Inevitable (storyline)/Unsettled (vignette)
Topic: Mist Harbor
Message #: https://forums.play.net/forums/GemStone%20IV/Cities,%20Towns,%20and%20Outposts/Mist%20Harbor/view/2400
Author: GS4-QUILIC
Date: 01/13/2021
Subject: Unsettled - An 'Inevitable' Vignette
Ilsola Tuulikki shivered slightly as she made her way through Gardenia Commons. She'd never cared for the winter months, even though they barely touched the tropical climate of her chosen home. She swore she could feel the distant chill in her bones, as if the cold had seeped into her core all those years ago and resonated with the faraway ice and sleet for a few months each year.
Or, she admitted to herself, it was the motes.
Bright and merry, the glimmering bits of insubstantial energy lit up the evening air all around her. They carried no heat, no weight, and no form, but she swore she could feel their presence all the same, and she wished she had a heavier wrap. She lowered her head and continued her journey, watching over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't followed. That was a habit she'd forced herself to learn early on, the lesson conferred by a particularly obnoxious would-be suitor who had managed to follow her to her home one evening... and then returned hours later bolstered by plenty of liquid courage.
She slipped into her cottage quietly, waiting until the door was firmly closed to pull aside the drapes that faced away from town. The motes still rained down, and they cast a cacophony of multi-hued flickers around her home.
"At least I can't feel them any longer," she murmured to herself.
She removed her wrap and went to hang it in the nook next to the door, but something caught her eye as it fluttered to the floor. Brow furrowed, she picked up a small envelope and stared at it in confusion. She placed the wrap on its hook slowly, then turned with the envelope to hold it up to the flickering light.
In elaborate script, the envelope read: Attention: Ilsola Tuulikki
Ilsola sighed, feeling herself relax. Another petitioner of one sort or another. She was grateful that her job was fairly mundane, but she did get a fair amount of correspondence from one merchant or another seeking to eke out some small advantage against their competitors. She assumed that this was likely more of the same, and tossed the envelope on a small table in one corner, where it took its place amongst several others she'd collected over the past month or so. She'd open it eventually, she mused. There was no point in encouraging this sort of thing with an immediate response.
Ilsola stretched then, feeling her lower back crack, and meandered back into the bedroom area to change into something a little more comfortable. Her plans for tonight involved a particularly sweet bottle of imported wine, perhaps a hot bath, and deep, blissful silence.
The knock at the door ended those plans as soon as they were made. Ilsola growled under her breath, weighing her options. She hadn't lit any lights yet, and just maybe whoever it was would-
The knocking came again, slightly more urgent.
"For the love of little green apples," she swore under her breath. She glanced at the wrap, but she was still dressed from work, so she left it where it was as she crossed to the door. Pitching her voice slightly lower than usual, she leaned close to the door and spoke.
"Who's there?"
"One bearing a message. It will be left on the stoop if you prefer."
The voice was quiet and melodic, and Ilsola could practically hear the deference in its tone.
"That... yes, please. On the stoop," she replied.
"As you say," the voice replied. Ilsola listened carefully, but heard no sound from the other side of the door. She counted breaths for a time, then cracked the door and peeked out. There was no sign of any presence, but on the stoop, as suggested, was a sealed message.
She crouched and stretched out an arm to snatch up the missive, feeling awkwardly exposed the whole while. Her eyes were wide, glancing all around to see if there was any sign of trouble, but the street was completely still and quiet. She drew the message back in and gently closed the door, pushing hard to make sure it was completely latched, then stood slowly and stared at the message in her hands.
In large, bold text, the message read simply, "Run."
There was no signature.
Ilsola felt a chill run up her spine, and she glanced at the closed door once more, then with jerky motions swung the heavy timber brace from its bracket down across the door, barring entry from the street side completely.
She let the message drop from her nerveless fingers and flutter to the floor as she turned once more for her bedchamber. All thoughts of the bath and the silence had fled her mind, but she was very much looking forward to the wine.
Her head ached the next morning, but she shrugged it off. The wine had done its job, and she was willing to pay the price for that. She started her day with a large mug of water, and headed for Hale Hall. She took her normal circuitous route, keeping a closer watch than usual, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Still, she couldn't escape the unsettling feeling in her gut. At least the motes had stopped, she thought.
Her day progressed as it normally did. She had a meeting with the Constable, who assured her that everything was running smoothly. She smiled to herself, remembering how she'd caught the man on all fours a few days before, a delighted pair of young twins astride his back as he brayed like a drunken mule. He was a departure from his predecessor in so many ways, she thought, and the thought made her smile break through her impassive facade.
Her good humor served her well through another pair of meetings, lunch with a prospective shopkeeper who wanted to talk about nothing except the fishing industry, and an afternoon responding to correspondence from a variety of individuals. Everything was so normal that she didn't even notice when the unsettling feeling had faded away. As she packed up for the evening, she noted that it had left and she wished it well wherever it had gone.
She watched a little more closely as she made her way home, but everything seemed as it always did, and she saw no suspicious figures of any sort. She chided herself for being silly as she did it, but she even looped around her own house once, as casually as she could manage, to see if she found anyone following her, or lurking behind the cabin. Still nothing, and she giggled a little to herself at her own foolishness as she approached her front door. It wasn't until she drew close that she saw it.
A wide yellow "X" had been painted on her door, large enough to spill over the edges and onto the door's frame.
The Constable had initially tried to play it all off as a prank, but he'd changed his tone fairly quickly when he'd seen how upset Ilsola was. He'd let himself in and made her some tea... and when he thought she wasn't looking he'd put a slug of something from a hip flask in with the honey and stirred it all together. She'd taken it without a word and sipped it gratefully.
"I don't know why it's shaken me so badly," she muttered, hating the way the cup shook slightly in her hands.
"You've been through a lot these past few years, Administrator. It's understandable that you'd be a little jumpy, truly. With your permission, I'll put a couple of guards on duty patrolling the area for the next few days, just to see if we can find out what we're dealing with."
Ilsola nodded slowly, but the unsettled feeling had taken root in the pit of her stomach once more, and she couldn't bring herself to respond verbally. The Constable took her silence as assent and quietly let himself out.
After he left, Ilsola avoided opening another bottle of wine, though it was a close thing, and the next morning she gave herself a stern talking-to, and firmly resolved to let the whole incident fall away from her mind. There was no logical reason to believe this was all anything more than an ill-considered prank, after all. She went about her morning routine with forced nonchalance, mentally diverting herself whenever the unsettled feeling returned. Her resolve held right up until she stepped out of her front door and glimpsed a similar yellow "X" on the door of a house at the end of the lane.