Umbertiel, part 2 (Inquisition)

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose caught the glint in Argus' eye as he rejoined the group at breakfast. Whatever he'd done to make sure that Harker didn't cause trouble, he'd probably enjoyed it just the tiniest bit ...

A few minutes (and one soft prayer) later, the two were standing at the entrance to the main Orthodox temple. "Ready for this?" Rose asked softly, then smiled. "Or should I do another prayer, just to be on the safe side?"

She didn't wait for an answer, but squeezed Argus' hand gently, then knocked.

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

The dining room had gone quiet as the nun and the mage left, then Brad asked the obvious question, to whoever remained in the room -- he wasn't paying attention, at least to anyone other than Lillith.

"Now what?"

[Jack Rothwell]

"Don't worry, I used a contraception spell, both last night and this morning," I tell him. "I was... well, I didn't during the festival, being a symbol of fertility and all. And the chances are pretty low, but... well, I was thinking about it."

Eli let out a deep breath and hoped his hammering heart hadn't been noticed by Desiree. It was unlikely, considering the woman's head was on his chest. He gave her question a few moments of consideration before replying.

"Kids? Maybe. If..." He held up a hand to count on. "...I met the right woman, if I feel it's time to settle down, if I find a place more interesting to live than Snamish." He saw the Priestess looking up at him. "Not that I mean Snamish is a boring place to live... well... after 40 years it may have lost some of its charm. I'd sooner find somewhere that my kids could live without fear of being struck down the minutes they leave it's borders." He considered this. "If such a place exists." A sad thought had came to him. "It's strange, maybe it's because I've never spent much time away from Snamish but it's really hit home the last few days... we really are an endangered species."

[Sareth]

The dining room had gone quiet as the nun and the mage left, then Brad asked the obvious question, to whoever remained in the room -- he wasn't paying attention, at least to anyone other than Lillith.

"Now what?"

"Now I spend time in the garden really seeing if I can find out what has the spirits feeling a bit off. I think you might start with your nephew and see if he has some leads that can be investigated through the Luminositan beliefs. If either of us sees anyone else, we fill them in with the plan." Lillith rose, then walked behind Brad. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her chin on his head. "Be careful. Something doesn't feel right here."

[Graybeard]

"Be careful. Something doesn't feel right here."

Brad digested this instruction for a moment, then replied simply. "You be careful too. I love you." He started to rise, to go to the temple to start his investigations ...

... And, because Lillith's arms were still wrapped around him, promptly fell out of his chair.

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

A face appeared in the peephole of the temple's main door. "State your business," a female voice said, no warmth in it.

For reasons she would never understand, let alone be able to articulate, Sister Rose felt an overwhelming urge to answer "Joe sent me." However, she fought it down; this didn't seem like a situation where a little levity might break the tension, quite the contrary. "Sister Rose of the Church of Our Lord Luminosita, and Doctor Cleiviein, to see Father Blaise and Sister Bree," she said. She didn't bother to point out that she was from the Reformed church; this person at the door didn't need to know that, probably.

The face didn't warm up at all, but nodded. "You are expected. Enter." The door creaked open, revealing more of the person opening it.

Rose gasped. I've never seen any evidence for precognition ... not until now.

The nun standing before them was a dead ringer for the form Rose had whimsically used on her first little mission with Argus. [OOC: I'm lazy and will skip the details, which are here -- anyone who wasn't around at the beginning of Errant Road might find it entertaining reading, anyway. /OOC:] The only differences were her apparel, which was a conventional nun's habit rather than the "Church Militant" silliness Rose had concocted, and her eyes, which were dark brown, nearly black, rather than (of course) green.

"I am Sister Bree," this frightening apparition said. "Come." She held the door for the two, and once inside, closed it, the latch functioning with a click that sounded to Rose like the crack of doom.

[Sareth]

With a surprised awk Lillith fell forward, dragged down with Brad. She landed atop of him, sprawled out, her face planted in between his shoulders. After a moment she gave a giggle.

"Brad, I love your serious moments, seeing what a fine man you are. But it's nice to know the silly Brad is still in there."

She placed a kiss on the back of his neck and rose.

"Just, next time, perhaps I should be on bottom?"

With a wink she snuck off to the corner of the garden to settle in.

[Drusia]

"Kids? Maybe. If..." He held up a hand to count on. "...I met the right woman, if I feel it's time to settle down, if I find a place more interesting to live than Snamish." He saw the Priestess looking up at him. "Not that I mean Snamish is a boring place to live... well... after 40 years it may have lost some of its charm. I'd sooner find somewhere that my kids could live without fear of being struck down the minutes they leave it's borders." He considered this. "If such a place exists." A sad thought had came to him. "It's strange, maybe it's because I've never spent much time away from Snamish but it's really hit home the last few days... we really are an endangered species."

I sigh and lean my head against his chest.

"Yeah, we are," I reply. "And from what my mother says... all the other half-elven villages are even worse. Not only is it not safe to leave the town, the towns aren't hidden like Snamish, meaning that Peregins could just show up one day and kill everyone." Which, I gather, is what mother is worried about happening to Lillith's town. Again.

"And it isn't any safer to live in a huma town," I continue, "The Peregin check those too. Plus, a lot of humans are scared of us. Like this place." I gesture vaguly at the town we're in.

I sit up on one arm and look at him. "I understand why you wanted to leave Snamish - it is pretty safe there, and all of us work hard to keep it that way. It's dull. But... I guess, to me, that seems like the perfect place to raise a family. Safe. And, you know, farm land, mountains, a lake... there's a lot of safe places for children to enjoy themselves. I -" I frown, and tilt my head, looking at him. "Wow. Um, not quite where I was going when I brought this up."

I disentangle myself from Eli a little, but don't leave the bed - I'm enjoying the feel of him next to me.

"I was actually going to ask what you thought about humans," I tell him. "I mean, as potential partners. For children." Wow. That came out sounding rather wrong. Um... well, no it didn't, just a little more blunt than I meant it.

[Jack Rothwell]

Eli looked at Desiree and raised an eyebrow at the right turn in the conversation, he thought for a moment, both about the question and what Desiree's motivation could have been for asking it.

"Humans? They're a weird bunch I think, always living frantically." He pondered the question some more. "Are you talking about them as a means to an end or as a life partner? Well... a 'short' life partner, I mean."

It suddenly occured to the Snamish native that Desiree could've have gotten involved with one of the humans at the festival. She'd said she hadn't been protected then.

'Wait a minute, does that mean...?'

[Graybeard]

Every fiber of Brad's being screamed at him to follow his beloved out into the inn's garden, to "protect" her while she communed with her spirits. However, with the greatest of efforts, he succeeded in restraining himself. After all, he had his own fact-finding role to play ... and she had asked him to play it. As soon as he regained his equilibrium following the fall, kiss and wink, he rose unsteadily to his feet, and headed for the temple, casting non-stop glances toward the garden to make sure that nothing horrifying had happened there.

Thus distracted, of course, he wasn't doing a very good job of watching where he was going.

With an "Ooomph!" he bounced off a large Veracian who was going in the opposite direction, toward the inn and away from the temple. Muted apologies were exchanged (Brad being considerably more apologetic than the other, rather gruff man), and they went on their separate ways ... but not before Brad noticed something.

I think he's one of the militiamen who went to the haberdashery yesterday.

---------

Sister Rose and Argus followed the forbidding nun in silence as she led them past the sanctuary (they wouldn't let an "infidel" like Argus in there, she thought, a corner of her own mind suspecting that they might not want a heretical Reformed nun there either) and toward the administrative parts of the temple. It just didn't seem like a good place to be speaking, at least out loud ... and that gave her an idea. I just wish I'd thought of this before, to give Argus a heads-up on what I'm about to do.

Everything Rose had learned in her studies (which wasn't much) and experienced recently (which was rather more substantial...) had led her to believe that mind-to-mind communication was normally a highly private, one might say "secure," medium. That had certainly been her experience in the telepathic conversations that had started when the group met Drusia, and what little she could remember of the theory of mind magic that she'd learned long ago tended to confirm it. (Of course, she reflected, that might be why the Orthodox Church didn't like the practical part to get taught; they'd probably consider that letting people think about their religion privately to each other might encourage certain ... heterodoxy.) Still, one couldn't be sure that the Inquisitor hadn't come up with some countermeasure that allowed a third party to snoop on telepathic conversation, or worse. And under the circumstances, it might be a handy thing to be able to do -- if it could be done undetected.

She focused her thoughts, projected them at Argus. <"Can you hear me? You might want to check whether your fly is zipped.">

There. If the message was being intercepted, there was "plausible deniability" about passing it telepathically -- it was the kind of thing that, even an Inquisitor would probably agree, would best be said sub-vocally if possible. (His fly was zipped, of course, but that really didn't matter.) She was relieved to observe that Sister Bree didn't seem to notice, as she awaited Argus' response.

[Drusia]

"Humans? They're a weird bunch I think, always living frantically." He pondered the question some more. "Are you talking about them as a means to an end or as a life partner? Well... a 'short' life partner, I mean."

I blush. "Um... either?" I reply. "After... the stuff with the Errant child, after the festival, I was thinking about... well, Errants." I sit up a little.

"You know... pretty much everyone in Tsuirakushiti is at least part elf," I tell him. "Argus - he probably has some elven blood. Cause of the elven and half-elven workers that were trapped there when it went invisibile way back during the War. That's why they're all so good at magic, and why they live a little longer than most humans. But there hasn't been an Errant in Tsuirakushiti, well, ever as far as anyone knows. Certainly you don't hear about random Tsuirakians going insane and killing people. So... well, that makes me think that Errants are less common when one of the parents is a full Human. Which makes sense since the Elves back in the day didn't notice Errants until half-elves started having children with full elves." I was telling Lillith a little about this theory of mine the other day, but we never really finished discussing it. Part of it wraps into why I think couples like her and Brad are the real future of the half-elven race.

"Anyway, I was just thinking that... well, that maybe that would be a better idea than... well, another half-elf," I finish. "You know... someday. When I want to start a family." If I want to start a family.

[Drannin]

Argus forced himself not to look down. <"Thanks for that."> He thought at her wryly. <"And I think we're safe like this. There is no known way to eavesdrop on telepathic communication. Though I agree that caution is always advisable."> He glanced around them. <"So. What's your take on the mood here so far?">