It was Different

“Charles, I want you to come with me.”

He pressed against her from behind and as he said this Calvin had placed her hand in his and stroked it ever so lightly.

This was incredibly unusual behaviour for him to show to Charley - up until now it had been seemingly nothing more than a professional collaboration, with her adoration of him along the way being largely unacknowledged.

Apart from that, he was barely an adult - Charley still considered him a boy much more suited to Robyn, she thought quietly to herself.

Now it was different - or seemed to be. Calvin was displaced and looking to her as the nearest rock to hold onto. She felt sorry for him.

Charley slipped her hand out from his and spun around looking him in the eyes - searching for more, much more than even this. But Calvin gave nothing - he just stared expectantly back.


- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

The Dancing Flame

Francis looked at the Hode and with the light of the dancing flame and could see many lines appear across his countenance … he was of course many many thousands of years aged, and upon occasion, if you had the eyes to see, these ages would show just briefly, revealing his honest expression.

And then his face brightened once more returning to a man of barely forty, as he drew a small pouch from his cloak. The gold glittered a little through the cloth of it. He handed the clinking sack over to Francis with a nod.

“A gift from the rich,” he said, well pleased with himself in handing it over - “a gift to the needy from the robber Hode.”

“They’ll be missing you in Britain.” Francis jibed, taking the pouch with a returning nod of appreciation.

The Hode rose to his feet, readying to leave.

“And what say of the frog?” asked Francis, still perplexed.

“Oh, he just does not like you. I should be careful of that one.”


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

A Little Humor

Arild Rosenkrantz

“Oh, and also, I needed a little humour to sweeten my trials.”

“Trials? Is your labor heavy?”

“It is.”

“Where for?”

“Look around you Francis - Men are earnest, but their concerns are rarely with merit. Their lives are short, yet they waste so many minutes between. I am all but done with their corrupting ways.”

“Then why be here at all?”

“I cannot say.”

“I shall pray for you Uncle.”

“And I, you.”


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Chicken & Frog

“It is the chicken and the frog” the Hode replied most earnestly.

“The chicken and the frog?”

“Yes, the chicken is an emissary of the Pope.”

“His Eminence sought to parley with many animals over this past year - hoping to coerce their tiny minds. He tried to control their scattered ways. It was you yourself Franco, that inspired his persistent obsession. He had the chicken implanted into your brood. A soothsayer had counselled him that the hen could talk in plain speak, when returned to him. The Pope was hopeful in this, and waits greedily.”

“But who would tell him that the chicken could talk?”

“It was I,” said the Hode blandly.

“To what end brother?” asked Francis bemused by the thought.

“Well, it's a little complex, but the short of it is that the old Pope was vexed with your talents and had set out to test your mettle - your authenticity - your true pious standing … and if I had not stepped in, someone who did not know you so well may have misrepresented your calling.”

“I see”, said Francis appreciatively.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Spies

In the clearing Francesco found Robin sitting before a small fire brewing coffee. Huddled, robed, with a very large hood, it was almost impossible to see anyone there at all - the fabric seemed to change color depending on the light around it. The Hode’s face was clearly visible however, intent on the campfire before him.

“You’re late” he growled.

Francis smiled.

“Always” he said with a mighty laugh, then sitting on the ground with now the fire between them.

“I have unwanted news Nephew. I thought you need to know, that two of your brethren are imposters. One is a spy and the other a usurper.”

Francis held an infinite trust when it came to the wisdom and words of his friend, his Uncle, and mentor. If the Hode said this it was with good reason. But still the news was troubling.

“Why us? Why here? Where for?”

He then added also, “and who?”


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Lonesome

John Swanson 

"Come back to bed Brother!” called Cedro from the dark.

"Cedro" was his new name given him, after the Cedar tree, for the strength he had shown (relinquishing a life of lust and desire), his full title was ‘Cedro the Fornicator’, but he preferred the abbreviation.

On this night Francis had taken himself for a walk - he ever had difficulty sleeping.

The truth was his spirit was lonesome for one, and not for the many. People made him feel claustrophobic - and as kind and accommodating as they were, his soul could never find enough space to put between himself and them.

The animals were very different - they complied, and over time became something of an extension of himself. This was precisely how he imagined himself to be in relation to God - as the animals were to him. This, Francis believed, was not obedience, but rather an intuitive alignment.

Francis chose this allegiance above all others, even before his relationship with the Elven people, which was often a point of discussion between them all.

“Why designate at all?” the Hode quizzed him meaningfully. “One does not surely exclude the other?”

But Francis shrugged. He felt displaced amongst the Mortals and equally so with the Elven. The saints were the only company he had found that held a place for him.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Insulation

John Swanson 

The hall was as long as it was wide and had been insulated by reams of hay banked up, creating an inner wall, from which the animals would feed from constantly.

Brother Pious invented this system and it worked well - the blocks of dry weed seemed to hold a warmth of their own, however in the years to follow one wall generated so much heat it caused a fire to ignite, and their communal hut burnt to the ground.

The pets were many and varied, pacified by Francis whose very presence calmed them to quiet. He would often rise early for Matins - seeking out the furtherest nub of the hill, and the creatures then would stir, with a moan and a squeak, beginning their pre-dawn medley.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances