DKMortals/SessionFiftyEight

[ST] Night in a Shadowland is not the sort of thing a mortal wants to experience even once, much less multiple times. The wind howls through the groaning trees, rustling bone white bark. From time to time, blood trickles slowly from rents in the trunks. Out in the darkness, things move. Astrid, in a moment of morbidity, mentions that it is not so very far to the great shadowland of Marama's Fell in the southeast.

[ST] Stoic Determination and Little Promise sit next to each other on a fallen log, conversing quietly. Helgara roams the perimeter of the camp, stamping her feet for warmth.

[Avir] "Monster ghosts. Just what I want to be thinking about." Avir shivers and wraps his cloak more tightly around himself.

[Wheel] There wasn't much room to wander. He wasn't, none of them were, going to go out of the shadowland. But he hated staying there for things to come up on him. He half wore himself out creeping about the ward stones eyeing the dead night beyond.

[Avir] He stands and crosses the ground to where Stoic Determination and the ghost sit. "How do matters stand between you two?"

[ST] Stoic Determination looks up, glowering. "And what business is it of yours?"

[ST] Little Promise heaves a sigh and shrugs. His luminous form wavers slightly in the sickly light it produces. "Father will not forgive himself for killing me, though it was an accident. His regret binds me here."

[Avir] "It was my coin and my oath that freedyour son. I stand still in the shadowland I chased you into. I have some interest, I think," Avir says mildly. He turns to Little Promise. "His regret cannot bind you. Only can do that. Your own feelings - your own regret- is what you must loose."

[ST] Helgara plants her spear in the ground, hugging it to her as she shivers. "You seem jumpy, old man," she says to Wheel, as if her own eyes are not darting wildly about the dark.

[ST] Little Promise lowers his head, his hair falling into his eyes. "Perhaps you are right. Perhaps... I cannot bear to think that he does not forgive himself. He blames himself for concealing the act. It festers at him."

[Wheel] He glares at her. "Don't like this any more than you. Not enough of us to watch, and those ghosts know where we are. Maybe they can't hurt us, but they can send friends."

[ST] "If they wanted to hurt us, they could have back there," Helgara says with a grunt. "It would've been easier." She looks back to where Avir and the others talk, shuddering. "Kneelers're bad enough, but now we have to deal with a kneeler ghost? They ought to string Determination up for what he's done."

[Avir] "It is an anchor," Avir says implacably. "How much worst will he feel if he knows he has damned you? When you are gone, he can heal."

[ST] "How can I know that? How can he receive absolution if he does not confess to the Mother? But to confess would destroy him." He shakes his head. "Even if I wanted to go, I do not know if I could find the way."

[ST] "I cannot leave father alone."

[ST] "I'm sitting right here, you know," Determination says quietly, fingers digging nervously at his beard.

[Wheel] He shrugs. "Still can. Just as soon as the boy's off. Hell, they'll just exile him. You care, you can get him then."

[Avir] "You free him, then," Avir says, a thread of impatience in his voice. He can hear Helgara's voice carry. Perhaps she is right. "Whatever way you can."

[ST] She nods, softly. "If anything had happened to Astrid, I would kill him. I would kill them both."

[ST] She shakes with anger, shoulders actually trembling.

[ST] Little Promise looks to Determination, placing a transparent hand on his shoulder. "Perhaps he is right, father. You must forgive yourself. You must confess. Then I can receive a proper rite. Then I can go on, as I should."

[ST] "I have never flinched from my duty, son," Determination says sharply. "I would not, even for you. I will not, now. I will confess." He looks at Avir, face blank. "As the Corpseman wishes."

[Wheel] He makes a noise halfway between agreement and vague acknowledging that she had spoken, staring out into the darkness that horrified. Nothing special that he could see, but it made his eyes feel sick.

[Avir] Insults, even now. Avir's lip curls slightly. "Very well. If that is what will work." He nods to Little Promise and retreats back to his stump. It is ice-cold against his rump, but better than standing for the moment.

[Avir] He spends the rest of the night glaring at the darkness. He had set an alarmward behind him; it's all he has beads left for.

[ST] Dawn comes to the Shadowland gently, almost mournfully, the midnight darkness lightening to the leaden, heavy gray of a deep winter's day. Far above, the Unconquered Sun appears as a faint, distant disk of light, heavily veiled.

[ST] Behind the group, the warding stones are now quite visible, well inside the boundaries of the Shadowland they created. A short distance ahead, perhaps a hundred feet, the landscape brightens, becomes much more vital. They were that close to the boundary.

[Wheel] "Enough light to leave yet?"

[Avir] "Yes." Avir stands, and dusts himself off. He is stiff as hell. "You realize we have to walk back?" He glares at Stoic Determination.

[ST] "I believe it would be best for me to wait here," Little Promise says. "If father confesses, then..." He does not finish the sentence, and Stoic Determination does not look at him. Perhaps rancor lingers even now.

[Avir] He nods.

[ST] "Then let us be on our way," Astrid says. "The Quiet are like to be beside themselves with worry, by now."

[Avir] "Yes. If there's not tea waiting for us when we arrive, I won't be responsible for my actions."

[ST] The sun rises as the group staggers through the woods once more, afoot this time. Even this sparse forest floor is treacherous, strewn with little hollows and icy roots that threaten to break an ankle or worse. Once more, Astrid takes the lead, Helgara staying close behind her. At least the sun is up.

[Wheel] He stares at the kid briefly. Another night and who knew if the ghost'd be alright. Wasn't his responsibility, but somehow having lived through the last night he half felt it was. Nothing for him to do here, he reminded himself. He needed to let Avir reward the shadowland and get to someone he could tell about the battlefield.

[Avir] Avir looks up suddenly and turns towards the woods. It's daylight, he reassures himself. His skin crawls nevertheless.

[Wheel] He gets the hammer out, darting to the side for a quick hide. Even if it knew they were there, which it likely did coming at them so fast when neither could see the other, anything helped.

[Wheel] What was wrong with the birds? After the night, he couldn't let the strangeness go. Signals?

[Avir] Avir takes his cue from Wheel and darts into a tangled bush.

[ST] Astrid pulls Stoic Determination and Helgara with her, lunging behind a fallen log.

[ST] The noise draws closer.

[ST] A figure bursts from the forest near Wheel, staggering, gasping loudly, tripping over a root and going sprawling. A woman, staring up at the sky, straining to breathe. She wears the garb of one of the Quiet, and only a thin jacket to protect against the cold. Her hair and hands are bare, and the latter are wet with blood. A trail of it stretches into the woods behind her, smeared on trees

[ST] in splotches of vile decoration.

[ST] After a moment, Wheel and Avir recognize her face through her expression of exhaustion and agony. It is Hope.

[Avir] Avir freezes for a moment, watching for pursuers. When he doesn't see any, he emerges from his bush. "What happened?"

[Wheel] He waits patiently for what follows. Something had to be, or she wouldn't have managed to run so far in that condition. Assuming she had been near the town when whatever it was had started.

[ST] Her eyes struggle to focus as Avir emerges, and she reaches an arm out to him, opening her mouth to speak. Blood runs down her chin, and only a thin gasping sound emerges. "H-Help... help.. us... p-please..."

[Avir] He takes her arm. "Don't die," he says urgently, as if she could help it. "Tell me what happened."

[ST] "Hope?" Helgara's voice is furious for a moment. Then, as she stands, and sees the woman, she quickly drops back behind the log, hands over her mouth. Astrid rises as well, going to join Avir by Hope's side.

[ST] "They... came.... in the night... when you were gone... they came and they... oh... they..." She coughs again. "I was... not with the others. I waited... until it got light... then I tried to run... they... they shot... they shot..." She coughs, convulsing. "Hurts."

[Wheel] "Is something coming after you? Whats wrong with the birds?"

[Avir] "Who came?" Avir hisses.

[Wheel] He stays still in the cover he has, waiting. let the others fuss over her.

[ST] "B-black... Black Dogs..." Hope's face is waxy, pale. Her eyes focus and unfocus, settling on Astrid's face. "As...trid... tell her... m... sorry. please. I had to... tell you. Go. You have to... run. They are coming."

[Wheel] Black dogs told him nothing. "You know what it might be?"

[Avir] "How many?" Avir says urgently.

[ST] "You will tell her yourself," Astrid says, taking Hope's icy hand in her much larger gloved one. "Hold on."

[ST] Hope looks at Avir blankly for a moment, her eyes closing. "Farthing and a half... two... m-maybe."

[ST] "That's fifteen," Astrid clarifies. "Fifteen or twenty. A scouting force."

[Wheel] What the hell were mercs doing raiding a Quiet greenfield. They get bought into the war? Had to be. The battlefield was going to be here, maybe this was why.

[Avir] Avir looks at Wheel. "You any good at assassination? Poison?" He did not think they could take so many, whatever tricks they used. Not nearly so many.

[ST] "T-they...." Hope trembles, barely able to form words. "They did... they d-did such awful things. The Founders said the Haslanti were c-cruel. Helgara h-hurt me, last n-night... and I thought... but they... they never d-did anything like... like this..."

[Avir] "How many are still alive?"

[ST] She begins to weep, softly, a thin, exhausted sound.

[ST] "Many." She chokes again, struggling. "Too many."

[ST] "Her wounds are grave," Astrid says, locking eyes with Avir.

[Wheel] He shrugs. "A mercanary comapny, you could just poison the well if they want to stay in place. But what to use? I wouldn't know. Besides, we need to get word to command. You heard the ghosts. A lot more are going to die here. We can't let the enemy control the battlefield before we get there."

[Avir] Avir pats her soothingly on the back. "Shhh." He raises his head to stare off in the distance she had come from. "Yes."

[Avir] "You're right, Wheel. You go ahead. Warn them. I'll deal with matters here."

[Wheel] He stares at him. "You? What are you planning?" His worries about the man were coming back. What did he have?

[Avir] "To find some way to stop them." He gathers up a grin from somewhere. It looks forced, ghastly. "Promise. Cross my heart and hope to die..."

[ST] As the two men talk, Stoic Determination rushes from behind the log. "Sister!" He calls out, falling to his knees beside Hope and taking her other hand. "Sister, this was my fault. This was all my fault. I am sorry. I am sorry. I-"

[ST] "B-brother, no... you wanted only to see... your son... there is no sin in that. You did not... do this to me."

[Avir] "Quiet. Put your hand to her wounds; you can't let her bleed out."

[Avir] He turns to examine her more closely. He needed her alive. If she died...if she died, he didn't know if he could do this.

[ST] He rolls her over on her side, shakily. An arrow juts from the right side of her back, fletched with dark feathers. It must have gone into her lung, from the way she is gasping and coughing up blood. It's quite a feat that she's made it this far.

[ST] Helgara, watching white faced from the sidelines, turns and vomits into the snow.

[Avir] "Careful. An arrow won't necessarily kill her quick, if we're not fools enough to pull it out."

[ST] "It h-hurts..."

[Avir] Avir looks up at Wheel. "You're burning daylight, raven." He turns to Stoic Determination. "Help me take her to the trees. I need some privacy to work."

[Wheel] He signals silently to Avir and stalks further out and to the side. they were making too much noise, no way they'd hide. So he'd use them as bait and catch the followers himself.

[ST] "You're gonna fix her, right?" Helgara demands suddenly, finding solace in rage. "I know you can do it! I KNOW you can, you have to fix her NOW!"

[Avir] Avir turns and snarls at her. "You were hot to kill her yourself two fucking minutes ago. Stand guard, if you must. You too, Astrid."

[Avir] Together, he and Stoic Determination carefully lift Hope and move her onto a softer bit of snow. There's a bit of cover from a brambly shed. As Stoic Determination looks at his sister in a panic, blood on his hands, Avir turns him firmly but gently around. "Don't look. This is hard enough without on-lookers."

[ST] Astrid nods, reaching into her belt and drawing out a short, wickedly sharp hatchet as Determination moves to help Avir with Hope's body. The footsteps suddenly stop, and a voice carries quite clearly through the woods.

[ST] "'ey, Fareth, I hear 'em babblin."

[ST] "Now they hear US, you idiot!"

[ST] "Let 'em hear," the first voice resumes. "Hey Kneeler bitch! I'm gonna fuck you like I fucked my mother! I'm gonna feed you your own tongue, you stringy old cunt!"

[ST] Laughter, drawing closer, both voices joining in.

[Wheel] He grinned to himself. Well, they might be trying the same trick he was. He moves quiet and hidden around, trying to be cautious, trying to remember old tricks. No one mentioned that the old dogs had a hard time remembering the old tricks too. Even old he was better than them though.

[ST] "I already winged you, let's not draw this out. I've got things to do. They're lined up and waitin' back at the Emerald..."

[ST] Helgara has flushed a deep red. Stoic Determination looks at Avir with raw horror. The two men come on.

[ST] "'ey, be careful, Fareth!"

[ST] "What's this Kneeler bitch gonna do, appeal to my higher nature?"

[Avir] Avir feels a strange little spasm of rage. The Quiet were not Haslanti- not truly- but they were close enough, right now. At least they were not- murderous damned foreigners. As Stoic turns in alarm, he hisses, "Let Helgara deal with it." He bends over Hope and opens his mouth wide. The bottle-bug crawls out.

[Avir] It makes a weird, hopping chirp noise as it settles comfortably atop Hope and begins to scissor and knit at ther flesh. Avir turns and draws his sword as the bottle bug works.

[Avir] "It's three against two, not counting the Quiet. Don't get so fucking cocky." Avir says, coming out of the bush. Stoic Determination follows him after a dumb moment.

[ST] Stoic Determination does not see, fortunately. Hope's gasps are smothered by the bug's mass as it plunges deep to tease at the steel in her lungs. Even as Avir speaks, two men emerge from the trees ahead.

[ST] One of them is tall, sallow, with a long nose and watery blue eyes. The other is shorter, squat, with a friendly, jovial face, and a pair of warm brown eyes. Both of them wear ragged, rusty armor and cloaks of black, mangy fur.

[ST] "Oh, so you must be those corpses," the shorter man says. Fareth, by his voice. "A few of the Quiet told us you was here round the time we nailed the old bitch up on the barn, but I didn't believe it. Kneeler'll say anything to save their skin."

[ST] "Your woman, she ain't said much. I give her credit for that. Not that it'll do any good." He laughs, looking the three over.

[Avir] "We're the corpses," Avir confirms without a blink. "Not as a dead as you, though."

[ST] "Let's see. We got us two, hale an' hearty dogs, up against a cripple, a wet little pup, and an old bitch." Fareth smiles, and it is then that the murderer he is is revealed. "I'll take those odds."

[Wheel] He creeps slowly around, behind them. Too bad neither was relying on a bow for the moment. That would have chosen his target. He'd go for the talker then. The quiet one seemed like an idiot.

[Avir] "I spat in the Wolf Bitch's face before her daughter took my hand. You prey on little old women and kneelers. Pick your grave, shithead."

[Avir] It had been Miruna, actually. He had begged himself. But nevermind.

[Wheel] They were stupid, swaggering. neither expecting much of a fight, and certainly not expecting what he was going to give them. Been a while since he didn't have to count on his target dodging. He steps out behind them, hoping the two wouldn't notice the way the Quiet were sure to be looking at him, and swung for the back of the talker's head. The other was as incompetent as he seemed he'd get him too before he turned around.

[Wheel] The hammer pushed the man's head through his fat little grin, spraying the ground in front with blood. it hit the ground with a dull thud, more noise than it had made going through the skull.

[ST] Fareth's body falls, twitching, kicking wildly, and the sallow one turns, his eyes just beginning to widen as he notices the killer that has emerged from the forest, seemingly out of nowhere.

[Avir] Avir charges him before he could react. The black dog should run; it was up to him to see that he didn't. His short sword comes down in a long sweep parallel to the dog's neck.

[Avir] It glances off the crude neck-strap. Well, it was only a distraction, Avir consoles himself.

[ST] Helgara runs forward, screaming, her spear lowered to spit the Dog in the throat, heedless of any other danger.

[ST] Panicking, the Dog tries to lunge out of the way, and almost makes it. Then, Helgara's spear takes him in the thigh, shearing right through the layer of rusty chainmail there. He screams.

[Wheel] With one hand he was even more ungainly with the hammer than a normal man would be, no matter how strong. It normally only stopped when it hit a wall or the ground or something. Or soon after. As fast as he could he got it back around at the second Dog as he was fixed on Helgara's spear.

[Wheel] No fancy aim this time, just a blow to the chest. The hammer head took him on the breastbone, punching it into his chest. The haft hitting his upper arm took some of the momentum, breaking the arm with a sharp crack like a tree branch failing under ice. Wheel staggered slightly as he was pulled after the body, the hammer head hooked awkwardly by a rib.

[Avir] "Wheel," Avir pants, wiping off the blood that spattered his face. "Go. Warn the garrison at Icehome."

[Wheel] "If we wait till night, we can take these fools piece by piece."

[ST] "Talespinner's tits," Astrid mutters as the devastated Dog falls. She had missed seeing the hammer in action before.

[Wheel] but he knew they couldn't wait for night. Not with what news they had.

[ST] "Please," Stoic Determination says. "You cannot simply leave them. Abandon them to those... those m-monsters."

[ST] He looks to Avir. "My sister? Is she...?"

[Avir] "We won't," Avir says, glaring. "I can handle it. Your sister will be fine."

[Wheel] He pulls the hammer out, cracking the rib that'd caught it, and starts scrubbing it with dead leaves. "I'll go," he tells Avir, ignoring thee others. They both knew he had to.

[Wheel] Frustrated, he sneered at Determination. "Need help now and you beg us. Won't kill these bastards yourself, but you know whats going to happen with our help."

[Avir] Avir grips his hand. "Fair wind and fast travel. If I don't come back-" He gives a short bark of a laugh. "Well, no one will miss me."

[Wheel] "Avir. if you're planning to do this now, I'd go faster helping you then grabbing two elk for each of us." Each that survived, but no need to say that. Mounts and remounts would cut the travel time hugely.

[ST] "Helgara could go," Astrid says suddenly, determined. "She can carry word as well as either of you. She and the Quiet."

[Wheel] Of course, if he bought it, Avir probably couldn't make it near as fast. Hell, he might not make it at all. it wasn't an easy trek facing them, and he ahdn't seen that Avir had the knowledge to go it.

[Avir] Avir's smile twists. Wheel seemed determined to get him killed. Fuck it all.

[ST] "Astrid, you should... should take the kn- Hope, and Determination, and go. You know the way better. I'll st-stay and fight. For the League."

[ST] Stoic Determination looks between the pair. "Oh, how gallant," he manages, bitter to the last.

[Avir] He supposed he could call Thunder Wisdom again as backup- but no. This message wasn't important enough to stop Thunder from killing him. "That's wiser. Astrid, you're old, and they would listen to you before they would listen to Helgara." He turns and glares at the old man. "Go if you want, old man. I can offer you a path to victory, if you were willing to sacrifice yourself for the Quiet."

[ST] "I am not so old as all that. But there is wisdom in what you say." Astrid looks down. "I will take Hope and Determination, should they wish to go. I will keep them safe. May the the triads keep all of you safe, as well."

[Avir] "Hope will be weak for a while yet. She would only slow you down," Avir says immediately.

[Avir] "You can't slow down. You understand that, don't you?"

[ST] Helgara looks down, gnawing at her lip. "Astrid, if we do not speak again, I must- I have- I have to tell you s-something. I-"

[ST] "Do not say it, child," Astrid says sternly. "You know the answer. I am sorry. Now is not the time. You must be strong." She looks to Avir. "You would have me leave her here to... to be in danger?"

[ST] Stoic Determination has still not responded to Avir's question.

[Avir] Instead of answering her, Avir looks at Stoic Determination. "The Mother is dead," he says softly. "How else will you make amends for killing your son?"

[ST] "I will stay," he says quietly, meeting Avir with a clear gaze. "But what of my sister?"

[Wheel] "You aren't running off to safety. You need to get to the nearest emerald and get the news out. The battles here. mercenaries are here already to prepare things. Hell, Avir, you write them something to take, incase they are the only ones getting the word out. Hope would die on the treck, else you'r planning on going way too slow."

[Avir] Avir sighs. He looks out across the snow, then finally at Astrid. "I will see if she can make the journey. But you will have move fast, even if it means leaving her halfway to an Emerald."

[Avir] He stomps back through the snow. Gods - ancestors- demons help him if she woken up to see her physician. The bug swarms up his front and down his throat as he stands over her. It little liked the cold.

[ST] "Thank you." Astrid looks at Avir, her eyes mistrustful, then she softens as he turns away. "I have misjudged you. You are a good man. Can she come with us?"

[Avir] Her wounds were gone. She is only tired now, and cold. He closes his eyes. Good man? No. He was a terrible man. And about to become worse. "Yes. Take her." May some good of that, at least; he had intended to have them both, but Stoic Determination alone would do.

[Avir] He rouses her with a nudge to her shoulder.

[ST] Hope blinks, looking about herself uncertainly. "I... live. Yet. I live." Tears course down her face. "I... I p-prayed that the Mother's vengeance would be stayed. That somehow, no one would know what I had d-done. And now... now..." Helgara pulls her roughly to her feet, wiping away her tears with clumsy strokes.

[ST] "Go with Astrid," she says, giving the woman a light nudge in that direction. "I will see the two of you soon." It is, perhaps, a generous statement.

[Wheel] Decisions done, Wheel was kneeling by the two corpses, rifling their foul clothes for anything that might be useful or tell them something.

[Avir] Avir writes out a message to sned with Astrid.

[ST] Wheel finds that the two men's gear is utter trash, rusted weapons, poor breastplates, the kind of thing even a Greenfielder militia would be embarrassed to field in battle. Both of them are marked with a tattoo of a dog's head on the left underside of their chin. As he rolls the fat one over, he notices he wears a necklace of human ears, blackened and shriveled.

[Avir] When he's handed it off to her, he goes to Wheel. "We'd best do this in the dark. Midnight perhaps, or an hour past."

[Wheel] He nods. "Lets get sleep now. I couldn't last night." Close to a first for him.

[ST] Astrid and Hope depart with a backwards look at Helgara, who promptly pulls out a whetstone and begins to sharpen her spear, tears rolling down her face yet again. Stoic Determination watches the proceedings with terrified confusion, clinging to his anger as the only thing that holds him together.

[ST] "Must you take so long? While we wait, the People suffer!"

[Avir] "And we can't stop them if we all get killed. Can you fight five men at once? I can't. Wheel and I can be quiet, but not that quiet." He picks up his knapsack, roots around in it. It had everything. Good. "Stoic Determination. Have tea with me. I think we need to have a private chat."

[ST] "I..." He looks at Avir, seeing something he doesn't like. "Very well, if you think it is safe."

[ST] "I guess... I get to stand watch, huh?" Helgara says as the man prepares to bed down. Her face is red, and swollen from tears even she probably doesn't understand. She looks very young.

[ST] "Can we do this?"

[Wheel] "Yes. Yeah, we will. Wake me in a few hours. The Dog's might think to look for these by then, so I'll need to go scout down their backtrail." He had faith that they wouldn't be competent enough to send men after them sooner. And besides, there was a watch. And he needed the sleep.

[ST] "Okay." For once, the fight seems to have gone out of her. She leans heavily against one of the trees, her breath emerging in a cloud of pale mist. "I... you know... I never thought about them, much, before. I hated them. Kneelers. They're weak. Weaker than our children. Stupid. They hate the very things that make us strong. But... I don't want them to die. I always thought I wouldn't care.

[ST] But I... want to help them."

[Wheel] He grunts. "The same here, I guess." And he wanted the elk in town. A good reason to clear away the dogs. Except he could always wait for night and steal some.

[ST] "Do you think... it was... a mistake... to... with a Quiet? I don't... I don't really know." She grunts. "Why am I telling YOU this?"

[Wheel] He smiles sourly at the branches above. "You're telling me cause you have to tell someone, and I'm the only corpse here that'll talk back. And no, its never a mistake to warm your bed long as they aren't trying to kill you."

[ST] "I know she... how she feels about me... and I know... I know that Astrid can't... she called me a child. But I just... it's like the story of the Icewalker and the riding deer. Remember? The old woman gives him the deer, and he's pleased with it till he sees a much grander one that belongs to a great war chief. The first deer is perfectly good, but it's nothing to him. He sells it to be

[ST] made into stew for a handful of silver." She sighs. "He's supposed to be a fool. Oh, nevermind. Go to sleep."

[Wheel] "I am. Wake me in a few hours."

[Avir] "It'll be..lukewarm, I'm afraid," he apologizes as they settle down. "Can't risk a fire."

[ST] Stoic Determination seats himself with a grunt. "I'm not interested in tea," he says. "And unless I mistake it, neither are you."

[ST] "There's no need for this formality. You already know I'm damned twice over."

[Avir] He takes a pouch of under his shirt. Also under his shirt, the sessulia ripples as it lets his hand pass through. He kept it by his skin to keep it warmish- an old Haslanti trick. "Matters of importance should always be discussed over tea." Avir's lips twist. "My master taught my that." He takes out two small cups and places them on the stone between them and pours the water.

[Avir] "Are you? What do you intend?"

• Wheel has joined #exalted1330

[ST] "I intend to get rid of those bastards in the Emerald. Even if..." He looks down. "Even if it means taking up arms. What does it matter now? I'm a dead man, anyway."

[Avir] "It matters to your soul, I think." Avir says quietly. "They say nothing shapes it so much as the leaving of it." He looks meditatively at two teabags in his bag. He'd have to choose one soon.

[Avir] "What if there were another way? Another way for you to assist the People?"

[Avir] He pauses. "It would cost your life. But none of the invaders need die by your hand." A slight smile touches Avir's lips. "Or mine, for that matter."

[ST] "Then I would do it." He looks down at the teacups. "But I do not see a way. Astrid has delivered the message. The two of you are fighters. I-" He looks at the man strangely.

[ST] "What do you mean?"

[Avir] Avir shakes his head. "I can tell you only the cost. Are you willing?"

[ST] "Will it hurt any of the people? I... your offer is very strange." He wrings his hands, looking down at them. Strong hands. They could have swung a sword. All along. And maybe his son wouldn't have torn away from him. And they had been strong enough when they hit Little Promise, knocking him down the stairs, breaking his neck in a fit of anger.

[ST] Why could they not help now? What else could the stranger want?

[Avir] "It will not hurt the People."

[ST] "It is... some sorcery, is it not? Even among the People, we have heard of such things." Determination raises a hand, weary. "No. Do not tell me. Do it. But I must confess, first."

[Avir] Avir nods. He is glad, and he hates himself for that.

[ST] He clears his throat, meeting Avir's gaze. "I am Stoic Determination. I am of the People, and I am not without sin. I have quarreled with my son, and sinned out of pride. I struck my son, and killed him, and sinned out of rage. I hid his body, and lied to the People, and sinned out of fear. I treated with the dead, and I broke your wards, and I sinned out of love. I am sorry. Many were harmed by my actions. I seek absolution."

[Avir] "All I know of the People tells me they forgive," Avir says quietly. "I think you will find it, in your next life."

[ST] "Very well."

[Avir] Avir makes the tea carefully, as befit the last cup of a man's life. It is still reasonably warm when Stoic Determination drinks it, and when the man sinks slowly to the ground Avir catches him. He thought the old man had been expecting it....He hoped, anyway.

[Avir] The drug would keep him out for twenty-four hours. Long enough to keep this from getting complicated.

[Avir] Avir makes a little den for his drugged sacrifice in the snow, then conceals with brush. His sesssula oozes over the Stoic; it would keep the man warm. The cold knifes through Avir as it had not in an age. He grits his teeth. This is only what other men felt, he reminded himself; he could bear it until sundown.

[Avir] He returns to the others.

[Avir] Avir comes out of the woods, shivering.

[ST] Soon, Wheel sleeps, and Helgara watches him, dwelling on her own problems. She snaps her head up as Avir returns. "Where's the kneeler?"

[Avir] "Stoic Determination has gone to meditate," he tells Helgara. "I can take over watch if you want. I can't sleep."

[ST] "I don't... I don't know if I can either. I hope... we did the right thing." At least both of them were safe. Like it mattered to them what happened to her. She gives a grunt, dropping down and rolling onto her side, nestling up against the sleeping Wheel for warmth. Randy old bastard.

[Avir] He looks at her, bemused. Puppy. He looks at the cold white wood. No. He wouldn't sleep.