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[Adrasteia]

Sagebrush. The breeze smells like sagebrush. Adrasteia thought.
The open prairie stretched out before her, like a unknown visage, the rocks and rubble forming an undistinguishable face that seemed familiar to her. The wind, ever present at her back, pushed her gently like the visage’s hand, quietly guiding her to go. But go where?
Where was the question, wasn’t it? The wanderlust that blessed and cursed her never abided, she only managed to stave it off for a time. But this time her wanderlust wanted more than just another country. This time Adrasteia had come to a different continent than the one she was born to.
Eethatt. The land of the sprawling plains, the cold desert, and the murderous ocean.
It is all the old lady’s fault I am here. Adrasteia reflected. Now was as good as any time to camp for the night, so she pulled out her timber and twig, and started to see about making a fire.
The old lady in the market place where she stayed in Vonfra started this journey. Adrasteia had come to the market for spell components, nothing more, but as usual she was given more than she bargained for. After some haggling and crazy muttering the dusty old crone told Adrasteia about a people on a nearly deserted continent that could work magic with blood and mud. Blood and mud. The phrase stayed with her weeks later, and she had already a bug in her to go see the Merfolk in the Bay of Cairiblodin, out of a singer's pride.
The Merfolk were somewhat of a fool’s errand since the darn creatures attempted to slay anything stupid enough to walk near their shores, but still Adrasteia wondered. She wondered just how well they sang. The legends touted them as the best voices in the entire world, able to convey experiences with mere words and emotions with mere notes, and to Adrasteia this was a challenge unanswered. Sometimes at night she dreamed about a bay under the full moon at high midnight, and she dreamed of voices from the waves. She dreamed that they answered her voice with theirs, and she awoke that morning with a song dying on her lips.
Once the crone told her of the blood magic her mind was made. She could not ignore the call of the two chances. Maybe one; no way to both at the same time.
So here she sat, in front of a warm fire in the vast plains of Kevald. There should be an inn for traveler’s somewhere around here. So far all she had seen were grasses and the occasional harmless prairie animal. She put on a pot of dried beans and pulled some bread out to make her dinner.
Adrasteia laid her bedroll out after dinner, and soon slept.

*******

The next day she started out early, the wanderlust shaking her from her dreams and telling her to get on. Through the better part of the morning she tried to remember whose face the prairie reminded her of but the only thing she could recall was the scent of poppies. Oh well.
About mid morning she saw the dot of civilization on the horizon. Adrasteia consulted her map and could find no town by the map’s reckoning. The map was hardly accurate anyway, but it would have been nice…
The grass gave way to a semblance of a path, although one could easily miss it if they weren’t walking on top of it.
This must be the road that travelers pass through. She thought ruefully. If you could call it a road and not feel like you were lying a little.
Ahead she saw a very small town, a hamlet really, but compared to the prairie, it was a town. She approached cautiously, thankful she semi-resembled the natives here. The natives had deep brown skin, and white hair, and whereas she was neither tanned or pale, she had long white hair that reached the backs of her knees. It was currently pulled back into a braid, but the wind pulled loose strands out.
As she walked closer she saw a tell-tale sign that showed a bowl over a bed.
Ah. An Inn. She thought and walked towards it. The town wasn’t very busy, but it was still early morning. She walked into the Inn, looking around.
The lower level was a restaurant with a bar running along one side of the wall. The floor was hard-packed dirt and the air smelled like earth, not an unpleasant aroma.
Adrasteia walked in and sat down at one of the tables in the corner of the room, observing the patrons.

["D"]

A tattooed traveller sat at one of the tables his eyes darting from person to person, eyeing them over with a slight look of excitement like some child in a candy store.

The waiter came again to the man's table and asked him
"Is everything to your liking."

At first the traveller simply ignored the young man, and tried to hurriedly see around him trying to keep track of something else.
"Yes, everything is fine." The traveller remarked in broken Etwae.

Then inexplicably he looked closely at the waiter, almost staring fixatedly on him, which made the young man noticably uncomfortable.
"Bring me that." demanded the traveller pointing to a seemingly random item on the slate that displayed the menu.

The waiter looking for confirmation asked "You mean -" but was interrupted by the traveller "Yes, yes, that, and be quick about it."

The waiter not enjoying the travellers company, took this opportunity to make his exit, a while later returning with a plate of steaming vegitables. Which the traveller stacked atop the other three untouched meals in the middle of his table and proceeded to again observe the crowd in a very unsubtle fashion. The waiter simply rolled his eyes and tended to the other patrons.

[Qais Al'Din]

Qais sat with his arms crossed in front of him, staring at his hands and breathing in time with the steady beat of his heart. He could imagine he felt the blood rushing through his body. He was one of the only people there, as inns were regarded as places for outcasts and vagabonds, and the very, very rare wanderer. Sadly, though, he was an outcast. A near dead outcast, even though you couldn't tell from his looks.

He looked healthy and fit, and his eyes were clear and cold and unemotional, as was normal. But inside, his soul was withering and decaying. There was nothing tying him to life but a tiny candle that glowed from inside him and was reflected in the mirror of the future. He knew that one day he would find purpose again, but he did not know how or when, and did not really care. His mind had closed away his painful memories and left him with gloomy thoughts of the present, and dark dreams of the future. How he could stand it, he wasn't sure, but somehow he survived. He was waiting for the Day.

Of course, the Day would probably not come in his lifetime. His father had waited for it, and he was dead. His mentor, and he was dead too, by his own foolish hands. Qais longed to see the Day, the day where water would pour forth from His hands, the chosen of the Goddess of Storms. How he longed to see flowing water, pure, and clear, so you could see the bottom of it. He had even heard a most righteous one say that there would be living creatures in the water, tiny wriggling sea creatures, living in water, water that flowed through the land so you could see it above ground, a concept that he could not hope to understand.

Qais's thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and a warm breeze that wafted toward him. He looked to see who had entered, and was surprised. It was one of those very rare people, a wanderer from the lands beyond. She maybe could have passed for one of them, if her skin had been a bit darker. Her hair was long enough, for a certainty. It was much longer than his own, which was currently in a horsetail tied with a leather cord at the nape of his neck. It was very white compared to his own.

Qais Al'Din did not realize that he was staring at her, and even if he had he wouldn't have cared. It did not matter to most etwae if they were stared at. She paused in the doorway, and looked as if she were actually smelling the place before entering fully. The woman then moved past him and sat down in a corner, gazing about the room. Qais Al'Din looked around for the first time and noticed that there was another stranger in the room. The man caused Qais to blink uncertainly. The man was completely bald and covered in red tattoos, but that was not what grabbed his attention. The thing that did was the man's ears, or lackthereof. He had never heard of anyone with no ears before, or any race that was covered in red like that. At least the woman looked normal.

He quickly returned his gaze to her. She seemed to be content to just sit and look at everything. Qais shrugged and returned to looking at his arms. Nothing could fully arouse his curiosity anymore. That part of him died with his sister. The poor child, his sister...with that, Qais uncrossed his arms and buried his face in his hands. His life was a miserable piece of shattered glass, strown about the floor of a hall of mirrors, so that his mistakes were reflected in everything. He hated it, and he hated what was happening to him. He knew he was dying, and had known it since that terrible day. He sometimes even thought of offering himself as a blood sacrifice to Kantrikalik, but he could never work up the courage to do that to himself.That would mean betraying the one who was coming to save the Etwae from the desert. That would mean depriving Him of a loyal follower, and that must not be done, even if it was to Ayrilana.

Qais heaved a loud sigh and called to the only girl working in the joint. She bustled over and asked him politely what he wanted. He ordered a small glass of wine, and told her to bring the rest of the bottle out to the table. He waited impatiently and looked up at the girl again, who was still sitting at the table in the corner, listening and watching. The woman made him nervous, for some reason, and the earless man (though he would not admit it) terrified him. It was strange to see someone from the land beyond, but two in one place was almost unheard of. It made Qais Al'Din feel somewhat privileged, but still rather afraid.

[Adrasteia]

Adrasteia sat down, observing the Traveller. She had met one before, and this gentleman seemed more…twitchy than her previous acquaintance. Interesting. She wondered if he was hiding something, or running from someone perhaps. He could be just plain crazy. No matter though, it still made an interesting scene. She studied him for a minute to see if he betrayed any clue to explain his erratic behavior. Nothing thus far.
She lowered herself into the rickety wooden chair easily, noticing the native that was staring. The people on this continent seemed to have different rules for eye contact, at the very least. Fine by her. She locked her gaze with him for a moment, seeing death had touched him, the truth of it in his eyes. She hadn’t seen death so plainly etched on someone’s face since the last time she gazed into the pond and saw her own reflection. She wondered who or what had carved such a look on him. He seemed to be intimately familiar with death, and probably recognized the veil of death in her own countenance. Adrasteia set her pack down on the packed earth, knowing that if she so desired, that she could use this shared link of death between them to feed her premonitions. She could walk over to him, set her hand on his shoulder perhaps, maybe feign accidentally brushing against him, and find out exactly what had happened. She did not want to know that badly though, to tire herself in that way simply to feed her curiosity. She tried to school her face into blankness, failing, and looked at the Etwae.
I see you in there. She thought. I have traveled part of the same path as you. I know you in there.
The serving girl came over and stood before her.
Adrasteia looked up at the girl, meeting the girl’s brown eyes with her own ice blue.
“Hello.” She said in a smooth cultured voice, breaking the stillness of the room. “Could I please have something to drink?”
The girl nodded, her ponytail bobbing up an down, “Would you like some wine?”
Adrasteia considered this, disliking anything that clouded her mind, but wondering if it wasn’t the safest choice. “Is there anything that has not been fermented?”
The girl looked at her blankly. The serving girl didn’t seem to know what to make of her, eyeing the thin, vicious looking sword at her hip.
“Any fruit juice perhaps?” Adrasteia smiled at her, the mirth reaching her eyes and making them sparkle slightly, and lightening the look on her face. “Something non-alcoholic?”
“Oh, yeah. Sure.” The girl smiled back. “Anything to eat?”
Adrasteia nodded, “Yes, please, as dirt hardly makes a good meal.”
The girl laughed a little, “No, no it doesn’t. We have a vegetable plate, with some bread. I like to soak my bread in the brown sauce the veggies are cooked in... It’s my favorite.”
“That sounds lovely. Could I have some, please?” She asked, her accent placing her from Dallin, though she doubted if the girl knew that.
The girl nodded, and lingered a little, looking shy all of a sudden. “Umm, well if you don’t mind my asking…”
“Ask me whatever you wish.” Adrasteia replied smiling, crossing her legs, and smoothing the dust off her long white skirt.
“Well, ummm, what happened to your ears?”
Darn. She was hoping to pass as an Etwae, but couldn’t lie on the off chance someone in the room knew what her race was. She laughed, a musical sound that made the girl smile. “Nothing. I am an elf. Well, half elf, half nymph. Elves have long pointed ears.”
“Oh. But, you look like us, sort of.” The blank look on the girl’s face showed that Adrasteia could have said she was a Neelor and she wouldn’t know any better.
“On the other continents the other races have all different shades and colors of hair and eyes. Notice that my eyes are more almond shaped than yours, and my frame is more lithe--is more slim”
“Oh, yeah. I guess you’re right then. Well, do you like being an elf-nymph?”
A older man appeared in the doorway that lead to the lobby, “Darcy, stop pestering the strangers.”
“Oh right. Sorry.” The girl colored and turned away. “I’ll be right back.”
“Not at all, you weren't bothering me.”
The girl left and returned with her food and drink.
Adrasteia ate her meal, wondering what, if anything, to do about the strangers. A guide might be in order, especially since the map left something to be desired…

["D"]

Suddenly the traveller slammed his hands down on the table making a terrible clatter, and causing everyone in the room to jump. He half rose from his seat, a look on his face that seemed to say he was pleased with something, then he stopped. A couple in the corner couldn't take the stress of being in the presence of this stanger any longer and left.

The traveller seemed to pause there for a moment about to say something to the room, then seemed to lose what he was going to say, the pleased look dissappeared and he sat back down.

The waiter assigned to the traveller began to approach him with a sour look on his face, probably intent on asking the traveller to behave. But before he could get close enough again the traveller rose after striking his table, this time pushing back his chair as he did so and standing straight up and pointing at the water and anouncing to the room.

"I takes a fish wagger!"-in Eethat
"No, that's not right."-in Traveller
"I wants a tale of long shouting!"-in Eethat
"That's not it either, sort out your thoughts food merchant."-in Traveller*this seemed to be directed toward the waiter.
"I wants a speaker of legends"-in Eethat
"Close enough."-in Traveller

The traveller was pleased having finally found the correct terms, and having been able to make the anouncement he sought. But how would it be received, this natives seemed awfully jumpy.

The waiter paused blinking, unsure how to respond to this outburst.

[Qais Al'Din]

His eyes caught and held Adrasteia's, and he got the strange feeling that she knew him somehow, and that he knew her. He felt as if there was some event they had shared, some strange feeling they had both experienced. It felt very odd, and he did not enjoy the feeling of similarity with an outsider. He would bet his life that she did not know who Kantrikalik was.

He dropped his gaze quickly to the tabletop, only to look up with surprise when a loud bang resonated through the room. He jerked around to look at the tattooed man, whose fists were resting on the table angrily. Suddenly, he shoved his chair back and stood up, then shouted, in imperfect Eethattian, "I takes a fish wagger!" Qais blinked uncertainly, was the man mad? He seemed to mutter to himself, and then shouted again, "I wants a tale of long shouting!" What did that mean? Qais still stared uncertainly, and then the man said something that actually seemed like a normal sentence, "I wants a speaker of legends!"

Qais glanced around at the rest of the room and its occupants, wondering what to do. No one moved. It seemed no one else knew what to do either. This man was awfully strange, but obviously powerful. It was unlikely that anyone could get to Eethatt, because of the dangerous merfolk that surrounded the shore. It took either a powerful magic user or an extremely crafty and skilled sailor to get through those waters.

[Adrasteia]

Adrasteia dragged the last bit of bread through the brown gravy the vegetables swam in, watching the Traveller intently. He was certainly an odd one, and didn't seem to either know what he was saying or how to say it. She was betting on the former.
She couldn't tell if he was asking a question or making a statement. Adrasteia supposed it couldn't hurt to respond, at least to take the edge off of the confused silence.
" I am a speaker of legends, of sorts." She spoke up. "I know sagas where the mere evocation of a name calls the deep seated power found only in the hearts of believers." She looked around the room. “And you are scaring the natives, Traveller.” She said in Traveller.

["D"]

The Traveller shoved the slack jawed waiter to the side, and stared intently at the outspoken woman for a moment. Without taking his eyes off her, he pawed further at the waiter, then finding his hands shoved some currency into the waiters grasp.

"Here, take this it should go under the plates." -Eethat

The traveller then sat down across from the woman, trying to lower himself below her height, to show suplication and that he was not about to attack her, and then he reached out to touch her skin.

[Adrasteia]

Adrasteia watched the Traveller attempt to slouch below her height, no small task since she was only five six.
Her eyes flicked over to the native that had been watching the Traveller and herself, and then she considered the Traveller for a moment, "What are you doing?" She asked, quizzically. No point in beating around the bush.

["D"]

After touching her skin he looked up at her and almost seemed shocked and surprised that she was speaking.
"for many days I have been searching for
A person or tome, of local lore. -trade common
He seemed to intend it as an answer to her question.

"Even if such legends you cannot speak.
A translator would help, for what I seek." -trade common

[Adrasteia]

"Alas, I am not much aquainted with lore of this land; it is foreign to me. I came in part to gain further knowledge of the culture and customs here...." She considered him for a moment and then contined, lowered her voice slightly, "...and to seek the mermaids in the oceans." She sat back a little and spoke up again. "I have a decent grasp of the language here, and well as Traveller, but I will not be able to give you much aide into the local lore. I was considering finding a guide, myself."
Adrasteia looked around the room, observing what the natives were doing, taking particular notice of the one she had made eye contect with earlier.

[Qais Al'Din]

The foreigners spoke with each other in different languages, seemingly ignoring the rest of the people in the room (mainly consisting of him, the waitress, and the foreigner's waiter). The woman kept glancing his way, making him look away and step backwards each time she did so. He did not like her looking at him in such a way. He did not being looked upon at all, because he was afraid someone would recognize him. There were bulletins up in some places for his capture, although the signs were old and the reward next to nothing. He hadn't done anything wrong on purpose, but to a lot of people it seemed he had.

Qais Al'Din hesitantly raised his eyes, to find the woman looking at him again. He wondered what was passing between the two, and how either of them knew the Eethattian language. He wandered toward the two of them, hoping to remain inconspicuous, but obviously not succeeding. The serving persons were staring at him with wide, questioning eyes. In Eethatt approaching foreigners in anything but a meek manner was akin to treason. These people were probably the most powerful in the world!

"Sir, lady," he said respectfully in his own tongue, touching his brow with two fingers and inclining his head slightly. "I would serve you." It was obvious they wanted something, perhaps they would tell him what it was they needed. It was every Eethattian's duty to serve any person that could get through the Bay of Cairiblodin and the treacherous waters of the ocean without being destroyed utterly.

["D"]

"Then our paths are tied.
And it is good.
I would hire you now.
If allow me you would?" -Trade Common

The traveller noticed the shyly approaching local, and quickly turned his attention to him. That gaze drawing feelings of extreme discomfort from the local as all the eyes of this.... person... seemed focused on him. It was not just the normal eyes, but their were more, the eyes of the things tattooed upon this strangers body, and one great central eye in the middle of his fourhead. He had the strange feeling that he was being watched, it was as if a collection of demons were scrutinizing him from inside this stranger's skin.

Then without taking his eyes off of this local he spoke to the woman.
"There is something here.
That this one does know.
It would serve us well.
To ask it where to go." -Trade Common

[Adrasteia]

Adrasteia placed her fingers to her forehead in a pensive gesture. She nodded, "Hire me, as a cohort or a guide?
I am going anyway, so traveling companions won't hurt.
Though the road will be treacherous on this side.
And we shouldn't make this too overt.
You can call me Adrasteia, who are you?" --Traveller

She looked over at the native after finsihing her conversation with the Traveller.
"Serve us?" She said with an amused grin. "You can call me Adrasteia. This gentleman and I were just dicussing going...exploring. Would you be interested?" ---Eethett

[Qais Al'Din]

"Exploring, m'lady? In Eethatt? What are you looking for?" Qais's eyes widened in surprise and he hastily added, "If I may be so bold as to ask." Being servile was not in his nature, but then again, neither was traveling aimlessly around Eethatt., and he certainly did that enough.

The woman with white hair - Adrasteia, she had said - was staring at him with an amused expression on her face, as if he had said something funny. He didn't remember saying anything humorous, but perhaps she was laughing at how he was acting. Qais sighed and awaited an answer.

((I know it's bad but I couldn't think of what to write...))

["D"]

"Names it would seem.
Are of some import.
I will give what I am called.
A name I report.

I was, I am, I will be.
For now and forever I will be D" -Trade Common

The traveller issued some instructions to Adrasteia"Tell the creature.
Of what we seek.
Llegends and tales.
Tell it to speak.

We'll need ruins and shrines.
These things we must find.
sites of the past.
And things of that kind.

Then after we have.
What we came here to get.
We will argue your pay.
Then out we will set. "-Trade Common

[Adrasteia]

Adrasteia looked at D and chuckled a little, her eyes shining with merriment, “I assume you wish me to ask him a bit more eloquently?” She asked rhetorically.
She continued on, making eye contact with the native and said, “I do not know how bold you may or may not be, so that is for you to see. I have a belief that part of a journey is getting there as well as the destination, but as for where we are going, we are seeking to find the lore of the land. Ancient ruins, houses of worship, any local knowledge you have, especially legends….I am a bard, so it’s my profession to collect such tales. I have a wish to see the Bay of Cariblodin, also...”
She looked away from them then, a distant look on her face, “The silence beckons me to break it…” She trailed off.

[Qais Al'Din]

Qais Al'Din stared at the bald, earless man with confusion. So many words in a different language. He should have known that he didn't speak Eethattian very well, because of the man's earlier outbursts, but it would certainly be very awkward if he were to be traveling with a man who he could not communicate with. At least the white-haired woman - Adrasteia - could talk.

The woman began to speak of what she wanted to see. It seemed normal curiosity until she spoke, quite plainly, about going to the Bay of Cairiblodin! Qais's jaw dropped in astonishment. "M-m-my lady, to go near the bay means certain death. The merfolk, they won't...they won't hesitate to kill you, milady." Qais Al'Din tried to suppress the shudders going through his body. Ever since he was a little boy he had heard stories of the terrible things the merfolk did to people who came near their waters. For a time, when he felt himself too old for stories, he thought that merfolk were just a myth, but he had found out that he was very wrong. A man had gone through the streets raving about how his wife had been mutilated by the merfolk, dragging her body through the streets with a crazed expression on his face. Ayrilana had put the man out of his misery, but it had been a terrible jolt of reality.

Trying to forget his horror at the very thought of the Bay, he began to think of any stories or legends he knew. There were thousands, of course, but he could not remember half of them. What she really needed was a storyteller, if she wanted legends and such. There were several he had seen around here...but he was a stranger in this Kulaan as he was in many others. He would need to look for the temple, but anyone would be able to point him to it. As for some good shrines, they would most likely have to travel some ways into the desert to do that...which was almost as terrifying as the Bay of Cairiblodin, though at least some had come back alive out of the desert.

"I am not from this Kulaan, but there are many who would know where to find what you seek. I will ask them, or perhaps you should, my lady. Many will respect you more than I, because you have braved the treacherous waters around us to arrive here." Qais glanced around the room at the staring serving maid, and the cook who was peeking out of the kitchen, watching them closely. The cook looked suspicious, the serving maid frightened, and the innkeeper was not to be found. With a frown Qais Al'Din turned back to face Adrasteia and the tattooed man.

"I do not believe we should stay in this place much longer," Qais spoke quietly, so as not to have the serving girl overhear. "I do not trust these people, you see, the innkeep is missing. He left once we began to talk. That oft means suspicion, m'lady, m'lord." With a nod in the direction of the door, Qais began to walk.

["D"]

"Eh? Merfolk?"-Eethatian
The strange creature added in seemingly unfamiliar with even the term.

"So to more useful shall he lead.
A start will do indeed.

I think you know what to do.
I will leave it up to you."-Eethatian
He remarked to the white haired female, after seemingly listening to the young man's explanations. It was strange, traveller seemed to understand the foreign boy quite well, even though he was so terrible at speaking the language.

He rose, and having already payed the bill moved toward the entrance of the building, stopping to make an act of graffitti on the door frame while he waited for Adrasteia to finish with the boy.

[Ominous Voice]

Something echoed through the dreamscape, a stangely familiar voice was calling out, it was not to Adrasteia that it called, but her sensitivity allowed her to hear it nonetheless.


Name me once and I here you call.
Name me twice and I see all.
Name me thrice and your problems shall be no more.