Sisters of Light Hospice

[Alia Anor Graham]

The white robed figure walked through the portal onto Twilight Isle for the first time in a very long time. It paused and surveyed the beach before continuing toward the rings. The robes of the Temple were whiter than the sand, and the figure moved almost ghost like across the distance. It paused, seeing Brother Vincent in a ring. Then the robed figure sat down and folded her hands into the sleeves of her robe. The only adornment was an Eye pendant.

She was just getting settled when she stiffened abruptly. Across from her, seated on the ground was The Liberator. He reached out and touched the wooden scabbard that was stuck into the ground beside him. The wood was white, and looked to be from her homeland, the only place she had ever seen such wood. Anger seethed hotly before she squashed the fury that threatened to well over.

Brother Vincent had won his match, and she spoke softly, hoping only he would hear, but as Brother Vincent thanked her, she could see The Liberator’s eyes slide toward her. She winced inwardly and remained low in the sand, trying not to stand out. Thankfully he turned back to the woman he was speaking with and said nothing to her. The last time they had met, she had lost her temper and made a scene. She was in no hurry to repeat that mistake.

Brother Vincent smiled at her, “thank you for your support sister.”

She sent a goblin for a glass of tequila, but maintained a careful watch on The Liberator. She curled her free hand around the Eye pendant as she sipped the tequila. The general once more reached out and touched the white wood of the scabbard beside him. Then, as if he could sense her watching, he took hold of the scabbard and pulled it from the sand, choosing to rest it across his lap. Shortly thereafter, he told the woman Wyheree that he should be going.

The woman nodded at The Liberator, “My apologies Kensai.”

Fury rose again, black and dark. How dare the woman call him that! The Liberator had been hers and Telemachus’ teacher. She missed his comment telling the woman that he had not come to duel, but she set down her glass. If he moved her direction, she would leave rather than risk another altercation.

The Liberator rose, and looked directly at the white robed woman as he said good night to everyone present. She froze in her seat, only relaxing slightly when the General turned and headed for the portal. She closed her eyes in relief and missed the arrival of Will Wulfson, but she heard Lem comment, “Uh oh, here comes Will. I hope the women and children have been cleared off the streets.”

She lowered the hood of her robes and glanced around the beach, catching sight of the Keeper of Fire. Etherean Esperwind sauntered down from his tower and moved across the beach. As he arrived, the robed woman spoke to him, “Keeper Etherean, perhaps you will honor me with a match this evening?” She had come to work on spell casting, and who better to test her skills on than the famed Keeper of Fire?

The Keeper of Fire turned his gaze on the white robed priestess. “What is the occasion?”

She smiled at him, “It has been a successful campaign, and I have come tonight to duel the best.” She glanced about the beach, and quickly dismissed even the former Arch Mage’s present. It was Etherean that she knew would be the challenge. “Your reputation is legendary.”

[Alia Anor Graham]

A cold smile slithered across Etherean’s harsh features. “Legendary? I believe that is taking it a bit too far. However, I am in need of a duel, so I accept.”

The priestess shook her head, “Not at all. Your defenses of your position are well known.” She then stood and bowed at his acceptance.

Etherean asked the Druid for a ring, and they were directed to Ring Absinthe. The Keeper of Fire sauntered into the ring and the white robed woman followed him, according him the honor of stepping first into the ring. Etherean made a graceful bow to both Druid and the Priestess

Alia Anor bowed to Etherean and Druid before intoning solemnly, “May the White Lady find this offering acceptable.” Her fingers curled about the Eye pendant she wore.

The Keeper of Fire had already begun his chant, and pale white flames flickered to life about his fingertips.

The first spells cast and the Keeper sought to slice the white robes of the priestess with a spray of obsidian shards. They formed as flames about his fingertips and darkened to black as they released. She however called forth a black armor of her own that resulted in the blades bouncing harmlessly into the sand at her feet.

Etherean had cast his spell and then regarded the woman before him, “it is not often that you take leave from your time from the Temple and visit these shores.”

His voice startled her, Etherean was not known for being loquacious in the best of times, and for him to initiate speech during the spell casting phase. “We have much work there Keeper,” she told him simply.

But the fact that he’d startled her showed as the Keeper’s shield kept out her attempt to give him a fearsome set of images through touch. The dark images she intended for Etherean collided with his shield and came to naught. The pale flames upon his fingertips had flared up into a very effective shield. She paused and commented to the Keeper, “Darkness becomes you.” Then her hand freed the pendant she had been holding and formed a cupped shape of darkness that swallowed the mage bolt Etherean had intended for her. The black fog surrounded her in time to absorb the power of the Keeper’s bolt, which had begun as a burst of pale flames from his fingertips.

He regarded her a moment as the darkness dissipated around her, “For a priestess of the Temple, the aspect of your magic is rather shaded.”

The pale flames vanished as the dark cloud thins around her, “sometimes the light is shrouded in mystery that is taken for darkness.” She began her next incantation as the Keeper moved slightly.

“Ah, but light is supposed to be revealing.” He then began chanting softly and a confusing mist filled with distracting, whispering voices seemed to arise around the ring.

She released a psionic lash into the mist as she replied, “Light in the right setting is very revealing.” What she did not state was that light in the wrong places casts deep and mysterious shadows.

[Alia Anor Graham]

He canted his head slightly, “it is odd that an order offering wisdom and divine guidance finds the need to shroud itself so.”

Her hands were moving in a complex pattern before her as she took a deep breath, focusing on her next incantation. She loosed a trio of wizard blades that was matched by a set of obsidian shards from Etherean. She turned her eyes on the Keeper. “Some wisdom is not meant for the unenlightened. One has to earn their way.” The dark grey blades had sailed across the distance dividing them. “Building upon basics before one reaches for the stars, don’t you think?”

Etherean gave a cold smile, “such is usually said about knowledge, not wisdom. Wisdom is usually offered long before one is prepared to accept it.”

His black shards sliced true and hit painfully, but she gave him a slight smile, “knowledge can be used to increase wisdom, therefore a proper basis for knowledge will help reveal the true wisdom we offer.” She raised both hands above her head as she began the next spell. She sent out a frightful touch that was not deterred by the fumes the Keeper had called to him.

“It seems our definitions of wisdom differ.”

She had sent dark figures to loom around the Keeper, each seeking to touch him and instill nightmarish images into his thoughts. “Perhaps that is so, but perhaps you should visit and see what I mean.” She told him.

Etherean regarded her a moment, “Perhaps, but from my perspective, you have nothing to offer me.”

She placed both hands together, then slowly drew them apart vertically, a deep red line connecting her palms, “how can you state that without investigation?”

He gave the white robed woman a wry smile before using his control to draw all of the heat from the air around her.

She cast a trio of dark blades at Etherean, but they were promptly coated with ice and fell short of their intended target. She lifted a brow in challenge then to Etherean, “Someone as learned as yourself making a hasty generalization without sufficient facts?”

“And who is to say that I have not already investigated your Order to my satisfaction?” He riposted.

The Priestess was walking away from the Keeper and she glanced over her shoulder at him, “I would have heard of your interest.” Then she finished extending the distance between them.

Etherean was not finished, “that would depend on the methods of investigation.”

Alia Anor bowed her head, turning once more to face him with a smoky orb in her hand. “The methods are limited.” She knew how well protected the Temple was against outsiders attempting to scry or probe the Temple in a wide variety of means. The White Lady had seen personally to the protections that the Temple enjoyed.

[Alia Anor Graham]

Etherean’s cold smile returned, “Information gathering is one of my…hobbies.”

She glanced between the Keeper of Fire and the smoky orb she held. “Yes, I know. But somethings cannot be divined or intuited.”

The Keeper agreed as she released the orb contents, and his flames formed a simple barrier that consumed the fog as it approached. She watched the dark whisps vanish into the barrier before reaching for the pendant. Her fingers closing about the talisman as she began to whisper softly once more. Her free hand closed tightly as the words formed and the air shimmered about her as she raised her eyes to the keeper once again. His voice a soft chant within the confines of their shared ring as she released white hot lightening to sizzle forth in a jagged arc. “Philanthropy is not something you are noted for Keeper, is that why you shun us? For the work we do in town?” She sought to draw him out, gain a feel for where he stood with regard to the Temple. He would be a powerful ally, or a dangerous foe.

Etherean walked into the mage bolt she’d conjured, whether from surprise at her change of tactics, or the question itself, it is hard to determine. He had gathered his cloak about himself as his form shimmered and was abruptly elsewhere, but that elsewhere was directly in the path of a mage bolt. “Oh yes. You have found me out. It just would not do well for the image I have worked so hard to cultivate.” And he continued his soft chanting.

She shook her head and laughed quietly. No, it was not the work of the Temple that was at issue. Her bolt flashed brilliantly as it impacted his cloak and she placed both hands together before beginning the next incantation. “And what image do you see of yourself?” She asked him once her next spell was ready to unleash upon the Keeper of Fire.

“What do you think? Do you think that perhaps I would be more comfortable with another local temple, such as Myr’khul?” He shifted into the ethereal plane momentarily before returning to solidity once more.

The priestess considered him a moment before responding, “I do not pretend to know the workings of your mind Keeper.” She faded and reformed at the opposite side of their enclosure, “would you be more comfortable with the dark pain of Myr’Khul?”

He had an odd expression as he answered her, “It might seem more familiar, but it would be of no comfort to me.”

She pondered those words a moment, a dark veil forming over her head, but it could not withstand the pummeling of his meteors. His words had major significance, and now the question was just what significance, and could it be used to bring him into the Temple?

The burn of the magma brought her painfully back to the present. He paused briefly, “Aside from that, I also do not think that Vanion and I would get along.”

[Alia Anor Graham]

She smiled wryly, no, he and Vanion were nothing alike. That much she knew with great certainty. Even if the Keeper’s past was filled with pain and suffering, he was not the monster Vanion was. “You are familiar with pain?” She asked him at length. His reference to Vanion had hardened her gaze, “Vanion does not get along… he dominates and destroys.”

Russel glanced at Alia Anor, and perhaps he was thinking Vanion was not such a great destroyer as he had unseated Vanion from the Tower he held, but Alia Anor knew that Vanion’s purpose was never to hold the towers, but to gain the secrets of each tower for his own ends. Russel pondered the term ‘monster’ that seemed to fit, and wondered if that was how others saw him. He glanced at his tower and began to mull it over.

Etherean seemed more talkative than usual, “Vanion is an abomination in form and spirit, in that much we may agree.” The priestess gave a faint nod of acquiescence. “He is the reason that I am the present Keeper of Fire.”

Alia Anor gave Russ a quick nod at his wave before focusing once again on Etherean, “You are the Keeper of Fire because you were able to hold the Key.”

The Keeper shook his head negatively, “No, I am the Keeper of Fire because I could not allow him to hold the position and foul the Isle with his presence. That and he insulted the patrons during his first night as an official. He has no sense of propriety.”

His distraction with the conversation cost him as his mage bolt was absorbed advantageously by her shield. He gave a graceful bow to both the official and the Priestess, and she returned it with a deep bow of her own. “Vanion is an evil monster loosed upon RhyDin.” She simply punctuated his views with her own, which had first hand knowledge of the vileness to which Vanion was capable.

Etherean gave a slight shrug, “he is but one of many.”

She gave him a curious look before telling him that she was honored that he had met her in the ring. She wanted to ask him more, but he bade her good night and sauntered back to ward the Tower of Fire. She watched him go with a thoughtful expression. Etherean Esperwind…. Enigmatic beyond description, and she wondered if he could be swayed.

She turned and pulled up the hood of her cloak and made for the portal to return to the Temple to consider.

[Dimitri]

He moved through the temple looking around his golden eyes glinting from the sun. He looked around slowly smiling to a few people and then nodding to others. He never really stopped to talk to anyone he continued his search for Alia anor.

[Alia Anor Graham]

She had finished some of the administerial jobs at the orphanage, and made her way toward the hospice, but as she crossed the street she thought she saw Dimitri heading in the doors of the Temple.

She paused and waited a few minutes, but when he failed to return to the street, she made a detour and headed into the Temple.

She headed down the main hall, searching for him as she went. Finally, she caught up with him, "Dimitri? When did you return?"

She was very pleased to see him, his absence had caused her great concern.

[Dimitri]

"I just returned a few hours ago. I wanted to see you before I did anything."

He smiled warmly, and gives her a hug.

"How have you been? I have been in Azilla and a few other places."

He adjusted the nodachi blade that was strapped to his back smiling his eyes glowing dully.

[Alia Anor Graham]

Gives Dimitri a smile.

"I am so pleased you came. I have tried to keep busy between the Hospice and the Orphanage."

She reached for his hand after being released from the hug.

"What took you home to Azilla? Where else did you go? You left without leaving any word, and I worried."

She led him through the halls toward the non-public areas of the Temple.

[Dimitri]

"I just had some business to finish with a few people. but the good thing is that I am back now." Laughs and squeezes her hand smiling.

[Alia Anor Graham]

Alia Anor led him along the halls toward the back of the Temple.

"Have you finished these thing? Will you be staying, or heading back to Azilla?"

She paused before a large, heavy door that was closed, pondering a moment before moving along, deeper into the complex.

[Dimitri]

"I will be staying, here if I would be able to. I didnt like not seeing you." he looked at the large doors then around. "I dont think I have ever been in this area of the Temple" he shakes his head then looks at Alia anor. "I was wondering if I could talk to someone about staying at the temple."

[Alia Anor Graham]

"Of course you can stay here!" She gave him a bright smile.

"Those doors are very special Dimitri, and after you become one of us, you too will walk through them. Until then, let us seek out Brother Zed or Lady Lily."

She headed down the halls toward Brother Zed's chambers with Dimitri in tow.

[Dimitri]

He followed her smiling largely. "So what have you been up to lately?"

[Alia Anor Graham]

Alia Anor slipped her hand into Dmitri's, "I have been working diligently on the orphanage and the hospice. There is always so much need and so few resources that I am kept busy simply trying to keep things covered."

She led him to an inner court yard and beneath a shady tree before settling onto a bench. "I am pleased to see you."