The young child nodded in response. As long as she heard and learned something, then it was alright with her. She walked over and nuzzled herself around the lorekeeper's paw. She then looked up at the storyteller eagerly. "Sure, I want to hear the story! Thank you!" With that she waited for the story to start. How exciting!

@Game Master Dark

Seeker's Final Gift

Lorekeeper watched the aardvark curl around her paw. After eyeing Erzu, she began to tell her story.

"Long ago... there were many of us... who hid. We stuck to the dark--so many of us--the weak, the small. Through dust and noise we crept from place to place. There was one of us... one of the small... one of the weak..."

Lorekeeper took a breath. "We called him... Seeker. He had... courage. He went out when many of us feared to. He had many legs, and most of them worked. He had many eyes along his back, so he could watch for danger. And he was black... it was hard to see him in the dark. He slunk and crept... like a spider," she added, smiling at the long-ago memory. "You do not know this, I think... but these places... the piles of bones... with the holes in them. They were our hiding-places. They were our sanctuaries. We piled the bones of the dead... and we hid in them... and hoped not to join them, ourselves."

"The strong... would come. Those who could kill, killed. Some of us... we would go out, looking for food. Moving from place to place... so they could not find us. And then others--sometimes brothers... better versions of ourselves... twins... would catch us." She paused, looking distant. "Those who could, killed... those who did not kill... hid, or died. And many of us died."

"Seeker crept out when all of us were too afraid. Seeker... would go from place to place... he would find food. He would bring it back. He was... fearless. There was a light in... his eyes. We knew... even when he died... he would not be defeated. He was... confident... he always laughed... no matter how bad. And to hear him laugh... it made us smile, too."

"One day, when things were very bad... When they were lurking... seeking us, when some had caught our scent... when all we had had to eat... for many days was strings of dead white plants... When some of us had fallen to... eating sand, in desperation..."

She took another breath and for a moment, it seemed that Lorekeeper might actually fall asleep. When her eyes again opened, she went on, eyeing Erzu wearily. "Seeker went out, for us. Some of the stronger ones... were waiting... but he evaded them, all the same. We heard them... searching, in the dark. But Seeker was a better... finder. He knew how to find things... and he knew how to not be found."

"But this time... they were angry that he had fled them... for so long." Lorekeeper paused again, curling her paws beneath her head, lowering it for a moment as if to rest. "They gathered, in the dark... they began to hunt him... together. They did not fight amongst each other, for once... He succeeded in that." She laughed, a little snort. "United the strong ones, the killers, for a little while. In the dark... where we hid... where we cowered... we could hear them. Chasing... snarling... shouting. And Seeker, laughing, here and then... there, never in one place for long..."

"...But then we heard him cry out."

Lorekeeper lifted her head, looking at Erzu. "Seeker had never been hurt... not in all that time. He was too quick... too clever. He hid with us... but he was strong, in his way. But now... they had found him."

"Seeker ran... we could hear him... jumping from bone piles... the scattering of the bones of those... who had failed, before him. His feet pattering on the rock... the lurching and scrambling... of those who gave chase. So many times... he had succeeded where we could not. So many times... he had brought us food, or found us water... or brought us to shelter... when we could not find it ourselves. But now, they would catch him."

"He ran... and he ran. And we understood: he was drawing them... away. Far away. He did not come back toward us... perhaps with forewarning, some of us... could have fought. But he left... and they went with him. The others... we had time. Time to find food... water. Time to snatch what we could, to eat... before they came back. He knew... he could not survive, not this time. He knew... his luck had gone. But Seeker, he had always sought... for us. For all of us. Where so many killed... took from others... he only ever gave. He is worthy... to be remembered."

"Those who could, crept back to our bone fortresses, in the dark. We hid ourselves, again, but we knew. We knew that he had died... we knew that he would not come back to us. And he did not. But his last act... Seeker's final gift... was to save us... one more time."

Lorekeeper paused, her head dropping toward her paws. "I am weary now, child. I will rest. But it was good... to have your company."

Her many eyes closed, and a soft snore at once escaped her.

Lorekeeper has now fallen asleep.

@Erzu