Aloysiius's ears caught the exchange between the High Elf and Half Elf and his eye twitched in irritation as a button was pushed. He turned towards the approaching voices. "That is decidedly not a nice thing to hear." He muttered. "I'd have expected that kind of talk in Freeport from a Teir'Dal, but not after coming home." "We're not home in Qeynos just yet, but I agree." Charlie said. Aloysiius winked at the Paladin. "You forget, I'm a rambling bard. Home is where I feel like it." He turned towards the voices and raised his own. "Good evening! Is everything alright over there?" He stepped out of the stone ring and smiled jovially. "Quite a bit of yelling for such a nice day."
Kyriu and the high-elf turned The high-elf scoffed "This does not concern you human... unless you're related to her human mother," "My mother was an elf," Kyriu answered "And you really know how to impress people don't you?" "Obviously Flamefist it is you who don't know how to impress. I mean look at you're wardrobe, how plain and your staff. Now look at me." She wore a black gi with gold embroidery. She also had a staff with a jewel at each end which she brandished as she spoke. Kyriu grabbed the staff from her and twirled it "Your balance is way off. Were you to fight with this it would be harder for you. The gems will only hinder you. Whoever made this was not thinking about functionality, but I will say it is pretty." she tossed it back. The high elf fumbled to catch it. Kyriu turned and bowed to Alloysius "Forgive me for the the shouting which I'm sure disturbed your peace," The high elf walked towards Kyriu while she was bent over. Kyriu turned around and whipped her own staff off her back to parry. "You are not one with your surroundings or your weapon," she said as she sheaved it again. "What is that supposed to mean?" "If you don't know you have no business studying the art," The high elf sniffed "We will meet again Flamefist," with that she turned and stormed off. "Kyriu?" Brienae asked as she glided over to her and Alloysius. "What brings you out here to Antonica," Kyriu bowed "Lady Brienae. I come here often to train. Normally it's tranquil... and easier to meditate." Tetriemmy joined them as well "You've grown since I saw you last Cub," "Miss Tetri," Kyriu said with another bow "And who are your other friends?" "Oh of course," Brienae gasped "This is Alloysius, Charelemin and Bellacouste Cragmure and Mordedana Ariesez," Mordedana shook her head "No, Shadowlight. Call me Mordedana Shadowlight. I decided 2 weeks ago that if I left I was leaving that name behind me."
Al, Charlie and Bella bowed, nodded and curtsied, respectively. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss. Kyriu." Aloysiius turned. "And it's a pleasure to officially meet you, Miss. Shadowlight." He massaged the back of his neck. "I could use something cold. Is anyone opposed to the idea of visiting the pub down in Windstalker before heading home? I found it a little hard to sit in a tavern and not drink anything."
"No thanks," Tetriemmy answered. She whistled and the large cat bounded out of nowhere. She climbed on his bare back Without a word she rode off into the distance. Mordedna watched Tetriemmy disappear "Let me guesss a Fury?" Kyriu and Brienae nodded "Mind if I join you?" Kyriu asked. "At the pub I mean,"
"Not at all." Aloysiius smiled. They walked north, following the curve of the cliffs and entered Windstalker village by the tavern/watermill. Aloysiius led them in and found a large table on the first floor to settle into. He happily ordered an ale. Bella ordered apple juice and Charlemin settled for a simple glass of water. Bella tugged on Aloysiius's sleeve and pulled the scroll out of her bag. "Cans yous makes a copies nows? Befores somes others jerks steals its again?" Al nodded and took an assortment of blank parchment, an inkpot and a quill out of his backpack and untied the now slightly dingy pink ribbon and unrolled the scroll, using the inkpot and a fork to keep it from rolling back up. He began to copy it down while waiting for the drinks to arrive. Charlemin leaned over and peeked at the scroll. "Bella." he sighed. "What is that?" "Granma's scroll." "The one she gave you for Frostfell when we were little?" "Yeps." Charlemin massaged the bridge of his nose. "I was under the impression that we were after one of her more powerful Coercer spells." "I's never saids thats. Everyones just assumed thats whats it was." Aloysiius looked up from the copying. "You mean, you didn't know it was-?" Charlemin growled. "No, no I's dids nots. I's thoughts it was ones of her dangerous spells. We's-we's wents all the ways to Freeports for-" He dropped his head, his forhead thumping against the table. "Bella." "Is family heirlooms. Is importants." Bella folded her arms across her chest defiantly. "Only thing of Granma's I's saved." Charlemin laughed. "We-we could have been-for recipes." He sighed. Aloysiius smiled and continued to quietly copy down the old cheesecake recipe.
Kyriu ordered an herbal tea and Brienae ordered a Faeberry wine. Mordedana waited for Charlemin to order before asking for water. Brienae laughed when she heard they had recovered a recipe "You mean Tari was payed 150 plat for a recipe!" "You went to Freeport?" she asked "Wow, and I wondered where you and Tetri had gone together "So I assume Tetri doesn't know?" "No," Brienae giggled "I wish Ratiel would've looked at it. The great thief Tari Clearshadow grand theft cooking! Serves the freak right. I wish she would've been caught," The drinks arrived. "If Tetri found out she'd laugh too," Kyriu said "At least it wasn't a Necromancy scroll..." Brienae nodded as she sipped her wine. She pulled out a blank scroll and quill and ink. "So Mordedana what made you decide to become a paladin," The Iksar blushed "Not much to tell... you're going to write it dwon?" "Of course," Brienae answered "Mordedana was it," Kyriu asked Mordedana nodded "Meet Lady Brienae De`Esalcoda... she likes to tell everyone elses stories but her own." Kyriu spoke before sipping her tea "Not as strong as Dad used to make it," she sighed. "Surely no one else wantsss to hear my story. I-I mean it'sss very boring and..." Mordedana stammered. The thought occured to her that was she any other race she would be sweating.
Aloysiius and Bella looked at one another and grinned. "Story time!" They yelled together, leaning in and staring intently at Mordedana. Charlemin rolled his eyes. "You two are worse than pinkies around Grandfather's feet." Aloysiius stuck his tongue out. "You're just grumpy that Bards have all the fun while Paladins are out shining their armor." "Bella isn't a Bard." Charliemin pointed out. "She should have been." Al turned back to his copying as Charlemin chuckled.
Kyriu laughed "I would be interested to know as well. It's not often that I have seen an Iksar around here especially not in the company of Brienae," Mordedana sighed "Fine, but it's a really long story," "The best kind," Brienae answered with a grin as she dipped her quill in the ink. "Ready when you are," "Ok but I will be changing names of some people asss if that scroll got in the wrong handsss some people would be killed," "I understand," Brienae answered Mordedana cleared her throat "First you have to understand that my father was a Shadowknight and hisss father before him and according to family legend back to before The Shattering. From what I wasss able to gather from some documents that were not destroyed when she left my mother was a Defiler. I'll never forget the day she left. I saw her packing and asked if I could go with her. She told me no, because where she was going it would be dangerousss and I wasss too young. She told me if when I wasss older I still wanted to follow her that she would welcome me then. I didn't understand then but we found out a day later she had betrayed and was now a Mystic. Father wasss furious he ordered all tracesss of her be destroyed and her name wasss never to be spoken again. After that I spent my life trying to impresss my father, but even as a child I was different. Mordenair was born to be a Shadowknight. He killed and butchered just for the fun of it. One of hisss victimsss was actually a rat I found that wasss injured. I nursed him back to health and fed him scrapsss as I could sneak them. I went to feed him one night and Mordenair wasss in there..." she paused "let'sss just say my loyal pet wasss dead. I burst into tearsss but when I told Father he praised Mordenair and scolded me. I wanted Father'sss approval more than anything. He wasss a Shadowknight so when Mordenair and I were teenagersss we started training. I will never know what happened but Father was killed while on a mission. Mordenair and I were still children so we went to live with our uncle. He assured us that Father would still want usss to be Shadowknightsss so we continued our training. I was a dumb rookie... according to Mordenair. I alwaysss had question regarding ordersss. Once we became full fledged Shadowknightsss we rose through the ranksss quickly. I never good get over the feeling that something was wrong. I didn't know what until I met Frankie. Two weeksss ago I came acrosss a group of thugsss beating up a small boy. I fought them off and told the boy he needed to learn how to defend himself. I started teaching him. He introduced me to his family who it turned out even though they lived in Neriak they looked for people like me who were different and helped them escape. I started running missionsss for them mostly sabatoging. My last mission we were told to find and slay the Cragmaresss. My contacts instructed me to make sure they were not found. You know how that ended." She drank some water "Again I apologize but I told you it wasss a long story,"
Aloysiius glanced up from his copying. "My favorite drinking buddy is a Mystic, I could introduce you to him; he might have at least heard of an Iskar Mystic, if you want to ask him." Charlemin sighed. "I don't like all the recent attention on our family." "Does yous knows if anys of us has beens founds?" Bella asked. "I's worried 'bouts Ma and Da an' our sister Bellalynn's family. She's has Pinkies of her owns now." She chewed her lip.
"Would be nice," Mordedana said to Alloysius "Mind I don't know her first name... all tracesss of her were destroyed what I gleaned wassss from people'sss talk." She drank more water "I'm not tryng to critcize your family but I think the attention they are recieving is in part due to you two and them. First when my mother left she did not contact us ever again. I heard about the letters from Qeynos that Sir Charlemin was found to have. Second my father disowned my mother. By doing that he was able to protect his family. Third three members of the same family betray? I'm not faulting anyone. You should do what you feel is right. The problem is three members of the same family betray within a year. That has scared them. The fact that the family has not denied your excistence scares them more. It is for this reason they want to kill them. The children i found would be taken to a home where quote they'd be raised by a more loyal family." She took another sip of water "The good news is they have not been found. It is for this reason that mordenair and i were sent out. They thought if anyone could fins them we could. Last night my contacts were informed of my orders and told me to do everything I could to prevent them from beinbg found. I suspect someone in their group possibly knows where they are but aren't telling and that person helps them stay hidden. I myself have no idea where they are." "So what makes you and your brother so special?" Brienae asked. "I was practically born with the ability to read people. I can tell when someone's lying. Mordenair is a master of fear." "I noticed," Brienae graoned "I had hoped I'd be working alone... by the way when you lied about her being mute I assumed y'all knew something... never occurred to me that I was actually talking to the Cragmures until I heard it... that wasss rather foolish." She leaned over to read the paper "risking so much for a cheesecake recipe?"
Bella folded her arms. "Likes I's saids, is family heirlooms. Only one I's saved from Granmas when I's lefts. Besides, cheesecakes are very importants to Ratongas. We is all raised on heroic tales of the brave band of adventurer Ratongas who journeyed through the Underfoots and stole the recipe and brought it backs to our peoples." Bella grinned. "Ratongas will do alots for a good recipe and Granmas is one of the bestest, if I's may say so." Aloysiius finished one copy and started on the one for Ratatoska, leaving out the cipher hidden in the shaky Ratongan writing. He rolled up the first copy and handed it to Bella, who examined it happily. "Nows I's cans sells cheesecakes in the bakery just like Granmas! The originals was so old I's didn't wants to risk it in the kitchen." Charlemin leaned back in his chair, lifting the front of the chair and balancing on the back two legs. "We were a bit reckless, weren't we?" He mused. He glanced over at Mordedana. "So, who are our beneficiaries? These people that you work for? The Citizens for a Free Freeport come to mind, but I don't think they have the kind of reach you're talking about."
Kyriu and Brienae exchanged a glance. "I've never heard Tetriemmy talk about cheesecake," Kyriu laughed "You forget Brienae Tetriemmy is not like most Ratongas." "True," Brienae answered "I'd love to try some. Wouldn't you Kyriu?" Kyriu shook her head "Far too rich... I have a strict diet that helpsmy focus and discipline Cheesecake is not on it," Brienae sighed. Mordedana laughed "It is a pretty large organization yes. They serve tw purposes one is to find people who don't fit in and wish to leave and experience a completely new life and the other is helping people over come thier addictions. In this way they can find people and no one suspectsss them of helping traitorsss. They call themselves the TMA A Too Much Ale Annonymous. They have officesss in both Neriak and Freeport. They also have contactsss in Qeynos, Kelethin and New Halas. These contacts help the traitorsss escape." "Why would Freeport and Neriak care if some one drinks too much Ale?" "People get rowdy and they like order." Mordedana answered. "Only way I could work for them now would be as a contact, but I need to wait for things to die down first."
Bella grinned. "You's cans has as much free cheesecakes as yous likes for helpings me!" Charlemin scoffed. "Too Much Ale Anonymous? Sounds like a program you could use, Al." "I could give up ale, but not the Mead of Poetry." Aloysiius joked. "Say, Mordedana, if you need a place to stay, I've got some extra beds upstairs above my tavern. It gets a mite bit rowdy sometimes in the evening though, if you don't mind."
Brienae giggled at the joke "What better wine than music?" "Thank you for the offer... I might consider it... I'm actually used to rowdy drunks anyway. Mordenair is a very angry drunk... know for going on a rampage." she closed her eyes "I hope he doesn't go back to the bottle... because of me. He's been through the TMAA program for drinking a few times... but he tends to go back when things get rough." she hung her head "and if he doesthis time it's all my fault..." Kyriu shook her head "You did what you felt was right. You can not hold yourslef accountable for your brothers actions. Only focus on your own actions and you'll be fine. If you blame yourself for what others do you will never have the discipline and focus you need to follow your path." "Perhaps you're right," Mordedana muttered. "I think I will tak you up on one of those rooms until I find a place of my own. " She blushed "I don't have any money on me... but if you want I could work as a little extra security when I'm not training to be Palladin obviously."
Charlemin nodded. "Kyriu is right, you can't blame yourself for your brother's bad decisions." "You's blamed yourselfs for me betraying to Qeynos-y." Bella muttered into her apple juice. "I said 'bad' decisions." "Yous thought it was a bads decision at the times." "I was still a Shadowknight then." "Shadowknights don'ts even blame themselves for their own bads decisions, so whys did yous blame yourself for mines?" Charlemin muttered something. "How is its a 'big brother thing' if I's is your big sister?" "It just is." Aloysiius made sure he didn't mix up 'tsp' and 'tbsp' on the recipe. "It doesn't get very violent often, but I'd appreciate the help nonetheless. Although, I will warn you about the Oldale brothers, they can get real rowdy if they get around to talking about freeing Kaladim." Be caught a misspelled a word and scratched it out on the copy. "The youngest of them, he's the Mystic I mentioned earlier, Grumblefoot, we call 'im." He grinned mischieviously. "Those three know all the best Dwarven drinking songs and they'll insist on teaching 'em to you if they take a shining to you. But you shouldn't worry about money with me, I let people pay for drinks and food with songs or stories I haven't heard, so if you know any good Iskar songs, I'd gladly take them as payment for room and board. I must confess, I haven't had the chance to collect any Iskar songs before."
"Perhapsss you were alwaysss a Paladin at heart." Mordedana suggested "Also it might be a sibling thing too," Kyriu and Brienae exchanged glances. "Never understood sibling issues," Kyriu laughed "Then again I'm an only child," "So am I," Brieane answered. Mordedana shook her head "Ever heard the sound of a cat being strangled?" "No," Brienae answered "Well I won't subject y'all to it... that's what I sound like when I sing." she looked at Alloysius "Might tell you some stories mostly family legends..."
"I was an only child too." Aloysiius said. "I always found sibling relationships facinating though. At each other's throats for something petty one minute, then defending each other to the death the next." "Yeah, I teased my sisters horribly, but as soon as someone else teased them it was: 'No one teases my sisters but me! Go get your own!'" Charlemin chuckled. "I's thought yous had a brother, Al?" Bella asked. Aloysiius shook his head. "Nope. I must have been real drunk." He finished the second copy and rolled both up, handing them to Bella. He turned to Mordedana. "Stories are great too." "Nos, yous wasn't drunk, just mads. Yous yelled 'Yous is justs likes my brother' at someone." Aloysiius shifted in his seat and took a long pull of his drink. "Nope. Cant' recall ever having said that."
Mordedana watched Alloysius closely. "Bards are always harder to read," she said "But I know mages have the best memories you'll find." she paused and drank more water "My guess is you had a brother but something happened and y'all parted ways. Deep down he's still your brother whether you acknoledge him or not." Brienae and Kyriu turned to look at Alloysius. Brienae pulled out another stack of blank scrolls and dipped her quill. She then turned again to the other bard and looked at him expantly. Kyriu laughed "I believe as you and Bellacouste put it, story time?"
Aloysiius shifted in his chair and sighed. "Well, I guess it wouldn't be right to have bugged Mordedana about her story without offering up mine." "Ands the reals ones this times. Youse always gives us a differents story whens we's gets youse to talks." "But if I give a different story every time, how do you know which one is the real one? You might even have heard the real one without knowing it before." He winked roguishly at her. "Alright, but I won't give any names. There are some people I don't want to be traced back to in this story." He finished his drink before continuing. "Well, I did, at one time have a brother. A half brother in fact. Our father was a wealthy merchant in Freeport. My brother's mother was the daughter of another wealthy merchant and my mother was...well." He shifted in his seat again. "My mother was the other woman. After she found out I was on the way, my father gave mother some hush money and told her not ever to contact him again. And she didn't. We lived fairly comfortably in East Freeport until I was about five years of age. We lived by the sea and one winter the storms were particularly fierce and my mother caught ill and died. She had left a will, stating that I should be sent to my father if anything should happen to her. He was furious when I showed up, his wife doubley so, but he took me in nonetheless. My older brother was spoiled and cruel and my new stepmother worried about how her son's inheiritance would be split now that I was there. One week, while our father prepared for a business trip to Neriak, she began to be real nice to me. She said that she was sorry for being so cold towards me and that she'd like to make it up. While father was in Neriak, we went for a carriage ride through the Commonlands. It was summer and she kept offering me some juice, but when I refused." Al shifted in his seat again. "She got short with me, because I wouldn't drink. I told her I had overheard them talking about how, after the carriage ride, my brother would be an only child again. They tried to hold me down and make me drink, but I slipped away and opened the door to the carriage. I broke my arm jumping out." He held up his left arm. "Then I ran. I just ran. One night, I saw some lights and people, so I headed out that way, but-" Here he shifted again and grabbed his stein, only to find it already empty. He motioned to the barkeep for a refill. After the barkeeper walked away he drank deeply and set it down. "I um-I hadn't found people though. I had found one of the old graveyards and I wandered into the middle of a mob of-" He cleared his throat. "Undead." Charlemin said the word for him. Aloysiius nodded. "Yeah, those." He gulped. "Even if I hadn't been so weak I wouldn't have stood a chance. I remember crawling up against one of the graves and just throwing my arms over my head and trying not to listen to the screaming of them. Then it got real quiet and I looked up and there were these two giant people standing over me. The woman reached down and scooped me up in her arms and took me back to their camp and the man stayed behind to take check the area for more of those things. The woman gave me a bowl of soup and told me not to worry, that they would make sure they'd get me back to my family and I got scared. I lied and said I didn't have any family left. They took me in and raised me, Beyla and Brog did. They were the decendants of Barbarians who had lost the way to Halas and become wanderering bards. I grew up calling them Grandpa and Grandma and we wandered all over collecting stories and songs. I'm afraid though, that they passed away before the founding of New Halas. They would have loved to of seen that." He quietly sipped his drink again. "I's likes the story wheres yous was raised by dragons until your grandparents came back to picks youse ups betters." Bellacouste said. Aloysiius laughed. "So do I."
"Wow and I thought Nair was bad," Mordedana muttered. Kyriu nodded "Well not all spoiled rich children are cruel." she gave a slight nod to Brienae "Hey!" Brienae responded "I am not spoiled." Kyriu laughed "It is true that I come from a family of nobility. That does not mean I was spoiled. Not everyone can have such an aesthetic lifestyle Kyriu," "I think it would do you some good." Kyriu laughed she finished off her tea. "Honestly I'm shocked to hear you went to Freeport... nice new hair by the way," Brienae scowled as she pulled out her clips and delicately placed her hair back into it's bun. Kyriu wathed her "Seriously what in Norrath would cause you to go to Freeport?" Brienae bit her lip "It doesn't matter." "It's not like you," Kyriu continue to watch her intently. Brienae looked at Charlemin trying to remember what she had said "Someone impersonated me to steal a scroll and I couldn't let that stand!" Kyriu blinked "Why would anyone think to impersonate you?" "I don't know," "Yesss you do," Mordedana said. "Fine. I suspect so that she would look more like a Fae than an Arasai," she seemed to spit the word Arasai. "Who'sss she?" "Tari Clearshadow... and before anyone asks many years ago a few members of my family were captured and tortured. They became Arasai. Shortly after I was born the Clearshadows discovered their roots and started blackmailing my family. I've met Tari. She is the same age I am but we are nothing alike! Our relation is as distant as she is evil. If I had my way I would never see that purple freak again." Brienae's face was red with anger.
