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The Heartwood
The Dirkwood Forest
Home
Attaday, the Eighth Day of Yrick


Bekkah, Keiko, Lyric, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald, Lady, Miss Tomomi, Wuff-Wuff, Left and Right


“Thank you for your concern …”

The tall wuffess looked back to Lyric as they spoke. Soft actually smiled. Of all the Pack, her smile was the kindest and least fierce. She was their den mother, after all.

“In this case it might actually be a good thing. Because it seems the One who has noticed me is the only One this Forest would never harm. Come … walk with me a bit …”

Thus Lyric missed the arrival of Cesare, Pietro and Kadri to the docks. Soft walked silently and lead her down the docks towards the shore. She then continued along one of their paths. It was a short circuit, a little loop into the Woods and back. It was also an odd little trip. Walking beneath the forest canopy was strangely quiet. Peaceful. As if – while she was in Soft’s company – she suddenly belonged here.

“I thought so.”

Soft smiled.

“Just don’t try that without me.”

When they returned to Home Lyric saw that the others had begun their trip, heading to the Blackwater in their little boats. One Fang remained, tapping his foot on the wooden planks.

“I am being chastised it seems.”

The wuffess smiled again.

“I guess the two of us have to catch up. Have a fair day Minstrel.”

As expected, One Fang gave his elder a well put-upon look. He did, however, remember to include a nod to the Minstrel.

“That’s a good promise.”

They then vanished into the Dirkwood, leaving Lyric alone on the docks, at least, for the moment.

Upstairs breakfast was over, leaving Bekkah to her own devices. She couldn’t return to the room allotted her because Lady would be there. It was the Vixen’s turn to sleep. This morning was different than her previous one here. While Home had felt warm and welcoming, today it also felt more alive.

It felt as if there were many things possible now that there would not have been before. The Gods and Goddesses could see them now. This was good and bad, but it was mostly good. Most Gods liked having worshippers. Some were probably chomping at the divine bit, seeking new followers. Also, more simple and more pragmatic, healing magic should work on them now.

Maybe now they wouldn’t need Forges to have families.

Maybe some would show their thanks by following her Lady.

Bekkah had not made a little change to the small community. This change would echo across the mainland. That by itself was a bit disconcerting. Maybe she should find her friends for more some less portentous and more normal, everyday conversation.

Though the conversation that was currently going on in Tomomi’s window seat might not exactly qualify.

“My Lady! You wound me! Twice!”

Dominic Korie looked to Keiko and Tomomi. He could only put one hand dramatically on his hip, because the other was around his companion Mouse. That Mouse gave him a look and nudged him with her elbow.

“First you accuse me of having a plan!”

That was the statement that got him the nudge. What he said next, however, was accompanied by a very serious look from Miss Emerald, a very protective one.

“Second. It’s Dominic. Or Dom. Or Dommi, Or Dominic Dominie. Or even hey, you, Korie guy. Not the other. Not that title. Whether it’s true or not is one thing, but it is a dangerous title to use, for both you and me.

“Besides. I am not a title.

“I have a name. Dommi is a good name. The best name! Fine, not as pretty as Emmi or Keiko or Tomomi, but I’m a guy! It’s a handsome name. I know, I know, I’ve said my village was so small we all had to share the same name, but that only proves the point. We couldn’t settle for a second rate, easily worn out name. We had to chose one name, one name that was very good, tough, heroic, strong, monumental and …”

Miss Emerald spoke two words.

“And silly.”

Dommi did not miss a beat.

“Fine. That too!”

Tomomi had to take one of her hands back to cover her mouth to stop from giggling.

“As for the others? Ja, they drove off their Dayalan. But they do have a Squire. And from what I have heard, he’s a good squire. In some ways I think that might be better. This is a problem created by Imperials. That a Squire and a Priestess be part of its undoing may be more proper. One could say the shaft is a well, but truth? There will be places of Lord Rames’ power in that Keep that will serve him very well.

“Hastur and Rames is a horrible combination. Rames and Attera? That is the other side of the coin. Those two together can make miracles.

“And as for humor?”

Dominic smiled.

“Think about it. There I was, bound and caught. In the darkness, chained and manacled. Trapped. Me! The paragon of mischief, a master at dancing in the Sunset! And how did I escape? Not by summoning the world’s largest demon! Not by surprise and magic triumphant! Not by the Army of Talantal storming the ramparts! Not by the Unexpected Arrival of Eagles or by a Giant with a Wheelbarrow and Holocaust Cloak!

“Instead …

“I got rescued by a Mouse.”

Emmi nodded.

“The Dwarves are never going to live that one down.”

Dominic chose that time to join them on the small window seat. It was a very comfortable seat, but now everyone had to be friendly. Not that Dominic seemed to mind. Tomomi squeaked and Emerald claimed a noble lap.

“It’s all in how you look at it. Most of what I do is extremely serious. Humor is where you find it. Laughter comes from the heart. Rescuing the Forest Kin is an extremely serious matter. But think of all the smiles we will see when those of the mines look up to the sun for their very first time. When they learn what stars are. When they feel the rain fall upon them.

“No. It is not a joke. None of it is a joke. But if we succeed, I am sure My Lady will be smiling.

“And the sleeping dreamers?”

Dominic’s shoulders rose and fell.

“I suspect they will continue to sleep. Like being on the trail, settled in for the night, discovering a rock at your back and then the rock suddenly vanishes. If they do wake?

“How many people can say a Dragon owes them a favor?”

He then smiled.

“As for the last, there is another way to look at it. You are riding a wave for your family. Fine. Do you trust that wave? Because if you truly believe in the currents of the world you know they have brought you here for a reason. You are still here because it is not time to be elsewhere. Your task here is not finished.

“Speaking of that …”

Dominic leaned out the open window and looked down.

“Hoi Minstrel! We are talking of things profound and whimsical. Come join us. Today is not a day to be alone!

“Then again, no day is!”

Below, on the little docks, Lyric heard her name called. It was a familiar and irreverent voice. But it was an invitation and the first she had received this day. Looking up she saw the young Master of Waverider’s Watch leaning out from Home above her. Not too far, either. He waved and motioned for her to join them.

“We have sheets, we can make a rope for …”

Tomomi’s eyes went wide. Dominic blinked.

“Or take any stair to the main hall, then it’s the first stair on the right, up three landings and then turn left.

“I think.”

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Lyric

The minstrel stood on the docks for a time, still and quiet. She watched after Soft and One-Fang as they walked out into the woods. Having finished her own small walk with Soft, Lyric was still trying to process what she felt and what it might mean. Soft accepted the wisdom Lyric offered but in the end, perhaps, it only helped the wuffess resolve to experiment with what she felt, even if Lyric didn't understand it. Regardless, the feeling she experienced on the walk was worth the effort expended because every new experience was priceless to her.

Hearing Dommi's voice call out to her, assuming she was the Minstrel he was addressing, she looked around first and then up into the boughs of the Home Tree to find the right structure from whence the call came.

She nodded with a slight cant to the right and started for the closest means to climb higher into the Forestkin home, to find her way.

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Keiko

The Rhoni snorted. “Then perhaps Lord Tone-Deaf is a good name for someone from a village so small the names must be reused and shared. Surely, there cannot be so many Tone-Deaf lords in your small village that you’d need to share such a fine and respectable name, can there?” She did smile at him, however. “Although, if you are extraordinarily fond of ‘Dommi’ as your favorite, I would be pleased enough to use that name, too. Besides! Dommi and Emmi has such a musical quality to it, don’t you think? Well, perhaps you wouldn’t, being tone-deaf and all. But I assure you that it does. And it’s truly... well, poetic sounding, too.”

She watched and listened as he rambled, catching herself up on one phrase of his and losing much of what he said until he spoke of rescuing the Forest Kin and those who slept.

Keiko shook her head, as though to clear it, as though she couldn’t believe what the Young Master had said, as though it was another of his tall tales.

“By Water and Wind, by the Fates and Ancestors! Who would drive a Dayalan from their party? And was it not Lady Bekkah’s own sister?” Once more the violet-eyed young woman shook her head. “Surely, m’lord, I am forced to call you a rapscallion for spreading such an incredible and unseemly tale! Why, rumors have even spread to the Caravans that one such fierce and formidable warrior broke the curse on the old temple of theirs at Bordertown.” Tilting her head to one side, she shrugged. “I'll grant that the rumor could be a wild exaggeration, I suppose... even though there are two stars how guarding the Dark Patch.”



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Lyric

However long it took, however many levels and turns and times around the trunk, Lyric did not count. Time was meaningless when compared to experience. She would find her destination, the place she had been summoned, or invited, sooner or later.

So, when finally she found her way to the place where she would find Friend Keiko, Dommi and the Mouses, she couldn't explain how long it had taken or how she had managed to find her way. She really hadn't paid attention to any of that.

You can't be lost, if you don't know where you are going in the first place... and wherever you end up is always the place you are. The journey is always more important than the destination.

Entering the room she smiles and nods, almost deferentially to all in the room, as though this were their demesnes and she was simply a guest honored to be included.

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At The Window Seat

“Well … one would think that from a Village so small the inability to carry a tune might just be passed down from parent to child, especially considering we don’t have that many traits to go around in the first place.

“That …”

Dominic rubbed his chin.

“And it may also explain why a certain Noble family always hires minstrels for their feasts.”

He shrugged his shoulders and looked to his companion. Miss Emerald nodded.

“However, being musically challenged does not lesson one’s ability to enjoy good song or recognize a proper melody. Dommi and Emmi. That does have a very nice ring to it.”

Resting his head upon Miss Emerald’s shoulder, Dominic chewed on his lower lip.

“As for Lady Bekkah’s sister, well you should know by now that wrangling a simple truth from me is like finding a mellow merebeast. On the other hand, one of the reasons I am no threat to a hereditary title is that I have no desire to lead that kind of chase – I suspect she feels the same way too. Now that my Brother no longer needs my protection, I can understand why she might no longer wish to wear the manacles of leadership and instead spend some time walking next to one particular person. Duties change, responsibilities change, and sometimes you need to discover a new path.

“As for Bordertown rumors … they must truly be pure flights of fancy, tales of whimsical dreams and the fact that there are new stars in the sky mere coincidence.

“Ouch!”

His bodyguard once again elbowed the Korie Lord. Once more Tomomi snickered. Tomomi looked between the two, then to Keiko and then to Dominic and back to Keiko.

“I don’t think he was telling the truth right there, at the end, was he?”

About that time Lyric rounded the corner. And while they were not in a room proper, the four had claimed a window seat in a place where the hallway grew wide enough such that anyone using the seat would not be overly disturbed. Motioning her over, Dominic grinned once more.

“Good day, fair Lyric.

“Please join us. We are discussing various and sundry things, such as names, reputations and rumors from afar. We have yet, however, to discuss finding something bright and colorful for Miss Emmi to wear and I was hoping to find some suggestions this morning, since my choice in garb tends to fall to black and black and – uhm – black.”

That unexpected turn in the conversation drew forth a single word from Dominic’s companion.

“SQUEAK!”

Emmi suddenly blushed, her ears turning the deepest shade of pink. She immediately pulled up the hood of her travel cloak, turned and sheltered herself deeper and closer beneath Dominc’s arm.

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Keiko

She listened to the Young Master.

It was like being in the middle of a wind storm in the mountains — snow blowing from every direction so one couldn’t see their hand in front of their face, the wind howling so that nothing but the sound of the storm could be heard.

Keiko blinked once... then a second time... and finally a third time before reaching over to rummage in her pack. The ribbon she pulled out was red and very long. If she accidentally poked the Young Master while reaching for a dagger to slice off a bit of the fabric, that was only to be expected. The window seat, after all, was quite cozy. She did stand up, however, after tucking the much longer piece of ribbon back in her back so that returning the dagger to its sheath wouldn’t inconvenience the Noble a second time.

“Good morning, Lyric,” she said, her tone one of both cheerfulness and bemusement. “Please... take my seat and enjoy the company of our hosts while I attend to my morning rituals.

“I am nearly certain I remember the way. Well, unless Dommi’s attempts to spin a tale have spun me into too many whirlpools,” she added with a smile.

Keiko did stop for a moment to tuck the ribbon she had cut into one of the many folds that were part of the Mouse-shaped cloak hiding Miss Emmi.

“Here you are, Miss Emmi! A beginning of your color collection! I would search out more, but Tomomi brilliantly realized that the rescued Kin might appreciate something special all their own.” Smiling at her friend, she added, “If red it not to your liking, perhaps you and Tomomi might enjoy a bartering session — there are very few colors of ribbon I have not traded for the lovely pigments she brings me.”

She shrugged as she turned to Tomomi. “I am only going to find that little room you showed me the other morning so that I might wash up and do what one must do after drinking so much cider.” It was an invitation for her friend to join her in her short journey, as well as an invitation to stay and enjoy the company of others, for Keiko did not plan to be gone long at all.

Slipping out of the window seat nook, Keiko started down the stairs.


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Bekkah

She walked about the small village, her thoughts to her friends as they had headed down river. She should have gone with them despite whatever protests they would have put up. This was her Goddess' doing after all so she felt more than a little responsibility.

She heard Dominic's voice call to Lyric and she smiled. She knew how irreverent the young lord could be.

*Which might be exactly what I need to take my mind off of the others.*

She headed for their rooms. She began up the stairs when she sees Keiko.

"Good morning Keiko." she said in greeting, a smile on her face as she looked up to the girl.

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Lyric

At Lyric's arrival, Dommi tried to pull her into a conversation immediately with barely a preface and little context. She looked at him wide-eyed, that is, until Emerald 'Squeaked' and her eye shifted there. Without proper context Lyric was lost in the moment.

Friend Keiko seemed unconcerned by the outburst, but she rose and offered her seat to the 'fair' minstrel. Not her word...

"I... ummm... very well," she managed to reply as Keiko spoke to Tomomi and then took her leave of the gathering for however long it took in the room of cider ablution... or something like that. Lyric had only taken a step forward, closer to Tomomi, Dommi and the reclusive squeaking Emmi but paused as Keiko was gone from sight now. She looked after her until she couldn't see her, and then back to those remaining. She smiled but it was clear she wasn't sure what had just happened. She blinked several times as she looked at the remaining 'hosts'... not her word. Several questions came to mind as she tried to find that much needed context. She asked them one after the other. If she could have asked them all at once, she would have done that, and it sounded from the rapid verbalization that she might be trying.

"Have I done something wrong? Is Miss Emerald displeased with my presence? Has Keiko had a change of heart where I am concerned? Dommi, did I mistake your call for an invitation where none was offered?"

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Keiko

“Oh, good morning, Lady Bekkah!” The Rhoni smiled brightly at the Healer. “I’m off to wash up for the day, but Lyric and Dommi and Emmi and Tomomi are right up the stairs here,” she said, pointing out the way. “I know they’ll be as pleased to see you as everyone else here at Home.

“I won’t be very long at all. Perhaps you can add to our thoughts on helping the rescued Kin feel safe once they have been rescued.”

With that, Keiko continued down the stairs in search of a chamber pot.


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Bekkah

"Thank you. I need something to take my mind off my friends. I will go with them the next time. I don't like at all, sitting and waiting." she said with a smile.

She proceeded upstairs, opening the door.

"Would it be okay if I joined you. I need something to take my mind off things." she said with a smile.

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Dommi

The red ribbon was accepted with a smile, that and a very well practiced disentanglement from a surprised and suddenly, uncharacteristically, shy Mouse. Miss Emerald's ears were still bright pink as he gathered her long silver hair into a pony tail and then tied it with the gifted ribbon. Dominic might not be able to sing, but he sure could tie a pretty bow.

"Perfect."

He nodded once.

"Accents your eyes and compliments your hair ..."

He paused for a heartbeat.

"And we were told ... that it's your tradition now, ja? To be bright and light colorful. You have been forgiven ... and this is a wonderful first step in forgiving yourself."

Then things got complicated. Lyric arrived. Keiko left. Bekkah arrived. Or maybe not. Tomomi seemed poised, suddenly looking uncomfortable and caught in the middle, knowing that one shouldn't always be everywhere together but scared and worried for her friend. She hopped off the window seat, looked to Miss Emerald and then down the hall a little way.

Emerald looked back, to Lyric, to the departing Rhoni and then just reached up and cuffed her Lord just above his ear with the ball of her small hand. Her eyes narrowed and she didn't have to say a word.

"Gah."

Dominic called out.

"Aiee! Being whimsical is a very dangerous thing. When the joke doesn't work, it just doesn't work. And we know whose fault that is, right? All mine. Apologies! Sometimes I get all caught up, and well - uhm - fine, I went too far. I'm sorry."

The Korie Lord sunk down in the cushions.

"No Miss Lyric ..."

Emerald crossed her arms and gave the minstrel a very satisfied nod.

"I was waxing far far far too eloquent and ended up having my own foot for breakfast. You have done nothing wrong, Miss Emmi is still recovering from yesterday's events and it appears that if I was a ruff I'd be banished to the ruffhouse.

"I did invite you, I think you are still on good terms with Keiko, but that's for her to say. It is a good morning, though.

He then offered one more call down the hall.

"It's safe to come back now ...

"I'll behave."

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Lyric

Lyric nodded. Things still were not clear enough for comprehension, but she had missed the actual conversation and a summary would have to do.

"Very well, then... I will sit..."

But she paused again as she got to right about the spot where she would turn herself around and set her butt in the open space. "If that's okay... Sometimes a quiet romantic spot is best left to it's intended purpose..."

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The Heartwood
The Dirkwood Forest
Home
Attaday, the Eighth Day of Yrick


Bekkah, Keiko, Lyric, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald, and Miss Tomomi.

For Bekkah and Keiko their morning ablutions were easily completed, leaving them to return when they wished.

For Lyric, Tomomi, Dominic and Emerald, for the moment they waited at the window seat.

“Well if we should be leaving … it should be the three of us. Because this isn’t our romantic spot …”

Dominic looked back to Lyric, while Miss Emerald dealt with having her hood down and her hair tied in a bright red ribbon. She shook her ponytail back and forth, pulled on it, getting used to the change in weight and feeling.

She smiled quietly when she was done.

“Oh … it’s fine …”

Tomomi spoke, looking down and holding her small hands together in front of her. One foot scuffed across the wooden floorboards.

“I’ve never had guests. It’s kind of new. And kind of nice. And I’m just not sure what to do right now. Should I stay, should I follow, some things are private and she did say she would be back so I should trust her, right? But I don’t know if she is happy or somehow hurt and if she’s actually waiting for me to follow her.”

The little mouse’s shoulders drooped.

“Being a friend is so very hard, and I’m so new at it, and I am afraid I’m of not being a very good one.”

Sitting in Dominic’s lap, Miss Emerald was quiet for a long set of heartbeats. She rested her head against Dominic’s shoulder, as if needing a bit of unspoken support before speaking.

“For the longest time I didn’t have a name, just a title. My dance was a lost one, my dance was a sad one. Eventually I met a blind man, one who just cannot see titles or duties or ranks. He looked at me and didn’t even see a Mouse. Well he did. But only because being a Mouse is part and parcel of being, of being …

“Being me.

“I’ve always known my dance is inevitable and I have always, always tried to be quick and without pain. When I returned to my cell, I often found myself crying, because no one would cry for them.

“Last night I was told I was a Good Mouse. And that my dance does not have to be sad, it does not have to be cruel. That I should wear bright colors and smile more. The inevitable is the inevitable, so we should make sure we live as well as we can while we can? Isn’t that what life is about? Make friends. See new things. Take chances. And most importantly …

“Be happy.”

Dominic slowly nodded.

“There’s your answer, Tomomi.

“And that’s why we should share a window seat, Lyric.”

Tomomi’s whiskers twitched, her brow furrowed. Then she smiled.

“I trust Keiko.

“I’ve never had anyone I could trust before.”

Dominc smiled and tugged at Miss Emerald’s ponytail.

“It’s a good feeling, isn’t it?”

Miss Emmi nudged the Young Master in the side with her elbow.

But this time, not very hard at all.

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Lyric

Lyric nodded and started to actually sit, but as soon as she did she twisted to look out over the balustrade, the same one that Dommi had leaned out over to call her up to join them when she was near the docks.

The conversation proceeded around her a bit. She heard it and some thoughts occurred to her in terms of how to counsel both Emerald and Tomomi, but other thoughts seemed to hold her attention more fully for the moment.

She brushed them off and then twisted back around. The thoughts were mildly unsettling and that was one feeling that Lyric didn't like to experience... anxiety. Even fear was better because fear sharpened other senses and charged the mind and body with energy. But anxiety dulled the mind and body and paralyzed a a person in doubt and indecision.

Brushing it off... yes. She smiled and nodded toward Emerald as if to supplicate her next words as a humble offering and nothing more.

"You are no longer bound by the rules of the life you once led. You are not governed by the determinations, commands, and restrictions that others imposed upon you. You are now free, possessed of a soul and given free-will, and if there is a guilt or a sadness for actions in your past, then harness that into a greater good in the life that is now yours to control."

She looked next to Tomomi.

"You are feeling anxiety Tomomi. Your friend has gone to do something without you. This is not to say you don't have a right to feel something for this unexpected moment, but please know that anxiety can cripple you in doubt. Your mind seeks to give your heart answers at a time when your own mind should not be trusted. It makes you question your own value when you have not enough facts to make such a judgment. Consider this, perhaps this separation is merely an act of friendship to reinforce to you that you are a whole person, also possessed of a soul, that has unique value... but you need to see it for yourself, experience it for yourself. Overcome this anxiety, friend Tomomi, and you are a step closer to realizing your full potential as a person and discovering the greater purpose for your life."

With that, the minstrel brought her thoughts inward again. Her eyes appeared to go unfocused for a moment as she was trying to do much the very same thing she advised Tomomi. She had a question to ask, but feared hearing the answer, and yet she wasn't sure why this was the case...

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Emerald, Tomomi and Dominic

"Your words are kind ..."

Miss Emerald opened her eyes, sat a little bit straighter and then shook out her long silver hair, that brand new pony tail slashing back and forth.

"And perhaps, perhaps for most of yesterday they were correct. Last night maybe but today, not so. But it is not a bad thing. It was curious, to meet one's Lady for the first time, unexpected and yet, to be shown, that I truly had been walking in Her path for all of my days. To be apologized to - and forgiven - because I had been set upon my tasks without proper guidance or learning and yet somehow never fell into the dark or became numb and stopped caring."

The little Mouse lightly elbowed Dominic, who was just listening, listening and smiling.

"Stop that. I know you are proud of me."

Turning back to Lyric the Mouse nodded once.

"I can't call him my Owner any more. Because now we are peers and my Lady is just as jealous as his Lady. Did you even wonder why I am to look for ribbons and bright clothing?

"They are my vestments, it seems.

"Krysta's Chosen may be the hands of Death but that is all the more reason, so I have been told, that we should celebrate life."

Her nose wrinkled and her whiskers went this way and that.

"I am still getting used to this whole thing. It will take some time. Priestess. Me. Who would have thought. I am just a Mouse."

Tomomi's eyes went wide, swallowing and then she bounced on her heels. She took a breath, almost looked as if she were going to rush down the hall and decided not to. Instead she sat down at the foot of her window seat.

"No."

Keiko's friend gave her Kin a serious look.

"A Mouse. Not just. A Mouse. And now we are People. I think, I think maybe we should stop talking about what is a person and just get on with being one. It would be far less confusing and it is not good for us Kin to get confused. We get lost really easily."

Dominic finally spoke up.

"Very true.

"Yesterday was strange and last night was full of surprises. Especially for Emmi and Soft. Which has me more than a little curious, because things like this usually come in threes.

"And you, Miss Minstrel?

"This is the second time this morning you've looked like a question was about to explode from inside you. Are we going to have to wait for a third time before you will actually ask that question? Who knows, you might actually get an answer."

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Lyric

Beyond individual aesthetic and personal taste, Lyric did not wonder about anyone's choice in garments. It was beyond her ken to understand why people did what they did, and despite the curiosity of it all, she simply accepted it as presented for that was simplest.

But Emerald explained and it involved Divine Beings. That was two such conversations in one passing of She, and that had to be significant. To them? No doubt. To Lyric? Well that would be a curiosity for another moment of fanciful consideration.

Before she knew it, Dommi was addressing her. She remained still and silent for a moment, maybe three, seemingly lost in her thoughts, as she chased them down, herded back into her mind's 'corral', and smiled before she looked up at Dommi with that wide-eyed innocence of naivete.

"Threes? I am certain I am not a three. Nor am I a Priestess of a Divine Being... No... But I do suppose I have been preoccupied by a thought. The question though... I think I already know the answer."

She shrugged and 'floomphed' herself onto the bench sill with a bit of whimsy, her hair out of sorts, and herself forced to sort the folds and layers of her gossamer frock.

And then she leaned forward, looking at Tomomi in particular, but making eye contact with the other two members of her 'audience'

"I was hoping to see this keep on the lake. The vile abode of the Dwarven slavers. As scary and foreboding as I have heard tell this place to be, I couldn't help but think it might have been a memorable experience, as merely an observer mind you and not to make light of it's true evil nature."

She spoke in a voice that invited a person to listen, engaging them in cadence and volume changes that might seem subtle or even noticeable to the untrained. She used jer hands in sweeping gestures as she 'painted' her scene.

"A moment that preceded greatness and glory... of true epic heroism. But more than that, the story of courage and the unrelenting will to survive by those held in bondage. As a minstrel of some bardic ability I thought I might bear witness to the gallant nature of those with whom I have taken up company and a testament to the indomitable spirit of those who have struggled for freedom against staggering odds.... An fantastic tale in the offing, dwarves and dragons, and forestkin, first made tools, but vessels filled with souls by the gifting of Divine Beings... Yes, this tale seen in its most formative stages, where true courage and strategic brilliance first come to terms with the scale of the daunting challenge before them..."

She paused and sat back in the seat, cast a glance over her shoulder wistfully toward the docks, though she couldn't see down to those docks without leaning out over the edge more. "All of that, and... well, I like rocks, and things made out of rocks... Walking in woods and on rocks. Keeps and Castles made of Rocks."

"But, I must assume they have gone already and I am left behind."

The wistfulness was suddenly discarded though as she shifted her mood back to that whimsical side of herself.

"No matter. There is much I can see and do right here... No less important, and probably a lot less messy. I am not really dressed for stomping around in mud and crawling through ravenous brambles."

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Keiko

Keiko returned to Tomomi’s person-filled sleeping nook while Emmi was describing her apparent meeting with the Lady Krysta. Such an honor!

Dommi’s question to Lyric was more on the confusing side. However, the Rhoni thought she might be starting to understand the way to navigate the currents that tended to move unpredictably when one of Lady Arilys’ followers was a significant presence in a group — take what made sense and simply remember the rest for later. And because Dommi was a priest of said Lady in addition to being naturally fond of telling extravagant tales, or so it seemed to her, most of was he said was in the latter rather than the former category.

She smiled and winked at Tomomi as she stood on the step watching and listening. The minstrel from Kethy’s Woods was almost as much an enigma as the Shadowlord, although the currents surrounding her and her desire to witness grand, glorious, and heroic deeds were considerably clearer — much easier to see and navigate, if necessary. In the end, Keiko smiled more broadly as she took that last step into the little nook and gracefully dropping into a seated position on the floor as she pulled her pack into her lap.

“I don’t think there’s cause for much concern, Friend Lyric, on missing the viewing all the things you wish to see. Tomomi has said that those Kin who are to be rescued will be variously frightened and lost and particularly unsure of what they are to do as free Persons.”

As she spoke, she dug through the contents of the pack, obviously looking for something specific and not immediately finding it.

“I believe the others have merely gone to view it in a way that will allow for strategies and tactics to be developed. I know nothing of such things and will leave it to those who are more suited to those roles. But Tomomi says I might help her keep the Kin calm once they are free, for getting lost is not a good thing at all.”

She held her bottom lip between her teeth as her fingers moved around in the back.

“So you’ll be back,” she said to Lyric, “and I believe you will write the most marvelous of ballads at the journey’s end! But even before that, you might help us! I have ribbons and my whistling potato...”

Keiko stopped rummaging for a moment as she looked at Tomomi and giggled. “Ocarina... Ah-kah-ree-nah.”

“...that apparently sparkles when I play,” she continued both her rummaging and explanation to Lyric. “Music is good for calming, or so I’ve always thought.”

She nodded to the minstrel almost absently before exclaiming, “Ah! Found it!!”

What she withdrew from her back was a small rectangle of fabric — not really a ribbon, certainly not lace. It was barely as wide as two of her fingers and not quite as long as her first finger, but it was stitched with almost expert precision with every imaginable color a thread could be, including a meandering of silver.

Holding it in her palm, she regarded it for a moment. “My grandfather found it in the market of Kh’Lhy’ra. It was probably just a practice piece, perhaps done by a lady in waiting in one of the courts. He said the merchant didn’t even want a penny for it because what can one do with something so small? But I’ve always thought it was very pretty, even as I have often wondered why I’ve kept it.”

She smiled and placed it gently in Emmi’s lap. “Perhaps I’ve kept it because the currents led me to a Priestess of Krysta who needed to patch together her vestments, ja?”


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The Heartwood
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Attaday, the Eighth Day of Yrick


Bekkah, Keiko, Lyric, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald, and Miss Tomomi.

“Oh I know it isn’t you, Lyric. I have my suspicions for the third, but only because there is one person who’d think it would be terribly funny to make such an invitation and not mention it to me. If you ever have to choose, Lady Lyric, be very careful about following a whimsical deity because half the time the joke is on you.”

The Korie Lord paused, momentarily interrupted.

“Ahhhhh-kaaaah-reeeeee-naaaaah …”

Tomomi carefully repeated the offered word with a smile. And then added, so very softly, a simple confirmation.

“It does. Sparkle and all. At least I think so.

“Oh my.”

The last was at the offering of the precious gift. Both Mice looked at the colorful cloth with wide eyes. Then it was Tomomi’s turn to rustle through a small drawer built into the bottom of the seat, until she drew out a par of scissors, a needle, some thread and some lace.

“May I?”

Tomomi asked the question of Miss Emmi, who just nodded, caught by complete surprise. Tomomi took up the brightly colored cloth and began to work. She had a fine hand, skilled as a seamstress and well deserving of the title given to her before she got her name.

As Tomomi worked, Dominic continued.

“And miss Keiko’s got the right of it. If you were out there now, true, you’d be seeing the dam they built to make the lake and the strange shaft they sunk through the water deep into the earth. It is the opposite of a well. A well is a hole in the ground that, from its depths, you draw out water. The keep is a ring-like shaft in the middle of a lake that water flows into, to power great waterwheels and other Dwarven works.

“Is it grand and epic? That is a different matter. It is certainly large. Grand and epic is what storytellers like you and I add after all is said and done. In truth, I suspect, if this works, it will because a handful of ordinary people decided to take a stand against many, to stop a wrong. What makes a hero? I doubt folks are born to the task. Who is a hero? An alley orphan who had no other choice if she wanted to live past thirteen summers? A scholar, who looked down a funereal well and discovered that if she didn’t do anything, no one else would?

“Legends are created. I think true heroes are ordinary folk who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. I hope I haven’t ruined your day, Lyric. Or burst a soap bubble.

“You will have your trees to walk beneath, your rocks to walk on, carven steps of stones descending deep into the bones of the Heartwood. You will hear the grinding of the gears, feel the heat of molten darksteel, shiver at the husking hiss of a Weasel on the hunt, see lamplight sparkle like stars falling across the edge of a Dwarven axe, look into a lost soul’s eyes and realize they have never ever seen themselves as anything but a worthless object.

“The question then, will be, what do ordinary folk like you or Keiko or myself do?”

The Korie Lord shrugged his shoulders.

“Tomomi is also correct. I think if we look at this as how do we fight the Dwarves and rescue the Forest Kin, then it does seem like a warrior’s task.

“But if we look at this as how do we rescue the Forest Kin from under the Dwarven noses, it becomes a very different matter.”

Dominic was interrupted by a Mouse’s smile and a brightly spoken word.

“Finished!”

And with that, Tomomi rose up on her knees to face Miss Emerald.

“I … I hope I’m right.”

Tomomi reached up and pushed back Emmi’s long silver hair, until a small and cute mouse ear was almost completely revealed. Her smile widened as she saw that Emmi indeed had earrings. Emmi’s ears pinked deeply as she blushed and Dominic tried to look completely innocent.

The little seamstress had taken the fancy cloth and cut it in half, then carefully stitched each of them to a piece of white lace – obviously to keep the valuable little scrap from fraying into nothingness. With a heavier piece of thread she then hung the fancy pieces from the earrings, so they world fall in a splash of color, a bright accent peeking out from long soft locks.

“There we go.”

Tomomi tilted her head.

“Maybe we are like that small piece of cloth. What can be done with something that small?

“We just have to figure it out, ja? I have it on good authority that even a Mouse can have worth.

“Every day I believe it more and more.”



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Lyric

"You encourage me so, Friend Keiko. I thought I wanted to see this place when the first opportunity allowed, but you are right. My fanciful wishes for new experiences must not overshadow the purpose of the trip. I might very well be a hindrance and a distraction."

She winked at her Rhoni friend.

"It has been known to happen. Either I am distracted or I am a distraction..."

She shrugged in mock-shyness.

"It is the way of things I am for certain with us creative types..."

She watched as the bit of fabric finery was exchanged and the story behind it told. Lyric loved stories. True ones, False ones, ones meant to humor, ones meant to teach, long ones and short ones. Why, if she had a bit of a rhyme to her thoughts right now, she might be quite like a feline in search of a millinery shop... not that this was how she actually considered a thought such as this. But you understand, right?

"That is ver' probably sage advice Dommi. Heed and care when dealing with Divine beings, ja?"

She smiled and shrugged. "I have never met one myself though... Not yet... maybe never..."

The conversation whirled a bit, around the room, Mouses and Scraps of Cloth but after a time and after the presentation of the pretty piece of finery that was bordered and sewn together with care and love. That was the nature of good people and good souls.

"I have many questions, I think..." interjected Lyric as she stared upwards into the canopy above, and without directly addressing anyone in particular. "...sometimes I don't think of them at the same time but today and now, I have more questions than I have answers... Well, I have no answers... so one question would be the equal of that statement, but I do have more than one question..."

Slowly she cast her attention down again to those gathered around her.

"Do forgive if I ask of things that have already been told. I have not heard much of the Why and the How of things... The Dwarves mine deep into the earth of the Heartwood, and do terrible things to both the forest and the dwellers within, this I know, but Why? There is more darksteel than around here than could be held in the armories of all the cities of the whole land, a fortune in such metal. This is not what they mine though, is it? What do they mine that makes them do such terrible things to so many?"

"Also, I get that what they are doing poisons the forest, the river... but it is more than that. I can feel it. The forest is cursed.... Why is that? What great sadness was wrought that might bring down such a terrible punishment?"

"And you Dommi," her focus narrowing to the young master, "You came from some far distance to enter a place that was gravely dangerous. I've heard you mention it, but in parts and pieces, like so much fine cloth shorn in scraps. What brought you to this dark place? I would be grateful to hear your story, for its seems an adventure, turned tragedy, became a love story, and there is no better kind I think."

"Please?"

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Keiko

Keiko chuckled at Lyric’s words. Distracted or a distraction... it was a perfectly ordinary and entirely accurate way of stating the obvious, yet Lyric had a gift for making it sound as though she was telling a story in which she was cast in both the role of rescuer and the fair maiden who needed rescuing. And that the story would be filled with comic misadventures.

She hugged her pack as she watched Tomomi’s small hands expertly transform a little piece of cast-off but beautiful fabric into the prettiest adornments for earrings she had ever seen. Watching her friend work was like watching her kinfolk work at their own specialties — the uncle who could turn ordinary steel into exquisite daggers, the old aunt who could read and write. Keiko realized, just as Tomomi attached the lace-backed fabric to Emmi’s earrings, that her face probably had that same expression of wonder her little sisters’ did when they watched her Dance.

Nodding, the Rhoni answered both the Young Master and Tomomi. “We know we have worth. I never saw the Forest Kin as people who lacked worth. So showing kindness and respect for their customs was not difficult.

“Giving comfort, showing kindness, letting the rescued Forest Kin know that there are those who are willing to help them be free... perhaps these are small things. But they are things we can do, ja?”

Then Keiko smiled at Tomomi. No other words needed to be said. A Mouse had found worth, and a Rhoni had found a forever friend. What began as a small thing had become a very grand thing — almost like one of the legends Dommi had spoken of.

But then... ah, she could only sigh at first when Lyric asked those questions. She refastened her pack and set it to the side before pulling her legs up and wrapping her arms around them. For long moments, Keiko merely looked at the toes of her books. Finally, however, she looked up at Lyric.

“There are few tales of the Dwarves, at least few that the Rhoni have heard. The elders always preface stories about them with the warning that there is no Truth about them that we know for they came with the Imperial Prince from the far off islands.

“Why they do what they do is a mystery, Lyric. Perhaps it is simply that they don’t know how to do anything else. They don’t know how to be any other thing than Miners of the Earth. But what is it that they mine?”

She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. Some stories were true whether or not the listeners believed them.

“First there was the Forest, and all else was the many changing forms of Chaos,” she whispered. Opening her eyes again, she looked at the Minstrel. “It is such a familiar story that the whole of the world must know it, ja? There are many stories of the Shattering Wars, but it seems they all begin that way.

“There are tales that tell of the Lords of the East being banished to a place known only as Beyond. There are tales of Others who came from that place... Unicorns, Dragons, and other Beings who could not have been born of the Shattering.

“Some ancient tales — from the First Age, the Age of Yrick’s Bright Empire — say that Dragons came from Beyond to hold up the world after the Shattering... that the little rumblings and great shakings of the earth are the Dragons moving in their sleep.

“And Darksteel is the blood of the Dragons.”

Keiko paused for a moment.

“The Forest, though?” She shook her head. “That is something different, something I do not fully understand for I am not a follower of the Coven ways. Something happened at the end of the last Age. It was something terrible, for the Forest was still seen as the true remnant of the World Forest before the Eastern Princes brought their armies across the Black Mountains the last time.” Keiko shuddered, knowing how close the world west of the Black Mountains had come to yet another invasion from the Eastern Princes.

“The stories we know of that time speak only of some terrible thing at the Battle of Silk Creek Bridge, but the stories don’t say what the terrible thing might have been.”

She was silent for a moment longer.

“Perhaps it is the presence of the Dwarves that does not allow the Forest to heal. I don’t know. Perhaps the Priests of the Horned God and the Priestesses of Mother Nature might understand how these things are related — if, indeed, they are.”

Keiko glanced out the nearby window. “To have hope that the Forest can heal is a good thing. That is a hope I have always had, despite not knowing how the illness came about or if it is even possible.”

She shrugged and rested her chin on her knees. No matter how much the Young Master’s stories might make her head spin, hearing the tales of their adventures and friendship and love would be something to lighten a somber mood.


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The Heartwood
The Dirkwood Forest
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Attaday, the Eighth Day of Yrick


Bekkah, Keiko, Lyric, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald, and Miss Tomomi.

“Actually, holding a conversation with the divine doesn’t happen very often. While I happen to have garnered the favor of a particularly chatty one it is more a matter interpreting events. For example, I’m at a stream contemplating fish for lunch. If I am doing well and right, I can dash my hand in and catch me some lunch. If I am not doing well, the fish jumps out of the water and bites me on the nose.”

The Young Master’s eyes crossed then, as he reached up and rubbed his nose, as if soothing an old wound.

“And sometimes I get bitten on the nose because someone thinks it’s funny.”

Emerald nodded, adding her own observation.

“It usually is.”

Dommi chuckled and continued.

“Worse though is when nothing happens. That means you are no longer in your Deity’s care and have fallen out of favor. For some it’s easy to notice if that happens - Dayalans have their black unicorns and Coveners their wolves to keep them on their toes.”

The young Lord’s expression then darkened.

“As for your second question. Keiko has the gist of it and I agree that is the reason the Dwarves are here, to slake a thirst for the unattainable. It explains why Darksteel has the magic it does and why it is so dangerous to acquire. It sounds like something that just could not be, and yet we are sitting with those who have seen it first hand.”

Miss Emerald popped her head up a bit, looking to Tomomi before speaking, her first words a simple confirmation of Keiko’s tale.

“Deep in the earth the Dwarves are bleeding sleeping Dragons.”

Tomomi followed, continuing their story, her long whiskers twitching.

“It’s why we feel worthless. The Forge Masters make us because it is a dangerous life, working those mines. When we fail, we are replaced. When something goes wrong, we are the ones who die and they do not. They simply chose another place to have the Rats drive a shaft.

“Why is it so dangerous?

“Because sometimes the Dragons wake up.

“And Dragons do not like being mined.”

The silence that followed was heavy and long. Tomomi snuggled herself against Keiko as best she could. That had been her world when she first stepped into life and while it was now behind her it could never be forgotten.

And today? Today everyone was talking about a return to those Mines. The reason was undeniable; it was the right thing to do. But it did not make any of it less frightening.

Dominic spoke again, changing the subject to add to the answer of Lyric’s third question.

“As for the curse on the Forest, that is another tale all together. Again, it is not my tale to tell. But there is no one here at the moment whose it is. Obviously, Soft has discovered it’s secret, but I suspect she will be loathe to speak about it – the Gods are jealous and do not like their secrets spread like common gossip.

“Let me add to what Keiko said.

“In my travels I once met a wonderful ditz. She was bright, friendly, strange and dangerous, and most folks though she was a complete idiot.

“I suspect that was what she wanted folks to think. Yet she said something that, to me, solved the Mystery of the End of The Second Age. That is, how could a tremendously powerful and pervasive Church be taken down in a handful of months? What this ditzy girl said was an obvious truth, once you thought about it:

“With a big enough sacrifice anything can be summoned.”

Dominic tugged on a lock of his own hair.

“I believe the massacre at Bordertown was a very well planned sacrifice designed to draw two deities down into the mortal lands. And it worked. I believe one of the deities was then slain.

“The timing makes sense. Everything I’ve read and heard confirms the Rhoni’s understanding of their legends. The tales of Keiko’s grandparents are probably the most consistent and the most accurate of all who lived through that time. You heard what she said.

“The Forest was still the Heartwood, until the Eastern Princes tried their last invasion. Which means it happened after Bordertown, after the Flowered Path and after The Battle at Silk Creek Bridge.

“That last bit is scary one. Because it means neither was an accident, both the cursing of the Forest and the betrayal at the Bridge. Think. With the Bridge gone, there would have been no other way to invade the last remaining western territories without going through the Forest.

“I believe that the cursing of the Heartwood is the fault of an insanely angry, bitter and hurt Husband’s revenge.”

The young master let out a long breath.

“Now let us close our eyes and take a trip back in time, a handful or more years ago, when a young Lord had just discovered he had lands, and decided to go visit them.”

Dominic adjusted his black cloak until it covered both his shoulders and Miss Emmi’s.

“Because I think we need, right now, a story with a happy ending.”

Dominic took a breath and continued.

“It was like coming home. Here was, in truth, a Village so small it probably needed to share names, could only fit one holiday on their small calendar, and the meat pies had to be delicious because they didn’t have space for bad ingredients. I think I fell in love with Waverider’s Watch when I saw it, riding down the trail from the Farmer’s Compound. The girl there had helped me fix up my horse and we were still getting used to each other, but here we were, in a quiet country place.

“And so, I remember that first Marketday and meeting Broke for the first time, glowering over me like some ornery gigantic merebeast and informing me of the One Rule. I replied that’s a right smart rule and I was right powerful pleased with her and all.

“Meanwhile, in his travel-cloak, Renyard was laughing his head off, which thoroughly confused Broke, so she barked at him and asked why and Renyard asked her if she had any idea who she was talking to and then she called me what, an annoying short stuff, to which I replied that’s Lord Short Stuff to you and then she said bah when has any Lord done us any good and that’s when I pointed to my saddlebags and Rory’s cask sitting on it and said I brought the beer.

“And we’ve been best friends ever since.”

Dominic paused, just a few moments to catch his breath.

“Well I wrangled myself an invitation to Home – mostly because I proved to Broke that she couldn’t stop me and Renyard vouched for me being harmless. That night I let them know that as long as they were in my lands they were welcome. That got both smiles and odd looks of concern.

“For that’s when they told me about the Mines.

“Of course I had to go look. And of course I had to look close. The Forest Kin are nice folks. And what they told me about the mines was horrific. How could I not go look and see? How could I not try and do something? On one hand, I was foolishly over confident. I knew what skills I had. I also knew that if things went bad, I could always escape. Even if I knew then what I knew now, I still probably would have chanced it. These were good folks in need of help. And I was their Lord. This, this was my job. If it wasn’t, I would have been just as bad and as empty as the sycophants that circle my Father day in and day out.

“So I have seen the Halls of Men, now mostly empty, those that live there still more disturbing than any dark story. Immortality does strange things to people. They lose touch with what is important in life, what it means to actually be alive. I have seen the Halls of the Earthen Folk, and those that live there. I thought their Weasels would be a fun challenge.

“I was wrong.

“They caught me.”

He closed his eyes for a beat. Then he opened them.

“I awoke in a small stone cell, with no light. And worse. They had taken my cloak. They didn’t know what to do with me. If they let me go they thought I’d bring all the Mainland after their riches. So they decided to question me, learn all they could about their escaped tools from me so they could be retrieved and then have me visited by someone they called The Executioner. That did not sound good at all.

“I surprised myself. I lasted a whole lot longer than they ever expected. Long enough.

“I learned there was someone in a cell next to me. After I had been taken from the questioning room, we discovered if we whispered we could hear each other. She sounded small and just as lost as I was. But she sounded kind, at least that’s what I thought. She didn’t know there was a world outside the stone and the mines. So I told her about all the places I had seen. Talantal is actually very pretty in the spring. Dawnview Castle on a winter’s morning. Riding the Highland Path in the summer where all you can see to the horizon is forever fields of green. I told her of blue skies and clouds and when she fell silent I asked if she was crying. She said yes. She said it was wonderful that there were good places in the world. Even if she would never see them, never deserve to feel warm sunlight on her shoulders, just knowing that there was something else, somewhere good, for someone else, was … the nicest thing that had ever felt.

“She told me she was just a Mouse.

“I told her, she was anything but just.

“I mentioned my cloak once.

“Uncounted days later there was this oddest whhumf in my cell. And I knew I was not alone. She stood there, all in rags, dirty, brown, torn, barely enough to provide any modesty. She was the prettiest girl I had ever seen, frail and small, and lost. Her face was pale, stained with grime and dirt. Stuck in a rope belt were two of the deadliest black knives I had ever seen.

“And under her other arm was my Cloak.

“That cut straight to the heart. She was carrying my cloak …

“ … and my cloak hadn’t eaten her. In fact, it was purring.”

“As she handed me my Cloak she told we didn’t have much time. She was right. There were noises outside and they were very very angry noises. She told me she had just been a very very Bad Mouse. That I needed to go. Now.

“I started to fall back into my cloak, and realized, realized I had to trust her. I realized …

“… I hadn’t even asked her name.

“Just before the shadows swallowed me, I glimpsed her in the lamplight. I heard her whisper.

“I don’t have a name. I am The Executioner.”

Dominic looked down.

“I came out of Broke’s shadow. It took them a week to put me back together. And that was supposed to be that. I had seen the Dwarven holdfast. It was over.”

Dominic stopped speaking.

“The Dwarves hurt me really bad after I got the prisoner’s cloak back to him. But I deserved it.”

Miss Emmi had picked up where Dominic had left off.

“I had been a Bad Mouse. They couldn’t conceive that somehow I had decided to break their laws. But I was too valuable to recycle. My gift was so rare and they needed it.

“So they punished me.

“They were beating me. They had brought me to the questioning room and then they suddenly stopped. I didn’t know, because it was behind me. I couldn’t see the demon that arose from my shadow and then there were arms wrapped around me and I almost panicked and screamed and went elsewhere but then the demon had taken us all and the next thing I knew I was tumbling in green stuff and it was so bright I could barely see. I covered my eyes. I heard a gentle and familiar voice try and stop me. No no no no - its fine, you are safe, open your eyes, no one is going to hurt you any more, never more, I promise - just open your eyes, they will have to go through me first …

“And so I did. And he just said. Oh Goddess, you have the prettiest green eyes in the whole world.

“And for the first time I wasn’t just a Mouse.

“This was the truth.

“It would never be a question again.

“He had come back for me.

“I had worth.

“How could I not have fallen in love with him right then and there?”

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Keiko

Conversing with a Deity wasn’t something the young Rhoni had ever contemplated. She always had just thought it was something like talking to the Ancestors — rather pointless, as they were never going to answer back what with them being dead. It wasn’t even like the odd affectation she had for conversing with her Cards. Each had a meaning, and there were various ways to interpret the Cards, of course. But it wasn’t actually... well, a conversation.

As the Young Master’s tale continued and she felt Tomomi snuggle closer, Keiko loosened one arm from around her legs and wrapped it around her friend’s shoulders — effectively hugging herself and the Mouse.

While the thought of the Mines obviously and with good reason unnerved Tomomi, Keiko was somewhat more shaken by the words Dommi shared about the Forest and the end of the Second Age. She wasn’t some very special or fancy person who could read, but she knew more of their Stories than most Rhoni did.

Did he just confirm one of the Question Tales? And set the blame for the Cursing of the Heartwood in the hands of a Deity??

“So...” Keiko blinked and regarded the Young Master intently for a handful of heartbeats. She could barely speak above a whisper. “So there were followers of the Sun Lady at the Bridge when it collapsed? This is not another one of your tales of misdirection and confusion?”

An angry, bitter, grievously hurt husband was not a concept unknown to her — although it was something she had never seen for herself. It was just another Teaching of the elders. To add insanity and divinity to the mix? That simple description allowed her to weave together so many of the Rhoni stories that it almost had to be the Truth. And how does one heal something a God had cursed?

That was surely a question for the great scholars!

And yet, as she listened to the story Dommi and Emmi wove of their meeting — interspersed with tidbits of information about the Dwarves and the Mines — she knew it was exactly the kind of True Love story her mother believed was possible for everyone. And maybe, just maybe, Mother wasn’t completely wrong. That made her smile.


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Lyric


Lyric appeared fixated by the storytelling, first by Keiko, then Dommi and finally Emmi. There was so much more she wanted to hear and many more questions filled her mind, to the point where she began to misplace them as more stories were told and new questions filled the newly vacated 'question space'.

This look was quite similar to the one where conversation occurring around her moved too quickly, as though she understood some but not all and was perhaps translating somethings in her head as best she could.

Her face revealed a wide range of emotions, from happiness and joy through sympathy to sorrow and back again... finally settling on contentment at the end of Emmi's part of the story.

Keiko replied first though, to Dommi. So, Lyric turned her attention to Emmi to offer a simple reply.

"That is true... How could you not?"

"But let me say this though, if you possessed the capacity to love and be loved... it must be true that even then you had worth. I might even argue a soul, but I suppose I would be using that word in a poetic sense. Regardless, you were no mere tool even from your creation."

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Attaday, the Eighth Day of Yrick


Bekkah, Keiko, Lyric, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald, and Miss Tomomi.

Tomomi buried her head against Keiko as Lyric spoke, the little Mouse shivering just a bit. Because it had only been a few days that she had been named. Only a few days since she had fallen into homesickness and then somehow been drawn back into the real world. She still didn’t understand, the how and whys of her rescue, it was far far bigger than she was. She was just thankful and would be thankful would be forever.

“How can we not be who we are? We are made as tools and we can never escape that. We were born as simple Kin, we aren’t even supposed to understand what it is to be, just to live and run and scamper.”

She tried to answer Lyric, because she was much closer to the unspoken question than Miss Emmi – Tomomi still remembered the Little House, the place she first met Keiko.

“Words confuse us. We can be told many things. There is a distance, a distance, between what words tell us and the truth of things. When you are a tool all the world is your use. When a Tool remembers she is supposed to be a Mouse, the tool breaks and is replaced. All the words in the world cannot explain that away.

“When a Tool is shown they are more than just a Tool – then – then there is hope.

“Maybe you are right, Miss Lyric

“To care and be cared for.”

The little Mouse suddenly hugged Keiko so tight.

“Maybe that’s all that matters in the whole wide scary world.”

The little Mouse’s worlds brought a mote of silence to the morning conversation. But this time it was not an uncomfortable silence; it was a warm and comfortable one. Emerald simply cuddled beneath her companion’s black cloak, her fine simple fingers trailing across Dominic’s.

“It’s very easy to say you care. It’s very hard to show it. But that’s what friendship is all about.”

Dominic returned to his tales then, looking to answer Keiko’s questions.

“And why betrayal cuts so deeply.

“They were not only upon the Silk Creek Bridge when it was brought down, the Sun Lady’s finest had been put there, placed there, tasked with holding that stone arch as if it were the last bulwark against the Eastern Armies.

“They were not told it was a trap.

“They were not told that the decision had been made to sacrifice them.”

The young lord closed his eyes.

“I wish it was whimsy and misdirection. Never stay the night in Highside Heather, not unless you wish to see that betrayal played out in the evening fog and have to watch, knowing there is nothing you can do to stop it.”

Dark eyes opened once more.

“Things go so wrong when people stop caring. It’s why what we do right now is so important. In the middle of the lake, deep down that Dwarven shaft, there are Forest Folk who know neither sun or starlight. As we undertake this adventure we cannot loose sight that they are the reason we are doing this.

“Not because it is what a Hero would do, not because the Dwarves need to be punished, not for glory, not for renown, not for the minstrels to sing or to be told around campfires by our children’s children.

“But because they are worth caring for and that caring is more than just soft words.”

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Lyric

As much as she loved stories and had heard so many in her life, they had always come to her in bits and pieces. Just fragments of much greater tales that spanned ages. Her people lived remotely, by choice, and had been long isolated. Most of them, perhaps almost all, did not care for anything that happened beyond the boundaries of their hidden enclave. But Lyric was different than they, and it had always been that way with her. She was fascinated by the stories and songs. She had always wanted to see the fabulous places mentioned in tale and poem. She finally got her wish, though not quite in the way she ever imagined. But here she was...

...and Dommi and Keiko parsed out parts of a tale that gripped her to the point of total enthrallment. And yet, she still couldn't put it all together. Sometimes they spoke more poetically than she could follow. They spoke as though a more complete telling would risk the ire of divine beings like this grieving and angry God. And maybe it would. Lyric certainly didn't want to risk that, but she was desperate for understanding. Sometimes the poetic and nuanced retellings just didn't work for someone who hadn't the same foundation as most others who grew up with such things, told to them from a very young age as lessons and warnings.

"What I know from tales I already heard, and what I hear now... Facing terrible odds, these brave warriors of the Sun Lady stood before the coming evil from the East Beyond the Mountains, but those they were aligned with betrayed them so that they might bring down a Divine Being... and the betrayers then found a way to sacrifice the divine being as well... in order to stop the Eastern Darkness? But in so doing they brought on the wrath of another Divine Being who destroyed the betrayers as well? Am I understanding this in the right way?"

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Keiko

All she could do was comfort her friend as best she knew how — a gentle hug, light fingers easing worry as they attempted to neatly arrange the golden hair shorn inartfully away. The sudden hug was a reassurance for the Rhoni, too. Keiko sighed softly and smiled.

However, as Dommi continued the tale of Highside Heather, her worry grew again, her sense of disbelief at such a betrayal was both unimaginable and far too familiar.

The Rhoni had many, many stories. Not all of them were nice stories with happy endings.

Before she could speak again — to question the Young Master, to clarify points that almost but didn’t quite mesh with the tales of the elders — Lyric posed her own questions.

Keiko thought for several moments, brow furrowed as she pulled story pieces together and wove them into the fabric of the Grand Tale. She spared a thought, however, for the whimsy of the currents to have brought together so many disparate folks, each with a word or a phrase that might add to that Grand Tale.

“It began before that, I believe, the tale of the betrayal at Highside Heather. We are all told from a young age the Rhoni stories of what happened that night, and of the terrible price we will pay if we don’t heed the elders’ warnings to avoid the area around Highside Heather as a camp site.

“That night’s tale is only a continuation of one that began at Bordertown, although at the end of the Second Age it was known as the Temple on the Border. It was one of the three grand temples to the Sun Lady, tended by her warriors and priestesses. Some say they numbered a handful times all her followers that exist now in all the world, and all at just one temple. The western temple at Port of Lys was lost at the end of the First Age. The zenith temple at the Border was lost at the end of the Second Age. Only the eastern temple in Dawnview still remains, although...”

Keiko shook her head in consternation. “There are stories and rumors of an original temple, more magnificent than the other three. Some say it was called Dall Gwynn, and that the ballad of that name is a hint at where to find the lost temple.” Then she snorted. “I don’t see how that could be possible, for the song is far too recently written — only in this generation! — and is so contradictory that I think even one of the most brilliant of the Sun Lady’s followers could not find it.

“But the tale of Divine Beings is the one to be told now,” she said sheepishly as she looked at Lyric. “Well, however many their number at the end of the last Age, only a few were sent on ahead — a fullhand perhaps — to help the Archdruid hold the Only Bridge.

“To understand the implications of the betrayal at the bridge — and thank you, Dommi, for adding more pieces to the puzzle — we must put it in the perspective of what happened at the temple... what we believe happened at the temple.

“The hordes from beyond the Black Mountains came to the zenith temple with a sorcerer. And it’s just as Dominic’s friend said — with a big enough sacrifice, anything can be summoned. The first sacrifice was that of the warriors and the unicorns at the temple. This summoned to the human world the Lady and the Lord of Beasts and Earth, the Divine Beings of the Coven.

“They were to be the second sacrifice, to bring forth something even more powerful, something so terrible that it has no name that we have ever spoken. Our stories don’t say how they escaped that fate but somehow they did. I would very much like to hear that story someday, although I fear it is lost to us. Our stories say that none of the Sun Lady’s followers survived at the temple.”

Keiko shook her head sadly before continuing. “The Divine Beings fled in human forum across the Tarn toward the Heartwood. But they were still Divine Beings, and so the Flowered Path sprang up along the route they took to escape. The Flowered Path can still be found from the place outside Bordertown where the temple once was all the way to the Forest.

“There are many stories of what happened as they neared the Forest — some are worse than others — but all agree that the Divine Lady was killed there before she could enter the Forest, and she returned to her Divine form.

“Our stories then say that the Divine Lord went mad from grief, and this new bit of the tale suggests that his follower did as well. It would explain how the Archdruid would have been driven to do anything in his power to avenge the Divine Lady’s death, including the betrayal of his allies, the warriors of the Sun Lady.”

She paused and glanced from Dominic to Lyric. “In their madness and with the help of their God, the Only Bridge was broken. The followers of the Sun Lady must have perished then, as well as any of the Eastern hordes that fought them on the bridge. Was it the Archdruid and his people... was it the Divine Being alone who curse the Forest to be what it is now?” Keiko shook her head. “I am not willing to spend a night at Highside Heather to learn the answer to that question. But with the Heartwood the only avenue from the lowside Tarn to the highside Tarn...”

The Rhoni shivered and held her friend close; it was as much comfort for herself as it was for Tomomi.

“The Heartwood was cursed by the very one who should be its caretaker. Every time I think I might understand why a Divine Being would do such a thing — the Eastern horde had killed his Consort, after all — my mind slips around that understanding to wonder how anyone, Divine or not, could curse the very essence of our world.

“So if we are counting up the Divine Beings in the story, Lyric, there are really only two. And something worse that might have been brought forth. And probably an angry Sun Lady.”

Blinking, she turned to Dominic again. “Here is something I don’t quite understand: how has the Horned One not shed his mortal guise after generations in the Age? Should he not have returned to his form as God long ago, where he and his Consort might be reunited? And in that reunion, would he not have realized that his beloved Forest needed his care? How can it be possible that the gods are as petty and vindictive as mere mortals?” This time she sighed with frustration. “Perhaps this is why the Ancestors chose the path of riding the waves.

“And Dominic... this scholar who looked into a well and found the strength to care enough to break a curse — that is Lady Bekkah’s sister, isn’t it? She is your friend, too?”

She smiled crookedly at him, well aware that she had bombarded him with a cart load of questions. As she looked at Lyric again, her expression was both earnest and compassionate.

“You are from a small place that is even smaller than the Young Master’s little village, and I see that we often confuse and confound you. But Friend Lyric, I have given you my friendship, and so I will not stop caring for you and your wellbeing. It is the same for Tomomi and Emmi and Dommi, for the good people of Waverider’s Watch — even Thomas, who thinks I am beneath his notice but is really rather amusing in his obsession with details. It is the same for all the Kin of Home, and it will be the same for the Kin we seek to free from their beliefs that they are but Tools to be used.”

Perhaps someone who was not Keiko, daughter of Chiyo of the Family Nakano, might have had tears in their eyes then. But that was not Keiko’s way.

“As our friend Dominic has said, caring is often more than just soft words. Tomomi needed to hear why I saw her worth, and it took her time to realize that something as simple as a willingness to have a conversation with a strange Rhoni girl meant more to me that any words could say. And I value your wisdom, Lyric, but I might just value your whimsy even more. You are so different from anyone else I have ever met, and that is such a magnificent thing!”

Without releasing Tomomi, Keiko stretched out a hand to Lyric.

“Perhaps our task is daunting. And perhaps it is simply a matter of doing what comes from the heart — showing hope where there is despair, bringing light where there is darkness, sharing joy where there is sadness. And, perhaps most importantly, giving the Kin seeds of faith where is doubt.

“For there is a seed of faith that Emmi and Tomomi hold in common — Dominic and I knew each of them respectively to be a Person and have always let that certainty lead our interactions with them.”


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Lyric

Lyric accepted the hand, leaning in a little, from where she was still seated at the end of the bench seat. Her expression was that of gentleness and humility. Her voice, soft like the breeze after a spring shower.

"While I can not claim that my wisdom is actually of any value, I do try to offer perspective when I see it myself. My own kin though, they would probably call it all folly and foolishness. That was what I was best known for... Being different. Even in my whimsy, I suppose. Those who disagreed with me, those whose voices mattered most among the kinfolk, they are not the whimsical type I must admit... But I am here now, not there. Choices made and a journey begun. All the good and the bad, I would not surrender any of it... I do believe I am where I need to be. There are flowers to smell, birdsong for the dancing, sinnomon bread to eat... and new friends to feel love for and from... A place where all my songs and stories are new, and all the ones I hear in return are the same to me."

There was a hint though, that at any moment she could get up in pursuit of a sudden distraction, enslaved to her whimsy as it were. A gift and a curse... to be different.

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Attaday, the Eighth Day of Yrick


Bekkah, Keiko, Lyric, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald, and Miss Tomomi.

Dominic simply blinked. Miss Emerald placed a small hand over her mouth, trying not to giggle.

“You are asking me to make sense of a Mad Gardener? I have enough trouble understand My Own Lady let alone her Elders! He doesn’t make fish bite you on the nose and the most I know about plants is that unless it’s a raspberry, apple or a strawberry, if it’s red you probably do not want to eat it!”

Tomomi, however, had no such limitations and just giggled. Dominic looked between Lyric and Keiko, took in a deep breath, bit his lower lip, considered matters and then finally continued.

“I would suspect He has returned to his own realm. It would only make sense, since it was many generations ago. But then, I also would not be surprised to learn that He still haunts the Forest He cursed, that He turned into a weapon to take vengeance on those who took his bride.

“If He has returned to his place, that does not mean He has come to his senses. Vengeance is a curse in itself. It is a path that ends in not one but two graves. If it is not abandoned it is a darkness that never stops growing. One has seen the destruction that vengeance that men are capable of, but the vengeance of a God? That might be beyond our imagination and understanding.

“And just because He has returned to His home, that does not mean His Lady has. I can count the Priestesses of Nature I know on one … wait, no I can’t. Being able to count anything on one hand presumes that there is at least one to count and the sum total of my Coven Priestess acquaintances is a total of, well, none.”

His nose wrinkled a bit.

“Well, maybe, now, uhm, one?

“Everything’s all wrapped up in Her death. Maybe even the divine can’t come back from the dead – the only one who is proof against death is a certain Imperial Lady, who was far away in the Archipelago when this all happened.”

The lording closed his eyes and then shook his head.

“So to tell you the truth, I just don’t really know.

“Now for Lady Bekkah’s sister?”

Dominic opened his eyes and smiled.

“That I do know. Ja, that was her – Verchovai Daxia Yurisdotter. I met her in Bordertown, when that all happened. Well, actually I ran away from her for the very first time in Bordertown, not because she was angry at me in particular but she was with the sheriff at the moment and he always suspects me of something when I’m in town.

“I can’t blame him though, he’s usually right.

“Now I don’t really know if I’m a friend, an acquaintance or a nuisance. But she laughs instead of pokes me, so that’s a powerful good sign, ja?”

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Keiko

“Wisdom is in the minds and hearts of those who hear your words,” Keiko said to Lyric, a soft smile lighting her expression, “or so Grandmother would always say. I think she is incredibly wise and she insists she merely has more experience than I do.”

She nodded in agreement with her friend’s words. Marveling once more at the vast chasm that seemed to separate their life experiences, Keiko couldn’t help thinking yet again about the ways the currents and the waves flowed. It was borne out in the similarities the two young women shared. It was a consideration that would likely occupy her mind as she quietly sat with her Cards and merely shuffled them some evening.

At the moment, however, she gave her attention to the Young Master.

She nodded slowly as he spoke of the Horned One. But she shook her head at his supposition about Mother Nature.

“I understand the essence of vengeance, Dommi. I traveled through the mountain passes and the winding roads on the far side of Trundle, I saw beyond the beauty of the Thousand Towers of Kh’Lhy’Ra. Vengeance is an ugly thing.

“But the Lady of the Coven is the embodiment of the cycle of life and death and life. A bird, for example, is born and lives its life. When it dies, it becomes that which feeds one in the living cycle — be it a carrion animal or as fertilizer to plants as its physical form decomposes. And while I have never met a Priestess of hers, I know some who have. There was one who lived along the Path, although that woman may be dead by now. She was old when Aunt Olga met her. And the Caravan that regularly goes to Dawnview Vale has said there is at least one Priestess there, near the Glacier Keep, I think. There may even be others.”

She shook her head. “Before today, I did not think that an odd thing. The Vale and the Allaines are said to be tolerant of most who follow the older Deities, although they themselves are said to follow the Sun Lady.” Keiko shrugged. “The Rhoni listen, the Rhoni remember. The Rhoni don’t often share all they know.” At that, she winked. “But my Lord Dominic has been to Dawnview Vale and is quite intelligent, so I am probably not saying anything that the Young Master does not already know.”

But then Keiko sighed. “If the Divine Lord returned to his realm with the madness of vengeance surrounding him, I am only surprised that the Divine Lady did not take a divine skillet to his divine head to clear it up.” Again she shrugged, this time apologetically. “I don’t say that in a way meant to offend, of course. Our Ancestors, too, were born out of the Shattering and our legends tell us they knew the first Divine Ones when they were still humans and heroes who fought in the Wars. Only the Lords of the East and the Sun Lady are older than they. The Ancestors just chose a different path into the future.”

She was silent for a moment as she bit her lower lip.

“So this betrayal at the Only Bridge means... well, likely means that the Sun Lady’s followers are either not aware of the deception or are far more forgiving than most. If it is the former, I hope that the Coveners now living in the Vale do not suffer for the knowledge of that past betrayal, should it ever come to light. If the latter, then I find myself admiring the Sun Lady’s followers even more.”

Keiko looked from Dommi to Bekkah and then back to the Young Master again, her smile growing ever wider the whole time.

“Oh, I would so very much like to hear more about Lady Daxia! And yes, Dommi... I think if someone is laughing and not poking you, they might be a friend. Or, at the very least, a potential friend.”




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Lyric

Lyric smiled and half nodded at the assertion that Keiko made that Wisdom had to be not only heard but also accepted, interpreted, and understood. One had to have the capacity to be wise in order for Wisdom to be of us.

Lyric found the continuance of the conversation about the Divine Being, this Horned God, who had gone mad with grief when his beloved's mortal self was summoned and trapped in a sacrificial betrayal.

What struck her most was the pain he endured, so great that it was overwhelming him even now that he was willing or able to tend to his Divine Charge.

For Lyric, the forest's pain was tangible, perceptible, and manifest. It pained her to her core and she masked it. Home helped in this regard, for deep within this arboreal bosk of sorrow was a small haven of refuge and hope. Soft was right in that regard... Lyric could find solace here, even if it was a temporary one.

The minstrel was beginning to understand a sliver of what might lie ahead for her and her search for a song to save her people... whether they wanted to be saved or not.

"If he dwells in a mortal form, in a mortal world, still bearing the consuming grief of his loss, then maybe he needs someone to help him... to listen to him, and maybe find a word or two to offer him... He needs Hope."

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Attaday, the Eighth Day of Yrick


Bekkah, Keiko, Lyric, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald, and Miss Tomomi.

“I do not pretend to understand the rules and order of the Gods and Goddesses, Miss Kieko. I only know of one intimately, and My Lady is pleased when she is amused and haughty when she is displeased.

“And believe me, lassie… being funny is the hardest job in the whole bloody world”

At that the young lord’s head suddenly bobbed forward, as if someone had hit him soundly at the back of his head. He blinked, wrinkled his nose and grumbled, but just a little bit.

“See what I have to live with?”

Next to him, very patiently, Miss Emmi reached up and patted Dominic on the head, like one might sooth a sad ruff.

“There, there.”

Dominic found it hard to hide a small grin. Resting back again in the little window nook, it was Emerald, however, that answered Keiko’s question; or at the least she tried to.

“Death. Death is final. It is taking everything someone has and everything that they could be. What happens afterwards?

“Can one ask the stars to come down from the sky? When the Knights of Rames call upon their Lord for aid, can one take the spirits that make that aid real from His beck and call? When one’s blood feeds the harvest and that grain is made bread and that bread is eaten by a mother to be, while her child is part of that chain, it is a new life, a different one.

“If that is what happened to that Lady, goddess or not, she is still bound by the same laws. She can still be, but the problem with being everywhere at once is that you are, in turn, still nowhere at all.”

Dominic rested his chin lightly atop the Priestess of Krysta’s head.

“I think, chances are, that Lyric is correct. Even if He has returned to his place the Heartwood, the world, has no hand to hold. He has been consumed by his vengeance and has lost all hope.

“Hope is what you need when you get knocked down and have forgotten how to get back up.

Then, however, Dommi’s eyes narrowed. Pivoting atop Emmi’s head, his attention fell straight upon their other companion. The fair Lady Bekkah Yurisdotter.

“Wait a heartbeat!

“Daxia is YOUR sister!

You tell us her stories!”


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Bekkah

She'd remained silent, happy to listen as stories were told. Without having to answer, she'd had the time to consider what was being said, trying to weed out truth from fiction. Then they were looking at her.

"Dazi? I'm no story teller, certainly not after Lord Dominic has shared tales. She's my baby sister. What would you like to know?"

[ooc: And no, I'm not going to go back through years of posts to reconstruct stories of her and my memory is not good. So I'll play along, but it's going to be vague ;)]

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Keiko

Keiko giggled at the Young Master’s reaction to the presence of his Lady.

“Is it good that you make others laugh, too? Is your Lady pleased when those around you are giggling or laughing or even rolling their eyes at the outrageous stories you tell? Or is it only the mischievous and silly things you do that bring her happiness?”

She lowered her eyes and shrugged slightly. “I hope you and she will excuse my impertinence, but it’s rare to hear someone speaking so willingly of their Deity. And the Rhoni tales are sparse on details about the younger Deities.”

She looked up at Dommi again, meeting his eyes.

“I don’t mean to give offense and apologize if I’ve done so by asking questions I shouldn’t. But Great-Grandmother said that after making careful observations, asking questions is the best way to learn. And... well, it’s hard to observe the Divine Beings.”

She listened very carefully to Lady Krysta’s newest priestess explain the cycle of life and death and life from her unique perspective. It was similar enough to the Coven philosophy that Keiko could grasp the idea Emmi was conveying... until her very last statement, that is. The phrasing was odd, but the idea was so Rhoni that Keiko’s eyes grew wide as she smiled.

“That makes perfect sense, Miss Emmi! Thank you.”

But then she sighed. “It makes me sad for her Lord, though. If he has given up all hope, if he can’t find the will to get up as you put it, Dommi, then there is little hope for the healing of the Forest. If the Divine Lady is at the place of Everywhere-Nowhere and she is the only one who can give comfort to the Divine Lord...”

Keiko looked at Lyric. “The World’s currents must move again in such a way to show the Divine Lady a way to be Somewhere again. It is not a thing we who merely walk on the World or ride the waves can affect. Not knowingly and purposefully, I don’t think. I fear it is only the Fates or perhaps the assistance of other Deities that will help the two Divine Beings right now.”

That was when Dommi called on Lady Bekkah to tell the tales of her sister. The Kind One’s response made her smile.

“Oh, just everything!” Then the Rhoni laughed. “I jest, of course. I have younger sisters, too, and wouldn’t know where to begin stories about them. And they’re not even grown to womanhood and have nothing more heroic than loving the world and being curious.”

Tilting her head to the side, she regarded Dominic for a moment before giving her attention to Bekkah again.

“Hmm. I’m quite interested in the rumor that has spread about this curse that was broken at the old temple outside Bordertown. However, I suspect that is such a great and truly heroic thing that Lyric would need to hear the stories of many people to fashion a proper ballad for your sister. Do you think she’d like her own ballad? Is she a truly great scholar? Is it true that she killed a fullhand of demons with a sword made of light?

“And this is a question for both you and Dommi — and Miss Emmi, too, if she’s ever met the Verchovai...

“What do you like best about her?”

Like the Minstrel, the Rhoni lass was interested in the details, in the nuances, in the meanings behind the words — all the things that made for a Grand Story.


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Bekkah

"Well, I can tell you of her as a child. I remember those years fondly, but we were separated for many years when I chose to follow my Lady's call. We only met back up by chance this past year."

"The broken curse at the temple in Bordertown is true. I was there for that one as well as my other friends here."

She smiled as she continued. "A sword of Light, slaying demons? That I don't remember. There was evil to be sure. Old evil. And while she'd deflect all credit, she was the one who led us. She was the one who stood before it, front and center."

"As far as a ballad about her. No. I am quite certain that she would run from such a thing. She'll stand up to anyone or anything, but then she'd prefer to go about her life quietly afterwards. I think we both have that in common."

"I think though it may be too late for that if you've heard of her. I suspect this is how stories begin."

"I will say this, if you've heard that she has a midnight black unicorn as a steed, well that one is true. Well, I suppose steed is not right. He's more a companion that can carry her."

Clearly as Bekkah spoke it was quite obvious that she's not only fond of her baby sister, but also quite proud of her.

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Attaday, the Eighth Day of Yrick


Bekkah, Keiko, Lyric, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald, and Miss Tomomi.


“You can see the truth every night, Miss Keiko …”

And when Dominic spoke that simple honorific, it was just that, simple and friendly, not pretentious or formal at all.

“Look to the sky and in the Dark Path you will now see two stars, proof that He Whose Name Should Not Be Spoken were indeed thwarted.

“Though there was only one Demon. But one Demon is certainly enough for any generation. And it was a different fight; that particular fight happened after the Dark One learned his curse was broken and came seeking revenge. Your rumors, also are not quite right. While Verchovai Daxia – she wasn’t a verchovai yet – fought the Dark One, it was one of her companions that thwarted the Demon. I don’t think she actually killed it, and she ended up in a tree, but the Demon was convinced that it had better things to do then come after us in Bordertown and when dealing with Demons that’s probably as good as you can get.”

In the background there was strange and sudden growling, from somewhere – somewhere near Dominic but its actual source could not be seen.

“Hey. Don’t get mad. You are my partner. You are my partner, Emmi is my bodyguard, My Lady is smiling in her sunset and all is well in the world.”

The growling stopped, just as suddenly as it started.

As for Keiko’s other question, it was also addressed, but the one who spoke first was the one she had asked second. Dominic’s companion Mouse looked up.

“She is smart and bright and clever. Very clever. As clever as a merebeast trying to get out of a box. That’s been locked. Inside another box, inside an even bigger box. On a caravan to Trundle-on-the-Hill. She’d be out before Brementown.

“And she’s nice. I can’t read. But when My Owner …”

Miss Emerald just smiled.

“But when my Dominic was away his older brother, who I was tasked to watch over, he was very sick and Miss Bekkah saved him, because she’s a hero too, well, we would sit on his bed and he’d read me stories from big books and the ones I liked best had big pictures in them so I could see the stories as he spoke them.

“Well, Miss Daxia, she found out.

“And so Midsummers, I got this big fancy package of really wonderful picture books. It made both Lord Tray and me smile. You see, Miss Daxia sent them because she can be fierce and grumpy, but inside she’s really nice. She cares about folks, that’s what I like about her.”

Dominic nodded.

“First, she was nice to Emmi. And all my people. I do have a household – it’s very small but they are more my family than my family except for by big brother. He’s one of us too.

“I like her because she’s fun. She lets me be me and I can include her in my adventures and she doesn’t get mad. Not getting mad is good.

“She may hang me from the rafters or put a hedgehog in my bedroll, but if so I probably deserve it so that’s fine.

“Besides, she’s making a very dear friend of mine very happy. That’s the very best of her.”

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Keiko

Keiko listened with rapt attention to the tale of Verchovai Daxia Yurisdotter. Some rumors had already been confirmed; the most central to the Rhoni’s life was the rescue and protection of the Eastern Princess. That deed had rippling repercussions all the way to Kh’Lhy’Ra and back out again across the Black Mountains and the High Tarn. By and large, it was a good thing. That some of the Caravans had needed to leave their traditional routes through the Mountains — circling out past the City of a Thousand Towers and then back into Trundle — well, that was somewhat less good. However, the currents took the Rhoni where they needed to be. Although she had heard some grumbling from younger folks in the Caravans they had met in the mountain pass before she was sent out to Wander, it was only common sense that the lack of war was better for traveling. And the fact that the Rhoni Who Had Married a Gaija With the Blessings of the Elders was being held captive still — no, that certainly wasn’t good for her. Not if the rumors of things worse than death that the Princes and their Priests favored held any truth to them.

“I believe I heard Grandfather talking about a unicorn with someone from one of the Caravans that regularly go toward Bordertown,” she said to Bekkah. “Perhaps that’s what they were discussing — your sister and her unicorn. It was right before I left my Family, so I wasn’t able to hear the news.

“The only story of a unicorn I know is the one about a warrior woman riding a unicorn who came to Trundle to snatch a young girl from the Alley.” She chuckled. “It’s a favorite story of young girls in Trundle. I don’t think the tale mentions the fact that the young girl was the Justice’s sister. Of course, that was before Lady Deynnekko became the Justice...”

So unicorns were more than just fabulous warhorses with a point on their head. She had always wondered if the stories she had been told by her Mother and Grandmothers and Aunts were as fanciful as the ones that were told about the Koromov girl.

The two new stars in the sky had been a mystery and an important portent as well. The stars rarely changed much from one generation to the next. Unless the Eastern Princes came over the Mountains, of course. That there was also a star missing from one of the constellations...

“I was already traveling toward Waverider’s Watch when I noticed the stars in the Dark Patch. That was at Midsummer. Even Grandmother has been known to remark that in the whole of her life she could recall only a single new star, and that one was not so prominently placed in the sky. I was surprised by their appearance, as you can imagine. But that they were placed there after the breaking of a curse...”

She considered the implications. It would help if she knew more about the Children of the Sun Lady. But it had to be a good thing, didn’t it?

“But even before Midsummer, a star went missing from the Spear constellation. Stars don’t disappear, Dommi. And even I laid out the same cards as every other Reader — currents shifting dramatically with unexpected paths and events, all while stressing the value of companionship. We couldn’t help but read the missing star as an important sign, perhaps even a good one, and yet...” Keiko shook her head. “A star went missing! Can you explain that? Any of you?”

Then she just stared at Dominic when she heard the growling. She narrowed her eyes as he spoke to someone? Something? And then blinked as she sat up a little straighter.

“Your cloak is a companion to you like Lady Daxia’s unicorn is to her? Well, not exactly the same, of course, because a cloak is nothing like a steed, but... but..” Keiko tried to puzzle through the peculiar relationships. A partner that was a cloak... and the bodyguard Emmi, whom he also loved dearly... to say nothing of the wife going off with her friends to look at the Keep in the Lake. Finally, she shook her head.

“I would like to understand, but perhaps I can’t really understand because I follow no Deity.

“But who was it then that thwarted the Demon?” She looked from Dommi to Bekkah and back again.

Giving them a break from Keiko’s never-ending curiosity, Emmi broke in to tell about her encounter with the Lady Daxia. Keiko was grinning broadly by the end of it. Oh, to be able to read! And to gift someone with books simply... well, simply for no reason except having a good heart?

“Well, I think warriors are required to be fierce, at least when they’re doing warrior things. And some of them are just plain mean. Oh, but she sounds lovely.”

By this time, Keiko was spilling over will excitement. She had always loved hearing about people and places far away... places she would never visit and people she would never meet. Why someday she would tell stories to her children just as Mother and Father had shared the stories of the Rhoni and the World with her and her sisters and her brother! Keiko could add to the Grand Tale, and those who would be the grandchildren of her grandchildren would know about the Forest’s Kin and how they were blessed by an Atteran... and about a follower of the Sun Lady who broke a curse!

“Oh, Bekkah, you and your sister are so fortunate to have one another! I’m sure you’ll see her again. The Tarn is vast, that is true... but not so large that meeting again on your travels would be impossible.

“And Dommi! Hanging you from the rafters? Why would she do that? If she is kind and laughs at your silliness and doesn’t get mad at you... well, that doesn’t sound like a sensible thing to do. And where would she find a hedgehog? Oh, perhaps they’re common in Dawnview Vale? Who is this dear friend of yours? You have friends everywhere, don’t you? It sounds like Lady Daxia is not a warrior at all, but a... a...” Again, Keiko shook her head, although this time she laughed. “Well, I just mean that I’ve never heard of a warrior who goes around trying to make people happy. Oh! Except for the Knight of the big village... Talesan’s Village. Mmm, Kevin? I think that’s what Broke said his name was. She wouldn’t... well, maybe couldn’t... tell me very much about him. Except that he is very kind to people.”

Her eyes fastened on Lyric.

“Oh, you must write a song for Lady Daxia, Lyric! She is fierce and kind and seems to be every bit as much a hero as Lady Bekkah.” Keiko sighed happily and hugged Tomomi. “The great heroes should have ballads sung and stories told about them. Those of us who do small heroic things can be content with ribbons and friendships.”




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Lyric

...those who do small heroic things can be content with ribbons and friendships. Small things, like watch and follow and write the songs of deeds done by Great Heroes... or of simple people destined to do great things. Isn't that how the best stories begin though? With a simple soul finding strength within do do something great, not because they want to, but because they have to.

Small things? Lyric understood that. All her life she had to be content with hearing stories brought to her. Her people no longer did great things. Maybe once, long ago... but no more. And she had to be content with doing small things for that was the way of it. She had to be content to hear songs and stories, never once thinking that her dreams of seeing great things done... or even, a thing beyond the wildest imagination, to do something great and heroic herself.

She had to be be content.

But she couldn't...

And it nearly cost her life in the pursuit of it. And now? Choices made. The only way to travel now was forward. She no longer had a home.

Lyric had been listening to those around her and dreaming and remembering, almost trance-like in her quiet way.

She smiled and slowly shifted to regard Friend Keiko.

"I suppose I would have to meet her, this Daxia, sister of Lady Bekkah. To look in her eyes and see her soul, feel her life... Aye, my words are silliness, I know, but no song does any hero justice if not written from the the Truth of Heart."

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Attaday, the Eighth Day of Yrick


Bekkah, Keiko, Lyric, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald, and Miss Tomomi.

“Well it’s kind of a tradition.”

Dominic smiled back at the young Rhoni card-reader.

“And I usually deserve it. Which is kind of important. In my line of work if I can’t take as well I as I give out, that’s when folks start getting mad at you. If you can’t take a joke, you shouldn’t be telling them.

“Besides, from the rafters I can look down and Dandy favors loooooo----oooooow!”

Yes. Ja. Yup. Miss Emerald had just elbowed Dominic in the side again. The mischievous lordling just raised his brows and then rested his head next to his companion’s.

“See!

“I deserved that.”

Emmi nodded in agreement. Dominic then continued.

"Oh, you must mean Sir Kevin. And that's pretty much true. In fact I believe that's the reason why Talesan's is still the Imperial Mother church. It's because they remember what it really means to be one of the Imperial Court and not just use the church's power and holdings to further one's own place.

“As for the rest, I wasn’t at Midsummers. I was leading a set of angry brothers on a fair chase around the Skaefla Plateau, not that I got any thanks for that! As for black unicorns, I have seen my fair share – in general they give me the nastiest of looks! And my cloak? Lets just say don’t touch it without permission, it’s natural state is grumpy.”

“Not. Is nice.”

Dominic blinked and looked down at Miss Emerald’s interruption.

“To you! And why you?”

To which Emerald looked down and whispered.

“Where do you think your Lady gets them?”

That was right. Sitting with them was a certain brand new priestess of a very particular goddess. And it was that priestess who was able to answer Keiko’s further questions.

“Mebbe that was Miss Scamp’s star. Not that I truly understand, being just a Mouse. But Miss Scamp – that’s Kay Koromov – she was all tangled up in Silk Creek Bridge and Highside Heather and Lady Dazi’s adventures there and it was all about it being impossible to change someone’s past but it is always possible to change someone’s future.

“So maybe for a whole lot of generations she was dead but now wasn’t anymore. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been there at Midsummer’s Court. So instead of being dead she became Lady Dazi’s apprentice. And that could have only happened because she had been dead between then and now and thus couldn’t have changed anything, well, uhm, because she was dead at the time.”

The silver haired Mouse just blinked.

“Ja. It makes my head hurt too.”

Shaking her head back and forth she then added.

“Oh. And Hedgehogs like the little wooded copses across the High Tarn. I’ve never been to Dawnview so I don’t know if there are any there. And his friend would be the Dama Allaine. I am supposed to protect her too when she is in Talantal. The young one. The not as pretty as a Mouse one, but almost.”

She then let her head fall back and looked straight up at Dominic.

“Ja?”

Of he answered, very assuredly.

“Ja.”

Looking across to Lyric, Dominic chimed in once more.

“That’s going to be difficult, Lyric. Last I heard she was heading to Dawnview Vale and that’s kind of the other end of the world from where we are now.”

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Keiko

She nodded to Lyric. “It does seem to be best for you to meet her if you are to give the best accounting of her deeds and bravery. And to say it’s just silliness?” Keiko grinned. “Who knows where the currents will take us or bring her? Next month, next year, perhaps the year after that...” She shifted her eyes to Lady Bekkah for less than a heartbeat and added, “The Lady won’t exactly say so, but I think she misses her sister quite a lot. Why we could even help her find the great hero!”

Yes, she was speaking more than a little fancifully herself now. But even as she had spoken the words, she realized it would be ever so enjoyable to travel the countryside — in places she had never been before! — with Lyric and Bekkah. And Tomomi, too, if she’d be willing to leave Home. It would be strange, of course, for women to be traveling alone, but hadn’t the Lady herself said she’d journeyed for many years before being reunited with her sister? Both she and Lyric had traveled from their homes to find Waverider’s Watch. Keiko’s only restrictions were to stay far from Trundle and the East... and to avoid the Caravans.

Then she giggled at Dommi and Emmi. They were just so sweet together. They could be silly or serious, but it was clear they were a team. Papa always said that was the more important thing in a marriage, even if what they shared wasn’t a conventional marriage. But it was a good partnership.

She nodded at his admonishment to avoid his cloak without permission. Grumpy cloaks! What a peculiar idea. But the world was a strange place — stranger than she had ever imagined. Keiko blinked at Emmi’s little sliver of information about the cloak, however. That was... Well, that was something to contemplate later. Perhaps.

Oh, but the missing star!!

Of course, Keiko took in all the other information Emmi shared, hoarding it like shiny treasures.

It was the thought of the missing star that whirled around in her mind with the greatest fierceness.

“A Koromov? Of the Imperial Family? But... wait, wait, wait. If she was dead, even with the strange magics at Highside Heather, how did your Lady... well, maybe not ‘how’ so much as why would your Lady give up one of hers? I can...” Keiko narrowed her eyes and seemed to look past Dommi and Emmi. “Well, maybe I could understand why she might let one of her Children do...” She waved a hand at Dommi cloak. “...whatever he or she does to help Dommi. Aren’t your Ladies related? I head that they were, but on the other hand, I’ve heard some very strange tales about the Divine Beings and some are more believable than others. That one seems plausible enough.

“So I can understand relatives helping out one another, ja? But for Lady Kay? If she was dead for so many, many generations... how could Lady Daxia bargain with a Goddess for the life of an apprentice?”

She shook her head.

“You’re right. It’s very confusing.”

And then the Rhoni blinked again and barely kept herself from gasping.

“The Heir of Allaine? The Snowqueen? Lady Daxia has made her HAPPY???

This time, she just stared at Dominic as she rested a hand over the Cards tucked into her tunic. She barely heard what he said to Lyric, although when his words did register, she blinked again.

“Do you understand what this means, Master Dominic?” Using one of his titles seemed the surest way to truly gain all of his attention. “She may have changed the world just as surely as Lady Bekkah has.”

She had not thought to discuss the Vale behind Snowgate Pass with the Cards for a handful of months or more. Why it had been well before leaving her Caravan! Why should she? Nothing ever changed when one inquired about Allaine — there was a new Snowqueen, and there was a good chance that the pass would once more be closed for a generation. Well, depending on the combination of questions in relationship to Allaine, it could be several generations.

But a happy Heir meant... no Snowqueen?

Yet again, she stopped and stared at Dominic before blinking and turning to Lady Bekkah.

“Is Lady Daxia heart-bound to Dama Kisa as Dommi and Emmi are to one another?”

Happiness was one thing — especially the happiness of a powerful Noble — and could cause ripples in the currents all across the world. Love, on the other hand? That could change the course of rivers.

This was not something any of the Card Readers had seen! It was as much a surprise as the Rhoni who Married the Gaija. True, it may have been something the crafty Khorall of Allaine had hoped for, but even Linnell Allaine was not powerful enough to command love.

“The other end of the world is only the other end of the world, and will only take more days of walking than to the big village. Yes... many more days, but I, for one, would be willing to walk that far with Lyric to hear this story with my own ears.”


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Bekkah

Keiko's reaction surprised Bekkah. She answered hesitatingly.

"They are close. More than that, you'd have to ask her. It certainly isn't my place to speak for my sister." she said calmly. It wasn't a rebuke, she just wasn't comfortable talking about who Dazi was in love with, even if she'd knew the truth of it.

"But is a happy heir such a rarity?" she asked truly confused.

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Lyric

"If the world has an end, then I would find that a grand adventure to go see it... If for no other reason then to journey with friends and never actually get we are going... except maybe right back here again."

And she laughed at her own humor, though truth be told, it wasn't particularly funny. Maybe you just had to be there... or be Lyric.

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Keiko

The young woman nodded in response to Lady Bekkah’s statement, understanding that her sister’s story was her own to share. Still, Keiko had her suspicions that, if true, would mean the world was a safer place today than when she left her Family.

“Is any Noble who is not a Larsen really happy? Is any person constrained by the accident of their birth, unable to be who they know themselves to be, ever truly happy?”

She ventured a peek at Dommi and Emmi, then smiled at Bekkah as she folded her legs tailor fashion beneath her tunics while holding Tomomi’s hand.

“I can only speak of the stories I have heard and what I have observed for myself. Dominic Korie appears to be a Noble who is happy, but of his family in Grand Talantal, whispers pass from Caravan to Caravan that tell of unhappy Nobles and loveless marriages, although once upon a time the great Dorian Korie might have been a happy man. Emmi has spoken of Lord Tray’s goodness, and in her words, I hear a story of a man who is content to be exactly who he is. That may be the greatest mark of a happy person.

“But of the Allaine Heir, specifically? Ah, now this is something for our Minstrel to ponder. I can tell you about the warnings of the Cards, and I can tell you of the portents seen by previous generations of Card Readers that have led to the current balance of the world.”

Keiko paused to order the tale in the most straightforward way — not an easy task, for the story spanned generations and twisted across the Heartwood, from the High Tarn to both ends of the Black Mountains, and then into Trundle and the lands ruled by the Princes of Kh’Lhy’Ra.

“The story could begin many generations ago, as those of us who Read the Cards share the warnings and portents just as diligently as parents teach their children all the ways of the Rhoni. There were possibilities seen as long ago as my great-grandmother’s youth of dire threats from Kh’Lhy’Ra and, even worse, the near certainty that Dawnview would once again produce a Snowqueen to seal the Vale behind a pass filled with boulders and blood.

“To begin the story in the north, I need only go back to my mother’s generation. In close to the same year her eldest brother was born, a Rhoni girl was born with hair as black as night and eyes the color of amethysts. Indeed, but for the fact that I have a streak of red in my hair, I look enough like her to be her daughter.” Keiko chuckled softly. “Or so my elders tell me.

“That is, I would look like her daughter had she not become the Rhoni Who Married a Gaija With the Blessing of the Elders. To understand her title and perhaps her tale, you should know that a Rhoni may only marry another Rhoni. There may be dalliances as the Caravans travel across the world, especially at Festival times. It is the sons more often than the daughters who engage in such affairs, but it is never anything more than a happy meeting on the road of life. Daughters, of course, are discouraged from giving children to the Gaija, but it happens.” She shrugged.

“The story of Thomas Montgomery and Madoka kha’Ayanna kha’Kame kha’Chikato khal’Homura Akemi Koromov is one well-known among the Rhoni, although it seems only Thomas Montgomery is remembered — quite fondly as the mischief maker he was — among the Gaija. Their story is a happy tragedy, I think you might call it. They had two fierce daughters who have grown up to be the Justice of Trundle and the Captain of a famed mercenary troop, respectively. That is the happy part. Well, that and the fact that they loved one another so much that Thomas and his daughters were stripped of their rightful Imperial heritage, and Thomas did not seem to mind.” She tilted her head to the side. “Knowing Justice Erika Koromov-Deynnekko’s opinion on the matter is something perhaps only the Questioner would know, but the whispers of those who have met Dandelion Koromov indicate she is more than content to serve the Sun Lady.”

Keiko spread her free hand to the side for a moment, an indication that some things are exactly what they appear to be. By all accounts, Captain Koromov accepted that she was who she was, and would likely be considered a happy person.

“But Madoka was a talented Reader herself and saw what generations before her had observed in Reading the Cards. As the story goes, she decided that she and her husband had to intervene or the Princes would once again run rampant over the Heartwood.

“They did not succeed, not then. What is known of their adventures? Thomas died. The threat remained. The Caravans continued to travel their usual routes. Madoka hid, and she did so in plain sight.”

Keiko gave Dommi a knowing smile. “A few Rhoni do choose to follow one of the Goddesses or Gods. Your Lady finds amusement in that, apparently.”

Sighing, she turned to Bekkah and Lyric again. “Then there were the rumors. That Madoka gave birth to another daughter not long after Thomas was killed. That she continued the work she and her husband had begun outside the view of even Rhoni eyes. That she had succeeded.

“And what of the other fork in the path? What of Dawnview at the south end of the Black Mountains?

“As the Cards continued to relay a possibility of another incursion by the Princes, they told the Readers among my Elders ever more forcibly that Dawnview would retreat from this war. That there were too few of the Sun Lady’s followers to stand against the hordes of the East. That the priestesses had grown fearful and would counsel the Khorall to close themselves off from the rest of the Heartwood. This warning became stronger just before I was born, and each passing year there were fewer and fewer possibilities to be seen in the Cards.”

When Keiko paused this time, she took Tomomi’s hand in both of hers as she closed her eyes for a brief intake of breath — drawing comfort from her forever friend’s presence and the words she had heard this morning — before exhaling softly and opening her eyes.

“When word reached us that the Dama Allaine did not attend the Council last summer, when we heard that she had stopped sending ore beyond the Kierkegaard lands, we knew the time of the Snowqueen had arrived. This year, this Midsummer Council, was to have been the turning point in which the world would have changed in horrible ways.”

The Rhoni studied Lady Bekkah’s face. Her serenity was a mask for her emotions; it was a soothing facade, but it was still a veil behind which the Healer’s thoughts were concealed. Did she understand yet what her sister seemed to have accomplished?

“Instead of war, we found the truth in the rumors of Madoka’s plots. She had discovered a way to free the girl who was just a pawn in her father’s game. Madoka... Madoka has likely died in that attempt, but better a true death than that which is rumored to have been the curse of the Dayalan temple outside Bordertown.

“When your party first arrived, Mikal D’Allyne spoke of an Easterner he had befriended — that all of you had befriended. If this Easterner is the one Madoka and her beloved gave their lives to rescue, if your sister watches over her, then I have less fear for her safety. If Lady Daxia is the scholar Dommi says she is, then she will understand that protecting...” She hesitated, then chose circumspection as she continued. “...the princess is of vital importance.

“We found the truth of this great change in the world’s possible fate when the Princes’ expressions of... Hmm. Let us just say that the Rhoni believed we had overstayed our welcome on their roads and in their towns. An oddity, to be sure, for the Caravans have always traveled wherever they chose to travel. But for now, we are no longer welcome in Kh’Lhy’Ra, or in the mountains above Tor-an-Dal and Trundle.” She paused a moment with a far-off look in her eyes. “I’d like to go back up to Dark Down Vale someday. It’s not a journey for a Caravan... too treacherous.”

Keiko said it in a very manner of fact way, as though travel routes changed with the seasons. Her tone was not at all one that hinted at something so peculiar to someone who spent as much time East of the Black Mountains as West of them. She certainly gave no hint that it was something unheard of, unthinkable.

She shook her head and smiled at her whimsy. If the currents led her to those harsh and beautiful mountains again, it would be a journey worth taking with friends. And if the currents led her elsewhere? Well, any journey was made more enjoyable when taken with friends. Keiko addressed the Healer again.

“But from listening to you and Dommi and Emmi, I can puzzle out the hints that the Heir attended the Midsummer Council this year, not the Khorall herself.

“That was not meant to be. The Cards, in all this time, have never hinted that it was ever a possibility — and Readers more skillful than I would have asked any questions that might show currents and potentialities that did not have wholesale death as the ending point. We are fiercely independent, we Rhoni, but we are taught to embrace life and its many journeys, not wholly unlike our newest favored one of Lady Krysta,” she said with a tilt of her head and a smile for Emmi.

“I did not ask the Cards about the great politics of the High Tarn and the Frontier Keeps on my journey. When I left my Family’s Caravan, I knew only what the Cards had said in the Spring — Linnell Allaine would die by treachery at this year’s Council.”

She shook her head again, this time in wonder that a single person could start a wave so great that it rolled across the whole of the Tarn. It was like a gentle nudge of one Doublebluff tile that caused a fullhand times a fullhand of them to click and clack their way down the Highland Path — all the way to the Sea of Opals.

“So, you see, Lady Bekkah, it was a happy Heir — and perhaps a sad and worried Heir — who spent a winter behind that snow-blocked pass and who apparently chose to attend the Council in her mother’s place. Why?

“It is true that we believe the Allaine Heir to be one of the great Pattern Readers — one who can look at the possibilities of the currents and see where each might lead. Would that be enough for her to see that the future of the world, that her own future could be changed?

“I don’t know. But you heard the story Dommi and Emmi shared. You can see that a heart-bond like theirs can save a Noble and a Mouse from captivity. Happiness can make many of life’s problems easier to bear. Imagine what love can do.

“The love of your Goddess and the love you have for Her allowed Her to bestow the greatest blessing on the Forest Kin — because you prayed on their behalf for Her to Heal them. That is a miracle.

“If your sister did not love the Heir... if the Heir did not love your sister... would the daughter of the Great Prince be safe today? Perhaps. Would your sister have done all these great things I have heard in your hints and in the way you speak of her simply because they were the right things to do? Only she can say, but I can hear your belief that she would.

“But if not for the way your sister changed the currents, would the Heir have taken her mother’s place at the Council? I think not.

“To bring the story back around to your question, I would say that a happy heir is less common than many people might believe. From my understanding of the lore of these lands — stories that have been handed from parents to children since the Ancestors chose to walk the World after the Shattering — I would say that a happy Allaine Heir is even more rare than most.”

This time, Keiko laughed. “Lady Bekkah, more than any of her other deeds, I think that might be your sister’s most miraculous.”

But it was Lyric’s comment that caused Keiko to smile with a radiant joy as she clapped her hands. “Oh, Friend Lyric, you have the heart of a Rhoni! Journeys with no destination are the finest of Wanderings.” She sighed with contentment. “It seems a worthy endeavor to me, one that I would be delighted to share with you!”

And then she turned sharp eyes on Bekkah and Emmi again.

“I would very much like to know what transpired at this year’s Council, other than Mistress Emmi receiving a thoughtful and heartfelt gift of books and Lady Bekkah healing Lord Tray. Surely, the Dama Allaine and Lady Daxia and Miss Scamp must have done something interesting! And tell me more about this Scamp! Aside from the confusion of her existence and your Lady’s thoughts on the matter of her being dead and then not dead, Emmi, how did she come by such a name? I would call Dommi a scamp, but he surely has good reason to be the rapscallion that he is. A follower of the Sun Lady, though? It must be an intriguing story.”

Keiko would happily sit the whole morning here in Tomomi’s little nook talking about places she had never visited, people she may or may not ever meet. Storytelling was one of the great joys in life!


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Bekkah

She listened to Keiko with little emotion. Well nothing other than calm. Much of what Keiko described, she did not know. Of course, it must be obvious to any that Bekkah Yurisdotter might be the least political person in all of the lands. So it was no surprise to any who knew her well, that she'd never see the importance of her sister's love interests.

"Well, Kay, scamp as you call her is now my sister's apprentice in a way. She is headstrong, and oblivious of politics and such. She's fierce and loyal." then her smile grew. "But as willful as she is, she's probably nowhere near as willful as my newest apprentice." she began the smile growing from the memory of it.

"I think this princess you speak of is quite safe in these lands. In fact, she is quite loved by the people currently. For she is now one of my Lady's follower's. She has a love to care for others like few I know. She is especially protective and even more so loved by children. Romana may well be the least likely Lady of Attera that you'll ever meet, but you'll find few as devout."

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Attaday, the Eighth Day of Yrick


Bekkah, Keiko, Lyric, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald, and Miss Tomomi.

Tomomi simply leaned closer to Keiko as the stories continued, resting her head upon her forever friend’s shoulder. They were almost a pair of twins, Dommi and her, two wanderers with companion Mice.

Perhaps all the world’s problems would be solved if everyone had a Mouse for a friend.

“Ja, Kisa was at Midsummer’s, along with her own personal bodyguard. Which truly vexed me, as I was in her lands at the time and we missed each other. Someone was laughing.”

Dominic glanced upwards hesitantly. When nothing happened he smiled. Miss Mouse was the one to continue.

“Miss Scamp? Miss Ekaterina? I think she escaped because her time ended way back then and she got herself rescued and brought to today and it was allowed because it didn’t change the past or the future, it just gave her one.

“In the end?

“I really believe it was because she was, somehow, just very, very lucky.”

Emmi nodded her head once, as if that was the best answer to that particular question.

“Me, I didn’t see much of her, but she was mostly looking after Lady Bekkah’s apprentice. It is odd, Lady Bekkah, that she and your apprentice are a pair in the eyes of Talantal, isn't it? She was the missing Imperial and all and always carried that big spear with its faded and ancient black and white ribbons. She liked poking folks and she was kind of scary. I’ve looked into the eyes of Khollish killers, faced the Knights of Talantal and they may be strong and skilled and talking about fighting and what war and all must be like. But you look into hers and you see someone who has actually knew it, who actually been there, lived it, fought it, faced swords and demons, saw her friends die again and again and she survived and she knows that it was nothing to sing or brag about and that each time you kill someone you lose a piece of you.”

Miss Emmi’s dark green eyes were, somehow, kind of similar.

“Scamp … I think … was called that because she was all alone, an orphan of sorts, but feisty and strong willed and would never let the bad things happening to her bother her.”

The little one smiled.

“I was the one who got her out of Court. Because I knew it was the right thing to do. She got proclaimed as a real live Imperial by the stuffy Hastur Priest, and then she got herself recognized by the Nobles, and Miss Kisa told the Khorall she’d let the iron loose if the Khorall recognized her too and then Talantal and Dawnview became friends. Then she made all the Koromovs Imperial again and then Miss Dandy said no, and she almost said no – she stopped long enough to say anyone can hunt Jakal Montague if they wished – and then she said no, but that means that Miss Dandy sister still is, and that’s supposed to be important but I don’t know why.

“However, mean Lord Jakal looked like he was going to slice her in half and she looked like she’d spit him, and it didn’t matter, if blood was spilled in the Court it would have been bad.

“So I snuck her out.

“I know all the secret ways in the big Keep. Mice are good at that.”

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Keiko

Keiko had to blink several times when Lady Bekkah spoke of Rhomanishkah’ al’Lhahrhonsha al’Khylyrishkatsarinish. The news was more than reassuring, it was positively astounding! She only knew the rumors about the princess, of course, but knowing that the Truth had taken the rumors of her kindness to the highest mountain and offered it to a Divine being? It was nearly unbelievable. That the Divine Lady Attera saw her kindness and accepted her as one of the Kind and Merciful One’s followers?

The Rhoni who never cried discovered several tears spilling from her eyes when she blinked again.

“This is a profound testament to the power of words,” she finally said. “To ask the Cards a question is a serious matter. But to even conceive of a question so powerful that they could point to such a Path that the princess now walks? Oh! But she is not the princess any longer, is she? She is just Lady Romana.” Keiko smiled but then shook her head. “I think only the Questioner himself could find an appropriate question for the Cards to reveal such a possibility.”

Thinking such serious thoughts was best left for those moments when she could meditate on them with no distractions. And perhaps sit with her Cards and allow all this new knowledge ebb and flow between her and the Cards. Also, she had no doubt they would laugh if they could — just as Great-Grandmother did when she had been younger and finally saw something obvious.

So she was grateful that Dommi spoke again. Of course, as was his custom, the circumstances he relayed were really quite amusing... and not just to his Lady Goddess.

“So the Lady Scamp Ekaterina...” she began, puzzling once more through the implications of Lady Daxia’s apprentice, “...was caught with all the other followers of the Sun Lady when they were betrayed. And... and those who find themselves watching the betrayal play out can do nothing to change what happened.” Keiko’s brows furrowed. “Yet, the young Koromov was rescued from that place of dreams by Lady Daxia. Ja, it might be that she has more luck than most. There are old stories, quite ancient really, that tell of a time when luck was a random gift bestowed on some Koromovs, just as a greater talent for Reading the Cards in our Families or seeing the Patterns among the Allaine might still be found at times.

“However, I wonder if it is just that she is Koromov that was the only thing at play that night.

“Yes, she was the lucky one whom Lady Daxia rescued. But the fact that the Spear constellation twinkles more than any of the others does make me wonder if it merely takes the right hero to find the right Dayalan from that night to bring them from then to now. Perhaps they are sadly in a Limbo that Lady Krysta cannot reach. But the Sun Lady has found them and holds them close to Her in the eastern sky.” The Rhoni sighed. “I shall not worry too much about them, at least not unless I find portents in the Cards’ messages that indicate there might be more of the Sun Lady’s followers caught in a trap from which they might somehow be rescued.”

She nodded at Emmi’s practical assessment of the young warrior. She only knew the stories of war and killing, but Keiko could see Emmi’s eyes now and knew the truth told in the stories: those who kill because they must, because there is no other way, are harmed in the killing. Those who kill because they want to kill, because killing makes them feel powerful, are the ones to fear the most.

The Mouse’s jumbled, rambling story needed more time to sift into her mind before the end of it came. Keiko chuckled at the obviousness of the observation. Mice were, indeed, good at finding things.

However, as bits of the puzzle fit into places in her head where information had been lacking, the violet-eyed lass shook her head more forcefully, more quickly. The pieces were falling in the wrong places! Weren’t they?

“What? The Koromovs have regained their Family heritage? Oh, my. Oh, dear. Oh, there are going to be some exciting things happening in Trundle, and perhaps I should be happy not to be a witness to any of it. Oh, my goodness! Dama Erika is an Imperial in her own right, a valid Lady now. I think there will be some Families most distressed by that news!”

Then Keiko shrugged. “Well, they might be Imperial Families, but they aren’t very nice. Not most of them, anyway. And especially not those who spend considerable time with the emissaries of the Princes. I suppose a kind Velikii would be as easy to find as... as...” She pursed her lips, studied Dommi for a moment, shook her head again, and then sighed. “Well, as easy to find as a Larsen who was mean and nasty, I guess.

“But that is important, Emmi, because the Lady Erika now has standing... a right to speak for herself and her Family, and to counsel the Prince as well. And the Koromovs have always and forever been the conscience of the Empire. As the Justice, as the wife of Kiel Deynnekko, she could only say and do so much. The Velikii have whispered in Prince Translev’s ear since Thomas Koromov was banished. Some say it was a Velikii who put the thought in the Imperial Head in the first place. Who knows? I was not there, no Rhoni was... not even Madoka. But I think there will be changes in Trundle. Well, I can hope there will be changes in Trundle.”

She grinned. “I doubt regaining her Imperial title will keep Lady Erika from tossing people from rooftops, however. Don’t ever get on her bad side. That’s a common thing everyone in Trundle knows. Better yet, stay away from her. There are rumors that she tried to eat her son and his father had him sent away for safe keeping. That seems a little farfetched to me. From everything said about her, she doesn’t give the impression of being motherly. However, I don’t think she’d bother to have the boy served up for dinner. No... there must be some other reason to which I am not privy that he was sent to train with his aunt. Oh, that would be Dama Dandelion... er, Captain Koromov.

“But Jakal Montague has been cut from the so-called Noble Family Montague? There is a family to avoid. There had been rumors of another marriage between Korie and Montague... your sister to that foul creature. Even if your sister is not dear to you, Dommi, that’s not a fate for any woman.

“Allaine and Korie are allies, though?” Once again, she peered at Dominic. “You and the Heir are friends. You speak as though you’ve been friends for many years. Hmm. No, your Father the Khorall can’t do that to you. Allaine and even Corliss women make their own decisions. But it is too bad the Heir does not have a brother. Perhaps she has a cousin in Glacier who would suit your sister.

“What? Do you think we don’t know about the politics and machinations of the Nobles Families?” Keiko giggled. “Oh, we watch the Families of Amber as they mix and match sons and daughter. We watch as the Imperial Families and the Noble Families make their alliances for political gain.”

She glanced at Bekkah again. “It is hard to find a happy heir with parents who too often are themselves only pieces played in a game of Horses and Castles.”

Looking at the young Noble, she frowned. “But perhaps the political alliances are less distasteful than what the followers of Lloshad are doing. Who’s to say? Our marriages are arranged by our elders, too. It’s a practical matter, really. There are fewer opportunities for some of the Caravans to gather and allow the younger folks to court. And we know we should not marry someone too closely related. Michi’s parents are not linked to mine in any way for at least a handful of generations in the past, and neither Caravan travels the same route at the same more than once in two handfuls of years.”

Keiko tilted her head to one side as she continued to study Dommi. And Emmi.

“And Mother believes in the kind of love that tramples a person like a destrier and thought I should be struck immediately with this blessing.” She chuckled. “I was not, and she was dismayed, even when I admitted to finding him a pleasant companion. It’s certainly not unreasonable to think that spending time together will allow us to attain the depth of feelings the two of you clearly have for one another,” Keiko said, gesturing to Dommi and Emmi.

“Of course...” She looked at Tomomi and hugged her, a happy smile made her eyes sparkle. “...I think he will need to have a heart large enough and a mind flexible enough to accept my Forever Friend. I think he will. Otherwise, my elders would not have chosen him, ja? And I think you will like him, Tomomi.”

Keiko merely nodded then. She’d only met Michi that one time, but he did seem to be a nice young man. And, of course, her elders certainly would have taken into consideration Keiko’s tendency to be headstrong, as well as her insatiable appetite to learn as much as she could. Yes... if she and Michi were truly a suitable match, then he would surely have the capability to accept not only a Forever Friend but a Forever Friend who was a Mouse.


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Attaday, the Eighth Day of Yrick


Bekkah, Keiko, Lyric, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald, and Miss Tomomi.

“About Highside Heather? I don’t think that will ever happen again.”

Emerald answered Keiko quietly, shrugging her shoulders.

“In Talantal I learned a saying. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice … well my Lady will probably say … uhm … never. No. Once is enough.”

This brought an awkward silence to the comversation, one that was broken by Dominic. He shook his head before discussing Noble traditions.

“Having the freedom to choose who you are going to marry isn’t one of those things a member of the Noble Families have. The only chance you have is being one of the younger children, far from succession and it helps being so disreputable no other Family would dare offer their daughters.”

Dominic snuggled his favorite companion closer.

“Ja, I can call Kisa Allaine friend – I was fostered to the Allaines and we are what could be called traditional childhood friends. But even that – I think I was about eleven or twelve when I was brought home, was a political gesture. Talantal and Dawnview Vale may not have been on good terms, but both Khoralls understood that they had to live with each other.

"It was fun being a hostage in Dawnview."

Dommi chuckled, just a bit.

“It is the same for marriages. Alas, though I love my sister; that she is my sister may be the only reason I do love her. She is not the friendliest person in the world. There are those that spoke about her marrying into the Montagues and their conclusion was that they might truly have deserved each other.

“But you are correct; with House Montague being shamed Father will be very likely to find her a new suitor. As she isn’t heir I suspect he will try and bind one of the Manor Lords closer to the Korie family.

“As for love? As Father made sure we learned and learned hard, power is not a gift, you want it you got to give your life up to it. It is the cost of being Noble. I think I sneaked by being the least Noble I could be and I made it a personal goal to run away from power as fast as I could!

“And ta-daa!”

Dominic smiled brightly.

“I believe it may have worked!”

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Keiko

The young Rhoni nodded, but then she smiled at the Young Master.

“Ja, so it seems. The youngest Korie is known all across the mainland — from Caravan to Caravan — to be a rake and a rapscallion, irresponsible and possibly not completely in possession of his senses. Why, I’ve even heard tell that he’s a bit soft in the head!”

Keiko chuckled softly. “And while any of those things might have been true at some point — not the dimwitted part, of course — I suspect the illusion of them will always be more valuable for as you wander the World. Besides, how could you possibly be a rake with Miss Emmi at your side? How could you be irresponsible when someone you consider a friend needs your help? And you are quite aware of the world and its vagaries, m’lord. Quite the intelligent lad, you are.”

Then she giggled. “But you are a rapscallion, and you can’t be anything but a rascal. It’s a good thing, too, because you’re fun. Folks should have friends who are fun. Your stories might not always make any sense, but you have a gift for helping people laugh. I know it’s important that you amuse your Lady, but helping mortals laugh and smile in the process is not as common a gift as one might hope it to be.”

She looked around at those gathered, nodding to herself.

“Power doesn’t seem to anything nearly as satisfying as friendships, but I understand that those who have it would like to keep it. I’ve seen what some will do to make sure they keep their power or gain even more of it.” She was silent for a moment, for perhaps the space of a handful of breaths.

“Terrible things have been done because power is more addictive than Grey, or so the elders have said. I am inclined to believe them. I just don’t have the right perspective to understand it — I am young, I am Rhoni, I am a woman who is not an Allaine or a Corliss.

“I don’t think I want to understand it, either. It seems to be a thing that is harder to control than even an unbroken stallion. Too many fail and are consumed by their desire for power; too few have the delicate touch to remain in control and... Well, and continue to be a good person, perhaps.”

She sighed and shrugged. “You have been to Dawnview, you have seen the Vale.” Keiko looked at Bekkah with a wistful expression. “I would love to go to Dawnview with you. I’m sure none of the stories I’ve heard could possibly do it justice.”


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Attaday, the Eighth Day of Yrick


Bekkah, Keiko, Lyric, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald, and Miss Tomomi.

Domnic laughed softly.

“Truth be told? And feel honored, lassie, because this rarely happens, that I’ll speak on something so serious and speak the honest and simple truth. I gave up my rakish ways a while back.

“… ohhhhhh at about the same time I asked a certain homeless friend if she wanted to be part of my household.”

To that, Miss Emmi just grinned and nodded.

“I have the world’s best Owner. Uhm, maybe that should be partner. Uhm, maybe the world’s best Dominic.”

Dominic’s shoulders rose and fell, quite philosophically, before he continued.

“But I have to admit, well, I haven’t done much to deny those rumors or put an end to them, because you are exactly right. In my place it better to let folks see what they expect to see because then you can get away with so much more.”

He did not speak again, or at east he did not interrupt Keiko. He was still attentive, he and Emmi, in their listening to the Rhoni lass come to her conclusions, leaving rhetorical questions rhetorical. But at the end he did make his own observation.

“Dawnview Vale is mountains and snow. And I am sure you have seen mountains and snow before. What makes it special is seeing it with those you care for or to go there meet a friend – and it doesn’t matter if it’s an old friend, a new friend or one you just haven’t met before.

“But I guess that is true about most anywhere.

“Which is kind of nice.

“Because that can make most anywhere special too."


[[ OOC Note - unless you want the conversation to continue, which is fine by me, this might also be a nice Fade To Black ]]

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