Time for a change... (Iskessah)

[Evalin]

2nd of Summer, 512 AV The darkness all consuming, empty streets and silence following suit. A figure walked in the shadows of light, the glow of Leth falling upon her stooped form cloaked in mystery and uncertainty. A steady *thunk* echoed through the empty streets as the figure leaned heavily on her staff, each shuffling footstep kicking up dust settled from the days activities. "The summer nights are just as I remember..." she mumbled beneath her breath, "and the air stinks of home." Her cold, lifeless eyes gazed from beneath her hood to look upon the world of her life, an odd thrumming of old memories coursing to the surface of her still consciousness, How I remember... those times of short lived pleasures and pain... Glancing to the side she gazed at the passing buildings, "So long it has been that even the dust of my own dwelling has ceased to exist here..." On the figure's right shoulder there floated a shimmering orb of blue, its smooth surface a reflection of the darkness around it. The quiet form of the familiar floated closer to the hooded girl, its voice of silk slipping through the flow of her pondering, Do you feel nostalgia...? A smile touched those flaking lips of grey, "Perhaps... I despise this place of my mortality..." The orb remained silent, slipping once more into the background of her thoughts and wondering. The rap of her staff echoed still, now tapping upon steps of stone as she neared the door of her old... Raising her staff the girl wrapped twice upon the wooden door, the knock resounding in the emptiness loud and full. She paused, and knocked once more, "Awaken from your slumber Mattieu Kosun. I have need of your services once again."

[Iskessah]

Iskessah did not like being woken up. What kind of maniac comes knocking on a person's door this early in the... wait a tick... A brief look at the window revealed that it was stull dark out. In the middle of the night?! Oh, someone is going to die for this. The giant snake slithered out of the bed, only just now noticing that there was no heat outside her door. And yet, there was a voice, and that infernal knocking had come from somewhere... Had she ever encountered that before, it seemed familiar, but the snake was too groggy to remember just yet. She shifted to her legged form with the satisfying feel of crunching bones and rearranging organs. She always felt more awake after a good shift, though her mood often failed to improve. What had the voice been saying about Mattieu? She hadn't been asked about that name in years; didn't everyone know the old man was dead? What was this lady doing, waking her up for something like that? She glanced idly at the hearth behind her; the fire was down to coals, but it would keep the room warm for a while yet. Still, since she was up, she might decide to put another log on once she had dealt with whatever nuisance had interrupted her slumber. Being in no mood to entertain visitors, she neglected to dress. Instead she opened the door wide, scowled, and demanded with a hiss, "What do you want?"

[Evalin]

What greeted the woman was not the face she had known those years ago. A woman, instead, graced her vision, a firm figure framed in the doorway and clothed naught but what the mind might wish were there. Lowering her staff, Evalin glanced over the woman's shoulder, peering into the domain of the man who dwelled there once. A frown touched her greyed lips as she wrapped both hands around the neck of her staff, Be the man gone and fled from here? If so it be all the harder to obtain that which I seek. Tsenrika bobbed on her shoulder, drifting to float on her left shoulder now, Perhaps he is dead... Evalin blinked. For a moment the immortal was struck by the strangeness of the words which her familiar spoke. Death? What an odd concept for one such as she, one who would see the end of days or end it all herself once she grew bored of existence. Tapping her staff twice, the woman looked at the familiar, Be this true? I know not the man's span in years, so perhaps he has returned to the earth and stone as the rest of his short lived people. You may ask... Nodding once, Eva turned her eyes to the woman before her, "The man who once dwelled here, be he lost to the void then?" She paused, taking a moment to move her eyes up and down Iskessah, "And if this be so, are you she who would take his place?" Evalin peered out through the shadows of her hood, the only feature visible being the cold glimmer of her glassy, lifeless eyes. Her hands were exposed to the elements, so perhaps one might note the grey tinge to her skin and the pealing flesh about the knuckles of her fingers. She was as cold as death, and no form of life echoed from her visage in the least.

[Iskessah]

Iskessah was still too groggy to make much sense of the cold woman's strange manner of speaking. "The old man iss dead, if that iss what you mean. I assk again, what do you want?" She could tell this was going to be one of those long conversations, where it took a bell for the other to say what should only take a few chimes. Resigning herself to a tedious visit, she turned away from the door, leaving it open behind her. She walked across the room to put another log in the hearth. She watched as it caught fire, then set a pot of water to boil. It was a luxury that Mattieu had enjoyed, which Iskessah had claimed after his death. In any case, she did not think she would make it through this meeting without a cup of tea.

[Evalin]

The imortal turned her head to gaze at the floating orb, "It seems you spoke true. Tis a shame to lose such a valuable asset, yet be it so in the nature of mortals to die." Be it so... He agreed. Looking back once more Eva watched as the woman clad in freedom move across the room and too the fire. Placing her hand on the door frame, Evalin took a moment to take in the site of the room from the doors edge, Little be changed, even after so long. He lives on still it seems... At this thought her eyes fell on Kess again and she examined her with a new curiosity. Stepping carefully across the portal into the room itself, trailing a hand over the walls and furniture as she made her way to the fire as well. Eva watched as the woman prepared the tea, "You ask why I have come, but it seems my purpose for being here has died along with the man I sought." Wrapping both hands about the staff once more, Evalin gazed out from within the darkness of her hood, "Tell me then, are you the man's daughter, or perhaps apprentice? I remember not one such as you upon my last visit to this place." While she spoke the Familiar floated about the room, pausing from time to time beside some piece of furniture or anything else of interest. Though she could feel Tsenrika's mind brushing against hers through their link, the creature remained perfectly silent. A slight frown touched her lips as she tried to pierce this veil of cold that surrounded its consciousness, but with no little amount of frustration she found she could not. She knew that he would answer her questions, but never could he offer such information freely? Shaking her head Evalin returned her attention to the woman before her eyes, "Have you taken upon yourself his craft?"

[Iskessah]

Iskessah inhaled the scent of tea as she listened to the cold woman talk. It was a soothing smell, though actually ingesting the stuff would make her ill. Still, it was a habit that relaxed her, and made her seem all the more human to visitors. Her lip curled up slightly as the woman inquired after her identity. She was starting to remember a cold woman who had occasionally visited Mattieu before, but it was a long time ago. If this was the same woman, she would never have seen Iskessah in her human form, and she obviously had inferior senses, so of course she wouldn't recognize her. She neglected to answer the question about her identity, being to annoyed at how non-forthcoming the woman was with her own information, even after repeated questioning. She stared curiously at the woman as she continued asking vague questions. His 'craft'? "You mean, poissson?" she asked, a bit loudly in her frustration. "I know a bit. Again, why?" Why could no one in this city speak plainly? She had been reading from Mattieu's journal over the years, but she was nowhere near the level he had been. Still, the main ingredient he always used was her own venom, and no one know about that better than she. As she waited for a clearer answer, she noticed an annoying blue glow flitting around her vision. She tried to blink it away, to clear her eyes, but it persisted. She put a hand to her forehead. Waking up in the middle of the night could not possibly be good for her health.

[Evalin]

The woman's hand trailed across the back of a chair, absently fingering the wood as she gazed upon this strange figure. Her eyes fell to the cup, and it was with a vague interest that Evalin noticed that the woman did not drink from her cup. How curious it is... This immortal's eyes turned to the familiar, What purpose be there in making tea yet not drinking? By this time the reflective orb had passed around the entire room, and now it slowly encircled Kess, staying just out of arms length as it bobbed up and down, Be it of personal nature, the answer can never be known. Evalin raised an eyebrow at Tsenrika, Can you only provide answers which are no answers at all? If there be answers to give, so shall they be spoken. After finishing his circle of the woman, the familiar returned to hover just over Eva's left shoulder, bobbing slowly up and down. One hand moved to grace lightly upon his reflective surface as Evalin turned her attention to the woman once more, speaking in a voice that was just above a whisper, "Of what or why is of no concern, but of a more pressing importance is this... can you do as your master did before you?" Evalin's hands returned to her staff and she leaned upon it for support, "Can you do as Mattieu could and craft me a poison?" This immortal moved a step closer, raking her eyes up and down this woman, "Again I do wonder, for what reason do you reside within the home of a dead man?" A pause, a silence and a quick pondering lead to something further, an after thought really, "But then I forget the ways of mortals. Surely you must be wondering upon my identity?" She spoke as if she had not even noticed Kess' earlier inquiries. Tapping her staff twice upon the floor, Evalin looked out from the darkness, "Though this may not be of consequence either, you may know me as Evalin. This man who is no more once did business together nearly five decades ago."

[Iskessah]

Iskessah flinched when the woman mentioned Mattieu's poison. Could she craft such a poison? Of course! She produced naturally the main component in the venoms that Mattieu became known for (in certain circles). His name attached to her venom, and now this wretched woman coming in here, as if somehow Mattieu was the one who held the secret to his poison-making, as if he would have been anything without Iskessah. It was enough to make Iskessah rage, but she had spent the past several years of her relatively recent freedom learning to seethe quietly. Her comfort and safety depended on the populace of Ravok not realizing what she was, and violent outbursts raised more questions than they put to rest. Just as she was beginning to regain her composure, the cold woman stated her name, and tickled something the back of her memory. Evalin? A cold woman... five decades ago? Something clicked, and suddenly she remembered why this woman was so familiar. She had come into Mattieu's apartment for much the same reason, seeking a poison that would kill quickly and leave a body mostly intact. Apparently it wasn't a problem that most of the organs would dissolve from the inside. "Yesss, I can make what you need. But not at this petching bell! Return tomorrow." Then as a quickly-realized afterthought, "Late tomorrow!" And again immediately seeing where that could go wrong, "But not after sssundown! Visssit me when the sssun isss awake, not when I am resssting!" She was too tired to realize that she was letting the hiss of her words come out. And her desperation to not have her sleep disturbed again was not giving her time to select her words more carefully.

[Evalin]

Leaning upon the carved wooden staff, the woman raised an eyebrow as the strange hiss like reply that the other woman spoke. Words did not come for a few moments more, the immortal seeming in thought as she eyed Iskessah curiously. Finally a small smile broke upon those cold lips as she replied, "As you wish my dear girl."

Looking to her companion Evalin whispered, "We shall return 5 bells past the noon. Might we trust you to have the substance ready by then?"

[Iskessah]

At least the cold woman could follow directions. "Yesss, fine. Jussst go." As soon as she was alone in her apartment, she flopped back onto her bed, not thinking of the encounter again until Syna's rays warmed her face. She yawned and rolled over, curling into herself, resisting wakefulness. But the events of the night came back to her, and she realized that she only had a few hours to come up with something for Evalin. She sluggishly forced herself out of bed as she hastily tried to remember the process. The only poison she knew how to obtain on such short notice was her own. With vague memories of what Mattieu used to do, she rummaged in her belongings until she sound her water-skin. She Had to shift to her Dhani form, so that she could bare fangs and hold the bag at the same time, but finally she bit through the leather of the water-skin, feeling the terrible sensation of biting something hollow. She felt her venom drip out of her fangs, and within seconds, she had a small quantity held within the skin. She frowned. It didn't seem like much, and if she didn't do something, it would probably dry out before Evalin arrived. Then her eye caught the now-cold pot of tea. Thinking more quickly than carefully, she scooped some into the waterskin, swirling it around a little in a half-hearted attempt to mix it. She had no idea if the resulting mixture would still be particularly poisonous, but Iskessah hoped the cold woman would be long gone before she figured it out. It had all taken much less time than she had expected, so she had a bell or two to kill. She decided to spend it napping, to recover from her interrupted sleep the night before. By the time the fifth afternoon bell rang, she was alert enough to be able to smell Evalin coming, and she was dressed and ready before the woman could knock on the door.' ~*~ ...but the cold woman never returned. Iskessah was annoyed at the trouble she had gone to, but relieved that she would not be revealed as a fraud. After a couple days, when she was sure the woman would not return, she dumped her sad experiment into the lake.