Cold Winds Blowing (ASOIAF Celestial Forge)

[TheBrokenLaw]

Short chapter today. Trying to shift into a different pattern of writing for a bit every day, seeing where it goes, and putting it up. Might be better for me to do many smaller chapters than fewer larger ones, as the larger they get, the more intimidating they become. Wacky.

 

[TheBrokenLaw]

May 3, 312 AC

Area 04, North-East Combat Zone

16:44

The skies over the battlefield were dark, thick clouds only occasionally parting to let a ray of sunlight through. The sounds of battle filled the air, the screams of the dead and the dying clashing as they bore their arms with killing intent.

Despite the grim atmosphere, the battlefield was alive with motion. To the east, across a chasm torn through the earth, lay the main bulk of the enemy forces. Only the active combatants moved aggressively, while the horde of distant lights and metallic glints was itself quiescent.

Jotunn scrubbed the sweat out of his eyes with the back of his grimy hand. The controls in his grip were familiar, second nature for him at this point, as he brought his Core's long-range armament to bear- In this case, twin Škoda 10 cm J50 cannons, one five-meter barrel mounted upon each shoulder.

The displays before him automatically switched visual modes, presenting a clearer image of his targets and various munition guidance solutions. Lips pressed into a line, he chose quickly- One of the Enemy mechs, a smaller arachnoid, was moving to fire on his fellow pilots. It took only as much time for the fire-control computer to calculate a hit before he pulled the trigger with a satisfying clunk.

His Core, already knelt and anchored, rocked as the cannons fired. Jotunn felt only a slight movement, already preparing to send a second salvo away. The 15-Kilo shells flew true, sending the Arach falling to the side as his ally repositioned.

That was a good hit, Jotunn. Thanks!

Of all the things he hated about his life now was the horrifically intrusive communications system Central had forced them to use. He lined up another shot, fired, counted six salvos remaining, and repeated. It was second nature by now, even as he felt soiled by the violation of his mind. The idea of telepathy was fine when he was growing up and it was just fiction, but actually hearing someone else's voice in his own thoughts, as if it were coming from him though he logically knew it wasn't-

Jotunn, move!

Reflexively, he boosted his Core backwards, the massive war machine scraping deep furrows into the mud as powerful thrusters heaved him backwards. The spot he had been a moment before exploded, and a tenth of a second later a massive crab-like war machine burst out of it, long pincer-blades reaching for him.

Just hold-

His orientation was perfect, his cannons loaded, aimed, and he fired. This close, the impact of the rounds felt like God took a hammer to Jotunn's chest. The Crab disappeared behind another explosion.

On, waititsnotdead-

The alarm Jotunn felt wasn't his, but he didn't have time to think. The smoke cleared enough to show the Crab, wounded and leaking vital fluids onto the mud below, barely standing.

Problem was, it was standing, and it's automatiks barked as Jotunn's Core was peppered with rounds. He thought it was fine at first, until a round punched through part of his cockpit and went through his leg. Maybe it was finally the end of his line, but if he was going to go down, he'd take this big fucker with him.

Warnings blared around him as he jettisoned the cannons and stood. Dropping tons of weight like that, his Core went from being a heavily-armored kneeling artillery platform to a heavily-armored walking weapons system.

The Core's feet sunk deeply into the mud, slowing its movements down. Still, with the boost system, he wasn't groundbound. Thrusters flared and the fifteen meter tall Core lifted off the earth, jetting around the injured Crab, taking Jotunn out of the automatiks firing arc. He brought up his sidearm, a 6 cm caliber rifle. A this close of a range, he couldn't miss, yet he noted with concern the way his rounds weren't penetrating the Crab's armor.

He reached up, flicking his outbound comm on. This is Jotunn, our sixes aren't penning the crabs.

Explains a lot, a pilot some distance away groused.

Jotunn, his CO's thoughts came through clearly and authoritatively, Pull back, something isn't right.

Acknowledged, he replied, then cut his line. Sure, he'd pull back after finishing off the Crab, maybe he'd get to claim a bit of the bounty for himself this time.

He pulled his Core around, boosting closer and tackling the much larger machine. The Crab's already precarious stance was completely overwhelmed, sending it toppling to the ground with Jotunn atop it. Sticking his rifle through one of the holes his earlier shells made, he fired wildly, not so much aiming as moving the rifle around and hoping he hit the vital areas behind the armored faceplate.

The Crab shuddered, then went limp as the lights across its surface dimmed. Jotunn fired for a moment longer, then extricated his Core with some difficulty from it. He turned from the downed enemy, walking over to his cannons and examining them from where they lay half-buried in the mud.

He looked over his Core's status, then flicked his comm, I'm still good to engage. Moving to cover Konigschun.

Jotunn eyed the Crab that had given him so much trouble. Something about it made it uneasy. He looked back over the injuries he'd given it, did the mental math-

The Crab roared in an electronic scream as it hurled itself bodily at Jotunn's Core. He barely had a chance to respond before it took his right arm carrying his rifle off with its pincer-blades, and took his legs as he was moving for his holdout knife.

Jotunn! Someone screamed, and in that moment, he was glad for the comms as it was. His final words wouldn't go unheard, and his family will remember him.

Sorry, captain. Should've listened sooner. The Crab tore away his Core's left arm, then savaged the head with its automatiks. It's been nice. Take care of each other, yeah?

We will. The platoon's operator replied for everyone still fighting around him.

Raw sunlight blinded him as the armor around his cockpit was ripped away, and he got the only glimpse he'd ever seen of the Enemy with his own two eyes. It's faceplate was barely humanoid with two "eyes" and a mouth, covered in mud and grime, and sprayed with various fluids.

It just stared at him, and he felt utterly helpless. The round that went through his leg had taken out his one-shot escape ticket. The world moved, and then he was… He was… I don't want to die, please, anyone-

"Let's go home, okay?"

The comm on his ear flickered and died, as Jotunn's severed head came to rest within the embrace of false-death.


---

i love you all so much have a treat

 

[TheBrokenLaw]

Grenwin gently cradled Maia's head in her lap. The way the younger woman's skin seemed to be breaking out in burns before healing, like a constantly shifting pattern, worried her greatly.

Ellir and Ygdis hovered close by, the older woman checking Maia's breathing and listening to her heart.

All three bore confused looks on their faces. They looked at each other, and back to their friend and erstwhile leader, and silently mutually agreed to keep a watch over her. The downed girl wasn't dying, was still alive; She was suffering, though, if her constant whimpers and groans were any sign.

"Do, uh," Ygdis started slowly, "I'm going to go collect firewood. Shout if something happens, please." She directed the latter to Ellir, trusting Gren to let her know without having to ask.

Ellir nodded, "I will. Grenwin, can you…" She paused, looking at the way Grenwin cradled the younger woman in her arms, "Never mind. Here, we should turn her on her side, just in case."

She reached over, wary of the protective glare in Grenwin's eyes. There was a ferocity there that told Ellir that any aggressive action would have aggressive consequences. Gently, she turned Maia over, so she wouldn't choke on her tongue or spit if she seized.

"We're too close to their territory," Grenwin said with a frosty tone. "You led us here, and this happened. Tell me what you know." Had she not been hugging the disabled woman fiercely, her tone implied her hands would be wrapped around Ellir's neck, squeezing until she got the answers she wanted.

Ellir, showing her long experience with the esoteric, stood strong under the proverbial assault. "I will. The giants here, I met them long ago when I was young, her age," She nodded to Maia, "I was taken from First Fork and managed to escape, finding myself around here."

She rubbed at an old imagined pain on her right side, an ancient wound that had been with her for decades, only recently cleared away as though it had never been. "I don't remember everything. There was the feeling of walking through dry water, and yes I know how that sounds, but we all felt it a few moments ago."

Grenwin nodded at her to continue, anger still smoldering in her eyes.

The rejuvenated woman took a drink from her waterskin, drawing it slowly as if concerned the compromised warrior might think she was reaching for a knife. Savoring the water, she put it away without offering any to Grenwin.

"After that feeling, I think I fell. I remember being carried by strong arms, and the impression of very bushy eyebrows. Then, I was waking in a comfortable bed far too large for me, ensconced in a cozy room that made me feel small, like a child. A man entered- and he was a man, dressed in well-fitting clothes, with eyebrows bushy enough to come down and mingle with his long beard."

Grenwin's anger had faded, replaced by curiosity and interest. She nodded, "Go on."

"He spoke our tongue, the old forms, and he told me that I had been found and brought there to recover. I had been bandaged, my wound cleaned, and it took me moons to recuperate. While I was there, I got to know them, you see. They had a lot of different names for themselves, so I just called them the Giants, for even the children stood head and shoulders above me."

Grenwin nodded slowly, "I've… Encountered them, but they were nothing like what you're describing. They came at us with long-hafted axes, giants that could look me in the eye when I rode Filkyr. Have you seen a snow bear? Fully grown, their shoulders are high enough for two men standing atop each other to only barely reach." She idly stroked Maia's hair while she spoke, drawing some comfort from the repetitive act, and relaxing the girls murmuring.

Ellir frowned, "I remember a few of them, the gardeners they said, carrying axes. They were wood and stone, but they were tools, not weapons."

Their conversation was interrupted by a rustling in the bushes. No, more of a rhythmic crunch-crunch through the snow, like something large moving. The two of them froze, images of dire-boar or great elk coming up to their little camp and shredding them filling Grenwin's mind, and she could see that reflected in Ellir's eyes.

Grenwin pulled her knife from her belt, backing up against a tree, Ellir doing the same. They exchanged a worried glance as they braced themselves.

The crashing continued until two massive men emerged from the lengthening shadows and dim underbrush. In the fading light, their faces were too long, eyes too dark and beady, and the axe one bore looked like it could split their Weirwood in two in a single swing.

One of the creatures rumbled something in a tongue too deep for human ears or comprehension, gently pushing a smaller figure, easily missed, forward.

"Hi!" Ygdis said faux-cheerfully, "These two very nice people found me collecting sticks. They don't understand our words, but I think they get our tone of voice." She turned to the one with the axe, patting his arm and pointing at Maia, "She's the one that's hurt. Can you help her? Please, oh large and kind giant?"

Grenwin was making out more details as the scene played out. The giants wore shirts with coats overtop, trousers, and boots; While their inhuman faces were fearsome visages, they each had a pair of large tufted ears that made them seem far less intimidating. Gren hadn't seen those ears last time she'd been so close, and she watched one flick flat against the giant's head before popping back out, and suddenly she could see the resemblance. The ones she fought had been angry, wanting to kill. These two were… Young, she thought, beards aside. They bore themselves with the same uncertainty that Ygdis used to, back when they had first met.

The axe-wielding giant leaned his weapon up against a tree, and she saw that it wasn't the long-hafted weapon she thought- Just a hatchet, sized for them. The giant walked forward slowly, gently kneeling in the snow before the two terrified women.

He pointed at Ygdis, then at Maia. "Help," the creature spoke in a bassy voice, and Ellir nodded excitedly.

"Yes!" She said, putting a hand on Grenwin's shoulder and squeezing. "Trust me, just this once." She whispered into the warrior's ear, receiving a curt nod in return.

"Help. Come, with?" He waved between him and his companion, then at Maia, and pointed deeper into the woods- In the direction where the chill had happened and Maia started screaming.

Ellir squeezed harder, and Grenwin grunted. There wasn't any easy way out of this situation. If she trusted Ellir, then they might be safe and Maia could recover, maybe. If she didn't, she could try and run… Leaving Ygdis alone with them. Not something she was prepared to do.

"Fine, we'll go with you." She grumbled, fear being replaced by a simmering frustration. Standing, she easily hefted the small woman in her arms and gave the giant a firm nod- Standing like this, him kneeling, they were able to make eye contact.

The giant stood, gesturing again, "Come." He waved to his companion, grabbed his axe, slung it over his shoulder, and started walking into the darkening woods.

They followed, having little choice. Soon, they stepped through the chill air, and this time Maia didn't even react. Grenwin hoped that was a good omen as they ventured deeper into the Giant's home.

They walked for what could have been hours, or minutes. Grenwin was hyperaware of any movement around them, and the more they walked, the more she heard and saw, out in the shadowy forest. Ellir walked with the axe-wielding giant, trying to engage it in conversation. The large man was willing and seemed friendly enough, but didn't speak their tongue well at all. Ygdis was acting much the same towards the other giant, leaving Grenwin alone to stew in her thoughts and carry Maia.

They emerged into a great clearing, seeming almost another world entirely. The air had been growing warmer, snow disappearing, and now they were warm enough for Grenwin to start sweating in her furs. She didn't mind, staring at the massive trees, the giants tending their matters peacefully, the homes that seemed both excavated and grown within small hills.

Maia had told her of Hobbits, and how they lived in the Shire and Hobbiton, and how they lived in cozy homes under the earth yet still open to the air. She understood what she meant, looking at these half-tree half-hill structures.

She had the queerest moment of vertigo, and her sense of scale fled her. Before her stood not a warren of dangerous creatures, but a thriving village of people, talking and working and laughing together. They were even welcomed, led to one house mound out of many, and the axe-bearing giant knocked firmly on the door.

There was a deep response from the other side, the feel of something large walking towards them. The door opened, thick as her arm was wide, and a wrinkled bearded face looked out at them from above a small fat lamp. Grenwin giggled, mortified, momentarily seeing Symon's features below those long eyebrows. This man had the same air about him, something Maia had called "the bearing of a learned man" japingly once. It wasn't a jape here, though.

The old giant blinked at them, looked between them, saw Ellir, and stopped. "Oh my. You, child, do you know a woman known as Ellir? She may be before your time, but you are the very image of her." He squinted, "Daughter? Granddaughter?"

Grenwin was taken aback. They show up, and the first thing this old man asks is after Ellir?

The redheaded woman smiled back and gave the giant a surprising hug. His bushy brows rose and climbed further still as Ellir told him something in a low tone that didn't carry to Grenwin's ears. She stepped back, gesturing at Maia. "It's good to meet you again, Elder Hamgwyn. My friend, she's sick and needs aid."

Ygdis piped up, "That's not why we're here, though. We're from First Fork, and Maia here wanted to talk to your leaders about trade and, ah, building peaceful and mutually beneficial relations."

The giants that brought them shrugged at each other and said something in their tongue to this Elder Hamgwyn. The elder listened closely, nodding, as their report seemed to stretch on and on. Finally, he held up a hand and stopped them, telling them both something in a kindly tone and the two left with confused expressions.

Grenwin felt a little stab of vindication at seeing someone look as confused as she felt.

"It has been a very long time since we have had guests, even longer since those guests held to the ancient oaths." He nodded to the small group, "You are armed, yet have no ill intent that I can see or sense."

"You've grown better with this speech, Elder," Ellir told him appreciatively. The giant rumbled in response, looking embarrassed.

"We've time enough to share our lives after settling this one one." He opened the door wider, gesturing for them to enter. "Please, be welcome. It has been so long since I've hosted guests! This way, please." He led them down a short hall, and into a cozy bedroom. Scaled for a man of his stature, yet still, it had an air of homeliness to it that made Grenwin ache for the Lodge.

He quickly stripped the bed, gesturing for Grenwin to put down her precious cargo. She did so, gently, noticing that Maia's breathing had evened out and the horrific burns had stopped appearing. She seemed to be sleeping normally, even snuggling into the thick blanket that Hamgwyn brought over.

Grenwin felt a great sense of relief. She'd be okay, and things seemed to be going well enough that none of them were in true danger. She could let herself relax a bit, though she'd stay wary. Yes, that was what she ought to do.

As the warrior was having her internal conversation, Elder Hamgwyn turned back to Ygdis and Ellir. "Would you like any tea? Please, I have a comfortable space for talking in the other room." He gestured for them to follow, the two leaving Grenwin to watch over Maia. He led them over to a wide room, set deeper into the earth, one large hearth against the far wall with sitting cushions and a low table in the center of the room. It felt positively cavernous, though the bookshelves on every wall gave it an odd feeling.

They sat, Elder Hamgwyn bustling around with various tools and implements. He delivered a steaming cup of something to the other room, before returning and repeating the process. All the while, he kept up a rumbling commentary.

"It hasn't been since the days of Elder Lorent that men have desired to treat with us openly and without subterfuge. The Wall was young in those days, according to a few scraps of text that remain, if you were curious as to how long ago that must have been. Truly, it is a great shame to have lost even the memory of the oaths our peoples took."

He continued in that vein until finally placing a tray loaded with crumbling sweetbreads, three cups, and a pitcher of steaming liquid before them on the table. He passed each woman a small plate of "It is valongar, a fine creation brought to us by a man from Braavos when I was still young and spry enough to care for the tallest of our great trees. It is a fried bread-bark pastry, you see, with sweetness from the rendered sap of the humble maple," as well as a cup of the hot drink. It smelled spiced and slightly fruity, and Ygdis' eyes went wide as she tasted something entirely new.

The young woman gulped down the beverage, tears forming at the corners of her eyes as her cheeks grew red from the heat. "This is amazing! What is this?"

"Ah, a wine we ferment from a berry-producing vine that grows within the canopy above us. Collecting these berries is a chore, so we tend to make the idle young gather them for us." There was a smile on his face, remembering days past. "Yes, I remember being sent up there for the first time, feeling the sway of the tree and the way the wind seemed to push at us."

He managed to stop himself, a noticeable blush forming on his face. "I apologize, I've been quite talkative this evening. I haven't many opportunities to speak this tongue, and I find it fascinating."

Ellir reached over and put a hand on one of his, "Elder, will our friend live?" She asked bluntly, causing Ygdis to choke on part of a valongar she was shoving into her mouth.

Hamgwyn's brows rose, "She merely needs rest. Beyond whatever else you have cause for concern over, I don't believe that girl has been getting enough sleep."

Ygdis put down her pastry, guilt writ large over her features. "She had said that she was fine, and… I let it go." She hung her head, "I'll not make that mistake again."

Ellir patted the younger woman on the back comfortingly, "You and Grenwin know her the best out of anyone. That you saw any signs at all and asked after them was more than I ever did."

The elder rumbled something in the giant's tongue that echoed through their bones, something comforting.

"She really just needs rest?" Ygdis asked, looking up at the giant, who nodded. "Well, while she rests, we should talk about what we came here for." She eyed Ellir, "You know more about this than I do, right?"

Ellir shook her head. "She said she wanted to meet them. Anything else she wanted to accomplish, she either figured out later or held it closely. Our patron can be a little strange sometimes," she clarified for the giant.

Ygdis tapped her knuckles on the table, thinking. "She said, 'It would be great if we were able to… Build relations? Something about mutual partnership, future planning, even welcoming any giants who wanted to visit or live with us."

The elder sighed with more force than any human has managed, "Complicated. Everything about that is, yes, complicated. Trade is one thing, peace another. Ogier are not welcome outside our stedding, and even those conclaves of men that seem to welcome us draw arms against us merely one or two of your generations later. How can we know, long-lived as we are, that you will even remember promises made and given? I had given some thought that you may have come to renew ancient oaths, yet you speak of new oaths instead."

Silence settled at the table, Ygdis looking up at the elder's eyes challengingly. "Not with Maia leading us." She gave Ellir a sidelong glance, seemingly changing what she was about to say. "She's changing things, changing us for the better. If I make an oath, I will keep it. I can't expect my sons or daughters to keep to an oath I made, though." She started tapping her knuckles on the table nervously, "It seems to me that a solution is to teach our children and their children why oaths matter, give them the ability to decide for themselves if they want to uphold our promises."

She held up her hands placatingly habitually, unneeded as the elder was giving her his undivided attention and seemed nowhere near interrupting. He nodded at her to continue, so she did.

"So, if you're worried about oaths being forgotten, then it's on us to remember them. Whoever you swore together with before, that isn't us. We're First Fork, not 'men' or a 'conclave,' and right now, you're dealing with us, not your remembered histories." She reached over, grabbing one of his massive hands in both of hers, "I'm alive, sitting here, talking to you in the hopes of fulfilling my sister's desire. That isn't enough to build a true partnership on, but is it enough to start trying?"

The elder was silent for a long moment, studying her, studying her hands. Finally, he blew out his long mustaches, harrumphing. "Hasty, hasty. It is enough to start something new. Yes," He gently tapped the back of her hand with a large finger, "This is worth discussing. It is, however, late. You are guests in my home, and if you wish to speak of this more tonight, we may. I would prefer we share stories over valongar and spiced wine. If we are to be friends, I would know who you are."

Ellir gave Ygdis a squeeze on her shoulder, pulling the younger woman's attention away. She gave the spearwife a nod, "It's alright. He's right, we can talk about it in the morning. Maia may even be awake by then, and Grenwin shouldn't be left out."

Ygdis thought, nodding. "Okay. Stories, then. I have one, back when Grenwin first came to First Fork. She was wounded, carrying two dead goats and half a spear…"

Despite the worry, the concern, and the fear that the night had begun with, the atmosphere in the cozy home of an Ogier Elder had certainly become one of welcoming and new friendships as they drank wine and ate pastries.

In the other room, Grenwin sat on the edge of an overlarge bed, watching over her peacefully sleeping friend.

In another place, where time and the coherence of reality held little sway, Maia burned. When exactly it stopped, she couldn't say, and opening her eyes showed her only a vast dim emptiness.

"Oh good, you're finally awake." A familiar feminine voice said. It paused, "I'm sorry, I've been wanting to use that line for so long and this really isn't the time or place."

Maia sat up, looking at the source of the voice. Not far from her, sitting in the same emptiness as she, two girls sat. One was younger, staring at something in her hands- A sword, she was staring at a sheathed sword. With a start, Maia realized that that girl was her, or… Her body, her appearance. She saw the same features in the mirror every day, only, well, mirrored.

The other girl was older, maybe two or three years older than Maia. Her features, the way she talked, everything was achingly familiar, and looking at her brought up memories from the life she thought she'd lost.

"Where am I?" Maia asked, to no response from the younger girl, and a concerned look from the former.

"Well, I'm not sure." The… Spirit, maybe, responded. "This particular place is something unique to you. Us, maybe. It's complicated."

Maia's head hurt, and she slowly laid back down. "Fuck it, tell me in the morning. I'm going to sleep this off."

Unseen to her, the older girl sat next to the younger, holding her tightly. Maia could barely make out a whisper of, "I knew it was worth it. Look, Mai. You're free."

Everything faded from Maia's perception as she fell into a deeply restive slumber.

 

[TheBrokenLaw]

Ygdis thought, nodding. "Okay. Stories, then. I have one, back when Grenwin first came to First Fork. She was wounded, carrying two dead goats and half a spear…"

Internally, she winced. This was not how you set up a story! The others were looking at her, judging.

"So, I was on watch that morning. It was foggy enough that you could barely see your hand in front of your face, right? I'm standing there, listening to the woods, when I hear this clonk-snip sound. I've never heard that in my life, so I listen, and it happens again, closer."

Yeah, she had them, fixed her hook and set the line. "It went, clonk-snip... CLONK-snip, and then it just stopped." She paused for effect, "Then I heard the humming. A nice tune, catchy. I hum along, it's fun, and the weird sound has mostly stopped. Now, the fog is clearing slightly, and I see this figure. Looks tall, with two horned heads and making that humming tune like anyone might. Moment I see that shape, I piss myself. No lie, out of nowhere, two headed humming forest-spirit standing in the fog, and its holding a fucking spear."

"I'm panicking at that point, getting my belt knife out, but the damn thing is stuck in it's sheathe. I yank it out, cut my belt in the process, and my pants fall. The spirit comes closer, humming lower, and it leaaaaans forward out of the mist. I'm looking straight into a goat's eye, being studied, while the rest of the beast is still hidden. I finally get my words out of my throat, shout a strangled 'Get the fuck back!' The monster holds out the spear, and the goat head drops right off it's shoulders, and then the other one. Next thing I know, there's a bloody-faced woman, eyes wide and staring, looming over me."

She waited, waited, anticipating.
Elder Hamgwyn opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. "What did you do then?"

Bite.

Ygdis stood, stretched, "I screamed, kicked her in the shin, and passed out." Sitting delicately like how she'd watched Maia do sometimes, she carefully picked up another pastry and bit into it, heedless of crumbs falling from her chin.

The giant and the former elder stared at her, before Hamgwyn began chuckling. At least, she thought it was chuckling, though it sounded more like a direboar grunting. Ellir joined in, and Ygdis couldn't help herself and belted out a laugh herself.

"Is that a true story, young one?" Hamgwyn asked between chuckles. "I hope it is, truly."

Ygdis nodded rapidly, "Every. Word."

 

[TheBrokenLaw]

Maia's journal DO NOT TOUCH
Day 23
9/10 good day.
I learned something important today. And, I'm going to have to spend time and effort remaking my brand-new COOL AS FUCK wardrobe from fucking scratch because I ended up eating a goddamn holy ass clothing light. Fuck. This is absolute BULLSHIT. At least the metals in the jewelry will be useful.

Anyway.
After a few bad reactions from the newcomers to me wearing my wings openly, I ended up putting away my nice dress and putting back on the parka to stand out less. It helped that the parka ended up being more comfortable than the dress, something about my DUMB clothier ability making the otherwise heavy fur and hide garment able to be comfortably worn by whoever wore it. I hadn't figured wings were accounted for with that, but if it worked, it worked. There was less chance of someone mistaking them for a rogue rooster attacking me and taking a knife to them. Again.

I don't care that the second guy said I fucking sounded like a rooster when I saw him coming at me. Asshole. They laugh now, but I'll show them. Revenge will be had. Blood for blood, honor for honor, goddamnit im just embarrassed about it. They'll be calling me rooster or hen or some shit, and I already didn't like the dove thing.

 

[TheBrokenLaw]

Symon regarded himself a diligent man. He carefully maintained his beard, finely waxed his nearly-there mustache with the slightest curl, and ensured his salt-and-pepper hair was the appropriate length and style for a man of his build and facial structure.

He sighed happily as he observed the image in the somehow-perfect-silver-polished-iron mirror Maia had gifted him a few days after he had inquired about obtaining some. His cousins would be quite envious; Renalte had always been working so hard on achieving pirasattva, and he could imagine her shock to see him so put together.

With a chuckle, he put aside thoughts of a distant childhood. He was a man with duty once more, a duty he had taken on. His father had been a lowly midshipman aboard a, ah, humble Greatcog. His fathers, and some of his mothers, for generations before, had been similarly…

He paused, searching for a suitable continuation of the morning prayer. Ah!

Independent ventures. Yes, merely noble agents within the greater realm of the market. Into the market we sail, and on our own merits we rise with the tide. Sure, plenty of his ancestors and relatives had been dashed against the coral shoals of debt and distrust by swift and unyielding… market forces.

Satisfied with his morning ritual conducted with the quality a man of his nonexistent standing befits, he swiftly clothed himself in a light shore-walking dress. Thin ankle-high leather boots, finely woven hemp socks, and comfortable trousers adorned his lower body, while he shrugged into a strapped undershirt, bare arms, shoulders, and clavicles for optimal airflow. Next, finely trimmed and tailored undercoat in black-dyed (He had few options for permanent quality, and even his patron was capable of stretching what they had so far,) silk, kindly provided by those Myrish sea-pups.

A long overcoat went next, thick black-and-undyed-grey-green linen with gold embroidering (Ha!) and lightweight somehow-hollow polished granite buttons, near as wide around as his thumb was long, yet thinner than a fingernail. Etched into the surface, nay, the inborn patterns of this type of stone themselves, were repeating motifs.

By some trick of mineralization and… inventive skill of his, hm, queen? Queen-ish. Friend, that works, the buttons were finely colored. They showed an incredibly clear image of a beautiful slender tower, clad in the rings of the heavens, stretching to a new world. It was pure white against a deep, blue sky. Flanking the elegant elevator- He stopped, aghast with himself.

Flanking the delicate flower stem were two dove's wings, as though the icon were shielded against harm. Indeed, should he drop one of the buttons, it would surely impact the finely carved wings before harming the sturdier gate to the stars beyond. He snorted, appreciating the self-awareness involved with its creation.

Buttons buttoned, sleeves properly straightened, shoulders comfortable and loose, sides slightly more constricted- A perfect fit, a boon of these gifts. Fine wrist-length leather gloves (With high-traction fingertips and palms of some material he can hardly remember the proper name of, but could be summed up in "dry tar," perfect for slapping an errant deckhand free from idleness.) finished his torso. A simple belt with his pouches sheathes, and hidden substances that would not react well to the breach of their airless glass containers in the least followed.

A sound interrupted his morning ritual. A repetitive crunch-crunch, high speed- A lithe woman he'd seen around burst into his room, and he quite appropriately squealed like a man should when found mid-dress by a saltless highlander.

"Hornfoots!" She blurted, "Outside!"

Symon blinked at her.

She, quite rudely, took a rather disturbingly firm grip on his arm and pulled him. He surely would have fallen but for the woman pulling him along with focused abandon.

He was brought to the berm, standing atop the low palisade they'd finally erected. He did not fall when the outrageous woman released him, he simply recalibrated his footing on the earthy slope.

True to her word, there were quite a few people gathered outside the gates, in the clearing between them and the forest. They weren't setting up tents, but they were milling about large sleds pulled by enormous caribou.

Their appearance caused a bit of a stir, and an intimidatingly large man loomed out of the crowd. By his bearing, this was a man who was a quartermaster or deck sergeant, or something of a type to those; Much like Taegj, a man Symon found quite amenable when he wasn't trying to make hard decisions.

The small giant lifted gloved hands to either side of his mouth and hollered.

"Oi, is this Hansferd?"

Symon blinked.

The woman next to him blinked.

His voice was surprisingly highly pitched for his frame. Though Symon noted guiltily once he noticed, he had a scar across his throat, evidently an old injury.

Symon lifted his hands, "No, this is First Fork."

The large man turned, conferring with a couple of fellow officers. One of them, a young woman whom he thought he recognized in passing shouted back up at him.

"Is Maia around?"

Symon considered, taking a quick look behind him, noting a distinct lack of anything unusual. He turned back and shouted, "No. What do you folks want?"

The girl shrugged it off in disappointment, the larger man giving her a gentle but firm pat on the back. "Got any room? We've got things to trade, news to share, joinings to be offered. That alright?" The giant shouted up at them.

Symon considered, his newfound assistant considered, and he turned to her. With an incredibly serious expression on his face, he relayed vital information.

"I believe these may be the same people who once attacked me and were responsible for the loss of my foot."

The new assistant nodded thoughtfully. "So, you have a problem with it?"

He thought about it and turned back to the giant. "Hey, did you fellows attack a small group of Night's Watchmen, oh, two or three years ago?"

The giant took something out of a pocket on his belt, a tiny silver medallion Symon recognized. It had once adorned the neck of one of the others who were on his unfortunate ranging sent north.

"Was this yours, then?" The sergeant ask-shouted with honest curiosity.

"Yeah," Symon shouted back, "There was a large pack, as well."

The giant nodded knowingly, returning to one of the massive sleds. He returned a moment later, effortlessly hefting a pristine travel pack in one meaty hand. "This yours too?"

"Can I have it back?" Symon asked, receiving a nod in return.

Symon turned to face the gatekeepers, "Open it up."

The gates were pulled aside, and the hornfoots entered the camp. Symon tried to keep a count as they passed the gates, but he surely had missed a few. Sixty-three, maybe as many as five or six more.

Symon descended alongside Ame, as she had identified herself, approaching the mammoth of a man without much worry. If they were going to attack, the big man wouldn't have bothered to fetch something they ought not to even have kept intact, just to offer it freely.

The man gently held the pack out for Symon to eagerly take, and he undid the latches with shaking hands.

"We only opened it up to take the food and anything that might rot out of it. Otherwise, seemed fairly useful if we needed to trade back to the Watch. It's yours, I think. Seem to remember you leaving it with your horse after I got your foot. Sorry about that."

Symon stared up from the precious intact contents of the backpack, surprised for the first time in a few days.

"Huh. Weird coincidence. No hard feelings, I've got a new foot. Having my pack is great, though. Appreciate it."

"Ah, well," The giant rubbed the back of his hair in honest shame, "See, I was aiming for your neck, least then you wouldn't have to go footless for… new foot? However long, yeah?"

Symon nodded sagely, "It's a keelhauling, for sure." He said it casually with the air of someone accepting an implied apology. Indeed, it was a tacit acceptance, for he had the unfortunate experience of having survived a minor keelhauling and would prefer one more over losing his foot again.

"Glad to hear," The giant said absentmindedly, sniffing the air. "I smell meat. You two, let us share meat and mead, in thanks for your welcome."

With little effort at overcoming their protestations, he gently put a head-sized hand on one of their shoulders each. They were steered towards the lodge, sat at a table, and within moments bowls of hearty rice porridge and plates of roasted breast of steer, glazed with a summer berry reduction.

With food before them, Symon and his assistant's protestations were ignored, much as Lom and today's kitchen crew's confusion at the newcomers.

They ate, drank the proffered mead, ate of the sacred offerings, and quite honestly enjoyed the company of an avowed Crowkiller and Symon-Maimer.



Somewhere Else



Maia flicked back into awareness, dozing to full attention in an eyeblink. She sat up, noting her newfound friends still sitting nearby. The older one was dozing, but the younger one seemed more responsive today.

At least, she waved to her this time.

Maia waved back. In return, the girl came over to sit close. She was still holding the sheathed sword in her hands, cradling it like she was afraid it would burn her, yet afraid to let it go.

"Whatcha got there?" Maia asked, causing the other girl to start a bit. The sheathed blade was lifted for inspection and slowly turned. The girl's voice when she spoke made Maia's spine run cold.

"My brother's sword."

It was her voice. It was how she spoke at her most despondent, how Grenwin had described her after the slave raid.

Wetting suddenly too-dry lips, Maia calmly asked, "Who are you?"

The girl shrugged in the almost expectedly disturbingly same way Maia shrugged. "My family called me "Thing, Wretch, and sometimes when I was shown the garden, Sister. Kasey calls me 'Mai.' You should use that, too."

Maia offered her a hand, "Hello, Mai. My name is Maia. Is she," the woman gestured to the sleeping or insensate girl across from them, "Kasey?"

Nodding happily, Mai lowered the sword, setting it in her lap and idly holding it. "She's my big sister. She says she is, anyway, since she's too young to be a mom. She's taught me everything." Her voice was cheerful, yet slightly more somber towards the end. "Almost everything. My brother was nice too."

In a burst of motion, Kasey sat up, stretching animatedly. "Hooo! Another day of STAYING ALIVE. You hear me, Mai? Staying aliveeeee~"

Maia stared at the probable madwoman in front of her, who was busying herself with an incredibly brisk series of calisthenics. The other woman was reciting math, for some reason, then random facts, and memories from her life.

The last shook Maia; She could remember, in clarity, every single memory Kasey mentioned, because it was her memory. They all were, had to be, or else-

A suddenly aggressive grip across her shoulders shook her.

"DO NOT QUESTION YOURSELF!" Kasey screamed into her face, nose to nose, wide, fearful eyes too close for comfort.

Maia pulled back, "I won't! I wasn't!"

The woman pulled back, patting Maia's hand comfortingly. "Good, good. That's rule number one. You're you, got it? I'll explain the weirdness in a moment. Let me just finish my routine, okay?"

Wordlessly, Maia nodded and sat heavily next to the girl staring at a hilt.

Kasey's "routine" kept going for a while, before she suddenly stopped and sat across from Maia.

"Okay, questions. You've got them, I might have answers. Shoot."

Maia blinked. "Uh, what?"

"Yeah, I'm not you, and you aren't me. I still know you, though. So, I know you're going to have questions of the sort that we both know will sound insane should either of us relate this to a third party. So, mutual pact, in this place everything goes. Capiche?"

Maia nodded with increasing confusion. "Next question, I guess. Why aren't you me, when I remembered the things you talked about?"

Kasey beamed and clapped her hands in excitement. "Fantastic question! I'm the impression left by the soul that helped make yours up."

Maia opened her mouth-

"Hers too. You got her body, I didn't have one at the time. It was consensual. No, it wasn't blood magic or some weird shit like that. It was weird shit, though."

She closed her mouth, questions answered.

"Reason I say I'm an impression, not an echo, is that I'm sort of… Well, we're both for weird metaphors, so try this. You stick your face in clay, fire that into pottery, and use it as a mold for… Awareness stuff, you could say. Mind-matter, cognitive bullshit. I'm shaped, literally, like the woman that helped make you. My little ritual there was to keep me in shape."

Kasey was rambling, with a distressing urgency, as though trying to impart the information as fast as possible.

"Look, I need you to carve me into a tree. I know how it sounds, but those red-leaved white-trunked trees? The ones with faces in them? Very important to me, right now. Those faces are anchors, sorta. Some of them, anyway, are carved by the loved ones of the departed so their shade can watch over the family. Without it, it takes a lot more effort to stick around. You're my only link right now, so please."

She grabbed Maia's face with both hands, forcing her to look into Kasey's eyes and study her face. "Please, remember my face. I'll be able to find it, don't worry, I just really, really, don't want to leave you alone."

"I will! Okay?" Maia told her forcefully, pushing her away. "I'll carve your face in a tree. I can do your body too, if you want."

Kasey promptly hugged the shorter girl, "Yes, please. Thank you!"

A moment passed before Maia was released. "Okay, next…" Her headache intensified momentarily, "You know, okay, just tell me this. How did you make the lights happen? What are they, how do they work, why do I have a fucking variable fighter in a pocket reality?"

Kasey stared at her gormlessly, and even Mai seemed more lost for words than usual.

"What?" Kasey asked, her exuberance shifting entirely into overwhelming confusion. "The fuck are you talking about?"

"The… Superpowers?" Maia tried, confused as well.

Kasey scratched her head, "Mai's family can fly and perform magic. Does that count?"

"…"

The three stared at each other, Mai with clear amusement on her face.

"Sorry, but you need to wake up, Maia." She poked her twin right in the wing, causing Maia to squirm away.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to wake you up! Kasey, help!" The girl cried plaintively, poking much harder.

Kasey crouched down next to Maia, a rather large stick in hand.

"Second rule, your perception matters. See this magic-wake-up-stick?" She waved it at Maia, who nodded. "Anyone I hit with this wakes up. Don't ask how it works, it's magic and we both know magic is bullshit. Now, go on, git!"

Kasey gave Maia a great thump across the brow.

Said thumpee disappeared.

Mai pulled Kasey down for a hug that was warmly returned.

At the heart of a stedding, in the comfortable guest room of an elder Ogier, a sleeping girl opened her eyes and was confused.

 

[Hawkwing123456]

the dark one is acausal as it exist outside of time, that is also how it can revive balefired people it just grab them before they are balefired, it just has to win once and it will retroactively have always won, that is the most terrifying thing about it, the dragon has to keep winning an infinite amount of time but the dark one has to only win once and then the pattern is corrupted forever.

I would highly highly recommend that you handwave it away somehow, like maybe the forger made artificial evil prosthetic for reality before balefiring that thing into oblivion and that effect propagated through time to the multiverse. because you need to have a replacement for it or rand would have killed that mother fucker in the last book. or maybe a dragon did it or something.


I don't want to sound hysterical, but the dark one as a concept terrfies me, on a visceral level.

Click to shrink...

If it's acausal, then the fact that it hasn't won yet can just as easily indicate that it will never win.

Also, *my* theory is that the Dark One *always* wins, somehow, at the end of the cycle, at which point the Wheel undoes his victory and tries to advance the future in a different way. The purpose of the Wheel is not for time to be circular, but to chart a course through time that does not end with the victory of the Dark One. If it fails, or realizes that this particular course has failed, it starts over with a new path. Time is therefore meant to be linear, but has come to *seem* circular due to the Wheel trying similar but slightly different methods each time it goes through the Ages.

I actually began a fic that took that as its premise, and it began on an alien world more than ten thousand light years from Earth that channelers during the Age of Legends had reached through a Portal Stone (this being my interpretation of one of Thom's stories about the Age before the Age of Legends) where the explorers found a ter'angreal identical to the one in Rhuidean, a ter'angreal that contained both an active alien AI formed by the One Power and the collected history of every prior 'cycle' of Ages. It was going to involve the idea that the Bore was not universal, but that it expanded across the light-cone of Biedomon's experiment, and that due to the warning of the AI, the link between Earth and the colony was severed before the Bore was sealed, meaning that saidin was never tainted on the colony due to the effect of the event only spreading across its light cone.

Somehow I would have had to reconcile that with the recognition that without the effect of the sealing reaching the colony, the Bore would have continued to weaken the Pattern until the Dark One was freed, which this fic would have depicted much like a false vacuum collapse. I think it's a much more interesting take than that of the characters from the Wheel of Time, particularly since they don't know anything about physics.

 

[TheBrokenLaw]

Maia's journal (for historical posterity?)
Day 34
I can't get this song out of my head.

Grenwin started it, a simple tune she was humming. It got me, somehow, and I have to complete it. Even my spiritua seems to be following the rhythm now.

It's smoother, somehow. The tidal flow is improving, regulating things. It's... Even having some effects on my stars. If the public wants to know about it, they can do a more refined search.

Have to perform this song. It needs to be heard, to beat in the air, thrum through the earth.
An introduction of something foreign, but clearly necessary.
Kinkou demanded it. Demands? What's the etiquette here?

Fuck me, is this what a fey mood is like?
I spent... I don't know how long today getting the instruments together. And learning to play them. And by learning, I mean figure it out on the fly.

I think I've had long enough trying that I'm an expert with this particular unique method.
Anyway, I've recorded the... My creation, I suppose. Might as well hold onto it, though it's still sticking around.

 

[TheBrokenLaw]

The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was the heavy weight atop me. The second thing I noticed was that my neck and right shoulder were rather damp. Turning my head just a bit, I saw Grenwin's sleeping face a few inches from mine. She looked rough, and I was sure there was a reason for it. Best to let her sleep, I think.

I relaxed, letting my body go languid while I mentally shifted towards planning. Possibly some plotting, a dash of madness-

Must be more rattled than I thought. At least the bed was comfortable!

Closing my eyes, I figured I must be safe here, wherever here is/was. My sword was atop my pack leaning up against the wall, so we weren't prisoners.

Wow, I feel great, honestly. Like I've had a full night's rest for the first time in a while.

Anyway, plans.

Hopefully we'd be able to make contact with the forest giants, head back home… Wait, what about Saidar?

I didn't feel any overwhelming urge to reach out for it, just a minor 'maybe a little hug' impulse I was able to tamp down. I couldn't find it anyway, and I reasoned there was probably some reason for that. Nothing else in my arsenal had been affected, and it really went to show just how reliant I had been becoming.

Problem was, I needed it. Not the addictive part talking, but the practical. With the Power I can do anything I need to, using threads of saidar in place of proper tools. If it were gone for good… Well, no, I don't think it was. I couldn't describe how I knew, but it wasn't that I'd hurt myself in my confusion. I think, anyway. Saidar just wasn't here, for some reason. Like I'd entered a windowless house where the light of the sun was prevented from shining.

My eyes, to continue the metaphor, were perfectly fine as far as I could tell. I just would have to leave the house, first.

When we got back, I could start taking apart the variable fighter. I'd been scared of doing something wrong, but as long as I follow the procedures outlined in the manuals and keep a close log of whatever I do, anything I do should be repairable. It's disassembly, not destructive analysis.

Once the vehicle is taken apart, I'll put most of the components through the recycler. I wasn't sure about the reactors, as they had some exotic components that might not play nice with the fabricator, but everything else should be fine.

I should do the same with a tablet and a flashlight, come to think. I wanted to learn what made those work the way they did, and there might be something useful there. I know the flashlights had some sort of wireless power system, and if I figure out the basics, I can start on a basic network.

At this point, my personal desire for advancement and protection outweighs my desire to leave the local culture unchanged by advanced technology on the level of electronics, at least until it was reasonable to introduce. Hell, someone might beat me to it and figure it out on their own time!

Anyway, with power comes artificial lighting, a wireless network, and such a ridiculously vast list of things we can do that I'd end up tiring myself out. Might was well think about it while I enjoy being so relaxed.

***

​

Four hours later

"So, let me get this straight." I said, taking a sip of the delicious tea Elder Hamgwyn had produced alongside breakfast.

We all sat around the table in the Ogier's(!!!!) living room. Finding out about Ogier had put what happened last night in better perspective. Turned out, I hadn't been as safe or careful with my use of Saidar than I thought I'd been. The moment I had been cut off from the Source by the stedding, I had reflexively reached for anything I could find- Until I was, as far as I can tell, trying to hug the light in my personal constellation. Turns out those are hot. Grenwin had described the burns I'd been breaking out with and it sounded like something I should be grateful for my enhanced healing for dealing with.

"I collapsed, Ygdis found a couple of Ogier forest-tenders, you were led back here, where Elder Hamgwyn was kind enough to extend his hospitality." I bowed deeply in my chair towards the distinguished elder. "Thank you, once again. If there is anything you need of me, ask and I will try to deliver."

Hamgwyn gave a polite and surprisingly proper bow in return. "It is no trouble for me to host such interesting guests. Please, continue."

"Right," I said, looking Gren in the eyes. "Thank you. You carried me and kept watch over me." She had been fast asleep when I had awoken in the early hours of the morning, clutching me hard enough that I hadn't been able to escape. Not that, if I was being honest with myself, I wanted to get away.

The woman nodded, "I was- No," She stopped, giving me an interesting sort of half-upper-body bend that could have been a bow, sort of. "I'm just glad you're up and walking."

I could sense, somehow, that she'd been terrified. "I'm sorry for scaring you, and everyone else. Thank you, Ellir, you brought us to safety. Ygdis," I stood, walking around the table to give the younger woman a firm hug.

She was stiff and laughed awkwardly over my shoulder. "What did I do to deserve this?"

I released her. "You proved I can really count on you, when it matters. You remembered most of why I wanted to come here, even when I didn't tell you specifics. While I was down, you still did the work I was planning on, without prompting. If you want a reward for being this cool, let me know, yeah?"

Ygdis gave me a shining smile. "I'll think of something. Everything else came together, I didn't do much."

Elder Hamgwyn chose to fill the resulting empty conversational space. "Now, Maia, about your request."

I turned my attention fully toward him, "You mean you do know something useful about the Others?"

"Useful is relative, but there are some works that discuss them." He indicated the small pile of books he had laid out on the table, all sized for Ogier hands, yet with nearly impossibly fine print. He pointed one out, "This is Ice and the Magicks of the Walled Lands, originally penned by Elder Flemont over, hm, two and a half thousand years ago. Within, she discusses the Others and their affinity for…" He blinked, "I am sorry, am I boring you?"

I shook my head, ignoring the snickers from my friends. "No, no. You said, ah, magics?"

"Magicks, yes. It is a very general field of study, not dissimilar to the noble Philosophies. The Others, specifically, have not been observed performing magick as such, yet still seem closely linked to various magickal phenomena. Elder Flemont describes a localized blizzard, temperatures dropping far below that which is lethal for Ogier and Man alike. This, Obscure Creatures, is another of Elder Flemont's works, and within the Others are described as, yes, 'Ice given the form of Man and the disposition of, ahem, ants."

The giant man shrugged, "I have little else for you."

"Ants?" Grenwin asked with curiosity. It was a good question, I thought.

"Oh yes, as odd a comparison as it may seem. She described a short observation she was able to preform from within the safety of the stedding, in which she learned that they do seem to maintain some form of communication between each other, audible as…" He trailed off, tapping his nose in thought. "Ah, the sound of a frozen lake snapping. You know the sound?"

We all nodded, and I know I was missing the point.

"They communicated, you see, but beyond that Elder Flemont saw little signs of individuality. Amongst the four she watched, they were of the same shape, the same shades, produced the same noises, and wielded the same weapons. The comparison to ants, you see, comes from the manner by which the leader of the group relayed orders."

"How was that, then?" Grenwin asked.

The elder took a long sip of his tea before answering. "They didn't. Rather, the one she identified as the leader maintained a group of wights nearby, while the other Others split off from the group from time to time, returning with more wights or objects without rhyme or reason. They acted almost as part of a whole, four individuals making one entity."

I sipped my tea. Something very close to a chai in flavor, with a touch of citrus.

"This is fantastic tea, Elder Hamgwyn." I told the man appreciatively.

"It is a blend cultivated by Stedding Tsoshu over generations. I expect our fungal parchment is as finely regarded by our brothers and sisters as we recognize their contributions to the culinary arts." He blinked bushy brows.

"Why didn't the Others come into the stedding?" Grenwin asked bluntly, refusing to look at me for some reason. Her face was red enough I was worried she was breaking out in a rash, but she'd said she was fine.

Ygdis nodded excitedly, "Yeah, why?"

"We do not know," Hamgwyn said simply. "Whatever their cause for remaining beyond the borders of our Stedding, it is not absolute. This," He pushed forward a third book, carefully bound in leather and smaller than the others, "Is a journal of a Night's Watchman who sheltered with us for an evening. He was being pursued, you see, and while we offered respite…" He blew out a long breath, sighing. "It was before my time, but the event was clearly described."

He cleared his throat, taking on the air of relaying ancient words to us.

"The Atishi entered our village last night. We gathered that they gained access to Elent's dwelling without alerting the watchful Ogier. By some means that evades us, they bled the Watchman dry, leaving only his blood as evidence of their, and his, presence."

He took a breath, returning to his normal cadence. "This journal belonged to the ranger, discovered to have been placed within the mattress. He must have been desperate indeed! Alas," he flipped the small book open, "it is written in a code I've been unable to discern the cipher for. It's merely a hobby," he said slightly defensively, "though you are welcome to take this. A thing of men returned when requested. Yes, fitting."

Glances were exchanged around the table as I pulled the small journal towards me. Gently, I flipped it open, looking through pages of gibberish, with peculiarly fine drawings of fantastic creatures and plants. I stopped at a particular sketch, thick lines of some dark pigment stretching large across the page. It was night, I gathered, and there was a sinuous pale shape stretching across the sky. It was long, like a snake, yet had a peculiar pair of arms and legs, the former ending in oddly clearly defined human features.

Huh.

Closing the book, I spent a moment catching back up to the conversation.

"The stedding aren't safe, then." I said, "The Others can enter if they want. Obviously, harboring a ranger was enough provocation for them."

"He must have found something, then!" Ygdis declared, "Maybe he wrote it down. Why else would he hide that where he knew it would be found? Why hide it at all?"

"He knew they were coming for him, possibly even that night," Grenwin reasoned. "Maybe he didn't know exactly how long they would take to catch up, so he hid the journal first thing, just in case. If he was able to leave, he could take it with him again."

Nodding, "I'm inclined to agree. Maybe that wasn't exactly what happened, but it's close enough to the truth to work with.

"Yes, of course." Hamgwyn said idly, "You're welcome to take these books with you. I only ask that you treat them with care."

"We will," I replied, gathering the small pile together.

"Thank you. Now, I have a question for you, regarding something your young friend told me last night." The large man proffered the teapot, refilling our cups and accepting our murmured thanks with gusto. Locking his gaze on mine, as though studying my reaction, "You lead First Fork, and First Fork is seeking improved relations with us. Will you stop at only our stedding, or will you deal openly with the others of my people?"

I blinked, "I didn't even know you were Ogier. Now that I do, we're absolutely going to be trying to establish contact."

He took a moment, then nodded seriously. "Then perhaps you may solve an ongoing problem we have. You see, with the hostility of the land, travel between Stedding is long and dangerous. If First Fork proves itself as a reputable actor, we will likely request assistance in communication and travel between our homes."

The table went silent, and I was completely flummoxed. "Yes?"

I cleared my throat, "I mean, absolutely, this is acceptable. This plays into something I have an interest in, the propagation of communication devices and methods across these lands."

He took a bit of valongar, examining the small pastry. "It has been a very long time since we have last had contact with many of our people. There are young Ogier who have never met any from another Stedding. I do not wish to enter the twilight years of my life watching this slow decline continue."

Ellir stood, coming around the table and giving the Elder a solid hug. At least, it looked solid enough, though the size difference lent a distinctly comedic air to the sight.

"I'd like to help you, then." I said, "Ultimately, I want to stop the hostilities between our peoples in general. We are too alike, have too much to offer each other, to be at each other's throats."

He nodded, "Reprocity is a fundamental principle, indeed. We will take it one step at a time, yet for now," He gave Ellir a pat on the back, then extended his massive hand toward me. "Allies, and friends. You will always be welcome in my home. All of you," waving to everyone with his other hand.

Taking his hand, I gave it a firm shake, at some bemusement from Hamgwyn. "You're welcome under my roof as well, and when we return to First Fork, I'll let it be known that all Ogier are welcome. We'll explain what and who you are, as a people, and stop this stab-at-first-sight thing."

Again, the oddest sense of change came over me. Riding atop the wave of history, buoyed onward, my only choice was to continue lest it catches me beneath, crushing me.

With pleasantries exchanged and trades made, we exited the Stedding with an honor guard- That is, the Elder had sent for someone specifically to accompany us home. Problem was, he was a bit quiet, more interested in talking about books than anything concrete or practical. Still, Jini was friendly enough, still a youngling, or so the Elder said.

The moment we passed the borders of the stedding, I felt Saidar once again. Reaching out, it embraced me like an old friend who it had missed, and I felt complete again.

As a test, I stepped back and forth through the stedding, getting used to the way the Power vanished and reappeared. I would not be caught by surprise like this again!

Gateway open, a few steps taking me home. Introducing Jini was fun, the responses from everyone ranging from shock and awe to terror. Nothing violent, and I made it very clear than anything done to the young Ogier would be done tenfold on the perpetrator, and that he was under my personal protection. It wasn't an aegis I'd had to use before, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

I set him up a cozy house in town, not too far from anything, and done in the traditional style. For the most part, he told me what he would like, aside from some futureproofing regarding plumbing. The result was so starkly similar to a Hobbit's house that I had a little jolt every time I saw it, expecting the occupant to be half as tall as I, not twice as tall! The scale kept throwing me off, and I wasn't the only one.

Finally done, I found myself collapsing on some comfortable sitting cushions in Grenwin's house, alongside the woman herself and Ygdis.

We were all happy enough to just exist in the moment together. I felt, at least, that whatever came next was something we could handle if we worked together.

 

[Scholar of Time]

Hopefully, traditional culture will survive a shrinking world as communication becomes faster and easier.

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