In an inner chamber high in the Black House of Minas Tirith, headquarters of the pale Kestrels, a young woman sighed deeply, dramatically, and laid her head down on her desk with such force she risked sending some of the numerous scrolls and papers scattering around the room. In the doorway, an older man had just entered, carrying a tray with a teapot and two cups. He wore the same soft gray tunic and leggings that she did.
“Well…” he said setting the tray down and pouring. “It seems I have arrived just in time. As always, you work too hard, Captain.” He set one steaming teacup near her as she lifted her head, sniffing the aroma.
“Haran…what would I do without you?” She smiled fondly at the man, fully old enough to be her father and sipped her tea, feeling a small amount of her patience and strength returning.
The man took his own cup after setting a new scroll down to the woman’s dismay. “I regret to deliver to you, Captain, the latest report of Squad Leader Lyra of the Scouts, currently on assignment in Eriador, which has just reached the Black House. According to the voucher it was dispatched from somewhere called Breen..or Breep…or something similar with a B and too many vowels. Sounds more like a pest that attacks cattle than a town.”
Captain Lianna shook her head softly in disapproval. “How like the middle classes. You are a worse snob than I am Haran, but you are just the son of a stable hand.”
Haran, her Executor, snorted. “OWNER of four stables, my lady, no stable hand…and while we may not be scions of lofty House Palaniel, or any of Gondor’s Houses Major we are 16 generations in the White City and I know the name of the ancestor who took ship amongst the Faithful. Can you say the same?”
The woman paused for a moment, thinking…then shrugged. “To be honest…no. Though I imagine my sister Larol does.”
The man ran a hand through his long white hair. “I doubt she knows either…if she did, she would have that poor little herald girl who walks ahead of her sing it ten times daily.” His smooth baritone slipped into a mocking falsetto. “She comes, she comes, behold the daughter of Whoever of the tragic Faithful as she walks. Now she sits…now she has lunch. Behold her chew. Behold. Behold.”
Now Lianna did laugh out loud despite herself. “Stop it or I willl have you flogged for laughing at your betters, I swear I will…now what does the ambitious Lyra have to say.”
Taking a sip of tea, the man looked over the scroll, face turning a bit grave. “She confirms reports. Six assets in Eriador dead or missing…we must assume enemy action. Under the circumstances she rightly assumes that activities of the Pale Kestrels in the region are compromised and no longer secure, therefore she elected to leave her squad and investigate alone. She says she had received intelligence that led her to a plan that will keep the Kestrels in the background, and was accompanied to Eriador by Kraddock, Captain of Elendil’s Vanguard.” He paused…unsure how sore the point would be. “The commander of your late twilight brother, no?”
She took another sip and nodded curtly. “Yes, Septimal Caine, the only one of my father’s mistakes that I would call a sibling, was his Executor. Only two legitimate daughters, he took in the most promising of his twilight sons. If the Squad Leader took such an escort as Kraddock, she feared violence but not much else. He is excellent in a melee but would have a hard time finding his own horse while holding it’s reins. Did she say more of this plan of hers?” Her voice made clear she was somewhat dubious of the prospects.
Haran nodded, regretting having had to mention Caine. The topic of her late brother always worsened his Captain’s mood. “Once the cypher was decrypted, I read that it seems she had on trustworthy report that a woman was in this town of Breed that was well known to Captain Kraddock and could be of good service to the Doves. By name Addiela. The report indicates you know of her?”
Lianna nodded and leaned back in her chair. “Indeed. I saw her at Caine’s memorial…she was a friend of his it seems, a Riddermark lass. She was one of the comrades of Bark and Bite during the mission in which he…in which he was murdered. From Caine’s last letter he thought highly of her.”
Haran raised an eyebrow. “Indeed? Pretty?”
She nodded. “Yes…”
“Blonde, Intelligent, Shapely?”
The Captain nodded again, seeming to grow slightly annoyed. “Yes…”
Haran smiled. “Seemingly unattainable?”
“Yes….” Lianna scowled at her second in command.
The man nodded and sipped his tea innocently. “Then of course he thought highly of her. He was the Margrave’s son after all. I beg your pardon. I don’t mean to laugh at my betters, Captain, my I am incorrigible….”
Liana rose…smiling a bit brittlely. “Indeed you are. If I were not so fond of this tea set I would hurl my cup at you, jackanapes. So, she opted to enlist this Addiela in the investigation….interesting. I knew from her report of her meeting with that bunch at the memorial, Lyra was well impressed with her, and the Scouts are known for unorthodox recruiting. Indicate that we have received her report and are content that she proceed as she thinks fit…and tell her to keep Kraddock on a short leash. Send Barret with our response, it will be good to have him close at hand should things go badly.”
Haran nodded and made a notation on the scroll then turned to carry out her orders.
Captain Lianna looked back at the map she had been studying when Haran had entered, tracing a line from Eriador through the Halfling’s lands…to the port of Kheledul. “I don’t like the way this is going…and I expect I will soon like it less.”
