Owl, Pine & Sage catch up

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Owl, Sage and Pine reclined into their furs, three old men as tough as a mountain goats knees, a smoky peat fire filling the hut with its sweet aromatic scent.  Each was lost in his own thoughts, until Pine, poking at the fire broke the silence.  “You know, now that Ocean’s passed over, we’re the oldest Elders.”  He stared into the fire, “I’m going to miss him.  He was a good fella and always was the wise one.”

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Owl rustled in his furs and said, after a lengthy pause “He was a man to be missed” and he nodded his head slowly, as if matters of great import were going on in there.

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Sage, being the oldest of the three by at least eight years thought that this may be worth pointing out.  In what he considered his wisest tone of voice he said in a rather regal voice “Well, in actuality, I am the oldest Elder, being as I’m older than you boys by a fair bit.  Why, when you were just starting to grow your first beards I was a married man with at least one child already.”

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“Yeah” Owl butted in.  “We know it.  You’re as old as mud.”  He flashed Sage a grin that melted under Sages scowl.

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Sage continued where he’d left off, pretending he had never been interrupted, as he always did when he had a story to tell. “But I see your point.  Ocean was our moral compass.”  He looked up at the other two with what he considered a grave, wise gaze.  “Now it will be up to me to take his place.” He sat with a straight back, a solemn look chiseled into his facial features and looked up into the great beyond (which in this case happened to be the smoky ceiling and chimney of the Elders hut rather than the more impressive stars outside.)

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Owl sighed, a long-suffering sigh, changing the subject. ”Do you guys think that Mus really took that foxglove?  We all know that it just seemed to be a little too convenient that Viola knew exactly where it was.  But then again, Mus did pull off that buttercup rash attack on her husband.”  He shook his head in frustration.  “Tryin’ to figure out what’s goin’ on in that womans head is about as easy as grabbin’ a handful of water outta the river.”

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Sage lowered his gaze to his more corporeal surroundings, stating what he thought should be evident to anyone with a brain between their ears. “A buttercup rash is nowhere near as serious as what could happen with that foxglove.  And that bit about her being jealous of Daisy ‘cause of Cranberry – well isn’t that a little far-fetched?”  Then he chuckled at a memory. “Mus may have been the hussy in her day, but you boys had one in your day too.  Do you remember, or have your brains all gone to mush?”

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“”Course we remember!” piped up Owl, with more than a little outrage at the insult to his fading memory.  “Hard to believe, but Viola was throwin’ herself at every boy around back in our day.  Even some of older guys.  There was Barnacle, Sandy; rest his soul, Bob and Raven in the Limpet Village.  And at the Gatherin’ there was no stoppin’ her.  Hard to believe lookin’ at her now, but she was a good lookin’ girl in her day.  She tried out Fir, and a few others that have passed on, but mostly” he paused, looked upwards like a martyr from a tale of heroes and sighed a deep, dramatic sigh, “mostly she was after me!” 

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“After you?” growled Pine, letting out a sound somewhere between a snort and a cackling laugh, looked incredulously at his friend.  “I don’t think so!  And even if it was you, for maybe a split second, her interest flew by pretty quick.  She was too busy tryin’ to get me into the bushes, grindin’ those hips like she was an otter in heat!” 

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Owl jumped in, while he had the chance” Don’t forget the Bog Clan.  There was Sphagnum and Surge; Clay hadn’t drowned yet.  At you’re right about the Gatherin’, she’d work the circuit.  Send her whole time in that tight little tunic rubbin’ against all the boys.  One track mind, she had.  Why when she came after me…”

“Like I said” Pine stated, matter of a factly “She never was after you; but I take your point.”

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Owl opened his mouth to defend his manly desirability, but Sage, who had been bursting to speak, hoping to use his Elder skills to defuse the other two fellows had already started in blustering “I was older than all you boys and safely married so I could look on it from a distance.  I hate to be the one to break it to you after all these years but it wasn’t either of you two she was after however irresistible you think you may have been!  It was Raven!  The way she flirted, you’d think she’d invented it.  She pushed herself at him shamelessly wiggling with the grace of a porcupine in heat.  He’d try to make himself scarce when he saw her coming, but she was quick as a snake slithering through a hollow log.”  Sage sat thoughtfully, serene in his certainty, nodding his head, “You know, fellas, she wasn’t much different than Mus was with her situation.  But Cranberry didn’t humiliate Mus.  Raven put Viola down so hard he had her cursing up a storm; threatening to get back at him. He just ignored her, so cool.  Didn’t seem to bother him a bit.  As far as he was concerned, she didn’t even exist!  But that was so long ago.”  He looked up at the others. “Surely she couldn’t still be holding a grudge….Could she?  I mean, they both have fierce tempers and you know what they say about a woman scorned.  But after all this time?”

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“So what you’re sayin’” said Owl, his eyes closed while he tried to make sense of it all, “You’re sayin’ she might go after Raven?  He’s probably forgotten all about it, if he ever did let it register.  Does she want revenge, or does she want Raven?  Phlox flew the coop so he’s a free man.”

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Pine, realizing you had to be quick to get a word in on this conversation jumped in “Well of course Raven wouldn’t want her.  Are ya that old that you’ve lost your wits?  Look at her. She’s pathetic!   Surely even she can see she’ll never get Raven.  So that leaves revenge.  And what do they say?  ‘Revenge is a dish best served cold’.  Maybe Raven needs to worry what’s in his mead.”

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They all settled back, grunting, hmmming, and hawing.  Sage said, in a wise Elder like tone. “You know, we elder Elders need to bring these thoughts to the attention of the other Elders, they mostly not being quite as wise as we are.”  And he sat back and took a long satisfying, and he felt well deserved sip of his mead.