DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games HWD: The Heartwood HWD: Half Day's Tavern

The Heartwood
The Highland Path
Highside, West of Silk Creek Ravine
approaching Noon
Hasday the Twenty-first Day of Horse

Daxia, Darian, Mikal, Jankin, Dean, Cesare, Kadri ... Morning Star, Longtooth, Kay and Romana

... inside the tavern.

The rustle ... the bustle ... the packing.

Of all the morning's tasks this is the most straightforward. It was not as if they had been planning on staying more than the night and most folk's gear was ready to be taken up for what should have been an easy morning's walk. Longtooth obediently followed Darian as she vanished up the stairs and emptied her and Cesare's room. Indeed, not as if the Rhoni had much to pack in the first place - his life was the trail and what was his was what could be always easily carried ... always ready to walk upon the waves of the world.

While below, within, the tavern the stunned Dayallan barely nibbled at her cheese, at her bread.

"I ... I ... I may only be a farm girl. But I .... I can stand on my own two feet."

She looked down, as if to count, to make sure she was right.

"Lily ... Lily-kins said ... we can't be any one's responsibility but our own. In the end our sisters judge us.

" ... hurt, frustration, war, telling folks who lived and who died. Rescuing, breakin' curses, herding slinks ...

"Funny."

There was nothing funny in her shell-shocked tones.

"Funny. that ... that was what Lily-kins always said about leading the Temple Guard."

She'd then look up to Daxia, her head tilting.

"How come I still know you talk to much?"

But then, at the end, she'd just nod and swallow, carefully wrapping up a bit of the bread and cheese to tuck into her simple sable and silver surcoat, tucked right above her long tongued black belt. Her answer that of a common farmer's daughter.

"Yes ma'am ..."

Sweeping her hand then across the wooden table she sends the crumbs flying. She then looks across to Cesare, her nos wrinkling a bit.

"Where is the Rhoni lass. The one who had the cards? Did she ... did she live? Is that why the Gardener did not let us have our cards read, because we might have been able to see what would be coming?

"Did we lose to the East? Is that why there's so little of us?

"Is that why this place feels so ... empty?"

But it is to Kadri that her last question calls, following her as the short woman turns towards the stairs.

"There is one question ...

"How come I think you'll tell me straight, without wrapping it in gems and silk and fanciness ...

"Where are you taking me?

"Where ,,,, are ... uhm ... you ... us ... we ... you ... going?"

For Kadri's task, she found it equally easy. For a fine and fancy princess Romana had very little. A makeshift duffle with a simple sling strap; already stuffed with a couple of tunics, an oiled leather pouch for dyes and a second, smaller leather pouch that jangled a bit - perhaps filled with coins or other small objects.

... outside the tavern.

The collection of rope was rather straightforward. Between Jankin and Mikal ... and then, a little while later, Daxia's return from the tavern ... there was more than enough to reach all the way down to the rocks so far below. The trio did not go unwatched. From across the bridge came the slow sound of hoofbeats - a horse wandering back all on its own. It was sturdy, familiar, and it was doing what horses do best, meandering its way back to the makeshift building that served as an open barn. Dean's horse didn't seem to worry to much for the rescue - instead it looked to the water trough and a partially open bag of grain.

They were watched by another hose, this one tied in a simple stall. A rather grumpy looking black horse with a bright white star on its forehead.

Between the three ... actually four, the fourth being the third horse present, Talia, their eastern princess had been brought up - not without a few rough bumps, a few unfortunate bounces - the exact opposite of a cat in a tree.

" ... how comes going up is a whole lot harders than goings down ..."

Though Romana had barely enough time to tuck long white and distinctively eastern locks up into her floppy hat before the others finished and emptied the tavern Perhaps it was a bit of luck that Kay came last and hopefully did not see slender pointed ears get hidden at the very last heartbeat.

... along the ravine.

This length of the highland path followed the very edge of the ravine, winding this way and that, all bound towards Grand Talantal and points further west. It was familiar territory for Mikal, for he knew, off to their right were the lands of Brockman's Holdfast. North and east of them, of course, the Highside rose even further, until it reached the Highest tarn upon whose rock cliff shore stood Montague Keep.

On the other hand, their passage could be clearly marked; regular honey marble milestones were set at the side of the trail.

Every now and then one might see a farmhouse - or the rising smoke from a chimney of a farmhouse hidden beneath stone, trees or hill - off to the side of the trail; as if crossing the ravine brought one into a more populous land.

This also proved true as the sun reached noon, as She looked down from her highest.

In general, the path had been slowly climbing, almost imperceptible, well, until one looked back over their shoulder and saw the path where they had been fall off behind. Their loose caravan had stretched a bit, some on horse, some not. And while it was an amorphous tranking a few things were sure. Kay trudged silently alongside Daxia and Morning Star and Romana followed at the very end - or at least several horse lengths behind Kay.

Come noon ...

Ahead they saw the Half Day's Out tavern. It was large and sprawling, set on the very edge of the ravine with a balcony overlooking the river so far below. Two stories, there was an obvious commons, a separate home for the innkeeper, a large barn for horses and a well out front - or something that served as a well. There was a windmill towering over all, its slow four blades catching the breeze that ripped along the sharp chasm, managing som manner of lift or pump to bring water up from so far below.

And it was crowded.

There were many wagons clustered about the lawn in front where the trail passed, and around all milled merchants and their teamsters and their guard.

There was all manner of livery; many of the guards wearing distinctive surcoats. But amidst them all could be seen the purples on Talantal, demanding the best of places and the most prompt of servitude.

Nearby there were also buckboards that barely held the weight of their cargo - the wheels tilted underneath the strain. These were covered in tarpulins cast in many shades of gray.

They probably carried quarry stone.

KAdri:

Her response to Kay is quite simple.

"... I'm not honestly sure. I just know that we aren't about to leave you behind. That is what having friends means."

Cesare

He had replied to Kay as best he was able but that wasn't much.

"Didn't see a Rhoni lass.."

He might have asked her some questions if he had. Honestly though, so much of last night was a blur, especially the first part where he was confused as to what was happening and really want to be out of it. The second part is much clearer in his mind. Hot fetid breath, vicious eyes, people dying around them, expecting to be next.. the only comfort is that he would go before Darian.. and nearly did.

"..and no idea who won."

On the hunt and so intent on staying alive, it had been difficult to focus on anything else.

And did it matter who won? Victories are only temporary, life always comes back full circle given enough time.

All in all he is glad to be back on the trail despite the discomfort. Walking reminds him he is still alive and travelling is always safer than staying still.

Eventually they reach the inn where they planned to stop. He is surprised at the number of people amassed there. As they were earlier in the day than most travellers would have stopped, he would have thought many more would arrive after them, if indeed that many were on the road. Perhaps there is a problem?

Darian

She returned with her pack and Cesare's as well, helping him to don it. As was her custom, she spoke very little, but on the trail to the next inn she stayed to the road and was not wandering beside it. Even with her pack, her bow was carried, and her cloak thrown back away from her quiver should she need to draw quickly.

She watched all about them with her keen eyes, and every pass made an assessment of her two closest companions, Longtooth and Cesare. She did not want them to become Prey...

As they came to the Half Day Out Tavern, she drew up short and searched out another of their companions.

"Mikal."

Even more now than on the trail, she was alert and wary.

Mikal

Finally underway he breathes a sigh of relief as they turn a final corner and the inn disappears from view. As they travel, his gaze often drifts to their right, his expression growing more and more introspective.

When Kay begins to ask her myriad of questions, he moves closer and glances at Daxia before answering some.

"Daxia should be able to tell you the history of the Dayallans since the Battle of Silk Creek Bridge, which we won by the way, through a combination of the heroism and noble sacrifice of your Sisterhood and a grand charge by the Knights of Roth. The East has retreated back over the mountains. The Gardener and his people are no more. In fact they are not well thought of any longer and it is dangerous to be suspected to be one of them."

He glances around. "The place is empty because we are at peace, generally. No huge armies marching about. Always some raiding and clashes between opponents. And there is always oppression", his gaze flicks northwards, "but nothing on the scale you have seen."

He pauses a moment, then asks, "When I talked to you earlier you said I did not look like a Kh'lhy'ran Princess. What did you mean?"

(OOC - Ividia, our posts crossed. Was hoping to finish the conversation with Kay on the road before replying to Darian as we reach the inn?)

Daxia

She walked the Highland Path beside Morning Star... between him and Kay for the most part.

Some of Kay’s questions had been easy to answer. How come I still know you talk too much? That had gotten a laugh from the redhead. “Because I do? Well, according to nearly everyone I’ve ever met, and every one of the Unicorns,” she said with a shrug. “Seems to me, that for ME, I talk the right amount. Few agree.”

She looked at Kadri with a mischievous smile. “I do miss your betrothed, Kadri. Dominie didn’t seem to mind.”

“The Rhoni lass? Oh, I’d say it would be a good bet to say the Gardener wouldn’t let her read your cards for that very reason. And did she live?” Daxia smiled at Kay. “She said her name was Akemi, and if I understand Rhoni names, she is possibly the ancestress of your cousins here in this time. Their mother is Madoka kha’Ayanna kha’Kame kha’Chikato khal’Homura Akemi... who married Thomas Koromov.” She paused and glanced at Cesare, where he walked at Darian’s side. “Thomas died trying to save a child many years ago. Madoka’s fate is still uncertain; she tried once again to save the child, who is now a young woman, and finally succeeded in saving her.”

She was quiet for a good many paces, and glanced over her shoulder once to those who followed. “And then I and my group rescued the young woman on the Brementown Road from those who wanted to recapture her.” Again, Daxia was silent for three fullhand paces or more. “Although I had some rather mixed emotions about it in the first handful or two, I have never regretted that act.”

When Mikal answered Kay’s question about winning, Daxia just snorted. “Nobody wins in a war, Mikal. Some people just lose less. We lost...” The redhead looked away, ran her hand up Morning Star’s neck, and threaded her fingers in his mane. When she spoke again, it was softly. “We lost most of our Sisters... Morning Star lost his Brother, and so many of his Brethren... at the Massacre at the Temple on the Border.

“The followers of Mother Earth... well, who knows what they might have felt or known when She was killed. The followers of the Horned God, though? A God maddened by grief at the death of His Consort, a God who doesn't understand death?” She shook her head. “You saw the Gardener. Were his the acts of a sane man? Maybe... maybe not.”

The Dayalan took a deep breath, then continued. “Did we achieve peace? Yes, of a sort, with only relatively minor raids and clashes as Mikal said. Did we win? No. The Dayalans didn’t win. The Coven didn’t win. The Heartwood didn’t win.”

Daxia fell uncharacteristically silent after that.

The Heartwood
The Highland Path
Highside, West of Silk Creek Ravine
approaching Noon
Hasday the Twenty-first Day of Horse

Daxia, Darian, Mikal, Jankin, Dean, Cesare, Kadri ... Morning Star, Longtooth, Kay and Romana

The young Dayalan gathered up her meager belongings ... which were ... none. She did adjust her sword belt and her shield, well it was missing several hundred years ago; Daxia knew what had happened to it.

"Stupid boys ..."

Kay gave Mikal a long measuring look.

"Heard tell that when the Duke of Trundle, learned that it was a girl, leadin' the Eastern Horde, well that he just laughed it off."

The young woman's shoulders rose and fell, sure and even.

"We kinda knew better. But who listens to us, aye?"

She snorted, once, shaking her head.

"Sneaky conniving treacherous cunning ... something Lily-kins would whap me on the side of the head if'n I spoke it."

Later on the trail, as Daxia spoke, her nose would wrinkle and face would twist as she tried to make heads or tails out of Daxia's words.

"Wait ...

"I was ... am ... the youngest of the Temple Guard, aye?

"And you are sayin ... descendants of mine and this Rhoni lass ... my great great great greater than I can count kin ...

"Are right powerful and all in Her Sight ... which would ... which would ... make them OLDER than me?"

She paused, frowned and kicked a rock down the trail, hard.

"Tcha. I just cannae get a break ..."

Kadri:

She pauses for thought a while, before responding to Daxia

"As you say, no-one wins these things, Dazi. In the end all you can do is minimize the losses, maximize the good times, and dance through the raindrops. We won because we live another day, and others live another day. Yes, others died. Could there have been more of a win? We will never know, but what happened, happened and what we deal with in the now is what is and what we would have it become. Road goes one direction, the one we choose to travel."

She pauses, then allows herself a momentary grin.

"And Dominie ... has his charms, yes, and would perhaps lighten the road, yet I doubt in the end I would be one to tie him down. I think My Lady has more in mind for me to do before I stay in one place, and for him as well."

Cesare

He wants to know more about why the tavern is so crowded early in the day. It could be just coincidence, but best not to ignore potential signs of trouble or interest. He decides to go and talk to those driving the wagons in the first instance. Merchants and guards would be more likely to look upon him as a potential for trouble, wagoners might see him as more of a traveller. So he pays no attention to cargo, guards or anything that might suggest he is a threat.. though if it is stone they carry, why the guards? Stone is not the easiest thing to steal and not too much profit in it generally.

So he picks the most amiable looking one and wanders over, not too close.

"Hi there. Just wondering how the road it to the west."

Mikal

He just grunts a reply to Daxia's comment. Indeed no one 'wins' a war, however being on the 'losing' side is always much worse.

As Kay answers, he frowns. The defensiveness of the answer comes through clearly, and while he can understand that from her perspective it is justified, it wasn't what he meant by his original comment. Still he isn't sure pushing on that topic is wise just now so he lets it drop.

As they reach the inn he notes the unusual number of people about, like the others do. At Darian's query he turns towards her.

"Careful, Darian." He looks at the others, including Jankin. "We are approaching the purview of Talantal and the family Korie. Those who hew closest to the new gods."

Daxia

Daxia shrugged at Kay’s explanation to Mikal. “Then... now... Not much difference. News of a female leading the armies is something likely to be believed only by Dayalans and Allaines.”

And later on, down the trail much closer to the tavern, the redhead studied the younger Dayalan. “Youngest in your family, what’s left of it, yes. But there are Initiates still in Dawnview who are younger, and Verchovai Poppy’s student is...” Daxia thought for a moment or two, recalculating what had been calculated so long ago in a glade off the Brementown Road. “...no older than you, and perhaps younger.”

Finally, they reached the Half Day Out Tavern. Daxia’s eyes darted from the Korie purples to the Montegue grays and, with a brief glance at Darian, murmured to Mika, “We should just keep riding.”

Darian

She had seen the grey of the Montague, was familiar with them, and knew her own tale as well as Mikal's. She did not seek this thing he called vengeance. It was not the way of her people, yet she also remembered the ones shut up in their homes and burned alive. There was no honor to be found among the Grey Men. The others she knew of only a little.

She met Mikal's look, and gave a small nod that she understood. She had her fingers in the scruff of the tall hound at her side. A look also went to Dazi and the Romana that rode with them. She came to stand nearest Mikal and Daxia.

"Darian scout ahead."

Mikal

The Talatal purple stood out right away. As they get closer and he can make out the Montague Grey, his expression grows grim. Fingers of one hand tighten on Talia's reins until the knuckles whiten while the other hand grips the hilt of his sword.

He looks at Daxia when she speaks. It is hard to tell whether he is about to argue with her, but after a minute his hand leaves his sword and he nods simply to her, and then to Darian.

"Better yet to swing wide. Bullies become brave when they are in number."

Kadri:

She looks over at Darian and Mikal.

"... should I scout as well?"

She pauses, looking at Mikal when he says 'bullies, looking back at the grey livery, then her expression hardening with a frown.

Jankin nodded slightly, acknowledging Mikal's words. Dropping back to the rear of the party, he set himself to watch alertly for any sign of their party being singled out for special attention.

The Heartwood
The Highland Path
Highside, West of Silk Creek Ravine
approaching Noon
Hasday the Twenty-first Day of Horse

Daxia, Darian, Mikal, Jankin, Dean, Cesare, Kadri ... Morning Star, Longtooth, Kay and Romana

"Verchovai Poppy?

"What sort of heroic name is that? What, did Lily-kins start a trend? Hoi! Verchovai Poppy-kins! Next thing you know and you'll have a ... violet, a gillyflower, a daisy or camelia ... dahlia ... jasmine ... dandelion ..."

Kat would, however, also draw herself up to a halt, as they rounded the hillock, to see the tavern with its caravans sprawled before them. She would blink twice, wrinkling her nose.

"And what sort of place is this that someone would build an inn a half days walk from anywheres?"

Romana, at the very end of their own small traveling group, would simply look ahead, peeking out from beneath her oversized summer's hat. She'd tug her coat tighter about her as if a cool breeze had chilled her. She perked up, at the rumblings if looking ahead - perhaps a hint that someone's curiosity was waking up.

Longtooth simply huffed out a breath, and loped off ahead, looking back over his shoulder as if wondering what was taking Darian so long.

... Jankin ...

As they look up to the tavern and their grounds they do attract some manner of attention; they are, after all, a small group coming down the trail that chose to stop instead of continuing to the front court and then to the commons hall. That and perhaps while arriving here at noon isn't strange in itself, arriving here at noon from the east could be a matter of legitimate speculation.

Perhaps one of the merchants - one could tell they were merchants by their girth and their finer clothes - and perhaps a few of the caravan guards.Curious; a guard without any specific livery ... suspiciously threatening; one with a tall oxe-tongue spear, a handful of gray ribbons tied just beneath the harsh metal. Aloof; the man on a finely mantled horse bedecked in gold and purple.

They especially were watchful, as from their little group one walked up the hill, to the outermost caravan.

... Darian ...

Darian and Longtooth could easily break away, to meander a subtle loop about the tavern.

Where one might wish to have found threat and subterfuge there was only mundane commerce. The caravan guards tended to stay close to the wagons they were watching, as if the wile of greedy merchants - other than their own - were a credible threat. Though, as the sun reached Her zenith, there were fewer and fewer merchants to be seen - they tended to enter the big building and not come out. Those left either watched over their particular wagons or served them - teamsters taking care of their horses, roughnecks checking the carts over, their wheels and undercarriage. Most of the guards had unhorsed and sat against the big wagon wheels, taking amidst each other, some tossing threece sticks, others exchanging coin over the results of a round of fourstones.

Beyond the trail continued, still winding along the edge of the ravine. At the edge of sight there was a little copse of trees sheltering a a set of buildings; perhaps a farmhouse and a barn.

The trail seemed empty; or at least there was no sign of travelers as far as she could see.

... Cesare ...

Cesare did attract attention, as he climbed up the hill.

Indeed, he was met well before he got close to the nearest carts, a pair of men in gray tunics roused from their rest to walk towards him, stopping only when a rugged man in leather armor intercepted Cesare first. The two did not seem amiable at all, looking suspiciously between the Rhoni and the small, motley and roughened gang behind him. The man in leather would also offer a darkened look, but or the moment his hand only rested near the hilt of his scabbarded blade.

"... the trail west?

"... quiet and safe. You are within a stone's throw of two keeps and their manors, laddie. While there may be a touch of disagreement who claims this stretch of the path, the only thing you need to know is that it's either the Kories or the Montagues. They'll both come down hard on any ...." His gaze would look back to Cesare's companions, " ... any body looking to make trouble."

Cesare

He holds his hands slightly out from his body indicating that he is not looking for trouble. Though if any know Rhoni well they may know he could have daggers - Rhoni blades - in those hands before any could blink.

Instead he smiles, nodding amiably.

"Good to know. Avoiding trouble is always the best course of action."

He does take the opportunity to observe more closely whilst he is this close but his body language indicates he is intending to return back to the others.. which he does if nothing stops him.

Mikal

He sits his horse quietly as Darian and Longtooth drift off into the woods and Jankin drops to the rear of the group. He watches as Cesare approaches one of the Grey-clad men and begins a conversation.

Glancing at Kadri he shrugs. "Up to you. Although we're probably already attracting attention by sitting here. If too many of us suddenly disappear it'll bring more attention."

He turns to Daxia. "If we intend to bypass this place I might suggest those who do not wish undue attention swing through the woods and meet us on the far side while most of us simply ride past. If we all turn off the road it'll be strange."

Daxia

She’d smiled at Kay’s comment. “Perhaps Lily did start a trend... who’s to say?” she replied. “Gillyflower keeps the farmers near the Skaefla Plateau safe from griffins. She was my arms instructor when she was in the Vale. Dandelion is your cousin who leads the Wild Horde, and battles the Fair Folk each spring. Camelia, too, is your cousin. She stayed in Bordertown to take a place on their... town council, I guess I’d call it. Poppy rides the backwater parts of the High Tarn, and is well known as Richter Gwynn. Well loved, too, by the common folk.” Then Daxia looked off into the distance, or the past perhaps. “There was an Initiate by the name of Daisy who decided marrying the baker’s son was Dayala’s plan for her. And why not? Perhaps her daughters will be more suited to taking up sword and bow.” Then the elder Dayalan sighed. “Dahlia left on her Initiates Journey when I was two handful years old... she never returned.”

The redhead was silent and introspective as they continued westward. The night’s activities had more than unsettled her, they had left her with doubts and too many questions. While the actions she had taken at the Temple on the Border had been obvious — there had never been a doubt in her mind that Tashka and Linette needed to be freed from the Curse that had held them prisoners for three hundred and fifty years — she could now see a Path leading back to Highside Heather, and that was more than a little worrisome. Oddly, it had only been after she’d told Morning Star that she saw no clear Path regarding the place that the Path became evident. Did the speaking of it, the thinking of it, create the Path? And since there was now a Path, was she — as one who could see that Path — required to do something about it? Morning Star was silent on the matter, and Daxia would have preferred Kisa’s advice anyway. Preferably a conversation, perhaps under an apple tree, rather than enigmatic Doublebluff tiles.

That, perhaps, was the seed of all her doubts... that Path. Highside Heather was a broken place, a place of pain and sorrow and suffering and anger. It probably hadn’t helped that she’d added her own rage to whatever Highside Heather was. Could a broken place be pieced back together? A curse could be broken, but was Highside Heather cursed... or merely tainted by the actions of a Gardener of the last Age and the anguish of the God he served?

Perhaps the broken place did not need to be pieced back together so much as it simply needed... peace. But how could mere mortals bring peace... show peace... be peace... to a God maddened by the belief that His Consort was dead?

Not all Paths were meant to be followed, that was a truth she learned early on in her lessons with Kisa. Yet this one, this one that lead back to Highside Heather had the look of one that was meant to be walked.

And what was ahead? The Path that lead to the heart of Talantal, that was certain... a visit to Dominie’s tiny village. But without Bekkah, that was a Path they couldn’t walk, for it was her touch that would make the difference there... her presence, her kindness, her compassion, her mercy. And then there was the Path that led — in circles and spirals and switchbacks — to Poppy Gwynn, and perhaps a closing of another circle.

Go forward... or go back?

At the moment, it was neither, as they came upon the tavern.

“It’s not this place that caused the building of an inn half a day from the next, but Highside Heather,” she said to Kay. “It’s a days walk from here across the Only Bridge to the other Half Day’s tavern. Only unlucky folks, or desperate folks, spend the night at the Lone Pine Inn.”

And this being Half Day’s Tavern, they should reach the next inn... or farmhouse... before She set.

Daxia didn’t care much for the looks they were getting, but it was nothing new. Since leaving Kierkegaard lands, she hadn’t felt welcomed anywhere... at best, there had been grudging acceptance. And now... a Dayalan who looked enough like an Allaine that the differences weren’t going to be noticed at a distance... traveling through the lands of the Kories, the most Imperially aligned Noble family and the Noble family most at odds with the Allaines, just seemed insane.

Maybe, oh yes maybe this is what Kisa had foreseen, and what Kisa had meant for her to do... but that didn’t mean Daxia was going to joyously walk down that Path. No, last night had stirred up emotions that would sit too close to the surface for a good handful of days. Learning what had happened that fateful night an Age ago, she supposed, could always be put to good use. She was a scholar as well as a warrior, was she not? Later, at some point, they could all talk of what they’d individually experienced. Knowing what the others had lived through might help her weave a Pattern for understanding better what happened at the end of the Second Age; that, too, would be good. Oh, and didn’t she just have questions for Romana! But didn’t she always seem to have questions for Romana? Of all the members of the party, Romana was the one she would most likely have shunned, had she herself not been willing to think in new ways. But Kassia had taught her to think, and to question what she thought she knew to be true. So she always seemed to have questions for Romana... always questioning what she, as a Dayalan, should know to be the truth.

She sighed and looked at Mikal. “Agreed. My kind are less welcome here than you and your Brothers. You and Dean are less likely to draw attention than Kay, Romana and me. Jankin...” She glanced back at the older man, before looking again at Mikal. “...is an unremarkable woodcarver.”

She looked over at Cesare and shook her head.

“We’ll go with Kadri through the woods,” she said to Mikal and gesturing for Romana and Kay to follow her. “Please do keep our Rhoni from getting skewered, would you?” she said, smiling crookedly at the Jvrillian.

Heading away from the inn, she desperately wished Bekkah hadn’t been delayed by the injured teamsters. She understood all too well her sister’s need to stay behind. That didn’t stop Dazi from missing Bekkah so hard that it hurt.

Mikal - with Dean and Jankin, and meeting a returning Cesare

He watches Daxia as she, Romana, Kay, and Kadri move off to follow Darian and Longtooth into the woods.

Then he nods to Dean and Jankin and they start down the road to meet a returning Cesare. As he rides he muses at the strangeness of the situation. They are now somehow in two groups, separated by sex. For one reason or another all of the groups females were forced to avoid the inn.

Jankin had been sorely tempted to go along, avoiding all the people, and the odd undercurrents. But he had always felt that if one did actually want to be inconspicuous and unnoticed, the best place was in plain view. Head down, his day's load of wood a littl higher on his shoulder, he trudged on.

The Heartwood
The Highland Path
Highside, West of Silk Creek Ravine
Noon till Sunset
Hasday the Twenty-first Day of Horse

Daxia, Darian, Mikal, Jankin, Dean, Cesare, Kadri ... Morning Star, Longtooth, Kay and Romana ...

" ... cor."

Kay listened to Daxia's words, about taverns and a days travel and the Bridge over Silk Creek.

" .. somethin's right powerful broke."

She concluded and then, a heartbeat later, very defiantly and defensively protested.

" ... but it ain't my fault!"

She did, however, look oddly between the tavern and the elder Dayalan, when the suggestion is made to ride off the trail; or in her case, to be walking. She would wrinkle her nose and simply puff, but would also listen to her Elder's words ... and two steps later would nod and let her pace pick up. That's when the youngest of the little group would whisper,

"That's right ... someone's gotta look after you all."

... passing the tavern ...

Right in plain sight.

That proved to be the case, as the menfolk trekked up the hill and into the sprawling court in front of the tavern. The Jvrillian, now he was the most common, the one who most fit riding upon the trail with others. Mikal did catch the eye of a few; garnering a speculation or two as the markings of his shield were seen. The mounted guard, in the purple and gold, purposefully paid him no heed, the followers of New Jvrill definitely beneath him.

"Mark my words ... that's outta the Bordertown Guildhouse ..."

That came from one of the guards, and he obviously was speaking of Mikal's shield, for his too was distinctly painted; black with a red hound above crossed swords and in the same style and manner of Mikal's.

The spearman, however, peered at the words and then at Mikal, eyes narrowing. He took a step forward only to come to an immediate stop. Perhaps because there was a Squire of Rames beside Mikal. The Montague guard snapped a quick look between Dean and the aloof guardsman and then decided to not press any issue. On the way through, Cesare could easily be swept into the little group; indeed, having him taken away and bound down the westward trail - just as he spoke - would set some of the more suspicious folk at ease.

As for Jankin ... his prediction, his habit proved true.

Who questions a farmer carrying a load of wood down the trail?

No one.

... in the woods ...

Following Kadri's early lead, the women drifted away from the trail, slipping through the fields in a generally westwardly path. Kay walked next to Daxia and Morning Star, the two slowly catching up with the Amber princess. The one who strayed far afield was Romana and Dancer, meandering her way, slow and lazy, as if trying to keep out of someone's vision, even to the point of going around the far side of a rock instead of the near.

"She doesn't speak much does she ..."

Kay speculated, gnawing on her lip.

"And is right powerful shy."

She looked between Romana and Daxia, worrying a thought like a snarkhound a favorite bone.

"You know ... that was a really odd question you asked. About the dead folks."

... come sunset ...

The two groups, the menfolk and the womenfolk, met up west of the tavern, once again upon the Highland Path. It was here Darian and Longtooth also waited, having seen that the path west, as far as she could conjure, was quietly clear.

And it proved to be, the road meandering along the edge of the ravine. Here and there the path was actually cobbled - but for little stretches. Sometimes the path's cobbles had been scavenged, to make a small bridge or set of stepping stones to cross a little crick. As dusk approached, as She vanished beneath the far horizon, there, just a little bit farther the stones had been used to make a wayside shelter - though not much at all. A wall to cut off the breeze that whistled along the stony cliffs and a pair of circles; the center to serve a campfire and the outer stones to sit upon.

However, against the dark sky, in a splash of orange and yellow, there was already a fire in that little hearth.

Someone was already there.

By the time they reached the little roadside camp it was dark enough that the fire provided a circle of illumination. The smell of roasting coneys rose in the air - speared on a set of green branches poking above the fire. To the side a black horse was tied, it whuffled friendly like as the small group came into the gentle light.

Sitting quite comfortably upon a rounded stone was a woman; probably older than most in the group. She had beautiful blonde hair that fell in a gentle cascade, framing a pretty face with bright blue eyes.

She wore familiar garb.

The cream and white tunics and surcoat of Lady Attera.

... and Bekkah

Daxia

Daxia had shrugged at Kay’s protestation that the broken bits around Highside Heather had not been her fault. “Don’t see how it can be, unless you were giving the Gardner his ideas. Not something a sane person would do, so that probably leaves you in the clear,” she said with a wink. And then chuckled at the youngster’s declaration to watch out for the rest of them.

Although Romana trailed behind — far behind, in fact... almost as if she was using Dazi as a shield between herself and Kay — Daxia only glanced back when Kay decided to comment on Romana’s sociability.

“No, she doesn’t. I suppose someone has to make up for all the talking I do. And... shy?” Daxia only shrugged again. “Until you get to know her... definitely. And even then, no, not much of a talker.”

They walked, picking their way through the woods, around rocks and brambles. Sometimes Daxia would spend fullhand after fullhand walking close to Morning Star, hand resting on his neck or fingers tangled in his mane... sometimes walking a handful of paces ahead.

“I ask a lot of odd questions, it seems. Which one in particular seemed odd to you? What made it so odd?”

A storm was brewing, and she would have preferred not to be the wall between the lightning of the past and the snowy wind of the East. It was inevitable, but she didn’t have to like it. It was almost a certainty that Romana and Kay weren’t going to like it either.

How did she wind up leading this rag tag group of misfits again?

It had been a long day of too much thinking after a long night of too much death, too much confusion, too much anger, and not enough sleep. Although hospitality on the trail was important, vitally so, Daxia didn’t think she could bear the presence of a stranger tonight. Perhaps it would best to just keep to herself, fade into the...

She stopped dead in her tracks at the whuffling of the horse. It sounded so painfully familiar.

But then, so did the woman at the fire.

Daxia might have held her breath, hoping that her eyes were being truthful. But she knew they were.

“BEKKAH!”

She ran to the Lady of Attera and pulled her up from the stone upon which she sat, wrapping the smaller woman in a tight embrace.

“Oh, Bekkah! So glad see! Missed you... missed you so much.” The red haired Dayalan pulled back slightly, blue eyes staring into blue eyes. “Bekkah not leave Dazi, okay? We all miss, but Dazi miss most! Very much most!”

Kadri upon seeing Bekkah simply held back ... And smiled. Because it was very nice to again see Dazi smile.

She looks over at Kay and I way of simple explanation said ...

"Its her sister."

Bekkah

The blond haired woman in the Atteran garb, did her best to remain calm as the red haired woman ran at her but just before Daxia pulled her to her feet, her pretty face broke into a wide smile. She hugged her sister just as tightly, although she mostly felt armor.

When Dazi finally let her breathe, she smiled, pushing a strand of Dazi's hair that had come loose.

"Missed you too little one." she said at the taller girl.

"And I will try not to leave you, although it appears you are no worse for my absence."

She looked over at the others and smiled waving them nearer.

"Come friends, I have food for many here. Gifts from those I helped. I cannot possibly eat them all."

Daxia

Daxia’s smile faded a bit. “Looks lie,” she said simply. She touched a finger to her forehead, then the spot on her chest over her heart. “Inside head, inside heart... not good as outside.” But having Bekkah with her again... well, the smile crept back onto her face.

“But we tell story about last night. You hear, all hear different tales, yah? Oh! Dazi find new-old friend, bring back here-now.” She waved Kay over. “Kay Koromov, Sister Dayalan, many times ago aunt of Dandy and Camelia,” she said to Bekkah, but shook her head. “Long story, complicated, even Dazi confused.” Daxia smiled at Kay, probably the first true, honest smile the elder Dayalan had shown, certainly the most brilliant. “Bekkah is sister mine, famous Lady of Attera...” She paused, recalling her history lessons. “Imperial Gods still visiting other lands in your there-then? Hastur, Rames, Attera, Jagnar? Ah, well, they come back with Bankorpools near beginning of this Age. Ha! I tell you that story sometime, okay? So, Attera great Lady of healing and mercy. Bekkah is priestess, very very good healer.” She looked between her sister and the young Dayalan. “Not like Coven battle healers, no. But no more of them,” she said sadly. “Remember I tell of Richter Gwynn, everyone love? Same as Bekkah, everyone love! Richter Gwynn fight for good people of Tarn, Bekkah help good people of Tarn get well.”

She stepped back from Bekkah to let the others give their greetings. “Just being with Bekkah is good for the heart,” she said to Kay. “Stay with Bekkah, okay? I need to talk with the shy and silent one.”

With one more hug for Bekkah and a squeeze on the shoulder for Kay, Daxia walked back into the darkness just outside the circle of light cast by Bekkah’s fire. She looked up at Romana sitting like the princess she was on her snowy white horse.

And she sighed.

“You convinced me one Eastern princess could live in friendship and peace with one Dayalan warrior. Convincing Kay will be a considerably harder task, since her life was all about war with your ancestors. But you are not your ancestors. Although...” Daxia reached a hand up to rest on Dancer’s neck, close to Romana’s hand. “...when I ask who the woman Kay spoke of, the one who led the forces from the East all those many years ago, you’re going to tell me she was your ancestor, aren’t you? And that you could pass for twins?”

Because that would just about be the worst possible scenario for the interactions between Romana and Kay. If there was one overriding lesson she’d learned since she was a tiny orphan child going to the Temple for the first time with Bekkah, it was prepare for the worst. Hope was nice, hoping for the best had never hurt her... as long as she was prepared to handle the worst.

In this case, she wasn’t sure she was prepared for the worst... having to choose between a Sister and a friend.

Actually, that wasn’t something she was willing to do; she was not willing to choose between Sister and friend. Which left the consequences of that decision. She sighed again. Well, she’d stayed fairly sane when Celi had been trying so hard to show everyone how superb her skills had been; that she was as good or better than others who were clearly more skillful. Daxia knew Romana had more sense; she was fairly certain Kay was sensible, too. After all, she was a Koromov.

Well, what better time than now to be driven to frustration and distraction? She was only the Knight of Dawnview Castle, not at all official and not really even unofficial representative of the Heir of Allaine, walking through the heart of the Korie lands. What could possibly go wrong? Besides everything?

Kadri

"Bekkah - it is good to see you again. I try to do sister duties but ..."

She spreads her hands out wide.

"Just not as good at it as you. Always wanted a big sister, never had. Sorta have TWO here."

Mikal

He rides slowly past the inn, not wanting to pull ahead of Jankin and Cesare, who are on foot. As the comment from the guard about the Guild is made he glances at him curiously, however his head snaps around when the man in Montague Grey takes a threatening, scowling, step in his direction.

The expression on Mikal's face is flat, however there is a clear underlying eagerness. As if he is begging the man to **just take one more step. One more. And it will be your last.** His hand strays near his sword's hilt.

Whether it is his eager expression of building blood lust, or the fact that Dean rides next to him, the man stops in his tracks and after a moment, Mikal turns away, dismissing the man and continuing down the trail.

After a time they rejoin the others and when they finally reach a roadside shelter, and see it is occupied, he observes carefully. However, quickly recognizing the horse, he is not surprised to see Bekkah appear.

He dismounts easily and waits patiently while Daxia tries to squeeze Bekkah to death. Once she releases her, he offers Bekkah a hug of his own. "It is very nice to see you again, Lady Bekkah. Our company was growing unbalanced. Too many men around."

He steps back then and allows Daxia to continue her reunion, moving over to begin taking care of the mounts and getting the campsite setup for the larger group.

Jankin dropped the rejects from his pile next to the fire, nodded a greeting to Bekkah, and sat to begin work out a piece of a larger scale carving he was working on; A Tree with doors that opened and revealed little woodland creatures inside. He had the main branches laid out in front of him, and was currently working very delicately just with the tip of his blade on a squirrel inside of an opening.

Cesare

As they all come together, his eyes search until they see Darian and Longtooth, then he relaxes. He is still not sure exactly how she fits into his life, his future, but he has never looked out for another in this way aside from the small family clan he had travelled with. Maybe she and the canine are becoming clan for him?

He greets her return with a smile and a nod. No fuss needed, they are comfortable with each other by now.

And then he acknowledges Bekka's return with a hand raised in greeting when she looks in his direction. He is pleased that she has returned, both as a person and for what she does to support their group, for which he has a lot of respect.

And maybe he can get his wound healed? Walking most of the day with its company has been far from comfortable. He can last a while longer though, family greetings bound to take precedence.

As usual he starts to prepare for the night, noting any water sources, defensive positions, softer ground, good places to sleep, claiming a space by dumping his pack, checking there is enough wood for the fire and gathering more if needed.

Bekkah

She greeted each of them in turn after Dazi ran off somewhere. She seemed genuinely glad to see them again and each hug was more than a token gesture.

As she bent to pet Longtooth, she smiled up at them.

"I am glad to see you all again and you all look remarkably well. I'm pleased to see that. Well most of you seem well." she added, looking specifically at Cesare as if to see if he wanted to say anything.

"Please all of you, join me. Sit and tell me of your adventures for I am certain that you have not simply ridden here without a story to tell."

[ooc: Don't know if she'd really notice, but I could see her being trained to spot irregularities]

Dean

Dean watches Lady Bekkah with ambivalence. He is obviously glad she has returned, but there is resentment in his eyes. He stays to the back of the gathering and does not quite meet her eyes.

Romana

Romana looked past Daxia, to the younger Dayalan, on the other side of the fire and a wide space of darkness between, for a long, long set of heartbeats.

After a bit she'd blink, chuckle and shake her head.

"Hometown, many many many pretty towers and many many many princes and princessessessessess ... when bads happen, always go topsy-turvys... those big small, those small bigs.

"Maybe kin way backs, far off, for bigs tend tmarry bigs... but no no nos ... except here ... in West ...

"... all Corhlayans look alike."

She then looked up, nodding to te camp.

"Go go gos ... sister waits ... Romanas needs think ..."

Cesare

He grins at Bekkah.

"Not much gets past you does it? As usual I am the one in need of your help yet again but I've walked all day and I'm still here so it will wait at your convenience."

He doubts she will wait long. She cares for people in a way he admires, a selfless dedication to those in need. But he respects her enough to want to give her options.

They are a strange group of people that he seems to have joined and even he finds that putting himself in harms way for Gaijin is becoming more prevalent, something he would not have believed months ago. It goes against much that he has been taught.

Bekkah

She returned his grin with a smile of her own.

"And I'm sure you've not said a word about it. Come, let me look at you."

She'd have to look at him by the light of the fire. And with a small amount of her lady's power, she'd heal his wound.

"That should make the next day's march considerably more pleasant."

She'd noticed Dean's look and she could guess at his displeasure. She'd just left them, forcing him to abandon his protection of her. But it could not be helped and he she did not wish for his protection. There were others who needed it far more, like her sister.

Cesare

He acceeds to her request, lying down and exposing his stomach area and a nasty gash that had been bound. He makes light of his situation but is pleased to have it sorted; he didn't like being a liability or operating at less than peak.

"Darian bound it up for me. Good job I'd say. I was playing with those giant lizards again."

He stays quiet whilst she does her magic, observing the looks between healer and squire, though he says nothing. Just as she finishes, he murmurs.

"My thanks Lady. There may be others who have injuries from the previous night."

Jankin.

At Cesare's words he looked up and shook his head in the negative, professing himself unharmed. Resuming his work, he began to fit a small door onto hinge-pegs carved into the tree, humming and muttering under his breath as he did so.

Mikal

Having finished unloading and currying the horses (OOC - likely with Kadri's help), he lays out his bedroll and then begins setting out the pots and pans, filling one pot with water and setting it on the fire to boil.

He then looks hopefully to Darian or one of the others. "If you need help with dinner let me know." Everyone knows by now that if they leave it up to Mikal they will be eating beef jerky soup and hard tack for dinner.

Daxia

Daxia looked up at her friend and grinned. “All Cohrlayans look alike, same as all Allaines look alike, same as all Kories act alike, same as all Jvrillians hate Dayalans. Silly Romana.”

She patted Dancer’s neck. “Yes, yes, yes. Romana go think. Romana go dye hair, too, maybe yes? Then Romana come back because Romana hurt, too. Bekkah famous healer, you know.” She winked at Romana. She turned to head back to the camp, but paused, and looked back at Romana.

“We all learn to give up our hates, our distrusts, our fears by knowing new people. I learned Jvrillians, most of them, are just doing their jobs... many are even good men, and one is even my friend. I learned not all followers of Rames will hate Dayalans, either. I learned that there is a caring and thoughtful — if exceedingly mischievous — Korie in the world. I learned not all Easterners are evil, from a very smart Eastern princess who taught me more than anybody — even better than Kassia — that learning more is always better than already knowing everything.”

Daxia turned again towards the camp, and said over her shoulder as she started walking, “Go think think think, Romanaska. Dazi save coney for you.”

Walking back into the camp, she nearly giggled at Cesare.

“While you are performing your healing wonders, oh sister most wonderful, I think Kay could use your kind ministrations. She took a blow meant to cleave me in two, and my small magics likely did not heal all her hurts... just as the kindness of Mikal’s magics mended my ribs, mostly. But Kay first; we would not be here without one another... but it was her action that saved me so that I might save her.”

She smiled at the youngster, then looked around at the rest of the group. “I would very much like to hear everyone’s tales from last night. I think... I think Mikal’s tale may hold the most interest to me and Kay, as you were the last to speak to our Sister, Lily.” Her eyes rested on Jankin, watching him carve his meticulous tiny wonders. “I hope our newest friend, Jankin, can shed some light on things I witnessed that... that still tear at my heart,” she said softly.

Before getting food however, before seeing to her injuries, she unsaddled Morning Star and chatted at him while brushing him down. “I only have a few apples left, my friend. We’ll have to see about getting you more. While you’re speaking to the Gardener about lowering them to a level better suited for picking, perhaps you might mention that growing them year round would be helpful for you. Perhaps alternating this tree then that tree, or this orchard then that. As I’m destined to give you the vast majority of the apples I’ll be seeing for the remainder of my life, it matters not to me how and where they grow. I’m only thinking of you, Your Magnificence.”

Cesare

Feeling much better now, he puts his clothes back on and sets about helping with the camp, whistling softly as his goes. If Darian wants help with some hunting she'll ask him, though he knows that the Hunter and her hound are probably better on their own.

He decides to forage around the outskirts of the camp, see if he can find anything edible and fresh to add to the pot.

Mikal

Hovering around the fire waiting for the others to join, and for Romana to return, so the story sharing can begin he grunts towards Daxia:

"You're spoiling him, you know. If you give him all the apples he wants he's going to get fat and colicky."

He glances at Morning Star. "Sorry."

The Heartwood
The Highland Path
Highside, West of Silk Creek Ravine
Just after sunset
Hasday the Twenty-first Day of Horse

Bekkah, Daxia, Darian, Mikal, Jankin, Dean, Cesare, Kadri ... Morning Star, Longtooth, Kay and Romana

For Bekkah, it is a fair and familiar task, to banish the hurts of her friends. Most it seems, have done the basics of battlefield first aid, enough to carry them from the place where they were hurt to hear. With Her Ladyship's aid, the balance of their wounds were mended, and they they beneficiaries of a most gentle healing. The most battered turned out to be Daxia's newest ward, who looked back at Bekkah a touch suspiciously, as if what manner of druid she be!

" ... how do you get the blood outta such light tunics?"

That's the young one's question, a touch fiesty and irreverent, as she pats down her tummy as if to confirm she was once again in one piece - even though her clothes are slightly - greatly - better ventilated than they were ... three hundred or so years ago.

For Cesare, there's sheep' sorrel and wild carrots that can be found and helped to garnish the meal ... and with Mikal's cook pots and all more to the meal than just nicely roasted rabbits.

The meal is ready, by the the time Daxia returns, with Morning star looking over her shoulder to eye Mikal speculatively, one hoof tapping thrice upon the hard packed ground.

Kay had chosen to flop down at one side of the fire, one arm resting upon her helm, the closest she comes to having a pillow at the moment. Her expression is stern as she gnaws upon her lower lip, trying and failing at trying to keep a cold watch upon another of the group.

And that would be Romana, just a shadow at the edge of the fire light, standing there, watching, still and quiet, like a wraith.

If there was a tenseness in the air it was interrupted, distracted from, by Daxia's invitation to hear the tales of the previous night and the truths of Silk Creek Bridge.

Daxia

The redhead had looked between her Companion and Mikal, shrugging in answer to Morning Star’s silent questions.

“Morning Star is immortal and magnificent, the Font of All Knowledge,” she said to Mikal. “That alone should make it abundantly clear that an excessive amount of applies — even all the apples — is not going to have the same effect so many apples would have on, say, Talia there.

“And with a title like The Magnificent, Handsome and Pragmatic Font of All Knowledge Wise and Wonderful, Magnanimous Seer of All and Listener of Innumerable Nuances, He of the Majestic Flowing Silky Mane and Charming Disposition Known as Morning Star, do you REALLY think it’s possible to spoil him?

“Really??”

Daxia shook her head and sighed. “Oh, and he rightly pointed out that, without sufficient apples, even a Being as Magnificent as his Magnanimous self might become so weak as to — perhaps — become slightly disoriented and not realize just where his hoof is landing.”

She smiled brightly at the Jvrillian. “I’m sure that wasn’t any kind of threat. Probably just a helpful warning, wouldn’t you think?”

Kadri:

She pauses before speaking.

"My story is not as traumatic, I think, as some of the others I believe I am going to hear. Those of the Coven made a bridge for me to cross silk creek of a tree, and then removed it, stranding me on the other side - I made my way through the massed eastern lines, using distractions and stealth to make my way to Mikal's forbears, once there ... I told them where to strike. I believe the words were ..."

"I am Kadri djinn Khayriyah al'Terilanquel, of Amber born. Yes 'the gardner' sent me. I am to tell you that you are to attack just before she crests the horizon. "

"And then I knew what it was like to stand and have a storm crash past you."

The slight and exotic woman goes over and stands next to the tall and exotic one.

Cesare

Feeling much better, sitting beside Darian and Longtooth, he is healed and has had hot food, no much more could a man desire. He knows his duty though and that would be to be spokesman for their trio as Longtooth cannot and Darian ia a woman of few words which is mostly how he likes it.

"We were awoken with banging at our door and a calling for the Hunter to go downstairs. Initially we didn't respond, drawn to the window and seeing a very different scene.. a different time outside. We though to warn the rest of you but as we crossed the threshold of our room it seems we stepped into that time. This Gardner instructed us to go hunt the big lizards on the far side of the creek and gave us others to help. We figured that maybe the only way back was to play our part and so we did as we were bid."

Mikal

He smiles at both Daxia and Morning Star. "It's up to you and him. But give me fair warning if you feed him more than a handful at once. I'd rather not ride behind a colicky unicorn. I know what comes out of a horse's butt when he has too much fruit. Not sure I even want to know what comes out of a Unicorn's butt." He chuckles, winking at both, and takes several steps away from Morning Star, for safety, chuckling, then finds a spot and sits by the fire as the stories begin.

After Cesare and Kadri speak he pauses then says: "I will go into a little more detail as I know that some of what I will say has strong meaning to both Daxia and Kay."

"I also want to preface this by offering an apology to both of you", he looks at Daxia and Kay, "for any role I played in events that led to the deaths of the Dayalans. I am also going to relate how things were, in the language used. Nothing is intended by it."

He clears his throat and begins. His informal training in historical storytelling causes his voice to change as he related events exactly as he saw and heard them.

"So, to begin. Dean, Jankin, and I were likewise woken by a pounding on the door. Someone was calling my name for a watch change, odd right off, and that someone named 'The Gardener' was looking for Jankin. There was a comment about 'the Allaine bitch is too bloody smart for our good and the last thing we need is to give her a chance to think', that caused me concern." He glances at Daxia, then goes on.

"Upon rising I noted my shield's device had changed to that of the Knights of Roth and therefore we carefully stepped out of our room to investigate. We were told to head downstairs."

"We first stopped at your rooms", his glance takes in all the others, "and we saw a them to be empty, with a trail of blood leading from Daxia's. The lad who woke us said 'The Dayalans are already holding the bridge. Mostly. And the prisoner's, she's already been hung up onna pike for the other side to see.'"

"Dean and Jankin asked what was going on and hard as it was to believe all the evidence, including our location, pointed to us somehow being back at the Battle of Silk Creek Bridge. I ran thru the history, both for them as well as for my own benefit and we went down to the commons."

"Once there we saw two Dayalans at the table. A brunette and a Redhead who were referred to as 'Allaine and Komorov'. Apparently, from the Allaine's comments, Komorov was noted for her appetite." He smiles slightly.

"I spent time reflecting whether, if this was somehow a retelling of that great battle, were we simply flotsam in a stream, powerless to affect events, or were our actions important? We finally concluded that either way we needed to do whatever we could to ensure that history repeated itself, and the East was defeated."

"A large man was also at the table, the 'Gardener', who fairly roughly told the two Dayalans to return to holding the bridge. The asked for how long as they noted how badly they were outnumbered and that eventually the horde would come at them all at once and overwhelm them. 'Rurik', as the Gardener was referred to by Allaine, said 'Until the Talantal garrison arrives'. The two Dayalans left and the Gardener turned to me and admitted that garrison was still in Talantal and wasn't coming."

"The Gardener then sent Jankin off to help someone named 'Ashley' and he turned to me and surprisingly asked me, 'You ... we could return you to your comrades, but the chances of an armored sworder making it through their lines is slim to none. We know surprise will help secure your victory, but we cannot let them know about our plans for the Bridge. How would you snare their attention elsewhere?'"

"Knowing how event needed to play out certainly affected my reply, but I took his question seriously and my reply was thus. Glancing at the markers spread out on the map briefly, I looked at Rurik. 'There is nowhere else for them to focus.'

I motioned towards the bridge and the ravine. 'This is the only route across the ravine between Highside and Lowside. They know that, else they'd not still be here. The only thing saving us right now are the Dayalans holding the bridge, but as the Allaine pointed out, if they ever get their act together, as unusual as that might be, and make a concerted push, they'll overwhelm them.'

'If you ask my opinion we need to put all on a roll of the bones. As long as they won't work together, with as many of them as there are, some will become bored and start looking elsewhere. Or they'll get hungry and having stripped the land nearby they will start ranging farther afield and we risk early discovery.'

'We need to make a demonstration at the bridge. We must make them think we plan to attack across from our side to theirs. We must attract their attention, and their bloodlust. Gather them into a tighter mass. Focus their gaze here', I pointed at the bridge on the map, 'and keep it there.'

'It is possible it might actually take a real attack to do it well enough to draw in the outliers. Not that they will be worried we might succeed, but more that they won't want to miss out on the slaughter.'

'Then, when the charge comes, we must be ready to shift instantly into the anvil that the hammer will break them upon. It will take discipline, and bravery, and more than a little bit of luck.'"

He looks again at Daxia and Kay. "I tell you honestly my plan was for the Dayalans to demonstrate, pretend to cross the bridge, and then retreat across to our side and block all crossing as the Knights of Roth charged into their packed rear."

"The Gardener then asked me, 'So how do we convince the Dayalans to do exactly that, since from their point of view there's only enough of them to hold the Bridge; driving out into the enemy might seem a touch suicidal. That might be a bit too obvious.'

"I replied that, 'Keep in mind that it is mostly a bluff. We don't actually want the Dayalans to charge to their deaths. We just want the enemy to think they are preparing to do so. And if necessary for them to move ahead, slightly. Not enough to get them surrounded and slaughtered, but enough to whet the blood lust of the foe. Just as you hunt rats. You lure them with bait so they are more concentrated and easier to bag.'

'Anyway, there are three ways. First, convince them of the plan. Get them to agree it is best, which would mean explaining to them who we expect to arrive and when. Second, re-enforce them. Send them enough additional forces that they feel like it is not complete suicide to move ahead. Or third, lie to them.'

'You know these Dayalans, I do not. I cannot tell you which would be best, even assuming you had re-enforcements to offer them and could choose among all three choices. I dislike lying, though, so that would be my absolute last option.'

'My choice, I think, would be to combine the first two options. Convince them of the plan and offer them re-enforcements. Since we really have no intent to charge out very far, the re-enforcements don't need to be very good. Gather up the refugees. Farmers. Anyone you can round up fairly quickly. All the men and older boys who can hold a spear, sickle, or pruning hook, and line them up behind the Dayalans. As many as you can get. They don't have to actually fight, they just have to give the appearance of new troops. Enough to make it possible to the enemy that the Dayalans could try to make a desperate attack. Make a big show of marching, and forming, with lots of horns blowing, flags flying, and drums beating. Take a long time to actually do anything. Spectacle is what we want.'

"Rurik replied", 'I like that. Especially since they believe there is a garrison on the way from Talantal. If I sent you to the homes behind us, the nearby farms, gave you my people in the tavern.. Do you think you could fool both the East and the Dayalans?'

"I responded", 'Me? Surely you have others. Someone who knows this area, and the people. Someone they trust, or at least will listen to? I am a stranger to them. As for the Dayalans, I doubt I can fool them. Anyone who knows the pointy end of a sword will be able to tell these are farmers if they see them up close. It will work against the enemy because we will be too far away for them to tell one from another. Besides, the Dayalans will need to be in on it for it to work. Do you expect me to convince them of the plan or try to trick them?'

"At which point he said", 'Whatever it takes. We need the Dayalans to believe it. And to not question.'

Mikal again looks at Daxia and Kay. "I had no idea he intended to drop the bridge with them on it at that time."

After a moment's pause, he continues with his retelling.

'I'll need a map of the surrounding towns and villages as well as where the Dayalan headquarters is.' "I said." 'You might as well round up as many of your people here as possible. It'll make a better show.'

'Thats the entire lynch pin of our plan.' "He said." We need the east paying all their attention to the Dayalans, and the Dayalans upon the East. We'll take care of the rest. They will never reach Highside. You can be assured of that. Now go. Convince them.'

"His response makes sense in retrospect, but at the time I was naive."

"We gathered a small force and marched to the bridge. As we reached it we saw a shield wall, led by Komorov. Allaine approached us to find out our purpose. I will relate the exact words we exchanged, so you may hear them."

'So. Are you the promised reinforcements from Grand Talantal?' She asked.

'We are all that was handy.' I said. 'Others will come when they can. You don't seem to lack for company, though.' I added, glancing to the East.

'Ja'. She said, '... though they are kinda lacking when it comes to showing a lass a decent time ...But at least they are honest. They want to kill us and and are right up front about it. After holding this bridge for twenty five days for whatever bloody reason the Gardener ain't tellin' us, well you come to appreciate that kinda honesty. So what brings you to our grindstone. Rurik would nay have sent anyone up here with a passle of spear ... unless he had a reason.'

"I paused, looking over the mass of enemies across the way, pondering where to begin. I'd told the Gardener I would not lie to the Dayalans, and after their bravery holding this bridge against endless assaults by the Chaos Hordes, I could not bring himself to tell them anything but the truth anyway. They certainly deserved that."

'We need to bring them', I gestured across the bridge to the mass of enemies, 'in closer. I am here to help lead a charge across the bridge.'

'Allaine I think I heard the Gardener call you? My respect.' Tipping my head and touching the pommel of my sword. 'But this needs to end. And it will, soon.'

'A charge.. Are you daft?'

She looked back over her small collection of sisters.

'Look at our numbers, or rather lack of them. The only reason we can hold this bridge is that we make them come to us. Across the breath of this bridge, their numbers don't matter. They can only face us a couple handfuls at a time. Charge them? What, is the Gardener trying to murder us?'

'I've been called worse things than daft.' Nodding at her analysis.

'But no. In....', I looks at the horizon, then shrugged, '... not too long. Just after Dawn in fact, the tactical situation will change, fairly dramatically.'

I pointed across the way. 'Do you see that rise there, just behind the rear ranks of Easterners, oh maybe a mile or so off?'

'Help is coming. And when it comes, this bridge will collapse, and the enemy will be crushed between this 'anvil', he points to the gorge, 'and the hammer that is coming.'

'We need to draw them in closer. They must be distracted so they cannot realign. So the surprise is complete. We do not need to actually charge across the bridge, but we must make them think we are about to. We must make them salivate at the chance to repay you and your sisters for the weeks of stalemate here. Bring them close, fix all of their their attention, here. And then we must run. We must get off the bridge before it is too late.'

"I knew I was putting a lot of faith in the fact that this was a replay of history. If it was not, I was perhaps dooming the Dayalans to a horrible fate."

'Whether the rock hits the pitcher,' she said, 'Or the pitcher hits the rock, It's going to be bad for the pitcher.'

"She then asked Dean for his horse."

'Buying time. We are always buying time. For twenty five days we have held this bridge!' She called out, her words harsh and strong.

'For twenty five days we have paid for the safety of the farmers, the townsfolks, the smiths, the weavers, the fisherfolk, the hunters and the woodcarvers in the blood of our kin, our kith, our friends, our family, our sisters. They watch over us. And tonight it ends. Our promised aid come. But they come ... From the low lands. They come from the other side of the bridge.'

That brought a murmur, of slow string of curses from the ones who understood, from the others came a ripple of confusion.

'There will be no more Bridge. We were told to hold it. But They had always planned to take the Bridge down. We were never meant to come off this Bridge alive.'

'Look there ..." The Dama Allaine pointed to the east, to the totems that rose above the eastern ranks. To the tallest.

'They want us to make a noise at the base of the bridge, to draw their attention here, so that the crushing blow behind will come unexpected. I say we give it to them. I say we give it to them."

Foot in stirrup, she mounted Dean's horse, settled her self into the saddle and turned the horse around. A nudge and she stood beside Mikal, and more importantly at his level and hight.

So when she reached out, grabbed him by the collar and half drew him out of his saddle it was unexpected and seen by all. Her words were barked, harsh and clipped, and meant for not just him, but her sisters too.

'And you ...' "She said to me."

'You go back ...You take this back to the Gardener ....You tell him I wish him a long, long life, that Krysta never comes for him. Full well knowing what he has done. You tell him we do not do this for him. You tell them we do this for my sister, speared upon a hill covered in dandelions. We do this for our partners who gave up their immortal lives upon the Bordertown terrace steps. We do this for that stupid Corliss farmgirl, a girl who couldn't even speak a full sentence but didn't even think twice when she ran back to the fallen temple. You tell him that there is not one who stands upon this Bridge who has not paid as dear as he and yet we still stand. You tell him that from this day to the ending of the world, we few, we broken few, we band of sisters - for she this night sheds her blood with me are truly my sisters - whether their blood be common or noble, this night shall make us peers. He sleeps, he and his farmers safe in their beds, shall think themselves accursed and hold their lives cheap forever more against the price we have paid, those who now fight with me upon this Silk Creek Bridge.'

The Allaine would then set Mikal back on his horse and yank the horse around so she faced the west. 'Tell him. Now. Get. Off. My. Bridge.'

Rising in her stirrups, she slowly started to walk her purloined horse towards the eastern lines. She called out to her sisters, her peers.

'I have a totem to collect.' It was not hard to tell which one she meant. The tallest, the highest, the one whose image was that of a slaughtered unicorn. 'Anyone coming with me?'

One by one, some slow, some limping, some looking seasons tired, even the smallest, their dark haired mascot, formed up to follow the Allaine. When they reached the base, the far end, the low side ...

They charged. And shortly after, the Knights charged from the other side.

"I could not tell if these would make a difference in our future, but I forced those men with me to stand and watch. I charged them to record and burn into their memories the sacrifice of these brave Dayalans, and to pass it down to their children and their grandchildren so it was remembered for all time."

"Shortly after that the tree grew suddenly and the bridge fell, but no Dayalan was upon it when it did. And they reached, and cut down, that totem."

He stops and takes a drink of water. The long telling parching his throat. Then looks again at Daxia and Kay. "I promise you my intent was for them to pull back off the bridge in time to watch it fall with me. They chose another path. A braver path. And I feel somewhat responsible for their deaths."

Bekkah

After mending more people than she had at first expected, she sat by the fire, wrapped in a cloak for added warmth. She listened to each strange accounting, not truly understanding what had befallen these people she knew while she'd been absent. They each spoke the truth, that she was sure of. They believed their tales, but how could this be. She said nothing waiting for the others including her sister to share her tale.

Daxia

Daxia sat down beside Kay, glancing frequently at the younger woman while they ate dinner. Somehow, they needed to find new clothing — at the very least — for Kay. She needed a sword and shield, too. Fern was a proper horse for a Dayalan, but it wouldn’t be right to ask Bekkah to give her up.

She wondered why she felt so responsible for Kay. The Initiate might be young, but she was a full grown woman. She could likely take care of herself on the road better than Daxia had been equipped to do so at that age. No doubt it was the peculiar circumstances in which the youngster joined their company.

The redhead simply raised an eyebrow at Cesare’s report. It was no wonder he’d come back injured... those Eastern hunting beasts were death on eight legs.

Listening to Mikal’s tale, however, had a very different effect on her. It seemed that almost every word made her jaws clench more... her fists grow tighter in her lap... her eyes fill with anger with every word of the Gardener’s that Mikal relayed.

At the point where the Gardener admitted that no help would be coming from Talantal, she reached out and took Kay’s hand. Those had been her people, her Sisters, who had died on that bridge. Daxia already knew this was not going to be an easy thing to hear, not at all.

She shook her head in denial at the point in his tale where Lily took Dean’s horse. The only steed that had walked upon the bridge from Highside Heather had been Morning Star.

And then... and then she continued to shake her head as tears trickled down her cheeks, lower lip held between her teeth. THAT was the proper way for a Dayalan to die... in battle, taking the enemy with them, as many as they possibly could. THAT was right and proper... not what had happened to her and Morning Star in the place they had been. Not the murderous actions of a base coward.

Her bright blue eyes fastened on the older man, the woodcarver. There was still so much anger in those eyes.

“Jankin. Tell of Gardener. Tell tale. Tell, tell. Now.” All courtly mannerisms gone now, Verchovai Daxia Yurisdotter is very much the farm girl from Dawnview in her clipped and hurried way of speaking.


[OOC: Oh, nicely done there, GM... plagiarizing Henry V’s Saint Crispin’s Day speech from the Bard. One of my favorite monologues.]

(OOC - Wolf had some nice posting in my PM so I had to take the excuse to share. Oh, btw, not sure if the lack of a verbal response to Mikal's inner turmoil was purposeful or not. It was a long post and can't expect a reply to everything. But if it was, I'll have to address it in his next post.)

"Yes."

Said Kadri.

"I want to hear more of this Gardner. I liked him not at all when I met him, and I like him less now."

Cesare

Despite himself he is moved by Mikal's tale.. and feels maybe he is beginning to understand Daxia a little more as a result. He knows relating these tales are going to generate stronger emotions in others and so stays silent himself, respecting those that had taken the ultimate sacrifice all those years ago.

Jankin

He was very uncomfortable under their gaze, visibly reluctant to speak his tale, but after a few minutes he drew a deep breath and nodded to himself.

"It is proper that I speak, as you are companions of the road, and we have all shared in something significant."

His eyes flicked to Mikal. Pausing to collect his thoughts and place them in the proper order, he spoke.

"As Mikal has said, I was sent to the Gardener to take the place of someone who had been killed. Ashley had been his partner. I was thrown into the middle of something I barely understood, and was not prepared for. A group of us held hands while a chant was said, and the Tree began to grow. It grew towards the bridge..."

He stopped for a minute, seeing again the horrific image in his mind.

"Ashley pulled away, breaking the circle, upset at what we had been drawn into, and made a part of without our knowledge. But it kept happening."

He looked up.

"I also do not, did not, like this Gardener."

Daxia

Her lips were pressed tightly together as Jankin told his tale. When he broke off momentarily, describing how the tree grew so rapidly... toward the bridge... she swallowed hard. She searched for the calm she knew she needed. Her eyes shifted from the woodcarver to her Unicorn.

They keep us honest, Gilly had said. Morning Star didn’t need to say anything, he didn’t need to do anything. The youngest Starrider was beginning to get more of an insight into what her teacher had meant by that statement. She took a deep breath and turned back to Jankin as he finished speaking.

“I do not blame you, Jankin, but understand that I have so much anger, and so much confusion. I will speak more of the Gardener in a moment, but I should tell you of our history... Dayalan history... as it relates to Coveners, just as I tried to tell Celi.

“I have met four Coven members since leaving Dawnview Vale... the best and the worst, I think, the Cult has to offer.” She looked up at the sky, to the Dark Patch where two lone stars stood guard against the path of the Chaos Lords.

“I had been taught that we, Dayalans, and the two Coven cults got along well,” Daxia said without taking her eyes from the two stars that inspired her sigil. “That if a follower of Mother Nature asks one of us for help, traditionally... traditionally we are required to give aid.”

She lowered her eyes to look at Jankin again. “Nothing is said of the Horned God and his followers. It is almost as if the memory of a memory of a dream floated in our history, both of Linette of Corliss and of Rurik the Gardener.” The Dayalan shrugged. “Our history was missing everything that happened at the Temple on the Border, and as far as we knew no Dayalans made it to Silk Creek Bridge. Now...” She glanced at Romana at the edge of the camp for an instant. “...now we know more.”

Dazi looked between Kadri and Dean. Darian had been more quiet than usual, and Daxia suspected Cesare had spoken for both of them; she smiled at the Hunter... perhaps Darian’s silence really did balance out her own loquacious nature.

“Kadri, Dean... if you have tales to share, I would like to hear them. But...”

She turned to Kay. “You’ve said I ask odd questions, and here is another. What name did you have for the great forest to the north? And what tales were told of it before the East came that last time?”

Darian

She had nodded at the small tale told by Cesare, but it was Mikal's tale that held her attention. Some of the things he said matched her and their experience word for word and she nodded more strongly at those things.

The empty room of Dazi and Romana and Kadri and the trail of blood from it. The telling that one of their number had been strung up. The Allaine and the Koromov at the table.

She noticed Daxia watching her. Between the odd occurences of the previous night and the seeing of the Grey Men at the tavern they had past...and like Mikal they were near the places they had once lived. She had been tasked with finding her own territory, but was she to join another Pack or found her own?

That thought caused a look to Cesare.

"Gardner speak Darian, want Hunter Hunt beasts. Hunter say no, need Hunt BeastMaster. Best with Pack but only have Hunter, Hound, Rhoni. Gardner sent others to stand as Pack. All died. Rhoni and Hound almost die too."

Her hand was sunk into Longtooth's fur.

"Hunter no Hunter without Hound."

Another glance to Cesare, this one showing a bit of the dread she had felt during the night. After that glance though, her expression returned to the normal calm demeanor.

"Cross bridge, tree grow, bridge fall. Allaine Pack fall."

The Heartwood
The Highland Path
Highside, West of Silk Creek Ravine
After Sunset
Hasday the Twenty-first Day of Horse

Bekkah, Daxia, Darian, Mikal, Jankin, Dean, Cesare, Kadri ... Morning Star, Longtooth, Kay and Romana

As the conversations, the snippets and scrappets of story ramble on, it is finally Kay that raises a hand a waves it back and forth across the air. She looks pale, swallowing, looking between Mikal and Daxia, the color draining from her face.

"The young dark haired mascot ... that was ... that was me."

Her head dropped, she bit her lip, then she looked back up.

"Wait ... wait ...wait ... I'm not .. not just supposed to not be here, am I. I ... I am supposed to be ...dead?"

Her gaze then rose even higher, as the first stars began to come out.

"I wasn't supposed to leave Lily-kins side, was I."

She fell silent, then, drawing her knees up and hugging them tightly, as the rest of gathering spoke up, one by one by one adding their piece to this puzzle of truth and consequences.

"The Heartwood ... of course. The last of the World Forest, its very center, its heart. Otherwise it would have been something like the Left-Toe-Wood or somethin ..."

Kay would answer Daxia, almost absentmindedly, her chin still resting on her knee. But before she finished, she narrowed her brows, as if connecting dots had led her somewhere unexpected.

"You. Old man. Woodcarver ..."

She called Jankin out.

"You said, that when, when those casting the spell that killed us, one of your people, one of them, saw what was happening and broke away."

Her gaze was dagger sharp.

"What ... what did ... you do?"

That one question brought a heavy and sudden silence to the small collection, those gathered about the fire. A silence held for a heartbeat ... one that seemed to last forever. Until it was broken by a footstep, a soft one a shy one. A dainty aristocratic one.

Into the firelight Romana stepped, and as she did so she was doing something strange. Carefully, like one might handle a dagger o a sword, or something small and tiny and fragile, she took off one earring, then the other,and then her pendant necklace. Of course in doing so, it meant her hat had to come off, betraying long silken locks of the softest white, of fair slender ears that rose to cute and delicate points.

"Sea and stars!"

That ... that broke Katie Koromov from her glum retrospective. That brought the young Dayalan to her feet, her hand to her side and the fel schking of a small steel blade clearing it's scabbard. A step forward, fast and she was ready to strike.

Romana too took a step forward, a step forward, to her knees, an ungainly and yet so formal submission, her forehead touching the ground and her cupped hands offering her jewelry as if in offering.

"Romanas are Romanas are Romanas. Big fish. Powerfuls. When woke up in tavern, let tree devils kick, beat, drag, throw Romanas away ... because ... because ...

"Romanas not want hurt anybodys."

The Dayalan dagger rose.

"Please quick. Romanas do not like pain."

The Dayalan dagger hesitated.

TheDayalan dagger paused.

And then with a choked yell, frustrated, hurt and torn, Kay threw her blade hard away, turning to Daxia, still, grim, her arms straight down in little fists,

"What is she! Why ... how ... why ... does she, how does, why does she think ....

"I am a swordsister.

"I am not a bloody murderer."

Kadri

"No. You aren't a murderer." She says quietly. "Dazi wouldn't be with you if you were."

She moves to Romana moving beside her, and kneeling.

"If you decide you have to take her out, you are going to have to take me as well. Because I will not allow my friend to come to harm."

Daxia

All she could say to Kay’s worry, and — from the look on her face — dread, was, “I’m not sure I really know what ‘supposed to’ means anymore, Sister. That you are here... perhaps that must mean you are supposed to be here. Or it means I did something wrong, but Morning Star doesn’t think I did, so...” She reached over and squeezed Kay’s shoulder. “...I guess because you’re here, it means you should be.”

Daxia listened well to Darian’s tale; the mere speaking of it giving it more weight, given Darian’s usual reluctance to speak. She nods to her friend. “Ta, Darian. Hunter tale match Dayalans tale better.” She glanced between Darian and Longtooth. “Very glad both Hunter and Hound are well; much hurt in Dazi’s heart if not.”

She looked at Mikal then. “Thank you for sharing the conversation you had with Starsword Allaine. I think... I think because of your words, my Sisters of the past died — just that one time — an honorable death in battle rather than...” Her eyes flickered to Jankin and back to the Jvrillian. “...rather than being murdered by a coward perhaps touched by chaos. I wish that it had made a difference that you made those with you watch the bravery of my Sisters. It does not seem to have made a difference, but I thank you for trying, swordbrother.”

As absently as Kay gave the name of the great forest, the elder Dayalan said, “No, it would be called the Dirkwood.”

She looked sharply between Jankin and Kay, then, at her question to him. Before she could say anything more, however, Romana — her brave, brilliant friend Romana — entered the small camp’s firelight, removing all her jewelry. It echoed, mirrored her actions in the Temple on the Border in Tashka’s presence.

When Kay leapt to her feet, Daxia also rose, though she had no fear that Kay would actually harm Romana... not after Romana prostrated herself on the ground. She merely observed. Just as Romana was Romana was Romana, Dayalans were Dayalans were Dayalans. Oh, she was not so naive to think the tales Romana had shared about how Dayalans were viewed in the East were without some seed of truth. But Daxia knew Romana was safe — for the moment — once she was on the ground. Daxia was fairly certain Romana knew that as well.

So she waited while her young Initiate came to the same conclusion, while Kadri — who, though sister might be, did not understand that basic core truth of Dayalans — unnecessarily knelt beside their friend.

And when Kay turned to her, so angry and frustrated and hurting, demanding answers... declaring the core truth of Dayalans, Daxia just studied the youngster for a moment. Kay reminded her of... well, a younger version of herself... the version Starsword Kassia always called a cobble block, the version Starsword Rena often had to cuff on the side of the head for sloppy sword work, the version even Starrider Gilly chided gently at times. Though Kay seemed less of a cobble block.

“What is she? A Princess of one of the Thousand Towers of Kh’Lhy’ra, a pawn in a terrible game played by her father that would have resulted in another incursion from the East had we not rescued her from those her father sent to retrieve her after your Rhoni descendant, Madoka kha'Ayanna kha'Kame kha'Chikato khal'Homura Akemi Koromov, rescued her from her Tower. That is an incursion I’m not sure many would have survived — perhaps not even those in Dawnview.

“The why and how...” Daxia held Kay’s eyes, seeing a far more potent level of anger than she had possessed when she’d asked Romana why the Eastern princes attacked the West. “...are a much longer tale that I would be happy to share as we continue our journey to Talantal.

“And of course you are not a murderer. Romana believes that as well, Kay, because you are a Dayalan and I am a Dayalan, and I am not a murderer. She and I, an Eastern princess and a Dayalan, have found a way to not only coexist peacefully but to become friends. You lived your life fighting against the East, and I only lived my life hearing the horrific stories of those battles.

“Still, I will ask you to trust my judgment for now, and sit. I am not going to ask you to be happy about it, because there is no way that can happen in a heartbeat. I only ask that tonight, you hear our tales... tomorrow and the next day and however long it takes, hear my story of how Romana came to be my friend... talk, just talk, with Romana... and only then form your own judgment.”

Daxia nodded to the spot by the fire where Kay had been sitting. “Sit, sit.”

Then she looked at Romana and Kadri, and shook her head. “Kadri, do you really believe Romana was in any danger with me standing beside Kay?” She shook her head, but smiled slightly. “Someday you will understand Dayalans as well as Romana does.

“And Romana... up, up. You are brave and wise to show Kay you are not a threat to her. Thank you. But you sit sit, too... maybe beside Kadri and Bekkah, yah? Dazidazidazidazi need tell of terrible night now.”

The Starrider waited for both Kay and Romana to sit down before she took her seat as well.

But she sat quietly for a handful of heartbeats, staring into the fire, gathering her thoughts.

“It began with pounding on the door, and someone calling for ‘Yurisdotter’. Asking if we had finished. Saying the Gardener needed to know what we’d beaten out of the prisoner.” Daxia shook her head, bemused. “No one ever — ever — has called me simply Yurisdotter. And that voice outside the door... said that the Gardener wanted her broken so badly she couldn’t use her sorceries.”

She had to pause then, lips pressed tightly together as she took several breaths. “I think that’s when I decided I didn’t like this Gardener.” Glancing sidelong at Kay for a moment before focusing her attention back on the fire, she said, “I can’t speak for every one of the fullhand of fullhand of Dayalans in our time, but I don’t think beating a prisoner nearly to death is something we’d do; it seems dishonorable. But given the circumstances then... I can’t say what my Sisters might have done then.

“I didn’t understand what was happening; but seeing Romana with her white hair... and... and hearing her called a prisoner... well, it gave me a really bad feeling. It didn’t help that I couldn’t talk to Morning Star. That really worried me.

“But then, like Cesare and Darian, I looked out the window. That’s when I knew where... or rather when... we were. I’m not too proud to say I was scared. There are no stories, none, of Dayalans at the Battle of Silk Creek Bridge. We’d always just assumed it was because our ranks had been so decimated that none of our Sisters were able to get there.”

She chuffed out a laugh devoid of humor.

“Well, I suppose it’s time to write another letter.” At that she shakes her head. “I remembered the tile the Innkeeper had given me — it turns out to be Sea of Fog, by the way — and thought how nice it would be if Kisa would just write me a letter like normal folk do, instead of sending her cryptic tiles, which — while beautiful and well treasured — only make sense after the event about which they refer has come and gone.” Daxia sighed. “Though Camelia would have recognized it, I suppose, since it was the Rhoni woman who identified it for me.”

She took a deep breath, held it a moment, then sighed it out.

“So after our prisoner here thumped her head on the wall...” She looked up and across the fire at Romana, rolled her eyes, then lowered her gaze again. “...the three of us went downstairs.

“We didn’t have to do much more than open the door before I could hear a very angry Dayalan — you don’t grow up in the temple and not recognize the dagger sharp tone of an angry Starsword — arguing with a man.

“I carried Romana downstairs... everyone seemed pretty impressed with her Highness Kadri,” she said with a hint of a smile, “but about as unimpressed with me as most people are these days of Dayalans. Some Jvrillians — well, given the time period, Knights of Roth, I suppose — were in the hall, Kay here brushed past us and down the stairs.” She smiled again, briefly. “Here our story intersects with Mikal’s, as our Kay does seem to have a fondness for food. When we got downstairs, the man — this Gardener — dismissed my Sisters with such contempt that I could barely believe it. A Starsword... who was an Allaine? My opinion of him lowered even further. An Initiate...? Well, having been one so summarily dismissed, that would not be surprising... but a Starsword?” Daxia could only shake her head.

“I simply observed all that was happening in the room. It almost reminded me of my days back in the Allaine court,” she added softly. “But again the Gardener lowered himself in my eyes by once again giving disrespect to Verchovai Allaine.

“Because Romana and I had spoken at length over the past several months, I managed to bluff my way to an answer for his question... that of which totem would cause the most disarray among the Eastern army should it fall. It was also fortunate that I had looked out the windows, for I knew what the tallest banner depicted.”

She clenched her jaw at the remembrance of the sight. She could not bear to speak of such desecration. In one repetition of that night, her Sisters had fought their way to that totem and cut it down before they, too, were cut down.

“As Rurik...” She, too, spat the name out as Lily Allaine had done so long ago... as an insult. “...continued to present my Sisters with nothing but contempt, I believed my opinion of him could grow no lower. I wish I had been right about that. The Starsword and Kay left, but I stayed for a few moments. Kadri had said she had no wish to watch suicide in action, so I stayed to speak a few words to her. Oh, it was a simple reminder to Kadri about what we had witnessed, what we had done in the Temple ruins outside Bordertown... but I had hoped to shame this Gardener, to remind him that the women who held that bridge were made of steel... Darksteel... Ironsilver, and worthy of respect for what they did, would continue to do.

“Little good that did. I was becoming concerned that madness had taken him... that chaos had touched him... when he addressed me again, demanding that I leave.”

Her eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared in anger.

“I could hear in his voice the full force of his anger when he ordered me again from the room to seek my vengeance on the bridge. Vengeance? I had no thoughts of vengeance after Bordertown, only grief at the loss of so many Sisters and...” She looked up and pointed to the two stars peeking through the Dark Patch. “...pride for Tashka and Linette who saved his bloody God from death, and were tortured for three hundred and fifty years for their troubles.” Daxia dropped her hand back to her lap, but continued to look up. “He was the one seeking vengeance, and my Sisters paid the price for his arrogance.”

Again, she paused, then shook her head and focused again on the edge of the fire, the glowing embers of wood. A smile played along her lips.

“Then Kay came back looking for me... I was so confused that she seemed to know me, know me well enough even to call me Dazi... but she did make me smile with a message from her Starsword Starpriestess-ness Allaine-ship wanting to know if I needed an engraved invitation.

“Something about Kay...” She looked sidelong again at the Initiate, smiled and shook her head. “...feisty and likeable, I suppose, like her cousin Dandelion. I had to ask if her Allaine-ness Starsword-ship grumpy, growly Priestess would make me one. Then she — in a very roundabout way, mind you — threatened to drag me out by my ankles.” Daxia chuckled softly. “You were the only good thing about that night Kay. I think that’s why I did what I did.”

Now Daxia simply looked at the tips of her boots, her hands starting to fidget almost of their own volition in her lap.

“Outside, at the base of the bridge, the Dayalans were tending their wounded. There were not so many wounded compared to the number of women on the Bridge... a wall of shields, women holding spears. Starsword Allaine was making her way to the front. On foot.

“There was a group of Coveners beneath the pine tree. It was so much smaller than it had been when we arrived at the inn. I thought nothing of it... the Coveners being there; the ballad The Breaking of the Coven tells the tale... however incorrect it turns out to be... of the Battle of Silk Creek Bridge, and the presence of the Coven at the battle.

“We chatted, Kay and I... I was trying to figure out what my place was in all of this, what it was I was supposed to do. Well, besides just watching and hopefully learning something. Since I’d used my divine spells against the Avatar in Bordertown, I mentioned that I would have to ask her Priestess-ness to renew them... only to realize they had already been renewed.”

Her fingers stopped fidgeting long enough to flex several times.

“And... and cannot explain how it’s possible... but they remain with me even now. Though I can’t explain it, I do thank my Lady Dayala for the boon.

“I spoke then of Morning Star, without mentioning his name, and Kay looked at me as if I had cracked my head hard against a stone and dislodged my brain. All the Companions were lost at the Temple, she said. But Morning Star hadn’t been at the Temple; his brother had been.”

The redhead looked up then, past the circle of light into the darkness... unerringly finding the form of her friend. There was nothing to say that had not already been said. She could never feel that loss as deeply as he did, but that did not mean she did not feel the loss as deeply as she — a mere mortal — was able.

“I knew that it was impossible for me to be standing on that bridge, conversing normally — even if I was asking odd questions and saying peculiar things — if my Unicorn had died at the Temple. I saw the three hundred and fifty year old remnants of the Eastern army’s destruction; that had been enough to nearly turn my stomach. And I knew... I knew Morning Star was somewhere. I could almost sense his presence. I just didn’t know where he was.”

Dazi looked at Kay again before giving her attention to the Eastern princess. “Kay wanted to know why the East hated us so much. I couldn’t explain it, not really. Even here, today, I’m not sure how many of my Sisters besides Starlord Kassia could say.” She sighed. “There is a reason for it, though the best answer is likely Dayala only knows.

“I continued to push on the subject of my partner, and I knew something had changed when Kay used part of his title that he and I have been expanding upon... his most magnificent font of all... then said the only critter called Morning Star was a fairly mean stallion out behind the blacksmith’s shop.

“Every Sister I meet feels the need to point out how much I talk. Well, I think considerably more than I talk, and I study everything possible.” She glanced up at Bekkah, then a brief glance at Dean, before lowering her eyes to study her boots again. “Had I been born male, I think I would have liked to have been an Eye of Hastur.

“But Kay’s response made me realize that the very unpleasant stallion she mentioned was, indeed, Morning Star. Try to imagine the impotent rage an immortal might feel being stuck in the form of a mortal horse. It’s no wonder he had gotten a reputation for biting anyone who came near him... even if it was not a real memory for any of them. But sea and stars, it was real for him!” She shuddered.

“That’s when the East started to move again. When Kay mentioned that they’d held the bridge for twenty five days, and — her exact words, for I cannot ever erase them from my mind — it feels like we’ve been doing this forever...”

She swallowed hard. “I don’t know if it’s some kind of curse or just the madness of a God, but I believe the battle does go on forever. Or, based on the last tile Kisa sent me — Sea of Fog — perhaps only when the fog is thick.

“But we were standing close, so close to the break in the bridge. And... and... and I knew no Dayalan survived that night. I didn’t understand why I was on that bridge, about to engage in battle with the East and probably wind up dead. I didn’t know if I’d wake up in my bed as if it was a bad dream, or if you’d have to somehow fish my body out of the Silk Creek. I no longer knew where I belonged; I just knew that I belonged with my unicorn. Tcha! I am a Starrider!

“I told Kay to stay where she was, that I’d be right back. And I strode right up to that black stallion with the white star on his forehead, saddled him, and rode back onto the bridge. And I trusted Morning Star to find the right Path, because I couldn’t see any Paths anymore. Not a single one.”

She looked up then, looked at each person around the campfire, finally ending with the young Dayalan beside her.

“I’m not a Starlord; I don’t have that gift to inspire others to stand strong. Well, I don’t think I do. But last night, a mere Starrider riding a unicorn disguised as a warhorse did for our Sisters what even Lili-kins hadn’t quite managed to do... strengthen their resolve. I did what was necessary.

“Yes, I knew they’d come straight for me. Either I would live or I would die, but either way, it was not going to be without a fight. Because that’s what we do, da? It is what our Sisters did at the Port of Lys in the First Age; it is what Verchovai Jeminy Kilkenna and her band did on a dandelion covered hill protecting Risha’s followers... was little Kisa Allaine Lili’s younger sister as well as the current Heir’s namesake? No matter. It is what we have always done and always do... we buy time. We are always just buying time.

“You saved my life, Kay, and very nearly lost your own. Had I not stumbled into the past, had you not been at my side saving my life, you would have been at Lili’s side. Perhaps that helps answer where you are supposed to be; perhaps, for now, you are supposed to be at my side.”

The Dayalan shrugged as she raised her eyebrows at Kay, looking nearly as perplexed about the matter as the youngster. Then she looked at Jankin.

“And then the chanting began. The tree grew, it grew large and unnaturally. Its roots reached out and tore at the base of the bridge. And the bridge began to crumble.

“I pulled Kay up behind me, probably causing one of my broken ribs to jab a lung because breathing became awfully darn difficult. But Kay was hurt worse than I was, and I knew how far we had to move forward. I didn’t stop to think of consequences; I simply did what was right.

“And then I watched my Sisters fall with the blocks of honey marble into Silk Creek.

“Denied their right to die in battle, denied their right to die as Dayalans.

“Because the Gardener betrayed them. Because he was a foul rotted sack of flesh that lacked humanity... a thriced poxed son of a diseased whore, a cowardly chaos-struck pile of cow dung.”

She paused. Though her voice had never risen, the tone had become as dagger sharp as Starlord Kassia’s often was, and the anger was again reflected in her eyes.

“If I had any interest in vengeance, you would be in far more danger than Romana ever was. But I’m not interested in vengeance; I don’t see the point of it. I’m interested in truth.”

Although she paused to breathe... once, twice, thrice... her eyes never left the figure of the woodcarver.

“So please do answer my Sister’s question, Jankin. What did you do when that one person of your company broke away?

“And while you are sharing truth, perhaps you can also tell me how it came to be that the Heartwood, the remains of the World Forest over which my Lady rose to create the First Day, is now a place of darkness called the Dirkwood.”

Kadri;

She looked over at Dazi and spoke very quietly.

"No. I was about as certain that I wasn't in any danger as I could be - and truly not concerned for Romana - yet a point had to be made."

She sits back, crosses her legs, and puts her hands on her knees.

"That point goes for anyone else here as well."

She shrugs, then sits back to listen.

Cesare

That look from Darian touched him to the core. Fear. Not something he had ever seen on her face. And not fear for herself.. but for Longtooth.. and for him. He had to respond, it was instictive. No words, just raising his arm to encircle her waist and pull her gently close. No words, but the gesture tells her he is here.

He watches the drama unfold between Kay and Romana, then listens to Daxia's tale, almost spellbound.. but again little snippets add to his knowledge and understanding.. and he shivers slightly, feeling the touch of the Fates yet again. He has always though there is more to their group than just a chance meeting on the road.

He nods as Kadri speaks, agreeing the bond that is now between them all.. and wonders whether Jankin will be drawn into it.. or excluded..

Bekkah

She could only listen in silence. She had not experienced any of this. And she half-wondered if she would have simply slept through the night had she been at this inn with the others. But still her eyes brimmed with tears at the tales. So much death. She made no move when Romanas stepped forward. She knew that she could not stay the hand of the Dayalan should she accept Romanas' sacrifice. She was not surprised when no blood was shed.

Like everyone else, her gaze now turned to Jankin. There was more to be explained this night and he seemed to hold the last of the tale.

Jankin sat, taking it all in, absorbing the hurt and more that was beyond everyone's words, acknowledging to himself, first, his own culpability. When each had said their piece and all eyes were on him, he spoke. His voice was hoarse from pent up emotions of his own, kept rigidly in check, as he re-lived the moment of his choice.

"When Ashley broke away, I held fast to her hand, but she tore it away. The circle was broken, and she would not return to it. I looked to the Tree that I'd been a part of creating. The damage had been done, the horror achieved, the atrocity perpetrated. A person's hand from Ashley's side reached towards me, seeking to close the circle. My foster father's stories about magic left unchecked, broken spells left to run their course having terrible consequences were in my mind.

"I knew I had been unknowingly made to be a part of doing a terrible wrong. I also was afraid of what worse might happen if the working wasn't brought back down to earth, sealed, and ended. I took those hands. I do not know if it was the right thing to do or not, or even what happened next, for that is when the vision stopped for me."

He paused. Tears were flowing freely down his face, unregarded, but his voice remained tightly controlled.

"I have no answers for your other question. My stay in that other place and time was brief compared to most. Much less happened, though at the same time you could say that the most important thing happened. I... I make no excuses, for there can be none. Just an explanation. I was a part of killing many. I made the choice that seemed the safest, with my limited knowledge, to keep worse from happening. I feel the weight of each death on that bridge on my spirit and always will."

Jankin sat, and waited.

Daxia

Daxia sat looking at Jankin, as if trying to made a decision.

She sat for what seemed like a very long time.

Finally though, she stood, walked around the campfire to Jankin’s side, and looked down at him.

“We all had to make choices. We all tried to make the best choices we could under the circumstances. When the fog rolls across Highside Heather, the Gardener is still there insulting my Sisters and using them as pawns in a game of Horses and Castles, the Coven circle still raises the tree that destroys the Only Bridge, my Sisters still die.

“I see a Path — a thin and faint one — where that cycle might be changed, might be stopped... a Path where no Dayalan ever again has to say it feels like we’ve been doing this forever. You are the tile where the Path branches, Jankin.

“The past is the past, and cannot be changed. The wounds of Silk Creek Bridge cannot be undone.”

“But perhaps we can change the future, and allow old wounds to heal so that no new injuries are inflicted on others.” The Dayalan reached out a hand to the Covener. “Would you be willing to try, simply try, to repair what the Gardener wrought and your God continues to remember every foggy night?”

Janking sat mute, awaiting his judgement.

At her words, he nodded once, slowly, and deliberately went from the bench to his knees, taking her feet in his hands and bowing his head down to touch them with his forehead. He then stood, took her hands and said simply, "This I will do."

Mikal

He sits quietly as others tell their tales. As Daxia speaks he has his eyes downcast, but he looks up as she firmly states that perhaps his actions allowed the Dayalans to choose the honourable way to die, perhaps for the first time in an eternity of endelss repetitions of the past. And he breathes a deep sigh, and nods thankfully, when she refers to him as 'swordbrother'.

"I suspect each of us, or perhaps at least each who slept together in a room, experienced the history of the battle separately. That the actions of the others did not affect how each group's experience unfolded. That is why in my version the Allaine rode Dean's horse into battle and Dazi and Kay were not there at all, while in Dazi's version, only she was mounted and the bridge fell with the Dayalan's upon it."

(OOC - Daxia might note that this might be only the first or second time Mikal referred to her by her informal name.)

Cesare

His arm remains around Darian as Jankin makes his explanation.

It is clear than Jankin acutely feels the weight of the event of the previous night, and his words do him credit. As far as the Rhoni is concerned, Jankin has passed his 'test of the moment', not that his opinion carries much weight here. He is Rhoni, and does not expect to be counted equal with others.

So it would seem their small group are all moved to a greater or lesser degree by yet again history repeating itself before their very eyes. And he is glad that they are. They should be and it says well for the future of their group that it is so.

The Heartwood
The Highland Path
Highside, West of Silk Creek Ravine
After Sunset
Hasday the Twenty-first Day of Horse

Bekkah, Daxia, Darian, Mikal, Jankin, Dean, Cesare, Kadri ... Morning Star, Longtooth, Kay and Romana

"You know, when my mother was saying good by to folks who stayed at the farm, if'n she liked them she said fair travels.

"If'n she didn't, she'd say, fair travels, and may your journey be an interesting one ..."

Kay looked between Daxia and Romana and just snorted, crossing her arms and settling back down into her place. And then her eyes went wide, as Romana gathered herself up and with a friendly shrug of her shoulders flounced down next to the younger Dayalan.

"Whaaaa ..."

Kay's exclamation was cut short.

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ..."

Romana put her finger to her lips.

"Listens! Not polite interrupt stories! Princessessesseses knows!"

Kay just gave Daxia ... a look.

Daxia

The redhead's lips twitched in a barely perceptible smile when Romana flounced down next to Kay. At Kay’s... look... Daxia merely raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

No amount of court training, however, could keep the startled look off Daxia’s face when Jankin bent down to touch her feet. That training did keep her still; she didn’t move, she reined in the urge to kick him. Oh, not because of anything done in the past... no. No, the urge to push him away came from right here and right now. He touched her feet. And the obsequiousness made her a little nauseous.

By the time Jankin stood and took her hands, though, she had schooled her emotions and her expression to calm and neutral. After all, it seemed as though he did — in his own way — exactly what Romana had done when she prostrated herself in front of Kay.

And so she nodded once to him as she squeezed his hands before turning to the rest of the group, hands on her hips.

“We have a choice, and it is one we must make together. Most of us have traveled together for fullhands; we have fought side by side, we have shared meals, we have shared our stories. In Bordertown, you stood with me — despite any of your reservations and misgivings — to break a curse placed upon my Sister and her partner three hundred and fifty years ago. Even I would admit that making that attempt was just short of monumentally stupid.

“But with your help, the curse was broken; Tashka of Darkdown and Linette of Corliss Fields now guard the Dark Patch, as is fitting for two who prevented the sacrifice of the two Coven Deities.”

Daxia looked at each of them in turn, her attention holding longer on Romana and Kay.

“I ask that we now stand with Jankin in his quest to still the foggy nights at Highside Heather so that those who fought and died that night can find peace in Krysta’s embrace, and so no other travelers risk what we endured last night.

“The past is the past. We cannot change what happened that night; the Tree grew, the Tree destroyed the Bridge. Many died... once, the Dayalans died with honor; once, the youngest of them disappeared and did not die. Though we cannot change the past, perhaps with our help Jankin can find a way to quiet the night... to show this God that His Consort did not truly die, for Mother Nature cannot truly die.

“This is a battle for which I have no guides on strategy or tactics. I see nothing on this Path that is clear but Jankin’s presence.” She paused and tilted her head as she looked at Romana. “And perhaps... perhaps the presence of our Princess of Kh’Lhy’ra.”

She put a hand lightly on Jankin’s shoulder.

“Jankin is willing to attempt this quest. I am willing to stand with him.

“Will the rest of stand with him, too?”

She glanced for a moment over her shoulder at Morning Star. “If you have any objection to this, now would be the time to say so, Your Magnificent Font of All Knowledge.”

Kadri

"Ever and always. An unclear path is but an invitation to clear our own. I am with you. I have made my statement - and if Jankin is with us, then I am with him. Fate, destiny or our 'paths' may command certain things continue - but I was never very good at taking orders."

She tilts her head and grins widely.

Mikal

He shrugs. "Perhaps it will distract me, at least temporarily, from this urge to kill those we meet clad in Grey. It is usually not such an overwhelming thing, but the proximity seems to make it worse. It's probably a good thing I've generally tended to stay away from here since I left."

Jankin

He looked supremely uncomfortable. How was it that everyone was so completely comfortable with this secret he'd spent his life keeping so deeply buried? Still and all, he'd made a vow, and deemed it a worthy one. He did his best to stand resolutely as the rest had their say.

Cesare

He considers his position on this. There are a number of things that link to him in thios group, some stronger than others. He has training to receive from Mikal and a debt to repay to him, he has a responsibility to Romana too though there are aspects of that he shies away from now, there is his ongoing relationship with Darian - and he now (uncomfortably in some ways) acknowledges that its length and depth is new territory for him, he has friendship and/or respect for many of their group. And although he never fully understands all this history and deity stuff that seems to reach out from the past to touch them, he finds he trusts Daxia's instincts such that he has found a certain.. pride in what they have achieved together.

Unconventional, risky certainly, but he thinks Daxia is a good leader and that she and Mikal make a great team. At present they hold both his respect and his loyalty - not something lightly given, especially to a Gaijin.

And if nothing else it will be interesting..

"I'm in."

Bekkah

"I should hope you'd know that you don't have to ask such a thing of me. I'll do what I can for any of you." she said simply, looking across the fire at Dazi.

Dean

Dean glances at Lady Bekkah, sighs, shrugs, and nods.

Bekkah

She looks over at Squire Dean when he sighs. She is no shy maiden so what came next should not have surprised him.

"Squire Dean. Do you have some kind of issue with me being here?"

Dean

The Squire's eyes flash and he meets her eyes. Just as quickly, a flush rises on his cheeks, he drops his head and says "of course not, Lady, I...I apologize."

Bekkah

She would not let this go. She stood up straightening her spotless white skirts and moved to sit next to him.

"Squire Dean, there is no need for apologies. You have neither harmed nor wronged me in any manner. But I clearly make you uncomfortable. Is it because I left your protection? Protection, I would point out that I did not ask for nor require."

Cesare

He watches the interplay between Bekkah and Dean with hidden amusement, thinking that some make relationships over-complicated. And again he is reminded how straightforward Darian is.. thank the Fates!

Dean

"Yes, Lady Bekkah...I'm sorry for apologizing." Dean stares straight at his shoes and speaks stiffly. "Of course you may go anywhere you please anytime you please and of course you didn't ask for my protection and of course you don't need it."

Bekkah

Anyone other than Dean who heard the exchange probably wasn't terribly surprised by what happened next.

Bekkah just through up her hands, muttering to herself as she walked away.

Mikal

He too watches, and listens, trying to hide a smile. After Bekkah walks off he leans in to Dean and says, "I do not know much about women, Squire. But even I know that when a Lady is picking a fight with you the worst thing you can do is try to be reasonable."

He chuckles. "Go after her. Give her the fight she wants. You'll appreciate it in the end."

Darian

She shakes her head. The ways of the so-called civilized folk make no sense to her. But there was another matter. She caught Daxia's eye and nodded, once.