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Realms: Idlewild Logs

November 30

November 30, 2003

Steven and Seodil depart together into the woods in search of fresh meat for dinner to supplement-- or replace-- the dried elven trail rations that are beginning to take a steep drop in their appeal. The glowing bird that delivered the note inviting the party to the Topaz Chair in the city of Sindinbrigh' appears to be content to stick around, fluttering to Lotte's head after Steven departs. Sol stares at the note in her hands, looking distant.

Aiden gives Soleil a concerned look, "Everything okay, Sol?"

Soleil nods absently, "Mmf. Just thinking..."

Lotte sits very still as the bird perches on her head. She very carefully offers the bird her index finger, hoping it won't bite.

Chriping brightly, the bird of light hops peacefully onto Lotte's finger.

Aiden leans in closer to Sol, speaking quietly, "Should we go talk to Frangipani and see if maybe she can ease our minds about.. this.."

Lotte lowers her finger and looks at the bird closely, wondering if it is trying to signal some unfinished business.

Ghost eyes the bird and whuffs dismissively. The bird itself gives Lotte a pretty, vacant look and just sits patiently on her finger, glowing.

Soleil winces at Aiden and reluctantly meets his eyes. "...Probably, yes."

Aiden nods, and stands, offering his hand to Soleil. "C'mon. Sooner we find out, the sooner we can either move on or figure out what to do, right?"

Lotte shrugs and strokes the bird's back gently. She looks up as Aiden stands.

Aiden says, "Lotte, we need to talk to Frangipani about something. Are you okay here or do you want to come a bit closer to the tower, just in case?"

Not quite cringing, Soleil uses Aiden's hand to lever herself up. She looks at Lotte and offers her the note. "Would you keep this? I don't really have pockets..."

Lotte says, "No, I'll stay here." She stands and takes the letter with her free hand, then sits again. "Sure, I'll keep it in my pocket." As an afterthought, she adds, "Good luck."

Aiden nods, "Thanks.." He heads off towards the tower, in nervous silence.

Aiden waits until Soleil is next to him, then knocks quietly on the door, a little worried that interrupting her might have harmful side effects to his health.

After a few minutes pass, there is still no response to the gentle knock.

Aiden looks at Sol, "Should I knock louder?"

Sol says, "We summoned her before with the bell." She looks nervous.

Aiden knocks again, a bit more loudly this time.

Minutes pass again without the door opening. Soleil looks unhappily at the bell. "D'you think we should...?"

Aiden frowns, "She said to knock.. she didn't say ring. I don't want to startle her if she's doing something.. delicate."

Echoing the frown, Sol starts to say "Oh..." as the door swings open and an irritable mage looks out. "What? I'm working, here."

Aiden winces, "I'm really sorry, Ma'am. We.. just wondered if you could tell us something.."

"Well? What? Spit it out, boy." Frangipanni taps her small sandalled foot.

Aiden blushes deeply, his eyes focusing on the ground underneath him. The words come out in a rush, "Sol might be pregnant, we want to make sure he's not before you take the tiara off."

Frangipanni's eyebrows fly up, and her irritation melts in a sardonic grin. "Oho. Tried it from both angles, now, did we?"

Aiden coughs suddenly. "Er.. yes."

Soleil looks mortified, but nods. She adds, softly, "Please. I'm scared, lady mage."

Aiden's heart constricts painfully at that admission of fear.

Frangipanni softens a little at that, and peers thoughtfully at Soleil's middle for a moment before pulling a clear crystal out of a pouch at her waist and touching it to Sol's stomach, pulling the elf's shirt up to reach skin. Sol makes a startled sound and stays put, forehead wrinkled and worried.

The little brown mage looks intently at the crystal, then puts it away and steps back. "Well. Congratulations, kids."

Aiden winces, clenching his jaw, a half-dozen things running through his head at once, most of them curse words.

Soleil flinches hard, looking quickly at Aiden and then back at her feet again.

Aiden looks like he's at a complete loss. He nods to Frangipani.

Frangipanni looks at the pair quizzically. "Oh. We didn't want to be pregnant right now, I take it. ...But we very much are."

Aiden nods at Frangipani again, "Thanks for checking.." He looks over at Sol.

The mage nods kindly. "You're welcome, kid. Let me know if you two require.. further assistance, eh? I'll be getting back to your first orders, now." She closes the door.

Aiden walks about four steps away, just enough to get out of the way of the tower's turning, then sits down heavily.

Sol looks at Aiden with eyes so pale they're daffodil rather than gold, shading toward ginger ale. She stands, hands clenching and unclenching at her sides.

Aiden looks up at Sol, shaking his head from side to side slowly, "I'm so sorry."

Sol looks back at Aiden mutely for awhile before finding her voice. "My fault, too..." She trails off, then says "Now what?" Her hands drift to her stomach.

Aiden sighs softly, "I don't know.."

Soleil says, bluntly, "Do you want it?" Her own preference is not at all clear.

Aiden puts his head in his hands, "Sol. I love you completely, but children were never something I'd planned for my life. You're the one that has to carry it, though, so your opinion on it holds much more weight than mine."

Soleil sighs heavily, and says "There's some time to think, yet. Let's go back to camp, love." Moving wearily, she steps to where Aiden is seated and offers him her hand.

Aiden takes Sol's hand mutely, and gets up, following her back to camp.

Steven is at the camp already, helping to dress and prepare a deer for dinner. Hunting with Seodil was quite pleasant, there wasn't any antagonism at all.

Aiden sits down when the reach the camp, his back resting against a tree. He stares into the fire, quiet.

Lotte looks up from the bird on her finger as Soleil and Aiden return. She studies them for some sign of a verdict, but cannot read either expression.

Sol goes to offer help preparing dinner, and busies her hands with that for some time.

Lotte takes a hint from the silence and puts the bird down before pulling out her guitar to practice some spells.

If Seodil notices anything odd in the air, he doesn't comment on it, reserving his attention for the deer.

The bird tilts its tiny head at Lotte, then when she finishes a song, opens its beak and pours out a perfect recording of it.

Lotte looks strangely at the bird, then looks around to see if anyone else noticed its behavior.

Soleil blinks at the bird, having definitely noticed. "Lotte? What did you do?"

Steven unfortunately did not notice it. Dressing a deer is hard work, and he thought that Lotte had just been practicing the same song twice.

Lotte says, "I don't know, Sol. I don't think I did anything. That bird just repeated my entire song back to me!"

Lotte plays another song, then waits for the bird to mimick her.

Aiden grabs the three empty waterskins that he's been carrying. He stands up and says, to no one in particular. "I'm going to go and fill these. I won't be long." He wanders off in the direction of the stream that he saw in the woods.

The bird sits there in silence.

Lotte frowns and tries again, singing the first song that the bird responded to.

There is still no birdic response to the bardic attempt.

Steven is watching Lotte and the bird curiously as he finishes dressing the deer, setting out portions on broad, flat leaves and trying to estimate how much they'll eat and how much they can sell to the mage.

Lotte looks up at Sol. "Huh. I wonder what's going on?" She picks up the bird in her palms and looks closely at it, as though that would help.

Sol sits next to Lotte, watching the bird with interest. "What did you do last time you made it sing?"

Seodil, near Steven, glances over at the bird with a faint worried look, starts to open his mouth, then closes it again.

Aiden walks off to the stream, then sits down beside it, dropping the still-empty canteens beside him, "Well. Good one, Aiden. This officially goes down as the dumbest fucking thing you've ever done. Can't believe you were so stupid and thoughtless.."

Lotte says, "I had it sitting on my finger, then put it down..." She puts the bird down. "...Then I played my song, and it sang back to me." She sings a refrain from the song."

Sol winces at nothing visible, then says quickly and a little too cheerfully, "Oh! So maybe it'll do it again now, if..." she trails off and just watches the bird. After a few moments of silence pass, the bird opens its mouth and sings both Lotte's refrain-- and then mimics Sol's words exactly, before going silent again.

Steven looks in satisfaction at the amount of meat they can sell to Frangipani, then blinks at the bird. "Uhm, wow. That's a talented sparrow....

Lotte makes a happy squeak, then picks the bird up again and says, "Hello!" She then puts the bird down and waits to see what happens.

Seodil leans over to Steven and says quietly, "Might as well cook it all before we give it to her... she may not want a carcass that's sat raw overnight."

"Hello!" says the bird in Lotte's voice, after a few moments' wait as usual to be sure that the message is complete.

Steven glances curiously to Seodil, and nods a bit. "Ah.. right. Think you could help me carry it up to her place after cooking it?

Seodil nods immediately to Steven, "Certainly." He falls silent, watching the bird experiments a bit warily.

Lotte giggles happily, then picks the bird up again and sings, "Helloooooo there!" She then puts the bird down and points to where Steven and Seodil are cooking.

The bird carols out Lotte's latest when set down, but does not move.

Steven blinks as the bird chirps -- no talks to them, in a perfect rendition of Lotte's voice, and glances to Seodil. "What... what is it, anyway?"

Lotte frowns slightly, then says simply, "Go there," and points to Steven.

Seodil shrugs. "It's a messenger."

The bird stays put.

Steven nods slowly. Then what is it that bothers you about it? he thinks, but doesn't verbalize it yet. He'll wait for when they're away from the bird.

Aiden stays where he is for quite a long time. Finally, he fills the canteens carefully from the stream, scubs at his eyes angrily, and splashes a bit of water on his face, drying it with his sleeve before he goes back to camp.

Lotte says hopefully, "Go left."

No reaction. The bird watches Lotte intently.

Lotte rests her chin in her hand and stares at the bird. "Does anyone know what to do with this thing?"

Aiden comes back into the camp, strapping the now full canteens onto his backpack, then sits back down, quietly watching what's going on.

Seodil says reluctantly, "I believe they respond to names, not directions."

Lotte asks, "Names? Like if I say, 'Go to Steven?'"

Seodil nods, as the bird does not move.

Sol says, "What if you pick it up first?" She does not appear to have noticed Aiden's return.

Lotte picks up the bird and says, "Go to Soleil."

The bird visibly hesitates, turning its head to look at Soleil, and twitches as though it wants to move but isn't sure.

Soleil winces and says, "Let me try? Lotte, what's your full name? All of it, the ones they gave you at birth?"

Lotte looks almost confused at the question, realizing that she hasn't thought of her full name or her home in a long time. She stumbles over the answer, "Lotte Amber Henderson."

Sol gently takes the bird, stares at it and says, "Hello, Lotte." Putting it down neatly beside her, she adds, "Go to Lotte Amber Henderson."

The bird flits neatly to Lotte's knee and says, "Hello, Lotte," in Sol's voice. Soleil beams.

Lotte looks relieved to have figured the bird out. "What is your full name, Sol?"

Sol winces again and says, "I'd rather not say if you don't mind, right now... you can use full names to curse, or to find people. If the right person is listening for it, they could find us if I said my full name-- the wind would carry it to them. Since the Summer Court seems to be thinking about using us as a game-piece already, I'd rather not make it easier for anyone else to find us yet." She sighs at the fire. "I'll tell you when we get there, if you like... though I'm not proud of it anymore. The family name hasn't done good things in the past several decades."

Lotte nods and gives Sol a sympathetic look. "I understand."

Aiden says quietly, "Doesn't mean that it won't in the future. Just means that you have one more hurdle to jump over to prove yourself."

Steven clears his throat a bit. "Dinner's on. It'll take a bit to cook the rest, but that can cook while we eat."

Sol smiles gratefully at Lotte and sniffs the air. "Smells really good, Steven, Seodil... is it done yet? -oh!"

Sol's reaction to Aiden is stronger; she jerks to look at him, startled, then smiles like she's trying not to cry.

Lotte says boisterously," I'm starving! Let's eat!"

Aiden stays where he is, leaned up against the tree, eyes half-closed, his whole demeanour turned inwards.

Steven divides up the portions, serving the venison, though he casts a glance at Aiden and wonders if throwing a steak at him will get him to join the group.

Soleil takes one and walks it over to Aiden. "Dinner?" She kneels, holding it out.

Aiden shakes his head, "Save me a bit, I'll eat later. I have no appetite."

The appeal of lobbing a loin at Aiden increases for Steven.

Aiden whispers, "I'll be fine, Sol. We'll be okay. I just need time to clear my head, alright?"

Sol nods once and leaves Aiden alone immediately, walking back to the fire to sit and stare at the meat in her hands.

Lotte eats her dinner next to Sol, trying to radiate quiet support.

Steven reaches over and places another broad leaf on top of the steak Sol holds. "It'll keep for him," he says quietly. "Give it time."

Sol gives Lotte a small, grateful look. She nods at Steven's words, then asks him softly, "May I have your full name? It could be useful if we need to use the bird as a messenger, and I don't think anyone would know yours to be looking for them."

Steven blinks to Sol. "My,uh, full name?" He starts to look embarrassed. "Uh.. well, I was in the orphanage a while, and they gave me a confirmation name so it's four names, but... erm...." He sighs a bit. "Steven Anselm Harrison Kananga

Lotte pauses from eating to say, "Don't be embarassed, Steven. That's a very nice name."

Sol nods, "Thank you," and goes back to not eating.

Steven smiles a bit. "Thank you< lotte. I'm unsure abotu if I should keep the confirmation name... but Anselm's been part of my name for so long I suppose I should keep it. And you're welcome, Sol...."

Seodil quite clearly has no intention of volunteering his, and Sol doesn't even try to ask. She does start tossing the bird at people, gently, whispering their names and short messages-- though she leaves Aiden out of it.

On one toss to Steven, the monk moves out of the way and the bird lands on Seodil's startled, upraised hand...

In a strange woman's rich, cultured voice, the bird abruptly says "Deosil Averet. Clairchiare has not been told."

Aiden's head snaps up at that.

Seodil flings the bird straight into the fire in a horrified reflex snap of his hand to get it off him, landing half-sprawling on his back.

Aiden winces. "Well.. That explains why he looked like someone punched him."

The silver elf slowly sits back up, looking frozen.

Lotte shrieks as the bird goes into the fire, but then moves her gaze to see Seodil sitting up from the ground.

The normally pale elf has gone a bloodless white under the stark sheet of his hair, lips pressed into a tight thin line. He stares at the fire where the bird entered it.

Aiden watches, sympathetically. He doesn't trust himself to speak, though. He stands, and moves closer to the warmth of the fire, sitting down next to Sol.

Lotte stares at Seodil silently, not knowing what to think.

Sol looks a bit happier at Aiden's return, and silently offers him a piece of leaf-wrapped deer. She seems oblivious to Seodil's reaction, not looking at the silver elf.

Aiden takes a quick mouthful of the deer. "Was that the Princess?"

Ghost looks at Seodil, head tilted and expression oddly distant. The small wolf looks puzzled, if a wolf face can express that emotion.

Seodil nods and says softly, "I believe that is what she would sound like as an adult."

Sol quietly starts eating.

Aiden nods, "Well. At least she was kind enough not to give that bit of information away."

Seodil winces.

Lotte pipes up, "What bit of information?"

Aiden looks around at Lotte and Steven. "Oh, please, tell me I'm not the only one who caught the last names."

Bitterly, the silver elf says "It seems I have a brother awaiting us in Summer, Lotte."

Lotte pulls the letter out from her pocket and reads the signatures, then nods. "Deosil."

Seodil twitches.

Steven blinks, slowly. "But... your name isn't Deosil...."

The silver elf says, "They reversed my name when I came to Winter. For... a change of luck, and a turning of coats."

Steven nods a bit, wincing.

Aiden says, "I assume you're wanting to keep it reversed, then?"

Seodil shrugs. "I've had this one for more decades than I have fingers and toes, now. I'd prefer to keep something constant, yes."

Aiden nods, "Fair enough."

Lotte says, "Will your brother know about you, Seodil?"

Seodil sighs and sounds somewhere between angry and wistful. "I do not know. From what Lady Seulement said... it is possible that he does not. She did not say what exactly it is that he does not know. There is a great deal not to know, and it would have been helpful..." he sighs again, looking rather lost as he stares into the fire.

Steven sniffs a bit, then nods, "I'll go take the meat to the mage." Seodil helps him to pack up the extra meat, and goes with Steven to the horitzontal tower. There, he rings the bell, waiting patiently for her. He doesn't ask Seodil what had made him leery of the bird before; he has a feelingit's already been revealed.

The mage appears promptly and eyes the meat. "Smells great, boys. Let go, it'll float on in. I've gold for you--" she hands a small but heavy bag over to Steven-- "and I want you to tell Aiden and Soleil something, eh? Can you do that for me?"

Seodil blinks and lets Steven do the talking.

When the silver elf releases the meat he's carrying, it does indeed fly itself into the tower.

Steven blinks, as the meat floats neatly into the tower. That is such a neat trick! He nods to her quickly, accepting the bag. "Of course, ma'am, certainly...."

Frangipanni grins and says "Tell 'em that the container to keep the key safe is coming along well, and don't forget this part-- tell them that I can make a container to hold anything safe until the owner wants to retrieve it. That's my specialty and I'll stand by it."

Steven blinks, getting it -- or thinking he's getting it -- immediately. "I'll be certain to telll them that, ma'am, I think they'll be glad to hear it!

The mage nods, satisfied, and shuts the door again.

Steven heads back posthaste to the encampment, and doesn't waste any time in trying to get Sol's and Aiden's attention: "The mage said, that the container for the... key is coming along well, and she should have it done on schedule." He does pause, however. "She also said that she can make a container to hold anything safe until the owner wants to retrieve it. She said it's her specialty and that she stands by it."

Aiden nods, forehead creasing in thought, "Thank you, Steven." He shoots a look at Soleil, eyebrows raised.

Sol's face has more light now than it's held all day.

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Last modified: 2001-Jun-12 14:20:21

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