--------------------
A Game Between Bears
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by Thul, Son of Tae
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"Foul creature of the Taint!" a voice boomed across Faethorn. "Unhand that
leprechaun and begone from here at once!"

The tae'dae warrior being addressed turned, twin flails at the ready, to see
another of his race stomping up the path towards him. Where his fur was pitch
black, the other's was a glossy silver. He grunted in mild surprise... tae'dae
were surprisingly rare in the Basin, after all.

"I'm here to gather fae for their tah'vrai, Seren," the black bear said,
calmly. "Mother Night needs her followers, the same as the Moon."

"You come to steal the fae and drag them to a terrible bondage," the silver
bear growled in return, hefting a great axe into a ready position. "Release the
leprechaun, now."

The black bear huffed softly. "I don't want to fight you here, cub..." he said,
lowly. "And the leprechaun wants to come to the Glomdoring. Isn't that right?"

"Actually, I'd rather stay in Faethorn," the leprechaun said glibly, before
shrinking away with a little yelp of terror as the black bear rounded on him.

"That's not what you said a minute ago, you little bastard!"

"Enough! Have at you!" With that, the silver-furred tae'dae charged, axe held
high. He brought it down only to have his opponent sidestep and sweep his leg
with a quick flail swing.

"Bastard!" the black tae'dae growled, as he started swinging down at his
opponent, over and over, splattering blood across the vibrant greenery of
Faethorn. Several loud crunches later, he stopped, huffing, as the silver
tae'dae laid lifeless in front of him, a sizable crater in his breastplate.
"Have at you? Did you seriously say that?"

"He did just say that," the leprechaun noted. Then he was lifted into the air
by his hair, held by an unimpressed-looking Glomdor. "Unhand me! I wish to serve
Mother Moon!"

"Shut up before I take you to Nil instead," the tae'dae growled irritably. He
frowned down at the corpse of his opponent a moment, an odd regret coming over
him. But then he grunted, shrugged, and stalked back off to the Master
Ravenwood.

----

"Foul creature of the Taint! Back away from the fae this instant!"

The black-furred tae'dae looked up with mild surprise. Once again, the
axe-wielding bear from the Serenwilde had come to face him alone in Faethorn.
"You're a little uptight, you know that?" he commented lightly, nibbling on a
hot, fresh honeycake.

"Don't you dare start trouble here!" Butter Sweetpease said haughtily. "Go on,
both of you. Shoo!" The little fae woman shoved irritably at the black tae'dae's
leg. He didn't even look down, grinning smugly at the Serenwilder, but
eventually wandered away from her oven. The silver tae'dae stalked after him,
spinning his axe in his big paws.

"Foolish, evil monster..." the Seren intoned, "know that on this day, I, Ollo
Fullmoon, shall have my revenge upon you. Prepare yourself!" He fumed as his
opponent laughed around his honeycake.

"Nil, cub... who taught you to speak like that?" The Glomdor popped the rest of
the sweet, sticky treat into his mouth before readying his flails. "And who the
Nil named you Fullmoon? It sounds like the sort of name you'd give yourself if
you were trying to fit into Serenwilde but trying too hard."

Ollo snarled. "You're not much older than I am, taintling. And who are you, to
be mocking my heritage?"

"I'm Tadri Wyrdbrood, cub, proud son of Tae," the Glomdor said haughtily.

"Wyrdbrood." Ollo's snarl turned into a smirk, and his armor began to shake
slightly.

Tadri deflated visibly. "What? What're you grinning about?"

"Nothing. Nothing," Ollo said with a wide grin. "I just liked how you told me
that I'm trying too hard with a name like Wyrdbrood. The irony is amazing."

The Glomdor scowled deeply for a moment, before shaking his head. "Okay. Look.
Point is, I've killed you once already. And I'm going to kill you again if
you're stupid enough to come after me."

"The Fates have given me a second chance, you damned hypocrite," Ollo said, his
face becoming grim. "And now I'll remove you and your foolish name from the
Basin."

"Better hope they'll give you a third chance."

"Have at you!"

The two tae'dae charged, growling.

----

"He had time for but one last curse, before... WHACK! I took his foul head!"
Ollo grinned wide as he lifted his trophy for the aetherplex to see: Tadri's
head, mounted on a spike.

"Most excellent!" an elfen troubadour said, applauding.

"A fine tale," a merian priest said, primly.

"You utter bastard," Tadri growled.

Ollo whirled about. He didn't know when the Glomdor had arrived, but he was
very clearly unhappy. Ollo found himself delighted at this fact.

"Give that back," Tadri said, flatly.

"Why? You seem to have discovered a new one," Ollo noted cheerfully. "A shame
it's as ugly as the old." The elfen woman giggled lightly at that, but started
edging back towards the portals.

"Cub... mock me again, and I will end you. Horribly," Tadri growled
dangerously. "Give that back."

Ollo ignored Tadri's warning with a grin, shaking the head on its spike to make
the mouth flop open and shut. "Hi! I'm Tadri Wyrdbrood!" he said, in a
high-pitched voice. "I'm a condescending idiot who loves to belittle others. But
it's SO HARD to do that now! It's like my head's on a trophy with my stupid damn
name written underneath!"

Tadri went stock still, watching his own head being used as a puppet. The elfen
and merian took this moment to vanish into the many portals, but Ollo seemed
oblivious to the growing sense of danger in the air, as the black bear began to
bristle.

"Oh, how terrible! I guess I'll just have to go back to my tainted forest and
eat little fairy cakes until the pain goes away. Boo hoo hoo!"

"Alright, you son of a bitch. That does it."

----

"Have at you!"

Startled birds scattered into the air, as the ringing of a parried blow broke
the calm on the Ackleberry Road. "Hello again. You seem pissed," Tadri noted
wryly, readying himself for another incoming strike.

"You took... my eyes..." Ollo growled, between axe blows.

"I'm a student of Crow. What do you want?"

"You kicked me... endlessly... as I stumbled around blind..." Ollo advanced
angrily, his axe catching in the chains of Tadri's flails as the black tae'dae
parried repeatedly.

"Forest without mercy."

"You force-fed me..." Ollo snarled loudly as he whirled about in a blow aimed
at Tadri's head. "A kepheran sandwich!"

Tadri parried again before stepping in, jamming his forehead into Ollo's nose.
"Not just a sandwich, a kepheran-ass sandwich," he said mockingly, backing to a
safe distance. "Hope you liked having your mouth full of bug butt. It's what you
get for doing that with my head."

Ollo growled up at Tadri as he rose, rubbing at his muzzle with the back of one
arm. "What I did was actually funny," he muttered.

The black tae'dae actually looked thoughtful as he spun one flail idly. "I
guess it was, yeah, the whole head thing," Tadri admitted, smirking a bit. "But
you didn't get to see how far your mouth stretched to get that sandwich down."

The Seren huffed softly, getting back into a ready stance. "Where did you even
get that sandwich?"

"Why, did you like it?"

"No! It was... the most repulsive thing ever." Ollo grimaced. "It wasn't
cooked. The chitin was still on it. Someone slapped the bread on there as an
afterthought, or as a cruel joke."

"You caught on." Tadri grinned widely and toothily. Ollo glared at him for a
few seconds, but then found himself chuckling.

"That's awful. Who would do that to food?"

"People who can make other people eat stuff," Tadri said smugly. "You lucked
out. I'm out of stinkfish yogurt."

"You're vile. You know that?" Ollo said, holding back a grin and shaking his
head. "We're losing focus, here," he said, calming himself.

"Eh. Yeah." Tadri grunted and readied himself. "Ready to die? Again?"

"Have at you!"

"You need to stop saying that."

The two tae'dae charged, both seeming faintly amused as they rushed in to kill
one another.

----

"Foul creature of the Taint! Rise, and-"

"Oh gods, shut up," Tadri growled, before taking a pull from his bottle. He sat
against the great tree of Queen Maeve, flails laid out at his sides as he drank.
Ollo, axe at the ready, found himself offput and somehow rejected.

"Aren't you going to get up and fight, villain? We have a score to settle," the
Seren said.

"You're really eager for me to be up three kills on you," Tadri said, dryly.
"But not right now. The leaders are all dealing with Maeve, and don't want any
disturbances. You should know this."

"So I'm just supposed to tolerate your foul presence, vermin?" Ollo growled.
His snarl fell into confusion, though, as Tadri thrust a bottle towards him.

"Sit down, drink, and shut up for a bit. Seriously," Tadri grunted. "We can
kill each other later, I promise."

Ollo glared at Tadri for a long moment, but finally huffed and sat down against
the tree, a fair distance from the Glomdor. He peered at the bottle critically.
"'Kamikaze Death Whiskey.' That sounds... like a terrible idea."

"It's what I'm drinking. Are you not brave enough to try it out?" Tadri grinned
broadly as Ollo shot him a glare.

"This had better not be poisoned."

"Of course it's not poisoned. The stuff is so strong it burns off any poison
you put in it," the Glomdor said, taking a long pull from his own bottle.

"This sounds like a truly terrible idea," Ollo said. But Tadri grinned and
laughed as he watched the silver tae'dae took a long pull.

"See? Not poisoned."

"No. It's just vile," Ollo grumbled, blinking rapidly. It felt like flames were
running up his throat, into his nose, and trying to burn their way into his
skull. "I refuse to drink any more."

"Calling it quits? I'm half done with my bottle."

"Bastard," Ollo muttered, and Tadri laughed deeply as the other tae'dae gulped
down a few great mouthfuls of whiskey. "Ugh. Why are you drinking this stuff?"

"It makes these sesssions with Maeve go by easier," Tadri said, stretching out.
"Come on. You're listening to the aethers."

"I am," Ollo said, sniffing at his bottle and grimacing. "It sounds pretty
dire... the end of an immortal and death to the land. But they can't figure out
what the Queen wishes."

"Nobody can ever figure out what the Queen wishes. You've been in the
Serenwilde long enough to know this. She's just a crazy bitch," Tadri said,
before turning to look straight at a passing fae knight. "And don't give me that
look. It's true."

"It sounds pretty dire," Ollo grunted, trying to get down another mouthful of
liquor. "It's prophecy."

"Prophecy. To Nil with it," Tadri growled, taking a pull of his own. "It's all
useless. Either you won't know how it's supposed to affect you until it's too
late, or you try and follow it and it bites you in the ass because of how it's
worded."

Ollo looked sidelong at Tadri. "Misinterpretation's always a risk with
prophecy. You can't go dismissing it just because of that risk."

"Please. Gods know we've had any number of prophecies in the Basin." Tadri sat
up, grunting and pointing unsteadily at Ollo. "When was the last time one of
them actually helped someone out?"

The Seren frowned. "I can't recall immediately..."

"Yeah, well get back to me when you find something," Tadri said, slumping back.
"I bet I'll be waiting a while." He took a long pull from his bottle, and unable
to think of anything to say, Ollo drank as well. He was a little surprised when
Tadri spoke again. "So why do you talk like that, anyway?"

"Hmm?"

"You know. All the... Foul Creature this, and the Have At You that." The
Glomdor swung a paw about dramatically in gesture.

"What, you mean the thing where I can speak properly without having to curse
every three seconds?" Ollo smirked over his whiskey. "I work with the
Spiritsingers regularry. Regularry. Reg-gyoo-ler-lee. Gods." He peered at his
bottle for a moment before continuing, ignoring Tadri's grin. "I'm on the stage
quite often. You would know if you had any idea what culture is."

"Nope. Sorry." Tadri took another sip of whiskey, smirking. "Whiskey's kicking
your ass, isn't it?"

"A little bit," Ollo noted, peering over. "But I'm almost caught up to you
now."

"What? Bastard." Tadri spilled a bit of whiskey down his chin as he hurriedly
guzzled some more of the liquor.

Ollo laughed and slumped back against the tree, taking another sip from his
bottle. "Oh gods. This was a truly awful idea. Awful." With some difficulty, he
turned his body towards Tadri and squinted at him. "Why'd you give this to me,
anyway? Do you just hate tae'dae?"

"Huh? What?" Tadri sat up, surprised. "Why would you..."

"There're maybe five of us in the entire Basin, and you're poisoning two," Ollo
said through a grin. "You're trying to drive us to esteenshun. Ex. Ex.
Extinction. Mmph." He smacked his lips and rolled out his tongue a few times.

"Pfft. You can talk," Tadri growled playfully, pointing accusingly at Ollo and
slumping to the ground after his finger. "Comin' after me alla time. Killin' me,
or makin' me kill you... tha's jus'... tha's jus'... bastard. Y'know? Oof." He
pushed himself back into a sitting position on the third attempt.

"You act like we're dying. Just going to Fate and coming right back... And
anyway, it's not my fault. You're from..." Ollo screwed up his eyes. "...I'm not
even gonna try to say it right now. But you know. Forest down south. I must."

"Don' gotta," Tadri rumbled, slumping back against the tree. "Can come to Glom.
Yer a good fighter and all... And the Crow guys'll love you. Dead people puppet
humor and stuff..."

Ollo snickered. "Pfft. No. No, no. You should come to..." The silver tae'dae
closed his eyes and concentrated hard. "Ser-ren-wilde." He paused a moment,
making sure he got it right, before moving on. "Can eat stuff besides bug
sandwiches. And maybe drink stuff that isn't this." He peered at his whiskey.
"This was a bad, bad idea."

"I'm almost done with mine..."

"Yeah. You win. Done with this," Ollo said, lying back against the tree.
"Tomorrow will be awful."

"Hah. Maybe, maybe..." Tadri said, setting down his bottle immediately. "But
just enjoy for now. Whee... all spinny."

"Death to the Serenwilde!" a high voice shrieked, as foresters started piling
out of the tree, spells and weapons flying about. Startled, the two tae'dae
hurriedly grabbed their weapons and started the arduous process of getting to
their feet.

"What? Argh! Bastard!" Tadri snarled, stumbling.

"Argh! Treasurous... treasur... treach... godsdamn VILLAIN!" Ollo managed,
flipping his axe around the right way and starting towards the other bear.

"Rawr! Have at you!"

"Have at... hey!"

The two tae'dae charged, fell, got up, and charged again, unnoticed in the
chaos.

----

"You utter bastard."

Ollo turned sharply, axe at the ready, but relaxed when he saw Tadri coming
down the Ackleberry Road at an easy pace.

"You killed my buzz," Tadri said with a grin.

Ollo snorted. "You got to wake up with a different head in the morning. You
were the lucky one."

"Cheh. Maybe." The black tae'dae started to laugh. "Oh gods. Do you remember
any of it? We both sucked. You fell over three times trying to cut off my head."

Ollo chuckled. "I got you the fourth time, though. After you'd hit yourself
twice. I don't know how you aim those things when you're sober."

"Carefully. Carefully..." Tadri said, shaking his head. "So. Any luck with that
prophecy, then?"

"No." Ollo tapped his axe thoughtfully on his armored shoulder. "I hear that
the High Priestess is the only thing stopping the Great Chieftain from going up
and beating Maeve for a straight answer."

"Heh. What'd I tell you?" Tadri said, leaning under a tree for shade. "You know
that if we ever figure out which Elder raised that bitch, there's gonna be a
line to smack him across the jaw." He traced a finger in a spiral motion.
"Aaaall the way down the damn mountain."

Ollo allowed himself a smirk, before shaking his head. "So what're you doing
here?"

"Eh. You know. I like to kill some time around the homeland..." the black
tae'dae said, stretching and looking out at the trees.

"You're a terrible liar."

"Yeah, I know." Tadri shrugged. "Apparently there's gonna be a revolt soon. Nil
if I know how they can tell. But in the meantime this isn't a bad spot to be."

"It's not," Ollo agreed, and for a moment, he went quiet as he enjoyed the calm
summer breeze on the road. "So are we going to fight again?"

"Soon enough, cub. Soon enough." Tadri fiddled with the chain on one flail as
he spoke.

"I'll beat you properly this time."

"Maybe you will."

Ollo tapped his axe on his shoulder a couple more times. "So you meant it when
you said I was a good fighter?"

Tadri looked embarrassed for a moment, but nodded. "Yeah, I meant that," he
rumbled, straightening up. "And I also meant it when I said you should come to
Glomdoring. There's a place for you there."

The silver tae'dae shook his head. "I couldn't do that. I have friends, more
like family in the Serenwilde. I couldn't turn my back on them to join our
ancestral enemies in a blighted forest. I would never forgive myself."

The black tae'dae shrugged. "Fair enough. Offer stands, if you ever want it.
Could use another son of Tae at my side."

Ollo grunted softly. "How about you? Why not come to the Serenwilde?"

"That wouldn't work either," Tadri said. "There're people in the Glomdoring I'm
obligated to," the black bear says, giving a wry grin. "But more importantly
there's no way in Nil I'm gonna pay off the fines you fools want to charge me."

"What, is the noble house of Wyrdbrood not rich enough to handle that?"

"Screw you, cub," Tadri gruffed. "It's a stupid name. Fine. I get it. I'll come
up with something else later." The tae'dae snorted. "You'd better not really be
Fullmoon, either."

"A name's a name," Ollo said, frowning. "It may just be one I've chosen, but
it's the person behind it that truly makes it great."

"It's a damn stupid name and you know it."

"It's a damn sight better than Wyrdbrood, and you know it," Ollo shot back.
Tadri flinched, and then snickered.

"I said I get it already. Cheeky bastard," the Glomdor said, and Ollo fancied
he heard a note of approval there. "But you know how it is," Tadri went on,
shaking his head. "Come fresh from the Portal, you don't know who your family
is. Might be a Mossleaf, might be a Honeywine. Might be a frigging viscanti who
took a wrong turn."

Ollo shrugged. "It's the price we pay for our power. It's a little disturbing,
I guess, not knowing who your family is. But they're out there," he said. "Maybe
not in the right shape, maybe not with the right name, but they're out there."
He paused, tapping his axe on his shoulder twice more, before going on.
"Sometimes not in the right place, either. I know someone from Celest who found
his father in Magnagora, of all places."

"Hah." Tadri's chuckle came out sounding forced. "Yeah... having family in an
enemy city. That'd suck. Wouldn't it?" he said lowly, glancing over Ollo a
moment, before taking an interest in his flails. "It'd be a bitch."

The two stood in awkward silence for a few moments, Tadri fiddling with his
chains, Ollo tapping his axe on his shoulder. It was Tadri who spoke again
first. "We'll see the Ackleberry back before we die, you know," he rumbled.
"Brother Bear and Sister Lake and a whole bunch of damn tae'dae. It's the
homeland."

"Yeah, that will be nice," Ollo said, looking off towards Estelbar. "There
aren't enough tae'dae around."

Tadri grunted at that. "I'll tell you what. You stick with your sissy forest,
and I'll stick with my creepy one... and when Ackleberry's back, we can figure
it out there."

Ollo blinked at that, and unsure of what else to say, just said, "Sure."
Feeling silly in the silence that followed, he grunted and added, "If we're
related at all." He thought about that for a moment, and smirked. "We wouldn't
have to change much, if we were brothers, you know. We already fight and try to
kill each other all the time."

Tadri gave Ollo a wry grin. "Yeah, but it wouldn't be a business thing, you
know?" he said, just before a roar went up from the nearby village, echoed much
deeper from down south. "And you've gotta love the timing on that... it just
made my point."

"Acknor and Estelbar... at least we don't have to walk too far." Ollo sighed,
unshouldering his axe. "You ready?"

"One of us won't have to walk too far, you mean." Tadri flashed a quick grin as
he swung his flail loose. "Ready when you are, brat. Have at you."

"Have at you."

----

The cave was dark and empty, but Ollo sat there staring. A bottle, long empty,
rested in his hands, while his axe laid on the floor. All was quiet. Though the
Serenwilde aethers had gone mad with grief and terror and rage and hope, he'd
shut himself off from them hours ago. Here in the lonely cave, with even the fog
of Kamikaze Death fading, he was alone with his thoughts.

There was really no reason for him to be upset. They had fought. That was the
extent of their relationship. Yes, they were both tae'dae, and warriors, and
maybe they had found some common ground once or twice. But they had been
enemies, and nothing more.

Perhaps... perhaps some mutual respect had been warranted, with their frequent
run-ins. But it had been wrong to look for a bond, to... fraternize.

Ollo snarled and swung his arm, numb to the thunderous clash of glass on stone
as the empty bottle exploded against the far wall. He sunk down afterwards,
closing his eyes and grimacing and letting out a mirthless chuckle through his
teeth. He took his axe back into his hands, the familiar feeling bringing some
small comfort.

There was no reason to be upset, even with the... possibility of family. In the
end, it had been a fine battle between warriors. Honorable. Even. Without hatred
or resentment. Tadri had even smiled at the end. Tadri had given a wry little
smirk up at him as he had swung the axe down for the final blow, and he had
smiled back, like it was a game. And really, it had been a game. Now, they were
tied.

But they'd both expected him to come back afterwards.

Ollo let out another hollow laugh at the irony, and then rose, whipping his axe
after the bottle he had thrown earlier. He screamed, in rage and indignation and
anguish, his roar filling the dark, barren cavern where the Portal of Fate had
once stood.