#rescuemiriam

---- MUCH MUCH lATER---

Earl is now frowning,

But whether he was going to say anything or not, they approach the light of one candle, a surprisingly gray one, and then, and then...
the sidhe get less attractive and pure but empathy returns.
The troll dwindles and blinks "Uhm August, do you mind if hold onto my girflriend's hand for a moment if one of us going to?"
Zara looks more liek she does in Firnost than she did in the valley. And her whisper can be heard by anyagain, though she is no means loud.
Tiffany looks more human goes "oo we're back in Kansas, toto?"
"Impossible" Magnus gasps, "This is the deepest part of the dreaming, how is..."

"Little is impossible, sir. Merely difficult, " Another whispering voice.

"Oh. Of course not, Earl. That is, if Zara wishes?" He clearly expects her to return to Earl. Then August looks around for the other whisperer.

"Truly..." A squeeze of August's hand before she detaches.

He smiles fondly at Zara for a moment, then returns his attention to the owner of the shack.

Wherever he is....

The door to the crooked shack opens a figure with skin like smooth and hard wax steps forward , clearly a sluagh, but the gender is hard to determine for the robe and cowl

A smile - a sluagh namer!

" wildheart is that...-" A pause "oh i had expected someone else."

"We could bear a message to him, cousin."

Earl smiles, his hand on zara gently, an embarrassed look on his face for only a second.

"there is no need of that i suppose. I am the candlemaker. some call me chandler, others -other things."

August bows to the elder (?)

Zara, too, offers a sweeping bow, with one hand splayed across her narrow chest.

"My Lord." Library-quiet. "I come seeking a boon, as I suppose many do."

Probably elder, whether he/she looks it or not is hard to say, hard wax limbs and fingers of indeterminate gender.

" i have given my name, have you no names to offer up?" The candlemaker says "usename, of course.. some of you have so many. i hear them even in your steps. but it is best to know what you prefer to be called. then we can discuss boons and bargaining, yes?" The Candlemaker returns a salute much like what zara gave

"I am Sir August Truthbranch of House Liam, my Lord."

"I am Zara."

the candlemaker looks particularly pleased at zara. and nods, as if understanding the courtesy her direct use name has paid him/her

Zara returns the nod and fades back a step - this is not her mission, after all. Let others take the highlight.

"Earl , Sir Earl DeBuke" Earl says, and almost immediately is unsure he should have. //The Chandler begins to choke, well, it sounds like a choke until you realize it is actually laughter. "oh, does wildheart know? i... oh my. let us say it is an honor to meet you as well but your title surprises." //Magnus bows, "Sir Magnus ap Fiona, also of the Truthbranch line, Master Candlemaker."//Tiffany says "I'm of the VAN Hunts, you know, great van hunters we, but some select few are allowed to call me Tiffany. You're not going to boil us in your house of wax are you?"//The Sluagh namer tilts cowled head, then finally asks "was the moon full when you left the mortal world?" //Earl answers "I don't think so." //"then no, the attunement wouldn't be right."

A soft rasp, her not-laugh.

A soft snap of fingers , habit? or a call for attention, from the namer "now that we have met, sir august, what is this boon? you have brought two companions that set you on a good first step with me. i will, at least, hear you out."

August bows again. "My Lord, I seek a way to extend a life. Nemausus of House Eiluned, Baron of EarthRunes in the Kingdom of Grass reaches the end of his time."

He pauses, seeking the right words. "It would be... of benefit... if he had a little longer." Softly.

Zara makes a little frown, her own thoughts kept silent.

the Candlemaker motions and leads you deeper into the shack, though you never leave the grey light that does the 'impossible' as Magnus calls it, making the Deepest Dreaming in its light behave as the near dreaming would. There are many candles here, one appears to be melded to a human hand, another bears words in some sort of proto russian that make Zara's heart ache a little. August sees another that is as blue as his tabard and yes, smells of oak. The master name whispers forcing others to strain to hear, "a moment." she/he reaches for a pale white candle, and begins to carve moons and stars and a name into it, "Nemausus you say?"

"Yes." Whispered as well.

Her fingertips rest lightly on her sternum as dark eyes study the one candle - gently probing at it with her senses, trying to ken.

zara's kenning is hard to do, even with the grey candle subduing the wildness, it is like trying to feel heat in a room full of furnaces, and yet, that candle's words start to move the more she focuses, and the language to her eyes makes more and more sense 'Grandmother Grandmother, your wisdom I implore. Teach a child of the slavs, a little bit of lore? Oh beautiful grandmother, until the candle burns away, i ask and i beg wisdom for you to say.'

"Baba Yaga..." a soft sigh, full of wonder - not loud enough to carry to most ears.

The candlemaker lights the candle that the Eiluned's name has been notched in and sets it upright. Imagines dance around the candle as smoke and light conflict and work together! Images of war, and rulership! And treachery, and duty! of walking a razor's edge between just ambition and ambitious justice. and a casting and... a curse but it's gone from the images and the Chandler frowns, "what you ask, sir august, is dangerous beyond reckoning. a powerful da'an is upon this man. he cheats it already, cleverly so, so that his hold not fall to shadow. and you have already brought him balm. to extend his life would bring my naming against the forces of da'an. i would, most likely, lose."

Zara nods, seemingly unsurprised by that declaration.

"Can I pay the price?" Quietly and gravely.

She hisses softly, gaze darting to the Liam.

"August, don't be foolish" Earl says, protective of friends as well as his love

"Father, you don't practice Soothsay, Zara and I do. The price could be everything and still might not do the trick" Magnus thirds the concern

August nods to the others. "I understand. I only ask the question, if it is possible."

"all things are possible, just- difficult" The chandler says, "some prices linger in ways you never expect, sir. what would you be willing to give?" He lights a red candle nearby, and August's shadow splits... there is an image of Coradel's silhouette, leading him on. There is a symbol of a cross, strong and constant. There is a tree under a summer sun. "Would you be willing to give up the love in your heart for she who you long to be with? your faith so you no longer believed? or even your ability to be seelie again? Such prices are the sort of costs one may pay for even trying to defeat da'an."

August seems mesmerized by the flickering flame and the shadows cast by it.

"August, no. The cost is more dear than you think.... da'an must be handled with care..."

Earl frowns, and agrees with Zara, "To help Coradel you betray her, or part of what makes her love you? that is to win a battle only to lose a war. "

"Our time is our time. Death is not the end, nor is it the enemy, not when it is time."

Magnus has grown very quiet

Tiffany has the look of one who realizes she's the only gun dog in a room full of theoretical physicists..

well, something like that

He blinks and wets his lips. "Why... why does it have to be a choice between Faith and Love?"

"it doesn't. you are the one who wanted to know the price i would need. i merely speak of the magnitude. sir august," the candlemaker looks at him, "when one faces costs like this, sometimes, and I say this as a vendor, the best move is not to purchase."

"The true goal is to stave off darkness from the hold a little longer, nu? To protect Coradel?"