Anurith's Golden Ram ~ Rylas

[Ashari]

"Where's the fun in that? I like a challenge, and Yabal always has good locks." He full out grinned and took his seat with a feline grace, the one that Talnyah mimicked so perfect in every single one of her movements. The thing that made for her to never be in an uncomfortable stance, a stance which wouldn't afford her the best oppertunity if she needed it. Under the bed, however, she was at a great disadvantage, and she listened to their conversation quite intensely, barely even daring to breathe.

Tedrin merely watched Rylas as he ran over the many thoughts in his very busy brain. The dark adhiel shrugged it off to him being surprised at his sudden visit, and not having been prepared for it, at first. His eyes followed the young man's as he set down his weapon, never letting his gaze leave his. It was a look of command. Demanding the meeting.

The dark adhiel shook his head and smiled at Rylas' comment of the street women and his metaphor. "You're smarter than I gave you credit for. I apologize." He listened to the quick explaination, and didn't question it, for he knew for a fact where the ladies' changing room was. One figured that out especially quickly. "I hope you aren't being a devilish lad and dallying with the dancers..." His grin widened to an extreme. "For.. Yabal doesn't take kindly to that." He winked.

"And no, it isn't just your nightlife that I was concerned over. Actually, I was meeting with Yabal, and after a talk with him I decided I didn't want to get caught up with what is going to happen in the Market. It involves that little Princess you helped, and I know that Ionis is going to be pissed. I've gotten under his skin just enough recently, but I don't want to wage a war with the man. It's a... difficult and strained relationship the two of us share, and I'd hate to push him over the edge over nothing."

"So, take the next few days, get to know the city. I'll be in touch, I'm sure there will be something for you to do in the coming days. How did you fare on the locks?" He hoped it was going well. "And I must say - I'm impressed you've remembered your adhiel, I thought it might've drifted from your mind from lack of usage." His fingers laced together on the table top, and it seemed as though his questions had been answered - rather - his accusations.

"Perhaps I'll have a place for you down at the docks, soon." He pondered it aloud. "I was just thinking, how are you in your weaponry? Have you kept in practice of that as well?" He hadn't gotten a chance to watch the young man fight due to him not jumping in to save Talnyah's pathetic little life. "And do you have anything aside from the Bec?"

[Guest]

Rylas was bittersweetly relieved. Tedrin seemed satisfied, but it was difficult to lie to him. It was not only because there was no telling if he already knew and was just giving a test, but because deep down Rylas didn't want to. The few times he had envisioned reuniting with him, he had imagined it as a launch into golden days. But there was Talnyah, and there was the fact that he truly only had a child's impression of Tedrin's identity.

Yes, Talnyah. Rylas willed her to stay hidden and not do something stupid, like slip out and rush her father. Even though his relative fortune seemed to be holding where Tedrin was concerned, all his original problems still remained, and largely unaddressed. Just because he had masked his betrayal - it was the best word for it, though it pained Rylas to think it - didn't mean it wasn't still laying underneath the bed Tedrin had provided. And there was the idea that Tedrin was a kind of traitor himself. Even so, it was difficult to be miffed over a lack of trust when he knew Tedrin was right to be distrusting. Quite a knot I am tied in. Well, you can't plan ahead for the utterly unpredictable. So, one step at a time. The self-consolation brought Rylas peace enough to at least continue his conversation.

"Yabal can rest assured that stealing his cookies is furthest from my mind," he answered. He was on the verge of asking why they were so sternly guarded, but lost interest as the subject of Lianelle and the future came up. "So she was royalty after all," he thought out loud, then, "I had suspected she was...more important than she let on. She wasn't as worn or common as most locals."

Rylas's brow lifted at the prospect of being given free reign for another spell of days. He would explore the city more, as Tedrin suggested, but it also gave him some time and space to ponder over Talnyah, and there was the diversion of a bet he had placed at the arena.

Rylas crossed an arm over his stomach and brought his other fist to his cheek. "I spent some quality time with that chain, to the point that I almost wonder if further practice with them will test my lockpicking, or just my memory." His next words came on a sigh. "Speaking of, I think I have forgotten much of the adhiel. I remember words and phrases I particularly liked, but not much else." Rylas wondered if Talnyah knew any of her own language, if Tedrin had taught her. He had never thought to use it around her.

Place at the docks? Rylas asked himself. Living space, or job? Neither possibility conjured up images that he liked. "I severed a thug from the Tether while at sea, but that was some time ago, and didn't require much finesse. I welcome a chance to try myself." Rylas reached down and lifted his weapon to his lap, examining it as he tended to do when he thought of battle. "I have a stiletto and throwing knives packed away, for more subtlety. But, most of my recent pursuits have been mental." The statement was cautionary to himself as much as Tedrin. The truth was that his martial instruction had largely ceased when he and Tedrin went separate ways before.

[Ashari]

"Haha!" Tedrin let out a robust cafaw at Rylas's comment about the dancing girls. Yabal did indeed have an excellent reason to keep the ladies well guarded. For one he needed them to remain perfectly unattainable, so that any man who wanted one, had to go to The Golden Ram. Were they to be adventurous and try to make a profit of their own, he cast them out into the streets and warned of the fact that any who took up business of theirs was on his out list. Being friends with someone like Tedrin, not many people wanted to be on Yabal's bad side. For, they really were good friends.

"Yes, princess of one of the Villages of the Nine. Really, the princess, as her father is the head of the council that unites them all against overthrowing and keeps small skirmishes of land borders to a minimum. Nashreen is her villages name, not that it matters much. She'll be going back home very soon, I imagine."

The dark adhiel nodded. "I understand, I'll have to give you some difficult ones to work on, or maybe a job to test the knowledge. If one comes up, I'll send messenger to you. Never know when such a skill could come in handy." He glanced over to Rylas's door. "And, even though Yabal's locks are quite good, you may even consider another for the inside." He shrugged. "Just a suggeston."

There was a nervousness hanging around the young man who sat before the underworld king. It was heavy, and Tedrin didn't like it much, but everything he had said made perfect sense. "Too bad about the adhiel, but there is still plenty of time to learn." His arms crossed on his chest, a stance which Talnyah so often mocked. Hers was stiff and terse, where as he seemed comfortable and confident.

Tedrin couldn't help his surprised expression at the thought of Rylas killing a man while on a boat. "Very good then." He let his arms relax back to his lap. "If you keep your mind sharp, it is the best blade you will ever know." It was one of his tried and true analogies, one he used often. "Don't let it rust, and never abandon it, even when all other options seem out of reach." The king sat up, and then stood in a fluid motion. "I hate to cut this short, but I really must be off - people to see and street gangs to extinguish, you know, the normal." He winked. Infact, Tedrin was perhaps one of the best deterants of unecessary violence in all of Amun Rah. The 'regular folk' thought of the Rafao as a god, not as a man who could keep them safe. Tedrin was real, and he ruled with an iron fist, not a gold gauntlet.

With quick strides he moved to the door. "Buy some incense... unless you prefer to smell of the women's salts." His hand bravely reached for the door as he scanned around the room one more time, his eyes falling on the thin ribbon. "And try not to pick up too many useless things." He opened the door and stepped out. "I'll send a messenger to you as soon as I have need of you. For now, just get to know Amun Rah better, and avoid the streets tonight."

And then he departed moving with a avian grace down the hall and toward the metal staircase. He made as much noise as Lianelle- which wasn't much. Tedrin, thanks to his side, didn't have to worry about weight, but it helped that he knew The Ram so well that he knew which steps creaked and which boards groaned.

[Guest]

Of course, Tedrin knew all about Lianelle. When Rylas crossed paths with her, he had begun to wonder if he wasn't on to something important, but it was all old news, evidently. He wondered how Tedrin had been served by helping Yabal help Lianelle to help Rakhash. Though if she was on her way home, that was a story Rylas figured he had missed. Just as well, he thought. I have enough dilemmas.

Rylas looked over his shoulder at the door, thinking how inadequate it had proven thus far. Tedrin's suggestion was a good one, and since it was his suggestion, Rylas figured Yabal wouldn't object to an additional lock. A nice sliding bolt, something that couldn't be picked.

Trying not to look relieved, Rylas nodded knowingly as Tedrin stood. "Ea ta seodhiu...inaidha," he said, standing up himself. He struggled with the grammar, and suspected he had just butchered the farewell into "you in the world, I salute." Brow low, he shrugged it off and added, "I am gratified that you discussed these things in person." As he closed and locked the door after the shadowy king, he leaned his back against it and closed his eyes, waiting for the impression of "safe" to return to the room.

When he felt Tedrin had cleared the stairs and departed, Rylas's lips warped into a sneer. Try not to pick up useless things, indeed, he thought, crouching down and peering underneath the bed. His back ached in accord.

[Ashari]

Tedrin grinned at the young man's usage of ahiel, and at his following frown. "We'll work on that later." He said, his temperment in a very good dispodition as he departed.

Talnyah allowed an excessive exit of breath when the coast was clear, and immediately followed it up with a deep intake. Her heart was beating much faster than it ought to, and she was genuinely surprised when Rylas bent down and looked at her as she laid on her stomach beneath the bed.

Even as he looked at her, and she was aware that Tedrin was gone, she was almost too scared to move. It was obvious in her extremely wide eyes and slightly shaking shoulders. The dark achadhiel scrambled out from beneath the bed, carefully avoiding Rylas so as to not bump into him. "I thought.. it's just that.. you didn't though." She just sort of looked at him, kneeling on the floor, a puddle of skirt around her. "Th-thanks." Talnyah finally spit out. "I thought I was done for, I thought you were just going to tell him that I was here." She had weapons, of course, but she wouldn't have been able to get to them, not quickly enough, not silently to prepare herself.

The young woman reached beneath the bed and pulled her bag from beneath it. "So. Thanks." Her dark blue eyes turned back up. "I'm going to get you killed, Rylas. Why haven't you kicked me out yet?"

[Guest]

Rylas rose and looked down at the little girl who hid underneath the bed from monsters. "You thought that I would buckle and tell him everything," he stated accusingly. Gradually, his sneer faded, his face relaxing into a sort of after image. He turned to the table and lifted her ribbon, then stepped just within his arm's reach of her. "So did I, for a split flicker," he muttered. He held it out to her, still looking in the direction of the table.

"That would be one of the last questions I'd expect you to want me thinking on." His forehead wrinkled, like he was trying to remember something. And he did remember how alike Tedrin, nearly his boyhood hero, and Talnyah had been in the way they carried themselves. And, glancing to Talnyah's face, he remembered how he relished in the morning's dream before he realized it wasn't one. But the answer he gave was the one he lumped all these thoughts under when thinking about it bothered him too much. "I have no reason to want you dead, which is apparently what turning you over would amount to. I don't entirely understand that either, and I might never, so...just...waiting to see what happens." Turning abruptly, he sat down in the chair the shady king had formerly used and pulled his plain boots on. He winced with the effort of the left boot. How am I supposed to do any fighting at some dock like this? he thought sorrowfully.

"As for my being killed, a little credit if you please. I won't find death in being walked in on like the traveler and the farmer's daughter from those terrible jokes." The statement was flippant, but his tone was morose. Talnyah had sounded too prophetic for comfort.

Rylas stood and stiffly continued through the dressing motions, tucking in his shirt. "Another good question is why did you come to my quarters out of all the places on this island if you thought I would give you up?"

[Ashari]

Talnyah took the string. Her fingertips brushed his hand briefly as she took hold of it, but then she just sat holding onto it, her heart beating still rapidly as she thought of how close it had been. His accusing tone bit into her, but she had been honest atleast. That was saying something, and he followed with an alarmingly honest statement that he had considered it. Her eyes closed and she sighed at the thought of it. Tedrin would've made sure it wasn't a wound she could've lived through. There would be no miraculous healing if the mobster king caught her.

His dark tone when speaking of the farmer's daughter caused for her to look up at him. That is exactly what Tedrin would've thought, too... It was especially true if he had come in just a short time before, while they were in bed together.

"I didn't think you'd have to face Tedrin himself!" Talnyah said as she pushed herself off the floor, finally finding herself and her attitude and exuberance. "I mean... I thought you could lie to one of his little servants, his goons even.. but himself." She shrugged. "I just imagined that by the time you were going to have to have a meeting with him, I'd be gone anyway, so it wouldn't matter, and you wouldn't actually have to lie." She crossed her arms, and her pack lay on the floor at her feet. "You are an honest man, Rylas. I don't want to make you lie."

[Maeve]

OOC: lets wrap this up an dupon return of the player timejump him, due to the synch event

[Brytan]

Thread closed for the time being, upon player's return will make arrangements to timejump to the current synch.