Brother And Sister; or , The Warriormaid Learns Some History.

From Redwall MUCK Wiki


The Redwall Abbey Infirmary....

Seth walks into th infirm to look around, he is bored and the one abbey brother is being annoying to him.He stays close to the door.

DoraRose is ready to be released from the infirm, and she is standing by her old bed with 3 healers, leaning on a walking staff. Her blue eyes show a little worry, but they are smiling as she takes in all the information the healers are giving her. Her left arm is in a sling to help her remember to not use it, and the cut on her left cheek seems to be healing nicely, although it will scar. She is dressed in a plain green habit with a brown belt.

Seth sees the mousemaid and hides behide one of the chairs and watches her from behind it, he is also still close to the door.

DoraRose smiles and nods, then heads to the door, slowly and carefully, limping slightly. She passes right by the dibbun and at least seems to not notice him.

Seth frowns some, he then leaves for the hallway, curious of why the mousemaid is limping but doesn't ask.

DoraRose is in the hallway when she hears footsteps. Looking around, she has the presence of mind to look down, and she smiles at the sight her eyes behold. "Well, hello." She says to the dibbun behind her. "My name's DoraRose. What's yours?"

Seth starts to back up, "Seth....you a sister here?"

DoraRose smiles a little more and shakes her head. "Oh, no, I'm not. I'm just wearing this habit until I can get my clothes fixed." She nods towards her sling-bound arm. "It's kinda hard to sew when you only have 1 good paw."

Seth nods "Oh..what ya hurt for?"

DoraRose sighs a little. "My friends and I went after a bad, evil fox, and I was hurt in the fight with him." Leaning on the walking staff, she smiles a little more. "Let's go outside...I'm sick of being inside."

And they head off to the Abbey Pond...

DoraRose is walking slowly from the Abbey building, limping slightly, but enjoying the fresh air. She is leaning on her staff as she makes her way to the pond.

Seth follows the mousemaid over to the pond, he kicks a pebble into the pond and watches the ripples make circles.

Taran makes his way from the orchards, he goes to sit by the edge of the pond.

Zarok trots into the pond area and sits down on the banks, dipping his feet in the shallows. From another direction, Emyuil strides in, garbed as he was during the battle in which Vladmir was slain--Old traveling cloak and simple tunic. He still holds an aura of cruel majesty about him, despite the recent changes in his persona.

DoraRose sits down on a log near the pond's edge, laying her walking staff on the ground beside her. Her blue eyes are a swirl of various emotions, with worry and happiness vying for dominance, and the long, narrow cut on her left cheek makes her look older than she is. Her left arm is in a sling to help her remember to not use it, and the sling compliments the plain green habit, belted with a brown rope belt, that she is wearing. She picks up a rock and sips it as Taran, Zarok, and her brother come, and she smiles at each of them.

Seth sees the fox and looks like he rather bolt that, he gets a rock and then drops it and quickly leaves muttering, "Dum..fox"

Zarok nibbles on the tip of his tail nervously, gazing into the distance and trying to remember something. Meanwhile, Emyuil sits down on the other end of the log, saying, "You've recovered, then."

DoraRose looks Emyuil in the eye. "Only enough to be released from the infirmary. They said I can't do anything strenuous for another few weeks." She turns to Zarok and pats the ground beside her, saying, "C'mere, sweetheart, please sit by me."

Taran looks over at the crowd of beasts and then waves "h..h..hi there"

Zarok scrambles over and leaps lightly onto the indicated point. Emyuil returns 'Rose's' gaze silently.

Shandar walks slowly. The little mouse doesn't look as if she got any sleep, but she seems happy nonetheless, and the happiness grows as she sees DoraRose and company by the pond. She runs over, careful not to trip on her cloak hem, her smile crossing her whole face. "Hi! DoraRose, you're walking!" She doesn't know if DoraRose was walking or not, but she doesn't see a stretcher or wheelchair anywhere, so how else could the older mouse have gotten out of the Infirmary?

DoraRose sighs, then returns the fox's wave. "Hey, Taran. How are you?" hugging the little lizard, she turns back to her brother, her blue eyes searching his face. She gives a little jump as the mouse dibbun calls her name, and she turns her attention there. "Well, Shandar! Hello! Yes, I am, though I have to use a staff to help me not fall over." She says with a smile.

Taran says, "I..I am ok and..the bees are ok..long as no one..b..b..brothers them, they sleep soon for winter."

Zarok hugs DoraRose, saying, "ssssStaff fine, az long as you can walkzz, rightzz? An' you can usssse it az weapon if you have to." Meanwhile, Emyuil's dark eyes reveal nothing.

Shandar sits on the grass, legs out, one crossed over the other as she leans back on her forepaws. "Staff is good." She agrees with Zarok. A modest weapon, but powerful. "And soon I bet you won't even need /that/!" She doesn't feel the need to ask if DoraRose is feeling better. She must be, if she can walk around, granted, with help. Shandar leans over and hugs her. "I'm glad you're better."

DoraRose hugs Shandar back. "Thank you. I'm glad, too." Glancing over at Taran, she asks him, "Would you like to join us?" She sits back a little, and skips another rock, smiling as she gets 3 skips out of it.

Taran nods and walks over, he sits down.

Zarok finds a pebble and adjusts his posture, tossing it up and down in his paw a few times. Emyuil holds his silence, regarding DoraRose with an unreadable expression.

Shandar looks around at the other creatures by the pond. The older male mouse gets a wave, as she recalls his face, but not his name. Taran gets waved at as well. "Hi Taran." Zarok's tossing of the stone attracts her attention, and she watches the young lizard, wondering what he's up to.

DoraRose sighs, glancing at her brother. "What's wrong, Emyuil? Can I help you with it?" the look on her face implies that she's readying herself for a verbal assault...maybe even a words-only battle.

Zarok suddenly tosses the rock up in the air and turns swiftly, smashing his thick, powerful tail against the airborne object, sending the pebble flying across the pond, landing with a "whop!" in the opposite bank. Emyuil sighs and finally says, "Just thinking...So much has changed."

Shandar watches the stone fly out with interest, and her mouth forms an 'o' as it hits the other side of the pond, her dark eyes wide. Wouldn't it be nice if /she/ had a tail like that? She curls her tail in her lap almost without noticing, thinking how much that would hurt if she tried that. She manages to pay some amount of attention to the other two mice. So /that's/ what his name is...Emyuil.

DoraRose coughs slightly as Zarok's rock makes contact with the other side of the pond. OK, that's cool. Why can't she do that? "Yes, brother, allot has changed. For better or worse."

"Yeah. A lot...So...all right if we catch up a bit, 'Rose?" Emyuil asks, as Zarok scrounges for another rock.

Shandar is now paying absolutley no attention to Zarok. She has seen his little trick, and now wants to know what's up between DoraRose and Emyuil. She watches them converse, her head following them as they exchange words. She doesn't want to intrude- somehow, it feels rather personal- but she is curious.

DoraRose nods, her face hardening, and the sorrow and pain she has carried around for 4 seasons showing just a little as she says in a rather flat voice, "Sounds good."

"Should you go first, or should I?" Emyuil inquires quietly. Zarok meanwhile tosses the pebble up, but at the feel of sudden tension in the air and in the beasts' voices, turns around to observe, the stone falling to the ground forgotten.

Shandar decides that DoraRose needs another hug. So she gives her one. Shandar, though often sad herself, doesn't like being sad, and especially doesn't like to see others sad. Or looking like DoraRose does now. Since she doesn't know Emyuil, she doesn't care nearly as much if he is just as, or more, upset than her own friends.

DoraRose picks up another rock. "I don't care...you decide." she wraps her good arm around Shandar and looks very intently at the rock in her paw. She is sad, and it's mostly because she's remembering her sister, LiylMoore....why did she have to die? The warriormaid mentaly wonders.

"I'll start then...I assume you're wondering how I made the change from future weaponsmith to...what you saw in the woodlands?" Emyuil says, stumbling a bit over the last part. Zarok circles DR, trying to find a way to hug her without touching her injured arm.

Shandar releases DoraRose, giving Zarok room to hug her, too. She has no idea who Emyuil was before, or who he is now, so it won't make much of a difference to her, but it seems like a big deal for DoraRose if it is being brought up. To DoraRose, she whispers. "Is he your brother?"

DoraRose nods to Shandar's question, then turns back to her brother. "A little. What I saw in the woodlands was my baby brother, very depressed, and a baby no longer. He is now a warrior." She sighs, then throws the rock she had been holding as far as she can. A small splash sounds out as it falls about three-quarters of the way across the pond.

"More than a warrior...I was a killer." Emyuil sighs. "When Lily...died...and I left, I was hurting. And I wanted to make the fox stop hurting beasts. Then I realized that even if he were dead, more beasts like him would come...So I tried to stop them all...'Rose...Do you know just how many beasts fell to my black sword before I was satisfied..." Something's eating at his soul. Zarok embraces DoraRose swiftly.

Shandar is slightly scared by Emyuil. She tries to hide it, and does a rather good job of it. Practice makes perfect, they say. She knows little of Lily, and what she knows is from DoraRose, so it must be true. She can't stop herself from speaking out. "But aren't killers less than warriors?" She realizes as soon as she's said that's rude, /and/ no matter how scared of him she is, he's DoraRose's /brother/. She covers her mouth with a paw and mumbles a 'sorry.'

DoraRose looks Emyuil in the eye. "Do I want to?" She glances at Shandar, but doesn't repramand her, since she seems ashamed of herself. Wrapping her good arm around Zarok, she continues to levely look her brother in the eye.

"No. But you should know--it wasn't just that clearing. It was a /lot./ I wanted to make the world right, so nobeast would be hurt, so there wouldn't be any more Stormfeathers in this life--But I killed so /many/ and it wasn't enough...it still isn't." Emyuil shakes his head.

Shandar has made the descision to not say anything else until this is over. Unless she really really needs to. And even then. She tries not to think too hard about Emyuil's words. She doesn't understand it all, but she understands enough.

DoraRose sighs and reaches over to stroke Shandar's head. "Revenge can't be satisfied. Believe me. I learned that the hard way." Sighing again, she looks over the pond, her eyebrows creased together in a frown. "I'm sorry. Go on. I'm listening."

"It's not enough. The blood wasn't enough. The fox is dead. But it's not enough...How many more must die? Perhaps all...Sister...I killed so many, so.../coldly/...so mercilessly...that a rumor began in the forest that I was part rat. And that's what I named myself. Emyuil Half-Rat. The Black Sword...Because I'll never be Emyuil Streamstone again." Zarok meanwhile holds his silence, not sure what to do.

Shandar is /very/ scared now by Emyuil, and bites her lip to help herself stay quiet. Half-rat? How...horrible that sounds! But still, he's an important mouse and she cannot be rude to him. Unless...he really is half rat! oh dear, she should not have come to that conclusion. She shakes a bit as she listens to the older beasts talk.

DoraRose looks between the 2 dibbuns, then murmers to them, "Would you 2 like to go play farther along the bank? Maybe you can see who can skip rocks the farthest...just don't use your tail, Zarok." She smiles encouragingly. Emyuil can wait a few moments.

Zarok nods. "But why no tail?" Without waiting for an answer, he scoots off down the bank, one paw in water, one out. Emyuil awaits a response.

Shandar nods and stands, going to follow Zarok. She pauses a few times along the bank to pick up pretty stones, slightly relieved at DoraRose's suggestion.

Zarok eats a stone by accident.

Shandar travels a tad farther down the pondside before stopping. By now she has collected two small piles of stones- pretty, decorative ones, and good flat skipping stones.

DoraRose turns back to her brother. "But you can!" she says quietly, then sighs and rubs her eyes. "I'm sorry...I'm trying to listen, but it's so hard, you being my brother and all." She laughs slightly. "I guess I've missed fighting with my siblings."

"No...Streamstone is dead. The laughter is dead. The innocence is /dead./" Emyuil stands up. "And my hunting will never be done." He stalks away, murmuring, "The Black Sword has yet more blood to drink." He's heading towards the Gatehouse, where his blade is. Meanwhile, Zarok realizes that the rock tasted good. Needs a little salt, but all the same...it's alright.

DoraRose watches her brother leave, and stands to try and follow him, grabbing her staff. "No, Emyuil, wait, please." She steps on her bad leg wrong, and falls to the ground with a cry of agony.

Shandar has been skipping stones, saving the nice ones, and is startled by the cry. She turns towards the sound. "DoraRose? DoraRose!" She ditches her cloak so she can run properly, and makes it the older mouse quickly. She tries not to panic- DoraRose is much to big for her to lift, but maybe she can be of service in some other way. "Um..." She sees the cane, takes it and DoraRose's good paw. "If you stand, you can lean on me.." She may be just the right height to make an armrest, or another cane.

DoraRose nods and stands, slowly, and leans on both the staff and Shandar as tears of pain and sorrow pour down her cheeks, even though she's trying to keep them in check.

Shandar tries not to cry with DoraRose. It doesn't seem as if that would help anything. "Cummon...Let's go somewhere else." She manages to hold the weight she's been given, but she doesn't know for how long she'll be able to.

DoraRose looks very tired as she nods. "Yes...the...Infirmary...please..." she takes a little bit of her wieght of the dibbun and leans more heavily on her staff as she starts to walk in the direction of the Abbey building.

Shandar keeps pace with her, glad that the cane is there. it helps both herself and DoraRose. quite useful.

DoraRose heads to the Infirmary, seeking sleep, silence...and piankillers.

Shandar continues to walk with the older mouse, trying not to be worried. All creatures heal. From most things, anyway. DoraRose'll survive.

Thanks for reading!