After we placed our bags down, Maeve took out her piercings and wiped away her makeup while I crawled under the covers. I was tired, but I still felt pretty nervous since this would be our first time sleeping in an actual bed together. A short time later Maeve slid in next to me. If she felt as nervous as I did, it didn’t show.
Maeve: “So, can I ask why everyone was staring at me while I napped? Did I make a stupid face or something?”
I put a consoling hand on her shoulder.
Seth: “It was awful. I was so embarrassed for you…”
She sat up straighter.
Maeve: “Wait, seriously? Oh no… Was it like this?”
She tried to make an awful, embarrassing face, but it just came off as adorable.
Seth: “No you dork, we were actually just talking about you. Well… the inside out parts, I guess.”
Maeve cast her eyes down.
“Maeve: “Oh…”
Seth: “B-but it was good! I thought they were going to get all weird about it, but they actually pledged to follow you to the ends of the earth.”
Maeve: “Okay, now you’re messing with me.”
Seth: “No, I’m serious! Wolfgang said that almost word for word! I mean, he may have also said some stuff about it being an affront to nature, but… I think it just goes to show how much everyone trusts you that they’re willing to look past all that.”
Maeve considered for a few minutes.
Maeve: “It’s a relief to hear they’re going to try to accept all this Bedlam stuff, but I really couldn’t blame them if they did get weird about it. I mean, it is weird! I’m weird!”
I resisted the urge to tell her she wasn’t, because that would be pretty disingenuous. I mean, I had discovered I was completely fine with her ‘gifts’, but I was beginning to realize my tolerance for weird stuff was probably much higher than the average person’s.
Seth: “Okay, but who says weird is bad? I like you because you’re different!”
She smiled at that, but something was bothering her.
Maeve: “Maybe, but… it never used to be like this. A whisper here, sure, or maybe a tendril there. Even when I escaped from the cult, it wasn’t much more than that. But things have been getting out of control lately. I mean, I should be dead twice over, for one... and wings!? I flew up and wrestled a giant war machine! I don’t even know what’s happening anymore... What am I supposed to think?”
I really couldn’t say, so I just shrugged.
Seth: “Bedlam works in mysterious ways, I suppose...”
It wasn’t the answer she was looking for, but I think she knew all along I wouldn’t have it. She took a moment to collect herself before wrapping an arm around my shoulders, bringing herself closer.
Maeve: “What about you?”
Seth: “Me...?”
Maeve: “Yeah! We’re always going on and on about me, but I haven’t really asked about your past much. Any deep-seated angst there?”
I laughed, relieved she hadn’t asked for happy memories. But then again, even my worst days seemed so muted and distant now.
Seth: “I guess there was, but… now that I’m free, it all just kind of cleared up.”
Maeve: “Hmm…”
She made a ponderous expression, like she wanted to say, “If only it were that easy”. But she never did.
Maeve: “What about your parents? What were they like?”
Seth: “Well, it’s hard to remember to be honest. I always thought they would come back, but when they didn’t I tried my damndest to forget them. My mom was kind to me, I think, when I was really young. Or maybe she just seemed kind in comparison with my father. I don’t know why, but he always resented me, and was always so short with me. Actually... he scared me.”
Maeve: “Wow, that’s much juicer than I was expect-”
She covered her mouth, regretting her words for the first time since I’d known her.
Maeve: “Ehh, sorry. Probably not very tactful.”
Seth: “Well, while we’re being tactless, what about your parents?”
She raised an eyebrow.
Maeve: “You really wanna know more?”
I nodded.
Maeve sighed, leaning her head on my shoulder as she answered.
Maeve: “They were really into their work. Like Xenna, a bit. I don’t even know how they ever found time to have me, but maybe the whole Bedlam obsession thing only started after I was born. We lived in Aldmoor, so if mom and dad ever found some way to reach Bedlam and use it as a weapon, the Empress would have snatched them up and ensured they were set for life. They were true patriots, ‘Glory to the empire’, and all that. We were pretty well off, enough that I was basically raised by maids, but I never felt especially wanted. After a few more years like that, they ran away to the cult and… you know the rest. Well, at least the abridged, heavily censored version. They probably loved me all along, but I never really knew for sure until the very end. Just how ironic is it that I’m the one who ended up with exactly what they had ruined their lives for…?”
I moved closer, resting my head on hers as I pulled her into my arms.
Maeve: “Yreth damn it, I’m going on about myself again, aren’t I? I’m so sorry, it’s just… I’ve never found it so easy to talk to someone before, let alone about all this heavy stuff. Like, the fact that I can just gloss over my parents dying in a murder circle because you already know and haven’t run away yet has just been incredible for me.”
We chuckled guiltily at her morbid humour.
Seth: “Well, if we’re being honest, your past is a lot more involved than mine. If you’re ever willing to share anything at all, I’m willing to listen - most of my own history is pretty boring. Unless you’d prefer I recite ‘Oral Traditions of the Ordered Faith, Volumes I-IX’…?”
She laughed.
Maeve: “If you did, I’d have to find some way to shut you up…”
She had barely finished talking before I started up a melodramatic rendition of Elivque Bionbyr’s works.
Seth: “O, and it is all-powerful Yreth who brought us into existence, and it is to Yreth we give our eternal-”
Maeve rolled her eyes at my performance. Then with that wicked grin of hers she straddled me, interrupting my recital with a deep kiss. She nibbled my lip a little before exploring my mouth with her tongue.
Seth: “Oh!”
I cried out in surprise as she suddenly reminded me of her tongue piercing. My response only served to drive her passion further, her breathing increasingly rapid as she pulled me even closer. I allowed Maeve to take the lead, surprised by her sudden boldness. She grabbed my wrist and moved my fingers across her skin, the sensation sending my heart aflutter. My fingertips brushed scar after scar and my heart yearned for hers as I realized the sheer extent of her painful past. She eventually guided my hand to her inner thigh... but as she did so she flinched. I immediately pulled my hand away.
Seth: “Sorry!”
Maeve pulled back, and her body was shaking as she avoided my gaze. I wanted to comfort her but I was afraid my touch was not what she needed right now. After a moment she looked me in the eyes again, reaching for my hand as she moved to sit back beside me.
Maeve: “You have nothing to apologize for. I just wanted to… see, I guess. If I was ready for more. Because God, I want more. But…”
She got quiet. Angry embarrassment heated her cheeks as she looked away again. I gave her hand a squeeze.
Seth: “I don’t want to just say ‘It’s okay', in case you're not okay - I do have some idea of why this might be hard for you, after all. But I need you to know that the last thing I want to do is rush anything between us. Especially if it could end up hurting you. Don’t get me wrong, being close to you is the best feeling in the world, but there are other ways we can get close, and so far those have been more than enough for me.”
From the emotions playing on her face and her still-laboured breathing, she might have had a lot more to say, but didn’t yet know how to say it. Instead she simply nodded, letting out a deep breath. Then she lay down, sliding towards me until I could wrap her in my arms. Holding her felt like second nature to me, and I was filled with pure contentment. Her breathing eventually slowed, and the steady rise and fall of her chest lulled me to sleep.
---
Before people ever existed on Arden, Bedlam had to invent Its every story - a freeing exercise, but a taxing one. The Denizens who lived through these inevitably developed one or another sort of madness that lingered long after they forgot the life they had been made to live.
One Denizen’s affliction was most terrible - it was struck with the concept of causality - that actions must directly relate to each other through a chain of events. Bedlam pitied this pathetic, broken actor and cast it away to a lesser-formed part of Its realm, forgetting about It entirely. The Exile leveraged Its affliction to study everything that came to pass in Bedlam, struggling desperately to find some method in the madness, suffering through timeless chaos until at long last it discovered a pattern of predictable, repeating events. There was only one constant in Bedlam - entropy. The Exile would eventually use this knowledge of Bedlam’s barely existent, failing structure to do what had never been done before - Escape.
The Exile came through the other side, forming a rift that would much later become known as The Ardenscar. The Scar’s chaotic energies coalesced with The Exile’s fervent desire for order after millenia of madness. Thus came into existence the first humans, through which Its unstable mind might come to know peace at last. Ever since that day, Bedlam has become obsessed with Arden, tirelessly acting out Its own alternate versions of our reality with the Denizens.
Perhaps it is this tangential relation between Human and Denizen that allows some number of us to hear their illuminated ramblings from across the aether, even now…
---
I woke to a scream. My head was pounding, but fortunately it was nowhere near as potent as the migraines I’d been having recently. Shaking it off, I noticed Maeve was drenched in sweat, tossing and turning in my arms as she wept in her sleep. I almost jumped out of bed when I noticed an aberrant eye suddenly peer at me through the back of her neck before quickly retreating into her flesh. Steeling my resolve, I reached one arm up to shake her.
Seth: “Maeve! Wake-!”
Before I even touched her shoulder, Maeve had the blade of her dagger pressed against my throat. I gulped, hoping she would realize she was no longer dreaming in time. She squinted at me, then with a sharp exhale threw the weapon away. Somehow, I wasn’t even surprised to learn that she slept with it.
Maeve: “Ugh, what is it? Didn’t I let you sleep in last time? Can’t you return the favour?”
Seth: “Sorry… I thought you were having a nightmare.”
She looked to the side for a moment before wincing.
Maeve: “Yeah, I guess I was.”
Seth: “Is it anything you want to talk about, or...?”
Maeve: “No.”
Maeve answered without hesitation. After a moment her tone became gentle, her expression conflicted. She fidgeted as she answered.
Maeve: “Um, it’s not that I don’t want to share with you, but…”
I moved closer, leaning my shoulder against hers as she struggled with the words.
Seth: “Say no more. Hey, can I tell you about my nightmares?”
That piqued her interest.
Maeve: “What, were you stuck back at the library, forced to read another six thousand books or something?”
Seth: “Even I can’t read in my dreams. Anyway, it was nothing like that. I can’t even describe them, they’re so weird. I think… they’re about Bedlam.”
Maeve’s eyes widened.
Seth: “I have these fleeting memories of incomprehensible whispers and… shapes of things I’m kinda glad I forgot. That’s really all it’s been, each night that I’ve had them. But when I wake up, it feels like I somehow understood what it all meant. I can almost remember them now too, if I really, really try.”
Maeve was getting increasingly excited.
Maeve: “Then try, damn you!! I’ve never met anyone else who could hear the whispers, I need to know what they said! I need to know that I haven’t been crazy this whole time!”
Try as I might to describe them, it was all phantasmagoria. I floundered under her sharp scrutiny. When she noticed, her expression softened. Seeing how important this was to her though, I spent some time gathering my thoughts. I eventually found the most succinct way to express what I’d learned in my dreams.
Seth: “I think… Yreth, our god and creator, might have actually been a Denizen of Bedlam...”
