What is Owed?

Log Info

• Title: What is Owed?
• Emitter: Nemori
• Characters: Nemori, Robert, Slixvah, Jay
• Place: A06: The Soldier's Defense
• Time: Thursday, April 21, 2022, 6:42 PM
• Summary: Nemori is recovering at the Soldier's Defense. Slixvah, Robert and Jay arrive to check on her and get some answers, although Jay advises her to avoid being too candid. The walls have holy, lawful ears. Nemori is harsh in her response, demanding to know what their angle is. Robert sums it up, he is paying back kindness done to him by doing it to others.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=<* A06: The Soldier's Defense *>=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

This hospital is composed of rock from the surrounding Redridge, which lends it a comfortable feeling of solidity. Inside, frescos line the walls. They depict warm, cheerful scenes intended to encourage healing among the sick and ailing. A small fountain towards the back of the foyer is fed by the nearby river, and a number of benches surround it, providing a place for conversation.

The entrance to the hospital is guarded often by Sunblades, its interiors tended to by the Hearthguards. Older Hearthguards tend to patients and oversee its operation, while for the younger it is an opportunity to practice their skills and hone their trade. The servants garb themselves in Althea's colors, with a stole representing the City of Alexandria on the outside, to recognize their service to both.

The building itself is quite large, though built in a way to make it appear to be a collection of smallar buildings rather than one large one. The Soldier's Defense is known for its ability to feel "like home." While it is still a hospital, it arguably accomplishes this feeling of peace and serenity better than many counterparts, with the benefits passed on to its patients. Across one of the walls are a series of paintings depicting the hospital's many benefactors over the years. The first in line is the painted face of an unknown soldier, who the hospital was first dedicated to.

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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  Appearing  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Nemori       4'10"    110 Lb     Mul'niessa        Female    A tall and slender, dark skinned elf.
Robert       6'3"     235 Lb     Human             Male      A middle-aged Cerenzan with a friendly, fatherly vibe.
Slixvah      5'8"     130 Lb     Eaglefolk         Female    A rust red and white Egalrin covered in veils, ribbons, and shawls.
Jay          5'9"     145 Lb     Eaglefolk         Male      A perky male Blue Jay with a discerning eye.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

The journey back to the city was a bit lengthier of an affair than the race out. This time, after all, you had an unconscious and badly injured person to bring back. While severe, with the healing magics available to Slixvah and the medical artifice available to Robert were more than enough to keep her injuries from being fatal. Still, artificial healing can only go so far, and the Soldier's Defence had open beds, so this is where she was brought.

And this is where she remains. She is awake, now.. the first time since that one brief moment where she awoke on the wagon, in a panic, demanding to know where her brother was before fading back into unconsciousness. And she is much calmer now. Wrappings are wound about her head, leaving her face and the left side of her face open while holding thick bandages to the the right. There had been talk of infection, and infection around the head is never trivial, but she seems to be alright now. Physically. Her worn, sliced up noble's dress is long gone, replaced with a simple white hospital tunic.

"The first time she met the devil was at first avenue

Went back stage with him into the dressing room

Sexy ego trip

Taller than expected

About six foot three

Seemed to thrive on his misery

Critical. Observant. Big words

Sweaty hair, sunken eyes, and thick nerves

She said ill make em smile for the simple fact that he needs it,

I'll make him smile just so I can kill it an eat it."

Talking over the bard, another patient says, "Wow the free music here is weird!"

Slixvah, the ribbon clad egalrin healer(?), had been lingering around the defense the for the past day or so. Used to preparing a gambit of restorative magic tricks to pepper about the patients therein.

Today was no different, and today had purpose, as a multi-robed bird woman strides in, right to where they left Nemori previously.

"Heeeeya sugar...!" she quietly enthuses, holding some warmed blankets in her grasp. A white plumed thrush is resting on her shoulder, passed out and snoring softly. "I gots some blankets for ya...!"

Robert wanted to stay at Nemori's bedside but after nearly a week away he had to check in with his family, his neighbors, and catch up on some work orders. Not to mention the proper repairs his helmet needed. He's back now, though, bathed and changed and looking a little more human for it. His short beard is back to being stubbled shadow and he smells strongly of a musky soap.

The big fellow has a parcel tucked under one arm and another, smaller one in his hand when he steps into the room. He smiles his hello to Slixvah and then turns it over to Nemori.

A white, black and bluejay Eglarin trails along behind Robert. His clothes and feathers seem in order, he carries his briefcase and has his rapier and a few silver balls on his belt.

"... anyhow, that's what the delay is. Pro-se litigators aren't automatically granted a translater. Oh! Slix! Hi! Hi."

Nemori sits.. one might almost call it primly, were it not for the rather undignified clothes, setting, condition of her head. Her back is against the wall against which the cot is set, her current blanket pulled up over her waist, her hands folded atop. She looks at Slixvah with very little recognition; she'd been out cold almost the entire time. But it might be that there's a vague recollection of the egalrin's voice. Not enough to act on, though.

She looks to the blankets that the healing eagle brings, then dips her head in a small nod. "Thank you," Nemori tells her, looking about to say more.. but then Robert and Jay show up. Her face immediately tenses a little bit. "Do you have it?" she says, her tone verging on demand.. with an obvious attempt to temper it. "I need to know."

The lack of recognition doesn't break the woman's enthusiasm. Slixvah hums and unfolds the warmed blankets, her throwing them out over Nemori's legs. "'course, shug."

She pivots out of the way hearing the approach of a certain l-eagle and friend. A hand raises. "Heya Blue, Robby Bob," she greets warmly, but that's faltered by the mul'neissa's tone.

She glances to the other two. Keeping track of that wasn't her job, nor her wheelhouse. And, well, she didn't have all the cards to stir the pot, so to speak.

"It's safe," Robert promises with a nod and a gentle smile. "All things being equal I didn't want to walk through the city with it on display. I have it squirreled away for now at mine and my neighbor is watching the house while she makes supper."

The Cerenzan steps over and sets the bigger of the two parcels in Nemori's lap. It's tied with simple twine. "She also wanted to make sure you had this; it's not as fancy as you might be used to but she hopes it'll fit." Clothes, then. Then he holds out the other little wax paper bundle. "And I thought you might like some sweets to get a bit of your energy back."

Jay slips over beside Slixvah, and wraps a wing around the red and white Egalrin for a brief hug, "Thanks for watching her."

Re-folding them he ends up on the opposite side of Nemori's bed; the side where he can't see her bandaged, missing, ear. "They're really good sweets. I suggested candied crickets but apparently elves don't like sugarbugs?"

Nemori tenses. It would be a pretty safe bet that Nemori had hoped to actually see it the staff... but those hopes are dashed, and the tenseness leaves her as she sags against the wall, hands seeking out the newly delivered blankets and their warmth. Her eyes close for a few moments, wrestling to come to terms with the situation. The staff is safe. That's what matters. When she opens her eyes again, she sees the packages, accepting them. "Then it was worth it." She even smiles a little bit when Jay goes on about candied bugs, but it's a fleeting smile. "You will have questions," she states, looking at Slixvah to include her. The interactions between the three suggesting to her, at least, that the egalrin healer is at least partly involved in this. "I suppose I owe them." The words aren't... grudging. But not really oozing with gratitude, either. Deft fingers begin to untie the smaller of the packages, at least after she pulls on her sleeves to make sure they stay down by her wrists.

Slixvah leans into the wing and loops an arm around Jay briefly before chuckling. "Yeah, 'course, Blue."

She literally just got here. He didn't need to know that.

A soft laugh leaves her. "No, most people tend to not like 'em, I've found. Shame. They're real good."

Her shoulders raise slightly. "Not my place to ask questions, honey. Except, 'course, making sure you got those bandages changed up. I'll defer my allotment to the boys."

"They are, they are." Integrity affirms, looking at Slixvah, then Nemori, his gaze remaining on the Mul'niessa, "Well. Why does Kaventhal blame you for the death of his children. What happened, allegedly?"

There's a lull in the conversation while Bob searches about for a chair, taking a few long steps and acquiring just the thing before returning and sitting with a heavy sigh. He shifts a bit, trying to get comfortable after riding in the wagon for several days.

"Have the clerics said when you'll be fit to leave?" He wonders, sitting forward, finally, and resting his arms on his knees. "I found a cot that'll fit in the sitting room. So I can put you up in the bedroom if that's OK? The smithy isn't as safe as I thought." There's an apology in his eyes.

Nemori mostly just pokes at the sweets inside the box, moving them around with one slender finger. "I don't know why the... sun elf blamed me. He was a fool, like most of his kind," she says, lips curling for a moment. "I hope you killed him.." she adds, then scowls at herself. "Though from what I know of you, you probably did not." She picks up one of the candies, looking at it. "I think the clerics are ready for me to leave tomorrow. But.. consider, Robert. If I had been at your home, then your home would have been invaded. The smithy.. was appropriate. And.." she adds, in a practiced if not genuine note, "more than I was owed."

Slixvah shakes her head slowly. She doesn't say if an execution was deserved or not, but its clear the thought of it did cross her mind. "Projection, maybe," she theoriezes to the first assumption. "For whatever was in his head or what not."

"Ah, well," Bob's smile is back and he's shaking his head. "I was going to be a banker until I realized I didn't much care about who owed what to whom." His hands come up in a shrug.

"I saw the effort you put into leaving my 'shop better than you'd found it before you set off alone to do what you thought you had to do." He considers Nemori quietly for a beat before continuing. "So I know you'll treat my home well, too; I'm not going to help you less because of what someone else might do."

"He... ah... survived." Jay says, beside Slixvah again and further from the bed. He's looking all around the room, as if something to say might be written on a note tacked to one. "The forge was very clean. A clean getaway, ah... allegedly."

He claps his hands together, "So you're getting out tomorrow. Oh! There might be guards looking for you."

"Because of the Mul'niessa at the Tornmwar. I guess that's really Kaventhal's problem, but they don't know who did it, allegedly, so they're going to be asking someone."

Words no doubt meant to set Nemori at ease. The candy she was toying with goes back into the parcel, her other hand clenching into her blanket. "What is this?" she finally demands. Gesturing to her blankets. "Why would you do this? Why would the clerics here tend to me? Do they mean to press me into service?" She looks at Robert. "And you. This kindness that you show... What do you want from me? You let me stay at your smithy... offer me a place at your home... you don't even know me!" She doesn't respond to the comment about how she left the smithy. Maybe it doesn't fit into the picture she's forming in her head right now. Maybe she doesn't even really know. "I had nothing to do with that fool's family, but that does not mean I haven't done things you would hate me for. And you..." Now her gaze turns upon Jay, fixing him, as if pinning him. "You are scared of me. That maybe makes you the smartest of everyone here. The things I have done to... others... simply because I could? I was a priestess of the Shadow Sorceress!" The last bit is said in a hiss. "Do you even begin to know what that means?" In the midst of the tirade, it might be easy to miss that one important word... was.

The pointed and accusatory hostility was something Slixvah wasn't expecting in the slightest. And to be fair, how could she? Her experience with this culture was...

She takes one step back in surprise, beak ajar slightly. Now that was one name she did know of, and its inherent danger.

A moment is parse, to think, to weigh her words. Instead of retorting back in defense of her friends, she softly sighs and shakes her head. "... dunno how it works where you from, hon, but it don't work like that here..." she murmurs.

Transfixed by a sudden mul'niessian glare, Jay hops back several steps. He then grabs Slixvah and puts her behind him, spreading his wings as a shield and to make himself look larger. "Uh... thanks. I am. I am!"

It's not the usual sort of compliment and he's unsure how to receive it. "So... ah... ah... even... bad people deserve a good defense, and... ah.. as... your pro-bono solicitor I strongly recommend you um... stop talking."

He straightens up as if this is the perfect strategy. "Yes! Yes. That's it. Shut Up! I don't want to know what it means. I'll accept your testimony that you're a terrible person."

"Allegedly."

Bob's expression turns sad as he listens, leaning back in the chair when she turns her ire on him more directly. "I try to be better than my bias... but I'm not perfect; until we made sense of the note I'd assumed you killed the man who stole your staff... and took his ear." He admits it sheepishly, feeling his honesty is important in the face of her skepticism even if it isn't directly related. "I've heard the stories about the mul'niessa. Everyone has."

There's a pause while the big man scratches at his stubble, leaning forward once more. "But the Faring Folk have a rule; you help a traveler in need." He grins, faintly, and is distracted by distant memories for a heartbeat. "My mother fled Alexandria with me during the Witch Queen's reign after my father had been taken or killed. I don't remember it, it was so long ago." He folds his scratching hand into a loose fist and tosses a thumb, "But I remember the Vast and those years with the Tsura. The lessons stuck.

"I may not owe you but I do owe them." He leans forward further and taps the bundle of clothes. "... and if you need to think of things as a balance sheet for now then understand that me helping you is a way for me to pay them back."

Nemori just stares silently for a few moments. Moments that maybe feel like minutes, if not hours, though really it isn't more than thirty seconds. Forty tops. Out of all of them, Jay probably had the closest to a reaction she expected.. but even that falls short. She just slumps against the walla gain. "I would have killed him," she promises Robert.

"His ear..." For the first time she reaches up to the right side of her head, gingerly touching the thick bandaging there. She has yet to actually see the wound. "Maybe I would have." Again her expression reveals some sort of struggle before it smooths out. "Forgive me. I have been rude, and ungrateful. I would have died if you had not found me... and I have no wish to meet judgement just yet. I clearly misunderstood your intentions." Her words are being chosen very carefully.

"I.." The trails off, a moment passing. She looks at Slixvah. "I do not know you... I am Nemor'i. No longer of a house. If you assisted Integrity and Robert.." Yes, Robert has asked her to call him Bob. Maybe she's still being contrary. ".. thank you." She looks at Robert. "If you are still offering your home, then thank you. Your smithy should still be fine. And I will work for you until I have... earned my staff back. If that is agreeable."

And then to Jay. Her eyes narrow a little bit. "I will.. shut up, then. I have little wish to taint that aura of yours. And if you can accept that I am a terrible person and still associate with me.. then who am I to argue."

Slix is pulled behind Tegri, blue hued wings spread out before her. She pouts a bit at the back of his head. With a quiet sigh, she lingers there a moment overlong to watch Robert. She blinks, her tilting her head to the side just as the bird on her shoulder blearily wakes up. It twitters quietly at Slix.

She bobs her head once in agreement. "Wise words, Robert," she says without her usual gumption as she re-reveals herself from behind Blue.

Now that introductions were abound, the ribboned and robed feathered one chirps happily. "Heya there Miss Nemor'i. Name's Slixvah Unmesi. Or, can jus' call me Slix. I'm friends with the smart one and the handsome one. They can fight over which one they are."

She giggles as she raises a hand to whisper oh-just-too-loudly. "It's both of 'em." A wink. "I helped patch you up, along with Robby."

A glance to Jay. Then to Nemori. "You don't gotta shut it tho."

Jay moves out of the way so Slixvah has an unobstructed view of Nemori and his head flicks from one to the other of them, until he finally ends up shaking it. "No. No, she should."

"This City has a lot of laws regarding pacts with demons and the dark pantheon and I haven't reviewed them all. There might be something that applies to ex-priestesses, as well as a duty to report. We are in a publicly funded establishment and... ah..."

"Some holy folk can be especially diligent about things they overhear. There's also the possibility of corrupt constabulary looking for an expedient way to close some cold cases."

He clacks his beak a few times, "It's... ah... best not to start walking towards 'a reasonable doubt'." He shuffles in place awkwardly, then looks down.

"No," Bob says simply, shaking his head. "The staff isn't being ransomed; it's yours." He turns to look at Jay, letting the l'egalrin ramble on through his piece. His eyes look askance towards Nemori before he turns his head to follow.

"You asked after your brother on the way back," the Cerenzan says. "You've also said the staff was the last piece of your brother and that would change if your mother had her way." His voice is low so as to keep it from carrying.

"I wasn't sure what that meant but where you are..." he presses his lips together. "I thought a private reunion would be better."

Nemori's eyes narrow again. No doubt it's frustrating. Probably partially because there still exists an inclination to take terrible advantage of the situation. To abuse it even. But.. what of the longterm. Even Jay telling her to shut up appears to have been done in an attempt to protect her. "I cannot promise I will not betray any of you at some point," she finally says. A warning? An odd one, then, if betrayal is her actual plan. An opportunity to give them an out? Maybe. If they even needed one.

And then whatever energy she had fails her. In full slump now, not even anger or spite or resentment can stiffen her back. "But.. thank you. For coming for me, for healing me.. for saving it. Thank you."

Slixvah watches Jay for a moment overlong, considering something or another before just dropping it.

She folds her hands together and looks between all three as they go back and forth.

A warning of betrayal? Met with a- "Hope you know how to dodge if you do," she teases. "But, you're welcome hon. Robby and I did what we could at the time. Jus' glad ain't none of it got infected."

Integrity can't stand still, awkwardly glancing at the women in the room, his instincts under assault from the subtle signals coming off both of them. Different, but causing similar amounts of upset.

To him, the mul'niessa is untrustworthy, with alleged past behaviour validating that and currently being in conflict with herself. Seeking potential advantage and opportunities and wishing she wasn't, or wouldn't. Slixvah, clearly wants him to be more trusting, or quiet, or sympathetic. A considerate and good soul.

The bluejay can't. He's been in enough courtroom situations, around enough criminals, to have a sense for a mens res, guilty thoughts. Nemori is not so much a lost cause, but is a 'tread carefully', and he can't forget the fury he saw in her eyes when she stabbed the elf.

One advantage of a beak is facial features that are hard to read. "You needed help, and, ah... yeah. We helped. Helped."

Bob stands slowly, unfolding out of the chair to reach his impressive six-foot-three. His impulse here is to show some form of physical affection but that's too much, he knows; he busies himself with putting the chair back instead.

"Get some rest," he suggests with a soft smile, not bothering to address the topic of betrayal. "You're welcome, lady Nemor'i. I'll be back tomorrow morning to take you home. Muse' grace."

Nemori reaches up to touch the injured side of her head again before she nods, then sinks further into her bed, her frustration and tenseness finally losing their battle with her exhaustion. "Shadows embrace you, then.." she offers. It's probably meant as a positive well wish.. though knowing the shadow elves, it's also one of the phrases that can be taken more than one way.

Slix glances to the Tegri as his fidgeting about, and her shoulder lax. She steps towards him, a wing lightly resting around his shoulders. "Open skies, sugar. Rest well," she says back, throwing another well wishing prayer into the proverbial bucket.

"Let's take a walk, yeah Blue?" she suggests, hoping to bleed off that energy from him.

"Yes! A walk. That's a great idea. Bye Bob! Bye Nemori. See you later, maybe tomorrow." With the suggestion made Jay is ready to leave, as soon as possible, "Clear skies, good winds! Shadows... if... that works for you."

His jumpy energy propels him towards the door, wings opening and close, "Let's go. Where do you want to walk? The riverfro... no, how about the market gardens?"

The Cerenzan watches Jay and Slixvah go, smiling wide in spite of himself. He makes to follow but stops and takes a half-step back into the room, looking across at Nemori. "You really are safe here, lady."

"I'll see you tomorrow." And then he's gone, too.

OOC

Inspirational!
https://i.imgur.com/KeoFnUr.mp4