#brightwindsbarony

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The beads rattle in the child's hands

Kushaaneh runs them back and forth in her hands, lost in thought. the beads are worth a fortune, by Afhanistani standards- closer to 22 bucks by American

Grete finds herself drawn over by the sound she recognizes, the soft clack of stone on stone. "What's that?"

"Kunzite beads, from my home country" The girl speaks , her accent is thick but her English has improved, "My mother gave it to me. She was mortal, you know?"The girl is tall in her fae mein, nearly as tall as Ashlee, She has rough skin the color of desert sands. "My father was an Ifrit like me" A look "WHat... jinn are you?"

Then she says "Pardon, what KITH are you?"

"I'm a Wichtel." She says proudly. "I'm called Grete, and that's real nice. My mom only likes stones that have big price tags." A sigh, admiring the beads. "What are YOU? And who are you?"

"I am Kushaaneh, it means she who strives," She lifts her chin proudly, "My jinn.. err kith, is Ifrit, we are warriors." A beat "Would you like to touch the beads? I do not know how common Kunzite is in Concordia"

"Oh, yes. You should be careful, it's purple..." She accepts the beads happily and runs them through her fingers, examining the color and pattern in them. "They look like a stone I saw that was called Hiddenite. I thought it was a cool name, but it's named after a guy named 'Hidden', not that it was hard to find." A little disappointment shown there. "That one is green though, but the pattern is similar. I'd have to crack one open and see the striations to be certain."

A brow then "You know your stones." WHich is better than admiting she doesn't know half those terms

She offers the bracelet back. "If you ever can't find anything, like your purple beads, check with Irene. She's a childling here too. She has a good habit of finding things that are lost." Grete says.

"I like stones, and rocks, and things in the ground. We're miners, my people. If boggans are the salt of the earth, we're the stone." Proud.

"I have never heard of your kith, but if they helped find stones like these, they do good work" She nods

"You can come see them if you like, I have LOTS of stones in my room. Ashlee - she's my friend, a troll, she does art with Sparrowness Derenwydd. Sometimes they do murals and I can glue polished stones to be part of the pattern, like a mosiac."

Kushaaneh looks thoughtful, then says " I don't know. My father, he was a hard worker. He fought till the end. I... I should be doing something glorious and noble and true but ..." A look around "I do not know what to do here"

At that, the odd sand colored changeling sets her jaw and looks angry sad at the wall

"I didn't know what I was doing here either. First when my - when the old Baron was here, and it was all terrible. And then later once Sparrow came... I didn't know if there was a place for me." She frowns a bit, and admits, "Still not sure. But you gotta take it one day at a time. Just because you're here not and not there, doesn't mean your destiny can't still find you. Fate's smart like that." A nod.

A look at the shorter girl, then "You jinn..pardon me, kith, are they known for wisdom?"

"-I- think so. We got common sense." She nods. "You can call me a jinn if you want. It doesn't bother me neither. If you're a jinn, and you're nice enough, then it can't be a bad thing to be."

"There are bad jinn too" She warns, "not all are as brave and heroic as my father even among the ifrit. But ... you sounded wise just then. Yes. I must yield to Fatima's hand"

"Believe me, there are nasty folk here too, even if Sparrow gave them the bum's rush for now." She nods. "What's Ifrit, and who's Fatima?"

"I'm an ifrit.. and Fatima is just another name for fate, and some girls" She answers "Just like you're a witchtel, I am an Ifrit. We're dreams of strength, and honor" Sounds like they intrude on ttroll turf

"I think you're fit in okay here." She nods.

"Good" A pause "We do have tempers. "

A blink. And a grin. "So do wichtels. Gotta be sure you don't tick off a wichtel, we don't forget easy. Trolls, they got tempers too, but they have a looooong fuse. If you get to the end of it though?" She shakes her head. "BOOM. I don't recommend it."

A grin "How strong are wichtels? Our gifts include strength. We could arm wrestle?"

"We're strong! Tough. Not as strong as Trolls, but we're sturdy, and..." She says in a lower voice, "It's hard to fit a troll into a PROPER mine shaft."

A snerk then her eyes widen

trotting up behind the Wichtel is a creature of legend, she has heard of them, of course

Ganbold the Centaur greets her, and having been warned that not all the women trust men (Forgetting hie is a BOY) he opens his hands in greeting "Fear not, I am Ganbold, future khan, and future khans value the advice of future women, they give good council."

"Do you think you can beat me in arm wrestling, future Khan? Are you a Khan or a Khan't?" Grete grins.

"Arm wrestle? I accept your challenge!" He says

Kushaaneh looks intrigued "Then the winner can take on me"

Grete finds a table that is not in use and plops down her elbow. "Let's go!"

The centaur has to sort of sit on his belly so to speak

But soon puts his hand against hers.

"Count it out, would you Kushaaneh?" Ganbold asks

"On three.." She declares, once they are ready "one, two, three!"

Grete leans in and steadies herself. Become the STONE! She thinks as she shoves at the centaur boy's hand.

And Ganbold grunts

"MONGOLIAAA" the two clasped hand strain

She grips stronger and grits her teeth.

Grete thinks logically, horses are tough, right? She knuckles down and SHOVES.

And the Centaur's elbow slides just a bit as he focuses more on the war cry than where his arm is held

WHAM

And he falls to the sideish

Kushaaneh looks at them both "You're doing it wrong" she means the plural

Grete huffs a bit. "I -won-!"

Ganbold rubs at his arm, but grins "Well done. You must have Mongolian blood in your background"

Once she sees that Ganbold is not denying her 'victory', she grins and offers him a hand to shake. "I'll ask my mom about that when I talk to her next. Maybe!"