Hellknight Embassy
Hellknight Embassy. Shining City. 9:27 PM
As Armiger Jesse Canto stood before the large doors of the library, she could not help but think to herself that she was having rather a bad day. Between her debts currently owed to the moneylenders of the genasi city, her Trial getting delayed on account of politics, and her current assignment, Jessie began to wonder if the universe itself had it out for her. Shure, on paper, her current assignment from the Maralictor seemed easy enough...deliver some mail to her fellow Knights...and in truth, up until now, it had been a rough teen job. She had but one last delivery to make, an arcane sealed letter to one of the newer members of the order, one Kartheltaxia.
Usually, it was a simple matter of delivering the mail to the rank and file Hellknights of the order. Rank and file members, however, do not usually run into the citadel bursting into tears, and Arcane Lock themselves inside the Orders library. Of course, it wasn’t the Maralictor’s problem on what he was to expect on the other side. Jessie wasn’t at all familiar with dealing with androids, androids with explosive emotions, and magic, even less so.
Jessie took out her trusty wand of Dispel Magic, and blasted it at the door. With a single blast of magic, the Arcane Lock was dispelled. Taking a breath, she slowly opened the door, and held up her shield, emblazoned with the holy symbol of Torag, expecting a magical backlash. When none came, she lowered her shield, and stepped into the room.
While a regular library simply organizes its books by author or subject, with perhaps one or more indexes to sift through, Hell Knight libraries took this to the logical extreme. With lines and lines of perfectly aligned shelfs, perfectly square rooms, and entire corner dedicated to a single author, with every book ever written orginised by author, date of publication, and the name of the book itself, this room was the epitome of the sort of order and organization that the Order of the Scourge prided itself on.
Or it would be, at least, were it in attended. As jessie walked into the library, she almost had a miniature heart attack at what she saw. She saw shelfs toppled, and books thrown about the floor. She saw books torn open, their spines bent and battered. And she saw, , sitting down in the eye of the storm, it’s cause. At first Jessie was unsure what she was looking at...she had never seen one in person before. It sat in the center of a maelstrom of books, circling around in all directions like a hurricane had blown through the library. And yet, despite the devastation, the aria surrounding the synthetic hellknight was remarkably calm, with not a single book within 10 feet of her. And from the humanoid shape came the sound of soft sobbing. Jessie walked over to the sobbing knight, and, walked around 180 degrees, standing in front of her, and slowly sitting down, making sure to give her plenty of space, and waited.
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Kathi cried again. It was the same thing she had done last cycle. And the cycle before that. Every cycle, she would have to ask herself....why was she crying? There were a million other tasks to do. And yet, at the same time, every cycle she would remind herself. Willium. That traitorous bastard. Willium. And yet at the same time, she grasped at straws. What good was she doing sitting around? Yet at the same time, she almost mentally punched herself out of that sort of productive line of thinking. “What was their to do? William was untouchable! She wasn’t strong enough to beat him...smart enough to outwit him, or dexterous enough to trick him. No, no matter what she did...WIlliam would remain out their, a menace to women, other androids, and mages alike. And their was nothing she could do about it!”
Kathi cried once more. Though for this time, the cycle was different. She heard footsteps. Originally behind her, but then directly in front of her. She tried to halt her crying. And so, even though she continued to mentally kick herself for her actions...she opened her eyes. More out of personal safety than any other reason. What she saw surprised her. A pair of half-elven eyes gazed back at her. Kathi seemed to jump reflexibility, and almost began to panic until she spied the image of the Order of the Scourge upon her new companions armor, next to a shield emblazoned with the image of Torag. The half elf looked back at her, a look of confusion in her eyes, but also the image of compassion. Understanding. And sadness. The half elf sat down next to her, and the two of them hugged.
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“...And so, with the guards closing in, I....I didn’t know what to do. I threw my sword at William and ran here. I locked myself in the library and....and.....and I’ve....just been here. Crying. And I don’t know why.” As Kathi finished her long explanation, she exhaled. While explaining what had happened made her think about what had happened over the last few weeks, somehow, explaining it all at once, and simply...putting it out their, even to a hellknight she had never met before, somehow...made it hurt less. Not completely, mind you, she still felt every insult, every laugh, every death glare, but somehow, explaining it all, and putting it all on the table was...liberating in the sense.
Kathi turned towards Jessie, who looked back at her, somewhat in thought. Kathi had never seen this particular hellknight around. Was this Armiger new perhaps? Or had it simply been a coincidence that she had never met her before? Truth be told, Kathi was also new to this outpost, and she was not the most...open of types. Before she could form more options, however, Jessie spoke.
“This William charater. The way you’ve spoken about him, he’s clearly caused you pain. Much more then anyone really should ever be subjected to. Not to say that people should be subjected to pain, but” She stumbled with words. “I understand that you might be feeling a bit upset about it all.”
“Feeling upset!?” counter Kathi. He was threatening to interfere with my trial! He was actively attempting to subvert the Order...he..he almost got himself, and us, killed in the Matriarchy!” Kathi sat down, and curled her legs together, almost subconsciously.
At the same time, Jessie spoke back to her. “You're safe here. This entire complex is covered in Magic circles, and is staffed with more guards then most royal keeps. He couldn't get to you if he wanted too. “ Kathi continued to draw labored breaths. “But....but what if he finds a nondetection potion. Or a Greater Invisibility scroll....or he bluffs his way past the Lictor, or if he..-
“Katheltaxia. Relax.” The use of her full name caused Kathi to slow down once again, and her breaths became less erratic.Jessie continued. “You're safe here. From what you’ve told me, William is planning on heading out of the city with that Genasi. He’ll be gone....and you won’t be free of him.” Kathi responded “But he might come back he might, wha-?” she said without a second thought. “Won’t be free of him? What do you mean?” Jessie looked into the android’s eyes. “It never really goes away. The trauma, at least. You can't get it out of your head permanently.But you can learn to deal with it. Manage it. What William did to you is bad, and know that I emphasize with you. You can't ever turn back time. But you can learn to live with it.”
The room was silent for a moment. Then Kathi spoke up. “I....apologize. I didn’t mean to cause any sort of disruption with the hellknight chain of command to warrant a-” Jessie cut her off. “You’ve nothing to apologize for. I’m not here to reprimand you. I’m here as a friend. If you need help with something, anything, I’m always open if you need to talk about something difficult. Just, not in front of the rest of the Knights.” Kathi nodded. Jessie noticed tears still in her companion's eyes...but she seemed to be regaining her composure. “Now, I’ve got a message for you. It’s a letter. Your eyes only.”
Kathi took the letter in her hands,unsealed it, and began to read. Jessie moved to the other side of the room as she did, both to give her friend some breathing room, and because she didn’t want to look over the shoulder of whomever it was who had sent Kathi a letter, though she couldn't help but be mentally curious.
Kathi, meanwhile, read the entire letter. Then, she paused, and read the entire letter again. Only on her third read through did the words truly begin to click. Hey eyes finally began to rest on the final words.
“.....and would much appreciate your assistance in this matter. You come highly recommended, and from what I’ve heard, seem like you are just the person to take her down. Meet me at the above address, we’ve much to discuss.
-Tara Lunamoon.”
As Armiger Jesse Canto stood before the large doors of the library, she could not help but think to herself that she was having rather a bad day. Between her debts currently owed to the moneylenders of the genasi city, her Trial getting delayed on account of politics, and her current assignment, Jessie began to wonder if the universe itself had it out for her. Shure, on paper, her current assignment from the Maralictor seemed easy enough...deliver some mail to her fellow Knights...and in truth, up until now, it had been a rough teen job. She had but one last delivery to make, an arcane sealed letter to one of the newer members of the order, one Kartheltaxia.
Usually, it was a simple matter of delivering the mail to the rank and file Hellknights of the order. Rank and file members, however, do not usually run into the citadel bursting into tears, and Arcane Lock themselves inside the Orders library. Of course, it wasn’t the Maralictor’s problem on what he was to expect on the other side. Jessie wasn’t at all familiar with dealing with androids, androids with explosive emotions, and magic, even less so.
Jessie took out her trusty wand of Dispel Magic, and blasted it at the door. With a single blast of magic, the Arcane Lock was dispelled. Taking a breath, she slowly opened the door, and held up her shield, emblazoned with the holy symbol of Torag, expecting a magical backlash. When none came, she lowered her shield, and stepped into the room.
While a regular library simply organizes its books by author or subject, with perhaps one or more indexes to sift through, Hell Knight libraries took this to the logical extreme. With lines and lines of perfectly aligned shelfs, perfectly square rooms, and entire corner dedicated to a single author, with every book ever written orginised by author, date of publication, and the name of the book itself, this room was the epitome of the sort of order and organization that the Order of the Scourge prided itself on.
Or it would be, at least, were it in attended. As jessie walked into the library, she almost had a miniature heart attack at what she saw. She saw shelfs toppled, and books thrown about the floor. She saw books torn open, their spines bent and battered. And she saw, , sitting down in the eye of the storm, it’s cause. At first Jessie was unsure what she was looking at...she had never seen one in person before. It sat in the center of a maelstrom of books, circling around in all directions like a hurricane had blown through the library. And yet, despite the devastation, the aria surrounding the synthetic hellknight was remarkably calm, with not a single book within 10 feet of her. And from the humanoid shape came the sound of soft sobbing. Jessie walked over to the sobbing knight, and, walked around 180 degrees, standing in front of her, and slowly sitting down, making sure to give her plenty of space, and waited.
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Kathi cried again. It was the same thing she had done last cycle. And the cycle before that. Every cycle, she would have to ask herself....why was she crying? There were a million other tasks to do. And yet, at the same time, every cycle she would remind herself. Willium. That traitorous bastard. Willium. And yet at the same time, she grasped at straws. What good was she doing sitting around? Yet at the same time, she almost mentally punched herself out of that sort of productive line of thinking. “What was their to do? William was untouchable! She wasn’t strong enough to beat him...smart enough to outwit him, or dexterous enough to trick him. No, no matter what she did...WIlliam would remain out their, a menace to women, other androids, and mages alike. And their was nothing she could do about it!”
Kathi cried once more. Though for this time, the cycle was different. She heard footsteps. Originally behind her, but then directly in front of her. She tried to halt her crying. And so, even though she continued to mentally kick herself for her actions...she opened her eyes. More out of personal safety than any other reason. What she saw surprised her. A pair of half-elven eyes gazed back at her. Kathi seemed to jump reflexibility, and almost began to panic until she spied the image of the Order of the Scourge upon her new companions armor, next to a shield emblazoned with the image of Torag. The half elf looked back at her, a look of confusion in her eyes, but also the image of compassion. Understanding. And sadness. The half elf sat down next to her, and the two of them hugged.
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“...And so, with the guards closing in, I....I didn’t know what to do. I threw my sword at William and ran here. I locked myself in the library and....and.....and I’ve....just been here. Crying. And I don’t know why.” As Kathi finished her long explanation, she exhaled. While explaining what had happened made her think about what had happened over the last few weeks, somehow, explaining it all at once, and simply...putting it out their, even to a hellknight she had never met before, somehow...made it hurt less. Not completely, mind you, she still felt every insult, every laugh, every death glare, but somehow, explaining it all, and putting it all on the table was...liberating in the sense.
Kathi turned towards Jessie, who looked back at her, somewhat in thought. Kathi had never seen this particular hellknight around. Was this Armiger new perhaps? Or had it simply been a coincidence that she had never met her before? Truth be told, Kathi was also new to this outpost, and she was not the most...open of types. Before she could form more options, however, Jessie spoke.
“This William charater. The way you’ve spoken about him, he’s clearly caused you pain. Much more then anyone really should ever be subjected to. Not to say that people should be subjected to pain, but” She stumbled with words. “I understand that you might be feeling a bit upset about it all.”
“Feeling upset!?” counter Kathi. He was threatening to interfere with my trial! He was actively attempting to subvert the Order...he..he almost got himself, and us, killed in the Matriarchy!” Kathi sat down, and curled her legs together, almost subconsciously.
At the same time, Jessie spoke back to her. “You're safe here. This entire complex is covered in Magic circles, and is staffed with more guards then most royal keeps. He couldn't get to you if he wanted too. “ Kathi continued to draw labored breaths. “But....but what if he finds a nondetection potion. Or a Greater Invisibility scroll....or he bluffs his way past the Lictor, or if he..-
“Katheltaxia. Relax.” The use of her full name caused Kathi to slow down once again, and her breaths became less erratic.Jessie continued. “You're safe here. From what you’ve told me, William is planning on heading out of the city with that Genasi. He’ll be gone....and you won’t be free of him.” Kathi responded “But he might come back he might, wha-?” she said without a second thought. “Won’t be free of him? What do you mean?” Jessie looked into the android’s eyes. “It never really goes away. The trauma, at least. You can't get it out of your head permanently.But you can learn to deal with it. Manage it. What William did to you is bad, and know that I emphasize with you. You can't ever turn back time. But you can learn to live with it.”
The room was silent for a moment. Then Kathi spoke up. “I....apologize. I didn’t mean to cause any sort of disruption with the hellknight chain of command to warrant a-” Jessie cut her off. “You’ve nothing to apologize for. I’m not here to reprimand you. I’m here as a friend. If you need help with something, anything, I’m always open if you need to talk about something difficult. Just, not in front of the rest of the Knights.” Kathi nodded. Jessie noticed tears still in her companion's eyes...but she seemed to be regaining her composure. “Now, I’ve got a message for you. It’s a letter. Your eyes only.”
Kathi took the letter in her hands,unsealed it, and began to read. Jessie moved to the other side of the room as she did, both to give her friend some breathing room, and because she didn’t want to look over the shoulder of whomever it was who had sent Kathi a letter, though she couldn't help but be mentally curious.
Kathi, meanwhile, read the entire letter. Then, she paused, and read the entire letter again. Only on her third read through did the words truly begin to click. Hey eyes finally began to rest on the final words.
“.....and would much appreciate your assistance in this matter. You come highly recommended, and from what I’ve heard, seem like you are just the person to take her down. Meet me at the above address, we’ve much to discuss.
-Tara Lunamoon.”
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