675-07-14 - Perceptive Lectures
Perceptive Lectures | |||||||
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Summary: Madalyn receives an unusual visit and begins to learn new things. | |||||||
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It has been a few days since the return of the former Princess and the ruling of her mother. Without bothering to knock first the door opens and a woman enters dressed in rather plain attire. She looks much like a prostitute given her neckline and the hem of her dress. She is wearing make-up typical of what most would find in the brothels of the Isles. Regardless of what Madalyn was doing before the unannounced entrance the woman simply looks about the room as though examining things and waiting for further instructions as the door is slammed shut by the guards outside and re-locked.
<FS3> Adara rolls Disguise: Good Success. <FS3> Madalyn rolls Perception: Success.
Madalyn looks up from the chair she was sitting in at the sudden intrusion, clearly quite confused. "Uhm ... greetings?" she offers uncertainly. "I thought only the queen and Lady Adara were allowed to visit me."
The woman looks to Madalyn and says in a soft, sweet voice, "I was told to see you milady. Is there anything... Special you'd like of me?" in a polite voice. She looks a bit older then most prostitutes, though why she would even be here whatever her age...
<FS3> Adara rolls Deception: Great Success.
Madalyn just blinks a couple of times. "Uhm ... no ... I do not think I need anything. I am well taken care of - all things considered. Nice of whoever to send someone to talk to me, though. It can get quite lonely up here."
The prostitute stands up straighter, much like a Lady, and simply shakes her head saying, "There is much work to do." in a different voice entirely. Lady Adara moves to take a seat on the bed with all the grace of a Lady and crosses her ankles, knees together as though she were wearing a formal gown. "One of the most important skills of any Whisper is their ability to notice everything possible. I will not be teaching you all the typical lessons one of The Spoken learn as that would take too much time. Instead I will teach you want I can to benefit your new position as appointed by the Queen. Do you have any questions so far?" Despite her appearance this is indeed the Mistress of Whispers.
Madalyn 's eyes go wide at the sudden reveal of who it is. "Lady Zorich!" she gasps. "That is amazing. You looked and sounded completely different. Am I going to learn to do that?" she asks, oblivious to the fact that there is no way she's passing for anyone else with her coloration.
Adara says, "Based on what the Queen says, there would be little need for you to travel in disguise. Even I rarely use such skills when I acted as emissary. The three fundamental skills for a Whisper, one all of us share regardless of our specialization, is our ability to notice things, our ability to move about unseen when needed, and how well we can deceive others into believing something is true when it isn't." Taking a breath she adds, "I would assume given your personality and selfishness you have at least some skill in influencing others into getting what you want. At least when you were a child if nothing else. That is a reasonable point to build on, you simply must learn to expand that to influence multiple people. Your perceptiveness leaves something to be desired, do you have any experience sneaking around. Whether that be now or as a child?"
Madalyn nods along as the skills of a whisper are explained. "I have snuck into the kitchen for a snack or out of my room when I should not have a time or two. Why would I want to deceive people, though? Wouldn't it be better to be honest about something so that whoever it is can worth with me on it?"
Adara says, "The Queen wishes you be trained as a Cloak. I can only assume it is so you can prove to be of some value to the Kingdom when you are married off as she says. In such a context you would be acting as a spy for the kingdom, as such you would prove you are still loyal to the Kingdom and not some demon or something corrupted by the false patrons." "That is not to say you can't be honest at times, simply that you can't be at all times." is added after a pause in a bit of a softer tone. "I was honest in most of my dealings with the other Kingdoms for nine years, however I was also skilled enough too avoid being caught in the act of what I was doing. I acted as emissary as that was my task, I learned of the diplomatic relations we had with the other Kingdoms. That said I was also learned what I could while there. They did not ask what I was doing so I did not need to lie, do you understand? Do you think yourself capable of studying and practicing enough to be that skilled?"
Madalyn gives those remarks more thought than one might expect, looking down at her lap and taking a few moments to answer. "I can certainly try my best," she offers, sounding rather uncertain about her abilities.
Adara nods and says, "Very well then. Now it is unlikely for you to notice flaws in the disguise of an experienced Whisper such as myself, though there are clues with the less experienced. Accent, the words used, body language, and the like. If you noticed I addressed you as milady instead of My Lady, this is more typical of the uneducated and low born. That said some low born are taught to address their betters properly such as experienced staff at a castle or the like. Such lessons are typically reserved for low born expected to interact often with nobility or royalty so as not to offend guests. Body language is another. Did you notice the change in my posture before I sat down? I stopped moving like someone who is low born and started to move like the Lady I am. It will take take to properly learn the nuances of body language, tone, and other such matters and its possible you might not pick up on all of it no matter how hard you try. That we will have to see. Overall, always be observant. Watch, listen, take notice of smells, tastes, the way things feel. One never knows what might help them as a spy, or what might help them avoid an assassination attempt.
"Always be observant," Madalyn repeats the line, nodding to herself. "That I can do. What do I do if I notice something off about someone, though? I can not accuse someone of being a spy over a something so slight."
Adara says, "As a spy your first priority is to report back to either the Queen or the Mistress of Whispers, or in rarer cases the individual you are instructed to report to. You feed us information relevant about the other lands and then either the Mistress of Whispers or the Queen will determine the course of action. You will then respond as instructed, if you are instructed at all. Basically spies both pay attention to everything and report back on it, and keep anything they learn secret from anyone outside those they report to."
"Always be observant and report back," Madaly adds to her list. "That doesn't sound so hard. I was afraid that learning to be a whisper would be a lot more complicated than this."
Adara says, "It is, as said I am giving you a shorter version of the training as we do not have time for you to spend learning all of it. Something few people know about me, I started training to become a Whisper when I was only eight. I finished by basic training when I started my specialized training when I was sixteen. I was twenty when I became a full Whisper. As I said, we don't have that much time."
"Wow," Madalyn gasps in surprise. "That is a long time. I would be almost thirty if we took that long to train me. Do you think the queen is in a hurry to have me a trained and ... married?"
Adara nods and says, "I would say so. I was betrothed when I was about your age. I married at eighteen, though my husband and I waited till I finished my training before we had any children, which is why my Liat is younger then you instead of older." offering a soft smile at the thought.
Madalyn looks downard again, sighing forlornly. "I see. I suppose I should have expected that when I came back. Maybe next time it won't see so bad." It's pretty clear she doesn't really expect that to be true.
Adara nods and says, "Know this child, I did not love my husband when we first wed, though I have grown to love him with time. Do not expect 'love at first sight'. If there is no love there, then work to build it. King Barret is a good man and was likely to have taken good care of you treating you as the Princess you were, if not a queen. I spent at least two years in his home and saw much that happened there. As I mentioned before I even planted the seeds of doubt that led to him outlawing his Kingdom's own heathen gods. Imagine how you could have used those seeds to convince him to embrace the Patrons if you had gone through with the wedding. Not to mention the destiny you were meant to have." Taking a breath she adds, "By the time your husband died and your children born, the Onimoria might have been the official faith of the kingdom of the Two Rivers, perhaps even embraced by a people desperate for help after so long suffering from famine and plague."
Madalyn frowns at what Adara said. "A wife should not be sitting through her marriage hoping her husband will die soon, and a faith shouldn't use famine and plague to trick people into believing it."
Adara says, "I never said to wait till your husband died. You might know it was coming, that doesn't mean you couldn't love him and enjoy the time you had together before the end. Likewise the kingdom would convert when your son took the throne regardless. I did not mean to trick them, I meant to give them what they wanted. They are a people lost, they only know tragedy and loss right now and would welcome any good that could be provided." Pausing a moment she asks, "If they chosen the Onimoria honestly, do you not believe the patrons would have eased their suffering? They now have no gods and a devastated land, would you not help them if you were able? If they converted do you not think the Patrons would help them as much as you would want to help them? You would have helped them as well. As your kindness and love would have helped them trust the patrons, who would then reward them as proof they were right to trust you their queen."
"They do not need to believe in the patrons to deserve help," Madalyn argues. "Nor do I need to be their queen to care about their people. We could be helping them now, but we are not and I don't understand why."
Adara nods and says, "Those matters that make you unfit to be a queen child. You seek to help them but how? Do you believe we have coin to do whatever we please? Far from it. Guards need to be paid, maintenance and repairs to buildings, new buildings built to provide room for a growing population, and many other expenses. I am far from an expert on such matters but i know well enough Kingdoms must be funded to thrive. Would you make our people suffer to provide for another, even an ally? Yet as queen you could have had a say in how the money was spent in the kingdom of the Two Rivers. You could have helped the King ignore those would would misuse the funds of the kingdom to fill their pockets for example." Taking another breath, she continues in her calm, soft tone, "As to the Patrons, who says they do not care? The question is can they help a land so far away when none follow them? If even a few followed the patrons there, then the Patrons might have the power to change things there. Those few might have fertile fields when no one else did. This extra might not benefit many, but it would benefit more then if there was no extra. With those who benefit then others might seek the same source of fortune that those few have. So more would find the Patrons and the Patrons would have the power to help more. This could grow till the entire Kingdom benefited. As queen you could have made that process quicker by having all worship them quickly and the lands could have overcome its suffering all the quicker. instead they will suffer longer and may even suffer more as time passes."
She then pats the bed next to her as though offering the former princess a seat by her and adds, "You have a good heart child, this is not a bad thing, though one must learn that you must temper a good heart with an understanding of the world. If you are able to do so then you will learn when your heart can benefit the most people, and hold back when it will not. When it won't help you must guard your heart, knowing that with time you will be able to ease it through the use of the most good you can do at the right time. I wish to see our people benefit, and even some from other lands. Yet I am only one person and there are limits to what I can do. As such I wait, and when the time is right then i do all I can to benefit as many as possible."
Madalyn has a defeated look on her face as she listens to the lecture. Staying in her seat, either ignoring or not noticing the pat, she lets out another heavy sigh. "It matters not now. I will never be queen, either here or there. Instead, I am to be kept in this tower for who knows how long, so I have no say in helping either place."
Adara says, "True, eventually though you will be released and if you are sincere and do your best in what I am teaching you. Also if you learn your lesson to put others before your own desires you heart will be able to benefit more. You will be married to someone, even if not a king, even a nobleman you can still help the people of those lands. If you marry one from the Isles then you will have an entire island of people to help. If a foreigner, well they hold sway over their lands as we do here. You can still help."
Madalyn shakes her head, finally looking up again. "I am sure I will be let out when another use for me is found, whether I have learned or not, only to be offered up to someone for other's desires that do not match my own."
Adara nods and says, "Such is how politics is run. For all the benefits nobility or royalty possess they pay the price in marrying for politics, influence, or wealth instead of love. As i said, you accept this and work towards love if it is not there from the start, or you accept it and endure. I have seen suffering and benefit both. You could not survive any other alternative, your good heart would suffer to much without at least some power to benefit others. The only way you could benefit others in a way your heart with accept is with a title of some kind."
Madalyn sighs. "I do not seem to have any ability to benefit others regardless. All I seem to be able to do is earn more and more lectures about how everything I feel is true is actually false. I half expect you and mother to try to convince me up is down."
Adara says, "I simply try and help you to understand how the world works. If you have had your fill of lectures we can move onto more detailed training."
Madalyn nods. "I suppose it would be best to continue with training. Mother is undoubtedly searching furiously for a suitable match and I doubt I will have much time to learn everything."
Adara nods, stands and walks over to begin training in more detail. Her tone remains calm, whether frustrated or not. When things are picked up quickly they are rewarded with a soft smile or congratulations, when slower the older woman shows patience and attempts again. They go over the details of body language, accents, and all the other things they discussed. Adara even provides some simple tests to make sure Madalyn understood things acceptably.