Kai holds Abby's hand as he quietly stares at the dimming fire.
At the culmination of the festival, Abby finds herself standing face to face with Kai and trying to find words to express herself. It seems very important to get it right. Finally she reaches up and traces the lines of his face with her fingers, like a blind person trying to memorise him.
"You're mine Kai. You'll always be mine. We'll never lose each other. I don't think we can. We're linked somehow. I always know where you are. Wherever you go, I'll follow."
She pauses for a moment, uncharacteristically terrified he's going to laugh at her, then decides to carry on anyway.
"I don't mean we should be lovers or marry. This might sound stupid but I think we've gone beyond those bonds. Just remember you'll always be mine and for better or worse, I'll always be yours. I suppose we might regret that, but I don't think we have much choice."
Remembering the old way they made promises when they were children, she holds up her index finger to him and waits for him to join her. When both fingers touch, they'll gently breathe over both finger tips to seal the promise.
At the culmination of the festival, Abby finds herself standing face to face with Kai and trying to find words to express herself. It seems very important to get it right. Finally she reaches up and traces the lines of his face with her fingers, like a blind person trying to memorise him.
"You're mine Kai. You'll always be mine. We'll never lose each other. I don't think we can. We're linked somehow. I always know where you are. Wherever you go, I'll follow."
She pauses for a moment, uncharacteristically terrified he's going to laugh at her, then decides to carry on anyway.
"I don't mean we should be lovers or marry. This might sound stupid but I think we've gone beyond those bonds. Just remember you'll always be mine and for better or worse, I'll always be yours. I suppose we might regret that, but I don't think we have much choice."
Remembering the old way they made promises when they were children, she holds up her index finger to him and waits for him to join her. When both fingers touch, they'll gently breathe over both finger tips to seal the promise.
Kai stare into Abby' eyes and touches his finger to hers. "Abby, I promise to be beside you always. The bond we share is deeper than love, and because of that I'm greatful."
He gently blows across their fingers.
Len starts to object to the proceeding, but loses his chance in the blur of events.
When the ritual is described, his face darkens. Of the people in the village, he stands alone, looking at no one. Finally, he kneels and plays with the collie a bit.
Shaking his head a little Tamás returns his attention to Isabella, taking both of her hands in his and speaking in a low tone so only she can hear:
Iz, likes the warmth of his hands, and his words cause her to blush deeply and she looks bashfully at the ground, so very unsure of how she should respond.
She takes a deep breath, and starts to speak softly to the Fine man whose hands she gently rubs , her head slowly rising as she speaks and grows in confidence, and at last being able to able to see his bright eyes and fine smile once more.
"May our kind words always be carried on fair winds"
Smith breaks away from Nadya. He doesn't have anything to say to her, and feels alienated by the whole event. He looks over at Len, who also seems to be ignoring the event.
Ambling over to him, he says shyly: "Is it just me, or is this whole thing a bit weird? I don't have a good feeling about it. Here." Smith points to his stomach. "In my gut, it feels weird. What about you?"
The small collie barks and whimpers a little up at Len before licking his hand, appearing to be trying to communicate something as the people around them make promises of friendship.
-----
Smiling softly Tamás blushes faintly at Isabella's whispered words. "That was beautiful" He utters before boldly placing a gentle kiss upon the carpenter's forehead. "With words like those I'm sure Desna herself will ensure our paths cross once more, and soon."
-----
As Smith moves away Nadya looks a little heartbroken, taking a few steps forward to follow him she soon stops, tears forming in her eyes she breaks into a run and launches herself at Stefan who greets her with a hug and gentle, reassuring words.
Shaking off the intensity of the moment with Kai, Abby looks around in time to see Nadya being comforted by Stefan. She holds out her hand to the little girl.
"Don't let Smith upset you. He's a lot better at horseshoes and weapons than people. That and he's an idiot."
She looks darkly across to where her brother and Len are standing, looking at the collie, the ground and occasionally each other. Then she turns to Stefan.
"Looks like I can't tell Smith I love him really. If I tell you, do you think Desna'd pass the message on to him?"
Ambling over to him, he says shyly: "Is it just me, or is this whole thing a bit weird? I don't have a good feeling about it. Here." Smith points to his stomach. "In my gut, it feels weird. What about you?"
Len looks gratefully at Smith and clasps his hand. "Yes, something is wrong here -- and I think it's about to get worse," he adds, looking at the collie. Len lowers his voice.
Smith:
Len now looks embarrassed.
"You don't need Desna's grace for that message" Stefan assures Abby with a light smile "He alreadt knows, despite the occasional fight and upset, siblings always know" He grins down at Nadya who appears to wiping her eyes and perking up quite quickly.
"Can I say the oath I learnt to you?" She asks quietly as she looks up at both Abby and Kai.
-----
As Len finishes his quiet sentance the collie gives a small bark and runs in a tight circle around the two men. The female dog seems quite intelligent but what she's trying to say or do right now is utterly beyond you.
Abby kneels down so she can look Nadya in the eye.
"You do that, and I promise I'll pass it on to my soup-brained brother if you want me to. Cheer up Nadya, he's not bad, he's just a twerp."
Smith wraps an arm reassuringly around Len, also speaking in hushed tones:
Smith kneels down to pet the excited dog. "Hey girl. Girl....?"
Nadya grins brightly at the older girl and does a small excited dance on the spot before settling herself and looking into Abby's eyes. "It's one my brothers taught me, about how you should always try to make friends wherever you go so, which is why I wanted to say it to Smith, I thought, maybe he needed more friends.." She explains before taking a deep breath and receiting the words she'd spent days carefully committing to memory.
"I saw a lonely little boy, walking down a beaten track. I didn't see a trace of joy, as I looked back. If I see him again, I know what I'll do... I'll say, Hi there friend, Let's play! me and you!" She finishes with an eager grin "It's a promise to myself and I always want new friends to hear it to know I'll always be their friend and will make new friends for them to meet too!"
As the young girl talks excitedly Stefan looks up and too the sky, with a small smile but also a deep blush in his cheeks over something.
As Smith talks to her the dog tilts her head a little to one side, a happy and interested little expression on her face. She barks twice up at him before looking back and forth between him and Len.
Smith wraps an arm reassuringly around Len, also speaking in hushed tones:** spoiler omitted **
Len accepts the embrace, and speaks soberly. "Thank you, friend. And thank you for not believing me a lunatic. The question is, what do we do now?"
Kai watches as Abby as she kneels down with the young traveler. Occasionally glancing over at Harker, and Smith.
"I don't know, friend. But this little pup is excited about something. Care to test your theory?"
Smith snaps his fingers to get the dogs attention, making eye contact as best as he can.
The dog looks up with an almost mischeivous twinkle in her eyes as she seems to understand Smith's words. After a moment she barks twice, her tail wagging swiftly before she turns to face the eastern exit out of the village.
Turning to Len,
"That's a good promise. I like it."
Looking up at Kai "Let's show her how we seal our promises. Look, like this Nadya."
She demonstrates with Kai and then turns back to Nadya. "Now you and me."
"Why is your brother blushing? If it that was Smith, I'd ask him." she finishes with a conspiratorial little smile at Nadya.
Laughing lightly Nadya whispers something to Abby.
Giggling a little more she carefully mimics the actions Kai and Abby had done to seal their promise.
Turning to Len,** spoiler omitted **
"Well, she seems to be the only one of us who understands what's going on. I say we follow -- or if you want to keep an eye on things here, I'll follow."
Smiling softly Tamás blushes faintly at Isabella's whispered words. "That was beautiful" He utters before boldly placing a gentle kiss upon the carpenter's forehead. "With words like those I'm sure Desna herself will ensure our paths cross once more, and soon."
Iz feels warmth in her face and knows it is not just from the kiss on her forehead, she thanks her lucky stars she was able to escape from the house to see and experience all of this. So many heady emotions were now roiling about inside of her, seeking some way to escape, some avenue to express themselves. With such a bright smile on her face and a joyful note in her voice, she adds:
"I can only hope that Desna, with always provide guiding stars when we feel it is darkest, and to carry our wishes to one another across the dreamscape of her realm."
She pauses, looks down and remembers she is still holding hands, and gently reclaims them, before the gentleman can act too disappointed, she moves in for a hug, and cheerfully says:
"I am truly glad I was able to attend this ritual and meet such lovely company. and I look forward to many more, maybe one day I will also see the roads that stretch across this land too"
The close moment of people gently exchanging oaths slowly breaks apart as worry for Grace starts to jolt those attending back to reality, especially with the Clover sisters starting to circle and question people a little more intensely.
With the fire dying out and the night drawing on the temperature quickly drops, the breaths of villagers and travellers alike misting in the air as they talk quickly, starting to form search parties.
Clambering up onto the low wall from which Stefan had announced the ritual earlier in the evening the Clover sisters oversee the gathering of people, organising them into groups and assigning them places to look.
"..and then of course there's the woods" Bryoni continues in a surprisingly authorative voice "it would be silly to send people out there who don't know what they're doing, so we think two groups will be best, one led by dad, going to the South and the other by Mr. Foley going East" She reels off the names of people she'd like to see go with her father and then she starts pointing out people to go with Donnell.
"Well Maia should be alright in the woods I think, and maybe Mr. Harker and Mr. Transon" She decides pointing to them all as they all appear to be near to Donnell.
"And Mr. Reinor wanted to go into the woods!" Dawne pipes up.
"Okay then, Kai, and Abby too, that should be enough.." Bryoni agrees.
"And Isabella! She knows about wood!" Misty announces certainly, a small smile on her lips.
Sighing in mild exasperation at her sisters continual butting in the eldest Clover girl shakes her head a bit. "And Miss. Glas and her traveller friend" She waves her hand vaguely in Tamás' direction.
Soon everyone is assigned a group, Stefan staying behind to help look after the elderly and the children among the travellers alongside some of the mayor's family who appear to have taken to keeping a very close eye on the gypsys. The other group heading into the woods equips themselves and heads out of the southern gate and other groups fan out to cover the village and along the brook leaving you to prepare to head into the woods.
"Well, she seems to be the only one of us who understands what's going on. I say we follow -- or if you want to keep an eye on things here, I'll follow."
"I'd like to follow, for sure. But, it looks like we're being conscripted. Give me a minute."
Smith walks toward Bryoni, "With all due respect, Mr. Harker and I think we may have a lead. That we need to follow. Alone. There's something tugging at me, I have a hunch, and you know me. I always follow my hunches. Besides, if we split up a bit, we'll be able to cover more ground. We'll find her." Smith doesn't wait for a response, and quickly jogs back over to Len.
"Ok, you and me, and the pup. What do you need? I'm going to get my armour and weapon. I'll meet you at the exit in a few minutes." Kneeling to pet the dog, "I'll be right back, sweetie."
Smith breaks off into a sprint, headed to the forge to grab his things.
"Ok, you and me, and the pup. What do you need? I'm going to get my armour and weapon. I'll meet you at the exit in a few minutes." Kneeling to pet the dog, "I'll be right back, sweetie."
Smith breaks off into a sprint, headed to the forge to grab his things.
"Right, I'll get my gear. Come on, girl." Len heads to his home to gear up with armor, weapons, and lantern.
"My Lady", Kai excuses himself from Abby and the travelers, making his way home to pick up the rest of his gear.
"And Isabella! She knows about wood!" Misty announces certainly, a small smile on her lips.Sighing in mild exasperation at her sisters continual butting in the eldest Clover girl shakes her head a bit. "And Miss. Glas and her traveller friend" She waves her hand vaguely in Tamás' direction.
Hearing her name called and drawn into all this, by none other than Misty, Made Iz immediately suspicious. and wary, quickly grabbing a torch, she rejoins her gentle traveller.
"Ah .. sorry you have to get caught up in all this, I think by associating with me, we maybe in for an interesting night due to the Clovers, I wonder why Misty wants me in the Forest, Oh well shall we go get acquainted with the rest of our little search party."
Iz starts towards the Eastern gate..........
Soon the search party has all of their gear and are preparing to head out of the eastern exit of the village. The little collie stays at Len's side as he heads home and recovers his belongings but as he and Smith try to leave to investigate their own theories the dog gives a tiny whimper and slinks over to the search party, sitting herself at Donnell's feet and staring expectantly at the healer.
Soon the search party has all of their gear and are preparing to head out of the eastern exit of the village. The little collie stays at Len's side as he heads home and recovers his belongings but as he and Smith try to leave to investigate their own theories the dog gives a tiny whimper and slinks over to the search party, sitting herself at Donnell's feet and staring expectantly at the healer.
Iz looks at the little group starting to gather, and does wonder why the Clover's selected all of us for this particular task, smiling at her gentleman,she turns to talk to the group.
"Well don't think we have all been properly introduced, I am Isabelle, just call me Iz. Seems the Clover's have something in mind for all of us, and I just hope we are all ready for it.
I have seen you all around town at various times, but at least we get a much better chance to actually chat now"
Iz pauses and hopes someone else is ready to fill the yawning gap....
Len looks at Smith and shrugs. "I guess we go with the others."
Len joins the main search party at the gate.
Taking the opportunity to slip home while Smith is fussing over the collie, Abby gathers her most precious possessions from under her bed. Wearing the longest cloak she possesses to hide her weaponry, she darts back to the search parties, pausing on the way to look for Stefan.
Pulling him aside for a second, she bounces on her toes to make sure he's seeing her clearly.
"I made an oath to you too back there. It's up to you to guess what it was."
Before he can stop her, she pecks him quickly on the cheek and rushes over to the assembling group, gravitating naturally towards Kai.
"I got everything. Rapier, dagger, book, other bits. Ready to leave at any time."
"I got everything. Rapier, dagger, book, other bits. Ready to leave at any time."
Kai looks at Abby, giving her one last warm look, before going back to his normally cold demeanor.
"Let's find her before Rose causes any trouble."
Len looks at Smith and shrugs. "I guess we go with the others."
Len joins the main search party at the gate.
"The whole point was to follow the collie. If she's changed her mind, I guess we should listen."
Smith lines up with the rest of the group, his heavy hammer in his hand.
"The whole point was to follow the collie. If she's changed her mind, I guess we should listen."
"Umm.."
Iz glances back a little nervously towards her companion, before she speaks again."So the plan is to follow the fine hound then, sounds a good plan to me, ummm... so does the fine creature have a name too?"
Iz is still apprehensive about all this, and speaks as though a little distracted, she just keeps remembering that little smile of Misty's, when she maliciously got Iz embroiled in all this.
Plus on top of all this, she now wasn't sure what her companions name was, so bad, and was sure to land her in trouble sooner or later. Had he actually mentioned it already, was she just forgetting things, or did she just lose herself in all the singing and dancing again, the way this evening was going, she really wasn't sure of anything.
Pulling her cloak around her, Abby wanders over to Iz.
"I think those Cover-cuties are up to something, don't you? Individually they are null and void, together they can conquer the world. They did a neat job splitting us all up like this."
She looks critically at Iz.
"You're going to be cold. I've got a spare scarf if you want one. Or Tamas could lend you his jacket."
Stefan watches Abby leave to join her search party with a faint approving smile on his lips before returning his attention to trying to settle some of his younger relatives in the hopes of getting them to rest.
Tamás meanwhile gives a grin at Abby's suggestion. "You keep your scarf, you may need it" He tells her as he shrugs off his jacket and delicately drapes it around Isabella's shoulders. "I really don't feel the cold much anyway." He offers one of his arms to Iz and the other to Abby "Shall we?" He asks with a nod of his head in the direction of the woods.
All the while the young collie happily weaves in and out of the legs of the search party, an excited expression on her little canine face, she's apparently more than ready to get going.
Iz smiles at the fine suggestion from Abby, and is a little surprised when she feels the jacket draped over her and suddenly feeling a little cold, suppresses a shiver.
"Umm Abby isn't it....must say I wasn't feeling the cold to till just then, but I am quite snug now, thanks to this fine jacket."
She glanced back to Tamás and flashes him a grin and mouths "Thank you" to him.
"I'm glad it is not just me being paranoid about the Clover's, at least someone else thinks they are up to something too, but how do we not fall foul to their plans, Have they set something up in the woods for us, like dropping tar on us or something?"
Len is ready to follow along, keeping half an eye on the collie. He has his bow in hand.
The search party heads out of the confines of the village and into the woods. Donnell and Maia lead the way, walking side by side and in silence, their hands occasionally grazing, both of them seemingly wrestling the urge to hold hands as they head into the darkness. Between you you have enough light to see, but also to make the trees around you all the more spooky. A light breeze plays over the woods causing strange rustlings and occasionally you hear a strange creaking or the snapping of a twig. The woods are a fine place to walk during the day but at night it's a different story entirely, the plantlife seems to loom, shifting closer to the path, trapping you and the shadows dance, seemingly containing threats you just can't see.
You follow the main path for a full hour with no luck and slowly the ground under your feet becomes less and less beaten, more tangled undergrowth appears beneath you threatening to trip you and the barbs and thorns of plants around you stretch out and scratch at you when you're not paying enough attention to your surroundings.
Both the collie and Donnell's faithful hound trot along ahead of the group, sniffing carefully at the air and at the ground, seemingly following the scent of something. After another half an hour of increasingly difficult woodland terrain the small female dog gives off a couple of excited barks and dashes off unexpectedly disappearing into the darkness ahead.
Len startles at the collie's reaction, then says, "Let's go!" and starts to hurry after her.
Abby amuses herself during the dull walk through the woods by trying to see how soundlessly she can move. There's a points system. She lets herself start with 10 points and deducts one for each twig she steps on. Being Abby, that's only entertaining for about 20 minutes. Then she starts docking points from her companions.
The Clover girls have just scored -27, with Smith close behind on -19 when the collie vanishes into the undergrowth.
"About time that dog did something useful."
She hurtles after Len, wondering how easy it will be to move silently, at a run, in the dark.
Len:
This is when things start to get really weird. Tensing as you prepare for a sharp knock to the head you instead find yourself tumbling forward and landing in a crouch on a smoothly polished wooden floor. A far cry from the dark woods you discover you're in a brightly lit wooden room. The light here has an oddly green hue and through the few narrow windows you can see it's dark outside. Ahead of you is what appears to be a desk littered with colourful papers and a beautiful golden bell.
Behind the desk are a collection of curved metal hooks set into the walls, some of which are holding cloaks and coats of varying styles and colours, one appears to even have four sleeves, but maybe that's a trick of the light, or it's part of a costume. Also behind the desk is a beautiful woman, presumably in her early twenties with hair coloured with chunks of reds, golds and oranges, giving it the appearance of autumn foliage. She looks over at you with a playful and dazzling smile. "Well, hello there!"
Abby:
And you are soon rewarded, but in a truly unexpected way. Pausing briefly to catch your breath and to have another listen for the sounds of your companions you rest your hand against the trunk of a tree, or at least that was the plan. Instead of feeling solid bark your hand feels nothing, like you're trying to lean against thin air. Stumbling sideways you're soon blinded by a bright, slightly green, light and find yourself knocking into something fairly solid.
As your eyes adjust you see you're in a large wooden room, Len is ahead of you, sat in a crouch and looking at a beautiful woman, presumably in her early twenties with hair coloured with chunks of reds, golds and oranges, giving it the appearance of autumn foliage. As you turn your head a little you spot what you collided with, a short (only 4'7" or so) young woman with short dark hair and dark eyes and a friendly face. it appears she'd been talking to a tall older woman with slightly wrinkled and tanned skin and a curly mess of chocolate brown hair, they both look at you, the tall woman looking especially curious.
Everyone else: You appear to be missing a Len, a collie & an Abby, you heard them running ahead of you but now the trail ahead is sounding a lot quieter.
DM/Len
"Oof."
Abby staggers and tries to regain her balance. She doesn't quite make it and sits down heavily, landing on her treasured bag of possessions.
"Oh no!. Excuse me a minute, I have to check my book."
Heedless of the fact that she's just fallen into a tree, Abby rolls over so she can get to her bag and unceremoniously tips everything onto the polished wood floor. Scrabbling through the mess of hair ribbons, spare sling bullets and hankies she finally pulls out The Compleet Locksmith. Lovingly straightening a couple of bent pages, she breathes a sigh of relief.
"It's fine. Thank goodness. Ooopsy ... you probably don't need to know about these..."
she adds, sweeping the opened set of thieves tools under the hankies.
"Just forget they were there, OK?"
Bundling everything back into the bag, she carefully places the book on top and stands up again.
"Hi. Sorry about that. I'm Abby. Have you seen a small collie anywhere?..."
Her voice trails off as she realises for the frist time just what a strange situation this is.
"... am I ... are we ... inside a tree? Or did I imagine that part? Hi Len." She waves at the bewildered looking healer.
DM/Abby
DM/Len
"I'm fine. I just sat on my book."
Abby goes to Len's side, protectively clutching her precious bag.
"Where are the others and why are we in a tree?"
Kai. You need to be here. I think this is our world.
Abby
Len and Abby:
The autumnal woman behind the desk gives a polite smile at the bewildered people in front of her. "Hello there, you two look like first timers, we haven't had any of your sort in a while" She declares in an amused tone "I'm Fyrn, welcome to Thallathorne's! The door to the stairs is there" She points to a door you hadn't noticed until now in all the confusion. May I take your cloaks?"
Abby:
DM/Len
"Stairs in a tree? Really?"
Abby darts across the room to the door and pulls it open.