| Logs |
2011 March 07
| Neverneverwhere |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
 |
| Realms: Taps Logs |
Rollin' on the River
After the wedding in Chicago, the caravan hires on with King Roy as escort and guard back to his hometown of Baton Rouge. Sna'thaid, the dreaded White Dagger, is also contracted to train Roy's bodyguards to be better at their jobs -- and to train the king himself in how not to make that job harder than it has to be. It's in the early days of that trip downriver that it's discovered the girl Mary, whom Dominic and Chanticleer brought back from the entertainment engagement outside Chicago, is a Water Tap -- not an Earth Tap as first suspected. Roy, being king of a riverside city, offers to take the girl on, saying there are Taps in his court who can train the girl with her abilities.
During the trip Sna'tha does her best to get as much training packed in as she can -- after all, there's nothing like a long trip by boat to make sure her pupils can't really go much of anywhere. Chanticleer has never been completely at ease over water -- armor, even leather and bronze armor, doesn't do the knight any favors when he falls into the drink. Still, he is at ease, and uses the opportunity to train as well with Sna'tha and the guards. By the end of the third week the guards are starting to get used to the long hours and hard work. Roy is making progress, but he's not quite as disciplined as his men -- plus he's getting quite impatient to be back in his city. He's been gone for over a month now, and no monarch likes to leave their domain in the hands of someone else for so long a time.
He also makes no bones about wanting more time with Suraksha, which he's not getting due to both the training, and Suraksha's own busy schedule with the caravan on the enormous barge that's carrying it and moving along down the river with Roy's own riverboat. Jacko, Roy's guard captain, keeps a very close eye on his liege, making sure the king doesn't do anything silly like try somehow to sneak over to the barge in the night. In the sparse free time they have, Roy tends to lean against the forward rail of the Proud Mary and watch the movement on the barge, his least grumpy moments coing when he and his lady-love catch sight of one another. The roguish king isn't shy at all about blowing her kisses when that happens.
Suraksha, for her part, always beams and waves back delightedly with a return blown kiss and a laugh. She loves seeing him as well, after all! She misses him, but has been through Sna'tha's training and knows it is probably going to be critical at some point in keeping the impetuous king alive. For that, she'll put up with being a bit lonely at night -- mostly.
Suraksha has also, of course, all the million and one other things to attend to in maintaining a caravan, and she enjoys herself in the doing of them. Slowly but surely over the past weeks the wagons, tack, and costumes have all gotten spruced up and repaired. Perhaps her least favorite job is helping to muck out the barge on the days they spend docked and exercising the animals. Even there, though, she pitches in with a rueful grin and a bandanna tied over her mouth and nose, just like everyone else. Roy isn't very patient with the docking days either, but doesn't complain or growl about them too much. He knows the animals need the care.
On the barge, Mary plays with the other children amongst the caravaneers and learns a little bit of their life. She's a bright child, but poorly socialized and easily frightened by even gentle and well-meant teasing; her short life so far has not taught her to trust. At night she stays with Sabrina or Del. Suraksha quietly makes sure Mary starts getting the same classes as the other children: the rudiments of reading, writing and 'rithmatic.. and the beginnings of the tumbling classes all the children take -- which just happen to also teach how to wriggle out of the grasp of an attacker. Once they reach Baton Rouge the girl will be taught other things in the royal court there.
The girl has her very basic letters to start and picks up the reading and maths quite quickly. She has a very hard time, however, not panicking when someone is grabbing for her during tumbling practice. Suraksha tries to mitigate that by being there for one of the classes so she can be the demonstration person and Mary can see no harm comes to the children regardless of which side they're on. The small woman is encouraging and careful and she later introduces the young Tap to the equally timid Fantine, thinking perhaps the gentle loogaroo will help Mary build confidence more easily than the sometimes-brusque Del.
Dominic was taken aback when Roy so grandly offered to give Mary a place and proper tutelage. Which is not to say he was ungrateful -- he took off his hat and spoke respectfully and everything. But maybe there was a small portion of him that was... disappointed. Well, perhaps it's for the best: he knows nothing about being a Water Tap. But it makes him think about Diana, so many miles away. He does seem to be developing this protective, mentoring streak with the young people. He still has Daniel, of course, but that's not the same. As much as Dan is finding his place in the caravan, he's not someone that Dom can pass on what he learned from Regina. Or maybe it's just that Dan's another guy.
Pointing that out to himself, however, makes Dominic scowl. There's nothing for it. People are people, and women aren't less capable of taking care of themselves. Suraksha is living proof of that. Still, the young man's face is a little more closed down than usual as he does his duties while thinking all this in his head. Suraksha quietly checks with Dominic when he gets so quiet: is everything all right? Is something wrong?
Dominic should have expected this; Suraksha has this habit of knowing when people are stuck in their own mental morass, what with being good at reading people and all -- and it's not like he's that hard to read... or maybe it's just that the Lady knows him all too well. "Too much in my head, Lady," he explains, grimacing. "Glad that Mary's got people looking after her. But also, kinda... feel responsible for her. Donno. Complicated."
Suraksha smiles at Dominic, inviting him to come sit with her on the edge of the barge and out of the way of everyone else. It's a rare calm moment, and Sura is lazily swinging her bare feet over the side, letting the river splash her toes occasionally. "How do you feel it is complicated, sweetie?"
Dominic admires how it's so easy for Sura to relax -- and finds it strange that he often finds it so difficult to relax, and says so to her. "My point is... I guess I wonder that I sorta..." He pauses, trying to align his thoughts. "Think I worry too much. Get stressed too easy. Seeing Diana trying to join up with us, I wonder at how readily I panicked. And with Mary too, getting hooked up with her in the middle of a crisis, forming this protective attachment with her... except now she's got the protection of a King, yannow? And yet, I'm still all worked up and worried about it. Thinkin' about her, and being angry with those that made her the way she is. It's like I obsess of the negative, and what could go wrong, and all. Does that make sense?"
Suraksha nods and smiles at the young man, "Yes, it does." She thinks a moment, then adds thoughtfully, "So why do you feel it's so hard for you to relax? Do you know?"
Dominic grimaces. "Used to things going wrong, maybe? Hell, remember when you found me? You and Del were bailing me out of a press gang. Feel like, maybe I get some kinda charge off the stress." He gestures at the water. "Some of the stuff I did with Regina... she told me how important it is to relax when I do my workings. That seems so hard to me."
Suraksha considers thoughtfully, absently twirling the end of her braid around her fingers, "Is it truly that you enjoy the stress? Seems to me if you did, your reactions would be a bit more like mine -- laughing and a good mood, no?" She grins teasingly at Dominic, adding, "You're always so serious, sweetie! Like... I don't know. Are you worried if you have a good time, things might go wrong?"
Dominic opens his mouth, and shuts it. "Donno. Maybe," he says thoughtfully. "Never thought about it like that." Suraksha grins, her sideways glance at Dominic teasing. Dominic says, "More I think about it, more I think you have the right of it. Felt so weird, going and telling stories to all those girls back in Roseville. Trying to be calm for them, and actually losing myself to the story telling even as I knew things might be going to pot outside."
Suraksha says, "But they didn't, did they?"
Dominic looks rueful. "Well, there was that moment with Alg, but... yeah."
Suraksha says, "And when you were relaxed and enjoyed yourself with the storytelling... when you trusted the rest of us to do our jobs... didn't the girls relax and enjoy themselves too?"
Dominic's head bobs. "Seems like."
Suraksha grins, reaching to lightly push Dominic's hat back a bit so she can see his face, "You sound uncertain. What are you thinking, dear?"
Dominic makes a small noise as Sura teases up his hat, but it's more of a surprised sound than a flinch. He takes his hat off, holding it to one side and looking full on at his Lady. "Guess I'm just... feeling not on an even keel." The way he says it makes it clear it's a reference to the boat. "Upset in my self-image, dealing with confusion. Trying to figure me out. Never really thought that much about me. Was all instinct, not deliberate thought."
Suraksha tilts her head thoughtfully as she regards the young man. "Hmm... can I help? Do you want to talk about it?"
He smiles at Sura's query. "Think maybe you're helping right now. I think I might actually be relaxing," he drawls dryly, almost accusing, in a coy manner.
Suraksha laughs softly at that, her eyes sparkling. She sits up, a tragic look on her face and one hand over her heart, "Alas! My cunning ploy is discovered -- he relaxes around me!"
Dominic flushes at Sura's drama. "Who'd a thunk," he agrees. "Ain't natural, considering you're the big cheese, person I'm most likely to get all worked up about, not wanting to let down."
Suraksha raises a gently amused eyebrow, "Why, Dominic! Could you have perhaps pointed out part of what's most worrying you, dear?"
Dominic shrugs. "Guess I don't feel like that's too much of an insight, though, Lady. You're the heart of the caravan. Sure I'm not the only one that feels a personal debt to you. Still. Doesn't make you wrong, that that's what gets me riled up, sometimes."
Suraksha blinks at Dominic in real startlement, "What?! Dominic, sweetie, it's been what... five years, more, since then? Surely you don't still feel you owe me?"
Dominic purses his lips. "Might be. A little. That was a traumatic night, and I was so young and fresh. The idea that I still carry that around with me." He spreads his hands. "You were so magical, powerful. I was in awe of you when I found out you were the tiger that carried me to safety."
Suraksha smiles affectionately at Dominic, "Aww! Thank you, sweetie! That's so nice to say." She grins, leaning to lightly pat his thigh where he sits next to her, as she adds, "I'm still me too, though, you know... yes?"
Dominic laughs! "You say that like you is less impressive than the powerful tigress. The more I got to know you, the more I thought of you like... well, like maybe other people think of King Roy," he replies.
Suraksha grins curiously, "How do they think of him?"
Dominic waves a hand. "Well, it's not like I've been taking a poll or nothin'. I'm just saying. He's royalty. To me, you were like that. I stayed with the caravan mostly because of you. All the adventures we had, every amazing thing we did and story I heard about you only reinforced that."
Suraksha is silent, studying Dominic thoughtfully for a long moment. Finally she says slowly, "Dominic... dear, you do know I'm just another person, yes? I don't want you to feel let down at some point because I turn out to be... well... emotionally only human, you know?"
Dominic smiles. "I know that... here," he explains, pointing at his temple. "But somewhere in here-" he points at his chest, "I'm still just a fifteen year old boy riding a bolt of lightning shaped like a striped giant cat." He grins reassuringly. "Lady... Sura, I get what you're trying to say, really. I guess when it comes down to it, this might just be growing pains."
Suraksha laughs softly, "A bolt of lightning? Gracious, you definitely should be doing more storytelling!" She grins at him and nods, "All right, I'll accept that. So... were you feeling a bit left out, maybe, regarding Mary?"
Dominic blinks. His expression is like a puzzle piece fitting into place. "Huh. Yeah. Yeah, I was all prepared to take responsibility for her, to care for her and teach her. Help her heal -- and then the King comes over and grandly makes that... unecessary."
Suraksha smiles and gently pats Dominic's thigh, "He wasn't grand at all about it, dear, if that helps. He was actually a bit startled when he realized he'd agreed to my request that he care for her." She considers for a bit, then thoughtfully adds, "But in one way I think I understand what you're getting at, maybe... I get the feeling you want more responsibility, no?"
Dominic's brow knit. "Oh. I see. I hadn't heard about that part. I thought it was all him."
Suraksha smiles and shakes her head. "I thought a Water Tap would be the best trainer, after all... for a Water Tap."
Dominic's head bobs. "Sort of. Want, and don't want. Afraid of it, maybe. But thinking about it, I think it's less about the work. Work is easy. It's more about... the people. That's where it started. With those girls is Roseville."
Suraksha says, "What started, dear?"
Dominic steeples his fingers. "The confusion. The stress. And yet, also, the excitement."
Suraksha looks puzzled, "I thought you said it was when you joined the caravan?"
Dominic waves a hand. "When I joined was just when I wanted to be a good worker for you. Roseville is where the well-being of people -- as individuals -- figured in. I think my brain is rather full, though... can we table this till later, please?"
Suraksha says, "Of course, dear." She tilts her head thoughtfully again at Dominic, adding, "Are you at least feeling a bit better?"
Dominic grins a bit shyly. "Think I am."
Suraksha grins cheerfully at the young man, patting his hand. "Good!" She glances around as she adds, "Plus I'm sure Mary will still want to see us all when we stop by Baton Rouge. It's not like she's vanished or anything!" She grins teasingly at Dominic.
Chanticleer has returned from being in the middle of throws and falls drills with Sna'tha. It was really a rough workout, and he is sweating; most knights didn't learn tumbling because armor got in the way, but he always thought it a useful skill when, you know, one wasn't in armor. "Lady," he says, gasping for breath, "I think Roy is seriously considering making an offer of employment to Sna'tha. Not as a trainer, but as his entire first battalion. I don't think any of us trained this hard when I was there."
Suraksha laughs aloud at that, her eyes sparkling as she grins up at Chanticleer. "She must be giving you all quite the workout, yes -- if you're still breathless after returning to this barge from Roy's paddleboat!" She giggles, patting the sun-warmed wooden deck next to her, on the other side from Dominic, "Take a breather, dear! She's quite the task-mistress, true enough. She ran my entire family ragged when I was a child!"
Dominic considers that mental image. "That would be something to see. One side of the field, rows and rows of infantry backed by archers. And on the other side... Sna'tha. Doesn't seem fair. To all those soldiers, I mean."
Suraksha giggles at Dominic's comment, her eyes sparkling again, "Oh, do tell her that, please! She'd look extremely sour, of course... but she'd be quite pleased, I know!"
Dominic blinks. "Talk to Sna'tha? Are you mad? She might make me train!" he says, mock-horrified. "I thought the idea was less stress, not more stress!"
Suraksha laughs again, patting Dominic's leg, "You're funny!" She grins, shaking her head, "Don't worry, dear... she's under contract right now -- she wouldn't pull you in. She's just abusing poor Chanti because he's sidhe, and thus moves differently from humans. That's good training for the bodyguards, you know?"
Chanticleer laughs quietly. "Well, she let us go for the time being. A few buckets of water sound rather good right now, admittedly."
Suraksha grins at Chanti ruefully, "I hear you! Been through enough training sessions with her myself." She smiles as she adds to Dominic, "I think it's not so much less stress... as not allowing things stress you, perhaps?" Then she looks interestedly at Chanticleer, "How do you handle stress, Chanti?"
Dominic nods agreeably. "Easier said than done, but I take your meaning." He looks curious at the fae's answer to such a question.
Chanticleer blinks at the question and chews his lip. "I... never really thought of it, to be honest," he says. "It was always drilled into me to deal with the situation at hand first, and then let myself give in to the emotions. But by the time the situation is dealt with, there's no more stress. So if you're asking me how I deal with stress, it's that I work through it." He adds wryly, "A score of knights astride stags, wolves, and ratites coming right at you is stressful, but at that point stress really has to be the furthest thing on your mind."
Suraksha laughs at that! She nods amusedly, "Yep... starting the show, whatever it is, is never stressful to me. It's the prepping that gets me." She pauses, considering, then curiously adds, "Ratites?"
Dominic considers. "But what if it's not about fighting? What if it's about dealing with other people? Where what you do is going to have lasting ramifications on the well-being of another person?"
Chanticleer says simply, "Riding ostrich. Or emu." At the question, he considers. "Well... unless someone's going to die or get harmed... there's not a lot that's worth getting uptight about. Of course some in the Fey Courts don't even stress about matters of life and death, but those are folk so far removed from both you and I that it's not worth thinking about them."
Suraksha adds thoughtfully to Dominic, "Dom, dear, could it be perhaps that one of the reasons you stress so is... that you don't like feeling out of control? And of course, when dealing with another person... there's no way to really have control over them? Which stresses you more?"
Dominic hrms. He was going to say no, that 'control' isn't an issue... but the way Suraksha phrases it. "It's food for thought," he replies finally.
Suraksha nods thoughtfully to Chanticleer, "Interesting -- I didn't know they were large enough to ride. Are the fey breeding them bigger?" Then she smiles as she nods in agreement with Chanticleer's comment, "I quite agree; if it's not death-defying, just trying to be kind works best for me -- and I don't worry about the rest." To Dominic she adds gently, "It's not a negative, dear. Wanting to control the world around you is a natural reaction, especially if the world feels out of control... like being shanghai'd, for example." Dominic nods wryly at Sura's apropros metaphor.
Chanticleer nods to Dominic, then grins to Suraksha. "Well, Chevrefoil's a little bigger than most stags. So yes, they are breeding ratites a little bigger, though ratites are usually the mount of choice for lighter fey -- and the lightest use wolves." He adds, "And some of the less-human fey don't need mounts at all. A lance-company of centaurs is something to see."
Suraksha sighs dreamily, leaning back on her elbows, "Man! That'd be something to see!"
Chanticleer deadpans, "Not if you're on the receiving end."
Dominic nods! "Someone with the weapons-using hands and steely resolve of a person, and the foot-hooved charging implacability of a horse."
Suraksha giggles at Chanti, "Point!" She smiles at Dominic, adding, "So, sweetie... what would make you feel more in control? More responsibility? Something else?"
Dominic considers. "Let's start there. Ohkwari's a good mentor, so I can take his lead well. Some of this just has to be me taking charge for myself though. Knowing what I want, and then asking for it."
Suraksha says, "Makes sense. What do you want?"
Dominic knows at least one thing, although saying it makes him uncomfortable a moment to admit. "For now? Just going back to Roseville eventually is what I want most."
Suraksha nods thoughtfully, "To see how Diana is doing?"
Dominic blushes. "I want to see she does well," he explains. "Maybe she'll go in a different direction, find strength and fulfillment doing something else. But I want to know. I want to see that she's happy, and that she gets to do what she wants most."
Suraksha smiles and raises an eyebrow at the blush, "That's sweet, dear. Anything else?"
Dominic shakes his head. "Not now. But I'll make a point of bringing it up if something comes along."
Suraksha smiles at that, not pushing the issue. Instead she turns to Chanticleer, "And yourself? What do you want, Chanti?"
Chanticleer purses his lips a bit. "There are a few... loose ends, back at the Courts that need tying at some point," he says, smiling cheerfully. "But I'm not in that big a rush to go back there yet."
Suraksha nods in understanding, "They do... take a while to cool down, sometimes." She smiles and pats Chanti's thigh also, "You're welcome here for as long as you wish, you know. If you need someone to back you up in the courts, too... just let us know, all right?"
Chanticleer smiles, nodding. "I do know, and thank you, Lady."
Suraksha laughs and leans to give the sidhe a hug, "You're quite welcome! Heavens knows you've been quite the goddess-send to us more than once!"
Chanticleer laughs softly, "Well, I'm glad I've been helpful!" He tilts his head to the side. "And what do you want, Lady?"
Dominic looks curiously at Chanti. "Loose ends?"He's showing an interest in the intense fae knight in a way he hadn't before.
Chanticleer shakes his head, waving his hand a little. "Court intrigue, random courtiers playing triple-blind social chess... the usual."
Dominic shakes his head. "The things you and Sura get into with the upper echelons make me happy to be just a country boy, most days," he muses.
Suraksha wrinkles her nose in disgust, "The sidhe courts... bleh! Too much finagling, not enough actual living!" She smiles quietly at Chanticleer's query -- then grins suddenly, "What do I want? I'm actually already doing it! Getting to wander the country in the company of dear friends, making life a little better for some of those I touch, seeing and experiencing wonderful new things... who could ask for more?" She laughs, flinging her arms wide as she asks the question. A moment later she pauses, thinking... then grins wistfully, "Well... a little more time with Roy would be lovely... but that's about it, really."
Dominic glances at Chanti. "Should we make ourselves scarce, so you can do that?" he queries with a smile.
Suraksha smiles and shakes her head, "No. He's busy being trained by Sna'tha, on the other boat."
Dominic says, "But surely he could use a break..."
Suraksha sighs wistfully again, glancing over at the other boat -- then grins at both young men, "But that's neither here nor there right now! Shall we-" She laughs at Dominic's comment, patting his thigh, "You don't know what a slavedriver my godsmother is, dear! Shall we go have some lunch? I think I can smell something delicious over by Buddy's wagon!"
The weather is fairly mild as they travel. The rain they do have is short and showery and the river is mild and quick-running. It's perhaps the smoothest trip over water any of them have ever had. The bargemen are quite cheerful about it, saying it might help them make up for the time spent mucking out the barge. Cap'n Al, who owns the barge they're using, estimates they have five days left at the current pace -- when something less-than-ideal happens in the weather.
The day has been muggy and close and the animals have been quite restless, which is not fun in such close quarters. Those whose joints ache a bit were moving a little more stiffly. Even the children were cranky. Still, the rain that most everyone can smell in the air hasn't coming by the time people find their beds. Suraksha does her best to help out and keep folks calm during the day. She's a bit surly and tired herself, though, by the time she seeks her bunk.
It's the wee hours of the morning when the storm finally breaks -- and it does so with a vengeance. Many people are awakened by a crack of thunder that shakes both the barge and the river boat. Later, the watchmen will report the lightning strike associated with it had skated across the water between the barge and the paddleboat. The wind of the storm whips the river into waves, rocking even the large vessels.
Chanticleer is out of bed quickly, anxious. He tries to remember what the rules were for getting through a thunderstorm on a barge -- without, you know, getting friccassed. He slips from the wagon he had been sleeping in, and moves low to the deck, not wanting to risk the wrath of the wind, as he checks the mooring on the wagons, and checks on the animals. Suraksha sighs as the barge lurches -- she'd better get up and see if they need her help. She sits up, tugging on a long tunic, and ties her hair back into a long ponytail as she patters out of her wagon. She looks around to see what's up, walking carefully along the heaving deck. She shouts into the wind, trying to brush her sticky, rain-wet hair out of her face, "Check all the wagons! Make sure they're moored down tight!"
Dominic is already doing just that, giving a thumbs up in Sura's vague direction he tugs tight at the lashings. He's both glad and not-glad that he's an Earth Tap and not a Water Tap. Wishing he could do something about the way the storm makes his stomach leap about, and yet relieved he doesn't have to try. Calming the earth is one thing. Calming a raging sea? He'd have a better shot at drinking the smegging thing. "Yes, you're right, it is all about control, isn't it..." he mutters to himself, recalling Sura's earlier point.
Suraksha starts checking as well, climbing nimbly up onto the roof of the nearest wagon and hanging on grimly with toes and hand as she runs the fingers of her free hand over the ropes and chains. When it's this dark she's working almost by feel. She waves once in acknowledgement to Dominic, although she doesn't know if he sees her -- the occasional actinic flashes of lightning are more blinding than not. Over on the Proud Mary, King Roy is out of his stateroom and standing at the forward rail of the paddleboat. He's clinging to the railing and watching the riled-up river; he seems oblivious to the fact that he's getting soaked to the skin by the cloudburst. Suraksha actually spots him at one point in a flash of lightning, despite the blinding rain and her hair flying exasperatingly in her face. She grins and waves at the king, then goes immediately back to work -- there's far too much to do, and people depending on her, for her to be mooning around!
Inside the wagon where Mary is bunked down, the girl is curled up on her bed, hands over her ears and sobbing in fright. She can feel the water around her, out of control, and her own emotions are whipped up. Dominic barely hears Mary's upset through the sound of the storm... it's only when he thinks about control and weather and being a Tap that he actually wonders how Mary might be reacting to the storm. When that occurs to him he growls, "Oh, balls." He stops what he's doing and clambers into the wagon where she's staying. "Mary? Don't be frightened dear, it's alright," he comes in saying, wringing out his hat and hanging it before coming over and kneeling by her bunk.
There are moments where it seems like the river is trying to calm down despite the storm, but then it breaks free again and the waves of it slap the sides of the boats. Mary's sobbing soon turns into frightened wailing and it seems the louder she wails, the more out-of-control the storm and the river become. Outside, rain lashes the decks of the two vessels and makes it impossible to see more than a foot or two out. Wind drives the rain almost horizontal at times and waves rise up to wash the decks of the two sturdy vessels. Chanticleer grimaces into the storm, holding on to anything solid as he moves along the deck. What's gotten the weather so riled up?! He doesn't recall it being this rough on previous trips!
The other caravaneers are doing their best as well, clinging tightly to ropes or chains as they work their way cautiously over the dangerously rain-slick decking. The wagons have to be treated carefully as well, since the ropes have stretched a little due to being wet. Rocking back and forth as they are, it'd be easy to be knocked down or harmed, and so people are doing their best to be wary even when half blind in the thundering rain.
Inside Sabrina's wagon, Dominic strips off his wet coat and carefully lays hands on her, trying to sooth. "Mary, Mary, stay with me. It's okay. You're safe," he says to her, trying to do what he did with the girls in Roseville -- to impart calm to her. "I'm here with you," he reassures. He tries to get her relaxed enough that she'll let him embrace her, singing a soothing tune his mother taught him in counterpoint to the raging storm all around them.
The caravaneers are kept busy with lashings that are snapping and tie-downs trying to pull free of the barge's planking. Chanticleer's fleetness of foot and quickness of reaction are in heavy demand. Inside the bunkwagon, Mary sobs and clings to Dominic. The sound of heavy wagons moving and waves slapping against the decking and hulls make her squeal in fright -- and the more frightened she gets, the more dangerous the storm seems to get.
Down below, the animals are just as frightened as the people and there are occasional panicked brays or screams from frightened animals. The caravan's dogs are howling and that just frightens the girl more. Outside, there's an ominous creak and shudder before a hawser as thick as Chanticleer's forearm snaps, letting one of the smaller wagons swing perilously along the deck. Ohkwa shouts, his powerful voice cutting through the thunder, "'Ware wagon!" He runs, dodging from wagon to wagon, over to the one starting to swing back and forth. Shifting into his giant bear form as he goes, he does his best to brace himself and shove the heavily loaded wagon into position again, so it doesn't fling itself out over the water and drag others in with it.
Chanticleer's blood turns to ice as he hears Ohkwari shout that, and he runs to catch up to the shapeshifter to help lash that wagon onto the deck tighter. He looks for any extra cleats. "Can we get the barge tied to the shore?!" he calls out toward where he last saw Suraksha.
The small person moving through the night near Chanticleer turns out to be Daniel, and he screams through the roaring wind, "I'll find Cap'n Al and ask!" He scuttles slowly off, clinging to anything he can grab as he goes.
The crash and thump of the untethered wagon has Mary screaming and sobbing in fright, which is just feeding the storm. Something will have to be done to calm the young Water Tap. Dominic tries to focus: work through the stress. Ironically it's the upset of the girl that is more traumatic and distressing to him than the storm now. This time when he sings he tries to put the weight of his power behind it: Be earth. Earth is our friend, our family; earth is steady and calm. Dom's soothing, coupled with help from a murmuring and caressing Sabrina, eventually has the girl under control. Rather than wailing and thrashing in panic, she's wriggling and clinging to Dom. As she calms, so does the storm, becoming merely heavy rain and winds rather than a near-disaster.
Outside, the huge bear manages to pin down the jolting wagon that nearly went overboard long enough for fresh ropes to be brought, lashing it into place. Chains are tightened as the lurching river calms, and people start being able to walk mostly upright again on the deck, even though it's still pitch-black. Everything uncovered, and a lot of stuff that did have some cover, has been soaked either by the rain or by the water of the Big Muddy herself. Still, the river has settled enough that people are no longer in iminent danger of being swept overboard.
Dominic is relieved it seems to be working, but he doesn't let up. He's not sure how much of the storm is nature, and how much of it is Mary... so he aims to stay with her and Sabrina, stroking her hair and showing him he doesn't plan to leave her side still the fear has left her completely. "Be as the still pond, Mary. Earth can be as violent as Water, but the natural state of earth is solid and unmoving... and the natural state of Water is the stillness of the pond and the gentle motion of the stream," he whispers to her. Mary, once she's calm enough, listens to Dom's soothing and nestles down between the Earth Tap and Sabrina to drift into an exhausted sleep.
Chanticleer is relieved when the storm starts to settle, panting heavily with exertion. He wipes what feels like a gallon of water out of his eyes, looking around. He starts to work on the aftermath, trying to see what's been damaged by the storm, what's been destroyed, and what can be salvaged or recovered. Fortunately they have been good and lucky -- very little has been damaged beyond repair aside from a few snapped ropes. Everything that had to be kept absolutely dry is stored down below.
From Suraksha's tiny porch, Alg gives a disgusted snort -- his pillow is soaked! He goes trotting downstairs and curls up in the hay there to sleep. It's Chanticleer that first realizes Suraksha isn't doing her normal organizing and helping -- in fact, he's not seen her since the storm let up. Chanticleer frowns, looking around, and at that point he tries to find Suraksha. She should be out and around like the whirlwind of order in chaos that she usually is. Is she all right?
As the caravaneers are getting things in order, there's a halloo from the paddleboat. Jacko is standing at the front rail and holding a soaked cloak in one hand, "Is my liege over there?"
Chanticleer blinks, feeling cold at Jocko's call. "Oh, hells," he murmurs. "He isn't!" he calls back. "We'll check. Could you check if the Lady Sulochana is there?" He's already moving, trying to find Alg or anyone else who might have seen Suraksha.
Jacko calls back, "She isn't! We've been over the whole damn boat!"
Ohkwa growls in quiet worry, "Rain cleared all the scent -- we can't track her."
Chanticleer grunts, "Hells!" He calls back, "Do you have any boats? We need to send parties downriver fast!"
Del comes clopping up from below, behind a rocketing Alg. The goblin is chattering and growling as he zips around the boat, sniffing and searching. The Sileni shakes her head, "Dock, Chanti. If they're -- if they're all right, they'll be on the shores." From the railing of the painted wagon Alg howls unhappily, looking out over the river.
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