Gervasiel

[Graybeard]

"Is Drusia the first elf you've ever met?" Sister Rose asked Suriah as they rode toward the stable. She almost didn't need to wait for the nod; of course Drusia was the first elf the girl had ever met, else she wouldn't still be here, she'd either be on the run or ...

"She's very unlike most, maybe almost all, other elves," Rose continued. "She's committed to helping save the lives of half elves who are physically and mentally sound. You can ask Lillith about that." She didn't say how that made Drusia "unlike" other elves if Suriah didn't already grasp the implication, nor whether Suriah fell into the "physically and mentally sound" category. "We all have been traveling together for a while now. I'm in town on a mission for my church --" she didn't say what that mission was, either -- "and as soon as we're done with that, Drusia would like to take Lillith to a sanctuary-city that we both know of, where she'll be safe from some others who don't like half elves."

She took a deep breath, then forged ahead. "So to put it bluntly: would you like to come with us? You'll be safer there than you are here, believe me."

[OOC: Internet connection borked again, I may be intermittent for a few days, but wanted to at least give Suriah the chance to get dragged along with this motley crew...]

[Caoimhe Faelan]

Suriah's eyes widened. "M-me? I - " She stopped, looking at Rose, unbelieving.

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose marveled at the girl's reaction. Half-elf maturation being what it was, she must be close to 30, maybe older. How had she lasted this long without discovering the terrible peril that half elves faced out in the world, and without developing a longing for somewhere safe? Blue hells, even Kenny had been nervous when out and about, except when he was in the safe company of his military unit ... not to mention his wife.

And look how well that turned out.

Of course, then again, she might feel the longing so strongly that she was shocked at the possibility that it might come true. It was hard to tell without the Empathy spell, and Rose certainly wasn't about to cast that here and now. Either way, the course of action seemed clear. "Yes, you," Rose smiled. "I've discussed it with Drusia, and I'm quite sure she's agreeable to the idea." Not to mention that, having been called to the attention of an elven Errant-killer, you're already thoroughly screwed if you're not healthy enough to fit into Snamish ... but you are, you are. "It'll give you a safety you've never had before, a chance to live among your own kind, just like Lillith is getting that chance."

Speaking of Lillith, where was she?

[Caoimhe Faelan]

Suriah wasn't sure what to say. Her own kind? A whole village of people like - like her? It seemed to good to be true. A place where she would never be hated for having pointed ears or a natural ability for sensing magic, or being just a little too good at handling animals - all of it had been dropped in her lap.

But something felt off in the back of her mind. She couldn't help it. Suspicion set in as she thought of all of the half elves in one place, lulled into a sense of security. She shook her head. I can't think like that.

"I - thank you. Yes, I would love to go with you."

[Sareth]

As Sister Rose was talking with the young half-elf, Lillith was sitting in the common room trying not to listen too closely to Argus and Drusia. She couldn't help but overhear some, and Drusia's casual attitude towards some things was surprising to her. But it wasn't the conversation that had Lillith's attention. It was Argus.

Something was different about the man. It was subtle and hard to make out, but the man's spirit seemed stronger somehow. It was as though he'd grown an inch taller and a few years younger without quite noticing. So she sat watching, wondering what could have affected the man so.

[Graybeard]

"I - thank you. Yes, I would love to go with you."

"Good, I'm glad to hear it," Sister Rose smiled again, sincerely. "We might have to build another seat on the wagon, though," she joked gently.

You know, I'm enjoying this, Rose thought, surprising herself. Going all the way back to childhood and a much-loved family dog, she'd always had a certain propensity for adopting strays. That was one reason why she'd agreed to join the mission in Kiyoka: it had been thought that their first entree into the city was going to be with the flotsam and jetsam that washed up at the mission, exactly the kind of people who could stand some adopting. Of course, it hadn't really worked that way. Most of the "parishioners," such as they were, were family of Veracian expats trying to do business in Tsuiraku, and they didn't need adoption as much as a familiar voice of the church -- the Orthodox church, that is, with all its stultifying rituals and treatment of women as a servile under-class. That hadn't gone over well with the Tsuirakuans, not at all. On the other hand, Sister Marilyn had had her successes, not least among them the Tsuirakuan archmage Rose was now traveling with. (Who'd have expected that? she thought.) Idly, she wondered how Marilyn and Brother Miguel were getting along with their wedding plans. She still entertained the hope that she'd get back to Kiyoka in time for the wedding, if that was where they were going to hold it. Or maybe in Saus, if --

"Excuse me, Sister Rose, ma'am, miss?" a voice intruded on her reveries. She blinked and turned to the young man in the uniform of the militia, recognizing him as one of the novices at the temple she'd visited earlier. His voice was polite enough, but his demeanor was that of a military man, not a priest in training, and she didn't like the look he was giving Suriah. Before she could acknowledge him, he continued, "Father Amalric would like to have a word with the two of you concerning the -- events at the gazebo. Please come with me."

He turned to go, and Rose realized that he had company: three other men armed with pikes. Apparently this "word" was going to have elements of an interrogation to it ...

[Caoimhe Faelan]

Suriah's eyes widened in fear, slightly. She followed Rose out of the room, keeping rather close to her. She didn't trust these men.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Out of the stable, not room, actually, but anyway...]

A few minutes later, Sister Rose and Suriah found themselves standing in the presence of Father Amalric, high priest of the primary Orthodox temple in Gervasiel. He was wearing a priest's robes, but his demeanor was just as martial as when Rose had seen him earlier, and his face wasn't happy.

"Sister Rose, Ms. Chase, witnesses have placed you at the scene of the explosion outside the Stone Man Inn shortly after it occurred," he said without any preamble. Rose started to protest, but a raised hand stopped her. "Don't worry, we know neither of you had anything to do with it, at least not directly. But Sister, you've developed something of a reputation for showing up in locations in southern Veracia just after highly destructive magic breaks out, and we would like to know why."

Rose coughed and started to say something again, but once again, Amalric stopped her. "Furthermore, you might be able to shed some light on two very curious directives that I have received from the Patriarch's office, almost before the echoes from the explosion died down," he said. "One of them directed us, with the highest possible urgency, to begin a confidential investigation of the blast and of the man who died in it ... and the other directed us, with equal authority, not to investigate it. If you don't mind me saying so, I am going to choose which of these conflicting orders to obey, because I happen to be very interested in just what the hell is happening in my town. Now tell me what you heard, what you saw, what you experienced there, the both of you." He folded his arms to wait, but his face didn't soften in the slightest.

[Caoimhe Faelan]

Suriah didn't like this man; she never had. He'd always looked at her as less than dirt, due to her heritage. So, she decided to give him her story. Her eyes looked at him, unblinking, for the entire thing.

"As you know, sir -" this was said with absolutely no disrespect, "I work in the stables. I was cleaning out stalls and had just begun to curry down the mans horse when it happened. All the horses went crazy. Nearly got kicked in the head. I got the nag calmed down, went out to investigate. Sister Rose -" Sister? she hadn't remembered hearing it before. Maybe it had just slipped past her. " - had just shown up to investigate, as well." She then proceeded to relate, in graphic detail, her words carefully chosen, exactly what she had seen and what had happened afterwards - in regard to the explosion and the nag.

The entire time she kept her dark eyes on him, steady and unnervingly unblinking.

[Graybeard]

"Thank you," Father Amalric said stonily. Sister Rose noticed that despite his stern face, he couldn't meet the girl's unblinking gaze face-on. Well, she did have a -- direct -- stare. Might that portend later Errant-related trouble? Rose certainly hoped not, but now wasn't the time to think about it. "Sister?" Amalric urged.

"I don't have much more to add to what Suriah said about the explosion," Rose said. "I wasn't there when it happened. I was getting medical attention after almost being run over by a hansom. Surely you heard about that?" If Amalric had heard about it, he didn't show it on his impassive face, so Rose abandoned the barb and continued with her description of the distant sound, the discovery of the grisly spine, the odd crystals embedded in it, the monocle. "From that we were able to deduce the identity of the man who died there," she concluded. "His name was Porpington Bree, and he was some manner of poet laureate for some town I'd never heard of. We met him on the way over Stone Man Pass yesterday. He said he was on the way to doing a reading somewhere, but we were never sure where he --"

Amalric interrupted, his face still a stone mask. "We know this Bree," he said. "He was born in Lorenzel and quickly developed a criminal record as a small-time grifter. We thought for some time that he had been recruited as a Tsuirakuan spy, although we were never able to pin anything on him. In any event, it appears that you yourself have cornered the market on Tsuirakuan spies in southern Veracia, even if they have official cover..."