AGELESS CAMPAIGN, Episode II, Part VI.

[orchid blossom]

Paris however, has its own conclaves of elves, ogres and orcs if you know where to look. I even have a friend here who is of the bugbear race from Antarctica. And in mages circles elves and half-elves are not at all unusual to come across. So Paris is generally safe for us, at least in the neighborhoods that we frequent."

Although her words didn't sound angry, there was a tightness around Abigail's mouth and eyes that betrayed it. "I hate that you have to think about where you would be safe and where you wouldn't. With all my studies and what I've learned about the nature of people you'd think I'd know that we all fear the different, and that change will come as what was different becomes commonplace. But it moves far too slowly for me."

 

[Silver Moon]

....With all my studies and what I've learned about the nature of people you'd think I'd know that we all fear the different, and that change will come as what was different becomes commonplace. But it moves far too slowly for me."

Pepe smiles and says, "Yes indeed, you're from New Orleans. As much as I said Paris was cosmopolitan, there is no place on the entire globe that is more accepting of all races than the city of your birth. We would all love to think the rest of the world would think the same. But it is coming along, nearly all nations now recognize slavery as an illegal practice, give the world time."

 

[orchid blossom]

Pepe smiles and says, "Yes indeed, you're from New Orleans. As much as I said Paris was cosmopolitan, there is no place on the entire globe that is more accepting of all races than the city of your birth. We would all love to think the rest of the world would think the same. But it is coming along, nearly all nations now recognize slavery as an illegal practice, give the world time."

"I know history marches on slowly. Honestly, it's the only way it can. Change that comes too quickly frightens, causes a backlash. All I can do is keep behaving the way I wish others would and be satisfied that I may have helped history along a bit."

 

[Silver Moon]

"All I can do is keep behaving the way I wish others would and be satisfied that I may have helped history along a bit."

"That is all any of us can hope for," Pepe states.

They have left the countryside and are now riding through the suburbs of eastern Paris. Homes are closer together, with an occasional inn or tavern. They cross a bridge and are soon in the outer environs of the city itself. "We are almost there," Maracita states with a grin, "He will be waking up soon. You did threaten him earlier about us telling tales about him, is there any an particular you want to know?"

 

[orchid blossom]

"We are almost there," Maracita states with a grin, "He will be waking up soon. You did threaten him earlier about us telling tales about him, is there any an particular you want to know?"

Abby grinned. "The most embarrassing, of course! And while childhood stories are fun, we're at our most embarrassing just when we think we've grown up."

 

[Silver Moon]

Abby grinned. "The most embarrassing, of course! And while childhood stories are fun, we're at our most embarrassing just when we think we've grown up."

Maracita says, "Well, Callum was always a favorite of his Aunt Baronese. She would visit them in Scotland around once a year, and he would visit here with his mother and sisters for a few weeks every summer.

The most embarrassing would probably be the time when he was around thirteen and decided to secretly follow his older sister Evelyn when she and a local boy visited the town of Meaux to the northeast of the Land of Queen Mary. They had gone to the battle site from the hundred-years-war, where England's King Henry V had a great victory.

It had gotten dark out and Callum was exploring the ruins when he came upon what he mistakenly believed was the 400 year-old-ghost from the battle. In reality, it was a white nightshirt that had blown off of a clothesline and became tangled in a nearby tree. Something caused it to move, probably and animal or bird, and Callum turned and ran in the direction his sister had gone.

He charged right into the ruined building that he had seen his sister going into, interrupting a pair of partially disrobed youngsters in a romantic situation. Both Stuart youngsters informed their mother of their own version of the story and both were subsequently punished."

 

[orchid blossom]

He charged right into the ruined building that he had seen his sister going into, interrupting a pair of partially disrobed youngsters in a romantic situation. Both Stuart youngsters informed their mother of their own version of the story and both were subsequently punished."

"Oh, now that's not fair! You know if I ever meet his poor sister the first thing I'm going to imagine is the girl caught in an intimate position by her little brother.

Scared by a nightgown is quite embarrassing, but didn't he ever do something ridiculous? I have no brothers or sisters, but I have cousins by the score. One of them once convinced me to disguise myself as a man to try to sneak into one of the Gentlemen's clubs in New Orleans. I was too stupid to realize I was never going to pass as a man at my age. Tall enough, but too curvy... and my face!

I was caught out by one of my father's friends there, and if I'd ever earned a whipping I did that night. Thankfully for me my father didn't believe in those. I had to help in the kitchen for the next week. That didn't work out so well as a punishment though. I rather liked cooking and now I can make quite a lovely chicken pie."

 

[Silver Moon]

"Oh, now that's not fair! You know if I ever meet his poor sister the first thing I'm going to imagine is the girl caught in an intimate position by her little brother.

Pepe says, "Well, if it will make you feel any better of her, the local boy wasn't just a farmer, he was the son of a French nobleman, and they had been seeing each other socially for a few weeks at that point." "But never unchaperoned again after that incident," his wife adds.

Pepe says, "The only truly embarrassing thing I can think of was the time that his Aunt first taught him how to do a Leviate spell. We were in the barn so as to be out-of-sight of anybody watching and Callum had not been completely forthcoming about not knowing the spell, having experimented before with it in Scotland.

But his plans to impress his Aunt at being a learner of magic backfired, as he failed to take into account the enhancement that the proximity to the magical well causes. He planned to rise up a few feet on his supposed first attempt, but shot up into the air like a fireworks rocket, striking his head on the roof to the first hayloft and knocking himself unconscious."

 

[orchid blossom]

But his plans to impress his Aunt at being a learner of magic backfired, as he failed to take into account the enhancement that the proximity to the magical well causes. He planned to rise up a few feet on his supposed first attempt, but shot up into the air like a fireworks rocket, striking his head on the roof to the first hayloft and knocking himself unconscious."

This laugh was hale and hearty. "Now that one I can believe! And don't think I'd think any less of sister Evelyn. Anyone who thinks young people aren't up to that sort of thing is blind or a fool. Or was never young themselves."

 

[Silver Moon]

This laugh was hale and hearty. "Now that one I can believe! And don't think I'd think any less of sister Evelyn. Anyone who thinks young people aren't up to that sort of thing is blind or a fool. Or was never young themselves."

They now cross into the city proper. At the far end of the current boulevard the very top of the Arc de Triomphe can be seen. Callum begins to stir.