masterghandalf

Chapter 4: Sins Past and Sins to Come

Taras Zanthan opened the door to his office and stepped inside, barely noticing the familiar surroundings as he placed his satchel on his desk. Opening it, he began to rummage through, looking for the notes he intended to review for a lecture later that day – and then he stopped, pausing to listen to the sound of footsteps that approached from behind.

“Who is it?” the professor asked without turning. “My office hours are posted beside my door, if you please. I would appreciate if you returned later, at the appointed time; I’m a bit busy at the moment.”

“We’re not students, Professor Zanthan,” a clipped female voice said. “But we’re here to ask you about one. Do you have a moment?”

“Perhaps,” Taras replied, turning slowly to face the speaker while surreptitiously brushing the wand he kept concealed in his coat pocket with one hand. He regarded his visitors for a moment – a young half-elf man whose plain clothing couldn’t entirely hide his military bearing, and a hard-looking woman whose features reminded him strongly of someone else he knew, even if her clothing and attitude were quite different. Taras recognized her, though of course, she didn’t know him. “Who do you want to know about? And why?”

“My name is Valyria,” the woman said. “This is my associate, Pitar. We’re looking for a girl named Thyra Entarro. I’m told she’s taken some classes with you and that you’ve taken her under your wing. Does she look familiar?” Pitar handed a small scroll to Valyria, who in turn passed it to Taras; he unrolled it to reveal a sketch he recognized immediately.

“This would appear to be the same Thyra I know,” Taras said. “But I’m afraid you just missed her. She was planning to leave Sharn this morning on a journey of a rather personal nature. Assuming the lightning rail left on time, she should be well on her way to Karrnath by now.”

“Karrnath?” Pitar mouthed. “Why in the name of the Flame is she going there?”

“That’s what I’m curious about as well,” Valyria said, narrowing her eyes. “Tell me, professor, what exactly do you know about Thyra Entarro?”

Taras shrugged. “She enrolled at the University a year and a half ago; I was teaching a course on myth and legend from the Age of Demons and she was in it. She impressed me with her mind and dedication and I offered her a position as my assistant. She’s a charming girl and very bright. What else is there to tell?”

“And what would you do,” Valyria said, “if I told you that Thyra Entarro is a thief who stole the money she used to pay her tuition and that she’s wanted for questioning in connection with the murder of a priest of the Silver Flame.”

“I’d say that was preposterous,” Taras replied, a note of anger entering his voice. “I can’t imagine the Thyra I know having any involvement in such things – she’s scandalized when her fellow students stay out too late drinking, for Aureon’s sake! I’d also be curious as to who, exactly, you are to be involved in this matter even if those crimes did take place?”

Valyria drew herself up, eyes blazing. “I am Sister Valyria Entarro, Inquisitor of the Silver Flame,” she said, her voice cold and hard. “And I’ve been sent from Flamekeep to capture Thyra and see to it that justice is done. If you would be a friend to the Flame, you will tell me everything you know about this girl, including why she is going to Karrnath.”

“Ah, but I don’t hold to the Flame,” Taras said mildly, “and we’re not in Thrane. I don’t suppose you have a warrant from the government of Breland for Thyra’s arrest? No? Then I’m afraid I don’t feel particularly inclined to help you.” He paused. “Something curious I noticed. You and Thyra have the same last name. Also the same hair color and general shape of the face. Are you sure, Sister, that you’re really here on behalf of the Silver Flame? Or is this some… family squabble… that’s gotten out of hand? So disappointing to see one’s holy mission compromised by personal sentiment, isn’t it?” He shook his head sadly.

Valyria snarled and looked like she was about to lunge at Taras, but Pitar put a restraining hand on her shoulder. Even as he did so, Taras slid the wand from his pocket and levelled it at his visitors.

“Are you threatening us?” Valyria asked, incredulous.

“As I recall, you threatened me first and made baseless accusations at one of my students,” Taras said. “I think I have a right to defend myself.”

“You’re a wizard, then,” Valyria said, nodding at the wand.

Taras shrugged. “Of sorts. You pick up a lot of odd skills in my line of work, and you never know when you’ll be on a dig and someone or something decides to object to your being there. Now, Sister, unless you have an actual warrant for Thyra or something new to bring to the conversation, I suggest you leave.”

Valyria glared at him another long moment, then finally nodded. “Very well. But someday, I think you’ll wind up realizing the mistake you made here today.” With a swirl of her white cape she turned and stalked from the office, Pitar following close behind; he shot Taras an apologetic look and shut the door behind him.

“On the contrary,” Taras muttered as he stowed his wand back in his coat, “I thought that went rather well.”

///

Valyria and Pitar had reached the end of the sparse university hallway when the half-elf turned to his companion. “Well, you could have handled that a little more diplomatically,” he said.

“I know,” Valyria muttered, “but there was something about that man that got under my skin. As far as I can tell he was telling the truth, but I don’t think he was telling everything he knows. It almost felt like he was actually trying to be unhelpful, and the crack about my family especially…” she shook her head. “It’s been almost two years since I’ve seen her, but it still hurts.”

“I know, Val,” Pitar said. “But it wasn’t entirely a waste, at least. He didn’t mean to, but he told us where Thyra’s going, and how she’s getting there.”

“Karrnath, by the lightning rail,” Valyria said. “Which means she’ll have to go through Thaliost, if true. But why Karrnath? What’s there for her, what connection does she have? Whatever it is, it smells wrong to me, and whatever she’s after can’t be good.” She looked Pitar in the eye. “We’re going down to the station to make sure she really did leave from there, and if it’s true, we’re going after her. We don’t have a choice.”

///

Thyra sat by the window in the lightning rail carriage and watched the Brelish countryside as it flew by. She had a certain amount of affection for the country now, having lived in it for more than a year, but still, her heart would always belong to Thrane. She would see her homeland again during this trip, even set foot in it for a brief time. The rail would take them as far as Thaliost, a Thranish city on the border with Karrnath, but the bridge connecting the two nations had been severed during the War and had never been rebuilt. It would take several days to reach Thaliost, but from there they would need to purchase some other passage across the Scions Sound and into the Karrn city of Rekkenmark, from which the capital of Korth would be only a few hours of journey by rail away.

And from Korth, it wouldn’t be far at all to ir’Sarrin’s fortress and the map to her salvation.

Thyra looked away from the window and glanced around at her surroundings. She’d purchased tickets to one of the standard passenger cars, using the generous sum of coin Taras had loaned her, and most of the team had managed to get seats reasonably close by. Len herself sat directly across from Thyra, apparently asleep, though every so often her eye would flicker open and seem to scan the car for trouble. Yhani sat in the seat next to her, the elf apparently engrossed in an extremely thick book with silvery binding, its title written in a language Thyra couldn’t read. Rinnean, Harsk, and Ghazaan weren’t far away, and she could hear the hobgoblin’s voice over the general low-level conversation that surrounded them, seemingly deep in the telling of some narrow escape from undead warriors he and Len had had during the Last War.

That left Havaktri, who was sitting in the seat immediately on Thyra’s left, away from the window. The kalashtar girl seemed perfectly content to sit quietly and watch the people around her with a bright eyed curiosity, occasionally humming a snatch of melody under her breath that sounded, to Thyra’s ears, subtly but undeniably alien in the same way Havaktri herself did.

“You’re wondering what sort of music that is,” Havaktri said suddenly, without looking at her. Thyra started.

“How did?” she asked, then shook her head. “Right. You’re a mind-reader, aren’t you?” Her breath caught suddenly – what else did Havaktri know? Was she privy to the secrets she’d been keeping about this mission, or worse, the sins that lay hidden beneath her skin?

Havaktri laughed softly, with a strangely hissing quality. “I am, but the ability is more limited than you might think. I can know what you’re thinking at the moment, but while digging deeper is possible for some psions, it’s somewhat beyond my current level of skill.” She seemed to find this funny for some reason, as she gave another of those odd quiet laughs. Thyra gave her a rather cross look, and the kalashtar’s humor subsided. “But to answer your curiosity, I was humming a refrain from an old children’s song from my people. It’s familiar, and it helps me calm my mind. But our music must sound strange to you – we’re not entirely of this world, after all.”

“Excuse me?” Thyra asked, quickly losing the thread of this conversation. “I’d always been under the impression that the kalashtar were just a human culture – from Sarlona, right? But you’re making it sound like you’re a whole different race.”

Havaktri smiled broadly, though it still seemed that the expression was something she worked at rather than something that came naturally. “We’re completely human,” she said. “And we’re nothing like humans. It’s hard to explain. But we are from Sarlona. At least, our ancestors were. I was born in Khorvaire, in a… monastery, would you say? - out in the country. Honestly, I haven’t been out in ‘the world’, as the Captain says it, for very long.”

Raised by monks, Thyra thought. Well, that probably explains some of what she’s like. “I don’t mean to be rude, but you do seem to be a little young to be a mercenary,” she said. “What are you, eighteen?”

“Seventeen!” Havaktri said brightly; that put her at about two years younger than Thyra herself. “But kalashtar grow up quickly. And I’ve only been with the company for a few months, shorter than anyone. I left my home looking to do good in the world, to fight monsters like the Insp- like the enemies from the old stories. I thought I needed some actual experience, so when I found the captain, I asked her to take me on.” She gave a sinuous shrug. “I don’t think the Captain liked me very much; I annoy people sometimes. But she didn’t have a psion and Yhani spoke up for me, so I was hired.”

Yhani snorted softly from behind her book.

So Len does what Yhani says, at least sometimes, Thyra thought, glancing from the reading elf to the sleeping human and back again. Interesting. I wonder if… she shook her head. It didn’t matter. These people were going to help her get what she needed, and then they’d part ways and she’d probably never see them again. There was no point in getting attached.

“Thyra,” Havaktri said, drawing her attention back. “Or should I call you something else? Lady Thyra? Miss Thyra? Human etiquette still confuses me sometimes…”

“Thyra’s fine,” the sorceress said, and Havaktri nodded, absorbing that information.

“The Captain says you follow the Silver Flame. I’ve never actually sat down and talked to someone who follows the Flame before. Some people say such terrible things about your religion, that you’re all intolerant and self-righteous, but you don’t seem like that to me. From what I’ve heard, I think that the Silver Flame and the Path of Light that my people follow must have some things in common. Do you believe in perfecting the self, fighting evil, doing good in the world?” Havaktri stopped and gave a short laugh. “And listen to me prying again. Yhani says I have to learn to be more discreet, you know.”

“It’s okay,” Thyra said. “I’ve never had the chance to sit down and talk with a kalashtar either. But about what you asked – I don’t know if all of us believe that, but the best of us do, or try to.”

Havaktri beamed. “I knew we must have something in common.” Unexpectedly, she reached out and grasped Thyra’s hand. “I think we’re going to be wonderful friends.”

Thyra’s heart sank in her chest, and she resisted the urge to pull away. If Havaktri knew what she was really like, the kalashtar girl wouldn’t be so quick to offer friendship. None of them would. No, it would be best if she could just get this job over with, free herself from her curse, and then try to pick up the pieces of the life she’d left behind. Sighing, she pulled away from the confused kalashtar and stared back out the window.

She didn’t notice the way Yhani’s eyes were watching her intently over the top of her book.

///

Valyria meets Taras in this chapter, and we get some more information about both of their relationships with Thyra as well as their own goals. We won’t be seeing much from Taras’s pov in this fic, by the way – the main povs for this fic are Thyra, Len, Valyria, and Irinali – but the way I wanted to set this scene up, it made more sense to write from Taras’s perspective. Also note that Pitar calls Valyria “Val” – not something she’d allow from just anyone! Harsh as she can be while “working”, Valyria does genuinely have friends, and Pitar’s one of them.

What exactly happened with that priest Thyra is accused of killing isn’t something that’ll be revealed for a while, I’m afraid. Sorry!

Having Thyra talk to and befriend (sort of) Havaktri was another important bit of character building. As I’ve mentioned previously, I like kalashtar, and here we see a somewhat naïve one who grew up isolated and is still trying to get the hang of this whole “mainstream society” thing. Though the temptation is to write kalashtar as being like Vulcans, what with their intense mental discipline and lack of outward expression, I decided to go the opposite direction with Havaktri. Having grown up most of her life using telepathy to express emotions, she still has a hard time wrapping her mind around when and how much it’s appropriate to show emotions outwardly in public, and sometimes (well, a lot of the time) she overdoes it.

Speaking of Havaktri, she's the last main character who I'm going to post a picture of. Here she is:

-MasterGhandalf