The music played on and Xenedra stepped up in front of all the pilgrims, with little introduction, her bold movements expressing her story with much ferver.
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 My tale both ends and begins here in a manner of speaking.
 Not far southwest of here, long ago, lived a pair of brothers. They were farmers, aldgoat herds specifically, and the only thing they loved more than their flock was each other.
 Thanalan has never been lacking in *some* greenery, but we must admit, it can be sparse. Especially when it comes to a herd of hungry aldgoats.
Xenedra Ambreaus grins broadly.
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 So, each day when the brothers rose, they readied themselves for a journey out of the valley in which Halatali used to lie in to either the market to the northwest or to the highlands along the border of the Black Shroud.
 The trip was much more perilous then, drakes and ogres wandered the area along the Burning Wall freely, but the brothers were not without their own defenses. Magic and herder's crooks were their defenses and they used them masterfully, never losing one Nanny or Billy in all their years.
 However, while drakes and ogres aren't known for their strategy, people are, and on one of their routine trips to the Shroud the brother came across an obstacle they'd never met before...
 Miqo'te, dark and dappled as the wood itself, slunk from the trees and rose up amoungst the aldgoats as if from no where.
Xenedra Ambreaus slinks a circle at the foot of the "stage."
 They STRUCK the beasts-!
Xenedra Ambreaus stabs her empty fist in three quick motions in the air in front of her.
 -felling three before the brothers were even aware of their presense, and another still, before the pair were able to fight back.
 The battle was brief, resulting in seven dead from the flock and the rest scattered. The Miqo'te slithered back into the woods, their pray dragged along behind them, leaving only the defeated brothers.
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 Adding insult to injury, a harsh wind picked up and pelted them with sand.
Xenedra Ambreaus lifts her arms to block the would-be sandstorm.
 They dragged themselves to their feet and hobbled Northward in search of shelter. It didn't take them long before they found a narrow path in the cliff face and they followed it to a cave, dim and chilling, but none-the-less sheltering.
Xenedra Ambreaus looks around a bit obviously.
Xenedra Ambreaus flops to the ground without grace.
 As a unit, they sunk to the floor, exhausted, but one sunk further, more stiffly, more drained. His sibling, urged on by panic, flew to his knees at the fallen's side and at last saw the damage the raiding clan had done.
 His brother was slit shoulder to hip, an ugly red gash still steadily seeping the first's life blood...
 For the next several minutes, one brother tried desperately to save the other with his limited medical knowledge, only to watch him fade and die.
 Numbness overtook him and he simply sat and stared at the person that had meant the most to him in all the world.
Xenedra Ambreaus gazes off blankly into the distance.
 Time passed, an eternity to the one left behind. Footsteps echoed softly and stopped in front of the brothers' forms, waiting patiently.
 Then  NOT so patiently.
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Xenedra Ambreaus gets to her feet, dusts herself off and snaps brusquely to the spot on the floor where she'd been. "Mortal, I haven't the time for you to wallow in your sorrows. Say your goodbyes so that I may go."
 Confused, the remaining brother lifted his head to take in what his soul told him must be the visage of Nymeia.
 In those days, not only was Nymeia the purveyor of all things celestial and determiner of fate, she also had to handle all the matters of the underworld. Needless to say, she was a very busy woman with very little patience.
Xenedra Ambreaus holds up a hand, pinching a tiny bit of patience between her thumb and forefinger.
 Stunned, the brother could say nothing to the Goddess and her patience grew even thinner.
 "I do not have time for this."
Xenedra Ambreaus informs the crowd curtly and turns on her heel. "I will return in a day's time. Prepare your brother and say your goodbyes or you will doom his soul to remain here." She marches off a few steps, then turns back.
 And with that, she was gone.
 The remaining brother did as the Goddess bid him, all the while turning her words over in his head. When she returned the next day and approached his brother, he barred her path. Her expression grew dark.
Xenedra Ambreaus clasps her hands together, begging.
 "Please, My Lady Fate, hear me out before you go. I know your time is precious, but I will be brief. It is clear to me that you barely have enough time to see to all the duties that the Heavens have placed upon your shoulders. Yesterday I lost everything precious to me in life. Let me offer my service to you. Let me take the burden of collecting and guiding soul to the underworld."
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 The proposition gave the Goddess pause. Her eye grew wide with recognition.
Xenedra Ambreaus widens her eyes in a similar expression, though she is grinning.
 "What makes you think you're capable, mortal..?" she asked, curiousity and a little something more apparent in her voice... Hope? Excitement?
 "I have been a goatherd all my life, my Lady. I have the skills to tend a flock."
 She Who Knows Fate watched the goatherd for a while, saw him for what he was and nodded. "It would seem that you were made for this task, Brother. But the Heavens know you cannot follow this path alone-"
 "My Lady-!"
 She arched a brow at him and he was silenced.
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 "Another must aid you in your task for all the days to come and beyond. Who would you name?"
 The brother looked solemnly at the still form at his feet. "I would name my brother."
 Nymeia smiled a knowing smile and nodded. "So it shall be."
 And the fallen brother was made to rise again.
Xenedra Ambreaus lifts one hand from the floor toward the ceiling, following it with her eyes.
 The Goddess continued as the brothers held one another and wept at their unlikely reunion. "You must be an example to the people of this land, our flock, in all matters of commerce and guide them when the time comes to their final rests. As one you will be a balance in this world. I welcome you, Nald, Thal."
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 And so their story begins.
Xenedra Ambreaus drops a curtsy.
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