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Tranquil Waters: The Lead Crown Ch 5-4, A Call to Arms

Wiesen had plenty of experience working within a moving carriage so he had no trouble whatsoever busying himself during the long trip to Vallara. Never one to pass up the chance to put downtime to good use, the Dragon took the opportunity to organize his tools and tally up parts he had remaining after his previous project. Thinking back to the dragonfly, Wiesen sighed; he regretted leaving it behind in Newport but, at the same point he reasoned that he had to have SOME way of knowing if Kesst was there... and Vallara was a little too far out of the way to trust anything but one of his automatons.

Vallara... he put down his tools and let out a deep breath. The Dragon had been to the small town before, granted, that was almost five decades previous but, as far as he was concerned, most out-of-the-way villages didn't tend to change much over time. If Alarice had a plan involving the outpost then it was definitely worth visiting... especially if it meant that he would be free of the Order of Blades and able to continue his search for his masterpiece-- his son.

Wiesen had no children; he had wed once, a long time ago, but he was forced to part ways with her when the Church found out that one of their principal Templars had bound himself to a non-Dragon... but at least he was able to see to it that they did not put her to death for heresy. The ex-Templar reached back to rub at the scars on his back; the punishments that followed for him were just some of the many reasons he was no longer able to bring himself to serve the Church. Their interest in Kesst was the final straw.

Sada, who had sat across from the white Dragon for the better part of two hours without exchanging a word ultimately stood. He could tell that he bored her with his work even before she admitted it indirectly. "I'm going to speak with the others."

He nodded simply, "Very well."

Although the carriage had dividers separating the interior into several distinct chambers they were little more than superficial; he could clearly hear everything that happened in the next room. Sada was quite forthcoming, "Wiesen is absorbed in his work and I feel as though my presence is little more than a burden to him."

Joshew accepted all the blame, but was hardly apologetic, "That would be my fault."

There was silence for a moment, allowing Wiesen to focus on locating which pouch he had placed his small box of tinkering screws. Sada pressed further right as he found them. "What's your fault? Did you hire him to organize his tools or something?"

Roland's voice was unmistakable in its chiding humor, "Yea... you know... that sounds like something Shew might-- OW!"

The Human picked up where the wolf-dog left off, "No... I asked him if he'd ever seen one of those mechanical limbs in Adelene I've heard about, and he said yes-- apparently he spent a few years there in the capital making them."

Sada didn't seem impressed, "So... you wanted to know if he could make one if someone here loses an arm or a leg?"

There was a momentary pause before Joshew answered, "No... I asked him about that clockwork insect he made and asked if it could see."

Roland apparently put two and two together, "You asked him if he could make a mechanical eye that could see for you?"

Joshew's lack of answer was all the response required. Sada simply let out a frustrated huff, "Well... I suppose that's as good as any reason."

what followed next suggested that the otter was moving about the cabin again, and comment from Roshew confirmed it, "Watch your head."

Sada's reply was both courteous and sardonic, "Thank you, though I'm shorter than you so I don't see that being much of a problem."

Wiesen tracked her movement by the sounds she made going from cabin to cabin even as he did a quick count of his troy ounce bars of copper; it was a very important metal for some of the finer tinkering work he had in mind. He halted his count when he heard Brother Jessen speak up, "Sister Sada... how nice to see you."

Alvis' greeting wasn't far behind, "Are you alright? You look like you're in poor humor. Is it the movement of the carriage or--"

She interrupted him, "Do you mind if Brother Jessen and I speak for a few minutes please, Mr. Lazarus?"

The mutt's response was halting but obliging, interrupted now and again by the sound of shins hitting seats and what was probably a bottle of some kind being knocked off a shelf, "The... two of you? No... of course not. Excuse me."

Wiesen did not purposefully attempt to listen in on what was supposed to be a private conversation, but the thin-walls didn't make minding his own business very easy. Despite his wish to provide them the courtesy of privacy, he still ended up catching snippets of their discussion, and what he heard was both informative and heart-wrenching. In the end, he set his tool bag off to the side and slowly slid his way over to the thin wall that separated the two chambers.

Sada was crying as she spoke to the coyote, "I... just can't help but feel that I'm responsible, Jess... if I hadn't brought everyone to the Temple--"

Brother Jessen was very quick to counter her self-reproach, "There was no way you could have known what would happen, Sada... it is NOT your fault."

"I know... I know... they would have attacked regardless... my mind keeps telling me it too... but my heart doesn't want to listen. I keep feeling like things would have gone better if not for me... if not for what I--"

Wiesen could remain quiet no longer, "Please forgive my intrusion, but there is no one person to blame, my Lady. You could just as easily blame me for alerting the Order to everyone's presence within the tannery apartment... or any of the scholars for becoming injured and creating the need to visit the temple, or--"

The lack of privacy became even more apparent when Alarice spoke up, "Why not just place the blame where it's due: the Order of Blades."

Roland's monotone comment as he pulled one of the dividers down was rather blunt, "So much for the walls."

Joshew took off his smoky-lens glasses and rubbed his eyes, "There were walls in here? I couldn't tell."

Inigo brought the comment back to Alarice's point, "The only people here to blame are the Order... just keep that in mind. THEY are the ones who did all this, not any of us."

Alvis pulled down the divider of their section as Sada gazed across the interior of the coach, which suddenly seemed all the larger without the sections being separated. The otter shook her head, "They... just destroyed EVERYTHING... it shouldn't have happened... our Church didn't deserve that."

Brother Jessen laid a paw on her shoulder as he addressed everyone else, "We are not a violent sect... we believe in love and friendship and camaraderie... we were no threat to the Church, and yet, they sought to destroy us."

Sada lowered her face into her paws, "They did."

The coyote gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, "Not yet they didn't."

Joshew nodded faintly, putting his spectacles back on. "It seemed a lot more pleasant than THE Church, I'll give you that."

The otter nodded, "We've done so much good for the city."

Alarice gave a smirk, "A Church doing GOOD for a city? That'd be a first."

Joshew was quick to counter, "It doesn't take much for anyone to do more than THE Church, so I wouldn't doubt it."

She shrugged, "Be that as it may, no organization is better than their worst member... and from my experience there are some pretty bad people in the Church."

Sada was immediately defensive, "Ours wasn't like that."

Brother Jessen hugged her with one arm, "Isn't, Sada. We're still here, and there's a good chance others made it as well."

Wiesen put away his tinkering equipment and folded his talons in front of himself on the small ledge he'd been using to organize things, "Well... as we have apparently done away with the dividers, perhaps we should be using this time to discuss your plan, Alarice."

The woman smiled, handing a small bag to the bat sitting next to her; Inigo stowed it with the rest of his gear. She stood, and regarded everyone in the cabin, "Vallara is the perfect place to raise our army."

Alvis cleared his throat, "So... when you say army... you mean, like... a few dozen men who can help us with--"

She shook her head, "We're going up against the Order of Blades, Alvis... when I say 'army' I mean triple digits."

Inigo, seeing the mutt's confusion, spoke up, "Triple digits... that means 'a hundred or more' people."

The mutt responded indignantly, "I know what triple digits means... I'm just trying to figure out how we're going to get THAT many men."

Alarice smiled and offered the young scholar a wink, "You let me worry about that... but, rest assured, Vallara is the best place to get it done."

Joshew crossed his arms as he sat back on his bench, "Army or no army, getting out of Newport should let us lay low for awhile... and right now I'm not objecting to that. Besides, if nothing else it'll give us time to get prepared."

Roland shot the Human a glance, "You plan on finding an alchemy station, don't you?

The blind scholar looked in the Wolf-Dog's rough direction, "What makes you say something like that, Rolly?"

Roland smirked in reply, "I recognize the way you said 'get prepared'... and that tells me it has something to do with explosives."

Joshew shrugged but didn't bother a comment... but the faint smirk on his face told Wiesen that the Wolf-Dog probably wasn't far from the truth.

Alvis sighed, "I'm just hoping we can get a few days without having to worry about someone trying to kill us."

Sada disengaged from Brother Jessen, "Assuming we have a few days. I don't plan on moving to Vallara... Newport will always be my home."

The Coyote beside her nodded, "Going back to Newport IS the plan."

Alarice's smirk was very confident, "We may have left Newport without being seen, but you can take my word for it: our return will be impossible to miss."

Something about the way she spoke those words left Wiesen with the impression that he had no doubt she would deliver; it wasn't idle posturing-- her words were a promise.