Session 39.5: Double Date
Late in the second week Tristan, Grace, Malak and Kiasuh have a double date planned. They decided also because of the possible sensitivity of the conversation to make it a picnic outside of the city gates. Grace arranged some horses and we all ride out of the gates, Kiasuh being surprisingly good with the horse. The ladies ride up front and the boys in the back and Tristan says it must have been nice being back home for an extended time, Malak confirms and says it's indeed been nice seeing his family for a longer time and to see Corvus and Jurian. Malak asks if Tristan is missing home and Tristan agrees but he says there is currently more here for him then at home, Malak laughs at this eyeing Grace and says it does indeed seem so.
They find a nice place to sit and Grace grabs a wand and puts some lights up and she and Kiasuh set up the picnic area with a blanket and other things. Kiasuh puts out the food, especially shareable things between Grace and Tristan. As Tristan comments they are part needing this kind of help Kiasuh coyly asks if Grace is pregnant yet, if not they need help. They have some small talk about Thrane, Flamekeep and friends and Grace comments she's grateful that there are friendly people around and hints at Corinne. Malak lets her know that he chastised Jurian and that he promised to be better and Grace is grateful for that. They briefly discuss Corinne and her situation but unfortunately there is not much they can do without starting a war with Thrane.
Grace asks what will happen now with Sickle and the sickness etc. and both Tristan and Malak agree they don't know much yet and they should have a good talk with the rest to see where to go from here. Malak does explain he will get more information after the wedding but that he also have a lot on his plate with the whole crystals thing. On prompting for more information by Tristan, Malak explains that he has heard from a friend that a good place to start would be reliquaries. He continues that Hawk and this other women were involved in those and gets interrupted with the name Aria and confirms that’s the one. Malak explains that Hawk is gone though and he doesn't know where Aria is or if she is even still alive. Kiasuh however brings up that she was friends with Cissa so maybe she or one of the other of that crew know where we can find her.
They all agree Kiasuh is very wise for suggesting this which quickly turns into a conversation about Tristan marrying a wise woman. Malak excuses them both by explaining they are not known as the most subtle of people Kiasuh and him. The four of them muse a little about double dates and previous experiences and end up talking about Dal Quor. Malak says he doesn't really want to go back but they will have to for Nesza, he had good intentions but he should have trusted Myri to which Kiasuh mutters some things. Tristan makes use of the mention of Myri and changes the subject exclaiming that they can all agree Myri was at Methrol, when everyone seemed confused Tristan rewinds. He explains about the flight of the silverbird and that he saw the flight of the silverbird, not a thing he will quickly forget. When he saw Tula and Myri in the dream he recognized it as the silverbird, Malak says he would say it was an assumption if he heard that last week but since he recently learned that Tula was also Myri's Couatl after she left home it probably is true. Tristan agrees he had expected that for a while since he was that in Dal Quor it seemed like too much of a coincidence.
At this point Grace interrupts with a few questions, Myranna Ishim being Malak and Kiasuh's daughter and that she and Tula are the silverbird. Tristan says he's not completely sure but sure enough to say it at this point in time. At this point Malak explains to Tristan what he discussed with Tula and Cissa including the joke about Tula's parentage. Grace immediately gets this because when an egg hatches the creature can imprint on the people there. Grace is also very impressed that Myri rode a Couatl at anyway and a little disappointed that Tristan didn't tell her about it yet.
The conversation swapping to riding Tristan brings up Aristotle and on Kiasuh's prompting Grace summons them from the crystal. Tristan however changes the conversation to sieges and asks Malak what he knows about it, he says not much it's about people trying to get in a castle and other people trying to get them out. Tristan takes a handful of blueberries and a handful of grapes and draws out a siege on the blanket and explains that keeping invaders out also means civilians are kept in. So the defenders might stage an evacuation trying to get the civilians out before the castle gets sieged, however that is a big undertaking and needs soldiers to guide it but that means you have less defending the walls. The point being Methrol wasn't evacuated before they sieged it but during the siege and Tristan thinks that the flameless were responsible for that, Malak and Kiasuh do agree that sounds like something his daughter would have done.
Grace wasn't listening and suddenly goes, who wants to ride a gryphon? Malak says he would love to meet Aristotle who is the buffest gryphon Malak has ever seen although of course he's only seen Ash and Godric. Grace explains a little about Aristotle and she and Malak talk about the gryphon for a bit. Kiasuh notices how Tristan is looking at Grace while this is happening and ask if Tristan has fallen from that gryphon really hard hasn't he and Tristan agrees that he got it pretty bad. Kiasuh reassures him it seems that it is very much mutual though so not to worry. Kiasuh and Tristan talk a little more about love and how Grace and Tristan met, about Malak being home and making progress in the search for a cure of Myri.
Malak goes on a ride on Aristotle with Grace, she takes it easy but they have a nice flight. Malak compliments Aristotle and quickly switches the topic by saying "I hope you are as careful with him as you are with Aristotle". Grace gets his meaning and says that like Aristotle, Tristan can probably handle everything she throws at him. When Malak says that might be but he's really smitten she says he is not the only one. They discuss their relationship a bit more and switch the topic to how Malak is feeling and he explains he got some good news and that he was happy he saw his friends again. Malak also says that he kind of outed Grace and Tristan's relationship to Jurian but Grace doesn't mind.
As they land again Tristan hugs Grace but then they are interrupted by a heavy galloping sound as Aristotle rushes the horses to have a quick snack. Luckily Aristotle isn't that fast and Grace manages to get him back in the crystal before anything bad happens. They wrap up the picnic and Kiasuh admonishes Grace for dumping a wand that was expended. On the way back Malak ahs the same talk with Tristan as he had with grace about being careful with each other.
