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71st Day of Fall, 514AV
In the past season, Seisyll had come to know some of the inhabitants of the city, and they had come to know her in return. Moreover, she had become popular with some members of the city, each of whom would frequent her shows. Though still very much considered to be an outsider of the fortress city of Taloba, the Ivyess Dhani, who had come to be known as 'Tae' to those who met her, was performing regularly, and her pale skin and clear barbarian ways no longer seemed as novel to the Myrians.
"On a walk, along the edges of a forest, a wolf met with a lamb, who was astray from the fold. The wolf resolved not to lay a violent hand on her, but instead to find a plea that would justify to the lamb why the wolf had the right to eat her. He hailed the attention of the lamb: 'Last year you grossssly insulted me.'" Still, Seisyll was careful to avoid using too much sibilance in her speech around the xenophobic Myrians. She was lucky that, as an Ivyess, she did not share the builds of the Dhani that the Myrians knew well, so none were suspicious, but she would not relent in her wariness.
Even though she was growing more comfortable in the city, Seisyll kept her tales to fables and morals. She shared a patron, the Goddess Matsuki, with the Talobans... but she was still an outsider, and she would not risk insulting them. "'Indeed,' bleated the lamb in reply to the words of the wolf, in a mournful tone of voice, 'I was not yet then born.'" Again, her audience was growing, and the young woman paused briefly in her tale to smile at a few familiar faces. "Then wolf, quick on his feet, changed his argument, 'You feed in my pasture, a debt is owed.' Again, the lamb replied, 'no, good wolf, I have not yet tasted grass.'"
"Again sssaid the wolf, "You drink of my watering hole." Finally, he thought he had the lamb; there was no way she could argue that. But - 'No,' exclaimed the lamb, 'I have never tasssted the water from the ground, for as yet my mother's milk is both food and drink to me.'" Her accent was slippingm she could feel her tongue growing looser, becoming more relaxed - her 's' sounds were more obvious. Seisyll paused, taking a quick opportunity to examine the faces of those listening to her tale.
She was nervous, her heart racing just a little, but she breathed in deeply, and worked hard to keep her face schooled so that her audience would not notice that anything was wrong. The audience was still smiling up at her, presumably enjoying her tale. There were no expressions of suspicion. Taking a second deep breath, Seisyll continued with her tale. "Upon which the w-wolf grabbed her and ate her up, throwing any pretext away. Once he had had his fill, he ssspoke, 'Well! I won't remain dinnerless, even though you refute every one of my imputations.'"
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