Date: September 15, 1998
Place: Old City Garden - Haven
Cast: Dawn (Aurora I), One-Paw
Scene: The old Sylvan storyteller tells Dawn a tale about how Ferrin outwitted an ancient Varati god and brought fire to the People.

Beneath a tree off the path, a slight snore announces to the world One-Paw's bed for the night--a rather comfy-looking cottonwood beneath which he sprawls, head and shoulders propped up against its roots. As you enter, he stirs with a snort and rolls over onto his side, meanwhile mumbling something about cranberry cobbler and wyverns.

You are asleep--thus, it is unlikely you would hear the quiet footfalls of an intruder in the park. Yet, 'intruder' implies that this person would be unwelcome, and the garden is as much her domain as anyone's. So she walks fearlessly along its twisting paths, at night, with Bordertown only a stone's throw away.

Perhaps your snore startles her. Perhaps it is curiosity that draws her. Perhaps she recognizes that particular shape beneath the cottonwood. In any case, she ventures closer, and a misplaced step, and the resulting *snap!* of a twig, announces her arrival.

"Morning already?" mumbles One-Paw as he ever-so-slowly comes awake, eyelids sliding back one at a time at a snail's pace. The disappointment on his groggy face seems more directed at the darkness, and his return to slumber is halted only as he catches a glimpse of you. "Er, why, chookma Dawn," he manages to stutter, propping himself up on an elbow.

"One-Paw," she greets, with a mixture of surprise, warmth, and weariness; a strange combination. She seems pleased to see you, but her manner is distracted and pensive. She reaches your 'bed' and crouches down nearby, asking, "What brings you to the city?"

One-Paw yawns and rubs the sleep from one of his eyes as he pushes himself into a sitting position. "Oh, business and such," he replies vaguely. "'Tis... well, 'tis a long story, I am thinking. With the passing of the sachem--Tupuran bless his soul--well, there are so many things that are left to be doing and such."

"Oh... I'm sorry," she says hesitantly as she takes a seat on the grass beside you. "This was... Strongbow, wasn't it?"

"Aye," One-Paw answers with a nod. "A dear friend. An old friend. But all of us pass on to the other realm. 'Tis unfair for Grandmother to keep hold of us forever, ye know." His smile is weak, whether from sorrow or sleep is unclear. "What brings ye to this place at this dark hour, my beauty?"

Leaning back against the trunk of the old cottonwood, she expels a breath. As ever, her cowl keeps her face in shadow, but what with the darkness anyway, it doesn't make much difference. "I needed some fresh air. And solitude." She casts you a sidelong glance, and you can hear the faint smile in her voice, "Though I don't mind your company, old friend. I am sorry to hear about your sachem. Who will lead in his stead?"

"Spirit-Walker has seen visions of a woman," One-Paw explains, yawning again and rubbing at his stubbled chin. "And, well, if I was having more time I would aid her in finding this. But there remains much to do--any new sachem will be unused to dealing with all of these stone-walkers. I work to make this change easier. And besides, the more I am in the city, the less chance there is the Ettowealona would turn to me to be sachem."

"You?" She sounds vaguely amused, though not incredulous. "I think you would make a good leader, One-Paw. Wisdom tempered with wit, and plenty of charm." Her elbow nudges you lightly in the ribs as she teases, "Though don't let that go to your head."

One-Paw chuckles, seeming embarrassed at the compliment. "Well, the earth would split were ye right, Dawn," he smirks, poking you in return. "But nay, a Graisha's place is in servitude, not leadership. And I have too many mistakes under my belt already, without bringing about the ruin of a tribe I helped form. I thank ye for those kind words."

"'Too many mistakes,'" she echoes with a sigh, and her teasing mood lapses into melancholy. "At least you've the ability to see it. Too many others never do. Until it is too late." She links her hands around her knees after drawing them up to her chest, and rests her cheek against her arm, hooded face turned to you. In a quiet, almost wistful voice, she asks, "I don't suppose you have any stories, about a leader who learned from his mistakes, and did not make them again, and whose tribe flourished, and all was well...?" She stifles a bitter chuckle. "I'd like to hear something with a happy ending."

The Graisha's eyes, pupils noticeably large in the moonlight, study you for a long moment. "Ye are having a problem with those younglings of yours, eh?" he observes aloud. "What is happening that would cause such a melancholy in such a lovely lady?"

"Oh, I don't know where the fault lies," she says on the tail of another sigh. "It is so easy to lay the blame anywhere but at your own feet, isn't it? And I'm too old for this." She rests her head against her folded arms, and her voice comes out muffled, "Once I had fire left in me, but I fear it's no more than embers, now..."

"Ye are too old?" One-Paw laughs aloud and nudges you again. "Child, ye are but half my age. I was whipping youngling Graisha into shape long before I'd as many summers beneath my belt as ye." His boasting cuts off abruptly, his tone shifting to one much more sympathetic. "Tell me, what is it that causes such troublings in your heart?"

With her head still resting on her forearms, Dawn's words are muffled and indistinct--you have to strain to hear them. "So many things. My father was a leader, not me. But I wanted to fulfill his dream for peace... at least in some small way. And even at that, I fail. It never lasts. No matter what I do, whatever small contribution I make, it never makes a difference." At last, her head lifts, and she leans her head back against the trunk. Her eyes gleam a little too brightly in the moonlight. "And all I want is peace for myself. Is that so much to ask?"

One-Paw rests a gnarled, aged hand on your shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. "I can do little to imagine the trials ye have faced," he admits quietly. "To be cast out from your people, to consort with those rogues of yours beneath the nose of their greatest adversary, and Grandmother knows what else--ye are a strong woman, Dawn. There is a warrior spirit in ye that even Ferrin himself would envy. It must be taxing, methinks."

"It is," she whispers, unconscious of your hand on her shoulder. At the moment, she's far too wrapped up in her own woes to notice much else. "I just wonder if your 'Grandmother' has any purpose for me. My own gods... I don't hear their voices anymore. My lares were destroyed when--" Abruptly, she cuts off, as if suddenly realizing she'd said too much, and she changes the subject swiftly. "Tell me about this Ferrin of yours. You promised me a story once."

"Ferrin," One-Paw sounds the name with a great deal of reverence, perhaps more than any of the other deities he's mentioned. "Ferrin is the closest thing we have to a lares, methinks. To the Graisha, that is. He is both a hero and a villain, a leader and a follower. What sort of story would ye be hearing about him, then?"

Tilting her head at you, Dawn seems intrigued in spite of her dark mood. "So he is not perfect then? A leader who can make mistakes?"

A distinct nod and rather spacey look accompany One-Paw's words. "But of course," he says. "Do not all leaders make mistakes? There is one story from the dawn of time, when naught but the People and the Varati lived on the Earth. In those days, the world was green and lush, and the Varati lived deep beneath in their caverns, never venturing to see the light and dark of Sky-Father. To the People they were little more than stories and legends, but such was enough for Ferrin. Have ye heard this one?"

Shifting a little to get comfortable, Dawn shakes her head. "No, I haven't." There is an eager undercurrent in her voice, and she watches you in the moonlit darkness as avidly as any child who'd curled up at your feet as you told stories around the campfire in the past.

One-Paw gazes up at the moon as he speaks, his voice hushed as if to avoid disturbing the rest of the garden. "Ferrin is a curious one, for he is Trickster as well as Warrior. In that day, he chose to seek out these mysterious rock folk called the Varati. From his den in Underwood he set out toward the mountains of the north, toward the edge of the world where Sky-Father forgets to shine and darkness and ice blanket the land."

Dawn remains respectfully silent as she listens, nary a shift or sound betraying her presence.

One-Paw continues: "It was here that he found a cave in the earth so deep that it was like an arrow wound in the flesh of Grandmother. Into this he went, deeper and deeper until he came to a place where the cave opened up into a vast underground land. And here lived the Varati, with their huts and dens built of gems and stones, stretched as far as the eye could see. And it was here that Ferrin first saw fire, for the gods had entrusted them with this gift for safekeeping for all time, to keep it from the surface where it would do naught but burn trees and homes. But Ferrin saw it here, in the keeping of the Varati, and found that he wanted it."

Unseen in the darkness and shadow, a faint smile curves Dawn's lips, but she doesn't interrupt your monologue.

"Using the cunning of Fox and the stealth of Coyote," narrates One-Paw, "Ferrin sneaked closer and closer to the fire, which was kept in the hearth beneath the throne of the Varati sachem. He was a great man made of stone and dressed in metal, whose brow was so flat and wide that it is said an entire longhouse could be built across it twice over. Ferrin saw this man and knew that he was Husheng, favored of Grandmother and protector of all the mountains, and he saw that Husheng sat directly upon the fire so that he could not reach it."

"What did he do?" she asks, so engrossed in the story that she forgets her mental promise not to interrupt. She's leaning a little closer now, enraptured with the tale.

One-Paw really seems to be getting into his story now. A smile spread across his face lets his Graisha incisors flash in the moonlight as he winks at you and goes on. "Ferrin came to the feet of Husheng and called up to him, 'Oh great Husheng, Son of Grandmother and Sachem of Stone, I am Ferrin of the People and I have humbly come before ye to gaze upon the mightiness that the gods have left in your bones!' And from his throne, Husheng looked down at Ferrin and smiled, but he said nothing."

Dawn is entranced--even without light to see her expression, you can all but feel the focus of her gaze; the way she seems to hang on every word. It's been a long time since she's heard a story, or gotten to play the more childish role of listener. It's been a while since she's been entertained.

One-Paw continues: "This was not what Ferrin needed, however, so he spoke again. 'It is said among the People that ye are so strong ye can lift ten men above your head, but it is also said that this is too amazing to believe without being seen. Can ye show me this feat?' And Husheng looked down at Ferrin and said: 'Cousin, though I do not normally grant such requests, I shall do so for you as you are the son of my uncle, Sky-Father.' And he called to him his ten largest men, and prepared to show his feat of strength to Ferrin."

Perhaps guessing what's to come, Dawn's unseen smile broadens, though this time, she doesn't interrupt.

One-Paw nearly chuckles at his own story at this point. "So Husheng put his hands beneath the ten men and bent all of his strength to the feat. And wonder of wonders, he lifted the ten men above his head, but the sweat was pouring from his face, which was as red as a ripe cherry at the effort. And he huffed and puffed as he looked again at Ferrin. But lo, Ferrin was gone! For he had seen his chance: when Husheng's back was turned he snatched the fire from beneath the throne and ran with the speed of Cougar to the tunnel. Up and up the tunnel he ran, with Husheng fast in pursuit."

A pleased chuckle escapes Dawn's lips at this point, for the wily Graisha's cleverness.

"At the surface," continues One-Paw animatedly, "Ferrin looked behind him and saw he had very little time before Husheng caught up with him. In those days, you see, the Varati could run much faster than they can now. He looked about him, desperate to hide his new treasure. He was in the north, however, and all he saw was stone and ice. At first, he tried to hide the fire in the ice, but it melted and the water nearly extinguished his prize. He could hear Husheng coming up the tunnel behind him. Ferrin was dearly desperate indeed, so he grabbed the nearest thing he could--two rocks. In these he hid the fire. And at that moment, Husheng came bursting from the mountain!"

"What then?" The eagerness in her voice can't be disguised, and nor can the broad grin at Ferrin's solution. "What did Husheng do?"

One-Paw continues: "Husheng was terribly angry, and his voice boomed so loudly that the mountains trembled all the way to their roots! He demanded of Ferrin, 'Where have ye hidden that which Grandmother herself asked me to guard?' And Ferrin burst into tears, offering one of the rocks to Husheng and weeping: 'Great Sachem of Stone, my foolishness is unmatched! Alas, as I brought the fire to the surface, there was little I could do to keep it from freezing solid and burning out! And now there is naught left but this black rock!' Husheng took the stone and was aghast, but he said, 'Ye are indeed foolish, Ferrin of the People. Our only hope is that the heat of my stomach can once again bring life to this flame.' And he swallowed the stone."

Moonlight picks out the glimmer of Dawn's eyes as they widen, and she shifts a little on the grass, surprised by this turn of events.

The Graisha's voice grows softer, obviously drawing to a conclusion. "And so ye see, to this day the Varati have fire flowing in their veins, as ye can see with the Great Elder, Atar. And to this day they remain untrusting, allowing nearly none to enter their magnificent cities." He grins, noting, "To this day also, however, ye may bring the hidden fire from rocks by banging them together. Such was the cleverness of Ferrin, that he created such paranoia in the Varati while bringing fire to the rest of us."

Dawn's voice still holds a smile, though her tone is musing. "I wonder what would have happened though, if Ferrin just asked..."

One-Paw chuckles and shrugs. "I am supposing we will never know," he says. "But it would have made quite a boring story, methinks."

Chuckling, Dawn concedes, "Perhaps so. But then, maybe the Varati would not be so paranoid and suspicious. And perhaps we'd have been thankful for it, today."

"Or perhaps we'd all be eating raw meat and shivering in the winter," One-Paw counters, winking lewdly at you. "So mayhaps ye could tell me now, then, what mistake ye have made that bothers ye so?"

With a sigh, Dawn's attention returns to her earlier dilemma. "Among my people, it is called 'hubris.' It means that you are too prideful, and the gods often feel the need to teach you humility." She shakes her head. "It is a trait inherent among Empyreans, I think. And I'm no less susceptible despite being 'outcast.'" Reaching over, she rests a hand on your shoulder, a gesture of thanks for the story. "It is something I'll have to resolve on my own. But thank you, One-Paw. If nothing else, you made me forget for a little while." A smile creeps into her voice as she adds, "I just wish I could borrow a little of Ferrin's cleverness."

"Ye have more of his cleverness than ye know," One-Paw says, taking your hand from his shoulder and clasping it warmly. "I have yet to meet a woman who is so slippery in words as ye are, Dawn. I know I am not one of your people, but if ye are ever needing one to confide in, do not be afraid to come to me."

For several moments, her fingers clasp yours with equal warmth, and equal friendship. Her voice is sincere as she says, "Thank you, One-Paw. I... cannot promise you that I will. But the offer itself means a lot to me." The sincerity does not fade, but her voice holds a thread of hesitation as she adds, "And--and I am proud to call you a friend."

"There is much ahead of us," One-Paw replies quietly. "I have seen it in the eyes of Spirit-Walker, and heard it in the tales of Tupuran's wives. Your friendship will mean much to me, but I promise that I will try not to use it as I have so many others." He glances at the sky, then says: "Ye should go now, Dawn. The moon calls me, and I should get some hunting done before morning."

With a quick glance skyward, Dawn confirms the moon's fullness, and nods. She climbs to her feet, brushing at her cloak, and wishes you farewell. "Good hunting then. And... Tyche favor you. I will see you soon." And with that, she quietly slips away into the darkness.

FIN  

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