Martin lets a friend in on a secret

[Captain Tammo]

Hey there!

So I was re-reading the Taggerung when a certain scene got me thinking about an idea for a kind of fluffy, slice-of-life short-story. In the end, I decided to make it into a rhyme as best I could. It's about a young abbeydweller who wanted to be chosen by Martin's ghost to solve the "riddle game" that some young creature always does to become warrior in a time of need. However, Martin chose another in the end. Seasons later, the now-ancient abbeydweller is grateful and understanding of Martin's choice, but is still wistful with that what-could-have-been mentality. While it's far too late for the narrator to become a warrior, Martin's spirit feels a little sympathy for them and decides to let them in on a secret yet to come..

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An old fool, they've called me.
Scores of seasons I've seen.
Lately, my eyes have been leaving me,
but I know I saw this thing!

In my days here at Redwall I've been through it all:
peacetime, merry and slo-o-o-w,
like the leaves that change in the Fall.
Wartime, full of freight and dismay,
but always a hero to rise and save the day.
How this happens I know to always be the same,
Martin and the spirits playing the secret riddle game:
a great journey through clues, a young-'un must do,
to change their timid soul into a warrior's true.
But Martin's game is not some wild goose chase.
It buys his apprentice time to mature at a good pace.
Too fast and the would-be warrior's spirit might flee,
too slow and, oof, they may end up like me!
Some old foggy who never found the next piece.
Instead it was Mhera you chose to make peace.
And though ages have since passed, and even Mhera is now gone,
what could have been still plagues me each dawn.

Well, friend Martin, maybe your game does have humor!
Because at supper this evening, while I was sitting by Seymour,
I happened a glance at your tapestry at just the same time,
that a flash of lightning outside created a veritable shine.
And for a full second, whilst everybeast else flinched in fright,
It was just you and me in that explosion of light.
There before me, ingrained was a hidden text,
"You've solved the first riddle, now here is the next..."
There it hid, for some past or future warrior to find.
To let me in on this, Martin, I never knew you'd be so kind!

I guess I found a second part after all, after 100 seasons.
Maybe I've a role to play when the next is out to seek it?
In my lifetime - or what's left of it, or in the next few eons,
until the time is right, I'll write it here to be my secret...



Oh, and Martin... you've my never-ending thanks.

[The Skarzs]

I liked that a lot! Now I really want to know more of this riddle he found.

[Captain Tammo]

Hey thanks! I guess the riddle is whatever you want it to be. Or you or someone else can pick up where this left off and tell us what it would say

[The Grey Coincidence]

Huh, I thought it implied that this riddle was for whatever book came after Taggerung (you mentioned Mhera). Perhaps it is if I'm the one who gets to decide...
This was such a fun little thing to read. Sweet but also a little funny (or maybe I'm just mean). The rhyming is good too (not exactly poetry but poetry always frustrated me anyways).
Very nice... Drabble? These are called drabbles right?