Wolves howl in the keep again

[Farris Wolf]

Farris slowly moves into the city. He had hoped his disappearance had been noted. He slowly walked up the roads towards the keep. He slightly limped and he had a new scar running down his arm quite visible with the short sleeve tunic and leather pants. He slightly leaned on his left leg and brought his right arm up. The long red line running down his arm looked almost fresh. As if it had been just recently undressed. The scar slid down his arm and up underneath the sleeve. Turning around he smiled slightly then headed towards the keep. His dark hazel eyes floated on the ivory tipped walls as he moved towards the illuminated keep. He then turned away from it. He had other plans for his return and it involved a woman, yet not Kahlan. His figure moved down the street his figure not really changed that much. He moved to the inn where Luca had been staying. He looked for the owner and asked if his room had been occupied while he had been away. He closed his eyes. How long had it been. He really couldn’t tell. Luca could still be staying here. He then asked the owner, “Is a Lady Luca still here?” He quietly waited for a response


(Yes I know I am going to have to do this for two weeks…pity me please)

[Farris Wolf]

As he waited a lot of thoughts ran through his head. He had been gone a long time. Would Luca even remember him. He had worked to get back to Ulster. He hoped to whatever beings that watched over the earth that he wouldn't ever have to tell of the horrendous story he would have to tell of what had happened. It was dreadful. The pain of that trip had almost ripped him in two. He would never tell a soul unless he really wanted to cry...he even wanted to cry right now while thinking of it. He watched as the taverowner was about to respond, but he nodded a farewell and left the tavern quickly. He would have to speak to Kahlan about this. He reached into a bag that was hanging from his shoulders and pulled out a shirt of nice finery. A silver inlaid wolf below the crest of Ulster.

He put it on and strapped the sword around his waist that he now carried. A long sword running down his leg with a cold look of death to it. The hilt was silver also. When he had gotten it...that hadn't had the chance to change the color, but he liked the silver color all the more reminding of the death it could bring if he sought to attack. He was nearing the gates and those dark hazel eyes turned to the first guard. A guard he didn't know. The other one also unfamilliar to him. He neared the gate and kept moving never stopping.

A armed man entering the palace would never bode well with a guard never how fine he dressed or what he wore on his shirt. One of the guards grabbed his arm. Farris stopped and turned his cold look upon the man. "Let me go or it will not be just my wrath you will meet. It will also be Kahlans." He had noticed he usually didn't call her Queen, but he hoped the guard was too dumb to point that out. The guard let go, but got infront of him. He lowered his head a slight bit and his hand edged towards the steel. His deep voice rumbling, "If you do not move I, Sir Farris Wolf will cut you down where you stand." He hated guards he didn't know. Why did they have to appear all the time when he was gone. Damn new recruits too. The guard trembled a slight bit at the voice and he moved. Yes Farris had lied. He wasn't a knight, but he didn't see any other way through quickly. He was climbing up the steps quickly. Kahlan would know where Lucca is. She would know.


((OOC this is like a day after the funeral...just to update on the timespan))

[Kahlan Lothair]

(Just so we are on the same page, this is a day after the funeral)

She had heard that Farris was back in town and even now, hovering in the shadows she was slightly intrigued by his audacity. Then again, Kahlan had never been quite so...different either. Stepping with the grace of the wolf that so infiltrated her life now, Kahlan slides from behind the door and the shadows. "Leave him." The ring of authority in her voice causes the guard to freeze and turn to bow in an almost feverish state toward the High Queen.

Kahlan taps him on the shoulder and nods to him in acknowledgement before turning her gaze on Farris. It was a strange glance if any there were. Her eyes a pale blue grey, mirroring the waves that even now crash against the cliffside that the Castle is butted up against. Yet the most striking thing about the woman is her outfit. Dressed in a pair of black pants and a tight black shirt, Kahlan looks more like an assassin than a queen.

"You called?" Finally she levels her gaze on Farris' eyes. She didnt like the man very much and she scarcely believed she could accept his vow of trust again. Hair like molten gold falls down Kahlan's shoulders in sparkling rivulets of gentle curls, framing an exquisite face that looks to be hiding a mask of pain rather than make it known.

"What have you come to me for Farris? Need you a favor?" The chill in the air only augments Kahlan's cold tones. Its obvious that something has left her for the time being, and if he hadnt seen the pyre's fire leap into the air as most of the town had seen, then he was surely out of the loop.

[Farris Wolf]

He looked struck laying eyes on her. She had changed so much. He nodded his head to her in acknowledgement. "It is a favor in a question. Is Lucca still here?" His whole body was tense over the answer. He didn't care that he was propably stepping into a she wolfs home with a pup around. He wanted the answer.

He was in no shape or form crying, and that would be a lie. He was crying but like a man letting a tear flow from his cheek one at a time. He hoped to those people up there would grant him this one wish to find Lucca and for her to remember him. He didn't care if while he was away she had spurned him for some affections of another man. He had come into town just today. He hadn't seen anything. He didn't know that Daniel was gone. Nor that Theoren had died. There was a rumor floating around that the queen had come back with a dead person that he had heard coming into town. He had ignored it till now with the look she had now.

His thoughts were almost lost, but he awaited the answer resting all of his focus on the answer to the question. His eyes resting on hers the cold look gone and just sadness and a hint of hope for finding Lucca.

[Kahlan Lothair]

Lucca? Frowning as she searches her memory, Kahlan never once looks away from Farris. Finally she steps closer to him, the shadows only adding to bolster the effect of her grace. "Lucca is away on business. When the next mail caravan leaves you might get a letter to her if you try. It leaves tomorrow around mid morning."

Kahlan shifts her weight as she takes Farris in. Long fingers tangle in the mass of fiery gold curls, pushing it back away from her face. The oddest thing was that though there was a breeze brewing off of the coast, it never once seemed to ruffle the High Queen's feathers.

When Kahlan finally breaks her gaze from Farris' her eyes roam to her surroundings before she plows onward. "Heed me in this Farris, I have had to bury a great friend. If you so much as make a wrong step and I hear about it, no manner of placation will soothe me. I am in no mood to play games or to quell riots where they may happen." It was true then, the wolf had taken the dove's place in the hierarchy of Kahlan's inner turmoil.

[Farris Wolf]

Farris smiles a slight bit. "Thanks you." Farris nods. He understood her pain in this somewhat. "Yes My Queen. I will cause no riots or do anything I have never done in Emain Macha." He had added a little bite to his tone, but not enough to goad her into throwing him in the dungeons...he hoped. He now locked his gaze on her. "If you would ever need someone to kick around as a playtoy to...relieve stress. I am still up for a penance of my evil deed." He widened his eyes a slight bit. He knew this wasn't the time for merriment and joking but when the time came for him to stop trying to crack a smile o someones face. He wouldn't know what to do anymore. He lowered his head a little to her and started to back away from her.

[Lady Lucca Solaris of Ulster]

"Yes, a man had come here not too long ago, searching for you..."

Her eyes seemed to flicker for but a moment, letting the gaze linger before dropping back into the usual subtle inquisitive complexion. The definition given and description now held within memory, it would not have been too difficult to discern to whom she would direct her next inquiry, but for the nonce, it was unimportant. A gentle nod of her head was all that remained before heading back into the room that was her permanent home.

There had never been discrepency before with such standards, having prearranged the room as her temporary lodgings within Ulster between her random business ventures outside of the city. The patrons had always been more than delighted to receive the Counsel woman, though with each time, as the absences were becoming more frequent and extended in their length, their hesitancy seemed to grow. Once more, she would merely shrug off such unimportant complexities with simple nuances directed towards "duty as Council Woman" and the like. As she dawned upon the threshold of her room, however, the knowing sense came upon her that she would soon have to find more suitable living arrangments.

Times were just becoming far more demanding.

Sliding beyond the wooden portal, she closed the door firmly behind her and discarded the worn travel cloak, looking within the darkness towards the far curtained window. Slowly, as she drew near, tresses of blackish hair seemed to double its length, orbs turning to silvery hues while the garments shifted into a more delicate material. Whispers of names long withheld clung to the ivory dress, blanketing the coppery skin in their secretive existence. A touch of rouge to the lips, and her appearance would have been far more obsolete to her usual expression, but she had not the luxuries of such things, and so, she remained placid in her eastern guise.

"Farris...." she breathed, into each and every corner of the room, spreading the icy warmth into the fire of various candles and lamps. A soft orange glow soon emitted from the hovel, giving life to what lay dormant moments prior. She had given him much thought, oh yes, on her time away in 'business' expenditures, letting that casual thought gain increasing purchase to her new outlook upon living. There had been much hogging space within her mind these last few weeks, he had been but a mere fraction of its immense proportions. But she could not kid herself, for he -had- been there, within her thoughts. This, she could not ignore.

Silently, she turned towards the lavatory of her room, finding there within a few buckets of warmed water, together with an already partially filled bathing tub. A few droplets of whatever remained would bring the water to its desired temperature, filling the young woman with an ease of mind she had not gained in the longest of whiles. Amusing, it was, how a simple gesture such as this could bring about the most monstrous of changes in the burdens of the mind.

How utterly amusing.

Barren to the chill of the fiery room, the delicate garments dropped to the floor, soon to be discarded like the worn cloak for pursuits of far greater luxury. Her body soon found encasement within the warmed water, the fluids drenching her weathered appendages while ceramic tiles concealed the various etchings to the very same pieces. Closing her eyes, she let her mind drift back, merely waiting for the sound she knew would come eventually.

He would visit, she knew he would.

[Farris Wolf]

As he moved away from the palace slowly his brain was racing thoughts through it like a windmill. They just kept swirling in his mind.

As he made his way he went by the Inn to check in there. Then he decided he would get a room there and stay for the night atleast. He walked over to the master of the inn and he nodded as I asked for a room then he slipped me the word that I had wanted all day. Lucca was back and was in the inn. He smiled and moved towards the door where her rooms were located

Three knocks on the door loud but not like he was storming the door. His breath almost sped as he waited for her to answer the door. Would she assail him as soon as she opened the door...no what was he thinking. It had been a chess match from the start between them. Moving the pieces back and forth. He had made the opening moves and slipped by her defenses...kissing her. She would have slapped him then.

He quietly awaited the opening of the door.

[Lady Lucca Solaris of Ulster]

One... Two... Three...

As if timed within her mind, the knocks came, 'rousing the brow beyond the silvery eyes to proportions indicating intrigue. Whatever amounts of time had passed, the waxen figures of candles still held their stern shapes, though soft glows did fight the darkness of cornered rooms. Pushing past the placid surface of now frigid waters, she groped along the edge for a house coat or garment, something to fight the chill of the on-coming evening. Or perhaps it was the chill of awaited endeavors - who could rightly say?

Within moments, the ivory-garbed woman appeared before the doorway, dampened curls of hair framing the refreshed visage. A moment of silence passed betwixt the hand and the handle, the mind stilling as if to prepare and recite the rehearsed lines and expressions before a show. However, all such lines and cues were not marked upon a parchment piece; no director remained to signal action or intent to either of the members. There was a sense of loneliness within her hollowed bones that moment, but it seemed to make of the unimport, will seizing upon chance to pull the portal to a gaping welcome.

"Well hello there, Sir Farris.... Do, come in."

[Farris Wolf]

As he waits at the door. His brain stops. All thoughts in his mind stop moving. His eyes close and as he hears the door open everything lights up. He opens his eyes and laying eyes upon her.

A light smile touches his lips, as he steps in. "Thank you." He mentions going by her. As soon as he makes it through the door. All he felt was coldness. He turned around looking at her. "Have fun on your "business" trip?" he opened the conversation with a question. He tried to remember what tley happened last time.

[Lady Lucca Solaris of Ulster]

No more than a pleasant smile crested her lips as she nodded her head, stepping aside to let him pass before swinging the door to close softly behind them. Letting her hands fall behind her back, she slowly moved towards an armchair, merely letting him do as he pleased within her quarters. If he was wanting to sit, she would not hold him back. And if he was wanting to be cross, well, he could do just that If anything, she rather enjoyed the idea of having no qualms or prerequisites of their stage. Merely improvisational living. Yes, that would surely do.

"Let us be frank, Farris..." she began, settling into the chair rather smoothly. Taking a hand to the folds of her dress, she kept her eyes trained upon him, watching his every reaction. "The trip was far from business in kind, unless we are to presume matters of personal affair now business affair. And from the looks of your current state, I would almost think you had far more fun that I?" She would let the ball rest within his court for now, the question hung within the air for him to grasp at, should it be deemed the justly time, or if they would brooch such things later on.

She was not prepared to discuss her areas of visitation, nor the manner in which they were conducted or the reasonings behind their presence. In the briefest of moments within the tense silence did she greet the fleeting image of one particular creature, the alluring eyes piercing into her thoughts. Yes, it would be required of her to visit upon him as well, provided he had not fled in a mad frenzy over her depature... As if to agree with herself, she shrugged her shoulders and finally turned her eyes to the waining sun. Perhaps a cup of tea or small meal would ease their mouths slightly.

Again, the ball was in his court.

[Farris Wolf]

So it had started again. This contest of wills between the other. He smiled as he sat down leaning back. The ball was in his court...would he pass it back or shoort. Decisions

He sighed. "Fun on my trip...no I had no fun on that trip. For personal affairs it may have been, but it wasn't for pleasure." He said shutting out the memories. "I do not even wish to bring what happened to mind. So please can we let that be." He held back the emotion only letting her see a smile. A small smile that it be.

His hands lower to his knees. "You however must of had atleast a little fun outclassing my own by a tenfold?" He passed the ball back to her with a smile. How much he loved this game, but despised it so.

[Lady Lucca Solaris of Ulster]

If her eyes were not deceiptive little fiends, perchance the mind may have dared to see a slight hint of regret within his eyes. Or was it pain? Shaking her head only slightly, as if to resettle the drying tendrils about her face, she fixed her gaze onto his form, letting it linger for but a moment.

"Yet another situation better left untouched by the inquiring minds of conversation and the like, for my trip was not one of great amusement, nor of ilk to be discussed alongside fires and pleasantries." Hesitency whispered beyond her lips, leaving the room rather silent. Within her mind she held distant memories of their last meeting, in the very room they now sat. Him, upon the love seat, her within his arms. Together they took turns at witted remarks and actions, before the slight mishap of memory getting the better of her behaviour. It was a mistake she would have paid sorely for, had he not been so oblivious to her own plight. But that was all well and left behind, for even in the wake of her voyage, did she find respite and solemnity for dregs of past lives. And even then, of lives not yet lived.

"It is good, to see you smile though.. however slight and pained it may seem..." Looking beyond his features towards the setting sun, she let off a subtle sigh, followed by the smile of a woman with a mission.

"M'Lord, will you bestow upon this lady a minor request fulfilled? Despite hours of travel, my limbs feel restless... The corners of this fair city do little to refresh my memory, without exploration in slow-paced strolls," Saying no more, she extended a hand, locking eyes with his as a smile touched her lips.

"I wouldnt mind the company..."

[Farris Wolf]

He listens nodding. "Yes I smile now even though of that horrible trip." He sighs almost in sync with her staring out at the sun. When she stands up he stands up taking her hand. "It would please me greatly to be in your company. Which part of the city do you wish to explore. I am not quite sure I can bring up the familiarty of the city myself." He said with a shrug of helplessness. He had forgotten most of the ways of the city. The only things he remembered was the locatio nof this Inn and where he had met Amariette. The keep was easy to get to so that wasn't something mindful to remember or to forget anyways. He looks down at her clothing and remarks. "It is growing quite chilly out there. Would you like to dress warmer. I shall step out if so." He was being modest now. Better not press your luck on a woman unless she is pressing you...came from the back of his mind. Something a mercenary captain had told him after he had been pewtered by a barmaid.

[Lady Lucca Solaris of Ulster]

The slight shrug of her shoulders would have indicated a rather laissez-faire attitude towards his comment, though mind's intent still remained in agreeing with him, one hundred percent. Where and when they would leave, that would rest upon whatever struck their fancy while on their stroll. All that she cared for was a breath of fresh air and a more clear palette to work with whilst dealing with all such issues.

Running her fingers along his hand a moment, she offered but the slightest of smiles, devilish at that, before letting it go for other pursuits. A lone finger would cross upon his cheeks, tapping but a moment upon his lips, then disengaging from his skin to reside at her side.

"We would not want a lady such as I to catch a chill, correct?" The smirk that crossed her lips concealed itself from his eyes, her back now to him as she moved to the wardrobe holding all such garments as she might desire. Upon a hesitant ponderment, a rather heavy-set cloak of green crush velvet was removed, soon to be placed along her shoulders to hold within warmth. With a flip of the hood and a quick glance in the mirror, her appearance seemed satisfactory enough for public display, though once more, intent seemed more towards other-worldly pursuits than what would appear on the surface. What more she could offer in thought or kind would have had to remain for events to transpire naturally. All that mattered was how she felt about the situation. That was clear. And soon, it would be clear. Turning back to him, she smiled softly and perked her brows.

"Lead the way..."