| Fight the Real Enemy! | |
| Into the Forum, pt.II |
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Rhune keeps an eye out for the rest of the people that she was talking to. When she sees Ullar come in she motions for him and pats the chair beside her. Sam enters the meeting place after he finishes the short barrage of questions and waits patiently by the door for the black cloaked figure (Teague) to enter. When she does, Sam follows closely behind her and plops happily down next to her, wherever she seats herself. Occasionally Sam gazes at her book with awe and wonder with wide eyes and an open mouth. Matteo entered the room behind the doors visibly surprised at how little had been involved in the interview. Had the ones turned away all not known their own names? Rather that looking for a seat, Matteo found a space against a wall where he could stand and waited, watching as others passed through. As the Orc, Urak-gor, stepped through, Matteo motioned for him to join him. "Urak-gor", Matteo began in a low whisper, "The path we have chosen is sure to have many twists and turns to it. I would welcome a companion for the travel. If the gods... err... spirits talk with you, then I'm sure you are one I could trust. Will you walk the path with me?" As Matteo waited for the shaman of the People to respond, his eyes returned to their habitual scaning of those around him. Urak-gor smiles hugely, demonstrating a truly impressive set of teeth. "Matteo-Squire-human, you speak like one who walks firmly on the path of insight. Though the thoughts of the People and the spirits of my ancestors guide me, my heart has been heavy as I traveled alone through these strange lands." "Though our path may appear as if a knot of warding, the true path is a straight line from our hearts and spirits - regardless of how our feet and minds move." "I would be honored to walk this path with you, Matteo, and I swear by the ghost of my father's father and the shield of Vorka the Old that I will be as your spear-brother during our trials." Touching the wooden star around his neck, Urak beams at his newfound friend, and follows him to the marble benches. Seated far in the back of the room, Urak-gor is humbled by the honor he and the others he entered with have been shown. "They do us great honor seating us in the rear," he says in an awed tone, "Normally, this is only reserved for the greatest of warriors, wisest of shamans, and cleverest of wives. I feel badly for those seated in front of us. Though their clothes are somewhat odd, I am sure they are good people and do not warrant sitting in the children's section." "Do you think," he anxiously asks the people sitting around him, "that we should offer to let them sit back here with us? I do not want to give offense to such a great many people." Rhune looks around at Urak-gor, "No I don't think they mind very much sitting where they are, Urak-gor. YOu will not give offense if you don't ask them." she says with a soft smile for the Urk. He is not like the Orcs that she has taught about. Ullar, now feeling more at ease since he made it through the door, sits down at the nearest available seat He then looks at Rhune, Silus and Sam, all sitting at the end of the rows of chairs in the auditorium. Marika is there as well and Ullar's eyes glare towards Matteo, who is also standing and whispering something to the Orc. Remembering what Silus told him, Ullar starts to play with his lips. He uses one of his finger on his 'over-sized' hands to roll them down, while making a 'Blblblblblblblbl" sound. However, nothing happens and Ullar decides that the Lord of Silus is not bored today. Krige passed the door and sit down in the chair near the Ullar. Then he removed the hood from the head. Now his face was visible. Outwardly he was an young elf with pointed ears, blue eyes and chiselled features. His bright hair was shoulder-lenght. He looked at the Ullar's face and said: "It's intresting how would this finish?" Rhune looks over at Ullar as he sits down. Just then Krige sits down and removes his hood. Her eyes go wide. In elven, "Welmet, Krige." she removes the hood of her green cloak to reveal shoulder-lenght curly silver hair of the gray elves, though her eyes seem different from most of the gray elves. They are a deep deep purple and slightly more almond shaped. Her cheek bones are more delicate as well. She also appears to be very young for an adventurer. Sam hops off of the chair and waddles over to the large Ullar. "Say there big feller. Have you seen that girl with the book come in yet? I hope she did not get taken away by those nasty looking robed guys. I do believe one of them has a distinct temperament against me. Oh well. Anyway, this girl had black clothes on and she was reading a book." Sam motions for Ullar to move closer to him, "I do believe it was a spellbook says I. A magical spell book says I." Sam squeaks with glee. Teague sits behind the group that was together. She's curious about the elves, halfling, and urk. Teague glances up, only to see that the halfling is suddenly at her side, looking at her quizzically. She jumps slightly and looks at him in return. One eyebrow raises. "Uh, hello." she says. Sam shifts his weight from side to side...scooting his tiny hind end closer to Teague as he continues to smile. "Hello. My name is Sam. Are you a wizard?" Teague looks at Sam and wrinkles her brow for a moment, then grins. "I want to be a poet. What are you?" "Oh wow!" Sam proclaims... "A poet! I have heard of poets before but I have never seen one in real life. I expected them to be old men for some reason. But you dont look very old.. and I dont think you are a man." Sam smiles widely and then remembers what she had asked him. "Ah yes... I am .. um.. I am a... well you see.. I'm a... I like to call myself a borrower.. yes.. I borrow things and then give them back.. polishing them and cleaning them while they are in your care. Much like these," Sam pulls out Teague's eye-glasses and dangles them from one finger before trying them on. "These are most fascinating... most fascinating... I must say... you really do have good taste in .. um.. whatever category this item of interest would fall in I suppose. What do you call these." Sam continues to twirl his head widely around the room.. almost causing the glasses to fly off his head. He examines things close and far away, up down and left and right. All with a giant sized smile on his face, as he is obviously having a jolly good time experimenting with the new and strange object. Teague looks at Sam carefully. "Trade you." she says. She's holding three pebbles in her hand. Sam's eyes widen as she shows him the pebbles. "Sure! Those are just like the ones that I..." Sam fumbles through his pockets looking for HIS three pebbles that now seem to have disappeared. "How in the wonder... these pebbles look just like the ones that I had." Sam gives Teague a curios look and then returns his gaze to the three pebbles in his hand. He then hands Teague her glasses and giggles to himself... "Hehe... see how good I am.. I put those in your pocket when I uh... " Sam quiets down, realizing his personal folly."Exactly." Teague replies. Rhune notices that Sam is moving off behind them. She looks around and notices the one that he said was a "wizard". She smiles at the person. Her hood is donw now revealing shoulder lenght, curly silver hair Teague nods soberly at the elf. Kenishiro, guided in with the help of Marco the Merchant, lets his eyes scan the new room. Sure, it was grand and he was forced to admit it was a tad impressive, but when the earthquakes would come.... Shaking his head, Kenishiro sat down. He was surprised to see that he had sat down next to the small woman he had so rudely bumped over just moments ago. Nodding at Teague, he started leafing through his ever-present book. He tried to concentrate, memorizing the new and strange words, but was interrupted time and time again by the chattering of Sam. Trying to ignore the halfling, he continued. But failed miserably. He tried again but once again could not concentrate. With a 'snap' his dictionary closed. Carefully he put it on the ground. Then, he prodded at Sam's shoulder, asking for his attention. With a hop and a skip, Sam twirls on his seat, almost falling over it with the burst of speed. "Hello sir. My name is Sam and I would like to know... have you seen any wizards around here lately? I would dearly like to meet a wizard." Then as Sam glances down at the closed book he gasps loudly, "Are you a wizard? You are aren't you!? Oh jeepers... please.. please.. please would you tell me how to turn someone into a toad.. or maybe cheese even?!" Kenishiro's eyebrows rise as the little man talks to him in it's strange language. He tries to say something but is overrided by the flow of words every time. When Sam pauses for breath he shakes his head. "Wakarimasen, gomen..." his face is drawn into a frown of concentration, and when he speaks he does so slowly. "I Kenishiro. What you?" He smiles, hoping to have got it right. Ah" Sam says with glee, " I am Sam... um.. I am a borrower you could say.. so.. you are a wizard aren't you?" Kenishiro listens to Sam attentively, then motions him to wait. He picks up his dictionary and starts leafing through it. "Wu-Jen? Wizarudu? Wizardu?" He shakes his head. "Iye... I am not wizardu. I am... monk. But..." He looks at the open page of the book that lies on his lap. "You quiet. Wakarimas?" Sam gazes at the man with much interest. Unable to decipher what he said, he just smiles and gives the man a big hug. "Welcome. Me Sam. You Monk. I Sam am pleased to meet you." With that, Sam lets loose a half squat half bow and flutters his eyes. Kenishiro looks with amusement at the small creature. As it hugs him he jerks back involuntarily, but then realizes that different countries have different customs. He nods at Sam. "Isam. Pleased to meet you." After that sentence he gives the little man a big hug. For Kenishiro, it was a normal, friendly hug. "You quiet?" After what must seem like an eternity of crushing ribs for the halfling, he lets go. *nodgenodgehinthint* :) Kenishiro, having released Sam, sat down again and looked around, hoping he had not hurt the small man. He should've thought it trough before doing it. But, it seemed the halfling was still in one piece. Sighing with relief, Kenishiro looked around and saw the old man standing there. Amazed, he looked around. As it seemed no one was going to offer him a seat, Kenishiro's eyes went wide. What impoliteness the western barbarians had managed to acquire! Standing up, he motioned to the old man, and then to his seat. "Domo." Her eyes adjusting quickly to the relative darkness inside the building, Marika scans the hall for further interesting sights or people. She dismisses the rows of richly dressed merchants with barely a glance, and her gaze roams instead over the more eclectic figures who surround her at the rear of the room. Still glancing back from time to time to see if the bookish girl has entered, she takes a seat near the end of a row, near several of her new aquaintances. "Blessed are the poor," she murmers, leaning toward Silus, "for they needn't sit up front with those overfed jackals." She chuckles as if the comment were simply a joke, but does not entirely succeed at keeping the bitter undertones from her voice. Silus listens to the girl and then shakes his head, with the same neutral expression that he wears most of the time: "No, Blessed are the poor for they shall truly enter the Kingdom of Heaven..." he says in his regular commanding tone. "...providing that the reason for their poverty is that they have given all their riches to the Lord via one of his earthly representatives," he finishes. Teague reabsorbed in her book finds a seat on a bench behind that of the "interesting group", closing the book, she places it carefully in a voluminous pocket in her tunic. She places the glasses there also, murmuring softly, as if to capture the sound and feel of the words in other than her eyes: "Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands As if alive..." Teague sighs. Silus looks over at the woman, intrigued by the words that she is reading from. Not seeing the book, he speaks to her: "So you too read from the Great Book that speaks its wisdom in the form of riddles and other ways that are open to misinterpretation?" he asks hopefully. "Which parable is that you are reading from? I know not of it." Teague looks at the man intently, shaking her head slightly, "It is one of many great books. The books of Po-e-try." she says. "It just came out today." she adds gleefully. Silus nodded: "Then this is why I am not aware of it," he said. "However, I am sure that I soon will be upon my return to my Temple in Venezia." "My acolyte recently became possessed by Satan and enrolled me into the 'Parable of the Month Club' having fallen foul to the nefarious offers of 'send no gold pieces now' and 'free prayer mat that's yours to keep whether you keep the Parables or not'." He shakes his head pitifully: "I won't be able to get through the door by the time I am back at my Temple. It is most definitely the work of Beelzebub." Marika cranes her neck to see what mischief Sam is up to in the next row back. She gives the black-clad girl a slightly conspiratorial smile, as if to thank her for her patience with the enthusiastic little man, when her eyes light on the book of poetry. Marika gives a gasp of astonishment which is audible for three rows, then exclaims, "Sam, it's better than magic! It's movable type!" She hastily throws back the hood of her cloak, as if it might interfere with her line of sight to the wondrous volume. Her face radiates awe and delight; even on a day filled with so many new sights and experiences, this book is the most wondrous thing she has seen. She manages to tear her gaze away from the book to look up at the girl who brought it here. "This is from a printing press," she says hesitantly, as if afraid to fully believe it. "I had heard rumors of a printer soon to come to Florence. Is this book his work?" She pauses, her dark eyes searching the stranger's face, gathering the courage for her next question, and then asks softly, "May I see it?" Rhune looks around at the black-clad girl. 'Moveable type' what kind of magic is that? What could Marika be talking about? she thinks to herself. She can't imagine what 'moveable type' would like. Before Teague can answer, the gavel bangs and she shrugs a smile, as if to say, "later".... Marika nods, mouths the words "thank you," and with one last wondering glance at the book, she turns toward the dias. |
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This page was last updated on 20 January 2001 |