Royesland [Full]

[CelticSol]

Jacqueline "Jackie" Sapienti
​

"But Tom, that's so lame."

 

[TrashRabbit]

Tom pointedly said nothing.

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

"No, no, those are important," Cathal said, noting that the sweep of Tom's arm had included the journals. "Make sure you look at some of the ones from...Goddess, is it twenty years? Twenty-two? Twenty years ago or so and newer. I'm in those," Cathal said brightly. He grabbed Jackie by the arm and spun her around. "We'll be back for dinner, love!" he promised, and then steered her down the staircase.

"He's a wizard, it's his job to read," Cathal told Jackie, a touch of disappointment in his voice.

 

[CelticSol]

Jacqueline "Jackie" Sapienti​

"Okay, bye, Tom, love you~" She calls, letting Cathal lead her away. Once out of ear shot, Jackie scoffs to Cathal's lightly disappointed words, "I don't even know how to read, dude. I dunno what you want from me."

 

[Nimbus]

Apollo

finds his way home

The only road on the western woods, it turned out, led to a wide swathe of farmland, dotted with fruit trees and a large group of ratlings trying their best to dig a giant, stormstruck tree trunk out of a half-furrowed field. Admittedly, it was difficult for Pol to swallow the knee-jerk desire to dab at them. The incident of their arrival had frightened quite a few of his friends, which he could not well abide. However, they were newcomers to the town like he was not so long ago. And anyway, none of them menaced the defenseless like that incorrigible Tuesday. So, when they looked up from their work, he waved at them as he passed. He wondered where the ratlings were going to store all that wood, since he saw not even a makeshift shed anywhere near the fields.

As he turned about in a lazy loop, he mused he should like to trade for some, if indeed it was decent shipbuilding wood. Oh, if only Lockette were here. She'd probably be able to tell even from this far away. Apollo sighed and returned to the tea shoppe. Maybe he could resume his search with Quill when they returned.

____

The twin scents of lilacs and woodsmoke draped Quill's shop in a heady dream shroud. Indeed, Pol might have pinched himself to be certain he wasn't dreaming if he hadn't needed to steady himself on the edge of an unoccupied table. Bedecked in flowing silks of purple and white and floral and stars, Quill glowed as they flitted about the shop.

He sat on the table, an amused and impertinent child watching this pale butterfly instead of doing chores himself. He hadn't seen Quill so pleased in...well, maybe ever. But the day at the market, when they danced to Molly's song...that was pretty close. A little idea bell dinged in distracted Pol's one remaining braincell.

He sidled up to Quill, teasing softly, "I believe we have a dance to finish. I don't know that I can accept another rain check."

 

[TrashRabbit]

Quill hadn't quiet noticed Pol enter the shop and startled a little when sidled up to him but then laughed- a sound no one in town had really heard them make before- well except for the dancing day at the market. It wasn't the dry little bark of a laugh but a real one that over took him so that no real words managed to escape them as they let Pol take their hands and lead them around the shop in a dance.

"Oh. I see!" Quill fianlly said, as pol gave them a little spin. They moved just as gracefully on their feet as the day of the magic dancing, that part hadn't been magicked.

 

[theunearthlyfool]

The roiling serpent had imprinted itself on Molly's brain, so although she knew her eyes weren't physically seeing it anymore, it was all she could think of when she looked at Lockette. She made what she hoped was a thoughtful face (as opposed to a nervous one), debating how truthful to be. It wasn't that she got bad vibes from either Riley or Lockette even though they were both fae-touched (and Lockette was even scarier now that Molly'd had a glimpse at their true form). But she wouldn’t tell anyone about Tuesday's true predicament, not for anything, in fear of putting him in danger. And also because telling people’s secrets was a shitty thing to do.

"I'm not trying to imply anything," she said, and really she didn't think she was. "I'm just trying to do a good turn and help find a missing person. But I've never actually met her, myself, and you're right. It does sound like a faerie name. So that's why I'm standing here talking to you instead of wandering deeper into proper faerie territory. No use getting myself spirited off looking for someone who might already have been."

Molly had settled on half-truths; she was pretty good at those. "You're out on the edge of the Fairy Woods. I just hoped you might have seen-” Bad word choice, she grimaced, “-er, noticed someone coming or going, is all. Especially since I’d gotten the impression a place called ‘magpie house’ would pique her interest. But honestly, this is kind of the answer I'd expected." She shrugged, having known the chances of actually finding news about Truffle, or better yet Truffle herself, were pretty slim when she’d come out here (unless she wanted to put herself in a lot more danger, of course). If they were both telling the truth, which it felt like they were, this came as no surprise.

“As for the rock, it just shows you if an object is magical or not. Sorry, I should've asked first.” Folks didn't exactly take kindly to strangers peeking at their auras without permission, even if doing so had saved her life a few times; this was a yarn she’d spun before. "It doesn’t even tell me what kind of magic or anything, it's just fun to see sometimes." Molly grinned and reached for her canteen. "My late godmother gave it to me. I mostly still carry it around to keep her close, y’know?" The combo of playing dumb and sentimental anecdote had historically been a satisfactory answer for most people. "Thanks for your time, anyway! I genuinely do appreciate it. It's nice to meet you, Riley, and you, Lockette."

 

[Nimbus]

Apollo

makes his move?!

Ah, Pol could melt in the sonorous music of Quill's laughter. But rather than dissolve into a gay puddle, the illusionist moved. He waltzed and spun and waltzed Quill around the shop, absorbing every angle, every streak of window-filtered light and every drowsy shadow it made. He wanted to preserve this memory among those he tried to breathe life back into with his magic.

He dipped Quill, if only for an excuse to whisper in their ear. And what he said shocked even him: "We should go into the woods together."

He had absolutely no idea why he blurted that out. Maybe it was that he just couldn't get the image of Quill dancing among the wildflowers out of his head. Or maybe the wood - the great tree he saw earlier.

If they went, he could show Quill, could explain how he'd sail the ends of the earth - ocean be damned - if he could just gather more moments with Quill like this. He could wrap their feelings in light, condense them and string them along like precious pearls. Pearls for Quill just seemed to make perfect sense.
"There's - I found something-" Pol started to say, as he righted the both of them.

A loud, wet sounding burble interrupted him. A red-gold catfish peered out of the sleeve of Pol's robe. Front legs plopped over the edge of the sleeve, wiggly toes adjusting their sticky grip. Its cheeks puffed, the creature made that same sort of gawping noise as before.

"Oh fuck. I guess I did bring one of those home."

"Uh, that's a catfish," Pol said, helpfully, absently trying to rub the flush out of his face.

"Not what I wanted to show you, necessarily, but, ah, here we are. Catfish, meet Quill. Quill, meet a smallish catfish. Presently unnamed. I suppose we can fix that though, can't we?"

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal sighed. Of course Tom made friends and they were maddening. "I think giving him some time alone in his workspace will be good for him. Grounding," Cathal said. He paused to gather his bag from his and Tom's room before they left. Cathal stopped at the door and said, "And don't let anyone in until I get back, unless Tom says it's alright," to the tower at large.

He waited a moment until he felt satisfied, and then said, "Hopefully things will have settled down. You all did a number on the fountain, I don't think they've fixed it yet."

 

[TrashRabbit]

Riley's suspicions were starting to raise and there was a confident note in her voice when she said, "Oh that's sounds neat, can I try to look through it too?"

 

[TrashRabbit]

Quill was not a large person and fit nicely into Pol's arms as they were spun and dipped across the shop. Pols sudgestion to go into the woods though, it made the hair on the back of their neck stand up becuase it was the sort of thing a nice fae lord disquised as a pretty shipwrecked noble might whisper in your ear. But Quill had been in and out the forest enough times and Pol's undiagnosed adhd swiftly trotted along attempting to explain he'd found something- and then not being sure if that something was the catfish or something else.

"Oh look at this fat sweet baby," Quill crooned and mad grabb hands before kidnapping the creature from his sleeve to hold it like a baby. "Perhaps we can get him a little pond out outback- I miss the kois you know. Too cold this far north. Thes littel guys live in the moors and the creek, and farther up river where its less brackish- you don't see them down here near the shore too much- plus the locals think they're turn into dragons if they go into sea. Cute as all though. If this isn't what you wanted to show me then what was?"

 

[theunearthlyfool]

Well, shit. She’d really, really, really been hoping Riley wouldn’t ask that. But anything that can happen, will happen, as Godmother would say. “Sure,”Molly said, faking a casual air as she lifted the string from around her neck. It got tangled in her hair but after a second she got it off and passed it to Riley. After all, what else could she do and still seem innocent? “It was weird, though, it just kind of made the feather look, like, out of focus? It does that sometimes. Hope it’s not broken.” Better not have just lost me my seeing stone, magpie king, she thought.

“Oh by the way, just out of curiosity: how come you cut down the pine tree?" Molly stalled, indicating the work they'd already done on the dilapidated building. “Especially if you're refurbishing the house. Where did the birds go?”

 

[TrashRabbit]

"Haven't the slightest," Riley said with a un-concern typical of fairies who have been distracted from talking about something they care about to a newer shinier thing. She flipped the fairy stone around in her finger and then used it to peer at her feather.

That seems right, she thought to herself. And then she spied at Molly and her autumnal colored aura that too felt right. She glanced at Lockette:

That might as well be happening too, She thought somberly.

Use it to look around the clearing and take in the soft blue glow of her family home's stones, the dull gold and green halo around the old pine stump and then passed the bauble back.
"Neat." She said. Riley wasn't exactly playing dumb, she just didn't have a lot of context for it all. She knew she had some realtion to the fae and that Lockette did too so nothing the stone showed her really surprised her.

"But when I find out-" She said coming back to the matter of the pine tree, "They're in for it."

 

[theunearthlyfool]

Molly​

There was a tense moment as Riley looked around at everything- her feather, Molly, Lockette, the tree stump, etc.- through the stone, then passed it back as casually as it had been handed to her. She hung it back around her neck with a sigh of relief. “It is pretty neat, huh?”

It took her a moment to understand that Riley’s short remarks were answering both questions. “You mean someone cut down your tree without permission?” she asked, genuinely aghast. “Like, recently?” What kinds of other things might people be doing to the forest now that Tuesday’s not here? Molly fretted to herself. “That’s awful, I’m so sorry to hear it!”

 

[TrashRabbit]

"I don't think it was too recent," She said and shrugged.

 

[Nimbus]

Apollo

pines and spins a yarn about a pine.

Quill snatched up the catfish from Pol's sleeve as though it were a brightly wrapped present addressed to them. While it wriggled a little at first, the bemused catfish settled into the crook of Quill's arm with only one gawp of complaint. As though it was tryingvto calculate how it managed to cross the short distance, it blinked out at its former habitat.

Oh, Apollo wished he could simply flop into Quill's embrace and be so adored.

For his part, Pol did in fact, look at the 'fat sweet baby,' and nodded in the pretense of agreement with all the fascinating facts Quill provided about the catfish. Mentioning where exactly he found this catfish sort of slipped his mind. He was too busy being mild jealous of said catfish and feeling a little soft and a lot enamored at Quill.

Pol perked up a bit when Quill mentioned the forest, and asked what it was he wanted to show them.

"Well it's not really in the forest proper, but when you head west across the bridge. there's these big farm fields, right? On my walk today, I saw this felled tree even bigger around than this-"

He stretched to his full armspan for effect.

"Lying cattycorner across the entire plot. It's so out of place with that geography, it must have come from the woods proper, don't you think? Anyway, a mischief* or two of those industrious rat fellows were trying to haul it off the field."

Pol made a gesture as though he were tugging on an invisible rope.

"And while I passed them I thought, 'that is plenty enough wood to build a ship out of.' So that the next time you need to get supplies from any of the nearby islands or wherever, we can sail there together!"

Pol paused a moment to beam at Quill. Didn't they think this was an excellent idea?

"Alas, I only sighted yonder tree in passing, so I really can't speak to its quality as shipworthy wood. I did hear from Herbert that Lockette is quite the carpenter. I'd like to have her give the wood a once-over before I haggle with the mischief* over it."

He pouted a little, settling his newly free hand on his hip.

"I looked for Lockette in town today though, and I couldn't find her. Does she only visit once a month for supplies or something? So I asked around, and I found out she lives in - or maybe near? - Magpie House on Tithe Road, wherever that is. So, ah, I was also hoping you might come with me to visit her, since she's one of your sometime regulars?"

To anyone who might be stepping into the shop, Pol looked as sheepish as a lad asking his first sweetheart to dance, fidgeting with the wispy ends of his hair.

_
*Author's Note: by mischief, Pol means the collective noun for a group of rats. All other, unmarked instances of mischief refer to shenanigans.

 

[TrashRabbit]

Quill Frowned down at his new amphibious childe because bothering Lockette was about as wise sticking a branch into a beehive. But if the locals were trying to send him after Lockette it was because the shipwright and the carpenter in town didn't want to deal with him, which made Quill a little sad. Pol was Pol but he was sure the locals would warm up to him eventually. They had warmed up to Quill after all, who was just about as eccentric and had come peddling unfamiliar things and beverages.

"Are you sure you want to bother Lockette?" They ask, "I mean are you sure you want to build a boat yourself? You have such oft hands."

 

[Nimbus]

Apollo

Has such soft hands

Apollo swayed a little on his feet. The woman he was about to deal with was capable of dunking him in the town fountain and he did not want in any way to share a fate similar to Tuesday's, however temporary.

"Well, I don't want to pester Lockette. That would be....unwise. But I also don't want to buy wood I can't build a ship with."

And just when Pol thought he couldn't possibly get any more flustered, Quill mentioned his soft hands. He turned three shades more pink and wiggled his fingers. For a minute, his brain shut off all channels of thought except one:

Quill says I have soft hands...hehehe.

"W-well, it's not that I will be building the boat...all by myself. Er. Probably? And. Well. If we had a boat all our own, we could...make deliveries to customers outside the port? Expand our catering service to...teatime cruises along the coast?"

Was it too soon to use "we" in a business sense? Pol maybe would have collapsed from nerves if he would have thought his words through.

 

[TrashRabbit]

"Well who am I to persuade you from your dreams?" Quill said with a laugh, "You're too clever by half. I wont say no to a little sloop of our own though. I can certainly chaperone you to Lockette's farmstead, make sure she doesn't slam dunk you."

 

[theunearthlyfool]

Nicola​

In contrast to Jackie’s thundering flight down the tower stairs, Nicola crept down them as quietly and quickly as she could. She wanted desperately to ask Cathal, if he had been a cat when she last saw him, how he had "fixed it" and stood before them as a (stupidly handsome) man today. Would it help their friends? Could he do it again if it would?

But she had also (somewhat childishly, she would admit) vowed to herself that the next time she spoke to Jackie Sapienti would be when she presented her with a cure to her curse and not a moment before. Not because she was angry with Jackie; because she was angry with herself, furious even. The whole reason I’m here in the first place is to protect them and I’ve basically failed to do that, she thought angrily, slipping past the kitchen while Cathal’s kettle whistled. Right now Nicola felt so guilty she couldn’t speak, and so wasn’t in the mood to talk to anybody in this building. Stomping down the hill toward the bridge, all she could think was, I have to make this right.

The walk back to town cleared her head a bit, and gave her time to do some mental calculations on the potion ingredients. She arrived in the village ready and eager to speak to the alchemist. Wandering up and down the Port’s few streets, however, there was no alchemist or apothecary that she could find. Sure she’d just missed it in her haste, Nicola did another loop around and was starting on a third one when she was stopped by the sheriff.

“Too proud to just ask for directions?” he asked, but she was pretty sure he was teasing her.

“Uhh…” Actually she was too awkward to ask for directions, but that wasn’t the kind of thing you told people.

“You’re one of those came here with the wizard, aren’t you.”

“Yeeeees?”

He looked summarily unimpressed. "Where're you tryin' to go, then?"

Thus was Nicola directed to Quill’s Tea Shoppe, which she was told also functioned as the Port’s resident apothecary. The door chimed pleasantly as she swung it open, greeting her with the wonderfully earthy smell of dozens of kinds of dried herbs all mixing together. It was a delightful place, full of light and a kind of joy she could just feel in the air. There were only two people in the shop presently, both dressed in the lovely billowing robes of Qin. Nicola had met plenty of Qin nobles at her parents' parties, though she'd never been there herself. But Donovan had mentioned the stoic gentleperson who owned the tea shop and their new tenant/assistant/sweetheart were from there.

This must be the right place. Smiling, and mentally putting on her professional sorcerer hat, she stepped further into the shop. “Ah, excuse me. Good afternoon, I’m looking for ingredients for a special potion, please. I was told this was the place to go for that?”

 

[TrashRabbit]

Quill's head swiveled when the door chimmed and he smiled at Nicola's request, 'Yes you have come to the right place! What are you seeking today, herbs, non-mundanities, or alchemical?" They said wtiha professional air. "We also have tea~"

 

[theunearthlyfool]

"Well, all of the above, kind of. Tea included, actually, that would be wonderful, please."

Nicola reached into her pilfered bag and retrieved her copy of the potion recipe, offering it to Quill. "But most importantly, I need to break a curse. This potion should do it, but I've only just arrived in the area and have no idea where to get any of the ingredients. And this one-" she gestured to the moss-orchid. "I've never heard of, which I'm a-" she stopped. "I… know a decent amount about magic. So it's uncommon for that to happen."

Nicola was quiet a moment, then gave another small smile. "Anyway. It's not life-threatening but it is rather urgent, so I'll take all the help I can get, please."

 

[TrashRabbit]

"Oho," Quill said glancing down at the spell's ingredient list. "I guess the rumors are true, you really were away fighting the fairy war. You're in luck though, the local court likes to pull the same tricks. I think I havemost of this one. With the wizard away I stocked up but I needed it all less than I thought I would." Quill popped over to his apothecary draws and skittering up and down the ladder a few times gathered the bulk of the ingredients, "But the moss orchid you'll have to pick fresh, they wilt within the hour. big purple blooms about this big-" they said making a fist, "You find them in the hanging moss on old trees. You have to venture fairly deep into the forest but not so deep I'd warn against going. Most of the woods is safe- well safe as a fairy wood can be. The Royesland fae are a bit more domesticated than in other places."

 

[theunearthlyfool]

Nicola blinked, temporarily taken aback that Quill knew who she was (or at least who she was associated with). But they'd obviously made a quite explosive entrance in Port of Pearls (pun intended), and had also spent the better part of a week harassing every healer within a day's travel. If talk could spread like wildfire in a big city like Royes, it would even faster in this little Port.

"I must say how extraordinarily grateful I am for your foresight; and to the people of Port of Pearls for their good health," she said, hope coming back into her heart as the apothecary busily collected ingredients. "Yes, um… we were in Peaches, and brought some rather nasty magical afflictions home with us. This is for one of the worst of them. My name is Nicola, by the way."

She almost responded to their advice about the Fairy Woods with a scoff that she wasn't afraid of faeries, but held her tongue at the last second. Maybe there was a time when she'd helped kill a mad faerie king, but now she was completely defenseless. Well, speaking of domesticated faeries, maybe that magpie king of Molly's can help me out.

While she considered who she could get to accompany her into the woods today, she stepped up to the counter next to the elaborate cash register. Spreading a small piece of parchment atop it, she offered a pencil to Quill. "Not that you aren't already doing me an enormous favor, but is there any way you could do a rough sketch of what the blossoms look like, please? And thank you so very, very much."

 

[TrashRabbit]

"Ah," Quill said looking at the paper, "I can do you one better."

they were in rare form, it was never that any one in town had seen quill be the naturally bubbly human and it might be a bit strange for Pol to watch them peddle their passion so enthusiastically. The curse had made the apothecary something of a stoic for all their time in the port of pearls. But no more!

Quill pulled a great fat book outfrom under the counter and flipped through it untill they found a dried moss orchid bloom and placed it gently on the counter and took to folding the offered peice of drawing paper into an envelope for it.