Closed [The Great Harbor] Tell it to the Rain

[April Windweaver]

4th of Winter, 514 AV

Winter was a miserable time of year. It was far too cold for anything besides eating and sleeping. The snow smothered any and all life, turning the world into a depressing shade of gray, and the miserable weather that followed forced people to take shelter in their homes. Hunters and gatherers had their skills put to the test, with animals prepped for hibernation and all plant life perishing in the cold weather. Travelers and traders had it worst. Often they tried to brave the weather only to end up in a shallow, snowy grave.

It was for these reasons that April chose to drop anchor in Syliras. The Winters there were much more bearable, and the city offered a great deal of excitement inside its walls to help pass the time. She wouldn't be trapped inside a shoddy old inn or a broken down shipyard this time. Instead, she would be spending the season inside the grand stone fortress that was the Stormhold Castle. She was absolutely giddy about the idea of a warm meal and a good drink. Her Tavan, a Shearwater named Hawkins, seemed equally pleased at the idea.

She had heard tales of the city from passing sailors; a huge hub of trade of Mizahar and home to some of the land's greatest Knights. So on one hand it meant tons of neat antiques and trinkets from far off lands, and on the other it meant that the place would be crawling with guards who would not take kindly to April's typical methods of acquisition. She'd have to mind herself here. To a degree. Doesn't mean she couldn't have some fun with the locals. Still, the housing was good and the food was above average. At least, that's what she had been told. It was better than staying in Taldera. Bless the stars, she could rather drown than have to travel through those lands.

April lit her pipe. Her arms and legs were aching after leading the ship into dock, and the freezing rain hadn't helped. Her clothes were wet, her body was shaking, and she was on the verge of going into hysteria if not for the Temper. A few puffs later and she found herself more at ease but no less cold. She was running distance from one of the portside pubs, the warm glow of the windows promising safe refuge from the storm. Only issue was trying to get through the relentless rain. She paced back and forth under the cover of her boat, trying to steel herself to no avail. She hated the cold. Hated it. Even now, shivering and wet, she couldn't convince herself to step out into the storm. She groaned and continued to pace, taking an agitated puff from her pipe.

A crack of thunder made her flinch, her pipe fumbling to the floor before bouncing out into the rain. Her eye twitched and her fingers curled into a fist. Well, great.

Hawkins let out a squawk as if laughing at her. She furrowed her eyebrows and stared at the now-drenched herb and the pipe it sat in. Her focus was on deep breaths. No need to panic. Just grab it and run. Grab it and run. Grab it-

The next strike of lightning sent her speeding out of her cabin. She threw her coat up above her head to block most of the rain before retrieving her pipe and retreating off the boat. The docks were slippery, which was just fantastic. She ended up on her rear right after stepping off her boat. Thankfully, the rain was loud enough to drown out her swearing as she tried to regain her composure and push through the storm. It had gotten heavier, now, with the fog closing in around her. The storefronts seemed to vanish. Her coat was growing heavy under the downpour and her eyes stung as the wind blew water into her face. She struggled to find her way through the harbor but was now hopelessly lost.

[Balian Martell]

Balian silently cursed his patron as he stood at his post, the freezing rain coming down mercilessly from the sky. He hugged his now soaked cloak closer to him, hoping to be provided some measure of protection from the cold and the rain. He had little success. Borr Uldrin, the boisterous knight that Balian had been reassigned to had earlier that day informed Balian of the task. “Lad, you need some in the field experience” Ser Uldrin had started earlier that day, “So, I have signed you up for a little task. Shouldn’t be at all difficult for you.” Ser Uldrins grin should have given him away, but alas, Balian had not been his squire long enough to take heed. At first he had hoped for some assignment that took place outside the city walls, where Balian felt most comfortable. Upon learning that he was to remain within the city, he at least hoped for something more exciting. Instead he had been given this. A guard posting.

He had been assigned a guard post at the docks, which would have been fine any other day, except today had begun cold, and with the threat of rain. There had been little activity to keep Balian entertained throughout the day. Sure, there were other members of the order with him, mostly knights to share in his boredom; after all, misery loves company, but they had taken shelter at the first sign of rain, insisting that Balian needed to stay as they couldn’t leave the post completely deserted. Those bastards, Balian thought, not for the first time that bell.

And so it was that Balian stood cold, wet and miserable. His cloak provided no reprieve from the elements, and the armor that he wore got heavier as his chain mail shirt soaked up the water. It was perhaps, one of the few times that Balian regretted not getting any plate armor after he had arrived at the stronghold. The plate would surely protect him better than the current light armor that he wore. If nothing else, it would have kept him relatively dry for it wouldn’t let any of the rain to get through, unlike what he wore now. The sky had darkened considerable since the rain had begun, a slight fog picked up over the water, and he considered going to join the others. Now that it was raining the activity on the docks all but stopped; only a few boats could be seen with people comfortably inside them.

The first flash of lightning followed by the deafening clap of thunder was all it took to convince Balian that it was time to leave. He weighed his options. Should he head towards the inn that was situated on the docks? Or should he make the trek back to the dormitories and to his room. On the one hand, the inn provided immediate reprieve from Zulravs fury, but in his dormitory he would be able take off his armor and relax, something that he wouldn’t be able to do at the Inn, not really.

Lighting struck a second time, startling Balian out of his own thoughts. Deciding to head all the way back to his dorm where he could relax in the storm, he scanned the docks one last time, just to make sure that it was in fact completely empt…Petch. Is that a person?

He thought he spotted someone jumping off one of the smaller boats into the dock. A second glance didn’t reveal anything, the rain was coming down thick, but after a tick or two he saw the person again, this time walking down on of the piers, in the wrong direction. Was that person lost? Could they not see where they were going? Sighing, Balian prepared himself mentally to go out and retrieve the person before they take a wrong turn and fall into the water. If he was going to abandon his post, he might as well have a good reason, right?

Balian Martell

[April Windweaver]

With one foot in front of the other, April slowly made her way down the docks, the give of the boards making her heart jump. She had no idea if the direction she was heading was the right one or not. The lanterns that typically hung from the docks were lost in the fog and she had to rely on her own gut feelings.

Turns out her gut feelings were absolute shit. With a squeal, April's foot slid right off the edge of the pier and into the water with her other leg following suit. Spinning her body around, she clawed at the planks before finding purchase mere inches away from the edge. She now had everything below her waist submerged in water while her hands clung frantically at the wet boards. "WHA!" She cried, feeling her fingers slide further off of the boards. Indifferent to her suffering, the rain continued to batter against her face and made the whole ordeal much, much worse. A whimper escaped her lips.

Welling up what little courage remained, April swung her legs sideways to straddle one of poles holding up the pier. It left her body at an awkward angle that forced her to readjust her grip. She was now clutching to a mast with her legs still partially underwater. But now at least she had a good hold.

Her boots were slick and near impossible to brace against the post. She'd have to inch her way up to the top or risk launching herself back up. She'd prefer the second option, since it would get her out of the water faster. So with a mighty heave April catapulted herself off the mast and slammed her stomach into the lip of the pier hard enough to knock the wind out of her. But it worked, somehow, and she managed to pull herself back onto the dock. And now she could get rained on some more.

No time to rest, she told herself. With a groan and a grunt she lifted herself back onto her feet and made her way down the dock. Or at least, she would have, except that she ended up running face-first into a guard's armor. She did a double take and immediately went on the defensive. It took her a second or two to realize that she hadn't done anything illegal yet and dropped her stance.

"You didn't see anything!" She shouted above the rain. She would have been blushed if not for the freezing cold. "Where's the Inn? I can't see a thing out here!" She stood closer to him, trying to use his armor to block some of the sideways rain.

[Balian Martell]

The raindrops were descending in hordes, making it difficult to see anything more than a few paces ahead of him. Luckily Balian had been staring at these docks for most of the day, so he had them pretty much memorized, at least for the time being. As it were he still made an effort to keep the lanterns of the dockside inn, soft glows in the dreary grey that was the rain, within sight. He did not fancy getting himself disoriented, not with how slippery the wood of the docks had become with the rain. He would have a tough time of getting out of the water should he fall in with the weight of his armour dragging him down.

So careful was he of keeping the lanterns in sight and not slipping on the planks that by the time that he reached were he had first spied the person, they were nowhere to be found. Petch, he thought, where did they go? He turned his head this way and that, searching for any sign of the person he had seen, but the pouring rain made it difficult to see anything and drowned out all other noise. He was about turn back and head to the dormitories when someone ran straight into him.

The force of the impact made him take a step back, and causing him to almost slip on the wet planks of the docks. Waving his arms to keep from falling, he was thankfully able to quickly regain his balance before making a fool of himself. He immediately turned to look for the person who had ran into him, his hand instinctively grabbing the hilt of the sword that hung at his side. It took him a tick to see who had run into him through the rain, but once he did, he relaxed and let go of the hilt. It would seem that the person who he was looking for had found him instead.

The stinging rain did not allow him to take a good look at who this person was, but he was able to see enough. It was a girl, shorter than he and strange dyes in her hair, now mattered against her head with the weight of the rain. “Where’s the Inn? I can’t see a thing out here!” she said, struggling to get her voice over the roaring downpour. She huddled closer to him, as if trying to keep the rain at bay, causing him to blush at the sudden closeness.

“This way!” He shouted back, “Lets get out of this rain!”. Awkwardly, he placed a cloaked arm around her, attempting to guide her back towards the inn and try to block the rain. He still had the lights within sight, and he remembered the path back clearly, so with little trouble he was able to guide them towards the inn. The rain did not lighten, however the cold that had been seeping into Balians bones had begun to withdrawl, whether due to the actually having something to do…or for some other reason, he could not tell.

Soon enough they had stepped off the wooden docks and onto the stone that made up the wharf. He made way towards the glowing lanterns that marked the entrance to the inn, taking the girl with him. Finally they reached the door, and made their way inside into the warm and dry inn, dripping from head to toe.

Balian Martell