DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games HWD: The Heartwood HWD: Talesan's Village - Kadri

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

Kadri

“Well, I guess that leaves just thee and me, lassie. And tha blokes from Sherman’s Keep, but now that the Khorall and Lady are back, I suspect it's orchard trade for them.”

Ari gave Kadri a slow and even look.

“You ain’t much of a lassie, are ye? The offshore breeze could just swipe thee away.”

She set a beer in front of the Lady Korie.

“So what brings such an odd lot down the path? You got two Dayalans – aye, we know what they are, cannae not with the Richter Gwynn lookin’ after us – in the company of a swordsman who's got to be under Contract to put up with that, a Priestess and her Initiate, a Hunter and a snarkhound, and a Waverider. Who better stay away from Twls.

“Ye got to admit, that’s a little passing strange.

“Ye ain’t be carrying troubles in thine saddlebags, are ye?”

Kadri:



"Yes, Mikal is in employ to keep me from adding some troubles to my list. Because yes, I have one. If you have no troubles on your list then you aren't living. Back home, I would make sure to update my list at least twice a day, because I felt it my duty to make my parents life interesting. Now that I am larger, it is my duty to make life interesting for many more people."

She smiles widely.

"However, none of my troubles will become your troubles. Do you need any help here? I've worked in an inn, I've pitched in."

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

Kadri

Ari gave the smaller woman a very skeptical look.

“Oh, I have heard that before... especially with all thine friends having left and me looking for my coin and ye are certainly not wearing the cream and whites.

“And how come I just donnae see thee chopping woods or scrubbin’ floors or haulin’ hops to the back, especially since a sack of hops stands about as tall as thee?”

The Innmistress crossed her arms and settled back against the wall of beer kegs.

“So besides lookin’ cute... and even there Dydd has tha edge on ye, being a kidlet and all. So between you and me I already have TWO daughters, so I donnae need any help at makin’ my life any more interesting, thank ye...

“Thus, the real question that a body wants to know, what can ye actually do, lassie?”

Kadri:

"As for coin .."
She pauses, then pulls out several, places them on the counter.

"Drinks, meals. If more is needed, let me know."

"Well, for one, I can entertain guests, if you wish. I can be very entertaining. For another ... you could call me a security expert. I am often good at finding suspicious people. I also know horses, if there is any use to be had for that?"

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

Kadri

Ari swept up the offered coins with a professional arc of her hand, the coins jangling nicely as they moved from counter to palm to purse.

“This will keep you in Amber and rooms for a fair bit. The rooms come with breakfast, but only if’n ye get up with tha dawning. Sleep late, ye get leftovers if there are any, and the lads across the way donnae tend to leave very much.”

Her head tilted, a brow raising.

“And what do ye do for entertainment, I donnae see a gitar or flute; do ye sing? Tell stories? Anything else, well this is a good upstanding hostel – we are not the Eel, where all sorts of unsavory are served to unsavory folks. I got kids growing up here!”

She crossed her arms, looking extremely matronly.

“And I suspect anyone here today would take offense at bein’ labeled suspicious. Besides, who’d be wanting to hurt the likes of us? We don’t cause no trouble and we serve most any bloke that come in an’ don’t be causin’ trouble. I mean, imagine anyone not bein’ able to smile at Dydd.

“As for horses, now there’s a task. They can always use some help at tha livery; especially with the lot thee and thine must have rode in on. Now that’s Old Man McTaggart’s place an’ that’s his son who does most of the work, he being almost as old as Father Canna, so you’d be needing to ask them. But if thee say I sent ye that-a-way, they might be agreeable.”

She returned to her task, refilling drinks for the merchants and their Jvrillian guards.

“Just be back afore the sun touches the sea, for that’s when dinner is served up. Unless ye be wanting more stew – stew is always simmering.”

Madrid:

"I do tricks, with cards, with peas and shells, or anything else you can name. Also, I do indeed tell stories - where I was a child, telling tales was the way to spend many a long night. "

She grins.

"I can weave many yarns of fantastic events, from the doings at the courts of the Korie to demons in the woods - I know many tales."

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

Kadri

“Well then, lassie, ye and the young minstrel can trade stories come after dinner, to see who can tell the tallest and most intriguing.

“And if there’s a mote of truth in them, ye might even be able to earn a bit of coin; getting news from the other side of the Blackwater is a rare treat. Perhaps you brought a little luck with thee. The Marrennen over there are from lands about Sherman’s Keep – and they’d be glad to hear such things – as opposed to getting annoyed because carrying the news is part of their stocks and trade.”

Ari drew up a round of beer for the other patrons, looked up and then narrowed her eyes.

“And just where is my eldest. It doesn’t take that long to show a bloke a room.”

Snagging the handful of steins in one hand she swept herself from around the bar to the table, making the delivery herself. When done she returned to her station, brow furrowed.

“That buck of yours better not be filling her with odd stories or unseemly words. She’s at that age of blindness, believe me. Cannae see the value of anything at home.

“How dare she take after her Mat.”

She poured herself a drink, taking a cool refreshing taste of her husband’s wares.

“I told ye when dinner be – give folks a chance to eat, then ye can tell thine tales.”

Kadri:

"I am perhaps not the best to advise her on that count. I myself left home and homes things behind with the spring storms."

"I am going to see to my horse - I will be back presently."

She leaves another couple coin on the table before standing.

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

Kadri

The coins were gladly snagged up and added to her purse.

Outside it was late afternoon; the streets were mostly empty, but then this was the farmer's half of the town. Most folks would be out in the fields or in the home preparing for the menfolk coming home to dinner. It was not a far trip, simply two buildings south. The middle building probably was where the livery stable's owner lived and the large barn-like structure beside it was where they had left their horses.

The front doors were open, of course, leading down a central aisle lined with stalls. Most were filled, a good third of them by their mounts, the rest probably the merchants and their guards. Indeed, set outside in a careful line were merchanter wagons, one of which was missing a wheel. This probably betrayed the fact that somewhere in the Village itself there was a wheelwright, or at the least a blacksmith for making repairs.

Behind the barn and stretching quite a distance to the east was a corral and then a fenced in field.

The first two stalls were not for horses. They held bridles, saddles and other pieces of furniture, most carefully hung or racked. Kadri might easily suspect that if she walked down the aisle, midways and at the far end would be where grain and water — just as it was obvious that hay was stored up in the rafters.

"Kin ah be helpin' thee?"

The stable hand was a sturdy lad, perhaps a few years older than Daxia's Initiate. He had auburn hair and dark eyes and was carrying a large bucket of water, filling smaller ones at each stall.

Kadri's horse leaned its head out over the rails, perhaps three or four stalls down. She watched with ears up. Interested, of course. The lad had water, so he probably had grain too. And Kadri meant she'd be getting attention paid to.

Kadri:

She smiles her most winning smile her way, the wide beaming one.



"I am here to talk with my horse, Lisica."

She motions her way.

She gives him a nod.

"I am named Kadri. Who might you be?"

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

Kadri and Tasso

“Tasso. Tasso be me, and I’m McTaggartsson, ‘cause the place belongs to me Fa, aye? I heard tell you came in with the big group accompanying the Larsens.

“Well, ye can be well assured and all that they are bein’ finely taken care of. As good as ye can find in the Village and just as good as out in the Compound, especially since ye donna have to walk half a day home to tha tavern.”

He continued to water the horses, coming to a pause as Kadri paused.

“Oh, you are one of those.”

Tasso shook his head.

“You’d think a lassie as pretty as you, and with such a nice horse, would be smart enough to follow a real church.

“Not some silly spirit, like the Mikaelsson clan. There’s a reason they keep to their compound... especially that daughter of theirs.”

Kadri:

She merely raises an eyebrow.

"My horse is my horse. Horses are special. I talk to her - I am from Amber. She doesn't say much back, but sometimes that is good, yes?"

She gives him a look.

"And I find, as an example, the lady Attera an honorable one. And Rames does his duty. And the truth has a value to it under the eye of Hastur - but I follow the road, mostly and what the road brings. And recently, the road brings me here, along with my friends. I don't worship my horse. She is my companion."

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

Kadri and Tasso

"Well, tha'd be right and proper. They can already make their wants known; last thing a body needs is their horse talkin' back at them. We may be tha smallest of the Keeps, but we got the real Church here, not some backwards place lost in the fields and rocks out eastbound.

"Got enough worries already, being caught between tha compound an' tha docks."

The stablehand nodded to the stall, as he continued on with his work. After watering came cleaning the tack: saddle soap and a cloth and hard work his destiny this late afternoon.

"There she is. Make sure ye show me that ye 'ave locked down tha stall afore you leave. Otherwise, I cannae be held if'n your horse takes to wanderin'."

Kadri:

She starts rubbing her down.

"She must like you, she's relaxed."

This was her relaxing time.

"So Tasso. How long your work with horses?"

She pulls a coin, yet again, and places it on a flat surface making sure he sees.

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

Kadri and Tasso

Well, o’ course. That be part of me job and all. Bein’ around horses. It’s a trick ye gotta be learnin’ in this trade. We’ve had folks come here from Talantal an’ Dawnview, from Sherman’s Keep an’ Third Falls, an’ even from as far away as the capital of Trundle. An’ each horse is different, so yah got to be able to read them well.

“‘Cause you don’t be getting a second chance.”

Tasso finished one bridle, hung it from its hook, and then moved on to the accompanying saddle.

“Well since this here’s me Fa’s livery, I guess ye’d say all me life. Started out when Ah was old enough to carry water buckets. Now I take care of most of tha work out here in the barn while he counts tha coin and keeps us in grain an’ hay at home.

“Eventually, prolly after he arranges me marriage and all, I’ll be running it myself.”

Kadri:

At 'arranges me marriage' she can't help having a bit of a 'look' flicker across her face. But of course, for him it wouldn't quite be the same.

"Looks like you will do well."

She continues her combing.

"So, how do you read this little filly?"

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

Kadri and Tasso

“This one...”

The stablehand crossed his arms, pausing in his labors over a sturdy saddle.

“That’s a trick question, ain’t it, seein’ as she’s yours.”

He narrowed his eyes, however, and continued.

“Well, she’s like the dam they have out at tha compound; prolly from tha plains out south. Now they breed them light an’ spirited – fast fer racing but they got no stamina and ain’t well suited for harsh weather.

“Smart’s a sword tha’ cuts both ways. Sure, she’ll do whatcha want but every now an’ then you’ll spend a week tryin’ to do something simple, like getting used to a new saddle.”

He shook his head.

“Rumors are that it was old man Kirill’s wife’s horse, afore she died havin’ Kat-lass. Makes some manner of sense, as his folks are up in tha Black Mountains, where they don’t cotton to a critter that ain’t as sturdy as stone itself.”

As the two continued their conversation, outside, the sun was falling, already starting to be hidden by the roofs of the village.

She winks

"She is a Horse of Amber bred. ANd if she likes you, she will do what she wants to do, which hopefully is what you want her to do. I think that you will do fine in your job. But now, I have stories to tell, and dinner to eat, I think. I must go. I declare your hands quite good for caring for my Lisica."

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

Kadri and Tasso

Tasso chuffed a breath.

“Well, thank thee, milady...”

He then, simply, returned to his work, though it became apparent that finishing the tack may have to wait. As dusk had come, as the village prepared for the end of the day, it came with additional labors. As she left the barn she saw three men leading a string of horses to the livery; strong critters, what the folks north of Kaa called ‘carters.’ These were horses bred for the pulling of carts and wagons, highly valued by merchants who traveled the caravan routes.

And where there were teamsters to manage a caravan, there were, of course, merchants to hire them. Outside the Amber Inn were at least five wagons of various shapes and sizes, carrying not only travel gear but stacked high with goods to be traded come Marketday.

And of course where there are merchants and teamsters, there are also their guards, and they were most likely Jvrillian. There were three watching the wagons. They had been given a barrel to use as a table and a set of half barrels for chairs. Already on their makeshift table were some cuts of venison, bread, beans and a few big round potatoes.

As they ate, one of them brought out a set of octagonal sticks, three of them.

Jvrillians were Jvrillians. They always had a way to pass the time while on watch.

After reentering , Kadri found herself a place to sit, and tried to get the attention of a server, if possible..