avevale_intelligencer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
avevale_intelligencer) wrote2005-12-08 09:21 am
avevale_intelligencer) wrote2005-12-08 09:21 am
Entry tags:
Making the Best, continued
The spear was quite understandable, when you think about it. I could have been doing anything down there. And it's not too surprising that they hadn't thought about checking the drain holes: when you see unexpected water coming in, your first idea is to stop it, not give it a way out. Anyway, once we'd cleared that up and established that I wasn't Zaroosh or Awkaynah come back to plague them, we got on reasonably well.
There were three of them, pretty much as Atrus described them, maybe a little better dressed. The new Age obviously suited them, and for a long time I couldn't see why they would bother keeping a link open to this place at all. Then one of them used the Book to link out, and came back a few minutes later with an elder who seemed to be their expert in dealing with mentally defective foreigners, and after a longish session with much gesturing and pointing at the pictures, I got the idea. They were still expecting their real gods to come back, today or tomorrow or next century, and they didn't want them to think they'd been abandoned. So they came back to tend the village in the trees and keep it stocked with goodies on a regular basis. It was all rather sweet and touching, and I'm afraid I welled up a bit. All this solitude has done nothing at all for my stiff upper lip.
Then I made a sort of questioning gesture towards their Book, and the spears came into play again. There was no ambiguity about it: I was quite welcome here, but no stranger was going to do to their new home what Awkaynah and Zaroosh had done to this one. I wasn't happy about it, but I honestly couldn't blame them. Then the elder made a wait-here gesture, and he and two of the others linked out, while the last one watched me nervously from behind his spear. I made placatory faces and waited, wondering what was coming.
There were three of them, pretty much as Atrus described them, maybe a little better dressed. The new Age obviously suited them, and for a long time I couldn't see why they would bother keeping a link open to this place at all. Then one of them used the Book to link out, and came back a few minutes later with an elder who seemed to be their expert in dealing with mentally defective foreigners, and after a longish session with much gesturing and pointing at the pictures, I got the idea. They were still expecting their real gods to come back, today or tomorrow or next century, and they didn't want them to think they'd been abandoned. So they came back to tend the village in the trees and keep it stocked with goodies on a regular basis. It was all rather sweet and touching, and I'm afraid I welled up a bit. All this solitude has done nothing at all for my stiff upper lip.
Then I made a sort of questioning gesture towards their Book, and the spears came into play again. There was no ambiguity about it: I was quite welcome here, but no stranger was going to do to their new home what Awkaynah and Zaroosh had done to this one. I wasn't happy about it, but I honestly couldn't blame them. Then the elder made a wait-here gesture, and he and two of the others linked out, while the last one watched me nervously from behind his spear. I made placatory faces and waited, wondering what was coming.