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The night is warm and the new year's celebrations are winding down in Hawk's Aerie. The men are drunk and rowdy and the women are vivacious and insatiable. Brother Timin, a plain looking lad dressed in his fettered armor of iron complete with prayer and hymn engravings, looks uncomfortable as he follows after Patron Seval Mikin. Seval seems to be having a good time, however, smiling and laughing with the people of Hawk's Aerie.
Sahna Nillu has opted to spread her time during the holiday out with all three Nillu settlements, although she spent a good bit longer in Sweetwater than in Nillu's Lode. Now it's Aerie's turn, and the Duchess rides in accompanied by a few ducal guards in Nillu livery, forcing a smile on her face as she looks at the prospect of yet more merriment.
Vesta Seamel isn't dancing - not at the moment, anyway. But the Seamel lady is enjoying the walking of the festivities, and peering at whatever looks shiny, interesting, or particularly old.
The arrival of the Duchess of Hawk's Aerie doesn't go unnoticed. Freelanders and noblefolk alike gather to greet Sahna and wish her a good harvest -- something of a tradition. "Look at the wolves gathering, Timin," Seval says with a half-grin as he notices the people heading for Sahna. "They'll want favors before the end of the harvest. Hawk's Aerie isn't even a farming township, but they take to the tradition all the same, I see." Timin nods, probably reflecting on all those who came to Seval earlier for favors from him. Seval makes his way toward Sahna.
Sahna Nillu knew better than to not expect it, so she doggedly tilts her chin up and sidles her horse, Rei, into a position near the crowd. "Citizens of Aerie!" She calls out, making the obligatory speech.. Her clear contralto carries, as a woman used to public speaking. "We have gathered today to see the passing of another harvest and another year of prosperity for house Nillu. Five hundred years ago, men and women struck out from Nillu's Lode to forge a second settlement. Some people thought they were crazy, to go so far north into the River district. But as a result of the foresight of all those who came before us, Aerie is a power to be contended with. With each year of harvest, we thresh the wheat and sift the chaff-- Time does the same to us. Let us honor harvests past, honor the Duke who was taken from us this year, and honor all those who have gone before us. A TOAST!" She all but roars, surprising for a woman of her small frame and stature. "To another year and another harvest, and good things for NILLU!"
Vesta Seamel doesn't have a glass in her hand to raise, but raises her hand as if an invisible one were there anyway, as she makes her way toward the priest. "Oh, a moment or three of your time, please, sir?"
Seval's eyes beam as he watches Sahna from the edge of the crowd that had gathered. "To another year!" he echoes with the crowd. It's not unheard of that the clergy be apart of celebrations like this one and it didn't strike the crowd that he would gather like the rest of them. Seval was relieved this hadn't changed. The priestly Mikin looks toward Vesta as she approaches him. He raises his brow with a warm expression, "Lady Seamel.. is it?"
Sahna hops down from Rei with the assistance of one of her guardsmen, looking rather exhausted and more sallow than usual. She waves away the merrymakers and favor seekers with a stout declaration of, "Now, now.. Celebration time is for celebrating, business must wait as is proper. Come see me tomorrow if it's a matter of favors." She turns to Seval, offering him a positively weary smile. "The speech was longer at the Lode, and at Sweetwater they kept trying to get me drunk. Why is it, uncle, that festival days are anything but festive to those who have to oversee them?" She turns to Vesta, looking the woman over with an appraising eye, then offers her a smile. "I can wait, if you've business with my uncle. Do you two wish me to step away?"
Vesta Seamel shakes her head. "It's waited a thousand years, your grace, I don't think it's a matter of national urgency now." She grins. "Just very interesting. Possibly interesting? I think it is, anyway. And I've been meaning to ask a Churchman about this for some time." She dives into her satchel, fishing out a heavily bookmarked journal. From this, she draws out an old, folded parchment. "I was hoping, sir, if you would offer your insights on this?"
Seval chuckles to himself, putting his hands on his waist. "She is an odd one, isn't she, Sahna? Lady Vesta, this is Duchess Sahna Nillu. Sahna, this is the peculiar Lady Vesta Seamel." Seval looks toward Sahna knowingly, "That was a fine speech. You conduct yourself like a true Duchess." Seval takes the parchment from Vesta. After looking at it for a moment his expression changes and he reads through the entire letter. "Where did you get this?"
"A thousand years, you say?" Sahna queries, brightening, finding a bit of energy at the dregs of her reserves. "Uncle Sev here raised me to love history, not just national urgency. Is it terribly private, or would you mind a fellow lover of knowledge in on this, ah, whatever it is?" Sahna offers a curtsey, as one of her bodyguards fends off a somewhat more insistent and intoxicated supplicant. "I am odd too, Lady Seamel. Unusual people are interesting to be around, and the world would be very dull without all of us."
"I got it from my great aunt, when she died, sir," says Vesta. "I've been asking around and - whatever the treasure is, or the key, they're real. The Lomasas have records of one of the pieces, although nothing more recent than four hundred years ago so far." She smiles at Sahna. "It's something called the Sunburst Key. A key in six parts that's supposed to unlock some kind of treasure. Only I haven't found anyone that knows where even one of the pieces of the key are now, or any sign of a map."
"The Lomasas, hm?" Seval says raising his brow, looking toward Sahna. He hands her the letter. "Do you know the tale, Sahna? They say it's a myth. There is no map, is the official stance of the Church." He looks back toward Vesta, pausing for a moment. Timin leans in to take a glance at the letter. "We should discuss this somewhere quieter."
"I'm not sure there _is_ anywhere quiet in Aerie right now." Sahna muses, as one of her guards fends off a reveller who is mistakenly trying to pinch the guard's arse. "Nor Sweetwater, even the orchards are full to bursting. They're partying harder there than here, since it means more to them. Do you have any ideas, Uncle?" She peruses the papers, brow creasing as she casts back in her memory. "May I ask, Lady Seamel, the identity of your great aunt? Many fables have a grain of truth in them." After a bit more reading, she looks up at Vesta and adds, "I may know something, but it is not for public ears."
Vesta Seamel nods. "I'm - well, I'm a very long way from Silkfield, is what I am, your grace, my lord, so I'll happily follow your lead in this."
"We'll find the quiet in the temple," Seval replies with certainty. "Many of my books are there, aswell. You've piqued my curiosity, Lady Seamel. Follow me." He walks off toward the temple, which is only around the corner. Timin follows, obviously curious as well.
Sahna follows too, although she disperses all but one of her Ducal guard to keep trac of the Aerie party people. The one who follows is a lanky man with brown hair going to grey and a well-trimmed beard. "Mmh, I wish I could access the library at home. I'll go look at it as soon as I've recovered from this festival." Absently, as an afterthought, she introduces her guardsman. "This is Darren Grange, the head of my bodyguards. He gets angry that I leave him behind so often." The man's expression is, of course, inscrutible at that statement.
Vesta Seamel nods. "I would very much appreciate that, sir," she says happily. Someone said the magic word, and it wasn't 'beer'.
The entrance of the temple befits Hawk's Aerie in grandness and beauty. Seval seems uninterested in the ornate details of the front facade, however. He pulls open the door letting his party in. The front entrance smells faintly of cinnamon and gooseweed. It's a pleasant odor that reminds one of Dusk Wine and Dusk Vigil. "Timin, take Sahna and Vesta to the temple library, please. I'll be along shortly." Timin heads down a wide hallway, leading the way, as Seval heads the other direction, not waiting for anyone to question him.
Sahna follows after Brother Timin, and like a duckling after her comes Darren Grange, who wears a diplomatic and neutral expression. This is contrary to the Duchess, who looks excited and delighted to have a mystery at hand.
Vesta Seamel seems to be studying everything about the church as she passes through - the stained glass windows, statuary, tapestries, as if not only inventorying it all but cataloguing it as if it were in a museum. And she gives every sign of being happy as a clam doing it, too.
Timin, not as delighted as the two noblewomen, ushers the party into a room the size of a small dining hall. There are shelves along each wall and shelves in the middle of the room too. The books seem to be organized very precisely. The room is dark so the armored Scourge takes a torch from the hallway and lights the torches in the room. Seval Mikin appears in the doorway once the room is lit. "Have a seat," he says, gesturing with the large tome he holds in his hands toward a table in the center of the room. There is ink and parchment on the table and unlit candles. "Now, who's that great aunt of yours, Lady Vesta?"
Once they're safely ensconced, Sahna begins pacing-- One of her habits, although she does manage to do it gracefully, silk skirts swirling about her legs as she deigns not to sit. She shoos off Sir Grange, who looks almost relieved to guard the outside of the door instead of dealing with books. Sahna listens avidly, although she seems to almost be bursting with a thought of her own.
Vesta Seamel takes a seat with a smile, and starts taking out her journals - evidently aware notes are going to be needed. "Cavalla, sir. Cavalla Seamel. She died a few months ago."
Seval Mikin frowns, as if he wished Vesta had said another name. He's likely to pace too, so doesn't sit. He plops his tome down - the one gathered from somewhere outside the library. He flips through it to a page with a.. bookmark! "Have you heard the name Emmeline Silverblade?"
Vesta Seamel blinks. "...No?" she replies, and quickly turns her own heavily bookmarked journal to a fresh page, and takes out her quill. Oh yes, it's time to take notes.
"While you're looking in there, Uncle Sev, see if you can find reference to a shadowscourge named Ahnala Nillu." Sahna adds, hale and hearty with a flush of pleasure on her cheeks, so different from the tired shadow of herself forced to deal with three drunken townships. "We'll cover Emmeline first and then I'll tell you what I know about the Nillu connection to this."
"The way I know the story is Emmeline was a Shadowscourge like our friend Timin here and my family line. My line is a long one trailing back to near the time Emmeline was to have been about - near the building of the Aegis. She was convinced the magi weren't to be trusted and that they would turn against Fastheld," Seval begins in his soft honey voice. "She would get along with many in the Church today, I suppose, if the story is true. She took it upon herself to gather a cache of weapons, armor and treasures donated to her for the Church. I think it's more likely she took the treasure from the Church. In any case, she hid it in case the day the magi rose up against Fastheld ever came."
Vesta Seamel writes quickly - one gets the impression she's done this a lot - copying down what Seval has to say. "So that would be the connection mentioned in the letter," she says. "It's supposed to help in an uprising." She smiles brightly. "So now's a good time? With the attacks on the Houses? The Church won't mind us looking for it now?"
Sahna purses her lips in a silent whistle.. Since a real whistle would be gauche. She laces and unlaces gloved hands, sage-green eyes alight. "An uprising. Oh, but this Emmeline must have had companions willing to help her. Tell me, Uncle, Lady Seamel, if your iconography is up to par.. Would an artwork of Fastheld in flames count as a warning against this uprising? With, say, a sun in the middle, rays twisting instead of straight like the usual church symbol?"
"The Light Maiden is interested in keeping the status quo, child," Seval says to Vesta frankly. "I doubt either hand would be willing to send agents after this fable. I shall help you though, if you desire it." He looks toward Sahna, brow raised, "That is most ominous imagery but I can't say for sure what it could mean. The twisted rays of the sun doesn't sound like the work of magi, though. That sounds like corruption of the Church." His eyes intensify as he frowns, flipping through his tome for anything about a burning Fastheld.
Vesta Seamel frowns, sticking her finger in her journal to flip back through the pages. "...Hmmm. I have something Lord Norran said about what the Key looked like. The piece that he had news of. According to what he told me, the Lomasa records mentioned it being small, golden, and kind of like an odd knife...no, that doesn't sound right. I'll have to see if the Lomasas have any sketches or drawings of the piece."
"I haven't told you more about it... Lady Seamel, being a little more venal than my uncle, I like the fine things in life. Rare vintage wines, rare books, rare art, or even oddities such as my winter garden that blooms even when there's ice on the ground... I collect that which is unique. If you come to the masque that I will hold at my manor, you will be able to see that.
What I have to say is quite possibly one of those legends without that grain of truth in it, but I don't think so.. Sometimes the grander the tale, the more likely the truth is in there somewhere.
Today, if one were presented with new artwork that changed all by itself, such a thing would surely be reposessed by the church, wouldn't it, Uncle? Artifacts, however, are a different story. That which is old, even if it doesn't always make sense to us, is considered special instead of dangerous.
Take for example, the continual defects in the Kahar line after a wildling slashed one man. A wall that we could not build today with even our best technology and years of work stands strong and tall, and it's all well and good for the most part because it pre-dates our modern and educated era." Sahna inhales deeply then adds, "I'm reasonably certain the Tapestry of Flames does exist, and I have been looking for it for some time now. The sun is in the middle.. And on the tapestry, Fastheld burns, and the flames are not still ones of simple thread. Sound like something worth looking into, Lady Seamel?" says Sahna
"You'd find yourself before a Scourge trial, I'm sure," Seval agrees about new magical paintings. "And you believe Ahnala Nillu knew of it's whereabouts?"
Vesta Seamel is quickly jotting down Sahna's remarks. "That sounds...yeah. Just let me get that copied down...that *definitely* sounds relevant..."
"She was the owner. She passed it to her daughter. That's why, brilliant Uncle of mine, I need you to look and see if this Ahnala Nillu was a shadow scourge at a contemporary time as your Emmaline. This lady goes to all the trouble of building something so dangerous as a cache of weapons, so she needs to protect it. After all, what if a mage walked up and murdered her and took this key you speak of? Surely others in the church back then thought as she did, sympathized with her." Sahna stops pacing for a moment and places the palms of her hands on the table, gaze intent. "It is said that the tapestry does not age, although that could be hearsay.. After all, who wants a tapestry of Fastheld burning to the last little village on their walls, no matter how beautiful? It was meant to be a warning. It was meant to be hidden. And perhaps, perhaps Lady Seamel, Uncle, it was meant to hide something within it. I haven't the foggiest as to what happened to it after it was passed to her daughter. Perhaps people are afraid to admit to owning such a thing today."
"This book is a record according to Left Hand Ferverun from the age of Talus Kahar the First. Tales and lore about the First Wilding War, the raising of the Aegis and the Amnesty of the Wildcat Crown." Seval flips through, but seems to be resigned. "I don't remember anything about a Ahnala in here." Seval walks away from his tome and to one of the shelves and begins to search for another book. After a few moments he pulls one of the shelf. It seems to be a family history of the Noble Houses. He brings it to the table. "Ah, she's a Light-Proven all right. But from the third century.."
Vesta Seamel hms. "So...for the 'where is it now' part, it's the daughter that should be tracked?" she asks. "Or what does House Nillu do with such things? If it survived three centuries at least, and could still be understood, I'd say that's some...yeah, that's some special weaving. I can't make my clothes last three years sometimes, never mind three centuries."
Sahna looks slightly dissapointed, but considers the matter. "Perhaps she wasn't the first owner, then.. In the third century, the wildcat amnesty you mentioned had passed, Uncle. Creating such an item then would have been, well, questionable at best, since Fastheld was now being regulated. The artwork also could refer to the past where mages damaged Fastheld, as a warning lest it happen again." Sahna paces again, eyes positively gleaming. "Mmh.. The problem is, I don't know who the daughter was. She did not join the church, this I am certain of. I will start checking the registers and tax records to see if I can find her. That will take some time, but I will inform you both of anything I find, but part of the issue is the nature of we Nillus.. We do not like to part with our things, once we have them. The rare and unique? That equates to status in my house."
Sahna pauses, still for a moment, before adding another query. "It does seem to be that there are six peices, and six houses, and you have found hints of one with Lomasa. Would you be so kind as to tell me about that, Lady Seamel, as I now have a personal stake in this matter and intend to assist your investigations?"
Vesta Seamel nods. "I understand Lady Lorana is investigating Lomasa archives at East Leg, to see if the piece Lord Norran told me of might be further tracked." She flips pages, smoothing one down. "Here it is. This piece apparently stayed in Church hands until the fourth century. The first Lomasa record of it is then - fourth century - when one Bardobras Lomasa inherited what was described as a 'small, golden thing, somewhat like a peculiar knife' from an aunt who had been a Scourge." She gives Seval an apologetic look. "I'm afraid Lord Norran didn't give me her name, sir, but you might ask him." Looking back to her notes, she reads, "Bardobras in turn left this piece to his son Himarf, who...ah...died in circumstances probably not fit for this locale, actually..." She coughs, a bit embarrassed. "Um. Anyway. Himarf, dying without children, had his goods divided among his four brothers. And that's all I have on that at present; Lady Lorana was to see where the records of that branch of the family tree went, and if any further mention was made of the piece. The record was clear that Bardobras was told to keep it safe, as part of the Sunburst Key. So it's at least the right, er, *thing*. House Kahar has also kindly agreed to examine their records, for any indication of a piece of the key."
"My line of Mikins were likely either in direct opposition to the paranoiacs or in full support -- either way, my family was likely to have strong feelings on the matter. We haven't changed much these past 600 years. I'll have to dig deeper about this Emmeline and her story," Seval says. "I have a feeling I may find a connection with the apostasy of Aurora Janus. I remember something along those lines in my studies."
"Aurora Janus.. That's a name I haven't heard in a while. Removed in 120-something wasn't she? 122?" Sahna queries, taking a seat at last and arranging her skirts. "I don't quite recall what she was removed for, though. Perhaps you can remind me, Uncle? This is more your baliwick than mine." She pauses and adds, "Himarf is a cruel name to give a child. But then again, I knew a Borem Mikin."
Vesta Seamel blinks and turns to a fresh page to start copying this down too. "I'm afraid I don't know that story at all," she says. "Could you enlighten me?"
"Perhaps another time," Seval replies with a half-smile, his eyes shallow from exhaustion. "I need to do some more research on the matter, anyhow. She was the only Aurora to be removed from power by the Corona. Technically we still have that power today."
"Hopefully it won't be needed again any time soon." Sahna quips, smiling warmly at Seval. "You're dead on your feet and so am I.. I think it's best if we both sleep off this lovely festival and dream of dreading it next year. Lady Seamel, I do wish to say that it would be nice if more women were like you.. So many are just content to sit back and let life drag them along like sticks in the current. If I may ask.. What will you do with the key and trove, if you find it?"
Vesta Seamel blinks. "...I've thought of one day starting a museum, where artifacts of Fastheld's history can be viewed by the public," she says. "The Key would be a great part of that. But the trove? I haven't heard anything for certain about what's in it - weapons and armor and 'treasure'. But different people treasure different things, your grace. I think ...maybe if we manage to uncover this trove, we'll know when we see it what should be done with it. It was meant for the Church...but maybe after this long it isn't good for what it was originally intended for, anymore. Even so - artifacts from the time of the Aegis? Perfectly preserved? I really don't care if it's a box of silverware, I'd love to see it."
"A box of a dust is most likely, or a box of vipers," Seval says knowingly. "I'm an optimistic person but this has been missing for over 600 years. If it ever existed, it'll likely never be found." The priestly Mikin lets out a polite yawn and nods toward Sahna, "I am quite drained from the wine and festivities. I could do well with a night of sleep."
"Spackle and trowels in case the wall falls down." Sahna supplies, amused. "Yet, things from that time have a way of preserving themselves. We shall see."