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The Heartwood
Waverider’s Watch
The Dirkwood Forest
Restday, the Fifth Day of Yrick

Keiko, Lyric, Bekkah, and an unexpected Tomomi

Three things were proven true upon entering the Mill’s attic space. First, that the majority of the space was taken up by large, well-crafted interlocking gears made of wood, iron, and steel, all moving in their interdependent manner. They were hidden, however, behind a wall, glimpsed only as one came up the ladder. The creaking provided a low and steady background rhythm. The remainder of the space, perhaps a quarter of the attic as a whole, was a small comfy cubby with a bed and a dormer window that looked to the west. There was a comfy-looking bench seat at the window’s sill.

Second, the view towards the sea was spectacular. Soft hills rolled beyond the Black River, the right-hand side framed by the Forest, which sprawled to the north as far as one could see. To the south, also as far as one could see, the fields stretched in a pastoral landscape, accented here and there by little groups of trees, the hint of tiny creeks and the traditional scattering of rocks and stone. Looking straight out was the western horizon, and if one closed their eyes and took a careful breath one could almost imagine a hint of salt on the air, of a sea somewhere out there beyond sight.

With all the small hills and little vales, it would be very easy to hide almost anything just out of sight.

Last, they weren’t alone. A small figure sat on the window bench, very hurriedly tugging a patchwork cloth and leather cloak about herself and tugging up its hood. They were almost as tall as Keiko and the Korie Dama, perhaps the same height if this stranger stood as straight as possible. This person's features were hidden in the shadow of their cowl and, while mysterious, there was something that ensured the sense of mystery was in no way nefarious.

That something was probably how brightly they bounced up from the bench seat and skipped over to Keiko, their feet hidden in the fall of cloak and tunic skirts that dragged the floor. One hand rustled beneath the cloak, coming out with a small pouch, the top stained in white. The stranger’s other’s arm wrapped around Keiko’s, both hugging and using the Rhoni lass to shelter themselves from the other two.

No, not nefarious at all; just shy.

“Oh!”

The voice was soft, high pitched and definitely feminine. The stranger’s hood nodded as she was identified, and once identified Tomomi happily answered Keiko’s question.

“Well, first I went to the lakeside cliffs, which is always scary because you can see the entrance to the mines and forges from there and if you can see them, they can see you. But it’s the only place where you can get the whitest chalk, and I don’t know... is there such a thing as white paint? I mean, white on parchment is kind of odd, isn’t it?

“And then I went to the edge of the forest, and then to the group of trees way out there...”

Tomomi pointed out the open window, to a distant collection of trees.

“And then I came here! I rested on the bench because it reminded me of Home, except being able to see past the woods.”

Keiko then remembered something the wise elder had told her. Having befriended a Tomomi, she was going to have to get used to such unexpected arrivals.


[[ edited for proper room size ]]

Lyric

Entering the upper room of this Mill House was an adventure in and of itself. A door in the ceiling and a ladder to reach it, and then the door in the ceiling becomes a door in the floor. But here she stood, inside the room, on the other side of a wall from where she glimpsed the large interlocking gears as she climbed up the ladder. Those gears, hidden from her view now, were still there, behind that wall. All in motion and unrelenting in their designed purposes and functions. Lyric felt a little unsure of herself. Uncomfortable too. This could be dangerous. But there was the wall. So there was safety. She just had to keep a check on her curiosity about how things worked or why they existed.

All the same, it gave her pause as she stood just clear of the door in the floor while Bekkah entered the room as well. While the Rhoni girl, Keiko, reacquainted herself with the cloaked and cowled visitor Lyric took a moment to reflect upon the adventure over to this place from where she met Dama Kadri... or Korie. Possibly this was an effort to divert her attention from trying to find a vantage point to see the gears again, just to make sure they weren't going to come apart, or maybe just to watch them endlessly turning against one another. Did they always turn? That big water wheel had to be the thing that drove them and started the whole thing. No, back to less dangerous thoughts. Lyric resolved to find out how the Dama preferred to be addressed. She had said she preferred just Kadri, but it couldn't hurt to ask again to be sure and respectful.

Yes, the reflection of the journey to get to this room... Stopping at each landing to enjoy a new perspective and to see as far as one's eyes could manage, and then at all the things close as well. Higher up, she would repeat it, trying to see if there was anything new to see. Maybe she might see all the way to the ocean. Now that would be something wondrous. But, sooner maybe she might see out over the tops of the trees of the strange and dark forest she had walked alongside since leaving home. Another landing and then another as the steps wrapped around the large rock that had a guardsman tower at it's top. She wasn't going that far up this time, but maybe later. She could imagine the sights from the top of the tower itself.

Inside the mill house, she had to be ushered along for the smells of the foods was intoxicating and Lyric demonstrated that penchant for distractedness and hyper focusing at the same time.

And now she stood in the attic space looking at the wall that hid the monstrous gears. Among many worries, not the least of which was getting her tunics caught if she got too close, was just the sheer size of them. She understood that as long as she kept herself on this side of the wall, then nothing was going to get touched by those gears. Still she wondered... somebody must have to go back there from time to time.

Her village had nothing like this...

Bekkah

She followed the others into the Mill. She was silent mostly studying Lyric. It was a look of curiosity more than concern. She thought the girl was sweet and terribly innocent. It was that innocence that made her wonder how she'd made the journey here. Her musings were interrupted by the bounding energy she knew to be Tomomi.

She stepped beside Lyric and smiled, nodding in Keiko and Tomomi's direction.

"She's a special friend we met yesterday. She must have run all the way here to beat us back." she said still smiling.

She was mostly watching the pair, but she also snuck glances at Lyric, especially if the less 'normal' aspects of Tomomi became apparent.

Lyric

The Atteran's words broke Lyric's fascination with the unseen gears. She focused on the Rhoni and cloaked 'friend' who had described a great and epic adventure in searching many places before arriving here. Lyric couldn't help but wonder what Tomomi thought of the gears.

Lyric stood silently at the side of Bekkah and observed. She smiled at the expressions of friendship between the two. Without trying to be 'too' obvious, Lyric wanted to see Tomomi's eyes. Eyes were the most expressive parts of a person. Eyes and the face, that is. Well eyes were part of the face. Whatever.

Tomomi went to great lengths to remain concealed though, so Lyric waited. The What Will Be always had to pass through the What May Yet Come and so Lyric waited for Keiko to make her greeting with her unexpected friend and then see how that changed the reasoning for why Lyric was brought along with Bekkah.

Keiko

Keiko just smiled and nodded at Tomomi’s description of her travels from her Home to the Rhoni’s small room. “Oh, sometimes, white is a good pigment to have. A layer of white can be painted on the pasteboard so the other colors look brighter, more vivid. Thank you!” She accepted the pouch and set it carefully in the corner with her other belongings, nestling it among the other pigments and small covered pots of mixed paints. “But please don’t put yourself in harm’s way,” she said as she turned to hug her friend again. “I would be very said if you...” Keiko swallowed hard. “Well, just be careful, okay?”

As she had climbed up the ladder, she had noted a piece of the mill wall had come loose, revealing the gears that were behind one of the two long walls that enclosed her room. Keiko would have to remember to mention it to the Miller. Even though she knew the big gears were there, they were a bit intimidating; they always seemed much less imposing from the mill floor.

She couldn’t help noticing Lyric’s inquisitive nature being applied to her friend, the sounds coming from beyond the wall, and the attic door itself. It was refreshing to be able to watch the World being seen anew.

“Tomomi, this is Lyric. I met her this morning on the Path. Broke can tell you about it. She is far from home, too... making her own Journey and discovering the World. Oh, she sings, too! Not like Broke and the tone-deaf Lord Dominic, I’m sure! Her name means ‘Voice’. Isn’t that lovely?”

The Rhoni’s smile was bright when she looked back at Lyric.

“Tomomi is one of the Small Kin from the Forest. She is, as Lady Bekkah said, one of my most special of friends. Tomomi means ‘beautiful friend’, in fact. She is very shy, though. And it is the custom of the Forest’s Children to not show themselves to outsiders. Perhaps if enough time passes that Tomomi will feel comfortable with you, she might show you her genuine beauty.” Keiko shrugged. “But their customs are their customs, and I learned how to be their friend by observing their customs and respecting them.”

Keiko paused and looked fondly at Tomomi.

“It was a great honor to be invited to their Home and see each person being just who they are, living and working together with all the others.”

She looked at Lady Bekkah then. “Which brings us to the reason we are here, yes?”

With brows furrowed, Keiko studied the other three people in the room. Tomomi’s presence shifted the balance of this wave, but not in a bad way. In fact, it felt more secure now. Reaching inside her cloak and tunics, she brought forth a bundle of black silk. It was a precious packet indeed, for silk came from the East and the blackest of silk was a rare treasure.

“Lady Bekkah, I think it most advantageous for you to sit on the window bench. Tomomi, Lyric...” She closed her eyes and felt the movements of the current in which they traveled. The sounds of the gears added a sense of both moving water and a heartbeat. She nodded. “Tomomi, sit beside me as I lay out the cards and Lyric may sit on the bed.”

Yes. That felt right. Although Lyric would still be facing the wall behind which those gears turned and held their rhythm, it didn’t matter — or Keiko thought it wouldn’t matter, anyway — where the other girl’s focus led her.

“All important things come in threes. I am not of the Kin, only a friend to the Kin. So Tomomi is here to represent herself and those in the Home. Lady Bekkah seeks wisdom to know how to pray for strength to help the Kin. And Lyric...”

Keiko opened her eyes and looked at the newcomer who might one day also be called a friend.

“Lyric sees the wonder in the World in ways that even a Rhoni might forget.

“The Healer... the one who represents Those To Be Healed... and the One who balances the Seemingly Impossible with What Is.”

Gesturing for the others to sit — Lady Bekkah on the window seat Tomomi had vacated and Lyric on her small, neatly made bed — Keiko sank gracefully to the floor and patted the floor beside her. Tomomi would sit to her left between the Rhoni and the Rhoni’s belongings, while the Card Reader herself sat almost at the edge of the doorway in the floor with enough space in front of her to lay out the silk and the Cards. However, for the moment, she merely sat and held the silk-wrapped Deck — patient, waiting for the appropriate swell of the wave to begin.

The Heartwood
Waverider’s Watch
Keiko’s Loft
Restday, the Fifth Day of Yrick

Lyric, Keiko, Bekkah, and a very shy Tomomi

It was a bit disconcerting for Lyric, coming up here into the high attic room, though from the open window came a cool afternoon breeze; perhaps even cooled by the invisible sea. That and the view was made even more dramatic as the sun slowly started its fall from zenith.

But what was more disconcerting was the little one named Tomomi. It was like a reflex, an instinctive action, involuntary, that when the dark haired Tarn lass shifted to catch a glimpse of her features, Tomomi would choose that time to turn to the side... or, more often, a polite nod that looked to the floor.

There was no malice in the motion; it was as if she truly was very, very shy.

“Oh my... then I am very glad I went to the chalk...”

The hood then shook, as if inside the cloak, her head was making small no-no-no motions.

“I know. I am not very brave. I am not fierce like Broke and Wrath. And I know... I know... that it is not the getting of the chalk that is important. More important is the getting back. Giving, giving is what gives me worth.”

A little later Tomomi hugged Keiko’s arm tight, as she duly took her place next to the Card Reader. She offered a soft clarification.

“Keiko-friend, she gave me my name. I have Tomomi for a whole day now!”

The hood ducked again as she watched her Rhoni friend.

A Reading of the Cards.

This was another new thing for her.

Bekkah

She wondered if Tomomi would show herself and even wondered what kind of reaction she'd receive. At least for now, she agreed with Tomomi's decision to keep herself hidden. No good would come of it, at least not yet. It would be far more of a distraction.

She nodded silently to Keiko when told where to sit. Gracefully, she moved to the bench at the window and sat. She'd wondered about this ability of Keiko's. She truly had no idea what to expect, but she'd always been one to keep an open mind. And in truth, she'd been struggling with the exact wording of the prayer, she'd make to her Goddess. She quite well understood the magnitude of what she was asking. She believed it was possible and she also believed that she needed to make it clear that she believed in the goodness of the forest folk.

*And if this girl's cards can help me, then it will surely be a good sign.* she thought to herself.

After sitting, she watched Lyric to see if the young girl would do as she was bid or ask questions or continue to attempt to see under Tomomi's hood.

Lyric

It didn't take a Rhoni card reader to sense that Tomomi preferred to keep herself hidden. It was curiosity to Lyric, in the sense that she wanted to know everything and see everything and experience everything. It was a curiosity not just to see Tomomi but also the mystery itself of not seeing her as well. And where one curiosity competed with another, Lyric opted for the choice Tomomi was making. It seemed respectful and proper.

Keiko's explanation of the forestkin's shyness was a gratuity to Lyric. It made it all the easier to accept the girl of the Forest as she wanted to be seen.

When directed to the bed, Lyric obliged. This too was a curiosity worth exploring. Keiko wanted them in specific places and she extolled the virtues of each of them in a way that sounded like the person and the place would come together to aid her in whatever was to come. The silk covered box or whatever it was in her hands appeared to be the focus now and it intrigued Lyric as well.

She took her seat and waited as patiently as one such as herself could. The wondrous and the mysterious, and maybe even the exciting was about to be revealed from beneath that silk covering.

Keiko

Keiko leaned her head against Tomomi’s for a moment, eyes closed, and smiled. When she opened them again and straightened up, she was looking at Lyric and her blue eyes.

“More than any, I think, the Rhoni understand the differences and commonalities of the World’s people. Family is the most important thing to us, but friendship is — at least for most of us — almost as important.” What the Rhoni didn’t say aloud, what her expression conveyed, was hope that Lyric, too, would one day be counted among this Rhoni’s friends.

Her gaze moved to the serene healer, doing so well to hide her worries and fears.

“I know the reputation we have, Lady Bekkah... that we, the Card Readers, see the future and the future we see is the true one.” She had mentioned this to the Atteran on their journey out of the Forest, but she wanted to be sure Tomomi and Lyric understood the Truth. “What the Cards tell me would more accurately be called possibilities, although when a question is properly phrased possibilities can become probabilities.” She shrugged and smiled somewhat ruefully. “I do not often explain so much, for those of the Rhoni already know this Truth... and those of the not-Rhoni do not care. But for this Questioning, it is important that there is an understanding of the Truth.”

To Tomomi, she said in a soft undertone, “You may see a bit of what I do with the pigments you have brought me.” Her chuckle was soft... barely more than a sigh. “Only a handful of the Cards have been repainted since I arrived.”

Carefully and with some unknown but apparent ritual, Keiko began unwrapping her Cards. She set the deck in her lap — the black backs evident as they fanned slightly — and spread the silk on the floor in front of her. She took a deep breath, gathered the Cards up, and began to absently shuffle them, her gaze capturing everything in the room but focusing on nothing in particular.

After a few moments, she sat perfectly still as she held the Cards together on one palm and rested her other hand lightly on the Deck as she focused on her hands, on the Cards... and took one more deep breath.

Slowly, she drew each Card from her hand and laid it respectfully, almost reverently on the silk...

...laying each Card beside the previous one...

...until there were three.



“That the need for compassion is being reiterated,” she murmured, “is not surprising. You have already grasped that, Lady Bekkah, but it does bear repeating. There is a start of a new pattern here — beginnings and growth. At the same time, matters are coming to a completion. The currents bearing fruit, as we might say.”

Gathering up the Cards and focusing on them again, Keiko shuffled them as she considered another point of inquiry. Just as carefully, just as humbly, she laid out three more Cards.



A look of puzzlement crossed her features for a moment before it cleared and she nodded.

“There are forces already at play, sinister and hateful.”

She looked up at Bekkah and then to Tomomi at her side.

“Someone... or a group of someones, I among them, must take a stand to stop them. I don’t think this is a surprise either.”

She swallowed to regain her composure. Giving out less than beneficial and cheery messages was never easy... which would be why Readers so rarely did so. After gathering up the Cards, for the third time, the Rhoni shuffled them and laid them out.



A smile quirked at her lips as she laid out the last Card. She had seen quite a lot of the Unicorn over the past half year.

She looked up at the healer. “Without a Pattern Reader to say which Path to take, I cannot speak to the nature of the new pattern or how matters will come to their completion. That, I think, may be up to you.

“At least... at the beginning. But your companions and I must also work to... to counter the malevolence.”

Keiko then looked at Lyric again.

“But your companionship on this journey as we ride this wave will be very welcome... by me, anyway, for I have no right to speak for anyone else. I suspect Lady Bekkah’s friends might appreciate Squire Pietro’s assistance, as well.”

Her gaze traveled back to the Atteran. “That is... if you believe they will help.”

The Heartwood
Waverider’s Watch
Keiko’s Loft
Restday, the Fifth Day of Yrick

Lyric, Keiko, Bekkah, and a still shy Tomomi

Sitting next to Keiko, the small Forest Kin watched the cards being laid out, accompanied by a soft gasp and an occasional squeak.

“Oh, my...”

She watched intently, her hood still casting its shadow over her features.

“It’s not good when the cards are upside down are they?”

That was easy to tell – with the broken wheel of chaos off center on each it was easy to tell which way was up and which was reversed.

“...and you made these with the colors I brought you?”

The little one hugged herself tightly when she spoke. She continued and, while her words were very strange, very odd to hear, they were not sad or melancholy at all; they were spoken as lightly as sunshine, with real joy and as if it was something so very important to the Forest Kin.

“...thank you Keiko-friend. There is worth in me.”

When the reading ended, she sat back. She was quiet, her head tilting.

“Malevolence.

“The Cards wouldn’t say anything if it were just the Way Things Were, would they? Then it’d be nothing new. So this must be something new, ja?”

Her hood rose, only a little bit, as she waited to hear what the other, the real people, thought of the readings.

Keiko

She smiled and nodded to Tomomi. “Well, all of them had been painted before I left the Caravan, but with your help and the pigments you brought, I have repainted much of the green and some of the yellow already. These colors are much closer to what I pictured in my mind as I was painting each one. And the reversed Cards...”

Keiko paused for a moment, running her lower lip across her teeth as she considered the question.

“It really depends, Tomomi,” she finally said. “It depends on the Card and the question and the Cards around it. When they’re all reversed, that’s a way for the Cards to say I have to pay particular attention to their message. But sometimes it will mean something not really very good and other times it will just mean the message of the Card is more powerful. And sometimes... yes, it will mean something bad.”

She hugged her friend before gathering the last three Cards and settling them back with the Deck.

“You have great worth, my Tomomi. I just saw it before you did, ja?

“And it takes a long time to learn how to Read the Cards, and I’m still not the very best. Grandmother says I might be someday. But I’m still young and I’m still learning. The Cards help me learn, though, because they’ll give me nonsense answers when I’m asking all the wrong questions.”

At the Small Kin’s last question, Keiko sighed. She didn’t say anything as she carefully rewrapped the Deck in its black silk. She just held the silk package in her lap for a moment.

“Sometimes they do say something about the Way Things Are... if no one is paying attention to it, and someone should be paying attention to it.” She shrugged. “A simple example is telling a young man on Festival Day that a particular girl fancies him, but he never noticed her before. But in this case?”

The Rhoni looked at the Atteran for a moment and then let her gaze fall once more on the minstrel.

“In this case, I think am nearly convinced that there is something new. Me. Dama Kadri and Mikal D’Allyne and their Lost Rhoni friend. Minstrel Lyric and Squire Pietro.” She turned back to the Small Kin. “Even you, Tomomi... and all your friends who welcomed Lady Bekkah and me to your Home. All of that is new. Yes.”

Lyric

Lyric watched but had nothing to say. She really didn't understand what was happening. Keiko brought her here but didn't explain what was going to happen. What words she did offer didn't prepare the minstrel to be a contributing part of the adventure. She mentioned how her people carried on this tradition before her. What she wasn't clear about was why it was important that Lyric come along.

Lyric wasn't upset, and probably not even confused. She was just... there. Everyone believed in something and believing in something was better than believing in nothing. No one could truly say, with real authority, that one person's something was better or more right than another person's something. Oh sure they could say it and people did all the time... it just didn't mean much of anything to say it, and even less to hear it.

Believing something involved faith and faith was believing in the existence of Things Unseen. To say one person's Unseen Thing was better than someone else's Unseen Thing was rather silly and pointless. Those kinds of talks were best left to be sorted out by the Unseen Things themselves.

So the Rhoni had cards that gave her a connection to bridge the gap to Unseen Things and read probabilities and possibilities. It didn't shock her or scare her. It appeared as if she were using cards, her connection to them, and their placement in threes, as well as the way they came off the deck, in direction or facing, as an answer to a question that had already been asked some time before... or asked by Keiko in her own thoughts. Their was plenty of ritual and reverence in the effort and that seemed only fair as such things that did such things should require such things in order to achieve such things.

The reading revealed a concept that Keiko called Malevolent. It was undefined and thus a concept that loomed. Good and evil were concepts and malevolent was an intent often associated with evil, but like belief in Unseen Things, these concepts could be very subjective. An Imperial might see Lyric as something evil from a narrow closed-minded perspective. And there were things that Lyric considered evil with malevolent intent from her perspective... but did evil consider itself evil? Probably a question to ponder at length in the Yet To Come and the What Might Be.

So Lyric watched and waited. If for nothing else, she was learning many new things on the Journey.

Bekkah

She was both curious and apprehensive about the card reading. If it indicated, she should not do what she intended the next day, she would probably still do it but would it add doubt in her mind and would her plea not feel heartfelt?

She agreed to listen, so she would. What she really hoped was that Keiko's reading might give her some insight into exactly what she should ask her Lady for.



The first set of cards, revealed what she already knew, what she was in fact.



Again, nothing knew, at least if one believed the tale she'd heard in the forest. And she did believe it.



She of course would be taking the first step towards such a goal. But then others would be involved and she suspected it was to be her friends. And she would count the forest folk among that group.

The final set of cards seemed to simply confirm what she was thinking. The last card of course made her think of her sister. A part of her wished her sister were going along if they were to confront evil. Some might think that she'd want her sister safe and far away, but if she was successful and they were to rid the world of this evil, then there was nobody she'd want more at her side to share the adventure. And she knew they would be successful. She could not believe in anything else.

She snuck glances at the young girl with them to see her reaction, but she seemed deep in thought. She wondered if she'd be accompanying them as well. She suspected that fate had brought her here at this time for that very reason. She still wasn't sure about the girl's heritage, but she sensed a good soul within the girl and if her other suspicion's were confirmed, then she might be more than a little useful.

She smiled at Keiko.

"Well it seems the cards approve of our plan. Well approval and taking things a step further. Perhaps after tomorrow, we shall have more guidance in this endeavour."

Lyric

Indeed, the question had been asked previously. Keiko, the Atteran, and the cloaked and concealed Tomomi all knew the question for which the cards were laid out. They sought guidance in some endeavor that lie ahead of them, and the Cards bridged the gap to Things Unseen and the answers that were returned had to be interpreted. It wasn't expressly a divination, but rather a way to peak under the covers of Fate and Destiny to glimpse into the Beyond of Things Yet to Come and the realm of What will Come.

As each of them spoke,Lyric turned her attention to that person. Her own attention was unyielding even when Keiko was looking directly at her but addressing everyone, before shifting to Tomomi.

When Bekkah smiled at her, Lyric returned the smile, but, again, her pale blue eyes were unflinching under the Imperial's discerning gaze. She felt like the Atteran was trying to learn something by stretching her mind beyond her own ken.

Should it make the Tarnan girl nervous that the Imperial was still trying to figure something out? Why wouldn't it? Imperials, she had been told, saw the world from a very particular perspective and that which deviated from that was worthy of suspicion. But then again, Why would it? After all, Lyric knew her own heart, knew her own self, and knew the Atteran had questions to which she had not yet found the right words to ask. Knowing these things, Lyric could be both worried and relaxed. It was all a matter of perspective and perspective was a choice. In the Now, there was no reason to worry about the What Will Be. No amount of worrying would ever change the Things Yet to Come.

"Why tomorrow? What will happen differently then that might not happen now," she asked innocently, and full of curiosity.

Bekkah

She regarded Lyric understanding that the girl and probably Keiko as well knew little of her Goddess.

"I know little about what any of you know of my Goddess, or even if you believe she is real. Although, I'd find it hard to imagine someone not believing after they've felt her healing grace. After all, I have no power of my own. Only what she allows to flow through me."

"She is not solely a Goddess of healing. In fact, she is known more as a sign of mercy, healing being simply a form of mercy. For those of us, who have represented her favorably for years, we may petition her for lack of a better word for special aid. It is something that requires a sacrifice on my part."

"One I am quite happy to make." she added with a fond smile in Tomomi's direction.

"Tomorrow at sunrise, I intend to petition my Goddess for her favor on behalf of the Forest Folk. If me and my request are found to be worthy, it could change things forever for the good folk of the forest."

"Keiko and I had spoken and she offered a reading of her cards. I gratefully accepted because I wanted to know if there might be dire consequences of the action or perhaps more to consider. Unless I'm mistaken, it appears that I should proceed [with my plan tomorrow?" she asked looking at Keiko.

Lyric

"I do not understand..."

Lyric looked from Bekkah to Keiko, and then to Tomomi

"To what ends are you seeking your Goddess' mercy?"

The Heartwood
Waverider’s Watch
Keiko’s Loft
Restday, the Fifth Day of Yrick

Lyric, Keiko, Bekkah, and a quiet Tomomi

“Oh. Tomorrow.”

The strange little person sitting next to the Card Reader ducked her hood. The hood turned, pausing between Bekkah and Lyric and then Lyric and Keiko. She did not seem to mind Lyric’s presence; if Keiko trusted this person, she did too.

Trusted her at least enough to stay and not flee. The Forest Kin whispered as she leaned against Keiko.

“Mebbee tomorrow we will become real people.”

Keiko

The Rhoni people did not disbelieve in the existence of the Gods and Goddesses and the many Spirits of the Heartwood. They simply... did not choose to follow them. Oh, some did — the famed Madoka kha'Ayanna kha'Kame kha'Chikato khal'Homura Akemi, the one Rhoni who married a Gaija for the Cards had all said that such a thing was acceptable, even good, possibly necessary. She followed one of the Goddesses; Keiko hoped that her Goddess was helping her now... for being a “guest” of an Eastern Prince was no great honor. Nor would it surprise the young Card Reader if her friend Fate were to choose a course that allowed her to serve the Goddess of Lady Bekkah’s sister. It was not something that was forbidden... it was simply a thing most Rhoni did not feel the need to do.

But Keiko had learned her stories well, so she understood what Lady Bekkah was saying about her Goddess.

At Lyric’s question, Keiko glanced at her friend, hesitating. It was Tomomi’s story, it was the story of all the Kin. But Tomomi was a little shy; her Kin generally were, however, weren’t they? She wished very much to tell Lyric everything about Lady Bekkah’s petition, but it was not her place to tell the deepest secrets of the Forest’s Children.

Still, her friend managed an explanation that was possibly just as easy for Lyric to understand as everything else.

“To me, you are a real person already,” she told her friend.

Then Keiko looked at the minstrel with a smile that was just a little sad.

“To explain more — just a bit more — a terrible thing has been done to Tomomi’s Kin, both Large and Small. It is so terrible a thing that many would paint the whole of them with broad strokes of a brush called ‘abomination’. That is wrong.” She shook her head and her smile faded. “It is so very wrong to say all of any group are one way. But...” She looked again at her friend beside her. “So few Imperials have cared about such distinctions. And as for others... they often fear what they do not understand. It is our hope that Lady Bekkah seeks the mercy of Attera to say that the Kin may be allowed to be people I see that they are... and not abominations as too many see them.”

It was not quite the full measure of Truth, but it was as much as Keiko could share. Perhaps someday Lyric would be invited to learn more of the Forest’s Children, too.

The Rhoni looked at Lady Bekkah. “I have seen how you have given your own small kindnesses and mercies that come from your heart. That you listened to each Kin’s words last night was not something your Goddess gave you. It is who you are. So how could a Goddess who embodies those traits not find you worthy?

“And how could a Goddess of mercy not grant your request? She can see your heart, ja? So she knows. Perhaps it is not the precise words that matter as much as that goodness of your heart.”

Keiko shrugged philosophically. “I will see each of the Forest’s Children as people, even if Imperials who are not the embodiment of kindness and Nobles who are a not tone-deaf Lord do not see them as I do.”

Her gaze finally moved back to Lyric and lingered there.

“Too many stories are told and too many songs are sung that hold lies both great and small. It is understandable that this is the way of things. It might be one of the reasons my Elders sent me forth to walk the World and ride its currents. Many things are not as I was taught they were. Many things are not as they first seem. But one Truth I continue to hold is that each person should be judged as they themselves are... and not as stories and songs say they all must be.”

The paused a moment, considering that Truth.

“Well... maybe not short, stout persons who are reputed to have immense beards and might have lost their sanity.”

Lyric

It was not to either Keiko or Tomomi that she had asked her question, but perhaps the fact that she had been looking between them all when she inquired of the Atteran about mercy gave them leave to answer in their own way and fashion. It was not unwelcome though, for every response came from a different and unique perspective gave her more insight about the people she had met on the Journey of hers.

Truth be told, Keiko wasn't just speaking to Lyric either... and maybe Tomomi wasn't as well.

It was, at the last, when Keiko spoke of stories and songs that were less than truthful and perhaps even hurtful, that Lyric realized her intent was to impart some lesson in preparation for the sole person uninitiated in the mystery that gathered them all together in the room above the mill near the mostly hidden, grinding gears.

Still she waited to hear from the Atteran.

Bekkah

"The exact nature of my prayer to my Goddess is personal and not something I intend to discuss with anyone. I'm also not completely certain at this point what I'll be thinking. That will take concentration and prayer and for me, that's best at the break of dawn."

"So forgive me, if I will not go into it in detail at this point. I hope you are not offended. I do not intend to even discuss it with my friends. It is just something that I need to do on my own."

Lyric

"I mean no disrespect," replied Lyric. Her smile was unwavering. "I am simply curious and want to learn everything I can..."

Bekkah

"You showed no disrespect my dear. I apologize if I gave you that idea. I just have much to think about and I have much on my mind. I am not myself at the moment. I am not used to having many others depending on me. I'm much more comfortable doing my work simply with those few I try to comfort, completely out of the eye of others."

"The spotlight is not for the likes of me."

"I think what we need is a good meal, then some excellent music and singing." she said giving both Keiko and Lyric bright smiles.

Lyric

...completely out of the eye of others.

Lyric cocked her head, pale blue eyes drawing in all the available light. She offered her hands to the Imperial woman, palms up.

"If I am understanding the things I have heard, then I must offer comfort to you now. I think you are putting too much pressure on yourself Lady Bekkah of Attera. The people of the Forest have agreed to allow you to seek help and mercy of their behalf... This I believe I am to understand is so. As such, and if correct, they aren't 'depending' on you. Their hope for Mercy from whatever circumstances and tribulations affect their lives and fates is placed upon your Goddess. I think they would know you are her hands in this world, and not the Goddess herself. This blessing you seek will not come directly from you, perhaps not even channeled through you."

This would be Bekkah's and even Keiko's first glimpse of the strange wisdom that came from innocence that was Lyric. Pietro could attest to this girl's unique perspective and words that were surely passed down from experiences gathered over generations or ages.

"Your Goddess knows you and she knows your heart. The very fact that you are blessed to serve her and lend help and aid in her name, tells me that much. She is the Thing Unseen and you are a follower whose heart and deeds speak kindness and mercy in her name. You are a messenger in your travels to spread her presence to those who might not otherwise know her kindness in their lives. You speak to her and she listens to you, and as Things Unseen are wont to do, in their own way, they speak to those who know how to listen. Let go of the pressure Bekkah... Your Goddess knows your heart already, you do not need to impress her, or craft the right words... speak to her and more importantly... listen to her..."

"There is no pressure... only Love and Kindness and Mercy... The choice to grant this Help is not yours, but it is Hers, and if it is Her will to share Her Mercy and Her Kindness such that Her Love would find a vastness of new believers in the granting of a miracle such as the one you seek... then Please know this, She is already aware of the Plight and the Need... and maybe she has been waiting for a messenger with the courage to make a bridge between two peoples who would otherwise distrust each other... a messenger to make them believe in hope and kindness and mercy... when otherwise they would see none. Faith is the belief in Things Unseen... You have that... A Miracle is the evidence that Faith is justified and that Things Unseen are real. They work together for Her greater Good and Mercy."

"Talk to her... She knows your heart... And Listen to her..."

Bekkah

She listened quietly, letting the girl speak.

She was humbled by the girls words and she nodded her head. She stepped forward and took both of Lyric's hands in her own if she'd let her.

"Well said Lyric. I know in my heart that you are correct and I have been most likely worrying for no reason. As you said, my Goddess knows me well so I have the faith to believe that she will listen to my thoughts."

"Thank you my dear. I will simply relax and open my mind to her. And may our plea be worthy."

"Sometimes, even someone of my years can lose sight of things. Thank you."

HOLD STILL!!!

If I have to rewrite this post one more time, I'm going to kick you both down the ladder and the old lady is going to break her hip. Which is fine, because she's a healer and can heal herself.

<grumble>