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Holmes: Chimrea arrives at the field just outside of town, near where the dead are buried. Many Rhiani area already there, some mounted, others standing aside their steeds. The sun is already dipping low in the sky. It will soon be time to start. Some of the men, anticipating the need, are building the fires that will form the boundaries of the dance.
Kerem follows Chimrea to the center of the field, hands in pockets awkwardly, gazing around at the unfamiliar goings-on.
Chimrea is saying nervously to Kerem, "So, all the way out here, you probably don't have anything to worry about. But I think you should see the ritual, because it's important." She stops herself just short of adding 'to me,' thinking that'd sound too close.
Kerem: "Okay." He smiles a little. "I'm kind of excited to see what you do, actually."
Kerem: "You've been training your whole life for this?"
Chimrea: "Not all of it. I saw a ghost for the first time when I was five. A couple of years after that, I convinced Fahd to start teaching me a little."
Kerem: "That's...pretty intense."
Kerem: "When I was five, I was learning to steal apples."
Chimrea: "I never said a word about it at home, after the first time. So it's really not Osalder's fault he took it so badly." She grins at Kerem. "Were they good apples?"
Kerem: "Not particularly. It was the middle of Kaitaine, after all." He does a take. "Oh, hey, sorry about that. I didn't know he didn't know."
Kerem: "I figured, your brother..." he shrugs, embarrassed.
Chimrea shrugs. "You couldn't have known. It's just that my parents had a thing about magic and spirits, so it seemed much easier to keep it a secret until I was old enough for them to take me seriously."
Kerem: "Mmm." His smile fades a bit. "And now they....I mean...well, uh, I'm, I'm sure they'd be proud."
Chimrea: "It's all right," she says seriously. "You can say they're dead."
Kerem: "Well. Yeah."
Kerem: "...sorry."
Chimrea: "Like I said, it's all right. What about your parents?"
Kerem shrugs. "Dad's been dead since I was a kid."
Tez follows the moon, and the distant noises to the field. The light and the distance from the city feels good, clears her head a bit. "There's supposed to be a ritual tonight. I wonder how similar it will be to mine."
Kerem: "I think my mom is all right.. She was last time I saw her, but she didn't want to leave town. It'd been her mom's house..."
Chimrea: "I'm sorry," Chimrea says. "That must have been difficult for you."
Holmes: Charun, in it's polar orbit, comes into the field of view, a red half moon. It's near concordance tonight is yet another reason for the ritual being scheduled tonight...
Marcos claps along his cane marking out a precice timing of his steps. He shrugs his capes hood about to nod in Tez's direction. "You will have to detail your rituals more to me later. I rarely get to see such work. As my speciality is more in the phyical art of magic."
Kerem shrugs again. "Mom can take care of herself, I guess. And I left her what I could."
Kerem: "I'll go back sometime and check up on her. Make sure everything's all right."
Chimrea mostly meant Kerem's father--but then, he may know that, and just be changing the subject a bit. Chimrea decides not to pry right now, and nods. "Family is important."
Tez chuckles, looking up at the half-blood light, "I'll show you. When it is the right time."
Holmes: The low hills become strangely silhouetted by the sun, now down below them. The fires are lit, and the shadows they cast are bizarre, too.
Marcos smiles at Tez. His teeth shine brite and clean...sharp. "Yes, that would be pleasant." He notes the gathering and gently pulls back his hood to reveal his clean shaven face and well groomed top-knot.
Chimrea: "Almost time to start," Chimrea says quietly to Kerem. "Thank you for coming along--I'd better make sure that they're not going to mind me doing the ritual.
Kerem nods. "Okay. Should I -- what do I do? Do I need to stand someplace special?"
Chimrea: "Somewhere in the middle of the crowd is probably best--sometimes there's a disturbance at the back."
Holmes: Dhazari is watching Chimrea, and approaches.
Kerem: "Okay." He smiles widely again, and, impulsively, gives her a little hug. "Good luck." He backs off into the crowd.
Holmes: "Chimrea, good to see you," says Dhazari waiting for Kerem to finish. "Where is Fahd?"
Chimrea: "If he isn't here, then he's tending to Teodric's father." It occurs to Chimrea that Fahd might not have updated the social calendar for the evening, and she swallows. "He said I was ready to lead the Dance."
Tez fingers the hilt of her knife, pausing some distance from the ritual. "Perhaps we had best observe from the outside." she suggests, smoothing her new dress. It is not the most beautiful piece she has ever worn, but it is leagues better than the one she had on before. One might mistake her for a woman of breeding now.
Kerem notices Tez as he retreats, pauses a bit, then heads over to her, greeting her with a little smile.
Kerem: "Hey, Tez. You look good."
Holmes: Dhazari shows his surprise with Rhiani honesty. "I see...."
Tez curtsies politely as he approaches. "Good evening, Kerem." she replies, her voice holding the cold edge he'd heard briefly before.
Chimrea: "I know I'm young, and I know the tribe may have doubts. I'll submit myself to any test."
Marcos eyes Tez's reacation to Kerem.
Kerem blinks.
Tez smiles nonetheless, at her friend, though she knows he does not trust her aims.
Kerem: "Um, yeah. So. Uh. Nice ritual, huh?"
Holmes: Dhazari says, "If Fahd says you're ready, you've passed your tests."
Holmes: "I just hope that Fahd knows what he's doing."
Marcos leans closer to Tez. "What is the basis of the ritual again?"
Tez: "I hope so. Do you know what will happen?"
Kerem: "Not really. I assume there's some dancing involved."
Tez shrugs slightly at Marcos, "I have never seen it before."
Chimrea wants to say 'me too,' but nods at Dhazari instead. "I'll prepare myself, then."
Tez: "It involves the Dead, and the Moon. We shall see what else follows."
Agnes walks up to Kerem, Tez and the stranger. "Hi, am I late?"
Tez smiles politely at Agnes, dropping another curtsey. "Agnes, welcome." she glances over at the ceremony, "I don't think it has started yet."
Kerem: "Nah, hasn't started yet."
Kerem: "Man, I didn't realize this was such a social event."
Tez: "Have you both met Marcos? Marcos, this is Kerem and Agnes."
Kerem shoots a sidewise glance at Marcos. "Hi there."
Agnes: "Hi Marcos." Agnes offers a handshake. "So, is Chimrea rasing the dead or something? I didn't catch all of what she and Fahd were discussing."
Tez: "We eagerly await the ritual, to find out. Though, I thought you did not like it when the dead were raised."
Kerem: "I don't...I don't think so. She did say that sometimes there's some trouble at the back of the crowd, but, I don't THINK that was what she meant."
Kerem: "I, uh...do people raise the dead often, around here?"
Agnes: "Maybe the zombies come to the back of the crowd and make trouble?"
Kerem: "Uh...that's...possible."
Kerem: "I mean...it's possible that that's possible. I think."
Agnes: "Actually, I get the idea from stuff my Pop told me that these folks wouldn't be into that, so probably nothing to worry about."
Marcos nods. "Greetings. Please, don't mind me. I am curious as to the nature of the ritual."
Kerem makes a noncommittal affirmative sound, something like, "Mmn."
Kerem: "So how'd you meet Tez?"
Agnes: "Oh, you know, she...oh. Sorry."
Tez: "He came to me after I left you and Chimrea talking over breakfast." she smiles slightly.
Holmes: In the distance, the yiping of Jackals can be heard.
Kerem: "Ah."
Marcos nods his head in agreement of Tez's story.
Kerem fidgets.
Marcos reaches into his cloak and very discreatly pulls a small vial from his robes. Uncorking it he takes a deep breath of the greenish vapors within, drawing upon the breath of the dead to open his eyes to the underworld beyond.
Tez watches Marcos with interest
Kerem looks a little askance at the, uh, vial of evil, and then interests himself in the landscape nearby.
Holmes: Marcos can see on the verge of the graveyard that dozens of spirits are lining up, clambering to get out. Many of them look as though they were warriors in life. Probably the storied defenders of Green Lake from it's founding 20 years ago.
Tez: "So did Chimrea invite you here, Kerem?"
Kerem: "Yeah. She said it's something I ought to see."
Kerem: "Whatever that means."
Marcos puts the vial away and leans back, in a drugged haze almost to study the gathering spirts with milky eyes that see the dead.
Holmes: One of the dead spirits sees Marcos looking over, and gives him a rather malevolent stare back.
Tez: "I see."
Tez shifts a little closer to Marcos, "What do you see?" she asks, assuming the clouded eyes are for a purpose.
Kerem: "How about you?"
Marcos smiles and claps his staff once rousing the guardian dead he has lashed to his robes. The dozens of mortal souls and thousands of animal spirits blend into the fabric making a shell of horror to those who witness it. He shushes the spirt and directs his attention to the ritual. "Ghosts. Gathering..it looks as if they are here as witnesses."
Tez: "It sounded interesting. And on the night nearing the Blood Moon, I couldn't stay away."
Marcos nods.
Agnes: "Oh...is this invitation only?"
Kerem: "Man, I dunno. Ask somebody religious."
Chimrea: In a small tent pitched by one of the fires, Chimrea finishes putting on the ceremonial mask and testing the edge of her knife. She steps out and nods to the drummers, a signal to start.
Kerem eyes Tez uncomfortably, fingering something in his pocket.
Marcos chuckles. "I doubt it would be very logical. Most religions are designed to be cryptic."
Agnes: "Designed?"
Tez turns her face to the moon once more. "One might say that."
Holmes: Marcos can see that one of the spirits seems to be wearing a necklace that has a very powerful essence emanation... probably linked to some actual artifact in his grave...
Tez: "But proper study can make things much clearer."
Holmes: The drums start beating a rhythm into the night.
Kerem: "Cryptic is certainly a word you might use."
Holmes: The Rhiani who have not yet, mount their horses.
Marcos studies the necklace carefully.
Holmes: From this distance, it's hard to make anything out well. But the emanation looks like it echos some rather complex spell.
Marcos resists the urge to walk over and claim the spirt in a bottle to study it. Perhaps later...with his killing jar. But not now. Damn. He continues to watch.
Chimrea: Chimrea begins walking around the fire, pitching her voice to carry even to the back of the crowd. "Spring comes to the grasslands, but before we can welcome new life we must settle with the dead. We cannot ride still carrying the burdens of the last year!" With each word she speeds her pace a bit, until she's whirling around the fire almost frantically--then with the last word she stops and faces the crowd, waiting for the ritual response.
Tez watches the ritual, occasionally glancing over at Kerem.
Kerem just watches.
Chimrea: "The dead must rest," the crowd responds in unison, almost a groan.
Tez: "Rest hmmm."
Chimrea: "The light of the moon shows the way. Our voices make a bridge to cross over!" Chimrea begins moving again, dancing around the central fire, and at the same time the riders start to circle the outer perimeter.
Holmes: Marcos notes that the dead seem to suddenly find themselves able to cross the line into the area of the ritual bounded by the fires.
Chimrea: People closer to the center start coming in to join the dance, forming rough orbits increasing in distance from the fire.
Chimrea: "Let any on either side of the bridge who have words to say, speak them now! Let the old debts be settled so the tribe may ride far from your bones!"
Holmes: As the ritual proceeds, the riders start going faster and faster, the riders exhausting themselves as fast or faster than the horses in their saddles. The spirits mount spirit horses, too, and proceed to ride about with the living.
Holmes: Suddenly some of the spirits start to become visible to everyone present. These are the ones with something to say to the living.
Kerem blinks.
Tez raises a brow.
Chimrea: Still dancing, Chimrea's knife flashes out as she moves, swinging high and then low to catch the firelight before she slashes it along her arm. Making the jagged mark of the crow, she swings her arm, drops of blood flying into the fire to signal her part in the pact.
Tez 's eyes are irresistably drawn to Chimrea's arm.
Kerem frowns a bit as he watches.
Chimrea forgets Kerem, forgets wondering whether Osalder came, and sinks herself into the movements of the dance--the story is that a spirit-talker who performs the ritual poorly can anger the spirits, which is bad news for the coming year.
Holmes: One of the visible spirits sees Agnes, and stares at her directly. It seems to want to talk to her, but can't seem to since she's not in the dance.
Holmes: The spirit looks like just another of the many Rhiani warriors about.
Agnes starts flailing her arms and dances into the crowd of horses.
Holmes: Some of the riders have to disturb the ride a bit to accommodate the new arrival. Chimrea notes the disturbance.
Tez: "If they had been sacrificed properly, they would have crossed into the realm of Klysus already, to be reborn." she watches the ghosts with slightly narrowed eyes.
Kerem: "Well...that's why they need the ritual, I guess."
Kerem: "Not everybody gets...sacrificed properly."
Tez: "True. A shame."
Tez: "They are obviously not believers, either."
Holmes: Chimrea, in her ecstatic state, recalls everything perfectly. The spirits are bewitched by her dance, swaying with her and the riders in the moonlight in a perfect spiral. The spirits all thank her as they pass her, saying that she is chosen for this, she is the one they want. She is the guide of the dead, and they will come to her here whenever she summons them. Their fervor is almost too much. More than Fahd had ever said would hap
Holmes: The men in the ritual bury the hatchet with those men who have gone before them. Others ask and gain insight into warfare techniques learned in battles where men fell. Other secrets are passed, too, from the dead to the living.
Holmes: The spirit on the horse that Agnes had seen catches up with her.
Kerem: "Believers in what?"
Tez: "Akalatan, and his Father, Klysus." she makes the ritual gestures when invoking their names.
Chimrea whirls on, sweat burning in the cut on her arm, feet stamping up puffs of dust that mingle with sparks from the fire and curl away into the night. She bows to the spirits as they pass, giddy but sure she did the right thing by coming tonight.
Kerem: "Well, yeah."
Kerem: "I...you're probably right."
Tez: "Of course I am." she gazes impassively at the ghosts.
Holmes: The spirit that approaches Agnes says, "You're father kept my spirit in my body in a box in a place far from my homeland! For ten years I suffered in that box! Why should I not haunt you!"
Holmes: Chimrea, in the midst of the ceremony suddenly sees her mother approaching. Extremely faint. Yet still there, she's sure of it.
Chimrea: Mouth dropping open behind the mask, Chimrea extends her hands to the vision, beckoning her mother to come closer.
Agnes: Dancing around the circle, staying even with the spirit, Agnes tries to address it. "It would do you no good to torment me. If what you say was done is true, you have spent enough of your time in pain over this incident. It is time for you to move on. You can still grow, if you choose."
Holmes: "Grow?" It asks, anger gleaming red from the otherwise white apparition. "I am dead! Have you no other answer!"
Chimrea: Isadora's voice carries to Chimrea, who struggles to make it out--"If you searched for a thousand years, child, you couldn't find a worse way to spend your time. Well done."
Tez notes Agnes' conversation with the spirit. It looks angry.
Chimrea: "Where are you?" Chimrea cries, trying to focus on her mother through the dizziness. "I'll come for you."
Chimrea: Flinging her hands out in a characteristic gesture of exaggerated desperation, Isadora shakes her head. "I'd forbid you, but I suppose that would only encourage you. Take care, Chimrea. Love and revenge are the joy of life--everything else is just marking time." Chimrea starts forward to ask more questions, but a whirl of smoke goes through Isadora and she's gone.
Chimrea bottles up a shriek of pain and dances faster, firelight just a blur through the tears in her eyes.
Holmes: From where Kerem stands, for a moment Chimrea disappears into a strange mist.
Kerem bursts forward a few steps, but stumbles to a halt as she reappears.
Agnes: Creature of the night, if you attach yourself to me, I will have no recourse but to have my father imprison you further -- perhaps for all time. You must choose, but you should know what you risk."
Holmes: Tez notes, too, Chimrea's momentary disappearance, and Kerem's response.
Tez frowns at Kerem, and turns to make small talk with Marcos
Holmes: The creature gets angry, and tries to possess Agnes. It fails, but manages to finally leap into her Tethium knife.
Agnes dances back to her previous position with Marcus, Tez and Kerem. "Wow...that bastard really got my blood boiling! He's going to haunt me for something I didn't even do!"
Kerem: "That...uh, well, that must be frustrating."
Kerem: "Maybe you can get Chim to talk to it."
Tez looks at Agnes, then down at her knife and back up at her. "Should have sacrificed him."
Kerem: "I guess you can always get rid of the knife."
Agnes: "I think I'll have my father put it in an ant and keep it in a tiny little bottle." Agnes looks startled. "What? Knife?"
Tez: "You didn't see?"
Agnes: "See what?"
Kerem: "He's hiding in your knife." Kerem points, careful not to touch it.
Kerem blinks and processes. "Your dad puts things in ants?"
Agnes looks down to her thigh. "You saw it? It did something to my knife?" Agnes smiles, but not very pleasantly. "Neat."
Tez: "Did something... yes I suppose, you could call it that."
Holmes: Some of the Rhiani have finished with the ceremony now, it's beginning to trail off
Holmes: There is no formal ending to this ceremony, only when everything has been said, does it end
Tez: "May I see it?"
Holmes: Some standing near to Agnes when she became haunted keep their distance, quite pointedly.
Kerem: "That's an awfully nice knife."
Agnes looks at her knife and then at her companions. She squints. "What's gotten into you two?"
Chimrea is tired but keeps going, steps slowing a bit as the drumming does.
Kerem: "Uh...what?"
Agnes draws the knife and offers the handle to Tez.
Tez takes it carefully, drawing her finger over the edge of the blade and leaving a thin trail of red. She watches to see how it reacts.
Kerem: "Huh."
Kerem: "Where'd you get something like that?"
Agnes: "My father made it for my seventh birthday. Why?
Tez: "It is beautiful."
Kerem: "Just wondering if I could get one."
Agnes: "It reminds me of my mother. I'm sure he was thinking of her when he made it."
Agnes: "Kerem, there is a Tethium forge here in town. They make such things, if not quite so pretty."
Agnes: "Teodric just got me a pass to the forge, so we could go mess around there."
Kerem: "Hm."
Tez: "I could try to draw him out, if you want." she offers off-handedly
Kerem: "Well, I dunno much about metalwork. But maybe you could help me out, and I could do you a favor or something."
Agnes: "If you draw him out, what do you do with him? Proper sacrifice?" Agnes reaches out slowly to the blade in Tez's hand and slices her own thumb, mixing the blood. "Go for it."
Holmes: Chimrea, almost done now, sees the spirit in Agnes' dagger.
Chimrea: "Ancestors, this night is yours, so the coming year may be ours!" Chimrea cries, and "Ours!" rises as a ragged cry from those left in the circle. A drum beats three more times, hard, and then falls silent.
Chimrea stoops and grabs a handful of ash, rubbing it into the cut in her arm to seal the end of the Dance, and then strides toward Agnes' group.
Agnes gestures to her friend. "Chimrea, that seemed to go well! I take it that was an important step?"
Tez nods, and focuses in on the blood that adorns the dagger. She dips her finger in the mixed blood, painting the High Holy characters for spirit and command over the blade. She chants softly to Klysus, calling on him to draw the spirit forth, to pass over into the realm of the Dead, and to become a Believer in the next life, purified through blood.
Chimrea: "What are you doing?" Chimrea says, reaching out to touch the dagger herself.
Kerem turns to beam at Chimrea. "Hey. Good work. I mean. I assume. I don't really know about these things. Everybody seemed pretty happy though. Well, maybe happy is the wrong word."
Agnes: "One of your spirits molested me during the dance and decided to haunt me. These guys saw it enter my knife. Tez thinks she cna get it out."
Tez does not pause the ritual - to stop would be to lose her concentration.
Agnes: "Careful guys, the knife is sharp."
Chimrea: "This spirit does not belong to you," Chimrea says to Tez, not seeming to hear Kerem's congratulations.
Tez: "This spirit does not belong in the knife." She looks up, locking eyes with Chimrea.
Agnes: "I think it maybe used to belong to my father..."
Agnes: "...I mean...if that helps."
Chimrea: "And you," she continues, speaking coldly now to the spirit in the knife, "have forsaken your proper path."
Agnes: "You know, ten years in a box will do that to ya." Agnes shrugs. "I'm just saying..."
Kerem stands awkwardly back, almost putting his hand on Chim's arm, then sticking it back into his pocket.
Holmes: Tez's power shows as her burst of blood magic energy almost wins the day, and sends the spirit back to Klysus. But things are going very right for Chimrea tonight, and her magic manages to send the spirit back where it belongs, without looking like it took much effort at all.
Holmes: Chimrea, seeing Kerem however, and not sure what he's doing quite, turns suddenly, and, as she does, cuts her hand on the knife.
Tez narrows her eyes at Chimrea for a second, then wipes off the blood of all three, and returns the dagger to Agnes. "I was only trying to help." she licks her fingers.
Agnes: "Huh...I saw something. Is it gone? Oooh. Watch the pointy part, I told you it was sharp."
Kerem: "Oh, geez. Are you okay?"
Agnes: "Well, thanks are due to both of you. I'm glad my knife is no longer posessed. Sorry for the extra trouble Chim."
Chimrea takes off her ceremonial mask with the unbloodied hand, looking at Tez expressionlessly. "You cannot help by stealing Rozgar's charges for your god." Then her face clears as the duty of the evening finally falls from her shoulders, and she sways on her feet a bit. "Wow."
Agnes offers Chimrea a stable arm. "Wow!"
Holmes: A strange taste comes from Agnes' blood, after it's been in Tez's mouth for a while. Almost like it's not really alive... entirely.
Tez: "I was not stealing him." she watches the girl. "Just releasing him from this life."
Tez gets a funny look on her face, licks her middle finger again, and glances over at Agnes curiously. "Interesting."
Chimrea steadies herself by reaching out and briefly gripping both Kerem and Agnes' arms. "Sorry," she apologizes to Kerem as she gets a bit of blood on his shirt.
Chimrea: "Thank you all for coming. It's good that we were all here tonight." Chimrea smiles, still a bit giddy from the whole experience.
Kerem: "That's okay. Are you all right? Is it bad?" Kerem holds her arm.
Chimrea: Remembering her mother's appearance--wondering if they saw--Chimrea says to Kerem, "I... uh, I'll tell you about it later. I'm fine."
Kerem: "Okay. Good." He smiles. "Good work."
Tez watches the others crowd around Chimrea, and slowly turns, walking away. Not even the moon feels comforting anymore.

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