Tahra's mouth droops at the unseen voice's words. But she looks gratefully at Topaz when he commands her. So, feeling the dance rhythm, she lends her voice to the beat.

Nwofia dances with Topaz's music and Tahra's song. She melts into the music but not is more than that.  She melts nto the forest, using the trees to launch herself into the air, the branches as swings, there is heart and there are skills, so many skills and the skills together meld into Art.

There she is...

The elf had found the wood sprite and tried her best to gauge the fey's intentions -- whether they be good or ill towards the entertainers.  Using music to ensnare the unwary was certainly a tactic of the Sidhe.

They are the performers, you are just here to protect them...

The music stops again... at least, the music being played by the forest musician.

Who has some questions for Siankiir.  In Elven, of course, in a twinkling, bell like Sylvan voice.

"Usually, the Human folk are mystified by our ways, but this I do not understand.  What is the meaning of this?  Who or what are they?"

Alayna froze. "Performers, yes. And... we are here in peace," she blurts out in her accented elvish. Then, she truly freezes. The was not her conversation. And the other one, she spoke as a native. And these, they were not the same.

"We... come in peace? Mystified by your beautiful music?"

"She speaks true -- they are entertainers, lovers of the performing arts in all their myriad ways.  And we do come in peace."  Siankiir bowed her head respectfully towards the wood sprite.  "We are seeking some lost human children, whose families miss them terribly.  Good musician of the woods, have you seen them pass?"

Encouraged by Siankiir, and very curious about the peculiar people in the forest, the Wood Sprite shows herself.

Overall, she seems similar to Thistle.  But this one is female, paler looking, and naturally up in a tree.  She has a silvery white harp.

"In my life I have never seen or heard anything like you... yes, I have seen Elf, Human.. but such a strange group. Doing strange things.  Thistle said something about you being players of music, but it made no sense.  Many Humans have music, but they are still what they are, but for you it is more.  Your reaction to hearing my tune was... to play with me.  Tell me why you do this.  Are you servants of the god of music?"

A few of the characters have some knowledge of the Fey world.  Most do, more or less.  From the stories they know, one thing the Fey don't have is professions*.  Dryads, Pixies, Nymphs and assorted creatures of the Faerie world do things because they want to do them.  In the next moment, they might want to do something else.  Even if they specialize in something, there's never a "this is what I am supposed to do everyday" ethos.  Occupations and careers are foreign to them.

*Brownies don't have fixed trades, but seem to be able to do traditional crafts very well, and have been known to aid poor but honest mortal artisans with baking, making shoes, or other tasks.  They DO understand careers, but that's Brownies.  Just one of the many Fey types.

After someone or other rendered the conversation into Latin, Nwofia smiled and said, "You noted that Tahra played the tune you were playing but I tried in my way to complete it, sadly with more heart than skill.  I'm not a skilled musician but  I thought you had left the tune incomplete because you were inviting a response.  Usually, I'm a dancer."

Almost shyly, no truly shy, Alayna stepped forward. "I sing a bit, and can dance but I mostly tumble and do tricks with my beautiful horse, Angel." She did a spin, then a backflip to show. "But your music is most wonderful. We truly want to find these children. For some of us, childhood is not far in our past, and we wish to take them to their parents."

She couldn't help but grimace a bit, being one who had no parents.

When the Wood Sprite comes forward The Faun smiles.  He winds down his dancing with Nwofia and the others, but his fiddling is slower to come to an end.  He plays with the theme recently played on the harp, then lets that, too, drift away.  Topaz's tail wags while he waits, letting others speak.  He doesn't speak Elvish, beyond a few stock conversational phrases.  He generally gets along passably in Sylvan or Latin, as he expects will be the case here, as well.

That he's not human he leaves as something for the Sprite to puzzle out on her own.  As to what most people know about the Fey, the Faun finds it amusing to defy expectations.  Eventually, however, he gives a slight bow and smile.  "Topaz," he offers in Sylvan, by way of introduction, before indicating each of the other members of the troupe as he names them, as well.

"I left it unfinished to see what you would do with it," the Sprite says.  "Any work of art left unfinished leaves a void other artists must fill.  I would not speak with those who are not themselves artists, because those are voids in their spirits, and they are dangerous."


The Sprite introduces herself as Adagia.  She explains that they saw you at the clearing at the rock, but had to watch to figure out what kind of beings you were.  Nature Spirits do not attack mindlessly.

"And I am still not sure," she says.  "You say you sing, and you dance, many Elves and Humans do this... but you are utterly unlike any of them.  For one, you are together.  Humans live nearby, I have seen their village.  They do not mingle with the Elves.  They stay with themselves, and their horses and dogs, and they plant and hunt and live.  Elves live further away but the keep to themselves as well.  I have known Fauns, and they live with neither.  So this is very strange to us."

Siankiir translated for the others, not exactly sure how she should answer Adagia's interest.  This...this was something that the troupe members would be better suited to answer.

...for I -- I am no entertainer, nor artist...

Topaz smiles easily, thinks perhaps Adagia hasn't spent much time away from her wood.

"Some of us do spend time among human folk, miss," he offers through Siankiir, uncertain whether the Elf speaks Sylvan well enough to translate.  "Brownies, for example, live right in among common folk.  As for Fauns, well, I've lived among both Humans and Elves.  We each go where we must. "

"We seek lost children, taken, rather.  We suspect they took mistakenly took gifts one of the Baiovari left, causing a promise to be broken.  We'd hear the grievances of those who took the children and see what may be done to redress them that the children might be returned to their parents," he says somewhat formally.  "Do you know with whom we should speak?"

The Sprite's demeanor seems to change with mention of the children.

"It comes to that," she says sadly.  "I was afraid of this.  It is not for me to decide.  We will decide together, but most of us will not argue against the oldest and wisest among us.  They fear Humans and the things Humans might do.  Maybe things they would do without thinking.  They will not what they have go easily.  They will seek something in exchange, at the least.  Anything less could be seen as weakness, and that is dangerous to do around Humans."

Then she cheers up again.

"But you are strange, and not like what we fear, and... and they will no doubt allow you in to our home, because they will have been watching you already, seeing how you behave to us.  They are likely as surprised and curious as I am."

More translating.  Then...

"Where may we find these oldest and wisest so that we may parley with them?  Is there anything we should be made aware of beforehand?  For we do not wish to offend..."  Again, another respectful nod by Siankiir, while all the while masking her concerns about what the fey might require in order to safely return the children.

Alayna looked at Siankiir, deciding that she needed to talk to her. She was full elf, and she suspected that she needed to know her. She looked like her age, but she knew that as an elf, the other woman was likely much older.

"I am only part human, but I would do anything to get those poor children free. Truly. I can do tricks and tumble and..." She paused, realizing what she was saying. But she was true in what she said. She didn't want any other children to be as lonely as she had been.

"I am human but my home is far, far away, beyond the Middle Sea, beyond Africa and beyond the Great Sand Sea.  I will never see my home again." said Nwofia, "but I chose this, even though the Garamantes who stole me did not know that. These children are without choice. Where is fairness and justice in that?  Translate if you will or not if my speech should be unwise."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:46, Mon 28 Dec 2020.

Tahra is silent, expectant, waiting....

"I can do no less than take you there," Adagia the Sprite says.  "But when you are there you will be more in our world than yours.  I must warn you, there will be no tricks with the passage of time, that's not our way, but sometimes mortals who see too much want only to stay.  Children... or adults.  But from what I have seen and Thistle told me... you... you danced your way in, from the beginning?  You are not ordinary travelers.  I half suspect you may be Fey folk yourselves, you are so odd. Come this way."

The forest seems to change along the way as you follow the Sprite, becoming more colorful, more alive... and in a way less real.  Things begin to have less of the bruised, dirty look of reality.  There aren't any brown leaves, and whenever there is a fallen log, it seems to be there only for the purpose of providing a foothold for mushrooms... which are all bright white and vivid colors.

And the river gets louder... until it is in sight.  It is the Rhine, but not the river you remember.  (Even Siankiir has seen the Rhine, though only from the west bank).  Here crashes down over a waterfall.  Not an exceptionally high one, but broad and complex, with the falls flowing between tree covered rock islands.

On one of those islands, and also at the near shore, there are people... of a sort.  They are pale, silver haired, and Elf like, and all extremely good looking.  (if you are an Elf or Human, probably much too tall if you are a Halfling, and too smooth looking if you are an Orc... can't please everyone... or perhaps they would see something different?)

And of course they notice Adagia and the party. They stop to look and a few walk towards the party.  One, a man with long silver hair and beard though he looks quite young, walks through the river, though the white toga he is wearing doesn't seem to notice.  It doesn't get wet.  The man does.  His clothes don't.

He asks, "Adagia, Adagia, what has turned up in our wood now?  You've brought them here?"

Topaz nods, having been to the nearer edges of Fey Realms before.  His folk, Fauns and others, are nearer the world of folk myth than creatures of high magic he expects these to be.

He regards the forest around them while they travel, marking this detail or that as they go.  "If we had time to look," he remarks to the group as they pass, "we'd likely find the Fey everywhere here, every little patch of mushrooms as lovingly tended as a good gardener keeps her flowers or the herbs in her garden."

Almost casually, he adds, "The line between reality and glamer will be thin here, I think, real and artificial blending.  You may see or hear things that aren't entirely as they appear.  Be careful what you accept or what promises you make."

He shifts his own clothing as they go, the cut and fabric similar to those in which he performs, but the fit and finish far more akin to those of a courtier than performer.  The Faun is reminded that a favor asked is a favor owed and the various courts of the Fair Folk thrive on the exchange of debt.  He puts on his best ahead of meeting the silver-hued folk.  Not yet introduced, the Faun pauses, listening to hear what Adagia will say to the query.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:15, Sun 03 Jan 2021.

Nwofia smiles, "I grew up with mirages good Topaz, and the illusions of Djinn and Peri.  I may even have a few illusions of mine own, and not even magickal."  After a long moment she added, "And as for promises and what is to be eaten:  my name is Nwofia and I have no intention of becoming Nwanrynri as Kore became Persephone."

Tahra, after observing the people the party has met, looks around at the plant life. (What, apparently, she doesn't see are any children)

No, Tahra does not see children.  None visible.  But then again, considering the spray from the waterfall, the trees and the bushes... it would be easy to hide cattle, let alone children.  There could be dozens of them out of sight.  The rush of water hides any distant sound, possibly the reason why she does not hear any children, either.

But berries... those are there.  Bilberries, AKA Whortleberries.  Tahra knows them by both names.

Adagia gives the Fae man a slight... very slight... curtsey.

"The most unusual travelers I have ever seen, Nakkod.  They do not fight, nor do they seek our magic.  Mostly, they dance."

"They dance?" Nakkod sounds surprised.

"Mostly.  They are musicians too.  I understand they do nothing else."

Nakkod looks to Topaz.  "Is this your doing, then?  Have you taught them to be Fauns, and cast aside all save frolic?  I have not heard of others willingly following the ways of the Fauns... though I can see how it might appeal as an escape from the drudgery of mundane lives."

"Most unusual," Adagia repeats.

Though Topaz was visiting the Elves as an emissary from the Brownie court of Lutetia Parisiorum, he knows not all Fey are organized in courts.  He's quite uncertain about these.

As for the children, though they're not obviously present, they could be.  The Faun's glamers are simple by comparison to some of those of the Fey court nobles.  Finding the children without the consent of the local Fey folk would be nigh unto impossible.

Topaz inclines his head in acknowledgment to Nakkod.  "Each of them has chosen her own path without my intercession.  We perform, each to the best of our ability, usually for some collective purpose," he says easily in Sylvan, as he does not speak the more formal Elven.  He introduces his companions along with their usual method of performance.

He looks to Tahra and the others before returning to Nakkod.  "We've come to treat on behalf of the Baiovari for the return of their children.  They intended no offense, but are uncertain how any grievances may be redressed."

Nwofia speaks to Topaz in Latin and says, "'We perform.  I perform as a dancer in three dimensions without wings and I perform illusions without magic.  We do so to entertain and we entertain because entertainment is of value to audiences.  Sometimes they pay us to entertain them and sometimes, our Act is a prelude to diplomacy.'  Would you mind telling them that please?"