[littlemanpoet]

Moon-of-Earth-Girl. Lhunardawen had not always been sad. Hers had been a happy childhood. Whereas she took after her mother in appearance, she took after her father in outlook. It was as she began to grow older that the swinging battledores were less often hidden. Lhuna would run from the house rather than witness her father thwacked for yet another practical joke or prank greeted with wrath.

When she found Eonwe, she felt that she had her means to happiness. That was before three miscarriages, two still births, and a sole surviving toddler drowned in a freak riptide. Lhuna had been on the beach when it happened, near the Watcher rock when it happened. When she could not see her baby anywhere, she panicked and sought help from nearby villagers. It was many hours later that they found the little body washed up on the shore. Stone faced and numb, she had carried the inert form past the Watchers, and looked up at them: tears streamed down their faces. She melted in grief.

When the curse came, and her grandfather was the first to be killed, Lhuna hid herself away. She listened a little to the discussions, but lynching did not seem a thing to be done. Cold hearted and cruel, it seemed to her, and she could hardly bring herself to vote that first day. On the second day she wandered in the fields and did not attend any of the discussions. She came back into Sealville just as the sun was setting; to her horror, her father was being lynched. "No!" she cried, but no one heard her. To her greater horror, she watched her very own mother step forward to kick the stool away that would kill the man she had married. Greatest horror of all, her father changed into something ghastly before her eyes. Something in her snapped. She wandered back into the fields and hills, and slept under the unseeing stars. None came for her; they had more pressing matters, those who prowled the night streets.

On the third day, she stayed away yet again, but not amongst the hills. She needed to be closer to the Watchers, for it seemed to her that they would offer some protection, or at least give the fleeting impression that such protection might just be possible.
~ * ~
Celuien was so named by her father Mormegil because she was a fountain of joy to him. This was less so when she chose Saucy for her husband, but joyful she remained. A bright spirit she was in the village, and chose to be a healer ..... and cupper, learning the arts from a gammer who died not long after and does not come into this tale. So both the herbs and spices she plied, and the leech and cup as well, both in good measure.

When the curse came to the village, it was hard on Celuien to lose her husband one night, then one of her daughters the following night. Harder yet came the realization that her late daughter was no doubt the cause of her husband's demise. It left her shaken and a bit loose with her tongue.

"You probably think I'm the evil wizard. Well, I'm not."

Those who heard, wondered why she brought the suspicion upon herself, thinking that it was perhaps a ploy to come out early and thus throw off her suspecters late.

"Think what you will of Celuien," said Mormegil, "but my attention is elsewhere. Eomer is a brazen character and wouldn't shirk at the thought of killing off his wolves, looking at the vote for Nogrod indicates he did just that."

"Yes," said Firefot, "Eomer seems alarmingly obsessed with the Evil wizard."

"Eomer makes me nervous," said Feanor.

"I'm just a bit uneasy about Mormegil," Caranlondien said.

"The wolves probably know who each other are," said Diamond. "And what if Eomer's the good wizard?"

"I'm not saying Eomer is innocent, but I am quite surprised by this sudden tidal wave of support for his death," Gurthang asserted.

"Ack!" Diamond cried. "This is downright suicide inducing!"

Just then, Lalaith ran up as if she was looking for something. "I'm sorry, I'm going mad," she sobbed. "Where did Elempi put that post, I can't find it."

"What post?" asked Alcarillo. "There are many holding up the buildings and such. Besides, Elempi wasn't doing much besides writing bad poetry."

Eomer spoke up at last. "I'm not the Evil Wizard. I'm not the Good Wizard. I'm not anything but a tired young man who wants to settle down in a peaceful village. This dream does not look as if it will come true. Oh, and Spawn is devastating."

"I'm devastating?" Spawn asked, unbelievingly.

"Spawn is doomed," murmured Gurthang.

"You're always so cheery, my dear boy," Spawn retorted.

"Nilp seems surprising insightful," Mormegil offered.

"On the contrary," Kath objected, "Nilp has been behaving most oddly."

"I must be the worst mother ever," Diamond moaned. Nobody disagreed with her.

And on and on the discussions went until Nilpaurion cast the second vote (Zali had cast the first), but that had been so early that the folk wanted more time to discuss.

Zali was the nominee of choice early. Eomer, Alcarillo, and Roa also garnered a couple of votes. Then Valier started spouting theories, which, rather than gathering momentum, got her nominated for lynching. But the greatest number of votes went to Celuien. Out of twenty votes cast, she received five. It was enough.

"Come, Celuien, my d- No! No!" cried Mormegil. "I can't truss up my own daughter! Even if she did marry a brew gobbing scoundrel!"

"I know!" said a voice that sounded to some like Diamond, to others like Kath, and yet others like Firefoot. "Let's use her cups and leeches to lynch her!"

"No!" Celuien screamed. "That is most untidy!"

But it was to no avail. They tied her to a chair and set the leeches and cups to her arms and legs. She did not stop talking the whole time, but her words became more slurred and weak as the time passed. At last her pallid head dropped for the last time. The villagers waited for a hoped for transformation, or for her to magically wake up and fill back up with her own blood, assuming that the evil wizard had the power to do this. It did not happen.

As the sun was setting they carried Celuien's body to the new graveyard and dug another grave. Mormegil had insisted upon it. "We'll not make the Watchers bury our dead, especially not the innocent ones."

As they dug the grave, Eomer, taking a break, looked down to the shoreline. "Look!" he said. "There's something down there! I wonder if it's a werewolf or something?"

Half of the villagers left off digging and went down to the shore to see what had washed up.

It was Lhunardawn, soaked and without breath. This was no act of village will, nor of the evil wizard. This was a life taken in grief. The shadows lengthened as evening fell. But the shadows seemed darker this day. Those who looked up at the Watchers saw streams of tears. They silently laid Lhunardawen, the phantom, and Naria, side by side next to Celuien, in four new graves. It was late when they returned to the village and to their homes. Not far from anyone's mind was the likely horror of the night. Who would die next?

~ The Tally ~

One evil wizard
One good wizard
Two werewolves
One seer

~ The Dead ~

Elempi, father of Diamond of the Battledore, killed on Night One
Loki the leech collector, lynched on Day One: innocent
The Saucepan Man the barkeep, killed on Night Two: innocent
Nogrod the retired jester, lynched on Day Two: werewolf
the phantom the loud, unpredictable, adventurer
Naria the servant who empties and cleans chamber pots
Celuien the Healer and Cupper
Lhunardawen the jeweler

~ The Living ~

Diamond of the Battledore
Caranlondien the Sled-Team Driver
Roa Aoife the weaver
Dancing Spawn of Ungoliant the Baker
Kath the minstrel
Lommy the little girl who steals other children's candy
Glirdan with the giant crush on Kath
Valier the gardener
Sleepy Ranger the former wanderer
Kitanna the beloved of Eomer
Firefoot the artist
Alcarillo the old retired sea captain
Cailín the match maker
Oddwen the filthy, insane street urchin who steals chickens
mormegil the retired mariner and current mayor
Feanor the shepherdess with a love of alliteration
Zali the seamstress and beloved of the phantom
Jenny Hallu the unmarried maiden & aunt
Lalaith the frivolous aunt and guardian of Oddwen
Eonwe the freeloading husband of Lhunardawen
Eomer the adventurer & lover of Kitanna
Nilpaurion the ne'er do well hubby of Dancing Spawn
Gurthang the stable-hand