(OOC) Wed Apr 8 -->

It's a beautiful day in Little Babel. The fruit is fresh, and so are the bugs! Many Eeee are in higher spirits than normal … which, in this case, translates into more sales, which also translates into more shekels for a bard who may have chosen to entertain this crowd today.

The Bard in question, an Exile called Envoy, has set her hat out between a pastry booth and a woodcarver, and is singing a popular Eeee ballad.

Taking a wrong turn at the right place, Jonas has found himself in the Eeee ghetto. He walks a good head above most of the bats (which he still occasionally thinks of as "Shrieks" or "Screams," though he never says so), and has the appearance of one that is very new to the city. The smell of the pastries has drawn him near, and the song has drawn him closer. The singer has kept him there, listening and staring quizzically.

Envoy has another motive for visiting Little Babel today as well; she's hunting for new outfits to bring on her airship cruise, and Eeee fashions suit her best. Every now and then she smiles to the large lost-looking bear that's been watching her.

In the shadows of a nearby alleyway, a small shrouded form watches the comings and goings among the booths, seemingly indifferent to the music. But then again, who can really tell?

Envoy finishes her current set, and has a drink of water from a bottle she brought along. Smiling to the ursoid, she asks, "Did you have any requests, sir?"

Jonas grunts at the strangeness of the … whatever she is. Still, the singing is unique. And pleasant. Jonas fishes a handful of shekels from his sporran, sorts through, and drops a tenner into the hat. "Kin ye do "The Madman Mora Blues," lass?" he asks. "It's noot a song I've heard in many a year."

The alien tilts her head in thought for a moment, then says, "I'm not familiar with that song, I'm afraid. Is it Nordikan? You have an interesting accent."

Jonas shakes his head. "Nay. 'S Highlander. Nordikans seem t' prefer more drums, I've seen." He smiles briefly, and adds, "Or the chiming o' clocks."

The form in the alleyway shifts subtly… yet somehow now conveys a sense of watchfulness unlike its earlier stance. After a moment, it sidles forward a few steps nearer the ursine and the bard.

Envoy blinks three times. "You're Gaelic? An Exile? I had a friend that wore a skirt and pouch like yours."

Jonas says, "An Exile, aye. A Gaelic, nay. A Highlander, like I said. Ye say ye ken a fellow who wears the kilt and sporran? What was his clan? "

Envoy says, "Firepelt."

Jonas's brow furrows in confusion. "'S not any clan I know. O' what people was this Fireclaw?"

An Eeee flutters in toward a couple of shoppers, and stops them, squeaking to them in a high-pitched chatter. The shoppers begin murmuring amongst themselves, and a few nearby look off in an indication direction. Meanwhile, a Temple patrol strolls by, pausing at a fried bug booth, though the Jupani and Zelak don't appear to be buying anything.

Envoy says, "I never knew any other than Tarin. He was a tall fox with a salivation problem."

Jonas says, "Ah, a Child o' Vulpes. Nay, I doon't ken a fellow by that name."

A few steps more… and Iaskafa emerges from the cover of the alley, silently closing the distance to approach Envoy and Jonas. Approach, but not join – the k'hu'an hovers warily just a step or two beyond arms reach.

Jonas glances at the Jupani patrol and its Zelak. He nods to them, the greetings of one professional lawgiver – albeit currently unemployed – to another.

Envoy says, "Have you been on this world long?"

Just down the street, a couple of very well-dressed Eeee appear. Not that this is unusual, but their appearance is heralded by several murmurs and whispers and muted stares from other Eeee along the way, and the crowd parts way for what looks like a well-to-do Babelite bat and her escort.

Envoy peers around Jonas' bulk to see who is causing the lack of commotion.

"I would be wary" Iaskafa murmurs, perhaps toward Envoy and Jonas – the k'hu'an is facing away from them – "I would be wary how loudly I speak of such things, with city guards near. Mebbe."

Envoy turns to blink at the cloaked figure. "Why? I'm sure all of the Temple guards know me by now anyway." To Jonas, she asks, "Are you in any trouble with the Temple?"

Jonas's ear twitches as the noise of the crowd begins to rise. He turns briefly, his gaze passing across the numerous Eeee, pausing briefly at the robed k'hu'an, and then back to the winged bard. "Noot long," he answers. "P'raps two seasons. I think I stepped out o' Bosch near the Year's End."

One of the well-attired Eeee reaches up to brush a lock of hair from her eyes, then turns to smile at her companion, "… I'm really glad we decided to visit Little Babel, Degarde. It's been a long time since, well… " She looks down at her delicately-covered feet, "… Since I've walked through this part of the city."

A bat within earshot says more loudly to another nearby, "That's the new emissary of the Sabaoth, Ambassador Kara!" The other bat nods and comments, "She's beautiful! It must take her hours to fix her hair… But I take issue with those colors. They are just NOT her… "

A mousey gray bat next to the well-dressed noble-looking Eeee nods his head, looking around himself. "Yes, it's very … very … urban, Ambassador."

The cloaked figure cants its head to one side. "There is troubling rumor in the air. And… those new here" – Iaskafa's head bobs toward Jonas – "those they not know so well, mebbe they be held to account."

Jonas turns back to gaze at the swaddled figure. "I speak what I wish, goodsir. T' speak o' another is no crime." He turns back to Envoy. "No trouble. There was a row when I arrived, but that was my doing, and 's been settled."

Envoy gives the ambassador another look. "The Ambassador looks just like a courier I met before," she whispers to Jonas. "What was Bosch like?"

Jonas frowns. He thinks for a moment, choosing his words carefully, before answering, "Wrong. Bosch was wrong."

Iaskafa's eyes seem to be locked on the approaching ambassador, the k'hu'an's entire posture speaking of indifference. "Is your hide" the cloaked figure mutters. Or perhaps not.

The winged Exile doesn't comment on the troubling rumor, since she can guess what it is.

The young ambassador smiles, looking up towards the sky. "I wish I could fly, just for a little while." She grins, turning towards the mouse-hued Eee, "But, I imagine a certain Mage would be rather unhappy with me." She glances down at a brilliant red scarf, tossed loosely about her neck, "Do you like it? I'm not sure if it goes with my dress or not."

"It certainly makes a statement, Ambassador!" the mousey assistant replies.

"And it didn't turn you inside-out or make your fur fall out?" Envoy asks Jonas, stealing glances at the Ambassador every now and then, thinking of outfits to get.

Brishen raises a brow, a hint of skepticism creeping into her cheery voice. "I'm sure it does."

Jonas snorts. "No, and doon't think I didn't thank the Mother every blessed chance I got fer that. 'S not a good place, lass. 'S not proper."

Envoy blinks and gives Jonas her full attention."The Mother?"

"Still, I suppose we should be… " Dark brown eyes widen slightly as Brishen catches a glimpse of a certain winged Exile, "Envoy?" She stops, abruptly.

The Ambassador's assistant notices the large bear and winged alien. (No telling if he notices the cloaked figure nearby.) He lowers his voice a bit, and hisses, "Now, Ambassador, steer clear of those over there. Exiles, I think. There's no end to trouble from their sort. You'll find them all over Rephi – " He cuts off his speech with a 'GRK!' as he realizes who the Ambassador is talking to.

Envoy smiles to the Eeee. "Ah, it is you then, Brishen?"

Jonas starts to confirm Envoy's question, but breaks when the Eeee woman begins talking to her.

Brishen beams, "Of course it is!" Her wings spread a little as she turns towards the Aeolun. "It's been… Well." She smiles, "I'm back."

Iaskafa stands, gloved hands tucked into the sleeves of shar robes, still as stone, perhaps watching the exchange between ambassador and Exile, or perhaps contemplating the sizzling beetle-stir-fry being prepared streetside in one of the nearby booths.

Envoy says, "Where have you been then? How did you become an Ambassador? Does it have to do with the war? I missed most of it, except for a few close encounters."

Jonas says, "War? What war?"

"Why, the war between Babel and Rephidim," Envoy says to Jonas, as if that would explain anything.

Jonas nods. "Thankee. That's clear as mud."

Brishen tilts her head slightly, glancing at her companion. "It's a very long story." She smiles, "Degarde, why don't you go on ahead? There's a furniture shop a few stores ahead on the left, and we're going to need some. I'll be along in a moment."

Envoy blinks three times, then apologizes, "Forgive me. I only saw a little of it while I was on a secret mission for the Temple, but I was held in custody during most of the interesting battles."

Jonas says, "Fergive me, lass, but … if it was a secret mission, should ye be talkin' about it?"

Envoy blinks again. "I didn't say anything about it though."

Jonas thinks on this. "Well, I guess ye didn't, at that."

Envoy says, "My name is Envoy of Lothrhyn, by the way. What is your name?"

Iaskafa turns to regard Envoy and Jonas directly, apparently for the first time. "You say enough as might get you killed." A heartbeat later, the k'hu'an quietly adds, "In different company, of course."

Jonas says, "But what's this about a war? Bein' out on DuVarr's lands, mindin' the game, doon't make fer bein' in the know, if ye ken."

Jonas blinks, and says, "Oh. Yer pardon. I be Jonas MacAlister, o' the Black Watch."

Envoy blinks again at the cloaked figure, then asks Jonas, "Can I see your watch? How do you see the hands if it's all black? The war started because someone spilled a drink on the Sabaoth, so I've heard. It made less sense to me than most wars."

The mousey bat's ears finally recover from blushing and he says, "Ah, greetings. I am Degarde, assistant to Ambassador Kara. And I'll run along and tend to that errand… A pleasure meeting you!" And without further ado (or adieu), the assistant shuffles over to a booth a good stone's throw away.

Jonas says, "Hands? Ye doon't watch yer hands. Ye watch yer watch. Yer patrol route. Ye ken?"

Envoy says, "Oh, Watch. Did you wear black then?"

Jonas indicates his kilt and sash. "T' one bein' charged, this looks black. It's dark enough."

Envoy nods to the bear, and looks at the cloaked figure again. "Are you a criminal, stranger, to act so wary?"

Iaskafa's head cants a bit to one side. "By whose law?"

Envoy says, "I don't know. I haven't quite figured out criminal behaviour yet, which is why I asked."

Brishen raises a brow. Envoy certainly still has a talent for keeping strange company.

Iaskafa offers a hint of a shrug. "We are all criminals, mebbe. To someone. Does it matter?" The k'hu'an turns to Brishen, withdrawing one hand from where it was tucked up a sleeve and offering it to the bat. "Ambassador Brishen."

Iaskafa says, "Or perhaps you favor Kara? One hears so many things, if one listens."

The young ambassador nods, smiling, "Ambassador Kara. Are you a friend of Envoy's?" She glances up at the tall ursine nearby, "I don't believe I've met you either, but I imagine Envoy has many strange friends I've not yet had the chance to meet."

Jonas snorts. "Int'restin' way of puttin' it."

Envoy smiles to Brishen, "This is Jonas, Bree. I just met him. The cloaked individual has not introduced himself yet."

Iaskafa tucks shar hand back up the sleeve from whence it came. "I have been called many things, mebbe. 'Iaskafa' is… first among them."

Jonas says, "Grace upon ye, Ambassador."

Envoy says, "What do you do as an Ambassador now, Brishen? Is it fun? I used to be an Ambassador of sorts."

A slender brown hand reaches up to brush a lock of hair away, "Thank you." Brishen smiles, then blinks. "Well, it's certainly interesting. Have you seen Teeo lately?"

Envoy shakes her head. "My attention has been drawn more towards Jupanis lately. It's interesting to see how they deal with the loss of their homeland."

Iaskafa hisses low in shar throat at Envoy's words.

Brishen slumps, ever-so-faintly. "There are so many people I need to talk… to." She raises a hand to her mouth, coughing quietly, "I see." Her wings furl primly behind her, though an ornate bandage on one is still visible.

Envoy says, "They seem much more cathartic than some others I've known who have lost their worlds. I think that's very healthy."

Jonas says, "Lost their homeland? Were they exiled, then?"

Iaskafa regards Envoy in silence a moment before saying, "It was not their's to lose."

Envoy shakes her head and frowns, "No, it was destroyed in the war. The whole Himar region."

Jonas says, "Ah. War ravages. Bruin's rage is great."

Envoy says, "I think it was an accident, actually. Why would anyone want to bomb the Himar, after all? They weren't at war with anybody."

Jonas says, "Aye, but what did that have to do with it? War ravages all, indiscriminately."

"And there are others who roam after Himar's end, other than the Jupani pillagers", Iaskafa murmurs, apparently to none in particular. "If mebbe they live."

Envoy says, "There were the Vartans. Some of them survived."

Jonas says, "This sounds like more than Bruin's ravages. Can they not rebuild?"

Envoy says, "That's what I tried to tell some of the Jupani's here in Rephidim. I think they will make the attempt."

Brishen glances towards Degarde, some distance away. An ear perks slightly. "I think I should be going," the young ambassador squeaks. "It was… interesting, seeing you again, Envoy." She smiles warmly at Jonas and Iaskafa, "And you both, though for the first time."

Iaskafa mutters "Jupani. Vartan. They are remembered. Those begat of Estofel… they are not even known when they live." This last comes out almost as a long sigh.

Envoy smiles, "Take care, Brishen! Have fun being an ambassador!"

Iaskafa seems oblivious to the ambassador's departure, lost, perhaps, in thought.

Envoy looks at Iaskafa for a bit, then asks Jonas, "You mentioned a Mother before… ?"

Brishen smiles tiredly. "I will." Then she turns, and is soon at her assistant's side. It's not long before they've vanished inside one of Little Babel's many shops.

Jonas looks at Iaskafa for a few moments. "Aye. When Bruin rages, he sees not what he trods upon. Or who." He looks to Envoy again. "Aye. The Great Mother. She who set the seasons and stars."

Iaskafa continues to stare off to one side, silent and still but for an occasional muttering just below the threshold of coherent hearing.

"Is she tall and white, and shaped like a tower?" Envoy asks.

Jonas blinks. "Noot normally. She is everywhere, and everything. Soo, She coould look like a tower, as much as She coould be a tree, or a bird, or a ray o' sunshine.

Envoy's eyes go wide. "She's the whole world then? I wanted to be a whole world once, before I was separated from my own… Mother."

Jonas says, "Aye. She is everything. Including all people. So, in a sense, we are the world."

Envoy blinks again. "You're a remote too then? A scion?"

Jonas says, "Nay. I'm a Highlander."

Iaskafa looks up from shar mutterings. "You… you both have but one ancestor in your shojen?" There seems to be something akin to awe in the k'hu'an's voice.

Brow wrinkling around the base of her horn, Envoy asks, "You were created by your Mother to serve a purpose though, weren't you?"

Envoy turns to Iaskafa, "I have one ancestor, I suppose. She made me to extend her senses and to communicate with others."

Jonas says, "The Mother is noot my ancestor. She's everything. She created all peoples. Noot just the Children o' Bruin."

Jonas says, "As fer purpose, the Mother creates and provides. Yer life is yer own."

Iaskafa looks from Jonas to Envoy and back again.

Envoy hmms, "I see, Jonas. Your Mother is… Nature? Not a physical being."

Jonas nods. "Aye. The Mother is. My mother was a goodwife o' Clan MacAlister." He smiles wryly.

Envoy seems disappointed at the news. "What is a shojen, Iaskafa?"

"Shojen, shojen… " the k'hu'an murmurs, looking for just the right word. "'Line', mebbe. 'Clan' mebbe. Some of both."

Envoy suggests, "Geneology? Bloodline?"

Jonas says, "Family."

Iaskafa draws sharself up tall. "I was once called 'Iaskafa nehone-kisa-krisana-shiho-nasen ua-shojen Estofel'. It mean 'Iaskafa, who shares blood with Kisa and Krisana and Shiho and Nasen, of the… line… begat of Estofel.'"

Envoy says, "Estofel was your ancestor? Are those others your siblings, or your parents?"

Iaskafa considers. "Parent" the k'hu'an murmurs. "Recent parent. That is… the short name."

Envoy says, "Matrilineal?"

"I do not know what that means." Iaskafa murmurs.

Envoy hmms. "Ancestry traced through the mothers," she explains.

Jonas looks up at the sky, noting the position of the sun. "Yer pardon, gentles. I must be away. There're supplies that I must be havin' afore I return to my charge. Grace upon ye, and the Mother's blessing."

Iaskafa regards Jonas a moment. "Nia-shojen neskaar, Jonas."

Envoy smiles, "Good eve, Jonas. It is always nice to meet a fellow Exile."

With a nod, Jonas turns and strides away, humming off-tune.

Iaskafa watches the ursine meander off, Envoy's question apparently forgotten.

Contemplating the silent figure of Iaskafa, Envoy asks, "Would you like to hear a particular song? It's time for me to start performing again."

Iaskafa hmms?, apparently having once again drifted off in thought. "Know you 'Peace in Thunder?'"

Envoy smiles, "Yes, I found that one at the bottom of a large selection in the Guild Library." Taking up her preferred singing spot and laying down her hat, she begins to sing, using her second voice to add a somber echo to the words.

Iaskafa stands silent and still amidst the moving crowd, listening to the song through. As the last notes fade, the k'hu'an nods once, tossing a coin into Envoy's hat before turning (still in silence) and fading into the chaotic market.