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 Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 12:55 pm
He shifted his gaze away from her and pulled the cowl back onto his head, seeing the same effects that always happen whn people look at him. Hence the mask. With his back turned once again, he spoke in his usual sullen tone of voice, "I dont recal ever giving you my name."
Dead he was, but now among the living. Memory erased. He did not know this person, or at least he thought he didn't. He reached up and placed the dark mask back onto his face. Once again, covered from head to toe in black.
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:16 pm
She rubbed her eyes and tilted her head from one side to the other to get rid of the tension.
She hadn't forgotten the power of his look, but what it was like meeting it. No chance of preparing herself in any way.
While making some steps towards him Lucind wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck and tried to cover her ears which started to feel numb.
"Then you don't remember me? - I ran a cafe at the merchant's ring of the Leviathan Arena. Years ago you were my guest. - Sometimes I saw you sitting back in the stands, all by yourself. Just watching. Barely speaking to someone. -And I remember your...some kind of rosary."
The talking helped her to relax. In fact there was no reason of being afraid. Still his aura wasn't something Lucind could just block off.
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:33 pm
"No." He didn't remember. If he did remember anything, it would be locked in the vaults of his mind, away from his conscience the world.
All he had until now was a name, and that was all. And now he had another name, that of this woman, who seemed to knwo more about him than he knew about himself.
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:54 pm
Lucind raised her eyebrows and made some more steps until she was standing next to him, some space between them.
When she remembered anything else then the fact that this man wasn't known for being untruthful.
Only when she was about to speak on it occured to the blue haired woman that in all those years they had never exchanged more words than now during this short span of time.
"Then you probably don't even remember what happened on the day the stadium was destroyed..."
Her gaze dropped to the snowy ground, she frowned slightly, then raised her head.
"Do you know why you are here?"
Lucind blinked, wondering if he maybe found it rude asking this. A faint, apologizing smile curled her lips.
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 2:03 pm
Lucind Varhetel "Then you probably don't even remember what happened on the day the stadium was destroyed..." Her gaze dropped to the snowy ground, she frowned slightly, then raised her head. "What stadium?" He sounded like he had no idea of what she was talking about, which would only be confirmed as a 'yes' to her question. As far as he was concerned at this time, he knew only the arctic wastes, and there was no stadium here. Lucind Varhetel "Do you know why you are here?" Lucind blinked, wondering if he maybe found it rude asking this. A faint, apologizing smile curled her lips. "Io brings me to this world to learn." was his answer, as unclear as it was. If his eyes were gazing out the slits in the mask, the woman would not notice, though his head was slightly tilted to look to his side at her.
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 2:41 pm
"Ah, I see."
In fact, she didn't understand at all. Or well, at least she'd heard of Io before and that he was, in Kraun's system of faith, the creator of all things.
And most obviously, this monk had lost his memory - probably due to whatever he had done in the arena. Or maybe it had been cleaned, erased to only leave a tabula rasa. And now he was brought back. For what? Learning?
"If you don't mind, I'd like to walk a bit. It seemed you wanted to go back anyway..." The woman shivered, this time mostly because of the cold night which made her breath come out in tiny puffs of steam.
Lucind stared into the semi-darkness of the wood while hugging herself and nuzzling into her scarf.
"What did you learn until now?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 8:10 pm
Kraun bowed his head slightly as the woman suggested they walk, and as they did so, his head turned to face forward as his arms hung loosely at his sides.
This learning thing was an interesting to see him do. Oddly enough, though he had no recollection of learning something, he possessed the skills to do so; such as reading and writing or his uncanny sense of wisdom. However, there was so much more than just skills which he was here to learn. "I have been taught to take care of the vineyards and to cook," he began, for starters "and this thing called science; how and why some things work the way they do."
It was all very basic stuff the monks were teaching him, seemingly telling him things as they worked, explaining how things worked, though he himself did little talking. In fact, the only one he seemed to ever talk to in the monastery was the abbot, who of course, asked the same question as to why he was here.
But there was so much more around the world than that in the frozen wastes of the tundra, and though he did not know this, others did.
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 12:43 am
Now, this was really confusing. And interesting in the same way.
For those few seconds she could concentrate on the happenings down in the arena she had saw this man standing there, being fought by Vahn from the Kyonuske clan and another man she knew only by sight. But it didn't seem Kraun actually wanted to fight. She couldn't be sure about this, though. The panic around might have disturb her perception. Of course, she could try to fish those scenes out of her memory...
"The vineyards, eh? An amazing business. - You know, I've been invited to the wine tasting. I'd like to buy some bottles for my new book-cafe. That is, if the wine's good. But I have no doubt it is."
"And science is always useful. Usually gives you a better insight of the world. Though the question which follows after the learning is what you want to do with your new knowledge." It wasn't even a rhetorical question, just a statement.
Hul had said the man appeared fifteen days ago.
What woulf happen if the monks couldn't teach the stranger anything else?
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 12:50 am
The he would be on his way to learn something new of the world.
He made hardly a sound in acknowledgement to her statement, muffled by the mask into a hollow toned "Hmm..."
The two entered the large clearing where the dome still stood, the entrance to the monastery, and there it was, waiting for them to return, unhidden unlike last time the woman was here. He reached out and pulled open the large doors to let the lady in first.
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 1:22 am
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 1:39 am
"Perhaps another time." he answered with a little bow. He would continue down the hall, until he reached the one at the end, and simply opened it. He never locked the door. Nobody ever went where he was, so there was no point. Inside his own room, Kraun lit a stick of incense and left it to burn as he sat down in a chair. The whispy lines of smoke drifted about the area lazily through the light of the candle. He did not sleep. He never sleeps. ***** The morning was bustling with activity the following day. As the guests were served breakfast and lunch, the guldorian monks were all busy getting ready for the wine tasting that would happen tonight. Where the first of these few years' brew would be tasted, finished just as they would be shipped out to prospective traders. Even with monks and guests everywhere, one person was nowhere to be found.
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 2:28 pm
The larger the distance between them grew the more she could feel a part of the cold leaving her body.
"..."
It was a pain getting out of her clothes and boots with her fingers all numb. Finally she blew out the last candle in her room and crawled under the sheets, sighing in delight. This had been a most interesting night, but Lucind didn't feel like seriously pondering about the meeting now. Later, for sure, but now all she wanted was to close her eyes and...
After some hours of a deep and refreshing sleep the woman managed to stand up around eight in the morning and, after a jump into the bathroom, directly had breakfast for she feared she might be already too late for it.
Then she took a quick shower and, at last, could enjoy the hot spring until feet and hands were wrinkled.
Feeling really well and a bit lazy with the good lunch in her stomach, Lucind approached the next monk she saw to ask him if there was a library in here and if guests were allowed to have access to it. She was just searching for an occupation until the wine tasting started.
And something else occupied her mind: Should she have some words with the abbot about Kraun?
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 8:40 pm
The monk nodded and replied in a soft voice, "The library is in a room past the temple, on the left side of the altar upon entry, far back corner." The location was simple enough to find, as everything was pretty straight foreward in the monastery but for the twisting mazelike underground vineyards.
However, upon entry into the library, Lucind would be met with a fairly small room, which passed as the library of the monastery. Upon the shleves were many scrolls, those being the scriptures first written by those who began this religeon. But of corse, there was more than that, as several other shelves were lined with books. None of which were anything extraordinary, but they all had their uses, such as books on medicine, both ancient remedies and herblore or tales of history and myth.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 11:42 am
Lucind spent several hours in the library, browsing through all kind of volumes. She found some new advises how to use known herbs in unusual ways or scanned through official journals of the daily work in the monastery.
Later on she left the building to have a short walk, enjoying the clear weather and had fun in singing for tiny birds and other small animals which didn't really fell into hypnosis but still became friendly by listening to the Half-Siren's song.
Back in her room she found herself in the mood to meditate until it was time for the wine tasting.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 12:00 pm
Late afternoon. It was right about dinner time when all the guests were called to the mess hall for the wine tasting. There were five of the smaller circular tables set up for the guess, each table seating four guests.
At the table where Lucind sat, there were three others. One was a local wine connoisseur, a lady by the name of Uria. Another was a man named Larim, apparently a supplier of wine who's companies made him very rich in the industry. And the last was a man by the name of Elothorn, a local who owned a tavern in one of the nearby fishing villages.
Now, at the far end of the room, the abbot was seated, and as he stood up, the room fell quit as he gave his usual speach about the hard work it took to produce this years vintage, and then it began.
The guests were served a large dish of fish, cooked en papilotte with a side of herb roasted potatoes and some vegetables. They were served with a basic white wine which was produced from this years crop, the first sample of the wine. Nothing extraordinary, but just the basics, which was about 80% of the total production. The other 20% would be served after the meal.
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