Gul: Once in a Blue Moon (Taeldane)

[Taeldane]

Taeldane hailed from some of the deepest and foulest depths of Gulanadur. Growing up, the surface world was a thing of childhood stories, so far beyond reach that it might as well be nonexistent. For all his life he had been no more likely to see the moon in the sky than to actually set foot upon it. Gazing upon the Moonlady's bright temple, however, the dark adhiel thought he had some idea of what the moon might look like. He had envisioned it many times in his dreams.

Gulanadur seemed strange with the Dark Knights all gone. Hollowed-out, even. The knights had been a distant and majestic sight for as long as Taeldane could remember. The backbone of the city. Now all but a handful were away, fighting some distant war on the mythical surface world that the young dark elf did not even pretend to understand. Ordinarily that would mean next to nothing to Taeldane. The Dark Knights' absence would be but a dreary side-note to a dismal life. But now... word was, the city needed defenders. All of the great temples were recruiting guards. And anyone who signed on would be allowed to join the Dark Knights' numbers, as well.

To join the Dark Knights. That little bit of childhood fantasy had seemed wholly impossible, until now. Even now a large part of Taeldane whispered that the dream was little short of madness. Yet the temples' offer was simply too great an opportunity to ignore. Being a guard, after all, was work that Taeldane knew well. Even now his lips quirked in a rare smile that that thought. If the most I accomplish is an escape from Aelibard's household and the sight of Camellia, then this gamble will already be worthwhile. And if that was all, then so be it.

If, on the other hand, he did become a Dark Knight... a true knight, and not just a glorified temple guard... Well. That was a possibility that Taeldane was still not prepared to entertain with any real seriousness. But it was his one hope for the future. I have grown tired of life without hope. So thinking, the dark adhiel abandoned his hesitation and moved to set foot in the temple. Taeldane would hardly be the first young man to sign on with the Moonlady's guards with entry into the Dark Knights as his goal.

[Tristam]

This temple of course lays at the bottom of the Gulanadur, on the Temple Teir. It is the largest of temples, not out of pride, but out of need. The Moonlady is a popular diety in Gulanadur.

However, the builders did not let the notion cross their mind of letting functionality get in the way of beauty.

The temple itself is a shallow, hallow mound, from above, it looks like a disc, or more accurately, the moon. The entrance is actaully several feet in front of the disc, and it leads underground for a few paces, so that no doorways, effect the beauty of this perfect circle.

After walking down the short underground hallway, one is met with a myriad of mirrors that decorate the walls, and ceciling. Bioluminiscent fungi lights this place of worship, and it's reflection off the hundreds of mirrors is sight to behold.

---

A young priestess dressed in the shimmering silver robes of the Moonlady smiled at Taeldane as he approached. "Welcome home, brother." She greeted him. Dipping a silver ladle into a font of water, she poured out a drink into a stone cup and offered it to him. "Please, refresh yourself." After waiting a few flickers for him to drink or not, she asked, "What do you seek from the Moonlady this day?"

[Taeldane]

At first the young dark elf eyed the mirrored walls of the entry hall curiously. He had certainly never seen their like before... but then, there were a great many things that Taeldane had never seen. The infinite array of heavily-armed Taeldanes reflected on all sides soon reminded him of why he had come here. After another moment he had put the glorious sight of the light shining through this hall of mirrors out of mind. Instead he looked, with a different sort of curiosity, for anyone who might challenge an armed and armored man invading the Moonlady's temple.

But no one did. By now, Taeldane supposed, fighting men coming to join the temple guards must be a common sight.

A young priestess dressed in the shimmering silver robes of the Moonlady smiled at Taeldane as he approached. "Welcome home, brother."

Home. The young adhiel had shown little outward reaction to the sight of the temple's interior, aside from a momentary softening of his usual, stoic expression. Nor did his expression change now. Inside, however, Taeldane felt an unexpected flash of skepticism. This place doesn't feel like home. The bright halls of this temple, suitable for the Moonlady, were a far cry from the squalid hovel from whence Taeldane came. He felt more out of place here than he had anywhere else in living memory. But then, he decided, it didn't matter. The dark elf was more than ready for a change.

Bowing his head in thanks, Taeldane accepted the offered drink of water, and went on to drain the cup. Traipsing across half the city in full leather armor was thirsty work. Of course, he hadn't just worn his gear to communicate his experience as a fighter. He simply had no place to leave it all without risk of it being stolen. Where his family lived, you guarded what little you had tooth and nail, or watched it disappear.

After waiting a few flickers for him to drink or not, she asked, "What do you seek from the Moonlady this day?"

"To serve Her," he answered flatly. "As a Dark Knight." After a moment's pause, he added, "I heard there is a way." Taeldane's face remained impassive, for all that a small part of him was certain that this was the moment he would be informed that he had come here on a fool's errand.

[Tristam]

The priestess nodded in understanding. "To serve Her as a Sentinel." She corrected him. "Then once the Sentinels are no longer needed, you shall serve the Goddess and the Queen as a Dark Knight." She looked him up and down and was satisfied that he looked the part of a warrior. Please I shall lead you to the one that coordinates the Sentinels."

The priestess took back the cup from Taeldane and replaced in by the font. Then she led the warrior deeper into the temple.

[Guest]

After several minutes, the priestess leading Taeldane led him to a door at the end of one of the corridors. She paused before the door, and knocked.

"Enter" came the voice of a male Dark Adhiel. The Priestess opened the door to reveal an office of sorts, a few bookcases full of scrolls and books flanked and backed the person seated at the desk. He rose as the Priestess proceeded Taeldane inside.

"Namaste." the dark Adhiel said to both the Priestess and the stranger and gave a nod for the Priestess to withdraw. He bowed to her, and only briefly watched her retreat before turning his full attentions on the heavily armed stranger with an expectant look on his face.

"I am Mordular, and unless you've been misled, you are here seeking to become of the Lady's Sentinels?" Mordular enquired.

[Taeldane]

"To serve Her as a Sentinel." She corrected him. "Then once the Sentinels are no longer needed, you shall serve the Goddess and the Queen as a Dark Knight."

"If it pleases the Goddess," Taeldane murmured, inclining his head in acceptance.

He would be a Sentinel, or whatever it took, in order to fulfill his dream... or at least to chase it as far as he could. While "once the Sentinels are no longer needed" had a better ring to it than "never," in the end it might amount to the same thing. The Sentinels would be needed until the war in the alien lands far above had ended. And who knew when that might be? In ten years, or a hundred years? If the war ever ended at all. He might live out the remainder of his days pursuing a promise worth less than the breath it had been spoken with.

Nonetheless, the young dark adhiel thought. Being a Sentinel for the Moonlady's temple is something more than being a common merchant's guard. Particularly when that merchant's house was haunted by Camillia.

I shall lead you to the one that coordinates the Sentinels."

Silently, Taeldane followed as bidden. He kept an eye out while the priestess lead him further into the temple, not for trouble precisely, but simply to get a feel for his surroundings. That was a survival skills in the slums in which he had grown up. If you wanted to live to a ripe old age, you learned to keep your eyes and ears open, and especially when you were entering unfamiliar territory.

Upon meeting Mordular, the young adhiel returned his greeting, while coming to stand at something like attention. He had little idea of the niceties of etiquette among an outfit such as the Sentinels. Indeed, since the temple guards were a fairly new entity, Taeldane was unsure whether they had any sort of protocol whatsoever. But he supposed that the situation demanding some degree of formality, given that he was meeting with the man who had been described to him as the Sentinels' coordinator.

"Taeldane is my name," he said. "I will join the Sentinels, if they will have me. Later to become a Dark Knight... if the Goddess wills."

[Guest]

"Taeldane" Mordular nodded and seemed to mentally file away this information as he gave a nod.

"You may sit, I'm new enough at this not to have established anything like a set protocol." Mordular explained. Taeldane could see that Mordular's eyes appraised him even before the offer for Taeldane to be seated.

"So, what part of the city are you from, Taeldane. And why do you want to be a Dark Knight?" he inquired.

[Taeldane]

Taeldane gave a grunt of acknowledgement, and pushed his sword behind him in its scabbard as he sat. No point in removing the weapon from his belt: he might not be staying here long. Seated, now, the young adhiel returned Mordular's assessing gaze levelly. After a brief moment, he let his eyes wander away. He had seen what he needed to see. The Sentinels' coordinator looked to be more warrior than clerk, and that was something. To learn anything more, he would rely on the man's words, and more importantlu, his actions.

Taeldane gave a faint, guttural laugh, over Mordular's second question rather than the first. Why do I want to become a Dark Knight? Amusing, to realize that he had never really asked that question of himself. It was his dream since childhood, true. But why? To what end? An introspective look came across Taeldane's face, and the silence stretched on for short while longer as the dark elf considered the questions.

"I come from the slums," he said at last. "From the deep darkness, as far from the noble houses as you can imagine." Taeldane flashed the faintest of smiles. "Maybe that will go some way to answering your other question, too. But if you want more... so do I." His shoulder rose and fell in the shrug. "A better life for my family and for me. A higher calling, maybe. A chance to serve Gulanadur, and not just some merchant house."

[Guest]

Mordular's tactical and appraising look of Taeldane extended to his taking of a seat, and he seemed slightly amused by Taeldane's guttural laugh.

He listened carefully to Taeldane's explanation, and didn't answer for a few moments. His eyes never left the Dark Ahiel, and finally gave a nod.

"I can understand that, wanting to be something more than what your lot in life seemingly is going to hand you." Mordular agreed. "And serving Gulanadur is a worthy goal and aspiration. And needed, in these tumultuous times, would you not agree?"

"So, given your martial skills, let me ask you this without prejudice, but as a way to understand you better. Its a question I find is a telling one." Mordular began. "Why did you not join the expedition to the surface?"

[Taeldane]

"And serving Gulanadur is a worthy goal and aspiration. And needed, in these tumultuous times, would you not agree?"

"Hmm," Taeldane said. Which would have to do for an affirmative.

For many years, tumultuous times had always meant little or nothing to Taeldane. In the slums, life was a struggle from day to day, and sometimes from one hour to the next. It made little difference to the people there whether Gulanadur was facing fair weather or foul. But today the change in the city was palpable. The Dark Knights had gone to war. Even the lowest of the low could sense change in the wind, and this dark adhiel no longer counted among that number. He had already climbed just high enough to have caught a small glimpse of the storm ahead.

"Why did you not join the expedition to the surface?"

"Go to an alien world, to fight a war I don't understand? That doesn't make sense to me." Taeldane said. His tone was utterly neutral. "Defending the homeland from harm while our army is away... that makes sense to me."

That wasn't the entire story by any means. Taeldane had thought long and hard about joining the expedition. The gods knew he would dearly love to see the fabled surface world which his father had described in such vivid detail. But what it came down to was, his fight was here. in Gulanadur His family and his life were here. He might die on the surface world without ever becoming a Dark Knight, and leave his parents to a lifetime of crushing poverty, without even a soldier's wages to support them. And Camillia... if she ever thought of him again... would think that he had thrown his life away on account of her rejection. Pride, and duty: those things would suffice to keep him in Gulanadur, for now.

"The expedition is a job for the Dark Knights," Taeldane added at length. "And I am not a Dark Knight. Not yet. But if the order came to serve in the war above..." And he gave another shrug. "The Moonlady knows that I will serve wherever I am required."

[Guest]

Mordular steepled his fingers and regarded Taeldane as he gave his answer. Thoughts of his own desires to join the Dark Knights, and the words of the Queen came like a cascade through his thoughts as the would-be Sentinel answered Mordular's question.

"That is the right answer." Mordular said wryly, finally, continuing to regard Taeldane. "By becoming a Sentinel, you are putting aside what you want, in service of something greater, something outside of yourself, something of which you are a part, not the whole of."

"I'll tell you a secret." Mordular continued. "Although I was born to a Merchant House, we are not that different as you might think. Until events, and the hand of the Lady set me here." he said. "My own ambition was to become a Dark Knight myself."

[Taeldane]

"I should like to become a part of something greater," Taeldane murmured. True words, indeed. If nothing else, it would be a great relief to be able to feel that he was doing something worthwhile, instead of merely scraping by.

Taeldane's face remained stony while the other elf shared his secret. To him, it was quite a leap in logic to go from "I was born to a Merchant House" to "we are not that different." There was a big difference between growing up as the child of a Merchant House and scrabbling for a living on the filthiest streets of the city. Only "big?" No. An enormous difference... perhaps an insurmountable one. Certainly Camillia had thought so.

Still, Taeldane was patient enough to suspend disbelief and hear Mordular out. And so he found that the Sentinels' coordinator was at least technically correct. They shared a common aspiration. That, and maybe more. The Dark Knights held a high and noble position in the city, well above that of most any sort of commoner. It might be that the leap from merchants' son to knighthood was not all that much less than it would be for a man such as Taeldane. Right now, though, something else about Mordular's statement caught his attention.

"You said 'was,'" the young warrior remarked. "Does that ambition not remain?"

[Guest]

Mordular did not laugh as Taeldane considered his words, and came back with what seemed to Taeldane was the obvious question in return. Indeed, the glint in Mordular's eye seemed to suggest that he was expecting Taeldane to ask it.

Perhaps, Mordular was leading Taeldane to ponder and consider the very question that he posted to Mordular.

"The path that one takes is not always the path that one plans to set out upon." Mordular began. "For many years now, I have dreamed, planned, and trained with the ambition of applying to become a Dark Knight."

"I never thought myself worthy of even making the application." Mordular continued. "Yet, the ambition gnawed at me, the desire to be of service in that manner to Gulanadur still ached at my bones."

"And so, I found myself seeking the counsel of the Moonlady for aid in overcoming my fears. You may laugh at that, Taeldane, but I was raised as a follower of the Moonlady, and I felt I could find the solution to overcoming the paralytic venom of fears of my own unworthiness."

"Instead, through trial and tragedy and petition to her Majesty, I find myself here, as the first of the Moonlady's Sentinels. I am finding that it might be unwise to consider my position as merely a stepping stone to becoming a Dark Knight, and instead a work of my own to concentrate fully upon. And once the day comes that Sentinels are no longer needed, who can say where ambition and the needs of the City will lead me, then?"

"Does that make sense to you?" Mordular asked.

[Taeldane]

By the end of Mordular's speech, Taeldane did feel like laughing, though not at the idea of the older elf seeking the Moonlady's guidance. While not an especially devout believer in the Goddess, Taeldane was a believer. He saw nothing amusing about Mordular's having turned to Her in a moment of doubt. Nor could he especially blame the Sentinel for his fears. The Goddess knew, Taeldane himself was less than assured of his own worthiness of a Dark Knight's title and steel. Not that that would stop him from trying.

What Taeldane did find risible was the hardly veiled warning against putting his goal of entering the knighthood ahead of his sense of duty as a prospective Sentinel. Amusing. The young warrior really wasn't someone who needed to be reminded about the importance of living in the present, or of the way that life so often look unexpected turns. A year or even a month ago, he could never have predicted that he would wind up where he was sitting now. And it would be a long while yet before he had to worry about becoming blinded by ambition. At the same time, he was not ready to renounce any ulterior motives on his part. He had come to the Moonlady's temple in order to chase his dream. That did not at all mean that he intended to sleepwalk through a Sentinel's job.

"I understand completely," Taeldane intoned. He leaned forward slightly, leather armor creaking as he did. His expression remained hard as he said, "As for me, I make it my practice to live in the present. If the Sentinels will have me I will serve. That is all."

As for where ambition and the needs of the city might take him, that was for the Goddess to know. Taeldane would damned well worry about the future when it came. Until then, it was enough for him to have a goal in mind. Even if the destination should change along the way.

[Guest]

[OOC: My apologies, I never got a notification for your response]

"My opinion, as the coordinator and the first of the Sentinels, carries the most way in terms of determining that." Mordular replied with a nod. "And I find favor with your entreaty, Taeldane."

Mordular continued to gaze serenely at Taeldane for a few moments, letting the silence and break from his words fill the air. Finally, Mordular rose and gave a slight bow to Taeldane and regarded him evenly once more.

"There is a ritual and oathswearing to be done, of course, to inaugurate you within the ranks of the Sentinels but that is done by the Priestess. But, since I am setting custom, I do give you the chance to change your mind, now, or else we will go and find her now, and make it official."

[Taeldane]

OOC: Not a problem.

IC: Taeldane would not be the one to break the silence. He acknowledged Mordular's endorsement by bowing his head briefly, and then sat back again in his seat. Waiting. Only a faint hint of triumph showed in his eyes. Having the Sentinels' coordinator "in favor" of his application was certainly far better than the alternative, but it didn't mean that he was a Sentinel, yet.

The young dark elf made a thoughtful noise, deep in his throat, when Mordular offered him the chance to withdraw his request. And Taeldane's eyes slipped closed for a moment as he considered that possibility with all seriousness. Would I be a Sentinel... really? That wasn't exactly his heart's desire, as Mordular himself had sensed. His dream was to become a Dark Knight... and perhaps even that was nothing more than idle fantasy. I could just as easily walk away. But if that was his choice, it would have to be now. If Taeldane took the oath, he would damned well be stuck for it. He had precious little in life. His word and his honor were too valuable to frivolously sacrifice.

I wonder, he thought. Moonlady. Is this the right choice for me?

The Goddess, of course, was unlikely to share her wisdom on the subject. She never had before. But that didn't matter now. He didn't need any divine guidance on this point; the answer was in Taeldane's heart.

Taeldane rose at last, settling his scabbard back at his hip. "I see no reason to turn back now," was all that he said. "You will have my oath."

[Guest]

Mordular gave Taeldane the room he needed to make the choice, studiously not staring the young dark adhiel down as he contemplated Mordular's words, and final choice.

When Taeldane began to speak, or perhaps a moment just before he did, Mordular's eyes flickered upward to regard him, his expression serenely expectant. He gave a short, nod, and the beginnings of a smile as Taeldane professed his choice at last.

"Very good." Mordular rose from his seated position and offered Taeldane his hand in a firm, strong grip.

"Let us go and see if the Priestess will see us to affirm your Oath and begin your path as a Sentinel of the Moonlady."

He gestured for Taeldane to lead him out of the room.

[Taeldane]

Taeldane clasped the other elf's hand, also firmly, though without the sort of knuckle-crushing grasp a stupider and more hot-headed youth might have tried. Whatever else was true, he certainly had not come here to play games. Taeldane offered a slight smile of his own, there and gone even before the handshake ended. He bent his head in agreement and said nothing more as he was ushered out of the room, on his way to take a Sentinel's oath. The only words that mattered now were the ones he would offer to the Moonlady and her temple when he made his vows.

[Tristam]

After a little asking the pair of them found Llilandra in a secluded chapel to the Moonlady off of the main temple chamber. Upon the alter was a smooth sphere of opalescent material glowing softly. Llilandra knelt before it murmuring softly before it. She turned and rose with a rustle of skirts as they entered. She turned her kindly face to Taeldane and then to Mordurlar.

"Dare I hope that another has heard the call of the Moonlady?" She smiled. "Be welcome here, young sir. May the glow of the Moonlady bring you serenity and strength."