'The Villainous Cause' #6: Ceriestrident and the Would-be Recruit

I’ve done it this time. She should have left the city and not returned to speak her thoughts to him. This was taking a silly risk. The reprimand came to her as she tried to peer straight into the brilliance streaming toward her. The light was overpowering. It was almost like facing into a rushing wind. Tears came from her eyes. Her lashes thoroughly wet from damming tears, couldn’t hold on to the next arrivals, making the man she looked to see even more obscured. Her fish-scale, thin, leather gloved fingertips grew dark from dabbing at first her right then her left. It was no use. Even peering from beneath the edge of her mask’s eye slits, made little difference. All she could tell was the figure within the radiance was standing. She could discern that,,, and that he was in fact, the man she had met in this same place twice before. She knew this because despite the light’s cloaking of the man, his extremely wide shoulders and tapered waist could not belong to many others in Alone. She had the fact that he was a large, well-built man memorised, to attempt to recognise him on another occasion. She knew that it might be vital for her to be able to recognise him in a different situation. One that might be more fairly weighted. In that case, she would at last have a chance to judge for herself what kind of man he was. This present meeting like the others she’d had, were too set up in his favour to truly know what to make of him. That is, as anything more than a figure of command. She held some small hope that he worked for somebody. She wanted that to be the case. She wasn’t sure she liked him, even though she had sworn to serve his stated cause. As he began to speak, the low timbre of the man’s voice confirmed his identity to her. Even if the tone was exaggerated by the mask she assumed he too must wear, his voice had to be among the deepest she had heard.

“So good to see you in the Light again, Kaianen. While the stool is simple, I would prefer you to use it so that I may know that I do not tire you unnecessarily. It’s been a long night’s work for you no doubt, and all of my making. I wouldn’t want you to feel any more put upon by my demands on your person than you already have been. So sit. Sit and rest those admirable legs of yours.”

Normally, Kaianen would do a lot more than bristle inwardly at anyone who said such a thing to her. She’d prove to them that it had been a mistake to be so familiar. She had good legs no doubt but she would choose who said it to her directly. She’d not even really mind -- damn she’d even like it -- if it were called for! This wasn’t the right place, the right time nor was it very likely, the right man. Kaianen perched on the front edge of the stool’s round seat. Her thoughts returned to the biggest fear she had. She’d had this thought several times today. That this had all been a terrible blunder.

It had seemed logical to say yes to the man standing before her two weeks ago. He had made a tremendous amount of good sense. His control of Goldlight and air was impressive. Now, having done his bidding for a fortnight, her commitment had begun to waver. Maybe his words had only made sense because she had been so caught off-guard by his appearing in the city. She had not imagined that what he claimed to represent could exist at all, never mind that it could be so far from its natural setting in Baym. Yet here he was and here he made it known that he wanted her to consider an offer to join his cause. That this was a break from the strict guideline of the Seynse OrRahn was clear.

Thinking this, Kaianen shuddered. She should really get out of this meeting alive and move on with her life and never answer the man’s call again. That his cause was a secret one he had made clear. That he wanted others to join he had also stated. Maybe she could leave the city and disappear. He might not pursue her if he didn’t have the force of numbers to do so. Her ongoing silence might eventually convince him that she was no longer a threat to his secret. After all, to reveal it to anyone of the Seynse OrRahn would be to reveal her own failure. She couldn’t be sure that the masters of the Order wouldn’t punish her for her mistake. The Order wasn’t much given to going easy on breaking the key tenets of its founding. Kaianen knew she’d have to try and act as though none of the doings of her last two weeks had ever happened.

She realised the man was watching her. Examining her. It wasn’t the kind of staring she liked to allow. The light behind him made her feel uncomfortable. Not only was her view of him all but obliterated but the heat from it was making her perspire. She could feel sweat trickling between her shoulder blades to the small of her back. Kaianen hated to have to get the sweat from out of her armour. It was never easy to keep its colour even but she liked the way the dyed stuff looked enough to put up with its drawbacks. To alleviate her discomfort and to try to gain any kind of edge, she made a show of examining her right leg’s length as it slowly scuffed the floor with the heel of her boot. If Ceriestraedent had an appreciation for her legs, she might as well use it to see what advantage it might gain.

She ventured and not entirely without interest in the answer, “Sorry to be a little reluctant. I have just been considering everything you’ve told me and to be honest, it’s confusing. I can’t really understand why you’re so committed to this group you’re trying to form. Not only that, but I still don’t quite get who runs it. Is it you or another, or a group of leaders that you are part of? I mean, it’s a huge thing to ask me to leave the Order and be a part of something that is so mysterious. Come to think of it, why the mystery? If your cause is so worthwhile why keep it hidden away from the Sun? Shouldn’t this Recanting be openly shared?” Kaianen could make out that Ceriestraedent folded his arms across his broad chest. That wasn’t a good sign. Still his low-toned voice seemed calm enough.

“The Recanting is a group that is small as all youngsters are. This should not make you worry that it’s not worthwhile, either in purpose or in joining. Remember that I’ve told you the why of it already. I’m a bit surprised that my words haven’t sunk in.”

“No no, I got all that your words meant! It’s more the fact that despite what you say, I’m still not convinced that the crimes you mentioned occurring in the past, indict those of the present? Let’s face it, I’m a part of the result of those crimes as are you. The questor living here in the city -- even this new arrival, Aeson, that you have me learning about the past ten days, is a result of these crimes. Isn’t that a whole lot of inconsistent?”

Ceriestraedent’s voice contained a hint of irritation, “I’m not sure I like the way you said ‘crimes’. You deny that how the Seynse OrRahn made their entrance during the sack of Solember was criminal?”

“Again, I understood all you told me. I just can’t equate that time to the works the Order create now? You must be able to agree that they, I and I assume you, have done good things for complete strangers as part of our present Order’s commands?”

“You’re not sure. You have doubts... You think that somehow the murders committed at the Order’s foundation are erased by the acts that have occurred since. I tell you that this is a light with no source of illumination!” The man’s voice was forceful now, “You’re a skilled fighter. You’ve got the manner we look for. Your writing is passable and your healing is excellent. I have had the pleasure of observing all these skills for quite a while. That you are the type the Recanting prefer to recruit is beyond question. But you would question us. This is unlike a member of the Order. Such demands from a follower are highly -- undesirable. Still I can see past that to the potential that you show, even in the way you move. Your body reveals the power within you. I’ve never been so certain of a person as I have about you, Kaianen. Don’t pass up this brilliant chance to become one with us.” As he said this his hand reached out from the light that hid him.

Kaianen marked as much detail of the hand as she could in the brief moments that it moved toward her chest. She was distracted from her observations by the concern that he meant to touch her. Something about him made her afraid of his getting close enough to let her feel him. His presence was something more than repellent. The idea of even the back of his dark gauntlet brushing her side made her diaphragm rise involuntarily. Ceriestraedent’s hand stopped before it reached her.

“If your doubt is too strong to ignore, then leave. I will have nothing more to say or to do with you. The Recanting will seek you out no more. You will lose the opportunity that others would most surely welcome. That is why you need not fear for your life. The Recanting must prove that it is above the murderous caste that it has come from. Unlike the Seynse OrRahn, the Recanting will not use the last light in a person’s eyes to aid the future success of its adherents or its ministry upon the lands of the world! Let this, if nothing I have said to you before, prove that I and the followers of the Recanting are true. Should the Light return to your eyes, seek me with a messenger and I will reconsider a covenant. Go now.” The hand returned to his side. Then he retreated backwards into the illumination’s overwhelming, glaring power.

Kaianen hesitated, conflicted. Her thoughts battled, tumult-saulting in her head. She needed to decide. She half-slid, half-spun on her heel as she quickly turned and left the room. She more than expected a blow to fall on her back, the wound’s blood adding to the wetness of her damp armour. She controlled her steps, measuring them out, one for every heartbeat. If she showed her fear he might not let her go after all. She also fought the urge to let her hips sway any more than they normally would. She knew this wasn’t a moment for teasing artifice. He had watched her for some weeks. He’d know how she normally moved. If she tried to move more seductively, he would either know it for the ruse it was or succumb to it and come after her. It was a ploy she had often used to gain an advantage. Too often, it had caused her more trouble than she had expected. Ceriestraedent had resisted his urges, she realised she had best control her own instincts as well.