Voice

[bindsthedead]

-Is this working? I hope it is. [The words are have muttered, since Sabriel's speaking to herself. Then she takes a deep breath, and speaks, her words much clearer as she's now speaking into the microphone. Her tone is also a lot more formal.]

Greetings. My name is Sabriel, and I'm a recent arrival here- I'd like to do my best to help, so if anyone has need of me, I will do my best to help. I have some skill in Charter magic and swordplay and I- [Sabriel almost says 'I'm a necromancer' but thinks better of it- best to avoid misunderstandings.] I have training in dealing with the restless Dead.

Also, I understand that a creature from my world is here. His name is Mogget, and I would like to find him as soon as possible. [And Sabriel's tone abruptly changes. The formality fades, and her voice becomes more urgent.]

And for everyone's sake, don't try to remove his collar!

Comments

[bindsthedead]

[Sabriel knees down and scratches Mogget behind the ears, frowning at the bell. Ranna, not Saraneth. What on earth had happened?

Also, she's clearly much younger than he probably remembers.]

Mogget, when did you arrive here?

[themogget]

[Much younger than he remembers, but he'll keep that to himself for now. How long his patience will hold out against the level of impetuousness that he had already had to train her out of once is another matter.

But, still, he tilts his head very slightly into the petting and purrs.]

In the last cycle of the Door. There is no calendar here, but it's been approximately five weeks.

[bindsthedead]

I see. Did Touchstone arrive with you? Is there anyone else from the Old Kingdom here, aside from the Disreputable Dog.

[themogget]

[Sigh!]

No. There is only myself, you, and... her.

[He sounds about as disgusted as Mogget is ever capable of sounding, and ducks his head away from her hand.]

No one else, not from the Old Kingdom, Ancelstierre, or anywhere beyond either.

[bindsthedead]

I see. What is the Dog exactly? Why does she have that collar, and why isn't it a binding?

[themogget]

[She's even more annoying than he remembers. Mogget makes an irritated sound, swiping at her hand with his claws barely unsheathed.]

You may ask me one question at a time, then be silent until you have my answer.

[To say nothing about the fact that the answers she gets may not be the answers she wants.]

Choose.

[bindsthedead]

Why does the dog have that collar, and why are there powerful Charter marks on it? [Given how unhelpful Mogget can be, a more specific question stands a better chance of a good answer.]

[themogget]

[Mogget takes a seat, takes a moment to clean one paw, then sets it down on the ground.]

Because it was created by a Charter mage, and so was she.

[Sorry, did you want a 'good' answer?]

[bindsthedead]

And who was this mage?

[Sabriel frowns, feeling herself getting more irritated.]

[themogget]

[The cat hesitates again, much as he did earlier, though she can see him doing it this time. When he answers, it's with deliberate care.]

Lirael.

[bindsthedead]

Tell me what you know about this Lirael. [Mogget's being hesitant, which makes Sabriel all the more suspicious.]

[themogget]

[... sigh. Everything he knows? Well, she didn't specify everything. This is going to be a difficult conversation.]

One of the Clayr. You haven't met her. Anything else is irrelevant at this point in time. Why don't you ask the mutt if you're so curious about her mistress?

[bindsthedead]

And who are the Clayr? [Guess who hasn't met Sanar and Ryelle yet!]

[themogget]

[By the Charter--]

I'd almost forgotten your complete lack of education. [He mutters irritably.]

The Clayr. One of the five bloodlines which contain the Charter. They live in the Clayr's Glacier, in the north of the Old Kingdom, where they claim the purity of the ice focuses their Sight. [Mogget squints at the girl, his eyes narrowing to dark slits.]

I'm not sure yet, of how much I ought to tell you, but I will tell you this. As you are, you are from nearly twenty years in my past. Or I am from twenty years in your future. Whichever you prefer.

[bindsthedead]

Contain the Charter- You're talking about the Great Charters, aren't you? [And like the Clayr, part of that power is inside of her.]

I see. And you don't want to tell me what's happened in those twenty years. [But she's tempted to force him to.]

[themogget]

Correct.

[He has to cast his mind back a ways to recall what she was like a this age. How much she knew. How much he'd had to teach her thanks to Terciel's fantastic decision to allow her to be raised on the other side of the Wall.]

On both counts. If you intend to command me to tell you, I suppose I'll have no choice.

[bindsthedead]

But if knew, it would change things, wouldn't it?

What can you tell me about the Great Charters?

[themogget]

It might. [He doesn't know, yet, that things learned here are not remembered on exit. When he discovers this, she may find it easier to get information from him.

Mogget yawns as the bell on his collar rings quietly, and sits down with his tail curled around his paws.]

The Great Charters? I don't know. What do you want to know about them?

[bindsthedead]

What are they? Why is one of them inside of my blood?

[themogget]

[Mogget sighs, then yawns widely.]

Astarael's get. [He says. It's interesting. He's rarely been able to speak of it so freely before.] But you misspoke. It's two. Or did you forget the rhyme already?

[bindsthedead]

'Five Great Charters knit the land,
together linked, hand in hand,
One in the people who wear the crown,
Two in the folk who keep the Dead down,
Three and Five became stone and Mortar,
Four sees all in frozen water.'

[Sabriel recites the poem easily, and looks suprised as she does.]

So the second of the five is inside of me... But what does Astarael- or any of the bells- have to do with it?

[themogget]

[He closes his eyes and grows silent for several long moments - long enough that one might think he had fallen asleep. Damn Terciel for how he neglected the education of his daughter.]

You truly know nothing of where the bells gained their names. The history of the land of your birth. [His eyes open, pupils narrowed to thin slits.] How you managed to achieve anything at all at this age is beyond me.

[bindsthedead]

Then explain, instead of insulting me. Why do the bells have the names they do, and how is that connected to the Old Kingdom's history and the Great Charters?

[Sabriel's not even bothering to hide her annoyance- or her eagerness to know.]

[themogget]

[Ugh, but insulting her has so much more return value.]

I've told you enough already. [Mogget yawns.] Take me somewhere warm and let me sleep, and I'll tell you more later.

[bindsthedead]

But-

[Well, she should probably get somewhere warm herself. Sabriel scoops up Mogget and heads out, in search of shelter.]