Arhu had seen Rhiow when she passed by, and had first started following her with the intention of talking. And then he'd seen the fish - oh, the fish, the thing that wasn't magically-reconstituted-Stacy-slop - and he'd been even more firmly hooked.
He hopped up onto the counter carefully, because he still wasn't the best at judging distances and it wasn't like he wanted to stumble around here, and gave her an utterly hopeful look. His ears perked forward, and he tried not to stare constantly at the fish, but it was still awfully hard when it just smelled so good.
His pathetic look was really kind of hilarious. "Carp, to be precise. They live in the Hh'oha-hu River," Rhiow said, licking her whiskers. He looked like he might explode if he didn't get to eat any. "You can have some, I'm not going to eat the whole thing."
Arhu might, given a chance. He was still growing, after all.
"Really?" His whiskers went forward in a pleased smile. "I'm guessing that's in the City. Can anyone fish there?" Not to take everything, of course. He'd learned that whole thing about the library.
Still, he couldn't help but stare at Rhiow's fish, if only because it was right there.
"It's Ha-hu's river. You remember I introduced you to him? The Power? It seems as if he's either been repodded or let his consciousness merge with the river - either way, he gave me permission to hunt his waters a long time ago, and I doubt he'd be angry if you did the same."
At the second question, Rhiow's ear flicked like she was shaking off a fly. "If you eat more than half of it I'll swat you so hard your ears ring for days."
"He has a river?" Which...shouldn't surprise him, really. The Power simply hadn't really seemed the river-type when he'd first looked at him. That explained some of the way he altered the hyperstrings, though... "I, uh...guess I'll make sure to ask before I do it?" Even if he didn't get a verbal reaction, whether or not he caught anything would probably be answer enough.
Arhu eyed the carp, and made the prudent decision to definitely eat less than half of it. Even if he was practically drooling at the thought of fresh-caught food. He could catch his own later, too. But right now... Well, this was Rhiow's kill, so he sat back with as much patience and grace as he could muster so she could eat first.
"He didn't at first," Rhiow said. She took pity on Arhu and tucked into the fish, eating as neatly as possible. She always had been fastidious about cleanliness. "Hh-t'hara and I built it for him a few months ago. There was an aspect of the Lone One breaking out on the ship, his corruption got too close to Ha-hu... without a home river he was more vulnerable than he would have been with one. Ask the Whisperer for the precis."
Asking the Whisperer would surely lead Arhu to the complex net of spellwork Rhiow had engineered to negate the corruption, as well as to Haku's full name and the knowledge that Rhiow had spent a life in the spell. The fact that Haku had later granted it back was between her and the Powers.
As she was busy eating, he did just that to keep himself from staring rudely. Tucking his paws under himself, he hunched down and half-closed his eyes, staring into the darkness of his mind that was shared by That One.
Well?
It was like this... And She showed him, accessing the part of him that held the Eye. It wasn't quite proper Seeing, but it was better than he'd been able to manage for the most part on board the ship.
"Mess is the right word for it," Rhiow said, licking fish oil off her whiskers. "It turned out fairly well though, considering."
Considering that a lesser Power possessed by an arm of the Tearer could have been catastrophically bad if they hadn't leapt to contain him as quickly as they had.
She sat back away from the carp and began washing to get some of the fish gunk off. "Go ahead. Stacy's slop is not exactly appetizing."
He leaped for the fish as soon as it was polite, hunching over it to eat as a purr of satisfaction started up in his throat.
"Thanks," he said around another mouthful. "Her stuff's got nutrients, but no taste." This was good. So good. And took his mind off of possible implications of that so-called 'mess.'
Rhiow wasn't sure how to approach this next part. Arhu wasn't usually the person she went to when she needed an opinion - although that could have changed, in the time she didn't remember.
And that was the crux of it. She'd been avoiding, and avoiding - endlessly. It needed to stop.
"From what I've heard, it's easy to regain your memories. You have to go into the Sensoriums and ask for them back."
Arhu had seen Rhiow when she passed by, and had first started following her with the intention of talking. And then he'd seen the fish - oh, the fish, the thing that wasn't magically-reconstituted-Stacy-slop - and he'd been even more firmly hooked.
He hopped up onto the counter carefully, because he still wasn't the best at judging distances and it wasn't like he wanted to stumble around here, and gave her an utterly hopeful look. His ears perked forward, and he tried not to stare constantly at the fish, but it was still awfully hard when it just smelled so good.
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Arhu might, given a chance. He was still growing, after all.
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Still, he couldn't help but stare at Rhiow's fish, if only because it was right there.
"So...how much are you gonna want?"
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At the second question, Rhiow's ear flicked like she was shaking off a fly. "If you eat more than half of it I'll swat you so hard your ears ring for days."
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Arhu eyed the carp, and made the prudent decision to definitely eat less than half of it. Even if he was practically drooling at the thought of fresh-caught food. He could catch his own later, too. But right now... Well, this was Rhiow's kill, so he sat back with as much patience and grace as he could muster so she could eat first.
Reply
Asking the Whisperer would surely lead Arhu to the complex net of spellwork Rhiow had engineered to negate the corruption, as well as to Haku's full name and the knowledge that Rhiow had spent a life in the spell. The fact that Haku had later granted it back was between her and the Powers.
Reply
Well?
It was like this... And She showed him, accessing the part of him that held the Eye. It wasn't quite proper Seeing, but it was better than he'd been able to manage for the most part on board the ship.
"Oh," he said softly. "It was that whole mess."
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Considering that a lesser Power possessed by an arm of the Tearer could have been catastrophically bad if they hadn't leapt to contain him as quickly as they had.
She sat back away from the carp and began washing to get some of the fish gunk off. "Go ahead. Stacy's slop is not exactly appetizing."
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"Thanks," he said around another mouthful. "Her stuff's got nutrients, but no taste." This was good. So good. And took his mind off of possible implications of that so-called 'mess.'
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And that was the crux of it. She'd been avoiding, and avoiding - endlessly. It needed to stop.
"From what I've heard, it's easy to regain your memories. You have to go into the Sensoriums and ask for them back."
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