Euda is distracted for a moment as she watches a stranger riding towards the town center and almost misses Gunnar walking away. When she notices him stepping away she turns to follow and quietly says to the others "C'mon, there'll be a place on the way to split things up, or we can do it while we're waiting for the healer."
Maria eyed the stranger as he rode into town, feeling there was something oddly familiar about him, a face that she hadn't seen in some time before. As Gunnar walked away her face turned back to him and the rest of their small ensemble, "Good luck Gunnar, hopefully it will help pay for any issue your father has. His recovery hopefully is quick."
Instead, she takes the opposite direction, "My mistress must be waiting for me, no doubt they have returned. I'll take whatever you wish to give. I just need enough for necessities and travel."
Nobody bothers you (or even seems to notice) as you divide your reward money there in the street (it’s not that kind of town, after all).
Maria heads past the cathedral towards the waterfall and home, where she indeed finds her mistress at home. Sitting at the desk in her study reading a book, Elrithrathiel barely looks up as she enters.
”Welcome back,” she says, ”I gather you’ve had some interesting experiences while I was gone.”
She motions for Maria to sit in the other chair, where for some reason, the ill-fated fire staff from the magic wand and staff cupboard leans precariously.
With nothing else to do, everybody else accompanies Gunnar back towards the inn, which soon brings you face to face with the mysterious horseman and his wolf companion (oh the ironies). Fezzen would be the only one who could recognize him, though Gunnar would recognize the military uniform marking him as a member of the Taldane Phalanx.
Trotting past the inn, nodding and saying hello to people that he recognizes, Benjamin sees another familiar face, this one from the Public House. "Lo there, Fezzan!" he calls out with a smile and a wave. "How are things at the Pub these days?"
He sees a handful of other people with Fezzan that, to his surprise, he doesn't recognize, but he nods at Euda and Gunnar all the same. With a short ascending whistle, Hisan stops and Benjamin takes a moment to dismount. Dhiib plops onto his haunches while Benjamin strides forward and reaches a hand out to shake Fezzan's. If he had learned anything in Qadira, it was to always be on good terms with the people serving your food and drinks, especially if you hadn't patronized their establishments in a while.
He nods to the other two as well, extending his hand to them as well. Benjamin Regalianus," he says by way of introduction, wanting to be polite.
"I have to requisition some supplies from our stores, it saved lives," she walked over, adjusting the fire staff near the wands so that in her own mind it wouldn't fall over in the future. The young wizard would sit down soon after, sitting in the chair offered to her.
"It indeed was interesting, I'm not sure how well that boy will recover. He is obviously traumatized. To think his brother went from threatening to kill me with his damned scythe to begging to save his brother," she sighs, relaxing back and taking off her hat, "All to find some crazed druid."
"Aye, for the last several years, as my kin before me," Benjamin says, providing a salute. He appraises the paladin curiously. Another dedicated Abadaran in Lyon's Brook? Perhaps Banker Triarius had grown in esteem even more these last few years. Benjamin wonders off-hand if his account was still maintained and whether it had accrued any interest worth noting. He honestly didn't remember if he had withdrawn everything before leaving for the Qadiran front. He probably had, to be fair. He had been too young to know better.
"It's good to meet you as well, Sir Vryce. Did Mr. Triarius expand into transportation these last few years, or are you an independent entity?"
Euda steps halfway behind Gunnar and quietly watches the others converse. After their introductions are finished she, somewhat sheepishly, adds, "and I'm Eudamonia Solanis."
Benjamin leans over and extends his hand out towards Euda as well. "Another unfamiliar face; Lyon's Brook seems full of them today! Good to meet you as well, Ms. Solanis."
Fezzan takes Benjamin's hand awkwardly, "Pleasure as always sir. You missed quite the little adventure."
While everyone is exchanging pleasantries, he slips into the back to see if he can't filch so vittles for his new friends.
"Oh, an adventure?" Benjamin asks with his eyebrow raised. "I'd certainly like to hear that!" He nods, whistling at Dhiib and Hisan to get ready to move again. Rather than remounting his horse, he just takes the reins and leads him after Gunnar and the others. "I'll get to my own family soon enough. A brief delay shouldn't be too much trouble while catching up with an old friend and making new acquaintances."
Euda can't help but chuckle softly when the soldier whistles and the wolf obeys.
this is bound to go well... maybe we better steer clear of Robert's house for as long as we can...
She listens to Fezzan's recounting of their adventure as she quietly follows along behind Gunnar, only occasionally chiming in to downplay anything he might mention about plants do as she asked them to.
Gunnar finds his father in good spirits and on the mend, hobbling about on some crutches. He can easily settle up the bill (hand wave) and help settle him into a ground floor room at the inn.
Elrithrathiel looks unimpressed with Maria’s blasé attitude. ”Saving lives is all well and good, but my inventory stores are not your personal lending library. We’ve had this conversation before: give your services for free once, you’re a hero; give them away for free twice, you’re an easy mark. Have these lives that were saved with my wand offered the fair market value as recompense, or am I now out 750 gold pieces?”
"Wow, thanks, Fezzan," Euda says quietly as the barkeep slips her a stack of coins, and some lunch.
"What do we do now?"
After his brief interactions with some new, unfamiliar faces (and a quick drink at the Pub), Benjamin excuses himself to go home to see his mother and (presumably) the rest of his stepfamily. "Adventure indeed!" he exclaims at the end of the tale. "I'll leave you all to it, then. I'm headed to the Aesernas homestead. I'm sure I'll see you lot around town. Cheers!"
Maria looked away, taking a deep breath for a moment before returning to face towards her. Hands one her lap, she could feel Jervis squirming under her robe before she began to respond, "It was a dangerous situation that required the use of those items. That boy would have likely died if not for that wand, the same for his idiot older sibling. Then there was the damned Wyvern, a black scaled one that spewed acid."
"We can go to the families later. Likely the Macintyre's will have coin now. Brewers as well likely gladly pay for your service as well no doubt, along with the sheriff's deputy Papus and Burria if they have any acid burns still. I have my total as well if you wish to take it," Maria says, a hint of defeat in her voice as she let Jerivs out to fly free around the tower.
Euda looks sheepishly at her new (and very new) acquaintances as they begin to head off in different directions. She wasn't really one to suggest plans usually, but she hadn't made any friends in Lyon's Brook that were even remotely her age and these people were, she thought, at least on their way to potentially being her friends. She quietly clears her throat, and when that fails to get anyone's attention she finally speaks up. "Um," she starts hesitantly, "shall we all meet up for lunch tomorrow then? I'm sure Sir Eustus wouldn't mind if you joined me at his estate, and I could show you all the gardens there, if you like?"
"Oh, Sir Eustus is still here? Of course, why wouldn't he be?"
Benjamin looks perplexed for a moment. "I wonder if he'd still remember me. Maybe. Uhrm," he looks at Euda, uncertain, "Did you mean to invite me as well? I don't mean to presume or anything."
Euda smiles softly and answers, “sure, a friend of Fezzan and acquaintance of Sir Eustus is, of course, welcome.”
Benjamin smiles and bows his head. "Very well, then. On your invitation, I shall see you on the morrow." He whistles as he hops back up on his horse and trots back to the local thatcher's home.
"Oh... sure..." Euda answers. "I'll send her a message on my way home. Have a good evening, Gunnar, and both of you."
Leaving the boys behind, she begins walking back towards Sir Eustus' estate. Along the way she gathers up a handful of flower petals and asks them, "can you please go tell Maria about lunch?" The petals spring from her hand in the shape of a tiny songbird and fly off towards the tower.
When it arrives, it knocks on the door with its thorny beak. When someone answers the door it chirps, "Maria is invited to lunch at Sir Eustus' house tomorrow." Then it flies off again, headed to the estate to reunite with Euda.
Elrithrathiel watches Maria impassively as she defends herself, waiting until she’s finished before asking, ”I assume you still have some left? Keep it, you may need it. I have an…assignment for you and your friends. A favour, if you will, in repayment of the wand.”
Before she can lay out the “favour”, a tiny knocking at the door interrupts her. She returns momentarily with a bemused expression on her face. ”Apparently, you’ve been invited to Sir Eustus’ manor tomorrow for luncheon. Perhaps the good you’ve done this past week will help your star to rise and shine a little brighter.”
Maria nods. She understood why her master was like this and would nod to her before she was interrupted by a knocking on the door. The apprentice would wait patiently for her master to return from knocking on the door, "Is that so then. Very well, I'll take whatever assignment you have for me. Surely, they'll take whatever you require us to do for you ma'am at lunch tomorrow."
"What would you have us do?"
”While searching for your friend, Bonita, I ran into an acquaintance of mine: Philosthenus a wood giant. He often finds rare and exotic woods for me as basis for wands. He says a group of miners from Southface have been causing problems for his people, despite no history or provocation, and asked for my help in sorting out the source of the tensions.”
Gunnar finds the coach repairs complete: evidently Tomos suddenly found the time to make a thorough job of them.
The Burgomeister raises an eyebrow as Gunnar steps inside the jailhouse. ”I vould not be thinking to be seeing your face here again so soon. Fortunately for you, cohortes rode off in pursuit of escaped bird. I hope for your sake he not start thinking you knew she could do such magics and not say varning.”
"Alright, we can pay the debt off that way. See what the troubles are and hopefully get to the bottom of it. No doubt that if this issue continues the supply of this wood will dwindle. A dispute with miners will have to be resolves," she responds before getting up from her seat and relaxing her shoulders. She was tired and it was about time that she got to sleep in an actual bed.
"Tomorow, it should be easy enough to convince them on my behalf," she yawns, "I am to retire master. I thank you for this chance to repay you. Maybe my star will shine?"
Benjamin rides from the pub to the stables, taking the long way round so that he won't trot directly by the Aesernas' house. He makes a quick hello to Mrs. Pollio and Pul as he drops off Hisan, nothing more than idle chit-chat, and then completes his near circle around Lyon's Brook's main streets to land himself at the home of his stepfather. Dhiib continues dutifully at his heels. Benjamin knocks at the front door rather than simply letting himself in. He'd sent letters announcing his impending arrival, but travel was so unpredictable that he'd only given a range of arrival dates. He wonders who will answer the door.
A young woman answers the door, older and more mature than when Benjamin had last seen her: his stepsister Modia. She was still a kid when he had last seen her, and had a reputation as a bit of a bully if he remembered correctly. Then again, of the two targets in her blended family, Rufus was the likelier target of her ire. They had only grown up as siblings for a few years, really. As he recalled, the old busybody Lusia had tried to set his mother up with different people for years, including a notoriously bad outing with Mr. Thorius. But Benjamin's mother had been a good comfort to Julum after Halda's unfortunate death, and they had gotten married without any matchmaking or meddling. Lusia had probably been furious.
Modia's look of boredom turns to surprise as she looks at her older stepbrother. They had both grown in the last few years--after all, Benjamin had had short hair and no facial hair when he had left for the Qadiran front. He had basically been a kid himself. "Oh!" she exclaims, pushing open the door and hugging him. "Ma, da, c'mere!" she says. "Benji's home!"
Ugh, Benji--he had hated that nickname. But Modia was about the only person who could get away with calling him that. He returns the embrace and needles her a bit. "Good to see you too, Modi."
Modia withdraws from the hug and sticks her tongue out as Julum and Floria emerge from elsewhere in the house to gawk at Benjamin. They both push past their daughter, Julum reaching up to tussle his shaggy hair ("To the barber with you, eh, son?"), and Floria looking wistfully at his military dress while tenderly touching his cheek ("I like it, he's the spitting image of Sellio.") Behind him, Dhiib jostles up and down, whining impatiently to be introduced and to get ear scritches.
"And this is my best friend, Dhiib," he says, looking back and bending down. He ruffles his wolf's muzzle with both hands and encourages his family to come say hello. All three do, with varying reactions to the surprise that they might be getting a new pet. Modia seems delighted. Floria begins laughing. Julum's initial happiness sours, but he tries to maintain his composure as he sneezes.
Benjamin comes into the Aesernas house and goes to his old room, which is certainly not as he had left it. It's clear that the room had been used for storage up until his letter had arrived; opening the closet reveals that it still was serving as storage in some capacity. He washes up for dinner and coordinates with Modia to play a prank on Rufus when he returns. All in all, it's a deeply pleasant first day back in Lyon's Brook.