• Closed • The Message

[Faith Augustin]

85th Vhalar, 716

A request from Lady Elyna carried with it a weight of responsibility and a need to act quickly on any given trial. But on this one, and about this topic, never had it been more important. Lady Elyna was in Andaris and there was news that must be given to Malcolm. Only to him. Lady Elyna had been upset, Faith thought, when she had called for her, frustrated perhaps at the lack of movement by others to find him. Their reasons why, the young slave knew, but that made no difference to her. Lady Elyna wanted her to find Malcolm and she wanted it done with as much haste as was possible. That was all that the earnest young woman had needed and so with a very heartfelt "As you say, Lady Elyna. I will see to it, try not to worry" she had asked brief and speedy questions about what she was allowed to say and what she was not, and then she was out in the street, ready to take up her task.

There were a number of places which she might look and Faith briefly considered the logistics of it. He was a Professor at the University and he was a Knight Captain. Both of those places were relatively close to where she was and, since it was the middle of the trial, it was entirely possible that he was there. The house where she and Lady Elyna had chatted and made clothing was a full break away on foot. So, it made sense to go to the closest places first. Pausing for just a moment, she drew up a list of the places she would go and in the order she would do them. Not sure where he would be, she plotted it in terms of being the most efficient. She hoped. The University, the Barracks and then the Sparring Grounds. If she was unsuccessful in those places, she would go to their house. If he was not there, then she would have to reconsider.

Therefore, she put her head down and she ran to the University as her first stop. She knew that she was not allowed into the university, but she did not care one jot, and in each place that she had to go to she arrived, having jogged at the fastest that she could without driving herself into the ground and making herself faint (she would be no use then) she made her way to the receptionist, or the closest there was. There she stated quite clearly "I am looking for Ser Malcolm Krome I have an urgent message for him from his wife" there was just no point going anywhere else, it would complicate matters dreadfully. "Which I have been instructed I must give to him and only him. Please, is he here or do you know his whereabouts?" she asked, earnestly.

If she got nowhere in the places in the town itself, when she got to their home, Faith would knock on the door and wait, patiently. If there was no answer, she would peer through the window to see if there were any signs of anyone being home recently, and check the field where the horses lived and the barn, calling "Hello!? Is there anyone here?" as she did.

If it took her the trial, the night and the next trial, she was going to find him, she determined. All concern about it being him had fled from her as had concern about being out of breath and sweaty. This was a job she had to do and do it she would.

[Malcolm]

Faith had disturbed a very boring mathematics lecture which saw the whole hall turn about to look at her. A girl at the back nearest the door laughed and pointed. “Go back to the entrance way near the front desk and take a right, his classroom is at the end and of the hall in the history department, his name is on the door, you can't miss it,” she smiled and turned back to the lesson at hand.

Malcolm was suffering from what could only be described as the worst hangover of his life. His head was pounding, pulse thudding in his ears as he tried to jot down the correct notes on the backboard from the textbook he held in his left hand. There were about eighty odd students sat behind him, all scribbling down the notes into their books furiously. Other than the scratch of quill on paper, the room was silent, and yet the man found the noise maddening. What had he been thinking? Deciding to drink with the crew until the wee hours when he knew he had a lecture to give the following morning had been a terrible idea.
After a bath, three glasses of water and a good brush of his teeth, he still felt like something the cat had dragged in. The man stood in black leather pants, boots, and a tabard, with a long, dark cloak hanging from his shoulders across his back. His hair was a mess of black curls, swept back behind his ears to tickle the back of his neck. Faith’s entrance seemed to go unnoticed by him, but not by any of the students attending his lecture, some of whom twisted in their seats to look at her.
“Out!” He pointed without turning around, sounding extra grouchy on account of his lack of sleep and terrible headache. “You know the rules, be here on time or don't be here at all.”

[Faith Augustin]

"Thank you. Thank you so much. I am so very sorry to interrupt your lecture" she said, backing out of the mathematics lecture and turning to follow the directions given to her. But it was like she knew this place and as much as she did not stop to notice it, there were bits about it that were familiar. Like she had seen them in a dream. But she knew which dream, because she had remembered it, back when she and Master had gone to speak to his cousin, Lord Venora she had told them of the dream that she had in a classroom in what seemed very much to be this place. That dream was of the man she was now rushing to see and she wondered, briefly, and certainly not for the first time, just what that dream had meant. But it did not matter now, she chastised herself, she just had to stay focused and get to him. Back to the entrance way, take a right and the room at the end of the corridor.

Yes, there it was, with his name on it. She skidded to a halt for a brief moment before opening the door, suddenly aware that she had run here, her legs felt heavy and she was sweating.

Entering the room she was aware that there were other people in the room. The students, that was, and a lot of them, but she did not see them. She saw him. He looked tired, she thought, judging by the slight stoop in his shoulders. He did not turn around but he spoke. Out he told her, his voice determined and forceful and Faith felt the breath catch in her throat, her mouth suddenly dry. She knew everything that had happened but every dream and thought and wish about him fell in around her and the young woman realised that she had stood, staring at him for what felt like an eternity. In truth, it was just a few trills.

"I" she could not quite form words and what would happen then? Oh this was ridiculous, she decided and she spoke again, more forcefully than the slight squeak which had escaped her moments before. "I am not a student. I have a message for you. I must speak with you" she said and she wondered for a moment what the heck she should call him. By all the Immortals, she thought, she thought of him as Malcolm. She couldn't call him that she would die there and then. She settled with not calling him anything at all. "Everything is fine, but I must speak to you now." she insisted and then waited to see whether she was going to have a piece of chalk (just like the one he'd used to draw a rabbit, she remembered, as though it were important) flung at her head. But he could fling what he liked, she wasn't leaving so they could argue in front of his students if needs be.

[Malcolm]

Malcolm continued with his work and finished the sentence he was on before putting the chalk down and turning about to address the stranger. He started speaking before he had even set eyes on her and his voice wavered momentarily as he found her in the crowd, familiar, and yet… “I apologise, my lady, but…” he blinked away the startled look his features had registered for all of a second before stuttering to complete his line of thought. “Y-you'll just have to wait. The lecture will end in ten bits, please, take a seat.” Any further disapproval on Faith’s part would be met with a stern no.
A young man at the front of the room threw his hand up, the class had been discussing economics and the current financial state of the kingdom. “Ser, you said trade with countries outside of Rynmere was more important now than ever, but shouldn't we focus on infrastructure and rebuilding Lowtown? If the crown pours all of our tax into trade, won't that slow progress down?”
The knight glanced at the boy, finding himself looking back at Faith every now and then, he knew her, he just knew it, but where from? “I see where you're going with that thought,” he acknowledged, “and it's a good one, why not focus on rebuilding the slums? They house most of our workforce after all, the men and women who tend to the fields, our smiths, our bakers, and fishermen. Why would the noble council advise the king to turn to trade?”
The students started calling out and Malcolm recorded some of their ideas quickly, allowing them to brainstorm. All ideas were accepted in his class and any misconceptions were discussed. The knight had a very inclusive style of teaching, promoting a classroom environment that made his students feel as if their ideas and thoughts were valued, and thus they trusted him and each other enough to say what they believed was right.
The conversation soon circled back to the topic at hand and Malcolm wrote the word ‘food’ in big, bold, capital letters. “After the war and the flooding, I don't know what you all plan to eat during Cylus, but I can tell you now there won't be any bread, there won't be any fruit, vegetables, grains, or milk if we don't start trading right now,” he told them. “So go buy yourselves some chickens if you don't want to eat daisy,” he ended the lesson on a lighter note and called for them all to hand in their essays before they left.
The loud rustling of papers broke out as each of the students passed their essays forwards and one of the girls at the front of the class collected them for Malcolm. He put them down on his desk and thanked her, and with the class now dismissed, waved Faith down from the back of the room, his green eyes following her every move. still trying to work out where he knew her from.
“My apologies, unless it's an emergency I am not allowed to stop the lesson,” he informed her, “they pay a lot of money to listen to me ramble on,” words partner with a warm smile.

[Faith Augustin]

She wanted to argue with him, but he was reasonable in what he said and so the young woman dropped a curtsy and waited for him. "As you say" she said, her tone soft and she moved to wait where he instructed her. The young slave listened to what his lecture was about, soaking in knowledge and realising with a slight and rather sad smile that she had dreamt of this moment. Of sitting in one of his lectures and listening to his voice. He had a beautiful voice, she thought, melodic and deep. His intense green eyes watched his students and he was the kind of teacher that she had always known he would be. But whereas once those thoughts and the associated feelings were new and unusual to Faith, her relationship with Tristan had taught her a lot more about what kind of feelings she had for the man standing at the front of the class. That was bad, she knew, he was married, he was in love and worse than all of that, his wife was beautiful, kind and a woman that Faith cared deeply for. She felt like she was being unfaithful to Lady Elyna by having these feelings and yet, she could not stop them. So, she did what she knew she had to do and did her best to push them to one side.

Concentrating on the lesson, she listened to what the boy said but her face frowned slightly. It would be no good rebuilding Lowtown if no one there could eat. She considered carefully the boy's words and thought about it in terms of what she believed. The rebuilding of lowtown was a good goal and a necessary one, but the decimated fields and the food shortage was vital to be considered. Because food wouldn't grow fast enough to feed everyone who was rebuilding and no one would rebuild if they were starving. So trade had to be focused on first, in order to allow the workers to be able to rebuild. That made sense and, at one point, she found herself nodding along but then she saw Malcolm glance at her and she stopped, assuming that he did not appreciate a slave taking part. Him and the rest of the university, she knew, so she remained quiet, listening intently.

She watched the efficiency and practice with which they passed down their essays and Faith bit back a sigh. It was rare that she ever experienced envy, but here in this place she did. Yet she should not, she knew. Master had arranged a tutor for her and that was beyond kind of him. Yet, her philosophy on why not allowing slaves into the university was a stupid, short sighted and frankly ridiculous idea had not changed. Not one jot. Still, she made her way down and dropped a curtsy. "I am sorry to barge in like that. I am Faith, my Master has loaned me to Lady Elyna." she said, giving him time to recognise where she came from. She did not mention the time that they had met before, it was a fleeting moment for him, no doubt. Although, in the dream she had where she was cleaning his corpse (how strange, she thought, she hadn't remembered that dream till now) he'd remembered that her feet had been bare.

"She would like you to come, please, your baby is here" she said with a smile. "Born not two breaks ago". That was likely all he'd take in now, she considered and she waited for him to gather up what he needed to before they would leave, ready to answer any questions he might have.

[Malcolm]

There was no time to register who Faith was, though the name rang a bell and Elyna had said something about Tristan’s slave, the news of the baby’s birth had completely occupied his every waking thought. Malcolm closed his hands against the top of Faith’s arms excitedly. “What!” His eyes widened, mouth open, not sure if he should smile or yell at her for not insisting that he stop the lesson sooner.
He turned around to pushed a few things about on his desk as if to gather up what he needed before leaving the classroom, only to decide against taking anything. “A boy?” He looked back at Faith and held his hand up before she could say anything. “No, no, don't tell me,” he beamed, and then frowned all of the sudden. “Lady Elyna, is she well?” His eyes seemed to beg Faith for an answer, and quickly, but no answer would be hasty enough to beat his quick feet.
Malcolm raced the last of the students up the stairs to the exit and ran down the hall, ignoring their no running policy. He left the university on foot and sprinted all the way back to the townhouse to fetch his horse Mithril. In a sad turn of events, there was no way Faith would be able to keep up with him, but he imagined she had her own transport provided by the Burhan family, or Elyna herself.

Upon arrival, Malcolm all but raced the horse up the steps of the Burhan estate, dismounting just before the climb to take the stairs in pairs. He was stopped at the door, however, by the lady of the house, the Baroness of Burhan. You have got to be kidding me, the man thought to himself, he could tell by the look on the woman's face that she wasn't planning to let him go inside, not in any hurry at least.
Malcolm stopped a few feet from the door and put his hands on his hips, breathless from running most of the way here. “How's Elyna?”
“Fine, no thanks to you.”
The man breathed a sigh of relief and bowed to hold his legs above the knees. Thank the gods, he knew his dangerous childbirth could be, and was glad to hear that Elyna was okay. “Can I see her? Can I see them?”
“No,” the woman said coldly, “you'll wait.”

[Rumour]

Name: Faith

Knowledge:
Location: Rynmere University
Location: Malcolm’s History Classroom
Malcolm: Seen in a dream
Malcolm: Attractive
Malcolm: Your crush
Malcolm: His child was born on 85th Vhalar 716
Investigation: To find someone, start in the most likely location
Investigation: A good investigation starts with a plan
Investigation: If no one answers the door, try the window
Logistics: When time is short, start with the most efficient tasks
Logistics: The value of making lists
Logistics: How to prioritize a list
Logistics: How to plan for success
Endurance: Pace yourself
Navigation (Land): How to follow basic instructions
Navigation (Land): How to plot a course for success
Discipline: The importance of staying focused
Discipline: Persistence is a type of discipline
Persuasion: Sometimes it’s best to be blunt
Tactics: The importance of trade

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: +1 good deed for your loyalty to Elyna

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5

- - -

Name: Malcolm
Knowledge:
Faith: Oddly familiar
Your child was born on 85th Vhalar 716
Elyna: Survived childbirth
Discipline: Drinking the night before work is always a bad idea
Rhetoric: Acknowledge a point, and then counter
Teaching: How to use a student’s question to start a broader discussion
Teaching: Give students a chance to brainstorm before sharing your own answer
Teaching: The importance of building trust and inclusivity
Tactics: The importance of trade

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: N/A

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5

- - -

Comments: They've finally met in-person! Woohoo! And a baby! Ohmygoodness, so exciting! This was a nice little thread, you two. I think I would have liked to see a smidge more interaction between Malcolm and Faith, but I understand that this was intended to be a short, transitional thread to convey key information.

Faith, I loved reading about your character's loyalty to Elyna, her determination to carry the message to Malcolm, and her realization that Mal is the man she's been secretly crushing on. I'm not sure if you've read the story "A Message to Garcia." If not, definitely google it. Faith's determination reminds me a lot of that story!

Malcolm, I liked the set up of Mal being found teaching history in his classroom. His interactions with his students were fantastic (he's such a good teacher!) and I liked his response to Faith's interruption. I wish him all the best when he goes to see Elyna, poor chap. The drama of that last line got me like

Lovely writing, as always. Looking forward to your next one!

If you feel I've missed anything or if you have questions about your review, please don't hesitate to send me a quick PM. Thank you!