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Vale of the White Horse
Topic Started: 5 Jan 2010, 13:03 (19,307 Views)
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Cuhelyn strolled into the settlement, nodding at the guard as if he had every business going through the gates. Trying to sneak in would end in failure, so he had long since adopted the way of pretending to be a local. Whether it was in the Vale or at Two Lakes, it always worked. After all, even if the guard had never seen his face before, if he just walked in like that what reason would the man have to suspect him? Now the only trouble was to find Morcant's place without making it obvious he didn't know where he was going. He hadn't seen his brother for a couple of days, and though he could take perfect care of himself - most of the time anyway -, Cuhelyn was getting a little worried. Last he heard, Morcant had picked a fight with Lentulus. That didn't seem all too conductive to his health, what with the Vale being almost completely in the Roman's hold.
Cuhelyn sauntered into the Dobunni-quarter, casually striking up a conversation here and there and getting some useful information while he was at it.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
There were some sorry looking plants she wanted to dig into the earth in front of their home. There was a small patch of earth that did not seem to belong to the street. Essylt had taken care to dig them out with the roots still dangling limply down, like they were wounded legs. She did not believe the plants would do very well, but hoped that the last bits of autumn sun could help them through the move, so that, come spring, they’d gain strength and blossom. With her hands in the earth and on her knees, she glanced up. There was broad back somewhere at the end of the street. She couldn’t see the face, but those tresses of strawlike hair seemed familiar. Slowly she rose, rubbing her hands to her tunic. It was dirty anyway.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'No - no, thank you very much, but I've already eaten. I really can't stay.' Cuhelyn's attempts to brush off the old lady who very nearly demanded that he stay to talk a little more about old times were not going quite as well as he had hoped. Feeling like a rat in a trap, he looked up and down the street for an excuse to leave that very instant. When he saw a wealth of blonde curls about ten houses away, his face lit up. 'Thanks again, but I see my cousin.' And before the lady could have spoken another world, he'd bolted.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
The broad back turned, revealing a face worn from outdoor life. She wondered if her own might one day look quite like that. Standing perfectly still, Essylt stared as the man quickly came nearer. When he was right before her, she let out a breath. ‘Cuhelyn. I had…no idea.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'No?' he asked, a little taken aback. 'Morcant didn't tell you? I swear that man sometimes seems to keep secrets for the fun of it.' Cuhelyn glanced over his shoulder back the way he'd come. 'Do you mind if I come in? I think that old lady down the street is thinking of an excuse to drag me back and fill my ears with talk about how good a couple we would make had she been forty years younger...'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
So he had not just arrived? Morcant had known? She could think of notihng to say, but gestured to the door, stepping inside herself. It was darker here, but not so gloomy that it was unpleasant. ‘Morcant…he tells me very little.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
It was a cosy sort of home, Cuhelyn thought. Of course, after spending the last five or six years outside in a tent - and sometimes not even that - he quickly thought any decent sort of roof cosy. 'Ah, well, you're not the only one he doesn't tell stuff to.' He sat himself down on a chair, smiling at Essylt. 'So how ya been, girlie?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Wavering between moderately good and fairly despondent,’ she confessed, sitting on the pillow of blankets on floor with crossed legs. Essylt folded her hands in her lap. It sounded quite brave to put it like this, she thought. ‘But I suppose I’m coping. Maybe not as well as I should…Well, nevermind.’
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Sonja
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'Missing home, eh?' Cuhelyn remarked. He could imagine she was - heck, even he missed home sometimes and he'd been out leading the good (or the somewhat fair) life for quite some time now.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She nodded, clenching her hands together tightly. ‘But that’s not why you are here.’
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Sonja
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'No, I was looking for Morcant. He's been briefing us on things inside the settlement every couple of days, but we haven't seen him for a week or so. I hope he's not getting himself into trouble?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘He’s…I think he is exercising now. He does that almost every day.’ Essylt didn’t know what to think. She had thought that he had taken her here for her own sake, though he had mentioned he could keep an eye on his worst enemies. ‘But I don’t know about keeping you up to date…you mean there’s more of you here?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Cuhelyn nodded. Had Morcant really told her that little? His brother would never learn, he feared. 'Couple o' us,' he said. 'About ten. Just after Morcant and I dropped you off, we learnt that Lentulus was here in the Vale. Gwyddien immediately pulled more than half of the sentries around Two Lakes and sent us here. Morcant was supposed to go, but then he dashed off to get you and asked me to take his place. I was surprised when I found out he was here.' He looked curiously at Essylt, wondering what had happened that caused her sudden departure from Two Lakes. Morcant had been unwilling to explain.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Oh. I see.’ Why had he never told her? What harm was there in her knowing? She felt fooled, and slightly incompetent – did he think she would be unable to cope? Too dense to understand? Was it something else, something darker that had to do with the look in his eyes as he had seen her with Rufus? ‘Yes, Marcus Lentulus. I’ve seen him.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Best steer clear of him,' Cuhelyn admonished. 'The man's a snake. Well - I suppose you already know that. Every other word that comes out of Morcant's mouth is that he loathes the man and would do a number of unpleasant things to him if he had the chance.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘He told me both.’ She didn’t like talking about this. Essylt felt foolish for it. ‘Well, you can wait until he comes back.’ She was silent for a bit. ‘It’s nice to see you, Cuhelyn.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'It's nice to see you, too.' Cuhelyn smiled at her and his eyes wandered to the cloth that looked like it was going to be a carpet. 'This place looks nice and cosy,' he remarked. If he was honest, he had to admit that he envied Morcant for having a decent bed at night.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Thank you. I try.’ She smiled, but it felt rather watery. ‘When he comes home, I like to think it helps to…keep him with me. But don’t say I’ve said that.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'My lips are sealed,' he solemnly swore, though he didn't think Morcant would willingly leave Essylt alone. He was frightfully protective over the girl, that much Cuhelyn had figured by now. 'You two are managing well, though? No lack of anything?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Essylt worked up a genuine smile now. ‘I’m getting the hang of this sort of life, if that’s what you mean. I’ve been spoiled. I’m trying to unspoil myself and Morcant helps. He’s very down to earth.' She leaned with her chin in her hands. 'I owe him my sanity,.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'That's good to hear,' he nodded, smiling at her. Cuhelyn was about to ask her if she'd seen or heard anything out of the ordinary in the settlement when the door opened and Morcant stepped in. 'Ah, there you are, brother,' he said lightly.

To say he was surprised to see Cuhelyn sitting inside, talking to Essylt, would be a small understatement. He raised his eyebrows. 'Cuhelyn,' he said by way of greeting. 'I thought you were making your rounds.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She shifted uncomfortable, clearing her throat. Apparently Morcant had tried to keep the brotherhood, even his best friend, away from her and her away from them. She didn’t understand, but thought that fighting him over it would be a useless exercise. ‘You two talk,’ she muttered, raising herself from the blankets. ‘I’ll be outside; I have some work to finish.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
When Essylt had disappeared through the door, Cuhelyn scratched his beard and looked at Morcant. 'Why didn't you tell her we were here?' he asked.
'What would the use be?' Morcant retorted the question. 'Just because I have business with you and business with her doesn't mean I have to intertwine the two, does it?'
'She said she was happy to see me. I imagine she'd be getting a little fed up with only having you to talk to,' Cuhelyn shrugged.
Morcant sank down on a chair himself and shook his head. 'And what do you think the neighbours'll say when you talk to her everyday, or when she goes out everyday for hours on end? Essylt wants to stay as unnoticed as possible and I'm only trying to accomplish that.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
It was tempting to stand by the door and listen. Cuhelyn’s low voice wouldn’t be hard to hear at all. But eavesdropping was childish. She walked around the house, where there was another small patch of earth, though it was too close to the poles of the wall to plant anything here. There was a small alley, a hardened sand path, that led from here to the open gate. She wished she could go out, walk up to the horse again, but Morcant wouldn’t want that.
The wind crept under her tunic and skirt, reminding her that she had forgotten to take her cloak outside. At least the cold cleared her temples, which had been throbbing all day.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Fair enough, I suppose,' Cuhelyn said a bit dubiously. 'So where've you been the last week?'
'I had other stuff to take care of,' Morcant answered evasively. 'I told you it might be a while between visits.'
Cuhelyn narrowed his eyes, but decided not to press the matter. He was not getting an answer anyway, he figured. 'All right. I'm here now, so tell me what you've got.'


Rufus was in a good mood. And that was an understatement. Since Briallen had left the caer, it had become considerably easier to ensure his control over the local politics. Even if he got to see Tudwrig, it was for a short time and the man would often be so off-colour he hardly listened to what he had to say. The older woman who now ran the small household was not really susceptible to his charm, but she lacked Briallen's spice and fire. He'd not gotten any report back from the men he'd sent after Gwenllian and Rhywallon, which suited him just fine. A messenger had left for Rome with a carefully cleaned up epistle of the proceedings here in far-away Britannia in his bags. All in all, everything went just his way. Whistling a dainty tune that was all the rage in the capital - or had been when he left -, he walked through the settlement.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Now was as good a time as ever, she thought. There were no people about the small streets of the Dobunni quarter; the old woman with whom Cuhelyn had been talking was gone. Essylt searched the sky. It was grey, cloud-hung and it smelled of rain. With her head back, she studied the vapors sail by like rolling waves. The wind caught her hair. It had been a while since she had seen the owl. It was odd to think of it as her owl now. It wasn’t just the owl she wanted to see, but the strange, otherworldly man that had appeared both fowl and human to her. If she reached out her hands to the heaven – just so – she could just close her eyes and she knew, with a strange sort of certainty, that he would reach back and take her hand soon. And if he did not, the owl would soar down to land on her arm, feather-light.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
After rounding a couple of corners in the Dobunni-quarter, he not-so-accidentally found himself in the street where Essylt and her protector (whose name was Morcant, he had found out) lived. He walked towards the house, with every intention of finding out whether or not he could catch her alone to have a little chat - as friends, of course. She was not in the garden, and before he'd knock on the door he decided to walk around the house to see if her bodyguard did not happen to be near. The man was an awful bother: Rufus had caught him spying on him numerous times now, but he had never done anything that called for any immediate action.
He thought he heard male voices inside the house, but when he reached the back of the place and saw Essylt, everything that might be going on in there lost all appeal. Essylt was standing with her face to the settlement-wall, and one hand reached to the sky as if she wanted to take the clouds from the air. She didn't seem to have noticed him. Rufus leaned against the wooden poles and stood quietly watching her.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
He fell down from the sky with a grace and a danger that made her heart flinch. The claws grabbed her arm, digging into the skin, for her sleeve had fallen back. Essylt opened her eyes, staring up into the two twin lakes full of starshine. His landing send her shuddering. ‘If I can’t stop what I am,’ she asked him, ‘how do I embrace it?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Rufus raised his eyebrows when she lowered her arm a little as if something had landed there. It was just that he couldn't see anything - nothing that she could be directing the words that came from her lips to, anyway. He was quite sure she wasn't talking to him, since she'd given no indication she had seen him. Yet he remained silent, since this was absolutely interesting. And it might give him some advantage if he heard enough.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Just ask him if he’ll tell me,’ she pleaded softly. ‘That’d be enough. If he really came to help me, surely he understands…Tomorrow night, on the hill by the horse. I just want to know who I am.’ She jerked her arm up. The owl lifted, but instead of flying off as a messenger, he brought himself to the rooftop, from where he peered down. Essylt turned around, looking straight in the face of the Roman. She felt weak in the knees from fright, her heart jumping to high in her throat. She hadn’t heard him at all – had he heard her?
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