:Never different form other hatchlings are they?: he says with the amusment in his own thoughts.Keehaar cries out
:Cool!:
Blodwen laughs.
:Hatchlings,: she says with amusement.
:No, I guess not.:
privately, :You weren't kidding when you said that none of the chicks we are caring for are destined to be normal, eranoyeh.:
:No, I guess not.:
privately, :You weren't kidding when you said that none of the chicks we are caring for are destined to be normal, eranoyeh.:
Privately as well, he returns thought.
:One of times I have wished I was wrong...:
:No, I guess not.:
privately, :You weren't kidding when you said that none of the chicks we are caring for are destined to be normal, eranoyeh.:Privately as well, he returns thought.
:One of times I have wished I was wrong...:
to Sky
:But who else could possibly be able to care for such special chicks? And would we even know how to relate to normal?: she adds with a laugh.
Privately as well, he returns thought.
:One of times I have wished I was wrong...:
to Sky
:But who else could possibly be able to care for such special chicks? And would we even know how to relate to normal?: she adds with a laugh.Sky's laughter rings in her mind.
:To that end you are right! Thank you Blodwen, for helping to ease my burden in so many ways.:
to Sky
:But who else could possibly be able to care for such special chicks? And would we even know how to relate to normal?: she adds with a laugh.Sky's laughter rings in her mind.
:To that end you are right! Thank you Blodwen, for helping to ease my burden in so many ways.:
:It is my pleasure, eranoyeh.:
So that Keehaar can hear as well,
:Do we know anything more about these abilities of Keehaar's? Anything that might help him learn to control them?:
:No I do not. I knew him only briefly, but I can see if magic can help reveal clues when we are safe in the Eyrie.:
:No I do not. I knew him only briefly, but I can see if magic can help reveal clues when we are safe in the Eyrie.:
:We should be there soon. Which is good, because I think that Keehaar is getting tired. He is not yet used to extended flights like this.:
She is still flying underneath Keehaar, just in case.
The omniportal crackles into life, a strange yellow substance begins to trickle from it and pool in front of it and then Lucinda emerges into the cave.
Oh, what a pretty place! she exclaims in delight.
Djuhah steps forward and a forcefield goes up around the room containing the omniportal.
"Greetings, O unconventional one. I am Djuhah, high priest of this temple."
Temple? Oh this place is much too pretty to be a temple. And much too circular. She glances about nervously. Temples have lots of corners. So the hounds can get in from any angle which they please.
Temple? Oh this place is much too pretty to be a temple. And much too circular. She glances about nervously. Temples have lots of corners. So the hounds can get in from any angle which they please.
Djuhah smiles pleasantly. "This is a temple, I assure you. It is the temple of the Star Song. It is called the Eyrie of Celestial Harmony. There are no hounds here, unless you count the invisible stalkers, but they aren't particularly houndlike. This temple is mainly occupied by avian and air based creatures. Our goddess's holy symbol is quite circular," he adds, holding up his medallion with its spiral galaxy symbol, "and the temple was made to reflect that."
Edited (Spelling):
Oh.
Her face becomes crestfallen, and she suddenly looks quite panicky.
Is that one of *her* aliases? The Queen of Golden Truth's, I mean.
Her skins suddenly crawls with menacing, dark triangle shapes, twisting an swarming all over her, and a low buzzing sound fills the air.
If this place belongs to *her* no wonder it looks so friendly. It's to lull you into a false sense of security, but she's waiting as she reels you in...
Edited (Spelling):
Oh.
Her face becomes crestfallen, and she suddenly looks quite panicky.
Is that one of *her* aliases? The Queen of Golden Truth's, I mean.
Her skins suddenly crawls with menacing, dark triangle shapes, twisting an swarming all over her, and a low buzzing sound fills the air.
If this place belongs to *her* no wonder it looks so friendly. It's to lull you into a false sense of security, but she's waiting as she reels you in...
"I have never heard of the Queen of Golden Truths, lady. The Star Song is a new deity, only recently ascended. She inherited the divine power of the Goddess of Dangerous Knowledge when that evil one was destroyed. She is the goddess of air, music, and healing."
Oh that one.
She giggles, and relaxes, and the triangle patterns fade away, as the buzzing stops.
She went crazy. I'll let you into a secret mister djinn. She went crazy because of the hounds. A great big pack of hounds. She tried to destroy things to make everything go away, so she'd stop hearing the hounds.
Well that's my theory, anyway. You'd go crazy if you knew about the hounds.
I mean if you didn't know about them already, I think.
I worry about them. I worry about them a lot. Not just because of the regular ones, but because the fifth has some special servants who are the one thing and another, to make a third. I could have been one of those, she sighs, if I hadn't been deemed 'fit for greater things'.
So, mister djinn. This place feels empty at the moment, and you say it isn't because of the Queen of Golden Truth making it seem empty, so it must be because your goddess has gone away on holiday, right?
She c0cks her head a little on one side, as if listening for a moment.
Your goddess is called 'Arielle', and she's away at the Bazaar at the moment?
Oh. That's where I just was. Poor, poor Pete, was so very sad. Men in black from Leng came because they weren't looking for me. They must have talked to him, or they should have, except they're not very talkative.
Oh that one.
She giggles, and relaxes, and the triangle patterns fade away, as the buzzing stops.
She went crazy. I'll let you into a secret mister djinn. She went crazy because of the hounds. A great big pack of hounds. She tried to destroy things to make everything go away, so she'd stop hearing the hounds.
Well that's my theory, anyway. You'd go crazy if you knew about the hounds.
I mean if you didn't know about them already, I think.
I worry about them. I worry about them a lot. Not just because of the regular ones, but because the fifth has some special servants who are the one thing and another, to make a third. I could have been one of those, she sighs, if I hadn't been deemed 'fit for greater things'.
So, mister djinn. This place feels empty at the moment, and you say it isn't because of the Queen of Golden Truth making it seem empty, so it must be because your goddess has gone away on holiday, right?
She c0cks her head a little on one side, as if listening for a moment.
Your goddess is called 'Arielle', and she's away at the Bazaar at the moment?
Oh. That's where I just was. Poor, poor Pete, was so very sad. Men in black from Leng came because they weren't looking for me. They must have talked to him, or they should have, except they're not very talkative.
"Our goddess is called Lynora-Jill and she is...away at the moment. She will return soon."
Umm, maybe she's being deposed by a secret conspiracy? I know all about secret conspiracies. They drive you mad, which is how I know about them. Sort of. I mean they would drive you mad if you weren't sane-worse-than-mad in the first place. But anyway, there's a godlike being, with ties to this place, called Arielle, and somewhere there's someone who's worshipping her, I assure you.
I can hear the whispers.
Do you ever get tired of wearing all that armour?
Umm, maybe she's being deposed by a secret conspiracy? I know all about secret conspiracies. They drive you mad, which is how I know about them. Sort of. I mean they would drive you mad if you weren't sane-worse-than-mad in the first place. But anyway, there's a godlike being, with ties to this place, called Arielle, and somewhere there's someone who's worshipping her, I assure you.
I can hear the whispers.
Do you ever get tired of wearing all that armour?
"Arielle is the Star Song's daughter. And I do not think that she will be very happy to learn that there are people worshipping her. She is very young and not prepared at all for ascension."
Djuhah looks confused and glances down at himself. He was still wearing nothing more than a pair of loose cotton trousers.
"What armor?"
Breastplate. Vambraces. Paltroons.
She begins to point to all the items of armour which she sees Djuhah as 'wearing'. Apparently she believes him to be in a suit of full-plate.
I mean you're a knight errant, so you protect this beauty spot, right, so you must have armour?
Breastplate. Vambraces. Paltroons.
She begins to point to all the items of armour which she sees Djuhah as 'wearing'. Apparently she believes him to be in a suit of full-plate.
I mean you're a knight errant, so you protect this beauty spot, right, so you must have armour?
He considers that for a moment, a bemused smile on his face. "I am sure it is as you say, O unconventional one."
Sorry about the mysterious robes. It's just that in the Bazaar, people were looking at me, so I got robes to wear so that they'd stop looking at me.
She wanders forward and brushes her way through the wall of force as if it were a curtain of water, letting it fall back behind her. She looks out of the cave mouth, sighs, then wanders back and brushes her way back through the wall of force.
Maybe another day.
Sorry about the mysterious robes. It's just that in the Bazaar, people were looking at me, so I got robes to wear so that they'd stop looking at me.
She wanders forward and brushes her way through the wall of force as if it were a curtain of water, letting it fall back behind her. She looks out of the cave mouth, sighs, then wanders back and brushes her way back through the wall of force.
Maybe another day.
Djuhah conjures an attractive hooded dress out of the air. "Is this more to your liking than mysterious robes?"
Umm, no thank you. Fire doesn't burn very well underwater, and I probably should go somewhere wet next.
She gives a sigh.
Much fewer corners underwater.
You can swim for miles without coming within a hundred yards of a corner.
Her expression changes to one of worry.
Umm, although is Princess Silmarand around? I *don't* want to bump into Princess Silmarand. She's one of the Heralds.
She twitches slightly, and a pattern of some sort of monster sea-serpent of the deeps coils and undulates across her skin.
Umm, no thank you. Fire doesn't burn very well underwater, and I probably should go somewhere wet next.
She gives a sigh.
Much fewer corners underwater.
You can swim for miles without coming within a hundred yards of a corner.
Her expression changes to one of worry.
Umm, although is Princess Silmarand around? I *don't* want to bump into Princess Silmarand. She's one of the Heralds.
She twitches slightly, and a pattern of some sort of monster sea-serpent of the deeps coils and undulates across her skin.
"I am not familiar with any Princess Silmarand, lady," he says dismissing the garment with a poof.
"I wish you good journey, then," he added, bowing politely.
She turns and heads back to the omniportal muttering as she goes.
The Knight. The Troll. The Wanderer. The Monk. The Banker. The Princess.
She stops on the threshold and shivers.
The Destroyer. The one who has looked in the great eye and lived.
Seven Heralds. One fate. Darkness which waits beyond Night.
The omniportal opens spilling jelly-beans onto the floor, and then she steps into it, and is gone from the Eyrie.
Anybody got some roadkill?
Anybody got some roadkill?
:There should be plenty in that direction: Sky say as they fly past him, pointing in the general direction they just came from.
Mmmmm.....roadkill
Djuhah continues to refine the protections and wards on the omniportal and the room that contains it. The woman herself didn't seem too bad, if a bit strange, but he had a bad feeling about what was using her and would rather not allow such beings free access to this place.
Djuhah continues to refine the protections and wards on the omniportal and the room that contains it. The woman herself didn't seem too bad, if a bit strange, but he had a bad feeling about what was using her and would rather not allow such beings free access to this place.
As they fly back into the Eyrie, Sky notices Djuhah strengthening the wards, but makes sure that Blodwen and Keehaar are resting and the chicks are fine before he glides down.
:Hello Djuhah, did something happen while I was gone that is causing you to repower the wards?:
Djuhah continues to refine the protections and wards on the omniportal and the room that contains it. The woman herself didn't seem too bad, if a bit strange, but he had a bad feeling about what was using her and would rather not allow such beings free access to this place.As they fly back into the Eyrie, Sky notices Djuhah strengthening the wards, but makes sure that Blodwen and Keehaar are resting and the chicks are fine before he glides down.
:Hello Djuhah, did something happen while I was gone that is causing you to repower the wards?:
"Ah, Sky, hello. Yes, we had an...interesting visitor while you were gone. A very strange woman. Some sort of high level servant of a deity, but I am not sure which one. She walked through the antimagic forcefield like it wasn't even there. So now I'm trying to tinker with this thing to make it so that we have some real protections against visitors of that sort. And I'm trying to find some way to shield the rest of the Eyrie from all the surprise flying visitors we have been getting lately."
Blodwen makes sure that she gets Keehaar settled into the nest and resting before she shifts into human form and spends some time feeding and cuddling the hatchlings. They were starting to smile a little bit. For all that their noise drove her batty at times, she was glad to back here with them.
Mmmmm.......roadkill
Returning to his human form, Sky stretches and works his mouth for a second.
"So someone got past the field, huh? She can't have meant to do any harm or my... the Eyrie's wards would have slowed her down enough for you, the elementals, and the starhawks to remove her from the Eyrie. Hm, I wonder..."
He waves his hand before himself as if trying to catch something.
"She didn't leave anything behind that I can find at least. Well, once we finish here would you like to meet Nodin ,Notin, Lark and Amiri? I'm getting thoughts from Blodwen showing they've started to smile."
Returning to his human form, Sky stretches and works his mouth for a second.
"So someone got past the field, huh? She can't have meant to do any harm or my... the Eyrie's wards would have slowed her down enough for you, the elementals, and the starhawks to remove her from the Eyrie. Hm, I wonder..."
He waves his hand before himself as if trying to catch something.
"She didn't leave anything behind that I can find at least. Well, once we finish here would you like to meet Nodin ,Notin, Lark and Amiri? I'm getting thoughts from Blodwen showing they've started to smile."
"No, I don't believe she meant any harm. But we've been getting a lot of dangerous visitors lately who could do harm if they wished it. This was just the latest of them. I will feel much better about all of this once the Star Song is restored."
He sighs. "I am still getting nowhere with this. Yes, I do think a break is in order. I would love to meet the young ones."
Beaming, Sky takes flight and soars toward his nest. As he and Djuhah land, the hatchlings start to make strange little gurgles. Momentarily worry flashes on his faces before he starts smiling with pride. He begins to ponit out which hatchling is which to Djuhah.
"This is Nodin and Notin, the twins, and there is Amiri. Blodwen's got Lark over there. And this little starhawk is Keehaar, he's quite the fledgling."
Privately to Djuhah, :Don't mention his parents unless he asks.:
Djuhah smiles at the babies. "May I?" he asks, waiting for Blodwen's nod before picking up Nodin. "Oh, what a beautiful baby." Nodin waves his arms wildly and gurgles.
Blodwen smiles at Sky's momentary panic.
:They are behaving exactly as young ones should, eranoyeh. Here,: she hands Lark to him, and picks up Notin.
:The twins get upset if one of them is being held and the other isn't.:
Peace comes over Sky as he holds one of his 'orphans'. He feels like he is flying to fast to be seen yet to slow to be still flying. Memories, both good and bad, surge to the surface of his mind before he makes a wall of crackling lightning to hold them back. He tries to appear as if nothing happened though, and begins to tickle the little ones with a stray feather, causing more gurgling sounds to echo in the Eyrie.
Hlaawith flies over to the nest to check on the young ones.
:I am glad to see that Keehaar is growing well. And that you are safe. I was concerned when I saw the Herald go streaking out of here earlier. But you are safe and sound, and enjoying your new family I see. The hatchlings look to be growing well. And you look happy, Blodwen. I am glad to see that.:
:Yes, our family is well, and the hatchlings seem to grow faster then they really are, but that could be the lycanthropy,: Sky says as Amiri looks at the strange new arrival with all the interest a baby can muster. The eaglets have taken to staying near a specific baby and playing the weird games of those real little and real young, something almost all species can enjoy.
Blodwen laughs as the eaglet and Notin both tried to bat at a small bell on a string she was dangling in front of the eaglet to play with.
:Yes, our family is doing well, and I am happy here. I thank you for your concern Hlaawith.:
Seeing the hatchlings delight in playing with the small toy, Djuhah conjures up a sturdy mobile with lots of shiny pieces for the little ones to play with.
"Here. A somewhat belated hatching present for the little ones. I hope you will accept this humble gift."
Seeing the hatchlings delight in playing with the small toy, Djuhah conjures up a sturdy mobile with lots of shiny pieces for the little ones to play with.
"Here. A somewhat belated hatching present for the little ones. I hope you will accept this humble gift."
"And so the spoiling of the hatchlings by Uncle Djuhah and Auntie Hlaawith begins!" Sky teases playfully.
"Thank you Djuhah, they will love it."
:All hatchlings should be spoiled once in a while,: Hlaawith says with amusement.
:I brought this for Keehaar,: she adds, dropping a ball she had been clutching in her talons gently next to the exhausted fledgling. :I thought he might enjoy it.:
Ball?!? A freakin BALL!!!! Why not drop some juicy roadkill? It's tasty! Mmmmm....roadkill.
Ball?!? A freakin BALL!!!! Why not drop some juicy roadkill? It's tasty! Mmmmm....roadkill.
:Go back to your roads vulture, and don't come back until you stop smelling of carrion.:
Mmmm.....carrion. Damn it, now I'm hungry!
Privately to Sky,
:Have you told Djuhah about the things that attacked us?:
Privately to Sky,
:Have you told Djuhah about the things that attacked us?:
Privately to Blodwen,
:Not yet. Should we wait until we know more about the figure we saw?: