Tale of the Red Hat Gnomes- Part 3

--"Amadan Dubh? Me? Or do you mean Amadan na Briona, who was beheaded and is dead? Although after the time of SilverBeard I do remember Queen Tatiana."

 

(Frida has the floor)--"I waz 10 yearz old when I firzt pulled the book from the Library zhelf," Frida began, standing before the little crowd exuding the the excitement of remembering her favorite book. "Becauze of the title, I thought it waz a Murder Myztery, after all 'A Murder of Ravens" (c) doez not exzactly zound like a story of unrequited love and the tragedy of an entire.......people.
--"Magic zhrank on the island of Eire," Frida began her recollection of the book. "Frida'z people, who came to be known az the Night Elvezez, retreated to some hollow hillz in the Sliabh Bladhma, the Zleeve Bloom Mountainz in the zenter of the land of Eire. Like me at the time I firzt read the book, Frida was 10 yearz old. Her clan sought permizhon from an unliving but powerful being, a ztone golem, to occupy zome of the hollow hillz in hiz territory.
--"The ztone golem had what zeemed to be a reazonable price. Each girl would zerve ten yearz beginning at age 16, in the demeznez of the ztone golem, only being allowed one night per month, the night of the new moon, to roam the land under the oak forezt. The people of the Night Elf Clan agreed to thiz.
--"There were no girlz older than Frida but younger than 16. For many years Frida lived happilly with her family in the hollow hillz. Occazionally Zilverbeard the King would vizit from Tara, and when Frida waz 15 zhe was seated at hiz table during a feazt. The King waz enraptured by the bright and intelligent girl. He had no queen and hiz heart waz captured by her. Frida was yet young, but he gave her a magic stone.
--"At midnight," he zaid, "hold thiz ztone in the ztarlight, and it will allow uz to talk to each other, for I am enamored of thee and delight in thy thoughtz and thy voize."
--"They had many converzationz under the ztars. But the pozzibility of love developing waz cut zhort......"

 

What! where is everyone? I thought we all were eating a great feast yet I am sitting cross legged on the floor all alone. It feels like my back is being crushed sitting here. Hello! I shouted where did everyone go? Where are you Trinity? Where are you Fuzzy.

Oh dear! my stomach is growling. Sh Shu...be quiet!
Mingo, have you gone as well?

This is not the right colour is it? What is the right colour !

Then...the lights dimmed and went out. This is not the right colour is it?

 

dreams of night's in fear in the shadows of Tir na nÓg fleeing the family which cast me out after rejecting a ritual and the old ways they wanted me to follow flash in my mind after hearing that cursed lands name

But that name brought it all back and I shrink into the shadows like a second well known skin, pull my cape over my face to shade my boiling emotions unable to follow Frida's first parts of the tale after this name was spoken ...

still trying to suppress my bodys reaction to the old memories - I thought I buried deep enough -
about the fall from one of the first of the equal wanderers to the lowest of the lowest and be on the receiving end of torture I never thought to be possible to survive - BUT I did and fled successfully.

That thought brought me back to the present and I could again hear my surroundings and the tale Frida was presenting...

 

"Ah, com-crystals." Fireangel smiled in some reverie. "Ah, love." A tempered shadow crossed her face, but it soon passed. "But this is your story, Frida and Mingo, do go on."

 

(Frida the story-teller continues....)--"At age 10 Frida began zpending more and more time in the cave of the Lore Mizztrezz, reading bookz. Zhe waz particularly fond of myztery and puzzle bookz. The night elvezez were zkilled in making light glow from zpecial rockzez and Frida made herzelf a cozy nezt with blanketzez pillowz and snackzez. Zhe would read for hourz and hourz whenever zhe had finished her chorzez.
--"The Lore Keeper came to grow very fond of this bright and intelligent child. Frida was offered the chanze to become Apprentize Lore Keeper and much to her delight, her family agreed. The Lore Keeper did more than maintain a Library, it waz their duty to chronicle all the knowledge of the clan and write new bookzez. Zometimes Frida accompanied her Miztress to other clanz in the hollow hillz, taking new copiez of bookzez to trade. Zhe even traveled az far az Tara on one trip.
--"Many of the bookz zhe read were hiztories and zome were novelzez with a hiztorical baziz. Thiz iz how zhe was introduced to the Atlanteanz. Few Atlanteans chose to remain in the world, az truly, their time had pazzed. Mozt of them went.....zomewhere....mozt myzteriouzly. ZilverBeard waz one of the few who stayed, and Frida became determined to write hiz recollection of hiztory.
--Frida was really getting into the "story telling" mode. ("This girl has talent!" I thought to myself with an approving nod.) The audience hung on her every word, her every gesture and nuance. Her odd manner of speaking did not matter in the least.

 

(thinking to myself in the Fire Lotus tavern) --as I was confusing myself, I decided that in the narration, I shall identify our story teller as "Kozue" (her actual name) to differentiate passages from the main character in her story, Frida, whose name she chose for herself. If you happen to see Frida somewhere in Novia, you will note she has begun zpeaking with the ztyle introduced here. Also she now acknowledges herself as my apprentice.

 

(Frida/Kozue storytelling....fear not readers...Mingo has more about the gnomes ahead) --Kozue continued her story about her favorite book "A Murder of Ravens (c)". "There are many ztories zet over the next few yearz. Frida had the opportunity to listen to ZilverBeard the King many timez when he vizited the Zlieve Bloom Mountainz. Zhe wrote many wonderful talez of Old Atlantiz and the Atlanteanz. Zhe recorded poemz and zongzez....many many ztories that I read over and over in pazt yearz.
--"There were other vizitorz. The Ztone Golem came by frequently as he waz alwayz making new chamberz in the hollow hillz. To get into these chamberz required zolving a puzzle of zome kind. Frida and her friendz became detectivez and matematicianz and were famouz for their ability to zolve puzzlez. There are many ztories about thiz. The Ztone Golem waz not an evil creature, just heartlezz and bereft of any 'humanity' or emotion. Frida actually likedhim.
--"I am juzt giving you an overview of thiz book. Zometime in the future I will begin to tell you zpecific ztories. But it waz a wonderful wonderful book."
--"Who wrote the book again?" Rentier asked.
--"Well, the author'z name was 'Brion O'Broin' but I believe," and here Frida/Kozue pointed at me, "it waz a pen name of Mingo TheBard, or maybe it waz hiz name at the time he wrote the book."
--"So Mingo, you wrote the book?" Fire Lotus asked.
--"Ah my friends," I said with a touch of remorse. "If you can get this remorse to quit touching me, I will delve into the vaults and backup servers of my mind as I sleep tonight, and see what memories I can retrieve."

 

Fireangel pulled up her hood when Fire Lotus asked the question and did her best to be invisible.

 

Ah....Imbetween curious dreams of strange animals and scary sounds now at least I have one memory that seems real and right. That memory is of the delightful conversation with Frida or oh dear I think that is right...ohhhh . Was it with Kozue? Now, my confusion is profoud. Maybe I can just lean back and rest my eyes and think. Nooo, I'm sure it was Frida. She was telling a story .. she said " it waz a pen name of Mingo TheBard, or maybe it waz hiz name at the time he wrote the book."

Yes, sure as my eyes closed in tight fitful sleep once again.

 

(Somewhere in Owl's Head ) --although I sometimes rented a small room in the upper part of the fire Lotus tavern, especially if I played and sang until closing time, there was no room for Kozue/Frida......it wasn't really set up to be an Inn. So Frida my new apprentice and I walked to an Inn where I booked two small adjacent rooms. "you do sleep?" I inquired.
--With a sniff Frida/Kozue retorted haughtily, "Of courze zilly Bard!"
--"I wish I could retort haughtily," I said.
--"I'll teach you." Frida replied.
--In the night my mind wandered into dark and seldom visited corridors containing stacks of paper printouts, boxes of punch cards, and large reels of magnetic tape....my subconscious searched for Slieve Bloom Mountains, Frida, Night elves. Who knows what lurks in the deep archived memories?

 

(A dream in the night, a moonless night, woods, an Old Earth Night Elf (not an Obsidian creation like in Novia)....A lone bard I once knew, named SoulBard...SoulBard was a notorious braggart, and I never believed half the stories and songs he shared....

 

(The next morning, gathered around a large round table at the Fire Lotus Tavern) --"this is an unusual tavern," CatherineRose said around a bite of eggs. "it is open much earlier than most Taverns, and serves a lot of restaurant style food."
--"I think this establishment is very customer friendly," I remarked. "It seems that no matter what I think of, it appears as if by magic."
--"Magic is very subjective," Rentier noted. "It is not the same across the Metaverse."
--"Yez," Kozue/Frida chimed in. "I like theze chimez, they are pretty. But anywho, in Old Earth magic could be an inherent part of a being, llike the Ztone Golem, and for a lezzer amount the Night Elvezez, or it could be learned like a zkill."
--"What kind of magic do you have?" I asked.
--"Oh," Kozue/Frida replied looking up and to the right (a 'tell' indicating the next statement might be misleading) "Zome Moon Magic, zome inherent magic for appearanze zake....not very much....."
--"Hmmmm" I murmured skeptically taking another drink of coffee. "Would someone get me some more coffee? A skeptical murmur seems to have drank all mine..."
--"So, Mingo, if I may use your name of the moment. What of your memories? Did anything come to your mind as you slept?" asked Bov.

 

(Fire Lotus Tavern--brunch) --"ah Bov. I dreamed I was on a roller coaster going around in a kind of figure 8 pattern.....over and over...." I answered after a noticeable delay.
--"An infinite loop," nodded Rentier.
--"Zo Mazter, do you remember writing the book?" asked my apprentice Frida/Kozue.
--"the book, yes, the book," I paused to take another drink of my rapidly cooling coffee. Here I considered going into great detail describing the china used on the table, the construction of the chairs, the freshness of the air and other myriad details used by a particular author to shamelessly pad the pages of his novels; fortunately the series left all that out. However I decided to eschew vainglorious verbage and answered simply: "Kind of."
--CatherineRose sputtered in authoritarian anger, "See here, Bard, we could have written half your story while waiting for you, and finished the gnomes part as well!"
--"sigh," I sighed. "Well to elucidate, the part about the young night elf, Frida, was actually her diary."
--"Diary!" exclaimed Frida/Kozue. "How did you get it?"
--"SoulBard gave it to me."

 

(Fire Lotus Tavern)--"I distrusted SoulBard," I continued. "He was entirely human and known to....mmmm..."
--"Lie?" prompted FireAngel, not to be confused with FireLotus, as was done in a previous post.
--"Exaggerate perhaps. Anywho, it seems that after the death of the Elf King...."
--"Yez, that was in the third part of the book...." Kozue/Frida interjected.
--"Thank you Frida. So, after the death of the Elf King, SoulBard on two occasions happened to meet Frida the Night Elf. Both times it was on the dark night of the new moon, the only time she was allowed by the StoneGolem to walk freely in the oak forest near the Slieve Bloom mountains. On his first meeting he was terrified at her sudden appearance and enchanted her with a song, during which he slipped away
--"Years later, he once again met her, in the same woods, on a similar black night of the new moon. This time Frida sang a song while out of view to warn him of her coming. Remember, these Old Earth Night Elves were very nearly human, with souls, not like the Obsidian creations here in Novia. She was older and had aged considerably in the intervening years.
--"Years do that," nodded TimeLord
--"Do what?" asked FireAngel
--"Intervene. It causes no end of problems...."
--"ahem," I said trying to regain the floor.
--"My hem iz fine," said a puzzled Kozue/Frida. "and you aren't wearing that big blue drezz today."
--"It's a robe," I protested.
--"It does look kind of gay," CatherinRose observed. "Wasn't there a video about that?"
--"Oh!" Kozue/Frida said brightly, "I can zhow you that!"

 

The lady puzzled at what was shown. "Thank you for noticing a difference." One of her eyes winked while the other twinkled.

 

(Fire Lotus Tavern)--"I really did not need to see that," I said with a grimace, who parroted my line. "It...is...a...robe!"
--"Az you zay, mazter," Kozue/Frida said, rolling her eyes just a bit. "Thiz Zoulbard, how did he get Frida'z diary then?"
--"Oh yes. On his second and final meeting with Frida the Night Elf, Soulbard was made aware of her entire tale...."
--"tail?"
--"Silence apprentice, when you have enough 'time in story' you can make that joke, but not yet. Anywho, SoulBard and Frida talked through the long night and she gave him a copy of her diary, which makes up the first third of the book Frida my apprentice so loved in her late childhood. SoulBard himself wrote copious notes, a copy of which he also gave me."
--"Copious?" inquired FireAngel
--"Copious."
--"I like that word. Copious," nodded Rentier.
--"Almost as much as Cuthiosity," commented TimeLord.
--"Zo, again I azk, how came you by thiz book?" Frida inquired with an impatient glare.
--"SoulBard was legitimately, 100% human. He did not live a long life. From time to time, Bards gathered from all over the Emerald Isle; trained musicians, itinerant hedge bards like SoulBard, and a few of us from the Old Days. When the Elf King died of a broken heart, SouldBard wrote "Lament of the Elf King" (c) (really folks, this is an actual copyrighted song I will not be posting in public. send me your email address and I will give you a free copy--author's note). a sad sad lullaby about Frida and the Elf King, which he taught to me.
--"Master Bard," CatherineRose said crossly. "What is up with this secretive addition to the log that you will not share with us?"
--"How did you know about that?"
--"We all can read the text as we listen to you, including 'author's notes' . Hmpf as if you qualify as an author..."
--I looked and saw that it was true, everyone could read as well as hear what was said. This explained how they guessed what I was thinking.
--"We don't have to guess," Bov observed
--"More koffee?" Gerta offered filling my cup."

 

(Fire Lotus Tavern -"present" day)--"Gerta?" I blinked with a stunned look. "Gerta!" I rose and almost hugged her, but restrained myself. With a short bow from the waist I said "o hime sama!"
--"I'm only a princess with a small 'p' " Gerta smiled. It is good to see all of you after such a long time.
--"We only left you yesterday," FireAngel observed.
--"Ah, for you. But for me it has been two months."
--"Where have you been, Auntie?" inquired Kozue/Frida
--TimeLord chuckled, "I suspect there is a tale coming...."

 

"Aren't there enough tails, errr... tales yet? I am starting to lose the threads of these tails, dang it, tales!" I complain, "when do we get back to the Red Hat Gnomes already?"