Kuldahar

A rosy glow paints Halla's cheeks as her brow furrows. "Love is for children. I... 'Tis not as though I moon over him. Not like you do with that husband of yours." She walks over to Valiance and runs a hand through his hair. She does not flinch as she touches his horns.

Her next words come softly. "I never really knew family, except for Arundel. But seeing these children makes me long for more."

Alalla straightens. "I do not-!" She cuts herself off and huffs gently through her wide nose. "But you're right. Literally calling Zenithral an angel can hardy be considered mooning."

Al smiles slightly as she watches Halla with Valiance. "There's nothing wrong with wanting love, romantic or otherwise. You'll be a better person for it. As for Zenithral..." She begins to chew the inside of her lip as she thinks for a moment, but her teeth aren't arranged like they should be, so she makes her eyes trace the grain of the inside of the tree.

"While we travelled together, the way he looked at you was certainly promising. However, you are wild and can be rash. As a soldier, I'm not sure he knows what to do with that," Al chuckles behind a hand. "But I know he cares about your opinion- he didn't tell you about Erestor at first because he was afraid it would change how you saw him- and I know that he respects and trusts you. He wouldn't have left his siblings in your care if he didn't." She smiles at the cambions.

"Siblings..." Halla purses her lips. When she speaks next, it is with a much lower voice. "What must his mother be like? Zenithral himself is planetouched - though not as obviously as these two." She glances at the nubs of Alalla's horns, but says nothing about them. "Why would she abandon them in a place like the Hand?"

Alalla scratches at her horn buds with irritation. "I'm not sure. I know that she wasn't involved in raising him. For whatever reason his grandparents- his mother's parents- raised him. Erestor avoided him but his mother 'insisted' on visiting. I'm under the impression that his grandparents would have preferred if she hadn't." She shrugs. "That and that she works with Belhifet is all I have. That alone is rather condemning, but Belhifet operates by enslaving others through intrigues and plots. Her part may not necessarily be willing." She looks at Harmony and Valiance. "Would you like to tell us about your mother?"

Harmony stops her playing, but avoids Alalla's gaze. With uncanny grace she grips the edge of the table in her claws and somersaults over the edge. A flap of her leathery wings has her swinging down to land near her brother. She huddles next to him, and for a moment the two seem small once more.

Then, to the surprise of both Alalla and Halla, Valiance begins to sing a whisper of a song.

The words are in Elvish, and the melody is much like a lamenting lullaby. Beautiful as it is, every phrase brings a chill to Alalla's spine. Nearby, she hears Halla sniffle.

I lúme utúlie,
A tirno ónonion,
Tienna narwa
No rocco néca,
Yan i esse ná Qualme, -
Wilie haiyave
Númenna Wisto,
Nändiel melima.
Vainolelya unqua
Ar macilya rusta
Loráva nenessen
I caituvar ńalle.
Ve laurea anna,
Hroalya racina
Antalye nóren
Sa varyane li.
Ná carna nilmonen
Tyarda avatyarima,
An nar cotumor qualini,
Naina, lië,
An i calwo ná firin,
Ar elenu vinye
Úsiluvar eldain.
Nán i Caitanor na cuine.When the devil boy finishes, he turns the page in his book, never having stopped to look up. Harmony hides her face in his shoulder.

Halla's voice is muffled by her hand over her mouth. "'Twas not I who taught him that!"

"Thank you, Valiance. That was beautiful." Alalla turns wonderingly to Halla. "An Elvish... lullaby? Lament? Erevain has been teaching me but my Elvish isn't great. Something about twins who die to protect something?" Alalla shakes her head. "I'm not a poet, but can't poems mean a dozen things? Perhaps just a mother singing a lullaby. My mother's were even more interesting choices."

She looks to the twins again. "Someone doesn't sing lullabies to children she doesn't care for. Maybe they weren't abandoned. Maybe she'll come looking for them."

Halla stares with wide eyes for a moment, and the looks at Alalla with a shrug and a small chuckle. "Perhaps she is like a cat? She hid herself away to give birth in a safe place only she could reach. In a way, it might have been the safest place for the children..."

She touches their heads once more, then leads Alalla across the room so they can speak more privately. "I am unsure that being over here makes much difference. They have excellent hearing." The woman absently rubs a finger on the wall of the cottage, drawing forth a sprout from the living wood. "But why? Why with Bel-" She coughs and glances at the twins again. "Why with Poquelin? Why him with her? Are they an accident? Or was Erestor correct when he implied that they were some result or emobdiment of her debts?"

Alalla shrugs. "I can't begin to speculate. There are dozens of reasons why a woman would decide to sleep with a man, and more why a man would make that decision for her. With a manipulator like Poquelin?" She spreads her hands. "It could be anything. What I am sure of is that now that they exist, he will use them to his advantage however he can."

Halla's scowl fills her whole face. "Fiends are capable of the most evil acts. Using one's own offspring should not surprise me. But knowing these two the way I do... I cannot help but feel that their mother does not deserve them. They deserve better than to be caught up in... whatever is going on."

"Speaking strategically, he would be a fool not to. They are very powerful, and Poquelin is no fool." Alalla nods. "They do deserve better, but maybe she agrees with that sentiment. Wouldn't Poquelin be able to keep them safer, if she didn't care about their involvement? Why the Hand? A place where only she could reach." Al shakes her head. "I'm not smart enough for these puzzles and plots. The twins deserve safety and care, and I'll do my best to help you provide it. Preoccupying ourselves with speculation won't help any."

She moves on to the next order of business. "Were you able to get a message to my orcs? Have they caused you any trouble?"

Halla nods. "Whatever reasons she had, she is not here now and 'tis probably for the best."

The druid's gaze flicks to one wall, the direction of Keggruk and the orcs. "I was. I invited them to come closer to Kuldahar, but not to enter the circle of warmth. The townsfolk are still sensitive to orcs since the attack." Even still she flinches at the reminder of Arundel's death during that raid. "But in these times we are all in need of allies. 'Tis better to keep them close. We shall see if they trust us enough to camp nearby."

"Halla..." Alalla flounders for the right words. "Why would you do that? Keggruk was involved in the attack on Kuldahar. You'd trust him and the orcs he leads near Kuldahar?"

Way to inspire confidence.

"I mean- ugh." Al passes a hand over her face. "Thank you. I just wasn't expecting... Thank you. But actually, if you could send them another message, I'd like them to travel to Targos. I have a hundred orcs travelling in this direction, and I'm hoping they'll meet halfway and find somewhere to settle. They need Keggruk's guidance and Keggruk's tribe needs their protection."

Halla's fingers brush the oak leaf emblems hanging from her necklace. "Arundel believed in the Balance. There can be no balance without compromise. As much as I hate what orcs have done... The Ghosons' farm. Jermsy's family. The attack on Kuldahar..." Her knuckles whiten as she grips the pendants more tightly, but then she forces her hand loose. "Wiping their kind off the face of Toril is beyond me, and destruction of that sort would be an abomination in Silvanus' eyes, I think. And so we must reach a reasonable truce. Peace has to begin somewhere."

The tightness in her face and shoulders betrays her strong emotion, but she seems determined to follow through on her words.

"That," Alalla says fervently, "that is all I want. But more than I felt I could ask for." She grips Halla's arm. "Thank you. It's okay that you don't feel it yet. That first step to peace is all we need.

I want you to know, though, I'm aiming farther than that. It might be a while, but the orcs that leave Gruumsh won't just be at peace with the other civilized races. We'll be allies worth having. But we can't do that without this right here." She gives Halla's arm a slight shake, then releases her. "I'm slightly less terrified now," she chuckles self-consciously.

Halla shies away slightly from Alalla's touch, obviously unaccustomed to such praise. "'Tis only what the Balance requires... But it does feel good to know that someone approved of a decision that I've made. The townsfolk will be less happy to hear that there are orcs nearby, but I suppose I must tell them at some point." Her eyes track the twins once more. "Perhaps if they accept the orcs they will also accept these two."

She shakes her head. "Mirek and his so-called 'blood hunters' are growing fond of sniffing out monsters. They made their own expedition out to Bilewing's lair, you know. I wish they would leave the protection of Kuldahar to me."

A knock sounds on the door, and then it opens to show Natalie standing there with a basket. "Good morning, Halla! And Lady Alalla! I knew you must be back in town. That dragon outside is beautiful, isn't she?" She skips inside, then catches Halla's eye and takes a step back out the doorway. "I brought those things you asked for. It wasn't easy, but I found them all!" The younger woman beams - until she sees the twins. "Um... What are those?"

"Well, like I said, they won't be here long. You'll have some time to work on Kuldahar."

Alalla smiles at Natalie. "Good morning! They're children. Aren't they beautiful?" She gives Halla a slight shrug that says, "cat's out of the bag," then turns sideways to allow the twins a better view. "This is Harmony and Valiance. And this is Natalie," she says to the twins. "She's very nice." That done, she turns back and gestures to the basket. "What have you brought?"

Halla's hands clench into fists at her sides. "Natalie! I did expect you back yet until this afternoon." She meets Alalla's eyes with a mixture of panic and sheepishness. She sighs and turns back to the young woman, who is still staring at the cambion twins with wide eyes. "Natalie, these two are staying with me for a while, and I would prefer they stay secret from the town. You know how some of them are..."

"I... erm... o-of course, Halla."

She tears her eyes away from Valiance and Harmony and pokes through her basket. "I've got regal joy, bouncing feverfew, feysweet, moon ivy... and this black fluxroot - though what you'd want that for I'm sure I don't want to know. Ipleprite. Silver laurel. And..." She sniffs. "Orange skunkweed."

Natalie looks up proudly. "I gathered everything you asked for. Now will you teach me?"

Halla meets Alalla's eyes again as though looking for escape. "Natalie... 'tis not the best of times to ask right now. I am quite busy. Perhaps if you return later today, or tomorrow-"