Fate - First Reply Long Road Home

[Kristen Pirian]

The westering sun cast the red-orange cloak of evening across the sky. Along the border road which held the first reaches of the Falwood to its left and the great expanses of the plains of the Aberresai Savannah to its right, a lone figure rode on horseback toward the setting sun. Her shadow was cast long on the ground. For much of her journey it had been solitary.

But this evening she would chance upon another rider.

"Are you heading west?" she would ask this fellow traveler. And indeed the traveler was so headed that way. Whether she and the traveler shared a common destination was not yet said, but here now they did at least share a common path.

They would be companions for a spell, and perhaps to the great relief of them both, for long travel without company bred a need that no meal nor waterskin nor shelter could satisfy. A soul did not subsist on these alone.

"May you say your name?" she asked.

 

[Hanoi]

"They call me Hanoi," she says proudly. She was on her travels again from the slums of Alliria. This time, on horseback since she had the money to afford such a luxury for her. She of course was not properly dressed for such a chilly evening, wearing thin and revealing clothing and bare feet, but she does not mind it too much. "Exotic dancer all the way from Vel Anir and bedside companion to young, handsome, and strong men and women who pay well". She continues to speak proudly of herself though her profession is anything but. She of course doesn't care as long as she is free. She hops off the horse.

"I could be yours for the night or two for the right price. What say you? What's your name?"

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

That Hanoi was Anirian as well brought an early and welcome sense of familiarity. Of home. So long had Kristen been away. So now was she, at last, returning.

"I am Kristen Pirian," she said, bringing her horse to a halt as Hanoi—perhaps as part of the offer she'd made—hopped off of her own horse and to the road.

An answer to Hanoi's offer was needed. That selfsame awkwardness, much present earlier in Kristen's youth when first she, far out of her depth, had enrolled into Vel Anir's Dreadlord Academy, came out now again despite her efforts.

"And I...well, I am...flattered?...by your proposition." She groped for what to say next, and at last found it. "Yet I must decline."

A question born of her own wondering then, when first she had seen Hanoi's attire: "Are you not cold? What warmth of day there is shall steal away with the sun, and soon. Do you not have at least a cloak among your travel gear?"

Hanoi

 

[Hanoi]

"Oh, that's too bad" still speaking in her erausing manner. "You'd seem like my type to me,". She sighed, hoping that she'd at least give her something for her troubles. She of course wouldn't care less, but it was always nice if a declining customer gave her something. She was questioned of her attire which by all means was not suitable for the evening.

"Alas, I do not make a lot of money. This outfit is all that I can afford, not even shoes. But I'm fine. It is a little chilly, but I have lived through worst. The streets of Alliria during the bleak of midwinter is nothing to laugh about, but I manage just fine" She explains nonchalantly as if she was commenting on the weather rather than the lack of money to but even the basic of necessities, especially ones that leave her feet bare on the roads and streets. "Besides, my dancing outfit brings all sorts of people to me that want a night or two of fun. It's what I know for most of my life, sparing a pilfered pocket or two. But, I am a free woman, free to pursue my life's pleasures all over the land and the desires of many weary adventurers, for a small fee of course". She says all this proudly, not giving any cares of what this person would think of her, seemingly dressed to the nines. Speaking of, on further examination of her attire, she seemed like she was a knight or something. That emblem on her clothing though...

"If you don't mind, that thing on your tunic bares some familiarity. Are you... a Dreadlord?

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Hanoi's life seemed akin to a coarse road, yet her cheer concerning it all was admirable. Meager means ruled the day in her case. For Kristen, it was not until she had enrolled into the Academy that she truly knew privation, and truly met others who had lived with it all their lives. But though fortunes were proportioned in unequal measure throughout history and across the world, all had within themselves the grace in which to receive their appointed lot. Some lacked this grace, falling to decadence and arrogance in the case of the fortunate, to resentment and bitterness in the case of the unfortunate. Hanoi was not such a one lacking, and, by Kristen's lights, all the better for it.

Are you...a Dreadlord?

"Yes, that I am. Dreadlord Kristen Pirian, of the Fourth Level." What trouble she had with the low rank assigned to her, which she believed to have been done with underhanded malice and political pressure, she kept to herself. "The title is newly bestowed upon me, for the seasons of a single year are longer than its duration."

She indulged Hanoi's curiosity.

"What gives cause for your asking?"

Hanoi

 

[Hanoi]

"Oh, it's nothing really. Reminded me of my youth, on the streets of Vel Anir". She doesn't say much to strangers of her own past, but she was compelled by what she figured was a fellow Anirian. She had a very serious tone to it too, unlike the seductiveness she was showing a few minutes ago, looking down at her bare feet. "My father, he was arrested for stealing from one of the Great Houses, trying to provide for our poor family. He was sentenced to death and killed by some of the Dreadlords in the city. Mother provided for us after that but she died from overworking... I was left alone, lived on the streets after being forced out of my home when I had nothing else to sell but the clothes on my back". She did not shed a tear at this story, or for her past. It is what it is.

"I survived like my mother did. Dancing, begging, scavenging, stealing. The last one got me in... a lot of trouble with the Dreadlords. Chased out of town because of it. That's when I began traveling the world, making money by dancing, picking pockets, and showing adventurers a good time... Come to think of it, around your age, if not a year older". She looks up at the stars, the evening becoming night and the cool of the night beginning to develop. "I don't really care much about what happened. It is what it is. I just follow wherever the winds take me". She gets closer to Kristen. still wanting to persuade her for a good time, and some fortune. (And if not, there was always the alternative too)

"You sure you ain't interested in me, Ms. Pirian? Or perhaps maybe your superiors would?"

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

...Goodness.

Kristen, sitting atop her mount still as she listened, held onto the saddle-horn with both hands and not until Hanoi had finished her story did she notice the tightness of her grip upon it. A harrowing story, and no mistake! Yet it was, given the time of Hanoi's childhood, during the old regime of Vel Anir, the rule of the Houses. Ever it remained Kristen's hope that the young Republic, though birthed in the bloody Revolution, would alleviate many of the woes and much of the corruption which had come to mark her beloved home. For Hanoi's sake, and for the sake of all Anirians who shared lives of similar kind.

You sure you ain't interested in me, Ms. Pirian? Or perhaps maybe your superiors would?

"I am sure. Though—ahem—I suppose there is a degree of certainty that a number of my fellow Dreadlords, or of active Guardsmen, would be so interested."

Kristen, shying away from that topic once again, turned to something Hanoi had mentioned early in her story.

"Was it...my House, that your father had been arrested for stealing from? The House of Pirian? It may not be much, but I might be able to arrange for a posthumous pardon for him, if that is so."

Hanoi

 

[Hanoi]

Hanoi sighs. She does not press the matter further. But, she might be interested in getting it with some of those active guardsmen, though she was unsure how to approach the fact that she too stole from the Great Houses and di d not want to mention it, if the Dreadlords are still hunting her down as a whole. But given this one has not recognized her from posters and stuff, she feels she can hint at it, at least to her.

"I don't think it would matter now, its been years since then. I don't even remember if it was from your house. But that would be nice". She slightly chuckles, but she returns to her more serious tone. "I guess, it's funny. I kind of followed in my father's footsteps. A part-time thief when I lived on the streets before the Dreadlords ran me out of town for the same thing my father did. It's been so long, I do not know if I'm still wanted by them. Partially why I came back here. That, and spending a night or two making good coin from the people here".

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

With a new ebb in her consciousness, Kristen became distinctly aware of sitting in the saddle of her horse, while Hanoi of course had dismounted. The last twinklings of the sun's rays in the west would soon give deference to the horizon, the dark blue encroachment of night to chase after the fading red and to deepen to black, so why not halt for the day and give thought to camp? To this end, and to stand level with Hanoi, Kristen dismounted then.

"Do you wish that you could return home?" She caught herself, a new thought introducing a new point of order in her mind, and said, "I suppose I should ask: do you still consider Vel Anir to be your home? Or is it so that you have become acquainted with your new life, your home being, then, wherever your feet may take you?"



Hanoi

 

[Hanoi]

“Well…” she had to think about it for a minute. She hasn’t been to her homeland in years. She figured some time has passed between her being a wanted thief and her living her life across the land. She had lived the life of a wandering nomad, so she would figure that she wouldn’t call Vel Amir her permanent home. But she realized that she had not been to her parent’s graves in years. Forgotten by the people of the city, she hasn’t forgotten about them. Visiting their graves and be closer to them would bring closure to her, and making money off of the people here would be an added plus. The night comes on, a wind blowing but she shows no sign of being cold. Unmounting from her own horse.

“I want to return to my parents’ graves one more time. It’s been years since I visited them since I was forced to leave. Plus, wherever I go, I’ll find ways to make good money from the taverns of course. I would love to be back, even if it is for a little while”.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

And so Hanoi's answer came with a mix of sentiments. Admirable, of course, was her desire to visit the graves of her parents at least once more. A longing, or so it sounded to Kristen's ear, to return to Vel Anir in general followed, though perhaps this came with some resignation that it might not happen. The law of the land in Vel Anir was strict and severe, after all.

But...

"Perhaps I could consult with some relevant authorities of the Guard. Mayhap if your crimes were petty enough, and with plentiful and dire matters persistently occupying the military as is, your name may have been dropped from the wanted rosters."

She gave a small and slightly apologetic shrug. Doubtful it was, for there was much diligence in these matters, but not altogether beyond possibility.

"Whether it is so or not, I could send you a letter, and at least then you will know where you stand with the authority of Vel Anir."

Hanoi