eswareinmal | Chapter 2 - Orb Post - 1st of Rebirth's Decline

There is an actual candy house.

[The Orb shows Giles, in the bright, sunlight, idyllic version of the Two Faced Forest quite unlike what several of you had to put up with last night. He's settled himself into a sitting position at the base of a tree.

He does not look at all pleased. In fact, he has his head in his hands, and looks quite tired, for a ghost]

There is an actual sodding candy house in this sodding forest. I, I didn't believe it when I heard it. Had to come and see for myself.

[You know it's bad when the normally quite soft spoken former Watcher is reduced to swearing.]

I confess, I waited around a bit just to check that no idiot children were about to come along and, and start snacking. Hung around long enough to see that there was actually a witch living there. At least, um, I assume she's a witch. Didn't stop to chat. [Yet. Give him time. Curiosity will almost certainly get the better of him.] Is that a story anywhere else? The, um, the candy house, and the idiot children who come along to eat it and they get out because the, the witch won't just tidy up the place a bit? Because it is back home.

But, um, that's...not important. Sorry. I know that I'm still frightfully new to this place, and a lot of this, um, really shouldn't be surprising. I'll adjust. I'm good at that, if nothing else.

And, and I know a lot of you are probably sick of hearing this, by now, but...about last night. I was wondering what the rest of you, um, might have seen, a-and what you think about it. Including the business with the thorns not showing up. Do they really block off this forest at night normally? I, I suppose that at least has the benefit of keeping us from, um, spending the nights beating off monsters. I suppose what I'm asking is, um, is if this place normally goes this mad at night, or were we just unfortunate?

Olindra and I came across a hideously large bird, for what it's worth. I'm inclined to call it a roc, but, um, I didn't exactly get a good look.

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Haven't you? Well, I suppose it is a bit...specific, in details if not in moral.

In, um, in this specific case, I'm referring to a children's story. Something, um, m=meant to educate children for later life.

I believe the moral in the case of "Hansel and Gretel" was about resisting temptation.

Hm, I don;t think we had a story called that where I was from, but I wouldn't be surprised if I had come across something similar.

Will you tell me more about what this story was about? I'm very interested to know.

Are you? [Well, that's a different and welcome change from the normal reaction Giles gets, bringing up old stories. He brightens up slightly.] Well, all right then.

I'll, um, I'll stick with the Grimm version, i-if it's all the same. Back home, ah, th-that one does seem to be most commonly referenced or drawn upon.

There were once two children, a girl called Gretel and, and her brother, Hansel. They lived deep in the woods with, um, with their father and his second wife.

The, the family didn't have very much. The father was, um, only a poor woodcutter. Finally, one night, his wife, um, drew him aside, after they'd sent the children to bed. She, um, she proposed...leading the children out into the woods, the following day, and leaving them to fend for themselves. That way, at least, she and her husband might not starve to death.

[Estelle sat there quietly listening, well, this story so far certainly was interesting, and not something she had come across before.]

Those poor children, being left in the woods all by themselves.

Unfortunately for her plan, Hansel wasn't quite as asleep as she'd hoped. He overheard everything, told his sister and, um, made plans so that they might find their way back the following day. He went outside their house and, and gathered up some white pebbles that were scattered about their house, as many as he could carry.

The, um, the following day, their parents did indeed lead them very deep into the forest, under the pretense of getting their assistance in collecting firewood. Hansel, however, dropped pebbles all along the path. When night fell, he and his sister followed them home easily enough.

...sadly, their, um, their mother really did want them out that badly. she, she resolved to try again the next day. And then, well, Hansel and Gretel weren't quite as fortunate.

[her eyes widen slightly,oh dear that mother certainly was trying to get rid of them. She wasn't a very nice mother then if this was the case. She leant in closer to the orb, in her mind the story was simply fascinating and something rather different. She knew she had to know more.]

So, what happened then? Were they checked for pebbles so they couldn't do it again?

Actually, um, the mother simply took care to lock them in their rooms that night, so they couldn't sneak away or make any sort of preparations for the following day.

Hansel was, um, forced to improvise, the next morning. They, um, still had enough for each child to be given a bit of bread for their food. As they were led into the forest, Hansel took care to scatter the crumbs from his along the ground.

...but, that night, when he made to lead Gretel home, he found that birds had devoured the crumbs all throughout the day. Just as their mother had intended, the children found themselves quite lost.

So while the bread seemed like a good idea at the time, turned out to be far from it. Those poor, poor children, all lost and no way to get home. Their mother wasn't a very nice woman.

[This time she thought that maybe she couldn't speak.]

Ah, sorry, carry on. I do find this little tail to be interesting.

[He smiles and waves off the apology.] I can tell, believe me. That's, um, more than enough for me. You wouldn't believe what I've, um, had to do to get people to pay attention in the past, after all.

Anyway...where was I...?

[She paused for a moment to think about it.]

You had just gotten to the part where the birds have eaten the trail back home. So, Hansel and Gretel are stuck in the forest all alone and with no food.

Ah, yes! [He snaps his fingers as his memory catches up.] In any case...

...w-well, yes, that, um, was a bit of a dire situation, wasn't it? But, um, the two had no choice but to, to try and find their way back despite this. And so they wandered all night, never losing sight of one another, but seeing no sign of the home they'd been cast out from.

Finally, it was too dark to see, and they were too tired to go any further. The two of them settled down for a sleep. The, the situation did look, um, rather hopeless...but their luck did change, the next day.

Or, um, s-so it seemed.

Chapter 2 - Orb Post - 1st of Rebirth's Decline

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