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Vale of the White Horse
Topic Started: 5 Jan 2010, 13:03 (19,328 Views)
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
After finishing all the chores that needed doing Gwenllian started looking around for Briallen, whom she hadn't seen for hours. She could guess the reason, but was still worried that something might have happened. Her fears turned out to be unfounded when she found Briallen in the backyard. Was it her imagination, or did the other girl's shoulders look less tense? Gwenllian slowly walked towards her, not sure whether Briallen would mind the disruption.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Oh,’ she said, when she sensed the movement. ‘You’re out here too. I thought you might be with Rhywallon after dinner.’ It was easy to say without feeling that bitter envy now. Briallen smiled. ‘I was thinking of wild strawberries in summer. This garden seems a bit neglected. I keep wondering whom it belonged to.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'He needs the rest after his trip,' she said. In fact, she hadn't spoken to him since their walk, and it gnawed at her. She was afraid that he thought she was entertaining thoughts of the impossible, but didn't know what to say or do to solve it. 'Strawberries, hm? I like that thought.' Gwenllian stood next to Briallen, looking at the garden that indeed looked like it hadn't been tended to in quite a while. 'I couldn't find you anywhere today, what happened? You look positively radiant.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She touched her face. Her cheeks had felt flushed, but he hadn’t realized it was so obvious. ‘I took a bit of a chance to day,’ she confessed. ‘I went into Tudwrig’s room while he was under the curse. I just needed to know, really – if he’d know my voice or my face. If he’d rip me to shreds…But he did change back, else I might not be standing here at all. I told him about Wayland's Smithy and the tapestries. I don't think he understands it any better than us, but he did admit that he used to feel a same sort of power from those wall-hangings when he was young.'
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Gwenllian blinked a couple of times. Briallen certainly was brave. 'He changed back? That's good news, isn't it,' she said, then nodded while thinking about the rest of her words. 'So the Smithy and the tapestries are definitely connected, then?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Oh, I don’t know if we should say definitely,’ she said, hiding her hands beneath the cloak as the cold autumn breeze swept pas her. ‘And even if they are, what can we do with the knowledge? I guess we’ll have to back and search for other signs, or whatever the Good Folk are willing to give us.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
A little superstitious shiver ran down her spine at the thought of the cavern and its strange gravitational pull. 'I won't say I'm looking forward to going back there, but if you're going, I'll come along.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Then we can go together knowing of each other’s apprehension,’ she said lightly, turning about. ‘I was going to the washing room; I think some of the servant women have been around nearly as long as Eiluned. If they can tell me anything, I’d be happy.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Gwenllian nodded. 'That's a good idea. All the chores that needed doing are done, so I'll come with you.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She usually sent Braegne to the washing room. It was a round place, bordering the courtyard and covered with a single flat roof. She found the few children that belonged to serving families within the caer playing in a corner, doing a game of sorts. A few of the elder women were scrubbing sheets of linen. ‘Good evening,’ she said as announcement. ‘Would you have time for some questions?’
One of the women looked up with a frown. Briallen thought her name was Haf. She had a younger face but her hands were rough and worn by the work she did. ‘Has anything displeased you, my lady?’
‘Nothing at all,’ she replied. ‘I was hoping to speak to some of the women who’ve been here since Eiluned’s time.’
‘That’s not much of us,’ Haf said, drying her hands on her shirt and straightening up. ‘But I’ve been here since I was a lass of five.’
‘Really?’ Briallen searched the face. There were lines beneath the clear eyes and also next to a mouth that was otherwise quite fair. ‘You must have seen some changes, then…’
‘Thorough changes, m’lady. Not all for the better.’
‘No? You can talk, I won’t mind hearing your complaints either.’
‘Oh.’ Haf turned to brush the hands of a girl from the folded linen stacks. ‘No you don’t, Cunedda, not with such muddy hands. It’s nothing to do with you, lady Briallen. It’s sad that Caer March exiled itself in solitude so much. When I was young they told me that it used to be a good place to live. Prosperous. Only a few generations ago.’
Briallen swallowed, glad for the furred cloak that hid this from Haf. ‘It is sad,’ she agreed. ‘Why did you stay?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'No matter the solitude, this is still home,' Haf shrugged. 'And I figured it wouldn't be worth the trouble to uproot myself and travel just to find a new occupation where I'd be doing the same work. Besides, I'll have you know that this is a nice and quiet place to be working at, so you won't hear me complaining all that much about it.'
Gwenllian listened to the woman talk, perfectly all right with letting Briallen conduct the conversation. The servants would be more inclined to listen to their lady than to a newcomer.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She nodded. ‘I miss Shadow Well less each day. I suppose even Caer March can make a good home to those who have decided to stay.’ She smiled with the corner of her mouth, but knew that Haf would not understand her words. Only Tudwrig would really know how hard a decision it had been for her. ‘There are two tapestries in the great hall. I wonder if you thought anything special of them.’
Haf looked at her with a baffled sort of look. ‘Haven’t paid those much attention for years, I’m afraid.’
Briallen smiled again. ‘No, I understand. Have you ever been near Wayland’s Smithy, Haf?’
Two children brushed past Haf’s legs, circling around the washing room. One of them was Cunedda, who must be Haf’s own daughter; they shared the same mouth and eyes like an evening sky. Her mother opened her moth, but the two children had started on a song with so much conviction that it was hard to interrupt them. Briallen thought she had forgotten to breathe for a single moment; for that melody was surely the same thing she had heard inside the burrow’s deep stone interior? She glanced at Gwenllian.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Gwenllian had a hard time keeping her mouth from dropping open. It was as if the whole washingroom suddenly reverberated with the strange earthy atmosphere of the cavern and it made her feel as if she was hewn from the cold rocks herself. Briallen felt it too; she could see that much in her eyes. With some difficulty, Gwenllian managed to move and turn around, trying to catch the attention of the singing children. But it was as if they were oblivious to everything else for the while the song lasted. She listened intently, determined to remember every single word even though she feared she'd lost half of it already.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Her back was cold; all the hairs on her arms stood on end. They were just children singing. She’d probably heard them before, because the melody had felt familiar to her even in Wayland’s Smithy. Now, though, she felt as though the words carried a secret meaning beyond that of a children’s lullaby.

Now from the east comes dawning
the glow spreads to all sides
like newly roses budding
consoling us with light
The stones that will be singing
to let the morning wake
from other worlds, the bringing
of ceaseless morning-break
And in the morn, the stones blow
the sounds into the dales, low
to go beyond the veil
treading on holy grounds
to western, holy vales.


‘What’s that?’ she muttered to Haf. ‘What’s the song they’re singing?’
‘I think just an old tune, my lady.’ Haf rubbed over her nose. ‘I used to sing it when I was small. You’ve come from out of the Vale, but it’s one of those songs that pass around. Children fall asleep to it, then teach it to their own when they’ve grown up.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'And no one knows where it's originated?' Gwenllian asked. Haf shook her head.
'Wouldn't have a clue, my lady. Now that you've mentioned tapestries, through... It was one of our lord's grandmother's most favourite songs, though. As I hear tell it, she sang it all the while when she was working on that tapestry.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘While weaving a rising sun over the White Horse Hills,’ Briallen repeated Eiluned’s earlier words. ‘Thank you, Haf. And tell Cunedda that I like her singing. She should come into the great hall during supper more often.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'I'll tell her that, my lady,' Haf said and nodded politely before she turned back to her work. Gwenllian looked from the woman to Briallen, the song still ringing in her ears. This was getting more peculiar by the day and she wondered what kind of connection there was between Wayland's Smithy, the tapestries and that old song.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Is that the settlement?’ Essylt pointed. They were still in the forest, but she could see the edge where the trees thinned out. The hill rolled down in many shades of green, and below that was dark wall of wooden poles. She was tired of walking, but had chewed on the inside of her lip for a while because she didn’t want to complain. It was something to get used to.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Morcant squinted in the direction she was pointing, then nodded. 'It is, thank the gods,' he added in a mutter. 'I could happily suffer sitting in a comfortable chair for the rest of the evening.' Essylt hadn't complained, but he knew she must be tired after all that walking and their adventure of the previous day.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Or a bed,’ she muttered softly, though she would gladly agree with a blanket and a place in the hay. They walked down until she stared up at the poles. Protection against robbers and wild beasts, no doubt. She shivered to know that Morcant and herself had taken shelter in the forest for so long. There was a gate like a toothless mouth. A cart hobbled inside just as they approached it.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Food first, I think,' he said and led Essylt into the settlement. He asked directions to the nearest, cheap, inn, while he kept his eye peeled for any Romans that looked like they'd have a nice amount of money in their pockets. He didn't see any as of yet and he shook his head a bit while he let Essylt step into the inn first. It was a low-ceilinged, slightly musty-smelling affair, the reed on the floor covered in mud. Morcant scowled around and walked briskly towards the inn-keeper. 'Good afternoon, neighbour,' he said to the man. 'We're looking for food and lodging, what've you to offer?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Food,’ Essylt heard the man reply. ‘And a bile of hay. I’ve two rooms, and they’re out. Market, you see.’
This was a small place, with a few cluttered tables and benches. She felt the hard gazes of three men in a corner on her face.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'How much?' Morcant wanted to know. Hay was more comfortable than a rocky cavefloor, anyway.
The man gave them an appraising look and named a price Morcant thought was ridiculous. He haggled for a bit, eventually threatening to take his coins someplace else, and managed to bring the price down to two thirds of what the inn-keeper had initially asked. Satisfied, he put a hand on Essylt's shoulder and led her to a small, rickety table farthest away from everyone else.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She came to sit with her face to the stares of those men in the corner. Essylt looked down to avoid their gazes. Her feet were heavy, warm things from all the travel. 'Oh, I'm so weary.' She felt her back with two hands. It hurt.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Well, we can rest now,' Morcant said and leaned back with a grunt. His chair started creaking, which made him quickly cease putting his weight on it. He glanced over his shoulder at the men who were staring at them, then shifted a bit so that their view on Essylt was blocked by his broad back. 'You can sleep in tomorrow if you want, then I'll get our other supplies on my own.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
A while later their food came, and she had it finished without allowing it to cool down properly. She wanted to dream of Carwyn tonight, to see his sweet face and know that he was doing well without her.
There was a voice behind Morcant, growing louder to attract their attention. Essylt looked up. One of the men was leaning so that he could see past Morcant’s shoulders. ‘I said, would you care to drink from me, sis?’ He held up a jug.
She shook her head quickly.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Thanks for the offer, neighbour, but we're all provided for here,' Morcant said easily, though the look in his eyes hopefully told the man that it was best to shut up, and then deliberately turned his back on the men again. 'Let's go take a look at our hay for the evening,' he said to Essylt.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She rose, but the man went up simultaneously, moving closing to her. ‘I haven’t seen such a fair girl in a long while,’ he observed, reaching out a hand that hovered just before her face. Essylt eyed it wearily. ‘Thank you.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Morcant grabbed the man's wrist before he could touch Essylt. 'Don't touch my sister, if you know what's good for you,' he grunted, scowling at the man. He reeked of cheap beer and unwashed armpits.
'There's no need to get all worked up,' the drunk said in a slurred voice, 'I was jus' givin' a compliment.'
'Well, don't.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘But look at all the moonshine in her hair,’ he muttered, a longing look in his eyes.
Essylt’s hand rose up in an attempt to lover her hair, but that would be useless. She didn’t feel like moonshine at all, after the trip through the forest or the crossing of the river.
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