The main hall of the mage school is a large room. The tables where meals are served are clustered at the eastern end, by the door into the kitchen; the rest of the room is (usually) wide-open, a space which can be occupied by a conversation, a ritual (with the door locked), or any number of experiments or games. Usually, however, it is simply an empty expanse to cross on one's way to the dinner table (or deeper into the building). Several plush chairs and couches cluster around a fireplace in the north wall, looking rather isolated by the space around them.
Kiriya
Kiriya the trapper is a tall, sturdy woman, clad in pants and shirt of beautifully-made soft buckskin, ornamented with fine beadwork. Her weather-tanned face has strong bones, and large, warm-brown eyes. Her long black hair is braided, and pinned back out of the way. She carries a long, straight bone walking staff with a brass spike on the bottom, carved all along its length with scrimshaw work showing all the animals whose fur can be taken in the Northlands. On her shoulders is a large fur pack, but its weight does not seem to inconvenience her.
Jemmael
A young woman, slightly over five and a half feet in height, with tanned skin. She is sturdily built, perhaps a bit heavy for her height, but almost all of it bone and muscle. Her face is square, the light, sea-green eyes out of place against her tan. Her white-blond hair has been cropped neatly off at chin-height.
She wears a loose, flowing dress, swirling several shades of green, from a deep emerald to palest green, though the darker colors predominate. The cut of the dress is modest, the sleeves long, and it seems to be made of a fairly heavy fabric.
Jemmael steps out of the corridor, looking around as she does so.
Kiriya is concluding a deal with an apprentice mage, for a buckskin shirt beaded in patterns of yellow and green.
Jemmael smiles slightly, and studies the woman while the deal is finished, stepping a little closer after. "Greetings."
Kiriya looks up and smiles at the newcomer, pocketing the apprentice's silver, as he turns away with the shirt. "Hello," she says to Jemmael. "Need any clothes?"
Jemmael hesitates. "Need, no, although I'd like to see what you have. For myself." She tilts her head and adds, ruefully, "I /do/ need clothing for my son, but it would have to be very lightweight right now."
Kiriya is standing at one of the dining tables. She takes more clothing out of her pack. "You like green, I see. Goes with your eyes. Got a summer jacket here, with some green porcupine quills." There are bands of green-and-white quill embroidery on the jacket. The buttons are made of carved bone.
Jemmael settles herself in the chair next to her, and smiles. "That is beautiful...green, or white, yes. I'm Jemmael, by the way." She doesn't look up as she introduces herself, rather studying the jacket.
Kiriya's smile can be heard in her voice. "Kiriya. Good to meet you." She continues laying out clothing, mostly pants, shirts, and lightweight summer jackets similar to the one Jem is looking at. She also lays out a row of bone bracelets and rings, and necklaces of bones beads, all carved with different designs.
Jemmael takes her time looking over the items, visibly interested in more than one of the shirts and jackets; the pants draw less attention. Absently, perhaps to herself, she murmurs, "I have to find something for Silk." It sounds less like determination than a rather rueful acknowledgement of something.
Kiriya says "For Silk?"
Jemmael looks up, her expression startled, a hint of awkwardness in her manner for just a moment. "My son. He's--" she holds a hand out, indicating the height of a nine-year-old or thereabout-- "growing up on me. And I can't find anything lightweight enough for him in this heat." Odd; she doesn't seem uncomfortable, nor would anyone else. Just the usual Northlands summer.
Kiriya picks up a shirt, and looks at its buckskin fabric. "This's the lightest thing I make, mostly. Never tried to make it lighter. Hmmm...." She holds it thoughtfully between her hands, speculatively.
Jemmael studies the shirt fabric, shakes her head slightly. "He'd overheat in that," she says, almost helplessly. "But I can't find anything lighter, either."
Kiriya sounds a little puzzled, like somebody who's just been asked for clothes made of rain. "Most people want 'em warm. Keep the chill out at night."
Jemmael nods. "I know...that wouldn't be good for him, not yet. He's warm enough, it's modesty I'm thinking of."
Kiriya says "Hmm...if he were a girl, I'd offer t'make you a little skirt. Let the air flow. You prob'ly wouldn't want that, though?"
Jemmael considers. "I'm afraid he'd be teased, but other than that I've no objections. And it is more practical, in this case."
Kiriya smiles slightly. "Sure. Keep him cool and teach him to fight at the same time."
Jemmael wrinkles her nose. "Unfortunately, that would probably be a good description of it. I really don't want him to have to fight."
Kiriya frowns, but not from annoyance, more like somebody trying to do math in their head. "Might try. Might see how thin I could work the leather..."
Jemmael nods, slowly. "Leather's got more possibilities than wool, at any rate," she says. "If you could make it lightweight enough, I'd be very grateful." Simply stated. She glances back at the jackets and shirts, looking them over again, although she doesn't seem as intently focused on them as she was earlier.
Kiriya nods suddenly, as if reaching a decision. Her voice sounds interested. "Y'know, it just might work...have to see. About as thick as that dress you have on?"
Jemmael fingers the dress, hesitates. "Mmm...in leather, yes. A little thinner would be nice, but I don't see how it could be done," she admits.
Kiriya also fingers the dress, her touch perceptive but impersonal, like a doctor or a scientist touching something. Then, with the same kind of touch, she fingers the leather. "Might work," she repeats. She is smiling, as though she's looking forward to trying it.
Jemmael considers her a moment, and then smiles. Quietly, she says, "Thank you. I really appreciate this."
Kiriya nods, her smile turning friendly as she focuses on Jem's face. Now it's the smile of someone looking at another person, rather than a crafter looking at a unique challenge. "If it works, I'll need t'know what you want, and how many, and what size he is. And what's his favorite color?"
Jemmael chuckles. "Just pants should be enough for summer...for winter, we'll want something a little heavier, but he's growing so, I'll worry about that closer to winter." She tilts her head. "I can give you his size, roughly, or I could introduce you to him - he's visiting friends, right now, though."
Kiriya shrugs. "Just tell me, and I'll make the pants loose, with a sash belt. You'll want to let 'em out anyway, the way kids grow. How's that?"
Jemmael smiles and nods. "That makes sense. Amount...I'd think three or four pair? As far as color, and how many...I have no idea what his favorite color is. White might be appropriate."
Kiriya considers. "Real pale for the leather, and some beadwork on the belts. Got some white quartz for beads, that I found in a stream. Dress it up a little. And a little moss agate, like ice-green, y'know?"
Jemmael's eyes widen a little, and she nods. "That would be wonderful."
Kiriya nods. "Now, as t'payment, you can pay in money if you want. But there's something I'd rather have, if you're willing."
Jemmael tilts her head, looking curious. "What would that be?"
Jemmael tilts her head, looking curious. "What would that be?"
Kiriya says "For every pair of pants, you tell me a story about where you've been since you've been gone."
Jemmael stills, her expression oddly troubled. "That...is a payment I should not give," she says slowly, but frankly. "I trouble the Northlands enough now as it is."
Kiriya blinks. "Trouble? I don't understand."
Jemmael mmms. "You know of me, clearly. Have you heard of my children?"
Kiriya looks a little embarrassed, like somebody who's just been caught listening to gossip. "Well, yeah. But I don't believe everything I hear."
Jemmael looks amused. "Nor should you, but in some cases the...stranger things you will hear are the truth." She turns more serious, and says quietly, "To answer your question is to bring more strangeness here than I already have."
Kiriya looks down. "Some people think strange is bad. I would have thought you'd know better."
Jemmael shakes her head slightly. "Strange is neither good nor bad. It is strange. But there are...there are things I would not bring here. For its sake."
Kiriya says "Would it help if I gave you my word to keep these stories a secret? I need strange. I need it to make new things. And stories keep me warm on the long nights, as much as my fire does.""
Jemmael considers, a long moment, and then says quietly, "Yes. If nothing else...change cannot be stopped. Better that some know." A faint smile, brief, but there. "And you seem one to handle it well, by your speech."
Kiriya looks at Jem levelly. "People who stay all the time in a town, they don't know how strange the world is. And mostly they don't want to know. So, maybe I see why you don't want 'em told."
Jemmael nods, slowly. "And they don't understand, when they do learn. Though I think they understand things I don't, sometimes." She smiles a bit, almost ruefully.
Kiriya seems to look inward for a moment. "To know what they know, you'd probably have to stop being you."
Jemmael half-shrugs. "True enough. And I'd have to give up things I understand now, most likely. Going back is a bit of a waste of time, isn't it?"
Kiriya nods. "I'd say so, yeah."
Jemmael chuckles. "I'll make that bargain with you, yes. Although if you want a story for each, it could take some while for payment. These stories will have to come with a great many explanations, I think."
Kiriya shrugs. "You going away again soon?"
Jemmael shkaes her head. "I don't plan to leave - at least not for long - until the children have reached an age to deal with where I go, if they wish. I would not leave them alone."
Kiriya smiles. "Then there's time."
Jemmael nods. "True enough. Although not so much as you might think."
Kiriya says "Oh? You expect 'em to grow fast?"
Jemmael murmurs, with quiet amusement, "They are less than a year old."
Kiriya grins suddenly. "Well, they'll need lots of clothes then, won't they?"
Jemmael laughs brightly. "Silk, at least. The girls will when they learn to shift, I should imagine, need clothes rather quickly."
Kiriya says "Hmm...will they also need extra-light clothes? Little dresses and such?"
Jemmael mmmms. "Maybe so, maybe no. *Hopefully* they won't - they should be able to achieve full human form. But I can't be sure what form they will take, when they begin, so possibly."
Kiriya shrugs slightly, with a philosophical expression. "At least /they'll/ be able to wear skirts without fighting," she points out.
Jemmael grins. "True enough, and a good thing."
Kiriya nods happily. She seems quite cheerful, now that the bargaining is concluded. "Show me what size your little boy is," she suggests. "Hold up your hands for how big he is around the waist, and so on. I'll make two pairs of pants, and then two more adjusted when you've seen how he takes to them. Work for you?"
Jemmael nods. "Sounds reasonable. Just a moment, then." She closes her eyes, her expression one of slight concentration. Then she opens her eyes and begins giving size information, presumably having satisfied herself that she has it correct.
Kiriya listens, with the expression of one who has trained herself to remember.
Jemmael finishes with the sizing information, and adds drily, "At least, for the moment."
Kiriya chuckles and nods. "I'd better get back here right soon."
Jemmael smiles. "How long do you think it will take?"
Kiriya says "I've got some white rabbit pelts at my place, and the stones. But I'll have to go get 'em. Maybe a week or so?""
Jemmael looks impressed, and nods. "Okay." More than okay, by her tone - she sounds quite pleased.
Kiriya shrugs, a little self-deprecatingly. "I work pretty fast. But don't you worry, it won't be sloppy."
Jemmael grins. "I didn't think it would." She nods slightly in the direction of the clothing still spread out on the table.
Kiriya nods happily. "I'm in a hurry to hear the stories. But you know, everything has its own time, leather and stone and bone."
Kiriya says "And there's no use arguing with it."
Jemmael looks quite thoughtful, but it is not in her tone as she answers. "Very true." She turns back to the table. "Now...I am sorely tempted by several of these, as well...."
Kiriya smiles. "Anything you want. Same terms."
Jemmael chuckles. "Those are remarkably good terms, you know." She sounds pleased, and reaches out to lightly touch two of the jackets she'd been wavering between earlier - the one she was first shown, and a lighter one, white and tan.
The white jacket is white leather, with beads of polished wood in several shades around the hem and sleeve-ends, and agate buttons. The other one is cream-colored, with green-and-white flowers worked on the collar and pockets.
Jemmael considers the three for only a moment, and then narrows her focus to the original green one, and the white jacket. "Mmm...these are both lovely, you know." The white one seems to be getting more attention, however.
Kiriya says "Thank you." She seems to have no notion of high pressure salesmanship, though, as she calmly waits for Jem to make up her mind.
Jemmael spends a while longer between the two, and then reaches for the white one. "This one, I think."
Kiriya looks very content at this. "Good. Have your story ready?"
Jemmael chuckles. "The first one is the easy one. It could still take a while to tell, however." She tilts her head. "Would you prefer to do this now, or later? As I would like to tell it in private, rather than here."
Kiriya begins folding the various garments, carefully putting them in her pack. "Now would be good, and wherever you want."
Jemmael hmmms. "Well...the girls are in my room. Perhaps the sitting room - I doubt it's in use on such a lovely day."
Kiriya smiles, finishing her packing. "Certainly. Lead on."
Jemmael smiles and stands, moving not very far before holding open the southeastern door.
Kiriya picks up her pack by a shoulder-strap, and walks through the door.
You stand within a small gathering-room. Able to hold up to twenty people, but more comfortable with ten or fewer, it is kept warm by fireplaces in the east and north walls. Thick carpets and wall hangings help both to retain heat, and to smother the overly-bright colors of the wall stones. Years of student spells and experiments have shown a tendency to discolor everything within the place, color spells proving to be one of the easiest alteration spells on this side. The master mages prefer to hire people to periodically redye the hangings, and leave the stones as they end up, so lifting the hangings to look can be somewhat disturbing.
At the moment, the wall hangings and carpets are in shades of red, ranging from a bright true-red hanging on one wall to the deep blood-red of the carpet. Several simple wooden chairs are scattered about the room, and a large table stands against the south wall. Most of them still appear to be natural wood, although one of the chairs is midnight black instead.
Jemmael shakes her head slightly. "These reds...ah, well." She drops easily into one of the plain wooden chairs, gesturing freely at several others.
Kiriya grins. "It's hard to get colors right, and I'll bet it's even harder with magic."
Kiriya sits down, leaving her pack on the floor by her chair.
Jemmael chuckles. "Yes...especially when those still learning periodically 'redo' it. It gets interesting in here sometimes." She eyes the black chair suspiciously, and then continues, "At any rate, I promised you a story; I thought I would start with the story of how I left the Northlands, and what happened immediately after."
Kiriya nods. "Um...one thing, before we start. Do the mages listen in here, with spells and so on? I don't want you hearing this story around, and thinking that I told. Because I won't."
Jemmael chuckles. "We've been known to listen, but the rule is you don't eavesdrop without asking first...even if I wouldn't notice, which I very likely would."
Kiriya nods, folding her hands in front of her on the tabletop, and looking attentive. "Go on, then, please."
Jemmael relaxes slightly in her chair. "Well, I'm sure you've heard I was out looking for that lad who'd gotten lost, when I 'disappeared'?"
Kiriya says "Yes."
Jemmael nods. "Well, I never found him, obviously - I'm glad he made it back all right. I was following his trail as best I could, in cat-form because the weather was still atrocious, when I fell off a cliff that had never been there before. The ground just went out from under me." She waits a moment, perhaps gauging reaction to this.
Kiriya says "And you're sure you hadn't gotten turned around?"
Jemmael chuckles. "Especially in a snowstorm, not in the least. I am, however, certain that I hadn't /simply/ gotten turned around, based on what happened next. I may very well not have been where I thought I was...but there is no place in the Northlands where one can fall off a cliff in a snowstorm...and emerge in a stiflingly hot valley in a forest. Complete with inconvenient briars, in which I landed, of course."
Kiriya makes a face. "Briars. In fur. Ugh."
Jemmael nods. "Yes. Although fortunately not in my skin - thick fur is good for some things, as it chances." She shakes her head. "It was hot, perhaps mid-summer here, and in that shape I detest the heat, it makes me ill. So I attempted to cast the spell to resume human form...after I got into a relatively clear area, of course!"
Kiriya nods agreement. "Did it work?"
Jemmael shakes her head, slowly. "I couldn't find the right 'keys' for where I was standing. Since it was nowhere I'd ever been before, I had to find them, but I couldn't get a 'feel' for the magic in that place. It simply didn't work." She smiles, a bit ruefully. "So I spent the next couple days or so trying to survive in a landscape too hot for me. At least there was plenty of water and game."
Kiriya says "Were they the same trees and animals we have here?"
Jemmael mmms. "Here, no. Further south, I have heard of such, in general. Well - some of what we have. Rabbits and deer. Some of the undergrowth, and some of the small things, were unfmiliar to me."
Kiriya says "So, where it's hot, the animals still have fur?"
Jemmael nods. "As their summer coats here, yes. They seemed quite similar, even the ones that were nothing I had seen were still in many ways similar."
Kiriya says "Ah, I wish I could see some of that fur! But please, go on with your story."
Jemmael grins, a bit wryly. "I tried the spell again periodically, as I explored the valley. I was hoping to find some area where I might test the magic and find - well, something. If not something suited, perhaps some way to cool myself. I spent a lot of time rolling in streams to keep cool." She chuckles. "I probably looked atrocious. I could have survived indefinitely, I think, but I won't claim it was comfortable." She tilts her head slightly to one side. "But after a few days, I approached a stream to drink, and there was a sharp pain in my side - like when you prick yourself with a needle, perhaps? Or as if something had bitten me, but by then my fur was quite matted. And...I grew tired. I simply collapsed into sleep where I'd stood."
Kiriya chuckles ruefully. "I take it this was no flea-bite, then?"
Jemmael shakes her head. A bit more soberly, she answers, "No, no flea but a hunter. They had never seen anything like me, of course, and did not know me for a person. They had drugs there, and a way to give them with little darts; it is this which felled me. When I woke, I was in a small cage, perhaps as large as this room, no more. It was within a slightly larger room, and if nothing else it was blessedly cold."
Kiriya scowls. "A cage."
Jemmael nods. "I was...somewhat less than pleased, as you might imagine. I was less so after a few days. There were two people who would come through...a quiet man who brought me food - mostly fish," she adds, her tone disgusted-- "and smelled of terror; I think he thought I would try to hurt him. And another man whom I liked considerably less. He would talk to himself about what a great find he had made, and how famous he would be. But he would not pay enough attention to notice that I tried to communicate."
Kiriya raises an edge of her lip in a sneer.
Jemmael lets one shoulder drop, almost in a reverse shrug. "Eventually he brought friends of his and others, to show me off, to invite them to investigate and test his 'find'. I was there for some time - it rather blurs together, I fear."
Kiriya's eyes soften with sympathy. "And all this time, the spell would not work."
Jemmael nods. "Indeed. Of course, I am not sure that resuming human form, naked, in an icy cage, would precisely have been a wise action....
Kiriya says "It would've shown them they were wrong, to treat you like an animal."
Jemmael considers. "Yes, it would've. It would also, if you'll pardon my saying so, have risked leaving me with frostbite in sensitive places. Nor do I feel a great deal of trust in men who behave like that."
Kiriya says "There is that. But something happened, to get you out. Because you're here."
Jemmael chuckles. "Indeed. The unpleasant man who gloated was, I learned, named Murro. But that doesn't matter. A woman came in, tall and with thick red hair. She was with a group he was showing me off for...complete with turning on the too-bright lights in the room. Well, too bright after the darkness."
Kiriya nods.
Jemmael hmmms, contemplating her words carefully. "This one, when I reacted to her...she saw. I could see her realize, and then she asked this Murro if he'd tested my intelligence yet."
Kiriya says "And what did he say?"
Jemmael chuckles. "He said he hadn't, for he hadn't. When the party left after viewing me," she continues, "she lingered behind a moment, and asked if I understood her. So I nodded. But as I was not /her/ possession--" the word is said quite neutrally, almost a deadly sort of evenness to the tone-- "she had to go when they did. She said she would return, however."
Kiriya's mouth curves in a very slight smile, at the word possession. Not a nice smile.
Jemmael's expression gentles in a way seldom seen, a soft affection coming over it. "She came back that evening, and she spoke to me - as best we could, we spoke. She was trying to understand me, which helped immensely." She sighs, the gentleness fading. "So of course we were interrupted by some fellow who wanted to take...er...samples of me. Skin, fur, little *trifling* things." Now there's a definite edge of anger to her tones.
Kiriya scowls.
Jemmael murmurs, "Indeed. The lady did not approve, either. He was going to tranquilize me, he said. Put me to sleep again. In order to take parts of me for study." She shudders. "He did not anticipate my intelligence, and I took his first intended weapon from him...jabbing me with a needle on a long pole, indeed."
Kiriya laughs. "Did you jab him and put /him/ to sleep?"
Jemmael chuckles. "Tempting. Tempting. She coaxed him into letting her step inside to give me the injection herself, instead. She pretended to do so, and I pretended to sleep." A faint smirk.
Kiriya chuckles. "I like this lady."
Jemmael's expression softens. "As do I." She takes a moment to gather herself, and continues, "She gave me my cue, when he came near my 'sleeping' form - I could have told by sound, but she gave me a better idea of when he was vulnerable than guessing could have, with my eyes shut. I pinned him...and she gave him his own sleeping-drug."
Kiriya nods, smiling. "Serves him right, waking up locked in the cage."
Jemmael nods. "She offered me the chance to leave with her, to travel. She warned me also I might find it disturbing, but what could I do in this place where I was a curiosity, to be caged? I told her yes...and that was when Murro walked in, before we could depart."
Kiriya says "Did you kill him?"
Jemmael sighs. "Well..first, he came in at the door, some distance from my cage. And so the lady cried out for help, that I was attacking her. I know a cue when it's thrown at me; I jumped on her. So I suspect the fellow who wanted samples got several bruises, since that's where she landed."
Kiriya is obviously intrigued. "And then what?"
Jemmael wrinkles her nose. "He shot at me - a gun. It throws small balls of metal, very fast - deadlier than a bow, and smaller." She shudders. "I didn't know what it was at the time. Fortunately he missed, and then he was close to the cage and I was able to attack him. He dodged...right into the bars of the cage, and knocked himself out."
Kiriya says "So then you left fast?"
Jemmael shakes her head. "Not right away. She had something she wanted to do first, and knelt to tend to Murro...where my magic failed, hers apparently worked quite nicely, and she put him into the same form I wore. Well, I believe she probably left him male. But I did not check," she adds, with overly-careful dignity, struggling to keep back her amused smile.
Kiriya probably renders the dignity more precarious, by cracking up!
Jemmael loses her control entirely, laughing as well, the conversation derailed for some moments of laughter. She ends up half-draped against the chair-back, arms folded, chin resting in the middle. "It *was* rather--rather--" She just barely controls laughter, even now, to judge by her tone.
Kiriya says "I bet they all gathered around and said, "Look! We've found a kind of cat that can change its sex!" And they must've taken lots and lots of samples!""
Jemmael starts laughing again, almost helplessly. She catches her breath momentarily, and gasps, "Probably--probably so--"
Kiriya laughs and laughs, at the expense of the hapless and not-too-bright Murro.
Jemmael relaxes again, releasing the back of the chair and shrugging gracefully. "We went outside and she worked her magic again, this time changing herself into a black cat of some sort...and we left that place. Which, I believe, is another story." She grins.
Kiriya grins back. "Ah, Jem, you make me happy your children grow fast. I'll want to hear more, you know."
Jemmael chuckles. "I thought you might. It will get weirder, I fear."
Jemmael adds, her voice and manner again soft, "The lady's name is Rinaen, by the way, although I did not learn it until later."
Kiriya says "Rinaen. I shall say a prayer for her, to Father Winter."
Jemmael's smile takes on a hint of amusement, but also of pleasure, and she nods. "She is namara to my children, also."
Kiriya says "Good choice."
Kiriya says "Do you think she'll ever come here?"
Jemmael nods. "It's possible. She has many interests and things to tend to, so she is quite busy, but she has been to the Northlands and may come when she pleases, easily enough."
Kiriya smiles. "Yes, she sounds like a hard one to keep out, if she wanted to go anywhere."
Jemmael nods. "Yes, I think she would be."
Kiriya adds, in slightly more formal tones, "And if she should come, I hope that I might be honored to meet the namara of your children."
Jemmael sits a little straighter, smiling. "I think that she would like to meet you, and I would be glad to introduce you, if that happens."
Kiriya beams, and executes a little sitting-down bow. "I thank you."
Jemmael smiles, still relaxed. "I thank you again...in truth, it was pleasant to tell of that. How is it that I did not meet you before?" Gentle curiosity.
Kiriya says "Well, I'm a woodsrunner. I come from a long way west of here. I mostly come to town when I've made something, and I want to sell it."
Jemmael nods. "Even so, I'm amazed I didn't see you before...no, I suppose I shouldn't be. Even if you were coming into town before I first left the Northlands, I've been rather busy in the past, I suppose."
Kiriya says "This has become a better place to trade lately, since they built the inn."
Jemmael mmmms. "Yes, that would make a difference...I hadn't thought about that. It still seems odd," she admits. "I suppose because I wasn't here for it."
Kiriya nods. "And you've seen the shrine, too? Quite a city they have here."
Jemmael smiles, and nods. "The shrine has been here for a long time...I grew up here," she explains, perhaps unnecessarily.
Kiriya says "It seems funny to me, having a special place to pray. Not bad, you know, just different. City people have a special place for everything."
Jemmael chuckles. "I suppose so...I am fond of the shrine, though. It seems so...so very. And if I am elsewhere and I wish to pray, why then, I do that also." She chuckles.
Kiriya nods. "Oh, I'm sure. I didn't mean that you couldn't pray without it or anything. And after all, distances in the city are so short, it must be very easy for people to get there..." She grins mischeviously. "But of course /you/ go farther away than most. Farther than me, even!"
Jemmael chuckles. "Considerably so, yes. But I do come back."
Kiriya says "You must like it here a lot, then. Because you could have stayed somewhere else."
Jemmael shrugs, and says simply, "This is home. This is where my family is. The most of it, at least." She smiles faintly. "This is where I grew up."
Kiriya nods seriously. "So you want your children to know about it, too."
Jemmael nods, slowly. "It is their birthright, as much as any other place. And in truth, it is safer for them here. I would give them time to be children, first."
Kiriya frowns a little, her eyes narrowed. "All your stories aren't going to be as funny as that one, are they?"
Jemmael shakes her head slightly. "No, they aren't, although some will. And there are stories I do not have because I was warned that would be considerably less funny."
Kiriya nods, her face kind of sober. "Still, you met good people. You met Rinaen."
Jemmael smiles, and nods. "Yes...many good people, in fact."
Kiriya looks satisfied. "With people, you take the good with the bad, eh?"
Jemmael smiles, and nods. "Indeed."
Kiriya says "Do you have a trade that you follow, Jem?"
Jemmael tilts her head slightly. "I am a mage...before I left the Northlands, that is all I was. Now...." She smiles faintly. "Now I am learning to be a healer, of sorts. And other things I do not have the words for, I fear."
Kiriya looks impressed, and nods her head. "Really good knowledge doesn't have words, I think."
Jemmael chuckles. "Possibly. I have learned new words for it, it's just that saying it would be no better than not saying it." She shakes her head. "But at that, I am still only a student."
Kiriya says "You mean, it would be no better because I wouldn't know the words anyway?"
Jemmael nods. "I could explain them, over time, but I have found I am not always that good at explaining things."
Kiriya shakes her head. "I'm not asking you for your secrets. Tell me whatever you want, when you want."
Jemmael smiles. "I will...just that there are things I might not tell, not for keeping them secret, but for not thinking of them or knowing how to explain." She shrugs slightly. "As, I suppose, might be true for anyone."
Kiriya smiles. "You've probably found out more in your travels than you could tell /all/ of, even if we sat here for years."
Jemmael nods, soberly. "Oh, it could be told. But it would be hard to be sure all was truly told. Still, I will tell you more...." She grins, and adds teasingly, "...when you have those pants ready."
Kiriya grins. "I won't tell you it will work, until I've tried it. That would be dumb. But, well, there's a lot more that can be done with leather than most people realize."
Jemmael smiles. "That you are willing to try, I am very grateful for." She sighs. "If nothing else, come winter, he'll be able to wear the summer-weight clothing well enough, I think."
Kiriya blinks, then opens her mouth, then closes it firmly again.
Jemmael tilts her head, and says gently, "He bears some similarity to my snowcat self. And is almost as ill-suited to the heat."
Kiriya blushes. "But he doesn't have a...a human self? Like you?"
Jemmael shakes her head. "He's human, roughly. But furry, and built for cold. He'll learn to be human in time, I think. As will the girls."
Kiriya nods.
Jemmael's lips quirk. "Who are, if you haven't heard, truly snowcats at the moment."
Kiriya's lips quirk. "Well, y'know, I told you I didn't believe everything I heard. But yeah, I heard that. And they're all right, because they don't have to wear clothes...but Silk is a little boy, just furry. I see the problem."
Jemmael nods. Murmurs, awkwardly, "The fur covers any...true indiscretions. But he grew faster than I expected and I'd say if he were human he'd be - what, nine or ten, by his height?"
Kiriya nods. "From the measurements you've given me, yeah. Sounds like they're growing up in cat years."
Jemmael nods. "That was my thought, yes." She smiles, ruefully. "It makes their childhood...rather shorter than I might have expected or hoped."
Kiriya says "Yes, they'll have to go to school when they're grown, if they go at all. I spose you could get them private teachers."
Jemmael nods. "They'd have to do that anyway. Not so hard to learn what they'd need here, but there are lessons upon lessons they'll need for Chaos."
Kiriya blinks on the word "Chaos".
Jemmael looks puzzled a moment, and then understanding dawns, and she says softly, "Chaos is what they call the place I have been living...well, the whole of the land, if you will."
Kiriya nods, clearly intrigued. "Oh. Chaos...hm. Can't they get anybody there to do what they're told?"
Jemmael chuckles softly. "Indeed, they can. It is aptly named, not for the people, but for the land itself." Her eyes grow steadily more distant as she strives to explain. "It is...it is hard to describe. It is changing, and it is wild, and it is harsh. It is beautiful."
"Land...that changes?" Kiriya's mouth drops open, and she just stares at Jem.
Jemmael nods slowly. "Even as the people do," she says softly. "As they must, if it does."
Kiriya's eyes suddenly get that putting-together-the-pieces look. "So, /you/ fit in there because you change yourself, and so do your children?"
Jemmael looks slightly pleased. And nods again. "Indeed."
Kiriya nods. "Well, that makes sense."
Kiriya says "Can you change into other things, too?"
Jemmael lets her eyes drop, and nods. "Yes. In theory, many; in practice I have learned only a very little of that, yet."
Kiriya says "That's.../wonderful/. Father Winter has really blessed you."
Jemmael nods. "Indeed." She smiles, but there is something in the smile that is slightly false. Very subtle; most might overlook it.
Kiriya looks at Jem for a minute, and a touch of irony creeps into her own smile. "Hope you survive."
Jemmael's smile takes on more truth, and that same irony. "So do I."
Kiriya seems suddenly struck by a thought. "Jem, you've travelled. Does that mean you've seen places where they don't worship Father Winter?"
Jemmael nods. "Yes. And places where the name is different, but the underlying meaning the same."
Kiriya says "Both. I hope some of that's going to be in the stories."
Jemmael smiles. Softly, "Some of it. Much of it, though interesting, does not lend itself well to a story, however. It's simply something I learned along the way."
Kiriya says "Do...all Gods try to kill you?"
Jemmael shakes her head. "No. There are Gods of mercy, and there are those in between."
Kiriya considers this. "Well I don't have a God that will make the road to my place any shorter. And I hate to think of Silk suffering in the hot weather. Maybe I should get going."
Kiriya says "Because /here/, the only mercy we have comes from each other. True?"
Jemmael nods. "Very true...perhaps that's the point. And thank you. Friend."
Kiriya's smile widens. "You're very welcome, friend." She rises from her chair, shoulders her pack, and heads for the door. "Have more stories ready in a week or so. I'll be hurrying!"
Jemmael nods, rising from her chair also. "I shall."