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Tranquil Waters: The Lead Crown Ch 6.3a, A World Apart

Gift-of-the-Earth remained silent at the group made its way back to the inn. Roaring Flood carried both Sanmer and Kesst without trouble and Metal-Eyes followed right along beside him. Although the jeweler still had some concerns about the Shaman, there were too many unanswered questions for him to make up his mind about exactly what had happened between the Ewe and the supposed assassin. Those questions, he realized, would have to be answered... and soon.

The time came when the group separated, heading to their individual rooms at the inn. Although they arrived late evening, Metal-Eyes reassured everyone that nothing needed to happen until the following morning; apparently runners was being dispatched to let Marcelle and Princess Noriene know that they had successfully found Kesst. The group was optimistic that they would be able to help restore him, and Gift-of-the-Earth was no exception. His concerns remained, however, and only intensified as the night passed.

Early in the morning while everyone else was still asleep the brown Bear made his way to the room where he knew Metal-Eyes would be. Following the Stone Tribe custom, the Jeweler hit the portal lightly with his knuckles. There was the sound of movement from within and then a pause before he heard the Shaman call out in the Stone Tribe language, "Yes? Who's there?"

Gift-of-the-Earth announced himself in the People's Tongue, "It is I, Metal-Eyes. Open please... I wish to speak with you."

The older Bear opened the door after a few more moments; the Shaman was dressed in his Stone Tribe britches though the chest covering called a 'tunic' was still resting on the back of a chair. Metal-Eyes glanced one day down the hall, then the other before addressing him. "It is still early, Gift-of-the-Earth. It will be quite some time before we leave."

Despite the comment, Metal-Eyes moving aside and motioned him in. The brown Bear inclined his head and did so, stepping through the door before the Shaman closed it. The older Bear returned to where he'd apparently been seated before and picked up a cloth, rubbing it along the corner of a square-shaped wooden box. The contraption caught the jeweler's attention, "I have seen one of those before... the Stag I traveled with had one."

Metal-Eyes glanced his way, "Tobias Severna the prong horn... yes... this is his in fact. It is called a 'phonograph' or, rather, a field version of one."

Gift-of-the-Earth looked at the wood-and-metal contraption, "Why do YOU have it?"

The Shaman smiled, putting down the oiled rag, "I had taken possession of it so it could be returned to the University for safe keeping. It really IS a marvelous device... would you like to see how it works?"

The brown Bear shrugged, and listened with disinterest as the older Bear spoke about things that simply didn't make sense to The People. Gift-of-the-Earth figured he could probably manage to get it to save sounds and perhaps make it repeat them, but the finer points of what it was and how it worked were lost to him; he attributed it to yet another kind of magic and was happy to leave it at that. Only once Metal-Eyes fell silent did the jeweler speak up, "Why did you kill those people, Metal-Eyes at the hide away?"

In all honesty, Gift-of-the-Earth had expected the Shaman to immediately attest his innocence and then address the question but, to his surprise, Metal-Eyes simply let out a breath before looking up and offering him a hesitant smile, "You know... I am glad that this is in the open. Thank you for coming and talking to me, Gift-of-the-Earth."

The jeweler was stunned, "You... admit to killing them?"

The Shaman nodded, "Yes. Sadly, it was necessary."

Gift-of-the-Earth frowned, "Killing is never necessary."

Metal-Eyes nodded sadly, "I know it is hard to understand, but the Ewe... she was a danger to the cause, and a danger to Kesst."

The jeweler shook his head. "LIFE is a cause, Metal-Eyes... how could she even have been a danger to Kesst? She meant to help him."

The Shaman opened up his box of Stone Tribe tools, letting out another sigh, "I am sorry, Gift-of-the-Earth... this isn't something I can expect you to understand.... I only want you to be able to trust me."

Gift-of-the-Earth took a seat on the bed within arm's reach of his mentor and gingerly set a paw on the older Bear's shoulder, "Help me to understand, Metal-Eyes; help me to trust you."

The Shaman nodded quietly as he pulled out what looked like a small metal-and-glass twig, "I would like that very much... please, give me your arm."

The jeweler did so, holding his paw out to the older bear, who took it. Gift-of-the-Earth jumped in surprise when the pointed tip of the metal-and-glass twig stuck into his forearm. He barely had a chance to let out a single syllable, "Wh--"

Everything became blurry as the world started spinning and he felt himself fall, but Metal-Eyes caught him and slowly lowered him to the floor. Gift-of-the-Earth felt light headed, and sick to his stomach, going numb everywhere except where he'd been stabbed in his arm; it burned like fire. Somewhere that sounded far off he heard Metal-Eyes speak softly in a sorrowful tone, "I'm sorry, Gift-of-the-Earth... but I can't explain and I can't stop... I hope you will forgive me when we... when we meet again."

* * * * *

It was mid-morning by the time Professor Blackburn had his next visitor, but it still felt entirely too early. The knock at the door interrupted the Bear's continuing attempts to fit the unmoving, brown-furred ursine form into the too-small stoage chest. He looked up over his shoulder as he closed the lid most of the way, "Just a minute!"

Theo's inquiring call came through the door, "Professor? It's almost time to go!"

Julius nodded to himself as he draped a few sheets and pillows across the uneven top of the container, "I'm just... packing... something... almost ready!"

There was no response from the other side of the door for almost a minute until a fresh knock sounded and another voice spoke up in the Tribal Tongue: Roaring-Flood, "Metal-Eyes... have you seen Gift-of-the-Earth? He is not in his room."

The Professor finished camoflaging his deed before replying in Lehsunian, "Yes, Waka'Mine... he visited me earlier this morning."

After that, Julius went to the door and opened it; he was surprised to see not only Theo and Roaring Flood, but also Marcelle. Before anyone else could speak up, Roaring-Flood continued his questioning in the Tribal Tongue, "So... where is he? We are getting ready to leave."

Professor Blackburn stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind himself, "This journey is getting more and more dangerous-- I... sent him home."

The large black Bear stared at him as if confused but, ultimately, he nodded and let Marcelle take over control of the discussion, "According to the Fox you have found and recovered Kesst?"

Julius nodded, "Yes."

The Marten tapped his foot expectantly, "Well? Where is he?"

Considering the mistrust Sanmer had developed for the Order of Blades since the prior night it made sense that the Fox wouldn't have said a word. The Professor was happy to play along, "Safe. Kesst is safe."

Marcelle folded his arms across his chest, a displeased look very evident on his muzzle, "I see... so we are going to return to the Princess and inform her that Kesst is 'safe', but not bother returning to her WITH him?"

Sanmer stepped out into the hall from an open doorway, "The Order of Blades never work against their own contracts, right?"

Letting out a sigh and rolling his eyes, the Marten turned to address the rogue, "Yes. That is true. That doesn't answer my--"

The Fox didn't let him finish. "So, if the Order of Blades destroyed The Temple of Ardor's Grace then it couldn't have conflicted with other jobs you have?"

Marcelle's scowl deepend, "We don't discuss our contracts with outsiders... and we have already gone over this, Mr. Lemarre... we were unaware your sheep friend had Kesst."

The sides of Sanmer's muzzle lifted, hinting at a snarl, "But you DON'T deny having them hunted down and killed?"

The Marten shook his head, "I cannot deny that because I do not know of what activities other cells of the Order of Blades may be undertaking."

Nicholas was also eager to add his voice to the too-loud conversation, "So how do you know you're not dealing with conflicting contracts then?"

The Blade frowned, "Our contracts are accepted by a central administration...a 'business office' if you will. They double check outstanding notes to make certain that kind of thing does not happen-- what is this all about?"

Sanmer's entire attitude suddenly improved, "Well... just fact checking. You may want to know that someone out there is trying to frame your Order for a series of assassinations."

The Human sailor 'hmph'ed as he leaned back against a wall, "Which doesn't make any sense since everyone's pretty sure it was the Blades who attacked the Temple anyway... what difference would it make if they did or didn't hunt down all the survivors?"

Julius rubbed his muzzle in thought, trying to figure out the best way to get the conversation over and done with, "Perhaps there is more to this than we may first suspect. We should continue this discussion at another time... for now, we must meet with the Princess."

Thankfully it was enough to get the objections to end and the Professor led them from the inn and further away from the site of Julius' most recent... offense.