OOM: In the Summer Country (Bran)

[creator_raven]

It did not take so long to find Moiraine's room and drop off the slippers.

Hopefully she is fond of leopard-print.

And now, of course, it is time to visit another of his kin.

Bran is often very good company.

Though perhaps being Regent is a very different thing from being a university student.

Or a harpist.

Perhaps.

Comments

[theravenboy]

Bran is beginning to understand the Summer Country when it speaks to him, although its voice blurs, grows staticky, comes in and out like a weak radio signal.

Intruder, the land whispers; static buzzes for a moment. Of the Wild. Look: Bran sees, in his mind, a black bird, winging its way into the castle walls.

Bran exhales. "I think it is all right, but I had better check." He hurries from Arthur's office, running down a hallway, up a staircase, and down another hallway, towards the place the kingdom has shown him. Men and women turn to watch after him as he passes.

[creator_raven]

And it is not, perhaps, that Raven runs into him.

Likely they are both too alert for that.

It is only that suddenly Bran is much closer than Raven had expected, and he stops, stock still, and blinks.

"Hello, Bran. You are, I think, looking well, yes?"

[theravenboy]

Bran also stops, breathing hard, his white hair tangled and his face sweaty from his run. "Good. I thought it was you, but I was not sure."

[creator_raven]

Raven blinks at Bran's sweaty face, and fishes around in his pocket for a handkerchief or small towel.

What Bran ends up being offered is a red bandana.

"They are saying it is better safe than sorry, I think. This place was not quite so difficult to find as I had thought."

That, however, is mostly due to the presence of two of his feathers.

Oops?

[theravenboy]

Bran accepts the bandana; it is at least a more dignified option than wiping his face on his shirtsleeve. "Beyond the North Wind, outside of Time ... I suppose it cannot be any more difficult to get to than Milliways, although God knows there are people there who should never find this kingdom."

[creator_raven]

Raven is very solemn for a minute.

"They will not find it through me. That, at least, is simple enough to prevent."

For him, at least.

[theravenboy]

"Thank you, Raven."

Bran wipes his face, pushes his damp hair back, and raises an eyebrow. "So, what is it that brings you here? You are welcome, of course."

[creator_raven]

Raven grins, head tilted a little.

"Mostly it is visiting kin, I think. It is a thing people do, yes?"

[theravenboy]

"A long way, it is, to come for a visit. Would you like food, or drink, or shelter? I think the land would rise up in protest if a guest came in peace and we did not feed him."

[creator_raven]

"I am not so bad with distances, I do not think."

Raven grins, shrugging quickly.

"And you are knowing well, I think, that I am always hungry. So."

[theravenboy]

"Then come with me." Bran leads Raven down one staircase, through a hallway and down another. One level below the ground floor, he pushes open a wooden door. The room revealed is small, and contains nothing but a shelf of dishes and goblets on one wall and a great brass cauldron in the centre of the floor. "What would you like, Raven?"

[creator_raven]

Raven looks speculative for a moment.

"I would say bear fat, I think, but you would be making faces, so."

Blink.

"Cookies will do well enough? Also milk."

[theravenboy]

"I do not think I would have understood this at all, before Milliways," Bran says, dipping a platter into the steaming cauldron. He lifts it up again and passes it, filled with clove-studded gingerbread, to Raven. Then he ladles out warm milk from the cauldron into a pitcher and pours for both of them.

[creator_raven]

Raven beams, shoveling down a handful of gingerbread, waiting almost patiently for Bran to finish pouring the milk before he snatches up a cup and takes a sip.

Well, a gulp.

Traveling outside of Time is hard work, even when you have a cheat sheet, really.

"You would have learned, I am thinking--if circumstances were right. It is a thing that happens."

[theravenboy]

"Slowly." Bran shakes his white head. "I should be learning faster. There is too much I still do not understand."

[creator_raven]

Raven grins crookedly.

"That, I think, will always be so. It is not so bad as all that, perhaps."

[theravenboy]

This line of reasoning does not reassure Bran. "If there is something at school I do not learn right away, I have time to study. Here I must know everything, as soon as possible, because I am using the knowledge already."

[creator_raven]

Raven pats Bran's shoulder.

"That, I am thinking, is the difference between school and life, yes?"

Life's a bitch.

There are reasons they say that.

[theravenboy]

"I suppose it is. Although I am not sure that this--" Bran waves a hand, indicating not only the room but the whole kingdom-- "is life, exactly."

[creator_raven]

Raven shrugs.

"It is, I think, what you have to work with. So."

Sometimes there aren't better answers.

It is a pity.