Haunting tunes

March 25.th, 2639

After Ashviel has finished playing the written notes Ronariel looks up with an scared expression in his face, a teardrop running down from his left eye. Then he shakes his body until his feathers rustle. With an jitter in his voice he speaks softly, (not even aware that he talks aloud and not only in his thoughts) :"Even for that he should be striked down by an arrow."

*

Thommariel frowns while Ashviel plays the melody. As she finished he asks "Who can write such things, and WHY?".

"Em Aramia, you said that the birds attacked the Dreamseed, but they stopped the armatura to do the same?"

As Ronariel speaks, Thommariel looks at him "We will take a look at him and THEN I will make a decision what we have to do with him!".

*

Em Aramia frowns at the Michaelite. "Why, yes. That was a really ridiculous thing to observe. Our templar normally never withdraw from battle, and as someone said, that those scarecrows move, we all grabbed what we could do defend the people here. Not only the templars wield weapons here. With so few people... Anyway." She shakes her head, smoothing her robe with nervous hands. "I was one of the last to arrive. I only saw Caelia, our Armatura, with her hands over her head to protect her eyes, withdrawing from the Dreamseed which was literally hacked to pieces by the birds.
One of them they finished like a thunderstorm in next to no time. The rest - there were two others, I think - were driven off into the forest. We heard strange sounds from there. Like bursting things.
No one was brave enough to enter the woods afterwards."

Slowly, she raises a hand to point into a direction on the other side of the shuttered window. "It's the Darkwood out there. It has got its name for good reasons, I think."

Drawing a deep breath, she continues: "Anyway, no one was hurt. Caelia said, the birds just grabbed her, armor, clothing and weapons, more risking to damage themselves than any human being. She said, she thought it was something sent from God. Birds being kin to angels, but I don't buy that. But she's probably got more to say about birds, I think."

"And about this man, I don't think you could really... talk to him. He's far away from the lands of sanity so far. Mumbles only this one word over and over again. Always this 'Nevermore'."

*

"Sorry for my interuption Thomariel," Ronariel speaks still with a small quiver in his voice. Then he looks half scared, half offended over to Thommariel. It seems that he wants to say something but then he bites his lower lip and remains silent.

*

"Oh, and one more thing," Aramia adds, taking something small and glisteny from a hidden pocket in her robe. "Don't know, if we've got a connection with the bird-thing, but we find things like those all the time. But recently, there seem to be more."

With this, she pours a handful of silvery tiny spheres, the size of marbles onto the table. There they lie, reflecting light and their surrounding as every perfect mirror does.

*

Calahel's attention was back to top and focused on the small spheres. Lifting an eyebrow he moved a bit closer and leaned down a bit, examining the glistening small things with his eyes. "May I?" he mumbles in the direction of Thommariel, his voice silent and his cheeks contracting in nervosity. Slowly he lifts his hand and reaches for the metal things, curious like hell...

*

Thommariel looks thoughtfully to the em then he whispers more to himself as to the others "So it seems the birds protect the people...".

He looks worried to Ronariel for a moment. *Soul of the fellowship to Ronariel* *I'm sorry if I was harsh. But we should not act like this in front of humans. And... I think too that the man is a heretic and that we have to judge about him.*

As the Em pours the spheres on the table and as he sees the reaction of the Raguelite, he looks thoughtful again. He nods to Calahel "Yes, it seems that you have an idea about that spheres?" To the Em, "Did you find these things on a special place?"

*

Aramia shakes her head.
"No. The children pick them up. They say, they found them in the woods, on the trees." Frowning, she eyes one of the bigger spheres more closely.
"They call them "dewballs". Play with them all the time. There must be dozens around here. I just picked up those this morning as I nearly stumbled over them."

"Sorry for asking, but did you ever realize some changes with children which play with that little spheres?" Thommariel looks to Calahel "Could you tell us more about them?"

*

Calahel took one of the bigger ones in his left palm and then tipped with his right finger on it, slowly examining the surface and feeling the structure of it. He bites on his lower lip and wrinkles his forehead, twinkling shortly and then concentrating himself. "Mhmm..." he murmures when trying to feel what this device is for, to long for the 'Spirit of the machine'...

*

Aramia shakes her head again. "No. Never. They just roll or kick them around, playing that old marble game of theirs. They're harmless. Unless, sometimes, one of the kids swallows one of the smaller ones. But they all get dropped the natural way, if you follow me..." She looks at Calahel examining one sphere closely. "They are, aren't they?" Her voice rises in anxious query.

*

"Em Amaria my I ask you a maybe silly question"? Ronariel raises his head and takes one of the spheres in his hand and examines it while asking Aramia."You said they found them on the trees in the wood. Did you mean they grow on them like aples on an apletree?" Ronariel looks with at the Em with a sceptical expression on his face.

*

Thommariel listens to the Em "Fine, so it seems there is no danger from the spheres and it seems they have nothing to do with the Dreamseet... but Ronariel is right. You find the sphers in the trees. Could you lead to such a tree later?"

He looks confused for a moment and uses *Soul of the fellowship* to all the other Engel. *Could someone explain me what she means with 'that old marble game'?*

*

Aramia smiles at Ronariel. "No, as I understand it, they simply lie there. Not easy to find, as they seem to hide. I will show you the border of the Darkwood, but not cross it. I'm not brave enough for this."

Phinael grins at Thommariel's question but says nothing. Thaël nearly chokes on a piece of cheese and turns away his reddened face.
He, as well, says nothing.

Only Ashviel's face remains motionless. "What do you mean. Not brave enough?"

Aramia hastily clears her throat. "Talk. Superstitions. But after all, I'm very busy with the Covenant's daily duties. I will show you to the border of the woods," she repeats, rising and straightening her robes.
"If you will now excuse me, revered Engel. I find, that I am needed. The people of this place will show you everything and any place you need to find.
I will see you later, after the fourth hour after noon. Then we shall investigate the... the Darkwood." Nodding towards the Engel, her eyes brush past Calahel, still busy with the silvery spheres. Without another word, she leaves the room, closing the door softly behind her.

OOC: The tiny spheres are covered with an intricate network of shallow, engraved lines which build a symmetrical pattern. They seem to have two sides: one with a nearly untouched, mirroring surface, the other with those lines. The spheres are unexpectedly heavy, cold to the touch but warm quickly to the hand.
Their size ranges from that of a small marble to that of the double size.
The silver surface is without blemish or scratches and mirrors everything perfectly.

*

When the Em left, he started to say: "I am not that sure, what exactly they are. It seems to me, that they fit alltogether in a larger scheme. This one is only a part of a bigger arrangement of similar machines..." He looked up to his brothers and sisters and sighed a bit disappointed, but his eyes gleemed with curiousity. "Perhaps something like an executive for the brain, that is located somewhere else. It is strange, I know, and you all are not really able to understand what I mean, but - I don't know how to explain it better. Machines are a weird topic, even for us."

"But - I don't know, where they come from. I suggest, that we investigate as soon as possible."

*

Rubbing his temples, Egriel puts down the papers.

"Thank you for the musical accompany, Ashviel." a hint of sarcasm could be detected, "That added to a rather eerie experience in this lunacy of literature."

"And speaking of investigation." he continues, "I need time to examine these in a more proper manner. A quiet place would be ideal for me to meditate on this."

*

As the Em has left the room, Thommariel looks around and smiles softy. "Sorry to you all if I was a bit harsh while the Em was here. But if there are humans around - especially from the church - we have to act as a host. That means that I should speak to humans".

He looks to Egriel "You need a quiet place, so we will leave the cella for a while. You will find me outside the building". With a grin he says "I will examine this snow a bit more closely. Please, let us go outside and leaving Egriel some time to meditate. Tomorrow we will try to find out more about that spheres ... Calahel, you think it's technology? So we should really find out WHAT it is and WHO placed it here".

*

Thommariel has barely ended the mention of snow, as Thaël grabs Ashviel by the waist, drapes her over his shoulder and says over her giggling, "I promised her to pay her back for something she did. I will." With this, he leaves the room, a laughing Sarielite over his left shoulder, wingfeathers ruffled.
Outside, the children fall silent for a few moments, then the laughter and screaming starts.

Phinael pouts. "He could've taken me along as well. Now she gets all the fun. But I'll try to find out more about that game," she adds, sweeping from the room. "Coming, the rest?" she calls over her shoulder.

Ashviel's voice outside is drowned by those of the children. "Thaël, don't you dare to -" she exclaims, and her sentence breaks off to end in muffled, laughing protest. A few seconds later you all can see the so dignified Urielite hopping around in the court, escaping a mass of well-aimed snowballs thrown by the children of the Covenant who side your Sarielite. She is covered with snow, her skirts soaked. Thaël looks no better.

Thommariel is hit by a soft, cold ball in the middle of the face as he enters the court.

*

Ronariel still with one of the spheres in his hand:" Thommariel, I think there can be a coincedence between this and the Dreamseed. We should not forget that the Lord punished mankind for the technology they used. If these things really belong to a larger machine from the time before Engel like us arrived on Earth, such a thing could - so in my opinion - atract Dreamseed as they are both evil and the Lord of the Flies always tries to make bad things." Ronariel makes a small pause to take a deap breath. "I sugsest that we take a look at first where the Dreamsesd was and than we take care o the heretic. At least we should not forget to look after the sphere-case. Or does anybody else have another idea?" He looks to the remainig Engel of the host with an slightly confused expression.

*

Thommariel wants to say something to Ronariel while he is on his way outside. But the only thing he say is "Ron... HUMPF" as the snowball hits his face. He shakes his head for a moment he looks angry. But then he shakes his head and laughs while he tries to find out who 'attacked' him while he forms a snowball.

Soul of the fellowship to Ronariel: *Let us talk about that later. I agree with you that we have to find out more and if that's the work of a heretic we have to judge him. But for now we should use the time to relax*

*

Thael ducks, wings folded behind his back. "Sorry for the headshot," he gasps before Ashviel and Phinael burry him un freshly fallen snow. The children surround the three Engel, dragging on the skirts of Ronariel and Thommariel as well.

OOC: Unless you don't do something else, every single character will be soaked and wet after half an hour of "examining" the snow.
One and a half hours after this (you'll need time to bathe in hot tubs and change clothes, you are all more or less "operational" again. Depends on how eagerly you participated in the "fight" ;-)
Everyone who joined the children in the court may note a handful of the older ones as additonal informants. Maybe the come in handy sometime in the future.

*

OOC: Calahel will not participate in the joyful games, he'll stay aside and examine some more of these spheres, not understanding the fun the others have, but sometimes glancing at them curiously but secretly.

*

Ronariel joins the "battle" with as much enthusiasm as as a gabrielite who runs into Dreamsesd or a heretic. At the beginning of this he would be a green dot in the freshly fallen snow, but in the end his clothes change colour from green and white to mud brown (it could really be that he is dirtiest Engel of this convent had ever seen at the end of the fight). Still laughing he ends up in an hot bathtub. For the first time since the Host leavt Roma Ætherna with a truly relaxed expression in his face.