May 2011 Featured RP -- Trianna's Bedtime Story

On a typical Narnian evening, Trianna the unicorn tells a story to one of her young charges, and (unsurprisingly) her audience grows.

Un'airekan Dale
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You find yourself in a small, secluded dale near the east side of Cauldron
Pool. The waterfall that spills down from the high cliffs above lends a
persistent dull roar to the background, but aside from that it is, in fact,
very quiet and peaceful here. The dale is sheltered to the west by the
cliffs, and to the east by a low rise. There is a strong sense of privacy
about this place, and no wonder.. From the hoofprints about, it would seem
that unicorns spend time here often.

To the west, you can just make out an opening behind the waterfall.
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You can go: Behind the Waterfall , East

Trianna trots into the meadow looking over to the foal. She stops in her tracks and watches him silently.

Quartz follows Trianna into the meadow. He lowers his head to sniff at a clump of blue-flecked speedwell, then begins to graze thoughtfully on a patch of clover.

Trianna's head raises gradually as she sniffs the air. Her ears flick back and forth as she walks the border of the meadow. Finally she settles down to eat her grass.

Quartz paces a bit, apparently unsatisfied with the flavor of the clover in that particular clump. "How come couldn't I hit the target with my horn?" he asks a moment later. "I was aiming and /everything/."

Trianna flicks her tail as she looks up from her grass. "Patience Quartz. It's very hard thing to do. You see, your horn has a specific shape. It's very large and round nearer your head and very pointy and small at the top. It's a difficult distance to judge such a placement of your horn from the middle of your forehead to a target far away. When I was your age, I was afraid to hit the target. I thought it might really hurt to get it stuck in the fabric. " She stands her full height. "And after I wasn't afraid anymore, I had more problems, because I had gotten taller and my horn longer. As you keep growing, it may continue to be a difficult thing. Especially since you are changing. You are growing so fast little one, and before you know it, you'll ram your horn in the target just a few times before it busts apart onto the floor. Until then, you practice."

Quartz tries to look up at his horn. It makes him a little bit cross-eyed. He heaves a sigh. "I saw Glisten practicing once. It looked /easy/."

Trianna trots over to the waterfall. There are a few rocks that protect a small pool of water from the ripples of the waterfall. "Quartz, come look! I see something neat in the water."

Quartz's ears swivel toward Trianna. He trots briskly to join her. "What is it?" he asks with interest.

Trianna grins as she looks into the water. "Do you see the reflection next to mine?" She steps a little further away from the water so the foal can get a better look. "It's very special. Unique, too. There is only one in all of Narnia just like that. It's very important to the to myself and the herd. Can you see it?" She watches Quartz carefully.

Quartz peers down at the reflection. "It's... just me."

Trianna bobs her head up and down in an emphatic nod. "Yes. It is you," she says with a grin. "Now you know Glisten has had lots of training. Just imagine yourself one day, just as big and strong as Glisten. I'm sure you will do great things, Quartz. Just keep being you."

Quartz eyes the foal in the water. "'Cept for /I/ can't do anything," he mumbles. "Dunno why anybody'd want to be somebody who can't do anything."

Trianna snorts softly. "Ah, but you are much more than that Quartz. So much more. You have a muchness to grow into also." She trots over to a patch of clover and lays down.

Quartz stares at his reflection for a moment longer, then whuffles a snort and bends down to drink. He wanders over to join Trianna and gracefully folds his legs to plop down next to her.

Trianna looks up at the stars. "Want to hear a story about those stars up there?"

A squirrel with bright eager eyes and a childish countenance comes bounding toward you from the east.

Quartz glances up at the stars in question. "Yes, please," he answers, snuggling down into the clover and tilting his head so he can look up at Trianna. Obviously, he knows what to expect from her stories.

Trianna glances at the moon and then looks to the left. "You see those stars right there? A long time ago there was a rabbit who lived in a thicket somewhere north of here. She had gone all the way to passed Madderholt and the lowlands to Bergdale. Clover had heard of course that the centaurs lived near there and were frequently near or around Bergdale. She was in need of some advice, so she used those stars to get there. They were a kind of compass to her." She smiles down at the yearling. "On her way there, she ran into a hag."

Quartz's eyes get very wide. "A hag! Did it eat her?"

Trianna shakes her head. "No, for a mouse came to her rescue." Her ears flick as she hears a rustle. She looks up. "Oh look, it seems someone else has come to join our story. Greetings."

A squirrel with bright eager eyes and a childish countenance startled tumbles down from the branches...."Oooof!"

Quartz's ears and wide eyes turn toward the rustle as well. "Oh, it's only a Squirrel," he says in relief.

Trianna asks, "Are you okay, friend squirrel?"

A squirrel with bright eager eyes and a childish countenance lays there in daze for a moment before picking herself up and scurries towards apple clinging it nerviously. "H-hello."

Quartz blinks at the squirrel and glances uncertainly up at Trianna.

Trianna looks from the squirrel to the yearling next to her. "It's alright, Quartz." She calls over to the squirrel. "Hello squirrel, I am Trianna. "

A squirrel with bright eager eyes and a childish countenance inches closer cautiously. "Hello, I'm Applebud.. I'm sorry I interupted your story. I guess you must be a unicorn just like Peridot and Petraverd. Do like apples? May I join your story?

Trianna smiles at the squirrel. "Peridot and Petraverd are our herd brother and sister, yes. " Flicking her tail and giving a small snort she bobs her head up and down in a nod. "Yes I like apples, and you may join our story if Quartz here doesn't mind." She looks down at her charge.

Quartz looks again at the squirrel, his expression frank and open. "I don't mind. Does your tail ever make you fall over?"

Applebud asks, "Fall over? Um. I don't know. Mother says it's for balance. Why does yours? What's a hag?"

Peridot comes trotting out from behind the waterfall to the north.

Quartz says, with the knowledgeable tone of One Who Knows, "Hags are /monsters/."

Trianna nods. "They are ugly and have evil magic that they use."

Quartz adds, "And they /eat/ people."

Applebud gasps. "People? Do they eat creatures too?

Quartz nods emphatically, shivering for good measure. "All /kinds/ of people."

Trianna nods. "Hags eat everyone they can. They are evil!"

Applebud shivers. "That's horrible!"

Quartz asks, "How did the mouse save Clover, Trianna?"

Peridot trots out of the cail, head and tail held high. Seeing the gathering, she trots out to meet them.

Trianna gets back into her story telling mode, looking ever so seriously from the squirrel to the foal. "The mouse was so tiny that the hag didn't see him come from behind. He surprised the hag and cut her foot with his sword. That gave Clover and her new friend time to get away."

Applebud exclaims, "YAY! *looks nervious* oops sorry..."

Quartz looks thoughtful. "That was clever of the mouse," he comments.

Peridot listens in while Trianna tells the story, as interested as any foal.

Sardonyx comes trotting out from behind the waterfall to the north.

Sardonyx manages to rather quietly slip into the area, following a number of familiar tracks, knowing where they would lead.

Trianna asks, "And so, the mouse and the rabbit clover raced over the hills and and down the valley into Bergdale to safety." She looks at the squirrel and the yearling snuggled up next to her. "And guess what happened next?"

Peridot questions before she can help herself, "What happened?"

Quartz echoes, "What?"

Trianna exclaims, "A centaur had been tracking them the entire way! He approached them and offered them a safe place to stay. The next morning Clover got to ask her question. Guess what it was?"

Applebud asks, "What was it?"

Peridot asks, ears pricked forward, "Yes, what was it?"

Trianna says, "Well, the rabbit was a bit older than you Quartz and she had been working hard to train her skills. She had been upset that she wasn't doing as well as her other fellow rabbits. So she asked the centaur if she would ever be good enough to help her family. And the centaur said..."

Applebud bounces. "What' did he say? What'd he say?"

Quartz doesn't ask this time, but he shows every sign of listening intently.

Trianna looks straight at Quartz. "You are helping your family just as you are. As you keep growing, you will be stronger and stronger. Able to defend and protect and provide. And Clover and her friend mouse were both satisfied-for Leepineep the mouse had left home for the same reason. They left and went back to Lantern Waste being the best of friends. The end.

Applebud says in an awed tone, “Wow.....”

Peridot wonders aloud, "I think this must have happened before I came to the herd and Lantern Waste."

Trianna stands from the place she lay and stretches. She smiles at the gathered company. "A long time indeed."

Sardonyx hmms aloud himself, "There was a time before you joined us? I must have forgotten that." He steps a bit better into view, trying to look casual with the Bratach in hisface.

Peridot giggles as she turns to face him, having had her back to the Cail.

Quartz scrambles up as well, dipping his head toward Sardonyx.

Applebud starts at the sight of another unicorn and hides

Trianna looks over at Sardonyx and chuckles. "Well I didn't see when you joined the story."

Sardonyx seems to pause to ponder before remarking, "I think it was after the sparkles and faeries?"

Quartz lets out a muffled giggle.

Trianna glances at Quartz and Applebud. "Children, were there any sparkles or fairies in my story?"

Sardonyx grins, waiting to see if his test of their paying attention works.

Applebud peeks out from around Quarts who she was hiding behind. She shakes her head to the storyteller's question

Quartz says solemnly, "Loads of 'em. And, and..." he pauses, "butterflies."

Peridot turns her head and ducks it behind a front hoof to giggle.

Trianna shakes her head. "I don't know where your imagination wonders off too when I tell these stories to you."

Applebud looks confused. "I didn't hear any faeries..."

Quartz ducks his head to explain to Applebud in a half-whisper, "It was right after the fish flew in to stick a feather in the minotaur's ear."

Sardonyx the smirking unicorn smirks at Quartz, and then decides to take a moment and try and straighten the bratach.

Trianna snorts softly and gives a yawn. "And now would be a good idea to go to bed little ones."

Peridot's whole body shakes with laughter.

Applebud looks even more confused. "Fish? feathers? minotaur's ear? and what's a minotaur?”

Sardonyx hmms, "A Minotaur? It's a bit smaller than a majotaur I think. And slightly to the left of a centaur."

Applebud is now totally and completly confused and has no words. "Uh....uh...uh..."

Peridot falls over laughing.

Trianna chuckles and trots tward the waterfall. "You coming Quartz? I think I'm going to go rest."

Sardonyx chuckles, and turns his head to give the squirrel his attention. "Believe me, little one. You want nothing to do with any mention of minotaurs. They aren't something fun to talk about. Best to let such things fade from conversation."

Quartz hesitates, then turns to trot quickly toward the mare. "Trianna--"

Peridot finishes laughing and climbs to her hooves, still snickering.

Quartz mumbles "That ... was it a ... ... ...", to Trianna.

Applebud nods solemnly. "I'll remember Sir."

Trianna shakes her head. "I don't know. It could have happened."

Quartz ohs.

Sardonyx says, "You can call me Sardonyx. Best you do, as my name tends to be a warning for what is in store."

Peridot raises an eyebrow, "And what is that, herd leader?"

Sardonyx raises his head, "Why, a steady head and wise words of course."

Trianna smiles and winks. "Goodnight Quartz." She looks at Peridot and Sardonyx and shakes her head. "Goodnight all," she calls softly and trots under the waterfall.

Sardonyx lowers his head to Trianna as she leaves.

Applebud waves to Trianna and Quartz.

Trianna trots north, disappearing behind the waterfall.