4. Silvershield Estate

Stella feels a rush at landing such a solid blow. She tries to read the feints, strike at openings, and evade when he does strike.

"What...urggh...do you mean? I—" she pauses in her words occasionally as she tries to keep focus on the spar. "I already told you why I was—Hmm!—why I was going. And why I'm stay—iiiieeee!!"

One of Dieter's blocks catches Stella overextending, sending her off-balance. She sets her boot on a patch of mud and slips, sending her toppling to the ground with an angry grunt.

Dieter blocks a bit too well.

He quickly springs to stellas rescue

Dieter blocks a bit too well.

He quickly springs to stellas rescue. He darts forward quickly grabbing her hand giving her the support she needs

"No Stella, this isn’t about you going or staying. It’s about who you are"

Stella squeezes her eyes shut, bracing for impact on the ground. Dieter grabs her hand, giving her flailing leg an opportunity to find purchase on a steady patch of ground. Stella pauses then opens her eyes and rises back to standing.

She stares at him for a moment, eye-stars shifting to a soft teal. He could have just let her fall. She would have gotten back up. All part of the learning experience, some might have called it. But he wasn't here for that. He was here for her.

"...Thanks," she nods. She gazes down at the scimitar in her other hand "I...I don't know who I am," she shakes her head. "But I want to alleviate pain, not cause it. I want to be a Hero. A Watchwoman. Someone who can...who can love. And be loved. I don't know why it feels so hard for me to do either..."

Dieter looks down for a brief moment before he returns Stella’s eye contact

"Unfortunately I can understand at least a small portion of this pain. Your journey is unique to you Stella and nobody can walk it for you but I will do everything my power to see you reach the end of that journey safely"

Dieter raises his dussak again

"Don’t give up on yourself"

Stella smiles weakly but, indeed, with more hope than before. "Thanks. That means a lot. And I'm trying not to."

Stella exhales to refocus and raises her practice weapon as well to continue the training.

"Tell me...about your new—or old?—horns," she asks. "How are you feeling about who you are? In Nashkel, you told me you wanted to be a hero like your father, but didn't feel like you were becoming one. You talked about killing enemies like getting 'blood money'. Then I pressed you on it and you distracted me with the idea iced cream," she grins.

"They’re new, it was quite the shock when they grew in. As far as I can tell they are made of wood." Dieter answers as they exchange blows

"I was starting to grow restless with our current mission, I didn’t realize it was because we were getting closer and closer to the woods and my sister. At least I think that’s why, now that I know my path ahead my anger has seemed to cool but the pain remains.

Earlier when I mentioned blood money I had lost sight of our goal, the riches we had acquired seemed ill gotten. Blood money is money acquired from conflict, Like war profiteering. I guess when you study the arcane it’s easy to see ritual everywhere." Dieter answers.

"If you look at our relationship as it stood then I supplied violence to facilitate your ease of travel. I don’t believe in good… but I do believe in evil, what is good is a matter of perspective but evil is…eternal."

Dieter puts more effort in now. He needed to build Stella back up. Facing your inner self is hard, knowing who you truly are is sad and disappointing but with training and determination you can become better than before.

Stella nods, accepting the responses, but then furrows her brow. "How can you define—arrrgh—evil without contrasting it? What is evil?" she asks, straining under Dieter's added efforts, slowly retreating from his advances.

Dieter notices Stella start to pull back so he loosens his form a bit to allow a counter attack

"Let’s say that I am a wizard, I use my power to enslave the region to my will allowing me to amass wealth and power. What am I?" Dieter asks

"Now let’s say I am a bear. The year has been hard and there is little food. I find a Berry patch and begin to eat but there is a gatherer nearby doing the same. We end up fighting over the limited berries. If I kill him am I evil? If he kills me is he evil? Who is good?

"Mmm, semantics," Stella says, taking the counterattack Dieter opens for and advancing. "Even the bounties on us used the word. By the definitions I've read, 'evil' describes those who—Mmm!—who have the capacity to take or to give and primarily choose the former; to seek one's own needs and pleasures whilst ignoring those of others. A wizard has that capacity. That sentience. A bear does not—at least not to the same extent. Agree or—Hmmm!—or disagree?"

"So you a Druid, believe that Bears don’t have the sentience capable of evil and therefor good?" Dieter probes.

He does a quick flurry of blows but ultimately doesn’t strike.

"The bear isn’t the point though. I simply believe that good is too subjective. To make a personal moral a universal truth is absurd. I believe that all men (and mer) are free according to their flesh. Life and death are a universal truth. I eradicate a goblin tribe and I’m a hero of good, to the goblins I am evil. Which one is it?

I may not be as learned in the mysteries of the planar realms but I have held my sword high and looked in the eyes of those under its shadow. I guide my blade by my morals and I hope that it is in service to whatever goodness there is in this plane to be found"

Aldous seems on edge. He's actually biting his nails as he watches Stella prepare for the ritual.

Aiwë sits Aldous down and hands him her drum. "Run your nails across it, like this," she demonstrates the circular motion around the surface of the drum and the gentle whisking sound it makes. "Nice and slow. Can you help me with that?"

She takes another chair and puts her handpan in her lap, and begins a soothing tune.

Dieter has a handful of tourniquets , three large buckets of sand, two rolls of clean compression bandages, a bottle of spirits, and a long Shepard’s crook.

Dieter stands off to the side watching with a cooled demeanour.

Aldous does as instructed. His hand is fairly unsteady at first, but the sound and the motion seem to calm him somewhat.

Aiwë smiles encouragingly at Aldous, and watches Dieter out of the corner of his eye. What does he think is going to happen? No matter, the supplies seem to put him at ease, as much as the strange boy can be.

Stella kneels down, tucking her skirt beneath her, and prepares sticks of incense in her brass brazier, the one she uses when summoning a familiar long-term. She places one of her two stargazer lilies next to the bowl.

"Can you light them, please?" she asks, turning to Aiwë. Stella had discovered many regrets on this journey. Refusing to learn Prestidigitation from Papa was one of them.

She blinks and furrows her brow when she sees Dieter and his assembly of...components? "Dieter, what...?" She raises her brow and shakes her head.

She could feel that, for a divination, she would need a divine connection—a channel by which to direct her power. By her best estimation, these powers of seeing through the cosmos were primarily tied to her druidic powers. Her home, Kuldahar, was sometimes referred to as 'Silvanus' Garden', such as in the song 'In Kuldahar's Circle', and Mama taught her some of Silvanus' teachings. Mama had denounced the gods when she was younger too, so if she was going to finally seek the aid of one, it seemed appropriate it should be one tied to druidic power. So she would try to direct her question to Silvanus.

As the incense begins to burn, she takes a slow, deep breath through her nose, inhaling the powerful scent, holding, then exhaling, focusing on relaxing the tenseness in her muscles with the help of the music. Three.

She repeats. Breathing in through the nose. Holding. Breathing out slowly through the mouth. This time focusing on relaxing her mind, imagining her thoughts giving way to an expanse of stars. Two.

She repeats once more. Breathing in—she picks up the stargazer lily. Holding—feeling and visualizing the beautiful flower, and the connection it has to the greater world. Breathing out—she crushes the flower in her hand and sprinkles it in the brazier. Three.

Her mind and body relaxed, she sits, continues to breath, the scents and music guiding her deeper into the recesses of her mind. She begins chanting in druidic to the rhythms—another technique to direct her mind's focus on the moment, and on her question: From whom will Reiltar be receiving orders?

She continues sitting, breathing, and chanting this for several minutes in an unchanging pattern. Until finally...

Stella suddenly opens her eyes and inhales, then quickly relaxes again.

"Rieltar Anchev. Sfena. Sarevok Anchev," Stella says. "Those were the three names that came to mind in response to the query 'From whom will Rieltar be receiving orders?'"

She furrows her brow. "He has his own agendas, of course. But Sfena. And Sarevok Anchev...do those names shine any stars for anyone?"