Private Tales Staying Low

[Kaeda Wynlen]

Tessa gathered from Arwyl's words that elves had many different cultures. It was not so different from the humans in that way. She had met travelers from other areas that were as much of a mystery as elves were to her. It was fascinating but also confusing.

"I have never really listened to music..." Tessa confessed.

She had heard it at festivals or in the taverns sometimes but she didn't listen. She was always busy on the farm so the few times she was able to go into town, she had other things on her mind.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"We have...music," Arwyl said, not sounding entirely convinced.

"We have as good as you can get when you get a group of mercenaries and former slaves around a fire in the evening."

Arwyl slowed his pace. It was something he had rarely considered. They had been desperate just to get some farming running and to make some shelter.

Faced with that thought, Arwyl was struck by the weight of the task. At first he had just lashed out in rage. Now he was trying to build something. He still hadn't considered just what it is that he was trying to rebuild.

 

[Kaeda Wynlen]

Tessa let out a small huff. She was sure it was terrible or it could be wonderful but she guess terrible by Arwyl's extremely unconvincing reassurance that they had music.

Her own pace slowed with his and she could tell something was on his mind all of a sudden.

"Are you alright, Arwyl? You look like you have suddenly been struck with a great burden..." She smiled at him and gently rubbed his bicep in comfort.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

Arwyl tilted his head from side to side. There was no point in reaching for anything other than honesty, he decided.

"It's just...I felt very proud of myself for changing my life. Went from lashing out at the humans to trying to rebuild. When you ask about our culture I realise that the progress we've made has just been to survive. Rebuilding a whole culture though..."

He looked to Tessa, wearing a concerned frown.

"That's so much bigger."

 

[Kaeda Wynlen]

They had been traveling long enough that they could afford a break and this was a conversation that Arwyl needed to have. Tessa took his hand and led him over to a cluster of trees that seemed to provide the perfect little shaded area to rest for a bit. She sat and pulled him down with her. Her legs were straight out in front of her as she settled her back against a tree trunk.

Once Arwyl was comfortable, she started to speak on his worries. "I do not know much about culture or what you have been doing but you need to give yourself more credit, Arwyl. Start at the beginning..."

He had mentioned that he had lost his city and they were trying to rebuild a city and he had sprinkled in other random details but perhaps if he told her the whole story, he would be able to understand that he was doing a great job. Tessa was also very curious about all the details herself.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

Arwyl was surprised when she led, rather than followed. It was that streak of arrogance that always had him believing that the weight was upon his shoulders and it was his decisions that made or broke his people. Leaning on others had been harder than simply failing for many years.

Arwyl sat on the ground, legs crossed as she prompted him to explain his history in more detail. Several expressions crossed his face, but it was clear that reaching back to the beginning wasn't pleasant.

"Kiervarn stood for ten thousand years. I only knew it was seventeen years. I barely remember my father, but my mother was the warrior queen who defied Vel Anir. I think she died fighting on the walls before the city fell."

 

[Kaeda Wynlen]

Tessa took his hand again. She hoped that the connection would, perhaps, ground him and remind him that he was not alone here.

She was new to this group. New to him. She owed him her life and the least she could was help him see that he was great and he had done so much good. She wanted to help him see that she was here for him like he had been for her.

"Your mother sounds like she was an amazing woman and she raised an amazing man," there was a pause as she squeezed his hand. They were both orphans.

"It was Vel Anir who attacked the city?" Tessa asked as a prompt for him to continue. She had no idea if Vel Anir was a city, a person, or a group but it was something important here.