A Mage's Wake: Reproach
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Night's Edge Monastary: Chapel <Forest District>
- The chapel has been brought back to its original glory, an airy chamber with benches arranged in rows for the worshipful and an alms-box by the heavy doors, a heavy red curtain dividing a small entryway from the worship area proper. The chapel itself is dominated by seven stained glass windows set high in the wall niches just below the vaulted ceiling, each depicting a new scene, a story that flows from left to right, from the entrance up to the nave.
- The greatest testament to the glassmaker's art is at the chapel's nave, however, a full six feet across and shining brightly when the sun reigns outside. Depicted is the form of a great white dragon, surrounded in a halo of golden light, with eyes and claws of glittering black onyx. In the floor, underneath the dragon's watchful gaze, the half-black, half-white circle of the Marked is picked out in tile, surrounded by a circle of brass hammered in to shine in the light that spills from the great window.
- A wide archway, guarded by the ubiquitous heavy biinwood doors of the manor, leads west into the dining hall, while a small banded door near the nave leads out into the rectory and the private gardens of the manor's master.
Syton follows Celeste in, frowning darkly. He looks to her expectantly, letting her take the lead for now.
Celeste remains quiet, a subtle slump to her shoulders the telling sign of her fatigue. "What did you wish to speak of, Syton?" She continues towards the front pew, flopping down on the seat.
"And here, I thought you were the one who was so eager to speak with me." Syton moves up alongside Celeste and takes a seat beside her on the pew. He looks up at the stained glass idly as he speaks. "I intended to reproach you vigorously for what happened just now, but this is a church, and not a place for such hostility."
"Shall we go to the gardens then?" Celeste inquires with a half-hearted wry smile, waving out the smaller biinwood door off the nave. "Speak your mind, my friend...for now, this is just my home." The woman's voice softwhat deflated, her hand moving to rub absently at her side again.
"I just want to make sure you understand what you did just now." Syton says, tilting his head back towards the door. "If you wish me to speak my mind, then I shall say only this: You made a mistake, and a very bad one. It was either naive or stupid, and I absolutely need to make sure you won't do it again."
Celeste looks over towards Temple, regarding him quietly for a the span of a few moments. "He asked why Master Firelight did not trust him, I told him. He spoke as though he knows something of me, and knows nothing. No, I may not be so emboldened to call him Master, but I show him the respect in calling him Brother." She looks back to the glass pane, "I disagreed with him. Such is the way of a priest, he believes we should all hide and hope for the best...and that will solve nothing."
Syton shakes his head insistently. "You turned away a powerful ally, Celeste. Your held your opinion over him just as much as he did over you. Instead of showing some humilty, backing down, and letting your actions speak for themselves, you engaged him in a pointless and alienating exchange." A moment of silence passes as Syton allows that to sink in. "We are desperate enough for allies that we must take all we can get, even those whom we do not completely agree with. As I said earlier, we have a common enemy, which is enough for an alliance. If you cannot hold your tongue enough to maintain that alliance, then I might as well leave now, because this--" he motions around, "--all of this, will not stand long."
"How did I not show humility and respect, Syton? If the man wishes me to be a blind follower and not question, and even try correct where he errs." Celeste clutches at her hip, growling softly. "I did not turn him away, Syton. He chose to say that I was not worthy of his own time. That because of the sins of the past he shall hide from the future. Dreams I cannot dash, they give us hope to bring about some modicum of change. Maybe not in my lifetime or that of our children." She lowers her head, cradling her face within her hands. "I tried to warn him that the Luminary is being held accountable in some instances....how did any of what I say truly anger him until he chose to judge me, and I still refused to pass judgement on him, Syton."
As he listens to Celeste, an expression comes over Syton's face, a look like he doesn't believe what he's seeing. "Celeste," he says, exasperated. It takes him a few moments to gather his thoughts enough to speak. "Were you listening to the same conversation I was? You were just as bad as he was." Syton quickly adds, and with some force, "Don't think for a second that you were any better. He is the /leader/ of the Luminary, and you're preaching to him about the Light and the Shadow? Condescension is just as bad." He shakes his head slowly. Anger builds in his voice as he continues. "It was stupid to even take part in that conversation. Do you understand me, Celeste? /Stupid/. He was an ally, and now he seems content to watch us all burn, because you had to preach to him. And don't you tell me that isn't what you were doing, because I was there, and I know what it sounded like."
She looks up from her hands, looking back towards Temple. "What would you have had me done? Sit quietly and listen to how it right for us all to fear, and be strangled by it?"
"/Yes/." Syton says emphatically, nodding. "Just sit quietly and listen. That's what diplomacy is, Celeste. You make your allies /trust/ you. We all make up our own minds, and the Light knows that you have already made up yours... so why not listen to him? Why not play along? What would be the harm in showing him respect, even in defering to him? Seeking his wisdom, for he certainly has some." Syton gradually loses energy and bluster, back down to a more conversational level. "You cannot challenge every idea that is not your own, Celeste, and you cannot take every opporunity to voice your opinion. Sometimes, you must be /quiet/ and let other people do the talking, even--and /especially/--if you think they're wrong."
Celeste nods, looking to the mark on the floor. A rueful laugh escaping her lips. "I lost two friends to to that Mark, all because they see it as the sign of the shadow...as if that is all that it means. I did listen, Syton. The man seems to want to hide, and not all of us have the gift of shadows to move about. No, he /hates/ what I stand for, Syton....and truthfully," she look back to Temple..Golden-hued, sea-green eyes naked with honesty. "I truly cannot fault him, for such. But we must move past our biases, and hate. A man once told me of a wonderful friend he had, she was perfection in every manner. Then one day, she showed up with a Mark on her cheek...and he said that changed all that she was, but it didn't. You see, the woman was the same."
"This is all philosophy, Celeste." Syton waves a hand dismissively, frowning. His eyes wander around the chapel as he speaks. "As far as I am concerned, it means nothing. It does not matter if his ideas are different than yours or opposed to yours. He could hate you, as a person. He could want to kill you. None of it matters. He was, and may still be, willing to help us. That is all that matters. His help. He can be trusted, and he will keep his word, if we need his aid. Everything else is just pride, and *that* will be the thing that kills us." In the end, his gaze falls on Celeste. He meets her eyes with his own, blue and gray, painfully serious. "You know how I care for you Celeste, and how high of an esteem I have for you. You are a great woman, and you will do great things, but you also have a talent for bringing philosophy into places where it does not belong. You have a talent for complication, Celeste. With that in mind, I pass this simple lesson along to you... We cannot turn anyone away, Celeste, regardless of their ideals or ours. If that means that we hold our tongues, then that is what we do. Survival is worth the pain it causes to our pride."
"I did not speak from pride," replies Celeste quietly. Unable to hold the man's gaze, she instead looks down to her hands. "He was upset that I knew who he was, and told him so. I will...try," she mutters softly.
Syton exhales slowly and puts a hand on Celeste's shoulder. He nods for a few moments in silence before speaking. "I know, Celeste," he says softly. "Thank you for hearing me out." The young Freelander and the Mikin noblewoman sit side by side in the front pew of the chapel.
Taran steps lightly into the chapel...but on seeing the other two, pauses in the doorway. Stay or go, stay or go...
"..but I will not lie, Syton. Too many lies fly about now. Tell him of the warning or you may find the Luminary dealing with more than just Cultists." Celeste stands up, trying to keep her gaze to the floor. She brushes the back of her hand to her cheeks quickly, shaking her head and stiffening her back. "I should look to finding a bit of rest. Thank you for your counsel, Syton. I shall try to remember such lessons in the future."
Syton smiles faintly as he stands. With some soft, understated mirth, he says, "You have earned the right to return the favor, Celeste, and lecture me as much as you wish. But until then, Light Keep you. Sleep well."
Taran if anything seems to ...become background. Neither invisibility nor camoflage, but a shift in stance and bearing that makes the bard about as noteworthy as a statue, or a carving, without actually hiding at all. And simply waits.
"Light guide and protect you, Syton," replies the priest in hushed tones. She looks towards the small biinwood off the nave, and moves out into the garden beyond. The soft sound of birds singing fills the chapel for a split second and soon it is gone with the woman in tow.
Return to Season 6 (2007)
