Coffee, rumors of Ulurguug, and seeds of change

Delrin glanced over at Walter, who looked intrigued, but merely shrugged. With no help from that quarter, Delrin figured he had to accept, or risk insulting his host.

"I would be honored to meet your master. I will catch up with you for Dinner, if you are free Walter... Please lead the way brother."

Delrin was shown to a side door hidden by an old looking tapestry. The tapestry seemed to depict a scene from one of the Urakai-human wars, but Delrin, did not have time to study it in detail. A narrow passage lead back towards the rear of the chapel. Along the walls sconces were glowing with no obvious smoke. Having seen Korbel's domicile, Delrin assumed this was more prefall magic. Not sup rising considering the places history. The passed by two doors and another corridor leading off to the right, before finally coming to a small wooden door. The priest knocked once, waited for a brief reply, and then indicated that Delrin should enter.

Delrin entered what appeared to be a small private library. Perhaps two dozen old volumes lined the walls, with perhaps twice that many scrolls. The master was sitting in one of two large leather chairs. As Delrin entered the master rose and indicated the chair opposite him. He had changed from his formal robes into a tan woolen jacket, with black hose. To Delrin's eyes, the man seeemed to dominate a room, regardless of his clothing. As he stood, Delrin was reminded again of his cat like agility. Glorm was the only other man he could remember moving with that kind of grace, and of course he wasn't even human. Delrin walked to the corner where the two chairs faced and noticed a steaming pot of coffee sitting on a small end table. As he got closer, he realized it brewed in a very odd style, with many sweet smelling herbs. At first he couldn't place the smell, but then he recalled this was how his old friend Aaron drank his coffee; triple strong with Cardamon, three helping of sugar and the grounds still in the pot. Thinking back he replied in Urakai "Garbach dom Harakor". which roughly translated meant "Thank you Brave warrior".

The masters eyes twinkled and he replied at length in Urakai. When he noticed Delrin's eyes glaze over. He chuckled quietly putting Delrin back at ease. "Please sit and enjoy some coffee with me. What a pleasure it is to have visitor from Kethem. I take it you are not an official envoy from you bretheren; what brings you to our enclave?"

"I am only an acolyte sent by my priest to see more of the world, and thus learn the greatness of Gaia. My companion and I happened upon your wonderful sanctuary purely by chance."

"Ahh Delrin, nothing in this world is purely coincidence. I am sure your Ghod brought you here for a reason."

"No doubt you are correct, for I have already learned a great deal from Walter, and yourself. This place seems to engender a peacefulness that brings inner calm and wisdom. I particularly enjoyed your sermon today; the wolf analogy spoke to me at a very personal level. It is a shame you cannot bring your message of peace to Kethem. Although we enjoy a strong centralized government and reasonable standard of living, I fear there are forces at work that are not entirely wholesome. Groups like the KNI believe the ends always justifies the means..."

Brandin chuckled darkly and continued. "Unfortunately governments are seldom run by good men, and that is why we clerics must help guide societies morals. Helping all men rise above their base beginnings."

"You mentioned bringing all of the races together including the trolls. Now, the trolls have always fascinated me. It is a shame Kethem had to stir things up with the Kom offensive. Isn't it true that the Trollish Lyre Ulurguug was supposedly stolen not far from here, in Tendut?"

Brandin looked at him oddly. "A strange notion of distance, since Tendut is a fair distance from us. But, yes, Ulurguug was stolen from a Great Troll named Vugnew. It is widely regarded as one of the root causes of the Troll-Human war. Not many are familiar with the story; where did you learn of it?"

Delrin replied quickly "Our knowledge priests, the Hectlacs, keep old stories like the story of Ulurguug alive."

Brandin nodded, but looked doubtful. "The Lyre was never recovered, despite some fairly high level magic used to try to determine the culprit. Some believed it was the curse of the dying Great Troll that disrupted the spells. Others had different interpretations."

"Does anyone know what finally became of the Lyre?"

"There is mention of one spell that had some limited results." Brandin frowned as he pulled the information from his memory. "Point to sea, point to me, buried under signs of three, first to hide, then to ride, the Lyre is now a ravished bride, but the Groom, he finds his doom, in a carefully concealed room, puppet master, plans disaster, brings the fall on even faster."

Delrin pursed his lips, put his finger to his chin, and looked thoughtful. "Well, interesting. Interesting indeed. Meaningless, but interesting. Is there some reason why magic spells for getting information always seem to generate things that are both inane, ridiculously complicated riddles and exhibit a hideously bad ryhme and rythm?"

"Oh... well," replied Brandin, "It's all part of the story line, actually."

Delrin narrowed his eyes. "Thought so. And, if you don't mind my asking, how the hell do you happen to know that particular rhyme off the top of your head?"

Brandin shrugged. "Less typing? I mean, to really find such a thing would take a trip to the Library, finding books, and all of that rot. Where as, this was a simple sentence before you had to go and muck it up, and I would point out that we COULD be getting along with the story line instead.

Delrin rocked back on his heels. "Is there some message here?"

Brandin shook his head. "No, only the author having a little fun. Shall we get on with it?"

Delrin finally nodded agreement. "You know Brandin, I was very moved by your concept of unity within the Lanitolis sea. It would be truly wonderful, if all beings could live together peacefully helping one another, but even to me this idea is slightly idealistic. How do you think you can make headway against the major political powers like the Kethem High Council, the KNI, and the elves to mention a few? All of these groups seem more than willing to let the ends justify the means, and even the best advice from Clerics will hardly sway them... Even the task of unifying Pranan seems daunting to an acolyte like myself. How can even a great one such as yourself hope to make progress in such a political world?"

Brandin looked solemn and pressed his fingertips together while he carefully picked his words. "There is a book called 'The once and future king' by T.H. White. Have you ever read it?"

Delrin decided now was not the time to bring up his little reading problem. "No."

"In it, a great king attempted to bring a new idea into existence. This law was summarized as 'might for right instead of might makes right'. In the end, an evil man used the king's own law to bring him to ruin. And yet, the end of the book holds out hope, because one page boy escapes the destruction of the king and his army with a command, to keep the dream alive. Do you understand what I am saying?"

Delrin nodded. "You think that by seeding the idea, you will be able to make the concept grow over time."

Brandin smiled. "Exactly. You have to remember that the Enclave has been in existence for a very long time, and I and my predecessors tend to think in terms of the long run. The best I could hope for in the next twenty years would be the start of a unified Pranan, with a structure of trade agreements and mutually agreed to and enforced rules for the City States, and possibly the free Urakou to the North, to work with one another. The entire Lanotalis sea? That is at least a hundred years away, maybe more. But the loftier the goal, the more worthwhile the effort to bring it to fruition."

After a few more pleasantries, Delrin politely excused himself, sensing that Brandin had other things to attend to.

Fuji was getting quite nervous by the time Delrin emerged from the temple. He had noticed Druid entering the temple for the 3:00 pm service, but when the service let out, Delrin was nowhere to be seen. Suspecting the worst Fuji had decided to keep an eye on the building until dark, and then decide on his next move. As it turned out Delrin emerged, apparently unharmed just before sunset. As the druid headed for the bunkhouse, Fuji joined him.

"Some things have come up Fuji that are rather curious. I think that Sid will want to have a chat with this Master fellow. I have told the priests we will be staying another few nights. Tomorrow morning I will take a stroll outside the perimeter; telling the guard I am communing with Nature. Using Chronos, I will make sure I am not being followed, and then join up with the party. It should only take me a few hours to brief Sid and Glorm, and then I will rejoin you for a few days "mediation" here. Sid can "'happen by' the day after next, and then we will already be in place as his backup."

The druid smiled broadly and looked at Fuji for a response to his plan.

Fuji shook his head, spat on the ground and replied "You are spending way to much time around Sid." He ended his sentence with a loud fart and kept walking.

The next morning Delrin slipped out of the enclave and hiked to the camp without incident. Sid listened to Delrin relate his tale. He grimaced in exasperation.

"Planting a dagger in the right back up to the hilt would be a damn sight more direct and efficacious if you ask me. Visionaries. Pah! If they'd stop looking so far into the future and pay more attention to the present, they'd get more done. The Future is merely the Present in the past. Put that in your sophistic pipe and smoke it. Then you might actually stand a chance of changing the world.

"No, my dear tree-hugger, the Future is changed in the present by clear thought, hard work, random chance and good, old-fashioned treachery. Keep that ever fixed in your mind. For instance, when we finally get our hands on DemonBinder and BlackHeart there's gonna be a whole lotta shakin' goin' on. Count on it.

"Now, if Doorbell would give us a call back on the blower and let us know what he found out about Bradford's message ring and tell us what he knows about these here K'racked Heads we can make a plan, get our act in gear, hit the library and lay waste to all those burning questions that have plagued us for the last few months. If we manage to get even one of our irons a bit further into the fire, we'll be rockin' and rollin' before you can say Fats Domino!"

"Uh, Fats who?"

"Let's just go see Brindin and cut a deal for library time. I think we've got some info we can trade for access. I can trade my super secret information about the Urakai black ship in exchange for complete library access. Perhaps with some subtlety I can get a free set of Ginsu knives thrown in. Heh Heh Heh."

Glorm, who had been drinking quietly with Cookie looked up and remarked "Uh Sid, wouldn't it be simpler to trade that Diary for library access. I know your conspiracy theories are invaluable, but maybe they are just a little too valuable this time. It might save us some valuable time to just offer the book and be done with it. These guys seem to really like collecting old books, and the diary certainly qualifies as one. Worst case they figure out where the KNI base is and cause old Corporal so and so to spew out some more reports on minor irregularities. No skin off our nose either way...."

Delrin broke in. "Ah, ok, but his name is Brandin!"

"Brandin, Brindin, Rin-Tin-Tin-din, what's the diff? Even *he* doesn't care so long as our gossip is juicy! He's a *businessman*."

"Whatever you say. Lord Spud."

"Watch it, nature-boy..."