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The Heartwood
Talesan’s Village
The First Cathedral
Rameday, the Eleventh Day of Scholar

Cesare

With a light step the elder daughter led Cesare through that back door; it lead to a short corridor, one without windows, which then met another crosswise.

Twls pointed to the left.

“The large room, with two beds and a table, that’s down here on tha left.”

She smiled and turned right, opening one of the doors that lined the corridor.

“We got one... two... here... four rooms like this.”

The room was small but cozy; there was a diamond-paned window at the end, room for a single bed, a barrel to serve as a table and a half barrel turned over for a chair.

They did run a brewery after all.

“It’s not much, but its only a couple pennies a night, and if’n ye like I can get bedding from the laundry lady and set it up right nice and comfortable.”

She rested her shoulder on the wall and looked up to the Rhoni, her eyes unable to not soften a bit.

“Are ye going to be stayin’ long? It’s always nice getting folks in and all, but not many stay for any time so by the time you figure out folks are nice they’s already gone.

“Is it adventurous on the road?

“I’ve always wondered what it would be to wake up and not taste salt... to look out the door and not see docks and forest every single day...”

Cesare

He looks around the room with a number of criteria to fulfil. Is the bed big enough for Darian and himself? Is the room big enough for Longtooth to stretch out? Does the window open? Could he get out of it?

The questions change along with his life journey but the priorities change more frequently. His last question would have been first when he had started out with this group.

Whilst he is assessing, he smiles and answers her questions.

"Not sure how long we are staying. Depends on what we find I guess."

He grins.

"And the road is generally not adventurous. It is mostly long and either dusty or muddy depending on the season. The adventurous bits seem to occur when we come away from the road."

"I can see why you appreciate what it here but the road brings a variety of scents, sights and experiences, each often enhancing your view of the world. Here the air is sharp and clear.. and salty. In the mountains the air is sharp and clear.. and often smells of pine. For me, I cannot imagine staying in the same place.. but maybe I just haven't found the right one yet."

The Heartwood
Talesan’s Village
The First Cathedral
Rameday, the Eleventh Day of Scholar

Cesare

The window is certainly large enough to escape out of. It even has a latch and a hinge; not for escaping, but for airing out the room on a warm summer’s day. The bed isn’t big; it was made, obviously, for one – but two could fit if they were friendly. And last, of course, Longtooth could stretch out on the floor. One would just have to be careful not to step on his tail upon getting up in the morn.

“Oh, my...”

Twls looked up, with a small, inquisitive grin.

“So ye come looking for summat? I mean, most folks, they come here looking for Fa’s beer, and the light’s just coming out of the kettles. Others, they come for the orchards or the horses out in the compound. Folks used to come for the fish, but it’s been a while, and I never understood that. After a day or so fish starts to smell bad so it’s not like you can actually carry them anywheres...”

She folded her hands together, offering the Rhoni a coquettish glance.

“But if it had been any of that, why most folks come here, ye would have not said you were looking to be finding something still.”

Her head ducked a bit, peeking back through her light bangs.

“I know what that’s like. I have no idea where my right spot is... I... just think it’d be an awful shame for it to be one little village all my life.”

Cesare

"if you are meant to travel the Fates will guide your steps."

He smiles.

"And I think we should always be looking for something, that's how we learn about life. I am looking for information about my father. I am looking to find more of my people. But as I know not where I might find either, I travel."

She is easy to talk to, this little chatterbox.

"And the room will be fine for us if you could get bedding that would be good."

The Heartwood
Talesan’s Village
The Amber Inn
Rameday, the Eleventh Day of Scholar

Cesare

“Oh! Well!”

Twls looked down for a moment, scuffing her foot across the floorboards.

“Midwinters and Midsummers, thine folks usually come visiting. It’s always so exciting and new, like having a touch of everywhere else come visiting, even if it’s only a few days. They always come down the path that runs along the Forest, which takes them through Mister Barlibert’s farm.

“Mister Barlibert then complains about losing his prize cows.

“But we pay him no mind.

“Mister Barlibert’s always complaining about losing his best milk cows.”

As she talked she let her head rise again, moving a little down the hall to open a closet door. From there she retrieved a huge handful of bedding and returned to the room.

“I’d like to be looking for something... for anything. There’s gotta be more to the world than a handful of homes and farms and seas.

“Here, I’ll get this one all set up right nice for you. Ye can talk to Mat about the pennies, but that can follow later if’n ye wish.

“Mat’s always saying how can ye be trusted if you don’t trust first, right?”

Cesare

"Don't worry, I will pay my way."

He has often had to defend himself this way in the past, some of his people have a reputation for not always doing so but this time he doesn't feel the sting in the words. Maybe he is more settled? Maybe he is now able to pay his way? Maybe the way Twls had said about payment did not cause the same offence? He smiles thinking that this little miss could get away with much.. if she chose to.

He mentally files away the information about the farmer for later, if an opportunity presented itself. Picking up snippets, gossip, tales etc. along the way often lead to opportunities, work, warnings which then guided his actions. The farmer may just be a born moaner but there might be something behind the tale. Likely he will move on before finding out more.. but maybe not. The Fates would decide which way his tide would turn.

"Thank you." He nods to the bedding. "And you can be looking for things from those that visit here. Everyone has a tale to tell, useful information, something to contribute. Even if a traveller means trouble, an early warning can avert the worst. And somehow I think you could talk well enough to find out things."

The Heartwood
Talesan’s Village
The Amber Inn
Rameday, the Eleventh Day of Scholar

Cesare

The lass' words were spoken easy and light, so very conversational. They were earnest and it did take Cesare a bit to understand their intent. While she had made the query about payment and trust, this time it was different.

Instead of being singled out because of his kin’s wayward reputation she had treated him exactly as she would have some other guest.

Just like anyone else.

“I take after me Mat. She can weasel a tale from even the most grumpiest Marrennen, Jvrillian or teamster if’n she sets her mind to it. If worse comes to worse, she sets Dydd on them. Folks just love telling tha lil’ brat anything and everything.”

She spoke as she made up the beds and straightened the rooms – disappearing for a moment to return with a large carafe of water along with a basin and some cups.

“In case you get thirsty late at night.”

That done she dusted down her skirts with the palms of her hand and rested, leaning a shoulder against the door frame.

“And there ye be... all set and done and comfy.

“All that’s left is how ye are gonna spend tha’ rest of the afternoon, ja?”

Cesare

He looks around with a smile. It may be small but it has everything they will need.

"So what would you recommend?"

He is interested to know what there is to do and see around here. Her view may be different from the what he was told on the way in.

The Heartwood
Talesan’s Village
The Amber Inn
Rameday, the Eleventh Day of Scholar

Cesare

"What to do in Talesan's Village?"

The young woman hugged herself, scuffed a foot across the floor and looked down for a moment.

"Well that's the jist of things, isn't it? We ain't like Talantal or Bordertown or the busy streets of Trundle, so far, far off that they may as well be tales of the fair folk. We are just a fishing town, onna port that ain't seen anything but fishing boats since before me grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's time."

She looked back up, peeking past fair locks.

"Well, the stone garden is quite pretty — lotsa folks like restin' up after a bath there."

Twls considered some more.

"Now that the tide has come in, walking the sea cliffs is a good way to spend the afternoon all pleasant like. You can follow them all the way to the farmer's compound; there's good woods there, woods that ain't part of the Forest."

Her nose wrinkled.

"Come nightfall, until the two moons set and folks go to sleep, well, there's always our inn. We get the best folks around for singing and tale-telling, even if we do get Mister Barlibert too.

"The Eel, well that's where..."

She stood on tiptoes to whisper conspiratorially.

"That's where you go to lose money. The Larsen's allow it because they tithe a portion to the Keep for the privilege.

"Which leaves the Barking Shark. You know how they say every gal likes a bad laddie... well, there may be a bit of truth in that."

She blushed a bit, her cheeks pinking. She was talking to a Rhoni, after all. But then she fell back on her heels.

"Exceptin' most fisher lads, they ain't bad. Just mean."

Cesare

He chuckles at her descriptions.

"Well my vote would the sea cliffs but it depends on what Darian & Longtooth want to do. Thanks for the information though. Always useful to get the lay of the land."

He smiles at her as he turns ready to return to the main room and let Darian know what he has found out.

The Heartwood
Talesan’s Village
The Amber Inn
Rameday, the Eleventh Day of Scholar

Cesare and Twls

“Oh, I’d be right glad to be showing ye the cliffside walks. I know them quite well and all the prettiest places.

“Though I oughta be warning ye…”

Twls smiled as she folded her hands behind her back, to sway a touch coquettishly.

“Thou might end up spending a whole afternoon there, ja? And if ye ain’t careful, ye kin end up walkin’ back to the tavern after dark, which is never tha safest thing in the world and might be even considered improper, depending on thine company.

“But it be worth it.

“Sunset here, at tha end of the world, is powerful pretty.”

With that, she gathered her skirts and led Cesare back to the commons. She stayed close, maybe so he didn’t get lost, maybe not. When they entered, however, she came under her Mother’s immediate scrutiny.

“There you two are.

“And just in time, me young lady.”

<See Mikal’s thread please>

Cesare

He looks amused if anything at the mother's look. He knows that look. Most mother's want their daughters far from Rhoni folk. Daughters are often easily lead astray, then one morning the Rhoni are gone.

"Maybe.."

He smiles at Twls but then crosses to Darian which might just divert some of the suspicion from him. He nods at Mikal as they pass.

The Heartwood
Talesan’s Village
The Amber Inn
Rameday, the Eleventh Day of Scholar

Cesare

Once again, Cesare has seen his companions scatter to all the points of the compass.

Leaving him with a suspicious Mother. However, he had a pretty decent feeling it wasn't that he was Rhoni that had her bristling like a hedgehog.

It was something reserved for any handsome lad that might just be passing through this port.

"So I'm assured ye got thine room all straight. If'n ye want your beddin' straightened, be sure to be outta tha room after breakfast to noon. And fair warning. Sometimes it be Twls. Sometimes it be Dydd.

"And sometimes it be me."

The Innmistress returned to her work. The only other patrons, the Merchant and the Jvrillians of his small caravan, were finishing their dinners in a quiet conversation of schedules, wares and other merchanter oddities beyond Cesare's ken. He had heard of the places along their route, such as Sherman's Keep, Third Falls, and the smaller hamlets between them. But he had never walked the path along the Satin River that was the border between the Plains of Kaa and the Tarn.

[OOC Not sure if Pam is reading this thread as her name isn't on it. Cesare was intending to go look at the sea with her and Longtooth]

The Heartwood
Talesan’s Village
The Amber Inn
Rameday, the Eleventh Day of Scholar

Cesare

Ari simply nodded as she slowly started to stack mugs of pottery and pewter, glasses of all sturdy shapes and sizes – most wounded and with thick walls – and a few polished horns along a shelf, just below the row of barrels set into the back wall.

“An if ye be runnin’ outta things to do, me husband can always use someone to chop wood for the brewery, or bring some into the kitchen since dinner will be needin’ to be started.”

[OOC I’ve been told that Pam’s been buried in real life issues – so I’ve been leaving the posts open ended around Darian and Longtooth so she can step in when her schedule allows.]

Cesare

He is used to paying his way and prefers to be doing something rather than idling the time away. Too much time for thought can be a dangerous thing.

"Be happy to help your husband Ma'am."

He turns the polite charm on her now, not in an obvious or directed way, it is a natural defence.

"Where would I find him?"

The Heartwood
Talesan’s Village
Amber Inn Brewery
Rameday, the Eleventh Day of Scholar

Cesare

“Out back, of course...”

The Innmistress was correct. Finding the Innkeeper was one of the easier tasks. Around behind the tavern, perhaps even the most easternmost building in the village, was the brewery.

It looked like a long, low barn with a regular frame of heavy timber supporting the roof. It being summer, the west wall of the building was open — like shutters thrown open from a window — allowing one to walk in the open from the mash tun to the final casking. Malting, mashing, lautering, boiling, fermenting... all a manner of domestic magic that had a side benefit of smelling wonderful.

There also was a lot of copper here.

Somewhere there was a very well-to-do tinker or blacksmith.

Now, there was a pair of young lads here, bustling about their tasks. That was because of the size of the brewery. A tavern making its own beer was not strange; indeed it was a commonplace matter. A tavern that made a brew that got shipped all the way to Dawnview Vale? Now that was something special.

A body had to make enough to serve his own needs and make it worth trading away.

The innkeeper himself was very easy to find.

He was the one at the biggest barrel-like contraption, carefully adding grains and other items into the mash and mixing it with what looked like a ladle large enough to hold several puppies. He looked like a barrel too, all rough and sturdy, and he looked like a man who could stand up to a wild Ari.

“Ari sent yah around?”

He paused, rubbing his chin.

“Well then, laddie, ye kin call me Rory. Have ye ever brewed before? Nae? Ne’er tha matter, there’s always somethin’ to do around here. Hoi, Kallas, show this guy tha’ spent grain bin. He kin fill up tha sacks an’ we kin have feed ready to send out to the compound an’ up tha’ Path.

He then, with a nod, turned his attention back to Cesare.

“I pay in three ways, thine choice. A few pennies a day. Ari’s dinner an’ breakfast an’ if’n you stay for a week, free place to sleep. Or four pints a day. Now tha’ might not seem tha much. But if’n yah save up yah pints, after a week or so yah got enough to turn a handful of gold on tha other side of the Silk Creek Bridge.”

Now the task at hand was simple. There was a large open barrel of what looked to be short and dried grain. Cesare was to shovel it from the open topped barrel into sacks, the kind that stood about half as tall as a man.

“Yah, that’s spent grain...” the lad, Kallas, explained as he got Cesare a shovel and a whole stack of sacks.

“It ain’t good for brewin’ anymore, but it’s perfect for feedin’ cows an’ other critters. Father Canna also adds it to his gardens and, cor, does it make his harvests better.”

As Cesare worked, the sun sank lower and lower until Her light caught at the tops of the nearby roofs.

Cesare

"I don't know how long I'll be around here.. and I may be needed elsewhere from time to time.. but how about I work and you pay me the pennies and the ale that it works out to?"

He is working more to have something to do. At some stage Mikal may have work for him and that takes precedent in his world. Meanwhile earning some money and keeping in with the locals is no bad thing.

He chats to the lads and the innkeeper from time to time but mainly puts his back into what he is doing.

The Heartwood
Talesan’s Village
Amber Inn Brewery
Rameday, the Eleventh Day of Scholar

Cesare

“Fair enough laddie. Ah kin always use tha help. It’s nae like the tha work will ever run out, folks like their beer and they kind of take a hankern’ to me family’s. Nae for long?”

Rory could not help but smile at that.

“Well, that’s thine loss. Right now we are heading into our bock, but I’ll set my dark right up with tha’ MacMurphy fellow’s. But ye won't be tasting tha’ until just before harvest.”

Now, the work was hard, but it was simple and there did seem no end to it. The best part, however, was with the open barn it was mostly done in the out-of-doors. That, too, held an advantage. As he worked and as the sun set, Cesare saw just how Rory’s words were true. It started with the creak of wagon wheels and the clack of steel-shod hooves on the village’s paved ways. As dusk and dinner approached so did wagons from the Highland path. One, two, three... perhaps a handful before the line of the caravan ended, accompanied by their merchants, their teamsters, and their guards.

From the other direction, the north, he saw two more approaching. They rode fine horses – he had seen horses like this before, quite close and quite often. Daxia’s horse, Fern, now being ridden by her sister, was obviously from the family.

One was ridden by a tall, lanky young man, the older of the two. The neck of a gitar poked over his shoulder and he seemed to be in an intense discussion with his companion, one which ended with a firm swat on the back of his head.

He laughed it off, his companion didn’t.

The companion Cesare recognized. It seemed like forever since he had traveled down the Black Mountain path with Katshka Kirillsdotter.

The two – well one... The lad tied his horse to a rail. Kat simply whispered to hers and it stayed perfectly ground-tied. They entered the tavern through its back entrance. This was an obvious signal; as Ari had said, come the dusk it would be dinner time and entertainment would arrive.

Rory waved him away, too; work was done, time to eat.

Cesare

"Any where I can wash up quickly?"

He is thinking to take the worst off before going inside to change. He is still wondering at the coincidence that brought Kat to the same place. Maybe he'll find out later?