Is he good, or is he bad? or A friend lost, a friend gained

FV:Orchards

You have come upon a large orchards that has apple trees in one area, pear trees in another, some peach trees and some walnut and almond trees in another area of the orchards. A couple plum trees are on the far side of the orchards and on the sides some blackberry bushes and wild strawberries.A path heads back to the fields where crops grow.

Exits: [B]ack to Fields

Nightbreath the ermine. Blisa the cat and Ferdinand the ferret. Malcoda the marten. Melody the wildcat.

Nightbreath sits in a clearing in the orchard, sitting contently and humming an ancient tune for concentration as he works his claws through a complex series of gestures, eyes closed as he meditates.

Blisa comes skipping through the orchard, happily looking around her at the changing leaves and baring trees. She stops, takes a deep breath, and sighs contentedly, allowing Ferdinand to catch up to her as he walks leisurely. The kitten spots the Seer and waves. "Hello, Mr. Nightbreath!" She trots over to him, her bodyguard a mere footstep behind.

Malcoda sees Blisa and brightens up, following her to Nightbreath. This should get his mind off of Dylan, "Hello Blisa...your father seems a bit suspicious of me, but I still don't think you mind hanging out with me, right?"

"Hail, little one," Nightbreath calls to his pupil in the ways of unarmed combat. "What would you like to learn today? A fine day, is it not?" he adds.

Malcoda smiles at Nightbreath winningly as he approaches, "Hello, I'm an aquaintance of Blisa's, the name is Gallant. Who are you?"

Blisa looks offended. "I'm not little." The look and feeling passes quickly, though, as she changes subjects. "I wanna learn anything you'd like to teach me!" Ferdinand stares at the marten. "I thought you said you're name wath Malcoda."

Malcoda nods to Ferdinand, "Gallant is my stage name as a tavern bard. It seemed more...charismatic."

"Very well." Nightbreath stands up. "Stand before me, learner," he says, repeating the timeless call of Seers to those who wish to learn from them. "I call ye to learn the craft of your choice," he intones, "and may thou do well."

Blisa jumps up and down impatiently. "You were teaching me how to fight at Redwall, remember? I wanna do that!" She glances over at Malcoda as he wanders off, then turns back to the Seer. "Plleeeaassse??" Ferdinand stares in the direction the marten went, still suspicious of him.

Nightbreath stretches once and nods affirmatively. "Very well. Put your paws up to guard your face."

Blisa covers her face with her paws, frowns, and shifts them to a boxers stance thing. "Like this?" Ferdinand sits at the base of a tree, pulling his cloak around him so as to avoid getting a wet rump. He is alert and ready to defend if necessary, but he is sure that the Seer has everything under control.

"Exactly," Nightbreath says, nodding approvingly. "Now attempt to block my blows without ever striking back. Ready?" Having said this, he lunges with paw outstretched, striking rapidly but coming within an inch or so rather than actually touching Blisa. Quickly another blow follows the first.

Blisa blocks the blow by swiping with one paw, very, very quickly bringing it back as she rapidly swipes with the other paw. Even though she's focused, totally wrapped up in her lesson, she looks slightly bored.

Noting this, Nightbreath takes things up a notch, launching three swift strikes, two high and one low.

Blisa gasps as her teacher amps up the lesson, swiftly blocking the first two, but giving a slight shriek as the low hit slips past her paw by a hairsbreadth. She doesn't look bored any more...

"Control your surprise!" Nightbreath barks, sending a blow arcing towards Blisa's face. "HYAH!"

Blisa bares her teeth in an almost feral-looking smile. Blocking the blow, she also bends back, looking similar to a young tree in a breeze. She stands upright again, not off balance one little bit.

"Well /done/!" Nightbreath exclaims. "But be ready for the unexpected--" He launches a quick kick low at Blisa to sweep her off her footpaws, an old favorite trick of his.

Blisa jumps up and lands on her tippy-toes, slightly off balance, but growling defiantly. "If I was allowed to fight back, I'd be biting you right now." Ferdinand stifles a laugh, knowing that she would be, indeed.

"I do not doubt it," Nightbreath says calmly as he launches a hooking left paw at Blisa, following with an uppercut with his right.

Blisa fights back the urge to bite and claw by swiping the hits away even faster....well, okay, she misses the uppercut, but at least she's trying.

Nightbreath launches two more blows, and calls a halt, hardly sweating. "Well done."

Blisa smiles and jumps around in a circle on her tip-toes, filled with energy. "That was fun! What now?" Ferdinand smiles and keeps watch, not wanting to interfere.

"I am proud of thee," Nightbreath says, smiling. "Well done," he says again. "Now try this." He splays his claws out and rips at empty air.

The lanky form of Malcoda reappears, saying, "Good evening."

Blisa grins and copies her teacher's movements to the letter, then tries it again, and then a third time. Ferdinand stands up, smoothing down his tail, which has poufed up at the reappearance of the marten. "Good evening." he replies.

Malcoda looks at Nightbreath teaching Blisa, and slowly shakes his head, "Tsktsktsk..."

"What is thy problem?" Nightbreath inquires of the marten.

Blisa frowns, then goes over to her bodyguard and slips her paw into his left one, just in case he needs to draw his sabre. Not that she is expecting that. It's just a habit. Ferdinand glances between the other two males, simply watching for now. But ready to jump in if need be.

Malcoda asks Nightbreath, "Where did you learn to fight?"

"I was trained by Aronuur the Seer," Nightbreath says, looking annoyed. "Does thou scorn my art?"

Malcoda shakes his head "No, I merely have other opinons, my dear seer."

"Such as?" Nightbreath says, raising an eyebrow. "What 'other opinions'? And why does thou shake thy head at the training?"

Blisa glances between the two, but decides that, if Ferdinand wasn't interfering, then she probably shouldn't either. Her bodyguard rests his paw oh-so-casually on his sabre hilt, as if to rest it, but in actuality he wants to be as prepared as he possibly can.

Malcoda looks to Blisa, "This mentor of yours, what is his name?"

"I am Nightbreath," the Seer says. "Aide to Scioto of Ferravale and mentor to Ragg of Ferravale."

Blisa swallows nervously, but manages to say boldly, "He's the Seer of Ferravale, and he knows lots of stuff. Daddy gave him permission to teach me how to fight without weapons. Just my body as a weapon." Ferdinand purses his lips, watching, observing, prepared.

Malcoda bows to Nighbreath, "I am at your service then. Pardon my previous rudeness." He then kneels down to Blisa's height, "Your Nightbreath is a seer, and he is pretty good, but if you fight like he does, your opponent might just get up again when you turn your back. Do you really want to take the risk?" (OOC: Nightbreath had to leave, and he didn't have time to pose out. And it was in the middle of this pose. BIC:)

Blisa frowns in slight confusion. "Why did you talk that way to Nightbreath? He's nice, especially when you get to know him." Ferdinand nods, then looks around, pretending to not be all that interested in the marten. The kitten frowns more deeply as Malcoda speaks to her. "What risk? If I claw their throat out, how can they get back up and hurt me? I don't understand."

Malcoda frowns, "Are you sure that he's taught you to do just that? And what if you don't want them dead?" He had not expected this answer, and now wondered about Nightbreath for a different reason.

Ferdinand turns back to the marten and stares at him, his golden eyes revealing thinly veiled distrust. Blisa furrows her forehead. "No, he didn't teach me. I've come up with it myself. And if they're attacking me, why wouldn't I want them dead? Or at least so badly injured that they have to go to Redwall or someplace for healing?"

Malcoda nods, "That's what I was thinking, but I felt he should be teaching you that kind of thing...why, my friend just barely survived an encounter with a big, really tough snake." He stands up again and peers at Ferdinand like he's turned into a hare.

Blisa is frowning still. "Why should he be teaching me how to kill beasts? He's just teaching me how to defend myself. Why are you lookign at Ferdy like that?" She looks between the two young adult beasts, suddenly a little afraid. Ferdinand smiles thinly. "May I help you?" he asks coldly, not liking the way this conversation is turning out. Not. at. all.

Malcoda shuffles his foot in the grass and says, "No. I just wanted to tell Blisa that there is a sale on ocean fish dishes in the tavern today."

Ferdinand raises an eyebrow. "Really? Ocean fith? Wanna go buy thome ocean fith for dinner, Blitha?" The kitten nods, still confused and frowning. Her bodyguard smiles coldly at the marten. "Let'th go to the tavern, then. Agreed?" Without waiting for an answer, he turn and walks off in the direction of the tavern, with a still confused and mildly sad Blisa trailing behind.

Malcoda follows Blisa silently, looking almost as disappointed.

Ferravale Tavern...

Blisa follows her bodyguard to the bar and sits up on a stool, looking like she's feeling a bit better. They did talk in low tones on the way here. Ferdinand smiles and nods in a friendly way to the barkeep. "We heard there'th an ocean fith dinner thale going on. May we have any of it, or ith it...not good anymore?" The barkeep smiles slightly and nods. "The soup's still good. I'll get you some. How many?" The ferret guard smiles in return. "Three. I'm paying." The barkeep nods, then disappears into the kitchen.

There is some gasps and a oof as a ball of fuzz bolts inside and crashes into a chair, she then starts crying, a weasel asks or starts to ask if she is ok and she hissses and backs under the table, she is in a strange place and wants her daddy, the wildcat dibbun, Melody, is scared seems and puffs out some at a ferret that gets too close, then frowns and presses into the wall, the table is by the wall.

Malcoda rushes the raging wildcat and tries to tackle her, "Who is the parent of this monster?"

Blisa and Ferdinand look back in alarm as two bouncers and an off-duty guard come up to the marten, murmering, "We'll take care of her." The kitten smiles and waves to the other Dibbun, and her bodyguard smiles in a friendly way.

Melody doesn't know this marten and gets further back, even more freaking out now "You're not dada!..Daddy!!!!" She starts to cry as she looks at the guards and curls into a ball just out of reach

Malcoda stops and backs away from Melody but stumbles on a nearby chair, muttering curses.

Blisa scoots off her stool as the ocean fish soup comes, and her bodyguard absently pays as he watches her. The guard and bouncers back up a little as the kitten kneels and crawls under the table a tiny bit, smiling in a friendly fashion. "Hey....hey, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. My name's Blisa. What's yours?"

Melody opens her eyes and blinks when she sees another dibbun, she sniffs a little, "Melody" she whispers and watches Blisa, but still refuses to come out, all are strangers to her.

Malcoda sits down at the same table as Ferdinand, and orders the ocean fish soup also, "I am sorry about that."

Ferdinand absently tips the waitress that brings the marten's soup, then frowns and looks at Malcoda. "What? Thorry about what?" Blisa, meanwhile, smiles brightly and sits cross-legged on the floor in front of the wildcat cub, staying right where she is, wanting her new friend to come to her. "Oooh, I /love/ your name! It's so pretty! It sounds like music! Why are you sad? I might be able to help. My Daddy's the Chieftain here."

Malcoda explains to Ferdinand, "I tried to tackle a dibbun slightly over 2 seasons of age, I just realized. How stupid of me!"

Melody edges out a little, she looks back and forth and stays a little close to Blisa, she frowns "Daddy..woke up and not around. And strange place"

Blisa frowns. "That is pretty weird...and I don't blame you for being scared. I'd be scared, too. Would you like some soup? Maybe we can talk about what to do while we eat." The kitten smiles encouragingly. Ferdinand gives the marten a strange look. "Don't tell me, tell her! Unleth, of courthe, you don't have the gutth for it." Oooh....is that a dare?

Malcoda coughs, smells his soup, then says to Melody, "Sorry for trying to jump on you, Melody."

Melody slowly crawls out, she looks at Ferdinand, he looks ok to stand by, she frowns at Malcoda and stays close to Blisa now, she nods to the idea of soup.

Blisa smiles happily and goes to gently tug the wildcat to the table, to sit in between her and Ferdinand. "Cool. Here, you can have this bowlful. Would you like some bread and tea?" The ferret guard smiles and waves a waitress over, glad to spend his money for the scared little Dibbun to have something to eat.

Malcoda seems less amused as he digs into his soup, "At least the soup is decent."

Melody smiles, food seems to have cheered her up, she nods and starts to eat once the food comes, she seems happier now. Well for the moment

Ferdinand pays, then digs into the food, watching the young cats eating from otu of the corner of his eye. Blisa looks up and smiles sweetly at her bodyguard. "May we /pleeaaase/ have some pie when we're done?" The ferret chuckles and nods, and the happy Blisa goes back to eating.

Malcoda finishes his soup and says, "I would not mind some either. That was not the most filling meal, nice-tasting though it was."

Melody is too busy eatting and making a new friend to be too scared now.

Ferdinand smiles and nods. When everyone has finished, he buys them some pie. It is apple-and-pear, and oh, so, good and warm. Blisa smiles and turns to Melody. "You can probably spend the night at my house, at least for the night. You'd be safe there."

Melody nods and smiles, she seems to like the pie alot and even giggles some.

Ferdinand smiles warmly, and when they are all done, he escorts them two cats to Blisa's house, if Melody does indeed come. After he makes sure sleep has overtaken his charge, he goes into the living room and falls asleep on the couch, sabre close at paw...just in case.

Thanks for reading!

Groups:

• Ferravale