1629, Earth Season, Disorder Week?
Context
Varanis needed to visit Boldhome to take Pallya the pirate there. Session SA6.1? Just after Family Matters.
Events
Evening is falling as the Thane returns home. All Boldhome is picked out in shadow and light. Pallya is quiet, but he has asked a few questions on the way back, taxing his limited Tradetalk. He knows where they are, and probably what the plan is.
As they draw up to the house, Varanis can hear a voice from inside, “Naturally the thane askzs my opinionn on sutch thingsz!” A duck accent. Docks. Duck point.
“Devolin,” Vareena mutters darkly. “What is that duck up to now?” She hands her reins to Pallya, signalling him to wait. Then she heads directly for the front door and throws it open without warning.
“And what am I asking your opinion about this time?” Cold. No amusement.
A squawk. Devolin jumps, and then stands up from where he sits at ease, leaning against the table, on a bench cushioned by a pillow brought down from her room. “Well, I’m glad you aszkedt me thatd!”
Sitting by him is an Orlanthi unknown to Varanis. He seems far more startled than Devolin, although he was probably not the one who quacked in surprise and alarm.
“You will have some answering to do in a minute. Right now, I need a servant to take the horses.” She glowers at him. “Stay put.” The human gets a polite nod. “It’s unwise to believe anything said by a Eurmali. I have to take care of a couple of matters, but I will be available to clear up any potential misunderstandings shortly.”
“He’s a Eurmali?”
“Partd-time! When I’m not keeping the roadsz zsafe!” Devolin risks a proud pose.
The Orlanthi looks again at him. “Uh…”
And from the kitchen comes the sound of a door opening, and then her groom shouts, “I told you, get off the good furniture!” Another sound – probably a big stick being picked up.
Vareena sighs, then speaks up again. “I’ll handle any required beatings. Can you please take care of the horses? There’s a man with them. He’ll be working here a while. Name’s Pallya. He speaks no Heortling and precious little Tradetalk. We’ll fix that, but for now, can you show him where the horses go and have him help you rub them down? He’s a bit nervous around them and needs to learn.”
“Of course, lady.” The ex-pick-pocket nods his head. “I’ll have him sweating soon enough.” He walks outside.
“Listen, when you said you were a warrior…” The conversation in the room goes on quietly now.
“I am a warrior! I am Devolin the Deadtly!” … except for Devolin. “I’ve fought entdire Lunar citiesz. Heroquezts, y’know?”
Vareena rolls her eyes and reaches for Devolin’s beak.
“Lady Berra thanked me in perso-mmmmph!” He puts his hands on his hips, or at least, where the hips would be if he were human, and possibly where they actually are on him as well. “Ngg unnnggnnggg!”
“Shush!” To the Orlanthi, she says, “I’m Vareena. Welcome to my home. I am sorry for any trouble my Eurmali has caused you. Do you have any charges you’d like to level against him or any questions you need answers to?”
“I was only here for a drink!” The man backs away, and sidles towards the kitchen. “I’m sorry, Wind Lord. I didn’t mean this to be awkward.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m often pleased to meet new people. Stay. Does your cup need a refill?” As she asks, she also glances around the room, looking for something like rope, a scarf, anything suitable to bind a beak.
“No, no. I was just leaving anyhow.” The man gives her a wide, nervous smile. “It’s a fine evening. I fancied a walk. I should go do that.”
“Now you’re refusing my hospitality? I admit, that makes me curious.”1Inside reveals: ‘Oh god this is embarrassing for everyone let me just get out of here with my dignity, real smooth now oh god what if I see her at Temple…’
She sighs again and relents. “At least tell me your name? I gave you mine, so you have the advantage of me. I hold no ill Will towards you.”
“Asfotar Black-Rock.” He’s a Kheldon, then. “I’m a guard. On the gate.” He is nearly at the door now.
His Runes, such as are visible, are Air and Earth, and something that is either Water or a diagonal pattern of something larger.
“Lovely to meet you. Perhaps I’ll see you at the Temple,” she says as he retreats. “Enjoy your walk.”
She turns her full attention on Devolin, whose beak has remained firmly clamped shut. Her eyes have taken on the stormy look they get when she’s angry and if he had hair on the back of his neck instead of feathers, he’d likely feel it rise. It is ever so slightly possible that Asfotar does.
Devolin. Yes, right. Devolin. What she now holds in her hand is a lifesized painted wooden mallard. It is brightly coloured, but realistic.
“Devolin!” she roars. “Get your scrawny ass back here so I can wring your neck!” She crackles with rage now.
Silence, except for the sound of running feet. They sound human.
She tosses the mallard in the corner beside the hearth. It will become kindling later. For now, she stomps her way up the stairs to check on the state of her personal space. “If there are stones in here again…”
No stones. A rather messy nest where she used to have a mattress, however, and evidence of snack foods. The room smells of garlic and spices.
“Devolin!!!!”
Vareena slams the door in a rage and begins to check all the other rooms.
:thumbsup::skin-tone-5:
Berra’s has a few old apple cores under the bed, probably his work rather than Haran’s. The wooden bed Mehrim spent so long on has been painted and carved. Badly. Someone did not understand human anatomy. Lenta’s room was left neat but all the cosmetics are open now, and that might be where the ‘paint’ came from.
Everything in Xenofos’ room is upside-down, fastened to the ceiling somehow.
Vareena looks at the damage to the carved bed and slumps. Most of the rest is reparable, but that? It’s a betrayal.
Downstairs a door closes with a hint of a creak.
“Devolin, if you can hear me, you are banished from this house! You are no longer welcome to cross the threshold. If you do, you will be beaten,” she roars. “And if you can’t hear me, I don’t give a fuck! You are still banished! You can sleep in the back. If I’m feeling generous, I might have a lean-to built.”
She grabs the apple cores and flings them through Berra’s window.
In the courtyard outside a brightly-coloured wooden duck is sauntering away.
Casting flight, Vareena wriggles through Berra’s window and launches herself after the duck.
Duck eyes give them a good all-round field of vision. Devolin, it turns out, has a fine turn of speed.
Vareena pursues, in full flight. He may be quick, but he lacks the capacity to fly.
The duck is off at a frantic sprint, straight for the stables. The gate is closed. The stable door is open. Run, little duck, run!2Meanwhile, Dezar casts coordination on Varanis, and she speeds up.
The Vingan pounces.
The wooden duck feels surprisingly feathery around the neck…
Her fingers tighten, making sure her grip is secure, before she slams him against the wall of the stable. “I have been generous with you,” she snarls in his face. “I have been gentle with you. And that is how you repay me? You destroy my room? You destroy the hard work and artistry of my kin? Pranks are one thing. Even your scams can be forgiven. But this? You have crossed a line with me, Eurmali.” She shakes him, sparks crackling in her eyes, lightning threatening in her finger tips. “You are banished from the house. Set foot in it again without my direct permission and I will break every bone in the offending foot. Do you understand?”
The duck stares straight ahead, unmoving.
It would be more realistic if she were not able to feel him struggling to breathe.
She shakes him again.
“Fs…s… y.hs… sss t…”
At that, she shifts her free hand to his collar and eases the grip on his throat. Slightly.
He gasps a bit. Just getting Air takes a while.
There are still sparks. In a cold voice, she says, “I wonder if you’re wooden enough to catch fire…”
“I… u’mmstandt…” A painted hand woodenly massages his painted throat.
“Why the fuck did you ruin Mehrim’s work? It was so beautiful.”
“They wan’ more eggs,” Devolin replies painfully.
“A charm would have made a lovely gift. What you did… it’s vandalism.”
A slow movement catches her eye. His hand is creeping towards her belt, but it stops.3Failed Sleight. “That’s what we do for ducks!”
“Are you aware that I have an allied spirit in my blade?” She asks. “He’s an alynx. He keeps suggesting that I eviscerate you. We could see what happens if that hand of yours gets close enough to him.”
The hand pats in the air. The carved wrist is very realistic. “You paint on the nest posts to tell the bed what it’s there for, and also so that everyone can have a giggle.”
“Painting alone would have been acceptable. But you carved it.”
“I took agesz over idt!” The duck accent is heavier when he is offended.
“So did Mehrim,” she growls, fingers flexing.
“He just builtd itd. He hardly added any carving to id at all! Just those Runes and the szsppiralss and the swirlsz!” Spirals is a damp word.
She scowls at the spittle that now flecks her face. “Your… nest will be moved out here. Not by you, as you may not cross the threshold. I will have walls erected that will demarcate your space. Your apple cores and other debris will stay within the boundary of the walls. If you are able to keep the space tidy enough for my satisfaction, then you will earn a roof over the area before the weather turns. If you are really well behaved, you might even earn a hearth.”
“Very well. You will fingd my controbbution to the householdt within!” The wooden duck stares out at the world, unmoving.
“My room is my sanctuary,” Vareena says. “Was. Was my sanctuary.”4In the unlikely chance he passes Insight: She’s gutted and a lot of the bluster is passing in favour of heartbreak.
“I made a nest for you?” Devolin sounds less than sincere.
“No. I don’t sleep in a nest,” she growls. “What happened to my mattress? My lovely, soft cloud of a mattress?”
“Nest.” Wooden ducks cannot smile placatingly, but the carved head falls to one side.
“You turned my mattress into a nest?”
“It’s bettder for sleeping in. Tsupportive of the back and thighzs.”
“For a Durulz. Not a human.” She shakes him again. “I am not a duck!”
“Why, ducksz notd goodt enough for you? We never getd a break!” The wooden doll is grinning. It was grinning before. It is still grinning.
“Do not push me too far, Devolin,” Vareena snarls, her anger beginning to resurface. “You’d make good kindling in your current form and I could use practice swinging an axe.”
“Would you kill a Lightbringer, though?” There is a half-familiar beat-pause, and then he adds, “Reeeaaaally?”
“I don’t have to kill you. Just maim a little. You’d have a harder time reaching my room without legs.”
When ducks go low, they start off with a natural advantage. “Berra wouldn’dt like it.”
“She’d get over it.” But, even as she says it, she gives him one last shake and then releases him suddenly, causing him to stumble against the stable wall. “You are no longer welcome inside my home. You will have a place out here, should you wish to use it, but for the moment, I recommend you make yourself scarce before I compromise my honour by doing something difficult to undo. Like killing you.” She’s gone cold again; the rage within has been clamped down hard.
“I’ll be att the Whitte Grape if you neetd me,” says the wooden duck, with a surprising amount of dignity.
The Wind Lord turns on her heel and stalks back into the house. It’s getting late and she has no bed to sleep on.
Plip plap. The duck walks away too.
There is some money, almost enough for repairs, in the nest. It is an interesting point of religion – is that income?
V sleeps in Lenta’s room for the night and then some of her plans for the next day are truncated by addressing some of the issues. The staff will be informed of Devolin’s new living quarters and banishment from the house. They’ll be asked to clean up what damage they can, including finding a way to get stuff down from X’s ceiling. They can reach out to the Air Temple for assistance if needed. And I’ll make arrangements for a new bed to be delivered in a week or so to give them time to deal with the mess. One of Pallya’s duties will be to check all unoccupied rooms daily to ensure there are no surprises in the future.
- 1Inside reveals: ‘Oh god this is embarrassing for everyone let me just get out of here with my dignity, real smooth now oh god what if I see her at Temple…’
- 2Meanwhile, Dezar casts coordination on Varanis, and she speeds up.
- 3Failed Sleight.
- 4In the unlikely chance he passes Insight: She’s gutted and a lot of the bluster is passing in favour of heartbreak.
