#baronyofthesilverwolf

"Long before Concordia was Concordia, before the great dream turtle was called America, there was the Thunderbird... And all peoples who came here, no matter the tribe, seems to have a story of the Thunderbird, a vision, a dream. And the stories around the Thunderbirrd change, but the Thunderbird remains. Tribes break, form into new tribe,s annd break again, and yet the Thunderbird remains. Wars are fought, and lost, and people maybe driven or drive others... yet the Thunderbird remains. This how you know that , whatever may or may not be in the stories, the Thunderbird the stories are about, is true! it is the North American Phoenix, but diees not in fire, but great battles , and reborn in great need. Gather, and I'll tell you a story I know of Thunderbird. It is not the story of any one tribe"

"But it is ..A story"

"Yeah! BATTLES! Rip and tear! Blood n guts!" Briar cheers.

The others seem more sedately interested...

"It should be known that the Thunderbird is not some big eagle, some giant ordinary bird... it is big enough to gather a great whale from the sea and carry it miles inland true, but while you may not see througgh the storm about it to see it's eyes, you will see the lightning from it. While you may not see it's face, you will see the tip of the great beak. You may not see it's wings in full, but you will know they flap by the great booms! Who could approach such a thing? Such a fierce being, good or not? "

Aiden murmurs to Nadeen, "It is a shame that Calanthe cannot hear this tale. Such praise for a bird of prey, the mightiest it sounds, may have sweetened her disposition towards our fledge a touch."

Nadeen whispers "She doesn't like Gwen?"

Aiden frowns slightly, toying with his water glass. "I believe that she does not find Gwen as tractable a servant as she would wish. The fact that Gwen is not her servant, nor is sworn to her nor is likely to be does not seem to factor into her opinion."

"I also understand that there was some dispute over a dreamer." A sigh. "Dreamers are often a source of contention. Our most valuable and rarest resource."

"Oh," nadeen nods "I had noticed that Gwen had taken to the dogs, and knows the horses, but did not seem to go too close to the mews. That might explain it. Trolls can hold a grudge as long as we sidhe I fear. Still, I've noticed he duties are always kept up "

Aiden nods. "I have no complaints with Gwen's service. Quite the opposite. She has been a remarkable addition to our hold and I truly hope to retain her services post saining. Ah. It has been some time. We will need to request a Namer."

"I know a few but they're tied to Bergenn" She ponders

And Gwen, having set the fact there are hundred hundred stories over a hundred hundred lands about the Thunderbird, tells her own. The Story of a girl whose village is starving, now this girl was nearly alone, she had only a village woman who had grown very old, but taken her in as her own child. And she loved the old woman, but he bead would not rise, the earth would not provide. And so, the girl feared the old woman who she called Beloved would die, and all the village soon after. Beloved had told the girl, who she called Cherished, for so she felt of the girl; Beloved told Cherished many stories. And the people kept the stories near to their hearts. But so hungry had they grown, they began to even eat the stories to survive!
Gwen looks about "Can you imagine? Eating the very teachings of your elders and forever losing the wisdom and wonder of it?" And she continues.

Beloved refused to eat any stories at all, finding it wrong to do so, and if anyone should eat, it should be the young. But Cherished could not bring herself to eat the very stories beloved had given her, even if it meant she starved. So, as is how stories are MEANT to be used, she looked over the stories instead, and listened in her heart to them. And she found an old one, of a thunderbird flying off to bring a starving tribe a whale.
"And" Gwen nodded "If it could be done before.. it could be done again. So Cherished, half starved, gave the last of her food to Beloved and told her 'I will return with help, or not at all. I seek out the Thunderbird"

And Beloved was too weak to stop her, so Cherished went, Gwen explains. She sought guidance from the lost Chieftain who had spent so much time with a ghost, he had nearly forgot he was alive. Cherished found her paths blocked by the devourer of seeds. A wretched hag of great power, who claimed to be looking over the land, but sucked the very seeds before they ever find fruit, thus contributing to the great famine. And from the Devourer of Seeds, she learned always always there were the Selfish and cruel... and this was a good lesson to learn. She found also two great warriors who tried to shield the land, but to shield the land can also block he rain and the sun, but they said this was on the orders of the Chieftain who forgot he was alive. She met the withered vine with cut her hand when she tried to reach to it, and she hated it, unfairly, for she did not know the vine had seeds hidden for safey. And yes, there was the wind that danced and hid. Cherished sought out the Chieftain still harder, and found the dread beast that was muzzled.

"And it was such a hateful little beast, she thought" Gwen explains, "But then realized the Dread Beast, so muzzled, could not howl. And.. at risk, instead of slaying it, she helped free it. And the Dread Beast said 'I could eat you up, but I suppose instead I will eat others for you are not nearly as stupid and ugly as I thought' and so they both went to remind the Chieftain he was alive..."

And they found the Chief who thought he was dead laying on the ground, surrounded by flowers as if a burial. Cherished explained what a great chief he remained, and told him he was alive, and his people needed him.

"But how can you be sure I am alive?' the Chieftain told Cherished" Gwen continues "And you know what she told him? The truly dead do know the pain of life. You hurt, so you live. Your people hurt. so you must live. Cure their hurting, and perhaps you cure your own"

"But the Chieftain said I think I will always hurt, but it does not matter, I will still live, to aid the hurting of my people ' " Gwen continues "And that is how Cherished knew he was not just a good Chief, but a great one. She also knew that sorrow, like rain, sometimes shared the sky with sun and joy even if the rain would return again. And the Chieftain told her not where, but HOW to find the Thunderbird..."

Gwen continues, as the Great Chief, now alive, told her that in the stories that she should have known for Beloved had told them too, the Thunderbird had birthed the people ,all people, and that it was divine. And the girl realized she was not just Cherished, but she was medicine... she was magic! She had been told of its cost, but now she learned of it's power!

"So she took the rain of her own sorrow give to the soul. She turned her thunder inside her to boom truth to the seeds ands and scatter them to safety to give them time to grow. The wind cleared the clouds of sadness enough to help. the Vine bloomed and provided what it could to make amends for the scratches. And she was patient, and with a winter sun rising, Spring was found... but none of this is HOW She found the thunderbird inside of herself. She found it because she did not seek it alone after all for was not everyone, the cruel, the kind, the silly, and the fierce, were they not also of the Thunderbird dream? Together, their voices became strong, and at last the Thunderbird heard them call and ended the famine"

"And that is how Cherished found the Thunderbird, which was never truly lost to begin with." the somewhat rambling story ends

Briar interrupts partway through - "I know how hungry that is."
"Shhh..." Bluebell says.
"I do though!" The redcap retorts, though she quiets down to keep listening.

Aiden reaches for and presses Nadeen's hand in his own with the mention of a 'winter sun' rising.

At the end of the story, Danica (who perhaps Gwen hadn't even realized was listening) starts a round of applause throughout everyone gathered on the grounds.

Julius remarks to Dru, "That vine bit sounds right up your alley, doesn't it?"

"Thank you," Gwen blushes "But I'm sure I got parts of it wrong or messed up some lines"

"It was magnificent." Says Tiberius the Wanderer. "Almost as good as I might have told it myself. Better, in fact, for tales are living things, and grow stronger and livelier with every person who gives them life." When did he show up? For he is here, looking windblown and battered, tattered and dusty, but sitting up straight and proud upon his gangly horse's back, and with eyes that whirl with a galaxy of stars, and a smile upon his face.

Nadeen squeezed Aiden's handn back and blushed.

"Tibs!" Gwen forgets herself and moves to the Eshu to take his hand. She'd hug him if wasn't on horseback "No way is it better than the way you told me"

Lavender eats yet another dessert "Damn it. I can't stop"

Marigold slyly pushes more desserts her way.

"Enabler" The knight munches another