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rannadylin · 6 years

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Soul and Shield: Chapter 8

Previously: Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7 - or catch up quicker on AO3!

Look at Xipil just racking up the word count here. Way more dialogue than he got in Clan and Court. ;-)

This is the sequel to Clan and Court, in which Watcher Violet, Priest of Eothas, welcomed her enormous clan to Caed Nua just in time to go investigate things in Dyrford. If you haven’t read that yet, start there and meet a few of her siblings who are recurring characters in this sequel. Bonuses in the sequel include: Aloth! Lenneth! (but not as a Watcher) More of Vi’s siblings, including Garivald being the mayor of their city! And plenty of mysteries to solve, Leaden Key to interfere, relationships to navigate, and oh yes, they still have that betrothal contract to deal with, technically.

Soul and Shield: Chapter 8

Word Count: 1K

Rating: PG

Read it here or on AO3

Crouched in the cover of a row of ceiba trees bordering the temple grounds, Xipil voiced his most convincing crow call once more. At his side, Yaotl vibrated with a low whine, eager to inspect the fox pelt propped up as a decoy in the grass, but Xipil shushed him. They waited to see if any of the night-dark birds would fly in, drawn to the hunter’s call, or ganging up to pick a fight with the supposed fox, but the afternoon skies were clear. Could be the other temple hunters were simply doing their job well in the months Xipil had been away. He finally resolved to try again in the early morning, when the crows should be more active. Should be able to get in an hour or two hunting them before Mother would be ready for visitors.

Yaotl ranged ahead of his master as they walked back toward the temple to stow the decoy pelt. The hound seemed set on reacquainting himself with every rabbit hole and bush on the grounds. Xipil slowed his walk to let him explore longer, and took the long way around, walking parallel to the broad base of the temple.

An excited bark drew his attention to Yaotl, darting from an achiotl shrub with its spiny red-brown fruits halfway back to his master before barking and running back to the shrub again, nosing at something beneath its branches. Xipil followed and bent to see what his dog had found.

A dove lay dead there. One of those from the temple rookery? Had it fallen prey to the crows that the hunters were employed to protect the temple birds from? Xipil frowned as he looked the dove over; not a mark on it.

Nearby, Yaotl barked again, calling Xipil to a similar find: a dead hummingbird this time. Like the dove, pristine but lifeless. The hound sniffed out two more small birds lying still in the grasses before Xipil reached the side door of the temple nearest the chamber where he stored the fox pelt along with the rest of the hunters’ gear. With that tucked away, he took the steps up to the rookery two at a time in his haste.

The coos of the dozens of doves housed in one of the temple’s high towers still filled the space with a crowded and calming hum as Xipil walked between the aviary enclosures. But one in three of the birds he saw looked droopy, listless, their feathers unnaturally fluffed as they hunkered down, clinging to their roosts above seed bowls going untouched.

Along the far wall of the rookery, an acolyte bent to stoke the flames in the chamber’s fireplace. Bits of curly red hair twined loose from the crown of braids circling her head. Her forehead glistened with sweat as she leaned over the hearth, muttering to herself. “Not going to get much warmer. Maybe that’s enough. I’ll change their water again, and…”

She trailed off and glanced over her shoulder to see Xipil watching. “Oh, hello,” she said, swiping sweat from her brow with a sleeve of her robes. Her eyes fell on the bow at Xipil’s back. “Oh. You’re a temple hunter, yes? I think I’ve seen you around.”

Xipil nodded, then looked back to the rows of listless doves. “What’s wrong?”

The acolyte sighed. “Wish I knew. Sometimes a dove gets sick, fluffs up like that and won’t eat, and we isolate it, keep it warm, hand feed it. But look at them. So many. All at once, too. It’s not like one of them caught something and it started spreading. Just all at once, it’s like they’re fading.”

“Since when?” Xipil asked.

She pursed her lips in thought, her ears swooping in low arcs. “A few days? That’s when I noticed they weren’t all eating, at least. Especially the littlest ones. It’s so strange. They don’t seem...sickly, exactly. Just still. They sit there and fluff up and won’t eat even when I try to hand feed them. They stop cooing, stop looking at anything much. The weakest ones started dying yesterday, but even the bigger birds can’t go long without eating.” She swiped the sleeve at her face again, this time aiming not for the sweat but for the corners of her eyes. “I can’t do anything for them. Is it a sign? A plague? I’ve never heard of something like this happening to the doves, but it can’t be anything good.”

Xipil lowered his head in agreement. The acolyte, giving up on the blazing fire, gathered up a pouch of the squash pulp prepared for hand feeding and let herself into a little door in the wire frame of the aviary that kept the birds safe in their roosts. Xipil followed for a closer look at the sick birds, motioning to Yaotl to stay put outside the aviary. While the acolyte tried in vain to coax a dove to take a bit of squash from her fingertips, he tried to provoke a reaction from another of the birds. No amount of stroking its feathers, or rubbing under its beak, or tickling under its wings had any effect. The bird sat motionless and silent through it all, like no dove Xipil had ever seen. It might as well have been dead and stuffed and wired back into place on its branch to simulate -- very poorly -- a live bird. Yet it was certainly not dead yet.

While the two of them were thus occupied with the doves, a quiet thump from the other end of the aviary caught their attention. Xipil was nearest. He approached and bent to find that at least one of the affected birds had given up on its simulation of life. Lifting the limp form gently, he met the acolyte’s wide, sad eyes and shook his head.

“Shining God, forgive us,” she whispered, tense with waiting tears. Outside the aviary frame, Yaotl’s sympathetic whine voiced Xipil’s own sorrow and worry.

He went with her to bury the bird in the temple gardens, along with those Yaotl had found outside, even the hummingbird -- Hylea’s favored side by side with Eothas’. He squeezed the acolyte’s hand when the tears came in lieu of the words she could not find. And when she slipped back into the temple to continue her fruitless vigil over doves that had lost their will to live, Xipil quietly slipped back home, thinking of his mother.

#pillars of eternity #pillars of eternity fanfiction #PoE fanfic #orlans #ixamitl plains #xipil itzli #yaotl the hound #csi: citlatl #soul and shield #the plot thickens?#from the desk of ranna

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rannadylin · 6 years

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Been working on that Itzli twins chapter tonight and I love their dynamic ALMOST as much as Lenneth and Anselm in chapter 7, so hey have a snippet?

“Come on, boy!” Lottie crooned to her brother’s hound, shaking the shirt at him. Yaotl barked and danced from side to side, tail wagging fast as a hummingbird flies. “You want it? Let’s go! Follow that scent!”

At her side, Xipil chuckled and shook his head. With a loud click of his tongue, he diverted his dog’s attention back to himself. Yaotl paused his frenetic dance and focused on Xipil with a questioning whine. Xipil grinned at Lottie and then set off toward the temple district.

“One day,” Lottie sang out, skipping along to catch up with them, “one day he’s going to like me better than you.” Xipil just grinned at her again. Yaotl just trotted from side to side of the street, as curious about every scent in the neighborhood as Lottie herself was about...well, everything, to be fair. She linked arms with her brother as they walked. “Okay, I’ll settle for as well as you, then. No?” Xipil shook his head and tugged at her arm to walk faster. Up ahead, Yaotl had his nose to the ground, plowing ahead through the sparse crowds heading towards the temples or walking home for their own afternoon naps.

#from the desk of ranna #yolotli itzli #xipil itzli #yaotl the hound #itzli twins #csi: citlatl #also got to write a bit of a combat scene for these two later on :-D #and boy is it easier to write xip when his twin is there to interpret #lottie would finish his sentences if he ever started them

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rannadylin · 4 years

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OC Fact Swap: Back in Aedyr, during her youth, Ari used to love going on long hikes in the jungle, or sometimes along the coast, to soak in the peaceful atmosphere and beautiful scenery. When things settled down in the Dyrwood, she decided to revive the tradition, and started taking Vela for short walks through the lands surrounding Caed Nua.

Seems like a good tradition for a Roadwarden of Caed Nua!

Xipil, being a Ranger, occasionally disappears from Citlatl for days at a time just to wander the plains with his hound Yaotl. The first time he did this, he was pretty young (er...somewhere I have a bit about this in a previous ask meme post, I need to organize my Citlatl notes much better) and the Itzlis thought he had run away from home, but he came back after a while. It’s just that with twelve siblings, sometimes you need a bit of space, and also he just likes being out on the land after spending too long in the busy city.

#oc fact swap #csi: citlatl #xipil itzli #yaotl #watcher ariela #pillars of eternity #emjs-good-out-here

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rannadylin · 5 years

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So Sims 4 DLCs are on sale again...so I finally bought Cats & Dogs and made Yaotl my wedding present to Simlatl’s Cutest Couple. Poor Xipil has been without his hound far too long, but they are getting along great after a few days in game. Well, from the very start, really. Yaotl’s traits are Hunter (so you can send him to dig up mysterious gifts), Loyal (I think...will have to double check next time game is open), and Smart (thus Xipil can have Intellectual Discussions with him, which I will happily headcanon as being part of the Ranger bond with his companion).

#sims orlans #the sims 4 #sims xipil #sims esme #sims yaotl #sims violet #ranna plays the sims #from the desk of ranna

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rannadylin · 5 years

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🔗👻🐜🌠 For any character of your choice (or any mix of characters if you’d prefer!)

Oooh, how about one Itzli per question? :-D

🔗 - What are your muse’s standards for meaningful relationships?How quickly do they form relationships like these?

Audie’s outgoingand also shrewd and insightful. Relationships with family matter most to her,because you know, you’re stuck with them, but she’s made a lot of friends atcalpulli school and in the militia too. She can be intimidating, sure, but alsoknows how to put people at their ease and make sure they enjoy themselves(having had a lot of practice with that on her awkward big sister 😉).Many of her friendships consist of her teasing a friend out of their comfortzone…sometimes getting into trouble with them, sometimes pushing them to abetter place, but generally she likes having friends she can do things with, and who follow her lead.She is the Boss, after all. She’s willing to give most people a chance as longas they don’t rival her too much anddo follow her lead, and she has a knack for drawing out a friend’s hiddentalents. But she really can hold a grudge, so a meaningful relationship is one that’s moved past such an incident –if you’ve upset Audie but then earned her forgiveness and respect and becomefriends again, that ends up a much deeper friendship than before.

👻 - Does your muse believe in an afterlife? What do they thinkit’s like?

Wellll, it’s Eora, I suppose they all pretty much agreeabout the Wheel and reincarnation. Some variation perhaps about what happensbetween lives? But I suppose Violetis the closest to knowing anything about that, and she’d think it seems toagree with what they were all taught about following a god so they’d ensure youget reborn in a good life. Except, of course, that the gods now that she’s seenso much of them seem busier with a lot of other stuff…

🐜 - How does your muse feel about animal lives? Do they treatthem the same way they’d treat a person, or do they feel they’re inferior?

Xipil treats hiscompanion hound Yaotl much as a person. And hunting is his profession – mostly crows,for the temple – but all within the bounds of that assignment or according toneed, more than sport. Animals that are hurt or hungry get the same sort ofcompassion Xipil shows to kith (which is quite a lot).

🌠 - Would your muse make a wish on a star? If so, what would theywish for?

Lottie would wishto know the secrets of the stars some day. :-D (It’s a wonder Wael hasn’tstruck my little scholar senseless yet; she’s gonna be such a threat to themsomeday…)

#audrisa itzli #violet #watcher violet #yolotli itzli #xipil itzli #csi: citlatl #thought provoking headcanon meme #thanks for asking!#mythalsfavour

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rannadylin · 6 years

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Xipil Itzli, who doesn’t say much (as little as possible, in fact) but is an utter sweetheart who has waited patiently a very long time for me to finally finish his updated portrait, the last in this series of the Citlatl crew. Worth the wait? I think so! (Besides, he doesn’t like the spotlight much.)

Ranger, accompanied by his hound Yaotl

20 years old

ISFJ

Eighth born Itzli sibling (just minutes older than his twin Lottie) out of thirteen

shortest Itzli sibling

shyest Itzli sibling

kindest Itzli sibling

employed as a crow-hunter for Eothas’ temple in Citlatl

a much better artist than I am, and recently invented the role of police artist for Citlatl’s Watch

inerrant sense of direction

really just never talks if it can be avoided, but if you wake from a late exhausted night to find the laundry you were too tired to put away has mysteriously made its neatly folded way into your drawers? Or if you find a chocolate tucked under your napkin at dinner on a day you’ve had some bad news? That was probably Xipil.

My favorite Xipil moments thus far in Soul and Shield:

The memory faded. Lenneth blinked, sitting still beneath that shield of light, as her sight readjusted to the modern Citlatl, no longer the humble but growing town that Glynis had seen, but the jewel of the Plains that she had dreamed of. Xipil sat silently by, watching her closely. Sometime during the vision he’d taken her hand, holding it now lightly as if to reassure but not to interrupt whatever memory had taken her. They all knew how crucial such memories could be now. And he, of them all, seemed most to sense how disorienting these Awakened memories could be to Lenneth.

She breathed deep. “Yeah,” she said. “To protect the city.” She squeezed his hand and gave him a confident and grateful smile.

Xipil nodded, the creases of his brow easing in relief. He patted her hand and then sat back, fishing in his pouch. A moment later he smiled and pressed something into her hand. Lenneth raised her palm to see a small disc of chocolate. She grinned back at him and bit into it, eyes widening at the gush of honey, tinged with mint, inside the chocolate shell.

“Shining God, forgive us,” she whispered, tense with waiting tears. Outside the aviary frame, Yaotl’s sympathetic whine voiced Xipil’s own sorrow and worry.

Also...having his portrait finished means I can now post the next chapter of the story, since Xip is in this one! ;-D Coming up soon...

#xipil itzli #orlans #pillars of eternity #csi: citlatl #soul and shield #ranna draws #behold the glitter ink in the detail shots :-D #from the desk of ranna

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rannadylin · 5 years

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Vi: 🎵 🎨 🌍, Audie: 💌 🔎 📥, Lottie: 🎹 🎨 🌍, Anselm: 🎉 🌍 🔎 📥, Xipil: 🌷 🍳 🎨, Zaniyah: 💄 🎉 💌, Glynis: 💄 🎵 💌, Ianthe: 😇 🎨 🔮? :D

Vi:

🎵 - already answered! Everyone wants to hear Vi sing, I guess? :-D

🎨 – Vi is convinced thatbaking is an art she can master? 😉 She does very neat, detailed embroidery aswell.

🌍 – More hands-onexperience of it, since her pilgrimage, than anyone else in her family. Lottiemay have read about all sorts of obscure corners of Eora, but Violet has traveledfrom Ixamitl to many of those corners to chat with her fellow priests,culminating in the Dyrwood when she was on her way back home from Aedyr.

Audie:

💌 – Heh, you know what?Maybe she’s just terrible at actual romance and that’s why I haven’t come upwith one for her yet. XD No, actually, I think she’s probably quite good at it –she’s not at all shy about expressing her opinion, after all, so her flirtingis perhaps not the subtlest but it’s confident and does not leave her intendedguessing.

🔎 – She’s very perceptive,and not afraid to make everyone’s business her own, and, as a rogue, great atkeeping out of sight when necessary. She’s served in the Citlatl militialongest of all the siblings (there’s some sort of required tour of duty whenthey come of age, a year or two or three, I haven’t decided, but she kept at itlonger after that and is still in the reserves) as a scout, so there aredefinitely investigative skills being honed there. (Hm, you’re right, I willhave to write her teaming up with Anselm one of these days… XD)

📥 – Not for nothing dothey call her Family Boss. That “never forgets a grudge” thing ties in tohaving excellent memory in general, which she uses to pester family members whodo not get things done when they said they would.

Lottie:

🎹 – She plays several!Probably including that handmedown of Vi’s. XD Oh yeah in a former meme Ilisted her instruments as fiddle, harpsichord, and psaltery…she’s probablydabbled with others too though.

🎨 – She’s a tad jealousof her twin’s sketching skill (though simultaneously very supportive of it,especially when he pairs that skill with her storytelling) and has tried herhand at imitating the kind of illuminations found in the corners of manuscriptsshe peruses, but she has no real talent for it and tends to get lost in theminute details of such designs without thinking about how it will look overall.

🌍 – All thebook-learning! She’s curious and well-read on a plethora of subjects, and wouldvery much like to have more firsthandexperience of the world, but seldom has she traveled any farther from Citlatlthan Cousin Adi’s house.

Anselm:

🎉 – Anselm is the kind ofhost to throw a lavish party to show off (family custom, I’m sure) and thenmake only the briefest personal appearance at it himself. He doesn’t alwaysshow it but he’s enough of an introvert – and a Cipher – that crowded socialevents give him a bit of a headache.

🌍 – He hasn’t been out ofCitlatl all that much either, but being a police detective with the dubiousgift of reading people’s thoughts does have a way of chipping away at one’s naivete.So his knowledge of kith is prettyextensive, though he has only the passing, what-they-made-us-learn-in-calpulli-schoolfamiliarity with the broader world of Eora.

🔎 – Best investigator inEora, hands-down. 😉 I mean it might have been partly due to Garivald’s nepotism thathe got promoted to that role, but he has lived up to its expectationsbrilliantly.

📥 – Great at organizingpatrols and such, balancing out what watchmen go where and who’s on what caseand all that personnel stuff. Fairly organized with the paperwork, though hedoesn’t like doing that part so it does tend to pile up and his system oforganization is mostly triage. He’s not very finicky about keeping things intheir place, even though he doesn’t tend to make much of a mess himself; thisis fortunate, given how Lottie’s research is currently encroaching on hisoffice in her idiosyncratic “organization”style.

Xipil:

🌷 – Very important rangerskill! :-D He’s good with animals though not as, shall we say, desperate fortheir affection as Edér; Xipil is mainly partial to his hound Yaotl anyway, butmakes sure the younger siblings don’t let their cats and ferrets and whatnot gohungry or neglected too.

🍳 – Xipil cooks campfire food,mostly. :-D He helps in the kitchen when Audie asks, so he can handle thebasics there too, but he’s more comfortable cooking simple fare while out on ahunt.

🎨 – He sketches! Some of itreally detailed and lifelike, too. In his way he’s just as observant as Audie.

Zaniyah:

💄 – Hm, what sort ofmakeup do orlans use I wonder? Anyway, socialite Zaniyah no doubt would be goodat it, and probably wishes some of her sisters would make more of an effort too…XD

🎉 - She hosts parties carefullycalculated to impress but also not to overspend.

💌 – Hehe…she’s decent atromance, I suppose? She obviously caught Otzan’s attention somehow. I think she’smore of the practical one in that relationship, though. XD (Which is saying alot, now that we’ve met Otzan…)

Glynis:

💄 – I’m *really* not surewhat sort of makeup *wild* orlans use… XD I don’t think Glynis worries too muchabout it, though. She dresses neatly and the accoutrements of her rank end upbeing kind of elaborate, with showy jewelry in the Engwithan style, but hernatural coloring is dramatic enough without makeup.

🎵 – She sings a sweet sopranoand really puts her all into it, then gets all ruffled as soon as she’s doneand realizes people are listening.

💌 – Her flirting style isflustered. At first it takes her awhile to realize Ticatl is flirting with herand not just teasing. (To be fair, his flirtingstyle overlaps a lot with his teasing anyway…) And then of course she thinksshe’s too busy and devoted to temple leadership for a relationship, so theirsis an on-again-off-again sort of affair for a while.

Ianthe:

😇 – Ianthina follows the rules.Mostly. When they make sense. She has great respect for authority, though, and willseldom refuse to follow an order (it takes her years to be comfortable enoughto challenge Thaos’ decisions that don’t make sense to her, and even then, she’llbow to his authority if she can’t change his mind).

🎨 – Hmmmm, maybe she works onsome of the mosaics in the temples? I’ve never given thought to her taking upan art skill before, but that would fit nicely. And the Engwithan mosaics areso gorgeous…Maybe centuries later Violet occasionally has a sense of déja vuwalking through some Engwithan ruins that her past life helped to tile. 😉

🔮– Well, she’s a priest, and rises to High Priest of Berath eventually, so Isuppose she’d mastered divine spells along the way? Mostly of the practicalvariety, nothing too showy and flashy.

#muse skillset meme #violet #watcher violet #audrisa itzli #yolotli itzli #anselm coatl #xipil itzli #glynis #ianthina #zaniyah itzli #csi: citlatl #grumpy-jedi

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rannadylin · 6 years

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💬 💬 for PoE, 💬 for Critical Role, 💬 for Dragon Age and 💬 for Tolkien, have fun rereading your fics :D

So much to reread, oh goodness… XD It was fun though! So here’s my picks:

I’m always especially proud when I manage to choreograph an action scene well, because those aren’t my typical thing and I’m happy when I can pull it off, so for the two PoE quotes, here’s Vi and team chasing a psychopathically Awakened preteen in Clan & Court, chapter 4:

“I would notrecommend eating that,” Anselm nodded to the bun on his own plate.“Violet…pardon me, but my conclusions which I discussed earlier with you seemto have been off. By one small degree.” And his glance flicked again to theboy, who was now nearly to the door leading down to the farmhouse’s cellar.Beside Xipil’s chair, Yaotl gave out a low whine.

Violet exchanged a glance with Edér, seated beside her, hisexpression confirming that he’d caught on at about the same time she had. Ather grim nod, he launched from his chair and around the table toward the cellardoor. Eadric was through the door by the time Edér, now followed by a train oforlans and one hound, got there. Wilfrith sat sputtering in surprise for amoment as they all disappeared down the cellar steps, then got to his feet andhurried in their wake.

They chased Eadric through the ancient passageways, finallycornering him in the chapel hidden among the catacombs. Edér barrelled throughthe doorway just as Eadric grabbed a handful of candles from the altar, theirlittle flames flickering and half of them sputtering out before the boy slammedthem down onto the weathered old tome of Eothasian prayers that lay open amidstthe lights. “Wait!” Edér shouted, even as the boy, teeth bared and handsclenched in fists, turned to face him from across the altar with its bookquickly catching fire. “Eadric, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Let it all burn!” the boy rasped in a voice not quite his own.“You want the light? I’ll show you light!”

As Edér tried to edge around the altar to get to him, Eadricgrabbed more candles, first holding them out as if to fend Edér off, and thenstarting to fling them at him, one by one. Edér swore and ducked the littleflames, which guttered out quickly on the stone floor if not in midflight. Thenfrom behind him, a greater light suddenly glowed, and he felt a tingling warmthmove through him as a ball of glowing energy, the timbre of a winter morning’ssun upon fresh snow, passed silently by with the aroma of icicles. At a glancehe saw Violet behind him, palm out towards the altar, frowning in concentrationwhile her siblings – and of course Anselm – fanned out to either side of thealtar to help Edér intercept Eadric. Looking forward again, he saw the lightshe had projected, still in the rough form of a ball of energy but he couldswear at its heart he saw a figure of light, crowned. As it moved over thealtar, one candle after another winked out and the flames playing over the bookfinally died down, replaced by a layer of frost.

Eadric was staring agape at Violet’s slowly advancingprojection, lit only dimly by the candles still burning along the walls of thechapel, when Edér finally leaped over the icy altar and tackled him to thestone floor.

And from Soul & Shield, Chapter 15, here’s the fight scene that surrounds the activation of the Haven: (gonna put the rest of these behind the cut, this is getting long…)

Anselm? Lenneththought desperately. Hi! Trouble! She dodged as one wizard’s magic missiles slammedinto the cobblestones where she’d been standing, ducked and rolled as thesecond wizard loosed a cone of ice her way. From the marketplace, she heard asudden commotion and glanced that way just long enough to see several moreattackers closing in – but behind them, several familiar faces. “Ha!” Lennethcheered, then shrieked in pain as one of the wizards caught her in a ray offire that went on burning even as she darted forward with her knives out,gritting her teeth against the pain, in hopes of stabbing at its source.

A pillar of light slammed into thefemale wizard, knocking her to the ground. The fire went on blazing. Lennethleapt for the male wizard, who threw up some sort of flaming shield just as herknives reached him, leaving her burnt once again as she struck. Lenneth growledand danced to the side as he began an attack spell, but from behind her came asudden bolt of arcane energy, knocking him off balance before he could finishcasting. Fire be damned: Lenneth danced in and finished him off, feeling theheat of his shield once more and grimacing at the scent of the ends of her hairburning, along with a bit of the skin at her elbows where her bracers ended,probably – but as the wizard dropped, so too did the ray of fire that hadlatched on to her. She stumbled back to see that the female wizard was caughtin some sort of stasis field: perfect, excellent, the whole point of luringthese people in to attack her was to capture one, right? So she turned back tothe reinforcements – both the enemy’s and her own – that had turned up at theentrance of the alley.

They were fairly evenly matched,though it looked as if the other side had brought mostly casters this time:more wizards, what looked to be a priest wearing a symbol of Magran (great,more fire was all she needed now), and an orlan whose mace glowed with the samepurple soul whip she saw now wreathing Anselm’s sword. But Lenneth’sreinforcements had multiplied to include a handful of Itzlis, Edér, and Xipil’sdog, who was now tearing into the throat of an enemy archer.

This might just work.

She kept to the shadows, takingopportunities to strike where it would do the most damage. She flung Nochtaca’spowdered chilis into the enemy cipher’s eyes, sending his mace off course justas it was about to slam into the back of Violet’s head. She tripped one of thewizards and was about to cut his throat, when all of a sudden the sky above litup like noontide.

Everything seemed to slow.

Everything from the cobblestonesbelow to the laundry lines strung overhead across the alley glittered in arcanelight.

Lenneth glanced to Violet, thinkingthe priest had invoked some sort of Eothasian thing, but Violet looked ascaught off guard as everyone else. Her hands were raised as she recited abattle prayer, but the look of resolution on her face slowly shifted toconfusion when nothing much seemed to happen.

Leneth looked around to see thesame confusion spreading among the enemy casters – and Anselm, Aloth, Lottie,all baffled as their spells failed to take effect.

Lenneth looked up to the sky, notrosy at sunset as it should be but brighter than the dawn. It was…not the skyitself that glowed, she realized. And then the memory struck.

“By all the gods,” she gasped. “TheHaven! Who invokes the Haven?” Visions overtook her: Citlatl, but smaller;temples, half-built; the light, powering up and spreading over the whole city,even the parts not built yet. But not like this. It was too much;it could not sustain such light. She shook her fist at heaven, blinded fromwithin as the battle raged around her.

Until it was Lenneth herself whowas being shaken, and she snapped out of the memory and looked down to seeViolet peering at her in concern.

“It’s all right,” the little priestsoothed. “It’s over. You’re all right, Lenneth.”

Lenneth gasped and crumpled to thestones at her feet, jostling one of the burns on her arm from the wizard’sattacks painfully against the ground as she landed in an awkward crouch. Violetknelt down with her as the rest of her allies gathered around.

For CritRole, I think I’m actually proudest of the very first thing I wrote for the fandom - Cards & Choices, a mini-fic inspired by the soothsayer’s cards drawn for Vex’s question in episode 65. It’s tiny, so I’m just quoting it all here…

Vex’ahlia dreams of the sun, rising over mountains.

At first it is the stylized imagery of the soothsayer’s card, bright with exotic paints more vivid than ever seen in Tal’dorei, or perhaps just more than seen in her waking life. Somehow then the flat peaks spread out and fill out and it is now the Alabaster Sierras over which a brilliant sun rises, a new dawn chasing away the last of shadow as she stands hand in hand, face warmed by Pelor’s rays, and as she turns to say something to her companion she –

Wakes up.

II.

Percival dreams of hands.

He had only a brief glimpse of the cards the soothsayer drew for Vex’ahlia’s final question, but the coppery leaf decorating the lines of fingers interlaced stands out clearly to his slumbering mind. First it is the very hands from the card, clasped in symbolic unity and lined in metallic leaf. When the image shifts – clever fingers manipulating gears; slim hands, nails bitten to the quick, grasping a bowstring – the glint of the leaf remains at the edges, now copper, now silver, now brass, no matter how lifelike and familiar the hands become as the scene shifts, as he weaves his fingers with hers, gunmetal grey edging to glittering gold. He sees his fingers tremble as he slowly raises hers to his lips and –

Wakes up.

For Dragon Age, there are lots of favorite scenes in all my Fenhawke fic but I’m particularly proud whenever I feel I’ve gotten character voices right, especially Varric’s in the fic about Varania after her confrontation with Fenris, Beneficium Accipere Libertatem Est Vendere. Here’s one fun snippet with the dynamic between Varric and Hawke, and Varania, as they gradually befriend her over a game of cards.

“Need I remind you,”said Varania, returning her eyes to her careful stitches, “that I have no moneyand would be foolish to gamble it if I had.”

“Fiddlesticks,” Varric retorted with a wave of his hand,producing a deck of cards from where she could not see and beginning toshuffle. “Who said we’d play for coin? I fancy a game of Tell Me Truly.”

“Oh, Maker, Varric,” Hawke groaned, “not that again!”

“Come on, Hawke, you’re as curious as I am.”

“Yes, but last time - oh, bother, fine then. Go on.” Shesignaled to the waitress for drinks while Varric began dealing the cards.

Varania looked from one to the other of them suspiciously. “Whatis this game?”

“Wicked Grace, actually,” the dwarf said, “but instead ofwagering coin you wager truthfulness. Winner gets to ask the loser anyquestion. The more truth in the pot, the more audacious aquestion the winner can ask and the more honestly you have to answer.”

“That,” Varania said, tossing her head in affront, “isridiculous.”

“Yes!” Hawke shouted, so loud that heads turned. Quieter, shecontinued with a jab of her elbow at the dwarf seated beside her, “See? I’m notthe only one, Varric.”

Varric chuckled. “Sore loser. And I promised that story wouldstay out of the book.”

“What story?” Varania asked, blinking at them innocently.

Hawke exchanged a panicked glance with the dwarf. Varric’s grinwidened as he turned back to Varania. “You want to hear the story, elf, you’regoing to have to win a round.”

And finally, for Tolkien, a snippet from In the Mirror, the tale of a haunted mirror in the Prancing Pony, as told by my lore-master Lennidhren at a long-past episode of Ales and Tales…

“My good Elf,” saidthe innkeeper almost apologetically, forgetting my name as he ever does, “sosorry to bother you, but I wonder if I might ask a favor of you.”

“Gladly,” I replied, rising to greet him.

“I was hoping,” he continued, “you could take a look at thismirror for me. Being a – what is it they call you – a scholar and such, withall your book-learning –”

“A Lore-master,” I provided the term he was hunting for.

“Yes, yes, quite,” said he; “being so good with the lore andsuch, it might be perhaps you’d know something about a piece like this. Fellerjust brought it around with a lot of other little things to sell; not much tospeak of, the most of it, but this one caught my eye. Looks fairly old, don’tit? I’ll wager you’ve seen a thing or two of its sort before, with your loreand all, and maybe you can tell me what sort of a bargain I’ve made.”

I thought better of explaining to Master Butterbur thedistinction – faint though it may be – between a Lore-master and a dealer inantiquities, and simply took the mirror from him. ’Twas old, indeed! Seldomhave I seen bronze-work of that sort; but once in a book I glimpsed a sketch ofthe doors of the king’s house in the city of Gondolin long ago, and the motifworked there was worked in miniature on the border of the mirror in my hands.

So I told the innkeep of my suspicions, and oh, did he preen tothink that a thing from that glorious city should have passed into his keepingover the course of so many years! But it puzzled me. “Gondolin lies now beneaththe wave,” I reminded him. “How came this thing here? I wish you had stayed theman that brought it to you. I should like to ask him where he got it.”

Yet that opportunity was beyond us now – if not quite as farbeyond us as the land of the mirror’s making. Barliman made the rounds of thecommon room, for it behoved him to tell the tale again and again to every oneof his guests, and to show off this marvel of a mirror. Then as the night grewlate and the folk, tired of hearing how Barliman Butterbur paid a pittance foran Elf-king’s own mirror (so grew the tale in the telling), departed for theirown homes or to their hired rooms in the inn, Master Butterbur produced aladder from some back room and climbed up to hang the mirror right above thefireplace.

#pillars of eternity #critical role #dragon age #lotro #quotes i'm proud of meme #grumpy-jedi

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rannadylin · 7 years

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Inktober, Day 6: Xipil Itzli, Violet’s brother and Yolotli’s twin, with his faithful hound, Yaotl.

From chapter 2 of Clan and Court:

...no surprise, [Edér] was completely taken with Xipil’s companion hound, Yaotl. The dog, standing nearly as tall as his own master, had not yet decided what to make of the big human hanging around and was strategically positioning himself between Edér and Violet’s brother.

Xipil himself, his hair as curly as Violet’s but kept short and tending more to a light brown, stood counting his arrows, checking their fletching, and smirking at the little drama playing out between his dog and his big sister’s tall friend. He wouldn’t have much to say, but Violet looked forward to all that her brother’s meaningful looks could convey.

#orlans #pillars of eternity #dogs #inktober #xipil itzli #yaotl #my art #from the desk of ranna

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rannadylin · 7 years

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Now that I’ve finished a drawing of each of the Itzli and Coatl orlans who join Violet and Edér to investigate the poisonings in Dyrford for Clan and Court, a masterpost of their dear faces, along with references I’m using for them, seemed in order!

Design notes for my own reference and that of anyone looking to draw these orlans (hugs of delight to @grumpy-jedi, you’re a dear!):

Anselm Coatl, 28yo. Cipher. Spoiled youngest child, and only son, of the wealthy and influential Coatl clan, allies, by business and the occasional arranged marriage, of the Itzlis. Was an arrogant ass in his youth; is recovering and trying to make himself useful. Back home in Ixamitl, he has been assisting Garivald Itzli, eldest of the thirteen Itzli siblings, mayor of their as-yet-unnamed village, and also Anselm’s brother-in-law (married Anselm’s older sister, Narusa, they now have five children), with investigating various crimes and such. Black hair and almond-shaped brown eyes. A little bit of a Sherlock Holmes type, I think - knows he’s the cleverest, plus he has cipher advantages, and not much patience with those he would deem to be lesser folk...

Audrisa “Audie” Itzli, 24yo. Rogue. Forthright. Outspoken. Bosses her siblings around like there’s no tomorrow and always gets her way. Put her in charge and things will get done. Also, she is Violet’s favorite sibling and Violet is hers. Audie will defend her siblings against any threat and also make them behave. Golden-blonde hair like Vi and Lottie, blue eyes.

The twins: Xipil and Yolotli “Lottie” Itzli, 20yo. Xipil is a Ranger with his companion hound, Yaotl. Doesn’t have much to say. Introvert, a bit shy but of a good humor, easy-going and kind. In some ways he’s the most like Vi of all her siblings. Curly, light brown hair and golden-brown eyes (fun fact: Yaotl and Xipil have pretty much the same eye color.) Yolotl is a Chanter and a scholar. Unquenchable thirst for knowledge and lore, most likely carrying a small library around with her at all times. Outgoing and chatty with a sunny disposition that perhaps mitigates the annoyance of the chattiness. Never runs out of questions. Wears her golden-blonde hair in a multitude of braids. Teal-green eyes of the winsomely-large Disney variety. Both twins are officially the cutest thing in Eora.

#pillars of eternity #orlans #inktober #itzli clan #anselm coatl #audrisa itzli #yolotli itzli #xipil itzli #my ocs #references #my art #from the desk of ranna

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rannadylin · 7 years

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Clan and Court, Chapter 3: Folcsdag

Lots of writing going on here today, including a third chapter of Clan and Court that’s basically as long as the first two chapters put together. Yay subplot! :-) Herein we get to know the Itzli siblings a little better, learn shocking things about Anselm, and actually make some grueling progress on this mystery investigation. Also, I do a lot of research on farming various types of livestock. And poisonous plants in Eora. Whee!

Word count: 4.6K

Rating: G or maybe PG for brief fight scene

Pairing: Watcher Violet/Edér Teylecg...eventually :-)

Read it here or on AO3

Previously: Chapters 1 & 2 here and on AO3

Chapter 3: Folcsdag

They reached Dyrford late the next morning. In the hours on the road, Edér learned that Audie’s sharp eyes missed nothing but that her sharp tongue barely concealed a fierce protectiveness toward all her siblings; that Xipil’s hound was fanatical about rabbit jerky (thanks to Xipil quietly pressing a wad of the meat into Edér’s hand and nodding toward the dog, collaborating in Edér’s thus far fruitless attempts to win Yaotl’s affection); that Yolotli must be some sort of soul twin to Kana Rua, the way she took in every sight on the road with such delight and had apparently never grown out of the question-laden stages of early childhood. She soon gravitated toward Edér, skipping to keep up with his longer steps, her braids bouncing over her shoulders, till he caught on and shortened his stride for her. Far from naive, her questions about the landscape, the flora, the fauna, the peoples of the Dyrwood, their beliefs, their customs, their clothes, their cuisine, and every other topic that crossed her mind revealed a quick intelligence, handily assimilating and comparing his answers with what she already knew of other lands.

Questions about Edér himself came, instead, from Audie. Nor did they come immediately. For the first day, she kept a watchful eye on him but interacted mainly with her siblings. When they broke camp the next morning, though, she soon fell back to walk with Edér at the rear of the party, where he’d been keeping a curious eye on all the orlans.

“You know, big man,” she said, keeping up with his stride without apparent effort even before he remembered to slow down, “I’ve been looking forward to actually meeting you.”

Edér’s stride stuttered mid-step as he processed this. “How’s that?”

“Violet mentioned you in her letters, naturally.” And she looked up at him with a smirk that he couldn’t quite interpret.

“Oh. Guess that...makes sense? All good, I hope.”

“Depends on how you mean that. Me, I was hoping for more embarrassing stories to hold against you, but Vi’s too nice for that.”

“Ha! Wait...more embarrassing stories? Like, more than none or…”

“Don’t worry. Even the embarrassing ones were quite affectionate.”

This left Edér at a loss for words. He scratched at his beard and looked at Audie out of the corner of one eye until she piped up again.

“So you don’t actually live at Caed Nua, then?”

“Nah, not all the time, anyway. Got a room in Brighthollow for when I do stop by, on Night Market business or just to see Vi. Apparently your brother Nico’s family is occupying it right now.”

“Oh, that one.” Audie glanced at him, a shrewd glint in her eye. “So outside of Caed Nua, where do you call home? Vi said you met in a place called Gilded Vale.”

“Haven’t called that home for a while now,” he nodded. “Fact is,” he lowered his voice, “I owe your sister a lot for getting me away from that place. Probably wouldn’t still be around if not for her.”

Audie’s look softened to a smile. “She does tend to have that effect.”

“Right? I mean, I could point out half a dozen people’s lives she basically saved, or at least set on a better course than before, and that’s just the ones she traveled with back when we were fixing Waidwen’s Legacy, not to mention all the random people she helped ‘long the way, or the Eothasian folks we’re looking out for these days, or everyone who looks to Caed Nua for help of any sort.”

“You’re a fan, I see,” Audie grinned.

Edér felt an unaccustomed warmth to his cheeks and looked away. “Yeah...guess so. Proud to call her a friend.”

“Me too,” Audie said, her voice warm even as she jabbed Edér in the side with a friendly elbow of solidarity. He yelped, more from surprise than anything -- it was much the sort of sibling rough-and-tumble he’d once been used to, but that was years ago and he was hardly expecting it from Violet’s sibling. And yet...it was nice. He traded companionable smirks with her as she continued, “So you must live in Dyrford, then?”

“Most of the time,” he said. “Found work on a farm there. Keeps me busy and keeps me in contact with folks who need us. Night Market’s growing fastest in Dyrford of anywhere. I run a lot of messages, though, to Vi or to our folks in Defiance Bay, so don’t know if I’d call Dyrford home. I’m on the road most of the time.”

“Your farm, was it one of the ones that got poisoned?”

Edér nodded. “Then when we heard about the others, Gjegricg -- it’s his farm I work on -- realized it was only happening to Eothasians. He and the others wrote Vi for help, and here I am.”

“Because she’s a priest?”

“Only priest of Eothas left in these parts. And because she’s damn good at sorting out trouble,” Edér grinned.

“That,” Audie said with a toothy smile, “runs in the family.”

The Itzli siblings were open books, however, compared to Anselm Coatl. Edér made sure to always keep an eye on that one, but Anselm seemed determined to keep to himself throughout the first day’s march. He walked towards the front of the group, near Violet but not too near. Though the day was warm, he kept the hood of his cloak up so that Edér, walking at the back of the group where he could watch them all, deduced little from his body language or expressions. He spoke seldom, and mostly in response to Vi’s infrequent questions. He followed her instructions without question or hesitation. Anselm seemed to be on his best behavior, and this only made Edér all the more suspicious. He whiled away the hours, whenever Yolotli or Audie had paused to think of more questions, by imagining malcachoa slipped into Anselm’s tea, lizards slipped into his bedroll, and the like. Until a significant look from Vi made Edér think that she had guessed the nature of his thoughts and would have none of it. So he subsided, doing his best to ignore the interloper.

And then, late the next morning, they reached Dyrford. Vi led the way through the village amidst the stares of townsfolk who first glared at the sight of five orlans, then, recognizing the Watcher of Caed Nua among them, changed their demeanor entirely. They might be unaware how great a role Violet had had in the ending of Waidwen’s Legacy, but they knew how much she had helped in their lesser complaints. A gauntlet of smiles and greetings shepherded them through the town. They stopped off at the Dracogen Inn to quench the thirst of the long road and to observe the locals, as a prelude to a more focused inquiry and investigation. As far as Edér could tell, the mood of the village was no different than usual. The poisonings had affected only a few families thus far, miles out from the village on the outlying farms. In Dyrford Village, life went on as usual. With any luck, Vi would have the problem solved quickly enough that that need not change.

Refreshed, the party continued their march out to the first of the farms. Wilfrith Gjegricg, Edér’s employer, played host every Godandag to a small gathering of Eothasians in his cellars -- or rather, in the catacombs adjoining them. Like so much of Dyrford Village and its outlying lands, the Gjegricg farm was built partly atop and among the ruins of settlers from ages ago, and a warren of underground tunnels and neatly bricked hallways, not unlike those beneath Caed Nua, or more like those once used by the cult of Skaen operating in Dyrford, could be accessed through a hidden door in the farmhouse’s underground pantry. Gjegricg had set up a neat little round chamber not far from his cellar with the altar and candles and all that Eothasian ritual required. When Edér had first introduced him to Violet, bona fide priest of the shattered god, and she had honored him with rites to consecrate his little chapel, Gjegricg had wept for joy and then obliged them to feast till they could barely move on the firstfruits of his farm.

Now, as they approached the farmhouse, they heard the reverberating chunk-and-clatter of an axe splitting logs. The other orlans hung back as Violet and Edér walked up to the gate. At Edér’s holler, the farmer himself emerged from around the side of the house, stripped to the waist and wiping from his brow the sweat of his labor. Gjegricg was a big man, portly but well muscled from years of honest labor. He beamed to see the party approaching. “Ah, Edér! It’s good to see you back, lad. And milady!” He sketched a clumsy bow toward Violet.

“None of that, Wilfrith,” she insisted, flustered.

“Well, it’s always good to see you, Miz Violet,” Gjegricg amended. “Especially in these troubled times.”

“That’s what we’re here about, of course,” Violet continued. “I intend to get to the bottom of these poisonings.”

“Be appreciative if you can, Miz Violet. ‘Twas a lean enough winter already. My family, we’ll manage and with enough to spare for the others as was hardest hit, but it’ll be trouble if this keeps going on.”

“Of course,” Violet said. “Now, I wonder if we might take a look at the pig-sty? I understand it was your pigs targeted first?”

“Just so,” Gjegricg nodded, beckoning them toward the small shelter off in the corner of the yard, with a fenced-in run now quite empty of the animals normally to be found in it. His eyes widened as Violet’s companions caught up to her. “Well, I’ll be...How many o’ ye are there?”

“Here?” Violet asked, deadpan. “Or in general?” At Edér’s chuckle, she shook her head. “Never mind. Wilfrith, these are family and...an acquaintance of mine, from back home in Ixamitl. My sisters, Audrisa and Yolotli; my brother Xipil; and this is Anselm. We thought it best to bring a few people to help in the investigation, and it so happened they recently came to visit me.”

Gjegricg nodded at the orlans. “A friend or kin o’ Miz Violet is a friend o’ mine. Apologies if I, ah, seem rude or anything. Never seen so many orlans at once.”

“You should see Caed Nua,” Violet said, still deadpan, and turned toward the empty pig-sty. A human boy of some twelve or thirteen years was currently coming out of the little pig-house, wearing a scowl and hoisting a bucket of soapy but now filthy water. “Eadric,” Violet favored him with a smile. “Helping your father clean up?”

Eadric grumbled something under his breath. Gjegricg cleared his throat. “Now, son,” he began. “Be gracious. The priest’s here to help get to the bottom of this.”

More audibly this time, Eadric grumbled a “Sorry,” then shuffled past them toward the house.

Gjegricg sighed as he watched the boy go. “I won’t ask ye to excuse him, Miz Violet,” he said. “But Eadric’s just not been the same since this all began. Well, really, since a week or so before. He got into a bit of a scrape, wandering into the ruins with some friends o’ his. Scared him right shitless, and more’s the better for that if it keeps him outta that sort o’ trouble. Thought he’d be over it by now, but then the pigs died and he’s had to help me deal with all that, especially with Edér off to fetch you.”

Edér chuckled. “So I’m missing out on scrubbing out the pig-sty? Courier work has its appeal, for sure.”

Their orlan companions had taken Eadric’s place inside the pig-sty while Violet and Edér spoke with the farmer. Poking her head out and brushing hair from her eyes, Audie frowned at them. “Vi, I hope all this cleaning hasn’t erased evidence we could have used.”

Gjegricg blanched at her words. “Oh, no, I -- do ye think so? Gods, I hadn’t thought o’ that. It’s just, you see, we wanted to bring in new pigs soon as we could, and I didn’t think it’d be safe to keep ‘em in the same pen if’n some trace of the poison was still around. Been scrubbing the sty and replacing the top soil in the run for days now. Rumbald’s sending up a few of his herd tomorrow and we’ve got to have the place ready.”

“Quite understandable,” Violet soothed. “If any evidence has been washed away, I suppose there’s nothing for it now. We’ll see what we can find all the same. You inspected their trough, I’m sure?”

“Aye, and saved what was left o’ their slop.”

“We’ll take a look at that,” Violet nodded. “What about the trough itself?”

“Planned to burn it,” Gjegricg said, brightening, “but hadn’t got around to that yet. Think you’d learn anything from it?”

Violet smiled. “Let’s go and find out.”

While Violet was inspecting the trough -- still filthy with the remains of the pigs’ slop from their fateful last day -- Anselm approached. She glanced up and restrained herself from reacting, managing only a bland smile. But it seemed her once-betrothed was all business at the moment. He ran a finger thoughtfully along the trough’s wooden edges. “Safe to assume this was where the poison was introduced?” he asked.

“Seems likely,” Violet nodded. “There’s an alchemist in the village. We’ll see if she can identify anything poisonous in the leftovers.”

“Excellent,” Anselm nodded, swiping a film of grease from the inside of the trough and holding it to his nose with a critical expression.

“Careful,” Violet said. “Could still retain the poison.”

“I’m not planning to eat it,” he huffed. “I’d say it certainly smells off, but I have a feeling it would do so even without being poisoned.”

Violet laughed despite herself. Seeing the hungry and hopeful look kindled in Anselm’s eyes at her reaction, she reined it in and stepped back from the trough. “Guess the pigs never knew the difference, then.”

Tucking a jar of the suspect slop into a pouch, Violet led the way to the next farm. Bannen Uescwyn raised sheep, or had until recently. While the mysterious poisoner had targeted only the pigs on the Gjegricg farm, leaving behind perfectly healthy cattle as well as the crops, Uescwyn’s entire flock of sheep, all of his livelihood, had been slain. Even his faithful old sheepdog had fallen stone-dead after crawling back to his master with a whine of mortal distress to alert him to the flock lying poisoned in the pasture.

“Folk’re looking after us,” Uescwyn assured Violet when she expressed her sympathies. “Even with the church abandoned all these years, Eothas’ folk take care of our own. Gjegricg’s offered me work till I get back on me own feet, even after he lost his pigs too. I’m appreciative, but I do miss me lambs.”

“Of course,” Violet said. “Any idea how they were poisoned? Do they eat from a common manger, or any such thing?”

“Oh, nay, m’lady,” said Uescwyn. “They graze in the pasture and I water ‘em in the stream.”

So the party marched out to inspect the pasture and the stream. They combed the long grasses for hours without any sign of the poison. Violet was about ready to admit the pointlessness of their search when Xipil’s hound sent up a howl from a far corner of the pasture. Xipil caught up with Yaotl, bent to inspect the ground, and then waved frantically to the rest of the party.

Violet reached her brother two steps before Edér and two steps after Anselm. Xipil shrugged at her as Anselm bent to pick up what Yaotl had found: a handful of small, red berries.

Violet leaned in for a closer look. “Wait,” she said. “These look familiar. Edér? These aren’t native to the Dyrwood, are they?”

Edér crouched down to orlan level to join the inspection. “Mm. Nah, nothing like that grows ‘round here. But -- no, I got it. We’ve seen ‘em before, out in the White March, Vi.”

“Ah!” Violet brightened. “I knew they were familiar. Rin- Ryg-”

“Ryngr berries!” Yolotli corrected her, brightening as she saw an opportunity to put her research to use. “I read about them. They’re very hardy, so I’m not surprised you saw them in the White March. Not necessarily poisonous, but very bitter, and toxic in large quantities.”

“Toxic enough to kill off a whole flock of sheep?” Violet wondered.

“Something was enough,” Anselm pointed out, slipping the berries into his own pouch and frowning as he glanced back in the direction they had come, toward the Gjegricg farm. “Perhaps your alchemist will be able to identify if the pigs’ feed contained traces of these.”

“However many it’d take to kill off sheep,” Edér said, frowning at Anselm’s pouch of murderous berries, “those didn’t grow here naturally. Maybe our culprit’s recently come from the White March.”

Yolotli thought for a moment, then gasped. “I remember now. They’re used in dye -- red dye from the red berries.”

Violet exchanged a look with Edér. “Maybe we’ll have to pay the currier a visit after the alchemist.”

Before any visits to Dyrford Village, however, they had one more farm to investigate. According to the letters, Osgar Heafric had lost half his cattle, including a dozen new calves, to the poison. But as they were marching the last mile from the sheep pastures to Heafric’s farm, Xipil, now walking at the front of the group, suddenly stopped and looked around. The rest of them stopped to watch him. Audie started to speak, but Xipil put a finger to his mouth -- and then a hand to his bow, with a whisper of “Ambush!”

And he was right. No sooner had he put an arrow to his bowstring, while the rest of the party scrambled for their own weapons, than a whoosh familiar to Violet and Edér after months spent traveling with a wizard alerted them to the fireball moments before it impacted. “Take cover!” Vi shouted, and the party scattered towards the edges of the road, but too late: though they evaded the worst of the sudden explosion, every one of them suffered some burns. Then the attackers were upon them. Besides whoever had cast that fireball, two thugs with swords bore down upon them and a hail of arrows flew in from both sides of the road.

Violet kept near the center of her party, quckly calling on the power of her faith to shield her allies from the brunt of the attack and to refresh them after the initial damage. Edér waded into the fray, catching arrows on his shield and keeping the attackers away from the orlans. At least -- most of the orlans. While Yolotli began chanting an invocation and Xipil took aim against a distant archer, Audie slipped into the shadows, only to reappear behind the thug Edér was now dealing with, her knives buried convincingly in the man’s sides. And Anselm drew his heirloom sword and stepped right up beside Edér, timing his strikes to coordinate surprisingly well with their human ally’s. Violet gasped, momentarily pausing in her own battle prayers, to see the eerie purple light that coalesced around Anselm’s blade. After that, however, it came as no surprise when one of the enemy archers suddenly turned his arrows on his own allies, while Anselm grimaced in concentration, until finally the charmed archer was the last of the attackers left standing and one of Audie’s knives finished him off.

They made camp after that. The battle had not lasted all that long, but had left them in need of rest and recovery. Xipil scouted out a clearing within the woods not far from the road, safe from prying eyes at least for a moment. Edér dragged the bodies of their foes out of the road, to be searched and disposed of once the needs of the living were seen to. Violet went around tending to the worst of her companions’ wounds. Besides the burns from that opening fireball, they were in fairly decent shape. Edér was fine, of course; he rarely needed her attentions after a fight, but she made sure he rubbed some salve on the burns nonetheless. Audie and Xipil had some minor scratches and bruises, which they insisted on tending to themselves, pointing her to their sister Yolotli, grazed by an arrow that left a deep gouge in her cheek and one ear. The poor girl seemed much more distraught about the braid it had sliced off in the process, but bore Violet’s ministrations with good cheer all the same.

And then Violet came to Anselm. Remorse for having put off dealing with him till the last struck her at the sight of blood oozing between his fingers as he clasped a hand to his side.

“You’re hurt!” she gasped. “I mean, seriously hurt!”

“A little,” he admitted with a hesitant smile.

“If you’re trying to impress me with heroics, you can stop right now,” she scolded, motioning him to sit down on a nearby rock so she could take a look at the wound.

Anselm gave a rueful laugh, then winced as she started cleaning the wound. “I promise, that was not my intention. That...could have gone better.”

“Could’ve gone much worse, too,” Violet said. “Seems we...we all make a pretty good team.”

“Thank you, Violet,” he said quietly, “for including me on it.”

“Keep getting hurt like this and you’ll stop thanking me,” she said with forced cheer. “Also. That soul whip…”

Anselm blanched. “Ah. You noticed.”

“You charmed an archer, too.”

“It was necessary. He was the one that shot Yolotli.”

“No argument here. It was well done, Anselm. Been a while since I traveled with a cipher, but I know the signs. And I can’t believe I didn’t realize it before. It explains so much. Why didn’t you tell me you were a cipher to begin with?”

Anselm’s gaze fell. “I...had hoped not to let that fact color your judgment of me. Most people are not very trusting of my kind.”

Violet shrugged. “Same goes for Watchers, in these parts. Garivald was right about you making yourself useful on this expedition, though. I owe you an apology.”

Anselm regarded her hopefully. “For…?”

“Gar was so evasive about just what your ‘useful skills’ were, I figured they just weren’t all that useful at all. I suppose he didn’t want this coloring my judgment, either.”

“Just so.” Anselm nodded. “Whatever he thinks of me, he would like to see you back home with the clan in the life your parents planned for you.”

Violet narrowed her eyes as she finished binding his wound. “Garivald is hoping that if I marry you I’ll come back to Ixamitl?”

“In Garivald’s mind,” Anselm said, “one duty leads to another.”

“Are you saying that as a cipher?” Violet grinned. “Or just as someone who knows him well? Because that is exactly how Gar’s mind works.”

Anselm shook his head. “As one who knows him. I would not presume, nor wish, to delve too deeply into your brother’s mind.”

Violet grew still and quiet for a moment, then moved to crouch directly in front of her patient, meeting his gaze directly and catching his hands in a firm grip. “And what about my mind? Do you intend to win me back by bending my soul to your will?”

“No,” Anselm said immediately, fervently, holding her gaze. “I promise you, I will have you by your own will or none at all. Although, while I will not attempt to charm you as a cipher, I certainly hope to charm you as a man.” And for a moment, the subdued, on-his-best-behavior mask gave way to a mad grin that almost reminded her of the Anselm she had once been pleased to be betrothed to. Almost.

“Hm,” Violet huffed, standing and starting toward the bodies in need of searching. “Well, don’t expect much. And stop it with the heroics,” she flung back over her shoulder. “Can’t marry a dead man.”

Finding no hint on the bodies of their motive or employer, they set fire to them and finally moved on toward the farm. The smell of fresh manure soon alerted them to the proximity of their destination. Edér chuckled at the visiting orlans’ expressions. “Welcome to the country, everyone!” he said, arms spread wide.

“Maybe they poisoned them for the smell,” Audie grumbled.

“Counterproductive,” Edér argued. “Corpses would smell even worse.”

Osgar Heafric, a wiry man missing most of his hair and a few teeth, glumly showed them his dairy barn, now nearly empty. A few cows stood ready for milking, though Violet wondered if even the surviving cows’ milk might still be contaminated by the poison. Out in his pastures, another ten or so cows remained, bereft of their calves.

“Lucky so many of the girls survived,” Heafric shrugged. “I’ll get by. Bull’s fine, too, or s’pose I’d have to ask Gjegricg for the loan of his.”

Violet asked the usual questions about the animals’ food and water supplies and left with a sample of the hay the cattle fed on to supplement what they could graze at pasture and another of recently collected milk, in case the poison were indeed still in the cows’ systems. Full of questions, and clues for Hendyna to interpret, the weary party finally made their way back to Dyrford Village and the comforts of Dracogen Inn.

In the middle of the night, Edér woke suddenly to the silence of the room he shared with Anselm and Xipil, the memory of whatever sound had wakened him already fading. The orlans still slept soundly while Edér crept to the door and peeked out into the hall.

Violet was looking back at him from the door of the room she shared with her sisters, wide-eyed and fresh from bed herself, judging by the tousled mess of her hair. Edér grinned at her and whispered, “You hear that too?”

“I heard something,” she whispered back. “Someone was at the door, I think.”

“Think our poisoner came to confess?”

“That’d be nice,” she sighed. With a glance back into the room where her sisters were presumably still as sound asleep as the male orlans, she stepped out into the hall and sat down against the wall between their doors. Edér joined her. They sat in silence for several minutes, watching both ends of the hall for movement, listening for any sound of their supposed intruder. But the night remained still.

“Guess whoever it was heard us get up and chickened out,” Edér whispered.

“Guess so. We’ll catch them in the morning, though.”

“Hey, Vi,” Edér said before she could get up again. “You, ah...you all right?”

“Me?” She looked at him, wrinkling her brow in question.

“Famly’s one thing, on a job like this, but Anselm’s not giving you trouble, is he? If he is, you just say the word…”

“Oh, that,” Vi chuckled quietly. “No, Edér, it’s fine. He’s...being a perfect gentleman. Not as I remember him, but it’s a change I could get used to.” Edér shifted in his seat at that; Vi looked over at him as the implication of her words suddenly hit her. “Not like that! I mean...I’ve made it clear, I hope, that his suit is pointless. But still. It’s nice to see that he’s not quite as vile as I remembered.”

“Think he’s really changed that much?” Edér asked. “Or just showing you what you want to see?”

Vi shrugged. “I think he’ll have plenty of opportunity to prove himself one way or another on this trip. And so far, I’m...pleasantly surprised.”

“Well,” Edér said, reaching over to pat her hand encouragingly, “if that changes, if you have any problems with him, I’ve got your back, Vi.”

“I know, dear,” she smiled up at him. “I know.”

#pillars of eternity #pillars of eternity fanfic #PoE fanfic #eder #Edér Teylecg #watcher violet #PoE #fic #from the desk of ranna

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