Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

She knew that it was ungrateful of her, but sometimes Faith hated being short. She had been to the docks three trials ago to check the time of the boat. Then again, each trial, and this morning she had arrived a full break early. It was just so very busy and all of the people milling around meant that she, being short, could not see Kura. Surely, Faith thought, she'd be able to spot Phelan, but she could not.

The young woman had considered clambering on to a barrel, but she couldn't quite bring herself to draw that much attention to herself so, Faith stopped flapping for a moment and considered. Kura would not be part of the crowd, she would not allow herself to be pulled along. Faith realised with a smile that, what she needed to do was to move to the side and look for her friend there. Kura would be waiting, looking out for her, of that Faith was suddenly sure.

True enough, as she stepped away from the crowd and looked in the less crowded areas, Faith spied the Mortalborn daughter of Karem she had been looking for. Unaware that Cally was in the crowd looking for her Faith was rather surprised that the ghost wasn't with Kura, but all would become clear, Faith was sure. The former slave moved quickly over with a wave and a smile for her friend and, when she arrived next to her, Faith's expression was one of delight. "Oh, it's good to see you!" There was no concern, no hesitation as she said that and nor was there any when the young woman hugged Kura.

"Welcome to Scalvoris ~ or welcome back! You must be tired. I've cooked a meal and Padraig is due home from work early. He's looking forward to seeing you again." Faith looked better than she had last time Kura had seen her, although of course that had been during a horrible time when Aelig was messing with her and Padraig in the worst way. The loss of that child would be something they would both carry with them for the rest of their lives, but Faith was beginning to find a place where she understood how they moved forward, accepting what had happened but not being defined by it.

"Where are Cally and Phelan? Oh! Oh, hello." That was to the owl, of course, and Faith's reaction to Speck was absolute and genuine delight. "Oh, you are beautiful. Look at you." Faith grinned at Kura and motioned for which way they could walk. If there were bags to carry, she would carry quite happily.

"We've made up a room for you. It's yours as long as you want it." Faith said as they walked together. She looked at Kura and considered that the woman was very good at not looking tired, but that there were signs "Did you meet with Nir'wei?"

"Oh, Cally you look so different! It is good to see you!" Faith smiled in delight as she saw the ghost and she could not hide her pleasure at the change in her, too. "Whatever you two are doing together, all of you in fact." She included Phelan and Speck in that, now that she thought of it, "I would say that you are working very well together. Cally looks much healthier and happier than last time I saw you." She looked more like herself, Faith thought and she smiled, pleased beyond words. When Cally said that Kura was 'acting funny' and 'up to something' though, Faith gave her a wicked grin and a surreptitious wink. They would find out, she had no doubt, in due time.

"He has a wolf?" Faith looked rather surprised at that. "He told me his familiar was a squirrel." Faith shrugged and her thoughts about that were forgotten as the owl landed on her shoulder and nuzzled against her. "Oh, and I like her, too. She's beautiful. Hello Speck, it's a pleasure to meet you." Faith glanced up at Kura and smiled. "I'll introduce you to the Enromowl that we were becoming friends with when your mother popped by." She said no more than that in the open, because she knew that Kura kept that part of her heritage quiet.

She looked better? Faith nodded. "I feel better. I feel free, everywhere I go." Not just when she was with Padraig in their home, but on the streets. "Here, I'm Faith. Just Faith. And impending marriage?" Faith was somewhat surprised by how much she was looking forward to them getting married. She and Padraig had decided on the date and the kind of ceremony they wanted and the earnest former slave was determined that it was going to be the perfect trial for them. "You were right. The idea of the public acknowledgement of what we feel is a chance to celebrate with friends and family. Oh, Cally, will you be my attendant? I'd be honoured if you would."

Kura asked about the Imperials, though and Faith nodded. "I've been asking around since you said you were coming. Not in any major way, but where I could. On the first of Vhalar, when the mists fell and the Pirate Lords disappeared, the Imperials had mostly gone already by then. There isn't any bad feeling towards them, folks here are pretty well inclined, actually." She glanced at Kura, hopeful that this was good news. "There's lots of theories, but the general consensus is that they were here either to keep the Lords under control, or were working with them in some way. The first one is much more likely, according to most." Faith shrugged. "So, when the Lords disappeared, the Imperials pulled back. Some people think that's all it is, a pulling back rather than a full withdrawal, but I don't know."

With a smile at Cally as they walked, Faith considered if there was anything else she had heard. "Oh, and the head of the Council now, he was the watchman on Watch for 20 arcs, apparently. He's the head man on the council and most people agree that Watch was an Imperial stronghold. So maybe he knows more?" She looked at Kura and smiled. There was nothing to be worried about in terms of anti-Imperial feeling, she knew. There wasn't any that she'd come across. Just a fledgling council who seemed to be mostly doing ok.

Faith beamed at Cally and shook her head. "Thank you so much. No reading or numbers needed, just to be with me, really. I didn't expect it," she turned her head to look at the two of them. "I mean, I didn't expect him to propose, but I really didn't expect to get so invested in having a wedding. But it's the only one either of us will have, and I want it to be right." She smiled slightly and gave a rather embarrassed shrug. "For him. For me. For us, I suppose. I've got all the traditions here written down, Kura, and we've more or less decided what we want to do, I think. I'll show you in a few days, when you're rested."

Kura, though, expressed her worry about the place and Faith nodded. "There's a council now. The head of the council, the Alberach, I think he's called, he was the man on Watch for twenty arcs, so they say." Faith smiled and shrugged slightly. She wasn't entirely sure, but that might be important to Kura, she guessed. "The University opened up another Institute this season. Technologies. From what I see and what I hear, the island is doing alright. Better than it has been for a while" She smiled and considered whether there was anything else that she might know which would be good for her friend to know. "Brandel is well known for hating the Pirate Lords. It's my understanding that he's pro Imperial, and was when they were here." Faith had no idea that Watch had been an Imperial outpost, but she hoped that what she knew was useful.

"So, Padraig's grandfather and his girlfriend are living with us. You'll like him." Faith said to Kura with a smile. "He's lovely, if somewhat prone to dry and caustic delivery." Like grandfather, like grandson and there was no doubting that. " His girlfriend is just lovely too. She's been helping with the wedding planning, too. We've been writing up lists of people to invite and we were wondering your mother might like to see you performing the ceremony? If you wanted to invite her, of course, it's up to you." Kura's mother was an Immortal but at the end of the trial, Kura was their friend and, as such, that meant it was up to her entirely.

Faith smiled at Cally as both she and Kura breathed out in relief. "When I first met Padraig, he was my tutor." Faith explained, a smile tugging her lips as she remembered that time. "He taught me mathematics, chemistry, science. A lot of things, I didn't know how to do on paper, but I could do them. If you can cook or sew, for example, you can do numbers. I just didn't know I could." Faith didn't doubt that, if Kura needed it, Cally would surprise them both.

It was part and parcel of being a slave.

As for Kura's explanation of Faith's own behaviour though, the young human woman had to nod her head. "You're right. Spot on, in fact. I always believed that I didn't want to get married, that it was about papers and ownership, but it isn't that. It was like being a mother, I was afraid I couldn't be, that I wouldn't be good enough." Casually, with an almost throwaway demeanor, Faith admitted something which she had only realised just lately. "Up until Rharne and what happened there I was afraid that I'm broken. Too much a slave to be a mother or a wife. Padraig deserves someone who isn't broken and I had to be sure." She smiled at Kura then and that, without a doubt, was the change in her since Rharne; that simple realisation. "I'm not broken."

Power vacuums and such, though? Faith frowned and considered and then nodded her head. "I've heard tell of groups who want to have a return to the old ways, Scalvoris for the Scalvorians, that kind of thing." Lifting her shoulders in a shrug Faith explained that she didn't really know more than that, she didn't get involved.

"The house is plenty big. There'll still be a spare room once you've settled in." Kura mentioned she was moving to Scalvoris, although Faith assumed she might mean Almund. But then, who knew? Either way, Faith smiled and made an open handed gesture. "You're welcome to stay, as long as you like." That was true, they were both pleased to see her.

She looked over at Kura, noting the way the woman walked and how she held herself. "How are you sleeping?"

The idea that Cally could have been taught to read and write and do her numbers was one which had more to it, Faith could see immediately and she did not push it when Kura said that it was Cally's to tell. Pushy simply wasn't her way. However, "Well, I'm just glad you said yes, Cally, to being my attendant. I'm hoping you'll help with designing my dress and things, both of you." Faith gave a grin then and explained. "Katie, Padraig's grandfather's girlfriend is very enthusiastic and wants everything to be perfect." Then, in possibly the biggest understatement the young woman had ever made, Faith added, "but sometimes her taste and mine differ a little."

Just a little. Just now and then. Left to Katie and the wedding would be an entirely over the top affair. Faith had not said anything about having met the King of Rynmere, because she was fairly sure that Katie would be sending an invite.

It was easy to forget, sometimes, that Kura was not entirely mortal but every now and then Faith was reminded. The low growl which came from her friend didn't sound at all like the kind of sound one would expect, but it came from a place of love, Faith knew. She hugged Cally back, whether the ghost could feel it or not, she could see it and know that her movements were reciprocated, after all. "I had to be sure." Faith smiled at Kura and thought that the daughter of Karem would understand. "I had to be, for me and for him. But what happened in Rharne? That chased away any doubt for either of us." She grinned then and looked at Kura and Cally, most seriously. "You two helped us more than you can know. And Phelan, too."

The factions, though, Faith knew no more than that. Kura would sort it out, she was sure and as for being there often, well Faith had no problems with that. "Well, the restaurant, I hope! But you are all welcome, always."

That Kura had more or less almost dealt with the familiar situation caused a raised eyebrow from Faith. "I'm pleased to hear that." But the enormowl? Faith chuckled slightly. "They're used as air mounts by the Elements, the military here. The Menagerie is the place where they are bred and cared for and trained and they had a series of break-outs." Those, Faith explained, had turned out to be pranks by a group of teenagers who had got hold of a key and were releasing animals as a dare.

"We were having a quiet romantic evening meal, the dog went crazy and so did the cat. Turned out, it was the enormowl on the roof. We couldn't leave it there, so we fed it." Faith shot Kura a smile. "I was glad your mother turned up, that thing is big. He's adorable, though, and I viit him a lot; the keepers tell us we've spoiled him so much that he demands to be hand fed. Rightly so, he is a prince, after all." Faith would have a house full of animals given her druthers, there was no doubting it. Yet, even she had to admit one thing. "Just, a very big one."