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Visiting Ida (1/11, morning)
Topic Started: Apr 3 2013, 11:08 PM (89 Views)
Doru

Doru's plan had been to arrive late, sleep in the stable he'd frequented on previous visits to Road's End, and then seek Ida Tailor the next morning. The howling wind and its trail of disruption had seen him up far later than he'd intended, so he followed his feet to Ida's door with a hangdog look and a yawn, hoping she would be around. He'd given it about an hour after sunrise, figuring on giving her time for breakfast and whatever things she had to tend to, and if she had some chore for him to do, so much the better. She had held out the proverbial olive branch on their last meeting, and so far, she was the only person to do so. If anyone had recognized him last night, they'd given no sign; he had taken the role of helpful stranger as the gift it was, and a far sight better than the cold reception he had half expected.

He pushed back his skin cloak's head and rapped on her door, trying to keep his nervousness under wraps. He called out, in case she was outdoors, "Good morning to you, Ida, it's Doru. Do you have a moment to talk?"
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Ida Tailor
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Ida had been long awake and was indeed outdoors; in the process of organising a search party to look for a young couple that had been reported missing by their families since after the sudden whirlwind. She did not intend to herself take part in the actual search parties, of course, but would remain behind, receiving reports of their progress. There was a bit of work to do organising the necessary repairs of buildings and fencing too, anyway, and doubtless later, any number of missing pets and cattle to account for, too. No, Ida would not soon sleep.

Hearing her name called, the old woman turned around with the slow, deliberate motions of someone of a respectable age. Despite her almost white hair, she did not walk hunched, her posture as proud and straight as it ever was, her blue gaze sharp though her skin was wrinkled and spotted from age. Few people in the village even knew exactly how old she even was.

"Doru." She inclined her head gravely. "I will make a moment. Perhaps you will come with me for a walk?" It was clearly a rhetorical question as she did not wait for an answer, but began walking, winding her way slowly through the village. Everyone were up and about, the streets unusually crowded.

"How fares your family? Have they been spared from accidents tonight?" She began conversationally, all the while nodding and waving at people they passed by, not looking at Doru as she spoke.
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Doru

"Thank you. A walk is perfect." Doru fell in beside, and a touch behind, Ida as a matter of habit - so had he walked many a day beside his father. The memory still gave him a wrench, and so he hesitated a breath or two before answering. Down the street he followed her, making greetings of his own. As much as the usual friendly waves, it was a check-in - yes, she still lives, he ventured outside today, they are all as well as may be.

"I'm afraid with last night's work, I have not yet been out to my family's home." Not his home, but his family's home; only after he'd spoken the words did he regret them, but the statement was true. Getting settled had kept him up well past his normal hours. "After the thing in the sky passed over, I didn't want to travel by night to get there. The palisade is strong, though, and I am going to visit them as soon as I may."

Despite his words, he didn't seem eager to be away, but rather afraid. That attitude didn't match up to his usual escapades - Doru, afraid to leave town? - no, something else was itching at him. "But I wanted to ask you a couple of things, in private." He dropped his voice a bit, a villager passing gossip. "And I have a fear that I would discuss with you."

Seriousness gone, he waved and flashed a smile to one of his usual friends, a trader who bought his furs, and called a cheerful hello. Still, he moved along beside Ida, hiding the strain behind his eyes.
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Ida Tailor
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Someone they passed did attempt to wave her over, but she averted the attempt, making a gesture that she would return to see to it later. One thing at a time.

They passed a corner, and suddenly were at the outskirts of the village, where it was less crowded.

"Give them my regards when you do. I don't think the storm passed their way, though, so they are most likely just as you left them." She spoke the phrase evenly, no hint of any reproach.

Rubbing her hands together to prevent her fingers from going numb from the cold, she glanced sideways at the young man, gaze pensive.

"I am glad you decided to speak to me. It must be a heavy burden to carry all alone, on top of the grief." Her voice was kind, sympathetic. "Know that if you want my help, you shall have it. You need but ask."
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Doru

"I'll be sure to pass it along. My grandmother always loves to hear about your doings." A wiser lady than he'd thought, his grandmother, but that was a trouble for another time. As for his leaving, and returning - his father would have his hide, were he alive, and doubtless his mother mourned them both. It was nearly unheard-of for anyone, even a very skilled woodsman, to disappear for days and return alive, and while Doru had skill and enthusiasm, he lacked his father's experience. He would have to visit - word of his presence in town would travel, and he did not want to lose all ties to them. The conflict played across his face, and his shoulders hunched just a bit, when there was nobody else around to see.

"You told me as much, you know about the wolf," he started. "And I greatly desire your help. Please, Ida, if you know anything that could help me -"

He broke off, took a deep breath, started again. "And I have heard word, also, meant for someone called Keeper, that horned demons are moving. It sounds enough like a tale, but life has been a tale recently."

He wouldn't look at her. Had he possessed mobile ears, he felt they'd have laid flat, but his cheeks only burned with traitor shame.
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Ida Tailor
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A faint, sad smile touched the corners of her lips for a fleeting moment as he mentioned the wolf. Still, her steps lead them away from the village, along the well travelled walking path that led up to the stone circle, where not so long ago Doru's father's corpse had been burned.

"First, when you say 'the wolf', you must know that you are not the only wolf around here."

As she turned her head slightly sideways towards him, her dark blue eyes shimmered and became a glowing, golden-yellow.

"It is an ancient curse that has plagued this county for aeons, for the sins of our ancestors. For every new generation, more of our young pay that price." She sighed, her eyes slowly fading back to their ordinary colour. "What has been done to you, it cannot be undone. But there is hope. With practice, with discipline, the beast can be controlled. I shall teach you, if you will it."

Her neck straightened, her eye brows furrowing, when, more as a side note, Doru mentioned the Keeper and the horned demons.

"Where did you hear such word?" Her voice was suddenly sharp; clearly his words had more than piqued her interest. "It is an old tale, to be sure, a very old tale. But recent events may prove it a true one."
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Doru

Doru's eyes grew wide as he watched Ida's change. "You, also." It was not a question. "There is at least one more, then, for I still hear in my dreams what he said to me." He raised a hand thoughtlessly to rub the knotted scar hiding under his collar.

"I'd much rather learn from you than him, and I have to learn. Please teach me." It was a desperate gamble, that Ida - gentle wise Ida, who had been in charge for so long - would not try to subsume him, as the monstrous wolf had. It was hope she offered him, and he intended to grab it with both hands.

"I heard it from orcs I saw, when I was fleeing through the woods." His eyes flicked toward the standing stones - he'd been fleeing his father's funeral, his family, the village. The wolf. "I... fell on them, when they frightened me," he admitted, quietly. "And the last one told me his news before he died."

Anxious, he studied Ida sideways, keeping pace with her as they moved toward her unknown destination. He shouldn't have said it, and immediately regretted it; surely now she would turn him aside and let him become a monster by himself.
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Ida Tailor
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"There are others too, besides you and me. Those who live in the forest and those who live in the village. I will be truthful with you; my power extends no further than this village. You were turned by one of the wild wolves in the forest. I expect they shall come for you. Sooner rather than later."

She stopped at the foot of the small hill on which the stone circle was positioned, staring up at the mysterious, ancient stones. They did, however, keep their own counsel in this instance. She clasped her hands tightly together.

"Orcs? Ah, well. I suppose they are afraid too. Such loyalty she inspires in her subjects, the Keeper. That they warned their assailant, with their dying breath, hoping those words would reach the Keeper. For all that I don't care much for orcs, I will make sure that the Keeper gets the message." The was a wry edge to her voice. Rubbing her hands, she turned to fully face Doru.

"A Turning can only take place under the full moon. That is when we are at our strongest - and also when it will be the hardest to control ourselves. You will learn how to turn at will, however, and you will be able to do it every night - except during a black moon. Turning when you will it, you are going to learn quite soon. Learning to control your actions once you have turned will be harder. In by basement, there is a cell with cuffs for hands and feet, strong enough to hold one of our kind. That is where we shall start our practice."
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Doru

Doru frowned. "I had best be ready, then." Bravado colored his voice, but beneath it was a very real determination. Still he refused to look at the standing stones, uncomfortable in their presence. Instead, he listened as Ida mused on orcs.

"I'd not thought of it as loyalty." He hung his head for a moment. "Thank you - if I knew who to tell, I'd have taken the message direct, but the only person I could think of was the Woodskeeper, and it seemed unlikely he'd be treating with orcs." That Ida could, or would, seemed unthinkable if he thought of her as the matron of the village, but with his new knowledge, it suddenly felt more plausible than not.

He shuddered at the mention of a cell and its shackles, distracted from orcs and demons and tales. So something did exist that could hold a werewolf - and he was about to find out what it was. "I want to control it. Truly I do. When should we begin?"
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Ida Tailor
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She gave him a sympathetic look, knowing full well that he would not be ready. Then again, there were probably worse dangers lurking in his near future than those of the wild wolves and their claim on him. She sighed again.

"They are not evil. No more than is the bear, or the mountain cougar. But one does not keep wild animals among humans. And you are right, I much doubt that the woodkeeper deals with orcs. Or anyone else, for that matter. They make quite a point of never compromising."

Her gaze returned to the stone circle, eyes narrowing, nostrils flaring. Some nights, she almost thought she could smell the spirits of the dead.

"Better that you don't meet the Keeper just yet." Her voice was once more tinged with a certain wry sharpness. "All that loyalty she inspires does not always come the natural way. Better that you learn first what you are dealing with. The willpower needed to resist compulsion, too, you can learn. It is all a matter of will."

She smiled suddenly, and extended a hand to put it comfortingly on Doru's shoulder. "We begin tomorrow night. It is a frightening thing, I know. But you are still you, underneath the curse."
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Doru

Not evil.

If orcs were not evil, perhaps neither were werewolves, not as a class. The one who'd turned him Doru would have happily painted with a devil's horns, but Ida? For so long she'd been the steadfast guardian of Road's End, organizing and empowering the people.

It gnawed at him with sharp teeth that not only had he killed in rage, but most likely had killed creatures no more harmful than a cougar - or even a wolf - and he shoved it down, and with it the tiny spark of fierce predator pride, that he had fought and won.

"I shall bow to your wisdom there," he replied, thinking Ida had made something of a private joke and wanting in on the humor. The Keeper sounded like no laughing matter, so for now, he'd shelter under Ida's guidance.

"And I shall meet you tomorrow night. Do you think it's safe for me to leave the village during the day? I would like to visit my family today, to reassure them that I still live and tell them I will be in the village tending to things for a time." He looked suddenly uncertain. Wild wolves in the forest had never meant much before, but now they might mean a rein placed on his freedom.
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Ida Tailor
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She inclined her head slowly in acknowledgement, expression grave, accepting his trust in her. A younger woman might have demurred, but she had been moral guardian for many a year and had no time for either false modesty, nor vanity.

"I cannot say for sure that the storm will not return, but if it does, I doubt that you will be any safer here than out there. Go see your family, but try to keep your meetings to daytime, for now. There is work to be done before it will be safe for you to roam around alone at night. Any provocation, whether its anger or fear... well." Out if kindness, she did not finish the sentence, knowing there was no need.

Cocking her head slightly to one side, listening to the distant voices in the village, people making inventory to make sure nothing had been damaged from the whirlwind.

"There is more going on here right now than just your own personal tragedy, but we will save that for another night. See your family, and then we will begin your lessons. There is a great deal more to restraint than just being shackled up in a cellar. It helps if one practices a bit of restraint in all aspects of life. If you catch my drift." She gave him a knowing look.
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Doru

"Then, I will travel quickly and as carefully as I can." It wasn't too far to make in a day, and the path was likely to be free of dangerous animals during the daytime. If he found a rabbit, he could even bring a gift.

"Restraint?" Doru flashed a quick grin. "I'll do what I can." Doubt hid behind the merriment, though - what else did she know, that she wasn't saying? To a wild and reckless hunter, restraint would not come easily.

"Thank you, Ida." He bowed, a country lad's sincere gesture and not a courtly statement. "I will return soon, and see you tomorrow evening."
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