Fable - Ask дайны шалтгаан

[Hahnah]

Hahnah sat on the floor of the roadside tavern. Her back was against the side of the bar, her palms flat on the floor, one leg out straight and the other bent. She was covered in blood. She breathed heavily, her chest heaving and her eyes wide with shock.

A dead man lay on the floor among the toppled stools. Another lay crumpled over a table and another bent over the bar, their swords gone from their grasp. Another was cut cleanly in half, his torso to Hahnah's left and his legs to Hahnah's right. The barkeep of the tavern was gurgling behind the bar and would die soon. Broken glass littered the top of the bar and the floor alike.

A dead elf was on top of Hahnah's straight leg, his hand clutching a dagger even in death. His skull was a crater--blown open from within. His withering eyes were wide open portraits of agony and horror. And she couldn't stop staring at him. The elf that she had thought was a friend. The elf that she had wanted to quietly save from his human companions.

Her voice was hollow. "You lied to me."

It was all quiet in the tavern save for the last wet gasps of the barkeep. From outside came the steady drilling of a woodpecker. A pause in the bird's song. More drilling.

"Why did you lie to me??" she said aloud.

The bird outside stopped its song in mid-note. Flapped its wings and quickly flew away. Hahnah gasped, looking at her bloody clothes.

And she stood and burst through the ajar door of the roadside tavern and ran.

* * * * *​

Days later, she was on the road again. Heading north and northeast, in the direction Alliria out from the very edges of Falwood. She had washed all of the blood from her clothes and she had not been seen doing it nor had she been seen at the roadside tavern--so far as she knew. No hunters, or humans in general, were coming after her, so it seemed that all was well.

She had been bidden to walk among them. These were the last two of the five words spoken to her by the Dying God. And though she was elated to have finally heard Him speak to her in Strathford, she did not know the true purpose for walking among them. And it was difficult. Far more difficult than living in the wild and avoiding human settlements, killing when she could and disappearing back into the obscuring protection of the woods and the occasional monsters that inhabited them. She walked among them and though she was learning slowly, it was trial and error. She made mistakes constantly.

Like the mistake at the roadside tavern.

She would never have been in such great and imminent danger if she could stay in the wild. If she was not bidden to be among them. But she had faith. For she earnestly believed that the God whom she felt in her heart was not cruel.

* * * * *​

"Top of the mornin' to ya, lass," said the older human man on the wagon.

"Hello," Hahnah said, looking up to him.

The horses pulling his wagon snorted one after the other. The human man tipped back his hat and glanced for a moment up at the afternoon sun breaking through the sparse clouds and the treetops. A small flock of birds flew by overhead, in the direction of Alliria as it so happened, and they squawked their shrill calls.

"Sound like you're a proper Fal'Addas gal, way you say them 'H's." He smiled a jovial way. He was balding, with a wreath of frilly white hair around the sides of his head. His beard, however, was short and well-kempt. "You thirsty, friend? Got a waterskin here if'n you was lookin' for a drink."

Hahnah nodded. "I am thirsty. Thank you." She stepped forward, beside the driver's platform of the wagon and accepted the waterskin from the man and drank heartily.

"If ya don't mind my askin', where ya headed to?"

She stoppered the waterskin and primly wiped her bottom lip of water with her forefinger and said, "I am going to Alliria."

The man whistled. "Must've been a long walk."

"It has been," she said, handing the waterskin back to him.

"Well, shame you've caught me goin' the wrong way. Headin' down to a friend, myself, stockin' him up. Ol' Peter runs a quiet place for travelers like yerself. Little roadside tavern 'bout...hmm...three days or so from here if'n I take my time. Mighta seen it, since you was comin' up from that way."

Hahnah did not react outwardly. "I did not stop often in my travel."

The man chuckled. "You elves are somethin' else. I don't know if I care all too much for livin' a thousand years or so, but that endurance--phew! Can't tell ya why dwarves are known the world over for it when there's you out here, just the cloak on yer back and plenty o' miles between Fal'Addas and Alliria." He took hold of the reins and gave them a light snap and the horses started going. "Well, almost there now, lass. Take good care of yerself."

His wagon was proceeding at a leisurely pace down the forested road. Hahnah turned her head slowly. Looked over her shoulder. Watched.

And her fingers flexed, a Tendril of Elemental Hatred slowly creeping forth from the palm of her hand.

Aldenaxk Drazukel

 

[Aidenzak]

Alden had been on the road for a while as well, doing his usual. Being a terrible flirt, taking mercenary contracts, saving up coin. He was closer to achieving...something. He just didn't know what. He would have to figure that out. Starting a merc company perhaps? That seemed like a fair plan. Either way, clicking echoed through the woods as his horse trotted along, the tiefling himself sitting atop it. He had a cigarette of some sort between his teeth, filled with some medicinal herb that helped relax and relieve aching muscles. He was dressed in his usual attire outside of battle. A white button up shirt with a black leather longcoat that went down to his heels, brown armored leather pants, and black leather boots. A straightsword and shield were slung over his shoulder.

It's then that he would squint, eyes spotting the two ahead of him on the road. An elven girl, and a human man with a cart. It all seemed normal from there. The man gave her some water, and then moved along. What a kind fellow. Then he saw it, the elven lass was preparing a spell. His eye twitches a bit, and he bites his thumb, causing a bit of blood to be drawn. He then spits the blood from his mouth.

The drop of blood lands directly behind Hahnah, and suddenly it disappears, the spot where it had landed now being where Alden stood, his horse still standing on the road aways back. His hand grabs Hahnah's wrist, specifically the wrist of the hand which was preparing to fire a spell, and he narrowed his eyes. "he fellow there, gave ye water didn't he? Hell of a way to repay kindness, don't you think?" A always, he had that sailor accented voice, easy to recognize.

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

Someone grabbed her wrist, and her eyes widened in surprise. Who? How? There was no one that she had seen around, no one other the old human man on the wagon and she was staring right at him. That fear she had felt in the roadside tavern, of being discovered and hunted, coursed through her veins again. It did not matter if she had an appearance that did not openly invite hostility and suspicion if she was not careful.

She looked back from over her shoulder to the man who held her wrist.

A familiar face, and a familiar voice, both striking her at the same time.

Hahnah gasped, and the peeking Tendril, that sorcerous manifestation, slithered harmlessly back into her palm. The very thought of the old merchant going down the road dropped from her mind.

...Hell of a way to repay kindness, don't you think?

"Alden!" She threw her free arm around him. Hugged him closely. "I am glad to see you! Did you find the elf for whom you were looking?"

In her excitement, Hahnah had forgotten to mention that crucial detail about herself: her transformation, and that she was indeed the same strange elf that Alden had met on the outskirts of Elyr-Morath.

Aldenaxk Drazukel

 

[Aidenzak]

The voice sounds familiar. Not to mention that tendril. He's only seen one person using that kind of magic, and that girl looked very different from this elf. Then she suddenly hugs him. This causes his eyes to widen slightly. She had the magic, she knew his name, she had this voice. The tiefling looks down upon her as she embraces him. "Hahnah? Is that you kiddo? You've uh.....you've got a different look going on. Did you...." He pats her head in a comforting gesture. "Did you shave?" What else was he supposed to guess? There's a serious lack of hair in comparison to before.

"That's besides the point." He shakes his head. "Lass, you do not slaughter people for offering you water." He frowns deeply, poking her forehead. "It ain't right, it's dishonorable and savage. Does the wolf bite the hand that saves it from starvation?" He raises a brow. "Do elves kill people when they offer aid? Is that something a good being does?" he asks, appealing to her preference towards nature and elves. Then she mentions the elven girl, and he sighs, chuckling slightly.

"I'll find a lass I like someday, let's not worry about that right now."

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

She blinked, briefly confused as to why Alden did not recognize her. Then, right as he was saying it, it all came together. Her voice was the same, yes, but her body had been changed--from the caterpillar to the butterfly. Her skin was no longer the sacred black, her eyes no longer glowing fiercely orange, and her Living Armor was inside of her instead of outside. All of it to do what she could not before, to perform her new bidding that the Dying God Himself had spoken to her: to walk among them.

Did you shave?

Hahnah canted her head, the question she regarded as being asked in all seriousness. She knew the word from Zael's memories, that his father had shaved, and in that context it seemed to be what some men did to keep fair from their face. Alden did not shave. Elurdrith neither, but he never had hair on his face.

She was about to answer no and explain but Alden continued. And her confusion only deepened, the poke to her forehead registering no reaction from her. It was not a person who had offered her water; it was a human, one of the very same who were burning Elyr-Morath and killing the elves within. Killing humans was never dishonorable nor savage--Arethil only benefited from their eradication. She did not know what a wolf had to do with this discussion. And elves and every good being of Arethil should absolutely kill humans, even if humans gave them aid like that man had given her water; their evil could at times cloak itself in apparent goodness.

Hahnah, still glad to see Alden, summed up her thoughts on the matter succinctly. "I do not kill those who lack sin."

Spoiler: Slaying the profane

A magic Knife of churning black, white, and maroon color sailed out from the treeline and penetrated through Raphael's right eye and out the back of his head. Blood spilled out from both ends of the horrific wound and darkened the water of the pond around him. He slumped forward, coming to float face down on the water's surface.

Valeria was next. She shrieked in fright and held both hands to her mouth. Another Knife of Elemental Hatred flew and sliced through her wrists and the front of her neck. Her hands fell loose from her arms and a powerful squirt of blood shot from her neck and dowsed her daughter Andrea. Valeria fell back, caught by Reginald, and she was still quivering with tenuous life.

Even so, her bidding now was not to slay as many humans as she could. There would be many in Alliria, many who would cross her path, and she would very likely not be able to kill any of them, unless they outright attacked her like what had happened at the roadside tavern. If she had not seen Alden, perhaps it was better then to let the human driver of the wagon go--there could be others of whom she was unaware. Though she was tolerated in cities now, her new appearance meant nothing if she was seen killing. She resolved to let the driver go.

"Have you just come from Alliria, Alden?" she asked. "That is where I wish to go."

The question behind her new appearance, like mentioning her name, slipping her mind.

Aldenaxk Drazukel

 

[Aidenzak]

Seeing her confusion, Alden eventually decides to just drop it. "Aye, aye. Sin is bad, though sin ain't decided by race, kiddo. You'll learn that someday." He playfully ruffles her hair. He'd ask what she'd been up to, but considering how she was, he was afraid of the answer. At least he was here now to make sure she didn't get herself or others around her killed. "Eh, whatever the case." He smiles warmly. "It's good to see you again, lass. I wasn't leaving, I was headin that way actually. Just finished picking up my camp. Let's travel together, aye?" He raises a brow. "I'll get you some food while we're there. You been eatin well, right? Kiddos have to eat. It's quite important."

He makes his way back to his horse to pull himself onto it's back. He then urges it forward a little, stopping it when he reaches Hahnah. The tiefling reaches down, offering a hand to help her up. "Get on, lass. It'll be faster on horseback. There's some jerky in the saddlebag to snack on. Feel free to help yerself, yea?" The tiefling is patient with her as always.

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

It's good to see you again, lass.

She nodded enthusiastically in agreement, not bothering to fix the wayward strands of her hair after Alden had ruffled it.

He wasn't just coming from Alliria. He was heading that way too, and that was perfect. It was not enough to simply have an appearance now that was tolerated within civilized settlements. Villages, towns, cities, all of them were foreign landscapes to her, jungles of rules and corners and crowds, teeming with unfamiliar paths, sounds, and especially people. And Alliria would be the largest of these alien landscapes. That alone was intimidating, whether or not she had her new appearance and her new bidding from the Dying God. So it would be good to have a guide. A ranger, of sorts, like Kylindrielle and Elurdrith, who could show her the way.

You been eatin well, right?

"Yes. Food has not been a problem." Her Cascade still did well in killing woodland game to eat, and there were sometimes where humans filled the gap, others where she foraged as she had been taught by her caretakers. That said, a meal would still be welcome.

And one came.

Hahnah loosely followed after Alden as he went to retrieve his horse. He mounted it and came back around and offered his hand and she took it and jumped up--with some slight difficulty that would have been more if not for Alden--onto the horse's back. She was by necessity sitting somewhat on the saddlebag, but managed to get it open and find the dried meat that Alden mentioned.

"Thank you." Sitting behind him, one hand on his shoulder and one hand with the jerky, she took a few bites.

A question surfaced in her mind then, thinking as she had been about cities and being able to walk in them and thinking further back to Elyr-Morath and meeting Alden.

"Is it...strange to you that I appear this way now?"

Aldenaxk Drazukel

 

[Aidenzak]

When she states that food hasn't been a problem, he nods. "You been cooking the food? It's healthier that way. Gets rid of parasites that can infest the bodies, prevents disease. Make sure to boil water too." He had shown her how to make a camp and start a fire. He hoped she'd been using that knowledge. The tiefling hoped she hadn't drifted back into her more wild ways. Killing random people still, that was upsetting to him. That's why he wanted to bring her to the city. All the races, humans included, living together. Maybe then she would learn. He did not know, he just knew he would need to be there when she did learn.

He nods in response when she thanks him for the food. "Of course. Anytime, kiddo." He chuckles. He whips the reigns, urging the horse to go faster towards Alliria. "This'll be your first time to a big city, yea? I'll fins you a real restaurant, with better cooks than I could ever hope to be." He seems excited to have a good meal.

When she asks if he finds her new form strange, he shrugs. "Lass, I'm a half eldritch being who uses his own blood for magic. Ain't much that surprises me. I'm just happy you're doing alright." She states, warmth in his eyes. "So, Hahnah, what is it you expect to find in Alliria? I'll take you shopping, help you find some real gear. Your own tent. your own blades. Maybe something to help you use magic. Cities are full of useful stuff."

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

She did not nod her head nor did she shake it, but her expression subtly betrayed the answer. She had not been cooking her food and she had not been boiling the water. What gear she previously had she abandoned slowly over time, without even a conscious decision to do so. Her current clothes and especially her shoes she would have abandoned too, if not for the quiet compulsion to wear both such to better walk among them. Though she now could enter settlements with no outright suspicion or hostility, still she slept more in the woods or among the company of animals or monsters. Still there was a mild trepidation of buildings. Doors and corners. Locks.

"Yes, this will be my first time to Alliria," she said. "I have heard that it is very large."

Other settlements, smaller as she was told than Alliria, were yet large enough to become lost within. She did not like this fact, but she was bidden onward. The word restaurant she was only vaguely acquainted with, but combined with cooks, it seemed to be a place of eating. Where one might use coins to buy prepared food.

He did not find it strange, her new form. A brief pondering, consisting of alternating parts doubt and certainty, of how Alden might receive the story of how her form came to be. She let it go, for now.

...what is it you expect to find in Alliria?"

After a moment, she answered, "I do not know yet." And it was true. The Dying God had broken His silence in Strathford and bid her to go and walk among them, but for what purpose? She could do that, but what else was there to it? She prayed almost everyday, but she had not received any more guidance. It felt as though His guidance was incomplete, that there should be some other step or steps. But there was only the one.

Shopping, Alden suggested. She would need to try many things, so she reckoned, and this was one such thing.

"That is a good place to start."

And she finished the jerky that she had in her hand.

Aldenaxk Drazukel

 

[Aidenzak]

He sighs. "Eh, if you want to eat it raw, eat the food raw. Ain't like you can catch disease from it. You seem to be immune. I cook my meat cause raw meat can kill me..plus, the cooked meat tends to taste better." He chuckles slightly. "But boil the water. Yea?" He looks back at her. "There can be some bad stuff in that water. You don't wanna shit yerself to death, do ye? Dysentery is no joke. I ain't tryin to change you to be 'civil' or into someone you don't wanna be. Part of it is safety, lass." He sounds almost parental.

He nods. "Aye, it's a big city. Lots of different folk there. You'll see. I think you'll come to like it." He knows she'll be hit by a shock when she sees humans living in harmony. As for restaurant. I'll find us a good seafood place. Ever had sushi? It's the only time you should be eating raw fish." He takes his canteen off of his belt to take a nice long gulp before putting it back into place.

"Any new from yer parent, by the way?" He meant the dying god, a parent somehow more of a deadbeat than his own when it came to childcare. He decides to follow up with his own news in regards to his eldritch family member. "Mine still visits my dreams sometimes. He's still a raging asshole. I personally don't consider him parent. The woman who really raised me died at sea...a ways back. A stronger lass I've never known." He looks sad for a moment, sighing slightly before he shakes his head.

"You'll learn someday, kiddo. Sometimes your father ain't your dad...and your mother ain't your mom." He says cryptically. She would learn. Someday. It wasn't something he could teach her. All he could do is watch over her.

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

Cooked meat did have a different quality of taste. Of that Hahnah could agree, though she could not say if one was better than the other, as she could with preferring the meat of animals over the meat of humans. Alden did seem far more concerned about water. About boiling it. Her ranger caretakers did that from time to time, depending on the source and look of water. Hahnah wasn't precisely sure what dysentery was in the moment Alden had said it, but taking in conjunction what he'd said previously it sounded...unpleasant. Still, like cooking food, she never truly had any problems with the water she would drink from streams, lakes, wells, or collected rainfall.

Then the talk of food. Eating it--soon. And of food of the sea, specifically. "I have not heard that word before now: sushi." A slight rise of her shoulders and cant of her head, as if she were mildly bashful of admitting, "Fish are difficult to catch. I have not eaten the meat of one yet."

Land animals were easy. The vast majority would even look her way, should they hear the snap of a twig under her feet or catch her scent if they were downwind, and the eye contact was all she needed to bring them down. Fish, especially with the ripples of water...it was not so easy.

Any news from her parent. Hahnah looked at Alden quizzically, her brow seeming to bounce even more with the steady stride of the horse. He went on to elaborate, and that helped her make sense of it. Hahnah knew the meaning of the word "parent" now, and figured out that it was a shorthand way for Alden to refer to the Dying God. Though an odd way to put it. Hahnah reasoned that she must have parents as well, but she did not know who they were. He was right, Alden. About fathers and mothers. Hahnah did not know truly who birthed her, but Elurdrith and Kylindrielle were her "dad" and her "mom."

He was saddened at the mention of losing the woman--his "mom"--at sea, and Hahnah emphasized. She lifted a hand and touched the back of his shoulder as they rode. Squeezed lightly. Spoke only when the moment passed and her hand came back down to her leg.

"I will always hold my caretakers in my heart," she said. "But, of the God who is also there, He..."

She brightened. Smiling serenely. Blissful and satisfied.

"He finally spoke to me. He answered me, Alden. And that is why I need to go to Alliria and to other places like it. I need to walk among them."

Aldenaxk Drazukel

 

[Aidenzak]

"Fish can be pretty good, dependin on the type. Sushi is fish cooked in a special way. I think they boil the meat instead of putting it on a fire? I don't know the exact process, but the fish is put on top of some rice, and topped with various seasonings and sauces. I can cook decently, but I'll admit that I'm not that good." He chuckles. "Fish are hard to catch with bare hands. I'll show ye how to use a fishin rod sometime."

By now, the city could be seen in the distance, likely the biggest place Hahnah had ever seen. Upon seeing the walls, Alden narrows his eyes. This is where she would learn, and he needed to be there for it. If she did find out the true nature of this world, the true nature of man, it would break her view of the world utterly. Her words draw his attention, and he looks back at her, pursing his lips for a few moments. So the deadbeat dad finally chose to give his child attention? How nice. Alden wasn't impressed.

"Spoke to ya eh? What'd he say? Did he ask how you were? Tell ya that he cared despite the fact that he was silent most of yer life? These may be hard words to swallow lass. But yer creator? You barely know'em. Wven I know more about my parent, and he's an eldritch monster from the abyss. While I'm glad you're ready to walk amongst people...." He looks down, shaking his head. "I care about ya. You're a good kid. I just ain't sure that...." He sighs. "Nevermind, topic for another time."

Finally, the approached the massive gates of Alliria, and he gestures to the entrance. "Here we are, lass. Take in the sight." He states as they make their way past the gates. Within, it was quite the bustling place. Big buildings and apartments, establishments and businesses, market stalls, so many races mingling and talking. Dwarves talking with elves, humans mingling with elves as well. Hell, a human and an elf could be seen holding hands as they walked down the street. Alden sighs, waiting for everything to go sideways.

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

Hahnah looked hurt in the immediate moment following what Alden had to say about the Dying God. Perhaps he saw this or perhaps he did not, but the emotional wound--however brief--was there. She had felt the presence of the Dying God in her heart for all of her life. He was silent, and when He spoke He did not say much, but when she was alone (as it had been for many days and nights since her caretakers' deaths) she was never truly alone. His quiet vigil was maintained in those moments, and it was okay to Hahnah that it was quiet.

So this, what Alden said, was like watching one friend disparage another friend.

I care about ya...

She took the opportunity to move past it. Replied in kind, "I care about you too, Alden."

Her tone may have been tainted with some small traces of that hurt, but she had spoken in heartfelt honesty. Together they had saved the elves of the Elyr-Morath. They cleansed the profane but also saved the good people of the town, and in this Alden had shown his kindness. He was the only tiefling that she had met, but she liked to think that Tieflingkind were all as Alden was.

* * * * *​

Alliria.

The city itself could have been completely abandoned, and still Hahnah would have been frightened. Small towns like Elyr-Morath and Strathford were manageable; many did not have walls and she could still see the trees beyond the low rooftops and they were often very open and there was not a lot of motion and noise. But here? The towering gates alone, with their sharp and unnatural angles, their design by the hands and minds of men instead of nature, were enough to inspire a simmering dread within her chest.

(what if those gates swung shut? and we were locked in here?)

What was beyond the gates--the cityfolk of all varieties, and yes, of which humans were one such--she had seen before in other towns on her journey to Alliria. But the scale. The scale of this was so much larger. There were many more armored men called guards, there were many more people both of Humankind and of other races that she had seen or had never seen until now, there were many more buildings and passageways made of small stones, there were many more doors and corners and places were it seemed the city itself might close in on her. Who to trust? Who not to trust? It was stressful to consider these questions on this scale.

More than ever before, she felt as if she had left Arethil and stepped into an alien land. Gone were the grass and the trees, gone was the dirt and the flowing wind, gone was the expansive landscape and the heartbeat of nature.

Replaced by the artificial. The constructed. The confining.

Hahnah drew in closer to Alden as she rode on the back of the horse, her arms wrapped with tension about his waist, her cheek to his back. She watched with apprehensive and suspecting eyes the passersby walking on the street. Keenly watching those that were human.

"We should be careful," she said in a low voice. Then, more firmly, "If any of them become aggressive, I will protect you."

Aldenaxk Drazukel