The two predator faces look at each other, startled at first, but then they glee, baring their fangs. Swiftly they turn towards Turold and roar. «Are you looking for trouble?»
«Wulfric is a loner. He hardly trusts anyone, but he commands the destructive powers of the White Christ. That's what makes him so dangerous, even if he is rarely seen with more than one or two sidekicks.»
«Yes, why not. Music?» He looks around to see if anyone will provide human creativity. If nobody steps forward, Edwin will oblige, but his tunes are bland and boring even if the melody sounds clear and perfectly in tune.
«Should we stop, Elsebetyyanna, and listen to the story?» asks Janus, turning towards Finn. «We can continue the dance afterwards.»
Before Finn gets to the gaolbreak, food is brought in by half a dozen of brownies, and Cath'rinne spells tastes like sunset.
"Betula, Obstetrix!" Cath'rinne says to try and attract their attention as she renews her Parma ritual.
"Woah there, buddy." he says, as they roar. "Of course not. I'm just happy to see a new side of my road companions!" he says, smiling back. "You seem closer to the nature than I thought."
«Very well,» says Edwin and pours the wine, offering all around the table.
Janus leaves some time to eat, and when people start to look well fed, he resumes the conversation. «Where were we? Yes, your travels. Your story was interrupted.» He looks at everyone, «Finn, what happened at the fair?» «And Betula, where have you been all these years?» «And I am so glad you have joined her,» he says, looking at the other magi, «these are harsh times, and we need to stick together.»
After completing her Parma rite Betula leads Ruedi back to their seats and asks for more sweet wine and some tastes some of every option that is vegetarian. She smiles mysteriously at Janus but merely nods towards Finn as he begins his story. Not knowing the language Finn is speaking she listens for meaning in the cadence and sounds, sometimes savoring a bite as she closes her eyes in the ecstasy of the favors and meaning just beyond her grasp. It occurs to her that perhaps the answer is not as important as the seeking as she lets the rhythm of the story and sounds of eating and merriment wash over her.
Outside, Thomas makes sure the others are out of sight for a moment, then quickly performs what appears to be a Parma Magica ritual, and then heads back to join the grogs.
"I hope they know what they're doing inside there."
Thomas makes it out into the modest ante-chamber through which you entered previously, just to find a blank wall with no exit. This cannot be right; when you entered, you used a door on that wall, but there is none. The ante-chamber is discreet enough; he can close the door into the hall and renew his parma in privacy.
Wary of the regio and the beast, Benedict was the first to return, and hasn't gone back since. Instead he has stayed inside the manor, resuming the body of a bear, and curled up by the fire, munching on dried meat that he left there for himself before he changed form. When the others come in to eat, he ambles over to beg table scraps; but seeing the effects of the food, he quickly headed back to his original position. He likes tricking people, not having tricks done to him, so he just lays back down and watches the shenanigans, dozing, apparently planning to stay there all night.
Thomas returns to find the others, curious that the door has disappeared.
"Has anyone noticed the doors not being where they should be? Is this place just confusingly made, or are there...other forces at work?"
Janus reaches out to scratch the bear behind his ear. When Thomas enters he turns and nods politely, but takes no notice of what Thomas is actually saying.
I am so pleased that you could join us. Edwin and I have been on our own for far too long, and under this dark menace that the war has brought. This is more like a covenant.
Standing up, he gestures around the crowd of you at the table.
It is time to make this covenant great again. Cheers.
He raises the glass, looks each and everyone in the eyes. When he gets to the bear he halts.
Oh. Edwin! A bowl for the bear. Sweet wine I think. Yes?
At the last word, he looks questioningly into the bear's eyes.
Nine suffices to think that faeries tend to appreciate original things and human virtue/virtuous humans. It takes 15 (two confidence points) to understand the finer details.
Cath'rinne more or less ignores Thomas, not being too interested in a merchant who can't find the bathroom, while Turold tries to entice him to the table to have another drink.
She will raise her glass for the cheer and exclaim "And I'm glad we could join you for the evening!"
When Janus proposes a bowl for the bear, Cath'rinne chimes in "I think Bearfriend is trying to recover from the long road and he didn't seem in the mood to drink. Please respect that. He can join us if he wants a glass."
Edwin, always swift in his service, is already on the way with Benedict's bowl when Cath'rinne asks him not too. Ceremoniously he says,
If he drinks not, it shall not be because his glass is empty.
Janus raises his glass again, and says with cheer,
... and a jolly evening it is. Let's indulge in wine, and food, and stories of the past. Tomorrow we shall worry about the future, and plan the great covenant we will build.
At the offer of wine, the bear makes a point of looking back and forth between those offering it, the glasses on the table, and the transformed grogs, and whuffles softly.
He takes up sniffing around the floor, trying to use scent trails to determine if the doors have indeed moved.