Ashwyn stared at the cold metal that the Alpha had brought into the basement. Six sets of gryphonian armour stared back at her. This only served to confuse the white mare. What did the Alpha need the armour for? It certainly wasn't for a customer. She had kept track of all the jobs he had been hired for, and nothing pertained to this armour. Unless… Was it another job from the princesses?
She knew he had been hired to make some armour for the guard a while ago, so perhaps he had been hired to do something similar for the gryphons in the guard? Glancing up to the Alpha, she frowned. She could just ask him.
“Alpha.” She started, earning her attention. He was sorting through a variety of jewels in the work room, seemingly trying to find the best ones for the job. “What is for?” She asked, using a paw to gesture towards the armour. A smirk spread across his face as he stepped over to them, placing a hand on the shoulder of one.
“These things are going to protect the house.” He stated happily. Ashwyn simply blinked at him for a moment. How were empty suits of armour meant to protect them? It wasn’t as though either of them could wear the armour. Unless he intended to hire gryphon guards? Unlikely. The Alpha was more than capable of handling himself, he didn’t need a set of guards.
“Not understand.” She admitted, seemingly taking a bit of the wind out of the Alpha’s sails.
“Essentially,” He started, scratching at his beard as he returned to the gems, “I’m going to enchant the armour to become autonomous. They’ll have to be coded with the proper magical algorithms, so that they behave in appropriate ways, but once that’s done... “ He grinned at her. “We’d have six guardians to ensure that nothing could threaten us.”
“Oh. How…” She started, intending to ask a question, before she paused and closed her mouth with a frown. She doubted she’d understand the answer anyways. “Why do we need?” She eventually asked with a raised brow. Did he know something that she didn’t? The Alpha was quick to pick up on the suspicion in her voice and shook his head.
“We can’t always be on the lookout for threats. There’s always the chance something could catch us off guard.” He told her, but she didn’t accept that.
“Can smell them.” She poked her nose to accentuate the point, making the Alpha roll his eyes.
“What if they don’t have a smell? What if they know you could and used magic to prevent that?” He asked before sighing and rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m from a place where I made a lot of enemies. It wasn’t uncommon for someone or something to try and kill me and my friends every month or so. I’ve come to find that you can never have enough defensive measures.”
Ashwyn was about to state that Equestria wasn’t like that. Of course, the thought barely lasted a moment before her own situation reminded her that it wasn’t the case. As nice as it all looked, the ponies here were capable of as much cruelty as any other land. She scratched her cheek in a similar fashion to how the Alpha scratched at his beard when he thought, her gaze shifting back to the armour.
She wouldn’t lie. Having six sets of autonomous armour keeping watch over her and the Alpha was an idea that pleased her. It was at this point that she also noticed the sets of weapons on the Alpha’s work bench. Weapons that were no doubt for the armours to weild. A small smile crossed her face as she turned back to the Alpha.
“Make good point.” With a pleased nod, the Alpha returned to searching through his gems.
~-~
Aurick was lying down on the couch, a fluffy pony on his chest. He had a hand resting on her back, idly tracing circles in her fur as the other sat beneath his head. He had been rather busy that day, and instead of moving to the basement to work on some projects, he decided that he’d finally take a day off. The issue was that he didn’t really have a whole lot he wanted to do. As such he ended up lying down with Ashwyn. An idea that she held no objections over.
They had remained that way for a long while, though Aurick didn’t know the exact time frame. They were simply enjoying each other’s company.
One would think that the act wouldn’t have been so enjoyable. What with them cuddling up every night. Yet, for Aurick at least, he hadn’t tired of it. There was something calming about being so close with Ashwyn. He had initially assumed it had to do with just how soft she was. If he didn’t feel her breathing, he could have been convinced he was snuggling with a stuffed animal. Now he wasn’t so sure as to the reason.
Perhaps it had something to do with their blossoming relationship? He wasn’t quite sure. He had never been much of a cuddler with his previous romantic partners. He was a man that enjoyed his personal space. Ashwyn, on the other hand, was almost always touching him, if not on him, when they were sitting or lying down.
Opening an eye, he gazed down at her. Her head was resting on his chest, her eyes closed as she napped. As he looked at her, one of her ears flicked and she pulled herself tighter against him, a pleasant smile resting on her muzzle.
He couldn’t help but smile to himself as his eye closed once more. The mare was downright adorable when she slept. As he thought of that, he realized that it had actually been some time since she had one of her nightmares. A fact that pleased him.
Ashwyn didn’t deserve what happened to her, and she certainly didn’t deserve to have nightmares every time she tried to sleep. He briefly wondered why they had stopped, as Luna had made no indication she had found the mare’s dreams. Then he realized it didn’t matter. They had ceased and that was all he cared about. Judging by her face, she was having good dreams now, and that made him happy.
He readjusted the way he rested, as one of his legs was starting to fall asleep. As he did so, he felt Ashwyn stir. She lifted her head slightly, her eyes fluttering open. She looked around for a moment, her eyes unfocused until they met his. A smile spread across her face as she laid her head back down, but held his gaze.
“What time?” She asked in a groggy voice. Aurick shrugged, a strange act with someone on your chest.
“I should probably buy a clock.” Raising a brow, Ashwyn peered around the room, finding that there was, indeed, no clock. The only clock they had in the house was sitting in the bedroom. Aurick typically went by the position of the sun, as clocks didn't exist in his world. Unless you wanted to count a sundial.
“Would be good. Am not you. Need clock.” She confirmed with a nod. A yawn escaped her as she stretched out on him. “Have plans or more of this?”
“Not a clue. I’m fine with staying like this for now.” Nodding, Ashwyn got herself comfortable once more, and the pair faded into silence. This didn’t last long, however, as Ashwyn spoke up after some time.
“So…” She started, drawing the word out longer than it should have been. “Alien?” He was wondering when she was going to start asking questions. It had been a couple days since he had told her, and he could tell she was curious.
“Yeah.” He responded with a tired smile. “I was enchanting a room to be used as a permanent teleportation circle. That way me and my friends could go anywhere in the world that had a matching circle.” Ashwyn raised both brows as he told her of that, a small amount of pride seeping into his smile. “The bad part is that one of those friends didn’t think about what they were doing, barged in during the process, and startled me.”
Ashwyn frowned at this, but said nothing. He had already informed her of the dangers of interrupting him while he was enchanting, so she must have had an idea of what he was about to tell her.
“As expected, the magic went out of control and cast the spell on me, using up every ounce of mana in my body. What wasn’t expected was that I had enough mana in me to supercharge the spell enough to send me through to a different plane of existence.” He sighed, running a hand down his face as he looked up at the ceiling. “Honestly, if it wasn’t for the princesses, I’d be dead.”
He felt her claws unsheath and poke him in the chest, though they didn't break skin. A deep frown crossed her face and her eyes started to search his body, as though expecting to find he was still wounded.
“Like I said, it drained me of mana, and that included my body. I was burned from the inside out as my body was destroyed to further fuel the spell. According to them, I was barely breathing when they found me. It had taken numerous days and high level healing spells to bring me back from the brink.”
“So is okay now?” She asked, concern etched onto her face as she cautiously poked him in the chest.
“Perfectly healthy.” He replied with a smile, his arm wrapping around her once more and pulling her back down onto him. “A couple days after I woke up, I decided to come here and start a business. Two days later, I go looking for food and you try to eat me.” That made her blush, and she buried her muzzle in his chest as she muttered apologies. After a few moments she lifted her head, eyes wider than normal.
“You only here for maybe week before we meet?” She frowned and looked down. “That weird.” Then her frown deepened as her brow furrowed. “Can no go back?” She asked quietly.
“Not a chance. Unless I want to risk doing the same thing again, but there’s no guarantee I’ll go to my world, or that someone would be around to heal me.” He sighed and closed his eyes. “For better or for worse, I’m stuck here. With no way to see any of my friends. Any of my family… Anyone I ever knew probably thinks I’m dead, and I might as well be for all it matters.” He felt something touch his face, and opening his eyes, he saw that Ashwyn had cupped his face with a paw.
“It matter. They lose good Alpha.” He couldn’t help but snort at that. She still used Alpha, even in that context? Shaking his head, he found that her words were enough to bring a small smile to his face.
“Yeah, you’re right.” He admitted, smiling at her. As he looked at her, he realized something. With this talk of friends and family, he realized that he didn’t know anything about hers. Then again, she was supposed to be a recluse, so friends probably weren’t a concern, but her family… “Hey, Ash…” He started, making her look him in the eyes again. “Speaking of, what of your family? Shouldn’t you let them know you’re okay?” The moment he had said the word family, she looked away and grimaced.
“Not want talk to them.” She growled out, surprising Aurick. Clearly there was a story here, and he wasn’t going to let her keep it to herself.
“Why not?” He asked, cupping her face like she did him. Hesitantly she met his gaze again, and in those eyes, he saw a confusing mess of emotions. Anger, fear, sadness, and more swirled in her citrine eyes.
“We not… on speak terms.” She said after a moment. “We… They and Inkheart fight. Argue about Inkheart future… Bad things said. No talk anymore.”
“Ash…” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I think you need to talk to them.”
“But-!” Her argument was halted by Aurick gently placing a finger on her lips.
“Take it from me, Ash.” He told her quietly. “You don’t want things to stay like this. You never know what the future holds for you. You could have died in the experiments. Do you think they would have forgiven themselves for not making up with you before you died. Would you not regret not talking to them before either of them died?” Ashwyn didn’t answer, but she audibly gulped as his words ran through her mind. “Whatever was said is in the past. Don’t let that determine your future.”
Ashwyn didn’t answer for a long time. Her gaze had left his after he had finished, and she was obviously thinking over what he had said.
“...Okay” She eventually stated in a weak voice. He could faintly see a tear making it’s way down one of her cheeks. “I… speak to them.”
“Promise?” He asked, lifting a finger to wipe away the tear. She turned to face him again and nodded resolutely.
“Promise.”