Meeting Jarktyel

“So uh, I hear we have the same… dad?”

Luna’s trip to New Tumulus was supposed to be a relaxing recuperation after that bad fight. But since learning pyres father’s name, and being able to confirm that none of the other fire genasi pyre knows are siblings, Luna wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity.

The man appeared to be middle aged, probably had a human parent. Deep red skin, orange fire hair, you wouldn’t know we were related except by fire. He turned toward me with a bit of a grin.

“You must be Luna! Ophelia said you’d be by!”

He reached out for a handshake, which Luna took in kind.

“That’s me!” Luna paused, “So like, am I the first sibling you’ve met too?”

“I met an older brother a couple years ago, but we were only briefly introduced, so you’re the first with an actual opportunity to talk. And to be honest, it’s been a wish of mine for quite a long time.”

“Well… I’ve got time,” Luna motioned to the barkeep to get a drink. “I’m in New Tumulus on what’s supposed to be a break. Few days ago I was in a pretty rough tussle and got my shit rocked kinda hard. What’s got you here?”

“I’m here for a few days before packing for a long trip over the Astral Sea. I work as a translator and liaison for the Fraternity of Order. Mainly because it pays well rather than their ideals though. We’re negotiating with someone in the water plane to create a kind of embassy. So tell me about yourself! Where’d you grow up? What kind of life do you have?”

Luna smiled up as the barkeep dropped a mug in front of pyre. “Well, I guess right now I’m technically an adventurer. I didn’t even know our dad’s name until about a week ago. My mom, Astrid, is a bounty hunter,”

“Wait, Astrid Oricyne?” Jarktyel broke in with.

“Yep! How do you know her?”

“A few dozen months ago, we had a run in with some pirates, and apparently Astrid was hunting down someone in their crew, and when we landed and reported, she got in contact with us to figure out where they might be. We happened to be going back that way, so she joined us for the trip. Because we sailed regularly through the area, for several months Astrid continued to ride with us, and helped fend off pirate attacks a couple times. The last attack she finally captured her target, and she moved on the next time we made port. She told us she had a fire genasi kid, but she didn’t know the name of the father, so I hadn’t thought about it much. What a coincidence!”

“That’s wild! So yeah, she at some point had a fling or something, and I’ve always been a bit miffed she couldn’t remember his name. She tried to keep me around for a while, but I was pretty young when she left me in the hands of my grandparents after a nasty run-in with a Space Clown. I grew up with my aunt Soli as basically sisters, on a space whale.”

“On a space whale! that sounds a lot more interesting than my childhood in the plane of fire.”

“It’s not, honest. It sounds cool, and it makes a great retirement home, but… well I wasn’t exactly retired as a kid. Soli and I had pretty much each other, with some infrequent visits from adults, but rarely other kids. And the whales aren’t that big, it’s like living on a houseboat, but you only get to go ashore once in a long while.”

“Oh, ouch, yeah, I guess that would suck. It sounds like a nice place to me now though,” said with a grin. ”

“So yeah, eventually Soli and I left for the Rock of Bral, picked up some jobs, and started in on refining our sorcery abilities at the temple. I worked quite a while as a courier, but once I got a bit of a name for myself running spelljammer journeys, I did quit that.”

“Well nice! I’m glad so far it seems our family has done well for ourselves! I’d say dad would be proud, but to be honest he’s seemed pretty apathetic about my existence in general and barely acknowledged he had other kids.” Jarktyel frowned. “But at least we can be proud of each other.”

“So what about you? You said you grew up in the plane of fire? Were you in the City of Brass?”

“I wish! No, I grew up in a smaller city near a portal that created a bit of a shield and let some less heat-resistant folk reside safely. My mother, Tourii, lived there and raised me. Still a decent spot, I had a few friends and stuff. Wasn’t much to see in the town though, and I dreamed of going out into the planes. So eventually I did. I attended a university to learn political science, and eventually got the job I’m doing now, though of course I started at a much smaller scale and lower stakes. I always thought the adventuring life sounded amazing, but I get to travel similarly, and my life is rarely at risk, so I don’t regret my choice at all. How about you? Are you happy?”

Luna gave a long sigh. “I don’t think I’m happy, at least not yet. I’ve seen too many awful creatures doing terrible things I couldn’t stop. I think I’ll be happy when I hold the power of a god in my hands.” Pyre stopped for a moment before letting pyres face soften, “Or maybe I need a longer vacation and some more time at the temple. They seem to have happiness figured out a bit better than me. Ha! Nah, I am having fun though. I figure I’ve got plenty of time to figure out happiness. Even if I wasn’t half elf, I’m pretty sure you’ve got at least few dozen months on me.”

Jarktyel nodded and grinned, “Yeah, for sure we’re not in the same place in our lives. I do really hope you find what you’re looking for though. I hope we can stay in contact. Oh!” he reached around to find his pack and dig out some paper and a pen, “Here, let me write down where you can send letters to! I hired a box at a port city on one of the inner planes, and they can forward mail to wherever I am, makes it easy to receive instructions from leadership, but also makes it easy for friends and family to get stuff to me!” He wrote down the address and tore off the quarter sheet to hand to Luna. “Is there a place I can send stuff to you?”

“For at least a while, yeah! I’ve operated with Soli out of the Rock of Bral, and we don’t have immediate plans to move. Here’s my address,” pyre wrote and handed to him, “and while I can’t promise I’ll always reply quickly, I’ll do my best to stay in touch.”

Looking around at the emptying tavern, Jarktyel moved to stand up, “I’m really glad we got to meet! How long are you here? I’d love to chat again before I’m off.”

“Well, I think I’m here until the day after tomorrow. How about that morning we get breakfast, and you can see me off?”

“Sounds great! Can I hug you?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.”