#earthrunes

"Twas my project, aye? And it was... altered..." A confession, but pooka are so easy to speak to.

"Lion I may be, but never to thee." He crosses a finger in an X across his heart. "Could thou blame me to stop to admire such a lovely setup, that appeals to my very vanity? One must assume it was placed such to appeal to me... or to another Lioness within these grounds, mayhaps. Ah, but I must warn, there are several doorways within, and not all as welcoming as one may have hoped." A tsk, and he adjusts his robe, eyeing the spot where it is torn - perhaps snagged on a branch, perhaps snatched by a tooth as he fled!

"Aye. I start school... far away, and no trod direct to Firnost I know of... but then, thought I, why not a trod to here..."

"I could foster, from garden to garden..."

He looks delighted. "Ah, a fine endeavor!" He pauses, and looks dejected. "Though if I meddled within thy magicks, I DO say, my apologies are in order. I blame it entire on the coffee, someone must have spiked my morning blend as some sort of jest. I expect Shalimar. Shall we to the stocks?"

"Did you do aught to open it? Spill your drink?"

Earl looks it over "Ah.. Zara love?" Earl says "Your placement of things has been improved. And little touches added. "

He ponders, and says, "I sang to myself as I wandered the paths, as I am oft wont to do..."

"My dulcet tones help the flowers to grow, after all."

"Oh no..." She looks stricken.

"It's not bad... look.. more of the materials related to Shakespeare, and more importantly, protective touches around them to keep them from being eaten.. someone has a good eye" Earl says.

She touches one of the stone lions, kenning it.

Yup. The stone lions were used for a bunk and anchor.. something waits that.. if one does not have the key and forces things open, will trigger.

"If this lion has offended, please let me know how it may be mended." He asks, looking forlorn and discontented that he has caused her anguish. "The trod is lovely, in a Bardish way..."

The little cobble stone bits and other london touches are nice.

"Aye. Gardens of Shakespeare, all connected..." Forlorn.

"Vince. I didn't know you gardened... or could aid growth" Earl says

He stops and thinks, pondering back. "I sang a tune, I skipped a prance, but first upon seeing this, ah, there was..." He hums, thinking. "A quote, from that book you gave me. The one with the Lion, ah yes, a fine story."

"Aye...""

He bows to Earl. "Only in that all of the blossoms of the world turn there faces to see me as I prance by, for I appreciate them all in turn. Truly, the growth of these gardens is due to another, a fine pooka though her tail is bereft of a magnificent tuft, and I shall not steal credit where it is not due, for I can scarce balance my own ledgers as it is."

"He is not a Tame Lion." She tries.

"Okay wait... another pooka did this? Or is that the part that's ah. stretched?"

Vince gives an eloquent shrug, trying to relay that he really does not know...

He watches, intrigued, to see if the trod responds to Zara's quote.

It does not.

Shoulders droop.

Earl tries singing "In the jungle the quiet jungle, the Lion sleeps tonight..."

The trod does not open.

He moves to their side, and tries a quote of his own, one of his favorite from Shakespeare... "Let me play the lion too: I will roar that I will do any man's heart good to hear me. I will roar that I will make the duke say 'Let him roar again, let him roar again."

The trod seems to open, or unlock, anytime Vince gets near it!

It has nothing to do with what he sings, or says

He looks surprised! And cowed a bit, as he glances back at Zara, as though expecting a lashing, tongue or otherwise.

"Vince.. IS the key?" Earl says, then eyes the pooka suspiciously

"But..." Devastated.

"But what shall I do?"

"Maybe we can change it?" Earl says

A small toad moves near them, observing.

"Twas my Glamour. It was taken from me."

"Mayhaps, not mine own self, but the Lion of the house? I wonder, should an Oak walk nigh, wouldst it behave the same? I may just be a common element, as hard as that hurts my heart to say in any way."

Snap, the toad gulps down a mosquito.

Zara plucks out the little labels, collecting them.

Earl pauses "Wait.. Vince..." He glances at the statuettes, "Zara.. why lions to guard it?"

"Because it is a Fiona hold."

"Then maybe..>" Earl takes out a piece of paper, and copies an image of the statue... a quick sketch.

"I am no Fiona. Nor a vassal, nor shall I be!"

And he holds the paper out..the lion image

It breaks his heart to see the lady so despondent. He plucks at his mane, pulling loose a tuft of golden hair, and taking a step back, blows it from his palm towards the trod, looking to see if it responds to something related...

The trod does not react to the hair.

But the image Earl uses?

It unlocks

His head tilts to one side, curious, forehead crinkling as he tries to make sense of this.