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[Soren]

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Pushing herself up from her place on the bed, she had but a moment to grab the waste bucket nearby and hurl the contents of the night before into it. Her face an odd shade of green she gripped it tightly before trying to regain her previous position. The "fish" was not sitting well with her. Every last meal for the past week had come out relatively quickly after it's ingestion. Silently she looked over to her sleeping husband. She would kiss him but she didn't want to wake him up. Waking him up meant he would tell her not to go.

The shop had been left alone for far too long though, and she really needed to take stock of the back orders. There was armor to make, shirts to sew and stocking to do. She also needed to stop by and see her sister. I'll leave him a letter," she thought. slowly she got dressed, having to stop twice more to throw-up. Her poor Adrian had been up half the night watching over her. Since "fish" got introduced, he had been ten times as protective of her as he had been before. Placing the letter on the pillow next to him and pinning it in place with a cherry muffin she climbed on Stormy's back. Soren and the beetle waddled out of the room and closed the door softly behind them.

"My Adrian,

I think you would have told me no, so I am going now. My poor shop has been without me for too long. I need to check in the orders. I need to stock. And I need to speak to her Grace. I promise to be careful with our "fish". And I promise to write often. I won't be gone long and I hope you understand. I love you My Adrian.

Your Sparrow,

Soren Bishop
Keeper of the "Fish""

"Whoever said it was just morning sickness was really really wrong!" The words barely had time to come out of her mouth before Soren was racing for the nearest shrub and hurling up not breakfast, and not lunch, but dinner. "This..... is not...... morning." The words were gasped out in individual breaths as she tried to resume a standing position. With her hands firmly on her knees and her auburn ponytail hanging limply off her shoulder she considered violence to whoeer named it that. When she had told Cezanne that she was thinking of going back to Umbra she thought she could handle it. Not even halfway there she almost regretted that decision. I have to check on my shop and I have to see, her, she thought to herself.

[Adrian Bishop]

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Adrian rolled over and reached out to hold….blankets and empty space. She’s sick again…

He sat up, rubbing his eyes from the lack of sleep and pushing himself up to go and check on her. On her pillow lay a letter and a muffin. He read through the letter briefly and put the muffin back in the food crate with a heavy sigh.

He emerged from the tent, staring at the letter. Umbra…She didn’t want me along to protect her, even in this state? Adrian shook his head, crumpling the letter and tossing it onto the dying coals of the fire. The parchment blackened and shriveled, finally engulfing in flames that consumed it, leaving a tiny white gossamer version of what it had been. It glowed hotly from within as the morning breeze toyed with the feathery edges.

Adrian stood glowering at the ashen skeleton of the letter for a moment before shuffling back into the tent to gather his things.

[Adrian Bishop]

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Adrian slung his pack over his left shoulder and kicked dust over the coals in the firepit. The tent still stood, stark and bare except for the bedding folded neatly in one corner, and a food crate nailed shut to prevent prowling animals from getting inside. You might need it when you return, Sparrow.

With a long last look at the empty tent and a sigh as heavy as his pack, Adrian stood on the ragged edge of decision. To the east lay the path to Umbra, to his wife and the child she carried. More confident alone than she would have been with Adrian to protect her from the not-quite-living. To the west, nothing but the mechanical minions and overseers. And to the south…wilderness and nothing more.

Without so much as a glance to the east, Adrian took up his walking staff (Pidgy precariously perched upon the gnarled tip) and disappeared into the wilderness.

[Soren]

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There had been no word from her Adrian. No Pidgy, no messenger, no nothing. Her hand on the door of the inn, Soren clung tightly trying to keep herself from swaying violently to the floor. Not one morsel of food had remained down in the past three days and it was starting to take it's toll on her. Arden could give her something for it..but Arden wasn't here. No, dummy, you left without letting anyone come with you. She berated herself silently and walked out the front door in search of Stormy.

Wobbly and slightly incoherent she located the stable at which she had tucked her beloved bug the night before. She hung a bag of cherry muffins and two cheese wheels around the bugs neck and taking her pre-written parchment she attached it to Stormy's antennae and patted the shell softly. "Hurry back."

"My Adrian,

I'm sorry I left without you. And I'm sorry it was to Umbra. I needed to check on my shop and I needed to see her. She wasn't there though and I am now in Britain instead. I don't know anything about it. And I hope I'm not here long. The streets here aren't nice to people who don't know them.

Enclosed you will find my muffins you love so much and two of Britains finest cheese wheels. I can't keep them down long enough to taste them.

I'm worried. You never stay silent this long.

Your Sparrow,

Soren Bishop
Guest of Britain"

[Ariana Lenoir]

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Ariana tilted her head and listened.

Soren was waiting outside the gypsy camp with a small bag of belongings. Chad was whimpering softly across camp, the sounds of shuffling clothing as he struggled to find a clean pair of pants.

She smirked slightly and went to work... alone.

She removed a small sparrow from the bag at her waist. It lay quite still although its heartbeat still fluttered faintly under it's delicate ribcage. She retrieved one of the pieces of parchment that lay scattered around the disheveled room. She set the parchment on the dirt floor of the abode. She manipulated the dying bird in one hand so its pointed beak poked out from between her fingers as if the feathered vessel were a quill. She bent her thumb, placing her manicured nail against the throat of the bird and pressed. The slow trickle of the tiny sparrow's lifeblood flowed from its neck, downward along the pointed beak. Using the tiny beak as a quill tip, she wrote...

Mister Bishop,

Your beloved wife called upon me. I was most displeased to find you absent from her side given her delicate and fragile condition. She will be staying at my expense in the capital until you finish whatever foolishness has you preoccupied. Your room and board have been provided for at the North Side Inn and I will be informed when you are checked-in. I would strongly urge you to spurn any foolishness that is keeping you from her side and make haste. I have no doubt that every second and every breath without you will be agony for your wife and child.

Do not keep us waiting.

~ Lady Lenoir

She looked over the letter with a fleeting look of approval. She laid the sparrow next to the letter as its tiny wings fluttered once more and then lay still. She stood and removing a cloth from a small pouch, wiped her hands thoroughly of the blood and a few stray feathers. Tucking the cloth safely back into the pouch, she stepped out into the night and walked towards Soren with purpose.
_________________

[Arden Bishop]

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The great blue beetle lumbered into Compassion Camp, chattering merrily. Upon reaching the bonfire, however, it stopped, spinning in a slow circle and scanning faces, an apparent search for one familiar to her.

Arden tied Amarth in the stable, patting the nightmare’s glossy black flank before ducking under the gate to greet the beetle. She saw Adrian’s name on the letter and looked off to the south, in the direction of Adrian’s tent, now completely bereft of his energies. She read the letter, sighing heavily and smoothing a hand gently over the beetle’s great head, then disappeared into the healer’s wagon, only to re-emerge seconds later with a bottle containing a pale pink elixir.

Carefully, she wrapped the bottle up with the food items Soren had sent, and scratched a hasty response on a scrap of decorative parchment.

Dear Soren,

Your husband is not here. The ground beneath his campfire is already cold. But if anyone can find him, I can. I will see to it he is fed. Please take these items back for now. You will find a bottle of elixir within. One swallow, every four hours. And for the Goddess’ sake, eat. You’re starving the child to death.

Peace,
Arden


She read over the letter to make sure her instructions were clear, wrinkling her nose slightly as she finished it. Guess Adrian comes by his lack of diplomacy honestly. Quickly, she tied the letter to Stormy and sent her off in the direction from which she came.

Untying Amarth, she mounted the nightmare and streaked off into the wilderness to the south, in search of her brother.