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#963601 Mon 18/02/19 23:46 UTC
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The Heartwood
Dawnview Vale
Snowgate Keep Main Hall
Hasday, the Twelfth Day of Tiger


Bekkah, Cesare, Daxia, Lyric, Eleni, Kisa, Nadya, Slink, and Tomomi

Of course, back at the Keep's main hall, the person holding that big book straight up refused to let it down upon the presentation of the last gift. Not that the hidden one's identity was unpredictable, but as Daxia well knew, Kisa was indeed using the book as a shield. It was a shield to prevent everyone else from seeing a very noble blush...

...because the something that had been set beside her book was a pair of mittens matching Daxia's.

As the collection of returning travelers settled down to eat, the evening's repast of venison was set before them. Anatoli proved as capable of being unobtrusive to them as he was to his liege. His liege, however, crossed her arms, looked up at her mentor, and proceeded to share her thoughts without taking a single breath.

"Ja, ja, ja. I know how to add my numbers and subtract them, and multiply them out for the months ahead and — when my head isn't spinning and drowning under this number and that number — balance it against the costs of keeping the Keep running, of making sure that TeeCee gets her stipend so she can pay Slink for sleeping, the cooks can buy food — we have new kitchen kittens to feed — Anatoli can buy a cloak for himself because he keeps loaning his to me, keep the militia strong, pay tithes to the Temple — say when was the last time the Temple ever do anything good for us — pay for rice and seeds, and buy grain and oats from the Kories. But you never tell me how much it costs a farmer to work his field and feed his family, pay his share of the village horse, and still have enough to get something nice for the folks they care for come Midwinters and Midsummers. How can I know if I'm a good Noble or a wise Noble if I don't know that and, and, and what did you just say?"

Suddenly the younger Khorall's attention had swung to Daxia.

"Oh my! You mean like when she went away last night?

"Oh me!

"Oh my.

"Kisa, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Slowly peeked her head over the big book, her head tilted. And slowly she nodded.

"The Marrenens may have just lost their monopoly on their information trade."

It was a practical and pragmatic reading of a straightforward pattern, to which Eleni's eyes went wide, her two fists slammed down on the table, before she reached for a basket, took out a warm dinner roll and threw it with all her might at her sister.

"NIN!

"It means Mice must be PROTECTED!"

Kisa didn't even flinch. Eleni's aim was horrible. Bekkah would have to think very fast to not get hit in the head by an errant dinner roll. That didn't, however, stop Kisa from nodding.

"You are correct."

It was a simple acknowledgment and perfect example of the two Allaine sisters working together. One so quickly discerned the over-arching impact of an important event, how it would affect the Keeps, the Churches, and the powers that shaped their world. The other saw straight through to how people would see it.

"Mice are people. We can't let them become tools."

It was Tomomi's turn for her eyes to go wide. That this would be a real person's first thought meant that maybe, just maybe, she was indeed a real person too.

"Miss Tomomi Mouse."

Eleni turned her attention to her young guest.

"I would beg a favor. And the first important thing you need to know about favors is that you can say no. The second most important thing you need to know is that if you do a favor for House Allaine, House Allaine will now owe you a favor. Fair is fair. I will not command a guest in our lands.

"If you would, might you deliver a message to the Corliss Manor House?"

Caught for a moment off balance, Tomomi was silent for a handful of heartbeats. Then she reached up and drew up her cloak's patchwork hood. She became a Mouse ready for traveling.

"For you, Miss Eleni, doing so would give me great worth."

Tearing a page from her book, Eleni scrawled several lines of text, folded the paper and reached to the side. Anatoli handed her a candle, and she dropped several large dollops of wax on it, holding the makeshift missive closed as she imprinted her ring into the seal. Then she handed it to Tomomi.

The Mouse took a few steps backward and was gone.

"That was a good thought, Dazi. I hope I never abuse it."

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Bekkah

She listened to the conversation, and fortunately happened to be looking up as Eleni launched the roll. She too was able to dodge the deadly missile. She of course would worry that mice might be abused because of their ability, but at the same time she knew they'd love to feel needed, especially when an heir referred to them as people. Tomomi's answer didn't surprise her in the slightest and she smiled as their friend disappeared.

She then gave her sister a smile and resumed eating her meal.

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Cesare

He smiles as Tomomi accepts the favour asked of her. There may well be other opportunities for the Forest People to find a place in the wider world. Broke already had, as had Emerald. Tomomi may now have also. All good. As long as home stays intact and does not lose its special place in their hearts.

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Lyric

With the question of how to dress herself underneath her new tunics resolved in her mind she had set herself to the task of being care-free and letting whimsy reign over her moods. Skipping up hill was tough though, and so she took time to make sure she also skipped downhill some and then up hill again, dancing around the party in circles, left around and then right around, maybe right around again, one more time and then twice to the left. Whistling and humming, even singing a little, but those songs sounded like incomprehensible babble, words strung together without worry for their individual meaning nor that of the song as a whole. She seemed not to pay attention to the conversations of the small group but kept herself within their sphere of observation.

Once she was within the walls of the keep again, her playful mood did not diminish though she comported herself with a little more restraint. Instead of the frolicsome dancing, she settled on a wander about the Main Hall's perimeter to look at things she hadn't paid much attention to earlier. Brocades and artwork, andything and everything hanging from the walls. To the walls themselves she paused a few times to look at the pattern made where stones were joind, tracing her fingers over the mortared joints as though they were some winding road through the hills of her imagination. But the moments of relative calm were short and she would twirl away to see how much the tunics flared now that she was no longer in the brisk breeze.

Today seemed to be a mercurial one for the Minstrel and maybe that was just a respite she gave herself in anticipation of a much more serious end to this day. She would prefer that such a thing were not necessary, but she realized early on that it would be inevitable. The Crucible of Friendship. Would her hope survive this impending test?

Eleni passed a note to Tomomi and the Mouse did Her Mouseness thing.

"Has anyone seen Keiko?"

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Lord Protector, Her Ladyship Verchovai Daxia Yurisdotter
[Daxia serves DAYALA... the GM ESPECIALLY should get this right]

Daxia sauntered to the end of the table where Kisa sat hiding behind the big book — some of Eleni’s tax records, no doubt. As she looked around the hall, her attention was snared by the Dayalan guard up in the gallery. She had to admire Slink’s ability to remain alert while giving the impression of sleeping, especially with so much going on.

Was it all that much more than usual, however? Perhaps not.

Eleni and her lesson... ah, may their Lady grant the young Khorall never lose her compassion for the people she served! There were certainly more things to understand about ruling a Keep than Dazi was interested in knowing, although the Priestess could understand Eleni’s point of view more than she understood Kisa’s. Dry facts and figures were only one small part of understanding people. While Dazi was undoubtedly interested in facts, she was perhaps even more interested in learning about people’s lives. Much like Eleni.

She settled in the chair beside Kisa as the reality of Tomomi’s ability sunk in for Eleni. Daxia didn’t bother trying to hide her smile as the sisters came to the same conclusion from different roads. She didn’t even need to protect her liege from errant dinner rolls. Maybe those spectacles Keiko and Tomomi were talking about last night would do wonders for Eleni’s aim.

It was still an oddity to watch the Mouse Girl just... disappear like that. What a wonder the Forest Folk were!

Then she smiled with fondness at Eleni and shook her head ever so slightly.

“Eleni, I believe the only way you could abuse the use of Miss Tomomi’s gift is if you stopped being you.” Dazi glanced at Nadya, at Slink, at Anatoli. “And someone would notice if you started acting odd, da? Let your heart guide you when asking for help from Tomomi and her kinfolk and you’ll do fine.”

Watching Lyric dance around the hall was every bit as interesting as watching the joy she had exuded as they had returned to the Keep. When was the last time Dazi had been that lighthearted and carefree? It had probably been before Bekkah had left the Vale to study with Lady Catherine at Lilia’s Castle. That seemed like a lifetime ago. Perhaps the tapestries and keep construction were all the more interesting for the minstrel because it was all so new. For Daxia, they laid out the whole history of the Vale and the Allaine family, a weight of thousands of years... a weight that only seemed onerous when the Dayalan stepped back and tried to see her home from someone else’s perspective.

How did Lyric manage to hold both childlike wonder and profound wisdom? Her life’s story must be a fascinating one.

And as for Lyric’s question... well, she’d leave the discussion of the Rhoni’s whereabouts to those who might have seen her since midday.


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The Heartwood
Dawnview Vale
Snowgate Keep Main Hall
Hasday, the Twelfth Day of Tiger


Bekkah, Cesare, Daxia, Lyric, Anatoli, Eleni, Kisa, Nadya, Slink, and Tomomi

The meal was good and, while simple, it was filling. Every now and then Eleni would pause, and scribble some notes down on the table top next to her with a piece of chalk. That would get a silent glower from Nadya, but not for Eleni. She'd glower at Anatoli, as he was probably the one who had provided the piece of chalk in the first place. His reply would have been a simple subservient shrug — an acknowledgment that as a commoner, even if Nadya didn't like it, it was his Liege's request.

Lyric's investigations, however, yielded more interesting returns. If she started with tapestries, the simple banners that hung at the hall certainly deserved attention. They were finely woven and their craftsmanship sound, but more importantly they felt old. Perhaps as old as the Keep itself, having seen many, many generations of Allaines hold court in this space. They felt almost as old as some of the banners that flew in her little village.

Perhaps the rumors of Dawnview Vale having never fallen were indeed true.

The stonework of the halls also betrayed that manner of age. Each honey-colored marble stone was carefully fit atop the next; there was neither mortar nor space thick enough between them to slide a scrap of parchment. Whoever first built the keeps of the mainland had to have been legendary craftsmen. It was an oddity about this place. Her home had its, for lack of a more appropriate word, traditional manor houses, wondrously wrought and worthy of song. The keeps of the mainland held a different sort of grandeur — as if they had been built to last forever. It appeared that in the Vale the Keeps may just have kept that promise.

As for the kind of tapestries she was used to, those that told stories, they were lacking here. Instead, there were the stained glass windows that looked down on them. The brightest, of course, showed Her passage across the sky, an acknowledgment of the goddess who watched over Dawnview Vale. One tall window portrayed the construction of a keep; perhaps the founding of Snowgate itself? Another was pastoral, showing a shepherdess watching over sheep in the high mountains. Another portrayed three red-haired women, holding hands, and looking down over the mountain Vale. Perhaps they were the first Allaines to rule as three sisters — one for Dawnview Castle, one for their destination, Glacier Keep, and the last for Snowgate. Interestingly, one showed a procession leaving the Vale, bound for what looked to be a faraway port.

Not all the windows told ancient stories. One was much newer. While the walls of the Keep might date to the very First Age, the windows obviously had changed over the years.

This one showed the pass filled with stone, stained with blood, and a single lonely figure overlooking the destruction on a field of snow. Beneath that window's light, the Vale's current ruler edged a bit closer to her Knight. Kisa was not reading tax rolls nor the tally of house accounts. The book that had engrossed her appeared to be an older memoir, written diary style. At a glance, it seemed to be about the rediscovery of the Jambles at the end of the Second Age, though rediscovery was perhaps an inappropriate word. Just as the Vale was remote and distant from the rest of the mainland, the Jambles was an equally remote and distant place within the Vale.

What was even more interesting was her answer to Daxia's comment. Because both the older and younger Allaine sisters spoke at the exact same time, saying the exact same thing.

"Except it would be something far too easily slipped into."

The two looked at each other. Eleni scowled and reached for a dinner roll only to find that the basket of them was somehow mysteriously now out of reach. Kisa just peeked over the top of her book and smiled at her sibling. She then leaned against Dazi.

"You are my compass, Dazi. Eleni has Nadya and another to watch over her. I believe she will be fine."

Kisa spoke with a quiet authority. Eleni went looking for the dinner rolls again, which were now even farther beyond reach.

"No using your gift on little sisters! That's not allowed! It's not fair either."

Eleni grumbled as she laid her head on crossed arms.

"Especially when you are right. Do you know how annoying that is? Mother always keeps saying, 'listen to your sister, she's right, she's smarter than you, she listens to her lessons.' As usual, as always, you're always one step ahead of all us other folks, insightful, far-seeing, wise and perfectly perfect and perfectly annoying! Snow and stars, you are lucky I love you, Kisa."

To which, Kisa had the best answer, which was followed by a very predictable response.

"I know."

"AAAAAARRRRGGHHHHH!"

As for Lyric's question, it was Anatoli, protector of the dinner rolls, who offered the first reply.

"Not since the morning, when she was with your other Rhoni cohort."

From above came a droll whisper, providing a bit of useful information.

"She ain't left through the gates, so she's here somewhere. Keep's big, but not that..." *yawn* "...big."

Slink laid her head back down on the gallery rail and then added another clarification.

"Seeing since there's been no screams from the cleaning staff, she prolly ain't been murdered."

As for her Mouseness, it was too soon for her return.

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Cesare

Meals usually absorb all of his attention, or at least that is how it appears. In truth there are times in the past where the family have gone hungry and that has meant that he appreciates each meal as it occurs. However he lifts his head and looks around.

"I was sparring with her this morning. And she has not been seen since?"

He believes that everyone should have the freedom to make their own decisions, to decide their own path through life and Keiko is no exception. So normally he would not be so concerned but in view of the events at court earlier, well there might just be mischief afoot.

"Perhaps I should go and look?"

It is not really a question as he is already deciding what food is portable and what he should leave behind. He raises his head again.

"With your permission Eleni?"

Maybe he is also learning other lessons.. in part at least.

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Lyric, on the age of stone

Between the carefree light footed prancing around the Great Hall and the moments of contemplation over the banners and the tapestries and the glass work and the architecture Lyric found moments to pick food from her plate. Here then there and back for another piece of fruit or cheese. Even a roll she found on the floor that no one seemed to claim. If it were not for the effortless grace and casual tempo she kept in her movements one might think she was anxious about something. Perhaps this speed was exactly that, the Minstrel being anxious, in her way, and in her own time. Double skip with a left lead, then switch to double skip with a right lead, she imagined herself speaking difficult words. Difficult to say for a certainty, but more importantly she worried over whether or not the words would be difficult to hear.

Lyric stopped again at the oldest of the tapestry banners. At least the one she surmised to be the oldest. She leaned in close, but without touching. It would be disrespectful to do that without permission of the Keep's ruler or the of the artisan who crafted it. So very close, she looked upward and across it, as if she existed on the same hanging vertical plane as the banner. She smelled the air with her eyes closed. She imagined the stories and the history. She then put her hand back on the stone wall, whose joins were so tight and precise she felt that the whole castle was a work of art itself.

Another question came to mind. Different. Connected. The answers and actions that resulted from the first seemed to wash over her as she moved about the room. She did not ignore them, but offered no outward appearance of just how important they were to her.

Lyric turned on heel, like a pivot so that her back was to the wall and the banner was beside her left arm. She leaned back, keeping her feet planted about a foot from the wall, and let her weight come to rest against the stone so she could feel the coolness along her spine, and enjoy the prickling of skin at the sudden shiver.

"How many... years... has this keep stood as a guardian of the Vale beyond?"

It was a question for anyone and everyone. Whoever might be willing to serve as historian for the Minstrel.

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Lord Protector, Her Ladyship Verchovai Daxia Yurisdotter
[Daxia serves DAYALA... the GM ESPECIALLY should get this right]

“Isn’t that what I said, Kisa?” she murmured. “Of course, Eleni will be fine! You both will.”

Then she looked at Eleni, the young woman’s frustration evident in her posture. It wasn’t just her attempt to emulate Slink’s sleepy pose... Eleni had often tried to hide her frustration by burying her head in her arms. Daxia sighed softly.

“There were many lessons I learned while traveling across the Mainland, Eleni, but I think the most important one is that we don’t know everything. Our teachers don’t know everything. We can’t and they can’t.

“And when it comes to the topic of raising daughters, even your esteemed mother doesn’t know everything.”

Leaning forward and propping her elbows on the table, Dazi rested her chin on intertwined fingers.

“Why should you be like your sister? You aren’t Kisa. You’re Eleni. Kisa has her own strengths, which are not the same as yours. If it’s important for you to listen to Kisa, then it’s just as important for Kisa to listen to you. Dama Linnell is a wise and strong Khorall because she was trained to be that way. I suppose no one taught her how to be a kind and loving mother, though. She was figuring it all out as the two of you grew up.

“Did she make mistakes? Maybe. But I believe she raised two young women who will prove to be every bit as wise and strong as she is... and perhaps even wiser. In that respect, she did an exemplary job as a mother.”

Then she leaned back and smiled at the younger sister.

“Would it help you to know that you will have far greater success being a mother yourself than your sister will? Yes, yes... it’s far too soon to be thinking about that particular duty. But you both have your strengths, my friends. And you both have weaknesses. Sharing both will allow you the best the very best khoralls and the best mothers you can possibly be.

“You won’t be perfect because no one is. Don’t compare yourself against your sister.” She glanced at Kisa with an expression that said I’m talking to you, too, here before giving her attention once again to Eleni. “Just compare yourself against yourself. Your sister, your mother, your teachers, your friends will be the mirrors you can use to gauge your success.”

The priestess smiled at Eleni as the memory of something Kisa had said in Talantal ran through her mind. Kisa was right, of course — they were family. And if Kisa was her family, so was Eleni. She had walked out of the Vale feeling very much alone, despite holding Kisa in her heart always. And now she had come home to a life of more family than she ever thought possible. Dazi just wished Bekkah didn’t seem so alone. Woman could not exist on the love of a Goddess alone...

And as for Lyric’s question? Well, Eleni was the Khorall of the Keep and ought to speak on the topic of its history. Not that it much mattered. All three of them — the Khoralls and the Knight — had been taught by Kassia. It was just a matter of which lessons each of them gleaned from the dry facts Kassia had presented.

Daxia nudged Kisa’s shoulder with her own. “Tell me about what you’re learning from this book you’re reading.”


[OOC: I’m deliberately not engaging with Lyric at the moment due to my lack of time for posting. I recognize that this leaves everything in the hands of the GM. It seems warranted in this case, as Cesare is specifically addressing Eleni, Daxia is addressing both sisters, and Lyric is just looking for an answer that I don’t have. (Well, I sort of do, but the GM never confirmed my numbers.) Also, I’m STILL looking for Keiko. She’s been MIA from my brain for months.]


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The Heartwood
Dawnview Vale
Snowgate Hall and Snowgate Keep
Hasday, the Twelfth Day of Tiger


Bekkah, Cesare, Daxia, Lyric, Eleni, Kisa, Nadya, and various others around the Keep

Eleni slowly lifted her head from her arms, wrinkling her nose at both her sister and her sister's Knight before, with a deep breath, she once again took up the role of Khorall and the Lady of the Keep. She set her attention on the Rhoni lad.

"Of course. Though I am sure she is fine, just as I am just as sure that there shall be no mischief while you look for your friend."

Eleni dealt with the immediate request first, gifting Cesare his leave from dinner. Then she tilted her head, cocking it to the side, on the question of Snowgate's history. She waited a handful of heartbeats as if she expected her sister to be the one replying. And when there came no answer from the scholar, she looked at Lyric.

"Once upon a time..."

* * *

Searches are best started at the beginning. It only, however, proved the dinner servant correct. Keiko was not to be found on the terrace where they had practiced earlier that day. Nor could she be seen from its ramparts. Below, as it was late in the day, the courtyards were cast in shadow, along with those who were finishing their daily tasks. Most seemed to be crisscrossing from the last ring gate and into the lower rooms of these tallest towers. Most probably, then, those in service to the Allaines were returning with goods acquired from the markets and traders during the day and now putting them into storage.

It was quietly impressive.

Managing an Allaine keep, obviously, was not a simple task.

* * *

"Once upon a time..."

Eleni looked down, picking up a dinner roll, and very slowly started to tear it apart. As she did, the main door to the hall opened. The captain of the Keep's guard stepped in. TeeCee quietly shut the door behind her and without a word took up a place next to it.

"Once upon a time the world was shattered. It was a war that cannot be described. No one escaped it, for when the Gods fight the lands bleed, the mountains roar and there is no safe place. No safe place. Can you imagine that, Lyric? A time where there was no sanctuary, no rest, no respite, no place to find a moment's shelter, each day knowing you were less than a pawn, but that your entire life was but a reflection of the conflict between the powers that made our world?

"There was no place to stand.

"You ask how old Snowgate Keep is.

"It is a question with no good answer."

* * *

The next stop on Cesare's search was the kitchen.

"The little Rhoni lass? Oh yes! She was here around midday. She came in, having gotten herself all turned around. So we sat and talked and cut potatoes. She showed me how to cook this rice that Lady Eleni's been trying out. It's amazing, isn't it? Just a handful of rice and it grows to fill the largest of our bowls!"

"The kittens really liked her. But then kittens like anyone who pets them and gives them saucers of cream. The older ones, however, they didn't like her much. They looked at her like she was this really big mouse."

* * *

"Maybe there has always been a Snowgate Keep."

Eleni gave her sister a steady look.

"Kisa would say it was an inevitability. We build things to shelter us. To keep the rain out. To keep the cold out and the heat in. To bar the wind, to not let monsters devour us in the night. And yes, there were monsters then. Dark creatures of so many shapes and forms, as the Lords of Chaos created life without end, to fight their war.

"Kisa, of course, is always right.

"But I'm not sure she's completely right."

* * *

Then there were the guards. They weren't Dayalans, but they did stand watch on a length of the corridor, one leading to the tallest of the Keep's towers, the Allaine residences. Of course, she was not there; no one was allowed there unless they were Family. Cesare was able to talk with the guards.

"Keiko the Rhoni? Yes, she was here. She brought up our meal from the kitchens. It was one of Eleni's experiments... white grain with meat and gravy. A bit too spicy for my tastes, but I know she means well."

The other guard spoke up.

"Well, I liked it. Some of us know there is more to this world than potatoes."

* * *

"I believe.

"I believe someone stood in this valley, with the sky filled with all the colors that there were, where the puddles on the ground were both clear and crimson, and she had her people, her family, those who trusted her, and they had nowhere else to go. They could run, they could keep running and if they were lucky, they could stay one step ahead of the shattering. But she knew, she knew, in her heart, that every time they ran they had to be lucky. Those that were chasing them, following them, wanting them dead, they... they also had to be lucky if they were to catch them.

"Except they only had to be lucky once."

The littlest Allaine's eyes were closed, as she recited her History. How much of it was the truth, how much of it was real? That was something lost at the beginning of the world. But it was blatantly obvious that this was what the young woman believed.

"They were many.

"She was one.

"But this is a valley.

"I believe she took the first rock, a hunk of honey-colored marble, and set it to bar the pass.

"'No more,' she said.

"'Here I stand.'"

* * *

"Oh, you just missed her! We just finished putting the horses to bed. She came in to check her own, and then she helped me feed and water the rest. Of course, Blackie over there demanded that we pay attention to him first, but at the least, that's better than when Lady Gillyflower comes home to the Vale. Her partner is a busybody and won't stop poking his muzzle into everything. Which means we can never get nothing done."

Cesare had made it to the stables and was talking to the lad who had his evening duties.

"So Miss Keiko kept him distracted with apples and all was fine. Right handy that was."

Down at the far end of the stables, Morning Star narrowed his eyes. His look was a bit perplexed, not quite sure if he was pleased that anyone was better than him at anything and yet not so sure he wanted to be known as the most magnificent busybody. So he settled on eating an apple.

* * *

"It was Dayala's gift."

Eleni reached up, to finger the star pendant around her neck. While she was no warrior, no wandering fighter, that didn't mean that she was any less a follower of Dayala than those that were.

"Before there was no hope, there would just be fighting and blood and death with no end.

"But in the valley where she stood... It was different.

"There would be an end.

"She didn't have to stand forever.

"She just had to stand longer than they did."

* * *

"You lost a Rhoni girl?"

Kasha snorted. Rishka, she at least had the propriety to cover her mouth with her hand. They were both very horrible at hiding their chuckles.

"I mean I can understand losing a horse, they run for the barn all the time, and I can understand losing at cards, because that's all depending on how much the Lady of Foxes be liking you, and I can understand losing your dinner, because there are some pretty rotten cooks out there. Never ever let Rishy here near a frying pan for example. She can burn water, which is quite an accomplishment."

Rishka just shrugged her shoulders.

"Eh. She's right."

Kasha then continued.

"But losing a girl? That's all sorts of strange. I mean, don't you Rhoni have arranged marriages, so doesn't that mean she probably isn't yours to lose in the first place? And did you ask her? I mean, is it a matter not of being lost but her not wanting to be found? I mean, she's a big girl, right? Well, not big like me, seeing that she's kinda scrawny, but she seemed full well happy and fine when we ran into her. Literally. She was coming around from the stables and we were heading off to practice because Rishka was needing some sense pounded into her. OOOOOOOOFFFF!!!"

It seemed that Kasha had succumbed to a sudden case of an elbow in her side.

"See?"

Rishka just shrugged her shoulders.

"Eh. She's right."

Kasha then continued.

"Well, when we picked her up off of the ground she said she was looking for her Mouse friend, and we told her we hadn't seen her since she came back from the Markets. Now losing her I could maybe understand because she's so small and shy and thus easy to lose track of."

Her partner then added another clarification.

"Besides, you are both Rhoni. Isn't it impossible for either of you to be lost? Aren't you always where the world's currents want you to be?"

* * *

"How old is Snowgate Keep?"

Eleni Allaine nodded to Lyric.

"I believe, if one looks hard enough, that first stone can be found in the foundations of my home and even if it has long since crumbled into dust, it can be found here."

The young Khorall simply tapped her chest, right above her heart.

* * *

In the end, Cesare found himself standing outside the doors to the main hall. He could enter, and return to the others, or he could continue his search.

* * *

Kisa was silent throughout Eleni's story. Only when it was finished did she speak up.

"I am in agreement with Daxia."

Eleni just blinked, not understanding.

"I am smarter than you. And I am most often right.

"So the only role I could play here is Snowqueen. But you?

"You would have the entire Vale standing with you."

Kisa smiled.

"There is no one else I would trust with the heart of Snowgate."

Eleni's eyes became as wide as saucers and her cheeks as red as her hair.

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Cesare

It seems that Keiko has been busy helping everyone from the cook to the stable boy, so the chances are that she is fine. And he agrees she is a big girl and entitled to do whatever she wishes. It is tempting to return to the others especially as there might be dessert or ale but.. his mind slips back to that attack in court this afternoon. He would not forgive himself if he just returned without seeing her for himself. Chances are that she is fine.. but just in case.

He turns away to search again, trying her room, trying anywhere he thinks a Mouse or Rhoni lass might go.

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Lyric

As the story was told, poetic and worthy of due credit in the performance, Lyric listened, sometimes with her eyes half-closed her heart feeling the story more than her mind did. At other moments in th telling she was fully attentive, as though every word was important, not just in meaning but in the enunciation and cadence that was used to bring the story to life. When Eleni spoke of the Honey Colored rock dropped into the pass to bar the path into the valley, she could feel the truth of the story as though that stone were real, but also recognize the metaphor for where the castle now stood. The truth of everything always rested somewhere between the words and the meanings. Lyric pressed her face to the stone of the wall, feeling the coolness of it. She wanted to feel the age of it. it was important to her in this moment to know what something so very old might feel like.

"I am not a Shaper," she said softly as though she spoke to the Stone. "I am a Voice. But to hear the story that you could tell, the questions you could answer..." She let go of the wish that could not be realized.

Turning her attention back to the Royals and the Warrior Priestess, "You have all been so kind to me," she said as she closed the distance between them. "My Initial travelling companions are not in this room right now and I must find them... or rather they must help me find myself."

Lyric came closer and presented herself before Eleni, and in effect Kisa as well, with Daxia in front of her. "I have reached a point in my journey where every step forward now increases a burden I am not sure I can let fall away from me, but neither am I certain I can carry it any further. I am burdened by my own fear of being alone. I am burdened by the understanding that nothing will be the same again after I release it. If I can not move forward and I can not go back, then it is here that I must stand myself... and make a decision and accept the consequences. Earlier I stood upon a balcony that offered a spectacular view, but to me it was like seeing the future and the past at the same time. It is there that I will be found during the space of the candlemark that melts just before the rise of She Who Crosses the Sky. It will be a new day. That has meaning to me."

Lyric's voice wavered a little and she blinked a couple times to fight the evidence of emotion without using her hands.

"I know this is your home, and your Keep, and so, please forgive me my impertinence as I extend to all of you, my new friends, Kisa, Eleni, Daxia, an invitation to join me there at that time. I know it is an inconvenient hour, but it is important, and the time is relevant to what I must share. It is an invitation only. I have no right to impose any expectations."

"Daxia, I realize we have not journeyed together very long but might I impose upon you to find the others, Keiko, Cesare, Bekkah, Tomomi. We share them as friends and it is for them foremost that I present them with my decision and it is for them I do impose a decision they must make after that. I am not sure that I possess the courage to face them individually right now to invite them. It will take all of my strength to speak to everyone at one time as it is. I ask this of you as a favor."

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Lord Protector, Her Ladyship Verchovai Daxia Yurisdotter
[Daxia serves DAYALA... the GM ESPECIALLY should get this right]

As she listened to Eleni’s tale, Daxia’s gaze moved around the hall. This was a safe space, or it ought to be, so she wasn’t so much looking out for trouble but watching those who were tasked with keeping trouble at bay... just observing how they did their jobs.

The priestess smiled at Eleni’s conclusion and nodded at Kisa’s observation of a simple truth.

“I share my liege’s opinion, Dama Eleni.”

Sometimes, it was necessary to step back from the easy familial camaraderie Eleni preferred and acknowledge her station. She was every bit a Khorall in her own right.

“I can’t think of anyone better suited to safeguard the heart of the Vale than you.”

It was Lyric’s reaction to the tale had Eleni spun, however, that was most interesting. Dayalans would hear the story one way — everyone else had their own histories, beliefs, and opinions that they couldn’t help but use as filters to the perceived reality of others. That the minstrel listened with respectful gravity was... heartening. Dazi didn’t expect others to have as much respect for her religion as they might have for the followers of the Imperial Court. When respect was given, she noticed.

An eyebrow twitched up at the phrasing of the minstrel’s comment. They must help me find myself. The sentiment echoed in Dazi’s memories — from the moment Kisa kissed her in the Pass beneath the Keep to the fell tale she told for the Nobles at Midsummer’s Council.

My friends helped me find myself, too. It’s what friends do, perhaps.

Her request was phrased in a way that would have made it impossible for the priestess to ignore if she had little inclination to be helpful. But serving Dayala didn’t just mean defending the defenseless or protecting the innocent. Some days, those were the most important commands she attended to. On days like today, however, merely being of service to those who sought more modest favors was a reflection of Her Light.

It had been a lesson learned as she traveled across the Mainland.

“It is life you speak of, Lyric — holding or releasing burdens only bring different types of changes to one’s life. Not everyone is blessed to have friends who will help carry burdens or aid us in setting them aside. You certainly seem to be so blessed.

“I will certainly do my part to ensure each of our traveling companions joins us before morning prayers. I suspect TeeCee and her people will play a greater role in locating them. I would certainly not be the one to suggest they play any part in such an endeavor.”

She paused a moment, glancing at Eleni and Nadya before continuing.

“Not after the ruckus earlier today.”


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The Heartwood
Dawnview Vale
Snowgate Hall and Snowgate Keep
Hasday, the Twelfth Day of Tiger


Bekkah, Cesare, Daxia, Lyric, Anatoli, Eleni, Kisa, Nadya, and various others around the Keep

While stones cannot speak, there is a saying, both near and far, that things that are allowed to become very old often develop at the least a hint of personality. Grand Talantal, the citadel at Talesan's Village, even the mysterious cities of Caer Maeyin and Trundle-on-the-Hill have all been rebuilt, at the least, three times. That they have all been rebuilt on their foundations and claimed by the same Family age after age is a very different set of circumstances. But the Keeps of Dawnview Vale? The Keeps that rise from near inaccessible mountains behind the protection of Snowgate and Snowgate Pass?

It is something that all can feel. Perhaps a minstrel, any minstrel, being one who tells stories of people and their hearts, is more sensitive to such things. Even the youngest child can feel the cloak of time upon this place. A Marrennen would not understand this, they deal with facts and the exchange of coin. But perhaps, perhaps this once, an ancient proverb that states ‘facts may be the enemy of truth’ holds true here. The silent age of these stones is not something that can be expressed in years, months, days or candle-marks.

The age of Snowgate Keep is counted not in years but generations. In the lives of those who have taken shelter here, from little children at tiptoes at the kitchen table watching breakfast be made to the blush of a courtship on a high terrace to an old woman sitting comfortably at her hearth, just smiling at the bustle of a Midwinter's Eve.

At its heart, however, Snowgate's age is told in the life of that first Dayalan saying 'No more, here I stand,' a shepherdess who had run out of choices, and a young woman who now stood guard at the border of a changing world.

But speaking of favors...

With a soft pop, Tomomi stepped out from behind one of the gallery columns. Above the empty gallery, the great stained windows were dark, their rich colors now illuminated by the light of the two moons. She offered Eleni a small wave and a small smile.

"Mister an' Missus Corliss were really, really surprised but said they'd keep a wary eye out."

Tomomi looked around at those gathered at the table, tilted her head, and she very, very slowly blinked.

"Mice will be needing sleep."

And with a whumf, she was gone.

Eleni just blinked.

"Does one ever get used to that?"

Kisa chuckled.

"Not really."

* * *

There! Perhaps! Cesare had opened the door to Keiko's room, and there was a shape asleep on the bed. He had found his lost cousin, perhaps? But no. It was just a sleeping Mouse, sprawled across the bed in a tangle of bedding. It seemed that long hops took a lot out of the young woman, and she was still wrapped up in her travel cloak.

But disturbing her would be a bad idea. Mice were skittish and unpredictable when surprised.

* * *

Eleni just looked at Lyric with wide, wide eyes.

"You are going to make me get up? Before dawn? I mean I am a good Dayalan at all, but our Goddess understands we watch her setting and not her rising, that's for goody-goody Kisa over there, it's why her Keep is named Dawnview and all, and the world is twice as blurry in the morning and, and, and..."

Nadya then interrupted her charge.

"You are rationalizing, my liege."

"I know that!"

"And doing badly at it."

Eleni simply dropped her head into her arms again. It was her servant who spoke next. Anatoli simply shrugged his shoulders, as if about to take up a very, very familiar task.

"Do not worry, good Lyric. My Khorall will be up to accept your invitation."

From beneath Eleni's folded arms came a single muffled word. It was a harsh word, but something in the tone of her voice tempered it as if giving up to a not totally unpleasant inevitability.

"Meanie."

* * *

There were few places left for Cesare to search. Lots of halls and corridors, enough such that if he was searching down this one and she was walking down that one, they could be at this for months. She had been to the halls that lead to the keep's dungeons — it was a darker side of Snowgate but a necessary one — and he was told once she discovered that she had immediately turned around and left. One of the servants remembered that Keiko had watched the sunset in the chapel, but that was a while ago — when Cesare had first found himself back at the main hall doors. The servant had mentioned something about watching the stars come out from one of the taller tower tops, but by the time he got there, she had already left, and the stars weren't saying anything.

Finally, though, he himself was found... but only by weariness and exhaustion.

He returned to his room and promptly fell asleep. It seemed that if Keiko didn't want to be found she certainly wouldn't be.

* * *

Dessert was brought out and partaken of. The sun had set, and that brought the close of the day. Tomorrow would be a new one and one that would start very early.

In their room, Daxia turned down the crystal lamp when Kisa fell asleep on her shoulder, the bookish Khorall happy, having read one sentence too many.


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