Our New Home [Haraza, Tabarnac]

[Hanno Frostfawn]

Continued from Denval's Entrance Thread, 2nd of Fall, 511 AV ___________________________ “Our new home, my little hunter!” Hanno returned her father's remark with a wide, toothy grin and a renewed round of hopping. Our new home! Our new home! Haraza's words echoed over and over in her mind, her anticipation ballooning until she thought she would burst. There were so many things she wanted to know! How soon will we land? What are the people like? What is there to eat? Is there any snow? The sailors had humored her with oft-repeated answers to these very questions, even teaching her some Denvali to boot, but it had never been enough. She had to see for herself. “Paaaa-pa,” she began, sucking in a lungful of air for another barrage of questions. At the sight of his face, however, the queries caught in her throat. Oh no. But it was too late to escape. Haraza scooped her up before she could blink, hoisting her under the arms and twirling across the deck. She shrieked in reluctance and delight, a shrill and sustained note that rose and fell with her flailing legs. The world whipped past, a smear of sea and shipmen and sails; she flooded with the thrill of centrifugal force. They became a tornado of sound and limbs and coats. The dog leaped in circles about them, baying with excitement. Hanno lost a shoe. Denval had greeted them with a span of rocky coastline, and they greeted it with a cacophony of screeching, laughing, and barking that surely resounded across the entire harbor. Haraza slowed until his daughter tumbled free onto her rump, dizzy and hiccuping with giggles. The dog bounded over to plant a wet nose against her cheek, and she squealed at the sudden assault of flapping, slobbery puppy tongue. Her kaleidoscopic Vantha eyes melted into soft pink in her happiness. After all that had happened, it finally felt right to laugh again. “Ferry a' comin'!” trumpeted the sailor in the crow's nest, calling out the vessel's direction of approach. In unison, the little family looked to the sea, where a wide rowboat had begun to cross the waters. “A ferry?” Hanno asked, swallowing the last of her giggles. “It'll carry ya over ter th' quay,” a crewman answered with an agreeable lilt, handing her the stray boot. Hanno only gaped at the man, and then her father, before charging below deck, still half-barefoot, to gather her things.

[Haraza Frostfawn]

Likewise Continued from Denval Entrance, 2nd of Fall, 511AV -------------------- “Ferry a' comin'!” The call equally attracted Haraza's attention, taking a deep breath as he too looked out over the sea. The flat and small boat approaching was a courtesy he was glad to have; soon this ship would be crawling with dock workers unloading the traded cargo. “A ferry?” Hanno asked, her sweet voice echoing over the deck. “It'll carry ya over ter th' quay." One of the sailors answered. Haraza stood stoic behind Hanno as she gaped, the slightest tail of a grin on his face as he watched over her. After meeting his eyes for a second Hanno ran off, down to their cramped quarters to gather their things, no doubt, and Haraza knelt to pet the furry puppy. The dog and his daughter both had this endless energy, this life force. It invigorated him. He slipped a glove from his hand to touch the rascal's fur, the cool air refreshing against his knuckles. Haraza stood and stretched from the happy puppy and it bounded around the deck. "Thank you again." Haraza said to the sailors as he followed after Hanno. The ferry should be ready when they both came back above deck. He hurried below, slipping through the door and under the wooden planks.

[Tabarnac]

When the pair returned to the deck, the ferry was attached by ropes and a rope ladder, barges tied similarly on the other side to take cargo to the warehouses. The ride to terra firma was uneventful, though the little city was bright and multicolored and strange to them yet. Each house seemed determined to be a different color from its neighbors, and some were brilliant with new paint while others had faded to pastels with time and weather, others yet bleached bone white by time and neglect. There were strange sights, like the glimmer of light off the skyglass spire of the Chapterhouse of the Order of Radiance, and other landmarks that would eventually become familiar to them. "All ashore that's going to shore," said a dour-looking stevedore who smiled gruffly at Hanno's obvious delight in his hometown. He even helped the little one up onto the short stone quay, though he obviously expected the grown man to be able to handle himself. Their luggage was passed up and by the time Haraza had collected it, he turned around only to find Hanno and a young gull having a staring match. The bird's beak was half open and tongue slightly protruding, giving the impression of a child making a supreme effort. Finally he gave a raucous cry and a great flapping of wings, which was not very threatening. It was the flash of light that might shock a person, and the appearance of a gangling young red-headed boy with a similarly curious expression. "Jolan," he said.