2 December 2007 session notes--

names

Ruth, a Gifted child, played by Barry;
Minkoshto (“big chief”), the Red Moon intendant, played by Kim;
Chaloklowokchamali (“peacock”), the Red Moon intendant’s younger son, played by Matt;
Issoba Malli (“bucking bronco”), the Red Moon intendant’s daughter, played by Jake;
Itti Appi’ (“tree trunk”), a very large Wolf, played by Matt;
Rachel, the Imalhkaniyachi Tanner’s beautiful knocked-up daughter, played by Matt;

6th Tension

Tully leaves, with Marzipan; three days later, Tully returns. His leather thing comes down the stairs and bops Nishoba on the head with a hammer, and Nishoba hears Tully bellowing for food. —Tully, Marzipan, and the child Tully kidnapped are up in Tully’s lab; Tully’s placed caps on his head and the child’s head, connected by leather straps. Marzipan’s watching. Tully glows like a small sun and disappears. —Nishoba comes up with food. Where’s Tully? Marzipan points to the scorch marks. I knew you’d kill him one day, says Nishoba. The child starts wailing.

In the Great Hall, Nil looks up to see one of the tiny statues of Tully on his pillar has taken on a pinkly fleshy appearance. He sends Lhimpat up to their rooms and heads off to the tower.

Marzipan insists they killed no villages, the child was bought fair and square, and he has no idea where Tully’s gone. Illuminata tells Marzipan he has to stay in this room. That’s fine with Marzipan. He knows how to set the traps. —Nishoba takes the kid to the orphanage, but stops halfway, struck by an idea; returns to Tully’s labs, and finds the Gift-detector in the junk Tully’d dropped by the door. He runs it over Ruth. She’s Gifted. —She talks about the funny-looking man. He’s not funny-looking, says Nishoba. He’s old.

The Tully in the middle of the pillar is Tully, deep in Twilight.

The magi are informed of an upcoming council meeting.

Rabbits and squirrels are following Ruth about as they walk outside; bluebirds drop flowers at her feet. It seems cats and wolves and foxes don’t like her.

The council meeting! Perdix attempts to point out it would make more sense to appoint a committee to investigate Tully’s mishap; an attempt is made to saddle Perdix with the committee; Nil quietly volunteers instead. Lhimpat’s on the move! She’s headed for the Pool Room with Aponta. Nil races out of the council chambers and heads down to the sub-basement. The guard blocking the basement demands a password; Lhimpat asks Aponta what the password could be; Aponta, after a long, long, long moment, says, Savacion. No! squeaks the guard. Lhimpat figures out the guard won’t hurt her, and scoots past him, and Nil grabs her and Aponta by the hair and drags them up with him.

Perdix moves to adjourn. All agree. Gi follows Perdix out, but is distracted by Ruth, who’s been waiting outside with Nishoba. Sonata explains to Palpebra that Tully might have gone into Twilight examining Ruth, and they figure out Tully must have taken Marzipan with him, violating the agreement. Ruth tells Illuminata and Gi about how Tully told her she’d learn how to make things, and he brought her here, and put a hat on her, and put a hat on himself, and blew up! —A mouse runs up Ruth’s leg and ends up in her hand; she pets it. Gi demonstrates magic by flying the mouse about and landing it on her head. Wow! says Ruth, who scoops up the mouse and flings it into the air. Fly! Gi catches it and explains that magic was something he did, not something the mouse is. The mouse has a string of tiny flowers about its neck. A bird flies into the clear glass of the library window, trying to get to Ruth.

Gi takes Ruth about to introduce her to the magi. Perdix is drunk, and Chittery fascinated. (“I feel a compulsion to smell her.”) Sonata grills Ruth on whether when Tully arrived at her village he had a small glass man with him.

Calvus and Illuminata speak about her Twilight, and the object she created. Have you been doing any Eleanoréan research? asks Calvus. Not that I know of, says Illuminata. Do you know anything of Eleanoréanism? I read about ‘em, says Illuminata. You drew their symbol. It was one of the first you made. They seemed to be ranked in importance. I did Sonata’s, then the Eleanoréan symbol, then yours, says Illuminata. I actually had a conversation with Insomnium about it. He won’t be coming here, will he? says Calvus. Good. —Illuminata explains how Perdix’ box appeared in her big white room, and Insomnium appeared with it, looking for a way in, and was trapped when the box disappeared. He wasn’t so bad. A little annoying at times, especially when he whined. I kinda miss him, and Phrederick. Who is Phrederick? A purple hippopotamus from Tyr, says Illuminata. —Illuminata assures Calvus she isn’t an Eleanoréan. Calvus pings Ndapé and asks him to fetch Minkoshto for a meeting. Calvus pulls out the truth-stick and questions him: is he the only Red Moon priest within an order of Moon priests in the Valley? As far as I know, yes, says Minkoshto. What are your intentions? To rebuild. You’ve noticed that the military is mostly Wolves, and there’s a project to convert more soldiers to the Wolf? This is to make them immune to King-magic. You realize there’s a danger in that, says Minkoshto. There are other options. If we embrace this land as our own and recover the sacredness of Gætan without the King— And you believe that is possible? says Calvus. My hope is that we’ll be free of him, says Minkoshto. If the soldiers followed a new set of Moon priests and the traditional gods of Gætan that they would truly be immune to the King’s priesthoods if they were to cross the mountain? It will take some time, says Minkoshto, but yes. Your process is a long one, says Calvus, and I don’t think we have that much time. These townsfolk have seen the magi put down Judges, and despite that they haven’t converted. With this most recent Judge, had he made it through the walls, most would have turned to him—and those that didn’t would have been Wolves. Do you want me to leave? says Minkoshto. No, says Calvus. He tells Minkoshto he’d appreciate it if he wouldn’t speak of this to the Green Moon intendant. I don’t know that I can promise that, says Minkoshto.

Palpebra’s experimenting with the monocle that was in the paper- wrapped packet he’d received.

8th Tension

Imálhlhi and Yem and a half-dozen Wolves return to the covenant. The really big Wolf is asking whether the Wolf Priest is a big guy. The perimeter Wolves have spotted them already. There’s some business with arrows. Reunion! —After Imálhlhi and Nashob reassert their relationship, she reveals her father’s returned and is claiming to be the Dragon Priest. Imálhlhi reveals he’s going to join the military. What? she says.

Nakni Banna catches Yem up on some of what’s been going on.

Murry’s wandering the Valley, and comes to Imalhkaniyachi, where he finds the Tanner’s daughter claims to have been raped by Virgil during the march of the Judges. Virgil’s in a hole in the ground with a boulder on top. He says she was willing. Virgil isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so Murry decides to send the Tanner and his beautiful, knocked-up daughter back to the covenant to determine the truth.

Gi meets Yem and takes him around, introducing him to the magi. He’s also squiring Ruth about. They’re talking about Love and Reason; Yem doesn’t get how something you can’t see and talk to can be a god. Don’t you see how a Love so big can overwhelm you? says Gi. Yeah, but you still can’t talk to it, says Yem. He’s mad because there’s no Swan god, and the Swan is better than the Crow or the Wolf. What would the Swan do? asks Gi. A better job than the Lyre, says Yem.

Calvus and the Wolf Priest meet about Calvus’ trip, and expeditions across the mountains, and the Dragon priest.

11th Tension

Murry returns to the covenant, accompanied by the Tanner from Imalhkaniyachi, and his knocked-up daughter. He arranges to meet with Palpebra and Woochi and Tishkilla at Palpebra’s labs, but on the way, the scullery girl shows up to ask Tishkilla for a husband. Not now. Later. To be arranged. He should be younger than me. I’ll see what I can do, says Tishkilla.

The Tanner doesn’t want a device used to violate his daughter. Especially not since it’s one of Tully’s. The Tanner balks; Palpebra says he’ll bomb their new town. Tishkilla is aghast. Murry offers to go get Nil, since Nil can determine truth without devices.

Gi’s got Ruth and Lhimpat and Yem with him.

Bloody-back finds a pair of pants Virgil wore when they were doing the vigil over the Judge, pants that hadn’t been washed by virtue of the pissing and all. Nil uses the pants to question Virgil, and finds out Rachel visited him four times, and they had sex three of those times. It’s a discrepancy with what Rachel said, but Woochi and Tishkilla don’t trust him. So they ask Rachel, and it turns out she’d thought he was a soldier. Virgil never raped her.

They take Rachel to Aafalakto’ by tub, and fly back to retrieve Virgil.

meta

“I bow to your superior—I don’t know what it is.” “Tact.”
”So Imálhlhi’s like David Spade but with Owen Wilson’s nose. The Butterscotch Shetland.”