| Heartwood Logs |
2000-04-30b
| Heartwood |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
 |
By the Camp Fire On the Way to Bordertown
- The night is cold and dark, the trailside fire sparkling
against the night sky. In all directions the High Tarn seems to stretch
forever, while above the stars can be seen darting between high altitude
wisps of clouds. Anuje, Trystan, Benedict, and Roxanna are but curled
shadows on the ground while Brisa keeps watch in the night. She is not
alone however. Romana sits all wrapped up in thick gray furs, every now
and then slipping a hand out to warm before the fire. She seems entranced
by the open landscape, the open sky. Her gaze darts, as if to count the
sentinel stones and each and every one of the stars above.
Brisa smiles quietly at Romana's obvious enjoyment of the night. She's pleased the girl at least has some warm wrappings... she doesn't interrupt the girl's reverie, patiently fletching arrows as she sits watch. Eventually Brisa's activity captures the girl's attention. Drawing her knees up, still beneath her cascade of furs, she rests her chin upon her knees and just watches, intent. Brisa is still smiling as she works, but quietly moves things a bit so they can be easily seen by an observer. She'll continue working for a bit, then murmur in a quiet, companionable tone, "Never been out in the night alone? Never seen fletching before?"
Romana shakes her head, her long hair flying loose. "Home is mountains tall, yes? And making of arrows, that is not taught to Romanas. Never see so far, so flat, or sky without walls of stone. And never saw stars from here. Yesterday, was elsewhere."
Brisa looks up to the sky, still smiling, and murmurs softly, "Ah, the stars... they're my battle sisters..." she looks back at Romana, her eyes shining in the firelight, "-they watch over Her folk." She tilts her head and asks curiously, "Do you know what the word 'I' means?"
Romana grumbles, quiet, and she looks back. "Too small, too short, how can anyone fit all of someone into such a little bark? Not right, wrong. Should call one by name, Romana for day by day, Romanashkahs when stand formals, Romana'hak when angry, Romishka when friend, Rommicat when feeling like little Romana and like catishkas play. How can fit all into single short bark? If... if Romanas knew starbredkillers' name, never insult starbredkiller by treating what called so light."
Brisa blinks in astonishment at Romana, "All those are your..." then gets a rather shocked, embarrassed look, "I... didn't I tell you my..." She blushes slightly in the firelight, "Schto?! I don't think I did!" She sets her arrow and fletchings down, then does a sort of seated half bow-half nod, "Um... I'm probably going to get it wrong, but uh..." she says the word slowly and carefully, "Romanashkahs, I am Brisa... I am pleased to meet you, and very sorry for forgetting my manners. It..." she looks sheepish, "-has been a... long day... well... I was stupid. I'm sorry."
"Brisa... Brisa Brisa Brisa..." Romana shrugs, trying out Brisa's name, tasting the new word upon her tongue. "Very short, very strong. And is fine. Romana understands. Not take bad. With Friends name important, and not give to just anybodies. Romana knows that with others, some same importance has. Romana not speak Romana's name to anybodies... but when no trust..." She smiles, "Somebodies have first speak?"
Brisa looks confused again, "Um... I'm sorry, I don't understand that. What is a first speak, please?"
Romana's answer is a simple one, "First to offer names."
Brisa nods, then thinks about that again for a while..."So... is that why you have so many names? Because your people have um... true names?"
Romana nods, "Everybodies have. Even if know nots."
Brisa says, "Huh." She thinks about that for a while again, then says curiously, "How do you find out what your true name is?"
"Brisa know when hears Brisa's, Romanas know when hears Romana's." She returns her chin to her knees. "Friends and study of Friends teach how to find names. The more powerful, easier it is, like seeing bright sun over hills. Mortalish folks so quickly live, finding true name near impossibles."
Brisa says, "Huh... fascinating." She thinks a bit, then says gently, "Romana... you do realize using words like I or you here in the Heartwood isn't an insult, yes? -that you might want to try learning our language well if you want to live here easily?"
Romana blinks, suddenly skittering back, "But Romana not wish to ever ever go the Heartwood."
Brisa looks puzzledly at Romana, "Um... this is the Heartwood you're in, Romana... that's what we call it. Er... are you thinking perhaps of the Dirkwood? That's a different place name, to the folk that live here?" Once again the girl violently shakes her head. Frowning, she reaches out and snares a loose branch from the fire. As she does she almost tumbles from her furs, her attention now centered. She scribbles upon the ground...
The map she draws is a familiar one, to the east a line of mountains, tall sharp angles. Beneath to the west a large billowing form, where the Dirkwood be, and a second where one would find Roth. A single line then stretches down, a trail leading to a jagged line, the western coast. A second long oval is then drawn further east of the mountains.
Serious, now only a too-loose chemise protecting her from the cold, Romana stabs out at her map. The big oval, "Sea of Pearls," The western coast, "Sea of Opals." Where the trail meets the coast, "Port of Lys." Halfway up the trail, "Silk Creek and the Bloody Bridge." The little woods, "His Forest." The big forest, "The Heartwood."
Brisa stares in fascination, then murmurs softly, "His Forest? Not Hers?"
Sitting back, Romana quickly draws her warm furs back around her. She places her fingers upon her lips, shushing. "He Who Is Not To Be Named."
Brisa's eyes widen as she realizes what Romana's drawn, "Oh Romana! That... that is the Port of Lys?" She draws her breath in sharply, then leans over the map, frantically trying to figure out where precisely it is on the crude map..."You know where it is? Do you know where... where the Dall Gwynn is? Or Caer Maiyin? the Starwatch Reaches, or Wolf's Gate?" The words tumble from her lips longingly, all places she's yearned to go but never thought to find.
Romana listens, her eyes sparkling. "Dall Gwynn, Starwatch Reaches Romana knows not, just tales whispered in dark shadows. Caer Maiyin easy is." Her stick stabs out to a place near the Sea of Pearls on the Eastern side of her map. "Proudest city, largest, strongest, in Romanas' home. Though not as pretties as Kh'Lhy'ra of the Thousand Rainbow Towers. Wolf's Gate, somewhere here. But Romanas not go there. Wolfs be there." She stabs the center of her map where the Skaefla Plateau would be.
Brisa sighs softly, settling back and searching hastily through her backpack for something to write on and with... she'll copy Romana's map as best she can, then set it down so Romana can see it. She's made an effort to draw the map a bit less crudely... she tentatively puts a finger down on the unlabelled Talesan's Village, "Port of Lys?"
Romana nods, "Port of Lys."
Brisa's eyes widen, and she sighs softly again, "Thank you..." and neatly writes it in, in Ancient. She carefully adds everything she can to the map, then looks up hopefully at Romana, "Um... Jeminy's Hill?"
Romana smiles again, leaning over to a place between the Dirkwood Forest and the Mountains, about a quarter of the way to Trundle on the Hill. "There where Jeminy Starbredkiller stood. Always thought sad story though. Little one not much younger than Romanas, never everything to know."
Brisa looks up at the stars, feeling almost overwhelmed with emotion for a moment... her bright sisters swim in a shining blur in her sight, until she blinks rapidly a few times. She feels like her heart is aching, but she whispers quietly in Ancient, "Thank you, Bright Lady... I'll try to be sure this gets back... and I'll do my best to find them all." She takes a very deep, slow breath, then smiles a little shakily at Romana and says in Imperial again, "I... thank you... this means a great deal to me..." She stares at the map again for a bit, almost dazed with the momentousness of this information... then slowly and solemnly writes in Jeminy's Hill in the right place. As she does so she whispers softly, "Kisa... her name was Kisa... it means... I think to you it would be like a baby um... catishka?"
Romana looks back, huddled beneath her furs. "Kisa... pretty name, like Brisa."
Brisa smiles again, then rubs her face, trying to pull herself together, "I... thank you, Romana. Um... Brisa, that's the small, cool mountain breezes..." She blinks again, slowly... then tilts her head at Romana, "What does your name mean? Um... are you warm enough?"
"Romanas warm enoughs, Romanas believes. Furs softer than any blankets too. As for Romana..." The girl pauses, looking up high into the sky. She seeks, then smiles, "See... there... near mountain shadow, pretty star, tinted blue? That Rahmidaylna... sapphire star... Rommi... Romana... Romanashkah."
Brisa looks up curiously... is it a star she knows? The star is but one of many. Poppy used to say that in the Starwatch Reaches a list exists of the names of each and every star. But now, with the cult shattered, that knowledge is equally broken. All Brisa knows is that it is one of her lost sisters... She says slowly, "Rahmidaylna? Is star the 'dayl' part?" She blinks then, "Romana... say 'starbredkiller' in your tongue, please?" She wonders suddenly -- will it sound like Dayalla? And if so... why do their languages have similar sounding words? Brisa shivers suddenly, her voice longing again, "Oh Romana... can you name them? All of them? I don't know if you'll know their names... but maybe at least some of them are remembered so?" She blinks, then laughs softly and ruefully, "I'm sorry, Romana... I have so many questions! I don't mean to be rude, truly... I'll be quiet and let you answer as you will, da?" She suddenly thinks of a new and riveting question and draws breath to ask that one too -- then remembers herself and looks a bit embarrassed. She determinedly starts working on her fletching again, to keep herself busy while she waits for Romana to answer.
Romana nods and smiles, "Starbredkiller... daylna'cor'rishka. The children of stars, tamer of the black steeds. Of all the other stars in sky? Romana know not all their names. Romanas big fish, pretty fish, smart fish, but not that clevers."
Brisa murmurs softly, "Daylna... that's the star part then? It does sound a little like Dayalla... but... why would the two languages have similarities?" She struggles with that thought for a while, then looks puzzled, "Why do you call yourself a fish, Romana?"
Romana looks back, her eyes wide. "Big fish? Is wrong? Like little fish in pond and better fish bigger fish? So Romana a big fish. Or is fishies wrong to compares to?"
Brisa blinks, then grins, "Oh, okay... it's a uh an idiom, not that you're really a fish." She blinks again, remembering her previous pressing question, "Actually... I have one question I've wondered for a very long time..." She hesitates, then asks slowly, "Why... why does the East periodically burst out and attack us?"
Romana shrugs her shoulders, quiet. "Remember what Romanas say? In East, bored easy, and if want do, do?"
Brisa gets a slightly stunned look, "That's... it?! They got... bored?!" she draws a breath, then shakes her head bemusedly, "I... this doesn't make sense! It -- how can we have common word sounds? And... how can Caer Maiyin be in the East -- if that's where King Yrick is supposed to be from?! -and... and if the Port of Lys is Talesan's Village then... then why weren't the people all wiped out?!" She whispers, "Unless... part of the East used to be part of... the Heartwood? So we're... are we related?" Ghastly thought -- "No... that can't be... can it?"
Romana slowly shake her head. "Not bored... to start... bored to end... to start... Kh'Lhy'ra a thousand Towers, each a prince. Caer Maiyin, Triah'am, Ghor'ke... all a thousand princes, each all doing what want do. Getting all to do one thing... like herding catishkas." Romana looks to Brisa and shrugs again. "Romanas think not. Nothing in mortalish world is ever that simple."
Brisa looks slowly up at Romana from her fixed stare at the map she's drawn... she still looks stunned, as if she's been hit with too many things at once, but she blinks, trying to fathom Romana's words, "The city... the city by Trundle, it's -- each tower is its own city?"
Romana shakes her head. "No, each a Family."
The Hunter's Moon rises high in the night sky, casting his silver
light across the rolling hills of the High Tarn. The soft illumination
adds to the warm firelight as Brisa and Romana continue their late night
conversation. A scribbled diagram has been inscribed in the ground next
to the fire, a long stick lying next to it. Romana sits, knees drawn
up, hidden beneath a number of thick gray furs. Brisa is across from
her, caught between shock and question. Their conversation does not go
unnoticed however, their companion stirring in their rest. Or perhaps
not yet fallen asleep, their attention now caught by the strange girl's
strange tales.
Benedict listens as he lies within his bedroll, looking into the dancing fire. O Hastur, I thank you for blessing us with this knowledge, he silently prays. I thank you for revealing the hidden Truth to us, for lifting the scales from our eyes. Pause. Now if you could show us the knowledge we'll need to survive all this, I think we'd be doing fairly well, all in all...
Brisa stares silently into the dancing firelight, trying to figure things out... finally she says slowly, "So... the Eastern princes stop fighting because they're bored? -but... why do they start fighting?" Anuje yawns and stretches, listening.
Romana looks back, her shoulders shrugging. "Why nots? Not enough this, not enough that, not enough sparklings, someone says look, they have, let's take... why fights always start?"
Roxanna chuckles, sitting up in her bedroll. "Sounds like they start because they're bored, too."
Brisa looks bewildered again, "They... they're just looting?! All those deaths, all that blood... did it never occur to them to try trade?!"
Anuje says quietly, "Killing is probably less boring than trading." Brisa blinks at Anuje... then looks revolted.
Benedict lifts himself up onto one arm, grimacing. "I hate to say it, but that'll hardly go far towards improving Imperial-Easterner relations..."
Brisa stares down at the little map scratched into the dirt... then looks up again tiredly, "Boredom. That's it."
"Is true. Trading, something done for work. The bloody bloody death for reputation and power." Romana looks back, and then looks down. "Stories based in truth, yes? Romana cannot say not true."
Brisa murmurs wearily, "What stories? The old ones you mentioned before?"
Roxanna shakes her head. "The Easterners are insane, we knew that before."
"If can take, take. All that it means, Brisa." Romana looks away, her head downcast. Brisa sighs softly, looking down at her hands... then grimly goes back to fletching her arrows.
Benedict looks to Roxanna. "If it's one thing I've seen as an Eye," he says softly, "-is that what we think we know isn't always true. Even what we see and hear ourselves isn't necessarily true." He sighs and lies back on his blanket. "But the Easterners seem to... think a whole lot differently than we do..."
The shadows on Anuje's features dance in the firelight as she asks, "Romana... can I ask how old you are?"
Romana looks back towards Anuje, reaching up to brush her bangs from her eyes. "Olds, not olds... what is... seventeen eighteen passings of the seasons?"
Anuje blinks. "And you spent ten years of that working for this Master? Is that the One That Won't Be Named?"
Brisa looks up quietly, "So, Romana... do you or don't you wish to try fitting in better here? You don't have to use- stars!" She sighs, "I don't believe we've all introduced ourselves... Romana, that is Benedict, Roxanna, Anuje, and you've already met Trystan, sleeping over there." Benedict smiles quietly and nods to Romana as he's introduced. Roxanna nods and untangles herself from her bedroll. She fetches her balalaika and sits near the fire, tuning it and humming quietly to herself.
Romana starts and then blinks, looking at each as they are introduced. "Benny-benedicts... Roxannas... Anuje... And I Romana. Good to meet, yes?" Romana says each name brightly, enjoying just the sounds of their names -- then to Anuje she says, "No no no... only red scarves have Him their Master... and Brisa... Romanas need to know, yes?"
Brisa nods quietly to Romana, "Yes... I think you do. The point I was making was that you don't have to use 'I' or 'you' if you don't like it... but unless you don't mind making a target of yourself when you do that, I can't recommend talking as if you're translating directly from um... Eastern? -or whatever your language is called?"
Romana is distracted for a moment, her attention very easily stolen by Roxanna's instrument. She smiles very, very brightly, "Roxanna Romanys? Sing Romanys bright? Dancing toos?" Turning back, Romana stops, caught. "Would try. Just... just... not many words."
Roxanna smiles back at Romana. "Well, I know a few songs that are supposed to be Romany, but I'm not one myself." She strums one that is supposed to belong to the nomads.
Brisa quietly ties off the fletching on an arrow, then examines it carefully by the firelight. Once she's convinced it's straight and true, she sets it aside, "It's all right, Romana... you're smart, I'm sure you'll learn. However... I think I should suggest to you some words you shouldn't use..." She looks quietly and directly at Romana, "Like starbredkiller... you don't want to talk about them in public... or even associate yourself with them."
Anuje climbs out from under her bedroll and walks barefoot, quite silently, over to her horse and away from the fire. She steps to the other side after giving it a quick pet. Benedict pulls himself up again, sitting cross-legged by the fire as Roxanna begins to play. Brisa watches Anuje quietly, then looks around alertly... she doesn't want anything sneaking up on any of them due to a lack of vigilance on her part. Nodding, Romana's head slowly begins to bob to the bright music. "Then what do, need to say, and worns hide?"
Brisa gives Romana a confused look again, "Um... run that by me again, please? What worn hide?"
"Worns... oh words -- words hide." Romana frowns again, petulant. "What do, when needs to say, but only one and one and one words have?"
Brisa says, "Ah, what to say when you don't have the words for it?" She sighs softly, then says bluntly, "Ask for the words in private... and don't talk in public." Benedict tilts his head to the side, listening. Romana looks about and then quickly covers her mouth with both hands and nods emphatically.
Roxanna says, "We, however, do not count as public."
Brisa says, "I'm sorry, Romana... I know it doesn't sound like much 'funs,' I'm sure... but... I'd rather you not get killed by accident." Her voice is gentle as she adds, "You... like me in some ways, I think... don't fit here very well."
Smiling, Romana wraps her arms about her fur covered knees. "Good. Roma... Rom... I likes talking with nice folks, yes? Can not asks, no learns. " She then pauses, struck suddenly. Then she smiles, "Rom... I likes that."
Anuje walks silently back from the perimeter, looking a bit more comfortable. She settles down cross-legged on her bedroll. Brisa looks up inquiringly at Anuje, "You all right, kisa?"
Anuje nods. "Just shedding my manhood." She grins, eyes sparkling.
Brisa laughs at Anuje's comment! -then grins at Romana, "Good for you. Personally I thought Rommicats was pretty, but then it's your name to say."
Roxanna grins at Anuje. "About time. I don't think you fooled anyone here, except maybe Trystan."
Brisa grins at Roxanna, "Well... we were rather up close... and I expect it's tough to hide when your tunic's been slashed open?"
Anuje shrugs. "Fooled enough people to help me get a few 'errand boy' jobs." Benedict blinks up at Anuje briefly but has seen that she was female before and so doesn't draw further attention to her from him.
Roxanna just grins. "Now that wouldn't have bothered us anyway. If you're more comfortable that way in town we won't give you away. But you can't fool your healer, you know."
Anuje nods. "If I'd been a little quicker, I wouldn't have had need of your wonderful help."
Brisa nods in agreement with Roxanna, smiling quietly as she goes back to fletching her arrows... then looks up at Romana again, "Actually... I have a question, Romana. You do know not to um... to call your friends in town, right?"
Romana just gives Brisa a look, "Of course not. Friends always called alone. Not understand Friends here. Besides, if get loose, would hurt Brisa, Benedict, Anuje and Roxanna pretty singer. Romana not want that." Anuje glances from Brisa to Romana, curious of the answer. Benedict shivers slightly at the mention of 'Friends.'
Anuje says, "Uhm... Brisa? What do you mean by 'calling friends'?" Roxanna raises an eyebrow, but continues playing and doesn't say anything.
Brisa grins quietly and continues fletching... then looks up at Anuje, "Um... well, if I understand correctly, it's... small creatures -- sometimes big ones -- from other places, to aid you. We do it too, sometimes."
Romana looks down, very, very sheepish. "Friends. From elsewhere. Some bright, some smart, some angry, some hungry. If strong, can make Friends do what wants. Romana just asks." Benedict cringes slightly. And dealing with "Friends" is something that Eyes of Hastur among the priesthood are singularly under-equipped to deal with. Perfect.
Anuje sighs with a bit of relief. "I thought you meant Friends."
Brisa gives Anuje an inquiring look, "I... I'm not sure what you mean, kisa?"
Anuje says, "I mean... like the big, black thing Romana was worried was going to have her for lunch."
Romana looks back and frowns. "That one Father's friend."
Brisa says, "Ah!" She glances at Romana, then nods to Anuje, "I think the term 'friend' is used a little um... loosely in that case, kisa... and I suspect Romana has no interest in calling that one."
Anuje nods. "That's good to hear... uhm... what is 'kisa'?"
Brisa grins at Anuje a little sheepishly herself, "Oh, um... sorry about that, it's just how we talk up in the mountains. It's um... like a baby cat? A... kitten, right." She looks a bit embarrassed, "You just... reminded me of one, that night when we found you... all small and fluffed up and needy with sharp claws and um... well... never mind. Sorry." She busies herself with her fletchings. Roxanna suppresses a grin at Brisa's description. Brisa looks like she's blushing by the firelight.
Romana's head turns, "Neverminds?"
Benedict says, "It means, 'do not worry about it.'"
Anuje blinks. "Uhm... don't be calling me that in town, please?"
Brisa nods sheepishly... then says, "So! um..." She casts about for a change of subject, "-so, Romana, where did your people come from?" Anuje glances at Romana, listening curiously.
"From... from Towers of Kh'Lhy'ra? All family Romanas know there. Romana and Father." Romana looks back, unsure of Brisa's question.
Brisa says, "Um, no, I mean more like um..." she thinks a bit, then says, "Well... our stories say your people came out of the East, over the Black Mountains. I... well, I was wondering where your people say they come from." She blinks, realizing something, then adds, "And... if you don't revere the Lady, why do you draw your map with East up?"
Roxanna chuckles. "They have to draw SOME direction up, Brisa. Why start a new standard?" Anuje laughs.
Brisa says, "But that's just it, Roxy... why are they copying us if they hate us so much?"
Anuje asks curiously, "Do they?"
Benedict says, "Are they copying you? Or are you copying them? How long have your people drawn East to the top of the map, Brisa?"
Brisa gives Benedict an exasperated look, "Benny, we all draw the map that way... what are you talking about, 'my' people?"
Romana just blinks. "But if otherway arounds, maps would not be rightsides right!" She then looks for a moment, and then shrugs. "In Shattering born. Only before Shattering Firstborn and Secondborn Hunters."
Brisa's head swings around sharply to look at Romana, "Who were they, Romana? Who were the Firstborn, and who the Secondborn?"
Anuje cocks her head at Brisa. "Are you a sworder or a scholar?"
Brisa grins at Anuje, "I'm a student!" She chuckles, "A student of life."
Anuje smiles. "Better than being a fool."
Roxanna says, "There is always more to learn. Right, Benedict?"
Romana looks back, and then reaches for her stick again. With a contemplative look she marks three figures in the dirt. The first is a triangle. The second is a complexly broken circle. The third is a caricature of five lines, an equine head. "There. Oldest runics. Forest... Wheel Chaos... Horse."
Benedict blinks and leans over around the fire, looking at the runes. This now, is unutterably fascinating for him.
Brisa smiles quietly to Anuje, "I try." She looks back at Romana's drawings, then nods, "Right... Nature, Chaos, and Order. Firstborn, yes?"
Romana nods. "Yes. Not know Secondborn, except that Secondborn hunts Firstborn. No ones seen Secondborn."
Brisa blinks, then looks startledly at Romana, "You don't... wait, but then..." She falls silent, thinking, then points to the Chaos rune, "That symbolizes your people then?"
Romana smiles brightly, "Yes. Always changing, always new, always look, always seek..."
Benedict says, "Hence, why the go to war because they're 'bored'..."
Brisa nods slowly, thinking... "So... it would seem Order and Chaos battle constantly... I wonder why they can't just coexist?...and... Forest... something's wrong with Nature, but what...?"
Roxanna says, "Order and Chaos are conflicting extremes that need each other. With no change, order is stagnant - with no order, chaos is undirected. I don't know quite how Nature fits in, though."
Brisa says, "Yes, but why killing each other all the time? Don't they ever get tired? It can't be right... I mean, if nothing else, why is the Dirkwood so upset at everyone, you know?"
Anuje yawns. "How does any of that affect where I sleep tomorrow?"
Benedict says, "Does Chaos ever get tired of change? It's Chaos' nature..."
Brisa looks up and smiles faintly at the tired Anuje... then looks at Benedict, "I don't know. All I am thinking is that I for one am tired of friends dying... for no good reason. For boredom! That's not good enough. I want this to be a better place when I go to the stars; to have done some good here! I want..." she pauses, then says slowly, "I... want it to change." She frowns at the runes scratched in the dirt, "I just don't know how yet... so... I keep trying to learn. Maybe someday..."
Benedict nods softly. "I've not had any contact with the Easterners, Brisa," he says quietly. "But I don't blame you feeling that way." He hesitates. "If you see a way to stop it... count me in...?"
Brisa looks up at Benedict in surprise... then smiles slowly, "Spacebo, Benny. That's very kind of you."
Anuje hmms. "Say they've got three ways to have fun...and they just switch between them as they get bored. If you gave them something that was more fun than one of those three ways in exchange for not switching between four ways of fun... maybe that would work?"
Benedict smiles wanly. "I doubt I'd be horribly welcome back at the Temple as it is."
Brisa gives Anuje a confused look, "Um... run that by me again?"
"Depends, Anujishka, if all night talk and wish sleep, maybe end up there? All matters. Even littles..." Romana looks back then, brushing out her long hair with one hand. Then she stops. She just gives Brisa a long, long look. And then finally she reaches up and brushes back her sable mane so that delicate pointed ears show; pretty, exotic, and so Eastern. She then extends one slender hand to Brisa. She leans forward, her furs falling, her chemise slipping from one shoulder. Her eyes are bright as she offers. "Good mornings, Brisa, my name Romanashkah al'Lhrhohnshah."
Anuje starts to answer Brisa and then just looks at Romana for a minute. Brisa gives Romana a startled look -- then blinks and looks again. A bit uncertainly she accepts Romana's proffered hand, speaking carefully and slowly over the unfamiliar syllables, "Good morning, Romanashkah al'... al'Lhro'n'nshah. My name... um... my name's not very impress-" she takes a breath, then lifts her head and says firmly, "My name is Brisa of Highgaard, now of Dayalla. I... am very pleased to know you."
Anuje smiles. Benedict also smiles quietly, tilting his head to the side. Romana shakes Brisa's hand and then slowly sits back. She shrugs her shoulders and smiles. "There. Already. Corlayyan and Daylna'cor'rishka. Friends. Something changed, yes? New. For Brisa."
Brisa thinks about that one for a bit... then smiles quietly, "Yes... I guess so. It's a little start... but... it's a start."
Anuje slips under her blanket and draws it up to her shoulder, listening a bit longer before drifting off to sleep. Brisa is silent for a bit, thinking... then says to Romana, "So... if your gods can hear over here... then... then ours must listen over there too, right? Over the Black Mountains? Are they as feared over there as yours are over here?"
Romana looks back and nods. "If bad, black unicorns come to turn hooves red with blood. Forests never trusted, never never never again."
Brisa nods slowly, "So... your people prefer the mountains, the sea, but not the forest? Any forest?" She whispers thoughtfully, "The black unicorns come... so... does this mean they're being good now...?"
Romana nods quietly, looking off to the north. "Mostly. Mountains pretty though. Single trees can be tamed, many get hungry."
Brisa says, "Do you know why?"
Romana smiles, "If that known, then would come back over pass again. Not think Brisa that wish."
Brisa looks confused, "Um... what? Are you saying that if the Easterners knew why the trees got hungry they'd come back here, where the Dirkwood is?"
Her head bobbing, Romana agrees. "That what Romana say. But not knows."
Brisa drums her fingers quietly on one knee... then looks up hopefully at Benedict, "I don't suppose you know why?"
Benedict bites his lip and shakes his head quietly. "I'm afraid not, Brisa. As much as I want to know more about non-Imperial faiths... I don't know quite enough to answer that."
Brisa says, "Hm. It would seem important, da, to know why Nature fights everyone?"
Benedict says, "Well... Nature fights to defend itself. Same with Chaos and Order..."
Brisa says, "But does it? Think about Rhys, the courier, and how the Dirkwood ate his horse and almost killed him. Why do the Fair Folk fear it? Who are the Fair Folk, for that matter?"
Romana shrugs. "Or just why that Forest angry is." She points, in the general direction of the Dirkwood.
Brisa says, "And what harm did Rhys offer the forest? None, as far as I know..." She nods to Romana, "Exactly, that's what I was wondering. Why?" She blinks, then curiously asks Romana, "Do the Fair Folk appear in the Eastern Lands also?"
Romana shivers, wrapping her arms tight about her. "Fair Folk go wherever fair folk wish."
Brisa nods slowly, "So... it would appear they're feared over there also... which would seem to indicate they're not 'Friends' over there."
Romana just starts. "Nononononononononono! Only fool summons Fair Folk. They come back."
Brisa laughs softly and nods, "Not something you'd want to have come back, no..."
Benedict says wryly, "Not from our experience..."
Roxanna snorts. "As we know full well ourselves."