The Pain Of Yesterday, The Fear of Now

As it was still early in the day Jiyn suggested they try the Shrine. He did not really want to visit the Rectory. Word on the streets was that the Arbiter and some in her party has returned with terrible injuries. He hoped she was well. She had been pleasant enough, when he had served as her escort, to meet with the Odsier Grey Mouth tribe, but he could not help but feel like she could read his mind.

Islana was fine with trying the Shrine first. Islana knew of the Arbiter but everyone in these parts did. She had never met the woman, only had heard stories. Islana was well aware stories could be exaggerated but she wondered if they were.

Entering into the Shrine they found one of the acolytes tending the site telling them that the Friar would arrive later in the morning. Jiyn took this opportunity to ask Islana something that had been on his mind.

"What did she show you?" He whispered.

Islana had begun to realize she needed to tell someone. She might never sleep well again with things weighing on her. The young woman whispered back, "I'll tell you but there is a long story attached to it." That was her way of asking if he really wanted to hear it though they had time before the Friar would arrive.

He nodded glad she had not clamped down or pulled away from the question. Both sat facing Kupen's altar. It seemed almost fitting that they would talk about their experience here in the only hallowed ground on Arcadia.

She took a breath and decided she'd have to start at the beginning, "My mother died when I was born. It drove my father into the alcohol. My older brother and sister were the ones who raised me. My brother would do the hunting. He was killed one day in a hunting accident. My father had been with him and drinking. The accident caused my father to sink more into the alcohol and he would just lay in bed all day drinking. I learned to use the bow and would hunt while my sister foraged.

I came home one day and there was a rather wealthy-looking man standing in the kitchen talking to my father. My father told me he had sold my sister to be wed and he was selling me to the man in the kitchen.

The man was Lord Vasant, he took me to his home, I thought, to be his servant. He had a wife who had been sick for a long time. She could never bear his children. So, while he wanted to keep me as a servant, he had every intention of making me his bride once his wife died.

Lord Vasant was a cruel master. I felt the sting of his whip or belt more than a few times. He liked to just stand in a room I was cleaning and wait for me to make a mistake."

Islana got quiet for a moment, as the memories of what the Lord had done to her filled her mind, a tear fell from her eye. She wiped it away. "He wanted to break me. He succeeded. He made me terrified. I lost a large part of myself during those years."

His wife passed on and I knew if I married him things would only get worse. I found, from somewhere, enough courage to escape. I stole a bow and quiver full of arrows, that he never used, from him. And a small amount of money I knew Lady Vasant had put away. I ran as far and fast as I could. I lived and traveled mostly in the woods but occasionally would go into towns. That's where I heard that Lord Vasant had hired his own guard to find me. It took me three years of being in the woods but I eventually made it to the water and the ship that brought me here."

She took a moment before continuing, "My question was if Lord Vasant would find me. She showed me running with someone else and a man on horseback getting to us. He's going to find me. Apparently, there is nowhere I can run that's safe and what's worse is I might bring someone down with me."

She realized the tears were still falling. Still, there was an odd sense of a little bit of weight being lifted from her.

Jiyn could feel the pain in her voice and a little fear as well. He places his hand gently over hers in a reassuring way and gave it a little squeeze, for support and strength. He didn't have to say anything else. He knew the world was a hard place bit even more so with gentle souls.

Islana appreciated Jiyn's kindness, it was comforting. The redhead said nothing and instead spent several minutes pulling herself back together.

The woman did finally speak again, "What did she show you?" Fair was fair besides she really wanted to talk about something else