Tiding 01: A Songless Dawn

## Content Warnings

Interpersonal conflict

*"We had many dead days between the leaving of Ninut, and the exit. We filled them all with waiting. Many waited for friends or family they hoped would follow; some waited for escape, I think. Children waited to understand. The Parish? We waited for an awakening; watched each other from the edges, a nervous flock. I did keep records, but I overwrote each day the next. Not the normal practice, but the days all seemed like one: a heavy pause, a stutter."*

 *Show more/less*

*I replaced all of our yesterdays like I could erase the endless hesitation, as though the village wasn’t there at all. They kept the colours, though. Hoarded up long nets of sunrise: soft pinks and sharp yellows; crystal, vibrant blues. Light spills into the world in fragments there. Shards of violet and vermillion, cast over the shadow of the Sharrow's deep path. Each morning I watched, astounded, and each morning I watched alone. Ah, see: the people of Ninut have little use for hue. They have spent their names instead on shades. They will show you the differences in a hundred darknesses and shrug away that wildflower dawn. They kept their heads down as the days broke through the old bones of that village; and when they raised their faces to the kind light's sunset instead, I had no place to join them yet. I learned many words for brightness, waiting for the sky to bring a storm, a sign, a change; waiting for Ninut to show their colours.*"

―Belka

## Summary

Two weeks ago the people of Ninut fled their homes to avoid a deadly storm, following the mysterious Parish to Etrys. There they wait, hoping for more stragglers to follow them. Challa uncovers a strange secret in the basements below Etrys, Bris meets a familiar stranger, Venz searches for flinthooks and Belka discovers stew. After a dire warning is shared, the people of Ninut face a difficult decision.

## Synopsis

The caravan are in the old abandoned village of Etrys, north of Ninut, having left their home in fear of a supernatural storm, waiting for any stragglers as they have been for the last two weeks, though no new stragglers have turned up in a couple of days so people are preparing to leave. The first frosts are starting to set in.

Challa is playing a game hopping from bird perch to bird perch and persuading the half dozen other kids with her to join in. Bored, she heads to the only building she's not been allowed in, an abandoned white circular building alongside the river, taking the older kids Tien (her sister), Ailen and Venren, barring Korrin (who's been told by Bris not to), with her. Challa and Korrin argue about going into the building; Korrin says it isn't safe and tries to get Challa not to, and then cries when Challa does anyway.

Challa sneaks around Shu who is guarding the only entrance, and finds another entrance that is underwater in the river. She decides to go in but makes the other kids wait for her to tell them its safe from inside, and leaves her parka with them. She dives into the water and swims through the hole in the building and has to continue until she finds a pocket of air.

She finds herself in a basement space lined with shelves, and some of them have weird glassy stones on them. She goes up the stairs to an upper basement and finds more, now intact glass beads and some books and flasks on a stone table. She finds the exit one layer up in a store house full of grain, but goes back down to look more at the stuff on the table. There's a tripod contraption with beads and a flask, medical style knives, pens with pointed tips, and books she can't read. She grabs two beads from the shelf, pockets one and puts one on the contraption which balances like a see-saw. She then grabs two more beads (so she has one red, one milky white and one yellow shot through with vivid pink) and heads back upstairs to the storehouse, where she tries to climb out the window by moving crates underneath it but gets caught by Shu.

Shu takes Challa back to her grandmother Tomil where she is by the central fire, and Challa gets told off (her parka is given back to her by one of the older kids as she's led away).

Bris is alone, exploring the woods by the river north of the abandoned village. She's been away from the village for a couple of days and is nearing the base of Carn Veskl. Bris finds another set of footprints in the snow and follows them, finding Venz, who is looking for flinthook feathers which he needs to collect to pay tribute to Sharrow.

Bris is confused to find Venz out here, as they are far from any village, but after a moment recognises Venz and offers to bring him back to where the caravan is on the move, saying he can entertain the children. Venz says he would like to but can't leave until he finds this feather, as Sharrow has asked him to complete a ritual that he needs it for. Bris mentions the Sharrow didn't come around this year, and Venz says that it's because proper tribute wasn't paid. Bris gets defensive of the village saying they did pay tribute. She tells Venz to follow the river to find the caravan then leaves.

Venz spends the rest of the day searching Carn Veskl- he doesn't see the birds but he finds old nests but nothing recent, as if the birds have not been this year. Halfway up the mountain he looks South and in the distance sees a wall of white with above it endless grey clouds, filled with flashing lightning, and will be on the villagers within a day or two. Venz has a small look around for feathers then heads down to the village.

It's late afternoon, 3 or 4, and the sun is setting. Belka sits on a roof where they have been all day and watches the sky, working on a story net for the day. Belka gets called down by two village men (Tyal and Polav) who offer them stew. Belka says they like their names then pulls out a charcoal stick and asks them to write their names on their hands. They ask Belka to show them so Belka writes in their first language on both of their palms. The pair writes their names on Belka's palms, who then rubs their hands together to clear them. Tyal tells Belka that there will be a meeting around the fire to persuade the villagers to move, telling Belka the others think they speak for the Weaver (Vilte). Belka is flattered, and the pair leave.

We jump to the meeting where everyone is sat around the fire- Belka and Bris are there, and Challa is perched around the edges with the other children. The meeting is led by Jeddah Assum and is tense- with the six families arguing. Challa's family and family Assum are in favour of leaving. Tyal's father (family Hysta) wants to stay and even go back to the village to gather any survivors, and Kallan's family (Onata) doesn't want to leave. Family Yalto, headed by Savel and Iene, have not reached a consensus. The other groups are Bris and Korrin, and the Parish.

People argue that Bris and Shu and Kallan need to go back to look for stragglers. Bris argues against going back or waiting for people, saying that the path they've taken is easy to follow, and that she doesn't expect anyone else to arrive. She says she will go back if the villagers agree to set off, but puts it across badly and the meeting erupts into chaos.

Eventually she yells over them and calls for a vote as a way to stop the chaos. Belka clatters their horns in applause. Stanka, seeing them react, accuses the Parish of getting the villagers into this mess, which Belka replies by talking about how all they are leaving behind are buildings and there is no need to stay. Stanka argues back that their culture and history is tied to this land, but Belka says that they are taking their memories with them so they are bringing everything.

Venz walks in with a gust of wind, and warms his hands on the fire. Bris greets him, and Venz warns the village about the storm. The meeting explodes into panicked argument.

Bris now argues that they can't leave but Venz says the village won't protect them. Bris argues back about how the storm will catch them, and they won't be able to hunt or scavenge or protect themselves from the snow, but Venz knows that the walls of the village won't survive the storm. They continue arguing over Venz' reason for coming here and why to trust him.

A gust of wind blows out the fire, silencing everyone, and the storm sounds like laughter. Venz explains the supernatural storm and Bris successfully orders everyone to leave.

Within the hour the caravan is ready to leave, everyone coming with them, heading north-west through the forest. Bris, having been ordering everyone around, realises she doesn't know where Korrin is, and finds him with Challa's family. She tells him to stay with them and look after them, and Korrin agrees and hugs Bris.

The episode closes on the organised column of the caravan setting off as snow falls and the wind whips.

## Quotes

**Belka:** "And what is stew?"

**Bris:** "Shut up, will everyone just- We're not getting anywhere, we're not... resolving anything, you just, you're all just saying the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over again. Why don't we have a vote or something"

**Belka:** "...Seeds must travel far to root again or the plant will wither, and if you stay here you will wither. So leave. And be stronger."

## Game Mechanics

* Challa rolls 12 in [emotion] with Pack Leader to persuade the other kids to come with her
* Bris rolls 7 in [emotion] with The Guardian, and holds 1 to tell Korrin to "stay away from that building"
* Challa rolls 10 in [emotion] with Tempt Fate to swim into the underwater entrance to the white building
* Challa rolls 3 in [emotion] with Tempt Fate to attempt to climb out of the window (Fail -mark XP)
* Bris rolls 9 in [emotion] with Pay Attention to the World Around You to see if anything is out of place in the woods
* Venz rolls 6 in [emotion] with Pay Attention To The World Around You to find feathers (Fail -mark XP)
* Bris rolls 6 in [emotion] with Manipulate at the meeting (Fail -mark XP)
* Venz rolls 6 in [emotion] with Manipulate at the meeting and loses the crowd (Fail -mark XP)
* Bris rolls 10 in [emotion] with Lead People Through a Dangerous Situation to lead the caravan to leave

## Notes

### Plot Notes

**Warning! There may be spoilers ahead!**

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