Peace Be With You

[North Light36]

Standard, yes, but for a pair of tired, dirty teenagers who'd spent the last couple of weeks sleeping rough, it was unparalleled luxury.

 "This will suit us perfectly," Vortai replied to the attendant, accepting the card with his most charming smile. "Thank you very much."

Acqua smiled as well. "Yes, thank you." She glanced towards the bathroom, thinking that she simply couldn't wait to get clean.

[Lady]

The attendant bowed, leaving and closing the door after herself.

A little under an hour later there came a knock and Lorelei's voice lifted to be heard. "Hello! I'm back with food!"

[North Light36]

In the time they'd been alone, the twins had done their best to clean themselves up despite their lack of a change of clothes and had scrubbed their faces, hands, arms and the worst of the stains on their clothing. So it was a slightly damp, still a bit grubby but over all much cleaner Acqua opened the door to Lorelei.

"Please come in, Lady Lorelei," she greeted Lorelei politely, stepping aside and holding the door open. Rune was such an odd place and she was sure the etiquette her parents had drilled into her from childhood probably seemed quaint, but politeness was at least universal and at the moment good manners was all the twins had.

[Lady]

"Oh, please, just Lorelei," she giggled as she walked in carrying plastic bags laden with take out. "I'm no noblewoman. Here! I hope you like it." She pulled out the containers revealing two cartons of fried fish with fries, another of fried shrimp, and the last one of baked clam strips. This was followed by some bottles of water and cans of soda in various flavors. "Hope you like it!"

[North Light36]

Vortai's stomach growled loudly at sight and smell of the food, causing him to blush as his sister giggled. "Thank you, Lorelei. This looks fantastic. I promise, we'll repay you as soon as we can."

Acqua nodded in agreement. "Thank you for being so kind," she added. "It's very generous of you." She hesitated a moment as her brother began eating, then asked, "Lorelei? Do you know how we can get the portal to our home to open again?"

Vortai looked up from his food, clearly as interested in the answer as his sister.

[Lady]

"Well that particular door might not even go back to where you came from," Lorelei responded. "The doors are all strange like that. Not to mention there are other problems to consider. You didn't come here deliberately, but was it teleportation magic that went wrong, a portal, something like that? Or were you not even trying to travel at all...? Some folks wind up here from curses and similar things."

[North Light36]

Vortai sighed, exchanging a sad look with his twin. "We weren't trying to travel at all," he explained. "We kinda stumbled upon the hiding place of an enemy mage. The worst sort, who deal in blood sacrifice and consort with demons and devils. To make a long story short, we interrupted what I think was a major summoning ritual and the resulting magical backlash formed a sort of rip in the planes that we got sucked into."

Acqua sipped some of her water. "Our family will be going mad trying to find us. If they don't think us dead, that is."

[Lady]

"Then it would be difficult for you to return," Lorelei admitted. "Your best bet would be to find someone in the Scholar's District who knows a lot about transportation magic. On the plus side, there's a lot of mages and scholars who do. On the downside, not all of them will be willing to help you out of the goodness of their hearts."

[North Light36]

"So we should probably stop lingering around the Doors District waiting for something that isn't going to happen and start focusing on earning enough money to survive and to pay for the aid we need," Acqua sighed and fiddled with the ring she was wearing, identical to her brother's ring in every way, looking sorrowful but determined. "Well, if that's what we need to do, then that's what we'll do. Excuse me, please." She rose from the table and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door firmly behind her.

"She needs a moment," Vortai explained. "It's not just our parents, but our best friend, her betrothed, who'll be worrying about us, you see. She's been desperate to get home to him." He smiled ruefully. "Acqua's a logical girl, she'll be fine. Just needs a moment to come to terms with the disappointment." A thought occurred to him and his eyes widened. "Oh! I just realised. You've given us all this help, Lorelei, and we haven't even introduced ourselves. I'm Vortai Romain. My twin is Acqua, as I mentioned."

[Lady]

"It's good to meet you," Lorelei replied with a faint smile. "I wish under better circumstances, of course. Anyway, you should both have faith. If love is separated, it will find each other again. I firmly believe in that, myself."

[North Light36]

Vortai smiles. "That sounds a lot like something our mother would say," he remarks. "And I've learnt over the years that she's almost never wrong, so I'll take your advice and have faith." He chuckles softly. "Bards tend to be romantics anyway, even if I have yet to have any personal luck in that area myself. Speaking of faith, I don't suppose there's a church of Shelyn somewhere in Piety Land is there? I did overhear that most religions can be found there..."

[Lady]

"There is, actually!" Lorelei replied, perking up as they touched off a safer topic. "She's quite popular; in fact you'll find many of her devotees in Artist's Lament. Her gentle ideology also appeals to many, many people in the city. Even folks who don't actively worship her tend to pay indirect homage to her and treat her priests with respect. If you two wish to avail yourselves of their mercy, I think you'll find them quite accommodating."

[North Light36]

Vortai grins. "Wonderful," he replies. "We'll have to pay a visit, at the very least." He smiles. "We grew up in the faith, you see. Not only were our parents devotees, they ended up becoming caretakers of a shine dedicated to Shelyn when Acqua and I were young." He looks towards the bathroom door a moment before Acqua steps out and rejoins her brother and Lorelei.

"Sorry about that," she murmurs.

Vortai smiles at his sister. "Don't worry about it, sis. Lorelei was just kind enough to tell me there IS a church of Shelyn in Piety Land."

Acqua brightens up at that, visibly pleased. "Oh that is good to know." She smiles at Lorelei. "I can't thank you enough for all your kindness."

[Lady]

"No thanks are needed," Lorelei assured them. "Helping those in need is what I live for." To Vortai, she said, "It sounds as though you two have, perhaps, a plan at least on where to go from here?"

[North Light36]

"The beginnings of a plan, at least," Vortai agreed with a smile. "Which a lot more then we had before we met you, so despite what you say, thank you. If there's ever anything we can do for you, please just ask."

Acqua nodded, clearly in complete agreement with her twin.