Private Tales A Lost Visitor

[Kalianna Romane]

A woman atop a surprisingly regal looking horse, fur black with splashes of milky white, rode calmly through the large open gates of Elbion, the hustle and bustle of merchants and prospective mages ringing in her ear as a familiar melody to an Allirian. A rapier and a violin bow were strapped to her belt, with a violin residing on her back, an odd combination even to the more eccentric folk in the city. Perhaps even more oddly, an object was covered by a brown cloth on her belt, rarely opening up enough to reveal what lied beneath. Up in the sky, above the walls and buildings, lied a flying white furred Pan joyfully soaring through the clear blue. A grin painted itself onto the face of the bard as she watched her pet take to the skies, a clear look of pride in her eyes. He had become much better at flying during their trip to Elbion, and has significantly improved since she had first met him all those years ago. Her eyes fell downward from the skies and her beloved pet to a nearby boyish-looking stablehand approaching her. "Would you like us to hold your steed for your time in Elbion?"

She gave a quick nod, and in one graceful movement, hopped off the horse. "Of course, thank you very much. His name's Ryner, and he's a tough love kind of horse." She shrugged with a small smile, pulling out a pouch of money and handing some over to the boyish stablehand along with the reigns. The horse gave a stubborn huff, begrudgingly trotting ahead of the stablehand, who was desperately trying to maintain control of the strong steed. She watched him for a moment just to make sure Ryner didn't immediately run off into the streets, before turning back to the flowing crowds of Elbion, the city of merchants and the College.

She had started the trip to Elbion because she wanted to pay a visit to an old family member of hers, a fantastically talented illusionary mage in the College, Eoban Romane. He was a father figure to Kali in her younger years, teaching her his trade when no one else in the family deemed it necessary. However, he moved back to Elbion to be closer to his research and career in the College, and thus their relationship was limited to sending letters detailing updates and new stories that have come up in each of their lives. In the hopes of surprising him, Kalianna decided to take a trip over to Elbion for some time. Perhaps while she was there she could even gain some renown for her performances, since while there may be rumors of some sort of masked bard in Alliria, it was little more than simple rumors.

After what seemed like ages of pushing through and being pushed by a nearly endless stream of people, alongside walking through winding paths that seemed to go on forever, a thought began to enter her mind. That house looks oddly familiar, and I swear I had already passed by that stand before... She thought, a slight chuckle emanating from her at the realization that she was very, very lost. After a few minutes of increasingly confused turns and walking, she came to a somewhat open courtyard, almost immediately taking a seat at a nearby bench to gather herself and figure out where in the world she was. With a violin at her back and a noble-looking engraved rapier at her belt, she was an odd sight to see, not to mention the fact that she clearly has no clue where she is in the city.

Jonathan Burr

 

[Jonathan Burr]

It was early afternoon, and that was prime time for Jon and Hob. They were gearing up for more performances in the winter; people always wanted to sit down with a hot cup of tea or cider to watch something in cold weather. His garish wagon and the equally-garish tent advertising wonders and flowers made of flame stuck out like sore thumbs. They were vomitous splashes of color, clearly painted to get attention from quite a decent distance, and stick in the memory of all who saw them. Not every citizen might know how to read, but they would remember the colors of the tent and head for them. They'd remember swirling patterns of peacock blue, golds, pinks and greens lighting up the market.

If that didn't give a clue, there was always the god damn noise.

A thin screech, like a hundred floutists blowing into broken instruments, rang through the market. It was shrill enough to waggle the eardrums and set several cart horses rearing and crow-hopping. A crackling burst of color rose up into the sky, pink glittering sparks washing harmlessly over the street. It always gave Jon a laugh to set off some of his fire flowers outside his tent. It got attention, announced when their performances were starting, and made the entire market hate him with a fiery passion usually reserved for dung merchants and pickpockets. Jon was outside his tent, basking in the little tendrils of sulfur smoke that signaled him as the man who let off the fire flower. "Come one! Come all! See incredible sights of magic and chemistry! Delight, horror, fantasy and terror. Glittering gems, horrific monsters, explosions of color and light!" Jon shouted with a laugh.

He dug a compressed dark ball of something out of his pocket, and flung it up into the air with a quick turn of his wrist.. A loud percussive boom hit, along with more of the crackles, as azure sparks rained down on the street. Unfortunately it was quite enough for the stable next door. Jon winced when he heard whinnying, shouts, and three horses flee down the street toward him. Ah, shit.

Hob peeked his gigantic head out of the tent. The pooka was definitely in the horror category of their show. He looked like an eight foot, four armed rabbit, with seething fur that looked more like pinworms. His face looked like a march hare had collided with the nastiest of dragons, his black-fleshed mouth crowded with fangs. He narrowed large yellow eyes at Jon. 'I thought you weren't lighting those in public anymore.'

"Hob, baby, attendance is down."Jon said sheepishly, heading into the street to try and catch some of the horses. A white mare nearly kicked his head in, flailing her limbs in an attempt to get away from him. A bay didn't even slow down, and Jon had to step by to let the horse pass. A third he was sure he could catch. He seized the halter of the black and white horse, sagging his weight down to try and stop it.. "Easy! Easy there." Jon tried to calm him, patting his neck. "I won't hurt you, but you can't go barreling through the joint either."

 

[Snow Toche]

Snow would walk down the streets of the Elbion market his two ever faithful puppets at his side. The two boys would look around wide eyed at the market almost as if they had a life of their own. Occasionally they could be seen pointing things out to each other, and to Snow though Snow wouldn't respond much. However the most shocking thing that turned the heads of anyone who could tell they were puppets was when they spoke. Some of the closer street-goers would look at them some in awe, and others in fear.

Though suddenly something would catch the attention of all three of them even the ever unbothered Snow. A loud whistling noise followed by a shower of pink sparks in the air. The two puppets would immediately take off in that direction followed by Snow who had picked up his pace a bit. His puppets would run towards a man that seemed to be the cause of the lights show.

"Magic Man!" One of the boys would shout towards the man as he created another of the light shows. "Those horses are scared..." The other more timid puppet would say to the other as the horses took off down the street. Snow would begin to catch up to the two boys as the man had began to try stop the horses. One of them though would race past the man heading straight towards Snow. With shockingly quick speed the two puppets would be between Snow, and the horse each with an arm around the other. As the horse sped towards them they would each put out a free hand towards the horse. The horse would run into their hands pushing them back a bit before their feet began plant themselves in the ground.

"Calm down horsie! Be a good boy!" The wild boy would shout happily as they stopped the horse. "Or a good girl... you don't know." The more timid boy would say as they each grabbed onto the horse, and began to pet it while ensuring it didn't run off again. Normally the puppets wouldn't have been able to handle such force as a full speed horse, but Snow had the knowledge to channel more energy into them. Something that would make them both more durable, and stronger. Snow would walk past the puppets, and horse in order to see the other man. He didn't necessarily have a drive to help him, but if it was clear he would need it he could spare a puppet to help.

 

[Kalianna Romane]

Cutting through the internal thoughts of Kali was a near-constant screeching, having to cover her ears in order to block out a mere portion of the noise. Her eyes moved up to see the source of the noise, ending up spotting the gaudy and garish tent and wagon, splashed with an array of colors. An eyebrow raised at the sight, intrigued by their presence. Was a performance going to begin? There was always a benefit to be gained from watching another performer go about their act. Putting aside her need to figure out were she is, she expectedly watched the wagon with interest.

Lo and behold, the screech ended with a bang. Quite literally, in this case, as a crack of color appeared in the sky, shortly after, pink sparkles came down like rain before fading into nothing once more. She glanced around to see the general reaction from the crowd, surprised to see most of them with a look of exasperation and hatred apparent on their faces. She also saw an odd robed man, and followed around by two twin boys. Turns out, the people of Elbion were not a fan of loud explosions of color. She watched as a man revealed himself to be the conductor of the noise, tendrils of smoke still swirling about him, beginning to advertise his performance.

Once the advertising finished, he dug his hand once more into his pocket to reveal a dark ball of something. By this time, she had sat up and moved closer to the show to see better. However, while the ball did do a similar trick, it did also seem to have the slight side effect of causing the horses in a nearby stable to start to run off. The sound of their hooves clattering against stone roads was loud enough for anyone to hear, even over the percussive crackles of the explosion. Wait... Stables? Did she really end up walking in a circle? And if the stables is right here, that means one of those horses... She thought for a moment, before a quick realization hit her.

"Ryner!"

Before she darted off in search of her runaway horse, she turned her head once more in the direction of the man, who was sheepishly talking to... An eight foot, four armed dragon-rabbit. Well, she wasn't one to judge other's companions, although she definitely realized what the man meant when he said 'horrors.' Turning away from whatever 'Hobs,' as he seemed to be called, was, she began to dart off in the direction of the horses. The man was ahead of her, and appearing to have a mixed success with the various horses, with the majority of the horses escaping his attempts to wrangle them. However, they were he did seem to have some success with stopping Ryner, and as the horse slowed down with the weight of the man pulling him back. The trio, and the including the man in robes and the twins, have successfully stopped of one of the horses as well. She darted past the four, giving a quick look of appreciation to them all as she did so, attempting to catch up to the remaining one.

Stopping in her tracks, she held out an arm to the horse, and the other one hanging idly in the air. Slowly, the she began to trace invisible symbols into the air, her arms moving in such a way it was difficult to tell if she was casting a spell or dancing. It became clear which of the two it was, however, as the street in front of the horse began to shake violently. Soon, the street ruptured, stone jutting out of the ground in jagged walls, blocking off the rest of the area. The horse reared with a surprised neigh, taking quick steps back from the spontaneously erupting ground ahead of it. Seeing no place to go, it began to run back in the direction it came.

Kali took a few steps back to the sidewalk so the horse didn't charge right into her, her fingers stretching in and out as she readied herself for what she was going to do next. As the horse neared, the sound of its hooves hitting the stone road growing louder and louder with every second she waited, she leapt forward onto the back of the horse. She took the reins quickly, pulling it up in an attempt to stop the horse, a disgruntled neigh coming in response. "Easy there, horsey, easy..." When she thought the horse was slowed down enough, she dug a hand into her pouch, pulling out a carrot to feed the horse. It was originally Pan's treat, but she was sure he'd understand. It was at this time that the large wall of ruptured earth, which was causing quite a bit of surprise and fear by nearby citizens in the limited time it was present, vanished entirely. Where it once stood was now replaced with the same street, entirely undamaged and showing no signs of what it appeared to have undergone. That was the beauty of illusions, after all.

 

[Jonathan Burr]

It seemed he wasn't the only mage around. A strange white-robed man appeared with what looked like two children. They stepped in swiftly to grab two of the horses, which only left one remaining. Jon did his best with the pinto he had by the halter, leading him in a small circle to keep him from bolting. Horses tended to calm down with repetitive motions, and it was much harder to bolt standing sideways or constantly turning than it was standing still. It also prevented the horse from absorbing the sights and gave him no time to decide if he was frightened of them. Jon did his best to try and watch what was going on.

The white-robed man with the boys was approaching him, and Jon smiled in greeting. "Thanks." he told him, continuing to lead the splashed horse in a circle. He didn't have time to say much more. The entire street seemed to turn vertical just beyond their wagon. Jon stared. Another one gifted with rock like himself? He hadn't met another person who could transmutate. He looked for the direction it was coming in. A girl grabbed the horse the stone wall had deflected, and calmed it.

It also seemed she wasn't like he after all. The stone wall vanished, without any sign of displacement of the stones. Illusion. Jon sighed and patted the neck of the horse he held. Hopefully a stable boy was going to come by soon to collect them. The pinto in his hands seemed like a decent horse. Strong, with good legs. Hob glared at him, almost as if the creature could tell what he was thinking.

'You don't need a horse. We can barely feed ourselves let alone some animal that's going to panic.'

 

[Snow Toche]

Snow would give a small affirmatory nod to the man as the children would walk to them with the horse. “Magic man! Your amazing!” One of the boys would shout only to be gently swatted at by the other boy. “Your gonna scare the horses Wayne...” The other boy would whine quietly. “Magic man! Did you see the magic woman over there?!? She made the street go boom!” Wayne would excitedly whisper pointing to where the illusion had taken place.

“Huh? Where did it go? Magic man it disappeared!” Wayne would continue getting a bit louder again. The other boy face palm a bit looking at the magic man. “I’m sorry for my loud brother sir. My name is Timothy, and he’s Wayne. Don’t forget about our friend Mr. Snow he takes care of us.” Timothy would say to the man introducing everyone.

 

[Kalianna Romane]

Kali gave the horse the order to trot back, offering a carrot as payment. As she came back, she heard Hobs stare at the man while scolding him for wanting Ryner. "I have to agree, especially since Ryner's with me." She flashed a well-meaning grin over at the man before going on to say, "Thanks for catching him though, he can be quite difficult to get a hold of." Taking the reins in hand, Kali hopped off the horse so that she was standing on firm ground once again. Taking a few steps towards Ryner, still keeping the other horse's reins in hand, she gently pat Ryner's head.

She listened to the boys chatter back and forth to both each other and 'Magic Man.' When they mentioned the illusion she did, she quickly said, "I did? I don't recall doing such an odd thing," although the wink she gave afterwards said otherwise. "Good job, Timothy, Wayne, and of course, Mr. Snow." The three were surprisingly good at stopping the horses, not exactly what one would expect from two little boys and one man.

She looked up at the sky, spotting a familiar white fuzzball laying down on the roof of a nearby building, lazily watching the group. "Thanks for all the help, Pan, we couldn't have done it without you, really," she said dryly, a joking tone evident in her voice as she spoke. Turning her attention back to the man, she recalled how he had been talking about and performing for some kind of show, inquiring, "So what is it that you were doing back there? You were talking about a show, but I don't think this is exactly what you had in mind."