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Post by luryaa on Mar 2, 2011 19:38:26 GMT -5
Luryaa's footpaws skidded across the red limestone structure of the abbey, having a last quick glance up the belltower and its immense Matthias and Methesulauh bells before she disappeared into the slight, musty shadows of the abbey. She looked over her angled shoulder at Gruffen, to make sure the hedgepig was following. She twirled around on her heel and and darted into the kitchens.
Luryaa smiled at the hustle in the kitchens. Heavenly aromas filled her nose.
"Where's the Friar?" She shouted lightly over the din, sliding onto a stool out, facing the counter. A stout, plump mole, probably a main cooking helper in charge, leaned over the counter and said, "Nah, sorry marm, he ain't 'ere right now." Luryaa nodded quickly and inched her paw toward a 'unnymole mole batch that had just been slipped out of the oven. The mole slapped her paw away; she made a face and stuck out her tongue, wondering if Gruffen was still there.
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Post by Lucan on Mar 3, 2011 10:52:42 GMT -5
Gruffen plodded after the Luryaa, nodding respectfully at the Tapestry of Martin at the far end of Great Hall as he descended the stairs into Cavern Hole. He had lost her before long, as Luryaa had skipped ahead without waiting for him to catch up. Eventually, Gurffen found the archway that led into the Kitchens, and was immediately greeted by the hubbub of beasts at work, and the myriad enticing smells of foodstuffs cooking or baking. Gruffen groaned as his stomach delivered its loudest rumble yet, startling a passing cook-mouse. The hedgehog propped his staff against a wall and set the two sacks of bilberries on a counter. He looked around, trying to spot Luryaa or the Cook.
"Br'er!" Gruffen called loudly. "Br'er? Where's that dumbbeast got tae?" One of the cooks, a harassed-looking bank vole, scurried over to see what the fuss was about, and Gruffen promptly pointed at the sacks. "Fer th' good Br'er, wiv mah compl'ments! He'd better like 'em, Ah been trudgin' through Mossflower since daybreak ter get 'um!" This obligation dealt with, he cast his eyes around once more to try and locate Luryaa.
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Post by luryaa on Mar 3, 2011 19:08:09 GMT -5
Luryaa jumped as she realized Gruffen wasn't behind her. She slipped off the stool and weaved through the earsplitting sounds and the crowd. She caught sight of a mound of spikes bristling above the rest of the hubbub and darted toward them. It was Gruffen. She took in the bilberries laying on the counter and his searching eyes. She stood up on her tip-paws {?} and whispered into his ear, "The Friar's not here right now, but I'm sure we can still get some snacks."
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Post by Lucan on Mar 4, 2011 14:30:07 GMT -5
Gruffen jumped involuntarily when he heard Luryaa's whisper in his ear; he hadn't heard her creep up on him. The hedgehog gave a theatrical groan when he heard the Friar was nowhere to be found, but took it into his stride. After all, he'd delivered on the Friar's request; as long as they bilberries didn't end up too close to a curious hare they'd probably reach their intended recipient in time.
Gruffen gave Luryaa a furtive glance, then swept the bustling kitchens with his gaze. "Righ', split up," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth. "Yew take d' left side, Ah'll take d' right. See if ye can negotiate wi' any these barmpots fer some vittles. Ask 'em fer scraps they'll no' miss - ye know, a small cheese here, an apple there, get mah drift? We'll soon have ourselves a feast. Keep one eye on me, tae - if Ah scratch mah right ear like so, it's the signal tae make yer way o'er tae that store-room, we'll break our fast in there. Ye got that?"
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Post by luryaa on Mar 4, 2011 21:17:53 GMT -5
Lyra grinned devilishly, murmuring to him, "Aye aye, cap'n." The she sank back into the crowd.
She slid back onto her former stool and said haughtily to the mole, "Bet you're buns aren't half as good as the Friar's, the cheese neither." Luryaa said this in the most casual way and proceeded to check her tunic pockets.
The mole set his digging claws on his hip and pouted indignantly, " Bet they are, mizz.'Ere, take summ." He handed her a tray of sweet puffy golden biscuits and a small rind of yellow cheese. She nodded, packaged the biscuits and cheese in wax paper and slipped it into her tunic, then melted back into the mass of Redwallers.
She grinned and slipped around to the other side of the counter, away from the mole. She spotted a shrew and a hare bustling around. The shrew was carrying a pile of fruits and cheeses, and the hare two pies. Luryaa skipped in front of them and then backward as she had with Gruffen, neatly plucking an apple from the platter when neither shrew nor hare was looking and sliding it into her pocket. The hare started out crossly, "Whatever is a blinkin' little Dibbun doing here in the kitchens?" Lyra hid her frustration and instead of replying, started to tremble her lower lip and make her eyes big and quivering and dark. The hare grinned, making sure his friend the shrew wasn't looking as he slipped her a piece of leek-meat-and-gravy pastie. Lyra held up two fingers; he slipped her another piece in the simple protection of another waxy box.
She silently mouthed the word thanks and skipped off to see if she could find Gruffen. The mole who had given her the biscuits and cheese suddenly whipped around Luryaa ducked as fast as she could. It was close, but she was lucky. As she slipped past the last of the counters, sliding toward Gruffen, she snatched a flask of elderberry wine and one of buttercup n' honey cordial.
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Post by Lucan on Mar 5, 2011 10:48:53 GMT -5
Gruffen nodded curtly as he felt Luryaa skip away to fetch her share of their private feast, and rubbed his forepaws together gleefully. Time for Gruffen of the Carnhogs, that dastardly master of foraging and the commandeering of supplies, to get to work. He immediately began to sidle along the right side of the bustling kitchen, slipping a handful of candied chestnuts and fat, juicy-looking strawberries into one of the pockets of his heavily patched breeches.
The hedgehog succeeded in requisitioning a quarter-wheel of ripe golden cheese from an amiable hare ("Help an auld starvin' comrade out, messmate, mah stomach's no' givin' me half a loada jip so it is!"), two slices of steaming deeper 'n' ever turnip 'n' tater 'n' beetroot pie, a flask of strawberry cordial, and even a small canteen of October ale, all the while fighting to stifle his chuckles, like a Dibbun at mischief. Making sure he was in a position Luryaa could see him, Gruffen carefully scratched at his right ear to give the signal to regroup. Then, not waiting to see if the squirrelmaid had gotten the message, Gruffen sidled carefully to the door of the disused storeroom, snuck in, and waited in the shadows to close the door after Luryaa.
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Post by luryaa on Mar 5, 2011 23:03:55 GMT -5
Luryaa was close enough to see Gruffen scratching his right ear and shot forward like an arrow, somehow weaving through the crowd and managing not to spill anything. She licked her lips in anticipation and padded with catlike grace into the storeroom, throwing down the pasties, apple, biscuits, cheese, and the two flasks of drink and quietly slamming the door. The first thing Luryaa noticed is that only a faint shaft of light trickled into the storeroom. She shook away the dust that had settled on the tips of her fur as she sat down and lit a lantern that had been sitting in the corer. She wiped away the thin film of dust that had settled over the glass as the growing tongue of flame flickered swayed inside the lantern, and hooked up onto the ceiling, rubbing her paws in anticipation to eat their small feast.
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Post by Lucan on Mar 6, 2011 11:34:37 GMT -5
Grinning widely, Gruffen retrieved the foodstuffs and drinks he had commandeered from the pockets of his breeches, which were threatening to burst at the seams by now, and added them to the pile made by Luryaa. "Whaddah tellya, messmate? We've a feast and a half righ' here! Get stuck in, now!" The hedgehog quickly proceeded to take his own advice, biting heartily into a slice of deeper 'n' ever turnip 'n' tater 'n' beetroot pie.
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Post by luryaa on Mar 6, 2011 12:31:48 GMT -5
Luryaa doubled over with the weight of not laughing for fear of being discovered and popped open the flask of buttercup n' honey cordial, gulping down a third of the entire liquid in the canteen. She then straightened up, taking a bite out of the apple in one paw and trying the cut a slice of Gruffen's cheese and wiggle it inside a length-wise slivered biscuit and stuff it in her mouth, as well as bothering to slide a leek, meat, and cheese pastie toward her footpaws.
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Post by Lucan on Mar 6, 2011 12:48:32 GMT -5
"Awright, awright!" Gruffen said, laughing fit to burst. "Take yer time, ye'll choke on summat at tha' rate. Jings, this stuff is hot!" The hog's eyes were streaming by now, partly from hilarity and partly from the scorching deeper 'n' ever turnip 'n' tater 'n' beetroot pie he was chewing on. "Lishuss, but. Lishuss!" Swallowing, Gruffen took a small swig of strawberry cordial from the flask, and sighed appreciatively, smacking his lips. The hedgehog then set about cutting a generous slice from the quarter-wheel of cheese and squeezing it between two crispy biscuits, all the while chuckling at his new messmate's antics.
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Post by luryaa on Mar 6, 2011 13:03:37 GMT -5
Luryaa giggled, clutching her stomach and, after finishing her chewing of the biscuit and the apple, biting deep into her pastie. She downed it easily and finished off the cordial she had started, remarking to to Gruffen in a voice strained with laughter, "Ya.. ya know, I, uh told the.. the," She suddenly burst out laughing hysterically and was forced to stuff a paw in her mouth to guiet her alarmingly loud and continous laughs.
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Post by Lucan on Mar 6, 2011 13:15:54 GMT -5
Gruffen leaned across to gently thump Luryaa on the back, as a precaution more than anything else. "Watch out there! Try 'n' swallow afore ye start laughin' like that, eh?" But the hedgehog couldn't help laughing along as he took a great bite out of his makeshift sandwich. "Tolder... tolder... tolderwhut?" he queried, rocking back and forth on his haunches, tears of laughter trickling down his cheery face.
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Post by luryaa on Mar 6, 2011 13:27:32 GMT -5
"Tolder..." Luryaa gasped and replied breathily, "that I bet the... the biscuits... weren't, weren't half as good... as the Friar's. An', you know what? Think... they were just as good, an' know I owe 'er sommat too. Perhaps the remains of this here... feast." Luryaa paused and burst out laughing again, almost giving herself a face-coat of pie.
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Post by Lucan on Mar 6, 2011 13:34:48 GMT -5
"Ye kiddin'?" Gruffen exclaimed, hoisting an expression of mock horror and incredulity onto his laughing face. "Leftovers? That's nay... nay way... nay way tae pay back a respectable cookbeast, that is! Tell ye what..." Gruffen paused to draw in a hungry breath, and after taking a swift gulp from the canteen of October Ale, continued: "Next time I'm off on an errand fer the Friar in Mossflower, ye can come wi' me an' pick yer fair share a' berries, if ye're that bent on repayin' th' good cook, whadje say?"
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Post by luryaa on Mar 6, 2011 19:01:26 GMT -5
"Sounds good, though I don't know if them berries will survive long..." Luryaa grinned mischeviously and finished her slice of pie, laying down of her stomach, chin on her paws. "What do like about the Abbey most?" Luryaa was open to chattering amiably but she kept her jaws shut until Gruffen had answered. She was a very talkative squirrelmaid and that no one could deny, but she was not going to be impolite. No siree, she wasn't going to make a fool out of herself, even if this didn't.
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Post by Lucan on Mar 7, 2011 12:28:13 GMT -5
Gruffen propped his back against the wall, his spikes shifting and bending this way and that as he shifted into a more comfortable position. The hedgehog mulled the question over for a bit while chewing his way through a handful of plump, juicy strawberries. "Dunno," he replied, gazing vaguely at the opposite wall. "Ah mean, there's lots t' like. There's th' wunnerful comp'ny, I s'pose. An' the countryside. An' th' food, can't forget tha'. But..." Gruffen scratched at his forehead thoughtfully. "It just feels good, this place. Ah used tae wander, season after season, an' Ah could never find anyplace as Ah could settle down at. Then Ah fund this Abbey, an'...." Gruffen shrugged lightly, as if to say 'I'm still here'.
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Post by luryaa on Mar 7, 2011 22:53:05 GMT -5
"Yes, I suppose so, though I've never really been anywhere else. I would hate to be separated from here, but I'd like to go on a quest." Luryaa's chin slowly sank into her cupped paws as she ground the last of a strawberry between her teeth. She straightened up and leaned slightly against the small door behind her.
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Post by Lucan on Mar 8, 2011 11:58:36 GMT -5
"Quest, what kinda quest?" Gruffen asked curiously, after washing down some pie with a great gulp of October ale. He liked listening to other people's stories; well, it was the only way to pass a long winter's evening in the Northlands, when the entire family of Carnhogs (or Carns for short, or Cairnhogs, as Ol' Fether used to call them when his ancient eyes were shrouded by memories of past summers) were huddled around the tremulous fire and the wind howled and scratched at the windowpanes.
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Post by luryaa on Mar 8, 2011 21:49:16 GMT -5
"Well you now, like when Martin went to sea to find out about his father Luke the Warrior? And how Tammo snuck off from under his father's nose, trying to join the long patrol?" Luryaa inquired lightly, her words only slightly muffled by the mouthful of cordial in her mouth as she slurped the last from the canteen and set it aside. "You ever done anything exciting? Well, I mean, out of here?"
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Post by Lucan on Mar 9, 2011 11:21:28 GMT -5
"Oh, those kinda quests," Gruffen said, comprehension dawning. He was still relatively new to the Abbey, and so he had only a vague idea of the many myths and legends that had been woven around the heroic beasts that had graced Redwall's long history. He was familiar with some of their protagonists, of course; Martin the Warrior was as much a legend in the North as he was in the woodlands. Most of the goodbeasts that endured that bleak war-torn land claimed descent from the slaves of Fort Marshank, whom Martin had set free in times long past.
Yet Martin was not the only subject of the tales told around the campfires in the Northlands. The legends were populated with many more mighty champions of good, such as Lord Brocktree and Rakkety Tam, but also with cruel warlords and dastardly villains, bogeymen from a bygone age. Gabool, Cluny, Gulo, Slagar; such names endured in the memories of the Northerners, especially in the darkest hours of the night.
Gruffen was startled out of this troubling reverie by Luryaa's next question. "I've bin around," he said, modestly. "When Ah wuz just a wee sprog Ah thought th' world wuz a' grass 'n' stains 'n' hills. But I ain't half seen some sights since then, tell ye that. " The hedgehog settled himself into a more comfortable position; he had an idea he could see where this was going. He had already awed the Dibbuns several times with his storytelling, and this one wasn't old enough to have outgrown the spell a narrative can weave. It helped, of course, that he had spiced up the retelling of his exploits here and there - the wee ones tended to find them more amusing and exciting that way. In this case, however, he intended to be truthful.
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Post by luryaa on Mar 9, 2011 18:55:07 GMT -5
"Oh, yes?" Lurya inquired dazedly, cutting a sliver of cheese and pressing forward. "Would you tell me any?" She munched slowly on the cheese as she slid onto her stomach, jaw pulsing. She started to wind a bit of her tunic around her paw, her tail swishing rythmically and stirring up the thin film of dirt on the floor of the closet.
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Post by Lucan on Mar 10, 2011 13:42:49 GMT -5
Gruffen grinned amenably. "Awright, but it can't be a long one, we'll need to get out soon afore we get caught in here." The hedgehog paused to ponder his repertoite for a few moments, brow furrowed, as he tried to decide on a quick and impressive story. Then he brightened. "Shall Ah tell ye about Salamandastron?"
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Post by luryaa on Mar 10, 2011 21:18:13 GMT -5
"Of course, go on, please." Luryaa replied immediately, flicking her tongue quickly back. A knot suddenly caught in the door latch. Luryaa's face contorted in pain for a split second before she madly began trying to loose her tail from the door way. She finally tugged it out, sat up and primly tucked her tail in, muttering in a most dignified manner, "Yes, go on."
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Post by Lucan on Mar 11, 2011 16:27:13 GMT -5
Gruffen watched concernedly as Luryaa fought to pry her tail from the door's latch, but decided not to comment. Taking another sip of strawberry cordial to moisten his throat, the hedgehog began his story.
"Right well, Ah arrived at th' western shore a tidy few seasons after Ah first set out explorin'. Ah wandered th' lands tae the north 'n' east afore that, but mayhap we'll get tae that some other time." Gruffen's eyes grew soft as he reminisced. "Ah saw two incredible sights tha' day. First was th' western sea, an' Ah never seen nothin' like it since. Words cannae describe it, th' sheer vastness o' it; Ah tell ye it stretches far, far beyond what th' naked eye can see an' what th' naked mind can conceive. Th' way it blends wi' the sky intae an untouchable horizon, an' th' sunsets - th' sunsets! - th' heart swells t' behold them." Gruffen shook his head dazedly, half-smiling. "Ah, sometimes Ah think Ah missed mah callin' in life - Ah shoulda bin a waterhog 'steid of a Carnhog. 'Nyways, th' second amazin' sight o' th' western shore Ah didnae see until night fell, but when it did - haw, Ah got sich a fright!" Gruffen shot a crafty look at Luryaa. "Ye're well read on yer history, it seems, miss - maybes ye can take a guess at what Ah saw?"
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Post by luryaa on Mar 14, 2011 21:32:46 GMT -5
"Mmm.." Luryaa grimaced. It was agonizing, knowing the answer, but her knowledge had deserted her at the moment. She suddenly thought of the Dibbuns playing outside, and, concentrating hard, she could almost hear their joyful yells and the loud slur of sentences coming from the group. She snorted, bringing her wax-still figure back to life, settling her chin back into her paws.
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