Log Date: 1/20/96

It's not been all that long since Doreel has healed Rillwhisper of the second 
  dose of spider venom in her blood, but it's seemed longer, as the Willowholt 
  chieftess restlessly settles herself at the base of Doreel's great tree. 
  Fretful, but aware of the weakness in her limbs that yet lingers, she tries 
  her best to rest, while watching the activity of the helpers out around the 
  grove.

Lira tends to the small garden in the grove, occasionally looking up from her 
  work at the other.

Rillwhisper frowns softly, and for lack of anything better to do -- or to 
  think about, for her head aches behind her eyes, and Certain Things just 
  don't want to be fully considered, right now -- turns her gaze to the little 
  helper. Finally she coughs a bit, and calls tentatively, "Lira?" as if she's 
  not sure of that being the being's right name.

Lira looks up a bit nervously at the sound of her name. Unsure what to do she 
  pauses for a moment, then decides she must continue with the work the Master 
  ordered be done.

Rillwhisper sighs. _Puckernuts._ "Um, Lira. Can I help, or something?" She 
  starts to get up, as if intending to walk over to where Lira works.

Lira forces her eyes to stay at the work on hand. Her face strained and a bit 
  frightened.

Rillwhisper scowls at herself as a brief spurt of dizziness requires her to 
  lean against the mighty tree overshadowing the place, then sighs, and calls 
  over, striving to sound unintimidating, "I... just want to talk. Or help. Or 
  something. I won't hurt you, and I'm sorry if I scared you. With the 
  howling."

Lira looks up at you, a mix of fear and also worry in her gaze. "You not leave 
  the Master now?" Her tone more worried than her face, with the fear pushed 
  back, though ever present.

Rillwhisper sighs, and settles under the tree again, mutely grateful for its 
  support behind her back when her head's still too light. "This... place 
  isn't my home, Lira. I have a tribe out there. Fallberry -- _my_ Preserver 
  -- is going to find them, and bring them so that they can help me go home."

Lira looks at you, kneeling on the ground she stops her work. "Home is here. 
  No where else home." Her face is otherwise blank, nothing of her features 
  leading you to think she feels much at the moment.

Rillwhisper attempts to sound patient, as she explains, "_Your_ home, yes... 
  and Doreel's... but not _mine_. I have a home at Willowholt. There are other 
  elves there, like me...."

Lira doesn't seem able to comprehend the idea of another home besides this 
  one. She looks at you questionaingly though her eyes never meet yours. Her 
  stance a bit more relaxed, though still a bit stiff.

Doreel walks down the stairs from the heart of the tree.
Doreel has arrived.
Doreel wanders quietly out of the tree, somewhat dazed.

Rillwhisper repeats earnestly to Lira, "My tribe lives there. There's many 
  elves, like me, and they'll come to find us here..." She's sitting, still, 
  under the tree where she's sat down to rest, when Doreel emerges.

Doreel stumbles slightly on the bottom step. He looks around and then down at 
  the two of you.

Lira is sitting in the small garden, looking towards the other, seemingly not 
  doing anything at all besides looking at her, still not understanding.

Doreel says "What... what are you telling her Rillwhisper?"
Doreel doesn't look all that amused at what he heard the elf telling his 
  helper.

Rillwhisper starts, at the sound of Doreel's footsteps, and looks up. She 
  studies Doreel worriedly for a moment, then answers honestly, "About where 
  my home is. The Willowholt."

Lira looks up at the sound of her Master's voice, almost immediately beginning 
  to work in the garden, tenderly, though quicker than she had been before.

Doreel shakes his head, "Do not fill their minds with stories. They do not 
  need to know what is outside the grove."

Rillwhisper's frown deepens a bit, and her expression grows more reserved, as 
  she glances away. "As you wish. Have to spend my time somehow, though. If 
  you have any ideas, I'm open to suggestions."
Rillwhisper then glances back, and adds, a bit less stiffly, "I owe you that, 
  at least, for the healing. My thanks."

Lira does not slow in her work with the plants, though she speaks nothing, she 
  listens intently as the Master and the Other talk.

Doreel shrugs slightly, his face dropping as he runs a hand along the tree, 
  "This is paradise. Certainly you can find something to do other than 
  storytelling."
Doreel waves a hand around the grove.

Rillwhisper looks up at the taller elf, eyes grave. "It... is difficult for me 
  to be here, Doreel."

Doreel looks towards you, his face relatively expressionless, "And why is 
  that?"

Rillwhisper keeps her gaze steady, green eyes calm in her pale, drawn face. 
  "My tribe isn't here, Doreel -- my mates, my cub, the elves who have chosen 
  to allow me to be their chief. It's not... my home."

Doreel says "It was not my home for many stars' turns. Only once did mother's 
  stories of the ship come back to me did this place become my home. Just as 
  it will become yours."
Doreel's hand glows slightly, idly even, as his powers shape a small symbol 
  into the bark of the tree, adding something small, though completely 
  relevant piece to the whole puzzle of hte grove.

Rillwhisper closes her eyes. Calm, chieftess. Keep it calm. Explain to him.... 
  Her thoughts trail off, though, as Doreel's magic distracts her. Then, she 
  brightens, and begins, "But... my kin and tribe are still alive out there, 
  Doreel... my own brother shapes the wood, like you! They'll miss me, if I 
  stay here. And they'll be looking for me."

Doreel shakes his head, "If they want you, they will have to find you. I am 
  not going to help them find you. I know nothing about kin, I have none left. 
  My mother, my father, my own people are all gone. You, <he points at 
  Rillwhisper> are all that I have left to keep me at all what I am."
Doreel seems to be slipping slightly... back into the past... though part of 
  him is still anchored here and now.

Rillwhisper winces, very slightly, at that. Her gaze searching, she looks up 
  at the tall shaper, realizing all at once at least something of what must 
  have made him go wandering in his own mind. She pulls in a breath, striving 
  to think of the appropriate words to say what she must say. "I... would be 
  willing to visit, Doreel, often, but I cannot abandon my tribe. And they 
  _will_ come looking. Fallberry will show them where I am...."

Doreel motions towards the Presever, "You have changed it somehow. Normally it 
  would have listened to me... I probably have seen this one before... But I 
  am still alone here. Only the small ones."
Doreel motions towards Lira.

Lira continues working furiously in the garden, trying as much as she can to 
  hide it, though stay where she can listen.

Doreel says "The stars continue to turn. And as they do, I weaken. Elves are 
  not all you may think..."
Doreel slips off totally now as he starts to ramble incomprehensibly.

Rillwhisper blinks, and protests, "Doreel, I'm _not_ a shaper... there's no 
  way I could have changed a Preserver! I have no magic.. not like you."

Doreel mutters to himself as he goes about the grove, idly shaping.

Lira slowly stops her work in the garden after having watched from lowered 
  eyes her Master walk away. Again she kneels on her knees and looks at you, 
  her gaze curious as well as stiff frightened.

Rillwhisper sighs to herself, fretfully, as Doreel ambles at random off across 
  the grove.

Lira somehow finds the courage she had once before and rises ever so slowly, 
  though not yet does she move towards you.

Rillwhisper leans back against the tree, trying to calm herself, to let her 
  anxious pulse settle down again. "Two-Spear's madness," she mutters.

Lira moves slowly to the edge of the garden and stops, again kneeling and 
  doing minor garden work, though constantly her averted gaze returns to your 
  form.

Rillwhisper opens her eyes slightly, and realizes she's under scrutiny. 
  Huntress's instincts tell her she'd better not startle Lira, if she wants to 
  talk at all with the helper. So she remains still, ostensibly resting, but 
  waiting to see if Lira approaches her.

Lira moves a bit closer, though never standing. Her hands holding nothing but 
  various weeds that she has removed, her eyes growing wider as she dares to 
  move closer.

Rillwhisper can hear the helper's tiny movements. And it requires all her 
  concentration to only fake resting, rather than yielding completely to it, 
  to seem as safe as possible.

Lira moves her hand to her belly and rises, her face frightened though 
  determined, she nears you stopping about a few feet away from where you rest.

From under her near-closed eyelids, Rillwhisper watches Lira approach. Keep 
  still, chieftess, she urges herself. Let the timid fawn come near. Keep it 
  easy, keep it calm...

Lira holds her hand over her belly protectively as she stands there, silently 
  looking over you. Her voice only a whisper, as if afraid you might actually 
  hear her, "There is another home?"

Rillwhisper, pretending to be near-asleep, murmurs very softly, "Mmm?"

Lira jumps back a bit at the noise, obviously very nervous. Taking a deep 
  breath she looks around the grove, seemingly to make sure none of the others 
  are at hand. She steps forward again, closer this time and looks at you.

Rillwhisper very slowly opens her eyes a bit more.

Lira doesn't seem to notice your opening eyes, her gaze on you never actually 
  reaching them. She watches a few moments more before speaking again. Her 
  voice quiet, the ervousness and tension she feels in her tone, "You tell 
  Master 'bout 'nother home"
Lira gets down on her knees, much like when she was in the garden, and 
  nervously reaches out to poke you in the side, her hand pausing before she 
  does so.

Rillwhisper frowns, but only briefly. Should she let Lira do this? But it 
  dawns on her that, for all Doreel's apparent mastery over these little 
  troll-like creatures, they are clearly able to think for themselves. 
  Thinking of this, Rillwhisper turns her head slightly, to look at Lira. She 
  doesn't move, when poked. "I did," she answers softly. "The home where I 
  live."

Lira jumps at the sound of your voice, obviously having thought you were 
  asleep. She looks around the grove, her features twisting into fright as the 
  'clicking' of the spiders can be heard almost always.
Lira seems to breathe very deeply a moment or two. Her actions very odd from 
  what you have sen of these shy, seemingly mindless little creatures. She 
  looks down and speaks again, her voice a whisper "Why leave...home safe"

Rillwhisper considers this quietly. Just how much _does_ this Lira understand? 
  To test it, she carefully inquires, "Why _you_ leave, or why _me_?" 
  _Puckernuts. I'm starting to sound like her.)

Lira slowly answers, her voice no louder than necessary, "Why you leave? 
  Preservers get you when you leave home."

Rillwhisper ahs. So Lira _does_ understand. She answers softly, "It's because 
  of my friend. Strongbow..." And her face abruptly saddens, as she remembers 
  an earlier, paralyzing fear that... no. Don't think about it now. "We're... 
  we were... looking. For another elf. Strongbow's mate. We couldn't find her."

Lira looks absolutely perplexed at the words 'elf', 'Strongbow' and 'mate'. 
  "But preservers bite when you leave. Why you leave?"

Rillwhisper wrinkles her nose -- well, alright, so Lira has her limits. 
  "You... know what I am, right? An elf...?"

Lira shakes her head, "You are a RillWhisper, Lar say so" pauses and looks 
  about ready to continue though she does not.

A Rillwhisper. Well, okay, fine. Let's try to explain this in a way Lira might 
  comprehend... "Alright. Well, you know Lar, right? He, um... does work with 
  you. And you talk, and share things, right?"

Lira nods, "Lar and Lir both share with Lira"

Rillwhisper smiles, encouragingly. "Well... in the words I know, this means 
  Lar and Lir are your friends. I have a friend, too... his name is 
  Strongbow." Is? Or was? Rillwhisper's eyes flicker sadly for a moment, but 
  she still doesn't _know_, not yet, whether that awful dream she had in her 
  fever is true or no....

Lira edges a bit closer, though she does not notice the flicker of emotion in 
  your eyes. Before speaking her forehead becomes pursed as if thinking hard 
  on what to say. Her words are slow, for she wants no mistake...
Lira says "You leave home for 'friend Strongbow'. Preservers let you leave 
  home for friend? Why no sting or bite then? Why bite here not at home?"
Lira waits patiently for your response, though her hands fidgit due to the 
  anxiety of what might happen if she is caught like this.

Rillwhisper regards Lira steadily. Evidently she hasn't managed, yet, to get 
  it through to Doreel _or_ his helpers that what _they_ call Preservers 
  aren't Preservers at all... but, well, alright. She'll work with this, she 
  thinks. "Did you... see the Preserver that came to talk to me? Fallberry?"

Lira looks awed and frightened at the same time, "Preserver came home and 
  talked to you?" Her eyes begin darting this way and that as one arm protects 
  her belly, the oly safe haven known has apparently been breached.

Rillwhisper shhhhs, softly. "Listen to me, Lira. Listen to me. It's alright. 
  Fallberry... is not like your Preservers. You've seen the ones in the woods, 
  right?"
Rillwhisper leans forward, just a bit, slowly.

Lira nods vigorously, her eyes are wide with fright, the same fright that 
  which now holds her to this spot.

Rillwhisper says very earnestly, "Fallberry isn't like the Preservers in the 
  woods. It's very small..." She holds up her hands, measuring a height, in 
  front of her. "This big. And it has wings. And it _likes_ me. It's my 
  friend, just like Lar and Lir are your friends. Do you understand?"

Lira calms down considerably. She looks at the size you show and shakes her 
  head, "Preservers biiiig" She stretches her arms as wide as they'll go. "Not 
  like Lar and Lir. Preservers bite and kill, Lar and Lir not do that, Master 
  would get mad."

Rillwhisper nods, still very earnestly. "The... 'Preservers' in your woods are 
  bad, yes. They do bite. They do kill. But in my home, the Preservers aren't 
  like that. And Fallberry's from my home."

Lira does not speak, her forehead pursed as before almost as if shes trying to 
  figure out something important to her.
Lira says "You have good preservers, like Lar and Lir? Not bad, like Masters? 
  They no kill?"

Rillwhisper smiles. "Yes. We have good Preservers. Preservers that help us. 
  And no bad Preservers. So that's why I can leave my home, when I need to."

Lira seems to be quite sated by this response, what she wanted to know somehow 
  finally learned.
Lira looks around the grove again, just to check and make sure she hasn't been 
  seen where she should not be. Again she seems ready to speak but instead, 
  she leans back on her feet and thinks.

Rillwhisper feels a small bit of elation -- is she getting through? But she 
  can't push it. As patiently as she can manage, she waits for the little 
  being to summon the courage to ask more questions.

Lira says nothing for a bit, her eyes never once looking at you as she sits 
  there, obviously trying to either a) puzzle something out, or b) understand 
  something she isn't quite getting.
Lira looks up, "You have home, safe from Masters Preservers?"
Lira says "They no kill Lars, Lirs, and Liras?"

Rillwhisper promises softly, "My Preservers won't kill Lars and Lirs and 
  Liras. Or your master."

Lira looks at you, "Preservers never harm Master. Only Masters helpers and 
  long go, RillWhispers" Seems to be trying to convey some message here, 
  though whether or not its understood by any other than another Helper is 
  questionable.

[End log, as Lira disconnects.]