The Stars In Her Eyes

She stared at the stars above her, relishing in the feeling of gentle winds and the sounds of soft crickets. She named all the constellations one by one. The Twins. The Branches of Virtue stretching across the Arms of the Lovers. Sync had often wondered about the lovers in the sky. How they could always found each other in their infinite lives, even though their love was forbidden and they were separated time after time. When Sync first heard it, she laughed. What a silly story, in all the world how were they able to find each other? It seemed impossible and subject to belief. At least that’s what she was told back when she was a servant--a slave. There was a time where she believed such things, but since her first shift in her life, Sync Roastleaf wasn’t quite sure what she believed.

Her gaze shifted when she saw her partner clamber up the roof beside her. It was strange seeing Cadesh without her scarf on. The strange hair style she sported with utmost pride. Sync noted how full and beautiful her lips were, as they curled into a smile and Cadesh tilted her head. “Whatcha lookin’ at, jumper?” Jumper. Cadesh gave Sync that nickname the first day they met when she jumped from the top of the bell tower and into a cart of hay to escape her pursuers. In their line of work, you had to be quick on your feet and quicker with your mind. But damn did it hurt on landing.

“You,” Sync replied with a smile, watching her plop down beside her on the edge of the bell tower. “Get our midnight stuff?”

With a small smirk, Cadesh pulled out her bag and pulled out three loaves of bread before handing one of them to Sync, who frowned. The dwarven girl bit into her own loaf of bread.

“I think you’re messing up the Portion sizes.” Sync dared to whisper. Cadesh was the one in charge of Sync as a newly fledged member of the Black Talons, a reviving branch of renegade rogues. The dwarf had vouched for her and Sync became her apprentice, despite her being a former slave and an inexperienced halfling. It took her a couple of years, but eventually Cadesh helped her become the misunderstood thief and saboteur she was today. She learned that being a Talon was more than just money and power, it was about being a part of something greater than yourself. It was about sacrificing reputation and personal gain for to make the world a better place. The Talons were an idea, and now Sync was a part of it.

But right here, right now, Sync was just a hungry halfling on the ledge of the same bell tower she jumped off with a dwarf who found a little bit too much to joy in teasing her by withholding food. “No, I’m pretty sure I got it right,” she smiled, those full lips curling in amusement, reflecting the moon in a light sheen. “Eat up, jumper.”

Sync resisted the urge to fume. She may have been an attractive dwarf, but she was an annoying attractive dwarf. She started to take a bite and then stopped as her instinct told her something was up with the loaf. Maybe it was the way the bread seemed heavier than it should. Or the metallic stench that accompanied the fresh smell. Sync looked at Cadesh and ripped the bread in half.

A small silver key sat in the center of the loaf. Sync looked at her master dwarf and watched as Cadesh laughed. “I keep forgetting about your sixth sense of food. Would have been funnier if you bit into it. Would have loved to see the look on your face.”

“What is this for?” Sync frowned.

Without a word, Cadesh pulled out a box from within her bag and placed it between them. It was a grey iron box with a silver lock closing it shut. It's lid held the seal of a raven and a vulture with their talon’s intertwined with the words “Gud cosumeer” scrawled over it.

“Fates, Eve, you stole from the Jones Estate?” Sync’s breaths started to come shorter and faster. “Hazel’s gonna have your hide!”

“Not if you don’t tell.” Cadesh grinned bigger and Sync momentarily lost herself in that smile. “Beside, we deserve this treat. It’s been a pretty damn successful week. Go on, open it up.”

“But…” Sync started then shut her mouth. She remembered how Cadesh taught her to live life to its fullest, and take risks or regret not doing it for the rest of your life. The halfling clicked opens the lock. Slowly opening it, her mouth instantly started to salivate as the aroma of sweet sugars and fruity jellies and honied candies filled her nostrils. She shut it without looking inside and looked up at Cadesh who had a smug look on her face. “If we weren’t coworkers,” Sync whispered, her eyes half-shut. “I’d kiss you.”

“I suppose that’s a thank you,” Cadesh’s eyebrow perked up.

Sync nodded and threw open the lid, satisfied with what she saw. Beautiful sweets and beautiful jellies. Succulent candies and delicious chocolates. It’s been years since she’s had something remotely such as this, and it reminded her of home.

She slowly picked one out and gingerly ate it as Cadesh pulled out more from the bag. Assorted fruits, dried meat and even a fresh baked tart which Cadesh shared with a grateful Sync.

After the meal was eaten and the candies were all that was left of their self-indulgent feast, Sync leaned her head on her mentor’s shoulder, staring up at the stars.

“Remember the day I introduced myself,” Cadesh asked, her deep voice vibrating against her skull in a soothing sigh.

Of course Sync remembered. And if she didn’t, she would just read her notebook. The amount of instinctual lies Cadesh had told her was overwhelming.

“Cadesh isn’t your real name is it?” She had asked her. “And you’re not really a boy are you?”

The dwarf’s eyes smirked at her as she adjusted her large scarf. “Well aren’t you an intuitive girl, Roastleaf.” Back then it was just her last name. No memorable nicknames. “I’ll make a Talon out of you yet.”

Sync loved the way Cadesh would come up with nicknames and each of them had a story behind them. “What about it?”

“I think that story should be in the stars some day,” Cadesh said simply.

Sync looked up at her. “What? Our story isn't that significant. It was just me being stupid and naive and you laughing at me.”

Cadesh smiled again, still looking at the stars. "You know the story of the Lovers?”

Sync nodded, making herself comfortable.

“Well, it’s said that the stories have never agreed on the gender of the two. Traditionally, it’s always a man and woman, right?” Cadesh said as she started to slowly stroke Sync’s long wavy locks. Sync’s cheeks started to turn red as she melted into that dwarven touch. “Some speculate,” Cadesh continued. “That the lovers were actually one male with another. The forbidden lovers, two men that found each their through undying love, embraced in eternal love when they took to the stars.” She pointed to the sky and Sync watched tentatively as Cadesh traced imaginary lines in the sky. “It’s something dwarves have tried to comprehend for ages.”

“I thought dwarves didn’t really care for the nominations of gender,” Sync murmured blissfully.

“Nor do they care much for the stars,” Cadesh confirmed. “But doesn’t mean we still don’t have an appreciation for the skies. The mountain clans draw inspiration from them. But you know what I think?” Cadesh turned her head towards Sync’s face with a coy smirk on her face.

Sync’s heart raced. “What?”

“I think that they weren’t two men.” She whispered. “But two women, reaching to each other across the times. One strong and cunning and the other beautiful and intuitive. And their story was reflected in each of the one upon the land we stand on.”

Sync opened her mouth and shut it again. Where in the world was she going with this?

“But their story is never quite over, you know?” Cadesh let a pause get drawn between them. “Sometimes a story is already in the stars.”

Sync blinked. “That...doesn’t make any sense.”

“Hm?”

“I mean, aren't you supposed to be dead or something for your story to be written in the stars?” Sync frowned.

“Fates, jumper.” Cadesh laughed and sat up to look at Sync. “You truly are an intuitive girl.”

Sync rolled her eyes, recognizing sarcasm, but not quite sure why there was sarcasm to begin with. “You’re weird.”

Cadesh bopped her nose. “And you’re cute.”

Sync looked at her friend and blushed at her words. Why does Cadesh do this to her all the time? “Do you ever look on the horizon and think you should be somewhere else?” She changed the subject.

Cadesh rose an eyebrow at her. “No. Why?”

Sync had never really told anyone this, but she was already talking about it. “Because sometimes I dream of a home. But not just any home. A true home. One for everyone like me.”

“A renegade rogue that likes jumping off of bell towers?”

“No,” Sync rolled her eyes. “A halfling. One without a home.”

Cadesh turned to her with sympathy, understanding what she meant. “Hey, Sync.”

Hearing her name from her lips was like getting shocked. “Hey.” She said back in a small voice.

“You’ve got a home with me now.” Cadesh wrapped her arms around the halfling. “And right here with the Talons. Don’t forget that.”

Sync melted in her touch once more. “Yeah,” she replied, but it sounded hollow even to her. Sync couldn’t help but think there was something she was supposed to be going towards. But for now...she’d take this.

“Is this a date?” Sync suddenly asked.

Cadesh paused. “Only if you wanted it to be.”

“Do you wanted it to be?”

Cadesh frowned and closed her eyes. “I don’t know.”

Sync also frowned, unable to tell whether or not that was a lie. Perhaps it didn’t matter. This was nice all the same.