Subj:	 [ffml] [MW] Taking Soundings
Date:	00-08-03 13:15:05 EDT
From:	larathia@mcs.net (Larathia)
Reply-to:	ffml@egroups.com
To:	ffml@egroups.com

Nighthawk sorted through the reports her flight-captains offered. Copies of
moogle orders went into one stack, that the mages would magically copy for
sending to Tim - via her youngest and least experienced soldier, who was
under orders to say only what was needed to get the packet as close to Tim
as possible, and respond to nothing else.

And then there were the reports each captain made of the others'
activities, and injuries suffered, and tactics used. These she read much
more closely, and the reports worried her.

Thurin had used her Eye of the Storm spell, and discovered moogles had
magic at the *same* time as he was scattering that groups' orders all over
the fields. There was no telling whether he'd managed to retrieve them all,
either. The one injured warrior could without question be laid at the feet
of Thurin's overconfidence. She made a note to contact the priests, and
have them take the fees for the healing out of Thurin's wages.

And Ie, one of her oldest flight-captains, was apparently losing the fight
to keep his sanity. Desecrating moogle corpses to frighten other moogles,
she quite understood and approved of. Getting an emotional kick out of it,
she didn't. By Devian and Jora's estimate, he'd spent five minutes stomping
on the corpse of a moogle, completely oblivious to the fact that all around
him the battle was over. She would have to relieve him of command, and see
if the healers could do anything for him. Somehow, she doubted it. She
understood the ways of the old elves, and she didn't think Ie would be
himself again until Lord Tim keeled over from one cause or another, and Ie
could stomp on him for a while. Ie had placed more people in the way of
harm than Thurin had; she could not leave him in charge of a flight with
the risks he felt like taking.

Thinking of that, she set Jora and Devian to watching Ie; she didn't want
him to get into a position where he might take matters into his own hands.
The two sympathized with his views, which would help him, but they also
understood why Tim was off limits; *that* helped Nighthawk.

The other five reports were unremarkable; complete victory, no injuries or
deaths, which was the result she had expected. She sorted through them, and
then called the highest-ranking priest.

"Your will, Captain?" she said. Her hair, eyes, and wings were the exact
color of an autumn sky; in the priestly caste, a good omen.

"How are the injured, reverence?" asked Nighthawk.

"Doing well. In the field we managed to get all of them airborne; by the
time we reach our next battle objective, they will be rested enough to be
fully battle-ready."

"Your service does you credit, Reverence," responded Nighthawk, with no
small relief. "Is there anything I should be aware of?"

"Just this, Captain," responded the priest. "We are recieving omens, many
omens, since the first battle with the alien creatures."

Nighthawk frowned. "Omens? The Lady herself is taking an interest?"

The priest nodded, her eyes reflecting both pride and worry. "Yes, Captain.
The birds sing of legends here, and the wind whispers of death. Lord Tim is
involved somehow."

"Lord Tim will betray us?" This was *not* good news.

"We are not at all sure of the meaning of the omens, Captain," said the
priest. "Aerdrie Faenya is sending us a warning - but we are listening
through muffled ears. Do you know of the legends of this world, Captain?
That might help."

Nighthawk tapped a finger against her lips, thinking. "No, Reverence, I am
not familiar with this world's legends. I think I will include a note to
Lord Tim to send us one of his people's bards - to entertain my people at
night, of course. I've given up on him or his people ever understanding us
- but us understanding them is not impossible. If all else should fail, and
the request is denied, I will request that your folk and the mages brush up
on your invisibility and clairaudience spells; if something is so important
that the goddess herself is taking an interest, by damn I want to know
about it."

The priest shuffled nervously. "And if the legends we learn give indication
that Lord Tim will betray us?"

Nighthawk looked seriously at her advisor. "I will not judge him before he
has committed a crime, Reverence, but if the omens say be wary, believe me
that I shall be very wary indeed. If he betrays us, I will do my best to
see that the damage is minimal; and if I cannot do that, I will see his
hide nailed to a tree and painted with the words of his guilt. Or I will
char his bones to ash, and scatter the remains on the 666th layer if the
Abyss, that his spirit will be a football for tanar'ri and demons in the
Blood War. Does that satisfy you?"

"Yes, Captain," said the priest, and bowed her way out.

Nighthawk distrusted the priests on principle; it was very hard for her to
honestly believe a deity would take a personal interest in the doings of
one small group of her followers. But omens were rare; omens were direct
signs from the Lady that something needed looking into, and so far whenever
an omen had happened, it had indeed pointed right at the source of trouble.
She rather doubted she would get a bard out of Tim; she knew he had spies
about and if they'd heard or got wind of her reassurances to the priest, he
would probably take it in the least convenient way. Still, the gesture had
to be made; a willingness to *try* the direct route. She would learn what
the omens meant, even if it meant grabbing a human at random and using her
psionic powers to pull the thoughts from his head. She hated doing that, it
always left her with a crippling headache; human thoughts were so...chaotic.

Brushing such unpleasantness from her mind, Nighthawk summoned Triu, the
young recruit she'd chosen to bear the reports back to the human camp.
Quickly scribing her request for a bard, she slipped it into the packet
with the rest of the acquisitions from the moogle camps. Handing the
bulging packet to Triu, she gave her orders: "This is to go as close to
Lord Tim's desk as you are allowed to get. You'll probably be stopped
before you get so far; hand the packet over only if the human assures you
it will get to Lord Tim from *his* hands alone. If that happens, remember
his name, and tell me, just in case it is a deception and the packet is
lost. You are to answer no questions about the contents of the packet, not
that you could if you wanted to. If it is indicated that you are to carry
something back to me, wait and do so. Otherwise, return immediately. You
are not to carry any weapons of any kind; if you are threatened, fly. If
you are *still* threatened, contact me via amulet and I will see you
protected. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Captain." Triu was clearly very nervous about being entrusted with
such an important task, but her pride in being chosen kept her knees from
knocking. "I will succeed."

"Of course you will; they are our allies, what have you to fear, right?"
said Nighthawk, managing a smile. "Now, off you go."

Triu smiled and took off; at the edge of the human camp, she would walk.

Nighthawk waited, morose. They are our allies, we have nothing to
fear...right?


Subj:	 Re: [ffml] [MW] Taking Soundings
Date:	00-08-05 21:23:38 EDT
From:	skyhall@hotmail.com (Sky Hall)
Reply-to:	ffml@egroups.com
To:	ffml@egroups.com


  Triu flew threw the air, the packet a small burden to her flight.
  She looked about, observing the surroundings as the night settled in and 
the shadows grew to cover the land. In the near distance, she could see 
smoke rising and some dust from the human camp.
  She flew high and when she got nearer, took to a wide circle, slowly 
descending to the ground. The humans had erected a square fort; eartern 
walls and pits before them, protecting the tents, corrals, and stores of the 
division. Triu marveled at how the humans labored to create this city in 
just two hours.
  The young avariel landed outside of one of the entrances to the fort. She 
noted at how there was a narrow land bridge left to a gate. The gate itself 
had two large posts driven into the ground, with visible hinges holding up 
two swinging doors. There were some boards that supported the earth back, 
thus keeping the gate entrance tidy and having a good square look to it.
  Two sentries stood at the posts outside, in full armor, shields and spears 
in their hands. They waited casually as Triu slowly approached and then 
stopped at the end of the land bridge. One of the sentries, frowning that 
the avariel didn't want to walk the rest of the way, left his position and 
walked up to her.
  "Hail, avariel," said the Doman soldier, he gave a quick salute.
  "Hail," said Triu, trying to hide her discomfort as she returned an 
awkward salute. "I bring a packet for Colonel Tim from Captain Nighthawk."
  The soldier nodded. "Very well. If you wish, I shall lead you to Captain 
Tim."
  "Yes, I was instructed to give him the orders."
  The soldier nodded and turned, walking to the gate. Triu followed.
  At the gate, the soldier banged on the iron reinforced wooden door and 
called aloud, "Packet for Colonel Tim. Open up."
  The sound of a wooden bar was heard sliding out of place and the gates 
opened up, creaking on their iron hinges. A sergeant stepped forward and 
greeted the soldier.
  The soldier saluted. "Packet for Colonel Tim, sir." The sergeant nodded 
and looked to Triu. She returned an even look.
  "Follow me," said the sergeant. He turned started walking, turning his 
head he called back. "Close the gate. I'll be back in a moment."
  The men did so as Triu hurried to catch up with the sergeant. The man 
walked down a thoroughfare, lined with men milling about, eating, drinking 
grog, and tents. A distance later, they reached Tim's command tent. One of 
the sentries inquired of the sergeant's business and parted the tent to 
speak inside. The sentry then indicated for Triu to enter.
  "I'll wait here to lead you back," said the sergeant to the avariel.
  She nodded nimbly and entered the tent. The sergeant examined the 
avariel's figure and thought, "A little skinny, but pretty nonetheless."
  Inside the tent, Triu saw Tim, Lord of All That Kicks Ass, sitting on a 
stool, writing on a parchment to the light of a few candles. He put the pen 
down and stood up and approached Triu.
  "Yes?" asked Tim, he could see how young the avariel was and noted her 
slight uncomfortableness. He made his tone cordial and nice.
  Triu saluted, Tim returning it. She spoke softly. "I bear a packet from 
Captain Nighthawk." She offered it.
  Tim reached out and examined the packet, opening it and emptying the 
contents on his desk. "Give me a moment to look over this, and I will pen a 
note to Captain Nighthawk."
  Triu nodded.
  Tim looked over the papers, then read Nighthawk's note. He took notice 
that Nighthawk hinted at her having some difficulty with her flight 
captains, but could not see what she meant.
  "A bard, huh?" said Tim, chuckling. "Just so happens we have a few camp 
followers. I think we have three she could choose from," said Tim, looking 
at Triu, smiling.
  Triu had been studying Tim all along, expecting him to react angrily or 
harshly with her. But his laugh and smile caught her off-guard and she was 
stunned for a brief moment. Could this be the same stupid human that so many 
grumbled about?
  "I'll send a wagon over to your camp with the three bards right away," 
said Tim. "Captain Nighthawk can choose which one she likes, or keep two 
even. Will you accompany them to your camp?"
  "Yes sir," said Triu.
  "Good," said Tim. "Guard!" called Tim, as he took a seat on his desk.
  The sentry poked his head into the tent. "Yes, sir?"
  "Have the sergeant return to the wall, and get ... Corporeal Orieal to 
gather those three bards and a wagon together. They'll ride to the avariel 
camp with ... I'm sorry, what was your name?"
  "Triu, sir."
  "They'll ride with Triu," said Tim.
  "Aye, sir," said the sentry. He removed his head, letting the tent flap 
fall.
  Tim quickly penned a note, sending his compliments and his congratulations 
to Nighthawk, and informing her of his troops possible movements the next 
day.
  "Deliver this note to Captain Nighthawk," said Tim, standing up and 
handing the missive to Triu. "With my compliments," added Tim with a smile.
  "Yes, sir," said Triu.
  She left the tent and was greeted with a wagon being pulled by two 
chocobos coming up to her. It was driven by a coporeal (his rank denoted by 
a silver stripe) and had three bewildered men in the back. They looked a 
little frightened at Triu.
  She mounted the wagon and awkwardly sat next to corporeal Orieal.
  "Where to?" asked the man.
  Triu pointed in the direction of her camp. "That way," she said.
  Orieal nodded and flicked the reigns. The chocobos chirped lightly and set 
off for the gate.
  The wagon was soon out of the camp and on it's way to the avariel camp.


--Sky