Fate - First Reply I Do Not See You For What You Are

[He Who Chews The Flowers]

Ixchel Wilds - Just South of the Ixchel North Stone.

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A night as so many were. Black as pitch with the moon shutting its eye almost entirely. Cicada song and the call of wolves filled the air so that the sinister silence it would bring could not find a foothold. The Ixchel Wilds acted as an amphitheater for all things uncivilized to perform, and they were not performers who squandered the opportunity. Together they blanketed the dead of night with their dirges so that the undead and the unknown could find no comfort here.

He Who Chews The Flowers found great comfort in it, himself. They were all neighbors to him. They had shared meals and laid in the same leaves. They were family as a far as he was concerned. And though his thundering footsteps brought alarm to the animals when they first heard them, there was no real fear in their attention. ‘Oh, it’s him’ was as far as their awareness went. For they knew if he went unbothered then so would they.

The lumbering beast made way through the woods as he always did. No plans beyond that of finding a meal or if he was lucky; a camping adventurer who would tell him stories of their quests.

He loved those stories. People were so brave.

For now, he walked with booming footsteps, awaiting whatever this night may bring him.

 

[Leilani Taevas]

The Ixchel Wilds were once part of the Avariel’s sphere of influence. Or so the stories said. That was likely centuries, maybe even millennia ago. If it was ever really true.

Her scouting expedition had taught Leilani one thing though. The Ixchel Wilds would, at no point in her life time, ever be part of Thyasari’s territory again.

‘Go to the Ixchel Wilds Leilani,’ the Elder had said, ‘we haven’t properly documented those lands in centuries.’

Idiot.

If not for her wings she’d likely have been maimed or eaten six times over by now. And as night had fallen the awful groans and ruckus that came from the various beasts that called this foul place home only disturbed her further.

It was almost like a song though. Like a twisted and awful song that the creatures performed. For a few seconds it distracted her so badly that she almost didn’t see the monstrosity that towered above the other woodland creatures and practically shook the firmament with each step he took.

”Dear gods!” she shrieked as she tried to gain altitude to get as far away from that frightening beast as possible.

 

[He Who Chews The Flowers]

He walked with almost no interruption the entire evening. It had been a peaceful one. He liked the peaceful ones. There were days when the bravest adventurers would come and try to best a beast that lived in this place. Sometimes that beast was him. Those were harder days.

His thundering steps almost drowned out her voice. But he heard it. He looked upward to see the avariel flying up and away from him. He reached a hand upward to wave.

"Huuuuumannn... Winggggggeeddd?"

He hadn't seen one of her kind before. He didn't know humans could fly. How interesting!

 

[Leilani Taevas]

The voice took her by such a surprise that she nearly gave herself whiplash stopping and twisting in midair.

That monstrous creature below her had spoken. How? Out here in the wilds she assumed there was no measure of decorum. No semblance of civilization. But the hulking thing down below had just shattered every preconceived notions she entered this place with.

Her midnight-violet wings fluttered slowly as she simply maintained her position. "Hello?" A gentle wave followed to return the abomination's gesture below.

This... whatever it was... needed to be documented. It was the first truly interesting thing she'd seen in the Ixchel Wilds so far. Leilani wasn't sure if she was more annoyed at that or more annoyed that the creature had called her human.

 

[He Who Chews The Flowers]

His head tilted sideways as he lowered his waving hand. She was so curious. He’d never seen anything like her before. He hoped she wasn’t here to hurt him.

In arduous movement, He turned his whole body to face her. He wasn’t sure the best way to get her to approach him. He wanted to know about her but she was probably afraid of him. Everyone seemed to be afraid of him.

His skeletal jaw moved without a word for a moment. It was grinding against itself with a terrible scratching sound as he searched for the right words. The ones he knew, at least.

“Hellloooooooo? I frieeeeennndd.“

He wrenched his jagged arm to point at himself with his poor joints. Pieces of bramble and driftwood shattered off from over his skin as his armor decayed just from the simple movement.

Leilani Taevas

 

[Leilani Taevas]

Leilani fluttered slightly closer to the strange creature.

Briefly she wondered if he'd learned to imitate language in order to lure in prey. That thought was dismissed quickly as she reckoned that sentient species passing through these parts was so rare that an ability to mindlessly mimic speech wouldn't be all that helpful as just simply killing one's prey.

Her nose scrunched as the thing spoke once more. "Friend," she repeated. Clearly he'd spoken to someone, or something, before her. Still, felt better to keep her distance. At least for now.

"Do you understand me?" A brow inched up as she contemplated moving lower and into the treeline.

 

[He Who Chews The Flowers]

At her question he did his best to nod. It did come off eerie, and his creaking neck gave the portent of something monstrous. Every move he made sounded like a threat even though he didn’t mean it to.

He began to kneel as to make himself smaller. Sometimes people were afraid of him due to his size and he learned to lessen his presence in order to boost success in having conversation. It didn’t always work but it had increased the percentages.

If he remembered correctly, there was pear trees in this area. He looked back up at her from her crouching position.

“Youuuu flyyyy longggg? Areeee youuuu hungerrr?”

His tenuous grasp on humanoid languages was still better than most monsters in the area. He’d heard it spoke for a lot of years. His biggest hindrance being his inability to read.

Leilani Taevas

 

[Leilani Taevas]

There was no longer any doubt in her mind. Whatever this thing was it was intelligent.

He finished speaking and had knelt down to diminish his size. A clear sign that he wasn't intentionally trying to be threatening. Or, so she assumed. Slowly she lowered herself until her leather boots made contact with the soft soil of the Ixchel Wilds forest.

Once landed she gave her wings a stretch before folding them behind her back. "I can fly quite long." Truthfully flight was one thing she had a leg up on over most other Avariel. Frequently winning races due to her speed without sacrificing very much endurance. "Not hunger."

She was certain this creature was intelligent but she wasn't certain if he'd mastered language. She'd eaten her rations earlier and didn't want to entertain the possibility that he wanted to share some abhorrent food with her.

"I'm Leilani," she said while pointing towards herself. "Who are you?" A finger pointed towards the strange thing before her.

 

[He Who Chews The Flowers]

Leilani. He wouldn’t try to repeat it. He didn’t think he could say it correctly. It was a nice name. People always had such nice names. He looked at her and scratched his head as if he was trying to consider her question deeply.

“I… Don‘t knooowww. A man. He haaad a laaarggeee axxxeeee. He calllllled me ‘He Who Chews The Flowers.”

This array of words flowed easier from the monsters lips. This was a statement practiced. Something he had said dozens of times to numerous people. He liked saying this phrase. It was one he was confident in.

He stood up then, his hulking frame rising high and meeting nigh halfway up a nearby tree. His creaking arm pointed towards the left of where they stood.

“It isssssss niiiiccccceeee toooo meeeet youuuuuuu. Thereeeee isssss fruiiittt. Yelllllasssrr. Ssssooooffft. Smaalll.”

He couldn’t pronounce the color right which shot a pang of embarrassment across his skeletal features.

Leilani Taevas

 

[Leilani Taevas]

The big oaf before her didn’t even have a name? Just one given to him by some passing axer it sounded like. And the thing before her had proven it’s intellect once more. Far more intelligent than she had assumed just a few seconds ago.

It had proven it had self awareness. It understood the concept of names. It offered a formal greeting and a gift.

Based on all of that information she would have to stop thinking of him as an it.

”It’s nice to meet you too He Who Chews The Flowers. That’s a long name,” she said with a warm smile, ”do you mind if I simply call you Flowers?”

It wasn’t the best nickname but it would suffice for now. It was certainly better than constantly referring to him as an entity without a proper name though.

”Pears.” A finger pointed at the fruits he referenced. ”We, or at least my people, call those pears.” She made a gesture towards her stomach and added. ”Thank you, I’m not hungry though. If you are, you should eat though.”

She almost immediately regretted her choice of words. Surely he wasn’t going to try and eat her but she had almost forgotten just how dangerous and deadly the Ixchel Wilds could be. Best not to let her guard slip, at least not yet.

 

[He Who Chews The Flowers]

“Flowerrrss.”

He said like an echo chamber, scratching again at his head.

“Yessssss. Thhhaasssttss a nicccceeee name.” This was new to him. He didn’t know what this meant. He thought a moment about this new title while a crow flew down and landed on his shoulder, pecking pieces of bark to take home to its nest.

As she asked about the food, he panicked a little. She couldn‘t see him eat. She would leave. Just like the others were. She was nice. He didn’t want her to leave. He shook his head rather aggressively, enough so that the crow flew away in a frenzy and the sound of other animals fleeing came as well.

“No no no no no no no no no no no no.” He spoke quick and frantic as his head shook.

“I no eaaaatt. Thennnnn youuuu haaateee meeeeeee.”

Leilani Taevas

 

[Leilani Taevas]

Her lips twisted in confusion as both a crow seemed to peck at his skin, she assumed it was his skin, and he insisted he not eat in front of her. She thought about addressing the crow but the concept of him eating changed his entire body language.

”I won’t hate you.”

Her words were stern, yet kind, as she puzzled over the bizarre creature before her. ”What if I eat too? Then neither of us can hate each other.”

Leilani still wasn’t sure why he thought she’d hate him if she saw him eat but Flowers was proving to be a very peculiar beast. Before giving him much of a chance to respond she spread her wings once more and flew over to the tree with the pears. Plucking two that looked ripe enough to eat.

Soar just over his head she extended an arm to offer one of the pears. ”Here,” she said warmly, ”take it.”

 

[He Who Chews The Flowers]

She didn't understand. She was trying to be kind, but He was frazzled by the thought. All who'd seen him eat had hated him. It wasn't just that he'd been eating,

"I caaannooootttt." He said as he took a few steps away from Leilani. He back pedaled too far, having forgotten how much distance his steps covered, and walked backwards into the tree behind him. The arboreal things that remained in it fled from his impact and the entire tree shook. He continued to shake his head.

"I cannnoottt eaaat theee yellorrreeee fruiiiit. I haaaveee tooo eaaaat meeeeaaattt."

Leilani Taevas

 

[Leilani Taevas]

"Oh." Her voice was even toned and calm.

This creature was a carnivore. Moreover a carnivore with manners. He didn't want to eat her, or at least she continued to presume so, but he also didn't want her to witness him eating.

"I'm sorry. It's OK, you don't have to eat."

She took a small nibble at the fleshy pear in her palm and looked up at the wendigo before her. "This is very good though, thanks for letting me know it's here." She considered herself for a moment before proceeding. "What kind of meat do you eat?"

It was at least somewhat obvious that he didn't eat sentient beings but she was having a harder and harder time imagining Flowers killing any creature at all.

 

[He Who Chews The Flowers]

He should be honest. He liked it when people were honest with him. Even if it was mean, at least he knew what was going on in their head.

He was abysmal at reading people. The wendigo was unaware of how emotions worked inside of humans and others. Did they work like his? He didn't know. He didn't know. He didn't know.

She was being so kind to him when she didn't have to, and he was so scared to tell her the truth. He had to tell her the truth. He had to.

He was still breathing okay, and his anxiety hadn't flared up too bad. He was incapable of meeting her eyes.

"I eaaaattt thheee deaaaddd. I ddddooooonnttt liiike eaatiing theee livvinngg."

 

[Leilani Taevas]

Oh.

So he was a scavenger. Like the buzzards who sometimes soared high enough to perch on the lower levels of Thyasari. Leilani wasn't surprised by the fact that many might find such an act disgusting but she was a member of The Watchers. Collecting information was important to the Avariel and thus she'd seen things far worse than normal digestive behaviors.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of," her words were gentle and measured, "everyone likes different foods."

She took another bite of the pear she'd grabbed and sat herself on a tree limb, letting her black wings dangle behind her. "How old are you Flowers?"

 

[He Who Chews The Flowers]

She was so nice. He wanted to be her friend. He hoped that she had stories! Her words calmed him from his impending anxiety attack, and his body visibly relaxed when she said that. He let out a rotten, breathy sigh that shifted the air with fetid wind. Eating the dead didn’t leave you with pleasant breath.

Another head scratch at her question. Did he know this one? He didn’t think he’d ever been asked that before.

He shook his head back and forth, much slower this time.

“I doooo nooottt knowww what ‘ooowwouuulld‘ issssss.”

 

[Leilani Taevas]

A tilt of her head was followed by scrunched lips.

He didn’t understand the question because he didn’t count his age? Or because no one had ever asked? It posed several questions as Leilani wondered if she’d bother keeping track of her age if she wasn’t part of Avariel society.

”It means how many years since you were born,” she explained before recognizing that he may not understand a year. ”My people keep track of how many years we have been alive.”

The question didn’t really matter, it was just her own curiosity boiling over.

 

[He Who Chews The Flowers]

He shook his head again. He was embarrassed that he didn’t know the answer, but he didn’t. Time was not a sense he had. He knew that it got dark and it got light. And he moved much quicker when it was night time! It seemed to give him strength.

“I appppolllloooogiiizzzee. Heeerreeee. I shooowww yoooouuu soooomethinnggg.”

She was asking questions and being nice. And he could do something really cool! He wanted to show her. Maybe she would think it was really cool, too.

He looked upward to the sky and began to open his mouth. Clearer than he ever had before, he spoke.

“Wind and thorn of Mother’s nest. Grant me peace upon thine breast. I ask of thee, your blessed soil. Let me breathe your divine breath.”

His voice was unlike it had been before. It did not hold the same rasp when he sang the poem. Instead it was hefty, as a blacksmith’s would be. A confidence unlike his previous demeanor oozed out from the words. It was as if he’d been born speaking these words.

As soon as the poem finished, the creatures around them large and small began to howl and yell. It didn’t seem fearful, however. They sounded excited. Ready for something.

In the same moment, all the flora around them began to expand. The moss on the trees tripled in size. The patchy grass grew long and a deep green. Color leapt back into dying plants and leaves; it was all growing twenty years worth in a matter of seconds.

He was watching it all take place. A huge smile across his face as he grabbed at stray ghost orchids from the tree, and chomped on them happily.

 

[Leilani Taevas]

Before her eyes Leilani saw the forest vibrant into life. With a clear and beautiful voice the creature before her spoke words into power and the vegetation seemed to sing along with all of the wildlife. This was precisely the sort of thing the Elder Council would want to know.

An absolutely fascinating display that made her question whether or not creatures like Flowers might inhabit all corners of Arethil. Nurturing the natural world itself. Coaxing plants to life for the fauna's sustenance.

"That was amazing."

Her voice was alit and her face glowed. She allowed her wings to flutter behind her as she descended from the tree limb to stand just on the outskirt of a bed of flowers. It became a challenge though as more and more of the white-and-purple flowers continued to sprout up from the soil.

The Avariel looked up at the wendigo. "How often do you do that? How do you do that!?" Her words were buzzing as she witnessed his special brand of strange magic.

 

[He Who Chews The Flowers]

The magic continued on its own, rising the growth on the ground to near overhead heights for any normal humanoid. It did seem as if He had some control over it as the ground around he and Leilani never seemed to grow to a height that would suffocate her.

He crouched low to be on her level and reached a hand to pick some of the white and purple flowers.

“I liiiike theeeseee oneeesss beeessstt.”

He then put an entire handful into his mouth and began to chew, as was his namesake. His face changed, turning more content. And he let out a sigh that showed his temperament become a great deal calmer.

“I doooo notttt knowwww whereee theeeee magiccccc caaammee frommmmm. I thhiiinnk ittttt is ffffaeeeeerrriiiieeee magggiiiicccc. I haaave alllwaaaysss doneeee thhhiisss. Ittt brriiinggss greeeaaatt coooommffooortt tooo meeee.”

 

[Leilani Taevas]

Oh. That was where his name came from! How clever.

”They’re lovely flowers,” she said, ”they taste good?” The answer had to be yes if they were the ones he liked best but it didn’t hurt to ask.

Fae magic? Interesting. Leilani knew little of the fae other than that they existed. Truthfully there wasn’t much the Avariel had on the fae either, much like their own race the fae seemed to be isolationist. Or so she was told in school.

A smile only grew as he talked about the comfort it brought him. ”Seems to comfort all of the wilds.” It was hard not to notice the various birds, deer, and other creatures that were suddenly grazing on everything that Flowers had just sprouted from the soil.

 

[He Who Chews The Flowers]

He continued to chow down on the various flowers that surrounded him. He would never swallow them, however. Opting to spit them out like sunflower seeds. He knew he was unable to digest them. Only flesh was digestible for him. A woe He carried heavy on his shoulders. He would have much rather been a vegetarian and eaten only flowers. Alas…

He looked at the winged woman curiously once more. One thing didn’t make sense to him still. This was Ixchel. Only the brave and the foolhardy came to this place. So,

”Whyyyy iissss ittt thatttt youuuuu areeee hereeee, frrrieeenddd?”

 

[Leilani Taevas]

The towering wendigo spat the partially chewed flowers as he nibbled. His namesake just kept making more and more sense.

Then he asked his question. A fair one, a question she'd even asked herself. "I am a Watcher," she answered honestly. Of course, she'd likely leave out some of what her job entailed but at least for this assignment it was fairly straightforward. "My people task me with collecting information so that we can learn more about Arethil."

Of course what they did with that information was up to the Elder Council. She mostly reported on threats to Thyasari's security or suspicious folk wandering around the lower city now that it had been opened up to non-Avariel.

The Ixchel Wilds was simply a land that hadn't been charted by the winged elves in generations.

 

[He Who Chews The Flowers]

She called herself a watcher. Some term he had never heard before, even in his four centuries. But her race was new to him altogether so perhaps it was only relevant in their circles.

And it sounded like she probably had a lot of stories!

"A Waasschhhyyyrreee youuu saaayyyy?" It was a strange one to say.

"Wheeeereeee alll haaaaaveee youuu beeeeen?"