RP:Feline Paladin, Meet Dragon Queen
Synopsis: Zahrani familiarizes herself with Frostmaw's fort after meeting up with Lionel and Khitti. She encounters Hildegarde, and the two get to know each other. Zahrani also doesn't burn down the Queen's fort.
Zahrani stands quietly in the main hall of the fort, the feline's arms crossed as her light blue eyes pass over the main tapestry detailing the fall of a gray dragon. The paladin is out of armor, clothed in a fur-lined, fitted sleeveless shirt, insulated pants, and a pair of sturdy boots. The fur on her muscular arms, and the rest of her body, has grown a bit longer than its previous velvety length, responding to the merciless Frostmaw weather. Her tail swishes behind her as she takes in the majestic history told by the cloth, her ears turning every which way at the occupants who pass by. Some of them stare, some with confusion, some with awe, at this peculiar black panther...man? Woman? Who knows, except those who would approach and strike up a conversation with the paladin.
Hildegarde ’s fort had been kept busy with recent world events, so there was always a sense of hustle and bustle to it; a constant shuffle of feet and murmur of voices. But at this hour, the fort fell relatively quiet. Not many people would pass by, which meant that Zahrani was often a sole figure of the main hall and therefore more eye-catching to those passing by either on their duties or simply as a visitor to the fort of Frostmaw. “Ishataulak,” Hildegarde said as she spied Zahrani gazing at the tapestry upon the wall. It was a grand tapestry and a truly decisive moment in Frostmaw’s history, particularly during the reign of her predecessor. Hildegarde knew a second tapestry was in the works, perhaps even a third, but it wasn’t one that she particularly wished to gaze upon. “The Grey. That was her name,” the Silver tells the feline, looking up at the figures upon the tapestry.
Zahrani quickly turns towards the source of the voice, her arms slowly dropping to her sides as cyan orbs alight upon Hildegarde. The feline stands up straight, at just shy of 6 feet, before offering a polite bow at the waist to the Queen. The paladin stands again, looking over to the mounted head. "Ishataulak," she repeats. Her voice is a high-tenor, with a feline roughness to it. Now that the panther faces Hildegarde, she might see the lone piece of jewelry she wears; an amulet of Cyris, the god of freedom and independence.
Hildegarde waved her hand at the bow, given that she was not a fan of these things. Not unless such respect had been earned or she was attempting to intimidate a foe. Only her enemies ought to really bow to her. Hildegarde stood only a few inches taller than Zahrani, just a few inches over six feet tall her height was intimidating to most and small to few. “The dragon had eggs. An egg was… stolen,” by the prince, the man she had sworn her allegiance to years after the fact, “and so Ishataulak swore vengeance. She took her revenge in blood, blood that was family to Queen Satoshi. The Queen, my predecessor, sought blood in kind. And so it went,” she gestured to the head mounted on the wall. “I understand that the egg went on to hatch and grow. Loyal to the prince who stole it, content with the family it had found. I hope vengeance never crosses her mind.”
Zahrani takes in the history provided by Hildegarde, the panther's eyes turning from the tapestry, then back to Hildegarde as she spoke of a dragon egg being taken. Her face is difficult to read, the bane of more than one gambler. "The journey that each of these lives has traveled...they intertwine and braid each other in their own tapestry." She reaches up to absentmindedly touch her own braid of black hair, her gaze wandering to nowhere in particular. She blinks for a moment, then her ears turn forward as she lets a warm smile form on her face, "I am sorry. I do not believe we have yet met. I am Zahrani, a paladin of Cyris. I'm here to help Lionel and Khitti." She was always eager to listen and learn from others, but she figures it would be a good idea to at least get introductions out of the way.
Hildegarde nodded at the comment of lives being intertwined, “The web of fate, as some might say,” she said idly, enjoying a rather relaxed and altogether unfocused conversation. As Zahrani apologises and begins to introduce herself, Hildegarde straightens her posture somewhat and turns slightly as if to better face the feline. “I am Hildegarde the Silver, honoured to meet you Lady Zahrani,” she says with a deep and respectful incline of her head. “Lionel and Khitti are in need of much help, so I am glad to hear that you’re on hand to assist them.”
Zahrani nods in affirmative regarding the need for help, then responds, "Please, call me Zahrani. It seems the both of us do not enjoy formality, for our own reasons." She had noticed the dragon's hand-waving when the paladin had bowed. The feline did not wish to be referred to using any titles; though she did appreciate not being referred to as Sir. The only thing outwardly feminine about her appearance was the fact that her hips were slightly wider set than those of a male feline. From the waist up, she presented as highly masculine. A moment of pause before Zahrani then says, "Speaking of help, I greatly appreciate Frostmaw's tinkerers. They sent me a spyglass and some black one-way fabric for a mission. Though I admit, I'm still trying to find my way around the fort. I was hoping to greet them and ask if they needed help with anything." The paladin is a very helping sort, and she relished the opportunity to learn from bright minds and skilled hands.
Hildegarde shook her head when Zahrani spoke of meeting the people behind her gifts. “Master Gikal is… highly suspicious of visitors,” she tells Zahrani but the wry grin on her face says there’s something more to it. “Frostmaw has a history of protecting its knowledge. You must earn the trust of her people before they open up to you, Zahrani,” she warns playfully. The City of War expected no thanks nor any sweet tidings. It expected hardship and a duty to carry out a task.
Zahrani crosses her arms again, nodding her head once more, "I see." Her tail swishes idly behind her, the panther silent for a moment as she keeps her face towards the Queen. She produces the spyglass from a pocket in her pants, extending the body of the telescope to its maximum length. Her hands appear to glow with a divine amber light, and when she passes her palm in front of the glass, a thin beam of light extends from the scope, terminating as a small orb of bright light on the stone. She quickly moves her hand away from the spyglass, the divine solar aura subsiding. "That was...unexpected, but I'll save that for when I'm not surrounded by tapestries and other flammable objects." Perhaps the feline was being overcautious about her sunfire magic, but better to err on the side of caution than to burn down Hildegarde's fort. "Is there anything I can help you with, Hildegarde the Silver?"
Hildegarde ’s sole eye settled upon the spyglass as Zahrani experimented with it. As the thin beam of light extends from the scope and appears to be rather concentrated, Hildegarde frowns at it though not in anger. Her look is one of concentration and curiosity. “Don’t burn down my fort,” she cautions Zahrani with a smile, “I won’t be too happy if you do, I’ve come to like this place,” she’s an easy going noble it appears. “You seek to help people, do you not? I can find you a task if you wish it.”
Zahrani smoothly and decisively collapses the spy glass and puts it securely into the darkness of her pants' cargo pocket, the look on her face similar to the kind that cats give when they do something silly. ~Nope. Nothing happened. Nothing to see here. I totally didn't just turn my telescope into a possible lightsaber.~ She offers a somewhat shy smile in return to the dragon. She's only spent moments with the queen, and the paladin already likes her. Though Zahrani does not comment on it, there is a rugged, kind beauty about the scarred one. One who has been through a lot, but despite everything, it's still her. The feline responds, "If you have a task to help someone in need, I will hear it. If not, I am happy to wander Frostmaw and find one." She smiles, her tail swishing behind her once more.
Hildegarde offered Zahrani a smile when she mentioned she might hear out what she has to say or happily wander the land. “By all means, wander. Do not go too far west, though,” she cautioned, her voice a touch more serious than before. “The west is dangerous.” And the guards at the gate would remind any passerby that they either face death in the west or they go accompanied by either the Queen or an appointed guide. The Silver got back to the topic at hand, “As for helping the people, well… you have the divine on your side, as you mentioned. Cyris is your deity of choice,” Aramoth was her own, but it needn’t be said, “and it is possible your god has bestowed upon you the ability to see darkness upon individuals. Frostmaw is suffering from an unholy curse. My people suffer from terrible headaches and chills that will not abide, the young are most hurt by it. Parents cannot stand to see their young suffer,” she says the latter softly, with deep sympathy. Zahrani might be able to see a dark, almost soot like cloud cling to many civilians of Frostmaw. But none are so darkly shrouded as the Queen herself.
Zahrani furrows her brow at the mention of a curse. So it wasn't just the temperature. Her eyes close for a moment, and one of her paws raise to wrap around her amulet. To the magically sensitive, one would see lines of amber light, extend from her fingers towards her arms, lacing and branching in beautiful fractal patterns. She silently tapped into her feline understanding of freedom and independence. This curse was a shackle and yoke that burdened the people of this region. But every shackle has a way to be unlocked. Her eyes open, glowing slightly with a catlike reflection. It wasn't so much a divine sight for the paladin as it was more than one sense bolstered by her deity's light. Her ears turn every which way, seeking out what the mundane could not hear. Her nares flare with curiosity; what could a curse's ~smell~ unlock about its nature?
Hildegarde has no understanding as to what Zahrani is doing at the moment. “It would appear that many regions of the land have been afflicted. So it would seem that the curse is similar in terms of source and nature, but different in what it does to each region,” Chartsend had apparently cured their curse, although none knew if this was a permanent measure or not. “We brew tea and we use it to alleviate the headaches of the young, but there is only so much we can do.”
Zahrani turns, surveying the area with her divinely-augmented sense, releasing her hand from the amulet before looking back at Hildegarde's face. The darkness over the queen's face was palpable, the 'smell' difficult to describe in words. It was just...wrong. An affront to everything good in Lithrydel. And it made her heart hurt to see such a shackle on the Silver, but Zahrani's heart is one that does not easily fall into despair. It seeks out a key to the lock; any shot at freedom. "What do you already know about this curse's source and nature?" Might as well get the obvious questions out of the way.
Hildegarde shook her head, “Little, unfortunately,” she answered honestly. The Silver had been present at ground zero as it were, but she had little understanding of the intricacies of the curse. The Silver was a knight, not a paladin so her understanding of these things did not run terribly deep. “It all seemed to start after Josleen’s baby shower in Schezerade. If I were hunting for facts, I’d start there. Maybe ask Brennia, too. She coordinated the shower.”
Zahrani closes her eyes again; the amber light subsides once more. She raises a hand to touch her forehead. Channeling divine energy into multiple senses made her feel lightheaded sometimes, but it was becoming a much less frequent problem. Lowering her paw again, she thinks on what the Queen says. Schezerade. Not too far from Larket. So it's looking like there could be one, or a handful, of possible sources for Lithrydel's woes. "Has their been any talk of strange dreams, or even shared dreams, in Frostmaw since the curse started?" The mind, much like the body, has its own defenses against foreign entities, and those defenses could sometimes manifest as signs while dreaming or having intense visions/sensations.
Hildegarde shook her head at the talk of visions or dreams, “Not that I’m aware of. Sleep is difficult for many people given the headaches, their sleep has become drugged in the worst of instances,” the Silver did not like to see her people suffer. “Our High Priestess has done her best to tend to the people, but frankly there are just too many who need assistance and we cannot help everyone.”
Zahrani keeps her ears turns towards Hildegarde. ~Well, that lead doesn't sound very promising.~ She crosses her arms, reaching up to scratch her chin in a thoughtful manner, "I will walk among the people of Frostmaw tomorrow morning, before departing for Schezerade. Is your High Priestess approachable? I do not wish to occupy too much of her time if she is busy?" Perhaps she could give the Priestess an extra hand in helping those who hadn't yet been reached. Also, the paladin had to time this carefully, for she was needed for Lionel's scouting mission as well. That may have to come first before she would even reach the Avian city.
Hildegarde wiggled her hand from side to side, “Leone is always a busy woman, but you can try to catch her. She is likely helping Lionel coordinate what he must,” the Silver didn’t seem to mind that Leone was assisting her Steward with his business. “Do not focus too heavily upon this, Zahrani. After all, Khitti and Lionel will need your help in the days to come.”
Zahrani nods in understanding, "Of course. Of course. I'm committed to this mission with Lionel and Khitti first." Additionally, the value of the information on the Ouroburos scouting has a highly likelihood of being valuable than any information she might be hunting for. Schezerade could just as easily be a dead end, but Kahran's weapon manufacturing operation...ANY information they acquire on that could be critical. "For now, I will not stray too far from Frostmaw." She mulls over the last few events from the past couple weeks, then says, "Here's a random question: have you seen a lean, hulking feline with large teeth and a belt of skulls?" She had encountered Orikahn in Sage prior to the forest's cleansing of Tiphareth's curse, and she was interested in meeting the prehistoric-looking man-cat in his preferred element.
Hildegarde nodded as Zahrani mentioned she would not stray too far from Frostmaw and that she was committed to assisting Lionel and Khitti with their mission. However, when Zahrani describes Orikahn, the Queen outright snorts. “I think you’re the first person to actually seek him out! Usually everyone else is the hunted, not the hunter,” she said wryly. “What has he done now?” she anticipates that he’s done something because he’s a cat and she happens to be the person he sort of tolerates. Though not by much.
Zahrani offers a warm smile at the Queen's response, her tail swishing behind her as she crosses her arms and shrugs, "I haven't caught him doing anything, just yet. I encountered him stalking through the snow outside of Gilwen's fort in Sage. He has quite a reputation with the elves there. I wandered off, and he followed." Orikahn isn't one to attack a garrison head-on, and the elves knew it. The panther finishes with a wry smile, "Our introduction went surprisingly well. He seemed intrigued by my presence there, and I had never seen teeth that size on a feline before."
Hildegarde grunted at the comment. He might kill this one. “Be mindful of him. Blasted creature thought he could betray his liege and not face any consequence,” she had promised to skin him if he crossed her again and their last fight had certainly emphasised she was speaking the truth. “He is a force unto himself.”
Zahrani nods, listening intently to the Queen, "Understood. I could sense as much when I stood in front of him. He claims he doesn't kill his own kind, but..." The paladin shrugs. Her look to the other woman says it all: the male feline could easily say anything he wanted, but it wouldn't necessarily be true. It could just as easily mean he hasn't hunted his own kind...yet.
Hildegarde suspected that may well be true for the time being. “He’ll kill whoever he feels he ought to kill. Whoever his god tells him to kill,” which had once been Hildegarde. “You cannot change a man like that,” she would have said cat, but she didn’t wish to potentially offend Zahrani with her generalisation of cats. “Alas, Zahrani, I ought to go. I have duties to attend to.”
Zahrani knows to keep herself guarded against such men. And women. There's still the cautiously optimistic part of her that always seeks the potential good in others, but that idealism wouldn't do her any good if she's dead. To the Queen, the feline says, "I enjoyed spending some time with you, Hildegarde." Her voice has a genuine warmth and appreciation to it.
Hildegarde said to Zahrani, "It was a pleasure speaking to you, Zahrani. Stay safe."