Ever wonder if it's all for you? [Finished]

[Kari Muffin]

Rosemary took her sweet time to return. When she did she had a rather large leather bound book in her hand, and behind her was a rather large peacock wearing a thick set of glasses. The bright yellow of the Corvie seemed blinding compared to the off white Tulgey.

He spoke briefly to the people as Rosemary flopped down in her seat. "This is the fun part," she whispered to the rat and offered her the book. "Do me a favor and open it up to a random page for me? I'll start with whatever story you pick for me. It's easier than me deciding."

Rosemary's grin widened. This was going to be a fun show at least. Most people would probably expect her to start from the beginning of the collection of tales, but where was the fun in that? If she couldn't keep the audience on their seat with each tale she told, no matter where it came from, than she failed as a story teller.

[Harpsdesire]

Dania waved a dainty paw casually as Rosemary resumed her seat. She couldn't help but grin when she was asked to chose the tale that would be read. "Okay." She whispered back, opening the book to point just before the thick volume's middle. She flipped a few more pages to reach the start of a story before handing the book back to Rose. "This one."

She sat up a bit on the cushion, her ears and whiskers pricked forward in an expression of interest. Dania was looking forward to the reading. She could never resist the chance to indulge her interest (actually it might be more accurate to say obsession) with the written word.

It was looking like her initially very disturbing encounter with the strange queen was turning into a delightful afternoon's diversion at the least, and potentially some useful business relationships at best. And, dare she think it? Maybe even the beginning of a friendship with an intelligent and fascinating author.

[Kari Muffin]

Rosemary eyed the story that the rodent had turned to. Well, this was going to be fascinating. She cleared her throat before smiling at the audience.

"The Wood is a dangerous place," she said as she set the book on her lap. "But everyone and their brother knows that. For some strange reason though, people seem to have a morbid fascination about crossing the border. Those people often end up dying in the Wood, while others have horror stories. This tale is about the reason why the Wood is so fascinating.

John was a normal boy as far as his realm went. An average Torquehelm canine with nothing interesting about him. So he wanted to change that by venturing into the Woods and coming out with something to prove his visit beyond a little piece of tree. So he went on a quest to find himself someone to take home..."

[Harpsdesire]

It took only a few moments before Dania was enthralled by the tale. Rose was a great storyteller, engaging and drawing her audience in. It seemed the other cards who were seated nearby found her just as fascinating as the rat did, for there was a hushed stillness in the room, as if everyone was holding their breath, hanging on the queen's every word.

An average, normal Torquehelm canine. Just exactly what Dania's brothers would have been... had they lived. If things had been different maybe those two perfect, perfectly ordinary boys would be heading the wood, or out into the world, going to find themselves and learn what they could do.

But... focus on the story. It was sure to be as wonderful and frightening as the wood itself: a place so near Dania's house, but where she had never once dared to go.

[Kari Muffin]

"The Wood was strangely quiet as he slowly made his way through the trees. The only sound was his footsteps and his binding ringing every so many steps when he shifted around the poking tree limbs.

He didn't realize that this was an odd occurrence in the realm. And whenever it happened something horrible shortly followed.

In this instance, however, it wasn't that horrible.

With a crash of amazing proportions, something came tumbling out of the trees on top of the young man. He hit the ground with such force he could feel one of his arms snapping at the sudden impact with the ground.

The man was completely unsure of what to do as he struggled to make his way out from under the creature. After a struggle that seemed like it took forever, he was surprised to find that a woman had fallen on top of him. To his delight and surprise she was actually quite a beautiful mix of creatures. an elegant sort of Bird mixed with canine.

He couldn't help but wonder why she had fallen, or even how. She didn't seem to have wings amongst all of those fluffy feathers...."

Rosemary took a moment to pause. This was one of the longer fairy tails that was slow to actually get the ball rolling. She took a long sip of her drink and eyed the Torquehelm next to her. "Enjoying the story so far?" She had no qualms in pausing to actually ask if the people listening were enjoying themselves or not.

[Harpsdesire]

Dania was listening in rapt attention to the story. It seemed a simple sort of tale, the sort a parent would tell to their little ones before bedtime on a winter night. Still, it held a promise of darkness and secrets. Maybe it was just Rose's skillful retelling, which sounded almost as if she knew the story by heart rather than just read it from the book that was open in her lap. Whatever the reason, it appeared that all the other listeners were just as interested as Dania was.

She actually jumped a little when she was addressed directly, the spell of storytelling momentarily broken. Dania recovered quickly to nod with enthusiasm and say, "Oh, very much!" with unabashed enjoyment.

The tale, the cozy pillow and the last sips of tea in her cup brought her back to a time when things were simpler, safer. Maybe it was her mother's reading voice she remembered, cuddled in a big arm chair before the fire, or maybe a childhood teacher who read aloud to a class of children circled on a rug much as the audience here sat. She let her mind drift back into the story, purple eyes going wide and dreamy, eager to hear what would happen next.

[Kari Muffin]

Rosemary grinned before returning to her story. She had memorized most of the various tales she had learned from the different realms. This was one of them. "The girl woke with a start, it was enough to startled John in such a way that he fell to the ground in surprise. A small yelp escaped him when he hit his arm against a branch. Tearing up with pain he realized that his arm was broken from the wonderful woman falling on him.

Thoroughly confused the enchanting woman tilted her head curiously at the whimpering boy. Without a word she reached out and ran her talons along his arm. A bright smile graced her canine face as she sat on her haunches in front of the Torquehelm.

The pain had disappeared with her touch. John found himself staring in wide eyed wonderment at the woman sitting in front of him. What sort of magic was this? What sort of creatures were the people of the Wood? He had heard rumors that they were all rabid monsters.... but this was something else entirely.

He professed his thanks to the woman. Though she only stared at him in return. She didn't seem to understand a word that was coming out of her mouth."

Rosemary paused to take a long sip of her tea. Looking at the faces in the crowd who were all eagerly looking for her to continue the story. "Are there any questions so far?" she asked suddenly as she flipped through several pages in the book.

[Harpsdesire]

Dania was still listening closely, but this time the break in the tale was almost expected. Rose's story was definitely getting interesting at this point, so Dania actually had many questions. Most of them, she was sure, would be answered as the tale progressed.

She waited a few moments to see if anyone else at the reading would venture a question. When all was again silent and the questions of others were answered, she asked timidly, "Do cards of Tulgey often have an affinity for healing? A power of that strength is quite rare, but I have heard of high-ranking cards learning the ability to mend bones."

The rat was aware that cards of certain realms tended to have penchants for certain magics, like women of the Yarrow Gardens did with poison, or her own realm with spells that altered the mental state of an opponent, rendering them too depressed or distraught to fight effectively. Although they didn't extend to every individual, such patterns did exist. Dania knew rather little about the mysterious cards of the wood, and expected that the other listeners would feel the same. It wasn't every day that one came across the ghostly white creatures that came from one of the world's most dangerous regions.

[Kari Muffin]

Rosemary was a little surprised by the question. Being a bard and traveling she naturally found out quite a bit when it came to magic. She herself had a few interesting spells in her arsenal but... a question about the nature of Tulgey magic? She had found that "nature" was a highly subjective thing, and all the preexisting notions are bound to fail.

But that wasn't exactly something she wanted to debate at a reading. That was more something to debate in a hookah bar. She gave the rat a rather blankly look and shrugged. "You can learn just about anything with magic. It depends on the person, not the region. And It's not as rare as you might think. Throughout history there are plenty of examples of Queens from any reason with an ability to fix broken bones."

She gave a shrug. Tulgey would remain a mysterious region in the eyes out outsiders. She had no intention of trying to change that.

[Harpsdesire]

Dania looked back at Rosemary with a somewhat sheepish expression, not entirely sure what to make of the blank look and shrug. It seemed her question hadn't gone over well, or something. Maybe she was asking for a different sort of questions? But really, what was there to asked about the story at that point? Like any good folktale, it was simple and any mystery presented in the beginning would surely be answered before long.

She nestled deeper into the floor pillow and looked away, feeling, as she often did, uncomfortable in her own skin. Oh, social interactions weren't exactly her strongest skill... Why had she even opened her mouth in front of all these cards?

She managed to turn back toward the queen, eke out a tentative smile and say "I see." Dania fervently hoped the rest of the patrons of the store weren't looking at her, The One Who Asks Dumb Questions, but she couldn't bring herself to look around and check. Her cheeks and ears felt wierdly hot, and her stomach was doing the strange wobbly thing it usually did when she was forced to interact with strangers. She wondered for a moment how obvious it would be if she made a break for the door once Rose started reading again... Very, very obvious, she decided with a surpressed sigh.