Moonlight in the Garden

Rooftop Conservatory - 


 * ''The apex of the winding stone staircase terminates along the roof of the keep in a glassed-in conservatory. Lush plantlife is scattered about the stone ground, lining the glass walls and providing blending their scents together to create somewhat humid, perfumed atmosphere.


 * ''The view from this vantage point is spectacular, offering a glimpse into the expanse of the Zahir territory. Immediately to the west, the peaked rooftops of Ravencroft Manor are visible, and past that into the northwest lies the township of Fanghill. The hill itself is a silhouette against the sky, atop which the looming, formidable fortress of Fanghill Keep can be seen.


 * ''To the east, the vast moors spread over the ground, a veritable maze of misty land which shroud the intimidating buildings of Mistcrag, Moorgate Stronghold, and Bramblestone Keep. To the southeast, the bustling town of Hedgehem with its low-set buildings is visible. Lastly, directly south of the conservatory, the y-shaped intersection of Baluf's Juncture is visible beyond the courtyard.

Celeste follows along quietly at Eldan's side as they ascend the stairs. She leans on his arm possibly a little more than she should, the weariness beginning to show to the woman.

If Eldan notices Celeste leaning heavily upon his arm, it doesn't appear to bother him. He leads her up to the rooftop gardens and the cold, clear, star-filled night. Three of the moons visible in the sky shedding their light upon the pair of nobles. Selecting a bench, he seats her upon it and produces two slightly dusty bottles of blue wine which he holds out to her. "I found these and remembered your fondness. I believe they are a fairly good year."

Celeste blinks in surprise and blushes. "Ah yes, I've always had a penchant for blue. I"ve told you the reason why," she sighs and reaches for one of the bottles to examine it.

Eldan Zahir releases the bottle into Celeste's hand and smiles. "Because of that strange bottle someone left you at your estate, correct?" he asks. "I figured you might appreciate these more than just about anyone else." He remains standing and peers by moonlight at the bottle he yet retains hold of.

"Yes, a test of faith," Celeste sighs with a rueful laugh. "Do you ever question what is next, my lord? Of whether the choices you make will be the right ones further along?"

"Sometimes, I suppose, though I realize that I can only do the best that I am able, and hope that it did prove the right decision." Eldan says and sighs, taking a seat next to Celeste on the bench. "And not even necessarily the best choices for myself, but for my house."

Celeste quirks a smile and runs a fingertip over the label. "So this banquet tonight, it was to learn more of the syladris? Have you met Tshepsi?" There's a curious timber to the woman's voice as she glances up to meet his gaze.

Eldan Zahir shakes his head at Celeste. "It was to learn, yes, but also to honor and befriend, to create a better understanding of eachother." he answers. "I have not met Tshepsi, but I have heard only a little about her. Aeseyri told me she was the oldest of the Syladris... only two years old. I do not understand how Aeseyri could be less than a year old, but be so... adult, have as much knowledge as he does. I like the Syladris I've met, but they are an enigma to me."

Celeste chuckles, and dips her head to a slight nod. "They're different than us, my lord. Foreign in a great many ways. Tshepsi is the archmage, and a leader to her people. Many fall into the fallacy of assigning their own motivations, and thoughts. When it would be like assigning complex emotions to a child. The vast gap between the two too great to be easily grasped."

"But they are like us in a great many ways as well. Like enough I think that we can befriend and live and work together." Eldan tells Celeste. A hand reaches up to his brow to brush away a stray lock of hair. "An Archmage. Well... we've two Touched as Ducal heads, so I do not see why not." He pauses and looks at the moons before letting his gaze settle on Celeste again, noting how the various hues of the moon play upon her golden hair. "An enigma, but a fascinating one. Unfortunately, I also seem to find it easy to say just the wrong thing to them as well. They seem to have an odd view of how things are not as they should be."

Celeste chuckles and reaches up to help him with the lock. "Think simple," she replies. "But do not treat them as children. That would be insulting. Like Aesyri," she begins and drops her hand to her side again. "He reminds me of the priests of the old church. He's devout in his beliefs."

Eldan Zahir smiles lightly at the touch upon his hair. "I will try that. And yes, I realize that there is little making him understand something if he's decided that it shouldn't be that way. He has very firm ideals. Ideals which clash a bit with Fastheld. And he has little love for people of noble blood. He grew quite upset when I tried to explain peasants to him."

"My lord," she sighs. "It is not nobility. He has seen his people work together. There is no social caste to which he must subscribe, but instead it is base on what you offer."

"I was just trying to explain it to him and he took great offense." Eldan shakes his head. "I felt very bad about that." He lets his eyes move past Celeste to the distant peaks in silhouette against the night. "I wish I had known that first. Thank you for explaining that to me. I suppose I spent so much time trying to teach our ways to him that I did not learn of his ways in kind."

"We spend too much of our time trying to get others to accept our ways without pausing and considering theirs. I've already heard of abuses against their personage. Seen another threatened for being insubordinate," Celeste sighs and lowers her head to her hand. "Thank you, my lord. It is not my place to tell another how to act... or react for that matter. Do forgive my oversight."

Eldan Zahir chuckles and shakes his head. "Oh, you've no need to appologize. There is nothing to forgive. I appreciate your help. At times I felt like I was drowning in the struggle. I know well how to navigate the mire of Empire house politics, but they proved a great challenge to me." Another grin. "A nice trap you shut on me at dinner, by the way. It was well played." He offers a small bow to Celeste as he grins.

"A trap, my lord? How did I lay a trap for you," she prompts softly.

"Perhaps you are catching on so well you do it without thinking about it first now?" Eldan suggests, then laughs aloud. "The bit about the tree. It was well done, and I admit that you got the best of me in that one."

Celeste chuckles and tucks a lock back from her face. "I was being sincere, Eldan. Have you ever been in the wildlands? It is... different. Here you know what the wind is saying but there, it can hide the whispered steps of a wildling scout."

"I have never been outside of the walls of the Aegis, save for a couple of brief trips to the Tempest Spire on business." Eldan tells Celeste. "The Aegis has been our safety for hundreds of years. There was a reason our ancestors wanted it built. I would, however, like to go out there at some point just to see what is out there. I'm... curious." he concedes.

"It *is* beautiful. In a wild, untamed way." Celeste seems to brighten at the mention of the expansive lands. "Course, there are dangers there that the Aegis helps to shelter us from. Wildlings and shadowbeasts."

Eldan Zahir humms to himself a moment. "I do not think I'd like to ever see any Wildlings ever again." he tells Celeste. "Not after the last time." he admits. "Until the time when I take my first trip beyond, I shall have to just be content with the beauty I find within the walls."

Celeste nods, biting to her lower lip. "It is not a place to visit lightly. There are many who can even become lost with a guide. Were it not for some of the acquaintances I have made of the months, I would be such a lost soul." Eldan Zahir frowns at that and shakes his head. It's hard to imagine that you could possibly travel far enough away to lose sight of the Aegis. It's... massive!" he exclaims. "Though, no... I would not go through that gate lightly by any means. I've met very few wildlanders, however. So finding a guide would be tougher for me. Perhaps I would have to go out there with you, hmm?"

"With me?" Celeste chuckles and gives a caress to the wine bottle. "I'm not one that gets along easily in the wilds. I'm told it is the armor. That I stick out too easily." There's a note of teasing to her voice, with maybe an undercurrent of truth. "But you are welcome to travel with me one day, when I learn my way."

"I've heard of your seraphite armor." Eldan states. "Quite a piece of craftsmanship too, I understand." He peers at her through the moonlight. "I imagine it must be quite striking, matching your eyes like that, but I suppose a glow would stand out like a torchlight." He chuckles.

"It was a gift," Celeste explains and gives hima curious look. "My eyes? No, I think how my guide put it was a just that... a torchlight for the wildlings."

Eldan Zahir smiles in the dim gardens. "Do not your eyes have a glow as well, and Seraphite is blue, correct. No, I think the effect would be stunning." He tells Celeste. He looks at his own form then. "Though I do not think that I could pull the same look off."

"My eyes is a reflection of the Light. For some, it shows in our skin," Celeste explains. She gives a shake of her hair, dislodging the kept lock so that it falls against her cheek. Streaks of gold that do not ever truly fade to the night. "But you could pull off another set of armor, one more accustomed to a bow."

"Oh yes... I had considered asking Voreyn about taking the oath of the Ebon Spurs. Perhaps obsidian half-plate would look acceptable?" he inquires. "Though I am skilled with blunt weapons as well. I taught my sister how to use them, you know." Slowly, a hand reaches for the lock of hair that has fallen to Celeste's cheek, touching it gently and marveling at is properties before brushing it back behind her ear. "I would still like to teach you how to use a bow."

"You remember," Celeste comments in surprise. A blush returning to her cheeks as the lock is brushed away, her gaze studying him from beneath lowered lashes. "There's a great honor in being a knight, my lord. The code, simplistic in nature, is much harder to follow."

Eldan Zahir folds his hands together before him, still smiling. "I realize this, yes. But if it serves my house... I'd like to be able to lead a cadre of house guards into the Shadow District and begin cleaning it up as the Regent has charged us to do. Those are still imperial citizens there, and they are under our protection."

Celeste grimaces and sets the bottle aside. "A position I do not envy you, my lord. It is a dangerous place," she confides. "Even the Church was not able to truly cast out all the shadows and Halo failed before it even began."

"It will require a firm hand for certain, but unlike the Church, I know the difference between a firm hand and an iron fist." Eldan states. "I do not mean to imply that all of those within the church were wicked, you stand as living proof of that, but the Church itself was responsible for many wicked acts. I can forgive the members, but never the church."

"It has fallen by it's own petard, my lord. And no one truly holds themselves exempt of what has happened. But we mus persevere that it does not happen again," Celeste explains softly. "Such is why I renovated my house as such. A reminder of never to tread the same path twice."

"I should still like to come see that home of yours." Eldan says with a soft voice and a small smile. "I hav eno fear of being accosted in that area now. I believe that the enmity between my house and your former are laid to rest and it is time to form new bonds, do you not agree?" Celeste 's brow arches higher, unable to hide her surprise. "A new bond? Yes, you are welcome to come visit. I'm usually told by such guests that they've not a place for such devout beliefs." "

Why do you sound so surprised?" Eldan asks, confusion in his own tone. "The old fued serves no one. Let it lay in the past and new bonds be formed Celeste." He tries to go about it a slightly different way. "A year ago, would you have ever thought to be in the private rooftop gardens of the Zahir Duchess at night with her elder brother? No, let the past be the past. Learned from, but as you say... not repeated. And help the old wounds to heal."

"I admit that I never was necessarily the most pious man in the realm, but I do put my faith in the Light, Celeste. But devout or no, I'd still like to see it and come to visit."

"I was not rescinding the offer, my lord. Only that some snag upon this firstly as truth. As for fueds, yes... there needs to be a time to lay aside the swords and speak. Comrades at the most interesting of times," Celeste sighs and brushes at the corset. It still bears the familiar form of the mongoose, coiled forever about the lit torch. "What will you do with Mistress Woodhill?"

Eldan Zahir smiles, even at that mongoose symbol on her corset that Celeste draws attention to. "You will find, perhaps, that I am a lot more open minded to different ideas than a lot of people." He shrugs at the mention of Muri Woodhill. "That is up to Voreyn. This is her home, even though I run it. I will make my recommendation that she serve one more day in the kitchens as sauce cook for half-wage and then be sent away until she is properly invited to come here. It's a minor crime on her part, and I do not wish to upset Aeseyri any more than necessary, but I cannot just let behaviour like that go. As for the guards that let her in... /they/ will be on latrine duty for the next five years."

"Or perhaps I'll just hire her. She's good with the sauces." Eldan muses.

"I believe she may already be in service," Celeste notes with a faint smile. She does grimace at the punishment. "She's actually come to help about the house at Night's Edge. I had not realized you had not hired her for the evening, but she could have siezed upon it to show of her skill. A means to present her worth to you."

"That is possible." Eldan admits. "But she went about it in the wrong manner if that was the case. Believe me, her worth is not lost on me one bit. Had she and the butler not spoken up, I would have continued assuming that she had been hired as extra help for the banquet." He laughs lightly a moment. "I'm a tolerant man, Celeste, truly. I mean the woman no ill, and I think my terms are more than reasonable. Both of us save face and no one is hurt. In the end, she comes out ahead."

"You know better than I, Eldan. My concern lie with the punishment. She's a good woman," Celeste explains and stifles a small yawn. "But I fear that you've kept me out late, and it is a long ride back to the Edge."

Eldan Zahir holds up the bottle of wine he'd set on the bench next to him. "Would you like to open one of them now?" he asks Celeste. "Or save them for later? Either way, I wish you to enjoy them." As his companion yawns, he rises and offers his hand to her. "Then would you do us the honor of staying here this evening? You can ride out in the morning. There is no sense risking your horse misstepping in the dark and coming up injured."

Celeste offers him a grateful smile. "That would be appreciated after the nights I've had, Eldan. Chasing shadows," she can't stave off the shudder that rocks her body. She reaches out to steady herself to Eldan's arm.

Eldan Zahir pats Celeste's hand on his arm and attempts to raise it up to his lips briefly. "Then let me show you to your room for the evening, my dear viscountess. I am glad that you joined us. Perhaps you will break your fast with me in the morning? I might even ride out to Night's Edge with you." he says, guiding her to the stairs as he does his best to steady her.

"Thank you, Eldan," she sighs and is once more grateful for the strength. She doesn't pull away from the kiss to her hand, offering a small but tired smile.

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