Private Tales There Will Come A Reckoning

Kristen smiled and laughed genially. "Yes. Quite convenient. I would fancy a swim every now and then. So long as we conspired together to rid the passes through the Jades of ruffians 'twould be convenient indeed."

Her thoughts drifted to their peers, particularly their noble-blooded peers, in a kind of comparative regard. What would they be doing after graduation to leverage their unique position as both noble and Dreadlord? Alistair was the scion of a minor House and perhaps he'd the ambition to see him far; Ralene simply seemed set on joining the military full time, which would impair her ability to do anything for House Banick; Liliana Kristen could only guess at, but she presumed the haughty girl would do little more than lavish herself in luxury whilst in the Reserve.

Kristen and Drastus, meanwhile, had the potential to transform the North.

She leaned leisurely over the saddle horn and said, "I think we would work well together."

Drastus Tal'deneshaar

We will always work well together.

And it was here that Kristen's face alighted with resounding joy, the sparkle in her eye like a guiding star and the curve of her smile grand. On many occasions did her acquaintances with other Initiates go rather poorly. Some went well enough, but most did not. Likely there were a myriad of reasons for it, some fair and some not. But oh was it a joy to hear Drastus say such of them! For all her difficulty in adjusting to the harshness of Academy life, in the struggle to be at least tolerated if not accepted by her peers, to hear words which bonded her and him so closely together was utterly refreshing.

A touch dismaying then, as well as shocking, when the sudden shadow overhead heralded powerful gusts of wind and interrupted him. Kristen shielded her face with an arm, turning her head in the direction of the wind as her ponytail whipped around wildly.

When it was done, she could tangibly feel the presence of something massive nearby, and this remarkably through neither sight nor sound, a sense born solely of intuition perhaps. Kristen lowered her arm and turned her head to look. And what dismay she had felt evaporated.

A ruggedly handsome man sat atop a breathtaking beast (one from the mural, one from the Blades!). A man who shared this handsomeness with Drastus, their likenesses remarkably similar. And when the man addressed her as Lady Pirian and Drastus as brother, this thought was succinctly vindicated.

Kristen gasped in measured excitement. "Oh! Drastus! A fine welcome for us into Tar'shan, indeed!"

She had a notion in mind for whom this might be, given his older appearance, but she did not want to assume and offend by guessing incorrectly. So Kristen mimed a curtsy as best she could while sat on a saddle and asked genially of the gryphon rider, "Good day to you! May we be properly introduced?"

Drastus Tal'deneshaar

Kristen, unused to gryphons, took a small fright when Argestes let out the roar when his name was spoken. Fleeting, very fleeting, this fright, much like the shock of having a friend pounce upon you from behind when least expected, and once gone it gave way to a brief fascination and awe. That sound. She had heard it before though, hadn't she? Seven years ago.

She accepted Valdr's hand and dismounted from her steed, standing before him in the prim manner which came as effortless second nature.

"Well! Very well. Though I am afraid I know this only through correspondence, for I have not laid eyes upon them since enrolling into the Academy. Yet, House Pirian thrives regardless, and especially so in this new age!"

A little glance to Drastus, then back to Valdr. "Might I presume that you have been informed on what brings us to Tar'shan?"

Drastus Tal'deneshaar

"Oh splendid! Splendid indeed."

First it was Alistair whose knowledge of Elvish had proven quite valuable during the Canal campaign, and now it was Drastus's elder brother Valdr's knowledge of Orcish proving equally valuable. Kristen had, out of little more than curious interest, made a few fumbling attempts at learning another language a couple years ago. She'd gotten very far, the endeavor's challenge surpassing her mild interest, but perhaps there was merit yet in redoubling her efforts, should time allow.

She glanced to Drastus—specifically to his wounded arm—and then back to Valdr.

"Mayhap some proper tending for Drastus's wounds can be had, and then, if you would be so kind Valdr, you could translate the note we found in Vel Numera?"

Drastus Tal'deneshaar

Kristen watched the gryphon go with a hand shielding her eyes from dust and wind, and with no small amount of fascination looking out from beneath her fingers. Majestic creatures, gryphons! They didn't seem real during the Battle of the Blades. And perhaps in all of the intervening years, having not seen any since, they had returned to this mythical state in her mind, for they almost didn't seem real now.

Shall we, Lady Pirian?

She nodded, and she accepted the arm offered to her in natural deference to proper etiquette and courtesy. "Of course, Warden Valdr."

They'd not taken but a few steps when Kristen voiced her decision, having known it the moment the choice was posed to her. "I will wait with Drastus while he his receiving proper care for his injury." And with a look to Drastus himself, she said to him, "It would only be right for us to be together when the message of this parchment is translated. Ours is a shared task, and Vel Numera has placed its trust in us both."

Echoing words in her mind:

We will always work well together.

Drastus Tal'deneshaar

Into Tar'shan proper they went.

Yes, a pity indeed that this was a venture brought about by business rather than leisure. Kristen would have loved to continue on through Vel Ehn, to visit S'agara as Valdr said and to be properly introduced to more of the Tal'deneshaar family. As a child visiting Vel Numera, it had been hers to wonder what lay on the other side of the Jades—all the things that mere spoken word could not properly convey.

Like the sight of those dragon...people. Dragon-men? Dragonkin? What would they be called? Kristen didn't know for sure, but her awestruck gaze followed the first one she saw, her head swiveling as they passed so she could continue to gawk until their parting paths ensured she could no longer.

And there was of course plenty more to see. Always the local flavor of things—the architecture and design of the town as well as the character and culture of the people who inhabited it—was fascinating upon first glimpses.

Lusty Roulette...

"Vice," Kristen sighed a little, "is never too far from those who might seek it, so it does ceaselessly seem."

Then, at last, the Chapter House.

"Local home of the Wardens," Kristen said with some admiration. She had begun to wonder what tales the mothers of Vel Numera told their children at bedtime: was it stories of the Guard and the Dreadlords, or was it stories of the Wardens to the east? Whose values did they want to instill into their children?

This pondering did not last long. Kristen looked across from Valdr to Drastus on his other side, noticing his somewhat labored look and recognizing then that his energy, for he was usually so full of witty remarks and lively comments, seemed to be down.

"Drastus? You are feeling well, yes?"

Drastus Tal'deneshaar

The fragility of life was a dreadful thing to behold. And yet this fragility made life more precious. These were but two of the thoughts going through Kristen's mind as Drastus was taken into the Warden Chapter House, as he was laid down and made to rest on the cot. Kristen hardly had the attention to much notice the healer's elven ears, the sight of them gracing her eyes but awareness of it not coming clear into her mind until later when Valdr mentioned her name.

We have some of the best healers...she will allow nothing bad to befall him.

Kristen nodded. A bit stiffened by concern, this motion, but the reassuring hand on her shoulder helped assuage these worries. "That is good. That is...very good."

She wrung her hands for a moment, left over right and right over left, then sat down beside Valdr.

His question was taken at face value by Kristen: a brother simply wishing to know how his brother got on with his peers at the place of his tutelage. 'Twas normal. And she'd have good things to report, until her earliest letters back to her own family.

She smiled pleasantly and answered, "A bond indeed. Would that we could have met properly sooner than we had! My enrollment into the Academy was highly unorthodox, far later than any other Initiate as I am...as I am sure you know." Somewhat difficult, calling attention to the fact that Valdr's very brother had been taken at a young and tender age, but Kristen pressed on. "Many of my peers hold this against me, finding it sufficient cause to ostracize and belittle me." And she brightened. "But not Drastus. He accepted me, and he treats me fairly. Though this is our first mission together, already am I certain that I shall look back fondly upon it."

Her eyes flicked elsewhere for a moment. Pondering wonderfully.

Back to Valdr. She said again, "A bond indeed."

Rangvaldr Tal'deneshaar

It was a bold choice given your past experiences, though I am sure it has been of some benefit.

And to this a small and sound nod. Deeply Kristen knew that had it not been for the very past experience in question, she would never have agreed with her parents to be enrolled into the Academy. Perhaps an arrangement in Elbion would have made, or perhaps she would have kept her magic a secret until her dying day. But for all the trauma she had suffered being taken hostage in The Blades, it had at least awakened in her a sense of duty, of responsibility, that she never would have gained otherwise.

Yes. Some benefit. Some incredible benefit, most assuredly.

An inquiry, then.

"I place great faith and reverence in Aionus, the Sentinel, and He has shaped my gift of magic to be that of the Divine. I will confess that I am a novice, absolutely, and that I have much to learn—Drastus, by comparison, has spent tenfold the time that I have developing and honing his gift! My strongest aspect of Divine Magic is Conjuration, calling forth manifestations of Aionus's essence, but with time and devotion I may yet unlock other aspects." She smiled. "Blessings I would be most keen on."

Mayhap if she already had access to them, blessings from Aionus, Drastus would not have come so perilously close to...

She banished the thought. Giving no further ground to entertain it.

Rangvaldr Tal'deneshaar

So the priestess and the necromancer? What a pairing...

Kristen smiled at this. Yes, spoken so, such a pairing did seem to contradict certain norms. Norms of elsewhere, it ought to be noted. Vel Anir venerated no gods and spurned no form of magic. Her dear beloved home had its flaws, and the morose light of this may have faintly touched her smile in the process of its fading.

Valdr gave her assurances then. Affirmations of perseverance and faith.

"I thank you for your kind words, Valdr. Yet...my longing remains," she said, speaking of the aforementioned lack of blessings. "Mayhap you speak true, that Aionus has set forth for me these tribulations to endure, such that it might better my spirit by delivering me to the things I need rather than the things I desire."

She sighed.

And said again, "Yet my longing remains. There should be more to this gift of magic than solely wielding it as a weapon."

Now a sort of wan smile became her expression. She knew that if a Proctor heard her say that, Revolution or not, she'd catch a veritable inferno of a beating for uttering such blasphemy.

Rangvaldr Tal'deneshaar

Kristen watched briefly the Warden come and go, her lingering eye on the tray with the snacks and the mugs not lasting long either. What thirst, what appetite she might have had retreated once Drastus's condition worsened. She believed Valdr, of course. She believed that he was in capable hands. But, and perhaps this was a thing most primeval, she was certain her stomach would make no demands of her until she saw that he was indeed well again.

Kristen did not need to ruminate long on Valdr's words. "I love my home of Vel Anir," she said as solemn truth. And slowly she nodded. "But I know that not all who likewise call it home are good, and certainly among this number are a fair lot of Dreadlords."

And she thought of Selene, of Zana, of Evangeline, of their combined examples to which she aspired, and she took heart.

"Yes. I should like to become that which my own parents wish of me: an example of what a Dreadlord can truly be in this new age of the Anirian Republic."

A humble smile. In that regard, she knew she had a very long way to go.

Rangvaldr Tal'deneshaar