Open Chronicles Unknown Waters

[Aderyn Verchtegid]

Aderyn smiled back at Roland as she gestured for him to lead the way into the kitchen. She found it often helped in Dornoch to let a male companion in first as a courtesy to them and to ensure that any attention was paid to her as the last one to enter.

"Oh, my dear, that's very sweet of you but why pay our own money when we don't have to? I'm sure someone will be accommodating," she said as she guided him in, her hand low on his back as though to push him, but applying no real pressure.

Inside, the kitchen was sparse but serviceable. They had their fireplace largely taken up by a large cauldron likely of pottage, and a table of assorted implements and utensils.

The cook noticed them immediately and more importantly noted the fish. "What's this then?" he asked, nodded toward the bucket.

"Hello, good sir," Aderyn said with a slight curtsy. "We were hoping to get these cooked and find a place to stay the evening."

The cook snorted. "I can cook the fish then the pot's off but you'll have to pay for a bed, double for privacy. That's up front, though."

She widened her eyes in a pleading fashion, biting her lower lip and sighing. At her waist, she gripped the citrine crystal hanging from her belt on its short leather thong. "Surely you could find it in your heart to make sure we're taken care of?"

The crystal - at least as far as she was sure - pulled at his Avarice, sapping it away and removing the lower bounds of his self-interest. She physically asked for special treatment while emotionally making his charitability overpower his own financial sense.

"Half the fish goes into the pottage, then, yeah? The rest we'll roast up for you. It'll be an hour or two though. You can wait in the public room or take one of the beds if you want. Tell Mariya you paid me already." The words left him with hesitation, as though he didn't particularly understand why he was offering this, but he certainly was and felt a strong urge to help. To give.

Aderyn loved simpler people and dealing with simpler tasks. There was no need to try any complicated manipulation; instead she just had to correct his aura a little.

---

Roland Grayson

 

[Roland Grayson]

The bucket and cat holding man took the vanguard position as they entered the kitchen of the second tavern. What unfolded after was truly a strange scene to behold. The man was rightly confused and assertive with them at first given they were strangers barging into his kitchen. His impossibly charming companion however just did something while talking sweetly and the man gave in immediately. Even his face showed his own uncertainty on what transpired, but he held to his word.

A good man this one.

Roland just kept back and then left the fish with the man. He would follow Aderyn out of the kitchen and step in right next to her. A smile offered her way.

"You have a way with people. Never seen someone get their way so effortlessly before."

He began to study her over once more. Something was going on here. Memories of his own off balance in emotions flowed back to mind. The confusion upon the chef. It was not natural. Whatever she was doing wasn't malicious, but it was manipulative. Perhaps magic? Would explain things, but he was no expert. Could as easily be a trick of alchemy or mind.

No matter what it was, it was proving extremely useful. He wasn't about to put an end to it or make trouble because of it. Take smooth and easy when you could. Things always got rough and hard sooner than you wanted.

"So where would you like to go while we wait? Public or private room?"

Aderyn Verchtegid

 

[Aderyn Verchtegid]

As they entered the main room, Aderyn smiled cheerfully and with seeming obliviousness to the possibility that Roland may have any deeper kind of thought beyond his statement. She laughed before answering.

"Do I? I've never understood life to be any different. You can just ask for things and anyone with a healthy aura should want to help you."

She did, she supposed, have the additional benefit of being able to help care for others' auras herself while many seemed to have no idea how to do that. That was, after all, the entire point to selling the various crystals, scents, and potions.

"You," she added, "have a reasonably healthy aura yourself. Clearly, since you're still here with me. Though shifts can happen so quickly, you never know what will happen."

The interior of the main room was well appointed enough for her purposes, and still not knowing well this man who had become her companion for time being, she gestured over to a table in a quiet corner of the public space.

"They'll find us easier with our meals there."

---

Roland Grayson

 

[Roland Grayson]

The talk of auras felt similar to things he had heard mages, scholars, and mystics speak about. He wouldn't call himself an ignorant nor stupid man, but there was more than a few times he didn't know the difference between the divine and the arcane. This was starting to become one of those times. Whatever she was doing wasn't seeming any more malicious than before. A good sign at least.

Roland nodded when she gestured to a quiet corner of the public space. Sound logic on the meals. The strangeness of their interaction with the cook made the likelihood the staff not being fully aware of their presence here considerable.

He held his arm out for her like a gentleman might a lady. A smile on his face. "Agreed. Be a shame to let our food get lost after reeling it in."

Regardless on if she accepted his offer to walk her to the table or not that was his destination. He would pull her chair out for her and then take his own. Once sat down Princess would find her a spot on the table and look about the room as if she were appraising a new section of her domain. Tail swishing side to side in mild annoyance and curiosity. Idly Roland began to scratch her head. A soft purr followed.

"I've found people tend to think of themselves first and forget others exist outside their uses. Not a way of living I agree with, but one I accept. Someone has to look out for you and if it isn't others then it has to be yourself." Roland looked at her. His usual smile not there. "Your thoughts?"

Aderyn Verchtegid

 

[Aderyn Verchtegid]

Roland pulled out the chair for her and she graciously smiled, offered a little dip that vaguely resembled a curtsy, and sat, not knowing to allow him to push the chair in beneath her before fully lowering herself. She continued smiling as Princess settled on the table, growing adoration in visible in her eyes. She had always wanted a cat but had never felt her lifestyle lent itself to keeping one. Somehow, though, Roland seemed to manage and he was probably on the road well more often than she was.

Not, of course, that she considered that responsible. Besides, something working for one man and his animal companion didn't mean it would work for her.

"I think a lot do, sure. Some of them are just thoughtless, some have a muddy aura, and a few more are just plain wicked. All them can be reasoned with, though. I'm surprised more people don't try; it doesn't seem that hard to me."

She idly fidgeted with one of the small crystals dangling from the bracelet on her left wrist. Her social interactions rarely lasted this long without some kind of work involved - whether healing or playing music or plying whatever other trade - and she was entering new territory.

---

Roland Grayson

 

[Roland Grayson]

From how Aderyn spoke and acted, Roland got a feeling her experiences were different from most people he had spoken with. This whole talk of auras was not something he understood but seemed important to her outlook on things. Dictated a lot of her judgements so far.

When she finished answering he continued to pet Princess in a bit of silence thinking.

"Not everyone can be reasoned with. At least not by everyone. Because of status. Because of blood. Because of tradition. There is plenty of justifications for those to use to hear reason yet not listen to it. Watched it happen plenty of times while working. Not even those conflicts of violence while being a hired sword. Watched merchants refuse to listen to pleas from farmers and workers on why a price was too high for life sustaining foods. Seen people use their positions as leverage to take advantage of others and bleed them dry. No reason in those actions. No amount of words or reason can work on some people."

The man noticed that the serving maid had gotten close enough to them to see them there. He waved her down so they could make an order. When she arrived he smiled to the young woman with charcoal colored hair, mostly fair skin, and a few freckles.

"I'll take a pint or glass of the house drink and a bowl with fresh water for the lady here." Roland pointed to Princess who wasn't paying attention to anything other than being petted in his lap purring away.

Aderyn Verchtegid

 

[Aderyn Verchtegid]

Aderyn thought about Roland's words, speaking of people who were at their cores terrible people, thinking of what it would take to fix them. She knew they were fixable - everyone was if given the chance and a deft hand - but she also knew that what was once broken could shatter again more thoroughly than before. It was something she had struggled with for quite some time.

When the serving maid came to their table and Roland ordered, Aderyn reached out and placed a hand on hers to draw her attention. "You have such beautiful hair," she said, smiling up at her. Her voice was far sweeter and almost helpless in its sound as she spoke. "I don't suppose you would be willing to bring us a bottle of your finest wine?"

As she did so the serving maid perked up a bit, standing straighter, her eyes brighter and more engaged with them, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"And here, take this. It will brighten your day. I promise."

Her other hand revealed a thin, smooth slice of chrysoprase, shaped to easily fit into the hand and with a thumb-sized depression in the middle. The maid accepted it with a slight bob near a curtsy before turning to bring them their orders.

Aderyn turned back to Roland and said, "I try to leave everyone just a little bit happier for having met me, if not in the short term then in the long run. I know some people are the opposite of that but... well, sometimes they just need a push in the right direction."

---

Roland Grayson