Fable - Ask The Island of Vel Anir

[Amell Quillon]

“Captain Quillon.” He mumbled, but his frustrations were more in his cursed knee than at Elise. He could admire someone who wanted to help, but wanting to help and actually helping were two different things. Yet, Elise seemed to have no problem with helping in a way that perhaps Amell should have but he had little idea on what to do when a building was on fire.

It was different when there was a battle field to stand on. But inside The Tea Room of Vel Aleros was far more claustrophobic than Amell could have ever expected. Amell still had plans to go back down to the hallway and drag Kristen from the wreckage but he was too late for that.

As for finding a medic or healer? Well, Amell wasn’t the latter, but he did know a few things when it came to battle wounds. He shoved the paper into his pocket and let the guard running past them find the healer. Amell started moving down the hall, running with a limp. He ignored the nagging pain in his knee.

And the nagging in the back of his head telling him he’d regret this later when he went back to Doctor Ristretto and she lectured him on the importance of “taking things easy.” Cartilage never grows back, you waited too long for any magic to work on you. You’ll have this for the rest of your life, the best you can do is preventative care and…

“Move,” Amell said, full of authority. “You’re letting her bleed out.” He dropped to his knees, wincing as pain shot up his thigh and into his lower back. He unbuttoned his jacket and then the shirt underneath, revealing a plain white short that he ripped off of his chest. There was no time to be careful about his attire.

He bunched it up, moving her auburn hair off of her face.

“You don’t apply pressure on whatever is in there,” Amell said as he applied pressure around… was it wood? Rock? He had no idea but he wasn’t going to shove it further into the side of her head. He didn’t trust himself to try and remove it either, wondering if there were other little bits and pieces embedded inside her head.

But even with Amell using all the knowledge he had, he desperately hoped that healer would be arriving soon.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Her pulse was steady, her breathing slight.

Unconsciousness still had Kristen in its grasp.

Yet it was true that she was doing far better than whoever was so afflicted by misfortune to be in that office.

Elise Virak Amell Quillon

 

[Elise Virak]

Elise continued to coordinate, taking a masterful command of the situation and directing everything from healers to mason who have arrived on the scene to consult.

She moved seamlessly between those who needed aid and those who were seeking to help. Using both the Guardsmen who stood watch on the building as well as her own men-at-arms to see to those areas who should have been off-limits.

It was only a few spells later that a Healer appeared at Amell's and Kristen's side.

The man was a Haggard looking fellow. He wore the uniform of a Guardsmen, though the patches on his shoulder marked him as a Dreadlord. "It's alright."

He assured Amell.

"When did she get hit?" The Dreadlord asked, eyes floating over Kristen as he set to work. His meager magics enough to stabilize her at least.

By the time Kristen was brought back to life, carried upon a stretcher, Elise had broken off from her coordination. She found herself stopping besides the medic carrying the young noble, waving to an Amell whom she spotted just a few feet away. "My dear girl."

Elise breathed to the Dreadlord Initiate.

"I am so sorry for this." She said softly. "It seems you took the brunt of our punishment."

 

[Amell Quillon]

He was thankful when someone more knowledgeable than him finally came to deliver the aid that Kristen so desperately needed. The Captain was quick to get out of the way, although he stood nearby and watched over the whole thing as if he could comprehend what the dreadlord was doing. He didn’t but just in case his services were needed, he’d be there.

Although it turned out the dreadlord was able to stabilize Kristen after all. Poor girl. Maybe nobility shouldn’t be sent to the Academy after all? The thought wouldn’t linger as he followed out after the other guardsmen carrying Kristen on a stretcher and seeing Elise rush over to her.

Our punishment? Amell couldn’t help but to find that phrase particular. It snagged on his consciousness and demanded for him to consider it carefully and what implications it could have. In his mind, the only one that made sense to be punished, whether rightfully or wrongfully was still up in the air, was whoever that bomb was made for.

It couldn’t have been for him, sure, he was a Captain of the Northern Guard, but that didn’t grant him much power. Nor did being a Quillon, a minor noble house tied to Urahil, yes, but nothing that garnered many enemies. At least not enemies that would blow up a hallway. So it left Elise.

She was a Virak. She had power, money, was related to various dreadlords (even two archons if he wasn’t mistaken) and was well-received, especially in certain places of Vel Anir. So, if it was her, then why?

“Because of the canal?” He questioned, looking at Elise. “This happened because of something that hasn’t even officially been approved yet by the Republic?” Perhaps not the best time to ask questions when Kristen was injured, but Amell was a man of action. Doing something felt far better than standing around and doting on the Darling Daughter.

Kristen Pirian Elise Virak

 

[Kristen Pirian]

The Fourth Level Dreadlord's healing magic was a slow and steady affair. Bones that were shattered and broken inched like timid insects back into their places, their fractures sealing up like a coat being leisurely buttoned. Mangled flesh slid like curious drops of rain exploring the slight downward slope of a rooftop, and like a quilt being sewn together were the gashes and tears joined and made whole. These were the magics which Vel Anir did not appreciate, but there was at least one soul, here and now, who could.

Some small time after the healing was done and her face was cleaned did Kristen regain consciousness. Her eyes slowly opened, her mind mostly a jumble, though she knew enough.

And the very first thing she said was, "Lady Elise...are you alright...?"

Elise Virak Amell Quillon

 

[Elise Virak]

"I think not, Amell." In truth, Elise had absolutely no idea why this happened. She had not engineered this, and she had her doubts that it was one of the other Houses. Luana would be far more subtle than a bomb, and any of the others...well she hadn't offended any of them as of late.

Just the opposite!

It could be that one of them was making a move, but she had her doubts. Especially because it had been well known she would be with both Kristen and Amell during the day. No, this was someone else, something else, but she had no idea who.

A fact Elise found endlessly frustrating.

"This is something els-" As she spoke Kristen suddenly awoke. Her eyes blinking slowly, the expression on her face a confused fabric of tiny scratches and bruises. "Yes, I am more than fine, dear girl."

The Baroness said softly. "More so than you, that's for sure. I will have to send my apologies to your family immediately."

Elise said with a smile, glancing back towards Amell for a brief second.

"I will send my physician's to attend you." She assured Kristen. "For now, all you must focus on is your recovery."

 

[Amell Quillon]

“Yes, your recovery,” Amell murmured, now only mirroring Elise. He took a few steps closer towards Kristen, his glacial gaze roving over her. It was far more analytical than lascivious, and when he looked at Kristen’s face, he admired the work of the healer. She looked far better than when he had done his best to help with her bleeding gash.

She still looked awful but at least she didn’t look like she was being delivered to death’s door with a ribbon and tag attached to her. Amell moved away from her then, shaking his head as if he pitied Kristen. His hands worked along his uniform, checking to see what was missing and what had remained. His attire was ruined and he did his best to make him look acceptable.

Which ended up with him needing to button up his coat. Amell could feel the sweat underneath his armpits immediately dripping onto the fabric. The sweat that beaded on his forehead would need both of his hands as he pushed his pale blonde hair was pushed back.

Amell could picture Felix Urahil’s exasperated tone as he lectured him for not having pleased the Viraks enough.

“Our attentions should be on Kristen. The poor… thing.” Coddling wasn’t something Amell had ever done before and he wasn’t sure he had ever experienced. But it was needed, especially now in this moment. “She put herself in harm’s way for your sake, Lady Virak, didn’t she? How refreshing to see someone with true altruistic intentions.”

Elise Virak Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"No...no," Kristen protested, coming to sit up on the stretcher. For one thing she was embarrassed by Amell's praise, for she felt it to be wholly unearned: she had merely been a victim of misfortune, standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, at best only by sheer chance having unwittingly blocked any harm from coming to Lady Elise by absorbing it with her own body.

But more pressingly:

"I cannot lay idle while the men responsible for this—" she gestured back toward what was once Minister Ordell's office, "—remain unapprehended."

Woozy still from the after-effects of her injuries and fatigued by the healing necessary to alleviate them, Kristen nevertheless tried to swing her legs over the stretcher's edge and make to stand. But she paused, seeing then one of those papers on the ground bearing the odd symbol, squinting her eyes and cocking her head in bemusement.

Elise Virak Amell Quillon

 

[Elise Virak]

Elise glanced at Amell, wondering if those words would make some lesser person feel even a hint of guilt. "Yes."

The Noble said, reaching a hand out to gently rest on Kristen's shoulder as she attempted to stand.

"She most certainly did. There's little telling what would have happened to me without your intervention." Elise lied. "Thank you, Kristen, you have my eternal gratitude."

The stage show was growing somewhat tiresome, but the Baroness knew how important it was. Not only was Amell standing there, and Kristen too of course, but the Healer still roamed around and Guardsmen did too. All of them bore witness, and all of them, Elise was sure, would tell the story.

She smiled warmly. "But you must rest, there are others who will investigate this. The Vestigare and Vigilite both I'm sure wi-"

The words died on her lips as she followed Kristen's eye-line and noticed the symbol too. Her lips pressed into a thin line. Without a word she slipped her hand away from the Initiate, drawing herself down and scooping up one of the papers. "Amell, is there something...familiar about this to you?"

Elise said, holding it out to her fellow Noble. Something tickling in the back of her head. A lesson long ago taught to her but distant and fuzzy.

When looking at the strange sign more closely, with a mind that wasn't addled by the chaos of an explosion and the stress of a dying Initiate, Amell would perhaps recall the symbol. It was an old mark, forgotten by most and belonging only to the history books. The mark was that of an Anirian Guard regiment. One which had not been active for nearly two hundred years.

 

[Amell Quillon]

Amell slowly pulled the crumpled paper of the same symbol from his pocket. He had shoved the paper inside when he had fallen. He wouldn’t say such a thing, the fact that Elise Virak had seen it was already humiliating enough as it was, and the constant throb of pain in his knee was the reminder he needed to look strong.

In front of Virak and Pirian, he couldn’t have Urahil looking weak.

“Yes, well, it is a rather familiar symbol.” He paused, glancing at Kristen and then looked at Elise. “If you notice, it carries a lot of the shape of the Guard as we know it today, but there’s differences. Just like the Guard has different regiment, this symbol was used for a regiment known for….” Amell trailed off. He suddenly looked rather sheepish. “How to put it? The tyranny of nobility? Of course, they were ruined decades ago. They were a bunch of corrupted fools with silly notions on good and evil. This…” he looked down at the paper. “Has to be a fluke of some sort.”

Kristen Pirian Elise Virak

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Eternal gratitude. Kristen's embarrassment only deepened. Elise was placing far too much importance on Kristen's intervention (in her opinion, inaction and mere happenstance). Kristen felt a rather strong compulsion to actually make herself worthy of Lady Virak's glowing praise, by doing something, anything, in service toward rectifying the tragedy that struck poor Minister Ordell.

Elise and Amell's attention being turned then onto those queer papers scattered about in the hallway gave Kristen ample opportunity to quietly stand up and off from the stretcher. She didn't know how long the wooziness would last, but likely would it be gone in a matter of hours and well before anything as dangerous as the explosion could happen again.

Because surely, this wasn't over; this was only the beginning of something truly nefarious. And this ominous feeling was perfectly underscored by Amell's explanation of the symbol on the papers.

"It has been...centuries, not decades, has it not?" Kristen said, figuratively dusting off memories from her education and recalling small facts from large tomes. "A footnote in the annals of Anirian history. Some...manner of rebellion against the Houses, though it paled obviously in comparison to the Revolution. What was it, the name that they adopted for themselves?"

Kristen massage her forehead, trying to coax the answer from her mind as if she were stuck on a question during a written exam. And then it came to her.

"'The Spears of Liberty.'"

Elise Virak Amell Quillon

 

[Elise Virak]

The evocation of an ancient Guard Unit who had specifically rebelled against the ‘Tyranny’ of the Houses should probably have made Elise more uncomfortable than it actually did. Yet as Kristen and Amell informed her of who this symbol belonged to, all Elise could summon was a disapproving frown.

Perhaps because they knew so frustratingly little. "Regardless of decades of centuries."

Elise said, glancing around the hallway which was now swarming with Guardsmen and other officials. Quickly moving to secure the area and ensure no more explosives lay in wait. Some checking every nook and cranny, others already beginning to collect what little evidence there was to be found, while still others quickly went to remove the charred remains of the Minister of Finance.

The Baroness watched them all, taking in those scooping up the flyers which had been distributed all throughout the radius of the explosion.

"This is clearly a declaration of intent." Elise Remarked. "One does not kill the Minister of Finance without an ulterior motive, and certainly not without such…flair."

She shook the flier. "Perhaps someone believes the revolution did not go far enough."

The noble mused, her frown deepening.

 

[Amell Quillon]

Amell was quiet, letting the woman speak and voice his own thoughts. The Spears of Liberty, a nuisance at best but a lethal adversary at worst. They would be dampening any plans that Felix had and Amell had a suspicious feeling that if they were willing to kill the Minister of Finance then nobility wouldn’t be a far toss either.

“You two will have to forgive me,” Amell said suddenly, his limpid eyes a sheet of ice. His face was all serious lines and impassive planes. “But I must take my leave. If the Spears of Liberty are the ones behind this then we are all already behind. I fear their next stunt that will cause more Anirian blood to be spilled.” Amell grabbed a few of the fliers for his own records— and Felix’s— and looked over at Kristen then Elise.

“We’ll keep in touch, I’m sure.” He bowed to both of them before he would disappear out of the door. It was easy to get swept up in the river of guards. When he was out of the building Amell was thankful his carriage and the horses were unharmed. Despite what he inwardly wanted, he would head to the closest Urahil estate.

Kristen Pirian Elise Virak