Feychild

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

Thea returned Frans bow with a small nod of her own, watching the door slam shut before her attention switched back to the only other person remaining in the room. “Apprentice, would you be prepared to testify against this individual of yours?”

Liaena, who had been carefully negotiating her way towards the vacated chair now that Marshall had vacated it, convulsively gripped the back of it as she shot Thea an aghast look. “…what?”

“…Let me explain the ‘burden of proof’ to you, apprentice” Thea leaned back in her chair again, steepling her fingers together as she shot Liaena a particularly sour look. “It is required before our law allows us to convict someone of the small matter of ‘being a Death Knight’”

Eyeing the white-faced girl, the priestess’ voice became slightly softer as she continued. “On the other hand, a witness statement involving this man in the attack on Dalaran could at least be taken as justification for the guard to arrest him on suspicion of criminal activities. A full investigation could potentially follow”

Sinking into the chair with a thud, Liaena studied a knot in the wood of Thea’s desk as she refused to meet the woman’s eyes. “I….I can’t”

“Why not?”

“…………..”

Thea sighed audibly as the silence stretched on too long in the room, before raising her eyebrows towards the ceiling. “Then my options to assist you are limited, apprentice”

Liaena raised her head slightly, to look up at Thea. “You do believe me, then”

“….the timing of this with the discoveries in that sewer requires me to be circumspect, to say the least” Thea observed dubiously after a pause where she looked down at the diary in front of her. “Add that to the fact that your tales are usually more credible than this, and yes, unfortunately I do think you believe what you say. And this does sound like the level of trouble you and apprentice Lennox are stupid enough to find yourselves in.”

Having been watching Thea with the sort of hopeful caution that gave away the underlying fear that she would suddenly snap back and order her out of her office, Liaena promptly resumed staring at the floor. “I shouldn’t have got her involved in this”

“No. But then you shouldn’t be involved either, so I suppose that’s blame you can assign to both of us” Thea remarked as she shuffled papers on her desk into a neat pile before pushing them to one side. “If this is indeed the day for full openness between us, how about you tell me what sort of hair-brained scheme you propose to extract her with, apprentice? Just so I know whether I need to confine you to a cell for your own safety.”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

"I have no idea if you know or not, but Li here is messed up in the head, incapable of telling danger!”

“…I am not!”
Liaena spat furiously. Thea inclined her head slightly towards the Night Elf in recognition. “Yes, thank you. I did know that”

….

Watching Rithrynn and Fran carefully as they both put their respective two bits into the conversation, the priestess waited until both of them finally ground to a halt before she spoke again. “I’m still not hearing any proof of a link between this ‘White Hand’ Guild and a death cult, apprentice”

“I told you –“

“The church does not normally involve itself with politics or internal security, which you should be well aware of by now, apprentice.” Thea’s voice, while quiet and calm, had the remarkable effect of drowning out Liaena as she held up a finger to her. “To intervene in a situation such as this, there must be no doubt of the authenticity of the threat to this city. Do I have to explain to you the impact an incorrect accusation would have to the trust placed in this order?”

“…Okay. Fine” the girl said finally, after a long pause of tiredly staring at the floor. Looking up again, she met Thea’s eyes. “So I’ll get you your proof, when I go in. Tonight”

“Which is illegal”

“So is kidnapping people! So is fiddling your books, and murdering nobles to get away with it, but I hear all you can do about that is sit and write letters!” Liaena exclaimed furiously. Jumping to her feet yet again, she glared down at Thea. “Death Culty-ness aside, you know that they’re up to their necks in dirt, and you want to let them get away with it!? We’re – we’re supposed to be protectors of this city! Not a bunch of bureaucrats!”

“Hrmmph” Marshall grumbled, shuffling around on his chair as he glared up at Liaena. “For once, something that we could agree on brat”

Leaning back slightly in her chair, Thea gave Liaena a long, hard, stare before she finally spoke again with a hint of a sigh. “I can’t condone you forming a strike force onto private property, Rune”

“You don’t need to” Liaena said quickly. “Just…don’t notice when I start recruiting myself, okay? This was all my doing. Everyone’ll believe that”

“No doubt.”

Thea pulled a very clear I-can’t-believe-I’m-even-having-this-conversation expression as she looked down again to the diary on her desk. “Describe this Death Knight to me, apprentice. You say he was involved in Dalaran?”

“…”

“Yeees…” Liaena said hesitantly after a long pause, taken completely unawares with the rapid conversation shift. “He was. I saw him there”

Launching into a description of Sherpa, Liaena gave an accurate physical description and current pseudonym, and proceeded to gloss over or outright fabricate any details of his history or recent events that she could think of. He was re-imagined as a malevolent cultist, with a hatred of Sharon purely due to the latters intervention in the Dalaran massacre and their shared background as Quel’dorei.

As she finished, Liaena found that her hands were shaking slightly and her skin felt cold as Thea eyed her very closely. She clasped them together to hide it as the priestess glanced over at Marshall. “Forgive me, but would you give me a moment to speak to my student in private?”

“…What!? Hrmph, fine.” Marshall grunted, sounding distinctly pleased to be dismissed after an initial gesture of outrage. Getting slowly up from his chair, he nodded to Thea with a lowering of his bushy brows. “I’ll be in my study then, priestess. Come and join me when you are done here, we shall discuss this further”

“Of course, Father”
Thea gave Marshall a beatific smile as he headed for the door, to turn and raise her eyebrows at Fran and Rithrynn apologetically. “….If you would be so kind?”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

Entering the room behind Rithrynn, Thea pulled a chair out from behind her desk to sit down. Marshall had already seated himself in the only other chair in the room, leaving Liaena to stand behind him. The girl leaned forward to try and insert herself into the conversation. “Father, could I…?”

An arm shot out from Marshall to cut Liaena off, as the old man leaned forward to look Thea in the eye. “Priestess Thea, how would you rate the sincerity of this lying brat of yours?”

“Pardon?”

“what?”

Liaena hissed, turning furiously on the old man where he sat implacably on his chair. “For she has come to me with a story that is frankly, incredible. But if she could somehow be genuine for once in her useless life, it could very well threaten the sanctity of everything we know and love.”

….

“I…see” Thea said finally. Eyes drifting between Marshall and Liaena, she finally settled on the latter (who had turned scarlet with anger) as she gave her a thoughtful look. “Maybe I should hear it then, Father. Then I can judge”

“Uh…thank you, priestess” Liaena managed finally, after a long pause of trying to light Marshall on fire with her eyes. Stepping forward slightly, she had the uncomfortable feeling of being under a spotlight as Thea eyed her. “Yesterday morning, Sharon and I got a tip off that his attacker was hiding in an inn in Old Town…”

*

It was with that that Liaena launched into a long retelling of the events of the sewer, and what they had found down there. From there, she glossed over the events leading up to the meeting at the Vanguard HQ, other than her and Kathlin’s presence there and their clash with the White Hand. Going into depth regarding everything she knew about the Nobleman Alficious’ and the mysterious case of his death, she laid the diary in front of the older woman to point out relevant pages.

“…and Kitty was supposed to meet me back at Sharons house, and she didn’t, and I got this instead. She discovered this, and got kidnapped for it!” Liaena finally finished emphatically. Thea had been silent throughout the entire monologue, studying the relevant pages closely.

“Priest Marshall informed me of the events in the sewer. We have our people there now, cleansing those runes”

“Okay…”

“There is nothing there however, to prove that the White Hand guild is secretly a cultist group” Thea remarked as she leaned back slightly in her chair, eyes narrowing on Liaena as she held one finger on the diary. “Tax fraud, maybe. Crimes against humanity, no”

“There is” Liaena retorted, eyes blazing at her superior. “I told you, one of their members got a fatal blow from Doin, and he walked away like nothing after it. Besides, why would they abduct Kitty if they didn’t have something to hide?”

“You don’t need to be in league with the dammed to want to hide your misdeeds, Rune” Thea observed. Surveying the diary again, her gaze noticeably darkened as she looked at the note from Kathlin. “I will write to the Lords widow, and ensure an investigation into this is opened immediately. If this group have abducted Apprentice Lennox, I assure you they will regret it”

“No. No. That’ll happen too late” Liaena said immediately. The girl took a step closer towards the priestess’ desk. “The King is visiting tomorrow morning, isn’t he? You need to tell him all about this and make him act, while I get proof”

“Proof?”

“Yes. I’m breaking into Honors Watch tonight, to rescue Kitty. She’s a witness. And you’re going to help me do it”

“Apprentice Rune…”

“You will help me” Liaena took yet another step forward to the point where she was right in front of Thea, as her voice cracked slightly. “Because if I’m right, you’re condemning one of your apprentices to die horribly in some twisted plot if you don’t. Thea, I saw the man who’s responsible for all of this, he’s a Death Knight here in Stormwind, and he had members of the White Hand with him. And if we don’t stop him, the same thing’s going to happen here as what he did to Dalaran!!”

“Watch your tone, brat!”

The girl nearly shouting despite all the taboos over raising her voice in the Cathedral, Thea’s eyes had narrowed to slits on Liaena as she finally paused for breath. “Sit down, Apprentice Rune.”

….

Liaena looked for a moment as though she was about to start screaming for a moment, before backing away to sit down with a thud on the edge of the hard bed. Thea did not appear particularly angry after having just been raged at, more resigned as she turned over another page of the diary with a sigh. “I wish you wouldn’t miss your appointments”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

“What…?”

Having also lowered her voice as they entered the quiet walls of the cathedral, Bella glanced between Rithrynn and Liaena (who was giving the former the mother of all black stares) with some befuddlement, which was finally replaced with surprise as she caught the Night – Elfs meaning. “Ohhh…no no no, nothing like that. We just go way back, don’t we Li, hmm?”

“Oh yes” Liaena simpered with an entirely fake smile to match Bella’s. The two girls continued to eye each other up challengingly as they walked quietly behind Marshall. “What are you up to, Bella? I’m not making you late for anything, am I?”

“Oh well, actually I'm off duty so don’t worry about that. How about you, Li? Anything I can help with, at all?”

“….No, no...but thanks for the offer. I’m—“

"I can hear my own voice in here!"

….

The two girls paused in their quiet talk to turn and stare at the Night Elf walking along behind them, along with several people passing by in the vicinity around them. They had passed from the atrium, through another set of double doors into the huge hall of the cathedral and were walking up the far left side, parallel to a row of columns that reached up to the great dome of the ceiling. Which Rithrynn’s voice was now echoing from.

“—here”

“—here”

“—here”

“What is her problem?” Bella whispered into Liaena’s ear with a muffled giggle as Fran set about berating the Night Elf. Marshall on the other hand, appeared to have entirely ignored Rithrynn’s behaviour, or perhaps was too deaf to hear it. Instead he had strode away into the main body of the church, as the girls turned hurriedly to follow.

The wide central section of the Cathedral was lined with wooden pews, with a clear aisle in the centre. There were a few local people sitting in various locations on these, but it was evidently not a official time of worship if the low turnout was anything to go by.

Beyond the pews, there was a small open area before encountering a white marble plinth, jutting out of the floor to form a shallow step and elevating the far back of the gigantic hall. Further back on the elevated area was a flight of steps, leading up to where an altar was banked by glowing candles on its left and right. The back of the hall was given over almost entirely to windows, reaching the whole length of the back wall and up towards the roof. Glancing up towards the arches of the ceiling could reveal cunningly located mirrors if one cared enough to search for them, redirecting light from the windows back towards the altar; ensuring that even the feeble winter sun was enough to bathe the plinth in light.

It was on the first low step that a woman in priest robes stood, speaking quietly to a working man standing on the lower ground and holding his cloth cap in his hands. Passing her hand briefly over his forehead the man stepped away; leaving her to turn to observe Marshall approaching, pursued by Liaena and Bella.

“Priestess Thea”

“Priest Marshall”

Thea inclined her head in acknowledgement, before stepping down to look over the other bringing up the rear behind the old man. “Apprentice Rune. Apprentice Silva. Welcome back Fran, I was glad to hear of your fathers recovery. And...”

“….”

The entire group paused to look at Rithrynn, who had cheerfully stepped up onto the plinth to get a better view and was now studying the entire room.

….

“Wut?”

“Get. Down.” Liaena hissed after a long moment, where it became clear that nobody else was planning to resolve the situation for her. A hard tug on her sheath had a grumpy Rithrynn down at the same level – of sorts – as everyone else, as Thea inclined her head towards the elf. “Welcome to the Cathedral, Night Elf. I hope you enjoy your visit”

“Not rea--”

“…Priestess Thea!” Liaena jumped in hastily, before Rithrynn could cause events to unravel any further. “Father Marshall had something important to discuss with you!”

Thea gave the old man a brief look, to which he responded with a short nod. Turning to walk towards the edge of the great hall, she turned back as her gaze settled on Liaena again to give her a penetrating look. “Am I to assume this is to involve you, Apprentice Rune?”

“….Yes.” the girl said carefully. “And uh…Fran and Rithrynn here, they’re kind of involved too. Not Bella though. She’s not”

“What? Aw, but Li…”

“I see. Be about your duties then, Apprentice Silva” Thea’s voice, while never raising above a mild monotone, still managed to possess many of the qualities of a whip-crack that had Bella pursing her lips and backing away slowly. Turning to open a side door, she gestured to usher the other towards it. “If you would then, Father. You may use my study.”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

-double posts suck-

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

-double posts suck-

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

“we do not need cannonfodder” Liaena snarled at Rithrynn through her teeth, the elf looking much too cheerful for her liking. The girl resisted the temptation to reach across the carriage to slap her as she reminded herself of the obvious conclusion of starting a fight in the confined space. It was a test of her heroic willpower and fortitude to bite back all available snarky comments.

“If we’re going with a height riff then you overlook everything, moron”

Well, almost all snarky comments.

With that, Liaena turned back to Fran to raise an eyebrow at him, the dwarf still attempting to peer at Alficious’ diary in the dim carriage. Marshall was still staring intently at Rithrynn, and Liaena had a bad feeling about an imminent storm. “But yes, we are planning a rescue mission. It’s –“

“Ill conceived, poorly planned and doomed for disaster”

Liaena ground her teeth together audible as she turned her head to look back at Marshall. “I hadn’t told you my plan yet, Father”

“It involves that pack of undisciplined, renegade harpies” the old man stated, pointing his stick across the carriage to jab it at Rithrynn. Raising his bushy eyebrows at Liaena he waited for her confirmation. “Then it’s ill conceived, poorly planned and doomed for disaster”

The problem the girl was faced with as she looked for a comeback, was her own agreement with Marshall’s analysis of the Night Elves competence. “They…can be useful sometimes Father. If directed…”

“So what? You think a pack of dwarves and monkies could do better!?”

“My assistant has become aimless, drifting” Marshall ruminated to nobody in particular, giving a small shake of his head as he looked across the carriage at Frarn. “Such a shame when someone strays from the path. I do my best to guide her…”

Liaena sunk into the back cushions of the carriage as she pressed two fingers to her temple, wishing at that point she could just dissolve through it and end up somewhere else. “I – hate – everyone in this carriage”

“Rithrynn – SHUT UP! Marshall – Father – I am NOT your ASSISTANT!”

The old man jerked his head around to look at her in some surprise, before a frown appeared on his face. “Of course you’re not. You’re not good enough”

…..

-SCREEECH-

“We’re here, milady!”

“…So much for pre-briefing”

Liaena thought as she scanned the carriage wearily, Fran looking her way with obvious confusion at events that had just taken place. “Fran, could I have that book back? Thanks, fine. Look, Rithrynn….you’re here now, so I suppose you’d better come in. Just, don’t talk about that god of yours. Or about religion, and don’t shoot anyone…and you’d better not do anything really. Or say anything. Okay?”

“Or I swear I will shrink you”

Shooting Rithrynn a glare that Liaena hoped adequately conveyed that threat, Liaena swung the carriage door open to climb up to the drivers seat and negotiate with Ragnold about fare and/or tip. Having paid far more than she would normally consider acceptable due to time constraints, she jumped down just as Marshall was climbing slowly out of the door to catch at his arm. “Marshall – you know that we shouldn’t speak about this in public, right? This needs to be secret, for security…”

“Don’t lecture me about military tactics, brat.”

“…okay, okay. Just checking” Liaena breathed, letting go of the mans sleeve to look out across the marble square they had stopped right in front of, the closest place wheeled vehicles could stop to the looming sculpture of marble and white stone that jutted out of the ground across the square from them. Mingling with townsfolk and obvious tourists were a lot of human men and women in blue and white robes. Some of these, primary the younger looking ones had paused and gathered to peer over at the new arrivals, particularly Liaena, Marshall and the gigantic Rithrynn who had at this point disentangled herself from the carriage behind them. Liaena painted a smile on her face as she turned towards them. “After you then, Father…”

“Liiiii!”

Out of the gathering crowd, one slightly braver blond girl darted forward to grasp Liaena in a huge hug. Given she was distinctly taller and better endowed, the smaller girl was effectively enveloped by her as she stiffened up in her embrace. “How are you!? We were so worried! Everyone thought you were dead!”

“Hi Bella” Liaena said with an extreme lack of enthusiasm as the girl finally released her. “I’m not”

“Aw, I’m so glad you’re back! You look really bad though, you know. You should get something for your eyes” Bella remarked flippantly as she continued to walk beside Liaena, the girl following Marshall as he strode towards the Cathedral main doors. Leaning in, she gave the girl a pseudo-whisper, as she jerked her head back towards the pair following them. “There’s been all sorts of stories, that you brought in a dying dwarf yesterday and he bled out in the infirmary. Is that that Night Elf friend of yours? Why is she dressed like that?”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

Yes, I've been having the same problem.

I'm visiting my parents till the 27th. I have very intermittent bouts of free time with internet, so I might theoretically be able to produce something tomorrow? maybe? :-/

I will be home on the 27th though and have a week off so should have some time for posties then :3

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

Yes, I've been having the same problem.

I'm visiting my parents till the 27th. I have very intermittent bouts of free time with internet, so I might theoretically be able to produce something tomorrow? maybe? :-/

I will be home on the 27th though and have a week off so should have some time for posties then :3

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

Yes, I've been having the same problem.

I'm visiting my parents till the 27th. I have very intermittent bouts of free time with internet, so I might theoretically be able to produce something tomorrow? maybe? :-/

I will be home on the 27th though and have a week off so should have some time for posties then :3