HLoM: The Firebird, Chapter 1

[Nathan of the FoS]

UNIVERSALITY GREY OBEDIENCE, YEAR OF THE ALZABO (21 June 774)
THE BRONZE GATE, BAROVIA/HAZLAN

The thunderstorms of the last week have passed, and the first day of the New Year (or, on the other side of the border, Midsummer's Day) dawns cool and clear. The road between Immol and Vestrdyrr is already showing signs of the festival traffic; today Vestrdyrr's population will treble as Rashemani and Mulani from outlying areas come into the town for the solstice festivities, and those merchants from the domains northward who were held back by the recent bad weather are pressing on to their destination now that it has cleared.

The Gate itself--actually nothing more than two bronze pillars thirty feet in height and three in diameter flanking the road, topped by Janus-faced statues of a dog's head (facing into Barovia) and a wolf's head (facing into Hazlan)--draws no more than a passing glance from most of those on the road, but since it's where you arranged to meet, it holds more interest for you. It is, after all, a symbol--a political border, but also a metaphysical one, between "East" and "West", between a country where magic is foreign and frightening and one where it is a birthright (at least for some), between two calendars and two years.

And, for you, the line between the status quo and the brave new world--or perhaps between life and death.

[NeoTiamat]

The interested observer, regarding the woman emerging from the carriage, would have noticed a few things. To begin with, and this would be the reason why he was an interested observer in the first place, she was an exceptionally attractive woman. Lustrous black curls, that color called midnight black, wherein there are certain soft blueish highlights in the hair, that went down past her shoulders. Exceptionally pale skin, the sort usually referred to as alabaster or ivory, which made for a striking contrast. Pleasing, gently curved features, a soft face, and very full lips. A dark grey travel dress. A single, heavily packed bag, rather unusual for a noblewoman travelling alone.

Also she had a fox riding on her shoulder. Even here, this is not something that you see every day.

"Thus we enter the mysterious and alien East, Ushka." The woman said in Vaasi -- she'd been practicing it by speaking to her fox in the tongue. Her name was Elena von Zarovich. Her friends and colleagues knew her as Lena, her intimates as Lenka. "Land of monsters, land of decadence, land of sorcery, land of horror. Do you think they're up to us?"

The fox -- a vixen, to be precise -- wiggled her ears and favored her mistress with a decidedly canine grin. Lena returned it, and someone of a orthodontic bent might have noticed that her canines were perhaps a half a centimeter longer than usual.

"Now where's the welcoming committee..."

[Isabella]

"E-Ezra save me, but I-I thought the storms would never end," Richard said in Mordentish, visibly smiling as they neared the gate. "I-I ought to be used to them from Mordent, one would-would think."

The man who was approaching the gate stood out, even among Vestrdyrr's eclectic merchants and more eclectic natives. Put simply, he was tall - a good four inches over six feet - and he moved in a way that made him conspicuous, as someone who had a great deal of self-consciousness about getting in the way other people, and none of the grace that would allow him to avoid it naturally. His skin had been weathered by the road, and yet he was still very pale. Tousled black hair framed his face, and he wore a full beard, neatly and carefully trimmed. He might have passed for a Barovian or a Borcan, but his misty grey eyes betrayed his true homeland.

At the moment he was overdressed in etched plate mail, a green Dementlieuse tabard, and a long, black wool cloak. Despite his shining armor, he did not have a white charger. He was leading a grey mule. It was a rather large mule, necessarily so to bear the weight of a tall man in metal armor- fortunately for the mule, he did not seem to have much in the way of other baggage. There was also a black panther the size of a hunting hound, still young enough to have oversized paws and blue eyes, who was curiously padding around on a leash. The leash wasn't really needed, as she would follow alongside even without it, but it tended to make people feel better if she was wearing it.

"You ought to have taken my advice, young Master Blackwood, and brought an umbrella," said his companion: Marcel, a man with dark brown skin and strikingly white teeth, and a pair of half-rimmed spectacles perched on his nose.

"And-and so I-I ought to have, I confess, but I-I-I had my hands quite full enough at the time," Richard replied, smiling down at the cat. "And I still-still do. You were so small when I first met you, I-I really do not know what happened."

"They always grow faster than we might like," Marcel said.

The two men reached the gate, Marcel moving aside to try and get the lay of the land. Richard himself stood and examined the carved dog's heads, not yet crossing over the border between the two lands.

[NeoTiamat]

Not for the first time, Lena wondered what it might be like to be one of those wealthy and powerful aristocrats who had scores of servants waiting on them hand and foot. Most of the time, Lena didn't mind their lack, since she was an intensely private person. And yet, at times like these...

"One day, Ushka, I am going to turn you into a sled dog." Lena ground out the words, struggling with her heavy luggage. "About time you earned your keep around here... Ushka?"

Now where had the fox gotten to? You wouldn't think it would be that easy to lose a bright red fox.

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It was the panther that first noticed that they had a visitor, though Marcel and Richard would have probably observed that they'd picked up a spectator soon enough on their own. It was a small, bushy-tailed fox with a bright orange-red coat and wearing a small collar. The fox was sitting just out of the panther's leash range, and was examining the cat with golden eyes.

Cats, in Ushka's experience, tended to be smaller. This required further investigation. The fox's whiskers twitched as she leaned in to sniff the giant black cat.

[Isabella]

Richard only noticed their new companion when he felt the panther start straining at her leash. He looked down to see the cat leaning forward, sniffing at the fox just as the fox was sniffing at her. Step two of the panther's examination was going to involve trying to bat the fox with a paw, so Richard gave the leash a slight tug. "Maya, no," he said, amused but firm. The panther sniffed for a few seconds more before sitting back on her haunches, staring at the fox with her mouth slightly open.

"H-Hello there," Richard said to the fox, likewise kneeling down to get a better look at the creature. It didn't say hello back, so that was something. Richard mentally checked that box off in his head, though he wasn't quite sure that was the end of the matter. There was something just a little uncanny about the creature - only slightly so, but Richard knew animals, and somehow he knew this wasn't one. Not a natural one, at least.

"I-It seems you have a-an owner somewhere," he told the fox, noting the collar around its neck. There were silver tags, so he leaned in close, carefully trying to pluck one up. "Belongs to Bar-baroness Elena von Zarovich. I-I-I am in the presence of fox royalty, it-it seems."

He looked around. No obvious signs of a von Zarovich - though really, how would he know?

[NeoTiamat]

Finally. A human who gave Ushka the respect she deserved. The fox perked its ears and licked a paw daintily... and then, since Richard was currently leaning down and thus at a fox-friendly altitude, Ushka moved her head up and licked him on the nose. She was fast. One second, nothing, the next, Richard felt a soft pink tongue lick at his nose, and for some reason he now had a damp nose.

"Ushka!" Someone called, and the fox promptly straightened and began to wash it's paw. It had absolutely nothing to do with anything, and really had no idea why anyone would think otherwise.

Following the sound of the call, Richard saw a raven-haired woman in a grey dress bearing down on the wayward canine -- presumably the Baroness von Zarovich, though there was a distinct absence of servants or retainers for a baroness. "Ushka. You rapscallion and miscreant, demon in vulpine form, stop being a pest. A thousand apologies, sir."

[Isabella]

Richard blinked.

He instinctively tried to rub his nose, but gauntleted hands meant that didn't work out as he had hoped. He instead leaned over to brush his face off on his cloak, and then opened his eyes to look up at the loveliest woman he'd ever seen.

Richard blinked again. He stared at her, stock still, for just long enough to not be quite appropriate. Then he started to laugh, putting his hands on his knees to push himself up.

"I-I-I have just been making the acquaintance of your-your fine furred companion, my lady," he said, in a pleasant baritone voice. "Which, as fortune would-would have it, allows me to-to ask her for an introduction to you. The Baroness Elena von-von Zarovich, I-I believe?" Richard bowed.

"Richard Blackwood, at-at your service, my lady."

[NeoTiamat]

Ushka liked this human. He kept letting himself get within reach. As soon as Richard bowed, the fox leapt up onto his shoulder, digging into his woolen cloak with her claws. By the time Richard stood up, he had somehow gained a shoulder-fox.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, M'sieu Blackwood." Lena said, offering Richard a curtsy in return. She didn't even bother hiding her smile. "I'm deeply curious what you told my familiar, since she seems to have fallen in love."

Ushka licked the Mordentishman's now-conveniently-located ear.

[Isabella]

Richard laughed again. "If I-I knew what I said to-to cause people to like me, I-I'd be a more fortunate man, I-I think. But under the circumstances, I-I think she-she just likes the way I taste."

He tilted his head, looking at the fox out of the corner of his eyes. Turning to look at it would only get his nose licked again. Maya, the black jaguar, put her feet on the back of his leg, stretching her neck to look at the fox and mentally judging if she could make the jump.

"Maya, no," Richard said. The panther put her feet down, but kept her eyes fixed up on the fox above.

[NeoTiamat]

"I see. Well, if you end up missing a piece of your ear, you'll know whom to blame." Lena said, a dimple forming on her cheek as she smiled more deeply. Ushka, the Barovian woman decided, had excellent taste. The fox, being in agreement, sat proudly on Richard's shoulder and looked around, ruler of all she surveyed. The bright, exceptionally fluffy tail hung down the front of Richard's tabard.

"And who is this charming lady?" Lena said, looking down at Maya, though like her familiar, she kept out of leash range until it was permitted to pet the panther. "Are you an animal trainer, sir?"

[Isabella]

"I-I-I am not sure that is how I would des-describe it. They-they sometimes deign to do what I-I ask of them," Richard replied, still half-smiling at the fox. "I-I hope she's enjoying the view," he told Lena.

"Baroness von Zarovich, may I-I-I introduce you to Maya." Richard presented the black jaguar, who was too busy staring at Ushka to look at the woman. Lena's beauty did not seem to distract big cats, at least, not more so than a small and fuzzy fox. "A-A present for a friend, whom I-I mean to meet in Hazlan. Which, ah... well!"

He grinned sheepishly. "Which makes it poor form to-to have named her, but it-it was four months ago I-I bought her, and I had to call her something. She-she won't answer to anything else, now."

[NeoTiamat]

"Ushka thinks she has found the best toy in Hazlan right now. If you make squeaking sounds when she jumps on you then you will be simply without price." Lena said, while Ushka's whiskers twitched as she sniffed the air.

"A pleasure to meet you as well, Maya." Lena said, perfectly aware that she was being overshadowed by her own familiar. "She's absolutely magnificent. Or will be, at any rate, once she grows into those paws. Have you been to Hazlan before?"

[Isabella]

"Ushka thinks she has found the best toy in Hazlan right now. If you make squeaking sounds when she jumps on you then you will be simply without price."

Richard raised his eyebrows and looked somewhat dubious at the prospect, but merely said, "I-I'm afraid squeaking i-isn't something I-I count among my talents."

"Have you been to Hazlan before?"

"No, I-I have yet to-to have that pleasure. I-I rarely travel, though-though this trip has more than made up for that-that lack," Richard replied.

[NeoTiamat]

"Tsk. And here I thought you were a well-educated gentleman." Lena said, her smile deepening. She looked up at Ushka, who was currently luxuriating in the view, and showed no signs of disembarking anytime soon.

"In any case, you're in for quite an experience." Lena said. "I grew up near here, just over the border, and Vestrdyrr in festival-time is a sight to behold. Hopefully your friends will take you around...?"

[Isabella]

Richard gave a somewhat bashful grin at the joke, but he hunched his shoulders slightly and his cheeks turned a pale, dull rose.

"I-I hope so as well," he replied, straightening slightly at the change in subject. "To be honest, I-I don't know their intentions for our-our schedule. I-I wasn't aware we would-would be arriving during a festival - we were, were delayed on the road by the-the storms. I-I hope we stay to see it."