Ala Gannhi

Nathaniel Salem takes a few careful steps up the ramp.
Nathaniel Salem: "...Back from your trip? Agent Jeanne."
Laelia Belisar seems to be absorbed in general check-ups for the moment, not too deeply absorbed in any one thing. The voice causes her posture to visibly stiffen, however. She tucks her tools away into her belt and slowly turns, wiping her hands off on a grease rag. "Father Salem." The greeting is a touch stiff. "What brings you all the way down here?"
Nathaniel Salem seems relaxed - more than usual. There's something flexible about his demeanor, something Laelia likely hasn't seen until now. He speaks, articulate and gentle: "I wanted to have a little chat with you. If you'll allow me, of course."
Nathaniel Salem: "I hope I'm not intruding on some... Important tinkering?"
Laelia Belisar: "Nah, just general upkeep. It's kinda never ending for a ship this size." She hesitates, taking the time to deliberately tuck the rag away as she tries to sort her feelings. Eventually the pilot simply nods. "Of course. Did, uh...you wanna go somewhere more comfortable, or?"
Nathaniel Salem: "Yes. That's why we have the numbers to match." He finally joins her, though walks past her, to look down at various displays, or pipes. "I believe it's just the two of us, now. That'll do."
Nathaniel Salem: "I was made aware of your... Unfortunate altercation with our esteemed guest, yestersun."
Nathaniel Salem raises a hand, pre-emptively. "I resent nothing. Lawrence's lack of attention was at fault, there."
Nathaniel Salem: "Though you seemed to know more about the man than we do."
Laelia Belisar shuffles over a bit closer, though still maintains a bit of distance. "Heh. Figured this was about Voldo." She gives a bit of a noncommital shrug -- guilty as charged. "In hindsight it was an idiot move on my part. I got caught up in the moment when I realized who he was...and by then all I could see was a threat. It's not Lawrence's fault at all." A pause then, as she studies the man. "...Wait. You mean you didn't know? I figured he'd told you everything."
Nathaniel Salem: "He has been broad and proved tokens of good faith. I knew him to be Gyr Abanian, and to having lived an unpleasant life under the rule of the Empire. I parsed him as a conscript. As I tend to - even for those I suspect were not."
Nathaniel Salem: "Faith allows me to believe that every man gets a shot at redemption. I do not look to the past - not more than I need to. But if such information comes to me," he trails off.
Nathaniel Salem: "I know more about our rivals than I'll ever need, even after a thorough search. But Voldo himself?" He gestures vaguely - something designating evaporation, fleetingness.
Laelia Belisar shakes her head faintly with a soft sigh. "I mean...if he's genuinely trying to turn his life around, I guess I'm in no position to judge. All I know is the man I saw all those turns ago. Not a conscript -- a happy volunteer. He'd won favor by being a promising up-and-comer and so the Empire allowed him a long leash. He and his goon squad were privateers, but pretty much only in name. They were so bad even the locals were terrified of them."
Laelia Belisar: "Granted, I didn't know him personally. Just happened to be in town once when he was there being a monumental asshole." She clears her throat. "Ah. Language. Apologies."
Nathaniel Salem: "No need to apologize. I can tell the rational and the raw apart." Unfazed -- though his traits shift, subtly. A hint of a frown there.
Nathaniel Salem: "The privateers you saw him with. Did they sport white jackets -- as he does now?"
Laelia Belisar: "Not...that I remember," she replies after a moment's thought. "All I remember is him being tailed by this clear-eyed elezen and his brother. Not really sure what that was about."
Nathaniel Salem: "...The heretic girl spoke of a clear-eyed duskwight, as well."
Nathaniel Salem: "I do not believe this to be a mere coincidence. What about you?" Airily. He straightens one of his gloves, looking elsewhere.
Laelia Belisar snorts lightly, giving a bit of a rueful smile. "To be frank, Father, there haven't been many coincidences around here in general. But come to think of it...it *is* a pretty specific description, isn't it?"
Nathaniel Salem: "A striking one. I'd like to think she wouldn't have followed through with the plan if she wasn't smitten with that outlandish, knife-eared stranger."
Nathaniel Salem: "That town you were in. Do you remember its name?"
Nathaniel Salem: "I'd like to conduct some... Research."
Laelia Belisar has to chuckle at the use of 'knife-ear', though she shakes her head at the question. "Oh, hells if I know. They all sounded the same out there. Ala Gannha, Ala Lala, Ala Whatsis. It was real close to the Wall though. Sometimes we'd go there on downtime to drink.
Laelia Belisar: "Ala Gannhi! That was it." She snaps her fingers.

Nathaniel Salem: "...I hope you are more thorough here than you were there," it comes with a bit of humor, at least. He doesn't resent her.
Laelia Belisar shrugs, though she can't help a guilty grin. "I got the posting nobody wanted and I was *bored* out of my mind. I can't help if I couldn't pay attention." Well. She probably could, but.
Nathaniel Salem: "The past is in the past." Dismissively, "...How are you feeling?" It comes a but unexpectedly, but he seems earnest. It's asked solemnly.
Laelia Belisar ... blinks owlishly at that. For a moment she doesn't even seem certain she heard right. "I'm alright..." Her reply is almost suspicious. "Just needed some time to clear my head I guess. Voldo pretty much outed me but I guess nobody heard it in the chaos." She glances away, frowning.
Nathaniel Salem folds his arms, his gaze still on her behind the opaque shades. "You're a member of this crew. Regardless of what comes. Cruelty breeds cruelty, and I have seen enough of it."
Nathaniel Salem: "...Though this might end sooner than later."
Laelia Belisar: "Don't tell me those rumors about calling it quits are true?" She glances sidelong at the man.
Nathaniel Salem: "Oh, they are, dear."
Nathaniel Salem: "At least on legal terms."
Laelia Belisar: "Legal?"
Nathaniel Salem smiles faintly at that.
Nathaniel Salem: "I'm not looking forward to the uproar, tonight."
Laelia Belisar: "You gonna tell us everything?" She looks to him. "Including what this damn 'heart' is?"
Nathaniel Salem: "I'm giving up on secrecy. Voldo's louder than I thought he would be. But he has a point. I couldn't hide we were after something specific for too long."
Nathaniel Salem: "...I'll try to be as transparent as I can manage to be. I'm gambling, tonight."
Laelia Belisar: "Well. We've had pretty good luck with gambling so far."
Laelia Belisar shrugs at you.
Nathaniel Salem: "You wouldn't believe the wonders Nymeia lays out for me. I optimize /because/ of my shite luck. Believe me." He pauses. "You know what the Garleans deal with."
Nathaniel Salem: "It's as Voldo said. Them sending flyers to push borders for /one/ item. The potency is known."
Laelia Belisar shakes her head. "It's probably stating the obvious, but we -- they -- the Empire. Ugh. *They've* been getting real strange with the experiments lately. When I left I was hearing rumors of live test subjects, which would not surprise me in the least. Whatever they're trying to do...I'd rather not let them succeed."
Nathaniel Salem doesn't seem to mind her verbal trips; but if he is understanding, it doesn't show. He looks ahead of himself, and his gaze falls down to a magiteknical display. Coordinates. "...I'm aware. I was on the frontline during the Gyr Abanian assaults. They'd turned some of the Palace's areas into laboratories."
Nathaniel Salem: "Mages and aetherochemists of the Alliance - Flames, Adders or Maelstrom - were demanded on site."
Nathaniel Salem: "...To safely extract bodies from contraptions."
Laelia Belisar: "I'd heard about the Prince having little pet projects. Didn't think he had the attention span for that sort of thing." She shivers, bowing her head. "Dammit."
Nathaniel Salem: "...Give a man power. The feeble minds will not try to understand it. They will simply wield it. And it will consume them, for this kind of hunger is insatiable."
Nathaniel Salem: "Allag fell for a reason. I'm no specialist on the matter, but even the oldest accounts of Belah'dia chastise the old world. In anger. In fear."
Laelia Belisar: "They were right to be scared." She frowns. "I can't believe I once had full faith in what I was doing. That I was securing our people -- and the world -- a better future.  That's probably what the Allagans told themselves, too."
Nathaniel Salem: "The best of ideals, the most noble goals. The easiest path to do wrong. I can stand malice. I can see it easily, I can smite it just as comfortably."
Nathaniel Salem: "But to watch a young soul walking towards Thal's Halls, convinced they are doing what is right?"
Nathaniel Salem: "It's a poor spectacle. It's a slow death."
Nathaniel Salem: "To think your people wanted magic. It's a burden."
Laelia Belisar: "Valeriaux says much the same. Grass is always greener, right?" She smirks faintly. "My grandparents used to talk about it. How hopeless they felt, being unable to do anything against the magic-using races. Unable to outrun a fireball. And then we discovered guns."

Nathaniel Salem: "...A different kind of fireball, yes. Poor mages using and abusing magic to subdue and conquer are the ones your Empire learnt from. This, I'm sure of. Decades of grudges left to simmer."
Nathaniel Salem turns slowly in Laelia's direction. "How familiar are you with Monseigneur Marquaile?"
Laelia Belisar looks almost amused by the formal title. "We're...close," she admits with a faint grin. "Although to be honest I had no idea he'd even signed up to this expedition when I did."
Nathaniel Salem remains very still, hardly reacting to that. Though after a strange, silent pause, he smiles. It lacks warmth.
Nathaniel Salem: "I remember finding a note."
Nathaniel Salem: "'I know what he knows', he echoes."
Nathaniel Salem: " * he echoes ))
Nathaniel Salem: "I found it rather cryptic, and didn't pay much attention to it," he cants his head to the side. "I was busy, that morning."
Nathaniel Salem: "Surely, you could shed some light on the matter for me?"
Laelia Belisar cants her head to the side slowly, watching the hologram before them. "Why does that, of all things, seem to make you the most wary?"
Nathaniel Salem: "Because I hunt mages for a living." Though the words are blunt, it comes smoothly, naturally.
Nathaniel Salem: "Monseigneur Marquaile has been kind to me; generous. But I can not ignore the rumors swirling around him, back in Gridania."
Nathaniel Salem: "Is there something I /should/ know, Laelia?"
Laelia Belisar considers him closely. "...You should know he trusts and respects you tremendously. Even when I did not. Even when your display at the debate sent me nearly running for my damn life. No matter what he seems to have the highest confidence in you. So I figured you two must be close."
Nathaniel Salem cants his head to the side. He takes a time to respond, and it is not a pleasant thing - not in that context. Whatever she said, he was not made aware of; that's what his body language says. "...We are not. No."
Nathaniel Salem: "But if it is my reputation preceding me, then I am glad for it," he straightens his back, frowning lightly.
Laelia Belisar huffs quietly. "I don't know what they say about him, although I can guess. He's not someone you need to worry about. I'd trust him with my life, for whatever that's worth."
Nathaniel Salem adjusts his glove, eyes on her. He doesn't move.
Nathaniel Salem: "I hope you're right. For his sake. And yours." Affable.
Nathaniel Salem: "Now, if you'll excuse me. I have a few things to tend to."
Laelia Belisar: "...I don't understand you, Salem. It's a good thing you pay well."
Nathaniel Salem: "As the Traders would want it." He raises a hand, lazily, to wave. The man departs.