Who Put This Castle Here? (Izzy and open)

[Ollovedre]

In the courtyard of the castle Camelot, tucked away in an inconspicuous corner, is an extremely conspicuous tree. An ancient yew, the massive tree reared up high above the castle walls, being hundreds of years old. Its branches swayed in the wind, and it’s leaves filtered the bright sunlight into a soft dappled green. It was a beautiful day. In fact, Ollovedre decided, it was a perfect day to rejoin the human race. By now it must oh, five, six years since Brochvael’s death? Surely the chaos must have settled down by now? But in truth, Ollo had enjoyed her time as a tree. It was a unique experience, as she had lost all her senses except for touch, which had been magnified a thousand fold. But, all good things must come to an end, and besides, Ollo was curious as to who the new king would be.

Abruptly, a dark cloud covered the sun, casting the courtyard into a deep gloom. This lasted only a few seconds, before the cloud passed and the sun smiled fiercely down once again. However, all was not the same. In the corner where the massive yew had stood only a few moments before, there was now nothing but a great hole. At the bottom of the hole, Ollovedre gave a start of surprise as she saw the wall of the twenty foot hole she was in. She hadn’t really been banking on this. Although, she reasoned, there would have to be space underground where the roots disappeared. Oh well. Time to see if there’s anyone around.

“Hello?" She yelled. "Is anybody there? I could use a hand here! Hello?” Strictly speaking, that was not true. There were several ways that Ollo could get herself out of the hole. She could cause the rocks to lift her up, or summon an eagle to carry her, or turn into a bird herself, or of course she could just levitate out. But where was the fun in that? It would be far more interesting to see how people reacted. If there were any people that is. For all Ollo knew, she could be alone in the world, stuck in a hole as she was.

[Elizabeth Severn]

After several hour of training, Elizabeth was finally heading back toward the soldier quarters. Over her shoulder was her long leather jacket, bundled into a loose roll. Her long hair was swept back from her face, probably from all the sweating and working she'd been doing, and was draped all the way down to her waist. As she moved across the courtyard, a movement in the corner of the yard caught her wherry eye.

There appeared top be a tree, and then there was no tree. This puzzled Elizabeth on a whole new level. She may have been rather tired at this point, but not tired enough to be hallucinating about a disappearing tree. So, her insatiable curiosity kicked in again and Elizabeth started toward the now empty space.

As she moved closer, it quickly became apparent that there was now a large hole in the ground, presumably where the tree should be. Stopping a few feet from the edge, Elizabeth peered down into the hole, spotting a woman down there in a white robe. Throughly confused now, she called down, "Ummm, what in the name of the Gods are you doing?"

[Ollovedre]

After shouting, Ollo looked down at her usually pristine white Druid's robe. Now, however, one would be hard pressed to say it was white, really. 600 years as the bark of a tree in the open air had not been good for. It was dirty, grimy, stained and smeared with the Gods alone knew what. She sighed disconsolately, and decided a new robe would be number one on her to-do list.

"Ummm, what in the name of the Gods are you doing?"

Ollo looked up, slightly started by the familiar-sounding voice. Peering up at the woman in the blinding sunlight, Ollo suddenly exclaimed loudly. "Elda! Ye Gods woman, I thought you were dead! That will teach me to listen to 'common knowlage.'"This last sentence was grumbled under her breath. Elda had killed King Brochvael, and had then been murdered by his supporters. Or at least, that was what what she had heard. It seemed Elda had escaped after all. She had changed her hair though...

Pulling herself out of her reviere, Ollo snapped her fingers and quickly floated herself out of the hole until her bare, dirty feet set down on the cobbles of the courtyard. "So tell me, how long since you killed Brochvael? Who's the new king? Or are you Queen? I just knew-Ollovedre broke off suddenly as she took in her surroundings for the first time. "Say, who put this castle here?" She said incredulously. She hadn't been a tree for that long, right?

[Elizabeth Severn]

Elizabeth couldn't believe this. What in the name of all the Gods was this crazy, dirty, mad woman talking about? A person like this was sure to be remembered, and Elizabeth was one hundered percent certain that she didn't know her. But this rambling fool seemed to thing otherwise. And why was she in a hole?

Eye wide with apparent confusion, Elizabeth's hand when to the hilt of her sword, entirely on it's own accord. Sometimes the mind perceives threats and one is powerless to resist. This was one of those times. The long sword was halfway out of it's scabbard, dark steel glinting with a quiet purpose. And then, as the girl just floated right out of the ground, Elizabeth drew the sword to it's full length, stepping back from the edge of the hole.

Obviously this woman was some kind of magic user. Not exactly the kind of person that Elizabeth wanted to fight, but hey, she was not at all comfortable right now. Leveling the sword at the girl chest, she kept a good five or so feet in between them, the sword's point deadly still.

"Who are you?" she said, her voice superbly calm and efficient.

[Ollovedre]

A castle! How in the Gods names could someone have built a castle here in 5 or 6 years?! Past the high walls of the courtyard, Ollovedre could see the spires, towers and turrets that made up the rest of the castle. When she had become a tree, this had been a large, empty clearing in the middle of a dense wood.

"Who are you?"

This was definitely not the answer Ollo had been expecting from Elda. Turning her attention back to her old friend, Ollo was more than a little startled to find a sword pointed at her chest. Although they had known each other for only a few years, Ollo and Elda had become very close. Ollovedre had completely approved when Elda had killed King Brochvael, and had even been present at the time. However, Ollo had been twenty miles north when she heard that Elda had been killed by Brochvael's men. But now, suddenly, Elda was acting as though she had never seen Ollo before. Ollo now proceeded to just about explode with incredulity.

"Don't be absurd Elda! It's me, Ollovedre. Your old friend, remember?After you killed king Brochvael, I'd heard you were dead, killed by his men. So, I didn't feel bad when I left and decided to become a tree for a while. Feeling she had sufficiently explained herself, Ollo went back to questioning.

"You can put that bloody sword down now, alright? Now, you haven't answered my questions. Who is ruler here and who bloody well built a castle on top of me?!"