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Darian

Her brow furrowed at the crowd who seemed only to be noticing the old sellsword. She leaned down and spoke to Longtooth, loud enough for Cesare and those closest to hear, should they take notice.

"Find way through?"

People usually made way for him, and she was not umcomfortable with following in his wake and pulling Cesare along behind her.

Bekkah

"But child, you have just quoted more than I knew about them. That alone would make them suspicious at best, convicted at worst. Remember, within the Imperium, there are recognized religions. To them, there is nothing else. Anyone promoting their views will suffer. Yes, there are exceptions that are barely tolerated. Out in the country, the Imperial religions are not tolerated, yet there are exceptions there as well like the Atterans."

"Why do you think that is?"

"Because Ladies like me went amongst them as simple women. We went from town to town and helped them with gathering firewood, we helped with crops and we proved we were real people. Then after we'd been trusted, we aided them by curing a loved one. Then we moved on and started over. Now it is simpler because word had spread and I am accepted in each person's home. Yet, I still worked hard to help them in many more ways, than asking my Lady for aid."

"Perhaps you have been sent to be that first lady. Think simple, act simple. Be nothing but a girl. Do not claim more than a simple girl would know. Ever. Watch for opportunities to help with your arms and legs."

"They fear their own legends and stories. They fear ignorance. And how do people when faced with that which they fear? They panic. Panicked people will not be rational, you can never expect them to think through things."

"This will be difficult Celi. You may be insulted as a dumb girl or a simpleton, like the Jvrillians mock Dazi, but you must not react. If you suddenly claim you're smarter than them or more powerful, they will tease you even more. If you react with action, you will die, and potentially all of us with you."

"Be the person who learns all these things first, the hard way. At some point there may be a life and death situation with someone who has come to genuinely like you. Then show as little as you can and aid them. But even then, claim you do not know what happened and that you're glad they're safe. Nothing more. Do not proclaim your heritage and tell them that all of your kind should be trusted. Almost pretend it didn't happen."

"Tell me something Celi. Why did you come this way to the border towns? Why not remain where you were raised?"

Cesare

He let's himself be pulled through the crowd but hangs back long enough to ask of someone.

"Who is coming?"

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

Lord Random's Tower

A big picnic basket, a bottle of wine, and a door to a tall, well girthed stone tower.

Romana followed with steps light.

"Cinni-minni-mons!"

The door is a task to open; it was not just thick wood but reinforced by thick plates of steel. When opened it betrayed even more security. Three bars of darksteel would hold it against those who would try to storm it.

With such protection one would think that there would be riches - gems, gold, silve and more stored here.

But instead it was only dully lit, a few glass sconced candles here and there. The glass casings were truly an expensive touch, but as one's eyes adjust to the space it becomes obvious that the crystal was not there to protect the candle from weather and wind but to protect the contents of the tower from the candle.

Rows upon rows of shelving stuffed the place; leaving only narrow alleys between. They rose high to the ceiling and were so close that one must turn sideways to squeeze by. And they were covered, they were full, they were full to overflowing. They held papers - parchment and vellum with scribbled inscriptions. They held books; thin and thick bound volumes of leather and paste board. Most of the backs were old and faded but some, some seemed quite new. Racks and barrels held scrolls of all kines; some tubes of parchment, some rolls of cloth upon sculpted handles. Here and there maps were found; some in rolls, some tacked up on a rare piece of empty wall space.

This place was a rarity upon rarities.

An actual library.

A rail-less stair of creaky wood wound about the circumference of the tower, its ricketyness betrayed its age, each step threatening to bring it a tumbling down. It didn't help that its narrowness was made even more perilous by a stack of books here, a cask of scrolls there, a forgotten plate or two and the occasional forgotten plate and pewter cup - some with a remnant of wine abandoned.

One floor up ...

Then two.

What windows there were were narrow; allowing in just shafts of afternoon light. They were deep; the tower walls being thicker than a person could reach.

And then three.

The topmost floor was more of the same, except for a soft glow coming from the end of a treacherous canyon of shelving.

There a smallish, thin and almost scrawny man with gray hair sat on a crate-for-a-stool. There was a high table with a slanted top upon which he worked, along with far too many long goose feathers and a small glass bottle of ink. His age was hard to tell ... definitely old but not yet ancient, and he squinted as he worked. He was carefully scribing, making little scritches and scratches, drawing lines here and there.

" ... Banner ... such an odd odd name ... one little family in a little village and it only goes back a handful of generations ...

" ... curiouser and curiouser."

He then perked,

"oh! Lunch, it's lunch ... or is it dinner?

"Did fair Lady Kay send up some cinnamon rolls? They are just scrumptious. Good for the heart and the belly, I have always said.

" ... I wonder if it had ever happened before."





ooc note: anyone who wanted to see Lord Random or have a bit to eat can have come up here ...

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

The Last House on Lonely Street

The blade is lighter than its match in steel, and when touched ... it is just ...

... metal.

Empty metal.

The Priestess leaned back, leaning against her Executioner. The image was simple, chaste, and could have been repeated across the thousand farms upon the High Tarn - that of a young sister leaning against an elder brother.

And her words were light and friendly, spoken with good humor and care.

"Oh ... no worries for that, lad ...

"You will pay this debt ..."

A quiet pause, a soft smile, sparkling eyes.

" ... eventually."

Celi

Celi gazed distantly. "There was nothing for me but ghosts. I know they don't exist, that life ends with your death, but I heard Gram in every shiver of the aspen, the breath of the wind. If I stayed, I would never be my own person. The towns gave me a chance to grow, while still being me. Gram had told me I would have to learn how to interact with people to grow, you see.

"I can behave as you suggest. It just seems ... wrong, somehow. Almost cowardly. But I will take the long view; you have convinced me that any chance I have will only come if they accept me first. So... I will do as you suggest: play ordinary farm girl."

Daxia
with Kadri, Romana and Lord Random in his Tower

After getting through the secure doors, Daxia stopped and stared in wonder, absently handing the bottle of wine to Kadri. The journey up and up and up took much longer than it might have, as the Dayalan had to stop every so often to look at this book or that book... only ever lightly brushing some with gentle fingertips, others not touching at all out of respect for their age.

On reaching the topmost floor, very nearly dazed by the wonder of all the books -- so many more than even the library at the Dawnview Temple -- she said absently, looking around her, "Lunch, I think." Then she blinked, seeming to come back to herself.

"Yes... yes, Lady Kay sent up bread and cheese and cinnamon pastries." She looked for a flat clear surface upon which to put the basket, settling for pushing aside some books and placing the basket on the floor. She crouched down and, flipping back the gingham cloth, she extracted two pastries... one each for Lord Random and Romana, and handed the pastries to them. She broke off a bit of bread and cheese for herself before standing, and gesturing for Kadri to take what she would like.

"I am Daxia, and these are my friends Kadri and Romana," she said to the old man. "Ah... had what ever happened before?"

Mikal

He grunts. "Well, then, my thanks again. As well for those poor souls who were trapped within."

He nods his head in respect, and turns to head back to the Guildhouse. Now that the sword has been cleansed, he should be able to talk to the smith about having it reforged. As well to the Swordpriest, about enspelling it.

Kadri
with Daxia, Romana and Lord Random in his Tower

"Cinnamon is ALWAYS a welcome thing. And anyone that makes something that smells like that has to have something right about them."

She offers a wide, sparkling and above all mischievous grin.

Bekkah

"And perhaps no noticeable good will come in your lifetime, but maybe your children will be accepted, or your children's children."

CELI

Celi grinned, spunky despite the circumstance. "I hope it will happen earlier; otherwise, there won't be any opportunity to *make* children."

She adopted a deep fake voice to utter portentiously, "I know we were going to bed, but I decided instead to burn you at the stake."

Bekkah

She smiled at the girl who was charming in her own way.

"No child, you can be accepted quickly, it's the rest that could take lifetimes. Now behave, before I'm forced to spank you. I've already threatened Dazi similarily. You are all making me feel terribly old."

She sighed as she looked around her.

"Now, if I could just get someone to accept me as Bekkah Yurisdotter and not Lady Bekkah. Come let us find the others."

Celi

"I volunteer," Celi said. "But I might not be your friend of choice. If *I* call you Bekkah in front of the others, for example, I am almost certain to get a lecture from Daxia about respecting my betters.

"Still, I would courageously dare such tedium, if you wish it. Us simple country folk are brave that way."

Bekkah

"No, I think not. I will always be Bekkah to Dazi."

"When we are around other Imperials, then it would be best to call me Lady Bekkah. Not that I desire to hear it, but they expect it. And if it earns us more respect from the people here, then it is a good thing. To some it can be just as important as a very large sword."

Celi

"I can do that," Celi said. "Except, I can't tell an Imperial from the local fishwife, unless they are wearing a sign around their neck. Is there some way you could signal me? Something that doesn't look like you are saying, 'watch out, that one is an imperial'.

"Perhaps ... ah I have it!" She grinned mischievously, then abruptly dropped the expression. "Wait. Before I make a joke...I should check. What are your feelings toward Imperials in general? Do you like to laugh at yourself, for instance?"

Apparently her idea for a signal was a little colorful.

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

Lord Random's Tower

"I have seen may young lasses in my day, and while there may be some, one is forced to admit, some bad lassies that like cinnamon, I jave never met a good lass that didn't."

As he spoke, the elderly cleric stepped from his box and sat down in the aisle across from the basket.

"I do hope Lady Kay remembered some ... yes here they are ..."

He retrieved a set of glasses from the basket and set out one for each, pouring out the wine before untying a wooden cup from his belt to offer himself some of the rich merlot.

"This is such thirsty work and it would be improper to share a cup or drink alone! she's a wonder, that Lady Kay. A bit uppity and all, but that comes with common roots. She's from the tarn farms, actually. You can hear it in her hint of brogue. years of training in Talantal, and still its there."

He smiled to Kadri,

"Like you lass. dark haired, that gaunt frame - though very attractive in certain circles, and the lilt to your words you try and hide. You are from the south of the Plateau, aren't you. You grew up in the plains, didn't you. Either belong to Amber or ...'

He peered closely,

"No! You are Amber!"

The Brother clapped his hands, like a lad who guess the number of beans in a jar to win a carven toy from a local carpenter.

"And you!"

He turned to Romana, who very quickly took a BIG bite of her cinnamon pastry, very un ladylike and requiring her to chew lon and hard.

"Oh a shy one! That is the trait of someone fair and lady like. In the affairs of Nobles and Imperials it is very proper for a high born Lady to be seen and not heard.

"And then there's the question of a Daxia. How do you handle a problem like Daxia?

"The name itself is from the olden tongues, so that places you along the Black Mountains. ow you carry a sword, such a shame, such a shame, but that is the realities of the world. Oh if there were enough of us, if we were back in the Archipelago where such extremes were not a curse brought upon by necessity. A strong lass like you should be raising your family in peace and prosperity ... but the world is not here to be our meant-to-be-s, only to be what we have to make of it. But you are not the first I have seen, nor the last, and I have yet to read of your kind taking up arms against the Empire since the debacle of Snowgate and the wising of your Queen. But Black Mountains, you are uncomfortable with the formalness of your words, so rural and not keepbound?

"Am I right?

"Of course I'm right!

"That means you were taught to speak like that - Dawnview Castle, at your kind's gathering places?

"Do you know the Khorall? Her heir? Have they arranged a marriage for the young lass yet, she is of the proper age and I have heard that there have been couriers from Kierkegaard and Talantal arranging for her hand. Is she still a recluse; there are those who say she is hidden away in a tall tower reading books, which is an oddness for a Lady, but then all Ladies from Dawnview Vale are a bit odd.

"Red hair and ..."

He peers.

"Blue eyes?

"Blue eyes.

"Blue eyes!"

He immediately turned around, scrabbling for a pen and parchment.

"Maybe it does indeed happen more!

"What's your name, girl? Your Mother and fathers? Sisters, Brothers? Did you have a ruff when you grew up, or perhaps a favorite cow?"

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

Back to the Inn - Darian, Longtooth, Cesare and Mikal

"Who do you think ole' Shattersword is talkin' about ..."

It was a gruff Jvrillian with crossed arms that answered.

"Of course he says it's the East, those that live in the Forest of Roth. Our Forest.

"He follows the old ways; that's who they sharpen their axes for. Said and done."

The swordsman's words were off, laced with an equal measure or pride, reverence and embarrassment.

"And he survives."

A touch of respect, at that.

Coming to the square from Lonely Street, Mikal comes across the gathering, the slowly building crowd. He had heard tell of an Old Jvrillian that called Bordertown home, but as luck would have it, and most folks considered it to be good luck, this was the first they had been in the town at the same time. The time is late, perhaps too late to return to the Guildhouse this day, and by the time he is deep into the gathering it is also when Cesare and Darian burst through the lines and into the open space right before the Dragonstooth's entry arch.

Which also puts them in plain view of the blue streaked warrior.

"You, Hunter!"

Shattersword offered Cesare, not Darian, his crooked tooth smile.

"How good is that ruff o' yours. handsome dog he is, not near as handsome as when I ran with a cabal of your kind, when we tracked down the one that may not bename, whose touch steals the Dead from Our Fair Krysta's embrace. How do you kill waht is already dead, you may ask ... and it is a tale that the minstrel's sing, of the group of us all atop an empty boulder. Your kind, they ran away and died ... and I admit it was cowering to watch their corpses lift from the ground, bow and fang ... and any sane man would run for just the chance to breath again.

"But i am not that mere man!

"With spike and chain I bound myself to that stone, so I could not run ...

"A fullhand of sunsets later, and I was the last upon that battle field!"

He crossed his arms, nodding for sure.

"So how good are you Hunter! I have seen the signs in the Forest, where I, and I alone am brave enough to hunt.

"I have seen the signs. And i can smell them on the air.

"How good are you, do you bring your Young God tales to sing or stories of shame ... dare you come hunt the white haired demons with me?"

Darian

She turned and looked as the sell sword called out and asked about Longtooth. It was obvious he spoke to Cesare, yet, one as old as he should know the difference between the Rhoni and those that followed the Lord of the Hunt. Yet even among her own people female Hunters were few and far between.

His story of her own running away to die she did not believe. Hunters did run, but only with purpose. Khannish turned from those who ran in fear; they became prey.

Still, it was her voice that answered him. "Hunter hunts where Hunter wills."

Daxia
with Kadri, Romana and Lord Random in his Tower

Her expression ran through interest and confusion and suspicion and more confusion and agreement and finally settled into very definite confusion.

When the old man finally stopped talking, Daxia waited a handful of heartbeats, just in case he was going to start up again. Then she nodded once, short and sharp, and rattled off the answers to his questions as easily as he had asked them.

"Yah, know Khorall Linnell, know Lord Kisa. Think rumors Lord Random hear maybe false, but Lord Kisa not tell Daxia everything. Recluse?" The redhead shrugged. "Maybe. Lord Kisa very much likes to read, that is truth.

"I Daxia Yurisdotter, sister to Bekkah Yurisdotter. Both from Dawnview Vale, yah. Parents Eelia Darksmith and Yuri Tashasdotter. Only sister Bekkah, no brother, no ruff, no cow. Parents die when Daxia very little. Live most of life in Temple.

"Daxia... Daxia like to know more family," she said, hesitantly, almost shyly... as shyly as a Dayalan Warrior could get, at any rate. "If Lord Random know more about Eelia Darksmith and Yuri Tashadotter, Daxia be so very happy to hear. Maybe know if Bekkah and Daxia have cousins? Aunts, uncles?"

She smiled slyly, her voice became more... sing-song, almost teasing. "Daxia know SOMEBODY in Daxia family Allaine, yah? Daxia not know who, but Daxia know. Maybe Lord Random know who, hmmmm?"

Kadri:

"A small correction. I was from Amber. Am from where I am now. where I was is unimportant. It's not where you have been which makes you, it's where you go."

Mikal

He enters the square and pauses, curious about the gathering crowd. He's decided he'll have to take the sword to the Guildhouse smith and the Swordpriest tomorrow morning at this point, so he moves closer. Just as he spies the object of everyone's attention the man calls out to Darian and Cesare.

He pauses. He had heard an Old Jvrillian called Bordertown home, but he'd managed to miss him on all his prior trips here. He felt himself somewhat lucky in that regard.

He listens to the man, and nods. Not at the question the man tosses out to Darian and Cesare about whether they can track and hunt well. And not about whether they want to go hunt Easterners.

No. He nods at one small point the man made. To Mikal it is the key point, and the reason most New Jvrillians groan when joined by an Old Jvrillian. It was the comment, 'I was the last upon that battle field!'. That is too often the result of joining with an Old Jvrillian.

He watches from the fringes, to see and hear what Darian and Cesare reply.

Bekkah

"Tell me your plan Celi. I do not offend easily if that is what you are asking. Others though. Goodness yes, they take some things very seriously."

Celi

"I think I have stumbled over my first lesson in being well-behaved. I was going to make a joke, with Imperials as the butt of it ... only that includes you, right? And I like you 'way too much to ever poke fun. So ... I think I will take a different approach. If there is someone I am to know as an Imperial, you could tug your earlobe like this..."

Celi demonstrated.

"Then I will know to call you Lady Bekkah ... or whatever you would prefer, for that matter. Are their other things I should do in their presence?"