Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Chevaleresse]

"Good, good." Sylvianne wobbled on her feet.
"Ugh. . ." The armored mage promptly keeled over, letting exhaustion send her to the ground in a pile.

[RedMageCole]

"D-don't... Don't go near me," Marietta's voice wasn't her usual screaming tone anymore— it was breathy; shivering, fighting back emotions as well as her physical wounds. She was, however, easy to catch up to— she was limping from her wound, and it seemed like she was slowing down from the sound of Marion's voice. "Th-The Sisters have been- been nothing but... but awful- my mother wanted nothing out of me except to be her perfect princess, Luitgard made all of our lives miserable— you can't be a Sister- y-you just can't-"

A thud as Marietta's legs gave out. Finally, she let out a scream— uncaring of the world around her, giving into the pain of her wound as she leaned against the wall and looked up at Marion. A melancholic rage filled her expression, yet it didn't quite reach the Sister in front of her.

"I-I don't want to do this anymore, Marion...! I-I don't even want to be angry at anyone or anything, I know you're not an awful, awful person like the other Sisters... I just want to rest..."

[Wolfhunter107]

Marion gazed sideways, guilt in her eyes.

"I'm... I am. I am a Sister. Or was. I can only imagine that Luitgard has had me struck from the Church by now. I wanted to ask her to introduce me to the rest, since she was already the elder Sister in our camp, and then before I could we went on the raid and she betrayed us. After that, I was too scared to tell anyone."

Marion forced herself to look up and meet Marietta in the eyes.

"I'm sorry, Marietta. And I'm sorry for lying. I... wasn't brave enough to tell the truth."

When Marietta slumped against the wall, Marion edged a bit closer.

"I don't either. I thought that this was going to be some sort of grand adventure, and instead..." Marion shook her head helplessly. There was a note of almost desperation in her voice. " I know I've hurt you, too, but... if you'll let me... please let me do what I can."

[RedMageCole]

Marietta couldn't hold eye contact for much longer— it was specifically when Marion made mention of being on a grand adventure that she was unable to hold it, and she buried her head on her knees. Slumping over as much as she did hurt her chest wound, so she quickly got out of that position and just laid against the wall as if she were upright in a hospital bed. The blood that had been streaming out of her wound was slowing down, but its mark was evident.

"D... do what you need to do. I know I'm... a bitch, but I'm not going to... hate you for something you didn't do. Just- just as long as you make sure you don't ever be like those fanatics! Hell, if this all gets done... reform the Church or something, I dunno, whatever revolutionaries like we've really gotten stuck being do..."

[Wolfhunter107]

Marion knelt next to Marietta, and set to work with stave and bandage. She was exhausted, but she went about her task anyway, muscle memory taking over where her tired mind failed her.

"I don't... You're not a bad person, Marietta. And I swear I won't. And if we win Luitgard and her ilk will never hold power in the Church again. I'll run them all out and make something better."

It was a bold thing to say, considering that Marion didn't even know if she would still be in Cedric's service tomorrow. Shaking the thought for now, she checked the wound one last time, and decided she was satisfied with her work, for now. Marietta was stable enough now, and the detail work -keeping scars from forming, and such- could be left until tomorrow when she had rested and was less likely to make a mistake. Or to the Tatalians. Marion slumped sideways against the wall, facing Marietta.

"...was your mother a Sister? Is that why...?"

[RedMageCole]

Marietta managed to say something that sounded vaguely like 'thank you,' but it was mostly mumbled. However, it was certainly audible to Marion as she got close. At the very least, however, Marietta looked like she relaxed a bit better. Once she had healed, she especially started to loosen— curling her knees back up, yet not quite burying her face in them. Instead of burying her face, she drooped her head over in Marion's direction, still leaning against the wall as well.

"Yeah- She was a fanatical bi-"

Marietta caught her words in her throat. She was just talking to one person— one person, that was enough for her to keep her composure up. She took a deep breath, and exhaled— that was what her dad always taught her to do when she was about to get heated and could control herself.

"Er... yeah. She... she actually wanted me to become a Sister. She groomed me for the whole thing— jeez, I still remember all those 'holy virtues' she tried to drill into me. But I never got it, and I didn't really want to. I mean, I was good at tending to fires, and I'll be damned if I'm not fearless, but everything else was just... hard. I mean, it's hard to act compassionate and charitable when she was never good at that, I never really got healing, and marriage? Childbirth? Eugh," Marietta cringed, her teeth visible as she broke eye contact for a moment. "Er- well- not to like, you know, shun those virtues, I know they're important and all, I just... fuck, I don't even want to imagine myself being a mother! If my mother was terrible, I'd be bound to be even worse than her... All I really wanted was to pick up a sword, learn how to use one, protect the people— that was my way of embodying virtues, but my mother wouldn't accept it. My father was good to me, though, he helped me practice the blade when she was busy..."

For once, Marietta actually looked depressed— on the verge of tears, even. Instead, she once more broke eye contact; a few inches away from burying her face back in her knees. "So much for that plan..."

[Wolfhunter107]

"Oh."

"It was always expected that I would join the church. I didn't really mind, I guess... but I wasn't really one of those women who took the vows burning with piety, either. It was something that I did. When I got involved with the Sisters and Mothers that still supported the queen... That was the first time I really... yeah. Marion smiled slightly. "Maybe I needed a cause to understand virtue."

As her words hung in the air, Marion shuffled a little closer.

"And... even if you're not perfect... you don't have to be. We- I- follow Seven Sisters, not One. Seven Sisters for Seven virtues. Just look at me. I'm not brave, I don't know why people come together, and if you handed me a baby I wouldn't know the first thing to do. Unless they were sick, I guess. You don't have to be good at everything to be a good person, Marietta."

Gently, Marion leaned forward and hugged her.

[RedMageCole]

"M...mmmn. I guess Mother wouldn't have really taught me that it was okay to not do so well on a few virtues, or... something." Marietta mostly felt awkward about misjudging Marion at first, and possibly even the entire Church. She still hated them, she hated her mother, she hated Luitgard, but she had no idea of whether she could just judge the whole thing as black and white. It was a lot of uncertainty- uncertainty that caught Marietta off guard when Marion told her that she could still be a good person.

And as she had only just started to come up with a response, the hairs on her body seemed to stand on end in a sudden spark of emotions as Marion embraced her.

"Wh-whuh-h-hey!" Marietta's voice went as high pitched as it could possibly go due to the shock. It didn't last long, but she did start shivering.

"N-No- no fair- a-at least w-warn me before you do things like that, y-you, you-" Marietta's voice gradually went further lower, quieter, and then she hugged Marion back before she could even think of an insult— the tears that had been held back now starting to fall out in a small wave. Now, she had Marion's shoulder to bury herself in. "I-I-I missed... I missed being... being held like this..." She whispered, all anger forgotten.

[Haspen]

"Can we wait on the meal... I'm kinda-" It was in that inopportune moment that Cedric stumbled - or rather, tripped over - Sylvianne on the ground. He squarely faceplanted the mage's chest armor, which probably was one of the causes for him to lose counsciousness so fast.

"Ack! Girls, change of plan, get those people to guest chambers immediately, and bring them some hot food and clean water to drink. Right now!" The pegasi dismounted and started, rather unceremoniously, pushing those who were still standing, and lifting those who couldn't, like sack of potatoes, towards the guest chambers deeper into the fort.


Later that day...

"Glad to see you all here, friends, and sorry for waking anyone up." Lady Ebrietta spoke as all of Cedric's group - except Cedric himself - sat down at the dining hall's table.

"I have good news and bad news, the good news is that I've sent a messenger to Count Vuckerbecke, informing him of the situation. Trust me when I said I tried to paint your flight from Angeborten in most optimistic of light... the bad news is, Cedric has befallen ill. My healers are working on him, but I fear that its not just the wound itself that is burdening him so much. Tell me, what places did your journey take you to? Was Cedric sleeping, eating well during that time? I want to know all the details, so please speak up."

[Solymr]

: I could've used another day or so of sleep, after all the overexertion... but I'll see what I can remember.

Lucas once again pulled out his trusty notebook and flipped some pages.

: Is it fine if I just skip previous events and go right to where Luitgard betrays us and gets the camp slaughtered?

[Haspen]

Lady Ebriette grimaced lightly.

"What a splendid way to open up a tale like this one. Please, go on."

[Chevaleresse]

"There was the night in the ruins where it rained, the hell swamp, the march and subsequent run over here, and then the definitely-not-poisoned arrow those bastards hit him with while I was off guard. Did I mention that we probably got cursed in that swamp?" Getting into a cleaner set of clothes hadn't improved her mood much in the face of the news of Cedric. "Am I forgetting anything?"

[Haspen]

"There was no poison in the arrow wound. I'm slightly relieved to hear he faced rain and mosquitos rather than poison. Our healers will get him in shape in a day or two." She turned to Lucas.

"I assume then parts of Lord Emeric's account was true, then? About the fall of your encampment?"

[Solymr]

: Unfortunately so. The camp was massacred while we were away, and we almost got trapped in the field by none other than Ludger Maertens, the brother of the archer that shot Cedric and the commander that we killed while making our way here.

: Even down to the witness Hans, though what he told us was that Angebortian soldiers murdered everyone in the camp, and took Luitgard with them. Or rather, escorted her away, as she herself confirmed when we caught up to them.

[Haspen]

"I see... this is very unfortunate. So I assume you were all running away whilst hiding across swamps and forest to the south..." Lady Ebrietta paused for a moment.

"How did they know where and when to ambush you, though? My scouts and watchmen didn't report anyone on the mountain passes today until, well, when you arrived with them in pursuit. Did someone stalk you all that time without noticing, perhaps? Please tell me about the journey itself, an answer might lie in there."

Meanwhile, an old man in dark robes entered the dining hall, quietly looking around for someone, or something.