| A Squire's Blubbery |
| Summary: | Cassius returns to Iron March. He's heard some terrible news on the way and eventually the Viscount finds him. Blubbery ensues! |
| Date: | 1866-08-26 |
| Related: | Jaelynn 4C Related Logs and Posted IC rumor of her death. |
| NPCs: | {$npc} |
| Players: |
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| Roseguard Castle - Iron March, County of Ironhold |
| Stables yo. |
| 1866-08-26 |
Word would have reached Henric that young Lord Cassius Volstak has returned to Ironhold. Still, there is no sign of him in the castle for a longer time. Servants would report that they saw him enter the stables to take care of his horse personally… and that he apparently hasn't left the stables since..
Henric had been swamped by blockade reports, bandit sightings, the matters of trade and his uncle's demands to shore up this or that at the barony and lordship, not to mention preparations for the in coming Viscountess Kaedon and Baron Chandus. There had been enough to overwhelm any man, let alone one that didn't necessarily have patience for such matters. He used any excuse he could to leave the Master Steward's company, despite the downturn of Alexander's face at the feeble reason, Henric left when a servant had told him of his brother in law's arrival and… the lack of presentation to the Viscount immediately there after.
The Viscount managed to at least force the guards and servant shadows to wait for him outside the stable when he got there. Striding through the barn, many a stable hand and horse master would bow and murmur their courtesies as he drifted by them in search of the Volstak. He was wearing all black, save for a sash around his waist in the colour of blue and red. Apparently he hadn't stopped mourning or lacked the inspiration to wear anything but what his mood reflected.
Cassius is sitting on a bale of straw in the corner of the stable, dusty from the road, his cheeks covered in faint stubble. He just sits lifelessly, like a doll, legs stretched out, lower arms resting on his thighs. When he sees Henric approach, he just looks up at him with a look of woe as if he's carrying all the misery in the world. "I'm sorry", he murmurs lamely, his eyes not really focusing on the man.
Woe and misery. Two descriptions and feelings he knows all too well. He didn't understand it coming from Cassius. He read the young man's posture and body language and knew what ever it was, it wasn't going to be good. The apology no less has Henric slowing his steps, his stance a composure of command and his face stoic - what every Cassomir was rumored to be capable of and on Henric it made him look stately and respectable, if not imposing. "What happened?"
Cassius opens his mouth to answer, but words fail him and so he only sits like a fish for a bit, before he suddenly blubs and chokes. "I took your message.", he finally explains haltingly, "Stayed in Four Corners to see how things would go. It all seemed alright at last… Jae- the Lady Jaelynn was meant to go home to wait out things. But -" He chokes again, struggling not to cry in front of the highly esteemed Viscount, but then it's BLUB-time.
Piercing green eyes glinted with steel and fire as he watched the squire struggle to form an answer, his patience would only be held in check so long and the blubbery at least for the time works to hold back any ire. He remains stationary, his hand the only thing that moves as it settles on the hilt of Winterthorn, the grooves on it biting into his palm. A tighly controlled voice asks ever so quietly, "But what?"
Cassius gropes around for an answer, anything to delay the inevitable and by saying it out lout making it real, but finally he bursts out "She's dead! She's dead, Henric!" And the blubbing starts afresh for a good few moments until he continues: "I had barely left Four Corners behind and was stopping at an inn to rest my horse, when I heard about an attack… an… assassination. A young lady and her entourage on the way to Ga-Ga…" Yea, gagaland. But a fresh sniffle cuts off the rest of the destination. Enough has been said anyway.
That hand tightens more perceptively around the hilt of Winterthorn, letting it bite his open palm until he felt the flesh prickle. His knuckles were white as his jaw flexed as his teeth ground down against the want to vomit. He looked aside from the woeful squire, the tension of this loss viewed openly through his entire frame. When he tried to move, he found himself staggered, his hand outstretched to catch himself on one of the stall railings, where his breathing became fierce and openly ragged. Then a flashed look to Cassius, "You must be mistaken. I will not believe her plea to me for aid was the last I'll ever hear of her!" His voice was full of guilt, "You're mistaken!" Then he growled, "I should've gone to her! DAMNIT!!"
Cassius gulps and wipes some snot from his nose with the sleeve of his coat. It's dirty anyway. "Was nothing you could do.", he replies in a thick voice, "She seemed safe… being sent home… don't you think I've been telling myself the same?!", he finally bursts out, "I was content that she'd be going home… I should have gone with her though. I promised her I'd always be by her side…" And fresh blubbing follows that, the effort to stop it only half-hearted.
Henric's hand slowly falls away from the railing as he regains his composure, straightening up with his head bowed slightly. He's listening to the snotty sniffling of the squire behind him. He looks over his shoulder then at Cassius and is prompted to move toward the lad, sitting down heavily on the same bale, putting a hand on Cassius' shoulder. For a while, maybe that's all he can do to console himself and the squire. Then he said quietly, "We need to know more details to avenge her."
Cassius seems to take a little comfort in the hand on his shoulder as the sniffling subsides. "I… I'm sure there's messengers on the way to you. I only heard the accounts of travellers at the inn, I don't know the details. There's a part of me still hoping it's all a big misunderstanding and she's safe…" He hangs his head and inhales deeply, slowly starting to regain his own composure.
"It could be…" Although there was heavy doubt in that sentiment even as he said the words, "The people who she insulted… Do you know more of what happened in Four Corners, Cassius? I need to know…" Before he takes up arms against them. He crushed the Thorns but he still had a desire to make his enemies pay and those who attacked his friends would pay with their lives. The emotions were burried now, the fire was there smoldering, but contained, for now. Someone would pay. And pay dearly.
Cassius gulps for air and shakes his head. "It was her word against the viscount's… Even her sister, Evae, said, she believed in her innocence but could not risk the Arkanin family getting into trouble. Some good it did them…", he says bitterly, "I suppose the d'Armaz was enraged that she was allowed to return home and… vile bastard that he is!", he spits.
Henric narrows his eyes at the matter of it being her word against the Viscounts, to hear of the outcome had him shake his head. "If it was the d'Armaz…" he sits forward, "Then the only thing for it is an eye for an eye." He didn't know a thing about the d'Armaz family, but he murmured, "We'll have to learn who our enemies are and such as it is, the d'Armaz are now apparently so. Then, only then can we strike back. But—" he looks to Cassius, "I need more of an official word to act… officially. I'm afraid I don't want to hang for starting a war the Queen didn't authorize… And while Jaelynn is not of my family and her bloody family stood still in the last wars, Jaelynn was … dear to me." He frowns, "We'll have to find out more of what happened. Who was at cause. If she died and this is not a ploy to conceal her elsewhere, how she died…" He stands from the bale, his hand squeezing Cassius' shoulder, "But first… You need to wash up, eat, and rest." He grunts, "I cannot act on rumors and I pray to the One this is all that it is."
"She's dear to me too.", Cassius admits, as if his blubbing wasn't any hint of that. He nods to Henric's suggestions and weakly rises to his feet as well. "I just couldn't face to come in and… make it real by telling you.", he admits without meeting the older guy's eye. But he does finally start walking towards the stable door to head for the castle and a warm bath.
Henric catches Cassius by the shoulder and hauls him in for a quick bear hug, a manly embrace that is followed up by a clap of the other's back and then a stern shake of his shoulders, "Keep this to yourself as much as you can. I will not have Roseguard full of unfounded rumors of more death. But grieve Cassius and prepare for it to be real." He lets his brother in law go, standing there as he watches the squire sorrowfully leave. At last when the squire is gone from his sight, he slumps down onto that bale, looking numbly at the floor…