With a wave, Alia ran home. There was so much that she wished she could tell her parents. She finally found out where she fit in!

She was still ruminating over what to say when she arrived home. "Father? Mother? I'm home!"

"Hello," he says sheepishly. "Sorry, I lost track of time. I decided to sharpen Grandpa's axe, and, well... It's in nice shape, now," he says lamely, setting it against the wall.

Opluriko shuts her eyes, trying to feel at one with Jayme, enjoying the ride and trusting the combination of Llewendan and Jayme to keep her safe - or at least alert her if she's not.

Unlike most of his friends' parents and loved ones, Peck's adopted mother and father have known that he and Kira have spent the whole day at the forge.  For a moment, as he enters the kitchen, the young smith finds himself still bound up in the lessons of the day, and blinks at them as if they are strangers, people who wouldn't understand what he's been slowly struggling towards, even if the truth of it remains just beyond his grasp.

But then he sees their concerned faces and pushes the lessons of the day aside.  Even such powerful truths cannot displace the years of love they have shown him.  "Kira is teaching me," he tells them, "I'm learning."  Then mindful that the forge has been not all all productive this day, at least not in any usual sense, "I'll talk to her ... see if she'll help with the work.  We'll catch up."

Worried now, not only at the loss of coin, but of the townsfolk that are waiting on nails or tools or the like ...

"In the morning, then?" Yona says, with a nod and a grateful smile, and takes her leave.

She makes her way slowly home, leaning on her stick.  She doesn't hurry, needing time to think, and suspecting that nobody has noticed that she's missing, least of all her father.

And there is so much to think about.  Some of it is new knowledge, new ways of looking at things.  And some of it, she's starting to realise, is stuff that she knew before, or at least guessed, but never thought about enough to know that she knew it.

As she reaches her home she stops for a moment; should she go to the house, or straight to the barn?

The house, and a growling stomach, win the debate.  She pushes the door open, and goes in to face her father.

Mace gives Orm'gha a slow nod, and steps backward slowly.  "I will see you tomorrow," he says.  His tone is thoughtful, distracted, and he barely seems to notice the others as he walks out and makes his way back towards the enclave and his own family.

Aedalo and Tyellyria are both sitting just outside when Alia gets home, Tyellyria resting her head against Aedalo's chest as they both watch the sky.  Aedalo pats the ground next to them, smiling at Alia's approach.  "I'm glad you're back," he says.  "I looked for you, but..." he shrugs.  "Well, you're home now.  Where have you been?" he asks - not upset, but somewhat worried.  Tyellyria just smiles a bit - in her second century, days simply aren't significant enough periods of time for her to get worried about anymore.

----------------------------------
Kerric faces a somewhat less happy welcome - his father, Lorgan, is waiting for him, arms folded over his chest.  Kyra, his mother, is usually more sympathic, and... isn't in the room.

"Sharpened?" Lorgan asks, raising a rather bushy eyebrow.  "I see."  He glances at the axe as Kerric sets it down, his frown deepening.  "Boy, if you were out sharpening that thing all afternoon, it would be worn to a nub.  Where. Have. You. Been?"

----------------------------------
Opluriko's ride blurs, but as hard as she tries - or as much as she relaxes and tries to let it go - she doesn't really feel Jayme any more than usual.  Still, that's more than many, and the rhythmic beat of her gallop is relaxing.  Too soon, though, Jayme stops, and Llewendan slides easily down, dropping on the side without Opluriko's tail.  Opening her eyes, she finds she's just outside the ranch's fence - just a bit further in, she can see quite a crowd starting to gather.

"Thank you," Llewendan says, including both Jayme and Opluriko.

----------------------------------
Ulisa smiles at Peck, but Marden looks...tired.  He runs a hand through his hair, still slightly damp from washing up at the end of his day, and nods.  "Aye, t'morrow will be a busy one," he agrees.  "But s'long as you got those chains delivered, it's alright.  Whole town's a day off track."  Then his brows furrow, and he frowns slightly, looking at Peck more carefully.  "What was that, though?  Kira?  Teaching you what?"

----------------------------------
Yona finds Jander sitting alone in the farmhouse, stirring somewhat listlessly at a bowl of stew that's still far too full to have stopped steaming.  He looks up when he notices the door opening, and takes a quick bite, tucking away whatever thoughts might have been troubling him.  "Welcome home.  Interesting day?" he asks, nodding her towards the pot.

It's always been something of a quirk of his - he never wishes her a `good day'; it's always `interesting', or `productive', or `successful', or...something.

----------------------------------
Mace'aurek has the somewhat uncomfortable sense of being watched from the moment he enters the Enclave.  People seem to pause at what they're doing as he passes, although of course, no one is so rude as to stare.  When he comes into his own house, he finds his family gathered around the table eating their own dinner.  They, too, pause when he comes in, and Granduil stands up.  "Mace'aurek..." he says, almost in a growl.  Without waiting to hear anything Mace might have to say, he states, "You left your sister to work alone, and have left your job undone all day.  We cannot feed all if all do not do their part.  You will go straight to your bed, and we will speak tomorrow."

Shal'hassan smirks a little bit, while Endoray gives him a quick sympathetic look, but Granduil's pronouncement is made.  Both quickly turn back to their own plates.

"Getting my mind together, I suppose. I am aware this would not be your favorite thing to hear from me. I have been nearby, just sitting, mostly.

"I think that it might be possible for us to both get our way. I see your wisdom in your choice of path for me, although I do not agree with it. It has occurred to me, if I should diligently pursue the education you wish, instead of fighting it tooth and nail, you might let me pursue what I wish, as well. I do not see the end being as easily negotiable, but neither of us will have our hopes damaged for the time being.

"What do you think of this idea?" It seemed perfectly logical to him. PAy lip service to his father's idea, honestly strive to succeed at the tasks given him, but not pursue it with the zeal he would pursue his own interests. His father should be glad to get him to stop fighting about it, hopefully. It seemed a fair enough trade, if a lot of work for him, but then nothing you want comes easily.

Opluriko is at first frustrated by the lack of that connection that she had felt so recently, but eventually the horse soothes her, as always.

She is not overly surprised that the ride ends too soon. After all, it was already dusk when they started.

Opluriko nodded, but replied, "And thank you. You know your way back from here, right?" She wanted to confirm, as he was new to town.

Only then did she peel her eyes away from him long enough to notice the gathering crowd. She frowned a bit, thoughtfully, at that, but then shrugged. What would be, would be. Patting Jayme's shoulder, she let the horse amble in, cooling her down from the brief run so that the mare's muscles wouldn't cramp up.

She tried to ride through the crowd without a word, toward the barn where she would groom Jayme before setting her out for the night. But she doubted that would happen...

Alia smiled at her parents and sat down on the spot where her father patted. "We were listening to stories at the schoolhouse. Did you know that elementalists can talk to plant spirits?"

She took a moment to snuggle close to both of them and looked up at the sky as well. As she sat and looked at the sky, she tried to see if there were any spirits around them. Happily she sighed. "This was the best day ever!"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:14, Wed 24 Oct 2012.

Mace's stomach rumbles when he smells the food on the table.  But he just bows his head at his father's ruling, and walks slowly back to his room to lay down.  Despite being sent to bed like a child, he feels strangely uplifted, looking forward to the morning.

Peck still can't get his mind around all that has happened in the space between the sun's rising and setting ... and while he's sworn not to reveal exactly what has been going on in the forge, he's not minded to lie to his adopted father, matter not that the Smith will see for himself on the morrow exactly what Kira's been teaching him !

The chains, he'd all but forgotten about them !  Dipping his hand into his pocket while he considers his words he hands over the coins that Sothanar had so reluctantly parted with when he'd recovered the sack and made his apologies to old Anje and given her the tale of the mornings excitements.

"When you do this," his fingers move as he's seen Marden's do so many times, when the Smith thought noone watching, or speak the 'Words' ... I think that is what Kira is trying to show me ... except she doesn't need the gestures or even to speak at all ... I think it all comes from within."

He realises that perhaps he's said more than he ought.  "I don't think she'd be pleased with me telling you that, though," he adds, sheepishly.

"Interesting.  Yes."

That was certainly one word for it.  Yona starts to help herself to some stew, and briefly wonders what Adepts usually eat.  Then she turns around and looks at her father.  No time like the present.  Even if she often has trouble talking to him about important matters.

"Interesting...  Some strangers showed up in town.  One of them has offered to teach me... a trade."  Being nicely non-specific on the nature of that trade seems like the best course of action.  "She thinks I'll be good at it."

Lorgan - who is already frowning as deeply as he can - now narrows his eyes at Kerric.  "Getting your mind together would most certainly be my favorite thing to hear you've done," he hrumphs.  "I think you're missing important details in your...negotiation.  You think what I want for you is adding up sums and keeping good notes?"  He relaxes his face a little, to something at least fractionally more `conversational'.  "Son, what I want for you is for you to not go charging off after some romantic idea of `adventure', getting into unnecessary fights and getting hurt.  If you don't care to follow my trade..."  His expression softens even a little more, although it's still largely angry looking.  "Well, yes, I'll be hurt.  But fine.  Join the lizards on their ranch.  Become a tailor.  Work one of the farms.  Anything...that doesn't use...that."  He jabs a finger at the axe, eyebrows dropping again.

---------------------------

Llewendan waves confidently as he takes off at a run of his own, disappearing quickly in the growing dusk.  Opluriko's fears are well grounded, however - as she rides Jayme into the crowd, T'skrang of all ages gather eagerly around her.  "What were they like?" "Are they nice?" "That was one of them on Jayme!" "Will they kill us all when we sleep?" "Are you getting married?" "Are they ticklish?" "Did you see any magic?" "Are they going to buy horses?" ...Among dozens of other questions that Opluriko can't quite make out.

---------------------------

"Why, no," Aedalo replies to Alia's question.  "I'd no idea.  What do you suppose a plant would have to say?" he asks.

Tyellyria, though, follows her daughter's gaze up to the stars.  "I did," she says, softly.  "Stories Mother told; less, I thought, spirits of the plants, and more spirits in the plants.  But of what they spoke, I never knew."

---------------------------

If it were anybody else, Marden would probably be a bit embarrassed when Peck demonstrates the little hand-gesture he does - but it's alright with Peck.  "Aye," he agrees, "It all comes from within...but there's no magic in what we do.  You'll learn from me, as I learned from Thandor, and he learned from Ollivear, and he learned from Marten, and he learned from Periton.  Iron calls for real sweat; any shortcuts this `Kira' might be offering you aren't true smithing."  He nods, satisfied with his wisdom.  "She comes by tomorrow, I'll thank her politely, but I think we know what we're doing, hey?  Mind, any Smith is welcome to have a hand at the Forge, if she's needing it for her own work, but my apprentice, now, that's another matter."

-------------------------------

Jander gives his daughter a thoughtful look, one that holds a certain tempered hope, but one overshadowed by caution.  "A trade?" he asks.  "The sort that pays?"

Speaking slowly, and carefully choosing his words, he tries to reason wiht his father. It wouldn't do to just lose it with him... again.

"I am not being disobedient enough to try to do this behind your back. If you are right- and I admit, I don't think you are- I should be abandoning this after a short while. That's the job of parents, I suppose, steering their children to what they think is the best course. It has never been an issue, that I would follow your trade as a second choice. I would, in fact, be proud to. It still would be a second choice, however. If I do abandon this after a while, I will never think about what I could have done, should have done, or would have done otherwise.

"I don't want to be a lizard, or a tailor, or a farmer. This is what I want. If it matters, I will make something to carry it in, so the neighbors don't know. You are... a good father. You have taught well and wisely, even though I frequently don't take the lessons to heart, it doesn't mean I'm not listening. I think I understand why you don't want me doing this. It doesn't make me want it any less, though, even if I truly do wish to do as you would like.

"I think you know, I will be miserable for the rest of my life if I don't at least try this. I am willing to make concessions to you even though I don't really need to, because I think you might be right. But I might be right, too- and there's no real harm in finding out, is there? If I stink, it might show up right away. It might even be nothing like I imagine, and be quite boring. What do you say about letting me try it, anyhow?"

"If I learn what she has to teach, I'll never have to worry about money."

There... not quite a lie.  It doesn't quite answer the question either, at least not quite as he'd phrased it.  But hopefully it's close enough that he won't notice the subtle difference.

She smiles at him.  Briefly.  No sense overdoing things.  "She can teach me other things too.  I mean... have you ever left Karick's Bend?  She knows about other places, and I'll learn about them too, as well as learning the trade."

As always Alia felt warm and safe in her parent's embrace, but somehow this felt different. It dawned on her that usually her parents were the ones that knew things that she didn't. Now it was the reverse and it made her feel sad for a moment.

She shrugged at her father's comment. "I don't know. Yet. As soon as I find out, I'll let you know."

Mother's comments were much more interesting. "What kind of stories did grandmother tell? Did she talk to an elementalist?"

Magic !  Peck hadn't considered what Kira had shown him to be such, and Marden's warning sends shivers down his spine.  Though too, he realises that this might be perhaps the first time his father has addressed him ... not as an equal, exactly, but as a grown man.

"I don't think it's magic," the young Smith thinks carefully, not on his words, but on what he has seen this day.  "Perhaps a ... different way of looking at things.  Not replacing hard work and honest sweat," the day's efforts had certinaly been more far more difficult even than ordinary hard toil, "but complementing the craft that you have shown me, even as your father showed you."

"I'm not interested in learning shortcuts from Kira ... but I think she knows secrets to the making that our forefathers had forgotten."

Opluriko glanced after the elf, wishing she also could just disappear for the night.

But that was not to be. Most questions she tried to answer at face value. "The strangers are... well, strange, really. And have interesting stories. Perhaps they might buy some horses, but I'm not sure. I don't see why they'd kill us while we sleep - what would they gain from that which they could not gain with some simple trade? I didn't try tickling any. And yes, the T'skrang has magic that I saw - it will be interesting to see more of them all." She ignored the question about getting married, really, what point was there to answering it? And rushed Jayme over to the stable area and began untacking her, trying to avoid as many people as possible and using the horse as a sort of shield to ignore half of the additional questions.

Lorgan's frown deepens again.  "If you're wrong, then no, there's no harm in finding out.  If you're right, however, and it's not boring, but rather, every bit as exciting as you hope, right up until you...lose your hand, or kill someone, or Passions forbid die, then I daresay there is a fair bit of harm in it."

"It is indeed my job to steer you, and this I absolutely forbid.  Pick anything else and I promise you my full support, but that - that," he jabs a finger again at the axe, "Is out of the question."

--------------------------

Jander takes another bite of his stew.  "Snmph..." he begins, swallows, and then starts over.  "Sounds a bit dodgy," he says, in a warning tone.  "You've always had a good head on you, and I'll trust your instincts, but you'll be wary, right?  We don't know these people.  Anybody who's promising you'll never need to worry again...may just be out to make sure they don't."

--------------------------

Tyellyria closes her eyes.  "Elementalists, Nature's Guide," she says, quoting the old poem.  "Yes, your Grandmother was good friends with one, as I remember.  An Orc...I've forgotten her Name, but I'm sure I'd know it if I heard it.  I remember she said that of all the old magicians, the Elementalists were the most important, at least, when the Scourge came.  It was they who made the Kaers possible - their magics that hollowed the vast caverns, gathered True Elements with which to build doors even the ancient Horrors couldn't break, scribed the Wardings... and then to keep the food growing, the water pure, the air safe."

Aedalo chuckles a little, patting Alia's head.  "A noble calling, to be sure.  But the hour does grow late," he points out.

--------------------------

"Hmm."  Marden leans back a little, thoughtfully.  "There's risks in mixed learning," he warns.  "But there's gains, too.  I trust there'll be no problem with my observing, too, but if you want to see how she works, I've no objections," he decides.

--------------------------

Opluriko's fellow T'skrang do back off as she sets about stabling Jayme. Some with reluctance, and one with a called, "Well, try tickling one tomorrow!", but all with a general acceptance that this is a job that deserves her attention.  A few do wait outside for a while, but through the simple technique of taking her time, Opluriko manages to out-wait them, and soon, she has as much privacy as ever exists in the Ranch.  Where, in fairness, privacy itself is a concept... perhaps not quite foreign, but from the other side of the river.

"I see," he says, a bit sad. "I have tried my best. I do not suppose there is any way to talk you into some sort of compromise." He looks hopeful, but gives it up quickly. He shrugs. "At least it was cleaned, sharpened, and oiled. It could probably sit another 80 years in the basement." He heads off to his room.

'Out of the question.' 'Absolutely forbid.' The axe probably could last another 80 years without being touched. Now, he had to figure out how to smuggle it for real. Maybe a nice switch... He'd make a case for it or a bag or something, and put it in the basement with something very axe-shaped in it. That should work... After all, it wasn't his fault his father insisted on giving him orders that were beyond him to enforce. If he actually did find this his calling- he would probably not be inheriting anything anyhow. The worst his father could do would be to disinherit him, which is the probable extension of his choice in the first place. He'd need to think on it a bit more... It was a big choice, after all.

Opluriko is glad that most of her fellows back off a bit. S/he doesn't mind some questions, but didn't enjoy the feeling of drowning in them. S/he patted Jayme again, then made her way to her hammock for the night.

Peck smiles. "I'd be most glad if you would," he tells his adopted father with no little relief.  "I find what Kira tries to show me difficult to understand ... no doubt you'll make more sense of it."

Of all the times to start taking an interest in what I'm doing, he has to pick now.

"I talked to her.  She spoke of things that I'd know more about." Yona reassures her father, "And showed me some of them too.  Some of it's stuff like I've only heard in stories, but she can do it, and she can teach me to do it.  I saw enough to believe she can teach me."

Finally she takes a mouthful of the stew, and winces as she burns her tongue.

"I have a lot to learn though, so I might not be around much."

Mace'Aurek lays in his bed, staring at the ceiling and imagining clouds, and slowly falls asleep...

Kerric most decidedly doesn't stomp up the stairs, because he is Being the Mature One.  His father waits until he's halfway up before growling, "Good, because that's exactly what it's going to do."  Kerric may or may not slam the door to his room, but alas, he has no music to turn up super-loud, so he's forced to seethe quietly.  His mind continues offering convincing arguments and more reasons he's right for at least half an hour before sleep finally overwhelms him.

Opluriko finally finds a bit of peace, curled up in her hammock.

Quendalaa is faced with a barrage of questions very much like the ones Opluriko got from the T'skrang, but after enjoying the limelight for a while, she, too, pleads exhaustion and curls up on her feather bed. (They're not uncommon for Windlings, because they don't need a lot of feathers.)

Peck settles down calmly, having reached a decent balance with Marden.  Somewhere between approval and worry on Marden's side, somewhere between truth and secrecy on Peck's, but both feeling comfortably closer to the right side of things.

When Yona goes to bed, she worries that she's left things a little farther on the lying-to-her-father end of the scale - but farming isn't the life Jander ever really wanted for his daughter.  If she has a way out of it, he's sure he'll manage.

Tyellyria and Alia don't actually ignore Aedalo, but neither do they immediately retire.  Tyellyria keeps talking, in slow, gentle tones, of what she remembers.  After a little while, she looks down to find their daughter asleep between her parents, and together, they gently carry Alstroemeria inside and lay her to bed.  She stirs slightly from the movement, but doesn't wake.