The Temple of Serenity

As if they could read his mind, one of the face-covered priestesses came forward and set tea on the table, then indicated that she would like to pour for him. She held out her hand to recieve the handle-less tea cup, poured, and then set it aside.

It was then that a gentle commotion down the hall could be heard -- the approach of someone with a small retinue. Lady Fairuz was shown into the room, two women with her, two men, and two guards, who took a spot in positions in the room where they could both easily see each other, everyone else, and the exits and entrances.

The women helped Lady Fairuz to sit, and it was perhaps jarring that the woman appeared so... young. She was dressed as many of the Sakandi women were, but she had a gold band around her upper arm, and a henna tattoo drawn at the tip of her shoulder in the shape of a flower, or perhaps a stylized sun. She was beautiful, with an elegant jaw line and throat, ripe and youthful breasts pressed behind a gold bustier, and draped with a fine, wine-dyed silk that showed off most of her very trim stomach.

Clearly, the woman liked to keep active. Long earrings dangled from her ears, but she wore no necklaces, and what's more, she wore no bangles -- not around her slender wrists, not around her trim ankles. The only chime that came from her was the soft sound of her earrings if she moved her head too quickly. Her dark, dark hair was pulled away from her comely face, half of it piled in coils and twists and swayed on her head, held by combs. The hummingbird stood out prominently as one of the combs in her dark tresses. The rest of the wealth of silk was left to run down her almost-naked back.

"Please forgive my tardiness," she told Roarin, and nodded to the veiled priestess who poured her tea. Before Fairuz reached for the tea, however, she wore a simple silver band around one finger. She turned it clockwise once, and then picked up her cup. "I hope you have not felt restless, being so confined," Fairuz said, her dark eyes on his face, lined as they were with kohl.

She smiled at him -- it was charming, and it seemed genuine as she settled easily into her cushion, her legs bending beneath her to sit indian-style on the other side of the table. "Yes, I am Lady Fairuz." She did not introduce the others, who sat quietly at the other end.

"And you are Redding Fletcher," she said, and she reached to serve herself curry rice, steamed fruits, and fish. "You are quite a ways away from Carmela Island," she observed.

A smile burst over her face, warming her eyes as she looked across the table at him. "I am glad you've chosen Sakand. I wonder why you do not travel with correct paperwork?"

She ate after she pondered, chewing with her mouth closed, the beautiful woman very at ease across from the Fletcher with her.

She chuckled. "Well, that's an unfortunate outlook given that it's your papers that have interred your here, and without your alcohol," Lady Fairuz mentioned to him as she ate, her eyes sparkling with good humor.

"Did you want to stay in Sakand, or would you rather I make arrangements for you to be on the next ship out of the bay?" She asked him, her slender hand reaching for her cup of tea and sipping on it, her entire attention on the Fletcher in front of her.

She was polite, but obviously business-minded.

A smile twitched at the corner of her lips. "I meant that without proper paperwork, you can't leave the temple, and the temple is not a place for booze."

She set down her cup and began eating once more. She was a picky and choose eater, eschewing some peppers, it seemed, that was in the rice and choosing only certain fruits from those that were steamed and seasoned.

"Yes, Sakand has changed, perhaps at its face value, but its culture and most of its traditions are still alive and well. Goraia has been very accomodating."

Fairuz laughed and set her elbows on the table, her chin on her hands. "Mmm, I'm starting to think that my best action is to send you on your way back wherever you came from." Was she teasing? Was she threatening? Was she playing along with his joke?

She seemed too young and pretty to be menacing, or even a threat.

Her head tipped a little to the side, her dark hair sliding like silk over the naked skin of her shoulders. Her earrings chimed, and the gems within them caught the light of the candles and lantern and put a false glitter over her her skin, scattering kisses of light over her collar bones, her shoulders, the youthful and ripe swells of her breasts.

"You must understand, I am very protective of Sakand. There is none like it. And a man like you, a man with your abilities, suddenly appearing with no papers of any kind, well.... it tickles my paranoia."

She leaned back and she reached for something -- a flask. "Viper's Fire," she told him of the ornately created flask. She took his cup of tea and drank it, a little smile on her full lips, and then poured the strong-scented alcohol into his cup, and then into hers.

"A toast of good faith," she said, and held out her glass, with the intentions that he would hold his, clink, and they would both drink. "As a promise that you'll behave while you're in my city and my lands."

She tossed back the Viper's Fire and swallowed it down, shaking her head and shivering a little at the taste. Her hand went up to her lips, her fingertip sliding off a drop from the corner of her mouth and then licking it.

"Mm," she said in response to the hard, spicy kick of the alcohol. She was mildly offended that Roarin didn't seem to appreciate Sakand for the treasure it was, but she had to set aside that irritation. As a politician and a diplomat, it was her job to be appealing AND appeasing. And, so far, Redding Fletcher fit the white-man stereotype so it would be silly of her to expect anything different.

"You've already caused trouble, Redding Fletcher," she said as she capped the flask and handed it back to her clerk. Then she smiled at him. "Enjoy the Temple. As soon as I have your paperwork cleared, you'll be free to take the next ship out of Sakand." She rose from her seat, and her entourage rose with her.

She left her meal half-finished, and left the room as gracefully and quickly as she'd come upon it. Obviously, the woman had come to gain the man's measure, and having gained it, had other work that needed to be done. The room was left empty, with only Roarin left in the room...

Until a warm chuckle came from his side.

"That girl is too much like her grandmother, if you ask me," Tiqal said with a warm and nostalgic tone on his voice, his face smiling and congenial. "Are you going to finish that?" he gestured to what remained of Roarin's spiced fruits.

Tiqal chuckled at Roarin's surly behavior, and as the plate slid over, the old priest began to eat, picky about his fruits just like Lady Fairuz had been.

"Miss me, did you?" Tiqal asked, teasing the fellow old man with a hearty chuckle. "And here I thought you enjoyed being the lone wanderer."

He munched a little, and reached to pour himself some tea and sip from it. "Ah. Nothing better, nothing better," he said of the tea and poured a second cup.

Then his dark eyes with their good humor fell onto Roarin again. "So how long are you to remain a 'guest' of the temple?" he asked Roarin.

Tiqal chuckled. "Am I not allowed a few mysteries of my own, Roarin?" he asked, waggling his brows. But he sighed and made himself a little more comfortable. "I suppose its only right that I answer your questions as I'm the one prodding you," he said good-naturedly.

"She doesn't know my name," he said as he ate, "because in the Temple, we do not use the names given to us at birth, but the names given to us at re-birth. And," he paused to drink tea, sighed, and kept going, "she is a new priestess, I am assuming. Was she wearing a veil?" he questioned.