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Priya (handofthekeeper) wrote in watchers_rp,
@ 2017-04-25 14:14:00

Entry tags:

#day 003/03 may, iliana, nevina, priya, reyne

Who: Priya and Iliana, Reyne and Nevina
Where: The mansion of a well-to-do merchant who is also a minion
When: After lunch time

Priya had many questions, and many more that could perhaps be answered by earthly means. She had hardly called upon other servants of the Keeper in the time since her ascension to Hand; it was high time she did so. The night before, she had dutifully walked into each of the Mordha women's dreams and told them the time and the place where they should meet her. Priya hoped they understood that this wasn't a polite request rather than an order that they should fulfill as their cover allowed. Always as their cover allowed.

The merchant, whose name Priya had forgotten for the moment had left his mansion in her care for the day, and any time she needed it after, she was assured. Priya sat in the small courtyard, enjoying the weather as she waited for her Bringers of Death to arrive.

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keepindarkness
2017-04-25 03:14 pm UTC (link)

Iliana had found it easy enough to slip out of the castle without having to make too many excuses. She had already solidified herself as a Lady who liked to visit the city and so after lunch, she headed out, recalling from her dream where Priya had instructed her to meet. Of course Iliana wondered if her mother and aunt would be there, and she found it highly likely. She didn't dread it, as this was not the time for family bonding, but for serving the Hand, and the Keeper.

The mansion she arrived at was quite lovely, but Iliana was focused on Priya, who was waiting for her in the courtyard. She lowered her head out of respect and greeted Priya appropriately. "Are we awaiting others?"

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heldbytheblade
2017-04-25 05:12 pm UTC (link)

Reyne had never appreciated having her dreams poked at all that much. There was little point to being unconscious if your mind was going to be used as a messenger service, in her opinion. Nevertheless, she took heed because she liked her head where it was. Lord What’s-His-Face from Someplace-Dull ought not have goaded her that morning, however. Her armour being lighter and, yes, shorter than his -- if he would raise his eyes before she raised them for him -- did not make her an easy target. Reyne suspected he had started off holding back, because she was female and therefore inept, naturally. It was a mistake that had lead to his plate-armour ringing so loudly they drew a crowd. Of men, to her amusement. None of whom she was actually paying attention to. She was far too focussed on putting a dent in the idiot lordling who presumed he was talking to simpering wife-material from the Island of Doves.

“My lady, your horse.” Being the only words spoken so directly, all while snagging at the memory of somewhere Reyne needed to be, the lad actually caught her attention. The definite clang rather proved as such. She had turned her head to look at the speaker, and in turn, her sword had caught her opposition awkwardly under his chin. At least it was guarded. “You requested your horse for the turn of this hour, my lady.”

The blonde considered that just long enough for recognition to dawn. “So I did.” Two helpful if not slightly cowed gentlemen gave her help stepping over the yard fence that she hadn’t needed but was in a good enough mood to accept, and she mounted with the full knowledge that half the yard was staring at her rear end. No, she didn’t care, she had someplace else to be. The horse, she left with the nearest farrier to the mansion and walked the rest of the way, wearing an illusion that made her look like a fifty-something year old manservant. An illusion that she only just remembered to drop as she reached the courtyard, gaze touching on Iliana in acknowledgement. Since the last Hand she met was a prickly sort to put it extremely mildly, she held her tongue and offered a bow instead.

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hideintheopen
2017-04-25 06:28 pm UTC (link)

Luckily for Nevina, the summons had informed her to come to this mansion she was sure she'd never seen after lunch, allowing her to fulfill her usual duties with Rona in the morning. While the Keeper and the Hand were the most important things, Nevina didn't want to make herself seem any sot of suspect by behaving strangely.

After eating lunch, she had changed into a dress that didn't call so much more attention before leaving the castle, simply nodding at the guards she passed along with way. They should all know her unless they were new, she had been living there for a fair bit of time. As she walked, Nevina pondered over what it was that the Hand might want with them. She also pondered over why the Hand was in Kingswood, and what this one might be like. She should've met her by going to the Island, but just the thought of stepping on a ship made a cold sweat bead along her upper lip. She wiped it away as she walked into the courtyard, smiling at the sight of her sister and giving a little nod towards her niece. Nevina let out a little sigh at the sight of her sister bowing, though she was far from surprised, and she followed it with a curtsy of her own. The Hand deserved no less courtesy than the very King.

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handofthekeeper
2017-04-25 07:44 pm UTC (link)

The youngest of the three Mordha ladies had been the first to arrive, and while Priya did not speak until she bowed the Hand observed young Iliana in detail. A lovely young woman, made lovelier by how she chose to adorn herself. Priya was pleased, and smiled, nodding as she gestured for Iliana to take a seat on the lavish outside seating Priya had ordered be reorganized for this meeting. On a small table were cups and some sort of appropriately red beverage on ice; Priya had liked its taste and freshness.

"We are, I summoned all women of Mordha blood present in Arcadie." She replied simply. "Care for refreshment while we wait?"

They didn't have to wait long before someone else arrived - at first Priya furrowed her brow at the stranger who was neither a servant of the house nor a minion that she knew of, much less had had summoned; when Reyne dropped the illusion Priya's heart settled, and so did her expression. Just as she had done with Iliana, she motioned for Reyne to have a seat, then pointed to the drink to let her know it was there. And then there were four as Nevina walked in at last. Priya found herself pleased that all three women had heeded her call; it was a good start. Once more, and for the last time, Priya motioned lazily towards a seat and then the drinks.

"Ladies, it is good to finally meet you all. Thank you for coming." She said, as if they could have done anything else without reprimand. "I have a request for information that I feel one or more of you might be able to help me with. But first, I have a more general request. As you know, or perhaps are about to find out, I was raised and have lived most of my days at the Island of Trumpets, the closest place to our Keeper and where I fought and won the honor to be his Hand. My name is Priya, you may address me as Lady Hand, Venerable Hand, Lady Priya, whatever you choose I don't care. In public you shan't call me any of these, if we ever do find ourselves in public."

She took a drink. "Anyway. I chose to be here because I refuse to sit at the Palace of Souls receiving visions and entering dreams like a sort of middle-man messenger raven. If our fellows are in the world, as are our enemies, then so shall I be. However, I do require a certain amount of guidance, because while I am by no means innocent I am not experienced in life outside the Island either. You will aid me in anything I require and inform me of important things one must remember while living in the Blessed Realm proper. I am here as a commoner from the north, though I have not specified where, and so I know your aid is limited. However, you will do whatever possible."

Looking to each of the women in turn, she inhaled. "Now, I simply want to know all that you know about a Lady Calista Kolite. And if you don't know anything I need to know, you will find out. Agreed?"

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keepindarkness
2017-04-26 12:39 am UTC (link)

Iliana bowed her head slightly to Reyne, and then Nevina. Despite how she may feel about her family currently, they were there for a reason, and she was eager to serve Lady Priya however she could. She kept her hands clasped in front of her, intently listening to Priya speak. She would be more than happy to help guide the Hand of the Keeper, and Iliana felt a little thrill at the thought of the Hand walking among the nobles of the Realm. So many of them did not even believe the Keeper existed. How wrong they were.

"I do not know much of Lady Calista," Iliana admitted. "But that she is from Empyrean, married with six children." It was such basic information, and all Iliana as managed to gather since her arrival. She imagined someone like Nevina would know much more, considering her role as the Princess's lady. Iliana was still fairly new to spending time with other nobility.

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heldbytheblade
2017-04-26 01:13 pm UTC (link)

Seating herself as directed, Reyne couldn’t help but reflect that the last time a Hand invited her to sit, Iliana was the result. Now that both her sister and daughter were here she had to wonder if that was just the prelude. Though she was pleased with herself for not allowing her jaw to drop as Lady Priya essentially labeled almost all previous Hands ‘middle-man messenger ravens’. This approach was intriguing. Reyne nodded her agreement -- there was never any question of her not doing whatever she possibly could.

Reyne murmured her agreement with her daughter, legs crossing at the knee. “Born into that family the twins think belongs to an elf clan because of the banner,” she added, raising an illusion of the banner as an afterthought and giving it an accusatory stare. “From Kingswood originally, I think.” There was a memory there, scraping at the back of her mind, but she couldn’t quite access it. That was more than a little infuriating. Falling quiet while that rolled over in her head, Reyne shifted to pour herself a drink. It was no business of hers to ask why the Lady Hand wished to know about this one woman specifically, but she had a feeling it might give her a headache.

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hideintheopen
2017-04-26 06:51 pm UTC (link)

Nevina chose the seat nearest to Reyne, smoothing her skirts out as she sat herself before her attention focused on the blonde who was their Keeper now. Priya. Nevina had wondered how it felt to be raised entirely on the Island, but never thought to ask anyone. Perhaps she would Priya at some later point. Right now they had a request, and Nevina held her tongue as the other two responded. She imagined she would know the most, having spent so much of her time here in Arcadie, and while her sister gave more than Iliana had, Nevina still knew more.

"The Evencall family," she supplemented for her sister. "A newer addition to the nobility, purchased by who I imagine to be Calista's grandfather." Being a lady-in-waiting had surprising advantages sometimes. "She has two living sisters, one of whom is a bodyguard for the Faith after some trouble in her younger years." Their names? No, Nevina didn't know that part. "Calista visits the capital at least several times a year to see her eldest daughter, who is old enough to be at court, but instead is living with her grandparents for reasons I do not know." What else did she know? She could picture her face, having seen her a few times over the years, but all that she really knew about her were facts of her bloodline, when she got married, rumors. "All else I know is rumors that I am not sure the Lady Hand would want." Did Nevina feel slightly smug about having the most information? Yes, but she was hardly going to gloat about it to her sister.

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handofthekeeper
2017-04-26 07:58 pm UTC (link)

Iliana's information was useless, nothing Priya herself did not already know. But surely she could find other uses for the girl. She'd better hope so, anyway. Furrowing her brow, Priya focused on what Reyne was saying, observing the banner with attention. "An elf clan, truly? Interesting."

At last, Nevina complemented what her sister and niece had said rather well, and Priya smiled. Then, when she mentioned the sister who was a bodyguard for the faith, Priya's eyes widened. "That must be it..." she murmured. "The Keeper has sent me visions of this Lady Calista, flashes of her in my dreams. That must be why. The tenuous yet important connection to the Faith."

Priya waved her hand in dismissal as Nevina spoke of rumors. "While there is a thread of truth to rumors, usually, I feel no need to unravel it at this time." If the rumors were what she though they may be, Priya was certain to have confirmed them herself. She looked to the three of them with a satisfied smile. "Thank you all for your aid in this, I will need to think on how I may better use this connection. Above all, right now, I need to maintain the friendship we struck up when I first arrived, she cannot forget me. I need to become a trusted companion of this Lady."

Taking a drink, Priya crossed her legs and leaned back, relaxing. "And what of this kingdom, this festival, what goes on at court? What has struck up your interest so far? You especially, Lady Nevina, being so close to the Princess."

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keepindarkness
2017-04-26 08:20 pm UTC (link)

Iliana knew Reyne and Nevina would know more about the nobility than she did. She had only recently come 'home', but that didn't mean Iliana wouldn't make it a point to know everything she could about the people she was spending time with. She made 'friends' quite easily, and there were plenty of noblemen, married or not, who seemed eager to talk to her. She had no doubt she could get them to say more than they would probably want to.

Personally, she felt as though being at court was nothing more than a chance to show off how expensive ones jewels were while searching for a husband or wife, or perhaps a new bed partner, married or not. Very few interested her so far, but it was early yet. She did not want to talk over her aunt, so she deferred to Nevina, mildly curious to hear what she might say, being more familiar with the kingdom than Iliana herself.

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heldbytheblade
2017-04-26 09:03 pm UTC (link)

Evencall. Reyne would have berated herself for not knowing that had she felt any duty to know of any noble family before they ceased to be referred to as ‘new money’. Her mouth did give a slight twist at the mention of that sister, not because she had not known (although that was annoying) but because why would anyone want to guard anything for the Faith? It was the most foolish preoccupation. As though in agreement the illusion of the Evencall family banner faded.

Had she possessed a single sympathetic bone in her body, Reyne may have taken Lady Calista’s foreseeable future into consideration. The Lady Hand’s dreams were a web one ought to avoid being cast into, if at all possible. “The festival is a genuine extravagance, and since every noble is looking to make a match for themselves or their children, an overpriced mating season.” She would never apologise for being blunt. It was the truth of it. “There is more posturing in that castle than there is the training grounds on the Island.” Which, now that she had said it aloud, was slightly unnerving in accuracy. “Blood has yet to spill, however.” Then, as though to check, she glanced at both her daughter and sister. It was hardly as though they told each other of all their kills. She was fairly sure nobody had died.

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hideintheopen
2017-04-27 02:03 am UTC (link)

Nevina did a good job at keeping her surprise from showing on her face. To think that the Keeper had been having dreams of a noblewoman who was, in her own opinion, hardly worth the effort... though she supposed that perhaps the sister bodyguard was something. It'd have been better if the sister were the Mouth or a bishop or something along those lines, but the Keeper did as the Keeper willed and she listened. The Hand was His voice on this earth and so Nevina listened to the hand when the Hand remembered she existed. This Hand seemed like she would be a lot more involved than any of the ones that Nevina had had contact with previously. She was holding back on deciding which way of handling things she liked better.

"I wish you luck with that, I have never heard word that Calista is particularly friendly." She was near enough to Rona's age that if she were friendly, they'd have interacted more. So far as she knew, Calista made no efforts to reach out to other people. How had Priya made friends with her? Nevina assured herself that wasn't her concern, and paid attention to what her sister said about court. "There will be a tourney and if blood is not spilled there I will be shocked," Nevina admitted, a little grin tugging at her lips. "My Princess is quite pleased at the moment with the arrival of her family, her little sister is even her lady-in-waiting, though I maintain judgment on whether she is any good at it. Oh." Nevina studied her nails, as though checking for dirt. "The King will likely die before the year is out. If his heart can manage for that long. I will be surprised if it takes that long." Was she smirking? It felt like she was.

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handofthekeeper
2017-04-30 06:11 pm UTC (link)

It didn't matter one bit to Priya whether her words had shocked the Bringers or not. Who were they going to complain to about disloyalty or disrespect for her predecessors? No one who could really do anything about it, certainly.

When Reyne characterized the festival as an overpriced mating season Priya couldn't help laughing, genuinely finding the description funny and, she suspected, not inaccurate. That she described the posturing between nobles worse than that in the Island earned an "Oof!" out of Priya, who rolled her eyes and couldn't quite imagine it, if she was honest. Tilting her head, she gave Reyne a smirk. "Yet."

Before replying to Nevina she took a drink, licking her lips of the red liquid that tinted them. "She was very friendly with me, so I don't think that will be such a problem. More an advantage, I'd say." She smiled. Priya didn't care a fig for what Nevina told her about the princess, but thought that watching the tourney might be fun. Watching men have at each other for no real reason was intrinsically fun for how ridiculous they all were in participating. Finally, she uncrossed her legs and leaned forward when Nevina told her with every certainty that the King would likely not last out the year. She had always thought that triplets as princes would have to spell trouble when their father died. Hopefully, it would also provide a chance for the forces of the Keeper to gain advantage in the faithful's midst. Chaos left a lot of things unattended after all. "Lady Nevina, is this your doing somehow? Do disclose. These walls have no ears, trust me."

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