House Call.

[BetaFlame]

No part of Aleksei thought this was a bad idea. After all, he an Agnie were comrades, and more importantly, friends. The thought of sending a note ahead never even crossed his mind. So that is how he found himself approaching their farmstead after a steady walk. His sword was gone, but he had a nice staff now. Fitting, for the man that Glenn called the archwizard of Myrken. A nice piece of ashwood, as tall as Aleksei himself, with out the faintest runes carved into its surface. One never knew what one would find out here, after all.

So he approached the farmhouse, and gave a polite rap at the door, his most friendly smile plastered across his face.

[channe]

The entire family is home.

Well -- not home, per se, as it's the middle of summer and very few members of the Kaczmarek family are spending any time inside. There are chores to be done, after all. Agnieszka's two swarthy older brothers, chopping logs near the gate to the Calomel farm, eye Aleksei with suspicious glares. Down the way, Petronela fans herself in the summer heat while Giertruda does her laundry in a vat. Otto and Karol, luckily, aren't anywhere near the house; they're with the horses, just outside of the barn.

Yes. Agnie's father is far enough away to miss Aleksei's arrival. Count yourself lucky, Aleksei.

At any rate, the door is opened to reveal a woman who looks a lot like what Agnie will look like fifteen years in the future. In her late thirties, Magda Kaczmarek is a product of hard living. She looks older than she is. Her eyes take in Aleksei's outfit, the smile, the staff.

"... you must be here for Agnieszka," she says, her voice heavily accented.

Agnieszka's voice follows from the back room. She says something in consonant-laden Dauntless.

Magda replies.

Agnieszka says something again.

Magda replies.

"Shit," Agnie says. There's a crash. "Be right there."

When she appears, she's strapping on her sword-belt and the white runic sword as fast as she can, dragging her hair into a messy queue. "Aleksei," she says, heading for the door. "What's wrong?"

[BetaFlame]

He just turns that warm heartfelt smile on Agnie's mother, bowing his head politely. "I'm sorry, I was just out for a walk.. and saw the farm. Recognized it from her stories. I'm Aleksei." He blinks at the language they are speaking, ears taking it in as he tries to recognize the patterns that are familiar to most languages. Hm. Shouldn't take long to learn that, really. He should look into it. At any rate, he just smiles all the more as he sees Agnie come around the corner, and tilts his head at her.

"Wrong..? Nothing. I just went out for a walk, and ended up here. Its been quiet around my house lately, and I am not really feeling up to being alone right now, if you understand." Because when he is alone, he can -hear- it talking. It.. unnerves him. Today he is feeling good, and doesn't want to ruin it. "I'm.. sorry, I should have sent a runner, but I honestly did not think I would wind up here. I just started wandering aimlessly." Aleksei is babbling, and it takes a minute for him to realize it, so he just.. shuts the hell up, and leans on the staff he is using for walking. Which looks like it is good for him, the exercise. His eyes wander around, and he looks.. almost jealous. He never had this. The family. That close bond. He couldn't even remember his birth family anymore.

"I can leave if you are busy."

[channe]

"I'm --" Agnie stops short, shoving one thumb over her shoulder. "I'm actually doing something for my mom --"

The mother in question says something sharp, and in Dauntless once more. It's a difficult language, but there are enough speakers in the immigrant farmworker population that Aleksei could find a good enough teacher. Reading Dauntless is a different story; it has an entirely different alphabet than the language spoken in Myrken Wood. Not that any of the people he's currently chatting to have much of a use for an alphabet, of all things.

"Ma --"

"I can do fine," Magda says, tilting her head to one side, back in a language Aleksei will understand. "Go, go on, I was going to send Otto to butcher but he is busy, you should go."

Agnie's last look at her mother contains daggers -- but, in the end, she actually takes off the sword, places it almost reverentially by the door, pushes up the sleeves to her tunic and walks out. "C'mon," she says, heaving a sigh. "I'll show you the farm. And then we'll head to the butcher up the road. Hope you like chores. You know. Maybe. Uh." A pause, as Agnie kicks the dirt in front of her for a moment before continuing. "It's no worry. Farm's a nice place for a walk."

[BetaFlame]

He's polite enough to ignore the exchange between mother and daughter.. finding something interesting to examine on the staff. He doesn't want to interfere here, but he feel badly taking Agnie away. Then again, she doesn't look like the sort of person he wants to argue with, and Rodellan custom suggests he should accept the offer graciously. Not knowing the custom here, he defaults, and just bows his head politely. "Thank you." He just turns to walk with Agnie, watching her for a moment.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pull you away, really. I just.. need distracting, you know?" He waves vaguely at his head, sighing. But he won't go into to much here, not knowing how much her family knows about her work. "And I would like to see the farm. I.. never had a family. I envy you." His eyes, once again bright blue from their faded state, scan the farm, taking the whole thing in. "I never did chores, Agnie. Not that I was coddled. Eight hours a day drilling with weapons. Eight hours studying." He just shrugs and smiles at her. "Would be nice to be normal. What all do you grow and raise here, anyway?"

[channe]

"Yeah," Agnie says, pressing her lips together for a moment. She then waves off his concern with one hand. "... well, there's always a distraction on the farm."

She leads him some distance away, towards what looks like an orchard. Most of the trees are between bud and fruit, but there seems to be one closer to the edge that already drips with blood-red apples. "Take this, for example. I have no idea why this one's all about the fruit in the middle of August, when most of the others aren't ready until September. You want one?"

As they walk, she listens, shoving her hands in her pockets. She guffaws -- amused and cold at the same time. "Envy? I have too much family. All in your business, all the time, day and night. And I wouldn't call my growin' up normal. This-all weren't always run by Cinnabar Calomel. Mama and Papa came here from New Dauntless when they was just kids themselves, runnin' from a war. Only place would take 'em on was the Baker farm." Explains all of the sharp Dauntless he'd heard from both Kaczmareks and others as he walked in. "It was supposed to be just four years o' indenture, but it turned into seventeen or so."

She then looks up, and points to one place to the next. "Wheat, corn and cattle, mostlike, but we do have a couple fields o' garden goods an' this orchard what wasn't burned down by Jirai an' the Ashfiend."

[BetaFlame]

He nods, taking the apple from her, crunching into it, listening to her as they walk. Rough. He gave a little flinch, hearing most of it. "But they love you, and at the end of the day, I bet that excuses a lot of meddling." He keeps glancing back at the tree as they walk away from it, eyeing it a little. See can see it. The spark in his eyes that says "I want to study that". The same burning curiosity that got him involved in the whole demon book affair. "I was never close with anyone back home, other than my Mentor. But it was a distant relationship. Here in Myrken I found people I could open up to and trust. All in all, I think I trust you the most." He gives a little shrug at that. He doesn't know why. But she seems to have a code of honor in her that runs deeper than blood. He knows in his heart that she wouldn't betray him, which is why he trusts her to watch his back, and her judgement. He knows Glenn will do what is right for everyone, but that might mean sacrificing Aleksei in the end.

"You know.. seeing this. The people, working and just.. living their lives. Makes everything we do and struggle with worth it, doesn't it?" Maybe that was why he went walking anyway. "The fields that burned.. do they grow anything?" He turns his head to look at her then. If the fields were fallow.. well. His people had found ways to get plants to grow in near used up soil, maybe he could help.

"And why do you keep staring at the ground? S'not like you." Damn, she was afraid of him now. What he did, he knew it changed things between them, but he hoped that he hadn't lost that bond he had with her over it. He will get around to his reason for visiting.. when they are further away from the farm, and her family won't overhear. She should have brought her sword. They could have eased the tension by beating the hell out of each other.

[channe]

They're further away from the family now -- well out of listening distance. That is, if someone doesn't come running up with some kind of emergency at some point. Emergencies are always well within Magda's powers to arrange.

Agnie looks up quickly, and any negative feelings seem to melt away. Suddenly she's looking at the horizon, at the trees -- at Aleksei. "It does make it worth it. It does." She pauses. "I shouldn't have run off to Razasan. I was upset about Aeryn and I was upset about the Ashfiend and I was upset that nobody was gonna give me the freakin' time of day when it came to what I could do. But then --"

A shrug. Aleksei knows what happened. Glenn happened. She certainly trusts the governor more than Aleksei does. "... yeah, they do," she says. "I'll be screwed if I know why, but they're just fine. Didn't make that year any better for the harvest." She shrugs. "By then Calomel owned the farm and he was tons smarter than Mister Baker any time of the day.

The thing about trust? She ignores it completely.

[BetaFlame]

"Strangely, sometimes burning plants can make the soil better." He gives a little shrug at her. No sense getting into the hows and whys. Agnie probably wouldn't care anyway. She is more.. results driven. His eyes meet hers, for just a moment before he turns away, intent on where they are going. Why are thing suddenly so weird.

"Things happen, Agnie. Don't second guess yourself. Your decision is what is it. In the end, you will never know if it was right or wrong to go to Razasan. Make it the right one. Use what you learned from that experience to be better." He knew bits and pieces about her, but really, she knew more about him. It really wasn't that he didn't trust Glenn. He trusted the man enough to give him his sword after all. No, it was about levels of trust. At the end of the day, Glenn was Myrken, for good or ill. That meant a certain level of prudence. "What do you mean 'what you could do'?" That was new. He had never heard her say that before, or even imply it really. His eyes wander back over to look at her.

Not that he could judge her for anything, decision or weirdness wise. After all, the man has a microcosm for the Blood War inside him.

[channe]

No, Agnie doesn't have her sword; even though he has the Thing in his head, even though trust is something you can't completely give with Kharnagar bouncing around one's brain. It does say something about what she thinks of Aleksei, doesn't it? She does have the holy dagger at her side, and he can see another blade in her boot, but obviously she believes him to not be that much of a threat.

With Agnieszka Kaczmarek, the unspoken is often the most important.

She shoots him a look and pats that dagger. "What I can do. Sword-work. Duh. Anyway. Up here we got a few horse-barns. All of the workers take care o' the horses; some o' them are for our use and some from Cinnabar. That barn --" she points -- "-- Cinn has a blacksmith's setup. I think he goes in there and works when he gets a little tired o' the screamin' children."

[BetaFlame]

He just gives her a look. Right. People totally get shunned because they are good with a sword. She can -see- it, the frank disbelief. But, he lets it go. She'll tell him when she is ready. The look is more of 'are you kidding me? I'm not an idiot' look. Its steady for a few seconds to make sure she gets the point, then he just follows her finger. The horse thing sends a little chill down his spine and he gives a faint shudder. "One of these days, I need to meet Cinnabar in person. When Catch isn't trying to break my face on a table, anyway." Blacksmithing, huh? One of Aleksei's hobby's. "I smith also. Before I turned your sword to crystal, I had to forge it the old fashioned way. " He wonders if that will make her like it more or less. Really, the balance, edge and perfect shape of the blade are the result of his craftsmanship. The change in material was just that. A change.

"You know.. I started to second guess myself when I took that.. gods blasted thing inside me, Agnie." This probably has a point, so she will just have to bear with him. She should be used to babbling, thanks to one Glenn Burnie. The man loved the sound of his own voice. "But I came to realize, that I am the only one that can do this. I am the only one that has had something living inside them. I can shut out the voices. I don't have to give in. I don't have to ask my friends to kill me if I fail. Because I will not fail. I am Aleksei River, Third Knight of Rodel, the King's Own Hunter-Seeker, and most importantly, I am the fucking archmage of Myrkenwood. So, fuck you demon. I win." He turns.. and winks at her. Apparently, the most important thing when dealing with these creatures in your head in strength of will. Demons sap that by making you feel you can't win against them. Well, Knights of Rodel have been winning battles of wills with demons, elementals, and angels since the fall of the Blood King. Aleksei can do it too.

"So, where is this butcher?"

[channe]

From horses to the garden -- a rather large field begins to unfold to their right, full of carrots and kale and beets, with workers toiling quietly in the sunlight. "He's great -- you'd like him," she says. "Honorable. Sense of justice. I think you'd be friends."

And there's no doubt she likes the sword. No doubt at all.

He talks, and she listens -- for now. When he's done with the rant, Agnie has stopped dead in the street, and her arms are crossed, and a smirk graces her lips. "I don't care how true what you just said actually is," she says, and walks up to him, making to poke him right in the center of his chest with one index finger. "*You* have an ego problem." A pause. She's obviously pleased with him, from her smile. "And in case any of that ain't true, I *do* promise to kill you."

She turns on one heel and walks off in the direction of the gate. Pauses. Looks over her shoulder. "You ain't seen the big house yet, and you already wanna go see the butcher?"

[BetaFlame]

Well, its clear Agnie likes the former governor. That's a point in his favor. "You'll have to introduce us one day, then. Glenn's always too busy for social calls."

When she stops it takes him a bit by surprise, so ends up closer to her than he actually intended. "it's completely true! And -ego problem-?! I can go back to moping if you'd rather?" Her hand moves up, and he only barely catches it out of his peripheral vision. Really, she doesn't try and touch him that often, so he isn't expecting it.

His own hand darts up to close around hers even as her finger connects with his chest. Its a complete reflex, born of years with no friendly contact. His eyes are locked on hers, amusement sparkling in them at her joking.

This cannot end well.

[channe]

The joking ends as quickly as it started.

The cold of the grave. The bare, awful nothingness of what comes next. No air. No light. Nothing.

Her eyes open; she'll try to rip her hand back forcefully. If successful, she'll be stepping back, her feet unsteady until she's far enough away from him that he can't just reach for her again. Either way, she's breathing heavily. "... Don't touch me. Don't touch me! You know better than to fuckin' touch me!"

[BetaFlame]

Order. The sorted mind that comes with intense training. Under that, violence. The training of a killer. A murderer. And over it all, Light. Love. More than that. Power beyond the mortal realms. The Sanctity of the High Heavens. Shelter and protection. Buried and sealed under it all, the Daemon's rage.

His hand frees hers even before she is pulling away. His hand goes to his head for a moment before he is able to clear it. "What.. What was that?" He shakes his head, trying to clear away the after effects. His fingers pinch the bridge of his nose and he just takes a deep breath. It could be worse. It could have been Zilliah again. No, this was Agnie - his friend. He just waves his hand. "No, nevermind. It doesn't matter. I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting you to poke me and reflexes just took over. If you want to tell me, you can. If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine too." He gives her a slightly weak smile. "Again, I didn't mean..." He just trails off and sighs. He's always making things more difficult.

His shoulders straighten and he takes another deep breath, squinting his eyes at the sky, checking the time. In his mind, he is running through his mental exercises, reordering his brain again. "Are you alright?" He doesn't move any closer to her, not really feeling up to getting stabbed today.