Private Tales Archnemesis

[Kristen Pirian]

Peculiar though it all was, that flittering sense of credulity, easier felt than firmly grabbed, suggested to Kristen that Sable spoke not a falsehood. Not a single falsehood, not even one born of innocent misapprehension. His tale seemed to be a true account. Ghosts and spirits unclaimed by the gods did indeed inhabit Arethil, and so it would seem that Chasmine, perhaps with "one foot already in the door", had come to join their number.

...I've not had any such ghostly encounters since.

Kristen let out a relieved sigh, mostly for show. Mostly. "And this is good. The company of the living shall make for better fellows."

Her lips pressed into a thin line—not quite a smile, not quite a frown. "Still, though she lingers in undeath, I hope that Chasmine may come to find some rest. Ralene as well, so I have heard—it was not so long ago at this very diner that I had spoken with her. Mayhap she met a true warrior's end."

She studied Sable after the mention. For all she knew, this could well be the first Sable himself had heard of it, being a Knight like Ralene notwithstanding.

Sable Pembroke

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Kristen's quite tangible relief earned a meek smile from Sable. Reintegration hadn't just been about steadying himself and learning to live with his past, but also reassuring those around him that he was not the monster he'd become.

That brief moment of satisfaction was, however, interrupted by a statement that at first rather confused him. Sable blinked, then blinked again. Then the realization dawned on him. Sable chuckled, heartily so.

"Ah...it seems that woman's own efforts have paid off. I'm sure she'll get a good laugh out of this later..." Sable prefaced with a cheeky grin. "Guess I get to be both the bearer of bad and good news today. I'm quite relieved to tell you that Ralene lives, Kristen...though she would tell you otherwise."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen gave a quizzical twist of her head, eyes narrowing with that selfsame confusion as Sable spoke.

Then she laughed. Breathy and hoarse at first, and then hearty. "Oh-ho-ho-ho my! It would seem that, concerning Chasmine and Ralene at least, I have been woefully misinformed!"

She inhaled deeply, steadying herself. Goodness, what a day for reversals! Now if she were to inquire of Edric and Sable were then to report that he had become a loyal warrior of Vel Anir, sound of mind and stout of heart, she would, admittedly, require a bit more than Sable's word alone—trustworthy though it was.

But on the subject of Ralene: "'Her own efforts', you say? Do you mean to tell me that...it was Ralene herself who wished to be thought dead? But why? It is baffling to me. I simply cannot fathom it."

Sable Pembroke

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Sable rubbed the back of his head.

"Heh, well, they just happen to be the two that I've encountered since graduation...'Ralene' is my lieutenant, actually, and the one who came and got me out of Vel Salvus."

He followed the statement up with a shrug. Truth was that he didn't fully understand why she was so adamant about her name change either, but he respected her enough to call her what she wanted. Not to mention she'd likely kick his ass if he kept calling her "Ral."

"If you ask her, that's what she'll tell you. 'Ralene Bannick is dead,' she says. She changed her name to distance herself from her House. Lieutenant Samantha Black is what she goes by now."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

To Kristen, such an act was unthinkable, even though she could quite easily step outside of herself and take a detached and rational perspective. Of course she, Kristen, would think as she did, for she had Neil Taeris Pirian as her father, Josephine as her mother, Tobias her uncle and so on down the roster of esteemed Pirians as family. Who was Ralene's father? Walter Banick, a man whom the vernacular phrase "a mixed bag" proved an apt and quite charitable descriptor. Who was one of her uncles? Garron Banick—a snake who wore a handsome face and whose smile, though "charming" to the unknowing eye, dripped with venom unseen. Logan, of course, was a good man, yet he was overshadowed.

All this Kristen could see, but still in the end the idea stood staunchly unapproachable.

She sighed with a small bit of resignation. "Very well then. 'Samantha' it is. Yet...yet I confess that to me this seems a hollow gesture. It does not ring with elemental truth. Always will Banick blood flow in Ral—...Samantha's veins, and the burial of a name alters not the past, nor the present, nor the future of that fact."

Her face pulled long, but only for a moment. She regarded Sable with a sincere air.

"Had you done the same, abandoned the name 'Sable Pembroke' as some means to distance yourself from Zettal and all which came before...I believe I might have chastised you." A small pause. "Mildly," she added. "But all the same: a chastising."

She folded her arms on the table, and a smile preempted her next words.

"I am glad you did not."

Sable Pembroke

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Such a perspective made sense. Nobles held their names, their houses, in high esteem. To forsake such a thing, to Kristen it must have been quite revolting. Denigrating, even.

"I'm no noble. My name doesn't mean as much to me as I'm sure yours does to you, but...all the same, I feel no need to shirk it. Despite the shame I brought upon myself."

He returned Kristen's smile and relaxed in his seat somewhat.

"Then again, I bear no hatred for my kin. And something tells me that Sam has no love for hers."

The towering young man made a waving motion with his hand, as though attempting to shoo away some buzzing insect.
"In any case...what's done is done. I'm more in the mood to look forward rather than dwell on what's sealed in history."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"All for the better, Sable. And though I feared for many a month as you sat imprisoned, seeing you now gives me heart like no other tiding. Dire news abounds, seemingly with no end, and our new Republic struggles onward. Yet here before me is a light of hope, as ever the sun does come to pierce a clouded sky, so too have you been ordained to deliver a brightness, dispersing the gloom. Things do get better."

Someday, perhaps, might Kristen speak with Henk once more. She'd heard quite a few conflicting accounts of him by now, and in the wake of the corrections concerning her information on Chasmine and Samantha, she'd much rather hear Henk's tale from his own lips. But more so would she be keen to hear if his dismal regard of Vel Anir had changed in the slightest. Would Henk be something like Sable? Would he as well be renewed with new energy, full now of a vital essence so sorely needed?

"Will you promise me something, Sable?" said Kristen after a moment.

Sable Pembroke

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Another humble shrug.

"I'm only here thanks to the likes of you, Lord Pirian, Ms. D'Amour, and Sam. But you are right. Things do get better."

He quirked his head and a brow at Kristen's imminent request.
"If it's within my power, of course. What is it?"

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"If ever..."

She stumbled. So difficult it could be, sometimes, to distill an emotion into the proper words to convey it!

"If ever you should feel you need a friend, will you write to me?"

She hoped that she had caused no inadvertant insult. Yet it remained that Kristen worried. Anger, vengeance, these were powerful agents. She herself made Alistair promise her something...dire, in the wake of killing Bull—such a promise garnered to ensure that she would not allow herself to become like the fiend she had slain.

Neither did she wish to see Sable become as such.

And Zettal had been frighteningly close.

Sable Pembroke

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Sable breathed, half a chuckle, half a sigh of relief. He hadn't even realized the tension rise in that brief moment, curious as he was to know what Kristen might ask of him.

The subtext was not lost on him, though. Trust was not easily earned. It was something he'd likely have to cultivate and regrow over many years, with everyone. And all the while he'd have those horrid black spikes to remind him and everyone else of what he had done.

He offered Kristen an assuring smile.
"Only if you promise to visit every once in a while. Vel Castere isn't too far out, you know."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Heartened was she that Sable walked now the right path. Heartened was she that he would go on to greater feats of service to Vel Anir. Where a black number of their fellow Initiates, now Dreadlords, made themselves irrecoverable, Sable, she believed, had regained his esteem and ventured forth on the right track.

"Yes. This I will do." She smiled genially, and added in a delighted and fanciful manner, "Surely, I must also keep in fighting shape even as a Reservist, and what better way than issuing forth from Vel Castere, in your company?"

She extended her hand across the table, palm up, offering it to him.

"Shall we seal our promises thus?"

Sable Pembroke