Fable - Ask The Toll

[Zinnia]

The idea of illusion magic had crossed Zinnia's mind before, but for all the same reasons that Kristen seemed to have come up with, she had decided against trying. There was simply too much risk to its use, and unlike a simple hood Zinnia couldn't explain such a trick away as a fashion choice.

"I do not think, at this juncture, there is anything we can do..."

Zinnia smiled, sadness reflected in her eyes.
"There never was."

She sat back and pulled her knees to her chest. The cat was out of the bag now, at least to these two. If anyone, anyone at all, had to know about her secret...she was glad it was these two.
"Thank you b-both. For your t-trust, and your silence. I'm trusting you two as w-well."

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair sat back as the fire finally stabilized and reached towards the sky. He carefully watched the flames, and an annoyed look was clearly etched across his face. The concept of nothing they could was simply something that Alistair refused to acknowledge. That wasn't how he saw the world. There had to be something, they just had not discovered it yet.

The idea that Zinnia was also just playing a dangerous tightrope game anytime she went on a mission was also not only dangerous for her but now him and Kristen as well.

And just like Alistair and Kristen, there were those in the city who would ignore Zinnia's appearance. The religious similarities would be nothing more than coincidence. The problem was the church's influence...so maybe they just needed to find someone with an equal amount of influence to protect Zinnia...but that meant exposing the secret, which was not a good idea.

Another option was that Kristen and Alistair gained enough influence to protect her, but that could take some time, if even possible.

"We'll figure something out." He said absent-mindedly, almost to himself more than to the group.

Kristen Pirian Zinnia

 

[Kristen Pirian]

VEL NUMERA​

Theirs was an entrance into the town first marked by triumph and jubilation, and then by a kind of grave solemnity. News had preceded them of the Mad Legion's rampage in the region, and Vel Numera made all possible preparations, fearing that they might be next. What a relief!, therefore, when the troop of Dreadlord and Initiates came riding into town, with none other than Pirian's own Darling Daughter herself among them; better still, the revelation that the Legion had been destroyed!

Then Kristen revealed the identity of the man behind the calamity, and what celebration which had erupted died down. A pall of shame clung to the town, yet duty prevailed, and on Kristen's orders to Mayor Caspian, the town square was made ready for the crucifixion of Redoran Pirian, to be done the following day at high noon.

Dreadlord Alistair and the Initiates had all been given guest rooms in the Pirian Manor for their stay in Vel Numera. Kristen, for her part, couldn't get a wink of sleep. All through the night she lay on her back, tossed this way or that in the vain search for comfort, each passing hour troubled ever more by a restless mind. Doubt even had its say, and a number of times Kristen almost convinced herself to renege on Redoran's sentence, settling instead for something lighter, something still harsh, yes, but something that wouldn't kill him. But it just wouldn't do. For the horrid nature and scale of Redoran's crimes, this was the only solution. Her hand had been forced.

And she would have to kill her own kin—by her order, if not by her own hand.

The day came. Noon approached.

Presently Kristen, with Alistair's assistance, was in her room donning her armor and the bright red Pirian cloak she would wear. And to him she confided her torment.

"I never thought it would come to this," she said heavily. "That...a man of my own Pirian blood, my own family...would prove himself so...barbarous...as to deserve execution...and that the weight of dispensing this justice would fall upon me."

Alistair Krixus Zinnia

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair had remained rather neutral through the rest of their journey. He was not very receptive to the welcoming cheers, preferring they make it back to Vel Anir and provide for a simple and close-cut mission report. However, he knew it was not to be so simple. Politics had decidedly taken the reigns of this issue. Such was the fate when dealing with the Great Houses.

As the day came, Alistair found himself in Kristen's room assisting with her armor. The shiny, metallic piece highlighted with the red cloak made her look absolutely radiant. A distinct contrast to Alistair's own dark grey armor that had been roughed up with sandpaper so as to not easily reflect light. His dark blue cloak was almost a near black.

He wanted to tell her it did not have to be Kristen's decision. The Dreadlords could take ownership and dispense justice with no one asking too many questions, but...The Pirians needed to be seen solving their own problems and upholding their morals. It needed to be Kristen doing this, and offering her a way out would only weaken her resolve.

"We are here to help carry weight. You know what you are doing is right, not easy, but right."

He moved to adjust her pauldron so it better sat upon her shoulder, adding to the striking persona.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Zinnia]

Zinnia sat in the hall outside Kristen's room. The Pirian estate was remarkably illustrious, even so far as mansions that the young woman had laid her gold eyes on. In fact, all of Vel Numera screamed of...abundance. There really wasn't any other word for it. Every square inch of the place seemed like it was bursting with a wealth of life rather than gold. It was no wonder that House Pirian had maintained a monopoly on Vel Anir's agriculture for so many centuries.

As Zinnia sat on a bench, kicking her legs and inspecting a vase full of flowers, a presence moved into the hall. A presence that exuded authority, pride, and yet...a warm kindness that Zinnia only knew from one other person. The girl turned her head to regard the man who had marched down the hall towards Kristen's room, momentarily prepared to ward off an intruder before it dawned on her whom she was looking at.

Her face paled and her eyes went wide before she jumped up from the bench and immediately knelt before the man whom she only recognized from paintings and illustrations.
"N-noble Lord Pirian! I b-beg your forgiveness, I d-didn't know you'd be--um...here?"

Which, in hindsight, was stupid. It was his manor, for Kress' sake.

 

[Tobias Pirian]

Calculating, thoughtful eyes examined the young, hooded woman before Tobias Pirian. A gentle smile appeared across his mien.
"Not at all, young Miss..."

"Oh! Um, Initiate Z-Zinnia St. Kolbe, m-my Lord!" the girl stammered back, clearly brimming with anxiety.

Tobias stroked his beard.
"Ah, yes, Miss St. Kolbe. A pleasure to finally meet you in person. You needn't kneel, young Miss," Lord Pirian intoned, beckoning the girl to rise. Her body visibly stiffened as she froze for a moment before suddenly shooting upright. Goodness, she was a fragile one, wasn't she? Her demeanor belied her apparent combat prowess, if she'd aided his niece and survived the affair.

The girl stood rigid before the lord, unable to maintain eye contact for more than a fraction of a second at a time. Tobias' expression further softened, slightly amused by her antics. He extended a hand towards her.
"You have my, and House Pirian's, sincerest thanks for aiding Kristen at Bluecott, and beyond. This won't be forgotten."

The girl looked like she might faint, her jaw hanging slack for a moment. To her credit, she did accept the handshake eventually, and Tobias patted her arm with his free hand.
"Perhaps you could tell me: is my niece in her room at the moment?"

"Um...y-yes, she--" the girl whipped her head towards the door, then back at Tobias. "She is! S-she is, my Lord!"

The noble nodded.
"Thank you, young Miss."

He stepped past her, and no sooner had he done so than she breathed for apparently the first time since she'd noticed him. Tobias payed her no mind and continued on, knocking on Kristen's door.
"Kristen? It's your uncle. I was hoping we might speak, dear."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Fully adorned now in the regalia she would wear to satisfy the high formality and severe nature of the occasion, Kristen regarded herself in the mirror and allowed her working hands to relax. This could have been a double-edged sword, the idleness of hands without a task fertile ground for anxiety to multiply, but Alistair provided a comforting presence. He even coaxed a slight smile from her, with words that struck the perfect balance between gentle and firm, their sentiment conveyed simply and succinctly, this brevity only adding to their persuasive and reassuring force.

"As ever, I am emboldened when I may stand at your side," she said, moving a hand up to her pauldron to touch, just briefly, his own.

Briefly, for not long after came the knock at the door, and the voice alone gave proof to the speaker. Gods, how long it had been since last Kristen heard Uncle Tobias's voice! Would that it could have been on an occasion not so grim. While on the one hand Kristen was excited, her heart overflowing with joy, to see her beloved Uncle again after so long a time at the Academy, on the other...a cold and silent dread lurked. The Kristen Uncle Tobias last saw was not the same Kristen who would greet him today. And had she not felt this dread before? That same thought which occurred to her in the frigid end of the world, in the Blightlands, where she had taken her first life by slaying the orcish warrior Ekresh, occurred to her now.

Henceforth, Father shall embrace a different daughter.

As it happened, she would first be embracing her Uncle rather than her father as this daughter she had become now: blooded, she who had lost forever that certain gentleness which came from never having taken a life and who had entered into the ancient and everlasting fold of the warrior.

To Alistair she said, "I shall meet with you and Zinnia shortly. It shall be but a moment." This she punctuated with a soft patting of his hand.

She turned to face the door.

"I am here, Uncle."

Once Alistair left and Uncle Tobias entered...gods...her fears, both founded and unfounded, would arise in force. But Kristen would keep them were they belonged: buried deep within her breast, with no evidence of their rising on her countenance.

Alistair Krixus Tobias Pirian

 

[Tobias Pirian]

Tobias stepped out of the way as Alistair opened the door and silently walked by him, and the lord momentarily cast a curious raised eyebrow at Kristen. Of course, she was in full regalia and, more importantly, of age. She was more than capable of making her own decisions; her actions over the last few days were proof enough of that.

"Good morrow, Kristen," Tobias greeted his niece with a smile. As ever, he felt that approaching the coming talk with tact was the smartest way to proceed. "I'm pleased to see you here, and safe. It's been far too long, truly."

The lord of House Pirian measured his words carefully. There was much to talk about, much he wished to say. He hadn't lied; it had been so long since last he'd seen Kristen in person that she'd leapt past him in height. The genes coming from her mother's side must've been quite strong.
"In light of all that has happened, I thought it prudent to check in on you."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"Uncle Tobias," Kristen said, wasting no time after introductions had been exchanged, going straight to him and embracing him. Oh, but this armor! It kept a wall between them that she wished to tear down, but, alas, such was the timing, and it wouldn't do to shed herself of her armor for the purpose of a proper hug and then put it all back on again. After, perhaps, or some day soon, mayhap even in the wake of her graduation. But for now, she would have to tolerate being stifled in her embrace.

"I have missed you," she said before pulling back. "I have missed Father, and Mother, and Amelia—though I have had occasion to see her more recently. I have missed Pedrig—gods, I should write him more! I have missed Val..." she sighed, "...goodness, I could go on."

Kristen pursed her lips. Nibbled, just slightly, on her bottom lip in anxiety.

"Uncle..." she said, "...would...Lady Isolde...have done this? Are the tales of our Pirian forebears...true?"

The principles of House Pirian were not easy to uphold, and the conditions of centuries past were more harsh still than anything faced in the modern age of Vel Anir. Or were embellishments added throughout the march of time, and the stories themselves, more so than those actual events shrouded deep in the mists of history, serving then as the primary deterrent against transgressing the Pirian principles? Velkath Pirian, Redoran Pirian...they were men who proved that not all who bore the name of Pirian were given to following its principles, and were capable of far worse deeds still.

Yet something had to be done about them, if they transgressed, lest House Pirian match in image the more brutal Houses of Vel Anir.

What did Uncle Tobias think?

Tobias Pirian

 

[Tobias Pirian]

Tobias paid no mind to the mail Kristen wore, accepting her hug with measured enthusiasm and a gentle smile.
"I have missed you as well, my dear. As has Henrietta, as has Percival. It brings my heart such levity to see you safe and in good health."

It was no surprise that Kristen's heart was shaken. The path of a leader was never an easy one, the road ahead eternally covered in fog. Let alone that she had made such a hard decision as to Redoran's sentencing, and that she would see to taking full responsibility for that fate.

"It is difficult to say, Kristen. History would show that Lady Isolde, our progenitor, valued balance above all else. She was harsh, but not cruel. Merciful, but not weak. But the Vel Anir of centuries past was not as kind as the one we know now," Tobias explained, adjusting his spectacles. "I believe that many of our records are true, yes. I believe that many of them are also embellished. Our nation has always bargained in power. All do. History is controlled by those with the power to write it, and there is much further power to be secured in doing so. Do you believe history would call you and I 'revolutionaries' and 'republicans' if the loyalists had won the civil war?"

He laughed softly, knowing well the answer to that question. He would likely not be alive if the revolution had failed, but that line of thought was superfluous now.
"There are many lessons to learn from our House's history, of course. Many examples we can glean from our ancestors. What I would ask of you, Kristen, is thus: what do you make of the decision you now face?"

The Pirian lord's soft, amber gaze bore into Kristen, ever calculating, ever discerning. He hoped that Kristen would understand the weight of his question.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

In her expression all the weight of seriousness made its home as she listened to the words of her Uncle. And, when the question was turned back to her, the downward tip of her head was not one of grief nor shame, but one of that selfsame solemnity, thoughtfulness, as she reckoned with it.

"I used to be very naive about quite a lot of things, even willfully so," she came to say. "I lived in a world of finest glass, and it was a pristine, wonderful time."

She looked up with first her eyes, and then her chin became level.

"But that glass did not contain within it the whole truth."

She had been, truthfully, everything Edric accused her of being when they were lost together in the desert of Amol-Kalit. If her kidnapping at been the crack, the Academy had been the shattering, and all that confining glass had fallen down. This, though the toll was harsh and severe, was not a cause for mourning and lamenting, no. It was a cause for rejoicing, for her world of finest glass, for all its wonders and delights, kept her from growing into the woman she was today—mayhap, the woman she needed to be.

Kristen gathered resolve. Her religiosity had been a deeply held secret just a scant number of years ago, indeed it was outlawed those number of years ago, so she did not want go too deeply into it before Uncle Tobias. But it did comprise a large part of her decision, so she would be remiss to exclude it.

"Redoran Pirian has proven himself beyond the capacity of Man to forgive, and so I will send him to God."

Whichever god wished to receive him, and wished the pleasure of decreeing final judgment upon his immortal soul.

Tobias Pirian

 

[Tobias Pirian]

Tobias held his considerate stare upon his niece for several moments, as if mentally pulling her apart to see if her convictions matched her words. Apparently satisfied, he smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It is not folly to express strength and dole out punishment when it is due. Mercy has its limits. That is the balance the tenets of our House aim to teach," he assured her, pride brimming in his chest. "That you've already come to understand that speaks to how much you've grown, Kristen. You make House Pirian proud."

His expression hardened once more, however, knowing what Kristen would soon have to do, by word or by deed.
"What comes next shan't be easy, my niece. Stand firm in your convictions, strike true, and feel no remorse. Grieve for the loss we all face in Redoran's crimes, but no not regret delivering just retribution. Have courage, Kristen."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

You make House Pirian proud.

How five little words could make her eyes glassy in but the small moment of their uttering! No sooner had Uncle Tobias said them than Kristen had to hold back tears. She blinked—once, twice, rapidly—and smiled a smile which on account of joy and overflowing emotion simply could not stay still. What fears she had about her Father, about her Uncle, embracing a different daughter and a different niece, one whom they found to be detestable, blissfully evaporated.

Have courage, Kristen.

"I will."

And again she hugged him, her arms coming about her Uncle with greater emotional force than before, her face buried for a moment in his fur-lined collar. When she pulled back, the glassiness of her eyes, those gathered tears, were gone.

The door to the guest room opened, and out they stepped. Kristen stood before Alistair and Zinnia in the hall, and said, "I am ready. Let us finish this."

They had one final foe, awaiting in the Fountain Square of Vel Numera. One last enemy, before they could return to the Academy and to House Krixus, their mission complete.

Alistair Krixus Zinnia

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair had quickly escaped the awkward silence of Kristen's room, only to step outside and meet Zinnia's eyes. Rather than attempt to break that silence, Alistair just took up a position next to the door and then decided to just let the silence sit there. It beats being asked uncomfortable questions.

They sat in the silence for several minutes, before Kristen and Tobias exited the room. Kristen looked far more sure of herself than when he had left the room. He supposed that was just the advantages that came with being an older family member, they had that essence of wisdom about them.

He looked to Tobias and then back at Kristen and just gave her a nod. Then giving an assuring nod to Zinnia.

"We are ready when you are, Kristen."

Kristen Pirian Zinnia

 

[Zinnia]

Zinnia glanced up as Alistair exited the room, then looked back to the floor and continued kicking her legs back and forth.

When Kristen finally exited as well, Zinnia stood and did as Alistair did, giving her nod of confirmation to both of them.
"We've g-got your back!"