Alena's Homecoming

[sharina]

Part 1

Marsember

A soft mist crept up from the water and covered most of the many islands making up the city of spices in fog. A sudden flash of light and gust of wind disturbed the fog just outside of The Old Oak, one of Marsembers most prominent inns. This flash of light quickly took the shape of a young woman, stumbling, bending over, and then breathing heavily while clutching a simple harp in her fingers. From the young woman's perspective, the foggy surroundings seemed to dance and spin in circles, up was down and left was right. After taking a few moments and rubbing the dwarven cloak pin she carried in one of the many pouches on her belt, she managed to take in her surroundings. The sights, the smells, the fog, the lights, they all hit her with a sudden force. It was time to go home.

Frostwater Trading House

Carolyn Frostwater rushed down the stairs and into the entrance hall of the trading house. Once she entered she widened her eyes. There she was, the lost daughter, just standing in the room with an uncertain smile on her face. One brief glimpse was enough for her to see how much Alena had changed over the past months, and yet, how much she had not changed at all at the same time. Her posture was more confident and she seemed more mature than she had been when she suddenly had disappeared in the late summer. "Lena! Kurtis has told me about how you are now an... adventurer?" The two women stood just a few feet apart, yet there was so much space between them. Why was everything in life so complicated? She wanted to tell her that she was proud of her, but couldn't quite put into words what she was proud of. Carolyn felt like this presented yet another missed opportunity. "Will he talk to me?" No explanation was necessary to specify who Alena was talking about. "Yes, of course darling. He's just finishing up an important meeting."

About an hour later, and after Alena had briefly had a pleasantly short and superficial conversation with her older brother Jerard, she approached the main office. She opened the big wooden doors and entered the domain of the head of the family. Wardley Frostwater sat in his large armchair like a ruler. The gaze of his brown eyes only reluctantly left the stack of notes on the table in front of him to regard his daughter with a measured look. She curtsied, mumbled out a greeting and then hesitated. How was it that after spending months of going through this conversation in her head now that she actually stood there she couldn't remember what exactly she wanted to say? "Why now?", Wardley opened the conversation. Alena quickly responded: "There ... um... have been rumors... not about me! It's... they're... " She then staggeringly recounted what she had heard in Arabel the day before. While her father listened to her, he continued to regard her with a serious, almost scolding look. Once she had finished, painfully aware that she must have sounded like a fool, he spoke again, leaning forward in his seat. "You have been absent without a word for months, leaving your mother worried to the bone, selfishly running away from any and all responsibility and that is how you come back? What have you done all this time?" -- "I've... mh... joined a school for... performance arts in Highm-" -- "Do you even know how much we have invested in your studies?" -- "err... I suppose.... That must have been... over the years... perhaps.. mh.. several thousand lions?" -- "Twenty two thousand six hundred and twenty. More than the value of two ships." -- "I'll... I'll repay that... and... mh... and more!" Wardley leaned back, folded his hands and regarded his daughter again, the look in his eyes serious, generally displeased, but perhaps showing a hint of respect for her response.

Remark: Currency mentioned in this RP-text is supposed to be actual IC currency, not the game-mechanical gold from drops.