Balancing Acts (potential Adult Content eventually) [Archive]

Rioghna

09-30-2007, 02:13 PM

Prologue"Wise Man never drink hastily from hot cup of tea" - from the scrolls of LapZang Zuchong There are some who say that The Scroll knows all. Not just knows but is all. It is the word of what was and what is to be.It is the history of us all.Those who speak of it say it writes itself. That it needs no chronographer, no pen, no ink, no hand to fill its lines with the words. But such a scroll is power and those who were given its keeping understood. The numbers of those who kept the secret of the scroll dwindled in history long forgotten, for it is hard to trust such a keeping to mortals. It is hard to trust the memory of all that is and would be to a few. And when their numbers dwindled far enough the scroll was forgotten, past into the keeping of legend where all such truths should remain.And perhaps for a time even the gods forgot they had created it. One length of parchment that holds all. Forgotten they had entrusted it to the keepers. Forgotten those who had been nimble enough to steel it. Forgotten that the rogues had become the honoured. But eventually things have a way of coming full circle. The world changes, rifts occur and sometimes that simple act of chaos is enough to jog a memory. And even though it was said the gods had abandoned us there was no need to believe that they had not manipulated events in their absence. There was no need to be mistaken that they would forget forever. That there were those who would set their followers on the path to the scroll, to gain it for power. But even gods don't necessarily remember everything about the rules of the universe. And even in a world shattered, divided, separated there were still those destined to keep secrets. Chapter One"If you must play at all, the wise person decides on three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time. Particularly if the wise person cannot avoid playing with Gods" - ancient proverb adapted in the scrolls of D'imSum LossumAs thrilling as scrolls and secrets could be to any Norrathian, my story does not begin with any of that. It begins where all stories should. At the beginning and with the truth.I, like all those born to the same time as I, was born to a shattered world.A world of lands lost and forgotten. Of races thought to be extinct. Of gods... nay those will come later. The truth is of gods we had none when I was born. It was truly a land that needed growth, healing. And it was devastated.Most certainly traumatized physically but, as my Father would say, shattered in spirit as well. I remembered him saying that once as he worked upon a board smoothing it down to prepare it for what came next and in that simple act of sanding the wood he had a lesson. I did not know it then but I surely missed those unspoken lessons most of all now that I could never go back. As I lay tucked in bed at night, a small child all ears for stories of the fantastical he spoke of traveling our world as if it had been nothing. Galloping across plains, grand mountains, a world beyond the forest that contained our small village. He spoke of traveling as if the seas did not conspire to keep each small island a nation, to keep us unknowing of what had happened elsewhere.Yet, as dire as those words sounded to a young girl, not long after his stories of a world broken he told me I was born into that world as a sign of healing. That I was part of the circle continuing where it had been broken before. Part of the balanced path harmonizing itself from the cacophony that all the recent, relatively speaking to an elf, events had created. Again, I did not understand what Father meant when he first said those words to me and even though I now understand much of what he meant there is still more that I do not comprehend. As a child I thought he was simply being a loving Father but those words would come to me later. Words of wisdom that had been given to him to give to me as they had been past down through others before. From the first moment I could remember I sat at his side in his workshop as he worked on bits of this and that for the village. It never seemed odd that someone like him would be at home making things. And the village seemed grateful for all that my parents did.I would sit, in my solemn and quiet way, watch as he worked at a new piece of wood, and listen to his words, listen to his unspoken words. The wood was as much a lesson for me as anything else in my life. Very early on, possibly the first time I went into his workshop uninvited verbally but always welcome, he explained once that he never took it straight from the tree. This too was a lesson. He never took that which was still growing, still a part of the circle, the path, this world.I still remember the first time he took me foraging. We walked for hours through that forest. Past the newest sapling and the oldest great tree that towered in gnarled knots over the other. Past many a tree that would have given wood that was strong and hale. Not until he found the right piece just lying there on the ground as if it were waiting just for him. Then he stopped and showed me. It was not dead, just waiting. Waiting for new life. It was all part of the balance he explained as we sat next to that downed tree. A freak storm the week before, age, whatever had toppled it was part of the balance. It had grown, strong, it had died but was not dead, simply waiting for new life in the form of a bed, a table, an armoire... it was balance. Life and death were one in the same. Love and hate.I did not understand then what he meant, I was too young. I was simply happy to spend the time. I would sit quietly listening to those words whether it was on our rambles or in his shop. Whether it was in his small study, his refuge of quiet like his workshop, or in the midst of one of our noisy meals. I simply could think of nowhere I would be happier. It was on one of those walks that he first said it."This is a world divided, Little Dragon. Physically and emotionally. Shattered. Chewed up until it is no longer whole."I had cocked my head as I looked up at him and he had laughed at my quizzical glance. "Aye, you heard me right. There is much that has happened to this world and one is the shattering I have spoken off. Perhaps divided even magically in it's core. It's looking for the balance again. It needs the balance. There are some of us who believe that is a part of what makes Norrath unique. It heals itself back to the balance."When I was older he told me more. About the history of our world. Of battles, heroes, and renderings of the world. About the bad, the good and the Gods. There can never be too much of one or the other, he explained and of that he never wavered. He spoke of Gods, who most in the village were sure were gone, had abandoned us, had been forgotten by us but not by my parents. They were part of what they knew, would remember and taught us that they were as much a part of Norrath as we were, in their belief. He told me about those who had come before and who would come again. He never spoke of the small item that I carried always with me but seemed sure that I had it because of one who had once been, one who had left the item to wait, as the fallen tree waited. It was only part of my destiny, my heritage.And it had waited for me.

Rioghna

09-30-2007, 03:16 PM

Chapter Two"Wise person does not confuse spirituality with thinking about the Gods while one is peeling the potatoes. Wise person knows spirituality is just to peel the potatoes and then make very good potato soup with a bit of seasoning...or some day old bread on the side if wise person is in lucky position to have some" - from the scrolls of Nagatse YuowmiAnd while the shattered world healed, regained it's balance, it was still not the start of my story. A definitely part of me but not the start. My Mother, in a small attempt to teach me this or that, said that my story began a long time ago... perhaps with the first high elf or perhaps with the first human. It was a story that I would have to find on my own, unlike my siblings, my story did not begin nor end in our village. But since I have not yet found what my Mother was speaking of we will say my story began a moment after the shattering and many long moments before anything else.It then begins with a man and a woman who possibly should not have lived the life they do but that could be said for so many. It was a man born who lived a life where he saw a beginning and then an end. It was the end that made him question. It drove him to the clan. To the brothers. To the teacher he never knew he was searching for. And that teacher set him on the path. Filled him with peace, eyes for the future, a destiny. All words for what they emphatically called the path. There was only ever the path. It was what each of us walked. It was what he and one of his children were destined to walk.And while there would be different paths for those beyond their walls, for them there was only ever one.And the woman?She lived a much shorter life. She did not see any beginnings nor ends save those that humans generally see. And was she better for it? Wiser for it? She would sometimes say so. She would often say that she was less hung up on the why's and wherefore's and just lived her live, savoring and enjoying every moment possible.And they met when they weren't supposed to for he had forsworn so much to live the path as had she had to live hers. They met at the clearest river with the coldest and yet most quenching water in this land. That river does not exist any more but you may take my word that they met there. Their eyes met as they both leant forward to scoop water to lips in cupped hands and fate dabbled in their destinies.He did not return to the brothers for longer than a moment to bid farewell but nor did he abandon the path as they probably thought he did. He did not forsake it for her but of that the truth only came out after his death as truth often does. He would say the path was theirs and they walked it together.He was known to say that after their wedding he had not only seen a beginning and an end but now lived through a new beginning again. Their marriage was love. It was the stuff tales are told of. That young girls, tucked in their beds in their villages dreamed of after listening to the bards spin the tales of old that in happily ever after as tales told for youth often do.But that was just the beginning.And they had children. The middle was the only one to take after him, to so clearly inherit his genetics that it was only natural for him to take a slight bit more interest. But there was no jealousy amongst the siblings for their home was one of love.It was that middle child that was constantly at her father's side but for all her father's steps she followed she also headed her mother's words. It was that middle child that combined the two and found the balance to follow, to live by. It was that middle child who was set upon this path perhaps by fate. Who, when her first ending would come, would find solace in the path.When she grew up, free of the torment of the world, it should have been an equally happy ending but the world was not ready for that. The stories of the world were not about happy endings. Nor sad. They were the endings that should be. And while she could have expected it, it was not to happen for the world was changing. Darkness, tumult and decay was breaching its shores. Some said that their world was dying. Others, those who followed religion, said that some great sin had brought this upon them. But many knew that this was not true. Darkness was not without light. Tumult not without peace. And one who walked her path understanding this would not fall out of balance.It was when her Father read the first signs in the sky, or perhaps it was the mysterious missive he received in the dead of night, that he sent her away. Sent her to the one safe haven he knew. And he, as a Father, forgot the truth that he had learnt when choosing to walk the path. There was no safety forever.However, it was there she learned laughter, companionship. But it was back where her parents had begun the path for them that the sky fell in on her idyllic existence. It was there that chaos erupted around her. And when the chaos settled and events could be analyzed it was then that the truths became clear.The first was that the path walked was to be rocky. Trite but all the clearer in the weeks to follow. It was then, after all the years away from home that it was discovered that home was no longer. That all held dear was gone.It was there that an oath was sworn in blood.It was there in what remained of the burnt scarred earth where my home once stood that I knelt and reminded Destiny that I, XiaRyu, had sworn that oath. That the murder of my family would not be one of the mysteries that happened when chaos momentarily held sway. It was there that I reminded Destiny that I, XiaRyu, would walk her path. Then that Destiny heard my oath and would never let me forget it.

Rioghna

09-30-2007, 03:17 PM

Chapter Three"Listen to all, plucking a feather from every passing duck, but follow no one absolutely.... Unless you need it to have good roast duck for dinner or egg for breakfast" - ancient proverb adapted in the scrolls of Tchisai Stomak"Concentrate, my Little Dragon, Concentrate," the voice cut through my dreams and I was once again a child at my Father's side.It was a time of whys and wherefores. Long before I understood what it meant to follow the path that Destiny had laid out for me. Perhaps it was natural as the middle child I chose neither to follow my brothers or my sisters. Perhaps.Perhaps that was how they chose my name. I had three elder siblings and three younger who had names not like mine, paths not like mine. My parents had decided that any who had the features more of the high elf about them would get given names from my Mother's family, her people. Any who had more of the human guise where named for my Father's family, his people. But I was the odd one out. I was the one who's features blended the two so well, who so often got called half elf when my six siblings did not. Who looked the elf so clearly as the human (although perhaps slightly more the elf to my ego, at times) was given a name from the monks. Although Mother always said that perhaps the gods had a hand in naming me. Perhaps they knew that I would need the good and the bad of the elves, the humans, and a name of the meaning to help me walk the path. Perhaps that was why as a child I was different.Perhaps it was why I chose to sit at my Father's side. To watch him at his many activities. To watch as he would sit in quiet contemplation of a single character. He would unroll first one scroll and then another."Do you not see the simplistic beauty of this stroke here," he would ask me and I, child that I was, would shake my head. "Do you not comprehend the depths of wisdom of that word there?" And now, as those who have lost their loved ones usually do, I wished I still had my Father and his scrolls at my side. I wished I had attended his words of wisdom for they were fading as a child's memory often does.The sleepy village I grew up in seemed to be a haven for those family's like mine that neither cleaved to one side nor to the other of their parent. Wood elf families, human families, half elf who blended the two. My Father; however, was the only Koada'Dal amongst a host of wood elves. My Mother's humanity, even her burning red hair, let her almost blend better. Yet even she seemed marked to be odd in our sleepy village. My Mother had never been a village girl. She spoke of Qeynos, this great city that dwarfed our village. She spoke of her childhood there, of her family a little but she never spoke of why she had left the city. Those she had left the city for and through whom she had found Father. These things alone kept her from blending.There were other children that my six siblings ran with, tussled with and played with. There were none that I seemed to be able to approach. Perhaps it was the seriousness of my countenance even as a child. Perhaps it was my eyes that made even the adults uncomfortable. Perhaps it was despite our being half-elf as so many others we lived with our half did not come from the forest but the high elves. Perhaps it was that which set us apart. But even from his own people Father was different... he had sought a path his kind rarely did, at that time at any rate. He had left his family to fight and then he had gone to the monks rather than home to his parents.My Mother, educated as she had been in her own way, thought that the village should see it's children schooled in at least their letters. This meant also that as our village was mixed I learned quickly to speak many tongues. But those initially I learned were not the ones of the scroll. I often snuck within my Father's study to look upon them and read them, as he taught the words, the lettering to me. But without knowing their history even then I seemed to understand that I would never see the beauty within them that Father ever did.It was one of those nights that I remembered well. It was mid-summer. Hot, humid despite our being in a valley near the forest. But even those gentle limbs seemed unwilling to lend us their cooling protection. I was seated with my back against the wall, the window open a little to let the cooler night air tease my skin, a scroll open before me. I was absorbed in its words, for it was a story of a monk and he was doing great things, leaning immense wisdoms after fighting great battles. I had just finished reading the part where he encountered what must have been an avatar, as I had read about them in other scrolls, when I looked up. I could not look back at the words that seemed so familiarly written. I could not put down the scroll but neither could I return my attention to it. It was then that I heard the knock. None were abed but still it was late. Late for a visitor of any kind.With the scroll still in my hand I stood and crept to the door, easing it open only enough that I could see the glow of the lit rooms beyond and hear the voices. I heard my Father's voice first, greeting someone, full of joy and then my Mother's. Not warm and yet not the voice she used when my siblings caused mischief. More cautious. I could tell, even though I was not as close to my Mother as they, that she was certainly mistrustful.I crept from the room, edging along the wall until I was pulled into a room by my eldest brother. "Xia, quiet. Mother and Father will hear you as always," Eoghain hissed. Named for our Mother's Father in honour of his memory it had always made Eoghain think he was, therefore, special. The others, I knew from listening, were sure it gave him airs. I wrinkled my nose at him, no longer put off since I had hit my latest growth spurt. I was never the noisy one.I stood staring at my brother, whom I knew was very close to choosing his adult path. He was only three years older than I and yet already acted much older. He looked so like Father at the moment, the same fair hair and high elf features on his face. Many thought perhaps he would follow in Father's original path. Perhaps he would fight. I knew he didn't favour the arcane as Father's family had done. But even though we knew his age, with his elven appearance he did not yet look his age. He, in fact, looked younger than my eldest sister, Lonariel, who was the spitting image of Mother and even though only a two years older than I was already looking the part of young woman where I still looked the child.The two of them had moved back towards the door to the kitchen and were listening with expressions of curiousity despite their supposed protests and eavesdropping. Fionara, a year my senior, was the feminine version of Eoghain. They were almost twins their features were that similar and she like Eoghain, like myself, seemed younger than our years. Father always said that Fionara looked the spitting image of his sister, which was the most he had ever spoken of his family other than to say my sister also had his sister's touch with magic. I watched as she moved up behind them to try and listen in as well. I turned as my three younger siblings crowded up behind me. I looped my arms around the twins who grinned up at my attempt to restrain them a little. Liam and Oenghus kept the family on their toes with their mischief. Close behind them came little Tinuvrya beloved by us all and as eager to hear what was occurring beyond the door.We all clustered around the door listening but with so many there, with the twins finally getting out of my reach, with hands shoving it was no wonder that the latch of the door gave and we all tumbled out.My Mother and Father had ceased speaking and turned to look at us with those grave expressions that meant we had just behaved wrongly. The guest however laughed uproariously. He had slapped my Father on the shoulder and said that he had been plagued with misgivings when my Father had left the Way but now he could see Fate had guided him truly. He was as cryptic as Father ever was when he said he now understood that Father's path might have been different than they originally thought but no less true than the other might have been.Mother gave us her sternest glance as we untangled ourselves and stood up in a row so that we could be introduced. Even though I was not youngest I still held myself a little back from the row. The man sat silent as Mother introduced my six siblings. He laughed as people always did at the exuberance of the twins. I watched as the smile that had been on Mother's face as she named the others slipped as she spotted me. I read a wealth of words in her eyes and in the gesture of my Father putting his arm around her shoulders. Her mouth opened and no words came out. No words were needed for before either Mother or Father could say another word the man, possibly the oldest I had ever seen, had held up his hand to stall them. "And that is your Little Dragon. Yes, I see what you mean from your letters," he said, pulling at the white beard that seemed to spill like a glorious fountain down his front. He stood and leaning on a staff made his way to me. He looked into my eyes and for the first time an adult did not look away. "Indeed, I do see," he said, softly as he examined my face for what seemed an eternity. He turned my face gently one way and then another. His eyes dropped for a moment to the scroll in my hand and then to my Father's face."Children," my Mother interrupted and I looked over to see tears swimming in her eyes. "This is your Father's old teacher, Lu She." I didn't know it then, as my brothers and sisters scrambled to make our parents proud but Lu She was to become my teacher as well.

Ekuthh

09-30-2007, 07:53 PM

Very nice, and very polished.Please continue. I'm looking forward to seeing this one develop.

Rioghna

09-30-2007, 10:32 PM

Thanks Ekuth!I had initially posted this on my guild's forum in a more 'as it came to mind' fashion but revisted it again as I do all my writing... and after reading all the great stories here decided it was time to stop lurking (although lurking made working on a Sunday far more enjoyable). I'm actually reworking her early days, building some more of the simple things so I appologize if it seems slow to start...

Rioghna

09-30-2007, 10:54 PM

Chapter Four"Before starting new journey wise person knows it is judicious to make sure bathtub not overflowing" - from the scrolls of Scuffi daShoThe journey to my new home, this place of learning, was not an easy one. Lu She told me that while the journey would have been swifter by horse as he did not ride one day would become many. This suited me as I had never learned to ride either. But, first, before any task of crossing land was to be performed came the great task of "making ready".Mother had a small sack that she had used long before, before she had met Father, which she said would do the trick. Into it went clothes, items for cleaning, and other personal items. Father gave me leave to select 3 of his scrolls to take with me. One was the scroll I had held the night before. Father took it from me for but a moment. He turned it over and over, holding it proudly like one of his pieces of carpentry. It was as he nodded and handed it back to me that I understood. I took the scroll, the scroll that he had written and as our eyes met I had a hint of more. He put his hand on my head and ruffled my hair as he, and only he, did equally with all of us. And it was then that my Mother muttered about the stoicism of elves. She pulled me into her arms. "We always knew you'd leave us first but I was still not ready. I know your Father says this is necessary but... you don't have to...," she was unable to finish.I nodded, "But I do."She cried and hugged me again before whispering for my ears only, after my Father had gone to see to Lu She, "Do not be fooled, my Dragon. Your Father will cry in his workshop when you are gone. His tears will fall on some item he is crafting and he will miss you more than you will ever know. He did not want this path for you but knows he cannot naysay it."Then came the rest of the goodbyes, my elders siblings to whom I was closest in age, understood well that after this I might never see them again. All three hugged me as they had not done so in all our years so far. But of the three Eoghain, in particular, looked upset. He was chewing his lip and trying to look as if he were too old to cry. My sisters had silent tears running down their faces but he, as eldest, felt he could not do the same. Through that air of stoicism, for the first time I saw evidence of how much my brother loved me. I saw the anguish that this meant he could not protect a younger sibling as the eldest feel is their duty to do. The younger three were openly crying, wailing their sorrow at the parting to come. The twins were 8 years my junior and little Tinuvrya, at ten years my junior, did not, could not yet, understand why their elder sister was leaving them.But then, just after lunch Lu She and I left. He gave me one last moment, upon the crown of a hill, to look back. I looked down at the valley, the rich farms, the village, the forest beyond that spread to the horizon and seemed to wrap our small lives in it's embrace. And with that I closed my eyes. I imprinted, in my memory, 15 years of happiness.The journey, after that, took us through vale, forest and through a mountain pass until we came to the shore. For the first time my eyes gazed upon water that seemed never ending and for a moment, I confessed, I felt daunted. Small as part of my name claimed in the face of such vastness. But we were greeted and my moment of indecision vanished. It was from the shore we boarded a boat that had obviously been waiting for my new teacher's return. The crewmen greeted me but laughed at my eagerness to know about oceans. They laughed in a hearty way, but as Lu She said quietly for me, my world had just doubled in size in a day.I spent most of the journey at the rail, helping where I could, scaling the rigging and reveling in all the new sensations. Part of my day was spent at Lu She's side. "Xia," he said early on, "the mind is the greatest weapon. Learn to use it and your body will follow. Hone it and you will be sharper than any sword, stronger than any ballast." He taught and I absorbed like a sponge. Often he nodded and admitted he saw why my Father chose to send me. "You are so like him and yet I see your Mother in you as well. This is good. This will make you better than he. And then perhaps you will be able to walk the path of destiny chosen for you with more dexterity than those who have come before," he finished, lapsing in to the familiar speech full of hints but giving away nothing that my Father often had. It made me wonder what they knew that I didn't. It made me thirst to know what they knew and then some.He told me the story of my Father, what he knew of it, admitting that there was much of my Father's life before they met which he didn't know. He knew my father had been a heroic warrior but disillusioned and lost at heart when he came to the monks, brought there by one of the brothers who had met him at his last battle. "Your Father's beginning is his story," he said as we sat. He spoke of first meeting him when he first arrived to be taught by their master. He spoke of the great things my Father did while he was there but perhaps because he was closer to my Father than any of the others my teacher could see that even this path was not meant for him. It was not an easy path and my Father would have walked it willingly but the master and my teacher were sure that Destiny had other plans. And since they had devoted their time to enlightenment, who were they to argue with another's choice of paths. So it came as no surprise when my Father met my Mother and fell in love. My Mother, too, was on a path. Handmaiden, bound to another, to the service of either a god or gods, Lu She knew not; but there was no question of her continuing. In both groups there had been the wise who understood and those who wanted their names struck from the records. Those who wanted more than that. In the end they were allowed to go as long as they took a vow of secrecy and never came back. And they never would.For the last four hours of the journey I was to remain blindfolded. The crew were bound to this clan so would never betray them and the secrecy of my new home would be part of it's legends.I sat still upon the deck feeling the rough wood, the potential splinters poking at my skin. I listened to the cacophony of sound around me, ringing upon my ears until finally I was able to separate the noises. First there was the cadence of the sailors, the talk, the ribbing, the singing, the captain and the Bo ‘sun calling out orders. The captain's voice easily recognized for it's gruffness as if the years of salt had permanently changed it.Marked it for the sea. Marked for his path as we were all marked for our own.Then there was the crash of the boat on the water. There were waves so the boat didn't cleanly slice through the water, the bow would raise a bit with each swell, hanging for a moment before crashing down and I could hear the spray of the water as it danced up the side of the boat. Then I heard the faint scrape just before the captain called a turn to starboard. Coral reef I heard his words and wondered what a reef, or coral, was but was certain it marked something important in the journey. From there I could hear the cry of the birds, water birds, that we had not heard in many a day. There were a growing number of them. Then, finally, as the sun's position over me began to heat my back where hours ago it had heated my front I heard the cry. The anchor was dropped and my blindfold removed. I retrieved my meager bag of belongings when Lu She told me to do so. One of the crew took it and scampered over the side. I was lifted to the rail and then with the agility of weeks on the rocking deck I swung to fit my feet onto the first rung of the later. With a last fond gaze at the deck I climbed down into the waiting dinghy. People in the first, captain, Bo ‘sun to remain behind for a moment, my teacher and two crewmen to row. I could see the dock ahead of us and the captain explained the water at the dock was not deep enough for his ship.At the dock I was helped onto a sturdier wooden ladder and up I went. There were hands waiting to greet the captain, to hear of his voyage, with ledgers to make note of his cargo. My belongings once again in hand I was led forth to see that there was also, at the end of the dock, a man in the same robes as my teacher. He was not as old but neither was he young. His eyes lit upon spying the elder and he bowed low. "Welcome back honourable, Lu She," were his reverent words.My teacher returned the bow only more shallow. "This is the head of students, XiaRyu. Che Huo, this is our new student, the daughter of Gallaharian." There was a drawn moment in the other man's features as my teacher nudged me, "Remember what I taught you, XiaRyu," he said softly for my ears only.I bowed deep, junior to senior bow. When I raised my eyes afterwards I watched as his features softened a little and he did a brief bow of acknowledgement in return. I knew then that my Father's name carried weight but was not sure if that would bode well for me.Che Huo took me in hand and led me first to get my clothing. No longer, he explained, would I wear the robes, the dresses my mother sewed for me but I would conform and wear the same as the other students. Boy or girl, all wore the same. I would be allowed to keep the clothing my Mother had sent with me but not to wear it. Once provided with clothing he took me to the girl's dormitory where he showed me my bed and let me store my belongings in the small trunk allotted me with all the others lined up against a wall. He left me along for a moment while I slipped into the loose-fitting pants and then the shirt. He laughed when he saw the bulges and pooks of my shirt. "No, no, Young One, like so otherwise you are how we dress a Remembered One," and he showed me his. I struggled for a moment against the wrap of the shirt and the twist of the tie and then I had it for he nodded and led me forth again. It was many months before I learned an 'Remembered One' was someone who had died. I was taken to the group of students who were my own age. They were seated around a stone, writing diligently and examining scrolls. Che Huo introduced me, saw that I was provided with writing utensils of my own and then left me in the care of another student who showed me how to set them up, to create ink, to hold the brush. The teacher, perched upon the rock, was a woman. Younger than Che Huo but older than my mother. All, so far were as human as my Mother. She said not a word, at first, but gestured to the scroll hanging before us all before indicating I was to write upon the paper as all the others in the class were doing.I read the first two lines of the poem provided and then bent forth over my work concentrating on creating that first character with flawless brushstrokes. The path of the brush, the teacher had then explained as I bent my head to my assignment, was not unlike the sword and once you could envision it then everything would be clear and failure would not occur. I had just lifted my brush when I realized one student was whispering and pointing. "Come, class, let us look at our newest member's strokes," the teacher said her voice a beautiful crystalline tone as she hopped from her perch on the stone. She lifted it and stared quietly for some time, the class watching on tenterhooks. "What is it teacher," they chorused."Do you know why you chose this character above all others, XiaRyu," she asked and as I looked at her I heard the whispering begin again. Worried for the first time that I might answer wrong I stubbornly sealed my lips together and shook my head."How could an elf know? They are not born to this thinking," said one of the others, "are you, Pointy Ears? Is that what your name means? XiaRyu? Pointy Ears," she laughed an ugly laugh, "Everyone knows her kind are meant more for contemplating flower arrangements in their pristine homes," was the next jab followed by a giggle behind one hand. "Or how the trees fall in the forest," came the next rejoinder.I fought back tears, wishes for the first time to go home to my parents before asking, "My Father is Koada'Dal, my Mother is not so does that not increase my understanding exponentially beyond your own? Am I not then blessed by the comprehension of two races?"""Ayr'Dal," the first girl hissed and for the first time I heard it used negatively. For the first time realized how sheltered I had been in my village. How different our view of life was. But then, I thought as I tipped my head and stared at the girl until she looked away, perhaps it was she who had been truly sheltered."Enough," said the teacher in a voice that brooked no argument but with an expression that indicated the others had not heard the end of the result of their voiced opinions.She dismissed the class but held me back asking me again if I knew the character. Of course I knew it, for it had been one of the first I had ever learned. Destiny, I explained. The poem talked about how even in our illusion of choices Destiny still is the box that binds us and so I chose that character. She nodded and I saw her lift a hand to ruffle my hair as I thought she might do with other students. Her eyes met mine and her hand dropped back to her side as if it had never moved. "Go and join the others. Enjoy the sun, XiaRyu for Destiny will call soon enough"

Amethest

10-01-2007, 08:56 AM

I am enjoying your story very much <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Rioghna

10-02-2007, 09:33 PM

Thanks Amethest!

Rioghna

10-02-2007, 09:35 PM

Chapter Five"If water drips long enough, even rocks wear through.... And then creates nice new waterfall or ripple pattern in water" - from a scroll who's name is no longer legible"Your mind," Lu She said, repeating a sentiment I had heard from him often, as he leant on his staff and tapped my forehead before the entire class, "is your greatest weapon." He had barely spoken when a hand shot up. He nodded, that solemn nod that was mimicked by so many of the teachers here."But Honourable Teacher, we take lessons with Leww every day in which we learn to defend ourselves. He says that eventually he will teach us to use things around us not just swords or spears. Are those not our greatest weapons? After all they are sharper."For a moment I wondered at Lu She, if he would respond with his enigmatic speech as he had done so often before during lessons such as this. Or perhaps he would have us read scrolls to find the answer. I watched the aged man for a moment as he in turn watched us. Then, perceiving that there was no answer coming for a moment, I turned to look at the boy who had spoken, to see how he was taking the silence to his question. That same silence was soon broken by our honourable teacher. "XiaRyu," he said and I nodded up at him as solemnly as he had nodded to the boy. "Can you tell Eidan what I meant by my simple sentence?"Only a few months ago I would have shaken my head, refused to speak for I had hated having their attention pulled to me but no longer. Perhaps a year had passed in what felt like a month and my confidence with my surroundings, my classmates, my teachers had grown. Now I was more comfortable. More comfortable with my environment and more comfortable with myself. I turned to look at the boy who was of yet a little shorter than I. And too soon he would grow taller, be the height, age, that a man should look whereas I... well, my elvish side would keep me eternally younger, age slower than he and I could not help reflecting on that when I looked at them all. I knew he came from a respected household. A named household. Famous for their warriors, healers, but they had never had a son chosen to come here before. I knew because he had told everyone this not long after his arrival. He had told everyone how he, the fourth son had been chosen when his elder brothers were. Yet even I could see the sadness in his eyes when he boasted of home indicating that he missed his family as we all did."While you are right, Eidan," I said, hugging my knees to my chest, "to say that the sword is sharp, it is the truth that our minds, as Lu She tells us, is much sharper. We need to make it agile so that we can adapt to any situation. What if we are without sword or spear," I asked by way of explanation."Then we do as Teacher Leww suggests and use hands, feet," was his explanation with a roll of the eye."But that is not always enough. We need to use our minds to assess the situation. Perhaps there is something in our environment that we can use. Perhaps fighting is not the answer. Perhaps," I paused for a moment, "fleeing is."I watched as Eidan's dark complexion grew darker. "You suggest the coward's way.""Is it a coward who would live to fight another way, another day," I argued back.I could tell that Eidan's blood was part of what was guiding him...no matter what the craftier more cerebral side of his heritage might be telling him he was listening to the warrior. "Better to die valiantly than to snivel in a corner," he sneered.I shrugged, my small shoulders lifting slightly, "I would much rather live." My classmates joined in urging Eidan to cede the point, to admit he understood that the mind was a viable weapon and as Eidan opened his mouth to counter further Lu She clapped his hand on my shoulder before calling for silence. "Come, class, walk with me for a bit as I give you an assignment."He guided us to the edge of the embankment we sat upon next to the smaller of two waterfalls. Where once this waterfall might have roared it's decent to the river below now it gently tumbled in a thin stream to the clear pool below. "This is for Eidan and XiaRyu to begin. The rest of you may help whichever one you choose to. Or you may choose to stand by and watch, as always the choice is yours to make," he said and someone snickered before nudging Eidan by way of still trying to get him to see Lu She's point. "Using only what you have around you now I want you to combat and stop the waterfall. You each have thirty minutes. Eidan you will go first."We all stood for a moment, silent in contemplation of the task that had been given. Eidan and I were front and centre as our classmates gathered around. He shrugged, that careless shrug of his and said, "It is only a small waterfall. Really nothing of consequence." The rest of us said nothing, only stood by watching as he waded into the spray at the bottom and stood gazing up. His brow furrowed as our classmates began calling suggestions to him. I sat upon the soft grass at its edge, crossed my legs, closed my eyes and sought the quiet. I tuned out the sound of the water, the sound of the students and the sound of Eidan's grunts. I sought the answer and when Lu She's hand descended upon me I knew I was going to follow the word of Qian Bai, a wandering monk, as written in a scroll I had read long ago in Father's study. Qian Bai had followed a way, a path, that had encouraged using nature, be one with it and it will be your ally. I opened my eyes and stood, gazing upon the drenched form of Eidan.He had failed.I waited for a moment and then Lu She gave me permission to begin. I grasped the first rock and bit by bit climbed to the top. I focused on my task and tuned out the taunts from below. At the top, as I remembered, were many rocks and one by one I began moving them. Soon I noticed that others had joined me and smiling I explained what I was doing. When the twenty minutes was up the water that normally drizzled over the edge was building up behind our small dam. I turned to the group who cheered at our victory, no matter how temporary I knew it to be, and noticed that Eidan was standing among them. He was smiling sheepishly for a moment until I thanked him. At Lu She's call from below, the only one still there, we dismantled the dam and returned the flow to normal.We climbed down and stood, dirty and strangely happy at our accomplishment before our teacher. "Now do you understand," he asked and at our nod he dismissed the class.What grew out of that was an interesting relationship. I helped Eidan with his scrolls, his letters, reading and while I was fine with my katas that teacher Leww taught us Eidan helped me hone them, become faster, stronger. He helped me build agility. And for the first time I knew what my siblings had known. What it was to have a friend.It was Eidan who would also free me from my solemn tendencies. It was he who introduced laughter and mischief into my life. Yet, it was also to be Eidan who sent me home and provided the next catalyst for change in my life.

Rioghna

10-05-2007, 08:23 PM

Chapter Six"Wise person is better to do things with eyes open than closed... lose less body parts that way" - from the scrolls of Qwa CentHumour, enjoyment of those around me aside from the monks, our teachers, were not the only things that Eidan taught me as we grew up, studied and learned together.He woke me early one morning as the rest of the students slept enjoying their reprieve from our daily routine. It was our one day when we had no lessons and fewer chores. The monks believed that the chores taught us as much as our lessons. These chores changed as we grew older but one and all of us enjoyed our day of relaxation. We went to the kitchen and laughed at the cook's teasing while he let us take our morning meal.At Eidan's insistence we ate hurriedly even though I knew not why. I kept asking him, between mouthfuls, and finally, his cheeks bulging with food he exclaimed, "All in time, Oh Impatient One." The grin was not on his lips but I could clearly see it in his eyes as he continued shoving the food in. Finally we were finished and I followed him still wondering what was going on. And when he was going to tell me. We did not go to the village although we did wave to those heading to the fields to begin their day as they did the day before and would do tomorrow. Soon, I knew from the feeling of chill stealing into the air to mark the end of this season, all of those old enough in the village and those of us at the monastery able enough would pitch in for the harvest. It was part of the relationship between villagers and monks that I still wasn't used to. But for now, as we watched them walk along in companionable silence, the farmers alone went out to their fields. We went towards a cluster of small buildings that stood off to one side, closer to the village but far enough from the water to keep the inhabitants from harm. I could smell the warm smell of hay, of the animals within and wondered why we were heading there. I had seen the cows, the pigs, the chickens before and saw no reason to be up this early to see them again. But I had my answer as Eidan turned to go around the first few and angled towards the last. It was the one that housed the horses. I had been here, helped the farmers in the barn but had never been particularly near the beasts themselves. I stood for a moment on the threshold and let my eyes adjust to take in the many heads that turned our way for a moment before going back to their own breakfast."You said once that your family never had a horse. I could never imagine being without one. My Father had us learning on one as soon as we could walk.""My parents knew how to ride," I said in a strange moment of defense of my parents. They had told us stories but our village was so small the only horses belonged to the farmers who needed them for work."But you never learned. So now is the time. I will teach you," he declared, his chest puffed out like a little banty rooster.I stood just inside the door and watched with trepidation as he put the harness on and led one of the horses forward. He explained it was a small horse, just a little bigger than a pony and that the farmers said it was older, gentler, calmer. I glanced at him and wondered if the horse understood all of that. He stood there holding the horse before me and told me how to keep my voice soft, how to hold out my hand. I stood for a moment as the whiskers tickled the palm of my hand and then, as I patted the neck, my fear melted.I walked beside the horse as Eidan led it outside. Reigns tied off he turned to me intent on beginning the lesson. He cupped his hands and lifted me up so that I balanced for a moment before swinging my leg over as he directed. I sat for a moment, my hands tangled in the mane and stared at the ground that seemed far below. For a while Eidan was content to lead the horse as I adjusted to the gait. But this was not enough. He placed the reigns in my hands and began the simple object of showing me how to tell the horse I needed to go, how I wanted to turn and in which direction. Most important to me was how to indicate that I wanted to stop. As I went round and round outside of that barn swaying in syncopation with the gate I thought on how Eidan told me as I first felt the leather in my hand that this was normal for many people. That many from Qeynos, from Freeport and surrounding areas learned to ride. The normalcy of the simple act of learning to ride struck me in contrast that I was still in my student's clothing and had traveled to a monastery to learn this apparently mundane act.That thought still occurred to me later as I Eidan laughed as we walked back towards the student dormitories. He laughed at my stiff gait and I paused only a moment before shoving him into the water of one of the fields of rice where the rice had already been removed for the year and was being prepared for replanting next season. I would have run away only I was too rigid from the ache of muscles never pulled this way before ... and trying not to laugh myself. I told myself later as I eased into one of the bathing tubs that at least the laughter helped and he had said it would get easier with time. Groaning as my muscles eased a little all I could think was that I sure hoped so.

Rioghna

10-05-2007, 08:25 PM

Chapter Seven"Those who will not learn every skill, who think it too lowly to learn, may end up with very big hole in sock" - from the scroll of Tian ShanThe tap of the batons echoed rhythmically through the empty courtyard. The other students were enjoying their time away from studies, or had returned home for a visit.But neither Eidan nor I had gone. The journey for some of us was greater. While the oceans had calmed some it was still wiser not to travel too far unless you needed to. And then again, both Eidan and I had opted to dedicate ourselves whole heartedly to the path, to the knowledge that Lu She and the others were gifting us with.I had been here for more than six years now and you could see the change with the others. That wasn't to say I hadn't had growth as they had but they, most of them that is, with their shorter life spans had grown more. They were taller than me. I knew that I would catch them up in time, not much more time, but for now it put me at a disadvantage. Our class had grown in size, diminished at times and then grown as well to the point that we had progressed beyond the "classes" that the monks offered. We were no longer students but neither were we monks. There were few of us left at our age. There were those who had found they did not want to devote themselves to the studies we were pursuing, who were not meant for this path, this life and then there were those who came late to this life as my Father had.Our class had changed in that there were others, more who were different like myself and fewer who were simply humans. It had helped me feel more comfortable with the class. No longer was I the odd one out, the pointy ears to the round ears. And while I was never friends with them as I was Eidan I was sorry that I would never see some of them again.It was at this point that Eidan and I found the seniors. In the tower. The students were in awe of it, the tower and those who seemed to live within it. Some had whispered that the monks who stayed up there meditated using "voices", that they channeled some sort of mystic power as they thought on the wisdom of the world. It was after we finished our exercise that day, the noise of our batons silent only to have our world filled with the noise of our breathing from our exertion that Eidan made the suggestion.There were four weeks left until our classmates returned from their one "holiday" of the year. Four weeks ‘til we made a pledge to follow this path and none other. To firmly set our feet upon the way towards becoming monks of this order. The holiday had been ordered for all of us. Even Eidan and I were granted time off from our daily chores. Lu She said it banished all home-sickness, cured us of restlessness. Something which Eidan had been feeling in spades.I, now awakened to the mischief that was Eidan, readily agreed to his plan, concocted as we stood, panting from our exertion of the morning and staring up the slope at the peak that was visible over the hill. We ate the simple food that was for lunch and then, having cleaned up and done the chores assigned us we made our way to the foot of the hill."Do you think that the other monks that Lu She spoke of, the ones across Norrath in other locations have a tower like this," Eidan asked as we looked up at it's height and seemed dwarfed as we stood there at its foot. The building felt old to me and I wondered if my Father had ever been within.I shook my head indicating that I didn't know for I didn't want to speak and ruin the hum of the tower. I could hear some sort of soft music drifting from it and could tell Eidan didn't.It was then we began our climb for the tower stood on another hill. Our legs ached by the time we slipped over the edge of the terrace and hid from the few monks who were just starting down the steps. At his nod we slipped through the doors and stopped. There were ten monks in the centre, all kneeling, all had their eyes closed and all were chanting. It was not the one-tone chanting that the elder monks did down below but this echoed through the tower like millions of voices with different tones that were all harmonically fused.I felt myself step forward. I felt Eidan's had try to stop me for a moment and even though I did not lift it off it was soon gone. I sat with the ten monks, felt my body collapse down into the same kneel that they sat in. My eyes drifted shut and my vocal chords responded adding my tones to the ones that spun through the room. I felt a hand drift across my face and for a moment I smelled the green growth of spring."Are you certain in your choice," was the question whispered in my ear.I nodded not willing to stop the music. "She is too young," came another voice, masculine and I could sense strength in it and from it I felt myself to be stronger than I ever could assume I could be."For now," said a third and with that voice my heart swelled and compassion for everything filled me."She has offered herself and we accept," said the first breaking indicating no argument would be had. "She will be tested, there will be difficult times but all will be done to prepare." The hand touched my chin. "You will walk the path, XiaRyu and will swear yourself to us even when all is darkest. You may think us gone, deserted our posts here in Norrath but you will understand soon enough. Now, you should go."I opened my eyes as the sound of the harmonic chant faded and realized the ten monks were staring at us. "We will train you. Go. Come tomorrow at first light."And then their eyes closed again and Eidan, whom I expected to think the whole thing a grand joke, would speak nothing of it for days after that.

niko_teen

10-06-2007, 11:18 PM

/clears his throatAhem... This is a holiday weekend therefor I must insist that another chapter is posted in timely manor.

Amethest

10-08-2007, 01:24 PM

good stuff am waiting for more also <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Rioghna

10-08-2007, 06:47 PM

Thanks you two! And I thought I could make up for being super busy (and now strangely correspondingly super over-stuffed... it was turkey, turkey and more turkey with a side of all the fixins and then apple pie, cherry pie, pumpkin pie, blueberry pie....urg........at least I have two months to prep for Christmas) over the holiday weekend by posting a couple in a row

Rioghna

10-08-2007, 06:50 PM

Chapter Eight"Wise person knows there are three things it is best to avoid: a strange dog, a flood, and a man who thinks he is wise.... Wise person knows there are four things to avoid: strange dog, flood, man who thinks he is wise and food that smells like it was good a year ago." - from the scroll of Babo ChaThe wind played upon the young bamboo stalks like it's own instrument. I tipped my head listening for a moment as it tugged at my hair trying to urge me forth like an insistent friend. And even though my actual friend, Eidan, was more silent I could feel his impatience in a far weightier way. He sat beyond the grove, beyond the two monks who had decided earlier that I would not be taught within today but without.Today's lesson was elements, or so they simplified it as, and claimed it could not be taught within but only without."Consider them, Little Dragon, for you can bend like the wind and still be as strong, be hot and fierce as the flame but short lived," their words of wisdom had begun. There had been fewer more before we had arrived at the grove and I had seen what lay there for me. Eidan, as usual, had tagged along behind. He was not taught outright but never far from my side he had learned nonetheless. I could not convince the monks to teach him as they were me, for whatever it was that had compelled them favourably on my behalf had not spoken on his. For a year now it had been so.I closed my eyes, the brush with it's silky soft bristles still held in my hand, firmly but not so tight that my hand ached and yet with an air that it would fall to the ground at any moment.I closed my eyes and listened. I smelled the scents of summer, the warmth of the air, the grass beneath my knees that was crushed slightly when I knelt, the distant scent of flowers. The fresh scent of the open water, that slight salty tang that was never very far away. The smell of the animals that the monks used to tend the fields that gave us our sustenance. The sounds came after that. Again the wind as it played tag through the leaves of the trees, played harmonics on the bamboo and rustled the top of the water. The keen of the cattle that pulled the plows, the pigs as they rooted contentedly. And finally the feeling of the wood that made up the brush, it's grains smoothed by a caring hand preparing it for use, the soft paper that likewise had been tenderly manufactured and soft, worn comfortable cloth of my gi warm against my skin like an old blanket.I opened my eyes and with purpose swirled the brush in the ink I had carefully created early from it's little stick and water. I swirled until the tip of the brush looked to be right, I held my sleeve out of the way as my Father had taught me so long ago, and then with purpose of mind and boldness of stroke I moved my hand. As I moved, feeling the flow of the muscles resonate up me until I was sure all of me was moving with it, I realized how quiet the world was around me. As if all were holding it's breath even the birds, the animals, the bees at their honeycombs that the monks faithfully tended were silent.And that smell, that green growth of spring that I noticed in the tower, returned as the strokes poured confidently down the scroll. It was with no reluctance only a feeling of calm satisfaction that I finished. Returned my brush to it's prop after cleaning it and sat back to survey the scroll.I was aware of how much my writing had changed since coming here. How no longer they were the timid scratchings of the young. The closer of the two monks stood, bowed to the other, to me and to Eidan before collecting the scroll and heading for the tower."You understand, do you not, Little Dragon," the other asked as we remained sitting there, "what the point of this exercise was."I sat for a moment considering for I could see two alternatives and so I told her so. "The first is that it matters not what I wrote so much as but how I wrote it, the strokes I chose, where I began and where I finished."She nodded after a moment. "That is one alternative. Meet us here at the same time tomorrow and we will discuss the other," she stood to go but paused just as she was leaving. "Young Eidan I would speak with you a moment." He nodded, flushed with excitement and leapt to his feet to join her at her side. She spoke and he listened before nodding in agreement, in understanding. Then she was gone and I was left wondering if I had chosen the right alternative.

Rioghna

10-08-2007, 06:57 PM

Chapter Nine“To know the road ahead, ask those coming back particularly those running back” – from the scrolls of LapZang ZuchongI knelt in quiet contemplation of the day, the sun’s last dying rays warming my shoulders for a moment as I listened to the laughter of the children. Where I sat, by the river listening to it’s gentle babble, I could see both from the tower to the river. I watched as five children escaped from the village’s restraining walls and ran. They chased each other and tumbled and fell, their laughter carrying to me. Soon enough their parents would train them in their livelihood and that carefree laughter would never again be so… innocent.The village was small, smaller than the one I had come from and it was no large settlement. There were craftsmen who traded with a select few who came upon their ships. I had heard that most of the ships were captained by family members of the villages and so they felt secure in their trading. It was a strange symbiotic relationship between the monks and the villagers. The children were taught a little by the monks but there seemed to be no more education than reading, perhaps some geography and a smattering of history. The villages seemed content with that. The monks in turn did provide trade for the villagers produce, helped in the fields and all co-existed almost automatically. The ebb and flow of daily life.That had been my lesson, in a manner, I mused as Eidan sat down next to me. He wore a sheepish expression upon his face as if he did not know if he were welcome. I smiled at him and in that one simple gesture he knew that we had been friends too long for the monk’s trials and testing of me to get in the way.I had returned to the bamboo grove, as bidden, and sat quietly awaiting the monks from the tower. I had mused on the growth of the bamboo that so many other students had planted and how it had grown. Some if it was still small, hopeful, promising and some were tall, trees, sturdy and yet flexible. I was momentarily awed by the vibrant green, the animated life that coursed through each youthful stalk, each aged trunk. So very alive, I had mused as I touched it, so alive.The same two monks appeared with arms laden. They set up the little portable writing desk, laid out the ink, the brush, a new bit of paper. They gestured for me to kneel and ready the ink which I did with the efficiency of years of practice. I ground the stick in circles until the consistency of black I desired was pooling in the small inkstone reservoir.Then as I turned for the brush they stopped me. One hand upon the sleeve covering the arm reaching for the utensil was enough. “While it is important how you write something it is also important to be aware of everything. The world around you influences every stroke and within that stroke must be found decisive balance. This is part of how we are, perhaps, different than the other paths. We understand the great need for balance in this world. For every action there is inaction, for every push there is a pull and you must find that in yourself from what is around you. Do you understand,” the elder asked as the younger picked up a simple strip of cloth.I nodded thinking that I did. “You came to the tower to see and in doing so put your foot on the path. You have been chosen to ensure balance even more so than we and in that choosing there will come strife with the happiness and you must be prepared. It is our task, given to us at that time, to show you how. It is our task to train you to not only protect the balance but conceivably something even greater.” The elder gestured with hands wrinkled by time. Those hands, I thought, would certainly still be strong.The younger stood and once at my side settled the cloth over my eyes. It was tied firmly behind me and I was blinded. “The character you write today must reflect that balance. But it will not be the simple task of writing. You will be challenged by those around you,” the elder said before I heard the younger’s voice. “Use all your senses, XiaRyu. You are not blinded until you convince yourself you are.”And so I centred myself, calmed and listened to the world around me as I picked up the brush. It was a simple game my Father had played with my siblings and I so I was not completely unfamiliar with the idea only with this moment. The difference was that with my father I had complete faith that it was only a game. Now I was sure it wasn’t.Thanks to the arrangement of the table I knew where the ink was and so I prepared the brush and as it swirled I heard the two teachers leave the grove. For a moment all I heard was the swish of the brush, the wind in the trees and the distant sound of the village, the river. Then I heard it, a noise so soft I almost missed it. I stopped the brush for a moment and found that I could hear quite easily. Two sets of foot-falls, not the teachers. Too light, too young. I tipped my head. No four, all entering from different directions. I remembered the teacher’s last words and let my senses expand. I could smell… the soap that Eidan used and so knew he was coming from upwind of me and then in a blink I moved to one side just as something hissed past my ear. I rolled , swinging a leg as I went and smiled slightly as a hooked foot brought a hissing noise from that person as they barked their needs on the ground. And then I understood. A moment of clarity of how it was all connected. I could feel the push and pull. I knew where to step forward and then back. I knew when to crouch and then leap. The stronger, older, bamboo were my accomplices as they were the other’s enemies. And in that last move as I bent, flexible and yet strong, as the grove around me, my brush placing it’s last movement upon paper , I bent not far enough as something caught the cloth binding my eyes. It’s tip whisked it away and I could see the four. And there, spear in hand but for a moment before my brush left the paper and sent a splatter of ink in a final arc towards the bearer, as I had intended in it’s beginning, was Eidan. I knelt, setting the brush against it’s rest even as the spear dropped on the ground and his arms came up to take the brunt of the ink that would have freckled his face.It was then that the teachers stepped back in. They gazed at the scroll but for a moment and then the elder rolled it up before leaving. I gathered the table, the ink, the brush and followed the younger’s quiet beckon. I fell in line behind slipping between the older trunks before carefully avoiding the younger, leaving all four of the others behind. We did not speak as I returned the items to the repository where they were stored. Not a word as I cleaned the brush with great care and set it carefully amongst its others. It was only when I turned to bow a final time that she stopped me. “It is no easy thing what they have asked of you, this path you have chosen. Now there is still time to choose otherwise and none would question.”I looked at her, the concern etched upon her face was more emotion than I could tell they were used to showing.“The choice was already made and willingly. I will not falter.”“It was not just for you this choice but for Norrath,” she offered the out again. “I understand and my answer is still the same, as it was reflected in my characters both of yesterday and today. I understand now what the other interpretation is. It is the choices we make and how we procede with them. My answer is the same,” I repeated and with that she left me to my own, to seek the river and quiet contemplation even when Eidan joined me.As we sat there I could see that he had been in the bath house and I couldn’t help grinning. “You did this on purpose didn’t you,” he asked and I could hear the start of a chuckle in his voice.“I was blindfolded. But in a way, of course, everything I did was on purpose.”“I mean because you knew it was me.”“How could I?”“All the others ended up on the ground but me. Me, I got a face-full of ink,” he said and he turned to me and I knew that it would take many days before those drops that had missed his arms and now adorned his cheeks like freckles would fade. It was then, as my lips quivered at the first good site of those spots that I began to laugh and he joined me. It wasn’t until later, when our laughter died away that he gripped my hand. “My Father may not be a monk, he may not understand our ways but he is wise in many others. This, whatever it is that has happened, the tower monks teaching you, is only a part of you. Never forget to laugh. My Father always said it was vital, laughter.”I stared at him for a moment and thought of the words of balance. If I was to be true to the choice I had made then I could not. I would keep the laughter as I would keep the tears. I grinned at him, “I could not even if I wanted to for I will always have an image of you with your freckles,” and then at his mock exasperated “baaahhhhh, half elves,” we laughed anew.

Rioghna

10-08-2007, 06:59 PM

Chapter Ten"When wise person want to test the depth of water, wise person doesn't jump in with both feet...without learning to swim first... or at least having very, very, very good flotation device" - from the scrolls of D'imSum LossumAs my lessons with the brush had been familiar for so many years the next one was new. I was brought again to the bamboo grove. There was a connection that both the monks of the tower and I, myself, felt there to something bigger than our selves. A connection to the world beyond. Both physical and metaphysical as one of them once tried to explain it.Some of the lessons were conducted with the tower, depending on the lesson I would either be on the floor where they chanted or somewhere closer to the top, closer to the sky and that beyond it as one said the first time I was let up the steep spiral staircase. But of all the places my new lessons occurred I enjoyed the ones in the bamboo grove the most.We had adjourned the lessons for while until the harvest was finished. We adjourned long enough to partake in the annual feast that followed the harvest. Where normally our food was simple, nourishing and filling we joined the villages at long tables and partook of their food as well.It reminded me of home and some of the raucous meals that would occur there. The food was filled with different flavours, some was sweet, some was spicy but all of it was a treat each year. And the conversation, laughter, singing and general congeniality filled the air. But now we were back to the lessons. I had been called to the grove, reminded the day before of the time and place, and now sat waiting for whichever of the monks would be my teacher for the day. I felt no particular attachment to them yet as I did to Lu She but I was thankful to them all for all the knowledge they bestowed upon me... and on Eidan in turn for I told him all afterwards.I sat and watched as three made their way to the grove. All of us were dressed in the same simple garb but of heavier cloth now that the air had started to bring the chill of the new season. They carried items that I did not recognize in their hands. I sat, kneeling in proper silence, my feet tucked under my backside waiting for them to indicate what I was to do, to help with. First a small table was placed and then upon it several pots of different sizes, a scoop, a whisk and two cups. Beside the table was placed a small burner and once it was lit upon it was placed the pot for boiling water. Two of the monks left and the third remained seated across from me, his ancient features schooled in tranquility. He held his sleeve with one hand and opened the first pot. He held it to his nose and inhaled gently. I reached out carefully and received the pot as he passed it to me and mimicked his actions. I inhaled the aroma and knew it to be tea. Lighter in fragrance than the tea we drank for breakfast and heavier than the tea we drank for supper.I returned the pot to him and watched as he removed two scoops from the pot and put it in a smaller bowl almost like a mortar without it's accompanying pestle. Into the bowl went bits of the heating water and it was swirled with the whisk until he seemed to think it was the right consistency. He added it to the pot and waited until the water was the right temperature. He held his sleeve again as he poured in the water. Again we waited and then poured the steeped tea into the cups. He handed me one and murmured an instruction. Nodding I turned the cup three times and then sipped from it. I swallowed and marveled at the slightly bitter flavour against the normal tea, the slight taste that indicated it came from further up the central mountain than all the other two teas we normally drank. That we helped the farmers plant and harvest. He sipped from his cup and waited. I took a second sip and then set the cup down thanking him politely for the drink. It was then I told him it was the green leaf that we harvested later in the year from the extinct volcano.He nodded and beckoned the two monks who had just returned forward. He indicated that they should pick up the items they had brought. "It is the leaf that we helped harvest, helped dry to prepare and it is all that much closer to the mountain that used to spew lava long before anyone lived here. But that is not all there is to the lesson. Return here tomorrow and we shall further investigate tea and the balance."I knew that there were 6 different types of tea that we harvested throughout the year and I wondered if he would require me to taste all of the tea before he considered the lesson learned. It was a good thing, I mused as I stood up and prepared to leave the grove, that I liked tea.

Amethest

10-09-2007, 09:34 AM

still reading and enjoying <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Rioghna

10-10-2007, 09:11 PM

Chapter Eleven"Wise person know that vision without action is a daydream. They know that action with without vision is a nightmare.... And nightmare only okay if have strong cup of milk...or tea...or perhaps coffee.. with little bit of liqueur for afterwards" - from the scrolls of Nagatse YuowmiOne could almost think that all my training came down to writing asthetic poetry and drinking tea, if it wasn't for the classes with Master Leww. Leww taught all of us from the youngest to the oldest, that I knew of. And despite his being the most different classed, I trusted the monks from the tower. They had done this for centuries and knew what I would need to make my way, once I was called.It was a surprise then the day that they called me to a small hill to the east of the tower rather than the bamboo grove. I stood on the hill looking down at the grove and wondered what we would do. Would we write here were I could see the small mountains that divided the island? Or where I could see the monks at their lessons, the villagers at work?I admitted to myself that I was surprised then that when the two monks crested the hill they carried in their arms no writing utensils or the items for tea that we had been working with for several weeks now. I stood quietly as they set down the bundles they came with. First they bowed to me and then I bowed in return. Still quiet, a simple acknowledge of greeting, of respect. "This is Yi Shan and I am Er Shan," were their first words to me. Names, identifiers and they were the first of the tower monks to introduce themselves in the first lesson.I bowed to both again and their impassive faces seemed to indicate that I had done things correctly. "Little Dragon, you have for a while now been contemplating the mental side of our lessons. How your mind will work as a weapon. But to complete the training we must also acknowledge the physical. Both are part, are the same thing. Like death and birth you cannot have one without the other."I nodded my understanding. The balance had made up a large portion of their teaching. It had been vital, or so it seemed, that I understand how the balance worked. The other stood opposite me for a moment. "You have learned to monitor your own chi a little from Leww, if I remember those lessons correctly"I nodded again, "Leww has spoken of it.""But what he speaks of is only for beginners. For those who might not continue on this path. You must understand your own energy and keep it in balance if you are to succeed in keeping the balance of all around you. Start with remembering that you must never eat hot and cold together. It is a simple rule that will help you control things better. But you must learn more than that if you are to succeed."I nodded wondering how much more there was to my own internal energy. But that was not the days lesson."I understand that Leww has focused on the styles of Snarling wolf and Striking Snake over the years," the first one interrupted and at my nod continued, "They are the easiest for children. Now you must learn more. You must master all styles and favour none. All must be part of your... repertoire. You do not have the option as we who will hide here."The second one nodded. "Eagle Claw, Praying Mantis, White Crane and Five animals; Tiger, Crane, Leopard, Snake and Dragon, are the ones we are particularly adept at. We will teach you those and leave the other styles to other teachers so that you may learn correctly. Also weapons. I understand you know batons and nothing more. We will teach you two swords, sword and dagger, staff, and spear."The first gestured towards the pile. "It will be a long lesson over the next days but you will learn. We have been impressed by your ability to absorb skills. I see now why Lu She was so willing to go so far to bring you here when he never leaves for anyone else."The second nodded, "And that is why we will start with the most difficult of all the styles. Eagle Claw."Pressure points. Into my head they drilled every pressure point, where it varied from Half Elf to Human, from Barbarian to Ratonga. And that was only the beginning. Once we went over all the pressure points on complex diagrams unrolled from scrolls that were kept in the tower alone it was on to applying them. Obviously with the three of us it was only the pressure points for Half Elf, and Human but they had obviously, I thought as I stared up at the sky from my prone position on the ground, spent many long decades committing the points to flawless memory.Again and again I found myself on the ground unable to stop the groan of pain. They took me to my knees with one finger and I barely touched them. As the afternoon grew to it's end they decided to call it a day. They did not say anything as I stood for the final time, teetering like one intoxicated on muscles so sore I was sure they would have me collapse like a rag doll in a moment. They gathered up the bundle that they had only shown me one scroll of and nodded. I could not tell if they were pleased or if I had failed in some capacity. My muscles hurt so much I wasn't sure I cared. It was then they told me their new plan. We would spend the rest of the week on Eagle Claw, perhaps longer, they informed me, depending on my ability to learn. Then after that they would have someone teach me the "way of the sword" before taking on the style of Praying Mantis.And as I made my way wearily down the hill following the setting sun in its decline to where Eidan waited I understood that I truly still had a lot to learn.I only hoped that my body wouldn't mind that it was a lot.

Amethest

10-11-2007, 10:00 AM

waves..still reading <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Rioghna

10-11-2007, 06:55 PM

/grins Thanks - I'm trying to expand this section a little (I had glossed over it previously on my guild forum) but I can't promise I'll get them up quickly... completely depends on how often I am "forced" to stay late at work due to server and computer malfunctions (I will never understand how they just can't grasp the concept that I have a life!... pfffft, silly inanimate objects)

Rioghna

10-11-2007, 06:56 PM

Chapter Twelve"They who hurry cannot walk with dignity, particularly after tripping and falling on face" - from the scrolls of Tchisai StomakI was back on the hill. Kneeling as they had bade me do. Yi and Er Shan had me kneel from the moment breakfast finished. From the moment I tucked that last grain of rice into my mouth they had me hurry myself to clean the bowl, my utensils. There was not a moment of precious day to lose. From the moment I finished my chores I was to go to the crest of the hill and kneel. Kneel and nothing more, physically. At the apex of the hill I would kneel alone, feet tucked under me, eyes closed and I was to work on controlling my chi. Controlling what ever pain I might have felt from limbs unaccustomed to staying in that position for prolonged periods. But I learned. I spent the nights remembering the pressure points. And every now and then practicing them on Eidan much to the amusement of the younger students. Eidan would scowl for a moment and then quickly demand that I show him exactly what point I had just used.But I learned in the week and moved on to the way of the sword. Still they had me kneel. For longer and longer periods. I would stay on the crest of the hill. I was to move beyond the pain. Until I took no notice of it anymore. Until the pain was as much a part of me as breathing. It was part of the way of their teaching me both about the styles and about chi. I understood about the balance of my chi for breathing but they said that it went further and that eluded me still.Finally, one week after I first started learning with the brothers, one week after my bruises started fading and my muscles stopped feeling like they were ancient I noticed that something was new. This time as they climbed the hill to join me, they brought wooden swords with them. Wooden swords and a third monk. Ba Shan, they introduced him as. He was their brother. Of which they had seven others, all younger than they. San, Si, Wu, Liu, Qi, Kyu, Ju Shan, they rattled off after introducing their younger brother. Yi informed me he was the eldest, then came Er, and the rest followed in order with Ba being younger than Qi but older than Kyu. None of the rest were monks but they still kept in touch. The two stepped aside and gestured to their younger sibling that he should begin the lesson. Ba Shan began simply. First how to stand. I almost laughed at the thought for I had been standing for many years. But he grinned where his elder two brothers were serious and explained that when holding swords you hand to change how you stood to maximize the effect. Then came how to hold the sword. It was rounder than the metal ones that I had seen in the armory. It was longer than I would have thought. Almost as long as me and when I first lifted it, finding the task a little awkward, I was relieved that the sword was wood and not metal. As I swung it experimentally for a moment I almost heard tsking from Yi Shan and Er Shan who sat a little off as if they were critiquing their brother's lesson. They returned to silence to watch as I began to ape the movements of Ba Shan. It was almost like some of the dances I had seen adults do in my village. The steps were precise. The movements choreographed and much easier to get into than Eagle Claw. We stopped for water for a moment and as I drank a little to refresh myself I was content to listen to them talk. And hard pressed not to laugh. The elder two seemed very put out that I was finding this easy and the younger was teasing that he was the better teacher.We had barely finished our rest when the two walked off leaving me to one teacher who laughed. "My brothers feel that the ‘way of the sword' is not as noble as their studies. Yet, there is a grace in these wood ‘sticks', as they call them, that I can see which they obviously cannot"I nodded and let him continue to teach me. After mimicking long enough he led me through slow sparring. I learned that while the wood was hollow and sounded musical when the two lengths collided there was nothing lyrical about how it felt when it connected with any exposed length of arm, leg.I learned that while I thought my time of landing on my backside on the ground was over with the end of the lessons of Eagle Claw I was greatly mistaken. Ba Shan, unlike his brothers, would not demand I regain my feet. Instead he would hold out his hand and clasp mine to help me regain my footing before gently explaining, or demonstrating what I had done wrong.I learned that while I thought my lessons with Eagle Claw were over I was again wide of the mark. As I helped Ba Shan tidy away the swords, albeit very slowly on my part, he informed me that I would still kneel for part of the time following breakfast and then would be sparring with him using Eagle Claw. I eyed his back and wondered if he sounded a little too cheerful about my impending practices.I also learned that I would spend another week on the way of the sword and discovered that, as I sunk into the very familiar nightly hot bath, the bruises which had begun to fade at the end of the previous week were back in technicolour splendor.

Rioghna

10-14-2007, 04:13 PM

Chapter Thirteen"Wise person know well that one whose needs are simple can fulfill them easily but one whose needs are complex needs many days to get many gold pieces... maybe even many platinum pieces and big house to put them in." ancient wisdom interpreted in scroll of Dai Me-Me (lit. translation of Dai Me-Me is Big Ear... he was a ancient monk known for eavesdropping... a lot)Summer surrounded me. I lay on the warmth of the green grass on the hill and felt it's softness beneath me. The smell of crushed blades filled my nostrils. The deep blue of the sky above me seemed to sparkle with the brilliance of the day. A faint breeze carried the smell of the ocean, laden with salt and the sound of children jumping off the end of the pier to swim in it's cooling depths. Of the hay fields freshly threshed and drying while awaiting those that would bundle the hay before taking it to storage. The cool skin of water that sat against my side chilled the one spot of body it touched and seemed to remind me that it awaited drinking. I blew on the flower, a flower of a weed that had gone to seed and watched as it's fluffy parts scattered skyward. I watched their pattern as they danced upon the very light breeze before rolling on my side to see them spiraling back to earth. I stared at the ground for a moment more, taking in the minute detail of the blades of grass next to my eyes and then rolled back. My arms spread wide and I felt as if the earth was softening around me, cushioning me into it's warm embrace. I closed my eyes again and let the smells sooth me. There was something entrancing about the quiet, the tranquility that such a moment afforded me. My mind soothed and I could almost hear the entire island as it went about its day.It was an amazing respite no matter how brief. I opened my eyes again to gaze skyward at that remarkable blue and realized that included into my tranquility was the argruing of Ba Shan and his brothers. Or rather discussed heatedly for, according to Er Shan who was always the mediator, they never argued. They always argued, discussed, about the same thing. Never about the truly important things to them as their family was. It was always about principles, the path, or the styles.As their heated words tumbled around and mixed in with all the other sensations I was allowing myself to feel I thought of that past year. I had thought that when I finished my week when I first began learning the sword that I would have different teachers. Instead I had seen little of the other tower monks and almost exclusively these three. The elder two had progressed with all the styles they had promised while Ba Shan had forged forth in teaching me the sword, the spear and so forth.And it had been Ba Shan who spoke while I learned. Had tried to show me the principles, the path and how they related to what I was learning. I turned my head to look at the brothers. In appearance they looked identical. In thinking... I grinned wondering how the three of them had ended up here.... together. Yi finally threw his hands up as he always did, protested the loudest and then stomped off declaring his brother, "Hard-headed" and not worth any more energy. Er patted his younger brother's shoulder as he always did and followed Yi. Ba turned to me and grinned. He had barely raised his voice and yet it seemed that he had won.He motioned to me to pick up the metal sword. It was shorter, narrower than the wooden sword. Lighter than some of the huge long swords and much more suited to me. Truth be told I had not been upset when Ba Shan noticed that even though I was tall for a half elf, having inherited my Mother's height at long last, the long sword was in fact too long... I had barely been able to lift the point from the ground as it was at least six feet in length. Nay, I thought as I swung the sword in arcing figures to loosen my muscles, despite my added strength from all the work we had done over the year I would be happy not to have to return to studying that particular weapon. The balance would have to be kept with out it.We began moving, our feet finding the rhythm that he had drilled into me, and as we did he spoke. "Remember the first principle," he said and nodded as I countered his attack with the sword successfully."That there is no us. That we are all one. Nature, people. There is no beginning nor end between us. We are the same. Whole."I countered again and twisted a little catching his sword to shove it out of the way. The talking between us slowed as the sparring increased. I focused on the oneness. The grass, soft beneath my feet, the warmth of the earth that my toes dug into for purchase all was energy. The plants in the field that I ate to fuel me to fight here and now. I focused on knowing that because we were all one I would know where his sword would be and how to counter it. Just as our breath was beginning to come in ragged gasps I did what I had been unable to do since I started lessons with him. I disarmed him. He stood staring at the sword that now lay in the dirt gasping for breath. We both had perspiration snaking it's way from our foreheads to sting our eyes, to make our clothes cling uncomfortably in the afternoon heat. And still we both stood. Myself with a sword in my hand, the point resting lightly on the ground and he with his hands on his knees. Finally he stood straight and laughed. "Well done, Little Dragon," were great words of praise.Still I could not stop myself from saying, "If the first principle is true. That all is one then how is it that you and Yi so often seem so obviously at odds?" And where other teachers might have scolded me Ba simply laughed."It is a principle of nature not brothers," was his only explanation.

Rioghna

10-14-2007, 04:26 PM

Chapter FourteenIn my dreams, I still felt the searing heat of the flame against my skin and even though others ran for water I did not. The fire would consume until its hunger abated and at this point there was nothing we could do which would alter that. I stood as too few voices yelled around me so close to the fire that it almost singed my skin but not quite and thought of an earlier time.Another year had come and gone. With the return of the pupils from their small vacation Eidan and I had returned to our newly normal schedules...almost. No longer students but not yet sworn in as monks we were in our trial phase were we would decide if this were the life for us. Our chores were, much to Eidan's dismay, back in place. I practiced in the yard, knelt before my desk, meditated, listened, chanted, studied and then went to the tower. It was all about balance and finding mine. It was about gathering as much information as I could before, learning what I could.After my year of learning only from Yi, Er and Ba Shan my lessons had been changed again. Taken over by others once more. Some days the lesson they taught was so subtle it took me until the next day to grasp it's quiet meaning. Others... others were harsh and not so subtle. Yen Po, the eldest of them and some whispered the wisest, loaded me down with scroll after ancient scroll to study. Loaded me down with the words of wiser people than I. He often had me row out onto the ocean and as he sat in the stern of the little boat I would balance on it's bow.He would recite at me and expect either analyzed response or memorized feed back.Some days the balancing act was no concern. He would run me through my katas, that I had learned from the brothers, on water that was smooth as glass and I would almost believe I had discovered my balance.Other days the water was so rough and cold that I would climb time after time, shivering and drenched back into the bow only to be told to stand upon it.It seemed like an endless amount of days, weeks, before my bare toes curled into the wood of the boat and I could sense the swell before it knocked me off. Before I understood the give and take that was the ocean.As discouraged as returning to my quarters was so damp that I could not ever remember being dry one of the younger monks told me that I learned to keep my footing out there faster than even Yen Po. It was Yen Po that taught me to understand everything, that even in forged metal you can still feel the ring of each blow that bent its shape. Trace it's story of how it came to be and of those who had caused it to be. It was Yen who was sitting by me when later I received the package. It was wrapped in fabric from home, the first I had seen in too long. I gently removed it and gazed at what sat inside. Yen Po exclaimed over it, marvelled at it and wondered how my Father, from the note that sat on top I knew it then to be my Father who had sent it on, had come to have it. It was then that before even reading it Yen Po told me its history, its curse, its future and how perhaps, I was meant to be its guardian.I know I scoffed at him then because of the emotion of getting something from home after so long and the only words from my Father were to name what it was, that he had sent it and to take good care of it. Treat it as precious. And no words of love, missing, of family.Yen Po had patted my hand and said he had forgotten that even though I was now, after my being there for more than a decade, a young woman but that as a half elf I was, perhaps, still so much younger. He advised we cut our lesson short for the day and that I speak with Eidan. That I sleep on it and I would not take the scroll so lightly in the morning.I tucked the scroll away and did not show anyone, not even Eidan. The friend I told everything. I didn't mention the letter. I didn't mention Yen Po's words. It was not until I dreamed and woke in terror that I thought of it again. I woke, drenched in the sweat of a dark dream and slipping from the room went to the tower. There was clarity and balance that I needed in the tower.I sat, it now empty of all others for the slept below, and began the chant they had taught me years before. As low as my voice was I heard it build and begin to resonate as if 20 others sat there. My eyes were still closed in my effort to centre myself but I could feel a glow upon my skin as if the morning sun were warming it. The smell of green entered the room and I felt safe. Loved."It is hard to bide a parent's bidding. My children know this as I do. But you must listen," said a woman's voice soft and full of green, the scent of forest and water tickled my nostrils."She is not ready to protect, to maintain the balance. She is too protected here and we cannot help her yet," said the second woman, gentle and so full of empathy and serenity that eased me where the other had not."She needs more experience and it is time to go beyond the walls of comfort. You need to learn from life, from death, from pain and from hope. For you these things are connected and will make you stronger. We need you as strong as we know you can be before time runs out."And then I was alone. I opened my eyes as the cold of night returned and realized I was not alone. Yen Po sat across from me. "You must heed them. Take Eidan with you for thanks to his family he understands the paths. You will not need to go far. In one year return and after that we shall see."In quiet tones he continued to explain what would happen for that year. What little we would take with us and where we would go. Finally he stopped talking and sat back to see how I would respond.I stared at his wise face for a moment and then knew there was no decision to make. Without a word I bowed, stood, and was at the door when I heard his soft words to himself, "We shall see if she is ready then."

Amethest

10-15-2007, 11:17 AM

oh good stuff, but now greedily i want more...hee hee..like soon okay? <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Rioghna

10-16-2007, 10:12 PM

Chapter FifteenI knelt by their bodies, seared by the heat and castigated myself for not being there. For not doing more. For being with the monks when this had been my place the entire time. For not saving them. I knelt and ignored the hands of sympathy that touched my back, my shoulder, my bowed head. Would they not leave me be? Sympathy was not enough. It was too cloying when all I wanted was the return of those before me. I grabbed at the charred remains of what once was clothing while my mind screamed with the grief of the details exhibited before me. And then, as my stomach twisted and I thought of my possessions a short distance away from me I knew this was not over. A thought that made the simmering anger and fear all the more palpable. I clenched my fist tighter around the cloth and felt it crumble in my grasp as I swore I would make this even.The morning of our departure saw students and villagers gathered on the pier as Eidan and I went aboard the waiting ship. The children called out wanting to join us and the younger students that Eidan and I had mentored, befriended, called their farewells. We stood on the deck and watched as the hands cast off, family members called out from the pier asking for goods and items before that last moment as the ship started to move and then it was all wishes of safe travel.I could see on their faces the fear that was the reality of a journey over water. I could see the love and the fervent hope that this would not be that journey that ended badly but ended as all the rest had, well. The captain was seasoned as I remembered from my previous journey aboard the same ship. He spent the next few moments regailed Eidan and I with stories of how he had sailed for the better part of 30 years. Eidan and I agreed, as he turned away to return to his duty, that he looked as if the salt from the water had etched every groove on his very expressive countenance. The first mate was a burley strapping Kerra who had no relations in the village but all had wished him well anyway. He was serious when at work but had the best of humours when at play. Eidan and I enjoyed our time with him the most and his many very amusing stories about their time aboard this stalwart vessel. I wondered, as we sailed, what had become of his family for him to choose this life for he called the monks' village home. The sea journey took less than a month before we were put ashore at port. We had gone so much further than I had ever gone before. I stood at the rail, as I had before, staring at the endless expanse of water that lay around us. As we approached land the differences that marked it from the island of the monks, of where my parents had raised us were large. It was more than a sign, there was something in the air that felt different. I had leant on the rail as we had been guided in to berth and decided even the port master looked less than ... entirely honest. We prepared to disembark and it was then that the captain told us he would meet us here in exactly 11 months. Eidan and I gathered some supplies at a warehouse that seemed clean and reputable in the small town that encased the harbour. We then decided our direction after talking with the owner. There were small villages further out that seemed on the edge of everything who lives were not so easy. They were threatened by all manor of ill and that was the way that we would go. We did not ask the name of the land and set out before morning was half over for we did not feel save enough to stay a night.It was full on a day before we came to the first village. It was surrounded by low walls that had been sturdily built years before but had long since been covered with ivy. Fields, rudely kept, lay within the walls and even though the children played, laughed while at play, I noticed they did not run wild and free into the surrounding area. The forest almost seem to be held purposely at bay on the far side of the other side of the town. We had barely crested the hill, staying to the path that led into the village, when we were spotted. We were met at the southern gate by no less than ten men armed with whatever they thought made weapons. Weapons. One scythe, hoes, and the like were the most threatening of the lot. We held out our arms to show we were unarmed and they seemed relieved by our garb as well. "Thee art not brigands then," the one asked in an accent thicker than I had ever heard before, using words that sounded different from the common tongue. Eidan shook his head. "Novice monks from beyond the water to the south. We are journeying for a year to see what good we might do."The spokesman nodded his shaggy head and as he did I smelled spring. It was that smell of earth that was imbedded in him as the sea was in the ship's captain. There was barely enough green here for me smell anything but spring I smelled. And as I stood before the villagers, inhaling the odours I felt a hand upon my shoulder that was light in touch to remind me to listen. "Help them," the breeze whispered in my ear. I tipped my head to better hear with and her voice told me of the child."Thou friend here is no human," shaggy head pointed out the obvious, for while I was tall, taller than several of the villagers, my face, ears amongst other features belied my heritage."Half elf," was Eidan's response as I was still listening to another's words."We've not seen her kind ‘round these parts before. Keep to themselves," he said as I began to move around him, half listening to him but mostly listening to Her. Eidan laughed at the remark as he started following me. "An' thou're bigger than most humans... Barbarian," asked shaggy head who now seemed to be the only one with vocal chords."Less than half but enough to be noticeable. Like I said we are passing through, seeing where we can aide.""Where are you goin'," asked another, finally finding their vocal chords as I stepped around them. "There is a child. In pain. I am going to the child," I explained, all the while my head tipped as I listened to her instructions. It was a dark room that they let me too in a small house. And there was death on the air. I frowned as I looked at the small body beneath tattered blankets. I walked to the window and flung it open as gasps filled the room. I sighed as fresh air filled my nose and beat back the smell of disease. I had no formal training in healing but what I knew was that the death of this girl would affect the balance and I could not allow that. She would live and another would take her place. The one who had injured her. I made quick work of cleaning the room for once the others saw what I was doing they joined in. Even Eidan who had often confessed this was the least favourite activity of his helped. I had him burn the blankets and then replaced them with my own, new and from the warehouse. I had the mother get water ready and then followed Her voice again to a small plant growing nestled against the village wall hidden amongst the stones. I plucked it as she told me, returning to have half boiled as tea and the other combined as salve for the wound that had festered and poisoned the blood. "'Twas poachers, highwaymen they fancy themselves, who live in the wood. Their leader found child by the river getting fish. We are supposed t' have free access t' river. We pay for it," I heard the shaggy headed man say and knew this was why they looked so poor. "What of the guard," I heard Eidan ask and there were chuckles throughout the room. "What? Guard out here? We fend for selves," said the mother of the child. And with that silence returned. The day passed as we purged the knife wound of infection, bound it in clean clothes and fed the child tea. I knew in another day the child would most certainly have been beyond saving.And when the fever broke just before sun down the parents hugged each other and wept. They fed us what they could for dinner and then Eidan and I left. Into the forest following the direction of the voice still whispering in my ear. He didn't ask how I knew, in fact Eidan walked silently. "There are ten of them," I explained as we neared their camp. "They are not much better fed but they are better at fighting than the villagers," I offered and still he did not ask.We stepped into the light of the fire as they were passing around a flask of drink. The leader leapt to his feet and I was not half surprised by the filth and grime he was coated in. "Ah, good travelers, you must pay our fee to pass.""And if we don't," was Eidan's question"It is still our fee. Coin or life, you decide.""But we choose neither," I said, my voice seemed to belong to Her. "It is you who is now obliged to pay the fee. Leave and you are spared. Stay and you must die." The leader laughed. "What two children in ... sleepwear with no weapons give us...us! an ultimatum? Go home children and first leave us our fee.""You have decided," I asked, feeling more calm than I should have. My brain told me my heart should have been racing, that I should have been running like the wind but I felt nothing but calm. The balance was owed and the balance I would restore. The child's life for theirs.The leader laughed again. "Aye, if you must put it that way, we have."It felt right when he said that. As if it were exactly what I knew he was going to say but I needed it to be verbalized. I closed my eyes and felt her pour into me. I felt their strength flow up through me and in the midst of it all the tranquility that would guide me. I opened my eyes as the first ran forth, ignoring the leader's command as they were eager for blood. I bent a little like the reed, like the bamboo in the wind, and let the sword slide past me so close that I heard its song. Once the hilt drew even with my eyes I grabbed his wrist and pressed home. He screamed and buckled almost to the ground for a moment as the sword dropped to the ground released from nerveless fingers. He staggered back to his feet to face us once more as his mates circled around us. I had no need to worry about Eidan for he was always at my back and I his. As the man before me took a moment to consider his options, I pulled the energy up through me, holding it in a ball for a moment, and thrust forth, two-handed striking his chest. He flew back, crashing to the earth and sliding for a moment to come to a halt before his crew. He grasped his chest and winced as they helped him stand. He did not sneer as he could have but whimpered a little as he drew his hands across his mouth and wiped blood from a scrape.I held their gaze as I sensed Eidan bending over. I heard the faint scrape of the discarded sword as he retrieved it. He stood and silently we waited. The wait was short.And when it was over and I stood for a moment above the shocked expression on the leader's face I knew it was because he could not fathom how his steel had been overcome by us. By two young people in pyjamas.And when it was over I was me again and I understood how this year was going be.

Amethest

10-17-2007, 11:37 AM

oh thanks for the new post <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Rioghna

10-17-2007, 10:03 PM

<img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />No probs Obbsidian - and here's another:

Rioghna

10-17-2007, 10:09 PM

Chapter SixteenNews spreads more quickly than anyone imagines. Where there are lips and vocal chords to speak and ears willing to listen news will spread like wildfire. That news will become story and with a twist and a turn... it was an interesting exercise to see what the news resembled after that. A simply story could become so much more. Give it time, a dash of mishearing, misunderstanding and imagination and that story becomes Legend.I had read of many such legends in my Father's scrolls and often wondered how much was truth. Or about the parts they never told.We returned from the forest, hale and hole, with barely a scratch upon us to the village the next morning. The villagers knew how many poachers had been living in the group out there. They knew that we had left, novice monks with no weapons to speak of and had returned. While we caught a little sleep, a little rest before pitching in to help around the village were we could, do what we could to improve their lot, one of their fastest went to spy.Only there was nothing but mounds in the ground. Ten of the mounds all in an orderly row. Neat, no markers but the campfire embers between reminding those who passed by of where the outlaws had been. The village's fastest runner stood by the mounds and marvelled at the grass and flowers that had grown upon them overnight. Before the fastest could return to the village he met a woodsman from the next village on. Before we were roused to help in the fields our story had already made it to the neighbouring village.And when we arrived there the next day we were greeted with smiles rather than frowns and scythes. Again, this village had suffered the poachers and with them gone their bellies would become more full, the village more prosperous. Again we helped were we could, spent the night and passed through in the morning. Even legends get a break. After passing through the third village we got ours, so to speak. We left the village to the cheers of the people who watched us go. Their thanks rang through the air for all the help we had given over the last 24 hours. The sound of their voices stayed clear as we walked down the only road. Our pace was steady for most of the day as the mountains grew nearer. The foothills that we sauntered through grew larger, more lush, more ripe. Our pace slowed a little, and then slowed some more until we meandered along taking in the landscape. We listened to the singing of the birds, marvelled at the beauty of nature.It was mid afternoon when we stopped. We had both heard the sound and our idle chatter stopped as we concentrated on it's rushing noise. I turned to Eidan as he turned to me. We both grinned. "Remember Lu She and that waterfall," we chorused and laughed. If I hadn't been filled with my own sense of euphoria I would have been astonished at the girlish giggles that were coming forth from my manly friend. Before we could say anything else, before our brains could think of an excuse not to, our feet had moved us forward. Moved us off the path and away from the direction that we had been heading. We moved with a purpose we had not had in days. I stopped the first time only to dig in the sack that the villagers had given us. It was filled with what little food they could spare. I pulled out an apple for Eidan and one for myself. On we went in companionable silence munching our delicious snack. I stopped the second time to remove my shoes and marvelled at the feel of the grass beneath my feet. It was so soft and I had never smelled anything sweeter. I ate my apple and was amazed that I had never felt happier.It was moments later that we entered the copse of trees. We slipped through the trees smiling at the humble deer that grazed nearby. They raised their heads to look at us and did not move when we stopped. We walked on and pointed out rabbits, badgers, foxes. All watching us. Then we emerged from the trees to gasp in awe at the waterfall. We stood and watched as it's crystalline water crashed down to a pond beneath. The pond was encased with the greenest moss covered stones I had ever seen and it's water so clear I could see the fish playing in the reeds at the bottom. I stood at the edge of the waterfall, my face tipped a little as the spray from the waterfall kissed my face. I smiled at it's cool touch in the face of the warm sun. Laughing, again the feeling of mindless jubilation surged through me, I tore off my clothes and plunged into the pond. I swam. Twisted and dove like an otter. I had spent many summer days practicing at the monastery but this was not like the salt water I swam in there. I laughed again as Eidan plunged in. The water fight I would swear I won but as he was bigger he would swear that his arms could easily splash more water at me. I knew I held my breath underwater longer. I moved to the waterfall and stood beneath it, revelling in the feel of it's rushing strength sluicing over my skin. I was laughing at Eidan's latest cannonball and the monstrous splash that he caused when I heard the cough.We both turned slowly to take in the farmer and his cow. "A-ya. I was jus' thinkin' o' givin' Bessie here a drink o' the water like as I was on t'way t' market. A-ya. But now I'm thinkin' a bath is not such a bad ideer." And we watched as he waggled his very bushy eyebrows.It was then that cold reality snapped back into us. It was as we scrambled back into our clothes that I realized that there wasn't much more either of us could possibly blush. At lease the farmer seemed convinced we were "A-ya. Akin t' a radish, I s'pose." And it was as we led the farmer back to the road that I knew one certainty.No one would mention the legend of the two naked monks or how red they blushed when spied on by a farmer and his bovine companion. They would talk of the wood that lured innocent travellers. The wood that was paradise and that those who went there were never seen again. Except for two monks, a farmer and a cow. People in the next town would confirm our suspicions that the forest was a special place. Some called it haunted, most advised it was just better not to ever go there.And Bessie said moo.

Rioghna

10-17-2007, 10:18 PM

Chapter SeventeenIt took a full three days for us to pass through the mountains and arrive at the next village after we learned about the forest. The next village was a large town and our reputation had grown to make Eidan a barbarian hero of old, almost a warrior god in his own right, blessed by Mithanial himself to smote the wrongdoers and I had become as beauteous and generous as his sister. It amused Eidan to no end particularly due to the attention he got from the women at the inn we were led to. It was there, that as Eidan was surrounded by a variety of offers that I met the Old Man. He was seated in a back corner as we entered far from the burning light of the fire. His only light the pipe that he seemed to be contentedly puffing on. I was seated and had no problem watching him from our table as we ate, the way each draw on the tobacco would cast a glow to his eyes. Eyes that seemed familiar in some strange way. When we finished and I could see that Eidan had all the company he needed I excused myself and made my way over. I barely stood before him when he rose and offered me the seat opposite him."Welcome to our town, Little Dragon," he said as I lowered myself into the seat. I quirked an eyebrow but did not ask how he knew my name. "I have been waiting for you. I knew your steps, your path, would lead you here. For you have chosen a difficult path," was his offering.I wanted to argue for a moment. I wanted to point out that I had not really chosen that it had chosen me but I knew that would have been a lie. "All paths have difficulty," I responded as I ordered what passed for tea. I should have dipped into my supplies but I needed it to last the year."But some paths have a greater level of obstacles. The tower monks have trained you well, so far but they have not forewarned you. Are you not upset about this," he asked as he nodded his thanks to the woman who brought the hot brew in two steaming cups for us. I ignored her look as I knew most of the patrons would now be into beer, wine, and other such liquids. As well as tipping her better. But she seemed to know the old man and forgave his choice of drink. "Nay, for their path is different. How could they forewarn me of that they know nothing of. But they do train me well." I took a stab in the dark, "As they trained you," as they trained my Father, my mind added on. "Do not assume they know nothing. But you may be right, they cannot forewarn of everything," he conceded and for a moment we stared at each other solemnly through the rising steam before he laughed. "Aye, as they trained me," was his echoing statement. "They trained a few of us. Some of us still walk the path, others walk new paths, yes, like your Father. No two paths are alike but you and I both had callings to preserve the balance. I observe it out here but this is just the beginning for you. The times are changing and your path will lead where mine did not. Closer to those at the centre of things. Closer to the cities of Qeynos and Freeport. But yours will also be filled with dangers that mine was not. My balance was in a calmer time, in a way," he paused and finished his tea as a woman approached. She put her hand on his shoulder and he patted it."Father it is time to go home," she said not once looking my way.The Old Man grinned. "We are the manor by the far gate. The one you will leave by. Stop by before you leave. And yes, I was, am a monk but soon you will find that that is a broad name for things. An easy pigeon-hole. I am ever faithful to the teachings of our tower but where they remain there ever shut off from life we are amongst it, required by our path to be in the thick of it. All of it, life, death, love, hate, war and peace is our destiny."He stood and nodded to his daughter, "I know, I am an old man who talks too much but there is too little time and much of importance," at which his daughter smiled. She nodded and headed for the door leaving her father to grasp my hand one last time. "Head two things. You will read the scroll. Not now, not in a year perhaps but you will read it. It is essential that you do before they get it, or rather in the off chance it falls into their hands. And second look for the children. The children will help your path... for a time. I cannot say anymore at this time but that."I sat and finished my tea wondering if there was any truth to the rumour of wisdom in the bottom of a cup. I mused as the heated liquid warmed my limbs. A scroll and children. I knew by his words he was truly trained as a monk. Typically obscure, I grinned to myself....typically obscure.

Amethest

10-18-2007, 01:20 PM

em claps yea!!!! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Rioghna

10-18-2007, 10:09 PM

Chapter EighteenIt is a simple rhythm. Breathe in, breathe out. Shift weight, push force, pull force and feel the energy flow through you. Then start all over again. Breathe in, breathe out. I had heard these words many times before.But for a long time they were just words. I did not understand completely about the energy, or rather it's potential, until the next day when I visited the old man. While Eidan contented himself to go about town, to relax in the inn, I visited. And in the waning of the afternoon, in that moment when it is not light and not dark, when all the smells merge as one full of the day's labours and the night's promises, that was when I understood.First, he showed me two scrolls that afternoon that he had retrieved from two who had walked the path long before we had. Written within those lengths of parchment were their notes. Their observations. Their knowledge learned from decades of experience. He had read them as a youth traveling to and fro. He had looked for similarities as I would when I read the copies he gifted me with. He had looked for direction for we were among the few. He had looked for instructions, clarification, to make walking the path easier. The scrolls spoke of orders of monks spread across Norrath but those who followed the path did not seem to be from one particular order, did not after that cleave to one particular order. We drank tea, discussed the better path to take even though he did not ask why I had been sent or for how long. He did not mention that I would not ever return to the island to settle but I sensed the truth anyway. And then we spoke about energy. What the monks had taught me about chi."There are many words for it in all the dialects of Norrath. Many words for the same thing that flows through you as blood does. All monks in each order seek to channel it as their teachings dictate but sadly too few truly understand. Your tower monks have written scrolls on it. The greatest and wisest have traveled to secluded caves to meditate beyond it but they do not always comprehend it. Have they taught you?"So I told him about the Shan brothers and the lessons that had taught. He had laughed at my rendition of their ‘discussions' and after that was when the old man began to teach me to listen. Not with the ears that hear the neighbour's call to dinner, the laughter of children but my own inner ears. To listen to each minute detail and then to feel it. When I could feel it then I could understand it. "And when you understand it you will do more than know how to channel it. You will know how to use it and then ... then my girl they will truly be after that scroll"Deep into the depths of night we sat in the courtyard of his home, I the student and he the teacher. We talked, trained. He began to teach me how to control it. I returned to the inn and laughed as I saw Eidan his feet propped on a table cheering on all the entertainments to be had. There was a bard in one corner, darts being thrown by a blindfolded ratonga and I thought there was some arm wrestling going on in the back.I slipped past and went to one of the rooms we had paid for. Lying on my back I thought about everything that had happened and fell asleep to the cheering ... for a moment my mind said it was Eidan's name I heard them calling. I told myself it couldn't be and slipped into slumber's embrace.When I woke the next morning it was to still wonder if it was Eidan's name I had heard. I was about to knock on his door when I decided against it. I lowered my raised knuckles at the sound of robust snoring coming from within his room. Grinning I turned and went quietly down the stairs. From the orderly state of the tables and chairs I knew that either nothing had happened or the staff was adept at tidying up afterwards. I left the inn and stood in the bright sunlight for a moment. The smells were different and I moved off down the street. I stopped at a vender and bought a steamed bun with ground pork inside. It was, in fact, not the first vendor of steamed buns I had passed however the first one had a sign that read, "Special discounted buns. Get your cheap buns here. (may or may not contain real or fake meat product)". I had never had a sign make me so nervous about anything before. But the second vendor seemed much more reputable and indeed I enjoyed my breakfast.I spent the rest of the morning wandering around the town discovering the differences between life in the sleepy areas I was used to and the bustling life that seemed to inhabit each corner. In the afternoon I returned to the old man. He laughed at my adventures of the day and applauded my decision not to purchase from the first vendor. He said that everyone knew not to buy from him except those passing through. And they never bought from him again if they ever returned.Again deep into the night the old man and I worked at controlling my chi. For a week that became my routine. Rise, wander the town, learn. And when Eidan and I finally left through the gate by the house we were laden with sacks. Sacks filled with food to nourish us on our journey. As we shouldered them and called farewell I finally understood a portion of what he spoke of.As we turned and passed beyond the heavily fortified entrance I turned for one last look. In that moment as he stood with his family waving at us I knew that I would never see him again. Even should we pass through the town on our way back to the port I would not see him.Our first day beyond the gates we moved along through cultivated fields, passed farmers and workers who paused long enough to watch us for a moment, a second in their lives for people on this road were not uncommon enough to interrupt their lives for more than that. And in that I saw the flow of energy. On that last night as I stood in the yard my hands flowing through stance after stance following the flow, mimicking the energy I had felt it, truly felt it. And not just in me but in the ground upon which I stood and the air in which I breathed.And in that first day as we walked I saw it flow from the farmer's to the crops they tended and back again. It was then I understood the second part and what I needed to achieve. Why the balance was so important.The next day after dinner Eidan finally broke his silence about the days previous, about where I had gone, for he had regaled me with all his adventures while I had said naught. He asked me for the first time ever to tell him. To explain what brought us here. And so I did. I explained to him what happened in the tower, the gift of the scroll, the words of the old man. There was no envy in his face, no question of what the old man words for him were. There was silence again. He turned his head and stared at the fire that had heated our dinner. I prompted him for no response and sat in equal silence. Words were not often necessary and better he waited for the right ones, my Father would have said. But then my Father was as solemn as Eidan accused me of too often being. Finally Eidan turned and looked at me, "Then teach me."I quirked an eyebrow. "Teach you?""The old man's energy thing. We will learn together and then I will be aptly prepared if I am to walk this path with you"I grinned, stood and as I began to echo the old man's words I knew that was the moment I loved my friend dearly.

Rioghna

01-12-2008, 01:15 AM

Chapter NineteenWe met a man. A gangly, tall, clownish sort of a man. Going to the fair.Or so the signs indicated. Country fair. Down the road. Entertainment. Food. Animals. And Maurice. But Maurice was going by ‘Horatio the Fantabulous'. Why ‘Horatio' he never mentioned to either of us. And neither of us ever could bring ourselves to call him anything but Maurice to his face.We met him after we had seen the first sign. That first sign had brought us to a stand still. At first we had wondered if it were a trick and then we met Maurice. Being that he was completely in the nude we were even more certain it was a trick. He trudged along with us and told us his story. All ten minutes that it took. Maurice was from the next town over, son of the local butcher and dreamt of fame, stardom and everything that came with country fairs. When his Father demanded he join the family business Maurice ran away and Horatio was born. Horatio had seen the opportunity to awe fellow travelers with his talent not twenty minutes before we happened upon him.The fellow travelers were more interested in the coin they could pocket from Maurice's belongings.We had been discussing what a country fair entailed, Eidan having experienced a variety of entertainment in Qeynos, when we heard the groan from the side of the road. Hurrying over we peered over the low hedgerow and words failed us. Maurice was just standing up and realizing what had occurred. Tall lanky, his face seemed to be healing from a recent spotty outbreak, his thin fair hair fell over his face until he swept it to one side with what he thought was cool nonchalance. We waited until he tried to step across the hedge, snagged himself and then fell on the road. Eidan finally caved and helped Maurice stand before handing him his spare clothing. It was a little too large as Eidan was much better filled out. The top pooked out and Maurice looked swamped in the garmet... although much warmer than before.We made it to the fair as Maurice was detailing what he was going to do, how he meant to become famous and why he would be invited to perform for the Bayles. He came to a stand still only when I asked him "who" as politics had not been particularly high on the list for us to learn... We watched as he clutched his heart and went through what seemed like a fit until Eidan point out that there was no Bayles plural only one Bayle. Maurice finally calmed down and explained what an honour it would be to be asked to Qeynos to perform for Antonia and the way he said her name made me wonder if in his possessions had been a small pouched-size drawing of the woman. Or perhaps a small statuette that he mooned over at night. I had to admit... Maurice amazed me... I had never met anyone quite like him before and that was just our first half hour with him.We stood in awed silence as Maurice explained to the fair official what his "nom d'étage" was."Eh? Yer wantin' me t'introduce ye as "Name tag"?" There were snickers behind him.Maurice tried again. And again. Twentieth time was the charm and Horatio the Fantabulous was added to the roster. We sat in the audience and watched as Maurice became Horatio. When Horatio left the stage it was to thunderous applause and I whispered to Eidan that Horatio would be playing Antonia in no time. Eidan's laughter drowned out the applause but Maurice...er Horatio did not notice. He was too busy with his first and then second encore. It was as he was heading towards us that he stopped and Horatio was Maurice once again. Maurice pointing and telling us that the leader of those who had robbed him was right behind us.We turned looked at the man and he looked at us for an extended 30 seconds. And then ran. I was the first after him. He was quick. Practiced at the frenzied dash through the milling throng that seemed to part effortlessly for him but for me, only slowed my progress. But I was determined to help Maurice. Or Horatio.I slipped between the people and gained on him. For a moment I thought I had him when we went into a dead end but I stopped as he almost seemed to ricochet up the walls onto the roof. I paused for a moment, took a deep breath and then ran on. I jumped, planted my foot on one wall as I had seen him do and sprang upwards. Off the next wall and up I went until, oof, I hit the roof just under my armpits. I clutched and scrambled up as I heard Eidan bellow that he would "go around like a sane person." As I stood up I realized the thief had stopped in amazement when he heard me coming. Again I dashed after him and again I thought I was gaining. All that was in front of us was a wall with a window.Again I came to a halt as I watched him slip through the window. I stood for a moment and had to admit as a half elf I had my father's ability to control my emotions. Until that moment. It was a small window. I ran through my mind exactly what he had done. The contortions he had and hadn't gone through. The way he had jumped and then, after taking several deep breaths. I ran and leapt. And when I rolled to a crouch and looked up into the thief's face I could only admit to myself that I was possibly more amazed than him. For only a moment. Then I stood, straight and as tall as I could reach. "I only want what you stole from the performer Horatio...er Maurice."The thief sneered and off we ran again. So it went I ran after him learning how he would jump, spin, tumble and keep running. But as I learned so I gained on him and finally, as he began to tire, I bore him to the ground. I got up, holding the pressure on him to look at a form seated on a bench. He was eating some sticky concoction that was being sold by the fair. "You lapped the town five times. It's a small town you know," were Eidan's words of urban wisdom as he fished the money pouch out of the thief's pocket and tossed it to Maurice...er Horatio... who was sitting next to him.Horatio...er Maurice... looked at me for a long while as I handed the burgling bozo over to the local constabulary and then finally commented himself, "But your form was fantastic."

Rioghna

01-12-2008, 01:21 AM

Chapter TwentyWe were deep in the land now. No towns for ages. Sparse farms and wild creatures that kept us on our toes. And then even the farms were gone. Eidan would turn to me with the question on his face but I could not answer. There was something else guiding me. I was not me. I didn't eat, sleep but knew that I needed to go forward. That they needed us forward. That they needed me. That they needed the balance. It was just as Eidan lay down the edict that we were turning back the next morning if nothing happened. What he meant was if I told him nothing.I understood. This was not a good land for water, food. It was not desert but it was arid. As if everything living had been cursed to die. It was as Eidan was telling me we were turning around first thing in the morning that we came over the hill and saw the stockade. It looked like it had been built well, sturdily and then bombarded. The timbers looked burnt even though they still stood and stood together. The gate looked intact but looked like something had tried to break into the enclosure. And upon the guard's perch above the gate stood a man who due to hunger and thirst had been aged. If he had lived well he would have been younger than Eidan and I. He leant lethargically on what might have been a pike had the head still been on. "Righ' who goes there," the words trickled out.I felt the heat of her hand on my shoulder, her voice in my ear. "My daughter the balance must be restored. Too long the corruption has lived here. Out it. Heal them. Heal." And my mouth opened and another voice came forth calling for the head man. Calling for us to be brought before the head man explaining that we were friends. The guard shrugged and pushed a lever. The gate lifted and once we were within it shut again. What had looked bad outside looked bad within. The well, in the middle of the compound had only tainted sludge. It was there that the head man teetered out to our side. He was ancient. "I know you not child," he said peering at us through weeping, crusted eyes. "But you know them who you have beseeched. Whom you alone have begged for aid.""When they would not leave and we could not return to a more...civilized area... aye, I know who I asked for help. I know who I called on.""We are here," and their voices were mine.The head man fell to his knees. "You are their prophet.""No. No. Nothing so lofty. I am simply one person dedicated to this path. Nothing more," I said as I clasped his elbows and lifted him to his feet. "We have come to help." And at this the small group that lived there started pouring out. They were all adults and I knew where the children were. The ones that were still alive. I knew what their numbers had been. But that was not important now. Healing was. They needed the balance restored but could not without help. Again she pushed me forward through their midst even as Eidan started pulling back. "Xia... Xia," he hissed and grabbed at my arm. I barely heard his words as he urged me to look at them. Being from a small village we had known illness but nothing of this magnitude. This was plague. Only a couple, the head man, the guard and one other seemed hail. Well... more healthy. I walked to each of the ailing and placed my hand, unfettered by fear, on their shoulder. "Be calm. Be not afraid. I bring help."And then I got to the third person who unlike the others did not even seem underfed. I placed my hand on his shoulder and closed my eyes. I had never met anything like this. This was no human. No elf. And then as I opened my eyes the illusion shimmered and I saw the eyes. I smiled. "Are you afraid," I asked and smiled again when the head shook back and forth. No, there was power here. Darker magic than even those I had read about. I knew Eidan had noticed my pause. I knew the others had pulled back and away. The one before me curled a lip. One small monk with no weapons. I stepped back half a step and let my bag slip off my shoulder to my hand. It dropped from my fingers to the ground and I paid no mind to whether it was picked up again.I stood and for a moment was held back by the hand that Eidan put on my shoulder. He jumped back shaking his hand at the heat that radiated from my skin. My mind was filled with them. With the need for balance and the need for these people to heal. The one before me let eyes travel down the length of me. From my head to my feet clad still in the simple shoes I had worked for three villages ago. Their cloth the colour of my gi and offering no more protection from anything. As the eyes took in my lack of armour I noticed the hands begin to move, the lips begin to shape a spell. I stepped forth and kicked. My foot connected with the jaw but with no time to stop the spell. The ice caught my should and shoved me back two paces as I dug in and steadied myself. Another blow as I came forth with my hands channeling my pain back out of them. I fed the heat and the sorrow of those around me through me and my hands found one of the chi lines the old man had spoke of. I poked and twisted and the ability for the mage to use his hands failed. He dropped to his knees and in that moment I knew he would give me no mercy. I would offer one chance."Leave now of your own accord. Take your spell with you. Leave these people to find their own way."The laughter that roiled out of it's mouth made my stomach heave. "Leave such a ripe feeding ground? Never. Tell those who guide you this is mine now.""And you guides you?""The gods are dead. I guide me."I nodded. "So be it."I moved again. A flurry of fists. I spun and used the height, the speed, to drive the kick with more force and this time when it connected I heard the crack. But unlike anything else that normally died and left behind a corpse this thing broke before me. Shattered and disappeared. The villagers perked up and cheered. That was not the end. There was still one more thing to do. The well. I picked up a shovel and following the directions I began to dig further away from the original one. I was unaware of the others as I dug with zeal. Nothing was more important than the water I knew was down below. I dug and dug until water began gurgling around my feet. Hands lifted me out and I tottered on the edge. It was their that I felt them leave me and I felt the heat of exhaustion and.. something else.I felt myself weave on my feet again and then I fell. Fell down. And when I picked myself up I was in my village again. There was my family. My parents. My siblings. I watched them as if a stranger. I watched my father as he worked on a piece of wood that would become a chair, a table... I watched as my siblings and those who must have been their spouses left for their own homes. I walked towards the house that I had been a child in and opened the door. For a moment I could not enter. But then I entered and stood watching as my Father and Mother sat alone by the hearth. I watched as they broke a seal on a scroll and unrolled it. "Come, Xia," they called. "This is our story. This is everyone's story. The stories of heroes are in here. Heroes who once were and will be again." They held out their hands to me and I crossed to sit by the hearth with them. "Read to us of those heroes. Of the heroes we once were," they implored. I turned to do as they bade me and found the scroll whole. The seal intact. I ran my finger over it and knew this scroll was no longer in my Father's collection. "You must read it and care for it. It is vital to us all." I looked down at the table and the scroll was gone. My Mother patted my hand as I stood and turned to go, to find the scroll. I was at the door when a hand fell on my shoulder.It was my Father. "I should have kept you closer," he said as he hugged me. I frowned at the gesture. My Father was not one for such largess. "Stay Xia. Stay here. Don't leave us."I smiled at him and then turned once more. He caught my arm. "The scroll. It and the balance are the path you have chosen. They are bound together. They are this world. It is the story. Don't worry about us, my Little Dragon. Your Mother and I are proud of you. Don't worry about us," he said and I frowned as his voice began to fade. "The story is important. Not ours. Everyone else. Our story is almost over."I opened my eyes with a start. "Father," I croaked through a throat that seemed incredibly dry until water trickled down it. I lay back and was surprised at how I felt. Weak. Impossibly weak. I, who had never been ill before, could not understand it. I opened my eyes again and for a moment saw Eidan's face above me. I focused on it and croaked. "Okay, we leave tomorrow."There was a furry of oaths and invectives growled about me as I heard Eidan exit the room. I opened my eyes again to see the head man. "You have upset your friend a great deal. He has cared for you with no thought to himself. Although I think he seemed strangely confident that no one would get ill from you.""What do you mean?""It's been a week."I laughed. Or tried to. "Impossible.""That's what I would say and yet here you lie. And out there are my people. Healthy. Or rather, healthier than they were a week ago. I would call you a prophet again, Lady Dragon, would you not laugh in my face."I motioned for some water and was helped to swallow some. It was so clean and filled with flavour. And then I slept. A healing sleep.I woke to darkness the next time. "You should sleep," I said as I found I had enough strength this time to almost sit up. I drank and once the ladle was returned to its bucket I found myself in his arms rather than lying back on the sad excuse for a bed. "At least you listened to me finally," he said into my sweat-matted hair."About leaving," I asked into his shoulder where my face had been crushed.I heard his burst of a laugh and felt its healing warmth. "Half elves. How did I manage to end up here with one, let alone you. I thought you were dying. I know you were dying and you listened to me when I told you not to leave.""I wasn't dying," I said, ignoring the other but shelving that for later. "I have too much to do yet. And I haven't read the scroll."He laughed but there was no mirth. "You sound so sure.""I am. I am as sure of that as I am that we will not be leaving tomorrow."The mirth was there this time. "Incorrigible.""We will leave next week."

Rioghna

01-12-2008, 01:23 AM

Chapter Twenty OneTime often becomes one blur of memories, whether it's one year ago or ten. That year as hungry as we often were, as ill as I had been, still sits clear as the happiest. The land beyond that port served to mold me, shape me and my relationship with Eidan...but it did nothing to prepare me.In that year the scroll went with me, an ever present third companion. I was always aware of it, as I was aware of them, those who had bidden me to this path, but I never read it, did not unroll it. It was not the time. We traveled through all weather, all landscapes, lush rich forests, barren escarpments; on some days our backs were roasted by the sun, on others dampened by the rain and then frozen by the chill bite of snow. Still we pushed on. Still Eidan stayed by my side. We met those who taught us, those who helped, those who needed our help and those who challenged us. As we looped back around to head back to the port the challenges grew greater. Yet, as they grew, I did not fear for us. I had always felt them there, like a comforting hand on the shoulder reassuring. The stockade where I was ill, where I first fought magic, was our furthest point. We turned back and walked the now-familiar road. We commented on sites we had seen. Remembered Maurice (now the great Horatio proclaimed on paper signs as performing at the port). When we gained towns where we had been before where we had been unknown now our faces were welcomed with cries of joy. The soldiers who were positioned at the port even rewarded us with a nod, a salute, of respect. True to the captain's words he was there awaiting us. He said nothing of our appearance, of hair that had grown shaggier, cloth that had worn thin, of whether we looked thinner, more honed, older, more weary of the world. Perhaps we did look older and more aware. Even though we had passed into what the humans considered the normal range for adulthood we had been sheltered before. Now we were not. Now there was more to the world. Good, bad and in-between. The captain nodded as we boarded, the Kerran welcomed us with seeming expectation of stories and as we sailed, as the days passed once more, Eidan obliged. More and more as Eidan told his stories and the Kerran looked to me for solemn validation that his leg wasn't being pulled I sat with the scroll upon my lap. Not opened and still in its protective casing that it had been when my Father sent it to me. For the first time I noticed the little imprint on the seal that held the leather tie that bound it closed. I traced my fingers across it and wondered. Each day I sat, lost in thought, future, memories, all tangled into one as Eidan told his stories, we filled our bellies, and I traced fingers over the seal. It was an idyllic voyage after our year of some hardships. We were not expected to work but we did, we rested, dreamed, slept, talked of the future and what returning to the village meant to us.On the final night, as I lay safe and warm, tucked beneath blanked and within arms, I dreamt. I dreamt of horrible things. Visions dark and deadly. I twisted and turned and when I woke gasping for breath even the light of dawn did not comfort me. For the first time I did not feel that they were watching, protecting, that they had left me...but for what? Was this to be the final test? As I sat there gasping and trying to calm my racing heart Eidan was my comfort. He sat at my side quiet until I calmed enough, just enough. "You will see Yen Po shortly. He will know. I heard the call that is bringing us into berth moments before I managed to get you to waken. He will be here soon enough."I shook my head unable to clear my eyes of the darkness that lay ahead. There was no balance there, no light for it, no middle ground. I could not see how to keep things even. They had not given me enough time. Not nearly enough time. Even Eidan's support, presence did not help. Blindly I shoved things together to get ready for our docking. I could not stop the tears, the fear and then it became clear. Like a pressure bursting in my chest the visions cleared for a moment. I sagged and Eidan caught me. "My family. My family, Eidan, I cannot see," I gasped as he held me for a moment. Then he was gone leaving me in the small room. He was back in time, time which stretched on painfully and could not let me help fast enough, with Yen Po and Lu She. I could see their concerned faces and then winced, grinding my eyes closed as they started to merge with the visions that would not leave me alone. Yen Po lay a hand upon my forehead and for a moment all we heard was the creak and groan of the ship as it lay in its berth. When he sat back I opened my eyes again. I gripped his hands and his returned the grip. "We are all a part of destiny. Some of ours is on a different path. Yours returns you to your family's home at this point," was all he said and yet I could hear the unsaid words. I did not want to go, I wanted to go, I could not get there fast enough. I had to help but I had to be in two places.Yen Po led Lu She out for a moment I could se their feet but not hear their words. Eidan's strong arms held me again as I began to rock fretting when I could not see the right choice. I had to save them, save them all. "We will go, the captain will sail quickly, you know he will," his lips said against my forehead and I believed him."You will go alone," was Yen Po's answer to Eidan's words, words that I had not known were loud enough for others. The two were back in the room. "Eidan's path lies here."Eidan stood, all fierceness ready to fight. I heard his words of anger, his denial and I wondered if this was how my Father left. And then they were there, their last words to me. I placed a hand on his arm and stood before him, calming the anger. His eyes found mine and I brushed hair off of his brow. "You are needed here," and he knew the voice was Her's not mine. I could see the fight reenter his eyes, remembered words from that fire when so many months ago, and then it left. He nodded. "We have followed their words, this destiny up to know. I will stay here."I wanted to say and ‘do more good protecting those you could than those who are already dead,' but my mouth would not respond, my throat was closed to my own command. And then I was myself, lost again without guidance and knowing only that what was to come was darkness.The captain listened to the words of Lu She and Yen Po while Eidan and I parted. In all the years we had been together, friends and more, to part now. I wanted to hang on to him and not let go but then the other two were there. I hugged Lu She, teacher and Yen Po, and when I said farewell to them I saw understanding in their eyes.The captain, light of load and full of purpose set to immediately and we gained a port almost long forgotten in no time. I went ashore with the Kerran and one other to keep me company. We borrowed horses and rode like the wind. Rode until we were almost to weary to sit. And even though we were like the wind the wind was too late. The fire consumed and scorched and burned. I surged forth once, as others ran to fetch water, thinking to rush within the burning structure that was almost structure no more but the Kerran caught me, held me back and said words of wisdom. It was as I knelt afterwards staring at the charred ruins as they carried out the bodies to prepare them for burial that the cry went up. My Father, wounded but hurt, hurt so badly he was dying and had precious moments left. I hurried to his side and watched as his eyes flickered open. "You came.""Father," I whispered.I wanted to have him hug me as other Fathers had hugged their children but I could not touch him, could not touch the ravaged skin. Yet despite the pain he reached up and pulled me close whispering words in my ear that echoed the visions as he died.I stood as the others came over. I looked at the bodies of my mother, my brothers, my sisters, their spouses, their children... they had been rounded up, I heard one say. Not a member of my family left alive. All killed in the name of one thing.And then motion spurred me on. I turned to the ship's crewmen and told them what I knew, that we had to hurry, that already we were possibly too late. Again we pushed ourselves. Back to the ship, back to the boat, across the water. Again the wind seemed to favour us. All the time I stood at the bow clutching the wood, sending words of warning to those who did not answer. Hoping and yet knowing. Calling to those who had offered me this path to carry us faster. And when we crested the horizon, came in view of the village all the crewmen surged forth to join me at the rail as they saw what I saw. But this time we were not entirely too late. We surged forth almost as one. Leaving nothing of their ship for them to sail away in, securing ours. Into the village and it was the unspoken knowledge of save who you can. And then to the monastery beyond. It's doors wrenched off the hinge. It was there we found the last of the invaders. It was there that I walked in first and alone to find the monks who had survived before the children. There was no emotion as the first of the invaders fell. I was weaponless to their steel and still... I was in the bamboo grove and could see each movement. My emotions were set aside and I remembered the old man. I focused my chi, channeled and then understood how to use it. One, two and as of yet the monks did not see us. And then one remained. One who was my focus. And as fast as I moved I was too slow. I wrested his sword from him and used it to pin him to the ground. "Why," I raged, feeling true anger for the first time in my life, as he stared up at me in surprise that the one that had come for had been the death of him. "Why," I shouted as he smiled. "You know that answer. We are only the first. There will be more.""And they will find the same path that you have," I said as he died. I leapt from him to the man behind, all care now focused on him. On stopping the blood, his life force that poured from him. Of clutching him to me, to hold him in this existence as he claimed to have once held me."You came back," he said almost echoing my Father and I felt too weary for so much in so little time. Why give me this year and then take so much away? "Yen Po, Lu She," he choked and I pressed harder on the wound yelling for someone, any one of the monks who had medical training where I did not. I cried to those who had come to me in the tower and they did not answer me. They were silent when I needed them most.I understood all that had haunted my dreams of days before then and wept. My forehead on his cheek, my tears soaking his chest in sorrow and a remnant of anger that I could save strangers but not these people I care so very much for. His hand, coated in muck, grime and blood came up to cup my cheek. To wipe away tears and for a moment I saw him trying to think of something to make me laugh the way he once had. Instead he gave me his final words. "Not for me. No farewell. Remember," and as my Father had spoken words only for me so did Eidan in his final moments.And now, years later, I knelt with the other monks in the Eldar Grove for a moment as they said their words I said my own. My lips moved. Time had past, much time I reflected as the chanting continued around me, time to heal, to forgive and to find the path again. To find a new family. I had found the children that I suspected the old man had referred to and now I new I must read the scroll. The scroll that had sat in it's bindings all these years. Not forgotten but ignored in penance, in punishment.Having finished my murmurs of words long instilled in me, I nodded to the monk who knelt at the front of the room. I stood, left the building and walked to the river. I placed items, one at a time as the litany of names whispered from my lips as they had every year on this day. Then I placed the last and closed my eyes as it drifted away, "I remember. I will never forget. Eidan, I will always remember."

niko_teen

01-12-2008, 02:28 PM

/cheerWoots more for me to read

Rioghna

01-12-2008, 11:30 PM

/grinWell, since you 'wooted' ....

Rioghna

01-12-2008, 11:30 PM

Chapter Twenty TwoI was lost. Not physically, although in the travels that had occurred since leaving the monastery I had been lost many times. Direction had not seemed to matter. In the end the way would be revealed. And even if it wasn't I always had him by my side.No longer. No I was lost... filled with anguish. Ire. Rage. Annoyance that I had sworn something to those who returned nothing. Doubt of the path had entered my mind as I had held his body. Doubts had entered my mind as I had watched the remaining monks prepare him, Lu She and Yen Po for the next stage of their journey. A stage I could not follow them on. Where I was silent without, my tongue stopped by this, I was in turmoil within. I had cried all I could for my family and friends but had made no wailing noises. And when they set the torches to the biers that had built I, standing on a hill high above, well beyond the small crowd that had gathered, had yelled and raged. Had freely vented every emotion that had seethed and roiled since his blood had spilled across me and the ground beneath us.When that had passed, I had sought peace within the tower to hear the guiding voices who had set me upon this path but heard nothing. I had meditated in the bamboo grove. I had numbly gone about the tasks assigned in helping to clean, to restore, to build anew what the raiders had torn asunder. None of it had helped. In the end I had stood before the eldest of those left and stared at him in numb silence as he asked if I would stay. If I would accept that Yen Po had intended that I become full monk, sister and forever more remain within these walls. He had paused at that, letting Yen Po's faith in what I had learned in my year away sink in and then continued. Or did I leave and become a member of those who wandered. Who sought enlightenment and knowledge from beyond the walls. I had looked down at my hands, hands that were no longer red with the blood of those I loved, and did not answer. The blood had washed off but their voices had not left me since. I stood quietly as if it were real voices I heard, real voices that tormented me in my sleep, and sometimes wished that I had not been the middle child, that destiny had overlooked me. I wished that in the nights since I returned I did not have incessant visions of accusations that I had failed. That I had let them die and that the balance was overturned. Of all the things we had done in that year it felt like it had all been thrown to the wind in this one quick moment. In all this time I was only aware of them. Of those who had died and could not leave me. It seemed only a moment since they were gone but in reality, I was told as I was guided to a seat, it had been a year when I heard other voices again. The others had left me to my grief as they had tended to theirs but now they no longer could. Now they needed my answer.And with that I looked a the monk before me, his hair beginning to whiten, hastened along by the recent events. He was now the head of the monks who were left and on his shoulder was placed a burden that he would not have otherwise chosen. But he had accepted it and was forging forth.The answer was simple and clear. If I was to believe in the path I had been placed on despite my despair I would have to leave. I could not become the tower monk he asked me to be. Perhaps someday I would return but we both knew that it would never be to stay. I did not have to voice my answer and in return Eidan's belongings, those of familial importance, were placed in a pouch and given to me.I was given a location and a request. Since I was the one not staying it would be I who delivered the news to his family. Perhaps another would have turned from the duty, run and never returned but I took the pouch and the directions and knew without a doubt that this needed to be done. In my heart of hearts the balance was calling for it. I journeyed fourth on another boat, the captain of the other wishing to remain in harbour for a time to help rebuild. Strangely this journey was not as the others had been. Where I enjoyed the trip before now it was only a means to an end. At another port, one whose name I no longer remember, I departed that ship and joined another and then another. Finally I arrived at the beginning of the directions.Qeynos harbor. The old man had spoken of the great cities and now here I was. Eidan had told me of his youth here with his family. I gathered my belongings and stepped from the boat that had rowed me from the ship to the dock. I stood upon the dock as all sorts bustled around me. I listened as news was proclaimed. I watched as high elf, wood elf and dark elf walked down the street together with humans. I stepped aside as a Froglok bustled past me complaining about those from the country not knowing enough about city ways. I smelled food of all variety and marveled at the great walls that divided the city. I looked at the small bit of paper that had been given to me again and stepped within the closest tavern. I waited as the proprietor sized up my garb, for a moment he paused and then asked, "Ashen Order? An' I suppose you're one o' them that's taken a vow of poverty."I tipped my head for a moment wondering if that was a standard greeting in these parts. I knew of the other orders and so shook my head. "My order is small. It's name perhaps lost in these parts. And I have taken no vow. I earn money and use it when necessary."He shook his head. "You would do well to align yourself with a known order, monk, and a guild. This is Qeynos after all, not the backwoods or mountain peak of whatever godsforsaken corner of Norrath you hale from." He scratched his head and then continued on with a prod for more information, "That is if you are thinkin' of stayin' and not just passin' through like some of them?""I require directions at this point, nothing more. Although I thank you for your suggestion," I said, musing but for a moment on whether I would want to live in this hectic chaos, before waiting for him to provide me with the answer to my request or point me to another who could. Finding the family after that was simple, although I was glad I asked for there were more Barbarian, half Barbarian and quarter Barbarian families of similar or same family names than I would have thought possible. More humans. More elves. More Frogloks, Ratongas and Halflings squeezed together in unintended familiarity. More families who members were guardians and paladins than I would have imagined. More families, more people. I crossed the bridge and explained my business to the guards who nodded before pointing me on the way. I shook my head at the people who hustled here and there shoving others out of their way in their haste to be from one spot to another. I glanced at the address once more before turning down the road indicated. With its row of houses it was more quiet than the main roads, I gave it that but still there were more people in this one area milling about than had ever been in my parents' village.I pocketed the bit of paper as I knocked on the door that matched the number the monk had written. South Qeynos, I reflected as I looked about, did not seem such a bad place to live if one got used to the crowds. And the smells, I thought as my noise twitched at a particularly offensive odour that wafted by on a quick breeze. I pinched my nose as crowd laughed and again I thought of how teeming it was. A great deal more swarming and bustling than home, I reflected as I flung myself towards the door to escape being trampled by a man on a horse galloping down the street, careening wildly around people. But the houses were of a good size. I heard the friendly call of neighbours. Citizens from other sections stopped to great those they knew. It was an interesting meeting after all for as I flung myself forward once more the door was opened and I stumbled against a person every bit as solid, if not more, than Eidan had been. I looked up and nearly wept for it was Eidan's face, a bit older, but it was so nearly his it hurt. I almost called his name as the face broke into a smile. Hands caught my elbows and steadied me as a voice full of mischief as his had been called out a colourful oath to the rider. And then those eyes were back on me, taking in the monk's garb. "Come in. You are a comrade of Eidan's I take it," he asked as I stepped through the door and was safe from the chaos on the street."A friend, aye, if that is what you mean," I said, my voice wavered for a moment before I drew a deep breath to steady it. I looked up to see what he made of the waver but he seemed not to notice as he grinned down at me. "You are the Little Dragon that Eidan wrote home about," was his explanation and my heart winced in pain again. "He spoke of your... formality in speech. Come, the family is all home for once, and I know my parents will want to know how far behind you my younger brother is."I was thankful that he turned his back and did not see my eyes close for a moment, steeling myself to telling his entire family. And then I was surrounded, before I had a moment to brace myself, with three older Eidans, his brothers. His Father, another replica and his Mother, the full human that had made his barbarian blood even less, although it shone through in the size of their sons. They sat me at the table and tea was provided. There was some relief in that before I even began Eidan's mother, full of a mother's intuition, understood. She sat heavily, holding hand to heart, as the last cup was poured. "You have come with news every Mother dreads."And then every eye was back on me. Explanations of, "what is this," from the Father. And so I explained. I told them of the Eidan, the brave friend, I had known, had journeyed with for that last year. I told them of his death. Of the lives he had saved. I gave them the pouch and for a moment there was silence. I watched as Eidan's Father and Mother held each other. For a moment I clenched my fist as I knew that would never be Eidan and I. As his brothers sought to deny the truth for a while but then... then they could not as I could not. I, for a moment, wished for nothing more for the quiet beyond the city and Eidan's mother knowing more elves than I thought she could have took pity on me and sent me to the back garden.I breathed slowly and touched a small tree. I thought of the bamboo grove and closed my eyes bringing Eidan's features back to my mind. I whispered the litany of names I had committed to mind before journeying on and then as I came to Eidan I knew his family was with me. They were ringed around me and while they were close enough that I could sense them, only two hands sat on my shoulders. "You brought him home to us and that's all that matters," his Mother whispered in my ear and as kind of her as it was I still could not avoid my guilt that I was still somewhat to blame for all of those deaths. If I had not chosen this path, my mind reasoned deep within itself, then I would not have received the scroll. But sometimes destiny ignores our moments of rationality. Sometimes things happen that are the opposite of what they should. In the days that followed they, the family who should have hated me, were the ones who helped me find a place in Willow Wood for I was not yet ready for the bustle of their part of Qeynos. It was they who helped keep me busy finding more and more tasks. It was Eidan's Father who made a point of taking me around and introducing me to all the guards. All too often it seemed to be when they were off duty and over a tankard of ale. Apparently this was a time honoured custom in Qeynose, or so he would have me believe.I found an order of monks, one recognized there, and was permitted to continue my training despite not being a full member of their caste. They had understood that I owed allegiance to the other but that we were not different enough for them to deny me aid or knowledge. Once I grew comfortable in the twists and turns of the city the guards, the elves of the grove, would often meet up with me and send me to those who had work. I would often travel out of Qeynos for months on end but they were always waiting when I returned. Their time honoured tradition was to make sure I had one decent meal in my stomach after journeying. That I had the noise, laughter and tears that only a family could provide still in my life. From the loss of one they gained another and while it would never be a pure balance it was an evening of the score in a manner. But in the balancing of their lives, in the dampening of the pain that I felt, in the training I became lost. My instincts at walking the path became blurred.And that was usually when everything should have changed. What I didn't know was that change found me. This time change needed the new skills I had gained. And the path that it would point me on would help me restore to what I was meant to do. All I had to do was have a little patience.

niko_teen

01-14-2008, 01:16 AM

<cite>Rioghna wrote:</cite><blockquote>/grinWell, since you 'wooted' .... </blockquote>Hellz yeah!Moorah forz meh!!

Rioghna

01-14-2008, 11:31 PM

Chapter Twenty Three"Use all your abilities. Your enemy will most certainly not fail to," the old monk said as he watched the latest group of raw recruits that the Qeynos guard had sent his way. I had been kneeling, meditating next to the river when he had greeted them. My meditation, clearly, was not going to progress any further so I surrendered to watching. They all looked so young, I mused as the old man directed them in their awkward beginnings. They had insisted on wearing their armor despite the monk's suggestions that they would be better off without it and I could see that they were sweating already.I grinned and moved a little closer... all the better to hear.The monk climbed upon a rock that sat in one corner of the training area with agility that belied his years. I could tell from the whispering that the recruits were impressed even though they quickly tried to hide it. He nodded to them as he knelt to face them, "Some say stealth and cunning are bad but if it is intelligent and wise to live, to succeed, to help your comrades then are they bad? No. They are weapons in your arsenal as key as the sword, the shield you will be issued. Assess your surroundings with care. Do not rush in foolishly. A fool will only get killed. Is it brave to fight when you will surely die and your death will mean nothing? Will accomplish less? Is it not better to live to fight another day when your numbers, your knowledge is better? This is the way of the wise warrior. Of the triumphant warrior. Assess, plan, attack. Emotion, some is good of course. Too much... again, you are dead."There were snickers, snorts and again I was amazed at how young they were. Most of them had never known hunger let alone death except of an aged relation who's time had come naturally. Perhaps many had never been beyond the walls. I blinked as I realized they reminded me so much of Eidan when I had first met him. "Ah, I see, you think me a foolish old monk... perhaps one who spends day meditating in safe, nice temple and talking out of bottom of my foot to green younglings."There were more guffaws, "It's not foot, Grandpa."He shook his finger at them, clicking his tongue in the way that Lu She used to do when teasing us. "Not so much the Grandpa. I wager none of you could dislodge me from this rock."There were groans, protestations that they could not hurt an elder and it wasn't until he almost called them coward that they finally got the spine to try. I grinned again to myself and knew they would never move him. I watched as one by one they ended up in clanging metal heaps. Their faces reddened by heat, sweat and embarrassment. They stood, holding their backs and complaining of aching joints and this time I could not hold in the laughter. "Ahhhh, we have an audience today. She is not of our order but has come from afar. She journeyed here from that place far away and protected herself without metal plate or weapons."There were general sneers, comments. Another pyjama wearer. I had forgotten that for my years my elven blood kept me looking as young as they as they called that I could barely have left my parents' hearth. "Show them Little Dragon. Move me from this rock."I did not smile any longer. I bowed to the monk. I stood looking up at him for a moment and remembered the waterfall. He was teaching as Lu Shu had taught. Your mind is a weapon, as is your knowledge, your body. I climbed slowly to the top and thought of the old man who had taught me the flow of energy. I sat next to him kneeling as the group bellowed jeered. I raised my hand as if to bow again and jabbed twice. Pinch and twist. The old man ooofed and stiffened. Then with a gentle tap and shove I pushed him off the rock. He landed on the soft ground below wheezing his laughter but impressed at the technique. I looked down that the recruits who gazed up in awe. They would never be friends like Eidan but perhaps I had convinced them to be better students and preserved their lives a little longer. Vaulting lightly to the ground I helped the old monk up and he patted my shoulder. "Thank you for proving my point, XiaRyu, thank you... although next time I'll have to remember to choose a lower rock."I grinned and left the group so that they could continue their learning and I could keep an appointment with a potential group of employers. I gathered their list of requirements and returned home to rest before heading to Antonica. It was an early morning the next day, I slipped through the gates as soon as the sun crested the hills echoing the greetings of the guards. Across the bridge and to the hills beyond. I paused for a moment to watch a griffon soar from one of the towers and thought about the first time Eidan's brothers had introduced me to that mode of travel. It had been thrilling. To soar through the air like that. But this day I decided I would walk. Securing my pack I set to it and soon gained the pond I was looking for, beyond that the woods and then by the mountains I found the gnolls I was looking for. No young gnolls for these employers. I stood far enough away that they had not noticed me and focused on the newest skill I had been taught.I chanted. "I am the wind. The air. Swift and unseen," and then I was unseen. I crept closer and noticed that the nearest gnoll's nose lifted and the nostrils flaired as it scented me on the air. I moved as it grew more and more frustrated when it could not find me. Finally I had lured it away. I struck. Quick kick, spin and crack. One down, I sighed as I looked at it glad that I had the spell that would make it light enough to transport, along with nine others, to the employer who needed it. For what spell I didn't want to know but they claimed only this type of gnoll would do. I grimaced as I imagined what gnoll brew would taste like, smell like, and was more than a little happy that I was not a mage.Two more crested the hill beyond. I sighed. If I did one at a time I would be out here for days. I rummaged in the bag that I had brought with me and brought out the sticks that I had recently tried making. Maple. They were sturdy. Of the right length for me. I set them aside and picked up a knife.I stood for a moment as I judged the distance, the wind. I balanced the knife and threw. What I hadn't counted on was that the two would scent me and start moving towards me at that precise moment. The knife caught one in the shoulder and alerted them both fully to me as it stumbled into its neighbour. I picked up the batons and focused on the wounded one first. They growled as they attacked and I calmly fought back. The sticks flying. Wacka, wacka, thump. Three hits and the first was down. I took a moment to set my mind against the pain and turned to the second. It was a little larger than the previous two and a lot more determined. But what it didn't know was that I was even more determined. I had a long list of things to get and I wasn't about to let them slow me down.When the sun began to set I made my way back through the gate, the muck covering me a familiar sight to the guards as they were the entry point for many a person returning. They raised an eyebrow or two at the rents in my clothing though. "You'll have to try armor one of these days, Little Dragon," one called."And give up my comfortable pyjamas," I asked back, "I think not. Besides show me someone who can move as fast as me in armor and I'll think about it."There were whistles and laughs as they joked more but I had silver waiting for me. I delivered the goods and nodded when the last of my employers called out that they had another job. "I think it's time for me to move on and away from gnolls," was my only response. Back in my rooms I put healing salve made from plants that I had learned about in my studies on the cuts and sighed in relief as they leeched the pain from my arms. I changed into robes to relax in and groaned at the mess the gnolls had made on the gi. Not my only gi but still a person couldn't keep mending gnoll rips all the time. Yes, I mused as I worked at stitching things closed. It was time to take jobs that did not include gnolls. Particularly since my mending stitches were lumpy at best.

Rioghna

01-15-2008, 11:22 PM

Chapter Twenty FourI lay on the ground staring at the sky above me wondering why it seemed so blue when I was in such incredible pain. I lay there practicing the art of not moving at all. It was not one of the more difficult arts but one of vital importance at certain times. Normally I would not have called myself excessively curious but it was curiousity had led me into more trouble than I had bargained for. At least I had the common sense to run.And run I had.I had run until I had left the group that had set upon me far behind. They were howling for my blood but at least they had been left far behind and were quickly loosing interest. Thankfully they did not want to work for their lunch. I had run until my wounds had not let me run any longer. And then I had simply collapsed upon the ground. And there I still lay. Staring at the sky that was bluer than it ought to be in such a scenario. At least, I mused, it wasn't raining. That would have made things truly miserable.I had tried healing, the small amount of magic that I knew that I had other than "invisibility" but my mind was too distracted by the pain. I groaned as the smallest of the scratches stopped oozing blood. The rest did not. So all that was left was for me to lay there. The sky began to waver before my eyes so I closed them for a moment. I opened them fully expecting to see Eidan any moment. Instead I had to blink them quickly as for a couple of moments I thought I saw a couple of trolls in badger costumes with little frilly skirts pirouetting across the horizon. I left my eyes closed then because if that was going to be the last thing I saw then I wasn't sure I wanted to see it. "We need you too much here, child. It is not your time," I heard a voice whisper and for a moment thought to ignore it.Then hands touched my limbs, felt the pulse at the base of my throat. "She lives. Can you heal her," was a question that passed above my head. There was a snort by way of response. "Are gnolls simpletons," was the retort that earned a chuckle. Warmth filled me. I could smell earth, rain, the warmth of the sun. Aches began to ease and I almost sighed in happiness that I was not one large ball of agony any longer. Finally, I opened my eyes to stare into green eyes."Leaf mold green is what my mate tells me the colour is in what he thinks is a moment of amourous talk," the owner of the eyes later told me with her customary wry grin. But that was later. Yet now, as I opened my eyes and tried to sit up, the voice was saying, "There now. Easy. No rush to stand. Drink. Rest." We sat in companionable silence as they fed me. As I healed. Only once I had eaten enough to make them happy did they speak again. "I am Eir'Reina, Fury, at your service. This is my spouse," she said indicating the other Kerran that sat next to her. They were a perfectly matched pair. Their markings, their expressions. The other nodded to her final statement. "Aye, that I am. Ar'Rhus is my name," he said rolling the ‘r's in his name as his wife had rolled hers. It made their names sound so exotic. "I am a wizard. And you, what brings you here?""I am XiaRyu, a ...," I didn't have time to finish before a large plumed hat was flourished before my eyes. I sneezed as the plume tickled my nose without mercy. One of my hands was caught and a kiss pressed to the back of it. "She eez nozing more zan a very beeee-yu-tee-ful woman," said the owner of the hat in the most preposterous accent I had ever heard.I watched as Ar'Rhus rolled his eyes and Eir'Reina was not visible over the arms she had buried her head in. Although, at one point I thought I saw her fur vibrating with laughter. "This, XiaRyu, is one of our ‘adventuring' companions. He recently found a scroll written by someone named Peppe Le Ceour and had been speaking thusly ever since."The plumed hat swished again and came to rest against one hip as he struck a pose indicating offense, "You dare question ze great Peppe Le Ceour?! ‘E eez ze greatest loveur in all ze world. Non, een all ze universe," the plumed hat waved emphatically."XiaRyu, this is Kamron, he...," Eir'Reina started."Non, no more zis Kamron. It eez a name for ze peasant. I am ... Gaston.. non, is not kingly... I am Louis...Charles... Charlemagne...," he said and wandered around muttering to himself as he gained a new name a second."Kamron," Ar'Rhus continued on as if the other had never interrupted anything, "Is a swashbuckler. He's very...flamboyant at times. Don't worry the accent will fade with time," he said on a chuckle.Eir'Reina shook her head. "You know that this scroll claims Peppe had a thousand lovers. That women swooned at his feet no matter where he went," she began pointing out."Probably because he never cleaned them," inserted a fourth voice in what could only be called very, very, dry tones. A person, covered in armor from head to toe, stepped out from behind a tree. "We are safe for a moment or too as long as the lover-in-training over there stays out of trouble.""And as I was saying," Eir'Reina continued frowning at the fourth, "He will keep up this accent and the like until something new catches his attention."The armor snorted, "Kamron has the attention span of a hyperactive gnat so that will be in oh, say, five minutes."The two Kerra burst into laughter. "You may speak rightly but he is our swashbuckler so I had best make sure he isn't wooing something that might wish him ill. I shall return shortly, Love," Ar'Rhus said and kissed his wife's head.The armor sat and removed the helm after accepting an apple from Eir'Reina's pouch. She bit in and chewed contentedly for a moment. "So this is your new adoptive friend. Eir'Reina," she explained to me between bites of apple, "likes to rescue those of use who most need it. I'm Dulcheya. Guardian by trade, much to the dismay of my innkeeping family.""They will appreciate it when they see the trade-goods that make it through thanks to your skill, friend Dulche," Eir'Reina said as she helped herself to some of the food just in time to hand some to her husband and the recalcitrant swashbuckler. "And you never said just what it was that you did, XiaRyu."All eyes fully turned to me for the first time. "I should have thought that was obvious," I said, lightly, indicating my outfit, "I walk the path of a monk for the most part."Eir'Reina nodded. "A monk. Perfect. Just what our company of misfits was looking for." And just like that, without a by your leave, I was adopted into a cadre of friends.

Rioghna

04-12-2008, 05:19 PM

Chapter Twenty Five"Be careful with fighting monsters lest you become one, or have your arm chewed off. Therefore wise man knows to always make sure you have better armour or good companions to either stop the chewing of most vulnerable appendages or carry you away most quickly." ... from the last, unfinished, scroll of D'imSum LossumWe can never go back.This one thought was paramount on my mind those first few mornings with Reina and her group. It was on my mind because I could not banish Eidan from it. Not that any one of them reminded me of him but this journeying with them was bringing back the pain of that year when it was just Eidan and myself. When I woke in the morning I woke to feel his fingers brushing the tendrils of hair from my face and the puff of his breath on my cheek as he laughed at my groggy expression. As I shouldered my pack I felt him help me adjust it so it wouldn't interfere. But that was only the beginning. When we fought I almost felt him there at my side. Battling along with us. I heard him laugh at Kamron as he attempted to woo young women in the village, port really, that we had arrived at one evening.We had journeyed on the morning after leaving the port. Kamron had retreated to his scrolls as we walked trying to absorb his mentor's instructions. Reina and Rhus were walking together, talking softly and Dulche was out front prepared as always for the worst. We had been entrusted with goods from the people who lived around the port, just goods we could carry, to take to family in a village a day's walk away. I had been watching a hawk circle and dive when it spun away, screeching its warning. Then I heard the faint growls and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. We had seen nothing. Gone from an area ripe with animals to barren rock. From my journeys outside the gates of Qeynos I knew that growl. I recognized it but when they fell on us these ones seemed larger, more organized. More knowledgeable of certain things. They had spoken of them in the port, of merchants who mysteriously disappeared and we had laughed them off. There were, after all, five of us. I had stopped walking, almost frozen to the spot, and had my packs to the ground freeing me to move more easily as the words of warning cleared my lips. They growls had not yet materialized into anything substantial and despite my newness to the group they did not doubt my warning for a moment. They hurried back to join me. And in the blink of an eye the battle was brought to us. The gnolls were upon us using all weapons, including their teeth, their claws. I had fought them before but this was different. I had fought them alone. I had fought them in small groups, smaller, weaker. I slid and bent as I dodged the claws and couldn't help sighing as I heard the material of my sleeve catch on one of them. I continued in my motions and ignored the sleeve. It was only cloth. I spun and kicked watching as the gnoll flew back not to rise again. I punched and heard bone snap preventing the attack on my companions. But on they came and my energy began to wane. I heard my companions still fighting and for a moment the onslaught of slathering beasts ebbed. I was able to look around and notice that the group had been lured away from me... or perhaps I had been lured away from the group. They were more than an arms length, more than a swords length and I did not know if any of them could through a dagger that far. My own ability at daggers or the small stars that one of the monks, back in Qeynos, had started teaching me how to use them but I was far from proficient. I looked down at the bodies that lay in a ring around me before looking back up at the group.Reina was concentrating on healing Dulche, Rhus was behind them both casting with alarming deadliness and Kamron was darting in and out, his blade flashing. I stood for a moment re-centring my energy. I had just taken a final breath when the horde surged upon me. For a moment I thought all was lost. I smelled the foul breath of one upon me. "You will not succeed. Chaos is inevitable. Discord will be rife," It slathered in a remarkably clear voice. "The scroll will be ours and then this land will bow to the masters it always should have had." I looked up into its eyes and wondered how a gnoll had learned to speak common, for while I had attempted to learn their speak as I did every other language, I knew it was the common tongue. It's eyes were unfocused and I realized something else was controlling it. I reached up and jabbed quickly. Two pressure points and the gnoll was rendered motionless as it's companions pressed upon me."I hear," I whispered back, "But put no credence in threats delivered anonymously through puppets." I kicked and heard the crack of the gnoll's spine releasing it from whatever servitude had held it. I had but a moment before it's group swarmed me completely. I felt their claws mark skin this time. And just as I thought all was lost I felt someone fighting at my back. Using my skill to compliment their skill. We fought as one as I hadn't fought with someone in a long time. It was like my energy flow was completed again. The lethargy that had dragged me down was gone. I fought. I fought. It became mindless. It was nothing more than the automatic response to living, to getting free. I didn't rationalize. I just kept fighting. There was no poetry. No sense of justice. No urging from higher beings this time. There was only live or die. My body, my instincts chose for me.It was emphatically to live.A hand fell on my shoulder and I turned to deliver a blow only to have my hand caught. Rhus stood there staring down at me. Reina off a bit with Kamron and Dulche but they were all looking at the bodies around me. Dulche had removed her helm. Her normally unimpressed face registered amazement. "And you thought she needed help, Reina," were her comments out the side of her mouth.I looked down and wondered where they had come from. It was not like my time with Eidan, I had felt no need to even the balance. Perhaps it was because I had forgotten about my purpose that I felt sad at the carnage around me. I turned to Rhus and thanked him for his aid as Reina began patching me up. Rhus scratched his head. "I did not help you. It was as if they were trying to keep us distracted just long enough. When I finally got to you what when I put my hand on your shoulder...no sooner." There was quiet as we gathered our things. There was only silence as Dulche, Kamron and Rhus moved off back on our path. There was stillness as Reina fell in beside me still checking me for added locations that the claws had scored that she would need to put salve on.Then she spoke. "You are no ordinary monk who chants and practices your defense arts. Those monks I see in plenty. But I do not know other monks that death walks beside them."I looked at her. "Death? You think I seek my own?"She shook her head. "No but as I said you are different. You have the smell of green about you. Of life. Yet as I say Death walks with you too. Before Rhus got to you I thought I saw a man at your side. A very tall man. You fought as if you had always fought together. But then I blinked and... I might have imagined it except that the others sensed something as well.""Did they see," I asked not answering her implied questions. She shook her head again. "No, maybe, they are not trained in ways of such things but I think they sensed something if they didn't see. You don't have to tell me, I just wanted to let you know what I saw." She gripped my shoulder and then called out to the rest, "After we deliver this we need to take a trip back to the city to restock.""And I, myself, would like to take a bath. Eat a warm meal that consisted of more than dried jerky or what we've hunted here.... It's so stringy and without the proper herbs," she said and shrugged at the others."And I woooold like to continue zee wooing of ceevalized femmes," was Kamron's input which inspired a dramatic eyeroll from Dulche. "And our monk here needs to get some better clothing. Something that will hold up to the wear and tear a lot better than the rags she has now. I know just the tailor in North Qeynos to help her with that," Reina said tugging at what was left of my gi."You better let me deal with that, Reina," Dulche inserted, "You never get a good deal. They would never dream of running afoul of my parents. Besides if the monk is to be our companion for long she needs to look a little more respectable so we can get the better contracts, right," she said with a grin. And so it was decided we would return to Qeynos and I...I would go shopping.

Rioghna

04-13-2008, 12:30 AM

Chapter Twenty Six"Stop yer figitin'. It's hard enough measuring half elves without ye movin' around all the time. An' don' think I haven't heard anyone say ‘but tha' tickles' before. I'll not believe it for an instant. Half elves," tisked the brusque voice, "slender in some places like elves should be and curved like the humans in others. And you are a good bit taller than my other half elf clientele." The voice paused for a moment but a very brief one at that. "Right, well, I don't know who you think I am, Dulcheya. I ought to tell your Mother the deal you wrung out of me," grumbled the little woman who had been introduced to me not an hour before."She'd be disappointed I didn't bargain harder," came the response from behind a stack of materials.The only response was a snort. Her hands were flying as she took measurements and barked at a timid apprentice holding a stubby pencil and a bit of parchment. There was more tisking... the noises had not stopped since I had been introduced to her as her newest client to receive not the gi that she made for the monks in the city but one more suited to adventuring beyond the walls. One not made from linen but from something sturdier. She had huffed and told Dulcheya that she knew full well what muck and mess adventuring monks got into. And then she advised the little woman to make something I had not worn in a very long time... a very, very long time.I grabbed ahold of the lamp post and held on until I untangled my feet. The tailor had given me one item that the customer had never picked up, altered quickly of course, and slippers. She had binned my old gi exclaiming that it wasn't even worth using as rags. My boots had been set aside to pick up with my new clothes as Dulche said we had errands to run. She had changed as well. No longer in her armour and she seemed to move a little more lightly without all that heavy metal. But for all that she had changed she still carried her weapons. She explained that she was so used to wearing things that she felt unbalanced when she took it all off for ‘civilian wear' as she called it.Dulche paused, looked back at me as I unwound cloth from my legs, and laughed. "You really weren't kidding were you?"I nodded and readjusted some of the material once I let go of the post. "I haven't worn a dress since I was child. It's not the same as a gi," I mused as I adjusted my stride so I wouldn't get tangled or snagged on the hem again. I almost had to make a more conscious effort to walk. I sighed and wondered what was wrong with wearing a gi to a business meeting, as she termed our latest foray.Dulche was still laughing as we entered a tavern in South Qeynos. She called to the man behind the bar as we approached. He was a great tall bear of a man, balding with the largest stomach on the spindliest body I had ever seen. "He fought with my Father and one opened a tavern the other an inn. They were in the same unit. They have more battle stories that I am sure can't possibly be real than any other person in trade that I've ever met." There was a great belly laugh from the man and he came around the bar to hug her. "I've known this wee girl since she was knee high to some noxious bug. And she's always been mouthy."Dulche punched his arm in mock outrage and he pretended to howl in pain. "Your clients are over there," he said and pointed. "They look serious. But then there's the wait of the world on their kind of late," he added cryptically.We made our way over to the table that was set back into a recess in the wall and sat at the offered chairs. The two men, who would have been of an age with my Father and the other a little older than I, stood until we sat. "You have decided you need protection from us, Dulche," teased the younger as we sat.Dulche scoffed. "I've known this one since we were children. He was friends with my elder brothers. He and his father are merchant paladins. Too busy now on the Queen's business they need to hire the likes of us to help them."The elder one inclined his head. "While your new friend may be teasing us she is, in a manner, correct," he explained to me, "It is true. We are both paladins and therefore fully able to protect ourselves but we are also, after a fashion merchants. We buy goods and resell them, in a way... a manner of trade. We are not ashamed but at present our oaths to our... society hold us here so we cannot venture out. You are a monk so you understand oaths."I said for a moment. "I am a sort of a monk," I acceded."Which order," he asked diverted from his initial story and his son leant forth his face clearly questioning my answer. I smiled. "It is of no matter. I am trained a monk but for reasons my own was never fully made a monk."The son's eyebrow quirked and I was reminded of Eidan. I knew that if it was Eidan he would be indicting that he would have this story from me by hook or by crook. I shook my head back half scolding that he should be so confident to win my secrets and half laughing. The Father inclined his head again. "But still you understand oaths, you who was raised a monk. We have sworn an oath to our society, to our Queen and its business requires us elsewhere. However, in connection to our duties we have need of your help. There is good gold in it for all your group. But first Dulche and ourselves have been remiss. You must never do business with people whose names you do not know. I am Sir Bonel Adenay and this is Gueron, eldest of my family and only one to follow in my chosen path of paladin. Not the only to believe as we do, in Norrath."I smiled and nodded at them both feeling that somehow I should rise and curtsey. It was silly. I had read stories, romantic twaddle, as a child about young ladies and knights but my Mother had told me the time for balls and the like was well past. That even the gentry of Qeynos had other matters on their minds. Perhaps that was only a little true. Dulche grinned and was about to introduce me but I beat her to the moment. "I am named XiaRyu. Not of Qeynos, nor Antonica but accepted here nonetheless."Gueron grasped my hand and pressed a kiss to it in a manner that both strangely made me feel flush and at the same time want to explain to Kamron what his scroll could never teach him. His father took my hand and placed a comparatively chaste kiss to the otherside. "I am no young blood like my son," he said and Dulche laughed at the look on Gueron's face. "There is more to you lady than your name. I will not ask a family name if you will not give it."I smiled at him. "It is a long story, my Father's name that he gifted me, but for now I use it not. For that which I seek to protect, learn and the path I walk I keep it as my own for my safety and the wellbeing of others."They both nodded in respect. "Then it is time for business. Our society requires your group to retrieve a... parcel, a package.""So little a thing," scoffed Dulche, "You could have asked hundreds of others. And they charge less.""Always a talent for getting business," teased Gueron, "We came to you because you are a Guardian by trade. We could have asked a paladin but we, the society asked for a guardian for this task. Not to mention you have Rhus' incredible ability to cast from miles away. And now that you have a monk in the group... even an almost monk," he teased in my direction, "it's even more reason.""What is this package that it needs so specific a group," I asked and leant forward propping my chin on my hand fascinated with the mystery of the package. Fascinated until I watched Guerin's eyes travel down my face and past the hand. I frowned and looked down to see what he might be looking at and discovered that this dress displayed something I hadn't ever given any thought to... after all I had lived the life of a monk for so long. I was displaying cleavage. I had heard such a thing existed on women but of course never before wore anything that would cause me to notice that it existed on me. I blushed and sat back trying to yank the offending dress higher. Guerin laughed. "It's a pity to hide something so fetching." To which his Father sighed. "Business first, son and no flirting in front of me. I know Dulche's Father and would undoubtedly have to answer to him even for her friends."Dulche laughed, "What you don't know, my Father won't hurt you for. Sir Adenay, honestly."I blushed again and hoped that the talk would turn away back to business. I had little experience with such things and was feeling out of place. Perhaps if I had been raised in Qeynos I would know how to reply. Perhaps if Eidan had lived I would have known more about this but I did not. Sir Adenay sighed and seemed to understand. "The package cannot be named here. We will give you a contact point who will hand over the package. I will provide you with all the details," he said and then named the sum that he was offering to pay us. Dulche laughed and went into bargaining mode. She had no fear. She at one point made as if to rise and walk away when I watched the two men cave and agree to her much higher price. Gold. I could start thinking of more than just a room. I would have more money to leave with the banker. Sir Adenay drew Dulche away with questions of her family, the business portion of the evening done and Guerin slid over a seat. He crooked a finger at the bartender and handed over silver for two glasses of what he said was the best wine in the place. I took a sip and was relieved that didn't really mean vinegar. "I'm sure the good landlord has much more. My Father secured at least five tuns for him only a month ago. So you are free to drink more than a sip here and a sip there."I shook my head and took only a sip more. "I am not one to drink wine in such quantity. Tea is my usual choice."He smiled. "Aye, you are like most monks that way but I will warn you, Little Dragon, I intend to get you a little drunk at least so that I might worm some secrets from you. Among them being why I make you blush when a woman as beautiful as you should know how fetching her," he started to say something particular to the parts of me that the gown exposed and grinned before amending, "she looks in such a gown without being told so. Perhaps that is why I am taken with you. The young women of Qeynos would not be so amazed for they are at home in such gowns. Come drink up and share your secrets." "But some secrets are not for sharing," I said, trying to ignore the comments about my beauty no matter how they made me feel."Ah, then we shall have to see what else we can share in time," he whispered against my cheek and I shivered. I took a sip of wine and found myself thinking very much of what we could share in time... and that it was very good that I had not joined particular orders of monks where I wouldn't be able to even entertain such thoughts.

Rioghna

04-13-2008, 01:54 AM

Chapter Twenty SevenThe crash of thunder woke me. I sat up shouting and grabbed my weapons. Only they weren't there. Nothing was there. The scroll was gone. I looked around and there were bodies everywhere. I stood as a bolt of lightening lit the night sky. I had seen death but this... this was the first time massacre came to mind. Thunder crashed and then as lightening lit the sky again, as rain began to pour down on me I saw something at the edge of the plain. At the edge of the bodies that seemed to stretch on in all directions. I ached as if I had fought a great battle. There were wounds on me and my gi was shredded once again. There were hands reaching for me as if I was their last hope. I caught a sob in the back of my throat as I fought to understand why I seemed to be the only one alive in all of this.I looked to the sky as the rain showed no mercy in lightening and then I saw it. I saw a figure. It was astride a horse. Cloak blowing in the wind. I began winding my way through the bodies. The blood, the rain made the ground a mire and I began to slip. It sucked at my feet causing me to stumble. The rain grew heavier as I slipped, yanked my feet free of the mud with a squelch that I could not hear over the thunder. I almost reached the figure when I slipped and fell.I pushed myself upright and cleared my eyes of muck. I looked down at my arms coated in mud and blood. I could not separate them. They seemed entwined. I pushed to stand up and slipped, almost falling again. Then just as I thought the muck would win a hand caught me and pulled me onto higher ground. Ground beyond the bodies.I stood next to the figure, the figure that stared back in the direction I had come. They were cowled and the cloak blew about them in gusts so I couldn't tell anything about them. "Who are you? What happened here?""The keeper of the scroll must protect it. The scroll. The balance. The path was lost. Who are they? They are the price of the loss. They are only the beginning of the end of Norrath. Friends betrayed you and enemies found you because the right questions were not asked. Decay and death has embraced the world you once protected." I shivered under the impact of the words. The cowl blew back and I jumped back at the putrefied mess that was his face. It was a face from the grave. There were no eyes that had once looked at me, no mouth that had laughed at me. And yet it was a face I had cherished and still did in my memories. I pressed my eyes closed to conjure up that better image for a moment but it was hard with what was before me.I felt pain where his hand had touched my arm to pull me up and saw my skin turning black from rot. I backed away, down hill to the plain where the dead awaited me. I jumped as a hand grasped my ankle. The hand let to another old friend. Another that I had buried long ago. And now the pain was in my leg. I looked down as the rot spread under his hand on my leg. "You are the bath, the balance. If it is lost you suffer as it does. You must regain the path. Follow the path. They know more than they are telling you."I awoke on a gasp holding my arm. I lifted it so that the moonlight fell upon the skin and sighed when I saw that it was whole and hail. There was a snort and the body beside me shifted rolling over in sleep. I swung my leg over the side and wrapped a blanket around me. I moved to the corner of my small room and slid the scroll case out from behind items. I carried it to the one window and stood there running my fingers over the reliefs on the seal. Three images that I had never bothered to investigate. Three images that I still had not examined. I still wondered if it was rebellion against my Father that kept me from looking at it. I carried it everywhere but never looked at it. I would look eventually but I just wasn't ready yet. A hand fell on my shoulder sort of... It was more of a memory of a hand. A familiar hand and I smiled before turning to him. "I haven't forgotten," I whispered to him. "Are you angry? Is that why the dream?"I watched him shake his head, or perhaps my memory shook it for him. "They want you to remember. They have helped you on this path but it's up to you to take their suggestions and use them as you will. I am not angry. I am dead and you are alive. I am with you but you must embrace the living. I would not expect you to stay away from the living. But you must open it. And then you will know what to ask them. They know more than they are telling you, remember that," he said and as I was going to ask more my name was called. I turned and watched as he sat there for a moment before crossing to me to drop a kiss on my bare shoulder. "Were you expecting me to answer back? I was just waking up as you spoke."I shook my head. "No, just talking to myself."He took the scroll case from my hand and looked at it in the moonlight. I was thinking of Eidan's words as I looked up at Guerin's face. I was thinking of what they hadn't told me. Perhaps it was to do with the scroll but even in the moonlight Guerin's expression seemed shadowed and unreadable for a moment. "Interesting seal. A present from your monk teachers?""No. You could call it a family heirloom," I said as I took it back and, almost unable to help myself, hugged it as if I could hug my Father one more time. "It was the last thing my Father ever gave me."He brushed hair off of my face. "More secrets you may sometime tell me? You know my family."I snorted. "I know your Father that's not the same thing. And I barely know you.""Heartless," he protested as I returned the scroll to my bags. He pulled on my hand until I was back at the small bed that I had learned to craft myself. I was pulled into his arms and the blanket was whisked away. I would be leaving in the morning to join the others in journeying to the Enchanted Lands to retrieve this package. I would be leaving and be away from everything in Qeynos for a while. There were no more words though. There was no more talk of what he might have heard me say at the window. There was no more talk of secrets. There was no mention about being heartless after that and for the first time in a long while I felt alive.

Rioghna

04-19-2008, 12:24 AM

Chapter Twenty EightI slipped from the bed before the sun had begun lightening the skies. I poured some of the water I had fetched the night before into a basin and washed quickly to overcome the frigid cold of the water. Shivering I slipped into the new gi that I had picked up from the tailer. The cloth was still rigid but I knew that my travels would wear it in quickly enough. I gathered items that had spilled their way around the room in my time back, the scroll and shouldered it before slipping out all without rousing anyone. I crept down the hall ignoring all the loosest floor boards as I knew some of my neighbours, in the larger ‘rooms', had children and needed all the sleep they could get. I eased my way out the front door past the landlady who was propped in the corner, on a sofa, her ledger on her lap.We boarded the boat by midday. Guerin and his Father had seen us off from Qeynos harbor with a few final instructions, the name of our contact. Guerin had teased me about not waking him, made promises for dinner on our return, and I had let him whisper in my ear while the others spoke to the captain. Guerin's father had given us final directions. Important directions...or so they said. We parted and finally turned to board. It was a smaller boat that I had been on before. Shallower in keel. Rather than being rowed out to it the plank had been lowered at the pier and we had boarded with all the others. Reina had taken care of the tickets and the first mate welcomed us aboard. We stood at the bow watching the others as they boarded. Adventurers the lot of us bound for ... adventure. For risk and mayhem. For escapades that would bring experience, goods, gold. All of it the same. These were no families on pleasure cruise bound.We settled down against one side. No point in standing staring ahead with expectations. The trip would take some time. The captain informed us first he was stopping at the pier by Nektolos Forest and then it was on to the Enchanted Lands. The call went up to lower anchor shortly after we had finished eating the small amount of food we had allocated for lunch. We all looked up as the hand yelled out echoing the bos'un and the captain's orders. They tossed ropes to several people on the dock and the ropes were tied off. I stood and leant against the wood to watch as the plank was once again run out. I watched as a few adventurers disembarked and then more groups boarded. Troops marched aboard talking about their assignment. I watched as they ribbed the youngest, newest, member about duties. They would be staying with the boat after we disembarked and heading to the next port of call. I watched as the sergeant bawled them out for a moment the youngest turning red for a moment before the sergeant went to see the captain. The rest of the troop howled with laughter. The dark elves who boarded before them cast them dark glances and they moved so much that their snub could not be avoided. This only added to the troop's merriment. I knelt and began to meditate upon this new place that I had never been to. Rhus had told me some stories when we had met to agree on taking the commission but I was still wondering what more would be there to be found. I had almost calmed my mind when one member, perhaps a senior member of lower rank than the sergeant, bawled out something. I heard their boots, of less than stellar quality from the sounds of it, and make some sort of grunt... some sort of ‘hwa'... noise that seemed interesting, in a strange way, for a group of grown adults to make together. It reminded me slightly of a sickly cow. I opened one eye and watched them as they tried to do what they seemed to think were group ‘exercises'. I watched as inbetween each movement responded with chorused grunts. I gave up trying to sit quietly and took to watching them with great interest. They had given one particularly rousing group grunt, or whatever, and I had... perhaps given a soft laugh. It was more of amazement than ridicule but they were young. They heard my noise and turned to see me watching them, eyebrow quirked and lips tipped in a half-smile. "Well, if it ain't a wee elfy in pyjamas," one said and swaggered up to look down at me over the chest he puffed out. I simply sat and looked up at him as my companions fell quiet. "What's the matter, elfy, neffer seen a human in uniform before?"I shrugged and looked him over. "Whatsa matter, elfy, can't understand common," he sniggered. I shrugged again wondering what made him so... obnoxious. He smelled awful and I was slightly worried that if I spoke I would gag on the stench. I eyed the group behind him and wondered if they had taken a group oath of not bathing. I wondered for a moment if offering him my spare bar of soap would go amiss. He leant over, grinning and showing teeth already beginning to rot and his group cheered him as if he were going to... I wasn't sure exactly what he was initially going to do but I strongly suspected they cheering squad it would involve the words ‘pint and nightcap'. Although those words would be much more...colloquial...in nature coming from him. "If you are looking for spare change so that you can pay for a bath I will gladly give you a few silver," I offered, not able to take the smell any longer. "Or my spare bar of soap."He reared back for a moment and then lunged forward. His hands reached for me. I reached out and poked him quickly in three spots. He roared in pain. I slipped around him and grabbed some rope. Still dodging as he kept swinging I wrapped the rope, tied and with one solid roundhouse kick lifted him off his feet and over the side. I heard the cry of the bos'un declaring man over board and joined everyone at the rail. There he was, spluttering and bobbing but still attached to the boat. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I grabbed the hand and stepped into him applying pressure between the thumb and the forefinger. Normally I would have dropped them instantly where I was pressing for it was a very tender area but the man held his ground. I was looking into the steely gaze of the sergeant. I kept the pressure on and watched as he began to first grit his teeth and then as sweat broke out on his brow. Then as he gritted out ‘pax' I released. He didn't rub his hand but his troop was watching very closely. "Brambles," he barked, "fish Wainscott out of the brine." He paused for a moment and looked me up and down. "I've seen your type before.""Half elf," I asked and looked around him enjoying the cursing coming from the drenched man."Monk. We've never managed to get one in our corps before, though.""Your corps?""We are the Freeport Rural Citizen's Militia Marine unit... almost black ops," he offered. I looked at Rhus and Reina who shrugged, Kamron who was busy flirting with a dark elf and Dulche who scratched her head and indicated she had never heard of them before."We cover the areas that the Freeport Militia doesn't. The outer areas where the goblins roam more thickly."I looked at him for a moment wondering what black ops possibly could be and why I didn't believe him considering they were fishing Wainscott out of the brine. Oh I believed they thought they were a military unit but weren't truly, officially more than a gang. The sergeant being more of an enforced title... although most would have chosen general or admiral for their glorified post. They obviously were the unit that numbered ten only. I took a breath and was relieved he smelled only half as bad as Wainscott. "Militia," I finally repeated."Yes.""And you think I am joining you.""Yes."I smiled. "Not interested.""It wasn't a question.""No, it wasn't and I'm still not interested.""You don't want us as your enemy," he offered. I noticed that the troop had rescued the dunked man and were finally beginning to join their sergeant. I knew, without looking, that my companions had stood up behind me.I nodded up at the older man. "You are right but more importantly than that, when you consider I didn't break a sweat with Wainscott, and with you it was just a little pinch, I believe the better statement is that you don't want me as your enemy," I finished and smiled at him. I was sure I was starting to pick up the nuances of insinuation. Insinuation with a blunt stick. Eidan would be pleased, I thought as I kept up the stare of the sergeant. I didn't blink and just calmly waited. There was shifting behind him and the eagerness of his charges seemed to fade. There were faint mutterings of "com'on, Sarge, we don' need no pyjama wearin' elf"And finally he blinked. His eyes watered and the eyelids fluttered down. His breath whooshed out for only me to see. He nodded and turned. "The Militia wouldn't accept a Qeynos elf... and no one who lives there can be that skilled."I cocked an eyebrow and darted for the rope again. The sergeant never knew what was coming until the cold water closed over his head.

niko_teen

04-21-2008, 12:22 PM

/stretchesAhhh time for me to get caught up. You've been very productive.......... I likes.

Rioghna

04-22-2008, 11:09 PM

And here I was thinking I'd been shirking the writing muse thanks to work... I definitely like your view better... yup. Much better /grin

Rioghna

04-22-2008, 11:12 PM

Chapter Twenty NineIf I've learned anything the path is not all roses. And this was certainly one of those times. I lay, bathed in sweat, wracked in pain and trying to remember what exactly went wrong. I turned my head against stone that was cool and coated in water to ease, to distract, to focus so that I could think. I needed to remember.I remembered my first glance as we disembarked from the ship. Remembered consulting the map and plotting the best route. I remembered leaning against the wood...to have a drink as the short guard spoke...I furrowed my brow... spoke..."Captain, you have our belonging," came the sibilant hiss and for a moment the smell of something burning was all that I sensed. I screamed, jerking up against restraints and scraped my cheek against the stone it had been resting against. I lifted a hand and frowned at it. No restraints. But I ached. I lay back and smoothed my cheek hoping it wasn't scraped as badly as it felt. I concentrated on the memory. Again I remember the guard. The guard telling the story of the Enchanted Lands. Of entreaties for our aid that would have to wait for another time. We needed to get the package and return to Qeynos leaving this for another time. Another time, I thought and closed my eyes, when the bodies of my comrades didn't lie dead around my feet while I lived. All of their eyes staring up at me accusing me of their end. Accusing me of botching the mission of...of...I jerked awake as I heard the rattle of the key and remembered that there were no bodies around me. No one blaming me for anything. I was lifted and managed not to cry out at the pain lancing through every muscle. I wasn't sure how far we went. Closer to the surface perhaps for the air was less cool more cloying. The room smelled of decayed wood and I pictured rotting trees from the forest surrounding my parents' home. I was dropped to some hard surface and this time I did cry out as the air was pushed from my lungs. I curled into a ball, curled almost into a ball for I found moving taxed my muscles, and fought to regain my breath."Not so tough now, eh little Monk," came the rough voice that seemed vaguely familiar. "You thought you got the better of us, that you could then resist but it's useless. You will tell us where they've gone and where we can retrieve both of our belongings."I blinked and tried to force open eyes that seemed strangely swollen. I tried to lick cracked lips with a tongue that was as dry as the desert. It felt thick...thicker than my mouth could possibly hold. And my focus... I could seem to focus. I couldn't remember if I had tried to heal and felt that I could not even attempt the most basic healing feeling as unfocused as I did. I gritted my teeth as I was shoved on my back and tried to turn away as the most fetid breath imaginable was introduced to my olfactory senses. "Now, Captain, be reasonable. You don't want to be in more pain," the voice hissed. "I know this. As much as I know putting others in pain is what I do the best. Come Captain. Tell us where it is. I know you are the guardian. The keeper. The scroll is ours. Once we have it the package will follow. Captain, why must you fight? It is so futile. Your life is but one...and our will is stronger.""Never stronger than ours," were the first words out of my mouth. I frowned at how different they sounded. My voice was not my own. It was not a matter of being mine but raspy from the lack of water or hoarse from screaming. It was not mine and then I remembered where I was and for a moment I was lucid.For a moment.I opened my eyes to weep silently. My comrades. All gone. Ten of them that had walked the path with me. Hereos every one of them. We had been called to duty by Them and never once had they shirked. The muck and horror we had ridden through, fought through... to end like this. One final morass of horror. They had let me live to see them die. I had been wounded but crawled through the muck that the field had become. We had been separated. In the chaos of battle I know knew it had been planned. The rain. That slanting driving gale was not natural and I should have trusted my bones when I first sensed it. I should have called them out of the pitch of battle... but we had been asked by our Liege ruler and so we went. I had come across the stranger first. He was young by elven standards but had been kneeling by his comrade as I had been trying to find mine. "Get yourself free, lad," I had croaked as I stood.He had snapped to attention. They all recognized us. Our distinctive armor. Our badges. So prideful, I know knew it marked us for death. But I had been prepared for death the moment I embraced the path. "Captain, how may I be of service," was his question as lightening pierced the sky and I saw his face.I gasped as water was thrown on me before the footsteps faded away. They had returned me below. "Father," I whispered and lay back. I began to take stock. How long had it been? No food, little water... And my comrades. Had they made it back to the boat? Had they made it back to... there was a weak cough and I turned my head to see another huddled body. "How long have you been here," it asked.I shook my head. "I don't know," I said hoarsely. "You?""Time has no meaning. Did we win," was the next question. "Did he protect it?"I was not sure what they were talking about. "Protect what? Who?""The elf. The elf has it. They know who the elf is. I think they are talking of killing him. Killing his family."I shivered and thought of my family. "I cannot tell you.""It's so sacred. So important. He must protect it.""Many things are sacred.""But this is the scroll. You cannot understand.""Perhaps not," I replied and closed my eyes as I heard movement outside as if someone were approaching. They took away the old man and I rolled into the walls as I heard his screams.But then the screams were silent. Everyone was dead so it was easy to silence them. I looked into his face and saw that he had the mark. As she who had passed the scroll to me had seen the mark so I saw it on him. But it was the mark of one who would hold it until the next keeper came. I unshouldered the case and held it out. The oath was exchanged and I told him all I could. I gave him the name of the monks and I knew from his face that as one who had seen too much death he would seek them. Seek the balance. The path as I had. The monks would endure and they would train the keepers, the guardians, those who protected the precious gift I had just handed him. He understood he would never open it, never read it but he would protect it with his life...and his death. As would I."I must go. My... friends... they need me," I explained and as he went in the opposite direction I felt the temporary surge of energy that had held me upright ebb and I fell to my knees. I dug my sword into the ground and rested against it for a moment before using it to lever myself upright. It was my cane as I hobbled through the aftermath. I tripped over a leg and fell face first. Blood, mud and muck mixed on every part of me. A ghoul would look less gruesome. I reached around to untangle myself from the leg and that was when I found them. Ringed around me. Companions that I had lived with and now had not died with. That was where they found me. Defeated in battle they still wanted that one option. They wanted the scroll and if I didn't give it to them they wanted the name of the one I had gifted it to. Then they wanted my death."So much death," came the moan from across the room as I woke after another of my little ‘chat' sessions with the men above the stairs. My cellmate was awake again and feeling chatty. I wondered for a moment why I hadn't noticed him all those times before but he left me no moment to think. "They were all dead so I had to give it to him. I had been wounded. Mortally.""Why are you telling me this.""Because finally that wound is killing me. I won't last the night child. They have made a mistake finally. Healing me just enough that I survived all this time. But they won't get it, will they?""Why not," I murmured and rolled on my side trying to lever myself to see his huddled form without moving any of my wounded parts."Because as I didn't tell them neither will you.""Tell them what," I asked and wondered if this was any more real than the battle dreams I'd been having. The dreams of my Father receiving the scroll. Of him going to the monks. I couldn't possibly be seeing the truth. It was all fancy. All imagination... exhaustion... pain... delirium."Tell them who you passed the scroll to. I didn't tell them who I passed it to. Never said it was your Father," he cackled and I began to wonder if the dream wasn't fancy but him talking to me as I faded in and out of consciousness."That what was my Father," I asked trying to stay alert. Trying to ignore the pain swamping me."I chose your Father. And now you chose someone.""I chose no one," I said wearily wishing he would be quiet. "I chose no one.""Of course you did. They had you in their sights and you had to be rid of it.""I didn't," I felt mulish despite my aches. I wanted him to be quiet. He seemed wrong for the dreams. No honour. There was no feeling that he had followed the path and I sighed. "I gave it to no one and I will give them no name because there is none to give.""But you don't have it. Did you hide it clever Keeper?""I gave it to none and hid it no where. Are they so simple that they cannot guess that after all this time?"There was a screech from the man and he rose to his feet. "Simple? Simple? They caught you clever monk. They caught you," and with that he banged on the door knowing I would give him nothing. The dream of the man giving my Father the scroll was safe. He was the real part. Not this charade who stank of rot as did the rest of this place.I sank back and remembered. We had found the package which was not a package. It was not tied up in brown paper with string. There was no box, bag, no tag. It was a boy. He had looked at me with opaque eyes and had touched the scroll. I had felt a frisson of electricity snake through it and along my skin. Something was wrong. The boy looked around and then back to me with those sightless eyes that seemed to see all."You know," was all he said and I nodded."I know. I handed the scroll to Kamron and told him I would have it back on pain of his reputation with the women of Qeynos. I stared at Reina and told her to make them run. Run back to the boat. To Qeynos and see the package safe. That I would hold the hounds at bay. She made to argue and I shook my head. Dulche stepped forth as if to offer and I shook my head."The package. The package is all that matters. You know this."And then they found me as I had been leading them away from the others. Their numbers were down to four. Four I recognized well. Four from the boat. They were no more militia than I was. I wasn't even sure they were really human for they stank of corruption now that we were free of the boat. I had missed it for they had masked themselves well for a while. But now they had me. And they had told me that they were not for Freeport. That they were certainly not for Qeynos. That they were for what had almost triumphed all those years before. They were seeking to finish what Freeport and Qeynos had held at bay when they had united. They had promised retribution for what I had done to them on the boat and that was before they were going to try to get the information they sought.And when I drove the old man from the room they brought me forth for one last session. They knew I did not have the scroll and they knew that I was willing to die to protect it. I sat in a chair for the first time in what seemed ages and my body seemed to ill fit it. There was no comfort and I wished only to lie down. But I was tied and it was those bonds that held me up. I sat watching as the sergeant, no sergeant, came forth. Behind him the one who had been my cellmate shimmered as the mage dropped his disguise. My chin was gripped and my jaw pinched until my mouth opened. I sat as I felt the pincers begin to tug at a tooth and I knew that if I didn't make my stand now then I would never. That the worst thing that would happen was not death. I bucked forward with the pain and allowed it to lend me extra strength. To start the adrenaline rush and it knocked the pinchers out of the hand that welded them. I kept going, taking the chair with me and connected my head to a stomach. I bounced back and the chair, of the same rotting wood as the room I was held in, shattered and I fell to the floor. I allowed myself only a moment to groan from the pain before forcing myself to my feet. I swung a foot and was happy to hear the crack of a jaw bone before the mage caught me with magic. I flew back through the air and slammed against the wall to slide to the floor dazed, my one chance dashed in a second.My arms had just been seized, my body lifted to drag me forth for more interrogation that I hoped I could withstand, when the door flew open and I was dropped to the floor where my head hit with considerable force. I was still shaken but I could hear the sounds of fighting around me. I was still stunned and frozen in pain when I was lifted in arms trying to be gentle. "I told you to run," I admonished."You did no such thing," the voice said in my ear. "They fetched me. My task for the Queen was finished. They needed sword arms and somehow Kamron said he knew where you were."I knew how. I smiled for a moment and then my vision blurred. I turned my head and thought I saw a hazy figure in the corner. The captain. "He gave it to the keeper. I knew there would be another. We are never ending. As long as the scroll exists so do we. Remember that." I nodded. He turned as voices called out. "Captain! Captain," they saluted. His comrades in arms. Even here they were together. "Yes. Together. Find the blades. "For me they were one. For you they are two," he explained and as he held out the weapons I saw the insignia on the blades by the pommel. It was the seal on scroll. "And it is you that will read the scroll. Read it you must," where his final words of the moment and with that I passed out.

Rioghna

04-27-2008, 08:51 PM

Chapter ThirtyThe heat consumed me. I drank until there was no water left in the small bowl, licked the drops dry, and still could not quench the thirst that built within me. I crouched by the edge of the water and looked furtively around sure that I was not imagining the noises but for the most part I seemed alone. I set my bag down and finally eased back against the tree stump. That's all that was left around the water. Tree stumps. And even they looked withered. This one at least still seemed sturdy enough to support my weight.I took the dagger from it's sheath on my right leg and used it to slit the cloth along my left thigh. Gritting my teeth I took a half in each hand and tore down past my knee so that my pants gaped open. The small motion sent pain through me and I cried out behind my teeth hoping that no one heard. I had scouted ahead, sent on command to find their location. Find their location I did but so had they, strangely, for the first time found me. These were no ordinary orcs. There was something more than their usual stink. There had been a foul stink that I had only been told of by the monks.I sighed as I thought of the monks and the education they had given me. I had come to them as an adult and they did not seem surprised. There was no pressure for me to become one of them although I sensed they thought it would have been more appropriate as those marked as I was were more often of their calling. They had taught me all the same. And now, as I prepared to do this task before me, I used their teaching. Although I could not risk a fire. I was almost in the open and they would surely see that, had they managed to find me.I gripped the arrow and hissed the pain as I cut the back off. If only it had gone all the way through, I mused. It would have been easier. If only I could have made it back to my Liege's healer. But that was not to be. I scooped water from the lake and cleaned the area around the arrow as best I could. If only I had not left the trees. I should have listened to my parents, came the wry thought as my head swam from dizziness...from heat. I drank more water and looped a belt around my thigh above the arrow. I pulled it as tight as I could and fell back gasping to rest against the tree for a moment.I tried to focus on the arrow once more but my vision swam and for a moment there seemed to be too numerous arrows to count. Then I managed to grab it and my vision stabilized. I bit down on the piece of leather from my pouch as hard as I could. Too bad I didn't have any of that stout the dwarf was always carrying. I positioned the knife and cut.I jerked up, crying out and grabbing for my thigh only I was too weak to sit up. Too weak to move arms and the cry I gave seemed from another's throat. I rolled my eyes to see a face hover before me. They lifted water to my mouth and I drank more greedily than I thought I possibly could have. "Reina's healing is not working. Do you know if they used poison on you," asked the voice. I wanted to respond only the black relief of unconsciousness pulled me down once more.I gasped and forced myself upright. I glanced for a moment at the dagger. The dagger that had slipped from my grasp after I lost consciousness...how long ago I didn't know. I glanced at the sun its heat grinding down on me, then the shadows to try to get a sense of what time it was yet with the pain in my thigh I found myself too distracted to tell. I drank more water and looked at the cut I had made before passing out. It seemed large enough. I put the leather back into my mouth and screamed into it as I worked my fingers around. They were slick with blood, I was faint with pain and only biting the leather kept me going, but finally I had the arrow head free. It fell to the ground as I spat the leather out to collapse panting to my side. I was not finished yet. I fought upright and washed the wound again frowning at the colour the area around the wound was turning. I fished in my bag and packed it with the herbs the monks had taught me about all those years ago. Perhaps I should have gone back when my dagger throwing had started to fall a little short. I cut the bottom of my left pant leg off, having yanked it from my boot. There was no saving it now. I used it as a thick pad to hold the herbs in and then wrapped it on solid with a shirt shredded to strips. I rested a while longer feeling achier and more feverish. This was normal, I told myself. The wound discoloured from the injury...nothing more I lied to myself. I returned my belongings to my pouch and searched the ground for a stick. I finally found one that was not long enough but the closest I was going to get. I stood and hobbled for a while. Back towards my group. Where they missing me yet, I wondered. It was unlikely since as a scout I would often be gone for days, I reasoned. But they would stay put unless something happened.But nothing could have, I lied to myself again."Must get back," I whispered and clutched at the closest arm. "Must find the blades. Match the seal," I muttered and tried to fight off the cloth wiping at my forehead. It was so cold that cloth. "It's all part of what I must do," I tried to explain and then fell back as someone murmured in my ear."Rest, rest easy, wood elf," said the soft voice in my ear. "You are safe enough."I opened my eyes and tried to focus. My leg was no longer the flame of pain that it had been when I had stumbled on the remains of the camp. I would have been caught, I realized, if I had not been wounded. But I had been and had stumbled off course. I laughed and then coughed. Blood spattered the hand I had covered my lips with. For two days I had been getting more and more ill. My body was dying despite my screaming will to go on. It was my will, I understood that now, that had brought me this far for this long. "They poisoned you with some sort of ailment that normally might not have killed you but the variety they are using is beyond my skills to cure," came that soft voice again. I wiped my hand on my grimy shirt and turned to look. Perhaps it was a trick of the sun but for a moment he stood backlit by the most amazing golden halo. "You are one of them," I asked hoping that they had come for me to ease my final moments but they were silent. I wondered if my predecessor had found the same thing. That They who had guided us most vocally from the onset were strangely mute at the end.There was a chuckle as he knelt and I saw that he was human. "I am a man nothing more."I noticed the armor, some of the items and slowly shook my head. "You are a paladin. That is more than nothing.""I am as you see me, elf, but it is not me that I am concerned about. Your companions did not suffer and I saw tracks that some of them got away to live.""I had known them no more than a fortnight," I admitted before coughing again. "They were as strange to me as you are. I was simply with them upon demand of a higher power."He nodded and shifted which was when I saw the sign. I gripped his arm with all the strength I had left in me. He was silent as I gave him the scroll and told him of the monks. He had no attachments, no plans and the monks would guide him. I warned him of those who knew of us, for they had been my end, and gave him chance to hold the scroll for the next. He took a moment and then shook his head. He had agreed to the destiny that I had agreed upon when I found the dying monk. The scroll was his to protect. He would read it as I had. As all of us did. He would understand what his life was now tied to.I felt a hand upon my head. It was cool and yet warm. It called to me and urged me to grasp life. I opened my eyes and stared at the opaque ones of the child we had been hired, the package. I felt hands on my shoulders, smelled green as I had not smelled it before. "They are not ready for you to pass your burden yet," said the small voice. "You have more to do. But they need you to understand that while you are alone in some ways you are not alone. They need you to understand that others have come before and other must go after but you path will be different as they all were. They need you to fight for this. They need you to wake up," he whispered in my ear.I sat up, or rather tried to and felt awake, truly awake for the first time in ... I knew not how long. I was alone except for a figure slumped in a chair near my bed. My bed, I thought and sighed as I collapsed back my weak muscles exhausted. My bed, crafted by me, XiaRyu a half elf from a village far beyond the reckoning of many denizens of Qeynos. I was monk-trained and carrier of the scroll, walker of the path and ear, at times, to the voices of a few of those who had powers beyond my understanding. I had only dreamt of those two. I had only imagined the paladin and the scout. The captain and the elf that had died at the hands of others.I sighed and croaked a request for water watching as the person in the chair was so startled they fell out. They scrambled up and hurried over to my side, "XiaRyu," came the question so hesitant I forgot about my demand for water for a moment. I gestured for the glass and drank greedily for a moment before leaning back with a sigh. "What do you mean," I finally asked as he peered intently at me, feeling my head and muttering that it finally felt cooler."You kept saying your name was Lynalell... something about wolves and that it was an old family name."I frowned at him as I digested what he said but before I could ask anything further more people burst through the door. Reina smiled as she looked down at me. "He said you were better, that you'd be fine." She leant down to whisper in my ear, "You scared me when you didn't respond to healing. It was the boy that saved you."Then it was the other's turn. Finally they brought forth the package. He sat carefully in the chair that Guerin had just vacated. His brow furrowed as he leant forward, his seemingly sightless eyes focused on my face. He reached out his hand and put it on my brow once again. It was still cool against my still slightly feverish brow. "Reina. Your healing would help now. She will need it as she doesn't have the strength to fully heal on her own. I know she is strong but part of who she is will be learning to let others help," he said in a slightly enigmatic way and I watched as the others looked at her. "She is walking a path that many others have walked before but unlike those who came first she does not have to walk alone. In fact like the clustered straw she is stronger, less likely to break than if she is solitary. Now, I believe there are people waiting for me," he finished and stood. I reached out my hand for a moment. He seemed to be the only one that understood without my telling and for a moment I didn't want this child to leave. "This is not the last time we will meet, Little Dragon."And then he was gone, out the door with Guerin and I realized I hadn't even learned who was waiting for him...or what his name was.

Jakimo

05-09-2008, 10:14 PM

I have just caught up with your story. A very entertaining tale and well written. I can hardly wait to see where you take us. Thanks for sharing.

Rioghna

12-04-2008, 10:47 PM

Chapter Thirty One I rolled over and pushed hair off my brow in a slow lazy gesture that also worked to sense how I was feeling. I stretched slowly and felt a little pain here and there. Remnants that were slowly working their way out of my body.I frowned at the light that was filtering in the window of the small room and wondered how it could be so bright when I was feeling so gloomy. I rolled over and burrowed deeper under the warm blankets. The others had temporarily given up trying to coax me out of Qeynos on other adventures. The healing had taken longer than anyone could tell why. Some remnant of darkness still touched me and lingered deep making the aches and ills they had inflicted on me.I finally slipped from the bed and yelped as I stubbed my toe. Hopping slightly I washed in the chilled water and dressed quickly for despite the morning sun the air was getting a chill about it. Frostfell would soon be approaching again. The festivities that everyone undertook once a year still amazed me by comparison to my quiet, warm, familial childhood memories.I was heading to the door when there was a knock. Guerin. I hesitated. Almost didn’t answer. Until he coughed lightly and told me he knew I was in there. He told me he had plans and I couldn’t say no. The first was a stroll around South Qeynos. We crossed from Willow Wood through the harbor and Guerin smiled in his quiet way as the guards saluted to us every now and then. He bought a small bag of toasted nuts and we ate in silence as we passed by the guards at the South Qeynos gate. We went by the people sitting on the bench around a statue; people engrossed in their own day. And then he guided me left rather than the right that I usually went for Eidan’s family’s home. He took me into a store filled with every type of animal I could imagine under four feet tall. Although some of the puppies seemed like they could easily grow over four feet. Guerin stood back as young animals swarmed towards me looking for attention, treats and the like. For a moment I felt like the darkness was gone, lifted in the company of animals that didn’t know it. The clerk kept asking me if I wanted to buy one but all I could think of was my small home. Finally Guerin pulled me out and moved us on down the street. Although only by a few doors. He stopped and waited for a moment, checking a small watch he had bought from gnomes. Then another person appeared. A woman. Dressed very lavishly. She waved at him and laughed when he bowed over her hand. “Give your Father my regards,” she said with a twinkle that said if she had been half her age she might have given Guerin’s Father a run for his money. “Now you must be the little bit that Guerin said might be interested in rentin’ my Moryce’s Grandmamy’s home. The monk with the foreign name…. Not that I’ve met a monk with a normal name,” she confided and from her it sounded cheeky.“XiaRyu,” I confirmed and shook the frail hand she held out.“Well, now that’s done let me show you round,” she said and took out the most ancient key I had ever seen and led us through the door. “Now you can see it ain’t furnished. Moryce’s Grandmamy’s sister took all the furniture a long while back as it was a family hairy-loom. Will that be a problem,” she asked as we stood in the first room.I frowned at why that would be a problem but looked around. It was a nice large front room. It would be a cozy place, I could smell the history, the stories that percolated out of the ancient wood walls and floors. I could entertain people by the cozy fire that only need a day or two of cleaning.The rooms would need cleaning, the floors and walls sanding and polishing. I wondered how long it would take Guerin to get the place fixed. I looked over at him and he just stood there grinning. The woman lead on. Room after room. Dining room, bedroom, the windows upstairs with the garden. And then she showed me the basement. I thought about everything I could craft. Build. I thought about the animals that I could give a home to. I heard a voice ask how much. The price she named, for rent, made me gasp and then what amazed me more was that I agreed to it.I.Not Guerin.And while I was still reeling from the amount of money I handed over to the woman in exchange for a key Guerin revealed his next step. “I’m taking you to the Eldar Grove. There’s a monk there I need you to meet. A master in his trade. Bow Zi. Anything you can throw as a weapon. I figured while you were still healing he could train you.” I stood for a moment as he accompanied my new Landlady back onto the street. “That family you are friends with will certainly move you. They are more than strong enough,” he said with a grin. I looked at the key nestled in my palm and then stepped out to lock the door. “Bow Zi. I think I will be his best student ever,” I said with confidence than I had felt in a long while.Guerin grinned once more. “Somehow I think you will.”

Rioghna

12-06-2008, 09:08 PM

Chapter Thirty Two So small. So deadly. Lethal.I picked up the small dagger from amongst the variety of items displayed by Bow Zi. It was a strangely dark colour. I ran my fingers over it and marveled at how smooth it was and yet only the lightest of pressure from one of the sharp edges had demonstrated earlier that it could cut anything. Bow Zi, when Guerin had first introduced us, had put on a display of his abilities. I had wondered for a moment if I was feverish and hallucinating again when I almost thought I had one of his blades slice a dust mote in half.He let me look over everything. I held the small blade balanced on finger tips feeling the right balance of it. Some of the larger weapons felt too heavy. Too unwieldy. I knew he would teach me those as I knew I would never favour them. The small, faster and in many ways more dangerous. He let me inspect them for a moment before the lesson began. Geurin melted away, leaving quietly as Bow Zi began to speak in the slow way he had. Not an old monk, as others who taught me had been, but neither young. He had not lived his life in quiet contemplation within secure walls. Like some of the other warriors I had met he did not feel compelled to detail every adventure he had ever been on. He just began the lesson. He taught me how to get the feel first. How to hold it properly so that I didn’t cut myself when I started throwing it. Which inevitably I did. He stood laughing for a moment as I made clumsy attempt at wrapping my hand. “So… you are as fallible as my other students. This is good for you to know.” He started and then examined my hand as he started wrapping it. “But not as clumsy as them by far. The cut is shallow and will heal quite fast. Now let me explain why. You must not think of it like something separate, cold, foreign. It is an extension of you. Of your intent,” he began and so the lesson continued. As I practiced some of the other students, as they finished their lessons with the setting sun, began crowding around. As I stood, hands empty I gazed upon the target that Bow Zi had set up for me. He patted one of my shoulders, “A good day’s start. You will practice more tomorrow?”“But not the day after. I believe I will be moving.” He laughed and cocked his head at the students around us. “Perfect. Tell us when and where. This is good training for students who think they are getting ahead of themselves.” I almost laughed at the collective groan that echoed around me. Yet they all turned up. I had been finishing putting items in boxes when I heard the polite knock and there they were out on the landing. Heads popped out of the other small apartments for lease and a few waved farewell. Bow Zi informed me that there was a small cart with a pony downstairs to get all my belongings to South Qeynos. There was a collective whistle when they got inside and saw all the furniture that I’d been crafting. I smiled and explained that I found it relaxing. That my Father used to be a carpenter in our village and it was one thing we used to do. As they carried down chairs, tables and the like one asked why didn’t I sell them. I scratched my head and admitted that I had never thought of doing that. That it was not my true path, only something that cleared my mind. I turned the keys to my old place in to the woman who always seemed to be manning the desk at the entrance and left. Left to walk along side of Bow Zi as he guided the cart through the gate to Eldar Grove. We walked in companionable silence for a while. Through the grove, through the North section and then finally we arrived. I unlocked the door and all together we began carrying stuff in. Bow Zi stopped on one of his first trips and wiped his forehead. “Whew, definitely one of the original homes. You’ll need lots of work here,” he said as I pointed the students in the directions they needed to go.“Perhaps more training on their part,” I asked with a grin and then we both laughed as there was once again groaning. As they were finishing, I took the one aside who had spoke of my selling the items I had built. We slipped out for a moment and down the street to arrange with a local broker who specialized in items I could build and I was in the market. I advised him this wasn’t my permanent job and he surprised me by letting me know that there were others who did similar deals.I picked up some food and drink while we were out and back at the house treated the students who had helped. They were just having their second round of mulled wild apple cider when there was a knock on my door. I opened it and there stood pretty much everyone I knew. They all had silly grins on their faces and held out gifts as they came in. “A Qeynos tradition,” one of them advised as more food and drink was brought in after them. “It’s called a surprise house warming party.”I looked at Guerin who chose that moment to whistle, blush and slip by me very quickly. It must be a Qeynos tradition, I mused as I closed the door, as I had never heard of it before. I wandered around all the laughing people and then sat down on a chair. I watched them as they enjoyed themselves and decided it wasn’t such a bad tradition after all, for one that had been probably invented only an hour before.

Rioghna

12-14-2008, 11:14 PM

Chapter Thirty Three I burrowed deeper under the many covers to escape the chill. Eidan’s family had helped me fix many problems around my new place including the windows. They had been drafty even when closed. Still I did not count on how cold it would be, this large home, when compared to my small, snug, room.I shifted once in my state of drowsiness when I thought I heard creaking. Perhaps, my brain told me, it was the dog that Guerin had got me was still a pup and needed training in how to guard. It still thought that everyone was it’s friend and wanted to play. Thank goodness it was already three-quarters the size it was going to be when it finished growing and that final size was the size of a small pony. I turned over on my back and listened for a moment. Nothing and so I began to sink again through the cotton fuzz that was a precursory to sleep. I felt as if I were floating and then just as my body surrendered to sleep I felt it slammed back into the bed. I felt something pressing me down, hand over my mouth and yet despite my regained health I still felt a strange lethargy. To weak to fight back. I could not open my eyes. Fingers that were not completely solid stroked my brow…. Pushed hair back and tucked it around my ears.“You have forgotten. Now we must remind you. Come I will show you,” the breath blew in my ear as he spoke. I was pulled up and led down and out. Out to the street where people milled. Milled about doing the business they needed to do to get home to dinner, a quiet moment with the family by the fireside before turning in to bed. We stood for a moment and I tried to turn to see my companion and found I couldn’t. Then as we stood bells rang out. A claxon of noise that sent people scurrying, screaming for those they cared about, hurrying to get within their wattle and daub, wooden homes with some stone. The newer was stone and I could see where it had been rebuilt. Rebuilt very, very, very recently.Was this Qeynos, I wondered as I looked around for the street seemed familiar and yet there were twists and turns I did not know. Doors slammed, shutters were pulled shut and an eerie silence fell upon us. I was compelled to look up and for a moment I thought all the stars had gone out. It was one of the things I had never grown used to in all the months since I had first come to Qeynos… the lights of the city making it impossible to properly see the stars. But you could see them slightly…yet I could not see them at all. As I was searching for them it was as if they all came back. Lighting up the sky with a brightness 100 fold what they normally would. It took me only a moment to realize this was a city under siege. Those were arrows on fire raining down. Flaming shot slung from a trebuchet. I raised my arm, having nothing more than my nightgown upon me, and prepared to die. Yet nothing touched me. All around they fell, igniting anything that was not stone. As soon as they stopped the silence became screams as people rushed to save themselves, their homes and as I moved to help them the hand gripped mine again.“This is not your battle… yet, at any rate. You must observe,” the voice told me and led me forth. Forth beyond the walls where the soldiers, the guards of the city gathered. Where I saw every manner of citizen running to prepare. Scouts riding in with their reports, paladins praying in preparation for the oncoming onslaught.But onslaught of what?Beyond the front line I could see nothing. No opposing army, no lights burning in a foe’s encampment, no flames of forges stoked as they created new weaponry. I found myself walking forth on numb feet to the front lines where guards stood staring in the same direction as I. The fear seemed overwhelming on their faces, for those who showed fear. There were Barbarians, Humans, Ogres, Trolls, Dark Elves next to High Elves… all together. This was not the past, I decided as I looked back to see the opponent that would make all of Norrath unite. I looked again musing on the question that if truly the whole of Norrath stood here then who stood over there. I tried to listen. To hear any noise that penetrated the night. I looked again and even with my Elven vision I could see nothing. That was when it hit me. There was nothing out there. Nothing on all sides. No hills, no trees, no stars in the sky. On all sides. It was as if there was nothing there. That was when I heard the whispering and I realized that this was the last bastion. That the people inside were not hurrying home from a day’s work and that they had just been hurrying home. That they thought this might be their last night. Last moment. There was a flourish of horns and I watched as a group rode forth. Everyone who had been watching the approaching dark turned to them and cheered. They looked as every hero should look. Not dazzling in shiny armor. They did not turn and smile showing blinding white teeth. They did not right into battle bareheaded with golden tresses flowing in the wind.Instead they were mounted on a variety of animals. I noticed the variety of patchwork armor. All dented and scratched. Mismatched and faded. Their armor, helmets, shields had seen countless battles and had been banged back into shape after every one. These were the true heroes. The ones who knew the difference between what saved your life and looked pretty in a parade. They had all paused with one slightly to the front. A slight person who sat the horse with assurance. The reins were held lightly as if to suggest that the horse and person had been through so many battles they now fought as one. There was no need for the yanking on the bite to communicate intent.And then the head turned to me.“The fight for the balance was momentarily last. The last of the heroes are now called upon. Where once we were more now we are what you see. This is a foe that knows no leniency, no remorse, no rest. It is the opposite of everything you must strive to preserve. In it’s path there is no good, no evil, right or wrong. There is only that,” and the hand pointed out to nothing beyond. “Remember the old man. His words. Look upon the seal for it is as important as the scroll itself.” And then the figure pulled a scroll from a spot upon the saddle. There was unrolling from the bottom up. And then they read. I could not hear the words even though all those within the company joined in. I watched as a glow filled the air in our area as the figure held something up in the other hand as the scroll seemed to roll itself shut once more. There was a commotion within the ranks of guards as the dark seemed to approach our way. The glowing buffeted up against it as the last line of trees that I could see were swallowed up within. I watched as the glowing took form. By the leader who had spoken came a great dragon. It’s size was immense it’s colour blinding for a moment until it became the red of fire, the gold of the sun, the green of the grass. From it’s right came a howl from the muzzle of a giant wolf. Dragon and wolf paused a moment as if preparing to lung but the group looked left as if waiting for one more creature and in that moment the darkness surged and swallowed us all. I cried out, reaching out for he who had brought me there and catapulted out of bed to land on the floor. I lay panting in the beam of moonlight for a moment reveling in all the detail I could see. The grain of the wood in the floor, the leaves dying on the tree beyond my window and the moon. I stood for a moment and looked out the window to the farthest point I could see. All was quiet from the street below and finally I turned away. At the washbasin stand, I picked up the jug I had placed on a table nearby before turning in and felt the porcelain beneath my skin. I washed the water pour in for a moment, watched the play of the light from outside on the liquid for a moment longer and then set the jug back down. I leant over the basin, cupped a little water, and splashed my face. The chilled water numbed my skin for a moment and then I gripped the sides of the table as the images refused to leave me.I closed my eyes and drew a shuddering breath at what I had seen, what I would never be able to put words to, that split second before I had woken up. Hands gripped my shoulder. His hands again. His breath stirred the hair at my temple. “It is only one possible suggestion of such things. You must remember the old man’s words. Perhaps a drink would help. Sometimes they do. And sometime soon you will have to read it. You are more than just the keeper, more than just the walker of the path and keeper of the balance but you will understand that in due time. All of Us know you will. Remember,” he said and his lips touched my brow for but a moment before he was gone. But then I remembered. Perhaps a drink would help. But not until the next night, I mumbled as I toppled back into bed to surrender to slumber’s embrace.

Rioghna

11-12-2009, 09:39 PM

Chapter Thirty Four I sat, head bent, my mind drifting as the brush swirled across the parchment in front of me. For a moment, here in the quiet I was reminded of another time, another place, of other people and their faces, their ghosts swam up to great my mind’s eye as if we had been apart no more than five minutes. “You are too distracted by everything else. The answer is here,” I could hear a wise voice say and could almost feel Lu She’s finger tap my forehead. I felt as if I were a child once more in the bamboo grove but this time, where I had be more quick to grasp his lessons then, now I felt slow and sluggish. Perhaps I had spent too much time away from the island. “It is not time or distance. It is normal. The mind makes it murky. You will follow the path and see. Do not worry. It will become clear.”“It is like the wood that we used to work together, Little Dragon,” my Father’s voice spoke gently as he took his place on my left. “A piece of wood shifted from the tree itself. Remember how we would set it and wait for it to reveal what it was going to be? A chair for one of our neighbour’s grandparents to sit and watch the antics of all of the younglings... perhaps a bed for a new child. It will come. You must not demand it to appear.”I sighed and wanted to explain that despite all of my healing since that last outing I grew restless. I wanted to know how the path was going to reveal itself. I wanted to know all that was expected of me. I had seen nothing of the young boy since he had been delivered to the priests. I had not found the children that I had been told to seek no matter how many taverns I had sat in. Guerin and the others had taken other contracts since they could not afford to stay around the city without money. They had their own paths no matter how often Guerin came by to see how I was healing. I was jostled from my reverie by a group of novice monks arriving breathless on the steps of the pagoda I was sitting in. They were younger than the ones that had helped me move. So very, very, young. They were still at home with parents. Perhaps no more than ten years of age. They had not yet left the safety of Qeynos. They had never known anything but comfort, except... I paused and looked at the child who hung back a little. He stood behind the others, expression solemn in that way that the High Elves have perfected. He frowned a little as one of his Wood Elf ‘cousins’ jostled to get a closer look at the stranger. There was something though... something in his eyes that did not speak of comfort. Perhaps he did not come from Qeynos? But these days I would have pegged him for a city elf. It was the one place... I shook my head, after all my travels and all I had learned I should know better than to assume. I tipped a head in question as they gathered around me, their outfits speckled with precipitation. I cast a glance beyond the pillars that held the roof, the pillars entwined with plants and surrounded by trees, bamboo that made it virtually invisible from those who didn’t know of its existence. When had it started raining, I wondered and looked again at the boy who barely came in for cover from the downpour.“Sensei,” they chorused almost in unison and all except one moved hands and head in the bow that brought back memories of my own education. In response I shook my head and waved a hand in the negative.“I am no Sensei,” I started.“Bow Zi said we were to come and learn from you,” a tall girl said and blushed a little as all eyes turned to her. “He said you had a lot of knowledge, more than many other monks.”“I am also not a monk of this caste.”“But you wear a gi,” another said.“I trained with a group far away. Monks you have never heard of unless you read the ancient scrolls and monks you will probably never hear of,” I thought as Lu She flashed across my mind again. I could almost see him leaning in a corner, his bo staff holding him up as he shook his head musing that I could be a teacher. I smiled and wanted them to leave so I could hear my old Sensei’s words of wisdom once more. His head inclined in a gesture to draw my attention elsewhere and I looked over at the Elven boy only to find that his gaze was on the spot where I had thought my mind had placed Lu She. His eyes were narrowed and every now and then his gaze would flick to me. “I do not call myself a monk as these, your teachers do, as my path is not yet to foreswear all areas of life and devote myself only to my teaching, my faith, my studies. The caste I studied with sent me into the world and permits me to learn many styles. Permits me to wear a gi as if I were still one of them living there. But beyond that I find it to be the best for travel, fighting when the need arises. ““So you are no monk,” the Elven boy challenged.“Ask Bow Zi if he calls himself monk. It is a name and one some feel I have the right to carry and yet it does not define all that I am. I am a student, like yourself, searching to learn. I am monk-trained. Yet I do not live within walls devoting myself to contemplating deities or the universe. I worship the Gods, in my own way,” I added and grinned at Lu She’s snort. They never had issues with my believing in all the Gods equally. While Qellious had, if I recognized her voice from the rest, directed me the most I did not consider any other others lesser deities for it. She was... perhaps, the most invested of my patrons, if you could term them that. My guides. I watched the students as they whispered again and knew that they had been raised in households where one god was worshipped above others. I looked at the boy again and smiled at his look of alarm at Lu She’s noises. “Will you all be warrior monks then? Will you all swear to this God or that? Should not a monk use their mind and understand all,” I was asking things that Lu She had asked us a lifetime ago. Their brows furrowed.“Bow Zi is always saying things like that,” one of them complained. “You must be a monk because you certainly speak like one.” I laughed at their logic, the furrowed expressions of bewilderment. “Bow Zi is always saying a better warrior is one that uses all muscles,” the tall girl said and another boy nodded. “But we don’t know what that means other than he is going to assign us more reading.”“It means that to survive, to be the better warrior, the better person there are many muscles in your body and all must be used even your brain. It is very easy to fight on instinct and if you are in a fight that can be won on might and physical brawn then that is good; however, what if the odds are against you? How then do you survive the fight? Win the fight? Or simply be able to walk away? Is the better soldier on the field the one that rushes in at the front of the fray to die immediately or the one that assesses the situation and finishes the battle whether it is win, lose or draw?”I could see that they were thinking about this the way Eidan used to... that to die nobly on the battlefield was the only option. I nodded, “Okay, something simple. It’s raining pretty heavily, correct,” I asked and they all made noises as if I had lost my senses. I smiled. “And you all wish to go to kitchen for your mid day meal about now correct? And you wish to go early to get the best choices of whatever the cooks have prepared?”They all cheered at the thought. “Fine, then. You may go to lunch if you can run to the main building over there and back without getting wet.”“Whhaaaaaattt,” was the astonished chorus and I got jaws open and eyes wide with astonishment.There was a rumble of laughter and Lu She’s hand came down on my shoulder. “You are as crafty as your old teacher, Young Dragon. This is not the waterfall but it is good, very clever.”“The rain drops are your foes. The endless army. They are the nemesis that will never get tired, never give up. You must go beyond the first instinct.” I watched as a few tried dashing out and back really quickly. I listened as they all whispered about never getting to lunch early. They would go when the dinner bell rang but they were getting suspicious that I had given them the impossible task. Just as they had all given up the Elven boy grabbed one of the mats that covered the floor, that had not been cleaned up after a morning training session. I watched in silence as he wrapped himself completely and then he ran. When he got back he unwrapped and sure enough he was dry. I nodded. “I did not say you could not cover yourself. He has beaten the rain and you may all go to lunch now.”There was a general stampede and all the students left except one. He knelt opposite me his eyes serious like mine had been. “Who is he?”“My first Sensei. His name was Lu She,” I explained.“Was,” he asked and I could see the age in his eyes was so much older than his body.“Was. He died a while ago.”“Died or was killed.”“Does it matter?”I watched him fold in on himself for a moment. “Everyone dies,” was the angry response.“Yes,” I said and touched his arm. “But so does everything live. “He touched the parchment I had been meaning to transcribe my journeys on but had instead drawn the seal minus the dragon. “The first is the emblem of the house of the Wolf.”I nodded “But do you know their name?”“No, and the other, I do not know... but I saw a scroll here that is like that. I could show you,” he said. I nodded. “I would appreciate that.”“It’s important?”“As important as life and death is to the world,” I said and with that he led me to the scroll repository. What the scroll told me was what I already knew. The answers were not in Qeynos, at least not at this time, but beyond the walls. I turned to look at the sky, the blue beckoning me. It was time to return to the path. The scroll spoke of a few places I needed to visit. Lush jungle, frozen land and beyond would help me find the answers to unlock the knowledge I needed.“You will come back,” a voice at my side asked.“If it is not on my path to join those who have moved beyond this plane of existence then I will be back,” I advised and he nodded. I wondered this made me, at least, an honorary Sensei.