|
Post by Brian on Nov 11, 2022 18:38:51 GMT
" But isnt that the problem for those such as we? Forever only happens if we give up?"
I laugh a bit.
" I grew up in a world the son of a senior naval officer. We werent rich but I didnt want for anything. Then I had an accident and was lost. I became a slave....through pluck and luck rose up. I was fostered into the house of a nobleman. He raised me to be part of his house guard for his son." There is a sort of somber tine in that part of the story. " Then I became a free sell sword. I made peace with things....then I found out what I knew if my life was a lie. Perhaps not a malicious one but I've been unsettled. My wife tells me I need to go to Amber and make my peace with all of it.....I don't know if I should."
|
|
|
Post by Cody D'Avalon on Nov 11, 2022 19:05:03 GMT
"'An ~Accident~'"
Cody is very skeptical and scowls.
"I don't know enough about anything, but that doesn't sound like an accident to me. To be an innocent child in a bucolic environment. To get lost and wind up in a hostile place. It sounds more like you were kidnapped. Moved to a differentShadow. "
Taking another swig of mead, Cody asks, "So what sort of catastrophic accident did you have? And was that before or after discovering your Amber heritage?"
|
|
|
Post by Brian on Nov 11, 2022 23:33:05 GMT
"Oh I went to throw something into a hole.....and then I fell in it. And then I touched a relief on a wall and fell onto an alien planet." I laugh a little bit softly.
"Other than being enslaved? Fighting in various wars? Being poisoned to near death.....Nothing significant."
|
|
|
Post by Cody D'Avalon on Nov 12, 2022 2:00:12 GMT
<OOC> Next-door neighbour actually did that. Well... Sort of. He was standing on a storm water culvert and threw a stone. Lost his balance and fell 10 or 20 feet onto stone cribbing and totally shattered his knee. He was ~ 14 years old. </OOC>
Cody laughs as well at the follies of young men.
"Looks like you and I have something else in common. You fell into a hole and I jumped into one."
Cody considers Brian's story and wonders.
"Fell by accident or by design? Paranoia is a favorite pastime in the Courts. It sounds like that portal may have been placed in your path as a trap. A curious boy is apt to explore caves. So, one way or another you would have found your way to it."
"But, you didn't answer my question: Did this happen before or after you learned of your Amber heritage?"
|
|
|
Post by Brian on Nov 12, 2022 2:08:37 GMT
"Well before. I only learned about that relatively recently from my wife. As for the hole." I laugh again and explain the family vacation in Mexico.....the girlfriend dumping me.....the locket I was going to give her before she dumped me. Finding the Cenote that seemed untouched by human hands in hundreds of years." Brian thinks for a moment "Its hard for me to gauge time of the whole thing. I know how the time worked on Earth, how it worked on Ayalos.....and how it would work on Amber. So I am not sure which set of years the story falls under."
"Went to throw the silver heart and chain into a hole that Ancients used to commit human sacrifices in.....ledge gave way and I fell. Prior to uncovering my heritage I believed it was the most bizarre luck in the world.....now.....well who can say. And I sorted out a series of troubles in Ayalos that involved uncommon but not extraordinarily uncommon knowledge on earth that became absolutely alien to them. So I don't think it was a trap. I think I was put on this path.....and seems this path was intended to lead me here." I hold up the medallion with the raven-headed symbol on it.
|
|
|
Post by Cody D'Avalon on Nov 12, 2022 4:07:59 GMT
"Yes, that's a torch to bear. That first big heartbreak."
Cody considers the passage of time.
"There's something. Subjective time. I've given up on keeping track. Back on Station it was easy. The planets moved around Ra in one direction and Station moved the opposite way. So Station intercepted the different planets on a regular schedule."
"When you get into the Flux to go Interstellar there are predictable dialations and compensators for the elasticity which keep every thing in line."
"Ooph. I'm rambling. Anyway, time is a different animal in the Abyss. Sometimes you're only in for a short time and when you come out, several turnings have passed. Or vice-versa. You could go mad trying to keep track. And time isn't very consistent in the Courts either."
Then thinking of how the fates have dealt the two young men extraordinary experiences. Then looks at the medallion and salutes with the mead.
"To the three eyed Raven. Two eyes look out while the third one gazes in. What great wisdom do you have Hal?"
|
|
|
Post by Brian on Nov 12, 2022 4:26:13 GMT
The Raven shrugs.
Brian looks at the Medallion "On Earth there is a place called France. They have a foreign Legion with little things like this...things to help soldiers find the help after they leave the army."
"I wonder if these Ravens are part of a Foreign Legion in shadow...."
|
|
|
Post by Cody D'Avalon on Nov 12, 2022 4:40:36 GMT
"Interesting. The soldier that gave you the medallion is the one who asked you to save Wolfram. Maybe Wolfram knows."
|
|
|
Post by Brian on Nov 12, 2022 4:42:43 GMT
"Maybe....or maybe they will find a place for the boy." I watch Wolfram finish up with his mom.
"Maybe....maybe my dear sweet Annie is showing me this situation to nudge me into going to Amber....to rip off the band aid."
|
|
|
Post by Cody D'Avalon on Nov 12, 2022 5:23:06 GMT
"There's a conundrum. How do you get to Amber without being an initiate of the Logrus or Pattern?"
|
|
|
Post by Brian on Nov 12, 2022 10:39:01 GMT
I laugh softly " I'm not taking the boy to Amber....And I'll go to Amber if I want....hardly a concern. " Brian seems ambivalent about going to Amber
|
|
|
Post by Cody D'Avalon on Nov 12, 2022 17:38:19 GMT
"No, of course not. Wolfram needs to go somewhere safe."
"Yes, succeed or fail at my current quest I'll go to Amber eventually. Just not soon." Cody appears to share Brian's ambivalence.
|
|
|
Post by Brian on Nov 12, 2022 17:53:13 GMT
I laugh " it sure is a center of Gravity."
Wolfram makes his return to you. As you exit the dead that were tainting water and poisoning the ground are all gone.
As you exit the house Brian tosses you a coin. An old silver coin with an approximation of his face. Written in a script similar to English. ~ Brian Caithain, Ard-Rí agus Slánaitheóir Ayalos. ~
|
|
|
Post by Cody D'Avalon on Nov 12, 2022 22:35:05 GMT
Cody agrees. "Center of gravity. Sucking vortex. It'll pull us in sooner or later."
Seeing Wolfram coming back. "How are you Wolfram? We know it's difficult to lose our parents, but uncle Brian here is going to find you a safe place now."
Cody admires the coin.
"Impressive."
He flips the coin in the air and catches it. With a grin Cody remarks.
"Heads..."
"Hey, what do you know: The guy on the coin sort of resembles you."
|
|
|
Post by Brian on Nov 12, 2022 22:43:03 GMT
Wolfram was a child soldier. And takes the situation stoically like one would.
I laugh "Challenge coins. Old naval tradition. Great way to build rapport with sub-chiefs. Also helps we like to drink. And its silver."
I shake my head. "Since I am not here in a capacity where secrecy matters much and well....I like you. I feel like we have traveled the same path a bit. I am fine to let you have this."
|
|