Story name: Growth and Forgiveness
Author: Oren the Otter
Date: July to August, 706 CR
Location: Metamor Keep
Overview
Oren and her friends prepare for their upcoming trial.
Summary
This story consists of a series of vignettes around 7 of Oren's friends who have been arrested and waiting trial: Vitra, the half-lutin responsible for all this, arrested merely for being an enemy of the Keep within its walls; Oren and Gornul, who took pity on her and sheltered her; Jesse Roo and his mother Kim, and Christine, who were caught helping her; and Felice, who was just an unfortunate visitor during the arrests.
Oren, who had recently changed into a young girl otter, is still scared and upset by her recent change. She falls asleep, and dreams of her manly self, and a beautiful woman whose colors are the exact opposite of a human's. He touches her, but because they are so different, she burns him. But after long minutes, the burning goes away, and they kiss.
Oren awakes, feeling someone's presence. But it is not her dream woman, but Christine the mind mage, speaking telepathically. Oren is sorry for their situation, but Christina assures her that he is not to blame. Oren sees a pool of water in the corner of her cell. It is cool and deep, and on touching it, she sees Gornul's cell in her head. She confirms that Christina also has a comfortable item in her cell, and Oren realizes the mysterious presence is the Keep itself, watching over them. The presence suddenly vanishes, leaving Oren alone again.
Vitra examines her new blankets and thinks about her father, the only lutin aside from Ushka who ever loved her.
Meanwhile, Blake has managed to explain to her unfazed lover Shamgar that she used to be an assassin sent to kill Oren. She wonders why Felice so easily forgave her. Shamgar tactlessly suggests she is mentally ill.
Gornul's father, Mitok, spends days travelling to his homeland, the Dragonette Isles, passing out when he arrives. His eldest son Squalling Sea finds and revives him. Mitok explains that Gornul is alive and happy, but is in danger and needs resuce. Squalling Sea tells him that nobody is left to help; not long ago, a great rodent and a dragon with no wings came and asked for able-bodied warriors to fight a great evil. Only the old, the infants and their mothers, and Gornul's family remain.
Ye visits Achin for a book on law to help Oren's case, but Achin is confident that Oren will be found guilty of aiding the enemy. Grunch, who is cleaning Achin's floor, argues that not all lutins are the enemy, and that he talk to Vitra first. Achin is speechless, and Ye whispers to Grunch that they should leave until he calms down.
Blake visits Felice in prison, and after a long uncomfortable silence, Felice is telling Blake stories about her thirdak. Blake has never forgiven the thirdak that ate her wife, and Felice tells her that unforgiveness only makes her bitter. Blake asks why Felice forgave her, and she doesn't know.
Jesse asks his mother why they don't use their magic power to blast a hole in his cell, and his mother reminds him they are here on Vitra's account. There is nowhere else to protect her, and if they leave her behind, they would be admitting their guilt at her trial. Jesse agrees, but blasts a hole anyway for some fresh air. Jesse assures the frightened guard on duty that he is not planning to escape, but within moments a huge number of guards and repairmen have arrived.
Achin and Charles both arrive around this time to visit Vitra and Gornul respectively. Achin is embarrassed to be seen visiting her, but does not hide his agenda from Vitra: he wants to hear her story, to win a bet against Grunch. She is insulted, lashing out that she hates all lutins, including herself. She eventually opens up about her job as a healer, her husband's death, and her plan to die by the hands of Keepers, until Oren showed him kindness. Achin listens incredulously and without pity.
Charles's visit cheers up Gornul immediately. Charles cannot tell him where his father went, but he does give him medicine for his stomach, and is surprised to learn from him that Vitra was a healer.
Charles visits Oren next, and shares some news from outside. Their visit is short, though, as Oren's friend Ana arrives. Ana starts to bemoan his being treated as an animal, but Oren says calmly that he is part animal now, and accepts it. He realizes that he belongs at the Keep, and part of being a Keeper is sacrificing oneself for others. He doesn't have to stay in prison, but he does, for Vitra's sake. Ana leaves, struck by Oren's profound change. That night, she contemplates drinking the magic water to be just like him, but cries instead.
Some time later, a guard arrives at Oren's cell. The trial is ready to begin.
Characters
Main characters:
- Oren: Formerly a man from Hipocc magically changed to a half-otter, now a female gendermorph and age regressed otter morph. She is still adjusting to her situation, and mixes her pronouns constantly. Due to her anti-magic nature, she is able to shift back to an adult man, though still an otter.
- His old Hipoccian uniform consisted of a blue vest and a red cape.
- He is able to shift back to an adult male, which he attributes to his anti-magic nature. He notes, however, that his equipment doesn't work.
- Vitra: The half-lutin whom Oren saved, a healer, now a zorilla morph. Believed to be an enemy to the Keep, she and Oren and all their friends were arrested.
- She has only the robe she was arrested in, now discarded from being too dirty and oily.
- She hates all lutins, save only her father and husband.
Supporting:
- Christina: A wolf morph, a mind mage. She uses her telepathy to communicate with her fellow prisoners.
- Gornul: A dragonette, Oren's closest friend. He misses his father most of all, and wonders where he went. He receives some medicine from Charles, to help his stomach heal.
- Jesse Roo: A young kangaroo morph, with the power to obliterate stones with magic missiles. He blows up part of his wall but does not escape, to the guards' consternation.
- Jesse's mom: A female gendermorph who shares Jesse's power. She advises Jesse not to escape, that they still need to protect Vitra, and can't do that if they escape.
- Felice: Oren's sister from Hipocc, who was just visiting when she was arrested with Oren's friends. She receives a friendly visit from Blake Tizzo, despite their homeland's relations.
- She has a pet thirdak named Matilda, and possibly a pet rat.
- Blake Tizzo: An assassin from Devil's Strand, now Shamgar's girlfriend, a female gendermorph. She is the most incompetent assassin in Devil's Strand.
- In Devil's Strand, he lost his son and wife in short succession. His son had been chosen as the year's harvest sacrifice. His wife, in her grief, distracted herself by picking magical herbs, causing a thirdak to smell her and devour her. Since then, Blake has harbored a hatred for all thirdaks.
- This particular thirdak had an enormous red stripe down its scaly back.
- During a love-making session with Shamgar, she began randomly attacking him. It is not clear what triggered it.
- In Devil's Strand, he lost his son and wife in short succession. His son had been chosen as the year's harvest sacrifice. His wife, in her grief, distracted herself by picking magical herbs, causing a thirdak to smell her and devour her. Since then, Blake has harbored a hatred for all thirdaks.
- Mitok: Gornul's father. Without telling anyone, he flies to the Dragonette Isles, hoping to rescue his son, only to find his family are the only ones left to help.
- Achin: A gambler, a dog morph. He does not like lutins or sympathizers, and openly bets that Oren will hang. He visits Vitra to win a bet against Grunch.
- He borrowed a book on the laws of various countries from Ye, but has misplaced it. He wonders if he donated it to the library in Lorland.
- He protests against being called a gambler, but after he immediately starts to place a wager, he owns up to it.
Minor characters:
- Shamgar: A rhino morph, Blake's girlfriend. An easy-going personality, his only reaction on being told his girlfriend was an assassin is an understanding on why she threw knives at him during a romantic evening.
- He doesn't feel pain much, and enjoys drinking. He also makes occasional insensitive remarks towards others.
- According to Achin, Shamgar gambles as much as he does, though he is apparently not as committed to it.
- Squalling Sea: Mitok's eldest son, Gornul's oldest brother. He, with his family, were waiting for Mitok or Gornul to come home to the Dragonette Isles. He revives Mitok and explains what happened.
- Grunch: Better known as Bluenight, a lizard morph who is also half-lutin. While scrubbing Achin's floor, he joins an argument, saying that lutins are not always evil. He convinces Achin to speak with Vitra.
- To lutins, he is known as "the defective", and is the most despised lutin of all.
- Ye: A diplomat from Os-Var-Khai, a Komodo dragon morph, currently studying the law for Oren's defense.
- He has a peaceful nature that is often seen as smug superiority. To Grunch, however, this makes him easier to talk to.
- Roscoe: A scorpion morph, head of the Keep prisons.
- Bradfox: A guard, a gendermorph of unknown gender, goes by "s'he" and "hir". S'he is part of the extra security Roscoe had hired for the large number of prisoners. S'he is there to hear Jesse's missile, and initially thinks he is escaping. S'he then reports the damage to Misha.
- Charles: A rat morph, one of Oren's and Gornul's closest friends.
- Sawana: Oren's childhood friend. She is amazed by Oren's bravery after her visit, and becomes seriously tempted into drinking some of Hipocc's magic lake water.
Cameo:
- Kyia: The spirit of Metamor Keep, responsible for giving Oren and his friends comforts in prison.
Important mention:
- Vitra's father, who learned to love others by following his human wife's example. It is not known whether he is still retired, in Nasoj's forces, or even remarried.
- Vitra's mother, a human forced to marry a Lutin, who taught her husband how to love, and died while escaping with her son.
- Vitra's brother, who Vitra believes is still alive and wants her dead.
- A dragon with no wings and a great rodent who came to the Dragonette Isles seeking warriors.
Referenced:
- Ramphon & Ultoya: Two figures whom Bradfox swears to.
- Misha: Head of the Long Scouts, and thus one of the heads of the scouts.
- Matilda: Felice's thirdak. She found and ate Dirk's magic gold coin.
- Dirk: A loved one of Felice. He found a 5000-gold coin, not knowing it was magic. It was eaten by Matilda.
- Coe: The Keep physician. Charles visited him to get some medicine for Gornul's tree trolls.
- Phil: A rabbit morph, recently betrothed.
- Kimberly: Charles's girlfriend. Charles has still not proposed to her.
Locations
- Popular pets in Hipocc are pet thirdaks and pet rats.
- In Devil's Strand, the harvest priests choose a sacrifice every year, and their choice cannot be altered. It isn't clarified whether this choice is limited to children, or completely random.
Story Connections
- Oren refers back to her dream of the barber in Heart-Is-True.
- The meaning of Oren's dream is revealed: the barber represented the curse itself. Being unable to give Oren another animal curse, the curse decided instead to give her the child and gender curses.
- The great rodent and dragon with no wings searching for allies are from Within the Temple.
- Felice forgave Blake in Convergence, and much of their visit is a consequence of that.
- Charles mentions that Phil got a girlfriend, which happened in Jormugand.
World
- Most lutins do not have a healer. Vitra only learned from her husband.
- Dragons do not make tears, so Charles believes.
