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Agnes returns to the table with a new pitcher of beer and a basket of flat-breads. "Damn, it's good to be back where things are sane!"
Kerem walks in the front door, sees Agnes and Tez, stops, looks behind him, looks at them, takes a couple steps forward, stops, thinks, shrugs, walks over to the table.
Tez: "Sane? Yes, I suppose."
Tez studiously ignores Kerem, and munches on some flatbread.
Agnes: Agnes frisbees some bread to Kerem and kicks out a chair. "Hey!"
Kerem: "Uh, hey guys." He takes a seat and chews. "How did, uh, chasing the evil assassin into the next plane of existence go?"
Tez: "God ate him."
Agnes nods.
Kerem: "God."
Kerem: "Your god, I guess."
Tez adds, around a mouthful of bread, "After we captured him."
Kerem: "Well. That's good."
Agnes: "Big snake." Agnes nods toward Tez.
Kerem: "I should mention that I told the guys at the Forge that he killed Beleria, so, uh, don't blow my cover."
Tez drinks some water.
Tez: "Who?"
Agnes: "They bought it?"
Kerem: "Who which?"
Kerem: "Yeah, they bought it." Kerem is a little offended.
Agnes: "He's dead, so I don't think he'll spoil the story."
Kerem: "Uh...yeah, I wasn't really expecting he would, but great. That's really helpful, thanks."
Kerem: "Uh."
Kerem fidgets, eats more bread.
Chimrea enters, takes in the scene at the table with wide eyes, then forces herself forward. "Has anyone seen Alquas? I can't get a single straight answer from anyone in town tonight."
Tez: "No."
Agnes: "Alquas..?"
Kerem: "He's not here in the inn?"
Agnes: "Oh...not in a long time."
Kerem: "I swear, you leave that fucker alone for five minutes and he gets himself into life-threatening danger."
Agnes smiles while she chews.
Tez: "Who's threatening him now? He can kill it himself."
Kerem smiles at Chim, then looks uncomfortable.
Chimrea: "The last time I saw him was right before I went off chasing a wolf," Chimrea says, as if that's a normal explanation. "He was headed for the temple, but no one there is making sense."
Tez takes another drink, eyeing her glass balefully for a second.
Chimrea: "There was a big magical storm. I don't know if it's because of the Praelector, or something you guys did--" Chimrea breaks off to tilt her head at Agnes and Tez. "How did it go?"
Alquas bursts in with exaggerated swagger, hair askew and clothes slightly singed. He loudly proclaims to the room at large, "I have tamed the forces of nature! Get me a drink!"
Agnes: "We killed it."
Kerem: "Hey, Alquas. You're slightly on fire."
Tez chucks the water from her glass at Alquas
Chimrea blinks at Agnes. "Killed what?" Then at Alquas. "Tamed how?"
Alquas is undetterred form his soaking, but does at least notice the table.
Alquas: "My friends!" he says, expansively and not a little optimistically.
Agnes: "We killed..um..." Agnes turns to Tez. "What did we kill?"
Alquas: "Agnes, Tez, you have returned! I am glad the the Praelector did not kill you! You need fear him no longer, for I now have power enough to see him gone!"
Alquas: He grins, hugely.
Tez: "God ate him, just before we killed him."
Kerem blinks. "Oh yeah?"
Agnes giggles for the first time.
Tez: "I didn't fear him before, anyway."
Alquas blinks.
Chimrea: "You killed Akalatan?" Chimrea looks skeptical.
Tez: "Just a little."
Kerem: "Whoa, what?"
Agnes leans back. "It's a good day!"
Alquas blinks again. His expression freezes.
Kerem: "I thought she was having a pronoun reference mixup."
Kerem: "You killed Akalatan?"
Tez holds up the severed member. "Big, isn't it?"
Kerem: "I thought you...you know...liked Akalatan. Kind of. I mean, not liked exa--holy FUCK!"
Tez: "Yes."
Tez giggles.
Agnes: "You should have been there."
Alquas splutters.
Agnes: "Especially you." She points acusingly at Alquas.
Alquas: "...God ate... who? What?"
Kerem: "That actually..."
Kerem: "Well, that's great, Tez. Good job. I'm...I'm really proud of you."
Tez orders another water.
Tez: "I don't care if you're proud of me or not."
Alquas eyes the company one by one, trying to make some sense of the madness. His grin remains, as if he has forgotten to switch it off.
Kerem: "I...well..."
Chimrea: "Could you go through the story from the beginning, in small, uncomplicated sentences?" Chimrea requests quietly.
Kerem: "Tez, can I talk to you?"
Tez: "No."
Tez thinks, then decides that answers both questions.
Alquas casts his eyes over to Chimrea in desperation. "What is going on, Chimrea?"
Chimrea almost makes a snarky answer to Alquas, manages to just shrug instead, and directs her questioning gaze to Agnes. Agnes is always talkative.
Kerem blinks.
Kerem: "Wh...why, what's wrong?"
Alquas: He has deflated somewhat. His drink arrives, and he gulps it without asking or even looking what it is.
Chimrea squeezes Alquas' arm comfortingly, still hoping for some answers.
Tez fidgets with her personal souvenir of last night, and stares across the room at nothing.
Agnes: "We caught up with the praelector. We snuck past Charun's gate keeper. We survived the hall of dreams. We confronted Akalatan. Tez fucked him silly. And we killed him."
Agnes: "OK?"
Chimrea nods. "Thank you." Looking at Alquas, "And what about you?"
Alquas blinks, slowly, at Agnes' explanation, then takes another drink.
Chimrea smiles at him encouragingly, hoping desperately that there's some sense at the end of all this.
Kerem: "All right. Well. I would like to, you know, find out why you're upset, and talk to you about it, so that I can try to make you not upset, but I'm not going to just sit here while you ignore me and get off on it."
Kerem: "Why don't you come find me when you ARE ready to talk about it?"
Kerem stands up and brushes off his tunic.
Alquas: To Chimrea, "I have ah... marshalled soem magical power with which I aim to defeat the Praelector once and for.... I am osrry, did you say that you God ate him? And then you KILLED the...?"
Kerem: "Magical power, huh?"
Tez is also covered with 100 barely healed cuts. "You didn't come with me."
Kerem: "What KIND of magical power?"
Alquas loses track of his sentence mid-way and stares incredulously at Agnes and Tez both.
Kerem: "Tez, you can fight, and do blood magic, and you're just generally dangerous to everything around you. I'm just not. If I went with you to protect you, I would just have held you back, because you'd be protecting me."
Alquas pauses for a moment.
Tez: "You fought Beliria just fine."
Agnes: "Kerem, the point is, you would have been there for her. Y Ou ? had something more important to do."
Kerem: "Can we..." he fidgets some more. "Can we please go talk about this somewhere else?"
Kerem: "Somewhere PRIVATE," he glances at Agnes.
Agnes smiles.
Alquas' face wrinkles in concentration as he tracks the conversation threads, then he steeples his head in his hands. "Ladies... please could someone clarify this? The Praelector is.. dead?"
Tez: "Dead, yes, dead. I was going to keep him, but he got eaten instead."
Kerem: "I did actually have something more important -- can you shut up for a second, Alquas? I'm trying to have a conversation here."
Alquas: "Keep him?"
Agnes stand up quickly and faces Alquas. "Yes! Your nightmare was a pansy who couldn't fight off two women in the home-realm of Z'tarr. Get over it!"
Tez: "Yes, like you keep Kani."
Alquas pauses, taken aback for a moment. "This is possibly some joke? Local humour, yes?"
Kerem: "I did have something more important to do. I had to protect us from the consequences of YOUR plan, Agnes. Which, I will note, I did, by pinning it on the one guy who is ALREADY a jerk and who we were already going after, so that now they think we're heroes."
Kerem: "Or will, after I tell them."
Tez stares at Alquas like he's crazy.
Agnes blinks in confusion. "My plan?"
Alquas stares at Tez like SHE'S crazy, with considerably more justification.
Kerem: "Yeah, you know. The plan I'd talk about in more detail if we weren't SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE."
Chimrea: Despite all the crazy information flying through the air, Chimrea is looking mostly at Alquas, like she's afraid he'll be pushed too far.
Kerem: "Hey! Barkeep! Don't you have anything with meat in it?"
Agnes: "Privacy is an illusion. Talk."
Kerem: "I think we might have different ideas about privacy, Agnes, since you're a noblewoman and I'm a criminal."
Alquas attempts to form thoughts, opens his mouth, and just sits there dumbly for a good thirty seconds or so.
Kerem pauses. "Who is Kani?"
Tez brandishes her water, "Don't you know, Alquas, I have no sense of humor."
Chimrea: "Kani is Alquas' slave," Chimrea says tiredly, then looks at Kerem with an odd light in her eyes as if trying to pass him the idea telepathically.
Kerem blinks a couple of times.
Alquas spins at this comment.
Alquas: "Zhanjiir Chimrea, I thought you had understood!"
Kerem: "Understood what exactly?" Kerem seems awfully nice all of a sudden for some reason.
Chimrea: "You have the power of life and death over her, an obligation she can never break. She has nowhere to go. I think I understand all right."
Alquas: "Kani is no slave. It is unthinkable for any native of Vajaar to be a slave. No, she is a servant, my dear."
Kerem: "A servant, huh?"
Alquas smiles as if this distinction should clear things up.
Kerem: "Do you have a lot of servants?"
Tez: "If I were your servant would I be a slave?"
Alquas: "Ah no, only the Shujak can be slaves.. and you are Zhanjiir... yes?"
Kerem: "Ah."
Alquas looks around, trying to spot comprehension dawning in anyone's face.
Tez: "Shoo who?"
Kerem: "If you're Shujak, say, but you wanted to become Zhanjiir, how would you go about doing that?"
Alquas: "Ah... Zhanjiir Kerem, it is not.."
Alquas: "The Shujak are considered ah, soul-less?"
Alquas: "Not people." he finishes.
Kerem: "I..."
Kerem: "Oh."
Tez: "I wonder if I could make one."
Kerem: "Listen, I'll be right back. You're in 215, right?"
Alquas: "It is a matter for the church to divine. I do not concern myself with doctrinal matters..."
Kerem absentmindedly fingers the golden key hanging around his neck.
Chimrea: Interrupting that argument, Chimrea says quietly--almost gently--to Alquas, "Please tell me what happened at the temple. I think I need to go there soon, and I'd like to know what to expect."
Tez steals Kerem's meat and starts to eat it.
Kerem: "Tez, I really need your help." Kerem takes her hand.
Kerem: "Come with me, please."
Agnes: "Alquas, have you ever travelled to the hall of Z'taar? Tez and I stopped at his antechamber, but it's not that far off."
Alquas watches Kerem leave with some trepidation, but decides to let it pass.
Alquas: Turning to Chimrea first, he quickly answers "I, ah, helped them close the gate. And I..."
Alquas: It occurs to him late that Chimrea might not take the best view of his actions.
Chimrea looks at him with open curiosity and badly hidden concern.
Tez grumbles a little, and gets up "Fine."
Alquas: "I ah... that is, it seemed necessary to... I um, took on some of its energies."
Agnes: "THE gate? The gate my father built? What were you doing with it?"
Alquas: "Certainly the energy seemed to be going to spare..."
Kerem drags Tez upstairs, abandoning the table like rats might a sinking ship.
Alquas notes the reference to her father and clams up quickly. "Sorry, Zhanjirr Ag-nez? you wre saying?"
Agnes: "Have you harmed it?" Agnes looks uncharacteristically concerned.
Alquas: "Harmed? Oh, the gate? I... well, the priests... suffice to say the flowstorm was averted! And that is happy news indeed, yes?"
Agnes: "Yes?"
Alquas: "Yes! Happy news! Drinks for all!"
Chimrea looks at Alquas thoughtfully, not saying anything.
Alquas waves his hands urgently at the nearest waitstaff.
Alquas: "In any case, it appears my efforts were pre-empted... the Praelector defeated, no less? I had not imagined you to be so able, Zhanjiir Ag-nez. You are to be congratulated!"
Agnes reaches out and places a hand on Alquas' shoulder, caressing the top of it with care. "Do I need to go check it out for myself or will you give me a straight answer?" Alquas must be safe, she's still smiling.
Alquas freezes at the hand on his shoulder.
Alquas: "A... straight answer, Zhanjiir?" He swallows.
Agnes: "Is the gate functional?"
Alquas: Various conflicted thoughts run through Alquas' mind (and visibly, across his face). after some serious processing, honesty arises as the best of a series of bad options.
Alquas: "The... gate is closed, Zhanjiir."
Agnes: "One of the many, many burdens my father has placed on me is to protect the gate. I would like to continue neglecting this one, but...closed? Closed forever?"
Alquas: "Ah no.. temporary. The high priest said as much!"
Alquas: "Just to help abate the flowstorm! And we performed the ritual and... well.... certainly it closed the gate!"
Agnes: "Very good. You know, usually you're saying things that are repulsive. I never noticed that you're actually quite handsome." Agnes raises her hand from Alquas' shoulder to his hair and fingers it off-handedly. "Why was the gate open? To where? What was the relation to the flow storm?"
Alquas is deeply disturbed to the very core of his being.
Chimrea looks at Agnes sharply, then back to Alquas.
Alquas: "I... am not certain of the details, Zhanjiir. Certianly the high priest considered it a wise course... and, well, the storm seems focused... I am sorry, could you not...?"
Alquas waves in a tentative fashion at Agnes' hand. "Not that I am not flattered, Zhanjiir, but perhaps this conversation is...?"
Agnes: "The priests are fools. Thrakelust said as much -- they're a constant exasperation."
Chimrea touches Agnes' hand. "Please stop. You're making him uncomfortable, and I'd really like to hear the rest of the story."
Agnes complies. "Oh, I'm sorry Alquas."
Alquas recovers his composure. "Not at all, Zhanjiir, it is most flattering to recieve the attentions of so beautiful a lady... it was merely the context which seemed... well, never mind."
Agnes: "Would you be able to pump that energy back into the gate to open it up? Maybe we could do something cool."
Alquas: "I, ah... I would not know the procedures there, Ag-nez."
Agnes: "I could help."
Alquas: "I assumed the priests know what to do, I was content to leave them to it..."
Chimrea: "Please don't do anything 'cool' that will endanger the city," Chimrea says, her voice quieter and more expressionless than ever.
Alquas looks most uncomfortable at the prospect of returning to the temple.
Agnes: "Chimrea, what makes you think I would want that?"
Chimrea: "Because you think it's all right to murder our holy people so that the High King can have our magical places. You don't live here; you're an advance scout for the enemy." She says it without malice, sounding a little sad.
Agnes: "Uh..."
Alquas looks startled at the new direction the conversation has taken.
Agnes: "Sorry?"
Chimrea: "Beliria. You haven't forgotten her already, have you?"
Agnes: "You have um, _most_ of the details wrong, I think."
Agnes: "My division with Beliria had nothing to do with the High King."
Alquas eyes both of the women carefully.
Chimrea: "So you're saying it's completely unrelated that you killed one of the few people in this town who might have been able to stop him?"
Alquas drains his drink, swishing the contents thougthfully from cheek to cheek as he watches the two women face off.
Agnes: "Um. Yeah." Agnes looks vaguely freaked out. "In what way do you imagine that she could have stopped the High King? And as a technical aside, I didn't kill her, your boyfriend did."
Alquas spits out the drink. "Boyfriend?"
Chimrea: The last part completely passes by Chimrea. "She was a priestess, one of the most sacred people in town. And you are here to pave the way for him, aren't you?"
Agnes: "No."
Chimrea: "Really? Because you told me there was nothing we could do to resist him--we could only make peace. It's true that it gets harder to resist when our priests are dropping left and right."
Alquas wonders for a moment if he should even be listening. But only for a moment.
Agnes: "I believe, having assessed the defences here with Thrakelust and Rahkleth and having personally communed with Badger and Scorpion and having connected with the ancient mentalities set at the forge to protect the secrets of Tethior that this place can not stand up to the HK's building army. That doesn't mean that I support him."
Agnes: "Reality is what it is...you just want to deny it?!?"
Alquas slowly and with great care rolls up a cigarrette of something suitably intoxicating.
Alquas: He still listens, carefully, though most of the names are unfamiliar to him.
Agnes: "I believe -- in my pretty damned informed opinion, that this place can make a deal or be crushed."
Agnes: "If you disagree, I'll listen! But just wanting fairies to fly down and protect you won't make it so!"
Alquas pauses, cigarette to his lips, and watches Chimrea cqarefully.
Alquas: "Ladies, if I may.." he ventures.
Chimrea: Chimrea, about to answer Agnes, pauses and looks at Alquas.
Agnes turns to the Vajaari. "This one is the enemy, not me! Advance scout? What do you think he's doing here?"
Agnes: "You think his people like that we beat them back in the desert? They're not the types to stand for that."
Alquas turns to look at Agnes, and says mildyl. "Yes, I do not doubt that my father's agenda is much as you claim."
Alquas: "He would not have wasted his time coming on this mission of peace if he was not preparing for war. My father has soemthing of a one-track mind." He takes a draw, and smirks.
Alquas: "However, the rest of the Ajaari, I think , are not of like mind. Hence the church-sponsored assassin."
Alquas: "Assuming my father yet lives and the other houses were unsuccessful, however... well, if my father's experience of Green Lake has been much like mine he shall have surmised that your defences are much weakened. The priests at the tmeple tell me that without Thrakelust they struggle to marshall your once-powerful defences... and certainly no-one seems to be in charge."
Alquas: "He may espy an opportunity, yes. And his standing armies alone could pose a problem, let alone if he manages to convince the other houses."
Chimrea: Chimrea's shoulders sag a bit, as Alquas seems to confirm Kerem's crazy ideas about leadership.
Agnes: "Chimrea, this is important. I am not an advance scout of the High King. I do happen to have some privileged information and think that we should work with him."
Alquas: "In honesty, I must say I have no knowledge of his present location, let alone his present goals... we can presume nothing on his part, except that my people have always defaulted to war over diplomacy. And there has been precious little diplomacy to be had here, since you Tedoric disappeared. honestly it is a wonder this place operates at all."
Alquas blows out a smoke ring with a certain air of smugness.
Chimrea nods. "It's all right. I understand that you two aren't from here, that it isn't your home all these things are happening to. I shouldn't have expected anything more." She stands and curtsies a little, as if leaving a formal dinner. "Thank you for your time, both of you."
Agnes: "Chimrea, remember that I was born here. Maybe it's not my home the way it is yours, but I feel something for this place."
Alquas looks at Chimrea, somewhat puzzled, through a haze of smoke.
Alquas: He looks down at his fingers.
Alquas: "Chimrea?"
Chimrea: "What do you feel?" Chimrea asks Agnes, looking at her with curious eyes gleaming with unshed tears.
Chimrea: "And you?" She looks at Alquas. "You smile as you talk about your people invading. What do you expect me to say?"
Alquas: "The thought gives me no pleasure, Chimrea."
Agnes: "I grew up in darkness. With stories of this place as The Light. With parents who were sad because they'd been drive out of this place for not particularly good reasons. Old people talk about the 'good old days,' right? This place is the good old days in my family history. I don't know what I feel about it, but it's not just a tool. Not just a thing that I'll spend if and when it suits me. Green Lake is The Light."
Agnes: "I was sent here with a broad agenda. I've satisfied some of that but not all. The thing that ties all of it together -- my very existence, in some ways, is protecting this place."
Chimrea: "Then trust the light. Green Lake was founded on refugees and broken curses. We've spat out gods before. If you'll work with us against the High King--" she looks to Alquas "--and against your father, I know the city will stand. Even without you, I have to try, although I'm really scared of dying."
Alquas: "Chimrea," Alquas begins...
Alquas: "I owe my father nothing of consequence, and my people still less. But you, I believe, are owed a debt."
Alquas: He stands, his tone matter-of-fact, like discussing share prices.
Chimrea: "If it's easier for you to think of it that way, rather than calling me a friend, I guess I'm not picky."
Alquas: "I..."
Alquas: "I would be happy to call you a friend, Chimrea. If you would permit me."
Agnes interrupts with an outburst directed toward Chimrea. "Friend? You were the first of these people with whom I thought I might be friends. We travelled the White Woods -- like our fathers did together two decades ago! And it seemd like it was happening nicely. And then it all just changeed overnight. You've given off this faintly hostile vibe ever since and I just didn't get it. I guess I do now. It's kind of sad."
Agnes gasps and turns to leave.
Chimrea: "It started changing when you said the High King was coming to crush us," Chimrea says to Agnes' back, trying to make her understand. "It finished changing when Beliria died and I wondered if you'd come for my teacher next."
Chimrea: "You were so nice, and then I learned that it was all a front. It's like Tez, but you're not even crazy."
Agnes turns back, angry now. "It wasn't a front! Dammit, I like you! Do you even know what the evil bitch did? Do you know what she did to your own father? Do you know how she stole her position here? You think that because she worked in an important position she was bunnies and duckies."
Chimrea: "Mother didn't like her, but she disliked lots of people. I don't know anything about her and my father." Chimrea looks a little confused.
Agnes: "Shall I show you? I can show you from her own memories what it felt like to use him -- to trick him into murdering an innocent man. Or maybe how she obstructed the translation of the ancient tethite runes here so she could maintain her own power instead of promoting the good of the colony. Or any of a number of other things."
Agnes: "Or maybe how she tried to drive a wedge between your father and mother using her past entanglement with your father and her ability to seduce and manipulate men? Do you want to know these things?"
Chimrea takes a half-step back, raising her hand in an instinctive warding gesture. "Don't touch my mind. I'm not... I'm not sure if you're telling the truth, and there's no one left to ask now."
Agnes: "There are lots of people left from those times. I'm sure much of what I'm saying can be confirmed by them. Some of the old Tethite refugees. Some of the old Rhiani -- maybe Fazeris could weigh in. Maybe Fahd would know...
Alquas can't help but feel rather sidelined.
Chimrea: Chimrea takes a deep breath. "So is this all a long way of saying you won't help resist the High King?"
Alquas draws on his cigarette, orders another drink and waits for them to finish "women", he reflects to himself, very quietly.
Agnes: "And anyway, I'm really troubled by the danger that Beliria's death brings to Green Lake. It was only pointed out to me after the fact that she was a substantial source of revenue and now I have to figure outa way to keep the forge operating efficiently."
Chimrea: "There's that, yes. Which brings us back to my trepidation at you suggesting Alquas do something 'cool' to the gate. I'd really just like for everyone to stop destroying my home, for at least a few hours so I can sleep."
Agnes startles. "Uh, no, it isn't me saying that. Like I said, I'll listen to your plan. If I think it's naive or foolish, I'll continue to work for a pragmatic way of protecting the city. If it can work and produce an even better outcome, even if there's _some_ risk, then I'll help you with my last drop of blood."
Chimrea nods. "All right. I'm going to talk to all the big spirits in the area I can reach. Alquas will be happy to escort me to the temple, I'm sure. Once I've done that, I'll give you a plan."
Chimrea: Some part of Chimrea's brain can't believe she's saying this.
Agnes: "Chimrea, I'm more than happy to meet with the spirits with you -- I've been doing so all along."
Chimrea: "I think I'd prefer to talk to them alone," Chimrea says thoughtfully. "You're very forceful, Agnes, and I want to get a few words in edgewise. It'd be like talking about magic with Alquas if I brought you." She shoots him a little smile, experimentally.
Agnes: "I...huh. OK."
Alquas: Alquuas gives chimrea a small nod, through a now dense cloud of smoke.
Agnes collapses into a chair as the unaccustomed emotion drains away.
Alquas: "Are you finished?" he asks, airily.
Chimrea sags into a chair herself, folding her arms on the table and hiding her face in them.
Chimrea: She waves a hand affirmatively at Alquas without raising her head.
Alquas: "Wonderful. I trust all is well between you both? Fighting among friends is not to be borne."
Alquas: His cheerful manner sounds almost like an affectation, until you note his dilated pupils.
Kerem comes down the steps, Tez pretty much literally in tow.
Chimrea lifts her head at that, looking at him curiously.
Tez is looking vaguely thoughtful, and half amused.
Agnes waves dismissivly toward Alquas. "Congratulations on your magic trick."
Kerem: "Okay, so, here's the deal, Alquas..." he stops and surveys the situation.
Kerem: "Are you guys okay?"
Alquas: "Never better!"
Kerem: "Not YOU, dickhead."
Agnes laughs, feeling just a little bit better.
Alquas' eyes are positively streaming as he wades out of his own smoke-cloud.
Tez looks over at Agnes, then lets go of the deathgrip on Kerem's shoulder, and hops down the stairs to sit next to her.
Kerem shakes his head and sighs.
Alquas: He laughs uproariously at the dickhead comment.
Alquas: "Kerrrem, you are a funny man indeed, yes?" He slaps Kerrem on the back, hard.
Agnes unconciously reaches out to hold her hand as a gesture of friendship.
Kerem glares.
Tez squeezes Agnes' hand and smiles at her.
Kerem: "Okay, listen, Alquas. The Forge people think that the assassin who came after you also killed Beleria. That means you guys have common cause. This is your chance to broker a real peace between Green Lake and whatever the hell your backwards country is called."
Alquas blinks, slowly.
Kerem: "Then we can call on the resources of your benighted people to help defend Green Lake from the High King's armies."
Kerem: "On the one hand, if you do this, you'll be a hero, here and to your people."
Kerem: "On the other hand, if you don't work with me, I'll cut off your balls."
Alquas: "I confess I understood only half of that, friend Kerrem!" He laughs again, and inhales deeply from his impromptu cigarette.
Kerem rolls his eyes.
Tez reaches over to Alquas and swipes his cigarette thing, inspecting it
Kerem: "Tez, can you make him sober with your crazy blood powers or something?"
Agnes cocks her head to the side a bit and watches the conversation, trying to figure out what Kerem is up to.
Alquas waves a hand expansively. "Try some, friend Tez! It expands the mind!"
Alquas slumps in a chair with a dumb grin on his face.
Kerem: "Agnes? Anyone? Bartender, can I get a bucket of ice water over here?"
Agnes: "Oh, sure. I can facilitate your discussion if you'd like."
Alquas: "Someone should draw me a diagram." he burbles, largely to himself. "Forges, Bellarias, High Kings.. who are all these people?"
Kerem: "Please." The bucket arrives. "Oh, wait, hold on."
Tez scratches at one of the many scabs that cover her arms, and smears some blood on the cigarette, and gives it back to him.
Kerem grabs Alquas by the scruff of his neck and shoves his head forcefully into the water, holding it there.
Tez: "Swimming?"
Alquas bubbles, happily.
Alquas: He emerges laughing uproariously.
Kerem leans on his neck as he tries to get up, keeping his face in the bucket, whistling idly to himself.
Chimrea: "Um, shouldn't you let him up?" Chimrea speaks for the first time since Kerem came down, raising her head from her arms and looking concerned.
Agnes: "Um...so, is he your slave now?"
Tez: "Alquas?"
Kerem: "Nah, it's okay. I knew a guy who used to do this all the time back in the city. He's got, like, another thirty seconds at least."
Agnes: "What if the drug changes his physiology?"
Tez considers trying to turn the water to blood
Kerem: "This is actually the specific treatment we used to use at the Golden Ram for people hopped up on that stuff."
Alquas: Eventually, Alquas starts to struggle and splutter a bit.
Kerem: "You just lean on em until they...oh there we go." He lets Alquas get free of the water.
Alquas: Sound of serious distress emerge from the bucket, in gargle form, until the weight is finally released.
Alquas emerges properly this time, and inhales deeply
Alquas: He slumps forward, gasping for a few moments.
Tez pokes his shoulder
Alquas: Then his eyes turn flinty, and he glares at Kerem.
Kerem: "Wakey wakey." Kerem smiles winningly.
Alquas: "I think perhaps this joke goes to far now, yes?"
Alquas slumps back, wetly.
Kerem: "I don't like you, Alquas."
Kerem: "I didn't like you originally for what I admit now were basically self-absorbed and not very important reasons."
Agnes whispers to Tez "Somebody has a case of the Mondays."
Alquas: He retrieves some powder form about his person, sprinkles it upon himself, and the water quickly dries from him. He listens, distractedly, all the while.
Tez giggles
Kerem: "Right now I don't like you because you've kept slaves your whole life, and you never thought twice about it."
Kerem: "Here's your chance to make it up to me."
Alquas positively snorts.
Alquas: "I have nothing to make up to you, Zhanjiir."
Alquas: "the ladies here, I have debts to pay. But you, you were in my service. Paid handsomely, as I recall."
Agnes: "The heart of slavery is requiring another to work for your benefit, right?"
Kerem raises an eyebrow, pulls the pouch from his belt and throws it into the bucket.
Alquas: "Ah yes? How noble. You never supplied me with the protection anyhow."
Agnes: "So really, it's the same as theft -- in which one person exercises their position of power to require that another work extra to make up for lost resources."
Kerem: "I'm not a fucking paladin, Agnes, I'm a criminal. I won't hurt him, as long as he helps protect Green Lake."
Kerem: "He'll benefit as much as I will. Everybody wins!" He smiles.
Alquas: "I am not convinced, Kehhrem, that if there is to be a winning side, I want you to be on it."
Agnes smiles too. "So you're forcing him into an action...for his own good?"
Alquas picks himself up, now considerably drier.
Kerem: "I'm making him an offer he can't refuse."
Tez hums a little song, watching them all.
Alquas: "An order, then? And he talks of freedom. No, I will not negotiate with you, Kehremm, for this or anything."
Tez: "What do you want him to do anyway?"
Kerem: "I get it, Alquas. You don't like me either. That's okay. I can't really blame you."
Agnes makes eye-contact with Chimrea. "This is your advisor?"
Kerem snaps his eyes to Agnes. "Somebody's gotta try to save Green Lake. Everybody else seemed to be busy for some reason."
Chimrea: Chimrea's been watching the whole scene like she's trying to focus on it from a great distance. She doesn't answer Agnes.
Agnes: "Save Green Lake from what?"
Kerem: "From the High King. From you, right? That's the rumor going around town, anyway."
Agnes: "Why is it that when I speak of my motives, I'm assumed to be a liar. And yet, this one thing that I said is taken as pure gold?"
Chimrea: "And from the Vajaari, and from Akalatan, and whatever's dropping giant rocks from the sky. There's plenty of trouble to go around, so why are we all fighting?"
Kerem: "Oh yeah. The giant rocks thing sure sucked, lemme tell you."
Alquas: "I wonder this too, Chimrea."
Tez: "What would we do if we did not fight?"
Alquas brings himself up to his full height.
Agnes: "Plan? Work? Maybe even just have fun."
Kerem: "Chim said you were here to enslave these people, and that you had us kill Beleria on the way to doing so. True? False?"
Agnes: "False." She says it with complete conviction.
Chimrea winces. "We were arguing about that right before you came down."
Kerem: "Oh."
Kerem pauses.
Kerem: "Any...useful conclusions?"
Tez: It made Agnes sad.
Chimrea makes a tiny hand motion to Kerem--she needs to talk to him, later.
Agnes: "Chimrea thinks I'm lying..."
Agnes: "So you will too...what's the point."
Tez: "It's ok. They don't trust me either."
Kerem: "Excuse me. I specifically DO trust you, remember?"
Kerem: "We JUST talked about this like five minutes ago."
Agnes: "Yeah, but they feel sorry for you. I got nothing." Agnes smiles...sort of.
Alquas sidels over to Chimrea. "Perhaps a word away from these three? I feel as though I have been in this conversation before."
Tez: "Except Kerem."
Chimrea: "Um..." Chimrea hesitates a second, but she knows she can ask Kerem to fill her in later, so she scoots back to whisper to Alquas. "What is it?"
Kerem: "I don't know you, Agnes. I don't know anything about you."
Tez smiles at Agnes. "You are my friend. You helped me."
Kerem: "It's not that I don't trust you. It's that I'm kind of professionally paranoid."
Kerem: "And I trust Chim."
Kerem: "So why doesn't she trust you?"
Tez: "Do you still want to sleep with her?"
Agnes: "Ask her. The Rhiani with their uncanny ability to detect falsehood don't have a problem with me."
Agnes: "Me?"
Tez considers. "I guess. But mostly Kerem."
Kerem: "Rhiani have what now?" Kerem looks stricken.
Agnes blinks at everyone in confusion.
Kerem: "Look, Tez...I don't know what I want."
Kerem: "I mean."
Tez: "Killing is so much easier than talking." she mutters.
Kerem: "I totally do know what I want. But I don't know how to make things right."
Tez: "What do you want?"
Kerem sighs, and slumps in a chair.
Agnes snorts at the pregnant pause.
Tez: "What do you want?" she insists.
Kerem: "Tez, I love you. But I love her too. I don't know what I'm supposed to do about it."
Kerem: "I want you both to be happy and safe."
Agnes: "Oh for the mercy of Thakulz, why not just love them both? You people are so confused!"
Kerem: "I...you can't do that! I mean...it's...I dunno."
Tez eyes Kerem, then looks over at Chimrea and back to Kerem.
Agnes: "You just said you did. Y Ou ? already do!"
Kerem: "Yeah, all right, you're right, I do."
Kerem: "But what do I DO?"
Tez crosses her arms, "Is that why you left me?"
Agnes: "Tell them. Ask them which of them reciprocate. See if they can cope. It's not so hard!"
Kerem: "Please don't kill her, Tez."
Tez: "Why not?"
Kerem: "I AM telling them, but it's awkward, and now they'll hate me."
Kerem: "And see! Now she wants to kill her!"
Kerem: "Honesty is the dumbest policy!"
Agnes: "Tez, why kill her? She didn't do anything. He's the one in the middle.
Agnes: "
Agnes: "But why be mad at all?"
Tez: "It doesn't matter, though, does it? Because the only reason you slept with me was because of her. And the only reason I slept with YOU was her, too."
Kerem has changed the topic to: Kerem> "Honesty is the dumbest policy!"
Kerem: "Tez, I don't need to go home with some random girl off the street just because I'm having a bad day."
Tez: "But you did."
Kerem: "I slept with you because I liked you. Because I loved you."
Kerem: "Because there's something special about you."
Tez: "How do I know you're not lying?"
Agnes: "Tez, What do you feel toward Kerem? For you to feel so strongly, there must be _something_."
Kerem shrugs helplessly. "How do I know Agnes isn't lying? I guess we don't."
Kerem: "Either we trust, or we don't, and we go forward from there."
Tez: "I should go back to Ardania."
Tez: "Green Lake doesn't want me anyway."
Tez gesticulates wildly with godflesh
Agnes: "Tez, I want you. And contrary to Chimrea branding me a foreigner, I'm part of Green Lake."
Kerem: "I want you to do whatever makes you happy, Tez."
Tez: "Except kill you, and chimrea."
Kerem: "If you think you'd be happier if you left, then you should go. I'd miss you, though."
Kerem rolls his eyes.
Kerem: "Yes. Except kill me or people I care about."
Agnes: "...or be an avatar of the blood good..."
Kerem: "Don't you fucking start that again."
Kerem: "I just HAD this conversation with her."
Kerem: "You're fucking her up. You're making her crazy, because you think it would give you more power."
Agnes cackles. "A little levity can always smooth situations like this out."
Tez: "Agnes isn't! She's my friend!"
Agnes: And then she stops. "Me? No, I'm not."
Kerem eyes her.
Kerem: "What ARE you doing?"
Agnes: "You just told her you want for her what will make her happy. That's horse shit. You want for her what will make you happy."
Agnes: "I want for her what will make her happy. And only if that were tremendously destructive would I vary from that stance."
Kerem: "She told me she didn't want this...thing in her head any more. She asked me to help her get free of it."
Agnes: "She told you that, or you told her to think that?"
Kerem: "I went into the middle of Klahador and risked my fucking life for her so that I could do that for her."
Agnes: "You know, I can hear what you tell her."
Kerem: "She told ME. I didn't tell her to."
Tez: "I am the avatar of the blood god. Even if you free me from what's in my head, it is still part of me."
Agnes: "Anyway, we're off track here. Even with these difficulties, you two might still love one another and be able to craft a relationship of some kind. Tez, what are your feelings? Kerem, are you sure you know what love is?"
Kerem: "Then let it be part of you."
Kerem: "I don't...what?"
Agnes: "You said you loved her. That's a heavy thing. Are you sure?"
Kerem is quiet for a second.
Kerem: "I see something beautiful in her eyes. She makes me wish I could be a better person, so I could be worthy of her."
Agnes: "How often do you want to wake up with her? FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE."
Kerem squints.
Tez: "Feelings... I don't know. Angry. Jea... worthy?" she struggles for words for a minute.
Kerem: "I think you and I have different definitions of love."
Agnes: "I'm purposely broadening the concept."
Agnes: "What if you and Tez have 'different definitions' when you're saying that?"
Kerem: "Then we'd be failing to communicate constantly, leading to misunderstandings and conflict."
Kerem: "Right?"
Agnes: "Yeah, unless you figure it out. I think it's important that she understand what you mean each time you claim to love her."
Kerem: "Well, that's why I keep DEFINING it."
Tez: "What if Chimrea loves Alquas?" she gestures to the two off in their corner.
Tez points out the squeezing of hands
Agnes: "Isn't that OK too? What if Chimrea loves Alquas and Kerem?"
Kerem tightens his lips, but replies evenly. "I want her to do what makes her happy."
Kerem: "It would be neat if she were happy to be with me, but my own happiness is not necessarily the most important thing in my life."
Tez: "Are you sure?"
Kerem: "Am I sure, what?"
Tez: "That you would be okay with them together. In love. Kissing. Fucking. Look how they touch eachother."
Tez: "They dance together."
Kerem looks at Tez.
Kerem: "Why are you trying to hurt me?"
Agnes: "At least she won't bring his cock to the marketplace..."
Tez: "Because this is what you are doing to me."
Agnes: "No, no, no! You guys keep fucking it up."
Agnes: "Neither of you should want to hurt the other. Why is this so hard?"
Tez: "Alquas IS handsome. And rich."
Kerem: "Yes, Tez, I know. I'm sorry. But what do you want me to do about it?"
Agnes: "Tez, he's not hurting you, you're just hurting -- and you don't need to!"
Agnes: "Kerem, same for you."
Kerem sighs, and throws back an ale, trying not to look into the corner.
Agnes is frustrated with these two.
Tez gets up and walks across the room to where Chimrea and Alquas are.
Agnes raises her eyebrows in curiosity.
Kerem: "So, Agnes."
Kerem: "Why is the High King coming here anyway?"
Kerem: "I know you told me once, but it slipped my mind."
Kerem looks over into the corner. "What the..."
Agnes: "There are some important earth nodes underground in the area. He also collects magical trinkets, but I think he already got the important one from here. He doesn't really care about what we do on the surface so much, but he needs to control the surface to be sure that he controls the nodes."
Kerem: "What's important about them? Could we move them? Destroy them? Seal them off from the surface somehow?"
Agnes: "Huh, that was odd. Maybe she just wanted to complete the geometry."
Agnes: "No, none of that. As I understand it (not much) they exist as some kind of confluence of power flows or something. They are where they are, it's not like they're just big gems to be dug up and sent to him."
Kerem: "Can't we redirect the power flows?"
Kerem: "I mean, the gate's clearly affecting the flows somehow, right?"
Kerem: "Couldn't we just change the flows and move the nodes away from Green Lake?"
Kerem: "Or even threaten to destroy them entirely but shutting off the right flow."
Agnes: "I think the subterranian flows are different...but I'm really speaking out of my depth. If you want, I could take you to chat with my father about it."
Kerem pauses.
Kerem: "Who's your father?"
Kerem eyes Alquas as he passes.
Alquas walks past with a huge grin plastered all over his face.
Kerem rolls his eyes.
Alquas: "Good evening, Zhanjiir Agnes."
Alquas: "Kerem."
Kerem: "Yeah, whatever, slavehead."
Kerem: "Say goodnight to Salya for me."
Agnes: "His name is Egani. He used to live here. He served Chimrea's mother but her father of record drove him off."
Agnes: "Good night!"
Alquas is oblivious to these last remarks as he wanders back to the bedrooms, and Kani..
Kerem: "Uh..."
Kerem: "Without meaning offense, some things about you scare me, so I'm willing to talk to him, but I'd kind of like to make sure it'll be safe first."
Kerem: "Is that okay?"
Agnes: "Safe?"
Kerem: "Like, he won't kill me, or something."
Agnes: "You can ask around with the older Rhiani...oh! He won't kill you."
Kerem: "You don't really seem to have much of an awareness of danger, if that's okay to say."
Agnes: "Yeah, partly that's my rearing and partly a concious decision. I won't live the life of a victim."
Chimrea comes back to the table, rubbing her eyes like she's barely managing to keep awake. She looks a little wary, like she's not sure what she'll find them talking about.
Alquas is now known as Sleeperach
Kerem shrugs. "I can't really argue with that."
Kerem picks up Alquas's discarded cigarette and looks around for a candle that wasn't knocked over when he stuffed Alquas's face into the bucket.
Kerem: "Hey, Chim."
Agnes: "Chimrea, do you know any stories of my father for Kerem?"
Kerem: "Sorry if I screwed everything up."
Kerem: "What did you want to talk to me about?"
Kerem lights the end of the cigarette, takes a drag and passes it to Agnes.
Agnes conquors her aversion to random, used drugs in order to be social.
Chimrea: "Just a second," Chimrea says to Kerem. Taking a deep breath, she says to Agnes, "I'm sorry I haven't given you enough of a chance. You deserve the same friendship that Alquas does, so I'm going to believe you that you're here to help. I have a lot of people to talk to tomorrow, but I think we can all get a plan together."
Chimrea: She says to Kerem, "I only know a bit about Egani, I'm afraid--he was old days stuff, so my parents sort of avoided talking about him. But I'll be happy to tell you all I can remember, only I'm about to pass out if I don't get some sleep.
Kerem: "Your five-second analysis, if I go talk to him about it, will I regret it?"
Kerem: "The earth nodes, that is."
Chimrea blinks. "Probably not, as long as the goblins don't get you while you're there. I wouldn't expect to understand him too much, though."
Agnes: "I took some of the other locals to see him a couple months ago. They all came back."
Kerem furrows his brow at the cigarette in some confusion, then passes it to Chimrea.
Kerem: "Okay. Well, I guess we should do that, then."
Chimrea: Chimrea's eyes widen like she wants to say something big, but all that comes out is, "You'll be careful, right?"
Kerem squints. "Didn't you just say it was going to be okay?"
Agnes: "You can come along to keep him safe, Chim."
Chimrea: "Yeah, but..." Chimrea shoots a look at Agnes, who put her finger on it.
Chimrea: "Let me talk to Rahkleth tomorrow, and I'll come." She's terrified at the idea of getting a closer look at the High King, but she covers it.
Agnes: "Too bad Teodric is stil sick, we could take him too."
Chimrea: "If that's all right," she adds belatedly, looking at Kerem. She doesn't want to tag along like an unwanted kid sister.
Agnes: Obliviously, Agnes answers "Oh sure, everyone is welcome."
Kerem smiles at Chim. "I'd love to have you along."
Kerem: "Hey." He stands, and puts a hand out to Chim. "Thanks for...well...thanks for just being you."
Chimrea: "Okay. I'll see you guys tomorrow, then." Chimrea pastes on one last bright smile, which falters and then strengthens as she takes Kerem's hand. Wanting to do more but not in front of Agnes, she says, "Don't burn down the inn or anything." Then she flees.
Kerem stubs out the cigarette. "How the hell did he get high off THAT?"
Agnes: "Lightweight."
Kerem: "I guess."
Kerem: "Well, uh."
Kerem: "Thanks, Agnes."
Kerem: "Listen, I'm sorry I distrusted you without giving you a chance to explain yourself."
Agnes: "It was interesting..."
Kerem: "That wasn't very fair of me."
Kerem: "I'm glad to have you on our side, such as it is."
Agnes: "Hey, at least you didn't stab me. See you tomorrow, maybe?"
Kerem: "Sure. Lateish, maybe. I have to sleep in, and then play around with my key a little more."
Agnes nods. "Catch you later."
Kerem treads his weary way up the steps.
Agnes leans back and orders more food and drink. Now that she's alone, some contemplation is in order.

Tez sulkily follows Kerem upstairs
Kerem turns around once he gets to the second floor and faces Tez, looking into her eyes.
Kerem: "I'm sorry."
Kerem: "I promised you that I'd help you be safe and happy, and I haven't done a very good job of that up til now."
Tez grunts.
Tez: "I don't need you to."
Kerem: "No, you don't need me to, but I promised I would."
Tez: "I'm fine. Agnes is my friend."
Kerem: "I...okay. That's potentially good"
Kerem: "Listen."
Kerem: "The point is, I also promised I'd help you...know who you were, and be who you wanted to be."
Kerem: "While you were gone, I kind of...went on a heroquest, and I got this key."
Tez: "I remembered who I was. It was clear again, in a dream."
Kerem: "It frees people from bondage and slavery."
Tez eyes the key. "I'm not a slave."
Kerem: "I'm not saying..."
Kerem: "I dunno."
Kerem makes some extravagant gesture and ends up holding Tez's arms.
Tez looks at him funny
Kerem: "What I'm trying to say is..."
Kerem: "Listen, do you remember...that night we met?"
Tez blinks, tilting her head to one side, "Yes."
Tez: "Some of it."
Kerem: "There...there was something I saw in you then, a person who I thought was wonderful, and caring, and who...just wanted to be loved, and to make people happy."
Kerem: "...and...sometimes you scare me, or you do things that make me worry, but, deep down, I trust you, because, deep down, I know that there's this person inside you, who's really...really...wonderful."
Kerem: "So...I don't..."
Tez puts her head in her hands, which is somewhat disturbing due to one being occupied. "I ... I don't know if she is there anymore."
Kerem: "She is."
Kerem: "I believe in her. I believe in you."
Kerem: "Listen, I told you I'd save you, and I went on a quest to save you, and I'm going to try to save you. So if you want me to stop, cause you don't want to be that person, then you'd better kill me now, because otherwise I'm going to go ahead and try one of these days."
Kerem: "...it's your decision."
Kerem takes a deep breath.
Kerem: "Okay?"
Tez shakes her head, "I chose Him, I chose to be his bride, the Chosen One." She looks up, and tears streak down his face. "I can't go back. I have His child in me. If you save me... what part of me will stay?"
Kerem is silent for a bit.
Kerem: "The part of you that makes me want to know you, and want to support you, and make you happy. I promise you, Tez, it's still there."
Kerem: "It doesn't matter. The child, it doesn't matter. Nobody can make you do anything you don't want to do."'
Kerem: "You have the power."
Kerem: "You can be the person you want to be."
Kerem takes her, cautiously, in his arms.
Tez: "Everyone says that, but I don't." She leans against the wall for support, then reluctantly leans into his arms. "You want me to be one person, other people want me to be another. A priestess. A noble. A thief. A warrior. A friend. A lover. Everything. Nothing. I want to be someone who knows who she is. I can't be everything anymore. But I won't be nothing."
Kerem: "Let me help."
Kerem: "Do you trust me?"
Tez: "Promise I won't be nothing." She curls her fingers into his shoulders, clinging to him.
Kerem: "I promise," he breathes.
Kerem: "Listen, I have to free Kani from slavery now. Everything's going to be okay, okay?"
Tez doesn't let go, "Everything, yes."
Kerem: "Yes. We'll make it okay."
Kerem backs awkwardly towards Alquas's door, dragging Tez with him if necessary.
Tez lets go with one hand and follows him
Kerem opens Alquas's door and peeks around inside.
Tez knocks
Kerem gives her kind of an irritated look.
Alquas' room is empty.
Kerem growls and opens the adjoining door.
Alquas: Raised voices greet Kerem, as the lady Salya shouts at Kani.
Alquas: "Until he returns, then, you should answer to me, impertinent girl!"
Tez knocks on that one too
Kerem: "Hi, are you Kani?"
Kerem addresses the woman being yelled at, of course.
Alquas: "Who are you? How did you get in here? Are you the staff here?" The lady Salya has many questions and a tone that is used to getting answers.
Alquas: "This is a ladies' bedroom! Have you no manners?"
Tez giggles, watching Kerem
Kerem: "Wow, a female Alquas."
Kerem: "That's exciting."
Alquas: "Alquas! What do you know of him? Where has he gone? I have not seen him since that storm began!"
Kerem: "Um, I'm a crazed killer, I came through the door, and no, I'm not a house crazed killer, I'm freelance."
Kerem: "Stand over there against the wall and shut the hell up."
Tez kicks Kerem a little
Kerem: "What?"
Kerem: "YOU deal with her then."
Kerem: "See, this is why I need you."
Alquas: The lady Salya turns an interesting shade of pink.
Kerem: "Kani...you ARE Kani, right?"
Kerem: "Listen. Come here." He gestures, smiling a little. "I'm not really a crazed killer, I just made that up a second ago."
Tez thinks very hard at Kerem, screwing up her face a little, ~Why don't you just seduce her?~
Agnes: ~~You want me to seduce Chimrea?!?~~
Tez is very confused and surprised now ~~Why would you do that?~~
Alquas: "Yes." says Kani. "I am Kani."
Alquas: "Please, if you have seen my master Alquas, I would speak with him urgently."
Tez: "Kerem wants to free you."
Kerem: "Yeah, don't worry, I'll take you to him. Give me your hand."
Alquas: "I... oh." She casts a glance at the stammering lady Salya, and then says "Well... certainly. Are you... Kerem, by any chance? My master said to expect bodyguards?"
Alquas: She takes his hand.
Kerem: "Yes."
Alquas: She relaxes. "Ah, it is well then! Take me to Alquas!"
Tez: ~~Are you... going to seduce Chimrea?~~
Agnes: ~~I thought...nevermind.~~ Agnes seems upset.
Kerem 's key begins to glow with a pure golden light, and his voice echoes more than the acoustics of the room can account for.
Tez: ~~What...oooh key.~
Kerem: "I am Kerem, bearer of the Golden Key, servant of A'taal, the Liberator, who frees the slaves, and I say to you to cast off your chains, and walk in glory henceforth, Kani, for you are free."
Tez: ~~Kerem's making speeches. Are you ok?~~
Agnes: ~~I'm confronting Chimrea about how she's been acting weird to me lately. I'm kind of mad and sad. I think I'll go swimming when this is done. <pout>~~
Agnes: ~~What's he speaking about?~~
Tez: ~~Mmmm something about A'taal, and a Golden key, and freeing slaves.~~
Agnes: ~~<shrug>~~
Alquas: Kani's face falls and then she shudders.
Alquas: "I..."
Tez: ~~She looks upset. Maybe she wants to go swimming.~~
Alquas: She looks, wonderingly, up at Kerem.
Alquas: "What did you... what did you do?"
Kerem: "I freed you." He gives a little shrug. "Sorry. It's my first time."
Alquas: She backs away form him, from everyone, and then without further words dashes out of the room.
Kerem blinks a little.
Kerem: "Well, a thank you would've been okay."
Tez: "You better practice more before you do me."
Kerem: "Yeah, I'll find some trapped rats or something."
Kerem: "I guess we'd better head back downstairs. Nice to meet you, miss." He gives Salya a polite nod.
Tez waves a little

Chimrea sidles back from the main group, going with Alquas to a corner. "This is all so messy. Are you all right?"
Alquas: "Fine."
Alquas: "Your... boyfriend... did not harm me in any permanent fashion."
Chimrea looks at him. "Um, is that seriously fine, or sarcastic and Chimrea should know better fine?" She looks honestly concerned.
Alquas: "I am unhurt."
Alquas: "Look. About the temple."
Chimrea: "Yes?"
Alquas: "I stole power form the gate. I tricked the priests into it. I did what I thought would be necessary to protect myself from the Praelector."
Alquas: "And, we DID end the storm."
Alquas: "Now the Praelector is dead, it seems, so I stole the power for nothing."
Chimrea looks at him steadily. "What are you going to do about it?"
Alquas: "And yet, I owe you a debt, Chimrea. We have not always... related well, but I can recognise an obligation when I have one. You took on... well, I confes sI do not truly know what it cost you to rescue Kani, but there should be recompense for that."
Chimrea waves a hand. "Are we friends? Because if we are, stop talking about obligations."
Alquas: "I would like to think we are, Chimrea, in spite of everything."
Alquas: "And in spite of the compnay you keep."
Alquas: "In any case. The arachnid."
Chimrea rubs a hand over her face. "Half the time I hate you, Alquas, but I keep seeing a person I really like underneath all the stuff you feel like you have to wear."
Chimrea: "And if you mean Old Man Spider by 'the arachnid,' I'll worry about him. I think Belnif might be able to help me."
Alquas: "I was propsing perhaps a more... permanent solution? "
Chimrea: "What do you mean? I'm tired, and I'm not up on all these code phrases."
Alquas: "Well, the gods are not unkillable,as you friends have proved. And there is power at my disposal here..."
Chimrea looks horrified. "You want to kill Old Man Spider? Why not Z'taar?"
Alquas: "Well, not kill as such... just dissaude, perhaps."
Alquas: "And Z'tarr?"
Alquas: "You think his will might be bound by my magicks? You flatter me indeed, my friend Chimrea. A spider, yes, but Z'Tarr?"
Chimrea looks up at the ceiling for a second, like she's counting boards or looking for written clues to the mysteries of Alquas' head. Looking back down, she smiles brightly and says, "I'm much too tired to finish this conversation right now, I'm afraid. Let me get some sleep, and you can condescend to me later."
Alquas: "Condescend, Chimrea? By no means. I simply doubt I have the power to kill Z'tarr."
Alquas: "I.. perhaps I hav mis-spoke. The spider... you do not wish to see him killed? Or you think him perhaps beyond my skill? I confess I assume simply form my ignorance of him that he is not..."
Chimrea: "But it would be no problem for you to shoo off the Taker, because none of the backwater spirits I talk to could *possibly* be as powerful as your people's gods. Anything I say to you about spirits just passes straight through, doesn't it?"
Alquas: "I only know what I have been tauhgt my whole life, Chimrea. I hold no love for Z'tarr."
Chimrea takes a deep breath, calming down. "Old Man Spider is very powerful. And both you and Kerem want to save me from him, and now that I think about it that means a lot to me, but... look, he's not trying to destroy my home! He's not the problem here. So thank you, but I think we need to worry about the High King and Akalatan much more."
Alquas pauses at this. "Very well, Chimrea."
Alquas: "Look. This place will never survive invasion without direction. I do not share my father's taste for war, but that much is apparent to any child."
Chimrea smiles at him, not looking sad for a few moments. "Thank you, I mean it. I'm not used to having friends, so I guess I don't always know how to talk to people."
Alquas: "After what I have done, with Kani, Slaya, and to my own brother... I can never return home. I need a new home, and here is as good as any."
Chimrea reaches out and squeezes his hand.
Chimrea: "It's a good place to live. I'll talk to Rahkleth tomorrow--will you tell him what you told me about your father's armies?"
Alquas: "If he will hear it. I am a stranger in a strange land, Chimrea. You're the only person I have yet met who has been willing to show me compassion."
Chimrea: "Yeah, I've noticed. I'm not giving up on you. And we can make Rahkleth listen. He and my family go back."
Alquas: "Not, perhaps, that I am deserving of compassion. But this is friendship, yes?"
Alquas looks about him.
Alquas: "I could put down roots soemwhere else, or take the carpet and become an itnerant. But my people want me dead, my family will want little better, and this place is the closest I have to somewhere I can expect a little protection from them all."
Chimrea: "Oh, Alquas." For a second, Chimrea's eyes go distant, like she's looking through him to see something precious inside. "Everyone deserves compassion. When I'm not too tired or scared or angry, I remember that. Everyone should have a home." She reaches out to touch his face lightly, eyes refocusing.
Alquas: "You are wise beyond your years, Chimrea."
Chimrea: "...Which, I suppose means that Agnes deserves the same chance." She straightens. "Thank you for reminding me, Alquas."
Alquas: "Thank you, Chimrea. For the many second chances."
Alquas reaches out to hold her hand. "Shall we return?"
Chimrea: She pokes him in the chest, lightly. "Just don't keep pushing me. I get enough of that from Kerem."
Alquas: "Ah, yes, Kehrrrem."
Alquas: "In the spirit of friendship.. may I ask you of him?"
Chimrea: "Ask what?"
Alquas: "Agnes said... boyfriend?"
Alquas looks very young, in this moment.
Chimrea: "Oh! Um. It's..." She winces. "Would you believe me if I said it was complicated?"
Alquas: "easily, my dear."
Alquas: "All too easily."
Chimrea: "Honestly, I'm not sure what we are. I'm confused a lot of the time, so I mostly try to focus on the big apocalyptic stuff and don't think about it."
Alquas: "Hah, yes, the simple problems."
Alquas: "Personally, I just get blind drunk."
Alquas: "Speaking of..."
Chimrea: "If you're going to get drunk, don't get yourself killed." She squeezes his hand one last time, then releases it. "I'm worn out from arguing, and there's rituals that need to be prepared. We'll talk to Rahkleth tomorrow, right?"
Alquas: "Certainly, dear friend."
Alquas: "I should certainly see that the lady Salya and Kani are unharmed by the day's events."
Chimrea chokes a bit, then turns it into a cough. "Right. Tomorrow, then."
Tez approaches Chimrea and Alquas, glares at them both for a minute
Chimrea: "Oh, no. Do I have to fight with you too?"
Chimrea: She meant it to be flippant, but it comes out a little plaintive.
Alquas: Whispered to Chimrea: "Will you be all right?"
Tez then grabs Alquas, kisses him soundly, and walks off, leaving the bar and everyone in it behind.
Chimrea blinks.
Alquas blinks, also.
Alquas wonders vaguely if he can taste blood.
Chimrea: "Um, I'm going to hope that was a good sign, and get out of here before things get any weirder."
Alquas: "Wonderful!" he says, eventually, with a maniacal expression. "All we need now is for Kerem to sleep with agnes and our pentagram shall be complete."
Chimrea winces. "Yes, that would be lovely. Good night, Alquas."
Alquas: "Chimrea, my dear, I will see you tomorrow."
Alquas walks towards the bedrooms - but via Kerem's table.

Shadow World

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