Enjoy the ride or be broken by the machine

A roleplay transcript by Lyrena Auberan and Iskrin Orin'Darr

TL;DR - Lyrena confronts Iskrin about his poor judgement over Ke'ntor.

:: Lyrena Auberan had arrived to the House of Healing some minutes ago, greeting Master An'Dorel with a nod. The human didn't look all too happy about the armed and armored Dame Commander walking in as she had, but a stern, continuous gaze from her golden eyes let the doctor know she had no intention of relinquishing either. For a little while, she stood over the First Estril's bed. Had the circumstances been a bit different, she would have found herself quietly admiring his lean, toned physique. Instead, Lyrena watched mainly his face. As Iskrin began to twitch and awaken from his nap, Lyrena made sure the First Estril would quickly spot her as his blurry eyes cleared. "I thought to wake you up by breaking your nose.", the Sin'dorei half-jested. There was enough passive bitterness in her voice that Iskrin could surmise that the thought really had crossed her mind, even if she would never have done it. Instead, Lyrena turned around, and clasped the large jug of water on the desk beside Iskrin's bed - and an empty mug, which she filled, before offering it to the laying elf. "You have been awake a few times by now, I was told. How is your mind?"

:: Iskrin Orin'Darr woke with a start at the voice. He flicked his eyes open and found himself looking up at two enormous, armour clad breasts. He recognised them immediately and followed the curve up from them to meet two yellow glowing eyes. "Lyrena," he said, his mouth dry from sleep and his voice slightly husky. He tried to smile, but it was painful as his lips were dry enough to crack slightly as he did so. He shifted himself around in the bed so that he could sit up and took water gratefully when she offered it. He drank deeply and with some embarrassment handed her back the empty glass, realising it would need to be placed on the floor owing to the lack of tables in the bed's vicinity. "My mind is fuzzy and large chunks of my memory are missing," he said in answer to her question. "I am told by Ven-Vyzran that you and I fought. I owe you my most sincere apology," he said, bowing his head as best he could and holding his right hand over his heart. "Did I hurt you?"

:: Lyrena took the empty glass once Iskrin handed it to her, and together with the jug, placed it back atop the desk she had found it on. "Less than I hurt you.", was the Blood elf's answer, just as she turned back towards the now sitting First Estril. There was no obvious contempt in Lyrena's voice, but Iskrin could feel an interrogation was coming. She hadn't just come to pat him on the back and inquire on his health. Speaking of which, the male elf could already notice the somberness in Lyrena's occasionally studious gaze. As if she was checking if any signs of Iskrin's corruption remained. On his flesh, in his mind. For now, she thought that it had left. "It is not our fight that I need an apology for.", she clarified, however, then removed her storm axe, and planted it against the wall, before taking a seat on the chair beside Iskrin's bed. "Ven-Vyzran told me something as well.", she said. "That sword. You knew exactly what it was. Yet you wielded it all the same. Was it the High King that gave it to you after all, then?", she inquired.

:: Iskrin rubbed his temples while he listened. The headache that he'd had for a week had finally subsided and clarity was returning to his thinking, if not his memories. He watched Lyrena sit and listened to her comments and questions. As she spoke, he found himself feeling both admiration and irritation for her. The former for the seriousness with which she was taking on her role as first guardian of the city, the latter for the way in which she felt entitled to interrogate him, however gently for now. Yet he was fascinated that she would make this move and admired her nerve. "I know what Ke'ntor is," he confirmed. Then, because it wouldn't do to let a Guardian forget her place: "It is no business of yours, Lyrena, what transpires between the High King and the First Estril." He smiled. "The AmranKai must take risks so that others need not," he said, shifting himself in the bed to face her a little better. "Perhaps you know our creed?"

:: Lyrena herself narrowed her gaze, tilting her head somewhat as she stared for a few seconds in silence as the First Estril attempted to partially dodge her questions. A bit of quiet annoyance built up on her face. "Does your creed involve attacking the Guardians in the city they protect?", she rhetorically asked him. "Anything concerning the safety of this city is my business.", she rigidly asserted, slowly, but not quite word by word. "If that offends you, you may speak to the High King about it. Or His Grace Malekith. He isn't far.", she dipped her head in the direction of the palace. "Has Ven-Vyzran told you that Skolvor came to Ansa'fel?", she continued to interrogate. "He nearly attacked the Guardians in front of our barracks. After I confiscated Ke'ntor.", she grumbled - leaning forward again. "Which I had to fucking touch. Because of you.", she sharply reminded, before leaning back to calm herself.

:: Iskrin shook his head. "Oh Lyrena," he said softly this time, meeting her yellow gaze with his own grey eyes. "I am aware that I have put you to a good deal of trouble these past days, though I do not recall it myself. I am sorry for that, and I admit that the risk I took on this occasion proved ill judged." He smoothed down the creases in his trousers as he spoke, periodically smiling and meeting her eyes to show that he spoke earnestly and with genuine concern. "But it is trouble that I am sure you meet the measure of," he said, "otherwise I would not have guided the King in your direction for the post you hold." He paused, studying her reaction. "I take it from your tone that you have felt a certain degree of fear these past days and it is expressing itself as anger now. Perhaps, indeed, you have felt uncertainty that you can meet the challenge set against you?" Again, he watched. "I assure you that you have faced nothing you could not find a way to deal with. Not me armed with a magic sword, not a magical snake far from his home and power, and certainly not a magical sword with a penchant for violence itself." He smiled. "I am sorry that much of your work has been to tidy up my errors on this occasion, but that is why the Guardians are a vital component of the realm's security."

:: Lyrena did seem to become more patient herself as the First Estril answered her with more finesse and diplomacy, a likely well-practiced skill for the Iskrin. But it did not erase -all- suspicion and frustration from the Blood elf's tanned visage. "Problems happen. Crimes happen.", she reiterated. "But this - much of it could have been avoided. You should have sent the sword back to the High King the moment you laid eyes upon it.", the Dame Commander asserted her stance on the subject. "But in truth, the fault here is not yours alone.", she recalled, reaching to rub at the ridge of her nose, sighing. "The Lady Silmariel. You mentioned her to me, after I disarmed you.", she tried to remind the First Estril, whose memory by his own admission was foggy. "I was going to give the sword to her." By her tone, Iskrin could tell that this did not in fact come to pass. "I found out - through… Skolvor, of all people, if that serpent thing can be called such, that Lady Silmariel knew all along about everything. That the sword was here. That you had it, what it was doing to you. And she did not tell me. Not even the King himself, from what I gather.", she explained. "Instead, she… Plotted with Skolvor behind our backs. And not for any cause too noble. He wants Ke'ntor, she wants something of his. She says she wanted to trick Skolvor, to start a fight she could win, on her terms…" The Blood elf grumbled. "Her secrecy left the Guardians blind. This city vulnerable. Your judgment was impaired the whole time you had the sword. But hers wasn't. She should have warned all of us sooner. Instead, she waited for an opportune moment to seize Ke'ntor from you. Only, I got to you first."

:: "I suppose Ezri told her," Iskrin said in response to Lyrena's exposition on Silmariel's actions. "That old meddler probably went to the mage as soon as I'd asked her for advice in the baths last week." He made a mental note to visit his former employer to have yet another discussion about interfering. He rubbed his forehead. "I don't suppose I could have some more water please?" he asked. Then he expanded on the topic of Silmariel: "If you've spoken to Ven-Vyzran," he said, "I suspect you also know that Silmariel, Ven and I have known one another for a long long time. Kings and Guardians come and go, but friends and High Kings - those you can rely on… in a fashion." He swung his legs back up on to the bed, accepting the water if she brought him some. "Ven, of course, is a little skeptical of Silmariel's power and schemes, but I rather admire it. Yes, I admit she accumulates power like my boots pick up mud, but she is long-lived and likes the finer things in life. Even where her sense of civic duty might fail - though I've rarely seen it do so - but even then, her sense of order and neatness and living in a pleasant place almost always lead her to doing what is best for the kingdom and Ansa`fel." He shrugged. "Don't judge her too harshly. Malekith's predecessor was… unreliable, shall we say? And yours was… ah… very narrowly focused. Silmariel has been used to doing things her own way and, for the most part, the AmranKai have sat back and watched, interested in the results she gets more than the dubious means she uses to achieve them. We are no strangers to such dark paths ourselves." He sighed, aware that he'd been speaking a while now. "I am not really sure what you want from me Lyrena. You are operating now in a world of wheels within wheels and plans within plans. You can either enjoy the ride and try not to take it too seriously, or you will be broken by the machine if you try to change it. It is the way of the world."

:: Lyrena extended an arm towards the desk she had taken the jug of water from, inviting Iskrin to pour some himself. There was another reason for it, of course. The Blood elf wanted to see whether Iskrin had healed enough to stand, to walk. "Something like that.", she answered the First Estril's question about whether she knew the personal history between the group of friends and allies. After that, she listened with some skepticism when Iskrin tried to warm her to the idea of trusting Lady Silmariel. But she heard him out without interrupting all the same. "I understand well that if all her plans were this flawed, she would not be in her position.", she concurred. Partially. "But this one was. You know what bothers me more? That she does not understand her fault in this. She thinks she was right to be secretive. How do I trust her to act more wisely in the future?", she inquired, a bit rhetorically. Iskrin could tell she was mostly set on -not- trusting the Highborne sorcerer, but there was enough open-mindedness in her voice that she would hear out his take on the subject. "Either way, Ke'ntor is with King Malekith now. I assume Ven-Vyzran might have mentioned this too.", she stated. "I hope he tells her to be more honest with her plans in the future. If he does give her the sword, which I have advised against, I hope it is under strict rules. She should be supervised. By High Wizard Rhodan. By the mages guild. But not left to do everything alone. We know where that led.", she took a deep, frustrated breath. "She wants to remove the spirit from it, somehow. Or destroy it. I do not know. That I do not object. But Skolvor does not know. The fight she anticipates with him. I hope that does not become yet another mess that harms others.", she said, standing up from the chair, and picking up her axe, preparing to depart soon.

:: Iskrin listened to Lyrena's continued complaints. He smiled as she gestured to the water, but did not trust himself to make it to the table and back given the spinning in his head the last time he'd tried to stand. He would wait until he had privacy to make a second attempt. "Ven told me that his Grace has the sword," he confirmed. "I suspect Malekith has written to the High King on the topic. I have sent my own message on that score," he said. He continued to pick off the finer points of her comments, deliberately avoiding the topic of Silmariel's plan for Ke'ntor to hide his deep interest in it. "As to supervising Silmariel, I would not advise it," he said. "She is watched by the AmranKai, of course, but it is a careful relationship. We do not watch everything she does, and in return she permits us to see much of what she gets up to. Should she wish it, I have little doubt she could mask herself from even our prying eyes. It is a relationship of mutual mistrust and affection." He smiled. "Lyrena, I understand that you feel Silmariel has misled you and endangered Ansa`fel. But you would be well advised to keep her close to you. You don't have to be friends, but she is a useful tool for any Commander of the Guardians to have at their disposal." He thought a little longer. "Which brings us to the topic of Skolvor," he said. "I would not place a bet on a match between them, although given how long he must have been away from the well of his power, I might be inclined to favour Silmariel. But she well knows that an open conflict with Skolvor will not only displease you and Malekith - something to be avoided if possible - but will also displease the High King - something even Silmariel is not hubristic enough to risk. I would credit her with having a little more to her plan than just trick the old snake and fight him when he finds out. Though I could be wrong." He watched her pick up her axe. "Given my counsel, such as it is, what are your next steps, Dame Commander?"

:: Lyrena sighed quietly as she saw the First Estril deciding not to make the trip. Lyrena relented, and she went to pour Iskrin another glass of water, before offering it to him as the male elf sat back on the edge of the bed. "I do not intend to make an enemy of her.", the Blood elf confirmed, then stepped back. "She is a Royal Councillor and at times we will -need- to work together. But I demand more honesty.", she repeated again, unyieldingly. "From you too, First Estril.", Lyrena reminded, knowing the request would likely irritate Iskrin again. When asked about her next steps - her legs halted, on her way out. "Keeping the city safe. Be sure to warn me of any threats you come to learn, First Estril.", she said, the second sentence laden with a pinch of friendly sarcasm. "We still need to talk about what happened down there, in the Undercity. I know very little. Besides the fact that something good may have come of the slaughter. You found more children.", she stated, partly as a question, her long brows perking. "Before I leave, the King's award ceremony is tomorrow.", she reminded, assuming that Iskrin likely had forgotten. "I think you should come. So should the Lady Silmariel. Whatever our disagreements and faults this past week, you both still acted in this city's defense when that dreaded sun cult thought they could have their way with it."

:: Iskrin nodded. "Remember my offer to you, Dame Commander," he said. "I still hold to it: whatever service or advice it may be useful to you to seek from me, use me and my resources as you wish to reform the Order of Guardians so that it is worthy of this great city." He met her yellow eyes and measured her gaze. "I mean that. I cannot promise to be entirely honest with you, but I will keep you better informed than I kept your predecessor. That I can say." He smiled. "And I will deal with the sword and Skolvor on the morrow," he promised, hoping to reassure her. "The safety of Ansa`fel is not your burden to bear alone." Then he nodded at her reminder. "Ah yes," he said. "I have a general dislike of awards ceremonies and… I am not yet my full strength. I may lie here in my bed and enjoy the peacefulness of Master An'Dorel's snoring as he studies his herbs." He chuckled at his own joke. "But I wish you much pleasure - it will be an excellent opportunity to show of the Guardians and yourself. Make use of it - the battles you need to win are as much political as martial." He took the water she offered him, sipped it and placed the cup on the floor next to him. Then he lay back on the bed and closed his eyes. "Thank you for coming to see me," he said, but his voice was already soft with sleep. "I like you Lyrena," he said as he drifted off into surprisingly peaceful dreams.