"I heard you were looking for Lady Tarissa?" asked Callelsyn, "I am afraid she is not in at the moment."
Horvan had told her of the arrival of the visitor at the villa, and was now standing a discrete distance away as she invited Ansreal inside. She had met the young elf not so long ago, of course, for a meal in the courtyard with Tarissa's other paladin friends. She herself had invited Messandra, but that had made her human lover uncomfortable. The cleric and paladin would most likely not have approved of their relationship, and Messandra has not wanted to give them any reason to suspect it, which had made things awkward. At least Ansreal would have understood... although, as a paladin in training herself, who knew what her actual attitude was?
And now here she was, stepping into the foyer of the villa, holding what appeared to be a sealed letter. She looked a little uncertain, glancing around as if looking for someone. "Is... uh..." she began, "I mean... are you on your own?"
"Apart from Horvan, here, yes," replied Calleslyn, "I don't think Tarissa will be back until this evening." It almost seemed that Ansreal was trying to avoid someone, but who that might be Calleslyn had no idea. There hadn't been any disagreements with anyone, so why should there be a problem? The elf decided that, for the time being at least, it was not an important question,
"You have a letter for Tarissa?" she prompted.
"Yes, Sir Larimor sent me. He and Father Hemboldt are busy this afternoon at the temple, so they asked me to deliver this." She held the letter out. "I was told that, if she was not here, I could give it to any one of you. I understand it is about the incident at the palace recently. Lady Tarissa told you about that?"
Calleslyn nodded. "If you are free for a while, why not come in and discuss it?" She turned to Horvan, "could you perhaps bring some wine to the lounge?" The young man nodded, and soon she was leading Ansreal through and sitting her down as she opened the letter.
She had indeed heard of the events at the palace. While Tarissa had been there someone had attempted to rape a noblewoman in one of the back rooms. The paladin had saved her, and apprehended the assailant, but worse than that, she had sensed a demonic influence over the man. It was exactly what they had feared ever since discovering the old journal at Messandra's shop. Something infernal was casting its net over the city, corrupting those it needed to achieve its long-term aims – whatever those were.
The letter explained that Larimor and Hemboldt had interrogated the would-be rapist, a young scion of the nobility named Astelan. Whatever was influencing him had left, doubtless feeling that he would no longer be any use now that he was imprisoned. He would likely be exiled, his own noble house protecting him from more serious measures, while the house he had tried to dishonour wanted him gone for good.
The worrying thing was that Astelan did not seem to know how or when the demon had tried to take him over. Nobody in authority was willing to listen to his pleas that his actions had not been his own. Perhaps some of them were also corrupted, but it could equally well be, Hemboldt thought, that their conclusions were quite justified. Astelan had not been truly possessed, he had just heard a voice in his head that tempted him to do things.
The cleric was of the opinion that the young man could have chosen to ignore the being's blandishments and resist its urgings. That he had clearly not done so showed a weakness of character that made him at least partly responsible for what he had done. Calleslyn did not know Hemboldt that well, but the tone of the letter certainly made it seem that he had little sympathy for the youth.
"It is good that you are helping us on this," she told the young squire, "we wanted to limit the knowledge of what we were doing at first, and I suppose we still do. Who knows where this has spread? But your assistance is much appreciated, since I do not suppose any of us would have had the chance to talk to this Astelan after his arrest. But people from the temple can do this where we cannot."
"Are you planning to do something soon?" Ansreal asked, leaning forward slightly in her chair. Calleslyn noted her eager expression; this was a woman who wanted adventure and, no doubt, wanted to help defeat evil such as this. It made sense, given her calling, but she would have to be disappointed.
"We do, yes. I will leave it to Tarissa to say more, and I am sure she will... but, at the end of the day, this is something we must do on our own. These people will be watching your temple, of that you can be sure. They will already be worried at how much you might have found out from Astelan. Tarissa is a member of your temple, I know, but she is one person... once a number of you become involved, then any advantage of surprise we may still have will be gone. For the same reason that you can gain access to interview prisoners, you are also too high profile to be in on this directly."
"I am sorry," she added, "and, of course, things may yet change. No doubt we will need you again at some point. But not just yet. Adventurers can do things that you cannot."
"I suppose that is true," Ansreal conceded, "and it is more common among our people than becoming a paladin. But still not very usual... how did you become an adventurer? You are not from Haredil originally? If you don't mind me asking."
"Not at all. I am from Myaira, near the western coast," she smiled, "they were beautiful forests, a wonderful place to live."
"Oh, Myaira!" said Ansreal, in recognition, "I travelled through there on my way here, a few years ago. I am from Larelond, just to the north. Not quite as grand as Myaira, more of a frontier land, do you know it?"
After that, it somehow seemed natural to slip into Elvish, rather than the Common Tongue of the humans. Calleslyn realised how long it had been since she had a proper conversation in her native language. She had spoken Common for so long that her thoughts were almost always in that language now, and just speaking Elvish brought her memories back to her youth.
"I have heard of Larelond, yes. I have never been there, I am afraid. I imagine it must be very wild and open. Even the countryside around here is not like it was back home. But I knew I had to leave... I needed something more. At first, it was a desire to see more of the world, and to learn some of the human magic, which is why I came here. Then I met Tarissa, and the adventuring band was her idea. It just seemed to flow naturally, I never planned it as a long term career... and, by human standards, I do not suppose it will be. Some day, I shall return to the dales of Myaira, but not for a while. I have things to keep me here, for some years to come, I hope."
They talked more on the lands they had called home, of the green valleys and wooded hillsides, the clear rivers and blue skies. The wilds around Haredil had their own stark beauty, but not the verdant life of the western lands, close by the great sea. Even the towns blended in with the surrounding countryside, quiet and slow places where things took decades or centuries to change, if they ever did at all. Not at all like the bustle of humans, with their short and hurried lives.
"Living among humans is different," she said at one point, "but they are a vibrant people, and I have grown to love them. Their culture is different than ours, but it has its good points as well as its limitations. The diversity, even in this one city, can be invigorating."
"There are things I have found hard," admitted Ansreal, "restrictions that the paladins have that would seem strange to my parents or childhood friends. They stand for justice and for defending the weak, and that is why I have joined them, and I have no difficulty with most of their codes. But I have had to try and adapt to their ideas of love."
"Just recently, I spent a pleasant afternoon with..." she seemed about to say something, but visibly stopped herself before continuing, "well, let us just say that it was with a man. It is the sort of thing they would say I should avoid, yet it did not feel wrong. But I prayed afterwards, and I think I have come to an accommodation. Such things should not distract me from my path, and I should not allow myself to be seduced by those my order opposes... but I think I can do that. Perhaps I cannot resist desire itself, but I can ensure it does not lead me astray."
"Does that make sense? But it is not the sort of thing I can discuss with the clerics. Our order is not strictly speaking a celibate one, but at times it feels as if it might as well be. And the clerics are celibate, of course, so they would understand least of all. If I were to tell them some of my thoughts, they would be shocked."
"Human clerics," said Calleslyn ruefully, "yes, they can be different. Except those of Sarlene, I suppose. But otherwise, you might find that some humans are more open than you expect; they just tend to keep quiet about it."
"They must understand beauty, as we do," replied Ansreal, "The beauty of nature, of sunsets and damp woodlands, of flowers and birds. But when it comes to the beauty of a man or a woman, they must appreciate it... yet they see it as different, in some way. If I talked of the feel of a man's body, they would feel embarrassed, angry even, yet is it no different to the appreciation of our other senses."
"And if it were a woman, I spoke of... I just don't think they could understand. I hope you do not mind me saying that you are a beautiful woman, Calleslyn. But if I told someone like Father Hemboldt of the shape of your thighs, the curve of your breast, the colour of your eyes... I can't imagine what he would say. Really, I can't."
She was leaning closer as she spoke, and Calleslyn could sense the suppressed desire in her voice, could see her eyes wandering over her as they enumerated her features. The elven adventurer was not quite sure where she stood, although it was true that she, too, found the other woman attractive.
"It is odd," she agreed, "that they do not understand that any person may feel affection for any other, regardless of their gender. But I suppose that the path of Pardror is partly about giving things up for the greater good."
