A/N - I don't own glee or other concepts i've borrowed. Unbetad, all mistakes are my own.
Questions and Introductions
Quinn awoke next morning still bone weary, her limbs feeling as though they were full of sand, her eyelids heavy and sore. She stumbled over to her wash basin and splashed icy cold water on her face, and as she stared at her reflection in the rippling water, she remembered the events of the evening before. So many strange happenings all in the one night. Is this what Santana had alluded to all these times – events going on that she was oblivious too? She shook her head, and splashed some more water on her face to awaken herself properly. Today was a wash day, so the servants would of of spent the morning heating water over the fire for a bath. She wanted to get this over with as quick as possible – she needed to see Santana. Kneeling beside her bed, she said a quick morning prayer to the Goddess, and began her wash day routine.
She had barely finished getting dressed in her best habit, before her mother knocked and opened her door.
"Quinnie – there's a visitor for you."
"Thank you mother, I will be outside shortly." Quinn replied. Her mother did that smile she always did, and left her to her own devices. Santana's words from the night before echoed back to her. Was her mother her future too? Nothing but sewing and cleaning, attending to her husband and being shut in all day? So many things, Quinn had accepted, that she realized perhaps, Goddess help her, she shouldn't have.
It was of no surprise to Quinn that the visitor waiting her in the entrance hall was Santana, also back in her novice's habit. Quinn grabbed her satchel with her prayer books and hymns, and grabbing Santana forcefully by the arm, led her immediately out of the manor and into the main street.
"Good morning to you too, Sunshine." Santana exclaimed coolly, her jet black hair shining in the morning sun.
"Santana.." Quinn trailed off. Where to start? She had so many questions.
Santana just studied Quinn, face full of expectation. When Quinn continued to stare downwards, mouth opening and closing with only silence emanating, she decided to give the blonde girl a break.
"Finally woken up, have you? C'mon, we can't stand here all day, we'll be late for Sylvester's morning service. I'll fill you in as you go."
As the two girls slowly made their way through the streets of northern Lima, Santana began to explain things hitherto oblivious to Quinn.
"First of all," Quinn asked, "what was that cat?"
Santana flashed a wicked grin.
"That's Lord Tubbington."
"Lord Tubbington?" Quinn dubiously questioned.
"Yeah" Santana smiled to herself. "Britt found her as a kitten in one of their traps for rabbits her father put out in the woods, nursed it back to health, and kept it as a pet. It's a panther of some sort, or so I believe. I slipped into the library while Sister Pillsbury was reorganizing her hymn scrolls."
"Ok..." Quinn seemed lost already.
"Don't worry, it won't harm anyone Brittany likes. It's pretty smart, and tremendously loyal. For a cat." Santana added.
Quinn was silent for a moment, then seemed to take up her courage and ask -
"What's up with Karofsky and those boys in the south patrol. Why did you say to take Sam or Mike. For Goddess's sake, what's going on Santana?"
"Lots of stuff. First of all, there's only a few decent guardsmen amongst the militia that run this town, Quinn. Yes Quinn, run this town. Your father is the Mayor, but if the militia weren't happy with him being in charge let's just say he wouldn't be there for very long. Secondly, the south boys are bad news. All this cheer stuff, the hymns we do to keep up morale, a lot of it is bullshit. The north boys don't mind it, but let's just say you're damn lucky you haven't had south or west militia rounds yet." Santana paused; "Well, before last night" she added thoughtfully.
"I don't understand." Quinn exclaimed, "They tell us that our job is to boost morale and cheer for the town, that the priestess blesses us, she's blessed me with powers, to help our role. All those festivals, are they for show too?
"No, look Quinn, it's complex. The order is prestige for the town. Those festivals? Show off the young happy devout girls, more families want to move her, more men of fighting age move here, the town stays strong and secure. The Goddess is real, and she does bless us. But a lot of it is politics Quinn. It's a dangerous world out there, you were right about that, but it's also dangerous in here."
"How... how do you know all this anyway? I've never noticed anything" Quinn seemed nonplussed, as if Santana had just told her up was down and the sky was yellow.
"You know my father is the town's apothecary. He hears things. That and our skin colour, which apparently puts us beneath notice of certain people, means we hear things. Secret things. I also sneak in the convent's library whenever I can."
Quinn seemed perturbed, but continued on -
"Karofsky?"
"Bad news. His father's pretty influential in this town. Quite a thug. You remember Mackenzie?"
"Older then us, I think? She left the order last year though, the Abbess said she was to get married..."
Santana snorted in scepticism. Quinn looked at her questioningly.
"Her father fell out of favour with a few of the town's more influential people, so they sent Mackenzie to the south guardsmen to keep up morale, by herself.
Quinn covered her mouth in horror.
"Yeah, now you're starting to understand." Santana wasn't joking anymore. She just looked grim.
"We're just playthings Quinn. Uses as bargaining chips for the old men in this town, or if we're not marriage material, probably shipped off to the Scarlet Lady or worse."
Quinn stopped walking, which caused Santana to raise her eyebrows questioningly.
"I heard that for the first time last night. The Scarlet Lady. What is it?"
Santana frowned with intensity.
"Where did you hear that?" she asked sharply.
"My father was talking to another man. They were discussing some deal that would be put in place after the spring festival. Then they said they would go to the Scarlet Lady to relax. I didn't know what it was."
"It's a brothel Quinn."
Quinn looked nauseated.
"Who was your father talking to?" Santana asked. She was staring intensely at Quinn.
"I'm not sure, his first name was Paul, but that's all I know. I didn't get a good look at him."
Santana look worried.
"Quinn, I want you to take care of yourself. Be careful. Whatever you do, don't do your evening chores, at least not solo. Mike and Sam are guys you can trust, as well as Brittany, but no-one else."
"I've never spoken more then 3 words to Brittany. I hardly know Mike and Sam. I can't just trust them Santana."
"You can trust me right, Quinn?"
Quinn just stared at Santana.
"You must hate me though. I told Abbess Sylvester about you running off with Brittany instead of doing chores. I told her about you mucking around with Mike and Sam. I've been acting like a silly girl while...my Goddess... while girls have been sent to Karofsky and while my father visits brothels. Last night, if you and Brittany hadn't shown up.. I could of..."
Quinn was becoming more and more hysterical.
"Quinn, Quinn, listen to me, calm down. We have to get to the convent. It's getting late. Whatever you do, just be careful. Concentrate on your prayers Quinn. You do have talent, and the Goddess has blessed you with powers. You can use them to defend yourself."
"How? I can purify water, make some small lights, maybe heal a small injury. How's that going to help me?"
"There are ways. I've seen the scrolls in the library. If I can get them to you, I will. Please tell me you'll be careful."
"I will... and you be careful too, Santana."
The dark haired girl just smirked arrogantly to herself. "Don't worry about me, I can look after myself."
Of all the surprises and revelations Quinn had discovered this morning, at least this one gave her some comfort.
As they sat in rows of pews at the chapel, listening to Abbess Sylvester go on about service to the Goddess, and being good novices of the order, Quinn remembered that she had forgotten to ask Santana about Rachel.
She fidgeted for the rest of the service.
As soon as the service was over, it was prayer and study time. Quinn exited with her fellow novices, trying to spot Santana in the congregation, when she was suddenly grabbed and pulled into an alcove.
"Shhh Quinn, it's just me."
Santana. Quinn, heart beating furiously, straightened her habit and glared at the other girl.
"Don't scare me like that."
"Sorry."
She didn't look sorry in the slightest however, as she was already peering around seeing if anyone had lingered after the service.
Quinn opened her mouth to admonish Santana when the girl grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward.
"C'mon, Pillsbury always takes ages to fix up the chapel after a service, she won't be in the library.
"How do you know all this stuff?"
Santana just smirked and waggled her eyebrows in reply.
Quinn giggled softly.
"Santana Lopez, what would the Goddess say?"
"I'd say she'd be happy with me putting a smile on your face for the first time in a long while, I think."
Quinn immediately stopped smiling, as Santana glanced back up at her.
"Sorry."
At least she looked sorry this time.
As they crept around in the immaculately kept stacks of the Library, Santana searching through various piles of books, tomes and scrolls for whatever it was she was searching for, Quinn remembered her earlier thoughts.
"What about Rachel?"
Santana looked at her quizzically before continuing her search through the shelves.
"What about Rachel?" Santana echoed.
"Well, who is she, what's she doing out there at that time of evening. What were the guardsmen saying about her?"
"Brittany knows her more then I do. I find her kind of annoying, I guess."
"You know her?"
"Yes Quinn, I know her" Santana answered with a touch of impatience, continuing to shift dusty books and scrolls aside in her search. "I don't just go home and study hymns and prayers after we're done for the day, like some people I know."
"What were those guys saying about her though? About her being an apprentice to magicians? Is that true?"
"Yeah, well, I wouldn't call them magicians, more like sorcerers, or wizards. The real deal, Brittany tells me. Oh, and she isn't their apprentice, she's their daughter."
"WHAT?" Quinn yelped, before ducking and covering her mouth. Santana looked apoplectic.
"Would you keep it down" she hissed. "This is hard enough without you trying to attract the attention of half the Goddess-damned town."
"Sorry, sorry.. I just, she's their daughter? That's..how?" Quinn trailed off, Karofsky's mocking words "unnatural" from the previous night echoing in her head.
"I don't know how Quinn, do I look like the sage of Mount McKinley to you?"
"Well if you added a bit of white to your face here and there, you know..."
Santana just rolled her eyes, and continued her sorting of the stack of scrolls.
"Great, after 16 years of having a stick up your ass, you finally develop a sense of humour while we're doing a stealth run of the library. You have impeccable timing."
"Sorry" Quinn replied. "I just don't know how to take it, it's... wrong, isn't it?"
"I don't know either Quinn. All I know is she calls them both father. As for it being wrong, well that's what they tell us Quinn."
"It's what the Goddess tells us though, that it's.. unnatural" the last word, for some reason, sounding bulky in Quinn's mouth, like it didn't fit on her tongue.
Santana, having sorted through the pile of scrolls on the shelf, grabbed Quinn's hand and dragged over to the next shelf, recommencing her search through the books.
"Quinn, that's what they say she says. As you can probably appreciate, not everything they tell us is true."
Santana mumbled something else very quietly, sounding like "I hope it's not true" but before Quinn could ask, Santana pulled a tome off the shelf and dusted off the cover.
"Here we go, this is it. Let's go."
The two girls quickly exited the library, scrambling out of sight just as Sister Pillsbury came walking down the stained glass corridor.
Quinn and Santana hurried their way along the streets of Lima, heading eastward. Quinn was rarely in part of this town, and she clutched to Santana's satchel as she ducked and weaved her way through narrow alleys on her way to the edge of town, coming upon a clearing where a small wooden hut stood with smoke billowing out from it's slanted chimney.
"This is Brittany's house."
Quinn liked it. It was run down and decrepit, like most houses along the east edge of Lima, but it seemed to have a warmth and charm to it, with a few skinned rabbits hanging out to dry out the front, basketful of colourful flowers potted around the front and sides of the house, and a colourful cloth of some kind hanging as an awning above the front door. The sun, just past it's zenith, caused everything to reflect brightly, exaggerating the colour of the house.
Santana ran up to the side of the house, knocked 3 times, paused, then knocked once more, then continued onward, dragging Quinn with her.
"What's going on, what are you doing."
"Shh, her dad's usually asleep this time of day. Brittany will be out shortly. C'mon."
Santana dragged Quinn into the woods, which caused Quinn some trepidation. She had been told that the woods weren't a place for a young girl to be, where wild animals and worse roamed about. But Santana seemed confident, moving through the woods with an obvious destination, and after her intimidating display last night, where she'd scared off a group of guardsmen, Quinn was beginning to see her fellow novice in quite a different light. Could she be this confident one day, not afraid to go against the status quo, to challenge what she was told by authority figures? Quinn found herself admiring Santana more and more.
Eventually, they came across a glorious clearing, where yellow and purple flowers dotted the reasonably short grass, sun streaming down and making it seem like a different world. A large stone near a tall poplar dominated the middle of the clearing. Santana ran over to the tree, and from a hollowed out portion at the bottom of the trunk, pulled out various items. Tunic, pants, 2 long cloaks, a wooden sword, a large block of wood that seemed to double as a shield, and a small wooden instrument. Putting it to her lips, she blew a high pitched note twice, then began stripping right in front of Quinn.
Quinn blushing furiously, turned her head away, to the sounds of laughter coming from Santana.
"Okay, you can stop blushing now." Santana teased, still chuckling quietly to herself.
Quinn brought her eyes, seeing Santana dressed as she was the previous evening but also with a long green cloak fastened to her back. She had the sword and shield at the ready, and was crouching, searching the treeline for something. Quinn tensed up, it seemed like Santana was ready for an attack.
Moments later, an arrow came whistling out at tremendous speed, heading straight for Santana, who simply straightened up and swung the sword once, deflecting the arrow to her left, into the soft grass. She stood there beaming.
Quinn gaped in awe.
Brittany then bounded out from the treeline, beaming just as giddily as Santana was, and they both dropped their weapons and wrapped themselves up in a gigantic hug, Brittany picking Santana up and spinning her twice.
Quinn was dumbfounded, still staring at the two girls in complete shock. What in the Goddess's name... she thought she had gone mad... or that they had.
Brittany noticed her staring. Unwrapping herself from Santana, she made her way over to the dumbstruck girl, moving with feline grace and poise, Quinn couldn't help but notice.
"Hello, Quinn." Brittany greeted, in her trademark Monotone voice, which seemed to betray the brilliant smile she still had etched on her face.
"Hello Brittany." Quinn answered, still slightly nonplussed. "Is that how you two always greet each other, by attacking each other with lethal attacks?"
"Only on our good days."
Brittany, still smiling the effervescent smile, looked back towards the treeline and seemed to gesture at someone.
Quinn's confusion cleared a moment later as she saw the cloaked and hooded girl from last night, Rachel, step into the clearing and make her way over to the 3 girls. Santana groaned.
"San..." Brittany said warningly, but Santana just grinned back.
"Quinn, meet Rachel. Rachel, meet Quinn" Brittany introduced them, as the two girls looked warily at each other. Tentatively, Rachel extended a hand towards Quinn.
Quinn, with the words of Karofsky still echoing from the previous night bouncing around her head, studied her hand for a moment, before extending her own as equally as tentatively, shaking once, firmly, then dropping her hand quickly.
An awkward silence permeated the clearing, Rachel and Quinn staring at each other, while Brittany and Santana's gaze bounced between the two, unsure who they should watch more. This state of affairs persisted for a few more seconds until a giant blur went straight past Quinn's gaze, directly at Santana. Next thing she saw, was Santana and the giant cat from the night before, rolling around on the grass, Santana laughing in a way Quinn had never heard the headstrong girl laugh before.
"Geroff me you big kitty, I'm not your chew toy" Santana panted. The cat, Lord Tubbington, Quinn reminded herself incredulously, just ignored Santana, licking a big swipe up her cheek. They rolled around a bit more before Lord Tubbington seemed to get distracted by a big butterfly, and bounded off to chase it all over the meadow.
Quinn thought for sure she had to be dreaming now. Only hours ago she had been talking with Santana about the grim realities of their life at Lima, and now here was this same girl, who brought attitude and wilfulness wherever she went, laughing freely and rolling around with a giant cat. It was utterly surreal.
Introductions completed, but a slight awkwardness still lingering, the 4 girls sat themselves under the poplar tree, and watched as Brittany pulled nuts, apples and a cooked rabbit out of the rucksack.
Rachel, who refused the rabbit but scooped up the nuts and apple rather quickly, began talking at top speed.
"Thank you Brittany, for once again providing a most nutritious and wonderful lunch, you truly are a delight. And I'm so pleased to make your acquaintance Quinn, Santana mentions you from time to time and it's wonderful I finally got to meet you, and I cannot thank you enough for your most timely intervention last night, along with Brittany and Santana here."
Before Quinn could even reply to such a rapid fire of words, Santana jumped in.
"Speaking of, midget, what did I tell you about going by the south entrance of Lima. I warned you about those creeps, and yet you wander past their freely without a care in the world it seems. How many times do you have to get into your skull to avoid that area."
"I apologize Santana, I had to run an errand for my dear fathers, and it was getting very late. I tried to sneak past as I assumed they would be intoxicated within the guardhouse, but one of their number had seen fit to... err.. relieve himself along the side of the establishment, and spotted me as I tried to get by."
Quinn, who had squirmed so slightly on the mention of Rachel's fathers, watched the apparently mercurial Santana, who's good humour of a short while ago had since diminished.
"I can't be everywhere at once you know, Berry, you've got to look after yourself more."
"I am perfectly capable of looking after myself thank you, Santana. You know as well as I do I had the situation well in hand, if the situation required."
Santana leapt up, eyes blazing, apparently furious now.
"Sure, you could of gotten your way out of that little confrontation. Then what Berry? The whole town after you and your fathers in a lynch mob. Your dad's are easily capable of defeating a whole town, are they? Are you prepared to have a whole town chasing your guts because you can't have a little more discretion? Think they're going to lie around and let a true sorcerer live in their midst? You know what this town is like."
Her piece apparently said, Santana walked away, swinging her wooden sword viciously at taller blades of grass. Rachel rose to follow, but Brittany laid a hand on her shoulder, shook her head and rose silently to follow the angry girl.
Another awkward silence followed, until Quinn mustered the courage to open her mouth.
"So you're a Sorcerer?" Quinn asked, not quite making eye contact with the smaller girl.
"Yes, I am. I am quite proficient I believe, which stems from a long tradition of sorcery in my family, and extensive training from an early age." Rachel chirped breezily, until she noticed the look on Quinn's face. "You don't approve."
"No no it's not that.. it's just that I worship the Goddess, and we're told that sorcery is wrong and evil, but... well I've never met a sorcerer till now, so I'm not sure what to think."
"Well I appreciate your honesty Quinn. I can assure you that I am not evil, and I most certainly don't think what I do is wrong. It's just another way of life, and it's a part of nature and and just as valid as your priestly magics."
Quinn looked surprised, until her gaze moved to Santana, still talking quietly to Brittany several metres away.
"She told you."
"I swear it was in the utmost confidence, and I haven't told a soul Quinn, not even my fathers." Rachel stated proudly.
Quinn studied the brunette for a few moments.
"Can you show me?" She blurted out.
Rachel looked surprised for a moment, then nodded.
"Certainly Quinn. Is there something you had in mind? I know plenty of of spells and magics, if I may say so myself."
"Just something small please, whatever you like" Quinn requested, a little uncomfortably. Would the Goddess smile upon this?
Rachel smiled, then started singing softly, a strikingly clear alto tone, undulating ever so slightly. Her palm outstretched, as she continued her singing, a small flame appeared in the palm of her hand. It circled her hand twice rapidly, flashed blue, and then disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Rachel stopped singing.
"Told you she was the real deal." Quinn looked up, startled, to see Santana, with Brittany standing close, watching the magic of Rachel.
"C'mon Quinn, let's leave these two to their stuff, I didn't steal that book for nothing. It's time to start your training."