Most of this day at Castle Pieksvaldt has been spent resting from the previous nights excursions, for everyone involved, Lilac, Anisa, Umeko, Xander… even Vandringar excused himself to retire to his chamber for much of the day. There's still some daylight left (wan as it is), and inquiring after Sir Greyswand allows him to be found easily enough, the senior Korv houseman watching over the castle's "guests". He lingers outside one of the studies, the lean black avian dressed in plainer breeches and tunic than the other housemen, but still wearing the Pieksvaldt arms on his cloak pin and a rapier at his side.

Lilac has gotten dressed early in order to meet with the Korv, the weighty matters of her imminent talk with him heavy on her mind. She's decided to dress in a blousy dress, to better hide her loose shape-shifting outfit, should she need to make use of her other form. As she walks towards the Korv she finds herself pausing to take a deep breath; it isn't easy for her to tell someone grim news, and even worse when she must reveal the death of his friend. With her own friends being so close and soon to be departing on their own dangerous mission, she can't help but worry about their untimely end. Feeling as ready as she'll ever be, the human continues until she's within speaking distance. "Um, Sir Greyswand? May we talk?"

The Korv looks up from his reverie, seeming to have been doing little more than staring into space. There's nothing dazed about him when he answers, he simply didn't seem especially occupied with anything. "Miss Dragomir," he says, acknowledging Lilac with a nod. "Yes? What is it you wished to discuss?"

The bardess takes a moment to candidly glance around, waiting to speak until she's certain no one is close enough to overhear. "Well, Sir Greyswand, I've come to learn a few things, things that you should know." She glances around again, checking the way she came, and then adds, trying to meet the man's eyes, "About this castle – and, well … Lady Riesling." The woman bites her lip, then suddenly holds a hand out. "Walk with me, if you would?"

Greyswand seems equal parts mystified and suspicious, but he graciously takes the hand to walk arm in wing with Lilac. "As you wish, Miss Dragomir. Dame Riesling, you mean, she served House Pieksvaldt, as the rest of us. What of her?"

Lilac waits until the pair have left the 'guests' well behind to speak again, staring intently forward while chewing her lip worriedly. The matter would be painful to bring up in normal circumstances, but now she knows the Dame may well be listening and further she suspects her pregnancy might be making her own self even more emotional than she usually is. The last thing she wants to do is break down in tears while her friends are out risking their lives. Once she feels they've walked far enough, and that she's mustered enough courage, she finally says, "What I will tell you, you won't likely believe. But please, have some faith in me – or if not me, then look to the tapestry, and my curse. You see … " The bardess bites her lip, then takes another breath. "You see, Lady Riesling has … Is … is dead."

"Of course she's dead," says Sir Greyswand, a brow arched slightly. "My sense for time is… skewed. But I know we haven't seen her for years, decades perhaps. We presumed her dead, though we never knew her fate. I suppose she could have abandoned her post, but she was not that type of person. Her loyalty and sense of duty were very much a part of her." He sighs. The walk takes the unusual pair away from the study and down one of the central halls, toward the courtyard. "Dead or fled, it would have been the same thing to us, but we never knew what her fate was. Sylvania is a dangerous place, and was especially so during times of conflict, so we assumed misfortune befell her, and mourned her loss."

Lilac seems a little bemused when the Korv reacts without surprise; she would have taken news of a friend's death much worse, she's certain. She nods as the man speaks, then reaches over to pat his wing-hang gently. "She is a good person, whatever you may think, never doubt that," she assures the man. Withdrawing her hand so she can walk, she bites her lip again, and then elaborates. "I know the means of Dame Riesling's death. But, you see, you have no reason to trust me, or anything I say, so maybe I should explain so that you might know me to be truthful? How to say it? Dame Riesling's spirit resides with me." The bardess lifts her free hand, and places it over her heart. "Her curse is mine. It is my image on the tapestry. It is why the Raveness knows me – no, not me: Dame Riesling."

Greyswand seems to read Lilac's surprise on her face, but he doesn't take issue, just nodding. "She was a good friend, and her loss was keenly felt. The Necromancer Wars took many fine people from us, and we learned to deal with loss. Things are different now, at any rate. Should she be a part of the Gear's grand machination now, she would be in a better place than we." He stops to listen, and it's his turn to look surprised, or maybe a even taken aback at Lilac's suggestions. He turns to fix his gaze on Lilac, intent. "That is a bold proclamation, Miss Dragomir. It is difficult to believe you, yes, but it is true, there is something different about you… familiar. And you do bear our curse somehow. Yea, even the great tapestry in the hall seems to recognize you. Explain, then."

Lilac turns to face the Korv and nods, still holding his hand. She realizes that the stoic man may not need the physical comfort, but it makes her feel a little better. The bardess comes to keenly realize that she's begun to feel for others a great deal more, something she attributes to her experiences on the road, and the consequences of her own mistakes. "I am a bard, like I think I've said, Sir Greyswand. Or at least, I wanted to be a bard. I left home perhaps a year ago, maybe more or less – I, too, suffer from some loss of time. But you see Sir Greyswand, somewhere in the mists of my time on the road, the Dame's spirit came upon me, and I became her haven. It took me some time to even come to my senses after our union, and longer still to come to know all I do about my possession, but the simple explanation is that Dame Riesling's wandering soul found harborage in me, and her curse became mine. She has quietly guided me in my dreams, and it is her memories that have lead me and my friends here. We are not here by accident. Dame Reisling has revealed her suffering and plight to me, and I mean to answer it."

Sir Greyswand lets his wing be held, talons in hand and the long flight feathers fanned out. His face is puzzled now, the Korv perhaps not willing to believe, but not willing to disbelieve either. "This is a lot to take in. What did she show you, then? What do you intend to do here?"

"At first, she showed me her dreams: she taught me to control the curse, warned me of the coming storm and in time, showed me her life as I dreamed I was Lady Riesling. Through her dreams, I learned of the Raveness – I knew her terrible fate and power long before I entered this place. But you see," and here Lilac frowns slightly, ears canting back in a look of restrained pain, "we have experienced another being of the Raveness's power. Though it … it … It is gone now, we … We learned from it of the artifacts that have given the Raveness her strange power. It is this we must speak with, if this is to ever end. But … But there is more." Lilac takes her free hand and reaches up, head tilting down to meet it, her fingers brushing her hair away. The memory of the Temple of Being was more powerful than she expected, the woman thinking that the subject and her state have aggravated that dark and terrible memory. She takes a breath, holding it, then nods and continues. "Excuse me, that being was part of a time in my life that I try to forget." Her eyes look up through hair, and she frowns a little deeper, "But you see, Dame Reisling was betrayed. You all have been. But come, we go to the chapel – your evidence will be there."

Greyswand frowns, looking uncomfortable, but he follows along when asked. "You would speak with the Raveness then, because only she spoke with the artifact when it was found… and now she and it seem to be one and the same. You say there was another, like as she is now?" It seems difficult for the Korv to keep up with these concepts, so he keeps up on foot instead, the pair continuing to the courtyard. "Wait, were you responsible for what happened to the chapel, then?"

"Then the Lady is a mage of some sort? The organization that attempted to use the artifact we encountered attempted to control it by magecraft, but there seems to be much more to it. Truly, these artifacts are beyond mortal ken," the bardess says. When the Korv inquires about the Temple of Being, she tries to mask her reaction, but she can't hide the way her ears skew and the tension in her face. "The, um, other was created rather than … than merged. It was a … A sad being. It is gone now. It … No, never mind. It is gone." She shakes her head to clear it, then blinks at the man a moment until she realizes he had asked more. "Wha-, oh. Yes and, well, no. I was there, but I did not shatter the glass. You'll see, perhaps."

"Not a mage, no," says Greyswand, rubbing the underside of his beak with the edge of his wing. "But she had an… affinity for the strange spirits of this land. Some declared she was a medium, others might have thought her simply head-touched, but her will was powerful, of that there could be no dispute. Some say there was Sylvanian in her blood." The pair emerge into the courtyard, the open area largely deserted, the grounds wet. The chapel sits in its corner as it did before, but with windows empty save for a few colored shards still in the panes. People have been here, though… the glass has been since swept up.

Lilac listens intently, nodding now and then. "A medium? I've heard of people who can speak with spirits, but aren't mages or necromancers. I've also seen a few pretenders, but never anyone who was as potent as your Raveness. That she was able to speak with the artifact means something special, but I don't know exactly what. It took us some very special measures to speak with the one we found, and I can't speak with the artifact at all," Lilac says after. She pauses as the two come out into the open, looking up at the shattered windows as the memory of what shattered them floods back to her. "She spoke to me here – Dame Riesling, that is. Her remains are inside; it's where I think she's strongest. Her voice filled the dusty tubes of the forsaken instrument inside, after I restarted it. I don't know if she'll appear again, she's seems to be weakening. It's so sad." The bardess lowers her gaze, looking to the Korv beside her. "I'm so sorry to show you this, especially with such haste. But I think she'd want me to help the people who remain, and we haven't much time. We should go inside now."

The houseman makes no protest, allowing himself to be ushered through the great double doors of the chapel. The thick layer of dust in here hasn't been disturbed much beyond what Lilac had done when she first visited. From the footprints, it seems as though some of the braver servants may have peeked into see what they could discern, but didn't venture far inside, leaving what glass fell in here to lay where it is below the windows. Greyswand sighs, looking over the neglected chapel.

Lilac finally releases the man's arm, moving at a brisk pace towards where she had left Dame Riesling's remains. "Is it painful for you to be here, Sir Greyswand? I had thought that with all that has happened, your people had lost their faith," she inquires as she moves, looking back to make sure the Korv doesn't withdraw out of guilt or shame.

"We have had a long time to come to grips with what we are now," says Greyswand, folding his wings and taking a few steps down the aisle. He pauses at a pew to touch it with a fingertip, then look at the thick gray smudge on his talon. "It is a reminder of better times, of more righteous times… and it is somewhat shaming to stand before the Gear now. But this reminder has always been here." He doesn't go into it further, just following Lilac toward the icon at the back of the chapel.

"It's always been here, that's true," Lilac agrees, finding a different meaning in that statement. She can't help but wonder if the man's fate would be her eventual fate if she is unable to dislodge her curse; would she slowly fade away, drained of life and light, until she, too, was a faithless creature that merely existed, never to live? The thought pains the bardess, her empathy swelling for this poor, sad man. She kneels beside the pew, pulling the cloak full of bones closer. "Though I have not been cursed as long as you," she says, pausing in her recovery of the remains to look back, "I though you should know, that in my short time I have killed many people, and I think I have begun to lose some of myself – I even kil- … Almost killed an innocent woman. I think the worst part was, I couldn't tell if it was the curse, or my own weakness. I … I just wanted to share that, so you know that, maybe, we're not so different or alone here." She gives the man a weak, joyless smile, then reaches forward. "Here are Dame Riesling's remains," she breathes, shaking her head. "Her throat was torn by the same man or group who wielded this," and here she digs out her rubbings of the foorman's blade, "weapon – the weapon that slew the Lord Rook."

Greyswand crouches by the cloak to look closer, the cloth opening to reveal scattered, blackened bones. He reaches into them to take up the skull, staring at it intently, face to face, as if looking it in the eyes. When he speaks, his voice is hushed. "It's… her. I recognize her beak. But how… ?" He turns when Lilac presents the rubbing she took of the sword, studying it. "But this is a common footman's sword from our armory, one of the rugged blades we used to fight when we were afield. They're not like the light dueling swords we wear here, we haven't used these since the Necromancer Wars."

"That is because it is exactly what you say: a footman's sword, used in the Necromancer Wars. It is the blade recovered by the one who slew the Lord Rook, and who killed Dame Riesling when she happened upon its recovery, burning and hiding her remains here," Lilac says quietly, avoiding looking at the skull for more than a quick glance. "I know who killed her," she admits, nodding to herself. "But I don't know if you'll believe it, so … So that is why we're here." She forces her gaze to the skull now, ears laying back, and reaches for it, placing the tips of her fingers across the head, as if brushing the forehead of an ailing child. "Dame Riesling," the bardess says, touching her free hand to her heart, "will you join us, please, if it's not too much of a burden?"

After a sudden though, Lilac adds, "And if you can make use of it, I'll lend you my body, so you can speak."

Near Riesling's remains, there's definitely the feeling of a presence, something that prickles the back of the neck, a faint sensation that gets mildly stronger when Lilac touches the skull and speaks. No force takes hold of Lilac to use her as a mouthpiece, but the wind coming through the broken windows passes over the pipes of the organ, a low moan in precisely tuned keys. It's soft, nowhere near the explosive volume that Riesling first spoke with, but it's there. "Greyyy… swaaand… " The Korv houseman stands, his beak open and his crest lifting.

Lilac rises with the man, eyes slightly widened and ears erect. "Dame Riesling's spirit usually rests with me, but here, she can appear – at least a little bit," Lilac explains, a little distracted by the undiminished wonder at speaking to a spirit that has lived in her for over a year. "Dame Riesling, do you trust Sir Greyswand?"

"Myyyy… frieeend… " moans the pipes. "Yes… " The wind idly stirs pages of scattered hymnals.

The bardess nods to this, having felt in her heart the deceased Korv would trust this man. "Then I trust you, Sir Greyswand – and I need you to trust me now." Looking up the pipes, Lilac lays her ears back and beseeches the spirit, "Dame Reisling, who is your killer, the man who betrayed the Raveness and her lord, and who turned against this castle? Please, speak so that Sir Greyswand might know, and help me and my friends save what good remains in this place."

"Kantemir… " The word is soft, even for low murmur of the organ pipes, and Greyswand looks as though he's straining between listening and trying to decide if he heard right. The Korv houseman's throat feathers ruffle, and he croaks, "The Seneschal? But… but he's been the steward of this castle and the Raveness' caretaker since the Lord Rook took the field!"

"Yes, he has," Lilac says, sadly. "Kantemir is the name Dame Riesling told to me, and the shattered windows you see are the result of her outcry. It is Kantemir, but the question is: why." The bardess turns to the Korv man and reaches to try and take his hand, meeting his eyes. "I know it is a lot to take it, but we – no, everyone here – needs your help now. I have been sent on a mission to locate the why of Kantemir, even as my friends work to provide a distraction. What I need from you is your help to find that why, but also to help rally and separate the men and women of the castle – especially the Midnight Murder – who you believe still have some shred of hope and light in their heart, so they can help us face the others, Kantemir included."

Greyswand looks down at his wing, the dry, leathery claw dark against Lilac's soft, pale hands. The parchment rubbing of the sword's crosspiece remains clutched in his talons, and he looks at it, seeming at a loss. "Everything that made us Korv, we gave up. All we have left is our oath. Our fealty to House Pieksvaldt. We will be loyal, but can we really be any help?" He fingers the scrap of paper, a talon tip crossing over the impression left in charcoal on it. "What would you do, even knowing why Kantemir has done this?"

Lilac follows the man's gaze, her ears wilting as she listens. For a moment she just stares at the man's hand, recalling her journey thus far, all the things she has done wearing the form of a monster and using the heart of the beast. She had never been so noble as this man, nor as refined. She had ultimately left her home for selfish reasons, and never had to sacrifice as he had, for his hearth and home. It makes her wonder how she can even answer the man's question without seeming shallow and self-righteous. She closes her eyes as she decides to simply offer him the plain truth of what she has learned, including her own weakness.

"The truth is, Sir Greyswand, I am not so strong as you," she admits, nodding a little. "I am just a would-be bard who was never much of a bard or, um, much of a strong person either. I left home because my home seemed dull, and I wanted to see the world. I never told my family I was leaving. That was when Dame Reisling found me." She shakes her head a little. "I was lost until I found Lady Umeko, who is sort of like my leige lady, but also my friend. Helping Umeko helped me find myself, but even then I made many mistakes. I never thought of myself as a warrior or, um, a murderer, but I killed several people like an animal, and even an innocent woman who didn't deserve it, because I acted first and thought second. But through it all, the one thing that kept me going were my friends, and the thought that if I kept going, maybe I could change things and make the world a little better." Lilac takes a deep breath, exhales, and looks up. "If I were you, I would think about my friends. Dame Reisling was murdered unjustly, the lord too! Kantemir has betrayed your house, and the Raveness suffers! The Great Gear will forgive you, just as it forgave me, and allowed me into Its house. Your oath isn't all you have left, you still have yourself, and you can still try. If someone had murdered Lady Umeko, I would hunt them to the ends of Sinai and beyond."

Tilting her head as she realizes something in afterthought, Lilac adds, "We may be cursed, but I think it is what we chose to do with our teeth and claws, when we may decide of our own will, that decides if we are monsters. My friends taught me that."

Lilac then pats the man's hand, comfortingly. "I just wanted you to know that, so you know where I come from – so I'm not a stranger. I don't want you to feel alone and so burdened by past guilt that you feel helpless. You have friends." The woman smiles. "But to answer your question, what I need from your people is to not fight us, to help us locate Kantemir's and any other secrets that may help, and to chose to return to be Korv rather than give into the emptiness inside. It may come to pass that some will not turn away from what they've become, and Kantemir certainly won't just admit things and give up, so you may have to face them as well. But, it is better they fall than keep on like this. We, my friends and I, will find a way to release the Raveness. We may already know how," the bardess finally answers.

Greyswand listens through all this, just looking down at the parchment in his hand. He nods slowly at the end. "I can gather the Murder, and we can try to seek out the truth of it. Perhaps an end comes, for better or for worse." He looks up again. "This sword. If it truly has the blood of our lord on it… it could destroy Margaret. Perhaps at first he kept it as a symbol, but now… if she had final proof that her husband would never return, I fear she would release that which gives her her endless hunger. I cannot let that happen, at the least… to raise arms against our lady is impossible, and while she places authority in the seneschal, I fear she will not allow us to harm him either."

"Then please, withdraw as you can. I must now admit to you our distraction, since I have found you to be a kind and merciful man – I was unsure if the Murder would even listen to me, yourself included. I am very sorry for that. Anyway," Lilac frowns, glancing towards the door, "The Huntress will come. We planned to use her to distract the Murder so we can end this, but now I worry I may have allowed a mistake. If you can, avoid her, and let those you think are irredeemable – and I hate even saying that – fight with her. I fear she's as much of a monster as any of you now." Lilac bites her lip, looking back. "You see? There's always so many mistakes in trying, but you have to make the best of it."

The houseman's crest rises. "The Huntress? Coming here? But how? No outsider can find Castle Pieksvaldt unless we bring them, nor can any leave."

"The ghosts of this castle have a power of their own. Dame Riesling left and found me, and now another is trying to guide my friends. It seems the only escape from the castle is resolution or death," Lilac replies, grimly.

Greyswand frowns around his beak, and looks away. "I see. Perhaps it is for the best she comes. The Midnight Murder will not hinder you if I can help it. If we can aid you, we shall. Where are your friends now?"

"The decision to use the Huntress wasn't an easy one; she twice nearly killed me, as well, and she seems, well, crazy. But there is one thing I wonder about her: I think she has a connection to this castle. I saw a crest on her belt, and my heart tells me that her hate is more than just a coincidence. Maybe her destiny is here, too," the bardess adds in admittance. "As for my friends, I'm not sure. They're seeking a way out, and I am to find Kantemir's quarters or secret places and try and reveal his intentions while they distract."

The Korv shakes his head. "No, have no regret for this choice. It may be what we are due, whether at her talons, or the talons of our own Lady. I cannot begin to guess how your friends may leave this place to summon her, but… things have been different since you came. It could be that an end to Nightfall comes, or the longest night of them all." He looks up at the shattered and empty windows of the chapel. "I will call the Murder back from their rounds. The Raveness should wish to feed… Kantemir will be with her, tonight and today."

Lilac takes in a breath and nods. "Well, then. I guess the matter will all come to a head soon, won't it? I have to admit, I'm more than a little scared, but it's all for the best, I hope." Lilac pats the man's hand comfortingly, but it may be that she needs the comfort as much for herself. "My own curse may end before the next day, too. My fate is your fate. I'm not sure how to feel about it, now. I just know that it all needs to end, for everyone's sake." She tilts her head, gaze trailing off as she looks off at the darkening skyline. "I think I'll miss the wings most of all, and how it made me useful. I guess I'll have to stand on my own strength, won't I?" A pause, and Lilac adds, "I'm afraid of being useless again."

The Korv gives Lilac's hand a somewhat awkward squeeze. "We of the Murder have always had wings, but we haven't been free since the day our lord rode from the gates. But you came from the outside, and Dame Riesling saw to guide you here, and even now sees something in you. The tapestry recognizes you. We of the Midnight Murder may be finished, but you are not your curse… I would see you go beyond these walls again, fates willing."

Lilac smiles a little and squeezes the man's hand back. "I want to save all of you, too. Don't mind me, I'm just emotional. A lot has happened in my travels and sometimes it sneaks up on me when I need to focus." Looking back, she tilts her head a little, ears going askew. "I wish I had had a chance to know you and Dame Riesling in better days, but I suppose we only have what we are given. If you are ready, we should be moving if you want to catch up with my friends, or if you have a place in mind we might find secrets."

"They were very different times, Miss Dragomir. Pieksvaldt was a strong house, and Rookery thrived," says Greyswand, looking out the chapel window. Lightning plays across the clouds, casting fitful illumination through. "They were just rulers, Magsbed and Margaret. They loved this land. There was a time I would have been proud to show it to you. You are right, however… we must do what we must. We can find your friends, and make sure the Murder brings them no harm. I fear any secrets left are with Kantemir himself."

"Then we'll make him speak them and answer for the good he destroyed," Lilac says, eyes narrowing, an edge in her voice. "I wish I knew why men do these things, but maybe it's best I never understand. I think I pity him; he lost something better than he'll ever find in this sad darkness. Maybe another man, Lord Vandringer, will see that before we're done here and not make the same mistake. Be wary of the lord, too. He speaks well and good, but there is something rotten in him, and despite all his niceties I haven't seen anything that makes me think he any good." Lilac releases the Korv's hand, taking a moment to spread her wings and stretch them. "If we hury maybe we can still catch my friends before the exit, and we can see for ourselves what the Huntress has to do with all this!"

The houseman nods, unfolding his wings as well. "Let us fly."