The Oracle
First Passage of the Cricket Moon
Import from Mymé Creates Buzz
Perhaps it is an effort by the Empress to revitalize interest in her province – a province which has, in the past moons, been associated mainly with war and violence. As Queen Lillian is now enforcing her sanctions against the Emperor, the Old World will see only imports from the Empress’ isle of Mymé, at least for some time. But whatever the Empress’ reasons, an interesting new import came across in the first shipments from Mymé, along with the usual silks, spices, carvings, gems, and foodstuffs.
Red honey.
It has long been one of Jedda’s most exotic delicacies, called, in translation, a ‘royal food’. By tradition these foods are only served to the Emperor and Empress, along with anyone they personally offer the foods to.
Red honey is made by a variety of bee that nests in high cliffs in one of the most remote valleys of Mymé. Its taste is so exquisite that the first buyers in Aranor suggest it would be a travesty to eat the honey by any method other than the traditional Jeddan way – dipping a simple reed into the honey and sucking lightly. Others, however, are eager to use the honey as an ingredient in candies or cooking.
The taste has been described as rich, heady, and warm, with a heat that is only vaguely similar to that of peppers or ginger. For now, the prices are fairly high – running up to eighty silver for a quarter stone-weight. But that price is projected to drop to twenty or thirty silver within a few moons. Buyers are told to beware honey that has been dyed a reddish tint and spiked with red pepper powder.
How can you tell if it’s real? According to the merchant I spoke to, if it doesn’t make you melt, it’s not the real stuff.
I, for one, am looking forward to my first taste!
Tania
Group Prevents Logging Near Bardé
They call themselves ‘Return to the Dragon’, and they are quickly making a name for themselves in the world. Their first strike was in Faol, where they managed to prevent a restaurant from serving Faerie Dragons on their menu. Now they’ve made their way up to Bardé, the primary supplier of timber in the Old World.
A league outside of Bardé is a place known as Shady Grove – a huge stand of massive oaks, none younger than two hundred years. Legends abound regarding the place – that it is a portal to the Realm of Fae, that dryads live in the trees, or that the elves live nearby and use it as a sacred gathering-place. But those legends were soon to come to an end, as the Bardé council recently decided to log the area.
“These dragon people came in and did some kind of sorcery,” I was told by one of the loggers. “Now anything we bring near the wood falls apart! Axes break, saws snap, and wagons lose their wheels. They used some kind of foul magic, I tell you!”
The nature of the magics utilized by the group eludes the understanding of sages.
As one might imagine, many of the residents of Bardé are extremely upset. Others, however, hail the actions of Return to the Dragon.
“I saw a unicorn in that wood when I was six,” said Marantha, now a resident of Aranor. “I could never imagine them chopping those trees down.”
“We believe that the fae and the humans can co-exist,” I was told by one of the members of the group. “As long as human abuses against the fae exist, so will we.”
Lord Kieran
Treasure in the Mud
Tanian, a young peasant in Liramelle, was almost a very lucky man. And may still be.
While digging a pit in which to bury his recently deceased horse, his shovel struck against something hard. And moments later his dreams were coming true. He was unearthing an ancient chest.
“I was a little overexcited,” he admits. “I got down in there and tried to wrench it free, but it was too large and heavy.”
Then he began prying at the side that was still firmly buried.
“It was then that I hit the spring. Water just started gushing in. I tried again to pull the chest free – it was loose now, moving in the mud, but still much too heavy.”
The loose soil mixed with the water, and soon the artifact was buried chest-deep in mud. Tanian was barely able to scramble free. Since then, Tanian and his friends have been trying everything in their power to get the chest out of the mud, where it appears to be slowly sinking.
“We can feel it by sticking long poles down into the mud,” Tanian said. “It’s sinking at about an arm per day.”
The area around the chest has turned into a small, muddy pond, and the chest is right in the middle. Even magicians have come out to aid the peasant, but the chest is simply too heavy to conjure or levitate.
“It must be filled with gold and jewels,” Tanian says wistfully.
He and his companions will continue working ‘tirelessly’ to retrieve the fortune they are sure lies within the chest – let’s all wish them luck!
Tania
To the Oracle Collection-- Third Year