Priest John arrived at the gate with Elder Verna walking beside him. The older woman's staff tapped lightly against the ground as she moved. Her sharp eyes scanned the group of women, the three tired men down, getting healed by Selene, and the open gate before settling on Kaela.
John also looked around once and finally asked, "What happened here? Lys?"
Hearing his name called by John, Lys turned around and saw his father-in-law finally arrive. He stepped forward right away. Before John could move any closer, he got to him and placed a hand on John's shoulder, gently guiding him a few steps to the side, away from the others.
"Uhh, Let me explain it to you first," Lys said in a low voice. "It will be clearer that way."
Realising it might be better that way too, to get a better understanding of the situation from Lys's mouth first, John nodded and followed without protest. The two of them moved far enough that their conversation would not mix with the others.
While Lys began explaining what he himself understood about this situation to John, Elder Verna walked straight toward Kaela. Seeing the Elder come to them with an angry face, Maen and Shilla shifted slightly, but neither of them spoke at first. Verna stopped in front of Kaela and looked her up and down.
"Girl, why have you not come to the chapel yet? I asked for you to come to me ages ago." Verna asked. Her voice was rough and direct.
Maen tried to open her mouth. "Elder, we were…."
Before she could say anything in defence of Kaela, Verna turned her head and gave Maen a hard look. The younger woman closed her mouth at once and looked down.
Verna faced Kaela again. "Well? Don't have a mouth on you? Speak for yourself; don't have someone else speak for yourself."
Kaela did not lower her gaze and spoke confidently. "The situation at the gate was more serious. So, I concluded it would be better to go to you after it was handled."
Hearing Kaela speak in this confident voice like this to her, Verna's fingers tightened around her staff. For a moment she wanted to strike the woman standing in front of her. Kaela had been nothing but trouble since the day the Fiora tribe had taken her in. Most of the tribe's members carried difficult pasts, yes. Many had even once been slaves. Most of the tribe members, before being a part of this tribe, had lived through things they never spoke about. But none of them were like Kaela.
Everyone in the tribe knew Kaela had been a real criminal when she ever became a part of this tribe. The only reason the tribe had allowed her to stay was that she had once helped free some of their women. Without that, Verna would never have accepted her. Kaela caused problems regularly. She spoke without care. She acted without thinking about any consequences.
And now Verna was hearing that Maya and Rhuvia had sent her back to the village to guard the walls? That decision did not sit well with her. She at least knew this fact well: Maya and Rhuvia would not have sent Kaela away from the strike team without a strong reason. The thought of what that reason might be made Verna uneasy.
And her talking back to her like this rudely wasn't making her feel good in any way.
"So, why were you sent back to the village?" Verna asked. "Why did you not stay with the strike team? Did something happen? I know Maya enough to know that she isn't the type to send you back without any reason."
Kaela looked down for a second. Then she lifted her head again and began to speak.
"We ran into a large group of kobolds in the forest. The three of us charged them. That young girl, Guild Master Rhuvia, and Maya Niruha ordered us to fall back, but we had already engaged. After the fight, they told us to return to the village and take wall duty. That is why we are here."
Verna's expression stayed hard as she listened. Though she listened to Kaela saying the events in the forest, she knew in her heart that Kaela wasn't exactly saying the full version of the story. Though she wasn't trying to hide something from her, she at least wasn't telling her the full truth either; she knew it. Being old and the elder of the tribe wasn't for nothing.
She turned her gaze to Shilla's face, who was quietly looking down at the ground, as Kaela was speaking. Before Kaela even finished, Verna interrupted her and spoke to Shilla.
"You, you tell me what happened in the forest. I want to hear it all from you." Verna asked Shilla in her commanding voice.
Suddenly being asked the question, Shilla got a little surprised. She looked up at Kaela's face. There was no expression on her face, as if Kaela didn't care either way if she spoke about the events of the forest any differently than she said to the Elder.
Taking it as her indirect cue from Kaela, knowing that if she didn't want her to speak anything differently, she would've said so, or given her any warning beforehand, she spoke up. And started telling everything that happened in the forest, not hiding anything.
A short distance away, Lys also finished explaining the full situation to John. He kept his voice steady and clear, covering the argument, the request from the three men, and the decision he made to wait for proper authority before allowing anyone further inside.
When he was done, John nodded slowly.
"Hmm, you did well, Lys," John said. "Summoning me here without forcing a decision on your own was the correct choice."
Lys looked at the older man's face. The recognition in John's eyes was genuine. He still carried guilt over the night he had used his skill to influence John into accepting the engagement with Selene. That memory had sat heavily with him for some time. And now hearing John speak to him with real approval made that guilt ease, if only a little.
"Thank you, I only did what I thought was expected of me," Lys said quietly.
Before Lys could bask in this sense of guilty weight falling off of him more, a sharp voice cut through the air, taking both Lys and John's attention.
"Foolish girl. I knew you were no good from the moment I saw you."
Verna's tone had risen. She was no longer speaking calmly. Her words came out harsh and clear as she began scolding Kaela in front of everyone still standing near the gate.
Both Lys and John turned toward the sound at the same time, curious about what made the calm old woman snap like this.