Kay picked up her communications handset and selected the number for Louis' office in the halth clinic. When he picked up, she greeted him in French, saying "Bonjour, mon ami Louis ...". Then she sneaked a quick glance over at her guest. As far as she could tell, Marius didn't seem to understand what she was saying -- just as she had hoped. French was NOT a common Terranan language here -- unlike Standard, Gaelic and Spanish.
For a moment, there was silence on the other end. Louis was a little bit confused when he heard Kay address him in his own native language. Normally she spoke to him in ordinary Standard while they were on the Base. Then he suddenly remembered where (and when) he'd first dicovered that she could speak French -- and WHY. That time, she'd wanted to speak privately to him in front of others. So something must be up.
Marius listened as Kay spoke wondering what tounge it was that she used to speak to her companion. It did not match any of the languages common to Darkover.
*Dani? How many languages do they speak on Terra?*
*Many why?*
*Kay's using a tounge that I have never heard, that's why.* Marius said, his mental tone sounding frustrated.
*Well, can you repeat some of what she is saying to me? I might be able to help you there. Calm down.*
Marius reapeated what he could silently, choosing words that were easy to pronounce.
Dani chuckled. His accent was not all that bad for a beginner! *The language is called French. I'll have to teach you some one day. It's good for telling things when people can't speak it.*
Marius said nothing at that, just stood there waiting for Kay to finish.
[OOC: For those of you who don't speak French, I'll just put the English version of what Kay and Louis are saying].
"Good afternoon to you too", he replied in the same language, happy to hear from her for ANY reason. "What can I do for you ?", he asked curiously, wondering why Kay didn't want anyone to overhear what she had to say.
Kay didn't want to go into too much detail, as she could see that Marius' patience was rather limited. So, concentrating on both her accent and her word choice, she said simply "I would like to visit my fellow priestess tonight. If you're available, I think that you would be very interested in some of the things that she has to say. Maybe she will even show us a few things too".
Louis frowned in puzzlement. This was certainly an odd request, but then again, their friendship was also rather odd in some ways too. He still had no idea why she wanted to talk French instead of Standard. And somehow, he had a distinct impression that there was alot more that she was NOT saying -- for example, the NAME of the prson she wanted to visit.
Louis knew of only one person who fit that description -- but if SHE was the one that Kay meant, that just made things even MORE confusing. So perhaps this was more than just a casual social call. For example, since he didn't recall having previously-expressed an interest in the Wiccan religion before, there must be another reason why Kay wanted him to go there with her.
He sighed, wondering what he was about to get himself into. "Ok, I'll meet you in your office in a few minutes", he promised, "And don't forget that you owe me an explanation either tonight or tomorrow". Then he broke off the connection, and went off to freshen himself up.
The comm then rang loudly in Kay's ear, almost as soon as she had finished talking to Louis. She half-hoped that it would be Anwyn. The hour was getting late, and it would be starting to get dark in another candlemark or two. *Who could THAT be*, she wondered to herself, with a small frown, half-hoping that is was Anwyn calling to say that she'd returned safely.
But when Kay answered the call, she was rather puzzled to see that it was coming from the guardpost at the gates. And when she heard that the Guardsman looking for her, was Gwenn's patrol partner (and not Gwenn himself), she was even more so.
Heaving a frustrated sigh, she told the gate-gaurd, "Please tell him that he may either talk to me NOW on this comm channel, if he pleases. Otherwise, I can spare him a few minutes if he'd doesn't mind coming to my quarters".
Burl had no idea how to find Kay's quarters. "I-I'll talk to her now, mestru, if you'll tell me how."
"Just talk into this, in a _normal_ tone," the guard replied irritably.
"Mestra Kay, Gwenn wishes you to go to...to come with me into the city. Anwyn is at a stranger's house, and refuses to come home. She's knocked on the door. Mestra, the lass is acting strangely," Burl finished lamely. How was he to explain to Kay how urgent it seemed when Gwenn asked him to fetch her?
*Bloody Hell*, Kay thought irritably to herself, wishing that she could contact Oberon and look through his eyes. But she couldn't do THAT in front of her current company. If he was as fey as his sister was, there was a significant chance that he'd notice what she was doing. And other than the fact that he was Danette's twin brother, she REALLY didn't know enough about Marius to take THAT kind of risk. It was bad enough that he'd be able to eavesdrop on THIS conversation if he chose to do so.
"Do you mean STRANGE as in the way that Terranan behaviour often seems strange to non-Terranan ?", she asked, "And is there any OTHER problem, other than that you two don't know the person she's visiting ? Has she worn out her welcome in their home ?".
"Ahhh..." Burl wasn't sure how to answer. "I don't think _she_ knows the mestru, either. Uh, mestra, I don't know how to explain it-- she didn't know where the house was until Gwenn showed her. Please come. I came as quickly as I could, but still, there's no knowing what she's done since." Burl waited impatiently, wondering what was going to come out of the unfamiliar instrument.
Now THAT sounded rather odd indeed. The last she'd heard from Oberon, he and Anwyn had been on the way to Leaves. But that had been hours ago. If Anwyn HAD been in danger, then both she and Ceroill would surely have heard about it from the owl.
Kay sighed, "I was already preparing to go visit a friend in town, so it should be easy enough to detour past there along the way. We'll meet you at the gate soon". Of course, she did NOT mention how it was that she knew it was not an emergency.
"I will be here, mestra," Burl replied. He held the communicator out to the guard, uncertain what to do with it. The guard sighed, took the communicator, turned it off, and placed it in its socket. Burl and the Terran guard stood uneasily, watching each other as they waited on Kay.
Meanwhile, the situation wasn't any more comfortable in Kay's office. When Kay finally got off the comm, she felt terribly embarassed to have kept Marius waiting for so long. Even without using her Gift, it seemed to her that he was almost as uncomfortable as SHE herself was.
"Thank you for your patience", she said kindly, a blush spreading across her cheeks. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long. My companion will be joining us in a few minutes, so I won't ask for extra time to change my clothing. But apparently, I'll need to collect my foster-daughter along the way -- she's apparently not permitting my bredu Gwenn to bring her home".
Kay didn't REALLY want to go out wearing her uniform under her decent clothes. But at least it was a good thing that she had a habit of wearing a skirt and un-buttonned shirt over all that form-fitting black. And fortunately, she had one of her cloaks hanging on the back of her desk chair.
After her flannel plaid shirt was properly buttoned-up, she reached down to the partially-open right-hand bottom drawer and called softly, "Time to wake up, sleepy bird". Amadaine's eyes popped open. She'd been having a lovely nap on top of one of Kay's sweaters. She made soft cooing sounds as she climbed the arm that Kay held out to her. Once she was settled on her usual favourite perch (Kay's shoulder), Amadaine turned her bright eyes towards the visitor and made a small inquisitive sound.
On the other side of the desk, a small ball of black fur hopped out from the other bottom drawer and landed on the top of the desk. Mairead eyed Marius curiously, her ears and whiskers twitching. Then, boldly, she walked up to the very edge of the desk and stared at him in fascination.
[OOC: this brings us up to the present time. And I'm wondering what Marius thinks about odd women who let their pets sleep in their desk drawers
Louis cracked up laughing when he walked in the door and saw the
little cat's antics. "I didn't realize that your little friends came
to work with you too", he grinned, with just a hint of michievous
teasing in his voice.
The reply to this, was rather dissapointing. Kay just shrugged, as if
it was no big deal, and replied simply "Thank you for coming. I'll try
not to keep you out too late".
Feeling rather confused, Louis then turned to the young man (who
looked to be a local, so he did NOT offer to shake hands), and said in
his best formal manners "I'm Dr. Louis Couvillon, of the Terran
Medical Service, and I'm a .... friend ... of Kay's. She's asked me to
join you two on your trip into town".
Though he was still trying to figure out WHY his presence was wanted
on this trip, Louis decided that it would be rather rude to come out
and ask. He was still surprised that Kay wanted to go ANYWHERE
off-base -- but perhaps she was becoming more sociable again. If so,
hopefully that might mean good things for THEIR relationship too.
[to be continued ... this part eventually blends into their arrival at Donal's, which has already started to be written]