31: Where there’s history, there’s future
The Delving Lights left the Va'Velton Free Lancers Compound with forty-four gold in their account, and significant headway toward their Bronze Rank proving commission. Each had a lesser holding pack of Uncommon quality, which gave a temporal slow down of 1:100, and leather armor. Mykhal had a new bow and runic arrowheads to attach to his arrows for monster hunting. Cerise had a book on Basic Runes, several blank journals, and her own portable alchemy lab -- that is to say, a small burner and cauldron. She also had a box of loose paper, a graphite mark stick, and a worn, little blue book titled "Lady Resala's Book of Manners".
They had an appointment to return the next day to meet Duonal's candidate for their party third.
Cerise wanted to make a "team" like Mykhal and Cerise so they could know the general location of their daughter and almost-son. To that end, Cerise had paid for a [Scribe] to prepare a contract for her parents like the one she and Mykhal had signed on establishing their duo.
For the team name, she debated between something funny and something poignant. Mykhal suggested teh Guiding Lights as a play off their own team name, and Cerise loved it. Of course, her father was the team leader. Her mother might talk more and make a lot of the decisions, but her father came up with the plans and steadied them when they got overwhelmed. He kept them following through when they got discouraged, and he did a great imitation of the voice of reason when they needed advice.
They were back to the Hirsel's estate by mid morning. Perth greeted them at the door. "My lord would appreciate a moment of your time, Miss ban Silverwood, Mister Mykhal."
"By all means, lead on," Cerise agreed.
Perth led them back to the study where they met the hirsel the prior evening. Lord Jedais rose from the center seat at the great desk this time, came around, and bowed to Cerise.
"My most humble apologies for the outrage this morning. I am deeply aggrieved to learn that a member of my household would be so churlish with anyone's belongings, let alone my guests'!" He rose from his bow and asked, "How may I make this right between us?"
Cerise scratched the back of her neck. "Lord Jedais, I'm going to have to plead ignorance of the Etiquette here. May we speak plainly and without making any decisions?"
"Of course! Would you care to sit?" he gestured to the seating area. They sat, Cerise and Mykhal setting their new packs down.
"Thank you. So, starting the plain speech, I don't feel qualified to pass judgment on anyone. I know what worked in our village; this is not our village. Travelling as we have been, we've see that different people have different customs and different ideas of what a righteous punishment is. The next problem is that I'm not sure what we saw."
"Wait!" Mykhal said. "They had the cart top off! Marl was trying to paw through our things and his friend was trying to stop him!"
"True enough," Cerise said. "My confusion is that Karl was the only one speaking of stealing. Marl kept saying he just wanted to look. When Karl talked himself into raising the alarm, he convinced himself that Marl was going to steal something. Snooping and stealing are two different things, both not great, but to different degrees.
"Now, I don't have mind magic. I don't know what Marl was planning to do. I know Karl prevented him from having the opportunity to steal, and we verified that none of our possessions were missing. So, he was definitely snooping. Did he intend to steal? I think there's enough room for doubt there that I will refrain from judging. However! Marl attacking Karl was wrong -- just wrong.
"And, on a complete aside, Marl said something about using his wages to feed someone named Masha. I want to know who Masha is. Sibling? Friend? Stray cat? I don't know, but if there is a person who will now starve, that is a problem."
Mykhal signed and shook his head. "Karl sounded like he had experience getting in trouble for Marl's actions. Where there's history, there's future. I think I believe Marl intended theft."
"You're not wrong," Cerise said. "In fact, I'm more inclined to think you're right than not. But! History points to the future; it doesn't write it. There's still enough doubt for me to not let thought become judgment."
"You're being weird," Mykhal complained.
Cerise considered, then said, "Yeah. And, what Marl planned to do isn't as important as what he did do. Trying to cave in the back of Karl's head to keep him from raising the alarm was just--. Two levels of wrong. One for the assault itself and two as a wrong being done to cover up another wrong."
Mykhal nodded. "Yeah."
Cerise turned back to Lord Jedais. "So that's where Mykhal and I are coming from on what happened. In all seriousness, I think you took more harm from Marl's actions than we did, and I find the sincerity of your apology sufficient salve for the snooping, and Karl's actions to be proof that Marl is not representative of your household. If there is some Etiquette that should be observed, I would appreciate your guidance, or Honorable Mister Heral's guidance if you think that more appropriate."
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The Honorables and Cerises' parents were brought in and the situation explained -- for the first time for her parents, which annoyed Cerise, though she kept that to herself. It was the first word to the Honorables, too, but they weren't immediately involved. Knowing her parents' absolute intolerance of thievery, Cerise made sure she explained, focusing on actions, then stated, "Lord Jedais has already give a sincere apology, for which I am satisfied, but apparently there are some matters of Etiquette to observe. Honorable Mister Heral, may I ask for your guidance?"
Heral nodded. "I am honored to do so, Miss ban Silverwood. First, to clarify, this was an act of 'snooping' not of stealing? You are sure of that?"
Cerise locked gazes with her mother as she answered Heral. "Nothing was missing!" Then she sighed and looked with resignation to Heral. "But accusations were made and the opportunity specifically denied."
"Oh, that's much better," Heral said, drawing gasps from her parents. He turned to them and explained, "Snooping is another way of saying spying, which is a threat against one's domain, and frequently a prelude to war. Thievery is an individual being an opportunistic parasite. Neither are good, but better the thief than the spy."
Cerise made a silent "oh" of understanding, glanced around her family, then turned to Hirsel Veltan. "We believe Karl when he said Marl was planning to steal from us. I still think you took more harm from Marl's actions and--." She looked to Heral, thoroughly out of her depth.
"As Hirsel Veltan has already offered an apology, Etiquette requires you be given a say in the punishment of thief and agree upon an appropriate token of apology. In this case a value of ... four gold?" Heral looked to Lord Jedai, who dipped his head.
"When we talked bluntly before," Cerise turned to Lord Jedais, "was that sufficient to satisfy the say?"
"Yes, Miss ban Silverwood, and I am flattered by your confidence in me."
"Four gold?" Cerise asked, taking in her mother's horrified expression. Both noblemen nodded.
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Cerise looked around, then spotted her new pack. "In our village, one never gave away blades or an empty pocket. The Free Lancers Consortium charged us three branches and five leaves for our packs. If that is a reasonable market price, then a pack like this with mana rich grains for our horse would be something touchable to remind us of your generosity. Does that sound reasonable?"
The hirsel's Inspect skill flowed over Cerise's pack, and his eyebrows rose. "That was a generous price, more in line with a minor holding pack of the same quality, but reasonable for a lesser of Common quality. Which has no time mitigating effects."
Cerise felt a childish glee at her mother's expression. "I don't think the time mitigation is as useful to us as the capacity, though Mama does want to open a food hall at some point and preserving effects could be useful then."
Mahayah piped up. "If I may ask, why those customs?"
Mykhal said, "Curses."
Cerise shook her head. "Ill wishing. The given blade as a way of saying you want to cut ties to a person. One of the punishments for causing another's death or great harm is to banish them with just a knife and the clothes they're wearing. The empty pocket is an ill wish to see all their pockets empty. They're Northern customs; I wouldn't expect you to follow them here."
A few more politenesses were seen to, but as far as Cerise was concerned, as long as the Hirsel felt his honor was satisfied, the matter was settled.
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Cerise and Mykhal left their packs in the suite and rejoined her parents at the front door. Heral had asked to join them in their trip to the temple.
He told them, "The Messengers Corps always locate their major hubs by a Temple of the Gods. Quite a number are dedicates of Kiz-am-el, Maroth, and Lunaria. If you're in need of confidential service, don't use the Corps, but for things you don't mind being common knowledge, those gossips will spread the word almost as quickly as they deliver your message. I'm merely updating Father on our travels. It is my duty to inform him of your rise in strata, but we have catch phrases we can use for various situations."
Cerise asked, "How are the messages sent? Are they spoken? Or letters?"
"By letter," Heral said.
Cerise perked up. "Oh! You could have fun writing in cyphers or using different alphabets! And if you did it all the time, even when just saying things you don't mind people knowing, that would --. Well, no, it probably wouldn't discourage gossips."
"Cyphers?" Heral asked, eyebrows raised.
"It's this fun game for learning math and letters together! So, there are 28 letters in the standard alphabet of Dreurjjan. Pick a number between 1 and 27 and shift which letter you write by that many places in the alphabetical order, looping around when you get to the end. For a time, in my practice journal, I used the day in the lunar cycle for my offset, counting the Dark Moon as the first day. Did you know that there are between 27 and 29 days to the lunar cycle? Mostly it's 28 days, but you'll get at least two short months and a long month in a year."
"What order of letters do you use?" Heral asked.
Cerise sang him the alphabet song that Mykhal had taught her.
Mykhal looked at Cerise with an enlightened expression. "You're doing that in our new journals with your sound glyphs!"
She grinned and nodded. "But only when I'm writing about Skills. And dreams."
Cerise's mother sighed and looked to her father. "How did we end up with such strange children?"
"Just lucky, I guess," her father answered.
Heral asked a few interested questions about using cyphers before switching to more mundane conversational topics.
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Fortuna's priest had them all roll dice to determine which prayers Fortuna desired from them. Cerise and her father rolled to receive [Benedictions], a lesser form of a Blessing, which the priests could impart. Mykhal rolled to be led through a prayer ritual, which cost a silver leaf in materials. Her father asked if might partake, too, and was welcomed to join Mykhal. Her mother rolled to use one of her Skills for the temple's benefit. Cerise volunteered to help her make some potions, and so came to the attention of a rather fierce pair of Lunaria's dedicates who were mixing up some Healing Salve in the temple's Herbal Lab.
"What are you doing back today? Fortuna have another dedicate needed her twin's intervention?" the male half of the Lunarians asked. He was a young man, though settled into his full growth.
The female half, older and a bit tired, ran an Identify Skill over Cerise and her mother. She tipped her head to the side. "Rare [Healer Novice]? What Hall are you with, girl?"
Cerise returned the Identify, getting the woman's name as Honorable Miss Katyel Erahl and the man's as Honorable Mister Casaad Erahl.
"That was rude," Cerise said. "Or, is your Identify skill so low that your disrespect for the Authority I bear was done from ignorance?"
Cerise felt the woman's Identify skill fire off with more oomph to it, and Katyel Erahl sucked in breath before bowing. "My apologies, Miss ban Silverwood. Pray tell, with which Hall of Healers are you enrolled?"
"None, Honorable Miss Katyel." Cerise then turned to the priest that had shown them over, but before she could speak, Katyel blurted out her surprise.
"How can you have a rare class without belonging to a Hall? You don't resonate like a dedicate!"
Cerise ignored the rude question. "Fors-el, where would you like us to start our service offering?"
The priest gestured to the dedicates of Lunaria. "These Honorable dedicates of Lunaria mentioned a need for healing potions." The priest then turned to the two Honorables. "Please make available the ingredients, tools, and work surfaces these fortunates require."
"Fortunates?" Casaad asked, looking offended.
"Fortunates," Cerise firmly declared.
Katyel said, "Son, watch the salve. Misses, what tools and ingredients do you require?"
"Grind stone, pot, heat source for tools, Honorable Miss," Cerise's mother said. "If possible, a set a piece for the both of us. I know recipes for Minor and Lesser Healing Potions. My daughter tells me the Minor is of more use in a surgical situation and the Lesser for when surgical application is not an option. Which would better serve the Temple of the Gods?"
"The Lessers, please. And surgical? What is this?" Katyel asked.
That snapped Cerise's attention back to the rude woman. "You're an adept rank [Healer] and never heard of the Surgery Skill? How do you manage alchemical poisoning when there are more injured than the [Healer]s have mana to treat or heal?"
Katyel took her turn looking at Cerise like she was something strange, like a dancing almiraj. "Stabilize those you can first and pray Lunaria grants you the ability to prevent as many deaths as possible."
"Do you have a means to inject potion into deep wounds?" Cerise asked, hoping the answer was yes.
"I don't know know what you're talking about," Katyel admitted. "It must be an aspect of your class. What is it?"
"Katy!" the priest of Fortuna exclaimed, outraged.
"What? She's not bound to keep a Hall's secrets!"
"You're being rude to Miss ban Silverwood! Do you want to pay the El-Ahrandies to get anything from those woods again?" the priest asked.
Katyel's jaw jutted forward, but she shushed as she went about getting their tools and opening the doors to their reagent closet.
Cerise Appraised every reagent, and she presumed her mother did the same. She took a moment with her Profile open to consider how the reagents new to her might interact with the ones she knew, then let her Brew Potions Skill take over.
The dedicates at least left them in peace while they worked. Cerise turned out Minor Healing Potion, Uncommon Rarity, Rare Quality and her mother produced Lesser Healing Potion, Uncommon Rarity, Uncommon Quality.
While they were decanting their brews from the brew pots to storage vessels, another, older [Healer] came into the Herbal Lab. He looked exhausted.
"Katy! Are you--? Oh. Hello. New dedicates?" he asked, wearing a hopeful look.
He was looking at Cerise and not using his Identify Skill, so Cerise smiled. "We're fortuantes providing service. You could use a restorative, it seems. Nothing with mana; no need to court soreness, but maybe a cyr-lace and mint tea?"
"I haven't used mint before for that. May I ask why you include it?" he asked.
"Your belly's tight and the flavor compliments the pucker of the cyr-lace. Medicine should taste like medicine, but it doesn't have to be a torture," Cerise said.
He chuckled. "So you're a [Healer], I take it?"
Cerise dipped her head. "Yes. And ... done! Let me clean the pot and I'll start the tea brewing for you."
"I most appreciate that. And I forgot my manners. My name is Ludak, and I'm a senior dedicate of Lunaria serving the Temple's Hospital."
"Cerise ban Silverwood, and my mother Bergin," Cerise responded, distracted by trying to be subtle while using Greater Cleanse on the pot. The quality of the silence behind her registered, and Cerise glanced to Ludak. "Is something the matter?"
"My apologies, I'm--. Did you say ban Silverwood?" he asked, flicking glances to the other two dedicates in the room.
"Yes," Cerise said. "It's very recent and one of the many reasons my family had to ensure we paid proper respect to the god who has so generously smiled upon us."
"Ah, well. If Fortuna led you here, what's your Lend Vitality Skill up to?"
"Avoided," Cerise admitted, finding the tone of Ludak's questioning to be more respectful than the demand of Katyel's.
Ludak blinked. "That's a core of every [Healer] class! It's a prerequisite skill for all of the Greater Treat skills, not to mention the Cures!"
"Ah!" she said. "But you had a reason for asking?"
He nodded. "One of our patients is in need of extended healing. We're blending his treatment as much as we can, but barely making any progress.
Cerise felt a touch of whimsy seize her. "I am here as a fortunate. Let's flip a coin. If it comes up rune sided, take me to see your patient and see if my Surgery Skills and some potion I just brewed can help. Otherwise, I'll take Lend Vitality now and do what I can with that Skill. Good enough?"
Ludak chuckled. "By all means," he agreed, and pulled a small copper from his pocket. He tossed it into the air with a flip of his wrist.