A Silak Family Reunion

Drache is the present-day capital of the Kingdom of Arangoth and lies at the mouth of the River Darian, surrounded by the city docks all along the waterfront. Click here for information on the various suburbs and areas of Drache. You can also click here to view a sketched map of the city.
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Nymphetamine
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Joined: Thu May 10, 2012 1:09 pm
Preferred Title: Marog the Destroyer
Characters: Aezra
Azalia Stygian
Eliya Almakira al-Fasaad
Ianesene
Isabelle Auxerre
Nesira Vertal
Rix
Senkessa Silak-Dekhal
Siraz'jah Av'Zathrak
Location: Seattle, WA

A Silak Family Reunion

Post by Nymphetamine »

Her choice of clothing was akin to that of a knight donning his armour for battle. It had been months since she had last visited the familial home where her father resided with her two brothers. She was not looking forward to doing so now, but she was committed to the action regardless, if only for others' sake, rather than her own.

Senkessa ul-Alaford Silak was never one to enjoy the pomp of the wealthy merchant's life. The fact that she had to squeeze herself into a corset and silk gown was an unpleasant one. The day maid helped lace her stays and outfit her in the red silk, then curled her dark hair and arranged it in fashionable style. The magistrate had transformed herself into the socialite her father wished her to be, all so that he would take her request seriously.

Giving herself one final appraisal in a silvered glass, she reached for the piece of amber that hung from her neck, still worn even now. She lifted it to her lips to kiss for good luck and set aside the mirror. A rich, blue cloak was pulled about her shoulders and she moved for the door. A hired coach waited there, and the driver helped her up the steps and inside. Senkessa settled herself, but there was no settling of her nerves.

On the brief ride over, she tried to practice what she would say to him. If was unlikely either of her brothers would be there, but she still hoped one of them would. It would at least make this less anxiety-ridden. Before she knew it, they had stopped and the coachman was climbing down from his perch to open the door again. She took his hand, thanked him and paused to pay him to wait for her, over the course of the next few hours.

She marched up to the door and fished the appropriate key from her purse to open the door. Inside was like an avalanche of a thousand memories suddenly crashing down upon her. She was noticed almost immediately by her father's manservant, coming down the hall carrying some vase.

"Tespin Senkessa!" the manservant cried, obviously pleased to see her as he rushed over to her and bowed as well as he could with his hands full.

"Rennik, hello," she said, giving him an awkward smile. Might as well jump to the chase. "Is my father in?"

The manservant deposited the vase on a stand in the alcove near the door, obviously its destination. He'd be a fool to put it anywhere but where it was supposed to be. His warm smile suggested that he was long employed by the Silak family. He had a genuine fondness for the three heirs to the family, especially her.

Senkessa reached for a brief hug from the man. Not too tight to muss her clothing or to be caught in an unappreciated display of fondness for one's servants. All of the little lessons and instructions over the years poured into her ears from the walls. She didn't want to be here.

"Yes, he's in his study. I'll announce you," Rennik said, reaching for her elbow to show her down the hall.

They both knew she of course knew the way, but there were proprieties and decorum to be followed in her father's home. They knew that as well and did not attempt to buck the tradition. It would hardly serve either of them. Rennik knocked on the appropriate door and waited a few seconds for her father's booming baritone to grant entry.

"Tespin Senkessa to see you, Vorfon Silak."

Rennik held the door open for Senkessa to enter.

It had been some time since last she had been within these walls. Richly decorated with warm woods and well lit with a series of enchanted lamps, it could have been a sanctuary for her. The plush carpet muffled her small heeled shoes as she walked in. Behind the desk sat her father, Alaford ul-Donovath Silak, a man in his later middling years with more grey hair than dark. He had the same Silak amber eyes that his two youngest children had inherited, though where theirs seemed warm and full of light, his were darker. The man rose from his padded chair and circled around the edge of his desk to greet her.

"My dear Senkessa, what an unexpected surprise," he said in that same deep voice. He reached out to take her by the shoulders.

It was all she could do to keep still, to plaster on what she hoped was a polite smile as she forced her lips upwards at the corner. The heavy warmth of his hands on her shoulders felt like a vice. She fought the urge to flee as she looked up at his face.

"Father."

She went through the motions expected of her, standing up on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek. The whiskers of his trimmed beard felt rough against her face.

"What brings you home, daughter?" he wondered as he stared at her, eyes boring into the cores of her soul. That gaze was like a thunderhead, all tension and pressure waiting for the right moment to spill out in torrential outpouring. He held her shoulders well past it was comfortable before finally disengaging to turn to one of the chairs. He pulled it out for her, clearly indicating she should sit without inviting her to do so in another one of his games to make her dance.

Senkessa took as deep a breath as she could in the corset and drifted to the offered chair. With a straight back and the utmost decorum, she sank into it as he put it in place for her. She reached for the amber again, running her fingertips across its smooth surface, a tether to the world outside her father's influence. He returned to his large wing back chair behind his desk.

"I've heard the stories of the Merchants Guild pirate hunting." When Alaford did not reply, she continued. "I met with two survivors of the expeditions you sent against them. They said it was a sea monster."

It would be to no surprise that Alaford's response to the comments was a wave of dismissal as he watched her like a hawk. "You know how sailors talk, Senkessa. I'm surprised that you came all this way, concerned about the business." Alaford's lips twitched upwards in an unpleasant, predatory smile, as if he had caught her out at something.

She frowned and lowered her hands to her lap, not wanting to draw attention to the pendant's significance. Anything to be the image of womanly complacency that he expected of her.

"My colleague, Magistrate Aleah Drykkson, happened to question them with one of the rings of honesty. They were telling the truth, Father, about the monster."

His lips pursed but he said nothing for a moment. There was a chance that he had already heard these stories and that she was wasting her time by trying to bring them to him. Surely there had been some report to the Merchants Guild that funded the original expedition to deal with the pirates. Neither Aldenaxk nor Gudrun had mentioned having done so.

"And you've come to tell me all about it because you're finally taking an interest in the family business?" Alaford's smooth voice asked then, after an awkward pause between them. It was accusing the way that he put this to her as if he expected her answer to be a resounding yes.

The sudden fount of guilt that welled up within her came unbidden. She studied him across the desk, hands clutching tight in her lap as she struggled to remain composed under his scrutiny.

"I'm telling you so it might be dealt with before it comes to Drache's shores. Surely a monster that can gobble up ships is a threat to your dealings overseas, Father." If nothing else, he could be pressed into action on this basis alone. "The survivors want an audience with the council."

Alaford let out of bark of laughter at that. "So you're coming on their behalf with nothing but their stories."

"They just want a chance to convince you, Father."

"They just want a fat purse from the Merchants Guild funding a monster killing expedition. I'm disappointed in you, Senkessa," he said.

"They are telling the truth, Father," she insisted. "Aleah interrogated them with the ring. They are telling the truth."

"What do you want me to do about it exactly? Bring them before the council with drunken stories of monsters?"

Her brows furrowed together in this mild glare. She didn't enjoy this conversation or the way that he just dismissed everything she said for no other reason than skepticism. "Let them tell you their story. Use your pet psychic to ferret out the truth of it. She can do that, can't she?"

He was quiet again in thought as she pleaded her case to him. Senkessa was sure that her father enjoyed playing these games, letting her dangle on strings as he plucked them to make her act in this or that way. That she was dancing to his tune frustrated her to no end. It was only for the sake of Drache, for even those that had survived the encounter that she endured.

"If I do, you will be there. With your magisterial ring. You will be my truthsayer, Senkessa."

"The new Lady Chancellor just issued an edict preventing us from doing that, Father!" Senkessa protested.

Alaford shifted in his chair and affixed Senkessa with a stare, pinning her in place and forestalling any further protests with this look. "You will bring your ring, or we won't have the interview at all." There was no room to negotiate, her father would hear nothing on the matter.

"Yes, Father," she said with a sigh, giving in without further argument.

"Next week, there is a private fete at the Silver Swan, hosted by Verilix Kenrath. You will be there to meet his son. Dress appropriately. I'll send Donovath to escort you." Alaford's words were carefully said as if he expected her to challenge him on the matter. She could only dodge his obligations so long as she stayed away and since she had willingly come to him, he would make the most of it. This was payment, the sacrifice and pound of flesh he required of his daughter to hear out the survivors.

"Arrange the meeting with your sailors for this coming week, Senkessa. You will be there," he repeated as if she had forgotten.

She nodded without appearing too sullen or annoyed about the matter. "Yes, Father."

Alaford rose from his chair and walked towards her again, offering her his hand so he could pull her to her feet. He leaned close and pressed a kiss to her cheek lingering overlong before lowering his hand to touch the small of her back.

"Come, you'll have dinner with your brothers and me."

"Yes, Father."

It would be a few hours before Senkessa was allowed to return home.
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