Keldean at 16:45, 30 January 2009

2009-01-30T16:45:43Z

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[Frarin(#31050)] Late morning and the town of Dale is once more bustling with a fair number of men, elves and dwarves, all gathered to continue the ongoing celebrations. Outside, before the King's Garth, the street is already thick with the entertainers and the entertained, but here in the stables there are only the beasts of burden and a single stable boy, mucking out a few of the empty stalls.

Through the open double doors comes Frarin, leading behind him his grey pony Barim. He is dressed against the cold, with his thick cloak tight against him and a scarf wrapped about his neck and mouth. He throws back his hood as he enters the stables and heads for a hitching post to take off Barim's saddle.

Only a few minutes pass before another Khazad is moving to echo Frarin's task. Ranol guides his black pony, Hrappi, over to tie off next to Frarin. He only gives the Barazin a single glance before he moves about his business, going about the task with well-practiced ease while the pony pokes a curious nose towards Barim.

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin glances up at the entrance of another dwarf, but looks back to Barim with a bored expression at first before doing a double-take as he recognises Ranol. Immediately his head bows and his lips press together as if he is intensely attentive to dealing with Barim. The little grey pony is tied to the post and Frarin begins unbuckling the thick leather belt securing the saddle to Barim's back. Barim noses back at Hrappi, snorting cheerfully.

Ranol is generally polite to just about everyone. He was even giving Siv curteous greetings despite everything she did. Frarin though, is given nothing. There's a grim expression on the Bundazanul's face and he keeps his attention on what he's doing. "Look here lad, I need to take the bit out so you can eat." He says softly, reaching to pull Hrappi's nose toward him.

[Frarin(#31050)] Pulling the saddle off of Barim's back, Frarin steps around the pony and heaves it onto a post holding several other saddles. He fetches a brush and begins to rub down Barim, but this time standing on the side of the pony so as to face Ranol and Hrappi. For awhile he continues in his intense attention to the pony, but he glances up several times, until finally he rumbles, "Are you guarding again today then?"

Ranol works the bit free of Hrappi's teeth and strokes his nose a few times, carefully checking to be sure that none of the leather straps are rubbing sores on the pony. Frarin's query causes him to glance up again, blue eyes scrutinizing the silversmith. "It is what I do everyday. I am a professional guard, Frarin." He answers in a bland tone.

[Frarin(#31050)] Lips pressing together again, Frarin's eyes roll towards the low ceiling of the stables for a brief moment. "Yes, thank you, I realise that," the silversmith says dryly. "I meant only to see if you had a day off now and again. Not being at Braldor's side as you are, I thought perhaps that was the case."

Ranol looks back to the pony, still absently stroking his calloused hand along the beast's cheek as he thinks. "I am tending to my own affairs this morning, yes." He answers after a long pause. "Is there something you needed?" There's no weighted tone to the question. The Bundazanul at least is attempting to be civil, despite his cold attitude towards Frarin.

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin performs the same dry eye roll when Ranol asks if he needs something and is silent for a moment as he continues to rub Barim down. "Aye," he says abruptly, not looking back up at first and speaking much more gruffly than the guard. "I suppose I'd like to know how much longer this is going to go on. Aye, I suppose I'd like to know that, how about."

Ranol moves to uncinch the saddle now, carefully pulling the gear from Hrappi's back and putting it neatly with the other gear. "As long as it needs to, I suppose. I'm tired of having my loyalty questioned." He answers in a quiet tone, focusing on what he's doing instead of looking at Frarin. "If you're unhappy with the choice I made, there's little I can do about it."

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin is quiet for a time, so that for a little while the only noise in the stables are those of the ponies' gentle breathing and the two dwarves removing gear from them and brushing them down. The silversmith's own breathing is abrupt and thoughtful as he stares unflinchingly at Barim. Finally, almost muttering, he speaks without looking at Ranol, as if the issue were only a passing conversation of little importance. "Your choice was to tell me and you know well and good that I appreciated it, as a friend should. It was your choice to allow Braldor into bullying you into feeling shameful and regretful about that that I was unhappy with."

Ranol looks up at Frarin now, his forehead creasing and his expression is one of disagreement as he slowly shakes his head. "I do not think I have had any trouble accepting responsibility for my decisions, Frarin. That is not the issue. I made a choice and I have dealt with the consequences." He takes several slow breaths, then continues, "I am tired of being forced between you and Braldor. You despise that I serve him because of your own rivalry and I'm weary of being in the middle. If you want to continue to belittle the work that I do and the way I interact with my employer and Thane, then speak to someone else about it because I'm sick of being criticized for it. That is the choice I am making."

[Frarin(#31050)] "A Thane who demotes his most loyal guard on account of that same rivalry," Frarin mutters in retort, noticeably more agitated than Ranol, though he continues to direct his gaze at his pony. "No, you are right," he says sharply, irrited. "I am the forcing type when I decide to concern myself with a person or situation. I have been apathetic my entire adult life and have kept few friends because of it, but when I involve myself it is only to criticise. In that, Ranol, you have me perfectly pinned, though you have not said it directly."

He looks up abruptly, his brush slowing across Barim's back. "But I have striven to hold my tongue with relation to Braldor. I have belittled him, to be sure, but not your work. Fear not though," he says, throwing his brush back into a wooden box with a clunk and holding up his hand, not looking at Ranol anymore as he gathers Barim's reins. "Your choice is made and I understand the nature of it just fine. Do as you wish, apathy is my forte and I shall weary you no more." And with that he jerks at Barim's reigns and begins to lead the pony further down the line of stalls, towards an empty one at the end.

Ranol scowls, his good temper finally crumbling. "You're wrong! You criticized me, and you embarrassed me in front of my thane, Frarin! What Braldor chose to do about my transgression was between him and myself. It has nothing to do with that. I am not angry at anyone but myself for speaking out of turn."

He glares at the Barazin. "I am Huskarl, and with it comes a level of obedience and loyalty to Braldor that he shouldn't have to question. It's what the job -is- Frarin. He needs to know that he can trust me to follow orders whether I agree with them or not. I broke that trust, and that is the issue. Are the Baruk Narag nothing more than slaves to the king? Is that how you see all guards? If your steward ordered something of you, would you rail against him simply because it's nothing more than servitude?"

The Bundazanul waits in silence now, gazing solidly at Frarin.
Away message from Mobeorn: Sorry, I'm not home right now. Please leave a message after the tone. *beep*

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin does not turn when Ranol's temper finally rises and the guard begins to shout in anger, but the silversmith's face that is turned away from Ranol is a scowl, lips pursed, brows knit together, his breathing sharp and abrupt. He goes almost to the very end of the long stable and leads Barim into a paddock, still without saying anything as Ranol continues angrily. Only when the grey pony is assembled in the paddock and Frarin begins to take off his halter does he look back to Ranol, his gaze angry but composed.

"-I- am not a guard, Ranol, and never will be. If my steward ordered something of me, I would do it. But if I disagreed with it, I was question it before doing it, and if I disagreed mightily with it, then I would not comply. And for that I have always been prepared to accept the consequences, and I have many times in the past. And if my steward ordered that I keep the knowledge of a horrifying event, of the equivalent of mass murder, from that clan most injured by it, then I would feel obliged - as a fellow dwarf, beyond all divisions of blood or clan - to disobey, and I would not feel shame in doing so."

"THAT--" Frarin says, pausing abruptly as he jabs a finger at the air in Ranol's direction. He pauses for a breath and speaks again, slightly calmer this time. "-That- is the difference between you and I. -That- is why I could never be a guard. And -that- perhaps is why the rift between us may never heal." He turns abruptly back to tend to Barim, his face somewhat masked by the shadows at the far end of the stables. If one of the beams of sunlight streaming through the slats of window catches his expression though, Ranol may notice that it looks an odd mix of stubborn anger and regret.

"It was not my decision to make, Frarin! If you cannot understand that, then you are correct, the rift will never heal." Ranol responds in a frustrated tone of voice, then turns back to tend to his own business. The brush is picked up and stroked along Hrappi's side. After a moment he adds without looking back. "Sometimes loyalty is required above personal feelings. A leader has no strength if others do not follow him."

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== preformat for mush code? ==

Hey Kel, we might need to devise a better way of posting text directly from the mush than just using <nowiki><pre></nowiki> tags. See [[User:Lid/%2Bghelp_Isilrim|here]] as an example. I'm thinking something that brings the benefit of preformating but with softwrapped text. Any ideas? --[[User:Lid|Lid]] 16:54, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

== Category:User ==

We should incorporate a Category:User or Category:Player for easy navigating between fellows editors here. Just a thought. (I also want to spam your talk page ;P) --[[User:Lid|Lid]] 16:55, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

User talk:Keldean - Revision history

Keldean at 16:45, 30 January 2009