1629, Earth Season, Harmony Week, Waterday
Context
Sometime before Rest In Pieces, Rushes, Varanis and Berra have a chat as the party is travelling. That puts Varanis on a damned zebra, as her temple sent a zebra instead of the bison she’d asked for. Berra is on Shanks’ Pony. That is, she is walking.
Note: This is a first person summary of the Season 5: Whitewall Arc from Varanis’ perspective, with interjections by Berra.
Events
“I haven’t told you much about our mission to Whitewall, have I?” Varanis asks her companion.
Berra looks up, slowly shakes her head. “Nah. T’d be good to learn.” Behind her, on their respective lead reins, trail her two mounts. The bison has most of her equipment, and her practice great sword.
The Vingan mulls over her thoughts, trying to put things into order. “It started in Boldhome. Tennebris gave me the warning that Kallyr would be sending me on a diplomatic mission to work with Whitewall. She wanted them back within the boundaries of Sartar. And, indeed, she asked it of us during a feast.”
Berra nods along, follows with her attention and sometimes her eyes.
“Were you there when Kalis sent me over a bodyguard? One of the Axe Maidens. Warrior by the name of Inpira.”
“I was at the Temple most of the first week of Fire Season. Kesten was there and I needed to do stuff to … well, secrets, but I had to be the one to do them.” Initiation, of course. Berra is correctly not giving details. “Right. Well, I wasn’t particularly happy about being assigned a bodyguard, but I was warned that if I didn’t accept Inpira, I’d only get someone else and I probably wouldn’t like the choice.” Varanis shrugs.1Insight: The old irritation at being watched, coddled, and/or trapped rumbles under the surface, but is tucked away. “Anyway, she came in handy as when Serala and Finarvi got to Boldhome, Serala was clearly already quite pregnant.”
Berra nods. “It’s good to be seen to have people, too. It does help show your importance.”
“It got better shortly after we left the city. Ebron, the head of Serala’s temple in Boldhome… did you know he married Kalis? Well, he sent word that Inpira was to answer to Serala. That suited me perfectly.”
“Yeah. That was back when Lord Eril was not getting on well with Lord Tennebris,” Berra says carefully. “And the Lady Kalis decided to remin’ them that they were getting vunnerable in the palace, by makin’ em so.”
“Mhmm.” Zephyr, Varanis’ zebra, checks Berra’s hair for snacks and Varanis nudges the mare to keep her moving forward.
Berra scowls slightly at the zebra. Her scars pull tight over her left eye. “Yeah, must have suited.” She seems distracted by the zebra.
“We had a caravan full of gifts for Whitewall, so it made travel slow. We only got as far as Wilmskirk the first night. We stayed at a small inn, and someone attempted to steal the wagon.” She shakes her head at the memory, but it’s wry rather than angry.
Berra winces. “Ouch.”
“It turned out to be some artists preparing for a chariot race in which the wagons would represent chariots. In the end, they actually enlisted our help. That’s because they agreed to make their entry represent King Kallyr in victory.” She sighs softly. “In hindsight, it feels a bit like an omen. Kallyr, a defeated enemy, and a chariot. But it was supposed to be the Lunars.”
Berra looks confused for a moment, and then her expression clears. “Oh yeah. Right. Wilmskirk’s a bit weird, ain’t it?” “Yeah. They painted a mural of Rajar fighting a dragonsnail. Anyway, we won two of the three contests. It was good. And the wagon survived, so we could carry on to Whitewall.”2I left out the part where Varanis was wearing tear away armour and stripped it all off to ride around in the chariot wearing only woad. B: HAHAHAHAHAH. V: Did you forget that part? I had! I was checking the log and had a “wait! What?” moment. B: Yeah, but now I remember.
Berra shakes her head, and then pauses, and then just shakes her head again. Whatever she is thinking, she does not want to know. “Right. Yes. Whitewall.” She has her hand on the wyter sword now, and a look of faint concentration from time to time.
“I ended up sending the others on ahead. As we were preparing to leave to carry out our mission, I was summoned to a legal hearing by one of Wilmskirk’s Storm Voices” She lets out a huff. “It was… annoying, to say the least. Not the way I was summoned, or even that I had been summoned. It was Devolin.” She scowls, her hand clenching into a fist on her reins.
“Oh…. duck.” Berra waves her hands, frustrated. Follows ignores the movement of the reins and keeps on plodding.
“You aren’t going to like the next bit,” Varanis warns her friend. “Just, try to remember that he’s a Lightbringer and under my protection?”
“Uhuh?” Berra’s eyes narrow, but she seems to be aiming her gaze for a duck off in the middle distance, not Varanis.
“Do you know what a lottery is?”
“Naaah?” Berra puts up a hand. “Alright, there’s a dumb thing that some Esrolian Humakti usedta do with their swords to try to get a really good one, but I don’t think that’s what you’re talking about.”
Varanis briefly explains the concept of a lottery. 3I seem to recall it was basically a 50-50 draw? B: I think it was very much not 50:50, but explained as if it was.
Berra dutifully considers that, and the chances of drawing a winning stone from an urn owned by that particular duck.
“Of course, the whole thing was a scam. And unauthorized. And the stones were stolen from Maran Gor.”
“Wow.” The little Humakti’s expression is one of amazement, and probably not over Devolin’s cunning.
“I’m not done yet,” Varanis warns.
“Mm…mm?” Berra braces.
“He did it in my name and said you were protecting it all.” Varanis’ hands are still in fists on the reins, but once she gets that bit of the story out, she makes an effort to relax her fingers.
Berra sighs, takes a big breath in, and sighs again. “Right.” She might not have finished talking.
Varanis remains silent, while Zephyr flicks an ear in Berra’s direction but keeps walking.
“So, that is pretty serious, given he’s doing it in your name,” Berra says. “Whatdaya reckon for it? A song about my good name? Probably not happening for a bit anywhere that’d heard of it.”
“I’m not the best of song writers, but I’ll do my best with it,” Varanis offers. “Or hire someone to do so. I can send word before we cross out of Sartar.”
“I’ll take that, then,” Berra says. “I know it was the duck that’s a part of you, not the honourable part, that did it.”
She considers further. “Oh! The artists who turned our wagon into a chariot. They were enthusiastic folks. I’ll hire one of them to hire a good bard in Wilmskirk. After the pyre… the people in Wilmskirk have a favourable look on you anyway. Someone will be happy to do it. They’ll add something about Kallyr and Gunda and the funeral… but maybe my King deserves that.” Even as she says it, Varanis winces. “I should ask that they not be too blatant about that bit. We want to be able to go home at some point.”
“Maybe someone who isn’t them?” Berra says, with a similar if smaller-featured expression.
Varanis nods. “Yeah… it only seemed like a good idea until I said it out loud.”
“Some things do, and then you hear them. Or you could give me something. I mean, it’s not much of a smirch, I think – a knife or a ring or a promise or something. If you can’t think of someone to write and sing for you.”
“No, a song. I know who to write to. I want it to start out small, make its way to Wilmskirk, and by the time it makes it to Boldhome, it’ll be established and hopefully hitting the right political notes.”
Berra nods. “That’s good then. So what next?”
“He cost me nearly 30 Lunars in fines,” Varanis says with another wince.
“And then I was further delayed by having to report to King Farinst.”
“Owww!” Berra looks sympathetic. “Yeah, write your own song.”
“Farinst was remarkably understanding and left the punishment to me. I had his feathers dyed so he’d have black and white stripes. Somehow, they were gone a short while later… the stripes, not the feathers.”
Another big sigh from the little warrior. Perhaps this is why Humakt no longer has an Air Rune; just being related to Orlanth could do it. “Is there anything more about that because… well, I am not going to boot his backend, and I don’t want to have to think too hard about it.”
“That’s everything for the moment, though he comes up again later on. He actually helped to save Serala from Gunda, but… that’s jumping ahead.”
Berra’s sighing reaches a crux, as she looks upward, gets control of her awed frustration, and lets Followed catch up. “Alright. That’s going to be a lot of talking. Start it.”
“Well…” Varanis glances at her cousin, riding on his Straw Weaver Bison. “There’s stuff that happened when I was separated from the others. Wasps and their riders, a shaman… Xenofos went a little mad and I haven’t pressed him for details, but at some point, we should ask him for that story.” Berra considers. “Maybe.” It seems like a maybe, not a no.4 Insight: She is less jumpy around Xenofos now, but still not entirely comfortable.
“If you don’t, we won’t have the complete report.”
Berra nods. “Yeah, fair enough. He can always say no. So then you caught up?”
“Mhmmm. They left and then ended up having to come back to Wilmskirk. The madness and such. Anyway, we headed to Whitewall together.” Varanis chews her lower lip as she considers. “It’s looking better, but still… run down. It’s recovering, I suppose, but the process is slow and the resources are tight. We were welcomed by Haralast and his people. He was acting as City Rex in the absence of a king. They were amenable to the idea of joining Sartar, but reluctant to make any firm decisions without a king. They wanted help setting up a king’s test.”
Berra looks a little surprised. “That’s innerestin’.” She weighs it up, bouncing on her feet as she walks along, and then nods. “Right. Yes.” Her right hand falls to her sword, but after a moment she says, “Gonna tell you some stuff later,” in an undertone probably directed to the spirit within. She does not wish to split her attention.
The zebra steps so lightly over some loose rocks scattered across the road that Varanis doesn’t really take note.
“It took a while to get to the King’s Test,” she admits. “We had to concoct a reasonable plan for it, but also, things kept interrupting us. One day, for example, I got a message from Silor asking me to look into a merchant on the road between Whitewall and Wilmskirk. It turned out he’d be blackmailed into carrying cargo for Lunar spy of some sort that Silor was trying to track down. Finarvi handled the wasp riders, as he’d developed a good rapport with them over the whole madness thing earlier. Inpira and Yamia were guarding the family and took care of the assassins that had been sent after them. A minotaur and a centaur, if you can believe it! And Silor was able to lay an ambush for the Lunar… it was a bit convoluted and time-consuming, but we rescued the trader’s family, freed the trader from the Lunar’s hold over him, and even captured the Lunar. “ She grins at that.
“The old fox is canny. He has strategies within strategies. I learned a lot from him on that little escapade and could learn a lot more if we… well, anyway. It was good.” Her grin faded a little towards the end, but she offers Berra a smile as she waves vaguely to wrap the little tale up. “Yeah. It was good work and I was pleased Silor asked us to help.”
Berra watches the not-horse with apparent approval, but her attention is on Varanis. “Wow. Yeah, that sounds impressive. But also busy.”
Varanis nods. “Anyway, with Whitewall… there was a lot of negotiating and politicking. Even Rajar got in on it. Serala and Xenofos made the trip out to the Sun Domers. We visited various clans. It was… a lot.” The Vingan shakes her head at the memory. “I think we got tired of it all and decided to look for an easy solution. We went to take a look at the battlefield where Broyan died…there’s something there. Too much for us to handle.” She shudders as if struck by a sudden chill. “If it’s not been dealt with when we get back, we need to tackle it. But, it was not a suitable task for a king’s test. Too many would have died and Whitewall and its clans can’t afford that scale of death.”
Berra takes a few moments of thinking there. “Right. Fair enough.” As if a thing that could kill Broyan is the next thing to deal with.
“As we headed back toward Whitewall, we got word of a raiding party. We managed to capture one of their scouts and took him prisoner. It turned out to be about a hundred Wolf Pirates, headed for Whitewall.”
“Wait, the prisoner was a hundre…oh. Right, yes. With you now.” Berra concentrates once more.
“We got word back that the Wolf Pirates were en route. Whitewall… well, it was low on warriors. Finarvi managed to recruit some Wasp Riders and Rajar got some Praxians. We did our best to help prepare. But at some point, we realised that we wouldn’t be facing the whole force. Serala rode to warn Wilmskirk.” Varanis’ shoulders hunch as she recalls the events that led to her heavily pregnant lover racing through the night on horseback to alert the city. “She made it there just ahead of Gunda and her pirates.”
Varanis adds, “Xenofos. He’s the one who got the intel. Plucked it out of the prisoner’s head. I’d forgotten that bit, but it’s important to know. He can do that sometimes.”
Berra shudders, after considering that for a moment. “Ew!”
“Yeah. But it saved a lot of lives.”
Berra gives Varanis a look. “Yeah. But also yuk. So now wait – she was in Wilmskirk and then Gunda… surrounded? Invested? Just came in?”
“Back up to Whitewall first. They had a ritual… they cracked the gate, just like that!” Varanis snaps her fingers. “We’d planned to negotiate anyway. After Serala’s assessment of the defences, it wasn’t clear we couldn’t hold out and we had Kallyr’s gifts. Haralast parlayed with their leader and negotiated a payoff.” Staring at the zebra’s ears, Varanis admits, “That’s where I shamed myself in front of the city the first time. A few of their warriors were bound by oaths and had to fight. Rajar, Xenofos, and I each agreed to duel. They both took care of their opponents readily. I lost my blasted sword arm before I could even move to parry.” She shudders and rubs her shoulder with her free hand. “It was just… gone. Adnew reattached it and to be honest, I think that hurt worse than the cut that severed it.” She shudders again.
“Yeah. Humakt ain’t gentle.” Berra punches Varanis softly on the leg. “It happens. Even the best.” She tilts her head to one side and then points to her face as a demonstration.
“I suppose.” Varanis lets her hand drop back to her own leg, but her shoulders remain too close to her ears. “Anyway, they agreed to go, so that was good. The cost was less than the cost in lives and rebuilding would have been.”
Berra nods. “It’s like a ransom for a city. A good call, usually. If they’re oathed to it, or you know they won’t come back.”
“Despite Serala’s warning, Wilmskirk was hit hard. Gunda brought the gates down at Yelmrise and the pirates flooded the city. You know what their defences are like and the bulk of their warriors were away. As I understand it, Serala ended up corralled with Farinst and his people. Gunda challenged the king to fight and when none of his own people offered to back him up, Serala did.”
Berra winces. “The walls are more suggestions if you have a ladderrrrr…. wait she … yeah. Yeah, you mentioned that. A lot of people mentioned that.”
Varanis shakes her head. “I’m not sure if Grazelanders do duelling or champion fights. Anyway, somehow in all of that, Devolin was in the crowd and everyone believed that Serala was Farinst’s wife and … well, that bit confuses me. They lost, Gunda took them and many others prisoner. Including Silor’s youngest.”
Berra says, “Right. Yeah. I heard this from Yamia. She says that Farinst was asking for his wife to be spared, and Devolin took advantage of that, to make her ransom seem more, but also that she was not a direct witness to it, so that’s only hearsay from her. She told it a lot like she wanted to strangle people. I think she liked it?”
“Mhmm.” Varanis doesn’t offer more for several heartbeats.
Berra walks along, kicking at the dry road with her hobnails. The wind steals the dust and plays with it.
“I was beside myself with worry for Serala,” Varanis finally admits. “Once the danger to Whitewall had passed, I couldn’t think of much else. I’d have pushed Manasa too hard to get to Wilmskirk, if it hadn’t been for Jaldis and the others. Rajar and Xenofos weren’t going to let me go alone anyway, but Inpira spoke to the healers and Jaldis arranged for herself and some others to make the journey to offer aid. We were tasked with guarding them as we travelled through the night.” Berra looks up at the sky, and then down at the road before them, and says nothing.5 Insight: Something big seems to be hitting her, and she is trying to think it through, or else trying not to.
Still staring at the zebra’s twitching ears, Varanis says, “I forgot a bit. An important bit. The night before the walls broke, I called on Orlanth and Grandfather Sartar. They both heard and answered. From so far away, I could *feel* Grandfather. That matters because of what came next, you see. When Yelm rose on the second day, after the pirates had been carousing, Kallyr came. She brought an army, but didn’t need them. She called for Gunda and cut her down with barely a thought.” Something of the original awe Varanis felt shows in her face as she glances down at Berra.
Berra looks up with awe and maybe joy, at that name, and then looks way with a wry expression. “She’s a great warrior,” the Humakti says in a small voice.
“I don’t like what came next, but it broke the Wolf Pirates. They scattered. We had days of clean up – that’s how I ended up with our new house guard. He was one I captured who was too close to death to leave, but also had no way to pay ransom.” Varanis skims over the Wilmskirk clean up, but adds, “It was in the aftermath that Silor and I claimed each other as kin. But… things are jumping around again and you know a bunch of this anyway. The pieces you still need to hear happened in Whitewall.”
Berra nods. “Yeah. Lord Raven wants to talk to you about his brother, by the way. He thought of a thing. But later.”
“Later,” Varanis agrees.
- 1Insight: The old irritation at being watched, coddled, and/or trapped rumbles under the surface, but is tucked away.
- 2I left out the part where Varanis was wearing tear away armour and stripped it all off to ride around in the chariot wearing only woad. B: HAHAHAHAHAH. V: Did you forget that part? I had! I was checking the log and had a “wait! What?” moment. B: Yeah, but now I remember.
- 3I seem to recall it was basically a 50-50 draw? B: I think it was very much not 50:50, but explained as if it was.
- 4Insight: She is less jumpy around Xenofos now, but still not entirely comfortable.
- 5Insight: Something big seems to be hitting her, and she is trying to think it through, or else trying not to.
