[Belin]

Celumëomaryu was surprised. The singing and the crashing and the booming of the fireworks had caught her attention, and when the castle door opened her mind was made up. This deserved some attention on her part.

She left the dungeon and walked down the stairs, as silently as a ghost can walk, and in the inner courtyard she found her second surprise: this was a large company of the living, of all shapes and sizes, though many of them were outside and she knew them only by their voices, some of which were quite extraordinarily high-pitched. The very fact that the living had come here of their own accord, and that they had heedlessly (and rather rudely, she thought, barbarians that they were) broken into the Castle, and were clearly on their way to the Great Hall, was enough to throw her into wonderment. She remained close the stairs, and was wondering just how visible she was when she had her third surprise, the sounds of violence and unhappy squeals.

Celumëomaryu stood still for a moment, fighting curiosity, and, quickly losing, slipped unseen to the smithy to find some very peculiar strangers, and a Mewlips. She had never seen such a thing before. It struck her as more suited to the distant marshes of which she'd heard tales than the smithy of a castle where she lived. It certainly seemed to have made itself at home, however, and was doing its best to make the smithy a sort of makeshift kitchen.

Celumëomaryu watched the struggle between them, disinterestedly. The intruders were no more out of place here than the Mewlips, and dealing with the victorious would be equally annoying, whichever one it was. Tella would certainly complain, and Anna.. no, Anna wouldn't help at all.

But after all, the poor beast stood little chance against so many. Celumëomaryu stood still and unseen as the lopsided battle continued, and soon found herself surprised again. An entwife, of all things, took the place of one of the women of their party. Celumëomaryu involuntarily stepped back. Clearly these were beings of extraordinary power. Nobody traveled with an entwife.. if that really was an entwife... Why should they trouble with such a place as this?

She smiled bitterly at her own question. Indeed, this place was of little account. She wasn't even certain that she, with no haunt left to speak of, would even bother to defend it.

But Maladil would. Oh, Maladil would, and she imagined that any moment now he could come striding out in his usual state of wrath.

Celumëomaryu moved back against the wall of the castle, into the shadows, hoping that nobody would notice her, and hoping particularly that she would not have to speak to Maladil.

[ February 11, 2003: Message edited by: Belin ]

[ March 08, 2003: Message edited by: Belin ]