[Game Thread] Chapter One - Leaving Home ... Again

[Ehlana]

Kara smiles slightly, an indulgent, friendly smile, as Verdimar speaks of having faced terrors. She's too used to the habit young men have of boasting when in the presence of a pretty girl to take it too seriously. It's a bit of a switch to experience it personally as opposed to watching it from the sidelines, but still, the principle's the same. Faint confusion enters her eyes as the boy talks of not knowing his family and of being taken. Then, as she studies him, something like frightened hope shows in her eyes.

"What's your name?" She demands abruptly, her voice ever so slightly hoarse.

It's not. It can't be. You're being stupid. He was eaten, everyone has told you so a thousand and a half times.... Except the old man in the dreams...

[Admin Chuck]

Verdimar looks into the eyes of the young lady, studying the emotions there; hope, fear and excitement all pass across them. The young man knows clearly what she is feeling as those same feelings are boiling through his mind and heart. It cannot have been this simple. These people cannot be as they appear, there must be more than this. Something hidden somewhere, something I am not seeing. "I am called Verdimar."

As if that set something off inside him Verdimar suddenly stands up, causing the chair to slide loudly across the floor and almost fall over backwards. It balances precariously on two legs for several moments before thumping back down to the floor in its proper position. The tall youth takes several long strides over to the window to look outside, watching the people pass by for several seconds before continuing in nearly a whisper. "I do not remember what my name was before...before I left."

[Ehlana]

Kara's face falls when he says that name. Despite her interior scoldings, she was hoping. Her eyes dip to the ground and the skin around her mouth tightens. She watches the rocking chair dumbly. Then, with the quick reaction of someone who does not share her feelings easily, she tries to hide them. She conjures up an unsteady, false smile from somewhere, standing even straighter than before. One could lay a plumb line along her spine.

"I...." She starts and then stops, silenced by the not-quite-a-stranger's whisper. Her voice is not very steady as she starts again, saying something very different from what she originally intended. "There was a boy, who...left twelve years ago. His name was Arik. He had a mother...and a father...and an older sister, Kara."

[Admin Chuck]

With his back to Kara she cannot see Verdimar's face, but upon hearing the name Arik the young man's eyes close and a tear rolls down his cheek. Slowly the stiff rigidity flows out of his spine, and he ever so slowly crumples to the floor. Arik....Arik...that was my name. And my sister...how could I have forgotten that I had a sister? Tears of shame and anger flow freely down Verdimar's face and small sobs begin wracking his body.

With a sniffle the boy looks up at the young lady. Tears leave wet streaks from puffy eyes. "Kara? I am Arik, that was my name. I had forgotten what my name was then. I was taken by the dragon Verderanthacus 12 years ago as punishment for the villagers sending a team of 'heroes' to kill her. They killed her child instead." With a mix of terror and hope Verdimar looks up at Kara from his knees, awaiting her reaction and having no clue what to expect from her.

[Ehlana]

Kara stumbles over to the young man awkwardly, as if the joints in her knees weren't working properly. As his body begins to shudder with the force of his tears, she hesitates, then puts a small, lightly calloused hand on his metal clad shoulder. Her face is full of indecision, the look of one who wishes to do more but is uncertain if she should.

He could be some sort of swindler. He could be...anything. Some further torment from the dragon...

Kara's lips feel stiff, her stomach twisting as the man who does look so much like Arik, as far as her fuzzy memories can guide, looks up at her, tears on his face. Her hand tightens on his shoulder and her tarnished silver eyes fill with tears she refuses to let fall. "I d-didn't say I was...Kara...?" She looked abruptly away, focusing on her feet and the next words come as if there's no possible way she could hold them back. "I am...though." The "baker's daughter" gives in then. She falls to her knees beside him and embraces her brother with force enough to leave bruises on her skin from the pressure of his plate mail.

[Admin Chuck]

Verdimar embraces his sister back, squeezing until he hears her gasp, then remembering his strength and releasing somewhat. "I knew that I knew you. I just couldn't remember how....it's been so long. When you said my name it all came rushing back, and I knew who you were." Tears flow freely from his eyes, tears of joy, of sadness for time missed, and of brotherly love remembered. Without thinking he begins unbuckling his armor, taking it off to get more comfortable for both him and her. "Let me get out of this so I can cry properly." he says with a sobbing chuckle and a small smile.

Verdimar's broad chest and thick arms are revealed in the padding beneath the armor as the pieces clank heavily to the floor. With little effort he helps his sister to her feet and over to the nearest table, where they sit back down. The young man looks into Kara's eyes again, and is overcome with more emotion. He leans forward to embrace her and begins sobbing again.

[Ehlana]

Kara holds off the faint squeak of pain as long as possible, not wanting to release her brother, but at last it's stop hugging or stop breathing. When he releases her to pull off his armor, she helps him, her fingers more knowledgeable in such a task than one would expect of a girl working in a bakery. As the pieces come off, she shoves them into a corner any old how, completely forgetting any work she's supposed to be doing.

"You look like him. But...everyone said you were dead, that you'd been eaten or worse." She babbles huskily as he helps her to one of the tables. "Only the dreams said differently and they're just dreams, all sorts of crazy things can happen in dreams... The words are cut off as she is pulled into another hug and she finally starts to cry as well. It's several minutes before she can speak and when she does, her usually pleasant voice has a decided croaky quality. She doesn't let her brother go though, not even to ask the questions.

"What happened? Did you escape somehow? How -could- you escape from a dragon? Where have you been?" The words are eager, affectionate, not the slightest hint of resentment or reproof in them.

[Admin Chuck]

Verdimar seems to be forcing his emotions under control, at least for the moment. He smiles affectionately when he hears Kara's rambling speech about dreams, and then nods when she starts asking the questions. After another several moments of holding his sister Verdimar gives her another, less intense squeeze, then lets her go. He looks off into space composing his thoughts before speaking. "She raised me Kara. Verderanthacus took me in as her own child and raised me. She taught me right from wrong, taught me how to defend myself and the lore of the dragons."

Verdimar's eyes glass over for a second as he remembers something from his past. "At first I missed you and mom and dad, but I was never frightened. She helped me to understand that she wasn't going to let anything hurt me, and that eventually I would be free to come and go as I please. At the time that was enough, she flew me around the mountain, around much of the world. Oh the places she took me." The young man sighs deeply, and looks again into Kara's eyes, hoping that this next admission wouldn't hurt her. "Eventually I forgot all but the foggiest memories of life here. You have to understand, she was always teaching me, always showing me new things. I never lacked for anything, I was never bored, I never had the chance to think about life here. Sometimes she would get angry at the loss of her child, and tell me that the villagers here were evil and vile and ignorant for doing what they did. She had never meant any harm to us, and yet we sent some 'heroes' off to slay her for an imagined threat. I couldn't reconcile what she said about the evils of the villagers here with my own memories and questioned her about it on several occasions. She only ever looked at me with heartbreakingly sad eyes and told me 'They can't be all bad, you came from there.'" His own sad smile crosses his features as Verdimar pauses to let Kara respond.

[Ehlana]

The delighted amazement in Kara's eyes does shift abruptly to hurt, but she quickly hides it by dropping her gaze to her lap. Her voice, when she speaks, holds nothing but understanding and warm kindness.

"You were a child. And you had nothing to remember us by. And you had a lot of distractions. You couldn't be expected to remember. It sounds like you had a wonderful life."

And all that is true...but you still forgot me.

"I...don't know why you came back now....happy as I am to see you." A quick smile curves Kara's lips for a moment before subsiding into sobriety. "There's some bad news...I guess I'd better tell you about it now. Mother and Father...aren't exactly around any more. When you were taken, everyone thought you must be dead, that the dragon had eaten you. Mother...didn't take it well. She got sick a few months after and she...didn't have the strength to fight it off. She's underneath the old elm in the graveyard now." Her voice is quiet and sad and her gaze is still on the hands resting in her lap.

She gave up on living. Father and I weren't...enough reason to live.

"Father...I...don't know if you remember, but he used to be mayor around here. He was the one primarily responsible for hiring the heroes to go after the dragon. He was afraid it would attack us here, kill everyone. When all he caused was your death, or so he thought...it hit him hard. Then, when mother died, it was worse. He couldn't take it, he just...left town one night, didn't tell anyone where he was going."

You were always their favorite Arik, they adored you...and I didn't mind because I adored you too. I just wish I'd been worthwhile enough that they'd stayed....Your dragon gave you a good life and I love her for that, but she took you away from us and I hate her for -that-.

"I'm sorry, little brother....that there's just me now."

[Admin Chuck]

Sadness falls across Verdimar's features as he listens to Kara tell how his mother and father died. "I'm sorry Kara, you don't have any reason to apologize. I had no idea what to expect when I came here, but yet I found you and that was far more than I even began to hope for."

A deeper pain crosses the young man's handsome face; guilt. "I wish I could have gotten word to them that I was ok. Maybe I could have kept them alive if they had known that I was ok...." A shake of his head and Verdimar puts the guilt to the side for now, though he is fully aware that it will rear its ugly head again.

"I came back because I had to. Verdy told me that she could teach me until I died old and frail, but that would never make me a dragon, no matter how much she wanted me to be her son. She said that I needed to go out and see the world, to live as humans are meant to, with all the passion for life that we can muster." The young man's eyes mist over again at the recent memory of leaving his mountain home. "When I walked out of that cave I had two options. I could have went down the mountain and on the road to adventure, or I could come here, to the village of my childhood. In my mind there wasn't really a choice, I had to come here. I had to see the people that condemned that poor baby dragon to death and find out if they are as vile as Verdy said they are, or if it was just some misguided attempt at defense of the village."

Verdimar looks out the window briefly at the passing villagers, innocent people going about their day. "I see now -I remember now- that the people here are the same as people everywhere. They are just trying to survive, to carve a life out of whatever fate gives them. Father did not intentionally have Verderanthacus' baby murdered, and I believe that Verdy knew that and that is what softened her heart when I wept over her baby's broken body. With that in mind, what I set out to accomplish here is finished."

Verdimar takes his sister's hands in his own. "But Kara, my sister. You have no idea how much love is filling my heart right now. The memories that I had forgotten of times spent with you as children are flooding my mind, and I am so happy to get those memories back. I promise you that I will never forget them again. To that end, I would ask if you would come with me. I don't intend to stay here for terribly long, and I would be overjoyed if you would accompany me on my road to whatever adventure finds me -finds us- out there." He looks at Kara with so much hope and love and excitement that she can guess that this idea just occurred to him. "You don't have to decide right now. I don't plan on leaving right away, and can stay as long as needed. In fact, there are a couple things I want to do before I go..."

[Ehlana]

Seeing the look of guilt on her brother's face, Kara immediately reaches out to him, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder. Only the fact that he is still talking keeps her from speaking up and absolving him of all blame. She softens further when he takes her hands in his and has to look away as he speaks of loving her. The words, the warm voice, the obvious sincerity are almost too much, all at once, for a girl who has been kind, but kept her heart deliberately empty of others for years. She has to swallow a few times before she can speak.

"You aren't to blame for what happened to Mother and Father. Don't ever think you are." Kara squeezes her brother's fingers tightly, meeting his gaze and adding emphasis to her words. "Maybe you're right and it was just...all some cruel trick of fate born out of ignorance and fear and sorrow. And anyway...Father may still be alive, somewhere. If he is, I know he'd love to see you again. I'll go with you...I've been meaning to leave, there's nothing really for me to stay for. I've just been lingering... I don't know why." She stops before mentioning the dreams again. To have her brother look on her as crazy like half the rest of the village does would hurt too much just now. "Even if I hadn't been meaning to go, I'd go with you. You're my brother...and I love you too...and I won't lose you again so quickly." Making the confession frightens Kara, admitting to caring for someone makes it all the worse when they go, and she quickly looks away again. She hurries on, speaking awkwardly, trying to move past the moment. "What...do you need to do here?"

[Admin Chuck]

Verdimar jumps up out of his chair when Kara says that he'll go with her. "Yes!" the young man exclaims with an excited arm pump. "This is going to be great Kara! We're going to see the world together! This time from the ground!" Arik sits back down excitedly, taking Kara's hands in his own again, the young man is bursting with happiness though, and he pulls his sister to her feet and twirls her around, then begins 'dancing' with her, ending the whole thing in another crushing hug.

Letting Kara out of the embrace Verdimar holds her at arms length. His excitement having run its course for the moment. "Can we go to the house? Is it still there? I would like to see it before we leave, if I can."

[Ehlana]

Kara tries not to smile too broadly as she watches her brother's open excitement and enthusiasm. She's caught wiping a few stray tears from her eyes when he seizes her hands and tugs her to her feet. "Arik...!" She protests halfheartedly, laughing as he whirls her about. Her braid flings out behind her and her worn skirt and apron fan out. "You..." The girl doesn't have any words, but it doesn't matter, she couldn't voice any while being crushed in the most pleasant way by her brother's burly arms. She's no weakling herself, but it would take two of her arms to equal the thickness of one of his.

"The house is...gone." Kara's brilliant smile fades again. "A few months after Father...took off, there was a big storm and it was struck by lightning. I..." She pauses, and decides to gloss over the dream she had that night, the one that woke her up. "I woke up and I got out all right...but there's nothing left of the house but ashes."

The villagers said that was the dragon's fault too...more punishment on our family. Dragon-cursed, they called us. But they were -wrong-, because here you are."

"I'm not a pauper though." Kara adds quickly, not wanting her brother to see her as a leech. "Old Samuel..you probably don't remember him, he was a retired soldier that moved here after you left... I cooked and cleaned for him to make money after Father had started drinking... He decided he liked me because his tempers didn't scare me...he left me quite a bit of money, even some armor and weapons."

[Admin Chuck]

"Oh." Verdimar looks crestfallen about not being able to see his boyhood home, but soon perks back up. "I guess I'll just have to talk to you about our childhood while we are on the road, so I can remember as much as I can." The young man smiles broadly at his sister again, but it slowly fades as he thinks about what he wants to do next. He looks at the floor for several seconds, and when his eyes come back up to Kara's face they are misty. "I want to go see mother's grave. I at least owe her that much."

[Ehlana]

Kara nods gravely and reaches for her brother's hand. "She'd like that. I'd like to go with you now but..." She hesitates, looking over her shoulder for the baker. She's been totally oblivious of his presence and the claims he might have on her time thus far, lost in the emotions of reunion. The suggestion of leaving the bakery, however, has reawakened her to a sense of her responsibilities. She is not particularly close to the man, she's not close to anyone living in the village, but she is aware of the obligation inherent in living in his house and eating his food.

But I've really been a bargain for him, with the work I do....

"There are still some things we could go see on the old property. The tree behind the house that we used to go climbing in all the time is still there. Do you remember me falling out of it?"