SOLDIERS, SCHOLARS, AND SPIES
Summary: Vriré's perspective on Tiffany and Fiona's assignment. Jaw-dropping prowess on Tiffany and Fiona's part, quaggan-helping, and Icebrood slaying (obviously). A plot hatched between two Whispers members, and you finally get to see ahead of time what the next assignment is! Oh, and a lot character development for Vriré (she needs it, she's an OC!)
Chapter twelve: Icebrood Slayer (achievement)
Author's Notes:
No, the chapter name is not a real achievement, I checked.
And yes, Vriré is female. Just clarifying, because my fingers think that Vriré is a male name and therefore keep writing 'he' or 'him'... but it's better now. (if you find a place where it says Vriré is male, please let me know.)
Okay, here's the story now:
Vriré follows the two girls inconspiciously. She had started tailing them when they had left the room, knowing it would not be remarked upon, as odd people are seen in the Chantry all the time. She does take care to remain a ways off, though - unrelated to those girls. They are discussing what just happened.
"You looked startled when Vanti started talking, Fi," the taller one says.
"His voice sounded familiar. I just couldn't place him." the shorter answers.
"Vanti seems like an alias name to me. I mean, from his height - or his height if he hadn't been stooping like that - he's either a norn or a charr. Vanti doesn't seem like a norn or charr name. It sounds more like Venti, our old cat."
The shorter one giggles. "Why did we name the cat Venti?"
"Who knows. So, we going to visit Falooaloo?"
"Yep. Waypoint - oh but you don't have that waypoint. We'll go via Lion's Arch then. To the asura gates, Tiffany."
The two girls disappear in a puff of blue, and so does Vriré, a moment later.
Knowing they are headed to Falooaloo, she waypoints to the closest waypoint she has - Graupel waypoint, before starting west.
She sees Cydwenn at Skovtrolde, who nods at her respectfully, and Bor at Travelen's steading, who waves cheerily and informs her that Tiffany and Fiona have not passed this way yet.
"I know," Vriré replies shortly. She goes and sits inconspiciously in a corner, where she has a good view of the path outside the steading.
A few minutes later, Tiffany and Fiona enter the steading - which Vriré had expected - and Fiona introduces Tiffany to Bor.
"So this is the lass I recommended," Bor replies. "Have you turned in those lists yet?"
Vriré nods. Bor is doing an excellent job not blowing his cover as Vanti.
Fiona's eyebrows jump up, but she replies, "Yes." She does not offer any more information, however.
Vriré nods again. These two are going to be good Whispers agents. To keep her cover, she leaves the steading, dropping a silver on the table for show. She can return and collect it later.
On a cliff overlooking the lake in which Falooaloo is situated, Vriré happens to look up, and see an odd formation in the cliff behind her, leading up to a snowy ledge. Deciding that such a place would be a ideal for watching the girls without being seen, she climbs the cliff-face, just in time to not be seen by Tiffany and Fiona.
On the clear wintry air, Vriré can hear them perfectly.
"Bor is Vanti, Tiffany!" Fiona is telling her companion anxiously. "I knew I recognized his voice from somewhere!"
Vriré nods approvingly. The girls are perceptive, as well.
"He's the one who quizzed us on our connections," Tiffany replies thoughtfully. "He also asked about our battle capabilities. What could he be hiding?"
"Maybe it's protocol? If we knew who he was we might be inclined to answer differently," Fiona suggests. "Like to boast of our achievments instead of being honest with the Order."
"Now that's a thought," Tiffany nods. "But then why would he keep up the façade? He asked whether we had reported in or not. You told me that Cydwenn said that she would know if you didn't put her on the list, so I assume Bor would also know. And Vanti said that our recommenders had been called! Bor would know if we'd turned them in or not."
"Right," Fiona replies ponderingly. "Well, we'll just not trust him anymore."
Tiffany lets out a hollow laugh. "Trust him? Trust him?"
At this point, Tiffany and Fiona are almost out of earshot, but are now descending the cliff towards Falooaloo, so Vriré jumps down from the ledge, landing lightly, before sneaking after them.
"Fiona, are you crazy?" Tiffany is saying. "He's Whispers. We don't trust anybody from Whispers until we have credible proof that we can trust them. It's the Order of Whispers, Fiona!"
"Oh. Right," Fiona says abashedly.
Vriré can't believe her ears. These two new recruits - they certainly will become Initiates, she'll make sure of it - are already wary of the Order! Most new members - and some longtime Agents - trust the other members implicitly - the Order is all on one side, their logic is - but these two are really Whispers at heart!
"Alright, Tiffany. Time to hop in the water," Fiona says cheerfully.
"You're the one who said how freezing Shiverpeaks water is," Tiffany says flatly.
"That was before I discovered that your aquabreather automatically keeps you warm. It takes a minute or so to adjust, however, and it only starts adjusting once you're also using it to breath through. So you'll be freezing for a minute, but not too long. Just jump in quick."
Vriré frowns. The aquabreather doesn't keep the wearer warm... although maybe she should send a message to Cirra, her armorsmith in Rata Sum, to invent that. It would make swimming in Shiverpeaks water easier.
"You know I'm not the sort to go in completely in freezing water, Fiona." Tiffany says flatly, equipping her aquabreather.
"Would just putting your head in be better?" Fiona asks dryly. "Come," Fiona walks across the ice, looking around. "The hole should be around here somewhere."
"It's in the north end of the lake," Tiffany says absentmindedly, following Fiona.
Vriré frowns. Tiffany has never been here before - how does she know that?
SPLASH! Vriré is startled by the loud noise.
Fiona drops an illusion over the hole in the ice and jumps in with Tiffany, blocking Tiffany's frantic efforts to get out of the cold water. Fiona covers the hole with a solid illusion and waits for Tiffany to wear herself out.
Vriré is also blocked from getting in, too, so she waits, going to the opposite side of the lake.
After a while, the illusion vanishes, but Vriré knows better than to go in when there is no good reason for an asura in battle gear to be visiting a quaggan village like Falooaloo.
A while after that, a lot of quaggan come out of the hole, followed by Tiffany and Fiona. They are facing away from Vriré, so she stays put.
The quaggan organize themselves into two large teams.
"I'll go with Shashoo," Tiffany volunteers.
"I'm with Orinoo anyway," Fiona shrugs. "Don't let any Icebrood get near them," Fiona instructs. "And don't get injured by Icebrood, either."
"I know," Tiffany replies.
Vriré realizes they are going to split up, and wonders what to do. When the teams split in opposite directions, she calls Bor with a Whispers alert flare and follows Fiona, who is heading south . She scrawls a message on a paper and applies her signal to it, before placing it a little ways down the path Tiffany took, amongst the churned snow of footprints.
Fiona portals the quaggan team in the direction the quaggans point out, and Vriré can barely keep up. But her training as a speedy warrior* pays off, and she keeps within earshot of the team. Soon Fiona slows up to allow the quaggan to forage. Occasionally she sees and kills Icebrood following the group, seeing that Fiona's mission is to protect them.
After a few hours, when the sun is high overhead, and Fiona is getting worn out, one of her clones protecting the group dies. When Fiona has a slow reaction, Vriré is on high alert. Fiona didn't dismiss the illusion, but she reacted slowly. There must be an attack coming that she can't deal with like this.
Vriré looks around, and sees a cave right where the clone had died. 'Icebrood,' Vriré thinks.
"Back, get back!" Fiona yelps, having seen the same thing. She runs forward, her clones following her.
Vriré frowns. The rest of the quaggan are left exposed. If Fiona is focusing on the fight, she'll be okay. Vriré moves to the opposite side of the clearing, watching for telltale signs of Icebrood - a growing chill in the air, a sense of wrongness that pervades the air if one knows what to look for - ignoring the quaggan.
"Hoo, who are yoOou?" one quaggan asks Vriré.
"Nobody that you know," Vriré says shortly. "I'm helping Fiona defend you."
"Thank yooOou!" the quaggan says, before resuming his work.
Vriré hears sounds of battle coming from inside the cave. Her ears twitch, but she remains in position.
A few minutes later, Fiona leaves the cave. Vriré melts into the shadows under a stand of trees.
"Quaggan," Fiona says. "Lots of corrupted quaggan." She seems defeated - her posture is weary, she has a tired - but focused - look in her eyes, and there are none of her illusions to be seen. "Have you gathered a lot?"
"Yes, lots," a male quaggan volunteers. "The gathering baskets are almost full, coo!"
"Let's head home, then," Fiona says cheerfully. "Sled time!"
The quaggans all cheer, and Fiona mentally generates a lot of...
Vriré squints at the contraptions. A norn-size shield-shaped thing, upturned in the snow. The quaggans all sit in them, and then push. The 'sleds', as Fiona called them, whiz down the slope. *
Vriré shakes her head and runs after them with a huff. At least it's easier downhill. But the 'sleds' easily outdistance her. So the promising Initiates are imaginative, too.
When Vriré finally gets back to Falooaloo, Fiona is in the lake. Vriré can tell because the illusion over the hole. Tiffany must have returned, too.
Vriré returns to the same place she had waited at earlier.
When Tiffany and Fiona emerge from the lake, they immediately go south. "The Icebrood are this way," Fiona tells Tiffany. "I only got away from them all by masking our presence."
Vriré nods in approval. Wise, too. Most new recruits would have stayed, trying to prove their worth, rather than leaving. These promising Initiates only need one more test - that of subtlety.
She recalls the quaggan gathering team she'd followed had passed near a waypoint - Wyrmblood waypoint - and she disappears in a puff of blue. Getting her bearings, she returns to the cave where Fiona had fought the Icebrood.
She can feel the corruption radiating from the cave, and hides herself in the same stand of trees as earlier.
A minute later, Fiona and Tiffany step out of the last portal. "Hope you're ready, Tiffany. I don't know how far back the cave goes - we could be in there all day."
"Well, at least we'll cull the Icebrood numbers, and hopefully lower the amount of people corrupted on a day-to-day basis."
"Right. In we go!" Tiffany cries. "Beorn, with me! Um, Fi, do you think he'll be alright if...?"
"He has that cure conditions ability, right?"
'Condition?' Vriré wonders.
"Yeah... I just..."
"He'll be fine. He...eh... ti reven..."
Both aspiring Initiates launch into a rambling talk. Vriré recalls Ingvil mentioning this when the norn had been the monitor.
The two are entering the cavern now, and Vriré follows, sticking to the shadows to observe their fighting.
Tiffany espies an Icebrood and flings a knife at it's head, killing it instantly. Fiona creates a portal that brings it back to Tiffany's feet. She picks it up and looks ahead, down the cavern. She grins gleefully. "And now I'm eagerly awaiting Icebrood to kill. Let's go!"
Vriré leaps to her feet and follows closely behind the two, still marveling at Tiffany's carelessly easy dispatching of the Icebrood.
Tiffany rounds a corner and is confronted with a large cavernful of Icebrood. "Fiona, I'm about to be bad," she gets a gleeful look in her eye and charges the Icebrood.
Vriré opens her mouth to tell the girl not to be fool, she can't handle that many Icebrood, but snaps it shut again before she blows her cover.
A glowing greatsword appears in Tiffany's hand, very standard, and Vriré knows it's an illusion. Tiffany swings the blade around ferociously, sweeping Icebrood off their feet and cleaving their heads in half.
Tiffany throws the sword to the side. It vanishes before it hits the floor. Two axes are in Tiffany's hands, and she is using them unlike Vriré has ever seen.
Touching the axes at her own side, she watches as Tiffany bounces axes between foes and throws them out in conical patterns, all with a queer twist that makes them return to her. Occasionally an axe will snare an Icebrood and pull it closer on the return path.
Now she spins around a few Icebrood into the center of the bunch, before spinning in a crazy dance, axes whirling, and thrusting her hand up in the air. The illusionary greatsword reappears and she spins in a circle, holding the sword in front of her, cutting the mindless Icebrood to shreds.
Vriré is in awe. No Initiate she'd seen, in her thirteen years of being a member of the Order, could have done that.
"Switch," Tiffany says, releasing the greatsword, which shatters. "You take point."
"GaHoole talk, Tif?" Fiona smirks at her. "You know those are just legends."
"Yeah, right. Talking owls. Of course - hey! Maybe those are legends of the Spirit of Owl?"
"Huh?"
"Owl is one of the Spirits of the Wild. Not one of the main four, but still."
"Oh. I see. Yeah, maybe. Where do the Spirits come from? Maybe those legends are history, where Owl came from."
"Who knows."
Vriré is confused. What is this GaHoole?
"Anyway, you take point," Tiffany says. "I'm worn out. I'll call Shelob to aid you with poison - you did take the vaccine, right?"
'Vaccine'? Vriré mouths in confusion.
"Ages ago, you know it," Fiona replies.
A large cave spider unstealths and stays by Tiffany's side while Fiona ventures farther into the network of caves.
A couple of Icebrood show up in the twisting tunnels, and Fiona dispatches them with a beam of magical energy from her own greatsword.
"Fiona, we might get lost in here," Tiffany says after a few minutes.
"That's what waypoints are for," Fiona remarks dryly.
"Oh. Right," Tiffany replies with a whispery laugh.
"Ooh, look, a big ol' cave of Icebrood. Hmm, this cave network is full of Icebrood."
Fiona spins forward, cloning herself ten times with her staff. Each of the ten illusions throw colorful magical balls of light around, bouncing off of Icebrood, Fiona, Fiona's illusions, Tiffany, and Tiffany's spider - 'Shelob?' Vriré remembers. 'What kind of name is Shelob?' - and Vriré. But neither Fiona nor Tiffany notice her. The spider is launching clumps of something green in the midst of the Icebrood, which appears to be poisoning.
However, the poison does not seem to be affecting Fiona. 'That's what a vaccine is,' Vriré realizes. 'A poison resistant. A code-name for elixir or potion, perhaps?'
Fiona is pouring so much belief magic into her staff that it gets dangerous - she believes she and Tiffany are alone, and she is pouring magic into that belief accidentally, and so Vriré's presence is masked. If Vriré had been an assassin, she would have found it embarrassingly easy to kill the two girls, stealthed by their own magic. As it is, Vriré watches Fiona's powerful display of magic in awe.
'Her mental power must be astounding!' Vriré thinks. 'I don't know anybody - mesmer or not - with that much mental fortitude!'
Quickly, the Icebrood are gone. Vriré shakes her head, before stepping backward around a corner, ready for when Fiona stops powering her beliefs with magic.
She hears the two take steps down the tunnel, and Vriré tentatively follows. So far, the only bad mark on Fiona's record is using that much belief magic. But that would be rectified with training. 'Pierre DeGlass*** can beat sense into anyone,' Vriré thinks approvingly. 'Everyone can benefit from DeGlass's training. Fiona would be even better than she already is, and DeGlass will be pleased that she's already mastered the basics.'
After a while, Tiffany speaks up. "How will we know when the sun is a hand above the horizon, in a cave?"
"We won't have to worry about that for a bit. It was noon when I was at this cave last, and it didn't take long to go back. It may've been an hour from then we entered the cave. We've been in here for about two hours, which is three. What rough estimate has the sun been going down at, here?"
"Late. It's generally just setting by the time we get to bed."
"So we'll wait 'till we get tired and then check the sun's position. If it's not time yet, we'll go do something else. What's on the to-do list?"
"Assassinate the centaur leader, if there is one," Fiona starts, checking off on her fingers. "Visit the cities because you-know-why - "
"Leave the Black Citadel out of that," Tiffany interjects. "At least until we have some... credible reason for seeing the guy."
"Right, that's to be expected," Fiona nods. "I think Hoelbrak is next, honestly."
As Fiona continues listing things, Vriré wonders why they were going to visit the Black Citadel, who they were going to meet, and why they would need a credible reason.
"Ah-ha!" Tiffany says. "The hub of the corruption. I hope I don't slip on all this corrupted ice."
"That's your concern, and there's lots and lots of Icebrood going through and through the place?" Fiona replies sarcastically.
"Well, of course!" Tiffany says in surprise. (Pretended surprise, Vriré thinks.) "Can't we defeat anything?"
"You're hilarious. You do know that generally, even when the heros say that, it ends up badly? Ron said something similar about Sirius Black, and if Sirius had been a Death Eater, look where that got him. A leg broken and Sirius with a wand, even when he wasn't a D.E. Honestly, he wouldn't have been alive to be screaming about it once he was inside the Shrieking Shack. And Ron was Harry's best friend."
'What?' Vriré mouths in confusion.
"But I don't mean it," Tiffany explains exasperatedly. "I was joking."
"Since when does it matter if you're joking or not?"
"Since I didn't kill you when I said I would," Tiffany rolls her eyes. "Remember? You fogot to put up a sound barrier and - "
Tiffany's voice is cut off, but Vriré knows she is still talking. She scowls at the two standing by the entrance to the room full Icebrood, which are starting to notice them.
A moment later, Tiffany and Fiona seem to reach an agreement, and both leap forward at the same time. The sound barrier drops and Vriré can hear them now.
Vriré is astounded at the teamwork they show, and they dispatch Icebrood quicker than either did alone.
Tiffany is getting hit by Fiona's magical, boon-granting orbs of light, which turn around and apply conditions to the Icebrood. Tiffany is whirling with Fiona's greatsword, hollering gleefully, while elbowing Icebrood, which injures them as Tiffany has knives strapped to her elbows. She is a whirlwind of destruction.
Fiona is zapping Icebrood with her own magical beams, and some of her clones are also casting magical orbs around, while others zap with the sword as well. Fiona's ten clones are ringing Tiffany, facing outward and attacking more Icebrood with ranged attacks, pulling them in to the center of the Icebrood death trap.
Tiffany lets out a shout and spins with her blade, killing the Icebrood ringing her and forcing the rest back. Another set of clones appear in the space between Tiffany and the Icebrood, and Tiffany shoots several dozen arrows at the ceiling. Fiona, with an effort (dropping all illusions), creates a whirlwind centered on Tiffany, pulling the Icebrood in, just in time to get stuck full of Tiffany's arrows before being slaughtered with Tiffany's deadly axe-dance.
Tiffany stops with an adrenaline-filled exhale, glancing around for more Icebrood. Fiona looks at her sternly, illusions (in a more dense formation, now) keeping the Icebrood at bay.
"You," she says, "are about to drop from exhaustion. Rest a minute. Adrenaline won't keep you going forever."
Tiffany smirks. "Beorn!"
The large bear appears and roars. Tiffany takes a long, deep breath, before grinning madly. "I'm fine, Fi."
Fiona looks at her suspiciously. Fatigue shouldn't be curable by Beorn's roar, but he had always shown hesitation if it wouldn't help, in the past. He hadn't, this time. She relents. "Okay, have at 'em."
Tiffany switches Beorn for Shelob, again, before Fiona's illusions spread out and let the Icebrood through. Tiffany spins. And spins and spins, slicing through any Icebrood with Fiona's greatsword. She lets the centrifugal force hold her blade up, and just spins, before jolting out of the spin and axe-dancing again.
Soon, the room is clear of Icebrood, and the only Icebrood that remain are the ones wandering in through the tunnels.
"That was the funnest fight I've ever had," Tiffany declares. "I'm definitely better at it than when we fought that band of bandits to get Mat free."
"Oh, for sure. And my mental capacity is much better. To think, ten illusions and I was curled up in a corner trying to maintain them all!" Fiona marvels.
"I think we cleared out the main center of Icebrood," Tiffany observes. "This is the most corrupted place I've seen in here, and the tunnels all seem to come here. Also, if there was more than that, I'm sure the quaggan would be getting more attacks than they did." then she speaks gibberish for a moment.
Fiona replies with gibberish, before switching back to Tyrian "Yeah, we probably cleared them out."
Tiffany talks again in gibberish, before saying, "Do you want to head home?"
"Understood. But - " Fiona speaks gibberish briefly. "Sure. Let's go see the quaggan first, though."
"We'll not tell them we broke the Icebrood control - look, the corruption seems to be fading already - because then they might not move when the eggs are ready. They should move to Lion's Arch, they'll be safe there. Or even inland lakes in Kryta, I've seen quaggan villages there. Anywhere but the Shiverpeaks. Safely out of the way of dragon corruption. They won't move if there's no threat." Tiffany speaks more gibberish.
Fiona responds in gibberish, pauses, and lets out a laugh. "Let's go."
Tiffany and Fiona waypoint out, and Vriré quickly follows, still quietly wondering what the gibberish is.
"Okay, it's still a while until it's time. Want to go hang out with quaggan?" Fiona asks.
"Sure. I was just getting to be friends with Shashoo - and I'm sure you want to catch up with Orinoo." Tiffany had added gibberish in the middle.
"Right," Fiona replies. "Let's go! Portaling time!"
Vriré huffs and waypoints to Travelen's steading, before beelining down to Falooaloo. She is in time to see the girls disappearing into the hole in the ice. But the physical, belief-generated illusion does not appear.
Knowing that the purpose for monitoring is to protect them from danger, and that they will be fine, Vriré returns to the Chantry, exchanging coded greetings with Kenton Castle, the undercover fisherman meant to distract bypassers from the cave.
She reports to the Initiating Council (Arer, Ingvil, and one or two others) before leaving the Chantry again. She waypoints to Divinity's Reach, taking a familiar path to the Seraph training barracks.
Vriré knocks on the door and waits. A moment later, the door is opened by a nervous looking young human in the Seraph uniform.
He blinks for a moment at the space where a human's head and torso would have been, before glancing down and seeing Vriré tapping her foot impatiently.
His eyes open wide and he takes a surprised step back at the sight of the asura wearing her weapons and imposing helm.
"Wh-what do you want?" he asks her nervously.
"I want to see Pierre DeGlasse, right away, please," Vriré replies briskly.
"Mesmer DeGlasse is busy, er..." the young man stammers uncertainly.
"Vriré," she replies. "Tell DeGlasse Vriré is here and wants to see him."
"Recruits aren't allowed to just go in to Mesmer DeGlasse, er, Vriré," the recruit says nervously, fidgeting.
"Tell him Vriré sent you!" Vriré snaps. "Go!"
The recruit turns and almost runs off, leaving Vriré standing in the doorway. Sighing, she enters the room - a tiny space for visitors, with a door (open) leading to the hallway - and leans against the wall with a huff upon seeing no asura-sized seats.
A full minute later, DeGlasse and a very surprised-looking recruit enter the room.
"Vriré!" DeGlasse says in delight. "It's been so long!"
"It has," Vriré replies with a glance at the recruit. "I see you have waited an unwaitable time, Pierre."
"Ah, I have. And I've trained the untrainable****, too," DeGlasse replies. "Come in to my office. Stay here, recruit."
DeGlasse leads Vriré down the hall and through a slightly wider door than the rest Vriré had seen in the hallway.
DeGlasse closes the door behind them, glancing at it a moment before taking a seat in front of a large desk (so that the asura doesn't have to look over it with him sitting behind) and invites Vriré to do the same, conjuring a chair mentally.
"So, what's up with the Order nowadays, Vriré?" he asks her cheerfully. "I'm cut off from most contact here, you see. Seraph don't naturally suspect other Seraph, but Captain Logan is the sort. He's more worldly-wise than most Seraph, anyway."
"The Order is fine, Pierre," Vriré replies. "It's who isn't in the Order that isn't fine."
"Oh?" Pierre DeGlasse raises an eyebrow. "How is that?"
"Aspiring Initiates, Pierre, very promising," Vriré begins. "Excellent women, the both of them, and they've got Vigil and Priory ties, too."
"Oho!" DeGlasse answers, his eyes lighting up. "We have too few of those."
"Yes. They listed your Captain as 'good friend' in the contact report this morning. Human women, and one of our Seraph contacts in Shaemoor, when spoken to, immediately went into a tirade of how lucky we are to have recruited the Heros of Shaemoor."
"The Heros of Shaemoor!" DeGlasse almost shouts. "The both of them?"
"Tiffany and Fiona Tassof, yes," Vriré replies, a touch irritably. "What did they do, drive off a herd of centaurs singlehandedly?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact," DeGlasse replies unexpectedly. "And a Greater Earth Elemental, too. There were Seraph there, but they dwarfed the Seraph's efforts. Except Captain Logan, of course."
"Oh," Vriré replies, leaning back in her chair. "I was monitoring them today - their assignment was Icebrood in the Shiverpeaks - and their prowess on the field of battle was unprecedented in Order Initiates, and they easily surpassed even the more average Agent-level members."
"That's even better than what I heard from the Seraph stationed there. Fiona Tassof's a fairly decent mesmer, as well."
"Fairly decent!" It is Vriré's turn to almost shout. "Fairly decent, Pierre, you must have heard an underestimated report!"
"No, no, that one came from Captain Logan himself, who the two spoke to personally. He does know them fairly well."
"Fairly decent, Pierre, and her able to sustain ten clones at once without breaking a sweat? I don't know much about mesmers, but tell me if that isn't a lot?"
"Ten!" DeGlasse hollers. "Ten! Ten! TEN! Vriré, you must be joking! Tell me you're joking!"
"I'm not. She even commented on it to her sister, Tiffany. Something about a bandit fight and being curled up in a corner to maintain them all."
"Ah, I heard about the bandits," Pierre DeGlasse nods. "They attacked Salma District right after, and we were only able to counter it with the Seraph-in-training (was good field practice for the kittens) and the intel from those two. I even got the details on the preliminary fight."
"From Captain Thackeray again, am I right?"
"No, from an eyewitness," Pierre laughs. "Their sister, in fact. She'd been captured by bandits for the longest time, and had to do a speedy re-run through here to get back in shape. It was amazing, let me tell you. Awesome teamwork, but Tiffany Tassof tired rather quickly."
"She has quite an endurance pool now, Pierre," Vriré says, shaking her head. "You should have seen her. It's her sister, Fiona, I'm here about, DeGlasse."
"Eh?" DeGlasse raises his eyebrow in question.
"In the fight in which my admittedly already firm resolve to see them initiated turned into determination, she was wielding a lot of magic. I don't know what it was, but when I was in full sight, I wasn't. I was completely stealthed. Once that happened, even her magical balls of light stopped bouncing off of me."
"Ah, belief magic. One of the harder aspects for youngsters to learn," DeGlasse says, nodding. "I see what happened. She believed that they were alone - had they seen you?"
"No," Vriré replies.
"See, the way belief magic works," Pierre explains, "once you've mastered it, you believe something - like that I'm standing right next to myself - and then push magic into it." Pierre gestures, and a clone of himself appears. "The problem you're describing is when you're pushing a lot of magic into a strong belief - or, a lot of magic into several different beliefs - you can also accidentally push magic into other beliefs - like the fact that you are alone."
DeGlasse averts his eyes from Vriré, and a moment later, Vriré is stealthed. Pierre generates an illusion of a centaur, tossing an orb of magic at it. It bounces back to him, rather than the stealthed Vriré, even though she is closer. Canceling the magic flow into the belief that Vriré isn't there, Vriré reappears and the orb of magic bounces into her. Pierre DeGlasse cancels all the magic.
"See?"
"I understand," Vriré nods. "It must be hard to believe something is not when it's right in front of you."
"Oh, quite. If you have the mental excercises that all mesmers learn, however, it's simply a matter on focusing on something else - that floorboard, for example - and forgetting you have company. For Fiona Tassof, if she hadn't seen you and didn't know you were there, it would be an elementary feat to do."
"The thing is," Vriré says, getting to her main point, "Is that if I had been an assassin, I could have killed them, cloaked by their own magic."
"Ahh," Pierre says, rubbing his chin. "That is a problem. And I suppose you want me to train her?"
"That would be ideal," Vrir replies briskly.
"The thing is, I don't have the time for that, on top of my other Seraph-training responsibilities. A contact in the Seraph training academy seems important enough to the Order to keep me cut off from most contact, I doubt they'd want me to risk it on an admittedly already excellent Initiate."
"Hmm," Vriré mumbles, running through possible solutions in her head. "We could train them as Seraph, perhaps?"
"You said they've already got ties to the Vigil and Priory, multi-racial organizations. Plus, they are too... what's the word I'm looking for... they are assets, great assets to the Order. Too good to tie down doing Seraph undercover work."
"And you aren't?" Vriré queries. "But they are friends of Captain Thackeray. If they asked permission to be trained by you - or if they mentioned it, and led him along to think of the idea - oho! It could be their subtlety test! - and he consented, he could easily insert them into your training class without Seraph ties - except to Captain Thackeray, of course, but they're friends on their own merit, not favors."
"I doubt Captain Logan could easily ask a favor on terms of him doing them a favor, they're the Heros of Shaemoor. The good Captain does need to keep his image as a good Captain. That also means they cannot skip profession-testing, and that's dangerous."
"What do you mean?" Vriré asks.
"A person trying to join the Seraph as a recruit must be tested on profession. And after, profession is selected based on prowess, not preference. The Captain can't be seen as showing favoritism, however, even to the Heros of Shaemoor. I am good at accurately pinpointing Seraph opinion on things, being Seraph trainer," he adds as an aside. "They would have to purposely fail at the others, or else show a wholloping deal of prowess in their chosen profession."
"I am uncertain Fiona Tassof could fail at the mesmer test," Vriré states with some conviction. "Tiffany could slide in as warrior, but as she already has several animal companions - "
"Really?" DeGlasse asks. "More than two is rather rare, and a sign of a good ranger."
"A large brown bear half her size - and she's an average-size human - and a cave spider the size of a large dog. I didn't see any others, nor did she mention any, but she seemed rather attached to her bear, but considered the spider disposable enough to risk it to Icebrood corruption in a fight."
"A cave spider, disposable?" Pierre asks in awe. "I would go ahead and assume she has several more, cave spiders are rather rare, and even rarer to find young, tameable ones. And the bear is the animal on the ranger test. They'll both pass their chosen professions with flying colors, even doing their utmost on the others. Especially if Tiffany Tassof can answer how many animal companions she has, and proof. Unless they have a gift for learning things in a moment."
"So, their subtlety test can be asking Captain Thackeray for permission to learn - "
"And I'll act as if I've never heard the idea before, right?"
"Right. We'll tell them to figure out a way to get into training, and see how they go about it. After they get in - if they do - you put them through their paces in their chosen professions. And return the detailed results to me, I want to know all about these new recruits."
"Oh, certainly," DeGlasse replies. "I generally look for possible Whispers talent in the recruits, and if I see it I try to influence their profession. I also drop a Whispers code to root out the ones who are perceptive enough to notice, or the ones already in the Order. I am cut off from most contact."
"And after you've trained them, they'll be quite good at their chosen profession."
"Ahh, they'll have to drop training before the end," DeGlasse says, raising a hand and frowning. "If they are a part of the ceremony, the public will be in an uproar. The Heros of Shaemoor as Seraph... and if they're never seen, that'll pose a problem. Can't fake their death with Fiona's mesmeric abilities, either, because the public won't believe it. And what then if they want to continue doing their heroic deeds? They'd be prevented from coming to Kryta openly, and as members of inter-racial organizations that's very limiting."
"So they'd drop out early?" Vriré confirms.
"Aye, but they're already so far along that if I took young Fiona aside during the mesmer class that she'd be way too good for anyway, and train her, then at some point she could rejoin the mesmer class and... or something. Get herself into a spot of mischief and be thrown out of the academy - of course, Captain Logan would understand the need to keep them out of the actual Seraph ranks - but they'd have their learning."
"Mesmer!" Vriré cries. "They won't be seen at any ceremony!"
"Ah-ha! Vriré, you've hit upon something!" Pierre cries. "They can be another set of commoners - and it'll be good training, holding an illusion through a week or two of rough mental training at the same time - and, not being in famous personas, no one will notice when they don't show up at a Seraph post. We can always say they were assigned somewhere way out east."
"They did mention a want to assassinate the centaur leader," Vriré says dryly. "I'm sure they'd thank you to be stuck in northeastern Kryta battling centaurs. And so if any curious fella was looking, they'd find that out - hopefully be deterred by the far reaches and dangers - and then we fake their persona's deaths, and then they can resume being Tiffany and Fiona Tassof. That'd take a few weeks, though."
"I've got some hold on a couple o' good Seraph. And Captain Logan understands. We'd send them out along with some of them, to cover for when they have Order business. Or Vigil/Priory business, which they can cover for themselves for."
"Alright - so subtlety test by getting in, they disguise themselves as somebody else - they look different, different names - they graduate Seraph training, go to the centaur base and anonymously assassinate lead centaur, 'die' quickly after that, and resume activities as the Heros of Shaemoor. Right?"
"Right."
"You drop the Whispers code in the beginning of the next few starter classes, Pierre, and you'll know by the answer whom they are. Another test of subtlety will be in their answer. If they can't refrain from blowing their cover, then too bad. They'll come after they've been fully initiated - the subtlety test is the last one. I'll monitor them for that, too, and decide if they should be in. It should be easy enough to retract 'I want DeGlasse to train me' if they fail."
"Alright. Now, I've got a class coming up, best not to blow my cover. We've got that plan hammered down - I can mention to Captain Logan that I have a spot of free time on my hands, might make him more inclined to say yes to the Heros, and he doesn't know I'm in the Order - let's act on it. Time to train the kittens!"
"I'll see you... to speak about them after their faked 'death' is pulled off successfully, or after their subtlety test is completed successfully," Vriré replies.
The two Whispers members salute, before Vriré leaves the Seraph Academy compound while Pierre DeGlasse goes in the opposite direction. (of course she knows how to leave, she got in, didn't she?)
Vriré returns to the Chantry just after Tiffany and Fiona return, when the sun is a hand above the horizon.
Author's Notes:
* Vriré does not know what a sled is, because they are new to Tyria.
** I did not provide translations for Tiffany and Fiona's Tyrian-based Shilgni, as the chapter is from Vriré's perspective, and she doesn't know what's happening! For laughs, Tiffany and Fiona are discussing what if someone was listening in on them and was wondering what they were saying.
*** Pierre DeGlasse is Icarus Isambard's intellectual property. He is in Icarus's story, 'The Engineer and the Ingénu'. I asked Icarus if I could use DeGlasse in TR, and he consented.
**** Whispers code. If you speak to certain NPCs in the open world as a Whispers member, there will be options to say such things as code. You'll hear more about that later on.
So, how did you like it?