God of Discovery [high fantasy, slow build, mlm]

Evadia's general, part 2

The sun was rising over the horizon when D'Argen finally stopped talking. His throat was sore and his voice was hoarse and he had barely even gotten through their first century apart. Vah'mor had stopped consuming from him not long after he started and though they weaved the scents into a spell that would keep D'Argen's body from tiring, he was mentally exhausted.

A call from Vah'mor's balcony made them both stand up and look toward it. It was one of the mortal workers, waving at them and motioning inside. Vah'mor nodded and waved and the mortal disappeared back inside.

"Will you join me for breakfast?" Vah'mor asked.

"You know I don't eat."

"I also have something I want to talk to you about."

"Well then, why didn't you say so earlier? And here I was, talking all night when we could have shared the burden."

Vah'mor smiled and stood up. Instead of vaulting over the bridge, as they had done in the past and almost made D'Argen's heart explode in fear, Vah'mor led him down the bridge and to the tower. The descent down the stairs was quiet with Vah'mor a step ahead of him. The mortal worker was standing at Vah'mor's open doors when they approached. He raised his chin high. Vah'mor reached out and brushed their fingers against his neck in passing. D'Argen only nodded as he passed and then the mortal closed the door behind them and his footsteps sounded down the hall.

Vah'mor immediately moved to the low table in their receiving chambers, stacked with plates and bowls filled with fruits and breads and cheeses. They sat on a small chaise and immediately started picking through the spread.

D'Argen took the time to look around the room this time as he had not when he passed it earlier. Nothing had changed since the last time D'Argen was here. The walls were a dark red with a lighter red pattern on them, the paintings were framed in polished gold, the gold embroidery on the sofa and chairs were delicate weaves and patterns that looked like they took ages to complete, and the carpet looked as soft as D'Argen knew it was.

Vah'mor was one of the few that knew D'Argen no longer saw colours and D'Argen knew that the other had not changed anything in their chambers even if red and gold were completely out of style.

"Sit," Vah'mor motioned with a hand to the sofa.

D'Argen glanced at the doors to Vah'mor's sleeping chambers, which were firmly closed, when he felt a chill coming from them. The mortal must have left the windows open. D'Argen wondered if the red and gold theme still continued there or if that had been replaced by something more subtle and pleasant to the general.

He did not bother to think about it too much.

Instead of sitting as directed, D'Argen flopped onto the sofa on his stomach. He heard Vah'mor chuckle and turned over to be on his back and stare up at the ceiling. There was a faint relief in the same swirling patterns that were on the walls but it was white on white, harder to pick out without a harsher light and darker shadows.

"Haur and Nocipel had an interesting presentation at the conference," Vah'mor started speaking.

D'Argen hummed to acknowledge that he was listening but he let his eyes run along with swirling patterns above him.

Vah'mor chewed on something crunchy before speaking again, "They went to explore the White Pass. Said that it was easily traversable in the summer on their way north, but they found a new pass to the White Cliffs and spent a few winters there."

D'Argen scoffed. "I've had enough of snow and winter, thank you very much."

"Yes, I know. You avoid Elese lands like they were filled with demons," Vah'mor replied and bit into something fleshy sounding. D'Argen ignored the scents in the air and tried to ignore the sounds. "Anyway. I know you have presented about the pass yourself, and the cliffs, in great detail before, but they discovered something new."