Willen arrives, following Lou.

Daoud, a Harrow Banshee arrives, following Cufre.

Reedy, a King's Own aide arrives, following Corban.

The room is filled with several tables. They've been clustered together to form two concentric circles; each has a bottle of whiskey atop it. In the middle of those two circles stands an empty space, and a lone chair. Lou Grayson stands from her seat at the marin'alfar benches and walks across the room, and sets down the following item on the chair: it's one of her bottles of very fine, very best whiskey that can be found in Arvum, the stuff she usually offers to those who are seen in her office. She then turns around the room, taking a moment to take in all the people and says, "Thank you for coming this evening. Tonight, we are here to remember our former colleague, and my friend, Dame Felicia Harrow. However, this is not a wake, but a celebration of life for Felicia, as someone who always strived to do what she felt was best. I know she wouldn't want us sitting around, wallowing over her death. She'd want whiskey and stories, and so that's what we'll be doing today. So, I welcome you here to partake in the whiskey and hope that you can share some story of Felicia or some grand adventure that you might have taken with her."

Lucita is already in place in the Society of Explorers Charter Hall. She leans back in her chair, one closest to the source of warmth on this cold winter day, and watches as the tables and chairs are arranged. Corban, Cufre, Thea and Lou are each greeted as they enter, a fleeting smile cast in their direction. Her smile fades into a somber expression as Pathfinder Lou speaks and she clears her throat. "There should be stories aplenty."

Sir Corban Telmar feels, well, perhaps a little bit awkward as he comes into the Society of Explorers hall, the light thunk and clink of his well-polished and shined armor, along with the sash that hangs over his shoulder, preceding him. He bows his head to the Pathfinder at the introduction and, in accordance with the manner of the day, reaches for the whiskey to pour himself a modest glass.

(OOC)The scene set/room mood is now set to:

The room is filled with several tables. They've been clustered together to form two concentric circles; each has a bottle of whiskey atop it. In the middle of those two circles stands an empty space, and a lone chair.


Thea strides into the room, looking a bit somber. She greets everyone with a slight nod and brief smile as she passes, looking for a place to sit.

Cufre tugs back her hood as she enters, in time to turn an unobscured, grateful smile to Lucita's warm welcome, chasing it with words to convey that gratitude, as well. As she steps further into the Hall, Cufre's eyes tick from bottle to bottle, and her smile broadens, holding even as it takes in the last at the center. She chooses a table near the outside, well away from the entrance.

Whisper, a mottled grey-and-white warhorse arrives, following Jamie.

Lou takes a moment to glance around the room as people start getting settled in. She gives a thankful nod in Lucita's direction. "Of that I'm certain," she says with a slight half-smile. "For me, it's a matter of which of the stories to tell. But for the smallest of them, there were many a day that Felicia and I whiled ourselves away within the Pathfinder's study, discussing the woes and trouble of the world and how we planned to or anticipated handling them. I think at some point we were trying to out whiskey each other, every time we brought up a different struggle, particularly where our families were concerned," she says, her eyes crinkling ever so slightly in amusement. "But of course, there were also several adventures we shared together as well." She notices Cufre's arrival and gives the Harrow woman a deep nod of respect and a warm, welcoming smile, bu doesn't otherwise bring attention to her. "Lady Lucita, do you have any of your own to share?" she queries the Saik Baroness first.

Lucita says, "I've known Dame Felicia for a long time, nine, maybe ten years, can not recall exactly, but it was shortly after I became regent for Saik that we met. In going through our organization files, I had discovered she was one of the Saik vassals and made it a point to meet her and get to know her. She spoke of her hobby, making things of glass, and we talked of that, her family. The Saik connection was distant, through her mother and she felt stronger ties to other fealties so with our best wishes for her future, released her to go when she asked it.

Over the years we both fought for the same goals, fought the same enemies and became wounded in different ways by encounters with the Metallic Traitor forces. She was brave, honorable, and determined to right wrongs when she found them, even if that meant a personal sacrifice. But some tales come too close to the damage the Metallic Traitor left me, going into some sort of a fugue when trying to speak and remember them. I don't want that to happen here so, will have to pass the telling of specifics on to others."

Jamie enters a little before Lucita's speech and quickly finds himself a place to sit and listen.

Lou inclines her head to Lucita, offering her a warm smile of solace. "Thank you for sharing, Baroness," she replies to the Saik woman. Her eyes fall on Corban next, and a mischievous glint touches is seen sparkling within the a moment. "Sir Corban. I know Dame Felicia's parting of the Hundred must have come with mixed feelings, but surely you have some amusing or adventurous tale to speak of Dame Felicia, do you not?" Lou goads the Telmar knight gently.

Reedy, a King's Own aide have been dismissed.

Lou has joined the Table 1.

Seeing that Corban is being distracted by messengers, Lou turns her attention instead to Thea, "Lady Thea do you have any stories to share of Dame Felicia?" she wonders. She walks over to one of the tables and settles down into a seat, pouring herself a glass of whiskey as she prepares to wait for more tales.

Thea is mid whiskey drink when Lou turns her attention to the Countess. She smiles a moment before letting the glass down. "Dame Felicia and I weren't close, at least in the friendship way. A few years ago,"Thea begins. "We paired together in the Sip and Spar. It was the longest spar I had in a long time. She was one of the quickest and hardest people I had the honor of fighting with. Somehow I managed to win that, but not without the respect I gained for her." The Wyvernheart takes a breath, murmuring. "Now I can say she likely saved me and countless others after fighting along side her. I watched her fall. She is the bravest of all."

Whisper, a mottled grey-and-white warhorse have been dismissed.

Lou takes in Thea's words and seems to quietly reflect up on them. When Thea mentions she watched Felicia fall, her eyes linger on the Wyvernheart woman for a few long moments before she gives her a quiet nod of solace. "She was, perhaps, one of the bravest people I knew," she replies quietly to Thea, and chooses that moment to sip at her glass of whiskey. "Dame Felicia and Lady Lisebet were both invited to accompany me to travel north of Arx. Our journey? To see if we could find the door to the Castle of Yesterday, after rumors of countless trips where others could not. Along our travels we got to talking about magic, for it was just after Whitepeak and Felicia had hoped that she might have had mage sight by then. We'd just entered a part of the forest closest to the castle, quietly discussing our philosophies when we heard from up above, rather conversationally, '"You know, 'mage sight' is something of a misnomer. It's really more like 'mage-poke-it-and-if-it-doesn't-bite-then-lick-it-and-see-how-it-tastes', and I promise you... if you poke too much, those walls can bite back."

There's a brief pause as Lou lets some anticipation build up. "We found ourselves confronted by two seeming hunters, at the time, for the first voice was readily joined by another who complained that it was harder to shoot us if the first planned on talking to us first." A light smile dances upon Lou's lips. "During that conversation, we learned the first person was Ashe. I only much later discovered that the second person there, who had not revealed herself to us during that voyage, was none other than Sen'azala, She Who Stands Alone, Prima of the Venandi."

Lou clears her throat and clarifies, "And by Ashe, I mean /Ashe/, leader of the Red Wardens, Coppers guard."

Lucita listens appreciatively to the tale then lifts her whiskey filled glass to sip from it in a kind of toast to the engrossing story.

Lou waits several long moments before asking, "Does anyone else have any stories they wish to tell?" She looks around the room of those gathered.

Thea takes a long drink of her whiskey, but she listens closely to the stories around. Her face unreadable.

No sooner than she seated than Cufre saw to filling her glass from her table's bottle of whiskey and taking a drink. A small one, followed by similar as the stories surface. She lifts her glass when Lou mentions the slider of family struggles, looking to the empty chair before taking that drink. Lucita's words have an altogether different effect: drawing a furrow in a quirk of her eyebrows that smooths over a gaze gone distant. The gaze sharpens with Thea's tale, surprise unchecked at the outcome of the spar, lost to the mention of Felicia's death. When Lou speaks again, Cufre's surprise resurfaces.

In the space that follows, Cufre stands. "It's a wonder that my sister could be a part of so many stories that don't quite touch one another and can still have more that are kept locked away in each of us. That alone says so much about Felicia: that she lived as she knew Death wants us to, taking the time she had and making every bit of it count. It almost seems impossible, to have lived so much. But anyone who knows Felicia," she shakes her head, "-knew- Felicia has to know that she showed us that it was possible. I don't know if she intended it, but it's almost like she challenged us to do more by showing us that we can."

"My stories of my sister, the most treasured ones, are family memories of histories shared from our Grandpa's chair or adventures retold at the family table." Cufre looks down at the table for a long moment before looking up and speaking again. "But those are family things, and I want to keep them so. I've got other stories, though, stories of Fel rushing into a burning building to save someone, or walking alone into a deep, hollow darkness knowing she's surrounded by, ummm, dangerous things, of Fel breaking the chains that held, hm." Cufre rubs her nose, looks down, then reaches for her glass to raise it. "To my sister Felicia!"

Lucita lifts her glass and echoes the toast. "To Dame Felicia.

Thea too lifts her glass, her southern accent thick. "To Dame Felicia."

Lou lifts her glass as well, both in tribute and salute to Felicia as well as to Cufre. "TO Dame Felicia," she speaks both with a measure of sadness and warmth. "She will always be missed. But I know she's watching over us, in her own way." Of that, Lou seems certain. "Thank you all for coming today."