DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games HWD: The Heartwood A City of Five Rings

[ooc: First off sorry for my pro-longed absence. I'm going to work at being a much more consistent player]

Bekkah

"Well she certainly could become a novice of Attera. But it can't be just a disguise. I take my calling too seriously to simply let another pretend to learn of my Lady. If Romanas wishes to truly try to learn our ways, then I can teach her."

[ooc: I'd need some help knowing how to go about training her. I assume as a full priestess, I have the ability to train?]

[Yeah, apparently Starriders can, too. ]

The Heartwood
The Highland Path
Highside, West of Silk Creek Ravine
On the Road past Brockman's Holdfast
Morning, Marketday, the fourteenth day of Poet

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

"Romanas ..."

Looking up from beneath false black bangs, blue eyes peered out quizzically.

The Easterner just looked at Bekkah, for a heartbeat, then two, then three.

"Romanas never thought, Kind One, Kind One would ever have good thoughts about anys such as Romanas."

Her head dropped, looking down to the ground, face and features hidden, quieter still for an equal space of the morning. When she looked up again she considered the elder Atteran seriously, though there was something else hinted in the princess' steady gaze. Perhaps a touch of desperation. The question would be ... desperate for what?

"Guess ... guesss ... Romanas can be ... wrong, yesyesyes?"

"Romanas brought up to believes that if makes feel good, do. No matter what. No matter to who. If feels good to hurts, then hurt. Romanas believes ... believes ... that ... is ...

" .. broken."

"Romana also believes ...."

She manages a small sad smile,

"That Romanas answer rights now, this heartbeats, Bekkah knows .... whim, escape, minstrel's song, jesters show, and Bekkahs smarts, see through like sun upon mists upon Sea of Pearls."

With that, her head dropped again and very silently the young woman ate her breakfast. She'd slowly taste each potato, scrappet of meat, moisten a piece of dried bread to take up the last crumbs, leaving the wooden plate spotless. She'd look at it, at the emptiness, turning it over in her hand.

"So many people plates after breakfasts."

Setting the plate in Kay's lap, the tall woman pushed herself up, standing beneath the morning sun. Romana looked to the east, where She rose, shading her brow with a flat hand. Her skirts were then straightened with a tossle then a smoothing of her palms, and so very very softly, she whispered.

"Excuses ... please."

Pushing open the barn door Romana took a step outside, and then, with a silent pace, walked out, away from the trail, towards the ravine, into the broken fields.

"How is it said ...

"Romanas make ...

"... earnest of intents."

Bekkah

After Romana spoke and continued to eat.

"I am not one to judge you. My Lady will see into your heart and she will know. I do know that she does not turn aside a woman, any woman who wishes to help others. Any others. We never judge who we help."

She thought about the other thing Romana said.

"It does feel good Romana to bring healing and comfort to another. It feels better than anything I've ever experienced in my life. And when it involves an innocent like a child then you feel closer to the Lady than at anytime. I actually feel her smile upon me."

"No, it is not something one decides in a heartbeat. It took me a while before I knew." she said as Romana left the inn. She did not follow. What the girl had to do was her own business. She would have to come to this decision on her own. If anyone tries to go after her, Bekkah will say something.

Cesare

As Romana walks out, Cesare moves to lean against the door jamb, taking the same watchful stance that he had the night before when Mikal was out on his own. As is his way, he makes no move to interfere with another's freedom of action or need for space - but just watches their back - just in case.

Mikal

He hadn't eaten much, so his plate was easily cleaned. After offering his suggestion about Romana, he heard the one Bekkah offered and he likes it better. After all, even if her hair or ears are noticed, no one accosts a Lady of Attera, or her initiate.

When Romana moves off to the field, and Cesare moves to lean on the door jamb, Mikal picks up the crossbow he's been teaching Ceasare with.

**Let's see how much he's learned.**

He loosens the screw holding the string lock such that the crossbow string cannot be locked. As soon as you pull the string back it releases, leaving no time to lay a bolt in the channel.

Approaching Cesare he calls out to get his attention then tosses the man the crossbow and a bolt. He draws his sword and points at the crossbow with it. "You've got a fullhand count to fire that bolt into that wall", he points to the wall of the house several fullhands of feet off, "before the charging horseman skewers you with this sword."

He twists the sword with a flourish through the air and begins to take small steps closer to Cesare, a small smile on his face.

Cesare

He catches the crossbow with one hand, more as an instinctive reaction. Then he grins as the challenge is issued. This is no simple test, otherwise why give him so much time?

His eyes run over the crossbow looking for the trap he knows is there somewhere, his fingers following testing the set up.. until he finds the loose string. Once identified the remedy is easy, then he loads the bolt and fires - though not dead centre - at the wall with a couple of seconds to spare.

Still holding the crossbow, he arm falls to his side as he turns back to Mikal.

"Had a good teacher.."

Kadri:



She looks pensive for a while before speaking.

"You know, there are a few potential problems here ..."

She starts ticking off points on her fingers. One finger.

"First. This is the midsummer's council in Talantal. That means many, many will be there - including from Amber. Including those of the Terilanquel. They could be very interested in my presence, and not in a good way.

A second finger.

"Now, if I am going as Kadri, wedded to Dominic of the Kories, that will quite likely keep them from trying to claim me as a runaway and take me back with them. However ... that brings up another potential problem; Playing with the politics of the Kories, who will, no doubt, be like a pack of wolves to the hunt. Now, I am not entirely averse to the potential of teasing a pack of Kories, but it comes with a large share of risks of its own. It is also possible I could try to get in say with you, under the protection of the Allaines - yet if I do that, I am still liable to attract the eyes of the Terilanquel at the least and the Kories possibly unless I just stay completely out of sight. I could, perhaps, try sneaking myself in by more clandestine means - yet I imagine that the Korie guard will be no laughing matter."

A pause.

"There is a certain appeal to the thought of making a point straight to the face of those I left, however ... there is also risk and that risk may well include all of you - so it bears mentioning."

Mikal w/Cesare

He chuckles. "It's different when it's for real, but nice job."

He looks at where the bolt struck. "Your aim is good. You just need more time practicing and you'll be as good as I am, but you don't need me for that."

"So, we'll work on the things that matter, and where I can help. Tonight we'll start working on taking it completely apart and putting it back together. Cleaning it. Learning how to tighten the string and make field repairs. Here's an example."

He takes the crossbow back and re-loosens the string lock the way it was. "Say you had this same problem and you don't have a small enough blade, or tool, to tighten it back up the way you just did. What do you do?"

He glances at the ground and picks up a loose barn nail. "The string rests on this metal pin. When you pull the trigger the bar holding the pin from moving is released and the pin is allowed to tilt flat so the string can fire the bolt. If the bar won't hold the pin from moving you can jam a nail, or other piece of metal, into the channel", he demonstrates. "Now when you pull the string back the nail keeps the pin from tilting. Since you now can't use the trigger to fire it anyway, you can lay the bow across your forearm and use your other hand to pull the nail out and it will fire."

"Be warned that your aim will suffer a bit as it's an awkward way to fire, but it's better than nothing."

He listens to the on-going planning for Talantal going on inside the barn with one ear and sighs. "I suppose what they're planing in there is more to you liking than a cavalry skirmish, but not me."

Cesare

He watches Mikal carefully, rehearsing the movements in his mind but still finds the time to take a look out at Romana to make sure she is safe.

"Aim will improve. I have a good eye, hence the throwing daggers, but I just need to get used to the feel of the weapon. Bolts go a lot further than knives. I did not feel I could do my share from the tower."

He chuckles, also glancing inside.

"I'm not sure it is more to my liking. I have never been in a cavalry charge, so it is difficult to say. In my view though, large scale fighting tends to follow from playing in politics. I think I am best out of both.!

Mikal

"If politics were used to prevent fighting, rather than to encourage it, I might have a better liking for it."

Daxia

Daxia said nothing, but listened closely as Romana spoke. Since that long ago conversation they’d had on a bale of hay watching a pair of cats playing, the Dayalan had listened to quite a number of tales quietly told by the Easterner. There had been times when Daxia could easily forget the tall foreigner was one of those she’d been brought up to hate... and then Romana would say something to jar her from her complacency. Often she suspected Romana had said some of the things she’d privately said for the very purpose of pointing out the reality of her world... and how very different it was from Daxia’s sheltered life in Dawnview. For that, Daxia had been grateful.

And Romana listened, too. Daxia had spoken of the beauty of Dawnview, tiny in comparison to Kh’Lhy’Ra perhaps, but sheltered, too, by the Black Mountains. It was in private that Romana allowed herself to be the insightful and intelligent woman she was... her curiosity knew no bounds. From the simplest what do you call this? to the complex and thought-provoking why do you do that? every conversation with Romana was an education for both of them.

And more than that, Romana had seemed to take it all in stride.

Everything. Romana seemed to have taken everything — from breaking a Curse in an ancient Dayalan temple outside Bordertown to acting out her part in the play that was Highside Heather to her playful bantering with Kay — as just one more new thing to do, another thing to learn. But this... this decision to follow Bekkah in service to Attera... this was something very different.

The Dayalan’s eyes followed the Easterner as she left the barn.

There was a knot in her heart that loosened as she looked between her sister and the doorway through which her friend had walked. Bekkah had offered Romana something huge. It was more than just a way to pass through lands where normally she would be killed on sight. It was more than just hope for a future that didn’t involve hurting anyone. It was more than even the Eastern maxim of doing whatever felt good. It was the thing Romana sought the entire time she’d journeyed with them... something she’d said outright once or twice, but hinted at with regularity.

It was the opportunity to have a different day every day. Something new. Never the same. Every single day.

She turned to Kadri, nodding slightly at the points Kadri made. But in the end, Dazi had to chuckle.

“Kadri, the only way to avoid risk in this venture is to avoid Talantal altogether. Even then, actions we might fail to take when avoiding Talantal might bring far greater risks in the future.”

Dazi shrugged. “You’re overthinking things, my friend... and I should be offended as that’s generally my job,” she said, smiling broadly. “Do what you do best. Better than any of us, I think, you can hide in plain sight by being anyone and anything.

“But keep in mind the alliance between Allaine and Amber. By attaching yourself to me, to Allaine, you risk not only that alliance, but you put yourself in a weaker position in regards to your family. You are in the strongest position to both evade your family and help our cause through distractions as Kadri, bride of Lord Dominic Korie.”

Daxia looked between Kadri and Bekkah, before addressing Kadri again. “We three are — for lack of a better term — leaders of our own parties. I and Kay have little choice... we are and must be aligned with Allaine.

“Bekkah, as an Imperial and Lady of Attera, has the most freedom. No one dares harm a Lady of Attera, da? But remember that no one dares question the decisions of a Lady of Attera, either. Whatever Bekkah decides she should do... well, everyone knows that she and all her Sisters are representatives of the Lady of Compassion and Mercy... so everyone knows that any decisions Bekkah makes or actions that she takes would come from that place of compassion and mercy.”

Dazi paused to look at her sister, smiling in a way that was solely for Bekkah. “I don’t know why it took you any time at all to know your calling. As hard as it was for me to see you leave for Lilia’s Castle, it was something that had always seemed obvious to me. But maybe that’s because I’m your little sister,” she said as she snugged an arm around Bekkah to hug her.

She sighed and looked at Kadri again. “You, Kadri, have more freedom of choice than I do, though perhaps less than Bekkah does. I would say your best course of action is to become the fox in the henhouse of Korie. This will certainly keep you from immediately being carried off amid tears of joy — not yours, of course — when the missing daughter and sister is discovered.” Dazi tilted her head, as a possibility is seen, a Path is cleared. She nodded, and smiled. “With Amber an ally of Allaine, there is the possibility that a daughter marrying into a Family at odds with Allaine would get that daughter disowned. That could certainly work in your favor to alleviate any long-term problems with your family.

“Of all who face risks in this endeavor, I think you — and those who accompany you — are likely to face the greatest risks. The Heir of Korie and his new wife would likely welcome you with open arms... though I’d be wary of any embrace they offer. You may well need a Jvrillian bodyguard simply to help you watch in all directions at once. I don’t know that I’d compare the Kories to a pack of wolves, for at least among wolves there might be some true loyalty to the pack.

“Montague is allied with Korie, and their daughter is now the Korie Heir’s wife. But theirs is not the alliance that Allaine knows with Corliss and Kierkegaard, or even Amber. Theirs is an alliance in name only, and in the occasional common goal.

“No, you are walking into a pit of viper snakes, I think. Encourage their animosity toward one another; that might be all you need to do.”

Then she turned and whispered to Bekkah, before getting up and following Romana outside.

She paused several paces away from her friend.

“Dazi listen if Romana wants talk. Dazi here as friend if Romana wants quiet.”

Kadri:

A long pause.

"So does anyone here know anything about the mating habits of the wild Kories?"

Cesare

"Even I can understand that."

Movement comes from his right, from inside, and he steps back from the door to let Daxia pass between them. Then he holds out a hand to Mikal asking for the crossbow.

"Might have a practice now, try that nail trick."

He smiles briefly, a small nod following.

"As I said, good teacher. I will not forget my debt.. once I can get use of a forge."

Mikal

"I expect there'll be plenty in a city large as Talantal." He replies, handing over the crossbow.

The Heartwood
The Highland Path
Highside, West of Silk Creek Ravine
On the Road past Brockman's Holdfast
Morning, Marketday, the fourteenth day of Poet

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

She looked down from the perfect blue sky, burning away the cool of the night, sharing the warmth of the dry season. Across the Highside the farmers were already awake. The pickaxes and hammers of the Montague quarries were already singing. In Talantal the cathedral bells had welcomed the morning and the front gates hauled up; the day's merchants and farmers flowing into the first two rings as regular as the tide at Talesan's Village. Brockman's too, stirred, slowly, its keepers shading the morning glare with hands to brows.

On a little abandoned farm, She watched two practice a manner of archery, a breakfast being finished, a short brunette standing in the doorway arms crossed and trying to look fierce while stayed by a Priestess' solemn look.

She cast a long shadow for a slender foreigner that walked away from that barn, who finally came a stop where brown fields ended and the first hints of rock escarpments began. There Romana stood, crossing her arms - hugging herself actually, kicking at the pebbles at her feet. If she heard Daxia's words she made no response, save perhaps, once or twice, a hand clenching into a little fist, to rub beneath one eye.

Kneeling, then, she searched the stones at her feet with her hands, sure, curious, and very picky, until she found one a touch softer, a touch chalkier than the others. Then it is her turn to kneel at Daxia's feet, eyes narrowed as she marked out a circle around the Dayalan, inscribing around it arcane symbols and what must be the flowing lines of her native tongue.

A handful of paces away, she did the same for herself.

**********

Mikal and Cesare noticed it first. The sudden wind, blasting across the fields like a sledgehammer, almost snapping the limbs of the graveyard ree, definitely rattling the loose boards of the barn, sending some flying and creating a few new holes in the roof. it was a hot wind; it stung, brought up beads of sweat and a sudden bite of pain; as if one had strayed too close to a midnight bonfire. Kay reflexively brought her arm up, to cover her eyes, only for them to open wide and fall to hold herself, that heat broken and replaced with a bitter winter's breeze, one that ripped through the small homestead leaving a layer of frost upon the barn, the ground and Mikal's crossbow.

And then ... it was gone.

Someone with sharp eyes might see that breeze ripple away into the distance, until, once again, it was just another warm summer morning.

**********

When Romana returned, it was with a slow but determined pace.

Her thoughts, her path, her destination was true.

She crossed to Bekkah.

Slowly she reached up, a shake of her head baring her long slender ears, to, carefully, one by one remove her earrings. Then from her neck she took her own pendants. Fine pieces they were, marked with fine gemstones. But where, before, they glittered as if they were alive, as if they shone with an inner light, now they lay still and dull.

Empty.

She offered the three pieces jewelry to the Atteran Priestess.

"Kindness.

"Dear Friends.

"Set free."

Her cheeks were traced with fine streaks.

"Please. Take. No worries"

The Easterner offered a smile too.

"Romana wants new necklace.

"With all hearts."

Kadri watched Romana leave, and come back, quietly. She would talk to her again in due course - right now, this was between her and Bekkah.

She looks back to Dazi.

"I would need to make the connection to the Kories very clear and very public very quickly."

Cesare

Taking the crossbow, head down he examines the nail and how it is positioned.

Suddenly his head snaps up and he looks out, feeling the wind and noting the unnatural chill. Instinctively he makes a warding sign feeling that this is not a natural occurrence. Tense, he looks around, watching for a threat. When nothing happens, and the chill disappears, he starts to relax again though he is still watchful.

He waits until both Romana and Daxia reenter the barn and then elects to stay outside on watch but also to practice with the crossbow.

Bekkah

She'd looked down fondly on Dazi as she leaned in close, kissing the top of her head as she had when Dazi was small enough to cuddle up on her lap. She nodded with understanding as Dazi went outside. Then shortly afterwards Romana appeared. Bekkah stood looking up at the taller woman. She accepted each piece of jewelry as they were offered. She smiled up at Romana's final request.

"If we can't find one, we'll have one made." she said with a smile that told Romana that she understood exactly how she felt at this moment. She slipped the pieces into the pockets of her robe then took Romana's hands in hers.

"We shall have to get you new clothes. Do you happen to have anything white? I have extra robes, but they might be quite scandalous on you. Perhaps we can find someone to alter them or find some in town. We also need to sit and talk, just you, me and the Lady."

She smiled up at Romana.

"If I am not mistaken, I think you already feel her love upon you."

Daxia

When Romana returned to the barn, Daxia stayed at the edge of the field... simply standing, facing Her.

Today was a good day to pray... and to thank Dayala for Her gifts.

The Heartwood
The Highland Path
Highside, West of Silk Creek Ravine
On the Road past Brockman's Holdfast
Morning, Marketday, the fourteenth day of Poet

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

"Someone risk everythings...

"Lost everything ..."

Romana looked down for a heartbeat.

"Everythings."

Then she looked up, her smile soft and sad.

"That how. Romana knows love."

Even for Romana the snippets of words were fragments, just pieces of a puzzle, as if trying to divine an image in a shattered piece of stained glass.

Then her head shook, back and forth, many times ... once, twice, thrice, her long hair snapping this way and that, as if banishing those thought; or perhaps stepping past them, perhaps stepping up from them.

"Whitewhitwhites ... of course Romanas have white skirts; must mach Dancers, yesyesyes? But ... but ... but ..."

Her shoulders rose and fell.

"Surcoats all blues and reds and greens and blues not sames, not white and white an white. Romanas make do. Layout in sun when lessoning ... lessons learned ... learnings? Then fades? Maybe not fades fasts enough ..."

She looked down at Bekkah, who had taken her hands.

She blinked.

"Oh.

"My."

Her head tilted curiously, when she finally looked into her mentor's eyes.

"Bekkahs rights. Maybe Lady touched.

"Romanas not scared."

Her true smile then returned.

"Romanas ready."

Kadri:

"Meanwhile ... I have an outfit that would be appropriate I think - I saved it from when I left ... however, I am going to need some help getting into it and making myself presentable. It has been a while since I dressed to attract attention rather than deflect it."