The Fugue (J'lyara)

[Shorty]

The Beginning of Spring (II), in the Month of Immanis, Era XIV
The 2nd Era of the Regency of Milo L'Evienne

Continued from http://www.playbypost.com/forums/1227306-post6.html

Panope Vidocai's face scrunched as she looked at the provisional visa. For a second her face looked pensive and she gave it a good thought. Then Panope studied J'lyara for another second as if gauging her nature. Finally she smiled.

"Well," She declared and decided to trust J'lyara. "This won't due, will it friend? You'll need to start by getting an official visa. There's only one man on the island that can do that is the Podesta, who gratefully has an office upstairs where's he's eating lunch. Loris?" She turned around and called. She held up the visa and put in his hands.

A young man stepped forward- olive skinned with a pencil thin mustache. He was tall and virile, he stepped from the staircase with purpose. His dark hair touched his shoulders and brushed it behind his ears. He was dressed modestly- fine brown wool vest, white shirt, knee high leather boots. At his side was a rapier which was worn high against his belt. He read it with an upturned eyebrow.

"Can you take Miss Hollet to see the Podesta Loris my dear?" Panope asked in a warm manner.

"Of Course," Loris responded.

She stood and escorted J'lyara to the door of the staircase that led to the upper levels of the tower. Panope gave J'lyara a reassuring wink and waved goodbye.

The door closed and soon she walked up a spiral staircase with the young sword master, Loris Demarkaskus. He introduced himself.

"I'm Loris Demarkaskus," He said. "I'm a teacher at the Fencing Academy and officer in the city guard. I'm actually guarding the Tower now!" He smiled and laughed.

On the second floor was a landing with a door. On the door was a plaque that read-

Island of Chelseanna
Laertes Vidocai
Thane

Loris opened the door that lead into a small office, at the desk sat another won of the city guards who was reading a book and laughing.

"Bronson?" Loris tsk tsked the feet on the desk. "Look alive, will yah?"
"Yeah, yeah..." Bronson waved him off.

In the back of the office was another door, which led to the Thane's office.

Laertes Vidocai's desk sat in the middle of the large Thanal Office. It was neat, with a map of the Island on one wall. A Eunesian and Imperial Flag crisscrossed behind his desk. There were a few bookshelves, and a few chairs- other than that it lacked much color. It was very utilitarian.

"Loris!" Laertes was eating a salad. "What have we here?" The Thane stood and greeted J'lyara.
"Carrying a provisional visa, Miss Dara Hollet." Loris read.
"Sit please Miss Hollet," Laertes instructed. "So," He finished off a piece of cucumber.

"What's your story?"

[J'lyara]

Thoughts of being dragged by her ear back to the Porto and told to board the very next ship leaving the island trickled into her mind as she watched the Podesta's daughter assess her Visa. Remaining perfectly still, she resisted the urge to pull her lower lip up through her teeth...not remembering that it was something she'd done since she was a small girl growing up in Prime when she'd done something she knew she shouldn't have done.

Truth was, she didn't know what she'd do if she was turned away and told she couldn't stay. In the silent moment that seemed to stretch on and on for Dara, it became very clear to her that she wanted more than anything to be allowed to walk the city as a proper citizen. She had no family to call her own, no remembered past to embrace, but she did have a strong desire to survive and begin anew.

She had been scarred that brutal day in the Maevewood. Not just physically but emotionally and mentally as well, stripped bare. And it was the way she felt this moment, waiting and watching...stripped bare, vulnerable. But when Panope finally looked up and gave her a reassuring smile, Dara did remember to breathe again.

“Yes, I would be most grateful to have a new Imperial Visa,” a gentle nod of her head set brilliant red waves forward to caress the sides of her face and in that brief moment, a semblance of the Lady she'd been was visible before disappearing again.

She didn't even try to keep the grateful excitement out of her voice as large hazel eyes looked up to see the man Panope had summoned approaching. And as she began to follow him, stopped and turned around to look at Panope again, the look on her face saying it all, “Thank you...”

“Dara Hollet, I'm pleased to meet you, Loris.” Despite the fact that she'd been responding with her adopted name for nearly 2 Eras now, there was always a hesitation on her part as if she had to remember that her name was Dara and not some other name just waiting to spring from her lips.

She noticed the plaque outside of the Podesta's office but didn't have time to look at it long enough to figure out how to pronounce his name before she was being ushered in and exposed to the Podesta's booming voice. Giving him a tentative smile, she sat down and tried to make herself comfortable, clearing her throat, which had suddenly become very dry.

“My story...” A pained expression crossed her pretty face before she looked up again to peer directly into Vidocai's eyes. It was a tactic she'd learned to use while working in the Paxian Prefecture so that she could co-exist in the male-dominated world of her profession.

“It was about two Eras ago that I lost my Imperial Visa. I found myself in a city called Abestat, perhaps you've heard of it? And I was told, by those who took me in, that I arrived in the city covered in mud...my clothing was torn and unrecognizable and I had a nasty gash swelling on my head. I didn't even remember my own name...”

She lifted wispy bangs to show him the scar on the top right-hand side of her head, near the hairline, having begun her story.

[Tarot]

Vidocai seemed to busy himself with paperwork, but clearly his attention was entirely on 'Dara'. He was a large man, and everything about him looked equally big, from his eyes to his angular hands. "Very unfortunate, this is very unfortunate indeed, Miss Hollet, but then again I am told that these are the ways of the mainland. Law, Order and Justice are easier to enforce when you are surrounded by water on all sides." Laertes grinned, seemingly amused by his own statement.

"Now, Miss Hollet, first of all I would like to offer you my wishes of a happy stay on our island... and secondly, I was wondering why you did not request a permanent Visa in Abestat, or any other city you since visited. The standard procedure for issuing a new visa involves bringing a witness willing to vouch for you... if one is not available, the Aedile can, at his discretion, issue a new visa upon your retaking the oath of allegiance to the Empire."

Vidocai smiled a big smile. "Thankfully, I also happen to be the Aedile of this little corner of Aetheria on Telath. People of good will are always welcome to join us - there's so few of us and so much land! - and you, Miss Hollet, very much look like one of them. I believe an oath will be sufficient for you to be issued a new visa, but I would like to hear the rest of your story first."

A thought seemed to cross his mind. "Have you found a place to stay yet? Or are you considering getting a job first? There are plenty of opportunities to be found here, and much fun to be had. We are the Island of Wonders for a reason! And if you would like any information on our community or the island, please feel free to ask." Laertes smiled again, that patented smile Chelseannans showered on those who came from the mainland and had not yet fully integrated with the community. It was broad and polite - to a fault, probably.

[J'lyara]

Though she'd been nervous upon entering the Podesta's office, the sheer size of him having done little to assuage it, she found as she continued to talk his demeanor and careful attention to her story made her feel more at ease.

“I was fortunate to be taken in by a family named Hollet in Abestat and thus the reason for the surname I chose to adopt. It seemed fitting to honor them with wearing their name when it was all I had to offer in return for their generosity at the time. I don't know where I'd be if it weren't for their care. I think my spirit was broken. And 'tis the first time since I awakened in their cozy home that I've traveled away from their comforting overprotection.”

She continued with her story, smiling softly during moments as she remembered Cecilia Hollet acting as a stand-in mother to her. But of course she could now see that perhaps she had waited much too long to leave Abestat. Dara was realizing she could have begun her life anew some time ago. Already, she'd begun to blossom from just having been out to sea and arriving in such beautiful surroundings, like icing atop an already yummy cake.

“I did go to the Aedile there and rightfully he thought it best to wait and see if anyone would come to claim knowledge of who I am.” She didn't want to admit to the Podesta that she rather thought the man had been taken with her and had sought ways to prolong the issuance of her permanent visa so that she had to keep returning to his office. “But no one did, and the cycles just seemed to pass by until now.”

She offered him a smile and it lit up her youthful features, all traces of the nervousness she'd felt gone once he announced that he could indeed give her a permanent visa if she would but re-take the oath, swearing allegiance to the Empire. “My thanks seems inadequate...”

“I came here because I'd overhead someone speaking about this island while shopping in the markets one brightening. It seemed the perfect place to come and practice my art. I....don't know if it was something I loved to do before but sketching and painting seem to fill me with a sense of peace. And as for a place to stay and a job...nay I've not had a chance to seek either out yet as I came straight here at the behest of the Guard at the Porto.”

Dara was prepared to sign whatever parchments she might need sign as she leaned forward in her chair, her stomach doing little flips of delight that her life was about to begin anew. “Do you know if there is a place on the island that might have need of a waitress? I did some waiting tables in a tavern back in Abestat and I think that I was decent at it. I am quite in need of employment and would be grateful to be pointed in the right direction.”

[Tarot]

Vidocai nodded his understanding a few times during Dara's story. Whether he fully believed it was anyone's guess, but he looked sympathetic enough and in the end, he opened a drawer of his desk and searched through the paperwork contained therein. After a few seconds of such, he produced a tome as well as a blank visa which he proceeded to fill out to the name of Dara Hollet of Abestat, Prime Province. He crossed out several fields as unknown, since the woman would not be able to remember. He also perused the tome - a register of all issued visa - to insert the appropriate number on the visa and appended its details as the latest entry on the book.

"There we go," the Podesta said, "you just need to take the oath now. Please repeat after me... I, Dara Hollet, do solemnly swear to give all due allegiance to the Aelyrian Empire and his Imperial Highness the Regent, and that I shall obey all laws and statutes as laid down in the Articles of Imperium."

With that, Laertes would give Dara her new visa. "I know the Marquis and Spider Inn and Cafe is always looking for more personnel. Either that place or Hotel Magnifico; the Marquis is popular for its cozy feel, the Hotel for its grand lodgings and services. Thankfully, we are blessed with tourists once more after the... unfortunate economic depression." There was something deep and seething about Vidocai's voice now; clearly the decision of closing off Eunesia to mainlanders had dealt a devastating blow to the island's economy and the Podesta was quite unhappy about it.

"As for painting, well, our very own Giuseppe is an excellent painter and street artist who specializes in realistic portraits and caricatures. Unfortunately he was born without his hands, but you wouldn't notice that from his work. His feet and mouth have a magic all their own." The Podesta smiled now, something vaguely uncomfortable about the act sitting at the very edge of J'lyara's perception.