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The Heartwood
The Dirkwood Forest
Home
Attaday, the Eighth Day of Yrick

Bekkah, Pietro, Lyric, Cesare, Keiko … and Most Everyone Else …

In an odd way the fact that the Dwarven trap, the drawbridge that separated Pietro from Bekkah at the very start, turned out to be a very good thing. Because that rumbling thunder, the steam explosion that occurred when thousands of gallons of water hit the forges did more than just rumble. The top wall of the keep splintered and spit, collapsing as its structural underpinnings were shattered by the death of the flesh and darksteel forges.

Luckily, the Forest Folk, their allies and their new kin were halfway across the lake before that happened anda ble to stay ahead of the sudden surge of the lake to fill the well that was once Loch Faast Keep.

Some escaped easier than others. Once the Mice had a place they could see they could go to it. Rats moved things, including their own kind, including the makeshift armada of rafts and boats. First there was the trip to the dam, which no longer had the same amount of water to hold back. The spillways were dry, the water level having dropped perhaps three to four feet. It would take a while, perhaps a season, for the river that fed the lake to refill the reservoir. It was true, the lake had flooded a huge amount of forest land but in the generations that followed it had become part of the Forest – a place for fish, waterfowl and the like.

Nature was like that.

From the dam it was the trek back to the swamp. Those not Forest Folk were ferried, those that were miners were carefully escorted by Pack and those who had already claimed their freedom.

Person Cat prowled, disappointed that it was still dark, giving the Pack a wary eye, sizing himself up against each of them and deciding that the probable costs far outweighed his curious nature. It was also difficult to look ferocious when surrounded by Mice. You see, being brave, Tomomi had at him poked him just as they started down the forest path. To make sure he’d keep his promise. Then – with a surprised gasp – she said the one and perhaps the only thing that both could and did seal his fate. He looked down fiercely, but she just gave Keiko the most wonderfully surprised look.

“He’s softer than Soft!”

Then they had arrived Home.



Lady and Girl met them on the piers.

They had an arm full of blankets, with travel cloaks and tunics and a bushel of apples set out next to them. Lady smiled.

“Welcome to Home … come, upstairs there is warmth and companionship. You are safe. There are nooks if you are scared, food and drink to restore one's spirits, water to wash and bathe …”

It was a time of welcoming. This time was not for her, her family, for those who had done the rescue, those that had helped. It was time for those who were lost, scared and never ever having known kindness and care as something other than rare and fleeting. Time to be shown they now had a home.

Thanks and rewards and remembering would come later

“… and … and … and …”

Lady winced.

From above came the most out-of-tune singing. Obviously someone had not been determined to make a dramatic last stand against the Dwarves and equally obvious that certain Lordlings had ways to travel that were swifter than boats and rivers.

Lady simply closed her eyes.

“Would someone mind tossing the three of them into the swamp for me?”

… oh don't let 'em in till it's all drunk up
And somebody shouted Macintyre! Macintyre!
And we all got blue-blind paralytic drunk …
When the Old Dun Cow caught fire …

Cesare

Now the adrenalin rush is fading, he is starting to feel tired, tired but elated. He watches as more folk arrive, amazed at the numbers but he is still waiting for his friends. He needs to see them safe before he can fully relax.

But he is still wearing a big grin.

Lyric, racing against the Dawn

Once outside, and still keeping the boy with her, the small Minstrel looked up to her much larger guardian and whispered a statement and a question.

"I will need my cloak, my friend... The heavy tartan one, I left it in our boat."

"Do you know how soon until the dawn breaks?"

****

(Will be continued as I play this out a bit)

One Fang

The big wuff blinked, blinked and tilted his head.

Their boats were a chaos and finding one particular boat quickly would have stretched even the slimmest chance of coincidence. That and if it was in a boat, it was probably already claimed by one of their refugees - since it was something warm, protective and comforting.

But there was nothing to worry for.

All One Fang did was shrug as he transferred his travel cloak from his shoulders to the Minstrel's. It might have been truly heavy and very bloodstained but it was also nicely oversized and had a very nice hood.

"We should get to Home beforrre dawn ... She will rise a little bit later; but the woods are so dense it won't actually get brighter until after that."

Lyric, running out of time

Lyric accepted the oversized cloak from the protective Wuff. It was as if she was engulfed within it. The hood hung far out over her head, draping her face in deep shadows. One would actually have to get well below her to see up into the darkness to glimpse her features.

The Minstrel gathered up as much of the length that would hang in front of her, to minimize the risk of a trip and a fall, within her hands and let the cloak trail and drag the ground behind her like a short bridal train.

Still keeping the boy before her, Lyric could see him from her concealment. She replied to One Fang.

"It is not the Dawn herself that concerns me," she said. "But rather the number of heartbeats in a day and a night. Candlemarks, might be more appropriate a term."

She nudged the boy forward, his pace would be hers as it had been all the way up and out of the evil keep.

Keiko
[pronounced KAY-ko]

The Rhoni stayed close to the Cat during their escape from the Keep. Some cats don’t mind water and other would avoid it in any way they possibly could. Keiko didn’t know which type of cat Person Cat was. But more than that, he was alone — there wasn’t another like him. She, too, was fiercely independent, but that didn’t mean she liked being alone as a stranger among so many people not like herself. Of course, right now, she was absolutely not alone. Nor was she a stranger.

Besides, she rather liked him.

She giggled when he was surrounded by the Mice.

“Well, there’s no hope for you now, Hinata Anzen-sei. You will now be well-loved, especially by Mice. You have a family now. If you wish, you will also have friends.”

She smiled at Lady and Girl, then nodded to Tomomi and Hinata. “I know hardtack is terrible, but there are ways to make it less awful.” She had started toward Home before the next refrain paused her where she stood. She grimaced this time.

“His Lady must find that ever so amusing. I suspect Divine Beings don’t ears that work the way the of ours do.”

But it was then that she noted who was on the pier. Or rather, who wasn’t on the pier. Keiko made her way over to One Fang and Lyric, who looked as though she was ready for a trip to the Market, so engulfed in One Fang’s cloak she was.

She looked from one to the other, once more afraid and worried.

“Lyric, One Fang. What of Lady Kadri?”

Lyric

If One Fang had further question or comment it would have to wait a moment, for Keiko had slipped up along side and spoke. Lyric didn't see her nor her her approach because of the heavy concealing cloak. She lifted her head enough to see out from the darkened depths of the hood.

"I have not seen her since we got separated in a weasel attack on the way down," she said. Then to the raccoon boy, she turned him to face Lady and Girl and nudged him, "You should introduce yourself to her young Stitch," she said. "Lady will help you find food and water and something warm to wear."

When the boy departed, Lyric continued speaking to Keiko, "Over there is Cesare," she said with one hidden hand an outstretched arm. She noticed two more and pointed them out too. "And Pietro and Bekkah... I have not had a chance to look around. But I am sure she is here... somewhere... Maybe finding food and water for herself and others."

Keiko
[pronounced KAY-ko]

Keiko nodded. “I’m sure you’re right.” She looked over at the Lost Rhoni, watching him for several long heartbeats.

“Hinata — a name meaning sunshine in the Rhoni way of saying things, for you have already revealed your desire for all the sunbeams — these are two of my friends, Lyric and One Fang. She is a Minstrel with a voice of beauty itself. He is the surprising Archer of whom I already spoke.

“My friends, Hinata is... well, obviously, a Cat person who has softer fur than even Soft, at least according to Tomomi and other reliable Mouse sources.” She smiled at the very idea of Mice being drawn to a big Cat.

Glancing around the area again and noting that the only person unmistakably missing was Dama Kadri, she sighed almost silently.

“Pardon the intrusion, Friends. I owe Hinata a ribbon and need to take this hardtack to the kitchen first.” Her smile turned wry. “There are ways to make it palatable.”

Having bid her friends a brief farewell, allowing them to continue whatever conversation they had been engaged in, Keiko and Tomomi led Hinata into Home itself.

“As Lady said, there are many nooks for sleeping if you desire privacy. I have lived most of my life outdoors and in a traveling wagon. Home is very much like our Caravans for all its inability to travel along the roads.” While Rhoni and Mouse did not take the Cat through the entire structure, they did point out numerous locations — hygiene areas, Tomomi’s nook, several balconies, and finally the kitchen area.

“Oh, Blue Triangle, it’s good to see you! May I use this bowl for a little while? Thank you! I promise to do something interesting with the hardtack so that folks won’t realize that’s what it was. My grandmother taught me many inventive ways to turn dull travel rations into more enjoyable meals.”

By the time the three of them arrived in the Common Room, Keiko suspected Hinata was either thoroughly confused or pretending to be more confused than he actually was. She smiled to herself as she claimed the window seat with Tomomi.

“There will eventually be a sunbeam there on the floor, which you may claim now if you like. Although it might be wiser to choose a chair once the room begins to crowd with Mice. You are, after all, very soft.”

Opening her pack on her lap, she began going through the ribbons. She actually found three silver ribbons — one was the length of her arm from shoulder to wrist, a second as long as her forearm from elbow to wrist, and the third about half as long as the second. The last she might have stitched onto another bit of fabric as trim.

She also has to wonder just where Dommi had found silver ribbons. She had heard they were prevalent in Dawnview Vale, and quite fashionable even for non-Dayalans. She’d never seen them in the Trundle or Khy’Lhy’Ra markets.

Well, it didn’t really matter. She handed all three of them to Hinata.

“As we bargained, here you have my first gift to you.”

Keiko smiled as she set the pack on the floor and leaned her head against Tomomi’s.

“I am weary, and yet I doubt I could sleep. It is good to feel safe again. Many were rescued this night, and the Dragons are no longer being tortured.” She hugged Tomomi. “I hope we have sufficiently fulfilled the promise Lady Bekkah made to her Goddess.”


[OOC: Yes. I’ve run ahead and tucked myself away with a couple of Native Characters. We have a code freeze this week, which freaks out the functional users; classes start next week, which makes the entire campus a Zone of Chaos. So I don’t have any idea what my availability will be in the next couple of weeks.]

Cesare

He greets everyone with a broad grin but his eyes are searching for the other forest folk that he knows well enough to name.. and most importantly all of his friends.. and there is one missing. And apart from Bekka, the only one left of the original group that arrived here. Kadri.

Here can hear the singing from behind him, one voice belonging to her husband, at least in name. He doesn't sound concerned but that could mean one or two of four things. Either he doesn't know she is missing, he doesn't care, she is safe and he, Cesare, missed seeing her return or he is drunk. He is fairly sure the latter applies but not which of the first three.

He moves forward to Lyric as she seemed to be shepherding most of the small folk.

"Lyric, have you seen Kadri?"

Lyric, a worrying Minstrel

Draped in the heavy hooded cloak, the Minstrel embraced the young Rhoni man. It was a relief to not only see him safe but to feel him in the reality of Here and Now.

From beneath the cowl she shook her head.

"No... and now you have me concerned. We got separated on the way down. We ran into several weasels. Most of the pack was ahead, or further down already. But Kadri, One-fang and I were trailing... It was hard to keep up. Then the weasels came at us..."

There story was more involved, but Lyric wasn't ready to start telling it as though it were an evening's entertainment. Her voice was clearly clipped and her tone was concern.

"If not for Dama Kadri though, we might all have died right then. But we got split up. The pack had told us to keep going down... and so I did... Maybe I should have looked for her then... but she knew we would meet up at the forges... But I didn't see her again."

There was a hidden sigh from the shadows of the hood, and a sense of agitation mixed with her concern in her next words.

"I hoped and believed she made it out... that she was in another of the boats... already here."

She knew she was going to run out of time now. She tried resting on the boat coming to Home, but replenishing magical power was more than just the passage of time.

"We should go looking for her... Maybe she's here, hurt, but safe... I want that to be truth more than words can convey."

Cesare

The grin he had been wearing since he arrived at Home had gone now.

"She is very good at hiding.. but has no reason to hide here. You are right we must look for her."

He turns as if to go but then stops.

"But if she is back there.. I flooded the mine."

Lyric, hearing the heart of her concern


Lyric drew back the hood and reached out with two hands for the Rhoni's shoulders.

"Do not put that weight upon yourself."

Of course the subtext that had troubled the Minstrel since the fight that could have been the Pack's final stand was clearly defined in the last four words spoken by Cesare.

I... Me... I flooded the mine."

There were two members of the Pack who were not there when the pack made good the retreat and return to the actual mission. Tawny and Grey. Lyric didn't know what happened to them. No one had told her. There hadn't been time. The plan moved forward and waited for no one.

That was the nature of such a plan. It had a timing and rhythm. It had its own consequences and with that came a finality. Everyone who travelled on this journey knew there were risks and everyone knew that some would not come home.

But that was a truth that was different from words spoken and understood to the cold and harsh reality that not everyone did come back to Home. It was something that Lyric struggled with. It tore at a part of her she didn't know she possessed. It weighed upon her and threatened to engulf her. But it was her burden. She accepted the role and created a plan and a means to rescue as many of the slaves as possible... and even then, to rescue them when things looked to be impossible.

No plan could be perfect. And yet she held herself in a state of conviction now because it wasn't perfect and that made her guilty of failing those that trusted her.

"But it is not time to think the worst... maybe she returned here and the Lady can show us to her."

Cesare

"Yes.. we should ask everyone."

Then in a quieter voice he adds..

"But I can't help the guilt, she was my friend.. and.. and I took such joy in arranging the flooding.."

That's the rub of the matter. That he didn't consider the consequences fully enough.

Lyric

The Minstrel was only slightly taller than the Atteran healer, and Dama Kadri for that matter. She looked so young, standing there, draped over by the Wuff Archer's cloak. And One Fang, standing in the near background as though her were some kind of guardian or protector, or a guide at the very least, only furthered that waifish child look.

But it was Lyric's eyes that told a different story. The depth seemed infinite, like a deep still lake that tried to reflect the world around it, hiding the heart deep within.

"Please don't conflate the two. We haven't found her... Yet. But what was done at the Keep, even the things we wish we didn't have to do, were done for a greater good. An Evil was vanquished this day... and without you and your gentle soul, to lead those that needed a one like you we could not have prevailed in our efforts to escape."

Cesare

He takes a deep breath, almost a sigh, and then nods.

"Hoping for the best but expecting the worst is a Rhoni trait. I need to embrace the first part."

He gives her a quick hug.

"Let's find her."

He turns and looks for the person person or folk that he knows would recognise Kadri and moves to them to ask the question - 'have you seen her?'.

Pietro


When they joined up with the others of their group, Pietro looked around with a rather glum expression. He looked around and then spoke.

"It seems to have worked out. Did we have any losses?"

The squire of Lord Rames blinked a couple of times as he realized whom he had not seen.

"Where is Dama Kadri?"

Cesare

"Have you not seen her either?"

He addresses his question to both Pietro and Bekkah, wanting.. needing to be thorough.

"Lyric says they got separated as they moved down the shaft. There were weasels around.. but I was hoping she made it out."

He is clinging to that at the moment, otherwise half the group they arrived here with have gone.. and he is the last of the original group. That doesn't sit well with him. He feels he has achieved much, grown much, but under inspired leadership such as Daxia and Mikal. He is not a leader. So who would fill that role in future? Lyric? But is she even going to journey on with them? In fact his whole future is at one of those life crossroads. Whilst he has loved getting to know and helping the forest folk, he could not settle here. His feet need to be on the move, probably the Rhoni in him.

Bekkah

"No, we saw none of you. It was just the two of us, some dwarves, weasels and someone who believed I should marry him." she said with a straight face as if this happened all the time.

"When was she last seen? Who was she with?"

Lyric

Pietro the kind Squire of Rames, with the Aterran Healer in his company, approached. He too was taking stock of the gathering at the Forest Kin's Home. He had seen herself and Cesare and now they were four. Lyric that Keiko was not too very far away, and at least accounted for in the chaos of this refugee gathering.

For a brief moment Lyric was reminded of the sinno-mon bread that Pietro offered her on the wagon path when they first met. Oh, and the apple too. She smiled a little at the pleasant memory and wished she had a little of each right now.

Cesare replied to the squire, recounting what she had said to him. It was a simple statement and hardly worthy of the terror of that event but more than enough to convey to the Squire and the Healer the cause for concern. But his mention of the weasels made that memory displace the imaginary smell of the sinnomon bread. Her injury was not yet fully healed, but enough so that she could bear the continuing discomfort without wince or grimace.

Lyric then glanced upwards into the canopy of the trees. And each moment now was another moment lost. It was odd, this sensation she felt, like an anxiety, especially over the passing of time. But it was very real to her though.

But what to do now? She needed to rest and restore her energy. But Kadri needed to be located. She wanted to do both. She needed to do both, but she couldn't... That was a dilemma that now began to worry her expression.

"I was probably the last, but I do not know for certain this is true. We were separated in the fight with several weasels. The Pack was on the move and ahead of us, below us. One Fang had been gravely injured and fell into the shaft because he was protecting the Dama and I who were too slow to keep up with the Pack. The Dama and I killed a weasel but there were more. It was in that fight that I lost her and for a time I was alone, but I heard One Fang and so I made my way further down the shaft to where he had fallen. She was not there. I did not see her again..."

"I would suggest speaking with the Lady. If Kadri is here, she will know of it. Please forgive me though... I must rest, even for a little bit. I extended myself in ways that... that have consequences if I don't."

Lyric glanced to the ever-present Wuff archer and nodded. She drew the hood back over her head and turned to slip away in search of someplace quiet. "I'm sorry," she said she she did so, "Finding the Dama seems so much more important. Again, forgive me."

Keiko
[pronounced KAY-ko]

Gazing out the window, she could see some of the rescued No Longer Miners being reassured and comforted by Lady, by Girl, by the residents of Home. She watched as Lady Bekkah and the Squire spoke to the Lost Rhoni and Lyric. Her friend looked so small in One Fang’s cloak — it belied the reality Keiko was coming to understand: Lyric was not just an exceptional Minstrel, but a fierce warrior. While the Rhoni could spend more than a little time ruminating on the juxtaposition, she stayed in the Now, brows furrowing as Lyric turned to move away from the others.

“She looks so weary,” Keiko whispered. In truth, they all did. Cesare was the only person who seemed to have maintained some semblance of energy after all of this.

And there was no question she could think to formulate about Dama Kadri that her Cards could answer.

Perhaps later.

She no longer heard the wailing that passed for singing to the Tone-Deaf Lord and the Pack Leader. It seemed likely that some enterprising Rats had taken Lady’s request seriously and tossed both of them — along with Emmi, in all likelihood — into the swamp.

There were several who might beseech their Deities regarding Dama Kadri’s fate. Two of them, the Priestess of Krysta and the Shadowlord of Arilys, were bobbing like corks in the water. But there was one other who might know... something, anything.

“Tomomi, can you find Lockpick? Ask her to join us if you find her?”

Not knowing more than the teaching her elders had shared about the Deities — not insignificant, but assuredly not complete — Keiko wasn’t sure if it was unusual or ordinary that so many of Lady Arilys’ followers had been part of this endeavor. Perhaps the craftiness said Lady asked of her followers was the reason so many had been here — their skills had been needed. Certainly, she could not have done her part without Dommi’s help.

Lady Arilys would know where one of Her own was. The Rhoni assumed, correctly or perhaps not, that the Deity would know if one of Hers was now resting with Lady Krysta. Keiko would like to know the answer to the question, although she didn’t have much hope that Dama Kadri walked among them. Weasels. A flooded keep. She was smart enough to understand the very real possibility that the Dama was dead.

Despite the fact that they had seemed to be like oil and water from the very beginning, despite the fact that the Rhoni understood as well as any Covener the fact that death was a part of life, it still made her a little sad. In the coming day, they might discover others who were also with Krysta.

She accepted that death followed life as inevitably as night followed day. And she understood that mourning death was less important than celebrating the life that had passed.

None of that prevented her from feeling sad.

One-Fang and The Lockpick

With Lyric and Company

The black wuff-ish archer was quiet as the refugees and rescuers made their way into the twisted treehouse, the new comers discovering that there were different ways to live than those carved in stone or forged from black, bloody metal. Throughout the conversation his ears were flat and his quiet was not one of mourning. It had a harsher edge, a warrior's edge, of one who had been on death's edge.

"I do not know what happened to herrr on the stairs. I was too busy dealing with the Wease'ah that rained down from above ..."

It was a carefully toned reply. A little too quiet and a little too matter of fact.

"In fact, I shou'd not be here myse'ef ..."



With Keiko

Tomomi, she blinked at the question asked her before her eyes went a little wide when she came to a quick understanding.

"Oh ... not lockpick, not a lockpick, but The Lockpick ...."

With a pop of air she was off. It actually took a bit before she returned. As opposed to a certain other Mouse she could only go to places she knew, not people, so it was a matter of trying to determine where The Lockpick might be found. When she reappeared - with a pop of air beside Keiko - a few heartbeats later and she was followed by the black hooded Mouse. This was not a shy Mouse, but one who intoned most hauntingly, her features obscured by the shadow cast by her hood.

"Who dares disturbs my mushrooo ...."

All of sudden The Lockpick's head snapped forward as if she had just been swatted from behind.

"Hey! Not my turn to watch her.

"SQUEAK!"

The squeak meant it happened a again! Bop! The dour Mouse just grumbled and wrinkled unseen whiskers. The air whipped around her cloak once more.

"Fine! Fine! Fine!"

The mischievous breeze stopped. The Lockpick sighed.

"I'm supposed to tell you that only two of - of - of - fine - of My Lady's - there I said it - only two of Her Children entered the Keep and both returned safe.

"For various definitions of safe.

"One of us just got tossed in a swamp."

Hinata Cat

... just a little earlier ...

The odd and completely rare feline simply cast a narrowed eyed gaze across the commons, especially the collection of Mice that seemed to have created a crescent in his wake. The gaze made them step back a bit, a couple of them suddenly vanishing. But those that stayed carefully - when they thought he was no longer looking - retook those steps.

"I believe ... chair not matter."

The big warrior once again crossed his arms.

"How can be proper Cat Person and not eat Mice. Sad eyed Mice. Old Masters forget Cat. Mice bring bread. Mice bring soup. Look. Look this Mouse. Not know how cut hair."

The big Cat gave Tomomi a very fierce look. really fierce. And then he just shook his head and yowled.

"Yoooowwwrrrrrl! Impossible. See. Try. Mad at Mice imposible."

His whiskers twisted and got all tangled.

"World stupid."

So there he stood, a fierce and immovable Cat-object. And yet, through slitted eyes he did watch everything that went on in the Commons hall, especially taking in all the various kinds of Forest Folk their were. His ears perked at the smell of dinner and he almost, almost smiled, caught himself almost smiling and returned to his stillness.

Ribbons?

Those he batted at once and then stole them away. He looked between Keiko and the ribbons and back again, checking their strength and their length. He considered them and reaching up gather up his long white hair and used all three to bind his hair in a top not. Because he had a lot of it it fell very rakishly.

"Good start."

Cesare

"Thank you One Fang and yes Lyric, go and rest. I will let you know if we discover anything one way or the other."

He smiles but his eyes reflect the worry he feels.

Looking at Bekkah and Pietro he makes a suggestion.

"Maybe we should split up, each take a different direction and spend a half hour asking everyone we find if they have seen Kadri? That way we cover more ground, more folk and everyone will know we are searching for her. Then meet back here."

His eyes are sad.

"If she is not here, I am not sure what we can do but it is not an option to do nothing, at least for me."

Pietro


The squire considered Cesare's idea, frowned and then nodded to the other two.

"It is always better to know than not to know," he said.

"Which area would you like me to search?"

Cesare

"Maybe Bekkak could check inside and you and I pick left or right out here? Any preference?"