Gratitude the First

Most of the shops and smiths are just tucking up for the day, their owners locking doors in movements that are more clearly heard than seen in the evening fog that rolls in off of the river and clings to every branch, every brick, every wall. The taverns, on the other hand, are just now starting to get busy, and the shrouded lamplights will be witness to laughter and drunken song, later.

Amid all this, a figure who rather stands out in this worker's paradise strides down the street, a pair of long boxes under one arm. Some here will know that the young, ginger-blonde man, warmly wrapped against the chill, seems to spend some time around here, although none are entirely sure why.

The music starts slowly, in the distance, the peppy notes bouncing off buildings but muffled by the fog. They soon near the man with the two long boxes, and begin to keep time with his footfalls.

It takes Seldan a minute, but soon enough, the music following in his footsteps gets his attention, and he stops and turns around, looking for its source in the dark.

The music stops as the man does, and a loooong note plays as he turns around. Silence then for a few moment, before someone very close by giggles. A few light footsteps later, a wee ... shape looms low in the fog. "Hello Seldan!", a familiar voice says, cheerfully. "Tis Acedia." She's practically at his side now. "Gosh you can almost chew th'fog tonight."

Seldan's expression and bearing shifts in an instant, from wary to cheerful. "I had noticed that, yes. Acedia, it is good to see you - and in truth, I had hoped to find you this even." He turns to face her, looking down, and then squatting down so that he is on a level with her. "I trust it finds you well?"

The Gobbo steps closer and peers curiously at the boxes, before looking to him with a grin. "Oh? I am usually hanging about a few streets over. At the Fernwood, or the Ox-Strength." Acedia cants her head slightly. "I am well, getting on alright. How have you been?"

"Well enough," Seldan answers, although the small smile at his lips suggests that it is neither all good, nor is it all bad. "I have been bid to return to the Temple this even, but I wished to find you before I did so. Your help is one of the reasons that I remain on my feet and able to fight, to find a cure for this plague, and for that, I have not properly thanked you." He sets down one of the boxes on the cobblestones at his feet, and offers Acedia the other.

"Oh uh.." Acedia blinks at the offered box for a few moments. "You didn't have to... I mean, I helped because it's what I do. Not on the expectation of gifts." She pulls her backpack from her back, and transfers her violin to its case. Then she accepts the box carefully. She sniffs at it a little, and then sticks her ear against it. "I don't know what it is... and I am worried about shaking it." The Gobbo pulls on a corner, slowly opening it.

The box smells like sugar, and something else. "None truly deserving expect recompense for their help, Acedia, and yet is a token in order." Seldan's Myrrish-tinted words are understanding, but firm. "I would be remiss, and indeed lesser, if I did not acknowledge the help of a friend when it is due."

Inside the box is what appears to be a pair of long-stemmed flowers. The blooms are star-shaped, a pale blue, streaked with white running down into the inside. Beautiful, and yet not with the smell or feel of a flower. Instead, the feel is that of crystallized and spun sugar, as if someone had taken sugar, dyed it, and spun it into the likeness of a flower.

"Thank you.", she says softly, and solemnly. The Gobbo peers curiously at the pair of flowers. Her nose works at the air, and she looks up at him, blinking. "They're pretty, but uhm, they smell like sweets. Not flowers. Are.. are they for eating?", she wonders. Acedia delicately pulls one from the box, and brings it to her nose, sniffing heavily. Her tongue darts out quickly to lick at it.

Seldan's smile broadens as he watches the gobbo puzzle her way through what they are. "They are indeed sweets," he explains, resting his forearms on his knees and balancing on his toes. Yes, they are sweet, with a complex flavor to them as well that is not overwhelming. If someone were to make candy from flowers, this is what it would taste like. "Mother would purchase these sometimes back home in Bryn Myridorn."

She laughs lightly. "So you couldn't decide whether to give me flowers or give me sweets.", she says with a grin. Acedia bites into the one she holds, and chews. Her expression grows thoughtful as she rolls the bite around in her mouth. The rest of the flower is very quickly eaten. The Gobbo closes the box. "I'm going to save the other one as a reminder." She gently places the box atop her pack, before she leans into him, attempting to wrap her arms about him in a hug.

Seldan accepts the hug readily enough, perhaps more readily than he would have done before, and even returns it, gently, which is good - it is something like being hugged by a pile of animated rocks. "Thank you, Acedia. For everything. And I am glad that you enjoyed it. Oh - I have one other bit of news."

Acedia nods to him. "Thank you, too. I am glad that I was able to be of service." She reaches out a finger and prods at his chest. "Goodness. You've been busy, haven't you?" The Gobbo looks to him. "Oh? There's more?"

Seldan laughs softly, more of a snort, really. "Yes, I had much to do, once I was back on my feet. I have learned more than a little from Ser Hun'rar, but ... I believe I kno where Dylan Hunt is." He looks up at her, his grin broadening as he waits for her response.

Her face scrunches up as she ponders the name. "Dylan Hunt?", she wonders. "Oooh, the son? Of the... Zeheir? The archwizard whose tower has been occupied by the mistress?" Acedia bounces from foot to foot a few times. "That's good news! When are we going?"

"As soon as I can find those willing to make the journey," Seldan answers. He reaches to push a lock of hair from his face, but it is already firmly held by the thin silver headband, so all he manages to do is move it aside perhaps a quarter-inch. "If the records are right, he resides in a small community at the edge of the wild lands, some days away. I can only take that to mean that he has no wish for power or notoriety, and may or may not be willing to aid us."

The Gobbo fidgets. "So close yet so far away.", she says solemnly. "What if he doesn't know? What if, before the madness set in, he sent his son away?" She looks to Seldan then. "I'm going."

emit. xD"

"I had hoped you would be willing." Seldan seems pleased by the notion. "We do not know what he knows, or if he would be willing to help ... so it is all the more important that we be gentle with him, and make neither accusations nor threats. Antagonizing the man will at the very least make our task more difficult, and at worst could doom us all."

Acedia smiles brightly. "Ah, so you hoped I would come along, and be my usual, cheery self? Sweet talk him gently into letting us know what he knows?" One can see her chest puffing up ever so slightly. "I'll do it. I'll charm him into sharing what he knows."

Seldan's smile broadens in response to the chest-puffing. "And, if it should come to it, silence a sharp or wayward tongue as well. Not all of the Guild community wields words as well as they wield a weapon." That is an understatement and a half. "Prepare yourself for a journey, then, in the next week or so."

The Gobbo grins broadly and nods. "I'll be ready! Is there anything you think I should bring? I mean, I know what to do for camping and the like, but maybe there's something you would prefer I have, for whatever reason."

Seldan tilts his head, thinking, then shakes it, standing and picking up the other box from the cobblestones to tuck it gently under his arm. "Only prepare for several days of journey, and see to your armor and weapons, in case we are set on so far out. I will do the same."

Acedia nods to the man. "I will be pr'ply prepared.", she says with a toothy grin. "Provisions, armor and my violin to keep our spirits up." She blinks. "And, too, my spells!" The Gobbo looks quite excited now. "Finally. Some forward movement!"

"It has been a long time in coming, and not a moment too soon. With Kol Demontry and his Mistress showing themselves ..." Seldan trails off, his smile abruptly gone. "We should move as swiftly as we may, if with this Dylan Hunt's help, we may wrest some of that one's power from her."

"Oh, has he returned again?", she asks, her expression becoming one of concern. She reaches around his waist and hugs him once again. "We will put an end to that fiend and his mistress. They have much to answer for. One of those things is the way they have made us feel helpless while they spread their evil." Acedia stomps one of her bare feet upon the ground. "I would see them burn."

Seldan looks down at the hug around his waist, and wraps his free arm around her to return the hug, looking down at her soberly. "They attacked the Temple of the Grey Lady not a fortnight past. Far too many killed, and it proved easier to distract the man than to harm him. As for her - finally do we know something of her. An ice mage, immune to fire, and likely a creature of the Hells." He scowls blackly. "Now I would know what Eclavdran's angle in all of this is."

"Ah, that is terrible news, but I did hear of it. Everyone has, I hope." She nods slowly and hugs all the more tightly. "We need to pull some of the older heroes out of retirement. Once more unto the breach. Maybe Svarshan might lend his power, he is Demon Chomper, after all. They fear him, and his holy light. And big teef." The Gobbo cants her head slightly. "Eclavdran?"

"A Duke of the Hells, who has taken an interest in the white tower," Seldan explains. "He has a servant who has shown herself in Alexandria, name of Sindri. I know little of their interest or involvement, but it bodes nothing that is good. We must all be wary. I have spoken to Svarshan on this, but he shields his children, and faces another enemy - Asumit?" His tone says that he knows nothing of this. "This is my hunt to pursue, I think."

The Gobbo swallows noisily. "T.t.that is a very powerful entity then. How will we ever push them from the tower?" She presses her face into his stomach. "Ow. You have a really bumpy chest." Acedia looks up at him. "Tell me we are not going to attempt going into his domain?"

"I do not think we need do so, Acedia." Seldan's smile is very small as he looks down at her, arm still around her. "Evil divides against itself, that is its way. I think it unlikely that the two are allied. What is clear is that they watch, and that I know not why." The Myrrish-accented voice betrays concern. "Fear not."

"I am very much afraid, but I will not let that keep me from doing what must be done. But if we must, let us do it here, in our world, on our terms." The wee woman crosses her arms for a moment, looking up at him. "We will have to find powerful magics to lay him low."

"If I can find a means to do so, I will pit him and this Mistress against one another, thus weakening them both." Seldan lets his arms drop. "But - I have not the answers yet for how such may be done. They have been suspiciously quiet, of late. For now - perhaps it is enough that we prepare to find Dylan Hunt."