The Road to Tullybrook

"Ah... was that how you decided to slay it?"

Morgan supposed they were all going to find that horse, then- her, this bard, and this just-a-them. Seemed like a fine way to spend an evening- and, since they were all going in the same direction, she might as well follow them. Having a horse, dull as they were, would at least serve to make the journey a lot quicker.

"I'll stick with you, I suppose. Can't say I'm in much of a mood to rest."
 
“If something’s not in Tullybrook that city always finds a way to acquire it. S’what I’ve been told, anyway.” Sae said with a cheery chuckle as she added several strips of some sort of dried meat to her cutting board. She scored the back of the jerky with the end of her knife before starting to cut the meat against the grain into bite sized chunks.

“My great great great gran-grandad had this one story he always told about meeting this beastie out in the woods, an odd furry thing. He was a soldier during the war, a skirmisher, and he was dreadfully fearful of dying during it, so he says he made a wish on the furry thing, or maybe it was a deal, or perhaps a promise and the furry thing accepted. Gave him an odd little stone to keep him safe, on his word that he would return it once he could. He survived the war and never saw the little beastie again. I’m hoping that I can find it, simple as.”

As she spoke, half an onion was sliced and placed on top of the jerky to help it soften, followed by the greens she had plucked while collecting wood.

“If you do drop by Feyweld, go see auntie Silvervine, she makes these wonderful steamed breads. A wonderful cook, once taught me that you always want to give dried mushrooms a soak before cooking them, improves the taste and helps to keep the mushroom from absorbing the cooking oil.” Sae smiled, her pink eyes falling on Viv for a moment before returning to her cutting board. She flicked a piece of garlic into the oil in the pan, to see if it was hot enough to fry.

It sizzled quite wonderfully.
 
"More's merrier!" Abryxia said, gesturing for the newcomer to follow. "This one 'ere's the lil Miss Rally, an' I'm Abryxia."

The bard listened as Rally apologized, leaning in and down a bit to catch the hushed words.

"You're fine, Miss Rally," Abryxia replied, brushing their shoulder with a genuine smile. "Horses get spooked all the time. Frank, I'm honest-be amazed it hadn't gotten spooked already!"

She hopped over a particularly large rock, taking a moment to balance on it with one foot, arms wobbling slightly on either side. Rally's comment, however, caught her off guard, sending her wobbling a little too much - hopping forward to plant both feet firmly on the ground.

"Oh! I - sorry! I didn' -" She bit her cheek, tail swishing, very obviously embarrassed. "I been callin' ye miss an' she all this time, ain't I? Right idiot, I am. What's better for ye?"
 
With a nod, Viviane dutifully tucked everything Sae had said away in her mind. It wouldn't be right for her to not know, after all. Despite her attentiveness, she either ignored or did not parse the meaning of the look from the elf at the mention of the mushrooms, and instead shifted her attention to Dim.

"And you- Dim? What are you traveling for, if I may ask?"
 
ShoddyProduct said:
With a nod, Viviane dutifully tucked everything Sae had said away in her mind. It wouldn't be right for her to not know, after all. Despite her attentiveness, she either ignored or did not parse the meaning of the look from the elf at the mention of the mushrooms, and instead shifted her attention to Dim.

"And you- Dim? What are you traveling for, if I may ask?"
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Oh. Right. The noblewoman was obligated to pay attention to her traveling companion; they'd established that earlier.

"Um. Alchemy. An education. Poisoning. You know. I learned all I could from tending bars, so it was time to move on," she mumbled, totally off-balance.

Wait, nobility. Titles. Shit. "Er... Your grace." Was that the thing for barons and their children?
 
Viviane nodded along safely, noting each intended goal, but her face fell into a look of confusion and shock at the final entry on the list. "Apologies," she began, casting a quick look to Sae for support, "but did you say 'poisoning?'" From her, admittedly limited experience, a poisoner and a noble often did not fare well together, and it often ended with one or both dead.

The unsure addendum of a title gave her something else to focus on, which she moved to in order to stop worrying about having a poisoner so near their currently being prepared meals. "The proper title would be milady. Grace and highness are for kings and queens, something that hasn't existed for quite some time now."

Somehow, she was still worried about the poison.
 
"Milady. I see." What? Really? 'Milady?' That was ridiculous. 'Lady' just meant 'socially upright woman,' didn't it? All they'd done was slap a 'mih' on it. What was the male equivalent? Migentleman?

"I don't understand why a collection of dissolute corpses should have a monopoly on a much better title, but I see." Shut up. She pushed herself to her feet and began pacing. It was better to burn off the nervous energy before it manifested in another outburst. "What were you hoping to find in Tullybrook, your milady?"

Answering the first question seemed inadvisable, given Viviane's reaction,
 
Viviane, perhaps appropriately, looked appalled at what Dim had just said. It took her a few good seconds to reason out a response, but in the meantime did her best to set her expression back to normal. "The dead deserve respect," she began, folding her hands into her lap. "Besides, the King and Queen are still alive. Even if they no longer preside over all of Erdhol, they still deserve their respect. To call anyone but a king a king is disrespectful," the Lady said, with a slight shake of her head. It didn't help that, if her mother was to be believed, some part of her lineage traced back to the Royal Family, back to some offshoot when the Exiled Throne still mattered.

She shrugged. "As I have told Miss Abryxia, I am going to Tullybrook for my education. There are some things you can only learn there, that are best taught by those who study them. Both my father and my mother, and their mothers and fathers before them, made the journey to school in Tullybrook, and so it's now my turn." She offered a smile to Dim, at that, one fit for court. She would have to pull the others aside later and mention the poison.
 
Dim sighed. She slid back down into a sitting position, unconsciously mirroring Viviane's posture by folding her hands in her lap.

"It just seems wasteful to me, is all. Which is its own form of disrespect. Every ingredient has its use; to throw it away is to deny your own ingenuity," she said, with the air of someone repeating an oft-heard truism, "and so on and so forth. I, um... That tradition sounds lovely. The people who raised me never left home, so far as I know. If I make it to Tullybrook, I suspect I'll be the first of us to ever go that far. In several generations, at least." The toxicologist shook herself, then shrugged, more frustrated than anything by the disclosure.
 
Garlic into the oil, stir until fragrant, to this add the onions and continue to stir until they turn translucent and start to sweat. The mushrooms were… very much still in their pouch, so it seemed neither of them were so kind as to put them into some water. Unfortunate, but she could make do, and a handful of mushrooms was added to the cutting board to give a rough chop.

“It’ll give you a few good stories at least once you get back home.” Sae said, sweeping the pile of mushrooms into the pan and giving it a stir, after half a minute she did the same with the jerky.

“Just looking to find work in the city, Dim?” Sae asked as she stirred.
 
"The 'miss' is okay," Rally admitted, "I don't mind that. But the she seems wrong." They didn't know how to explain either of those things. They had a feeling mister wouldn't have been too bad, either, really. As long as no one started calling them Lady, like Viviane. Or... the other thing.

"I don't really know what I do want. They used to call me ours..." That was the wrong part of speech, really, but it was what it had always been early on. Our own usually. Or our, the other thing.

Rally really didn't want to go there. And it was probably most accurate, but they didn't like that one either. "There's not really a word for not a boy or a girl but still a person, I don't think. I could try to make one, but I've never tried to magic a whole language before and I think perhaps I had better not."

They picked up a stick, and used it to poke a hoofprint, because really this should be about the horse. "I think maybe 'they' because I am trying very hard not to be who I used to be but it is not that easy sometimes, so maybe I am also that person."

They scooched some mud around, turning the hoofprint into - no, they had better erase that before it was completed. Mud runes weren't permanent, but they could still change things.

"What's your name?" This was asked of the newcomer rather than Abryxia, because apparently that person was also coming with them, and Rally was feeling like it was odd to keep thinking of them as that new person. They knew what it was like, getting a title all the time rather than-

"I'm Rally Rose."
 
Rally and Abryxia, then- two names Morgan had never heard before, which meant they couldn't be old customers, which meant she was safe. For now. She wasn't on the run from anyone, nor had anyone called her out on her forgeries, but the possibility was there. She assumed it was, at least.

"Morgan." She said, holding out what seemed to be a business card. It was small, stained, and smelled strongly of formaldehyde.

"Morgan Gristlemead. What's so important about this horse?"
 
"They's good a word as any," Abryxia agreed cheerfully, hopping to another rock. "Better ta find that ta stick with than magic a language, if all yer magic's so... explosive?"

She'd never seen a whole language explode before, but it didn't sound like it'd be particularly pleasant to listen to.

The newcomer introduced herself - themselves? Were they a they, too? By the bees and their honey, that wasn't something Abryxia'd ever had to really think about before, and now it was going to be all she'd think about every time she met someone new.

"Pleasure, Miss Gristlemead," The bard replied, "Like I told, it's a proper Lady's horse. A real Lady, not a pretend one, mind."

She leaned in a bit closer to Morgan.

"Never met one of 'em before. Lovely-lookin', they are, an' they talk like - they talk like every word they say's got purpose."
 
UmbraSight said:
“Just looking to find work in the city, Dim?” Sae asked as she stirred.
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Was it just Dim, or had the elf been glancing at those mushrooms rather oddly. Were they toxic? Well, that wasn't likely to affect her, at least. She should probably make sure she tried it before the noblewoman did, though.

"No. As I said, I'm looking for an education. If I need to work to fund it, I'll work, but I got my fill of pointless drudgery in Fuddle." She glanced sidelong at Viviane, trying to judge her reaction to that comment. Was that too much grumbling?
 
Morgan Gristlemead. That was a fun name. Rally Rose wished they had thought of it - but no, they liked their name. They had picked it out themself, not too long ago. The hat tilted slightly in consideration of Abryxia's comment about exploding a language, and then bobbed a nod of somewhat agreement. Abryxia was probably right about that, and if they blew up a language, people wouldn't be able to talk any more. They'd just have to wave their hands at each other and point at things.

Abryxia explained the horse, and Lady Viviane, and Rally Rose looked between her and Morgan and had an inkling of where that was about to go. "The Lady." This was appended to the end of what Abryxia said, a bit quickly. "The Lady talks. Not the horse. I don't think the horse talks at all. Most of them don't. And..."

A pause, and a sigh, then a rush: "And-its-important-because-I-scared-it-and-I'm-trying-to-be-responsible." A break, finally. "So it's important that I help get it back. And Abryxia is... a nice person, I think. I'd forgotten about those."
 
Viviane very much disagreed with the sentiment provided by Dim. "Nothing is being discarded. As I stated, the King and Queen, the royal lineage, still very much exists. Perhaps they don't hold the power that they used to, but they certainly still hold their titles and powers."

As she had told Abryxia, Viviane had never been to Fuddle. She'd heard myriad stories of the place, but had not visited, both on account of how insignificant it was and the fact that it currently sat in a neighboring barony.

"Miss Dim, where is it you are hoping to seek your education from, if I may ask?" She didn't continue her thought, though the implication was likely there. Lamplight was prestigious, from what she had been told, and the expectation in her mind was that none of her companions would be attending, beyond herself.
 
“Ah, always good to broaden your horizons,” Sae said cheerfully, as she gave the pan a good stir. There wasn’t much moisture than what the onion had sweat, and the mushrooms were greedy for whatever they could absorb. “Can’t say I’ve attempted any schooling outside the Wend, might be something to try out sometime.” She added with a laugh. She reached back to her pack and plucked up a water skin. She added a few measured splashes to the pan, not much but enough for the meat and mushrooms to soften some.

“Shame I can’t make any fresh, but some bread would be good with this.” Sae said, mostly to herself, as she picked up another wrapped package. This one had a loaf of a dense and rather coarse trail bread, and she sliced off a piece of bread for each in the group. These she placed on the bare wood of a skimmed log and sat them near the fire to warm.

With the food on its way to done, it was best perhaps to get the logs prepared for tonight.

“Aye, you were going for education too, weren’t you? Fancy be if you met a fellow scholar here on the road, eh?” Sae said with a smile.
 
"Aw nae," Abryxia said dismissively, waving a hand quickly in Rally's direction as if to shoo her away. "Jus' doin' what anyone'd do in me shoes, yea?"

She grinned.

"Sides, if I'm a nice person, ye are too, scarin' the horse or not. Fessin' up and takin' responsibility fer yer mistakes is one o' the hardest an' kindest things ye can do."

The horse track was - getting a bit odd, now. Abryxia wouldn't pretend she was an expert in horses, or even pretend she knew a little bit about horses, but she knew a little bit about donkeys, and donkeys usually liked to walk in straight, normal lines. This trail, though, was anything but. It darted around, ran in circles, and skipped over, as if -

It'd started running again? Something'd spooked it twice-over? What? The bard turned to face her companions.

"Think it might've darted off again. Hope the poor thing's safe. Must be proper terrified out here, alone, without -" behind Abryxia, between the trees, a large shape shifted forward. A sinuous shadow, it stretched to the sky, then a pair of glowing red eyes descended. Smoke trailed from a savage snout, and clawed wings spread out behind it like a cloak. "- nobody it knows. Hope we find it soon."

---

Sticks cracked around the camp.

Footsteps - not exactly trying to be quiet, but not exactly trying to be loud, either. Hushed, whispered voices - then two figures stepped out from the darkness, pausing at the very edge of the light.

"Ho, and well met!" the taller of the two called. "Couldn't help but overhear your conversation! Got room around the campfire for another two?"

It was a man and a woman - the man tall, with curly hair, and a pair of sharp horns jutting out from the tangled mess, a thin goatee perched haphazardly on his chin. His legs looked odd, from here, as if they were bending the wrong way around. The woman, meanwhile, had a severe look about her, with thin, red eyes and skin as grey as slatestone. They were both dressed in a patchwork fashion, clothing pieced together from scraps and sackcloth in a colorful array.

"Sorry if we're interrupting -" he added quickly. "We just need a place to rest a bit. Meant to rest in the last town, but, ah, well."

He smiled warmly. The woman tried to smile, too, but it came across more as a scowl.
 
"I already said what I was hoping to learn," Dim mumbled, her irritation growing. But her voice vanished under Sana's as the elf joked about scholars, and by the time she'd recovered herself, she'd thought better of it. She sounded petulant. The best way to handle situations like this was to lapse into silence for a few months, until your conversation partners managed to drink something that disagreed with them.

Or for someone new to turn up; that worked too. She squinted at the newcomers. The woman seemed fine. The man, on the other hand, bothered her. He smiled too easily. His legs were odd, too, granted, but that was probably normal enough if you went far enough south. Live on the wrong side of the world long enough and it stood to reason that bits of you would start doing things the wrong way 'round as well.

"What's your business on the road, then?" she asked, her hand resting on her flask.
 
Wings, clawed and spread, extra joints in the centre of each finger (a telltale sign- hard to mistake this for a wyvern). A long snout, teeth hidden and tucked away inside- nothing exposed. Scales like ridges across the neck. A slight cavity in the chest. The tail was two, maybe three times longer than the rest of the body.

Morgan wasn't looking at her companions. At this point, she had stopped following them entirely- barely even noticing they were there. She had wanted to see one of these things for a while- but, if she was being perfectly honest, she'd much rather be seeing it dead.

"I, ah..."

She mumbled.

"I don't suppose she wanted that horse cremated, did she?"
 
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