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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Seravin" data-source="post: 1239249" data-attributes="member: 6783">Leaving CorleanAnd so it came to pass that the Order of the Victorious Dragon proudly announced a Day of Celebration within the city of Corlean.  It was to be a day of welcoming and thanksgiving as a son of the lost Order of the Sundering Sword was returned to the Empire.  As the last member of his Order he would be knighted and given a captaincy.  If the namesake of his Order was somehow found again, then he would be in line to lead.For those who were interested the rumors were curious and full of wonder.    A two-hundred year old human walked the halls of the Sword House.    A knight, frozen by magic, had returned with great secrets of the past.    The same knight had evidence against a centuries old plot of the Library.    etc…Those who were less interested ignored the rumors and sighed heavily at the added burden of a city full of celebrating soldiers.-------Kestral Thendry, step-daughter to a semi-prominent Relkian family could be described as independent.  When she was but a small child her parents were killed in a terrible and suspicious fire.  The local church had deemed it the work of witches*.  It took only a little while for the witches to be found, tried, and executed (albeit in a highly informal manner).  A pair of witch-hunters who had settled in the community and were active supporters of the church of Latina took in the young Kestral.Kestral rarely speaks of Relk and actively avoids bringing up her childhood.  It can surmised that she was unhappy though.  The day the young woman turned eighteen was the day she borrowed a family horse and ran away.  Kestral worked her way northwards earning money as a courier, using her natural charm and her gift for languages to facilitate her new occupation.  Her only criterion was that the job took her away from Relk and her memories.Kestral wasn’t a bad person, nor was she misunderstood (except when she wanted to be).  However Kestral wasn’t necessarily a good person either.------------The ceremonies of the Empire of Shtara are long, detailed, and sometimes convoluted; which isn’t surprising considering that the Empire has existed for several hundred years and includes relations (and kinship) with many of the longer-lived races.  The promotion ritual used by the church of Sarath takes about an hour for a relatively simple bump from Lieutenant to Captain.  There are the invocations to Sarath himself, the oaths to the church and to the Empire, and a detailed list of the duties and rights expected.  The Rite of Knighthood (what the public sees) is similar but lasts almost two hours.  There are the prayers and invocations of course, with the litany to Sarath being about half the ceremony in and of itself. It was about halfway through this ceremony, towards the end of the final invocation of Sarath, that Kestral’s boredom finally overcame good sense.  It was a long morning and it had started way too early as she was called to witness for her friend in one of the pre-ceremonies.  Afterwards she had been escorted to the main-hall where the public ceremony was to take place.  The young woman decided to ditch her escorts and took a seat near the back in case she wanted to leave early.It hadn’t been her best idea.  Being a small woman she soon found as the people filed in that she could barely see over the people seated in front of her.  Frustrated, the young courier had moved herself to the edge of the pews where she could look around the soldiers seated in front of her.  Kellron and Ashimar were both on the dais.  Kellron was kneeling before Colonel Megara and answering some question or another, while Ashimar was dressed in the white tunic of a squire, standing off to the side.  According to the priest who had explained the protocol, Ashimar would have his turn of kneeling and answering questions thrown at him.Kestral sighed.  Bored.  Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored.  Kestral shifted uncomfortably again on the hard bench and looked about wistfully.  It was the middle of summer and the church was packed full of people.  She was a child of the southlands, but the room was too stuffy.I’m going to fall asleep.  She thought, looking around again.  Do these people really believe all of this?  What’s wrong with saying something like “Do you promise to protect and serve, or whatever?” and Kellron saying “Yeah, sure.”Kestral looked around again and her eyes fell upon the man in front of her.  He was an obvious soldier and he spoke the loudest of anyone when the priest up front called for responses.  This place is stuffy in more ways than one.  Thought the woman.  It’s bad enough that I can’t see over him.  Look at him.  Sitting there ramrod straight like there’s a pike where it ought not to be.  Just stuffy.  Maybe if I could see through him I’d be more interested, but nooooo.  He has to sit there all straight like so I can’t see.Kestral looked around again and noticed the pouch at the solider’s side.  It was of some dark leather and looked well constructed.  It also looked pretty fat.  Kestral grinned.While she was growing up she had spent some time with her uncle until her step-parents had decreed that he was a bad influence.  He wasn’t, not really, but he had seen Kestral’s long, nimble fingers and had thought it a crime that she not exercise them.  Kestral had diligently practiced the sleight of hand tricks her uncle had taught her and could competently perform several street magician tricks.Kestral looked around a bit; coolly as if nothing was wrong.  The only other person on her bench in the back was at the far end, and no one was looking at her.  The priest up front was saying something to the crowd again and the crowd was responding back.  The guy probably deserves it. she thought to herself.  Besides, I’ll probably give it back when this over.  I’ll look like a hero or something, returning his lost property.Another look around showed that no one seemed to be looking at her.  Kestral casually inched forward in her seat and reached forward.  The soldier suddenly shifted and Kestral jerked her arm back.  Coolly, her eyes darted quickly around and her hand snaked forward again.  Her hand was on the pouch when a much larger hand clamped down on her arm.“Eeep.”  She whispered.  One of the guards was standing over her, having come up from behind.  He looked at her coldly.  “We don’t appreciate cut-purses here.”  He whispered menacingly.Kestral batted her eyes and tried her best innocent look.  “He dropped something and I was just putting it back…”  She tried.The guard shook his head.  “The Colonel will want to speak with you.”  Said the guard, grinning in an almost evil-like manner.  “If you’re lucky she’ll ship you off up North to be a soldier.”  The soldier Kestral had tried to rob had caught part of the conversation and had turned around.  “Something the matter seargent?”“Yessir, Lt. Jared.  I caught this little woman trying to get into your pouch.”The lieutenant’s hand went to his pouch.  “I think I will go with you to see the good Colonel then.”------It was the end of a very long day and Kestral was trying very hard to shrink into the hard backed chair in Col. Megara’s office.  “I was booooorrrred.”  She said.  It was a pathetic defense, but the only thing she could come up with.  “I wasn’t going to take anything really; just a trick.  If the ceremony had been shorter I wouldn’t have done anything at all.”The grey-haired colonel looked at Kestral in stony silence.  Internally she was conflicted.  She honestly liked the little woman.  She was too slight to be a soldier, but she had a fire that could be useful to the church.  The colonel’s hand’s tapped rhythmically on the table before her.  “By rights I should have you in jail or doing community service.  If I wanted I could even have you inducted into the army and shipped up North to pick up a little discipline.”  She let the words sink in.  “I’m not going to do that however and for the life of me I don’t know why.”  The colonel nodded at Kellron who was standing silently in the corner.  “Captain Kellron over there says you’ve been useful to him though over the last two months and wants you to continue on.”The colonel turned her attention to Kellron.  “I’m placing her on probation in your charge.  If she does anything illegal you are to report it back to the church.”  The colonel then looked back at Kestral.  “Additionally, if you are caught Kellron will suffer additional penalties based on the crime you committed.  This probation will last one year.  You can consider it the only warning you will get.  Do you understand?”Kestral gulped and sat up a little straighter.  “Yes ma’am.”Kellron nodded.  “I understand.”“Good.  I understand you’re leaving tomorrow.  Good luck.”It was an obvious dismissal and Kestral stood up, relieved to be getting out of there.  Kellron came to attention and saluted.  The pair exited the colonel’s office quietly.* Those who practice psionics are called witches.  The witchcraft talents generally run to second-sight (clairsentience) and mind-reading (telepathy).  Witches are not generally trusted by the populace but they enjoy the same protections as everyone else – except in Relk.  The Relkian’s are extremely biased against witches.</blockquote>

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