Clipped Wings (storyline)/Finit (vignette)
Clipped Wings - Finit - Things Known and Unknown
Originally posted on the official forums by GS4-QUILIC on 01/29/2020 10:16 AM CST.
Greth polished the bar, though he was fully aware that all he was accomplishing was staying busy. He couldn't wrap his head around it all, but that wasn't an unfamiliar sensation for him. He wasn't a smart man, and he was comfortable with that fact. But this time... he just wasn't sure what to make of it all.
Selbi... The Flock... that 'Essit' girl... and Socius. Greth felt a quiver of fear run through him at the thought of the man. He'd gotten used to Socius always being around, always nearby. Greth heard more whispers than most, and he'd heard what the man had been doing while Selbi's game had played out. Food and coins being distributed in the dead of night, beatings diverted... and turned on the attackers tenfold. Socius had been tireless, and the townsfolk had known it, and it had given them a sense of hope.
It had done the same for Greth. There was no denying Socius had been a lunatic, Greth thought. The man had committed cold-blooded atrocities time and again, and Greth wasn't sure the man was even capable of "feeling" the same way as everyone else. But he'd been the town's lunatic. It's always easier to appreciate a furious grizzly bear when you're the one she's protecting, after all.
And now he was gone... and the town was... Greth couldn't finish the thought. There was just too much uncertainty, in his mind. Selbi gone, Socius dead, Ilsola back in control... He supposed things would just die down to their previous levels of comfort, before all the craziness has started up. But that's not what his gut told him.
He stuck the rag in a pocket and made his way to the small door behind the bar. He knocked once in forewarning, then let himself in. The kitchen was cramped, but not nearly as much as it had been just a few days prior. More of the cots were empty, he noted, and it was mainly the littler ones who were left. Except for the mama hen, he noted with a slight grin.
The giantman girl put her hands on her hips and growled at Greth.
"What's so funny?!" she demanded.
Greth put his hands up in a placating manner before he replied.
"Just checkin' to make sure everything's OK. Penre will be back in a day or two, I'm told, an' I wanna make sure ye lot are in good shape afore he gets here."
The girl's expression didn't decrease in intensity the slightest bit, but her voice came out several degrees warmer than it had been initially.
"We're fine. Thank you for the food this morning."
Greth nodded amiably, then noted, as casually as he could, "Looks like a few more left?"
The girl turned her intense gaze away from him to note the empty cots, then she nodded slowly.
"Left in the night, like the others. I've seen a couple of them around, and they say they're staying safe... they just don't take well to charity."
Greth grunted, then replied, "I kin appreciate that, I s'pose. They know they always got a place here, right?"
The girl's gaze was full of derision now as she regarded the man.
"You've only said it twelve times. In the last two days. I think we got the message."
Greth lifted his hands once more, then backed through the door slowly, his tone calm and even.
"Jus' checkin'. If y'all need anything, ye just let me know."
As he softly closed the door, he couldn't stop the grin from sliding across his face.
She twitched slightly and groaned, the movement sending waves of agony up her side. Her shackled hands remained locked to the blackened iron ring overhead, and her toes barely grazed the stone floor below as she twitched. One eye was swollen completely shut, but the other's eyelid had been cut away so she could still see.
They wanted her to see, after all. That was part of it.
She was to be a warning, they had said. They wanted tales of her punishment to border on the legendary... to prevent any from choosing the same path. And so they kept her alive, but only barely. There wasn't a whole lot left to her, she knew. They'd taken pieces, and done their utmost to make sure it had hurt as much as possible.
Despite the lack of teeth... she grinned.
The tremors were constant now, and she could feel them throughout her shattered body. The sickness was coming for her, and would release her long before they wished her to depart. They were powerless, in other words, and so she grinned as they came for her once more.
Hours later, as best she could guess, the tremors redoubled, and she felt them disrupting the thready beating of her heart. The sensation made her gasp, and her breathing became suddenly ragged. None of her tormentors were in evidence to witness it, and she breathed a shaky sigh of relief as numbness spread through her limbs.
As Selbi's eyes began to roll back in her head, her final thought was a lament for the terrible cost of her soul, and her final whisper was one of heartfelt thanks.
The terrain was unfamiliar, but then they all were. Instinct was all that remained, and in this, the figure was nothing more than a wild thing. It slept, it hunted, it ate, and it hid. What more was there, after all? It watched as a small herd of roltons was driven by, a shepherd hot on their hooves, and the figure tensed. It was time to hunt once more.
So familiar... and yet completely unfamiliar at the same time. She walked the corridors of Hale Hall, and she visited the shops, and her feet remembered every step. This was her home, but so much had transpired that it felt... alien somehow. The air had changed, though the mist remained, as always. The tropical breezes were just as sweet as they had always been, and she still took the same simple pleasures in dipping her toes into the water and listening to the cry of the birds. But there was no mistaking it... things were changed, now and forever.
She'd listened to Selbi closely, and taken many notes, but it was still hard to digest. Selbi had been, somehow, working on behalf of the town the whole time. She'd double-crossed the Flock, ruthless and cold in her machinations in a way that was just... wrong. And Socius... the enigmatic man had been a party to it all. It seemed too much to take in, but the evidence of her own eyes had confirmed the story. The Flock members were wandering around the town, nasty scars in clear evidence, and though their gazes weren't exactly pleasant... there had been no mischief from them either.
The guard had been restored, such as it was. She sighed a little at the thought of that imbecile in charge, but Selbi had assured her... things would be dying back down now, and the idiot at least had experience enough. And if greater threats should arise, there was the Militia. She shifted uncomfortably at the thought, but Selbi had assured her that the Militia members... and the former "Defenders"... were as stalwart as could be desired, and had proven time and again their ability to stand fast and defend the Isle when there was a need.
Her feet carried her to the cemetery while her mind drifted, and she blinked in surprise to find herself standing before the obelisk. She read the words again, and carefully gathered up the flowers that had been left into a small bouquet that she laid atop the nearby pedestal. She stared at the cliff face, her gaze distant, and then she began to speak.
"You terrified me, you know. You had a savagery of purpose that I could never hope to understand... but none could doubt your heart. You will be missed, dearly."
Lady Ilsola turned and left the cemetery, heading back to Hale Hall and the mountain of paperwork that awaited her. She would adjust to the changes in time, she knew. She just hoped she would be up to the next challenge, whenever it came.
OOC note:
Another storyline come and gone, and once again, I simply don't have the words to thank you all properly for bringing this story to life. Your commitment and enthusiasm made it magical, as always, and I couldn't be more grateful for you all. As always, I won't name names, out of a certainty that I would overlook someone, and that would be a travesty.
There are two mysteries in the above post. One blatant, one subtle. I'll leave you to play with them as you like. When we get rolling again... they may take on a certain relevance.
Thank you again, Q
-GM Quilic