Willow's End - Jera Skyspear
Elvish words/phrases linked to Glossary OR hover mouse to see translation.
The Library: Part Six

Ashevathallion opened the library door silently and slipped inside.

Jera sat at a large study table, engrossed in a tome concerning the comparison of ancient human languages to ancient elven languages, essentially the origins of communication in both races.

As the door closed softly behind him, Ashe paused, looking over to where Jera sat reading. He watched her silently for a few moments. He grinned as he caught her actually mouthing some of the words. She did so to work out those which were not immediately pronounceable in her head and to help anchor significant ones in memory.

"So, Jera Skyspear," he chuckled quietly, "Has your head burst yet from absorbing all the knowledge you can read?"

She finished the sentence she was reading then looked up with a furrowed brow before her entire expression changed to a warm smile, "Ashevathallion... That is your name, is it not? Are you sure that is how it should be said?" She snickered and turned the volume so he might see the title of it. "'Quetasundo'... We've come a long way in how we say things."

"Aye, but ours is a constantly growing language. It has to be, given all the cultures and peoples we've met."

"Indeed, I am in fact learning here how they flavor us even as we flavor them." She arched a brow with her now crooked grin. "And by the by, at what point did you disappear from me and... how could you let me fill this head for so long without relief?"

She rose with the book in her hands and came around the end of the table to meet him as he walked to her. "I believe it was earlier today. I stopped by to tell you I was returning to the Horde until tonight and you sort of went... well... I believe it was 'Mmmmmmmmmmm...ok...'" He grinned at her. "I think you were deep into some history or another at that point."

She laughed and nodded, "I could well have been. You know, I could stay here for months... nae perhaps even years... but I think I'd miss some important bits of my own life then, whilst reading others."

"And I was certain Qwert would shoo you outside if he thought you were ready to collapse."

Again she chuckled with a nod, "I should hope so."

Ashe whispered, "Rumor has it that's what happened to Qwert. He wandered in and forgot about everything else." He added a wink.

"Twould be easy enough for that to happen to me. Good thing I have you to look after me?" She folded up the book and lay it on the table then took a moment to twist and stretch her back and neck.

"A better thing I have to look after you, love." Ashe reached for the parcel under his arm and held it out to Jera. "Here... this is for you."

Jera arched a brow, but took the parcel from his hands, "Whatever is it?"

"My sister loved to weave. Helping you the other day brought this to mind. She wove the cloth herself."

Her eyes flashed and she set the parcel on the table to unwrap it. When even just the folded fabric was revealed, not yet knowing what the item was, Jera's hand gently brushed over the cloth in appreciation. Quietly she spoke her awe, "I cannot imagine that anything I was doing would remind you of this... this artistry."

Ashe smiled, "Oh it decidedly did. Rowan didn't weave light like you, but she had that same look of concentration at her loom... and the same smile of pleasure in creating something."

Jera gingerly drew the bundle up from the packaging, allowing the item to unfold, so enjoying the feel of the cloth itself, until a full cloak hung from her upraised hands. The material was a rich forest green and seemingly flawless. She held a finished cloak as fine as any she had ever seen. Furthermore, she knew that there had to be a limited remainder of anything made by Rowan. She looked from the cloak to Ashe, "But, love, surely there is little of this to be had? Should you not disperse it sparingly?"

"She'd made several of these up, in different colors. They were MidWinter's gifts, I think, for friends and family. Ian found one for Skye in Rowan's cottage. This was in her old room here." He paused to meet her eyes with all sincerity. "I believe she would think you should have this." He was actually quite sure of it, judging from her obvious appreciation. "It will never tear nor stain, and you will find it keeps you warmer than it looks. She gave Yarrow and I similar cloaks." He gestured to the blue cloak he himself was wearing.

Jera first drew the cloak against her then spread it out to look at the piece entire before swirling it onto her shoulders and turning up her face to Ashe again, with a soft smile and a whisper, "Cozy... as the man who has given it... and surely as the woman whose hands made it. My thanks, beloved." She leaned forward and stretched to lightly kiss his cheek.

Ashevathallion returned the kiss to her opposite cheek, then looked a bit flustered when they separated. "Um, so... Have you found enough new knowledge for now? Or would you like to stay a few more nights?"

"I think if you do not drag me away now, it shall take more than a fine new cloak to do so." She grinned, as one hand was still tracing the edge of it.

He laughed, "Qwert asked me to tell you that you are welcome to return any time to do more reading. He was quite approving of how you reshelved the books in their proper place when you finished with each."

"Oh! And speaking of that..." She hustled to reshelve the tome she was just reading and bowed to Ashe upon returning to him. "Thank you for that reminder."

Ashevathallion grinned, "Z'par servu, mestra. Shall we go then?"

Jera nodded and ceremoniously tossed one tail of her new cloak over the opposite shoulder. "We shall," she grinned, even as he held his hand out to her. She squeezed his hand as he walked her toward the door, "You know your way here." he said, "I'd say you should visit as often as you like. You need only stay away around the equinox, when the night is longer than the day."

"I am busier at such times anyway, feasts and such, foods needing spice, tournament challengers needing medicinals." She sighed, "Someday, I may take a turn on that path. It occasionally gets rather... tedious."

He escorted them out into the corridor, then paused to look down the length of it, for within that hall echoed the sound of a male singer, a tenor, singing in Sithryn. Then Ashe picked up the thread of their conversation once again. "If it's tedious, you should find another path. But I think you also enjoy it, as well."

She nodded and answered idly, for her attention had been captured by the singer now too. She looked in that direction as if she expected to perhaps see him. "Yes... yes, that too." She responded to one topic, but also commented in a more hushed voice on the other, "How beautiful that is."

Ashe looked down the corridor again. "Father... singing home the Sun, and calling out the Stars. An old tradition in our clan."

"That is your father's voice? No wonder he could move us all at will..." The blend of the voice, the song, and her memories from childhood all came together to mist her eyes a bit.

"Yes," He smiled with both pride and love, "I think if he had not been forced to be a warrior, he'd have been a bard. As it is, he is a mix of both. I've seen him do things with a song..." Ashe's his voice trailed off, then he smiled ruefully, "Well, aye, that's why he could move us... in more ways than one." He then opened the door to his old room and they left the corridor and the fading song.

"Sometime perhaps I may sing down a storm for you, but it's not something you'd want to witness close at hand. It most certainly is not that moving, not in that way, I think.

Ashe squeezed her hand gently, "I'd like to see that."

"Perhaps you would, perhaps not. Depends on whether the storm is... interested in me." She left that rather cryptic bit alone as they proceeded.

"Hmm... Ian can call the lightning, not by song though." He gestured and the hazy opening to the Road appeared in the space between the beds that once were his and his brother's.

Jera chuckled, "And see there, you have called another hole."

"Astounding, is it not? We'll come out near where we left."

"I should hope so. See that we miss the pond, hm? I wouldn't want to drench my new cloak."

"But of course. Besides, I'd get myself wet as well, since I will be right beside you." Ashevathallion held out his hand once more, and then stepped into the opening with her. She squeezed his hand as they stepped and her words hovered in the room for a moment after they were gone, "Most assuredly. Forget it not."

Out by the pond, in the gardens of Camelot, a soft glow formed... and then Ashe and Jera stepped through to alight on the rock overlooking the water. Even as they appeared, the opening to the Road vanished.

Glancing around them and then down at herself, Jera was not surprised to find solid footing, "Well... it's still here, we're back, and my cloak is dry. You must have done it right."

Ashe began to step down from the rock himself and offered a hand to Jera, should she need it. "Well, I like my boots dry," he quipped. They both descended and paused at the base of the rock. Ashe looked around, "Hmm... night here."

Jera gazed up at the sky which was still graced with a mostly full moon and sprinkles of stars. "So it is. And a lovely one at that." Ashe stretched out a hand to point at a broad band of stars streaking across the sky, "Folk call that Arthur's Road sometimes."

(from 2002 1124) © DHP and Bill West

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