Messengers with Pie

Something's rotten in the city of Alexandria--which is a phrase that's been said many a times on the stages of the Theatre District, but today it's a phrase that holds true as Cor'lana walks with Telamon, holding a pie dish that's been carefully covered and wrapped in cloth. Pothy's on her shoulder, too, and the bird's keeping a placid watch from his post--but not, strangely enough, begging for snacks. Perhaps he's hoping for a piece of the pie later if he behaves.

"I hope Auranar's okay," Cor'lana says as she looks up at Telamon, the two half-elves turning the corner onto the street that contains Auranar and Verna's humble home. "I feel absolutely awful. But... How were we going to talk Verna out of that? Her mind was /so/ made up."

Telamon walks alongside Cor'lana, his expression dour. "I feel like I've failed again," he admits. "About the only thing that makes me not lose hope is that Silmeria went with her. Having seen her in action, Verna couldn't ask for a better guardian." He runs his hand through his hair.

"Auranar's probably furious. Remember, we were -all- in Quelynos for three days as a result of the time hiccup. I can't imagine she took Verna's absence any better than you did." He heaves a sigh. "Still... we have to do what we can."

The front door to Verna and Auranar's house opens up to reveal the wild elf herself looking a bit haggard and confused. She is wearing her usual red coat against the weather which may or may not come, and she notices Cor'lana and Telamon right away. And the pie. She moves toward them with a wave. Then stops and closes the door, turns back toward the pair and offers a weary smile. "Sorry guys. I hope you weren't coming over. I haven't been able to find Verna since... Well we were at the temple and she just sort of left?" She has the grace to look embarrassed about having been left alone in the temple. "Anyways, it's nice to see you but I should really find her..."

She lifts a hand in farewell and looks both ways before taking a few steps toward the Temple of Vardama.

"Ah! Aura, hold on--we came to talk about that," Cor'lana calls after Auranar, her eyes about as wide as... well, as the pie plate she's swaddled like a baby in her arms. "We wanted to meet with you and make sure you were okay, too. I... even made you a pie? In case you wanted it?"

"Snacks," Pothy offers cheerfully. Very valuable contribution, Pothy.

"We can sit down and talk about it," Cor'lana says, walking after Auranar. "Please. Just before you go and do anything rash."

Telamon catches up to Auranar as well, swiftly closing the distance. Nodding in agreement with Cor'lana, he says, "Let's go inside first. I'm pretty sure we shouldn't have this discussion outside on the street. There's no chairs, no plates and no utensils for starters."

His eyes glint, as he gives Aura a gentle smile. "I promise, the news isn't the worst. It's ... complicated, but it's not what you might think it is."

Auranar is... certainly confused by the vagueness of her friends, and hesitates uncertainly between the idea of letting them in and going on a search for Verna. In the end however, she has very little idea where Verna is, and they seem to know - something. She lets out a little breath but nods. "Alright." She straightens her spine and leads them toward the darkened house.

It takes only a few moments for her to open the door, set aside her coat, and light the house for her guests, putting around comfortably in the space and trying not to think too hard about the oddity of what's going on. Finally she motions everyone to chairs or couches - their preference - and sets some tea to boil while she takes the couch seat closest to Verna's chair. "I have to admit. I get the feeling that in spite of your assurances that... something is wrong."

Cor'lana finds a place to set down her pie, and she takes a seat on a couch, too, so she can look almost directly at Auranar. Pothy flies down next to where the pie is, which earns him a /look/ from Cor'lana and a whistle--and Pothy fires back with a whistle of his own, before he flies over to sit on the arm of Auranar's seat. He looks up at her expectantly... But demands no snacks.

"Auranar, something happened at the Temple of Vardama yesterday," Cor'lana says. "Three men associated with the Hound came in and tried to turn everyone in the Temple into werewolves because they were looking for Verna. Verna, who was looking out for you and the safety of everyone else in the Temple, demanded to know why they were looking for her. They needed her to leave with them, so she did... And she took Silmeria, an inquisitor of Vardama, with her on the journey to ensure that she'd come back safe."

Telamon takes a seat as well. Letting Cor'lana begin the thread, before chiming in, "And before you say, 'and you just let her?', Verna is one, a fairly powerful magician herself, and two, I doubt anyone could've convinced her otherwise in light of the threat posed." He sighs, rubbing his temples.

"It's all bound up in this damned mess with the werewolves, Eluna, and that visit to Quelynos. That was why Lana and I were there -- we were going to talk to Verna about perhaps being... influenced... by her time in the fae realms. The girl, Phyrelia, had mentioned Verna was touched by that place."

Admittedly, that was exactly what Auranar was thinking, and planning to say. The moment that Cor'lana finishes her statement, her mouth opens, but Telamon heads her off and she's left blinking and unsteady in her thoughts. "But... She wasn't... I mean..." She touches a pocket sewn into her dress and pulls out a ring and a set of golden scales on a necklace. "She wouldn't have been able to protect you. Or herself. She can't... Because I have these."

She blinks down at the objects entrusted to her and then looks up at the pair before her. "I don't understand. She wouldn't just _go_ like that. She has to know that they can't be trusted if they're werewolves." Her fingers wrap tightly around the golden scales and the ring and her jaw is tight with tension. "You thought she was... not herself... But you let her make that choice anyways? I don't understand."

"She had the foresight to go with the Inquisitor. Trust me, Auranar--everyone in that room was trying to make sure she knew what she was doing, and Silmeria ensured that Verna would come back by going with her," Cor'lana says, although her hands begin to tremble in her lap.

She sighs deeply and looks at Telamon for a moment before her gaze flickers back to Auranar. "There was so much screaming in me to just tell Verna, no, what about Auranar? But she insisted it was to protect you. And... I thought of what I've gone through recently with Telamon, when he went with Verna, Dolan, Lysos, and Dolan's lady to Quelynos. And how he has to go to Desolation soon."

She wipes a tear that welled up and overflowed from her eye. "The people we love do things that absolutely makes us sick with worry, and it hurts, but it's to protect us. It's all to protect us."

Telamon's face looks weary, and he reaches over to take Lana's hand for a moment. "I didn't want her to go at all," he says quietly. "I am supposed to be one who protects travelers at night, and... needless to say, I'm not fond of werewolves." He clenches his jaw, taking a breath. "But... it was her decision, her desire to protect the temple and the community. The werewolves there... were triggering changes in all the other priests and parishioners."

His hands fold into fists, flexing. "This has to be stopped. We are going to the Desolation soon to try and retrieve Eluna's avatar. If we can do that... maybe, just maybe, we can set this right again." He looks up at Auranar. "I told her to come back to you. Not for any of us, but for you. I know you love her, and she loves you. And that might just make the difference."

"I don't want to be protected!" Auranar says suddenly, surprising herself with her vehemance. "I know I'm..." She bites her lip, remebering all the times that Verna had told her how _useful_ she was. But it was all a lie. "I know I'm not very magically adept. I can't swing a sword to save my life, and I'm not even very good with a bow but..."

She looks at Pothy and she tries not to cry. Telemon's words are a crushing weight. Reminding her that there were other innocent people to protect and she... selfishly doesn't care about them in this moment. She cares about Verna. "Why her?" She blinks and it's too much for her to not shed a few tears. "Is it because she could take you to the avatar? To keep her from helping you? Are they..."

She chokes on the thought, on the words. What are the werewolves _doing_ with Verna? Someone else is there to protect Verna, but not her. She's trapped here where she can't help at all. "How do you KNOW they won't hurt her? Or that woman that went with her?" Pothy does what he's done for Cor'lana thousands of times. He hops onto Auranar's shoulder and nuzzles into her face. He's soft, and he's warm, and that's a comfort all on its own. "There, there," he quietly murmurs, in a voice that's like Cor'lana's but lower and... more maternal.

This prompts Cor'lana to get up from her seat and take Auranar's hand, if she lets her--although her hands are shaking, too. "Auranar, I know. I know, because I've been there, too. I came here a year ago from Alexandria only knowing a few cantrips, and I felt absolutely, absolutely powerless to change anything. I didn't know my own name, I didn't know where my mother had gone, I didn't remember all of my past--and I stayed that way for a long time. So trust me--I understand. Being powerless feels like being trapped, and I know that more than anything. We're birds of the same feather."

She pauses for a moment to wipe her eyes again. "Sorry. There's... More I could tell you, but this isn't about me. The reason I know they won't hurt her is because they said they need her, specifically. Someone who can bridge 'the two worlds', they said--I think Telamon knows what they meant by that. Even the most evil and awful of people won't hurt someone that they know that they need."

Telamon smoothly slides out of his seat as well to stand next to Auranar and Cor'lana. Reaching down to take Auranar's other hand in a firm grip. "If you seek a mentor," he says softly, "You could do a lot worse than Cor'lana or myself." He can see the pain in Aura's face, he offers a gentle smile.

"They said they needed her to 'awaken one between worlds'. I wonder... it can't be their awful master. Could one of their own have tried to bridge the planes and gotten... stuck?" He shakes his head.

"In any case, one of their kindred is currently a good-behavior hostage in the temple. Hopefully that will be enough, especially with Silmeria with them as well." Tel lets out a heavy sigh. "Hopefully." he repeats.

GAME: Auranar rolls knowledge/the planes: (5)+2: 7

Auranar tilts her head into Pothy's soft warmth. Feeling vaguely bad about getting tears in his feathers. She lets Cor'lana take her hand too. The one that's not clutching the scales and ring. She hates that she's sitting here, hates that there's nothing more she can do. They need Verna. For... For something. It's a horrible thought in of itself. What do they need Verna _for_? How long will that need keep Verna safe and alive?

Telamon doesn't get a hand, not until he speaks and then she drops the scales and ring to grasp his hand like a lifeline. "One of them stayed behind? I want to talk to him! Right now!" Her dark eyes are bottomless pools of demand.

GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Knowledge/The Planes+2: (17)+6+2: 25

Cor'lana looks thoughtful for a moment--and then a look crosses her face. It's dark, with her lips going into a grim, grim frown. She lets go of Auranar's hand and looks at Telamon. "I just remembered--Tel, didn't you say something about the totems being destroyable in the dream realm? The dream realm--that's a place between worlds. They wanted Verna..."

Her hand that she's just taken from Auranar balls into a fist. "They wanted her because the totems are the chains that keep the Hound bound, and if she can help them break the totems that they have, those chains will fall off the Hound."

Pothy doesn't mind being rained on. He continues to happily nuzzle into Auranar's face.

Telamon frowns. "Maybe, but... it seems a very risky gamble for -them-. Think about it. What leverage do they have to -force- her to do it? Yes, there's the threat of spreading that lycanthropic curse -- but even Verna knows releasing the Hound would be far beyond bad."

He sits back down, leaning his head back, thinking. "And why would they need -Verna- to do that? The Hound has someone who can bridge the gap -- whoever it is who conjured up that fiend-wolf, or who keeps sending that damnable demon to harass us. This makes no sense at all."

His lips quirk as he looks back at Aura and Lana. "And then, of course, there's the risk that Verna and Silmeria pull some shenanigans and make things even harder for them. What if instead of destroying the totems they have, Verna launches them back to Ea?" He hmphs. "This seems amazingly ill-considered."

Auranar is too distracted now to notice Pothy. She has her gaze set even whilst she feels her stomach turn over and over. "I bet that wolf would know." There's something dark in her. Something that says she's thinking very not-pleasant things about the werwolf in Vardaman custody. "There's a reason I'm sure of it."

She thinks about it more. "What if... it's not just that she bridges one world?" She has the grace to look suddenly embarrassed. "Nevermind."

"I agree that someone should go interrogate that werewolf that was left behind," Cor'lana says. That look on her face suggests both she and Auranar are on the same wavelength. "But I think if anyone's going to do it, it's probably going to be Dolan. Maybe a few other people."

Cor'lana looks intrigued at Auranar's statement. "Well. Wait. I mean... She is feytouched now. And there's this whole... odd connection to the fey with that girl and the King." She shudders, her voice stopping short of mentioning /which/ king, as though she's afraid she'll summon him just by mentioning his full title. "I just don't know how that all factors in..."

"Snacks," Pothy says quietly. But he's still trying to comfort Auranar. Maybe the declaration for snacks was a diversion tactic to get her mind off the conversation?

Telamon nods to Lana. "If anyone can wring the truth out of him, I think Dolan could. Dolan... we had a talk with him, Lana and me. I think..." He pauses. "He's figured out how to -use- the totem he collected against the Hound's minions. Stop the random changes." He steeples his fingers, and he smiles at Aura. "That, of course, doesn't mean others can't come along to watch and witness."

He scowls at Lana's comments about how it all fits together. "Hard to say if the Unseelie are playing their own game or not. I can't imagine them doing the Hound's bidding -- not without having some ulterior motives. The fey like to play by their own rules, which may or may not be the same as what someone else wants -- or for that matter, even expects."

Auranar nods at Cor'lana, but clearly disagrees about _who_ should be doing the questioning of the werewolf. She flashes a grateful smile at Telamon that's more than a little vengeful, and is obviously silently considering what she might do in said questioning. "Whatever else... We WILL get Verna back." She looks at Telamon and Cor'lana. "And that means we start by questioning that wolf. Sooner rather than later."

-End