Private Tales Where Am I??

[Fynaurie]

"Stop being grumpy?" She asked rhetorically. Well at least he hadn't asked for a smile to brighten his day. She knew she wasn't exactly making herself the best company. He hadn't asked her to get involved. It was still all his fault though.

She distracted herself from her own irritation by picturing a place so warm. It was difficult to imagine a place you could be hot in nothing but your own skin. Hard to imaging being warm in anything less than two layers.

"We don't deal with outsiders very much," she said when the silence felt as if it had been stretched too far.

"Why did you go into a portal stone anyway?" She asked. The cold didn't seem to bite into her slender frame much at all. She was used to snow covered mountaintop and serious altitude.

Fynaurie stood and edged towards Vaxor to fetch that blanket.

 

[Kazar]

She was both difficult to read and not. He could tell right away she was grumpy, but she didn’t quite realize why. That grumpiness soon gave way to more subtleties on her face just barely highlighted by the glow of the flames. Kazar had the sudden desire to grin, but he bit back from it. Silence was not uncomfortable for him, and he entertained himself by warming his hands over the fire.

Her question caused his jaw to tighten slightly. A thousand memories and stories reflected upon the subtle details of his face, brows leveling and his eyes gazing harshly into the fire.

“I deserted my post as a soldier,” He stated flatly. Kazar was surprised at saying those words aloud - it was the first time he accepted that fact enough to say them. He certainly couldn’t utter those words in Amol Kalit. Kazar grabbed a nearby stick and idly poked at the fire, taking a moment to let his face relax from the twinges of rage betrayed in it.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any need of a mercenary would you?” He looked up at her with a faint grin, “I’m pretty handy with a sword, you know.”

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

"We don't really have...outsiders...back home..."

Fynaurie was taken aback by the admission. Desertion. Her parents had both been Sky Dragoons. She was a dragoon too. Her people were insular and the only community she had ever known.

Fynaurie shirked her worst responsibilities whenever she could, but the idea of entirely abandoning her post or her people was completely...

It was unthinkable.

"Why would you desert?" She asked bluntly. If he couldn't be trusted to do his duties as a soldier, how could he be trusted at all?

 

[Kazar]

Kazar’s immediate reaction was rage, but he kept it from boiling over. Who the hell was she to judge him on his life choices? Did he not just help her fend off against a monster? The part giant looked away from meeting her gaze, staring at the flames. How much of his rage was at her audacity at asking the question compared to rage at himself? The tone of her voice when she asked that question stung more than she would ever know.

His nostrils flared slightly and he slowly exhaled, reeling back his thoughts. He was projecting. She had every right to ask after he stated it so bluntly. Why the hell did he even share that detail?

He looked into the fire as vivid memories of that fateful day played out in his mind. He had been amidst the lines of soldiers standing in the face of Drakormir’s assault on Amol Kalit. In the flames he could see the scenes of the Emperor who called himself a god then striking down one of his advisors, a priestess that had shown nothing but unconditional loyalty. It was all in a fit of blind rage, all from the despair he felt at the loss of a friend. It was all something only a mortal could feel. The Emperor then abandoned his people entirely, leaving a vacuum behind. Kazar wanted to tell her all this, wanted to tell her the vivid details, wanted to vent his frustrations about an Emperor that abandoned all his people.

In the end, he lowered his gaze to glance down at the ground, “I left because I failed to be a good, loyal soldier.”

Kazar glanced up at her then, meeting her gaze, “But I do not regret my choices and I stand by them,” His eyes narrowed slightly, “So what, are you going to fling me from the cliff and have your chicken eat my guts?”

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

Fynaurie canted her head to one side. She leaned towards the fire, mouth open. Ignoring his clear distress, an entire chain of questions flew through her mind. She closed her mouth, rocked back and let those questions fall into a sensible order.

It didn't seem to her that someone would throw themselves through a portal into an unknown land without good reason. That meant that he has been chased away, or he had better reasons for leaving.

"You would have regretted it," she said airily, "if you'd frozen to death. Also, he doesn't know human but he has a name. And Vaxor is probably quite full now."

"So what did you do that wasn't...loyal?"

 

[Kazar]

Kazar stared at her for a beat before his gaze flicked over towards the beast. Clearly she wasn’t happy about his constant quips about poultry.

“Vaxor, then,” He grumbled quietly while resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Based on her flippant response, he expected her to move on from the topic. He began to poke at the fire when he heard her follow up question.

“You’re a nosy one, aren’t you?” Kazar said with both brows slightly elevated. He allowed a few seconds to tick by, not entirely sure if his answer was too thrilling, “The Emperor considers himself a god. To openly deny that or disobey him is punishable by death. That’s far less likely to happen to me on this continent.”

Kazar looked at her for a moment, deciding to put her on the spot by playing her very nosy game, “Give me an answer to a question you wish I wouldn’t ask,” He expected little more than a scowl and silence, but perhaps she would surprise him.

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

Vaxor looked up at the sound of his own name, beak still bloodied from the meal. No one seemed to be addressing him and they were speaking that guttural human nonsense.

Fynaurie frowned at his answer. He was not being explicit in exactly why he left the Force of this emperor. This was frustrating.

Fortunately for Kazar, asking a question wasn't necessarily going to dissuade her, but it was going to distract her.

"It took me three times to pass my formation flying test. An entire year. It was deeply embarrassing."

She gave a shrug and did actually look slightly embarrassed. Taking an entire year to pass that test had set her plans back significantly. She was a soldier and had always wanted to be a soldier.

"Any other questions?"

 

[Kazar]

Kazar stared at her as she actually played along, answering when he hadn’t expected her to at all. There was a moment of silence before he abruptly chuckled. He quickly brought up a hand to try and stifle it, but he couldn’t help himself, coughing in an attempt to control the laugh. There was just something incredibly hilarious about Fynaurie, in all her holier than thou and grumpy glory, admitting to failing a test three times. Kazar did a very poor job of pretending he suddenly had a fly down his throat, looking away and hacking a few times before he calmed the laugh.

“Hmm, sounds like it must have been difficult,” He nodded sagely, doing his best to get control over his face and wipe the grin away. He completely and utterly pretended that he wasn't just losing it seconds prior, “And I suppose your prize was the chi- was him,” He pointed to Vaxor.

Kazar was pleased that she actually opened the dialogue for further questions, because the soldier certainly intended to capitalize on this.

“Why did you save me not once but twice? Really?” It was clear he wasn’t going to take some bullshit altruistic answer, “You risked your life out there.”

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

And I suppose your prize was the chi- was him,”

Vaxor looked up, tilting his head to one side. Those eyes, large as dinner plates, always stayed focused on a target as her moved his head. He didn't like being pointed at unless he was being given a complement.

Fynaurie wore a slight frown. It wasn't that funny.

"No I've known Vaxor for a very long time. Since I was very small we were going to ride together. It was his fault as much as mine really," she said, switching into melodic elven.

"I'm telling him about how you failed your formation flying test three times."

Vaxor visibly ruffled his featheres and made a small sound of discontentment. He tucked his head against his chest. It was very rude of her. Especially after he'd saved them from the chimera!

“Why did you save me not once but twice? Really?”

"Because you're very tall and pretty," she replied, before laughing herself. It was sort of a lie. Mostly a lie. It was, at least, why she hadn't killed him herself through sheer irritation so far.

 

[Kazar]

Kazar listened as she switched over to speaking in Elven. He couldn’t help but find the sound quite pleasing. It sounded very vaguely similar to Abtati tongues, but far less harsh. That the giant bird actually appeared to respond to the commentary took Kazar by surprise. It made perfect sense how synchronized Fynaurie and Vaxor were now - he could understand her!

He was distracted from his thoughts when Fynaurie spoke next, and he couldn’t help the grin that broke across his face.

“Is there a...shortage of very tall and pretty people here?” He asked, quite proud of the atrocious pun he made. He wasn’t even sure if elves understood puns - the Abtati he knew back in Amol Kalit were always serious and moody. Kazar observed her little laugh, tilting his head slightly.

“I like your smile, Fynaurie,” He declared almost matter of factly, “Though only second to your grumpy face.”

Kazar chuckled to himself before looking back down at the fire. He grabbed a stick and prodded at it for a moment.

“Do you have any ideas for food? I don’t fancy trying to eat that,” He pointed to the quickly decomposing chimera head still left behind. Vaxor may have enjoyed the taste, but he wasn’t about to try.

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

"They say the woodland elves are taller than us. Mostly taller than humans actually," she replied. Unfortunately for Kazar the pun went over her head. She spoke their language well, but wasn't as quick to pick up on word play.

Fynaurie shot him a forced scowl before laughing quietly herself. There was no sign of her being embarrassed by the veiled conplement. She watched the fire as it reacted to being provoked.

"I've got some food in my packs," she said, deciding that Vaxor looked calm enough to approach. "Some dried meats and biscuits. Nothing that would spoil quickly.

"How long has it been since you ate properly?" She asked. Given his size she imagined he got hungry quickly. So did she, but that was from flying at altitudes where the air became frigid.

"And do you even know where you want to go?" She asked as she approached Vaxor.

 

[Kazar]

Kazar only grinned as she scowled at him, but that widened when the scowl fell apart to give way to a soft laugh. There was something almost melodic about that laugh, a soft trilling not unlike wind chimes that was pleasing to his ears. Of course, he wouldn’t say any of that to the otherwise frosty elf. He vaguely began to wonder if elven personalities matched the elements they resided in - cool and brisk out here where the Abtati were moody and fiery. Perhaps these ‘wood elves’ would be the laidback types that enjoyed a moment of peace.

He ran his hand through his hair, visibly embarrassed at having to rely on her for food, “I don’t want to use up your rations,” Kazar mumbled awkwardly, “I’m capable of hunting.”

“I’m touched by your concern for my wellbeing,” He said with a grin at her question, though the joke was hollow. His face grew slightly more serious as he exhaled, “Truthfully, it has been two days since I’ve had a proper meal,” The journey to the portal stone had been taxing, and he had all but collapsed when he used it only to end up in a blizzard.

“For now, I’d like to be on the ground proper,” He glanced out towards the cave entrance, the blizzard having died down by now, “I don’t have a map of this area. I was hoping to offer my services as a mercenary for coin to make myself over to a town,” His face scrunched up slightly, “Just my luck to end up in a barren wasteland.”

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

"If you want a map of this place, fill an entire sheaf of parchment with mountains, draw some orcs and gnolls and that's about it," Fynaurie said as she sifted through her satchels.

She slowly unrolled a little pouch full of sticks of dried meat. She looked up to find Vaxor looking down at her.

"You are joking aren't you?" She asked sharply in elven. "You had the two rabbits I brought for snacks and that damned thing. You're not having my food too. No looking at me like that won't work."

"So..." she said, returning to stand over Kazar and offer him several strips and a biscuit.

"...you don't know what snow is, you don't know where you are, you haven't eaten in two days and you want to go out hunting?"

 

[Kazar]

Kazar couldn’t help but grimace at her explanation of the landscape. He had hoped that there were cities or towns nearby, but it sounded like everything was more of the frigid wasteland he had stumbled into. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach that this entire thing was perhaps a big mistake.

The part giant mused inwardly as Fynaurie went to get the snacks, a spike of anger coursing through him as he gazed at the fire. He had been entirely irrational in his planning, and it was all so unlike him. He had lived his life in discipline and in an organized fashion, and this was completely unpredictable. As a result, he had landed himself in a climate he would likely not survive and with terrain he didn’t know how to navigate.

Kazar graciously took the proffered snacks. She would notice he all but wolfed it down, far hungrier than he had been letting on. However, he paused briefly when she spoke, unable to bite back a grin.

“Well, when you put it like that…” He trailed off, “I don’t really have a choice, do I? I can’t dump all my problems on you. I’ve probably already ruined your plans for the day or whatever patrol duty you were on. I can’t keep imposing,” He sighed as he looked down, “I’ll have to figure something out,” Kazar looked up again to meet her gaze.

“I really do owe you, Fynaurie,” He said quietly, his tone genuine, “For helping me when you didn’t have to.”

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

"Eh," she went with a shrug, sitting down. "You only really interrupted a very boring patrol, followed by hiding in a cave from the elements alone."

She suddenly looked distinctly uncomfortable with his heartfelt remark. Apparently arguing over very little came much more naturally.

Barely starting to chew on a stick of dried mystery meat, she realised he'd eaten everything. She passed over another biscuit.

"There is a human settlement far north. Past the lakes and the orc forts. We can make for one of our lookout towers for the night and then I can take you there," she said confidently. It depended on whether her Wing Leader would be at the tower and if he would have other ideas.

"You don't owe me anything for that. Well, you can apologise for ignoring me and attacking a chimera," she added with a wry smile, not quite meeting his gaze.

 

[Kazar]

Kazar had expected her to tell him good riddance and fly off into the darkness on her giant chicken. His face betrayed his surprise as she began explaining about the human settlement, taking the proffered biscuit. It was a bit bland and tough for his tastes, but he would take anything when he hadn’t eaten for a while. He was already feeling a lot of his energy returning, and he internally began to plan for whatever journey this was. When she implied she would take him, Kazar blinked at her a few times, his expression caught somewhere between surprise and suspicion.

He grinned eventually, “Would we be having a nice little dinner by the fire in a cave if I hadn’t barged in?” Kazar remarked with a smirk, feeling pleased with himself. While she didn’t quite meet his gaze, his own was fixed towards her, unapologetic and unwavering.

“Are elves welcome in the human settlements? Would they even allow someone like me in it? A lot of places are wary of anyone with any giant blood…” Giants normally didn’t have the best track record when it came to interacting with most humanoid species.

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

"We would be somewhere that didn't stink quite as much of poultry blood," Fynaurie muttered under her breath. He'd taken the sting out of her irritation, which really wasn't all that fair as far as she was concerned.

"I don't really know how they feel about Giants..." she mused, looking up at him. There was a curiosity in her gaze. "I don't get to go there often. We keep to ourselves mostly."

How did one end up with giant blood? She knew that, she was just wondering which party was on the giant side. If the giant had been male...what a bold, adventurous woman.

Fynaurie canted her head to one side sharply, a single eyebrow quirking upwards as she looked back down at the fire.

"You're not that much bigger than most humans," she said, hiding a smirk. He was almost a foot taller than the average man she'd seen and she knew it.

 

[Kazar]

Kazar didn’t answer her initial quip, though a grin was plastered on his face. He didn’t miss that her tone lacked its usual edge. Maybe that fire he built was doing a good job of melting away the frost in more ways than one. The part giant popped a few more snacks in his mouth.

“Uh yeah, I imagine you’ll scare most people sweeping in on a giant bird that could scoop up small children,” He looked over at said bird, “No offense, Vaxor,” He added rather politely since apparently the chicken could understand them.

Kazar heard her quip about his height. His gaze flicked from her to Vaxor, and then back to her, “Certainly smaller than what you’re used to climbing probably,” He stated quite bluntly. However, he couldn’t keep a straight face for too long after that, cracking into a smile and chuckling. The look on her face would be priceless and entirely worth it.

It took him a moment to recover from laughing, but he was in a far better mood then.

“I’m ready to go when you are,” Kazar said after a while, “Though we may want to wait out the night. If you can tolerate me for that long, that is."

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

Vaxor remained entirely indifferent to his comment. Oblivious to the entire conversation taking part in the common trade tongue. Her squadron leader had described the local human town as quite isolated and backwards. They were used to the occasional visitor from their eerie and it did not lead to word spreading too far. Kazar could pass as just an abnormally large man.

“Certainly smaller than what you’re used to climbing probably,”

"You're right, never been too afraid of heights. I'd manage," she replied, matching his smirk. She didn't laugh along with him though. If he was going to shock her he'd have to try harder.

Fynaurie turned towards the cave entrance. She drew away from her imagination at the same time. By the gods of wind she could climb him like a tree. She wasn't known for being short tempered back at home, but she was known for being impulsive. Fynaurie bit her lip and focussed on the situation at hand.

"We should wait out the storm at least. Vaxor doesn't like flying in the dark and he won't fly in the dark and these winds. Might need some more wood for the fire."

 

[Kazar]

Kazar was caught off guard by the returned quip, and his eyes betrayed it clearly. He simply tilted his head as he watched her, a lazy grin lingering on his face as the fire cast its orange hues. She wasn’t looking at him and he took his time studying her profile. He watched the silver strands of hair, the fluted slant of her ear and the look she had when she wasn’t quite in the present. He didn’t miss that subtle bite of the lip, and his mind briefly wandered to what it must be like to have her do that while she gazed at him.

The part giant quickly shook his head, popping another snack into his mouth as he stoked the flame “Won’t find any wood in here,” He declared, but it was entirely based on assumption. Any cave he had been inside in Amon Kalit had been barren and worthless. He doubted any mountain caverns would have any useful resources.

Kazar got up to his feet, hunching slightly due to his height. He began to step towards the entrance of the cave, “I’ll have to go back out there to find some,” He hoped that he could simply jump down to a ledge below that had some sparse trees. It seemed like a dumb idea, but she was right about needing more wood.

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

Fynaurie muttered something under her breath in elven at his first comment about trees. Elven was a much more complex language than the one the humans used. In the simplest sense, the very melodic string of sounds translated as no shit.

"I'll head out too," she said, pulling her leathers up to cover her mouth and nose. "I'm dressed for the weather and you're the ones who's going to freeze first."

Even in summer she couldn't go flying through the mountains without several layers of clothing. Only the lower levels of their tower had enough heating to actually undress comfortably at night.

"I met a woman from a place called Molthal once. Said it was so hot you could actually get burned by the sun even on a cloudy day."

Fynaurie left her spear, favouring both hands for climbing. They weren't on a shear cliff, but it was going to be a scrabble on the terrain. She stepped out, immediately buffeted by the winds and covered her eyes. She took a step to the side and realised it was much easier to see using the part giant as a wind break.

She pointed up the slope. It looked more like cliff shrubbs than trees, but something was clinging to the rocks.

 

[Kazar]

Kazar gave her a sideways glance as she casually pointed out that he was likely to freeze, “Don’t sound too excited,” He grumbled under his breath. However, her comment about Molthal gave him pause.

“Molthal? That is where my Emperor hails from..though you'd think he descended from the great heavens,” He muttered dryly under his breath, “He is a fire giant,” Kazar briefly thought about how that man would fare in this weather, “Why do you stay out in this miserable place instead of living in a city or village?” A settlement sounded far more pleasant than dealing with this every day.

He winced the second he stepped out, the icy winds cutting into his skin. He had to immediately fall into his magic, drawing from what he knew to apply an earthen layer to his skin. It still carried the warmth he had absorbed from the fire and it offered him a brief reprieve. And of course, he was blissfully oblivious to the fact that he provided the shorter elf with plenty of cover from the wind.

Kazar saw the path up to the trees and he grimaced. After a moment, he began to climb up towards it, the winds strong enough to rattle even his massive frame. He was making good progress until he grasped up with his hand towards a protruding rock. It was a block of ice and his hand slipped right off. With a gasp, he suddenly lost his balance and tumbled down, dropping down into a heap on a ledge below the one they were on.

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

His question took more than a few moments to consider. She was convinced she must have misunderstood. She had reached the edge of the blightlands once. They had an ancient map in their tower, one that had preceded even their people. The flecks of paint still holding their pigment had been green. Those lands were no longer green. An expanse of wasteland and roaming tribes of giants and orcs.

There were not many of their kind and they lived quite removed from civilisation in their towers. Once they had occupied ten of the towers stretching the length of the spine. They had used sky streams to visit the world.

Now they held onto just two towers, a people in decline. She would not trade that for the squalid human settlements she had visited. People living in small, smoke filled homes and tending fields and carrying out back breaking labour for their short lives.

"No," she declared. "I would not trade Kearth for a human town."

A more complete explanation was clearly coming, but not before Kazar lost his grip. Instead of that, a string of melodic, elven curses passed her lips.

Already she was thinking that the winds were too high to have Vaxor pluck him from the cliff face if he had fallen far. She scrabbled back down, nearly risking a fall over loose stones as she went.

"Kazar?" She called over the winds. He hadn't fallen far, but could easily have broken something. Or lots of things.

 

[Kazar]

Kazar only groaned in response, letting out a stream of curses. He had landed awkwardly on his left arm and wasn’t convinced it wasn’t broken. He called upon his magic to at least provide a makeshift support, but that was only a half measure. He gritted his teeth through the pain, looking up at Fynaurie.

“I think I’m stuck!” He shouted up to her, “I’ll try to find another way around,” Kazar was furious at himself for slipping like that. He prided himself in being agile and precise even for his size, but he had no idea how to navigate entire worlds made of ice.

The part giant moodily got to his feet and began to look for another ledge to climb. However, something caught his attention and he looked towards the side of the mountain facing him. There were engravings on the rock, and the surface looked more like carved stone than natural. He leaned in close, dusting some of the snow away to reveal runes and markings. He couldn’t read ancient dwarven texts, but he could certainly make out that this was a doorway of some sort.

“Hey uhhhh Fynaurie?” He called out, sure she could hear him with those giant ears, “You may want to come look at this," Kazar walked over and looked at her, "Wanna jump? I can catch you with my one good arm," He grinned at her, his tone entirely unconvincing.

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

Fynaurie peered over the edge, nervous of the wind that kept whipping around the mountain. She was lighter than the half-giant and falling was something all of her kind learned to do well. She still didn't want to go tumbling after him.

She had expected to see him cradling a wound he wanted looked at. She knew their tongue, but translation wasn't quite the same as following tone and inflection. Instead he had found something.

Perhaps an exciting rock.

That was a cruel thought, she decided. He was out of his element, not a dullard.

"Coming," she said, spotting a ledge. Up was easier than down.

Fynaurie closed her eyes and swore under her breath. She had never been particularly good at the magic of her people. She drew in a breath and held it in her belly. The air stilled. It stilled to an unnatural level. A leave could have fallen a straight, undisturbed path down.

Fynaurie hopped down onto the ledge, holding her breath. She landed lightly and quickly dropped again to grasp the lip with fingertips. She pushed off the face and let go, landing lightly beside him.

She breathed out.

The wind returned, even more aggressive than it had been before.

"That's weird," she muttered. "I didn't think there were any dwarves left under this mountain."