[sblock=ooc]And anyone who is around is welcome to chime in, naturally.
[/sblock]
Audra quirks an eyebrow at Phedilo, her mind racing with a hundred questions, none willing to line itself out. One thought finally clears, something her Sensei taught her years before. Her hands still planted flat on the table, the flame-haired monk closes her eyes and takes five deep breaths, reciting an element in a whisper with each exhale. When her eyes open again, they are calmer. She slowly lowers herself toward her chair, a little heavier than she might normally have, luckily for her, she catches the front of it and perches there. Again her eyes close, as if she were remembering something.
Good Master Gnome, I wonder if crossing your path ever brings truly good fortune. Yet you say that you only relay what the cards and fate choose to show you. I will not ask you any questions, as I know that your intent here is simply to give fate a helping hand.
Her eyes open again. Wet they are, a tear at first threatening and then escaping from the corner of her left eye. She doesn't move to stop it.
I grew up in Ranocchio. Others call it The Planks. My father was an Oysterman. My mother worked in one of the Roses as a baker at someone's house there. With what they brought in, the four of us; Mother, Father, Myself and my older brother, got by. We had a small place, a ramshackle I have heard it referred to. Father added a second floor himself when I was born. We were home one night when a great storm hit. Most don't remember one storm from another. I still find myself wincing when I hear thunder and see lightning. I was asleep upstairs, Mother and Father were downstairs. My brother was upstairs as well, preparing for bed. I rolled over because the small lantern he had shuttered almost entirely still bothered me.
She feels the tear run down her cheek. She reaches up and wipes it with her bare hand, a rough wipe, flinging the tear away, if she could.
I don't remember the event. What I know the Diamond Heart has helped me piece together. A strong gusting crosswind swept through Ranocchio, damaged many buildings, including causing ours, with the recent upper level addition, to collapse. Mother and Father were lost in the collapse. My brother was never found.
As she tells the tale, her right hand goes to a simple silver chain around her neck, resting there gently as if touching the cheek of a loved one.
Master Hallaran and the others spread out across Ranocchio, braving the still falling rain and howling winds. A number of residents there owe their lives to the Diamond Heart from that night. Our parents were found first, crushed by the second floor. I was found within the wreckage, having been knocked out and suffering a cut or two, but alive. Of my brother, there was no sign. I returned to the wreckage, found Mother's necklace there. I have kept it around my neck, never taking it off. To help remind me of them, and as a symbol of my promise to find my brother, wherever he might be, dead or alive. His name was Alecks.
She shakes her head and takes a deep breath, as if awakening from a bad dream. While she is able to keep the emotions from her voice by speaking slow and calm, her face does little to hide them.
I have searched high and low over the years, the Order helping when their collective eyes an ears area able. Now to hear that you...
She eyes the pouch she had been tossed. Taking the hand from her chain, she takes the pouch, lifts it by it's top and tosses it back across the table toward Phedilo.
Keep the coin. I would brave a thousand storms and twice that to find my brother. You have given me, faint though it might be with the situation, hope that I might find my brother. It is I who am in your debt.
She turns back to the Gnome.
I said I would ask you no questions of what you know. From our last meeting at the Dunn Wright I somehow don't know that I would fully comprehend the answers you would give anyway. Know this, though. When I return, I will seek you out. At that time, I will ask questions of you.
With that, she finally seems to realize she dropped her wine glass.
I'm sorry about my reaction, and the dropped glass. I...just was caught rather...unprepared.
She glances at each of her would be companions sheepishly, and ducks her head.
If you would just point me to a broom and a mop I will clean it up.
