Homontel, and beyond

[Drannin]

Hmm... not bad... Argus was forced to admit. The shop itself was tidy and classy, one that wouldn't have been out of place in any respectable city. The owner was probably rather successful. There was a wide assortment of knick-knacks ranging from toys for the children to pewter figurines. Behind locked glass counters were objects labeled "exotic."

One such object made Argus blush furiously and turn his head quickly away. One of THOSE in a town like this?! How did it... did they even know what it was? Granted, the shape was odd enough to encourage speculation... but still, seeing one of those in a respectable shop like this was quite the shock. They must have no idea what it is.

That Argus was just thinking that Cirella would have loved this place made him blush even fiercer.

Then he saw it. In one of the exotic cabinets sat a crystal ball, about six inches in diameter. Slightly cracked, but Argus could repair that. Definitely magical; it gave off the subtle signs. Bingo.

Now how to buy it without arousing suspicion...?

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose saw the ball too, saw the look on Argus' face. A barely perceptible exchange of nods confirmed that this would be an ... interesting object. Now how to buy the thing without attracting too much suspicion? Aha. She breathed a silent prayer, asking Luminosita's forgiveness for any lies she was going to have to tell; it was for a good cause, after all...

She took Argus by the arm and steered him toward the case. "Look, dear," she said, "that looks just like the crystal ball that your father took as a war prize in the Mage/Priest War, when he was battling the infidels. Do you think he'd like it as a replacement?"

The pregnant proprietress was taking an interest in them now, and Rose was thankful that this time, she'd had the foresight to include a wedding band in the form she'd taken. (Of course, it would have been more convincing if Argus had had one too, but she couldn't do everything.) "Shall I get it out for you?" the girl asked. Rose and Argus exchanged a glance -- the decision here should come from the man, of course -- and then simultaneous nods. (Well, almost simultaneous; had to let the man lead for the sake of authenticity...)

"Always glad to help a veteran's family," the girl said, handling the ball gingerly. "And maybe, in my children's lifetime, or even my husband's, we'll get a chance for revenge against the heathen Tsuirakuans ... as soon as that other problem of apostasy is dealt with." She winked knowingly at Rose.

Now what "apostasy" is that? Rose wondered, but this didn't seem like the time for that particular question. She simply smiled and winked back as the girl placed the ball on a cloth on the counter.

[Sareth]

"What is going on?" Lillith asked as they approached the front gate of the castle. "None of this is making any sense to me. They all look so similar, they act so similar, and what we saw down there..."

Though she was speaking quietly, Brother Miguel tossed Lillith a warning look. "I'll explain later, when we find Sister Rose. For now, though, we shouldn't talk about it."

Lillith frowned in disappointment. However, she removed the scowl from her face as they approached the gate. Two tall, blond haired men stood guarding it and stepped forward as they approached it. "Going out into town?" they asked.

"Yes," Lillith smiled. "We wanted to get some supplies for our further travels. We mustn't delay too long here in our doing of Luminosita's work." She felt bile at the words she was speaking, but when in Veracia...

[Graybeard]

"Papers, please," one of the blond men said, his voice emotionless. Brother Miguel complied, hoping that what Bindiel had given them last night would still suffice to get through the gate. Apparently so; the gate swung open, as the guards resumed their watch.

Curiosity -- mixed with a good helping of concern -- was written all over Lillith's face as they crossed the river into town. Miguel really didn't want to risk saying what was on his mind until he was well clear of the castle, but from Lillith's look, he felt he had to say something. There was a small grassy park just off the town side of the bridge, and apart from a young mother (brown-haired, not blonde, Miguel was relieved to note) picnicking with her children, it appeared to be empty. "Let's sit and enjoy the scenery for a minute," he said, motioning to a park bench comfortably far from the young family.

The fact of the matter was, the location was scenic. The river flowed quietly and smoothly through town, with a gentle little riffle beneath the bridge to keep the water stirred up. The park itself was well tended, and spring flowers were well along in bloom. Across the river, the hill bearing the castle rose like a silent sentry above the town. Miguel felt another tug, wishing that Sister Marilyn was here. During their occasional free time, both enjoyed amusing themselves by doing water colors. This park would make a nice place for hanging out and painting the castle ... or doing other things. Well, wishing wouldn't make it so, so he returned to checking out the scenery.

And talking of various things, of a nature definitely not involving Marilyn. "Thanks," he said to Lillith. "I could tell that must have been hard for you..."

-----------

The transaction for the crystal ball completed remarkably smoothly, Sister Rose and Argus headed back for the castle. "Okay, what now?" Rose asked as they reached the edge of the downtown area, still a distance from the bridge, but Argus didn't have time to answer before their path was blocked by a small crowd of townsfolk. "The rumors are true! An elf! He's here!" one of the bystanders was saying, excitement in her voice. Rose raised an eyebrow in Argus' direction, repeated herself: "Well, like I said, what now?" But the question was inflected quite differently this time...

[Sareth]

Lillith's shoulders were slumped, and she was looking away from Brother Miguel. She didn't respond to his acknowledgement of how hard that was. "Miguel," she said, not using his title. "What was that all about? What is going on? Bad enough those people would sell us out. But what are they doing in there? I don't understand any of..."

She cut off as she could hear the sound of voices. Looking up she could see a gathering crowd. "What now?"

[Graybeard]

"I don't know," Brother Miguel answered, "but Rose and Argus are over there, hanging out on the edge of the crowd. Let's see if they can find out."

Sister Rose was indeed attempting to find out what the hubbub was about. Surely it couldn't be the elf himself; solitary elves tended to try to avoid drawing attention to themselves, for reasons she was pretty sure she could guess at. One thing that caught her eye was that the small crowd was at least 90% female, and mainly in their thirties or forties from the look of them. Most had that routine-living look that suggested that the most exciting thing that had happened in their lives in the past year or so might have been a pressure cooker boiling over in their kitchen as they fixed chicken and dumplings for their no doubt large families. Not a soldier, or a priest, was in sight.

At the center of this collection of desperate housewives, a young woman was spinning a yarn that her audience apparently found considerably more spellbinding than Rose did. "-- handsome as the stories!" she was gushing. "So tall, and so graceful, and his voice ... it was the most thrilling thing I've ever heard!" Oohs and aahs from the crowd. "We walked and talked, just like he was a regular person, or like I was an elven princess myself! And then we went up to Preacher's Hill -- it was so romantic! And then -- and then -- he --" She couldn't get any more out, but the way the crowd was behaving, she didn't need to.

"Bah. Harlot," an older woman muttered, stomping away from the crowd. Her opinion clearly seemed to be a minority, however, as the huge majority of the watchers (including most of the few men) opined that whatever the young woman and the elf had done, they'd happily have traded places with her. And people wonder where the half elves come from, Rose thought to herself, as she detached from the crowd and made her way to where Argus had joined Miguel and Lillith in the small park.

None of them noticed that they were being watched from the shadows between buildings by a tall man who was avoiding drawing attention to himself, as they say.

[Sareth]

Lillith watched Sister Rose and Argus join Brother Miguel and herself. Trying to not look to interested, lest she betray her nervousness at the direction things had taken, she asked, "What's all that all about?" She pointed to the crowd casually.

[Graybeard]

"They're all fascinated by a girl who's telling a story of having been seduced by this reported elf," Sister Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, I think these people need to get a life. At least it sounds like the elf is a lover, not a fighter."

"Still, it's evidence that there really is an elf in town," Brother Miguel pointed out. "We can't treat it as rumor and hearsay any more. We'd better get these people out of here."

"Afraid so," Rose sighed. "Is anybody watching? ... Good." She changed back into her usual nun's form. "Let's get gathered up."

The crowd had dispersed, urged along by a bored-looking man wearing the uniform of a town constabulary, by the time the travelers were ready to move. A small shop could be seen now, across the street from the park. The sign on the front door was incongruous:
SMITINGS WHILE-YOU-WAIT
Brother Dr. Olvarez, D.Div., Priest of Our Lord Luminosita, Scientist
FULL MEDICAL SERVICES

"What is that all about?" Argus asked as they started back across the bridge, noticing a most uncharacteristic, disgusted-looking frown on Rose's face.

"If it's what I think it is, we may have just found the answer to where all the excess, unmarried young men in town are," Rose said. "Not to mention the excess blond and blue-eyed women that you don't see. Let's get out of here and I'll explain on the road."

Miguel didn't want to wait. "Where is that?" He was expecting neither the answer nor the glare that Rose impaled him with as she gave it:

"In the river."

The group walked back to the castle, Rose shaking her head and muttering under her breath, as the others wondered what was bothering her now.

[Templar771]

Cit had stood there and listened to the young woman and her audience.

A dark ball of hatred had formed inside. Elves. He hated them. They had forced people like him into hiding, persecuting and hunting half-elves at every twist and turn in their lives. Yet they walked around being praised by the people they encountered.They had destroyed his life all those years ago. He sworn not to get involved in something like that again but yet here he was. He had tracked the elf's movements. After years of being chased by people (not all of them elves) he knew where those looking for people would go. If the hunter had information on the target's personal tastes he would would go to where they were supplied. But of course the elf had nothing on them he was chasing whispers in the wind. Of course several millenia had helped him perfect his strategies and Cit had to admit this guy was good.

But there was nothing he could do. Attacking the elf would be a stupid and selfish thing to do. His thoughts drifted back to Elaine. She reminded him of someone he once knew. 6' high with medium/long blond and emerald green eyes. The similarity was one hell of a cruel irony. Of course that was all in the past now, been and done.He had left her playing with Felix whom she adored and was fascinated by they already had a good friendship. He asked Elaine about her past but there was not a lot to piece together most of it she didnt actually know herself. What he had found was that the mutism was trauma based. This was interesting but he would have to look into it later right now there were more pressing matters. He had now caught up with the others making their way back to the castle.

[Graybeard]

The vehemence of Sister Rose's reaction to the peculiar shop at river's edge surprised everyone, to the point where they almost didn't want to inquire about it as they walked back to the castle. Eventually Lillith worked up the nerve to say something, and after a quick check to make sure no one from the castle or the town was listening, Rose stopped in the middle of the bridge to explain.

"One of the dirty little secrets of the Veracian Church," she said in a voice that made clear her disgust for this particular secret, "is that there is more to the ceremonial smitings than there appears to be. In particular, it has been known for a long time, never admitted by the Church but well known by the congregations, that a properly administered smiting, applied to a woman in the early stage of an -- inconvenient pregnancy, is a relatively safe and effective way to induce a miscarriage."

There were gasps all around, and all the color drained out of Brother Miguel's nut-brown face. "Rose, I -- I had no idea," he stammered. "I never would have done anything like that if I knew about it! And I never did a smiting that was intended to--"

"You never knowingly have, and neither have I," Rose interrupted. "But it is done, and not just by fly-by-night operators like that shop. Go to the smitings at the main Orthodox temple in Emerylon some time and count the nervous-looking women, then look at how many of them come out of it in physical pain but with relief on their faces. It isn't just because their sins have been purged, I'll tell you that."

Miguel was starting to put the pieces together. "So what you're saying is that that shop --"

"-- Offers smitings specifically tailored to the termination of inconvenient pregnancies," Rose finished. "I'd bet just about anything on it. And I'd also bet that those 'full medical services' include spellcraft to determine the sex of an unborn child so that the parents can decide whether to get rid of it or not. If you're on the town side of the river, you want your large family to include exactly one boy, and then as many girls as you choose to make, so that you've got both an heir to your name and daughters to get married off into other people's sons' harems -- to put it bluntly. And on the castle side --" she looked around again to make sure no soldiers were nearby -- "they make lots of boys to populate their little church army. I'd bet that only one in twenty, or maybe even a hundred, of those blond soldiers we've seen are allowed to marry. The others ... well, they have their functions, or at least they will when that army actually gets used on something. And if you're married to one of those lucky few but are carrying the wrong sex baby..."

As if to punctuate Rose's words, a pair of blue-eyed blonds approached from the castle, and she stopped her lecture. The woman -- this one might have been as old as 21 or so -- was red-eyed as though from crying, while her husband kept his eyes straight forward and his face in a steely frown. They passed by Rose, Miguel and the voyagers without a word, and disappeared into the shop.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Rose said. "I never want to see Provatiel again."