Cliomenica, the goose bearer

”Clio? She is just a wimpy, whiny, spoiled brat!Why should we take her with us?” Therese wasthe one who always said fair and square what shethought, and what she thought was seldom nice.”Sorry, fellows... I have to drag my cousin along.Father asked me to play with her”, would answer Ma-rigold, shrugging. Often the girls of Hommlet wouldstroll together to play games, spy on boys, or visit theshaman’s tent at the edge of the village, but Clio wasoften unwelcome in these moments. ”Please, don’tleave me alone.” she would cry ”I promise, I willbehave, please”. Milva would point a blaming fin-ger to her, while saying ”Oh grow up! If you wantto stick around try at least not to be a nuisance...Weakling!”.

Cliomenica was a weak creature indeed. And herstory was one full of tears, spilled easily and for allthe right reasons, full of people who left, not to comeback ever again.

The fist to leave was her mother, Esther. She hadan accident one day, when Clio was only seven yearsold, at the barley farm where Clio’s family used tolive. Esther lost control of the plow at that time, andshe was wounded by a deep cut in her right leg. De-spite the wound did not look too bad initially, a terri-ble infection spread over her body, and Esther’s heal-th worsened within the week. Alas, the wise shamanand healer of the village, Thrall, was on a journeyto tend to sick people in other villages in those days,and nowhere to be found. The desperate attemptsfrom Clio and her Father, Julio, to track down Th-rall in the winter snows only caused Clio to be struckby a violent and delirious fever. By the time she gotconscious again, her mother was gone.

Clio was struck by despair, but nothing comparedto Julio, who was utterly broken by the loss of his

Figura 1: Braenn and Clio, the devout femaleworshippers in the Fellowship of the Goose.

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wife and only love of his life. Depressed, he fell intocomplete apathy and callousness. He started drinkingheavily, staying away from home all night long. Thefew moments he was around, he could show no signof affection or care towards his daughter. He hadleft her, just like her mother had before. Cliomenicafound herself crying rivers of tears in her never endingloneliness, wishing only for that gesture of love thather father would never share with her. She managedsomehow to survive taking care alone of her house, ahouse now empty of everything but of the sobbing ofa young girl.

A new house

When her uncle Josefold, worried for her survival,had pity and decided to take the child under his care,he was afraid Julio would not willingly part himselffrom the daughter. He was wrong: ”Take her.” re-plied Julio ”I can’t stand to see Clio anymore. Herface reminds me so much of my beloved Esther, I amabout to cry every time I look at her. I can’t evenwatch my daughter in her eyes... take her away fromme, Josef!”. And so the brother did.

Josefold was a just, but rough man, and, a cooperof profession, he was far from being rich. Clio triedto fit in her new foster family, willing to help at thebest of her few skills. But she could not shrug offthe feeling that they despised her, for she was halfa stranger eating their own food at their own table.Especially her relationship with her cousins was dif-ficult: the kid twins Terrymold and Barbiesold werealways playing pranks on Clio, and the second borngirl Marigold envied her, for what reason Clio neverunderstood. In that family Cliomenica grew to herteenage years, of a delicate health, and physically andemotively weak, which did not win her many friendsin Hommlet.

The man with the goose

But one day......a mysterious new guest started inhabiting Jose-

fold’s house. A man, coming from a distant town,carrying a goose. The day he appeared he was in ter-rible shape, and uncle Josef decided to offer him aid.

As the man, whose name was Guildestern, recoveredfrom his past mishaps, they learnt he was a cheerful,amicable person, willing and more than capable tohelp Josefold at the workshop. He soon became a se-cond regular guest in Josefold’s house, together withRosencrantz, his goose (actually a gander), who fol-lowed him practically everywhere. Guildestern couldrelate very easily with every member of the family,including Clio.

Oh, and he had stories! Beautiful stories of adven-tures, and prowess, and magic; and such a good tellerGuildestern was! Stories of might and bravery, whichenchanted Clio and gave her comfort in the roughmoments. ”My dear girl, I reckon you love stories ofheroes and deeds, do you not? Would you maybe li-ke to be a hero yourself?” bragged once Guildestern,slyly grinning at her. ”I... I would love it”, Clioanswered trembling,”but I am weak and feeble andclumsy. How could I ever be a hero?”. Guildestern

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laughed soundly: ”Ha ha! Clio, it is not strength norwits which make a hero. It is what lies in your heart,it is a matter of passion, drive, courage!”. ”Courageyou say?” Clio shook her head, ”but I lack courageas well. I am just a wimpy, whiny, scared girl whoknows only how to cry.” Her eyes filled with tearsonce again. ”Child, you are very mistaken,” Guilde-stern rubbed her head while smiling,”your only fearis to be alone, is it not? I watched you. You havemore compassion, and care, and mercy than anybo-dy else I have ever known. That alone is worth athousandfold what other people are capable of. Youjust need to have faith in yourself.” Cliomenica wasastonished, half lost and half flattered by that speech:”I... I... faith?!”. Once again Guildestern smiled: ”Iknow exactly what you need.”, he claimed after thin-king for a brief moment, ”You know Rosencrantz, myGoose, yes? Let me tell you a secret: It’s a magicalgoose.”, he whispered to Clio’s ear,”From now on,carry always Rosencrantz with you. He will give youthe courage you need, the bravery to overcome yourfears. It is his magical power, you will see how wellit works!”

The girl, of course, did not believe on the spot thatthe goose could have magical properties: she was nota little kid anymore. Nevertheless, she did what Guil-destern asked of her, and so she started to team withRosencrantz more often than not. To her wonder,the magic trick must have kicked in somehow, be-cause she started feeling more confident, serene, andsocially adept than she ever felt before. She startedhanging out with the young people of Hommlet whichwas treated as ’different’, as ’weird’. Alric was consi-dered dumb by everyone, and they made fun of Ma-cario because he was fat, but Clio really appreciatedthe company of both. She had great time togetherwith Drugo, son of the one and only halfling family intown, and with Braenn, which many considered madas a goat since she could speak with dead people.Gildorel was probably the only left-handed elf in theworld, and Magellan had unpopular sexual tenden-cies, but Clio cared for none of those matters, whilethey soon became good friends with her as well. Clioeven liked the company of ’Firecracker’ Nils, a rec-kless juggler who loved fireworks, and was regardedby everybody as ’totally nuts’.

At last, Cliomenica was no longer alone. All inall, her life was actually going for the better... untilTHAT happened.

Flames for Courage

The screams came at night; one fateful night duringthe autumn of the great cold. ”The town granary!The granary is burning!!”, was the message. Then itwas panic and horror, while the townsfolk struggledto put out the flames by any means necessary, sadly,in vain. People cried at that time, or laughed hysteri-cally. But everyone in Hommlet was present, staringpowerless at that majestic show of destruction... Al-most everyone. Clio realized that she could not spotGuildestern in the mob. Where was he?

She ran home, beyond the barn, and it was therethat she met him. Guildestern had already packedhis few things and was on his way to the dark woods.”He is going to leave me”, thought Cliomenica in aninstant, ”just like mother... just like father.” Sherushed to hug him, to stop him ”Don’t leave!”, shecried, ”Please stay! I... I am not crying, I am... Iwill be brave tomorrow. Please, let me beg you tostay, Guildestern!”. Then she saw that the old manwas crying as well: ”Gods know that I wish to stay,Clio.” he replied, ”I would never leave you and yourfamily if I could choose. But after what happenedtonight, I have to. If I stayed I would put you allin great danger.” Clio was puzzled: ”Danger?” sheasked. Guildestern went on one knee to look straightin her eyes. ”Clio, you might think you know me.But I am actually a bad person.” he confessed, ”Be-fore coming to Hommlet, I killed a person. I killeda man of the king.” Cliomenica shook her head, de-fiant: ”You... you couldn’t! That is not true!”. ”It’strue, child. I had to, or else my own son would ha-ve died.” He paused, in reminiscence, then he wenton: ”I abandoned my family so that they would notbe pursued by the kings men. I had to escape whe-re they could not find me, like a small village, likeHommlet. I was hurt and hungry, and your unclegave me a new life. But after this event, people willstart asking questions, they will discover that I aman outlaw: your whole family will pay for it in theend. That is why I have to leave, again. Do you un-

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derstand, girl?”. Tears were flowing plentiful acrossher cheeks,”I... I understand.” she answered clen-ching her teeth, her fingernails sinking deep in herpalms. ”Have a good j... journey. Thanks for eve-rything you did for me...”, she paused, ”Rosencran-tz...” ”Keep him, Please. He has become you shadowand your strength. Remember me when you look athim.” ”Yes, I will.” said Clio rebuking her tears, asthe man walked away from her. ”Guildestern!”, Sheshouted, one last time, ”Look at me! am I brave?”.She rubbed her tears away from her face. ”The bra-vest!” Shouted back Guildestern. Clio could see hissmile from the distance ”You really understood themeaning of courage, Cliomenica. Goodbye.”

But the bad news were not over yet. As the villa-ge grew restless for having no food stashed to survivethe impending winter, panic and violence spread once

more. The townsfolk took little time to blame Fire-cracker Nils for the arson. He was dragged on thevillage square to be hung. ”Noooo!”, Screamed Clio,”It wasn’t him! He is my friend. Please, spare him!”.Nothing she said could move the village to compas-sion, and by the end of the day his lifeless body washanging from the gallows. Clio realized once againhow weak she was, unable to stop people from lea-ving her. ”No more!” she swore ”Nobody else hasto die! No-one will leave me ever again!”. These we-re her precise thoughts when she volunteered for themission in Chief’s Tomb: she had to prevent moredeaths, she had to save her friends from the denizensof that dungeon, at all costs.

Yet, when she found herself in the bed severaldays later, after waking up from a mental enchant-ment, she discovered that she could not save everyo-ne. Among those who did not make it, Magellan andMarigold were the closest to her. ”Uncle Josefold...I... I am so, so sorry”, she cried while still sweatingcold in the bed, ”I am sorry that I survived and yourdaughter didn’t. I tried to save her. I just... I wasweak.” It was the first time she saw Josef crying”Clio, please don’t be sorry!” he tried to smile, ”Iam so happy that you made it back. I love you li-ke you were my own daughter.” They hugged for amoment which seemed so long then. ”Quaack!”, saidRosencrantz.

A new journey

As Clio’s health recovered, in the following weeks, sodid her resolution. She acknowledged that, in orderto protect the people she cared for, courage alonewas not enough. She needed the strength and thewillpower to keep them safe. That is why she andRosencrantz joined the traveling group for Cillamar,where she could be initiated in the holy mysteriesof the righteous Goddess Justitia. With the powerinfused by the goddess, she would be able to providehealing, comfort, and mercy to those in need. Andso her journey begins...

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Figura 2: Left to right: Macario the chubby knotter, Cliomenica the Goosebearer, Gildorel the ’fine’ potter.

Notes

• Cliomenica has a wing-shaped white birthmarkon her back.

• Rosencrantz is really a magical creature! In fact,his known power is that he does not age (or heages much more slowly than common geese). Heis at least 10 years old and still looks very young.

Cliomenica does not have many skills. Neverthelessthere are some skills she can do properly

• Given the right equipment and time, she canbrew beer. Of course this expends barley malt,water, yeast and hops.

• Clio is reasonably skilled at singing and dancing.

• As a farmer, she can grow crops, distinguishseeds, guide plows, and has a deep knowledgeof the calendar.