A weary traveler returns

[Peredhil]

He approached through one of the forests that abutted the Pen Keep. Guido was scouting ahead, his neat suit looking very out of place against the backdrop of bushes along the forest track. Further back from the trail, the bushes gave way to towering giants, trees thrusting straight without branches to fight with canopied foliage for precious sunlight. It amused Peredhil to no end that the Giant Guinea Pig stopped frequently to buff his shoes back to a shine against the back of his calves. The black fabric had obtained a patina of dust, fragments of leaves, and bits of mold - but the tips of the shoes shone as befit a member of the Bodyguard Guild of the land of Fractured Fairy-tales. Peredhil had had on numerous occasions on this trek to magically clean and adjust the clothes to fit. Guido had gone from a happy 334 pounds to a lean not-so-happy 280, and Peredhil knew that the foppish rodent worried that he didn't look his best. That the sight of a six and a half foot Guinea Pig dressed in a tailored suit, bearing a sub-machinegun might appear odd to some never seemed to occur.

 

Although, he himself wasn't much better, he had to admit. He was dressed in a raw-silk Armani suit of various shimmering greys, although in deference to the journey he wore Corcoran boots. They currently weren't shiny at all, but Guido would assuredly fix that this evening. "Da Boss" had to maintain appearances, after all, he smiled to himself. He suppose in many ways, he still looked the same as he ever had. One Bard had described him thusly, "His hair was dark as the shadows of twilight, and upon it was set a circlet of silver; his eyes were grey as a clear evening, and in them was a light like the light of stars. Venerable he seemed as a king crowned with many winters, and yet hale as a tried warrior in the fulness of his strength." Which was true enough then, but the travels and ages had left changes. He wore his hair in a neat tapered cut, around his decidedly NOT-pointed ears, and his eyes positively shone with joy and mirth - particularly when he was reminded of his second, and new, wife.

His first, Celebrían, had passed to the West after being savaged by the Orcs of Mordor. If it had been Mynx taken, she assuredly would've spent several of her lives hunting each other them down and teaching them manners.

The circlet was gone, given to children on one of the many Planes he'd walked since leaving through the Halls of Mandos to wander. Silver touched his temples now, and it had been long since he'd been a warrior, although he was still deceptively powerful. Still just over six feet of height, he remained unbent by age. For those with the Sight, and very keen sight it would needs be, he still bore a Ring on his left hand. Mockingly he thought, "yea, power and skill was yet in his hand, wisdom and insight set his brow." He'd really have to find a copy of the Bard of Middle-Earth to re-read, although the universe therein recorded wasn't *quite* the one from which he'd come.

 

Ambling along at the rear, carrying most of the packs and gear, but lacking the gun, was Nuncio. Since Guido had lost his weight, it was far more obvious they were twins. Other than superficial markings on the fur, they looked alike, and dressed alike, although they couldn't be more different in personality. Guido was an extroverted clown, while Nuncio was rather pedantic and fussy, to be honest.

The thought of twins made him think of his sons, aware on their own journeys.

 

A bend in the trail and the Tower was revealed. Stretching higher than Orthanc, it brought a familiar smile to his lips. Guido's jokes about writers and phallic symbols was simply too good to be forgotten. His mobile lips stretched to a wide grin as he saw that there were lesser spires and turrets, a true fairy-tale castle. The Pen had grown much since he'd left.

[Peredhil]

All three paused as they came to the forest's edge. The Tower bisected the setting sun, which looked as if it had come around to the west again. The entire keep looked black against the light, and he couldn't make out any smoke or lights. Was it abandoned? Under siege?

 

With a quiet word, he stopped his bodyguards and sent his Sense flowing out ahead. The Ley Lines, Powers, Elementals, various nature spirits, even the ambient mana all tastes of Home to him and he soothed them all as he stretched and sought toward the Keep. Even the cranky ones sighed in relief at the familiar touch of the Polite Healer. His questing Senses reached the Keep, and at his loving touch, the Pen began to stir. He encompassed all the old, the Wall, the Rooms, the hidden labyrinths and chambers, the absurd numbers of secret passages which so honeycombed the walls that some were forced briefly into other dimensions to fit them all. The Keep still lived, but it slumbered. Drawing on Power, tempered and filtered through his Ring to his need, He began to enlarge his spirit to encompass the new. The Spires, many of them personal chambers, but now abandoned. So much of the Pen, abandoned. Here and there he sensed a life, and Politely bypassed it without touch. There were something that had frequented the Pen it did not do to surprise, and although his defenses had thus far been unsurpassed, it would just be rude to startle someone just for information.

 

The Pen was nearly dead. There were sparks of the activities of life in a few places, the bits on which the Pen fed, but so few.

 

There was much work to be done. So much that must be sloughed if the Pen would have a chance to be reborn, to live once again.

 

He withdrew and set his jaw firmly.

 

Tired Peredhil toward the Dark Tower came, and his Homecoming would be a harbinger of change...

[Jechum]

Jechum floats in...

 

Watches his old friend and his giant Guinea Pigs head down the road.

 

As always Jechm sticks to the shadows having mastered them long ago.

 

Jechum wonders if Peredhil remembers there are no roads he travels alone.

 

Jechum floats out...

[Peredhil]

Veiled in the shadows of the evening, the Polite Ancient Elder found his way to his chambers. Undoing the Wards, he allowed Guido and Nuncio to clear the rooms, and then entered and sat pensively in his chair while they set about unpacking and dusting.

 

The first order of business was to refresh and renew all the security. Knowing that the Pen was safe allowed even the most weak - or powerful - to relax and mingle with confidence. Being a declared Neutral territory only satisfied the lawful, it took raw power to pacify the rest. Hours later, he came back to his body's awareness, finding light cheeses and biscuits, and a pitcher of cool water on the table beside him. He ate gratefully and considered his next steps.

 

The Pen was dying, there was simply too much to support, and too few to feed. As a Healer, he knew what he had to do.

 

Healers were often quite ruthless when it came to saving a patient.

[Peredhil]

Days later, Peredhil stirred and stretched wearily. He'd had to archive and amputate the Guilds entirely. He'd updated the Guidelines as he passed through the Walls. He'd nearly lost the first Loremaster, but was able to recover him - barely. He'd sorted and pared and archived and trimmed and changed until his senses swam and he was afraid of errors. Anyone watching would've seen entire sections of the Pen waver in and out of existence, perhaps been able to stand at the door of a Chamber but unable to enter, only to have the contents, then the Chamber itself fade away.

 

Opening a Portal to wherever his wife happened to be, he staggered through and collapsed onto the bed.

[Degorram]

Deep in a place that saw no sun, Degorram's spirit stirred.

 

Just a little.

 

There was a familiar presence that had arrived and gently touched on her dreams before flickering away as if it had not been there at all. Like a child who is awakened by the sound of familiar footsteps, Degorram's spirit paid it no heed, and slumbered on.

 

But, only moments later, and more like herself, who sleeps awake with one eye cracked and and legs ready to run, she drew herself deep out of the place in which she had hidden herself, opened her eyes, and lay still.

 

The sun had set outside her window, though it was not yet completely dark. The first thing that she noticed was the musty smell of her living quarters, and she realized with a chill that she had been lying on her bed, entombed in unconsciousness, for longer than she had meant to be. As she gazed silently around what parts of the room she could see, the layers of dust and cobwebs sparked in her a fear that could only be soothed by getting up.

 

Slowly, she sat up and let one leg fall off the edge of the bed. From this angle, things did not look as bad, though the quickly fading light was not helping. Everything in her room was in its proper place, though clearly in need of a good cleaning. A bubble of soothing warmth grew in her chest as she noticed, on the windowsill, that the herbs and venus fly traps were still alive. So, she had not slept for centuries, as she had feared.

 

Her first thought was, Where is Kikuyu.

 

Her second, Why did I sleep?

 

The second question would undoubtedly answer the first. Though her memory was slightly fuzzed by sleep haze, she knew that there was no universe in which she would have entered Fae Sleep unless her twin were either....dead (forbid the thought!!)....or sleeping as well. And since no horror and sorrow was beginning to envelop Degorram's heart, she knew her twin must be alive, but perhaps just now waking up as well across the hall from her.

 

She remembered a mighty battle, and the aftermath being so powerfully devastating that she had been bedridden for weeks. The damage to the Keep had been extensive, but what she remembered was that work had begun on it almost immediately. She did not remember it being finished, though. And for that matter, the Keep felt silent and empty to her stretching mind as it searched into the corners of the Eastern Tower for others.

 

There was Kikuyu - just now waking. But where was everyone else?

 

And who, or what, had wakened them?

 

Degorram resisted the urge to immediately go on the defensive. If what had gotten her attention enough to draw her from her unconscious state had wished her harm, she would not have woken so peacefully. Or, if it had been a particularly insidious force, she would not have woken at all. Instead, she had roused as if from a perfect dream, silent and soft.

 

She tossed her other leg over the edge of the bed and stood gingerly. It never did well to stand too quickly after lying down for....well it could have been months. Years even. She looked around her, squinting in the darkness, and located the lantern across the room. Pointing at it, she snapped her fingers, and it flared to light with a crackle and a pop. Crossing the room in a few, wavering steps, she lifted the lantern and threw open the windows to let in some fresh, night air.

 

From the smell of it, spring had passed and was now warming into summer. Lightning bugs were beginning to star the dusky gardens below. The roses had begun to grow out of control. Not for long, Degorram thought with a smile as she felt her sister begin to rise, across the hallway. The roses were Kikuyu's charge.

 

Finally beginning to shake the dreamy state that clung to her shoulders, Degorram closed her eyes, straightened her back, and breathed gently through her nose. Somewhere in the keep, an old friend had arrived. Someone who had begun a change in the air strong enough to wake her. She searched along a train of thought for the power that could do such work, but either they had entered a separate dimension since wakening her, or they were far enough on the other side of the keep that her mind could not quite reach them. She would have to search on foot.

 

But before that....a little summer cleaning. Placing the lantern on the window sill, Degorram crossed her hands over her heart, breathed in sharply, and pushed her hands towards the floor with a jerk. A blast of wind shook the windows and disturbed the fine layer of dust and cobwebs covering her belongings. Raising her hands towards the window, she opened her eyes and let forth a shout that sent the unwanted dirt flying out towards the garden. A flurry of papers and loose drawings caught the air and became disorganized, but stayed within the room, eventually falling back to rest on the floor. She would organize those later.

 

Picking up the lantern again, Degorram walked towards the door and entered the main hallway of the tower. Something was stirring again in the heart of the Pen. She intended to find out what.

[Peredhil]

Much of the bulk of the Pen was gone. He awaken in his own Pen chambers, the scent of his wife on his pillow, and smiled in affection. She'd come back and brought him with him. He looked forward to discussing her last job and examining if there were any new scars. He was protective, but respected her too much to ever try to cage her.

 

He'd worked to keep Pen aesthetically pleasing, rather than stripping down to anorexic bones. It had been touch-and-go, but he'd managed to ease much of it into the Vaults, to serve as memory and inspiration.

He was still having issues with doorways that didn't lead anywhere, or worse, led to the wrong places. As he'd begun to consider pulling out clumps of hair, an action strictly forbidden by his wife, he'd noticed a certain Wolf prowling in and out of doors, mapping them and, in some way incomprehensible to himself, fixing them as well. He'd be giving her quite the Polite hugging!

 

Already he could detect signs of activity and life. The Pen Keep's life beat in him like a second heart. He wandered lightly from place to place, touching a memory here, strengthening a buttress there. There were signs of life in the Recruiting Office! And he could hear Door complaining and breathing threats. He snorted softly and sent a wave of love and affection at the cranky aperture. It swelled in pride at his touch; everyone inside would be trapped for a few minutes. Shaking his head fondly, he sent a pulsed code to his Bodyguards, and wandered to meet them in the Cabaret.

 

There was still much work to be done, and would be for a while, but it was enough that he was Home.

[Tanuchan]

Dratted doorways...

 

Sniffing here and there, trying to understand how some of the smaller, shortest-distance portals could become so messed up, a wolf sat down and scratched behind an ear idly. They'll behave. Most of them, hopefully... and I can always shout for more knowledgeable help if they try to knot my brain.

 

Though she wasn't sure her brain was actually working, after being month after month pulled from one place to another by demanding pupils... Stretching, she looked around again, wondering what next bunch of doorways she'd try to map. Maybe not right this moment, as others still demanded her attention somewhere else, but soon.

 

It's good to feel Home... She hoped the feeling stuck.

 

Shaking herself, she decided to head to the Cabaret and see if she couldn't get something to eat and drink, and ease the cramps in her braincells before heading back to the several chambers of the Keep ... Soon. Hopefully soon there will be some cleared paths through the oldest doorways.

[Degorram]

Degorram knocked on Kikuyu's door gently, and waited for a response. There was movement within, but the door remained shut. Hmm....her fae sister had always been the quicker one to wake. But there was no rushing these things. A Fae Sleep affected some harder than others.

 

She turned and walked down the hallway, eyes feeling sharper than ever before. After so long asleep, every detail jumped out at her in crystal clarity, as if being seen for the first time. There was a time when she would have woken feeling dull and blurred, not quick and lively the way she felt now. That was the difference between being woken by an outside force and waking up on one's own. The brain was much slower to catch on to its own suggestions.

 

Dragging a hand gently down the side of the hallway, feeling the old stones with a sense of nostalgia, Degorram turned right at the next junction and opened the door that would lead her down the stairs of the Eastern Tower towards the maze of passageways that would eventually deposit her in her old haunt, the Assembly Room. From there, if she did not find any signs of the Waker, she would seek them out in the Cabaret Room. If there was to be a gathering of old souls at the Pen, it would surely be there.

 

Down the curving staircase, over the open, arched bridge towards the main structure of the Keep....she paused momentarily at the massive stone doors that led to the Vaults, noticing that the hinges had been cleared of rust and cobwebs. The scent of magic was still heavy in this part of the Keep. A large amount of work was being done behind closed eyes.

 

Pondering at the size of the undertaking that was unfolding around her, Degorram tugged on the next door handle -- and stopped dead in her tracks to come face to face with a brick wall that now covered one of the several entrances to the Assembly room. Scratched crudely into its surface were the numbers 404.

 

Degorram blinked. And blinked again. What the...who could have put this here? And why? But as she watched, grasping at theories as to what the numbers might mean, the door suddenly began to cave inwards, crumbling away. As more bricks fell under Degorram's watch, she began to hear a scratching noise on the other side. Wary, she lifted her lantern, twitching her ears to get a better listen, and finally was able to get a peek at the large wolf on the other side, pawing the fallen bricks into a neat pile.

 

"Ah - Tanuchan, old friend," Degorram said softly so as not to startle the busy wolf.

[Mynx]

Mynx wandered through the halls idly, letting her paws carry her where immediate memory failed. So much had changed. So much had died, and she'd truly thought for good. But Peredhil returned, and her husband certainly had a way of redeeming the unredeemable.

 

He was also utterly blind when it came to his limits while this focused, but that much at least Mynx could help with. And he'd definitely sleep better in his own bed than the dingy Inn she'd been staying in on her last job.

 

Coming to a halt when she realised she'd wandered into the old living quarters, the feline paused before redirecting to her former dwelling. She wasn't entirely sure what she'd expected to find, and was surprised by just how much of the abandoned room rang familiar to her. Evidently, no one had made use of it in her absence, though it looked as though some small animals had made a nest of the bed.

 

Tail twitching slowly, Mynx considered what was left in the room and the belongings she hadn't seen fit to take with her. There were some old spell books she wouldn't mind having again, but the rest...

 

Too many old memories that rubbed her the wrong way, and good riddance to them all.

 

Picking up the books, Mynx turned and left for the Cabaret Room. Peredhil was awake, and she could smell the Wolf nearby.

[Tanuchan]

Tanny blinked, then looked up and smiled. "Degorram! So you're also back?" She looked at the Changeling's slightly puzzled face, and gave her a wry smile. "Seems you hadn't found these walled doors until now? Funny how some have that 404 scrabbled all over, and others have some scrawling about a problem to process directives." She snorted. "The spells and anchors that kept them working seem to have unravelled with time... and they certainly had some sense of humor to leave us with such enigmatic words..."

 

Frowning for a moment and focusing on a Weaving, Tanny carefully unmade the threads of earth and water that were the base structure of the old bricks, and nodded in satisfaction as they crumbled into dust. "What tales do you bring with you? I've certainly been absent long enough to not be sure what has happened around the Keep since I left... "

 

The wolf's ears flicked at a distant sound, and her grin widened. "I think Mynx is also around. How about going to meet her? I'll see if I can fix more of those walled doors, if they appear in our way!"

[Peredhil]

Guido and Nuncio cleared the kitchen, empty but still pristine and gleaming, and peered through the half-doors at the Common Room of the Cabaret. In a smooth practiced move, they went through the doors, facing opposite directions, and quickly scanned from side to center, then slowly back out again. Relaxing minutely, they gave the Boss the "all-clear" signal. Guido moved behind the bar, taking inventory, while Nuncio went to dust off Peredhil's favorite table and chair.

Peredhil strolled slowly through the kitchen, reinforcing the Pen heavily here. It had always been popular, and he hoped it would be again. Tanuchan's efforts made his nose itch every time she released part of the Pen into its primal energies. She was helping him wonderfully, but he had felt on the edge of a sneeze for much of the day. It was a definite sign that his wife was right - he'd better back off slightly or he'd forget which was his body and which was the Keep. She'd been adamant about which she preferred, and demonstrated.

He covered a lewd happy smile at the memory with a polite hand and hoped no one had seen it.

Opening one of the copper-bound wooden doors, he was delighted to see the preservation spells hadn't failed. There was a bounty of different foods for differing beings waiting. A quick check showed the same story for the next fourteen down the wall. On the far wall of the kitchen, however, only three of the storage rooms had survived intact. Wrinkling his itching nose at the odors behind the others, he instructed the Keep to reabsorb them all but one. That last one he sealed, thinking perhaps some future patron might see the variety of fungus, molds, slime-molds, and mildewed foodstuffs as appetizing.

 

Passing into the Common Room, He signaled to Guido for a drink, and to Nunco to stand guard. Tilting his face to the sunlight slanting through the arched windows, he closed his eyes and began once more to administrate change. The Pen was slowly coming to life around him, and he felt it responding with delight to finding others moving about as well.

[Mynx]

Whistling tunelessly as she made her way to the Cabaret Room, Mynx turned through one of the books she'd collected from her old room. The ink wasn't nearly as faded as she thought it might be, and the feline was encouraged that she might be able to get some true use out of them that wouldn't immediately end badly. Like the last time, or the time before that...

 

Shaking her head in weary amusement, Mynx was so focused on the texts in her paws that she didn't notice the blocked passage up ahead. Walking into it with full momentum, she bounced off the wall and onto her rear with a surprised oath. Rubbing at her nose, the feline glowered up at the wall that she was certain hadn't been there the last time she'd taken this path. And who in all the blazes would write "404" on it? Four Hundred and Four what?

 

Grumbling as she got back to her hind-paws and collected her books, Mynx was debating whether fire or an axe would be a more appropriate tool to use against the obstruction when she heard a snuffling sound on the other side. "Hello?"

 

"Kitty!" Tanny's grin was unmistakable in her voice. "So that was you I heard bouncing off things!"

 

"Very funny," Mynx sighed. "You might want to stand back, Wolf, so I can take this thing down."

 

"Not everything has to be solved with violence, Kitty," Tanny chided. "You take a step back. Degorram and I have got this."

 

Mynx raised an eyebrow, but knew better than to argue with her friend, and obligingly moved back. She heard some scrabbling and muttering for a few minutes, before Tanny let out a small, triumphant sound. The wall shimmered, then disappeared, and Mynx had barely a second to register the people on the other side before Tanny bounded up into her arms, dropping the books for the second time that day. "Oof! What have you been eating, Wolf?"

 

Tsking, Tanny gave the feline's face a big lick, before hopping back down and nosing at the books. "What's this? Been treasure hunting?"

 

"Looking for a book on how to train wolves, obviously," Mynx laughed, collecting them again and moving to clasp Degorram's hand. "Good to see you again. I was headed to the Cabaret Room for a drink if you wanted to join me?"

[Tanuchan]

"Certainly! I'd like very much to hear about the trouble you've been getting into lately..." Grinning, Tanny nosed her feline friend's side. "I think I've taken care of most of those 404 doors - whatever they are; at least in the halls of the main rooms. I suspect we'll find more of them when we go back to exploring the old passageways around the Keep though..."

 

Mynx huffed. "I don't get into trouble, Wolf! You make it sound like I'm a troublemaker!"

 

"Nope. Not at all." Giggling to herself, Tanny schooled her face. "Trouble always found you without the need of any special effort from your part, after all. Like when you decided to go werewolf-hunting long ago..."

[Mynx]

"Trouble only found me when it was in the shape of a trouble-making wolf that had a thing for striped tails." Mynx swatted Tanny lightly on the nose with said tail. "And don't start that again, Wolf. Do you really want me to start listing all the times I had to help you?"

 

"I'm certain I have no idea what you mean," Tanny sniffed and looked away.

 

"Oh, it's okay. I kept a list." Mynx grinned and made a show of rummaging through her shadows. "Like the time in that old haunted house, for example. Or the time you wanted me to save you from that unwanted suitor..."

[Peredhil]

Peredhil finally opened his eyes, blinked a few times, focused on the goblet in front of him and finally, took a cautious sip. With Guido bartending, he was always wary of practical jokes. As he relaxed in his chair, Nuncio finally relaxed from his guard stance, and pulled up a chair as well. Behind the bar, Guido replaced the sawed-off shotgun with special ammunition back into a bracket.

 

Ever since the Kidnapping, they'd been extra careful. Being mostly non-magical bodyguards in magical environments, they were constantly aware of their limitations and striving to find ways to overcome them.

 

 

"I think the Pen Keep will live, if barely. I may need you two to start being actively creative in some way." As Guido visibly brightened, whiskers quivering, he continued, "OTHER than practical jokes." He mercilessly ignored the big sad-eyes Guido gave him, having had quite enough experience with the ROUS in the past.

 

"There are others already here. Without their help I don't think we'd have made it. As it was, it was very close. Some things may be irrevocably lost in the Banquet Hall." He paused to brood for a moment, and Nuncio nodded understanding. The Banquet Hall had been Peredhil's special favorite.

 

Rousing himself, Peredhil took another sip. "I hate to be Rude, but I will send out a Call, in hopes that the Poets who made the works will be willing to appear long enough to restore them. Hmmm." He pulled a slim electronic device from his jacket pocket and made a notation. "I'll need to ensure that they have the permissions they need to fix their works. I had to freeze everything in order to preserve what was left."

 

"On the bright side, my wife is here somewhere." All three grinned with delight. As long as they'd known their Boss, he'd been melancholy, carrying the pain of his lost wife as if it had been yesterday. They weren't certain just what had happened when he'd been kidnapped and held prisoner, but he'd finally released the memory of his first wife, and found his next was his rescuer.

 

They would've loved Mynx just for her effect on the Boss, but once they'd gotten past the fact that she was a tigress and they were Rodents, abet of Unusual Size, they'd found her to be a very complex and delightful company. Nuncio, typically the quiet and most reserved, had been melted when she'd managed to turn a practical joke around on Guido that had left him dripping wet and covered with multi-colored feathers. He treasured that memory, and hoped it never faded; he'd been the butt of so many jokes.

 

Guido loved someone else with a playful sense of humor as low and broad as his own. His jokes were never mean in spirit, and never meant to be harmful, and Mynx had helped him put one over on the Boss, AND helped him clean up the mess under the Boss's stern gaze and impatiently tapping foot. She had looked so innocent he'd never suspected his wife for an instant, and when she'd admitted gleefully and dissolved into giggles at his surprise, she'd gained a worshipful follower in Guido.

 

Elrohir had warmed to her instantly, but then, he'd truly met her first. He didn't talk about that much, but he'd treated her with a wary respect ever since she'd rescued Peredhil when no one else could. She'd requisitioned him on a few of her wanderings since, and he'd gone without protest. Peredhil would've given her anything in all the Planes, but she maintained herself and still took the occasional mercenary contract.

 

Even Elladan had accepted her, and she seemed to be completely comfortable with him. He'd avoided her, in the period after the rescue, until she'd cornered him in wherever that random hostel had been, where they'd fled After. No one, even Peredhil, knew the content of the intense low conversation, other than it involved someone by the name of Skielah, someone Mynx had once known, but they'd found a common understanding and mutual respect that spoke well for their future. Elladan still was frequently away, but was beginning to spend more time with the rest of the family.

 

"Grab a drink and come sit with us while you may. Others are on their way here." He spoke to Guido, but his eyes kept straying to the door, looking for his wife.

[Degorram]

Degorram followed behind Tanuchan and Mynx quietly, smiling to herself as they harassed each other about adventures long past and caught up on events that the other had missed out on. The Changeling began to wonder where she had been and what she had been doing when their adventures had been playing out. Her own memories were swimming around in her mind, flaring up in places, sometimes painfully, sometimes making her smirk. Her eyes sparked as she remembered the Necromancer, and how easily he had tempted her into his trap by playing against her rage. She banished the easily revived anger when a memory of soot sprites and feathers pushed itself through the darkness to soften her face. No matter what she had been doing at the time, though, it was a separate experience from her current companions' own shenanigans. They were faces she had known well at the Keep, people she had spoken to often, but the hazardous destruction that had befell the fortress had prevented her from getting to know more than a few select Pennites very well, and the greater portion of the lives and personalities of Tanuchan and Mynx she felt were still a mystery to her.

 

But....weren't most people. Degorram sighed through her nose. She and her twin had always struggled to make more than a few friends at a time. It was in their nature to be selective, whether they liked it or not. And yet, once it was earned, they valued friendship higher than many things in the world.

 

Degorram eyed the backs of Mynx and Tanuchan with a mixture of respect and curiosity. They were all that were left now, a feline, a wolf, and a Fae -- they and perhaps a few others working silently in the Keep who had not yet made themselves known. But Degorram could sense that they were all beginning to converge on a single location. The Cabaret Room was drawing near, and who knew who else-----

 

Degorram stopped dead in her tracks and turned her head to gaze down a hallway on her right, sniffing at the air. A few paces later, and her companions realized that she had stopped. They turned back halfway in curiosity.

 

"Degorram?" Tanuchan cocked an ear with concern. "What's wrong?"

 

"Nothing's....wrong. Quite," Degorram said hesitantly. "We're headed for the Cabaret Room, but I just get the feeling that there's someone down this way. I can smell them. Where does this hall lead to again? Normally my sense of direction is good but I'm still a bit hazy..."

 

"Well, that's one way to get to the Banquet Hall," Mynx said, hands casually on her hips. "But if you keep going further you'll find your way into M-CP. It's a maze down there. I'd be surprised if anyone was wandering around in that part of the Keep."

 

"It is surprising," Degorram agreed, having wandered those halls herself on occasion. "And yet, someone is definitely down there."

 

Tanuchan growled softly in her throat. "Friend? Or not?"

 

Degorram closed her eyes briefly, reaching out to the soul that was tinkering deep in the inner workings of the Keep. She tapped it gently, and smirked when it flared up in shock (she sensed that the owner of this consciousness had just fallen over). "Friend. Come to think of it....if that isn't Snypiuer, I'll eat my hat."

 

"You're not wearing a hat," Tanuchan said quizzically.

 

"Then it most certainly is Snypiuer," Degorram said with a straight face as Mynx tried to flatten out her own smile.

 

"Come on," Mynx said, continuing down the hall. "If you haven't already, give him a poke and tell him to come along. Anyone left at the Pen is probably headed for the same place. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

 

Degorram sent one last mental nudge in the direction of M-CP, and turned to follow her companions. Indulging a sudden urge, she bent in one fluid motion to all fours, hiding her pale skin in dark fur, her face lengthening, and her ears and tail fleshing out to fuller versions of their previous selves. She nipped at her fellow wolf playfully, and, suddenly full of energy, bolted down the hallway. The Waker was ahead, and she was ready to begin the long work ahead of them.

[Mynx]

"It almost seems like old times, doesn't it?" Mynx murmured to Tanny as they followed after Degorram. "A bit quieter, but..."

 

"It's nice to be back," Tanny agreed with a smile, head-butting the feline's side. "Much easier to keep up with you if you have a base of operations, you know."

 

"Oh, sure, I go wandering and I get in trouble for being hard to find, but if I complain about you being hard to find I just get told I should enjoy the challenge."

 

If Tanny could have conjured a halo in that moment, Mynx had no doubt she would have tried. As it was, the wolf only grinned innocently at her friend as they entered the Cabaret Room. Peredhil had looked up at Degorram's entrance, and was already getting to his feet with a broad smile when he saw his wife.

 

"There you are," he crossed the room, pulling her into a warm embrace. "Decided to stay a time, Beloved? Or are you heading off again?"

 

"And leave you to run yourself into the ground because you've forgotten basic necessities like food and rest?" Mynx snorted, looking past him to Guido and Nuncio. "Hello, boys. Keeping him in line?"

 

"Doing our best, Toots!" Guido beamed, while Nuncio only tsked softly.

 

"I'm glad to see we aren't the only ones here," Peredhil said, grinning at Tanny and crouching to give her a welcoming hug too, before looking around for Degorram. "Thank you both for your help in getting things running again. There's still so much work to go, but-"

 

"The ball's rolling, at least," Tanny wagged her tail.

 

"And more will come," Degorram said.

 

"I have sent out a call, yes," Peredhil agreed. "How many will respond, though..."

 

"Time will tell," Mynx said with finality. "For now, I need a drink. Barkeep?"

 

"Coming up, Toots!"

[Degorram]

Degorram grinned wolfishly and moulded back into her usual form. It was good to stretch things out after so long a time in one position. She would have to conduct a changing-meditation soon, to make sure she remembered all the important pieces.

 

"I could use a drink myself, if you don't mind," she said, nodding amiably to the large rodent behind the counter as if such things were seen everyday. "Once we're done catching up here, I have my own office to visit and clean. Who knows what's become of the Recruitment corner of the world while I've been...sleeping." She skipped over the word as casually as she could, still bothered that she could not remember why she had entered a Fae sleep to begin with. But she supposed it didn't matter at this point.

 

Everything matters....every detail, every seemingly trivial nuance....everything.

 

She flicked an ear and narrowed her eyes at the nearest wall, suddenly uncomfortable. It wasn't that she had forgotten the hardest lesson she had ever learned. It was just that she had hoped that she had entered a time in her life when it wouldn't be needed. She would speak with Kikuyu soon about it, to see what her twin remembered. And perhaps Snypiuer, the ever vigilant tinkerer, might have a clue as to what had been happening in the Pen world when she had gone under.

 

"Besides," she said quickly, breaking out of her silence. "Old Splinters has either rotted away or is in an even more foul mood than before. His hinges probably need a good oiling, else I'll catch hell from him."

[Tanuchan]

Tanny shimmered back into her human form, ignoring Degorram's suddenly curious expression - they hadn't really had a chance to become more than acquaintances before they'd both decided to thread their own paths away from the busiest rooms of the Pen, and Tanny did know that most of the Keep's folk was more used to seeing her in her wolf form.

 

It's a more fun one for most occasions, she mused to herself while waving at the two giant rodents and going to a table on the corner, making herself comfortable there.

 

She had been away from the Keep for a long time, one path leading to another and yet another, until the journey had become her routine and her life. At points she had missed the old Keep, but the tracks she followed had always turned to be interesting, and challenging. And so, memories had faded enough that she hadn't truly felt a need to return to her old home.

 

Until something pulled at her. She wasn't sure exactly what, but she had felt a sudden need awaken, old ties coming to life and telling her that she could, maybe, go back to see what had befallen the Keep. It had been a long journey, and she had finally opened the door to her old quarters in the middle of a dark, moonless night. The Keep had been utterly asleep at that point, with just faint echoes of someone working in the inner chambers. But she had learned to be careful, and had decided to wait while exploring in the way she enjoyed most - unseen, unheard, lurking in the shadows while veiled by the Elements she Wove.

 

Then Peredhil was also there. I suppose one day I should ask him what happened... but then, this has always been his home away from Home. He glanced at the table where the Half-Elf and Mynx - his wife, now - were, and shook her head. Definitely lots of adventures away from the Keep.

 

She reached for the wine, sipping at it thoughtfully.

[Peredhil]

"Guido, Nuncio! Push some tables together!" Peredhil beamed at the arrivals and absently putting a hand on Mynx's neck. He'd always had a bad habit of massaging whomever was in front of him, which had led to legal charges on a few worlds, but his fingers positively itched to feel her fur.

 

With a few waves of his hands, suddenly the Cabaret was brightly lit, with small party lights lining the tables, windows, and doors. A mental nudge to the Kitchen and soon savory smells wafted in. The Jukebox began playing discordantly, and he hastily turned it off again. He'd given Wyvern a small fortune to buy and stock that, and it never had worked correctly.

 

"Tanny, Degorram, It is so delightful to see you again. I hope you don't mind the modifications?" Mynx sighed. She knew without turning to look that he was looking and feeling genuinely concerned. Silly Elf.

[Quincunx]

Someone human came in drying her hair in a towel. All the party lights made spots of light and many weird shadows on her. "Ozymandias?" she said and then people could know it was Tzimfemme.

 

She stopped moving the towel around and looked at people. "He led me most of the way here and then he was just gone. I thought he got taken out when the shadows went out. Why are all the people here animal women?" Tzimfemme stopped looking out at people. "Animal women" she said again. And it was a different question this time. And she twisted the towel very hard around her hair.

 

"One last time," said Tzimfemme, and went to the bar.

[Tanuchan]

Tanny yelped in surprise as Guido and Nuncio started rearranging the tables, including the one she had been sitting at, and stepped back quickly lest she ended back under said table.

 

Hm... well, might be quieter under it anyway... Not that it would work, anyway - she had no doubt that Mynx would drag her out by her proverbial tail. Tanny chuckled wearily, making herself comfortable again at one end of the now longer table. Her eyebrows rose minimally when Tzimfemme entered the room, and she followed the figure with her eyes.

 

Animal women?! She sighed, and went back to her wine. The expression had ceased to have meaning for her long ago, but sometimes...

[TortugaTess]

*peeks in*

[Mynx]

"Woof woof," Mynx agreed with Tanny as she plopped down in a seat beside her friend and took a drink, leaving Peredhil to continue his organizing and redecorating - though not without keeping an eye on his reserves.