[09:17] Dinah had been given word that there would be an impending visit and had dragged herself out of bed. It had been a few days since she'd eaten, and whilst she hadn't been down to the tunnels today her skin was still sensitive from the extensive self-mortification she'd done over the past few days.
On the news that it would be Berkshire visiting, she had told the maids to find out mead and prepare at least something foodwise from what was left in the house, and tea for herself.
[09:24] Kadan Berkshire: Arrangements made rather brief and informal, though perhaps unsurprising considering the current conditions of the isle, a gentleman arrived from out of the woods as if out for a stroll. Berkshire's customary aristocratic fashion of long coat and riding boots were on display, but this man however didn't sport a cane, moving with a hint of youthful vigor instead to bring him to the door and knock.
[09:28] Dinah didn't move to the door herself at the knock, but flicked her fingers for one of the maids to attend it. she was watching the mechanical music box turn and play the sad, strange melody it had been tuned to play as one of the young women of the house opened the door with a curtsy, holding it open for Berkshire to step inside. Di turned only when the last note had plinked out and she paused in some visible confusion for a moment before her expression changed.
"...you look well, lord berkshire. or is this a berkshire junior who has attended in his stead?" she asked quietly. Di had a few minor changes of her own; notably, her eyes were seeing once more and a shining golden colour, her ears long and pointed though concealed by the mass of curls.
[09:44] Kadan Berkshire: The Berkshire in question stepped inside without hesitation, feeling the biting static of the wards as he passed the threshold into the Windgrace sanctum. For the sake of the maids, the Glamoured Sidhe agreed, sweeping in on long confident strides to present himself to the Lady of the house, "As you say, Lady Windgrace. You may call me Kadan. I've come on behalf of my uncle, or so he claims."
Instead of the silver haired well aged gentleman of her acquiantence, a tall lean rake of a man bowed to her with a slight flourish, boasting dark red hair and a wicked edge to his smile. His voice was as deep but smooth and dark like brandy rather than the salted whiskey bass of Lewis. He offered his hand out to her, unfurling long leather clad fingers for hers to give greeting if she were willing, his gaze studying her new golden ones from under brows as heavy as his apparent relative, his irises hosting similar greengold but more vivid, intense in a way perhaps unsettling.
"And yourself, fair Lady, you have
regained what you lost?" He inquired curious, regarding her from his looming height.
[09:46] Kadan Berkshire: Her Sight would note his aura was indeed the same as the Berkshire she had encountered before, though his seeming was of a much younger rakish man. The family resemblance was near perfect, definitely a Berkshire with the same arrogant angular features and demeanor, with a more youthful veneer for this visit for whatever mysterious reason that might only make sense to the Fae.
[09:49] Dinah quirked a brow but as his hand was offered, she reached her hand out towards him. "Nephew, then. charmed, Kadan. I am Dinah" she greeted him in kind with a dip of a curtsy a few centuries out of date before straightening primly once more.
"Regained? yes. my vision has been returned to me. I wasn't too worried, it was more of an inconvenience than a true burden. I chose gold in homage to my dear little helios, who is taking some time to recharge after such extensive usage" she agreed. Turning back towards where the seating area was, she beckoned for him to follow.
"I hope you still drink mead. we don't have a lot so I cannot personally attest to it's quality" she admitted, reaching for the bottle to pour. "but I will be drinking tea, if you don't mind. please, take a seat"
[10:05] Kadan Berkshire: Kadan as introduced bent over her hand much as he had done before though this time his visage was perhaps more visually striking as he looked up at her, barely brushing lips to her knuckles in a fleeting frisson of heat. His eyes flashed briefly before he let her go with all due courtesy, the master Empath sensing the anguish living in the Lady's heart and body, though of course not the cause. He followed to the seating area listening intently, studying her more closely. He took the offered seat, folding himself down with an economy of grace the observant would note bordered on inhuman. The Fae was not being truly exacting in his depiction of humanity today considering present company. "I am glad to hear it. I am sure my uncle will be as well." Ruddy lips curled amused on the minor fiction of his current persona, really only for the sake of the staff nearby. This Fae wasn't here to play the usual games. An opportunity lost perhaps. He considered her hospitality with a slow nod, "Only if you have it to spare,
of course. Due to the shortages I would not expect the usual refreshments, so no need if there is no offense." He was careful to leave the decision to her on the matter. Then he lounged, gesturing eloquent, "I've come to offer my assistance, in keeping with the agreement made between your family and mine, and to learn of any news to share."
[10:15] Dinah considered his words and poured the mead anyway, her own teacup already positioned next to the chair closest to the fire. plain black tea with a slice of dried orange floating in the top. She set his glass next to him and she moved to collect her own, taking a seat and holding the saucer with her fingers on her lap.
She tapped her fingertips against the edge of the fine porcelain for a moment as she considered his mention of the fog situation and her expression tightened just a little.
"As far as updates; we have very little to share in that regard. Perhaps I might have had something a little sooner, was one of your uncle's number not pratting around with the book for far longer than was necessary." her words were terse behind the veil of politeness, and she reached her tea to her lips to sip. "It was my understanding that an agreement for sharing of information and resources had already been reached by your uncle and I. I was quite surprised to learn that there was something that had been withheld
for as long as it had. Especially due to the particular linguistics required to actually read it, and the fact it had been taken from one of our ships"
[10:40] Kadan Berkshire: No matter how well composed the apparant gentleman appeared on the surface, the Lady's restored Sight gave her a view into a storm. The being availing himself of her couch was comprised of an aura that seethed restless in opposing currents of warm light and icy darkness, curling across his form in constant flows akin to liquid lightning. The emotions he kept under the latch were as turbulent, truly a creature of Chaos smiling across the drinks to her. He took the mead and brought it to the proud terminus of his nose to take in the bouquet, his gaze sharpening to a brillant edge over the rim to her.
"You refer to the matriarch of my house. I would not presume to speak on her behalf." Kadan practically purred, smiling with a gleam of perfect teeth, smooth and dark his tone in contrast, "She took on the housing and care of one of the crew. The fellow was quite a handful."
Only seen by Dinah's golden eyes, a shadow detached itself from where the light cast it from the man. A shape coalesced from that darkness
into a nebulous outline of a feline small and elusive, crawling up his arm to perch upon the wide shelf of his shoulder, curling a long dark tail around his neck. Striking pale pink eyes opened slits in that inky void to blink and direct an unwavering cat stare at Dinah. Kadan tilted his head and grinned at the shadow, a flash of something more related to madness than anything human in the affectionate glance he gave.
"I am sure she would be happy to speak to you in private on the matter another time." He continued, indicating quite clearly he had no control over the whims of the Cait in question. He took a considering sip of the mead, letting the sweetness spill across his tongue as he contemplated the Windgrace's ire.
"I could arrange for recompense if you like." The ancient Fae offered mildly, greengold eyes agleam upon the Lady and her hidden suffering.
[10:48] Dinah remained statue still in her seat except for another lift of her dainty floral teacup. She blinked slowly, heavy lashes veiling her shining eyes for just a moment before they returned their singular fixation upon the fae opposite her.
"The crew would also be one of ours and should have been returned along with the book. unless you are referring to the gentleman incarcerated in eumenides and rightfully so." she curled her hands around the cup once more. The cat was given a fleeting glance before her attention returned to Kadan.
"I was under the impression that if an arrangment had been reached between your uncle and I that it would have been upheld by all members of our respective bloods. Perhaps another meeting between this..matriarch and I would be beneficial. I do have questions regarding the circumstance of the handover of the book that was rightfully ours regardless." she sat up a little, resting her hands on the arms of the seat, pointed claws stressing at the velvet.
"Recompense, you say? I would be intrigued as to what you would consider fair recompense considering this item was taken from our property, witheld from us until my brother made a further agreement, despite it being of literally no use to those who could not read it? Not to mention the prolonging of the closed ports, the lack of supplies for the entire island, the loss of personal income with our fleet at dry dock? Please tell me what you would deem 'fair' in that regard, sir. I am very curious to hear it"
[11:12] Kadan Berkshire: Kadan took the rest of the mead in one hungry swallow, licking his lips to gather every last drop of the fermented honey before setting the empty cup down with a crisp careful tap. His aura lashed around him in a barely contained maelstrom, while he smiled blithe, one fiery brow quirking upwards. Eyes of green and gold met her stare as unwavering as the vivid pink eyes of his companion, a lambent glow swirling in the depths perhaps dangerous to gaze upon too long or else find in them the reason for all the cautionary tales.
"If you wish to tally, I consider the risk taken and blood spilled from my family very high in the balance. Especially when we had no obligation to do so. Yet we took down the creature in your boat once your sibling fell. Rescued the survivor and yes delivered him into the hands of those doctors."
His voice remained dark velvet, smiling in the face of her outrage. If Blake had been present he would have been floored at the exercise of self restraint being displayed. Kadan watched the
trail of Dinah's claws briefly, breaking the spell of his stare if she hadn't found wisdom to do so, a natural consequence of his nature rather than any exertion of will. He lifted his consideration back to her face, traced over the contours of her pain he could sense nearly as keen as his own.
The redhead countered instead, for the moment not reacting as his impulses might dictate, "What would you consider fair for the deal you speak of?"
[11:24] Dinah cocked her head to one side like a bird, still unblinking as she watched him.
"I am not certain you have ample experience in the arts of the grimoires like the one recovered from our ship and taken, to understand the sheer force of will it takes to read one of those things, my lord" she said softly. "Do you know what might happen if someone uninitiated in the arts might turn a page before taking the proper precautions? The blisters and pus that might bubble on your lips if you were to try and speak any of the words aloud without proper preparation? There is one such grimoire known as the Vermis that being in the same room as it and considering reading the pages causes the spontaneous summoning of snakes, vermin and poisonous spiders to the book with the sole intention of making it difficult to you to approach it, and the Vermis is not even known to be particularly potent. It's practically 'babies first contact with the outer gods'" she returned her hands to her cup, irritation visible in the tension of
her fingers as they held her saucer.
"to keep such a thing was frankly stupid. And your uncle said it as much last time that you stand to benefit from the eradication of the fog and the caster who called it as part of the obligation to the land that I assume you share similar ties to, am I correct?" she took another sip. "Let us think for hypothetical sake that the grimoire that was erroneously removed from the possession of it's rightful owners might have done to your people without someone talented enough in the right arts to mark what might happen if certain pages are turned? What might have actually happened, and you just don't know it yet?" she fixed him with a look.
"You came to me before because you need my knowledge, Berkshire. Don't try to play me for a fool now just because one of your people took something they had no right to touch. If you have seen no side effects of that book being around your people it is sheer luck at best, and not even a guarantee that everyone who handled it hasn't
marked themselves for further misfortune. do you have any idea how dangerous that thing could be if it's capable of doing that?" she flicked her fingers towards the windows and she gave a weary sigh.
"I wanted to know what you would deem fair, My lord. What you would deem adequate recompense for all I have listed without even considering the added insult such a thing proposes. It was my understanding that we were supposed to be working to the same goal. What am I supposed to make of this?"
[11:50] Kadan Berkshire: Between one second and the next everything changed and yet nothing at all looked different. Kadan tilted his head slightly, looking into Dinah's eyes no longer as the man he pretended to be, but as the ancient creature of Faerie. One of the rulers of all such Wyld things from the realm of dreams and nightmares and myths. The crown he bore was not happenstance, borne from the power and heritage of his kind and this particular one had reached the end of his patience.
The air shivered though he spoke with a perfectly level tone, darkness lurking under every word behind his gleaming smile. His teeth were all very sharp. "No right to touch? My family could have laid claim to all the spoils of that victory and any other as is our tradition. Yet we chose to approach yours to make alliance and make common cause."
His gaze burned like stars behind hurricane glass, piercing into where her pain lived in her. "Have a care what insult you wish to lay upon my house. You speak of dangers that mean nothing to those
of my persuasion. I suggest you do not presume the same limitations you are familiar with apply to me and mine. I know far more than you do about a great many things."
Kadan leaned forward slowly, his mannerisms of an monster that just happened to be wearing the sheepskin of humanity, but he merely propped his elbow on his knee, resting the harsh line of his jaw upon a hand that held the shadowy hint of long curved talons for a brief moment. His stare however even now didn't reveal the true depths of his nature, not yet.
"All this time and no information has been shared from your family with mine. This alliance goes both ways. I have asked you what you consider fair as a courtesy. What I consider fair by the
traditions of my people you will not understand as such at all. Of that I am quite sure, my Lady."
[12:09] Dinah once more cocked her head to one side and she blinked once more, leaning forward to set her teacup down on the table.
"if your people are at no risk from the Eldritch, then you had no risk going onto that ship." she said gently. "if your people are at no risk from the eldritch then they cannot harm you. Their servants cannot crawl from the sea and pour poisons upon your land and salt the earth. Breed out the humans into monstrosities. The Great Black Goat can not walk amongst your trees and mutilate and mutate the beings there if she were to choose. Is that correct? we are all at risk of them, lord Berkshire. Even those who serve them. Admitting that such a thing regarding the book might have slipped your concern is not a weakness nor is it admitting to a fault. Regardless of the fact, we should have received that book as soon as it was recovered because I have no further information to give you because I am still translating the bloody thing. it is written in at least four separate languages"
she sighed, patient tone giving way to an exasperated sigh
"Something that would have been finished far sooner had I received the book far sooner. I am not trying to be combatitive. but you must see it from my perspective. We were told that you needed our.. well, rather specifically my nuanced knowledge. I told you all I know at that time when you sat just there with blake in your lap. I told you plenty then. And then when more potentiality for information is recovered it is in fact not brought to me to learn more from so I could provide you what you want but instead... god knows what, just kept around as a trophy until my brother was cooerced into making a further agreement to being given the thing. I cannot give you any more information if i am not given the bare materials to source it. I am annoyed, yes, but I am trying to help you understand quite why this has vexed me so. Had the book not been important you could have kept the bloody thing and wiped your arses on it, i'd not care. but it IS."
she opened her hands.
"Whatever is out there is likely looking to strike at my family first. In a war situation, it would be much the same. They will strike at us...if this isn't already targeted at us...because I know what they can do because I know the name of the being that brings the fog and quite how utterly, utterly fucked we all are. But, lord berkshire, if you are an expert in the eldritch lore and sorceries that you do not need me, I have no qualms in returning to solitary investigation. I am not one of your people. You cannot bully me into compliance. You either value my knowledge, and I shall be respected as such, or you don't and I cannot see why you would be wasting your time otherwise"
[12:42] Kadan Berkshire: Kadan chose to listen, silent and waiting, his human skin a mask and nothing more. There was nothing human about the being sitting there other than his preference for wearing a handsome face. His understanding of the cosmos and all the writhing underbelly of it was far different from her own.
"I feel your pain, Lady Dinah." The Empath retorted blunt, dropping all pretense, peering into her, "You have chosen to aim it at me. As your kind does I have observed."
His nostrils flared, drawing in her scent, his hands flexing slightly with the conceit of leather gloves creaking, "But you are an ally. You are not food. And so I will not take insult this time. Respect also goes both ways."
He leaned back, the lightless smudge of a cat on his shoulder murring soft before melting back into his shadow. He opened his hands sharply to mirror hers, his brows lowering heavy over his burning stare, voice hinting now at the true dark timbre of which he was capable, "Of course the spawn of those entities are threats.
There are ways I've dealt with them before. However I wished to spare this place such devastation. I'd rather make peace than war any more." There was a touch of bitter weariness to that last statement, a suggestion of just how much war this being had seen or done by his own hand.
"You know the name of the one who brings the fog?" He inquired with an arch of his brow, tone dry as a bone, "Care to share it?"
[12:54] Dinah stiffened a little again when he mentioned her pain and she stood. "Irrelevent to the fog. And no. This is not related to that. Frankly, lord berkshire, if you would ask any of my family they would tell you that such a thing has a...tempering effect on my anger rather than stoking it" she chanced a faint ghost of a half smile, striding to the nearest bureau to retrieve some paper and a pen.
"Respect is the only reason I chose to speak with you today. I thought it would be ill-mannered to sit and stew over grievances rather than give them their fair address. that would not do" she set the paper down on the table, stooping to her knees beside it.
"The gods I gave as example were not out of brevity of happenstance. You might have dealt with the spawn of them but you have not dealt with the direct deity themselves. I can tell that because you are still here, and not drooling on yourself in an asylum or rotted away to mulch. I did not learn this from that book. But from my studies. My observation, and
from my rather extensive education on the subject. From what I can tell, our risk stands to be threefold."
She neatly wrote out the eldritch script on the page in front of her, the page seething and smoking a moment before settling again.
"First. There is the presence of the Deep ones, or their chattel-kin. They are under the demesne of Dagon, the lord of oceans. This might be a false lead as they can be bartered with or as i think it more likely: Controlled. They are a sentient race capable of organization and thought, so can be bent to whim and will with enough of it" she sketched out the next name, far more fluid looking and even the characters seemed..nauseating.
"The second is the Black goat of the woods. She of the thousand young. She keeps to forested areas and mutates the beings around her, endlessly spawning more to her number. SHE is known to be the wife of the...primary threat."
she paused, glancing those golden eyes up to see if he followed.
"There is but one god that is capable of this
sort of...this sort of thing. THAT is purely under the domain of a being known as the Magnum Innominandum. The nameless mist. I know the other names but I shall not speak them aloud. This, however, poses a far, far FAR greater threat than all of the others combined because that thing does NOT come to our realm. It exists outside of space, it's powers are a fantastic combination of Omnipresence, Reality manipulation, space time manipulation, incorporeality and immortality"
[13:24] Kadan Berkshire: Berkshire gave a slow blink, shuttering the intensity of his regard, letting out a sigh from his nose. How to convey to this woman his perspective might provide clarity but his patience too thin to do so safely.
"Neither fate you suggest would ever befall me. Your understanding of madness is limited by your origins." Kadan flowed with a warrior's grace to his feet, stepping to view what she was writing as he spoke, the storm that lived in him pressing against his speech momentarily before he leashed it tightly back behind his fangs, "You do not know enough of me to know where I have been, who and what I have fought. The Gods I've confronted. Yet here I stand, having come here to offer aid to you."
He observed the burning crawling letters she scrawled and frowned in thought, "There are other names for some of these my people know of, though rare do our paths cross. Here I suppose we have little choice. I intend to defend this land, rather than uproot and leave."
Hearing of such terrible entities
didn't seem to phase the red haired gentleman, suggesting just what sort of life he must have led before coming to this island, what sort of horrifying things he had dealt with. "The first question to be answered then, is why? Why would such a nebulous thing have any interest appearing here?"
Kadan looked at Dinah, all the fervent frustration and suffering she contained, the pride in her knowledge she displayed for him. Truly a feast for the Fae in ways that would seem madness to all others and he smiled. "And the last question to be answered is how? How to stop it. The answers will have to be yours to give, of course, Lady Dinah."
[13:35] Dinah gave another sigh though this one seemed tired. "if you fought anything claiming to be any of these then certainly you would not be here. because fighting one of them would draw the attention of the others. there are many things that like to appear as them... the gods are boundless. Even the ones restricted to this realm."
She tapped the second name she'd written with the tip of her pen, causing the ink to writhe and squirm away from it.
"This one is the one you have most likely encountered some shade of" she said thoughtfully. "Likely apparitions are... a black tree. OR a dark creature with legs like goats. They are considered proxies for the dark mother in her absence. Whenever She gets a cult on this world, it is normally the Dark Young that are in attendence. I am concerned about this particular entity because where as I said, the attention of one goes, the others are likely to sit up and pay attention"
She gave a frown and she sighed again at his latter questions, shaking her head.
"Therein
is the real question, isnt it? Anyone knows that there are certain entities that you cannot contact them without massive, unconscionable repercussions." she folded the page and tossed it over the decorative fire grate into the hearth.
"If something has called both the deep ones under their control AND has summoned that... then they must be powerful. Powerful and stupid. This is a doomed mission they have undertaken for themselves, something that they have either no concept of what it is theyre doing, or they are doing it because they have no worry of the consequence of what becomes of them afterwards. And honesty? Stopping it? I have no clue. Not a clue. I am hoping the book will help give me some indication in that regard. Gods, I am still hoping that I am merely mistaken on all of this. Trust me. I have never taken so much hope in wishing to be wrong"
[13:59] Kadan Berkshire: Kadan bent down towards Dinah, a smile almost wicked, eyes agleam with unfathomable intentions. His scent was similar yet distinct from Lewis, of heather as well but combined with warm cedar and bright bergamot.
"Have you ever been to Faerie, my Lady?" He purred, dark and low, clearly thinking it a grand idea, "Would you like for me to take you there? Oh the wonders and horrors you could see." Creatures with goat legs and scary trees were likely the least thing she might see wandering there. Fervor burned in his voice, "The Mother of All, Her darkest hand is upon me. I do not fear the dark as many do."
With those cryptic words he straightened with an arch to his brow, a challenge given to the woman who seemed so concerned with knowledge and the gathering of it to have seen fit to assail him over a tome. An invitation to learn more given, one full of all the risk and reward the tales spoke of, he pursed his lips, taking his heavy gaze off her towards the windows and the thick grey miasma beyond.
"You
aren't wrong." He stated, sighing, "Insofar as this fog is not of this world, I can sense it. As for the answers to stop this, that is as you have said your area of expertise." He looked back to her, contemplating the options for the matter at hand, "So perhaps the one who caused this is on a suicide mission. We have to keep the creatures from the sea from overrunning the land long enough for you to translate this book to find a solution, I assume."
[14:06] Dinah cocked her head to one side, turning the pen in her fingers. "I have seen it. I have opened windows to many realms but I know from the tales all too well what happens to drifters who become overly curious. As intrigued as I would be to answer such a call, my priority is to my family and I must refrain from stepping to a place where I might casually lose a thousand years for an evening of dancing" she clicked the cap back onto the pen.
"...I do enjoy the wine, though" she added with a weary sigh. "There are many schools of thought amongst scholars in studies such as mine that Faerie are off-shot fragments of the great Dream itself. Personally I find such an idea that only the more interesting realms are Dream-stuff. They all are. even this one" she tucked the pen away into the hemline of her skirt.
"The fog cannot be shifted for more than a fragment of time by mundane magic alone. No earthly weather event could do that. I am hoping-" she let herself drop back into her chair, one hand coming across her
face.
"With some degree of knowledge from the book I can find the rites and methods used to cause this. Much like a poison, if you know what it IS you can work to counteract it. Deep ones are sentient creatures, as I said, I have no reason why they would be here unless something made them. The longer the fog lingers the more we have to fear from more than just the sea. it will bring the others too. I am doing the best I can with the translation but as I said. Written in four different languages and filtered through the mind of a madman. it makes it somewhat testing to say the least."
[14:24] Kadan Berkshire: Kadan smiled wide, far too many mysteries hidden in the depths of this being's eyes. But he chose not to beguile this Lady. Not today. "You wound me, dear Lady. I would not let such things happen to you as your escort. None would dare touch you with me by your side. There is far more than can be dream't of by mortalkind in the lands on which I've tread and called home."
He shrugged magnaniously and dropped the game for now, darkly amused, "Perhaps a tale for another time." For better or worse, Dinah Windgrace had gained the attention and interest of another Sidhe, perhaps one far madder than the one she knew, and only perhaps certain Gods knew what this one's intentions might be.
But the fog took the stage. Kadan paced now, more like a tiger than a man, gloved finger tracing the edge of his chin in thought. "I will consult further with some of my kin on the information you have given. Perhaps dealings of the past will yield some strategies. I would suggest a meeting with the matriarch to address the
grievance you have. I will speak to her on it."
He was imbued with far more vigor in this younger persona, turning his brilliant smile back to her, "Otherwise when the attacks come, send the alarm, me and mine shall be at the ready."
[14:32] Dinah let out a soft huff of mirthless laughter and she shook her head "I have no doubt that you wouldn't, Lord Berkshire. And yet, as I said, I read from the old tales plenty enough to know that such things are not always intended repercussions of a mortal spending time in the fae realms. A creature of the mundane world tends to interact most strangely when it becomes entangled in the uncommon. I will consider your offer though."
She nodded, watching him through her fingers as he paced, and she nodded again.
"Tell your people in the forests to watch the trees. The animals. Anything that begins acting Strangely is to be monitored extremely carefully. Gods if i'm not even certain that those bloody mushrooms aren't related too, but i've been far too busy to become entangled in those too" she lowered her hands and nodded.
"I might also suggest to tell them that should they find anything magical, runic, remotely interesting or shiny on anything remotely eldritch to have it checked by one of us first
before taking it home. As I said.. the deep ones do not behave like this, so we cannot rule out that there are mind altering works at play. We do not want your people becoming puppets for the caster, knowingly or not. We are close to the sea. we will see anything that crawls from the ocean, and I will send the call"
[14:57] Kadan Berkshire: Kadan laughed as well, a rich low chuckle, "When this problem is solved, I will ask again. Perhaps a tour might be my recompense, rather than what tradition calls for."
His grin held secrets. He knew how his homeland worked but he would not share such insights with Dinah today. The crisis had to be handled first of course. "The ones in the town I have no doubt are part of this. I have observed many things in the wilds. If anything appears eldritch in nature, I will let you and yours know. Otherwise we will keep watch for the call."
He was already on his feet as he paced restless as the storm of his energies, other matters pulling at his attentions. So he looked towards the exit before offering Dinah a short bow from another era, "This meeting has been most illuminating. I find myself glad that you chose to see me today, Lady Dinah."
Blake would be flabbergasted by Berkshire's behavior today, having not had a chance to see this side of the Sidhe, smiling and being polite. His version of it at least.
"Once you learn something, I trust you will let me know?"
He chose to suggest rather than any further verbal fencing. He had meant his weariness of war, else the whole island would have long since drowned into blood. The look in his eyes contained ages of such mayhem. Perhaps he was in search of peace now as he had said.
Nothing Kadan had said to Dinah had been a lie. But of course the Fae were legendary for making the truth dance like a thousand angels on the head of a pin. Whim and weather and the Chaos within were all that truly mattered to such a creature perhaps.
"Til we speak again, Lady Dinah, I will take my leave." Kadan Berkshire purred, a grin rakish curving his lips to her as he went to head out.
[15:03] Dinah let out another soft huff of laughter, and she shook her head "unless I find a way to effectively ascend mortality in that time my answer will likely remain the same, but I am grateful for the offer regardless. As I said, my first priority is always to my family, frustrating though they often can be"
she picked herself up again and she nodded again, brushing out her clothes with a whisper of skirts over her stockings and she nodded once more.
"When I have an accurate, somewhat relevant translation I will let you know. I might even send you a copy provided the ink doesnt get up and run off the page, but we shall see if I can actually get the bloody thing legible first. Perhaps I am simply tilting at windmills and none of it will make any blasted sense or yield any sort of curative, but I am if nothing else a creature of eternal optimism", the black-clad, deeply grieving woman said in a tone of utter deadpan as she offered him another curtsy.
"Til next time. do give my regards to your uncle, wont you?"
[15:08] Kadan Berkshire: Kadan smiled darker, greengold eyes vivid as a dream, "There are ways to gain it, if you but ask." He inclined his head, garnet red hair shimmering as he moved, "Be well, Lady. I shall await your translation. Hope is all we ever have to follow. I shall convey your regards, of course." Amused he strode out the door as if about to conquer the world. Perhaps he had done so on the ones before. In any case the gentleman went back into the woods whence he came.