Desperate Times.

[Faith Augustin]

11th Zi'da 717

The weather was awful, the winds howling and last night there had been a snow storm. The snow was piled high and the island was starting to get cut off. Travel was becoming more difficult on the island itself, too, some of the more remote areas being cut off. She'd known that it would be a longer and more difficult journey than it had been, even just a twenty four trials ago. She also knew that Cyrus would tell her no, she shouldn't go and then he'd insist on coming with her. So, Faith had left in the early breaks of the morning, while it was still dark, and she'd left a note explaining that she was going to visit a friend and she'd be back before the end of the trial. That hopefully the friend might be able to help.

Please, Vri, she prayed, let him be able to.

The young woman didn't feel the cold, but that was really the least of it. Bundled up against the winds, she was battered and buffeted around as she made her way out of Scalvoris Town and to the camp she'd visited previously. Arlo wasn't Faith's friend, not yet. He could be, she thought, but as she stumbled slightly and righted herself, hankering down against the wind, the slight and very pregnant young woman wished that Fred was here. Or Nir'wei. They'd know something to do, she was sure, because she was out of ideas.

Or she had been, until she'd woken up in the middle of the night and thought that he was there. He'd been there, leaning over her and he'd whispered her name, stroking her hair away from her face and then Faith had really woken up, alone in their bed and tears pouring. The frantic worry that she felt was added to by the anger at having woken. Why did she have to wake, she had thought. Maybe that had been the real him, maybe their dreams had collided in the way that hers and....

... and then, the idea hit her and she got dressed, drank some tea and packed up some things, wrote a letter and left it and then left the house. With her was a large, strange looking dog. He was huge, covered with smatterings of blue and he glowed, ever so slightly. He walked next to Faith, his body seeming to be trying to shield her from the worst of the wind. "It's alright, Cosmo, I promise. He's a nice person, I think. He feels like he is. We might become friends." Or he'd throw her out of his camp for being a mad woman. but Faith didn't think so.

By the time the short and much more pregnant again than she had been before young woman got into the camp, it was about the eleventh break of the morning. She looked, frankly, dreadful. Paler even than normal and with dark circles under her eyes, Faith's face looked like she'd lost weight ~ something she really couldn't afford to do ~ although it was hard to tell considering the bump. "Arlo?" Faith called out and then, caught sight of him and she breathed out a ragged sigh of relief. "Arlo, I'm so sorry. I don't mean to disturb you, my apologies. But.." But what, she thought and then out it poured. "But I need help. My husband is missing and I don't know where else to go. I can't find him, and I wondered if you could dream with him?" Normally composed in the extreme, it took every ounce of discipline Faith had not to cry there and then. She managed to not do so, but that she was on the verge was evident. "This.. I'm sorry, this is Cosmo. He's our dog," she motioned to the large furry beast. "are dogs allowed in your camp?"

[Arlo Creede]

When you lived out in the open, even with a good sturdy tent, the winds in winter or any wind really could be a problem. It made keeping a fire difficult, and mostly it was a risk to keep one burning when just a spark on the breeze could catch on in the nearby trees that were drier in winter than in springtime. The trees themselves made for a decent windbreak. But they weren't always arranged in the most convenient of ways. But Vega and Arlo had collected any number of hides since they'd first begun traveling together. Hides that had been scraped and preserved, but not made into much of anything yet. Earlier that morning after Vega had gone off either hunting or visiting her father, Arlo decided that what nature couldn't provide in this case, he would.

The winds in Zi'da tended to come out of the north, so it was at the north side of their camp that he'd stretched good sturdy twine between trees, their cart, whatever was convenient, and then draped a variety of hides over the twine, much like blankets left to dry on the line. He'd anchored them in order to stop them flapping in the wind or coming off. And the result was a very nice windbreak for their camp that kept things warmer besides. It would make cooking easier too, and if it wasn't for that makeshift wall, he wouldn't have wanted to be outside the tent strumming on his gittern, even with a steadily burning fire to keep him warm.

The young man had developed a knack for playing the thing already. He still didn't care much for reading music, though he could if he needed to. Instead he preferred playing by ear, which was how it was termed in the book he'd borrowed from the library. Hearing a tune, then picking or strumming it out on an instrument, relying on an ear for tone...and such, in order to do it. But mostly the notes, chords and combinations he played came from his own imagination. Tunes born on a whim. He'd guess that was songwriting, except that he didn't write anything down, and the next time he played it, it would probably change. Just a little, or quite a lot.

But whether he was picking or strumming, he'd decided that even though he could have used a pick, one that he could easily make himself, he preferred to go without one. He liked feeling the notes in a way he suspected he wouldn't, had he decided to use one. But that's where Faith found him, seated by the fire and playing his gittern. She caught him by surprise, and so did the dog. It was a sort of creature he'd never seen before, but when he put his instrument aside and stood up to greet her, he grinned a little. That was, until he saw the expression on her face. And besides that, she looked even rounder than the last time he'd seen her, and it wasn't that long ago. He wondered if it was wise, wandering about like that. But he wasn't about to say so.

"Faith, I didn't expect to see you out here in this weather. You alright?" he said, and reached out a hand to pat the dog's head. "Of course. No rules about dogs here." He couldn't exactly say he'd had a pet dog as a boy. There'd been a pair of large, white shaggy dogs that his stepfather was proud of. But they didn't live in the house or even interact with the family very much. They were there to guard and protect the sheep. They lived with them, bedded down with them and never really left them at all. But she wasn't here to talk about dogs, he didn't think. "You want a seat?" he asked, gesturing to a place near the fire. He wondered when it was time for her to get up again, would he need to help haul her up.

"You're not disturbing me. No need to apologize," he said. He figured it must be something awful important though, to bring her all the way out here in this weather. And it was, apparently. "What do you mean missing?" Arlo asked when he sat back down. "Do you mean that you've had word he's missing, or that you haven't heard from him?' When she told him what she wanted him to do though, the young man paused and frowned thoughtfully. If only he could. "I wish I could Faith. I mean...if I could I'd do it for sure. But it doesn't really work that way." He paused again, looking for a way to explain.

The thing was, he told her, was that he'd dreamed with others any number of times. Sometimes he stumbled into a stranger's dreams, like the first time the pair of them had shared a dream. "It was happenstance, you see. But in order to find someone in Emea and enter their dreams, interact with them, I need to have met them before. And the better I know them, the easier to track them down. But hearing their name, being told about them, touching something that belongs to them...it's not enough. I haven't met your husband. I could find you in your dreams and speak with you because we know each other. But someone I've never met...Well the chances of stumbling into your husband's dream are roughly equal to dreaming with someone on the other side of Idalos."

Or any one of thousands of other sleepers or dreamers for that matter. Arlo knew without asking that it wasn't what she'd want to hear. And it wasn't the answer he'd have liked to give her. If it was possible for a dreamwalker to do it at all, what she was asking, he wasn't experienced enough yet to do it. But was there any other way he could help, he wondered aloud?

[Faith Augustin]

The glow-in-the-dark dog gave a brief, deep, wuff of greeting, but he stayed close to Faith and his protectiveness over the diminutive pregnant woman was evident. Faith looked around and frowned slightly. "You got a bench? It's nice." The words were automatic, unconsidered as she moved and sat down, lowering herself to the seat. Arlo queried her word, missing and she looked at him, listening to his answer, feeling her heart sink and her hope extinguish before she set about explaining. "I am marked by Famula, Vri and Moseke," she explained. "Him by Qylios and Yvithia. His Qylios mark bonds us together. My Famula mark, too. We can feel what the other is feeling. Sense the other at all times. My Vri mark.." She breathed in and forced herself to calm, she could feel the racing of her heart and she put her hand on her stomach, where the baby was kicking frantically. "I'm sorry. I need to just.. " she breathed in through her nose, calming herself as she breathed out through her mouth and she smiled a shaky, uncertain smile at him. "Love is Vri's domain. He grants us the ability to hear each other's thoughts, no matter the distance. He.. Padraig is on an expedition." She'd mentioned that to him, he knew, so she didn't go into more detail.

"We have these scrolls. I write on it, he can see what I write, and vice versa. We've been writing every trial, lots of times. He's been ... I could feel him, hear him, write to him every trial until the fifth and then I woke up and it was silent." Faith looked at Arlo and she looked young and vulnerable and lost. "And the scrolls don't work, the links are gone. He has magic shoes, he could teleport home. He hasn't."

He would, if he was able to and Faith smiled, doing her best to remember that he was being kind and as helpful as he could be. He even asked if there was anything else that he could do. "I'm out of ideas, Arlo." Her voice shook, but she didn't cry instead she looked at her hands, clasped tightly together with the pads of her fingers pressed one against the other. She focused on her wedding ring, forcing herself to remain as calm as she could, for the sake of the baby. "None of the ships will sail now, I've asked them all. He's sailing in uncharted waters. I used the Eclipse Portals to go to Viden and I found every bit of information I could there, but nothing helped. I .. I have a list of the captain and crew. I could recite it, if you've met any of them?" It was a slim hope and why would they even begin to believe a boy in a dream and go and tell Padraig? Even if they were still... no, she wasn't going there.

"I don't know. Is there anything you can think of? I don't think he's dead. I'd know if he was. Not because of the marks or bonds. I'd just know." Yet, it didn't change the frantic nature of her worry. Yet, she looked up from her hands which were worrying at each other and she shook her head, "my apologies, Arlo. I shouldn't have come. It was just a thought and I didn't want to wait because the weather isn't getting better." But she shouldn't have come, she knew. Cyrus would be going up and down the wall, Katie would be fussing, and she was interrupting his trial. His gittern-playing, in fact."You have improved a lot in your playing. You must have been practicing."

[Arlo Creede]

"Thanks," Arlo said when Faith remarked on the bench by the fire. "We didn't buy it anywhere. Vega made it. She's been learning a little carpentry." Had she and Vega met, he'd ask, if there weren't more important things on Faith's mind. And by extension, his. He wasn't even sure he'd mentioned it before. But it wasn't the time for that. But as she explained the connection that she and her husband shared, Arlo grew thoughtful, frowning a little. It struck him that while it might be a good and comforting thing at times, a connection like that, he also wondered if there might be a downside to it. Maybe, this was it. If it was suddenly gone without explanation?

As she went on to explain the mechanics of it, and what had seemed to go wrong, he understood a little better. If not far from completely. "I don't really know any of the captains and crews at the dock," he admitted. "Except on one boat, but they've been docked here for a season and haven't sailed anywhere. I could still ask if you wanted though," Arlo offered. "But if all of those things have stopped working. I mean the connections between the two of you, along with the magic scrolls and maybe the magic shoes...Well maybe it's not that anything has happened to your husband. Maybe it's only that something's happened to throw up a...well," he considered, "like a curtain between you."

What he was getting at was that because of all that, then chances were her husband was just fine and unable to let her know. "Don't apologize. There's no reason to. You're not disturbing me. Truth is, if I all of a sudden didn't know where someone I loved was, or if they were alright, I'd be going mad and doing anything and everything I could to find them. And trying to find others to help. I think though that your husband wouldn't want for you to be panicking or...anything," he added with a glance at her expanded middle.

As for his gittern, Arlo smiled a little and shrugged. "It's hard to tell when you're playing by yourself, if you're getting better or just getting used to how awful you are. But yeah, I've been practicing some," he confirmed. "When I got the thing, it was a whim really. But I like it I think."

[Faith Augustin]

Faith was frantic with worry, but she was nonetheless herself completely and also, this was six full trials in and so whilst she was frantic, she was also used to having to speak to people about other things. So, she raised an eyebrow and smiled. "When I first came here, there were two tents. Then there was one and now there is a larger one." The pale young woman seemed to be quite serious but there was an air of teasing to her, should he notice such things. "I had wondered if you just were trying to find the perfect camp set up or it marked something more significant." She nodded at the bench, "It's good. I like how it allows the wood to be what it is and does not force uniformity." Always serious, that was Faith. Almost.

When he said he knew one crew and captain and would ask if she wanted, Faith nodded her head seriously. "Please. Anything, no matter how obscure or strange. Here. Here is the name of the ship, the captain and each crew member." Neat writing on carefully folded parchment, she handed it over to him. He was being kind, she knew, when he spoke of it probably being a curtain type thing and Faith bit her tongue, saying nothing. She shook her head, though, unable to stop herself from so doing. However, when he continued on and said that he understood, she forgave him for the curtain analogy. Her lips lifted into a smile when he said that Padraig' wouldn't want her ... panicking. "Or spontaneously going into labour?" Faith asked, apparently innocently. "Well, he can pop back and tell me."

They could have an argument, Faith thought, about why it was if someone had just drawn a curtain why he didn't just turn the ship around (or get someone else to do it) and even just tell her that was what was happening. No, he couldn't get back out of where he was and therein was the problem. She smiled at Arlo, though, "It's alright, I'm a doctor. If I go into instant labour, I can talk you through it. It's all in the breathing." She seemed, again, completely serious and if she wasn't then she had a very good poker face.

But on the gittern, she shook her head more firmly. "You got better, I assure you." He seemed comfortable with it, too. "You are improvising rather than playing existing tunes?" This time she did smile, "I do not approve of improvisation, you may recall." She certainly did not, especially in terms of acting like the Immortals. "So, what have you learned?" Faith asked, trying to put her own worries to one side and pay attention to him. He had been kind, there was no doubting it and she decided that she would need to say thank you in some way.

[Arlo Creede]

When Faith offered up her observations on the camp, the larger tent and so on, Arlo merely smiled. Neither confirming or denying that there was reason behind all of those changes. She knew, he realized, and didn't mind a bit. It just wasn't the sort of thing he tended to talk about with others. That he was happy and content with the living arrangements however was fairly apparent, judging by his ease.

"I'll ask them," he promised, and took the note that Faith had scrawled out on a piece of paper. He slipped it into his pocket, frowning, but he nodded. He hadn't had much reason to visit the docks lately, though he knew that Vega went frequently to see her father. He'd make a point of it though, in order to ask around. He felt badly about not being able to do what she'd asked him to, so this was the least he could do. "I'd rather you didn't do that," he said though and grinned a little. Spontaneously going into labor, he meant. "Growing up on a farm like I did, I helped my stepfather deliver lambs time to time. I'd rather not have, and it doesn't qualify me for being any help with babies either." Human ones, two legged ones, whatever the case.

"Your breathing? Or mine?" he joked as an aside however when she said that if it came to that, she could talk him through it. Again, he'd rather not if there was a choice to make. "Yeah," Arlo confirmed, gittern in his lap. Improvisation, and he grinned again and shook his head. "I'm a storyteller. Improvisation is a part of telling stories. If it wasn't, then might as well just read them out of a book or repeat them word for word. I seem to remember that you don't like it," he added. "But I bet you do it anyway. Maybe you don't call it that though?" When she cooked, had she ever swapped out ingredients because one was missing, or on a whim, he asked? Honey, instead of sugar for instance. Olive oil instead of butter.

"You're a healer too. Maybe in a temple you've got all you need but in the field? Torn up cloth or sheets instead of proper bandages. That's improvising too." So far as what he'd learned, Arlo played a little then, thinking of what he was doing in connection to the things that he'd read in the book that he'd borrowed. "What's happened, is I've been experimenting off and on, stumbling across interesting sounds and effects. And then when I look in the book there's names for those things. Which means I guess," Arlo added and smiled, "That I'm not really all that special and others have done it before me."

Like tapping, he explained and demonstrated, or legato, which was a glide from one pitch to another. "A single, smooth transition. Or sweep picking, things like that." Fancy names, Arlo concluded, for things he'd simply stumbled across while messing around with the gittern and had thought they'd sounded interesting. He skipped a lot too, he admitted, especially when it came to reading music. He could read it, but preferred to find his way through a tune, led by his ear. But as a storyteller, that way of doing things suited him.

[Faith Augustin]

That he would ask around was more than she could have asked for and Faith nodded her head. "Thank you. Truly." It was a slim chance, she knew, but she had to be able to look Padraig in the eye and tell him that she had done everything, left no stone unturned. It was what she had to do and she was incredibly grateful to Arlo for helping her. She couldn't hide the grin, though, when he said that he'd rather she did not go into spontaneous labour there and then. "You and I both," was her only comment, delivered dryly and she had to admit that, when she was talking about breathing, it had rather been his she'd been thinking of.

His comeback on improvisation, though, that caught her by surprise and Faith raised an eyebrow. "I was joking about not approving of improvisation, my apologies if it came across as serious. I think it is a very good technique when it is, in fact, experimentation and learning. Just not when it is faffing about and learning nothing." He was right, she agreed, as a chef and a doctor, she did a lot of experimentation. That was improvisation at its finest she did not doubt, wonderful things came from it. "What we did, the three of us, was playing. Which is fine in and of itself, but it is not learning and has no educational advantage for three alleged grown ups." Faith glanced up at him and her face suddenly lifted in a rather self-depreciating smile. "At least one of whom takes herself far too seriously most of the time and so it was a good experience. I was denied education for such a long time, I am close to fanatical about it now, I know. But truly, it was tremendous fun and it is a rare thing that I laugh. However, all I learned was our relative acting skills." Her expression was clear. They probably weren't great.

Faith couldn't hide how impressed she was with what he said, though, and what he demonstrated. "You got a lot better. And you learned that by experimentation alone? You have a gift Arlo, that much is certain." There was no doubt as far as she was concerned. No doubt at all. What he had picked up by simply picking up and experimenting with the instrument was more than many people would learn in a season, or even two, of intensive lessons. "That is astonishing, truly." She looked at him earnestly, "you would be considered a prodigy, if you advertised this. They would be lining up to teach you." With a slight wince as the baby kicked her, Faith ignored it and continued, "all those fancy words for techniques you already know. However," putting her hand on her stomach, Faith looked at him and gave an apologetic glance.

"I should get back. I really, genuinely, do not have the words to thank you. I would also like to reassure you that the trial has not yet dawned where you need to haul me off this bench. I will just say," she added as she pulled herself up in a rather ungainly manner, "that I am very grateful to the lady who made it. A low log or even a tree stump and we would be in something of a pickle right now." Not quite sure how to express just how much gratitude she had for his help, Faith put her hand on his arm and squeezed. "Thank you. I am sorry to arrive unannounced as I did." It was not what she would normally do, but times were desperate and that was that. With that, she would make her way home, refusing any offer to walk with her and assuring him that she had magic shoes, which meant she would be home in a moment. If he needed convincing, she'd use them there, but really it just seemed rather rude disappearing, so she'd planned on walking out of sight and then doing it. Either way, she portal booted home.

[Whisper]

Arlo Creede

Awarded Points

Points: 15/15
These points can/cannot be spent in magic

Awarded Knowledge

Fieldcraft: Using Prepared Hides to Act as a Windbreak.
Musical Instrument: Gittern: Plucking Without a Pick Allows You to Feel the Notes
Musical Instrument: Gittern: Finding a Sound and Trying to Duplicate it.
Musical Instrument: Gittern: Understand your Instrument Through Playing it, Not Reading About it.
Musical Instrument: Gittern: Tapping
Musical Instrument: Gittern: Legato
Musical Instrument: Gittern: Glide Technique for Pitch Change
Musical Instrument: Gittern: Let the Instrument teach, Not the Book
Research: Improvisation is a Valid Form of Learning
Research: Practical Skills vs Book Learning

Awarded Extras

Loot & Losses	Injuries
None	None
Fame	Devotion
Offering to Help (thrice): +6	None

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Faith

Peer Review

Points: 15/15
These points can/cannot be spent in magic

Awarded Knowledge

Discipline: Functioning in Despair
Endurance: Cold and Tired and Hopeless is a Whole New Kind of Tired
Endurance: Trudging Through the Snow and Winds
Intelligence: Giving all Relevant Information to Ensure Success of a Mission
Intelligence: The Boundaries of Dreamwalking
Logistics: Consider Changes in Sleeping Arrangements
Logistics: Use Lists to Clarify Information Requirements
Research: Improvisation is a Valid Form of Learning
Research: Practical Skills vs Book Learning

Extras

Loot & Losses	Injuries
None	None
Fame	Devotion
None	None

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Comments

I'm not sure how to feel about this thread! It was a good read, very well written (as always) but for some reason I felt... tense? o.O
I have added two extra Knowledges for you guys. I don't care if it goes over the limit, because I'm a mod so I can do as I please and they sort of overlap, especially with Arlo's other ones, but I find they are a good way to give them a more rounded cover of transferable knowledge.

If you have any questions, comments or criticism about your review, feel free to send me a PM and we can discuss it.
Thank ye.