(Collab with
@Azaryin )
"Rolton...Rolton...Rolton..." Glenn muttered under her breath as she moved through the slowly deteriorating camp. All around her tents were being collapsed as the army prepared to move out. More than once she had to make a quick sidestep as a team of soldiers rushed by with planks and scaffolding under their arms, and twice she had to step of the well beaten path to let an over cumbered cart make its way down the road. The sheer volume of people was starting to weigh heavily on Glenn's mind, that black part of her mind that she had long locked away stared longingly out of its cage and licked its chops eagerly. It was true she had stayed in cities before, but she had never done so for very long, never being able to justify the risk, and yet now here she was standing in the middle of a moving city. One that she had tethered herself to for who knows how long. Doubts that she had patiently silenced on her way here now crept back up to gnaw at her confidence. What if a battle started during the full moon, if she was dragged into a fight at her weakest she could give no guarantee that her will would hold.
As her mind turned to darker and darker thoughts there was a point were she almost just turned and walked away only to be stopped by the sight of a large crudely painted sign lying in front of a dissembled tent most likely waiting to be packed onto a waiting cart. The sign had been painted with the symbol of the healers' trade, a large circle with four arrows pointing in the four cardinal directions with an open hand at the base of the arrows in the center of the circle. Looking around Glenn spotted four individuals standing before a tall grey haired man who wore the blue robes of a master of his trade. He seemed to be talking rather heatedly to the four gathered in front of him, but he broke off what his tirade as he spotted Glenn cautiously approaching.
"What do you want?!" He snapped and as Glenn attempted to splutter something out he cut her off with another dismissive gesture. "We are packed, unless it is serious you can wait!"
At this point he seemed to expect Glenn to turn tail and run in the opposite direction. Instead after a few moments of him staring incredulously at her and she taking a few moments to compose herself she took a step forward and offered him the form that she had been handed once she has handed her own application in. It was promptly snatched from her hand and, who she was sure was Sir Roltun, flicked his eyes across the paper.
"Ah." Roltun said, his tone almost disappointed. "I see..."
He glanced Glenn up and down before letting out what was unmistakably a defeated sigh.
"Fine, you shall be assigned to work with Janus until you have been fully evaluated. We are to move out shortly so you may do what you wish until the orders are finalized." He spoke quickly and curtly, pausing only once to gesture towards a boy, the one he called Janus, a scrawny, pale haired thing of about 19. With that he turned on his heel, the other four following in his wake like ducklings as he went to yell at some of the men who had begun to pack some large wooden trucks that had been stacked neatly in a pile.
There was little for Glenn to do, all her things were already packed, her application was handed in, and she had been given permission to roam around a bit until the marching orders came in. So she instead perched herself back a ways from the main road and brought out a plain leather bound book and began to jot down some notes in the journal. Since she had done this last night in the inn before she had gone to bed there was not much to add, that is until she heard a commotion coming from the main path and saw a woman in vibrant red stride past.
She had seen several officers darting about but this woman was different, her robes competing with the Generals' for quality. Shoving her journal into a fold in her shirt she quickly shouldered her pack and dodged back out onto the main road her curiosity getting the better of her. It appeared that the woman was following one of the Quartermasters, towards the city entrance from what it looked like. Whispers drifted into her sharp ears, mage, Azerlanael, dragons, words that fueled Glenn's curiosity and made her far bolder than she probably should be.
"Cudsul, that is a fair ways from here, specially for a child of Azerlanael." Glenn finally ventured, her voice barely picking up over the rumblings of the soldiers on all sides. Her quiet steps had brought her almost within step of the woman, her nose working to filter out all of the background to focus of a single scent.
It was a hell of a thing to have a mage in as heroic reinforcements, and Kerrick made no effort to hide his excitement in front of the stand, making dramatic gestures with his arms, pointing at the documents, looking rather triumphant. When the man at the stand started to look confused, Kerrick just pointed in Torena's direction. Unfortunately, the General had moved on from his rousing speech, leaving Torena a bit out in the cold. She reached out tentatively, the words to stop his exit just barely about to leave her open mouth, but instead drew her hand back in over her chest. There'd be time to speak with the general during their advance, surely, and risking making a scene about the thing would just be improper. But, maybe...
A soft voice from behind her caught her attention, causing her to perk up. She edged forward, thinking to ignore it and pursue the General now, but the words were
knowing, and caused Torena to halt immediately. Someone
knew of her Order. In fact, that someone spoke of it with a fair amount of reverence it seemed. A smile started to grow on her face before she turned to face the speaker.
What she saw gave her pause. The voice she heard felt soft, and her unscarred features were fitting of a young woman somewhere in her twenties. She seemed like she could've been nobility at one point, but something in her eyes spoke to a different kind of life experience. And the way she
knew Torena was a follower of Azerlanael... very interesting.
Once Torena was satisfied with her assessment of the presumably young woman before her, she drew in a breath and responded. "Yes... yes, it is," she said with a bitter chuckle, speaking clearly of what the journey across must've been.
"We've sought to spread Her influence for some time now," she explained, "The Order saw this war as a grand opportunity." She then looked at Glenn with puzzlement. There was a number of questions on the tip of her tongue, but she wasn't sure where to begin.
Glenn was a careful observer and as Torena looked her up and down she measured the woman with her own gaze. The tattoos over the woman's eye were quick to draw her attention and she itched to grab one of her many notebooks from her pack and sketch down the pattern, but she kept herself disciplined, from her experience most did not like to be diagrammed out like some specimen on first meeting. Torena's bitter laugh drew sympathy from Glenn's own abused feet and earned herself a knowing chuckle in reply.
"Can't be easy, suspicion is as powerful as ever." She said rubbing her ear in thought. At Torena's last statement, however, Glenn cracked a smell and let out another soft chuckle as she met Torena's vibrant amber eyes with her own dark brown ones. "Although seems war is usually an opportunity for those who don't fight it."
With that she extended a hand and gave Torena a lopsided smile. "The names Glenn."
Torena chewed on the inside of her cheek and glanced at Glenn's hand, grasping the cloth of her robes, but soon after put her hand in Glenn's and took the gesture as normal. "Torena," she replied with a ghost of a smile, meeting her gaze again.
There was a sudden shiver up her spine. Torena held back a gasp, and tried to return her smile to cover it up, but it was hard to hide her curiosity as her mouth hung open slightly. There something was strange about this woman, and there were still questions to ask. It was something vaguely familiar, maybe? Something... arcane, in some sense of the word.
"You... you hide something..." she murmured suspiciously, slipping her hand out of Glenn's, "You knew I was a follower of Azerlanael before I even turned around." She
spoke like she was suspicious, but she smiled like she were
impressed. Torena tilted her head at Glenn. "How did you...?"
Glenn almost missed the hint of a shiver that flitted up Torena's spine as her gaze strayed back to the markings on the woman's face. From this distance she could now easily filter out all the background clutter and pungently sweet scent of blood tickled her nose. So not a tattoo, that would be something of interest once she was able to get her notes out, she would had to remember to ask Torena if it was a common practice. But, sharp eyes caught the small movement and she watched as the woman's mouth hung loose on its hinge. Lacking that extra sense Glenn could only speculate as to what exactly was going through the woman's head, at least until Torena next spoke.
In a heartbeat the soft smile slide from her face and while outwardly she had a stony composure her eyes betrayed a flash of what could only be terror. Her grasp became limp allowing Torena's hand to slip easily out of her own, but as the woman continued to talk she managed to regain a bit of composure.
"Yes, well..." She cleared her throat as she smiled again, perhaps a bit more forced this time but there none the less. "I travel...a lot..."
What was she going to say, that she could smell the fire and soot coming off of her, that she had helped hunt and kill a single member of their ranks after a nasty attack by a small pack of werewolves, that she just really liked eavesdropping.
"It was my job to know a bit of everything, I have met one or two of your sect before. If mostly in...passing."
Years of reading people through expression and magic let Torena catch that tell. She squeezed her eyes narrower for a split second as she caught on, but maintained her smile and let Glenn explain herself, leaning forward with an expectant nod. Her lips slowly parted and started to show a grin. She knew she found something, but... perhaps now wasn't a good time to press the issue. It would be improper.
"Ah, yes," she said knowingly, "I imagine it could only have
been in passing..."
Torena narrowed her eyes and looked over Glenn again. There must've been something key she missed that made her worthy of being seen as a 'Hero' by Tarabon. Maybe it was in her work history? But, with that last question... Torena recognized she was being just a bit aloof and tried loosen up a bit. Folding her hands in front of her, softening the look in her eyes, lightening her tone a bit should help ease whatever tension there was. After all, this was hardly a way to treat a new acquaintance.
That decided, Torena opened her mouth to speak. Then... closed it, and paused to think of how to drive the subject away from the uncomfortable line of questioning she had planned. This wasn't an inquisition; it was a
social interaction. "My job within my Order was... is... quite similar," she told Glenn, "Though, the travels and the flow of information were more local."
"What
was your profession, if I may know?" She asked with genuine curiosity in her tone. Much better. Much more... amiable.
Had it not been for the years that she had spent guarding her secrets Glenn might have gone completely paper white. Even so it took a lot to keep her face from betraying anymore than it already had. There was a quiet stretch were her thoughts turned once again to abandoning the friends she had come to help in favor of saving her hide. As the black thoughts started to crowd her resolve suddenly strengthened, she had lived for years among hunters, both with those who knew her secret and those who didn't. She was no stranger to suspicion, if anything the first full moon would be her test, most all of the people she had ever met banished their suspicions when they saw her sit peacefully through the full moon. Hopefully that old trick would serve her well here.
"Ah, well, I was a werewolf hunter I suppose, or at least I helped hunters, I was a record keeper, diplomat, and healer when they needed it." She said with a shrug. Occasionally she had stepped into the fight but the risk was great enough that she tended to avoid it.
"It might hold up to be power of a mage but it has kept bread on the ta-" Glenn was interrupted as a shout rang out and like some great lumbering beast the army shook off its tethers and mobilized. Casting a gaze to the crowd Glenn sighed heavily through her nose.
"I suppose that is my signal to depart, I am to travel with the other healers." she said with a nod down the path she had come from. Part of her was almost relieved for a break from the conversation, with so much to process the monotony of the road would be a balm for her mind, but part of her truly hoped that this would not be the very last she saw of the mage. At the very least she felt she had to throw Torena of her scent, and if things went well there might just be a few new pages added to her notes.
The word 'werewolf' made Torena shift uncomfortably for a second, digging her sharp nails into the cloth of her robes, but the surprise easily mixed back in with the approving nod she gave Glenn. She looked over Glenn's unscarred, uncalloused hands, and suddenly they made sense. Glenn wasn't a soldier at all. She certainly
was a healer. And the vibe about possibly being nobility... a record keeper and diplomat? None were roles to scoff at, healer least of all. Torena watched Glenn's face, looking intently over her features once more, trying to burn the image into her mind. If worse came to worst on the battlefield, simply knowing a magical healer could make all the difference.
"You're certainly a welcome asset, Glenn," she told her with a grin, "Practitioners of the healing arts are hard to come by." The grin faded as she shifted her eyes toward the shout from behind her, which cascaded into more shouts further and further through the troops to relay the message. Getting time to march. Torena gave no words for Glenn's departure. Just a ghost of a smile and a bow, and then she silently broke away to (hopefully) meet with the General.
Torena's eyes drifted away from the crowding soldiers to the ground as she walked. A look of concern slowly came over her. Something Torena did spooked Glenn, if even for a moment, but she couldn't pick out what it meant. Maybe not now... maybe it didn't matter. Torena shook her head and resolved to focus on discussing a couple things with the General. Like... what the army might expect of her.