Private Tales The Quiet In-between

[Monty]

Her shoulders shrugged. Fingers itched at her sides. She wanted to light up another spice stick. But she refrained. She needed a clear head right now.

"Walking never bothered me." She'd walked miled being in the service of the Allirian Rangers. And even more miles on horseback. But she'd always thought a walk in the woods was settling. Something about it just seemed to re-orient her. In fact, if she was in the city for too long, she always craved a little break in nature. And she had to wonder if that was her half-elf side or just her personality.

A look to her companion. Interest and curiosity flitting in her golden eyes. "How will you...can you talk or summon animals?"

 

[Tinúviel]

His eyes glanced over her rather quickly, rather inconspicuously too. He was nothing if not observant after all his years, and he was quick to make a determination about his new friend - she was far more troubled by her past than she wanted to let on, and she used crutches no one could really see.

He'd walked a similar road, once.

He smiled, and gestured for her to follow and he started forward to lead them out of the village and on the path leading toward the Falwood to the south.

He offered a kind laugh, and replied saying, "no, not exactly either. I can communicate with them in a very... intimate way. You see, my people are telepathic, and we have mastered the ability of sharing our minds with beasts of the wild. They come to trust us, and will aid us," he smiled to her, "and you would be surprised just how intelligent some creatures actually are. If only they could speak, more would see."

They wouldn't need to travel very far from where they were before they'd reach a major trade-route. After that, it was only a matter of time before a carriage or a caravan would come passing through for them to find transport until they reached the forest.

---

Monty ​

 

[Monty]

A shake of her head with a crooked smile. "I believe it. One of the rangers that survived in my unit, Keeley, has a way with animals." She was also full-elf. "Made it look easy and she was always so...gentle with them." Monty wasn't a very gentle person. Perhaps that's why she'd been promoted to command so quickly.

And why she was always thankful for folks like Keeley to work with.

Walking along the road she looked over her shoulder at the rattle of a cart coming down the path. Eyes swept the drivers quickly. Looked like a husband and wife. Farmers and human. Definitely humble folk. She stuck out her arm and waved.

"Oy, can we catch a ride? We can pay you some coin!"

They looked amenable enough, though as the cart grew closer it looked like they'd be sitting in the back with a flock of chickens.

 

[Tinúviel]

The couple looked between each other, giving one another that quiet look that only a married couple would know. Tinúviel had seen it on many faces, and he couldn't help the half smile that grew on his lips every time he saw it. Then, after only a moment, the pair looked to them again as they rolled up and said, "well, we ain't got much for ya, but you can ride in the back if you like."

Tinúviel smiled at them and waved while saying his thanks, and then moved to get himself up into the back. After hoisting himself in, he offered his hand and pulled Monty in if she needed or wanted such help. Then, after they were both nicely aboard the carriage started off again. So there, in the midst of squawking hens they rolled along the rocky road.

"So, where is your friend Keeley now?"

---

Monty ​

 

[Monty]

She gladly took his hand. She didn’t feel like she needed to prove herself to anyone. And her position made most pride she had die real quick. Most of it.

She sat with her back against one side of the cart, carefully avoiding the chicken droppings among the scattered straw and feed that blanketed their ride. One knee popped up. The other spread out. An amused chuckle as a chicken hopped up on her downed leg.

Eyes drifted easily back to Tinuviel. “She and another broke off to warn Alliria. In case the remains of the troops and the dragon went that way.” Worry for her fellows could not be hidden from her face for a very real moment.

“Since most didn’t go toward Alliria, I think they had more than a good chance of making it.” That was the hard part about being a leader. She wasn’t just in charge of her own life anymore. It was all the others.

A weight that had never sat easily on her shoulders.

“Do you have any friends in the Falwood I should know about?”

 

[Tinúviel]

“Do you have any friends in the Falwood I should know about?”

"Not exactly..."
​

---

Tinúviel spoke vaguely, but he spoke of a dark, and terrible curse. He told her how it had befallen his lands, and his people, and how many of them had perished when it came. Almost all who remained of his kind had returned to their home, but there were some like him who had not. But he, like all his people, suffered in exile. He told of how the curse came because of their own folly, and that until they could undo the darkness they would have to live in exile, in shame of what they'd allowed to bring about.

By the way he spoke it was likely relatively easy to tell he was, for himself, rather disinterested in that final notion. How were they to undo what had been done if they could not seek the aid of their kin? How could they expect to move forward?

He himself had broken the exile in the past, and even traveled to the ancestral city, which was strictly forbidden... but much had changed as of late, changes which he neglected to mention.

"I... mostly adhere to the wishes of my people, but some things cannot be helped," he smiled, and then turned his head to look off into the surround. The evening was upon them, and he could see the thick of the forest in the distance, "ah! We'll not need to burden these kind people much longer..."

---

Monty ​

 

[Monty]

She looked over her shoulder in the growing darkness. The Falwood. Surprisingly, she’d never been. She wasn’t about to admit that, though.

Her boot shifted as one of the chickens tried pecking at it. “For what it’s worth. If you ever wish to return. I’ll help you where I can.”

She was no curse breaker. But maybe. Maybe they’d met each other for a reason. The cart slowed as the road curved away from the Falwood. Monty stood, brushing the straw and grain from her pants and hopped down. Digging out a coin from her pocket, she offered it up to the couple. The man shook his head.

“T weren’t no trouble. Best of the luck the rest of your journey.”

It was perhaps a small miracle to run into humans like these so close to Vel Anir when it came to elves. Maybe the revolution has done much to change hearts in a short amount of time. Or maybe she and Tinu had just been lucky.