S024: Vala & Sildar's Two Person Going Away Party

Vala: "Being honorable. Not taking what you want." And Vala unclasps her cloak.

Sildar: "Honorable, Lady? I don't understand. Who's hurt?" and he finally looks up. "Lady? OH LADY." his gear clatters back to the ground. Sildar walks over and leans to retrieve her cloak as if trying to redress her, saying, "Lady, you've been through much in the past few ten-days. I'm not so sure that you..."

Sildar: "I must say, Lady, this was a very pleasant surprise." (Now saying 'Lady' differently, much less formal)

Vala: Vala props her chin up on his chest and says, "Was it truly a surprise? I've been told I've been exceedingly obvious, Ser." and she grins at him, tracing his many, many scars which she is VERY into.

Sildar: "Yes, a surprise. Not a shock, but a surprise. I'll admit that I've always had an attraction, but I'm old enough to have potentially sired you. Even though, we were born near the same time. By the way, it pleases me to see your hair back to the way I remembered."

Vala: She shivers and flushes at his blunt acknowledgement of their age difference, which she loves, and then touches her hair, saying "It felt dishonest to come to you in my disguise. I suppose... I don't know, I wanted it to be me, silly as it sounds. It felt important."

Then she looks at him more closely and says "I have felt, since I saw you kicked from that fucking ledge all those weeks ago, that I knew you but couldn't place you. Forgive me, Ser, but did we know each other back in Neverwinter?"

Sildar: "We met only a few times in our youth. But I knew of you, how could I not? You were noble and the Oracle. And an absolutely stunning no matter your station. You would have no way of knowing it, but I was among the guard details tasked with your security and that of the youngest Bann for some time. We kept out of sight, for your own safety and for your own privacy. Mostly we kept watch for anyone who could be a potential threat and a lot of that was information gathering."

Vala: She goes from flushed to very pale very fast and winces a little at that "Ah... so you had a front row seat to the performance. I'm surprised to find you here with me at all then, to be honest."

Sildar: "Performance, Lady? "

Vala: "I.... I know there was little reason for the two of us to meet, though it saddens me. You were, are" and she scans him somewhat hungrily "exactly my type... but did you know Bann III?" Vala sighs before he can answer and says "I suppose you couldn't have truly known either of us, there was so much we had to hide while we plotted."

Sildar: "I knew Bann III in our youth. We were friendly. I remember him enough to know he hated that name. I always called him 'Trice'. He seemed to enjoy that nickname. Or at least he didn't dislike it enough to get me disciplined for using it" he chuckles.

Vala: Vala laughs as well. "We tried to make a game of it, teasing each other by calling each other prince and princess. He did so despise it.

Sildar: "We were raised near one another through our early years but our stations forced us apart as tends to happen with the upper classes. I left for service in Waterdeep when I reached my 20th summer, so I lost touch with much of Neverwinter from there on out."

Vala: Vala hums thoughtfully, "You were probably closest around the time the two of us were thrust together, my father did so yearn to make our house a royal branch." Vala smiles sadly, "You would have liked him, I think. The man grown, not just the boy. If he had let you see him.” and while she traces a scar she smirks and says "He certainly would have liked you."

Sildar: "I have caught on to your dislike of your father. I didn't want to pry or assume too much. But I do know that common talk referred to him as a particularly... avaricous noble. Which is saying much for the gossip amongst those in Waterdeep"

Vala: Vala sighs softly and says "He truly was. Lander was the sort to make you yearn for the ineptitude of Harbin Wester, I'm afraid. I am realizing, in my freedom, just how vicious Papa was. I told Sister Garale just yesterday that he had betrothed me 24 times and hadn't thought much of it until it shocked her." 

"The first was the kindest. Bann and I were an atrocious match for every reason except fondness. He was the best friend I've ever had. Though Papa cared little for how I felt about any of it, or of Grandmere's warnings."

Vala laughs a little, "without him looming, weaving plots for me to cut myself from, I scarcely know what to do with myself." and she smirks up at him and says "I do so appreciate you helping me find such delightful ways to keep busy, ser knight."

"And while I appreciate your tact, and your willingness to let me keep my secrets, I'd like you to feel free to ask whatever you like moving forward, if it pleases you. I find... I trust you. It is a feeling I have little experience with, I'll admit, but I'm acclimating." She smiles and it turns to a wince again as she makes herself ask "... what did you hear of us in Waterdeep?"

Sildar: "I did hear the rumors about Trice's 'improper' relationship with the court Oracle and many other sordid affairs that reached the lips of courtiers in Waterdeep. So much talk of wastrelry and excess and scandal. As if the nobility, either large or small, of Waterdeep and Neverwinter didn't get up to the same things at which they feigned offense. I never put much stock in it though. I felt I had a good sense of who Trice truly was during his formative years that he couldn't have fallen all that far."

Vala: Vala smiles at him. "He didn't. I'm pleased to hear you say so. I suppose I'm glad our 'work' reached as far as waterdeep, though it didn't save either of us in the end. Strange as it is to say it's good to know our efforts weren't wasted."

Sildar: "Plus Northern nobles excel at gossip and exaggeration more than even the most talkative of Dwarven grandmothers. The tales of rampant philandering made me the most suspect of all the talk, especially knowing Trice's carnal and romantic... 'predilections' as I'm sure he'd refer to them."

Vala: Vala cuts her eyes up to him in shock "You knew? He told so few aside from those he..." and the gears are clearly turning

Sildar: "Such surprise, Lady? I did know him as a teenage boy. And I'm a career soldier. A soldiery that is principally male and often in close quarters alone for months"

Vala: Vala laughs really really hard, wipes the tears from her eyes and says "When we were betrothed and we discovered it, we had hoped he would be a little like me, like you too, I suppose. We hoped that we could find some brute and build a bridge in our bed instead of marrying anyone we despised, as it seemed would be our lot." 

"When that didn't pan out, we decided to try to hide his predilections and destroy my reputation in a single move. It worked for a time."

Sildar: "For what it's worth, I don't think many suspected. Not at least enough to say it aloud. And as I said before, nobles love to talk."

Vala: "They truly do."

Sildar: "The gossip was always about Trice being around a gaggle of lasses not any particular jack"

Vala: "That was the goal. I brought men, secretly for him, he brought women, and we traded and let the rumors run rampant."

She looks up at him and says, "I think... I think he told me about you. He would never give me a name, but he used to flush so pink when the guard changed." Then she laughs again and says, "Gods, we probably drooled over you in your armor. It was our favorite way to pass the endless hours in that stuffy fucking castle."

Sildar: "Ah yes. The boys knew. Many of them made a game of finding subtle ways to peacock a bit, without calling the attention of any superiors. One of the more adventuresome guards began stuffing his codpiece a little more every few weeks. It got to the point that he was having too much trouble walking and spent too much time cooling his sore loins to keep up the jape"

Vala loses it, buries her face in his chest, and cracks up.

Vala: Vala wipes her tears from her cheeks again and says "You have to respect the commitment. I remember him. We used to call him the blackstaff. Bann always said it seemed half suffocated in there. We worried for the man. Thought it might go necrotic."

Sildar: Sildar gives a hearty laugh at that "Your powers of Divination must have been well functioning then, because as I recall that fellow didn't have room to spare for stuffing in the first place!"

Vala: Vala snorts and says "Less divining, and more a skill built over long, increasingly stifling years of utter bullshit. And escape. Bann and I were quite adept at both by the end." She looks up at him a little vulnerable and asks hesitantly, "You don't have to tell me anything you do not wish, but... did you care for him? Not the prince" and she kind of spits the word "but the tired boy beneath it? I had always hoped he would find that. It was one of the few things we managed to hold onto for one another. There were so many concessions."

Sildar: "I always had fond memories of him when we were children. He was a kind and thoughtful boy raised in an environment that had little time or patience for those such qualities. And he was an example that those qualities need not forsake others which many would hold are contradictory. He was strong, persistent, and diligent in everything he did, even those things that did not come easy to him. He certainly would never had been a swordmaster by any means, but he took his training seriously and knew how to defend himself. And would use it in the defense of others."

"I only saw him a handful of times in our adult years. Whenever we found ourselves in the same room, he seemed to have a slightly different way of carrying himself... a different demeanor than when he knew not that I could see him. I could tell something was off, but never quite what."

Vala: "Mmmm. He did that when he thought someone was good. When their opinion was worth something." She looks up at him and smiles at him very warmly "Given what I've seen of you over the last forty-some-odd days, I cannot say I'm surprised. We were always starved for honorable men in that snake pit of a court." and her smile tilts a little smirky and she says "Especially ones as fucking fit as you."

Sildar: Sildar laughs. "You flatter me, Lady. I certainly pale in comparison to your NOBLE form, but I do my best to keep up with the slow degradation of time. Otherwise I'd be a much less fit corpse."

Vala: "You do quite well," Vala praises. "And I heartily disagree, though I suppose it is all rather subjective."

"I... I've never told a soul this, Sildar, but I feel you should know... We weren't just whoring, Bann and I. And we weren't just ruining our reputations and slipping betrothals and convinving the realm he was something he wasn't."  even alone in the room with him she'll whisper "We were trying to break it" then she looks up into his eyes and says "The monarchy."

Sildar: Sildar pauses and looks inquisitive. "Interesting. To what end, Lady?"

"In that, I am not trying to be critical. Merely trying to understand what you intended to put in its place"

Vala: "Thats the thing, we couldn't decide. We were deep in research when the ruining happened. I believe he had allegiances he kept from me, the less we know of one another the safer it all was. The idea was, broadly, to spread the power out. To make sure there was not one person at the top to be weak, or compromised, or broken. To create multiple powers to check each other."

"It's why I was familiar with this region at all. One of the first things we look at was the pact. It seemed a promising blueprint. Bann had always worried about what may replace him, given his appetites and decided lack of appetites. It's why I've been so concerned about Dagult Neveremebr - I do hope you'll forgive me for my incessant questions."

Sildar: "Yes, the Pact is a very interesting example that seems to stand out in the shared histories of the region. Unfortunately, very little is known about the  specifics of how it was administered. It obviously had some significant success in its time, but it is also something that has not truly been replicated in the hundreds of years since."

Vala: "There were many examples that were somewhat similar, but none that we could find were modern."

Sildar: "I certainly am no historian, but it is quite common knowledge that King Nasher was not fond of his title."

Vala: "He wasn't. Grandmere said it often. She said he and Gathen, my grandsire, felt much the same about it. That they would have been happier on bedrolls in the wilds than in the castle."

Sildar: "He was not one to suffer uselessness or hereditary nobility. He was a truly self-made man."

Vala: "Truly. It's why we thought elections were so important. But as Bann said, heroes are not always the best rulers."

Sildar: "In fact, many of them are unfit. They often tend toward the reckless. Which is why many of them don't survive long enough to become rulers."

Vala: Vala laughs, "Bann always said that was a lucky side effect. Like the worst lords and their love of drink. Some remove themselves from the board."