Other Worlds Than These

[Aikanáro]

'Then we shall find someone to write that letter for us,' Ashkaio told Elspeth gently. He could write, yes, his childhood tutors had not let him alone until he could produce fine Ruvikan script, but he supposed that would be as unintelligible on this world as the inn-sign had been to him.

He looked at Elspeth a moment and wondered if he had not been too hasty with his offer. What was he asking, really? That she leave behind everything she knew, just to have the life she wanted? As if that were an easy choice.

'As for the rest,' he said then, 'we need not decide anything now. And in truth it need not be in Tathera, if you did not want that. I am sure your world has orchards too, does it not? You might set up business here. It would be more difficult, as you would be going against custom, but with courage it might be done.'

He set down his tankard on the table and smiled at her. 'I just know that Aycharindel would never forgive me if I told her I had met you and made no offer of help. And Aycharindel dan-Isidaesh is the woman that I am going to marry someday.'

[feawen]

"Oh" Elspeth smiled at him, "You are getting married, she sounds very nice, we had better get this all sorted so you can go home to her!" She finished the last of her beer, suprised to feel slightly light headed as she stood up. "One of the trades in town can write, im sure if i offer him a good price for my things he will be willing to wrtie a letter to papa!" she wondered why such a finely dressed man should not be able to read and write, but then again maybe Ashkaio had people to write his letters for him?

[Aikanáro]

'That, then, is what you shall do,' Ashkaio agreed, 'and we shall find a messenger to take it back to your family. You must assure them that you will come to no harm whilst you are with me, and tell them of the importance of what it is that we set out to do.'

He smiled back at her. 'You are right to think I wish to return home soon. We are set to be married at the Feast of Spring next year, Aycharindel and I. She is tall and stately, and she has the sharp blue eyes that are seen in her line and so rarely in others. Except in the paler peoples of the north, I should say, but they are not then so striking. The match between us was agreed two years ago, but she was fourteen then and I seventeen, and my mother rightly judged us too young. Last year she came to court, and I-' Ashkaio's smile widened, 'I am quite in awe of her. She has sophistication and grace beyond her years, and a gentle heart, and she is fast friends with my sister...and with me, from that time we have spent together. It was we and not our parents who decided that we should wait no longer.'

'So you see,' he continued, 'I cannot see it as such a terrible thing, to marry, although it is true that I would not say the same had Aycharindel been bad-tempered, or cruel, or hideous to look upon, but then I doubt my parents would have agreed to the match, were that the case.' He sighed. 'I do worry for her. I suggested she leave court and go back to her father's household, but she would have none of it. She is probably at this moment up in one of the towers of the city, with Lontir and Halli and all the rest of the court's Tathera-born. But then likely you do not wish to listen to all my praise for a woman you have never met,' he said softly. 'If you wish to go now to sell what you have brought, I shall wait here for you.'

[feawen]

"Well its getting dark now, the traders would have all packed up today, i'll do it tomorrow. its always best to get the traders with a full packet of money in the money!" She sat down again, her legs were all wobbling now, oh dear! she thought, best not walk just yet!
She put her head in her hands and looked at Ashkaio, "If am to help you find out why bad things are happening in your home, i guess it would be helpful to know more about it!" She smiled and turned her head towards the window, "Hay, that persons been standing near my sheep for a very long time!"

[Earniel]

"It's a worthy principle to do no harm when unnecessary," Beryn said adjusting her pack on her back. "One I hold dear myself. But I would not be doing this if I did not consider it something that needs to be done. If it is any consolation, I shall not harm the creature if it proves it does not have a dragon's malicious tendencies. But we can not allow it to run wild where it does not belong."

When she had all her belongings, Beryn took up her walking staff and said. "I must be going now. But if you do intend to stay in these parts for a little longer, then perhaps we shall meet again and you can tell me the story about the man that played tricks with a dragon and lived to tell of it in full. Farewell for now and safe journey."

[Aikanáro]

Ashkaio's eyes followed Elspeth's, and he too saw the lone figure out by her sheep. 'It may not mean anything,' he said slowly, 'but we ought to keep watching. I would not wish for you to lose any of those animals.' It would take a rather brazen thief, Ashkaio thought, to steal a sheep in such a busy place, but that did not mean that it would not happen.

'As to the other,' he continued, 'I would gladly tell you anything about my homeland that you wish to know. It is quite different from your world. What shall I tell you of?' Ashkaio had seen Elspeth's unsteadiness as she stood - on small beer? What did they drink, in this place? - and he thought it better that she stayed at the table a while longer. He looked out the window for another brief moment. The figure stood there still, by the flock of sheep.

[feawen]

Ahahera had recovered somewhat from her shock, but she was unwilling to go any nearer to the thing, so instead she sat her self down by the flock of sheep. the scruffy dog, after a moments glare, stood up and then plonked its self down with his head on her knees. Comfortable by the dogs company she sat pondering the thing infront of her and her next move.

------

Elspeth shrugged her shoulders and turned from the window. "Oh i dont know? Erm, what do you do? when your not looking for people i mean?"

[Aikanáro]

What did he do? Ashkaio was surprised that of anything she could have asked about his world, she asked about him. 'You mean to say the way I spend my days?' he responded. 'There is always much to do at court. Do not misunderstand, I am of no great importance there, but as blood-kin to the Kazhrun line, it is the place I ought to be. I sit in council when it is called, I assist my uncle on the Days of Justice, and my elder brother with management of the city-sector that he has recently been given responsibility for. When I have the time, I enjoy archery, and reading. House Kazhrun has the most wonderful library. I spend much time with my younger siblings and help the little ones with their learning. I entertain noble guests from other houses at my mother's table. I am also the one sent out to deal with smallholders' disputes. Halli and I apparently have a talent for peace-making. I hope that proves true, here.'

He thought for a moment longer, and smiled at Elspeth wryly. 'Lest you think my life quite perfect, I should tell you also that Kazhrun court is rife with gossip and petty plotting, and that my cousin Lontir who will be ensi after his father is entirely infuriating, and council meetings are invariably either interminably dull or full of more ambitious people's schemes than I care to keep account of. Aycharindel tells me it is nothing compared to Isidaesh court in the east, her family's household, but it is too much for me.'

Ashkaio glanced out the window again, noticing that the figure - it was awoman, he was fairly sure by her build, had sat down beside the sheep. 'So, sera, that is my life,' he told Elspeth. 'Tell me, how does it compare with your own?'

[feawen]

"Well" Elspeth laughed, "You have a busy life! I live a very boring life, so far this is the most exciting thing to happen to me! hmmm" She thought a second, "Lets see, my life involves getting up at dawn, mama cooks breakfast and i go out and check the hens for eggs, milk the cows, after breakfast, i see to the field, sometimes i make butter or cream, feed the other beasts, see the other older people that live around, and then there is harvest, and drying herbs and fruit, making jams. Oh!" Elspeth stopped her self, "I am going on sorry!" Why was it she could talk so much with this man? She turned to the window again and gave what she saw a puzzled look. "Whats that person doing to my dog!"

[Aikanáro]

Ashkaio had been just about to ask Elspeth if she was happy with the way she spent her days at present when she mentioned the woman outside again. At once he looked back towards the window.

'Let us go without and see,' he suggested, and stood. He did not think she intended any harm, but it was obvious that her presence troubled Elspeth, and that was reason enough for them to investigate further.

As they left the inn, he turned to her again. 'And you must not apologise,' he said quietly, 'for telling me what I wished to hear. Your life, at least day-to-day, sounds peaceful and uncomplicated.'

He made his way over to the woman with the dog, then, and looked curiously at her from a distance. 'I do not think she means harm,' he muttered to Elspeth, and then, stepping closer to the stranger: 'Hail! I see that I must thank you, for you have found this dog that belongs to my companion,' he said, smiling warmly.

[feawen]

Anahera looked at the man and woman as they approached from the scary thing. The man spoke to her in the same tongue as the other 3 woman who were so unwill to answer her questions, but it sounded a little different. He was smartly dressed, like the men of the ships, the woman with him, she was plainly dressed and stood to the side a little, unsettled at looked by Anahera. This was her dog? Anahera stood up, as the dog jumped over to the woman, which seemed to make her feel better. If this man was from the ships maybe he could help her? She made her greating, touching her head and heart, "I be Anahera of the Nolow. Dog find me! Be you man of ships? I far from home, was snowing and then fall and no snow? You know where Nolow be?" She looked over at the large scary thing, "What is that?" She asked pointing at the village.

Elspeth felt better to be near her dog and sheep. The woman spoke in broke words like the words did not fit right in her month. She understand little of what she said but this Anahera seemed to have found an interest in Ashkaio. Elspeth turned towards the village, how could she not know what a village was?

[Midge]

Aerin was shocked to say the least. She'd expected to see a Man or possibly an Orc, though it was doubtful an Orc could mimic that kind of voice, or maybe a Halfling, considering the grass.

What she saw instead was not Elf, Man, Dwarf OR Hobbit. It was clearly a beast. In all her journeys, Aerin had been acquainted with many types of animals, and she knew this one immediately. As strange as it seemed, she was TALKING to a badger.

And she was dumbfounded. "Oh. Er... Uhm." She looked down at the sword she held in her fist. No doubt she no longer needed it. If this beast proved to be an enemy, a simple bowshot would take care of it and so the sword was sheathed.

She had the presence of mind to know several things at that moment. She knew there was not much of a forest anywhere near at the moment. She knew that she had had no strong drink of any kind, not even miruvor, at any remotely recent times. She knew that there was a badger standing on its hind legs, talking to her in a grandmotherly voice. She knew that some beasts could speak in Westron, like Wargs, and that some people could speak in the languages of beasts. She also knew that she'd never heard anything remotely special about badgers.

So all she said was, "What are you doing here?"

[Aikanáro]

Ashkaio listened carefully to make out what the strange woman was saying. Her speech was different to theirs, and she spoke of snow. He had heard of snow, white flakes that fell from the sky and rested upon the ground in places where it was so cold that even the waters froze. Such things happened only in the far north of the lands he knew, in his world, so far north that few Tatherans ventured there even for trade.

He did not think that he could answer her questions. He knew of no city or household named Nolow - and why should he, he thought to himself then, she was of this world and not his! In asking him for direction she had chosen perhaps the one person in this village least likely to have answers for her. His eyes followed to the place where she was pointing, and it was unclear to him quite which thing she meant. 'That?' he queried. 'The building there, it is an alehouse, an inn.' He had the feeling though that she was rather more lost than that, and it was not the building itself that she had been gesturing towards.

There was little Ashkaio himself could do to remedy that, however, and so he simply bowed to her. 'I am Ashkaio Mirat dan-Kazhrun of Tathera, and this is Elspeth of the River Eru,' he said. 'I must tell you, unfortunate as it may be, that I have no ships.' She must have mistaken him for a merchant trader, he guessed. 'I have not encountered your people - do you know of the Nolow?' he asked Elspeth then, turning back to her.

~-~-~-

'Farewell,' Rivailen replied, giving Beryn a nod of approval. 'I shall look forward to the telling of that story, should we meet again. See that you travel safely!' Rivailen was, if not entirely convinced by Beryn's assertions that she would not harm the dragon unduly, comforted by the fact that she had made them. It meant that she would think before she did anything. In Rivailen's opinion, half the troubles of the world were caused by people who did not think long enough before they acted.

Now, if only she could prevent herself from being one of those people on occasion!

As Beryn was leaving them, Rivailen turned back to Barufiniel. 'Do you suppose we ought to wait here longer?' she asked the Elf. 'In case there is more to be seen, and one strangeness follows another? Or shall I show you the way to the village? It is about two hours' travel, and it is better we arrive before dark.'

[feawen]

"Never heard of them" Elspeth shrugged. "Sorry!"
Anahera was even more puzzled more, no one know of her people, no one understand her and she still did not know what that thing was!
"What is building?" Anahera asked, lengthening the unfamilier word. "There bad smell, too much noise!".

[Aikanáro]

Ashkaio now thought that he was beginning to understand. She wasn't talking about the building, but about the village, about civilisation itself, such as it was. Only that could explain such puzzlement. Yet if she came from some snowy northern region, this could hardly be the first settlement she had encountered along the journey.

He turned back to her, and spoke now more slowly and deliberately. 'This is a place where people live. Many people. It is called a village, and the buildings are the structures that they live inside, to keep warm and dry. Do your people not have such?'

And then, not half a second later: 'Did you come through a doorway to get here? A round door between the snowy land and here?'

[Varnafindë]

"I don't think we need to wait for more strange things," Barufiniel answered, "if there are more things we are meant to see, I suppose we will bump into them eventually anyway - if we don'ẗ, I guess we weren't meant to see them. And if we need two hours to reach the village, that's something we know about, not something that may or may not happen - and something we can do something about.
So yes, please, I would like to be shown the way to the village. I agree that it's better to arrive before dark."

[feawen]

"Nolow live in Puki, tent made of fur, warm in snow." Anahera explained, the strange village thing scaried her slightly, she decided for the moment to ignor it and answer the mans question. He at least seemed to want to help her, the woman just looked puzzled!
"Doorway?..No i hunt" She pointed to the bow at her feet, "Deer good food for winter, feed many Nolow! Snow all over, i fell, wake up on grass! odd ladies there, wanted my eggs! they not helpful! Lady said i came from sky, they Macaian, magic" She spat the word. "no show way to Nolow, so i walk to find Nolow. End here!"

Elspeth meanwhile was just lost! How have i managed to find two odd people? She thought!

[Aikanáro]

Magic. Ashkaio sighed inwardly. From the sound of it, she had come through a doorway, yet had no idea what had just happened to her. The people waging war on Tathera must have a civilisation very much more advanced than hers or even Elspeth's, he thought to himself. Only children believed in magic. Children and primitive superstitious peoples, and that was likely what he was dealing with here.

'You were hunting,' he continued in that slow methodical way, 'and then you fell, and when you stood again it was in a new place. The snow was not there, and neither was the deer. You fell through a doorway. That is not magic, it is - a thing that happens, that takes you to a new land. You cannot walk back to the Nolow. The only way to return is through another door.'

Ashkaio did not mention the risk, the fact that nobody knew with absolute certainty where these doors would open to, or how to control them. None, it seemed, save Yagluk and his people. Instead, he shook his head. 'I wish that I could help you. But this is not my world either, and I do not know how, and I am sorry for that.'

[feawen]

"No my home?" Anahera asked slowly. "This place strange! It smell funny and is loud." She sat down heavly. "I want to go home." She said sadly. She had started to wonder at all the strange things she had seem on waking up. "Men from ships talked of light in sky that swollowed ships and not seen again, Nolow thought just story, not true. It is true, i swollowed, i no see home again." She pulled her bow onto her lap, not in a threatening way, more as a comfort, something of home.

----

Elspeth had not really understand Ashkaio when he had talked of coming from somewhere else, she had just figured he lived a long away a way. But now this Anahera seemed to have come from the same place or something like that. She diffinatly looked different, and spoke oddly. Elspeth was saddened by the womans own sadness at not being able to go home again, she wanted to go to her but she was afraid of this new woman with a bow. She turned to Ashkaio. "Does she come from the same place as you? Maybe she can come with us and we can help her get home when you have finished your task?"

[Varnafindë]

If Nightshade's surprise at falling out of the bushes and onto grassland had been formidable, it was at least matched by the surprise she could see in the woman in front of her. Nightshade got close to laughing at the other's confused stuttering - but more importantly, the stranger sheathed her sword.

Was this a reaction to be expected from a Telmarine? Certainly not from a spy, she was probably safe from her now. But neither was this the reaction from someone who was seeing for the first time something she had heard about and been warned against or told not to believe in. This was someone who had never even nourished the idea that badgers might be able to talk.

Where were there such people? Surely even the Archenlanders and other neighbours of Narnia would at least know the concept of Talking Beasts?

And then Nightshade realised the extent of what had surprised her. When she had fallen out of the bushes, she had fallen away from them. They were gone.

'What was she doing here?' Yes, what indeed?

"I only arrived a minute ago," she answered. She turned her head to look back, to look for the forest she had come from. As she feared, it was gone, too. Where was she?

"And if the forest isn't here any more," she continued, "then I'm afraid I'm completely lost. Unless ..."

The possibility that suddenly struck her, made her face light up in a beaming smile.

"You wouldn't be Queen Susan, would you?"