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Her head tilts the other way - and yet Kadri still waits. The story seemed not complete, therefore it was not time to interrupt.

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Cesare

**Dragon's blood?**

Now that was something he had not expected. His first thoughts were wake and free the dragon, then the dwarves wouldn't be able to mine the blood and therefore wouldn't need the forest kin. But he had a feeling that a woken dragon might be even worse than the dwarves.

He looks up again, another question on his lips, which hovered on the edge of his lips as his eyes lighted on Kadri. But it seems that Lyric is explaining so he focuses back on solving the important question of the dwarves.

"Would an awake dragon be a really bad thing?"

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Lyric

The Minstrel still held Kadri's hands, facing her and tilted her head to match. She watched to see how Kadri received what was said so far. It wasn't Lyric's place to protect or defend the lady. She seemed quite capable of that on her own. But Kadri needed to be given the chance to make the choice in how she reacted and to know that someone would support her effort should she seek it.

With a sidelong glance to Cesare who was nearby enough to have heard her first reply to the Dama. To his open inquiry about a wakened dragon she replied, "YES."

She returned her attention to Kadri again, the same gentle understanding and infinitely sage bearing still commanding her expression.

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Lady

Friendly Mice can be very useful, especially if you’ve spent time getting to know them as unique individuals. Materials for mapmaking were easily assembled.

Lady watched curiously, as images were drawn out upon paper. And when they were done, she spoke very quietly.

“Of all of our kin, I have always been. Safe.”

She looked away, out one of the windows.

“When they took me from the forges, I never saw the mines. Think about the nature of the parties that made up Prince Faast’s expedition and you will fully understand why I choose not to speak of my fancy, comfortable rooms in the Upper Halls. Far from the mines or any mill or forge and thus beyond the questions asked.

“As for here? Home is my dream. And Renyard, Broke, Clever Rat, the Pack, The Lockpick, and everyone in this room here helped make that dream become real.

“My only burden …

“Is if They made another Vixen.”

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Kadri:

"Perhaps you could elaborate on this prank to poor unobservant and dense Kadri?"


She raises an eyebrow and offers a slight smile, to show the comment was not hostile.

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Lyric

Lyric slowly shook her head, "No, one can not be called unobservant if one is not meant to see it in the first place Kadri. You are not dense neither."

That there were no mirrors in this entire common hall was hardly something Lyric would have noticed until this moment. How could Kadri see the curiosity of markings that had developed on the skin of her face, and maybe elsewhere on her body unseen.

That it was a prank was evident enough in that whatever caused it had done it in such a fashion that it couldn't be mistaken for a rash or an allergic reaction. It was as if it had been crafted for a particular effect.

"I will describe it for you," she continued in a soft voice meant to limit prying ears access. "But please remember, if this is a prank, you can own this, take control of it and make it your own... Surely this would win you favor with the Divine Being you serve, ja? To take someone else's prank and make it your own?"

Lyric's description came in a more flowery fashion with words that described coloration and pattern, but what it all came down to was that Kadri's face bore a number of pink dots that were perfectly circular of varying size, large and small. Not a rash, but as if someone had crafted a bit of playful artwork. the dots filled in spaces and worked with each other to create this pattern on Kadri's face and possibly elsewhere.

After her description, she reminded her, "I can help you own this if you want... I have been heckled and pranked in my life, many times... I have learned to take control of the audience and make them favor me for my good humor and grace through it, and I owned the prank after that. I owned the power of it, and the prankster is left smaller, sidelined. And no matter the true intent, be it playful or meant with malice, I refuse to let the pranksters better me without a fight."

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Kadri:

"Continue."

She says slowly, one corner of her mouth quirking upwards.

Her body language wasn't the slightest bit angry so much as bemused, arching an eyebrow gracefully.

Anger is to her a thing which is to be saved for cosmic injustices, harm to friends and those who cannot defend themselves, anger is a tool to be directed like an arrow at knocking down those who would hold down others - anger is not something to be expended on pranks. Given her multiple siblings, she was quite used to receiving such. And to, in time, responding. However, one good prank did indeed deserve another. Or at least a response, of sorts.

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Lyric

There in the midst of an assemblage of Forestkin waiting to get their remembrances heard and put on paper by the Rhoni girl, Lyric stood up from her perch at the edge of the table, bare feet hitting the floor with a bounce. The mercurial and quirky side of her was suddenly in charge.

Her smile was beaming as she let slip Kadri's hands and turned to pick up her mandolin in one and then extend the other for Kadri to accept and be led by her as she stepped up on a chair and then atop the next nearest table.

"Listen all," she shouted out over the din of the conversations. Once she had people's attention, her voice softened some and the performer took over.

"While serious work is being done, there is time for a song and maybe a dance to go with it." As she spoke she turned full circle atop that table nearby to the one at which Keiko worked to render pictures from words. "Live life and be joyous for soon enough we will have our plan and we will begin a great rescue... and we will right a great wrong as good vanquishes evil."

"Cesare... Join us up here.... Please... You too have a part in my song-story... A bit of light-hearted humor to go with Dama Kadri's unique complexion."

She waited for Cesare to be brave and bold and join them atop the table before she slipped lithely around them with her mandolin at the ready. Her actions would be a cue for the others to follow, a lead for them to improvise and a map for them to take part in the story revealed in her song.

"There were two sisters side by side..."



Lyric took on the role of the eldest sister in the song started. It was the role of the villian after all, and Kadri had to be the heroine in the piece. Cesare would be the young boy Jonny for whom the sisters vied. She hoped the others would 'feel' the story and play along with her, even if they had never heard the old ballad.

"Sing aye dum, sing aye day
There were two sisters side by side
The boys are born for me
There were two sisters side by side
The eldest for young Jonny cried
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Jonny bought the youngest a gay gold ring,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Jonny bought the youngest a gay gold ring,
The boys are born for me
Jonny bought the youngest a gay gold ring,
He never bought the eldest a single thing
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Jonny bought the youngest a fine rare hat,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Jonny bought the youngest a fine rare hat,
The boys are born for me
Jonny bought the youngest a fine rare hat,
The eldest never thought much of that
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

As they were walking by the foamy brim,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
As they were walking by the foamy brim,
The boys are born for me
As they were walking by the foamy brim,
The eldest pushed the youngest in
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Sister, oh sister give me thy hand,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Sister, oh sister give me thy hand,
The boys are born for me
Sister, oh sister give me thy hand,
And you can have Jonny and all his land
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Sister i won't give you my hand,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Sister i won't give you my hand,
The boys are born for me
Sister i won't give you my hand,
And I'll have Jonny and all his land
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

So there she sank and away she swam,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
So there she sank and away she swam,
The boys are born for me
So there she sank and away she swam,
Until she came to the miller's dam
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

The miller pulled her up onto dry land,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
The miller pulled her up onto dry land,
The boys are born for me
The miller pulled her up onto dry land,
Then back to Jonny, who took her hand
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Jonny married the youngest on that day,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Jonny married the youngest on that day,
The boys are born for me
Jonny married the youngest on that day,
The eldest was angry and she ran away
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Jonny and the youngest laughed and sang,
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Jonny and the youngest laughed and sang,
The boys are born for me
Jonny and the youngest laughed and sang,
And for her crimes the eldest did hang
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

The acting of the parts was spontaneous and would add to the audience laughter as each verse was revealed. The 'actors' would have to react quickly in their efforts to play along and keep up. Lyric hoped that such a bit of chaos would completely diffuse the original prank and normalize Kadri's appearance until someone could figure a way to reverse it or it wore off.

Until that time though, there was merriment to be had... a song and some laughter as well.

(OOC- I adapted several verses and a few words along the way to make this song go the way Lyric would want it to...)

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Dancing was something that came quite naturally to Kadri, and she was quite graceful at it. She moved lithely from step to step, moving with the moves of the story which she seemed to pick up quickly. This was in her comfort zone.

From smoky glances axchanged Cesare's way at appropriate moments to looks of betrayal when her 'sister' wouldn't give her hand.


At the end, she stopped with a saucy grin and a wink - at lockpick directly, if that person was again present.

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The Lockpick

... funny, the black cloaked Mouse is nowhere to be seen!




OOC Note: Her departure was documented in last Sunday's Long Post smile

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Pietro


Bemused and not a little bit worried about Cesare's questions concerning waking a sleeping dragon, the squire paid little attention to the tableau presented by Lyric, Cesare and Kadri.

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Keiko

Long moments passed; the Rhoni simply knelt beside the kind Fox woman, knowing that her experience could not render a full understanding of Lady’s plight. However, she understood enough from her few words, from hints Renyard had dropped through his many questions.

“Then my hope is that you have no such burden, dear Lady,” she said as she stood again. Rather than returning to the window seat immediately, she bent closer to the Vixen and whispered, “And if such a burden there be, we will do all we can to rescue her.”

Absently rubbing a charcoal stained hand on her tunic, she made her way back across the room toward the window seat Tomomi favored, avoiding Lyric and the Dama Kadri. However, when the Minstrel invited Cesare to join in whatever merriment she was making, Keiko intercepted him with a light touch on his arm that was removed when she had his attention.

“Lyric is right about Dragons that do not sleep, cousin,” she said in a hushed tone. “The Ancestors themselves cautioned us in their tales of wisdom never to wake a sleeping Dragon. It is a warning that is very literal. But you should be aware that there is not a Dragon sleeping beneath the Lake and the Keep.” She held his gaze for a handful of heartbeats to ensure he understood the gravity of her words.

“There are MANY Dragons sleeping beneath the Lake and beneath the Keep. There are many more Dragons sleeping beneath the world.”

Tilting her head in Lyric’s direction, the young Rhoni lass smiled slightly. “But they do sleep for now. And our minstrel has requested your assistance in this moment, so ride that wave. If you wish to speak further on the matter of Dragons...” She looked around, caught sight of Tomomi, then focused on Cesare once more. “...I’m sure someone will know where to find me.”

She smiled brightly then and gestured toward Lyric. “Now is the time for playfulness, not heavy thoughts to worry at your mind. Go... enjoy.”

With a jaunty curtsy, she spun on her heel so that her tunics flared out a bit — her intent, to be sure — and rejoined her Mouse friend at the window seat.


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Cesare

His head lifts at his name, then he grins, heads straight for the table but is intercepted for a moment by Keiko. He listens as she tells him of the dragons. As always she is full of knowledge and wisdom and he is again reminded of how much he must have missed in his early years; things that he might have learned growing up amongst his people. All those lost conversations.

"Aye. I would like to hear more. But as you say my services are needed just now."

He grins at his fellow Rhoni, liking that greeting of cousin which in a small way makes he feel like he belongs and jumps up beside Lyric. And he plays his part, acting out the parts that required him to do something, offering a ring, a hat, linking arms with the appropriate sister in the different parts of the song.

At the end he jumps down to the floor laughing.

"Now I really need some refreshment."

He had been so consumed with the rescue plan when he'd arrived that he hadn't had anything to eat or drink. Lyric's song had brought him back in focus and he looks around the tables to see what is left.

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[Post above corrected as I'd missed a part of Kel's post. Sorry! grin ]

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


Bekkah, Cesare, Kadri, Keiko, Lyric, Pietro, Tomomi, Dominic Korie, Miss Emerald Mouse, Broke, Wrath, Clever, a pair of Rats and most of the Pack, Lady and various and sundry other Forest Folk

“If there is …”

The red-haired vixen’s eyes dropped, just a bit.

“She won’t be found with the rest. She’d not be found deep in the Keep, but instead, in it’s highest halls. Not the mines. Not where the rescue is bound.”

Lady let her words fade away, however, as the Minstrel suddenly became the center of attention. Her head tilted, her ears perked, but her look was not one of curiosity as she watched her commons rise to the offered entertainment. It was of concern.

Most of Home did not share the Elder’s expression, however. They were easily swept up to the beat and the dance. Music and dance was such a rare thing within this swamp-circled tree house that it was a temptation hard to resist, if it could be resisted at all.

The Pack seemed immune too, their collective response was just a lifting of Wrath’s head, to watch the commons become a swirl of color and patchwork with narrowed eyes. Without a word he just dropped his head back down on his Broke-pillow. To which he got a poke in the side by One Fang’s booted foot.

“She means we’hhh.”

Wuffs still had troubles with their Ls.

Thus it was that Lady followed Keiko, finding a place to rest against the wall next to the Rhoni and Mouse’s window seat. In some ways her expression mirrored Pietro’s. Indeed, because of that, the Squire got a nod from Home’s leader, a silent acknowledgement that he may indeed be right – that there were more important matters at stake than Kadri’s countenance and a fancy turn upon the wooden floor boards.

Kadri could dance the song away, adding an Amber flair to her steps. Looking up, just like before, it was easy to notethat The Lockpick had previously vanished and had not yet returned. Dominic and Emmi had chosen to stay put too, looking perhaps just bit too comfortable to be proper beneath his flat black cloak.

Cesare would easily be able to something to eat, amidst the remnants of lunch. Bread, cheeses and the like, but like One Fang he’d find that there was no meat left. However, he would have to be fast. As the dance came to a close some of the Forest Folk remembered that it was their job to clear away the tables.

Lady finally offered her home and companions a small, poignant smile. She looked to Mouse and Rhoni and nodded.

“Ja.

“Let them enjoy their dance.

“Let us hope it raises hearts and does not become a distraction from the serious matters facing us between now and the Keep of Prince Faast Bankorpool.”

Then the dance would be over and Lyric’s song come to its end. And as Lady had observed, still ahead of them were the unanswered questions of Lady Yurisdotter’s quest – the rescue, the Keep, the lake, the mines and now, added to the mix, tales of dragons and dragon’s blood.

Keiko’s drawings of the Keep were where they were left, waiting patiently for Pietro, Cesare and the others.

Waiting for what they all would do next.

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Cesare

Bread and cheese is fine and he places several of each onto a plate that looked relatively clean. He sits down to think, ducking as the clearing up started to happen around him but not stopping eating. He is again thinking ahead to their quest.

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Pietro


Once the dance came to an end, Pietro got some bread and cheese and went to sit beside Cesare and eat.

"I wish your friend was still here to help us plan."

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Lyric


The song had an end and, once reached, it was the proper time for other, more important, things. But a moment's respite for denizens of Home might renew the spirit of what this place was meant to be in the minds of those most serious right now. Lady, in particular, came to Lyric's mind. Her leadership was focused and closer to her goal she had gotten the more focused she became. But Lyric felt that everyone needed to remember what Home was meant to be. To remember what kind of place Lyric was told it was, and was offered what is was. Home was home. It was safety, it was love, and was a place to be free.

But the song ended and Lyric hoped it helped. Now was a time for more serious matters. So much pressure though. Lyric knew that there was a weight upon her friends and companions now to devise a plan, one that neither Lady, nor the Rats, and Mouses, and Deers, and Raccoons, nor even the formidable Pack of Wuffs had been able to devise in all their time here. And yet, in a day or two since their arrival there was an expectation that outsiders, who had barely had but a few hours to observe the Evil Keep of the Slavers, would be expected.... No, would be NEEDED... to figure out a way to free the Forestkin and defeat the Dwarves so that this evil would never rise again... all of this within a dark Forest cursed by a grief stricken Divine Being. Talk about pressure.

Yeah, Lyric was just putting it into perspective. She looked over to the three upon whose shoulders this weight fell and she couldn't help but have compassion for them. What could she do though? How could she inspire them? Everyone had a part to play. All the greatest epics had archetypal characters and those characters had roles... She knew her place. She understood her role. She liked her role...

"Is there a prophecy for this? A foretelling of greatness that heroes would emerge? A frame to hold the events in context? Something told as a story of a day not yet come? Maybe a tale told of a day that made the even the Evil Dwarves feel fear and dread and thus forbid even a whisper?"

Lyric was speaking to no one directly, but more so as though she were a narrator as the glow of the aftermath of her song's joy and merriment faded.

The maps and pictures drawn by Keiko, as told by so many willing and even eager to help were spread out upon a table now. And the heavier air of grim solemnity took hold. A part of the minstrel wanted to strike up another song for that was what one did to break the tension.

No. The moment at hand was now one for such heavy things. Lyric had done what she felt she could. Her place was to watch and learn and observe. Somewhere on her journey she knew she would find the Song that would save her people. She believed in her heart that it could be found among these people, her friends and companions. They had already done great deeds and this might well be their greatest. Yes, in so far as how their actions would affect the living, breathing lives of those who needed great deeds to be done, that is. And Lyric was here to witness it and make it know throughout the these lands such that what happens here will take its place among the greatest of tales already told. Maybe even a song and tale of the days when the next Divine beings were walking the lands in their final days of mortality...

Lyric shook her head to break the strange fugue her imagination was conjuring. Such was the way of a Dreaming Minstrel though.

Lyric slipped around to the end of that table to be close at hand when the three of them finally sat down to plan. She wanted to watch and hear them plan. She wanted to be in the right place to see it unfold. It was hard to hide that wash of anticipation on her own face. She looked at the papers spread out in readiness for the Heroes to begin. She...

She...

She paused, and looked at the drawings some more, one after the other those that were visible.

You are the Minstrel, she reminded herself. She desperately wanted to move other pages aside to see all the drawings though. It was a part of her to be curious, but it was also something else. Something that could betray a deeper gifting... One she was not comfortable exposing. One that could make people misunderstand how different she was. How different she wanted to be...

What? No, it was simply curiosity at play. That too is part of your nature.

She looked away and sought a distraction. Keiko? Was she nearby? Close enough for a smile and wave? Or maybe Dommi. Was her close enough for her to see him though the gathering? Or was he lounged across the room, knowing this was not the place for his talents? He would surely be able to distract her with some bantering play of words. She enjoyed the verbal spar with him. Or... One Fang. A friend with some feelings. Even the exploration of that mutual interest could give her the relief from her dangerous curiosity, but where that path might lead bore its own dangers though.

So she sat there at the end of the table, looking at the drawings she could see, and at the heroes as they ate a bit more and prepared themselves as they bore the weight of expectations and hopes and anxieties and all the remainder of that restless undefined energy bound up in this place... The intense need to free their kind and end the evil that created them.

But she couldn't help glancing at those pictures. Once she saw IT, she couldn't stop thinking about IT.

You are the Minstrel... the minstrel... Everyone has their place.

She slipped off of the table's edge and pushed through the milling forestkin to step outside onto a balcony or bridge-way built into the canopy of Home to connect place to place. She needed a breath of fresh air to help her refocus herself.

You are the minstrel...










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Keiko

“Where the rescue is bound should be where Kin are held against their will.”

That was all the Rhoni had said, for it was all she could say. She felt comforted by Lady’s presence when the Kin followed her to Tomomi’s side, despite the Vixen’s concern. The drawings she had done... well, they distressed her. Perhaps, just perhaps, they explained Lady’s apprehension as well.

Keiko watched the activity, and she watched the Pack. She watched Dommi and Emmi and smiled. At least they could get her to smile. Tomomi, too — with her short spiky blonde bits of hair and tickling whiskers — could draw forth a smile.

The morning had been so full of frivolity and learning, of conversation and laughter that this display seemed somehow... off? There wasn’t anything exactly that she could name that was unsettling about Lyric’s performance.

Keiko nodded at Lady’s observation. “People often do find song and dance to be a balm to help them through more difficult times. As much as folk will call the Rhoni thieves and worse...” She tilted her head to the side and smiled ruefully. “Well, yes. Petty thievery is something that happens when a Caravan settles for a night, especially if there’s a market nearby.” Her shrug was pragmatic. “But despite that, people still want to come watch our dances, hear our stories, listen to the songs we sing, and have their fortunes told by wizened old grandmothers and beautiful girls.” She sighed. “They can forget their cares for a little while before going back to their farms or their masters’ shops. Perhaps we do help them, in some small way, to raise their hearts to face their daily challenges.”

She looked up at the Vixen, no more at ease than the Elder Kin.

Keiko caught Lyric’s eye when she looked up. If the Minstrel looked long enough and sharply enough, she would certainly note the quick glance at the drawings and the certainty in the violet eyes that the Rhoni saw IT, too.

It was not so much an answer to the question that consumed her — how to save so many Kin and bring them to Home. No, it was the answer to the question of how they could ensure that the Dragons slept their deep sleep undisturbed by blood-letting.

And then the Card Reader noted with concern the Minstrel removing herself from the group. Glancing around, she could see that others noticed too. The Pack, of course... One Fang especially. But Dommi noticed without letting himself be seen as noticing, at least not yet.

Lyric was her friend.

With a soft murmur to Tomomi that she’d be back in just a little while, Keiko followed Lyric out to her balcony.

“Lyric?” Although Keiko hadn’t been as quiet as she could have been, she still didn’t want to startle the Minstrel. “Are you not well? Is there some way I can help you, my friend?”


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Kadri:

She looked at the maps thoughtfully - then at Lyric with some concern and considered following her - until that is she saw Keiko go after her - two would be one too many for such a task, and besides - it was evident that Keiko and her were not a good mix, and that for the moment the solution to that particular situation was an intractable one. So, with Keiko handling Lyric - she turned her attention back to the maps, tracing her finger along them.

The shaft. The waters. One might flood the mines, perhaps?

Her finger traced around the central shafts, tapping each of the gates around it and the dam.

The rescue - the rescue was not an easy matter, but it was a relatively simple matter - get in, distract the denizens, get it. The larger problem was putting an end to this.
So much water - surely even the strongest of dwarves could not contend with that much of it, were it properly unleashed.

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Lyric

She breathed in then out. In again, as deeply and slowly as she could. She needed the fresh air... well, as fresh as the air could be in the Cursed Remnant Forest.

She didn't hear Keiko's approach and at the utterance of her name, Lyric was startled a little. She turned and tried to compose herself. She wiped her eyes though tears never actually go to the point of running, but maybe it helped clear her vision. And then she flattened straightened her dress.

With a smile that seemed genuine in it's agreeable to seeing Keiko, it was obvious she wasn't really smiling in her heart. She opened her mouth to answer but the false words wouldn't come and all she was left with was a sigh.

"I understand what it is to be a tool for another to use. I wanted to be different." Another deep breath and exhale, "But I'm not... We all are what we are... what we do best. What we are born to do, or made to do..."

That last trailed like other sentences before it. She would allow moments to pass as she reflected on something, maybe the words themselves or some underlying thought.

"Not all of them will survive this," she finally added. That seemed to pain her greatly. "Not all the ones who will fight beside us, and certainly not all the ones we try to rescue."

"I know they will figure this out. The drawings are there for them... Their burden is heavy. I can feel it too, Friend Keiko. It's who I am mixing with who I want to be. I see the entire plan, all of it... the approach, the danger, the feints and distractions. I see what is needed to make the rescue attempts. I see the many parts all playing out in exact timing, forcing moves and accounting for them... like a puzzle... a game. I see the acceptable losses..."

That last seemed to be the most staggering to her. Her emotions were piling up. "It's what I was born to do... to go to war. But it's not who I want to be..."

"This isn't a game. People will die. But it doesn't change what I 'see' and what I know. I tried to be different."

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Cesare

"Yes I miss Mikal, though his gift was tactical planning for battles and we are trying to avoid a fight."

He looks at the drawings, pulling them around.

"Who did these?" he asks, almost because he needs to say something.

"And where is Clever?"

His head comes up and he looks around the area to see if he can locate him.

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Keiko

The Rhoni listened with her heart to the Minstrel, breathing deeply and slowly as if she were preparing for the Dance. She could hear it in her friend’s voice, see it on her face — the discordance of That Which Is rubbing against That Which Was and That Which Could Be.

“You are who you are,” she said softly. “Changing that is, perhaps, the most difficult thing a person can do.”

Keiko looked out at the dark beauty of the cursed Forest. “Perhaps the Forest would like to be different than it is now. It lives a less vibrant and joyous existence than it once did. And perhaps only the Forest itself knows how to once again be the Heartwood. Perhaps stopping the Dwarves from draining the Tree of Life will help it remember. And perhaps not.”

Her eyes turned back to Lyric, searching her face and seeing the whimsy and sense of wonder the other young woman had so often exhibited now buried under this heavy mantle.

“You are, in this moment, the Minstrel Lyric and you are my friend. What you were, what you were born to be — these are things that make you who you are now. They are a part of you. All the roads you have walked, and all the waves you have ridden have led you to this place, at this time.

“What you do next is your choice. If you have no desire to be a warrior, who am I to judge you? I am well-trained in the Rhoni Dances and can inflict considerable damage with my daggers. And yet, I would rather plait ribbons to make Mice happy than have to fight and kill.”

She shrugged helplessly.

“Life is never a game, Lyric. It’s a journey, often a difficult one. Eventually, we all die. Will some die in this rescue attempt? We are attempting something so mad that no one has even thought to try before this. Yes, it is likely that some will die. But I cannot believe any of us would enter into this endeavor not knowing the risks we face. Some of us will sacrifice our lives so that others may live. Those of us who survive will remember their courage and their sacrifice.”

Keiko reached out and lightly rested a hand on Lyric’s shoulder.

“If I may, let me ask you this: If being the warrior you were meant to be will give more souls a chance to live, can you be that warrior? Will you be that warrior? Knowing that you will still be my friend, the Minstrel Lyric, can you step back, to the side, forward on a path you had not wanted to tread?”

Dropping her hand and folding both together at her waist, Keiko tilted her head and smiled. It was a sad smile, for she had seen more than most who were not warriors the consequences of power flowing through the veins of great princes and petty merchants and corrupt guardsmen of every type.

“Your choice is your own, and I will not judge you for choosing one Path over another. This place you stand now, this place of not wanting to choose, is hurting you, my friend. I see this in your eyes, in the set of your shoulders.

“No path is ever perfect. Standing at the crossroads can be dangerous.”

The Rhoni’s smile brightened just a bit as she recalled whispers of rumors of overheard conversations — sometimes attributed to the Eastern Princess, sometimes not.

“Lyric is Lyric is Lyric.

“It is a way of saying that you simply are who you are... and that who you are is a very complex person.”


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Lyric

Lyric turned her back to the railing, leaning backwards against it and looking upwards through the dark overhead canopy where late afternoon light barely filtered down. She closed her eyes and sighed, or exhaled loudly, because sighing usually expressed a need for attention. Yes, this was just an exhalation marking an acceptance.

"I am," she said with eyes still closed, face cast upwards to expose her delicate pale throat. There was a moment of silence and the sounds around them dominated Lyrics thoughts. Space. A moment in time, separate from all other moments. To let the world slow down.

Slowly she lowered her head, opening her eyes and she smiled at Keiko and nodded. It wasn't the mercurial Lyric, nor was it that sage and wise friend either. This expression was something else, someone else. There was a hint of the mercurial, orr maybe it was 'reckless abandon' that peeked around the edges of resolve and determination and fortitude.

"I know what I must do. It is what must need be done. I knew when I came out here. But I thank you for helping me slow things down so I could see the path more clearly again. You are a friend... Now I must return to the room and explain how we are going to flood the Keep and the mines..."

Lyric gestured for Keiko to precede her, giving her leave to go in whatever direction she felt best for herself once she entered the Commons room again. Lyric's path was more clear now with less options... for now.

What needs doing must be done.

And Lyric is Lyric is Lyric. Ja, very true.

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Kadri:

"I deeply desire Mikal's presence as well, Cesare."

She pauses, and continues in seriousness.

"The rescue, Cesare , Pietro - is simple. Not easy mind you, but conceptually simple. Get in, get them out. Not cost free, but simple. What to do after the rescue is the question, how to stop them from coming around to the same idea again given time - and the answer to that question, I think, lies in the waters around this shaft. However mighty the dwarves, they are not more mighty than the waters of the wood. However sturdy their constructions, they are not more sturdy than a flood. They cannot resist that. Let the waters of the wood batter down that which stands in their way. Let the waters wash away the invaders. Let them be defeated by the failure of their own artifice - let them be battered down by their own arrogance. That is what we must do."

Last edited by Art in the Blood; Tue 21/03/17 18:39 UTC.
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