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justariderGame Received: Lorelei's date auction game, Day 383, midday all through the afternoon (game post)
Team Played With: n/a
Memory Form: a strand of pearls. Fasten it somewhere on your person and have someone else undo the clasp to receive the memory; the other person will receive an echo of it as well. Unlimited uses, but a day after the first one, the memory will fade and it'll be a normal strand of pearls.
King Zachary, indeed! she fumed. Needs me, does he? Humph! Yet,
inside, she shook. The thought of it, the king needing her, overwhelmed
her. It terrified her.
She stalked down the corridor to her room. The silver moon spread
shadow bars across the floor from the many-paned window. All else was
submerged in darkness. From her pocket she pulled the moonstone, which
illumined the room to the darkest floor cracks, seeming to draw moonlight
from outside until all was cast in silver. Karigan watched in wonder until a
tiny gasp from behind startled her.
Sitting in the chair by the table, was a woman cloaked and hooded in
black. A length of black silk veiled all but her eyes, and she looked like
one of the wives of some lord of the Under Kingdoms. Were there tattoos
under the veil? Karigan reached for a sword that was not there, and
considered hurling the moonstone at the intruder.
As if guessing her thoughts, the intruder raised her black-gloved hands
defensively. "Please, I am no enemy." The accent wasn't of the Under
Kingdoms, but of some eastern province. Coutre, perhaps? When Karigan
did not respond, she added, "I am Estora. You delivered the last letter
from my lover, F'ryan Coblebay."
Karigan blinked, but did not relax her tense body. "Then why do you
come at this hour? Why do you hide your face?"
The woman's green eyes glanced down, and she shuddered with a sigh.
"My family would never permit a liaison with a commoner such as F'ryan.
Our affair was a secret one. I hide myself even now. Should my family
ever find out that I loved F'ryan Coblebay, they would be shamed and cast
me out."
That was no way to live, Karigan thought, her own revelation about
King Zachary as the image in Professor Berry's telescope set aside. She
relaxed and sat lightly on her bed, her hand passing over a woolen
coverlet. "I'm sorry," she said, not sure whether she meant F'ryan's death
or her family's restriction.
Lady Estora looked far away. "The Riders always helped. They brought
me in secretly to see F'ryan. When asked, they knew nothing of us. And
here you have helped again, by bringing this letter." She drew a crumpled
piece of paper from her cloak. "Mel tells me you were the last to see
F'ryan alive."
"Yes." Karigan had no wish to elaborate she had seen him after death,
too. "He died bravely." What else could she say? She died bravely, her
aunts had said of her mother.
"As I knew he would. Often I believed he was half crazy and too daring.
Many times he risked death to visit me in my family's house. It was
reckless, but I loved him for it." The woman's eyes welled with tears, the
veil darkening above her cheeks. "I've cried often, but could share my
sorrow with no one. I just wanted to thank you for bringing this letter to
me, and for finishing F'ryan's mission. But…"
Karigan cocked her head, waiting.
"I don't understand why he wrote this letter if he planned to see me
upon its delivery."
"Maybe he knew he might not survive this last mission," Karigan
suggested.
Estora's thin brows were bunched together, her eyes troubled. "Yes, that
could be, but still, F'ryan wasn't one for writing letters. If ever one was
intercepted by the wrong person, it would mean the end of all we had
together. There are also certain details in the letter that aren't quite right."
Estora stood up and paced the floor, her long black skirts flickering in
the silver light. "I don't have dark amber hair," she said. "F'ryan knew that
well. He spoke no end of my gold hair, of passing his hands through it."
She stopped abruptly and a blush spread just above the veil. "A summer
wedding! He mentioned a summer wedding. We had planned no such
thing, impossible as it was. We talked in whimsy, of course. He also
mentioned a brother. F'ryan has no brother. There are other details of
similar type. It is strange."
Karigan scratched her head. "Perhaps he was distressed when he wrote
it."
"I do not think so. Very little distressed him." Estora paused by the
window with a sad sigh.
Karigan straightened in inspiration. What was it Captain Mapstone had
said about F'ryan bearing messages in code? "Are… are you sure the letter
was meant for you?"
Estora looked at Karigan as if she had suddenly sprouted horns. "Of
course it was. Why, for all the mistakes, he does mention things that were
known only between the two of us."
"There could be more in that letter." Did F'ryan hide the real message in
the form of a love letter and use the other message as a decoy? "May I
have the letter?"
Estora clutched it to her breast. "Whatever for?"
"I would like to show it to Captain Mapstone. I think there's more to it."
"I told you my family would cast me out if ever my relationship with
F'ryan was discovered."
"You said yourself that no Green Rider ever revealed the two of you,
didn't you?"
"Yes."
"I promise this won't go beyond Captain Mapstone. I think it's
important."
Estora still held the letter to her. As she hesitated, F'ryan Coblebay
appeared dimly beside his beloved. Estora did not detect him, and Karigan
thought that of anyone, she should be the one to see him. F'ryan looked at
Karigan with his somber expression, the arrows stiff in his back. He turned
to Estora and whispered in her ear.
Estora shuddered as if suddenly remembering where she was. "If you
can return this to me when you are done with it," she said, "I would like it
back. It is all I have left of him." As she handed the letter to Karigan,
F'ryan's hand merged with hers as if to help her. "Odd," Estora said, "but I
think F'ryan would have wanted me to do this."
The ghost cast Karigan another penetrating look, then faded out. "Thank
you," she said a bit breathlessly. "As I told you, this will not go beyond
Captain Mapstone."
Karigan didn't wait for Estora to leave. Rather, she flung the door open
and strode down the corridor, out of the building, and across the courtyard
where the officers' quarters stood. Unlike the long wooden Rider barracks,
the officers quarters was a squat stone structure made to house only a
handful of people. The stone walls protected those within from fire arrows
and catapulted coals. The windows were mere slits through which
defenders on the inside could shoot arrows. Even so, Karigan was glad she
was housed at the barracks with the large window that overlooked the
pasture.
The narrow windows were black. The captain was the only officer in
residence, or so Mel had intimated. Karigan knocked hard on the thick
green door. When no one answered, she knocked again. This time, light
flickered to life in the windows, and a few moments later, the door
groaned open on ancient hinges.
"What is it?" Captain Mapstone squinted at her, a lamp in one hand, her
unsheathed sword in the other. She stood barefoot, a flannel sleeping
gown fluttering in a breeze. Her hair, the color of new copper in the silver
moon, flowed unbound and loose down her back. When Karigan did not
answer immediately, she snapped, "Well, don't just stand there, girl. I was
sound asleep. What do you want?"
"I, uh… have this letter." It was rather disconcerting to see the captain
bleary-eyed and dressed in anything other than her smart green uniform.
And the brown scar didn't stop at the collar line, but continued in a ragged
line down beneath the low neckline of the nightgown. Karigan licked her
lips. "It belongs to Lady Estora. It was from F'ryan Coblebay. I found it in
the pocket of his greatcoat after he died."
"Repeat that." When Karigan did, the captain's eyes seemed to pop open
one at a time. "You mean you knew about this letter all along and you
never mentioned it?"
"It was a love letter. I never thought anything of it."
Captain Mapstone was now fully awake. "You had better come in and
explain this to me."
Karigan followed her down a short corridor to her room. It was nearly
as sparsely furnished as the barracks. A small bed, blankets rumpled and
the pillow still depressed from the captain's head, stood against one wall.
The captain sheathed her saber and they sat in chairs beside a blackened
fireplace.
"Now tell me."
Karigan handed her the crumpled paper and watched as the captain read
it. She explained how she had originally found it and vowed to deliver it to
Lady Estora when she reached Sacor City. "I just left Lady Estora in my
chamber. She told me there were peculiarities about the letter." Karigan
repeated their conversation. "I remembered that you said F'ryan Coblebay
sometimes put his messages in code."
Captain Mapstone rubbed absently at her scar. "This must be examined
immediately. It wouldn't be unlike F'ryan to do this."
"I promised Lady Estora that there would be no connection made
between her and F'ryan."
"Yes, yes, yes. I know all about that. You may leave now."
A little piqued at the brusque dismissal, Karigan left the chamber. As
she stepped through the doorway, the captain was already removing her
uniform from her wardrobe. What would the message reveal if the love
letter was truly a message in disguise?
Karigan walked into the wash of the silver moon, hands in pockets, tall
dewy grass wetting her trousers. The ball should be about over. Hopefully
it was the last such engagement she would have to attend.
Across the pasture, a solitary figure waded through the tall grass. He
was a dark shadow, even in the moonlight, darkness hovering over him
like a shield. In fact, he seemed to repel the moonlight.
Shawdell the Eletian's lithe movements were unmistakable, his golden
hair vibrant despite the shadow that shrouded him. He was doing what
Karigan imagined all Eletians must do— walk in the moonlight, but she
felt cold, wondering about his purposeful pace. She hurried to Rider
barracks to escape the night.
Team Played With: n/a
Memory Form: a strand of pearls. Fasten it somewhere on your person and have someone else undo the clasp to receive the memory; the other person will receive an echo of it as well. Unlimited uses, but a day after the first one, the memory will fade and it'll be a normal strand of pearls.
King Zachary, indeed! she fumed. Needs me, does he? Humph! Yet,
inside, she shook. The thought of it, the king needing her, overwhelmed
her. It terrified her.
She stalked down the corridor to her room. The silver moon spread
shadow bars across the floor from the many-paned window. All else was
submerged in darkness. From her pocket she pulled the moonstone, which
illumined the room to the darkest floor cracks, seeming to draw moonlight
from outside until all was cast in silver. Karigan watched in wonder until a
tiny gasp from behind startled her.
Sitting in the chair by the table, was a woman cloaked and hooded in
black. A length of black silk veiled all but her eyes, and she looked like
one of the wives of some lord of the Under Kingdoms. Were there tattoos
under the veil? Karigan reached for a sword that was not there, and
considered hurling the moonstone at the intruder.
As if guessing her thoughts, the intruder raised her black-gloved hands
defensively. "Please, I am no enemy." The accent wasn't of the Under
Kingdoms, but of some eastern province. Coutre, perhaps? When Karigan
did not respond, she added, "I am Estora. You delivered the last letter
from my lover, F'ryan Coblebay."
Karigan blinked, but did not relax her tense body. "Then why do you
come at this hour? Why do you hide your face?"
The woman's green eyes glanced down, and she shuddered with a sigh.
"My family would never permit a liaison with a commoner such as F'ryan.
Our affair was a secret one. I hide myself even now. Should my family
ever find out that I loved F'ryan Coblebay, they would be shamed and cast
me out."
That was no way to live, Karigan thought, her own revelation about
King Zachary as the image in Professor Berry's telescope set aside. She
relaxed and sat lightly on her bed, her hand passing over a woolen
coverlet. "I'm sorry," she said, not sure whether she meant F'ryan's death
or her family's restriction.
Lady Estora looked far away. "The Riders always helped. They brought
me in secretly to see F'ryan. When asked, they knew nothing of us. And
here you have helped again, by bringing this letter." She drew a crumpled
piece of paper from her cloak. "Mel tells me you were the last to see
F'ryan alive."
"Yes." Karigan had no wish to elaborate she had seen him after death,
too. "He died bravely." What else could she say? She died bravely, her
aunts had said of her mother.
"As I knew he would. Often I believed he was half crazy and too daring.
Many times he risked death to visit me in my family's house. It was
reckless, but I loved him for it." The woman's eyes welled with tears, the
veil darkening above her cheeks. "I've cried often, but could share my
sorrow with no one. I just wanted to thank you for bringing this letter to
me, and for finishing F'ryan's mission. But…"
Karigan cocked her head, waiting.
"I don't understand why he wrote this letter if he planned to see me
upon its delivery."
"Maybe he knew he might not survive this last mission," Karigan
suggested.
Estora's thin brows were bunched together, her eyes troubled. "Yes, that
could be, but still, F'ryan wasn't one for writing letters. If ever one was
intercepted by the wrong person, it would mean the end of all we had
together. There are also certain details in the letter that aren't quite right."
Estora stood up and paced the floor, her long black skirts flickering in
the silver light. "I don't have dark amber hair," she said. "F'ryan knew that
well. He spoke no end of my gold hair, of passing his hands through it."
She stopped abruptly and a blush spread just above the veil. "A summer
wedding! He mentioned a summer wedding. We had planned no such
thing, impossible as it was. We talked in whimsy, of course. He also
mentioned a brother. F'ryan has no brother. There are other details of
similar type. It is strange."
Karigan scratched her head. "Perhaps he was distressed when he wrote
it."
"I do not think so. Very little distressed him." Estora paused by the
window with a sad sigh.
Karigan straightened in inspiration. What was it Captain Mapstone had
said about F'ryan bearing messages in code? "Are… are you sure the letter
was meant for you?"
Estora looked at Karigan as if she had suddenly sprouted horns. "Of
course it was. Why, for all the mistakes, he does mention things that were
known only between the two of us."
"There could be more in that letter." Did F'ryan hide the real message in
the form of a love letter and use the other message as a decoy? "May I
have the letter?"
Estora clutched it to her breast. "Whatever for?"
"I would like to show it to Captain Mapstone. I think there's more to it."
"I told you my family would cast me out if ever my relationship with
F'ryan was discovered."
"You said yourself that no Green Rider ever revealed the two of you,
didn't you?"
"Yes."
"I promise this won't go beyond Captain Mapstone. I think it's
important."
Estora still held the letter to her. As she hesitated, F'ryan Coblebay
appeared dimly beside his beloved. Estora did not detect him, and Karigan
thought that of anyone, she should be the one to see him. F'ryan looked at
Karigan with his somber expression, the arrows stiff in his back. He turned
to Estora and whispered in her ear.
Estora shuddered as if suddenly remembering where she was. "If you
can return this to me when you are done with it," she said, "I would like it
back. It is all I have left of him." As she handed the letter to Karigan,
F'ryan's hand merged with hers as if to help her. "Odd," Estora said, "but I
think F'ryan would have wanted me to do this."
The ghost cast Karigan another penetrating look, then faded out. "Thank
you," she said a bit breathlessly. "As I told you, this will not go beyond
Captain Mapstone."
Karigan didn't wait for Estora to leave. Rather, she flung the door open
and strode down the corridor, out of the building, and across the courtyard
where the officers' quarters stood. Unlike the long wooden Rider barracks,
the officers quarters was a squat stone structure made to house only a
handful of people. The stone walls protected those within from fire arrows
and catapulted coals. The windows were mere slits through which
defenders on the inside could shoot arrows. Even so, Karigan was glad she
was housed at the barracks with the large window that overlooked the
pasture.
The narrow windows were black. The captain was the only officer in
residence, or so Mel had intimated. Karigan knocked hard on the thick
green door. When no one answered, she knocked again. This time, light
flickered to life in the windows, and a few moments later, the door
groaned open on ancient hinges.
"What is it?" Captain Mapstone squinted at her, a lamp in one hand, her
unsheathed sword in the other. She stood barefoot, a flannel sleeping
gown fluttering in a breeze. Her hair, the color of new copper in the silver
moon, flowed unbound and loose down her back. When Karigan did not
answer immediately, she snapped, "Well, don't just stand there, girl. I was
sound asleep. What do you want?"
"I, uh… have this letter." It was rather disconcerting to see the captain
bleary-eyed and dressed in anything other than her smart green uniform.
And the brown scar didn't stop at the collar line, but continued in a ragged
line down beneath the low neckline of the nightgown. Karigan licked her
lips. "It belongs to Lady Estora. It was from F'ryan Coblebay. I found it in
the pocket of his greatcoat after he died."
"Repeat that." When Karigan did, the captain's eyes seemed to pop open
one at a time. "You mean you knew about this letter all along and you
never mentioned it?"
"It was a love letter. I never thought anything of it."
Captain Mapstone was now fully awake. "You had better come in and
explain this to me."
Karigan followed her down a short corridor to her room. It was nearly
as sparsely furnished as the barracks. A small bed, blankets rumpled and
the pillow still depressed from the captain's head, stood against one wall.
The captain sheathed her saber and they sat in chairs beside a blackened
fireplace.
"Now tell me."
Karigan handed her the crumpled paper and watched as the captain read
it. She explained how she had originally found it and vowed to deliver it to
Lady Estora when she reached Sacor City. "I just left Lady Estora in my
chamber. She told me there were peculiarities about the letter." Karigan
repeated their conversation. "I remembered that you said F'ryan Coblebay
sometimes put his messages in code."
Captain Mapstone rubbed absently at her scar. "This must be examined
immediately. It wouldn't be unlike F'ryan to do this."
"I promised Lady Estora that there would be no connection made
between her and F'ryan."
"Yes, yes, yes. I know all about that. You may leave now."
A little piqued at the brusque dismissal, Karigan left the chamber. As
she stepped through the doorway, the captain was already removing her
uniform from her wardrobe. What would the message reveal if the love
letter was truly a message in disguise?
Karigan walked into the wash of the silver moon, hands in pockets, tall
dewy grass wetting her trousers. The ball should be about over. Hopefully
it was the last such engagement she would have to attend.
Across the pasture, a solitary figure waded through the tall grass. He
was a dark shadow, even in the moonlight, darkness hovering over him
like a shield. In fact, he seemed to repel the moonlight.
Shawdell the Eletian's lithe movements were unmistakable, his golden
hair vibrant despite the shadow that shrouded him. He was doing what
Karigan imagined all Eletians must do— walk in the moonlight, but she
felt cold, wondering about his purposeful pace. She hurried to Rider
barracks to escape the night.
