July 02, 2009

478. Manipulation of Emotion - Raezyr

Over the next few days, the number of people frequenting the blacksmith shop nearly tripled it's usual traffic. People brought in all sorts of things for repair, most of them old, rusty and probably had been for years. Raezyr found himself sharpening a lot of axes as well, many which didn't look like they needed it, but he ran them on the whet stone wheel just the same.

Both he and Mathias knew what they were here for, although no one said it. They were all coming by to get a closer look at one of the two newcomers. Many of the folks in the village hadn't paid them any more attention than they would have any newcomer, but now there was reason. Now the rumors of the prophecy's fulfillment had some weight to it, and people were starting to take notice.

Trychon and Violet were experiencing the same type of phenomena. Suddenly it seemed as if everyone in the entire monastery had run out of their medicinal teas, and ointments and needed some kind of botanical advice for the herbs and plants in their own private gardens.

All they could do was to keep filling the orders as best they could, although they began to run low after a while, and Violet began to ask those who had picked up orders in the last couple of weeks to come back at a later date, suspecting they probably hadn't run out in such a short amount of time anyway.

In the evenings, the foot traffic in front of their house had increased as well. People who lived on the other end of the village found some reason to walk by, and they all slowed down when passing the house. Anytime the front door was opened, the people would stop and stare into the house, unabashedly.

After a few more days, the traffic at their shops subsided a bit once the monks began to run out of excuses for herbs and blacksmith work, but the foot traffic by their shops and the house tapered off only slightly.

More immediately, though, they noticed a shift in attitudes. Some of the passersby gave them cold, harsh stares, while others had the look of an "holo-star-adoring teenage girl", as Raezyr so succinctly described it.

The change in attitude wasn't limited to just outside the house, though. Mannix was growing more elated, and confident. He felt his proclamations about the prophecies had been justified, yet somehow his mood was darker as well. He felt he wasn't being given his due recognition, and his contributions were being looked over.

His wasn't the only mood that was darker. Mannix' brother Baldemar's attitude had grown worse. He wasn't happy about things going his little brother's way, proving him and his friends wrong. He was constantly glaring at Mannix, and never looked at Trychon and Raezyr, let alone speak to them.

The two Sith could tell that the changes in Mannix and Baldemar were worrying Mathias and Violet, yet they were at a loss as to what to do about it. These dark attitudes were something the Taxl monks were not used to dealing with.

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