It had been decades since Vannessa last came to La'marri. She was glad to see, that at least on the outside, The village had not changed. It was still fairly early morning when she walked up toward the front gates, She glanced at the soldier standing off to the side she pulled back her cloak to reveal that she had no weapon on her, but then again why would she carry weapons, she could generate them in a matter of seconds. There was something familiar about the soldier's armor, she wore a gilded helm, but it wasn't something that Vannessa could easily place so she moved onward, firstly to the temple.
It had been a while since she last prayed to her mother, 'Mom? I don't know if you are listening, or if you can even hear me. I've only been told that gods can hear prayers, but that never seemed to be the case during that short time you lived with father and I. The last of my children died not to long ago, nearly three months now. Is she with you? Vannessa sighed and stood up from the spot she had knelt. She had never really prayed much, her mother never seemed to acknowledge that she had prayed. Vannessa walked out of the temple and onto the market.
Markets are fun, at any one time, Vannessa had four coins on her; a copper piece of ten, a copper piece of eight, a silver half piece and a gold piece. She would move from stall to stall forming the coins in her hands that she needed. it was nearing noon when she finally stopped to rest. She noticed more soldiers than she remembered there being last time she had come to La'marri, she wondered if something had happened. but then again it had been decades since her last visit, so maybe this was just normal now.
She was quite surprised when she came to the square as a massive crowd had gathered with a man standing in the center preaching apparently. Vannessa decided to sit off to the side to listen, if this big a crowd had gathered it had to be good. From he seat a little ways from the back of the crowd she could clearly see the speaker, to his left there was a giant of a man wearing a gilded chest piece. and the speaker himself wore gilded gloves, she only knew this because he talked with his hands. There seemed to be a theme going here, so far she had seen three crucial pieces of black gilded armor. She remembered something about a suit of armor that fit the same description but she still couldn't recall the memory.
"For an entire warband to defect like we were told was a bit tricky to believe, but they were causing trouble to several of the towns around them, so we had to put a stop to them," the speaker was apparently telling a story about the past, they seemed to be a group of mercenaries or something similar, "So we approached the group, Segari, Sansi and myself, to try and reach a peaceful solution. Aiden may demand strength in combat, but he also demands strength of mind."
'Aiden? I know that name.' Thought Vannessa. Now that the memory had some leverage it came rushing at her. Aiden was her mother's champion, he fought for her using armor that was made especially for him. Later on when Aiden had died he was buried in his armor, the armor that the speaker, the giant of a man, and that gate guard were all wearing, she was certain that there were also two more members with his platelegs and his boots. looking off to her left there stood the gate guard, helm atop her head. Vannessa was much too rattled to listen to the rest of the speech. but she would follow the helm bearer once she started moving as the helm would obstruct her view.
Eventually the crowd started clapping and parted before the speaker and his companion, most followed them, others went on to do other things, the important thing is the helm bearer had not made after her companions, going in the opposite direction even, back towards the market. Vannessa followed, whenever the helm bearer would stop at a stall, she would go past her to the next stall and wait for her to continue moving, sometimes buying small things but constantly glancing over at the helm bearer.
