Mounting Trophies

The tale of Lord Obi and his first meeting with Lady Ryessa Bayle

~15 years before Game Start, in ArdenForest and TheCave

LordObi
RyessaBayle

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Those that were riding for the politics seem to be lagging behind with Caine and, infuriatingly Obi's mother, and those that ride for the hunt strive to keep up with Eric and Gerard. Oberon's Messenger feels no desire to ride down the prey this afternoon, nor did he ever feel that he could play the games of court under his mother's shadow.

Obi turns Ged toward the Oisen, thinking that they could both stand a cool drink and a little less baying of the hounds. He draws a carved flute from his vest pocket and began a Uzoman tune. It was a harvest tune, something lively to bring in the crop and celebrate the pregnant bounty of the earth and hint at the winter to come.

When he first sees her at the water's edge, he assumes that Rosalind had come to the same conclusion that he did, but ever the political creature he was sure she would still be hunting at least an advantage among the courtiers. The horse's blanket showed the tower and grapevine of House Bayle. As Ged stomps his feet at the scent of her horse, she turns to face him.

"Good morning," he greets. "Have my uncles lost you or have you lost yourself like I hoped to do?'

"Your uncles?" she tilts her head and narrows her eyes at Obi. She nods as she seems to recognize him. "No, your uncles never had me, and I'm never lost. Why are you running away?" she asks, offering him the flask that'd been shadowed by her split skirts until now.

Obi slides the flute in his pocket again and swings off Ged. He accepts the flask with a slight bow and a lopsided grin. "An interesting turn of phrase, but that's a question for once I know you better, one supposes."

"Running away? I suppose I am, from boredom," Obi explains. "Seems odd that solitude might be the answer, and you might be right. Perhaps I'm running truely from not boredom, but from the bores." He hands her the flask back and smiles in thanks.

The liquid in the flask is serious business. It burns.

Obi blinks but doesn't cough.

"Why did you come?" she asks, and seems to drain what's left. "I do mean, surely, you could have gotten out of it..."

She shrugs, and slips that flask into a hidden pocket. "I'm Ryessa, by the way. Do not try to nickname me. It will only get us both hurt," she warns, with serious eyes, but then smiles warmly at him.

"Ryessa it is," Obi answers, "But I doubt you could hurt me..."

She starts to look a little offended, but then she just smiles. A big bright smile. She shrugs.

He turns toward the sound of the hunt and chuckles softly. "Why? Perhaps obligation, perhaps I had thought that this would be a distraction from other boredom." He shrugs and turns back to her.

"Why are you here," he asked. "And drinking spirits that my uncles might hesitate at?"

"Ah, would they really? That's disappointing. There is this thing my daddy wants, and I'm supposed to find it. I've decided to get drunk instead. Except, there wasn't really enough there for that. Let's go somewhere are get drunk. Let us hunt old beaten drowned grains and fruits instead of beasts and power. What do you say?" she asks. Her eyes twinkle just like the water.

"It seems more likely that I'd find such a prize than the poor fox that they hunt today," he admits, his eyes meeting hers. "I suppose I'll have to find something else to mount as a trophy." The tone is joking and light and he watches carefully to see if he's given offense.

She gets the incredibly bright smile again, like she should be offended and instead is amused. She does look at him a little sideways, never dropping the smile. She looks herself over and says, "Men, and their trophies." She pats her hair, check if it's still neat in it's braids.

She looks back up at him. "You know, Amber royalty hunting foxes, it's the silliest sport ever. I mean, if a fox can outwit them..." she starts to say, but stops herself, slipping her hand up over her mouth to hide her smile again. She's obviously a touch more intoxicated than she'd let on. "Lead on, Obi of Deirdre of Oberon of Noone," she says a little more loudly than she might have needed to.

"I'm often at Court but I must admit, you have the advantage of me, Lady Ryessa Bayle," Obi chuckles as he walks to her horse, obviously intending to help her mount. "I suppose I'll have to work toward remedying that along the way to the pub," he decides.

She's happy to have his help mounting. She just smiles slightly with bright eyes the whole time. Even when she's not quite sober, it's clear she's very sharp.

Once she's mounted he swings into the saddle gracefully and turns toward Amber City, following the Oisen to where the Garnath Road crosses and turning east toward the city. "I'm fairly sure that I've a bottle in my saddlebags, but it's not your family's label."

"Oh, how dare you!" she laughs. "We'll be beggars, soon. Whose is it?"

"It's a pinotage variety from my home of Uzoma," he explains. "Aged thirty years there."

"It's yours if you're interested," Obi offers. "It costs but a question."

"A question, hm. This could be interesting. Very well. Ask me." She smiles over at him from the back of her horse. There is something challenging in that smile.

He reaches into the saddlebag and produces a green glass bottle wrapped in a white towel. There is no label on it, nor any markings that she can see as he removes the cork with his bright white teeth.

"What sort of trophies hang on your wall?" Obi asks.

She shakes her head at him. "The kind you get for being able to do this," she says, and pulls back on the reins. With a few whispered words and the lightest touch of her crop, her horse stands on his hind legs and turns in a tight circle. She brings him down and back to face Obi. The horse takes a bow, and she bows as well, in the saddle. "Well, that's the pretty. I can do the skillfull and dangerous too."

The horse gets back on his feet, and she holds her hand out for the bottle.

"Oh, somehow I had already figured the dangerous," Obi allows as he hands her the bottle. He's obviously impressed, being fairly certain that Ged was capable of such antics, but knowing that he himself wasn't.

"Of course, the skillfull... Well, I suppose I'll have to wait to see those," he chuckles. "Your turn, I guess."

She smells what's in the bottle before sipping at it. She doesn't look pleased with the taste so much as contemplative. She takes a bigger swallow and sighs. "The problem with drinking the hard stuff is that you lose all the subtle for hours," she almost pouts. She stoppers the bottle back up and slips it into her bag, on the opposite side of the horse than Obi rides.

"Sometimes subtle just gets in the way of achieving the end result, I agree," he allows.

"My turn... hm... I don't know what to ask you that I might not like the answer to. Can I skip? I mean, I thought I was whoring out answers for a taste of your... pinotage." She hesitates a moment. "I don't really want a pub. I know a place... it's a few hoursto get there, faster than we're going, but it's hidden and there are hot springs and it's stocked. It would be dark before we could safely make it back, but... it's stocked," she repeats.

Obi strokes the neck of his Arabian and smiles. "If you can lead the way, I'm sure that Ged and I can keep up. He's bred for endurance, as am I," he explains.

That gets him the bright, amused smile again.

"As long as I don't put him up wet, he can make it most anyplace you can find and won't complain afterward."

She nods.

"Of course, a better pace than this will likely save you questions until we make the hot springs," he points out. "But your pallate should have returned by then too."

"I'm not afraid of your questions, just your answers. But... yes." She shrugs.

Obi seems amused.

If that seems good enough for him, she starts her stallion into a trot before she pulls him up into a full gallop.

Obi responds with a whisper to Ged in Uzoman and gentle pressure from his heels, matching her speed quickly.

She leads the way for a full two hours, through forest paths and then carriage paths and then horse trails through the woods until they're on a deer trail. She checks on Obi often, over her shoulder, along the way, but keeps up the pace until they hit the more delicate trail. Then she picks her way with great care. The sun is starting to set as they come over a hill.

Obi has a good memory for paths and does his best to commit their route to it, but he's fairly certain that he'd prefer to do it in daylight. He shakes his head as he thinks of the implications if this trip makes it to the broadsheets.

She dismounts then, and stretches. She smiles what must be her smile of simple pleasures. "Around the side, here, is the entrance. I'll just go get the brushes and the hobbles and so on."

She makes her way through the underbrush, rather careless of what her skirts catch on, just plowing through. She disappears momentarily, but comes back within minutes with a pack. She's got oats and everything they need to put the horses to bed. She tosses Obi a brush and takes one herself, setting down the rest. She holds the brush handle in her teeth while she unsaddles the horse.

Obi's already dismounted and removing Ged's tack witht the practiced hand of a seasoned rider. As he catches the brush he smiles. "So how did you find this place?" he asked.

She sets the saddle down with a muffled grunt, and drops the brush into her hand. She gives her stallion, who seems anxious, a few strokes before she answers.

"I didn't. I was going to make up some amazing story but, I didn't find it. My little sister did. She's... something else. I'd be jealous of her, but she shares so nicely and it'd only make me look more like a boar. We come here sometimes, when home gets tiresome. Just to get dirty, build fires, and kill things. Ladies aren't allowed to get dirty, you know."

"I assure you, I've known my share of dirty ladies," Obi comments solemnly. He works with an economy of movements and focuses on making Ged comfortable and watching Ryessa as she works.

She laughs and shakes her head at him. She seems well aquainted with the care and maintainance of horses.

"Of course hot springs have to help in getting clean after such unladylike pursuits," he observes. "Do you often bring strange men to your get away?"

"Are you strange, or are you asking about someone else?" she asks back.

Obi laughs. "Strange as in in strangers; Men you just happen to meet along the river and the like."

"It would be telling though to ask about what sort of men you do bring here, but I fear you've the right of it... There are some questions that I don't want to hear answers to either. I'd much rather just make you laugh and see your smile."

"Good," she smiles, and digs an apple out of a pocket for her horse.

As he finishes hobbling Ged he comes around and watches her finish, his eyes appraising the hidden strength beneath the noble exterior. She had led a merry chase and seemed no more winded than he. Steel beneath the silk, definitely.

"So, well stocked, you say. I suppose with family vintages?" he asked as she finished.

She gets her boy hobbled and comes to take Obi's hand. "Oh, now, how can we copy the good competitors if we don't copy them? There are all sorts of things. Food, even. Spirits stronger than those my grandfather so prided himself on. You might be surprised at the variety at Arbor House."

Obi takes a moment to recover the pinotage from her saddlebag before following.

She leads him around a small hill, and sure enough, there is an overhang leading to a cave. It's well concealed. Obi will have to bend himself in half to get in.

Once inside, though, it opens up, sprawling. The floor is earth, at first. It doesn't look all that special. Just like a cave, with some footprints in it, which fade quickly into darkness. Ryessa goes over to the side and moves a couple small slabs of stone to reveal the first hiding place. She pulls torches out, and a wax wrapped package. She unwraps it, pull out a few strips on cloth. Obi can smell the tar immediately. She wraps two torches, and hands him one. Her hands do get dirty quickly.

"We've decided to be careful and try to keep traces of ourselves hidden. Someone else might find it, and seeing how boring it looks decide not to explore further, and that would be wonderful. But if they are explorers, they're going to have to work at it on their own," she explains. She offers Obi a flintstone to start his torch.

She puts everything back and returns the hiding stones. She lets Obi keep his torch, and doesn't light hers yet, as they head deeper. "There are chasms," she warns, "so watch where your step."

Obi lights his and allows Ryessa to lead the way, more and more intrigued by this young woman as she leads him deeper into mysteries.

"I suppose I should be worried," he muses. "Do you have any assurances that I wasn't the thing that the Baron set you out to find?"

"Do I have any assurances?" she laughs. "That's funny. I do, in fact, know you are not what my daddy wants me to find. He probably wouldn't mind you, but you aren't what he's looking for - but I have no intention of him ever finding out about you. So you can worry about chasms, and banging you head, and if you wore your nice underthings today, and not about what my bloody father is up to." She ends a little sourly, but she tries to soften it with a smile.

"Damn, I knew I forgot something this morning... underthings," Obi curses, hoping to take the edge off what was meant as a harmless joke. New rule, the Bloody Baron topic was off limits.

"Did you wear your nice ones?" he asks, not expecting more than the bright smile in response.

"They're blue with pink flowers," she says, not smiling, and in the torch light he can't really read her expression.

And shortly, she comes to such a chasm, with no visible means across. It's wider than jumping distance too - for most people. Certainly for her, even in her riding clothes.

She kneels and then lays right down, flat on the ground that is now clearly stone. If it was wet, it'd be slick. She scoots up until she can reach over the edge, which she does, carefully. She comes up with four thick boards, tied together with rope. Pebbles fall and don't echo for quite a while, giving the truth to her next words.

"I hope you aren't afraid of heights. It's deep. It's... really deep. And... well... I think the boards will hold you. We haven't actually brought anyone big down here. Just my sisters and I." Ryessa looks worried a bit, like she hadn't thought this far ahead. She starts untying the boards, and then using metal eyelets that must be screwed into them to tie them together into a 3 foot wide by 12 foot long bridge, with the endings of the boards overlapping. It's sturdy wood that doesn't look like it bends much, but enough pressure might just snap it.

"Why don't I go over, get more rope, come back and I can tie you off, just in case?" she suggests. "There's a stalagmite ahead that's really sturdy."

"Where's the adventure in that?" Obi asks. "You go first with the torch and ensure that there's enough room for me to land and," he takes an appraising look at what sort of running start he can get and nods, "I'll jump it." His eyes narrow a bit to try to examine the far side, but there's a confident set to his jaw.

She looks up from tying off the last board, disbelieving. "No, oh no. Hell no," Ryessa says quietly. "You'll die if you don't make it, and I can't live with knowing I left you dead in the bottom of a cave and never told anyone. And since I can't live with anyone else knowing I let you jump to your death to impress me, no. I'm getting the rope. Besides, we need to know if it will hold someone your weight. And if it breaks, you won't fall too far."

She stands up and puts her hands on her hips, just daring him to argue with her.

"Ah, I'm not just a convenient drinking partner, I'm your lab rat," he accuses with mock injury. "Bring the expendable Royal down into the depths and have him test the bridge so you might bring other unsuspecting huntsmen into your lair."

"But you flatter yourself to believe that I'd do something this fool hardy to impress a woman, Ryessa." He looks thoughtful for a moment and then shrugs. "Or maybe not, but that wasn't the original intent."

"Then you'd do something this fool hardy just to do it?" she snorts.

["Hello? Royal," he says in his best piratey voice.]

"Lay your span and retreive the rope if you think it best," he accepts, shaking his head slowly.

"The expendable Royal," she scoffs quietly under her breath. She leans over and pulls the 'bridge' up on one end - the ceiling is high enough here to allow it. She eyes the gap and lowers it (perhaps not in the way best suited to protect her back). But she straightens back up and seems to be okay.

She holds her hand out for the torch. "Do you want to light the other, or will you be okay in the dark for a few minutes?" she asks.

"I promise not to cry too loud," he assures her as he hands her the torch, his hand brushing hers gently as she takes it from him. "You just be careful yourself. I don't think I could explain to your sisters that I let you fall to your death because we both want to keep the other some dirty little secret."

"Oh, you're dirty. Good. My sisters and I have crossed it many times, so no worries for me," she says lightly.

He doesn't show teeth with his quiet grin, so in the dark it might be unseen.

She does grip the torch a little tightly and put her arms out for balance as she crosses it, safely.

"Back soonest, darling," she says from the other side, and blows him a kiss. She disappears around a corner and the light does slowly fade to nothing, leaving Obi in the pitch black of the cave.

Obi mimes catching the kiss before it falls in the chasm and sits down, his legs hanging over the edge, to wait. He listens to the drip of water someplace, growing stalactites and building stalagmites.

There are noises echoing toward him, about five minutes later, before there is light again. But the light comes, and then she appears, with a long bit of rope unraveling back from it's coil over her shoulder.

She lays it down, makes a lasso, and it's actually that she tosses over toward him.

"Sorry, it's the only way I could be sure it make it that far." She's fairly competent with the lasso, he can tell.

"No problem," Obi assures her as he steps into the loop, cinching it about his waist. He steps light and quick for a man of his size and is across the twelve feet in mere moments, his long strides needing no more than four steps on the boards.

Loosening the lasso, he lets it drop. "Are we going to need the rope in our further adventures?" he asks with a suggestive tone.

She looks at him, curious.

"Perhaps we can swing across the next one?" Obi finishes with a sly wink.

"You are adorable. There aren't anymore. But here, use your royal strength to pull the bridge back over here for me," she smiles.

Obi kneels down so he's not leaning over as far and just begins to draw the bridge toward him, sliding it along the floor to his right. His pride keeps the board level the whole way back. When he's done, he stands and regards her. "If those explorers want to spy on you in the hot springs, they're going to have their work cut out for themselves, eh?"

"Women have to be careful. We've just locked the door, is all," she explains. She hands him back the torch. Instead of undoing the bridge and having to rebuild it later, she pulls it back around the corner.

"Lead on," he suggests.

She does, recoiling the rope until she gets to the quite massive stalagmite it's secured to. There is one stalactite above either, but no others in this section, and these two are dry. She unties it, and keeps going (and now it obviously feels like down) for about a minute, until the cave narrows again. Obi has to duck to fit through, and her skirts brush the sides. Twenty steps later, the sides fall away and Obi can tell by the echoing drips that the cavern must be enormous. It's also warm and humid, but not oppressively so.

"Here, just let me light the lamps," she says, and takes the torch back from him. She walks a few feet forward to the first one. They're hanging from stands made from treelimbs. About every 15' there is another oil latern, starting from where they came out and going around the side of what looks to be a small underground lake. The ground rises a bit, and she lights the last one, before the water meets the wall.

Now he can see some of the stalagtites hanging, although the tops are up in the darkness. There are only a few stalagmites peaking up from the lake, and they're far back, where it's too dark to see. The water that is lit is crystal clear, though. Obi can see the blind fish and the slow even slope.

On the 'shore' there is a small canoe, which looks like it must have been made from the local wood here. It *might* fit two girls, but more likely just one. There is an improvised paddle laying over it, also from wood. None of the wood used here looks old. Either they replace it regularly, or they found this place not too long ago.

There is also a hammock, tied between two tall tree stumps that have been secured to the floor and ceiling. There are blankets hanging over it, currently, like they were put there to dry. Just on the other side of that there is a slab of wood set into the floor, another 3' by 12' board, just like the ones making the bridge.

Further down, closer to the 'far edge' of the shore, there is a circle of rocks, full of ash, with a spit built over it. Up against the wall, wood is stacked.

It's the board set into the floor Ryessa heads for though. She gives Obi the torch, again, and points to a depression in the wall over the slab.

She pulls up on one corner, and flips it back. "Now this was awful to make, let me tell you, but worth it. The rock is cold. We thought it'd be warm, but it's not. It's like the heat from the lake can't penetrate it. So... instant icebox. Once you dig out the bloody stone, of course. Luckily, it's rather corse, rocky - more like rock mixed with earth right here. So it's taken forever just to do this much, but it works so well." Ryessa lays right down in the floor and has to stretch her arms all the way to the bottom to start pulling out canvas bags full of bottles and more wax wrapped packages.

The rock forms an edge for the wood to sit on, but other than that, it looks like all they did was dig out a long, deep rectangle and lay twigs along the bottom. It's genius in it's simplicity, but not something one would think a noblewoman would know to do.

Obi sets the torch and takes packages from her as she removes them. This whole hideaway seems surreal. "Do you want me to get those? My reach is a little longer," he offers.

She looks back up at him and laughs. "Yes!"

He lies down next to her, his body warm against her length in contrast to the cold stone. He reaches into the icebox and smiles as the action turns his head to face her.

Ryessa smiles back at him. "You smell like plums," she whispers.

Obi's gaze searches hers for a moment before he returns to drawing up the packages.

She just meets his eyes and looks curious again.

Once they've drawn the supplies, he heads to the wall and collects a good armload of wood and carries it to the fire ring. Within moments he's started a fire that seems to be catching well and is offering a little more light at the water's edge.

"So, what delights are on the menu tonight?" Obi asks, shedding his vest in deference to the fire and humidity of the chamber.

She starts pulling things out. The first three bottles have no labels - looks home-grown. She holds one out against his wrist. "See how cold? It's..." she smiles, and shrugs, and looks a little younger.

Another bottle - Amaretto Di Saronno, it says, and another two - which only have apples painted on the front. Then she haphazardly dumps out all the bags, leaving five wax packages on the ground. "Let's see now," she mutters, and picks one up to open.

She seems to be surprised by some of what she finds, but nods at other things. Vennison jerky, sharp cheese, dried cherries, apples, peaches and raisins all together, hard tack, and what looks like strips of fat. She wraps that back up.

"We're going to make an oven, but we have to dig again to do it, and find more good stones," she tells him, pulling a knife from her pocket to open the bottles with the apples on them.

"A fine home you're designing here," Obi admits as he accepts a bottle of what he presumes to be cider. "Do the bears appreciate it in the winter?" He tosses back a long swig and smiles.

Her face falls. "Oh, shit. Bears. Do you really think? There's been no sign. I love the bats, but bears?"

Obi shakes his head in the negative. "Bears have lived here about long before you and your sister found this place," he reassures her, realizing how much he already misses her smile. "If it wasn't here when you found it, I doubt you've done anything to attract them."

Ryessa looks slightly relieved, though the wheels are turning behind her eyes.

"So, is there a natural chimney for your kitchen's smoke, or just high enough ceilings that you won't have to worry?" the royal asks, as he removes his high red boots.

She looks like she thinks that's a good idea, and starts taking off her own. "We know there is some way out up there, because the bats come through the narrow way in, and go right up there, and out. They must go out. Where else would they go? We don't think they're... roosting," she smiles, unsure of the right word, "up there, since the water is so pristine."

Obi nods. "I'm no spelunker, but that sounds like good reasoning to me."

She looks relieved when she gets her boots off and opens her own bottle, drinking about half of it straight off. "But, you know, it's definitely springs. We think we've found the source, or one of the sources, in. Vinta keeps wanting to find where it must be draining to. I think she's going to get killed, but arguing with Vinta is like arguing with a wall. It might be listening, but it just goes ahead and does what it wants to anyway, and no one can do anything about it."

Ryessa digs into the dried fruit.

Obi tries some, long fingers picking out cherries and peaches and popping them into his mouth with obvious pleasure. Not to be outdone, he tosses back a long draught of his own cider, almost finishing them.

He stands again and walks toward the water. "So, do we need to get dirtier before we wash off or only drunker?"

"Drunker and fuller and then it's languid heaven," she laughs. "Here, let me find..."

She gets up and wanders back over by the hammock. "Where'd you hide them, little snot..." he can hear her mutter due to the acoustics of the cave. She looks around the ground, in the shadows, and then stops suddenly. She holds very still.

Obi can hear it a second after she does. It sounds like ripping, in the distance, but then it starts getting louder. Ryessa slowly backs herself up against the wall. She looks over at Obi, and her face is full of bravdo, while her body language gives her away. "It's just the bats," she now practically has to yell.

The royal returns to her and wraps an arm about her shoulder, more supportive than lecherous. "I'm glad they're taking their leave. I'm not really one that likes to perform for audiences."

The bats start trickling through the opening, and then there's a rush. They fly through, past the two of them, and up into the darkness. Ryessa clings just a little, just enough that she's not fooling anyone about being 'fine' with with bats.

Once the sound dies down, he starts to draw Ryessa back toward the fire, before stopping and asking, "What were you looking for in the first place?"

"The brat hid the knife and the corkscrew. She likes to make a game of hiding things. She's a pain in the ass," she complains, not thrilled after the bats, even with Obi's strong arms to help. She lets him go. "Let me think about it for a minute."

Ryessa runs her eyes over the cave.

"Well, not to spoil the game, but I've got a knife and if I were crazy enough to get lost on my way out, there's even a corkscrew in my saddlebags, that I expected to need for the pinotage," he assures her.

Obi scans the area, wondering if Vinta had dug a hollow in the timbers, there not being too much more to hide things in, besides the ground itself or perhaps the lanterns on the walls, in one of the sconces?

"Then she'd win," Ryessa snorts, looking rather determined not to let that happen. "Damn it, I hope she didn't bury them under the ashes again. But no..."

She starts searching, and yes, she is feeling along the wall, anywhere there are shadows.

"What do I win if I find them first?" Obi asks.

She looks over at him and smirks, but doesn't answer.

He heads back to the hammock, flipping it over and checking the lining and hems and the knots at both the hammock and it's supports.

Ryessa mutters under her breath as she stands on her toes.

"Was I supposed to understand that?" he chuckles as he turns toward her. "I agree, this was a wonderful, relaxing idea. You seem so much more at ease."

She comes down off her toes and looks at him again. She actually looks like she's thinking about what he's saying, getting a little guilty around the eyes.

As he turned back toward the icebox, his gaze went to the torch that he had brought from the first chamber and how it hung over the ingenious cooler. Hanging a little low, it hadn't set as deeply as he had expected. He removed the torch and probed with long fingers.

Ryessa watches him. She shakes her head. "Last time, they were wrapped in wax about 10 yards out, underwater. On the bloody bottom of the lake. I had to threaten her life over that."

"I had thought of something along those lines, but figured to make it a last ditch effort," Obi admits as he replaces the torch. "I'm glad you didn't have to get wet without good reason." His eyes sparkle in the lamplight.

Taking her hand he leads her back to the bottles and fire, offering her the corkscrew as he begins to slice the cheese. "I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting your sisters," he comments.

"They're not out yet," Ryessa tells him, as if not being out is some awful illness one must grow out of. "But the long wait is on. They bite chomp at the bit and anything else that gets near. I shouldn't complain, though. Reginald gets the worst of it."

She smiles, and with the corkscrew in hand, starts uncorking every bottle that needs it. "Do you get lonely, without any siblings?"

"I'm close to my mother, and I've more than a few cousins," Obi says. "When I was growing up, I had siblings, my Father's children. Okpara, Taiwo and Tse, the twins, and Ogbonna were all older than I and used to tease me horribly about how light my skin color was." He smiles despite himself at the memories. "Taiwo was very close to Dakarai, my wife."

She nods slowly with an eyebrow raised. But she doesn't ask. Instead she goes on. "I'm closer to my sisters. There really is something to be said for women sticking together in the world." She smiles slowly and reaches for his hand again. "This is light?" she laughs. "I've seen darker, but your father's people must enjoy the sun."

Obi nods. "We were farmers mostly and spent a good deal of the day beneath it," he admits. "Of course we didn't have to worry as much about burning like some of my fair skinned cousins do if we stayed out too long. In fact in Uzoma they believe that before Anansi hoarded them all in his callabash, Nyame, the Sun God held all the stories in the world." He looks out over the water and washes down some cheese with the end of his cider.

"Including the ones that explain that my wife died over a century ago, so isn't anything for you to worry about, alright?" he asks as he turns back and picks out a few raisins from the dried fruit.

"I didn't look worried. A century... I'm..." she hesitates long enough for her "...sorry." to be about something else entirely. She follows it with a quick smile and a shrug. She meets his eyes and she really doesn't look worried at all.

"No, I suppose you're entirely too mature a woman to be worried over such trivial things," Obi allows.

She sticks her tongue out at him. "It's obviously not trivial to you," she adds, and quickly changes the subject. "I've never really worked a day in my life. Did you do farmwork?" she asks.

"For the first twenty years of my life, give or take," he answers. "Do you like yams? I have trouble stomaching them anymore, but there's so much else in the world to feast on." He runs his gaze along her, stopping at the adorable brown socks with white cats embroidered on them and imagines the pale expanse of calf beneath.

"Yams?" she whispers, paying more attention to what he seems to be thinking than what he's saying. She shifts, just a nervous movement she can't resist, but she doesn't pull her skirts down.

He reaches for the rest of the Pinotage and then changes his mind and chooses the almond liqueor. "Surely you haven't let that stop you from getting dirty. You've done your share of work here in making your retreat."

"That's play and rebellion," she says. "But no, really, it's different when you have to do it to eat. Then it's work. I get discontent in my pillowed, tapestried, rich nest. Yet, I don't find myself keen to find out what it's like to actually have to work." She takes the Pinotage for herself and sips first. "Bayle takes good care of her farmers, her vinters, and everyone who helps take care of those people... but Bayle's daughters, except for festival, do not a grape-stain see."

She really drags off the Pinotage. "So," she finishes, "horses are fun, and allowed."

"And I'm play and rebellion that's not allowed," he chuckles. "Have you been riding long?" he asks, his tone suggesting something other than horses if not asking it out right. He tosses back another draught of the Amaretto and stands, taking off his shirt while looking at the water, unconcerned with modesty. He looks back at her awaiting her answer.

The look she gives him is cynical enough to be an answer in itself. She watches him closely. "I could tell you anything. You'd never know until it was too late anyway. Why ask?"

"Because I like horses, of course," Obi answers with a smirk, attempting to diffuse the tension. "Because you said you weren't afraid of my questions and every answer you give, truthful or not tells me something about you."

"Does that scare you? The idea that I'm not shallow enough for you?" he asks as he steps closer. "I can work on that." He reaches down and draws her up to her feet, his long fingers stronger than she might've suspected, and pulls her against his bare chest, his face scant inches from hers.

She smiles her amused smile again, not resisting at all. "I suspect you're shallow enough for me. You're even protective of your shallowness. But that's alright. And I don't think I've lied to you yet, but I lie so often, it's possible I have and I just can't remember."

She leans forward and kisses him, but pulls right back. "We're supposed to relax in the warm water first," she explains.

"So we are," Obi allows.

He releases her with some reluctance but wastes no time in heading toward the water. As he gets close, he drops his black trousers and confirms the truth of his own statement about nice underthings earlier. Once out of them, he takes a few steps into the water, far enough to spare her modesty when he turns around to face her.

"I must admit, the water is wonderful," he says, watching her again with those dark, dark eyes.

"Yes, and it always makes me feel better," she adds, slipping open the last button on her jacket. She shrugs the jacket off and tosses it to the side rather haphazardly. She starts unbuttoning her beige blouse. "I swear there's something in it... some healing... thing. But I don't know anything about healing. I just know all the aches fade away, and it's not really warm enough to do that on it's own."

Obi sniffs a little at the air. "Perhaps mineral springs. It would make sense with the stalagmites and stalactites."

The blouse falls away only to reveal yet another layer. This one a girdle laced over a less substantial chemise. Ryessa doesn't hesitate but looks over to her right hip and starts unbuttoning there. That side does fall loose, and she pulls her empty flask and another small tin box our of her pocket and sets them more delicately on the ground before she starts on the other side.

"We've been trying to think of a better way to light it. Perhaps you know something about this? We were thinking of starting by the entrance, and carving a sort of runnell into the wall - is this a word? - but an oval shape, with a lip at the bottom, and open above," she finishes her buttons and steps out of her skirts, tossing them aside, and motioning with her hands to try to explain what she means. She's still got on her riding boots, over skin tight pants that look to be buckskin and the incongruous cat socks.

She leans over to pull off her boots. "So, it'd go all the way around, eventually, even out over the water, so we could see further back without taking the kind of risk, I feel, you take on bloody raft. So you'd fill this thing with oil and you should, I think, be able to light it at one end, and the fire would travel down the surface of the oil? We've been experimenting at home. The oil..." she has her hands behind her, messing with laces, likely. She bends awkwardly, and then scowls. "You went in too soon. I need help."

"I've seen such arrangements in the pyramids of the Tuxtla," Obi explains as he walks toward her, her modesty less of a concern now. He does spin his hand, suggesting that she turn around as the water runs off his body and he begins unlacing the girdle. "Normally they've been built that way initially, but yes, such a contrivance could be fashioned here."

She turns, and nods, but manages to keep her eyes on his face.

Obi leans in, his breath warm on her neck, "For a noble daughter with no work ethic, you seem to have put some considerable thought into your escape."

Goosebumps rise over her upper arms, but she doesn't move away. "Well, it's hardly just me. I say, 'this light sucks' and the other two start imagining the wildest things. It's my job to rule out the impossible and narrow it down. So we're down to two, currently. One is time consuming and the other is this one..."

She reaches carefully behind her and lays her palms flat against his hips. "Damn, you're still so warm," she sighs. She pulls back just as quickly, and seems to try to get back to business. "So, how do they coat them? In this Tuxtla place? I think the oil would just seep into the dirty part of the stone. I was thinking tar, but I don't know."

"As I said, there it's built, so I believe that the stone that's used isn't very porous and yes, it's coated with something, but your problem is that the tar will eventually burn off as well," Obi comments thoughtfully.

He finishes the girdle's laces and slides it down over her hips and looks for the ties on the buckskins, sliding his hand about the top of them, his thumb hooked under the edge. "Hardest will be keeping it level as you carve it, I'd fear, but the water'll keep a nice reference."

She giggles and pulls forward away from his hand, tickelish. "Or, you know, a level," she laughs. She turns to look at him and starts unlacing the pants herself. Her chemise is dark, but still sheer. Like her socks, there are cats embroidered on it, these in black. Somewhat oddly, she's got it tucked into her pants. "I wish I knew more about small explosives. I'd be nervous to do them in here, but a series of small ones might make a good start." She slides her pants down to her knees before she has to start tugging them off.

Obi wanders closer to the fire, no matter how warm she thinks he is. Turing back he smiles as he notices the breeze press the chemise against the smooth lines of her backside and legs, never suggesting any clothing beneath.

"I don't claim to be much of an expert, myself," Obi admits. "I'd figure out some way to get someone with the experience to show you how. You're a woman of considerable beauty, I'm sure you could arrange something."

She finally gets the pants off and glances at him before shaking her head. She balances on one foot and then the other, getting rid of the socks.

"Perhaps even getting him to work at creating such a channel in a rock wall someplace else for you," he suggests as he watches her finish disrobing. "One supposes you could also ignore the digging and install metal gutters if you could fabricate them in suitable lengths. Those could just be attached to the wall and then filled with your oil."

"Floating paper lanterns might be romantic, seeing as the water is calm," Obi adds as he walks back over. "You could string them on a line, light them, then set them adrift and draw them back in before you leave." He emphasizes drawing them back by drawing her to him again.

She laughs. "That's funny, that's the time-consuming option. But there is a slight current. It's tiny, but it's there. I'd like the option that's less of a pain. Vinta would be content to come down here with just a torch and be fine. I'm the one who wants more light," she admits, wrapping her arms around him and holding on tight for a minute.

"And here I am, so dark," he whispers.

But she just as quickly pulls back and pushes him away. "Back in the water, you."

"Yes, mi'lady," the courtier offers with a mock bow as he retreats to the water. After he rises, Obi turns to the water. He doesn't watch to see if she's following or stripping off the chemise finally. "Less pain? Well, while I definitely prefer pleasure, tell me... once you've lit all that oil, how do you plan on quenching it when it's time to leave?"

She wades in with the chemise still on. "Huh." she says. "Well, I suppose I'd just have to let it burn out... but... huh."

She clearly thinks about it as she approaches him. "But if I seduced some man into making me metal gutters, surely I could give him a little oral sex on the side to make me covers that would suffocate it. Do you know anyone who might be good for this?" she asks. She may even be serious.

The fire reflects the mirth in Obi's dark eyes."I may... how's your gag reflex?"

"Oh wait, you meant the metal gutters, not the other. Hmm. That might be a little more difficult." He lets her approach him, his gaze devouring her with every step, thankful for the water's clarity.

Her eyes narrow on him. "How's your gag reflex?" she asks him back.

"Well, unless you're hiding something beneath that resplendent chemise, I'm not sure how relevant that is," he smiles disarmingly.

"It's completely relevant if you really want to help me secure the right man for this job," she smiles back.

Obi's left eyebrow quirks in amusement as he shakes his head.

"You're an interesting woman, mi'Lady. One moment expecting me to cross all sorts of lines and then playing at offense the next." He moves toward her in the water and catches her hair in his strong grip, drawing her against him. "Bold enough to bring me here, foolish enough to think yourself safe, and innocent enough to be frightened by the bats."

"There's nothing innocent about being afraid of bats," she insists, panting.

"You're right, perhaps it's me you should be afraid of," he whispers, sharp teeth grazing her ear, words warm on her skin. Obi's other hand has a handful of the back of her chemise and pulls her closer, if such a thing is possible, bringing her up on her toes. "But an innocent wouldn't know the reasons why that *you* do."

She smiles up at him, but doesn't move a muscle. It's rather impressive control, actually. "If I was really going to be afraid of you, I wouldn't have brought you here. Just like, if I were really afraid of the bats, I wouldn't come here. But, the bats are only scary in their dark beauty, in their connotation, in stories. It's thrilling, every time they fly by, you see? If you really hurt me, you'd better kill me, or I'll make you pay, and I don't care how royal your blood is. If you only hurt me a little, well, that's something altogether different. Do we have an understanding?" she asks.

Obi nods slowly, menace still in his gaze. Suddenly, his foot sweeps her legs as his hands release her hair and chemise and let her fall back into the underground lake.

When she arises, he's floating on his back not far from her, whistling.

A very wet Ryessa sticks her tongue out at him. "That felt good," she claims. "Come over here, it's warmer." She swims back toward the wall the fire is along.

Obi stands and dives beneath the water, swimming toward her beneath its surface the entire way. He slides about her ankles like an eel and then swims back out toward the deeper water until he's lost in the darkness.

Ryessa stands a moment, still and quiet, trying to track his movement, before she loses him. "Bl00dy royals," she hisses venomously, moving closer to the firelight, and the source of the warm water. She keeps her body facing out, so she can see him if he tries to sneak back, and her ears open to hear him if he surfaces out in the black.

A rhythmic splashing is approaching from the deeper water, the firelight flickering off Obi's form as he sluices through the water back toward Ryessa. When he reaches her, he closes and scoops her up in his arms. "It goes out quite a ways, and gets dark rather quickly," he admits.

"I'd definitely support more lighting," the messenger decides. "Now, as to my gag reflex..." He quickly ducks his head, catching one of her protruding nipples in his mouth, ignoring the fabric between. His tongue works the stiff tip as his teeth find purchase about the aureole.

She gasps in surprise, and then doesn't seem to get her breath for a few more moments. But once she breaths again, it goes in and out as a moan, and she lifts her hands to his shoulders for support as her legs start to give. Her nails sink in, slowly.

Later...

Ryessa reclines next to the fire, cutting up what's left of the cheese. She seems to find the stone soothing against her skin.

She holds a piece out for Obi to eat.

"I wonder what your mother thinks when you disappear like this," she smiles.

Obi accepts the cheese and winks. "Well, I've got what I like to think of as a healthy relationship with her, but I really hope she doesn't think of this, whatever she does imagine."

"And..." he hesitates before finding the bottle of Amaretto again.

"And if I asked you the same, we'd be lost in those dangerous rapids that we navigated earlier," the messenger says. "So, if you were my mother, what would you think?"

Ryessa raises her brows, looking surprised. "Well... it's rather hard for me to get into a mother mindset. I'd probably worry you'd been eaten by a bear. Isn't that what mothers do?"

"I'm a Royal, Ryessa," he chuckles. "You're the one that was commenting on the absurdity of a Royal Fox Hunt. Trust me when I say that should you need a bearskin rug here, I can aquire you one with nothing more than what Ged and I are already carrying." There's no bravado or boasting in his tone. He honestly seems to believe what he says. "Well, at least what I was carrying before swimming."

"So, how long can you disappear here without being missed?" he asks, long dark fingers tracing the line of her shoulder.

She grins. "About 3 days."

"I'll admit that it makes me wonder exactly what your father had set you about, but..." he trails off and kisses the closest bit of skin.

"Of course, if we were to hide for days here I might have to magic us up some food as this isn't going to last us." He rolls his neck in a realxing fashion. "Especially if we keep exerting ourselves in such a fashion."

She looks disappointed. "You mean you can't actually hunt?" she asks. "I thought you just said you could kill a bear with what's on your horse."

"I can hunt," he chuckles. "Is that the next adventure?"

"Are we really going to try to live off the land and in a cave together for 3 days? We just met." Ryessa smiles.

"True, and it is a lot of a commitment for two bored nobles who were just using each other for a pleasant diversion, isn't it?" Obi offers a sarcastic sigh. "And I'm sure you'd grow bored with my novelty after another day, anyway."

"But, if we plan the long weekend getaway, well... we won't have as much need to hunt, as we can ensure to be provisioned for it," he observes. "I suppose we could hunt on the way in, especially if your sister decides to make that niche over there into a smoke box."

"Of course, it's arrogant of me to assume a 'next time', but that's the only birthright my mother offered that I truly grew into."

She laughs. "Assuming? or Arrogance?"

She giggles so hard she has to hide her face. "I'm up for an adventure. Are you offering to take me into shadow?" she eventually asks from behind her hands.

"If I had a crown for every time some noble's daughter asked me that," Obi answers wistfully. He smiles and counters, "Are we discussing tonight or a few weeks from now when I return from Savannah?" "Are you serious? Because I'd have to have some idea of what you were planning before I agreed," she says, looking a little surprised.

Obi's long fingers run through her hair. "Of course I'm serious, although I'll admit, the second option is probably better for both of us, but I leave that decision to you."

"Wait, what are my choices again?" she asks, seemingly distracted.

"Orally pleasuring my horse or being pleasured by the horse," Obi answers with a straight face and even tone until the laughter vibrates out from his core.

He gets slapped on the arm. She doesn't seem to think he's half as funny as he seems to think.

When he's done laughing, he recaps, "I'm agreeing to take you off on an adventure of your choosing in Shadow, either this evening, or in several weeks when I return from my next trip." He caveats, "My duties to the Crown allowing, of course."

"I'll take several weeks when you return, not because I want to get away from you right now, but because I have a place I want to go, but you need to read the book first," she smiles.

"And which book would this be?" Obi asks as he begins to realize that nothing is easy with this woman, and trying to figure out when that pronoun changed from girl. "One of those chapbook bodice rippers I caught Dina reading the other evening?"


To be continued... Updated to 14:53 10-3-2006