[A Recollection of] A Picnic at St. Ninian's
Nov 28, 2018 19:02:18 GMT -5
Post by Celebes on Nov 28, 2018 19:02:18 GMT -5
Dear Sula,
I'm writing to let you know I'll be a bit late on my route this season around. It appears the biseasonal picnic the Abbey likes to host at this little church called St. Ninian's is going to be a bit later than usual, and I gave my word I'd stay to help with one of the dibbun activities. But to make it up to you, I thought I'd share another DAB experience I had during my first picnic at St. Ninian's church. This one is a bit foggier, though it happened a good deal more recently than the others, but I'll try my best to keep the story straight.
It was hot for an fall day, I remember that because it was the first time I heard somebeast say Indian Summer. What's an Indian, and why was it making summer last longer than it should I still haven't figured out. The picnic planners had thankfully planned accordingly, as among the baskets, bundles, bushels, and braces of fodder and fruit brought from the Abbey, there were two large barrels of mead for the grownbeasts, and a two smaller kegs of strawberry fizz for the dibbuns. At least no one would be thirsty.
And as it turned out, no one would be bored either, at least among us older dibbuns. Brother Silas, he was the teacher at the Abbey's school, issued a challenge to those of us in that awkward middling age between being real dibbuns and proper grownbeasts. The place we had come to, St. Ninian's Church, was apparently home to many artifacts and treasure just lying around waiting to be picked up. Whoever could scavenge up the neatest trinket would earn a coveted prize: the class window seat for the rest of the year. Well, at least I coveted it. Sitting on a hard chair at a lousy desk in a stuffy room had been getting old fast. At least the window seat had a cushion and a view.
So we went a-hunting. Some grownbeasts looked on, but most sought cooler activities in the shade or by the stream. St. Ninian's has a big yard about it, even so it was not long before the area had been pretty picked over. More and more dibbuns seemed to become interested in confining their searches to the immediate vicinity of the picnic tables, making doubly sure that this tart or that cake didn't have a secret treasure within. They all checked out from what I heard.
Well, I wasn't one to get distracted easily, usually, so after a fair piece of time spent poking holes in the ground with my harpoon, I decided to switch strategies. The fields around St. Ninian's were great and all, but the church itself, now that's where treasure HAD to be. Plus it would be cooler. The church hadn't been explicitly stated to be off limits, the locked door seemingly to have made such a command unnecessary. But where there is a will, there is a window, and I had a will. Making my way to the far side of the old stone building, I found a window some way off the ground. I remember having to stand on the claws of my footpaws to even get my pads around the sill. Taking my harpoon, I turned it into a handle which I could pull myself up with by notching it on the inside edges of the window frame, and pulling myself through. I was up.
I hardly had time to properly bask in my own smarts when a small knot of vagabond dibbuns showed up. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who had thought a bit of breaking-and-entering sounded fun. There were three of them that ended showing up. Isaiah, the mouse I had mentioned in my previous letters, Brookfill, a peppy ottermaid who went by Brooky, and some foxmaidwho's name I can't remember. Madrigal?RIANA, that was it. That wanted ups without any of the work, and told me I had to let them in. Well, since at that point in my life I still strongly adhered to the law of first come, first serve, I thought that they should owe me something if I helped them up. They were having none of that clearly fair deal, especially Riana, and they began to alternate between complaining and failing to get up themselves. They were still more dibbun than grownbeast, don't be to hard on them. Eventually I relented to helping for free, and along with Isaiah, who had found his own way in through another window, we pulled everybeast inside.
The church seemed bigger on the inside. You'd never think it was as large as it was from walking around the outside. Wooden pews, stained glass, a rostrum, all run down and dusty. The place seemed to be straddling that middle ground between disrepair and ruin, and from lofty rafters to stone floor there were plenty of nooks and crannies to search. So we did. The four of us scoured the chapel, looking for relics of ages past. Brother Silas had mentioned that the place had been headquarters of saints and sinners alike over the seasons, more than once serving as a continent base for those seeking to siege Redwall. It seemed like it would have saved the Abbey a lot of trouble if had just been burned down.
The neatest find for me on the ground floor was how the stained glass dazzled the fur with different colors. It's like that time we watched the dibbuns at your holt play around with that sea glass that had washed ashore where they were trying to "stain" the sand different colors with the sun through the tint. Except this staining swept the whole floor. Yeah, the Abbey had stained glass too, but you can never get that close to the windows. This was neat.
Before I could figure out how to claim the stained class as my scavenged artifact, Brooky stumbled upon some stairs. We had figured that the place probably had an attic or garret of some sort since it was so tall, but hadn't yet found the stairs. Now that they were revealed, there was a race to the top. Reaching the landing wasn't all that exciting, just a bunch of old crates and chests in an even dustier space. But like an oyster that is dull on the outside, we knew some of those chests must contain pearls. Riana chose a particular one that we gravitated towards, and soon old lock was forced off and the lid flung open.
Inside there was a mix of junk and treasures from seasons gone by. Brooky found a bauble for Isaiah's ear, Riana found some old book, Isaiah tried to look important. There wasn't enough room for everybeast to squeeze around the chest, so I politely let the others lean in closer while I went over to the window. Realizing there was no sort of hullabaloo going on down in the grounds about missing dibbuns, I figured that our absence had not yet been noticed. That was about the time that Isaiah found the clue scroll.
It was a ratty old peace of parchment, obviously written by a Redwaller. Why? Because it was a riddle poem. I told you those things have been Abbey tradition since like the time of Martin the Warrior's dear old dad. I can't remember how it went, but the first step was pretty clear. There was a key hidden somewhere in the attic we had to find. Well since we were already in the business of finding things in general, finding something specific shouldn't have been all that hard.
That was when we realized that the attic was less complete than we had initially supposed. So hasty had we been to get at Riana's chest, we had completely ignored the fact that the loft only had half a floor. Whether due to a repair job given up early, or just from some builder's practical joke, the attic floorboards only covered half the church. The chapel floor far below was clearly visible apart from a few rafter obscuring it. And what was down one of those rafters, leading to the far side of the church? Brooky spotted it. A key on a peg.
Once again, I must remind you I am not the best with heights. Luckily, it wasn't that hard for the three of us to voluntell Isaiah it would be up to him to retrieve the clue key. We weren't complete savages at that age, of course, we did give him a bit of rope that Riana had found in the chest to tie about his waist. And I even gave him my harpoon to help balance, though now I wonder why he needed it when he had just the tail for that. So off he started across the wooden beam. Watching him shake from the vibrating rafter and his own nerves was as almost hard for me to watch as if I had been out there. Slowly he went, one pawstep at a time. Slowly, carefully, we watched in eager apprehension. What could this key even lead to? Eventually, Isaiah reached the prize. The key was in his paw. Now for the return journey.
Suddenly, Isaiah slipped. And then he fell and died.
Well, I hope you enjoyed that latest installment of my brighter seasons, Abbey life had many stories. I apologize if this seemed a bit abrupt, my memory isn't the best about what the the key ended up leading to. I'll talk to Isaiah about it and see if I can't get you the sequel when we recollect it. I hope that everything continues to sail well at the holt, and that the anticipation of this story doesn't kill you. Say hullo to Brusco for me. You are the current behind my back!
Your only otter,Celebes
So here is my latest attempt at restoring some of the stories that got kerfluffedTM. I'd appreciate any input anyone might remember from the story that I didn't recall, I usually have my main man wingmouse check these over but I figured I'd throw this one out since we had more writers on this one. And destroying my grammar is fair game. For those wondering about the abrupt ending, this Rp unfortunately didn't get finished before the Great KerfluffleTM, but hopefully we will find the source of that key some season. Hope you all enjoy it!
Credits to our Cast
Brookfill, as played by Brooky
Brookfill, as played by Brooky
Brother Silas, as played by Joseph
Celebes, as played by Celebes
DAB Scavenger #1, as played by Baby Rollo
DAB Scavenger #2, as played by Cheek
Isaiah, as played by Isaiah
Riana, as played by Riana
and St. Ninian's pious background ambiance were provided by the Ferret Choir of Noonvale
Riana, as played by Riana
and St. Ninian's pious background ambiance were provided by the Ferret Choir of Noonvale