Oldcastle and White Harbor

Something seems to snap into place in Rhory's mind, like a key unlocking a chest. "Maybe they are just looking for whatever it was that I saw in my vision. The thing you said you couldn't see either. Perhaps... perhaps we should hurry, my love," he says, placing his arms beneath Mina. Getting to his feet, he begins to carry Mina back to the clearing with the weirwood tree.

She stays happily curled in your arms until we get to the weirwood.

Even though we have to leave, you need new clothes that will not hinder you. Place your hand against the tree and ask him to clothe you. He will do the rest, trust me.

She places her hand against the tree and the fallen red leaves weave themselves into a leaf-patterned red dress with white leggins made of bark.

Weirwoods are the best for asking Mother to clothe us, but other trees work too.

Rhory reaches out with his hand to touch the weirwood tree as Mina had shown him. Whether it was a slight leftover from his previous life, a stray memory or what, he would never know. But rather than clothe him in leaves, Rhory found that the tree was instead clothing him in... what he could only describe as a suit of armour. But it was armour that appeared to be made of bark. Though when it had formed, it rang hard like steel and only a close examination would make it appear to not be steel, and that just from the pattern of bark imprinted into the material and the fact that it was coloured white.

The amazing thing was that it was as light as merely wearing clothing and did not chafe at all. It also seemed to bend rather more easily than armour should when Rhory turned around. It included helmet and shield and for all appearances looked like a full set of plate armour.

What was more amazing though was that the ground next to the tree appeared to open up slightly and slowly out of the ground appeared the head of an axe. An axe head made of obsidian. At the same time, one of the Branches of the tree began to writhe in front of his eyes and with a loud crack, suddenly dropped off. Reaching down to pick it up, Rhory realised that it had shaped itself to be the same shape as a handle for the obsidian axe blade and as he pushed them together, they seemed to click into place.

He turned and looked at Mina with a look of shock on his face. "Has it ever done this before?"

No my love... no it never has. The tree must really appreciate you to give such a fine gift to you.

She goes over to the hide and meat that was drying over the fire and gathers it up and packs it into your pack.

Perhaps we can sell the saddle and your metal armor? That would burden us less and we could possibly get furs to keep warm in the wastes.

Everything except your armor is quickly packed together. She calls to the horse in the tongue of the Mother, which you now understand. Windfall, to me. That's a good horse. Now, bear us and this load please until we part ways. Thank you for all your help, noble one.

Shall we, love? She jumps nimbly on to the horse's back.

"Aye, we can do that my love," Rhory says as he wanders over to the horse. He picks up his chainmail armour and his metal weapons, each of which feel strangely uncomfortable to him now, and ties them together into a small bundle, which he then ties to the saddle. As soon as he lets go of them, he realises with a sudden clarity just how much they had dampened his new... he could only call it his greensight.

He nimbly jumped up behind Mina and placed his arm around her, holding her close to him. And the smell of leaves, of acorns and mountain dew filled his nostrils as he breathed her in.

And thank you for carrying us, Windfall, you have both our gratitude, noble one.

He didn't know just where the weirwood tree was located, yet strangely enough the path his horse was taking just 'felt' right. He would bury the boy near the tree and say some words to the seven. Fleetfoot slowed suddenly and John heard the sound of a rider-two riders on a single horse coming from the south. As the horse neared he could make out a young woman and a man in white colored armour. He found it suspicious that anyone else would be riding in this area. Could they be with whomever had killed the boy? He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword as the other riders came to him.

"That's far enough"

He would find out soon enough..

Before John could utter his next word, the girl was already off the horse and running toward him. He backed Fleetfoot a few steps in reaction, keeping him facing the girl.

'Hold, lady! What part of "that's far enough" did ya not understand?' He was quick to notice that she was not visibly armed. Her companion was a different matter. His hand remained on his sword hilt.

Her focus is entirely on that little hand.

Where did you find him? Is he...? Her voice trails off, tinged with panic and grief.

The girl stopped. She was focused not on him, but on the body he carried.

'Where did you find him? Is he...?' she asked.

With an eye still on her companion, he answered.

'He is dead, milady. I found him about a mile back' He indicated a slightly northward direction. 'He was in a field off the road. Arrow slain. From your reaction I presume you knew the boy. I share your grief.

Something seems to trigger recognition in Rhory's mind as he sees this scene. He has seen it before in a green dream and knows what has occurred. His eyes fill with sadness as he watches his beloved fall to her knees. He sends his love and strength to her down the link they share as he raises his eyes to the rider before him.

"Greetings, Ser. We mean you no harm. Though I believe that you bear the body of this lady's brother upon your back. I am Rhory and this is Mina."

The shield and armour that Rhory bears has upon it a strange device. It is at once the symbol of House Locke, and yet also seems to have a face superimposed on it. One of a face, all in red and weeping blood from it's eyes. His axe blade also seems like none you have ever seen, dark and glinting in the sun like nothing most people have ever seen before. Rhory's hands stray nowhere near the weapon though as he casually slings shield behind him on the horse and nimbly jumps from the horse as if wearing no armour at all.

He walks towards Mina, his eyes full of unshed tears and focused entirely on her.

There was an uneasy silence as the girl, overcome with grief, barely seemed to hear him. Her companion spoke.

"Greetings, Ser. We mean you no harm. Though I believe that you bear the body of this lady's brother upon your back. I am Rhory and this is Mina."

"Greetings as well, although no 'ser' am I. My name is John."

John watched as Rhory completed one of the smoothest dismounts he had ever witnessed for a man in plate. He caught a glimpse of the house markings on the shild, but it was nothing he recognised. He dismounted as well, his leather armour seeming to be noisier and bulkier compared to Rhory's.

"It was my intent to bury the boy properly. It would not be right to leave him where he fell." He untied the blanket-wrapped body and gently layed it upon the ground.

"If the boy is indeed your brother I am sorry, milady."

He took the reigns of Fleetfoot and led him a few steps back so the woman could view the body in peace.

She turns back the fabric surrounding the body, and her cries become audible sobs. She presses her face to Rhory's shoulder, for some reason not bothered by pressing her face into plate metal. Her sobs rock her body for quite a while, until they finally subside. She turns her tear-stained face to John, and looks at him with bloodshot eyes.

Thank you for returning my brother to me. Would you continue with us to where he will be buried? She tries to compose herself and her face becomes a blank mask, void of emotion.

Rhory holds Mina tenderly in his arms as she weeps, sending her all his strength and love and sharing in her sadness. His eyes and hers match, a very unusual mossy coloured green that almost nobody has seen before. And as his eyes briefly look into John's, he gets the strangest feeling of the tranquility of nature behind them. A sense of belonging, of oneness with the natural world around him.

"Thank you, John, for bringing his body from where it fell to here. Ser or not, you show honour in doing so, and we thank you. As my lady said, you would be most welcome to accompany us for a short while, the place where he will be buried is not far."

So saying, he bends down and picks up Mina's brother in his arms, moving over to their horse. He makes a few strange noises that seem somewhat familiar in a strange way, and you see the horse bow it's head and then go down on its knees to allow Rhory to place the body upon his back.

John watched as Rhory gently picked up the boy as Mina watched with tears in her eyes. His horse went down on his knees in order to accept the body being placed on it's back. He glanced as Fleetfoot and sae that his own horse had bowed it's head as if in solemn morning.

"I will accompany you. I have come this far, and to not be present at the burial would just not be right, Ser Rhory." he replied.

"Thank you for your efforts, John. Though I also am no ser. Just Rhory."

With a look of sadness on his face, Rhory picks Mina up and places her behind her brother on the horse. He then makes a few noises and their horse rises to its feet and starts heading down the forest path with Rhory walking slowly beside it. He glances back to make sure John is following and then turns his attention to Mina and her grief.

Rhory reaches out to Mina with his heart and mind, searching for that coldness within her and attempting to warm it with his love. He knows that nothing can ever replace her brother, but he's trying to remind her that there is so much still to live for. The Mother needs her. Quite possibly the entire world needs her. And Rhory certainly does.

Rhory reaches deep within himself and searches for something. Something he vaguely remembers, as if form a dream. And then it comes to him. A memory at once not his own, but also wholly his. And he reaches out with his mind to the weirwood tree and speaks to it. And suddenly the storm breaks, the furore is past. He then leans against Mina's leg and through the bond they share, sends her the warmth that she needs until he is almost staggering along beside the horse and needs to use it to support him.

And yet, through it all, his outpouring of love and warmth to Mina never wavers.

He followed Rhory and Mina as their horses made a slow walk toward the place where Mina's brother would finally be laid to rest. The air suddenly turned much colder and dark clouds rolled in. A fierce rain started to fall. He drew his cloak closer to himself as he endured the sudden weather change. Strong thunderclaps shook the world around them. Then suddenly it ended; almost as quickly as it began.

As they continued, John noticed that the birds were louder both in the sky and in the trees. Other wildlife-creatures large and small-seemed to be gathering all around them, seemingly unafraid of their presence. He had never seen the like, nor heard of anyone else who had. It was if nature itself was making it's feelings and will known to them and the wold.

Rhory continues to stagger along beside the horse, barely aware of his surroundings as the animals of the forest come to see the little procession. He can feel them all around him, back amongst the trees mostly, though they all pay their respects at some stage.

And then, standing in the middle of the path ahead of them is a giant bear, its hair dark as midnight, its back rippling with muscles. Mina's and Rhory's horse pause a short distance away, though it shows no signs of alarm such as one would expect. Even John's horse seems unafraid of the bear, though it does stop rather abruptly and eye the bear with, if not distrust, then surely a sense of watchfulness.

Rhory staggers to a halt, nearly exhausted and looks up at the bear, who looks ta him with a look that somehow conveys an understanding of what's happening. And then the bear ambles up to Rhory, who holds his hand out in front of him in greeting. The bear approaches, looks up at the body on the horse, then at Mina, and then back at Rhory. Then, without the slightest hesitation, the bear walks around Rhory and comes up beside him, nuzzling Rhory with his nose and looking back.

At once, Rhory drops to his knees and enfolds the bear in a hug around its neck. And then, as a silent communication seems to pass between them, the bear drops to a crouch and Rhory vaults onto its back, albeit in a very tired manner.

Simultaneously, Rhory and Mina's horse and the bear start walking again. Coming into join them from either flank are a majestic buck who must be very old by the size of his antlers and the shocks of white fur; and on the other flank, a wolf, more massive than any that a normal person would ever see, again with shocks of white hair under his muzzle. They seem to form an honour guard as they progress down the path and amazingly, John's horse starts happily walking behind them all in the strangest procession possibly ever seen by any man.