"Of Babies and Gold" Log Date: 7/28/2002 Log Cast: Wayfound, Tefin, Maerro (emitted by Wayfound), Jorrico (emitted by Wayfound) Log Intro: The band of humans from Vrae and their local human and elfin allies have continued to make their arduous way east, aiming for the village of the tribe of Olbar the Mountain-Tall. Along the way the trip's been highly educational for two elves in particular: Wayfound, once of the Willowholt and more or less now of Lostholt, and Tefin, a Go-Back. The two elves have in common a fascination with knowledge and the workings of the world--and as their journey has continued, this has blossomed into affection for each other, as they have finally become lovemates. Yet not even this intimate development between them can dampen their intrigue about their human friends. And so they take every chance they can get to learn something new from the Tall Ones, from the behavior of human babies to the story of how Maerro came under the protection of Vardeus Alirreus.... ---------- Headwaters of the Wandering River The air here is mountain-cool, pine-scent-sharp; tall trees along the sloping ground here add their individual tangs to the breeze, and pine and other kinds of evergreen needles blanket the forest floor. A waterfall bursts from the mountainside and plunges down along the incline into a wide pool; from that, the waters flow out and away, giving birth to the river known as the Wandering. Along the hillside and in between the tall conifers, random bushes weave in and out; a 'blackberry bush' catches your eye. A closer glance at this bush shows you branches lush with summer-green leaves, and foliage dotted with many, many ripening berries. Contents: Vraeyan Camp(#1655AJae) Obvious exits: East Bank Pool West Bank Trail Crest Trail At last, the Vraeyans have had to abandon their rafts. And it's about time, too, so far as many of them are concerned. They've had to pole the wretched things against the current all up the Great River... and upon reaching the place that Wayfound identified to the camp at large as Watertouch Point ("that is, at any rate, the name we once gave it in the tribe of my birth"), they've turned hard to the north and followed a new river called the Wandering. As the spring has worn on into summer Dharce's baby boys -- Jorrico, named in Vraeyan as close as his mother could get to honor the Horse god that Xhosa claims as her father, and little Shelbor the Younger, named to honor the Olbar man who has stayed with the crew to help throughout this journey -- have begun adding extra challenges to the daily lives of the wanderers. Milk has to be found, to feed the hungry infants, and every adult in the crew has taken turns looking after them. Even Maerro, who used to have the distinction of youngest of the Vraeyans, is doing his part. And to the pleasure of the crew at large, the Captain has announced that not only has the lad earned the earring that marks him a full member of the _Windrider_ crew ("((She may be sunk, but that dinnae mean proper tradition shouldnae be upheld!))" Vardeus has boomed), he has even adopted the boy as a brother. Maerro has positively swelled with pride, now that he can claim the name of Alirreus to add to his own. Tonight, at the headwaters of the river, the lad is happily playing with baby Jorrico, who seems bent on trying to eat the laces of his vest. Much to the consternation of Wayfound, who can be heard to remark in bland bemusement, "((Maerro, it does not concern you that he seems to be trying to eat your laces?))" Finally, they're getting into more recognizable territory! The oaks and willows, so prevalent on the trip upstream, have now transformed into the pines and conifers that Tefin is so used to seeing. Now, with the daystar gone and night doing it's nightly duties, Tefin finds himself observing Maeero and Jorrico, the older tending to the younger, and chuckling to himself at what the lad's going through. "The child's teeth may be coming in, Wayfound. Leather won't hurt." Jorrico, a sturdy little lad with a shock of fuzzy hair as red as his father Nefis' had been, burbles contentedly as he slobbers all over a mouthful of Maerro's vest laces, and at the commentary from both of the elves, the brown-haired, brown-eyed lad lets out a ringing burst of laughter. "((Aye,))" he agrees, switching to elfin for the sake of practicing it as he looks up to see both of the elves coming to join him and the baby, "I think Tefin's got th' right of it, Jorrie's first teeth're comin' in. Ain't that right, lad?" He beams at the baby, tickling him with a hand that, while it hasn't managed yet to gain the breadth that he might claim in a few more turns of the seasons, is still noticeably larger than Wayfound's as she begins to reach over towards the baby herself. Jorrico's squeal of infant laughter stops her short, though. "He is... quite loud," she announces bemusedly, before glancing up to give Tefin a momentarily fervent-eyed look of greeting. She doesn't smile, but then again, Wayfound's most intent looks convey almost more than the more overtly expressive smiles of the humans. "Hello, Tefin. Yes, I had considered the presence of teeth, and besides, Dharce was telling Iletya that his first tooth has come in." "knowing the luck Dharce has had lately, I'm sure she discovered that tooth during one of the feedings." Tefin offers a short nod and a smile to Wayfound before sitting himself next to where Maeero is sitting and grinning down at Jorrico. "Much louder than we're used to, sure, but he's young. I'm sure that he doesn't know any better yet;" he taps the child on it's nose playfully, allowing it to grab a finger if it wants. Ooh, the Finger Grabbing Game! Jorrico knows this game, even if it involves small elf fingers rather than large human ones. "BAhbahBAH," he babbles, disengaging from the laces of Maerro's vest enough to flail an infantile hand at Tefin and happily seize hold of the proferred finger, which he grips with tenacious strength. Maerro looks back and forth between the elves, while Wayfound settles down more or less before him and the infant, content to watch Tefin and Maerro play with him for now. "I assuredly do not recall Summit being quite so... vocal," Wayfound must admit. "And Mother informed me that I was an extremely quiet infant, at least until I began to talk." Maerro grins amiably at the both of them, saying, "You little 'uns, you don't have many babies, huh? I know everybody was all in a flap about th' Rec-og-nition thing, back by the ocean...?" His accent is better than Vardeus', it turns out, but there's still a distinct broad rolling to his pronunciations. The boy's somewhere between the Captain, and Arnos and Kephissa and Tiana, in his speech. Tefin doesn't make a face, as one would think, when a grubby fist clenches around his finger and yanks playfully. Instead he smiles and tugs back and forth with Jorrico, making it look like there's great effort in this tugging that's going on. "Recognition is one of the few ways that our kind are guaranteed children. Very rarely a child is made through simple joining, but usually it's because of recognition. It's a very, very rare event." "BAH!" squeals the infant in absolute delight, mostly toothless mouth spreading in an incandescent smile of pleasure -- and more than enough to reveal the tooth that is indeed coming in, a nub of white against little Jorrico's lower gum. He tugtugtugs back and forth with Tefin, wriggling his other hand and his feet for good measure -- ooh hey. FEET! He has feet! And he distracts himself with them, too, as he winds up trying to tug Tefin's finger and grab his own foot at the same time, a feat rather beyond his coordination. "I guess it must make some things easier," reflects Maerro, "if you don't have to look after babies? But there can't be many elves if you don't make babies very fast...? The lad cants his head thoughtfully, rolling this around in his mind. And Wayfound nods in affirmation of Tefin's words, adding, "We live long... but we do not renew ourselves quickly. Unlike your kind. I have observed two babies and a third to come in the time I have been with you, and although Midnight, Summit, and I were all born close together... our tribe was uncommonly lucky in that regard." Tefin chuckles at the antics of the young human, finally working his finger free and allowing him to take hold of that wiggly little foot that just showed up. "Actually, Maerro...I was the one who looked after the children in my tribe." A faint blush. "My nickname was 'mom' in my home tribe." Maerro goes a trifle round-eyed, and looks Tefin up and down before struggling valiantly to repress a giggle. "I'm sorry, I think," he answers. "But you're good with Jorrie! Wanna hold him?" He shifts the baby, while Jorrico attempts to chew his own toes. "You seem good with the cub as well," Wayfound remarks of Maerro. "Might I conclude that you like children?" "I like 'em pretty well," the human youth agrees. "I never really had a fam'ly back home... least, not till th' Captain found me and took me in!" Seeems that there's a story there, and as Maerro shifts the child, Tefin has nothing to do but take hold and hang on to the human child. "this is an intresting feeling. This child weighs more than an elfin child of the same age....and you can go ahead and giggle, Maerro, it is funny." Jorrico blinks his large liquid eyes -- well, large by human standards, perhaps, though not by elfin ones -- up at Tefin, and then promptly attempts to tug at the elf's clothing in search of a replacement for those laces he'd been teething just now. "Bahbahbahbahbahbahbahbahbahbah," he coos. Maerro flashes a broad smile at Tefin, rather than really giggling, and as he ruffles the baby's hair he tells the Go-Back, "I was livin' on the streets of Shalros, y'see... told Wayfound already, did you tell him, Wayfound?" As the she-elf shakes her head the boy goes on, "Vardeus caught me tryin' t' pick his pocket!" No laces or straps to grab on to, unfortunately, but there is a nice thick lock of hair that's managed to escape from behind Tefin's shoulder. He should have learned by now to keep hair out of the way, but no, of course not. Jorrico sees the hair and GRABS on to it tightly, yanking away playfully and babbling; even going as far as to stuff as much of it into his mouth that he can. "Why were you trying to steal his pocket?" "Not his pocket," Maerro explains, now laughing outright, his voice abruptly wavering between a boyish treble and the promise of something deeper to come as he does. This catches him up and makes him look sheepish, while he coughs to try to stabilize his voice and adds, "What was _in_ it! Saw 'em with--" And then his features screw up as he has to ponder his words, and abruptly he switches to Vraeyan. "((He had gold in the marketplace, and I thought if I could get my hand in his pocket I could take some of his gold!))" "Gold," Wayfound murmurs. "The trolls have that." Her gaze lingers on the baby, and, one might note, softens perceptively. Something that might be a smile tugs at her mouth as she sees him trying to eat Tefin's hair. The elves, existing for as long as they have with simply a barter system, may find the concept of money a bit baffling, or interesting in the least. Gritting his teeth, Tefin manages to extract his hair from the child's mouth, replacing it with a finger to be readily grabbed on to, while sitting him up a little so he can get a better view of things about. One thing Tefin always believed is that the sky, although interesting, is not the only thing to look at when one is a child. Tefin says "what would you do with it?" [Tefin's question was never properly answered, because we didn't finish the scene! End log.]