Xandilif tied her horse near the road which led to a fairly prosperous Breeland farm. "I am tellin' ya, baby girl, they are here somewhere....I smell the witch.”
Finchley sniffed at the air as she hopped off Destiny, leaving the horse free to wander around and graze. "I don't smell anythin'."
“You don’t smell nuthin’ unless it is buttered.”
Finchley poked Lif in the side. "I can smell other things!"
The two continued their banter as they walked down the dirt road toward the large house in the distance. Workers were about in the fields and pens on either side, busy tending to the crops and livestock, smoke from a forge gently billowed upwards into the cloudless summer sky, and a picnic lunch was being set up at one of the tables outside. A sharp whistle disturbed the normal activities as one of the farmhands spotted the strangers coming up the road, and the lady of the manor, Suzanne, looked up from placing the basket of rolls on the table, her eyes squinting as she tried to make them out. “Rosethorn?” she asked of the one helping her to prepare the meal, “Who are those people?”
The servant waited until the two had approached a bit closer before she answered. “Never seen them before ma’am.”
Suzanne gasped, fearfully, as her hands instinctually moved over her swollen stomach to protect the unborn child within. “Rosethorn, that is a brute of an elf! And she has a young boy with her! What do they want with us?”
The elf’s ears twitched and she glanced toward the picnic area, but she wasn’t there to torment some poor pregnant woman… at least not today. She continued to look around until her keen eyes finally spotted the one she was searching for. "See that red shrub?” she asked Finchley as she pointed in the direction of the forge. “That's her head. We’ve found her.”
Finchley squinted to look, but before she could respond, Lif had raised her voice to shout out and was already walking that way, "OI...RED!!!”
The elf now had everyone’s attention.
Finchley offered an apologetic smile to all the workers as she followed behind. "I think you've gone and scared all the workers, Lif."
“Awww… breaks my widdle heart…” Lif replied, with not a hint of concern.
Those at the forge, Tayia, Cirvedui, and Catalinna, had heard the farmhand’s alert whistle earlier and were already watching as the pair approached, but now that the elf had made her purpose clear, Tayia tossed the spade she was holding to one of the farmhands and dusted her palms off. "Friends?" she asked quietly.
Cat’s lips curled into a devilish grin as her pale green eyes locked on the massive sword on Lif's back, and the voices in her mind whispered out to her, "The Sword of Ages approaches again…” After nodding to herself, her head turned to Tay and she responded, "I know them... but I can't promise you that the loudmouth one won't damage your property or the people here."
Finchley waved to both Tay and Cirv and then offered a more tentative wave to Cat.
Cirv bowed his head slightly to the pair as Tayia greeted them, “Welcome to the farm. What's yer business?”
“My business is my business,” Lif replied, “and it ain’t with you, breelander.”
Tayia tensed up and her hand shifted to the pocket sewn in her belt to palm a flinger. “It's my business if yer on my farm, pointy-ears.”
Cirv stepped forward to stand just behind Tay, and he shook his head at her as he reached over to place his hand on her arm that would be palming the flinger. A slight grin formed on his lips as he leaned in to whisper, "I think you'll get along just fine, eh?"
Lif waved her hand dismissively toward Tay and then pointed toward Cat. “We’re here ta see the witch.”
Cirv’s expression turned to a frown at the witch greeting, but Cat just continued to grin and replied, “No witches here, swordswinger... might need to hunt elsewhere, hm?”
Finchley poked Lif in the side and whispered, “Eh... I dunno if Miss Cat wants that to be known Lif.”
"How the feck do they not notice? Lif shook her head. “Fine then... my business is with Red the,” she lifted her hands to make air quotes with her fingers, ‘not a witch’."
Finchley sighed and stepped forward. "We're just here to talk with Miss Cat... and anyone else she wants around. We mean no harm to anyone here." She poked Lif in the side again. "And there'll be no big trouble."
Cat nodded and then motioned to Cirv and Tay. "You can speak in their presence; I trust the two to hold their tongues."
Suzanne and Rosethorn continued to observe the two strangers from the nearby picnic table, the lady not seeming to be pleased at all with how things appeared to be going. “Rosethorn, I knew that redheaded woman, that Cat and her toolman, were going to bring trouble to this place!” She gestured for some of the workers to begin to move in and then called out to her sister-in-law. “Tayia! We don't want any queer folk around here!”
Tayia sighed and lifted her hands to stop the farmhands- she may have given the farm to her brother, but the workers still knew to answer to her. “Let's move somewhere so these idjit farmhands kin git back ta work, eh?”
Finchley nodded and grabbed Lif's hand. "We didn’t mean to be scarin' all the folks here; they ain't got no part in this. Maybe we should talk somewhere... private… more private. Not out here."
Lif glanced over in the direction of the shouting woman and pointed out the table to Finch. “Look, Babygirl, they knew you were comin’...they got food.” Finchley's stomach growled at the mention of that and she turned a bit pink. “… And yeah,” Lif continued, “it might be best to discuss this away from honest taxpapers, if ya catch my meanin.”
Cirvedui glanced back at the farmhands, then at Lif, and just rolled his eyes. By then, Suzanne had stomped over to the group and Rosetorn was right behind her, but before she could get another word out of her mouth, Lif let out a low whistle and said, "That is the fattest, tallest halfling I ever seen...”
Suzanne gasped and put her hand to her mouth in shock. “No one talks to me that way! And I am with child, not fat!”
“Yeah, how many childs? Three? She ain’t gonna pop out those childs right now, is she?”
Finchley squeezed Lif's hand to get her to stop and Cat pressed her lips together to keep from laughing at the questions. Tay, however, was not amused in the slightest. “Damn knife-earred wench is lucky Barry's nae here,” she muttered to herself.
Rosethorn tried to offer over words of comfort to the flabbergasted Suzanne, but they were not easing her anger. “Well I never!” Suzanne blurted out.
“Yeah, you did.” Lif countered and then turned to walk away from the pregnant woman and toward the picnic table. “Anyway...We need to discuss some business with Red here and Babygirl needs to eat.”
Finchley tried to offer an apologetic smile toward Suzanne, but she had already spun around to huff at Tayia. “You wait till I tell your brother, Tayia hard hands! Hmmph!” She didn’t give the lunch another thought and stormed off to the house, Rosetorn following close on her heel.
Lif plopped down on the bench, took her flask off her hip, and started to drink from while she waited for the others to walk over. “OK, Finch is gonna be alright, but what are the rest of ya gonna eat?”
Finchley stuck out her tongue at Lif as she swung her legs over the bench to sit down. "Not my fault I'm hungry." She made it a point to grab one, and only one, roll... for now.
Lif took two more rolls and gave them to Finch. "Stop it...yer growin still…least I hope ya are.”
Finchley took the two rolls and promptly stuffed them in her mouth. "I'm full grown already, I swear."
While the two bantered, Cat and Tay both sat down and each took a roll before they were all gone; Cirv also sat down, but didn’t take anything to eat, seeming to be more interested in what was about to be said.
“Alright, swordswinger...” Cat interrupted, “you have our attention.”
Lif slid one more roll Finch’s way and then said, “There is something we need to aquire...a certain...ornament shall we say.”
Cat's brow quirked in interest. "I'm listenin'..."
“It's gonna be murder getting’ it... and more murder getting’ out with it... You ever deal much with the Dwarrow?”
A look of concern formed on Cirv’s face. "What sort of...ornament?"
Tayia picked up a chicken leg and started munching on it.
"Well… its a gem, “Lif answered, “bout as big as yer nads....more or less.”
Cirv nodded with raised eyebrows and Finchley smacked herself in the forehead at Lif’s comment. While Finch offered an apologetic smile toward Cirv, Cat slowly tore a piece off the roll and her eyes narrowed. "What kind of gem?"
“We got a sketch of it, but ain’t ever seen it… and since the sketch was made about a billion years ago by a half mad Noldo, we ain’t sure how right it is.”
Cat nodded. “Lets see this sketch, hm?”
Lif brought out a folded piece of paper, one that did not look to be as old as she had indicated, and she opened it to show the various writings and sketches that were on it; among the elvish script on the paper, there were three items drawn: one was a thick perfectly round circle on which some kind of runes had been carved; another was a much thinner circle, but bigger than the other, that had eight arrows attached to its outside, all pointing outward in different directions; and the third was the sketch of a gem. Lif pointed to the third, “That one, the big bastard.”
Cat took the piece of paper and stared at the gem; her expression remained blank, not giving any indication if she recognized it or not. "That is quite the find, swordswinger; I could see why people would, as you said, 'murder' over it... But what do you lot want with it?" Cat handed the piece of paper over to Cirv so that he and Tay could get a better look at it, and upon seeing the gem, Cirv shot a look at Cat.
“You know how we roll, witch.” Lif replied with a casual shrug. “Nothing big… Just gotta use it to hold off the end of the frickin world...”
“And fix a few things hopefully,” Finch added on.
Tayia rolled her eyes, assuming the elf was exaggerating. “Who's got it, knife-ears?”
“We got word, on pretty good authority, where it is... it's in a crown... which is sometimes on the head of the new king of Moria.”
Tayia shook her head. “I ain't stealin' from tha dwarves.”
Cirv’s brows furrowed in confusion. “King of Moria? But isn't that mine abandoned?”
Lif shrugged again. “You know Dwarrow, boytoy... if you see one, there’s eight more in the walls.”
Cirv nodded. "Oh, there are plenty of 'em who want to go back there. Just never came across one who actually did."
Finchley raised her hand. “I've heard Bild talk about Moria before. It hasn't ever been retaken since it fell to the hands of evil. There's talk of lots of things dwellin' in there now.”
Cat nodded in agreement with Finchley and took in a deep breath. "There are many tunnels down there... tunnels much deeper, ones that weren’t made by dwarves.”
Cirv raised a brow and looked back at Cat. "Not made by dwarves?"
Cat shook her head and then gestured over to Lif and Finch. "I'm sure these two here have discovered some information about the Unexpected along the way... if they have this sketch of this gem that is."
Lif nodded softly. "Yeah, witch...and if ya know that, ya know why we need that rock.”
Tayia looked to be confused. “Unexpected what?”
Cat sighed. “Remember the headless one in the frozen lands, True Toes?”
"Yeah, you've seen 'em before." Cirv confirmed with a grim expression as he turned toward Tay.
Tayia growled under her breath at Cat's question, obviously recalling it. "So tha gem ain't held by tha dwarves?"
Lif took another sip from her flask before answering. “Gem is held by the dwarves… it just weren’t made by em'.” Tayia went quiet and still, her expression showing that she was still upset at the prospect of stealing from dwarves.
Cat motioned for the piece of paper to be passed back to her and then tapped the drawing of the gem with her finger as she looked back to Lif to ask, "And were you two told exactly what this is, hm?"
“We know it is part of an amulet that we are gonna need.”
Cat's jaw clenched at the mention of the amulet, but she retained her grinning facade otherwise. "And why exactly are you seekin' us out, hm?"
"Cause you're good at gettin' your hands on things, Miss Cat, to be frank.” Finchley quickly replied.
Lif nodded in agreement. “Plus there is the whole witch thing... y'know... value added.”
Cirv cracked a slight grin at Finchley's response, but then looked over at Lif. "Thought her name was Red, eh?"
“Her name is what I say it is, when I say it is, Skippy…. We also got a consultant on this, but to be honest, I ain’t sure how far I trust her with this.”
Cirv shook his head. "That's not her name. If you want our help then you might do well to remember that."
Cat chuckled, not seeming to be offended by any of the names she had been called. “And who is this ‘consultant’, hm?"
Lif leaned in. “Old school thief… Daedre of the Blood Eye...the Shadowslip... odds are good she is gonna owe us a favor, but I ain’t sure of her.”
“To be honest,” Finchley added, “I ain't sure of her either... especially after she ate Addie's chickens.”
Lif shrugged. "That chicken was asking for it.”
Finchley sighed. "Don't let Addie hear you say that, Lif."
Ignoring the bantering, Cat tapped a finger to her chin. "Interestin'.... very interestin'... The Shadowslip does exist, then?"
Lif nodded. “Yeah....”
“Well, then...” Cat replied with an amused gleam in her eyes, “she’s one of the best thieves that you could hire for a job such as stealin' a crown off a king's head.”
“Why ain't ye gettin' this Shadowfart ta find yer gem?” Tay inquired.
Finchley answered before Lif could, “Cause despite all, some of us would trust Cat sooner than we'd trust her. No 'fense. Besides, Miss Cat here does make deals, aye? You can't make a deal with Miss Dee unless there's somethin' she wants or cares about. And even then, she'll just take it herself if she can.”
A wicked grin curled on Cat’s lips. "I guess time will tell if that's folly or not, hm? I'll make a deal with you lot for aidin' in this, but you're not gonna like it." She winked.
Tayia shook her head. “I dinnae like it now. Ye should nae be stealin' from tha Free Folk, much less a king o' tha dwarves. They'll hunt ye down till they kill ye an' git it back. Why's this bauble so importan' tha ye must steal it...an' if tis that importan', 'ave ye nae jist thought o' tellin' tha dwarves so an' askin' fer it?”
Cat smirked at Tay. “And what if that gem isn’t rightfully theirs, hm? 'I'd wager, based on the symbols on that paper, that they stole it from somewhere else.”
"Doesn't matter if it's rightfully theirs or not,” Cirv interjected. “If they think it's theirs and we take it, then, we'll have a fight on our hands."
Lif waved her hand at the three. "Feh, the Dwarves got more kings then Finch has hot lunches... They're Dwarrow. They will say they found it, but no, it is a lot older than Moria.”
Cat nodded in agreement with Lif. "The loudmouth’s right… for a change. That gem was crafted by a fallen one... the very one that the Unexpected worship. If that dwarf is wearin' it, his mind has long been another's to control."
“Yeah...that is a concern, Witch.” Lif replied with a heavy sigh.
Cirv clenched his fist, but just listened as Cat continued, “And the same would happen to you lot if you took it. You need the other pieces or it will trap you as well; just ask your other elf friend... the one wearin' the gem that speaks...”
Lif looked back to the piece of paper. “So we need the other stuff first?”
Cat grinned. "Did the one that gave you that not tell you?"
Finchley’s brow furrowed. “My only worry is if they realize it's gone, they'll go blamin' the Elves of Mirkwood like they did in the past. Like in that story they tell in the Shire.”
Lif scoffed. “Thranfrickinduil can take care of himself.” She then looked back to Cat. “So assuming we can round up the other two pices first...you in?”
Cat cast a questioning glance over to Cirv and Tay to see if they were onboard with ‘liberating’ this gem. After looking at her for a moment to gauge her thoughts on the matter, Cirv met her eyes with his and nodded. Still opposed to stealing, Tayia shook her head and replied, “Nae jist yet, Cat. It does nae sound right ta me. I'm nae a thief an' this sounds like thieve's work. Are ye sure tis tha right thing ta do?”
Some consideration was given as to how she would respond and then Cat pointed to a certain marking on the bottom corner of the paper. "See this, True Toes?" Tayia peered at the paper where Cat was pointing and nodded. “That's not dwarvish writing,” Cat continued, “but it is a very ancient symbol... one that signifies a blood line and the crafter that made the other two pieces to fit around the gem.... I know that it doesn't belong to the dwarves because it is mine by right."
Cirv turned toward Tay and offered her a reassuring smile. "I know how you feel; all this didn't make any sense to me either… not until I realized what we were dealing with here."
Tayia still looked to be confused. “So...ye said tha gem'll gobble yer mind w'out tha other two parts...” She then gave a pointed look toward Lif and Finch. “And are they gonna give ye tha two parts 'ere ye go ta git tha gem?”
Cat nodded to Tay to confirm the first part, but says nothing of the two other pieces. Her head then turns toward Finch and Lif. "As for my price in helpin’ you... the gem will be in my hands, and mine alone."
Finchley looked to Lif with brows furrowed; she knew the elf wouldn’t like the sound of that. After taking a moment to consider the terms, Lif replied, "As long as we get to do what we need to with the whole shebang…”
Finchley cringed, “Cal's not gonna like that, but if that's what's necessary...”
Cat flashed them both a sly grin. "Consider it a deal on my part, then.”
Tayia shifted her gaze back to Cat. "Ye know 'ow ta make it all work iffn ye've got all three parts?"
Cat offered back a shrug. "There's risk in everythin', hm? The amulet is no longer together due to the 'mind' that was placed within the gem... It's an ancient power; one placed there by a being that helped to create the lamps... it is not easily controlled. That's why two pieces were created, one as an incantation to bind and the other as the power to do so.”
Finchley raised her hand again. “You could always ask Calidis if you needed help. If anyone, she'd know a lot about that. The –thing- that's in the gem about her neck was once a part of the Lamps too. Or so I'm told.”
Cirv looked to Finchley and raised a brow in question. “What lamps are you talking about?”
“It's an old elvish story. Well, maybe it ain't a story really. But I was told it like this: Before the Sun and Moon were put in the sky, way out in the far West where the elves will all go one day, there used to be two Lamps that lit the day and night. Then they kinda became trees. Then the Sun and Moon... I'd have to ask Xan again for the particulars.”
Cirv’s brow wrinkled. "Lamps in the sky? Became trees?" He shrugged, not understanding it.
Lif took one final pull from her flask as the lamps were mentioned and then stood. “We will let ya know when we can move forward... gotta go to Angmar first and see a man about a lich.”
Finchley visibly cringed at the mention of Angmar and Cirv also appeared to be concerned, but Cat's brows shot up, her interest piqued. “You lot just beg for your deaths, hm?”
“We haven't died yet.” Finchley replied. “And we don't plan on it.”
Lif nodded and reached for another roll to toss in the direction of Finch’s mouth. Finchley caught the food with both hands instead of her mouth and stuck her tongue out at Lif. “C'mon baby girl.” The elf called over her shoulder as she walked away. “Say bye bye.” Finchley waved to everyone and then followed behind.
Cirv and Tay both nodded toward the two as they left and Cat just chuckled, her head shaking in amusement over the wave. Once the pair was out of sight, Cat looked back to Cirv and Tay and let out a long sigh. "Don't know about you two, but... I could use a drink."
