HLoM: The Firebird, Chapter 1

[NeoTiamat]

Put off the scent, or perhaps just mollified by Lena's charm, Cymra smiles almost despite herself. "Søren and Yarek are cousins; my husband, may he rest in the Iron Paradise, and Søren's father were brothers. As for not knowing why, well, I can sympathize. They do have a certain charm to them, if one's willing to allow some things to slide. Søren in particular has always seemed to find himself in one's good graces, whether he deserves it or not. Yarek...has taken his father's death hard, and all the changes that came with it. He was indulged far too much and has found it hard to adapt himself to his new responsibilities."

Maternal partiality does not appear to be one of Cymra's failings.

"I have done my best to encourage him to view things in a more sober light, but he is not of an age--or a position, or a personality--to give heed to a mother.
And I fear that he learned...certain habits...in Ramulai that it will cost him greatly to break."

Cymra falls silent, then shrugs. "Well. Nothing more tedious than a mother talking of her child, they say! Perhaps it's time for the tepidarium? Shall we?"

"Certainly, though milady, this conversation has been anything but tedious so far." Lena smiled, gathering her cloak of distorted perspective about her -- clever use of the spell, she noted absently. She was silent for a moment as she processed with Cymra to the next chamber. Then, in the manner of one speaking with great delicacy, she said. "One hears stories of Ramulai in the North and West, but one is never certain what is true and what is simply slander. I am sorry for your son."

"Ah... has he been married for very long?" Lena paused, then ventured. "On which subject, ah, is the Landsyf blessed in particular by the Lawgiver?"

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"Oh!" Richard came up short, looking politely sheepish. "My apologies, Freiherr, I-I-I didn't mean to interrupt. I-I-I was simply keeping the-the little lady company. I-I-I think she's taken a-a liking to you."

He bowed at the unfamiliar woman, and reached down to offer to scoop the fox up, so her little feet would be spared the return trip.

This proved to be slightly easier said than done. The moment Ushka saw Søren, she scampered to the Mulani infernalist, slipping easily away from Richard. Trying to catch Ushka when she didn't deign to be caught was a bit like trying to grab a bar of soap in the baths. It could be done, but only with significant effort.

Ushka stopped in front of Søren and wiggled her extravagant fox's brush, then she stopped. She crouched and sniffed at the blonde woman, her ears pressed flat against her canine skull. The tiny fox looked ready to bolt.

[Isabella]

"Ushka," Richard scolded, striding toward the errant fox - even as his eyes were inexorably drawn toward the ribbon around the blond woman's neck.

He picked up the trembling familiar, tucking her paws under his arms, and gave another bow as way of apology... though there was something defiant in his eyes in response to the woman's smirk.

Diplomacy +11: I am really very sorry about this.
[dice]0[/dice]
=22. And now we are booking it for anywhere else.

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"I-I-I wonder what that was about," Richard said to the fox, once they were far enough away. "It's-It's no business of mine who the-the Thotts do business with, but it-it seems odd she would appear in disguise." The ribbon must have been the source of the illusion, he decided. But that unholy blot on the woman's neck sorely troubled him.

He put Ushka down on the ground. "And-and what were you all about, Miss Ushka?" he asked, with a lopsided smile. "You do a-a very convincing damsel in distress, but I-I-I hardly think you were quite so scared as you-you showed yourself to be."

[NeoTiamat]

Ushka sat down on her haunches, curled her bushy red tail about herself, and looked up at Richard with bright eyes and alert ears. She did not appear terribly traumatized. She turned her head back towards where Søren and his distinctive interlocutor were to be found, then back at Richard. If Lena were around, she could have translated with ease, but Richard got the hint anyway. If Richard wanted to find out what those two were up to, he had an excellent, albeit slightly fuzzy, spy at hand, although Lena would have to be rustled up to tell the Mordentishman what Ushka found.

[Isabella]

"Well don't look at me," Richard told the Ushka, half-laughing. "I-I-I am hardly your mistress, dear lady fox. Indeed, I-I-I can't shake the feeling that you and-and she know far more of what is happening than I-I do. And what would she-she say if our-our host caught you, and-and tried to scorch you? It would be a-a diplomatic incident."

[Kaitou Kage]

Altan had heard of Yarek's penchant for partying, but this revealed him in an entirely new light. The sorcerer surveyed Yarek, then looked over the other Mulani.

"Yes indeed," Altan murmured. "I know him well. A pleasure, Horst."

Suddenly this became much more interesting.

[NeoTiamat]

Ushka wrinkled her nose and gave Richard a skeptical look. As if some dog-smelling spell-slinger was going to notice Ushka. Most wizards and sorcerers, in the fox's experience, had trouble finding their own heads, and she doubted Søren was going to change that. The person he was speaking to was a different question, but Ushka was going to be careful.

And besides, the fox did know a lot more about what was going on than Richard. She was just nice enough not to rub it in. But part of that meant Ushka was always up to learn more. She stood up on her hind-feet, planted a tiny black forepaw onto Richard's leg for luck, and then snuck away to see what she could spy. Richard could go and have some wine. Ushka had this all well in han-- well in paw.

Stealth +18
[dice]0[/dice]
Total: 26

Perception +20
[dice]1[/dice]
Total: 40

[Nathan of the FoS]

MID-SECOND WATCH (11 PM)
The little fox's ears are quite sharp enough to hear the words Søren growls. "I do owe you for the Barovian. I'll talk to her tonight. But I warn you--I have been told by one I trust that the Inquisition has placed one of its foremost agents in our household. Watch your step."

"I haven't the least idea what you mean, Søren Thott," the woman replies coolly. "I have been invited to a celebration of the New Year. What can the Inquisition possibly care about that? And even if it were true, how is that not a good thing for you, anyway?"

"Because this isn't Ramulai, it's the Helholt. Our family keep, our family name, our family honor, and you may not know what that means, being a vagabond gypsy horse-thief, but I do, and I assure you the Inquisition does."

"Such sweet talk, Søren. Very well, I'll be careful."

"You shouldn't be careful, you should be somewhere else."

"What? And break a contract?"

Now Søren does growl--an eerie sound from a human throat, uncannily like that of the hellhound whose image he bears.

The blonde woman does not respond; in fact, she has swept away so quickly that she catches sight of Ushka, ears cocked, as she rounds a corner. "Careful, little one," she says, smiling. "Little foxes with big ears may find more trouble than they can handle. Tell your mistress Søren wants to talk to her." With that, she is gone in the direction of the baths.

[Nathan of the FoS]

MID-SECOND WATCH (11 PM)

"Always a pleasure to be reunited," Horst says, smiling easily. "I'm very much looking forward to tonight. I understand that some truly unusual entertainments will be had."

"No expense spared," Yarek says easily. "I've been promised something you'll have to try tonight, Altan. A concoction out of Ramulai."

The masseurs know their business, and you feel refreshed and ready for anything by the time the three of you leave together. "This way," Yarek says. "Now then, freiherrs, prepare yourselves. The festivities begin in earnest from here."

[Nathan of the FoS]

"Ah... has he been married for very long?" Lena paused, then ventured. "On which subject, ah, is the Landsyf blessed in particular by the Lawgiver?"

SECOND WATCH (10:30-11 PM)
"She studied at the White Tower," Cymra replies, leading the way to the cool room. "She's very talented, I understand, despite being quite blind. When I asked her about it, she said something about 'the music of the spheres,' which I believe was a joke. The only one I've ever heard her make, if so. She and my son were married about a year ago, which got him out of Ramulai, at least. I think she likes it very little here, but she's put a good face on it, and I think she genuinely cares for Yarek in her way. I think he feels like he got a second mother."

Cymra makes a wry face which only partly conceals a real hurt. "And things were bad enough with the first."

[NeoTiamat]

The blonde woman does not respond; in fact, she has swept away so quickly that she catches sight of Ushka, ears cocked, as she rounds a corner. "Careful, little one," she says, smiling. "Little foxes with big ears may find more trouble than they can handle. Tell your mistress Søren wants to talk to her." With that, she is gone in the direction of the baths.

Ushka crouched, ready to bolt. Then she nodded once, an extremely human gesture coming from a fox. The familiar watched the woman until she was out of sight, and then she darted away herself. Time to find Richard and time to find Lena, and do it quickly.

[NeoTiamat]

"She studied at the White Tower," Cymra replies, leading the way to the cool room. "She's very talented, I understand, despite being quite blind. When I asked her about it, she said something about 'the music of the spheres,' which I believe was a joke. The only one I've ever heard her make, if so. She and my son were married about a year ago, which got him out of Ramulai, at least. I think she likes it very little here, but she's put a good face on it, and I think she genuinely cares for Yarek in her way. I think he feels like he got a second mother."

Cymra makes a wry face which only partly conceals a real hurt. "And things were bad enough with the first."

Lena smiled sadly, her face a picture of commiseration. For a moment, she felt a keen sense of shared humanity with the older woman. Certainly, she was a Lawgiver god-botherer of a land Lena was increasingly seeing as depraved and vile, but she was also a mother who saw her son going astray, and that had to have hurt. There was a moment when Lena wondered what her own parents would have thought if they saw her now. Her mother, she'd never know. Her father, she'd never care.

"He's of that age." Lena said gently, trying to cheer the Dowager Landsyf. "He's... eighteen, I'm told? I was a proper hellion myself at that age. He'll grow wiser as he grows older." Unless the power and lack of discipline sours him for good, turns him weak, Lena thought but did not say.

[Isabella]

Richard, despite his words to the fox, had been loitering near the door where he left her (in case of any telling shouts or attempts to set the small fuzzy spy on fire). He shifted as Ushka bounced toward him, bending down to offer his arm to the vixen.

"This is a-a more convincing face, than the-the last one you had on. But perhaps I-I-I can take you where you wish to go, and attract a-a little less attention while doing it?" he said.

[Nathan of the FoS]

"He's of that age." Lena said gently, trying to cheer the Dowager Landsyf. "He's... eighteen, I'm told? I was a proper hellion myself at that age. He'll grow wiser as he grows older."

"Were you," Cymra replies, raising an eyebrow. Somehow, you feel that you are not about to get reminiscences about Cymra's own hellion past. "Well. Law and Light attend your words, Baroness. You speak Vaasi very well, by the way. I presume you grew up near the border? How did your parents respond when you reached your 'hellion' phase?"

[NeoTiamat]

"I grew up some thirty miles from here, Milady." Lena said with a swift smile. "Our estate was in Volkadav, just over the border. I sometimes pestered our man in charge of the fields to take me to Immol or even Vestrdyrr for market days. But I spent my eighteenth birthday in Dementlieu." Lena's expression grew more somber. "My mother died when I was seven, so her response is something I'll never know. And my father was... distant." Lena left it to Cymra to guess whether that distance was physical or emotional."

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Ushka leaped onto Richard's arm, and in a moment she was on his shoulder. The fox was trembling, and she looked down at Richard. Lena could decipher Ushka's expressions and gestures with a skill that bordered on speaking to her (having an empathetic connection helped). But how to get Richard to take her to her mistress. The fox said "Yip!"

[Isabella]

Richard couldn't help himself, laughing at the situation despite the vixen's obvious concern. He soothed her fur, setting off into the Thott Hellholt. "You are a-a delightful creature. Let us-us find your Mistress, then, so she might-might better translate for me."