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She had never wanted to be the Abhorsen. That was her father’s title – had been since before she was born – but now it was her turn. A living dead under her father’s control sent to her dorm at school sealed that fate and also earned her a terrifying reputation throughout her (former) classmates. She was not pleased by these turn of events, but she desperately wanted to find her father.
Maybe, if was able to find her father in Death, she would be able to rescue him and he could continue on as the Abhorsen. It wasn’t her time yet. She was still young. Dealing with the living dead raised by reckless Necromancers did not sound like a good time in her opinion. But she could not ignore her father’s wishes and she certainly couldn’t abandon him. That wasn’t in her blood. It was just that… She knew that she would carry the title of Abhorsen one day; she just didn’t want that one day to be this day.
“Already trying to shirk your duties, I see, and it’s only your first day.”
Jyn glowered at Kaye, but bit her tongue instead of replying. It wouldn’t do any good. The Free Magic construct hadn’t left her alone since she’d burst into her father’s home and found it void of the man she wanted. Instead, she’d found a very large, fluffy, and obnoxious cat who insisted on joining her. So far, all he’d done is complain and nearly kill her when she was briefly forced to take off his magical binding collar. With it, he faithfully (if not begrudgingly) served the Abhorsen; without it, well…
She pulled at the scarf around her neck, which hid the bruises he’d managed to give her while briefly unbound and in a metallic, more humanoid form. Kaye watched her do so; she couldn’t tell from the gleam in his eyes whether he was ashamed of his uncontrollable, murderous behavior or regretful that he hadn’t done a better job while free.
Trying to distance herself from the memory, Jyn eyed the man who remained standing off to the side. He was a little…off, but then she couldn’t really blame him considering he had been frozen in stasis for two centuries after the murders of the Royal Family. Now he was alive and (mostly) well, all because she had the bright idea to bring him back. Her lips still tingled from the magic of the kiss. She wished that she’d been able to remember a different way – she was the Abhorsen now (until she found her father, of course) – but in her shock, she had done the one thing she always knew worked with magic. Now she was just slightly disgruntled over the fact that he hadn’t even bothered to thank her or even explain to her how he’d came to be frozen by magic.
“Well, I’m sure it’s been a very confusing day, but we really must…get going.” Jyn wasn’t the best at motivational speakers. She didn’t like the idea of one more person joining her on this quest, but seeing as how she’d woken him up from his sleep, she felt an obligation towards him now. The man looked up to blink at her. He had intelligent dark eyes that made her squirm when he focused on her. She didn’t like it one bit. “I’m sorry, but what should I call you?”
His lips quirked up into a half smile. “Typically a maiden is supposed to tell you her name before she kisses you, yes?”
He had an incredibly formal way of speaking, but his words made her blush to her roots and want to smack him in the face no matter how fancy he sounded. Who was this man? Why had he been trussed up like that? And what gave him the right to speak to her so…so rudely when she’d helped him? Here they were, standing in a ship graveyard, the supposed burial ground of the Royal Family, after she’d fought undead creatures one after another and nearly been strangled to death by her own Free Magic helper, and he was teasing her after he’d managed to scrounge up clothes and armor from the dead?
Jyn was half in mind to send him to Death right now. She had the power.
Instead, Jyn smiled, baring her teeth in what she hoped looked nice but probably came off as unpleasant. “I’m Jyn.”
The man nodded his head. “The Abhorsen, yes?”
“No, that’s my father,” Jyn replied quickly, because the title belonged to him until it no longer could. There was still hope for him; she could not accept anything less. She would not.
“But you have the powers?” He waved a hand at her. "The bells? The sword?“
Jyn closed in on herself, but clung to the sword at her waist. Yes, she had them, but they were still her father’s. She was only holding onto them for him. (He had given them to her; he had passed the title on to her; he was in Death and could not come back whereas she was free to pass through back and forth.)
With some reluctance, she nodded her head and demanded, "Who are you?” One typically sought the answer to that question before waking them up. A lot of necromancers got in trouble that way. But the moment she had realized it was a real person on that mast and not a statue, she made up her mind. She had felt…drawn to him then and still did now. She did not like it.
“Ah.” The man thoughtfully scratched the back of his head. “Fulcrum. I was a member of the Royal Guard.”
Jyn thought that a highly suspect answer, as it seemed to have taken him a bit of thinking before he said it and he looked and spoke like someone more than just a guard, but perhaps being frozen by magic had a way of fogging up even the simplest of memories. She wouldn’t know. She had never been frozen and had never frozen someone herself. Maybe she’d try it on Kaye if he got too annoying.
Whatever the case, she didn’t have time to question him. If he tried anything funny on her or tried to kill her, well, it wouldn’t be the first time one of her companions turned against her. All that mattered was finding her father. If this Fulcrum was willing to help her, then she’d take it. Besides – and maybe it was just the kiss talking – she had a feeling that this man would have her back. He looked back at her intently, seemingly just as drawn to her as she was to him, and while she didn’t know him, she thought she could trust him.
“Oh, let’s hope Fulcrum is a better conversationalist than you, Jyn,” Kaye huffed as he started towards the except of the hollowhole. Yes, she was most definitely going to use that freezing spell on him.