Behind The Screen

Aurora d'Sol sat straight backed and still upon the weathered way stone, peering into the bustling crowd surging around the west gate. She ignored an errant strand of blond hair as it blew across her eyes and away again, choosing instead to smooth down a wrinkle on her indigo travel dress. The hustle and bustle of the city may have seemed close to anyone else nearby, but to Aurora it was miles away. She was concentrating hard on her prim exterior so as to hide the nervous chattering that started in her stomach the second she stepped outside of the Temple d'Sol an hour ago.

She was waiting for her friends to show up. They would usually meet here at around the tea bell. It was their place to hang out and gossip about the latest scandals, hunt for apples, and tell enormous stories that everyone pretended not to believe. It was their territory away from the bullies, the temple, and the impending responsibilities. It was their own place to hide from the world of adults.

But today wasn't a usual day.

Aurora looked away from the gate to watch a butterfly land nearby. The day was sunny and warm, and a light breeze blew through the grass tickling the butterfly who tenaciously clung to her perch on a nearby lilac shrub.

When she looked back, it was in time to see Brother Lucius trip out of the crowd. He was such a typical boy, all arms and legs and no balance. As he walked he swung his haversack in front of his feet twisting and kicking at it. He appeared to be deep in thought. He looked like he had something he wanted to prove...he just wasn't sure what yet.

Brother Lucius was excited about going on an adventure. His life hadn't been very thrilling so far in his opinion. He had been left on the doorstep to the local temple of St. Cuthburt as an infant. Wherein he was raised by the priests and temple guards until his 18th year. While he had plenty of options open to him now, Lucius had no intention of joining the cloth and had a hard time imagining himself weighed down by all of the armour worn by the fighters. Unfortunately for some around the city, he had still absorbed the high ideals of justice and law practiced by the order of St. Cuthburt. That was what had been getting him into more and more trouble lately.

Last week he was brought home, again, by the Constable after fighting with the local bully-boys. They had been occupying themselves by throwing stones at a begging child. When the urchin had cried out for help, the passersby had just kept walking. Lucius, horrified by what he saw, did the only thing he could think of in that situation...he started breaking arms.

The High Cleric listened to the story with a solemn look on his face until after the officer left. Once alone with Lucius he turned and patted Lucius on the head as a proud father would his son. The cleric then told Lucius that he had learned all he could from the temple. It was time for Lucius to leave.

Now, Lucius dusted the dirty blond hair away from his face and clomped up beside Aurora's perch. Tossing himself and his bag at the ground startled away the butterfly. Aurora watched it flit away with regret.

"Hey."

"Hey."

A long ackward silence streched between the two of them as they waited for the next arrivals. Not that they weren't good friends mind you, or that they had nothing in common. It was just that Aurora was always nervous around boys, and Lucius didn't feel like talking about theology just then. It was better to be quiet and wait.

The waiting didn't take to much longer. The sun had only moved a fraction when they were disturbed from their reveries. The next companions were announced a good minute before they arrived, by the smooth glide of a snowy owl. Nique (that was the owl's name) always scouted ahead of her mistress Linde. An elvish sorceress new to the area. She had arrived in the city a few months back in search of her wayward father, and instead found a half brother, Sabastian.

Sabastian had been a bit of an enigma to Linde for the first month or so.

Raised by his human mother in a tavern near the dwarven quarters. Sabastian knew more about being a dwarf then an elf. The only thing Sabastian had to remind him of his elven heritage was an amulet left with his mother when his father passed on. He had always insisted it was magical.

Sabastian and Linde shared a few common features. They both had fair skin and dark hair. But where Linde's eyes and face were made up of points and slants, Sabastian's features were a little less alien, a little more rounded and soft. They were both attractive youths though, which had both positive and negative effects in this particular city.

As they approached the waiting pair, other contrasts became more apparent. Where Linde wore her usual aloof and conserved expression, Sabastian was bouncing with youthful exuberance that could be heard across the pasture they traversed.

"Is everybody set? Can we start without the others? Why aren't they here yet??"

Sabastian bounded up along side the way stone leaving Linde to stroll behind at her usual careful pace. Lucius and Sabastian were soon debating the benefits of hardtack versus eating at Inns, and whether to fill their waterskins with water or wine.

Aurora continued to watch the city while waiting for Linde to catch up.

Pridglaide was the capital city of Rison. It was also the self-proclaimed, and never disputed, religious capital of the southern hemisphere. Pilgrims travelled for months from all areas of the world, to prey at the High Temple of Pelor. A good deal of respect was incurred by the less prevalent orders in Pridglaide as well. Heironieous, St. Cuthbert, Boccob, Olidimara and Yondalla all held a presence in the city.

As Aurora mentally ticked off the religious politico's in the city, her eye was drawn to a black smudge rising over the Travellers Quarter. With a grimace she morned the imperfection of an otherwise glorious metropolis.

It was an argument that she had lost many times to her mother over the last few months. In a city so imbued with goodness, how could there still be such poverty? Her mother's answer was always nebulous. Siting not enough resources to feed the world's needy, fight the world's battles, cure the world's sick and dying. There just wasn't enough goodness to go around...yet.

Aurora always wondered where the money came from to design robes of golden cloth for the temple priests. Surely Pelor in his goodness would understand if his representatives wore plain robes whilst they worshiped his glory? Could not the money be better spent elsewhere? Like feeding her friend Kip.

A shifting of light and shadow near the base of the way stone distracted Aurora from her mental punctuations. Linde had danced up beside her in silence and stood watching the light play across the field. As Aurora turned to greet her newest friend, Linde placed her hands together in a peaceful gesture and nodded her acknowledgement.

"How do you feel, selde? You look tired."

Aurora didn't know what "selde" meant, but could easily get past that as she watched Linde talk with fascination. Her hands were ever in constant motion and rose and fell to the cadence of her voice like boats on an ocean.

"I didn't sleep well last night, I was so excited to be gone from this place." It came out as a murmur and a sigh.

"Selde, you must learn to speak up! How will you ever weld the power of your god if nobody else can hear you preach?"

"I'll do well enough if the situation warrants it I'm sure!" Aurora ignored the curious glances that the boys tossed in her direction.

"See Aurora, that is the confidence you must project at all times. Magic is a strong mistress and it takes a strong person to channel it." Linde lowered her voice to a soothing level. "I know that you can do it sometimes Aurora, but we need to work on you being confident all of the time."

"I'm sorry Linde, I know you guys are going to be counting on me. I'll try harder."

At that moment Aurora was distracted as a small shadow slipped away from the dim area near the base of the town wall.

"And your concentration is atrocious, selde!" chided Linde as she turned to follow Aurora's gaze to it's target.

"She has no attention span at all." murmured Linde to herself, since Aurora was now ignoring her Silvan peer.

Indeed, Aurora's thoughts were no longer about magic at all. She was too busy wondering why her friend Kay was half crawling, half scampering across the field towards them. Trouble was sure to follow Kay after this entrance.

"Hi guys!" Kay's greeting came out in a cheerful whisper. She busily positioned herself behind the way stone out of sight of the city entrance. "Are we ready to go?"

Sebastian had plucked a long grass stalk from beside a clump of heather and had been happily mulching the end in his teeth. "Nope." He adjusted the fibrous stalk in his mouth with a flick of his finger. "We're still waiting for the musician."

"Shit!" little Kay exclaimed, glancing around nervously.

"Kay! That's not very ladylike!" gasped Aurora.

"Oh poop." said her childlike friend, "I'm sorry, I just remembered that I've forgotten something important."

Kay looked around again and stopped her wandering gaze on the city gate, thinking.

"What did y-"

"Oh hey, guess what!" Kay cut off Aurora's question, "I've decided that for a whole new life, I'm going to need a whole new name for myself!"

"That's...Interesting..." Lucius muttered suspiciously to Sebastian.

"Today my name is Kip".

"Oh yay, that's great Kay! I mean Kip" Aurora quickly corrected herself "It's so good that you're choosing a new path!"

She hopped down from her perch on the stone and gave her friend a hug. "Oh this is going to be soooo much fun!"

Lucius and Sebastian rolled their eyes at the miss-matched pair and their display of affection. Although Aurora was small for a human, she had to crouch to embrace her halfling friend. Next to the light on Aurora's pale hair and white skin, Kay was like a small shadow. Her dark hair and eyes were representative of her less illuminated birth in the city slums.

The hug was brief. When it was over Kip returned to scanning the woods for something. "Well, gotta go. If I'm not here when Murkill arrives, just leave without me. I'll meet you at the first tavern up the road."

"Um, OK, but what if-".

Kip was already half-way across the pasture and looked to be heading towards the orchards to the south-west of the city. "OH HEY!" She turned and ran back again "If anyone comes looking for me, tell them I've gone to pick apples." With that, and before anyone could ask her about it, she turned to the north-west and headed into the forest.

Lucius sighed and shook his head once she was gone. "She's up to something."

Turning to the others he questioned "Why is she coming with us again?"

"Because it'll be good for her to leave this city, just like the rest of us. In fact she needs this more than we do?"

"OK Aurora, as long as we're aware that she's you're charity case when she gets us all arrested."

***

Fifteen minutes later, the group was getting fed up with waiting for their final companion to show up. Being a bard, Murkill was known to stay up late in the taverns. It was likely that he was still asleep and not feeling well. Sebastian was sent to drag his bum out of bed while the rest waited impatiently to be on their way.

Once, a couple of soldiers came and stood at the gate looking towards them. Lucius smiled and waved and they left again.

Finally, Sebastian showed up again walking ahead of a slumped figure wrapped in a cloak. Murkill looked a little ill.

Shrugging, Sebastian walked past them wordlessly snatching his backpack and bow, and began heading down the road towards the "Black Lily" tavern.

Shouldering his bag, Lucius fell into step with Lynde as they began after them. The snowy white owl soaring on ahead.

Aurora took one last look at her home and waved to nobody, as nobody had come to see her off.

Turning to follow her friends she sent a glance around the area looking for Kay. Then she ran to catch up to Murkill to see if there was anything she could do for his hangover.

***