Private Tales The Death of Innocence

[Houri]

"Oh that's wonderful news!" Jiya chimed and Houri looked down at her plate as the two spoke back and forth about simple pleasantries. She tried to ignore the itching feeling under her skin that told her she should be moving and that being here was not... right.

Throughout dinner every now and then she would say a few words in an attempt not to make her sister and her friend worry too much, and she ate everything that was put in front of her with single minded focus. As though she were conscious this might be the last time for months she would see a meal. By the end of the evening when the candles had burnt down half way she finally pushed her chair back.

"I think I'm going to turn in, we have an early start to reach the Academy in the morning!" She tried to ignore the flicker of worry over her sisters face. Everything would be fine when she was home. It had to be.

 

[Olvir]

Olvir couldn't help but feel the concern that gnawed at his inside, lips thinning ever so slightly as Houri declared they would be heading off to the Academy post haste.

He glanced briefly at Jiya, wondering if the other Luana would object. When nothing came he only nodded. "We'll be ready when you are."

Though he wasn't entirely sure that was true.

He had the weight of House Weiroon, he could press, but...how much influence did he actually have? He would have to talk to Aisling tonight, and maybe even consult with some of their contacts in the Guard. Briefly a thought flickered through his mind, and he remembered that Kristen had been allowed in the Academy.

Surely if they'd let her in, Houri wouldn't be a problem?

Yes, though he was still sure he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.

 

[Jiya Luana]

"If you are... sure that is what you wish to do, sister," Jiya hoped her sister gave her some hint of fear or sense she did not want to do this but all she did was tilt her chin and look at her with a look that reminded her so much of her father. With a sigh she nodded. "Very well. I will have word taken ahead of you with my letter to the Headmaster," she just hoped her seal would carry enough weight she wouldn't have to turn up and bang on the door herself.

Standing she moved out from her chair and tugged Houri into a tight embrace. The girl stiffened momentarily and then hesitantly put her arms around her. Oh how she wished she could make her stay. There was something broken in her little sister and she dreaded to think how the Academy might use that. Slowly she released her and gave her one last tender touch of the cheek.

"Goodnight. Both of you," she inclined her head to Ollie then swept from the room.

 

[Olvir]

For a brief moment Ollie just stood there, watching.

A part of him wished that Houri would abandon the idea of returning to the Academy. That she would just set herself in the new Republic and find a way to be at peace, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. Trying to make her would just...make it all worse.

"It's a day and a half to the Academy." Information that she would have already known of course.

But he wasn't sure what else to say. After a moment he continued. "Maybe we'll avoid any strange mists on the way.

He joked, and then stood as he too began to get ready to depart. There was still some letters to write, and he could see Aisling before they left. He was sure that between the will of two Great Houses, this could all be done.

Especially with the knowledge he now held. "Goodnight, Houri."

Olvir said softly.

 

[Houri]

Houri was the first one up and ready in the morning unsurprisingly. She hadn't even waited for the stableboys to get in to tack her, Ollies, and the guards horses - for she assumed they wouldn't leave Ollie alone with her. Not after what they'd seen.

Can you blame them? You could kill Ollie any minute because you were upset...

"I wouldn't hurt Ollie," she whispered to herself sternly but the voices only laughed and taunted her more until she faded them to a muted buzz in the back of her mind. By the time the others joined her in the courtyard she'd even made their lunches to the distress of poor Linton.

Jiya gave her a tight hug then reluctantly let her go.

"If there's any problems, you can write to me. Write to me even if there aren't problems," she added hurriedly and Houri nodded dutifully.

"Mas is there too, remember. I'll be fine," she gave her sister a confident smile then clambered onto the horses back.

 

[Olvir]

Ollie came up looking as tired as could be, exhaustion clinging to his features. A pack was slung over his shoulder, and despite his tiredness there was a small smile on his face.

He had done his best throughout the night, reaching out to his sister, some friends, and even what his father would have counted as an enemy or two. Olvir had taken some risks, but in the end he would stake all he had on the fact that Houri would be allowed into the Academy again.

"Morning, folks." Ollie said with wave

Trik and the other Guard looked at the young noble rather suspiciously. Neither of them liked that he'd left the both of them behind the night before, but he'd needed to move fast. The Knights weren't really all that good at moving fast.

"Ready to go?" He asked. "Think it's rained all it could, so that's good news."

The streets had practically been rivers.

 

[Houri]

Colour flooded Houri's cheeks at the mention of rain.

Well, see how he feels if his sister suddenly dies, Tiri muttered indignantly as Houri reined her horse around to point towards the gates. She didn't want to see the worry on her sisters face as they left.

"Yes. And I packed us all some lunch," she patted her saddle bags with a smile. The horses they had were fresh ones and some of Luana's best stock. With these their journey might even be shorter than what Ollie predicted. Or at least, Hour hoped it was. She was impatient to be getting back to the world she knew. A world that was safe for people like her. The silver gelding she was riding practically danced out of the gates eager for the hills.

"Did you get all the sneaking you needed to get done, done last night?" she cast a glance to her friend.

 

[Olvir]

He smiled at Houri. "That was nice of you."

The Noble said, mounting his own horse and quickly guiding it to fall into step alongside Houri's mount. The pair of them quickly beginning to head out onto the road once more.

"Sneaking?" Ollie echoed, shaking his head. "I don't think I was sneaking."

He hadn't exactly been trying to be unseen, though it was accurate to say that he had been more...quiet. "But yes, I got it all done."

Ollie was confident in that at least.

Matters of magic and the Academy were difficult to talk about with anyone. Most didn't know much, and those that did liked playing things closely to their chest. It was like he'd spent most of the night pulling teeth instead of getting a few signatures.

 

[Houri]

Houri merely raised an eyebrow but she didn't point out that sneaking was usually the word used to describe people who did their work in the middle of the night.

"Let's get going then," she grinned and clicked her tongue sending the horses into a quick trot as they were trained to do. At the brisk pace it was not long before they were beyond the city walls once more and Houri let her horse stick its nose out front. She so desperately wanted to kick the horses up into a gallop but she resisted the urge.

"Ollie... I want you to be honest with me. How have... how have things changed at the Academy?" she didn't want to flood the Academy if the next sudden revelation hit her just as hard.

 

[Olvir]

Olvir turned his head towards Houri as she asked her question, lips thinning for a brief moment as he shook his head. "I was being honest before, Houri."

He explained. "I don't really know much."

Aside from what Alistair and Zael had told him about the place, most everything was a mystery. Elias had never spoken of things before the Republic, and in all truth he had never even thought to ask. He'd spent his own years away, and at the time his assumption had always been that the Academy was...well, good. The house of knowledge and patronage that Vel Anir needed to survive.

Now, with everything he knew, he wasn't entirely sure that had ever been true.

"I just know what I've been told." Olvir frowned, looking ahead. "Which isn't much more than I already said."

He shook his head. "I'm the third son of a second son, Houri. I may be privileged but I'm not important enough to know half of what is going on anywhere."

A fact he was lamenting more and more.

Though it seemed that even Jiya hadn't known of the asylum.

 

[Houri]

Houri didn't look at all convinced. Her feelings were marked as clearly on her face as if the words had been written down and given to him in a letter. She might have forgiven his transgression of lying to her before but she hadn't forgotten, and doubt now creeped in at his words.

"What if I don't fit in there anymore, either?"

She hadn't directed the question as Ollie particularly, but to the voices who had been her only friends for the last five years, but only silence met her.

 

[Olvir]

Ollie felt that pang of guilt and sympathy within him once more. He frowned ever so slightly, lips thinning before he slowly tugged on his reigns. With a gentle trot his horse moved over closer towards Houri's. "You'll find your place."

He said quietly, doing his best to be encouraging but not really knowing how to wade through this situation.

By all accounts the Academy was a place no one should want to go to. It sounded utterly horrid, and Olvir felt half out of his mind even letting Houri go back there. But it was just as he had told Jiya. They had to let her choose.

This was her choice.

"If it's not the Academy, it's somewhere else." He said. "With Jiya, or with me, or wherever. You always have a place."

That much he could guarantee. "And it might still very well be the Academy. Even if it's different, maybe different doesn't necessarily mean...bad."

 

[Houri]

Houri blinked as Ollie reined his horse in closer and realised, with grimness, she had spoken her words out loud. That was a weakness she was going to have to clamp down on. People couldn't know she was mad. That was what had landed her in this mess in the first place. But Ollie wouldn't judge her... If she could talk to anyone...

"Ollie... I... I'm not... I'm not right. There's something in me -"

BE QUIET CHILD

"-That's been broken-"

Houri, stop!

"-For a long time," she let out a breath as though she'd been running. "If I'm not in the Academy, I don't think I'm... safe."

 

[Olvir]

Ollie hesitated for a brief moment, not because he was upset or angry, but because like a lot of the time lately...he felt as though he was completely out of his depth.

Most of his life he had never thought he would have the freedom that he now did. Ollie had assumed that he would be foisted into some role by his father. Made a commissioner of some trade house or thrown to the reaches of Anirian territory once he and Elspeth married.

He had never been prepared for...any of this.

No one had taught him to do half the things he was now doing, and Ollie couldn't help but think that was becoming more and more true each day. "Houri..."

Ollie frowned.

"You're not...if you are..." He paused for a second, trying to find his words. He had noticed certain...oddities with Houri, and of course there was the rain and the power she held. Ollie wasn't a fool, but he was a friend. "I'm not going to let anyone lock you away."

The young Noble said firmly. "I don't know what's wrong, what's...broken, I don't know a lot about magic or...a lot of things."

He looked at Houri. "But I can tell you If the Academy is where you need to be, then you'll be there, if you can't be there, then I'll find a way for you to be safe."

What that would be, he didn't know, but he meant it.

 

[Houri]

"It's not me I'm worried about..." Houri said quietly and then lapsed into silence. Her emotions were erratic and with it so was her magic. Even now she could not say for certain that Ollie was safe if one of the other voices in her head managed to wrest control for themselves. If they did... Well, Houri wasn't certain she wouldn't kill her own mother. Without saying another word she kicked her horse on and rode for the rest of the time in silence.

Even on some of Luana's finest steeds it took the better part of two days to finally reach the Academy. It seemed to hover on the horizon for an eternity until suddenly she was stood before its gates staring up at the familiar and yet not turrets and battlements. Excitement, relief and nerves swirled within her. This was it. Her future would be decided here.

"Thank you, Ollie... for bringing me home," she said softly, turning to her friend.

 

[Olvir]

As Houri sped on ahead Olvir watched her.

Lips thinned, and he couldn't help the thoughts whirling through his mind. The guilt, the concern, a cadre of any other dozen unpleasant flickers and thoughts. He would have to make sure that Houri settled well at the Academy.

Would have to make sure she found her place there. No matter the cost.

He didn't know how yet, but there was a way. There would be a way. Aisling, or his father, or any one of the noble friends he still had would tell him how. He just had to figure it out. Settling it in his mind then and there, Ollie road on after her.

When they reached the Academy itself, Olvir couldn't help but frown at the ancient Castle. It seemed so inane, so normal. Hardly the place where a Weapon such as the Dreadlords was made. "You're welcome."

Ollie said softly as he dragged his eyes away from the Academy and looked at Houri.

"I'm sorry I couldn't have done it sooner." Had he known, he would have.

 

[Houri]

It wasn't your fault, she wanted to say but she didn't. It wouldn't alleviate Ollie's sense of guilt from the Asylum being on his families land. So instead all she said was. "I know."

Houri sat upon her horse staring up at the building in reflective silence. She had been so eager to return and now she found herself here she was hesitant. Nervous, even. The guards at the gate - fellow Dreadlords who were now in their twilight years - shifted uncomfortably at the wait. She took a deep breathe; she couldn't put it off any longer.

"I'll write, if things don't go... well. I'll return to the Luana estate to figure out my next... move," she hoped Ollie took the hint this was their farewell. She couldn't walk in here to regain her dignity with a Lord to fight her battle. This was hers.

"And I'll write if things go well, too," she assured. For real this time. To him and Jiya both, perhaps even her mother. "Goodbye Ollie," she leaned across to place a kiss on her friends cheek then dug her heels into her horses side and trotted into the compound.

 

[Olvir]

Olvir frowned, but nodded his head. "You better."

He said, before reaching forward and digging through his saddlebags. After a moment of looking he pulled out a small bundle of letters. Three of them were from heads of houses, one was from himself, and the last from an old friend.

"Give these to the Headmaster." Olvir continued. "They'll settle everything."

That much he had seen to, though it had been costly. "Good luck!"

Olvir shouted as Houri pressed her heels into the sides of her horse and began to trot off. For a moment he sat there, watching her. His stomach roiling with a shadow of anxiety and guilt. He frowned, lingering for a moment before turning his horse by it's reigns.

There was a lot of work to be done. Not the least was finding out who else was in that asylum.

He had left that place under watch from his men, but with Houri now where she was ‘supposed’ to be Ollie knew that he had to go back. He had to find out who had first made that place, and who allowed it on his families lands. Then he would go to parliament, and from there…

From there he had no idea what would happen.