Zion: Light of the New Moon Part 2, Ch 4.5 Bannihar and Myre A
Zion - Light of the New Moon, Part 2 Chapter 4.5
Bannihar and Myre
The Banniharians and the Myrenese will be joining up together as they take the final leg of their journey to Zion. In a day or two they will final arrive at their end goal... one hopes.
Jules finished her third circuit of the camp before finally putting her sword away. It wasn't that she was paranoid but, at the same time she wasn't given into a false sense of security. The party was officially within the Periphery of Zion but, according to their religious leaders there was no sign that such protection still existed. That thought didn't sit well with the thylacine.
She paused, her ears swiveling toward two figures seated on a rock gazing toward the sky. Without even having to see them, Jules clearly identified Dana by her accent. The second voice, female as well, had the uptight formality of a Myrenese priestess so she wasn't hard to pin down. "Lady Marion." Jules noted, approaching from behind the priestess, "Ms. Whitecliff." the Wild Lander nodded her head to the antlered wolf. Without another comment the thylacine took a seat. The two continued their conversation without more than a precursory greeting.
"An' ye think it was th' right way t'deal with a bandit?" Dana questioned.
"Of course." Lady Marion acknowledged, "The laws are clear on it."
The Moon Pelted wolf chuckled and gave her head a slight shake, "Nay, Lady... I didnae ask if it was what the laws say... I asked if ye thought it was right."
"The laws are there for a purpose." the priestess explained, "Thus following the law is right."
"That's a pretty black-and-white way to look at things." Jules inserted into the conversation.
"Life is full of right and wrongs, Sir." the priestess stated.
The thylacine smirked, brushing errant streaks of trail dust from her jerkin, "Doesn't mean there can't be some gray areas, priestess... life is full of gray."
The edge of the human's lips rose for a moment in a quirky smirk, "Not long ago I would have argued the point..." she let out a sigh, rubbing the back of her neck, "But... considering the current situation, and everything that's happened since our last delegation went missing, I'm beginning to wonder."
"Last delegation?" Jules asked, the curiosity in her voice counteracting her intended aloofness.
"Didn' Kayte say somethin' similar?" Dana asked, glancing to the Wild Lander.
"The first envoy from Myre never returned." the priestess interjected simply, "We have been trying to fit the pieces of this puzzle together but I'm not liking the picture that is developing."
Jules nodded at length, "You should speak about that with Priestess Delier. Bannihar.... has a similar issue."
"Maybe one o' t'other cities be playin' unfair." Dana suggested.
Lady Marion signed, "If only things were still black and white, I might be able to believe that." Jules didn't quite understand the statement, but the tone suggested that the priestess was not about to elaborate. Excusing herself, Jules returned to her patrol; she hoped it would give her time to think.
* * * * * *
Iskiy sat on a boulder, enjoying the last bit of warmth it had trapped from the day's sun. Bannihar's weather was much colder than the low lands, but he still enjoyed feeling the warmth from the rock... it helped remind him of time he spent at the hearth in the barracks when he was younger. Things were simpler back then. He gazed across the camp to where Lady Marion and Dana were talking. His eyes lingered on the shaman.
"Somehow I don't think Lady Marion would appreciate you staring." a female voice spoke up from off to the side. Iskiy turned to regard the human guard woman that had been traveling with the Myrenese caravan. "Leijh Telone." she offered a hand out.
The wolf clasped her wrist, which brought about a bemused chuckle from Leijh, though Iskiy didn't quite understand why. "Iskiy Thrush." he introduced himself, then paused when the human removed her hand from his grasp then quickly reached out and slid her fingers into his, gripping his paw and giving it a firm shake. His ears went up, "What was that?"
"That's a proper greeting in Myre." she announced, "It's called a handshake."
"Or a pawshake?" Iskiy suggested.
Leijh laughed, "No... still a handshake."
"Oh..." he took his paw back and rubbed his ear in thought, "And... uh... what did you mean about Lady Marion?"
The human rolled her eyes, "I was kidding, Iskiy." she announced, "The way you were looking at her just kind of made the comparion easy."
Iskiy smiled reluctantly, feeling a little uncomfortable at the woman's casual nature, "She's a human and I'm not." he fidgeted, "And I wasn't staring at her."
The human must have sensed something in his words, making Iskiy even more self-conscious. "Oh..." she started, "I didn't even think... is... there kind of a taboo 'thing' about relationships with other species in Bannihar?" the obvious awkwardness in how the question came out of Leijh made Iskiy feel just a little better; apparently he wasn't the only one trying to figure out how to relate.
"It's... frowned upon," Iskiy acknowledged, "but not illegal... at least... I don't think." he flicked an ear, unable to miss the faint blush in the human's cheeks, "Why? What is Myre's view of it?"
"Very... uh... poor." she cleared her throat, "It's forbidden publicly... most things are." she offered a faint smile, "But, it's just like all those other things: whatever people do behind closed doors is their own business."
"Having to be what people want you to be must be difficult at times..." Iskiy offered, not having to try very hard to catch the scent of a fox on her, "it must be like living two lives."
Leijh simply nodded, obviously drawn into her own mind, "You can say that again." she let out a breath, and stood, slowly extended her hand to Iskiy, "Nice meeting you... formally."
Iskiy smiled genuinely, holding his paw back out and purposefully grabbing the human's fingers instead of her wrist, "Likewise."
* * * * * *
Before making camp, the group had come to a general consensus that they would reach Zion the following day. So close to his place of birth, Elias had no doubts that he'd get very little sleep. He'd sat by the fire and contemplated. The warmth from the blaze was a strange contrast to the spherical stone in his pocket; no matter how much time he held it the rock never warmed. The Geomancer had just begun to hear the familiar whispers from the stone when it was interrupted by a much more tangible voice.
"Good evening, Elias." Lord Raes greeted the armadillo, taking a seat by the fire with him.
Elias felt a faint tingle of apathy for the intrusion, but he let go of the stone and withdrew his hand from his pocket,"If this is about Kayte--"
"It's not about Kayte." the dog interrupted, and glanced to the side as one of the Myrenese guards took a seat with them. The shepherd smoothed out his white fur and provided a pleasant smile to each of them.
"I thank you for your hospitality in inviting me to join your fire, Lord Raes." the Moon Pelted dog offered formally. Elias gave Raes an appraising look, but said nothing.
The three sat at the fire together without a word spoken between them for several minutes and all was quiet until Lord Raes spoke up, "I overheard some talking..."
"Of what sort, Lord Raes?" the shepherd inquired patiently; Elias found his even and casual tone oddly out-of-place but, the armadillo reminded himself, not everybody had as much trouble meeting new people the way he did.
"I heard that you're a Wayfarer." the big dog announced. The comment brought the Geomancer's casual musings to an end and focused all of his attention on the Moon Pelted soldier in front of him.
"Indeed I am." the Myrean acknowledged it simply, "Cornelius Cymbeline... at your service." he offered a slight bow of his head.
"I've heard stories of the Wayfarers, but not everything always made sense." Raes admitted, "Why is it you all call yourselves Cornelius?"
"Our title of fellowship were created in honor of the first non-dragon Wayfarer." the shepherd explained casually, "We all take it as a title and a name."
"A name?" the champion asked, "So do you surrender your family name or your given name?" he raised an eyebrow, "or do you use three names?"
Elias didn't bother waiting for an answer; something about Cymbeline's comment struck him as odd, "I didn't know the Wayfarers were started by dragons, I only heard that Wayfarers are Dragon Blooded."
"Truly?" Cymbeline inquired calmly, turning to regard the Geomancer, "I did not know so many people in Bannihar would choose to upkeep rumors and speculation..." The comment could have come across as accusatory, but Elias could read no such aggression in the dog's tone.
"I didn't learn about it in Bannihar." the armadillo explained, "I heard about them when Wayfarers passed through Zion."
"Ah..." Cymbeline acknowledged with a nod, "So you have been to Zion before?"
"You could say that." Lord Raes chuckled, "He's FROM Zion."
Elias didn't know why, but the abject surprise evident on Cymbeline's face seemed out of character for the otherwise stoic dog. The reaction intrigued him.