Private Tales A Quiet Conversation

[Edric]

Aniria - Eridia

Vel Anir was no longer safe for him.

Edric knew that. Knew that every time he returned he risked not just prison, but a fate far worse. His crimes were numerous and the authorities would like nothing more than to see him caught. By now he had lost count how many they had sent after him. A dozen? Two? He couldn't have said, but the last few months had made it perfectly clear just how dangerous coming home would be.

Trouble was, he didn't have much of a choice.

There was a root in Aniria, one connected to both he and Chas.

This time that root had traced itself to Eridia, a city which was less a home for the people and more of a Cathedral. Three hundred years ago before the Great Houses had outlawed the tenants of religion within Vel Anir, Eridia had been a place of worship. A distant reflection of Edric's home city of Vel Stratholm but more sacred. It was said that here in Eirdia Anirius claimed his Divinity.

During the time of House Rule, the city had been declared off limits. It's few denizens forcibly removed and the Cathedral sealed. For centuries only the caretakers had been allowed inside, tending to the ancient artworks and the hundreds of tombs which lay beneath it.

That seal of silence was broken when the Republic rose. As religious freedom was granted once more, the doors of Eridia were once again thrown open. The ancient practices of Anrius' religion lost, but not entirely forgotten. The Cathedral was repurposed, serving as a place of worship not just for the ancient herald of the Anirian people, but all faiths. Only the main chapel retaining it's original calling.

A place of worship, Edric could not help but notice the lack of Guardsmen patrolling the roads as he walked slowly towards the ever growing chapel. A thick beard covering his features, and his hair cut back in a way that Chasmine had said was unlike him. It was a meager disguise, but hopefully would last long enough for him to get what he needed.

Joining the throng of pilgrims upon the road, Edric did his best to blend into the city of worship.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

War awaited Kristen.

Increasingly her Ladyship of Vel Numera was being marked more by her absence than her presence in the quaint Pirian holding. Yet what could she do? Noble blood alone did not define her, but as well now the insignia pinned to her cloak, and heavy was its weight. But she did not choose to enroll into the Academy such that she could sit idly on what achievements she'd earned once graduated. From Salesia to Sharyrdaes and now to Cortos, ever did her Dreadlord insignia demand to be paid for anew. And this she would do.

Her orders to active service had arrived to her at Vel Numera, and she'd a date by which to report to Major Huntington in Vel Anir city for further instructions.

This date, by Kristen's reckoning, left her comfortable time for a particular visit, this to a place she had long held as a curiosity: Eridia. In the years between her kidnapping and her enrollment into the Academy, Kristen had been forced to hide her faith, her mother Josephine constantly worried for her on this account. Eridia, in all that time, had been as it was for centuries, but now in the age of the Republic the Cathedral City had been revitalized.

Kristen thought it an appropriate place to speak a powerful prayer to Aionus, beseeching the Holy Sentinel to grant his protection to her homeland in the coming war.

Presently, Kristen walked among the throng of pilgrims on the wide road rising to the Cathedral, the spiritual heart of Eridia (and, perhaps in a particular view, of Aniria entire). Her armor and her weapon she left at her accommodations in the city. She wore her cloak of Pirian red, a fresh high-collared doublet of the kind she'd grown fond, and pants and cleaned boots. Entering the Cathedral at Eridia was in no way as rigorous an event as entering the Pool of Eternity, but to the Cathedral, which had surely endured by the grace of many gods all these years, a high respect and reverence was nevertheless due.

And as she walked in the throng, one thing was for certain:

The warmth in her heart, as she saw that Aniria had not completely forsaken the gods.

Edric

 

[Edric]

As he walked, Edric tried to keep himself as small as possible.

Within the long crowd of pilgrims slowly moving up the road the tactic proved to be surprisingly effective. Guardsmen, apparently unconcerned with attacks waved people through, priests of all flocks offered welcome and short prayers.

As they approached Eridia proper, a hymn began to fold into the air. The steady song calling out from an unseen place and seeming to flood the whole of the city. Edric did not know if it was magic or simply the way the place was built, but a calm floated over him and those around him as they continued their steady steps.

Eventually however the crowd began to break as those of different faiths separated.

Edric's eyes wandered as he began to roam. Moving still as closely to others as he could to conceal himself, eyes shifting and flickering as he began to search. He knew what he needed was here in Eridia, or rather, beneath Eridia. He just needed to figure out how to get into the catacombs below.

Slowly, probably at least slightly suspiciously, Edric began to wander between the chapels. Roaming through the halls of the Holy City, until he found himself wandering by the Church devoted Aionus.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Nevertheless, that Eridia could yet be brimming with so many of the faithful remained a marvel. Almost Kristen thought herself in Alliria again, or even Elbion, for all that she had seen of similar matters in both places. The hushed and urging pleas of her mother, begging her to abandon her faith, bidding her to keep it hidden if nothing else, were never truly so far in the past for her ears to fail in their recalling.

Instead in her ears this day were the lofty sounds of hymns. It filled the vastness of Eridia like the first warmth of a new dawn gracing Arethil from the east. Elevated was the soul which heard those silver melodies.

A fitting welcome into the colossal structure of Eridia, and to all which it now housed.

Many, of course, once the parting of the great throng into smaller processions began, would head toward the main chapel devoted to the divine Anirius. And to Kristen this remained a curiosity, how so old—and nearly lost—a faith could spring anew with fresh vitality, as though some latent memory had been carried through the darkness of the Houses' banning of religion, and now Anirians in ever larger numbers were coming to remember. In the matter of Anirius and all his legend, Kristen—like many more Anirians still she would wager—had to confess ignorance, for even while her heart opened to the gods in the wake of her kidnapping, Celestialism found her first, and readily so, before the ancient faith of her own people. Mayhap one day, when the seas of her life calmed, she ought satiate that curiosity and look into it all.

Kristen with other adherents, still great in number, branched off toward the houses of Celestialism, and then a further branching would occur as—Blessed Aionus!—each of the Six had their own chapels to honor them.

And so she made for the chapel which had above its door the icon of the Sentinel. A small line had formed at the door, as the Priest of Aionus greeted each of the faithful and asked their names and spoke friendly and inviting words with them, as though he for each and all of them was a long-time family friend. So it happened that Kristen, at the back of the line, had such a vantage to see a large man wandering—seemingly without aim to her eye—between the Church of Aionus and the Church of Astra next to it.

Was it surprising? Not in particular, no, for even in the great throng there were some, Kristen noticed, who looked overawed by Eridia. Faith was not yet common in Aniria, far from it, and many who had interest lacked direction, much as Kristen herself when she was young and searching.

And so in good spirit Kristen parted from the line for Aionus's chapel and went into that space between the chapels.

"I mean to be no bother," she called to the man, "but if you are lost, mayhap I can help you find what you seek?"

In that moment, she could not know the irony of her offer and to whom it had been made.

Edric

 

[Edric]

Edric froze in place.

At first he hadn't thought it was her. The markings were Pirian, the robe almost standing out as so, but there were lots of Pirian's. Scions and children of the Houses both Great and Minor had been practically pervasive at the Academy. Edric had always imagined it was so in the rest of Vel Anir too.

When he'd noticed the figure, he'd first hoped that it simply was not her. Yet as Edric noticed her height, the hair, and everything just who was approaching him became more and more clear.

Running was no option, not when it would create a panic in the crowd the moment she shouted his name. The Guards here might have been lax, but there were still many more than he could safely handle. Eridia already had it's tombs, he did not want to create another.

Not anymore.

So when Kristen stepped up to him, Edric could not help but freeze completely. Caught between his desire to for once keep the peace, and his need to keep upon his task. "No."

He answered, making his voice more gruff and grave.

"Thank you." The Rogue Dreadlord continued, half facing away from the daughter of House Pirian. "I am only hear to mourn."

His stance shifted, turning further away from her as though to move away.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

And in turn, once the man spoke, Kristen herself froze.

"Edri—?"

Scarcely a whisper, and no more. Behind Kristen the calm, reverent processions continued unabated, the din of many feet and the murmurs of priests and supplicants uninterrupted, and all who resided now in Eridia unknowing of the chance encounter playing out in the small space between two chapels.

By sight alone Kristen would not have recognized him—not, at least, without long and considerate regard. His size, though uncommon, was not unique to him, yet it was distinctive, and made to supplement other evidence. His beard did much to disrupt her familiarity with the face she knew, and his hair cast off the image of his old profile, but the guise faded quickly before eyes made keen by even mild suggestion. And that suggestion was his voice. If she had only seldom heard his voice in the past, the effort to deepen it would have been illusion enough to deceive her. But she had heard him speak many, many times.

She was certain it was him.

"I wish for there to be no violence in this place," she said, knowing nothing of his intent here, but inwardly praying for the sanctity of Eridia to remain untarnished by dreadful, worldly affairs. If such were possible.

Edric

 

[Edric]

"Fuck me." Edric swore, his voice normal again. "I thought I was getting good at that!"

He really had been practicing. This trip wasn't without it's dangers, he'd just encountered one of the biggest ones. But Edric had known that, and he'd tried his best to look and sound different than the last batch of Posters he and Chasmine had seen.

Maybe Kristen just knew him too well. They had spent nearly a month in the desert together. Their voices the only ones they'd heard. "I'm not here to do violence, Kristen.."

He wasn't. At least he didn't want to. The last time he'd run into any Anirian had lead to his bounty increasing again. Not that he blamed that Dreadlord, or the Guardsmen. At least he hadn't killed any of them though, that was an improvement.

"I'm just here for whats mine." Edric said cryptically. "Well, my families."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

She couldn't help it: Kristen cocked her head slightly in puzzlement at Edric's cryptic motivation. So he was here, in Eridia of all places for...something that belonged to his family? A word with three possible meanings there, family. He might be speaking of his actual family, perhaps having learned more of them in all this time; he might be talking about Gilram and the Rogues, back to such deeds now that he, quite obviously, had escaped the executioner's axe; or...he might be talking about...and though this was difficult for Kristen to imagine, she admitted it could possibly be so...he might be talking about what few Initiates of their erstwhile class whom he considered to be family. Were Edric and Samantha close? Kristen wasn't sure. Edric and Noel? Gaage? Fermin?

In any case, now was not quite the time to inquire into his precise meaning. A more important matter pressed.

"And if you get it, and are able to leave without being discovered, will you keep your word?"

Edric

 

[Edric]

"Yes." He had never come back intent on hurting someone, or anyone. He was here to make sure he had everything they needed to bring Chasmine back. A piece connection to his own history was required, and after no small amount of research that had lead him here.

His mother's family had taken root in Vel Stratholm, their faith tying them back long before Religion was outlawed. Both of his parents had been killed in the decimations. His mother's ancestors were buried here. At least that was what the book said. "From my understanding."

Edric said, keeping his voice calm.

"I have a right to see my Ancestors bones." He had read that it was law, though truthfully it ordinarily required a lot of paper work. "I simply wish to invoke that right, and then be gone."

After he took what he needed. "I promise."

He reaffirmed, already eager to step away.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"Then I shall come with you," Kristen said. She felt that she needed to speak quickly, and thus did; Edric of course would be wary of staying in one place for too long, and, it did need to be said, wary of her presence as well.

But that was the trouble, wasn't it? He would have to endure her presence, wouldn't he?

"Understand, Edric, that I must ensure this promise of yours is kept."






Edric

 

[Edric]

"Then I shall come with you."​

The words made Edric want to groan, his face sinking ever so slightly. "Didn't we see enough of each other in the desert?"

He complained, though didn't try to stop her coming with as he peeled off and headed towards the walls.

Edric had no idea if she would try to stop him in the end, had no idea if she even cared what he was here for, but it didn't matter. Fighting Kristen out here, or at all, would create noise. Noise would bring the Guards, and right now he wasn't even close to getting what he'd come here for.

If she wanted to follow along, he wouldn't argue out here.

If she wanted to stop him later? They would cross that bridge when they got there.

"No one's going to get hurt." Edric reiterated as he walked, eyes eagerly hunting for the entrance of the Crypts. Frowning as he asked his new companion. "Do you know where the tombs are?"

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Didn't we see enough of each other in the desert?

Quite the fine point made by Edric, and one Kristen herself might have said if their roles were reversed here. Even in the aftermath of their misadventure in Amol-Kalit, Cortos, and Salesia, when they were still nominally on the same side before Archon Gilram rent the loyalties of Vel Anir asunder, they had a strong dislike, distaste, mayhap even loathing for each other. Little had changed since their last meeting in the jail.

Little. But not nothing. This Kristen knew well, for she had done just as she had said in her parting words in the jail to him.

Edric stepped off, and Kristen followed. Her mind brewed with questions aplenty. Questions, but more so...the obligation she now had, in light of Salesia, to say aloud that which she had neglected to say to Edric for all this time. It would only be right.

No one's going to get hurt.

"I pray that this is true," Kristen said curtly. In a way, she wished she could trust him. But the fates of all these faithful Anirians, and even pilgrims from lands afar, rested solely on whether Edric could leave Eridia undisturbed.

Next came his question, and, unfortunately, she didn't have the best answer. "No. But I am aware of what to look for: two grand statues of Anirius stand on either side of a great stone passageway, so I have overheard." A pause, and then a curious question of her own, "Do you know the likeness of Anirius?"

Edric

 

[Edric]

"I'm not a complete idiot." Edric answered, though he couldn't help the smile that touched his lips.

Truth be told, about a year ago the answer to that question probably would have been no. But his time with Chas and away from the Anirian world had done more for his education than a lifetime at the Academy. Probably because the Proctors had never been much interested in what he learned from a book.

Taking Kristen's direction, Edric quickly made his way towards where he knew those two statues to be. He had passed them earlier, but assumed them to just be another church.

He'd just left two others. "So uhh...you seen Ral or Noel lately?"

Edric asked casually. He might not have exactly wanted Kristen to tag along with him, but at least he could use her to get some answers. There hadn't been many ways for him to reach out to those back home, but at least this was an opportunity. "Or Henk or Al?"

The Rogue continued to question.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Well. She had meant it as no slight against his intelligence, but nonetheless it would seem that he did, in fact, know. Kristen herself, despite her blossoming faith in the wake of her rescue from The Blades, had not known the likeness of Anirius for much of her life. Only by happenstance during a few missions whilst in the Academy did she come to even have an idea of the old god's representation. Would it change for Aniria as a whole, as Eridia had changed, under the regime of the Republic and the abolishing of religious repression? Aionus knew, but Kristen would have to wait and see.

They walked casually. And, fittingly one could say, casual conversation arose. But with this given topic, Kristen knew that she ought be careful; this was not as it was with Zael, where she felt confident that Sable—whom Zael was asking about—could best and subdue him. Edric was...a different story, for all involved.

Yet at the same time, she had some cause to believe that, truly, Edric intended nothing malign for those whom he asked about. Some cause indeed.

Kristen smiled a little, and a small exhale, sounding something like mirth, preceded her first answer. "I had heard through various sources of rumor that Ralene perished. And this I believed for, I would say, an embarrassing amount of time. Happily, this turned out to be untrue, and Ralene is very much alive, though I have not seen nor heard from her myself in recent times."

She declined to mention the new name Ralene had adopted for herself.

"Noel I have not seen nor heard from for well over a year, mayhap two. Yet this is not unusual, for we were never close." She thought for a moment. "I think, perhaps, she feels about me much as you do."

Onto the next.

"Henk I know but two things, sadly: that he departed from Vel Anir for a time, as though exiled, and that he returned. The manner of his return, and in what capacity he now serves, I know nothing, though I wish I did. I think I ought to write to him, at least, to see how he fares."

Yes, it was true that Henk's departure upset Kristen when she heard of it, but he did come back.

And then onto the last, and here Kristen grew very much more guarded, for here her worry was greatest, and trumped even that cause which cut against the thought of carefulness. Still she said:

"Alistair...I wish to meet again sometime soon. Alas, my efforts are frustrated." Yet a bittersweet reunion awaited Kristen in the camp of the 44th, not terribly far into the coming days. "He is doing well for himself, however, and this I know to be so."

Edric

 

[Edric]

Edric remained quiet the entire time Kristen spoke and explained. He gave her time to rest, and even looked at her a few times to offer a nod or eye-contact so that she would understand he was still listening. In all senses, the whole thing was very polite.

The entire time he lead them. Stepping forward through the statues and into the darkness of the tombs below the city depths. Even as he listened Edric seemed to be a remarkable guide, and that was for a reason. He'd studied the maps of this place for weeks, perhaps a tad longer. This place was a labyrinth, and he'd known it. Chasmine had helped him sort it.

That was why he'd been so lost above, never bothered to study the plan of the city. "I'm happy they're all still alive."

Edric offered finally as they crept down a slow spiraling staircase.

He knew that his families tomb was deep down beneath the city, stretching far back to the founding. That was what his mother had always said, though in the in the memories that Chasmine had helped him recover. They had been buried deep.

"How...uhh..." He frowned. "How are you doing?"

Edric asked, stopping to glance at her in the light of his torch. "Things going well at the House and all? Any betrothals? Recently learned that's a thing you nobles do."

Was it impolite to ask?

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Her talk had carried them through the stone passageway, past the watchful gaze of the ancient sculptures of Anirius, and into the tombs. Kristen pondered whether to summon her Symbol of Radiance solely for its light, but Edric sparked a torch and they pressed on.

He asked a question, then, Kristen never would have thought Edric to ask. Why should he? In the cases of Ralene—now Samantha—Noel, Henk, and even Alistair, Kristen could believe what he had said, the sincerity of his happiness that they were alive—even if she feared he would savage them, perhaps even kill them, if by awful circumstance they got in his way. But as for herself? What slim protection from Edric's terrible wrath Samantha, Noel, Henk, and Alistair might have enjoyed on account of friendship did not extend to her. She knew well the peril she was in, the revelation of Salesia regarded or not.

And loath was she to speak on anything involving her House, to potentially involve them. If it served Edric to do so, the very Pirian Estate might be turned into the House of Oren.

Did Kristen know of anything which might change her perception of Edric, anything in more recent days which could attest to a better shift in his character than the callous brute she envisioned? No. Revelation of Salesia aside (and even this she viewed as uncharacteristic mercy), he was to her still the man in the jail set to be executed for egregious crimes against the Republic and against his fellow man.

With all this in mind, Kristen stopped as Edric stopped, and returned his glance. Maintaining a firm cordiality, she said, "Let us not concern ourselves with my family, but rather with yours. Is this not the purpose of your coming to Eridia? Mayhap, more than merely the collection of some item you seek, you will find some measure of solace otherwise unattainable, for the practices of the old way were a grave and horrid thing, sundering families with ruthless disregard."

Edric

 

[Edric]

Edric shrugged, not bothered by Kristen drawing the focus back to his quest. It wasn't like it was his business in the first place, he was just trying to be nice. Which was a thing Chasmine had told him most people should do, but something he'd never really cared for. "I doubt it."

He said in regards to finding any sort of solace in the tombs below.

They were close now, least he was pretty sure.

"I think my whole family is dead." Edric had never much been one for secrets about himself. Well, not counting his misguided attempt to steer his renegade classmates back towards the Republic and away from Gilram. "My mom and died during the decimation of Vel Stratholm."

He told Kristen as they kept walking. "I had a sister, but..."

A shrug rolled over his shoulder.

"Not sure she's alive either." Almost as soon as he said the words Edric realized they had reached the last turn. His torch swept to the right, and slowly he stepped forward until finally coming to a stop at one of the dozens of doors of the individual tombs.

"Huh." Edric said with a frown, glancing at the label above the door. "I never knew that was my last name."

He offered Kristen a look, and then pressed on the tombs door.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

A dour outlook, as was Edric's wont. But not entirely so.

The light of his torch illuminated his family name, etched into the arching portal in which the door itself was housed. He remarked on it curtly, but it seemed of little importance to him, and so in turn it was of little importance to Kristen as well.

What Kristen instead seized upon was what he had said prior to that.

"With certainty you speak of your mother and father. Yet...with your sister...doubt in either direction pervades. But, in such a case, is it not reasonable to think her to be alive?"

Unless, of course, there was far more sound evidence for her to have perished, providing credence to the claim of an untimely death.

"Say it was so, that she yet lived." She wanted to ask him what he would do, but that, she assumed, would lead to nothing, for the same reason Kristen had declined to tell him about her own family matters. So instead she asked: "How would such news make you feel?"

Edric

 

[Edric]

"I don't know anything about her." Edric said as they stepped into the tomb, the light from his torch flickering over the inside.

It was nothing of any significant. Beneath this holy city there were thousands, if not tens of thousands of rooms just like this one. The small five by five tomb held dozens of small alcoves, some filled with urns, others with objects or small mementos.

All of it was covered in a thick layer of dust, though it was clear that some things were far more ancient than others. In fact, Kristen would notice that this tomb was likely one of the oldest in the entire complex, dating back centuries. "She got sent to an orphanage."

Edric explained as he looked around the room, searching for something.

"If she made it, if she's alive..." He shrugged. "I guess...I guess I hope she's alright."

The Rogue said, finally answering Kristen's question. "I hope that she's had a good life, she'd be about nineteen now."

He frowned as he approached one of the alcoves.

"I hope she isn't magic." Edric added absently as he gently pushed aside a small silver box to look at something on the stone shelf.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

The air of the family tomb seemed to Kristen even more stagnant than that of the hallway behind her. And as her eye traced over much of what the light revealed, even the dust itself carried an ancient quality. How long had it been since someone set foot in this old tomb? The thought conjured a small note of melancholy, and Kristen lamented the lapse of godlessness brought on by the Rule of Houses. For centuries had the Anirian people been largely severed from spiritual well-being, a need nestled in the heart of every man and woman whether they could articulate it or no. This air, this dust—each a witness to the malnourishment inflicted on the entirety of Aniria long ago.

Further did Edric speak on his sister. He seemed unbothered, impassive, as his shrugging shoulders would suggest, about her fate. Though, a claim of apathy towards one's family Kristen held to be a grievous and damning charge, requiring weighty proof; so here she assumed Edric felt much as she did about House Pirian, protective, and that therefore he was quite reticent about unveiling too much to his present company. Their opposing loyalties would ensure many a secret would be kept.

Still, prompted by his last comment, Kristen would say, "I mean not to downplay your concern, but, if it is so that your sister does have magic and has gone undetected, then now, with the Republic and the abolishment of the compulsion to serve, would it...not be so that she will be free of the Academy, unless by her own choosing?"

Edric