Utterly Preposterous

Disclaimer: Isobelle Carmody owns all of Obernewtyn and its characters.

Many Thanks: to Katiefoolery for her excellent beta-ing.

Much time had passed since the coercers first put forward their proposal for competitions of skill to take place at Obernewtyn's occasional moonfairs. A grand expedition had been sent to the lowlands, a powerful new talent had joined the Empaths, a potential alliance had been initiated with the rebels of the south and Guildmistress Elspeth Gordie had come back from the dead to save Obernewtyn and its occupants from certain peril. Yet only now had the games been given the go ahead.

The healers were still greatly opposed to them, but at this latest Guildmerge, Rushton had finally overruled them. He claimed that the plans were satisfactory and worthy of a trial. Besides, on this particular occasion, Roland was too distracted to form much of a protest. He had another debate in mind. As Guildmerge came to a close and the leaders dispersed, he made his move.

"One more thing Elspeth," he called.

The Guildmistress of the Farseekers turned and raised an eyebrow at him in question. "Yes?"

"I was hoping you might be able to fill us in on the details of the end of your expedition."

"No." She turned to go, but Roland called out again.

"Elspeth!"

Everyone stopped and turned to their attention to the scene unfolding before them. All of Obernewtyn was openly curious about the mystery concerning Elspeth's miraculous healing. She'd given no explanation at all and somehow got away with it. If Roland was going to force the story from her, everyone wanted to hear it. Everyone save their master, who seemed resigned to the fact that they would get no more information on the topic. He sat back in his chair and sighed.

"Roland, could you please just drop it?" he asked, exasperated.

"No! She cannot honestly expect to tell us nothing and have it accepted just like that!"

"Clearly she does," Rushton objected.

"And you're happy to leave it at that?"

"What would you have me do? Have Gevan coerce the answers from her? I doubt that there would be any other way, and I'm not entirely certain that Gevan would survive the experience..."

As this was being said, Elspeth snuck towards the door, hoping to escape before she was noticed. No such luck. Roland looked up and shouted her name again. She groaned softly, but then seemed to come to a decision, setting her mouth into a hard line.

She turned on her heel and stalked back to Roland, looming over his seated form like a hunter cornering its prey. Anger and irritation seemed to seep from her pores and the Empaths began to look uncomfortable. She held herself high and proud and, had anyone else been on the receiving end of this outburst, they surely would have backed down. But not Roland. He was stubborn, and her behavior merely fuelled his own irritation.

"Are you sure you want to know, Roland?" she asked sweetly "Trust me, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

He opened his mouth to object, but paused. She had him now. If he argued, she could tell any elaborate lie and he would be bound to believe her. If he remained silent, she would tell him nothing.

His eyes narrowed, "Try me"

"Very well," she began, before pausing to think of what she would say. She had initially planned to give him an outright lie, but then she remembered something Louis had always told her:

The best lies are the ones that are mostly true.

She resumed her seat and indicated for the others to do likewise with a wave of a hand. They did so curiously; he seemed to be taking this seriously, something they had not expected.

"You all know the story up until Daffyd left with Dragon. I was sheltering in a cave after the firestorm and was unable to walk any further. For a fair amount of time – I'm not sure how long – I was completely alone. There was a lot of pain, but the suppressing barrier I had erected allowed me to sleep through most of it. When I awoke, I was shocked to find that I had company. Beyond the entrance of the cave were three gigantic red birds. Guanette birds.

"Ordinarily it is impossible to communicate with birds, but I thought I could hear mind voices, so I figured I would try to reach them. I was stunned when I realised the strength of their minds. They make what I do seem like party tricks. They were surprised to find a funaga capable of mindspeech and we talked for a while. It turned out that they had come from over the high mountains and were familiar with Maruman from his wanderings. They decided to care for me as a favour to him and used a net held between them to carry me over the high mountains to their home."

Halfway through her tale, Elspeth paused for breath. Looking around, she smiled inwardly. Her friends were stunned to silence. The plan was working.

"The three birds I had met were but a fraction of a much larger family and several of the others were highly skilled as healers. They took care of me and taught my body how to heal itself, I slept through the winter as they did this. After my legs had healed, I was given an audience with the elder of the birds who was also their leader. I thanked her greatly, but also expressed my desire to return home. She said that I would be carried back over the mountains, but that they could only take me part of the way. Another would be waiting for me to take me the rest of the way home.

"Nothing of my other adventures could have prepared me for seeing Gahltha once more. Apparently the Guanette birds had cured him of his aversion to funaga, for none of his aggression remained and spoke to me with a reverence which suggested he had taken on Maruman's ridiculous notions. I wasn't sure whether to be pleased for his friendship or annoyed that yet another animal was under the ridiculous impression that I was Innle. At any rate, he carried me through the snow and returned me to Obernewtyn, and the rest you know. Happy?"

The Guildmistress had remained straight faced the tale and her listeners stared back in shock. All except Roland. Nothing could shut him up for long and he was quite clearly not happy.

"You can't truly expect us to believe that!? When are you going to admit what actually happened?!" he spluttered.

"Roland! I'm disappointed! You said you'd believe me!" Elspeth used the most innocent, wounded tone she could muster, knowing that no one would believe it.

"But...."

She sighed dramatically. "I warned you. " And with that she left, leaving Roland looking more outraged than ever.

Alad placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Now, now, you brought that on yourself, you know. You're as aware as I am that Elspeth point blank refuses to divulge more than she's willing to. She's as bad as Maruman"

"How does she do that?" mused Miky.

"Do what?" Everything the Guildmistress did was generally so shocking that specifics were required.

"Come up with a completely flawless tale out of thin air without pause. I mean, aside from the fact that it was completely impossible, it was perfect. Explained everything."

"Maybe she planned it," suggested Rushton, "had a story ready, just in case. It was plain that Roland was never going to let the subject go. "

"Maybe."

*****************

Elspeth remained composed throughout the halls, but once the door to her turret room was shut, she collapsed on the bed. That was close.

Rolling onto her side, she wondered if she'd done the right thing. Her plan to make Roland drop the subject had made sense at the time, but now she was not so sure. The story was so outrageous it was bound to spread. If just one of the beasts confirmed it...

She forced herself to stop worrying. What would happen? She had included nothing of her quest in the tale. Obernewtyn would simply be made aware that there were talents far more powerful than its human occupants. How could that be bad? Besides, what beast would cause potential trouble for Innle?

Content that her story had at least not made things worse, she stretched out once more.

A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this. If you have the time, please review.

Also, I'd like to take this moment to shamelessly promote the fact that I have recently uploaded the very first ever additions to the subcategory of Isobelle Carmody's Legendsong Saga. If you have read Darkfall, then I humbly ask you to;

a) Read my fanfics

b) Review them.

But most importantly!

c) Write you're own! Seriously, they're feeling lonely all there by themselves. They wants some friends.

If you haven't read Darkfall, its a great book and I highly recommend it.

When night falls and the darksong calls, will you hear? Will you tread the moon paths? Will you sing the lost soul home?