There are some pots of tea set up and some finger foods arranged that Sir Corban has called for to convene his impromtu story time here at the Mercier Tea Shop. "Come in, come in," he says, waving to those he sees. "Oh! Cousin!" He stands up to hug and kiss her cheek. "And I am sorry, I am not sure we have met," he says to Vicente. "Sir Corban Telmar, First Captain of the King's Own."

Vicente enters into the tea shop, he does a quick glance around and begins to move over towards Corban. His face is rather flat and he gives a quick bow to the knight and says, "Lord Vicente Fidante, at your service." He folds his arms behind his back and says, "I appreciate you giving the opportunity to get out of the house."


Tesha wasn't going to miss a talk by her cousin! So the woman arrives dressed in green today. Which was out of the ordinary given her usual crimson. She returns the kiss to Corban's cheek and the hug, "It is good to see you, Corban." then she steps out of the way so that the two men can be introduced. Then she dips her head to Vicente, "It is good to see you again, Lord Vicente." she greets him.


"Lord Vicente, a pleasure," says Corban as he goes and pours some tea for the two of them. "I am so glad you were able to come. You see, I recently returned from a pilgrimage, of sorts, to gather stories and testimony about the great Lord Commander, Dayne Valardin, in advance of his statue being unveiled in the Hall of Heroes. And I wanted to share some of those stories with others."

Vicente turns to Tesha in her greeting and drops to give her a quick bow and says, "Pardon me Lady Tesha, I did not see you there. A pleasure to see you once again." And then back to Corban he he gives a dip of his head again and says, "I am delighted to hear stories of great men." His expression and tone still seeming rather blank. He then moves along as somewhat guided by Corban but remains silent. As he is pouring tea he adds, "How well did you know the Lord Commander, or were you familiar?"


Tesha gives a smile to Vicente, "It's alright. I'm used to being looked over." she teases him gently. Maybe it was her being a pain in the ass tonight. "It is good to see you as well." she smiles to him. Then she's finding a seat. Listening to her cousin as he speaks.


There is a small smile from Corban as Vincente asks how well he knew the Lord Commander. "We met, a few times, when I was a child," he says, softly. "He seemed to appreciate that I believed in the knightly virtues. Even gave me a book on tactics that I still swear by today." He takes his tea. "Yet few know of this, truly. Most who knew Lord Commander Dayne in youth, they were slain at the Tragedy at Sanctum. But the Lord Commander did not want to be a knight. No, in fact, he was initially on a path to be a godsworn Mercy of Lagoma, even spending a year at Blancbier to train. There, he was a guest of the Wyrmguards, an honored prince of Valardin, and yet he befriended many commoners he met in his studies. And so when he was sixteen, he slipped his guards and went on an adventure with six of his dearest commoner friends. He was young, idealistic, and very naive. He has no idea his best friend's father was a brigand, working with the Abandoned clan, Blackwing. They were captured shortly after they left."

Vicente allows the faintest smile to curl at Tesha being looked over but his attention is largely directed to Corban. As he situates himself, he just stays focused on the man's words, uncertain of how much interaction to give so he crosses one leg over the other and leans back. He takes the glass of tea in hand and lifts it slowly to his mouth but does not initially drink as he takes a smell of it before drinking. He eases it back down and gives a nod here and there but does not interrupt.


Tesha settles back in her seat and sips at her tea that she ordered. She wasn't interrupting her cousin and she was more focused on learning at the moment. She gives a look to Vicente briefly, but otherwise those dark eyes of hers stay on Corban.


"The Chief of Clan Blackwing knew he had a valuable ransom, a prince of the Valardin. But he decided to toy with the boy," says Corban, continuing his story as he takes a sip of his tea. "The Chieftan told him that he would duel Prince Dayne and if the boy could draw first blood, he would let his friends go. He didn't need them, after all. But Dayne was not a fighter, and he was toyed with, cut and finally incapacitated. He was forced to watch each of his friends be tortured and killed before he passed out, the Chieftan yelling to his healers to make sure their prize did not slip away."

Vicente's face seems to darken at the mention of the treatment by Danye but again, remains silent. He lifts his glass to his mouth to take another sip. His brow his lowered. As the cup is set down, he leans his arm against the table and uncrosses his legs to briefly stretch them out before he crosses the other leg over.

"Dayne was not tied down or bound up by the guards, because the healers feared he would die if he was," explains Corban as the story continues. "So when he awoke, he crawled away while his captors slept. Some woke up and pursued him, and there was a struggle at a cliffside, where he fell over the edge, was swept away by the current, and left for dead. He was found by a kindly beggar on a bank, who nursed him to health and brought him back to Sanctum once more. Yet on the road, the beggar was confronted by a party of Blackwing raiders, and fought them off with what some say was just a walking stick, though some believe it to be Dayne's fever dream."

Once Dayne makes his escape, Vicente's expression shifts from darkness to something more akin to interest. At no point does he give a look of disbelief. Instead it remains a focused interest on the teller of the story. He continues to lean his arm against the table and silently listen.


Tesha keeps quiet as Corban speaks and she sips her tea.

"After his return to Sanctum, Dayne decided to take up swordplay and knighthood. But he was not then the great man that we know him of today. No." Corban shakes his head slightly as he recollects what he learned. "He was sullen, withdrawn, focused solely on learning the sword. And after a year of his training, he slipped off to try to find Torus Blackwing and take his revenge. He hunted him down and challenged him to a duel."

Corban pauses here. "You would think that Dayne here would redeem himself. But he did not. He was humiliated again. He was scarred, left for dead once more. Dayne would later say that his young man's pride bled out of him on the barren stone that day."

Vicente nods, seeming unsurprised when it is said that Dayne did not redeem himself. Perhaps some of that comes from his own experience but still Vicente is silent. During this part though, he starts to reach his hand into a pocket in his cloak but stops and instead reaches for the tea cup and takes a small drink from the glass, giving a nod of his head.


Tesha gives a sad look when the story continues and there's a bit of a soft nod to that as she continues to listen to the story.


"So Dayne lived. But his family did not know that. Rather than return to his family, Dayne sought out the beggar who saved him from Clan Blackwing that first time and asked to be trained. Time and again, twelve times, the beggar turned him away asking him what it meant to be a knight. It was only the thirteenth time." Of course, the thirteenth time. "That Dayne was taken on as a student. And for a year, House Valardin did not know if their prince lived or died, despite their searches, despite Prince Radley hunting down and destroying Clan Blackwing, capturing the evil Chief Torus and executing him for what they thought was the murder of Prince Dayne Valardin. Indeed, while Dayne trained, a funeral was held in his honor, all unaware of where he was."

Vicente leans to his other side at this point and seems to lower his brow a bit more as he considers the story a bit more. He reaches a hand over to the cup but does not lift it up to drink on this occasion.


Tesha looks to Corban and Vicente one of the times that it's quiet and there's a bit of a sad look about Dayne keeping his living a secret from his family, but she doesn't say anything.


"I think, perhaps, I will end it there. There is more, of course, of his life. But that is Lord Commander Dayne's childhood, and, well." Corban glances down at his empty tea cup. "I am quite out of tea, it seems." He laughs. "So I ought to save it for my next round, of the Great Rose Tournament. But that is for another day."

Vicente lifts a brow when he says he ought to end it and leans forward as he lets go of his cup and says, "I don't suppose you might at least tell us in brief of his family's response since he did not, in fact die as they had assume." There's the slightest smile, "I assume there was something of a ... surprise at the least. But if you will not, I shall wait till the next time. I imagine at my age I can learn to wait."


"Are you going to be doing little story sessions like this often, Corban?" Tesha asks after she's finished her tea.


"Until the Lord Commander's statue is unveiled in the Hall, I think," confirms Corban with a nod of his head. He then looks over to Vicente. "Ah. Well. How the Valardin learned of his life is the subject of my next story." There is a small smile. "I am sorry to leave you in suspense.

Tesha is overheard praising Corban.

Vicente nods his head to Corban's response and gives the man a smile, something that seems out of sorts on his face but he says, "Of course, until then I will wait and look forward to. Thank you again for taking the time to give us a break from the routine."


Tesha gives a smile, "It was delightful." she tells her cousin as she rises. "Sadly I need to be getting home. It was lovely to see both of you again though." she states with a dip of her head to Corban and Vicente.