Sun Mote Copse Starwaves

Wraen could not have chosen a better assemblage of people to learn new stories from. She knew it the moment Weejay volunteered to be the first and in order to ease the slight nervousness she felt about performing before a group of people, the Sovereign smiled at her encouragingly and listened carefully to the tale about the earth-walker Mino and the sky-wolf Ori. There were so many things she would have loved to ask: Who had been the hostile beings that Ori had fought against? What had been the disaster that had struck the Earth and why had powerful Ori been helpless to prevent it? She followed the girl's gaze up to the Sirius or the North Star, the brightest one in the nightsky and was glad to give it another name. No less beautiful and meaningful. "Thank you, Weejay. It was lovely," she praised the girl kindly.

Nellie was the next to spin a yarn and Wraen was positively surprised by, what she heard. She had not expected that straightforward and realistic Niamh's daughter to be a gifted story-teller. Meebee's take on "The little match girl" was absolutely beautiful. It warmed the heart of Wraen's narrator and made tears well up in the Sovereign's eyes. This moment of stark emotion she hid by pretending to rub her muzzle with her paws and shook her head a little. And yet the story had hit her straight in the heart and moved her like no other had. Later on she would find Nellie and ask, who had told her this and/or did she have more such in her stock for her to hear and collect. "Beautiful, Nellie," she told her with a sincere smile.

Though Eljay had received one very stressful lesson at story-telling, he did not share any of his own. Yet Wraen was glad to see him genuinely happy and proud for once and she appreciated him being the best audience for those, who had come here and were telling stories to the others. The good quality about him was that the Blackthorn man did not pretend that he was interested or praised out of politeness. He was attentive and truly listened. 

Maia added some spice to the bittersweet potion that was brewing on the fire with a tale that seemed to bring together Game of Thrones, Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials", Avatar: The Last Airbender and probably some other influences from popular literature and series that Wraen's narrator does not know about. Wraen was not aware of the fantasy genre of human world, but she did sense that Maia's story was a colourful and lively patchwork of many tales she had heard throughout her life. That was, how all story-tellers began, and, while there was a lot of room from improvement, Wraen loved the action, enjoyed seeing her sister live through every moment of the tale and bring it to a grand close. It had everything in it to make a wonderful action-filled game for children. "Thanks, Maia," she told her sister and gave her a proud smile and a sly wink.

Phox's son preferred to listen just the same way as Eljay, Elwood, Penn and Fennec, and Wraen realized that with so many story-tellers already around the table, you needed just as many members of the audience. She would have wished to hear more of Fennec's ghost and monster stories, but she did not seem to be in the mood to do so. Story-telling required good mood, inspiration and the right vibe. But another person stepped in. Finley. Wraen laughed at the right moments and listened to her adventures intently. "That's quite a tale," Wraen remarked. "Compared to yours, mine childhood has been boring and uneventful." She looked around and before telling her own story, decided to ask: "Does anyone else want to share their adventures - real or imagined?"