Arulia's Vignette

[djhyland]

Before Arulia can parse Fizban's words of warning, she gasps as he...changes. Her knees weak, she listens to the knight's--his?--advice, aware that his words are perhaps among the most important ever spoken. "At least, they are to me. Is this what I've been searching for?" she thinks, her mind racing. "I...I think it is...he is."

Although he vanishes before she can speak, she knows he's still listening. "I will have faith, sir," she whispers, staring at the place where he stood.

Rising to her feet, for even though she can't remember doing so she must have fallen to her knees, she responds to Crystal in a shaky voice. "I think that we saw one of the old gods, come back to us. I don't know what else he could have been..." Collecting herself, she crouches at Kendra's side. "Come on, we still need to get her somewhere safe. Do you know where she lives?"

[JadedDM]

"The old gods are dead," Crystal argues, although she doesn't sound entirely certain of that. "He looked like a mage. Probably trying to start a new cult. Lot of that going around these days. Anyway, I know where she lives. She married a jeweler in the merchant district."

"That was amazing!" Pen remarks. "They're both gone. Do you think he took Darga to the next life?"

[djhyland]

Choosing to answer Pen first, Arulia shakes her head. "I don't know, but I hope he did. I think he did, anyway."

Arulia puts her arms under Kendra's in preparation to lift her. To Crystal, she replies, "He could be, I suppose. But I don't think so. He didn't act like he was recruiting followers. And if he was looking to start a cult, why would he use the old gods that people think abandoned them?"

[JadedDM]

"I don't know," Crystal says, grabbing Kendra's legs. "Maybe he was just a crazy old man."

The two women help in carrying Kendra to the jeweler's place. She's fairly heavy, especially with her armor, but the two working together don't have too much trouble. Pen stays ahead to make sure the way is clear. They draw a number of looks from passersby, but nobody stops them. There are no Holy Guard to be seen anywhere.

When they reach the place, Pen opens the door for them so they can enter. A handsome man in his 30s steps out from behind the counter. "Yes, can I help--Kendra!" He dashes over to her, emotionally distraught. "No, no...what happened? Is she...?"

[djhyland]

"Maybe he is, and maybe I'm wrong," agrees Arulia, panting as she and Crystal carry Kendra out of the alley. "But I know what I saw."

Upon reaching the jeweler's shop, Arulia does her best to calm the man without also dropping Kendra. "She's hurt bad," she pants, struggling to keep the woman from slipping from her hands. "But she'll be okay. She needs rest and time to recover, but recover she will."

[JadedDM]

Crystal and Arulia set Kendra down on the counter while the man fusses over her. He sounds like he's on the verge of tears. "I woke up this morning and she was just gone! I had no idea where she was or what she was doing. I don't understand why she keeps doing this! This is the third time she's come home wounded...but never like this! I thought when she left the Holy Guard things would be different, but they're getting worse."

"Yeah, that's great and all," Crystal interrupts. "But not my concern. I need to go report that the job was a failure. See ya." She then departs.

[djhyland]

Feeling for the man's anguish, Arulia can only shake her head. "She is not dead, just hurt," she repeats. "When she recovers, you can ask her why." With an annoyed look at Crystal, she sighs. "Come on, she should be somewhere more comfortable than a counter, and I can't think it's good for business. I'll help you get her to a bed, and I can show you how to clean and dress her wounds if you like." she says.

[JadedDM]

"Yes...yes, of course," the man says. He helps Arulia carry Kendra upstairs to their bedroom, where they set her on the bed. "Please, you are a healer? I'll pay you ten...no, fifteen steel if you come and watch over her each day until she recovers." This is five times what a healer would usually make.

[djhyland]

Arulia nods, though when she speaks, her voice is uncertain. "I suppose I am...I learned to bind wounds and set bones and such when I served alongside Kendra in the Holy Guard. If you wish, I will come and minister to her until she is well." Biting her lip, she considers his offer of payment. "I did not know Kendra as well as I might have liked when we served together, but she seemed to be a good woman," she says at last. "For that, I don't wish to rob her loved ones in healing her--you need only pay me three steel, plus what wages my father and mother might lose when I cannot work for them."

After checking Kendra's bandages again and showing the man how to change them if necessary, Arulia rises. "I must be going," she explains, "I'm sure that my sister has told my parents that I've been captured by cultists by now. I will come back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next until Kendra is healed."

[JadedDM]

"Of course, thank you," the man says. "Oh, but I never got your name. I am Norris Greylock. Thank you again for saving my wife. If you two know each other, perhaps you can also figure out why she keeps doing this when she wakes up."

[djhyland]

"My name is Arulia," she says. "I will do my best to help Kendra recover, but I don't think I should interfere between you two. From what I've seen, that only makes things worse." With a weary smile and one last round of instructions on tending Kendra, she takes her leave.

Though she wants only to go home, Arulia remembers her original purpose in leaving the house and heads back to the market, hoping to avoid the cultists long enough to buy food for supper.

[JadedDM]

Arulia returns to the marketplace. A few cultists approach her, but quickly turn away when they see her hands and clothes are splattered in blood. It turns out it's a good deterrent to keep people from bothering you.

She gathers the groceries her mother asks for and returns home, where her family, sans her father who is still at work, are waiting for her.

"By the Seeker gods, are you okay?" her mother asks. "Your sister said the cultists attacked you...and you're covered in blood! Are you hurt?"

[djhyland]

Arulia sets down her parcels and looks down at herself. "By the old gods, look at all the blood! she thinks. I hadn't realized...I wondered why the cultists and the merchants seemed afraid. Poor Kendra!"

Hurriedly explaining herself, Arulia reassures her mother and sisters. "I am well, and I am sorry to have worried you! Don't worry, it's someone else's blood." Realizing that such an explanation could be even more alarming, she blushes a deep red. "I mean, someone else was injured! I bound her wounds as best as I could, but she was hurt badly and had lost a lot of blood."

Seeing the questions that remain in the faces of her family, she leans against the door and launches into a more complete explanation. "After I sent Cassilda home, the cultists were upset, but a stranger stepped in to protect me, an old man. In return for sending the cultists away, he asked me to help him, and led me to the tavern that Father likes to drink at. There was a woman there, one of my fellow guardswomen, and she'd been hurt. I guess that when I bandaged her up and carried her to her home, I got blood on me, but I'm safe."

[JadedDM]

Her mother shows visible relief. "Well, I'm glad you're okay. Why don't you get cleaned up." She laughs a little nervously. "Well, that was certainly enough excitement for me today."

[djhyland]

Arulia nods gratefully and heads towards the stairs. "I'll be right back down, Mother, and help you with supper," she says.

Once in the room that she shares with her sisters, Arulia strips out of her bloody clothes and washes up at the basin. Once clean, she puts on clean clothing and returns downstairs. Though her thoughts race with the day's unusual and alarming events, she does her best to act as if nothing is out of the ordinary, the better to keep her mother and sisters calm.