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]

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.]