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Briar watched the hooded figure leave. "When did he get here anyway?" He muttered before continuing. "Its alright. don't get much money out of it except what I get off monsters." at the last comment he laughed. "How things like bears get money is beyond me, but its enough to buy food and drink. In theory, I have to pay taxes to Rakion, my namesake and country, accross the sea, but as I own no property nor do I technically have a job, so don't have to pay anything. Its a pretty good deal. If things are getting that bad arround here, I'll go speak to the king, under the premissis of a diplomat from rakion, of course." He said, chuckling again. "They probably wouldn't let a lowly wanderer talk to the wing any other way. Where is that accursed server? I've been waiting here for forever and a moon." He streched his arms behind him then tapped his staff on the ground, hoping to get her attention. "Are things really that bad arround here?" He asked the worker. Yes, Briar talked a lot when he got on a subject he knew.

Krzysztof sat beside the healer, glancing a bit nervously toward her multiple bags of tricks. "So, uh.. is it that bad?" he asked. His faith in modern medicine was pretty low, preferring to let nature take its course than have a stranger poking, prodding, and shoving all kinds of plants into his mouth.

The boy quizzically watched the hooded man as he left through the inn door, just finding it a little odd to wear a hood indoors. He could care less about the actual conversation. He quickly focused on the healer, ready to dodge any medicine he wasn't comfortable with.

[[Lillie, I was unsure if this was allright--I have a lot of free time coming so I figured I would join an RP to dust off the creative writing cells in my head. If it is not allright; just post here, or delete the post and PM me--whatever's easier!

Hope you're well,
Dan]]

---

Name:
Charles Montseau
Age:
27, just turned actually
Gender:
Male
Appearance:.
With a well-off but still moderate upbringing, Charles maintained a decent appearance prefering a jacket and tie to other less-presentable apparel. Prefering to remain unassuming in his dress, he made no effort to be noticed. 5'11 with dark brown hair and a lighter shade of brown eyes to boot.
Personality:
A moderate fellow with little to no qualms with anyone or anything in particular--will raise his voice when he has too. Make no mistake though--Charles is a calculating fellow, and will not let himself be used
Occupation:
Clock Repairs
Other:
Charles was raised by a maid; his father was often at work during the day and would come home well past Charles's bed time. After a strange clock-related accident, Charles father passed away and Charles assumed work at the clockshop which his father had owned. His mother, who had came to enter an 'unfit' mental state (to say the least) after her husbands demise, stayed at the Montseau Manor a good few miles away. Charles's intellect and knowledge of the technology of the day was rather expansive, prefering a fine pair of tweezers & and a clock to any wand or sword.

---

As if written into pure existence right at that moment, Charles stepped into the blazing sunlight of the day. Locking what was now his Clock Shop, he crossed the town's main road to a few feet away from the Inn. From here he could see the postroads of the town--small dirt roads which stretched out in every direction one could dream of. A series of little strings, thought Charles, attaching every town and village this world had to offer.

Charles, who had travelled to a few other places in his life kept the thoughts of these strange lands in his head, as he set his piece to the current hour--a small clock, not 7 cm in diameter that had been his fathers before him. Despite providing little but the current time and often stopping of it's own accord, Charles kept this clock with him wherever he went.

Alas, amongst his daydreaming the usual afternoon vocation called: The Crowned Coral's clock would require an adjustment--it was now or never thought Charles, as he stepped into the Inn the slight blaze of sunshine that had started his life faded into the grey glum that had defined many men and women's morning. Things were dry; but only just beginning.

"I'm Kenzirin, but everyone calls me Kenzi. Except for my parents..." Kenzirin said, glancing at the boy before pulling him over to Miran.

She listened to Miran speak, then nodded as she turned away to get the items she needed. She headed once more to the kitchens, then grabbed a bowl and filled it about halfway with water, and then grabbed a spoon from the drawer. She nodded in greeting to the cook, and then left to return to Miran.

--------
"Six hundred gold coins a year? Ours is only eight hundred... but with the inn, we don't really have to worry about raising that much, unless the amount of people staying in it takes a hard turn. Nonetheless, it does put quite a strain on our budget," Kenzirin's father muttered. He frowned as first the stranger sitting with Miran left, and then another, a hooded one.

He watched the stranger out of the corner of his eye as he left the room, a sense of being uncomfortable in his gaze. He was then distracted by Kenzi returning with the boy.

"Oh my," Kenzirin's mother said gently. "How did you get hurt?"

((Um. *apologizes profusely, offers self as a sacrifice to appease everyone*

Thus, I bring you GINORMOUS (not really) PLOT POST! HURRAH!

ETA: Oh, and apparently this is post #666666. Let's hope that's a good omen. ))

As she walked through the crowd, Lily shivered slightly. The shock on the faces of many was frightening, if not unbelievably disconcerting. It wasn't even that they looked shocked, more along the lines of horrified.

No one made any protest as she reached the window and lifted herself up to be able to sit on the sill. She clearly wouldn't be able to see anything from a different position, so Lily followed the silent direction of the boy next to her and looked straight up. It was, at first, difficult to make out anything, but if she squinted and tilted her head this way...

"Oh my... What are you all so scared of? This is fantastic! The first rainbow in years! This is ama- What?" Lily asked shortly as her neighbor on the windowsill tapped her on the shoulder. She recognized him as the boy who had initially yelled to everyone as softly told her to "Look closer."

Suddenly frustrated at the odd sadness radiating from the others, Lily gave in and obediently leaned back to look again. As she caught sight of the rainbow again, her frustration melted away as she smiled and said "See? It really is a rainbow..."

"Look closer."

Sighing, she concentrated on the image. As it came into clearer focus, she shrieked and this time, did fall out the window. Suddenly realizing that she had fallen from her perch, Lily desperately swung her arms around, by some chance catching the ledge of the window. She hung there, paralyzed with shock, unable to think anything aside from how colorless and gray the rainbow had been, drained of all color.

Krys began to hear some commotion outside, but it didn't really bother him. He gave an idle ear, waiting to pick up a word or two on what was going on. He rubbed his head lazily, then turned to Kenzi's mother. "Funny story actually," he said, turning red. "I, uh.. fell down your stairs." he gave a quick gesture in the direction of the rooms. "Sorry for the inconvenience." he muttered, both to the healer and to the helpful girl.

Finally, his not-so sensitive hearing picked up a word "..rainbow!" A wave of excitement ran through him, this definitely didn't happen often. He bolted up, ready to make his run outside into the bright sunlight. But that didn't go so well, he instantly began to feel woozy from his cut and sat back down, a bit of a scowl on his face. "Guess I'm not going anywhere, then."

[*laughs* I'm the one who should be apologising, for disappearing so suddenly and for so long. What can I say? Exams cropped up, but that's really just an excuse, so I hope you will all forgive me.

Dan, you are always welcome, and you know it. Alex, thank you for the plot post! And I'm getting tired of being in one position, so I will try and hustle along now. Let's see if I can handle it.]

'My, yer sure seem to know a lot about this kinda stuff,' the worker said in a tone tinged with new respect for this self-assured wanderer. Privately, he did not think it was wise to meddle with the king, but if this man was reckless enough to do it - although Thomas doubted that Briar would be successful, there was really no telling.

He was more interested in the bears Briar encountered. An idle thought crossed his mind that it might be easier to fight bears than to fight taxes, and a better living besides. He was just about to ask the wanderer to recount some more of his adventures when a shout of 'Rainbow!' pricked up his ears.

'A rainbow?' he echoed, along with everyone else, as people rushed to the windows and, failing to see anything beyond a mass of colourful heads, began pouring out of the inn to stare and gape at the longed-for sight. Thomas forgot about the traveller next to him and left his seat as well to see the miracle everyone had been hoping for.

---

The sound of the word shocked Miran and she nearly slopped the water out of the bowl. What she wouldn't give to see the rainbow too!

She sensed the same wish in her young patient and could not suppress a laugh when he sat down abruptly again. Working as quickly as her deft fingers would allow, she plucked the heart out of a dried flower and sprinkled it liberally with some other herbs. Grinding them all together and mixing them with water, she produced a very thin drink of a washed-out sun colour, and urged Krys to drink it.

'Here, it will taste just like mint and is just the thing to get you up in a jiffy,' she said in as persuasive a tone as she could manage. 'It will fix your cut like a miracle.' She neglected to add that this was also a very costly treatment, due to the miraculous speed with which open wounds closed up again. She had no plans to charge him, and in her current state of despair, charging one person more or less was not going to save her, so why worry?

---

It almost made for a very pretty picture, the hooded figure thought as he looked after the retreating figure, framed by the faintest rainbow. Almost, if the rainbow had not had such a strange quality to it that one had to squint at it to see the shaking lights form an arch.

He considered briefly if he should follow Esthemazaar or not, and decided against it. He had some business in the inn which he had to attend to, and he was certain to see Esthemazaar again before a few days had passed.

As the people began pouring out of inns and houses, the hooded figure silently melted back into the inn.

The rainbow began to fade.

---

Professional pride was the only thing which kept Miran from leaping up with all the others to see the rainbow. Her patients took first priority, after all, she reminded herself.

Perhaps it was better that she had stayed, otherwise she might not have heard a voice behind her say, 'Miran', and turned to see a hooded figure with a long, flowing white beard and white hair shake himself out of the hood.

For a moment she did not know who he was, and then she did.

One hand flew to her mouth as the other clutched at the figure's arm, her professional pride entirely forgotten as she stared at the young man with the white hair, who evidently seemed to be enjoying the episode. The young healer was rendered utterly silent by the stranger's presence.

'Trouble is brewing, Miran. What do you, or you and yours,' and he waved at the people around her, 'say to a little travelling?' the stranger said, his face taking on a more serious aspect.

"No, it's perfectly fine. I didn't mind helping..." Kenzirin replied, the rest of her words fading out as the word "...rainbow!" caught her attention. Her face lit up in excitement, and she turned quickly around.

She took a few steps before she realized no one was following her. She turned around slowly to glance at the others, uncertain as to whether or not she should go on alone. Her parents sensed her uncertainty, motioned that they would speak with Miran again later, and then followed their daughter out the door.

When they were outside, Kenzirin frowned slightly. Somehow, the rainbow didn't seem to be like the ones she remembered from years past -- she squinted to get a closer look at it, and then gasped in surprise.

Her father had been watching the stranger as he entered the inn once more, feeling odd as he watched him. He wasn't sure whether the feeling he had was one of familiarity (had the Stranger come to the Inn before? But many had, and he had never felt like this before...) or something else. But if it was something else, than what? Maybe it was the fact that the figure cloaked himself -- not many did that in his Inn.

Kenzirin's gasp brought him out of his pondering, and he looked over at her, alarmed. She looked up at him, shock and uncertainty reflecting on her face. "Father, look at it! Look at the rainbow!" she cried out. He turned to look; it was beginning to fade, but otherwise it seemed normal...

"It's grey, Father. There is no color..." Kenzirin whispered, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Impulsively, she reached out to grab him, hiding her face in his shirt to hide the droplets. Her father put his arms around her, trying to comfort her, not understanding why she didn't think there was not any color in the rainbow. Of course their was...

Kenzirin began to shake lightly in her distress. Confused, her father glanced over at his wife, only to see her expression mirroring his.

((sorry for being so late, I had tons of christmas stuffs and then I had eye surgery))

Briar nearly feel out of his seat laughing at these poor souls. Their entire city was obsessed with rainbows. Then the word "grey!" drifted to his ear and he just about fell out of his seat again. He sprang up, grabbed his staff and ran as fast as he could to see the fleeting rainbow. "This is not good..." He said. he hurried back to his seat and banged his staff on the ground, a faint blueish spiderweb-like light apeared around the impact site and expanded before disapearing. With his free hand he made a set of hand signs and air gestures, and a large tome apeared in front of him. He quickly opened it to the middle, apperently directally to the page he wanted, and started to read. "Aww shoot," he muttered. All the book said, this being one of the most complete directories of magical ocurances, was "You, good reader, are screwed." He hated it when that happened.

LilEdit: Please remember that swearing in any form - including using asterisks - can be seen as trying to get around the word filter and may be dealt with accordingly.

Esthemazaar heard everyone rushing out into the street behind him. He tried to ignore their cries, but they were screaming about rainbows. He looked up and back down again. This helped his mood. He continued on, loping slowly toward his destination. He slunk down in the abandoned aqueduct, feeling the cold of the stone through his robe. His feet nearly touched his chest in the aqueduct, but he felt more comfortable here than anywhere else. He just hoped that none would come and disturb him now. Everyone knew where he stayed. He had seen more than enough for one day. He closed his eyes and contemplated what had happened so far.

[I'm sorry for being absent again.]

The young man with the white hair glanced over at Kenzi. 'I see we have one potential companion already,' he said quietly. His words seemed to strike a chord in Miran, who dropped his arm and turned to the distressed girl. Gently, she weaned Kenzi out of her father's arms.

'Come with me, Kenzi,' she coaxed. 'Let her come with me, sir. I have something that I can give her in my home. It will calm her down. All this may just be a bit too much for her nerves today.' She nodded towards the crowds and crowds of people, all jabbering and chattering at once. 'Come, Kenzi, dear.'

She paused, and looked once at the stranger, then looked around her and said to no one in particular (or perhaps everyone): 'And anyone else who wants to come, too.'

"That sounds like an offer for a drink if I've ever heard one..." said the apperently still sober mage. After draining a glass that was on a passing tray to calm his nerves, then collected himself and followed the small group out the door. I wonder where the tall fellow went... he mused, thinking of sending a Blood Nak to look for him. Nah, if he had wanted to hear anything, he woulda stayed. He musta had something to do. Odd one, him.

Kenzirin shuddered again, resisting Miran's pull at first, but relented as soon as she realized who it was. She kept her head turned away, suddenly afraid of letting anyone see her tears.

Her father studied Miran's face, and felt the plea was for more than just calming Kenzirin down. It had something to do with the hooded stranger, surely!, as well as the rainbow. He sensed that it would take Kenzirin away for a long time, and perhaps he would never see her again. But... Kenzirin was getting old enough to take care of herself now, and more likely than not would make his life miserable if Miran went somewhere without her. Oh, he knew how much his daughter looked up to the healer! He turned his head to look at his wife, and once again saw the same expression reflected in her face. She nodded once, giving him permission to decide what he wanted to do.

He breathed in deeply, almost regretting his decision. "Go along, Kenzi," he voiced, the words not coming out completely on their own. He returned his gaze to Miran. "Keep her safe."

Slipping her arm about Kenzi for comfort, Miran hesitated, then took the stranger's arm firmly by the elbow. She led the two of them back to her small house, weaving their way through the crowds.

She left the kitchen door open for some air, as was her habit when she was at home. And now he was there too... No one would be able to steal anything if there had been anything worth stealing. Seating Kenzi down, she went about filling some mugs with water, and offered one to each of her guests. Kenzi seemed to have calmed down a little now.

'Why are you back?' she said abruptly to the young man with the white hair. She was standing by the table, her eyes gazing at the lightening skies outside. For a moment it seemed as though she were etched into the scene, an imposing figure within a picture.

The young man's brows went up at the question, but she did not see them, or did not choose to see them.

'That's a cool welcome,' he commented drily. His voice lacked the initial mirth it had had when he had spoken in the inn. Miran's shoulders twitched, but her face remained a rigid mask. She could feel her insides colouring. Her question had come out all wrong.

Without further ado, the man said, 'I have been travelling far and wide, and there have been signs of trouble brewing. What that trouble is yet, I do not know - only that it is something of import. What has been happening in this town only proves the point. I heard your conversations in the inn - a marvellously good provider of food and shelter, a credit to your father, miss (he said to Kenzi) - and it has made my mind up. I plan to go further afield to find out what the matter is and it may be best for you to come too. And your friends, if they would like to come.'

Miran said in an aggrieved tone, 'What makes you think that I will just drop everything I have to come away with you simply because it is your whim to do so?'

'You can discover some new herbs, do some research,' the stranger said mildly.

Miran paused. It was something she had always wanted to do. But - 'What about this place?' She waved her arm at the house. It was poor, and small, and plain, but it was her home, and it had been her mother's home, and her mother's before that...

'You can't keep it forever,' the stranger said. 'Where will you get the money from?'

Miran thought idly about the tall stranger who had offered a bag of money.

'Miran,' he said quietly. 'The king does not want you to keep this place. Why else would he charge such outrageous, impossible prices? Even if you pay it off this time, how will you do it next time? He will only increase the cost of keeping a clinic.' He strode over to her and gently laid his hand on her shoulder. She flinched, but did not move away.

'Why would he do that to me?' She moved her hand helplessly.

'Not against you, Miran, but perhaps against your profession...'

'My profession?' she replied, startled.

'That's - ' Something pink and fluffy dropped out of his sleep. It lay on the ground and then suddenly sprang up and landed on Miran's waist. She screamed.

'My bad,' the stranger said apologetically, picking the wriggling creature off her, and propping it onto her arm instead. 'He was meant to be a surprise for you, but he clearly doesn't know how to follow instructions.'

'He?' Miran looked at the creature in bewilderment, then at Kenzi to see if she was hallucinating, then at him.

'Yes... he's something I picked up in my travels. Or perhaps he picked me up. He seems to have taken a liking to you. That's good - I was afraid he wouldn't.'

Looking at the pink, fluffy ferret-like creature with an enormous bushy tail, Miran thought about his proposal. The creature licked her thumb. She made up her mind.

'I'll come,' she said. 'Today. Would you like to come as well, Kenzi?'

Kenzirin quietly accepted her glass of water, and slowly sipped it as she listened to the conversation between Miran and the man. She blushed as the man gave a compliment to her father and nodded, but they had began speaking again so she remained silent, staring down into her cup as she drank.

Against her profession? Kenzirin thought, looking up in surprise and about to ask why, but interrupted by something pink and fluffy jumping onto Miran's waist. Startled, Kenzirin shrieked and shoved herself back -- tipping herself and the chair she was on. She struggled for a moment to get herself back up, and then stood, rubbing her side. It was a little sore, but it would be alright.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to tip the chair over..." she breathed out, mistaking Miran's question as her chiding. Soon though, her mind had processed what had happened within the past few moments and she blushed again. "...oh. Of course I'll come, Miran. But why doesn't the King want healers? Does he want people to get sick or hurt and die?"

Her head turned slightly to the side as she studied the creature in Miran's arms. "What is he? I've never seen anything like him before..."