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Bekkah

She heard the voice near her and whether she had actually fallen asleep again she wasn't sure, but she lifted her head and forced a smile for the handsome squire. Her hair had been pulled back, probably unwashed this day and her eyes had the look of someone who had not slept near enough.

"Yes, simply tired. My wounds are nothing more than weariness, unlike those we helped last night. So many injured."

The Heartwood
Bordertown
Between Morning and Noon
Attaday, The Twenty-Third Day of the Month of Crown of Ice, 2623

Kadri and Romana and Daxia and Dominie (and noticing Bekkah and Dean)

The dark haired rake looked Daxia up, Daxia down from red hair to her newly acquired spurs.

"Married? At such a young age? Congradulations! Good tidings? And I mean it ... there are those who would curse a new unicorn and her partner, and not only is that a fine thing, oh Many Dazis, but also because of that, it tickles me, makes me smile!"

And indeed he did.

"But true, no skewering! No bopping either. Look at that wondrous lady in white, accompanied by fer fine squire!

"You wouldn't want to add to her tasks now, would you?"

He then turned around, so he could sit on the floor, resting his back against the side of Kadri's wooden chair.

He leaned his head back, and yes, it mean he rested against Kadri's leg, but that was only coincidence and circumstance, so he could look up to her.

"Now that ... that is a forever's chase, one that can consume one's whole life fair lassie. To try and outrun your past; so easy in words, so hard in doing. For the farther you get away, the more sudden, the more unexpected it i swhen you open the door to find it waiting for you.

"Right there.

"Here and now.

"Like ... like a girl I have heard about. They say she stole a valuable horse. That's at least the story they are telling travelers drifting towards the Highland Path from the south.

"Imagine, a girl stealing a horse. I would never believe that.

"Especially if she were cute. Especially if she were pretty.

"But still, I overheard that in the shadow of the Skaefla Plateau, in a cute little tavern. I mean, there are benefits of being not a giant; sit a barmaid on one's lap and no one can get a good look at you and all. Especially if she's pretty ... they then, of course, look at her and not you!

"They said they were looking for their wayward sister; who had taken with her a fine mare, that was the apple of her Father's eye.

"It took me a bit to realize that they were talking about the horse, and not the girl. or at least that's what they wanted folks to believe.

"It was suggested they try Dawnview, yes? Because if you were a girl on the run, one might think you could find shelter in a land ruled by a missus Khorall.

"Of course, however, that's the last place I would have run, if'n I was running from my brothers.

"One can choose many things.

"But sometimes things are outside of our choosing.

"Abandoning one's past ...

"...usually means it's going to find you ...

"And that never happens at a convenient time."

Still leaning against Kadri, Dommi closed his eyes.

"I hope that girl doesn't have more than one brother.

"Because who knows where he would be looking for her."

Daxia

"No, not so young as all that, if married we are and Morning Star seemed to imply something of the sort, though probably not in the actual sense we mere mortals would commonly ascribe to marriage, da?" Daxia said, dropping the Dawnview dialect, though there was still a hint of the accent that is pervasive beyond Snowgate Pass. "There shall be no consummation in the way married folks think of such things, if you catch my drift, I can most strongly assure you. But as for being too young for such things, no... not at all. There are those back home with two or three or four children already, and each of these acquaintances with multiple children were born within a fullhand or two of me.

"Oh, and the stories I've already heard of the world's dislike of unicorns and their partners... or really, just any woman with the audacity to wield a sword, I should say... might add a touch of gray to that fine black hair of yours, so from the overwhelming kindness of my being, I'll not share those.

"As for not landing the smallest bop on your head, I wouldn't worry too much about it were I you, although, admittedly, I'm not. I would barely bop you hard enough to cause even the slightest headache, I'm sure. More a formality of bopping, so to speak. And if I assure the good Lady Bekkah it was simply a friendly bopping and no harm could possibly have been caused, she'd believe me, her own sister, over a stranger, don't you think?"

Dazi paused to look at Kadri.

"Though she does tend to think I'm still seven years old," she remarked, turning back to Dominie, "which would work in my favor, of course, as I was not much of a threat to anyone, except perhaps to one's sanity and I have no doubt poor Verchovai Kassia tore more than one hank of hair from her head over me, although, truly, by the time I was seven, the good Kassia had most definitely convinced me of the wisdom of holding my tongue... at least in her presence.

"AND! I may even forgo the whole bopping thing entirely, good Dominie, as I've never before met anyone as fond of stringing fullhand after fullhand after fullhand of words together as myself, and your shining example allows me the freedom to speak my mind without worrying that one of my Elders shall sternly repeat the oft-heard, entirely too oft-heard I'll add, phrase, 'Daxia, you talk too much!' Why, to be in the presence of one of my Sisters and not hear something to that effect would be a wonder worth writing ballads about!"

The redhead grinned and shook her head.

"Although your tales do tend to wander a bit, just a bit mind you, they are incredibly wonderful and fanciful! Keep practicing, young Dominie, and in a handful of seasons you'll be a Bard and the toast of every inn and tavern, every court and town hall from here to there and there to here!

"Why, the thought of a GIRL... one who is not a Dayalan, of course... stealing a horse... something a Dayalan would never do, by the way... is enough to set me laughing so hard my sides would ache! And that's the only reason I'm not laughing at your tale, for it truly is that wonderfully mirthful, but I think I've encountered more than enough aches and pains and arms bitten off and chests nearly cleaved through for one handful, and I think my friends here would have to agree with that. Well, all of it, you know... the stealing and the humor and the getting hurt.

"I know in our party... mind you, Dominie, I'm not being boastful here, I'm simply being honest... my Fern might be the most excellent of horses, being from Mikaelsson Farm where the very best horses are trained. That's not to say that the others don't have fine horses! I'm certain each of my companions is most enthusiastically fond of their own horse, but if one our horses was worth stealing... then, yes, I'd have to say it would be Fern. That's not an open invitation for anyone to consider stealing her from me, by the way, as that would make me exceptionally cross because I'm ever so fond of the naughty little mare. Oh yes, yes... Amber horses are supposed to be the cream of the crop, but really, Dominie... the folks at Mikaelsson Farm, well, they have a way with horses, and if you haven't heard that tale yet... well, now you have.

"Of course, I could see fathers and brothers, and even mothers and sisters, looking for a wayward daughter or sister, so I would have to say it's fortunate for all of us that none of us are wayward." She paused for a breath, and a thought. "Actually, we may all be wayward, those of us who are daughters and sisters, and perhaps even the ones who are sons and brothers, but we're none of us lost, that's a certainty.

"And you're right about a smart girl not going to Dawnview because the smart ones know Dawnview and the Clans of Amber are allies, and that the Khorall of Dawnview's Consort was, so it's said, a fine gentleman of Amber. I would have liked to have met him, but alas he was embraced by Krysta before I began attending sessions at Court. So the smart girl would have to wonder if those in Dawnview might mention to the grieving father and brothers where they might find their poor lost daughter and sister. Oh, and the horse, of course.

"No, I think the missing girl, if she's smart, would have headed east, yes... but instead of going through Kierkegaard lands to Dawnview, I think she would take a turn at Brementown and head up the Road East to Trundle. Who would think to look there, da? So that's what I would tell anyone looking for a lost sister. Or horse."

Kadri has frozen enough that not a trace of mirth is left in her face and her expression is cold. She looks, perhaps, quite ready to bolt.

At least to Daxia.

Her eyes fix on Domine ... And she bites back, for the moment, what she had been about to say.

The Heartwood
Bordertown
Between Morning and Noon
Attaday, The Twenty-Third Day of the Month of Crown of Ice, 2623

Kadri and Romana and Daxia and Dominie (and noticing Bekkah and Dean)

"Contrariwise!"

Dommi smiled back at Daxia, having listened to her monologue with rapt attention!

"Sending him to Trundle would not only be a mite suspisious, because it is the farthest place in the known world from those lovely plains, but it would mean he'd be heading north! North, and then past Bordertown and if she were running anywhere between Kraigskell and grand, triumphant, big, loud, noisy and so full of politics Talantal, the chances of their paths actually crossing goes up.

"Now Dawnview - it is tempting, it is close enough to run to, there's a hope for shelter ...

"And it means two wonderful things ...

"First, if he was slow, he's now sitting, having tea with the Corliss family; they have the best teas, they do, waiting for the snows to melt so he can go up the hallowed pass to see if his siser is in the Vale ... thus giving her more time to get farther and farther away ...

"Or ... or ... he's sitting in Snowgate, flummoxed and flustering, realizing he's been hoodle-doodle winked but is still stuck behind a snowbound pass waiting for the pring so he ca resume his search.

"Let us raise a toast, Cheers, good health, fine friends and a long, long, long winter for Lady Sasha in her castle towers!"

He then crossed his arms, lowered his head and snuggled back against kadri.

"You know ...

"I could have stayed at my table, smiled knowingly, and let a lady wander down the Highland Path, happy in her obliviousness ...

"I guess I am just cursed with a good heart, kind disposition and a devil may care attitude when it comes to poking powerful nobles with a pointed stick.

"Definitely, definitely a hero, yes?"

He then chuffed out a short, bright breath, almost a laugh.

"Either that ..."

And he then sighed so dramatically,

"Either that or I am an absolute sucker when it comes to a pretty face ..."

Kadri;



"These people you overheard ... Can you remember anything of their faces? And ... What purely contrived coincidence puts you here, where I am, so soon after overhearing that conversation ... very much a chancy situation."

She then leans over so she can look in his eye and offers a savage grin, and then places her lips next to his ear and breathily whispers, while tracing one finger down his jawline.

"And also, dear Domini, do you know of the customs of an Amber noblewoman who is being graced with close contact of which she has not yet approved? You could sit across from me and enjoy an ale ... or I could familiarize you with our customs personally and pointedly. I think we would both enjoy the drink more."

She then leans back up again enough to look him in the eyes, and winks again, before sitting all the way upright.

Daxia

She looked at Dominie, and watched as Kadri spoke softly to him.

Dazi leaned closer to Romana and whispered, "Ut oh."

Sitting up again, she continued the conversation with Dominie.

"Of course, of course! A toast to the kind and generous Nobles of Dawnview. Perhaps their generosity will impress this wandering sister seeker to seek his own refuge among the fine folk of the Vale. I can attest to their attentive interest in newcomers, for so few come to visit. How sad, that. A beautiful and majestic place should be seen by more... of course, there are some who would not be quite so welcomed as others, but fiddley-dee, all that political stuff is so wearying, don't you think?

"Now, as to hero or sucker, well who am I to say? I think that might be for the lass who has caught your eye to determine. Of course, being the true friend that I am... and make no mistake, DomDominie, Kadri is a dear friend... I would stand ready with any advice or opinions that lass might require of me.

"And as I came late to the conversation, what of you, O Heroic and Good Hearted Sucker? From where do you hail, and what brings you to this rather interesting town? When did you arrive? Did you happen to see the dreadful thing out on the fields last night? Hoi! What a sight that was! And when you're not poking powerful nobles with pointed sticks... and this from a man who prefers not to be skewered or bopped!... what occupational pursuits do you enjoy? You never did say whether or not you are an Eye, but would an Eye be skulking about pretending to be a ne'er-do-well but heroic flirt? I suppose it would depend of the Eye's specialty, wouldn't it?

"Come, come, DomDomDominie... do tell, do tell. You must have the most interesting tales. And so many!"

Daxia grinned again, propping her chin in her hands.

"I want to hear the true ones first; those are always so interesting. Then we can move on to the truly fantastical!"

Darian

"When small, Darian remember there be Hunt. Be offerings to Hunter. Be telling stories of Hunter and hunters. Be food and drink and gifting and trysting. New families made. When older, no families made. Pack too small."

"Like now."

Cesare

"Well at the moment, both our packs are down to one."

He tries to make light of it but knows that both he and Darian feel there is something missing in their lives. Though this assocation they have formed between themselves - and also one with the others in their group - goes some way to compensating for that.

"Did your pack always have female hunters? Or was this when numbers were smaller?"

Darian

She tilted her head with an odd expression. "Darian, Longtooth be two."

Then she smiled a bit. Many did not understand that the Hounds were as much a member of the Pack as the Hunters.

She shook her head. "It be rare."

"I be only one I know. There be tales though."

The Heartwood
Bordertown
Between Morning and Noon
Attaday, The Twenty-Third Day of the Month of Crown of Ice, 2623

Kadri and Romana and Daxia and Dominie (and noticing Bekkah and Dean)

"Zounds!"

The darkhaired rake smiles,

"Zounds! Do you know how long I've waited to use that word? I mean, I came from a village that was so small we had to save certain words, horde them if you would believe, and only bring them out on special occasions!

"Zounds! I do believe I have been poked! And fairly well at that!"

For the moment, still leaning against Kadri, Dominie looked upwards to the Amber princess.

"Ohhhhhh! I do so love a woman who likes to play hard to get! The dash, the mystery, oh where did I leave my swash to buckle!

"Wait a minute.

"That's not right.

"I'm the one whose supposed to be mysterious and hard to get!

You are supposed to chase me, that's the rules! If I chase you and you chase me and I chase you and you chase me we end up running in circles and getting all twisted and turned, so when we do finally catch each other we are too dizzy to realize it!

"This is so confusing."

"Barkeep!"

Dominie called out.

"The lady wants an ale! Distract her from stabbing me, please! We'd hate to put yon Lady of Attera out! She looks so nice there with her Squire."

He then spun around, an easy turn around the chair until he could cross his arms and place them on Romana's lap, resting his chin upon them.

"So, quiet one, shy one, soft spoken mistress of muffles, so are they?"

He nodded to Bekkah and Dean.

"Are they a couple? They should be; they look good together. And they are both Imperial, its a perfect fit, just like the stories that are told children when they are growing up. All full of happily ever afters."

Romana's hood just tilted, and from beneath its shelter came a giggle. Her hand reached down, and with an almost an aristocratic manner she patted him on the head.

"Muffles entertainments!"

Turning his attention then to Daxia, Dominie nodded, once.

"See I am useful!

"Even if you wound me to the heart? My tales fantastical? Frivolous? How do you know they are not the very truth?

"Would I lie to you?"

He then blinked and very very hurriedly continued.

"Nonononono! Don't answer that! It's far far far too nice a morning for that kind of question to be answered!

"Today is a day for happy endings!

"You see, my home village, well being so so so small, we couldn't have happy endings. Well we could, but then, well, it would be for only one of us, and we were all of the opinion that would not be fair for anyone else. So we lived with our unhappy endings, our droll existence, petty cruelties, unjust justices, eyes that only saw what they want, no room in the room for for joy or compassion, so small and poor that the job of knight and thug had to be shared by the same person.

"I remember when Comppy and Joy had to leave the village ... they were cute too! And really really nice to snuggle with when we had to share the fire - one fire, small village, remember - on a cold storm season night. Oh and the snuggling, you would not ... not .. not ...

"Oh my!

"I was going to say I need to watch my words because there are ladies present ...

"But you are ALL ladies!

"Here I am, with the most brave, smart and pretty lasses in Bordertown.

"And some say you can't go out and make your own happy endings!

Dean

The cheerfulness drops from Dean's face when he realizes the Lady is correct. So many hurt...

Dean stands for a moment, wondering what to do, and finally decides to sit down quietly, several places down from the Lady. He is happy to wait patiently for the great healer...to see if there is any way he might be of service to her.

His stomach growls loudly.

Bekkah

She watched him a confused look on her face.

"Squire Dean, I am tired, but I am not afflicted with some awful contagion. Perhaps my lack of a warm bath has left me with undesireable odors?"

Dean

All his former cheer now forgotten, Dean's eyes bulge. "Of course not, my Lady...I mean you couldn't...or rather, I don't think you could...but of course...I should say...I mean..."

"No," he finally said, lowering his eyes.

Bekkah

She forced a smile through hr fatigue.

"Good. Then perhaps you would sit closer so we can eat and talk without yelling across the room."

"I do not know if the serving girl came by as I might have fallen asleep, but perhaps you could see if you could find her so we could have some food and wine to talk over?"

Daxia

"Wound you?!" The redhead placed a hand over her heart, and she looked truly appalled. "Sir, I do no such thing! Rather, I compliment you on your progression to being the greatest Bard from here to there and there to here... and not only from here to there and there to here, but from then til now and now until then! Wound you, indeed!

"I encourage you, I support you in your profession to be the greatest Bard in all the land across the entire expanse of time, and the thanks I get is an accusation of harm. DomDominie, how can you say such things? Why, if I was not the kindest of all Dayalans..."

A pause.

"Hmmm, well, I do suppose she is kinder, yes. Well, if I was not the kindest of all Dayalans who..."

Another pause.

"Oh, well, fie and fee, she's even kinder. Well, Dominie, if I was not the kindest of all Dayalans in this room, I might be offended. And do you know what happens when you've offended a Dayalan? No! Of course you don't, because it would depend on the Dayalan you've offended, naturally! So you have no idea what it would mean if you had managed to offend me. I must say that it's probably a good thing I'm so kind and you haven't -- quite -- offended me by that remark. Wounded. Tcha! Dominie, please... no more nearly offensive comments such as that, I entreat you!

"And if my quiet friend would like to keep you as a pet, who am I to gainsay her? Friends are friends, and happy friends are the best of friends, for their happiness spreads to all who gather. I very much like all my friends to be happy friends. So if my quiet friend would like a pet... well, then I suppose we shall have to make whatever accommodations are necessary for her to keep you as a pet.

"Yet you've made my fierce friend unhappy, cancelling out the happiness of my quiet friend. Oh, DomDomDominie, whatever shall I do with you? Playing the 'chasing one another' game will never work with my fierce friend, and that's a quite not-secret secret, and you should have just learned that secret but apparently did not. But will I tell you the proper game to play with my fierce friend? Oh, no, Dominie, I will not! For isn't it up to you to figure it out all on your own? I think so, if you ever expect to win the game."

Dazi leaned on the table, looking more closely at the dark-haired man.

"You make some incredible claims, you do indeed, and I can't see how these claims can be taken any other way than incredible when you speak of the size of your village. Incredible, yes I did say that! Now, it's true such a word could be taken as implying a bit of a falsehood, but I would never do such a thing, DomDominie, despite your recent accusation of my having wounded you. Oh, yes! I have no doubt that your village -- if you are, in fact, from a village and not a hamlet or a town or some other convenient collection of buildings and persons -- is small.

"But to hoard words! To ration them out like dry crusts of bread in hard times! No, no... that is simply the most senseless of wrong thinking, and it is something that simply cannot be tolerated! You must return to your tiny little village and implore them to use all the words ever known -- except for the ones that must never be spoken, of course... we can't have you saying those words, no -- so that the mere volume of words will make your extremely very small village expand into a proper village where there might be more than one person per job rather than the other way around. And then continue using the words over and again, until you have happy endings as well, because every place needs happy endings..."

She paused for a moment, suddenly serious.

"...or, at the very least, happy forevers, da?"

Then she smiled again and nodded.

"Oh, I know, I know... not everyone will get a happy ending, but that's the way of the whole world, isn't it? On the other hand, perhaps it's the way you at it, don't you think? I might not think Captain Donner had much of a happy ending, what with it being rather sudden and probably sooner than he'd have liked, but he probably thought it was a properly happy ending, being a good Jvrillian and having a glorious ending fighting a fiendish foe. That's what Jvrillians seem to think is a happy ending, or at least that's what I've been able to piece together from my acquaintance with... well, not too many Jvrillians at all, really. But still, I've made my point, I think, that a happy ending for me might not be such a happy ending for you. The same can be said for the middle parts, too, of that I have no doubt!

"And would you lie to me, Dominie? Oh, why not answer such a question? Would it make the day less bright to think hard on the nature of truth and fiction? Of course not!

"But that you think it might cause the day to turn dreadfully sad and full of misery to think about such things... oh, this troubles me, Dominie, and saddens me greatly, for it shows you are not a scholar, and thus cannot be an Eye. And I was so hoping you were, for there might be an Eye who lives nearby or not quite so nearby who most definitely, or at least probably, could use a bit of company from one of his Brothers. But alas, I shall have to hope one who is truly an Eye wanders through this area before the poor old man goes quite dizzy in the head. He's very charming, in his own very Imperial way, and quite clever, too.

"Why, he even questioned the unicorn! Oh, but he did, DomDomDominie, and it was such a sight to have seen! And that most magnificent font of all knowledge, the very unicorn to whom the entire town -- or so it seemed earlier -- brought delicious apples, well I'm only guessing that they were delicious apples, well, I'm rather hoping they were delicious apples... yes, that very unicorn wisely -- oh, Dominie, not just wisely, but majestically and wisely -- nodded to the Eye. Now have you ever heard of such a thing before? I certainly have not! A Unicorn! Engaging in... well, perhaps not conversation per se... but engaging with an Imperial! And not just engaging, DomDomDomDominie! But engaging in a friendly yet aloof manner... which is entirely proper for a unicorn, I would think. Well, there's a tale that's never been told in your village before, I would have to state with certainty.

"But the real question, Dominie, and please pay very very close attention now... did I just tell you the truth, or was my tale fiction? I could say it is truth, and if it is a truth and others were in the vicinity as well, would they say it was truth or fiction?

"That is the crux of things here, DomDominie... truth and fiction are, like beauty, in the eye -- and the mind -- of the beholder. Ah, but you wish not to speak of such things as truth and fiction, so having lightly touched upon the topic, I shall move on to issues more important, more monumental.

"I speak, of course, about the Imperials over at the other table. Such a sad story, Dominie, such a very very sad story. The beautiful and kind and gracious -- well, perhaps not always kind and gracious when dealing with her sister, but since her sister is also so very kind, her sister is willing to overlook such things -- Lady of Attera pines for the Squire... whom, as you can see with your own eyes, is a dashing and handsome and incredibly brave young man."

Daxia sighed dramatically.

"But the dashing and handsome and incredibly brave Squire does not appear to be the least bit interested in winning the heart of the beautiful and kind and gracious Lady of Attera! Oh, Dominie, I must tell you such a situation simply breaks my heart! I would weep -- yes, right here in public -- if I was still without my spurs. There's a certain image, I suspect, that I must maintain now, and weeping -- while without a doubt well deserved because both my heart and the heart of the beautiful and kind and gracious Lady of Attera are broken to tiny shards, like a ceramic mug dropped from the tallest tower in the grandest neighborhood of Talantal -- is probably not part of that image. I'm not completely certain, though. That would likely be one of the very few questions I failed to ask my instructors."

She glanced towards Bekkah and Dean for a moment, then sighed again as she looked back at her companions. And Dominie.

"Oh, if only there was a way to entreat the good Squire to put aside his reverence for the lovely Lady, and look upon her beauty as he should! Poor Lady Bekkah. I'm sure with the appropriate attitude, and appropriate attention paid to the good Lady, the Squire could mend the broken heart of the beautiful and kind and gracious Lady of Attera. And of course, if the beautiful and kind and gracious Lady of Attera no longer has a broken heart, why... I would no longer need to have a broken heart either!"

And once again, Dazi sighed dramatically.

Kadri:


"Domini, the riddle would be that you would have to tame me and be tamed. And by being tamed become unique in this world, something new. Something precious. To me, you are no more than a man who is like any thousand other men. And I have no need of you. For your part, you neither have need of me. For you I am no more than a woman, like any hundred other women. One only truly understands what one tames. But there is a catch, Domini. What you tame becomes ever and always your responsibility, will you or not. What you tame, what you tie to you, also has you tied, and has hold of the other end of the lead. I do not tame easily, Domini."

She raises an eyebrow.

"But, clever Domini, sly Domini, foxy Domini, seems to have have some problems with memory, because I would have sworn that only moments ago I asked about those for which you heard news of this wayward girl and I could swear I heard no answer and well.".

Daxia

Daxia laughs. "Oh, there she has you right and truly, oh clever and sly and foxy Dominie! You and I, oh how we could spend the whole of the day talking around and around in circles. But my fierce friend has a point, and not just the one at the end of her knife.

"Oh, just one little answer, DomDomDominie! Or many answers, if it pleases you."

The Dayalan looked at the rakish rogue, a serious expression on her face.

"I think an answer worthy of... hmmmm... yes... a gentleman would be most appropriate now, don't you think, Kadri?"

Cesare

He chuckles.

"Apologies to Longtooth, I had not intending to leave him out. And I am relieved to hear that there are but few female hunters. I was beginning to think that I had been spirited away to another land when I came across all of you. I expect Mikal and Dean feel similar. It is strange to find so many females together who can hold their own in a place of men."

He tilts his head to one side.

"But I have to say I like it.. all capable and full of surprises.. as well as being easy on the eye. A definite plus I think."

Darian

Another bit of confusion.

"Relieved? Darian think Dazi say all her order female."

Then a shrug. "Be bad if Cesare not like. Then need find other path walk."

Cesare

"I'm not too familiar with Daxia's order. Where I've travelled most of the warriors, hunters and such are usually male. I now find myself questioning that. Certainly this group have as much capability as men, and probably a lot more courage."

He smiles.

"Maybe it is a good thing for men that most women do not seem to want this sort of life. Like you, many here seem to be forced by circumstance, at least initially. I just find it interesting."

The Heartwood
Bordertown
Between Morning and Noon
Attaday, The Twenty-Third Day of the Month of Crown of Ice, 2623

Kadri and Romana and Daxia and Dominie (and noticing Bekkah and Dean)

"Oh my dearest Kadri, fair of wit with a tongue sharp as fire ..."

The rake turns around again, this time to abandon Romana and cross his arms atop the Amber lady's leg, to drop his chin upon them and look up to her with big soft, puppy dog eyes ...

"Let us hypotenuse ... that you are absolutely correct.

"Then I would say you truly do need me.

"And because of that, will not risk taking up your older traditions, no matter how fierce and how brave, or how familiar I may be, lest you end up truly regretting your decision come sunset."

He then let his head rest on its side.

"How did I get here? On Darkmane, of course.

"How did I notice you? Besides having an eye for deliciously lovely women, after last night how can anyone not know any one of your group come this morning? Each and every one of your names are on the lips of the women gossiping about the well, the sworders in their Guildhall and every farmer folk in every tavern in this town.

"And they were brothers ... probably in a cultural sense ... one from Terilanquel, one from Alhahnan, one from Nehrimstel - they wore their colors on their horses mantling. They are playing the nobility card; thus you will be able to tell their coming because they will be garbed as a prince of the clans."

Darian

"Darian not forced. Darian want be Hunter since small. Be Hunter great honor."

Cesare

"And you and Longtooth are both very good at it - in the eyes of this outsider."

He feels in danger of saying the wrong thing here. And over the last weeks the growing feeling of belonging, bolstered by the mood of the town today, is halted for a moment as he reminds himself just how much of an outsider he is.

"What do you want to do next? I wondered whether it might be worth going around some of the places people gather, inns, well, that sort of thing to see what the local news is?"

Darian

"There be many about. Tales be get by wander too. Like traders."