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Cesare

There is some noise from outside announcing an arrival though not from the light footed Rhoni in the front. He pokes his head inside and looks around.

"Ah there you are."

He smiles. It is a nice sight.

"We are back and seeking a little more wisdom. Need to know more about the forges."



OOC Note: Reposted in the appropriate Thread

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


Bekkah, Cesare, Kadri, Keiko, Lyric, Pietro, Tomomi, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald Mouse, Broke, Soft, Clever, The Lockpick, a pair of Rats and most of the Pack, Lady and various and sundry other Forest Folk

It was indeed a nice sight. And one that was fairly easy to come to, for climbing the stairs of Home first brought one into their commons hall. The great room was a swirl of quiet activity. The afternoon meal must have ended but recently. While there were still remnants of lunch, most of Home’s habitants had finished and were now relaxing. There were plates of cheese and fruit for after meal nibbling and several broken loaves of bread still in their wooden bowls and woven baskets. Tall jugs of water sat on the table, along with small kegs of various juices to slake any remaining thirst.

Sitting at one of the nooked windows were Keiko and her forever friend. Between sips from a wooden cup, Miss Tomomi was carefully stitching a delicate piece of lace. Her work was set upon a board of cork, one beset with many black metal pins to guide her careful stitching.

“See?”

The little mouse girl smiled to the Rhoni lass.

“It’s kind of like stitching holes together.”

Elsewhere in the room, near the hearth, Lady held court with a handful of her newer kin. Today’s lesson was an odd one for those from outside the Dirkwood.

“You must always be on your politest, with a good day and a thank you. You should never question the costs they charge us – it is a kindness that they will even trade with us. A kindness made all right and proper by their own Rules by the word of the lad over there, Miss Emerald’s friend.”

It was an introduction to Marketday traditions, from the point of view of the Forest Folk. The lad Lady mentioned was Dominic Korie, of course. Dominic sat next to Mouse, warming themselves at the hearth’s opposite side. Miss Emerald was tucked protectively beneath the Korie’s flat black cloak and they too were entranced by Miss Tomomi’s lacework.

Lyric was there, as well as Bekkah. With the arrival of the Pack the Minstrel found she once again had a shadow. One Fang was there, making sure she had fared well and her goblet was full.

“Gruff. Missed lunch. Any good leftovers?”

Standing near the far wall and next to an open window was one of the Pack, one that had remained behind, a black dagger-wielding wolf who paused in his private game of Mumblety-peg. He replied very curtly.

“Wuff-wuff”

One Fang let out a slow breath.

“Didn’t think so.”

One Fang quietly kept the Lyric company, whether she wished or not. Soft could not help but chuckle at One Fang. As she passed behind him she gave the leftover-less wuff a sure hard slap to his shoulder.

“Careful, Archer. Folks might think you have taken a shining to Miss Minstrel.”

The lack of meat didn’t seem to bother The Lockpick. She scoured the leftovers, laying claim to whatever mushrooms remained. She eyed each one dispassionately, holding each up and turning them in her small fingers and once meeting her approval she gathered them up in a little wooden bowl. The odd Mouse eyed the Young Master speculatively, but all it took was a very protective glare from Miss Emmi to change the focus of The Lockpick’s attention. Where a Lord could not be had, perhaps a Dama would do.

Broke flounced down in a very un-lady like sprawl on Dominic’s other side and Wrath did the same next to her. The big black wolf decided that his packmate would make a good pillow and thus rested his head on Broke’s side.

Clever Rat was the last of the group to enter the Commons, bringing up the rear. It was his arrival that brought a moment of quiet to the great hall. His stepping into the commons was the signal that the scouts had returned from Loch Faast, successful and safe.

For the Forest Folk it was an unspoken confirmation. While it hadn’t been noticed before, now the commons felt a touch more relieved and relaxed. Lady shushed her students, sat up a bit straighter and offered a gentle smile.

“Welcome home. What news do you bring of The Keep?”

In the mote of silence that followed her question, Miss Emerald’s ears perked. She waited a heartbeat before nudging Dominic with her elbow. The young Korie lord tilted his head and then attempted to answer Cesare’s question.

“There are lot’sa wise folks here, though I don’t think anyone ever has accused me of being one of them. Your question, though, while straight to the point, is pretty powerfully broad.

“Beyond that it’s a forge, just bigger, more magical, with more mill workings than those found in Talantal but maybe not Trundle and a place that most folks here don’t like remembering, what exactly do you want to know?”

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Cesare

"Well somehow we need to figure out a way to destroy them. So I guess we need to know what they are made of, what size they are, how accessible.. that sort of thing?"

He finds a place to sit, closer to Dommi, so as to hear the answers.

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Pietro


Upon entering, the squire took a quick look around to make sure who all was present and then moved to the table where he made an impromptu sandwich of bread and cheese, picked up an apple and then moved to Cesare's side to hear Lord Dominic's answer.

As he took a seat beside the Rhoni lad, Pietro looked over at Tomoni and nodded, smiling.

"That is nice tatting. What do you plan it to be used for?"

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Keiko

Watching Tomomi’s lace-making was so mesmerizing that Keiko barely noticed when the scouting group returned. Before today, the most enthralling activity involving yarns or thread had been watching her mother knit scarves and hats. But this! Her eyes were wide with admiration when her friend smiled up at her.

“It’s amazing, Tomomi! You make it look so easy, but I think you have a special gift that I don’t have.” Keiko giggled. “Mother laughed — in a nice way, of course — at the lumpy thing I had tried to knit. She said it would make a very cute hat for a rock and that I should probably stick to mixing pigments and painting cards.” She giggled again. “It was supposed to be a scarf, too.”

Keiko did note One Fang’s attention to Lyric, perhaps because the archer always made her feel safe when he was around. And now Keiko knew that Lyric would be safe, too, with One Fang to watch over her. It was easy enough then to give up any worries she might have about Lyric’s tendency toward being distracted.

The Young Master and Miss Emmi sat nearby. Like Mother and Father, they seemed so perfect together. That one was a Noble Lord and the other a beautiful Mouse was a fact that became irrelevant when one saw how happy they were together. It was the True Love that Mother believed in.

She blinked and turned back to Tomomi with a smile. “If I dyed some of your threads before you began your stitching, you could make some brilliantly colored lace for Miss Emmi. Oh! Wouldn’t some green lace, just the color of her eyes, look lovely around the neckline of her tunic?”

Keiko was so astounded and pleased that Miss Emmi had been chosen as a priestess of a Deity that she would have provided the entirety of her new and colorful garments if it were possible. Of course, it wasn’t possible, but that didn’t mean the Rhoni didn’t want to help as much as she could.

When Broke and Wrath flopped down next to Dommi, Keiko managed not to giggle again, but she did grin broadly. The Pack was so different when they were at Home, and the difference was startling. Oh, the whys and wherefores of the differences were obvious and made perfect sense. Still, seeing Broke so relaxed was... was...

For once, Keiko was left without the perfect word to describe a phenomenon. She just knew that seeing Broke comfortable was something else that brought happiness into her world. And she wondered if the Sun Lady would take an interest in the wolf-warrior. From the scraps of lore she had been able to collect, the only certainty she knew about the Sun Lady’s followers was that they were all women. It was very likely that a more experienced warrior — or perhaps a Verchovai as Dommi had called Lady Bekkah’s sister — took in another as an apprentice. All the Caravans that traveled through Trundle knew the story of Dandelion Koromov, who had been dragged off by one of those senior warrior women. Keiko couldn’t imagine anyone being able to drag Broke off anywhere. And even if politely asked, she didn’t think Broke would go anywhere she didn’t really want to go.

Well, that was another of those questions to tuck away in the back of her mind for another time. Right now, it was just good to see Broke and Wrath so relaxed.

When the Lost Rhoni lad and the squire joined Dommi and Emmi, Broke and Wrath, Keiko looked into her empty mug and Tomomi’s nearly empty one and then picked up Tomomi’s mug.

“Why don’t you chat with Squire Pietro while I fetch us more water?” She gave her friend a reassuring smile before heading for the table where Lockpick was inspecting mushrooms. Tucking her empty mug under the opposite arm, she reached across the table to pull a bowl of vegetables from the back where a Mouse might not have been able to reach.

Noting the Mouse’s glance as she set the bowl — containing a variety of vegetables, including mushrooms — closer to Lockpick, Keiko asked, “Does Dama Kadri enjoy mushrooms, Lockpick? Or are they all for you?”

The question was thoroughly neutral, of course, as Keiko understood that some of the Kin very much like to share with others while some were not as quick to do so. Every way the Kin could be were equally good, as long as they followed the rules of Home. It was only when they got Lost that balance was knocked askew.

Having set the mugs down, she reached for a pitcher of water while waiting for Lockpick’s response.


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Kadri:

She entered, surveying the room, and started to move in the direction of Dominic - but stopped when she noticed lockpick's attention to her, inclined her head and nodded.

"Can I help you? I was going to have a seat over here."

She motioned.

"And you are most welcome to join me if you wish."

Cesar had already asked her first question - she could wait for the answer before asking her second.

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Keiko

The Rhoni’s jaw dropped slightly at Dama Kadri’s impertinent interruption. Then she shook her head and sighed. She finished pouring the water into the mugs, gave the Amberite a look of weary annoyance, then smiled sadly at the Mouse.

“I guess I’ll talk with you later, Lockpick. I hope you find enough good mushrooms.” Keiko nodded toward the nook where Tomomi sat. “I’ll be with Tomomi, watching her make her lace.”

Then she turned and headed back toward her friend.




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Lyric

The minstrel had found that she wanted to wander the Commons room. She had met many of the Forest Kin who made Home their place of refuge, but there were many more she had not met.

One-Fang moved with her though. This might seem disconcerting to some, having a Wolf-kin in your shadow. But Lyric was not one of them. She didn't really perceive One-Fang as a protector either, despite whatever his own thoughts on the matter might be. When she first saw him she greeted him warmly and raked her thin but strong fingers through fur on his face as she leaned in to place her cheek against his muzzle.

"I hope that your walk with Soft was as encouraging as mine was," she whispered when she was cheek to cheek.

But Lyric was Lyric and soon enough, her mercurial nature was at the forefront again. She wanted to dance and to play music and sing, with or without music to accompany her own voice. She moved like a dancer, twirling from person to person, with laughter and a smile. One-Fang filled her small cup whenever she slowed enough to give him a chance.

The Scouting party had returned... And though she hadn't seen them leave because she must have been with Soft at the time, she was determined not to miss their return.

Her recent traveling companions, including Ser Friend Pietro had been to the Dread Keep of the Evil Dwarven Slavers and had lived to return to Home to tell their tale. Surely they had a tale to tell of their adventure and how their bravery had afforded them a chance to devise a cunning and heroic plan.

Lyric was looking forward to hearing everything there was to hear. And when, from one end of the room there was presented to them one of the Leaders of Home, the Kin known as the Lady, Lyric made her way in that direction. But none of her companions seemed to recognize the Lady's presence. Their focus seemed so completely pointed toward Dominic. Well the young Rhoni first, but Pietro next... Even Dama Kadri was headed toward Dommie by way of talking with Lockpick.

This was confusing, but Lyric was easily confused. She could freely admit that about herself. Even now, there seemed to be just too much going on around the Commons Room and that was hard for the Minstrel to take in, especially when she wanted to see it all, be a part of it all.

Was everything alright? The three companions were very intent on getting answers, and this was a bit of confusion for the minstrel. This was not matching the scene she had pictured in her mind, of returning heroes and a powerful sign of hope in their confidence and enthusiasm. Yes, that was what she envisioned. But the truth was oft times different than the imagination of a simple storyteller.

Lyric looked to Lady and thought to comfort the leader of Home.

"I am sure all is well," she said the Lady with a sense of confidence. "Time is very precious to them and their burden is heavy. With lives at risk, no doubt, they don't want to waste any of it. We shall hear the plan soon... I know it. Have no worry. My companions and friends will rescue those still enslaved and they will end the evil at that foul keep."

But Lyric realized she was glad that her friend One-Fang was close by to her now. Maybe it was she who stood in his shadow. She pressed closer, like so many others in the Commons room, to hear what was being said.


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Pietro


Engrossed in watching the Mouse tat her lace, the squire took another bite of his sandwich, chewed and swallowed and then paused with his apple halfway to his mouth.

He was forgetting something.

Pietro leaned back slightly, brow creased in thought as he searched his recent memory.

Ah... the Lady...

Placing the remainder of his simple repast on the table, the squire of Lord Rames got to his feet and brushed a few crumbs from his clothing before making his way over to the one called the Lady. He made a slight bow in acknowledgment.

"You asked a question, I think, my Lady? Something about the Keep?"

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Lyric

The Minstrel beamed at 'Ser' Pietro's approach before the Lady. She nodded in his direction but her smile was clearly evident. She took a half step back to allow for the Squire and the Lady to do what Lyric believed was proper and right. There was always time for courtesy. Maybe that was a Minstrel trait. Gratitude toward your host.

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


Bekkah, Cesare, Kadri, Keiko, Lyric, Pietro, Tomomi, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald Mouse, Broke, Soft, Clever, The Lockpick, a pair of Rats and most of the Pack, Lady and various and sundry other Forest Folk

“I would have worn your hat ….”

Tomomi just whispered that, as she continued with her lacework. The words weresoft and quiet, but her rose eyes sparkled.

“Lady teaches us that sometimes the work put into something is more important than if it comes out right. That care can make anything or anyone pretty.”

As she spoke, one hand rose, to stray through her poorly shorn locks. She tugged on one, a hint of poignancy in her expression. But that only lasted less than a heartbeat, as what happened afterwards banished away that one, particular memory.

“Oh! I had never thought of that! It certainly would and we could mix green and white and it would be even more pretty! And it would be nice. I mean, a nice thing to do for Miss Emerald Mouse. Or, well, anyone, right? “

Keiko’s companion tilted her head as she continued at her task, every now and then tilting her head as if imagining what it would be like to add color to her fine work. The Squire’s question, however, interrupted her. She sat herself up straight and looked up.

“Everyone at Home has to help each other. We can clean, sew, cook, or anything that we can, it just has to be something. I am a good Mouse. I collect pigments from where no one else can go. And I make lace, so that things look nice, like the cuffs of my sleeves, my collar and hems and all. Both can be traded at the Market for things Home needs. What this piece of lace will be, I never know until I am finished. Maybe it will be traded for a piece of wool or linen. Maybe it will be trim for a pretty forever friend dress. I will know when it’s done. It will tell me.”

When Keiko rose to refill their cups and ended up speaking to the other Mouse, Tomomi just blinked. Her head tilted again and she gasped, a paw coming to her mouth as well as a pinking of her non-human ears. She then smiled, nodded and returned to her work, wriggling a bit as she settled back to listen and discuss the Important matters with the Young Master and Squire and the Rhoni lad.

“Well I admit I have not truly seen the forges myself and my way in and out of the Keep, in all cases, was one that would be difficult to trace. It involves going from here to there without worrying about what is in the middle.”

Dominic’s answer to Cesare was simple and unfortunately honest. He then continued.

“I do know they have many forges and smithies scattered throughout the Keep. They are Dwarves after all and I suspect a hammer and anvil is as common in their homes as a ladle and cooking pot. I suspect, however, you mean the ones where they craft the Forest Folk …”

Next to him, Miss Mouse shook her head.

“And I knew only the mines and my cell. They were very careful with me. I even think they kept the Fleshsmiths from my sight, at the least, once I was finished being made.”

It was Keiko’s Friend that lowered her head and looked to the floor.

“I carried message plates all through the Keep. They would take me places, blind folded, so I could do my work. Every so often a message would need to be taken to the Forges. I was not allowed to wander. They were big and they glowed all strangely and everything was stone and black metal.

“They were so long I could not see the end of them.”

For those that had visited Lock Faast that last statement made tremendous sense. The curvature of the keep shaft would cut off one’s view of the end of any large room, such as a cathedral’s nave, Noble keep great hall or the Market barn at Cragside.

“I suspect that they were deep in the Keep, because there were no windows or light shafts. That and they are not far from the mines.

“We are made. There are stairs going down. We go to the toolbox rooms. Then we go to the mines. A tool’s world is very very small.

“Well, the mines are not small. They are strange and very large. Taller than the taller trees. But you need to see trees to be able to say that. Otherwise they just are.”

That was another statement that in its strange, sad way, made an awful lot of sense.

As they spoke, another short conversation was going on, at one of the long tables where the remnants of lunch were left out. There the dark cloaked mouse looked at her collection of mushrooms, in their little bowl. From a pouch The Lockpick took out a pestle and started to grind up her collection. She added a bit of juice, and then took out another pouch that held additional ingredients of a fungal nature.

The odd Forest Folk simply looked across to Keiko, gave her a blank and deadpan look, and answered in a simple monotone.

“We shall have to find out.”

She returned to her work, eyeing her concoction intensely.

The Lockpick took Kadri’s approach and question completely in stride. She did the same with Keiko’s departure, looking to the other two Mice and then back to Keiko.
She then addressed the fine Korie Dama.

“Yes. Yes you can.”

Again, it was spoken in her curious deadpan. The Lockpick offered Kadri her small cup, all friendly like.

“You look thirsty. Drink.”

Elsewhere, One Fang smiled with a deep wuffish chuckle. He leaned back when Lyric approached him and that was a nice thing about this manner of Forest Folk; they certainly had soft cheeks.

“Brrrroke may be ourrrr Pack leaderrr, but Soft be our den mother. And if anything, she feels even more protective now. But she also was yipping like a pup. For we have definitely proved Renyard wrong, and that rarely happens. You see, it seems you can teach an old wuff new tricks.”

He stood at Lyric’s side as she spoke to Lady. He listened too, reaching up and rubbing the side of his long muzzle as Lyric spoke. The archer looked as if he would have added to the conversation, but that was when Pietro walked over to address Home’s leader. In truth, however, Lady was only one of Home’s three leaders. Renyard was nowhere to be seen and Broke was still ensconced near the hearth, being poked at by the young Korie.

“I did, young Squire.”

Lady bowed her head politely, as if addressing a personage of importance. Which was the case; Pietro was indeed a follower of Lord Rames, one of rank, which gave him peerage. He was also the most prominent of their guests when it came to martial skills. In some ways, he was the their group’s Broke.

“I asked what news you brought from Loch Faast. Have you divined your task? Do you know how you will be rescuing our lost ones? How you will enter the Keep, how will you bring them out, how you will end the hurt Fleshsmiths do to the Forest’s innocent children?

“When will you start and how can we be of aid?”

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Pietro


His eyes widened and he darted a quick glance at Cesare.

She doesn't want to know much... he thought as he turned back to Lady, thinking furiously.

"We discovered the basic layout of the Keep and did so without, I think, being seen by any of our adversaries," he said after a moment.

"The rest..." he grimaced slightly. "The rest is still a work in progress, I am afraid. There are many more questions to be answered before our plan will be complete."

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Cesare

"Big, glowing, stone and black metal."

He nods. It is probably as good as he is going to get. He starts to think, recalling the tools he has, recalling his knowledge of smithing and trying to work out if he has tools or knowledge that might prove useful. He also considers his plant lore, anything that might affect such a structure.

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Lyric

To One-Fang, she nodded with a reflective expression. There were thoughts of her own she kept that way.

"I hope so..."

And in the gathering conversation where Squire Pietro was answering The Lady's question, she noticed the Squire's unease with the many questions Lady had posed to him. He had glanced to the Rhoni lad, Cesare, as if to find support to bolster his confidence.

Yes, the Lady carried a mantle of authority and she wore it well. But she hadn't proven herself to be cruel or harsh. In fact, within the confines of Home she appeared quite the opposite. But Lyric had never met her before coming to Home so her knowledge of such matters was extremely limited.

Still, aside from the many very direct questions, there was nothing that should warrant the Squire's momentary pensive expression. Unless... He didn't have any answers at all.

Surely not. This is not how stories go. The Heroes always have an answer. They always see that which others can not see. They always find a way to defeat evil.

Well...

Okay, not always but those instances were a different kind of hero story and they weren't nearly as fun to tell. Tragedy and sacrifice.

Oh My...

Lyric really hoped the impending Battle of the Dark Keep on the Lake was not one of those.

She wanted to help Pietro as he tried to buy time. His incomplete plan needed help. But how could that be accomplished when they were back at Home. If the Forestkin had the answer they would have done so in order to save their Kin and destroy the Keep of the Foul Forges.

And then an idea struck her and it seemed quite right that a Minstrel Bard might think of this.

"Great Lady," she said, shifting her attention to the Vixen Leader of Home. "If I might be permitted an indulgence."

She spoke louder now, to make sure others heard her.

"It would be very difficult for any great strategist to devise a plan to face such a terrible situation with only one visit. But we all know that time is short and our presence in Home will surely attract attention. A plan must be devised before the Evil Dwarven Slavers come up with one of their own."

Lyric turned in a circle, a slight, but growing wildness in her eyes. The tempo of her words was building. The tenor and pitch of her voice was pulling from the energy in the room and turning it back out in a newly refined form.

"What if those who are able and willing tell us... Tell me, what they know of this terrible place. Whatever they can tell. What it looked like, what it smelled like, what can be seen from the banks of the Lake, all the way around. Tell the things they have seen when traveling there to do rescues or gather information. If they can tell this to me, like stories, as many of them as possible... and those who might not have the words, maybe they can draw some pictures, a story of it's own..."

Lyric seemed rather animated now, as if a bit of that creative Whimsy were taking control. She shifted around making eye contact with other Forestkin, Mouses and Rats and Wuffs... and any others who seemed caught up in her presentation before The Lady.

"...I might be able to help my Companions by turning all of what I hear and see into a story of sorts and... Well, what if this collective effort sparks the Heroes imagination? And thus a plan is born? We will all be Heroes to save those who need our help the most, and vanquish an Evil blight within this Great Realm Of Trees."

She turned back to The Lady, "What say you Beautiful Kind Lady, can this be so?"

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Cesare

He is still deep in thought, mulling over possibilities, discounting some lines of thought, exploring others.. but he is still aware of what is going on around him.

When Lyric speaks up with her suggestion, a good one he thinks, he winks at her in encouragement, adding a smile and looking around to see what response she is getting.

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Pietro


Lyric's presentation surprised and pleased him and he nodded his agreement.

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She also consider she trying to say something to Keiko but decides against it - for whatever reason, nothing she says seems to generate anything but annoyance in one direction and frustration in the other - and at least for the moment that seems unlikely to change. And were there a place or time to change it, in public in this gathering was not it. She sighs a bit, before her eyes move back to the mouse.

"I thank you, Lockpick."

She gives a respectful nod and tries the drink.

Kadri nods at lyrics idea, and waits to hear its results.

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


Bekkah, Cesare, Kadri, Keiko, Lyric, Pietro, Tomomi, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald Mouse, Broke, Soft, Clever, The Lockpick, a pair of Rats and most of the Pack, Lady and various and sundry other Forest Folk

“That sounds like just a beginning, Master Squire…”

But then Lady simply smiled.

“And all things, no matter how large or small, have to begin somewhere.”

For Kadri, in reply, The Lockpick simply ducked her head, a droll, simple, and slow formality, a silent version of her traditional monotone. The Mouse simply studied the Amber runaway and in end just blinked, let out a long breath and wrinkled her nose. Her whiskers twitched this way and that as she excused herself.

“There is someone I need to consult with.”

For the rest, the late afternoon continued on. To one side, Broke suddenly poked Dominic, and in reply Dominic scanned the room. His brows raised, he bit his thumb and that was when Miss Emerald covered his eyes. Some of the other Forest Kin had similar reactions, but before anything could happen to bring light as to why they suddenly had stifled their thoughts Lyric swept in with her words, and more importantly, her questions. When the minstrel finished there was a slowly growing silence as one by one the Forest Folk turned to look at their leader, Lady.

Lady simply smiled and nodded.

Then the cacophony began. One by one, one after the other, the Forest Folk spoke up, trying to provide answers. It was like listening to scraps of conversation in a crowded commons hall with many voices weaving their stories together. One of the bigg’uns began.

“Well it’s just out there in the middle of the lake, with its walls and windmills and gates and bridges. One goes to the Forest so the weasels can hunt, one goes to the Stone Wall because - cor, your folks were out there! They saw it all, they know and can tell you better!”

That particular Kin nodded directly at Pietro, a silent acknowledgement that this might best for the Squire to describe. What followed was a second moment of silence, but this time it only lasted until another of the Forest Folk spoke up, followed by another and another and another.

“The mines, they were scary and deep and dark and in some places you couldn’t see the ceiling and sometimes you couldn’t stand straight.”

“I can’t forget the heat, it was always so hot, worse than summer and you could almost lick the water otta the air …”

“The sleep places were always dark, well, because they were sleep places, ja? There was a little place for coals for warmth and a little bit of light because they weren’t the mines and they were cold …”

“They keep the Mice apart, so they don’t get lost or try wandering.”

“We had blankets, they were just rough and thin and all. If you shared it wasn’t that bad, well, excepting when someone finally woke up dead.”

“They’d lower us food down in buckets, from somewhere above the sleeping places. You couldn’t see because the shafts were black. It was mostly fish, until I got rescued I couldn’t even imagine that there were different kinds of food. Fish was food because that was all you got.”

“The mines are deep, deeper than the Forest roots, deeper than the lake, deeper than anything in all the world.”

“Scalloped Sleeves! Tomomi! Pink. Pink. Pink. Tomomi, why is it always pink?”

“The bigg’uns would get their own places to sleep, us lil’uns, well, we all get put in a room that would have had a bigg’un. Very practical …”

“Wandering Mice were get eaten by Weasels.”

“Every now and then we’d get meat. There’d always be a loaf of bread and sometimes apples and berries. We got one meal before the mines and one meal afterwards.”

“You had to be careful, because when we struck a vein, the ore would spray out. It was so hot, if you got caught in it you’d get all burned up and then it’d be a good thing they’d send The Executioner for you. After she got rescued it got bad.”

“Now digging your way through the mines, it was all windy and long, because the rock was always strange. The Rats would use black metal bars to shatter a scalewall, then sometimes you could push your way deeper, like going through a lot of vines …”

“Every now and then a mine would get really really long and we’d have to carry buckets of food with, because it took longer than you could walk between eatings to get to where you had to work. And then you had to walk back. That was when we found a really really really big mine.”

“Everything is halls and tunnels and curving corridors, all of stone, set so tight together its like they aren’t even carved blocks at all. Maybe in some places, they aren’t”

“And then something would go wrong. The Rats would smash the wrong thing, or use the chisels to cut too deep or a teamster would step too hard on something too soft and the whole world would begin to rumble and then it would shake and then everything would get all tumbly, there’s be ore all over the place and then what was open would get squooshed and if you didn’t run away fast enough you would never get out, when a mine rolled and broke.”

“They gave us glowy shrooms and crystals for light, because you can’t mine in the dark and anything hot would have disturbed the mines …”

“Everyone remembers the stairs, that they dragged you down after being made, almost from the commons to the pier, from the black doors behind which you were made, to the black doors of the mines.”

“The stone part of the mines were where we slept and ate, and they were just stone boxes and where we kept what we needed. What clothes they gave us, our food buckets, sometime we’d make things to help us.”

“I like glowy shrooms.”

“Mice would go look and see, then the Rats would follow, cutting through, then the bigg’uns come last, making the sluices to carry the ore back to the gates that lead back into the Keep Place where the Old Masters did what they did with the ore.

“There were big arches through the Keep foundations between the stone part and where you mind the ore. Every now and then one would collapse/ We were so far down they didn’t even feel it above, but then the Old Masters would come down and fix it so we could try mining that way again.”

“How do they smell? Like copper …”

“The Old Masters would watch over us in the stone part, like shadows on a wall almost as high as Home. Sometimes a Rat or Mouse would go Mad and try and hurt them and they’d let the Weasels loose in the mines and you had to find a place to hide really fast.”

“Every now and then things would go really wrong, and you’d die at the black metal mine doors, because once you got there you couldn’t go anywhere else because they could only be opened from the other side …”

“I will go find some. That would be best. Right now.”

“The worst part … the worst part … the worst part about them of all is that you can’t even think of the world being more until you get rescued and you see the Forest and sky and Sun for the first time. It’s the world for those left behind.

“And when you first see the sky, it’s so so scary.”

The entire commons contributed to the conversation, almost every single Forest Folk.

Only one of the Forest Folk was conspicuously silent.

Lady had not spoken a word.

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Cesare

He listens. Somewhere in there may be an answer. In the first lull of the telling, he asks some quiet questions, something mulling around in his head.

"So the ore is molten? And it smells of copper? And it is hot? What colour is it?"

It almost sounds like blood..

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Lyric


It was a whirlwind, an absolute torrent of voices, one after another and sometimes several at a time. They gathered in close to speak what they knew. Some told others as well. Forest folk eager to help. Others nervous and grim at the remembrance of such a terrible place and life.

But this was Home, and for each Forestkin that approached her, she made sure to touch them in return, if they allowed, and in that bit of offered kindness and comfort, Lyric wanted them to know they were safe and what they had to offer might be important enough to save a life. Every one of them, no matter how little or how big, no matter how much they could share... or how little they remembered (or every knew in the first place) was worthy of being listened to and heard, and appreciated. Kindness offered from Love was a simple gift to offer another (especially a stranger) but it's value was greater than silver or gold, greater than all gemstones found in the whole of this land, greater than the spices and strange rarities brought from across the Eastern Mountains... and greater than even the blood-ore mined and forged into Dark Metal.
A hand to hold a paw, or touch a face, brush a bit of hair to reveal beautiful eyes, or maybe a sweep across a muzzle.

When the bits and pieces of stories, and descriptions began to come at her Lyric called out between 'interviews' for her friends and companions.

"Friend Keiko... please come. You have talent for creating real images. While I paint pictures with words in the minds and hearts of those who hear my words, I can not put them onto paper. Come Tomomi, you as well..."

"Pietro I need you friend. You are a man of martial training and what you saw is very important. I need to hear your words too... and share them with Friend Keiko."

"Cesare... You will see things in a way others don't. You have such an eye as your heritage grants those who travel and wander. To observe and witness, but to see it differently, perhaps even more truly than others."

Lyric looked for Lady Bekkah, the healer of Aterra but couldn't see her in the Commons Room. That didn't mean she wasn't hear, but rather that Lyric, among so many of the Forestkin, did not have a proper vantage. But her eyes caught a glimpse to the Amber Princess... the one who resented being reminded of that very thing. A trickster like Dommi...

"Dama Kadri... please gather here as well. Your insight and experience is vital You were there at the keep. And there are things I have heard, but need your thoughts... Come, let us hear these things together and if we can all see them now... then maybe an idea will be given breath and life. Hope might be born for those who struggle in dark peril."

If and when Kadri made her way closer to where Lyric could behold her presence, the Minstrel made no indication that anything was out of the ordinary. But Kadri became her sole point of focus. Mercurial Whimsy was already giving way to the Sage and Wise, and her expression reflected that change. She held out her hands to the Dama, hoping she would accept them.

There were still many more Forestkin to be heard, noticed and appreciated. And, of course there was The Lady. As as Hearer, Listerner, Collector, and Teller of stories Lyric wanted, maybe even needed, to immerse herself in these stories through the folk who lived them. But first things had to come first... hear the Forestkin, and first before that first, was to 'listen' to Kadri.

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Keiko

She was more than a little surprised when The Lockpick joined them at the window seat. Why was what always pink? And then she watched the commotion Broke and Dommi were causing, and then followed the gaze of every single Kin in Home.

Keiko had to bite her lips, both upper and lower, between her teeth to keep from bursting out laughing. Tomomi poked her in the side.

“It’s easier if you don’t look.”

The Rhoni blinked and looked at her forever friend, softly cleared her throat, and nodded. But she did look over at The Lockpick. For a handful of breaths, and then for another handful of breaths, Keiko merely studied the Mouse. Finally, she was able to speak without falling into giggling, to speak beneath the cacophony that Lyric had begun to call forth from the Home’s inhabitants.

With a surreptitious glance at Dommi, she said to The Lockpick, “I think your Lady must be quite pleased with you at the moment. But about the pink...” She pointed to The Lockpick’s ears, then Tomomi’s, and finally ran one hand over the back of her other one. “It could be because red is the color of blood, and even under fur and hair, skin is usually rather pinkish. Well, of most living and breathing things, anyway. Not the Dragons, of course, and not the Hunting Beasts of the East, certainly — black and a rather sickish green those are. So, yes... pink because it is red with a bit of white mixed in, you see.”

And then Keiko merely blinked once, all nonchalant like. It was almost as though she had gotten used to being in the company of the Lady Vixen’s followers. Either that or she was faking it until she made it to that point.

In either case, Lyric’s request was a surprise.

“I have charcoal pencils in my room at the Mill,” she replied to the Minstrel. “But I have nothing on which draw the things...” Tomomi disappeared then, but Keiko soldiered on. “...the things being described.” Several more Mice disappeared at that point.

Tomomi returned with Keiko’s bundle of charcoal sticks, smiling and quite pleased with herself. “I saw where you left them. I made sure to leave everything neat, just like you left it.”

As the Rhoni took the pencils from Tomomi, two other Mice reappeared beside Lady and set large leaves of paper on the floor at her feet.

“This is important, isn’t it?”

“Renyard won’t mind, will he?”

Keiko got up and made her way through the gather of Kin, doing her best to avoid looking at Dama Kadri. The Mice were the two she had identified by their cloak patterns — Triangle Shoulder Patch and Blue Left Side Rectangle. Shrugging as she looked at Lady and then the stack of paper at her feet, she dropped gracefully to the floor and set her pencils beside the paper. Smiling up at the two Mice, she nodded.

“It’s very important, and I don’t think Renyard would mind too much. I’ll be ever so careful in my use of the paper, however. Thank you both.”

But then she was caught up in the words being called forth by the Minstrel. Keiko sketched lightly and quickly, bending over the paper and eventually just sprawling out on her stomach as she made rough drawings. She could go over the sketches later to fill in more details if Lyric felt it would be necessary. For now, she simply tried to get as much on paper as possible.

It seemed to take forever and, at the same time, took hardly any time at all for all the Kin to have their say. Keiko sat up and stretched, looking up once more at Lady.

She had always been the kindest of the Forest Kin who came to the Market. It had taken virtually no time at all for Keiko to realize that Lady’s presence was one of peace. While Renyard exercised her wit, Lady soothed her heart.

“I think I understand — at least as well as a young Rhoni girl can understand such things — why you remain silent, Lady.” Keiko spoke oh so softly, oh so gently. “And if speaking of the place will help to rescue those still held captive, know that your Kin and I care very much and will assist in any ways we can to ease your burden.” She smiled sadly. “Memories of things that happened are tied to memories of where they happened. But we all know that the things that occurred in a place you describe cannot happen here at Home.”

She reached up and placed a hand over Lady’s elegant ones that were folded in her lap.

“As you so often have reminded the Small Kin, now I will remind you.

“You are safe here, Lady.”


"Everything is bad except unicorns." -- Phoebe
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Kadri:

"It appears my presence has been requested."

She bows slightly again.

"Talk more later?"

She makes her way over to Lyric.

"The mines sounds very much to me Iike a living thing."

She readily took the offered hands, and looked up locking eyes with her.






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Lyric

Lyric was, perhaps, an inch taller than Lady Bekkah. And, while that wasn't saying much, it did make the Minstrel a little taller than the Dama.

Holding those hands she squeezed a little bit and smiled.

"They are," Lyric replied as if revelation was somehow secondary to the purpose of the personal greeting. "Dark Metal is the forged blood of a Dragon. A very large dragon, as I am to understand dragons are by nature. I have never seen one, but there is one that is in a state of hibernation deep beneath the ground. The Dwarves have tunneled down to it and they use the Forestkin as slaves to extract the blood from the creature. The blood comes out as a molten liquid and that seems a proper thing for dragon blood. Dangerous and deadly for the slaves for certain."

There was a pause though.

"But that is not why I have drawn you close for a private word among so many around us... Might I tell you a story? I promise it isn't a very long one."

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Kadri:

A dragon so ...

Interesting. The implications bore thinking but - later.

"Stories are a tradition back home - both in the telling and the receiving - and I am always willing to listen to a story. Though I would dare say you are likely better at them than me."

Her head tilts slightly to the side and she waits.

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Lyric

"It is my trade and craft, yes... but I don't assume I am anyone's better. Though that is partially at the heart of my story for you."

"Kadri," she began using the Dama's name as she had been given leave to previously. "In my village, among my people, I have always been different. I think different things, I act different ways. That has always put me at odds with those who prefer their old ways and old traditions. To them, this is how things should be, because, as it is now that is how they remember it as always being. Sometimes life was difficult for me and I had to take great care. I was viewed differently and I could see that. And when someone is seen to be different there will be those who are hostile to that. I am not a hostile person and have no hostile intent for others, but that didn't change the fear others felt in how I might disrupt their ways."

"There were times when I became the focus of their pranks and jokes, sometimes cruel. And it taught me quite a bit. No one likes to be teased or pranked in public. But that was something I had to deal with... I learned that if took their pranks or their heckling, and embraced it, owned it, made it part of who I was for the moment... I took the power from them to tease me or belittle me."

"I say all of this because you might not be aware that you have been made the focus of a prank. I believe you understand such things as you follow the same divine being that Master Dominic follows and such things are expected and in the nature of those who follow."

Lyric dd not elaborate on the nature of the prank, but clearly it was something she could identify from a distance and thus the beckoning to join her. Lyric's voice was soft and kind... compassionate.

The Minstrel paused to give Kadri a moment to take in the meaning of the story and the importance it served where it related to Kadri's current circumstance.

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Her head tilts the other way - and yet Kadri still waits. The story seemed not complete, therefore it was not time to interrupt.

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Cesare

**Dragon's blood?**

Now that was something he had not expected. His first thoughts were wake and free the dragon, then the dwarves wouldn't be able to mine the blood and therefore wouldn't need the forest kin. But he had a feeling that a woken dragon might be even worse than the dwarves.

He looks up again, another question on his lips, which hovered on the edge of his lips as his eyes lighted on Kadri. But it seems that Lyric is explaining so he focuses back on solving the important question of the dwarves.

"Would an awake dragon be a really bad thing?"

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Lyric

The Minstrel still held Kadri's hands, facing her and tilted her head to match. She watched to see how Kadri received what was said so far. It wasn't Lyric's place to protect or defend the lady. She seemed quite capable of that on her own. But Kadri needed to be given the chance to make the choice in how she reacted and to know that someone would support her effort should she seek it.

With a sidelong glance to Cesare who was nearby enough to have heard her first reply to the Dama. To his open inquiry about a wakened dragon she replied, "YES."

She returned her attention to Kadri again, the same gentle understanding and infinitely sage bearing still commanding her expression.

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Lady

Friendly Mice can be very useful, especially if you’ve spent time getting to know them as unique individuals. Materials for mapmaking were easily assembled.

Lady watched curiously, as images were drawn out upon paper. And when they were done, she spoke very quietly.

“Of all of our kin, I have always been. Safe.”

She looked away, out one of the windows.

“When they took me from the forges, I never saw the mines. Think about the nature of the parties that made up Prince Faast’s expedition and you will fully understand why I choose not to speak of my fancy, comfortable rooms in the Upper Halls. Far from the mines or any mill or forge and thus beyond the questions asked.

“As for here? Home is my dream. And Renyard, Broke, Clever Rat, the Pack, The Lockpick, and everyone in this room here helped make that dream become real.

“My only burden …

“Is if They made another Vixen.”

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Kadri:

"Perhaps you could elaborate on this prank to poor unobservant and dense Kadri?"


She raises an eyebrow and offers a slight smile, to show the comment was not hostile.

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Lyric

Lyric slowly shook her head, "No, one can not be called unobservant if one is not meant to see it in the first place Kadri. You are not dense neither."

That there were no mirrors in this entire common hall was hardly something Lyric would have noticed until this moment. How could Kadri see the curiosity of markings that had developed on the skin of her face, and maybe elsewhere on her body unseen.

That it was a prank was evident enough in that whatever caused it had done it in such a fashion that it couldn't be mistaken for a rash or an allergic reaction. It was as if it had been crafted for a particular effect.

"I will describe it for you," she continued in a soft voice meant to limit prying ears access. "But please remember, if this is a prank, you can own this, take control of it and make it your own... Surely this would win you favor with the Divine Being you serve, ja? To take someone else's prank and make it your own?"

Lyric's description came in a more flowery fashion with words that described coloration and pattern, but what it all came down to was that Kadri's face bore a number of pink dots that were perfectly circular of varying size, large and small. Not a rash, but as if someone had crafted a bit of playful artwork. the dots filled in spaces and worked with each other to create this pattern on Kadri's face and possibly elsewhere.

After her description, she reminded her, "I can help you own this if you want... I have been heckled and pranked in my life, many times... I have learned to take control of the audience and make them favor me for my good humor and grace through it, and I owned the prank after that. I owned the power of it, and the prankster is left smaller, sidelined. And no matter the true intent, be it playful or meant with malice, I refuse to let the pranksters better me without a fight."

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Kadri:

"Continue."

She says slowly, one corner of her mouth quirking upwards.

Her body language wasn't the slightest bit angry so much as bemused, arching an eyebrow gracefully.

Anger is to her a thing which is to be saved for cosmic injustices, harm to friends and those who cannot defend themselves, anger is a tool to be directed like an arrow at knocking down those who would hold down others - anger is not something to be expended on pranks. Given her multiple siblings, she was quite used to receiving such. And to, in time, responding. However, one good prank did indeed deserve another. Or at least a response, of sorts.

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Lyric

There in the midst of an assemblage of Forestkin waiting to get their remembrances heard and put on paper by the Rhoni girl, Lyric stood up from her perch at the edge of the table, bare feet hitting the floor with a bounce. The mercurial and quirky side of her was suddenly in charge.

Her smile was beaming as she let slip Kadri's hands and turned to pick up her mandolin in one and then extend the other for Kadri to accept and be led by her as she stepped up on a chair and then atop the next nearest table.

"Listen all," she shouted out over the din of the conversations. Once she had people's attention, her voice softened some and the performer took over.

"While serious work is being done, there is time for a song and maybe a dance to go with it." As she spoke she turned full circle atop that table nearby to the one at which Keiko worked to render pictures from words. "Live life and be joyous for soon enough we will have our plan and we will begin a great rescue... and we will right a great wrong as good vanquishes evil."

"Cesare... Join us up here.... Please... You too have a part in my song-story... A bit of light-hearted humor to go with Dama Kadri's unique complexion."

She waited for Cesare to be brave and bold and join them atop the table before she slipped lithely around them with her mandolin at the ready. Her actions would be a cue for the others to follow, a lead for them to improvise and a map for them to take part in the story revealed in her song.

"There were two sisters side by side..."



Lyric took on the role of the eldest sister in the song started. It was the role of the villian after all, and Kadri had to be the heroine in the piece. Cesare would be the young boy Jonny for whom the sisters vied. She hoped the others would 'feel' the story and play along with her, even if they had never heard the old ballad.

"Sing aye dum, sing aye day
There were two sisters side by side
The boys are born for me
There were two sisters side by side
The eldest for young Jonny cried
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Jonny bought the youngest a gay gold ring,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Jonny bought the youngest a gay gold ring,
The boys are born for me
Jonny bought the youngest a gay gold ring,
He never bought the eldest a single thing
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Jonny bought the youngest a fine rare hat,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Jonny bought the youngest a fine rare hat,
The boys are born for me
Jonny bought the youngest a fine rare hat,
The eldest never thought much of that
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

As they were walking by the foamy brim,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
As they were walking by the foamy brim,
The boys are born for me
As they were walking by the foamy brim,
The eldest pushed the youngest in
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Sister, oh sister give me thy hand,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Sister, oh sister give me thy hand,
The boys are born for me
Sister, oh sister give me thy hand,
And you can have Jonny and all his land
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Sister i won't give you my hand,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Sister i won't give you my hand,
The boys are born for me
Sister i won't give you my hand,
And I'll have Jonny and all his land
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

So there she sank and away she swam,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
So there she sank and away she swam,
The boys are born for me
So there she sank and away she swam,
Until she came to the miller's dam
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

The miller pulled her up onto dry land,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
The miller pulled her up onto dry land,
The boys are born for me
The miller pulled her up onto dry land,
Then back to Jonny, who took her hand
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Jonny married the youngest on that day,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Jonny married the youngest on that day,
The boys are born for me
Jonny married the youngest on that day,
The eldest was angry and she ran away
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Jonny and the youngest laughed and sang,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Jonny and the youngest laughed and sang,
The boys are born for me
Jonny and the youngest laughed and sang,
And for her crimes the eldest did hang
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

The acting of the parts was spontaneous and would add to the audience laughter as each verse was revealed. The 'actors' would have to react quickly in their efforts to play along and keep up. Lyric hoped that such a bit of chaos would completely diffuse the original prank and normalize Kadri's appearance until someone could figure a way to reverse it or it wore off.

Until that time though, there was merriment to be had... a song and some laughter as well.

(OOC- I adapted several verses and a few words along the way to make this song go the way Lyric would want it to...)

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Dancing was something that came quite naturally to Kadri, and she was quite graceful at it. She moved lithely from step to step, moving with the moves of the story which she seemed to pick up quickly. This was in her comfort zone.

From smoky glances axchanged Cesare's way at appropriate moments to looks of betrayal when her 'sister' wouldn't give her hand.


At the end, she stopped with a saucy grin and a wink - at lockpick directly, if that person was again present.

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The Lockpick

... funny, the black cloaked Mouse is nowhere to be seen!




OOC Note: Her departure was documented in last Sunday's Long Post smile

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Pietro


Bemused and not a little bit worried about Cesare's questions concerning waking a sleeping dragon, the squire paid little attention to the tableau presented by Lyric, Cesare and Kadri.

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Keiko

Long moments passed; the Rhoni simply knelt beside the kind Fox woman, knowing that her experience could not render a full understanding of Lady’s plight. However, she understood enough from her few words, from hints Renyard had dropped through his many questions.

“Then my hope is that you have no such burden, dear Lady,” she said as she stood again. Rather than returning to the window seat immediately, she bent closer to the Vixen and whispered, “And if such a burden there be, we will do all we can to rescue her.”

Absently rubbing a charcoal stained hand on her tunic, she made her way back across the room toward the window seat Tomomi favored, avoiding Lyric and the Dama Kadri. However, when the Minstrel invited Cesare to join in whatever merriment she was making, Keiko intercepted him with a light touch on his arm that was removed when she had his attention.

“Lyric is right about Dragons that do not sleep, cousin,” she said in a hushed tone. “The Ancestors themselves cautioned us in their tales of wisdom never to wake a sleeping Dragon. It is a warning that is very literal. But you should be aware that there is not a Dragon sleeping beneath the Lake and the Keep.” She held his gaze for a handful of heartbeats to ensure he understood the gravity of her words.

“There are MANY Dragons sleeping beneath the Lake and beneath the Keep. There are many more Dragons sleeping beneath the world.”

Tilting her head in Lyric’s direction, the young Rhoni lass smiled slightly. “But they do sleep for now. And our minstrel has requested your assistance in this moment, so ride that wave. If you wish to speak further on the matter of Dragons...” She looked around, caught sight of Tomomi, then focused on Cesare once more. “...I’m sure someone will know where to find me.”

She smiled brightly then and gestured toward Lyric. “Now is the time for playfulness, not heavy thoughts to worry at your mind. Go... enjoy.”

With a jaunty curtsy, she spun on her heel so that her tunics flared out a bit — her intent, to be sure — and rejoined her Mouse friend at the window seat.


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Cesare

His head lifts at his name, then he grins, heads straight for the table but is intercepted for a moment by Keiko. He listens as she tells him of the dragons. As always she is full of knowledge and wisdom and he is again reminded of how much he must have missed in his early years; things that he might have learned growing up amongst his people. All those lost conversations.

"Aye. I would like to hear more. But as you say my services are needed just now."

He grins at his fellow Rhoni, liking that greeting of cousin which in a small way makes he feel like he belongs and jumps up beside Lyric. And he plays his part, acting out the parts that required him to do something, offering a ring, a hat, linking arms with the appropriate sister in the different parts of the song.

At the end he jumps down to the floor laughing.

"Now I really need some refreshment."

He had been so consumed with the rescue plan when he'd arrived that he hadn't had anything to eat or drink. Lyric's song had brought him back in focus and he looks around the tables to see what is left.

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[Post above corrected as I'd missed a part of Kel's post. Sorry! grin ]

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


Bekkah, Cesare, Kadri, Keiko, Lyric, Pietro, Tomomi, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald Mouse, Broke, Wrath, Clever, a pair of Rats and most of the Pack, Lady and various and sundry other Forest Folk

“If there is …”

The red-haired vixen’s eyes dropped, just a bit.

“She won’t be found with the rest. She’d not be found deep in the Keep, but instead, in it’s highest halls. Not the mines. Not where the rescue is bound.”

Lady let her words fade away, however, as the Minstrel suddenly became the center of attention. Her head tilted, her ears perked, but her look was not one of curiosity as she watched her commons rise to the offered entertainment. It was of concern.

Most of Home did not share the Elder’s expression, however. They were easily swept up to the beat and the dance. Music and dance was such a rare thing within this swamp-circled tree house that it was a temptation hard to resist, if it could be resisted at all.

The Pack seemed immune too, their collective response was just a lifting of Wrath’s head, to watch the commons become a swirl of color and patchwork with narrowed eyes. Without a word he just dropped his head back down on his Broke-pillow. To which he got a poke in the side by One Fang’s booted foot.

“She means we’hhh.”

Wuffs still had troubles with their Ls.

Thus it was that Lady followed Keiko, finding a place to rest against the wall next to the Rhoni and Mouse’s window seat. In some ways her expression mirrored Pietro’s. Indeed, because of that, the Squire got a nod from Home’s leader, a silent acknowledgement that he may indeed be right – that there were more important matters at stake than Kadri’s countenance and a fancy turn upon the wooden floor boards.

Kadri could dance the song away, adding an Amber flair to her steps. Looking up, just like before, it was easy to notethat The Lockpick had previously vanished and had not yet returned. Dominic and Emmi had chosen to stay put too, looking perhaps just bit too comfortable to be proper beneath his flat black cloak.

Cesare would easily be able to something to eat, amidst the remnants of lunch. Bread, cheeses and the like, but like One Fang he’d find that there was no meat left. However, he would have to be fast. As the dance came to a close some of the Forest Folk remembered that it was their job to clear away the tables.

Lady finally offered her home and companions a small, poignant smile. She looked to Mouse and Rhoni and nodded.

“Ja.

“Let them enjoy their dance.

“Let us hope it raises hearts and does not become a distraction from the serious matters facing us between now and the Keep of Prince Faast Bankorpool.”

Then the dance would be over and Lyric’s song come to its end. And as Lady had observed, still ahead of them were the unanswered questions of Lady Yurisdotter’s quest – the rescue, the Keep, the lake, the mines and now, added to the mix, tales of dragons and dragon’s blood.

Keiko’s drawings of the Keep were where they were left, waiting patiently for Pietro, Cesare and the others.

Waiting for what they all would do next.

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Cesare

Bread and cheese is fine and he places several of each onto a plate that looked relatively clean. He sits down to think, ducking as the clearing up started to happen around him but not stopping eating. He is again thinking ahead to their quest.

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Pietro


Once the dance came to an end, Pietro got some bread and cheese and went to sit beside Cesare and eat.

"I wish your friend was still here to help us plan."

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Lyric


The song had an end and, once reached, it was the proper time for other, more important, things. But a moment's respite for denizens of Home might renew the spirit of what this place was meant to be in the minds of those most serious right now. Lady, in particular, came to Lyric's mind. Her leadership was focused and closer to her goal she had gotten the more focused she became. But Lyric felt that everyone needed to remember what Home was meant to be. To remember what kind of place Lyric was told it was, and was offered what is was. Home was home. It was safety, it was love, and was a place to be free.

But the song ended and Lyric hoped it helped. Now was a time for more serious matters. So much pressure though. Lyric knew that there was a weight upon her friends and companions now to devise a plan, one that neither Lady, nor the Rats, and Mouses, and Deers, and Raccoons, nor even the formidable Pack of Wuffs had been able to devise in all their time here. And yet, in a day or two since their arrival there was an expectation that outsiders, who had barely had but a few hours to observe the Evil Keep of the Slavers, would be expected.... No, would be NEEDED... to figure out a way to free the Forestkin and defeat the Dwarves so that this evil would never rise again... all of this within a dark Forest cursed by a grief stricken Divine Being. Talk about pressure.

Yeah, Lyric was just putting it into perspective. She looked over to the three upon whose shoulders this weight fell and she couldn't help but have compassion for them. What could she do though? How could she inspire them? Everyone had a part to play. All the greatest epics had archetypal characters and those characters had roles... She knew her place. She understood her role. She liked her role...

"Is there a prophecy for this? A foretelling of greatness that heroes would emerge? A frame to hold the events in context? Something told as a story of a day not yet come? Maybe a tale told of a day that made the even the Evil Dwarves feel fear and dread and thus forbid even a whisper?"

Lyric was speaking to no one directly, but more so as though she were a narrator as the glow of the aftermath of her song's joy and merriment faded.

The maps and pictures drawn by Keiko, as told by so many willing and even eager to help were spread out upon a table now. And the heavier air of grim solemnity took hold. A part of the minstrel wanted to strike up another song for that was what one did to break the tension.

No. The moment at hand was now one for such heavy things. Lyric had done what she felt she could. Her place was to watch and learn and observe. Somewhere on her journey she knew she would find the Song that would save her people. She believed in her heart that it could be found among these people, her friends and companions. They had already done great deeds and this might well be their greatest. Yes, in so far as how their actions would affect the living, breathing lives of those who needed great deeds to be done, that is. And Lyric was here to witness it and make it know throughout the these lands such that what happens here will take its place among the greatest of tales already told. Maybe even a song and tale of the days when the next Divine beings were walking the lands in their final days of mortality...

Lyric shook her head to break the strange fugue her imagination was conjuring. Such was the way of a Dreaming Minstrel though.

Lyric slipped around to the end of that table to be close at hand when the three of them finally sat down to plan. She wanted to watch and hear them plan. She wanted to be in the right place to see it unfold. It was hard to hide that wash of anticipation on her own face. She looked at the papers spread out in readiness for the Heroes to begin. She...

She...

She paused, and looked at the drawings some more, one after the other those that were visible.

You are the Minstrel, she reminded herself. She desperately wanted to move other pages aside to see all the drawings though. It was a part of her to be curious, but it was also something else. Something that could betray a deeper gifting... One she was not comfortable exposing. One that could make people misunderstand how different she was. How different she wanted to be...

What? No, it was simply curiosity at play. That too is part of your nature.

She looked away and sought a distraction. Keiko? Was she nearby? Close enough for a smile and wave? Or maybe Dommi. Was her close enough for her to see him though the gathering? Or was he lounged across the room, knowing this was not the place for his talents? He would surely be able to distract her with some bantering play of words. She enjoyed the verbal spar with him. Or... One Fang. A friend with some feelings. Even the exploration of that mutual interest could give her the relief from her dangerous curiosity, but where that path might lead bore its own dangers though.

So she sat there at the end of the table, looking at the drawings she could see, and at the heroes as they ate a bit more and prepared themselves as they bore the weight of expectations and hopes and anxieties and all the remainder of that restless undefined energy bound up in this place... The intense need to free their kind and end the evil that created them.

But she couldn't help glancing at those pictures. Once she saw IT, she couldn't stop thinking about IT.

You are the Minstrel... the minstrel... Everyone has their place.

She slipped off of the table's edge and pushed through the milling forestkin to step outside onto a balcony or bridge-way built into the canopy of Home to connect place to place. She needed a breath of fresh air to help her refocus herself.

You are the minstrel...










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Keiko

“Where the rescue is bound should be where Kin are held against their will.”

That was all the Rhoni had said, for it was all she could say. She felt comforted by Lady’s presence when the Kin followed her to Tomomi’s side, despite the Vixen’s concern. The drawings she had done... well, they distressed her. Perhaps, just perhaps, they explained Lady’s apprehension as well.

Keiko watched the activity, and she watched the Pack. She watched Dommi and Emmi and smiled. At least they could get her to smile. Tomomi, too — with her short spiky blonde bits of hair and tickling whiskers — could draw forth a smile.

The morning had been so full of frivolity and learning, of conversation and laughter that this display seemed somehow... off? There wasn’t anything exactly that she could name that was unsettling about Lyric’s performance.

Keiko nodded at Lady’s observation. “People often do find song and dance to be a balm to help them through more difficult times. As much as folk will call the Rhoni thieves and worse...” She tilted her head to the side and smiled ruefully. “Well, yes. Petty thievery is something that happens when a Caravan settles for a night, especially if there’s a market nearby.” Her shrug was pragmatic. “But despite that, people still want to come watch our dances, hear our stories, listen to the songs we sing, and have their fortunes told by wizened old grandmothers and beautiful girls.” She sighed. “They can forget their cares for a little while before going back to their farms or their masters’ shops. Perhaps we do help them, in some small way, to raise their hearts to face their daily challenges.”

She looked up at the Vixen, no more at ease than the Elder Kin.

Keiko caught Lyric’s eye when she looked up. If the Minstrel looked long enough and sharply enough, she would certainly note the quick glance at the drawings and the certainty in the violet eyes that the Rhoni saw IT, too.

It was not so much an answer to the question that consumed her — how to save so many Kin and bring them to Home. No, it was the answer to the question of how they could ensure that the Dragons slept their deep sleep undisturbed by blood-letting.

And then the Card Reader noted with concern the Minstrel removing herself from the group. Glancing around, she could see that others noticed too. The Pack, of course... One Fang especially. But Dommi noticed without letting himself be seen as noticing, at least not yet.

Lyric was her friend.

With a soft murmur to Tomomi that she’d be back in just a little while, Keiko followed Lyric out to her balcony.

“Lyric?” Although Keiko hadn’t been as quiet as she could have been, she still didn’t want to startle the Minstrel. “Are you not well? Is there some way I can help you, my friend?”


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Kadri:

She looked at the maps thoughtfully - then at Lyric with some concern and considered following her - until that is she saw Keiko go after her - two would be one too many for such a task, and besides - it was evident that Keiko and her were not a good mix, and that for the moment the solution to that particular situation was an intractable one. So, with Keiko handling Lyric - she turned her attention back to the maps, tracing her finger along them.

The shaft. The waters. One might flood the mines, perhaps?

Her finger traced around the central shafts, tapping each of the gates around it and the dam.

The rescue - the rescue was not an easy matter, but it was a relatively simple matter - get in, distract the denizens, get it. The larger problem was putting an end to this.
So much water - surely even the strongest of dwarves could not contend with that much of it, were it properly unleashed.

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Lyric

She breathed in then out. In again, as deeply and slowly as she could. She needed the fresh air... well, as fresh as the air could be in the Cursed Remnant Forest.

She didn't hear Keiko's approach and at the utterance of her name, Lyric was startled a little. She turned and tried to compose herself. She wiped her eyes though tears never actually go to the point of running, but maybe it helped clear her vision. And then she flattened straightened her dress.

With a smile that seemed genuine in it's agreeable to seeing Keiko, it was obvious she wasn't really smiling in her heart. She opened her mouth to answer but the false words wouldn't come and all she was left with was a sigh.

"I understand what it is to be a tool for another to use. I wanted to be different." Another deep breath and exhale, "But I'm not... We all are what we are... what we do best. What we are born to do, or made to do..."

That last trailed like other sentences before it. She would allow moments to pass as she reflected on something, maybe the words themselves or some underlying thought.

"Not all of them will survive this," she finally added. That seemed to pain her greatly. "Not all the ones who will fight beside us, and certainly not all the ones we try to rescue."

"I know they will figure this out. The drawings are there for them... Their burden is heavy. I can feel it too, Friend Keiko. It's who I am mixing with who I want to be. I see the entire plan, all of it... the approach, the danger, the feints and distractions. I see what is needed to make the rescue attempts. I see the many parts all playing out in exact timing, forcing moves and accounting for them... like a puzzle... a game. I see the acceptable losses..."

That last seemed to be the most staggering to her. Her emotions were piling up. "It's what I was born to do... to go to war. But it's not who I want to be..."

"This isn't a game. People will die. But it doesn't change what I 'see' and what I know. I tried to be different."

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Cesare

"Yes I miss Mikal, though his gift was tactical planning for battles and we are trying to avoid a fight."

He looks at the drawings, pulling them around.

"Who did these?" he asks, almost because he needs to say something.

"And where is Clever?"

His head comes up and he looks around the area to see if he can locate him.

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Keiko

The Rhoni listened with her heart to the Minstrel, breathing deeply and slowly as if she were preparing for the Dance. She could hear it in her friend’s voice, see it on her face — the discordance of That Which Is rubbing against That Which Was and That Which Could Be.

“You are who you are,” she said softly. “Changing that is, perhaps, the most difficult thing a person can do.”

Keiko looked out at the dark beauty of the cursed Forest. “Perhaps the Forest would like to be different than it is now. It lives a less vibrant and joyous existence than it once did. And perhaps only the Forest itself knows how to once again be the Heartwood. Perhaps stopping the Dwarves from draining the Tree of Life will help it remember. And perhaps not.”

Her eyes turned back to Lyric, searching her face and seeing the whimsy and sense of wonder the other young woman had so often exhibited now buried under this heavy mantle.

“You are, in this moment, the Minstrel Lyric and you are my friend. What you were, what you were born to be — these are things that make you who you are now. They are a part of you. All the roads you have walked, and all the waves you have ridden have led you to this place, at this time.

“What you do next is your choice. If you have no desire to be a warrior, who am I to judge you? I am well-trained in the Rhoni Dances and can inflict considerable damage with my daggers. And yet, I would rather plait ribbons to make Mice happy than have to fight and kill.”

She shrugged helplessly.

“Life is never a game, Lyric. It’s a journey, often a difficult one. Eventually, we all die. Will some die in this rescue attempt? We are attempting something so mad that no one has even thought to try before this. Yes, it is likely that some will die. But I cannot believe any of us would enter into this endeavor not knowing the risks we face. Some of us will sacrifice our lives so that others may live. Those of us who survive will remember their courage and their sacrifice.”

Keiko reached out and lightly rested a hand on Lyric’s shoulder.

“If I may, let me ask you this: If being the warrior you were meant to be will give more souls a chance to live, can you be that warrior? Will you be that warrior? Knowing that you will still be my friend, the Minstrel Lyric, can you step back, to the side, forward on a path you had not wanted to tread?”

Dropping her hand and folding both together at her waist, Keiko tilted her head and smiled. It was a sad smile, for she had seen more than most who were not warriors the consequences of power flowing through the veins of great princes and petty merchants and corrupt guardsmen of every type.

“Your choice is your own, and I will not judge you for choosing one Path over another. This place you stand now, this place of not wanting to choose, is hurting you, my friend. I see this in your eyes, in the set of your shoulders.

“No path is ever perfect. Standing at the crossroads can be dangerous.”

The Rhoni’s smile brightened just a bit as she recalled whispers of rumors of overheard conversations — sometimes attributed to the Eastern Princess, sometimes not.

“Lyric is Lyric is Lyric.

“It is a way of saying that you simply are who you are... and that who you are is a very complex person.”


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Lyric

Lyric turned her back to the railing, leaning backwards against it and looking upwards through the dark overhead canopy where late afternoon light barely filtered down. She closed her eyes and sighed, or exhaled loudly, because sighing usually expressed a need for attention. Yes, this was just an exhalation marking an acceptance.

"I am," she said with eyes still closed, face cast upwards to expose her delicate pale throat. There was a moment of silence and the sounds around them dominated Lyrics thoughts. Space. A moment in time, separate from all other moments. To let the world slow down.

Slowly she lowered her head, opening her eyes and she smiled at Keiko and nodded. It wasn't the mercurial Lyric, nor was it that sage and wise friend either. This expression was something else, someone else. There was a hint of the mercurial, orr maybe it was 'reckless abandon' that peeked around the edges of resolve and determination and fortitude.

"I know what I must do. It is what must need be done. I knew when I came out here. But I thank you for helping me slow things down so I could see the path more clearly again. You are a friend... Now I must return to the room and explain how we are going to flood the Keep and the mines..."

Lyric gestured for Keiko to precede her, giving her leave to go in whatever direction she felt best for herself once she entered the Commons room again. Lyric's path was more clear now with less options... for now.

What needs doing must be done.

And Lyric is Lyric is Lyric. Ja, very true.

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Kadri:

"I deeply desire Mikal's presence as well, Cesare."

She pauses, and continues in seriousness.

"The rescue, Cesare , Pietro - is simple. Not easy mind you, but conceptually simple. Get in, get them out. Not cost free, but simple. What to do after the rescue is the question, how to stop them from coming around to the same idea again given time - and the answer to that question, I think, lies in the waters around this shaft. However mighty the dwarves, they are not more mighty than the waters of the wood. However sturdy their constructions, they are not more sturdy than a flood. They cannot resist that. Let the waters of the wood batter down that which stands in their way. Let the waters wash away the invaders. Let them be defeated by the failure of their own artifice - let them be battered down by their own arrogance. That is what we must do."

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Pietro


"That might work," he said slowly, the words dragging out as he considered the ramifications of destroying everything with such a deluge.

"What we need to be sure of is the simplest plan, the plan with the greatest chance of success, of freeing the enslaved Forest Kin and, preventing the dwarves from repeating their creation of slaves and protecting the ones we save from retaliation by their former owners."

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Keiko

“I am glad that I could help, Friend Lyric. And ja... that is what I saw, too, as I drew each piece. But I wonder...” She shook her head. “No, perhaps the Dwarves do not think long and hard about how their mines look from the surface of the world. Possibly the Weasels give them the confidence to believe their dam is invulnerable.” She paused, once more considering her particular skills beyond that of painting and Reading her Cards. “I am nimble and can Dance well. But I have no magics beyond those that aid in subterfuge and escape. Perhaps you or the others will have the skills and magics I lack.”

And then she quirked up one corner of her mouth. “Despite my sometimes acerbic tongue, my heart is more like Lady’s — nurturing and perhaps too soft.”

As Keiko stepped back into the common room, her eyes searched for someone that she knew wasn’t there. She missed Renyard’s wisdom. She missed his presence. Even if all he did was ask her questions that seemed to be irrelevant or questions for which there were no immediate answers, he was someone she could count on to keep her mind busy solving the puzzles.

This was not her puzzle to solve. And her mind needed a distraction — or help facing that which most distressed her.

Dommi and Emmi still sat together, with Broke lounging beside them and Wrath stretched out using Broke’s lap as a pillow.

She made her way across the room and sat at Broke’s feet, looking up at a face that should not be familiar. It seemed like a fullhand of days or more when Broke had removed her cloak to reveal her features. Perhaps it was just that Broke had a distinctive temperament and no cloak could hide the way she held herself, the way her head tilted that made her so familiar after these many months of Marketdays in Waverider’s Watch.

“Warriors... I...” Keiko sighed with some small amount of frustration with herself as she looked from Broke’s face to Wrath’s. “I am terrified. I won’t insult you by asking how to set my fear aside because I know that, for this task that is being planned, I cannot. I am afraid for not only myself but for the Kin.

“I can hide it from some, but others will know that I am afraid. How can I put my fear to good use so that I can help as many Kin as possible?”

Her greatest fear was not for herself but for that which her Elders commanded that she walk the World. Even her second greatest fear was for the Kin. For her friends. For the Forest and for Home. And yes, finally, for herself.


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Lyric

The Minstrel abruptly hugged Keiko and spoke in her ear, "More hearts like that are needed, and will be needed in the days to come. Death and destruction is easy. Healing and Hope are the hard things."

And with that she parted company with her friend. Her resolve was now set and she was determined to save as many as she could and bear the weight of the guilt that came with the ones she could not. Keiko was right in that taking on this mantle could help save so many more than if she didn't.

Lyric crossed the commons Room again, back to the table where Kadri, Cesare, and Pietro were gathered around the drawings. She spoke from where she stood just a few feet distant, not coming closer unless invited.

"Yes, the simplest would be best, but the Dwarves did not afford you that luxury. There is an engineering flaw in their design, but it is probably one born of expediency and arrogance. They sacrificed invulnerability for inaccessibility and I think they knew very well what they were doing when they did it. So, while there is a weakness it is not an easy one to exploit. We will have to turn their strengths against them here."

She paused just enough for a breath.

"I know I am a minstrel and very new to your company, but would it be impertinent of me to offer my thoughts and strategies to your efforts here?"

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Kadri:

"It might well be impertinent, you would have to ask someone else. But I, for one, celebrate impertinence. In fact, someone I very much respect more or less believes it a positive virtue. So please, by all means do. I am guessing that we may be thinking along the same route - the waters. We need to recruit the forest itself, so to speak, to our side to finally end this and wash clean the stain. Yet I am not an engineer, so the exact mechanics of it ...".

She raises her hands.

"I am unsure of. I deal better with people. Or at least used to think I did."

Briefly looking the direction of Keiko, for only a brief second before looking back while motioning to a spot at the table.

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Cesare

He moves over along his bench providing room for her to sit.

"More than welcome. We are just discussing how to flood the mine.. but after everyone is out."

He shrugs.

"I did think though that we weren't trying to kill the dwarves either. I need to speak to Clever again to work out the levels and where things are, so we can see the implications are actions might create. Also we need to know how to flood the mine. At the moment it looks like we either need to raise the water level or to make a hole in that chimney tower.."

He points it out on the drawings.

"..somewhere under the water. Neither of these strike me as easy. Anyone got any other ideas?"

He looks at the drawings again.

"Need to have some idea of how much water we need and how far and how quickly the level will rise. I could really use a drink. I've never had to use my brain this much.. ever."

There is a soft sigh following this last observation.

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Pietro


The squire stood as his friend, the minstrel, approached and spoke, and he gestured toward a seat.

"Please tell us what ideas you have. The more different points of view we can share, the better able we will be to choose the best, most efficient, tactics."

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Lyric

With just her eyes alone, Lyric followed Kadri's glance toward where Keiko was now speaking with the leaders of the Pack. She smiled softly and those eyes returning to Kadri were sympathetic.

"Be yourself. You try to carry a mantle that is not comfortable to you. Be a people-person. Be gregarious and friendly. It is not that you aren't these things, you know you are... but release the weights you bear in trying to be something that never suited you to begin with and thus set you on a path to discover yourself. If you simply release the burden, and be who you were meant to be, then you will find the person you were seeking to become was right there with you all along."

Whether the wisdom was useful or not, it was delivered by Lyric in gentle voice that was so far removed form those manic mercurial moments or even the quiet and reflective ones. There were many facets to the Minstrel's personality. One might even say, many personalities all similar in ways and very unique in others.

But with that said she turned her attention to Cesare and takes up the proffered place on the bench next to him.

When he points to the drawing she reaches out with her own delicate hand and lays it over his to guide his finger. Her skin is pale and her touch is warm. He can feel the strength in her hand as she copies his hand position, her hand atop his. She moves his hand from the shaft to the dam wall as she spoke.

"They drove their shaft in the ground in a place where they determined they could reach many sleeping dragons... and then they dammed the river to create a lake, not only to supply their shaft with water, but to create their principal defense."

She stopped his finger at the overflows.

"These set the finite height of the lake and the shaft's lip is built accordingly. The water can not rise higher than this. This is the first part of the engineering flaw. Again I think by design and need for expediency they did this. It was arrogance on their part but until now no one that we know of has been able to get this far in mounting a challenge to them."

She then drew his hand and finger back along the narrow bridge that ran from the bank near the dam wall to the shaft. She used a finger from her other hand to follow the other bridge that ran from a point along the bank that seemed to indicate the path continued deeper into the Cursed Forest. Both hands came together at the shaft as she continued.

"These are the only two path of direct approach to the shaft. And, from the shaft, these are easily defensible. Choke points. The soldiers of the Evil Dwarves would cut any force the size of which will be needed to cross here long before enough reached the shaft to effect any plan of rescue. I will come back to this though."

Lyric's voice was soft and calming, almost muically so. Even when she spoke she had breath control and complete command of pitch and intonation. The rhythm of her words was precise.

She moved Cesare's hand, finger stopping at the one of the sluice gates.

"Raise these, lock them off so they can't be lowered and water will flow unchecked down into the shaft. They have no means to stop it."

She could continue, but she knew from her approach that Cesare had a concern for making the rescue first and then flooding the shaft. Lyric wanted him to voice that again. She wanted and needed the check to her conscience. But ultimately she knew what needed to be done and what the cost would be. Not only did they need to rescue as many Forestkin as possible, they had to fend off the opposing forces loyal to the Dwarves and the Dwarves themselves. They had to destroy the entire mine structure in such a way that the evil could not begin again... She had that plan in her head but it had a price. She wanted the others to hear her words and know her heart was desperate for a way to save all lives...

Still resting her hand atop Cesare's she waited for he and the other two to speak their thoughts on what she has said so far.

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Ceasare

Despite the importance and almost desperation of their mission, he is easily distracted and enjoys his hand being guided over the drawing. When Lyric stops though and leaves her hand resting against his, he quickly turns his hand over, his fingers capturing hers as he does so.

"You have nice hands."

His eyes twinkle at her, a grin on his face.

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Kadri:

She murmurs under her breath, looks down momentarily.

'Alas, in the matter of that one, I am not sure it would have much effect."

She looks up again, catches Lyric's eyes.

"As much as I despise what is in the nature of these dwarves, the amount of death disturbs me. If we could bring them to the surface and banish them it would not disturb me - although that is unlikely to be possible."

She herself sighs.

"So many lives ruined, and to be ruined because of ... what?"

A sigh and a twisting of a lock of hair around her finger, and a chewing of her lower lip, as a child might do. Then she looks back up.

"But sometimes, life is not a matter of what you destroy, but what you allow to continue, and the damage it would do if left ... unchecked. All things have a price. Sometimes, all of your choices ... suck. And some merely suck less than others. Nonetheless, you still have to choose. And if that is what 'fate' has in store, so be it - but I fully intend to make rude gestures at 'fate' along the way. So if we do this the questions are - how to rescue as many as possible from below - how to lose as few as possible in the opening of the sluices - and how to bring as many of our rescuers home as we can."

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Lyric

A slight shiver passes through her as Cesare interprets her touch as he does, and her body responds to his. At the intersection of want and need she reined in the chaotic feelings of her libertine nature yet again. As much fun as she thought this might be, and had thought before where One Fang was concerned, or even Dommi before he made his emotional attachments quite clear... or even Kadri, for gender was immaterial to her in such pursuits, and that thought prompted the considerations she had given to such an escapade with Keiko and dismissed because such things can change or break bonds as equally as they might strengthen them and losing a Friend or a Sister in Spirit would have been much too high a cost for the fun it offered. What of the Squire? Handsome and courageous for certain and probably altogether too serious for one such as her. He was the first squire she has ever met and her first traveling companion since leaving her home. He was more a protector to her than a potential lover, but the curiosity of such an affair intrigued her all the same.

Where was she? Oh Yeah, smiling at Cesare as he had turned her hand over in his. He had a streak in him similar to her.

"I know what you're thinking and you're probably right, I would... But not here, not now..."

And, in a slow motion turn of her head, she shifted her attention back to Kadri.

"The Dwarves have cast aside hundreds, maybe thousands, of lives in pursuit of their own avarice and greed. They have no moral equivocation in this regard for life, and would offer you none either. Kadri, we do not possess the ability to offer a banishment nor the means to enforce it. If they can be driven from this forest so be it... But the coldest and hardest truth is that we have to focus our limited resources and efforts on saving those that can not protect or defend themselves and we must do it with a fierce determination to do what must be done to succeed."

She let slip Cesare's hand at this point, provided he released it.

"My plan is to flood the mines with an unchecked flow of water. That is the 2nd part of the engineering flaw in the Dwarves design. I have to expect they know this and chose ways to work around it in the defense of the shaft. Jam or destroy the sluice gates, as I said. Water will flow until the lake equalizes at the lower edge of the sluice gates."

"It is sudden and drastic and will provoke the most basic reaction in everyone down below, potential friend and probable enemy alike. And that is self-preservation. Water will rush in to the lowest depths and the ensuing panic will create chaos. Yes, that could be bad... but we can not fight our way to the bottom levels to rescue people one at a time. We must force them to flee upwards and escape. If we can force the Dwarves to issue an alert that will clear the mines as some sort of protocol on their part, then that will save even more lives. Fewer will be trapped at the lowest depths."

"And as part of the overall plan to destroy the operation itself, when that very cold river water born from springs and run-off hits the forges, which are kept red-hot, there will be chaos that will force the Dwarves to embrace or abandon their greed. There will be steam and maybe even explosions as molten dragon blood or the forged darksteel that comes from the blood meets the cold water and that can fracture metal and stone and maybe even darksteel itself."

"Once the panic takes over and the rush to escape begins there will be little in the way of organized resistance left. There will be some. Our forces will have to do something that requires a stout and brave heart. They will have to rush toward the danger to aid and assist as many as can be rescued as possible. Carry them up, guide them to lines to climb up, or give them air-filled oilskin bags to help the weaker swimmers and poorer climbers to float until help can retrieve them. It will take some time for the shaft and the mines to fill and that can be used to clear upper level resistance and rescue those we find early, offering them a chance to fill our ranks to help even more."

Lyric made certain she had eye contact with each of them now before she said this last...

"But none of this will ever happen if we don't have a plan to get to the shaft in the first place. All the hopes and dreams we carry for the Forestkin will mean nothing if we can't defeat the perimeter defense. Timing in all this is critical and I am thinking through it all as best I can."

Again Lyric felt compelled to pause. She had given thought to this as well. It was in her nature and once given over to this subjugated aspect of her personality, her mind was a storm of strategy and tactics.

Lyric is Lyric is Lyric, or so she had been told.

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Pietro


The Squire of Lord Rames looked around to the others and, after a moment, shrugged slightly and spoke.

"I am not worried overmuch over the fate of the dwarves. If ill befalls them, they brought it upon themselves."

He paused for a moment.

"But I do not want to cause deaths which can be avoided."

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Cesare

He smiles as she pulls her hand away because had he not had a promise for later. More than he had expected. But now they have serious business to attend to.

"I think we need to get down there before the flood occurs, or the panic might be too much for the forestkin who have no experience of anything like this. Maybe some of us can avoid being spotted long enough to do some good before the waters start?"

He pauses.

"Getting in is an issue. The weasels patrol I understand and the sense of smell is formidable. I wondered if herbs or something could camouflage it, or could we be made to smell of weasel?"

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Lyric

The Minstrel listened and heard their concerns.

"Everything is a matter of timing. I understand and agree that we need to do everything we can to save those that need to be saved. But we face an entrenched enemy with a superior defensive position and numerical superiority. We lose the element of surprise long before we ever reach the shaft... unless we begin the fight on the banks of the lake. The free forestkin and the weasels have been engaging each other for some time no doubt. They know each other's strengths and weaknesses. As I said before, we use their strengths against them. We start with the dark of night. The weasels can smell us long before we reach a position to cross the bridges or the lake... so we have to occupy them in a series of feints that will, at first, appear to be a routine conflict between them and the free forestkin... someplace that is a familiar fighting location, say... here."

Lyric pointed to the area where the one bridge reached the shore line, where the darksteel pipe went deeper into the Forest.

"This is important to the Dwarves and they will defend it but they know it only creates a short term problem. Conflict over the tree sap supply has been unable to creating any lasting effect for the Free Forestkin. Both sides know it, but both sides still contest this. A first feint that replicates this action can draw one or two patrols to investigate... and if those patrols find themselves in an ambush, then they will call for reinforcements or retreat. If it is the latter then we have to press them until they call for reinforcements. This will draw more forces from the Shaft."

"We will need to engage them in a second assault here," she continued as she pointed her finger at the bridge near the dam. We have to convince them that we seek to damage the dam, and that this is the real assault. We need for them to commit forces to running their bridge toward the dam, hopefully bringing their wall defenses to a minimum. This is also a feint because as long as they remain at the walls of the shaft they can choke us on the bridge and we would never be able to run the gauntlet down that bridge."

"Our real effort is over water... in punts and corracles, quietly poling to the shaft to scale walls. The Free Forestkin are surely excellent climbers. They live in a tree. If we can get their main defense forces occupied on land and away from the Shaft then we have a chance to get up those walls and down into the shaft."

"Again, timing is critical... If all of this happens up to this point, then we can neutralize the remaining forces on the walls and take over the bridge defense to keep the patrols from getting back to the shaft. Those who will go down the shaft begin and those up top start to disable or destroy the sluice gates."

"I know my plan is rough and probably not up to your standards, as you are all Heroes and Warriors and Squires of Great Lands but it is the best I can do in such a short time," she concluded with genuine modesty.

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Kadri:

"Hero, heh. Kadri is Kadri is Kadri and is little else but kadri. I am not a hero, I am not a warrior, I am just me and I do what my heart and head tell me. "

She taps the spots she mentioned on the bridge.

"Your game of shells and peas suits my way of thinking as well. I am a creature of shadows and tricks. I am a quite good climber myself. "

"If we are to make them believe the attempt on the dam is real, it needs to look plausible as an attempt even if unlikely. Like something which could succeed if there were no defenders. If it seems merely routine they will only send routine patrols, no?"

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Pietro


The squire listened and frowned and nodded and scowled as the others talked and pointed to the map. Finally he spoke.

"I am better at head to head, straight ahead fighting than I am at stealth and subterfuge."

He looked around at the others, one at a time, concentrating especially at the forestkin.

"On average how accomplished are the dwarves as fighters... man to man?"

Pietro smiled crookedly.

"Or dwarf to man."

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Cesare

There is too much fighting in this plan for his liking. And it is not his forte either. Yes, OK, he has become reasonably accomplished with the crossbow. And of course he can dance with his daggers but he found that up close against well armed folk, his daggers did not do enough damage and left him exposed. He had had a few close calls. Luck would run out one day.

"We have the advantage that they will not be expecting us amongst the forestkin but I am not arrogant enough to believe we would make that much difference either. Pietro maybe? But Kadri and I are not fighters. We have done what we have needed to do in the past but our skills are more in subterfuge rather than upfront. I can use a crossbow if that would be of use but it bothers me that we are planning an assault rather than a rescue."

He shrugs. Have to say it as it is.

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Kadri:

T'Remember way back when, out game of shells and peas with the iron ore, Cesare? Think of the fighting in that sense. Its the wagon with the fake ore."

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Lyric

Lyric nodded slowly ending with her head bowed.

"I understand your concerns. I am not a death monger and I have no desire to harm anyone. I am simply offering what I feel to be the best option given the circumstances and our assets and abilities contrasted with what I perceive to be that which opposes us."

She looked up at them in turn.

"Our enemy dwells within a guarded keep that is a shaft in the middle of a dammed lake that can only be reached by two bridges or watercraft. There are patrols guarding the shores and a defense force at the Keep that can choke us in any approach we make. Even if we got there without conflict, we still have to descend the shaft to rescue scared Forestkin and carry them all the way back out again, and back through the same gauntlet. At any point should we lose the element of surprise in a stealth reliant plan, then it is all over."

Lyric's tone and cadence had become considerably more serious.

"The Free Forestkin will have to carry the weight of the effort. There are simply not enough of us to effect any plan given what we face without them, and taking sufficient numbers of them to do what needs to be done to save as many as possible means our plan needs more layers and more contingencies... and more conflict to maintain the subterfuge and preserve the tactical advantage it gives us."

"If we had more time, maybe... I don't know. But we don't. The Free Forestkin are rescuers and warriors and their people are dying every day. I believe they understand the risks and the potential rewards and can weigh them for themselves. I am eager to hear alternatives... Please? Offer me something where we need not carry a sword or a bow or risk drowning those we can't rescue... But if your concern is preserving the lives of your enemy then let me remind you these dwarves, and those loyal to them, are evil and they forge forest creatures in the most painful abominable way and use them as slaves without concern for their life or well being. They discard them when they are no longer useful. They are consumed by self-interest, avarice and greed. They will not negotiate with you except as a means to satisfy their own ends only or buy time to turn the table on you through deceit. You are good and honest people and would offer them life in banishment if you could. They will not offer you the same consideration in their efforts to defeat you."

She offered her hands out in front of her, palms upward and then spread her arms wide as she finished her piece.

"I have done the best I can. Perhaps now we should ask the Forestkin their thoughts, Ja? Lady? Broke? Wrath? Clever? Emmi? Others? Perhaps they see an alternative to my plan, or maybe they see ways to alter it to serve better and more noble sensibilities than mine. They will be the ones who bear the burden and majority of the risk."



*****
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Quote:
Inigo: Let me explain....no, there is too much. Let me sum up; Buttercup is marrying Humperdinck in little less than half an hour. So all we have to do is get in, break up the wedding, steal the princess, make our escape - after I kill Count Rugen.
Westley: That doesn't leave much for dilly-dally.
Fezzik: You just wiggled your finger! That's wonderful!
Westley: I've always been a quick healer. What are our liabilities?
Inigo: There is but one working castle gate, and it is guarded by sixty men.
Westley: And our assets?
Inigo: Your brains, Fezzik's strength, my steel.
Westley: That's it? Impossible. If I had a month to plan maybe I could come up with something. But this...
Fezzik: You just shook your head! That doesn't make you happy?
Westley: My brains, his steel and your strength against sixty men and you think a little head jiggle is supposed to make me happy? Hmm?? I mean if we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something.
Inigo: Where did we put that wheelbarrow the albino had?
Fezzik: Over the albino, I think?
Westley: Why didn't you list that among our assets in the first place?! [sigh] What I wouldn't give for a holocaust cloak...

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Pietro


The squire couldn't help but wonder how a young wandering minstrel, a mere wisp of a girl, could come across as a tactical expert able to plan such a mission, but he did not want to say it out loud.

What she said made sense... mostly, and it was definitely more and more complete than what little he'd come up with.

"I did not mean I was overly concerned with saving the lives of the dwarves, just that I am not overly proficient in stealth or subterfuge. My skills are in combat, confrontation, and I would add more to the mission in a position of assault, if necessary, or defense of the rest of you, if possible."

Pietro looked around at the little ones.

"With the help, of course, of the forestkin."

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


Bekkah, Cesare, Kadri, Keiko, Lyric, Pietro, Tomomi, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald Mouse, Broke, Soft, Clever, a pair of Rats and most of the Pack, Lady and various and sundry other Forest Folk

The Forest Folk listened to the planning, especially as it moved through the possibilities from start to finish. Lady, however, tilted her head at the start and as things moved from step to step, from consideration to consideration, her expression slowly fell.

She glanced to one of her family. Their gazes locked for a moment and then she nodded once, very silently. It was not if they were reading each other’s minds, no, not anything like that at all. It was a simple understanding shared among the Forest Folk, a fact of life that they had lived with for so long, obvious to them but not as obvious to those that came to help them. Her companion stepped forward.

“I am right here.”

That was the Rat’s answer, to the question spoken long before. Clever Rat walked up to the drawings, hands folded behind his back. He looked down at them and after, raised his head to take in Pietro, Kadri, Cesare and Lyric, each in turn before he spoke.

“This is a good plan. You have accounted for so much. And we appreciate the thought you have put into it. So, no matter what I say, it is a good plan, and it should not be abandoned because of our concern. It is just, that, as someone said much earlier, it is a matter of timing; timing is so important.

“We can get you over the lake and on to the wall without the Weasels or Dwarves knowing; we have done that before. Drawing them both away makes it even easier.

“As for their prowess in battle, I suspect the Dwarves are like everyone else – and their skill varies depending on each of them. Some will be good, some will be not-so-good. They will be better in small spaces, tight places, because, well they are Dwarves and thus their stature is less.”

He then drew himself up.

“The concern is the truth of those that serve in the Mines. Never forget that they are considered tools. They are nothing more, nothing less. Thus, when things start to go wrong you must look at it from the Dwarves’ point of view. Do you clear the mines …”

Clever Rat looked down.

“Or do you simply abandon your tools?”

His dark eyes rose again.

“Never forget that to them we are replaceable.

“You will need to strike fast and deep. We have to be on our way back, with our kin, before the mines and forges are flooded.

“As I said, it is indeed a matter of timing.”

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Lyric

That 'mere wisp of a girl' sat silently for a time, the amount irrelevant to her, with her eyes closed as she listened to to the Clever rat offer his well founded opinion.

"I have not forgotten," she said softly, eyes still closed. She lowered her chin, bowing in thought where she sat. She brought her hands together at her chin, delicate fingers interlacing, and the knuckle of one index finger nestled into shallow between her lower lip and chin, possibly for the support of her bowed head. Her breathing seemed to slow, the rise and fall of her chest becoming rhythmic and deeper but the time it took to do both increased.

And she was silent and still, and a casual observer might assume she was praying because the pose seemed appropriate enough for a penitent follower of some divine being.

And the world moved on around her as she retreated to a place within herself. A place that gave her refuge and helped her when the world moved to fast and she needed to think. Keiko said something that she was hearing over and over in her head right now...

'If being the warrior you were meant to be will give more souls a chance to live, can you be that warrior? Will you be that warrior?'

Lyric is Lyric is Lyric.

'No path is ever perfect. Standing at the crossroads can be dangerous.'

At what cost? To lose everything is relative though, when you have nothing, you can only but gain something. I started with nothing and can end with nothing. Sometimes it is not for any of us to determine what it is we gain when we take those steps into the unknown and the Wheel turns.

'...you will still be my friend, the Minstrel Lyric...'

Will you still be my friend? Really?

Your choice is your own, and I will not judge you for choosing one Path over another. This place you stand now, this place of not wanting to choose, is hurting you, my friend. I see this in your eyes, in the set of your shoulders.

We judge. All of us. Every choice we make is built upon our judgements past and present. It is how we determine our place in the universe. It is how we find our place on the balance scales. So... Who am I? What do I believe in? Am I different? Was I chosen for this? Or was I simply a tool of convenience? The wrong place at the right time and too desperate to refuse? I ask again, Who am I?

Lyric is Lyric is Lyric. It is a way of saying that you simply are who you are... and that who you are is a very complex person.'

Ja! This is true...

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Wrath and Dominic Korie

To the side, in the corner claimed by the Pack, a lordling and a Mouse, Keiko arrived. That odd collection listened to her question and the first to answer was the black cloaked one. He rubbed the back of his neck as he considered her words, finally ending his contemplation with a shrug of his shoulders.

“I’m not the one to ask. They are the predators. I am not. Fear is my constant companion, it is what lends wings to my feet and demands me to be quick and bright and smart and most importantly smile. Without the chance of losing, any challenge has no meaning.”

The surprising answer, however, came from the big black wolf. Surprising in that he chose to speak at all. The very dangerous looking Wrath lifted his head from his Broke-pillow and leveled stern look towards the Rhoni lass.

“Once. Saw one of the rrraccoon girls. Wa’k up to a bug. Touch it. Smile. Dance. Clapped hands and said I have overcome my fear.

“I was impressed.”

Crossing his arms atop Broke’s side he rested his toothy muzzle upon them.

“Fear reflects limitations you set on yourself, not actual ones. To change, to grow, to learn, you cannot turn from what scares you.

“Understanding that, it will give you the strength to shake loose your collar.”

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Cesare

He listens, silent at first and then nods.

"I cannot see another way and if the forestkin feel the risk is worth it then I will do my part to the best of my ability. We should however take as many inflatables, small craft, anything that will float down into the mines. Save as many as we can, give a chance to all we can reach."

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Pietro


Pietro nodded slowly; it made sense, but it did not sound easy or even probable.

"Can the forestkin, or at least most of them, swim?"

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"If it comes to moving fast is small dark spaces .. I can do that well. As risky as it may be."

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Keiko
with Broke, Dommi, Emmi, Wrath; Lady and Tomomi

The Young Master’s answer was instructive, and it helped Keiko understand how her fear was gripping at her, pushing her, trying to make her run too fast and perhaps too far.

For a favored follower of the Lady Trickster, fear was a motivator.

Yet Wrath’s words resonated with her as well. That first step that she had taken toward the Path — then so many after it — and away from the Caravan that had been her whole life? Those steps and that Path had been full of fear. But she faced it all.

For a predator, fear was a foe to vanquish.

In fact, she had faced many fears on her Journey from the Road East to Waverider’s Watch. And she realized that for each new fear that assailed her, for each one she transformed, another took its place. Was this any different than the first time she saw those fish walking out of the Blackwater River? Only in magnitude, really.

For a Rhoni, what was fear?

Regarding the fish... well, she had developed a healthy respect for them that translated to a safe distance between her and their journeys’ boundaries. Outside of the distance they were able or willing to walk, she could see them for what they were — sadly cursed creatures that tried to live their lives in the only manner they could. They were fish and yet not, and that realization had actually comforted her. As long as she maintained her distance, of course.

For the dratted bird that seemed to laugh at her and mocked her as she protected her trail rations, fear had turned to something else. While it had been tinged with anger, fear had transformed to protectiveness.

Keiko studied the Noble and his Bodyguard, the Pack Leader and her Second. She blinked as a realization washed over her like a wave. She looked around the common room of Home, at the Mice and Rats with no names yet, at Lyric and Lady Bekkah and Lady Bekkah’s friends. Her gaze lingered longer on Lady and Tomomi, but she finally looked at Dommi and Wrath again, smiling broadly.

“Thank you. You are both excellent teachers.” She nodded decisively. “And good friends, as wise as my Elders, for you have reminded me of the words of the Ancestors: Those who act with few desires are calm, without worry or fear.”

And so what was fear for a Rhoni, after all?

It was like everything else that was part of the World, of course. It was a lesson and it was that which was left behind after the lesson was completed. It was. And it was-not. And fear was a reminder of itself, as well as a natural reaction one had when moving closer to the truth.

If the Ancestors said that and generations of Rhoni had remembered it, then there surely was a lesson to be learned.

“My desires are few indeed in this endeavor — free as many of the enslaved Kin as we can and help them believe they, too, have worth.”

The young Rhoni sat for a moment in silence with those thoughts, with her far more peaceful heart and mind, before standing and walking back to sit with Tomomi. Lady still stood against the wall beside the window seat.

“I have said that I will not pretend to understand your concerns, Lady Friend, though I think some of my concerns might overlap yours. There is the worry for those doing the rescue, worry for those who are to be rescued. Worry and fear for one who might be a sister being left behind. Fear for a sister who might just be, although I can only find a similar feeling in my heart for my sisters who are, and could become... not.”

She sat more on the edge of the seat now so that she could speak with Lady and Tomomi both.

“I know my forever friend Tomomi is a brave Mouse and I can see the hope among the lill’uns who would help. Mice are so agile. Rats are so clever. I am not sure what skills the Raccoons possess, but I don’t doubt their abilities are as important as those of the Mice and the Rats and the Wuffs.” And then she sighed as she put an arm around her friend’s shoulders.

“I see your concern, too, about too finely planning a rescue that cannot be refined to the smallest detail. As Clever — and how wonderful it is that he has a name! — has made the point that those who are enslaved are one thing to us, and another to the Dwarves.” Shaking her head, Keiko alternately watched the Pack members and Lyric. “We believe, we know that they, too, are persons of worth, just as each one here at Home is a person of worth. Why else would we want to rescue them, ja? I do not want to do this because Lady Bekkah’s Goddess said that it was a price to pay for granting you all souls. I am Rhoni.

“I do this because it is only the smallest possible thing I might do to bring balance to a part of the World that has known evil for too long. It is not enough to right the scale, and perhaps it will never be enough. But it is a start, ja?”

Now, she looked at the Squire, the Dama, and the Lost Rhoni — just a glance before she looked at her friend Lyric, who was trying to... to... to be herself. Except that across the distance of a common room, it appeared that Lyric was warring with herself. Keiko had said the only words she could to reassure the Minstrel that her friendship was true — as true as her friendship with Tomomi. Perhaps her friend only needed to let those words be true inside her heart.

“I worry, Lady, that even after all of Clever’s words, they cannot understand that the Dwarves will put their tools away before tending to any thoughts of fighting. I have uncles and cousins who are smiths and make our daggers. They are very careful with their tools. Yes, the Dwarves can always make more if a tool is broken, but one that still serves its purpose well is set aside in a safe place where it will not be broken.”

Keiko hugged Tomomi tightly for a moment, brushing her cheek over the Mouse’s still-fuzzy hair. “I don’t mean to speak so heartlessly about those who are persons with worth. I only mean to point out the difference in the way all of us think — and that this difference is so very unlike the way the Dwarves think.

“I don’t know why this difference is so clear to me. I don’t know why it is such a clear picture in my mind. Perhaps because I heard Dommi and Emmi’s story this morning, and their mutual rescue is something I will remember all my days.

“But it makes me think... what if someone had flooded the mines when they were trapped in their little cells? They were just tools tucked away in their proper place when the day’s work was finished. Well, perhaps the young Noble was a treasure more than a tool, but he was still locked in a cell.

“Water coming in everywhere and no way to escape. Where do you go? If you are a Mouse, you can only go where you have been before. Is that place any safer than a cell filling with water? And what if you are a Rat or a Raccoon?”

By this time, Keiko was speaking softly, speaking more to herself than to anyone in particular. She was trying to understand how to rescue Mice and Rats and perhaps Raccoons and even others before the waters rose to the levels where the Dwarven tools — where the persons of worth — were locked away.

“The Mice of Home can tell them to flee to the highest point they know,” she murmured. “Will it be high enough? We must hope that it is. But then there is the door you spoke of, Tomomi, the one that is locked from the outside. If all the Kin know this door — is there more than one door? — then someone must make sure it is unlocked. Or they are unlocked if there are multiple doors.

“And then what? How high is that level? Well, it seems that no one would know, would they? Would the Rats know? Tomomi, when you told your story, I remember you saying that they — the Dwarves, the miners — did not let you see more than the few things they wanted you to see. Perhaps not everyone has even seen the door.

“There is so much unknown. There is so much that cannot be known without seeing what needs to be seen. I am only a young Rhoni, of course, still learning all the ways the World can be. So I ask many questions and...” Keiko paused and smiled. “...and answer far more of Renyard’s than I ever thought could be asked. And, oh, how I miss him!

“But all the stories the elders tell, all the stories I have heard from the elders of other Caravans, all the Lore of the World that I have learned — goodness, even the tale of Lady Bekkah’s sister! — make it seem like adventurous heroes simply, well, do what needs to be done.”

She leaned back against the window frame, giving every impression that she was exhausted. And then she sighed as she looked across the corner of the room at Dominic.

“It’s no wonder Dommi’s tales are so outrageous. He leaves out all the thinking, boring bits and then all you’re left with is a merry chase around the Skaefla Plateau.”

Then Keiko half-smiled as she looked up at Lady again. “On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if our Tone-Deaf Lord doesn’t even know what a plan is. Why... a plan might even jump up and bit him on the nose, and he’d think it was a fish!”

She had managed to transform this afternoon’s visitation of fear into something else. She wasn’t quite sure what, but if it gave Lady a chance to smile by poking a little fun at Dommi, well...

Keiko was fairly certain neither he nor his Lady would mind too much.


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Lyric

The Minstrel opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the light again.

"Then it will be so," she said as though she were picking up right after she last spoke or, at the least, right after Clever spoke. She had heard the words of her companions but it was Clever who had made her consider his objections to tailor alternatives.

"Still at night as it is the best way to hide our true intentions and numbers. The first layer of engagement will become all the more important. The Weasel Patrols must be neutralized quickly. If that means one thing, so be it, but if it means to subdue them that is fine as well. That decision should remain with each individual who has to engage a patrol weasel. Traps would be good. If they are as fierce and ferocious as I have heard tell, then perhaps they can be baited into a chase and drawn into traps that take them out of action. But, no matter the solution here, they must be neutralized as silently as possible. The remaining layers of subterfuge and the actual rescue descent will rely upon this minimization of forces, and drawing more forces away from the Keep is paramount to success. But it requires the Pack take on a greater burden along the shores in these layers of plan."

Lyric paused a moment to collect her revised thoughts.

"We will need to adjust timing such that we can reach the keep itself while the subterfuge layers are playing out. There is risk and so I believe the point of approach should be from an angle away from the bridges. The defense must be occupied and focused elsewhere in order to scale the wall and send the Mouses and Rats and whoever else is best suited for the rescue efforts. They must be able to blend in down in those ever descending levels. They must be coordinated and led. Stealth is key. And, as Clever said, they must be on their way back up before the water hits the lowest levels, so time must be allowed for the rescuers to reach the mines and work up from there."

"We will need to secure the keep walls as the rescuers descend. If we can not do this, then we will not be able to take control of the bridges. Again timing. When we reach the walls to send the rescuers down, the part of the Pack and those who are handling the Patrols will need to have done their job and must commence the feints on the Dam and the Dark Metal pipe. I no longer see the need to space these events, in fact it might benefit our efforts to do them at the same time. Force the defense forces to make choices but still focus them in the direction we want. Get as many as we can get to head down the bridges as possible, but those that remain become the responsibility of the fighting force that goes with the rescue teams. We will have no choice but take those forces out quickly and gain control of the keep's wall. We will need a signal from below and when it comes we open the sluice gates fully and lock them open or destroy them."

"There is a lot more risk in this plan since it relies much more on stealth and the timing to get forces deeply embedded below before we release the water. I also believe we will take more casualties because of the increased pressure on the Pack, and the chances that the rescuers will be discovered without the benefit of the Chaos going on around them. BUT- I think we can save more lives with this variation in the plan."

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Cesare

"The signal from below could be a fiery arrow or bolt if one could be fired high enough?"

He nods, wondering where he might be best placed for the benefit of the Forest Kin. He can do stealthy and has other skills that might help in that area. But he can fight, particularly with his crossbow, if needed more up top.

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Keiko

She was only half-listening to the group gathered around the drawings she had made. However, when the Lost Rhoni made his remark about fire arrow signals, Keiko giggled as she looked at Emmi.

“Maybe someone should tell them you are more than just a Priestess of Krysta, more than just a bodyguard for our Silly Friend Dommi.

“Maybe someone should tell them you are the finest messenger to be found in all of the World.”

And then she winked at the pretty green-eyed Mouse before looking at the Young Master.

“And you are silly,” she said with a grin.


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Kadri:
"In al ikelihood. I think my place is below, in the shafts. I am more of a sneaker than a fighter, and it would be where my talents best fit."

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


Bekkah, Cesare, Kadri, Keiko, Lyric, Pietro, Tomomi, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald Mouse, Broke, Soft, Clever, a pair of Rats and most of the Pack, Lady and various and sundry other Forest Folk

Cesare’s words had the young master look up. Dominic blinked, tilted his head and gnawed a bit on his forefinger.

“That signal from below …”

His brow furrowed for a moment.

“That’s a good thought, needing signals between the groups and all. You do know we have the finest messenger to be found in the whole world.”

Clever Rat’s whiskers twitched at that before he nodded in agreement. He was a pragmatic and results oriented rat after all. Then he continued, looking to the group’s leader, seeking answers more sure and concrete, to help craft desires, considerations and thoughts into a plan.

“First, of course we can – we were once true rats, true mice, true children of Lady Nature. So we can all swim. Though some are more clumsy and we are not fast and some cannot swim as far as others – as I spoke earlier, their experiments with softpads never worked very well.

The Forest Folk rescuer took a deep breath. When he spoke again it was guidance he sought.

“We have never tried anything on this scale. If it succeeds or fail, the fate of Home and many souls will be saved or lost. Where do we begin?”

Clever Rat’s dark eyes started with Lyric, moved to Kadri, then to Cesare and ended locking with Pietro’s gaze.

“Those who go for the forges and mines will have to be fast and strong, they must be like one of Long Fang’s arrows, sure and true and unstoppable until it reaches its destination. They must be able to open a stone and black metal door and then bring our kin safely back up the stairs to the open air.

“Those at the water gates must be strong and clever. If they are discovered they must be able to hold the mill towers until the signal for flooding comes.

“Those who hold the bridge must be able to make a loud noise and bear the brunt of the Keep’s wrath. They will be the first to face our enemies, must face them th longets and they will have to keep them on the bridge, to keep them fooled until the rescue is done and they too can retreat back to the Forest and Home.

“And then there are the final questions. Which group does the Lady Yurisdotter accompany? What of Lady’s fear? Who cares for those we are rescuing? Beyond sword, shield and bow, besides something to confuse a weasel’s sense of smell, what else do you need?”

His head tilted, his ears perked forward.

“Who do you wish for each task?”

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Keiko

She had rolled her eyes at the Young Master’s repetition of her words, but it was an expression born from fondness more than anything else.

And regarding Clever’s questions, well, she did have a dilemma. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that there were two currents to choose and she would have preferred to choose both. Of course, that is never possible. And one could never be sure that divergent currents would flow once more into a common river.

Still, it might be possible to approximate the riding of two waves with the help of friends.

Looking at Dommi and Emmi, she nodded to herself. She knew their stories because they were stories worth remembering, and she was very good at remembering stories. Besides, their stories had become intertwined in a way most Rhoni stories never are.

Although Keiko spoke to Clever, her eyes remained on the Noble and the Mouse beside him; her arm remained around Tomomi’s shoulder.

“Clever? Dommi and I will do all we can to assuage Lady’s fears. If the others need his help moving frightened kin, Emmi can always find him.” The Rhoni smiled. “Tomomi and I have already said we will do what we can to help the rescued persons not become Lost.”

She looked at her friend then. “You’re very brave, you know.”

But she looked at Dommi again and winked. “I do hope it is only your horse that finds your methods of travel so distasteful.”

Finally, she did look over at Clever and the group around the drawings. The Lady Bekkah was a powerful Healer, and would surely need to be where she could do the most good.

It would be nice to have Lyric’s company as she and the Young Master searched for evidence of Lady’s potential sister, but Lyric was Lyric was Lyric. And as such, Lyric would find her own Path on this journey. Keiko merely hoped that this journey they embarked on would lead them all to a rejoining of the currents. While she knew that everyone rode their own waves and that nothing — not any particular thing nor any specific relationship — lasted forever, she had come to a realization that wandering the World for a while with Lyric might be an interesting thing to do.

And, of course, Keiko knew very well that for everything that was there would also be something that was-not. Nothing lasted forever — except the friendship of a Mouse.


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Pietro


The squire of Lord Dames frowned, chewing lightly on his lower lip as he pondered the situation for perhaps the hundredth time.

"I am strong and I am fast, but I am not clever. I have sufficient courage and, perhaps you'd call it doughtiness to have a chance in accomplishing this rescue mission..." he paused and shrugged, not bothering to mention he was entirely unsure whether he'd survive.

Not that it mattered all that much... Pietro shrugged again. People had tried to kill him before and he'd never been dead yet.

"I think the our best healer, the Lady Bekkah, should be in position to assuage the freed Forest Kin's hurts."

He thought another moment.

"I think Cesare should lead the group which goes after the forges and mines, perhaps with Lord Dominic's help. The Lady Kadri should lead those who take the water gates, perhaps with Keiko's help."

"Then I and a group of fighters hold the bridge as my largest asset is my fighting ability."

Pietro looked around at the others, eyes moving from one to the other and ending back with the Clever Rat.

"As you are clever, you should be the one to assign our Forest Kin allies to the posts where best they can serve."

"Lyric..." he shrugged and smiled. "Lyric should decide for herself where she would serve our allies best."

"Now..." he frowned again as another thought occurred to him.

"Will the imprisoned Forest Kin come willingly and follow our directions or will they have to be... persuaded?"

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Bekkah

It all sounded like a well crafted plan. Of course there would be troubles, there always was, but it was a very good start.

"If things go well, then I would be most needed at the bridge where there is actual fighting. I should be there."

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Cesare

He nods looking around at the others.

"Yes that sounds good. And Bekkah I agree. The bridge group will be at the forefront of the main assault and will likely need your services the most. Plus hopefully we can bring any other injured to you."

He looks at Clever.

"It is good that most of the Forest Folk can swim. But if we can get inflatables to those with less strength, they have a chance to float out as the waters rise. Who would benefit most? And how many inflatables can we assemble?"

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Lyric

The minstrel had hoped that the Forest Kin would find their own voices and help her fill in this plan. Neither herself nor her companions gathered around the table had a true understanding of what the Forest Kin could inherently do. Lyric had an inkling, though not direct proof. She had seen things happening and she was the type to watch and listen and remember. Still, she had hoped that Clever, a voice for Rats and a veteran of several other raids upon the Keep of the Evil Dwarves, would have more input and offer experienced wisdom.

Lyric did not feel she had the authority to make assignments and direct the composition of the various forces and that was why she had only detailed the elements of the plan she had devised.

None of the Pack had gathered close enough, especially their leaders, to take an interest and offer help. That was mildly discouraging to her. It was as if...

Perhaps a breakdown in communication. Maybe they waited to be invited. Maybe their own nature compelled them to be reticent in such things. Outsiders had been tasked with devising a solution to a problem when such solutions had evaded the Forest Kin for too long now.

Her own companions were trying to find a place within the plan themselves. But they lacked a certain understanding of critical facts and their time away from Home had not afforded them the same opportunities that Lyric had come across since she first thought she had been left behind.

Lyric had hoped to turn over the remainder of the planing to her companions and to those Forest Kin with leadership skills and experience so that they might utilize their assets best. But it didn't seem like it was happening. Not quickly enough any way, and soon enough the many voices would be come discordant and the rhythm would fail and then the balance between success and failure could tip away from them.

But why not assume more control again?

It was a risk to her. She felt she had already risked too much. She believed her place was never to be more than an observer and companion. To be more was dangerous... to herself, and to her companions.

The scales balanced more than just her own personal feelings though. They balanced more than success or failure in this mission. More than the lives of those who willingly walked toward danger. The innocent and the enslaved, who could not control their own destinies, were hung in this balance as well.

Sometimes you do a thing because it seems to be the thing that needs doing and you are content to accept the role within the thing and be content just to be a part of it, feel the friendship and love, and never think differently about it... but, then along the way you learn of something that could change the thing, a circumstance so grave, a hope so faint, a need so great, and then you are faced with a choice...

Except there was no choice as far as Lyric was concerned. A little indecision maybe and no small amount of self serving fear that kept increasing as she took the least steps possible at each confrontation with the decisions she knew she had to make. But not a choice. Lyric is Lyric is Lyric, or so she had been told.

"I am a tool," she interjected. "Forgive me again. But I am. In a way, we all are tools, created by someone or something and endowed with gifts and as such, we are no different than the Forest Kin. We are no more or no less worthy to exist, to pursue our dreams and our happiness, to exult in freedom and weep in slavery, to bask in joy and feel sorrow as they are."

"I had hoped that a greater spirit of such unity in our kindred souls would bring us together, no longer as those from without the Forest and those from within, but rather as a people with a common goal, one that surpassed all differences in who we are and what we look like and not cling to the differences in our experiences but rather find the common ground in them."

"I am sorry that I have failed you in this. I offered a plan and wanted others to take it from me, like a burden or a weight. I wanted everyone to find their place within it and openly offer their thoughts as to where they each might best serve. But I lacked perspective and understanding and my hopes became expectations and I am truly sorry for that."

"Because I listen and watch, and I observe all things around me I see things differently than most. Even among the people of my own village. And I think my companions have missed certain important things around them, or might not have witnessed them... and the shyness and wariness of the Forest Kin has given them pause to share more openly."

She stood up from the bench, stepping over it to stand straight and as tall as her small frame would allow. She held her head high.

"So let me start with this... My best place is to the deepest darkest depths of this evil. It is my plan, and it is my design that asks many to risk everything, and as such it must fall on me to go into the greatest danger with those who would volunteer to do likewise. I would be honored if the Pack, the whole Pack, for that is how they are their very best, would join me in this foolish dance with Fate. We would run hard and fast, clear a path, cause chaos... We would live or die within the bounds of our own strength and courage."

She paused for a moment, and then she nodded and continued. Her attention turned to Pietro.

"I would think one as brave and strong and as resolved to stand fast against evil as Ser Pietro, Squire of his God Rames, would be much needed in the effort to take the Bridge, but more importantly to hold that bridge. Those who have the task of challenging the patrols can only stall the Weasels for so long before they turn back. I think if the Rats were to stand with Ser Pietro and use the Gift I think they possess... each armed with a bag of small rocks... pebbles even, launched so fast and so hard they become a deadly weapon, a storm of stone. Hold the bridge."

Her attention shifted again.

"To the Trickster's Dama, I would suggest this... Your Gifting, from your Goddess, makes you a powerful force for Chaos. I think I have seen it in play from another follower and if I am right, then you, leading the Deer and other Forest Kin suited for the run in the wilds could deceive and confound the forces we must keep at bay if we are to survive this. We have to have as many of the patrols engaged, and even to have more patrols drawn out of the keep for support... and have them give chase only to become the prey... in such a way they still think they are the ones doing the hunting."

Her eyes, somewhat sad now, for she understood the thing which she had hoped to slip free from, the responsibility for telling others not only the place where they were needed, but also the role that might lead them to their deaths... as if she had any right to play at War with the lives of others she had come to care about.

"Cesare, the questing Rhoni... You are nimble and light of step and quick of hand. The Keep Walls with Raccoons I think. Hands equally as deft and smart and agile. Those walls must be taken, and held for I think that those Sluice Gates are the final act to destroy the evil below. The forges will not survive the water, but if we are to wait until as many if not all the enslaved Forest Kin are rescued, then your task might be the hardest for you will face an assault coming up from below, The Pack will move too fast to the bottom to clear every level, and if the dwarves reside in upper levels they might very well see this plan for what it is and know that you are the linchpin to our success. Hold the keep walls, control the sluice gates, support those on the bridge to trap the defenders between you and have their backs once they control the bridge. But you also secure the entrance and egress for all those who go below. Your task here will be the hardest for you face fire from all directions."

She then looked to Friend Keiko. She had heard Keiko volunteer for a particular role, offering her aid as a promise to The Lady herself in the search for another Vixen... a sister of sorts. A kindred Soul for certain. That The Lady had been held and her enslavement was to serve at the whim and will of those in the upper levels... Old Masters, dwarves, whoever they were in those upper halls... conjured horrific thoughts for the Minstrel. Lyric's next words would agree with Keiko's offer, but it was that sense of resignation to her role here, that she accepted she was sending her first Friend outside the hidden boundaries of her home to a potential fate worse than death should they not prevail against the dwarves. And should her plan be flawed in even the slightest way and the enemy discover it, then that crushing weight upon Lyric's own soul would overwhelm her. She had just the barest preview of it right now.

"You and Dommi should go after the Vixen, if for no other reason then to determine if another was created... and if so... get her out... Take a mouse or more with you... I would say more, but you know where my heart in this is for you. My feelings of friendship give me pause in putting you into such unknown yet dire peril."

"And Emerald... You are the messenger. You go where you are needed but you will know all parts of this plan and it's timing. You will jump from place to place, help those who need help, but know the times to be where you must when you must to keep all things on schedule. You know us all now, and our lives and those whom we seek to help will depend on the timing of this."

"And I should not and will not forget you Lady Bekkah of Attera, You already know your role. This is your quest. Your kindness and sacrifice of heart began this. I am nothing in the face of such Mercy and Charity. With your favor and blessing of your Goddess I hope we find success."

Again Lyric looked across the room. That burden was amplified looking into so many eyes. She couldn't help but wonder whose eyes she might never see again and it hurt her heart.

"When the pack clears the mines, and ushers the enslaved Kin to a proper place I think we send in the mice. I know not the best place for them to wait for their signal from Emmi, be it close by, or on the walls above, or here at Home... but wherever it is best, given the nature and limits of their Gift as I have seen it demonstrated, they will be the ones to know this and do this. They will make the actual rescues and retrievals"

"We must all do our parts when they need to be done. We must trust each other. And so, what I must have now is word from each of you. I must hear from the Wuffs, and the Mice, and Emmi, and the Rats. Deer and Raccoons... anyone... everyone."

She glanced at Clever who was very close to her. "I must hear from you Clever... Wrath, Broke, Soft... Lady... And you Tomomi... any and all of you. From my companions who have been kind to humor me as I tag along on their quests and adventures."

"I can see a plan in my head, I can speak it aloud, but I am not so arrogant to think it will work without your input... In fact I am humbled by the enormity of this task before us and... I am scared that I am not good enough to be entrusted with your lives, with their lives," she said with a gesture into a distant place.

"I am desperate to try and account for every detail and every contingency... because so many lives depend on this working as I envision it. But I also know that my plan will change as it unfolds and have to adapt in the face of conflict. Each of you will have to be able to make this plan your own and be able to adapt it as needed... because I know I have missed things and never having faced a Dwarf, never having seen one before... I am planning for an enemy I know nothing about... You have heard what I have offered. I never wanted to bear this responsibility. I wanted to be a Minstrel... play songs, tell stories... watch as Heroes did great and glorious things."

"I never fully understood that those stories were born out of some reality where agonizing choices had to be planned that would lead to life and death decisions with unyielding consequences... before there is any story to witness and tell. Now I am faced with it first hand.:

"If those who would be better placed elsewhere can see things I need to know, then say so now. Please help me..."

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Keiko

She watched her friend speak eloquently; Lyric spoke with an authority of an elder and the humility of... well, Keiko was fairly sure Lady Bekkah was the only person she’d ever met with so much modesty regarding the great things she did.

And then Keiko listened to the silence that reverberated through the room. Heartbeats of silence, long breaths of silence — silence stretching into forever.

“I know your heart, my friend,” she whispered into that silence. “Let your heart be at ease, for I have chosen this wave to ride. I trust in my elders’ teachings, I trust Dominic Korie at my side, I trust my forever friend Tomomi, and I trust that my fate will be as it should be.”

Her smile offered encouragement to Lyric. Each of them must do the things that made the best use of their talents. She could fight well against someone unarmored, but avoiding a fight was even better. Her Rhoni magics complimented the abilities of the Shadowlord. Hiding, fleeing, distraction — if it came to a fight, she and Dommi probably wouldn’t fare as well as others, no. But for seeking out a Vixen to rescue?

Maybe, just maybe, a Rhoni Card Reader, a forever friend Mouse, and a Noble rapscallion would succeed.


"Everything is bad except unicorns." -- Phoebe
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Cesare

He nods slowly. He had thought to go below but the Forest Folk are much quicker than he, so an alternative is acceptable. He waits to see what others will add.

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