Worlds Beyond Number - The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One: Preludes

Episode Date: March 2, 2023

Snow falling, over endless white sand...So begins the prelude to our first story, The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One. In this prologue, we meet our characters as children, and see them thrust from the known into peril, confusion, and new worlds they will struggle to understand. This is the first chapter in the story of how our trio met, and the events that would bring them back together so many years later. To follow along with the main story, simply keep listening to this very podcast. To hear the rest of what happened to our young heroes so long ago, come and find us at Patreon.com/worldsbeyondnumberWe areBrennan Lee MulliganErika IshiiAabria IyengarLou WilsonProduced, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore at Fortunate HorseAlbum art by the great Corey BrickleyTranscript of this episode available here.

This is the sound of worlds beyond number. Snow over endless white sand and a tower made of glass. The image of night and day as spells fire across the sky. For a moment the sun captured against the horizon, while stars gleam as the heavens cannot seem to agree in the face of endless magic, what the truth of this world should be. Perhaps of dream, or perhaps of waking life, or perhaps of something in between. By Suvi.

Suverin Kedberiket. Right now, if you open your eyes, all that you would be able to see is the inside of your mother's cloak, and you can feel her hand on your shoulder. This patch of your mother's cloak, I won't lie, it's a little bit of snot on it. It's mine. It's Sufis. And you can feel her hand on you,

so you don't have to see anything occurring outside because right now you are underneath her cloak, both literally but also of course in the deeper meaning of that she has you you can feel the presence nearby of your father preparing a working of great magic having grown up in the citadel how does suvi feel witnessing her parents work magic how do you think of magic if that's what you've grown in and through and around the water that you have been swimming in your whole life. In this moment, you can tell that something has gone wrong, but your parents have done a lot to hide you from.

As this spell starts to weave, what is Suvie feeling? It's to her, to me, magic has always been a thing that belongs to adulthood. And to like, it feels like a birthright, but not a part of me. So it's always been a subject of like endless fascination. And I know that I want to look and see what he's doing. Because it's hard not to feel it and want to react to it. But there is something in that slight offness and wrongness that instead of that, I think I'm just going to bury my head into my mom a little more.

and just nuzzle and trust. You nuzzle, you trust. Your mother's voice, soft as can be. In contrast against the sharpness of the noises of what you can only hope are spells, because if they are not, then something truly monstrous and alien is occurring outside the doors of this chamber. She whispers to you, it's going to be all right. Stay right here.

Keep your eyes closed for a moment. Very shortly, we are going to be far away. Don't keep your eyes open while we go. You'll get sick. I'll let you know when you can open your eyes. You hear voices in the room. Your father is speaking to. And then with a flash that you can perceive,

even with your eyes shut tight and buried in your mother's clothes, momentarily blinded and feel tug and sudden pressure. Moving so quickly that you don't even experience the feeling of moving forward in the way that when you are falling through the sky, the feeling you feel is the feeling of being pushed up from the rushing wind. A fraction of a moment later, you hear screams and heat. In this moment, you feel a twitch of reflex from your mother. Give me an insight to check.

11. Something is wrong. You don't know more than that, and you cannot see your mother's face, but you know that your mother is surprised, which is all of the fear that you know how to process. Definitely. She's like, she's got her fingers, like, nodded in her mother's clothing, but turn and look.

As you turn to look, you see three figures, one of which is your father, two of which, not family to you. But one of them, to the right, could almost be described as family, a woman who is as close as your mother has to a sister. The other is a man who works with you. Of these three figures, as you turn to look, because your mother's face is directly above you, of these three figures, who do you turn to look at first? Your father, your family friend, or... I think because it's... No, I'm looking back at my dad.

Briah, what do we see in this memory of Suviz? What does your father's face look like? He's got dark skin, and you can tell he's very handsome. And angular, but he's got, like, just maybe like a week or a week and a half of stubble coming in that obscures a lot of his lower face. I hate, I hate his beard because it's, like, painfully itchy, like, whenever he hugs me. So I kind of crinkle my nose at that. He's got pale gray eyes that are always a little bit shut when he smiles, like his cheeks kind of take over. his face. He's incredibly tall on the leaner side of things, but you can tell that he is like

strong and wiry under his billowing like cloaks. Your father is in this memory, confident, capable, ready to do what is needed. And the flickering mist leaving his hands, which are themselves covered with a number of powerful rings, one of which you know to be special somehow. It is the ring he has shown to you when he has, you know, cradled you on his lap and talked to you about magic and shown you the ring that is on the index finger of his right hand, and it has a brilliant green gem,

and is set in beautiful gold and brass trium, angular and geometric, and he has often shown it to you. Complicated the problem. It's always just the first step. You see the spell of traveling, potent teleportation that has taken you to this hellish place. And in the moment before your father can notice that you are looking at him, surveys where you are. Everything is orange, everything is hot. there is fire all around

and it takes a moment you can't even fully collect because there's so much smoke here that you can't open your eyes all the way. It's hot and it's hard to see things moving because sparks and embers are flying and there will be loud pops of wood that will suddenly burst

and sparks will go and catching any movement or rhyme or reason to any of this is therefore quite challenging. But in your memory, there is something that stays with you. Bottom half of a mural on a plaster wall that shows perhaps the hands or arms of a family smiling. The smoke has already charred away their faces, but you see in flowery script words not In Imperial, not in the language you speak, but you are a bright enough young child that you know that word in another language means tea.

Perhaps it means a tea shop. Perhaps this was a sign on a building that let people know that they could come here and sit together. No one's sitting here now. Catch your father's eye in this burning place and see him. pointing, saying, there in the harbor, and suddenly you know you must be near the sea. Catches your eye. It's all right. This is going to be all right, Sufi. You're going to be all right. And he kneels down and swoops you up in his arm. When you think of a word that describes your father.

You need not answer quickly. But when you think of a word that describes your father, what's a word that comes to mind for you? Weirdly, it's soft. Because he's, even though his beard is scratchy and he's muscular, his skin is always really soft, like around his neck where I hug him. And his clothing smells of this same blend

of like flower and some weird wood. But it's also he put a little satchit of whatever he uses for his clothing under my pillow. So I associate the smell with both him and being safe in bed. As your father goes to pick you up, you hear a growl from behind your father. There is something about this man that has always turned your stomach. There's a smell he has that is a wrong. strong smell. What do you think Suvi would smell on this man that would even make a child who has been told

to trust him, regard him with some anxiety? It's something that is the opposite of the way herb dad smells. It's like acrid and metallic. And I don't think she knows what blood smells like, but it's that, but what blood smells. But it's that but worse. Your father turns to address the man. He's not looking. His ears, you hear a snap in his jaw as his jaw grows larger.

And tusks begin to extend from his mouth. And something painful shudders in his arms as they grow to reach the ground. and he is something monstrous, disturbing, and you smell that smell as blood drips from his open mouth. He growls and I start crying immediately. His eyes dark to you and narrow. You see your father turn and say, we have to find the carriage.

There's a wagon somewhere here at the edge of town. Wagon, you are out of your mind? They found us. It's a trap. They clearly knew we were. This is your mother's friend, sister in all but blood. What does this woman look like? What is the memory you have of this woman in this moment?

Pretty, even stressed and in this, like, weird orange glow. She's got long, just incredibly shiny, Auburn hair. and like sort of ruddy, freckled features and pale skin, but she's sort of glowing in this room that's so dangerous and hot and wrong, but she looks like she's in her element. Wears a long as your cloak and shining silver scales in her armor with a long jewel-hilted sword at her side. In addition to a tome of spells,

you see her put a hand and address the man who is maybe now a monster and says, Yoran, calm down. If you want to be of help, move and move quickly. Here, follow me. She looks down at you and says, don't be afraid of him. He starts to run. As you lights moving through the sky slowly at first and then faster, you begin to realize how large this seaside town is.

You realize how large it is. when the far reaches of it are as they come roaring out of the black night and are only made visible in the moment of their destruction. As you exit from this place as fast as you can, grow smaller in stature, but also hear shouting coming from the waterfront behind you. Wagon covered wood on all sides with, again, bright pink woman drinking from a glass of wine, with beautiful floral script, some merchant's cart advertising a life of carefree wonder. As you arrive at the back of the wagon, your father opens the door,

and your father addresses the woman with Auburn Hare who whispers quickly to your mother, and he says, Steel, we need him in this way. She turns and says, what we need to do is keep the plan. We need to, you see, she says, perhaps, perhaps it's just better if Suvie comes with us. And you hear a snarl. Slow still. You see Steele whips around and says,

Yoran, I'll cut your head from your... I don't want the girl to die, but die she will if she comes where we're going. And you see your mother raise a hand, and Yorin does not... look up and you look up to see a face that you knew your mother was capable of pulling on you being applied to what looks for all the world like a monster. And the monster has the same reaction you have to it. We see your mother. What does your mother look like? He's got round, almost like a heart-shaped face. She just looks very pleasant and, kind and that if she was sort of left to her own devices would probably run to like curviness and voluptuousness

but none of that is there she's got long curly coiled hair and dark skin her eyes are brown and just so large that I think I just kind of always try to play with her face because her eyes are so expressive that I get lost in them all the time um And yeah, she's a little on the shorter side, too. Her stature is in inverse proportion to the amount of presence she wields in this moment. She looks at Yorin and says, and then she looks at Steele. Suvi cannot. Steel raises her eyes and goes, stick to the plan and gestures to the fiery city and says,

we can try to stick to the plan, but I don't. think the plan is trying very hard at all to stick to us. And you see that your father speaks again. I'm going to ask for the word you most associate with your mother. But in a sturdy way, that she is solid and strong and cool, just always so cool. Your father still holding you, turns to your mother, looks at you and says, I know this is frightening. and says, steel, tuck to the driver, Yoran, keep us safe. You see that the monstrous figure of Yoran looks at you one last time and prowls off,

further extending his arms and dropping to all floors. Simeon almost, or like a hyena, where the legs are not of equal length. The legs, the arms in the front extend far longer, prowls off towards the front of the carriage. And you see steel goes around the other side. and says, hail, driver! And begins to speak to the driver of the carriage in front of you. Your father, through the open door, puts you on a small little bench with a folded piece of hard canvas cloth on it.

He kisses you once on each cheek, and he says, I'm going to go back into the town. There are survivors and other people here who need help. All right? You are going to be safe. You are going to be safe. He turns to stone, kisses her on the cheek, and says, I'll hold them off. We have time. Steps up into the carriage with you, sits across from you, sort of crouched on the balls of her feet to get just as tall as you are sitting.

Wipes the tears from your face. In your memory, what do you look like? Yeah, I'm just this like small, just, I feel even smaller than I'm. I must have actually been a black girl with poofy, coily, dark brown hair that I've just jam. I have a weird habit of jamming stuff into it. There's like a pencil and some flowers that I found and a very cool leaf. I have giant oversized glasses that I wear most of the time, but I'm not wearing them now because I already dropped them and they're already a little broken so I'm just holding them and I can feel the metal kind of bending under my hands. I don't even remember what I was wearing. It was probably red because that's my favorite color,

but I don't know. I just feel small with eyes as big as my mom and I want to yell, but I know I need to be good, so I'm just quiet. Looks at you smiling. You see. You see tears streaming down her face, but you've never seen your mom weep, although you've seen her cry often. And in this moment, she is not weeping. She is simply crying, as she often does when she is moved by powerful feeling. She wraps her hands around yours and whispers words in a language you cannot speak, but your mother has promised that you one day will. And you can't. and feel the glasses mend within your hands. You need to be careful with these glasses

because I won't be around to fix them for a little while. You're going somewhere safe. You're going to meet a very wonderful woman. Her name is Grandmother Wren, and I am asking you to be respectful when you meet her. She is a kind and dear woman, but she is not to be crossed. Will be polite when you arrive,

You will do as you are told, is that understood? Yeah. I know that your father has explained these rules to you before, but I will say again, in the laws of magic, there are few errors more grievous than being unkind to a host or ungrateful for a service done.

So make sure you are respectful. And if any chores are asked, have you seen that you do them. She reaches around her, her neck, unclasps a necklace, and a perfect sapphire blue raindrop made of glass. At the end of a silver chain is placed around your neck, and she clasps it. See her look. Holding your hands goes, all right to be frightened.

Not ever going to let that stop us from doing what we need to do. appearing at the door once more. Steele moves her head around the corner and says, Stone, it's getting to be time. You see your mother nods and says, all right. She kisses you again, holds you close, and looks down at the little patch of snot on the inside of her cloak and goes,

we must respect when a fellow wizard has marked something as their own. And she takes the cloak off and wraps you up in it. Because aside from the fire, our listeners cannot see Lou waving. Get this out of here. This is how we're starting? Are we supposed to go up from here? I mean, we sort of have to go up from here. How?

All work. So she wraps the cloak around you. It is filled with the familiar smell of your mom, of all of the smells of home, of the flowers she keeps, of the things that are cooked with by her and your father in your home, of all the familiar library dust and scraps of books. books and parchment and it wraps you up and you can tell that beyond the heat of the fire here

the edge of town it is a cold night so the warmth is something you are grateful for your father appears at the door his irises flickering with light you have seen this before only once or twice but you know that it means that your father has cast some magic that is not the type of of magic he ever wants you to see. As the magic fades, Steele looks at you and says, kiddo, you're going to be all right. I don't know anybody. If I was these people out of here, I'd be scared. I don't think you should be scared. I think all of them should be scared. Your father puts his hand behind Steele's head and they touch foreheads in a solemn moment. Even though she has been in your mother's life since childhood, your father has become very close with her as well.

She draws her sword and walks out towards the fire again. Your dad looks at you and says, you're going somewhere safe. Your mother's told you about grandmother, Ren? Yeah. You know how you need to behave. Yeah. It might be a little while.

It might be until the end of the summer before you see us again. I know that it would be happier if we were all together. But grandmother Wren can keep you safe. in a way that she can't keep us safe. It's one of those rules of magic. Don't they? I love you, darling. When I remember this part, this is the regret that I wish I had said, I love you back.

I wish I had hugged him or climbed out to the cart and followed him and refused to not go with them wherever they were going. But I was so worried that I would start crying again, that I wouldn't be good, that I just sort of. have sat there and let all of this happen and I didn't say anything or do anything. Your father looks at your face, smiles. He is soft and your mother touches his hand and touches yours and for a moment you are all connected and she is stone. She kisses you one last time. See you soon. And she steps from the carriage. She turns, her brow furrowed for a moment as if she has one last thing to say. She points to the amulet around your neck. I wouldn't share that with anyone, darling, because, and you hear,

No! There's coming no! You hear a leap in a crush of clay tiles and stones as Warren, who is now something truly monstrous, perhaps, 12 feet long from his hauntled. to his head, lands on a clay-tiled roof in this seaside town, skidding across shattering things. You can see flesh hanging from his teeth. Your mother turns around, closes the door, and the last thing you hear is her speaking in the language of magic itself.

And a wind more powerful than you have ever felt rattles the sides of the carriage, and you hear a cry from the driver, and these horses move like no beast has ever moved on this earth before or since. The cloak over my head and just wrap myself up in all of those smells. And instead of sitting on the little bench, I just lay down, try to remember the words. Because if I can focus on something, I can think my way through. I can back myself down from how terrified I am. So I try to remember the words.

Push to understand the language of magic because that will make me closer to them, even as we're speeding far away. Move through your mind again and again until eventually, after what seems like forever, you drift off to sleep. That's where we're going to stop there. Right, let's do it.

I love you all so much. Love you so much. Do I love you? Look, I want to work for it. Do I love you? Retortable question can knock me off balance, but then we got the answer we're looking for. Thank God. Okay.

Amazing. Reset. Impossible. Impossible to do that. Impossible to do that. Don't exist in a vacuum. Attempt to try. Attempt to try.

Noises, neither rude nor loud, nor overwhelming, but multitudeness are what defines the cottage by the hillside. The noise of a babbling brook, the noise of wind, and the long branches of trees, just starting with tiny green sprouts to bud again foretelling the imminence of spring in full bloom,

the noise of the creaky weather vein mounted atop its own structure with canvas fans and a little tail, and what looks to, be a rooster to some, but a rooster with a strange serpent's tail coiling out behind it, in brass atop the weather vane, rows of carrots and radishes and onions and crawling beans on the sides of lattices, and a cozy but stalwart, and in some ways perhaps as imposing as it is Mary Cottage, with white plaster walls, some dirt and wear on the outside of them,

light brown thatching of twigs on a massive roof only marked by the occasional of a white plaster chimney coming through with little spouts as smoke curls even here at the very beginning of the day. Sunlight falls on fen and forest alike as the brook babbles

and we see the cottage if it well perhaps it's not quite accurate to just say the cottage. For the cottage, in all of its domesticity and all of its hurried business, has created quite a few friends for itself. It began with a simple garden shed, and then, of course, the goats needed a barn, and the barn was a good enough spot to make the hutch for the rabbits, which of course led to the building of, let's not forget the shrine to the river spirit out by a flagstone path that leads past the garden. And of course, we shouldn't

forget that up on the hillside, up some moss-covered steps is the well, which why the well is so very far from the cottage, I'm sure, is constantly on the mind of our next PC. Erica, here in this green and verdant and chore-filled domain between the road and the stream and the entrance to the forest. there is a cottage and in that cottage there are rooms and of those rooms there is one which holds the now

waking form of Ame What is the state of Ame's room? What is the one word you would use to describe your room? Wrecked! It is a mish-mash of neat things

that the things from the forest that I have found and think are really cool. Rocks that are, if you squint at them look like they're shaped a certain way. Flowers that are hanging and dried. I don't know if any of them are actually useful or not, but I see that that's what happens in the cottage and perhaps that could be me. Little bouquets that have feathers or bone or weeds in them. Just an absolute. anything that's shiny at all. There's no rhyme or reason to how it's arranged.

It's just there, and it's comforting. We see in Amé's bedroom the small, rumpled bed, which is flush to the floor. There is no bed frame underneath it. It is flush to the floor thick covers. We see that though this child lives in disarray, they are not a child unkempt or uncareer. for. The comforters are as thick and pillowy and downy as you could ever ask for with many, many pillows, some of which take the guise of stuffed animals, others of which are stitched with little geometrical patterns. Some have plants and trees and floral designs, and others appear

to just be old sacks and bags stuffed with odds and ends and fluffy down. Your sort of, to call it a bed is maybe generous as well. It's more of just a sleep pile. A nest. A nest. It is Ame's nest. And we see throughout the rest of the room something that could theoretically have been a bunk bed, but the mattress was long ago taken off of it and brought to the ground.

And now that is simply Ame's study, a treasure trove of, and we see a deeply enabled sensibility here because whoever the keeper of this cottage is, who we have not yet met, has seen fit to gift Amé with all manner of ceramic jugs and glass jars of hanging baskets, lines of yarn from which to clip various findings, such that not only are the walls and floors and ceilings of this room bedecked with all manner of woodland treasures,

but even the space in between those things has found a way to mostly become clothes lined with images and drawings and leaves of various sizes and shapes, It is a true Sylvan kaleidoscope in this dwelling. Could you please describe your character? Amé is so small. A tiny little girl with a little bull haircut and bangs. She is East Asian in appearance. And usually her face is full of exuberance and life.

But it is the morning, and that means it's the crack of dawn, and that means that her eyes are crusted over with sleep, and her little bull haircut is completely awry in a little rat's nest. And she wakes up. She opens her eyes, and there, of course, right in front of her face next to the bed, patched over a hole in the dry wall. is a little sign that says, be kind. The message written in your own hand greets you. And that is correct, right? It is written in your own name. Yes.

The message written in your own declarative. Oldest, most insane-looking rooster in the world leaps from the ground onto your bed for the many months that you have now been here. And what age is, Amé? Seven. You turned seven while you were here at the cottage. That's how long you've been here. You have not yet been here a full year,

but those months to a seven-year-old are an eternity. And this rooster, you have never been more certain, is a spirit. There is no way to explain the frequency and tenacity with which this rooster escapes the chicken coop. It is constant. The rooster appears to enter rooms with not only closed doors, but fully locked doors.

The rooster is an ever-present nightmare and perhaps your greatest enemy here at the cottage. May I ask for this rooster's name. Taro, his name is Taro, and he is my arch-nemesis. What day I will best. him and I can sleep in. Tarro regards you in this moment of stillness.

Now standing fully sort of on your stomach, although you were separated by the covers that you are in, and regards you with his head cock to one side. I clutch the bed sheets and a comforter with both hands staring up at him, and he stares back at me. Final. And you see that he, hops off and wands towards the door, and looks at you with a look like he has no idea how to get through this door, and that he needs your help to get outside.

How did you get in? I throw off the covers in a pad over, cladded my nightgown to the door. I toss it open, and I scoge him out with my foot, just sort of shuffle him out. I don't kick him. I just kind of scoge him out. Give me a little athletics check here. Oh, no. Right, at 12, 12 will get the job done, no problem. You're able to, you're not, you are a small girl.

You are a little child. But this rooster has seen better days. This rooster is an old bird, and so does not fight too terribly. The rooster's ability seem more due to its whiliness and cunning than any sort of physical gift. And it is shuffled out into the door. The immediate outside of your room is a sort of little corner of a hallway, but the hallway is quite short.

So from here you can see the kitchen, which has white ceilings and long wooden rafters. But if you can see any of that ceiling, it's a miracle because of the herbs and vegetables, the jars of different beans and lentils, the hanging peppers bundled altogether, and some things perhaps of the plant kingdom, but strangers still, are dried and bundled

such that the ceiling is a veritable cornucopia, hard to even see what color the ceiling might be underneath all of these dried plants. And the smell of spices and herbs and plants fills the room as you open the door. There were many times where Amé's desire for these projects and these treasures was addressed as a failing.

The first adult that Ame ever knew who regarded her wonder at the world and her desire for treasure and her need to begin these many quests and projects and missions is now standing in the kitchen preparing Ame's favorite breakfast. I'd like to know what is being prepared.

And as you walk into the kitchen, Taro, the rooster, marching solemnly in front of you, I would like to know, I would like to know what that meal is. And I would like to know your description of the keeper of the cottage, Grandmother Wren. Oh, wow. So I can already smell the bubbling rice porridge jook. And it's made with a broth and a slow-cooked porridge. I can smell the eggs being marinated to put into it. I can hear the bubbling.

and I can, I just like the air is thick with that rice gruel smell. And I see the back of Grandma Wren bustling around the kitchen. She is short and wide. She almost feels wider than she is tall. She has her hair in a, Neat bun up on the top of her head. Well, it starts neat, usually. But by the end of the day, it's mostly all over the place.

It's silvery, you know, not gray. It is silver. And she constantly has a stained apron with the sleeves rolled up. And again, it changes by seasons. oranges and golds and russets and the autumn and greens and multicolored pinks and heliotrope in the spring. And she feels very much of the seasons. She'll smell that way. The colors will be that way.

She'll have different kinds of flowers or leaves or pine needles in her hair depending on the seasons. This cottage is very much of the environment. It is a part of. It is so very human, and yet it works in harmony with the time and the space around it. As you walk into the kitchen, Grandma Wren turns around. and takes this rice porridge in a massive bowl. It is the one bowl that sort of has a design to it. It has like a little floral thing around the edge.

And it is much larger than an eating bowl should be. It's almost like a salad bowl, but the design is so beloved by young Ame that she lets you eat out of it and puts it in front of you. It also is a nice way to get extra food. Oh, boy, it's the kiddie bowl. Grandma Wren smiles and looks to you and says, Good morning, Ami.

How does this day find you? Good morning, Grandma, Ren. It is a lilac day. Ospicious. And she turns around and takes a little quill and draws a quick picture of a flower in a calendar with no numbers, just boxes that she draws flowers in. She says, oh, that's the fourth lilac day this month. She turns around, puts a hand on your back and smiles,

as she puts a little napkin and a little glass of water in front of you, and says, well, have your breakfast and then see it to it that the animals have theirs. Thank you, Grandma, Ren. I humbly accept this breakfast, which I'm about to eat. It just starts inhaling. Grandma Wren always smiles big. It is like there are many different cultures in this world, but the one from which Grandma Wren came as a child

believed that this type of eating was the only way to actually express gratitude, that the noise of furious and quick eating from a fear that the food would somehow vanish. If one did not get rid of it as fast as one could, So she smiles, breathes in, and as she exhales, you can almost hear the house settle and moths a light in the fresh morning and the wind kick up. And the first songbirds of daylight begin to sing. All right, well, I'm going to go up and continue to straighten out the study after that spell went wrong. There's books. I didn't realize that there were a lot of shelves that had books behind the books you can see.

So that is going to be a little bit of, well, that'll be a little bit of a lift for old Grandma Wren. But I will more than happily get to that myself. You'll be all right feeding the animals and taking care of fetching some firewood. Of course. You sure you don't need help with any heavy lifting up there or anything? Oh, child. No, no, I won't be using my arms at all. I'll be using... Magic. All right, I should know I shouldn't have said it. I knew I shouldn't have said.

Look, yes, I will be using a very small, practical, a cantrip, the smallest type of magic. Can't trip. Yes. Are there ones that you can use to trip people? Here, Grandma Wren raises an eyebrow. And why would an inquiring mind wish to know of something? such hexes.

Well, you know, because it's funny. Is there an inscription on the wall above your bed instructing you to be funny? No, I'm pretty good at that on my own. Ah, then perhaps this is not the magic to seek after young army. Ask Grandma Ran. My God, you've already finished. Well,

To the animals then. Chop, chop. We have many chores. And Grandma Wren puts on a little shawl and shuffles up an old creaky wooden staircase up to the study, one of the many rooms in this cottage. And you see that right behind you, you hear, tink, tink, tink, inside the bowl,

and you turn around and Taro goes, A-h! Eggs in there, you know. I take my dishes to the sink, and I wash them out and help. clean up the remainders from breakfast. And then

I stoke the fire and put on a kettle. And you must imagine that all of these things I do, I am smaller than even a normal seven-year-old should be. So everything appears to be twice my size.

As I sweep out the hearth, the broom, which is a normal-sized broom with cinnamon twigs. at the bottom. I have to hold it halfway down. Of course you do. Of course you do.

It goes above my head. At the top of it goes above my head. There's a cool, gnarled, bigger head on the broom handle. I couldn't tell you that that's there because I can't really reach up to the top there. Boil the water. I sweep the hearth. And, oh, I have to water. some of the living plants inside.

Some of them take water. Some of them take meat. The ones that take meat all have a nice little, there's usually like, if not like a little barricade. There's like at least some yarn or something. There's like a sort of demarcation. And you see how many times you have turned over here and seen Tarot a moment.

amongst the meat plants, completely unharmed and unmolested by any of them, is staggering. And then I have to go feed all of the animals. You rush off to go feed the animals. As you are finishing sweeping up, give me a wisdom check. We'll call it a DC-Dem. Yeah, uh, yeah, 10. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness.

And exactly 10. This child succeed. Baby genius. Incredible. As you are sweeping, as you are sweeping, the top is so tall that you get to a part of the cottage

where the roof, like it's such a slanted roof that comes down so sort of low that there are parts where the roof is only like a couple feet off the ground. And so you actually hit the top because you're not really looking up that high. the broom falls down

and you knock it out of your own hands, essentially. And as you go to pick it up, there's a slight gust of wind, even indoors, and a few sheafes of herbological parchment flutter off a table, just as your hand brushes the handle. And you realize that you are standing over the broom

as you go to pick it up. I look around. I look around. They do it again. I pull my hand exactly in the same way. Give me one more wisdom. Come on. Let's go, child. Let's go, child. Come on, child. Twelve. Come on, Louma.

Grab it. Your bowl haircut. Your bangs. Flutter as you touch the broom, and you hear. Because it gets done faster. Oh, it's done faster if you knock it against. the roof and all those hard to reach places, eh, a me? Please use

the brush and dust pan. Remember, I don't just have eyes in the back of my head. What? What's the end of that sentence? That's for me to know what you to find out. You hear that whispered in your ear because Grandma Wren was shouting from the study,

and then you hear her voice right in your head. Okay. I get I go. I go get the dust fan. I stow the broom really quickly. You take this gorgeous broom that smells like cinnamon. And when you touch the wood, it's so perfectly smooth and worn. The weight, even as massive and giant as it is, it just feels so cool in your hands.

And you put it back in its spot. You get an old cobwebby bristled up horsehair brush and a metal dust pan. And you finish sweeping up. And then it's time to go feed the animal. Okay. Nothing. It's just delightful. It's the full range of emotions.

I was ready to cry during the first one of these, and now I'm filled with pure joy. It's just brimming with joy. The two genders. Exactly. Trauma and joy. I think we should stop. I think we've got our characters. I don't think we need any more characters in the story.

Oh, I disagree. No, we'll see. I disagree. I disagree. So, Ami, as you, as you, as you. depart with some feed. What animals do you go to hit first? You go chickens, goats, rabbits.

There are some bee hives that are starting to get active again because it's about to be spring. That's right. That means lots of honey. Right. And the bees you won't be feeding. The bees you will be collecting from. Yeah. I should go do the chickens first because they get cranky and, you know, they need the eggs collected.

but if I go do the honey first, that means I get to lick my fingers and eat the honey faster. Is Taro there? Taro, what do I do? Taro looks over at you. The grape hives. Yeah, you're right. You're right.

You should do that, yes. So you go to the beehives, you start collecting a bunch of honey. You see that Taro is sitting there. You see the sort of like swatting and missing a bunch of bees with his beak. And you Can be 80. Incredible. It begins.

Incredible. What a fortuitous natural 20. You begin to hear a distant noise. You're a pretty perceptive little kid. All of your mischievousness and trickiness and all of that stuff is not because you are not paying attention. No. In fact, many of it or much of your trickiness abounds from your abundance. of attention.

You got to do the most fun things if you're paying attention. You hear, and you hear multiple pairs of hooves. On that 20, I'll say you hear four pairs of hoops. And something creaking. Lots of people come and visit Grandma Wren. There's lots and lots of villagers who come up here for mending things and fixing things, for helping them with a pair of shoes with the soles worn out or weaving. Grandma Wren is a master weaver and a cobbler,

but of course they often, most often come for medicine, which is the number one thing that Grandma Ren knows and to make what all the plants and herbs are for, pultuses, solves and balms. So most people, if you hear hooves, it's a big deal because it means that someone with a horse's show. And they're going fast. They're going fast. You've never heard as many hooves,

and the creaking is beyond you. Most people walk here on foot. It's only about a 40-minute walk from the village to get here. So on a horse, you can get here in no time at all. Yeah. Grandma ran. And I like the last of the honey off of my fingers as I go. I toss a tiny bit of honeycomb to Taro.

It follows the whole thing. I thought we were about to hear the death of Tarot. Choked. A ton of piece of honey comb. And I take the box where I've been stashing combs with me. It bangs against my legs as I run back towards the cottage. Grameran, there's people coming. There's like, they're on horses and a creaky thing.

Creaky, they're creaking horses, wooden horses? Are there wooden horses? Are there wooden horses? Never you mind about. wooden horses. Here's what you're to do. Go and make them welcome. Put on a kettle if you haven't already and make sure that our guests are welcome whoever they are. Okay. And stable the horses after the guests are seated. Okay. Kettle and then, I love the kettle on. I remember, I remember that I had put the kettle on earlier and did not pull it up. So I take it off,

or I adjust it higher onto the higher hook that it will stop boiling actively. And then I go run back outside. Okay. Make it a little horses. A carriage

arrives with painting on the side. This is not from the village. This is from a town. Like a big town. You can see it has the stuff. of painting of these fancy people in gowns and coats drinking wine. You see flowery script. You see flowery script on the outside of them drinking wine together. This is the type of painting

you saw in the seaside town when you first arrived here from your old home. You see four beautiful chestnut horses, each with a little diamond of white on their forehead. And nobody. There is no driver. What? The horses seem to have stopped here in front of the home, but you see no driver. I head over towards the horses and check them, make sure they're okay. They're not, they're probably in a bit of a latherer, you know, after after,

You see that they are in a bit of a lather, but not as much as you would imagine. You see a little twist of wind come off of a carriage. Kick up some leaves. On that Nat 20 perception, which I'll keep applying here, you smell a little bit of magic. Oh, I look around. And there's the wagon and back. I don't know.

I want to go look at that. Make sure that the horses are okay. And then they go around. The horses seem okay. They seem to have stopped pretty much of their own volition. You open the back of the carriage when Amé and Suvi first meet.

Through the window and over the field and past the branches of the tall, tall trees. the shadows grow longer as the wood grows greener, and somewhere beyond where any can say, one dear path and one switch of a stream leads to another until finally one is so turned around that the shadows have all switched ways and one no longer stands upon the world in the world of spirits.

Their world is ours, and yet aside, behind and between, under and over and through all ways, for there is no part, no parcel of mortal affairs that is not touched by the presence of the spirit, and yet the spirit does extend being. How deep, Lou? Oh, it goes deep. Beyond the paths at the edge of Grandma Rann's cottage,

This forest, which is a forest with a name, in which some enterprising humans have even had the audacity to place upon a map, there is an that begins at the heart of this one, within and through this map to a place that can fully be held. Deepest wood of all shudders before we meet your character, Lou, Perhaps it would behoove us to meet your family. Oh, of course. Yeah, Ursulaan travels along in kind of this great, in the shadow of the great bear, which is this big semi-truck-sized bear that just like slowly plods along

and like dancing and playing amongst his feet are his children. A cavorting, pawing, screeching, shouting cavalcade of fairies and spirits. Entities of the great deep wood tumble and somersault, flitter and flap, each of different shapes and sizes, cavorting and gallivanting amongst the steps. The heart of the world, before the spirits of star and sun first alighted and woke him with their terrible world. brilliance, and yet others say that it was the ending of the first winter that caused the bear to emerge fully formed from the world. Yet more have sometimes said that it is the queen of the sea who first fell in love and that their first child, these stories are a little consequence

to the great bear himself, who, if asked with impertinence to describe his origin, would much rather, and more clearly stayed in the wild forest. Shit goes deep. He's so cool! My dad is cool. My dad is cool. Daddy. Daddy is cool.

The fur is as thick as night, and within it allows for the sweet smell of honey suckle that clings to his fur, Up above, thatched pieces of branches begin to sprout. And even from his great back, we have seen one or two sprouts of trees. As when he sleeps, he sleeps for a long, long time. The wild caucas, the wild rumpus of approaching wonder. The great bear knows many hours of peacefulness.

the many children cavorting within the wide boundaries of his mighty paws, we see one such child cavorting. Luke, could you describe your character? Okay. Ursulaan is

young, but tall. You know, is childlike in kind of the way that he stands. It's like it feels like he's constantly, like he can't, he doesn't stand upright. He stands slightly slouch, and there's just constant motion in his body that,

uh, in that way that a child at play is. There is no stillness, uh, to Ursula. He, uh, he has like big, uh, like, uh, like he's, uh, like the back legs of an animal, uh, kind of bent, uh, around like the knee area. Um, big kind of Erzine body. Uh, but then, uh, his head has kind of, his face especially has kind of a feline shape to it, cleft lip like a cat, but with two, what are they called when they're on the bottom? Tuxes. Two tusks that jut up kind of deep. He has his father's eyes, that same kind of deep, hazel and gold,

extending up into a plumage like that of a horned owl, kind of jetting up and layers. along the sides of his hand. Ursulaan being a child of the great bear is, to all the spirit world, a babe, a cub, traveling under the protection of his father. And like many of this great and fearsome host, Ursulon knows not of what other parent he might have out there. But though the spirit world might see him as a cub,

the truth is this. as you covert and make merry in this place there are nearby spirits here as well siblings of yours and like most of your

siblings with some exception there are some twins and triplets and things of that nature here but most of your siblings these are half siblings as the great bear has fallen

in love and with many others have fallen in love with him over the countless ages. And the Great Bear is a source of never-ending love. Also thinking about just trying to be the great, just getting in that body count. No, I'm trying to be that.

I will be the Great Bear Spirit. This is the energy I'm trying to bring. You behold nearby two spirits. One of them nearby is a sibling of yours, to whom you feel some closeness. In the wild joy of this place, there is not much cause for the type of camaraderie that mortals tend to worry about

because so much of camaraderie in the mortal world is based on concern of danger or the need to stick close and stick by. Danger is a foreign concept to you here under the guise of the... The only danger you've ever known is those who cross your father. But that being said, there is one sibling close by to whom it can be said that you feel close or that you can trust. And there is another here who often has sought to make you the butt of their terrible jokes. So what I would ask is what the appearance of these spirits are nearby. For indeed, there is very little to be said in the way of family resemblance,

at least from the dull eyes of a mortal. Though, of course, you can see the resemblance in the great and buried host that now parades throughout the wood. Yes. I think the spirit that I feel closest to is also animalistic like me, but a little more squat. I think like Ursulaan is kind of long and it kind of tends to stand upright.

I think this this sibling tends to be on all fours. More like Badger and like I literally wrote Badger. You yeah, of course. You know, you know. I get it. You get it. More like Badger-like

with streaks of like gray and white, kind eyes and just incredibly playful as well. I think that the one, the person who teased, me, is more of an elemental figure, a child of fire. Yeah, they've got age and they don't, they tend to stand above the rest of us and not, they do not join in the playing. They tend to point and laugh and kid. As the great bear comes to a halt sniffing at the ground ahead. You see that your sister, Kalaya, the badger, looks down and you see that she prefers

to stay in this form. She is a shapeshifter, but like many shapeshifters of spirit, she tends to wear one of two forms, that of a great badger, or that of a young woman with streaks of white and black in her hair. And you see that she kneels down and d'all. And, you see that she kneels down and digs in and finds an enormous puffy mushroom buried in the moss underneath a tree. And says, Ah, Ursula, look, I found a snack. Oh, delicious. Uh, uh, uh,

Ursulaan does everything he can to not just rip it from her, uh, and waits patiently for her to offer some of it to him. Um, give me an insight. check. That's an 18. You get a quick sense that Kallaya, as much as she loves you,

is not going to stop until this mushroom is gone. Ursulaat is going to in a way that I think for a human would seem rude, going to tackle her and attempt to wrestle the mushroom

from her. Nothing could be more de rigour. Nothing could be more completely appropriate in the spirit realm. She knew when she was getting into when she disclosed the location of a mushroom and this is absolutely rules as written as far as spirits are concerned. You tackle, go ahead and we'll make opposed athletics checks. Ursulaan is going for it.

That's going to be a 19 from Ursula. Give me this mushroom. Give me this damn mushroom. Six. Kalaya's not going to get it done. She goes, Ursulaan, no, I doubt it. Give me the snack. You hood.

from her arms up above you. And you can see Narayan. Narian is your elder brother. He is a mixed elemental of leaf and flame. The core of his chest is a column of fire that reaches up through his head. And there is a swirl of leaves, ever catching a light that serve as the exterior of his body.

such that flickering shapes of orange light exit from the dappled patterns of the leaves intermingling around him, an ever-burning body, arms and legs akimbo, and the flame eventually reaching the crown of his skull and bursting into twigs and leaves and flame rippling out in here behind him. I mean, I don't like him, but damn is he hot. It's the coolest dude. Your family is hot.

Yeah, your family's hot as shit. I mean, you know, and we all come from the great beer, and I mean, that man lives well. Narayan is getting to an age that many of your siblings get to. Not all, some of your siblings do not age, and others do. Narion is getting to the age where eventually he will either have to leave or your father will meet him. And... As it goes. As it goes.

But of course the great bear always lets it be known when the time has come. It is always the choice of the child, whether to grow up or whether to be developed. You see Narayan looks at you and says, Oh there, Ursula. Seems you've caught something for yourself from our dear sister. Well, I won it, rightfully. Won it, did you? Let's see if I can do the same. Brothers, sisters, siblings, after him. Rose!

It's my mushroom. And as it often does, a wild chase begins. I think Ursulans going to put the mushroom in his mouth and go down on all fours and start just bounding away from his Nari and his older siblings. Go ahead and give me, you can either give me, like, if you're trying to go brute strength, give me athletics. I think we're going to go brute strength. Let's do it. That's going to be a 16. Ooh!

This is what I'm, this, I think this is, this is where Ursulaan feels comfort in this kind of like, just being in his body and running, jumping, all of those sorts of things. In the pocket. Yes. As you rush through the forest, you begin to peel away from everybody. You hear a sound. You hear a sound on the wind.

What these words mean you cannot say. but you know from where the whisper came somewhere hidden deeper in the woods past where you have traveled before before you lies a mossy hill which you can dart up that hill but you know that it is steep and the moss is slick with water and you know that your siblings are nearer behind you seeking to take that which you have rightfully won There's no way they'll get me at the top of the hill I love him At the top of that hill Is farther than you have ever been Into a deeper part of the woods than you have ever known Do you journey there

Ursula's going to look back one more time To see just how close his siblings are Narion rounds the corner and you see he smiles. You are not within sight of your father anymore. With that, Ursulaan is for sure going to take the hill. I want you to roll 2D20, but this will not be with advantage or disadvantage. You will take the number farthest from 10.

Great. Oh, my God. 18. Oh! You surged to the top of the top. of the hill. Avoiding all the moss, avoiding every patch of damp that might give way under your feet and give you to your siblings and let them take what you have taken for yourself. You alight faster than wind, faster than lightning to the top of the hill and burst through the foliage.

I've never seen before. Stretching from one horizon to the other, you see before you a thing for which you have no name, but for which in a different world two young girls do. You see a road in the ends of tall lances. You hear the sound of metal armor and the ringing of bells and buckles on the saddles of tall horses. a line of armored knights moves down the road, though these words would be unfamiliar to you.

To say armored knights to a spirit of the wild, having never seen this before, would be nonsense, gibberish, undefined, and therefore meaningless, and yet you see and now behold this. As the line of knights continues, the sun breaks through the opening of the treeless road. And though dappled by the tall leaves of the canopy, the armor does something that before you had only ever seen water do,

which reflects the gleaming sunlight. This magic is one you have never beheld before. What is Ursulaan thinking and what is Ursulaan feeling? as you behold this and how does your mind even process what this could be? I think Ursulaan

is like immediately forgets the mushroom and Narayan and the chase. He's desperately just trying to connect it to anything he's ever experienced and like you said the closest thing is that kind of that dance

of water. But the fact that it moves with these men as they move, that it's not still, that they are of it, that they are of this play of light. Ursula wants to see it more and get closer to it. I think in the kind of cavalcade of his siblings, just discovering something or bringing something to the group is held as like special or celebrated. And I think there's a part of Ursulaan that wants this to be his, that this, uh, this. gleam and this light with you as you move. Go ahead and give me a perception check.

And do this with disadvantage. Oh. Must die. Okay. Here we go. It's a 19 and a 17, minus 2 to 15. Okay.

You, in that case, notice the mushroom fall from your hands and tumble back down the hill through a little door of ivy that clings to the boughs of these trees. You have stumbled through a door. There's a natural arch of where the ivy meets the tree branches

and grows here, that it is covered by leaves and the mushroom rolls back through it. As wild as you are, you have never been inside of a door, but you have seen many. Your father has traveled to many. places. And of course, in the world of spirits, there are many spirits which dwell in palaces and in great places. Not all of our honored friends are, in fact, wild ones. And there are some spirits that dwell in these places. So you know a door when you see one and realize that this is

the first door you have ever walked through. Yeah, I think, I think Ursulaan is going to pick up the mushroom. I'm not going to leave a loose mushroom. My snack. So I'm going to go. So I'm going to Grab my mushroom. I think on that perception check, there is a smell in the air here. The tanting deep earth and jasmine and flower and musk of the world of spirits that invigorates wild things

and lulls mortals to sleep is not present here. There is a crisp smell in the air. There is something dangerous here. and alive. I think with those sense and those smells, Ursulaan is going to start to move toward the nights, but

with a sense of not wanting to, not greeting them like his family or his friends to treat them as strangers. Do you think Ursula's ever seen a mortal? Definitely not. Definitely not. So

just about 50 yards. of thick underbrush that gets to the last line of trees by the side of the road. And then there's about five feet before the ditch, and the ditch is about a foot and a half wide, and then the road is

maybe 20 to 25 feet wide. I think Ursula is going to move with stealth. I think Ursulaan wants to watch and, if possible, take one of these. I think Ursula is already thinking of like,

If I can get a piece of this gleaming light, I will be, I'll be special. I'll be, I'll be the one. Everyone will celebrate, you know, the father will notice me, like kind of those, that excitement. You are going to give me a stealth roll. Okay. I'm not going to roll for all of these nights, but I am rolling for one of them in particular. And the one for which I am rolling adds a plus eight to perception checks. What?

Sure, sure, sure. How about that night? You are trying to beat an 18 on your stealth roll. You can do it. You could do it. Yes. Okay. Got this.

Now what you rolled there? You know, you know. Go on. We'll say I have as many hit points. As quality of stealth. Oh, no. It's clean for. You give yourself more distance to travel trying to get to the middle.

and see what the deal with all these knights could possibly be. And you arrive at the fangard of trees. As you arrive there, you hear the cry of a falcon overhead. A proud and deep voice speaks from the center of the common. Brothers, ride on. I must carry a moment. Oh, my God. And Lou, I'm going to need you to describe the symbol of the crest

and the bearing and appearance of a mounted knight that pulls from the column and rides on his horse, not looking at you towards the side of the road. I think it's golden plate. I think like shining golden plate, wearing, you know, one of those helms with the visor that goes up, with like a full plume coming out of the top of like, I think of red and orange feathers,

carrying a shield that bears his symbol, which I think is a, like, a deeply rooted tree with roots that crawl down to the corners of the shield in a gorgeous, like, rich green, like a very deep earthen brown of the tree that then blooms into a gorgeous, like voluptuous greenery, like greenery with three blue flowers. The knight moves from the break from the column, moves to face the oncoming train train. of knights that are moving in column, he looks to the approaching knights and smiles, a deep, warm smile of camaraderie,

and you look at this knight filled with this sense of purpose and get the sudden sensation that he would never, ever, take one of their snacks. Ursula's heart is racing, And it's, and, uh, and his, uh, he feels his, like, pause getting, like, sweaty in a way that's like, every person he's ever met has been familiar to him or, like, comfortable or, uh, every person to him that he's ever met has kind of fit into two categories. Like, big scary, uh, but like, uh, but never close and like family. Uh, and this is, I think there is like a, a, a,

wanting in in in in uh there's a wanting in this person there's like a ursulaan wants to to know them to be them to um uh like it's it's like a it's like a i don't know the thing i'm the thing i'm closest is like a child reading like a picture book about like astronauts and it's like and then seeing one in an actual suit it's like that's uh but not knowing what there's something about him and his presence that Ursulaan wants wants he I want to take it from him I want I want what he has I want it's just it's and I think that's the word that like Ursulan starts to grab onto is just wanting it's like I want this I want I want I want I want the way people look at him I want his armor I want his saddlebags I want

his horse I want I want as you want that you do turn to look and this knight has your fascination he is so different to anything you have ever beheld in the world of spirits and the final mesmerizing moment comes when you see as strange as you are feeling in this moment to aspire to to desire something beyond what is in front of you to grab and wrestle for and consume, to want something that you cannot put your hands on. In the eyes of the knights that ride past him, as the rest of the column advances, you see visors raised, and the knights put hands to brow and salute and smile, and you see that

what you want, they all want as well. and you cannot tell what has caused the appearance of this most desired and yet wholly invisible and intangible thing. There is something that you cannot name that is in the air around this man and it is sweeter than any honey you have tasted and brighter than any gold you have seen. It is swifter and more sought after than the whitest hind that flees through the far from any hunter, and this man hasn't. They look at him and smile, and there is something there.

And he meets their gaze and smiles in return as though to acknowledge that this is shared between them. Before the moment where you realize that your window of opportunity to somehow seize whatever this thing could be is rapidly closing, a falcon descends from a tree overhead, lands, on the shoulder of the night, and the knight not looking, speaks in a soft voice. Egrine, I must say, has clearer and sharper eyes than I. But even so, your approach was noted. Honored friend, I am Sir Curran of the Hawthorne.

Mean you harm or help or Neither of the two, I honor your presence in this wood. When he says honor, it's a word you've never heard before. I suppose what I am saying, honored friend, is that I can see you. And I hope that that does not give you embarrassment. Embarrassment, also a word. I think Ursula is, like, trapped. I think in that way that, like, when you ask a child a question,

even about something that they love or deeply interested in, they just say nothing. I do think Ursulant just kind of gazes is just going to, it's just holding. I'm going to roll a little insight check for our knight here. That is a Nat 20. Here's the thing the knight is Brendan. The knight doesn't look at you, but you see... He still is not looking at it.

He's still not looking at you. But you see, as he senses something, He looks up at the falcon, and the falcon is looking right at him. And you see, he says, a grain. Honored friend still where he was before. You hear this falcon go, and this knight dismounts. He takes off his greaves and boots, takes off his helmet, takes off his pack, draws his sword, lays it on the ground, puts his halberd on the ground, takes it

dagger from his belt and puts it on the ground, leaves his armor on, looks at his shield for a moment, slings that on his back, does a little hop, which in full plate armor, a little hop is pretty impressive. This is a brawny, broad-framed knight. Does a little hop to walk barefoot in the forest. And now as he walks, he just goes enough to cover the ditch. So he's crossed that liminal space. He's crossed that threshold. And he kneels down and looks at you and says, hello, friend. I am called Curran. Many spirits ask for deference and respect in their terms of address. But I did not mean to frighten you by being perhaps overly courtly. It is a pleasure to meet you. Do you protect these woods?

A fierce champion, I am sure. Ursulaan is going to close the distance between them. Ursulant's going to move on all fours, and just move closer to current and put a hand or paw onto his plate. You touch this plate. and it is a feeling like nothing you've ever felt. This is as cool as moonlight and harder than stone,

and it captures all of the light of the sun with none of its heat. You have never seen a magic like this. And you see your face reflected in its shining surface. Fuck off, dude. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You don't understand.

Please. You know what you're doing. I see my face reflected in it. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I'm slitting and shitting. Oh, that's fucked up, bro. Bro, that's fucked up.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. That's crazy. Oh. I think Ursulaan,

noticing his reflection, steps back, most closer steps back, and is then going to try and not like force it off of him, but just grab it and pull at it as to see if he could have it. You pull on it and a full-throated laugh as you attempt to take his armor apart, bellows from current now. I think skitters back like two or three feet. No, no, it's all right.

Would you like to see? And he takes off one of his paldrons. You see that one of his paldrons can come off separately, the shoulder plate of his armor. And he takes that off and takes his shield off as well. You see that the shield, the shield is also bright, but is painted. It has a very subtle gloss, so it doesn't luminously reflect light like his armor,

except for in a couple places here and there where there are cuts into the shield. And you see that this thing is proudly kept. It is not fallen apart, but this is not a palace guard. This is a knight that has known war. And so the shield, though it is strong and sturdy, has met its foes on the battlefield. and he holds them both to you and says, would you like to try it?

You are of a frame that you might be able to wear this paltron. I think Ursula then pushes up off of his four legs and stands on two. Honored friend, what might I call you? Ursula. Ursula, well met.

Who is your father? Who is my father? My father, he says, my father is Lord Aylthred, the Lord Ailthrit of the holly, the bear of Brockville. Is it a bear? My father is a beer. You see, he looks at you and says, well met. Then perhaps in some way we are brothers, you and I. Ursula, I think in hearing that word, looks at Curran. And in that moment, they are brothers.

And I think Ursulaan is going to hug him. It's like a head first. It's like a head into chest and then arms slowly around. Curran responds immediately. It responds in the moment to cover you with his. is armored arms and hold you in this way. And I think this is the moment where Curran realizes you are a child. Well met, brother, little one.

I feel that I should say that our fathers are indeed great. I feel that your father may not only be a bear, but may in fact be the bear. In some ways, my father is the bear. bear as well, though he is called the bear of Brockvale. He's not the bear. Not the bear, no. But brother still weir.

Father earned his name from his ferocity, but more his stalwartness that he held Brockvale for six nights and seven days. That means nothing to Ursula. It all just kind of glazes over, but it's just the intention and the like the I think Ursulaun sees the the like the way in which

Curran communicates his information and the pride that he has in his father and where from where he gets his name and I think Ursulaan connects to that as you have said you are the protector of these woods and I honor you and thank you for allowing my brethren and I my fellow knights and this is the first time you've heard the word knight. Fellow knights passage through your woods.

I hope that we remain in your blessing and with the honor of your safekeeping. You are a knight. Russell and Cox's head. He smiles and says, at their best, a knight is a warrior, which is to say one, who prizes danger for themselves over the thought of danger for another.

A knight is one who puts themselves in the path of chaos and dismay, of trouble and trial and tribulation, who seeks the doing of great deeds that the sun might shine more brightly on those in need. there are some, I should say, brave spirit, who give themselves this name falsely. There are some knights who move through the world, believing that their birthright is. That. And you see he points to the sword, which he left on the side of the road. And he turns his shield around, swiveling it on its point, this kite shield. swivels, it shows his crest, and he says,

but this is the mark of a knight. Ursula is going to reach down for the shoulder piece and hold it and just clutch it to his chest. Curran smiles, looks at that, says, for the protection of such a noble spirit, a paldron is a respectable price to pay. In that moment, our salon is going to mirror the kneeling of Curran back to him. Thank you for safe passage.

You can tell that Curran is venerating you in this moment. He knows that you are, he can feel that you are young, but you can feel him readying to leave. You can feel him that he has come. To him, this is an honoring of the spirits. He has come to the woods and a magical creature has arrived. And he has, there is no shrine here, but he has given an offering. The paldron of his armor is the offering he gives. And he waits calmly in a way, even though he can tell that you are young and a child,

he waits almost for your leave. unless there is anything left that Ursula wishes of him, but you can see that he waits for your leave. They kneel there, like an awkward amount of time. I think Ursula doesn't want to leave, but also the idea of going with him, I think, is conflicted. And so I think Ursulaan just wants to stay in this moment. Give me a wisdom check.

18. Big daddy rolls over here. Big Daddy rolls over here. So this is a moment of actual awareness in a moment. I think you do on an 18 and realize that there's something, if you were to follow him on the road, he would not want you to follow without telling your father. And I think also it doesn't feel right for Ursula doesn't,

as much as he doesn't want the moment to end, now that he has the paltren and it's his. And the man's not going to be mad that he takes it. And he's got all these words that he wants. that he is like once understanding, but maybe isn't even sure how he'd go about getting it, is

going to just put the mushroom. Do we still have this mushroom? We can and I still got this mushroom. We're going to give this man this mushroom. A snack. My snack. He cradles it in his

hands. Brother Russelaam. You honor me. The blessing of safe passage. was gift enough. And I can say only that a debt is owed. I'm gonna go home.

I gotta go home. Blessings then, and safe speed on your travels. Ursula's gonna go back down. He's gonna walk up right and carrying the paldron and just slowly take steps back, not wanting to turn away

from current. current stands and smiles he looks at you as you walk away before he turns he calls out to you and says I have your back brother I know you guard these woods my quest takes me elsewhere and when he says quest

oh man something look because that's the thing that was invisible he has a quest he can have it it's a thing you can get your hands on somehow, but he doesn't gesture to something on him that a quest could be. He says, for my quest takes me elsewhere. I know that we fight under the same banner.

To a brighter world, Sir Ursula. I think that is overwhelming to Ursula. And he's just going to turn around and put the paldron in his mouth and hit all fours. And start running back home as fast as he possibly can. That was Lou Wilson as Ursulaan, Erica Ishii as Amé, Abria Ayangar as Suvi, and Brennan Lee Mulligan as everything and everyone else. Worlds Beyond Number is edited, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore at Fortunate Horse. What you just heard is a prelude to our first adventure, the wizard, the witch, and the wild one. To follow along with the adventures of our heroes just keep listening,

But if you'd like to hear the whole story of that one crazy summer, when they all first met and how they met, you can follow young Ursula Ami and Suvi on their children's adventure. Six episodes of it on our Patreon at patreon.com slash worlds beyond number. And hey, guess what? It's only five bucks. See you there.