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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bob Aberton" data-source="post: 328172" data-attributes="member: 1518">"Before you do your bit of, ah, fortune-telling, Witch," Lord Meiron said, patting his wig (which raised a huge dust cloud of pink powder).  "I find it...hmm...only fair to tell you that I will not, sadly, entrust you with any secrets of state, if that was your...ah...aim?"Secrets of state, Nystyra thought, echoing the 'man's' word in her mind.  Not only was this person a foppish creature with a fondness for perfume and cosmetics, but he was also apparently, a bit of a meglomaniac who like to think of his little fief as a 'state.'"It was not my aim, Lord Meiron," 'Sindell' said, seemingly affronted.  "I am Sindell the Portent, who sees past, present, and future.  I hold more power than you will ever dream of.  Tell me, why would I concern myself with petty temporal affairs.  I tell you, such matters are fleeting, and even as we speak the present becomes past and the past becomes forgotten.  Your secrets are safer with me than even with yourself, for I have no interest in them.  They are below me."Lord Meiron digested this for a minute, then reached into a drawer of his desk.  He drew out another handkerchief, this one of a delicate-hued rosy color.  He threw his present handkerchief into the fire with an expression of deep distaste, and coughed into this new handkerchief.  He took a sip of wine from a tiny crystal glass, then regarded 'Sindell' again."Very well then, Wi - ah, Lady Sindell, tell me of my...hah...my fortunes," he said, sniffing at his glass of wine.Nystyra knew this part of the deception by heart, having practiced it for half a night in her room at the Sign of the Leaky Keg.  Grasping her Coal, she envisioned a minor prestidigitationtaking place.  A gust of cold wind swirled around her, setting her black silk robes into motion and blowing her hair about her head in a halo of auburn.  Then, she began to chant the words to a slightly more powerful illusion.  Suddenly, flames sprugn up around her, encircling her and the table.  Lord Meiron threw himself backwards with a high, feminine scream, landing in a tangle of silk handkerchiefs, long waistcoat, and curly pink wig.The third spell that Nystyra cast was an auditory version of the illusory flames now dancing merrily around on her head.  Her voice suddenly echoed unnaturally, even gratingly, deep.  Her real voice, however, continued in its ordinary alto, giving an eery impression of two voices speaking through the same mouth.  "O Happy are you, Lord Meiron!  For puppets may fight and puppets may die, but the puppet-master is the one that truly wins the day.  Be not as a puppet, dumb and deaf and slavish, bound all about with cords.  Be as the puppet-master, who holds all strings and is bound by nought, who hears all and says what he pleases.  It is the one who holds the cord, the chains, that is successful, and not the one bound by them.  Be wary! Your enemies seek to bind you!  Bind them instead! Leash them like dogs!  The collar irks always those who knew freedom before.  You know of whom I speak.  You have few friends.  Do not alienate a powerful potential ally!  The Rowan stands with the Oak, and in them you should trust.  For trees have neither ears to hear secrets, nor mouths to speak them."With that, Nystyra cancelled the various illusions she had been holding.  The wind died, the flames disappeared, and so did the eery second voice.   Lord Meiron picked himself up, dusted himself off, and adjusted his wig, causing another cloud of pink wig-powder to fill the room."That was...ah...interesting, Wi - Lady Sindell.  Er...you...you may go now..."Sindell and her two Druid attendants swept out of the room silently, leaving Lord Meiron to ponder the "prophecy."  Nystyra was quite pleased with herself.  To any skeptic, what she said in her 'trance' may have seemed like mindless doggerel, but everything she said, she said for a reason.  Now she only hoped Lord Meiron took the meaning she had meant him to from her cryptic words.Back at the Leaky Keg, Damara was nowhere to be seen.  Diesa was in a corner, sipping some sort of drink, but Nystyra decided to preserve her mysterious disguise and speak to no one.  She merely strode through the common room without a word, wrinkling her nose at the smells of sweat, beer, smoke and vomit that were a revolting change from the stuffy perfumed atmosphere of Lord Meiron's audience room.  The Druids went to their own room, and Nystyra entered her own.She immediately regretted it.  Although the room was dark, she could sense that something was not right.  She reached up her sleeve for a small knife she had hidden there, which she had intended to use to defend her virtue if any man in the towns of Dwllyn or Urglath made any attempts on it.  She could hear her own heart pounding as she walked cautiously into the room."Evening, my lady Sindell," a voice said, close by.  Nystyra jumped, and spun around, holding her little knife out in front of her.  Seated on a stool in the corner of the room, near the dark and empty fireplace, was a tall, red haired man, who was fingering a wicked-looking dagger.  "Or should I say, my lady Nystyra?  Do you know what happens to spies around here?"****************************************************Kinda short, I know, but I wanted to leave a good cliffhanger.  Plus, the Storyhour was falling to far off the first page.  I will update again soon, but not until I get at least one comment not of my own posting<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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