It's hollering for my attention, it is.
But ... I need sleep.
Maybe I'll just do a quick outline.
Mm-hmmm ...
It's just a short story! Does it need an outline?
Kind of.
Okay, not really.
I just want to be able to hop out of bed and write it, not have to think about it as I go along.
Since when did you start thinking as you write?
Shhhh ...
*laughing*
What the heck. Here are the basics.
All of the Younglings of Dunnottar are now there; Merri and Dothann have just arrived from their lifetime of traveling on the Continent. Rua and Corrbed have been around for about a year and Diann has been there for two years, with Brann having been born there (he's now six, Rua's five, Dothann's seven, Corrbed's eight, Diann's nine, and Merri is eleven - just so you know).
The Kin Cousin books tell a little of the back stories of the younglings. They've come for training and for safety. Rua is now an orphan, Diann and Corrbed's homes are battlegrounds, and Merri and Dothann have been on the Continent and witnessed more than anyone realizes of the conditions there as the fifth century CE (the 400s) sees the fall of the Roman Empire - and the seeds being planted for the rise of the Holy Roman Empire.
That's the background these kids live with.
At the time of this little piece, their individual and collective arrivals on Dunnottar are fresh in their minds, and their emotions are mixed. Of course the story isn't going to go into much, if any, of this stuff - but I want it as fresh in my mind as it is in theirs as I write their adventure.
This time their 'play pretend' has a bit of a dark edge to it. They're all glad to be safe (and together) on Dunnottar, but they're also angry and frightened.
They're angry at the circumstances of their world, and frightened by them. They've seen, they know, how horrific it is out there. Being safe on Dunnottar when their families are either dead or in danger is a mixed blessing. It's very hard for them to remain where they're supposed to be, doing what they're supposed to be doing, when they would rather be venting their anger on the bad guys (in this case 'Rome', the eternal enemy of the Celts from whose culture this family rises).
They know that right now they are not yet ready to go out there and take on the battle, and they are also conflicted because theirs is a kind of specialized culture within the larger one of the Celtic Peoples - they are the People of Peace. The anger they carry is not natural to them; it hurts them in ways that we probably can't really understand, and nor do they understand it. They aren't going to go to the big folk with their worries - the adults have enough worries of their own.
So it is to their 'play pretend' clearing that they turn, and to one another, to try to work out how to cope with their feelings.
They've got terrific educations (relatively speaking) and part of that is taking the pieces of what they're learning and putting them together to form a complete puzzle that maybe ends up looking different from the 'original' one - but which will meet the needs that our own Younglings have at any given time.
This time it's anger, and pain, and loss, and fear that fuels them.
They're going to take the battle to Rome and they're going to do it their way.
As they choose their individual roles for the 'play pretend' time in the clearing, they're looking for powerful individuals, from whenever and wherever they find them in their studies.
Merri starts her Boudicca kick, which she is going to stay in for quite some time.
Diann chooses a goddess and it doesn't really matter which one - they've got all the times in their world to choose from and Diann knows that the deities fought and won some mighty battles back in their day.
Corrbed our scholar looks to actual history and picks Alexander the Great.
Dothann wants Loki of the Northern Tales, mainly because nobody can ever tell for sure about what Loki is likely to do at any given time.
Brann can't decide but is finally convinced to take on the role of Bran the Blessed, not the last time in his life that he gets put into that role.
And Rua, who is perhaps the most upset of them all right at this time, goes with Scathach, perhaps the most deadly woman to ever grace the face of the earth - she trains the best of the Warriors, which ought to tell us something.
Our Cast of Characters goes straight to the heart of the issue (from their perspective) and decides to head for Rome to try to talk some sense into the connivers who are plotting to take over the world of the Younglings of Dunnottar. If the connivers won't listen, they'll tie them in caves with poison dripping on them forever without killing them, with nobody to catch any of the venom in a cup, either. The Younglings are pretty angry right about now, not feeling much mercy.
Naturally, as these are mainly Warriors they've chosen, they have to fight their way across the Continent. They find foes aplenty and they find friends and allies as well, some in unexpected places.
Just as naturally, some of them fall in battle and the rest have to go on without them.
Finally there are only Scathach, Loki, and the goddess left as the mortals die along the way. They worry a little about Scathach because nobody really knows whether or not she's immortal - but she isn't worried. She just wants to fight the bad guys, come what may ... and so she does.
Ironically, when they finally make it to Rome and find the connivers, nobody can see them or hear them. They have the head of Bran with them, of course, but nobody in the Rome of 487 CE is likely to pay attention to a head that has no body to go with it.
The dragons show up and get a little attention but are gone with their riders before anyone has gotten over the shock of seeing them so the attention is short-lived and soon forgotten.
They go get Bran's Cauldron, collect Boudicca, Alexander, and the body of Bran, get everyone back to 'normal' - and are in short order back in their own 'play pretend' clearing.
They're disappointed that they haven't been able to change anything in their world, but the 'battles' have vented much of their rage, which helps at least a little.
Their conclusions?
They decide that what they've gotten out of their adventure is that all they can do is the best they can do in the time and the place that is given them, with whatever they have to work with - and to know that always there have been, are, and will be others who are also doing the same in their own times, their own places.
Then they set up their targets while a flock of doves flies into the clearing to sit on the branches of the surrounding trees.
Hmmm ...
That's pretty dark all the way through. Loki and Scathach are going to have to provide some comic relief as we go along.
Good Lord.
I'm liable to have nightmares.
If I can't sleep, I'll get up and write the darned story and get it out of my system.
*sigh*
Welcome to my life.
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