Knights of Anathaeum Not Far From the Tree

[Alouette]

Lou smiled up at Arbok, having to lean her head back uncomfortably so but she wanted, at least for this time, to not have Arbok bend over for her as she usually did. She even got on the tips of her toes just in case it wasn’t enough.

“It’s okay.” Alouette was well aware she was very small when compared to Arbok. She couldn’t blame the tallest squire ever when she had no control in deciding her height. Just like Lou had no control in how little she grew after she had turned twelve. “I shouldn’t have been on the ground for so long.” She said just as Arbok pointed out something she had been feeling but was nervous to say aloud: she was going to miss Roki. Not just because he was her onion skin supplier when it came to making dyes, but she felt with Roki gone, there would be less smiles at the Monastery. Less smiles at the Knoll during meal times, less smiles during practice and drills, less smiles from her, too.

Her green eyes went to the siblings and she smiled at their closeness. When Lemock had told her, she had felt such warmth of a possibility of a going away party for her friend. She felt even more warmth now knowing that Gruki had come up with the idea and she did this for her brother. It was homely and familiar, even if she wasn’t apart of it, she appreciated it.

“Lemock deserves a bit of wine, I think.” She said as she took a seat at the table, only getting a seat at the end because she had waited too long for everyone else to sit. “We all do.” One hand stayed in her pocket, another went to grab a shortbread cookie to nibble on. She was always a little nervous in big groups like this. Staying on the fringe helped with her nerves, and hopefully it could give her just the extra push of courage she needed to give Roki the good luck charm she had made him.

Roki Gruki Arbok

 

[Roki]

Roki took the hastily wrapped gift, eyes wide and full of wonder. "A gift!" he said with a little hop in his seat. "I love gifts," he croaked a squeaky little croak, as if he'd become frohoggin, if only for an instant. his face seemed to smoosh in on itself, as if to make more room for the wide and wicked grin that spready across his face. He looked half jack-o-lantern, wide mouthed and tusk toothed.

In a storm of little jerks and pulls, he did away with the thin cloth that had bundled the prize. What greeted him stunned him to stillness. Enough to hear Arbok's words when he stopped to think about what she had said.

His lips wobbled, and his eyes grew fat with tears, and he crushed the little book to his chest as he held back tears. "Arbok," he said with choked emotions. Sniffled some. With all he would learn. "I'll fill it with everything," he confessed. Sniffled more. Felt the tears well over his face, and started crying.

How he hoped the Corvodii were ok.

Maybe he could find them and- he was crying too much to keep the thought. Ugly sobs into his sister's arm.

Arbok Alouette Gruki

 

[Gruki]

'Indeed we are!' Gruki replied, smiling up at Arbok from where she sat beside her brother. Indeed we are. Humming, the she-orc let her gaze fall to the other squires sat around the long table. The siblings, Len and Sen, fiery-haired and fighting over who got to pour Roki's drink. Naji, quiet and a little forlorn-looking, but happy just to be invited. Lemock, her co-conspirator and sometimes-friend. He had been instrumental in bringing their plans to fruition.

Alouette, small but mighty. Another who had played her part well. Did she know she had confetti in her hair?

And, of course, Arbok. The half-orc had not expected any gifts. The notebook was an inspired touch, and well-received. If not for Roki clinging to her arm, Gruki could have hugged her right then and there.

'Shush, now,' she cooed, pulling him to her chest so as to hide the tears. 'This is your day! No crying allowed! Otherwise, you're like to set me off,' she grinned, felt the salt stinging her eyes. 'Hey! Who's chopping onions in here?' Gruki chuckled, resting her chin on the top of Roki's head.

'I love you, Little Brother. Don't you ever doubt that.'

Arbok Alouette Roki

 

[Arbok]

Arbok sat at the table with a large pile on her plate.
She tucked her elbows as Roki spoke to her.
"Good. I look forward to hearing about your time there."
Her smile was broad and genuine. She liked the siblings. They had help show her the ropes when she first arrived.
Now Roki was off on his own adventure.
She was happy for him.
With a long arm she reached over and picked confetti out of Alouette's hair from across the table corner.
She didn't like to dote on her. She knew what the tallest and shortest Squires looked like and didn't want anyone to think she was treating Alouette like a child.
"There, that's all of it I think."
Roki was an emotional lad and when she saw him crying she felt maybe she had spoiled the mood with the gift. He looked overwhelmed.

Gruki Roki Alouette

 

[Alouette]

A shy heat spread from her cheeks to her ears as Arbok helped to clean out her hair. Her shoulders raised up as she lowered her head, sheepish and embarrassed but the quiet smile she couldn’t dissuade off her lips showed gentle content. When Arbok finished, Lou brought up a hand to lightly run her fingers in her hair, making sure there weren’t any knots. There weren’t anything, Arbok’s fingers may have been twice the size of hers but they were consistent with their tender touch.

“Thank you.” Lou said once she had finished her cookie and was no longer chewing. When she heard the sobbing, she looked away from Arbok just as she looked at Roki. The smile was soon replaced with a worried frown, brows knitting together as she tried to understand why he was upset. Hadn’t Roki just said he loved gifts? The hand in her pocket squeezed over the item, thumb tracing over the stitching. Was it happy tears?

It didn’t look like happy tears to her. He was making a rather ugly face, eyes all scrunched and watery— Lou sat up straight. Like the freshly hatched bramblings! He looked just like them, all small and slight and with his mouth open wide and maybe even a little blind himself in that moment.

“Cute.” She mumbled and then turned towards Arbok. She reached over a squire to grab Arbok’s wrist. “You’re a genius.” Was all she said, even if it made very little sense to anyone but her.

Roki Gruki Arbok

 

[Roki]

It was a bout of crying. One where the crush of familial embrace only served to muffle the ugliness of his sobbing. Heavy pats, and a big bundle of love on the outside of it all. But inside. Inside he felt a pit. Into which all the warmth was swallowed up. The joy of seeing his friends' faces, the gift he held close.

He didn't want to cry. He had tried to hold it in. And it wasn't that his smile was fake it was just. So much had happened. He hadn't told them of the Bellamy. Of the wolf. The great bird of lightning which he saw through the golden blaze of the woods around him.

The wild fire of his heart.

How he had burned the innocent. Blazed the forest. How he had failed.

So he cried some more, and hugged his sister. Until there was no tears left to cry.

Sobs small. He wasn't sure how much time had actually passed. His head hurt from the tears. But it was a pain he needed. A paint that let him breath. Sniffly and snotty as it was. He peeled himself off of Gruki's side, journal still in hand.

He looked about the table, and wiped away the tears. "Sorry, guys," he said, smiled sheepish and small. But it turned bright, quick. "Someone pass me a cup of that wine?"

Gruki Alouette Arbok

 

[Gruki]

Gruki held her brother until the racking sobs died down. Patience was a virtue, and she had plenty of it. For her family and friends. 'There, there,' she said softly, patting him on the back. She knew there was more to his tears than a simple gift. Guilt, maybe? The kindest souls often suffered the worst from it, and Roki was nothing if not kind.

'Len. Maybe you could...'

'Oh, yeah, sure! No problem.' Leaving his sister be, the short, gangly squire poured himself and Roki a cup of wine, passed one over. 'Here,' he grinned, 'if that don't bring tears to your eyes, I don't know what will.' Smiling, Gruki nodded gratefully. Sen, feeling a bit left out, pulled a lute from beneath the table. Few here had ever heard her play in public.

Apparently, this was something of a special occasion.

Buttering up some cheese and crackers, Gruki took a bite as Sen looked up from tuning her instrument. 'Um, okay,' she started, blowing a strand of reddish-brown hair from her face. 'What do y'all want me to play? Roki? Arbok?'

Arbok Alouette Roki

 

[Arbok]

"Hmm?"
Arbok's mouth was full of smoked cheese when Alouette touched her wrist and called her a genius. Which Arbok had little idea about. Was she a genius for the gift? For picking up two of everything on her plate?
She tried to smile without drooling and squeezed the back of Alouette's hand quickly before letting go. There was so much going on.
Then music was mentioned, Sen got out her instrument.
She liked music but didn't think anyone knew *the charge of the bear brigade* or *cub cub goose*.
Sen was good though she had to admit and would have if she could have swallowed the cheese fast enough. Besides it was Roki's day. He should get first request.

Alouette Gruki Roki

 

[Haelyn]

Somewhere on the outskirts of those crowded, Haelyn was sat down and reading. Her hair fell forward enough to cover her face, acting like blinders to keep her focused on the pages she was intent on reading. She had been here before the others had begun to set up, and as no one had asked her to move out of the way or leave, it meant that she got to stay in her spot.

Even as music spilled into the spaces, it did not distract the squire.

Absentmindedly, Haelyn found herself humming along to the tune being played as she turned the page.

 

[Alouette]

Whatever had brought Roki to tears seemed to have waned, and better yet, wine and music were to come to fill the room now that Roki was done crying. Alouette’s reaching hand went back to her lap, the other hand coming out from her pocket. Ulrika was eager to pass out some of the wine once Roki had finally gotten a cup. Before Lou could reject it, a cup was shoved into her hands, just as Ulrika accidentally sloshed wine in another cup, the violet-red drops staining the book in Haelyn’s hand.

“Oopsies, sorry!” Ulrika said, but she had already gone back to continue her self-given job of passing out cups of wine. Lou looked from her cup to the page that had just been turned and the spreading red splotch. The ink surely had already smeared but…

“If you dab instead of wipe,” Lou said, pulling out a handkerchief with many different designs of the sun on it, “then you can maybe keep it from spreading?”

Haelyn

 

[Roki]

Roki slurped from the cup of his win. Let the cup come clear of his lips as the drink washed down his throat. A warmth there across his cheeks as Arbok passed the choice on to him.

He swirled his cup some and watched the dark drink whirl about. Around and around it went, as he cycled through the tunes he had come to know.

Golden eyes came bright with realization, and he smiled wide as he looked up to Len. "You know the one about the Winter Cranes?" he asked.

It was a sad song, if what Syr Noa had told him about it was true. About two lovers, torn apart by fate's cruel hand. One, left to dance alone across the mirror surface of the lake that once was their home. The reflection it danced with, but a familiar ghost of the love they had lost, but that went on in their memories.

It wasn't that he liked the song because it was sad. And he wasn't sure why anyone would ever dance with themselves like that. Seemed kind of, well, silly really. But, there was something about the way the tune went.

A somber complexity that stirred down to his core, even when he just thought of it.

He grinned at Len. "If that one's not in the songbook, then how about Old Moose King's Haunt?"

Gruki Arbok Haelyn Alouette

 

[Gruki]

'I do!' Sen spoke, recalling the tune with ease. 'Bit early in the day for saga's, though. Moose King's Haunt sounds ideal!' Grinning from ear to ear, Sen struck a few chords to highlight the point.

Bobbing her head in agreement, Gruki nibbled away at the cracker in her hands. The day was already sad enough. Why add to it with teary music that she knew would make her cry?

'Wine?' Len offered.

'Thanks!' Gruki said, overcoming the malaise she felt to smile back at the young squire. Sticking out her cup, the she-orc watched as he poured her a deep, earthy red, careful not to spill any on the tablecloth. Or her. 'Help yourself to more,' he said, placing the bottle down on the table.

Ulrika passed by, depositing another cup on the table in front of her. 'You're welcome.'

Listening to the jaunty tune play out, Gruki carried on eating. The cheese and crackers went down swell, as did the wine. There was a plentiful supply of finger foods, and most of them found their way to Gruki's fingers before long. Then, her belly.

When the song came to its conclusion, the squires all applauded. Even Len, who never seemed to encourage his sister. Gruki figured that was a public image thing. Or maybe he had legitimate concerns about Sen's playing. Doubt it, she thought, smiling brightly as Lou aided Haelyn with something.

'What are you reading?' she asked, tapping her foot as Sen followed up with The Blind Syr's Steed, a song that definitely wasn't about a knight's horse. 'Um, I mean, what were you reading?'

Arbok Alouette Haelyn Roki

 

[Arbok]

Arbok, not wishing her drink to suffer the same fate as the one Ulrika spilled stooped up and bent to quickly pluck a small cup (all cups were small to her) from the group Ulrika was pouring.
When she settled back she noticed everyone was talking, playing and eating. It was nice to see.
She took a bite of a rhy cracker smeared with goats cheese and topped with smoked salmon. It was so well prepared. She wished she could prepare food this way.
The wine was a bit harsh for her but she was getting used to it. She still couldn't hold it half as well as Gruki and she had learned quickly that being bear did not in fact cute her of being drunk.
She absently put her hand over the lingering claw mark on the wood of the table.
No doubt Roki has all his memories here too. She had not gotten to know him as much as she had her sister but she knew his presence would be missed by all.

 

[Haelyn]

Colour washed her page, startling Haelyn only two seconds after it spilled and lifting her head up to see the offending character.

Aloutte gave kind suggestion, but Haelyn watched as Ulrika went on her way to ruin more things with her unsteady hands with wine. Silently stewing with bite, the squire took the offered handkerchief and dabbed at the pages like so.

"I think perhaps Ulrika should be relieved of her duties with beverages." It was strained, her words. As if she were truly choosing her words carefully.

The deep scowl on her face was almost comical if not for the daggers that sharpened in her gaze once she found the form of Ulrika still passing out wine, fingers stained with the spills.

Alouette
Roki
Gruki
Arbok

 

[Alouette]

Ulrika hadn’t heard Haelyn’s suggestion, and Lou was unsure if even if Ulrika had if it would have been enough to get her to apologize. There was little one could do to damper Ulrika’s merriment, especially when wine was involved. Each time she had passed a cup to someone, she had taken a large gulp for herself.

“Okay,” Lou said instead, getting up from her chair. “I can pass them out instead. I have steady hands.” It was the first solution that had come to her, but it was too late. Ulrika had now wandered to Sen and sat beside her, sloshing more wine over her hand and not caring much about it as she licked the burgundy rivulets sliding down her wrists.

“Or… maybe… not.” Now she felt silly for standing up at all. She glanced to Gruki who had asked about Haelyn’s book. It looked like a very serious book as it had no pictures that took up the majority of the page. Alouette’s green eyes squinted at the words on the page. She recognized ‘the.’ A humble start if there ever was one.

Haelyn Gruki || Roki Arbok

 

[Roki]

Roki laughed, and clapped as the Moose King came to an end. "To Sen!" he raised a sloshy toast up to the squire as her song came to an end. It was his second cup, for somewhere along the interim of the song, he had drained his first drink, smacked his lips, and gotten another pour. For all the things Roki was, moderate was not one of them. "The squire with the quickest pluck, and steadiest chords this side of the spine!" He half hopped out of his seat as he raised up his cup all the more.

Len gave the purple haired boy a suspicious squint before he raised up his own cup. Half wanting not to at all.

 

[Gruki]

Haelyn didn't answer her question, but that was no nevermind. Suppose I'd be annoyed, too, someone spilt wine on my book. Gruki didn't get angry often -or at all, really- but when she did... Oh, boy! 'True, you do have steady hands!' Alouette was driven like that. Her knitting was next level, and Gruki reckoned Lou wouldn't have made a half-bad medic, if not for all the... nastiness involved.

Blood and bone. Bits of brain, sometimes.

The half-orc took a chicken wing, sunk her teeth into it. Still warm. Nice! Washing it down with a sip of wine, Gruki nod-nodded at her brother's words. Sen was another squire skilled with her hands, though, Gruki wasn't sure you could wear music. But then wasn't music just that? Clothing for the soul?

She helped herself to more wine. Damn, did it have some kick!

Sen played on, and the party continued. Drink flowed, grub was eaten. Someone nearly smashed a vase of sweet-smelling daffodils over Gruki's head as they made room for more food. She didn't mind none. 'I think, maybe, we should, like, pace ourselves,' the she-orc hiccupped, glancing left and right at her friends. 'Syr Josai will kill-kill us if we break... anything.'

Arbok Alouette Haelyn Roki

 

[Arbok]

This was nice.
Music, drinks, food and good company.
Arbok was having a swell time.
Gruki was worried about something, Syr Josai?
"Is he here?"
She asked.

Gruki
Roki
Alouette
Haelyn

 

[Haelyn]

Little Haelyn grumped, crossing her arms and scowling furiously.

She had heard Gruki, but felt as if she need not respond when she no longer was able to read up on the notes taken on a research endeavour by some old famed Syr.

"What are you all doing in here, by the way? It was quiet hours ago. I liked it when it was quiet." Large dark brown eyes looked to those around her, narrowing in suspicion. Oh. Roki was here too.

Haels didn't like him much. There was something... no, she knew it in her gut. He was an odd one.

Music, beverages, and food.

A party. How did she not notice? Or they notice they intruded on her quiet reading time?

Alouette Roki Gruki Arbok

 

[Alouette]

What are you all doing in here, by the way?

The words registered faintly in the chambers of Alouette’s mind, an echo of recognition. Her green gaze went to Roki. She hadn’t had much wine, but it was only the second time she had ever drank it. She knew she wasn’t drunk, she couldn’t be, but there was a subtle warmth in her chest as she watched Roki gave a cheer to Sen. She raised her own cup and then gulped it down.

Ulrika gave her a look, fair brows raised. If Lou had seen it, she might have sat back down. Instead, she set her cup carefully on the table— couldn’t afford to sully Haelyn’s book like Ulrika had— and went to Roki. Or behind him at least, as he was sitting, and gently tapped him on his shoulder.

“Roki,” One of her hands clenched her little trinket in her pocket, but it did little to boost her confidence. It was a trinket to make one braver, after all, she of all people should know that. “Is it okay if I… gave you something, too?”

Roki Gruki Arbok Haelyn

 

[Roki]

The cups drained fast.

Gruki said something. "Big, beautiful sister that you are!" Roki said with a wide grin across his lips. Pointer finger jut out from here middle and ring curled around the bell of a wooden cup. "You're... ALwaAys lookIN out fer Me, SIS!" he said, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

It helped that he was standing up on one of the nearby chairs. Wobbling this way and that.

"Prolly wouldn been EatIn by a SwAmp slIder if I Didn ave my Big SISTER!" he squeezed his arm tighter as he grinned all the wider. His foot slipped. He wobbled, almost fell. Plunked right down in his seat. He blinked some. "Woah," he said.

A tap at his shoulder had him turn about. "Lou!" he said, bright and warm with excitement. Laughed, inside of his own joke, smiled wide and toothy as he swayed. He inhaled of a sudden. Came still. Squint his eyes and scrunched his lips. Looked more pond turtle than half-orc.

He didn't hear the question right away. "Anyone ever tell you, Lou, you, you are as pretty as a peach!" he smiled and looked on at the fuzzy edges around his fellow squire. "Oh," he nod. "You, got something for me?" he laughed. Clapped once. "Well, of course! Of course," he looked down at the near empty cup in his hand. Drained the last drop.

Gruki Alouette Haelyn Arbok

 

[Gruki]

'Probably!' Gruki agreed cheerfully. Worried her brother might be overdoing it a tad, she looped a big, strong arm around his waist. 'How about you sit-' The words were only halfway out when Roki slipped. Tensing, Gruki made sure he wound up on his behind as opposed to his face.

Len and Sen laughed it up, and Gruki found herself laughing with them, her worry momentarily forgotten as she raised her cup in toast.

'To ravenous swamp gliders and valued friends!' She shouted, her eyes wandering hitherto about the table. 'To ravenous-... friends!' Len slurred, throwing back his cup. Wine spilled down his chin to stain his shirt, and Sen recoiled as some of it splashed her instrument.

'Ca-careful,' warned Gruki, 'you'll... you'll damage the s-strings.' Nod-nodding, she turned to Sen. 'P-play on, o' magnificent one!' A voice at her shoulder made the she-orc turn. Lou. Alouette~... Offering Roki a... gift?

Arching her brow, Gruki watched closely as events unfolded.

Arbok Haelyn Alouette Roki

 

[Alouette]

Anyone ever tell you, Lou, you, you are as pretty as a peach!

Alouette blinked, partially taken aback by Roki’s genuine compliment but more so because no, no one had ever said something so nice to her before. Ketyl hadn’t ever said she was pretty, and he most definitely never used a metaphor like that before. He had said other things to her, things that were to be compliments but often made her feel strange when she reflected on them.

Roki’s compliment felt honest, and perhaps a little silly. Were peaches that pretty? They were sweet, delicious and flavorful. One of her favorite fruits. Maybe one of Roki’s?

"I do." Lou said, not yet realizing that her cheeks were glowing roses. Was it the compliment or her false sense of liquor courage that was making her shy? "Maybe we could step outside?"

Roki

 

[Roki]

Roki watched, eyes wide and golden.

She was just kinda, standing there, wasn't she? Cheeks blushed with rouge, a color that made him smile all the more. A breath huffed out of his throat with a wheezy, hee, as his cheeks dimpled, and his eyes went squinty with mischievous joy.

Then she spoke. Which had him blink. Slow and sticky winks, as the quick pour of drinks started to hit down in his gut. Started to make his skin feel dry and gummy. He nod. Nod.

"Course, course, Lou" he said, turned and let the cup down on the table with a shake. Worked his mouth some with a smack. Tip of his tongue poked out by one of his tusks as he turned to stand. "Outsiiide-" something had rolled under his foot.

His heel flew up and he fell forward quick to fall.

Alouette

 

[Alouette]

Faster than a blink of an eye, Alouette’s hands were at Roki’s shoulders. She steadied the squire, leaning forward herself to remain as upright as she could be. It would make no difference if she managed to catch Roki to only fall over with him. A brief image of Roki’s shoulder or bent elbow digging into her flesh, the possibility of the discomfort and pain.

“You’re heavy.” Lou said, thinking that Roki was also clumsy. What an unlucky thing to be: heavy and clumsy. She reminded him of a tree during a storm, whose roots were not deep enough to keep him from being uprooted. Her green eyes looked into bleary gold and it was at that moment she noticed how hot her cheeks and ears felt. She sniffed, went to look away, but was overcome by Roki’s scent. It suited him, although she couldn’t say why.

“Here,” Alouette offered her arm to Roki and smiled. It was like before, a couple of months ago when it was early spring instead of fall. She had to lead him once more, but it wasn’t something that she minded. She did feel the tug of wanting more wine, and as she began to bring Roki outside as obviously as one could, she snuck a cupful of wine left unattended on the table.

It sloshed over the lip, dark red purple rivulets dripping down her fingers and splashing onto the wood below.

“Jeez, Roki, what are we going to do with you?” Lou huffed, giving the half-orc a playful sidelong look. “Keep you, obviously.” She whispered to herself.

Roki