[The Sunn Monastery] When is social hour anyway? (Ronan)

[Lyssoryl]

The 19th brightening of The Month of Immanisin the Season of Winter, Era I of the Celestine Mandate, Era XV Post Fractum.

It was a beautiful winter brightening as Lyssoryl made her way to the Monastery. Earlier she had had her violin lessons, and she was in fine spirits.

She hugged her coat around her against the chill. The excitement of arriving in a new city had thrown her off her routine, and she had gotten behind in her laundry. Owing to an accident involving a slice of toast with jam on it, she had been forced to wear a dress that she had bought to attend a ball.

The dress was made of sheer cotton of fiery red. It was sleeveless, and laced up the side, the ties designed to hoist her womanly assets into a tantalizing display. The dresses lining ended a bit below mid-thigh, so that the thin cotton would reveal the outline of her legs in the correct lighting.

It was not an appropriate dress for either the weather or for going visiting, especially at a monastery, but as she had always said, necessity is the mother of some very strange improvisations.

She entered the main building of the Monastery timidly, but found Lileth, the elf at the front desk to be friendly.

"I have come to speak to Ronan Stoutfoot, if he's available. He offered to take me on a tour of the monastery."

[Ronan Stoutfoot]

The female Cether was greeted by a young human boy. He seemed to serve as the Monastery's usual errand boy. He kept his eyes lowered and listened humbly as the lady made her request. She was not the first Cether he had seen, but she was perhaps the first female one. He nodded and signaled for the well dressed lady to follow him.

After leading her through a series of twisting trails, he paused and signaled ahead. Around the bend there was a low growing tree, with a simple stone bench shaded by the low hangin boughs. Sitting on that bench was a small blonde figure, his legs crossed and eyes slightly shut.

'He likes to uhm... meditate after mid brightening meal.' He said signaling the Lyssoryl to proceed ahead. There was a slightly sneaky grin on the boy's face as he turned to leave. The head of the 'meditating' figure seemed to bob slightly, and a barely perceptable rumble came from his closed lips.

[Lyssoryl]

Lyssoryl thanked the boy, and walked quietly over to Ronan and sat down on the bench beside him. She rested on the bench for a few minutes, enjoying the serenity of the scene, then reached down an plucked a blade of grass. Carefully, with the concentration of a master baker putting rosettes on a wedding cake, she began to tickle his ear with it. She traced the blade of grass lightly over the edge of his ear from top to earlobe and back again, a smile coming to her mouth.

[Ronan Stoutfoot]

Ronan jumped with a start, his hands flew over his head as he fell back off the stone bench. He rolled once then was on his feet in an instant, in the dasic stance of his Zinn'ka. His hair was hanging into his face and the hood of his monk's robes covering a portion of his face to where he could not fully see who was infront of him.

'Kiff, I told ou once, I have told you a million times!! Do Not interfere with my Meditation!!' He yelled out in a huff. For the young SunnRiser had made it his task to seek out the young Ronan and disturb his somlomn practice sessions. It was pretty easy to do since they always seemed to conincide with the end of meals.

'I will show you what the SunnFather just showed me,' He let out a ki-ah and began to run foward. His hair flew back from his face, and the hood fell off his head and he finally saw her. He stopped dead in his tracks, his mouth hangin open at the sight of the femal Cether. It was the same one he met a while back when he had his second lunch in the city, her name was... ah yes Lyssoryl.

She looked different, but he could not quickly place it. But she did look wonderful, and soon a bright red tinge filled his face. The embarasment of the situation dawning on him.

'uhm.. mmm Serale.' No knowing how to continue he paused as his eye swept first across the figure of the Cether, then to stay focused on his large blonde covered feet.

[Lyssoryl]

Lyssoryl sat frozen, her eyes wide with surprise and the blade of grass held between finger and thumb, marking the spot where Ronan's ear had been a moment earlier.

"Goodness! When you go about the job of waking up, you don't fool about do you? You just launch yourself into the project with sleeves rolled up."

She smiled at him. "Serale. I'm sorry if my visit isn't convenient. You'd said you would show me around your monastary and I was rather looking forward to it, but I could easily come back another day. Oh, and I apologize about the dress. I had a laundry incident invovling jam, and it was the only thing I had that was clean."

[Ronan Stoutfoot]

His face was still red as he looked down at the golden curls of his feet. The fair Cether maiden had surprised him, and he had to think quick. For what true monk was surprised?

'I uhm... yes, I was trying to show lil Kiff a new move that I learned. Since he likes to surprise me while I meditate, I was pretending to sleep. It would have worked wonderfully...' he said with a sly smile. 'But the lil rascle got you to get me instead...' Then he looked up as if searching for the young human.

'Sorry you had to be involved with that, hope I did not frighten you too bad.' As he spoke the redness slowly faded. His deep grey eyes were once more fixated on the young lass, her outfit just as pretty as she was. But Ronan doubted he would be able to tell her that.

'No... noo... there is a lot to see around here. But we must be quite though...' He spoke his high voice carrying unnoticed to him. 'The dress is.. uhm nice. I mean it is pretty.' He spoke with the red filling his cheeks once more. 'Ohh jam you say... What kind? I had this wonderful Gingerjam, strange but rather tasty.' His mouth shut with a bit of his tongue licking his thing lips.

'I have the afternoon off, what would you like to see first?'

[Lyssoryl]

Lyssoryl's smile grew wider. "Well I must confess myself fooled. You are a teriffic actor! Although I am not sure that you can make a career out of pretending to be asleep, so you might have to expand your oeuvre before you make your debut on stage."

"You did give me quite a turn, but I'm all recovered now and none the worse for wear."

Lyssoryl was rather enjoying the blush she was causing, and was no longer feeling bad about her choice of garb. "To answer your question, the jam was ordinary strawberry and rather went down the front of my shirt." She indicated her cleavage with a wave of her hand. "Well, the other shirt covered my bosomy areas rather more thoroughly, if I'd been wearing this dress it would have been a clear miss."

"Now, as to what I wish to see, I believe I shall leave that up to you, both out of courtesy and because I've no idea what the parts of a monastary are or how to name them. All I ask is that if there is a wing where trained seals balance things on their noses that we get to it eventually, I should enjoy seeing that."

[Ronan Stoutfoot]

Actor! Well that was something else. Little Ronan had skill he did not know he had, he paused to think that he could use that talent to further trick the boy. Yes indeed it would do right well. But it was not sleeping, it was meditating!. Those not of the Monastery may never understand he thought.

'Ahh strawberry jam! hmmm...' he thought back to his mothers biscuits. Soft and fluffy, and soo delicious. 'Well I am glad that you did not wear that dress, for... uhm well it does look nice on you...' He stuttered realizing the words that came out of his mouth were making him even more bashful.

'Now, uhm, let us carry on... there are many, many things to see here. And you may just as well be the first female cether to view them.' He innocently took her hand and began to lead her out of the maze that was their outdoor practice area.

'How about first we stop by the kitchen to grab you a treat, that way you are not too hungry. You know we must take care of our guest!!' Even if she was not hungry, it was clear that it would be the first stop for Ronan to take her.

Eventually they would come face to face with single story, grey stone building. The colorful tiles of the roof were broken up by two chimneys, with a light smoke filtering out. The sweet smell of fresh baked breads filled the air, and with a wink Ronan pulled Lyssoryl towards the back of the building. It seemed that after mid-meal the cooks baked the breads for the next meals. With Ronan leading they soon found the rear of the building, with various breads cooling on out door racks.

The chefs of the Monastery failed to notice that on a daily basis, they came up short several small loaves of sweet bread. Walking carefully through the racks, Ronan spoke to Lyssoryl.

'Pick which ever you would like, but be quite. We can eat them on the way to where I work.' He smiled, then thought of what she may think of his comment.

'Yes be very quite, cause if not the breads will fall and then I will be in the hot pot for sure,' it wasn't due to the fact that he never asked for a sampling of their treats.

'Ready...'

[Lyssoryl]

The two walked in silence for a moment. Lyssoryl was enjoying the tour, and glad that Ronan had chosen to hold her hand. She thought that perhaps he would be too shy for that sort of thing. She was not above pilfering a few buns if Ronan did not feel it too serious a crime.

"I am actually curious to see the kitchen, even if we weren't going for a snack. Did I ever tell you that I was a trained cook? I worked in the kitchen at Imaden College. You must let me cook you dinner some time, I believe I know some dishes that you would quite enjoy. Perhaps I will make a poultry dish in which the bird is simmered in a sauce all day at low temperature until it is so tender it is almost falls from the bone."

She selected the smallest bun available, as she was not really hungry, and moved some of its neighbors to cover the empty spot so it was not obvious one was missing.

"There is something I would like to talk to you about." She said. I'm not sure why you should need to hear it, but I would very much like to tell it to someone and you are one of the few people in Zinn'Sunn that I trust. It has to do with my mother, I have learned some startling new information. But I shall wait to explain until we are in a private place."

[Ronan Stoutfoot]

The blond Cether was shoving half of the bun in his mouth, licking the sweet butter that was slathered over it. He reached over and took another one, placing it in his robe for safe keeping. When the lass spoke of visiting the kitchen, Ronan about choked. He covered his mouth as it took several attempts to swallow the bread.

'Ohh yes, they are.. they are rather busy at the moment. Once we get back around we could probably let you see all they do in there.' He shoved the last of his first bun, and dusted his hands at the foot of his robe.

'A trained chef, my... my... that is quite a feat,' He said impressed with her history, and his Cetheric pun. 'I would love to join you for that meal. You just tell me when and where, and I would not miss it for all of Telath,' He said with a slight grin. For he would like to spend more time with the female cether, and if she was a chef that made it all the better.

The truth was that Ronan was a little homesick. It had been an era or more since he last visited his clan, and he missed them terribly. He would like to visit, but he was a Cether of his word, and would not leave his duties. So meeting Lyssoryl was welcome gift, and being around her made the longing a lot more bareable.

The had started to walk away from the rear of the kitchen, and towards the hospice that Ronan helped run. The Sunn Monastery did many things for the city, one of them being serving the poor and injured at the small clinic. As her tone changed, and the words warranted privacy, Ronan lead her off the main path. They walked through a stone garden, with white stones raked in circular patterns. He moved carefully and indicated that the young female should climb the small rock that was situated in the center.

'What is it Lyssoryl?' He spoke with concern, his face slightly twisted in confusion.

'I thought you were raised in an orphanage?

[Lyssoryl]

A gentle breeze blew through the garden and ruffled the grass around the raked stones. The smell of warm bread was replaced with the smell of frost. Lyssoryl enjoyed the scenery, staring both right and left.

Was it a good idea to tell Ronan about what she had learned? She was certain that he was trustworthy, but what good would it do? Probably none, she thought, but I do so want to talk about it with someone.

"Oh Ronan, I WAS raised in an orphanage. But I've been to visit the Luduan statue, and have been given a vision. Now I know why I was raised in an orphanage, and what happened to my parents."

"In my vision, I inhabited the body of my mother, who was pregnant with myself. She rode on deer back as the leader of a group of Cether. The group brought news of the cure for a disease that was sweeping the land, and even had a sample of that cure. They were pursued by mysterious men in black clothing, who had already killed a number of the group by the time of my vision. As I watched, the deer riders were netted and most of them were slain by these horrible black-clothed men. I was within my mother when her throat was cut."

Lyssoryl had to take a short break to recompose herself; the memory was still fresh.

"My father survived the attack, and had the presence of mind to cut me from my mother's body. He took me to Alyeria Prime to be raised in an orphange, while he continued his dangerous mission. He may be alive today, I don't know what became of him, nor do I know who my enemy is.

"But there is more! My spirit remained behind with the dead bodies of the Cether. As I watched, their bodies changed, and the all became frost deer! When I came out of my vision, my mother was there, in her new form."

"I'm uncertain how to proceed. It hardly seems that I would have been given the gift of my mother's return unless there was something to be done with it, something important. I believe I should start by gathering information. Monks are said to be wise. Do they, or I suppose I should say do you keep a library here? Might you have historical records? My father's name was Lyoliyas, perhaps it was recorded whether or not he delivered the cure."

"Needless to say, I am trusting you with this as a secret. It may be that if the wicked group who slew my mother knew of my survival, they would hunt me down and kill me."

[Ronan Stoutfoot]

Ronan did not notice that he was staring at the female with wide eyes. He was not sure if she was joking with him or not. At times there were folks that sought to get a joke over on him, even here at the Monastery. But there was something in her eyes that told him she was baring an inner secret to him. She seemed to be moved in a way that he could sympathize with. For though his family survived, he knew first had what it was like to have your home ravaged. That is what brought him here to the City of Song.

When the female paused Ronan reached out and placed his arm around her shoulder. To give her a place to rest her head, and be comforted if she wished. 'There, there Lyssoryl...

Go ahead.' he prompted for her to finish her tale.

Her eyes seemed filled with a bit of hope, though still being reserved. With the end of her tale, and the plea for help, Ronan leaped from his stone perch. The fleeting thought of his Shisa entered his mind, she must be hungry, he had to remember to visit her and feed her later. Then he pulled Lyssoryl and began to drag her out of the rock garden.

'I know of just the place, not sure if it is a 'library' but there are lots and lots of books. The monks here are wise, and we do specialize on the care of the city's citizens. They must have some notes or something there...' He was excited at the possibility of helping out the only cether he had seen in over an era.

As they moved through the enclosed grounds of the Monastery they zoomed past SunnSons and SunnDaughters, and SunnFathers as well. It was not much of a surprise to them to see Ronan flitting around the grounds, he was probably late for a class or it was snack time somewhere.

Soon they found themselves before a solitary stone building, well a spire to be more accurate. The sturdy stone spiraled up and up, and both the cether's were to be amazed at the height. At the top there was balcony and outlook for the warden of the spire. Before Ronan took his guest inside he paused to ask a question that had seeped into his head.

'Uhm... do you think I could meet her? Your mother that is. I have never met a cether that was a deer, but really a cether...' There were a ton of other questions that popped into his mind also, but he held his tongue. Like did she speak, or could you ride her, or did she eat deer food or people food. So many questions, but he was trying to make a good impression.

[Lyssoryl]

Lyssoryl found herself rather glad for the arm around her shoulder, and lingered there longer than strickly speaking necessary. She was somewhat surprised by the energy Ronan threw into her project as he pulled her hurriedly from the garden.

"Goodness Ronan!" She said with a laugh, "I don't think we need to sprint. Books are devious creatures but you seldom have to run them down. Will we be free to search through the stacks on our own, or do we have to work through a librarian?"

She smiled when Ronan asked about meeting Kamvia. She pretended to give the matter some thought. "I suppose that would be OK, but it is my usual practice to make sure that a boy is a good kisser before I bring him home to meet my parents."

[Ronan Stoutfoot]

Librarian... Ronan had not heat that term before. He assumed she was talking of the Lore Keeper, or he hoped that is what she was speaking of. His small fist banged on the door, he leaned forward yet did not hear anything so opened it and went on in.

'I will help you find what you are looking for. Plus there are nice old men that live here, the Lore Keepers and their scribes document everything. You should have seen the tons of questions they asked me when I got here...

Why are you here?

What do you hope to learn?

What can you bring to the Order?

Yada, yada, yada... So they should no something!' He said his voice dropping off as they entered the spire. That much he had learned, the Keepers liked their quite. As if talking disturbed the books, the bound pieces of parchment didn't have ears. The young Cether knew, but he also it was best not to upset the old men if he wanted their help to help Lyssoryl.

The darkness of the hall was brightened by small windows that spiraled up with the stairs. Ronan had taken the lead as he was excited to help out his friend. The color of his face changed, and he stopped abruptly in his tracks as the female Cether spoke of meeting her mother. Had she said something about kissing, but he knew the answer to the rhetorical question.

'Uhm... I well... I just...' He stuttered.

'I just thought it would be nice to met a Cether-Deer,' His voice got caught along with a lump in his throat. Turning he faced the other Cether, biting his lip as he thought of what he should do next.

[Lyssoryl]

'Uhm... I well... I just...' He stuttered.

'I just thought it would be nice to met a Cether-Deer,'

Through great effort, Lyssoryl forced her smile into a mysterious expression approximating pensiveness. "Well, if that's all you want, I suppose I can make an exception. I am far too much of a lady to torment a man with unwanted attention. Shall we go up?" It had been far too long since Lyssoryl had played this sort of game, but if she recalled her rulebook correctly men enjoyed a moderated amount of trouble. It made them feel more alive, or some such nonsense.

Lyssoryl stood on tip-toe and gazed out one of the small window at the monastary that surrounded them. What a beautiful place! The kemite sure went about their architecture in the correct spirit.