... Missing. [after the vote, Eydis/Pathfinders/etc., afternoon]

[Eydis Gatekeeper]

The youngest Pathfinder had been missing since they returned to their tents from the vote and found Saga was not patiently waiting at the fire, as Eydis had instructed her to. On top of that, the slaves were missing. Not all of them, just Tansy and whats-her-face, the other one that always seemed too slow to Eydis. She had never taken much care to what their names were. Not like Saga. Saga, whose over-empathetic heart drove her to sympathize with the plight of the slaves, and to chastise Eydis' contempt of them.

Eydis couldn't feel for those who wore the collar. It was a choice, in her mind. To live as a slave, rather than take the noble, free death. To live as a slave... disgraceful. There was no honor.

But now Eydis wished more than anything she could recall something about their faces, or their names. Anything. Anything that would give her something to work on, to locate them, and eventually Saga. While Saga was willful and moved about with an ease most of those who had lost their sight did not enjoy, the slaves were something different. They never left Saga's side: but they weren't stupid. They were not to leave the campsite. Not if they wished to face the wrath of the eldest Pathfinder daughter.

So their absence was striking Eydis sharply, a hint, a whisper of fear, that she rarely encountered. It was crippling.

[Raganhar Pathfinder]

Raganhar had returned to his campsite from the vote embroiled, but resolved, nonetheless. The outcome of the wittan didn't change things. A simple trick of stones did not parlay the reality of the situation the islands found themselves in, and the crossroads of leadership. Inevitably, the tides would turn. Raganhar just had to bide his time.

All these thoughts, amongst others, were wrapped up in his focus when Raganhar came upon his eldest daughter, who seemed to be popping in and out of the cloistered tents, sharing a hurried word here and there. Her face was naturally impassive, Eydis never being one to displayed many emotions of any sort. But he could tell by her movements, and the demeanor of those she left behind, that something was amiss.

"Daughter," he called out, and Eydis' eyes snapped to her father's face, halting in her progress. "What is the matter?" he queried, as he made his way to her.

[Eydis Gatekeeper]

"She's missing," Eydis said abruptly, stopping in her path to approach her father. "I have no idea where she is." She paused, searching Raganhar's face for recognition of the severity of the situation. "You know that is completely out of character for her. To disappear."

"I have been scouring the camp site but no one has any news. No one has seen her since morning. Even the slaves are missing."

[Hildred]

Hil had finally calmed down enough to retain the look of hostile distintrest in her face and she made her way toward the Pathfinder camp. If this didn't work, then she needed to enlist the help of the Jarll of Laketown. Perhaps a ceasefire truce could be made while they held this mutual threat at bay and hopefully defeat him. After all, the enemy of one's enemy made them one's friend. She was joined by Ulf her faithful retainer and she wove her way around the camps toward Raganhar, pausing as she saw him speaking to his daughter, the Gatekeeper. She would wait until he finished his words.

[Raganhar Pathfinder]

Raganhar stopped, listening to Eydis speak, trying to translate the panic in her voice into the mobilization of his own actions. He drank it all in, falling silent. Briefly, Raganhar thought back to speaking with Saga in his chambers before they departed for the wittan.

She should have never come.

"She will turn up. She is capable," was all he said in reply.

[Eydis Gatekeeper]

Eydis looked to her father with a confused expression. "What are you talking about? She's blind. There is no telling where --" but Eydis paused, as she saw the Jarlle of Salte approach. She was still bristled, but Eydis paused in her onslaught of words, to step before her father.

"Jarlle. What brings you to our encampment?" Eydis said, by way of greeting, that sounded much more like a challenge.

[Sveyn]

Sveyn was not normally one to care about much of anything, but as they left the vote and Hallbjorn disappeared into the tent with Fiorildi, he had the sense that something was wrong. The peaceful feeling Saga had given him that morning lasted longer than he had expected, and then, instead of fading away slowly like it had the other times she’d touched him, it vanished instantly, as though ripping his heart out, sometime in the middle of the vote. He had ignored the pain then, too busy focusing on the events around him to care about his normal state of existence. But as foreboding built, he had thought about that moment and concluded that something had changed, something was wrong.

Without thinking, his feet took him towards the Pathfinder encampment, to where Saga would be. Perhaps her touch was all he needed again, or perhaps the more times they did so, the worse the parting would be. He didn’t know. He didn’t even understand why she had such an effect on him.

As he arrived, he saw Hildred speaking to Eydis and he almost turned and fled. But instead he walked up to the pair, bold as normal. “Jarll,” he began, including no signs of respect in his introduction. The man was nothing compared to Hallbjorn. “I’m looking for Saga. I wish to see her before we depart.”

[Hildred]

Hil opened her mouth to speak, but turned to see Sveyn. She felt cold, suddenly, all over, and it was all she could do to not acknowledge the raw need for him that arose. She was the Jarlle. She was above such sentiments... or she should be. She was no mere slip of a woman. She was THE woman. The Ruler of Salte and as such, she betrayed no emotional ties to her Elskede, only vague interest.

She turned to the Gatekeeper and resisted the urge to snarl. The girl was proud, and could be vicious. "Gatekeeper. Well met." She wanted to wait until Sveyn was gone. No need for him to be present when she spoke to the Jarll of Laketown. He was off the enemy, though it pained her somewhere on the inside of her chest to admit it.

[Raganhar Pathfinder]

Raganhar was about to open his mouth, when suddenly he was flanked at both sides. What was going on here? He caught his eldest daughter's eye and she looked to him skeptically. Hildred was speaking, and then Sveyn, Hallbjorn's brother, of all people, was now in his campsite. Raganhar almost felt Eydis tense, and they both noted the defensive position.

"Deathbringer," Raganhar said, turning to look at Sveyn. "A strange request from a foreign man. I would not consent, but your guess is as good as mine. Interesting that your feet make this path towards my camp." He paused. "She is missing, after all," he added, watching Sveyn for his reaction.

[Eydis Gatekeeper]

Eydis saw Sveyn approach, and watched him make his way towards her father with a wary eye. What could he possibly want? After their encounter the day before, she was sure he would disappear. But then again, he was one of the last to see Saga at her sister's side...

"Well met, Hildred," Eydis said in return, dropping the formal title. The wittan was fading. She had no mind now of not offending, too wrapped up in her racing mind, trying to feel out Saga somewhere within the camp. "What businss have you?"

[Sveyn]

Sveyn raised an eyebrow but nothing more. “She was here this morning. Don’t tell me you’ve managed to lose your blind daughter, old man. Where could she go?” He barked back, his voice as gruff as always. Hildred’s presence annoyed him. Why was the Jarlle of Salte associating with the Jarll of Laketown, unless this had implications against his brother.

He filed the information away for later and focused back on Saga. “Tell her I came by then.”

[Hildred]

She frowned and looked at Eydis' father behind her. "I wish to discuss matters with you, Jarll of Laketown. But I shall leave you to see to your family matters. I will head back to Salte within a few hours. You know where to find me." She nodded to Eydis, then her gaze flickered over to Sveyn before turning on her heel. She needed to get her hands on her swords. Her fingers itched, and she wanted to kill something. She just couldn't do it here. Sacred grounds and all that.

[Raganhar Pathfinder]

Raganhar narrowed his eyes at the younger man's impulsive words, and he felt Eydis take a step in Sveyn's direction at the subversiveness of his words, but he held up a hand to signal her halt.

"If I see her, I will do no such thing, Deathbringer. Your obvious diversion towards my daughters is unsettling, and no father, or old man, would be wise to entertain it."

He watched as Hildred departed, and glanced back to Eydis. What exactly was happening here?

[Sveyn]

Sveyn turned back around and eyed Raganhar with a fierce look. “If I have the right of it, Jarll, your daughter has an interest in me. She seems to make her way around the camp quite well for one who is blind. I’m surprised you even brought her here.”

He would not admit he enjoyed her company or that she settled the rage in his heart. He would not say that he wanted to feel her touch one more time. Instead he would simply be on his way, and take his rage out on Ylva in the sheets.

He glanced at Eydis. He’d caught her movement. “I wouldn’t even try, Gatekeeper.”

[Eydis Gatekeeper]

"If I was trying, Deathbringer, you would be flat on the ground by now," Eydis snapped, taking another step forward. They all just needed to get the fuck out of there. She needed to find her sister.

"You stay the fuck away from my sister, you bastard. Or is that it? Do you know where she is right now, and intend to flaunt it that she is missing?" Eydis closed the distance between them, narrowing the space between their faces. She felt heated and on edge.

[Sveyn]

Without thinking he reached for Eydis, grabbing the front of her shirt and pulling her close. Staring into her eyes, his voice low and growling, he spoke. “Your sister tends to come find me, Gatekeeper. Or did she fail to enlighten you about her ventures this morning. Clearly you don’t keep a good leash on her.”

He let go of her quickly, before the other Pathfinders could assault him. “I’ll be on my way.” He turned to leave.

[Eydis Gatekeeper]

Eydis fumd, enraged that he had the balls to touch her. No one touched Eydis without her consent. But just as quickly, he released her, and turned to go.

"That's right. Walk away, coward, son of a traitor. You, who could never be Jarll, that your own father denied you. A smart move for a man with no spine," she spat. Eydis felt the people assembled around her tense.

A challenge had been drawn. But clearly, for a reason. Eydis was not one to move without a specific motive.

[Sveyn]

He stopped in his tracks, motionless, anger crossing his face. That the woman would bring up his past, here in front of everyone, caused a ripple of rage to pass across the muscles of his shoulders. He and Hallbjorn had spoken. Hallbjorn would have yielded. But his brother made for a better Jarll. His brother was not dominated by emotion, but thought.

Slowly he turned around. His dark eyes landed on hers. “So then the Gatekeeper is asking me to stay?” His hand moved without thinking to the club at his side, as though he expected the brutes who called themselves Pathfinder to violate the sacred grounds.

[Eydis Gatekeeper]

"It seems that you, of all people, who boast such an affiliation with my sister - perhaps you know where she is." Eydis paused. "Perhaps you've known all along," she said slowly, insinutating. Feeling his anger.

[Sveyn]

“Do you enjoy sounding like a fool, Gatekeeper?” Sveyn barked back. “If I knew where she was, why in Eldingar’s name would I have come to ask?”

[Eydis Gatekeeper]

Eydis just smirked.

"To play silly games, like Stormhold men do."

[Sveyn]

“Games are for Pathfinders. Like this Wittan. A useless game. A waste of time,” Svelyn growled. He was not one for sparing with words. He was a man of fists and axes. And he had no intentions of violating the sacred ground.

Once they were off it however...