Tabula Rasa

[rivaan]

Hope quietly walked through the streets of Aydindril. The time was about sunset as she arrived, her long blond hair shining, while dyed red by the crimson sky. She had left D'hara weeks ago and by some pure miracle managed to sneak her way through the front lines, and arrive at the capital of the middle lands without any issues. She partially suspected the reason was her magic that charmed people. She had decided to do her best to limit the effects of that ability because despite having it's uses, it was very easy to attract attention! She had to run away from the People's palace because Rahl's men finally noticed somethign weird was going on there since she had 5 people she kept around her finger to support the Orphanage he lived in!

She left the very same day some of the other children told her that there was a mord-sith looking for her! She just dropped the last money she managed to get from a rich old merchant to the Orphanage's keeper and ran. On her way she sold some trinkets she was gifted and bought a set of traveling clothes before leaving the palace on a horse as fast as possible. Currently she was dressed with loose black pants, simple white shirt with a leatehr jerkin on top of it. On her waist there was a simple, but sturdy sword on her back was a small crossbow. Like this she walked about the city of the confessors, the capital of these lands.

While walking down the road leading to the huge gardens in front of the Confessor's palace, she noticed people giving her strange looks. She didn't know it, but her long to her waist blond hair had a very specific meaning in this place which made her stand out. Both men and women appeared to show her hostility and she had no idea why it was. She figured it may be fear of strangers or that they figures she was D'haran somehow. Finally she gulped and dashed into the back alleys when she saw some guards approach.

Hope... Hope was not her real name. She didn't know it. She was named in the orphanage where she grew up. One day they had found her lost in the fields outside the people's palace and brought her tehre. She grew up in relative misery as the orphanage didn't exactly have huge support. That's why she tried to help from a young age. When she grew up and her abilities started to show, she turned to utilizing them to help. The woman who was their mother at their home, was not approving, but realizing she couldn't stop her, didn't object for the sake of the other kids. Since then Hope had huge zeal in helping Orphanages. Since she didn't want to risk using her abilities here( she did hear that this place had wizards), she decided to instead use her trained skill - infiltration! The palace there must have more treasures than they can ever know or use! A few silver or gold tableware or cups would more than enough help the orphanage when she sold them! A sly smile appeared on her face as she hid, waiting for the night to fully come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been hours since darkfall and Hope had managed to sneak past the guards with great luck! The sky was filled with clouds, there was no moonlight so all the guards had was torches with limited light! Because of that, she managed to sneak past the city guard and when she reached the palace, she found herself a good window and quickly hopped, took of her shoes, so she can also grip the very small edges of the bricks. Hope was always an atheltic person like all pure blood d'harans. Hopping up the wall, climbing fast and silent she avoid a guard that just passed under her with a smile. When she reached the window it was closed. Hanging by one hand and using her legs as leaverage, she pulled a thin metal file just thin enoguh to fit between the wings of the windows and after a decent amount of effort the window opened and she hopped inside, right away her eyes being attracted by the beautiful decorations, carpets and then a the thing she was looking for! A golden cadleholder!" Perfect!" She mumbled.

[Keira Kelly]

It was late by the time a small group of women clad in black dresses left the council chambers. The war was going poorly; the Mother Confessor had called Maera and what little remained of their sister Confessors to council along with the remnants of the wizards who remained alive. Messengers from the biggest armies of the Midlands has also been present, relaying news about what was happening in the field. They had been fortunate for the heavy winter weather as of late; it has slowed the approaching D'haran army significantly. It was doubtful the D'Harans could attempt to take Aydindril before spring... possible, but doubtful. There were other troubles though as well, indications that not all who hailed from the Midlands sought victory for the Midlands. One disappearance of a trusted ally was even more troubling...

Maera walked with her sister confessors down the grand hall as they chatted. Maera was silent, barely listening to the other, younger confessors in her company. Coming to the end of a hall, Maera bid the others goodnight, heading off on her own towards her room in the Confessor's Palace. Finally alone, she stretched neck, feeling the tension in her shoulders intently. She had a headache as well, nothing serious but a good sign that she needed to get a good night's rest. Just as she reached her door, she heard footsteps running up the marble floors nearby.

"Confessor Ralik!" a voice echoed down the hall.

Maera turned wearily, catching sight of one of the Home Guard heading her way quickly. She sighed. The rest would have to wait, if she could tell anything by the expression on the soldier's face. "What is it?" she asked as he drew closer. The man began to bow, as was customary but she quickly gestured him up. "If you had cause to chase me down so urgently, then get on with it, Soldier." she ordered.

The man nodded, catching his breath. "Yes, Confessor... There has been.. a breach in the palace..."

Maera's brow furrowed worriedly. "D'Harans?" she asked.

The soldier's expression became one of doubt. "I.. we aren't sure, Confessor. It seems to be one individual. A young woman..." he answered. He gestured in the direction where he had come from. "She doesn't seem to be aware of it but she is cornered. It looks like she is.. stealing things...."

Maera pinched the bridge of her nose as she let out a noisy breath. "And you decided to come and get me rather than arresting this woman..."

The soldier tried to look apologetic. "I'm sorry for bothering you with this, Confessor... but the woman fairly young. My commander thought that perhaps imprisonment wouldn't be the most appropriate thing, that perhaps this could be solved by other means...." he said, almost pleadingly. "Perhaps turn this young woman away from a life of crime..."

Maera stared at the soldier for a long moment and then sighed. "Fine. Take me to where this woman is." she replied. The soldier led her at a quick pace to one of the nearby wings of the palace, heading down a long hall to the far end. He finally stopped before the door to a large suite of rooms. There were at least twenty of the Home Guard, armed and waiting outside of the door.

"She is in here, Confessor. Guards spotted her outside climbing in and sent work inside. They are surrounding all the windows outside and this is the only other way out of the suite." one of the soldiers, obviously the commander, explained.

Maera nodded, regarded all the men who were here for one young woman. Well... they couldn't be too careful during wartime. "You all wait out here. If she comes out before me, kill her." she said gravely before she turned to the ornate door. Quickly and as quietly as she could, she opened it, giving a quick glance around before entering. There was nobody immediately in the first room but Maera could hear sounds coming from an adjoining doorway. Pushing back her long, sandy blonde hair, she glided towards the sound. At the doorway, she saw the intruder for the first time in the soft glow of the candle light that was in the room. The woman was blonde.. not like Maera was but a light blonde. Like many D'Harans... The shade of the hair wasn't unknown to the Midlands but it was rare enough to make Maera extra wary.

The young woman had her back to Maera and was digging through some drawers, obviously searching for anything of worth. The carpeted floor helped to damped the sound of Maera's footfalls as she moved up closer, close enough to be within touching distance of the young woman. If the woman made any aggressive move, she would have no chance... She reached out a hand, gripping the other woman's shoulder as she finally spoke. "Make one move and I will destroy you..." she warned darkly. "If you think you can overpower me, you are wrong. Even if you slip my grasp, these rooms are completely surrounded. You will not take one step out the door or windows before you are taken down. Now, explain who you are and what you are doing here..." she ordered.

[rivaan]

Hope didn't really think about the fact that the middle lands were at war with D'Hara and naturally the security would be higher than expected in order to keep sneaky infiltrators like herself from assassinating anyone. Of course she was no here to kill anyone, but the fact still remained. Just that there wasn't signs of being noticed, didn't mean it was such. Without even realizing it she broke the first wizard's rule. She blieved in something because she wanted it to be true.

Her waist long blond hair was payfully moving as she was quickly checking different drawers and lockers. Some thieves would go after big things such as the candleholder earlier, but she had actually put that one back on it's place. It was too big and on too obvious of place. She needed smaller things like the silver cup she took from a drawer along with a few pieces of tableware from here and there, but never completely cleaning a single place. She had currently a single silver cup, two silver knives and a tea spoon in her small bag. Continuing her rummaging about the place, she found a rather curious thing, a small handheld silver mirror! She had one because of her suitors back at the People's palace, but had to leave it along with many things back there. It was so pretty... She was just looking at her reflection with a smile of a little girl when she felt a hand on her shoulders.

At the sound of the grim sounding voice, Hope's body stiffened, it was like she froze stiff from fear. 'How?' She thought in horror, realizing someone just got the jump on her. She was found out! She was afraid to even turn to look behind herself and see who it was that held her shoulder. She was dead! While speaking the language here, she had her d'haran accent! The moment she opened her mouth, they'd do somethign horrifying to her. She gulped, her left hand still holding the mirror, frozen in the order of not moving at all.

"I...." She started, shivers running throughout her body, shivers strong enough to be felt by the grab of her shoulder. Some kind of deep instinct was screaming at her to be really careful. One wrong move and she was going to be over with, she didn't know how and why, just knew it as a fact. She gulped." I just..." She slightly and very slowly moved her hand just enough to show the mirror in it. Hope was stealing and this much was clear. "I ... I... nee... mon...ey... Ahm..." She found it hard to speak with that hand on her shoulder and the primordial fear of something she knew nothing off just still. Her bare feet feeling like they were soaked in icy water despite standing on a carpet. She had left her sword on the bed nearby along with the leather straps that served as a holder for her small crossbow. She was defenseless! Her above average size for girls her age in the middle lands, seemed to shrink almost. Hope hadn't felt such fear even when she saw that Mord-sith looking for her.

[Keira Kelly]

Maera felt the girl's body tense beneath her hand. As a confessor, such a reaction did not make her nervous; any further suspicious action by the young woman and Maera would release her power, the confessor power being able to work faster than movement, faster than thought. She was ready for it, ready for the trigger, on the brink of releasing her power. She could feel her power straining to be released. "Speak, girl.." she ordered at the hesitation. By the young woman's garb, she was likely just a thief but... well, Maera was going to leave nothing to chance. Not when so few confessors and wizards were left.

It took a moment but finally her question was answered. Whether Maera believed it or not was a different matter entirely. She had seen a weapon on the nearby bed and this woman's complexion and her accent could easily point to a different reason for being here. She risked a glance down at the girl's feet. That was not something she would have ever expected of an assassin. Bare feet in the dead of winter. That did at least fit the reason stated... She switched hands on the girl's shoulder as she spoke, keeping continual contact during the process. "Turn around slowly." she ordered. Her left hand was now on the woman's shoulder, avoiding an awkward diagonally crossing.

Her brow furrowed and eyes narrowed as she studied the young woman. She saw the girl take in her own black confessor's dress, the length of her hair, but saw no hint of recognition in her eyes at it... and yet, she had frozen at Maera's touch. Added to that, the woman's own hair was of considerable length, slightly longer than even Maera's. The woman was certainly not of the Midlands. She frowned. "Money... You are D'Haran, right? You enter the Confessor's Palace in the middle of a war, your enemy's capital, armed, and you expect me to believe you are only here to thieve?" she asked pointedly. Without turning around, she called out. "Sergeant!"

There were sounds of the door to the suite being opened and the creaking of light armour as the commander of the guard that was waiting outside came at a dead run. "Confessor?"

Maera's hazel eyes bore into the young woman's as she spoke to the soldier behind her. "Sergeant, I would like you to take this young woman down to the dungeons. Perhaps.. the pit would be appropriate." she said.

The soldier cleared his throat, hesitating before finally speaking. "Confessor... there are men down in the pit. Criminals... It would not be a good place for a young lady...." he objected. "If she's only a thief...."

Maera was watching the woman's eyes very carefully during the whole exchange, looking for anything unexpected. There was.. something odd about the girl's eyes but.. not about the emotion behind them. "This 'young lady' is D'Haran... And I am not yet convinced that she is not an assassin. Unless she can give me reason to believe otherwise...." she hinted. She found herself wishing she could believe the girl's words. She could see the fear in her eyes and prayed to the good spirits that it wasn't an act. For all of their sakes.

[rivaan]

Hope's mind ws madly racing, trying to figrue out what to do. Never before had she been caught like this! She always knew... usually... This was bad. Despite everything Hope actually knew very little about the lands beyond D'Hara. Very little information reached her back in the people's palace. Those there didn't really concern themselves with matters beyond the will of Master Rahl. She knew there was war and somehow without realizing it had slipped some miles by the war fronts. Hope didn't know this was the Capital of this place!" What is confessor? This's a capital?" She somehow managed to bring herself to ask as the guards were called in. She shivered, seeing so the man. This woman was a confessor then? Hope wasn't completely sure, but going by hte man's words it seemed so. She gulped, why was this word so familiar though... a distant, distant memory that she couldn't exactly recall.

They were going to throw her into the dungeons! She didn't want to go there! Only her instinctual fear was keeping from struggling and possibly try to jump out the window right this very moment. How did it get to this? Why did the guards notice her anyway? She picked the best time to sneak by, didn't make any noise also... She gulped hearing the word 'pit'. The hair on the back of her neck straightened and a shiver ran down her back.

"Assassin!?" She asked panicked, realizing just how bad this situation was! She had read books... heard stories. Assassins would be heavily tortured in attempts to reveal information and then killed in barbaric ways as display for the next one. She started shivering even more now. Her body made instinctual impulses to run away, but she couldn't. She felt herself frozen in place by an even stronger instinct." ...not... I'm not an assasssin!" She objected, her eyes filled with unknown terror gazing at Maera. Suddenly her eyes got unfocused as she lost sight of everything in the room. Her shivering body settled for a few moments, before blinked and started trembling even stronger!

"Why... you shoudl be... the quads... the field..." She couldn't bring herself to say a whole sentence, but the meaning was pretty clear." All those born in black... scattered and broken..." She looked about in even stronger fear." Please.... Let me go... I have to hide... I have to run! " She dropped her bag and the mirror, finally for the first time her fear getting the better of her as she tried to pull away. " The hands, they will find me. I must hide... further... "

[Keira Kelly]

Maera's brow furrowed further. Doubt had most definitely been cast on her suspicions. Just the fear and confusion she could see in the young woman's eyes spoke loudly. She frowned at the first two questions. One was an easy answer. "Yes, this the central city of the Midlands. You are in Aydindril..." she answered. "This palace is the seat of power for all of the Midlands." The other question was not nearly so easily answered. She had never had to explain what she was before; everyone in the Midlands knew what a Confessor was. "A Confessor is... I am a creature of magic." she answered. "My touch, should I wish it would destroy who you are utterly and completely. You were very wise not to attempt anything once I laid a hand on you.."

She could feel the girl shivering, whether out of cold or fear, she couldn't tell for sure. Perhaps it was both. The girl's eyes certainly reflected fear. Maera was beginning to be very swayed towards the idea that the young woman was an innocent. Suddenly the girl's eyes rolled back in her head and she started shaking. Maera quickly reached out and grabbed the woman's other shoulder in order to try to steady her, to keep her from falling if necessary. She briefly wondered if this girl had some kind of illness; she had heard of some which brought on fits such as this... but then the girl spoke.

The colour drained of Maera's face at the mention of the quads. Grief welled up inside her, at all her sister Confessors who had been killed by Rahl's quads. There were so few of them left... She had lost so many friends... She wasn't sure what had been meant by the girl saying that she should have been something in conjunction with quads or a field... but perhaps it was just gibberish brought on by the fit. Suddenly the woman jerked, her eyes shifting back and forth and she tried to pull away. She seemed to be genuinely in a panic. Maera held on all the tighter.

"Stop it. Calm down...." she tried, as the girl began to fight back frantically. "Stop it!" she yelled, finally getting the girl's attention. "Calm down." she said again, in a level voice, trying to urge her calmness to the other woman. "Look at me, girl. Calm down. What is after you? What do you know about the quads and about my sister Confessors? And what is your name? My name is Maera. Answer my questions and perhaps we can figure out something to aid you...." she urged.

[rivaan]

In her panic, Hope completely lost it. She was trying to pull away without regard, but the harder she pulled the stronger Maera held onto her! She was afraid beyond believe right now, she had visions in the past, but never like these ones! The horrifying deaths of all those women in black dresses... the abuse they suffered before dying. Bodies turned into ragdolls, bones into salt. She could see their faces, could hear their groans and feel their deaths before her eyes. The worst was that she even saw Maera's face among those crushed and broken by the roads. She didn't yet know her name, but recognized her. Hope didn't know why that didn't happen... The vision was supposed strange, different than normal. She knew that it was a vision of the past, but it had not transpired! It scared her out of her wits.

"Stop it!" Those were finally the words that made the younger girl snap out of it as she looked at Maera with big terrifyed eyes. She could still see Maera's broken remains even now. She was tremblign as she quietly looked at the confessor.

"Hope. My name is Hope..." She replied, finally stopping all struggle." Please... I have to hide... The hands.. the red hands..." She cried out. In her vision Rahl practically controlled the middle lands if that hadn't happen like that, it didn't mean it won't happen yet. Still the hands holding her strongly by the shoulders continued to snap her out of her panic every now and then." Mord-siths..." She finally added, trembling." They came for me... I ran..." she whispered, looking at Maera still with big eyes filled with terror.

"I don't know!" She cried out as response to the question about the quads and confessors." I saw it! You should be dead! All of you with the black dresses should have died by this fall!!!" She explained, trembling." Cloth torn... skin bruised and cut, bones shattered... left by hte roads to rot as hte quads returns to their master... NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She whispered in almost trance like state before shouting loudly." I don't want to see this..."

[Keira Kelly]

This amount of fear could not be faked, Maera decided as she held the trembling girl. It unnerved her the way the girl was looking at her but she hid it beneath a mask of calm, something that all confessors learned from an early age. She hushed the young woman, trying to calm her as she would a child in a panic. "It's all right, Hope." she said as comforting as possible. She wondered if the words of a confessor could ever be taken as comforting by one who was not one... it was something she had yet to ever experience. "The red hands... Mord-Sith? Mord-Sith cannot get you here..." she added with a serious look. "You may think Mord-Sith fear nothing.. but they do, Hope." She lowered her voice. "They fear Confessors. We may be able to destroy whom a normal person is but our touch to a Mord-Sith is a terrible and agonizing death. They would not dare to tread here..."

"You are safe here, Hope." she added. She was struck silent by Hope's answer about what the young woman had been saying. The confessors should all be dead? Well, Rahl had tried... and failed. She still wondered if it had been nothing but luck that had saved the few of that that remained. Maera still shuddered at how close she had come to death; how it could have so easily been her broken and bleeding with her sisters. She was so off-balance by what the young woman was saying that she missed the fact that if Hope knew nothing about confessors, she shouldn't have known that all but the Mother Confessor wore black dresses. Her eyes lowered just a bit. "We almost did all die...." she replied in a quiet voice. "One chance decision made all the difference... and saved those of us who remain."

She pulled together her strength and looked once more into Hope's eyes. "The quads failed to kill all of us. We still live and we still make sure that Rahl fails as well." she said resolutely. There were ideas in motion that might help to eventually turn the war but it would take time. These were not assurances that Maera could make to Hope though; it was imperative that they remain clandestine for now and she still could not trust a stranger with this information. Her eyes narrowed again. It was clear that Hope had seen visions of some sort... She glanced back at the soldier, ordering him out of the room and to wait at the door of the suite, before turning back to the young woman. She was slipping again. "Hope... Hope! You'll not see it again. Look at me..." she waited until the girl had calmed once more.

She finally let go of Hope, but stayed close, able to reach out and grasp in an instant if necessary, gesturing to the bed nearby. "Please, have a seat." she said, waiting for the girl to sit on the edge and sitting beside her. "You said you needed money. That was why you broke in. You have some sort of talent with magic. Am I right? You have visions?" she asked. She didn't know if this young woman was a seer, or a sorceress of some sort.. or something else but she wanted to hear Hope answer. "Can you do anything else? Have any other abilities? Or perhaps give us information about D'Hara. Perhaps the palace can make use of your abilities and or knowledge, and pay you for your work. Does that sound all right?"

[rivaan]

Maera's words somehow or other were getting to Hope. The girl was significantly calmer now that the confessor was talkign to her. She still had a hard time getting hte image of the abused and broken confessors out of her mind, but the confessor's voice was calming her in a way that she's only ever been calmed by the woman who took care of hte orphanage back in D'Hara. She blinked a few times, listening to the calming promise that no Mord-siths could reach her here. It was one of Hope's biggest fears to have those women catch her. She had seen what they do to their... pets. The witch prefered to be dead than caught by one.

"Yes..." She said finally calm when Maera snapped her out of her last panic attack, quiet, looking at her with big eyes and feeling almost normal now. She had vaguely registed the explanation of the confessors' state and their escape of the fate in Hope's visions, but that information still hadn't settled in her mind when Maera invited her to sit and let go of her shoulders.

Hope quietly sat down, feeling so uncomfortalbe right now. She was just caught stealing and now she was asked to sit down after being calmed by the very person she tried to steal from. She looked down at her lap as she nodded." Yes, I have some gift." She said quietly, not sure how to explain it herself. She didn't actually also know what she was per say. She knew her mother was the same, but didn't know she was a witch woman." I have visions sometimes. They are triggered randomly." She explained since her gift wasn't exactly under control and she lacked training, she had even less control over the flow of hte visions than a proper witch. It almost made her sound like being a seer." People also seem to like me... men moslty. They tend to just act unnaturally nice towards me though it can be a little creepy at times." She added with a gulp.

"I..." She started, trying to find the words. This woman offered to pay for her help in any way." I can help, I think." She nodded, bringing her eyes up from her lap and glancing quietly at Maera." I know Father Rahl's gathering things referencing High D'Haran..." She shuddered at uttering the words 'Father' and 'Rahl' in the same sentence. That's how the made younger people refer to him back there. She had tried to learn the language, but stopped it when she realized it was under watch for people dabbling in it." Children also go missing, taken to the inner parts of the palace and do not return." Hope added, throwing looks around almost as if expecting someone to jump out of nowhere and hurt her for uttering those words. Suddenly her eyes filled with fear again as she curled up.

"I didn't do the devotion..." She said in fear, in her life she was always forced to do it every day. She even continued while she was traveling out of fear. today when she came for the palace she didn't." They will punish me... they punish everyone who doesn't... I didn't see them again!" If nothing else one thing they had to admit to Rahl... he had a real knack for near brainwashing of people. She stated, hiding her head with her arms, expecting kicks, punches and god know what else to almost as if appear out of thin air.

[Keira Kelly]

Maera sat and listened to the young D'Haran explaining about her abilities, glad that it seemed to focus Hope, gave her something else to think about than whatever was trouble her from what she had seen. Maera had grown up, partially being taught by wizards and so she knew something of how magic worked... and nothing that the young woman was telling her seemed to line up with what she knew of conventional magic. That, however, did not mean she thought the girl was lying; she knew there were other types with magic like witch women and sorceresses. This girl could be either but Maera would leave it to a wizard to figure out which it was. It didn't really matter, at least not to her. What mattered now was that this poor young girl was safe and not end up on the streets again as she looked like she had been. The dead of winter was no time to be without shelter and proper clothing.

The part about men being a little too attracted to Hope made Maera frown. Well, she would just have to watch out for the girl, if she could convince her to stay. The frown, though, turned into a smile when Hope answered that she would help. "I'm glad you would like to help, Hope. As in your name, we here in the Midlands want to give everyone here a life filled with hope and happiness. That is why we fight Rahl." she replied. She frowned again. "High D'Haran.. I know many languages but not High D'Haran.. I thought it was a dead language..." she said, half to herself. "What could Rahl want with things in a dead language?"

She froze when the topic turned to children. She reached out a hand again to Hope's shoulder, this time in an attempt to comfort the girl. At least she hoped.... She knew too well that the touch of Confessor was never comforting to others though. Still, she couldn't help but try. "I'm sorry, Hope. That you had to live in such a place. We knew he was a monster but children? I guess I shouldn't put anything past him given other things Rahl has done..." she trailed off, her own hazel eyes filled with tragic memories.

Suddenly, Hope curled up defensively on the bed, in a fetal position. She half stood, once more holding Hope's shoulders. "Hope, what's the devotion?" she asked. She didn't receive an answer immediately. "Hope! They won't punish you. They can't punish you. They can't get here. You are safe here!" she said. "What's this devotion?" she asked again. What had they done to this poor child, she wondered sadly. That one this young could be so scarred inside... "Rahl will pay for his crimes, to you, to my sisters, and to others. It may take time, but he will..." she promised.

She stood up, giving Hope a look over. The girl still cringed but perhaps she could be tempted out. "Are you hungry, Hope? I'll take you down to the kitchens and have the cooks make you a nice, big meal." she offered. It was late but there was always people working in the kitchens. She guessed Hope could do with some proper food and certainly with the warmth down there. And after that, perhaps some better clothes as well... She stood all the way up, offering her hand to Hope.