Magic and men

Lately, Ember has visited her village more often than she could have expected. Actually, the plainswoman had sworn weeks ago, that she would never return home.

And that made the barbarian angry at herself. Ember had let others drag her into situations that should be avoided. Into conditions that involved magic, men and solving other people’s problems. Usually it was she who caused trouble, not other way around! She didn’t have a heart of saint inside her! Or did she care to protect people if they weren’t strong enough to do that themselves.

Now, Ember sits on the log, bonfire dancing in her eyes and letting shadows caress her face. The woman is serious, staring at the staff between her palms. Rotating it slowly around. This is what became from helping people …or at least trying to.

They may have not been able to save that plainsman, Riverwind, but he had given her some bloody stick. With his last breaths, he had wanted to explain how it had cured his brother. How he had seen blue light… and a face of a woman, not from this world…

Ember sighs deeply and rubs her forehead, placing the staff aside.

Magic! The magic was unreliable. It brought only harm and misfortune. It made folks in town cross and cautious - men had the same effect to Ember. And those both had stuck with her it seemed.

She hoped that this staff wasn’t the very thing everyone else was looking for. It could only be some walking cane, not having any value or mystical powers. Riverwind’s blabbering must have been some delusional talk, caused by shock and by the fear of death…

“I could just throw you into the river, you know… you will bring only trouble to me”, Ember mutters to the staff. It didn’t answer, stupid thing. She really hoped that word of them finding “the magical-wonder-item” didn’t spread. She had no trust for that young bard to keep her promise and tell rumors of the staff. Rumors that would make people believe this thing being now elsewhere than in the plains.

It was actually strange, how she didn’t wish for people to find it. She didn’t plan to keep it - or did she? It could come handy someday. And… Gravestone was looking for it too. Maybe. If it was the same item like Seros believed.

The young man’s warnings rang in her ears even now, just an hour after he had left the woman alone in the night. That this thing should be kept away from the other man. From his Queen. And Ember had to admit, he was partly right. She didn’t support Takhisis. She didn’t want this damn war! She didn’t owe to Gravestone or to his God anything. And once again, this staff could only be some old hag’s support stick.

And besides, haven’t Grave spoken of trust? Then he should trust her to do the right thing. Yes. That is right.

And it has been very clear that this war wasn’t Ember’s problem at all. The man didn’t seem to want her to be part of it. If the barbarian had the staff, she could as well just keep it and never spoke of it.

And… maybe it would keep the man a little longer away from the coming war.

The plainswoman stares into the fire, taking the staff in her hands again and holding it tightly.

A young girl, almost a child, sits on a tree branch and waves her bare feet in the air.
She hums and tries to find words for a new song.

"... So died Riverwind, casualty of war
and now he is just a part of this lore.
But who took the staff, the odd and undefined,
the one everybody in Krynn seems to want to find.
I know one who knows, and I could tell you that,
she might even be the one you are looking at."

Pleasedly smiling she jumps down from the tree and takes a look around.
"Now, where should I go first to sing my new song."

In one of Last Inn’s rooms, Ember sits heavily on the bench and runs her hand through the short hair. Their roughness bringing some comfort. Easing down the tension. She is sure that dog left a terrible smell in the room.

Swallowing her own pride had left a sour taste in barbarian’s mouth. Asking help from that annoying woman and showing some weakness in front of her... And all that because of the staff!

Frustrated huff echoes in the room. Woman expects she might have got swindled badly, lured to a place where the only option is to give the staff away by force. Ember doesn’t trust those trick pullers at all. But who knows better about magic than those who can wield it?

Now, she has to stay near the Solace, waiting for the word.  

And… maybe once in her life she should try to listen what rumors people bring from the world.

Wizard apprentice Saaga Cadaverous was sitting in front of the fireplace at the Inn of the Last Home. She was reading an old looking black book, studying the Art.

It had been a long travel from Kalaman to Abanasinia, but she had had to do it. Her time was close, but still it seemed like an eternity. Waiting for the invitation was not easy for the impatient woman.

She stopped reading for a while and pondered the staff. Yes, it was powerful, but more than magical. And the plainswoman was the last person to possess such item. Saaga had insisted that the staff would be taken to the Tower, so that people with more knowledge and wisdom could decide what to do with it. For Saaga it was the only option, and she had told it to the plainswoman. At least she had agreed...

Saaga was eager to find out if the plainswoman would follow her advice.

Gravestone pulled in the reigns of his horse as he approached his keep, slowing the animal to a steady walk. Carefully he surveys the surrounding trees to be sure he is not being watched. He ties the horse to the hitching rail and walks to the secret portal that transports him to his private glade. Sitting on the fallen log he considers the information passed to him over the last few days. Talking to himself he mutters quietly " So she has found the staff . . . . . will she offer it to the dark queen . . . . . She would deffinately look favourably upon her if she did . . . . . . .probably offer her anything she wanted. . . . . absolutely anything. . . . . . power beyond her wildest dreams. . . . . more wealth than she could possibly imagine. . . . . what if she refuses to give the staff to the queen . . . . . I cant force her . . . . i just wont harm her . . . . . she means too much to me now. . . . . I think i need to find her . . . . talk to her . . . . and pray . . . . . above all else pray "
His mood darkens and his brow becomes furrowed. Transporting himself back to his keep he calls to the stable lad to ready a fast horse. Determined to find Ember and make her understand the significance of what she carries.

Ember startles awake, gasping and for a moment, distress blurs her other senses. Cold night air bites young woman's skin and soon enough it helps to pay attention around her. She regocnizes the familiar forest, even when it is dark. Only this time, plainswoman is alone on the damp grass. There is no wizards to been seen and her rapid heart slows down.

Relief makes her laugh quietly when she notices her belongings on the ground.

Ember hadn't expected this, for the magic wielders to let her freely decide what she wished to do with the staff. And she had chosen to leave with it. The black robed man clearly had wanted barbarian to offer the staff to them but she possessed little trust towards wizards.

Standing up slowly, Ember frowns and thinks what she had said to the red robed woman... She had spoken like some kind of a good hearted little girl who only wanted to make the world a better place. It made her slightly emberassed. Well, wizards' doubt filled words had made Ember defend herself. She might not care much of what happened to people she didn't even know... but she believed in freedom and free will above all else.

It would have been easier to give the staff to the wizards. To get rid of the troublesome relic. And now that she knew what it was... Curse it, these Goddesses just appeared like mushrooms after the rain!

But the staff had been given to her by the dying Que-brother and Ember honored that act. She felt like it was her duty to see where this staff would let her. Her obligation to find where the staff belonged to.

Ember starts walking, even when she is tired and knows that roads are dangerous at night. But danger have never made her afraid. And besides, there were many caves in Abanasinia and she should better hurry if she wished to find the right one.

In the end it had been easier to give the staff away – and try to prove her trustfulness to Gravestone. All she asked in favor was sparing the Que-tribes. The relief of getting rid of the relic was great, like having weight lifted from her shoulders. But Ember had hesitated, even in the last second when the man took the offered staff.  

After that the plainswoman promised to search for Riverwind’s brother. See if the tribeman would tell where the staff had been found. Ember was glad to do this, to do these little favors the man asked her to (For Gravestone's, not for his Queen). Still trying to make him see that she would be on his side, not against him – even when sometimes their minds would not agree. Gravestone, afterall, was the very first man barbarian had learned to trust after years.

That trust was soon taken away.

Que-Shu was already gone. Wiped out. Man and women and children all dead. First the young woman hadn't blamed Gravestone for that... maybe if she had given the staff sooner to him...



Ember stares in to the fire, the terrible smell of drying hides swirling aroung her. She is trying not to let the old, strong anger get a hold of her mind. She should just find the brother... the man she came looking for.. And out of nowhere, she hears the familiar shout calling her. Seros is there, so is Aisha, stalking pair of idiots who doesn't seem to understand how bad it was for them to be together--

And that is the feeling Ember hates so much. Being wary of her every movement, her every act and sayings. Not being able to just go and live – that feeling makes her want to hit that smiling, bright face in front of her.

“I want to talk with you” is what Seros says. Ember lets him talk even when she thinks it would be better to just punch him.

As a result of that discussion, the young woman brutalized the poor tree with her greataxe – because the real person was far away and not able to meet her fury.

“I'll kill him!” Ember screams and doesn't want to let the hurt mix with anger. Things Aisha told her... the things the red hair said Gravestone had spoken... That Ember was no useful anymore, to see all the tribes being destroyed...

Ember is so angry that she tells about Riverwind’s brother to them. That that cave Riverwind talk about was what Gravestone was still looking for. But she still wants to meet Gravestone in Solace, needs to hear himself saying the things Aisha did. And maybe then whack his skull in half.

Trust. Men. Those two didn't fit together it seems.


(edited a bit and honestly, i tried to keep it short.......)

They really should make a rule. Always share everything they have found out about war or their enemies. Especially about Gravestone. It would prevent nasty surprises like this.

Seros can only watch as Ember punishes the poor tree, rage and betrayal coursing through her. After their own discussion, Aisha had come to the scene and stated some cruel facts of what Diesel had said about the plainswoman and the tribes. He had not been there to hear them himself. How could that man speak such of things? Did he not care of her? She certainly seemed to care of him…

But Seros didn’t have time to ponder things like that. He and Aisha needed to find Riverwind’s brother, while Ember went to Solace. He would not have wanted to see the plainswoman go by herself, but they didn’t have much of a choice.

Aisha didn't really want to tell all those things to Ember. What lord Fallon (not Gravestone anymore) had said about Ember's usefulness could have been just something to get Aisha's nerves. But if that man had been speaking the truth, Ember deserved to know. Even if it hurt her. Poor girl. Aisha had a feeling she had really liked lord Fallon... and she had thought that lord Fallon had liked the girl too. He must have, to be that jealous of some stupid axe.
But what had happened in the Que Shu... it was best to try to get Ember to see what kind of man lord Fallon really was. Better now than later. And better it came from Aisha and not from the man him self.
And that damn staff. Aisha still didn't know what it was. But if it really was something so important to Takhisis' victory, it was more than pity that lord Fallon got it. But maybe they could hear more about it from Riverwind's brother, if they found him. And at least warn the poor man.
Poor Ember... hopefully she wouldn't get her self killed.