thisbluespirit (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thisbluespirit) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
rainbowfic2025-05-23 08:56 pm
thisbluespirit) wrote in rainbowfic2025-05-23 08:56 pm
Warm Heart #6 [Starfall]
Name: Leftovers
Story: Starfall
Colors: Warm Heart #6 (Comfort)
Supplies and Styles: Novelty Bead (From 11 Years of Rainbowfic Space Month "sauce") + Thread
Word Count: 2604
Rating: PG
Warnings: None.
Notes: Portcallan, 1313; Viyony Eseray/Leion Valerno, Imenna Pollens. Follows on directly from Something Fishy
Summary: Leion attempts to thank Viyony.
Having taken Nin Valerno home and left her to the mercy of her mother, Viyony Eseray walked all the way back to the docklands, in the hope that it wasn't too late to resume her attempt to finalise the arrangements to rent a warehouse for the family business. She was in luck, and she left Cauhaney's office with the deposit sorted and the agreement signed at last.
She stepped out into the street and almost walked straight into Leion, pacing up and down the stretch of road outside the office. He had changed his clothes and even standing fairly close to him, she couldn't detect any lingering smell of rotting fish.
"I hope you don't mind," Leion said, as they reached each other. "I went to Arna's after I'd seen Tana. She told me where you'd gone, so I thought I'd see if I could catch you here. As I said, I owe you."
"You don't, really. Thank Nin, not me."
"I pleaded her cause with Arna as best as I could, but she seems to feel I'm as much to blame, if not more so. So I beat a tactical withdrawal and decided to find you instead, but I have promised to take Nin to Dala's as soon as her mother will allow it. Have you had lunch?"
"No, but it's much too late now."
"I know a place," he said, and gave a lopsided grin. "How about it?"
"Of course you do." Viyony hesitated and then fell into step beside him. "I suppose I am quite hungry."
Leion led her into the Pollens' eatery, which was in one of the courts behind Little Market Street, not far from his office. There was a closed sign outside the door, but the young woman who opened it only smiled at Leion and ushered them on through the main room to the yard outside. Viyony was relieved to find that the place wasn't entirely empty of other customers—there were three people sitting at another table, heads close together in conversation. The aroma wafting out from inside made her stomach rumble.
"It's all right," Leion said, after they had been seated. "Imenna will let us have something nice from the leftovers. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement, I assure you."
Viyony relaxed into her chair. "If you say so."
One of Imenna's daughters came over to greet Leion and let them know what they could still have from the menu. Having sorted that out, she left them a bottle of mintwater and hurried away, shouting to someone inside as she went.
Leion picked up the bottle and poured clear, flavoured water into tall pink-tinged glasses, while Viyony rested her elbows on the round table and watched. When he finished, she closed her fingers around her glass and then leant forward, lowering her voice, as she asked, "Does Tana think she can find Chiulder?"
Leion started. He put his glass back down. "I don't know. She'll try, but unfortunately, even if she does, he hasn't done anything anyone can actually charge him with yet."
"But you saw him."
Leion pulled his mouth down. "For a brief instant, maybe. But I've already been unreliable in court on that subject once before, and while Nin's description does fit him, she's only a child. They'd make mincemeat of her if that was all we had to go on. The last thing I want is to go through all that sort of thing again for nothing."
"Tana will keep an eye on him if she does find him, though, surely?" Viyony persisted. "She does that sort of thing, doesn't she? That man who was with her—it took me a while to realise, but I've seen him hanging around quite a few times when I've been out. I thought you were joking about her having me watched, but it's true, isn't it?"
Leion drank some of his water and put the glass down with a shrug. "I expect so. On both counts. Still, I must be more careful from now on. I can't have this happen again! I'll get those cursed kittens homed and out of the way—and make sure I visit my family, not the other way round. It's not safe having people hanging around the office, not while Chiulder is at large."
"Oh," said Viyony, drawing back into her chair, shadowed by the wall. "I see. This isn't a thank you—this is farewell."
"Only in part." Leion raised his glass and scowled at the liquid. "I should have ordered wine. The day warrants it, but it is early and I didn't want a lecture from Imenna."
"You could take me to an eatery where the proprietor doesn't know you well enough to scold you."
He gave a sheepish grin. "Yes, but it wouldn't be half so cheap. Or, let me tell you, anywhere near as nice. Imenna's is one of the best." He sobered again, too swiftly. "Look, this isn't really goodbye as such, but you have your warehouse sorted—congratulations, by the way -"
"Thank you."
"You know your way around the city, and all I seem to have achieved in my efforts to keep you safe is to endanger you. So," said Leion, "let's not push our luck too far. But I shall see you around at functions and parties, all that kind of thing."
Viyony shifted forward again, resting her chin on her hands and surveyed him for a few moments while he avoided her gaze. She straightened up and unfolded her napkin, placing it onto her lap and smoothing it down even as a small crease formed on her brow. "Do you endanger me? Wouldn't it be as true to say that I endanger you? Maybe it's for the best if we stick to each other, if only to save everyone else the risk of associating with either of us."
What Leion would have said in response, Viyony was never to know. Imenna Pollens broke into their conversation, arriving at their table with a tray in her hands. She placed a large dish at the centre of the table between them and then passed them their plates, before adding a little bowl of relish and a smaller plate with several slices of different kinds of bread.
"More researching up at Chamber Square, is it?" Imenna asked Leion. She smiled at Viyony. "If he's here at this hour, it's usually that. Leio, my dear, you should keep a better watch on the time."
"Not research," said Leion. "I was unavoidably detained on quite other business. Imenna, this is Viyony Eseray, who is visiting us from North Eastern, and I don't believe she's had proper West Korphilian food before. Viyony, this is Imenna Pollens, who runs this place."
Imenna gave Viyony a nod and stepped back with the empty tray. "Will that be everything?"
"More than enough, as ever," said Leion. "Thank you!"
Viyony watched Imenna cross to exchange a word with the diners at the other table. She hadn't eaten West Korphilian before, it was true, but she knew that its influence pervaded Portcallan in all sorts of ways. This eatery, with its separate tables, was more Emoyran in style than Portcallan's general habit of sharing meals with their neighbours in communal yards, whatever its food might be like.
Leion held out his hand for her plate and when she passed it over, he proceeded to dish out a generous helping of chicken, vegetables and sauce onto the bed of salad and soft-grains already on the plate. He handed it back with an entirely unnecessary flourish, and then set about helping himself to his own share.
Viyony took the plate, grateful that for once it wasn't fish, not after Leion's adventure earlier. She took her fork and tasted a mouthful. "Oh," she said, "I think this is the nicest thing I've had since I've been here!" It wasn't very spicy, but there was a tangy edge to the sauce, complemented perfectly by the choice of vegetables, and it didn't even seem to involve any seaweed. West Korphilians, she concluded, ate like human beings, and not as if they had been stranded on a desert island and taken to consuming every single thing the tide washed in.
Leion grinned. "I knew you'd like it. I've been meaning to bring you here for ages. I'm not sure why I didn't." He shifted in his seat, and set to work on his own dish, picking at it with his fork in an uncharacteristically desultory way.
"How are you feeling?" Viyony asked. "It must have been pretty nasty, stuck down there."
Leion picked up a slice of bread and absently tore the corner of it. He looked at it for a moment, and then seemed to decide he might as well eat it. "Fine now," he said indistinctly, with his mouth full of bread. "And washed, I promise. Lots of times. I can barely even smell the fishy stench any more. Let's not talk about it."
"Well, if you need any help in getting the worst of it out of your clothes, don't hesitate to ask," said Viyony.
Leion dropped the next chunk of bread he'd raised halfway to his mouth and lost it somewhere on the floor. He disappeared from sight, leaning right under the table briefly in an ill-advised attempt to track it down, but then hastily straightened up and left the stray bread to its fate. "My clothes?"
"You'll hardly want to lose a nice jacket like that," said Viyony calmly. "I'm not offering to do any washing myself, but if you soak it in salt water first and then -"
He bristled. "Is that all you're concerned about?"
"You're fine," said Viyony, meeting his gaze as solemnly as she could. "You said so. Your clothes -"
"I've left them soaking already, thank you," he said, sounding more than a little sulky. "I'm sure the laundry will see to the rest."
Viyony took another forkful of her lunch. She swallowed her amusement down with it. "What did Tana say about the message?"
"It wasn't from her. I left her about to have a very long talk with the messenger. I wouldn't want to be in that woman's shoes. It is worrying, though. Chiulder's affinity on its own isn't really sufficient for him to persuade an official messenger to run his errands without augmentation—and someone must have forged the seal on it, too."
"You think he must be working with someone?"
Leion nodded. He pushed some of the soft grains and chicken about his plate with his fork. "He has to be. Either someone who's a High Council contact or has sufficient money to buy one—or someone who knows the kind of tricks Atino was into for strengthening his abilities."
"Any ideas?" Viyony helped herself to a large spoonful more of the chicken.
"Plenty, but I'm not at all sure which are relevant."
Viyony took a sip of water. She cast a wary glance at him. "Kadia?"
"Not impossible," Leion said. "She'd be kindly disposed towards Chiulder for certain, but she's got no history with that sort of augmentation, and I don't see her helping him forge High Council documents."
"She did probably bribe a Council employee to frame me," Viyony reminded him.
"Still mere supposition." He pointed his fork at her. "I'll have to see what Tana discovers from the messenger. Then we might have some actual facts to play with. Currently, my only other thought -" He hesitated, and shook off her querying look with a shrug.
Viyony put her fork down on her empty plate with a sigh. She eyed the remnant of the chicken in the central dish wistfully, but reminded herself that this was only lunch and her aunt would expect her to eat dinner later. She raised her head, and instead pondered on who might want to hurt Leion.
"You mean Eollan, don't you?"
Leion lifted his head. "Well, yes. I don't think it's that likely, mind, but he does have an interest in the Powers and affinity and very odd attitudes to both at times. I haven't had any luck chasing up that man who attacked Delver yet, but if your suspicion about Chiulder being the root cause of that turns out to be true—well, you know who Delver was on his way back from visiting that day, don't you?"
"Eollan?"
Leion nodded. "Bit of a coincidence, isn't it? Mind you, I'm not saying what happened today was anybody else's work in itself. Locking me in that cellar is absolutely Chiulder's style. Sneaking, cowardly piece of sea shit that he is." Barely pausing for breath, he asked, in a much lighter tone of voice, "Do you think I should go and work full time in the High Council Archive's office?"
"Would they have you?" Viyony enquired innocently.
Leion choked on his food, coughing. He drank some water for relief and then shook his head at her. "I'll have you know they might." His mouth twitched. "Or to be fair, they might not. Maybe I should only take work directly from Tana and Imor Ufferden? If they want me, of course."
"You could," said Viyony, "but I don't think people like Jousine would be willing to tell you things if you did. Anyway, your job wasn't the cause, was it? It was Chiulder, for something you did ages ago."
"Yes, but if I worked in an office and someone sent me a note asking me to go to an abandoned house and check in its revolting secret cellar for any trace of firestone or other illegal goods, I would laugh and throw it away. I wouldn't go right off and walk into the trap as obligingly as you please." Leion put down his fork.
Viyony stifled a laugh. "Sorry. I know it's not really funny."
"Oh, it's a great joke," said Leion darkly. He leant his head on his fist. "Chiulder must have been laughing his face off." He shifted, straightening up and brushing his hair back from his forehead. "I suppose I can't have been down there for more than an hour, but it wouldn't have been the way I wanted to go out. Stupid, stinking, alone." He stared blankly down at his plate, and then took a savage bite of bread and sauce.
"No." Viyony blinked away tears, suddenly shaken as she thought of it. She had been so busy earlier, looking after Nin, trying to find Leion, and then taking Nin home and getting her warehouse sorted, that the full weight of it only came over her now. It was an odd sort of murder attempt, but it could so easily have worked. She took a sip of her water, averting her face from him, but when she turned back, she found he was watching her.
He gave a brief grimace and held out his hand to her across the table. "Not very nice, but I am all right. Thanks to you."
"And Nin," she said, squeezing his fingers. "I'm glad. Do be more careful."
"That's what I've been saying," he pointed out. "I will, I promise. Much more businesslike, much more professional—much safer. Exactly as you'd want."
Viyony nodded, but suddenly Imenna's perfect lunch was sitting heavily on her stomach. Leion's ideas about that didn't mesh with hers any more. She withdrew her hand and flexed her tingling fingers. "Good," she said as briskly as she could. "What do I owe you for the food?"
"This is a thank you," he said. "You don't."
It still felt worryingly like farewell to her.
Story: Starfall
Colors: Warm Heart #6 (Comfort)
Supplies and Styles: Novelty Bead (From 11 Years of Rainbowfic Space Month "sauce") + Thread
Word Count: 2604
Rating: PG
Warnings: None.
Notes: Portcallan, 1313; Viyony Eseray/Leion Valerno, Imenna Pollens. Follows on directly from Something Fishy
Summary: Leion attempts to thank Viyony.
Having taken Nin Valerno home and left her to the mercy of her mother, Viyony Eseray walked all the way back to the docklands, in the hope that it wasn't too late to resume her attempt to finalise the arrangements to rent a warehouse for the family business. She was in luck, and she left Cauhaney's office with the deposit sorted and the agreement signed at last.
She stepped out into the street and almost walked straight into Leion, pacing up and down the stretch of road outside the office. He had changed his clothes and even standing fairly close to him, she couldn't detect any lingering smell of rotting fish.
"I hope you don't mind," Leion said, as they reached each other. "I went to Arna's after I'd seen Tana. She told me where you'd gone, so I thought I'd see if I could catch you here. As I said, I owe you."
"You don't, really. Thank Nin, not me."
"I pleaded her cause with Arna as best as I could, but she seems to feel I'm as much to blame, if not more so. So I beat a tactical withdrawal and decided to find you instead, but I have promised to take Nin to Dala's as soon as her mother will allow it. Have you had lunch?"
"No, but it's much too late now."
"I know a place," he said, and gave a lopsided grin. "How about it?"
"Of course you do." Viyony hesitated and then fell into step beside him. "I suppose I am quite hungry."
Leion led her into the Pollens' eatery, which was in one of the courts behind Little Market Street, not far from his office. There was a closed sign outside the door, but the young woman who opened it only smiled at Leion and ushered them on through the main room to the yard outside. Viyony was relieved to find that the place wasn't entirely empty of other customers—there were three people sitting at another table, heads close together in conversation. The aroma wafting out from inside made her stomach rumble.
"It's all right," Leion said, after they had been seated. "Imenna will let us have something nice from the leftovers. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement, I assure you."
Viyony relaxed into her chair. "If you say so."
One of Imenna's daughters came over to greet Leion and let them know what they could still have from the menu. Having sorted that out, she left them a bottle of mintwater and hurried away, shouting to someone inside as she went.
Leion picked up the bottle and poured clear, flavoured water into tall pink-tinged glasses, while Viyony rested her elbows on the round table and watched. When he finished, she closed her fingers around her glass and then leant forward, lowering her voice, as she asked, "Does Tana think she can find Chiulder?"
Leion started. He put his glass back down. "I don't know. She'll try, but unfortunately, even if she does, he hasn't done anything anyone can actually charge him with yet."
"But you saw him."
Leion pulled his mouth down. "For a brief instant, maybe. But I've already been unreliable in court on that subject once before, and while Nin's description does fit him, she's only a child. They'd make mincemeat of her if that was all we had to go on. The last thing I want is to go through all that sort of thing again for nothing."
"Tana will keep an eye on him if she does find him, though, surely?" Viyony persisted. "She does that sort of thing, doesn't she? That man who was with her—it took me a while to realise, but I've seen him hanging around quite a few times when I've been out. I thought you were joking about her having me watched, but it's true, isn't it?"
Leion drank some of his water and put the glass down with a shrug. "I expect so. On both counts. Still, I must be more careful from now on. I can't have this happen again! I'll get those cursed kittens homed and out of the way—and make sure I visit my family, not the other way round. It's not safe having people hanging around the office, not while Chiulder is at large."
"Oh," said Viyony, drawing back into her chair, shadowed by the wall. "I see. This isn't a thank you—this is farewell."
"Only in part." Leion raised his glass and scowled at the liquid. "I should have ordered wine. The day warrants it, but it is early and I didn't want a lecture from Imenna."
"You could take me to an eatery where the proprietor doesn't know you well enough to scold you."
He gave a sheepish grin. "Yes, but it wouldn't be half so cheap. Or, let me tell you, anywhere near as nice. Imenna's is one of the best." He sobered again, too swiftly. "Look, this isn't really goodbye as such, but you have your warehouse sorted—congratulations, by the way -"
"Thank you."
"You know your way around the city, and all I seem to have achieved in my efforts to keep you safe is to endanger you. So," said Leion, "let's not push our luck too far. But I shall see you around at functions and parties, all that kind of thing."
Viyony shifted forward again, resting her chin on her hands and surveyed him for a few moments while he avoided her gaze. She straightened up and unfolded her napkin, placing it onto her lap and smoothing it down even as a small crease formed on her brow. "Do you endanger me? Wouldn't it be as true to say that I endanger you? Maybe it's for the best if we stick to each other, if only to save everyone else the risk of associating with either of us."
What Leion would have said in response, Viyony was never to know. Imenna Pollens broke into their conversation, arriving at their table with a tray in her hands. She placed a large dish at the centre of the table between them and then passed them their plates, before adding a little bowl of relish and a smaller plate with several slices of different kinds of bread.
"More researching up at Chamber Square, is it?" Imenna asked Leion. She smiled at Viyony. "If he's here at this hour, it's usually that. Leio, my dear, you should keep a better watch on the time."
"Not research," said Leion. "I was unavoidably detained on quite other business. Imenna, this is Viyony Eseray, who is visiting us from North Eastern, and I don't believe she's had proper West Korphilian food before. Viyony, this is Imenna Pollens, who runs this place."
Imenna gave Viyony a nod and stepped back with the empty tray. "Will that be everything?"
"More than enough, as ever," said Leion. "Thank you!"
Viyony watched Imenna cross to exchange a word with the diners at the other table. She hadn't eaten West Korphilian before, it was true, but she knew that its influence pervaded Portcallan in all sorts of ways. This eatery, with its separate tables, was more Emoyran in style than Portcallan's general habit of sharing meals with their neighbours in communal yards, whatever its food might be like.
Leion held out his hand for her plate and when she passed it over, he proceeded to dish out a generous helping of chicken, vegetables and sauce onto the bed of salad and soft-grains already on the plate. He handed it back with an entirely unnecessary flourish, and then set about helping himself to his own share.
Viyony took the plate, grateful that for once it wasn't fish, not after Leion's adventure earlier. She took her fork and tasted a mouthful. "Oh," she said, "I think this is the nicest thing I've had since I've been here!" It wasn't very spicy, but there was a tangy edge to the sauce, complemented perfectly by the choice of vegetables, and it didn't even seem to involve any seaweed. West Korphilians, she concluded, ate like human beings, and not as if they had been stranded on a desert island and taken to consuming every single thing the tide washed in.
Leion grinned. "I knew you'd like it. I've been meaning to bring you here for ages. I'm not sure why I didn't." He shifted in his seat, and set to work on his own dish, picking at it with his fork in an uncharacteristically desultory way.
"How are you feeling?" Viyony asked. "It must have been pretty nasty, stuck down there."
Leion picked up a slice of bread and absently tore the corner of it. He looked at it for a moment, and then seemed to decide he might as well eat it. "Fine now," he said indistinctly, with his mouth full of bread. "And washed, I promise. Lots of times. I can barely even smell the fishy stench any more. Let's not talk about it."
"Well, if you need any help in getting the worst of it out of your clothes, don't hesitate to ask," said Viyony.
Leion dropped the next chunk of bread he'd raised halfway to his mouth and lost it somewhere on the floor. He disappeared from sight, leaning right under the table briefly in an ill-advised attempt to track it down, but then hastily straightened up and left the stray bread to its fate. "My clothes?"
"You'll hardly want to lose a nice jacket like that," said Viyony calmly. "I'm not offering to do any washing myself, but if you soak it in salt water first and then -"
He bristled. "Is that all you're concerned about?"
"You're fine," said Viyony, meeting his gaze as solemnly as she could. "You said so. Your clothes -"
"I've left them soaking already, thank you," he said, sounding more than a little sulky. "I'm sure the laundry will see to the rest."
Viyony took another forkful of her lunch. She swallowed her amusement down with it. "What did Tana say about the message?"
"It wasn't from her. I left her about to have a very long talk with the messenger. I wouldn't want to be in that woman's shoes. It is worrying, though. Chiulder's affinity on its own isn't really sufficient for him to persuade an official messenger to run his errands without augmentation—and someone must have forged the seal on it, too."
"You think he must be working with someone?"
Leion nodded. He pushed some of the soft grains and chicken about his plate with his fork. "He has to be. Either someone who's a High Council contact or has sufficient money to buy one—or someone who knows the kind of tricks Atino was into for strengthening his abilities."
"Any ideas?" Viyony helped herself to a large spoonful more of the chicken.
"Plenty, but I'm not at all sure which are relevant."
Viyony took a sip of water. She cast a wary glance at him. "Kadia?"
"Not impossible," Leion said. "She'd be kindly disposed towards Chiulder for certain, but she's got no history with that sort of augmentation, and I don't see her helping him forge High Council documents."
"She did probably bribe a Council employee to frame me," Viyony reminded him.
"Still mere supposition." He pointed his fork at her. "I'll have to see what Tana discovers from the messenger. Then we might have some actual facts to play with. Currently, my only other thought -" He hesitated, and shook off her querying look with a shrug.
Viyony put her fork down on her empty plate with a sigh. She eyed the remnant of the chicken in the central dish wistfully, but reminded herself that this was only lunch and her aunt would expect her to eat dinner later. She raised her head, and instead pondered on who might want to hurt Leion.
"You mean Eollan, don't you?"
Leion lifted his head. "Well, yes. I don't think it's that likely, mind, but he does have an interest in the Powers and affinity and very odd attitudes to both at times. I haven't had any luck chasing up that man who attacked Delver yet, but if your suspicion about Chiulder being the root cause of that turns out to be true—well, you know who Delver was on his way back from visiting that day, don't you?"
"Eollan?"
Leion nodded. "Bit of a coincidence, isn't it? Mind you, I'm not saying what happened today was anybody else's work in itself. Locking me in that cellar is absolutely Chiulder's style. Sneaking, cowardly piece of sea shit that he is." Barely pausing for breath, he asked, in a much lighter tone of voice, "Do you think I should go and work full time in the High Council Archive's office?"
"Would they have you?" Viyony enquired innocently.
Leion choked on his food, coughing. He drank some water for relief and then shook his head at her. "I'll have you know they might." His mouth twitched. "Or to be fair, they might not. Maybe I should only take work directly from Tana and Imor Ufferden? If they want me, of course."
"You could," said Viyony, "but I don't think people like Jousine would be willing to tell you things if you did. Anyway, your job wasn't the cause, was it? It was Chiulder, for something you did ages ago."
"Yes, but if I worked in an office and someone sent me a note asking me to go to an abandoned house and check in its revolting secret cellar for any trace of firestone or other illegal goods, I would laugh and throw it away. I wouldn't go right off and walk into the trap as obligingly as you please." Leion put down his fork.
Viyony stifled a laugh. "Sorry. I know it's not really funny."
"Oh, it's a great joke," said Leion darkly. He leant his head on his fist. "Chiulder must have been laughing his face off." He shifted, straightening up and brushing his hair back from his forehead. "I suppose I can't have been down there for more than an hour, but it wouldn't have been the way I wanted to go out. Stupid, stinking, alone." He stared blankly down at his plate, and then took a savage bite of bread and sauce.
"No." Viyony blinked away tears, suddenly shaken as she thought of it. She had been so busy earlier, looking after Nin, trying to find Leion, and then taking Nin home and getting her warehouse sorted, that the full weight of it only came over her now. It was an odd sort of murder attempt, but it could so easily have worked. She took a sip of her water, averting her face from him, but when she turned back, she found he was watching her.
He gave a brief grimace and held out his hand to her across the table. "Not very nice, but I am all right. Thanks to you."
"And Nin," she said, squeezing his fingers. "I'm glad. Do be more careful."
"That's what I've been saying," he pointed out. "I will, I promise. Much more businesslike, much more professional—much safer. Exactly as you'd want."
Viyony nodded, but suddenly Imenna's perfect lunch was sitting heavily on her stomach. Leion's ideas about that didn't mesh with hers any more. She withdrew her hand and flexed her tingling fingers. "Good," she said as briskly as she could. "What do I owe you for the food?"
"This is a thank you," he said. "You don't."
It still felt worryingly like farewell to her.
no subject
no subject
no subject
Huh, I'll be interested to know what the messenger's story is. Eollan was kind of weird about affinities, but he didn't seem, like, evil.
no subject