Silence

Well, as we are switching campaigns I am writing the background for yet another character... a Rogue-Assassin - SURPRISE!!! - and with only a nudge of convincing from Brian I've decided to go ahead and tie it in with Barty, Lucky, Shadow, and all the rest. So hear is the story of Silence. I initially told Brian I would be playing Silence as a younger version of herself... but I think now I'll just stick with her being the age she's at, so it's all relevant to Lucky and Shadow and the stuff that they're going through. There'll be more later on this background to help establish with more of Silence's skills... before Brian's first game... but until then, read on, reader.


"I can't do it anymore Barty. I tried out the channels I have -- it's not working." She tossed the two letters on the table in front of him -- they landed with a slight ruffle.

Bartholomew “The Eagle” Near-Hit looked into her eyes. They were glistening with tears and with anger. Oftentimes he didn't understand his wife's fascination with the woman, but at this moment he could share in Silences feelings. His wife and daughter were out running around God knows where, and all you had was a couple of letters to hold onto. He didn't approve of the woman's life, and even after all these years, he wasn't sure if he approved of her relationship with his wife, but he had spent enough time with a woman to know and understand her.

In her role as captain of his bodyguard, he'd seen her skill and power. Shadow had told him of their life before he had met her. He knew that Silence stayed on a short leash, not for his own sake but for that of Shadow’s… Because what he also knew of Silence, he had learned from watching her interactions with his wife. And there was no mistaking the care and love that she felt for her -- the same care that his wife returned in kind.

He breathed deeply. He had never been happy about sharing his love with another, but he took comfort in the fact that if anyone could protect her, Silence could. In a way that it made it easy -- easier -- to keep around. He laughed to himself – he did trust her. And if he was truly honest with himself, he did think of her as one of his own. After all, Silence was not only devoted to Shadow, but had taken Lucky under her wing as well.

And looking at Silence now, he was convinced. If she said she was out of options, she was out of options. At least, he mused, out of any options that he could sanction in his household. So it was keep her here, tell her to wait, tell her to hope for the best, and hope that she wouldn't take matters into her own hands and complicate his relationships with the other members of the community – or he could again be honest with himself and with what he knew of Silence and he could let her go. In the end, he thought, he really didn't have much of a choice in the matter at all. When he got down to the, no one could really tell Shadow what she could and could not do. He laughed slightly at the wry thought that bubbled up – At least she thinks enough of me to let me know.

"I’ve been working on things in more formal channels. But progress is slow. Where will you go? What would you do?"

"I..." she fingered the letters on the table, "I really don't know. I just can't stay here." She looked into his eyes. "I think this is bigger than we thought it was."

She saw him run his fingers through his hair and knew he was nervous. And for good cause, she reflected, after all, it wasn't every day he found out someone had taken a contract out on your wife. Normally, this might of been something that silence could adult with -- there had always been assassination attempts and stalkers and predators -- and it had been select easy to take out a man who had taken a contract on Shadow.

“The Crow was easy enough to quiet – the Twins were quite effective.” She handed him a sheaf of papers she had been holding. “I talked with the Bird myself before they finished their work. A rotten piece of work.”

Barty grimaced – to him, it was all a bit rotten. But no one simply traded simply anymore. He reminded himself that this hadn’t been about a trade, either. It had started with his life, and moved on to threaten his wife and now his daughter.
Silence must have been reading his mind – or perhaps the slight satisfaction he was starting to feel at the thought of Mortimer StrongArm being handed over to the Twins gentile minstrations… because she smiled a half smile. “They are quite good, aren’t they?” She asked. Barty had never known where she found the pair. They were quite… original… and fortunately very loyal to the family, especially after Barty had secured their futures in a number of ways.

“Barty,” she sighed, “I have no idea how to fight this thing.” She was, admittedly, a little afraid - especially after reading Shadows lines about Inevitable in her first letter and then reading the update that had arrived by post earlier in the day.
“The Desert Father? Sand? Coffee? Being so overwhelmed by your surroundings that gelatinous ooze can appear from no where and somehow, no matter how unlikely it may seem, materialize around a person? Naked companions?” Barty snorted “It must have been a long shot for her to try this foolishness…”

Stony and quiet, Shadow responded “It must have looked like a good, solid option.” Or she might be getting desperate, she mused. “I trust her, Barty….” She looked into his eyes and saw his pale attempt to mask his own fear “and I know you do too. She must have had her reasons. But now, Lucky...” She already felt that Shadow had been threatened, possibly her judgment compromised. Then they had received the letter from Lucky. It had been delivered to her through post scratched on paper singed on the edges. A variety of odd stamps from even odder places cheerfully decorated the envelope that proudly bore a blurry, crooked Dwarven routing number stamped on the front like a badge of honor. The paper reeked of alcohol. I could probably use it to start a fire, she mused. After reading the script, she was convinced that Lucky was still "on task" – but Silence was also positive that the young rogue had no idea of the danger she might face from the Inevitable.

“What do you propose?” He asked, candidly.

It was true that Silence had no idea of the best place to start. Should she find and stop the Inevitable? Should she try and find Shadow? Should she go ahead and try and reach Lucky? Either way, she was convinced that she'd worked through "typical" channels long enough. She agreed years ago with Barty -- if she wanted to be a part of the household, she needed to give up certain ways. He never seemed to mind when it was for the good of the family, but she was under strict orders not to take contracts that were outside his purview, and for the most part, she agreed with him. He had conceded to her use of the Twins on occasion because, deep down in his gut he knew… and she knew he knew… that in these times some things were necessary.

Besides, she thought, what he hasn't known hasn't hurt him. Certainly, Shadow knew most everything. After all, she was the reason Silence agreed to this whole life with her and Barty in the first place. But over the years, Silence felt that the restrictions Barty had placed on her, while allowing her to remain in the household, took a certain toll on her skills. I basically drive a desk, she thought and the twins are my eyes and ears now-- I'm the best damn captain of the guard in the business, I know who to talk to and when to push and where to move the money… but there's something to be said for doing the dirty work for yourself.

And so maybe that was where she needed to start. In the end, though, she was simply tired of waiting. And isn't that where it all started? She laughed quietly. No wonder I can’t handle sitting around, waiting for others to get it done. Not when it’s this important.

It'd been a hot summer. Silence, formerly a penitent sister of his Waiting Grace, had waited one day with His Grace at a crossing of the main road, and the trade route out of town. They have waited a long time, she couldn't even remember how long. All she knew was that her feet itched, and she was tired of standing in the pose of She Who Waited. It was a long wait. Overall, it looked like it was going to longer. His Grace had been caught in a moment of Ecstatic Immobility, his hands frozen, fingers reaching to the sky, a statue erect in joyful paroxysm.

He was then run over by a horse and cart.

Reflecting on the moment, Silence realized that perhaps she’d been waiting too long. Or that this might be the moment she was waiting for. At the time, Silence turned left, then right, and the decided that she might as well follow the cart that had freed her.

Sisters Happenstance and Longevity had a harder time. Or perhaps they were just waiting for something else. They're still waiting -- and selling a variety of macramé pot holders and beaded tchotchkes at the site of His Graces Location of Ecstatic Immobility. (Although Silence really calls this The Spot Where His Waiting Grace Got Offed.)

When she happened upon the cart master sitting half naked in the firelight, she bit back a groan -- and was a bit put out. She knew she had been waiting for something -- but she was positive that this wasn't it.

Unfortunately, Ogham thought that she'd been waiting for him. After all, as he saw her walk out into the firelight, how often does a man find a wood nymph approaching the fire? Granted, she was a little overdressed for the job -- and she seemed a little tall. Even though she looked to be only 3 feet tall, he had only read about nymphs being much smaller -- about the size of the Daisy. And she didn't seem to be dressed for this -- he certainly remembered pictures of nymphs from his calendar, and they seemed to be dressed in much less. Certainly not in woolen robes. Perhaps she was a special nymph -- yes, that must be it, he thought, pleased at his forensic deduction -- a special nymph sent by the gods just for him. He must indeed be blessed.

To bad he was too drunk to notice a raised eyebrow or the sparkle of silver in her hand. Through pursed lips, Silence said a word of thanks to His Waiting Grace for the years of lessons in swordplay and knife work; and as she tied Ogham up, she also gave thanks for the many lessons in rope work and her time with the sisters wrangling His Grace’s pigs (ironically, His Waiting Grace was never one to miss a timely dinner - less ironically, he also enjoyed a good sister v. sister swordfight/mud wrestle).

Silence left poor drunken Ogham naked in the woods; taking his horse and the money his pockets, she then continued on the trail. It was then that she'd found that she'd been waiting for -- freedom.

And then she met Shadow. A few years following her Incident with Ogham (only called an Incident by the local constable, who was (thankfully) happy enough to recover the horse and just leave it at that… why it couldn’t be called an Evening Out or even An Unexpected Blind Date or better yet The Very Last Time Silence Ever Stops For Dinner With A Man was a bit frustrating for Silence…) Silence met Shadow… a young woman alone in the world after her parents had been hit. She took her in, offered her training – she had only in mind to take an apprentice -- someone to watch her back and to help her earn a little more money. But then, her relationship with a woman soon took on a life of its own and she found herself not only sharing her mastery of lock picking, moving silently, tracking, and disguise -- she found herself sharing much more…

*** Next… Adventures of Silence and Shadow… ***