The Mystery of Sister Phoebe

Darkos Warkannon has always proved himself to be an impulsive and impetuous character. To such an extent that at times he has even led others astray. You may remember the occasion when he and Kirwin went drunkenly carousing the young maids of a Sun Dome village. The result was one wedding and funeral - Kiriwn married the young girl to protect her honour, but Darkos had fled (later to be captured) and the young girl had been ritually killed by the Earth Priestesses for illegal fornication.

Then one day Darkos had left the party, saying something about 'loyalties' and 'honour'. When they finally met up again, some seasons later, he had with him a young acolyte of Chalana Arroy. Sister Phoebe.

There was some questioning over who this girl was, and what she was doing with Darkos. Both Darkos and Phoebe continually bickered, but the young Tashite nobleman did not have it in him to abandon the girl.

Then the truth was revealed.

The young Sister Phoebe was none other than the young maid he had consorted with in the village. Rather than slaying the girl, the 'ritual killing' had been a ceremony where her idenity as a Sun-Domer was stripped from her. She was no longer allowed back in their lands, no longer allowed to communicate with her friends and family and no longer allowed to use her old name. Instead she was sent away to work in a temple to Chalana Arroy in Hornsgate - faraway in the wilderness of Prax. Darkos was forced to swear an oath that exactly a year and a day later he would present himself at the temple and offer the girl a livelihood. If she accepted then he had to provide for her. If she refused then he was free of any other obligations.

And that is what he had done.

Finding the young girl, who had taken the new name of Sister Phoebe, he had asked her if she needed anything from him. After living a harsh life in a frontier town the girl had evolved a toughness of spirit and a sense of independence. She refused Darkos' offer of marriage but instead charged him with taking her away from the temple so that she may see more of the world.

And that was how Sister Phoebe came to be with Darkos Warkannon on that day.