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Daxia
with Kadri, Romana and Celi at the well at the Ruins

At first, a puzzled look passed across Daxia’s face when Romana spoke of the Dirkwood, then she blinked... and her looked turned to one of dawning realization, tinged -- perhaps -- with horror. So when Celi spoke again, when the Dayalan faced the Covener again, her face showed that touch of horror, though with each word Celi spoke, the impassive mask of the court observer slowly settled into place.

The mask cracked for an instant when Romana walked off with her parting words; an instant of... possibly despair.

"You are a fool, Celi, as were your forebears," she said, her voice nearly as icy as Romana’s had been. "She asked if the vengeance your people took upon hers was worth it, and you merely said it was inevitable. I doubt you even know what they did. What your ancestors did had NO place in the Great Cycle, and perhaps you should consider your purpose in this life to be righting the wrong they perpetrated on the World Forest. For although Dayalans have been friends and protectors of Coveners through the Ages, the Firstborn are precious to us and to our Goddess. And your ancestors deprived them of their home."

Daxia merely stared at Celi for the space of a heartbeat or two, before she, too, turned to follow Romana.

"Vengeance is never inevitable, Celi," she said without looking back. "Never."

Celi

All Celi could do was gaze in bewilderment at the others. She clearly had no idea what they were referring to. She was not invested with any grasp of previous history, even if the others were. She was as close to a perfect live-for-today being as existed on the planet, though she was here because she was trying to change.

"Daxia, I have no idea what you refer to. If you are going to berate me and threaten me, at least explain what I have done. My Gram didn't tell me anything about any vengeance. By us, or against us. And I have never sought such a thing. I am just trying to stay alive, and learn how to be around other people. I was alone with my Gram until a year ago, so all the things you know, I do not. I cannot even talk to any of you, without a mis-speak because I do not know what you all know, and I cannot live in the past like you do so well. I know how to survive in a forest, and I know Mother Nature, and much about her bounty both plant and animal, and that is all I know. Why are you being so cruel to me because I don't know these things?"

She sent out a thought to Stormrunner, at that moment. This is not working. I cannot be like they want. I don't even know what it is they want! Can I come home now?

Lady Bekkah with Lady Kay (And squire Dean)

She sighed as she overhead snippets of conversation outside. Conversation that seemed to be heating up.

"I wonder that myself Lady Kay."

"I have been tending to the people of the countryside for the past 5 years as I suppose you know. I just recently returned to a Cragside only to find my sister with these others. I have not seen her since she was 7 and I wish to be with her at this point. I will try to guide them, at least morally, but there are a lot of strong wills within this group. My sister, perhaps the strongest willed of all. They will take my counsel, but they follow their own missions. I simply hope to be a voice of reason at times."

She turned to look out the window and sighed again.

"And it sounds as if they may need that voice sooner than I had hoped."

The Heartwood
Bordertown
Rameday, The Twenty-First Day of the Month of Crown of Ice, 2623

Afternoon Tea with Lady Kay

"Do you know that it is impossible to win an argument?"

Lady Kay looked outside, at the obvious schism.

"Curious."

She then looked back to the other Atteran.

"Any argument. Because even if you triumph, and your way becomes the one accepted for moving forward by all involved ...

"Because no matter how right your position be the one who lost will always, always, bear some measure of resentment, even if it is just the fact that they ... lost.

"And while that resentment remains, nothing really changes.

"And that is why nothing can truly change ...

" ... without compassion, without mercy."

Lady Bekkah with Lady Kay (squire Dean)

She let the elderly woman finish her thought without interruption.

"Indeed. Worst of all is trying to win the argument with violence. That just breeds the desire for revenge."

She sipped her tea listening to some more.

"I prefer to guide them to make the right choice, thinking it was their idea in the first place."

The Heartwood
Bordertown
Rameday, The Twenty-First Day of the Month of Crown of Ice, 2623

At the Jvrillian Guildhouse

"You do not understand, Mikal ..."

The Swordpriest just shook his head.

"If anything can stir the dread rabid merebeasts of the Forest of Roth ...

"How can we know what, if anything, stirred them now or at anytime? They do not think as we do; they share more with the followers of Old Jvrill than our teachings.

"It serves them similarly; they too fall for their fel beliefs in great numbers. There are just many more of them then there are of us, old or new."

The Heartwood
Bordertown
Rameday, The Twenty-First Day of the Month of Crown of Ice, 2623

At the Closed Gatehouse

The merchant looked back over his shoulder, on the way to the market.

"I'm just a tinker, lad. What am I supposed to know about those that rule this town? I pay my tithes and I can sell and make a living; that's where it begins and ends.

"He's one of the three mercantile masters. Emeraldsson manages the businesses here, in town, Marrennen holds dominion over all the that trade up and down the Highland Path, and Hythainian find the rarities that no one else can get, the toys, tidbits and trinkets for the Nobles.

"Reclusive he is ... the biggest surprise is to see Lorgnan Hythainian outside his manor court.

"Now, I must away to earn coin for my dinner."

He trundled on towards the market.

The Heartwood
Bordertown
Rameday, The Twenty-First Day of the Month of Crown of Ice, 2623

Afternoon Tea with Lady Kay

"however, dear Sister ..."

Lady Kay looked over her teacup, as she looked out the window.

"Perhaps it is time to stop talking about matters ... and actually doing something about them."

Cesare

"Thank you again."

He calls after the man, watching him for a few moments as he heads to market, before turning back to Darian.

"Not quite sure what to make of this. This Master Hythainian, the finder of rare items that others cannot find, may have special skills and talents to allow him to do that, these talents may therefore give much weight to the words we heard, though we do not know how far away in time or distance it may be. But it might also be just his mood of the day. However our friend there.."

He thumbs back over his shoulder in the direction of the market.

"..seems to suggest that even seeing the Master was a rarity in itself which suggests it is something more than nothing."

He nods.

"OK, let's go find Daxia and the others, so that they can maybe think and learn more of this as the day progresses.. but we should not build it into too much just now, agreed?"

He holds out a hand to her, inviting her closeness.

"Besides, after last night, I am truly enjoying today."

Darian

Her brow scrunches as he talks.

"Not know man up there. Know Longtooth. Not growl no reason."

A glance up at the sky.

"She sleep soon. Need friends not be there..." Darian points to the tower beyond the walls. "...when She sleep."

She takes his hand, but not quite in the loverly gesture he might have expected. "Come. Faster find, faster return."

A pause happens in her step and she turns to offer a smile, "Faster return, faster to inn."

Cesare

"Good point."

He responds to her comment about Longtooth. Then listening further he grins suddenly.

"Sound like an offer I can't refuse."

He starts to run, laughing with her as they go.

Mikal

"Yet the city's guardians seem fewer than the last time I was thru." He says innocently. "Why, if the Forest stirs, are the defenses weakened?"

Darian

She grins and laughs, lengthening her stride. "Come, Longtooth."

Together they ran through Bordertown, to the gate they had used to enter.

Daxia
with Celi at the Ruins

At Celi's last question, Daxi hesitated, then called to her friends. "Romana, Kadri... wait. Romana?" She paused, taking a deep breath. "Romana Dazi friend. Romana wait for Dazi. Please. Romanaska not give up. Dazi-Dazi-Dazi and Romana-Romana-Romana do what say will do. We will.

"Kadri..." she said, looking at the young woman from the Plains. "Kadri help Romana wait for Dazi, yes? Please-please? Romana, Kadri Dazi FRIENDS!"

Then she turned and strode back up to the well and just looked at Celi for a moment.

"Cruel, Celi? You think I am being cruel?" Stony-faced, with a voice as cold as the glaciers beyond Dawnview Vale, arms crossed under her cloak, Daxia stood still and imposing, every inch a warrior. "You speak words that cut at a person's heart, for those words are the truth as you see it, and you are just Celi, taking no responsibility for anything, not even the words that slide past your lips like knives. I speak words of admonishment, words that are the truth as I see it, and I am cruel?" She snorted.

"Ah, who knows?" she said. "Each defines words in their own way, I suppose, just as each person sees their own truth. Perhaps by your definition, I am being cruel. Priestess Kassia said far more harsh things to me in her efforts to teach me, and when I was a child I'm sure I thought her cruel, as well. But she was not cruel; she was my teacher and any harsh words she said due to my inattention to her teachings were well-deserved.

"And yes, I berate you, for you are deserving of it. But what threatening thing have I said here?" Daxia asked, truly puzzled. "Or is it that you find a less than pleasant tone threatening? Perhaps you find a sharp look threatening? Perhaps your tender skin cannot bear the prickles of truth in my words, a truth that you wish to deny. That is the way of the world, CHILD, where people speak in harsh tones and gaze upon one another with icy stares and speak their truths.

"I look at you and see a half-grown girl, ignorant and partially formed. You are old enough to be wed and have children of your own, and yet you persist in acting the child. I see you act as if I am being terribly unfair to you; and I see that you have torn the last shred of my patience with your whining.

"And you wonder why I berate you?

"You have been told time and again to refrain from behaviors that would call attention to yourself, and yet you persist in calling attention to yourself with your bragging. You do not hesitate to brag of all the things you can do, you do not hesitate to brag about being the most skillful at those very many things you can do.

"I don't doubt that you have skills, though I often doubt they are at the level you claim.

"And you wonder why I berate you?

"You insult and demean my friend." Daxia paused, glaring at the Covener with undisguised anger in her eyes and her voice. "How dare you? What arrogance is this that gives you the right to insult royalty? What right do you have to demean a woman to whom I have given sanctuary in our lands? It is as if you gainsay me that right to offer her protection from those who would kill her.

"And you DARE to wonder why I berate you?

"You brag of your intelligence and use fancy words to bedazzle others into thinking that you are, indeed, possessing of great intelligence." Daxia's voice and demeanor had returned to icy calm. "But I have often wondered how a young girl from the backwoods would come to know such pretty phrasings. I have listened to Nobles in court who could take lessons from you in the use of fine language. It is just another way to call attention to yourself.

"And you wonder why I berate you?

"Despite your bravado and the catalog of the many things you can do so exceptionally well, despite your boast of high intelligence, you whimper like a kicked ruff when your truths are challenged... rather than using that intelligence you claim to have to think about your truths and the challenges to them.

"And you wonder why I berate you?

"You hear me speak, you hear Romana speak, but you do not listen. You hear our words and then pretend to have less intelligence than a common ruff, because you don't want to think what those words might mean to you. You do not like to think that perhaps your ancestors might have done something horrible. You know nothing of the past, and you wish to know nothing of the past. You are simply an ignorant girl from the backwoods, who knows nothing at all about anything of the world outside that which lies within the realm of your Goddess. This makes you a liar, Celi, either in the bragging of your intelligence or in the pretense of ignorance.

"And you wonder why I berate you?

"You steadfastly cling to your attitude that we are all foolish because we do not see your truth about the nature of the world and embrace that truth -- oh, do not be so surprised that I read your face, your body, your movements, the smallest twitch of an eyelid as easily as you read the messages of the forest, or perhaps even more so, for I know how rigorously I was trained. You claim intelligence, and yet display ignorance and bigotry... for there are many, many gods and therefore many, many ways of seeing the world, and telling stories about the world.

"And you wonder why I berate you?

"Who among us lives in the past, Celi, as you claim? No one that I can see. Some of us study the past, for the past can teach us things, just as surely as the present. No one knows the whole of the past, but each family, each Temple, each religion teaches different pieces of the past. No one knows the truth, for there is no one great truth, only the truth seen from each person's own eyes. If your grandmother did not tell you the history of your people, then how can you expect us -- any of us -- to tell you that history? How can you expect us -- any of us -- to know your history. We only know our own; and then, only pieces of it. You say you cannot speak to any of us because you do not know what we know. What do we know, Celi? You assume much, and know little.

"And you wonder why I berate you?"

Daxia was silent then, appraising the girl and quite clearly judging her.

"If you truly wish to learn how to live among people -- and I must be quite honest in saying I have doubts that this is what you truly want, for you have not shown a great deal of effort in doing even the simplest things that have been asked of you in changing your behavior -- but if you truly do wish to learn how to live among people, go to my sister," she said, pointing to Lady Kay's tiny home. "Ask Lady Bekkah if she will tutor you in appropriate behaviors. She is merciful and compassionate, qualities my Goddess does not require of me and emotions I cannot feel for you right now. If you truly wish to learn how to live among people, you will follow her every guideline and every suggestion." She lowered her arm and refolded the two of them beheath her cloak once again.

"However, if you do not TRULY wish to learn how to live among people... you may go wherever you like.

"But if you choose the path that the rest of us travel..." Daxia paused, looked over her shoulder, then turned back to Celi. "...I would recommend that you beg forgiveness from Romana for the insult you gave her. Take as long as you need to work out which words gave insult; but beg for that forgiveness."

Again, the Dayalan merely studied the young Covener.

"You have shown that listening is not a skill you possess in any great measure, and I have said a great many words. Yet, because you requested that I explain these things to you, I can only hope that you have not only listened, but will learn from what I have said.

"This lecture is now in the past. It is my wish that I never have the need to deliver one such as this to you again.

"Choose your future, Celi. I have said everything I can say to give you guidance. It is your future, and you must choose it."

Daxia remained still for a single heartbeat, before turning away from Celi and heading back towards Romana and Kadri.

"WAit. If this is a dialogue and not just another lecture, you could let me speak.

"I apologize for any misconstrue. I should have said, 'why does she speak to me thus, for I know nothing about the events to which she refers?' And this is because I am but a poor ignorant country girl whose entire repertoire of skills consists of sometimes useful knowledge about the animals and plants in the world about us.

"First, I was not trying to brag when I recounted my knowledge. What I know is small enough, and stands in no way comparable to the many things you other folk know. I was trying to make that point: my knowledge might seem limitless to you, but it is severely limiting to me, for it is all I know how to do. I never intended to imply that my knowledge was complete or overwhelming; I just tried to say, 'this is all I know, so you waste your time asking me about anything else...' because I don't know about anything else. I also never claimed to live in the past; I live in the right-now, pretty much all the time, worrying about food and shelter and weather and one companion.

"I hope this explains my response to Romana's question about 'was it enough', or some such. Since I had no idea what 'it' was, how could I ever know if it was right or enough or anything at all? I felt that she was asking me for my deepest thoughts about it, but ... as I hope I have made clear, I have no deepest thoughts. I don't even have any shallow thoughts, because I didn't even know what she referred to. Yet I am convinced her comments were intended to encourage a self-examination that would elicit guilt and shame. So all I was trying to say was, 'how am I to feel these things if I know nothing about the events?'

"I never expected you to know my history. I came with you, hoping to learn some of it, along with whatever else you deigned to share with me. But I am not doing so well on picking up others knowledge, and I have been instructed not to try and share what I do know how to do, lest someone take affront.

"I hope this clarifies my position, and I hereby apologize completely and thoroughly to each and everyone who took affront, as well as all those who might have taken affront only they just didn't notice. All I want to do is just sit quietly and learn, while occasionally doing something useful to help the group. I would speak to Romana directly, but she runs away when I get too close. I was charged with getting her up for breakfast, and even that I couldn't manage.

"I will try to consort with Lady Bekkah, and for my first lesson ... can you tell me what a Dayalan is?" She looked completely bereft, and had in fact just remembered that Stormrunner had told her "no" -- she wasn't staying outside. Maybe she should invite him *inside*.

(The parts from Daxia are ghosted with permission from Wolf and from Kel)

Daxia stops briefly near Kadri and says a few word, to which Kadri. . nods - and then Daxia proceeds past Kadri to ROmana.

Kadri, on the other hand, turns and walks towards Celi, and motions for her to sit, before sitting herself.

"Daxia is too. . .angry right now to talk to you, Celi. And I understand her anger. I am not angry so much as. . bewildered, so I will attempt to explain. When I explain, Celi, I want you to understand something - I have been there. I have been a stranger among people whose customs I did not know and people who were not my own. I left my people when I was . . younger, and went out on my own, with only Lisica and . . only Lisica and Her to keep me company. I was alone, and always looking over my shoulder wondering when I might be found. So yes, Celi, this is a topic I know well."

She pulls a waterskin and takes a sip to clear her throat.

"What I want here is to tell you how things work - not hear explaining what you do, not you saying why you are not wrong; the reactions you are getting by themselves should tell you you are doing something wrong, yes? If you want to live in the world, you live in the world as it is, not as you wish it to be."

She pauses, clears her throat.

"Do you understand what I have just said as a starter. Please, just tell me either yes, or no."

Celi took a few deep breaths, pushed her hair out of her face, and clasped her hands in her lap. "Yes, Kadri. And ... thank you for this effort. Yes, I hear what you say, and -- so far -- yes, I understand what you say. And I also understand that I am upsetting people, which I am not trying to do.

"It just seems like they refer to things I do not know, and then get upset when I claim I don't know them. I don't mean to get people upset. I am sorry I don't know things, or, apparently, even how to learn about them.

"I wasn't trying to say I wasn't wrong. I was trying to apologize for not knowing any better. I..."

She clapped her hands over her mouth. In muffled tones, she said, "I'm doing it again, aren't I? Starting over."

She batted her eyes, smiled a toothy grin. "Never mind. Proceed."

Kadri, with Celi

"If you find yourself ignorant, instead of making claims - try asking questions. Do you understand why you offended Romana? Even if not, try- venture a guess, please."

Lady Bekkah

She sighed and finished her tea.

"If only a day could go by without an argument, without a lecture and without a lesson."

She stood, straightened her robes and gave the elderly Lady a weary smile.

"Thank you so much for the tea Lady Kay. I will make sure to pay a visit to he Jvrillian guardhouse after I speak to my companions."

She turned and went outside and walked down to the well.

She just stood there for a long while looking at them, like they were her children.

[ooc: I want to let Art and Nicki finish what they've started before being motherly]

Daxia
with Romana on the path away from the Ruins

She rubbed her temples and sighed. "We have started, Romana. You and I." She looked at Romana, weariness and pain and even doubt filling her eyes. "And you didn't kill Celi," Daxia said with a sad smile. "That, too, is a start, yes?"

She looked back at the well where Kadri sat with Celi, watched as Bekkah and Dean walked out of Lady Kay's tiny home. "I think I understand something of what happened here, or at least I have pieced together bits from your history and mine. But there is so much more that I don't understand. Still, I... I..." She shook her head. "I feel like purifying the well is important, even vital. That it will... not exactly right a wrong, but perhaps set something back in balance."

Daxia choked out a frustrated bark of a laugh as she turned back to Romana. "I'm starting to sound like Kisa. I don't think I even know what I'm talking about. Just that the well is important.

"And I have no idea how we're supposed to clean it and purify it. I'm not sure just removing the bones will be enough."

Celi

"I do not know. Well ...because I call her 'child'?"

Celi wrung her hands. "If that is not why, then I truly do not know. I thought she was mad already, and then she asked me some whether some last deed had been the right one. Then I told her I had no idea what the deed was, let alone whether it was right."

She sniffed. "And then she called me liar because I said I didn't know something. Trust me, I know when I don't know something, and I didn't know *anything*. And I still don't."

Kadri with Celi:

The usual bright and irrepressible smile she normally carries on her face is entirely absent and replaced by a rather serious look.

"Among other things, yes, Celi. If you did not know or understand, why not ask? When you live out here, among people - when you want to BE with people, be among them, interact - what YOU want is no longer the most important thing. People like to have you understand THEM, or try to. When you give the appearance of not even listening to a word they say. . .they do not like it much. You yourself say you are ignorant and yet you talk at others who are not as if they were somehow your student. Instead of asking for enlightenment - which you yourself claim you need - you LECTURE. And then act surprised when people slowly build to more annoyance. You want others to treat you equally yet you absolutely REFUSE to return the favor of assuming their concerns just might be legitimate. There is a wide, wide world outside of YOUR concerns, and those people MATTER. And you wander why they get angry? That WOMAN has escaped from a people determined to sacrifice her to foul and dark gods not once, but three times, yet you call her a child? By what right under the sun do you that? By actual experience of the world she is enough your elder to be your mother. Yet you call her CHILD. And lecture."

The entire time her voice does not raise in pitch at all.

Celi

"I called her child, because that was what my Gram called me, and she was older. So I thought it was what you called someone who wasn't older. And I wasn't lecturing, I was trying to explain why I didn't know all that stuff. At least I thought I was."

It was easy to see where Celi got her conversational style: from a Grandmother pressed into service as a grandmother, mother, teacher and guardian. With no one else in her life, Celi had no other examples to model herself after. Everyone would fall into one or the other category: Gram, or child.

"SO what should I have said? What would have been the right thing to say?"

Kadri

"You could start by using her name. People appreciate that, Celi. Do you see anyone calling me "Child"? I am at least as young as any here. Yet like Romana, I am my own person - I am not a dependant and make my own path. I am not a child. Calling those not actually a child children . . . Is quite insulting to those not related. Back where I am from you would likely not be talking to me, but fighting for your life. "

The Heartwood
Bordertown
Rameday, The Twenty-First Day of the Month of Crown of Ice, 2623

Out at the Well

It started with a blink.

Unbelieving.


"Dazidazidazi ... Kadris ... supposed to stay with commy radishes ... comma radicals ... commy ... commy ... comrades. Not ... not ...

"Not follows ... not follows Romanas."

The young woman cast the Dayallan a sidelongs look, closing her eyes for a second, for a moment, suddenly at a loss - how to stand, what to do, what to say. Until, finally, so quiet.

"This is new.

"Romanas like new.

"Very much."

She then whispered, oh so quietly.

"Pancakes."

Eyes an un-human blue looked back into Dazi's, the color shared, yet so different. But the young woman listened intently, sharp, trying to fit each and every word into some manner of sense, a sense fogged and dogged by disparate tongues.

"This side of mountains ... tales all how things are ... tales upon Sea of Pearls, always of how things changed.

"At Bordertowns changed here, for good, for bad, Romanas not knows. Romanas knows change Corhlayyans wanted to bring ... and only know that the changings changed."

She then closed her eyes again.

"That the well tainted still, that betrays a great hate, Dazidazidazi ... think ... how easily a prince bored becomes, yes? Wonders, Corhlayans crush west each war, so many die. But where Corhlayyans? Why not here?

"Princes bore so so very easily. So what taken ... never long helds. Things fall apart at slightest whisper of an excuse.

"Well still poisoned and not forgotten ...

"That speaks of a great hate."

Romana then took a deep breath, looking east.

"For not knowings?"

She finally smiled.

"Then look and sees. Look and sees always good.

"Dazidazidazi is right, yes?

"Wells may become poisoned, but nothing ... nothing meant to last forever."