#rescuemiriam

OOC Here!

OOC: I see that. Ignore my handle

OOC L Ok.

BIC: August has been surprised by the wait. He came to his mentor confused and distraught. But also with the lantern ready. Knight Father Boscodelle is a good man, yet when August got to the part about the Lantern and what it did, the man apologized, said he had to make a call immediately, and with drew. Now he returns. His pale green eyes searching young August's troubled face. Boscodelle takes a seat by August, and says "I am sorry to have left you in that state. Let us start over. I want to make sure I haven't overlooked too much. You went to the Dreaming to help a friend. Yes?"

"Yes Sir."

"And this friend needed help practicing for a quest?"

Chagrined. "That's what she said, sir."

A thin smile crosses the man's face at that, "I'm sure it was. Sluagh, Pooka, or Eiluned? Nevermind, not important I suppose. You delved into the Dreaming and ...you remember what best?"

"My wife and my children." Low, not meeting his eyes. "In Arcadia. I had a family."

"May I see the notes from your research you've scribed?"

He offers them.

"There was... another note. I left for myself."

He takes the notes, and looks over them, "Yes, yes, I wondered if that's who you were. The others didn't believe me, but I saw signs." A nod of respect. then the other note is mentioned, "Well, may I see it?"

August unbuttons his shirt.

Were this a different house, a joke might be made about hardly knowing the lad... but while unlike Gwydions, Liams have a sense of humor, they ..unlike Fiona, know when its appropriate. So he quiets, and then his eyes widen, "Her name over your heart. Oh my. You did not want to forget, but then, what man would? " He strokes at his chin, "The Arcadian way has many troubling aspects. Not the least of which is complication of where past and present divide. For the Changeling way, one may at least know when one died and then mull over it quits or not. For the Arcadian.... it is less a period mark to divide the story of our lives and more a very long ellipsis. To this day debates rage on how much of what we were defines who we are. Some in Houses believe that what was ours is ours, and the commoners were merely caretakers at best, usurpers at worst. That the line is stretched, but not broken. Still a few argue that Arcadian way or Changeling, we are not what we were and it is folly to act as if we are the same. Even a body seized carries some memories. For many of us it has been a question of secondary debate. For you? It must be intensely personal."

"I thought I knew who I was, what I wanted...."

"And now?" He prompts, not to force, but to encourage

"I know I can overcome... feelings of attraction. I still feel called to serve. I just... am I supposed to leave her there? If she were to come to the Autumn world...what would we be? And... children...."

"The Children of Truthbranch may already be in the Autumn World," he sorts through the notes, "And if they went the Autumn way, as more of our House did than many suspect, they could have been and gone and back again more than once. The Margravess however, by all notes...waits. And who knows , the best of House Fiona are enduring. Yet she too might come to this world, look you in the eyes, and not know you at all. Or she might have a fond memory, but the oaths of true hearts eroded by time, consider it very much a case of 'death of a sort' and you parted. That would wound you, I think." He says sympathetically.

"No, sir. I would welcome it. Well, it might hurt if she knew me not at all, but I could accept it."

"And if she did recognize you and consider you husband? that you would dread?"

He raises a brow

He swallows. "Yes sir."

"Yes, well, on one hand, House Liam loathes the Arcadian body seizing so many of us have been forced to do. Many find it interesting that our house, of all the Houses, seems least likely to end up in the bodies of millionaires, models, and so on. They point to the poverty stricken hosts we've taken, sometimes even criminals, and assume that it is a matter of a rule of symbolism. We go to the low because we are lowly. They have no idea. Liam souls coming from Arcadia are like divers jumping off a cliff of an island hoping to hit just the right spot. We land in the bodies of maniacs hoping to restore their minds as they go to the Dreaming. We land in the bodies of the cancer ridden at times because we hope glamour can help hold it back. We take a criminal or two who has been harmful to his fellow man to keep him or her from harming others and deal with their outcast status as 'changed' or 'turned over a new leaf'. All this and more, but it is still theft, and while some mortal souls would find banishment to the Dreaming while we take their bodies a wonder...it plagues us. So however nice a spin we put on it, it troubles us, this necessary crime. On the other hand, Truthbranch's bride even now holds in the Dreaming, in constant danger, and in constant wait. It maybe she will come of her own anyway to seek you out, or will be forced to by other powers. It maybe her fae soul will face true mortality and die as the nightmares of the Dreaming grow too strong for her. To leave an ally of Liam, one who defied all to aid both her husband, and the King of our House... that does not sit will either, does it?"

"No." He croaks, horrified and afraid for the wife he never met.

"You have offered to turn this Lantern over to the House, and that is...amazing. Such a treasure, even by NOT using it, means much. One only shudders to think what might happen if such a monster as Lythe ap Leanhaun the Gluttonous were to be set upon this world. Or General Hastler ap Balor. were to come back into any body those Houses wanted" A shiver at the infamous names "But , are you handing this lantern over because doing so aids the House, or because you feel it frees you of a terrible choice?"

"Both." With terrible honesty.

"August, far from me to claim to know the Da'an's will, or God's plans for you utterly. But it seems overly ...coincidental, ,that you might find both knowledge of Coradel and a means to summon her soul straight to you. Did that not also occur to you?"

"Yes sir. A temptation, certainly."

"Yes, I suppose it could be seen as a test, or a blessing. Or even a sign that God has other things in mind. I..." There is a knock at the door.

August rubs his fists against each other, but waits.

"Pardon me, August. That would be one of the higher nobles I called for. Come in, please," He says.

A woman enters, pale and perfect, but unlike the knight father, she has no religious trappings. The elegant gown flows around her like a blue tide, her crown and treasures mark her as a Duchess. There is a thin blade at her side, and despite the slender fingers, the callouses upon her palm give testament she has knowledge of its use if need be. the Father Knight bows low to her, and clearly expects August to do like wise, "Your Grace, this is August, the one who has retrieved the Conduit Lantern. August, it is my privilege to introduce you to the Duchess Erline Petalmourn."

August is on his feet immediately, and he bows deeply. "Your Grace."

She inclines her head, and then gestures, her slim finger casting about as if weaving in mid air with her expressions of greeting, "August, I was, told of the revelations that your recent journey to the Dreaming has brought to you. And of the treasure both powerful and troubling. This prize is worth, well, some lords would yield to you a hold for it, you know this yes? Do you truly wish to hand it over to your House with no recompense?"

"I do, my Lady. I know not why I was chosen to bring it out of the Dreaming but... I know I am not wise or strong enough to use it."

"In truth, August," She says, "I almost wish Duke Tierone had been summoned on this, but as he is a childling still, his judgment might have been dismissed, and thus the amazing success of your find diminished . Even without the lantern, you now stand before us as a hero of our House. August Truthbranch, who delayed the Arcadian Council hoping to sway them while our King Liam performed the March Defiant. Father of Derynwydd _Truthbranch, who herself had no small legends form about her as she took the half road through trying lives. Father of Magnus Truthbranch, who stood at the crumbling gate of Yestertear. You faced scorn and humiliation for countless souls behalf. And they took everything from you for it. I know the Knight Father has his doubts of the lantern,many in our House will, but realpolitik means we cannot refuse it, and must hope to find that wisdom you yourself spoke of to use it well. It maybe we will summon the Margravess for need of a House Ally regardless of whether she remains tied to you personally or not. You understand this?"

He nods dumbly, as a name echos through him. Magnus

"Very well," She says, and looks to Father Knight Boscodelle , "Sir, do you think it met for one of our own to be stripped of title by a meeting of every House BUT our own?"

"My biases aside, it was highly improper to leave the House of Wisdom with no voice to stand for its own," He said, "Though, we cannot, even you I think, dare not, restore it entirely."

"Oh how I long to, but that would be born of pettiness, not worth," Duchess Petalmourn looks to August, "August, will you submit to knighthood? A title that non can deny you have earned three fold for finding such a treasure and yielding up to House Brethren?"

He looks up, called out of his own thoughts, and swallows. "I... " He looks at his Father Knight mentor. "If.... if it is what will allow me to best serve, Your Grace."

"It will, while I bear no malice towards the Count of Alabaster Hollow, your treatment at the hands of some of your so called peers is not unknown to me. Count Jude says he would have put some of those bullies tied up in a wooden crate on a long train ride to Alaska by now if he were you. " Jude, it seems, talks too much, August may consider, "But you have endured faithfully and with dignity. No more though. Let them see armor of a knight upon you, let them note the spurs, and whatever their title, I hope they feel small, very small, for not having done one tenth of what you have done in this world to earn it. And if they cannot garner wisdom, then the more their folly.. Kneel." She draws the slender blade.

He does so, raven head bowed and bare.

"Do you, August Rachford solemnly swear to never do outrage, nor murder. To always flee treason against just authority and by no means be cruel but give mercy to those who earnestly ask for it? Do you swear always to offer protection to the innocent, succor to the goodhearted in need, and what wisdom you might to the lost? Do you swear to uphold the Escheat and shield Dreamers from the depredations of the monstrous? Else thy sword break and shatter, and your shame mark you so any goodly eye know of your crime? Do you swear all this, by Moon, by Star, and by the Great Silver Oak that yet lives and holds?"

"I do."

His voice is steady, posture tense.

Glamour gathers about him not like a storm, but rather a parting in a great canopy of an ancient forest, as if light from above pierced all barriers to bath him!! She touches him during this with her blade, first to one shoulder, then the next, and she holds the hilt before him to kiss as is custom, "Then I dub thee a knight true, Sir August Truthbranch ap Liam!"

He bows his head to press his dry lips against the hilt and looks up at the Duchess.

Glamour bursts around him a shape not unlike a lily blooming on sunlight waters, and when it settles, his partly half armor is gone, and he wears a true suit of chimerical steel about his form. His sword, won in the dreaming, is untouched! A shield on his left arm bears the marking of the Truthbranch line! His cloak has a clasp about it over his heart! August looks every inch a knight...which works out quite nicely as he is one!