1. Three years. That was how long he had been on his own, going where he pleased and carving out a life for himself. Starting fights. Getting punched. Embarrassingly enough, that last happened rather regularly, a fact that hurt his pride a great deal less when he considered how many punches he returned. He hadn't meant for things to go as far as they had this time, but then again, he never did. There had been a lot of ale and the completely justified defense of a young woman's honor and... it had all seemed terribly important at the time.
2. As he had already recalled, there had been a lot of ale. A lot. Kauff didn't realize just how much until he tried to open his eyes the next morning and found he was still more than a little drunk. The taproom was dark and silent, clean now too, and the prentice spent a far lengthier stretch of time than was really necessary pondering why they had just left him there after the place had closed.
"We couldn't move you," a short haired shifter girl said, seemingly reading his mind. "It was just me and Teira last night... well... and Jal the Cook, but he's got a bad back." Hm. That answered his first question. They couldn't move him, so they'd just... cleaned around him. He chuckled.
"Yep."
How was she doing that?
"You've been talking out loud this whole time. In case you were wondering."
3. With the girl's help, Kauff regained his footing long enough to take a seat at the bar, chuckling again as she slid another mug across the counter between them.
"Hair of the dog."
"Y'sure that's a good idea?"
"No. I'm not." She laughed, and the smirk that accompanied it soon grew into a teasing grin that made her eyes sparkle as he took a sip.
4. Though he had originally only planned on sticking around for a couple of days, he found himself lingering in the hamlet of Errau for several weeks after that. Ana proved to be a most accommodating hostess, as did Teira. Even Jal didn't put up a fuss when Kauff ate for free, but that was most likely because he regularly volunteered to carry in the stock.
For the first time since he'd left Sauti he considered a life somewhere else, somewhere warm and safe that felt like home.
Less than a week later, he heard the first of the stories from the south. That night, he provoked a skinny little Shifter prentice into socking him in the jaw and hooked nasty little barbs into all of Teira's insecurities until she cried. He fell asleep in the barn, alone and cold and sober, wondering how he had ever thought this might be a place where he could stay.
Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:58 am
devoted
He had heard there was a war on.
He'd also heard that an enterprising young Leaf lass had come up with a cantrip that negated the need for sleep and that there was a stream on Chibale that locals swore would reveal the future to those who swam at midnight with the corpse of a kipepwa. Kauff heard a great many things. If he investigated them all, he would have time for little else.
The prentice had a method, a strategy that kept him from wasting precious days chasing every rumor that caught his attention while also keeping him fairly up to date on Tendaji affairs. If he heard a rumor once, he stored it away in his head. If he heard it twice, he committed it to paper. If he heard it three times, he investigated it. Six weeks ago, he had heard of the Oban invasion for the third time. He had started on his way to Neued soon after, and since then he had taken down enough wartime stories to fill ten pages in his little leather notebook.
There had been an attack from the south.
The people of Tendaji had not fared well.
The Oban had returned.
Angry and a little frightened, Kauff continued on, his determination growing stronger with every tale. With little more than his fists to offer, the wind youth still couldn't find a reason to stay away. He had to try to lend a hand, at the very least.
Kauff had always been a fighter, but he rarely instigated anything unless he had been drinking, choosing instead to step in when no one was paying attention and defend those who couldn't defend themselves. Usually it was only one person at a time. He'd never thought to try defending an entire settlement.
While the conflict was the news on most lips, he heard other rumors as well, stories of strange mages in the trees and the dead returning to life. He didn't even need to write these rumors down, considering he had heard them three times in less than an hour, but he did so anyway, transcribing an old shifter's fearful account of her surprise reunification with the son she had lost as a much younger woman. Kauff had always liked younglings. He had never thought to ponder how he would feel about them if they were undead.
Soon after he had arrived, he decided to stay and help out for as long as he was able, in spite of the strange changes in the land. He didn't relish the idea of getting himself grievously injured or anything, but he would be in for a whole other level of discomfort if the fire nation took over their own. It wasn't a question of whether or not they could keep their lands under their own control, they simply had to. Kauff was free. He cherished that freedom. He would fight to keep it until he no longer could.
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 9:02 am
rawn
The day dawned cooler than he had grown accustomed to in his time here. The temperature was hardly problematic; he had been subjected to much cooler conditions in Sauti and Zena at various times in his life, some quite recently. No, what set Kauff's skin to twitching now was the very fact that he had become accustomed at all. His wandering soul writhed at the thought, and he knew that if he didn't walk away now, things would end as they had in Errau.
He didn't have much—he never did—but the scanty provisions he did possess would fill a small satchel. With a little coaxing, Gavey handed over one of his.
"You'll bring it back when you're through here again," he'd said, his sun-blackened fingers striking against Kauff's pale arm. He had agreed, muddying the lie with a kiss. Several kisses. Even if he did return, Gavey wouldn't merit a second glance, no matter how talented his tongue.
Kauff pat at his new bag as he reminisced. It was far more useful to him than any romantic entanglement ever would be. He was vaguely aware that this probably wasn't the healthiest attitude in the world to have. He didn't care. Now that Tafiir was safely back home, he was free once again from the shackles of responsibility, of caring, of...
He froze at the crack of a nearby trap, the very sympathy he had just been insisting he was better off without getting the better of him. A sad little whine followed, and Kauff shook his head at the sound as if all of this had been staged to influence him.
"Sorry, whatever you are. I'm not the one who got you into the mess you're in, so if you'll just..."
The creature whined again, rustling the bushes. Kauff took a single step, another, and then he was off, leaving the mysterious animal behind. It was too bad that it had another idea entirely.
The poscuta burst from the leaves, a row of vicious iron teeth clamped about its tail. Behind it clattered the trap, and an already impressive trail of blood. Kauff turned, eyes growing wide at the sight.
"What do you think you're doing?" he barked, holding up his hands to ward the beast away. It gleaned an entirely different meaning from the gesture, sidling closer and rubbing its coarse fur against the prentice's ankles. He muttered a curse but held his ground as the poscuta leaned its weight against his leg, looking back and forth between its tail and Kauff's face expectantly.
"I'm not a damned nursemaid!" the young man argued. "I'll cut it off if you want. C'mere!" He bent to pick up the creature, hesitating when it whined again. Its liquid brown eyes were determined in a way he'd never seen from an animal, and he suspected that when he did pick it up, it would not be on his terms.
They stared at each other for a time, the poscuta's tail dripping steadily throughout their standoff. Finally, Kauff gave in, sighing out a dramatic chestful of air.
"Fine. I'll help you out of the trap. But once that's done I'm washing you off in the nearest stream and you're gone. Got it?"
The creature kept staring. As intelligent as it seemed, it still didn't understand earthling speech. With another sigh, Kauff bent and scooped the animal into his arms, careful to keep its tail away from his clothes and especially his new satchel.
Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 5:51 pm
winter is coming
Quote:
Prompt 1
The settlements of Tendaji all knew how to take care of themselves during the winter. Zena and Sauti received their usual snow fall, for Zena it was nearly year round and didn't faze them much at all; Tale and Jauhar seemed to retain most of their heat, dropping to milder temperatures; Matori and Oba seemed to flux between mild during the day and a sharp chill in the evenings. But usually it was all under control.
Word had passed through the elders and oracles and mystics that this winter was going to be a hard winter. The air would be sharp with cold and snow would fall in all areas of the world, something that had never happened before in Jauhar.
It came as a shock when the temperatures began to drop rapidly through the night. Most had thought that it was just a joke. There couldn't possibly be enough cold air to send snow to Jauhar. It was absurd. But it happened, and most of Tendaji wasn't prepared.
In the morning everything was frosted over, those in Zena and most of Sauti were barely able to open their doors the snow had risen so high overnight, and those in warmer climates could see the sheet of frost on the ground and the plants around them.
If the winter was going to be a long one, they would have to salvage what they could and come up with a plan...
What finally ended up driving Kauff toward proper responsible behavior again was not his time with Tafiir or the reality of taking care of a pet all on his own. The prentice eventually buckled down and started looking for steady work and a place to stay because he was freezing. Whatever had possessed him to head back toward Zena with no tent and winter on the way had been the stupidest whatever ever.
Luckily, large, agreeable young men were desirable employees in many institutions, and Kauff soon secured a job chopping wood, running messages into town, and performing other menial tasks at an inn just outside of Mez. He had a small, windowless room in the back and as much food as he wanted, so long as he ate no earlier than three hours after the paying guests were invited to. That meant a whole lot of tepid stew, but after a couple of weeks he grew to enjoy the consistency of congealed fat. Okay, no, he didn't, but if he ate quickly enough, anything was tolerable.
He had just swallowed his last mouthful of clammy corn chowder when a feminine wail sounded from the corner of the common room. One of his unspoken duties at The Blackmailed Bard was keeping the riffraff under control, but even a brawl lover like himself couldn't imagine socking some harmless old lady. Instead, he pushed to his feet and crossed to where she sat, leaving his empty bowl on the bar as he passed.
"Anything I can help you with?" His grin was genuine. Kauff had only ever seen a handful of Matori folk, and never one as... mature as this. He couldn't exactly call her old now that he had seen her up close. She was a bit too refined to be hanging around an inn, the white streaks in her dark hair giving her a distinguished air rather than a disheveled one. "The wine tastes like sh... well... not very good, but the ale's not bad if you hold your breath as you sw—"
Her unexpected laugh served to momentarily quiet him and she continued with a smile of her own. "I wasn't commenting on the quality of your spirits, young man. I just had the most unwelcome bite in my knee!"
Kauff squinted down at the floor. The only thing worse than howls of complaint during peak business hours would be a snake infestation.
"Not on my knee," she corrected. "In my knee. There's snow coming. A lot of it. I hope you've got enough supplies to see the lot of us through."
- - -
Kauff didn't put much stock in her warning. He imagined it snowed a great deal this close to Zena as it was, but it was surely too early in the season to make a fuss over any single storm. The woman quieted considerably following their conversation. Still, there wasn't a soul in the place who hadn't heard her warning by the time they shut their eyes that night. Judging by how few fled in response, Kauff was pretty sure everyone had taken her just about as seriously as he had.
As it turned out, they should have listened after all.
The next morning the prentice awoke late, fighting the feeling that he'd been swaddled in cotton, like a child had cupped its hands over his ears and everyone was under water. At first he thought it was Rawn wrapped around his head, but the poscuta was beneath his furs, firmly tucked between his torso and arm. The creature keened in protest when Kauff moved, burrowing into the indent he'd left behind.
Running a hand through his loosened hair, Kauff left the room, padding down the hall and emerging into chaos.
It was a quiet pandemonium, but the panic in the eyes of those scattered throughout the space made him wary of what was to come. He had seen panic like that on the faces of those who thought they'd lost the war before it had begun. And before a riot. He'd seen it then too. He met the gaze of his boss in the crowd, casually strolling over to the hybrid as his patrons turned their collective, dejected attention back to their drinks.
"What the hell's up with them?" Kauff whispered, continuing to face forward as he spoke.
"She was right," Lier said, barely jutting his chin at the Water woman from last night. She sat at the bar watching them, a faint smirk on her lips that seemed to say, I told you so.
"I told you so."
"You did." Kauff crossed his arms and tried to force the grin off of his face. "It's snow, then? How much?" He shouldn't have bothered asking. The outside world was muffled in here too, and the light leaking through the windows was thin and gray.
"We can't open the doors. We're snowed in." Lier sounded a tad nervous, but he managed a resigned smile as he turned to face Kauff. "We've got enough firewood to last indefinitely..."
"...you're welcome..."
The hybrid chuckled. "Yes. Thank you, Kauff, for all of your tireless chopping. We'll all be very, very warm when we starve." Recalling where he was, Lier cast a guilty look at his customers. Thankfully, no one had heard his comment besides the prentice and the Water woman.
Kauff clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Stop worrying so much. If I can chop, I can dig. We'll have everyone out to the main road by tomorrow afternoon. And if they don't take this as a warning that winter's gonna suck this year... it won't be your problem anymore, will it?"
Lier nodded. He looked down at his shuffling feet. Somehow he didn't seem convinced.
"LILA!" Kauff shouted. "Get out your damned lute and play something!"
"I have been practicing Deep as the River," the Matori added. "Though you might know it by a different name." The woman rose and pulled an opalescent set of pipes out of her robes, gliding toward the girl with the lute.
"Right," Kauff drawled, watching her go. "Time to get to work then." Lier was going to owe him for this. He hadn't even had breakfast yet.
- - -
Digging them out took two days rather than the one he had estimated, but they had more then enough food and entertainment to prevent everyone from going stir crazy. As it turned out, the easiest way to dig through six and a half feet of snow was from above, so Kauff went out a second floor window and started from the top. Once he got the doors open and people could lend a hand, things got even easier. He was the hero of The Bard, but all the spontaneous cheering and grateful praise made his guts twitch. He felt scrutinized. He wanted to run.
"You're pouting." The Matori woman—Saera—smiled as she sat, leaning back and shifting in her seat until she was the picture of comfort. "You should be dancing or at least more than..." She gave the table a cursory glance. "...two tankards in. People would trip over each other to pay for your drinks."
"I am," he said with a breathy chuckle. "Lila took the other empty ones away. And I already got my drinks for free here long before this."
"But you're still pouting."
"Just thinking."
"About?"
Leaving. Heading out into the most unforgiving winter he had ever known because he had a problem with permanence. "Would it be crazy to go north right now?"
"For some. For me."
"I kind of hate this." She couldn't have possibly known what he meant, but she rested her hand on his anyway.
"I don't think you would be crazy to go if that's what you want to do. Just make sure Lier gets a proper tent for you to bring along. And plenty of food. And be careful."
Kauff felt the hot sting of tears threaten to spill and stanched them with the rest of his ale, swallowing so quickly he nearly choked. He cleared his throat, his voice husky when he finally spoke. "Thanks. Enabler."
Her laughter would have fit comfortably in a younger woman's throat. He hadn't noticed before. It was warm and smoky, and it soothed him more effectively than her hand had. After a stretch of silence, he realized he was staring.
"Saera..."
"Kauff, honey. You're drunk."
He didn't even have the grace to blush. Kauff leaned forward, covering her fingers with his. He imagined leaning in until their lips brushed, until he didn't want to go because she was here, until the glow wore off and he was even more miserable than he was now. She was right to dissuade him. It was time to go. He sat back with a sigh, breaking contact.
"Not that I'm not flattered."
His snort and grin pushed the sympathy off of her face. He was grateful for that at least. The reality of just up and going was abrupt and hard to face, but he knew that if he didn't make a clean break, he would stay here forever.
"I... um... So. I'll be leaving. Now, I think. Or soon. I need..." He stood more quickly than he should have, taking a moment to find his balance. "Take care of yourself."
She didn't argue. "You as well." She didn't try to convince him to change his mind. He wondered if he was truly that easy to read or if she had just become that good at seeing the truth of him after only three days. He didn't want to think about it.
Kauff touched her shoulder as he passed, but he didn't look back. He had a plan and her approval. It would have to be enough.
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 12:25 pm
unexpected training
No one had told him exploration was forbidden. Still, there had been an unspoken understanding that he probably shouldn't do it. There was, after all, a Kauff-shaped divot out in the snow somewhere with a dead Ice nearby, and he had no one to defend him except a squirrely mage kid against Baenek, a bat wielding thug who was presumably better liked than both he and Alek combined. It was in his best interest to stay put until he was well enough to leave. Too bad Rawn had agreed to no such thing.
Luckily there were large stretches of the caves surrounding Alek's sanctuary that were eerily empty, or at least as good as. With the hood of his new coat pulled tight around his face and his gloves on, he almost looked like he belonged. Almost.
"Rawn?" he whispered in the friendliest voice he could manage.
"No." A man, slightly taller and wider than Kauff himself, slid out of the shadows, far stealthier than he had any right to be. "Leath." He held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you."
The prentice's immediate response was a wary one, though it was largely eclipsed a couple of seconds later by a proud smugness. There was an utterly intimidating person waiting for a handshake like Kauff was some puffed up noble. He reached out and returned the gesture, recalling his current circumstances soon enough to leave his name out of the introduction.
"Pleased to meet you too." He licked his lips and deliberately pressed them together, walling all but one of his curious questions behind them. "Um... what brings you to this part of the caves?"
"I heard a rumor."
Well, s**t. "Oh. Really."
"I heard that some unhinged Wind kid came up here and murdered Genn for no reason. But mostly I'm out here 'cause my legs need stretching."
Genn. He had pressed Dahou for information about the dead man, but the old woman barely even acknowledged Alek's questions and she was meant to be his mentor now. Kauff's queries were even less important.
"Calm down," Leath said, a smirk lifting his expression from accusatory to amused. "I didn't say I believed what I'd heard, especially now that I've seen you. I'm having trouble believing you've ever swung a club at anything in your life."
Kauff snorted. "Try a sword." He regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. "It was the war," he added hastily. "I just sliced up a couple of Oban."
"But you didn't kill them?"
He didn't think he had, no. Kauff shook his head.
"See? Just a little, green Wind."
"I'm not... little." He had to protest, even though he suspected Leath was teasing him. He had never been called little in his life.
"Everyone's little to me."
Well, he couldn't argue with that.
Leath paused, scrutinizing Kauff until the prentice felt almost uncomfortable. There was a weight to the man's stare that he had never been under before, like he was being measured for some purpose that only the Ice knew. When Leath finally spoke again, Kauff spread his fingers and shook his hands loose. He didn't know when they had tightened into fists.
"Come with me."
"But... my poscuta..." One last flimsy excuse.
"What?"
"Yellow and brown... thing... this big..."
"Like that?" The man's long, scarred finger pointed behind Kauff and he turned, rolling his eyes at his misbehaving familiar.
"Yes."
"So that's taken care of. Will you come with me now?"
There was a tightness behind Kauff's eyes that only grew as he nodded. He was so used to being certain that he wouldn't come to any harm by rushing into these situations, but now a part of him pushed against that confidence. It whispered that he was unsafe, that there were plenty of other Baeneks out there who would rouse others to do him harm for simply existing. His apprehension angered him, but he swallowed it down. Kauff bent over halfway, ignoring the groan of his bruises as he softly clapped. Rawn scampered to his side as if he'd never run away in the first place.
"Yeah. Okay."
- - -
Leath didn't bring him far, just down the path they were already on another fifteen paces then through a second corridor, well hidden behind a boulder. At its end, the hall spread into a wide space with a sloping floor. The farther inside Kauff went, the higher the ceiling grew. Against the cavern's far wall a rack of weapons stood, most of them glinting threateningly under the magical lamps.
"Pick one."
"Why?"
"Just because you've never swung a club or an axe of a staff at anyone doesn't mean you shouldn't start." He crossed to a stand that held all he had named and more. "Or might I suggest..." Leath lifted a wicked-looking hammer from its spot and held it out to him. "I used to be quite proficient at destruction myself."
Kauff grinned. He couldn't help himself. As he reached for the weapon and hefted it in his hands, a flush of invincibility prickled from his chest out to his limbs. All too quickly it melted away again, leaving him anxious and cold.
"And you're handing me a hammer because...?"
"There are some around here who would wish you safe even though they've never met you. They know Baenek's a piece of s**t no matter how blindly people follow him. I want to teach you enough so that what happened to you can't happen again, no matter where you are." He snorted. "Maybe you remind me of me. Not as handsome, but... no Winds are." Leath chuckled and clapped Kauff on his healing shoulder, ignoring the prentice's grimace.
"So. What do you say?"
Kauff angled the hammer across the shoulder Leath had just slapped, forcing himself to embrace the sting this time instead of wincing it away. It didn't take much. The weapon felt right in his hands, a blunt instrument of pain that was sure to protect him when his fists could not. The thought of learning to wield it properly rather than simply standing around holding it tore through his apprehension and boredom like little else had these past few weeks. He nodded, raising his gaze to meet his new tutor's.
"Sure."
Leath's broad grin matched the prentice's own. "Do you think you might trust me enough now to give me your name?"
Oh. Right. He'd held that little bit of information back, hadn't he? It was a comfort to cling to one last shred of anonymity, to hide behind that very short wall of protection for as long as possible. But the time for being afraid had passed. Leath had handed him a hammer and took no weapon of his own to strike back. He had expressed a disdain for Baenek that was surprising considering the gossip circling the settlement. It was clear the man was someone to be trusted, at least in the young man's eyes. And he was definitely someone to be reckoned with.
"I'm Kauff."
He wanted to be someone to be reckoned with too.
"All right, Kauff. Let's see what you've got."
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2015 5:27 am
going home
He left Alek's homeland with a single, clear goal: to return to his own. Kauff had trekked through Sauti plenty over the past three years, but the land had been little more than an obstacle then, a waste of time between more exciting destinations. He wanted to make being there a priority again. The only problem was figuring out how to do that.
It wasn't like he didn't know where Sauti was or what he might find to do there once he arrived. But he wasn't some tourist. His trials in Zena had left him feeling very mortal. He longed to see his family, but locating them was sure to prove difficult. The very definition of nomadic, his parents and sisters had instilled in him a desire to roam, though, through no fault of their own, he hadn't chosen to do it with them.
He crossed the border into Liem several days later, half a plan rattling around in his head before he'd even arranged for a room. Kauff recalled that his family had always traveled the continent from west to east, then north to south. If he took the opposite path and kept an eye out, he'd find them in no time.
During dinner in the tavern adjacent to The Frozen Stream, Kauff asked for a map and paid for it by hauling bales of hay from the storage silo to the side of the inn. It was a pleasingly detailed account of the land, well worth his time. All of the major roads were marked, as far as he could tell, and there were even little sketches of the animals and plants he could expect to see in each of the country's major regions. He would head southeast to Tinerr first, then all the way to the sea, around the Matori border, west, north, east. He would ask questions of every settler he passed and people would have to listen. He had a hammer now.
Kauff paused, chuckling as the ridiculousness of that thought sank in. Sure. A hammer he wouldn't kill anyone with when given the chance. A hammer he could barely use, let alone extract information with. He sighed, rolling the cloth map into a tube and tying it tight. At least he could still look intimidating.
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 3:33 pm
beliefs and values
Quote:
Prompt 3
Summer was drawing closer and closer and the different villages around Tendaji were beginning to plan their summer festivals. It was a tradition in Tendaji - to celebrate the Gods every year in the summer when spirits were high and food was at its most abundant.
All the races had their own gods to celebrate, whatever those might have been, and every person had their own feelings one way or the other.
What did they mean to you? With the summer fast approaching, it must be somewhere (no matter how small) on everyone’s thoughts. And what are your thoughts on the other culture’s gods?
Tendaji Gods
Alkidike: The Alkidikes worship the great tree Aisha as their mother and creator. While they might recognize other deities as the creators of other species, they find the pantheons of the other tribes to be foolish. They believe Aisha to be the supreme ruler. After all, she is a living, tangible part of Tendaji from which every one of their people is born. To them, this alone is enough proof of their racial superiority and entitlement to the entirety of Tendaji, not just Jauhar.
Shifters: The Shifters worship and revere the moon, whom they refer to as the goddess Serin. Their true connection to the moon has been disputed for as long as anyone can remember. They do not call it their creator. All they know is that, when the moon comes out, their skin turns silver. Clearly, they must be connected in some way. Shifters believe in the existence of lesser gods (i.e. of rain, of tides, of forests, etc.), but the names of these lesser deities vary and are often quite personal to individuals. The earthlings recognize that others may call these same deities by different names, and accept them as the same gods with different titles.
Leaf: The Leaf Tribe is a very spiritual people. They believe themselves to be connected to and a part of the earth, in so much that the earth feeds them, clothes them, shelters them, and when they die, becomes their home. As such, their respect for the land that provides for them is deep and uncompromising. To them, everything that comes from the earth has some sort of spiritual quality. As the earth protects them, so should they protect it. The Leaf Tribe's religion is very similar to animism. They do not have names for their gods, but believe everything in nature to be filled with a spirit.
Wind: The Wind Tribe worships Bergchi, most commonly referred to simply as "Chi," the often icy goddess of the mountains. They believe her to be their originator and mother, but not necessarily the highest power in the world. They believe that all people return to her in death and when speaking of those who have passed, will often mention the goddess as well, saying "Bergchi be with them," "Bergchi guide them," or some other variant. They also believe in Ault, the sun god (see "Bringer of Fire"), although he is not their primary deity. The Wind Tribe also believes in the existence of lesser gods (i.e. of rain, of tides, of forests, etc.), but the names of these lesser deities vary and are often quite personal to individuals. The earthlings recognize that others may call these same deities by different names, and accept them as the same gods with different titles.
Ice: Like the Wind Tribe, the Ice Tribe worships Bergchi, or “Chi”, the goddess of the mountains. Bergchi is their creator and mother, although not necessarily the highest power in Tendaji. When a person passes on, they meet Bergchi in the next world. Their sacred mountain, far to the east of Zena, is called Mount Xi’i. There, a secluded group of female oracles live, protecting the mountain. They also believe in the sun god Ault (See "Bringer of Fire"), although he is not their primary deity. The Ice Tribe also believes in the existence of lesser gods (i.e. of rain, of tides, of forests, etc.), but the names of these lesser deities vary and are often quite personal to individuals. The earthlings recognize that others may call these same deities by different names, and accept them as the same gods with different titles.
Fire: The people of Oba believe in a whole pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, partitioning all parts of life to a god such as birth, death, fishing, ocean, a king and queen of the gods, etc. There is always a different name to pray to depending on the situation at hand. The major players in their pantheon include: Nerad - King of Gods, god of judgement Essd - Queen of Gods, goddess of life and death Drach - God of storms and rain On’os - God of time and fortune Lenoxe - Goddess of fishing and feasts Kiyom - God of wood and lumber Hatald - Goddess of fertility, marriage, and women Jonal - God of men and war Ubeli - Godess of the moon and ocean Atun - God of the sun, forging fires, and desert
Water: The people of Matori, due to their close though rather forced relationship with Oba, believe in the same pantheon of Gods and Goddesses as their former enslavers, though a few of the names seem to have shifted and evolved. There is always a different name to pray to depending on the situation at hand. The major players in their pantheon include: Nessat - King of Gods, god of judgement (Oba: Nerad) Ome Essd - Queen of Gods, goddess of life and death (Oba: Essd) Drach’ti - God of storms and rain (Oba: Drach) On’os - God of time and fortune Len - Goddess of fishing and feasts (Oba: Lenoxe) Kiyom - God of wood and lumber Hatald - Goddess of fertility, marriage, and women Jonal - God of men and war Ubeli’ae - Godess of the moon and ocean (Oba: Ubeli) Atun - God of the sun, forging fires, and desert
"Sorry, boy."
Kauff smoothed the wince from his face and shrugged. He brought the bottle he had hooked loosely between his thumb and first two fingers back to his lips, tipping a mouthful of the dark liquid down his throat.
"Not your fault." This was only one person's fault. He glanced down at where the healer was stitching the two halves of his forearm together and chuckled at the gore.
"That's enough of that," the woman said, taking Kauff's bottle and moving it out of easy reach. His vision swam as he leaned after her and tried to grab it with the hand that wasn't tied down. Maybe she was right. He relaxed, sinking back into the cushioned bench. "Stop moving."
"Mm hm." He looked at his arm again, really looked. The flesh was sliced cleanly, layers of skin, muscle, and fat laid bare and glistening in the lamp light. For a moment, he felt sick. Kauff closed his eyes. He thought of berries. Tubers too. Of running through the foothills, chasing his sisters when they stole his share of the festival fruit. His parents had made a yearly habit of trading with the Leaf tribe for it, even when their own supplies were scarce. It was important to enjoy this time of year, they'd said. Important to thank Bergchi and Ault and all the rest. At least for one day.
Kauff took a deep breath, surprised that memories of food had quelled his nausea. He had hoped he might be reunited with his family before summer was fully upon them, but his wandering thoughts served as a reminder that the hotter weather would soon be here once again, and with this injury, he would be lucky to make it to Tind in months, let alone weeks.
It was all that stupid bandit's fault, and he supposed, his own as well. She might have been quick with her little blades, but if he hadn't provoked her, she likely would have left him with a much shallower scratch than he got. He wondered what the Oban did in the summer with their hundreds of gods and their stupid knives. Did they celebrate at all? Or did they just plot Tendaji's downfall and badmouth any free Matori unfortunate enough to wander into their midst, as usual? Kauff sighed. That probably wasn't fair. Truthfully, he didn't know enough about Oba and Matori to say anything definitive. But he could certainly have opinions, especially when he was drunk.
Since leaving his family to wander the world, he had seen Zena's chilly celebrations first hand, danced with young Shifters under Serin's light, and felt the earth of Tale thrum with unseen power. He respected the customs of these other tribes, but he still recalled the traditions of his youth with the greatest affection and fondness. Or at least he thought he did. Daily prayer was far from a part of his regimen, though the Bringer of Fire and—
"Bergchi's tits!" Kauff shouted, his eyes snapping open in alarm. With the stitching done, he hadn't anticipated anything more painful than the steady ache of the gut sliding through his skin.
"It's a poultice to prevent infection," the healer said. There was a smile in her voice when she spoke and a matching one on her face when he blearily stared her down. "Probably shoulda warned ya."
"Probably." The pain had blazed through the numbing wall of alcohol, but it faded again soon enough. Kauff found that he didn't care if she was laughing. Let the old biddy have her fun, as long as she patched him up properly. As he sat back for the third time, he reached for the bottle she had taken from him. She didn't interfere. He watched her roll a loose bandage around the poultice as he took another lengthy gulp.
"So. Doing anything for the festival?"
She looked surprised for the first time since he'd arrived, cursing and dripping blood all over her supplies. "Making fruit pies for the younglings. Nothing fancy." She pat his arm, her work completed.
"Hm." She hadn't said anything particularly amusing, but Kauff found himself chuckling again. Even though he was sitting still, the world crested and fell on gentle waves.
"Better than nothin', fancy or not."
It was true. The childhood memories he had of this time of year were pleasant, even joyful, but none were particularly meaningful. His past was frustratingly foggy, his parents and sisters woven together in a faded bundle. How long had he been away? How much of himself had he lost? Maybe if he could find them soon...
Solo or RP Format Can be used toward Battle req (or RP req only if done with a friend) Solo word minimum is 500, RP post minimum is 7
The people of Tendaji seem to be settling in - and some in places far from their homeland. The tensions are high, and with the whispers of the Alkidike planning an offensive… well, some have been on edge and ready for a fight. Were the outsiders going to help their people when the time came to fight the extremist Alkidike? Most of the natives to the area had their doubts.
An argument had broken out in the market, verbal at first, but it wasn’t long before it became a physical confrontation.
This prompt can be played from either side: your character can be the instigator, or on the defense.
This battle prompt will be resolved by rolling 1D100. xxxxxPrentice must roll 70-100 for success. xxxxxStage 2 must roll 60-100 for success. xxxxxStage 3 must roll 50-100 for success. xxxxxStage 4 must roll 40-100 for success.
|| Success will result in 50exp in addition to the versatile point || Failure will only allow for the versatile point credit.
He had talked a promising bit of information about a group of travelers that sounded like his family out of an older Ice woman just yesterday, and that tip had led him past here, a rather innocuous-looking bazaar. Everything from dried fish to spinning tops were for sale, and children ran willy-nilly between the stalls, shrieking happily when they were caught or scolded. It was a bit of a surprise to find an argument about Alkidike so far from Jauhar, but just such an argument was what Kauff ran into when he stopped for a snack at a well-kept food cart.
"I'd like to see the bugs come all the way up here and try to take what's ours." This was from a red-faced Wind wearing an apron and little else, his face streaked with purple berries from the cart. "Even if they do, we'll just take care of 'em like bugs, won't we?" The man jerked his foot down into the dirt. "We stomp 'em!"
"That's goin' a little far, Lua," the cart's owner replied. She too was a Wind, a smiley one in her early thirties with a bushy bundle of hair that resembled a hastily gathered bale of hay. "The ones that get up here wouldn't be like the ones we've been hearin' about anyway. The ones we heard about wouldn't want to come see our lowly little common selves, now would they?" She clapped the man, Lua, on the shoulder amiably, but she was met with a grumbling huff and a slap at her hand.
:Maybe yer common, but I'm not! And I'll thump anyone who says so!" He reared back, clearly aiming to smack the woman back, but his open palm was interrupted by Kauff's chest as he stepped between them.
"So rude. If you want to fight about Alkidike, you can do it with me instead of the lady."
"Get outta my way!" Lua swung and hit Kauff in the ribs. It tingled a little, like getting his foot stepped on by a youngling.
He hadn't intended to push the man back with as much force as he did, but one moment Lua was aiming to swing again, and the next he was falling back into the woman's cart, upending berries and nuts into the air in a colorful spray. Before he could turn around, Kauff felt something smack him in the back of the head, then a second something his his shoulders. When he turned to see who was striking him, he caught a plant to the jaw. This was all getting terribly out of hand.
Kauff held his arms wide and glared down at the spindly little Wind who had chosen to join this sad excuse for a fight. The man promptly dropped his wooden board and whimpered.
"I'm not going to hit you." He lowered his hands, unable to keep a mocking smirk off of his face. These people were all insane. "I clearly shouldn't have stepped in."
It wasn't that he didn't love to fight or didn't think he could defend himself against a group of soft villagers with their tart words and useless sticks. He just had far more important things to do right now than get stuck in the middle of a debate about Alkidike. He gave the woman a little half bow, then turned to go.
"Damn right!" Lua shouted at his back.
Kauff didn't respond.
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Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:37 pm
good tidings
Kauff wandered into the Ilund settlement several weeks after parting company with the lovely and charming Zumei. The last time he'd seen this part of the country had been early in his travels when there'd been nothing around this spot for miles, but from what he could tell, Ilund was semi-permanent now, complete with a pair of short buildings and a town square. Children sped by in packs, waving wooden swords and screaming defiant challenges. It made Kauff smile, even though his mood remained rather dour.
Upon closer examination, he found that one of the buildings was predictably a tavern, or at least as close to one as the people here could get. The other was a school, oddly enough, which explained all the kids. It was curious to find such a place in this nomadic land, so curious that Kauff ignored what would have been his usual impulse and headed inside the more respectable building.
It consisted of one main room that stood open to the elements, and with the children currently outside, the only person present was a wizened Wind squinting at a faded book. A teacher.
"Hello, boy," she said when she noticed he was there.
He waved in return. "I didn't mean to disturb you, I just couldn't help myself." Kauff's focus flitted from the youngling's tiny stools to a corner that featured childlike murals smeared directly on the walls. He smiled. "I've never seen a school outside the city."
"That's because there aren't any!" she crowed. "But that doesn't mean traveling kids don't deserve to learn more than their letters and numbers on the road. We teach 'em what we can as they're passing through and sometimes they stay."
Kauff nodded. He had little use for reading the words of others, but he had filled several small notebooks with the things he'd seen, the rumors he'd heard, and the people he'd met. He would be lost without the ability to write or those tiny books.
"So, lad. What are you doing in Ilund?"
"Hm?" He had wandered away from the entrance over time and was now fiddling with a tiny wooden man, marveling at the bright paint its creator had used on its eyes. "Oh. I'm looking for my parents and sisters." For a time, a very long time, those had been the first words out of his mouth whenever he'd stopped in a new place. At some point his mind had clearly relegated his quest to "hopeless" without telling him. The realization was depressing.
"I'm sorry to have bothered you. I'll just—"
"I did see two girls about your age around here a couple of times several months back. Twins. Identical. Big, like you. Mischief in their eyes, but they were down too. They didn't act up. More well behaved than you'd guess just by looking at 'em."
The schoolroom shrank around him, the edges of his vision going dark and his fingers losing feeling. He forced his lungs to work when he realized he was holding his breath, and though that helped, he still felt like he might drop like a rotten tree. Mischievous twins. Tall girls with tricksters' hearts. Time had likely shown them the value of behaving themselves in mixed company, but they'd stolen his things and smooshed food in his hair too many times for him to ever see them differently. When Kauff spoke again, his voice was far away.
"Did you catch either of their names?"
She nodded. "Maybe. If you call Roo a name. Rue. Ru. Something like that."
Ruli. The elder of his twin sisters. He didn't want to hope too hard, but he couldn't help himself. After all of this time, he had found them. His expression must have given away his shift in mood because the woman was chuckling and grinning as she levered herself to her feet. "Looks like you got 'em! Or at least you're a little closer. Am I right?" She rested a hand on his forearm. "They came from the west, dear. They left that way too, more than once. Definitely were part of a more permanent settlement for a while."
Kauff nodded, placing his hand atop hers. "Thank you. What can I do to repay you? I'll... carry you around town. Anywhere you want to go. I'll bake you a cake. I'll name my firstborn child after you."
"Chi forbid!" she said in mock horror. "No poor youngling deserves to be called Gerna." She made a face. "No, I don't need any reward. Just find your family. Find them and be happy."
"You sure?"
She gently pulled her hands from his, crossing her arms across her chest. "Well..."
Kauff raised an eyebrow.
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 1:19 pm
the other shoe
If someone had told him a week ago that he would spend an enjoyable, even pleasurable stretch of time with the woman who had humiliated him and sliced him open, Kauff would have laughed so long and hard he probably would have lost consciousness. He was well aware that all earthlings were different and he shouldn't judge individuals by the wrongs perpetuated by their peers blah, blah blah, but he could now admit he'd had trouble with such notions in the past. Xariy had definitely made him rethink his prejudices.
Still, even though they'd had fun, he had places to be, family to find. Lineth. They had been spotted there mere days ago. Days. They were so close he could almost see them dancing in the puddles of sunlight shimmering on the rocky ground ahead. Kauff nearly giggled, his chirpy guffaw prompting an answering whuff from Rawn.
"That's right," he said. "Almost there. Finally." He raised his half-filled waterskin in a toast, tossing back something a bit stronger than water when he brought it to his lips. Just a little while longer now, then he would be home.
- - -
He wouldn't have noticed the marker at all had he not been coated in a fine layer of filth and sweat from the road. Kauff stood outside The Laughing Lerim, swaying slightly, a wistful smile on his lips. He was nervous now that he had actually arrived in town, though his impressive level of inebriation had nearly numbed that feeling away. He eventually concluded that cleaning up would give him time to chase off his nerves. He'd also make a much better first impression if he didn't look like an unwashed drunkard.
With a slow nod, the Wind turned to the wide water basin intended for use by travelers' mounts. He carefully stripped to the waist, deposited his shirt and vest nearby, and leaned over the trough, his head swimming pleasantly as he tried to scrub the dirt from his face and hair. Several minutes later he was relatively clean and refreshed, ready to gather his things and—
Kauff frowned when he saw what his discarded shirt had come close to disturbing. It was a small stone slab almost entirely obscured by bits of fabric, paper, and one or two southern flowers. It was a grave of sorts. A memorial.
"Sorry," he whispered, skimming the stone's carvings so that he might address the departed by name. He froze once he had puzzled it out, his vision going black around the edges as it shrank to a single point. His heart hammered so loudly it shook the earth. The name was his own.
He would never know exactly how he had gotten inside or what words might have been exchanged before sense returned to him. When he could see and feel and think past his panic and the horrible weight clawing at his chest there was an Ice man's face between his palm and the bar. Kauff was leaning close, trough water dripping from his hair onto the man's cheek.
"Whose grave is that?" he growled, even though he already knew. His sisters had been here. A group of light haired, sad eyed women gathered around a memorial stone. Mourning his father. Kauff squeezed, feeling the flesh of the Ice's face press against teeth and bone.
"I don't know! I only got here yesterday, you crazy—"
Kauff raised his arm, taking the man's head with him, then lowered both again with a hollow boom. The Ice was silent, but the bartender was not. He placed a hand on Kauff's forearm, nodding sympathetically.
"Calm down, son. It's a stone for a man who recently passed. It's a shame is what it—"
Desperation lent him speed. Kauff launched himself halfway across the bar, grabbing the barman when he failed to back out of reach.
"WHO?"
He only had an instant, and in his present state that was far too short a time to counter what was coming. Relief flickered in the bartender's eyes and then something whacked the back of Kauff's head so hard it left him senseless. He lost his grip on his victim's lapels and slumped forward, bare stomach pressed to ale-streaked wood, but there was only a moment's silence before he was stubbornly scrabbling to right himself. His struggles were futile. The second blow ended the fight.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 1:21 pm
dala
"...not your son..."
"No, you're not. Any child of mine would behave better than you."
Kauff ventured to open his eyes, but even the dim candlelight that softly illuminated the tent's interior seared them until they watered.
"Ow."
The back of his head was a crater of pain, but thankfully a different sort than he had experienced in the past. As much as it hurt, it was a focused throb that implied the one who had done the hitting merely wanted him incapacitated, not dead. He turned his face into the rough pillow beneath him, stifling a groan.
"I need a drink."
His terse caretaker quickly obliged, and Kauff was in no state to suspect that what she was giving him was anything less than the dark, foamy ale he was craving. He swallowed a large mouthful, grimaced at the unpleasant aftertaste, and tried to cough it up. It was too late.
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 1:22 pm
the twins
He awoke to an itch in his belly that he longed to physically scratch, to reach inside and rip away with trembling fingers so that he might remain numb for a little while longer. The tent was deceptively silent. He could feel at least one consciousness that wasn't his own in the darkened space beside him.
"Hello?"
"Quiet, little brother, or Dala will dose you again."
"Triah?" he whispered obediently.
"No. Ruli. Triah is here too though." The pair of amused chuckles that followed would have prompted an answering laugh from Kauff once upon a time. Now they grated, chipping away at his already patchy tolerance. This should have been a happy reunion, but all he felt was stifling despair. He no longer had to make an effort to whisper. Every word he uttered was a strained hiss.
"Is it true? Dad's gone?"
After a handful of breaths—in, out, in, out, in—Ruli replied, her voice low. "Yes. You're the only Kauff now."
Had he truly been listening he might have heard the sadness in her tone, might have recalled what Gerna had said back in Ilund. Mischief in their eyes, but they were down too. But all Kauff heard was his flippant jester of a sister. He hurt, inside and out, and she was mocking him.
"Heartless b***h."
He sat up almost unconsciously, lashing out before his light head cleared. His fist met the relatively squishy flesh of his sister's cheek and she stumbled away with a whimper. Rather than fall back, Kauff pursued as she retreated, slamming headlong into a solid metal door before he could touch her. He had thought himself holed up in a tent, and maybe he had been for a time, but now he was in some sort of windowless cell, locked away by his own family. He shouted after the twins' retreating footsteps, pounding on the door until his shaking hands went numb. He was alone. Knowing that there was no one to hear him was only a small consolation when he began to sob in the dark.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 1:24 pm
imbrian
The nausea and tremors subsided in hours, days, weeks? He didn't know. Only grief remained, plunging him into a series of lethargic stupors he didn't even try to fight his way through. He couldn't eat, though the sparsely furnished room he was locked in was stocked with the sorts of foodstuffs that didn't easily go to rot, and his sleep was interrupted by vivid dreams during which he rescued his father from all manner of stampedes and poisonings and wars, to the relief and delight of his mother and sisters. He might have left, but he had returned again just in time to save them all.
He was finally yanked back to reality by a roar of hunger so loud that he swore it shook his bones. Kauff forced open his eyes, surprised to find his prison bathed in dim candlelight. He had been in the dark for so long that even that small bit of illumination made his eyes squint and water.
"Here." Someone passed him a dampened bit of cloth over his shoulder. "Drink from that for a while. Then you can have some real food."
As he strained to see who was speaking, Kauff noticed that his head didn't hurt nearly as much as it had. At least that was one thing that was healing. He pushed himself up onto an elbow, ignoring the tut-tut of the woman behind him as he turned to look at her. After seeing who it was, Kauff lowered himself back to where he had been with a sigh.
"Imbrian. Did you all decide it would be best to visit me in size order, or is this just a coincidence?" His voice was a dull, hostile rasp, but his sister continued on as if he had welcomed her with open arms.
"I'll have you know I've been taller than the twins since I was fifteen."
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah, well, that's how things have always been around here. Oldest gets first dibs, even when it comes to the right to visit our delinquent and violent baby brother."
Kauff's youngest and most beloved sister was still eleven months his senior, but they had shared the short end of the stick often enough that they were well aware of its existence. He simply nodded, the motion proving that he had almost recovered.
"I guess I'm glad you're here," he muttered. "It's better than..." He recalled the last time he had truly been awake. Ruli's whimper. Her head snapping back with the force of his punch. Kauff swallowed, forcing the bile that rose in his throat back down. He had wanted to kill her. Now he was just disgusted with himself. "Is Ru okay?"
"For your information it as Triah you hit. She jumped right between your fist and Ruli's face and got one of the most spectacular black eyes I have ever seen for her trouble. The white part's all veiny and..."
Imbi trailed off when her comedic enthusiasm didn't elicit a response. "Sorry. She also said she'd never speak to you again if you didn't apologize to both her and Ru, if that makes you feel better."
"A little."
"Pout on then."
"I'm not—"
"I know."
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 1:26 pm
liara
He had not been seeking Imbrian's forgiveness, at least not consciously, which was probably why it had felt so nice to receive it. The fact that she had thought to comfort him after the way he had acted lifted his spirits, even though he was pretty sure they didn't deserve to be lifted. Maybe his sister's capacity for kindness indicated that he might eventually be able to earn a fresh start. Even if he could, it was going to take a lot longer than this.
The morning after Imbrian's visit Kauff awoke to find a charcoal stick and several sheets of paper at the foot of his bed, the first marked by what he presumed was the current date. Once he got over the initial irritation that stemmed from the realization that he had slept through this covert dropoff, Kauff was grateful to have them. By counting his meals and keeping track of when they came, the Wind was able to judge that roughly two weeks passed before his next familial visit.
His mother had once had a habit of humming when he'd been small, and as he awoke at the end of the fifteenth day, he opened his eyes to that familiar tune.
"I'm sorry."
The humming ceased. He felt her move closer, take a seat at his head, but he didn't turn to look at her. He couldn't. Her Kauff was gone, and he was a poor substitute. His eyes fell closed when she ran her fingers through his hair, but the humming did not resume.
"I don't see why. You didn't do anything."
"Exactly. If I'd stayed, if I hadn't had some stupid compulsion to get away and see the world, I could have helped." He could have said goodbye.
"You are helping. We've missed you and we want to hear your stories. All you would have done a year ago was be angry that you couldn't have saved him."
"I'm angry now."
"So, in return for your tales, we will help you."
Kauff said nothing. His fists clenched and a dull ache bloomed behind his eyes. How had they allowed their anger to fade? His father, her husband, was dead. Maybe they had never even been angry at all. Maybe he had been in so much pain that all they had felt was relief. That his father's pain was over should have given Kauff peace of mind, but it only stoked the flame of his anger higher. He should have been there and he only had himself to blame for the fact that he hadn't been. He loosened his grip on nothing, slowly laboring upright into a seated position. He had to get out of here, and if the only way to do it was by playing nice, then he would be as nice as he could.
He turned, pecking his mother on the cheek. "All right. I'll trade you stories for sanity." When she smiled in response, he couldn't help the warmth that crept into his chest. It wasn't enough to fill the emptiness or thaw his chilly heart, but for just a moment, he smiled back.
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Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2016 4:54 pm
revenge: seen this before
It sounded like a tale, so Kauff told it as one. He was the hero, tricked by his wicked mother and sisters, left to waste away in an underground pantry until the day they let their guard down and he broke free. Following his escape, the Wind had run ragged across the countryside, only ceasing his desperate retreat when he had found the kindly fortune teller. She'd nursed him back to health—a motherly figure or a lover, depending on his audience—and when he had felt well enough to continue on she had told him his destiny was in the north. He was here now seeking his fortune.
The truth was far less exciting. He'd left home several years ago a stupid kid, lived life with an overabundance of enthusiasm, grown nostalgic, and returned home too late. His father had died while he'd been away. Kauff had missed the last years of the man's life thanks to his own impulsive wanderlust. Now he was crossing into Zena with the misguided hope that he might somehow recapture his last brush with true happiness. He knew he was being melodramatic. Of course he had been happy since, even in recent memory. But Kauff had an agenda, one he felt more comfortable pursuing with the proper excuses to back him up. He longed to see his Zenan friends again, but logically it was too dangerous to do so. His attacker was still out there, and Kauff would never be truly welcome in Alek's home town again, for all the trouble he had caused. Better to pretend his visit had some higher purpose than his own fitful whims. Fortune. Destiny.
Another impressive retelling of his fairytale life story and a little wood chopping had earned him a meal, a room, and welcome shelter from a blizzard at the Silver Moon Inn tonight. It would have netted him a drink or two as well, but to Kauff's surprise he had managed to cling to sobriety since his little unwanted familial detoxification, and any spirits set in front of him were passed on to worthier folk instead. The food and lodging were plenty anyway, especially for a young man who had literally lost his pants to a devastatingly attractive Oban thief some months ago and had only escaped his family's charity with a handful of his belongings. He hadn't even made it out of the pantry with his hammer, though his poscuta was fine, sleeping in his nearly empty satchel.
After finishing his meal and ignoring the hopeful glances of several patrons who seemed interested in warming his sheets, Kauff ventured upstairs alone, kicked off his boots, and fell into bed. He was asleep before he could lock the door. Luckily for him, the boots weren't worth taking.
- - -
He awoke the next morning warm and groggy, forgetting the truth of his recent past just long enough to feel truly content for a few brief moments. Of course, it only made things worse when reality came trickling back, each drop of disappointment that filled his mind cold and insistent.
You're useless.
A selfish child.
Kauff scrubbed his palms down his face, pulled on his boots, and descended into chaos.
A pair of Ice earthlings lay prone on a pushed together group of tables at the center of the room, a handful of people tending to them. The amount of blood staining everything from the healers to the floor suggested deadly consequences and sure enough, as soon as his feet hit the landing, the man working on the nearer of the injured moved away, closing her eyes as he did. Kauff tore his attention away from the carnage and touched the arm of the nearest barmaid. He recognized her as one of the ones who had listened to his tale the night before, one of the ones who had winked and simpered and asked to come upstairs. She didn't recognize him now.
"What happened?" He kept his voice low in an attempt not to startle her, but she jumped anyway. "Apologies."
The girl bobbed her head. "No need, sir. We've just had some trouble with bandits lately and I'm a little jumpy. You never do get used to it, I don't think."
Kauff cringed at the word sir, shifting it into a sympathetic grimace as he nodded.
"Baenek, he's called. Their leader."
She went on, explaining how the group had come out of the north, demanding payment in exchange for protection, then turning savage when they didn't get it, becoming the very people the townsfolk needed protection from. Kauff barely heard her. He knew exactly who Baenek was. It had been years since he'd crossed paths with the Ice and his goons, but he would never forget how helpless he had felt as they'd pummeled him to within an inch of his life. He imagined the dead woman on that table had felt the same, struggling and panicking until she was struck unconscious. The thought infuriated him. It was the first genuine emotion he had felt since his sisters had locked him away.
Abandoning the barmaid mid-sentence, Kauff pushed forward, crowding between the healer and the second victim. The Ice was awake, and although he was clearly dazed, the man's eyes widened in shock.
"Please, please... no..."
Kauff leaned back an inch or two when he realized how he must look, features contorted in barely checked rage.
"Where were you attacked?"
The man swallowed, fear still plain in his eyes. He shook his head, unable to control its weak flop. "I don't want anyone hurt."
One of the prentices assisting the healers piped up in response to his refusal, her voice gruff with anger. "They were found a few miles east, by the well. There's a path just outside. To the right." It seemed not everyone here was interested in keeping the peace.
Kauff nodded at the young woman before he turned away, striding out of the room in silence.
