View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
Ranara and her little daughter Azabel move to Urtho's Tower when the latter can say six words ("up", "mama", "milk", "no", "now", and "please") and hasn't started to walk yet. Ranara sets up to teach little children to read, ones who don't have evident Gifts yet - Ranara herself has Mindspeech, is all, with about a classroom's worth of range. Azabel sits in on classes, worn on her mother's back or later plopped in a corner with toys or, when she's only four, plopped in a corner with a book, younger than the other kids in the class. When Azabel has in fact sat through her mother's curriculum she is turned somewhat loose, to walk very carefully up and down and around the Tower, exploring.
smol bell in urtho's tower
+ Show First Post
small-and-alone
Ma'ar wakes up not totally rested, but he can manage. He sits up, yawning, and makes part of the tent-barrier transparent on the inside so he can watch the rest of the sunrise.
"- Did you know you talk in your sleep?" he says to Azabel once she's awake.
small-and-alone
Ma'ar can quote her the snippets he remembers while he packs up his things and eats some dried fruit and nuts that he packed.
small-and-alone
"Huh! That's interesting." Ma'ar would ask her what she dreamed about but then she might ask him and he doesn't really want to talk about it.
Once they've breakfasted and packed, they can head out again. It's cloudy today, and colder.
anticipating_night
"Be easier to make it rain with all this. Maybe tonight before we fall asleep so we don't have to walk in it."
small-and-alone
"Makes sense." Ma'ar shades his eyes, peers at the horizon. "- Skan, figure you could fly out and scout again? I think we should be most of the way to Kiyam clan lands, but - even if they're still around they might've moved, people are nomadic here anyway, right."
without-fear
Skan is back about half a candlemark later. "I ssaw people! About ten miless away, that way. They weren't paying attention to me sso I flew a bit lower to get a look - is there a way to tell which clan it was, if I describe them...?"
small-and-alone
"If you think it really loudly in your surface thoughts, I can read it from you without getting anything else?"
without-fear
Wing-shrug. "I don't mind that much if you do get ssomething elsse too." And Skan holds the mental image of the clustered tents and guarded cattle-herd as clearly as he can.
small-and-alone
Unfortunately all the different clans wear approximately the same style of clothing and have similar-looking tents, and cows look mostly the same as each other from a distance. Skan wasn't close enough or at a good angle to quite make out faces.
"- Maybe?" he allows. "Seems worth getting close enough to check. I'm not too tired, I can Gate us out if it's a different clan and they attack us. Azabel, does that seem all right to you?"
without-fear
Skan, full of energy, bounces around ahead and behind them, or flies circling low over their heads.
At one point he shrieks and dives, and manages to catch himself some sort of small squirrel-like rodent, which Ma'ar identifies as a prairie dog. He eats it approximately whole and is SO pleased with himself.
anticipating_night
"Are all the wild animals within easy distance of the Tower too picked over or something?" she giggles.
without-fear
"Ussually yess! You have to go to a sspecial resserve for it. I never went without my parentss before, thiss iss much more an adventure."
