Nautkia, and the South

[Graybeard]

"No, not far, just an hour or so," Brother Kelso said, trying not to stare at Lillith.

He's never seen a half elf before, Sister Rose guessed, then realized that it wasn't a guess; her Empathy was still on duty, although she hadn't used it knowingly since the two smugglers had passed by. Might there be some way to take advantage of that? Aha. Reaching into her traveling pack, she extracted an image of Father Egbert that she'd brought from the mission.

"We hope we will get a chance to thank Father Nestor for the mission's hospitality," Rose said. "We're on a ... pilgrimage ... to find a brother of yours and ours in the Church of Luminosita. Is there any possibility you might have seen this man?" She presented the image of Egbert ...

... And she didn't need the Empathy spell to see that Kelso went white as a sheet before stammering a denial.

[Sareth]

Something felt wrong to her. The young man was being so careful not to look at her. But why? Surely he'd seen women riding in a cart before? Surely he was used to being treated indifferently by one? But everything about his body language told her that he was trying very hard not to stare.

Lillith didn't get it. What could possibly...

A cool breeze blew across the small hill as Sister Rose got out the effigy of Father Egbert. Hair blew across her face, and she brushed it back, tucking it behind her ear out of the way.

Her ear...

Oh my dear goddess...

She tucked her head out of the way, attempting to hide behind Angus.

He knows!

[Viking-Sensei]

...or it could also be Sasha, sound asleep in the cart next to Lillith, with her hair all tied up around her head revealing her vestigal (but still pointy) half-elf ears. Awake, conscious Sasha was still trying to get a handle on the whole half-elf thing, but asleep, unconscious Sasha didn't give a damn and had apparently put her own hair up out of her way, using it in part as a cushion to protect her head from the hard wooden rail she was leaning up against.

In her dreams, two Sashas stood and faced one another in a darkened arena - one a cleaned up, possibly younger and better looking, fully human version of herself, the other a battered and dirty version of her with exagerated nearly full-elf features.

"I can't be you." Human Sasha said, looking at the damaged elven doppleganger. "Look at me! I'm happy and pretty and very much human. You're so... ugly."

Elven Sasha held aloft one of those elven magic swords (Sasha didn't know the name, just that her old Elven master had one) and ignited it. "I am the truth. The truth is not always pretty. Face it, you've always been a little bit better than everyone else - faster, healthier, more resiliant, able to heal wounds without magic - and it's all due to me."

"It's due to the training I undertook from the elf."

"Training, yes. Training to kill your own kind." Elven Sasha said, looking sternly. "How many half-elves have you killed trying to avenge your father's death? How many innocents have you murdered in your misguided quest to purge a part of yourself?"

Tears started to stream down human Sasha's face. "You're wrong! He WAS killed by a half-elf. I saw it."

"Think about it... what sort of half-elf kills another half-elf?" The elven aspect of Sasha said in a cool, calm voice. "I mean, besides you. Your father was Farrellian mage who could hold his own with some of the best academy-trained mages Tsuiraku produced. He was obviously a half-elf, low enough level that it didn't show in him either, but with your mother being from Tsuiraku and being lousy with half-elf genes herself, the two of them combined to form you and your brother, both of you full-on Errants."

"Am not."

"Magic goes horribly wrong when Lucas is arround, and it just stops when you're there." Elven Sasha pressed forward, her appearance becoming better and better as she walked closer to the now diminishing human Sasha. "How much longer can you still hide behind the illusion that someone somehow made you into a half-elf? You've always been. Chances are it's just the wacky magic in Centoriel that triggered the next step in your mutation, or somehow broke down the last little shred of a morph spell that they somehow got to stick when you were a child. This is as you were."



Sasha rolled over, snuggling up against Lillith, groping her lightly in her sleep.

[Sareth]

"MEEP!"

Lilith had not been expecting the erra... Sasha to role up against her like that. It was a shock that distracted her away from her sudden fear at discovery. Whether it was her or Sasha he was trying not to notice, her attention was suddenly on the strange woman beside her.

I'm being snuggled up against by an errant. She felt a tremor of fear at the thought, but fought it down. No, that's not fair. She may not be an errant. She was shocked, she was surprised, something had happened, that may have just been fear, not insanity. Fighting down a fear of errants that came from knowing first hand just why the elves were so afraid her entire race was flawed, she reached down and, with slightly shaky fingers, brushed some of Sasha's hair over her ears, covering them. Task done, she softly began to stroke Sasha's head, singing soothingly a song her mother sang to her when night noises woke her to a fear of what the night held.

No one deserved troubled sleep. Not even errants.

[Graybeard]

It would be erroneous to say that Sister Rose and Brother Miguel were "oblivious" to the interactions among the half elves; they were simply preoccupied, Miguel with driving the wagon on what was becoming a surprisingly intricate maze of country lanes, Rose with what her Empathy spell had revealed. This Brother Kelso knows something about Father Egbert. I don't think they've actually met, but he's clearly seen a picture or at least received a description. And what he knows about Egbert practically scared him out of his skin.

She made a mental note to investigate this unsettling discovery, but now wasn't the time. The town was coming into view, a fairly substantial community of maybe 5,000 or more, and not nearly as run down as Bernie's note had implied it would be; in fact, the place looked fairly prosperous. However, to Rose's and Miguel's surprise, Kelso motioned for a right turn, and the group headed away from town and onto another lane leading out into the countryside. Presumably the man knew what he was doing. And so he did: a few minutes later, the wagon rounded a hedgerow, and Rose and Miguel found themselves looking at the Reformed temple.

Wow. I've never seen anything like that, both thought at once. Rather than the beat-up mission they'd been expecting, this place was by far the most ornate and lavishly decorated Reformed temple they'd ever seen. The grounds were meticulously tended, the building faced with an expensive veneer, and was that steeple gilded? For an ascetic denomination, the incongruity couldn't have been much greater. They didn't have much time to puzzle over it, though, because a tall man in fancy robes was standing out in front of the main building.

"Welcome to Nautkia," the immaculately coiffed man said. "I'm Father Nestor, and on behalf of Our Lord Luminosita and His servants, I extend you and your party the hospitality of our temple." He smiled broadly ... and Rose's and Miguel's skin crawled.

[Drannin]

Argus kept his face passive... but inside was very, very wary. A smile like that reminded him of certain high-class Tsuirakuan parties. It was predatory, dangerous. This was a man to be careful of.

He'd have to ask Rose and Miguel about it later...

[Sareth]

Lillith winced. She was pretty certain it was a wince that had gone straight to her face and not been only internal. Something about that man and his smile made her certain she was about to be pressured to buy a used horse.

The way Sister Rose and Brother Miguel shifted made her certain she was hardly alone in that. They seemed uncomfortable with the man too.

Goddess give me strength...

Carefully she checked that her ears were covered, and that Sasha's were as well. The young man may have found them out, and probably would report it to his master. But that bridge would be crossed later.

[Graybeard]

Father Nestor appeared to be in his fifties. He looked trim, but in a way that suggested careful maintenance by a groomer rather than fitness from hard work. His hands were adorned with heavy, expensive-looking rings aboard exquisitely manicured fingers. An immaculate, ornate robe descended to simple-but-elegant shoes that had been polished to a high gloss. Looks almost like we're dealing with the only Reformed priest who has a butler and a valet, Sister Rose thought sourly as introductions were exchanged.

Nestor hesitated over an uncomfortable-looking Lillith, taking her hand. "A pleasure to meet you, my dear," he beamed. "We don't get many visitors from the far north here. And don't worry, you're among friends. Humans, half elves, elves, we're all Luminosita's children, aren't we, Kelso?" The younger priest, who'd been watching the interaction with an odd look on his face -- jealousy? Rose wondered -- flushed and mumbled agreement as his superior moved on to give Sasha much the same treatment. When he was done, he turned back to Brother Kelso and said, "Now, why don't you conduct our guests to their chambers? I'll have a man see to your dinner; I think you'll find it quite satisfying." He took his leave with a flourish, leaving Kelso to herd the group toward a guest house that looked nearly as ornate as the temple itself.

"He was right: these really are chambers, not cells," Rose half-whispered to Brother Miguel as they opened their doors. What lay beyond Rose's door was considerably more luxurious than the Abbot's quarters in Kiyoka: a tastefully furnished sitting room, simple but tasteful tapestries on two walls, well appointed with comfortable-looking chairs, and an interior door leading to a discreet bedroom -- which would have a tastefully made bed, of course, to go along with stylish dresser, nightstand, and so on. Judging from Miguel's intake of breath, his quarters looked similar. They both noted that their sitting rooms featured desks apparently identical to Father Egbert's sinister furniture. Would they have the same ... dangerous ... qualities? Neither felt inclined to find out.

They and the other travelers had barely settled into their respective quarters, let alone done the afternoon prayers, when there was a discreet knock on Rose's door. Opening it, she was astonished: a man wearing a tuxedo, or at least some kind of formal wear she was utterly unfamiliar with, stood outside. Wow. He really does have a butler... "His Holiness requests the pleasure of your company at dinner an hour hence," the man announced, in what seemed almost a parody of a "cultured" voice; getting a bewildered nod from Rose, he bowed formally and moved to the next door down the hall (Argus') for a repeat performance.

"His Holiness"? Rose wondered as the act was repeated again, and again and again. Something just doesn't feel right here...

[Sareth]

"This place gives ostentatious people a bad name," Lillith muttered. She was taking advantage of the lovely inlaid porcelain sink to wash Father Nestor off. While his hand had actually been gentle, soft, and warm, her mind insisted on somehow imagining things to have been somewhat cold and clammy. As she washed, she looked around in discomfort and not a little disgust. The furnishings in her "cell" could have fed Santoriel for a week.

She shook her head as she heard a knock. Turning, she took a towel and dried her hands, then walked over and opened the door to find a man in a seriously overdone outfit standing there. "His Holiness requests the pleasure of your company at dinner an hour hence."

Lillith blinked at the man. "His Holiness?"

"Yes."

"Um..." She shook herself. "I'll be sure to attend," she said, and closed the door.

"His Holiness? OSTENTATIOUS!"

[Graybeard]

It was only a moment later that Lillith heard another knock on her door, this time by Sister Rose. "Let's take a walk in the temple gardens before dinner," Rose suggested, her face studiedly neutral.

The grounds were immaculate (of course), laid out as a formal garden surrounded by working fields, with a gazebo in the garden's center. Rose steered Lillith toward the gazebo, a finger pressed to her lips, and before arriving, she mouthed "small talk." The women sat for a minute and chatted about innocuous things as workers clipped the hedges. Then Rose stood up and said, "Come on, let's check out the vineyard. It'll be interesting to see what manner of fine wine we'll be served at dinner tonight; I'm confident there'll be some."

Once away from the gazebo, Rose's demeanor changed. "Lillith, this place feels even more wrong to me than that tourist trap at Mazantzel," she said softly. "The Reformed church tries to avoid ostentation. We feel that doing Luminosita's work includes ministering to the poor -- and how can you do that if you hoard all of the riches in the church itself? The devout mendicants of the order, and I assure you that there are many who reject worldly riches even more emphatically than I do, would be horrified by this place."

She motioned to a tall, dense hedge to the south. "And there are some things that just don't belong here. Much of the landscaping is with plants that are not only expensive, but not native to Veracia. And check that hedge. Notice that it's high enough to obscure the view out to the Lorenzel River -- which, one would think, ought to be one of the scenic highlights of the place? Why's that? What's beyond that Nestor doesn't want visitors to the temple to see? Ah, if only these bushes and trees could talk," she concluded -- well aware that in Lillith's view, they quite possibly could talk, and might have interesting things to say.

[OOC: S, interested in working some of the followup out offline? Or will you be on frequently enough that we can do it here?]