[Medieval Roleplay] Sad, Shy Smiles

[Shinko]

The chilly breezes and frigid rains of mid-Autumn were rattling windows in the Kythian capital of Medieville. Inside the King's Arms Inn, a roaring fire was kept going at almost all times to keep the cold at bay. It couldn't penetrate the upper rooms, however, and when Sieg Braham woke from a fitful sleep late in the morning he was shivering.

The knight was surprised he had slept so late at first, but then he remembered- that nightmare had come upon him again. He always woke up on nights when it struck him, and it took hours for him to fall asleep again. With a resigned sigh he threw back the bedcovers, shuddering as a fresh rush of chill hit him, and swung his legs around. The half-elf winced a little as his feet touched the floor, and he limped as he walked around the room getting dressed. Though the Courdonian raids were tapering off since Rafe assumed power, they hadn't stopped completely. Slavers had assaulted Nid'aigle two weeks prior, and Sieg had sustained a blunt blow to one leg that left the bone bruised and the limb badly swollen. He was still somewhat reluctant to accept healing for injuries that weren't life-threatening, so he made do with cooling salves to ease the pain and a crutch.

Finally, Sieg came downstairs into the common room. It was fairly noisy, with guests and locals alike gathered to socialize out of the cold. The knight made a beeline for the counter, waving cheerfully to Ilsa despite the pain in his leg and his tired dark-rimmed eyes.

"Good morning!" he said as he sat down. "Hope you've still some leftovers for a late riser. Looks like you're doing a brisk business at today!"

SPOILER: Click to show

Roleplay with Elcie. Sieg is at the King's Arms the Autumn after the coronation (before Hope and Joff's wedding). He has a limp from an injury in a recent battle with Courdonian slavers, and is kinda tired after his recurring nightmare, but in a relatively good mood despite this. He says good morning to Ilsa and asks if she has anything left he can eat.

[Elcie]

"Morning, Sieg." Ilsa grinned cheerfully at him, busy cleaning up behind the counter. "I'll see what I can grab for you. Might still be something hot in the kitchen."

As she straightened up, the door swung open and Xavier entered, wearing a thick green cloak to keep off the chill. He was more used to the cold now than he had when he'd first arrived in Medieville, but it didn't mean he had to like it. He gave Ilsa a small wave, and she brightened at the sight of him.

"Xavier! It's been a few days," she said, waving him over. "Come sit down."

"Thought I'd come drop in while I had the chance," Xavier said, sitting down at the counter. "Looks like business has been good."

"Yes," she agreed, looking very pleased. "Oh, I don't think you've met Sieg Braham, have you? Morgaine's son. He's visiting from Corvus. Sieg, this is Xavier Lynn of House Jade."

Xavier gave Sieg a polite nod, trying to hide his embarrassment at being introduced like that. Though his clothing made it obvious that he was a Jade, and he felt no real need to hide that fact, it was still decidedly being strange being introduced as one. Particularly by Ilsa. He had a feeling that she did it just to tease him. At least this time she hadn't called him Lord Xavier.

"I'll see what we've got for you two, shall I?" Ilsa said, heading back off into the kitchen.

SPOILER: Click to show

As Ilsa chats with Sieg, Xavier shows up for a visit. She introduces them, calling Xavier a member of House Jade, which somewhat embarrasses him. Then she heads off into the kitchen leaving Sieg and Xavier to awkward at each other.

[Shinko]

Sieg was surprised by the arrival of the young red haired man in Jade clothes. He looked to be roughly the same age as Joffery, the singing Jade Sieg had met at the Bloody Coronation, but there was a sort of set to his face that implied he was a good bit more mature then Joffery. Sieg recognized that eyes-too-old look, he'd seen it a thousand times over in the army after all.

"Good morrow, Lord Lynn," he said politely, bowing his head to the Jade. Amusement danced in his amber eyes as he remarked, "It seems to me that everyone in this city knows my mother. How did you come to meet her, if I might ask? I hope it wasn't because you were on the receiving end of her sharp tongue."

With an added smile the knight said. "Oh, I believe we have a mutual acquaintance, my Lord? Master Leif, your house archmage, saved my life at the coronation last summer. How fares he? I haven't had the chance to say hello since arriving."

SPOILER: Click to show

Sieg, not really registering that Xavier is uncomfortable with his title, addresses him as a knight would address any noble- with polite difference, and somewhat adopts his more formal elven mode of speech (though not to the extreme he COULD be doing, since Ilsa introduced Xavier as a friend of hers.) He asks how Xavier knows Morgaine, and also brings up Leif.

[Elcie]

Xavier's face reddened at the use of his title. "Oh, er - y-you don't have to call me lord," he said quickly. "I was adopted into House Jade a few months ago, but I'm... not really a nobleman. I used to work for Ilsa here at the inn," he added, by way of explanation. Despite his embarrassment, he smiled at the mention of Leif. "Yes, Leif is a friend of mine," he said. "I've been learning a lot from him. He's been doing well... I'll let him know you're staying here when I see him."

"And your mother - well, I... I guess I didn't meet her under the best of circumstances." Xavier winced. "I helped arrest the robber who, er, attacked her around the time of the coronation." He stumbled over the words awkwardly; he wasn't used to talking about his exploits as a vigilante even now, and he was reluctant to bring up the incident that had left Morgaine half-blind when he was talking to her son. "I don't know her very well, but... she's a good friend of Ilsa's."

SPOILER: Click to show

Xavier stammers awkwardly about Sieg's use of his title, explaining that he was adopted and used to work at the inn. He tells Sieg that he'll pass it along to Leif that he's in town, and tries to figure out a tactful way of explaining that he was involved in saving Morgaine from the guy who blinded her in one eye.

[Shinko]

When Xavier explained that he'd been one of the men who saved Morgaine's life against the Courdonian thief, Sieg's eyes widened. "I... I see."

He turned around sideways on his stool and bowed his head respectfully, putting his hands on his legs. "Thank you, sir. Apart from Master Leif I'd never gotten the opportunity to properly thank any of the folk who helped save my mother's life. I owe you a very great debt." A slight trace of bitterness entered his voice as he added, "Certainly it is the least I can do, since for all my training as a knight I was not there to protect her myself."

He sat up again, tilting his head with a shy smile. "I can understand you being uncomfortable with your title. When I was first promoted it took nearly a year for me to get used to people calling me 'Sir' instead of 'Squire.' So what should you like me to call you then? Master Lynn? Something else?"

SPOILER: Click to show

Let's see how many different ways Sieg can fluster Xavier! I bet a bunch! Don't worry, Xavier will turn it right around on Sieg in no time I'm sure.

[Elcie]

"Oh, y-you really don't have to--" Xavier stammered awkwardly in response to Sieg's bow and display of gratitude. "I was- I didn't do that much, honestly, it was Leif and Lord Kirin's efforts that saved her. I'm just glad I got there in time to distract him. I doubt I could have stopped him without help." He managed a small, sympathetic smile at the knight; he could certainly understand how the man must have felt. If anything happened to Ilsa... "You couldn't have known, Sir Braham. It's not your fault."

When Sieg asked what he should call him, Xavier felt somewhat relieved that the half-elf was not one of those who insisted on using "Lord" despite all Xavier's protests. "Just Xavier is fine, I really don't mind." He tilted his head, and added, "If you don't mind the question, Sir Braham... if you are a knight, who do you serve in Corvus? You aren't wearing House Jade colors." He had heard that there were free elves in Corvus, but was uncertain if Sieg was from one of their cities, or if he should even ask about it directly. He had pointed ears, but Morgaine was decidedly human.

SPOILER: Click to show

Xavier waves off Sieg's gratitude and tells him he didn't really do much. He asks him about his service as a knight and avoids mentioning the whole "Morgaine has a son with pointy ears" thing even though he's curious, because it might be rude.

[Shinko]

Sieg laughed bitterly, "Rosalie said the same thing- that's Mother's partner, the keymaker. Still, I can't help feeling I should have been there. The entire reason she asked me to come during the events of Starmey's funeral was because she was worried about the restless state of the city, but I underestimated the threat and very nearly paid for it. You may demur, and I won't press you if it bothers you that much, but don't think I'll forget the debt I owe."

At Sieg's inquiry of what he would like to be called, the young Jade replied, "Just Xavier is fine, I really don't mind."

The knight gave a friendly grin. "Very well, but if I'm to be informal then it's only fair you do the same. I don't mind my title in particular, but you can just call me Sieg. It's a little odd to be addressed so differentially by one who technically outranks me, and then for him to ask that I use his first name!"

When the young man asked who Sieg served, the knight chuckled. "I don't mind at all, and you have every right to know since you're a member of the ruling house of my home region."

He moved to turn back around so he was facing the counter, accidentally banging his bad leg against the wood and clenching his teeth hard against a curse that tried to escape him. He exhaled slowly out of his nose, and after a moment the pain finally subsided enough that he could talk again. He massaged the swollen limb gently with both hands as he continued answering Xavier's question.

"Directly, I serve Nid'aigle, the last great elven stronghold in Kyth. My father was an elf, you see, so I'm half-elven," he tugged his ear with one hand and winked, before returning the hand to his injured leg. "The elves have an agreement with the Jades, so we also serve them by helping to safeguard Corvus as a whole and by answering to the ruling house directly whenever they ask us for help. We are not sworn to them, so we don't wear their colors, but we do have an obligation to uphold where they are concerned so we might as well be. It's a bit complicated; the simplest explanation is that we agree to fight for the Jades in exchange for them letting us live in their territory ungoverned aside from paying taxes to them and respecting the laws of Kyth."

SPOILER: Click to show

Sieg agrees to drop the subject of Morgaine and Knifedude if it bothers Xavier, but says he still feels that he owes Xavier a debt. He then tells Xavier that since the knight is calling the lord by his first name, Xavier can do the same if he wants (though he leaves that choice up to Xavier ultimately, since Sieg isn't bothered by being addressed as "Sir Braham.") Finally he explains his allegiance with the elves and their weird relationship to the Jades- banging his leg in the process and making his injury rather obvious.

[Elcie]

Xavier smiled, a little nervously. "Fair enough, um, Sir Sieg. Really, I'm not all that important in House Jade anyway, my rank doesn't matter much."

He listened to Sieg's explanation, though his brow furrowed with concern at the obvious pain on the half-elf's face when he hit his leg against the counter. "Oh, that makes sense. I had heard that there was a large elven settlement in Corvus but I didn't know much else... I guess I should be better informed if I'm to be a part of House Jade." He grinned wryly. He hadn't realized that the rulers of Corvus allowed the elves that much independence; considering how elves were generally treated in Courdon, it was a foreign concept... though far from an unwelcome one. No matter how valuable they were as slaves, non-humans were usually considered sub-human by the Courdonian nobles who owned them. Free elves simply did not exist. A city like Nid'aigle flew in the face of everything that someone like Duval believed in.

Sieg was still rubbing his leg as if it pained him. Xavier frowned a little. "Are you all right?" he said, glancing at Sieg's leg. "If you need a healer..."

SPOILER: Click to show

Xavier considers Sieg's explanation about Nid'aigle. A whole city of free elves with that much independence is a foreign concept for someone who comes from a place where elves are treated as sub-human. Noticing that Sieg looks like he's in pain, he asks if he's all right.

[Shinko]

"What this?" Sieg asked, smiling an very obviously false smile. "It's nothing. I'm pretty sure it's just a bone bruise, I've had worse. It's just the swelling that's the problem, it plays up whenever I hit something or try to put weight on it."

He indicated the crutch he had leaning against the counter, as if this were evidence of his ability to cope with the injury on his own. Then he leaned his forehead against he counter to better look down at the leg as he continued to massage it.

"Though I certainly hope the 'pit cursed mercenary that hit me is enjoying that concussion I gave him as a thank you gift. I swear by Woo, those Courdonians never give up. They won't rest until there are no more free elves anywhere in Kyth. And we can't do a blasted thing to stop the raids because no one can conclusively prove it's the nobles financing the mercenaries. All we can do is fight them off when they arrive, and hope we catch them before they escape across the border with whoever they manage to snatch..." With a trace of bitterness he added. "We don't always succeed."

He glanced up at Xavier with a sardonic smile. "And of course when we formally demand the return of our civilians, they play dumb with us and oh so subtly remind Lord Everett of all the escaped slaves he hasn't put much effort into returning. 'It is ever thus' as the elven saying goes. Sorry for rambling at you."

He tentatively peeled back the leg of his pants to inspect the leg now that he'd managed to get the throbbing to recede. There was a massive purple and red welt along his shin, and the leg was swollen almost twice it's normal size. The half-elf only sighed at it, before covering it again. At least the strike on the counter hadn't made it any worse.

SPOILER: Click to show

Sieg says he's fine despite being very obviously not fine. Then he rambles about how much Courdon sucks because ALL THE AWKWARDS, sorry not sorry Xavier.

[Elcie]

Upon hearing who exactly Sieg had been fighting, Xavier tensed and went very still. "Courdonians," he muttered. He looked down at the counter. "Elves are valuable, so I suppose it's worth the risk to them," he said quietly. Duval had owned an elf, though Xavier had not known him well, and the slave-lord was incredibly proud of his possession. The man was an heirloom, apparently, inherited from Duval's father. "It's..." He trailed off, biting his lip. Sieg probably did not want to hear how his people were treated in Courdon, and Xavier was not sure he wanted to be asked how he knew.

His hand, resting on the counter, clenched into a fist. He'd known, vaguely, that elves were usually captured out of Kyth, but that old, long-suppressed anger was flaring up in his chest as he heard about the raids firsthand. He'd grown up in slavery; he couldn't imagine what it would be like to be free to begin with, to have a home and a family, and lose it like that.

And every person Sieg protected was one more who would never have to find out.

He looked back at Sieg, his brow furrowed. "Did you succeed this time?" he asked him.

At the sight of the knight's injured leg, Xavier winced in sympathy. If Sieg didn't think he needed healing, Xavier wouldn't push it, but he'd keep an eye on him nonetheless.

SPOILER: Click to show

For some reason, Xavier has a pretty strong reaction to hearing that Sieg was fighting Courdonian mercenaries. He gets angry thinking about enslaved, kidnapped elves and asks Sieg if this particular mission was successful.

[Shinko]

Sieg waited for Xavier to finish the sentence he had started, but the young Jade trailed off without establishing what "it" he was referring to. The half elf wanted to make a scathing reply to the comment about elves being valuable, but he could see from the way Xavier's fist clenched and the steeliness of his eyes that the man was in no way trying to justify the Courdonian raids.

The half-elf wondered what Xavier's story was. There was way too much anger there to just be from the attack at the Bloody Coronation... Whatever issue the young noble had with the Courdonians was a personal one.

Still, it wasn't really Sieg's business. Knowing the Courdonians the story was probably a bitter one, and Sieg was the last person to try and dredge up uncomfortable stories from somebody's past.

"Did you succeed this time?" Xavier asked suddenly. Sieg grinned wolfishly in reply.

"Sent them packing with their tails between their legs, the ones that were still alive. And when we finally had time to do a headcount after the dust had settled, everyone in the city was still accounted for. Of course I'm not the only one who got hurt in the fighting, and my injury is far from the worst that was sustained, which is part of why I didn't bother having it healed. The healers need to save their energy for people with life-threatening wounds, not a guy with a limp. But we didn't lose any lives- to death or to slavery."

Sieg glanced at the door to the kitchen, wondering what Ilsa was up to in there. Turning his attention back to Xavier, he added, "We do wish sometimes there was more we could do. Crossing the border to get back those who are stolen is out of the question unless we want to bring a war down on Kyth. Some of the more human-sympathetic among the elves have discussed the idea of trying to provide safe-houses for escaped slaves, but not enough of us speak Kythian to make it work, never mind all the slaves who only speak Courdonian."

His smile turned sad. "Once or twice we have had escaped slaves wander across the city- usually whatever sentry finds them tries to help if they can, provided the escapee doesn't run away before we can convey in mime that we're not enemies. Giving them food, Kythian clothing, a map with relatively safe locations highlighted, so on. It barely even equates to a drop of water in the parched desert of misery that all those slaves represent, but if we can at least help one person..."

SPOILER: Click to show

Sieg is surprised by Xavier's obvious anger with the subject, but quickly assures our favorite woob that no one was enslaved or killed in the most recent raid. Sieg then talks a bit more about Nid'aigle's dealings with Courdonian slavery.

Also apparently when two woobs get together they are both shy and sympathetic enough not to pry into each other's horrible backstories. >8C Man up you two.

[Elcie]

Hearing that Sieg and his comrades had beaten the Courdonians, Xavier smiled grimly. "Good."

His smile faded as Sieg continued, replaced by a serious, slightly sad expression. "That's..." He swallowed. "That your people make any effort to help them is admirable. For a slave, even a small amount of kindness..." He paused. Maybe he'd said too much, but - he finished the thought anyway, looking down at the counter. "It's extraordinary. They don't expect people to be kind, ever." He could still remember the gut-wrenching terror he'd felt even once he'd made it to Corvus - the expectation that every cloud passing over the moon was a gryphon swooping down on him, that any person he encountered would immediately turn him in. An elf might inspire less fear than a human, considering that they were not permitted freedom in Courdon, but the fact that the sentries at Nid'aigle would be armed was probably terrifying enough.

Xavier sighed. "I'm sorry about what's happened to your people," he said quietly. "It... it shouldn't happen. It shouldn't ever happen. But I'm glad you're protecting them." The young man looked up and gave Sieg a half-smile, the expression tempered by his lingering sadness. "You're fighting back. Someone needs to. Remind the Courdonians that they aren't invincible, that they can't just take whatever or whoever they want. You risk your lives doing it..." Like Elin did for him. Like Muriel. The anger rose to the surface in his eyes again. "And the ones who are beaten, the ones who survive, I hope they never forget it."

SPOILER: Click to show

Xavier has some feels about how much of a difference the elves' kindness could make to an escaped slave, and gets all passionate about the fact that they're fighting back against the slavers. And he wishes ETERNAL HUMILIATION on the Courdonians who survive and Duval.

[Shinko]

Sieg listened as Xavier spoke, concern coming over his demeanor. Xavier's feelings on the matter where definitely far to strong for someone who was simply harboring a lingering resentment for the battle at the Bloody Coronation. He spoke of the Courdonian slaves as if hew knew them intimately. When he talked about Nid'aigle it wasn't in the context of "you're defending Kyth, because of course." He treated the elves resisting the Courdonians like it was some magnificent gesture.

Then again, considering it was elves the Courdonians were fighting, given they viewed elves as good for nothing but using as slaves, maybe it was. No doubt the elves in Courdon where a tragic, broken lot, for whom fighting back would seem to be a fever dream. But again, that was an awfully intimate perspective on the issue for Xavier to have...

Realization hit Sieg like a lightening bolt, and he turned to the young Jade with a world of sadness and sympathy in his eyes. "You're from Courdon, aren't you? Maybe... maybe even an escaped slave?"

That would explain a very great deal. The young man's haunted, too-old-eyes, his anger over the subject of Courdon, his intimate knowledge of how slaves felt and acted, all of it made perfect sense in that context.

Sieg looked away, clenching his hand on the thigh of his injured leg. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought this up. It was not my intention to waken bad memories. Lord- I mean, Xavier... Don't underrate yourself. You are free, and a noble of Kyth. I can think of nothing that would gall those wretched slavers more."

He looked up at the ceiling, his amber eyes clouded. "And I cannot judge those who don't fight back. I know only too well how debilitating pain can be, and how when you get hurt for something you learn very quickly not to do that thing ever again. It's part of how knights are trained, you see. When we grip a weapon wrong or swing it incorrectly, it strains our muscles, so we are forced to correct ourselves. If someone was hurting you for exerting your selfhood, every time you tried to..."

He shook his head, "It doesn't help matters any that elves... I'm not sure how much you know about elves Xavier, but for all the resemblences between them and humans there are some fundamental differences besides pale skin and ear shape. I'm not a very good example, being half human, but in general elves have no instinct to fight. No drive to competition, no sense of territory. Training to be a knight among the elvenborn means learning to overcome their own basic natures. That being the case, once broken into servitude by the cruelty of their masters, it would be hard for an elf to even conceive of the notion of fighting back."

Sieg's expression darkened. "My father once told me that for all he disliked what Courdon does and knew they had to be stopped, he didn't hate them. He felt... sorry for them, because from his perspective the fact that they were missing the basic ability to feel empathy or compassion was a very sad thing. It is a sentiment very indicative of how elves in general view the world, though I personally take more after the human side of my inheritance in this regard."

The half-elf coughed, "And I have gone on a ramble after I said I shouldn't have brought the topic up at all. Forgive me..."

SPOILER: Click to show

The lightbulb clicks, and Sieg realizes Xavier is a former slave. The knight tries to reassure Xavier that he's fighting back too, in his own way, then explains some stuff about the elves to give some context as to why they might not be very resistant to their captors in Courdon.

[Elcie]

Several months ago, Xavier would have been terrified by Sieg reaching this conclusion. But then, several months ago Xavier would never have been this candid in the first place. Uncomfortable as he still was with his past, keeping it secret no longer seemed to matter as much - not after Duval had already found him once and failed to reclaim him. So at Sieg's words, he only smiled wryly. "Yes," he said quietly. "I grew up in Talvace province. It... it wasn't a good place. Not for me... or for most of us."

He listened sympathetically to Sieg as he talked about the elves. He hadn't known many; Duval had only owned one, and he had kept to himself. The few others he had crossed paths with were generally status symbols, kept close by their masters, who showed them off much as Duval had done with Xavier after he was known to be a mage. Grimly he nodded. "They exist to be property, to be useful, according to their masters. And the more you're told that the more you believe..." He trailed off, looking away. "I'm sorry. They're your people. You probably don't want to hear this." Sieg knew how bad it was; he didn't need Xavier putting further images into his mind.

Xavier's smile took on a bitter edge. "So I suppose I'm very human, because I don't think I'll ever stop hating them. The slavers, the nobility... It was a strange thing to discover nobles in Kyth who were capable of being kind." It wasn't that nobody in Kyth was cruel. It was that here, at least, he was allowed to be human.

At Sieg's apology, he shook his head. "No... it's okay. It's... it's in the past. I'm Kythian now, by my choice. And I'm never going back."

SPOILER: Click to show

Xavier opens up a little more about his past in Courdon, and promptly apologizes for it. He also waves off Sieg's apology, saying that he's never going back to Courdon because having a revolution hasn't occurred to him yet.

[Shinko]

Xavier confirmed that he was indeed an escaped slave, and Sieg had to bite back the impulse to put a comforting hand on the young man's shoulder. The blunt anger in Xavier's voice made the half-elf's chest constrict with sympathy. Obviously he'd been through far more then any one person deserved to experience in their lifetime. If Xavier's experience was what it was like in Courdon for all slaves, Sieg couldn't blame the young man for hating his birth nation.

The half elf looked down at the counter, his expression sad. "I met one once- an elf slave. More specifically, I met the ghost of an elf slave, who'd died in captivity. She'd been born in freedom four hundred years ago in an elf city that doesn't exist anymore, and was taken to be a slave as a teenager. She wouldn't tell me much, but from what I was able to glean she'd been led to believe that there were no more free elves anywhere, that they were all slaves in Courdon. I don't know if such is commonly told to elven slaves in Courdon or if her master was just a sick, sadistic slimeball, but all she wanted to do in her ghostly existence was know if he'd told her the truth or not."

Sieg smiled, though it was a very sad smile. "I brought her with me back to Nid'aigle, and... she fell to her knees and wept. To see the elvenborn walking upright and smiling moved her so much that she passed on then and there."

"I can't forgive them either," he said, his voice hardening. "Not after meeting Josette and seeing how broken and miserable she was- how much it meant to her that somewhere in the world the elves were still free."

He coughed, blushing, "Not to undermine the suffering of the human slaves, of course. But I am glad you have found happiness and freedom here in Kyth, Xavier. And I shall have to increase my estimation of Jade House- I had not thought they would go so far in their spiting of Courdon as to bring a former slave into their family. How did that come about, if I might ask?"

SPOILER: Click to show

Sieg talks about an elven slave ghost he met once, then compliments the Jades for taking in Xavier. Then he asks a hilariously mood-whiplashy question.