A Tale of Friendship and of Fire

[Karuka]

Closed to hamnat, orphans, and Christoph

Corone. She'd originally come to this place while trying to get back to Scara Brae and her friends...but come to think of it, she was glad she hadn't made it back. They would have found their own ways since the morning they'd parted, and she'd been dragged along on hers. Karuka idly flipped through her rune pouch, there wasn't much to do this day...her pendulum had led her to a clearing by the road near a small town and stopped, so she'd sat down on a log to wait for...whatever it was.

It was a peaceful sort of day...which was good, since the red-head typically led a very chaotic life. It seemed her dharma was a busy one...and she was grateful for that. If she had much more time to think, she might begin to doubt, and doubt in her gods was the absolute last thing the Irish lass wanted.

She had been playing with a pair of runes for a minute or three now, one in each hand, and only now did she look past her golden fingers to the little symbols she held.

Mann and Ken.

Whatever it was she waited for, it would involve friendship...and fire.

[Christoph]

It was a new day, a new beginning. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and all that other fairy tale nonsense. Chris stepped out of the Inn in Underwood and took a deep breath. The air was clean and crisp that morning. It almost reminded him of the Spring afternoon breezes back home in Salvar. Of course, it still wasn’t quite cold or dry enough. But really, what was cold and dry enough to pass as Salvic air?

Still, it was not time to get homesick. For the first time in months, he wasn’t being robbed, chased by zombies, being held in a prison, or forced to fight in Corone’s legendary Citadel against his will. And aside from the extremely strange dream he’d had the night before, there was a certain lack of strange people running into him. It was pleasant beyond words. He stolled off to the edge of the town, soaking in the appealing sunlight like a cat in a window. It was a busy morning for the townsfolk. Workers prepared to go out into the forest to cut lumber, shops and stalls began setting up for the day, children ran and played, and

“Wait,” said the chef, thinking out loud as he walked. His warm, peaceful feeling began to waver. “How long will it be before my life will, once again spiral out control?” He shifted his direction and went off the road, into a clearing. Barely five minutes earlier, he would have smiled and sighed happily about how pretty and preaceful the landscape between the trees of Concordia was. Now, however, he’d talked himself right back into a pessimistic mood.

“Maybe this is the lull before the metaphorical storm!” Chris slapped his forehead and groaned. “This is turning into one of those boring stories that I used to read as a kid... What next? Am I going to turn into the ‘reluctant hero’?” Then, an idea struck him -- sort of like a rock, but it didn’t hurt as much and it wasn’t as funny.

“I’ll take fate... or the universe, or whatever, into my own hands!” he exclaimed to himself. He laughed out loud. “That’s it! It’s brilliant! Instead of just waiting around for random strange people to run into me unexpectantly, I’ll just go and willingly talk to the first random odd person I see! Let’s see what the fates have to say about that!” At that moment, Chris became awkwardly aware that he was not alone in the grassy clearing. Off to the side, barely twenty yards away, was a young woman with a particularly unusual appearance. She had dark skin and red hair, and she was playing with... clay? Well, she had been playing with clay. By then she seemed to be busy watching the most likely insane chef.

“Er... sorry...” he stammered at the woman, shuffling in the opposite direction. Fate! I WILL have my revenge!

[Karuka]

Karuka blinked at the man that had quite the odd air about him as he burst into the clearing, muttering to himself about defeating fate by meeting people straight on...and then she laughed as he started dragging his feet away.

He was a little taller than she was, and had a mop of curly brown hair that almost hid his eyes, the same color. He was taller and paler than she was...but she hadn't met anyone on Althanas that wasn't.

She dropped Ken and Mann back into her rune pouch, swirling the runes with her right hand. "Am I nae a strange enou' stranger?" She withdrew one rune, then flipped to show him its face (http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b56/Kaymiril/Daeg.jpg).

"An' fate says yer plan is ay fine wi' i'. C'mon, 'tis a big enou' log fer us both t' sit on. I'm Karuka o' Erinn...Irelan', fer mos' people."


"Am I not a strange enough stranger?"

"And fate says that your pan is fine with it. Come on, it's a big enough log for both of us to sit on. I'm Karuka of Erinn...Ireland, for most people."

[hamnat]

Shenjara hadn't been in....Corone, that's it! long. Maybe about 6 or 7 days. But it hadn't taken her much time to get lost. She'd never been off the island of Scara Brae, and she was annoyingly reminded of it every time she realized she had no clue where she was going.

Every day was rather boring for her since she, Kishurin, and Mac had parted ways, Temporarily, thank goodness...I rather miss Mac's silly talk of Honor!...please spare me....though it's infinitely better to wandering aimlessly alone, Shenjara thought in her head. She talked to herself rather often, preferring her own company than that of strangers...except for Mac and Kishurin. They seemed to latch hold as soon as she met them, which ended rather violently. However, this time, she was actually longing for someone else's company.

She took a glances at her surroundings, which was not an often occurrence. She was in a wood, the trees not very dense, but all rather pleasing to the eye. The grass tickled her always bare feet, which she refused to cover without good reason. There was a clearing not far ahead. From there, she heard voices, one sounded rather well-spoken, the other had a strange accent not unlike Mac's. She would probably still have trouble deciphering what it was the girl would say if they ever met. Main thing on her mind at that moment, though: PEOPLE!!!!

She rushed towards the clearing for her first social encounter in a few days, which she was all but tripping over herself to get to. In fact, she actually tripped into the clearing, landing flat on her face. "Oh, my 'ose.." she moaned rubbing her nose in pain. It wasn't broken, thank goodness, but it definitely hurt. She sat up, her eyes watering from the pain in her nose, and looked over at a log sitting two people. Embarrassed, she said to them, "Don't mind me...I just...uh..tripped on a rock is all!"

[Christoph]

“Oh... um...” Chris stopped and turned back to the red-haired woman. He blushed and stared at her for a moment as she pulled yet another rune from her pouch. “I’m not going to lie, I’m not exactly sure what it is you just said.” He paused for a moment as she continued to speak. Slowly, but surely, his brain processed some of what she was saying.

“Sit? All right, I suppose.” He shrugged and plopped semi-gracefully down into the log next to her. He was careful to leave about a foot between them, though. It was dry and the brown moss that covered it actually made it somewhat soft. Finally having composed himself, the chef chuckled. “Although, I’m not sure if we can be friends. You see... you appear to be an agent of fate, and fate and I aren’t on speaking terms right n--” His attempted joke was cut short as yet another redhead literally stumbled upon them. Of course... this is all perfectly logical...

“Are you all right?” Chris asked the slender form, his compulsive chivalry taking over for the moment. He extended a hand toward her, offering to help her the rest of the way up. Certainly, in less than five minutes he would remember how annoyed he was. However, he had always been a sucker for a pretty girl in trouble... even if said “trouble” was something as trifling as a harmless fall. It was really a bad habit at times.

“This clearing seems to be a popular spot...”

[Karuka]

"'Tis a destined spot," started the red-head with a chuckle. She then looked around at the people who had so swiftly gathered in the spot that her dharma had brought her to wait. It seemed that at least the man had trouble understanding her...which was somewhat natural, so she took her time speaking to let the other two understand. "If 'twerenae a destined spot, I'd nae ha' been led t' stop here, an' th' dha o' y' wouldnae ha' turned up."

This was so frustrating...she felt as if she were dragging out her words like a Saxon. And the Normans were worse! And everyone she'd met on Althanas spoke so slowly... The Irish lass could have sighed.

"I'm Karuka Tida, of Irelan'. I'm a wee bit hard t' understan' b'cause Anglish isnae mi fers' tongue, 'tis mi secon', an' I ten' t' speak fas'. So if y' canna un'erstan' me, tell me t' slow down."

She looked at the Elven woman with her sharply pointed ears for a moment, making sure she was all right, and then looked back to the man, giving him a grin.

"An' Fate dinna speak t' any'un...jus' pushes ev'ry'un along. Y' can ay b'lieve i' or nae, 'tis th' same t' i'."

Karuka's mind drifted back a couple of months to her encounter with Seth Dahlios, who had been not only a firm believer in Fate...he insisted it was a woman, and really felt slighted by "her."

"It's a destined spot. If it weren't, I wouldn't have been led to stop here, and you two wouldn't have turned up."

"I'm Karuka Tida, from Ireland. I'm a little hard to understand because English is my second language, not my first, and I tend to speak fast. So, if you can't understand me, tell me to slow down."

"And Fate doesn't really speak to anyone...just pushes everyone along. You can believe it or not, it's the same to it."

[hamnat]

Shenjara was not used to being offered a hand in assistance, so she looked at him with a confused look. However, she assumed it was a friendly gesture, and accepted his hand, gripping it as she pulled herself up. "Eh...tha'k you bery much, sir," she said while rubbing her nose. She looked at the other person, who said she was from some place named "Irelan." The girl, Karuka Tida?, had red hair, like her own, only hers was as red as fire and a bit longer.

One of the things that struck her was the girl's accent, It's similar to Mac's accent... and her strange origin. I've never heard of a region named "Irelan." However, she seemed to be full of smiles, so she was probably benign. She carried a pouch at her side, probably for gold, but not altogether a good idea. If it was for something valuable, then she probably lacked a strong mind.

One other thing about her...her belief in fate. She seemed to be a strong believer in fate and destiny, one who would likely agree with something one of her teachers had said. "There is no such thing as coincidence, only necessity." something that implied that chance was non-existent, that things were meant to happen a specific way. She also had a warm presence, one that filled you up and made you feel good to be near the person.

Then there was the other one. The man. He seemed rather average, not really all that special. Brown hair, brown eyes, a little under six feet tall, not that special. Only he was. There wasn't anything special about him to the eye, yet a strange presence was about him. She couldn't place her finger on it, not a warm presence, but not a cold one either. It was...to put a word on it, an odd sensation.

She figured she should go ahead and stop sizing them up, be polite, and actually introduce herself. "Hello, miss Karuka Tida and....kind sir. I am a fire-magess by the name of Shenjara Flamespire, from the the forests of Scara Brae, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

The quote here about coincidence is borrowed from a doctrine advocated in several CLAMP anime series.