Nestled in the Lower District of Taralon, surrounded by a high wall with a single entrance turned to the main street, the same street in which the pretigiated Deangela Center of Higher Academia hold its ground, rests the Avornmagors' Estate. Gossip tells of its owner being a High Imperial Official with dreams of glory but truth is that said High Imperial Official usually is an Officer in the Imperial Legions and has this Estate as a residence to his adoptive daughter. Therefore the location of the residence was carefully chosen, near the Deangela Academy and Library, near a School and not too far from the Candarose Gardens.
The House itself is a modest building surrounded by gardens which end in the walls that surround the Estate. Upon walking past the iron fence gate one can either pass underl an arch of flowers and vegetation that forms the entrance to a walkway of a finely crafted path to the main entrance of the House or one can turn to either right or left to walk in mosaic paths that circle around the House and through the garden.
The House's entrance was made through a common sized dark wooden door with a candle in each side, above head's height. Hanging from a iron pole to the right of the door a small bell with a rope attached could be rang to call the attention of the ones inside the House to the door.
The House's lobby was a practical room, with candle on the four corners and an abstract painting of a man riding a rabbit, the man painted in black and the rabbit in blue, in front of the main door. Two other doors, one on each side of the lobby led to the public area of the house, consisting in the meeting room, a small office and a library with some desks to the left and the private part of the house made up by the kitchen, the latrin, Eyvind's room, Rainn's room and a guests' room, to the right.
"Some fancy looking stuff."
The woman let out a long low whistle as appraised the dwelling. Seemed a little too cottage-like and flowery for Ginger, but he had always been a bit sentimental. Kella, conversely, was anything but. Too many flowers and quaint moments gave her a rash, and smarmy couples made her arse twitch.
Adjusting her pack on her shoulder, the woman cautiously moved through the gates and over the mosaic walkways. She stood in front of the door a moment, finding herself a shockingly shy over knocking.
Everyone in the Legion had barreled past her, enthused with militaristic glee, and she… Well she had been strolling along in typical Kella fashion. A life back on the road was the last thing she wanted, but her desire for structure had never translated into zeal for conquest. Her aspirations were not empire wide, but revolved around personal little victories.
So here she stood on her friend's doorstep, looking more a sailor than a soldier. She wore dark pants tucked into black military issue boots and a white blouse that would have been crisp at some point, but was now rumpled underneath a deep blue vest. The encroaching winter compelled her to add gloves and a heavier charcoal cloak. In a cycle's time she would need more to fend off the bite of the season.
Once bluntly cut hair had grown surprisingly long and dared to touch her chest in little waves. It made her look almost womanly despite her rakish posture and masculine attire. Travel had creased her clothes and smudged her skin, but she wore the signs of it well.
A trace jittery, she ran her hands through her hair and cleared her throat. It was just Eyv, fancy house and all. If she could handle Valanthia and the Palace, this was nothing.
Location: Aelyria Prime, Jade Legion Barracks and Taralon, Darkblade Fortress
Posts: 1,518
It was almost midday, Eyvind had woke up earlier and was on his library leaning over a large square table with the map of the Empire engraved on it. He had spend the whole morning viewing reports and lists of supplies and save for a brief pause that he had used to visit Derick's store he had been immersed on his work the whole time. From time to time Fiona, his cook and housekeeper and loyal dwarven lady had come to check upon him and bring him a glass of water to drink or a piece of fruit to eat. Although being a strict woman and sometimes slightly rude, Fiona knew how to take care of those she worked for.
Pracenda was almost ready, Rainn was playing or doing something near him and the red-haired man had just finished organizing his papers when someone pulled the bell's rope just outside his door. Leaving a pile of parchments over the map table Eyvind turned to Rainn with a fatherly smile.
"Rainn, dear. Could you go see who's ringing the bell?"
Rainn got up from the floor where she had been looking at pictures from a book that was all about plants. That was fascinating to her even though the names were hard to read and she hadn't seen most of those flowers and trees anywhere. But she had a garden now and she was in love with it. So the book she had found from their little library was something amazing to her.
She smiled at her father and ran to the door. Rainn struggled with the lock mechanism of the door but managed to open it. There was a woman at the door. She was blonde like Rainn was and her clothes seemed well used.
"Yes?" the child asked the woman with a surprised expression on her face, it wasn't often that a woman would ring their doorbell. After all it was a man's world where her father worked in and there weren't too many females Rainn had talked with lately.
"I'm Rainn, who are you?" she realised that she had been a bit rude and tried to make it up to her with flashing one of her prettiest smiles at the woman.
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Kella's eyes were looking a foot or so over her head, roughly where Ginger's face would be, so when the door opened (seemingly magically) Kella's face crinkled a bit in confusion.
A little voice pulled her glance downward to a sweet-faced little girl with flax colored hair. What in Aeternia was this? And why was she wandering around Ginger's house?
Maybe she'd gotten the address wrong. Kella stared at the girl and then pulled out the scrap of parchment in her pocket bearing the address which matched the dwelling. Fantastic. She was supposed to be a part of the complex machinery of military intelligence and couldn't even manage to transcribe her numbers neatly.
"Er… I'm Kella." The woman scratched the back of her head and glanced at the shred of parchment in her hand again.
"Does Gin-, I mean Eyvind Redbeard live here? Big fella." Kella lifted her hand high above her head trying to demonstrate her friend's height.
"Has bright red hair and an affinity for longswords."
Rainn started to giggle, then she turned around and yelled towards the insides of the house:
"Daddy, there is some funny lady who wants to see you in here!" then she turned back to Kella.
"You are pretty." she said "Come in, my daddy is in the library, I'll show you." she said taking Kella's hand and leading her towards the library room.
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Location: Aelyria Prime, Jade Legion Barracks and Taralon, Darkblade Fortress
Posts: 1,518
Ah! Everything was in order now! Lists of supplies in one pile, reports from scouts in another and finally the list of all Officers and soldiers in yet another. It had been quite a while since he started organizing things, but someone had to do it. Three piles of parchments over the map table and a leather case to place them all inside, and in order. Eyvind was doing exactly that, placing the piles, one on top of the other and finally inside the leather case when he heard Rainn saying that there was a funny lady at the door. The red-haired man turned to see who it was through the glasses of the library door and its open door (the library had a double door for all effects) and his heart kicked him hard the moment he saw the visitor entering the meeting room, so hard was the kick that he dropped everything he had in his hands.
The floor was covered in paper at his feet and almost lost his balance, placing a hand on the map table not to fall. What she doing here? It had been quite a while since they'd seen for the last time, quite a while and not in the best circunstances, after all they'd just returned from behind enemy lines covered in dirt. Would it be always like this? A kick from his heart? The man sincerely hoped it wouldn't or he could have a heart attack and die on the spot just because he was seeing her.
"Serale...Kella!"
Björnsson tried a greeting, raising his hand and waving from the library. Soon after he was standing again (his enormous weight against the map table had made it move some inches when he leant against it, and it wasn't good, was it?). His clothes were simple: his knee high boots, brown pants and a white shirt with the sleeves folded, around his neck he still used his gold torc and on his left ear a plain ceramic earring, a gift from a strange mage, just to complete the setting he had two bracelets, one in each wrist, made out of interwoven vines. Again some magical bracelets that helped him finding hidden doors just by touching, but who cared about these things?
"I...I wasn't expecting a visit, specially from you." he chuckled to try and calm himself "I see you've met Rainn."
Then Eyvind had a group picture of Kella and his daughter. He could even dare to say Rainn could be the woman's daughter...no...he was raving for sure. Slowly he walked up to his friend of old.
"Welcome to my home, Kella."
And out of nowhere came an urge for touch and his long arm surrounded Kella in a hug that lifted her from the floor.
"Welcome..."
He said with his mouth almost eating the woman's hair, then he "placed" her back on the ground and turned to Rainn.
"Rainn, love. Could you go tell Fiona that we have one more person sitting with us for pracenda?"
"Daddy?" It took a great deal to surprise Kella, but she was stunned by the word. Enough that she missed one of her favorite things: a compliment.
"Who's Daddy? Yours?"
But she was being led inside by the pretty wisp of a girl before any answers were given. The Vagaran could only murmur aloud, "I always figured he'd curse his brood with that hair-color. You seem unscathed by red."
Half stumbling and entirely confused, the woman was presented to Eyvind, who looked no less surprised. Papers once so neat were dropped and fanned out into a festive rug of parchment, and he steadied himself against a poor little table. It was a wonder it didn't split under the suddenness of his hand.
Her crooked smile was flashed a moment too late to make her seem poised.
"Serale, Ginger and thanks for the welcome." A happy warmth touched her eyes, "How is life treating you?"
But the answer didn't come before she was impulsively swept up, pack and all. Kella gave a quick yelp but it was smothered in her friend's chest.
"Good to see you too," she managed a mite breathlessly.
Like a child's adored toy she was squeezed and gently placed back on its "shelf". If it weren't for a bit of agility training she'd have crumpled a bit when set down again.
Stepping back she gave Eyvind a once over, with her hand on her hip.
"Lud, Ginger you look like an Air'riela with all those bangles. If I'd known you had a taste for jewelry I would have loaned you some of mine."
Kella's teasing could not be helped, especially when she felt a bit skittish. It was a typical reaction.
"So umm…" she craned her body to look towards where Rainn had run off to, "You have a kid. Who knew?" Certainly not Kella. "Pretty thing, must've taken after her mother." A different mood suddenly overtook her curious pose as she, nudged at a piece of paper with her foot.
"Is her mother around? Or did you two have a falling out?"
Rainn ran off to the kitchen.
"Fiona!" she yelled at the woman who was making something to eat for them. "What is all this screaming about young woman?" Fiona asked surprisedly. Generally Rainn knew how to behave.
"There was this really pretty lady at the door and I think my daddy likes her and I think you should make them something to eat and would you let me eat here with you?" Rainn blurted out in excitement, not pausing, just letting all the observations come out in one long sentence.
Fiona smiled knowingly at the girl. She seemed to pick up things quickly with her intuition. "Is that so?" Fiona asked and grabbed some more things for the meal, adding an extra plate to her mental image of the pracenda.
"Yes she is pretty pretty pretty!" Rainn chanted and twirled around in the kitchen. Then she ran off the room again to see the pretty lady again. Fiona chuckled to herself. A woman in the house...that was a first. Fiona liked Rainn's father, heck, if she had been ten years younger and a human she would have had a go at it herself! Grinning to herself she continued preparing the meal. She would set the adults to eat in the diningroom and fix a plate for Rainn and herself in the kitchen. The child sure knew a thing or two about relationships...
Rainn ran half the way and then sneaked the rest. She wanted to see the adults in the library before they'd see her. They were talking. Her father seemed confused somehow, he must really like the blonde woman.
Rainn walked in to the library and to her father's side as usual, hanging on to his leg.
"You look a lot like me," she said to Kella "you could almost be my mommy." she said and smiled at her. Then she turned to look up to her father:
"Daddy why are you blushing?" she said, with the knowing tone of a six year old, "Do you think she's pretty too?"
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Location: Aelyria Prime, Jade Legion Barracks and Taralon, Darkblade Fortress
Posts: 1,518
"How's life treating you?" One of Kella's usual questions, oh he was so embarassed. It had been so long since he had seen her and he had wanted to see her so badly that it seemed strange how he couldn't say a word. Bang! The comment regard what he was using! As if he didn't expect it already. A playful smile appeared in his face, Kella had probably never seen all his 'bangles' due to the fact that he used his armor 90% of the time. And then came the reaction Eyvind had never expected from the woman he had loved from the moment he had laid his eyes on. Was she jealous?
Björnsson approached Kella slowly and cuddled her cheek with his massive, he could be gentle after all!
"Kella, dear. There is no mother, I found Rainn abandoned in the streets of Nexus Prime and decided I had to do something about her. I adopted her and bought this house so she can live like she probably never did, well. Here she can go to school, read, play and above all, be loved. She may not be of my flesh but I love her as if she was."
He paused for a moment and gently pulled Kella's chin up so he could look into her eyes.
"There is only one person I love the way you were thinking, Kella..."
He couldn't finish it because Rainn was hanging on to his leg. It had been a surprise and he shivered slightly but on a second thought it had probably been better that way, what non-sense was he about to say? He wasn't completely sure. Rainn's comments made him smile and he held her up and placed her on his shoulder (when one is seven feet tall the shoulders happen to be large enough for a child to sit) and indeed he was blushing, but why not? He chuckled a bit.
"Yes, Rainn. I think she is pretty too."
He finally gave a laugh and a wide smile appeared in his face.
"So, what has Fiona prepared for our pracenda?"
And when no one as looking he cleaned a tear of joy out of his face. Here he was, surrounded by those who he loved above all. Except for his mother who was far in the north and his father who would never walk he lands of the living.
Eyvind's touch on her cheek did not help the rising tide of rosy awkwardness. Time apart had made him a little presumptuous it seemed, but it had also made her a little more inclined to receive such attentions. With a girlish look she turned her face away at his answer. It was obvious the woman was not commonly sentimental and the whole dialogue sent her into spirals of sheepish bashfulness.
Blue gray eyes paused softly on the girl as Kella considered the child's misfortunes. The ever present Aelyrian orphan. Rainn looked well enough for the trials such an existence could bring. Of course Ginger had brought her home like some wandering puppy, he was a sucker for such things. And Kella found it praiseworthy. Though introductions had been made, Kella mouthed a gentle "Serale" as if meeting her for the first time.
Eyvind's hand on her chin turned her eyes away, and she listened to his reply a little dumbfounded. Her mouth opened slightly, and then shut, unable to form a proper sound. When her face was her own to maneuver again, she rubbed the back of her neck and huffed a faint laugh.
"I suspect your sword or the shores of your homeland are the grandest ladies in your life, Ginger."
Kella's newly long hair conveniently fell a little forward, obscuring some of the rising color in her cheeks at the little girl's questions. She tried to ease the moment with, no surprise, a bit of a joke.
"Course he thinks I'm pretty, Rainn. Golden haired ladies like us are meant to be admired," an impish smile broke through the mildly embarrassed one for a breath.
Trying to settle the moment, Kella clapped her hands together and exclaimed.
"Lud, Ginger! I am famished, nigh perishing. It's been a torturous four candlemarks since I last ate."
Seized violently with another concern, Kella almost jumped in place.
"Oh! Ginger," she touched his arm in her distracted mood, "Do you have a stable of some sort. My horse is very… particular."
Location: Aelyria Prime, Jade Legion Barracks and Taralon, Darkblade Fortress
Posts: 1,518
"Admired and loved..."
Were Eyvind's words before the touch, THE touch. It is interesting to think how something as simple as a poke or a pat or even the most common of touches can sparkle emotions the size of continents. A cold down the spine, an intense sensation of heat in his chest and finally a feeling like if the head was so light it could fly away with the breeze, and it actually did. The massive Vagaran had to place a hand against the wall to avoid falling. A fake cough tried to explain the need to do that.
"Your...your horse can stay in the stables of Darkblade next to Arthalof's bay. The Taralonians know how to take care and respect a horse since they are rare in the region."
In the kitchen Fiona was placing the plates on the table, four white plates made out of crockery with interwoven vines and flower painted on them. The table itself was covered with a red and green towl. Simple glasses were placed near the plates, slightly to their right while a fork could be see on the left side of the plates and a knife on the opposite one. Two jars towered over the remaining objects, both made of orange clay. One had pure crystalin water while the other contained a sweet juice made out of berries and fruits, a special receipt of the dwarven woman.
After the "family" took their places around the table, Fiona placed four new plates over the already placed ones, all of them had a smoking red liquid inside, soon after goblets with pieces of breath, hard-boiled eggs, pepper and onions were scattered nearby. Spoons were distributed and Fiona took her place at the Pracenda table.
"It's tomato soup, I hope you like it."
The dwarf woman said with a smile making her cheeks grow. Eyvind replied with a smile and a respectful nod and then placed both hands on his lap and bowed his head slightly.
"Grace. O’ Selfless Provider, we thank you for these gifts of food and drink. And we thank you for the company in which we share them. In your name, all hail."
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