Private Tales Light After Dark

[Gerrard]

"As long as it's dark blue," he laughed. "Vel'Anir can be quite conservative with their styles right now. Darker colours, neat embroidery, not as...puffy as Elbion."

It was still going to be far more formal than anything she had ever worn, but at least Audreyn wouldn't have to squeeze into six layers of clothing.

They approached a pleasant street of three story terraced apartments. Gerrard pointed towards the fourth in.

"That was is mine, Mrs Smytherton has the cottage at the end of the street and does housekeeping for the entire road. They're all for people who don't stay in the city for long at a time so it's normally very quiet. A few nobles who have occasional business in the city, the odd banker. Let's get to the stables. Two roads along."

 

[Audreyn]

"Puffy?" She echoed, not following. Her eyes trailed along the road that would be home, unfeeling. She pulled her horse away, following after Gerrard.

"You don't actually ...dare to sleep on the third floor, do you? What if it falls down?" She dismounted easily once they pulled up to said stables, stretching and petting the nose of her mare, whom she abruptly realized she would miss. The stable boy came out at their arrival and she very unwillingly handed over the reigns, moving then to undo her pack.

 

[Gerrard]

"If a three story house fell down would you he safer on the third floor or on the ground with the entire house landing on your head?" he asked rhetorically.

"Some places have a fashion where lots of layers to puff out the sleeves for me and, erm, hips on women. Lots of nobles pretending they're not sweating to death on the dance floor in Elbion."

When the stable boy looked at the heavy bags containing their tent Gerrard asked if he could have them stowed until their return. A few more coins were required to make that possible.

When they stepped outside Gerrard pointed to the main keep. "Would you dare climb those stairs and walk the battlements?" he asked. "It's a good view."

 

[Audreyn]

He almost got an immediate shrug off and a no, but then her gaze followed his hand and she stopped to half gape.

"Like... now?" Came the almost hopeful follow up. Wise of him, that-- matching a drop in her mood with a chance to scale a wall. He was beginning to know her too well in return, but the fact was more a comfort than a concern to her.

 

[Gerrard]

"If you want," he offered. He hadn't expected her to be quite so keen on the idea if sleeping on the third floor of a house concerned her.

"We can drop off the bags and head there right away. Though...I might need a slightly more presentable jacket. I will have to ask the guards very nicely and probably have to talk to someone who thinks themselves terribly important."

He gave her a wry smile at that. Not every noble was as boorish as Ostrand, but Gerrard didn't suffer fools lightly. Technically he was nobility himself, or had been. He did not always posses the most keen sense of self awareness.

 

[Audreyn]

She hesitated, glancing back at him, or more specifically-- his side.

"...That's okay, maybe another time. I have to pee." And at that she pushed past him, walking back the way they came and trying to slyly steal his bag off him as she did so.

"Aren't you ever worried about that place falling down ontop of the houses down here? It's awfully high. What if you get a wind storm? Smush..."

 

[Gerrard]

"There was a great storm here a few years ago. The wooden houses outside the city were flattened. The stone buildings didn't budge even as some had their wooden rooves ripped off. The walls of that keep are maybe four metres thick.

"When we get closed you can even see marks where they've sealed back up after being attacked. Consider that a stone as large as a man thrown by a catapult barely scratched the walls."

He had picked up his pace to match and knocked on the door at the cottage at the end of the street.

An elderly lady opened the door slowly. She had a flushed and kindly face. At least until she recognised Gerrard.

"Mister Duvont you really need to send word before appearing! I haven't even had the chance to give the place a thorough clean today!" she protested.

It took a little more persuasion until she agreed that he could have the key before she had a chance to properly prepare the house for him. He returned quickly to unlock the front door.

"Privvy is through the back door," he told her as he pulled it open.

 

[Audreyn]

"Mister Duvont," she mocked lightly as he arrived back to her. She stepped in, giving the place a curious glance before dropping their bags at their feet and moving for the back door.

"My, I tell you, you really must wash your feet~" The playful words followed her to the bathroom, where she was more than curious to observe where all the shit went.

She padded back into the entryway after a short time, moving slower now and taking her time to silently take in the space around her.

"Wow," she finally commented. "Is this where you were staying before you came to save me?"

 

[Gerrard]

"No I have a space a long way from the city to do my research," he replied. He verged on explaining why before deciding to stay away from that subject.

He moved into the kitchen space at the rear of the ground floor, using a second key to unlock the door to the garden. The privvy at the end had a door and a roof. Luxury. Of course the full answer to her question involved the gate in the fence. Through which a man, with a very pungent cart, would come two nights a week to empty the privvy. His product was then used to make a tidy profit as fertiliser in the farms outside the city.

 

[Audreyn]

"Huh," was what she left him with, moving through the gardens to stroke a flower bud before stepping into the privy to.... investigate.

"Huh," was the comment she returned with, brows furrowed. "Dunno why but I was expecting a river underneath or something. Just woooosh, carry it off."

 

[Gerrard]

"The dwarves have proper sewers in their underground cities. But they are incredibly expensive."

A touch of colour stretched up from his collar at discussing the subject with Audreyn.

"Well, we have no food here," he said, waving at empty cupboards. "I don't want to bother Mrs Smytherton so we might take a walk to the square and pick up some food?" Gerrard opened a cupboard that was indeed very full. Full of dusty wine bottles.

 

[Audreyn]

Audreyn peered in and sneezed. "Ugh. Sounds good. Do you even know how to cook though?" She questioned, rubbing at her nose and walking to her pack.

She quickly switched over her simple silver pin for the one of blue stone, fingering the gem once before standing and dusting herself off with a satisfactory nod. She gestured for the door, looking much more invigorated after their pause.

 

[Gerrard]

"I...can cook yes. As long as I have a list to follow and don't get distracted. It's not all that different from alchemy really, reactions and changing the properties of materials."

The slight pause suggested that there had been incidents before. If he had nearly burned down his laboratories a hundred times he had taken a good few runs at his kitchen.

"Lots of stairs on the way up to the market. Fortunately one if the merchants there provides a service where he sends his boys to deliver the goods you've bought during the day. I often wonder what I might have thought of if I had turned to enterprise instead of magic," he wondered out loud as he locked the door behind them.

 

[Audreyn]

"Sounds like you're wasting time wondering when you could just be doing instead," she chirped, skipping out to the end of the yard and swirling a little as she waited for him to catch up. She started back out with him, a pep to her step.

"Well I can cook too. Boiled potatoes. Bread. Hey, if you get a pinch of pepper I can season chicken with it and roast it over a flame. Yum." She twirled in place, a step ahead of him as she took in the sight of the neighborhood. A carefully note was made to recall the location of the keep in comparison to this road.

Worse case scenario, if she ended up lost on her own, she could find her way back using it as a way point. "Can you see that from everywhere?" She asked, pointing the keeps way.

 

[Gerrard]

"Unless you're inside, almost all the time," he replied. Gerrard didn't see a need to try and understand what brought her down and what gave her more energy. He suspected a lot of thoughts were still going through her mind after her world have been through an indescribably upheaval.

"My work takes up too much time to worry about starting businesses. My brother has to manage the family estates at home and I suppose I do not envy him that task. Did you..."

His voice trailed off a fraction of a second before he could ask if her family had been able to eat much meat.

"...want to cook tonight?" he asked. "I will need to get my journals out and get back in with some work later I think."

 

[Audreyn]

"Sure, I can," she agreed easily-- light and breezy, as if she hadn't just locked down in grief over her parents murder a spare 20 minutes ago. He didn't mention it and she wouldn't linger on it. She found it to be an amendable system.

She took a deep breath in and out, pushing onwards. "Do you got a lot of work to do in this city or just a lot of work? Is it magical? Cause then maybe I can help. I know four spells now and I'm sure that counts for something," she babbled.

 

[Gerrard]

"The work I can do here is purely theoretical," he explained as they walked. "Whilst you could certainly help at a laboratory that's far too dangerous to do in the middle of the city."

Foot traffic started to increase as they walked up a narrow set of stone stairs and turned into a wider street. They could have taken the short trip on horseback but he wanted to stretch his legs. Being on horse also increased the chance of being spotted by another wealthy member of Vel'anir society and being invited to another gala or dinner.

 

[Audreyn]

"Boom?" she concluded, abruptly solemn as she looked up to him.

Perhaps she could relate more to his past than he first expected. At the very least, she was drawing correlations on her own, her own experience enough to fill in blanks on what would drive to keep him away from any populace.

 

[Gerrard]

"Yes, boom," he replied. The roar of fire wasn't the sound that stuck in his mind when he thought of his failures.

There was a small indoor market to their right, but it was for bulk traders. He could smell the spices that had been brought from distant lands and hear the merchants raising their voices to negotiate. A constant jabber of human noise through which he could not distinguish a single word.

"You know the colours you see on the guards are for each of the seven houses?" he asked, drawing her attention to a patrol. It was a rather sudden switch in subject. Even if there were a lot of guards walking the streets of the great city.

 

[Audreyn]

She blinked and looked around, noticing the guards for the first time and observing all of those in sight.

"Weird. There's definitely more than seven houses here." But as he'd look down at her, he'd find her grinning devilishly up at him. Clearly, she was missing something here. The concept of houses and guards had not made its way to her isolated farming village. But it was a chance to tease him and she took it, knowing he wouldn't be able to help but explain regardless.

"Which one's yours?"

 

[Gerrard]

He had already opened his mouth to behind mansplaining when he saw that expression. Gerrard shook his head in amusement.

"I don't belong to any of them. Pa is allied the House with..." Gerrard looked towards flags and banners draped from the buildings.

"Them. The Luana House." He pointed towards a purple flag that sported a yellow dragon winding around a cross. "If you decide to come to this dinner party I'm sure all the guards will have purple bands. Mind, Pa has a habit of calling the loudest and most debauched events 'dinner parties'."

 

[Audreyn]

"Debauched..." She echoed back, truly trying to puzzle out that one this time. But the question was already dropped, Audreyn moving onto the next bit of information overload she was working with.

"Ah, so like. Nobel families. Not-" She gestured to the buildings around them, inadvertently distracting herself with a stall she glanced at to the right. The smell of fresh bread washed over her, giving her a strong reminder that she had waved off the stale remains of their travel food this morning in favor of something fresher off the streets. Her stomach growled angrily.

"This dinner party... there's food?" Silly question? No such thing, rich people were weird.

 

[Gerrard]

"Oh yes," he replied emphatically. "If there is one thing you can be certain of it is that nobility will throw their wealth at large events just to show off. Whilst gaining the favour of wizards to do parlour tricks is one battle ground, competing for the services of the most renowned chefs in the region is far, far worse.

"It is said that around forty five years ago Baroness Jillia had her chef poisoned when he accepted an offer of employment from a rival. There will also be an unlimited volume of alcohol."

That might pose a problem. A slightly tipsy Audreyn embarrassing herself with a loose tongue around some young nobles might be one matter. If she set fire to them by mistake it would be somewhat more troublesome.

The fat baron probably would declare such a mishap 'great laughs.'

 

[Audreyn]

Audreyn crinkled her nose, wholey unimpressed.

"Killing someone for changing work? Now that's ridiculous," she stated bluntly. Already, she had no intention of touching the 'copious amount of alcohol' he mentioned. First, because she wasn't ill and second because she considered that ideal a solid lesson learned.

No more breaking beds.

But on that topic...

"Before we like ... take me anywhere.... don't you think it's a good idea to like... burn me out again?" She mumbled the words, rather embarrassed by the concept of it.

 

[Gerrard]

"Oh for some of them they have nothing more important than showing they're better than the wealthy landowner next door. Though poisoning the staff is a little extreme.

"Do you think that would be a good idea?" he asked. Gerrard felt it was, but he didn't want to force her into it. "If you can keep control you could probably keep one flame quietly burning until you feel drained. That way we can stay in the city."