A small matter of possessions

Courtyard -- Creatrach Keep

Creatrach Dun, the greatest fortress in Caerdh, flies the red banners of Clan Bear proudly from its high reinforced bulwarks. The tops of dark evergreen trees are just visible over the tall, manned walls of this keep which protect the inhabitants against the evils abroad in the forest below. Inside, the earthen ground of the courtyard is laid with gravel for drainage, and is well-trodden as the Bears move about their daily business. The keep proper takes up part of the west wall and the whole northern section of the courtyard. A short flight of steps leads up to the keep doors into the foyer. A small shelter, beside the wooden gates, serves as the guard post.

A row of small stone buildings line the southern wall where thick smoke rising almost continually from the chimneys of Mederon the Smith and his rival Smithy proclaim their trade. The shingle of a grinning bear holding a mug swings over the door into a squat structure. This is obviously the Grinning_Grizzly. Behind the tavern is an outhouse. Clan Bear appears to be building a small city within the confines of the keep\'s walls.

The appearance of the courtyard morphs throughout the day, dawn to dark to dawn again. Past twilight, the south side of the courtyard quiets as the keep gates are closed. The militia patrols the walls while two Bears guard the Great Doors to the inner keep.

Obvious exits:

Grinning Grizzly leads to Grinning Grizzly Alehouse.

Great Doors leads to Main Foyer -- Creatrach Keep.

Wooden Gate leads to Southern Misty Mountains - Dunland <>.

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Dunland Time and Weather Forecast

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Real Time is: Sat Jan 10 13:53:34 2009

IC weather is: Wind: breeze - Clouds: dense - Rain: drizzle

IC Moon is: Waxing crescent

IC time is: Afternoon

IC date is: Monday, Day 29 of November in the year 3045.

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[Finnian(#23897)] It\'s early afternoon, just after the lunch hour and there are more games in the courtyard. There is an axe throwing competition and some organized brawls. Already men are growing cheerful with ale in their bellies and not worrying about the light drizzle that\'s just begun to fall from the skies.

Not everyone is enjoying the fun, though.. One of Kavanagh\'s servants is moving steadily through the press of sweaty, burly men, seeking out the man that goes by Breveg.

The seeker will find Breveg amongst those watching the axe-throwing. He stands with hands on hips, head tilted as though evaluating the current contestants. Some, it seems, have more skill than others - when one burly fellow, fuelled by ale, misses the target entirely (and narrowly misses taking out the marshall too when the axe-head rebounds from a wall), his soft chuckle rises, muted by the general jeers.

[Finnian(#23897)] The Kavanagh man finally locates the one he seeks and raps Brev on the shoulder. \"The Fian Kavanagh be wishing to see you.\" The servant says in a low voice, then leans in to speak more softly, \"A private talk outside the keep, by a big old oak just to the west, he be saying.\"

Breveg turns, frowning uneasily at the one who has spoken. \"Gabhran? What would want with me? It is the Fian Ciaran with whom he should discuss Ranich\'s concerns.\"

[Finnian(#23897)] \"You are the one he seeks, ahh.. Master Breveg.\" The servant shrugs and shakes his head. \"It be the message I was to deliver. The Fian don\'t be a patient man.\" As if that warning needs to be given.

Breveg\'s frown deepens. \"Neither am I an incautious man. Would not it have been better for him to say what must be said within these walls?\" Reluctance is clear however, he jerks his head at one of the others standing nearby, and murmurs something in the man\'s ear. Clearly, he does not intend to meet \'Fian Kavanagh\' alone.

[Finnian(#23897)] The servant nods and moves on when Breveg has the message, heading towards one of the food tents. His job is apparantly done. There will be no further affair until Brev is outside the keep, and sure enough, perhaps a hundred yards to the west is the misty silhouette of a vast oak tree with limbs reaching up towards the sky. There\'s a blurry figure pacing back and forth.

By the time he reaches the gates, Breveg\'s frown has become a scowl. As he nears the oak tree, he pauses, rubs a hand across his eyes then murmurs to his companion, \"Mind waiting a little? I don\'t believe Ranich\'s future is in jeopardy just yet.\" Thus it is that he covers the last few yards toward the oak tree and its - alas less than giant - lone pacer alone. He says not a word in greeting.

[Finnian(#23897)] The figure pacing is rather small to be Gabhran, and when Breveg approaches, Aeden stops and watches him approach with brows crunched together on his young face. \"You-..\" He cuts off when Brev seperates himself from the other man and lets out a held breath. The boy greets the silence with a bright smile.

\"It\'s this way. Grandpa says he wants to talk to you about some touchy business that he doesn\'t want the walls to hear.\" Aeden beckons Brev to follow, then turns about and moves along further west at a quick pace, but he pauses to look back after a few steps to be sure that the man is following.

Unfortunately, this time, Breveg does not follow. \"I very much doubt that Gabhran would use /you/ as a messenger, boy,\" he answers coolly. \"Nor, from what I have seen, that you would approach the prospect with a smile on your lips.\"

[Finnian(#23897)] Aeden stops and considers Brev with a tilt to his head. \"Are you sure? Are you so important that you\'ll deny a meeting with a Fian?\" The boy asks boldly. He\'s wrapped in a heavy brown oiled cloak, the water drops beading and then rolling off with his young, energetic movements.

One eyebrow lifts, but Breveg does indeed appear to be pondering the matter. The risk of losing valuable information, the risk of throwing away opportunity ... the risk of being implicated in the demise of Gabhran\'s kin. \"No,\" he answers at last. \"I am so unimportant that no Fian would ask it.\" That statement seems to give him satisfaction, for his lips twist in a wry smile. \"But let us, for the moment, assume that your grandfather did have business with Ranich. He, of all of men, would not send you as messenger.\"

[Finnian(#23897)] Aeden falters for a moment, perhaps not having anticipated this response. He considers for a long moment, then says in exasperation, \"The fact is that -I- am Fian now. Everyone says so and I want to talk to you, but I want to talk alone.\" He glances towards the other man that Brev left a ways back. \"It isn\'t far.\"

Breveg lets out his breath in a snort at those first words, but it is quickly stifled. \"I had assumed,\" he states carefully, \"that the elder Kavanagh would retain his title, given he is no longer required in Redvyrne ... My apologies, young Fian.\" Is that sarcasm? There is a glint in his eye, but his features show naught more than blank politeness. \"You can talk to me here, young Fian. A Fian should not be alone - ever.\"

[Finnian(#23897)] The careful plan that the boy put together obviously isn\'t going as expected. He shifts uncomfortably for a moment, his dark brows drawn together as he struggles to come up with a way to salvage the situation. \"If.. \" He licks his lips, \"If you don\'t come with me, you won\'t get your stuff back, I\'ll dump it down a well!\"

That gets a reaction - a flicker in the cool gaze, a lowering of the brows. \"What stuff would that be?\" Is Breveg\'s stance perhaps just a little more poised, as though ready for movement.

[Finnian(#23897)] Ah-ha! Aeden surely has the upper hand again. \"Your gear. So we can go hunting!\" He says with a smug grin on his face. \"And if you hurt me.. My grandpa will throw you in the dungeon with the rats and piss in your food!\" He says the last with some authority, having recently seen such things.

\"If I hurt you,\" Breveg\'s voice is tight and clipped, but still retains its clarity, \"your grandfather will probably say it was well deserved for letting another get the better of you. He beats you, doesn\'t he, boy?\" Hard on the heels of that query comes motion - he lunges forward, grasping barehanded for Aeden\'s shoulder.

[Finnian(#23897)] Aeden scowls and shakes his head. \"He wouldn\'t say that, he wou-\" Then the child shrieks as Brev makes the grab, trying to dodge but the cloak is rather bulky and the man\'s finger grasp ahold of it easily enough. The child flails wildly for a moment, then manages to slip out of the heavy garment and scrambles away, his eyes wide as he looks at Breveg. \"Don\'t try to hurt me or I\'ll never tell you where your things are!\"

Breveg lets out a hiss of breath when he is left holding naught but cloak, but he does not pursue Aeden. \"So. It appears I now have something of yours.\" He holds the garment out at arm\'s length, turning it this way and that as though admiring it. \"Do you wish to continue hurling fruitless threats? Or have you learned yet that they do not serve, and the best way to gain things from others is to give something in return?

[Finnian(#23897)] The young Kavanagh lets his hands fall to his sides, and then a moment later hugs his arms to his chest. It\'s cold out. Aeden looks down, desperately trying to think up some way to still get what he wants. After a moment of rather painful thought, he shoves his small hand into his pocket and pulls out a handful of copper coins. \"I could give you money.\"

At that Breveg lets out a bark of laughter. \"So I\'m to take a few coppers for a fine cloak like this? I don\'t think so. I believe I would require rather more in exchange. Like - what items exactly did you say were in your possession?\" His tone is deceptively mild.

\"As for hunting ... No man wastes their time on someone who treats them like filth. And no child, for that matter. The young Kavanagh seems to lack playmates.\" His tone is dry, his lips twisted in a half-smirk - only if Aeden should choose to meet Breveg\'s gaze might he spot the flicker of pity beneath the contempt.

[Finnian(#23897)] Breveg\'s laugh causes Aeden to stiffen, the softening the boy had begun to show vanishing to a more defensive, angry stance. \"Hunting isn\'t play time! I got everything that we need. Spears, food to eat, a skinning knife, and water. It\'s with your pack. I know it\'s yours, I remember what it looked like.\" The boy gestures towards a hill that isn\'t too far in the distance. \"It\'s over there, by a well that\'s grown over with a lilac bush. Give me my cloak back!.. Please?\"

Time is going on, and the man Breveg had brought out from the Keep is growing restless. Catching the motion out of the corner of his eye, Breveg uses his free hand to make a gesture of dismissal before returning his attention squarely to Aeden.

\"Ah, you\'re learning, boy,\" he comments. \"That is a word you should try to use more often. This cloak in exchange for my pack then, if you speak true.\" He pauses. \"As to the matter of hunting ... I am not about to abandon my duties to my Fian.\" For a moment his voice hardens, then he goes on, mildly, \"However, should your behaviour improve, I believe a trip could be arranged at some point in the future, with suitable company. As I said, a Fian - or a Fian\'s heir - should never be alone.\"

[Finnian(#23897)] The child lets out a sigh, giving up the game and nodding quietly. The promise of a trip out in the future is met without enthusiasm, for Aeden has no expectation to believe the man this time around. He starts walking in the direction of the hill with a sullen expression on his face. He doesn\'t bother looking back this time.

True to his word, there\'s a partially crumbled well hidden behind a thick tangle of lilac branches. He has a couple of spears that he managed to pilfer, some other supplies, and a pack stolen from a certain room in the keep.

Breveg follows, sighing. \"Why me?\" he murmurs under his breath as he walks. At the sight of the packs he stops dead, then a snort of laughter escapes his lips. \"Boy, do you know whose pack that is? I imagine the Fian would be /most/ interested to hear how you obtained it.\" Even as the words end, he tosses the cloak in Aeden\'s direction, without looking to see if the youngster catches it, his own hand reaching out for the straps of the pack.

[Finnian(#23897)] \"What?!\" Aeden asks in confusion, then rushes forward to catch the cloak and nearly falls over backwards as he tries to juggle the slippery, heavy fabric. He struggles with it for a few moments, pulling it back on in a hurry to fight the chills that are setting in. \"I saw you carrying it, when you came back that night!\"

Breveg shoulders the pack, hitching up one of the straps. \"Aye, I expect you did.\" He doesn\'t bother to correct the lad about the \'back\'. \"Did it fail to escape your notice that I was in the retinue of the Fian of Ranich?\" The words may be light, but there is an edge of steel to his tone. \"By rights, I could have you up before the Fianni for theft.\"

He lets that sink in, but then continues, \"But you\'re only a child, and children can learn. So I\'ll make you an offer - I\'ll smooth matters over with my Fian /if/,\" he pauses to give the word emphasis, \"you start treating others around you with a little respect. Be they Fianni, men-at-arms or even other children. There\'s a few of those you could company with - the tanner\'s boy, and I saw a gaggle of children round the cook the other day.\"

[Finnian(#23897)] Aeden first backs up with a shocked expression on his face, quickly shaking his head in denial. \"No, I didn\'t know!\" He protests quickly, then clamps his mouth shut when Breveg continues with the \'but\'. Quickly, the boy nods his head in agreement, \"I will. Don\'t tell my grandpa, he\'ll get mad if he knew it was the Fianni\'s bag!\" A small distinction there. The agreement same so quickly though, that it almost seems as if Aeden is nodding along simply to avoid potential serious trouble. His understanding of respect is rather muddy.

Breveg shows no inclination to touch the spears or other gear that Aeden has \'acquired\'. At the boy\'s answer, he nods, placing his own interpretation on it. \"Good. You should learn how to win the support of those who will one day supply your Keep and outfit your army, if your ambitions run true.\" A thin, almost mocking smile graces his lips. \"I think it would be best if I returned the Fian\'s property as soon as possible - do you agree?\"

[Finnian(#23897)] The child adopts a more solid incomprehension on his face, obviously confused by the bit about winning support. Why wouldn\'t the people support their fian? Aeden shifts uncomfortably at the next question and nods. \"Yeah.. You\'re not going to say anything?\"

Breveg lifts one brow. \"I\'m not going to say anything /if/ you behave a little better than I\'ve seen you do in the past. No threats, no tantrums, no disturbing the Fianni who have more important things on their mind than one ignorant child. If, on the other hand, you continue to emulate your brute of a father ... you should face the consequences. The choice is yours.\"

That said, he turns away and begins to walk back to the keep, with the occasional sidelong glance used to keep a wary eye on the boy and see how he\'s taking it.

[Finnian(#23897)] Aeden takes the instruction stoically, standing silent and still in the misting rain. Once Breveg has turned to move on, the child turns and kicks hard at one of the crumbled pieces of stone from the well, his anger sending it flying down the hill. He sends a few more sailing away, then finally sits down to sulk in the dirt.