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The Beginning....

The snows of Shyregoed lay undisturbed, a thick blanket of white that covered everything in sight. Silence stretched out past the walls of Anica, a silence that spoke of people and creatures doing in their warm shelters. If one was paying close attention, though, they would be able to spot the tiniest bit of movement. A small speck of red, vibrant against the stark white of the snow, raced from the walls of Anica, the small creature had no destination, it seemed, but to get away. A careful observer would notice that it kept looking over its shoulder, as if afraid of pursuit. There was no thought of any routes or roads, only to get away, and on and on and on it ran as fast as its small legs would allow.


Farther off, the stillness of the snow was broken again, this time by a small fitful fire. The huddled form of a man could be seen next to it, wrapped in a cloak and drifting off by the warmth of the flames. The quiet sound of humming rose above the crackling of the fire, though the notes soon began to slur together as sleep claimed his consciousness.


These two beings will cross paths soon, though neither will plan it, and neither will realize it until the next morning.

The world was large.
That was the first thought that popped into her head once her fear had subsided to a manageable level. Her only view of the world before then had been from a tiny slit of a window from one of the higher stories of Anica. From that vantage point trees looked like twigs, people looked like ants, and the general pace of life seemed to be much slower.
But on the ground...When she looked up, she felt as if the sky could swallow her. The skeletal branches of the trees clawed their way towards the heavens, seeming to be larger than any man-made structure she had seen or heard of. And everything moved so fast, it took her a few days to keep herself from bolting back into the safety of Terrowin's bag whenever a bird took flight or a small animal scampered through the snow. Her mouth hung open in amazement as she sat on the human's shoulder, head craning around as she tried to see everything at once.
That tiny view of the world could not have prepared her for this, the stories she had heard did not even begin to cover the sights that she was seeing. The colors, the sounds, everything just seemed to much more alive than it had within the stone walls that she grew up in. For much of it, she simply didn't have the words for, and could only delight in the new experiences laid out before her wordlessly.
But what she reveled most in was being able to move freely. Terrowin never forced her to stay close, never told her not to leave his sight or to sit still and behave. Quite the opposite, he never made mention of her running around and took to being used as something as a human jungle gym in stoic silence, only complaining when she inadvertently (or not) dumped snow down the back of his neck.
It was when she was running along in the snow, occasionally burrowing her way through it and popping up a few feet away that she felt a sense of contentment that she had not yet felt before.
This, she thought, mouth stretched into a large grin as the wind blew her hood back from her face. This s what she was looking for.

The world, she thought glumly as she dangled from the edge of a shelf, was a bit too big.

Her day had started off as it usually had, their meager camp being packed away (none too neatly) into Terrwin's bag before they picked their way through the thinning forest to the road. The change in the landscape had been subtle enough that she had not noticed it, so distracted had she been by everything else they were passing. She did, however, begin to notice the increase in other travelers.
After the fourth or fifth time of ducking into the pack or into Terrowin's collar to hide from said travelers, she finally looked up at the man with a frown. "Where are we going?" She didn't get an answer for a few moments, but he eventually nodded his head towards the horizon. The line of quickly approaching buildings was not what she had been expecting int he slightest, and it had sent her fleeing to the depths of the pack for a good portion of the rest of the morning.

Terrowin, in the meantime, had gone about his business, trading in his meager coin for supplies, mostly food, though he did spend a good long moment staring at a shop that had a handful of instruments displayed in the window. Throughout that morning he felt her stirring in the pack as she moved from one patched hole to the other, trying to get a view of the city without exposing herself, and by the time he was heading into the last store, he felt a pair of tiny hands rest against his shoulder.

"What are we doing?" she whispered in his ear, trying to lean forward to get a good view while simultaneously be hidden and failing at both. "I'm picking up a few more things before we leave, hush," he responded, waving her back into his pack impatiently. And she retreated, after a fashion, though it was as if now she was completely unable or unwilling to stay hidden. Her head popped up over his shoulder every few minutes, only to duck back down when he hissed a warning at her.

He had given up trying when he felt her scurry across his shoulders. "Just don't wander too far, alright?" he murmured with a sigh, hunching his shoulders as he drew a curious glance or two. She nodded, her mouth turning into a round 'o' of surprise as she took in the sight of the shop. There were things everywhere, and people, more people than she had seen up close in such a long time... And all of the things! Shelves and shelves of things she couldn't even put a name to! Despite Terrowin's warnings, and her own instincts telling her to go back and hide, she shimmied along his arm and pattered across the counter, ducking behind various packages and items to at least try and stay unseen.

Unfortunately for Terrowin, right as her tiny feet hit the wood of the counter the shopkeeper turned his attention to him. So with a pained look towards the flash of bright red that disappeared behind the jar, he began to stammer out what he wished to buy. Unknown to him (as he was too busy trying to see where, exactly, Tiffan had gotten to) he was drawing quite a bit of attention to himself, on top of his rather ragged appearance he was also acting rather suspiciously. A look of worry was plastered across his face and he could not stop fidgeting with anything his hands came into contact with, every out of place noise made him twitch, and he kept looking to the back of the shop as if something was going to happen. So by the time the shopkeeper had returned with his goods, a circle of space had opened up around him.

But all was good. Nothing had gone wrong yet, all he had to do was hand over his money, and...

CRASH.

Rather than bolting, like he appeared that he was going to, he froze instead, barely a muscle twitching as he stood with his arm outstretched to hand the shopkeep a few coins. A bead of nervous sweat ran down the side of his face as his eyes slowly looked to the side wall of the shop where various pots and jars were falling to the floor. And, barely visible, a tiny red figure dangled off the edge, laboriously pulling itself back on to the shelf. All eyes in the shop looked from the shelf to Terrowin, somehow sure that he had something to do with this.

A quiet, nervous laugh escaped from his mouth as he noticed that all the attention was on him now. "Hey, now, what's t-" "Thankyou, keeptheextra!" his voice was loud enough to cover the shopkeep's own angered words, and he all but flung the money at the poor man before grabbing the bag and running out the door.

Silence fell over the shop, the various customers and workers too stunned and confused to know quite what to do next. Only the quiet tinkle of broken glass and pottery could be heard for the next few moments, but then a shrill whistle floating in the door from outside broke the silence. A tiny 'thud' and a quiet "Oof!" could be heard following it, and if any were looking, they would spot a small figure in a red cloak running as fast as it could through the crowd and out the door.

A Meeting in the Snow

In which Tiffan and Terrowin stumble across an intriguing stranger on their way to Freykeep.

The sun was barely a sliver on the horizon, giving the world a hazy, golden glow. The sounds of life around them were dying down, and the whole world seemed to be taking its final breath before going to sleep for the night.
And they were still walking.
She had gotten used to setting up camp, or, in the rare occasion Terrowin had the money for it, getting a room in an in by now. But he just kept on walking, seemingly oblivious to the passing of time. She scrambled from her perch on his shoulder to the top of his head, trying to see if there was anything behind them that they were trying to get away from. Surely if they were trying to get away from something he'd be going faster, though, right? There wasn't anything ahead of them that she could see, either. With a huff she sat down on top of his head, tiny heels drumming against his forehead as she thought.
A moment later she almost fell off of his head as he jerked to a stop, for his vision was suddenly full of a frowning red face. [color-darkred]"Where are we going? Why aren't we stopping?" Triffan found herself suddenly being pushed back on his head, and she swatted irritably at the finger doing the pushing until he stopped.
"Don't worry, don't worry," Terrowin said with a laugh. "There, see?" Tiffan's gaze followed his pointing finger, squinting as she tried to see what he was pointing at. The faintest glow of city lights could be seen on the horizon, and she could see the road start to gradually widen and even out. A town? Why was he hurrying so much to get to town? Usually he tended to get twitchy when they got near towns, not excited...

"What's there?" she asked slowly, settling down amongst his hair.
"Home."

She had spent the rest of the trip in silence, mulling over that thought as Terrowin walked. From his mouth it had sounded almost like a blessing, and she could hear the relief in his voice (and feel it in his step) at the thought of his home being so close. The thought of home, rather than comforting her, just filled her with a rising sense of dread. The only home she had known up until now had not been a home in any sense of the word, and she had no idea what to expect.

The squeak of a door opening snapped her out of her thoughts and sent her sliding off of Terrowin's head as a flood of warm light spilled out into the street. She saw a flash of orange hair and heard a muffled exclamation as she wormed her way into the pack. She wormed her way from hole to hole, trying to see if one would produce a good view of where they had just walked into, but all she saw was the door they had just walked through. The thick fabric of the pack and the many layers of things in it muffled the conversation that Terrowin was having, so she was not sure what was actually being said, but when the pack began to move and she saw a hand start to reach in, she could give a good guess.

"She usually ends up in here somewhere..." Terrowin said, fishing around in his pack. A frown slowly began to form over his face as he stopped, and instead began looking around the room. "Ah. Um." He looked at his sister's skeptical face, giving her a sheepish smile and a shrug. The last thing Tiffan heard as she squirmed her way underneath one of the doors in the back of the room was "She's ah, very shy..."

Red Cloak in White Blankets

In which Terrowin's letter to the Fellowship is responded to in the form of two unexpected visitors.

The sound of muffled conversations was one she had gotten used to over the next few days. Much of her time was spent exploring her new surroundings, scurrying around the edges of the rooms and underneath furniture rather than moving in the open. She tended to make the various inhabitants of the house nervous, as she had never stuck around to be introduced to them, and the only thing they ever really saw of her was a brief flash of bright red from the corner of their eye, always gone by the time they turned their heads around. They tried to lure her out, too, calling to her as she passed, trying to get her to speak to them. But she continued on, showing herself at least once during the day to let Terrowin know that she hadn't run off yet.

It was a day or two after they had arrived and she was still exploring the building that she found herself caught. She had been wandering down a long hallway when she heard footsteps approaching, and a quick look around proved there to be no quick place to hide. A brief wave of panic swept over her as she looked frantically around, not wanting to face the remainder of Terrwin's family quite yet. The clicking of heels seemed to grow increasingly louder until she could think of nothing but the approaching feet. The panic grew, making her limbs turn to lead, though she continued to look frantically around as if some way out would appear suddenly.

And one did. Her tiny feet propelled her across the hall as fast as they could, and she flattened herself out on the ground, scooting her way underneath the crack between door and floor. The footsteps passed without pause, and she felt the tension slowly leave her body as she began to relax. The room was dark, lit only by a small window that was curtained for the most part. The small amount of light spilling from underneath the door and in the cracks in the curtains illuminated little but dark shapes ahead of her. Cautiously she made her way to the window in the hopes that she would be able to pull the curtain back to let in more light. After what seemed like hours of creeping ever closer to the one shard of light in the room, her questing hands found the dangling ends of the curtains, With a giddy laugh she swarmed up the fabric and hoisted herself onto the windowsill, squinting around at the room one last time before shoving aside the heavy fabric.

A shrill shriek echoed out of the room and down the hall as light fell on what seemed to be the twisted and snarling forms of creatures dragged from the deepest levels of hell.

By the time Terrowin had opened the door to the storeroom it seemed as if it was empty. He frowned, looking over the racks of hanging furs and leathers as he walked to the back of the room to replace the curtain to its normal position. A quiet rustle drew his attention, though after a moment of silence he shrugged it off and took the last few steps to the curtain. He could have sworn he heard something as he twitched the fabric back over the window, though another quick scan of the room showed it to still be empty. With a sigh he made his way back to the door, though his steps were small and slow, as if he were expecting something to happen. And happen it did, one of the furs to his side began to rustle violently, a tiny growling noise echoing around the empty room.

"Ah. There you are."

The fur stilled. The growling stopped.

"Terrowin, you're supposed to be scared." The tiny voice scolded. Holding up his hands in acknowledgement he took a few steps back to where he had been moments before and paused for a moment before walking forwards again just as slowly as he had the first time.

This time Tiffan was rewarded by a very enthusiastic, high-pitched shriek.

The creak of the door opening behind her made her jump, almost making her lose her tenuous balance on the edge of the shelf. She gave the doorway a quick glance over her shoulder before scrambling to find a more secure place to perch herself, and was comforted when she saw a familiar tall and gangly silhouette in the doorway. "Terrowin, what's this room used for?" she asked, turning back to look at the contents of the shelf she was standing on. There was a brief flare of light from behind her, which eventually settled into a soft glow, illuminating the various rolls of leather and fur that she stood in front of.

"Oh!" The new source of light made clear most of the objects, though she found herself unable to decipher the writing that scrawled across the many pages that were stacked up before her. ""But, what is this, Ter-" Her words were cut off mid-sentence as she turned around to face whoever was standing in the doorway. "You aren't Terrowin." she said, voice becoming small and barely audible as she stared at the man who was decidedly not her awkward traveling companion.

"No." The man said gravely, staring at the Plague from behind a pair of glasses. "I am not." The small lantern he held (the source of the sudden light) was set down on the desk as he approached the shelves, his eyes never leaving Tiffan. She felt pinned in place by his his gaze, though she shrank back against the various objects behind her. The man stood in front of her, staring at her in silence for a few moments before picking up a sheaf of papers and a pen and turning his attention to that. "So. You are the Plague that my son has brought home." His tone made it clear that he was not actually asking her, and he spoke again before she had a chance to say anything. "Since you are here you might as well be of some use. What does that label behind you say?"

The man looked up after a moment of silence from Tiffan, raising an eyebrow and giving her a slight nod when she pointed to one questioningly. "U-um," she slowly turned around to face the label, though she kept looking over her shoulder to make sure that the man was still there. "T-two r..." Her voice faltered, and she turned back to look at the man. His pen was poised over the paper he held, ready to write whatever it was she said, and the look he gave her made her spin right back around with a squeak, the small patches of red on her cheeks flaring brightly.

"Do you-" He broke off with a sigh, and a quick peek showed him to be pinching the bridge of his nose. "What has my son been doing. You don't know how to read, do you." He did not state it as a question, but even so, the silence that descended in the room provided an answer. "Two rolls of black hide," he said, the scratching of his pen accompanying his words. If he already knew, she wondered, trying to swallow her embarrassment, why did he ask? Silence fell upon the room once more, and she glanced over at him once more. He was staring at her expectantly, ready to write once more.

"Next." And it continued on in much the same manner, the small Plague stammering her way through all of the shelves before he set his papers down on the desk, leaning against it while crossing his arms. "I heard you have made quite a disturbance lately." Tiffan shrank back slightly into her hood, finding it difficult to meet the man's eyes. "Well," he said with a long sigh, removing the glasses from his nose and rubbing at his eyes. "You, at least seem to have some more sense in your head than he does." And with that he scooped up his papers again and swept out of the room, leaving Tiffan standing once again in the dimly lit room by herself.