Tales of Ice and Vine RP

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Baba Yaga's smile turned to a frown, but she kept her polite tone. "Foot for foot, use for use. I accept this bargain, clever Niece. You may have your parchment for this rope."

She turned her back to the guests, looking at the fire.

"Now I have bargained and fed today. What more can an old lady ask? But the sun is setting, and soon my hunger will be as it was once more. Fare you well, Alfonso, Grandchild. I am sorry we could not speak more today."

"It is always an honor, Grandmother," replied the lad immediately. "Thank you for your hospitality."

He looked at the others and motioned to the window, where the sun was beginning to set, and whispered, "Now if there's nothing else you two might need besides writing, if I might be so bold, perhaps it would be best to be in the Woods before the night falls on this hut. I have the rhyme and bargain memorized. No charge."
 
Perhaps it was not the best idea he'd ever had to wander the edges and far away from his queen and mother's lands, but Andrea di Chimici was neither human nor an idiot, as those of the Summer Court seemed to think.

He'd got by well enough in the weeks since he'd left, though maybe it wasn't weeks at all. Months, days... it was difficult to tell in Faeryland, and Andrea found that he didn't much care, really. His father, to whom Andrea was most attached in the mortal world, knew the wild tendencies of his half-fey son, after all. Natural magic granted one longevity; Andrea had no fear of returning to find his father old and stooped, and so he did as he pleased.

Which, apparently, included wandering into the lands of the Forest fey and the wild fey who swore to none, and the chicken-footed house of the witch Baba Yaga.

Andrea walked round once, stopped in front, and looked up, arching a slender brow. This was interesting. He warded himself-- it never hurt to be careful-- and knocked on the door three times.
 
The door looked up and recognized the prince, and announced to those within, "The Son of the Queen of Summer is here!"

Baba Yaga was distracted from her web-spinning, and came to the door with wide eyes as she opened it and looked upon Andrea's fair face.

"Stars and Stones, here is a Prince come to visit an old lady in the Woods," she croaked with a half-smile. "And thrice he knocks! Well indeed he knows the Old Ways, as befits one of his status. Merry Meet, Well-Come and Well-Met, good prince. What brings thee to my humble hut?"
 
He gave her a shallow bow, fist over heart, a faint smile on his face. Though the title was his to claim, he had never done so officially-- better not to rile his mother's other children, and their supporters. Youngest sons never had much power, especially not the half-magician bastard.

"Ancient lady, honoured elder, witch of the wilds," was his reply. "Well met indeed. I had hoped to offer a greeting as I passed through-- but I see you have guests already," he added, sweeping a gaze over the occupants of the chicken- footed house.
 
The witch cackled darkly. "Guests, traders, hut-breakers, Baba Yaga meets with all. But see! These redcaps tried to sneak into my hut, without my permission, and now they shall pay for it threefold. Then comes this Black Dog and her half-mortal friend, seeking a love potion, so we bargained and traded. I await the price they agreed to give! And thou art familiar, perhaps, with my Grandchild, Alfonso the Green-Thumb?"

Alfonso bowed deeply to Andrea, his green eyes downcast in respect but his mind working furiously to see how this new situation might change things.
 
Nyx felt her body tense up even more. Baba Yaga and now a prince of feary? What happened to keeping a low profile? She wondered to herself as she resisted the urge to just back away, bare her teeth and run. Her legs stiffened up a bit. Okay she needed out of the hut now, in her opinion the space had grown crowded. She inclined her head slightly.

"As our business is done for the night, wise one, I shall leave you be 'till the day of payment comes." She looked over at Fay and beckoned to the door. "My companion and I wish you well, wise one, summer prince." She then proceeded to attempt not to hurry out of the hut. She reached the gate and ran her fingertips over the metal gently as she waited for Fay to catch up. A red stare full of longing swept over the woods around them. She could meet up with Alfonso later in the evening to pay him back for his kindness. She inhaled the scent trail of the prince and a smile twitched at her lips. He smelled as he looked, beautiful.
 
He nodded to the alchemist-fey in greeting, eyes warming. "Alonso I know. Well met, my friend. It has been long since we last danced under the summer sun."

Andrea stepped aside quickly to avoid running into the Black Dog and the halfling, arching an eyebrow as he watched them leave, then turned back to his hosts. "I assume 'twould not be wise to inquire."
 
"Well met, Prince Andrea," replied the lad, smiling slightly. "And it has indeed been long. I hope perhaps to join thee once more upon the meadows clear, one of these days."

The witch cackled, but in a friendly manner. "My Grandchild has spoken very highly of thee, good Prince. Worry not about those children. They shall fulfill their side of the contract... or the threefold law shall fall, as it has always fallen on oath-breakers."
 
Thalia sat in a tree not to far away from the witch's hut, not within sight, but still close. She was also farther away from a body of fresh water than her family would have been comfortable with. She, however, was still rather young had no fear. Thalia was weaving water grasses into a bracelet about an inch wide. A few different styles of bracelet adorned her arms. They were just for decoration; they had no significance except the possibility that she may have too much spare time. Truthfully, she did have productive things to be doing right now, but was slacking off. Besides, her family could handle the work she should be doing. Thalia liked time to herself to listen to songbirds and braid lengths of reed.
 
Fay had abslotely decided to keep her mouth shut for rest of the encounter to prevent further damage to Nyx cause. Nyx seemed to do perfectly fine without her interfering, realizing to write their quest down and all. Fay was surprised to see the prince of summer stepping inside. Not that she would had recognized her without Baba Yaga though, and she was even more surprised to hear that apparently that Alfonso was also from summers court. Fay did spent most of her time scrubbing floors or avoiding her mother and work, so it was not that miraculous she didn't recognize them. She propably wouldn't had identified even the queen of summer if she'd have a non-formal encounter with her. She went out of the door after Nyx glancing at those two. `They are both quite handsome. How did I miss them? Well, they are obviously far higher in status than me, so no wonder.`

Outside the hut Fay streched and sighed. "I'm really sorry I got you into this. Do you have any idea where we should start looking for...Tymrin was the first one wasn't it? You don't happen to now any Kelpies by chance?" Feeling relived to get out of the hut her worries were long gone. Kelpies were horses that lived in the water and sometimes a couple of people, but how bad could it be. Not worse than Baba Yaga anyway. That Alfonso seemed like a nice guy. `Maybe I can ask him to do the trade for me, so I don't have to came here again? Oh right, I have help Nyx too! Guess it can't be avoided.`
 
Nyx straightened up as Fay joined her out by the fence. Red eyes watched the other girl and she shrugged a little bit.

"It's fine, you meant no harm." She tilted her head towards the wood and held the gate open for the other girl. "I don't know any Kelpies personally, but perhaps we may run across one as we travel?" Nyx glanced from Fay back to the shack. She had wanted to give, Alfonso as she had learned, a toy dog similar to the one she had given Baba Yaga. Perhaps another time, he seems preoccupied it seems. Nyx redirected her attention back to Fay and smiled just slightly. "We may or may not have a ways to go. Best we find a place to rest for the night and begin our search in the morns light." She began to walk towards the wall of trees. "To pass, the time, perhaps we should properly meet?" She spun slightly and began to walk backwards so as to face Fay. "I am Nyx, a Black Dog of the North. And you are?" She already knew the girls name but would rather to ask her. She came to pause at the place she had found the berry that Alfonso had left for her. She leaned against the tree and glanced back at Baba Yaga's strange abode as she waited for fay to speak.
 
"The balance needs must be kept," he agreed diplomatically. "Alonso, my invitation to tarry with me a while in the Summer Court still stands, should you wish to take it. My mother still holds power, we may yet dance upon the green a while longer."
 
Alfonso bowed low. "I would immediately, milord, but for a small friendship-debt which I have freely given to a friend. Perchance when this small matter is concluded, we shall indeed tarry in the height of Summer, for I do not believe the matter to take over-long."

His tone suggested that perhaps said debt was to be spoken of as little as possible in the hearing of Baba Yaga, who looked questioningly at her Grandchild, little thinking it at all possible for the lad to wish to assist Nyx and Fey in their monumental task.
 
Soft footfalls came like the pattering of rain, and Leita made her way through the forest. Her eyes wandered the trees, tracing the strong lines of their trunks and the graceful curves of their branches, and though she did not seem to pay overmuch attention, her bare feet have carried her to the tree where Thalia sits.

She paused beneath it, and stretched out her hands in a slow motion, arms down by her sides but fingers curved out and up. "Ties that bind, tied and bound," she murmured, and lifted her gaze to the kelpie, brown eyes tracing over the bracelets on her arms before rising to her face. "Why do you stay bound?" Her own arms rose, curving up over her head in a dancer's pose as she stared at Thalia.
 
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Slowly turning her head to face this stranger, Thalia broke out of her thoughts and focus. She hadn't heard what the stranger said clearly. Thalia figured that the creature, who she had not determined what species, wasn't of any immediate danger, for one who was would have attacked already. She stopped weaving, to think, but the words that the stranger spoke were still lost to her.

"What do you mean by that?" Thalia asked, curious.
 
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Leita might indeed present a challenge to Thalia's eye. There was something subtly out of place to her - a child of Winter in the Summerlands. Today she was the breath of cold that lives within the heart of the warmest day. That strangeness aside, there was little of threat in her posture; simply spoken words and lingering eyes.

"Do you seek answers?" she asked Thalia. Her gaze remained intent on the kelpie, through a moment, two... three, and then she laughed, tossing her head back and her gaze to the sky past leaves and branches. "So it begins!"

Leita lowered her head once more. Her lips curved slightly, a smile that did not reach her eyes as they returned to Thalia. "But I will answer, true for true." She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, then let it out slowly as her hands drifted down to her sides once more, hanging relaxed just as the last of her breath escaped.

Her eyes opened again, and she inhaled normally before beginning to speak. "You wear the signs of your bindings upon you. Woven reeds, woven grasses are their shapes, but they are more than that. Each binding is a symbol, each one a sign. Nothing comes without meaning. No bindings come without a price. You bind yourself..." One hand lifted, a flick of Leita's fingers indicating the part-woven bracelet in Thalia's hands. "Now." Leita's lips curved once more. "Why?"
 
Thalia nodded slowly. So that is what she meant. She though a short moment before speaking, knowing that her immediate response probably wasn't going to be the best.

"I weave them for the purpose of enjoyment. They also remind me of my Homewater, since that is where they came from," she said hoping that it was a sufficient reply. "Homewater being where my home lays," Thalia added.

She shifted her position on the tree, so that her legs dangled down. She was not too far from the ground, maybe ten feet. Thalia was still wondering who Leita was. An air of chill surrounded her, and although Thalia wasn't afraid; she was definitely interested. From the Winter Court, perhaps?
 
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Leita showed no signs of impatience as she waited for that answer; truth called for truth, but the moments of waiting were mere moments, drops in the ocean of time. She waited, and watched, and as Thalia gave reply, she nodded.

"Pleasure," she said, her lips curved in a smile, "-and home." The curve of her lips deepened and gained a tinge of regret, a tug to the side as she considered on Thalia's answer for a long moment, then nodded. "Strong bindings, indeed."

Leita looked away from Thalia, her gaze sweeping the forest, and she took a step as if to move on before she stopped suddenly, looking up once more.

"Be careful, child of Home's water. Bindings, once made, are not easily broken... but they can be bent."
 
Fay agreed with Nyx about waiting till morning to actually begin their little quest. "I'm Fay Liliana, a floor scrubber from Summer's court. Nice to meet you." she grinned to Nyx. `But who would have thought I would meet a black dog of death? That seems to be the complete opposite of the rumors scary deathly dog.' "Oh but wait.. I'm not going to die because seeing you in that form? Or does the dying after a year only go for your dog shape?" she knew she was being rude, but she was worried about it. `Idiot. She probably would had said something if I was going to die. Right?`
 
Nyx flashed a small smile at Fay. Her smile grew and she resisted the urge to chuckle. The girl was amusing, instead of bolting she was actually asking questions.

"No, as long I walk with two legs, I am not a harbinger of your end." She tilted her head and let the smile tone down a bit. "When I walk with four, best be ware, close your eyes and keep them closed 'till after I walk with two again." She lifted her head lightly as a chill wind seemed blew through the woods. She turned her head to face it. The scent of snow and sea drifted to her nose on it. How odd She turned her head back to Fay. "Would you like to take a walk with me?" She asked the other girl even as she reached into the bag at her side, invisible to all but her own eyes and pulled her blade from its depths, she fastened the scabbard around her waist so that the sword hung properly at her side. She had put it away while she tracked the red caps.
 
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