~Katie's Place~

[Ceol]

Ceol blushed at Katie's kind words. "Thank you, Katie! I'm not sure if my steward will come. I left an invitation but you say, I've never actually met him or her! I know it sounds very silly but I know someone is there, and I just leave money as a payment."

She blushed a little as she thought of how strange this must sound. She sure hoped her mysterious steward might show up! Katie made so much food, however was she going to eat all that? She could pretty much live on two cherries a day.

At the mention of music, she clapped her hands enthusiastically "Oh, I love music! That's going to be wonderful. You must have a very talented steward, Katie!"

When the steward entered, Ceol fluttered over to him and bowed in the air in response. "Nice to meet you, Steward Harold. I hear you play music, and you can cook as well? Oh my, Katie is very lucky to have a man like you!"

She talked with Harold while Katie left the room, and waved when Alder and his steward entered.

"Hello Rector Alder! Oh, you must be his steward! Ram?" Ceol copied what she heard Harold say "Nice to meet you, Steward Ram. Such a fine name, I love sheep."

[Silence]

Another glance passed between the two.

"I swear on the name of whatever yeh like, I never told anybody anythin about yer name."

"Of course sir... ma'am, my name is Lamar, and I apologise for any confusion this might have brought about."

The steward's eye twitched.

"Look, ah... does it really matter like now? I mean, there's food here... and it's gettin cold... and if nobody else is gonna eat it, I am... err... actually, might be best if you guys have some first... just sayin... I need teh go wash my hands in somethin before I touch anythin here... err, be right back guys."

With that, Alder turned and scampered out of the door again.

"I'll apologise again for my master, he is always like that. Feel free to start without him, he won't care."

Alder found a quiet area a little way from the house and glanced around to check nobody was listening, then gave his avatars a command which felt weird passing through his mind. 'Alright, let's get rid of this dirt'... Really, he should have thought of that before, but... well, it didn't really matter.

Alright... Lamar would hopefully convince them to start without him so he could check that the elk and bread wasn't poisoned. Lamar would be able to confirm that for him without letting the others know... step one, complete.

If it was all this easy, he could keep this up for the meal.

----------------------------------

(Back in Katie's place)

Lamar looked at each person in turn, then realised that he had here the perfect opportunity to explain some things to these people which would save his master quite a deal of embarrassment later... plus, this was meant to be a social afternoon, and he didn't really want the street urchin bogging down the mood, no matter how well intentioned he might be.

"Sadly, my master is absolutely horrible at remembering names... so, he decided to call me Ram... I call him sir. That way we both have names from the other that we don't really like, and it sort of works itself out... Sorry for any confusion this misunderstanding may have caused, and thankyou very much for inviting me here today. Since Alder will never thank you for something like this, I'll say thankyou for him as well... oh, and if he seems a bit... well, uneasy, that's probably because he's half expecting everything to be poisoned. I know, it's ridiculous, but apparently not many people did things for him when he was young for no reason, so he's gotten a bit... paranoid I guess. Don't take it personally... I'm sure he's very grateful really."

[AnnaMolly]

Anna-Molly visited the Wisu orchard like she had been doing for the last several months. Ever since she first noticed the little fairy, she had gone back regularly to quietly observe her. She was afraid her presence, if the fairy could see her, would scare her away. She didn't want to scare the cute little creature.

Anna-Molly had never seen a real fairy before and was amazed by the tiny woman who spoke to her animals and her corn as if they were people. When she saw her occasionally struggling with carrying oranges and eggs, Anna-Molly would secretly help out by picking a few more, or collect some more eggs, when the fairy was away. To do this she used a special pair of ghost gloves she bought in the ghost realm Teide showed her. The gloves helped her fingers to be solid enough to touch non-ghost items, while still allowing her to be translucent and move through objects. However, they made her hands feel itchy when worn for too long periods of time.

After a while, Anna-Molly noticed the fairy left money for her every week in the same place in her chicken coop, and Anna-Molly spent this in the ghost realm on food she could actually taste and eat. But even though the fairy was now somehow aware of her presence, Anna-Molly still didn't dare to show herself.

She was very surprised when, one afternoon, she found a note at the money spot. It was addressed to her! Was she the fairy's "dear assistent"? She probably was, seeing as she returned every time to help out and was getting paid for it.
Anna-Molly read the lunch invitation very slowly, she wasn't very good at reading.

First she considered ignoring the invitation, but as the curious girl she was, she went anyway. She didn't plan to make her presence known to the fairy, but maybe she could just watch from a distance. After all, she couldn't eat normal food anyway.

Anna-Molly found the mill of the woman named Katie with help of the instructions Ceol left. She floated through the wall, and then slowly up through the ceiling when she heard voices coming from there, but in such a way that only the top of her head, till just below her eyes, emerged above the second floor. She emerged underneath the table and looked around at the legs and feet of some people she didn't recognise.

[Katie]

Although Katie planned to wait for Ceol's steward, Harold commenced strumming his musical instrument and singing.....



As Harold sang some fun, silly songs, Katie immediately handed a tambourine to Lamar and a small set of maracas to Priestess Ceol. "While all of you have fun following along with Harold and singing, I will place the food on the table for our lunch."

Katie followed along humming as she placed all of the food on the table.

[Katie]

After the feast, Katie asks her guests to follow her on a tour of her 'natural' hot springs bathing pool. Presently, Harold is building a privacy stone fence, but it is delayed due to the weather.

[Silence]

Lamar looked a little bemused at being handed the instrument at first, but then smiled warmly and began beating his foot to the rhythm of the music. Soon, he had the tambourine in his lap and was beating out a simple rhythm on it in time with Harold's playing.

Alder's steward was not a musician, but surprisingly, for somebody of his lifestyle, the street urchin was to some degree. When he returned after about five minutes or so and noticed the music, he at first just sat by the doorway and listened, then after thirty seconds or so of getting to know the melody, he began to hum.

At first, it was just a tuneless drone that seemed to hover over the music, not really adding or detracting anything to it. Then, after another verse, the drone seemed to sway between the base note of the five most common chords in the melody. By the time the third verse came about, Alder's hum had turned into a full accompanying part, quietly completing the harmonies within the piece of music, all be it quietly, like a person who, in a crowded area was just murmuring the lyrics to a song they were listening to.

He was so wrapped up in listening to the music that he didn't actually notice the ghost girl until the melody was over and he glanced around the room.

"Err... say, what are you doin here gho-" something within his mind clicked into place "ooohhhst... ohhhh, I see. That explains a lot. Err... say, would I be right if I said that you were her steward that she's never seen?"

Alder pointed at Ceol while his steward looked at him a little wide eyed. Yes, he respected his master, but what in the world was he doing? Had he really just gone insane during the course of a song? Now he was talking to thin air.

"And I guess I'd be right in sayin that you can't see ghosts can yeh priestess? Well, yer steward's right here I think... say, what was yer name again miss floaty person?"

Alder leaned forward and grinned for no apparent reason towards what would look like to most, an empty space.

"I mean, most people woulda introduced emselves teh each other by now... most people aren't as bad with names as I am... but yeh've got a problem with that, ain't yeh? So why not let me give yeh a hand with that, eh?"

Alder then glanced around the room.

"And I thought I told yeh guys not teh bother waitin for me... why is the food still not being eaten?"


((Sorry to backtrack like this, but I had prewritten this post already, I just never got around to uploading it, and I really hate to waste work. I'll post Alder's reactions to somebody trying to get him into a pool of the deadliest substance in the world to him tomorrow))

[Katie]

Everyone did not linger long at the natural hot springs due to the frigid weather. Katie wondered if they enjoyed warm baths as much as she did, but dared not ask. Instead, she led the way back to the home where Harold sang the last song of the luncheon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m86nMHfvl7s

[Eli]

Eli strolled down the path through the trees, eating the sandwich he'd purchased in town with the money he found. Well, that and what he'd managed to persuade people into giving him. Normally, he would have just traveled through the shadows, but it was important that he learn the route between his new home and Widu on foot, in case he ever needed to travel at noon or at night. As such, he happily walked through the snow, eating his lunch. At least, until he heard a growl coming from behind him. Turning, he saw a large, vicious looking wolf, with blood on its fur from its last meal.

Eli... you know what to do.

Smirking, Eli locked eyes with the wolf before addressing the voice in his head.

You've been quiet lately.

Under his sleeve, he could feel the shadows slowly moving. Looking down, he watched as a shadow knife slid into his hand, the shadows that pushed it there retracting into his sleeve.

I hunger, Eli. You have not allowed me to feed in two days. Come, I'll even share it with you... just one slit across the throat, like all those other times.

Chuckling, Eli went over his last kill in his head. It was for a contract, some murderous old woman that was causing trouble in the area. She wasn't nearly as hard to take down as he had expected. Snarling, the wolf approached, seemingly hungry for either the sandwich or the boy holding it. Thinking for a moment, Eli allowed it to advance as he came up with a solution. When the wolf came within five feet of him, tendrils of shadow shot out of him, knocking the creature of its feet and pinning it to the ground. As he approached, knife in hand, the wolf whimpered, fearing for its life.

Good boy... just one little cut, and dinner for both of us.

Eli, however, had other plans. Casting the knife aside, he knelt down beside the wolf, placing his hand on the animal's head. Closing his eyes, he channeled the shadows from his own mind into the wolf, leaving some behind even after he detached himself. The beast seemed to struggle for a moment, but in the end it gave in, its eyes turning black. Grinning, Eli pulled the shadows back into himself, and giggled as the wolf began licking his face.

I thought you were going to kill it. Keep in mind, the hungrier I am, the weaker both of us are.

Standing, Eli gave the wolf the rest of his sandwich.

I am well aware. However, unlike you, a wolf is useful in any kind of lighting. Besides, now you can feed from the wolf's kills as well as mine. Later, I'll find you somebody, but for now, Mom is expecting me.

In his head, he could feel the demon beaming at the prospect of more food. But that was for later. For now, he brushed off his clothes and headed back down the path, the wolf following him. Eventually, he saw Katie walking towards her class, her steward following her. Perhaps later he would have some fun with him, maybe trip him while he was carrying something or scare him with his shadows, but for now, his focus was on being as good as possible. Laughing, he ran up to Katie, smiling up at her.

"Hi Mom! Did I miss your party?"

[Katie]

In the stillness of this crisp, cold February day, Katie heard a faint growl coming from the other side of the knoll ahead and so she suddenly stopped. Whispering to her escort, she whispered "Harold? Did you hear that sound up ahead? A growling, snarling type of sound?"

Harold abruptly stopped too and immediately shook his head. "Don't let your imagination run wild. It's day time, Miss Katie. You have a luncheon to attend so let's head on to that man's house."

"His name is Professor Kendor, Harold! Don't call him 'that man'. He's a nice man and I caught that tone in your voice. Also, Harold, how many times have I told you it's not what you say, but how you say it that counts?" She took refuge in knowing Harold was with her although his hearing had deteriorated a bit in recent months. She felt slightly vulnerable toting the basket of food for the luncheon instead of wearing her hunting outfit with the archery gear.

Harold ignored her lecture, but dutifully forged ahead on the snowy trail.

Cresting the knoll she saw Eli at the bottom advancing toward her so she stood there looking him over thoroughly. Harold halted behind her once again and simply observed the newcomer into the household.

She was usually upbeat, but right now she shivered slightly as she realized the fear was not due to the weather; she had donned her camel colored cape with matching boots and mittens which offered needed protection from the elements. It was that snarling growl which rattled her nerves a few moments earlier.

Eli's laughter caught her off-guard as he scurried uphill while asking her if her lunch party was done. Bending down, she placed the basket of food on the snow-capped knoll and she embraced the little boy of ten. His build was slender, his mind was sharp, however, she was drawn to his beautiful dark-brown eyes which reminded her of her own. They had adopted one another in their hearts and minds only a few nights earlier. His homelessness, hunger and need for a bath proved he needed lots of love and she had it to offer. ""Eli? Are you ok, Sweeetie?"

[Katie]

Katie packs all of Eli's personal belongings in his duffle bag and off she goes to the tavern with the bag for him. It matters not what others think. She had warned him numerous times about his bad treatment toward her; she had grown very weary for life was too short. If she were to have a child, she would have to start with a baby which doesn't sass, back-talk nor yell at her in a tavern full of people. She simply didn't take poor treatment well and so she would have to love Eli from a distance only.

She dried her tears and took the duffle bag with his possessions to him- She presented it in front of all the people in the tavern where he had talked so hurtful to her a little earlier. Inside the bag was a letter and some money.

	Dearest Eli, I wish you the very best in your life. I have grown tired and so it is best we move on our separate ways. May you always be happy because apparently I could not give it to you. May you always have love for I apparently could not give it to you either. May you always feel complete, satisfied and at peace with your self for that will make me most happy for you. Stay safe and know that I will always love the Eli who has the sparkling dark-brown eyes, cheery disposition and the part of your heart and mind which stands for what's good and right. ~Miss Katie