Subj:	 [ffml] [HD] Flight of the bumble bee
Date:	00-12-31 16:45:47 EST
From:	darklord@compusmart.ab.ca (His Dark Lordship)
Reply-to:	ffml@egroups.com
To:	ffml@egroups.com (ffml)

Lia felt troubled.

She'd just completed her first decade of study to become an Archmage, which
was normal enough. She was, after all, of the green-winged House Macaw,
famed throughout NeuVariel and the elven race for the might of its
wind-mages. While she couldn't claim to know everything, she knew it wasn't
something in the fabric of magic that was troubling her.

Which left her birth-gift, a small touch of Foresight. It only provided
hunches, intuitions, and vague hints. But the day was clear and bright,
there was no sign of trouble...there was nothing else it could be but the
Sight. Which was frustrating, because there was nothing around that should
have alerted it. It did, however, manage to royally screw her concentration
long enough to produce spectacular results.

Tsai, her teacher and great-uncle, was coughing and hacking his way out of
a thick and misplaced Stink Cloud spell, that she was *supposed* to have
placed some thirty meters away as part of a training exercise. It looked
like smoke, but stank like a thousand dead skunks who'd had too much to
drink before they went.

"That's it," he wheezed as he flapped his wings furiously, trying to
dissipate the cloud. "You're outta here. Don't you come in my sight again
until you can keep the same thought for ten seconds straight! How you ever
expect to make Archmage I have no idea!"

Taking the hint, and the welcome exile from his wrath, Lia took off for the
Temple - perhaps one of the priests could read the omens for her. Chocobos
of various colors wa-aark'ed their way around the valley floor as she flew
overhead, completely unconcerned. That would probably change, since stink
clouds were heavier than the average cloud, and it would slowly fall from
her great-uncle's flet until it was as low as it could go. Best to get out
of sight quickly, and at least in the Temple she was safe from murder by
her teacher and the chocobo breeders.

The Temple was an interesting change from the usual avariel construction,
in that no trees were involved. Even the Palace was tree-based, a
collection of huge old oaks grown together, intertwined branches making the
hallways and rooms. But the Temple was something else again; an outthrust
of purest crystal jutting from the valley floor, shaped over the years into
one massive residence. It was visible from the air for miles around so long
as there was any direct light to shine on it - either sun, moon, or star.
Today it was glittering so brightly it hurt to look at it.

The birds were all quiet. In the Temple of Aerdrie Faenya, the Blue Lady,
the Goddess of Wind and Weather whose favored creatures were birds, this
was a bad sign. On a bright, clear, sunny day, every single bird from
nighthawk to giant eagle was quietly roosting within the Temple.  The odd
thing was that there were no other avariel around but the priests of House
Jay; she was not the only one gifted with a touch of Foresight.

An old blue-winged priest was standing at the doorway to the lowest level,
waiting for her.  Quickly she landed and fell into step behind him - for as
soon as her feet touched the ground, he turned back inside. He led her to a
wind-shielded place where the constant breezes would not carry their words.

"You're the one She called, then," he said, and sounded sad.

"I wasn't called anywhere," Lia replied. "I had an intuition, and my
teacher told me to go, so I came here. Something's going on, isn't it?"

The old priest's faded blue wings hunched up. "We can't get anything
specific," he said worriedly. "It's as though the Lady is afraid to say too
much - which means something very big indeed is happening somewhere. But of
all the Sighted people in the kingdom, She tapped *you* - a mageling barely
out of training. I've been Her servant all my life and I just don't
understand this."

"Hey, hang on," protested Lia. "Nobody tapped me for anything, all right? I
still have to get my spellcasting down!" This was frightening. She'd always
dreamed of adventure and traveling beyond the kingdom's boundaries - doing
a stint with the Border Guard, perhaps, or visiting the groundling Elves
who handled trade between the avariel and the other peoples of the world.
But she hadn't dreamed of gods and quests; gods and quests tended to land
adventurers in trouble to big for them.

But the old priest was having none of it. He flapped his wings, once - and
it was like a roll of thunder, heard throughout the Temple. Birds and
avariel alike jumped at the sudden noise, and Lia clammed up. "You will
go!" the priest growled. "Something's going on Outside. Something big.
Something that we need to know about, maybe stop, before it comes and finds
us. And you're the one She picked.  Don't you *dare* argue with what you
*know* is Her Will! Now, I will send a message - oh, wait a minute," he
interrupted himself. As he was summoning a messenger-bird, one came to him
with an amulet in its beak. It wasn't one of the Border Guards' style,
though. It was a holy symbol - a silhouette of a bird in flight against a
cloudy background. The priest thanked the bird, took the amulet, and the
bird flew off. Suddenly, old as he was, he looked older.

"I was going to send to the King for one of the Guards' amulets," he said.
"Something that would protect you, would let us find you and you to find
us. Apparently the Lady would rather you rely on Her. I can only guess that
when something important comes along this will help make sure you see it.
It won't protect you unless your foes are of the Outer Darkness, though.
Listen to the wind and the birds on your way...it's the only way to get an
idea what you're to do. You know that She will help you, since She chose
you...but don't rely on Her too much.  The Lady values independent choice,
and the growth it engenders in her people. Grow too reliant on Her, and she
will lead you into trouble to see whether you can get out of it. I think
you should start your search with the traders of Elfland."

Bewildered, crushed, and in no small part terrified, Lia took the holy
symbol and put it around her neck. Bowing to the priest, she left the
Temple as quickly as possible and headed back to the grove of House Macaw.
Raiding the store of goods kept by the House for travelers, she picked up a
pair of warm boots, a few wrist-sheathes, belt sheathes, and boot sheathes
for the only weapon she knew how to use (the dagger) - and selected quite a
few daggers also. Lastly, she picked up a large beltpouch. Staring at the
vast racks of equipment for the mages of the House - daggers, staves, and
any number of assorted oddities - she finally chose a single wand; not
because she knew what it did, because she didn't. She chose it because it
was fully charged, easy to carry, and had its command word written clearly
in elvish runes on the side. She'd find out what it did later. Filling out
the log-book with what she'd taken and where she'd taken it from and why
took a little while, but not nearly as long as she would have liked.

After that, there was nothing left to do but get going. And hope that the
Border Guards would catch her before she got too far, and tell her how the
hell one went about hunting.


Larathia the Nighthawk
Goddess-Queen of the Known Universe (FFML)

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The impious presumption of legislature and ruler, civil as well as 
ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, 
have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own
opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as 
such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained
false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time. 
-- Thomas Jefferson 
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