1629, Fire Season, Movement Week, ? Day
Context
Back in Wilmskirk, after the Whitewall King’s Test. (Session ???). Varanis stops by the Cinderfox house to check in with Silor and leave messages for the others.
Events
The guards of the Cinder Fox clan know Varanis, and wave her in. The courtyard shows evidence of furniture having been built there, with wood chips still curling in little spirals, Air from Aldrya.1Do me a Scan roll? 35, pass
Vareena nods at the guards and glances around, taking in the scene.
The roof of this place is the sort of mess that reflects the clan’s home tula, and their strange, straggly house, half underground. A patch of tiles has a couple that have been newly replaced, and there are a few fragments of broken tile trampled into the ground below. It looks like a good repair, however.
She heads for the door, keeping her eyes and ears open in hopes of finding Lord Silor.
Silor comes around the side of his house, casually as if he did not plan it. “My daughter.” He gives her a wide smile. “Your friends have settled in. Habela did not know to ask if you have any night-companions with you.”
At his greeting, she can’t resist returning the smile, her eyes crinkling at the corners. But she approaches him with something that looks like caution.
“It is good to see you, father of my heart,” she tells him.
“You’re playing with wolves, I hear.” He looks mock-severe. “Don’t get bitten.”
She winces. “I’d hoped to break that news myself.”
“Fifteen hundred people live in Wilmskirk, and about a hundred of them know most of the details. However, the King’s return has overshadowed most things. A big cloud, that man. Do you mind having a room up at the top? Habela is reorganising me.”
She steps up beside him and links her arm through his. “If I was staying, I’d love it. The higher the better, for me, despite protocols. But I feel like it’s prudent to remove my wolf from the city as soon as possible.”
He walks her in through the door. “Jeng arrived today. I’ll be going back to the tula for the start of Earth Season, so he will have to be the fox in Wilmskirk.” The big hall is busy, mostly full of men at work on crafts and furniture repair. The matching large room behind has looms, and most of the women will be there, if weaving is to be done. “I keep on thinking he’s still a boy, and then he surprises me.”
“He’s a good man. You have done well as a parent, you know.” The tall Vingan peers up at Silor’s face, a serious expression on her own.
“Well, of course.” He looks proud. “Jengharl and Habela had a good mother, of course.” Whom he has remarried. “Let’s get somewhere quieter. We can drop in on him or call for a harp or an amphora.
“Of course,” she agrees. As they continue, she adds, “I hope I’m not causing any difficulties. I left him at the hospital but will collect him when I am done and we’ll get on the road.”
“For me, no.” Silor smiles. “But then again, I like a challenge.” He opens his door. “If you brought him here, I would be offering a wolf pirate hospitality and that would be… Orlanthi, but I think I know how to be that.”
“Wolf pirate? Here?” Jengharl is in his father’s sitting chamber, unpacking what looks like a lot of parchments from a scribe’s case. He holds them in his hand, looking at the pair curiously.
“Hello, Jengharl,” Vareena replies. “I’ve not brought him here, nor will I. I wouldn’t do that to your home. I’ll be taking him to Boldhome today.”
Jengharl gives her a shocked look and then stares at Silor. “Who’s saving wolf pirates now?”
“He’d be welcome here, if he came,” Silor says flatly. “We offer strangers peace.”
“I’ve too much respect to bring that kind of difficulty to your home,” she replies. “But yes, I have a prisoner who will work off his debt to me.”
“And what about his debt to Wilmskirk?”
“That is what a ransom is, Jengharl,” Silor says calmly. “It is done.”
Jengharl is looking halfway between astounded and furious.
Vareena looks at the younger Cinder Fox, “I couldn’t leave him here with so much anger in the city, but I took him prisoner and am now responsible for him.”
“Father! Surely you don’t support her?”
“Jeng.” Silor works out he has hit the wrong note with and informal name and starts again. “Jengharl, your sister is right about-“
“My sister? Was there a marriage?” Back-footed, Jengharl stares at his father – and Vareena’s.
Vareena holds her hands out, palms up, in a gesture of peace. “My own father is long dead,” she begins calmly.
“She is as a daughter to me.” Silor steps into the room. “I love you no less, Jengharl, but in my house you show her respect.”
Jengharl looks between them both, then gives Varanis the coldest bow she has ever had despite the warmth of the day. He makes for the door, his composure breaking.
“Jengharl,” Vareena tries, “wait.”
Jengharl opens his hand to drop the parchments he was holding, staring at the Vingan all the time. She is still between him and the way out. “I’m going to my room,” he tells her.
“I’ll be gone as soon as possible,” she tells him, stepping out of his way.
His footsteps sound rather more than usual. He is not stamping, just walking fast. Silor takes a slow, quiet breath.
“I’m sorry,” she says with genuine regret.
“No, no. It’s not you.” He does not move for a few moments, and when he does it is to pick up the parchment sheaf. It looks like household accounts, or itemised lists of some kind. “He … I did not tell him about our last talk. I have not had the time. He was just surprised.” Silor’s voice is calm at least.
“I see,” she replies, chewing on her lip. “And the others?”
“Venlar’s been here. Habela I told the day she arrived. Harmast is off adventuring somewhere, but he will come home. Yamia knows, but I do not think she cares, except to consider it. The … Fara and Rald, not yet. It was not time for Rald, and Fara is at home.”
She draws her shoulders back and takes a breath. “Do you regret it?” 2Insight: She desperately wants his love, but she’s still not sure of it.
“Hell no.” Silor starts shuffling the sheets back into their likely order. “But I think I should be alone for a while. I do not want to argue with my son.” He has not looked at her yet, but his expression is just calm, peaceful. The eye of a storm, or a doldrum – it could be either.
Vareena steps towards him, silently offering a hug, without demanding it.
He keeps staring down at the written words, as if he is not holding them sideways. “Talk to me when you return. Please.” The last word is added as a politeness, but he manages to make it sound at least a little kind.
Her arms drop to her side. “Of course,” she replies. “I’ll just find someone to pass a message to Xenofos and then I’ll be on my way.”
Silor begins to look through what Jengharl brought.
In Silor’s hall, Vareena finds a servant and asks to leave word about her journey to Boldhome. That done, she heads back toward the Hospital.
- 1Do me a Scan roll? 35, pass
- 2Insight: She desperately wants his love, but she’s still not sure of it.
