Once we'd rested we brought Deirdre up to date on our exploits. She listened attentively asking the occasional question. Once we'd completed our tale she asked what we planned to do next. To be honest we didn't know, although Alfred was keen to get on and read the Book of Selheim to see what information it offered. At the rate he was making progress it was going to be at least two days before he finished the story of creation.
I had initially been skeptical as to why it was taking so long, but Charity had also tried to read it and managed barely a page in several hours. It seems that what is written is somehow absorbed into the psyche where it is translated into concepts we understand which may then be relayed to others. All attempts to actually copy or duplicate what is written have so far fai-2013led.
To be honest I was glad of the rest and further opportunity to practice my conjuration. If there had been less people about I'd have tried creating a trump or two.
The rest of the day we actually spent discussing things as Alfred and Charity gleaned them from their respective halves of the book. This information coupled with the tasks they were initially set by Deirdre seems to have galvanized them into a degree of planning and at last Charity has owned up to what happened after I trumped out of the castle with Vialle.
It seems she was captured by Brand, interrogated, and when she failed to submit to him, thrown into the Abyss. From which she escaped! Not only escaped but she's now working for the Kraken - one of the powers alluded to in the Book of Selheim. It also explains the marks in her aura I couldn't recognize. It seems that in order to survive in the Abyss you need some form of mark, I suppose akin to the Pattern or Logrus, and that part of the process of saving her gave her this mark. Strangely she seemed almost gleeful when recounting this particular aspect of her tail almost as if she has gained some major source of power not available to the rest of us. If the side effect is that she freezes during the 13th Hour then I'm not sure I want it. She also mentioned that Brand also has Abyss Mark, which probably means he also is frozen during the 13th Hour - maybe this is why we can use Trump safely during that time.
Whilst on the subject of unusual revelations, when I reentered Undershadow the feather I thought had vanished reappeared in my hand. When we left Undershadow, it vanished from my pack where I had stowed it. What I didn't know was that I now have a distinct feather mark identical to that feather in my aura. When Charity revealed this I was somewhat stunned not only by the revelation itself but also by Charity's rudeness in reading me - I'd like to know when she did it because I haven't noticed her doing it.
Having made her revelation, Charity decided that she was going to talk to the Kraken regarding the information we'd so far gained from the Book of Selheim. This left Sorcha and me at a loose end, until Alfred decided he needed to go and talk to Yggotharan, which may be the Tree Ygg. Unfortunately the next 13th Hour is still two days away so he'll have to wait. Whilst I don't like leaving Sorcha to find something to do I really could do with getting some Trumps drawn, and I've just about got time to draw one before we have to leave.
Alfred was not in a good mood when he got to the Inn. It seems its taken him several hours to find it. My initial reaction was to laugh at him but that really wasn't the right thing to do. I suppose I was a little pissed off at having hung around for several hours whilst he stuck himself to the tree. Whilst Sorcha showed more forethought she jumped at the chance to retire the the Inn of the 'Spreading Yew', which is only just over a of mile from Ygg. The sign at the Inn is actually a depiction of Ygg which is not actually a Yew. What it is I haven't the faintest idea but its not any species of tree with which I'm familiar. I suspect that it's really a conglomeration of multiple species rather than just a single one.
This is only the second time I've been to the Spreading Yew but the Landlord still recognized me. Not only did he recognize me, he wanted to catch up on how events had affected members of the family. He was quite upset with what I told him, especially in relation to Flora's disappearance and the lack of response from her Trump.
It had been with her that I had come here previously and they had both disappeared for several hours. There would have been less significance in this had I not observed them kissing shortly before Flora reappeared. It was not a casual kiss. She had also reacted hostilely when I asked about him and I never did get an answer from her, as to exactly who he was.
What I have since learned is that the family pay him to maintain a way station here for exchanging horses and mail packages, and the Inn is one of the Trump cards in the standard family deck.
Anyway his half days' questioning of Ygg appear to have only served to confuse him further and he insists on returning to the tree in the morning to converse with it further. If that is the case, then I'm going to abandon Sorcha again and get on with another trump. We can then trump out of here during the next 13th Hour in a couple of day's time.
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