[ORP] Moorstead Farm

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Texas_Knight
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Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 12:16 am

Re: [ORP] Moorstead Farm

Post by Texas_Knight »

Tk smiled and hugs Hexa real big and lifts her from Aida's lap. "I've missed you too dear girl. Those boots are made from some strong creatures. You should wear them when you go outside. Yes, a bath! It's what keeps us from stinking" TK laughs and sets the little one down on the floor before looking again at his wife. "Care to wash my back dear?" he says with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes.
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Viscount of Northwood and Royal Guard
Aida

Re: [ORP] Moorstead Farm

Post by Aida »

She grinned widely as TK entered, smelling the hunt on him and observing tonights dinner hanging from his back. She tried not to squeal - typical man - as he embraced her and instead let out something between a laugh and a squeak, turning into a slight groan of pain as Hexa jumped up and down with excitement on her lap, "Careful there, moonbeam. And yes, my love, you do need a bath. And yes," she laughed, "I will prepare one for us shortly, as soon as Rhoslyn has tried on her gift."

The exta large tub she had brought in had come in useful after all... if only she could make her adopted daughter more open to the idea of bathtime, running down to the lake everytime she needed a wash on the guise of a days swimming was getting exhausting, despite the pleasant weather. What on earth she was going to do at the advent of winter... well, Aida had no idea. Probably running around the house with a wet cloth in one hand and an object of bribery in the other. She dreaded to think.

The new wife and mother - something she had never expected to become - smoothed the child's hair down as TK picked her up and smiled at them both, turning a little red and trying not to make eye contact with Rhoslyn at the back scrubbing comment. Giving her husband a knowing look, she turned to the older girl and leant forward on the table, "How do you like it? I figure when you're ready you'll want to go hunting yourself at some point."
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Texas_Knight
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Re: [ORP] Moorstead Farm

Post by Texas_Knight »

The summer and fall had come and gone too fast. The time had slipped away as things settled into a routine of sorts. TK had taken a journey to see his old homeland and Aida and the rest had stayed home to tend things that needed tending to get things ready for the winter.

Aida was pouring much of herself into the cathedral in addition to her other duties. Sadly this took a toll on her being and on her body. When TK returned from his journey he found his wife ill and sought attention for her. Unfortunately his beloved wife had progressed too far to be rescued from the condition she was in at the time. She fell into a deep sleep and showed only momentary signs of returning to the world of the living and the awakened. TK sought out the best mages he could, the best sorcerers available, the best herbalists and healers. He received the same answer from all of them
"She's just too weak to return. Her body has shut down due to what appears to be exhaustion. We do not know when she will recover." None of those answers are what TK wanted to hear.

He stayed by his wife's side as much as he could. He hired the best caretakers around to look after her every second of every day and night. If she awoke... WHEN she awoke, they were instructed under pain of death to inform him immediately no matter the time of day or night, no matter where he was or what he was doing. He waited, he worked, he prayed to the mages and spirits. He kept the faith and he loved her and remained ever faithful to his bride. He knew the day would come when she would open her eyes and he would be able to see the life in her once again.
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Duke_of_Earl
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Re: [ORP] Moorstead Farm

Post by Duke_of_Earl »

Duke drops by the front door with freshly killed mouse in his jaws.
He deposits the mouse by the door looking forlornly at the structure for a moment before turning back into the woods to hunt up something else.
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NAME, RACE, -banner by Aida
Gemma

Re: [ORP] Moorstead Farm

Post by Gemma »

News is slow to arrive to the northern wastelands. Weeks had passed since Gemma set out with Bloodstone, her cart, and the two mules. They had carefully packed provisions to last a couple months. Now these were starting to run low. Meals were supplemented with the wild fruits they had come to harvest, cutting into their bottom line, and the occasional squirrel or juicy rabbit.

The cart made for slow travel over the little-used roads and scarcely a day went by that she and Bloodstone didn't find themselves clearing trees from the path, coaxing the mules through wash-outs, or detouring around some insurmountable obstacle.

This night, a dusky twilight found Gemma before the evening fire, not yet burning hot enough to throw any real warmth, unfinished (and unreliable) map spread on her lap, chewing the back of her pencil as she stared absently into the fire. She was startled to alertness by a rustle in the underbrush and the sound of two footfalls, not just Bloodstone's steady tread. The waning light revealed Bloodstone, gripping a still-dripping rabbit in one large fist and the elbow of a skinny, dirty boy in the other.

"I see you rustled up company as well as dinner" she said as he unceremoniously deposited the boy in front of her and turned to skin the rabbit.

Over roasted rabbit stuffed with dates and lemon, the last of the corn mush, and ersatz coffee, it was revealed that the boy, Rayne, had traveled as far south as Rome and was returning to his family among one of the northern tribes. Once full of supper, Rayne was full of news from the south.

Had they heard about the festivities in Verdilla? The elections in Bravia? That Aida Redmoor was dead?

That last struck Gemma deeply. She had few friends and, for the most part, was happy that way. But Aida had gone out of her way to befriend her. She thought of the times Aida had included her in tavern conversations, the lessons on weaponry and which gems were best, and the unfinished map in her backpack. She may not have made it this far without Aida. Of course, there was nothing she could do about any of it way up here in the middle of this wilderness. She walked into the woods, out of the reach of the dancing firelight, so man and boy would not see her cry.
Aida

Re: [ORP] Moorstead Farm

Post by Aida »

She woke to an empty room. That was nothing unusual, sometimes TK hunted late into the night, and other times she grabbed sleep elsewhere. But the stiffness in her limbs failed to subside as she attempted to sit up, an aching pain in her chest that seemed to threaten to tear her apart. Something was different.

The curtains were closed, and rugs covered every part of the floor, the walls. Draped over furniture, over chests, the room had taken on a strange, womb-like aura. A single lamp illuminated the room from the closed off windowsill. A funeral lamp, the kind they lit in the window when someone had died.

She sat up in a panic, as the events of the last few months rushed back in a flood of memories, causing her to claw the sheets as though drowning.

"Oh, my Lady! Wait, wait."

She perhaps screamed.

The young acolyte flinched, but said nothing, his expression as though one had knocked over a house of cards, as all of a sudden all manner of creature rushed in, fussing and hopping and attempting to administer her all manner of concoction in a dizzying flurry. Mages, herbalists, temple acolytes. A couple of wise-women, the witch from up the lane. The city physician, the royal physician....

She screamed again.

The young acolyte, grey robed, with dark hair and a look on his face that suggested long-suffering, merely clapped his hands in a surprisingly authoritative manner.

"I must insist," he said gently, as the room fell silent, "That the patient be left alone for a time. You may enter one at a time to examine her. I suggest you tell the rest of the quacks downstairs they can leave now."

They turned to look at her. She opened her mouth to speak, trying very hard to remember how words worked.

"Leave," she managed to croak.

They did.

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She did not see the young Brother again for a few days. The royal physician, who had come to tend to her, begrudgingly admitted it was his talents as a necromancer that had kept her alive.

"I still say necromancy has no place in the Light faith," he declared, taking a sample of blood.

Aida could not form the words to argue.

The steady stream of people her husband had engaged thinned out considerably after she awoke. The carpets were taken down from the window, despite the protests of the city physician who insisted the darkness was nurturing, and golden light streamed in from the dusty window, illuminating her pale skin and straw-like hair. Not even the comfort of a warm bath, drawn in the copper tub by her weeping maid made her look any better, and the stiffness in her arms and legs refused to subside.

I should be dead echoed constantly in her mind.

She left her bed and the house after a few days, despite their many protests, seeking out familiar ground with which to orient herself. Saw her husband and allowed herself to lean on him, and bless him, despite all that she had put him though, he let her.

People flitted around, her steward and handmaiden, the county steward that had come to visit. Even the kitchen lads Lodd and Todd hovered nervously about, watching as though they could not quite believe she were real. It occurred to her that in her time away, it was not only her life that hung in the balance. She pushed away the pang of guilt in her stomach, and made for a long walk.


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