1629, Earth Season, Illusion Week, Windsday
Context
In Prax, after leaving New Pavis. On the hunt for the Straw Weaver Clan. Follows after session 6-9, Mud, Glorious Mud and Thin Air. Berra shares what details she can/chooses about the sacking of Boldhome and the death of its king.
Events
As the group moves on, Berra has Kolyey out at point. She rides close enough to Varanis to be within shouting distance, occasionally veering closer, but not trying to talk.
Varanis has yet to eat, but she did drink some water before mounting up. Now she rides, but stares straight ahead, disinterested in the world around her.
Berra calls a long halt for lunch when the sun is at noon, and approaches Varanis. “We’re gonna eat now. We’ve got a bit of time to wait. Want to do something like race to a… a rock?”
“No thank you,” the Vingan replies tonelessly. Then she focuses on Berra, taking in who she’s speaking to. Emotions flicker across her face.1Insight:grief, anger, relief, regret… it’s a muddle.
Berra sighs. “I know, but you’ve got to be with us. We’re travelling in Prax.”
“You were gone a long time,” Varanis says. “Thank you for coming back.”
Berra tilts her head a little, and thinks through the next sentence. “It needed doing. There were vampires.” She glances towards Kolyey, but only briefly, and brings her attention back to Varanis.
Kolyey eats and looks around at the same time. Occasionally she concentrates.
“I wasn’t sure …” Varanis trails off. She runs a hand over her roughly shorn head. Wearing a helmet while riding might bake her brain in her skull, but she’s going to need her hat. She’s already begun to burn. “Tell me what you know.”
Berra takes a deep breath. “About the time when I was on a ship towards the Grantlands, probably not far from Duke Raus’s place, Lord Raven started being really quiet. He told me later that there was something going on in Sartar but that he didn’t know what at the time. That’d have been about Waterday, Clayday. I went into a cavern on Windsday, and he was really distracted. At one point he just stopped, and a walktapus tried to hug him, and he worked out what was going on and stabbed it. Mustabeen a bit after noon. He’d just stopped and sworn, and he should’ve been concentrating. But he killed it and I helped keep it dead for a bit. But that’s when it happened. I found out later, what.”
Kolyey will eventually mount her zebra and take point when everyone rides on.
“In Sartar. Tell me what happened in Sartar,” Varanis says. She’s gone tense, staring at Berra.
“I’m going through it slowly,” Berra says, in a calm voice. “So I don’t miss anything. And about right now, Lord Raven’s trying to find out more. He told me that evening, but we didn’t have any other news. You want me to tell you all the bits, or my best guesses as to the story?”
The Vingan thinks about her answer. “Do it your way,” she says at last.
“Lord Eril was retreating to Boldhome by then. It turns out that a big army of Wolf Pirates had come up, probably by Duck Point way, probably marching along the road there. Kallyr rode out to meet them in the Quivins, where there’d be plenty of room. There wasn’t a general engagement, though. Or not a big one. It was a duel or a short fight of some kind.”
“Kallyr and Harrek.” Varanis says. It’s not a question, though Berra answers it nonetheless.
“Yeah. Kallyr died pretty quickly. It was a shock to Lord Raven, but I dunno about the … about Lord Eril. But then there was a fighting retreat. Not big numbers. The Wolf Pirates harried and had a scout screen, but Harrek didn’t come in fast.”
Varanis’ eyes widen when Berra mentions Kallyr’s death. She takes a few breaths. “It was just the two of them though? Harrek didn’t cheat?”
There’s a shrug. “Haven’t asked. I mean, he’s never had to, but I think if Kallyr saw him coming in with a band, she’d call her own people and charge too, and that didn’t happen. So I think it was just him.”
“So, at least it was an honourable death,” Varanis says. “For whatever good that does.”
Berra nods. “The next morning, the Wolf Pirates arrived at Boldhome. Overnight, a lot of the citizens got moved towards the North Gate. Not even out of the city. The Earth Temple’s locked down, I think. And there are some new earth works. The pirates hit the gate, which held, and then Harrek hit the gate, I think, and it didn’t. Most of the people who could be moved that night are still safe behind the line, and the Sun Dome’s held. Lord Ebron’s mostly kept that as the flank of the line, and then it runs along just behind the market so you can’t come through that thinking of violence, or at least you can’t until you ruin it enough.”
“The Flame?”
Berra swallows. “Out.”
Varanis stares west, as if hoping to see it. She’s utterly still.
“Sorry,” Berra says quietly, and waits for Varanis to have a bit of time to think.
A long minute passes in silence, then, as if she’s just remembered to breathe again, Varanis gasps for air and looks utterly stricken. “But, Berra… *I* found Grandfather Sartar in the dark. I nurtured his Flame and I gave him to Kallyr. And I didn’t even feel it?”
Kolyey moves a little closer, looking worried.
Berra has no answer, but she reaches out to take Varanis’ hand.
Varanis doesn’t resist, but neither does she move at first. “I… I have to…” Then she looks at Berra again, before glancing around wildly. “Prax. But…”
“You can’t yet do anything there,” Berra says gently. “And they’ve got the best protectors they can have.”
“I could try to bring Grandfather back again,” Varanis says.
“We can talk about that with the Hero, once he knows the situation.” Berra is very thoughtful.2Insight: She does not want that to happen, or at least, does not want to do anything too fast.
“I need to think,” Varanis says. “Tell me when you hear more?”
Berra nods. “I’ll see what Lord Raven knows.”
- 1Insight:grief, anger, relief, regret… it’s a muddle.
- 2Insight: She does not want that to happen, or at least, does not want to do anything too fast.
