Closed The Okomo Festival

[Madeira Dusk]

It took entirely too long for the old man to wrangle a second Okomo. This one was barded as if for war, with leather armor and shiny brass buckles. It was a young, spirited steed with sharp eyes and a glossy coat. It took Madeira aback to think this is what Moritz would look like one day.

The old man explained the situation to the rider of the beast while Madeira was already pulling herself across its broad back. She had only rode an Okomo once before, when she traversed the steep, winding path to Lhavit's city gates. She was heartbroken and heavily pregnant at the time, and maybe that's why this felt much easier than before. The Okomo stood still and patient while she gripped its saddle horn and dragged herself over on her elbows. Twisting her hips, she sat sidestraddle across its back just as the old man finished explaining. With a creak of stiff old joints he climbed up behind her. There was a single moment where, reins in hand, the old man didn't seem to know what to do with the nonexistent gap between their bodies in the single saddle.

Madeira only put up with the awkward shuffling and nervous fluttering hands for half a tick before her head whipped around and she snarled impatiently.

"Go!"

The beast below her seemed to respond to thought rather than his driver's steering. It leapt away across the peak in great leaping bounds as smooth as her most expensive silks. Its barding rattled and its hooves thundered and its breath came in great huffs, but she was no more jarred then she had been on the ship that took her here. Madeira held tight to the saddle horn and quickly learned to lean into the turns it took, and lean forward when it jumped. In no time at all, they had caught up to the rampaging old Okomo just in time for the old beast to go strangely stiff and faceplant into the ground.

Madeira felt the presence of the ghost vanish as they approached, but she did not have time to wonder what had Jomi so preoccupied. Because clinging to the creatures great horns, soiled with paint and flowers, was-

"Amelie!"

People from the market, startled and curious, were starting to crowed around the big beast and the little girl. From her vantage point Madeira could even see the white robes of the Shinya running to the scene.

The old man pulled back on the reins and their barded Okomo rumbled to a stop. Madeira slid off its back, biting back a curse when the drop jarred her knees and caused her to stumble.

"Amelie!"

"Swiftsilver!"

Madeira was faster, that inexplicable need to act propelling her through the crowed with strategic use of shoulders and elbows, but the old man was right behind her trying to get to his old Okomo. Breaking through, Madeira barreled through the few people tentatively trying to help the crying child.

"Oh gods, Amelie!" Madeira descended on her daughter and swept her into a hug. The girl was splattered with paint and flowers, probably bruised from the ride, but otherwise looked no worse for wear. She pulled her daughter off the beast and simply knelt on the grass, cradling the girl against her chest, her arms wrapped around her like a protective cage. "Mommy's here. Oh little fox, I was so worried. But it's okay now, mommy's here."

Suddenly the crowed pressing into the spectacle dispersed as if on cue. The assembled mass simply wandering away, like their collective attention had glossed completely over the drama. Madeira watched them go, flexing her left hand, where her mob ring flashed in the sun.

"Swiftsilver! You great bastard, what happened?!"

The old man was oblivious to the strange reaction of the crowed as he fluttered around the great Okomo, his hands passing over the beast as if scared to touch him. The Okomo trumpeted once, and there was great pain in the sounhd.

Now what? Moving her dijed once again, Madeira stared at the creature. Her life force moved sluggishly through her eyes as she willed it to adjust her senses to detect the aura around the creature. Her efforts were weak, the sight showing not much more than a wisp of colour, but even she could see the spike of hot, angry red that ripped through the gentle aura. The beast had broken its front leg. Maybe both of them.

Oh shyke.

"Ami, where's your brother?" Madeira lifted her head and scanned the area. "Moritz!"

"Miss Craven." Behind mother and daughter were three shining white robes, emblazoned with the familiar Shinya crest. She did not recognize the two who rushed to the Okomo's aid, but she sure as hai recognized their tall, stoic leader.

"Iiam. We must stop meeting like this", she smiled, her fingers playing nervously with Amelie's blonde hair. The expression was not reciprocated.

Iiam was some sort of senior in the ranks of the Shinya. An older, experienced, capable man adept in all the necessary skills of a Lhavitian peacekeeper. She had first met him in the aftermath of a very public battle with the overgiving mage Penrose. And between that, the incident with the murdered Eth she stumbled on in the park, and the recent massacre on her property, it was safe to say the man has some misgivings about this foreigner and her astonishing ability to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

"You are making a habit of this, Miss Craven. What happened? A ghost told us a child was in danger."

The three adults had managed to roll the old Okomo on his side, and with his legs exposed there was no mistaking it- both were shattered. It was like a new, malformed joint had sprouted between the knee and shoulder. The beast was breathing heavily, but she would swear it was doing its best to hide its pain from its clearly frantic rider, who was cradling its head lovingly.

Damn you, Jomi, she seethed. If the price of Okomo murder was death, what was maiming one worth?

"That poor beast spooked when a ghost touched it. My daughter was on its back at the time and it took off. We've only just caught up."

"After it spontaneously broke both its legs?"

The old man looked up at that, tears shining on his withered cheeks. "Swiftsilver is the most surefooted beast in kalea! There was nothing for him to even trip on..."

That was true. There were deep furrows in the earth from where both the beasts legs gave out mid-stride, but the earth was both flat and obstruction free. Iiam's practiced eye took in the details of the scene at a glance, then turned his hard brown eyes back on her.

"Look", Madeira stood, holding Amelie on her hip. She sniffed demurely, blinking hard as if on the verge of tears. "My children have been through a bit of an ordeal. Unless you think I somehow broke this beasts legs from two kilometers away I'd like to go take care of them." She buried her face into Amelie's tiny shoulders, half-turning away as if to hide her tears.

Iiam looked at her for a long moment, and for a tick Madeira was certain he was going to call her out of her act, but he abruptly waved her away.

"I understand. I will send someone to your manor later today to get an official statement."

"Th- Thank you, sir." Madeira mumbled wetly and walked away, only to lift her dry face from her daughters shoulders with a sigh of relief once her back was turned.

"Before you go, Miss Craven." Madeira paused mid-step, but didn't turn around. She could feel Iiam's stare boring into her back. "Are there any more ghosts in the area?"

"No sir", she sniffled pathetically. "Not that I can sense."

"I see..."

He did not elaborate. After a moment Madeira walked on. "Where is your brother?" she huffed in hushed tones to Amelie, as they were once again swallowed by the crowd.

[Moritz Craven]

An Okomo could turn and jump on a miza if needed, this was true. But that was admittedly a more skilled Okomo than Moritz, and one not running and charging and hopping in a straight line like he was.

He jumped with all his might, as hard and high as he could, landing with a smash of force into the ground on the other side. Clear of his sister, clear of the other Okomo. It did require him to dance with his feet, landing by moving his feet into a puzzle of odd spots to keep from landing on the people who rudely were standing where he wanted to land.

Not that he had been given a choice, it was crash into the others or jump, and so he had jumped. He did not have time to look properly, to see where he was going before he got there, as he had been focused on the other Okomo and his sister to the exclusion of most else until the moment he had found them and suddenly needed to stop.

He landed and then hopped again, leaping over a small body and trying to slow himself. He had been moving to fast to stop, but changing direction. Ah, that he could do.

Another hop at another direction, and he was a bit slower. His breath was calming, he was not so rushed. His sister had come to a stop on her mount, and was not in immediate danger so far as he knew or could reason. He had done his job, had gotten her to safety... Though what exactly he had done he was less sure, but he had done it!

Now he was watching more closely his surroundings, piecing together directions and hops a few in advance. Much better. One more hop and.... He felt something bump off his hip. Something large and fleshy which had been moving the other way, but said fleshy person seemed to be someone still looking away who had suddenly changed direction and moved just enough into Moritz flight path of his leap to bump the person aside. All without turning to look! Ah, backing up, yes. But still, without looking for passing Okomo!

Not Moritz fault, he knew, twas this fleshy person who did not turn around before backing up around leaping Okomo. Almost like he wanted to be knocked over.

That last one had been enough, and he had come to a stop on his last hop, and so he turned to find the fleshy person in some type of long wooden water hole above the ground filled with water. For Okomo to drink from maybe? Seemed reasonable.

But this fleshy person seemed to be having problems, as his clothing soaked through and he could not quite seem to get out of the trough he had landed in. There was much splashing and moving and trying to turn the thing over on its side, and grunting oh the grunting! But still it did not budge, and the man seemed to be stuck quite well.

And none of the other less fleshy people about seemed to care or be helping. And Moritz had nothing immediately pressing, now that his sisters mount had been grounded mid flight.

Letting out a huff of air Moritz headed over to the wooden water thing and considered. Try to pull the fleshy man out? No, there was nothing to grip. No fur, nothing like on an animal. The clothe covering, but that did not seem to be able to hold up the fleshy mans weight if Moritz tried to pull him out by it.

After a moment Moritz figured it out, and lowering his head he butted with steady increasing force at the side of the wooden thing just as fleshy man tried to swing himself out without success on the other side.

There was a moment where the wooden thing teetered at an angle, before suddenly it tipped and fell on its side and with a pop and splash of water the man fell out in a great heap.

Then several of the fleshy mans neighbors seemed to notice what was going on, and rushed to help him to his feet. There was more grunting and groaning from many parties, before finally the man got to his feet with a wheeze. "I see, no one but a Okomo to help me when I'm stuck! What do I pay you for eh? Go get me something to dry with you fools!"

The fleshy man simpled met Moritz eye, to which Moritz replied with a small nod of his head in acknowledgement before turning and walking off.

Now where was his sister...

But unfortunately his hops had taken him far from the landing spot of the Okomo's flight and his sister, and so he could not see her. He knew the general direction, but little more. And the people... Everywhere the people... Crowding in such that he had trouble moving for fear of stepping on one of them. Fleshy and bony and big and small and smelly and odd. All pressing and looking and quite a few hands brushing across his fur when he was not looking. But the hands would be gone as soon as he turned about.

Brushing this aside Moritz focused on his goal, finding his sister. Brushing. Moving his head once more, Moritz cleared a path by lightly bumping his head forward, hard enough to make people move but not to knock them over. And that did the trick, as enough of a path just in front of him began moving out of his way so he could make progress.

He bumped and moved to get through people, careful now that he was moving slowly to not step on anything or anyone like the small fleshy little people. Moritz had to step over a few of these, and for some reason when he did this another person became quite alarmed and moved to grab the small fleshy little person from where they had left them walking on the ground by themselves. As if they were better off being jerked off their feet mid-stride when Moritz was doing his best not to step on anything.

Eventually he came to a clear spot, and an opening in the crowd. And then more people, and then more people. And then he felt a gentle hand on his neck, scratching him in just the right way, and his head turned just a bit. He found he had stopped walking, and when the hand stopped he returned his head to its proper orientation and turned to see the man beside him. Moritz snuffed him and found he smelled nice, and was dressed nicely, and in the color that was not a color. He met Moritz eye, and then seemed to smile with his eyes rather than his mouth and pointed and said "That way, you want to go that way."

Moritz let out a huff and then shrugging off the hand as it was withdrawn began heading in the direction pointed to by the nice man.

And another chime, or more, maybe a few more, and then there was his mother and sister, and more people in their many varieties but not so closely packed as before.

In a much more sedate tone Moritz gave a simple "Aaaah" to gather his mothers attention as he walked towards them.

[Amelie Craven]

Amelie Craven

Even after the giant Okomo’s rampage finally came to a halt and a crowd of strangers began to form around the downed creature and the little girl clinging to one of its horns, Amelie did my mice a muscle. The last thing that had caught her attention had been the sight of her brother soaring overhead and disappearing into the distance. She wanted to follow after him, the words in her head told her to stay close to Moritz to make it easier for mommy to find them, but she couldn’t bring herself to move.

Amelie had now idea how long she’d been sat still, perhaps in shock, unable to move and clutching the Okomo’s horn before her ears picked up a very familiar voice amongst the cacophony of the strangers who’d surrounded her at this post. It was thanks to this voice that the little kelvic was finally able to break out of her petrified state, slowly turning to see her mother’s arms reaching toward and lifting her off of the large creature. ”Mommy...” Was all that escaped her little lips, she was still in somewhat of a daze, icy blue eyes glistening with tears that still hadn’t fallen.

As she felt her mother’s arms wrap tightly around her, the mixture of warmth, familiarity and undeniable sense of safety the embrace brought with it allowed Amelie to finally relax, her posture stiffening with a loud sigh as she clutched onto her mom’s clothing. She was okay and she wanted to tell her mom that, she didn’t know where Moritz was though, but before she could say anything her ears were greeted by a new voice.

Still holding onto her mother, her face buried in the comforting warmth and scent of her mother’s chest, Amelie did not turn to look at the man. She didn’t know the man’s voice, but she could tell that he knew mommy by the way they were talking. Listening to her mother’s tone, it didn’t seem like the man was very nice, not if he was making her mommy upset. Lacking any other solution, Amelie could only squeeze her mother tighter in an attempt to return some of the comfort offered as they started walking away from the man’s voice.

Finally breaking away from the long lasting embrace between mother and daughter to look her mom in the eyes, Amelie wiped the tears from her eyes and offered a small smile. ”I’m okay mommy. Please don’t be sad.” The last thing she wanted to do was make her mom sad. ”Let’s go find Moritz, I saw him go that way.” She added, pointing in the direction her naughty little brother had bounced off in, only to be greeted by a familiar ‘Aaah’ coming from behind them.

”Moritz!”

Relieved to spot her giant of a little twin brother safe and sound, Amelie wiggles free of her mother’s grasp and ran to wrap her arms around her Okomo sibling’s neck. ”Thank you for helping Moritz. You’re a good brother.” She’d seen him following close behind throughout the older Okomo’s rampage and was indeed grateful.

[Madeira Dusk]

"Moritz!" Amelie wiggled out of her mother's arms, leaving a smear of colourful paint on the front of her cotton dress, and ran to her brother. Madeira smiled, absently flicking a few sticking flower petals off her skirt. These two were good kids. A handful, yes, and not something she had been prepared for. But as she watched them hug in the middle of the crowd, after having done their best to protect each other, she felt a stirring of some strange, motherly pride.

Following Amelie she put a hand on her daughters shoulder and ran her fingers over the fur between her son's stubby horns. Nothing will ever harm you again, she silently promised them. I won't let it.

Feeling somebody watching, she looked up. Between the shoulders of bustling families and festival goers she could see Iiam, conspicuous in his white robe, watching them. No... Not them together. Squinting behind her glasses she would swear the tough old Shinya was watching Moritz.

"Oh, so cuuute! It's just a baby!"

A little girl, perhaps Amelie's supposed age, broke into the family circle and shattered Madeira's focus. At once the girl's hands were smoothing gently over Moritz's cheeks and his soft little goat beard, her eyes big and round with that awed expression you only see on a little girl confronted with kittens, puppies, and certain types of dolls. She looked to Amelie and smiled. With her dark skin and tightly curled black hair in a long braid, the two looked to be mirror opposites.

"Do you want to paint it with me?"

A young woman who looked to be her mother was following at a more subdued pace. She smiled indulgently at Madeira over the kid's heads, sharing in some mommy camaraderie. Madeira grimaced back, caught uncomfortably between telling these strange people to stop petting her child, and realizing she'd sound like a crazy person to say it aloud. In the ticks the interaction had taken, Iiam disappeared.

[Moritz Craven]

Moritz let out a snuff of air from his nose as he approached his people. His sister, his mother, happy it seemed to see him returning.

As his sister came rushing up, tiny hands in his current form while they were big when he was in his other form, Moritz slowly lowered his head to let his sister reach and pet and pat at his head as she seemed to be wanting to do.

His eyes though turned in a somewhat odd way that would not be possible for Moritz in his other form even with his Okomo eyes due to how his other bits worked. In that form if he put his head down, he could look about but mostly would be looking down. Now though when his head lowered to meet his sisters grasp his eyes turned and continued to look out and forward. Taking in his sister and mother, rather than looking down as his head was pointed.

Tiny hands around his neck, smaller than the full sized Okomo but still big, Moritz knew if her grip was good and he raised his head suddenly she would dangle off the ground.

Moritz replied to his sisters thanks with a simple "Aaah", all that he could manage with his current mouth.

In that moment he felt oddly powerful, and yet cautious. Like... Like a horse moving through a room full of glass things, knowing that with a simple twitch of a haunch he would send bits of glass flying and shattering all over. Similarly he felt in his body a great power, and yet a need to hold it in so as not to send his sister shattering.

He wondered then if all of the Okomo felt as such, walking about near brittle little humans with their snappy little bodies. Unlike Moritz with his Skyglass bones and hooves and horns... Or well what would be horns, but had yet to grow in fully.

It was at once a great power, a great strength, a great thing, and yet a great thing to be responsible for and cautious of lest something ill happen due to not being careful.

Meeting his mothers eyes Moritz let out another smaller "Ahh" as his mind churned and thought. Decided, considered. Acted, by inaction.

An ear twitched though as he was startled by someone suddenly talking nearby, a new tiny voice not his sister which boomed with tiny sounds of excitement.

So focused on being careful was he Moritz moved little more than that, focusing his eyes on this new one to come upon him. A not big but littler person like his sister, though decidedly not his sister.

Letting out a sigh which seemed more of huff of air that ruffled the new girls hair, Moritz relegated himself to being twice as careful now that there were two little girls beside him.

Until she said the word it, in referring to Moritz. Then Moritz gave the girl a glare, and let out a somewhat louder "Aaaah!", though not as harsh as he could and not anywhere near as loud as his earlier chase cry. Quite clearly he was saying "Not it, he!" But then, he was currently only fully understandable to other Okomo.

Otherwise he kept still, cautious of overturning one of the small forms so close to him.

[Amelie Craven]

Amelie Craven

Amelie had been so consumed by her relief to find her brother and need to thank him for his daring rescue while she was on the giant, wild, Okomo's back, that she'd completely failed to notice the approach of the darker skinned little girl. So startled was she by the approach that she'd unknowingly tightened her hug around her brother's thick neck,  intensifying even more as the girl referred to Moritz as an 'it' and not what he truly was, her sometimes little sometimes big twin brother.

Her first reaction had been to shoot an unimpressed glare at the girl before realising that she meant no harm and was just admiring Moritz' appearance, he was a beautiful Okomo after all, certainly the cutest one she'd ever seen. Admiration she'd allow, painting however,  Amelie lowered her blue gaze to meet her brother's, wondering if he'd be okay with it. She highly doubted it.

Hearing Moritz' clearly unhappy exclamation, Amelie could only guess that he was probably saying something similar to what she'd initially thought. It wouldn't be the first time someone had referred to him as 'it'.

Wrapping her arms more tightly around her brother's thick neck, Amelie spoke in as serious a voice as she could manage, directing her words at the other little girl. "He's not an 'it', he's my brother... Moritz..." she began, completely unaware of how strange it may have sounded to anyone else, "And I don't think he would like that very much... Moritz, 'aaah' two times if you want to be painted and one time if you don't." Being unable to use words sometimes herself, Amelie had taken to using amounts of noises to convey meaning. She hoped by now her family was familiar with the 'once for no, twice for yes' rule, but they always seemed to forget. Silly family.

[Madeira Dusk]

The dark mother had approached and was petting Moritz reverently, her gaze flicking shyly between the Madeira and the two girls. Meanwhile the little girl was almost beside herself with glee, though she was careful to be gentle with her ministrations. Neither seemed to notice the hilariously pouty face on Amellie. At least, not until she spoke.

"He's not an 'it', he's my brother... Moritz..."

Madeira smiled apologetically as the mother caught her eye with clear confusion written in her brown eyes.

"Kelvic", Madeira cleared her throat uncomfortably. The woman's hand whipped off Moritz's furry backside like it had electrocuted her.

"Wow, really?", the dark little girl gasped, not taking that revelation like her mother at all, though she did remove her hands from his face. "Hi Moritz, I'm Clementine! And what's your name? Are you kelvic too?!"

The chattering of the children turned into excitable background noise as the other adult walked around the children and stood beside Madeira, her hands fidgeting contritely in her skirt.

"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't realize..."

"Don't worry about it. And since our children are getting acquainted", she flashed her most charming smile and offered her gloved hand to shake. "I'm Madeira Craven."

"Cora Thom, it's a pleasure", she offered her own timid smile. "Are you the same Craven that was part of that Penrose incident?.."

The release of the Penrose from the Catholicon just last night seemed to have brought that inciting incident right to the forefront of everybody's mind again, if Elena's murder hadn't already. Of course she would be recognized as one of the names on ground zero of the current political strife.

"Yes, but I don't think we should speak about these things in front of the kids."

"Oh, you're right, of course..." The two women watched the children for an uncomfortable tick. "You know, an Okomo kelvic is really incredible. Have you ever thought of barding him?"

"Beg your pardon?"

"Barding. It's that fancy armor and saddles you see on the Shinya's steeds, and some of the hunters. Have you seen them? Beautiful, no? And good protection. I would be great practice if he were to join the Monastery one day. He could be the pride of Lhavit." She smiled, like she was giving her a compliment.

Not a chance, she inwardly seethed. Outwardly she adopted a plastic smile of gratitude, playing the part of a flattered mom. Moritz was going to follow his blood and join the family business, it had been decided the moment he was born. These people had a bad habit of acting like his Okomo half changed anything about his destiny.

"That extra protection would be nice", she conceded truthfully. Thoughts of a moose and bears and landslides flashed briefly through her thoughts. These children had a truly staggering habit of getting into trouble.

[Moritz Craven]

Moritz met his sisters gaze, his square eyes meeting her more human appearing blue eyes. Being an Okomo he could not quite smile, but he did let out a satisfied snuff of air as his sister defended him.

He was not an it, after all, he was a he, an Okomo, a Moritz, but not an it. An it was a thing, a wall, a door, a... Other thing. But not a person, an aware being, a... Person!

However feeling stubborn at the moment, Motitz considered her offer. One or two sounds to mean yes or no. Well what if he did not want to answer yes or no. What if it was a maybe, or a I do not care, or a whatever so long as you keep it out of my eyes? What then? His sister, as nice as she was, did not seem to be giving him the leeway in his thoughts he desired.

He could of course change back, but that seemed a bit overly doing things. Spoiling whatever was to be. And also, that much changing... If another Okomo went off, or something happened, he did not want to be caught tired from shifting overly much...

Instead of answering in either one or two Mortiz stuck out his Okomo tongue and licked the side of his sisters face, and simply met her eyes with what he felt was a -do whatever you want I do not care- look.

Girls after all, even his sister, could be silly at times. Well but not girls, non-Okomo he supposed. Inclduing non Okomo boys, and bigger ones of both of those. Besides the one Okomo from today which did not know how to act about the not dead people, they all seemed as wise and proud and fine as he. If the other Okomo did not care, he supposed in truth he did not either. Let them do as they would.

When the little girl not his sister spoke to him and met his eyes, calling him by name, Moritz replied by licking her on the face as well. A long slow lick which went right up the side of her head and a bit into her hair, whereas the one on his sister had been more a quick movement across her cheek.

While the girls spoke so did the bigger ones, though Moritz was only half hearing and half listening. Which made sense, since he only got about a quarter of what was said.

They seemed to be talking about musicians, though oddly some sort of musician one wore which did not make sense. But then, did not humans make leather from animals, and wear that? So some odd form of clothing made for some sort of animal to wear which was made of people who made music. Or bards, as he knew them.

They were also talking about some sort of building that was one building, but then if it was two buildings would it not be two and thus not one building? Oddity beyond oddity what the big ones spoke about.

Half listening and half hearing Moritz continued to somewhat listen, but focusing more on whatever was going on with the littler ones before him.

[Amelie Craven]

Amelie Craven

Hearing the other little girl's surprise at Moritz being her brother, Amelie could only watch in confusion as her mother explained that Moritz was a kelvic, that seemed to solve the problem as the girl introduced herself. Clementine. A funny name, though sometimes she felt like most names were silly, not Madeira, Moritz, Allister, Emma, Lani, Jomi and Finity though, those were pretty names, hers was too. "My name's Amelie Minerva Craven and yes, I'm a kelvic too..." She began, proudly stating her name and straightening her posture like Mommy had shown her. "... a Misty Fox." She practically beamed during the confession, delighted in being able to share the truth of her animal form, not that it was a secret.

Despite her very clear and simple system, Amelie could only frown as her brother refused to make use of it, neither saying yes or no, but choosing instead to offer both herself and the other girl a little lick,  which she responded too with a joyful giggle. "He didn't say no, so I think he's with it, Clem!" Clementine was an awfully long name to try and say properly everytime she spoke to the girl she'd taken it upon herself to shorten it to something more convenient.

The girl practically jumped at her response, though Amelie assumed it was more to do with being able to paint Moritz as Clementine poked her fingers into her bucket of green paint in excitement, already beginning to try and draw spirally shapes on one of her brother's horns. "Don't get in Moritz' eyes okay, Clem?" She said as she dipped her own fingers into her bucket of blue paint and began, very carefully, drawing a downward pointing arrow between her brother's eyes. "Don't worry Moritz, I'll make sure she's careful, kay?" She added, holding his large head between her small paint covered hands and leaving very clear hand prints on what she thought of as his cheeks.

"Clem, what's your favourite colour?" She asked as she stood back, pondering where and what to paint next. She had to admit, painting Moritz was a lot of fun and she wondered if she could do it more often. Would he let her? She was surprised he was letting them do it now, so she doubted it.

As the two girls continued painting, both of them concentrating deeply on the task at hand, Amelie's keen hearing picked up on the conversation between her mother's very familiar voice and Clem's mom. They were talking about Moritz and something called 'barding'. "Mommy... What's baarding?" If it involved her sometimes little sometimes big twin brother, she wanted to know.

[Madeira Dusk]

"It's so interesting to meet you, Madeira", Cora began as the talk of barding settled and the children began chatting with each other. "I've heard some things about you, of course. Your name pops up in some crazy rumors! Word is you know Aysel personally..." She looked up shyly from under her lashed, but her expression was hungry and hopeful.

Oh great, she's a gossip.

Madeira laughed jovially, a decade of Lying practice on full display as she rolled her eyes skyward like it was all just so hilarious. "People can be so weird about foreigners! I don't know where they come up with half the things they say. I only met Aysel once, quite by... accident. He's a good, diligent man" and a total prick.

Dejected but not dissuaded, Cora opened her mouth to try and pry something juicy out of her, but Madeira beat her to it.

"Moritz!" Madeira's voice cracked like a whip, clearly appalled. "A Craven does not lick people!"

Too late. A slimy trail of saliva had already been left on the soft cheeks of the two giggling girls. Even Cora was chuckling behind her hand, both at the antics of the children and Madeira's reaction to it.

"It's okay, Madeira. Nobody thinks it's strange. He's an Okomo, after all." She smiled prettily just as the girl's pulled out the paint and stuck their little hands into the colour. Within moments Moritz's pastel fur bloomed with even more colour; handprints and swirls and a neat blue arrow in brilliant shades.

The children were enjoying themselves. Amelie laughing with another girl her own supposed age, and Moritz was mingling with his own kind. It was sweet and wholesome, even after the stressful event between. But Madeira could only sigh. She was beginning to see this whole trip as a bad idea. These were not normal children, these two were Craven's. She should not be encouraging them with disgraceful behavior, and she should not be adding fuel to her small slice of notoriety with gossip.

"Mommy... What's barding?"

"Its..." she pondered the question carefully. It would be a mistake to make the idea of special armor exciting. If it had the ability to make Moritz look 'cool' one or both children would for sure be enamoured with it. And not only did she not want to shell out the hundreds of kina it would take to make that dream a reality, she did not want anybody getting the idea that being a Shinya was awesome. She would have to tread lightly here.

"It's these protective layers of leather and metal that mounts wear when other people ride them. So it hurts less when they fall."

There. If a drier explanation of badass battle armor exists she had yet to hear it. Just as she let herself feel relieved that she had dodged that particular arrow, Cora pointed towards a helpful example.

"See over there, sweetheart? That's what she means."

A glittering example of peak Okomohood had wandered into their little corner of the festival with his rider. Standing fourteen hands high with thickly muscled legs and a glittering rainbow coat, he was a truly exceptional specimen even without the hundred pounds of armor he was wearing. Iron greaves and helmet were inlaid with silver scrollwork that flashed in the sun. Across his chest was a scaled breastplate with Zintia's sigil embossed in such crisp detail it looked like the goddess had done it herself. On his back was a low leather saddle shining with oil. Together with his similarly adorned rider, the two had an air of majestic power.

Madeira clapped her hands sharply.

"Okay, it's getting late! Lets go home, children. It's been an exciting day", she began shooing Amelie and Moritz along.

"Oh, already?" Cora looked rather put out. "The children were getting along so well."

"Another time, perhaps."

"A playdate sounds fun", she pulled Clementine close, wiping a spot of paint off her daughters cheek. "I'll send you a letter, okay?"

Madeira didn't let herself wonder how this stranger was going to find her address. She was busy shooing her children along.