Mar. 4. Kaela speaks with Haji, then meets Jaundice while accompanying an expedition team.
(Haji) (City of Hands) (Jaundice) (Kaela) (Savan)
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It's early morning in the expedition camp. The sun has only begun its trek across the sky, and outside the tent can be heard the sounds of the morning preparations for more excavation to be done.

A young, green-eyed kit is left to muse over the strange dreams she's had. Outside, a familiar cheetah comes to check on her.

Haji walks in, and smiles at Kaela. He signs, "How are you this morning, it'un?"

Kaela remains slightly curled on her side, her cheekfur mussed and matted by her sessions of crying earlier in the night. She wasn't asleep, and has actually been awake for quite a while, judging by the pinkish state of her eyes. She looks towards Haji, swallowing softly, and signs, "I had a dream… bad one."

Haji moves to Kaela's side, sitting down carefully. His hands moves in soft, calming motions, almost like whispers. "Ah, a bad dream… what about? The Master-of-the-Ruins?"

Haji signs, "He cannot do anything to us… we are safe now."

Kaela scoots in closer against Haji's side. She signs, "No… it was more like a vision… "

Haji's eyebrows raise slightly. "A vision dream?", his hands ask eagerly.

Kaela nods uncertainly. She signs, "I woke up… and my mother was standing over me… but it wasn't my mother; it was someone who looked sort of like her… but she thought I was her daughter… "

Haji nods, listening. "Go on… " he signs, before resting his arm gently on Kaela's shoulder.

Kaela continues, "She was dressed in expensive clothes, and gold. And we had servants. And she was the queen, and my father was the Priest- King… " And with that, she begins the long tale of her dream, which seems to refuse to fade from her mind as most dreams do, but instead remains as vivid as an actual memory.

Haji's eyes go wide in astonishment at times, but he does not interrupt, listening as the story is told…

Kaela spends several minutes recounting the tale to Haji, watching his face worriedly. "… but when I woke up… I felt like someone was with me. And he said 'Only you remain', and called me by my real name." She watches Haji's face carefully, trying to read his reaction to this.

Haji's ears quiver a bit. "Your true name?", he signs quickly, "Is there anyone here on this expedition who knows your true name?"

Kaela shakes her head. "I don't think so," she signs.

Haji pauses for a moment in thought, tail twitching behind him. He speaks in slow, measured movements. "This must have been a vision of this city as it once was, magically given to you… it is important you keep the memory of it, but keep it private. Our people as ruling over others… even the unicorn-bird- woman and the Vartan would find this mad. I find it hard to believe as true myself… but I think your vision was true."

Kaela swallows hard, looking up at Haji. She signs, "But what should I do?"

Haji signs, "Keep the knowledge, and the vision, in your mind. It is yours for a reason… and I know you will find the reason, in time."

Kaela nods a little bit. She signs, "But… should I go back into the ruins? Talk to the King-Priest? If it's true… if I'm the only one left… " She looks deeply into Haji's eyes, biting her lower lip.

Haji looks away in thought a minute, then signs, "Seeing the Master again will only agitate him. He knows you, and being female will not make him sympathetic. You have your knowledge for a reason, and I believe He is not the one who will guide it. He is loose in mind as Eustace was … but He has a brain. He is cunning, and would use you. Protect your knowledge. You will know the time to use it, and with whom."

Kaela makes a sign of thanks, and gives Haji a gentle hug, nuzzling his side.

The older cheetah pats her head, "And who knows? Visions still come to many … you may not be the last as you think."

Kaela smiles a bit, reassured.

Haji pats his growling stomach's protests and signs, "Would you like to get something to eat? Food will be served soon."

Kaela nods a little bit. She is a bit hungry. "All right," she signs. Standing, she makes a rather futile effort to straighten her mussed and matted fur. She must have really been rolling around during the night.

Haji wiggles his ears in amusement at Kaela and signs, "You look like something the Naga dragged in. Some food will certainly help the webs of dreams and visions to drift away."

He opens the tent and they walk into the morning air, still stiff from sleep, or lack of it.

After a hasty breakfast and the usual morning routine, Haji and Kaela are ushered along, ordered to get to work. There's a site to be explored – and they're part of the crew.

Across the rope bridges, on the other side of the canyon, there are many ruined buildings. The walkway they follow leads to a long, tiled procession going from a plaza to a stepped pyramid. It is here that they encounter the rest of the team.

An older, bespectacled fox is accompanied by a drop-dead gorgeous vixen. And there is that mind-mage, Isstan. He gives Haji and Kaela an inscrutable look.

There is also a young coyote around the same age as Kaela, who stands near the rest. His fur is russet-colored, except for an odd mark of yellow over one eye.

The Naga mind mage is constantly chanting quietly, making hand signs, keeping back and out of the way – an observer.

Kaela has a new note pad and writing utensils. Haji has a new, heavy pack full of supplies, and a lantern to carry.

Kaela lurks near Haji, keeping him between herself and the mind mage.

The bespectacled fox looks down the procession that leads to the pyramid. On each side of the procession can be seen stone hands, each one in a different sign – the basic building blocks of the Savanite sign language … or …

"Aha. What you see here is evidence that it is indeed the Naga who were responsible for inventing the 'silent tongue' which the lowly Savanites use for purposes of simple communication," the fox proclaims, gesturing at the hands.

Haji swings the lantern in one hand, secretly wishing he could connect it to the Naga's head. He makes sure it's ready to be lit, instead.

Kaela shows no reaction. Except maybe to move closer to Haji's side.

He goes into a long spiel, recounting various other discoveries found during the expedition, and making references to other discoveries in ancient Naga ruins. He slowly moves along the walled "street" as he talks, his party following closely behind.

"Oh Lord Titus," the vixen breathes. "Do you mean that we're actually going to ENTER that ancient temple? Why … it might be DANGEROUS! Shouldn't we wait for the excavation crew to inspect it first?"

The bespectacled fox shakes his head. "No, there is no sense in further delay. There are secrets hidden within that structure … and I, Lord Titus haut Mikide, Explorer of the Unknown, intend to FIND them!" With that, he marches up to the base of the pyramid.

Haji wiggles his ears . . o O ( The vixen doesn't know just HOW dangerous it can be. She's not daft. )

Kaela follows along, swallowing. She shivers a little bit and looks up at Haji.

The pyramid is covered in tangling vines, but the older fox only takes a few moments of hacking at some near the base to make a discovery. "Behold! A door!" Indeed, right there, in front of them, is what looks to be some sort of panel, a break in the glyphs that run across the face of the stone.

"Slave, help me clear this away," the fox commands, gesturing toward Haji, and pointing at the vines that still cover part of the door.

Kaela watches silently, shifting her weight between feet. She really isn't comfortable around these buildings…

Haji ruffles Kaela's hair and takes a machete-like blade from his pack. He quickly clears the entrance.

Indeed, clearing it is rather easy. The vines were almost simply draped over the door, it seems. They must not have gotten much of a hold in the cracks in the stone.

To each side of the door can be seen a hole, mid-way up, fist-sized.

Haji notices the hole and stops. He points it out and ducks under it, lighting the lantern.

Inside the hole can be seen a few rods of some unknown material. Stone? Metal? Hard to say. The older fox comes over to inspect. "Hmmm. Perhaps this could be some sort of locking mechanism… " He looks to the hands on each side of the procession. "Following the apparent significance of hand signs displayed here… "

The fox says, "Put down your lantern. Place your left hand in the hole, and make the sign for 'Open'." He nods to Haji, making the gesture with his own left hand.

Haji ducks back, ever cautious from the last time he entered a ruin. He looks at the hole, then sticks his hand in and makes the sign. He closes his eyes…

There is an audible noise of stone against stone from behind the wall. Some stone lips close around the Savanite's wrist … firmly holding his hand tightly in place. The vixen gasps in surprise!

The fox muses over this. "Hmmmmm. Very interesting."

Haji opens one eye, surprised. Oddly, he calmly refuses to move.

Kaela watches Haji nervously.

The fox says, "Well, note how the procession-way leading here has one hand on each side. Perhaps… " He wanders over to the other hole, and removes the glove on his right hand.

Haji flicks his tail at Kaela in a whisper-sign to stay back… for now.

The vixen gasps, rushing to the fox. "No! Surely you can't be serious! What if it doesn't WORK? Oh – TITUS!" She almost swoons.

Kaela moves a careful distance back from the group.

The fox waves the vixen back. "Now, now, dearest. An explorer must take certain risks! Now, observe as I place my hand inside the hole and make the sign for 'Open'. If my theory is correct… "

The fox puts in his hand. There are some clicks as he moves his fingers. Then, there is an audible rumble from behind the wall. The panel moves in … and slides open. The stone "lips" of the holes release. The cheetah is free once more.

Haji looks at the fox with a raised brow, rubs his wrist, and picks up the lantern.

The door, now open, reveals a dark corridor leading into the depth of the temple. Right at the entrance, there is a crushed skull on the stone floor. The fox looks at this. "Hmmmm."

"Hand me that pole, would you, slave?" the fox says, not even looking to Haji, as he extends his arm, hand open to receive the wooden pole.

The vixen gasps at sight of the skull. "Oh dear!"

Haji notes the skull and peers down the corridor. He glances up at the ceiling, looking for something while he hands the fox the wooden pole.

The fox takes the pole, and waves it around inside the entrance.

*CHUNK*

Something shatters the pole's tip, sending splinters flying!

The vixen shrieks! "A trap!"

The fox, unfazed, hmmms. He pokes the remainder of the pole in again. *CHUNK* This process repeats a few times, the pole getting shorter and shorter. It seems that the stone "smasher" is getting less and less forceful with each attack.

Kaela carefully forces herself to remain still. Her eyes dart between Haji, the fox, and Jaundice.

Finally, after only tapping the remainder of the pole a few times, the stone protrusion slows to a stop and slides away. It does not come out again.

Haji glances back at Kaela and flicks his ears in a small smile and whisper-signs to her, "I am confident. We are led by a wise master." He continues to watch the fox.

The fox hmmms again. "Well, let us proceed – with caution. It is good we have more than one pole."

Haji nods once to the fox and takes the second pole from his pack, using it as a staff while carrying the lantern.

"Be sure to watch your head," the graying fox says, as he ducks under the area where the "stone smasher" had been shooting out of the wall.

Haji swivels the pole-cum-staff horizontal and motions to Kaela to stay near the vixen as he follows the fox.

Jaundice, unobtrusive up until this point, stays to the rear of the party, carefully scribing notes. He leans forward just as the old fox enters…

Kaela moves in quickly, following the overacting vixen.

Jaundice brings up the rear, watching his companions pass through the gateway. Curious spots of light appear on their clothes, as though shining from the side. He shows no expression, mutely taking note of the proceedings.

The corridor, fairly plain, at last comes to a dead end. "Hmmm," the fox muses, yet again.

The fox runs his hands across the wall, examining it and scrutinizing it. "Hmmm," he says again, and looks back. "Could you shutter the lantern for a moment?" The fox seems very interested in the bottom of the wall.

Kaela follows quietly. This is good. No writhing corridors. No veins with rubies. No big insane god shooting lightning bolts at everybody. Maybe this isn't going to be so bad, after all.

Haji crouches slightly, and dims the lantern's wick down.

As the lantern's light dims, leaving the corridor in near darkness … a thin beam of light can be seen running along the bottom edge of the "dead end" wall. "Aha!" exclaims the fox. "A secret door!"

The fox pushes at the wall, but nothing happens. "Hmmmmm," he comments for yet another time.

Haji thinks to himself . o O( Every time he 'hmms' I feel like I should get ready to run. )

Jaundice pads to the side as quietly as sandaled paws will go to the side of the fox. Absent are any judgmentary notes in regard to the other's candor, though the thoughts do occur to him as such.

The fox looks to Haji. "Perhaps you could give me a hand with this? I have this suspicion that perhaps if we pressed upward… "

Jaundice turns to the two Savanites, past the stacked vixen's vacant presence. He tilts his head, marveling at the younger female's change in expression. He puts aside his pen and raises his nose to the air.

Haji sets the lowly lit lantern, pack, and pole to the side and leans down. He flicks his ears on a count of three and the two lift…

The wall-door slides upward with surprising ease, disappearing into the ceiling … and revealing light beyond.

Kaela glances over towards Jaundice, and quickly lowers her gaze deferentially as she notices his attention.

The room beyond is a large, cylindrical chamber, high-ceilinged, with a raised, cylindrical dias of cut stone in its center. Two narrow beams of white light stream down from the ceiling, pointing down to the dais.

The fox slips on in, and as no traps maul him, he motions for the others to enter as well.

Jaundice sniffs. . o O { Shouldn't the air be stagnant in a sealed tomb? With decaying matter, it should smell like a grave. } He looks down at the floor, kicking at it experimentally… and finding a scant film of dust. . o O { That's odd, too… }

Haji picks up his things and follows the others in, raising the lantern's wick back to normal. He keeps his staff raised and on guard, one never knows with living ruins popping up all over the place these days.

Inside the chamber, its features can be more readily discerned. Suspended about the room are numerous stone spheres, running along grooves and tracks in the walls and ceiling. The floor has many complex diagrams on it, their purposes uncertain. There is also an orb set in the floor … upon which, in mosaic, is formed … the shapes of the land masses of Sinai, separated by seas of Lapis lazuli.

Kaela pads in after the vixen and looks around quietly. She blinks twice as she scents the air, but remains otherwise still. She's less self-assured than she was before, when she thought it was an ordinary, boring tunnel…

The Hekoye trods along behind, carefully checking the air for scents. Something… familiar. An animal, live… one he has never… smelled? No, that's not true. He must have smelled this before… but can't place when or where.

At four corners of the room stand statues of Nagas, each standing on their coils, heads and arms upraised, each holding an orb marked with strange runes.

The ceiling has mosaic patterns on it as well. Again, there are the continents of Sinai – but in a flat projection.

Haji feels slightly uneasy for a reason he cannot fathom. He silently steps close to Kaela, looking around the room, still alert. He whisper-signs to Kaela, "The Priest-King would like it here, I think. Keep watching and stay close."

The fox looks about the room in wonder. "It must be … an ancient observatory! Why … perhaps this could be a link to the secrets of … the First Ones!"

Jaundice turns a page in his notebook and draws a rough diagram of the room, not attempting to copy the sculpture. It might seem impressive to others, but to a Hekoye, they're merely part of the scenery. He watches the others gape at the ceiling.

Jaundice thinks, . o O { He has a competent grasp of the obvious. }

Kaela nods a little bit. She looks about the room uncomfortably, and copies a few unimportant engravings onto her pad, only half paying attention to the work.

Isstan, the Naga mind-mage, slowly slithers in behind, remaining in the darkened corridor, observing the proceedings. He chants very quietly, making slow hand gestures, observing all that transpires.

Jaundice turns his attention back to the Naga statues while Titus marvels at the "observatory." He peers at the orbs the statues hold, reaching up to trace his finger over the runes.

Jaundice mms, pondering the patterns on one statue, then walking carefully over to another. . o O { These look like… star constellations. The ceiling is the planet, and the spheres are the cosmos. Mm. }

Haji flicks an ear at the Naga with a dark look and continues to look around, still hopeful that this is an ordinary trap-filled ancient ruin instead of the living and all powerful kind.

"Oooo!" the vixen purrs, going over to look at the globe of Sinai. "Why … these precious stones set into this. Such beautiful handiwork! The Naga of old were matchless craftsmen indeed!"

Kaela makes a rubbing of an intricate set of cracks in one of the walls. Okay, it's not an inscription, but she's just a lowly Savanite. She can't be expected to know any better, right?

The fox turns around. "No! Don't touch that!" He rushes over to the vixen, as she starts to roll the globe.

Haji swivels to the vixen, eyes wide.

Suddenly, there is a rumbling from behind the walls.

Kaela leaps back from the wall she'd been working at, and hurries towards Haji, in the middle of the room.

Haji rolls his eyes at the vixen. o O( NOT AGAIN! )

The four orbs held by the Naga statues begin to glow and crackle with energy!

Jaundice by force of habit gives Isstan a deferential nod, and wanders about the room, recording in careful detail… finding his concentration broken suddenly by the rumbling. He looks up, startled.

The vixen gasps, and clings to the fox. "Oh dear! What shall we DO?"

Jaundice swivels his ears, trying to discern from whence the sound comes.

Haji pushes Kaela to the ground and throws himself ontop of her. o O( Bloody vixen! Just when I thought we had a stroke of luck with our masters SHE has to come along and screw things up. The things I go through to please everyone. )

Jaundice listens carefully, but can't tell from what direction the sound is coming… unless it's coming from everywhere. . o O { This isn't right… }

Sparks of energy shoot out from the orbs. Just in the nick of time, the old fox hurls her out of the way, as the bolts of energy crash against the globe, sending sparks flying!

Jaundice closes his eyes and bows his head, trying to focus his thoughts.

The four orbs immediately dim. The rumbling ceases. The vixen gasps, "Oh! Lord Titus! You – You SAVED me! How can I (gasp) EVER thank you?"

Haji gets up slowly, ears swiveling to listen…

Kaela gasps for breath after being abruptly pushed to the ground and landed upon. Slowly she pushes herself back up to her footpaws.

Jaundice looks up as the rumbling abruptly stops. He glances about the room, regarding the Savanites with concern.

The older fox gets up. "Don't mention it. Now, please, you must have RESPECT for the creations of the ancient Naga… "

The coyote glances at the orbs, sniffing gingerly. . o O { No smoke, no damage… where did that come from? }

Jaundice turns to Isstan at the fox's remark, a thought crossing his mind briefly before being swept back. He resumes his scribework.

Kaela looks up at Haji, her ears tilting into a worried, questioning gesture.

The vixen says, "Oh! Such power the ancient Naga must have had! Oh, most certainly, Lord Titus, I won't touch a THING!"

Haji looks at Kaela, and with nothing else happening . . .shrugs.

The vixen gets up, and trips over something else. "Ow!"

Jaundice narrows his eyes at the vixen, then shakes his head briefly, adjusting his headband.

Kaela turns towards the passageway we'd entered through, her ears canting.

Haji steps away from the vixen as if a herd of Gooshurms was converging on the her.

The vixen dusts herself off, and looks around. No new traps appear to smite her. Or anyone else. Not yet, anyway.

Jaundice wanders over to where the vixen stepped, and peers at the floor as she moves away.

Kaela pads back over towards the passageway. She's just spotted an inscription she's going to make a rubbing of. Really.

On the floor is something half-buried in a pile of dirt. There's a glint of something glassy poking through.

The vixen looks as if she's about to see something, but then she looks at the coyote, and turns away, going to look at one of the Naga statues instead.

Jaundice glances around, then crouches next to where the vixen tripped. A pile of dirt rests where no other grime lays, with something poking through the surface… shiny like glass.

Isstvan regards Kaela with slitted eyes, from his position in the corridor. He keeps right on chanting and making hand gestures, watching the goings-on, staring right through the cheetah kit.

Jaundice carefully brushes aside the dirt, careful not to disturb whatever might be within.

Haji looks at Kaela and stays close to her. He wants to stay as far away from that accident-prone vixen as much as possible. He turns down the lantern wick a little to save light.

Even as the lantern is dimmed, it seems the room is pretty well-lit anyway by the ambient light bouncing off from the place where the two beams of light form the ceiling hit the central dais.

There's something else shiny as well. The coyote uncovers a glassy, perhaps crystalline, object carved in the shape of a hand.

Jaundice brushes aside the last of the dust, having not touched the hand as yet. He glances up, considering the others in the room.

The fox and vixen seem not to have noticed Jaundice's discovery. As for the snake – it's hard to tell just WHAT his attention is focused on.

Jaundice thinks, . o O { This could just as easily be part of the room. Perhaps I shouldn't disturb it. } He frowns, not used to making decisions for himself, and considers calling Titus over…

… for about five seconds. Jaundice picks up the glass hand and stows it in his tunic.

Haji signs to the fox, "Master Titus, what are we looking for exactly?"

The fox goes about the room, pointing out various features of the suspended spheres, and which celestial bodies they represent. The vixen nods all the while, taking notes.

Kaela quietly moves back towards Haji, casting surreptitious glances back towards the passageway, when she thinks that the Naga isn't looking.

Jaundice straightens up, dusting his knees off. He glances around the room, looking for anything that might have changed as a result of his removal of the hand.

The fox looks back to Haji. He says, "Well! I think we've found quite a great deal. This will warrant further study. For now, though, I believe it is about time for us to head out of here. I shall have to study the copies I have made of these strange inscriptions, perhaps gaining some insight into their meaning… "

The snake moves, no longer blocking the entrance to the room. He slithers into the chamber and to one side, as the fox and vixen pass. "Here! Bring the lantern!"

Jaundice turns to Kaela, who he's noticed out of the corner of his eye from time to time… noticing how she's taken rubbings of the walls. He walks gingerly over to her.

Haji turns the lantern up high and follows, motioning for Kaela and Jaundice to keep close.

Suddenly, there's another rumbling, from all around… The vixen gasps. The fox manages, "Oh my! Another … trap!"

"RUN!" cries the fox. "Save yourselves!"

Kaela looks up quickly, then between Haji and Jaundice.

Jaundice manages an awkward smile, and points to Kaela's notes… just as the rumbling begins again. . o O { Same as before… what could be causing this? }

Haji lays his ears flat and looks to Kaela. He signs quickly, "RUN!"

The vixen shrieks and makes a run for the exit!

Jaundice does not run. Instead, he turns and stares at the Naga mage.

Kaela ducks her head and hurries towards the exit, running to catch up to Haji.

The Naga mage is still in the chamber, looking completely unconcerned.

Haji begins sprinting down the corridor, loaded down by the weight of his pack. He looks back for Kaela, making sure she's alright. The power-crazy Naga is STILL in the chamber!

Jaundice thinks, . o O { Curious how you're not scared, Master Isstan. }

The vixen escapes out the front, with the cheetahs not far behind and easily catching up.

Kaela slows slightly, looking back at the coyote and Naga back through the passageway.

"RUN, I say!" the fox repeats, panting and puffing as he makes his way to the exit.

Haji collapses outside the entrance, huffing and puffing. He feels relieved when his eyes see Kaela beside him.

Kaela reaches Haji's side and looks up at him. She remains near the doorway, though. Something seems… not-right.

A couple of other Savanites are outside, too. "To the side!" one signs. The other grabs Kaela and pulls her off to the side of the pyramid.

Jaundice keeps a careful eye on Isstan, edging towards the door, with nary a fraction of the others' hysterics…

The old fox bolts out the entrance – and dodges to the side, following the path that Kaela was taken.

The snake gives the coyote no reaction whatsoever.

Haji gathers himself up and scampers to one side of the entrance with Kaela.

Someone cries out, "STUNT FOX!"

A short fox – about four feet tall – runs up to the entrance, right where the old fox came out.

"ACTION!" someone shouts. Some cheetahs at the top of the pyramid let go of a large … boulder?!?

Jaundice blinksblinks, confused. "What?"

The fox YELPS and starts running away from the pyramid, down the procession-way that leads away from the pyramid … with a large, bouncing boulder rolling after him. "YIIIIIII!"

Meanwhile, next to the pyramid, the old fox and the vixen sip at some tea and watch the action.

Jaundice emerges from the entrance, shaking his head…

Haji looks up at the boulder, then to the fox. . o O( What, in the name of the First Ones, IS GOING ON?! )

Haji gives Kaela a confused yet frantic look.

The snake slithers out after Jaundice, still chanting and making those signs, as he watches the panicked fox running away, boulder rolling after, until they're out of sight. A few moments later, there's an audible *crash*.

Kaela looks extraordinarily confused. I mean, buildings being alive and insane and bleeding she can deal with. But this? She can't even work out the signs to describe it.

The old fox claps. "Well done! WELL done! I must say, I like the new stunt fox, don't you? Such form! And he so GENUINELY looks frightened!"

Kaela blinks a few more times, then comprehension dawns.

Jaundice makes a few more notes. "Note to self: Read up on doctrines concerning the questioning of reality." He watches, unsure whether to be amazed, amused, or just numb.

The vixen nods. "Yes, Professor Dron. But I really wish I didn't have to keep setting off all these traps all the time. Can't I do something SMART for a change?"

Kaela makes several rapid handsigns to Haji.

Jaundice looks up to Isstan, then to the two foxes. He remembers the hand in his tunic. . o O { At least I got something substantial out of this day. }

A wolf appears on the other side of the processionway. "Hey! Did anyone see where the stunt fox went off to? I can't find him! And he's NOT under the boulder!"

Haji signs to Kaela, "What's a stunt fox?"

Kaela shrugs softly.

Isstvan relaxes visibly, and ends his spell.

Haji wiggles his ears in chuckle and signs to Kaela, "Maybe the Naga ate him. It wouldn't surprise me."

The old fox, Titus-turned-Professor-Dron, remarks, "However, I was a bit puzzled. What happened to the crystal hand you were supposed to find, Amelie? I have the other one right here." He pats his jacket.

Jaundice looks up at Isstvan, words failing to express his depth of inanity.

Kaela shivers softly at the thought. It's a bit too close to possibility for her comfort.

Jaundice quirks his mouth, looking towards the Professor. He reaches into his tunic and pulls out the hand he found. "Ahem."

Isstvan looks down at Jaundice with what might pass for a reptile smile. Or maybe not.

Haji ruffles Kaela's hair playfully and whisper-signs, "Don't worry, I'm sure he wouldn't . . .I think so, anyway."

The vixen says, "I don't think he was filled in on the details," gesturing toward Jaundice.

Kaela smiles at Haji gently, then looks back towards the rest of the group.

Jaundice regards the vulpines with what might pass for a smile. "You're correct in your assumptions, ma'am."

Jaundice holds the hand up to the light, examining it. . o O { Might make a nice paperweight, if they let me keep it. }

The vixen smiles. "Well, it may seem terribly strange, but it pays well. In any case, if you'd be so kind… ?" She reaches out for the glassy hand. "We'll manage to 'discover' it a little later."

Kaela looks at that hand curiously.

As Jaundice holds the hand up to the light, multicolored spots and lines dance upon his face and clothes and the ground at his feet, filtered through the glassy substance.

Jaundice looks to the vixen, then at her hand, then at the glass hand. He shrugs, and passes it to her. . o O { Who am I to break up tricksters in training? }

The vixen smiles, taking the hand. She inclines her head to the older fox. "Now, Professor, do you think we can come up with a better theory as to what these hands actually DO? I mean, Titus isn't all that well versed on this … but I get the feeling he'll sense that this is far too slap-dash for him to feel clever about. Especially if he brings it up at a party."

The Professor shrugs. "Well, we COULD simply leave them out altogether. But they do make such pretty colors. Perhaps I'll get some inspiration before we 'discover' them… "

The Professor reaches into his jacket, and pulls out another hand – this one just like the one held, but with a different hand sign, and being the left hand, as opposed to the right.

Jaundice blinks. Never in his known life has he felt dismay like this. . o O { The very idea. Do people like this have any real substance at all? Is curiosity just something to pass their time? }

Kaela watches Jaundice quietly, remaining near Haji.

Jaundice considers his notes, feeling foolish for not tearing them into tiny bits. . o O { Ah well. } He turns to the Savanites, and ponders…

"Well!" the fox says, putting away the "hands" and standing up. "No sense in tarrying around here. I'm sure the Stunt Fox will turn up sooner or later. Probably around suppertime. Shall we be off to camp?"

Haji whisper-signs to Kaela, "These creatures are crazier than Eustace. I think the best thing to do is to act as dumb as they think we. What do you make of what the hand says? Why would they use something as simple a word as 'earth' for … whatever it is they're doing? I can't make any sense of it."

Jaundice thinks, . o O { At least I'm not alone. } He pads over to them, bowing politely as he reaches their side.

The vixen smiles and stands. "Yes. Let's be off." With that the fox and vixen head back toward the camp, and the workers pack up and head back as well.

Kaela shrugs slightly to Haji, signing, "Whatever it is… I hope they don't figure it out. It's better left alone, I'm sure."

Haji ruffles his neckfur in agreement.

Kaela blinks slowly at Jaundice, shifting her weight uncomfortably. She nods slightly, and leaves her gaze downwards respectfully.

Jaundice raises a hand in friendship to the cheetahs. "A'Natur'Matu." He glances over his shoulder at the foxes. "And may certain others likewise turn from you."

Kaela quietly walks back towards camp, remaining near Haji and not looking back at the pyramid. Life keeps getting more and more complex.

---

GMed by Greywolf

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Today is 14 days after Candlemass, Year 29 of the Reign of Archelaus the First (6128)