[Mkguild] Life As We Knot It XXXII A

[Jack Moore]

AN: Really long section, so dividing in into two.  Part one today.

Metamor Keep

Later in 699

Before Three Gates
I’d been back in Metamor for three months.  I’d been on the Watch for two.
In a few months more I would be a full Warden.  Even before Three Gates,
before the Assault, the Watch was under manned.  No one wants to arrest
their other Keepers.

I was also fully human then.  And I was doing something completely
unexpected.
“Corner pocket.” I mumbled, pulling the cue back.  I slid it forward and
smacked the cue ball into the solid red, sending it rolling.  It rolled
straight at the pocket, only to bounce off the edge and roll back.  “Damn
it.”
“You’re going to have to quit going for difficult shots.” My opponent said.
 “You gotta control the table.”  His next shot, stripped orange, went in.
 “Like so.” My opponent was a fellow trainee and mage named Isaac.  He had
smaller eyes and no tail.  He was still short with a head covered in
overgrown brown hair, to the point it almost hid his eyes.
“I don’t need to control the table.” I said.  “I just need to make better
shots.”  My next shot missed horribly.  “Damn it.  Why’d you talk me into
this?”
“You agreed to play.” Isaac said, sinking another shot.  “Don’t worry,
it’ll be over soon.”  He missed his next shot, so it was again my turn.
I’d taken down a full two balls over the course of our game.  Isaac was
down to one, the eight ball.
Yes I know pool is not my game. I’m not coordinated enough.  But I kept
trying anyway.  It didn’t matter, Isaac got the eight ball after I missed
my next shot.
“Well that was fun.” He said, setting his stick down.  “But I need to go
back home.”  He yawned, “Fair the well Janelle.”  I waved him off.
I’d decided to get out of my room tonight and go over to the Deaf Mule.  In
fact this was my first time there since…well since arriving at Metamor
Keep.  I’d been invited by Isaac to play pool and decided to accept, trying
to be friendly.
'I don’t belong here.' I dug a groove into the wooden table with my thumb
nail. I should be anywhere but here.  All around me people were talking,
drinking and having fun.  Yet to me they were a thousand miles away. I was
completely alone here.
No I’m in the forest. Still with Mr. Sotto.
“And he’s been killed.” My eyes burned holes into the empty table.  “Why
did they kill you?  Why did I survive?”
“Mind if I sit down?”  I glanced up, to see the smiling face of my superior.
“No of course not Sergeant Triche.”  Triche sat down quickly, nearly
spilling his ale as he did.  Triche had been taller than me, thin as a
broom, with a very short oiled beard.  His black hair he wore long, tied
into a pony-tail.
“You don’t see very happy Warden.” He said to me.
“I’m not a warden yet.” I said, “I hope to be one sir.”  Triche rolled his
eyes.  “Did I say something sir?”
“You don’t have to correct me Janelle.” Triche.  “And you don’t have to
call me sir.”  I nodded and turned away from him.  “You’re very cold
Janelle,  or at least that’s how you seem.  You are always formal.”  I
shrugged.
“I have my work.  I’m always on duty.
“What about after work?” Triche asked.  “What about your life outside the
Watch?”  I shook my head.

 “I have the Watch.  I need nothing else.  Nothing in my life is going
wrong right now.”  Triche took a sip of ale, all the while his eyes studied
me.  I could have Tapped his mind then, to see what he was thinking,
but...no.  Not Triche.
“Not being mentally at work constantly might help you some.” Triche said.
 “Janelle you push yourself as much as any trainee I’ve ever known.  I
don’t doubt for a second you want to be a good Warden.  I just wonder
sometimes why you push so hard.”  I shrugged.
“I do what needs to be done.” I said.  “What needs to be done now is for me
to finish training.”  Triche nodded.
“That’s true,” He said, setting his drink down, “But you don’t need to have
work be your entire life.  Janelle, you told me you lived here for the
first thirteen years of your life and were gone for the last six.  Yet
you’ve never once mentioned family, or friends or anyone really you
missed.”  My hands squirmed against the wood.
“I didn’t really have anyone to miss.” I said.  “I didn’t leave much
behind.”
“And you’ve not come home to much I see.” Triche said.  “Janelle, what
drives you?  I mean, what really drives your desire to join the Watch?”
“I needed a job and the Watch was understaffed.” I said.
“The Watch is always understaffed, we’re the guys who arrest other
Keepers.” Triche said.  “Your only motivation can’t have been a sense of
altruism to help a struggling Watch.”  I shrugged.
“I liked the uniforms and what you stood for.” I said.  “Any other reasons
are my own.”  I started to wish I had a drink myself.  I could have stared
into it and avoided Triche’s piercing gaze.  “I know what I’m doing.”
“That’s wonderful Janelle but I don’t know what you’re doing.  You’re not
an unstoppable force.  You need to rest, you need to get out and
occasionally you need to not work.  Taking a day off isn’t the end of the
world and neither is having life outside the job.”
“What are you saying?” I asked.  My frustrated superior  sighed.
“Janelle, in the time I’ve known you you’ve poured yourself into your job
to the point that you should be broken.  What keeps driving you?”  I sank
deeper into my chair.
“Well…” I gripped the table, “Can I really tell you anything?  I mean,
anything without having to worry about it leaving us?”
“Janelle, I am your superior, your examiner,” Triche smiled, “And hopefully
your friend.  I promise nothing, barring a crime, will leave the two of
us.”   I frowned.  My superior is not my friend.   Again I considered
Tapping my sergeant but stopped myself.  I just knew I could trust him.
“Well, for the last six years I’ve been travelling with a mentor” I said,
“A man named Mr. Sotto.”
“What was he mentoring you in?” Triche asked.  I blushed and gave a nervous
laugh.
“That’s not important to the story.” I said.  “What is important was I
travelled with him for six years.  Towards the end of my travels we met up
with two of his former students, a couple named Umaro and Mirna.” My
knuckles turned white gripping the wood.  “Two people he had known for
apparently a long time, but I had never met.  I didn’t like them and they
didn’t like me.”
“All perfectly normal.” Triche said.
“Maybe.”  I said.  “But how they reacted wasn’t.  Instead of just not
liking me, the two…they…” The words caught in my throat. 'No no no I don’t
want to think about this.' “I don’t know how it happened.  I was sleeping
but when I awoke they had…had killed Mr. Sotto.”  The words came out
choked, struggling to leave my throat.
If Triche was surprised he didn’t show it. All he said was “Go on.”
“They killed my mentor.  I found Umaro standing over me, holding the bloody
knife.”  I paused, trying to gather my thoughts.  “Or I think I did?  I
don’t…remember all of that night.  I remember seeing Umaro standing there
and…and I threw a lantern at him.”
“Did you set him on fire?” Triche asked.  I shook my head.
“Flame was out.  Lantern hit him square in the head, made him bleed.  And
he dropped the knife.  I must have grabbed it, because I remember slashing
at his leg and…and then I’m running.”
“You’re running?” Triche asked.
I chose not to mention the jars, instead saying “With jsut the knife I
ran.” I said.  “I ran as far away as I could, through the woods and far
away from Umaro and Mirna.  And eventually I ran to Metamor Keep because
I—“ I grinned, “I felt safe here.  I knew I’d be safe here.”
“Well that’s what brought you back to Metamor.” Triche said.  “Why did you
join the Watch though.”  My gaze returned to the table.  “The Deaf Mule has
some very fine woodwork, but I doubt the answer is in there.”
“You never know.” I mumbled.  “Uh, I…well it’ll sound stupid...it is
stupid.”
“Janelle one of my corporals joined the Watch because he thought out
tabards looked slimming.” Triche said.  “Nothing you say will sound stupid,
trust me.”
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