#earthrunes

"Congrats to you both" Jack says "Nice to meet you, Dame Temerity, Sir Brand. We often leave the titles behind down here but which ever you like." A look at Vince, "Vince, if I hear right you've got selkie duds. Be careful with that. Half the changelings out there might be tempted to steal it to hope that some kinain is compatible"

“Straight to the vault, though it is scarce worth the precaution, as I’m sure those here are off immediately to hold an auction to the villains if highest bidding..,” he stands and tops off his drink, before heading to do just that, taking the skin to safekeeping.

Jack raises his glass to the departing pooka and once he's gone looks relieved, saying to the others "he's a good kid, you know?"

Temerity nods "After our many years together I am sure of it ,sirrah."

Brang shrugs.

Jack says "Right." And wipes things down.

----end scene---------

Zara remembers.. every word. Every wonderful word of the lost work she first read. Perhaps that is but one thing that primed her need for 'refreshing'. She may remember somethings through a haze, but the story? Oh crystal clear.

Earl does not know this, he only knows that the woman he loves was very... persuasive in her ardor.

After, with ecru skin nestled against blue, Zara recounts the story to Earl... sharing the intrigues and betrayals and hidden secrets... but in the end, it resolves happily. Villains are shamed, and the heroes wedded.

"I admit, I had no idea the maid would be so important"

"I suspected it." A kiss.

A kiss back, "Of course you did."

"You are the cleverest witch of your generation"

A soft huff, amused, and she nestles closer. "Thank you for bringing me home."

"You know... I don't remember a lot...but I remember... you had a choice... and.. you picked me. And it was more than some other guy it was... it was a dream you could have been happy in"

He strokes her hair , happy for the way it feels like fine cob webs that never quite break

"Mayhaps... when we are old and grey... " A sigh. "There, aye? There, instead of fading away..."

"I would be amendable to either another turn on the wheel with you, or ... if you wish yes, there ... whether thou goest, so goes my heart"

A happy murmur.

And a snuggle back. Sometimes, Earl thinks, the best part of the quest is coming home.

(End scene)

"and Fingolfin unfurled his blue and silver banners, and blew his horns, and flowers sprang beneath his marching feet, and the ages of the stars were ended." a voice wakes the lovers

A sleepy whisper. "What was that, Love?"

"sounded like Bronte. I think she wants in" He says "We're not quite dressed for it" sheepish

"Mmm...." She slides out of bed, in glory. "Well, there are sheets."

She wraps herself in a grecian drape and opens the door.

Bronte flutters in, Earl has positioned a bed sheet over his own lower half.

"Hi Bronte" He smiles "Still jazzed from the trip?"

She flutters to Zara and lands on her hand light as a feather, "“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe"

"Oh, you were busy." Eye-ridge scritch.

"And you are... alright... having returned with us?"

Bronte snuggles her "“Think the tree that bears nutrition:
though the fruits are picked,
the plant maintains fruition.
So give all the love you have.
Do not hold any in reserve.
What is given is not lost; it shall return.”
― Kamand Kojouri"

"Oh wow, she's got to have... a thousand new books in her head" Earl blinks, "If she remembers even a tenth..."

At that, Bronte actually looks smug and says in a sing song voice "I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;
I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news,
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse."

A soft rasp of her not-laugh. "Oh, delightful!"

Bronte preens

"The cleverest of them all, nu?" A nod at Earl. "I only truly remember the Austen... but.. the cauldron, aye... that seems to linger."

Earl nods "I remember... you choosing me ...more than once. That's enough for me." He also remembers August annoying him a little with something but ah, whatever, it may have been settled or maybe it was just a matter of the dreaming...no need to mention, "Bronte was with... was ..there was another bookwyrm showing her around. I think?"

"Dahl."

She says it, then blinks. "Well then."

“Ô, Wanderess, Wanderess
When did you feel your
most euphoric kiss?
Was I the source
of your greatest bliss?”
― Roman Payne" A sigh from Bronte.

Earl lifts a brow, " think Bronte had a bit of a crush"

"Did you flirt? Oh, you did!"

Bronte's delicate paper scales rose a touch in the script of them, and she huffs at both of them, raising a wing like a victorian lady might a fan “Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.”
― Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan"

Earl chortles softly "I think that's a yes."

“Romance is the glamour which turns the dust of everyday life into a golden haze.”

"I am pleased that you have a secret, and I shall not press further."

"Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.-Emily Post" Bronte says, and nuzzles Zara for understanding. A childhood crush is adorable to all but the child.

Zara sits on the bed beside Earl, letting the little dragon nuzzle and rewarding her with pets.