Rastellion knocks at Zandrianna's door. "Hello the house! Zandrianna? Immalaine?"
Rubbing her eyes, Zandrianna turns from looking down at the pile of paperwork, tilting her head as she makes out the voice through the door. "Rastellion?" she says to herself, standing to answer the call. "It is you, well met." She grins, and gives him a hug. Rastellion returns the hug, a bit distracted. "Hi Zandrianna." He looks past her. "Is Immalaine ready? I'd like to get to the mayor's office well before noon. There are only a few days now until the deadline, after all, and I know first-hand how slow they can be over there." Zandrianna turns, looking over to the room that Immalaine shared with Althessia. "She's in there, finishing getting dressed. I needed her help with a couple of chores, so I've kept her and I'm sorry for that. I went to see Desiare last night. She's returned home finally!"
"So you said, at our meeting with Fiontann. Will she be coming to work at the Association now?" He pauses then asks, more gently, "Did she have any word of Komatsu?" Shaking her head, Zandrianna replies, "No, she knows no more or less about him than I do, but the letter I received from him has helped. Still ... I dread speaking to Cenwynne when he returns." She runs her hand through her hair, "But that is not for now. And yes, I've spoken to her about working for the association."
Rastellion puts a hand up to squeeze Zandrianna's shoulder, but knows better than to offer any platitudes. "We'll talk soon, if you want," is all he says. Then he takes a step further into the house. "Right now, though, Immalaine and I should head out. Oh, and let me get that affidavit from your strongbox. No point going to the mayor's office without those three signatures!" Grinning, Zandrianna turns and heads towards the bedroom, chuckling. "Well that would be the quickest trip to the town hall you've had, I'm sure," she calls back to him
Rushing out of the room, Immalaine heads over to Rastellion, with a happy smile. "Hello dear!" she says, before leaning up to kiss him. Rastellion gives her a hug and returns the kiss. "So, today's the day t' reclaim your home," he says, smiling. "You should wear your new cloak from Frostbluff. You'll look the part of the proper landowner when you submit the affidavit!"Immalaine giggles and looks down at the dress she'd borrowed. "Not sure it would match," she says, cheerfully. "And Zandrianna assures me that what I'm wearing will look just fine down at town hall." Rastellion smiles. "Well, I'd not dream of arguing fashion with Zandrianna. I'd be wrong every time!" From the bedroom, Zandrianna returns with the papers and offers them to Rastellion. "Here you go, safe and sound as I promised." He turns at her voice and takes the affidavit. "Thanks," he says, rolling the parchment carefully in a piece of heavy leather, and ties the scroll up with a thong before tucking it inside his jerkin. "Sooner we get this properly submitted, the better I'll feel!" He grins at Immalaine. "Are you ready to go, Miss Landowner?"
Immalaine bites her lip for a moment then, looking at Rastellion's face, she nods up, her eyes filled with excitement, overshadowing the lingering uncertainty. "I am ready," she replies and turns to give Zandrianna a hug. "I'll try to be home in time to start supper. I know you said Desiare would be coming by later." Rastellion grins. "You'd best be complimenting her cooking, Zandrianna," he says, laughter in her voice. "Else, if she decides to sell her property, and gets what it's truly worth - that's at least thrice what they're asking for it now - well, she might just hire someone to do the cooking while she relaxes in her own house!"
Rolling her eyes, Zandrianna heads to the room to tend Althessia. "And when have I not been complimentary of her cooking?" she calls out. Immalaine shakes her head and smiles back at Zandrianna, before turning to head towards the door. Rastellion opens the door for her. "Off we go, then. We'll be there before noon!'
Despite the muddy winter roads, and a slight detour through a fallow field to avoid a milling flock of sheep, the two young people arrive at the Mayor's Office in the center of Bree when the clock tower is striking a quarter 'til noon. Rastellion motions Immalaine to proceed him to the main desk, where a harassed young fellow is sorting papers. "We've got an affidavit of identity to submit," Rastellion says, without preamble, pulling the leather from his tunic. The young man looks up. "Identity?" he asks, distracted. Rastellion nods. "To do with claiming a property deed." He waits a moment, then adds, "it's somewhat urgent; there's a deadline on the deed." The fellow waves toward Bonnie. "Best have her look it over first, then," he suggests. "Mayor's secretary is out on a long lunch again, leaving me with all this." He gestures disgustedly and returns to his work. The couple turns, and offers the document to Bonnie with the same explanation. She sighs, puts down her quill, and accepts the document from Rastellion, starting to look it over. "Immalaine Tattersoll?" she asks. "This is you?"
"It's me, yes." she says with a smile. "An' we got the signatures that ye asked for to say it's me."As she waits, she looks around the room at the mountains of paperwork and sighs, thinking that it looks much like Zandrianna's house at the moment. She begins making a mental list of chores for when she gets home. Distracted by her thoughts, she stares off into space.
Bonnie nods and keeps reading, noting each point of description and checking them against Immalaine's appearance. "Mole just below the left shoulder," she reads aloud, gesturing for Immalaine to turn around and verify this identifying mark. Rastellion's mouth quirks and he makes a show of turning his back on the small alcove. Immalaine turns, blushing as she stares at the guard, who seems to look over into an empty space. She quickly pulls on the back of her dress, showing Bonnie the small mark and waits for the woman to take note of it, before pulling her dress back up. "Really?" she murmured to herself, hiding behind Rastellion.
As Immalaine quickly shows the mole Rastellion takes a moment to look around the office. Clerks bustle about, and guards stand at bored attention by a few doors. A few citizens wait in line or slumped in chairs, and one tall, dark-haired fellow leans against a railing on the upper floor. His eyes meet Rastellion's, then drift past, seemingly uninterested, lost in his own thoughts. Rastellion turns as he feels Immalaine return to him. He grins at her. "Small price to pay to reclaim your own," he murmurs, and gestures at the busy scene. "An' everyone's so preoccupied with their own affairs, they've hardly time to stick their nose in yours!" He turns her back toward Bonnie's desk. "You'll remember, ma'am," he says, "that this is to verify her claim to a certain property?" Bonnie waves a distracted hand, still looking over the document, eyes moving down toward the signatures and seal at the bottom.
Immalaine's face still pink, she smiles at him, then glances around the lower rooms and sees that no one seemed to have noticed anything. "Perhaps ye're right," she says, leaning against his shoulder as she watched Bonnie go over the papers. "An', once the paperwork is done, I can figure out what t' do with the land, though I still think I'd rather sell it. Mebbe buy a little something closer to town? Nothing fancy, like Lady Zandrianna, but it should have a large kitchen ..." she chatters on, her mind starting to make plans. Rastellion takes and squeezes her hand. "You can do whatever you want with it! No more sleeping in haystacks for you, like you were when we first met!" He's just leaning in to kiss her when Bonnie gives a cough. "Um, Miss Tattersoll? And - Rastarrion, wasn't it? Whatever... There's a problem here." Immalaine turns, Rastellion's kiss landing on her check as she stares down in confusion at the woman. "A problem? What problem? I got th' signatures, just as ye asked."
Rastellion leans forward, frowning. "Problem? We were assured the notary was accredited, and that's his seal there. All properly witnessed and..." Bonnie raises a thin hand to stop his questions. "Yes, yes, the document is in order as far as it goes. The problem is the signatures - or, more accurately, the signatories." She leans back and sighs. "You see, in a case like this, there are certain more stringent requirements. One of those is that the signatures be, so to speak, 'independent'." She points at the two signatures, Pierson and his wife. "A married couple does not meet this requirement - only one such signature is valid in this case." Rastellion's eyes widen; he's momentarily speechless; his mouth works and his fingers clench Immalaine's painfully where he still holds her hand.
Letting out a little yelp, Immalaine stares down at the woman in disbelief and mouths the words she said, her mind whirling. "I ... what are we going to do Rastellion?" she asks, looking over at him, before looking up towards the ceiling. Her eyes pass over the rails, over the stranger staring down at her and passes by him as her mind processes the new information.
Anger shading his voice, Rastellion leans forward onto Bonnie's desk. "See here, you said nothing about this before. You knew the situation, why we needed her identity confirmed. You said three signatures, not three 'independent' signatures." He forces his fists to relax. "It's a day's ride out to her old home, where folks know her, a day's ride back. Are you sayin' we made that trip in vain? No... We got what you said we needed. This should be good enough." Bonnie shakes her head. "I don't make the laws, sir, I just keep the books. If you don't like the rules, take it up with a magistrate." Rastellion scowls. "Maybe I will. Who oversees your work here?" Bonnie stiffens. "The mayor's secretary. He's off at lunch right now, but if' you'd like to leave him a message with me?" What I'd like," Rastellion says, after a long minute, "is for you to get down those tomes of rules and regulations for me and verify that this document - which does everything you said it needed to - isn't sufficient." He takes a seat in one of the wooden chairs before her desk, eyes angry.
Listening to Rastellion's anger, she takes a deep breath as she tries to tame her own frustration over the news. Scanning the upper floors to take her mind off of it for a moment, she feels a niggle of unease in the back of her mind, her skin crawling as the hairs on her neck stood on end. Baffled by the reaction, she thinks to herself it must be a reaction to the paperwork. Turning her head to look back down at Rastellion, and try to calm him, her eyes pass over the stranger once more, briefly noticing his cold, grey stare in passing, as she turned to head over to where Rastellion sat. "It won't do any good t' get mad, Rastellion," she said soothingly, "It'll just lead t' frustration and ..." Suddenly she stops speaking, her eyes blinking as a face comes to the front of her mind. "And what we need right now is to find out how t' fix this." She smiles at him, taking his hand in hers, as she begins to tremble.
Rastellion squeezes her hand distractedly, but keeps his eyes fixed on Bonnie as she leafs through a ledger. "Here," she says, after a few moments, turning the tome to him and pointing. Rastellion reads the passage she indicates, and sighs. "I see. Why then didn't you say this?" Bonnie shuts the book and re-shelves it. "I was giving you general instructions, not a precise account. That village notary, he ought t' have informed you of this." She shakes her heads. "Village notary, pah! You're lucky if you find one who's half-literate." Rastellion waves this off. "Be that as it may, can you at least delay the date on which her property is declared abandoned?" His voice looses some of its edge. "You must see that she is who she says she is and..." Bonnie shakes her head. "I've not got that authority. I"m just a clerk. And you still have," she consults her ledger, "nearly a week. Time enough for a third signature, surely?" she finishes, as Rastellion clenches his jaw in frustration.
As Rastellion continues to talk to the woman, Immalaine glances up at the railing again, looking for the stranger. 'It couldn’t be ...' she thought to herself, her mind whirling in disbelief. Finding the face again, she blinks, staring into a pair of eyes she'd never wished to see again. Shaking her head almost unnoticeable to anyone around her, she turns slightly pale and turns back down to watch them talk.
"Well, is there someone who can authorize such a delay?" he asks. Bonnie nods. "The mayor's secretary, but he's..." Rastellion finishes with her. "... off on a long lunch. We've heard." He turns to Immalaine. "We may need to ride back out to... are you okay?" he asks, seeing how pale she is. He takes her hand again, squeezes it. "I know it's a shock. But we've time yet to fix this."
For a moment Immalaine barely hears him, her mind thrown back to memories she had desperately tried to bury. Closing her eyes against the sudden pain, she takes a deep, shaky breath as she opens them again, realizing that Rastellion was looking up at her, his face full of concern. "Ye're right," she says, nodding and putting on a smile for him, leaning down to kiss his cheek. "We've time, an' I'm sure we can do whatever they need us t' do to make the papers right." Rastellion nods, accepting their affidavit back from Bonnie and rolling it back up again for safe storage. "Aye. It'll mean another trip out to your village, but we might be able to get there and back, and get the signature, in two days, if we're fast. I'll have to rearrange a trade meeting I had scheduled..." He rubs his chin, considering, then glances over at Immalaine's face and frowns again. "You sure you're okay?"
Immalaine tilts her head, looking down at him. "Of course I am. Just trying t' think of who else could sign fer me. Besides," she adds, running her hand through his hair, "I'm always alright when ye're here." Rastellion pulls her hand out of her hair. "Stop that," he mutters, kissing it, then he stands. "Alright," he says, giving Bonnie a flat look. "We'll be back. Soon. With three proper signatures. Just have that deed ready to sign over to Immalaine ... as is only just!" Immalaine takes Rastellion's arm, looking down at Bonnie to nod to her. "Ye should get some more help 'round here," she quipped lightly, before glancing back up once more. Shivering, she forced her body to relax against the sudden urge to run, and turns to look at Rastellion. "Shall we go?" she asked. "Mebbe we can get something t' eat afore we head back to Zandrianna's."
"It'd be nice, but I've got t' make arrangements now. See if I can postpone that meeting I've got for tomorrow." He shakes his head. "They won't like that... Still." He sighs, then gives her a quick kiss. "How 'bout you go on back ahead of me. Get any food Zandrianna and the baby might need? I'll be along later this afternoon... and let you know when we can leave again, to get a new affidavit and signatures." He turns, starting toward the door.
Shaking her head, she follows him. "I think I'd rather wait with ye, if it's all the same. An' mebbe I could learn a thing or two 'bout this business o' trading," she adds quickly, her voice stuttering as she talks. "Ye ne'er did give me that proper lesson on trading, after all." Reaching up, she tugs the back of her hair to settle it, and takes a deep breath. Rastellion grins. "No, guess we let that slip, didn't we? Well, today may not be the best day for it... I'm afraid it'll be rather dull, you sure you'd not rather head back on your own?"
“I'm sure. I can read or just watch people pass by or any number of things t' keep me busy. I don't mind waiting fer ye. Really." Slipping her hand further into his arm, she tilts her head and puts on her best smile, despite the dull buzzing in her head.
Rastellion frowns... then shrugs. "Well, if that's what you want. I'll be as quick as I can, then we'll head back." He opens the door for her. Behind them, the tall stranger with the cold eyes gives a quick, private smiles.. then slips away from the rail toward the staircase, his eyes fixed on Immalaine.
