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milliways_bar2004-10-24 01:45 am
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Hours later, Hale shifts in his sleep, completely unaware of all that his lir was up to while he slept. Though his sleep is much more pleasant than it was before, he still can't quite shake the ghosts that haunt him in his dreams.
Kya, meanwhile, has decided that "now" is the time to inform her bonded about her discoveries, and hops up onto his chest, settling herself down and awaits for him to awaken...
Kya, meanwhile, has decided that "now" is the time to inform her bonded about her discoveries, and hops up onto his chest, settling herself down and awaits for him to awaken...
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However, her presence bothers him in other ways. Just like a housecat, the very fact that she is there, on his torso, prevents him from shifting in his sleep and thus she prevents him from getting comfortable while he rests.
And no doubt as Kya had planned, Hale awakens with a grumble and a grunt, and stares at the near-black shape now lying on his chest.
"What do you want?" he demands...
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Well, that and I have news for you. Good news too, she adds with a slightly more serious tone.
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"Some days you are of little help," he grouses, desperately wishing Kya would just get off his chest and allow him to get up.
"So. Tell me what you've found. Better not be the usual discovery you tend to make..."
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As soon as she's on the floor she begins to clean herself, putting her pelt into order again.
Well, despite your rather rude method of asking me to divulge my secrets I will comply with your request. At least, one of them anyways, she says in-between straightening out her bushy tail. The abridged version of my discoveries is this: we are not alone in this world.
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"Aye of course we are 'not alone'!" he says with a curse. "There are other people in this madhouse; naturally we are 'not alone'!"
Maybe it was the morning; maybe it was his being in a strange place.
Or maybe it was just the fox he kept as his closest companion that had succeeded in putting him in the worst mood he'd been in since his rebirth.
"Kya, I swear, you can be of little help some days..," he growls in a rhetorical manner.
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You apparently did not understand me, the vixen tells him with more patience than Hale's rudeness warrents. Aye, I know we are not alone in this place, but that isn't what I meant.
She moves to lick a foreleg in the manner that tells Hale that the vixen is annoyed and is doing her best not to let him on.
When I said "we are not alone", I meant that we are not the only ones from our world in this place. There is at least one other here who is like us, and comes from our world. But you will not recognise him lir; he is not of your time, but from another.
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Another one... Just like me... In this place...
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Feeling that her appearance is now much tidier than it was before, she gets up, and with a yawn, stretches out to her full length, before turning to face the door.
If you're ready - and in a better mood - we can go now, she says, not bothering to look and see if he's even on his feet yet.
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Seeing a fresh set of leathers on the chair by the bed, he hastily gets dressed - but not before stumbling and crashing into a wall (and waking up another patron in the process - something that earns him a lot of angry swearing in an unknown language).
And once he's fully dressed, he falls into step behind the vixen, who leads him downstairs and into the bar, and does his best to recover his warrior's demeanor and dignity while preparing himself for whoever it is that's downstairs...
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Kya, if you could be of some help here...
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Follow me lir; I will lead you to our fellow kinsman, she says to him, wagging her tail slightly the way she always does when she's determined to be his better.
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Ah, hello, Kya. It is good to finally put a face to the names we've all heard.
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She turns her head to look for her bonded. Apparently he had just finished apologising to the patron he'd woken up only minutes before (how they'd gotten there was anyone's guess), and was now having a hard time trying to find the vixen in the shuffle.
If you're quite finished playing "Lost Little Lamb".., she says in an exaggeratedly patient tone, I am over here, a few paces to your front and a little to your left. See the man sitting and reading his book lir?
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Sleeta looks at Brennan and sighs. And my lir seems not to notice anything, I'm afraid. He does get caught up in his books sometimes.
She notices the warrior making his way over. That is Hale, I assume?
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Another fox eh? she said with considerable enthusiasm, as she watched Hale make his way. Down here, she said to him. There appears to be another seat; why not take one and have a drink? Get to know your descendant while you're at it. And please, a little more manners than you displayed this morning? she added as he stood next to her, unsure of what to do next.
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Brennan looks up at that prompt, slightly surprised. Upon seeing another warrior - another Cheysuli - he stands up, smiling, and offers his hand.
"Good evening. I hadn't realised there was another of our kind here."
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"Evening," he replies, taking the younger man's hand in his. "I'd say the sense of surprise in finding a kinsman in this place is mutual," he added, deciding to take a seat after all and ordering his first honey brew of the day.
With luck it will make you more pleasant, his lir quipped, still laughing heartily over her private joke.
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"My name is Brennan; my lir is Sleeta."
His tone is somewhat deferential; the warrior is older than he is by at least a decade, and looks far more experienced.
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Oh, manners...
"Brennan is it? Sleeta?" he says as he looks at each in turn. "This is Kya, my lir, and my name is Hale," he added as he felt a growing sense of anticipation within the lirlink between him and the vixen.
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...freezes. Stares at Hale with an expresison that could be horror, disbelief, awe or some combination of the three.
Whispering, "you can't be."
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Well, perhaps I am one, Hale thought to himself, unsure just what to make of all this.
The truth lir, came Kya's unusually-gentle tone. Just tell him the truth: you are as you claim to be.
And that is..? Hale asks.
His kinsman. And his kin.
Kya's comment about "descendant" made sense now - now that he knew why she'd said it at all.
He looked at Brennan, who apparently still hadn't yet recovered from his surprise.
"I am as I said I am: I am Hale. And apparently, your ... ancestor..."
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"There's no way this can be possible. You - you died! You died years ago! My - my grandsire was your son..."
He starts laughing; wildly, nearly hysterically. "An Ihlini claims to be my son and now this - Keely may be right, Gisella's madness infects us all--"
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"I ... I know... This is as bizarre to me as it is you. One minute I was in the afterworld; the next I was back in the realm of the living. And all Kya can tell me is it's my 'tahlmorra' to once again be alive."
There's a pained look in the older man's eyes as once again his thoughts turn towards his elder brother, how he died, and how Hale wished that Corri could be with him now. It would ease the loneliness he felt ever since he once again drew breath as a living being.
But Brennan's comment about the Ihlini brought him back to reality, and his expression intensifies as he looks for his knife.
"An Ihlini demon ... claims kinship? To you? They are here in this place as well?"
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'Sleeta? This... this can't be true? It's not - it's not possible.'
Many things are possible, lir. Please, try to calm down. You are going to cause damage to yourself.
Unfortunately, Brennan really isn't in the right frame of mind to pay attention to Sleeta.
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Hale sighed inwardly. Would the Ihlini forever torment his race? From the sounds of things, they probably would - for as long as they could.
Lir, Kya spoke again. The young man is still distressed.
"I know it seems confusing to you young warrior, and it's confusing to me too. Perhaps there is a reason for my being here. Maybe the gods think my task in this world is not finished.
Or maybe they think it is an endless source of amusement to do this to mortal men.
Either way I did not intend to cause you distress. And I hope that I won't cause you any future distress as well."
There. Maybe that would help. The gods knew he was not much for being of use when emotions were involved...
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Lir. He is Hale, and the vixen is Kya, and it is very strange but you do not need to fear that you are mad. This place is a strange place, and who is to say people from the past or the future may not walk side by side with those from the present? Lir, please, you must calm yourself.
She looks helplessly at Kya. He has gone through much of late, it has taken its toll on him. He is rather overwrought. Under normal circumstances he would be calmer - though seeing one's great-grandsire alive and well can never be 'normal' circumstances I suppose - but as it is, his nerves are a little frayed.
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Aye he did. And so he watched on as Sleeta did what she could to steady the young man who called himself "Brennan".
I wish I could help you, the vixen said to the large cat. But at present there isn't much I can do. I'm not large enough to hold him down, and I doubt being held down by someone who is not supposed to be alive would have the desired effect anyways.
She turns her head to look at Hale. We'll have to wait until Brennan calms down it would appear...
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"Forgive me. I am a little on edge of late, your revelation came as rather a shock."
He buries one hand in the soft fur on Sleeta's neck; that, at least, is real. He doesn't know for sure whether the warrior calling himself Hale is telling the truth or not, but as long as he reminds himself that there is something real here, he can hold onto sanity.
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He does not appear to be sure, was Kya's voice. I cannot speak with him; only Tasha, yet I suspect he is still having trouble digesting this particular change in events. Give him time; let him see you are not a product of imagination or sorcery first.
He wanted to say something about that, that he wasn't a product of sorcery at all, but then again, it'd be hard to say for sure if that was or was not even true.
"Understandable," he repeats. "Now. About the Ihlini bastard who claims kinship to you..."
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He shakes his head. "I do not see how he can be telling the truth. Sleeta would know an Ihlini. He can't be kin to me."
He hopes. He doesn't believe that Lochiel is telling the truth, he doesn't want to believe that Rhiannon would betray him when she's all that's keeping him from despair at Hart's absence... he doesn't know. If Lochiel is telling the truth... he doesn't want to think about what that might mean.
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Lir.., came Kya's now-darkened tone. Do not judge potency on size alone...
He ignored her; the image of Kya snapping at Brennan's Ihlini tormenter was too humourous for him to heed her words.
"No, I think he is toying with you, as is the way of all Ihlini to meddle with the mind of their prey. I doubt very much that he speaks the truth at all."
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That does make him feel a little better; Sleeta would have known, if Rhiannon was Ihlini. Lochiel can't have been telling the truth.
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But the Ihlini that troubled his kinsman...
"Gods help us all if any of us should ever produce such an abomination..," he said in a tone of agreement. It made his back tense to think of such a creature walking the world, and the battles over who would raise it. "A shame that the prophecy requires it though. I however do not envy the man or woman who must do it."
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He orders a cup of usca, deciding that the stronger liquor will probably help calm his nerves, and leans back, still stroking Sleeta absently.
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He watched Brennan stroke the large black cat, once again feeling a slight twinge of jealousy at not having a large or powerful animal as his lir - something Kya must've sensed as once again she started preening herself in an aggressive manner.
"Hart is your rujholli? Just the one?" He nods slightly. "I had a rujholli of my own. We were the only boys our parents had..," he added before trailing off, thinking about Corri and how he died, no thanks to Shaine's over-blown pride.
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"Our line" - if he believes what Hale is saying, which is getting easier to do - "has never been strong in sons; my generation is the first to have more than one legitimate son whom the Homanans will accept as Crown Prince. Naturally, we all hope that the same fortune passes to me, otherwise the hold on the Lion Throne may become tenuous again."
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But then the prophecy would not now be closer to fulfillment than it is now.
"This Keely, your rujholla... She has Cheysuli gifts? You mean she has all the atributes of the Old Blood?" He leaned back: now it was his turn to be amazed at what had happened.
The Old Blood has returned to us at last...
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He looks troubled for a moment, remembering his own fear, then dismisses it. Keely's claims that Gisella's madness is hereditary are nonsense, he tells himself; she was born mad because her mother was shot from the sky, not because of some genetic defect. His fear is nothing to do with Gisella.
He's not sure whether that comforts him or not.
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He grinned, then downed the honey brew in a single swallow. Despite all the regrets he'd felt after he took Lindir as his cheysula, knowing what became of it - how the Old Blood had once again made itself known and that the prophecy of the First Bord was now one step closer to completion - made it all seem quite worth it in the end.
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He strokes Sleeta again, thinking. "Speaking of making things awkward, I'm probably wanted back home. Jehan has scheduled another council meeting and he wants me there."
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"Council meeting eh? You speak as though it is possible to leave this world.
Is it?"
He kept the question brief, not wanting to keep Brennan here longer than he should be.
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He's not sure if Hale can leave. He'd thought dead people were Bound to Milliways, but he could be wrong.
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And so he orders yet another honey brew as he gives Brennan his chance to return home.
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He stands up. "Despite my reaction, it was good meeting you, Hale. Be well."
And with that, warrior and cat leave the bar.