OOM All Skate Skellig Dream Magic Weirdness -Part Seven

[brave_kreyu]

It turns out that 'guarding the lair' involves more than just staying in one place. Kreyu has a goal today of scouting outside their borders, looking for possible trouble.

Given that Skellig can't speak the local language, yet, they're not trying to pass as locals. Skellig is just wearing a kilt as they stalk through the forest.

The wilderness is truly wild here, only barely touched by humans. Beasts of all kinds live in these woods, wolves, deer, boars, birds, rabbits, and more.

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[brave_kreyu]

She does stare when he stretches, shakes out his wings. So very lovely, is her husband. "Will need to take my dragon shape, or we'll be all day getting there."

She casts the usual spells, and they make their way back to where they were yesterday.

Skellig will hear the voices first, people who are worried, upset, although most of the words are nonsense to him. One man is speaking the tongue of their village though, HIM Skellig can understand. "Go BACK, are you mad? They're going to want people to blame, people to punish, and we're all slaves."

[27_53]

"They are still here," Skellig says as he tilts his head, focusing on the one voice he can filter coherent words from. "Likely in their camp from before. Worried. They are all slaves, those that remain."

He has to squint a bit, struggling to parse through the different tongues and the rapid-fire exchange of words.

"They...might be arguing. I cannot really tell."

[brave_kreyu]

"We shall descend and go in closer."

Kreyu lands, takes her familiar shape, but darkens her skin until the henna on it is quite difficult to see. She also ties her hair back with a convenient sprig of a climbing wild grape. It's a good thing she packed a dress too, considering she's going to be in public.

Most of the words remain incomprehensible to Skellig, but one man is discussing something with another in the tongue of the village. "They'll kill us all, if we go back. And it won't be QUICK either."

[27_53]

Skellig ensures his amulet is firmly tied around his neck, his own wings hidden as they approach the camp. His mind is split between watching her walk along the pathway in front of him (taking in this version of her form with the darker skin and her hair tied back) and listening as they get closer.

"They are afraid they will be killed," he mutters low. "That they will be blamed for the Prince's death."

Another head tilt. "And I believe most of the dogs returned. There is barking, but it is...less than before. They are not being actively told to hunt." They will still likely sense that Kreyu and Skellig are approaching and will bark, but they will likely not be chased down as they were before.

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu grimaces. "They might be right."

The dogs do pick up their sent and bark, but Kreyu calls out to the camp almost as soon as the barking starts. "Hail and well met," she calls out.

The men huddle together for a moment before the man Skellig overheard approaches them cautiously. Some of the other men are soothing the dogs and the horses.

"I hope we are well met, travelers," he says. "Gods know enough has gone wrong in the past day that we need all the fortune we can get."

There are RULES about hospitality, widespread throughout the Mythic Age. A guest to one's camp is safe, is offered food and drink, so long as they behave themselves.

The man they are speaking with offers them wine diluted with water and bread. "What has gone wrong?" Kreyu asks.

"A great many deaths," he replies. "A handful of young nobles and a prince, on a fool's errand."

[27_53]

Even though Skellig is not truly hungry - breakfast was more than sufficient - he feels he has leaned enough now from interacting with people of this era that it would be seen as an affront or impolite if he were to decline the hospitality.

(He's also heavily following Kreyu's lead, as he sips some of the diluted wine from the offered cup.)

At the mention of the deaths, Skellig manages to act somewhat surprised.

"Are any of your group wounded? I have some knowledge of healing, I may be of use?"

He does not sense any injuries among those who were left to maintain the camp while the others of higher rank were off hunting dragons. But it would not hurt to be certain, and to possibly gain favor.

[brave_kreyu]

"None of us are wounded," the man replies, "though I thank you for your kindness. That fact will not be in our favor if we should head back from whence we came."

"Where did you come from?" Kreyu asks.

"Ionika," the man replies, his smile a bitter thing. "Most of us, at least. Some have seen many lands when we were being sold from one master to another."

Kreyu grimaces faintly at the mention of Ionika.

"You are of the Ring Islands?" the man guesses.

"That is where I have lived most recently, my husband is from elsewhere."

[27_53]

He frowns slightly at the thought of these men continuing to be hunted, hiding his expression behind his cup as he sips more at his wine and keeps mostly to himself.

Skellig is not entirely certain on how exactly the 'rules' of slave trading and masters works in this time and era. If their masters have been killed by a dragon, are they now not free men?

(And what of any family they might have?)

He does not want to look like a complete idiot, and yet the most basic of questions comes to mind:

"Is there not elsewhere you could go to seek refuge, if you cannot return to where from you came?"

[brave_kreyu]

"Regrettably, we have been to the ports in this region before in the course of this foolish quest," he explains to Skellig. "Therefore, we are known as slaves, and they would happily sell us and everything on the ship to the highest bidder should we be so foolish as to land there without the protection of our former masters."

"The Ring Islands keep no slaves," Kreyu says, voice gentle.

The man laughs, bitter. "Indeed, they do not. But I know Ionika has sent spies, saboteurs and assassins to those Islands in the guise of those seeking refuge. Not to mention the refugees that have fled to those isles in the past century during Ionika's wars of expansion. It would take divine intervention to get them to accept our plea for refuge there."

Kreyu looks THOUGHTFUL at that last statement.

[27_53]

The underlying reasoning for Kreyu's thoughtful expression is completely lost on Skellig - as is more murmuring from other men who are in the rear of the group, still working to tend to the dogs, horses, and the needs of the camp in general. He cannot understand anything that they are staying, and it is inwardly frustrating to him to be able to hear but not make sense of the words being spoken.

So he keeps quiet, simply nodding and making notes in his mind of what is being said.

[brave_kreyu]

"It is true that Ionika has caused much trouble," she allows. "But the laws of hospitality still hold. They will be suspicious, of course, but you will be safe and taken care of while your plea waits to be heard."

"At worst, they will refuse you, and you will be no worse off than you are now. At best, you will gain a new home where you are safe. Where your family may one day join you."

"I do not think any of us know if we have living family, save for Hector and Pollix there, who are brothers," he gestures with his head. "Kin are seldom kept together long. A man might risk the cost of revolt, might fight his captors for the sake of his child, his wife, his parent, where he would not in the face of his own suffering."

Kreyu's hand tightens a little where it rests on Skellig's knee. She IS upset, for all she is trying to be calm. "I will help you, to the extent that I can," she promises. She's turning over plans in her mind.

[27_53]

Skellig can sense the energy coming off of Kreyu even before she tightens her hand on his knee; he subtly reaches his hand out to cover hers, gripping lightly in an I am with you sort of motion, sending that thought across their connection as he leans forward slightly in his seat.

"We will both help you," he promises. "As much as we are able."

He does not know if he can offer to vouch for exactly what happened here in the valley; does not wish to promise anything that might put either these men (or himself, or Kreyu) at risk.

[brave_kreyu]

"Can you write?" she asks the man.

He nods, but he's clearly a bit perplexed at the question.

"When you arrive in port, ask for a message to be sent to Kaya Strongheart at the House of the Rising Sun. She is a friend of mine, and she will help you in making your case for sanctuary."

Relief floods the man's system. "Thank you, kind lady. I don't know that it will be enough, but it is more than I would have expected to be offered."

She glances to Skellig. "We will see what else we can do. It, it is not RIGHT. What has happened, what is happening."

[27_53]

Even with the glance and what she has told the man to say once they arrive in the port city, Skellig has zero clue as to what Kreyu's plan may be at this point. Are they going to meet them there, and offer to 'buy' the men from whoever might make a claim for them, set them free? Bear witness to what happened here in the valley with the prince and these noblemen? Fly straight to Ionika and wipe out a tribe or two of slave traders?

Absolutely no idea.

But he will stand by her side regardless of her plan.

[brave_kreyu]

They take their leave, and Kreyu sighs heavily once she's sure they're out of earshot. "He wasn't wrong about it taking divine intervention to get them asylum right now. Which means I'm going to have to be all...official in public."

She doesn't look terribly thrilled about that.

"Although at least I have an excuse to get you more....accustomed to seeing me in THAT dress by repeated exposure." A not insignificant plus!

[27_53]

Skellig is still vaguely confused as to what exactly she means.

Then a part of it clicks - possibly.

"Are the Ring Islands...is that your territory? Where the Lair is?"

Another segment of the plan slots into place when she mentions THAT dress - the one that she has told him that she wears when she is acting as the Goddess - and having to be 'official in public'. "And they are going to sail there in an effort to seek asylum in your lands?"

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu flushes as she realizes how little she's told Skellig. "Yes, the Ring Islands are our territory. I really should have remembered to tell you that."

"That's their plan. It's their best bet, in these circumstances." She smiles. "Of course, they don't know that they're going to GET that divine intervention."

[27_53]

He stares at her with a slightly blank expression for another moment.

Then he remembers the monoliths in the center of the city, the highly detailed carvings of Kreyu and her brothers. Remembers the commentary they heard, the rumors about the Goddess has taken a lover, maybe even a husband! that had spread as they had walked the streets.



"...you are the divine intervention."

[brave_kreyu]

She flushes quite red as she's resumed her normal complexion by now. "Yes. I do not feel worthy of being a goddess, but if I can use it to help those poor people, I feel I must."

"You don't have to go with me. I understand it's all a bit...much. Even if you can make people not notice you."

[27_53]

Skellig quickly shakes his head.

"No, I would go with you gladly, I would help in any way I could, I just..."

There is also a faint flush rising to his skin, his chest and cheeks taking on a reddish hue that is lesser than hers, but still noticeable. And it is not due to the thought of her in that beaded gown, appearing before her people.

"...Kreyu, if you are a Goddess...and I am your husband...what does that make me?"

[brave_kreyu]

"Whatever you want it to make you, Skellig," she says, voice soft. "They don't know for certain that you exist, not yet. They need never know, though keeping them ignorant of your existence may prove more difficult as the decades go by."

[27_53]

For a long moment, he is silent, his mind clearly deep in thought as he considers what exactly he is feeling as this revelation sinks into his mind, as it becomes reality. He steps closer to her, his body facing hers.

"My entire existence I have been relegated to the shadows," he says quietly. "Simply for who I am as a being. And that is not to say it has been completely in a negative manner, but I have never...I have never felt as if I have mattered, aside from perhaps to those I have helped heal, but even then...I am often nothing more than an illusion once I have left them behind and moved on."

Reaching for her hand with one of his own, he focuses his gaze on them as he interlocks their fingers.

"I would not wish to hide myself from your people," he continues. "I...I am worthy of more than that. I do not...I do not think I am prepared to be...worshipped...but I would not hide my existence fully."

[brave_kreyu]

"I was thinking only of your comfort love, it was never a matter of worthiness, not to me." She squeezes his hand gently.

"I will likely need to make my appearance for their sake in a few days, and it will take more time than that for a...proper introduction to be planned. Would it trouble you, to wait a little while before you are known to them as my husband?"

[27_53]

"I...I did not mean that you felt it was a matter of worthiness," he quickly says, shaking his head once more. "I just...I admit I am a bit overwhelmed at simply...simply by having the option to be seen, at not being forced to hide for my own safety."

He squeezes her hand firmly, smiles at her. "It would not trouble me at all to wait. I know I am not...not at all ready. I do not need to be seen with you...I simply would wish to be there to watch as you work, so that I could learn by observing."

[brave_kreyu]

"I would be glad to have you there," she tells him, smiling. She laughs, low. "Though we will definitely need to work on your reaction to my dress."

"Perhaps if you see me in it enough it will no longer prompt such a strong reaction?"