Across the Talenta Plains (Ayanna)
From Toosigma
| Title | Across the Talenta Plains |
|---|---|
| Author | Philip Mann - Ayanna |
| Campaign | Shattered Prisons |
| Session | Across the Talenta Plains |
| Posted | |
| Game Date |
The journey was peaceful and I enjoyed the time as much as I imagine I could. Malidin and Marius looked after Trina while she slept and played below, and I availed myself at the top of the stairway that the sailors termed the “ladder”. They had such strange names for things I discovered listening to them. Walls were not walls; rather they were “bulky heads” which I found odd since most of these “bulky heads” were very thin from what I could see. What I thought was a floor became a “deck”, and stacked as they were many deep within the ship, I suppose that made sense. “Gun alls”, “folks whole”, “starboard”, “larboard”, “a stern”, “a beam”, all strange to me. The man in charge, they called him “skipper”, but he ambled around from some old injury I imagine and he probably had not skipped in years. Strange things here indeed.
The thought of going into the depths of the ship was frightening to me, and I felt anxious when Trina was in the spaces below. It was an odd tugging in both directions that kept me from the confines where the others spent much of their time, and the pull made me want to stay with Trina regardless of the risk to myself. I thought at night of how her mother must feel with her daughter so far away as the sense of separation was already very real for me though we are separated by just a few steps and my own fears. I told myself again and again that I would not fail her, but even as it echoed in my heart I felt the shadow of doubt behind it.
“It pines for the Man-pup,” Ghoststalker laughed. “It is pathetic, Dreamseeker; you have chosen a frail little thing that fears what even the Man-pup does not.”
Dreamseeker said nothing. Then I felt a paw gently on my side, but it retreated as if jerked away. I thought I was imagining the sensation as I knew I could never actually touch any of the pack, but then it returned, firmer, more probing, as if trying to discern if I was really there, then I heard Windchaser’s voice.
“Uh, Dreamseeker,” his anxious voice trailed off into almost a squeak while he kept poking.
This time it was Dreamseeker who laughed as he addressed the pack leader. “It seems she is proving herself even if you refuse to see it.”
“Tell it to get up,” Ghoststalker ordered Windchaser.
I did not want to stand, but I did not want to cause trouble for the others either, so I obeyed the command. The pack leader approached me and I bowed my head as not to appear to challenge him. Tentatively he pushed on my muzzle then, pleased that he could actually touch me, he wasted no time ensuring I knew where I stood. With speed I could not fathom, he latched his mighty jaws around my neck and drove me into the wooden deck so hard and so fast I couldn’t even yelp.
“You may be crossing into our world,” he said with thoughts forced cruelly into my mind, “but that just means you have no place to run when you fail the Hunt.”
His words still ringing in my head, the whole pack had vanished save Windchaser who said nothing as I stood back up and shook the tension from my neck. I heard some sailors comment about the stupid mutt, but their words disappeared into the night when Windchaser walked around and leaned into me. Feeling the smaller wolf’s body pressed against my side was indescribable and something I could never forget. All of this time together and I had never entertained the idea that I might ever be able to chase and physically play with my pack mate, and here we were under the moon together.
Windchaser and I curled on the deck where I had spent every night at sea, close enough to the stairs that I could respond if Trina needed me, but still above the confined spaces. It was warm enough to not need the extra warmth of his body, but it felt good all the same. Just having another so close made me feel safer even though we both knew I was the stronger of us. I wondered if Trina would feel safer like this and not alone in her bed though Malidin or Marius has always been right outside of her door. I resolved that, when we were traveling in the open again, I would stay with her each night that I could so she will feel safe and dream of happy things.
“Even if Ghoststalker is right,” Windchaser said as he interrupted my thoughts. “Even if the Hunt has not been fulfilled, I will always welcome you.”
I tried to think of something to say, but no response seemed to fit. Instead, I said nothing and we just listened to the water against the ship until dawn. That was, however, until a sleepy Trina ascended the stairs.
“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” I asked her.
“I’m not tired,” she said through a yawn. “And Malidin said that it would be okay if you were awake.”
“Did he now?” I queried. She nodded in affirmation through another yawn.
I crawled next to the edge of the deck and leaned against the low wall there, resuming my elfin shape and holding my arms out for her to sit with me. She sat in my lap and I crossed my arms around her, leaning into the wooden planks. Trina leaned into my chest as Windchaser lay against my legs. I put a hand on him and, sensing Trina’s sleepy confusion about my arm hanging in the air next to us, I used a spell to manifest him so she could see.
“This is Windchaser,” I introduced him to the young girl in my arms. “Windchaser is always near us even when you cannot see him.”
She reached out to touch him as the wolf sat up and looked at her. She did not recoil as I thought she might upon seeing a new wolf eye-to-eye like that. Instead, she explored his muzzle and around his face as I imagined a blind person might though her sight was perfect.
“She’s a cute one,” he said telepathically.
“Yes,” I replied aloud, “she is very cute.”
Trina looked at me and then at Windchaser, “Can he understand me?”
I couldn’t help a giggle. “Yes, and he even speaks,” I explained, “but he uses his mind so I do not know if you can hear him.”
“Oh,” she said. “And you can see him all of the time too?”
“Yes, I can see him whenever he is near.” I noticed that Dreamseeker had approached and I asked him if he wanted to join us. He affirmed and I manifested him as well.
Trina’s sleepiness seemed to vanish in the presence of the two wolves, and I played interpreter for a while so they could all get acquainted. My spell wore off and I cast another to bring Windchaser back, but I told Trina that I could not keep him visible as I could Dreamseeker.
“But I wish I could because I can still see and feel Windchaser right next to me,” I said and Trina seemed to accept at face value.
We spent the next hour or so looking up at the stars and wondering and learning about them. I knew precious little other than where they were and what some were called, but my two wolf brothers helped immensely. Dreamseeker had very deep and scholarly knowledge about the constellations and was happy to share it through me. We found in time however, that Trina could no longer hold out and had fallen asleep listening to the tales of monsters and heroes. I quietly and carefully took her below again in my first and only journey down the steps on this ship. The space was unbelievably cramped, but the sleeping girl in my arms gave me the strength to make it to her cabin. Malidin had fallen asleep just outside of her door and woke immediately as I approached. He grabbed for his hammer with his combat honed reflexes, but recognizing the situation he opened the door quietly for us. I forced myself with every ounce of will to keep my trembling in check, to not wake her up as I laid her on her bed and pulled the covers back over her delicate form. But as soon as I could quietly extricate myself from the room, I flew back to the top deck. I felt ill, but I felt relieved as well.
Only after everyone was awake did I find out that Ioth vanished sometime in the night and even my keen wolf senses detected nothing. This left a creeping doubt in my mind that I might not be able to protect Trina. No doubt he departed to have peace from the stares and whispers about his visage, but I wish he would have said as much. Mayhap he was as worried for the attention that gets drawn to the rest of us, and for that he wished us not to come looking for him. In any case, I prayed that the warmth of summer keep him when all around grows cold.
The ship slid into the shallows away from any settlement and I was glad for that. There was some manner of unloading party waiting for us, so I leisurely trotted in the shape of a blonde pony off of the ship with Trina. I enjoyed entertaining her with some of the forms of Nature, and I felt safe enough with all of the watchful people around to do so to reach the land. She seemed so in awe with the abilities of our group that I was not so arrogant to believe I could hold her attention all of the time. No, I had no interesting tales from a distant homeland or flashy steel, and I have always been far too simple for any sort of panache. However, I did what little I could to show her that the way of war was not the only way. In truth I believed that she held me in her blissful little world with every breath, which has been a joy beyond words.
It was only after we were on shore that I got my first look at the stone in the hold that Malidin had told me about. It was massive and shaped as nothing I had seen before, but if Malidin said it was an obelisk then it was. Regardless of my curiosity to see it, I thought best to keep Trina out of the way of the workmen unloading it. My own inquiry may get me in trouble from time to time, but I could never let anything happen to her.
Odd steam began rising from the water around the ship and in moments chaos erupted. “Keep Trina safe” was all I could think of, ahead of the stampeding horses that were saving themselves, and the workers who ran with them. I looked back when I thought we were safe and saw Marius grown huge and powerful! All of my companions engaged the horrible beasts of flame that came from the water, all fighting with sword and hammer and spell; all except me. I could not leave Trina, nor could I endanger her by getting closer, so I watched and prayed for my friends to be victorious.
Eventually the fighting was over and the group began the task of loading the obelisk.
Once loaded on the lightning rail, we were away again. I did not really want to ride with the obelisk, but I had little choice if I did not want to be inside; and I didn’t. It was not so bad though not as peaceful as the voyage on the water. I could smell all sorts of plants in the land we traveled through, and I got to experience some olfactory sensations I might not otherwise have. However, if I had not allowed myself to become distracted by the world passing by I might have seen the threat before it was too late.
I did not know what she did to me, but I could not move. I thought Malidin was behind me, but he did not react either so much as I could tell. When she slammed into the stone beneath me, I found I was looking up at myself! She was the same, unmarked and beautiful, but with a strange dispassionate feel. When she began tying me up, I lost all sense of her and collapsed inward into the box that Firella had cast me into before…
It was several moments before I came around and calmed enough to get free. The shift was merely a reflex; set my mind to become an eagle and I did. The bonds did not hold me and I fled the scene to better assess what was going on. I climbed into the sky to look at the airship high above us, but the crew on the deck seemed ready for me. The whole sky before me became a shower of arrows and even my powerful wings could not get me out of the way quickly enough. I glimpsed another of me on the ship before I dove, and I saw the first me still fighting below even as I called to my friends to help Marius. The me that was fighting my friend moved as the wind and even the strong wolves could not impede her swirling blades. In an instant I knew that if this me could get past Marius I would have no chance to keep Trina from harm, so I raced to retrieve her only to find a third me engaging Malidin and that Hazairah girl.
As fast as my paws could take us I ran, and it was but a moment later that I saw one of me pursuing us. I was not sure if this was the third me or another I had not seen, but it did not matter. I would run as far and as fast as my body could take me and then farther to protect Trina.
It seemed like an eternity, but the fight was over for now and the stone was buried in the ground where it fell. I had no care to take it and I was surprised that anyone else felt the same way, but we left it and departed on the train. The obelisk was just a carved stone and hardly worth the life of an innocent or any of my friends, but I was struck with horror when Trina fell ill after only short distance. We watched and her condition got worse, and something told us that her life could depend on returning her to the stone. We changed directions and sped back to where the stone and more enemies waited, but I would face anything to take care of her.
The others engaged in force and I took Trina with me to find any of Nature’s allies to aid our cause. We were gone for long moments, but finally found a fearsome creature that seemed all too happy to bring the fight to the enemy. Trina was scared of him and I imagine even a grown man would be, but she did not scream or cry, she just held tightly to me as I ran. I thought to see life from her perspective at that moment: no matter how terrible it looks, just hang on and everything will be okay. And everything was.
The two of me that remained fighting were dispatched quickly when Marius, Malidin, and my vicious friend converged on them. Somehow Brit and that Hazairah girl managed to secure the airship, and in a brief period of time we were away with the obelisk again. We stopped for a while at some town, but Brit, Trina, and I did not leave the ship. When the others returned there was a sense that something had gone wrong, but it seemed graver to them that the stone had vanished as well.
“So long as Trina is well,” I told the others, “I have no care for any obelisk.”
With that, we were on our way again.
The obelisk is gone and that has done a little to ease the sense I have that something terrible is going to happen. As Brit plies his trade on the body of the one of me he brought onboard, I cannot shake concern at what he could find. There could be a coincidence of appearance, even with now four including myself, if the other similarities were not so vivid. I do not want the questions but I know they will come in time, always in time. In truth I am somewhat surprised that they have not asked them already for it was not so long ago that I too was in a state as inert as she under the gnome's scrutiny, but somehow even Malidin who helped me back does not seem to recall. Mayhap, as a friend, he is not going to say anything trusting that his answers will become evident if he is patient enough; patient with me. It will happen again I am sure, but those who are my friends will probably not question it by then.
I learned something that I did not know about Trina the morning after we departed. She and I were talking as we often did during her morning meal, and I asked her what her parents and her spoke about then. Trina told me that the people I believed to be her parents were not actually her mother and father. “Momaw” and “Pawpaw”, as she called them, had taken her in when her mother got sick a couple of years ago. I imagined that it had something to do with the Burning Plague, and that the Lasters were elder relatives and mayhap grandparents. I also decided not to pursue any path of questioning to validate my assumptions. No misconceptions I might have about her family could be enough to make me prod for information that might be painful to recover. Instead, I focused on the good things, the happy things to talk about as we headed into our day.
Trina has been a joy beyond words to me in spite of the difficulties I have had following her around. She is strong for one of her age, stronger than I am sometimes, but I have tried to learn and grow through that strength. At night, when I lay next to her as she sleeps in that tiny cabin, I am able to abate my fears by closing my eyes and listening to her breath. She murmurs and dreams fitfully sometimes, but when she clutches to me she sighs and returns to peaceful slumber. Windchaser is a frequent guest with us though he seems to take mocking exception to the fact that I will not leave Trina. He understands though, and though we now choose our time for play more carefully, we still play.
Marius asked me about the three other of me and I had no answers. I wanted to say something witty like, “I guess they didn’t break the mold,” but I just rambled on like stupid little me. He didn’t say it, but I could feel that he wanted to know why I can’t fight like them and move like them. Why am I so worthless in the warring and fighting? Still, I should not have yelled at him as I did. He has always been respectful of me even when I could tell he had concerns, and I had no right to throw it back in his face.
Malidin gifted me something wonderful this evening! He said they are linked, some sort of magical properties, but very pretty. He seemed a little tense, but I have come to know that as just his way. Malidin does not easily express what is in his heart, so it is especially touching when he makes an effort to do so. He whispered to me that it would mark me as a trusted friend of the Withered Hammer, but to be his trusted friend is more than I would have hoped for when we first met.
Thinking about that made me giggle inside. I remember watching him stumble around the wood, looking more out of place than anyone I had seen before. I had little faith that he would fit into my world, or that he would even want to, yet I find the dwarf has become an inseparable part of my life. He was the first person that I scared when I learned to become a wolf, and he is the only one here that I believe accepts me just as I am. I did not wish this journey, but now I find that I am looking forward to the wonders of his homeland and to learn something of his world as he has taken so much time to learn of mine…
