[Mistral Village] Spark of Fire

[Lynessa]

Spark of Fire

9th of Ymiden, Arc 718

When news of the bandit raid had finally reached the Lightning Cathedral, the whole building had erupted into action. High priestesses of every branch organized teams to be sent out to the village, while people were given new directives in relation to the situation. One of those people was Lynessa. She had dealt with troubles in the Mistral Village before and at least some of the citizens there would recognize her. The young woman was briefed with what little information that had come to them – and her goal was to find more about what had happened.

Early the next morning, a long trail of caravan was ready to leave the city. Horses carrying knights and priestesses. Carriages filled with supplies, mostly food and medicines for the healers to work with. More than a dozen of citizens had also volunteered to go the village, wanting to offer their services for their rebuilding and whatever else they needed.

Lynessa rode with Leth on a horse, settled somewhere in the lead. Their journey was tense, people keeping their voices low, talking in the barest whispers when they could. There were only the clops of hooves against dirt and the squeak as carriage wheels turned.

The air was thick with fear and grief. That much was clear to her as their horse strode to the outskirts of the village. Villagers were meandering around listlessly until they finally noticed the caravan of knights and priestesses. As the news traveled, more faces slipped out of their homes to gather outside. Lynessa began looking for familiar faces, of Nicolai, Samuel, and William. Hopefully they were alright.

Leth helped her down from the stallion gently, his hand giving her a reassuring squeeze of her arm as she settled on the ground. The scene in front of them was morose, heavy. The priestess could spot a few homes already burnt down, nothing but blackened rubbles on the ground. A few villagers had lost their lives too, she heard, when they tried to protect their people with what little experience they had with weapons – which wasn’t much at all.

As she looked at her fellow knights and priestesses behind her, Lynessa could see that her expression was mirrored on their faces. They had failed this time. Failed to save the people they were sworn to protect.

Lynessa approached the group, eyes scanning them slowly. She was clad in leather armor, the silver chains on her wrists the only indications of what order she belonged to. There were a variety of emotions on all of their faces – relief, gladness, anger. That would have to be dealt with later. Right now, she hoped that the head of village would identify himself or herself so that she could explain what they were here for.

[Vega]

"Come on there, Billy-boy, put yer back into it an' give it some wellie!" Vega called to the man who was holding the other end of the large beam of wood she and he were lifting. He was a young man, Billy, tall and broad and Vega had completely failed to noticed that he tended to be looking at her quite a lot and had a propensity to be where she was. Shooting him a grin, she asked him with an air of challenge in her voice, "You don't wanna admit you can't keep up with a girl, do ya?" His eyes narrowed at that, but he redoubled his efforts and they passed the beam to Tom, who was up in the rafters. Sliding it into place, Vega then clambered up, on the table and pulled herself up into the rafters with Tom, while Billy watched from below, ready to pass up anything the two of them needed. They'd been fixing things in the village for two trials, now, since the attack on the seventh and, it had to be said, Vega had thrown herself completely into rebuilding people and places and she had been indefatigable. She wasn't a healer but she'd been there for each and every physical job - nothing was too heavy or too difficult, too dirty or unpleasant for the young woman.

There was no doubt that she had a "can do" attitude, and she had worked tirelessly over the past two trials, catching a few breaks of sleep here and there. She'd also made sure that, where they could and where it was possible, she was hopeful and upbeat. At night, when they couldn't work any more and the villagers had gathered together - not wanting to be by themselves many of them, she'd play the fiddle which glowed with starlight and use her Xiur-granted abilities to bring about feelings of hope.

And, of course, she tended to be somewhat focused on the children. Each of them had jobs, if she had her way and she playfully would order them around like a military type, chasing and playing while working and doing. What that meant was that, after two trials, she tended to have a following of short people, ranging in age from very young to early or mid teens. There was no doubting in her mind that help would come and these difficult few trials would be over and, indeed, she was vocal about reminding folks of that.

So, when the call came up that there were Lightning Knights on the way, Vega looked delightedly at Tom and Billy and swung down from the beam. "See? We'll be a'right." Out she went and, as she did so, one of the children had been running to find her and tell her. Vega's face showed her pleasure at the young man, her hand reached out to ruffle his hair. "Hey short stuff. The knights are here, yeah?" Si, the young man in question, nodded and she asked him, "Have you seen Arlo?" He was preparing food, apparently, and Vega grinned. He'd be right out she didn't doubt.

The woman who exited one of the damaged buildings was tall, just a hair breadth short of six foot and she had a mass of long red hair. Freckles smattered over her face and she wore a sword at her hip with ease and familiarity. Looking around for Arlo, she saw the people coming in on horseback and she kept quiet. There were people here who were the villagers themselves who would speak. Walden Marr, the guard for the village, stepped forward. "Welcome. We were attacked two trials ago," was there a touch of accusation in his voice? Well, yes, there was. "People died, we fought the best we could. Some folks helped to get the old and the young into the woods. These two," he motioned to Arlo and Vega and he smiled. "If they hadn't helped us, a lot more would have died. And they've been helping to rebuild, too." One of the villagers, a younger woman of maybe fifteen arcs shouted out "Where have you been? They've been helping, where were you!?"

Vega glanced at the girl and raised an eyebrow. With a slight smile, she shook her head. "Yer upset, Stacie, an' I know why. But these people are here to help an' I'm sure they came as fast as they could. All we can ask is for folks to do their best, aye?" Stacie looked at Vega and sighed. "An' when you're a Lightnin' Knight, like you wanna be, that's what they'll want you to do. Maybe you can get some tips from some of this lot, they look well handy." She smiled at the young woman. People were tired and frustrated was all.

But, she was here to help, not to speak for the villagers and so, Vega smiled and nodded to the knights and priestesses. When Arlo moved to next to her, she put her hand in his and briefly squeezed. She was tired, too and emotions were running high. Looking to whoever seemed to be in charge, Vega waited to hear what they wanted to do and then? Well, then, she'd help the best she could.

[Arlo Creede]

No matter where he was or what he was doing throughout the trial, Arlo had found himself shadowed by a group of boys, that only seemed to grow as the trial grew older. We want to help, one insisted. I'm plenty strong enough, others chimed in, from the oldest right down to the youngest of them.

Some of the boys were close enough to their majority that they were as good as men already. Others were young boys, who wanted to be men too soon. Sadly, in some respects they were already there. Many had seen their father's killed, a couple their mothers too. They'd have to grow up fast, there just wasn't any other choice for most of them. Arlo made use of them all, for so much as they were eager to work and seemed to think he was some sort of authority on that kind of thing. He had them thatching roofs, repairing livestock pens, replacing walls and floors and later, hauling buckets of water, bags of flour and other foodstuffs into a central location so that he could keep the villagers and their helpers fed.

Feeding people was something of his specialty. And as a devotee to Cassion, it was part and parcel to who he was. Of course feeding dozens upon dozens wasn't the same as feeding a smaller group around a campfire, and it changed the menu a bit. Loaves of bread, lots of roasted potatoes, what meat and vegetables were available, turned into a thick and hearty stew. None of it was fancy, but it was good and filling and would stick to the ribs. And maybe provide some comfort and a sense of normalcy too.

And when they all go together in one place, while he made sure that people were fed, and while Vega played, he'd tell stories to both the children and the adults. And when the knights and healers began arriving, the mood changed...Not necessarily for the better in some cases. Arlo could understand that. Back in Scalvoris, not that long ago, he'd seen a similar scenario in action. In fact he and Vega had been part of it. Like Vega though, he thought it better to wait and hear the knights and the others out, and squeezed Vega's hand, smiling at her as she came to stand beside him.

[Lynessa]

A big woman drabbed in priestess robes would step forward from the rest of the caravan who had started dismounting and loading out supplies. She was quite a sight, standing at seven feet tall and known to most as Sister Bertha. She began talking about how they were here to help and there were healers that could help. The older priestess dealt with the anger and protests that came their way. Meanwhile, whoever was in charge of the knights began calling out for their men and women, instructing them to assist with the rebuilding of the village.

Losing interest, Lynessa focused at her own task. She was supposed to find this men, learn about them. She had heard how they were too well prepared to be mere bandits. The knights and priestesses feared that similar attacks might follow and wanted to gather everything they know.

Lynessa turned to her stormbringer and shrugged. “Seems like you have to do grunt work today. Do you even know how to chop wood?” she teased, considering the man’s wealthy background. Leth was born to a respectable family with his every needs provided for – unlike her.

He scowled at her in return, his gray eyes lighting up. He hated it when she joked about his past – then again, he just hated her teasing period. “Of course I do!” Without another word, her turned away to follow his fellow knights, who had started shedding their armors so that they could move more freely.

The banter with Leth had brought up her mood a little. Alia liked to remind her that she was supposed to show the people of Rharne hope when it was needed, not fall into devastation like they did. She began looking for the face of Walden Marr, considering that he should know most as the village’s watchman.

It turned out that the man found her first. “Sister Lynessa! I am glad to see you here!” The man gave her a sad smile as he offered to shake her hand. “Although our village had probably hoped that you would visit when we were in a better situation.”

The priestess returned the man’s smile. After she had helped save the villagers from the Mistral Woods, the people here had been particularly kind to her. Especially Walden, who had tasked her with finding his son – which she had succeeded in fortunately. “I do too. We are truly sorry that we weren’t there to help, but we are trying to make up for it. Is William alright?”

“Yes, he’s fine. I would love for you to see him though! I’m sure your presence will make him feel better.”

She nodded. “Of course. Unfortunately, we have serious business to attend to first. I was tasked in gathering everything we can about these bandits. Is it possible that you walk me through the attack? From the moment you spotted them till they left?”

Walden’s face turned somber again. “Yes, but the two that helped.” He pointed at the tall woman with red hair and a man with dark locks. “They might offer you more insight.”

Lynessa waited as the guardsman walked over to talk to the pair, hopefully explaining what the priestess needed from them. She shifted from foot to foot, expelling her energy as she took in the destruction that had befallen the small village. The people gathered had started to disperse, talking to priestesses and knights.

Once the pair approached, the young woman would greet them with a smile. “I am Sister Lynessa from the Thunder Priestesses. I heard about what you have done, thank you.”

[Vega]

The priestess, Lynessa her name was, would find that Vega wasn't standing about. When one pair of the knights started to move towards the building she'd come from, she turned. "Hey, you pair, 'ang on a bit," she moved over and talked to them briefly about where she'd been, what had been done and that dodgy floorboard which she'd tripped on twice. She did it with her usual abysmal diction and flowery phrases, but it was obvious that she was doing her best to help them and they smiled and thanked her.

Then, Walden came over and Vega smiled at him. "How're you holdin' up?" He nodded and gave her a slight smile. Vega put her hand on his arm, just briefly. "There'd be more dead if it weren't for you. Us all, I guess." His smile widened a little and he nodded. "The priestess, sister Lynessa would like you to talk to her," he said and one eyebrow lifted on Vega's face. "Thanks, Walden," Vega said, and said no more than that. She glanced at Arlo as they walked but said nothing.

As the priestess introduced herself, Vega looked at her and she didn't look pleased or happy to see her. Not aggressive, but certainly not impressed. Not one little bit. "There's nothin' for you to be thankin' us for." Vega's eyes, swirling in colours, gazed at Lynessa.

"So, Walden said you wanted to speak to us, an' would like us to come over here an' give you details an' stuff." She found this irksome, no doubting it. And, of course, she was Vega and as such, "which is all well an' good, but I can't see nothin' wrong with your legs. Seem to be in fine workin' order. Mine are a bit knackered, actually. Mostly cos I've slept about three breaks for the last three trials, ridden off to find out information to tell you lot when you finally turned up, climbed up buildin's, carted water an' wood, fixed things, put out fires an' tried to comfort people who've heard their loved ones screamin' in the flames or who got killed by the bandits cos there weren't enough of us to fight. Oh, and helped with the dead bodies. But it's nice over here, where you summoned us. Glad I came."

There was no doubting it, Vega did not appreciate being asked to go over to where the woman who had ridden in on her horse and was clean and had slept and so on. To her mind, it was a power trip and Vega wanted none of it. "But maybe next time, take the time to walk over to the people yer questionin'." She looked around and then her gaze turned back to Lynessa. "So, it's taken you three trials to get here on horses an' it's a half-a-trial walk. Presumably, you've been doin' somethin' in that time an' might have some information?"

If there was going to be any sharing of information with these Thunder Priestesses and Lightning Knights, Vega was not going to be the one instigating it. The summons over was the last straw as far as the redhead was concerned. If Arlo felt like sharing, though, that was up to him.

[Arlo Creede]

What had happened in Mistral village and what was happening now, couldn't help but remind Arlo about what had happened back in Scalvoris. The authorities were nowhere to be seen during the thick of it. It was only after the worst was done, a good bit after in fact, that they turned up, took command and demanded answers. No wonder regular people tended not to trust the ones in power. It was too often that the ones in power let them down.

At any rate, the knights and priestesses had arrived but so long as there was work to do and he wasn't interrupted, Arlo had kept working. Sometimes that meant hauling something heavy up a ladder. At other times it meant keeping people fed. "Us," he insisted when Vega wondered what might have been, had they not been there, in the right place at the right time. "And them too," he added, referring to the villagers who'd opted not to flee into the forest, and who'd fought by their side.

He thanked Walden as well, left his work temporarily and walked with Vega to meet with the priestess who'd asked after them. As for her thanks, after greeting her and introducing himself, Arlo merely shrugged. "We were there." Of course Vega wasn't happy, wasn't impressed and suffice to say, Arlo could relate and he always admired her scrap. Maybe the priestess even needed to hear it, considering that it had taken them three trials to show up. Though in the scheme of things, well, he wasn't sure just how helpful rightful indignation was at the moment. He merely frowned thoughtfully and squeezed Vega's hand.

"There was more than a dozen of them. Maybe more," he figured. After all, to get an accurate count Vega and Arlo had needed to rely on a familiar and and a diri to keep them appraised. "They'd split up in the forest and we trailed just one of those groups. Turned out we chose the one that was headed here," he added, making a sweeping gesture around them. "You can see the damage they did for yourself. If you're wanting to see the bodies of the raiders we killed, they're over there." Another gesture indicated a spot near the treeline. Maybe the knights would recognize a face, a style of weapon, some sort of insignia. Who knew?

"They were well equipped. Fine weapons, finer horses. We took one of the horses with us, since they all shared the same brand, in hopes of tracking down where they'd been purchased and by who," he explained. "We tracked that information down yester-trial. It was part of a lot of thirty horses, purchased by Clara Wrenbrook in the name of the thunder priestesses. Then she, or someone else at her behest," Arlo added, "shipped the lot to an area just south of here." As for anything else, Arlo frowned. "I suspect they might be calling themselves the ring, based on what their apparent leader said as he rode past and got off into the forest."

[Mads]

Lynessa, Vega, and Arlo

Knowledge.........

If any of you would like knowledge from this thread, please feel free to PM me, and I'll add it in.

Loot....................

None

Consequence......

None

Renown..............

None

Experience...........

15

Pretty typical "officials show up late" and "newcomers help fix things up" thread; my favorite part, hands down, was Arlo's stew recipe. I don't do a lot of cooking, but adding bread to thicking and make the soup itself more filling was so clever! I really enjoyed that haha, it made him seem well versed in his capabilities, which he is, without being really blatant about it. Nice job! And Vega, helpful but always ready to say exactly what she's thinking! Good thing Arlo is a little more rational when it comes to offering information for the potential to help later down the road! Lynessa, you had a nice exposition, but since the thread ended before much happened, I don't really have many other notes than that one!

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