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Karse
Sept 25, 2005 10:14:40 GMT -5
Post by stardragon on Sept 25, 2005 10:14:40 GMT -5
All Karse based posts go here. Please Head your post with where in Karse you are posting. Ex.
Sunhame-
The Son of the Sun stood watching the market crowds from a blacony of the Great Temple.
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Karse
Sept 26, 2005 16:17:41 GMT -5
Post by stardragon on Sept 26, 2005 16:17:41 GMT -5
SETTING:
Sunhame- Capital city of Karse. Home to the Great Temple of Vkandis, home of the Son of the Sun and training place for most priests and preistesses of Vkandis.
Sunhame is laid out like the Sun disk. All major roads run straight from the temples complex out of the city. The closest buildings to the temple are homes to the High Priests and nobles, and then the wealthy merchants and so on out of the city.
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Senna
Sophomore
Posts: 185
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Karse
Nov 17, 2005 15:02:56 GMT -5
Post by Senna on Nov 17, 2005 15:02:56 GMT -5
[[Tern, Slums of Karse (outmost edge of Sunhame), part 1]
The smell of fresh baked bread-and-cheese pastries was carried on a breeze to Tern's twitching nose. She sniffed, hungrily, while her growling stomach reminded her that she hadn't eaten since yesterday morn. Cautiously, and quietly as a cat, and crept closer to the shop, hiding in the shadows. The dirt smudges on her face and ragged clothing helped her blend in. Closer and closer she crept, pausing whenever someone passed near her.
Her mouth watered; she was almost in reach, as long as no one saw her now...
But suddenly, she heard a loud bang, as a person leaned out the window, looked around carefully before slamming the window shut- and shutting the food inside.
Dejectedly, Tern slouched against the water, tears burning behind her eyes as she clenched her fists. She had been so close! But at least she hadn't been seen there. Fate was not kind to thieves- even hungry children-if they were caught. At worst, she could be killed. If she was lucky, she could be enslaved, or have her hands cut off. She shuddered. Going hungry was better than that.
Just as she was about to creep off, however, she heard voices through the closed window. She hesitated only a moment before her curiosity overcame her, and she pressed her ear carefully against the crack in the window cover.
"You stupid!" hissed an anxious voice, probably made higher by caution and worry. Or anger. "That purse was made for HER hands only! You shouldn't be carrying it around!" Tern could hear pacing in the room. Then she heard the second voice, a bored baritone.
"Why should I hide it? I've made every pretense of giving this to the lady herself. And only she knows of the hidden pocket." His voice sounded demeaning and irritated. With a start, Tern realized that the voice couldn't belong to a Karsite, though she couldn't place the voice.
Before she could contemplate too long, a door in the back of the bakery opened, and the foreigner and the anxious man slipped out. Acting as if they didn't know each other, one slunk off down a dusty alley, and the other, dressed in finer clothing and clearly superior, cleared his throat and headed for the tavern.
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Senna
Sophomore
Posts: 185
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Karse
Nov 17, 2005 15:04:35 GMT -5
Post by Senna on Nov 17, 2005 15:04:35 GMT -5
[Tern, Slums of Karse (outmost edge of Sunhame), part 2]
Tern didn't wait-she had no idea what was going on, but she slipped behind the man and followed him. Not inside the tavern of course- someone as lowly and worthless as her would never be allowed inside. But outside of the tavern, she watched with elation as he chose a window seat. "Good luck be," she whispered to herself. The windows, as most places of in this area, were open cut holes, with a bit of thin linen hanging from the top to discourage bugs, if the owner had a mind to it. Tern looked around, then slouched over to opposite building,a shabby shop, looking as pitiful as possible. The lady there glowered at the dirty urchin on her doorstep and loudly shooed her away. No one took any notice of the dirty street child as she muttered and cringed her way over to the tavern, where she crouched by the wall. Hiding a grin, she wrapped her arms around her knees and tried to listen to the man just inside the window.
Unfortunately, he said nothing useful. Not even something remotely interesting. Instead, he just ranted about a king somewhere, bad trading, and burnt stew. Tern sighed, and scratched her knee where a healing scar was itching. An insect buzzed nearby, and she watched it for a moment, before becoming angry at herself for sitting there, angry about the food she could smell but couldn't have, and the rich man sitting just inside the window.
Finally, she stood. Slowly, pressing her self against the wall to the side of the window, and peered in. The man was sitting there. He had a thin face, a sparce but well-trimmed beard, and a green tunic and vestment. And most importantly, there at his side was a purse. She felt, almost instinctively, that this was the purse that had been mentioned, that if she took it, whatever was in the hidden pocket would make her rich, and she could buy food whenever she wanted. Her fingers itched as she stared at the purse, a rich velvety red purse, dotted with white embroidered ivy. Yearningly she reached for it, but wisely kept her fingers out of the window. Still, she longed for it-wanted it-with her whole mind. The purse suddenly embodied her longing for everything: shelter, food, stability, class, respect. Almost desperately, she held her own hand back to keep from reaching in and grabbing it, where everyone could see her. And then the impossible happened. The purse moved. By itself.
At first she thought she was imagining it, staring at the purse inched towards the window. But it kept moving, little by little, until all that was holding it back was the clip that held it to the man's waist. She bit her lip, mentally encouraging it to keep coming closer to her...
For a moment, it seemed like that was it, and it couldn't go further, but then it jerked against the clip and came free, moving into Tern's hands. She couldn't even remember holding her hands out- just the purse landing in them. She held her breath and stared at it. It was unreal- she was holding something surely worth more money than her life!
An angry shout brought her to her senses as the man became aware of his missing gift, and turned to where someone was pointing through the window where she stood- no longer in the shadows. Her heart leapt into her throat. Faster than she could think, she ran. Darting into an alley, and then ducking into another. Rght behind her, men from the tavern raced after her, yelling curses and threats.
Oh, gods. She had gone too far this time, stealing the purse, and her luck was going to run out. If only she could find some place to hide, and get rid of the purse... it was bad luck now, she could see. Pain shooting through her side, she looked turned down another alley and up a street, looking around wildly.
Standing in the center of a hitching circle, next to a water trough, stood a large, and beautiful white horse. Tern gaped at it a moment, before the shouts behind her jolted her back into action. Running aroundside the horse, she reached up to its saddle bags, and tucked the purse inside it, whispering as she did so, "betta' luck you'd have than me!" The horse stood stolidly, just watching her, almost as if amused. Then Tern bolted past the horse and hid in a pile of refuse and trash-and just in time, too. The men came dashing around the corner and came to a halt.
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Senna
Sophomore
Posts: 185
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Karse
Nov 17, 2005 15:08:22 GMT -5
Post by Senna on Nov 17, 2005 15:08:22 GMT -5
[Tern, Slums of Karse (outmost edge of Sunhame), part 3]
The horse stood there, right in front of the men. Legs splayed and head hanging, she wheezed. She coughed. She swayed. She stumbled to her knees, making painful sounds. And she looked ready to die any minute. Tern couldn't believe her eyes.
The men stopped in their tracks, staring at the afflicted horse. Someone came through a door and shouted, "Stop there- that's a very expensive horse-what did you do to it?" Hearing the noise, people came out into the circle. A crowd was gathering quickly as Tern's pursuers ranted and tried to get away from the questions. From the talk, that horse had been captured nearby, and for its white color, was quite valuable. The merchant with the horse yelled for a while while the man she had run from tried to explain his innocence. Tern just watched from where she was hiding. She didn't understand all of what was happening, but at least she hadn't found her. She mulled everything over while she watched.
Maybe the purse had worse luck than I thought, she puzzled. Maybe it had such bad luck that it made that horse sick. She felt guilty as she watched the horse slowly led away, along with the rich, bored man and the others. Tern sat deep in thought for a long time before she finally slipped out of her hiding place unnoticed.
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Senna
Sophomore
Posts: 185
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Karse
Nov 17, 2005 15:09:20 GMT -5
Post by Senna on Nov 17, 2005 15:09:20 GMT -5
[Tern, Slums of Karse (outmost edge of Sunhame), part 4]
It was much later that night when she slipped inside a very rich stable. That had involved her bribing a livery helper with freshly-stolen pastries, but she had gotten in. She waited a minute for her eyes to adjust to the dark inside the building and then tiptoed through until she found who she was looking for.
"There you be," she whispered, as she found the horse. The white creature stood dejected, looking thin and ill. Tern slipped in beside the horse to the back of the stall and looked for the saddle bag. "I hafta get rid of tha' purse," she said. "Its bad, bad luck. Cursed, even..." She searched the stall and the surrounding stalls for a while before coming back and leaning her forhead against the shoulders of the horse. A tear ran down her face. "I didn't mean ta give ya bad luck. 'Specially after I knowed you an important horse." She sniffled. "Nows I dunno what ta do."
The horse's head swiveled to look at her, and Tern suddenly shivered at the depth and understanding in that gaze.
::You could come with me to Valdemar.:: She breathed softly on Tern's shoulder. Tern stared, frozen, then rubbed her eyes, hard.
"I dreamin! No-body talks to Tern, no body, no horse neither!" She backed away from the horse, who seemed an even sicker than before. But she couldn't escape the intensity of the horse's eyes.
::I AM talking to you, though.:: The voice insisted inside Tern's head. ::Besides, you made me this way...You have to help me now."
Tern swallowed hard, shaking her head wildly. "But 'm a thief! Don't know horses, dont know where th' purse is!"
In response, the horse hung her head and wheezed noisily. Stricken, Tern looked around worriedly. "Tell m' what t' do," she said through clenched teeth.
::See behind you? There's some tack there.:: Bit by bit, the horse led her through tacking up.
"But, won't those men- won't they be stopping us?" she asked, fear in her voice, as she was directed to climb onto the horse's back.
::No," said the horse, smugly. ::No one in his right mind stops a Valdemaran horse...even here in Karse.:: Before Tern had time to consider the implications of those very important words, the horse went charging through the door, which swung open. Tern hung on for dear life as they went flying out of the dirty building and through the circle and down and alley. She heard shouts behind her, but amazingly, they got quieter instead of louder, and the horse was getting faster and faster.
After a while, she lost track of where she was... she had never ventured this far. How is a horse that was tha' sick runnin' so fast? She thought indignantly as her hands cramped from clutching the reins and her thighs ached from gripping the saddle. She almost let go when she heard a voice in her head again.
::I was only pretending to be sick,:: said the horse. She slowed down on the outside of Karse, where there were no buildings and she could see trees in the distance.
"How-how th'- how'd ya hear m' voice?" she demanded, suddenly afraid that maybe, the SunLord HAD heard her, and was here to punish her in person... but why would he do that to just a low thief? And...
::It's called mind-speech,:: said the horse calmly. ::I'm a Companion from Valdemar, and I'm always going to be with you from now on.:: As all the breath left Tern's lungs, the horse added, ::My name's Naranel, by the way.:: She started moving again. ::I'll take you to a way station, where you can get some food, and then I'll explain things.::
Even if Tern had the energy to protest, the offer of food convinced her. But it was another few hours and it almost daylight again by the time they reached the way station. Tern swayed in the saddle from exhaustion. Carefully, the horse lowered her rider to the ground.
::Go inside,:: she told her. ::There's makings for gruel.:: Tired, but too hungry to argue, she slipped inside and started mixing the gruel.
Just a short while later, she fell into an exhausted sleep, half-eaten bowl of gruel beside her, as her companion kept a mindful eye out.
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Senna
Sophomore
Posts: 185
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Karse
Nov 17, 2005 15:11:33 GMT -5
Post by Senna on Nov 17, 2005 15:11:33 GMT -5
[Tern, Slums of Karse (outmost edge of Sunhame), part 5]
Evening, the next day)
::Wake up, Chosen, we need to be moving on in case they're still looking for us.:: Tern stirred, groggily, and then sat up, wide awake, remembering her surroundings and the previous day's events. Looking around, she made a face at the dried up gruel, and then went to mix more.
"So, where we goin'? An' what ARE you?" she asked Naranel. She prepared some food for Naranel and ate her own meal while she listened.
::Valdemar. Together, we're going there. As I said before, I'm your Companion. We speak mind to mind. In Valdemar, you can train your abilities. And-:: she bobbed her head for emphasis, ::you won't go hungry there.::
"Now wait a min-" she sputtered. "What 'bilities? And me, in school? Can't read!" She started to panic when Naranel's voice calmed her. ::I'll help you, Chosen. And didn't you notice? When you wanted that purse, you simply 'fetched' it. Your ability is to move things with your will." Before Tern could protest again, she turned and once again, the young thief was caught by the deep expression of caring in the companion's eyes. ::Trust me?:: And Tern, for the first time in her life, decided to trust.
::Now,:: said Naranel, almost pleadingly, ::Won't you brush me?::
An hour later, they were travelling again. According to Naranel, it was a good fortnight of travelling, but Tern found herself quite occupied as her companion began to teach her the rudiments of the Valdemaran language. Even though she didn't know how to read or write, Naranel taught her words and basics as she doggedly tucked them away in her memory. With surprise, she found her memory was quick to learn, though the structure and some pronunciation was difficult. She listened as Naranel told her about Valdemar, the Companion's Grove, and the King and Queen there. Tern greatly appreciated her companion's patience, but her nerves grew thin as they began to near Valdemar.
"Naranel, they know we're coming, right?" she asked, worriedly. The answer came back, unperturbed. ::No one knows at all, actually... Was thinking to surprise them.:: And she swished her tail, amused.
Tern bit her lip, and looked forward at the walls of Haven with some intrepidation. No one could have prepared her for this, not in a million years... no one, but her companion.
(OOC: End of Karse Chapter... sorry if it was too long or boring, got carried away with it!)
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