July 2020 "Grab bag" stories/poetry/art/etc....

Vurdah was scolding the roses for being so unruly when a shadow fell across her, and she turned with a smile.

"I didn't expect you back so soon from the hunt, beloved--oh!"

It was  who Savah smiled down at her, graceful in her shimmering robes and outlined in gold by the noontide sun.

"Greetings, little granddaughter. Am I interrupting anything?"

"No, no! Just a little trimming, I was nearly ready to take a rest anyway. Will you join me?" she said, tipping back her sunhat and waving at her hut's welcoming interior. Savah's smile grew and she gently picked a stray leaf from Vurdah's hair, a quiet sort of fussing that reminded Vurdah of her earliest days.

"I would love to. I was hoping to sit and speak with you."

"Oh! What of?" Vurdah asked, leading the way past the clicking bead curtain and quickly scanning her hut for any mess. The most offensive thing about was her old sandcat Tyty, he of foul stench and even fouler disposition. He liked Savah, though, much more than any one else. Vurdah tossed aside her hat and gloves and went to the stairs of her cellar, wondering what she ought to serve the Mother of Memory. The evening before she and Winnowill had made the small savory buns that Winnowill's tribe favored, and perhaps Savah would like those along with the sunsweet juice leftover from the morning.

She wished she had had word of Savah's coming; she'd never hosted her ancestor in her own home before, only helped her mother prepare back when she lived with her. Not that Savah would ever mock the table laid before her, of course, but Vurdah wanted to make the afternoon lovely for her, especially after her long illness the year before.

She fetched up the juice and the buns, with a bowl of cactus fruit for good measure. She cleared her little table of the assorted clutter that Winnowill liked to bring home and laid out the food. Savah had swept Tyty up during Vurdah's absence and now brought him with her to the table, setting him beside her on a cushion and rubbing his ragged ears.

"Oh! Are those walking cakes?" Savah asked, picking up one of the buns and breaking it open. It smelled just as tempting at a day old as it had fresh from the oven,Vurdah was pleased to find.

"Is that what they're called? Winnowill just called them savory buns."

"Before we were Rootless, we lived together in a green growing place and made food such as this. Flour, fat, meat and wakeberries...with a little effort we had a meal that could be carried in the pocket and sustain us for hours. I'd almost forgotten the smell." Savah said, a little wistfully, and she took a careful bite of the pastry.

"I will have to tell Winnowill this--how lucky, to have a dish in common!" Vurdah smiled, wondering what her new lovemate would make of it. Perhaps the Gliders and the Rootless Ones had met once, long ago! It was an exciting thought. Across from her Savah hummed and took a drink of sunsweet juice, looking thoughtful.

"And how are you finding Winnowill, granddaughter? She is rather different from your usual companions."

Vurdah bit into her own cake and considered the question for a moment. Truth be told Winnowill was never far from her thoughts these days; she had a way of demanding your attention even when she wasn't with you. One minute she was as snappish as Rayek ever was, the next she was smiling and shyly asking if Vurdah would sing for her. She was the most beautiful elf Vurdah had ever seen, and the most fascinating.

"Tall." Vurdah said, and grinned when Savah chuckled into her cup.

"She is, certainly. All of her people are. What else?"

"She's...well, rather strange, actually, but I used to think the same of the Wolfriders years ago. Sometimes she acts as though she doesn't know what the most commonplace things are. I had to explain what an irrigation ditch was for!" Vurdah laughed, remembering the grave focus Winnowill fixed her with as she talked of the flow of water and the cycles of the earth. It was adorable, though she knew saying that would rankle Winnowill's pride.

"Her tribe lives apart from the earth, from what Lord Voll told me. I am not surprised that you had to teach her. But what of her behavior towards you, little heart? Are you happy?"

Something about the question made Vurdah blush, her skin suddenly too tight and tingling. Winnowill was very strange and not a little unsettling at times--her own people seemed to be afraid of her--but this morning she had taken the water jars for filling so Vurdah could sleep a little while longer, and Vurdah was running out of places to put the little posies of wildflowers her new lovemate brought her. Winnowill was sarcastic, moody, and not at all open about her past, but she held Vurdah like she was afraid she would break her, and her rare smiles made Vurdah's heart sing.

"She's very sweet. A little sharp-tongued, but I don't mind that."

Savah was looking at her very strangely now, her eyes very sharp.

"Sweet." she said at last, as though the word was new to her.

"Yes! Very, what's the word...gallant! She insists on carrying heavy things for me, even though I think I'm stronger than she is, and she is very patient with me."

And to prove the point, Vurdah closed her eyes and took a steadying breath to quiet her mind. She reached out to Savah, that bright calm presence that had been at the periphery of her life since the beginning, and sent.

~*She has been teaching me lately. She says I'm getting quite good at it!*~

She gave Savah a picture from a few nights ago, of Winnowill sitting across from her under the stars and smiling freely at her. Well done, she'd sent, and her mind's touch was as gentle as the touch of her hands. She really was such a sweet thing, under all the bluster.

Vurdah opened her eyes to find Savah looking at her with mingled pride and sadness. The Mother of Memory reached across the table and took Vurdah's hands in hers.

~*She has not harmed you, then.*~

Vurdah felt a cold ripple pass down her back, and frowned at her grandmother. Winnowill, harm her? Winnowill had almost thrown Vurdah over her shoulder and carried her off to Leetah when she turned her ankle last month; the idea of her hurting Vurdah was silly.

~*No, Savah, not at all. She's quite gentle with me.*~

~*I see.*~

Savah did not seem very happy, but she squeezed Vurdah's hands and sat back on her cushion. She broke open another walking cake with a sigh and fed a morsel of meat to Tyty.

"Well, dear one, tell me of what else you have been up to. I see your experiment with the tubers is paying off."

The rest of the visit passed happily enough, with her and Savah trading gardencraft and old memories over fresh platters of sweets, teasing and laughing together. Vurdah watched Savah on the sly, checking for any lingering signs of her wasting sickness. She was herself, though, calm and good and wonderfully there, and the solid fact of it warmed Vurdah to her bones.

Eventually, though, Savah's duties in the Village could not be put off any more, and she rose to leave. Vurdah went with her to the door, hand-in-hand, and insisted on wrapping up the last of the walking cakes for her.

"Enjoy them, Mother of Memory. I'll have Winnowill make more when she gets back."

"Thank you, granddaughter, for this little taste of my younger years. Shade and sweet water to you."

"And to you, thank you for visiting."

Savah suddenly leaned down and swept Vurdah into a hug, the sort that felt like being surrounded by friendly rockslide. In her mind, she heard Savah speak.

~*Be cautious, kitling. I know you are a woman grown, free to love where you will, but keep your eyes open. I am glad she is kind to you, but pay attention to how she behaves with others, too.*~

Before Vurdah could think of something to say, Savah ducked through the door of her home and was gone.
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The least realistic thing about EQ is the fact that they never show Savah being Ur Grandma to everyone in the Village. You know that she was gently, benevolently in everyone's business even after her office hours. When you're literally everyone's granny, it's impossible not to be. (Note that Savah is actually Vurdah's grandmother's grandmother, rather than her actual grandmother, but that's rather a mouthful.) So now Winnowill has to somehow explain to her new girlfriend that she was responsible for almost killing her beloved grandmother-figure/spiritual leader. And that she kidnapped her distant cousin Suntop. Winnowill is slowly starting to realize that Vurdah is related to virtually everyone in the Village one way or another, so she's fucked herself on multiple levels here.

(Also Winnowill is waiting for Savah's retaliation for keeping her soul captive. Savah is very aware of this and deliberately goes out of her way to treat Winnowill with kindness and respect--partly because it's the right thing to do, and partly because it's slowly driving Winnowill up the wall with paranoia.)