[RE] Roleplay Recap: Week 3
The week began with Lafiel going “wandering” with her friend, Mesa Kha, with her steadfast bodyguard, Koh’li Nbolo in careful attendance. Together, the trio toured the Thanalan desert and Mesa showed them both the Sultantree, followed by the tent-village just beyond Ul’dah’s walls. There they were treated to a visit with a woman known only as, Grandmama Reshana, a fallen Ul’dahnian noble that had squandered her fortune in her efforts to help those less fortunate than she. Lafiel spoke with her at some length, learning of the connection the local populace had with the Sultantree; how it was an object of their hopes and prayers, people coming from all over Thanalan to beseech it for wealth, prosperity, or success.
The trio trekked across Thanalan, drinking in the scenery as they made their way to the Lichyard outside Saint Adama Landama’s church. There, Mesa paid visit to a young adventurer who perished fighting a monster in his efforts to take care of his family. It reminded Lafiel of losses from her own life, when her entire village was forced to flee across Coerthas from the ravages of Nidhogg. During the course of that exodus, Lafiel lost several friends and neighbors due to Dravanian attacks during their flight.
Ever soft-hearted, Lafiel wept, but she was supported by both Koh’li and Mesa to honor their dead by continuing to move forward.
Their last stop together was just outside Camp Drybone where they gazed upon the The Burning Wall, malms of area covered in corrupted aetheryte leftover from the Calamity. It was there that Mesa and Lafiel spoke of the connectivity of all things through aether while Koh’li stood careful watch nearby, ever vigilant when they were outside protected territories. During this discussion, Lafiel came to realize just how connected people were to the land, which reinforced Mesa’s ideas of the World Voice and Lafiel’s already established connection to the Twelveswood through Koh’li and his tribe. It was much food for thought for the elezen.
Mesa had one last pilgrimage to make, but preferred to make it on her own so it was afterward that she parted ways from the duo. Left to their own devices, Koh’li and Lafiel returned to Camp Drybone. There, Lafiel asked after Koh’li’s thoughts on the evening and received some surprisingly intuitive answers from the taciturn miqo’te that touched the elezen to her very core. A tender moment was shared between the wandering minstrel and her guardian, a moment in which Koh’li requested one thing of Lafiel: a kiss. A favor that Lafiel was happy to bestow upon him.
Only then did the two of them retire to Camp Drybone’s inn so they might continue to plan their upcoming trip to Doma, as well as Lafiel’s continuing aspiration to try and *speak* to the desert of Thanalan, much in the same way she’d *spoken* to the Twelvewood, through song.
The following day, Lafiel found the budding adventurer, Morgan Parnass, idling in the Gold Court. In conversation with him, she found that he’d taken her advice and visited the Fury’s Gaze on his way to Ishgard and that the Fury Herself had granted him a vision. A vision of a twin sister he never knew he had. Determined now to find her, Morgan shared of his plans to visit the Garlean Embassy in Kugane to try and find record of his sister’s birth. Lafiel cautioned him to be wary of the crime families in Doma, that they might try to extort his services in exchange for information that may or may not be reliable. Morgan agreed on all counts.
Lafiel also suggested that as a last resort Morgan could travel to Garlemald itself. Knowing Morgan’s bad history with the Garlean Empire, she did not make the suggestion lightly, but it would be the only other place besides the Embassy that would have the information he sought.
Lafiel and Koh’li departed the Gold Court, returning to the Twelveswood so that they might finally exchange Starlight gifts, something they hadn’t yet found the time for among other responsibilities. They went to a forest glade marked by a waterfall that Lafiel recalled from their forays out to Koh’li’s tribal village; a place where the canopy of trees didn’t quite meet at the center, leaving a gap open for the light of the moon and the blessings of Menphina. It was peppered with phosphorescent, glowing flowers.
The moonlight falling through the gap made for a perfect spotlight, a perfect stage from which Lafiel could present her Starlight gift to Koh’li: a song. A song that she had written exclusively for the stoic miqo’te. A song that brought the stern-faced warrior to tears.
His own gift to her was a lyre fashioned by his own hand. The wood, pale and sun-bleached, had been sourced from the Guardian Tree that grew near his tribe’s village, the delicate branch having been broken from the tree during a recent storm. The strings were of purest silver. Attached to the crossbar was a set of beads and feathers attached to a steel-blue braid, Koh’li’s own, trimmed from his topknot. A favor for a favor, in echo of a gift Lafiel had given him some moons prior.
Gifts given, the two of them spent the night in the warmth of the forest glade and each other’s company, reinforcing their growing bond. All around them, the Forest rejoiced, and filled the night with song.
Some suns later, they made their first foray into Doma by visiting Kugane. Lafiel had been summoned there by Zerey Zeyad who wished to give her the full scope of the situation the elezen had volunteered herself and Koh’li to lend him aid in. Zerey wished to help his clan, the Hashima, to liberate themselves from Yakuza control. It was a fairly tall order, knowing the Yakuza’s reputation in Doma, but one that Zerey was adamant to see through.
As it so happened, Morgan Parnass was also in Kugane and came across the trio as they made their way to Shiokaze Hostelry to discuss matters. Being the polite soul that she was, Lafiel invited him to come along, thinking his fresh adventurer’s take on matters might be useful — though it did little more than stoke Zerey’s ire, given his general dislike of strangers.
The four of them sat down to a meal and discussed the overall thoughts that Zerey had on things. They briefly discussed a plan of incriminating rival houses against each other, utilizing Lafiel as a spy as she attended and played for various entertainments for each house. Zerey warned that the situation was dangerous, that he was worried that things might change Lafiel’s genteel outlook, but the elezen reassured him that she’d been in dangerous situations before. Koh’li, as always, was concerned primarily for Lafiel’s safety and refused to leave the elezen’s side.
No concrete plans were made, Zerey allowing the duo some time to consider their options and thoughts on the matter, just in case they decided not to help him. But Lafiel was not dissuaded.
Before they retired for the night, Koh’li and Lafiel had a nap at the Bokairo to refresh themselves, then they went to try a local teahouse because Lafiel was intrigued to try some dango. As they enjoyed their steamy and sweet nightcap, Koh’li asked after Lafiel’s past, how she’d decided to become a musician.
He received in more detail the elezen’s story of the destruction of her village, their peregrination across the entirety of Coerthas until they finally reached the safe-haven of the Sharlayan settlement in the Dravanian Hinterlands. He learned of Lafiel’s struggles as they rebuilt their lives there and how she eventually came to know music, how she grew into her love of it enough to try and earn her keep with it.
All-in-all, it had proven to be an eventful, emotional sennight on many levels for the tender-hearted elezen, so once tea and dango were consumed she returned to the Bokairo with her steadfast shadow on her arm so that she might face whatever came next refreshed and ready.