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Vale of the White Horse
Topic Started: 5 Jan 2010, 13:03 (19,295 Views)
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Oh, I just wanted to talk to you. I imagine it must be rather lonely here, or does your friend still drop by? Cuhelyn, was his name?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘He isn’t around that much,’ she said softly, beginning on a new piece yarn on the spindle.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'That I noticed. He's quite the striking figure, but I haven't seen him since our little walk,' he remarked idly. 'What does he do for a living?' Rufus stretched his legs in front of him, watching Essylt's hands as she spun the wool into yarn.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Was he going to ask her questions about the brotherhood? She wasn’t such a great liar. Her father had raised her to be honest. And there was her promise to Rufus to be truthful to him. That could only go to the extent of her own person, Essylt realized. ‘He.. I think he’s a hunter. I don’t know him that well; he’s been Morcant’s friend before I met the two of them.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
She looked a little uncomfortable, he thought. Touchy subject, perhaps? 'You have never told me exactly how you met Morcant,' he said.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Essylt lowered her eyes for a moment, faking a deep focus on the thread that was being spun. ‘No. Are you going to ask?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Yes, I was,' he answered. There was no use in beating around the bush, after all. He'd decided that in order to get to know the things he wanted to know, he was going to have to take some direct action instead of pulling the strings behind the scenes as usual.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
But to tell him how Morcant had grabbed her to take her to Gwyddien’s camp, or why he had done so was to tell of the brotherhood. It would probably mean their death, Morcant’s and Cuhelyn’s and the others. She thought for a moment, slowly winding off the yarn. ‘It wasn’t so long ago that I discovered what I can do,’ she finally said, keeping her eyes on the wool. ‘And I couldn’t control it so well as I can now. It scared me a lot, so I…panicked and ran into the woods. I got lost, he found me. My father believed I had been kidnapped for ransom. I must admit that I was initially so afraid of him that I believed he would rape me or keep me a hostage indeed. But he didn’t. He helped me get back and he was the first to know of this – gift.’ It was tempting to say curse. Only Udd Wyll had looked profoundly sad when she talked about herself as if she hated it.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Ah yes, her gift. It explained her disappearance and her sudden re-appearance and Rufus nodded. 'I had been wondering about that,' he told her. 'So Morcant is from Two Lakes as well?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
At least he believed her, she thought relieved. ‘I think he belongs to Two Lakes as much as he belongs to the Vale of the White Horse now.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
What a politically correct answer. Rufus was amused by it. This conversation, however, wasn't going to get him anywhere. He'd like to postpone the part where he was likely to damage her trust in him as long as possible, but he could only beat about the bush for so long. 'What did Morcant do before meeting you? You must forgive me all my questions,' he said then, 'but I don't think I would get an answer should I ask him. I told lord Tudwrig that I would stand for Morcant's reliability.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She allowed herself to breathe in and out before replying. ‘He’s the son of a craftsman. But I suppose you had figured that much by now, hadn’t you?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Yes,' he said, 'but the pick-pocketing... That is not really a skill one learns from one's father, I suppose.' He smiled. 'It had me wondering.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Essylt swallowed, tugging harder on the yarn. It nearly broke and she quickly eased her grip. ‘Of course I understand that you must maintain the law. That’s your job. I’m not saying that stealing money is right. Or burglary.’ She looked at him. ‘Did you learn that from your father?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'I'm not really sure who my father is,' Rufus answered cheerily. Essylt was quick, he admired that in a woman. 'So no. Believe it or not, I am a completely self-taught man.' He gave a derisive little laugh. 'But this is not about me. I must know whether I have not made a mistake getting Morcant that job. If he steals from the caer and is caught...' He spread his hands suggestively.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
He didn’t know who his father was? What did that mean? Had the man died before he could get to know him or was this powerful Roman official a bastard son? She chose not to comment on it, searching for a way to end this conversation as soon as possible. ‘I hope you trust my word then. You didn’t make a mistake and Morcant will hardly do something so disgusting as stealing from the caer. All he wants is to protect me, and that wouldn’t work very well if he was caught.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'That is true,' he said, placing the tips of his fingers together. 'I am probably a little paranoid. There's something that's been bothering me for the past few days.' Rufus fell silent as if lost in thought, then looked up and smiled. 'But maybe you can help me.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Now her belly tightened. Was he closing a trap around her? Oh, she wished she could make sense of this man, know whether – or when – he was absolutely genuine and when he was curling his tail like a fox. ‘...What is it?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'I've gotten some reports on men stalking around the forest on the hill,' he started ponderously. 'They aren't from the settlement, and lord Tudwrig assured me they weren't his men either. I know you don't come outside a lot, especially not with this weather, but Morcant is often outside, isn't he? Has he ever spoken to you about it, or have you yourself seen something out of the ordinary, perhaps?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Essylt looked at his face for a brief moment. 'No.'
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Well, this was slightly inconvenient. Or, if he was completely honest: bloody hindering awkward. There was nothing to be done about it, though. Rufus' smile disappeared and he looked at Essylt with a neutral expression on his face. 'All I've asked from you is that you are honest with me. You say you've seen nothing out of the ordinary - not even on the evening you went to the hill on your own?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘What?’ She might as well have pinched herself with a needle while spinning. Essylt stopped working on the yarn, releasing it so quickly that it fell to her feet. ‘What do you mean by that?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'I mean that you best tell me the truth - all of it.' His smile appeared again. 'There's nothing that goes on here that I don't know about, Essylt.' It was perhaps a little exaggerated, but true for the most part.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘The truth about what?’ she asked, though her hands felt numb. ‘I am out of the ordinary myself. That’s not something I should tell you, is it?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'You're uncomfortable,' he said, 'and not a particularly good liar. There are two things I'd like to know the truth about, but you can start by telling me who that man was you met on the hill a couple of nights ago.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She had never considered that anyone could see Udd Wyll as she could. Perhaps she had trusted that he was like her owl, visible only to her own eyes. But the Fair Folk were strange beings – sometimes seen, sometimes not. Everything was possible when it concerned their kind. What she found more puzzling was that, although Rufus was completely human, she had not seen him anywhere. Essylt noticed that she was staring at him. ‘How can you even know that? Have you been following me?’ But then, where had he been? The hillside had been deserted!
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Ah, it would be careless of me to spill my secrets to you, wouldn't it? I know about it all, and that should be enough for you. So tell me; who is he?' Rufus leaned forward, slick smile hitched in place.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She was so shocked that it was hard to speak at all. Essylt leaned back, as if that would help her. So he knew it all, did he? What would he say if she refused to spill her own secrets? No, he was now looking at her as a predator; it would be wrong to make this worse. And it had nothing at all to do with Morcant. Essylt breathed out, only now aware how she had held her breath tightly. ‘You didn’t see a man. He was one of the Fair Folk. My kin.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Your kin,' he repeated, not inclined to believe it. But he'd seen a man made from moonbeams and a girl who could turn things to ice by a touch, so he was not really in a position anymore to be an unbeliever. 'And this... member of your Fair Folk, what is his name?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘My lord, speaking of their name is not something we should do lightly,’ Essylt said, disturbrd. He had revealed it to her, because she was both his blood and loved by him. She, in turn, had entrusted it to Morcant, but she trusted him. ‘It’s dangerous.’
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