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This is an opening, sample post for no reason.
Shuffling his Harrow deck, he finds something... unusual. One of his cards - The Crows - has been scribbled on, though he doesn't remember anyone other than him having his deck for the entirety of the day.
There's a message inscribed on the back of the card. It reads, 'Mavarro Estrovan, it's come to my attention that you've been searching for the whereabouts of one Gaedren Lamm. He is dangerous and it is deadly to approach him alone. I am gathering people for a similar reason to you, and I wonder if you will meet with me and with them. Alone we stand no chance of bringing him to justice, but together perhaps there will be better results. Come to my house at 3 Lancet street at midnight tonight.'
It isn't signed.
Enclosed is a letter, written in careful and beautiful script. 'Your fiance is dead. And that was a tragedy, and I know you want to get back at who did it. What if I told you I could lead you right to his doorstep? Meet me at my house at midnight tonight - 3 Lancet Street. I will show you where to get your revenge. Others with the same goals will be here as well.'
Shopping is nice, but there is a strange experience that Nary has. She goes to buy something, and the Varisian shopkeep hands her, instead of the pretty charm she had purchased, an envelope. The shopkeep seemingly has no idea that the envelope isn't what Nary had purchased, and insists that the gnome take it before she leaves.
The contents of the envelope may be the most interesting thing in the world (and indeed she sees her name at the top, indicating that it's addressed to her) but unfortunately, Nary can't read.
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At first, the little gnome is excited - an envelope! What could be inside? Food? Money? She walks out away from the shop, ripping it open as she moves, and greedily takes the letter out. She then stops and stands there in the middle of the street - much to the consternation of anyone who might have been walking behind her. She holds the letter, out, upside-down - but it's not like it makes a damn difference to Nary.
Nary fumes, scowling at her letter with exasperation. She holds it at arm's length from her face, as if the letter itself were cursed.
Ugh, stupid, fat human! This is just a bunch of words! I didn't want this! Words won't help me save Isabel!
Nary considers defacing the stupid thing - but she cools off and realizes that maybe figuring out what is on it first sounds smart. Like something her sister would do. Hmm.
She peers around, looking at anyone who might be nearby.
Need someone... brainy looking?
Too pimply. Too short. Dresses stupid. A dwarf. Was there no one here worthy of being Nary's minion?
She sees Mavarro, in his tent. She spots his cards. Cards? Cards with words on them?
She runs right up to him and taps him on the shoulder. "Hey there! Mister card reader! Wanna read this card-letter for me?"
Might as well make him feel like he has a choice in the matter.
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Aaron nurses his mug, just like most nights recently. "At least Reid was willing to hand out free ale tonight. Business has been slow these last few weeks." He takes the letter with a raised eyebrow. "Thanks." "Now who would be sending me a fancy letter like this."
He pops it open and reads through the short message twice. After the first time, his face has gone from grim to completely cold, his hard grey eyes dead like granite. But with the second a slightly unpleasant smile crosses his face. "I'm taking the rest of the night off," he calls out to the barkeep. "Just got a letter from a friend. They need a hand making arrangements for a funeral."
It's sealed with the spiral of Pharasma.
It reads, 'Your daughter, Sigrid, is gone. I know where she is, and I am willing to help you get her back. The man who took her is named Gaedren Lamm, and though he has gone a long time without facing justice I have been able to find out where he lives. Come to my house - 3 Lancet street - to find out more and to get help finding your daughter again.'
It isn't signed.
Reid knows exactly what Aaron means when he says that, and grins at the man. He waves goodbye to Aaron, saying "I'm sure your ideas will be touching and emotional, Aaron."
Aaron actually chuckles. "I'll be sure to give the regards of everyone here. Poor bastard came down with something deadly. Didn't realize what was happening 'til it was too late." He downs his ale in one quick gulp and checks his gear, patting his ax with a small smile before heading out for his midnight meeting.
Mavarro sat there staring at the card for several long minutes, his expression pensive. It was not so much the letter itself that bothered him as it was the card the writer had chosen to scribble on. The Crows. The Varisian man shuddered, perhaps not just because of the cold. Murder. Theft. Bereavement. It had turned up in his readings often, as of late. It was a very deliberate choice, one that meant something - never mind how or when they had managed to write the message. Only as he contemplated that did his underlying annoyance surface - the deck was a family heirloom. How dare they!
Licking the end of his sleeve, he carefully tries to erase the writing. There would be hell to pay if the damage was permanent, and Mavarro would be the one paying. Grandmother would never let me hear the end of it... he thinks as he works on the cleaning, when suddenly he felt someone tapping on his shoulder. Huh?
"Oh, hello there," he says to the gnome, forgetting to throw up the air of mysticism he typically put on for customers. Fortunately (or unfortunately), she made her reason for being there rather clear. He glances back down at the card with a frown, his efforts thus far not being terribly successful. For a moment he worries that she might read it herself, but then the only obvious reason for her request came to mind.
"Ah, perhaps I shouldn't," he says with a fake smile, trying to sidle The Crows out of view.
Auraelia's face clearly shows shock as she begins reading, misinterpreting the Pharasmian symbol and opening phrase to mean Sigrid had been found dead. She squeezes Marius's hand tightly as she continues to read, only stopping to breathe when she realizes that it's actually suggesting she's alive and can be found. She hands the letter over to Marius so he can read it as she stops to think. Emotionally she's all over the place, thankful for a lead, but unwilling to trust unconditionally. Especially given that there were certainly people who knew she was missing and would gladly try to take advantage of the situation. "Whoever this person is claims they know where she is! Gods let this not be some scam or trick. I have to go though, don't I? We can't risk passing on this chance" she says, turning to him and sighing.
Nary gives the Varisian man a quick once over.
Bleh. Should she charm him?
Nah. No way the letter would be worth that much effort.
"Aw, come on, you can't help a girl out?" she pouts. "This is my first time living in a human city, and Common letters are hard! They're all backwards and twistered up - compared to Gnomish."
"Anyway - my name is Nary! Pleased to meet ya." She beams, smiling sunnily.
Sheesh. Just read the letter so I can leave.
Mavarro's heart went out to gnome girl. He still remembered the hardships he endured when he first arrived in Korvosa... many of which he still had to endure today. How much harder must it be for an illiterate gnome?
If only to keep that smile on her face, he decided to humor her.
"Alright, then - Mavarro Estrovan, at your service. I usually read cards, but I suppose a letter would be a refreshing change of pace," he says, holding his hand out to Nary, waiting for her to hand the letter over. "I'll even do it for free."
Marius frowns and thinks for a few moments. "If it's a prank... or worse, a trick and ambush set up by whoever did it because they noticed you looking... I couldn't bear to lose you. But I trust you if you believe that you can use this to help get Sigrid back." While thinking, he puts a tiny piece of rabbit in his mouth and eats it. "I agree you should go, but... be careful."
The letter is of strangely familiar handwriting and tone to Mavarro as he reads it aloud to Nary, 'Nary-a-Care, your sister has been arrested for something that she hasn't done for once. I know who did it and where to find him. You know that visiting this man is the key to freeing your sister. Together, we can accomplish what we cannot alone, and bring this foul criminal Gaedren Lamm to justice. Meet me at my house at 3 Lancet street at midnight tonight.'
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Free? I love free things! Whadda chump.
Nary hands the letter over gratefully. "Wow, really? That's great! Here you go! Thank you so much!"
Hahaha - wait - did he say his name was Mavarro? Wow!
While she waits for him to look it over, she attempts to make conversation to seem personable.
"Have you lived here all your life? This city is huge! I'm always getting lost."
Maria holds one of Ila's hands to calm her down. Waiting for the others to show up was difficult, but Maria as usual was collected and ready. "They'll be here at the appointed time, and then we can have my ring back."
Their house is well-lit, and there is a basket of bread and fruit laid out on the table in the main room. Incense has been lit and there are six chairs arrayed around the table, in which is seated Ila.
It is nearly eleven o' clock.
Auraelia nods. "I'll be careful, I promise. It's night at least, so I should have the advantage if something happens." She scarfs down her lentils and rabbit and then goes to gather the gear she'd gotten from her father. When she finishes donning the breastplate, she grabs her father's greataxe and sets it against the wall. She throws her arms around Marius and gives him a kiss. "Don't wait up for me, love. If they really have useful information I might go hunt for Sigrid tonight. If we're lucky, I'll be back with her before you know it!" She smiles and hugs him tightly.
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Nary listens to Mavarro read her letter, she frowns, turning serious. Who in the nine hells was writing her letters? Obviously someone who didn't know her very well....
It all seems a bit ominous, but Nary hasn't any cares about such things - this lead was as good as any!
Crap. Midnight? I wanted to get some other mook to read it for me too to make sure he ain't scammin' me. No time for that...
"Oh, my poor, sweet sister Isabel," she sniffles, her eyes welling up with tears. "Do you know where this... 3 Lancet Street is?"
Ila's leg continued to bounce sacrilegiously, despite her mother's chastising. "If I had something for my hands to do, I'd stop doing something with my foot." she says as she watches the incense slowly burn. It was clear to her mother that her nervous energy came about for several reasons.
Ila wasn't used to sitting still; she frequently was on the move, and when she wasn't, she was drawing, painting, filing her nails, combing her hair, or something similar. She had done all of those things, and ran out of paper during the hours-long waiting.
"Why did you set the meeting for this late?" she said, looking to Maria as she contemplated fussing with her hair again, but thought better of it. She thought about carving up a piece of fruit, but she wasn't hungry. She groaned and closed her eyes, willing her foot to sit still for now.
"Not all of my life, no," Mavarro answers as he takes the letter and opens it, "But for most of it, at this point. Life here gets easier, but never easy, unfortunately - you'll probably have to get lost a few more times before you get the hang of it."
Without a second thought, he immediately starts to read the letter aloud, but regrets it almost immediately. There is no mistaking it, this is...
As he finishes his reading, he looks up from the letter, seeing Nary's tears.
The poor girl. As if things were not hard for her already, he thinks with a sigh, handing the letter back to her. Turning back to his table he scoops up all of his cards, pushing back into a full deck. It could just be a coincidence that she so happened to run to him with a letter almost identical to his own. But as she said herself, Korvosa was huge. And besides - he didn't believe in coincidences.
"Yes. Well, the street at least," he answers, saying nothing of their eerily similar predicaments. "But it should not be terribly difficult to find, unless, ah..."
"I trust you, you'll be fine." says Marius, kissing her a second time and giving her a second hug. "I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep while you're out fighting for our daughter, though."
He smiles at her as she leaves.
Maria frowns. "Dark deeds call for a dark sky. A mid-day meeting wouldn't do for the tone." She stands up and walks around their little house, craning her neck as she looks around. "Hold on a few moments. I will go and get you some paper, or paint, or yarn. Something to do with your hands." She walks back to Ila and runs a hand through her hair. "Not much longer to wait, though. I'll be back. Mind the house and greet any guests that arrive if I'm not back."
She walks out the door and down the street, conjuring a simple cantrip to light her way.
As Auraelia walks out the door, she focuses briefly, calling to her spirit animals to aid her by granting her sight in the darkness. She then slings the greataxe over her shoulder and then takes off in a hustle to get to the meeting place as soon as she possibly can. "If this is a trick, someone's going to end up in a pool of their own blood..." she grumbles to herself as she walks down the dark streets, keeping an eye out for trouble.
When she arrives at the house she takes a quick look around to make sure there's nothing obviously wrong, and then bangs on the door with her free hand.
Ila purses her lips as her mother messes with her hair, which, all told, she'd spent nearly an hour on. Though that was perhaps nearly an hour too long; her hair really didn't need much work given its natural straightness and the style it held. "Thank you." she said as her mother headed for the door. "Love you. Hurry back." she said as she watched her mother go.
It wasn't as though Ila were antisocial; it was simply that she couldn't match her mother's practiced ease with people. And it was easy to fall into old habits when one wasn't keeping up pretences.
She didn't even notice when her leg started bouncing of its own volition once more, as she sat and waited, and remembered. Her hands fingered the ring that dangled from her necklace, as she looked over the table, her eyes running all along the old whorls. The poor thing had been marred by the hyperactive childhood of a little girl who hated going outside, but couldn't contain herself.
Etched into the table were six shapes, almost tribal in their stylings, over-emphasized as they were. She moved to rearrange the chairs so that they directly sat before the shapes that her mother had worked to unalign before she'd left.
A roaring bear. A staring cat. A flying wren. A haggard wolf. A feasting rat. A loyal hound.
She moved back to her seat with the flying wren, and returned to patiently watching the door.
Auraelia is the first person to arrive at 3 Lancet Street, and she does so twenty or so minutes after Maria leaves the house (and she still isn't back).
Ila is shocked out of complacency by a loud knock at the door - whoever's there is quite strong.
Once the pounding on the door occurs, Ila sighs, and looks to the window. Her mother should be back by now. She closes her eyes and thinks about ignoring the knocking, but decides better of it.
Then she rises. At least talking to strangers was easy. She moved steadily to the door, and opened it a crack to see who was there.
From Auraelia's perspective, the Varisian girl is... tiny. Her silver-blonde hair is mussed slightly, but otherwise covers half of her face - the half covered by the door. She's obviously a worshiper of Pharasma, or has a very strange idea of fashion, based upon the swirling comet that's been tattooed on her cheek. She's a thin waif of a girl, but dressed in leather armor. There's a dagger to either side of her waist, though she definitely does not have the stance of a warrior, but instead of a young girl still far from coming into her own.
Ila looks to her and seems torn, but eventually relents and steps out of the way, opening the door wide, deep blue eye staying on her as Ila moves out of the way.
Auraelia's countenance is grim as the door opens, expecting some charlatan or thug to answer the door. That look gives way to momentary confusion, as she expects to see someone at her eye level and finds nothing. A moment later she looks down at the small silver haired girl with the tattoo on her cheek and her expression softens considerably.
She stands her greataxe haft-first on the floor and looks at the girl quizzically. "Is... Is this the right place?" she asks. "I got a letter about my daughter. Did you send it?"
She steps inside tentatively and looks about the room as if expecting something. Inside, the light shows her to be a giant of a Shoanti woman with long, straight orange hair pulled back into a loose ponytail. Her features are plain, and her skin tanned from exposure to the sun. She wears a breastplate decorated with animal fur, hide and bone, sturdy leather bracers and heavy leather and fur leggings more appropriate for someone on the hunt in the wilderness than for visiting in Korvosa. On her face, and wherever her skin is exposed, Ila can see red and silver tribal tattoos marking her as a warrior of her quah. Ila notices her eyes are a solid mass of black when the door opens, but as she steps in the darkness with them fades, revealing them to be otherwise ordinary hazel-colored eyes. A few seconds later they seem to shift again, the irises taking a brilliant yellow tint, and the pupils expanding to resemble something more like a falcon's eye than a person's.
She finishes looking about and studies the girl again, this time asking, "Something about you is familiar, do I know you?"
"My mother sent those letters... she should be back at any time." Ila said, twisting the loop around her neck back and forth. "That is strange magic. Why do your eyes change like that?" Ila asks, as she works to close the door now, rather than later.
"You may know my mother, not me. I'm... like her but much smaller." her voice is calm and cool like the sea on a windless day. Truthfully, she was very litle like her mother, the wrong hair, the wrong eyes, she barely fit the same heritage. They were both tanned, just as this woman was, but that was more from spending a lot of time in the streets as opposed to on the hunt. "I take more after my father in that way. Are there many that have tattoos like yours? I have not seen many here in town. They request them in other places, arms, wrists, chest, back, legs... but most avoid the face." she says as she motions for the large woman to take a seat.
Auraelia moves over and sets her gear down along with her greataxe. She stands next to the chair, not entirely ready to let her guard down. "Your mother, who is she? And where has she gone?" she asks.
Without waiting for a reply to her own, she answers the girl's questions. "As for my magic, I call upon animal spirits and ask for their aid. It's expected of the shamans of my Quah, like my mother. I learned from her," she answers. "The tattoos mark that a member of the tribe has come of age and tell of their role in the quah. Mine mark me as a warrior. Out among my people most have such tattoos. The few Shoanti in Korvosa who bear them are exiles..." Auraelia's explanation of her tattoos' significance ends on a sour note, and before another question can be raised about them she turns the tables, asking "Do your own have significance? Besides your worship of the Lady of Graves."
"Maria Indigo. You may know her, or may know me in passing. We both work as healers within the city; as Pharasmans, we both tend to focus on birth and death as opposed to common colds and the like... though there is a much larger market for me in first aid and the like than birthing. You mentioned a daughter, perhaps you know her from that?" she offered, certainly, there were likely many midwives in a town with a dedicated following to Pharasma. Thinking along that line, "One of the first that I watched was a woman with tattoos like that. There was much... screaming. I've become used to all of the screaming... and have decided that birth is not for me."
And then at the question, she nods, "They are... mine." she shrugs a little, and makes the answer a little confusing, but then goes on. "My father was a mage and apothecary. My mother is a cleric and a midwife. It is the only thing of mine that is wholly me. Even then, it is likely I only learned it because of the Varisian blood within me. I like art and appreciate it. The tattoos are all of my own design, save for the Pharasman tattoo. That one is much older than I." she provided a small smile that reached all the way up to her eyes at her little joke, before moving to sit back on her end of the table, before the little bird. "What do you enjoy to do?"
LetsgoletsgoLetsgo!
"Unless? Unless what? Is it haunted? Is it a pleasure house and y'don't wanna admit you know about it? Well, I don't care cause that's where I need to be! C'mon, let's go! Yer closed!" Nary tugs on Mavarro's wrist impatiently.
"My sister needs me," she adds with a little vulnerability - though this time it isn't manufactured. "I just need you to show me where the street is. Please?"
"Maria Ind... Oh!" she says, realizing now the resemblance she'd noted. Her expression is replaced by a warm smile, and her posture becomes significantly more relaxed. "Your mother was there to bring forth my little girl, Sigrid into this world. You were there, I remember! There was a lot of screaming, yes. I'm pretty sure I threatened to kill my husband a few times that day," she says as she sits down, laughing a bit at the recollection.
"Ila was your name, right?" It had been almost ten years since then, she was surprised she still remembered. "You were much smaller then, almost as big as Sigrid is now," she adds, her expression surprisingly kind and almost motherly. "I'm Auraelia," she adds, realizing that Ila probably wouldn't remember her name. "Your tattoos are very well done, I like them."
"I enjoy spending time with Sigrid and my husband Marius. Since Sigrid disappeared, however, I've not had time to do anything I'd call enjoyable. Maria sent an unsigned letter saying she knew where Sigrid was. Do you know anything about where she is, or this Gaedren Lamm she mentioned?"
"Ah, you read my mind!" Mavarro says, as Nary pulls on his arm. Before she can drag him away from his table he quickly slips his harrow deck into the pouch on his belt and stands. Anyone else that wanted a reading would have to wait until tomorrow. Assuming this isn't a trap and that I won't be robbed as soon as I show up. Entirely possibly, given how many questions he had been asking as of late. Either way, he was going - this little meeting is what people in his business called an "auspicious sign." It would be folly to ignore it, danger be damned. Oh, Silva. It seems you managed to pull me into trouble after all.
"I was just about to suggest that someone like yourself might be in need of a guide," he continues, pulling his colorful cloak around himself and leading Nary back out into the street. Outside of his tent, any pretenses of him being the mysterious soothsayer were gone. "Come along, then."
Ignoring the pleasantries, and focusing on the thing Sigrid seems to care most about, Ila shakes her head, drumming out a beat on the table with a pair of fingers.
"I do not. Well, nothing concrete. The one time I have met him, he reminded me of an oiled snake. Impossible to pin down, and too dangerous to target directly. A young girl who my mother had helped to birth had gone missing. I'd just seen her a few weeks prior for a cough... so I recognized her when she stole my purse." She said, recounting, and watching the incense burn once more. "She lead me to Lamm, rather than her home. We spoke for a very short time. I didn't really pay the conversation much attention." She says as she stops drumming and closes her grip atop the table.
"What little I do know, is that this stray child considered Gaedran to be home, as opposed to her real home. And when I took her home she seemed... frightened." She said, looking up from the tiny cinders.
The thought of Sigrid being in that girl's situation is enough to cause Auraelia to grimace and clench her fist. "I see... I hope Maria returns quickly then. If this Gaedren has Sigrid, he's going to learn what it means to anger a Shoanti warrior. And if he's harmed her..." She doesn't finish the sentence, but the look on her face is one promising to repay that injury a thousand-fold to the man if need be.
"Calm." Ila says, adopting one of her mother's mannerisms. Her tone hadn't wavered much throughout her own speech, though her body told it's own tale of how she was feeling. Her tone stayed calm, yet friendly. Not overtly expressive, her body did the talking for that.
"This Gaedran has harmed many. I am among the least harmed directly, so it is easier for me." She doesn't look up from the flames, "But hot anger will only harm. Let the anger temper you." She says, apparently unaware that she was speaking to her elder by many years. "We must remember those others that he has hurt, because not everything can be righted through blood alone." She says, looking up to meet the woman's gaze. "He does deserve death for what he has done, but others deserve closure as much as you."
Her eyes slowly moved to the window, and then to the door, as she fell silent once more.
Despite Nary's affectations to the contrary, Korvosa really isn't all that huge. It takes merely about twenty minutes to cross town and get to Midland, where the address indicated on both of their letters is located.
When they arrive, it's a simple, square and one-story affair with warm lighting and the sounds of pleasant conversation coming from within.
Maria still hasn't returned.
"Well that was not so bad, now was it?" Mavarro asks Nary as they arrive at their destination, the question mostly rhetorical. He looks the small building over, having expected something a little more ominous. Not that the friendly, inviting atmosphere calmed him any - he was a little too anxious for that. It was hard not to be, given the circumstances. Before he has the opportunity to second guess himself, he takes a step forward. "Shall we give their door a knock?"
The Varisian tries his best to approach the building in a casual manner, but he cannot help but to toss around a few nervous glances. If this was some kind of convoluted trap, it was a well-laid one. Nothing in his last personal reading seemed to suggest that he would die soon, but fate could be fickle. When he reaches the door, he waits on Nary before giving it a few sharp raps with his knuckle.
Hearing the rap at the door, and expecting that Maria would let herself in, Auraelia turns to Ila, asking "Are you expecting further company?" Just in case, she grabs hold of her axe and scoots the chair back some so she can move quickly if something bad happens.
"Yes. Several people." Ila said lazily, and then pushed herself out of the chair and moved to the door, peeking out in the same way she had before, one deep blue eye looking at Mavarro, her head tilting slightly. Then she looks down to the gnome. "How... odd." she says, opening the door a little wider and moving out of the way, once more, revealing Auraelia behind her... with her axe. "Come on in. Did you both get a letter?"
She patently ignores the gnome and Varisian, at least visually, as she looks out the window, with a small frown - she expected them to find a seat... and possibly even dig into the fruit.
Not knowing what to expect, Mavarro raises a brow ever so slightly when Ila opens the door. He hesitates just long enough for her reveal the woman with an ace. Ah. Maybe I am going to die tonight, he jokes to himself, cracking a nervous smile and nodding at Auraelia.
"In a manner of speaking, yes," Mavarro replies as he accepts the invitation, taking a step into the building. He reaches for his Harrow deck and without looking, produces The Crows. Turning it over, he shows Ila the back of the card, the message still scrawled on it.
"But it was a tad tasteless, no?" he asks as he walks further in, inspecting the room. He quickly finds a chair and seats himself, wondering where this clandestine meeting was heading.
Ila looks to the card as he offers it, and frowns. "I agree. That... does not seem like mother." she purses her lips. "I'm afraid I don't have the magic to fix it." she says, still looking outside. "It is also unlike her to run late."
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Auraelia blinks as she sees a varisian and a... gnome? She'd never seen one before, it was... cute. She sees the nervous look on the varisian's face and sets her axe back off to the side. She smiles at the two and waves, trying to appear less imposing, "Hello! I'm Auraelia," she says, her eyes fixed on the colorful little gnome. She walks over to her and crouches down to end up at eye level with her. As she does, her eyes relax back to their natural hazel irises.
"I've never seen a gnome before, is that hair color real?" she asks, ruffling the gnome's hair playfully without bothering to ask permission. "I can't believe how small you are! I think Sigrid was already that tall at the age of three!" She starts to pick up Nary like a child but then thinks better of it. "Sorry!" she says by way of apology, "I've just never seen a gnome before!"
"Careful. They bite." Ila adds, deadpan, as she moves to look out the door, still frowning.
"Truly? Can they latch on like a ferret?" she asks Ila, picturing the gnome hanging from her arm by her teeth, body limp. She laughs at the mental image and then stands up again.
"Do you know where Maria went, Ila?" she asks, noting the concern on her face. "Are we still waiting for others? Don't worry too much, I'm certain I can track her down if we need to. I doubt she was trying to hide her trail. How long has she been gone?"
"Probably. I've never let one get me." she smiles down to the little gnome (who is probably perfectly capable of killing her in her sleep.)
"She... went to get me something to do... it's been quite some time. She said that if anyone showed up to let them in." she shrugs a little. "So... I suppose she had errands to run as well."
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Nary follows Mavarro into the little home. She looks around herself, wanting to discretely appraise the home for valuables.
Nary keeps herself behind Mavarro - initially keeping him between her person and the two strangers. She keeps up a small, impish smile.
I hope this isn't a set-up. What is this place? Two human women? S+@* - that other one is a f$!&ing giant! Why is she coming closer? Oh, f@%&, don't touch me!
"Hey!" Nary wrinkles her nose. "Cut it out!" She accepts Auraelia's apology readily - "Well, nice to meet you! I'm Nary - the best gnome you've ever met!" she quips, playfully.
She frowns, and adds - "I don't bite! Humans are weird. Is that normal for you people?"
She then backs away from the Shoanti woman, and moves closer to Mavarro. She clings to his cape like a child. "Um. Whose house is this? Yours?" she stares at Ila.
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Mavarro shrugs slightly, as though to ask "What can I do?" The damage to his card was not permanent, in any case - his was no ordinary Harrow deck. Not that "ordinary" was a word he would use to describe the Harrow in general. It was more the principle of the thing that bothered him in the first place. In any case, he was able to glean a little insight from Ila's answer. "Well, your mother certainly got my attention. Perhaps that was her intent?"
He turns to Auraelia, surprised by how authentic her friendly greeting seemed. "My name is Mavarro," he says, though it soon becomes apparent that the Shoanti woman's attention was more focused on Nary. Not that he could blame her - the gnome certainly was a rather colorful individual. He felt a little bad for leading her there without telling her that they had similar predicaments, but that was apparent enough at this point.
"It's nice to meet you Nary!" she says, laughing at her "best gnome" joke. "I think Ila was joking about you biting. Or at least I know I was!" She manages to ruffle Nary's hair once more as she's moving back to hide behind Mavarro, and then holds her hands up apologetically, grinning at the gnome. "It's nice to meet you as well Mavarro," she says warmly.
"So are you both here about Gaedren as well?" asks with a more serious look on her face.
Ila nods once to Nary when she asks if it's her home. "Technically my mother's. There's fruit on the table if anyone would like. It seems strange that she would buy fresh fruit for such a late meeting. Surely everyone would have eaten by now." she says, quietly, and matter-of-factly.
Watching Aurelia mess with Nary's hair reminded her of her own, and she moved to close the door, before going to a side table and patiently brushing the muss out of it. "I wonder how many guests we were supposed to have." she says as she runs the brush through her hair to get it straightened once more, before returning to her seat.