Kiyoka, Douaga and beyond

[Alberich]

Tim kept a game face, like a lawyer whose client had been sailing smoothly through cross-examination, only to blurt out One Answer Too Many. He wondered that Rose would fall into this error. There was plenty of time for her to report anything she wanted to this "Colonel Bogey" of hers - blurting out that pointless stuff simply expanded the scope of the hearing, ensured it would go on even longer, touched off volatile tempers, and gave people who wanted to get angry an excuse to get angry. Foolish, foolish decision.

It also made him look deceptive, and that meant an upcoming dose of Amalrickish wrath, and this time maybe with some bite behind it -- or at least a painful ordeal 'til they found there was no cause. If she'd just left things alone, the wrath would've died down eventually. You can only get so far blaming people for not knowing what they can't know. But now she was feeding Amalric ammunition, and he was doubtless already angered by the Archbishop's behavior, and would now take this wrath out on them. Tim still didn't believe in hitting girls. But a piece of him, just a little piece, wanted to throttle Rose right about now.

And she'd done all this for what? A pointless speculation that that insolent corpulent violent Tsuirakuan fool plus that foul flea-ridden fur-monster he travelled around with had something to do with Farrelian turf wars before they were off with Jamie hunting Blaise? He'd already told the board that they'd met these adventurers in Farrel, a fact from which nothing could be inferred.

Thugs for hire were obvious picks to get involved in Farrelian turf wars. It didn't put any connection between them and Blaise, unless they were hired by "someone in Port Lorrel" - which narrowed things down not a bit. If you were looking for unscrupulous assassins, where else would you go but Farrel? Anyway, if she'd wanted to think things out, she should've done it somewhere else, and not in the middle of a hearing. And especially not this hearing.

Now, if they were unlucky, there'd be all kinds of questions that touched around sensitive areas such as Eli and Drusia -- matters that had nothing to do with Blaise but that none of them really wanted this board to hear. Really, for all Rose's military and churchly experience, she seemed to have missed some very basic lessons about dealing with Authority.

[Graybeard]

"No! Wait!" a nearly panicked Sister Rose called at the Archbishop's back, but it was already too late; he was through the door and on his way. She turned back to Father Amalric. "Father, that wasn't the way it was! The two that were with Blaise weren't even Farrelites, one was from Tsuiraku and the other was from the Southern Continent. I was going to say that if we could find them, they could tell us more about the assassin, not that they were --"

Amalric cut her off. "I know, Sister," he said wearily. (He looks like he aged about ten years in the last five minutes, Rose thought, and it wasn't just because of this -- misunderstanding.) "Brother Merton, you may discontinue your note taking now. In fact, it would probably be best if you, Brother Stanford and Brother Oliver just left the room." The two panelists and scribe gave him a questioning look, but complied.

"I heard what Brother Timothy here said earlier," he continued, as soon as they were out of the room. "And I knew exactly where you were going with your testimony. My next question to you was going to be -- still is -- whether you knew where those two went after you parted company with them, and how we could track them down. From everything you've said, that would be easier than finding this assassin. The Farrelian assassin guilds are very good at covering their tracks."

Therese broke in. "They too would be hard to track, sir. There was a minor, I guess I'd say 'civil uprising' about the time we left Goriel. Nothing major, it happens all the time there, what with the clans jockeying for advantage, but we got separated from them just before your airship picked us up." Rose nodded agreement with this assessment.

Amalric continued to sag, and age, before their eyes. "I know, ma'am," he replied. "But it could be done. Dammit, if I'd been able to get through to that blockhead, it would have been done... But I have my orders. The Archbishop has decided that he knows all he needs to know to report to the Patriarch." He sighed. "Never mind whether what he knows is true. It is sufficient, and that is all that matters."

He thought for a moment, and then added something to his disheartened declaration, as a tiny bit of a spark returned to his eyes. "To them, at least ... but not to me."

[Drannin]

(OOC: Sorry, was out today, so I missed that cue. Nothing to add at the moment, though.)

[Alberich]

Well, that's torn it, thought Tim. There's no way we're going to get through a good grilling about where those two went without talking about Eli and the Ralkin. Drusia, too. And it would all be pointless - "Gluto" and the Cat Monster had pretty obviously broken with Jamie after the mystery woman chased her off. And how much would they know? Good, loyal soldiers got told as much as they "needed to know." That way the enemy couldn't torture information out of them. So how much would you tell a bunch of cutthroat drifters and assassins, who weren't loyal to anything but themselves? Next to nothing, that's how much.

But Father Amalric seemed to be thinking the best of Rose, just as he'd been thinking the worst of Tim himself, so Tim kept quiet and let Rose do the talking for the next part. He'd speak if spoken to.

[Graybeard]

"This interview is over," Father Amalric said, rising from his seat with the halting, deliberate motion of a much older man than the one who'd sat down in it. "I feel a need to apologize to you ladies and gentlemen. It was totally uncalled for to require your urgent presence for ... that." He practically spat the last word, in the direction of the door through which the Archbishop had left.

Completely contrary to her expectations from the start of the day, Sister Rose found herself feeling sorry for the man. He's crusty and grouchy and disagreeable, she thought, and he follows the letter of the law as he understands it. But Luminosita knows, the man's heart is in the right place. Even when we saw him in Gervasiel, he was doing his best to do his duty for Luminosita and his flock ... just like he has been here. And for it, he gets squashed in the kind of petty political brawl that means more to those people in the Pleasure Dome than doing what's right.

And worst of all, he believes there's something seriously wrong about Blaise, and he's just been banned from doing anything about it.

"Do we have any orders from here?" she asked as the group stood to leave.

"Orders?" Amalric repeated. "No ... I am not authorized to give any orders." Another hard look out the door. "If -- he didn't give you any orders, I assume you have none. Go on and do Luminosita's Work, I suppose. You're free to go."

A quick look around the room made it clear that Rose wasn't the only one surprised by that statement. She blinked twice and replied. "Thank you ... and may Luminosita's Grace be with you, Father Amalric."

This got Rose another surprise, as her words seemed to perk the old man up. "And with you, Sister Rose who was Major Nuria-Lucas. But let me say one thing." He looked from face to face. "This is absolutely, uncircumstantially not to leave this room ... I will say that if, in doing Our Father's Work, you learn anything more about this assassin, or her colleagues, or anything else bearing on this sad matter, I will be interested in it, even if those in power are not. You know where to find me."

Then he said the thing Rose would think about for a long, long time.

"Semper fi, ma'am." He opened the door to let the group out.

---------------

Rose walked in silence, back in the general direction of the cloister ... but she didn't get very far before she pulled Argus aside, to sit in the garden, now unoccupied by meditators.

"Well, that didn't go as I expected," she said. "And I don't think I like the way it went." She favored the man she loved with a wistful smile. "We're even now, I guess. You just about caused an international incident back on the way to Stone Man Pass. I may have caused one here... At least, on the bright side, I can go officiate at those weddings.

"So what now?"

[Drannin]

Argus leaned back, and stared at the sky. "I don't know," he said honestly. "The convergence worries me. But I don't know just how serious it is. I've regained my family. I've regained my future. There's a huge temptation to just... get on with my life, and leave all this business behind. And yet, I hate leaving things unfinished." He was silent for a moment. "What do you think, Rose? Can we really just leave this alone?"

[Drusia]

Well that's finally over. Thank Anilis.

Rose and Argus go off to talk about who knows what.

"Do you think it's worth getting an Inn?" I ask Therese and Anfisa. "Rose looks like someone lit a fire under her. I'm not sure we're going to be sticking around much longer." And good ridance too. Although, who knows where we're going. If the plan is to stay in Veracia, though, I might be looking for an escort back to Snamish.

-- Desiree

[Graybeard]

"Can we really just leave this alone?"

That really gets to the heart of the matter, doesn't it? thought Sister Rose.

"I wish I knew," she answered, squeezing Argus' hand. (If wandering priests or nuns in the garden saw the gesture and disapproved, they could go hang.) "I mean, knew knew. But Argus ... I don't think we can. That idiot archbishop may see this Blaise thing as nothing more than a chance to politically beat up on Farrel. But it's more than that, maybe a lot more. If Therese is right, we can't just turn our back to it. But at the same time..."

She snuggled more closely against him. "I ... I want us to have a future together. There's this idea I've had about a place and a way to settle down together. I don't know if we can do it while we're running all over the known world chasing this death cult."

When she put it that way, though, the answer was obvious. "But I think we have to try."

[OOC: Therese will be responding to Desiree tomorrow morning -- too much stuff going on tonight, and I need some sleep.]

[Alberich]

"I'd like a room," whispered Anfisa, "but I think we'd get interrupted if we tried right now. As soon as we know when's our ride out of here, we can do that. Were you watching their eyes...?" - Anfisa thought that whole display had been pretty silly. Three pretty girls in a row, and they all ignored them to gabble about some dead man. But at least all the anger had been pointed at that stupid whipping boy who'd made Desiree cry this morning. Well, he deserved it.

* * *

Tim, for his part, was surprised at the sudden turn. One moment, Father Amalric had seemed determined to bear down on the whole Port Lorrel business with Jamie's companions. The next moment, he was declaring the interview over and paying Rose all kinds of compliments. Fortunes could turn quickly at this level. But then, if the Good Lord could work through Church Councils and even vulgar Farrelian snipers, couldn't he also work through this Court of Inquiry? It wasn't exactly Church doctrine that Luminosita had such directly influence all the time, but it was doctrine that he helped the Faithful, and maybe this was how he did it. Surely there was something of the miraculous in Father Amalric's turnaround.

Even the scene with the Archbishop, surreally unreasonable though he was, didn't disturb Tim too much. It was pretty clear he was primed to find something against Farrel and go tell the Patriarch at the first sign. Since he was so crude, unsubtle, and obvious, doubtless the Patriarch would be skeptical and check up on what he said before taking his word for it. Maybe he'd even check the transcript. And if he didn't? What's the worst that could happen? Veracia might take over Port Lorrel - which at least would mean they could shut down the slave trade.

It wasn't hard to see that Rose wanted some "alone time" with Argus, and the three foreign girls wanted to go chatter with each other, so Tim stood aloof and stayed quiet. If someone wanted to come talk to him, whether from his companions or the temple, he was available. If not, Rose knew where to find him when it was time to make plans and give orders.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Gonna borrow Anfisa for just a moment here...]

"I'll be right back," Therese said, leaving the two young women at the garden. "Stay here and wait for Tim or Rose and Argus."

Anfisa's open face lit up in a smile. "Getting a room for us?" she said.

Therese smiled back. "Maybe something better. Stay put." She walked off.

True to her words, she came back in half an hour, finding Sister Rose and Argus still off being love and comfort for each other, Desiree and Anfisa waiting more or less patiently, and Tim -- well, she honestly wasn't sure what was going on in the young priest's mind. Surely he felt more comfortable here, on the grounds of a temple of his own religion, than in Goriel. Yet he seemed alone with his thoughts. Therese's own thoughts whimsically echoed those of some other members of the party. The poor thing. He really needs to get laid. Well, it wasn't going to happen here at the temple, and she surely wasn't volunteering. Something had obviously passed involving Tim and Desiree, and while she couldn't figure out what it was, it didn't portend well for that being the solution either. And as for Anfisa ... well, the whole idea of rescuing her was to get her out of a position where she performed such "services" without wanting to.

Her mind snapped back to the present, and the facts she'd just found. "Good news and bad news," she said. "I went and checked schedules at the warp gate and the airship terminal. The good news is that the gate here connects to several cities: Tsuirakushiti, Tsuirakushita and Kiyoka in Tsuiraku, Port Lorrel and Isabel in Farrel, and Salvus up north. So we can leave town any time we want to." She shuddered. "I don't think it's our kind of place." (The funny thing was: she was also coming to believe it wasn't Rose's kind of place either.)

"The bad news," she continued, "is that there has been an interruption in airship service, at least internationally. Evidently there was some kind of incident in Tsuirakushiti yesterday. The man I talked to wouldn't give me any details, but he says that airship traffic into and out of Tsuiraku is halted. No big deal since we could get there by warp gate. Domestic service, to Emerylon, Lorenzel and Delphiniel, is still flying, and also to Rinkaiel and Isabel in Farrel and a few places in the Confederacy. Plus there are the usual coach and rail-coach lines to other places in this country -- not that I want to stay here any longer than I have to." She looked at the temple and shuddered again.

"So where would you like to go next? And maybe more important, what to do when we get there?"