DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games HWD: The Heartwood HWD: Waverider's Watch - At the Farms

Pietro


After tending to Djinni, the squire completed his evening devotions, praying that a plan for their upcoming task would occur to him or to some one of those sharing his upcoming adversities. He realized that he could probably rely on Dominic for assistance - possibly considerable assistance - but not for anything in the way of tactical or strategic planning.

As he drifted off to sleep under the stars, he found himself thinking of a Korie as, unbelievable as it might have seemed to him before he'd met this youngest of the Korie lords... well, silly.

Well, laughter can be a good thing... not always, but at least occasionally.

The following morning, after a quick prayer to Lord Rames and checking in on Djinni, making sure his steed was properly brushed and fed, it occurred to him that a horse could not be easily transported on a small boat - especially not a coracle.

This did not please him.

He took a hunk of bread, a bit of cheese and one of the last of his apples from his saddlebags and joined the others.

"Where would one find adequate water for... washing," he asked Cesare.

Early in he morning, kadri was caring for Lisica.

Talking more to herself than to anyone else - even if the sound was aimed at her horse - she thought out loud.

"So how does one arrange the great chase with a target you do not know?"

She needed to know things. How did they get food? When did people come in, come out? How closely were they checked?

Bekkah

She exited the Mill with Keiko in tow. She stopped for a moment as Her light hit her face. She smiled upward, saying a quick prayer to her Goddess.

She opened her eyes and looked down, seeing others below.

"There. I believe that is my friend." she said pointing.

She continued downward, towards Cesare. As she got closer, she recognized that the other was Dominic.

"A good morning to you all. Dominic, I didn't expect to see you this morning. Quite a pleasant surprise."

She then turned to Cesare.

"Cesare kha'Jasmine kha'Sayako kha'Twilight khal'Horosha Danika my friend, please meet a new friend, Keiko kha'Chiyo kha'Masuyo kha'Tsukiko kha'Chouko khal'Nakano Hoshiko.

"Keiko, I met Cesare traveling with my sister and he has been as loyal and honest as any life long friend I've ever had."

"Cesare, Keiko is as responsible for yesterday's display as anyone. It was her guidance that led me to the Forest Folk. Her love and respect for them, helped open my eyes." She did not mention Keiko's card reading ability since she that didn't seem to be hers to reveal.

Cesare

He had just bitten into his apple as he nodded a good morning to Pietro and had to do some quick chewing and swallowing before he can answer.

"You need to go up beyond the farm in that direction to find a spot. It is not that deep but adequate. Elsewhere there are these walking fish which I'm told can be dangerous. Took me a while to find a place."

He grins.. and then turns as he hears Bekkah.. a smile on his face which fades as she starts introductions to Keiko. He is not sure the Rhoni girl wants this but then it is likely they will be working together in future.

"I seem to have upset you the other day. I do not know why but it was not intended."

He meets her eyes, his words at least honest but he half expects another rebuff. However he stands straight and steady, though facing sharks might have been easier.

Keiko

Because of the backward way of making the introduction — and why should Lady Bekkah be expected to remember something so insignificant in her world, especially after the great miracle she performed yesterday? — Keiko was thrown off balance, and her eyes widened.

Khal’Horosha? THAT lost Family??

Is this what it feels like to be without the currents?

Fortunately, the feeling was transient... perhaps because she could feel Tomomi pressed against her side, her Mouse friend’s hand was real and delicate in her own. Unfortunately, it was a strange sort of current she found herself in.

“I...” She forced herself to meet his eyes. Now that they were known to one another to do otherwise would be rude.

“I understand. You are one of the Lost Ones and are not aware of the traditions of our people.

“I did not know you were of the Horosha Family then, and so your directness and...” Keiko paused, considering her words and the waves, and decided on honesty. “...and perceived impertinence could only have been received, at that time, as rudeness. But I now know you could not have meant it as rudeness for you have been Lost for quite some time.”

She shrugged slightly. She accepted what was, despite it being a very disturbing thing. “Sayako and Twilight are several generations removed from Jasmine. If anything is known of the women between Sayako and Jasmine, these are not stories I was told.”

She looked away for a moment toward the east. It was now more apparent than ever that many tales were kept hidden from the Caravans, held only in the hearts and memories of the most senior of the Elders. Keiko was beginning to understand now just what it meant to live as one of those tales. Surely someday she would be reunited with her Family and Caravan.

No, nothing was sure but the World upon which they walked and the currents that they rode. Such was the way of the Rhoni.

Except... except for this particular Rhoni, one other thing was as sure as the World and the waves.

She returned her gaze to Cesare, her violet eyes bright.

“Since introductions are a crucial social convention...” Keiko wrapped her arm around Tomomi’s shoulders. “This is my friend, Tomomi ‘al’dhashyah’lahknash’khaharenah’lokhee’sheeshalee’ al’khevreenah’tahkash’rahkavash. I am honored to have given her this name, which means ‘beautiful friend and wonderful person who is brave and clever and intelligent, who wears sleeves of delicate lace.”

She looked at her forever friend. “Tomomi, this is Cesare kha’Jasmine kha’Sayako kha’Twilight khal’Horosha Danika who is a very, very distant kinsman... for all Rhoni are kinsmen. He is the son of Jasmine from the Family founded by Danika Horosha. Our names are important stories for the Rhoni. But of greater importance to all, he is a friend of Lady Bekkah.”

Glancing over at the Young Master and then back up at Cesare, she shrugged again. “I have spent much time in the East and speak that language, and so Tomomi’s name is crafted from that tradition. The Young Master has advised me to refrain from speaking it.”

She looked around again, puzzled. She could see the line of horses — that surely must have been the Young Master’s doing — but noted that two of the horses were missing.

“Has Mikal D’Allyne left your company? I had hoped to have a conversation with him.”

Pietro


The squire nodded his thanks and started to speak but, before he could, the healing Lady of Attera approached with Keiko and another of the little people.

Pietro stood as the ladies approached and began talking with Cesare.

Cesare

He feels as though someone has hit him in the solar plexus. So much to take in, so many questions buzzing through his head. He had not expected that. And her last question causes him to swing around to wards the stable to look for Mikal's horse and it is not there. He takes a moment to gather himself, feeling very off balance, seems the winds of Fate have just kicked him.

"Thank you for accepting my apology. You are right in that I am ignorant of many of our traditions. I was taught many but obviously not all of them."

He forces a smile then the smile broadens as she introduces her friend, another like Emerald.

"Please to meet you Tomomi."

Turning back to Keiko he answers her last question.

"I am not aware of Mikal leaving but his horse is not here."

He frowns, trying to work out what may have happened. Then he cannot help himself but to ask a question himself.

"It sounds like you know something of my family, maybe more than I do. I would appreciate knowing more.. there is too much I do not know."

Kadri:


She looks over at Pietro and smiles, sadly.

"Too many friends disappear. It is worse when the friends are more or less family.'

Lyric of Kethy's Woods

Somewhere in the night or the earliest of morning Lyric had bathed and changed her clothing. She now wore a peach tunic similar in style and weight and layering as her previous dress. Maybe these were merely the under-tunics of a more complete outfit. This was Yrick and morning temperatures were cooler than the weight for which these garments seemed suited on first appearance. Of course she did have her heavier tartan cloak draped over her shoulders to stave off the chill air and damp morning condensations.

But she hadn't joined the slowly gathering group. She had not slept nearby either. She had kept to herself that night and retreated some place quiet and isolated.

Come morning, and the first hints of She bringing a corona of illumination on the Eastern Horizon, a shadow atop a boulder in the darkness of night becoming day could be discerned to be less boulder and more tartan cloak. How long she had been there in place some distance away could not be deciphered with a glance or a notice. She was silent and unmoving, the drape of the cloak blending her into the natural lines of the rock. With each passing minute, the dark became grey and the grey became more resolved in the colors of She's realm.

Lyric faced the direction of the largest road leading away from the Rock and the village, as if she had been watching for something or someone... or watching after the same as it left.

Many thoughts occupied the woman's mind and sorting them all out required the peace and quiet she had found on this large boulder.

Keiko

Nodding toward the horses, Keiko said, “A man with two horses does not leave a place with both unless he does not intend to return soon.”

The coming and going of people was something familiar, something expected in the life of a Rhoni. Sometimes the partings were easy and sometimes they were difficult, sometimes they were joyful and sometimes they were bittersweet. But it was a thing that always happened.

“I can only say what I know... and of your Family, little is known. Perhaps the elders know tales of the missing generations, but I am certainly no elder,” she said with a chuckle. But she sobered then, knowing that she would never want one to make light of news that came to her about her own Family.

“What is commonly known of your parents is that they were friends of the One Who Married a Gaija and the Imperial Who Married a Rhoni And Lost All He Had. All but one have died, and even the fate of Madoka kha'Ayanna kha'Kame kha'Chikato khal'Homura Akemi Koromov is uncertain. Although...”

Keiko had to turn away, to take some scant comfort in the Forest’s darkness.

“It might be best to hope she is at peace with Krysta,” the young Rhoni woman said softly. “Death is a better alternative than the hospitality of the Eastern Princes.” She seemed to shudder... and perhaps she did. After a moment, she took a deep breath and looked at Cesare again.

“It is said that the one for whom our kinswoman risked her life and soul still lives and is safe. To have confirmation that al’Lhahrhonsha’ khahnyakhleenyash’ mahlshahdah is protected from al’Lhahrhonsha’ khahnyash’ velikii’makhloshee...” Keiko’s brows furrowed before she shook her head. “Sorry. In Colonial... knowing that the young Lhahrhonsha princess is safe from the great and mighty...” Her voice dripped with disdain; she couldn’t help it. “...prince of the royal family Lhahrhonsha would give comfort.”

Keiko drew her cloak tighter around herself with one hand; the other remained on Tomomi’s shoulder.

“Much has been sacrificed by many for Rhomanishkah’al’lhahrhonsha. To know she is far from her father’s grasp would help ease a heart burdened by some of that sacrifice.” The slight young woman smiled sadly. “I freely chose to walk the World when asked, find new currents, and to ride waves that took me far from Family and Caravan. Although I would freely choose the same wave again, knowing the princess is safe would bring some gladness to my heart.”

Pietro


The squire's eyes widened and he looked from Kadri to the horses - now fewer by two - and then to Cesare.

"He seemed like a good man," Pietro said slowly, a confused expression on his face.

"Had he said anything about leaving?"

Cesare

His eyes are intent on Keiko's as he drinks in every word.. then he laughs.

"The princess is not only safe and well but is Bekkah's apprentice. She is remarkable."

He nods slowly, many memories of Romana clamouring for attention. He smiles fondly.

"From what little I remember and what I have learned, I believe my father took her as a child to keep her from harm. My mother took me and my Aunt & Uncle in a different direction and I spent a good part of my life hiding.. and waiting for his return. Then my mother died, broken-hearted. Before then she made me promise to find him. I do not know still if he is alive or where he might be found. You are the first Rhoni that I have talked to since my mother died. I don't feel quite as alone today."

That there are others there, that he is open about his feelings and his personal history before them, seems not to matter, not just now.

Keiko

Keiko smiled and seemed to relax. Let the Eastern Princes turn their stomachs sour with rage. The Families and Caravans might be scattering to the farthest corners of the High Tarn, she herself might be walking the World for a long time before they gathered again, but knowing that Rhomanishkah’ al’Lhahrhonsha was safe made the journey easier to bear.

But she shook her head as Cesare spoke. She had no desire to cause him more grief than he already felt about his family, but the truth...

Grandmother had always said that the Truth was like a precious gem. At times, it must be hidden. At times, it should be displayed. But knowing which current held the Truth and which wave to ride with it was an art. True, she had learned that art, for it was a necessary thing when she read the Cards for the Gaija. But Grandmother had also said that Truth should be given to Kinsmen when it is first known. Hiding the Truth from another Rhoni was a sure way to create enmity.

“Cesare, you must hear my words.

“Thomas of the Imperial Family Koromov and Madoka of the Homura Family... Yoska of the Masakta Family and Jasmine of the Horosha Family... they were the best of friends. What you remember is the first attempt to free the princess. The children of Thomas and Madoka were sent away. Perhaps their parents did not mean for them to wind up in Trundle’s Alley, but there they were. The eldest became cold and is now the Justice of Trundle. The younger became a warrior, following She Who Lights the World. Neither knew there would be a third child.”

She paused, looking away again. Keiko noted the activity around them, was vaguely aware of other conversations, even saw Lyric perched on her large rock.

“Think,” she said softly and kindly. “Would Madoka have sent away her remaining daughter if there had been any other wave for her to ride? Would she have needed to make another attempt to free Rhomanishkah if your father had succeeded?

“I am truly sorry, Cesare.” She looked back up at him, knowing that she must be the face of all Rhoni now — one who knows that death is just a part of life and that, of all the partings a Rhoni experiences in life, death is the only parting that one can be sure is final in this World.

“I would beseech the Ancestors for answers if I thought they could answer. I would ask my Cards for you if I didn’t know they would call me foolish. I would only hope that when the Great Prince’s men found his daughter, your father’s death was swift and merciful.”

She held his gaze and would not flinch. She knew all too well the malevolence of the Princes of the East; she doubted that this man’s father had died quickly enough. But that was a Truth even Grandmother would advise her to keep tucked away.

“It is no comfort to know your search has reached an end that is hard to hear, yet knowing the search has ended is a comfort. What is always comes with what is not. But in your sorrow, you might take comfort knowing that their souls are once more together.”

Cesare

He stands and he listens, listens as he feel the hope die. He had never really known his father, not known the kind of man he was, nor come to love him in the way his mother obviously had. But somehow he had inherited her feelings, her dreams and it is a surprise as he feels tears in the corners of his eyes.

But he has at least fulfilled his promise though likely she had found the truth before he did. Sorrow yes.. but a kind of peace too. It did mean that he hadn't deserted them. He would have come to find them if he could.

There were implications in the ending of that storyline that he doesn't want to think too deeply about right now.. and he can see that reflected in Keiko's eyes. He just holds tight to the thought that Romana is safe and free to fulfil her destiny. He feels sure it will be a great one.

He takes a long deep breath.

"Thank you Keiko. It is better to know than to hold false hope. I appreciate your honesty, it could not have been an easy thing to say."

Keiko

As she watched his inner struggle in the set of his shoulders and the suggestion of emotions on his face, Keiko felt relief that those who had raised him gave Cesare enough grounding in Rhoni tradition to understand the fundamental belief on which they all stood — all things in life are transient. She could teach him the simple things, the day to day ways in which the Rhoni were unlike the Gaija. She never could have taught him what it meant to be Rhoni.

And yet, there were still likely to be things he did not know that she could not teach... simply because she was not an elder.

Her hand had slipped from Tomomi’s shoulder, and both hands were now clasped loosely at her waist. It was her choice to make — which current, which wave, which path?

Kindness, Grandfather had said, whenever possible, choose kindness.

And so Keiko inclined her head to acknowledge his thanks. “We strive to balance all things in our lives as we ride the waves, kinsman. I live with the knowledge that speaking this difficult truth is less of a hardship for me that it is for you to hear it. But knowing that you might find peace in the truth eases even that hardship.

“It is now for you to decide which path to take as you allow peace to be with you.”

The young woman glanced away again, this time in Lyric’s direction.

“If you will excuse me now, I would see how my friend Lyric fares.”

Nodding to Cesare and taking Tomomi’s hand again, she made her way across the bit of field to Lyric’s boulder. Keiko regarded the other young woman for a few heartbeats before speaking.

“Friend Lyric, you hold yourself apart and seem pensive this morning. What troubles you?”

Her violet eyes seemed darker in this early morning light; perhaps their color was a reflection of her mood or perhaps just a trick She played with Her light upon the World. In either case, Keiko stood patiently — it almost appeared that she kept a vigil with Lyric. Or for Lyric.

Lyric

If the minstrel had heard her friend Keiko and Tomomi approaching she offered no reaction. She continued to stare across the field in the direction where the mercenary man and his friend horses had gone from her sight. Lyric did not turn to regard Keiko and Tomomi until the Rhoni woman spoke her name and then it was the greeting a warm eyes and a broad smile. Lyric slide from the smooth rock's perch to feet next to the pair.

"There are many things I find confusing. Different from where I come. If a folk leaves with all his possessions and those of his four footed friend companions, but does not offer his farewells... Since those two things seem at cross purpose, is he really leaving?"

Lyric shrugged. It sounded rhetorical though so maybe it was just a thought she pondered.

Her pale blue eyes seemed even more so in the grey of the morning.

"I am well. I have been up and I am bathed and refreshed with clean garments to wear... Another day where She appears ready to favor us with her light. What troubles could I possibly have?"

Keiko

Although Lyric’s question may have been rhetorical, it was something not the least bit unusual in the Rhoni’s experience.

“That is often the way Rhoni come and go... by merely doing so. There are times when farewells are given. There are times when they are not.” Keiko smiled at her friend. “For us, there are no purposes to cross. One is gone when they are gone; one is here when they are here.

“And there is always the possibility for another meeting at another time and place.”

It did not seem necessary to point out the opposite of future meetings was the possibility of future leavings... except, of course, if one had befriended a Mouse. For Keiko, that was the anomaly — to know that a leaving would always end with a returning. It was strange and it ran counter to the teachings of the Ancestors. But it was still a very nice thing.

“With no troubles of our own, then, perhaps we might find a way to help the others,” she said, gesturing to the various folks gathered nearby.

Cesare

He nods as Keiko speaks her words of wisdom. He has a lot to think about, to consider where his steps may take him in the future. But at least he has a promise to fulfil and that gives him an anchor, a direction for now. He is glad of that. It gives him time to consider.

It is best now that he gives his focus to the question of Mikal and to the quest that lies ahead. He also remembers that Pietro had said something to him earlier and that he had mentally pushed that aside in the light of Keiko's revelations.

"I'm sorry Pietro, you asked me something before. I was a little distracted."

It may be an understatement but moving on now is what he needs.

Lyric

Lyric's eyes followed that gesture and she smiled, but she gave no indication she was quite ready to move from the realm of the rock she had chosen as a morning perch. Although now she stood by it's side and she seemed content to remain a little longer. All things happened when they were to happen.

"What I mean to say, is that while I have none... I sense you do, and have from the time I met you along the 'old path, beside the darkened woods, around the bend, back to the east'. I sensed it again in you when you were reading your cards. There is something that troubles you. Even more than the weight of the great and dangerous task before us now as we quest to help the Mouses and their friends and families."

Lyric paused in consideration of her own words, her brow knitted together and then she canted her head slightly to her left and smiled as she shrugged at whatever notion occurred to her just then. She returned her attention to Keiko.

"Perhaps 'trouble' is not the right word. Forgive me that. As one who must ply her trade on her journey using words, mine may have been indelicate. I sense you have a concern and that when I saw you read the cards, I felt you had seen something yet again in them. Share with me this?"

Pietro


Doing his best to remain patient, the squire nodded and smiled rather tightly as Cesare turned back to him and his question.

"I asked if Mikal had said anything about leaving? I would seem odd to me for a Jvrillian, under contract, would leave unless something urgent intervened."

Cesare

He shakes his head.

"He didn't say anything to me. Kadri did he talk to you before leaving?"

The taking of both horses seems to imply an intent but he doesn't understand what was so urgent or important that he didn't talk to one of them.

Kadri:

"He did not violate his contract. I modified its terms and gave him ... leave to do as he needed to fulfill his conscience and honor. He is a good man. And I would hear no more talk of it - please. What is done, is done."

Keiko

Keiko chuckled. “Your words were not indelicate, Lyric. I am used to plain and direct words from my Family. But troubled?”

She paused to consider the idea and found herself more interested in observing Lyric’s mannerisms — just different enough for someone who enjoyed both observing and interacting with people to notice that there was a difference. Finally, though, she shook her head.

“I think concerned might be a better work. Or maybe worried?” She pursed her lips and shook her head again. “Beshayah’sha. It could translate either way from Eastern.

“But I am not sure there is something to worry over. I do have concerns regarding how best to help the Forest Kin who are still held captive by the Dwarves. And the Cards spoke of someone, a group of someones who are making plans of ill intent.”

Keiko paused again, this time with a furrowed brow.

“It may be possible, despite my best efforts at asking a well-worded question, that the two are not related.”

She looked at the road that led from this tiny hamlet out to the High Tarn and eventually to the Big Village.

“Perhaps the Cards were giving me a message for Mikal D’Allyne, for I have been concerned about his dislike of Broke.”

Turning back to the minstrel, Keiko could only shrug.

“If he is not here to receive the message, then I can only wish him well in my thoughts and hope that his path is one on which he finds what he seeks.”

Lyric

"Things change Friend Keiko. They must, or else the world would die. I do not know what forces or magics enable you to do what you do, but that does not matter either. It is enough that you do possess the talent, or the Gift to see things as you do. But if your message was for the Jvrillian then would not the cards have been able to show you he would never receive the message? I do not question them, but think there is more to the interpretation and the True Focus. Tell me more of these 'Makers of Ill Intent'... Were the cards so specific that you see it thus?"

She tipped her head apologetically, "Please take no offense. I ask questions because I do not know and I wish to understand. If I am to be a voice of counsel as seems I have been to some already, then you helping me understand might enable us both to better grasp what trouble or worry looms ahead."

Keiko

She listened to Lyric without interrupting. In a way — as strange it sounded within her own mind — Lyric was speaking in a way that Great-Aunt Mitsuko often did, forcing Keiko to think about the messages of the Cards and the various ways they could be interpreted. And so the young Card Reader did just that — she thought about each of the three cards that related to the second question she had asked during the Reading.

“I do not take offense when one comes with sincere questions and seeks deeper answers, Friend Lyric. Those are often the best questions to consider. And your reason for asking is sound.”

It had been a simple and selfless question that had led Keiko and Bekkah from the Marketday gathering to the Forest Kin Home.

How can I help?

From there to here, it was all grounded in that simple question. Keiko nodded slightly to herself.

“Change is the one true constant in the culture of the Rhoni. We speak of the World’s currents and of riding the waves. Rivers flow and the seas shift with the tides. The Ancestors said You cannot step in the same river twice. Most will understand this to mean that the river has flowed within its banks, or perhaps overflowed then. This water is not the same as the water that flowed by yesterday. But there is a deeper meaning to most things attributed to the Ancestors. Yesterday, I watched the river flow. Today, I watch the river flow. I am not the same as I was yesterday and I will be different again tomorrow.

“And now you might wonder how this could relate to your question about the Cards.

“All things change. No two things are exactly alike. How I interpret the interrelationship between the three Cards that address an issue may not be the same as another Reader would interpret them. And because I have changed, it is possible I might see a slightly different interpretation on a different day. In reading the Cards, I can only say, ‘These are all the things I see.’ I do not have the skill to see the Patterns of the World; I cannot put these things together in a way that a Pattern Reader might and say, ‘These are the things we might do.’ There are few Pattern Readers in the world, and they are all Allaines or their cousins.” Keiko shrugged. “This is what I have been taught.

“So there is nothing so precise I can say except that three reversed Cards do not bode well. The things I see will often be hardships and ill omens. Or the Makers of Ill Intent, as you said. If the message was for the Jvrillian, the Cards would not say so directly. And usually not indirectly either. Perhaps that is the role of the Pattern Reader... to say who should receive the message when is it not clear to me.

“If it is a message for him, then I am sincere in wishing him well. Even without the warning of the Cards, it is likely he can prevail against the darker forces. Dama Kadri spoke of him as one who has a sense of honor, which would be a shield against such forces.”

She looked over at the remainder of the group for a moment and then sighed deeply before looking once more at Lyric.

“If the Cards were speaking to me — and through me, to the entire group — it is still a message of sinister plans being made. Of important things hidden deeply away, things that are evil. The presence of something preventing plans from being completed.

“But this is Truth no matter the intended recipient of the message — the final Card very strongly suggests that a stand must be taken against the evil, against the forces that hide.

“I can make guesses, Friend Lyric, about what the Cards might point to based on my interpretations but that is all it will be — guesses.”

Keiko shook her head and smiled wanly. “It is much simpler to spend Festival Days telling young men that some young women fancy them.