Disclaimer:...
A/N: Well, 'Atce's had his fun, and now our main character will dig out all he delicious bits of memory that I never got around to doing!
*
Rapieratce leaned back in his chair, eyes closed for a moment as he revelled in his past memories. A few seconds later, he opened up his eyes again, never being one to drift away from the task at hand for overly long.
'Well, that's all I've got to say. Now, Dale, if you'd be as courteous as not to push the responsibilities onto the rest of us, your turn has come.'
Daleria sighed, putting up her paws in defeat in the face of Rapieratce's strict pressings.
'Fine, fine, I suppose you have cornered me.'
Settling back for a bit, Daleria let herself recall as much as she could out of her shady memory of times gone past. They were not exactly pleasant ones, but still, they were memories all the same.
'I can't remember as much as I would like, and the past is something I will never understand, but I will try my best to recall what I can. There are no scenes that stand out in my memory save for fleeting figures clouded in shadow and running forms, besides that all I remember are sounds and some images forever imprinted in my mind. I remember the Western Plains, where my... old home was. 'Twas a green place, flowers out in the front and all. We lived in a relatively large house in the hillsides of the Plains, going more underground than above seeing as the hills were more like large mounds. I remember vividly the training room my father so loved, seeing as I staked out there nearly everyday. I developed my love of sharp blades from him, I suppose, and he began training me at a young age. I'm not sure as to whether he believed I could do it or simply to shut me up from all the complaining I did.'
There Daleria frowned slightly.
'I remember the house being the closest area to Mossflower. Vermin and vagabonds regularly passed by, making it absolutely necessary for us as a family to be trained in the arts of the blade. Father was very strict about that. Mother was usually furious with him, fact being that she was fed up with his collection of blades. Of which he put all over the house. Days back then passed in more or less in a blur for me, until that... night.'
Daleria winced as she tried to recall the night when everything changed.
'I was fortunate, I suppose. Father had been lecturing me for leaving my sabre on the dining table that night. I was made to polish all his blades and had to eventually stay up late. The vermin drugged them, but not me, but they found me anyway, though I managed to slay some before they got too close, but the Corrin Flower was far too strong. Fortunately... Vaxial was rushed. I wasn't completely drugged as compared to the rest of my family.'
The captain sighed as she leaned further back into her seat.
'I rather wish they did, to be truthful. It was... horrible. All I remember is struggling and sobbing and trying to break free after they dragged me away from my family, and hearing screams and shouts in the background. I remember something about my bonds coming loose, stabbing my guard and running. Running is all I remember doing for a good period of time, running straight into Mossflower to try and throw the vermin off my track. Nearly starving and not knowing where I was, I just, by chance, turned up at the Abbey... And here I am now.'
There was a silence, broken only by the soft sniffling of some of the more emotional Abbey elders. After a while, Jemerian smiled.
'Well, things have turned out for the better, and I suppose that that is all that matters at this point in time. I say we all go and rest now, for the hour is later.'
Indeed the hour was so later that the Dibbuns did not even protest, a rare prospect indeed. Daleria yawned, standing and stretching with everybeast else as they exited the hall. She had something, though, in mind that she knew that she was going to half to do sooner or later. If she was going to accept the past, she was going to first face the present.
*
Rapieratce cursed silently under his breath as he stalked through the many long halls of the Abbey. She was not to be found, not in the Dormitories, nor the Kitchens, Cavern Hole, the Great Hall, not even in the orchards. Where Daleria could have possibly disappeared to in such a short manner of time was incredible. Even Remora, Longrunn and Glamoren could not find the elusive captain anywhere. Abbess Jemerian was starting to worry.
'Where could she have gone? The Abbey might be a safe haven, but Mossflower can still be a dangerous place outside our walls.
Rapieratce snorted at the irony of the sentence, waving a paw and dismissing the prospect.
'It is not so much Dale's well being that I am worried about. The captain can fend for herself almost as well as a one hare army gone mad. I was thinking more along the lines of when she will turn up.'
Remora slumped into the chair beside her in Cavern Hall where they were gathered, tired after searching through the Abbey with a fine toothed comb almost since dawn that day. Pouring herself a cup of elderberry tea, she sighed.
'Where could Dale have just popped off to? There are only that many places that she could possibly run to in Redwall.'
Longrunn muttered darkly under his breath, knowing perfectly well that when it came to Daleria that there were more places than one where she could disappear to for an infinite period of time and never be found. Glamoren raised an eyebrow and supported his paw on the table, leaning down and speaking in a dry tone.
'Great. We have one missing Captain
Daleria, one huge Abbey and an even bigger wood of Mossflower. Perfect.'
