2.1 Prelude - The subtle rebellion

Castillian is not mentioned in L&L , but possibly a -01/-02 penalty depending on how close they are dialect-wise.

Fati listens and then briefly shakes his head. "Wait, that didn't sound right. That's not Castillian. Did ye just say you understood and asked what I like to eat? Huh?" Abdul stands for a moment with a confused look on his face, and takes in Marie's defensive stance. "Lass, you look right ready to spar somebody," Fati rumbles. He flashes a toothy smile at Marie (OOC: not helping, I know) and then turns back to the one-eyed guardswoman, grin still in place. "Is that what we be getting ready for? All the guards sparring to find out who's best? It be good to finally see sword and shield wielded together right proper again." He lifts his stump. "There's only so much one can talk about how to hold something. And when you all beat me down maybe Bashireh will finally see what I been trying to tell them all this time," his shoulders slump slightly as he lowers his left arm back down.

(awesome!)

Marie grips her dagger some more. Whatever this lecherous bastard may want, he ain't gettin it without a fight. Never again.

As Maria enters the building and look around at the...carnage, for lack of a better word, she finds herself growing more and more dismayed at the state of affairs. She hopes that the covenant guards keep their own weapons, but she doesn't think that's the case. She deeply suspects that, for whatever reason, the reason that there's only one stand and four shortswords in the room is that there are only four people left who can wield them. This fear is reinforced when she sees the four sets of cloth armor. And the fact that one of them is missing an arm tells her that one of the four “viable” guards is the one-armed man she saw on the docks.

“The devil's definitely been having his way with this place,” she mutters.

Maria looks intently at Abram, studying him, appraising him as he speaks, sizing up for any potential he may have as, if not a guardsman, at least a member of the militia. She nods her greeting at Colleen and Jeannie as they pass. Although she doesn't speak Hebrew, it's not hard for her to guess that they're looking at her missing eye – it wasn't the first time it's drawn people's attention, and it wouldn't be the last.

Maria dips her head in reply. “Good day to you, Abram,” she says.

Maria faces Abdul and crosses her arms as well, turning so that she can see Bashireh as well, and smiles. “In fact, Abdul, I speak Castilian quite well. I may have lived in England the last twenty-some years, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten the language of the angels.

“I would not dream of taking your command, especially not when I've not been here half a day yet. I am simply hear to offer my services to your...guard, such as it is. And from the looks of things, I've not come a moment too soon. No offense to you, Abdul, I'm certain you've done all you could with what you have...but it also looks to me like the devil has taken a lot from you.

“As to my qualifications. I have served the Covenant at Riversedge my whole life there, and served as the sergeant of the Ladies' Squadron much of that time. I have been called an expert swordswoman by my peers, and have passed on my skill as I could. I'm also a fair archer, my...infirmity not withstanding, and am more a threat to my enemies than to myself. Even at my age, I can mix it up as well as the next woman, and am still more than capable of pulling sentry duty if that's where you want me.

“As for taking over your command so you can retire.” She looks pointedly at the dilapidated weapons rack, the quartet of armor stands, and the sole woman trying her best to go through the drills that Abdul had given her, and winces dramatically. “I can certainly see why you would want to. I think now would be a bad time to do so, if you'll forgive my being so bold. And it certainly isn't what I had in mind when I decided to come back to Castile.”

Maria heaves a martyred sigh. “But if you're determined to quit now, and are certain that you want one of us to take over for you...I suppose it's certainly nothing more difficult than what the Devil has done to me in the past. But I won't go in blind. If I take over, I'm going to want your help.”

The old guard snorts at her offer. "Join my guard? Lass, you and the girlie"-he nods his head at Marie, "are the Guard, so far." Abdul turns his head slightly and raises his voice to bark into the converted warehouse, "no offense, Bashireh. But you barely qualify as a trainee. I may still throw you back to the housework!" Giving a good-natured grin and eye roll, he lowers his voice as he goes back to speaking to Maria. "Can't let her think she's actually impressing me. For someone who never touched a sword or trained before, she's not doing bad for a month and a half. But yeah, there's you, girlie, and five or six other armsmen I saw coming in today. I'd give ole' Batty"-he again nods in Bashireh's direction-"at least another year before she's ready to join the ranks. And that's only as something like a gate guard."

Abdul narrows his eyes a bit and his head nods as Maria lists her credentials. "Expert swordswoman, you say? I wouldn't be surprised if you could show me a thing or two, and ye've led for much of that time? If I wasn't concerned about what the other guardsmen and women would say, I'd make you in charge right now."

Abdul looks around at the dilapidated storage area at the same time Maria does. By the end his back seems a little straighter, his chin a little higher. "Don't get me wrong, lassie. I once trained and watched one of the finest fighting forces this side of the Black Sea grow up, train up, and expand up from this very barn. Jamie is a awesome figure to behold at the front of the charge, Allah be praised, but Captain Kaseem was brilliant. With just three of the Lion's Guard, Kaseem could keep a company of militia completely lost and tied up for weeks. Sergeant Malakhan would set his shield, and his sons would join him, and three tercios could dull their points against him and his clan and not move them an inch. But they were both at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. Their children too. And their nephews. And the farmers. Bashireh's father, husband, and two sons? There too." His shoulders slumped again, Abdul's eyes gain a glassy sheen as he holds back his tears. "My son lies on that field. They didn't even spare my wife who worked in our hospital tent. All of the other hospital tents were left alone, but ours was burned, they said." Standing out in the sun, both Abdul and Maria (and Marie) have gained a slight sheen of sweat, but even so Abdul shivers before taking a deep breath and collecting himself. He turns back to facing Maria.

"My teachers are dead. My friends who helped me sack Jerusalem are dead. My soldiers are dead, as are my students, and my son. Shai'tan is always looking, but Allah be praised we endure. It's always a bad time, lass."

"Wha-??" Fati stares at Celestria's backside for a moment, then rubs the back of his neck and bursts out laughing. "I'm sorry, Maria, right? Did you just say Rebecca has put her in charge? I need to tell Noland to hide while he still can." Fati continues to chuckle a bit before wiping some tears from his eyes. "You're right, Maria. I cannot just hand over my responsibilities as apparently Rebecca has. Of course, she's been trying a lot longer. Come back tomorrow afternoon. I shall tell all of the other guards the same. With so many independent leaders, I think we will need to peck out who's rank and file or not." He grins again, chuckles one last time, and prepares to turn away before abruptly stopping while facing Marie, the Scout. He smiles.

"She hasn't understood a word we've said this entire time, has she?"

(Good one, I was about to post about it).

Marie is completely puzzled by all tat exchange. WHat has transpired between these 2??? She just needs to have a post and stay there. If things keep up, she'll just have to take point.

To Maria: Do you understand me? Can you tell him I'd like to stand watch over here? (Pointing to one of the watchtowers)

If this doesn't work, she'll point herself, make hand gestures as if looking for something, and show the tower, hoping to be understood.

Maria looks thoughtful. “So, we're looking at a total of, what, half a dozen or so guards in all? Maybe ten if you include the magi's guards?” She shakes her head. “How many do you think we'll need if we're going to have a prayer of defending the covenant when we get attacked?”

“It sounds like you've quite a store of experience as well. And more than your fair share of loss. Sometime soon, we should cross practice swords. I'm certain you have a lot that I've not seen before, and for all I know I might have a move or two that you've not seen before.”

“If Sarah was telling the truth, yes.” Maria looks a little less than pleased at that.

“And any other menfolk left in the covenant. Back home...back in Riversedge they called her 'Celestria the Willing,' as she was willing to sleep with any man who would spare her a glance, and she didn't much care how it looked. I don't think there was a single man in Riversedge who hasn't sampled her wares.” Maria looks particularly bitter as she speaks.

“No, I don't think she has.” She will ask Marie if she speaks Castilian and English before turning back to Fati with a shrug.

She doesn't.

As noted before, she must have a defaut catalan from her occitan, so, exaspered, she should be able to convey things like "Me go tower watch". And then, she'll go :laughing:

Before she walks off, Fati points at himself and says, very slowly, "Abdul Fati bin Saladin. Fati. Fati." At each repeat of Fati he taps his own chest. Next, he points at the setting sun, then holds his arm out so that its bent at the elbow going across his body and almost touching his stump, palm face down and flat so its parallel to the ground. He raises his hand, keeping his elbow still (like a fulcrum), untli his arm is upright and pointed at the sky, perpendicular to the ground. He pauses, and then points at the sun again. Then he stretches his hand out straight and grabs the air around waist height. He seems to be pantomiming clutching something, as he brings it up to his mouth. He opens his mouth wide and takes a bite of the imaginary clutched object, and chews the air for a while. His arm stretches back out to waist height and he seems to pluck something from the air - he's delicately clutching something imaginary with only his first three fingers -thumb, pointy and middle finger. Bringing the clutched item to his mouth again, he purses his lips and makes a slurping sound. Fati pats and rubs his stomach, making contented noises. Finally, he holds up his point and middle fingers and kind of walks them across the air in a straight line and ends by pointing at the circle of rocks in the building. Lastly, he takes a fighting stance facing Marie, and points down at the ground. He repeats the actions quickly, pointing at the sun again, moves his hand from flat to straight up bent at the elbow and lined up to the sky, reaches out and grabs something again that he brings to his mouth, makes a "Mmm mmm" sound, pats his stomach, and using his point and middle fingers kind of walks them across the air in a straight line, ending in a finger pointing down while he settles into a fighting stance. Standing back up he sort of brushes the dust off his clothes with his hand and then grins at Marie, performing a shooing motion with his hand.

Turning back to Maria, he shrugs. "Well, hope she got it. I guess I'll see you tomorrow after lunch. I'll tell the other guards that come by. Hopefully somebody understands her."

When Terrance and Damien comes by they manage to converse in stilted Latin and know about coming back tomorrow after lunch for an "all guard meeting". When Molly comes by, they encounter a language barrier again but in very stilted English Fati manages to get out "meeting - lunch" while pointing at the building. Molly will try her best to get some food out of the kitchen after breakfast and will cool her heels for a while when she arrives at noon and way too early. She'll also be dragging Augustus and Brigitte with her whenever she finds them tomorrow.

Will Gerard still be with them? Or would he keep trying to carouse with the locals after they plead tiredness and return to the covenant/does he try to convince them to party and "carouse" to exhaustion?

"I hope so. I would hate to think that we'd be unable to defend the covenant because nobody spoke the language. Speaking of which..."

Maria looks at Fati more directly. "I think it would behoove us to decide what language we're going to use, and to make sure everybody speaks it. Personally, I think it should be Castilian, because practically everybody here already speaks it."

Fati chuckles a bit and states, "Ye'll hear no argument from me since I already know it. Although Sharae might be surprised at the size of her class. And aye, everybody abouts knows at least a bit o' the language, save a maid or two." Fati seems to pause for a moment, remembering the discussion he held earlier with Sharae and Rebecca. "I'll make sure to inform everyone tomorrow to tell the Masters and Mistresses they came with. It'll be the only way to make sure we understand any orders we hear from them." Fati grins again, this time a little colder than the previous ones. Nodding, he seems ready to walk back into the barn and over to Bashireh but pauses to see if there is anything else.

"Sharae?" Maria asks, not having met the librarian yet.

"Tomorrow after lunch, then," Maria says with a smile before heading into what's left of the village to track down her party's luggage and see where they're being put up.

Aaargh!!

Marie tries to understand what Fati means, but this proves quite hard for a youth. Here's what she understands ( :laughing: ):

  • In the morning, she stands watch
  • when the sun is high, we eat. But he can dream if he thinks he'll be alone with marie when doing that, unless she's armed.
  • Then, we train in the circle of rocks.
  • Then we eat (when?? She don't know)
  • Then we train.

She is reassured by Maria's attitude, as the warrior doesn't seem alarmed by fati, and will probably be present. But she'll be on guard, as always.

Of course, Gerard is with the youths! Or probably the other way around.
But when molly comes to take them to fati, he'll go along: despite his easygoing nature, he is also a warrior and a protector of the weak, and takes that at seriously, or rather seriously enough. As he wanted to check with fati, this'll be the right occasion.

He'll be happy to hear about the training bout, and will lecture the youths about the importance of training and becoming strong if one wants to protect those who can't, in order for everyone to have a good life.

The initial, somewhat inept, over-salting of the food has resulted in a multi-lingual tongue-lashing for the Jewish serving girls who brought the food. Of course, they have no idea what those Latin-speaking newcomers really said to each other, but their tone was clearly insulting! One look at them and you know they're up to no good.

The discarded food is brought back to the kitchen. It takes a while for Cecilia to understand the problem, but her devious mind instantly understands. what sort of game the staff here is playing at. Luckily, cooking isn't just a front for her.

Cecilia will laugh, and play the matron part to the servants, knowing her words will soon filter through the covenant.

[i]Okay, that was a good one. Let me tell... I know the food that came from here was fine. And, between here and the table, it was suddenly oversalted... One could say someone didn't like the newcomers, and wants to make them go, but I know you girls are too fine professionals to even consider such an idea. Someone must have spilled salt by mistake, and told nothing, fearing punition, mustn't it? Well, an occasionnal mistake is no big deal.

But look, girls. There are a few things you should consider, because it may become important.
Let's say that some people hear of this incident. They might think that it might be a good idea for it to happen again. After all, these strangers are pretty creepy, so it might be a good idea to make their life miserable enough for them to leave.

Well, if and when someone tells you this, you should know that this'd be a big, big mistake. First, we are professionnals, and we take pride in our work. Second? Let's assume this works. What then? This place would be swept aside by the reconquista in an instant. Have you looked around you for an instant? Only the power of the magi hold this place together, and I'm not sure it'll be enough.

So, yes, they are creepy, and I don't trust any of them, save perhaps the lady that arrived here at the same time as Hiems. She seemed quite the decent lady. But remember that sometimes, better the devil you know that the devil you don't, no? And these are our devils.
And speaking about Hiems, I'll tell you. While traveling, I spoke with him and his bodyguard. And I don't like him. I don't think he's human at all, and I wouldn't let my daughter near his devilish looks, for he sure reminds me of those tales about fae that capture the hearts of women, only to trap them in icy castles. I'm not sure he feels any emotion at all, nor does he seems to think like us. Yet, Gerard told me he was deeply in love with a lady that spurned him, and still love her, which is the mark of a gentle soul, so I don't know. I think that he could kill people, but not knowlingly, like it was in his nature to trap and freeze people. But I've seen him pray, and he seemed to take at least some care of people, which is more than I can say about a lot of lords, so I think that, so long as one takes care to stay far enough of him, we can manage him for the best.

So, if someone told you to try to make them go? I'd say this: Serve them to the better, so that things run smoothly and they are satisfied. Take the more things possible in our hands, and make sure there's no problem that bother them, so they stay holed up partying or doing whatever it is magi do. I'd say to make them satisfied, and complacent! There's this Raoudha lady, who was taken in especially to administer things. This'd be a chance! The more power in her hand and ours, the more we could live the best life possible, with the magi only coming up when, say, some crusaders want to invade us.

Of course, I know this was just an accident, and I doubt very much someone will suggest you such a stupid and dangerous course of action as to betray the magi. But should this happen? Remember my words. [/i]

She'll back it up with some intrigue over time, trying to convince people that it's better to have the magi well-fed and complacent that angry and meddling:
Intrigue 9 + Com 3 + 1d10=8 = 20 o_O (this is insane!)