Laura - 2001-06-17
zari was not in a good mood the next morning. Her bed was lumpy and she was very hungry.
After getting her things together and putting on her sun dress she made her way to the lounge downstairs. Eggs and fresh ham filled the first level with their wonderful alluring aroma.
The hot biscuits and tea filled her stomach while she awaited the tasty food yet to come. It was a lively but quiet place. People sat close by and were talking but the music was so loud you could not make out anything people were saying. Azari sat patiently and at peace snuggling up in a ball to sit to read a good book. Just minding her own business and letting time just effortlessly drift by.
As soon as she finished her breakfast, she ventured to check on Jetta. When she got to the stable barn, she noticed a familiar looking horse nearby.
"NO! It couldn't be." Azari's heart and mind began to get all flustered. She wasn't paying attention to what she was doing and fell knee deep into the heaping pile of horse dung.
"Neko of Polaris" - 2001-06-20
ORRIGAN? Isa Le Croix had gawked at the man when he told her where she was. How in the Known World had she ended up in Torrigan?? She knew she'd been walking and hitching rides in hay wagons for quite some time, but she had no idea she'd come so far north....and west. Or was it east? She had glared hard at the map she'd "aquired". It was almost as if the thing was laughing at her plight.
Well at least she wasn't in Aleron, and this was better then Samara anyday. Torrigan, huh? Alright, she'd take it. She'd balled up the old map and threw it over her shoulder. Who needed a map if it didn;t mater where they were going anyway? Isa was fully enjoying her new found freedom. The world was a helluva lot larger then she could have ever imagnined and she couldn't wait to see it all. She was Isa Le Croix, World Class Adventurer, she'd better start adventuring....
.....three weeks later she was up to her elbows in soapy water with stacks upon stacks of dirty dishes flanking her on all sides. She grumbled to herself as she scrubbed the baked on grease and god only knew what else off the cracked dishes and chipped ale mugs. This was NOT what she'd had in mind when she had set out to seek her first adventure. Washing dishes was definatly NOT in her job description. But a girl needed to eat, and she needed somewhere to stay, and Isa was learning that being an Adventurer, even World Class got you no where unless you had the funds. And she, a runaway, had none.
So she had taken the first thing that had come along down the path. That had been this old smelly decprepit mouse infested excuse for a bar and inn. The owner was half crazed...or half cocked, Isa could never be sure and his wife....oh lords above she was nit picky and a nagging old woman Isa went out of her way to avoid.
The cook was just as bad, refusing to call her anything but "silly girl" when he ordered her around. It was always "Silly Girl, this" or "Silly girl, that" and it was starting to drive her mad with indignaty. The last chap who'd called her anything so demeaning had gotten his eye poked. But you don't bite the hand that feeds you...at least not on purpose. So she grinned and hissed through her teeth "Of course, sir." or "Right away, sir." She'd started out as a serving wench in the bar, but she'd had her fill of ass-grabbing and hoot-calling the first night. After back handing a well seasoned customer she was thrown into the kitchen and ordered to wash dishes. Which was what she was doing then, grumbling under her breath. Strands of her hair fell across her face, but she was too ticked to care much about them itching her nose. Through the kitchen walls she could hear the people in the bar already loud and obnoxiously drunk.
"Don't these people go HOME?" Isa grumbled setting a newly cleaned plate on the growing stack of clean plates, "Or to their rooms? Or is THIS their home? Lousy drunks...the LEAST they can do is tip better." She held up a slimy plate that still had bits of bacon and eggs stuck to it, but reeked of gin. She wrinkled her nose hardly beleiving that she had once been apart of that crowd, "I was no where near THIS bad, was I?" She tossed the plate into the sink,"Gods above I hope not."
"Here!" A gruff voice dumped a dozen more plates into the bins beside her, "A fresh patch for you to clean! They'd better be spotless, Silly girl!" The cook snuffed.
Isa's eyes narrowed and she balled her hands into fists, "I DO have a name, you know!" She whirled around to glare at the cook, clad in a similarly stained gray apron as she was. She flicked the loose strands of her hair out of her face, "In case you've forgotten, bucko, I'm a world class adventurer! It would behoove you to treat me with a little more respect! One day you'll be clammoring just to know me! since I will have unlocked the secrets of the Known World and will have expanded our boundries to lands until now have been unexplored! I'll be famous!"
The cook raised a brow at her before he burst out laughing, "You!" He sneered, "A silly girl like you, unlocking the mysteries of the world?" He erupted into more peels of laughter.
Isa felt her cheeks flush warmly and the tips of her ears burned crimson. Her flashing eyes narrowed and she balled up the wash rag in her wet hands. This was the LAST straw! She threw the wadded up rag in the direction of the cook with a satisfied air at seeing it hit him across the face....that is, if it had hit him. Instead it sailed right past him and into the stack of unused dishes, sending them crashing to the floor with a horrific clatter that silanced the cook and made Isa gasp and put a hand to her mouth. When the clatter had subsided the cook turned his beady eyes from the mess on the floor to the girl standing by the sink. Slowly Isa looked up from the shards of dishes and mugs to look at her employeer a sheepish look on her face. She chuckled nervously, "Oops."
Isa landed on her face in a pile of, what she hoped, but doubted was, mud. She slid a few inches before coming to a halt by the stable doors. "And stay out, you ungratefull clumsy wench!" The cook bellowed shaking a fist at her. Then he turned promptly and slammed the back door closed. Isa groaned defeated and pulled herself to her feet, attempting to, unsucessfully wipe the stinky mud from her clothes and from her face. A moment later the door opened again and her back-pack was thrown out much the same way she was. Isa yelped and caught it before it landed in a large puddle. She glared at the door as it was slammed shut again.
"You owe me for a whole week's pay!" She shouted, "Hey! You owe me! Hey!" She frowned at the door seeing as she was being ignored. She sighed, growing up on the streets of Islia had taught her to choose her battles, this one she was obviuosly NOT going to win.
But she was undaunted. She shouldered her pack and looked around. Seeing as they had cheated her a weeks worth of money, she would compensate herself in another way. She wandered into the stable and smiled to herself seeing the horses lazily munch on their breakfast of straw. Hey, a girl had to get around too.
LurkerAbyss - 2001-06-21
ashul was in his cave up north, sitting on a rock and munching berries. It felt so good to be out in the wilderness and survive, he enjoyed that, but what he really enjoyed was being away from the wilderness in a place where there were many people to talk to. Kashul took the last berry in his basket, squished it a little, then made a strange symbol on the rock he was sitting on, by rubbing the berry, which leaked out juice, on the rock.
"I need to find an Inn up North........" Kashul said to himself, "Aha! I'll go to Torrigan, surely they have an Inn there! And if I'm lucky, there will be others willing to talk and share adventures!"
After Kashul made his symbol, he left the cave, and flew off North towards Torrigan.
Copyright (c) 1999-2001 Abigail Laughlin and the members of the Circle of Stone.