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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7093162" data-attributes="member: 20323">[SECTION][ALIGN=LEFT]http://i.imgur.com/h0eKxWW.jpg[/ALIGN]Bowing her head obsequiously, Dulcet Riqqiyah begins to tell a tale at the vizier's bequest. Despite the many months she has been in the Sheikh's employ, the rawuna continues to confound Akilah's attempts to divine her intentions or true nature. Yet neither has she made enemies nor shown any ill-disposition toward the Sheikh or his court, content to be the Sheikh's entertainer and storyteller. "O vizier, there is one story that comes to mind now, carried on the winds from the Haunted Lands...""Once, in the time of our fathers and grandfathers, there was war in the northern reaches of our Grand Caliph's land. Great armies of dao beat upon drums made of vishap (sand dragon) hide, ushering in thunderstorms which shook the heavens and toppled mountaintops. One of these fierce dao was named Ynadin, who was also known as the Riddling Dao. It was said he would grant a wish to anyone who could stump the dao with a riddle. But each pilgrim who failed met a fate more dire than the last..."Dark eyes rimmed by kohl, Dulcet Riqqiyah strums idly on her oud to accompany the tale. "Three brothers of a great desert tribe ventured into the desert to seek out Ynadin. Blessed with gifts of valor and cunning, armed with magical blades, and with a banner of soldiers at their backs, the three brothers were assured they would succeed where others had not. Ynadin appeared to them on their third night in the desert, emerging from the very cliffs themselves, sending boulders crashing down to trap the soldiers in a narrow pass. "You stand before greatness, mortal brothers. Now offer me your riddles three.""The eldest brother stepped forward first hesitantly, exchanging looks with his brothers. He brought a riddle which he was sure would stump a genie of the mountains, and gathering his courage he spake thus:"What can run but never walks, Has a mouth but never talks, Has a head but never weeps, Has a bed but never sleeps?""Long-lived as the dao was, Ynadin only laughed scornfully, for he knew the answer at once. "A river! And so shall you become like to your riddle...running, never walking, speaking and never talking, never weeping, never sleeping..." Thereupon the elder brother's legs bent awkwardly like an animal's and a second mouth formed at the back of his head, and though he tried to scream and wail only scornful laughter came from his voice. "Ask your next riddle, if you dare!" commanded Ynadin."The middle brother then stepped forward, determined to spare his elder sibling a terrible fate. He had no riddle prepared, but seeing that Ynadin was bald from scalp to torso, he devised a riddle on the spot:"Thousands of us all around you. We protect you all the time,Yet you treat us badly...You burn us in public buildings to make you seem better;You try to make us straight, but most of us refuse usually;When we are dead, you are pleased.Yet, when we are gone, you are sad.What are we?"Yet Ynadin only puzzled briefly before deducing the answer, for his enemies were the yakfolk covered in mangy fur. "Hair. The answer is hair," proclaimed he, most devious and heartless of dao. Thereupon, the middle brother cried out, and began to sprout hair all over his body, his face contorted in horror.""Thus, the youngest brother was compelled to give his riddle, though fear clawed at him and addled his wits. Looking about, he found signs of bones gnawed upon by hyenas, whose tracks marked the sands. He presented this riddle:"My smile is the last thing you'll see, My laugh the last thing you'll hear,All my kin are just as friendly.""Voice booming with cruel laughter, Ynadin said, "Foolish youth! The answer is a hyena! And so you have sealed your fate and that of your brothers and men..." Thereupon, the youngest brother collapsed with a wail, and he and his brothers, and all the soldiers who followed them were turned into hyenas, cursed to walk as men during the day, but assume their bestial form at night. And so Ynadin is served to this day by these half-men half-beasts." With that, Dulcet Riqqiyah ends her sad tale.[/SECTION]</blockquote>

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