Tour de Syliras. (Airil)

[Markus Andres]

'My mother died as well'

Markus emotions died down as he heard these words break the silence between the two. He hadn't expected her to just say it like that. But he knew what she was going through. Especially if it had been recent that her mother had died. Markus had buried his sorrow in the knights. Hiding it from the world. Even Richard didn't know much about Markus' past. He couldn't seem to lock on to her eyes, she was avoiding his gaze like he had been avoiding hers before. It was understandable. But she seemed more reluctant to talk about it, but he noted that she had died around the same time that his mother had died. The same time. But Konti might be different. Age differently. ... Once again she changed the subject and this time Markus was happy. They had entered an area that he didn't like talking about. He had buried those emotions for a reason.

"The knights can't really be described in a single word. But, I suppose we try our best to bring civilization to a world in chaos. Sometimes the methods are a bit rough, but the intention is to make it safer for people to live in the city..."

Markus put some more food in his mouth and chewed it happily. Glad that the subject had changed. It had been ages since he had last heard from his family in Zeltiva. But that didn't matter, he had a new family now. A heavily armed family, but a family none-the-less.

[Airil]

Bringing civilization to a world in chaos... His description of the knights didn't contradict anything her master had taught her. She looked concerned, “Rough methods?” Exactly what did the knights do? Who made the decisions? Who decided what was right? Had her master been right? The very idea of questioning her master's word made her quiver, yet she desperately hoped that he'd be proven wrong. She couldn't survive in the kind of world he had proposed. She needed to find out for herself if the world of the knights might better. If it wasn't? She just wouldn't survive. She munched on a vegetable as the thoughts swirled around. She still wished for someone else to take control and make decisions for her, to tell her how to navigate the world. She finally looked up at Markus and considered what kind of person she believed him to be. Would he really have no place in his world for weak people like Airil?

[Markus Andres]

"That might have come out wrong..." He said, giving it a couple of seconds of thoughts. "I meant more, err... Unforgiving. I mean, the rules here in Syliras are pretty strict." Markus wouldn't elaborate on that convicted people often died or was sent to the mines to extract ore for the Ironworks. A place he had completely neglected to tell the Konti about. But it didn't seem like something she would have been interested in. He poked some more food into his mouth and washed it down with more water.

"But don't take it the wrong way. Syliras is a much safer city because of those rules and it's not like they force people to live here. People are free to leave if they don't want to live under the Knight's rules. - But if you just follow the rules, Airil, then I am sure you will be alright." Markus gave her a reassuring smile and focused on his food again.

[Airil]

One thing Airil had never realized about herself was that her face was as open as a book. She'd never understood how her master, or her mother, had always seemed to know how she was feeling while thoughts passed through her mind but the fact of the matter was that she almost always showed her true emotions. Right now, Airil was looking deeply troubled. She nibbled on some bread to give herself a chance to think. His words were not very encouraging and she wanted to ask more questions but was afraid of pursuing the subject further. She simply wasn't ready to find out how much of an outcast she was. It was sounding as if her master had been right. Her doubt in him had been misplaced. Airil wasn't sure what to say next so she just continued to eat while losing herself in her thoughts. She was going to have to leave Syliras but the problem was in deciding where to go. When she had traveled with her mother, they'd had plenty of places to go, but Airil doubted she'd be able to find any of those old traveling bands. She supposed it didn't matter right now. She wasn't in any danger of being thrown out of the city, but she needed to be more mindful of her actions. More than ever she didn't want to be noticed by the knights, which left the final problem of Markus. She glanced over at him. She'd known from the beginning that they couldn't be friends, which should have been even more obvious when she'd discovered he was a knight in training. She'd allowed her need for companionship to overshadow her need for caution and now she had a serious problem. How was she supposed to stop their friendship without hurting him? Worse yet, how was she supposed to stop it without hurting herself? By the time she returned from these thoughts she was still unsure of what to say. She was also out of food, seems she'd finished off her lunch and now had nothing to hide behind.

[Markus Andres]

The food was alright, Markus gathered, it wasn't super good or terrible tasting. It suited his needs for something to eat and water was always alright, except when it was dirty. Then it was far from alright. But this water seemed alright as well. As he ate he send some glances in Airil's direction. He didn't like the look on her face. It looked like she was thinking about something that made her sad, or it was her default look, in which case things were very bad. She finished her food long before Markus did, he still had some food on his plate. So he figured he could ask her some questions and eat while she replied. "What are you thinking about? It doesn't seem like happy thoughts..." Markus asked the young, hot, blonde Konti. He knew he might be prodding in territory that was off limits for him, but she seemed to be thinking terrible thoughts, so she might as well share them with him rather than let them rotten her mood in her head, better to get it out. It had ruined some of Markus' good mood to be sitting and thinking about his mother and how much he missed her. But, he didn't want to think about that right now. It had happened a long time ago. Markus emptied his glass of water.

[Airil]

Surprise flashed across her face. Another person who could see right through her? It really was dangerous to be around him. The worst part was he'd asked her a direct question about her thoughts and now she was warring between the training that always forced the truth out of her and her current need to keep those thoughts to herself. Her mouth open and closed in a frown and then she got that look, the look most young men come to associate with impending rejection. She opened her mouth to say something again and Seth came over to gave Markus some more water. She waited and when he left she spoke with hesitation. “Markus,” she chewed her lip, “I don't think we should discuss it here.” She looked away from him, unable to meet his gaze. Instead she dug out her coins and laid some money on the table for their meals.

[Markus Andres]

Maybe he shouldn't have asked that after all. The look on her face Markus feel a little bad about asking, but then he reminded himself that while it might be rude of him to just pry in her life like that, then he was doing with the intention of helping her. So he soon lost the guilt and instead felt oddly relaxed about it, hoping that Airil would drop her defenses and just tell him what was bothering her, instead of tackling it on her own. They might just have met each other, but her lack of trusting people and her outreach to him after the fight a couple of days earlier, gave Markus the idea that she wanted to let go of whatever it was that she kept hidden. "Then let's find somewhere else..." Markus was calm, he didn't sound super excited or annoyed that she had said she would have to find another place. Perhaps she didn't like this place after the fight, perhaps she didn't trust the people here. Markus pushed his chair back and got up, pushed his chair back in against the table and wondered if he should the gentlemanly and pull her chair out so she wouldn't have to do it. Then he decided if he did it now after not having done it before, it would be very very weird thing of him to do. He watched as she placed the silver mizas on the table. He still felt a little bad about letting her pay for his meal as well. After all, he could eat for free with the other knights. "You sure I shouldn't pay for myself?" Markus wouldn't argue about him leaving money, if she said no he would just shrug and let her lead the way out of the tavern.

[Airil]

“It's the least I can do,” she said as she rose and followed him. It was a strange choice of words considering it was actually the best she could do to make up for his time and effort but she was too preoccupied with what to do next. He was so quick to go, and he was so calm, that Airil couldn't help but dread leaving with him. She didn't know what she was going to do. He didn't seem to expect that anything was amiss, which was going to make it all the harder to push him away. She had sort of hoped that he'd allow the event to be put off but he obviously wasn't afraid of whatever he thought was going on. Once on the street, Markus only paused long enough to make sure she was following before he took off in a direction, obviously knowing where he was going. The feeling of dread made the food she'd just eaten settle heavily in her stomach. They wound their way through the streets until, surprisingly to Airil, they found themselves in the stone garden she had found a few days before. Markus led her along the paths until they were in a semi-private area. She liked this garden. It was very peaceful. But right now, she had too much on her mind. She started pacing once it seemed they had settle on a spot, wringing her hands together painfully. “Markus... I'm,” she swallowed, “I'm sorry. I just... I don't know... I don't think...” She had too much energy running through her to come out with a complete sentence. She sank down on a nearby bench and covered her eyes.

[Markus Andres]

Markus led the two to a place he knew was private. Or at least that there didn't come that many people and those who did often respected other people's privacy due to the nature of the place. Once he stepped into the stone garden, he felt a sense of dread and honor settle upon his spirit. One day, one of these rocks might be a symbol of his sacrifice for the order. He led the two of them down some side paths to a place that was even more private than the garden itself. He wondered if the Konti knew the meaning of this place. But it didn't matter. Markus walked over to a tree and leaned against it, while he saw Airil walk back and forth. He looked at the Konti walk with pity in his eyes. Her secret or emotional baggage as some might call it, must be incredible for her to have this much trouble talking about it, even mentioning it was a no no. But he had lead her this far and he wasn't going to just let her go without hearing a little about what her problem was. When she sat down and covered her eyes. He walked over to her and sat down next to her and patted her gently on her back. Hoping to show that she could trust him with her past. "There there." Markus was at a loss, he didn't know what to say, and there there sounded pretty dumb in his head. But perhaps the comforting tone in the voice would help.

[Airil]

Markus was trying to comfort her, but it was really only making her feel worse. She tried to let some her of emotion drain away, but it wasn't going the way it had the other day. What would her master have told her to do in this situation? He would have told her to just do it and walk away, but it seemed so callous and hurtful. She didn't think she could do it just like that. She rubbed the heel of her right hand against the back of her left hand, reminding herself of the reason she had to do what she was about to do. “Markus...” She stood up and turned to face him though she couldn't actually bring herself to look at him. She tried to keep her voice flat, afraid of letting her emotions show through, “I'm sorry, I don't think we should continue.” There, she said it. She was continuing to rub the back of her hand, though it seemed completely subconscious at this point.