Mountain Climbing | Kale & Fiona
It was not the first time that Kale had used Cormac Calleary's unobservant nature to his advantage. Cormac recognized Kale enough to know that he was a servant and when he saw him about Lorcan, he believed him to be his servant: misinformation which Kale had never been hasty to rectify.
He always did his best to avoid Eabha, Aine, and especially the Lorcan ladies whenever he snuck into the castle on official resistance business -- even if he doubted any of them should give him away, if they discovered him. However, the arrival of Rian Stafford had made things much more complicated and although he did not know Kale, he did not strike him as someone who would be as easily taken in as the current Lord Calleary and Kale did his best to avoid him completely, whenever possible.
It was an unexpected near encounter with the steward that prompted Kale into his current predicament: which happened to be attempting to scale the side of the great Lorcan mountain. He'd stolen out of a castle window, thinking that the climb wouldn't be half as difficult as it proved to be. It was in this moment where Kale found himself half climbing, half dangling that he considered that perhaps running into Rian Stafford would have been the safer option.
It was more than likely that Rian would have simply accepted that he had been a servant there and, if not, he could hardly have been worse off than he was now. Suddenly he wondered if his impulsive decision would be his last.
But as luck would have it, he soon found that he was edging close to where Lady Fiona's rooms were and, with a newfound strength, he managed to pull himself up unto her window sill and climbed into her room.
He grinned, a little proud of himself that he had managed it and suddenly possessed an arrogance that suggested he always knew that he could -- all lingering thoughts of his impending doom having vanished with his success.
Fiona Calleary was alone -- but it was only in this moment that he considered that he might have easily caught her otherwise. Luck certainly was on his side today. Perhaps he might actually say a prayer to the guardians tonight: for it did seem that someone was looking out for him.
"Don't mind if I pop in, do you?" He asked, plopping down into her arm chair that sat by the fireplace, propping his feet up. "Thought I'd take the back way in, as your unfortunate jailer is home. I do not envy you his company. He seems even more ill-humored than Ronan can be," He teased.
"Speaking of -- I've got a message for you."
Fiona let out a yelp and grabbed the closest item-- which happened to be the butter knife she'd been threatening her eldest brother with only a day earlier-- and turned to face the owner of the voice that had entered from her balcony. Kale was not who she expected to find.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded, her voice hushed as he gestured at him with the knife. Looking down and feeling utterly ridiculous, she tossed it onto the desk with a thud as she scrambled to bolt the door, less anyone come upon the pair. Kale may not be a wanted man in Lorcan, as he was in Malconaire, but there were enough Imperial guards in and out of this castle that she was worried he would be recognized.
"How did you get up here?" she turned to the balcony, take a few steps towards it before stopping. She'd contemplated crawling down the side of Lorcan at times and knew just how high it was.
"Rían is always here," she grumbled, returning to where Kale sat and dropped herself down into a chair as well. "And if he's not here, he's taking my sister and brothers to the Citadel for what I can only imagine are terribly boring dinners. Cormac has convinced everyone there is no reason I should go and Aine stays with the little fish, which I suppose isn't the worse thing. I'm able to go down into the caverns without being noticed."
"You have a message for me?" Fiona asked, leaning forward as if there was anyone in the room who might overhear them. "From who? Ronan? Is there something else I might to do help?" she asked quickly. She was eager for a task, eager to do something.
"What? You've never climbed up the side of a mountain before? We'll have to fix that, one day. It isn't as hard as you'd think." He was teasing, but even he knew that Fiona was likely only a dare away from attempting it, herself.
He wasn't about to tell her that he had feared for his life, only moments ago. Now that he was safely in her quarters, he felt his confidence rising and, in that instant, felt as though it had really been the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. (He was not yet considering how on earth he was planning on getting down).
"Gods, I don't envy them his company. I don't think he knows how to laugh ... or even smile for that matter. Not that someone in his position has any right to experience joy of any kind. So I suppose, it's fitting ... " How anyone from Astaira would throw their lot in with Roderick, was something that Kale could not fathom. Especially someone who had once tried to be king.
It had been far better for them all that Eilianora had won out. Perhaps there would not have been a war (Kale supposed someone like Rian would have invited Roderick to come and stake his claim!), but he knew that every Astairan who died with the hope that perhaps they may win out, would not have had it any other way.
"Ronan is hoping to have a meeting three nights from now. Can you and your brother get away from the guards long enough to come?"
"No I have not climbed up the side of this mountain! I am a child of the sea, Kale, not a rock climber! There isn't even water at the bottom to soften the blow if you fall!"
Fiona glanced back towards the balcony where Kale had appeared. Was he planning to climb back down? She wouldn't allow that-- she'd keep him hidden in her rooms until he could sneak out. Or, perhaps, she'd dress him up as her brother and send him out once it was dark.
Fiona rolled her eyes as Kale spoke of Rían. "That's exactly what he's like! I wonder if he'd frighten himself if he ever actually managed to laugh. And he has been paying Aine too much attention for any of our liking. She's been through quite enough to now be badly courted by the dullest, most unlikeable man in all of Astaira!"
"I don't think there's any world where I could betray Astaira like that, do you? I don't know how he sleeps at night, frankly. And if I had my way... but Éabha has forbidden me from putting swans in his chambers."
"Three nights? Absolutely," Fiona replied emphatically, not bothering to first consult her brother. Finn, if anything, would just be going down to the tavern or something of the sort and Fiona has become quite skilled at slipping out under the cover of darkness these past weeks.
"Same time as always? Tell me, is there anything I might steal from the kitchen that would cheer Ronan up at all? He and Rían are competing for who can make the most dour face, honestly..."
