There was a slightly uncomfortable silence, broken only by the deep exhales of the Shadow Noj. Kre experienced a strange sense of déjà vu just then, recalling this exact scene from a few years back, although it involved the real Noj, not this strange shadow creature wearing Noj’s body like a church day outfit.
In his memory, the real Noj was sitting across from Kre. His eyes closed, just as his shadow twin’s were, and exhaling deeply in just the same manner. He had just broken up with Syonette. This happened to be the first of their break-ups, so they hadn’t yet established a repeating cycle of separating and then making up shortly thereafter.
In this case, Syonette had told him to get lost, in terms that only that golden-haired firebrand could, after Noj had nearly gotten into a fistfight with a Fort Cowl soldier that was passing through with his squad. Apparently, according to Noj, the soldier was leering lewdly at Syonette and had made a comment to his colleagues about her… attributes. Noj had overheard and… the rest was history.
Even if the soldier had been in the wrong, Syonette was of a mind that she could take care of herself and didn’t need someone threatening to punish anyone that looked at her twice. If the soldier had dared to try to do anything more harassing than just engage in idiotic guy-banter with his buddies, Syonette assured Noj that she herself would handle it, and not rely on some man to rescue her from the situation. In her mind, jealous rage was simply a different side of the same coin that the soldier was paying his friends with, male chauvinism.
Kre had never seen Noj cry. Not once. This was probably the closest the older boy had ever come, however, and Kre knew that he was watching his friend exert a great amount of self-control and using breathing techniques to keep the tears from flowing.
Shadow Noj was doing exactly the same. It was likely the memory of his mother, possibly one that had just unlocked in its mind as it was relating its tale, and the sentimentalism had apparently hit hard. Kre tried to recall a memory of his own mother that might be just as powerful, but he couldn’t seem to draw one up.
The room around the two started to flicker and fade just a bit, similar what happened with the illusionary city as the priest’s powers started to fade. “Seems as if the drugs might be wearing thin,” Shadow Noj murmured, look around. “We did not get as far along as I wished, but at least I know that even without the herbs we can talk, albeit in short bursts. Perhaps it will grow easier over time as well.”
Kre nodded mutely, not exactly sure if he was happy about that or not.
“Ah,” Shadow Noj muttered with a sneer, “it appears that morning has come as well. The half man is considering whether to wake you for breakfast. His is a race I do not know, but the others… the slave races, them I know and I implore you not to trust them. If the short one is in league with them, he should not be trusted as well.”
“You mean the Ylveryan and the… uh, dwarv… kin?”
The room around them gently swayed a couple of times and a knocking sound came from where Kre recalled Cooter’s front door to be. “The short one bids you awaken,” it said with a gesture to the door.