From alt.pub.dragons-inn Wed Nov 22 12:07:45 1995 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:8878 Path: netcom.com!ix.netcom.com!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!news.cyberstore.ca!van-bc!uniserve!news.sol.net!spool.mu.edu!pravda.aa.msen.com!simtel!col.hp.com!sdd.hp.com!swrinde!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!newsfeed.pitt.edu!mbast11 From: mbast11+@pitt.edu (Miriam B Anixter) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [Lyn] by way of introduction Date: 22 Nov 1995 02:51:19 GMT Organization: University of Pittsburgh Lines: 96 Message-ID: <48u377$psa@usenet.srv.cis.pitt.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: unixs2.cis.pitt.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] "You are... A'arden?" The young woman had left the bar and was standing in front of the storybuyer's table. The warmth of the inn had finally thawed out her fingertips and face, and she had thrown back her heavy cloak to reveal a man's style tunic and pants of loose-fitting deerskin, with woolen undergarments underneath. The smell of a combination of herbs common and uncommon emanated from her numerous belt pouches, where the hilt of a utilitarian-looking knife also poked out. The storyteller smilled and motioned for the woman to sit down. "Yes, and you are?" "Atanalyn. Lyn, mostly. The bartender said I should talk to you, since I'm new here." "He told you I bought stories?" "Would you buy mine? I'm not a very good storyteller, and, well, it's not much of a story..." "I buy all stories, and would be very interested in yours." A'arden readied parchment and quill, and waited for Lyn to begin. "Well," she began, "It all began when Jaris's wife died. The town mobbed Old Woman's house, and she put a curse on them, and..." A'arden gently interrupted her. "It does appear that you are, at least, an *inexperienced* storyteller. Perhaps we should start with where you came from, where you grew up. You did say that you weren't from around here-- what made you come to the Dragon's Inn?" The young woman looked up in concentration. "Mph. Well, I came from that way [pointing to south wall] about a week or so's journey. I grew up at Old Woman's house..." "Old Woman?" "That's what she called herself; she said that it was the name that fitted her best at the time. Anyway, she lived out in a hut in the middle of the woods, and folk from the town nearby would come to her if they or their animals got sick, if there was a difficult birth, that sort of thing. But she liked spending most of her time in the forest." "Were you her daughter?" "No. [laughs] She was the oldest person I've ever seen... Long white hair, and her face was like a dried apple, with twinkling black eyes. She said she found me in the forest, curled up by a fawn, with the doe nuzzling me, trying to get me to stand up to suck. Of course, she may have just taken me in after a mother died in birth... Anyway, she raised me in her hut. In truth, I didn't spend much time in the hut after I started to walk. First with her, then by myself, I started to learn about the forest and all the life inside it." "You were never attacked? Or got lost?" "No, I think it knew that Old Woman would get mad if anything happened to me. And no matter where I went, she could find me and send someone to guide me home. Later on, she showed me how to listen to the forest. So I could tell where the hut was, and where she was, and where any animals might be... I could tell if the bear was hungry, or protecting its territory, or trying to hide cubs. And after a while, I could let them know that I was friendly, and wasn't going to hurt them or steal their food." The only thing Old Woman told me to stay away from was men. That they were unpredictible but easy to detect and avoid. And after a time I could see them-- not as well as the animals. So she let me come with her when she helped the villagers, and taught me about healing." "With herbs?" "Herbs, and being able to look at someone and see the wrongness that was making them hurt or sick... Some herbs could help draw the wrongness out, but she could also draw on power from the earth. She taught a bit to me, but she said I was too flighty, that I didn't want to be rooted... But I'm better than I was. It's hard work. Using herbs is easy becasue they know what to do, and will tell you if you half ask them, but earth you have to... well, it's like trying to bend wood into the shape you want." "So what happened with the woman that died-- Jaris's wife?" "She was giving birth. It was going badly-- the baby was turned about the wrong way. Jaris didn't like Old Woman, but after a day and a night of hearing his wife scream, he called us. We were ready-- we could feel the birth going badly from the hut. We worked on her for the next day-- turning the baby around, trying to help it's passage-- she had narrow hips, and the babe was thick-headed like his sire. Suddenly it was over-- we lost the mother and babe at once. Jaris accused us of letting her die, that we were taking revenge on him, that we were witches... He was able to whip the village into a frenzy-- they started burning the hut and the forest around it [wincing in remembered pain]. All of a sudden, there was a crack of thunder, and rain came sluicing down. In the middle of the mob, Old Woman rose up. She was drawing on th earth, looming large as a giant with the power. The mob dissolved into a bunch of wet, frightened villagers, with Jaris in the center. She cursed the village-- that they should bear no more children until they healed the damage they caused to the forest--- there was a flash of light... And where the old woman had stood, there was a twisted oak tree. I guess she was going to watch them from there." "She turned into a tree?" "Yeah, she does that a lot-- says it's very restful. I can't do it for very long, I get too restless. But when she does it, it's like she's been rooted there for centuries. I like animals better." "I think I get a better idea of how you made it to the inn unscathed-- did she send you here?" "She said that I had a lot of wandering to do before I settled down-- hot blood of youth and all that. And since I'd never seen much outside the forest and the village, it seemed like an exciting adventure. So I kissed her trunk and left. And now I'm here, and am not sure what to do now." A'arden smiled as he handed her a handful of silver. "I think something will find you here-- it usually does."