Father Has a Secret|Sensatiamens, Sensatia

[Kender Bard]

Libre held the letter he'd gotten clutched in one hand as he headed to the temple. This is stupid, he thought. And dangerous. And if father learns that I've snuck off to go meet with some... Some stranger then I'll be in trouble. But Libre felt he was capable of taking care of himself now, so he went anyway. Curiosity was the weakness of most Thuothians.

[Darastrix]

As Libre approached the temple, a dark-skinned man could be seen lounging on the steps and watching passers-by. His short, wavy grey hair gave the impression of a man past middle-age, but when he turned his face toward Libre, it appeared that he wasn't much older than the Master's son. He perked up when he saw Libre and grinned, beckoning him over.

"You came!" he greeted as he got to his feet to brush off his heavy black robes. "I wasn't sure you would; the letter was pretty vague. I'm Smoke. Or I will be when they decide I'm done being an acolyte." His voice hovered somewhere between tenor and baritone and carried an obvious Naurorod accent.

[Kender Bard]

Libre cocked his head slightly and glanced towards the temple. "You must be a Soahcian then," he guessed. "They're the only ones that tend to take on new names that I'm aware of." He held out his hand to the other boy. His age had surprised him, not just because of his gray hair but because he didn't often meet others his age. Older and younger, yes, but it felt as though his generation was decidedly lacking sometimes.

[Darastrix]

Smoke nodded and shook Libre's hand, a dark brown and green mark visible on his finger as he did. "Yup. At this point, though, I'll probably be stuck with Smoke anyway. What else are you gonna call a Fire with grey hair and eyes? So!" He grinned. "I guess since you came, you must be curious, huh?"

[Kender Bard]

"A little, yeah," Libre said, trying to get a better look at the mark. "More than is probably healthy for a fellow. If I weren't such a dedicated Thuothian, I'd probably be interested in the Curious. Speaking of which, what's that on your finger?"

[Darastrix]

“Hmm?” Smoke looked down at his hand. “Oh, this?” He raised his hand and turned it so that the sign curling around his finger was more visible. “I’m an Earth, too. And on that note, may I say that if you ever get another sign, I hope you get it from training or your Force gives one to you. Otherwise, it hurts. A lot.”

[Kender Bard]

Libre grimaced at that. "I'm sorry that you had to gain yours the hard way," he murmured softly. "And if I ever get another sign I already know it'll be Thuoth blessing me on the day I become the next Master." He smiled briefly and then it faded. "Now what do you know about those strange buildings? Every time I brought them up, father's dodged the question or given a vague answer or something like that."

[Darastrix]

Smoke grinned. “I bet part of the reason he’s doing that is because he’s the reason they exist in the first place. How much do you know about what was buzzing through the rumour mill before the den popped up?”

[Kender Bard]

Den? His fault? What? Libre felt like he'd already been hit with an informational brick and Smoke hadn't even really said much of anything yet. I might need to sit down for a while after this. "Um, well, just... You can't get in unless you're invited and nobody really knows how to actually get invited. It's like a... a very elite and secretive society."

[Darastrix]

Smoke shook his head. "Nonono. The rumours before it showed up. I'll get to what it is, don't worry, but the interesting part is why it's here. Folks weren't too pleased with the Master before it appeared--first, he'd been away for a while, then some stories started cropping up about how he was treating your family. Nasty stuff. Anyway, the short of the long is that his public image was at a low point about even with what I'd heard about the people's reaction to that marriage thing he tried here years ago."

"So, while public opinion is way down, this group shows up out of nowhere. Well, from Firegem, actually, but you know what I mean. They were a Council of something or another--you probably heard about this--but they went all over the city, decided it was wonderful, and told us all how great we are here. So people decided they liked the Master again, and the next day, the council was gone."

[Kender Bard]

"I'd heard about the Council," Libre mumbled. "It was an unexpected visit. Lord Xavier said they declined offers of hospitality stating that they were in a great hurry. It was very odd, but at least it helped people realize that what father is doing is a good thing..."

[Darastrix]

"And it was good timing, to say the least," Smoke replied. "And it wasn't long after they left that The Shady Den appeared. Now here's the interesting part." He leaned toward Libre and lowered his voice.

"Back when we were having that problem with the falsemen, a brother priest came down from Khelek to help the Master out. When he came by the temple, he was wanting to know what sort of deal Master Thelon had made with our lord. With him being Thuothan, that got everyone's attention, even some of the ones that aren't Curious. The Curious went of to do what they do best, and the next day...." He shrugged. "Something happened with that priest's kid--faeries, Beastlands, something--and he was in a right state for a while until the Addicts and Generous got him sorted out. After that, he told the rest who were interested what he said he told Blue."

"Master Thelon told that priest he thought Etaf must be guiding him--I guess he's stuck his nose in other goings-on--and he was quick to correct that. He said it was Soahc's doing if it was anyone's. According to him, your dad looked shaken up at that and teleported off real fast. But before he did, he heard--" Smoke tapped his temple. "Y'know, heard the Master tell Soahc to leave him alone, that the deal he made was done."

"So you've got an image problem that got smoothed over nice and easy, and right after, a place that offers the kind of services most folks want to run out of town pops up. The man who runs it, you'd almost swear he was one of our lord's priests, but he's not. But you've got that, and you've got a Mind who heard the Master pretty much say he'd made a bargain with Soahc."

[Kender Bard]

Libre looked deeply shaken at the news.

Stuff people would want to run out of town? So it was nothing good, or at least, nothing people would generally condone. Here. In Sensatia. Nice, clean, safe Sensatia.

And his father had invited it in for... What? Popularity? Image?

"I don't know what to say," Libre replied, a little breathily. He felt lightheaded, as though he'd been dealt a blow. Thuoth help me. "What do I... What do I do?"

[Darastrix]

"Well, that's up to you," Smoke told him in a reasonable tone. "Personally, I'm of the opinion that you shouldn't write something off before you try it yourself. What we have here is kind of a working shrine to Soahc, just without priests, though his priests are always welcome there. It's kind of silly...Soahc's temple is full of the same things, but when you try set up some things outside of it, people go all weird."

[Kender Bard]

Libre stared at Smoke with an increasingly lost expression. He looked around, then quietly asked, "Do you know how to get in? I mean, can you get in? And show me? I think I need to see it. For myself."