Polite Society
Wordcount: 4730
Annora Caestrium
Keydis Lysistrata
Annora Caestrium
Keydis Lysistrata
Situated on the crest of a hill near the middle of the city, the Gustus et Iris broke from the mold of the many surrounding buildings by having a domed roof. At the very top of the dome there was a sun-bleached flag swaying in the ocean breeze from the east. The flag had once held the crest of Flumen Petram, but after years of exposure, the image had faded and all that remained was a warm tan with a few streaks of red. Barring the roof and the faded flag, the rest of the white-washed stucco exterior was unremarkable. There was not even a sign to proclaim the restaurant's name, trusting entirely to word of mouth to bring in new diners.
Inside, the building was bathed in warm light. Windows in the dome overhead were angled to let in the sun at all hours of the day, and the stunning white of the interior helped spread the light around. Many paned glass windows were spaced around the ground floor, as well, high enough to let in more light without leaving diners exposed to passersby.
High walls made the interior feel open and inviting. Things inside gave off a sense of being old, in a way that commanded respect, rather than one which suggested decay. The restaurant was rustic, but elegant, with tables clad in simple, coarse white cloth, benches and chairs made of ancient, well-weathered wood. Square, grey stones of granite covered the floor, and small potted trees were spaced around the building.
The kitchen, off in one corner, was part of the dining floor, hidden away only by strings of hanging herbs and spices. Delicious and savory aromas filled the room, but the sounds of chopping and whisking seemed muted, barely noticeable after a few moments.
Keydis stood in the entryway of the restaurant and considered turning right around to walk back outside. The brunette felt distinctly out of place, dressed only in baggy grey pants and a long-sleeved green shirt. Her schiavona, Promoveo, was belted at her waist; she never went anywhere without it. In an unusual twist, the violet-eyed young woman had not spiked her brown hair up; after washing from exercise earlier that morning, she hadn't done anything more with it. The red bangs laid down over her forehead.
"Will you be dining by yourself today, s- madam?" a middle-aged velen woman asked politely before Keydis could leave. The hostess had royal blue scales, probably from somewhere further south, but her accent didn't show it. She was bending down in an attempt not to tower over Keydis, but the effect was almost comical considering their difference in height.
Keydis caught the near-slip but gave it no mind, debating instead whether she should still leave. "No," she finally said. "I'm expecting a friend. I thought she'd be here before me."
"I see. Come right this way, please!" The hostess, maybe even the owner considering how small the place was, led the way all the way to the back corner of the restaurant. There were few patrons at this hour, in between the normal lunch and dinner hours. "Your friend will be able to see you right away from the front door," she assured Keydis.
Keydis looked at the small table. It would be big enough for two, just barely. She sat on the bench with her back to the wall, leaving the chair on the opposite side for Annora. "Great, thanks." She still felt uncomfortable. When she'd asked Annora about any hole-in-the-wall restaurants where they could meet up, she had expected a dive, not something old and fancy. The seat was in a perfect location to catch the appetizing aromas from the kitchen, however, and that went a long way toward making her feel better about the restaurant choice. "So, what do you serve in a place like this? First time in the city."
Unfazed by Keydis' ignorance, the velen smiled -- baring some of those sharp teeth -- and handed Keydis a menu. "See for yourself. We work mainly in seafood dishes, but we do have a selection of meat and poultry, as well. Our specialty, however, is the rainbow trout, caught fresh right outside the city earlier this very day. I daresay you'll never find it fresher or prepared by a better chef anywhere above water."
Rainbow trout... Keydis had of course heard of it but it had always been far out of her price range. Here, the prices still seemed high, but not as astronomical as in Terminus. It was a lot more than she wanted to spend for a simple chat with Annora, but... "Bring it on, then. Hit me with your chef's best!"
Minutes passed as Keydis waited for her friend to arrive, and several times did she think of leaving to find Annora, before thinking better of it. Indeed, it seemed for a moment that her food would arrive before the blue-skinned spurii would make her appearance, but at long last the soft chime of bells sounded through Gustus et Iris as the door parted, letting a sea breeze waft through the homely restaurant.
Annora stood head and shoulders above most, but the door -- made just so to accommodate the sea-dwellers that often passed through Flumen Petram -- was plenty high enough to allow her passage with ease. Dressed modestly in a familiar sea-green shirt that drooped low at her elbows, and a pair of loose brown pants that were taped about her ankles, what struck Keydis first was instead her hair!
Where the woman's waist-length navy, almost black hair once was, Annora's hair now barely passed her shoulders, and was tugged back in a loose ponytail. Unlike Keydis, she had foregone dyeing her hair, perhaps due to a lack of supplies necessary, and her deep blue locks remained uniform.
Smiling shyly, the woman was even without her customary cloak, and her feet were clad not in shoes but open-toed sandals, more friendly to the kind of moisture her skin required. The broadsword, Vallum, was fixed about her hip, and opposite sat the small ruck that Annora never went without -- full of writing utensils and the growing number of journals in which she kept notes of her forays into the Art of Cantatus -- with a long strap keeping it shut.
The velen from before, vibrant and all smiles, greeted Annora similarly as she walked in, and the woman almost visibly relaxed a moment later. A short conversation seemed to pass between the two, before the velen gestured over her shoulder at the table where Keydis was sitting.
Annora cast a quick, inspective look to where Keydis sat, before her face lit up, and she smiled broadly at the velen before quickly hustling to the table. Sliding the chair out a tad farther than most would need to, the taller of two sell-swords rambled slightly as she sat. "You kept your hair down! I almost didn't recognize you, I'm so used to seeing that red streak.
"Sorry I ran late, there were some uh, things I needed to take care of." Annora laughed at the thought, scratching idly at her cheek, before snapping her fingers and glancing back at where the velen woman had stood, before realizing she'd already left the spot. Another muted chuckle came from her, before she shrugged and remarked back at Keydis, "I see you met Isma. The years have been good to her."
"Yeah, she seems nice." Keydis reached up and ran her fingers through her hair. "This is just temporary. I was working out and that went longer than planned, so I had to get cleaned up really quickly. I guess I had more time than I thought." There was a mild irritation in her voice, but Annora had learned that was normal.
Keydis leaned back in her seat, hands behind her head. She leaned left and right, giving Annora quick look over. "Gotta say, it'll be hard getting used to, but lookin' good." She smiled and gave an affirming nod, but the smile faded quickly. The restaurant was nice enough, but Keydis was used to cheaper, rougher places. It felt like she was an imposter, somehow, and everyone knew it and was judging her for it. It set her nerves on edge. "I ordered... I don't know what I ordered. I told them to send out their best. I didn't get drinks, though. How's this place on the alcohol?"
"Better than the swill they served in Concha Litus, but still rubbish compared to back in Terminus." Annora supplied, honestly, before her thoughts tumbled from her mind, "You said their best? Probably rainbow trout, it's a local thing. It's pretty rural here so you won't get dishes per se.
"So, I guess I owe you some explanations, huh?"
There was a short laugh and then Keydis nodded. "I figured you'd tell me on your own time, but I didn't realize we'd get all the way here without you saying... anything." She shrugged and then cracked her neck left and right. It genuinely hadn't bothered her. She wasn't one to plan her life out and the few times she had tried, things hadn't gone according to plan. Waiting to see how things went and how she could fit her way into it had been the plan since they reached Concha Litus.
It wasn't until she met Cadmus that her feelings toward it began to change. Even after about a decade of not seeing his daughter, he knew immediately what Annora was up to. That made it not just uncomfortable, but humiliating that she knew next to nothing.
"I mean, if you want my help, you've got it, but you have to give me some idea what we're in for. Don't want me to go decking somebody out by accident or something, right?"
"Right," Annora said, wishing she felt half as confident as she sounded as she pondered the story she would have to tell. Tapping her chin with the ball of her knuckle, she tried to bring the memories to the surface.
Memories of damp corridors and ill-lit chambers, of eyes that glowed in the torchlight and spears that stabbed for the heart. Suppressing a light shiver, the woman nodded as she began. "It must've been when I was... sixteen? Seventeen? Thereabouts, at least. The Basal Lake, or sea -- people still argue over it for some reason -- is a popular point of contention for the Ophidians. I was hired with an expedition from the Empire; me, and a bunch of other sell swords, and some people from the guard too.
"Anyways, we get in the lake and we found out that the Ophidians were investigating a temple that had sunken some few centuries ago." Annora shrugged and offered a hapless smile as she punctuated the thought, "So of course we went to investigate it."
Leaning back in her chair, the bright-eyed woman could begin to smell familiar spices and flavors wafting from the nearby kitchen. Closing her eyes and letting the happy nostalgia take her for a moment, she felt the stress of the past couple days ease just slightly.
"We get inside, and of course the whole thing is full of the damnable creatures," Annora continued, a surprising amount of bite in the manner she referred to the Ophidians. "Except for one chamber. They couldn't get in, it must've been right around the center -- or maybe the back, it's hard to remember -- and it was sealed tight. That is, until we got there. We thought our timing was just good, until we came face to face with one of their shamans: you know, sort of their next leg up on the hierarchy they follow."
A hard look came across her face as she recalled the battle of days past. "He cornered us into the central chamber, and was every bit as surprised as we were when it sealed shut behind us. It wasn't even an armory, or a treasury, like we had suspected; there was only one thing in there.
"An old armguard, looked like it might fall apart any moment. We fought that damned shaman and slew him where he stood, but not before he took three of the five of us with him." The hard look gave way to a bitter resentment, a thorough scowl on Annora's face that seemed off-putting on her. "So I scoop up the armguard, not really thinking about it, and the other scoops up some proof of kill, I don't remember what it was."
The next memories seemed to be difficult for her, as the spurii lifted one arm and gazed at it, fingers splayed. "It was only when we got back to Cautes Petram that the clergy demanded to see the armguard. An hour later, it was declared a relic and I was declared an augur. They said 'none save whom the relic saves itself for would have touched it', or something else like it."
With a short huff, Annora let her arm fall slack, resting both of them on her lap before turning her eyes away from Keydis. Out of shame or irritation, it wasn't easy to tell. "It wasn't possible; not at the time I had heard of it. Me? A lonely little sell sword that was rejected by her only lover and her only dreams... no, the Vis couldn't have been nearly merciful enough to save another fate for me. I rejected it for that at first, and then later for their insistence."
Annora's hands clenched into fists, out of sight, and the webbing between each of her fingers was squashed as the digits nearly went white from the pressure. "I'd spent so long being told who I was supposed to be, I... I lashed out. It wasn't right, and it was stupid, but I was bitter and still young.
"I was sick of not deciding for myself, and I was sick of a world that decided it wanted nothing to do with me. That is why I left this place, in the end."
Thoroughly upset, Annora lapsed into a brooding silence.
Arms folded across her chest, Keydis slowly clenched her fists tighter as Annora went on. There was a lot to take in, and a lot that she could have asked about. The idea of a temple that sank, somehow, caught her curiosity. What was it for, how did it sink? The questions quickly disappeared, though, when Annora went into the darker details of the trek.
Ophidians weren't something Keydis knew a lot about. She knew what they were, of course. Everyone knew that. She'd always thought of them as some distant threat for people venturing into dangerous waters outside the Chlorae. The idea that corrupted eel-people would be invading had never crossed her mind. They had passed the Basal Sea on their way to Flumen Petram, as well, which made her hand instinctively twitch toward her sword.
Finally, after a moment of quiet, the two of them simply listening to the muffled sounds of the chefs at work, Keydis unfolded her arms and leaned forward on the table. "I get why you left," she said. It made her own reasons for leaving seem somehow shallow, even if it was a similar vein. She didn't want to lead the life someone else laid out for her any more than Annora did... but Annora had given it an honest try and had tried to somehow be what people wanted her to be. It didn't work out, of course, and Keydis couldn't help feeling a little smug that she had made the right choice herself by rejecting the conformity altogether... but she also hated the fact that Annora had been forced to endure that struggle. "Really, I do. You're wrong, though.
"I mean, big shock, wrong about 'the world' at seventeen, right? But we've only been here a day, and it's already obvious that there's a bunch of people that give a damn that you're back. Hell, it sounds like your clergy folks thought you were pretty important. They don't throw that augur title around lightly. Your dad sure as fuck missed you. Even the restaurant lady looked happy to see you!" Keydis shook her head and leaned back again, looking down at the table. "Still, with the bullshit you went through, I don't blame young-you for feeling that way."
Keydis looked up and met Annora's eyes. "You're not that person anymore, though. I guess you know that, or we wouldn't be here. Why are we here, though? I'm guessing maybe it has to do with whatever that Orator guy was saying, but are we here to set shit straight or just so you can give in and finally do what everyone wants?"
Annora started at the words, immediately diverting her attention elsewhere. The rest of what Keydis said barely met her ears, she fixated so harshly upon the idea... the notion that she had been missed in this place.
"It is... possible." Annora admitted, after a hefty silence. "Possible that attitudes and disposition have changed. You are correct, I am not that person anymore. Others may have changed as well, though I..."
The spurii forced herself into silence. 'I do not care' had been the words perched on her tongue, and they had been regrettably sincere. Annora squelched the thoughts, turning her mind to the last remark Keydis had thrown at her.
Jabbing remarks were nothing new from the diminutive laicar, but the low blow of a question had Annora's brow furrowing in genuine anger. "If I did what others wanted me to, I would not have followed you to that valley in Hiemis.
"I am here because I was prompted to do so. Whether I accept the true nature of what that relic means will be for me to decide. Whether this place's so-called 'importance' staked in me is more than sentiment and false promises, we shall see." Before any more words could be traded, the approach of a waiter -- a rather tall, apron-clad enlil sporting attractive gray plumage -- interrupted the heated conversation. A large platter borne in one splayed hand, he quickly deposited a trio of plates onto the table.
Annora had evidently placed her order with the hostess, and a startlingly large menagerie of seafood and shellfish were splayed across her plate. Rather curtly, she twisted the head off of a crawfish and began to crack and devein it.
Keydis looked down at the plate in front of her. "Rural," she muttered under her breath, remembering what Annora had just said. The waiter had placed a rainbow trout in front of her. The entire fish, from tail to head, sat on the large, rectangular platter staring at her with a milky white eye. Tomatoes still on the vine accompanied the fish. They were roasted and shriveled, but did add a bright splash of color to offset the grey-scaled fish, which in no way lived up to its name. The belly had been cut open, and cleaned thankfully, stuffed with a mixture of shallots, parsley, thyme, and green olives.
Just take the whole fish, shove a bunch of herbs into it, and put it on a fire. Annora hadn't been kidding, had she?
"I wasn't expecting velen food," Keydis complained as she picked up her fork and poked at the fish. Surprisingly, the skin was crisp but the meat underneath was incredibly tender. The waiter waved her away from the plate and reached past her. With a deft display of knife skills, he filleted the roasted fish and deboned it right in front of her, leaving the tip of the tail and the head untouched, but the tender pink meat spread out before her. Keydis muttered an awkward thank you and then plucked out a piece of fish with her fork.
Her eyebrows raised as she tasted it. Not worth all the legends and the insane prices they charged in Terminus, but easily the best piece of fish she had ever tasted. Keydis looked at Annora, absorbed in her own food. She decided to go with it, treating the meal as a welcome time-out from their talk.
It wasn't until she had finished half of the huge fish, and nearly stuffed herself sick, that Keydis spoke up again. "Don't care about the why, you know. I just want to make sure there is one for you." She was still looking down at her plate, plucking idly at the tender fish. With a huff, she set the fork down and leaned back in her seat. "So, give me the plan. Guessing the priest types are off-limits even if they're asshats. Is there going to be fighting, though? More of the snake-fish people? You already know I'm with you on this thing.
"Give me some idea what we're up against."
A long silence accompanied Annora for a time. Whether it was out of continued irritation towards Keydis - or a more thoughtful one - wasn't immediately obvious. The food seemed to dim her temper, the old tastes of her childhood softening the blow of her continued indecision. After some half-dozen oysters, a select few shrimp, and some sort of more complicated crustacean that Keydis had never even heard of before, her companion finally spoke up, Annora's voice regaining some of her usual friendliness.
"If I had to guess, it'd be too much good luck for us to have the Ophidians cleared out of there. The Lake-Sea-whatever continues to be a hotbed, moreso than in the past I fear. It's likely we'll have to arrange for a private charter to get us close enough to the passage that leads from the ocean into it... there is the small complication of that being however many leagues below surface level, though." She rambled at length, her eyes eventually straying as they considered this alternative and that. "I'd say it'll be more frustrating for the both of us getting there than what we'll need to expect inside. I assume there will be some awful ceremonial side to all this, but I'll need to retrieve the armguard before we can get on with it.
"If memory serves, I left it with a friend shortly before I left; a scholar by the name of Erebus. A laicar boy, who was apprenticing to the clergy around the same time I was. He completed the course, I didn't for obvious reasons. We can pay him a visit today and be off for Cautes Petram... barring any sort of interference that is."
"We passed right by that place on the way here. Now we have to buy passage back? I thought you were a better planner than that, Nora," Keydis teased. She plucked a small, roasted tomato from her plate and popped it in her mouth before pushing the half-eaten meal away. "I think I'll spare you the trouble of introducing me to your clergy friend. I want to let tail-boy and Red in on where I'll be going, anyway."
The brunette mused thoughtfully. She'd definitely need to learn the best places to stab an ophidian, but that made her wonder how useful she'd even be in a fight underwater. "I've seen people in Terminus wearing water-breathing gear and it looks really heavy and bulky. Will I need to wear some of that to get to this Cautes place or the temple?" She paused and laughed. "Nevermind, I guess I'll find out. You wouldn't be inviting me if it wasn't possible for me to get there."
"Possible, definitely. Comfortable... maybe less so." Annora mused, before her expression fell into a mock-scowl as she pointed a finger at Keydis, "And I am a good planner, when it doesn't concern unknowable immortal schemes that may or may not involve me somehow."
Another moment of thought came to the spurii, and she picked at her plate with one hand as she splayed her membrane-laden fingers across her cheek with the other. Absently eating another shrimp, she asked, "Are you bringing El and... who even is Red, anyways?"
"Wasn't planning to bring him, but if I don't tell him to back off, he's going to follow us like a lost puppy. I mean, plus side, I'm pretty sure he can breathe underwater. Downside, he's El." Keydis laughed again as she tried to think of how to explain Red. "As for Red, you've definitely seen her, right? The redhead with an attitude from the caravan. Well, I mean, she's actually from Terminus." Keydis paused, scratching the back of her head. "Except she's really from Aridus. It's just a little bit complicated, but to keep it short, she tried to turn my ass in before our bounties got expunged, but I like her, so I don't mind having her around.
"Drinking buddy, sparring buddy, and probably someone I could trust to keep El in line if he tries to follow us after being told not to. She was visiting Terminus, but she's from around here, so maybe you two have something in common." Leaning back in her chair, Keydis pointed her finger like a gun up at the ceiling. "If you want her along, she's got guns. Are those good underwater?"
"The whole temple isn't submerged, so maybe? I don't know guns." Annora shrugged helplessly. "I don't necessarily fancy having to look after El while we're there though. There's really no telling what will happen to me once we get inside... they'll want me to take the relic back to where I found it, probably. Which means definitely fighting through whatever natural problems that poses, plus the Ophidians and their traps..."
Trailing off into a string of mumbling thoughts, it took her a moment to shake herself from the aimless string of preparations. "Anyways, if either one is coming, they'll still need to come with us through the convoy. A submersible runs from Flumen to Cautes what used to be once a week. Seems like something's got the Empire shaken, so that's been scaled back by a couple weeks, but luck is on our side for once and the next one is tomorrow."
Wiping her free hand off with a napkin, she took to drumming her fingers against the solid wood table she and Keydis sat around. "Either way, I'll pay Erebus a visit while you take care of that, and we'll get checked out of here sooner rather than later. You... may be right in some ways about this place, but I still don't like being here for too long. Fancy meeting back at the hotel tonight? I'm sure I'll end up catching up with him, and he'll want to drag me off to the church to tell the clerics this and that."
"Sounds good. I'll put Red on babysitting duty, have her keep El here and out of trouble. I think the two of us can handle this temple without them. I mean, if you already snagged the relic, they probably don't even have that many phiddies there." Keydis sat up straight and flashed a grin. "If they do, you're a hell of a lot stronger than you were back then, and you'll have me there by your side."
With that, Keydis stood up and began stretching. She had been sitting at the table for far too long. It was much more expensive than she was planning on, but even as snarky as she was, Keydis could offer no complaint about the food. Looking at the half-eaten meal, though, she decided she should wrap up the remainder and take it for El.
It might make the starveling more amenable to staying out of the way.
"Enjoy yourself, just don't come back quoting verses at me. I make my offerings, I don't need to be bothered with the rest."
"Say that when those verses are what let me patch you together - again!" Annora called after her, a wry grin managing to catch her features. Soon enough, she was alone, Keydis retreating back into the heat to track down their fellow misfits. The smile had long since melted from the spurii's face, leaving her features contemplative.
Casting her eyes against her left arm, she sighed heavily to herself, before mumbling a quick, "get yourself together," and pulling herself up. She had a relic to retrieve.
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