[IRP] Return to the Dread Isle

[Alusq]

As she witnessed the sorceress cast forbidden magic, Renata's shoulders shifted under her cloak before she stopped herself, sword hand halfway to her weapon's sheath. She felt a pang of regret for how it had apparently become instinct for her to react to sorcery with unconditional violence against its caster... It was another item in a long list of things she'd learned under the tutelage of the church which she would have to un-learn as quickly as possible. Just startled, not provoked, she thought in the hope that everyone present would be convinced of that.

"For the rain," Renata replied to Wratt in regards to her cloak. It was an ironclad explanation in her mind: she figured that since there were waves of water in the sea, and she'd seen the waves get smaller and smaller as they drew closer to the coast, surely any part of the sea far enough from the coast would have waves so large that they were indistinguishable from eternal rain. She hadn't been on an island before, but surely an island hadn't enough land to keep the waves from becoming any smaller, hence it would likely be raining on the Dread Isle. She couldn't imagine how anyone could build anything in such conditions, let alone have it last long enough to be considered "ruins" hundreds of years later, but if she knew anything from her flight from the church it was that human beings are resilient beasts.

"My name is Natalia," Renata abruptly introduced herself using her mother's name as a pseudonym; her mother would have no doubt disowned her if she'd known her daughter would end up in Badon. "I studied the blade in Thria until recent circumstances compelled me to search for employment." Although the idea of a school of martial arts in Thria was a tall tale, even Renata knew of the importance of making sure one's narrative was at least halfway true lest someone press her for details: she could say she was from a dime-a-dozen village just far enough from the city that no one would be able to visit it, but close enough that Thria was the closest city to go to on errands, and Thria was the city she knew best thanks to her life of affiliation with the church. "With your permission," she continued to Wratt, "I shall board the ship and find quarters in preparation for our departure."