open RP: Renata finds Robin

[renata-leynier.livejournal.com]

She still could not say how she had come to Hogwarts. What she did know for certain was that whatever travel might have brought her here, it left her sorely fatigued, all the more so after the strangeness of the Sorting into which she had immediately been cast. When she returned home, she thought, she would have at least this story to tell, that she had passed a trial by embroidery!

This castle was not entirely without good help. In short order Renata had a chamber, more akin to the accommodations of a Tower novice than anything like her apartments in Castle Aldaran, and adequate clothing and linens, again more befitting a novice's work than a lady's station. It sufficed; she had no complaints. At the same time, she thought it not at all strange that the Hat should have cited her noble blood as the reason for her house placement. Comyn and Hali'imyn alike were set apart from the common run, Hali'imyn if anything a rarefied subset of the Comyn.

This was not to say she had no questions about Slytherin House. For one thing, Robin of Loxley had seemed reticent on the subject of that House, and uncomfortable concerning his own placement therein. Should there be a stigma upon her new residence, she wished to know it, and to know why. She would not have it be a hindrance to her work.

For she had work to do here, she knew. Already she had met a young woman burdened with entirely uncontrolled laran or something like it, and a man confronted with an unexplained double who desired deep monitoring for both himself and that double. Hogwarts was some sort of a school, and she had met other telepaths here who seemed in no need of training, yet no laranzu'in and no evidence of specific avenues for teaching or using these gifts presented themselves. The words of Lord Commander Snow stayed with her as she soaked in a hot bath and prepared for sleep. Renata had not come to Hogwarts purposely. The place might well be drawing people to itself, for a purpose of its own, or even unthinking, when the need arose. There was magic in these stones ...

Well, she had her matrix, and she would do her best, as befitted a comynara and leronis. Tramontana could continue its work in her absence, doubtless; she might be its most skilled monitor (false modesty not a luxury permitted in such intimate and grueling work), but she was not the only competent monitor at that Tower, and even if she were, Neskaya could spare one to hold her place. As for the Aldaran domain, well, the succession of Donal's son was in no question, whatever might befall Mikhail. The Storns or the Scathfell kindred might make some ill-conceived attempt at unrest, but none could stand against the might of the Hasturs, and the connection to Allart might well check such an attempt even before it could begin. No, Renata had no misgivings as to how her kin might fare without her near. If she had, she would not have been at Tramontana at all; she would have been at Castle Aldaran, or in Thendara. A sad state of affairs it was, she thought ruefully, that the work for which she was trained had now become in itself a luxury, something she could pursue only by Mikhail's grace and blessing, and when she was not needed elsewhere for reasons of state.

Now it seemed she was to take up that work in a new place, without benefit of a circle, without any tools other than her own matrix. So be it; Renata Leynier had never shied from a challenge. Clean and rested, she awoke and dressed herself in the robes of Hogwarts, and set out from her little Slytherin dormitory room to go about what business she might have.

She needed to find Gillian, and to find Sidney Reilly. She recalled being told that owls were used in this place, for the people to communicate one with another. It seemed to her wasteful, when a woman had her own two legs to walk upon. Yet she did not know where to find these people. Robin of Loxley had promised to act as guide to her; perhaps he could guide her at least to the place where the owls were kept, and she could send word to these others to let them know where she might be found, until such time as she got her own bearings.

By the grace of Evanda, it so happened Robin was the first person Renata saw upon her emergence from the dormitory. Her path took her through the Slytherin common room, where he sat before the hearth with a tray of sand at his feet and a branch of some wood Renata did not know in his hands. She recognised his work: he had fashioned the branch into a weapon, which he had carved, and was now sanding the carvings. Perhaps he had been at this for some time, and Renata was almost loath to disturb him. It was the habit of a telepath that made her speak to him regardless; had she been among her own, they would have sensed her presence at once, whether she spoke or no, and it would have been foolish to pass by as though she were not there.

"How goes the work?" she said, simply. No need to preface the words with formality.

Comments

[hernes-son.livejournal.com]

Startled out of a pleasureable reverie, Robin looked up to find the object of his thoughts standing before him. A slow, sweet smile crept over his face. "My lady Renata." He put Chance's bow carefully away from the heat of the fire and stood, conscious that he was a little smoky and work-rumpled, not at all what was due Renata's position. "You had no trouble finding me, I hope?"

[renata-leynier.livejournal.com]

"Why, none whatsoever," said Renata, smiling. "As it happens I have been placed in Slytherin house as well; so I have chanced upon you without looking, which I count a stroke of good fortune. But I have interrupted you at your work; do not let me keep you from it."

[hernes-son.livejournal.com]

Robin shook his head, returning her smile. "I am only too glad to be interrupted; and I am nearly done besides." He picked up the bow, hesitantly. "Are you ready for our walk? I can return this to my room in a moment."

[renata-leynier.livejournal.com]

"I feel I am ready for anything," Renata asserted. While there was laughter in the assertion, the way she carried herself gave truth to it, too: that perfect carriage, upright without rigidity, that bespoke the dual disciplines of the nobly born and the Tower-trained; softened by a grace that could not be bred even into Comyn but was Renata's own, hard-won.

[hernes-son.livejournal.com]

"I feel certain you are." Robin's eyes followed the lines of her slender body admiringly as he grew ever more conscious of his own disheveled state. Normally he would not care, had not cared before, but this woman made him feel the weight of everything he had never learned.

Robin's chin went up in answer to a self-issued challenge. Yeoman he may be, but he was no bumpkin. "Will you wait here, then? I shall be only a moment."

The moment he was out of her sight he sprinted to his room, taking care to put Chance's bow away carefully even in his haste. He grabbed a clean shirt and trewes, mentally thanking the house-elves, and ran to the bathroom. Robin divested himself of his clothing, leapt into the shower (taking care not to wet his hair much - no time to let it dry), scrubbed himself with soap, rinsed like a madman and toweled off hastily. He shoved his legs into clean trewes and leather breeches and left the bathroom only minutes after he had entered it, tugging the shirt over his head as he jogged barefoot down the hall.

When he re-entered the Common Room he had just finished tucking in his shirt. Robin leaned against the nearest table and hastily pulled on his boots, then spread his hands, smiling. "Forgive me - I did not wish for you to smell smoke and raw wood throughout our walk. Have I kept you too long?"

[renata-leynier.livejournal.com]

Ensconced on a low couch with a cup of cocoa in hand (very like Darkovan jaco, she had decided, except for this drink's alarming sweetness), Renata had been puzzling over the Daily Prophet (http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizworld/prophet.html). Printing presses were unknown in the Seven Domains. She looked up from the paper at Robin's return, and gave him a quizzical smile, setting down the thick ceramic mug that still held most of the cocoa she'd been brought. "Why, smoke and raw wood are all it seems one can smell at some times, in the mountains. Aldaran is a mountain Domain and well-forested. When there are lightning storms in the summer, forest fires can arise, and the fighting of them takes every able-bodied man. Commoner or Comyn, they all must serve on the fire-watch. We have not so many fires as in the lowlands, where I was born, because our snows last longer; but we have resin-trees, so when those catch fire ..." Her hands flew up, illustrating explosion.

[hernes-son.livejournal.com]

"In that case I have made you wait too long, my lady. Still, I am the more fit for your company, I hope." Robin offered her his arm. "Therefore I am at your service."

[renata-leynier.livejournal.com]

The words and the movement reminded Renata forcibly that while this particular individual seemed more a Darkovan than most of the people she had met at Hogwarts, he was nothing of the sort. It was very like the moment when Jon Snow had failed to recognise her use of the proverb about leading horses to Valeron. Wryly, she thought: It is not with those who seem strangest to me that I must take the most care, but with those who seem most familiar! Robin of Loxley's offer of service, she sensed with the surety of an empath, was meant as a verbal courtesy. It was like saying z'par servu, true, but without reproach implied here. Had a Darkovan friend of Renata's addressed such a remark to her, it would have been meant very much as a reproach, an indication she was coming it too high.

There was, too, the offer of his arm. Renata sensed this too was a courtesy, and routine. Among her people, anyone of her station would either be gifted with sufficient laran as to minimise the intimacy of touch, or would be accustomed to dealing with such persons and would have adhered to a telepath's etiquette even if not strongly gifted himself; and anyone not of her station would not have addressed such a familiarity to a comynara. Renata decided to split the difference, and took his arm long enough to support herself in rising, then stepped back without fuss, her manner open and friendly still, clearly no rebuff in it. "I have need first of all to find this place where the owls are kept," she said.

[hernes-son.livejournal.com]

Unempathic as he was, even Robin could tell that Renata was unused to his ways. When she did not take his arm, therefore, he took it as she intended, merely clasping his hands behind his back.

"The Owlery it is," he said with a smile. "In the tallest tower. I look forward to your thoughts about the moving staircases."

In truth he was glad to be on the move, though he would be happier still if their journey took them out-of-doors. Confinement had never suited him; even as a child the times in Sherwood, until Herne's watchful eye, were his happiest memories. Walls were shelter, and welcome at times, but they could also make a prison, and in his heart Robin was a son of the forest.

But the view from the Owlery was magnificent, as he knew from experience: free and open. And the view from here was enjoyable too, he thought as he walked beside her, watching Renata's face, so serene yet full of life.

[renata-leynier.livejournal.com]

"The moving staircases?" repeated Renata, incredulous. "I should think such a thing would be too dangerous for a habitation of men. Is it a trap, or perhaps a safeguard of some kind?"

[hernes-son.livejournal.com]

Robin chuckled. "In truth I do not know what they are intended to do, though they tend more toward the former, in confusion at least. I have the impression they are there for someone's amusement more than anything else."

They came into the main hall where the staircases were indeed illustrating their lack of navigability with creaky effect. "Are you ready?" Robin asked, his eyes twinkling.

[renata-leynier.livejournal.com]

Renata lifted her chin. "I am."

She did not move toward the staircases, not yet. Stopping, she drew from its pouch the jewel that hung from its copper chain at her throat. Lights danced within its blue depths, and brightened at her touch and her gaze.

She focused.

One of the staircases stopped moving.

[hernes-son.livejournal.com]

He had known, from her Sorting, that Renata was gifted in this way; but that did not diminish the awe Robin felt at watching her power at work.

He found, however, that he was at a loss what to do next. Could he speak to her without causing harm? Should he leap upon the still stairway? Robin watched Renata carefully for some sign.

[renata-leynier.livejournal.com]

Satisfied, Renata shrouded the matrix again within its silk-lined leather, and smiled at Robin. "I had only to tell it to be what it is, and not what sorcery had made it," she said. "Such redirection is easy, to reinstate what is already in a thing's nature. Rock may rest." With that brief and simple explanation, she stepped upon the stair as she would any stair.

[hernes-son.livejournal.com]

Robin joined her on the staircase with a smile. "This is much easier than when I first made my way to the Owlery tower, I must confess it."

He considered what she had said. It seemed similar to, and yet different from when he asked a boon of nature, such as the yew for Chance's bow (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1226114.html?thread=62915714#t62915714). Robin had asked to be a part of what was. Renata had revealed what was not. And yet both were about communing with the truth of the natural world. For the first time he wondered if she could sense his emotions, the way he could sense those of the forest to which he was so attuned.

The arched doorway to the Owlery tower beckoned.

[renata-leynier.livejournal.com]

When they were inside the Owlery at last, Renata's eyes widened. "So many owls kept together, and tame! I am no MacAran, to have the gift of rapport with hawks and sentry-birds, but I may handle a tame owl well enough, I think. Surely it can be not much different than hawking, unless they are under some enchantment as the staircase was ..." At that thought she seemed a bit apprehensive.

"There is parchment here, and ink. I thank you for your guidance. You may take your leave of me if you will, Robin of Loxley. I am aware my company troubles you," she said gently. She could not say why it was so. She only knew the vague truth of it.

[hernes-son.livejournal.com]

Robin could not have been more astonished. "Then you have misread me indeed, my lady," he blurted out.

After a moment he went on, completely discouraged. Clearly she wished to be quit of him, and he could not blame her. "But you do see me uncomfortable, though you are not the cause. I have been alone for some time, and have never had grace in new company in any case."

"I came here for a purpose, to answer a call that I begin to believe I am increasingly unfit for. Everything here is a challenge to me - even living indoors, at times."

He shook his head, trying to make himself clear. "You are not the first whom I have met here who knows not why or how they came and yet seem to have little difficulty adjusting. So many come equipped with power I cannot begin to aspire to, and it makes me question Herne's judgement in choosing me. Again. I failed before; shall I fail him this time?"

Robin sighed heavily, thrusting both hands into his hair. Might as well be hanged for the King's deer as for a badger. "There is more, though you will perhaps not wish to hear it. But you will be quit of me after." He glanced up at Renata, his eyes dark. "I thought, after eight hundred years of solitude, that loneliness was all I would know. I have found friends here, but no one who has touched me quite as you have done." He paused, then went on doggedly. "To others I am strong, a hero, even a legend - with you I feel the awkwardness of a stripling in the first throes of calf-love. And I am discomfited by my own foolishness, for you are a woman wed."

Robin shook his head. "I beg you will forgive me - I assure you it is more than I shall do for myself. I leave you to your task."

[renata-leynier.livejournal.com]

Concerned, Renata heard him out. As always, an ingrained courtesy and a self-protective measure, her barriers were up. Strong emotions could reach her nonetheless, indeed she would be hard-pressed to avoid sensing them; yet she was not among her own people, and she should not speak so freely of what she sensed, particularly when she was unwilling to probe further for the reasons underlying such a strong projection. Now she had forced him to speak aloud those reasons, which clearly he would have preferred to leave unspoken. When he had finished, she said: "It is I who should cry your pardon. I will not have adjusted so readily to this new place as you may suppose. I could only sense you were not at ease, and that was not the case when I came upon you in the common room, before you were yet aware of my presence. And I had used the matrix just now before your eyes, and that is something that can cause unease even among the people of the Seven Domains, those who do not have the gift, or who are not of the Comyn. It can occasion fear, even distaste --" It was not distaste she had sensed from him, though; far from it; only a strong discomfort, and one she would rather not interrogate. So she had spoken, intending to spare them both awkwardness. How wrongly she had wrought!

There was strength in him, she knew, and a purpose she had not fathomed or tried to fathom. She was unsurprised by what he said concerning his place among his own people. There was, too, some arcane knowledge unfamiliar to her, something touching the work he had been doing in shaping that wood. "Laran ought not be taken lightly, of a certainty, but it is not everything, however some of my kinsmen may think it so. There are other powers," she said seriously. "I cannot venture to judge whether you are as out of place here as you feel you are. I can only say you do yourself a disservice by such self-doubt. As for the rest --" She gave him a troubled smile, grey eyes looking directly and unflinchingly into his face. " I am truly sorry, if I have awakened aught in you that is to you a burden or a worry. Among us it is something to be faced with honesty, lest it cause disharmony in the matrix circles. I will tell you how it is with me, if you wish it, and how I came to be lady of Aldaran. I warn you, it is a tale long in the telling."

[hernes-son.livejournal.com]

Relief flooded him at her words, and Robin smiled.

"My doubts are not new to me, my lady; you are hardly responsible for them. But I would hear your story, that I may better understand how things lie with you. Will you meet me in the courtyard below when you have sent your owls?"

[renata-leynier.livejournal.com]

Renata nodded. She would not seek to take upon herself responsibility for that which was none of her doing. At the same time, she was empath born and trained, and she would seek to ease strain when she could.

"I shall rejoin you there as soon as I have finished writing," she assured him. "From yonder window I will be able to see the courtyard, no?"

[hernes-son.livejournal.com]

"Aye. I shall wait there." And watch the window.