Open NPC Post [Saturday/Sunday]

[rowan_narrators]

After their arrival, the caravan sets up camp outside the oasis, pitching tents, lighting fires, setting a perimeter. Guardsmen start fetching water from the waterfall, hunting and gathering to replenish their own ill-stocked supplies.

Guardsmen can be encountered anywhere in the oasis, on their way to complete tasks, Saturday evening or Sunday

Comments

Clara - Saturday night

[gate_guardians]

Jason wanted to be found. He should have been more specific. 'Not by them.' Devorah was cautious and calculating as ever. She wanted to get a feel for the situation before they did anything, and that was fine with him. What was not fine with him was the way she kept on staring at him. He didn't want to be part of the situation she had to get a feel for, so just after sunset he left the cave. "I need some air." He didn't go far. Just down the rocks to the smaller cave a the base, hidden from the elements, shadowed from the world around him. He'd go back in the morning.

[rowan_narrators]

Clara picked her way across the dark ground, cautious -- well, cautious with where she put her feet, anyway. Wandering out into an oasis full of worldwalkers in the middle of the night probably wasn't anything her mother would call cautious.

She bent down and picked a flower, twirling it between her fingers as she stepped into the mouth of a cave.

[gate_guardians]

At first he wondered if Devorah had followed him, refusing to let it go that easily. The silhouette was too small, though, and the hair was curly. Leslie had straight hair, shorter than this girl. Jason didn't move, didn't say a word, just stared at his hands. As much as he wanted to see her, he didn't want to have to talk to her.

It was almost enough to make him go back to Devorah, but that would also mean going back to Cordelia and Cherry, and he just didn't feel up to it.

[rowan_narrators]

"Hello?" Clara called, noticing the other person in the cave. She dug in her pocket for a sorcerer's light, and directed it towards the other person.

Her mouth fell open, in shock and recognition.

"You're trespassing!" she accused. "This is human territory."

[gate_guardians]

"I'm not here by choice," Jason assured her, voice tight. "I was brought here by the Druid, the same way everyone else was. I never had any intention of coming back to this place."

[rowan_narrators]

"Sure," she drawled, checking to make sure her knife was still stowed away in her sleeve. Her mother didn't like her having weapons on her, but she found it came in handy more often than not. "You're a liar, like you always were."

He used to read her bedtime stories. She remembered that.

[gate_guardians]

Jason offered her a lopsided grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Don't forget a drunk and a gambler, Princess. I worked hard for those titles."

She wasn't the only one who remembered the stories. Climbing trees in the palace gardens. Always there to catch her if she fell.

[rowan_narrators]

Clara stepped a little further into a cave, perching back on an outcropping of rock. "And a traitor," she added. "And a murderer. And an -- an -- an idiot."

The words might have been antagonistic, but her tone was only bruised, hurt.

[gate_guardians]

Jason nodded once. "That's what they tell me. Well, not the idiot part. That's really just you." Lie. As though one more would matter. "Does your mother have any idea where you are? You're going to be in so much trouble when she finds out you've been talking to traitors and murderers and idiots."

[rowan_narrators]

"Doubt it," said Clara. "Tutor called you an idiot all the time." In more words, usually, though.

She crossed her arms, ignoring the question about her mother. "Why'd you do it?"

[gate_guardians]

Jason waved a hand dismissively. "Never cared what he thought of me. Pompous stuffed shirt."

As for her question - he could try to ignore it, but she wouldn't quit. It just wasn't in her. She got that from her father. "Why do you think I did it? I'd rather hear your theory than the boring old truth."

[rowan_narrators]

"I dunno," she said, frowning. "I thought you loved me." And that was true, but that wasn't why she said it. She said it to make him feel guilty. Real guilty. People always listened to her more when they felt guilty.

[gate_guardians]

Guilt. He already had plenty of that, but not for the reasons she probably thought. "Oh, come on, everybody loves you, Princess. Kind and sweet and well-behaved. A model of feminine virtue and grace." She needed to leave. "How could I not love you? I suppose the bigger question is, how could you love me?"

[rowan_narrators]

"Sure," said Clara, flatly. "Even though you liked it better when we were chucking apples at the gardener than when we were doing dancing lessons." Though who didn't hate dancing lessons? Really.

Wait.

"You're avoiding the question!" she accused. She should know; she did it often enough.

[gate_guardians]

"I take offense at that remark," Jason teased her. "Your courtly manner is lacking. What would your father say if he could see you now?"

[rowan_narrators]

"He'd probably open his mouth and then fall over trying to stand and talk at the same time," said Clara. "And I didn't do anything to you. I don't see why you'd want to -- hurt me."