsiders. Bad, BAD word choice. Hestia dared take one last glance at Khione, who she was sure was thrilled, and finally bowed her head. An escort was the best they could hope for, really.

“It's not necessary,” Khione growled. “We know how to leave on our own. We don't need an escort.”

“It's a direct order of the Icewarden, and you will be escorted,” Athara replied calmly. “We need to be sure you aren't sending more Shade-touched creatures here after you leave.”

Hestia stifled a gulp. Well, so much for looking after the hatchling. She was almost certain it wasn’t “Shade-touched,” but much as she appreciated Khione’s defiance, she couldn’t bring herself to join in. The worst was yet to come.

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