The wise woman's words stung like a cleansed wound, one that had eventually healed but left behind a mangled scar. More certainly did come with commitment and all sorts of trouble - Alys knew that well. She'd had something like that once, and despite the bliss, she only remembered the bitterness. That didn't mean she couldn't watch from afar.
She took another small sip of her tea, the taste of ginger strong against her tongue. "Oh please, it's impossible not to notice how he looks at you," Alys pointed out, a smug smile appearing in response to Emer's sudden bashfulness. "You two are well suited for each other."
"Tell me, are you planning on spending some time together in Leimor? I know it's quite grey, but surely there's something romantic you can do together - you know, to explore the possibilities of something more."
"How he looks at me? Ah, well, yes, I suppose - there may be something there."
Another sip, then another, then she tipped the cup back to drain the rest and set it down on the table beside her.
"I do not think I will be travelling into Leimor, except for new supplies," she continued, a bit firmer now. "Cities are - not my sort of fun. Busy, crowded, loud. You should have the fun for me, hm?"
She nodded, gesturing at the novel she'd set down.
"I think I am better suited making my way through all these books."
Besides - Emryk wasn't the sort to want to take her out on the town, was he? And they weren't in that sort of dynamic. Not yet, at least. She remembered their ill-ended trip to the fair, and shuddered to think of a repeat of that day.
Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there! He wasn't there again today, Oh how I wish he'd go away!
A somewhat disappointing answer, especially with the prospect of a new and blossoming relationship, but Alys supposed everyone had their preferences. Although Leimor was hardly as exciting as Allegria, it was a new place, and if she knew one thing for certain, the fae would make sure she'd have a good time. After all, she had money to spend.
"Speaking of books, I've been thinking about improving my reading." Her current skills were abysmal, probably that of a ten year old, but not everyone needed to know that. "Are those any good?" Alys asked, nodding towards one of the stacks. She figured if the content was interesting enough she could push through it, else she'd have to ask someone to put her out of her misery. Tilting her head to the side, she tried to decipher the title of the book beside Emer. A... Maid...
"Some are, yes," Emer replied, shifting her attention to them. Standing, she moved over to one of the stacks, setting them aside one at a time with a gentle fondness. "Our - Sinead - had a broad taste. I must admit, some of these are beyond my skill, though it does not hurt to try, hm?"
Moving back towards the chair, she picked up The Maid Called Mary, running a finger along the pages' edge.
"Many of her books, however - and, between us, what I think were likely a guilty pleasure - are simple stories of a more risqué nature."
The wisewoman grinned almost conspiratorially.
"Like, for instance, in this, a maid of a noble house falls in love with the youngest son, but he's already been promised to another woman. I am not certain if things work out well, yet, but - these sorts books often do. Drama, danger, romance, but in the end, a happy ending." Emer held the book against her chest and sighed. "I quite like a happy ending."
She glanced at Alys.
"You can take some, if you'd like. I have recommendations!"
Drama, danger, romance, books with a risqué nature - all of it peaked Alys' interest. "How scandalous..." Draining the rest of the liquid from her cup, Alys rose to join Emer by the stack, her fingers gently taking a book from the pile. Flipping through the pages, she noticed the words were awfully small. But if the stories were as interesting as Emer described, maybe she'd get through it. "I'll just try one for now. What's the easiest to read? And most exciting?" Her grin matched the one Emer had before, while describing their former captain's literary tastes.
Emer moved to the side, letting Alys look through the books beside her.
"The Chamberlain's Changeling Concubine - quite witty, but it does tend towards drier side. A Rose and a Rope, that one was certainly an exciting read, though I'm not sure I would recommend - a few Good Sailor almanacs, some treatise collections. I doubt we'd find much plot in these, hm?"
Emer tapped on the books, slid them aside, rummaging deeper and deeper until she found a small, well-creased book with a candle embossed on the cover. Picking it up, she flipped it to the first page, and smiled.
"It was a winter night when I first saw her. She stood at the edge of the bridge, her hair tied back in a bun, her nose blue from the cold. In the light from the lampposts, she almost looked a ghost, but I knew ghosts weren't supposed to shiver in the wind."
The wisewoman held up the book up.
"A Candle in the Window. This is a lovely book. Not the longest, not the densest, perfect for a light read. An orphaned girl happens upon a traveling merchant one day, and she decides to - ah, well. I shan't spoil. But rest assured, there is intrigue, excitement, passion. All good things."
Passing the book into Alys' hands, she clutched her shawl tight around her shoulders and let out a light sigh.
"Do you read, much? Sky knows I try to, myself. It's still a struggle, even with all of Sinead's help over the years, but she was not one to back down from a challenge."
Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there! He wasn't there again today, Oh how I wish he'd go away!
The bell rang as Caleb walked into the jewelry store. With many jewels on board he could've brought one to ask for something custom made, but that would take time and Caleb didn't wish to stay in Leimor much longer than necessary.
"Good afternoon, may I help you?" A woman asked, behind the counter. She was older than he was, he could tell by the smile wrinkles next to her eyes, but not enough to be seen as an old lady.
"I'm looking for something big and shiny that says 'I fucked up and I'm sorry." The woman laughed.
"An apology gift. How big was the fuck up? You know what they say, the bigger the mistake, the bigger the gem." As the woman left to find the jewelry he asked for, Caleb roamed the shop, looking over the display of golden earrings.
"I don't think it was that big…" he answered mostly to himself. Caleb wished things could go back to how they were before the Ice Lands, before he became captain. He missed talking to Alys and seeing her smile. Last time he gifted her with something everything changed between them, perhaps that could be replicated.
Before the shop owner returned, Caleb's eye spotted something that made him think of her right away. It wasn't huge, on the contrary. A small chain necklace with three golden stars, each the size of a bean.
"This one will make her forgive you, I guarantee it!" He turned around to see the necklace the woman held out to him. Golden as well, but thick and heavy looking, with small diamonds all over it and a bigger stone, a ruby in the middle. Caleb could tell she was trying to sell the most expensive one she had, and he smiled at her effort.
"I'll take it. And this one too." He pointed at the small, starry one."
***
Ronan's jaw dropped at the woman's story, it was almost too absurd to be real. He wasn't the only one, the children around him were intrigued as well.
"How did you escape the second time?" He asked, taking mental notes on what to do in case he encountered himself in a similar situation in the future.
***
Naveen wiped off the blood out of the corner of his lip. He hadn't sucked this one to death, but left her passed out in the corner of the same alley she'd been ambushed. A prostitute no doubt, not that he cared about what his food did for a living.
Stepping back out into the crowded avenue, Naveen started making his way to the same inn he and Solomon stayed whenever they visited Leimor. The Al'Ashtavahk headed in his direction was easy to spot, tall as he was. Naveen smiled and nodded at him in recognition.
Lucien had spent the majority of the journey in his cabin. He was rather pleased with the outcome of his negotiations with the quartermaster, although the vampire knew his threat almost certainly spurred O'Cain to action. He would undoubtedly attempt to find a more permanent means to remove Lucien from the ship, most likely using the pet King had left behind.
That was another thorn in his side. Naveen dogged the quartermaster's steps with relentless purpose, forcing every interaction, however minimal, to end with a sour taste in his mouth. Naveen was an ugly creature, unrefined and bestial, preying on whoever suited his fancy at the time. Lucien was nothing like him, despite the former's insistence otherwise. He just needed to ensure Naveen stayed away from the fledgling.
Speaking of whom, Nessa had returned his cloak, not speaking of the incident that led it to be in her possession in the first place. That was perfectly acceptable to Lucien, who would rather bury that lapse of judgment, and return those memories to the earth where they belonged. The cloak had been returned to its place, but not before Lucien noticed an object that was not there previously. A journal, definitely old, almost certainly taken from the abandoned city that they’d left behind. He had tossed it to one part of his desk, spending the rest of the night sampling and refining his meads, noting down new ideas for meads. He doubted that there would be anything worth collecting within Leimor, as no doubt the filth that permeated the city left its mark upon the blood of its citizens.
Lucien’s attention had been drawn back to the journal as the light of day filtered back into the cabin. He had just begun to flip through the pages, one eyebrow climbing as the words processed, when he was interrupted.by three gentle taps upon his chamber door. One of the crewmates, perhaps, sent to fetch him by the quartermaster. That or a simple notification that the ship had landed. Regardless, Lucien ignored it, flipping to the next page as three more knocks came, shaking the door in its frame. Irate, Lucien strode to the door and threw it open, just as the knocker shouted for him.
“What do you want, pup?” Lucien growled, none too pleased to see his least favorite of the Truth Teller refugees. Perhaps he came to the vampire as a challenge, a meaningless duel to prove to himself that he hadn’t been replaced as O’Cain’s dog. Whatever it was, he had best spit it out before the door was slammed in his face.
As the door jerked open suddenly Leo’s shield was swept into his hands, an instinctive motion that might have been overcautious were the person on the other side anyone but Sinead’s hound. Despite the action his eyes remained steadily fixed upon Lucien, defiance branded clearly there though no subject gave it form. He bristled at being called a dog again, but left the insult where it lay as he gathered his thoughts to speak. The vampire seemed to grow more irate by the second as he did so.
”What do I want, stray?” Perhaps the insult hadn’t been left alone as he intended, but he knew that Lucien would brush his own aside. He wasn’t entirely sure that calling him a stray even was an insult; after all, that was what they called dogs without owners, wasn’t it? Cautiously he looked around, peering from door to door and up and down the hallway before pushing forward through the door against Lucien’s steadfast form.
”I want you to teach me to kill you.” There was a moment of silence as Leo considered his words. Stammering, he sought to correct his mistake. ”N-no. I mean I want you to teach me to kill vampires.” Who better to teach him than a vampire, he figured. He only knew three of them, and while Lucien was certainly not the most friendly of the group Nessa was unlikely to be able to teach him how to kill. That left only Lucien and Naveen, and one of them happened to be his prey.
”If it can bleed I can kill it, but there aren’t many vampires in prison. I am sure you can understand why.” Leo lowered the shield finally, accepting whatever punishment the Navigator doled out for barging into his room. ”Ice-Face has to go. We have enough of King’s people here as it is. Since you seem to be afraid to take care of the problem, I will.” With his help, of course. It wasn’t lost on Leo that his argument had holes, but that was to be expected from someone who had such little experience. Lucien had centuries, at least, and his experience would serve to educate Leo far quicker than his own trial and error might.
”A leech knows how to remove another leech, don’t they?”
Post by ShoddyProduct on Aug 28, 2023 21:04:51 GMT
Beck wandered off, without answering Juniper's question. Their face became puzzled, but they let her go. Better to not hold her up. Instead, they turned to the storyteller. Ronan had drawn their attention to her with his question. and now that they were paying attention, they couldn't deny their curiosity. Of course, the story sounded like complete bullshit, but they wouldn't know for sure if they didn't listen, would they?
Quietly, the changeling stepped into the crowd, doing their best to not stand out, and began to actually pay attention.
"Escape? Now, why would I want to escape, young lad? I had her right where I wanted her! You see, it hadn't been that long since I was there, and I was being followed by a squadron of warrior bees! Now, usually they'd never have gotten close, but since I'd doubled back, we were all there together! So I hopped up on the great bear's back and did a little dance up and down her hide, then dove off into the ocean! Well, with my scent all over her, the bees and the bear started in on one another, and all I'd have to do was finish off the last one standing!" A quick nod of her head and a thrust of the beribboned spear, as if this was the simplest thing in the world.
"Not that it was going to be so easy, of course, because in the meantime, I had to deal with a very impertinent squid, and- ah." The storyteller blinked, and considered her assembled audience. "And that is a story for another time. Preferably after the lot of you are quite a bit older, or I dare say your parents will string me up by my earlobes. Authority! Worst enemy out there, isn't it? Stay rebellious, my young adventurers! Never listen to a word they tell you!"
Ronan looked back trying to find Nessa in the crowd, but instead his eyes landed on Juniper. He smiled and waved at them, before carefully making his way through the kids to try and get to them.
"You should ask her to join your crew, she sounds quite powerful!" He said, pointing back at the colorful lady. He had heard a lot of the men complain about the ship being understaffed, which would only get worse now he'd be leaving. Ronan had helped during his time in the Nox carrying boxes and chains around, and got paid for it with coins and diamonds. He didn't understand what the coins were for, but the other men seemed to like it a lot.
***
With the two boxes, one heavy and one light in his satchel, Caleb walked into a familiar alley to find a place to eat. He hadn't been to the Last Meal before, but he'd heard the owner of the place used to be one of them. What a better place for a wanted man to hide in?
He walked in as a couple left, giggling as if they'd just gotten great news. The aos gaotha sitting alone at a table immediately caught his eye. Besides Emer, he'd never seen another in person, as few as they were. Caleb smiled and nodded at the lady, sitting AT the table across from her.
Post by ShoddyProduct on Aug 28, 2023 23:35:59 GMT
Shocked by Ronan's comfort with talking to someone they hardly new, Juniper hesitated a moment, unsure of how to respond. It wasn't usually their job to recruit new crew members, and it certainly wasn't typical for someone who wasn't part of the crew to tell them to do so. They looked between the two, before shaking their head. "Most of what she said is probably a lie." They felt confident in that. No one ran into such fantastical creatures so frequently, and came out of it unscathed. Sure, the creatures they had faced in the Ice Lands were even wilder than what this woman was speaking of, and of course many of them would likely repeat the stories, but they had lost people, gotten injured. It wasn't as simple as she was telling it. "She was just trying to entertain children."
Still though, their curiosity was piqued. As the kids began to clear away, the sorceress approached. "So, how much was show, and how much was real?"
The children were running off to wherever children ran off to. No doubt they would have stories of their own, or maybe they'd borrow one of hers. That was how stories grew, after all. Much like that one boar-
Ah, but here was someone approaching, and with questions! There were always questions! Curiosity was the spark of adventure!
Oh, but that question... she leaned forward, a bit conspiratorially. "My dear, you can't just ask a girl if they're real unless you've bought her dinner first. What do you say?"
With A Candle in the Window firmly in her grasp, Alys scanned over a couple pages of text, curiosity getting the better of her. It was a daunting task, but perhaps if she forced herself to read a page a day, she'd be done in a year. Seemed simple enough. Even simpler that the main heroine was an orphan, like her. Her imagination might very well run wild.
"Haven't bothered to pick up a book in fifteen years. I'm sure it'll go well," Alys murmured, her tone swaying between sarcasm and genuine cheerfulness.
But there it was, the mention of their recently departed former Captain. Though it hardly impacted her mood, the fae forced the smallest of smiles upon her lips. A bit of compassion. "Well, we mustn't let her books go to waste. Or her efforts. Even if we're hopeless."