Followed|Mentis

[Darastrix]

"Did you change any details?" he asked. "Or was that the whole story?"

[Kender Bard]

"Yes and no," Kalliope sighed. After another pause, she frowned at Michael and said in a firm but defensive tone, "I am not a thief. My family was. All of them. They wanted me to be one too but I refused. I never turned them in--they were caught."

[Darastrix]

Michael sighed. He wanted to trust her, but....

"They hang thieves in Ronduin?" he asked. "I thought it was a kinder place than that."

[Kender Bard]

Kalliope grew a little paler. "No... They..." She shook her head. I don't want to talk about this. "Are you going to go to the High Priest or try to get me removed?" she asked in a tight and wary voice, still studying Michael with intense scrutiny.

[Darastrix]

Michael spread his hands. "I'm trying to figure that out. A woman from Ronduin recognised you in the library. She came to me about what she said happened with your family and said that you needed to be watched. I didn't want to needlessly foster distrust with the others, so I wanted to get the story from you first."

[Kender Bard]

"My family did... a lot of bad things," Kalliope admitted softly. "Mostly theft. Mostly scamming. But a few other things too. I don't know it all because they all had their own agendas as well. I'm sure they all did more things than I ever knew about or want to know about it. I'm just glad to be free of them."

[Darastrix]

Michael watched her as she spoke, but if Kalliope were lying to him, he couldn't tell. "All right," he murmured. "I'll just say, then, that you might want to think about telling the high priest about your past yourself. The woman who spoke to me seemed satisfied, but I don't know whether she might try to warn one of the others about you."

[Kender Bard]

Kalliope wrapped her arms around herself, closed her eyes tight as though she might cry. "Do you think he'll make me leave? This is the only place I've ever really felt safe. Or... Or belonging."

[Darastrix]

"Even if you had done the things your family did," Michael said, "there are priests out there--probably in every Force's service--who have checkered pasts." He hesitated for a moment, and then put a hand on her shoulder. "Aeron is a fair man; I don't think he would do that. And I'll vouch for you."

[Kender Bard]

"You will?" Kalliope asked, looking surprised. "But you don't even sound like you believe me... I didn't do those things. I didn't want to hurt people." She reached up and brushed her knuckles over her eyes. "Where is the High Priest?"

[Darastrix]

"His study would be my first guess," Michael said. "And it's not that I don't believe you; I want to believe you. With that being the case, I felt like I needed to be a little more careful and try to listen objectively.”

He frowned a little. He was attempting to reassure Kalliope, but he wasn’t sure how well that would sound to her. I wonder if perhaps I’ve been in books and “what ifs” a little too long….

“I do like you,” he added, “and I would just like to be able to say to the high priest that, yes, I’m vouching for you because I honestly think you’re telling the truth, not just because I find you a pleasant person to be around.”

[Kender Bard]

Kalliope didn't look very reassured but she gave a small nod. At least he would vouch for her. "Well, better now than later," she said quietly and rose, heading towards the study and office of the high priest.

Sure enough, Aeron was seated at his desk, busy at work. He glanced up with a small frown when he saw Kalliope but it faded when he spotted Michael as well. Messenger of trouble, that one. He set his quill aside. "Yes?" He raised a brow at Michael. If Kalliope hadn't been in the room, he'd have made a vaguely teasing remark on whether or not Thuoth had a message to give.

[Darastrix]

Michael bowed to Aeron. “Kalliope has some things about her life prior to the priesthood that she’d like to bring forward. A pilgrim who recognized her brought them up with me, and I thought it might be better for her to come forward than to say nothing and have someone else make an issue of it later.”

[Kender Bard]

Kalliope retold her story--it was very similar to the one she told Michael, though in this one she did not turn them in. Rather, she she laid low and tried to avoid her family's scorn. She told him how her family was caught and they all, including her, were tried. Since they were tried separately and she was the youngest, she did not get to hear everything that her family did. She went last. They did not give her sentence. Sometime later, in private, she was released. Having no family and her reputation ruined in Ronduin, Kalliope fled and tried to take a home in Mentis.

Aeron nodded slightly and his eyes flicked to Michael. "What do you think?"

[Darastrix]

"I'm inclined to believe her version of the events," Michael replied. "And she's been a good priestess since coming here."