Private Tales Air Currents

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
"That's stronger than wine," Fynaurie wheezed.

At the back of her head she remembered that they were breaking so many rules to be here. Being the butt of some human jokes whilst here wasn't going to make the situation any better if the dragoons found out exactly what had happened.

The sniffed the clear liquid again. It had strong floral notes to it, but the taste was harsh. She imagined it was something easily distilled to get drunk for cheap.

"Do we need to finish these to seem polite?" She hissed out of the corner of her mouth in elvish.
 
It was way stronger than wine and way stronger than the ale. She wanted to finish it though. She wanted another. She wanted to fit in and seem like she belonged.

Cerridwen wanted to make friends. She had lost her mind! They both had!

"I think so..." she replied in the same tongue. "They seem very pleased with us. I think this will buy us some will, Fynaurie."
 
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Fynaurie gave a firm nod and looked down at the glass of floral clear spirits. It was her challenge. Turning from the bar, she picked up her glass and made for the guard's table.

Given they were being watched, she thought she might as well go and try to make conversation.

"So, what do you both do around here?" She asked, taking a seat without asking if she could.

They both looked at one another.

"We guard things?"

The door to the inn was pushed open. Two shadows filled it.

"See? Told you! Elves!" came a harsh whisper.
 
Cerridwen followed Fynaurie to the table where their guards sat but she did not take a seat like her fellow elf. She stood behind Fynaurie and watched the guards answer awkwardly. Honestly, she was not really sure what they had to guard here. It seemed quiet and boring.

Of course, she spoke too soon.

The noise of the door opening cause her eyes to slide in that directions. The two shapes that came in seemed to be bigger than their guards and she automatically stiffened.

"See? Told you! Elves!"

The whisper was not one that spoke of new friends and her hand automatically went to her side to rest on a hidden dagger.

"They them Elves from the sky! That weapon thingy is what killed me mother!" One of the hulking shadows shouted as they walked closer to the girls and the guards.
 
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"Tarron," one of the guards said. The tone was friendly, but just a touch of warning sat below the surface. They knew one another.

It was a small town by human standards, Fynaurie thought, so of course they knew one another. There was enough in the guards demeanour to make her think they might just have been friends.

She glanced over her shoulder. The looks the two men gave her made her chest tighten.

"What?" one of the men asked, addressing the guard. "You here to protect us from them or them from us?"
 
Tarron was the name of the one whose mother was supposedly killed by a Sky Elf. She had a hard time believing it but it was not her time to speak up yet.

The second man spoke next in an accusatory tone. Cerridwen had assumed that the guards were there to make sure their people were protected but now she was wondering if it was the opposite. Were they here to make sure that she and Fynaurie were safe?

"We are watching them to make sure there is no trouble at all, Karron," the guard said and Cerridwen pursed her lips to subdue a snicker.

Were Tarron and Karron siblings or was it just an unfortunate naming situation in a tiny city? Either way...it was funny.
 
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Tarron and Karron, Fynaurie thought to herself. She brought a hand up to cover her mouth, squeezing her lips shut.

Fynaurie latched onto the fact that she was going to be held responsible for any trouble that came about today. It should have been a sobering thought, but the floral gin drink packed a bit of a punch.

Fynaurie reached out to place her free hand on the table next to where her glaive rested. She thought it was subtle. The guards didn't.

"Easy now," said the first. The second stood up from the table to make a point.
 
Cerridwen put one hand on Fynaurie's shoulder and the other went to her belt so she could grab her dagger quickly if need be.

"We did not come here for trouble," Cerridwen spoke up finally. "We just have not met any humans before..."

She was not sure if they would believe her. It did sound preposterous that these two young elves had never met a human. They were young and they had both spent the majority of their lives in training.

"I can guarantee that neither Fynaurie or I killed your mother..."
 
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Fynaurie liked to think in fanciful ways. Reality was always more hard work than imagination. It involved long hours and sweat and - generally - being shouted at.

Fynaurie had imagined the humans being utterly mystified by the arrival of elves from the sky, riding in on their resplendent eagles. They might have been shown some of their ways, she might have flirted a bit with a rugged local farm hand.

Instead it was this. Her heart racing and not in a good way. Adrenaline was building and it was going to give her an awful headache if nothing came of this stand off.

"Like that fucking matters if it was..."

"Hey," the guard was more insistent with his tone now. The second one was on his feet. He blocked Fynaurie and Cerridwen Brannick from standing up. The first placed a hand on Tarron's - or it might have been Karron's - chest.

Fynaurie was fixed by a stare. She'd never seen so much hatred in anyone's eyes before. And it had certainly never been directed at her.

"We should go," she murmured quietly.
 
Fynaurie's murmur was the only sound in the tavern. It was silent as everyone watched and waited for the next move. Would the elves try to fight their way out of here? Would Tarron and Karron get their way? Would the guards do anything? Cerridwen could see those questions and more in the eyes of the patrons as she looked around.

"Yes, I think we should," she said in an equally quiet voice. She removed her hand from the dagger and raised it before taking the other off Fynaurie's shoulder. She knew this to be the universal symbol of I am unarmed.

"Could you please escort us back to the gate and you will never see us again," she asked one of the guards in her most diplomatic voice.
 
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"Yes, let's go," agreed the guard.

"Yeah fuck off!" chimed one of the two men.

Was this what humans were like? Fynaurie felt the shock of the situation being tempered by logic. Her own people had stayed isolated from the world at large for hundreds of years.

She could not say that none of her own people would not be capable of acting like this. Perhaps it would be subtle comments and wordplay instead of the aggression and swearing, but the intention would be the same.

Fynaurie felt something hit her face. It was wet. She brought her fingers up to her cheek as she realised what had happened: one of them had spat on her.

Her pale cheeks went bright red. Her jaw clenched tight in anger. The act was so disgusting she lost all control in a flash.

There was a rustle of wind as her magic matched her feelings. She darted forwards, placed a hand on the guards shoulder and used him for leverage as she balled her other hand into a fist.

She moved too quickly for the guards to stop her. The man who had spat at her fell away, blood streaming from the nose Fynaurie struck.
 
Cerridwen walked with her shoulders back and her chin up like someone who was on the way to the gallows but believed in her cause. She saw Fynaurie touch her cheek before the wind whipped through her red hair.

"Fuck," she said softly as she saw her partner move in a flash. She was not fast enough to stop Fynaurie from punching the man (she had no idea which one it was) but she was able to pull the woman into her arms before the guards or the other man could get to her. Fynaurie's back was to Cerridwen's chest as she held her and whispered into her ear. "It's okay, we are going. Calm down, Fyn," she cooed in a soft voice.

She sent her own magic over the turmoil that writhed around Fynaurie in an attempt to calm her. "Call Vaxor and let's get the fuck out of here before we have to be rescued..."
 
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Fynaurie realised that she actually snarled like an animal against Cerridwen's restraint. Shame was enough to calm her down and she stopped trying to pull away from the elf.

"All of you out!" Declared the innkeeper above the ruckus.

Fynaurie and the guards realised that elves and troublemakers would be leaving together. One of them turned and faced the elves, ready to stop fynuaire. The other one started to shove the two men out, even as the one with a bleeding nose needed help getting back to his feet.

"Yeah, let's go," Fynaurie replied. Her heart was hammering away. Her hands were shaking. She wiped her cheek with her sleeve.
 
Cerridwen finally let go of Fynaurie but not all the way. She still held her partner's hand in her own though. At least she could try to hold on to Fynaurie if she tried to punch someone again.

The two followed the guards towards the gate in silence. She was extra alert as they walked. She did not know if the idiots in the tavern were the only ones who hated their kind and she would rather not find out.

"Um...thank you for your kindness," she offered as the group got to the gate. "Sorry about causing problems. We really did not mean to. We truly wanted to meet some humans."
 
"This is...not the sort of town for outsiders to visit," one of the guards said. His words were not unkind, but there was enough for the elves to know that their invitation within the walks had been revoked.

Fynaurie turned on her heel and started walking down the dust path at a brisk pace. She carried her glaive tucked under one arm. Her other hand was balled into a fist. It trembled.

"We just wanted to see something new," she said under her breath, voice tight. She would whistle for Vaxor, but she didn't feel like doing anything other than putting one foot in front of the other right now.
 
"Fyn..." Cerridwen said as they exited under the town's gate and away from their misadventure.

"Hey, I am so sorry that I even suggested this," she said as she finally let go of her partner's hand.

"I just...I just wanted to explore and I got you caught up in it..."

She did feel terrible but, at the same time, she was also glad they came. Humans were clearly terrible.
 
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"I got me caught up in it," she said firmly.

"You might have, you know, really put the direction on it but we'd been talking around it. You didn't hit someone."

Fynaurie tugged off a glove so she could whistle. She didn't call Vaxor just yet. She wanted to walk for a few minutes until some of these feelings ebbed. If she didn't, she knew she would be shaking and crying into Vaxor's feathers.
 
Cerridwen could tell that Fynaurie was upset and she was unsure of what she could do to help. She turned back to look at the town so she could make sure they were far enough away from spying eyes.

She put her hand on her parents bicep to stop her from walking. Once they were both stopped, Cerridwen stepped in front of Fynaurie and pulled the girl into a hug.

"Everything is going to be okay, I am here and no one was hurt," she said into the white blonde locks of the elf she was holding. "No one who didn't deserve it at least."
 
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Fynaurie went quite still in the hug. A slender length of elf wrapped up in Cerridwen's arms. She exhaled sharply, resting her head on Cerridwen's shoulder and embracing her back.

She didn't want to feel this way. Too many emotions, all of them hitting her far too acutely.

The next breath was a slow, stuttered sigh. Fynaurie deflated even further against her.

"Yeah," she went quietly. "That one deserved it."

She couldn't remember hearing of an elf spitting on another like that. There was something so violently degrading about it. She grit her teeth together just thinking about it again.
 
Cerridwen held her partner there in silence for a few minutes. She breathed in the scent of Fynaurie's hair and smiled. She smelled like a flower that Cerridwen could not seem to put her finger on but it was nice. It was soft with a hint of edge like its wearer.

"We do not have to go back yet, Fyn," she said into the girls white hair. "We can just go fly somewhere and I don't know...go hiking?"

Cerridwen was not sure why that was her suggestion but she did not want to go back yet. She did not want to get chewed out or assigned to a new partner so soon. She did not want to leave Fynaurie.
 
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"I feel a little better," she admitted. Fynaurie sounded and felt a little surprised that a long hug had been enough to let some of the feelings bleed away.

She still felt those things. Anger, dissapointment, shame and just a general pain down in her gut. They were all there, just far less acute than before.

She rubbed Cerridwen's back as she leaned back and took in a deep breath. Fynaurie still sniffed a little bit.

"Yeah...yeah..." she agreed, nodding her head. She looked back up at the mountains and the terrain around them.

"Let's get up high," she said. Something about being elevated from this place would feel good. "Look for a hill or plateau north and take that wall."

Fynaurie took two steps back and brought fingers to her lips to whistle hard. She turned in a circle slowly, looking for the dark speck on the horizon.
 
Cerridwen smiled as Fynaurie agreed that not going back was the correct idea. She was glad they were on the same page.

Her partner whistled and started to turn to look for Vaxor. She was excited to fly again but more excited to spend time getting to know her new partner and not getting them into any further trouble.

“How does he know your whistle?” Cerridwen asked as they waited for their ride.
 
"You have to get past the fact that a proud rohk does not like being trained to come when you whistle," Fynaurie said. She was able to smile, but not quite laugh. Not yet.

"You get nipped quite a lot along the way. I guess they can recognise sounds really well and from far away. A lot of the sounds they make sound the same to me, but they're always vocal to each other."

She dropped her glaive and lifted two hands in balled fists. If Vaxor wasn't in a troublesome mood he would land.

The great Eagle was receptive, spreading his wings and extended enormous legs to cushion his landing.

Vaxor tilted his head to one side as he inspected Fynaurie. Whilst they didn't think much about the social affairs of elves, he was not oblivious to her moods.

"Don't ask," Fynaurie muttered as she mounted up.
 
Cerridwen chuckled at Fynaurie's words to Vaxor.

She stroked his soft feathers before whispering to him, "she punched a human."

Cerridwen did not say anything else before she followed Fynaurie up onto Vaxor's back.

"I bet human children would like Vaxor," she commented absently as she held on to her partner in anticipation for lift off.
 
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"Don't look at me like that," Fynaurie said to Vaxor. Clearly he had understood Cerridwen's explanation from the way he looked back at her curiously.

If this got back to the rest of their

"But they would have liked him," she said, letting go of reins long enough to stroke through his feathers.

A thought occurred to her, to fly over the town so they could see Vaxor. It was was immediately dismissed. They would see it as a threatening gesture.

As soon as they had ridden a thermal up and they were gliding she felt a little better. A little less like she was being twisted up from the middle.

"Somewhere flat or a bit of terrain?" She called over her shoulder.
 
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