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[It's a brilliantly sunny day, everyone. It's raining, of course, but not lightly enough to turn to mist and block the light, and not heavily enough to drive everyone indoors.

The cause for the brilliance is sitting atop the highest structure he could find near the center of the city, shining like a star. Best not to look at him directly. You might even want to buy sunglasses, although there's probably no one who sells them.

He's not illuminating the whole city, of course, but he's trying.]

Greetings all, 'tis Balder the Brave. If others can bring snow, I thought I might try to bring the sun. Let me know if it is too much. And if you would, entertain me with your best stories. I ask not that they be true, merely interesting.

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Each time the rains came, she would follow the rainbows -- but she could never find their end before the sun disappeared and night came. She wasn't afraid of the dark, but each time it fell she would leave a token at the place where her journey stopped. Anything she had on hand. Clothing, tools, even jewelry. She was often scolded for losing her things. She would just smile mysteriously, and work harder to earn more.

The girl grew up, leaving her family behind as her journey stretched farther and farther. She searched for places with greater amounts of rainfall. She searched for places where the sun shone for longer. She even tried looking under waterfalls.

Then, one day, she decided to return home. There was no real reason for it: she was eating dinner, and suddenly thought she'd like to eat the stew from home again. The next day she set off, deciding that she'd walk until nightfall. There was only one problem: nightfall never came. The longer she walked the brighter the sky became, as though day were dawning again. Of course, she found this strange, but by now the scenery was beginning to look familiar, and she decided not to stop walking.

[Another pause for breath; he's telling the story slowly, leisurely, but it still takes effort.]

[Balder frowns a little at the apparent labor required to tell this tale. He can't claim it isn't interesting, though, it's really exactly the sort of telling he's used to and prefers.

He encourages the man to continue with a soft hum, not wanting to interrupt.]

[He's not one for talking a lot these days, particularly on the network; still, when it comes to storytelling, he likes to do it properly.]

She came to the fields outside her village, and it was so bright she realized it was dawn. It was such a little village, so far from everything else, that it hadn't changed very much.

So it was easy for her to realize that something was different. There were some very strange patches of bare dirt amid the crops. They were called crop circles in some places, but she'd never seen them for herself. Nobody had ever been able to explain them.

There was a funny figure in one of them. It took her a few moments to realize it was a person, because the light that came from him was so bright. He looked up and it dimmed, and she could finally see his face. It was a face unlike any she'd seen before -- but that wasn't the important part.

He was wearing her old hat. Her old jewelry. A lot of very small and old things that she recognized, because she'd left them all in the fields chasing the rainbow.

"Who are you, and why do you have my things?" she couldn't help but ask.

But he opened his mouth, and asked at the same time: "Who are you, and why did you follow me for so long?"

"I was told to follow the rainbow, and I'd find real happiness," she answered.

"I was sending rainbows for ages, but no one could understand them," he said.

He was the sun, looking for a bride. His bride was to have been the moon, but she was never awake to see his tokens, so the time for that marriage passed. The girl married the sun, and every eleven years, on the anniversary of their meeting, she would give him new jewelry.

Not many people can look at the sun, but if you could, you would see the sunspots that block its light in places. Perhaps she ended up giving him too much jewelry.

[A little laugh, as he finishes his tale. It's somewhat more pleasant than his last one.]

[Balder grins toothily.]

I like that story very much. Tales of hope and pursuit and love ... those are timeless. They speak to us. We, all of us, aspire to love as timeless and vibrant as the sun.

[annnd now he's back to text because he's suddenly a little embarrassed]

i'm glad you liked it
it's just a little story but if you got that much out of it
then i've done my job

You are quite the storyteller, you should be proud. 'Tis a special sort of skill to bring merriment with mere words.

it's just something in my spare time
but yes
words are special that way
thanks for being a good audience, balder

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/sneaks in the most fossilized tag in the universe |D;!

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still video on this end

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