Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to Kuwa- ...thingy!

This site is purely here for our own enjoyment, which means it's not open to the public. Well, I guess you can read our ramblings if you want... Beware, though. They are known to cause severe mental damage when we've been nightsick.

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Vale of the White Horse
Topic Started: 5 Jan 2010, 13:03 (19,274 Views)
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
He spread his hands. 'I can only hope that you will indeed stay here for quite some time, then.' Rufus looked around at the few people about on the streets. He thought he recognized a blonde head and broad shoulders sticking out of the crow.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
It was quite the opposite for her: she hoped that he would leave soon and never return. Briallen looked around. She had not been here before; not while the settlement was completely inhabited at least. ‘I’d like to speak to the Roman people as well as Dobunni,’ she said and hoped he got the hint. If he was unwilling to feed her own, she would not turn her back to his. ‘But I see there is a special quarter for the true people of this land. You’ll understand my priority.’
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Of course. This way,' Rufus said. The man had disappeared again; he must have been mistaken. He led Briallen into the Dobunni quarter. There were even less people on the streets here. Rufus now regretted not denigrating Tudwrig's abilities to take care of his people, but he'd had other things on his mind.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She hesitated. People would not quite know who she was, and if they did, they might be frightened. But with Rufus around, she could not afford to show doubts. Briallen pushed her hair back and knocked on the first door.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
He kept a few feet or so of distance when the door opened and a young girl poked her head outside. She gaped at Briallen, nervously shifting from one foot to the other. Before the girl could have said something, a woman he assumed must be her mother appeared behind her.
'What can I do for you?' the woman asked, not quite unfriendly but not very cordial either. It was his own presence, no doubt; her eyes flitted towards him and then back at Briallen.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘I don’t want to disturb you,’ Briallen said, deciding to pretend that the redheaded Roman was not looming over her. The woman looked a little thin in the cheeks but her clothes were still snug around her waist. If these people had suffered from the loss of rations, it had not led to starvation yet. ‘Maybe you don’t know who I am. My name is Briallen, wife of lord Tudwrig…’
She saw a shadow fall over the woman’s face. Briallen could guess why. It stung, but it was not the woman’s fault. She didn’t glance over, but knew how smug Rufus must look if he’d noticed the same.
‘My lady, I had not expected this.’
Oh, such a reserved tone! It was hard to keep smiling. ‘Yes, I know the settlement has heard very little of us. I am really sorry for that…’
‘But what is it you want of us?’ the woman asked, her voice edgy. Briallen could tell that she’d rather close the door. Was that really because she distrusted her? She hoped it was Rufus’ fault entirely – that would satisfy her deeply.
‘I don’t want anything,’ she replied hastily. ‘Only to hear how you are faring. The winter’s coming and we do want to protect our people’s wellbeing as good as we can. You might have heard…Food is scarce. It’s that way up in the caer as well. If there are severe shortages for your family, though, the household will provide for you.’
As she was talking, Briallen felt a weariness in her bones. It was not just from her recent homecoming. It was going to take up all day and even more of her energy to win the trust of the Dobunni people in the settlement.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Rufus leaned against the wall of a nearby house while Briallen was talking to the woman in the doorway. The way things looked, this wasn't going to go too well for the chieftain's wife. Suited him just fine, really. He didn't know what she was trying to prove him by going down in the settlement like this, but he could hazard a guess that she was going to try and get their power and influence back. Not that it was going to work, of course. Now there was the matter of the blonde head he'd seen in the settlement. If it really was the man he thought it was, things could get a lot easier. Especially now that Morcant wasn't around to wreck things like he did before. Rufus smiled to himself as he listened to the conversation between Briallen and the Dobunni woman. Try though she might, she would never get all of the people in the settlement on her side. She was just a single woman, after all. A single, tired, and probably rather upset woman. That all made for a mix that had worked out quite well for him, often before.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Sometimes, she was lucky. A few girls of her own age seemed to rather like her and a few other families obviously preferred their own incapable chieftain over a Roman hand. Briallen didn’t know whether that was a good thing, but right now she saw no other option than to take advantage of it.
‘Take care,’ she muttered to a closing door. The man had heard her out and nodded, but she wasn’t sure how much he would take to heart. Epona, she wasn’t even sure how many people she could include in her promise of support.
Briallen closed her eyes, allowing herself a sweet short moment to feel just how discouraged and tired she was. The streets of the Dobunni quarter were empty, except herself and the Roman. Didn’t he have other places to swagger?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'You look tired, my lady,' Rufus said with a slick smile. 'Perhaps it's best to leave the Roman quarters for another day, wouldn't you agree?' Briallen definitely looked like she could collapse at any moment. Would it be all too bold of him to invite her for a cup of wine at his villa? He rather thought so, but he never cared much for decorum where married women were concerned.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
It was such a pleasant suggestion. She wasn’t sure if returning to the caer now would mean he had won this battle between them, or that her efforts with the Dobunni families counted for something, at least… Of course they counted! And she mustn’t let him cloud her head so much with this desire to outwit him. It would only make her less sharp, and she was sure he’d delight in that. Briallen turned around and looked at him without replying.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Silence was as good as consenting, as far as he was concerned. Rufus offered her his arm. 'Allow me to escort you back, my lady. Perhaps your husband is feeling well again.' Though he sincerely doubted it.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Tell me frankly, my lord, do I look so wan that you believe I might fall over?’ she muttered, but she didn’t feel like putting much defiance in her voice. Did Tudwrig realize how much his people had lost faith in him? It was a blow, even for her…She had not expected much warmth, but it was the lethargy that shocked her more. It was frightening, Briallen admitted.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'You do look like you could use a cup of warm wine in front of a fireplace, yes,' Rufus answered, smiling. Exactly how upset was she that her receival in this quarter had been lukewarm, at the very most? He found that he couldn't quite tell from her face, where usually a woman's expression was an open book to him.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Then I won’t impress my ill appearances on my environment any longer and make for home,’ she replied flatly.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Rufus rather liked a snippy Briallen. It spoke quite clearly of her lack of marital pleasures, and though it was quite petty of him, he enjoyed the thought of Tudwrig not being able to come through. 'Ah, but my villa has both those things and is quite a bit closer,' he said then with a twinkle in his eyes.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘You are inviting me?’ It was not something she had expected and she felt a little shocked. ‘But then when I am with you I must always heed my words and it does wear me out a little.’ Briallen managed a smile, though she was sure that he’d see it not reaching her eyes.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'And what if I promise that I will hold nothing of our conversation against you - that no one will even hear of it outside the walls of my residence?' he suggested. 'I would not dream of wearing you out even more.' Not in this way, in any case.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
In truth, she didn’t feel much like going. Tudwrig was pacing his room like a beast again – she had noticed that the white flag at his window had disappeared. But as soon as he got better, she needed to talk to him and they would have to form a plan.
For now, though, the Roman might be a source of information…Or maybe not. He was very cunning, after all. But hadn’t she promised Tudwrig that she would try to play his own game against him? ‘I suppose it’s suiting that I should visit and inspect the one who is tribune of your people.’
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Ah, he hadn't really expected her to agree. But this was all the better, really. Rufus' smile widened as he lifted his arm, indicating one of the streets on their left. 'This way, then.' As he led Briallen through the streets towards his villa, wondering how best to soften her displeasure, the familiar blonde head appeared again. For a moment, his own gaze crossed that of Cuhelyn's, then the man disappeared into a smaller side-street. Rufus scratched his cheek, firmly printing the direction Morcant's friend had taken into his head. He'd send his men after him as soon as he saw the opportunity, and then he'd have occassion to gather information, and get rid of some cropped up feelings that had been bothering him for a long time.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Just a quick visit, she decided. Just long enough to get an inkling of his way of living. The way a man spends his privacy should surely tell her even the smallest of things?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
It didn't take them long to reach his villa. Rufus turned towards Briallen and said: 'It's really not much, not compared to your husband's caer,' he said in a somewhat deprecating voice. 'But it is comfortable, I assure you.' Before leading her inside the vestibulum, he bent towards one of the men standing on guard there, giving him quiet instructions to apprehend Cuhelyn at whatever cost necessary.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘I rather agree,’ she muttered, leaving it up for him to decide whether she meant the quality of the caer of the level of comfort of his own villa. ‘This layout is unfamiliar to me. Why are we standing in an open space?’
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Oh, it's just how our villa's are built. There are various reasons for it,' he said, indicating the opening in the roof of the atrium. 'To catch rain-water, for one thing. But most of all because it looks nice, really. All the other rooms have complete roofs, of course. Would you like a short tour, perhaps?'
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘I would.’ And this was not a lie, at least. These foreign buildings were alien to her. She had seen them before, rising up from the landscape like white creatures, but she had never been inside. ‘Forgive me if you find my question rude, but it has occurred to me before that you are not married?’
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Rufus laughed softly. Now that was an interesting question. 'I'm not the man to commit,' he sufficed to say. He preferred to spread his love - it was much safer that way. And infinitely more fun, too. Besides, marrying brought other risks, since women were infamous for their gossipping, and he couldn't have a wife blurting out his secrets to the wives of his rivals. He showed Briallen the way to his office.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
His answer bemused her. As she stepped past him to the chamber, she said: ‘I think you should consider it. What man prefers to stay alone?’
Of course, some men and even women of her own people never married, or otherwise remained widow for the rest of their days. But a powerful, rich official would surely want to assure his lineage through children and grand-children? ‘No man is powerful enough to defy death, after all.’
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Ah, but I'm not alone,' Rufus answered. 'And I'm really not much concerned with death, at the moment.' A lie, but she needn't know that. 'I'm in the bloom of my life, as it were, and I wouldn't want to waste my time on something that isn't likely to happen for the next thirty years or so. Ah, next is the peristylium. You're rather fond of gardens, are you not? Then you will like this.'
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘That’s true,’ she admitted. ‘I must confess this is strange for me, the way you have arranged it. Do you keep herbs or flowers?’
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Both, but mostly flowers.' Rufus picked a delicate red flower and sniffed it before holding it close to Briallen's face. 'It would look nice in your hair,' he said lightly.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Briallen blinked. If she wanted to see the flower, she’d have to look at it cross-eyed, something not very dignified in her position. ‘You are flattering me.’ Which was just the statement of a fact. She did not feel so flattered. ‘Thank you.’
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Create your own social network with a free forum.
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Vale of the White Horse · Next Topic »
Add Reply


Theme created by vcd of the ZetaBoards Theme ZoneStyle District