[Ansteorra] Event Tales

[Hillary Greenslade]

> Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 14:40:21 -0500
> From: Michael Silverhands <silverhands at sbcglobal.net>
> Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Mud Star (was First Event)
> To: "Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org> 
> 
> Is that the event where Jenny was found in her tent, on an air  
> mattress, floating in about 6" of water... *sound asleep*?
> 
> Am I remembering the right event?
> Michael
> 
Could have been the same event, but I remember the Kingdom Children's Event, up in Elfsea.  They
had lots of rain the weeks before, and the ground had drained but was saturated.  Cadi was in
charge of the event, but fell ill, so Rhondri took the 5 kids up and handled Cadi's role.  
It was a fabulous event, I did a class on 'Waterbearing for Kids' - 30min. of serious talk on
waterbearing and 30min. for a waterpistol fight.  Cadfan had taken a falcon up for an hour long
class on period falconry, and I thought there is no way these kids will sit still long enough to
listen - but they enraptured and totally involved.   The day went really well.  

The site was a camp that ran by a river, and dropped down to the river in a series of steps.  I
think we were camping at the second level down from the top, the camp area was a bit lower than
the road, and later we found out it made a sorta lake.  You could see how high the water had been
previous weeks in the river, from the trash up in the branches of the very tall trees.  

Rhodri and the kids each setup their own tent - 1 for him, 5 yellow bubble popups, one for each
child - all in a little row.  In the early morning, around 4am, the wind began to blow, I remember
as I woke and went to secure the waterbearer table area, as we were to do a Heavy champions battle
on Sunday to pick the next 'Defender of the Children'. As I went back to bed the rain started and
I hoped it would stop by full morning; but woke an hour later, finding myself floating in a foot
of water. As I stood in the water and muttered to myself, I heard either Maleah or Xene in an
adjacent tent with her kids - scream - 'It's Flooding', as they awoke.  

The camp was awake!  Rain was coming down solid, everyone immediately started packing vehicles up.
Rhodri went to get his truck while the kids started packing up their gear, and he asked me to keep
an eye on them while I packed up my camp.   When he got back, he was in a hurry to load as much as
he could in the bed of the truck, rain still coming down.  While I went back to my own camp, I
kept one eye on his kids.  Four little yellow bubble popups had been deflated and were being
packed up, four blond kids running around like ants while Rhodri was packing the heavy gear and
kitchen; I think the oldest was around 10. 

Suddenly Rhodri stopped what he was doing and started counting the kids, index finger pointed at
each one - '1,2,3,4...hum...1,2,3,4...I'm missing one.'.  He looked over at the growing 'lake' and
2/3rds of a yellow bubble tent was still showing above the water with the door closed. 
Understandably paniced, Rhodri ran out into the lake, opened the zipper, saw the girl-child
floating on an airmattress - still sound asleep amidst all the noise of camps packing - perfectly
content.  Rhodri paused a minute, realizing she was perfectly safe, not going anywhere (tent was
still staked), and then he rezipped the tent and left her there; as he went about packing.  

Funniest thing I ever saw!  I think the girl-child was Sherry, but could have been Jenny. 
She eventually woke on her own a little bit later, with a start, as I think she rolled off her
airmattress into the water.  

Needless to say, the Defender of the Children tourney did not occur due to rain. 
That Children's event was one I'll not forget.  

Cheers, Hillary