Late Breakfast (Vedrit/Open)

[RaWr]

"Honestly I know very little of Surda other than what the Varden does there, when I'm not on a missions I like to travel the area, but it doesn't happen to often. Got a fine bunch of people though, as long as they don't think your a spy from the Empire. I've seen accused spies come out of there missing limbs! You should be fine though, you're an elf, they tend to like your kind. Other than that I unfortunately can't say too much about that place." Talon paused then looked at Kerlan for a long minute before deciding to speak again. You know I fell in love with an elf once, or at least thought I did, just under a years time from now. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. For two weeks I traveled with her throughout Surda. I thought we really had something she seemed into me and I had enjoyed every minute of her. One day I made the mistake of telling her I loved her and wanted to marry her, response wasn't at all what I expected. After that she was very cold toward me and left telling me it was best that we both got on and continue our journeys on the path of destiney. Is your kind often this cold or was I just unlucky Kerlan?"

Gazing off into the distance as he finished Talon noticed what was either a small man or a boy headed their way and he seemed to be coming at them running. Wondering what it was and waiting for a response to his question, the man looked to his elven companion for answers.

((I tried to make it a little more interesting, not sure where to go with this))

[Vedrit{(==)}Kelran]

Kelran sighed when he heard Talons tale, "Its...difficult. A part of it, I'm sure, was that, if she loved you, then she wouldnt want to spend your life together, only to see you die of old age or a blade in the gut, and her heart broken. No ill meant, but when we compare our life span to yours, we consider things like heart break...not so much as easier, as it never is, for anyone anywhere, but not as long lasting." he knew he was explaining his opinion of what happened all wrong, and very badly, "Let me put it this way. If you two were together, and lived happily until your death, she would go on, living all eternity with a broken heart, until she ended her life, or it was ended for her. If she truly loved you, then she would never be happy with another. She tasted true, deep, sweet love, and it would have left the memory of its pleasure, making anything less seem bitter." Kelran finished, satsified with it, "I know it must have been hard, and, like others, your heart still yearns for her, but I believe she was true when she said it was better that way. Im sorry." he added, just in time for the figure to enter hearing range.
Pulling his hood closer around his head, Kelran watched the person raech them, panting and out of breath, mumbling

(Tried to help ya, but this is your twist. Make some decisions)

[polean]

Polean came around the town, keeping a safe distance from both the city, and the accompanying mountain. The locals had a great fear of either the mountain, or something associated with it. She had finally crossed to the southern side of the city when she came across the road south. Following it, she continually scanned the surrounding countryside with her mind, making sure she was not followed.

(I backed up my own character's history for the sake of this, and am, for the time being, going to consider the previous posts from my character null and void. Hope I put my character in your range.)

[Vedrit{(==)}Kelran]

((Well...I guess I will take the twist and make things convenient))
"Sir, sir!" The man panted, grabbing desperatly at Talons shirt, "Please, help my village! We have been attacked by marauders, and need an extra pair of hands."

Kelran looked to Talon, "Im sorry, but here we must part paths. Help them." he said, and continued down the road.
"Poor people. No one should suffer like that." he mumbled to himself, barely noting another figure coming around the side of the town, until he felt her mind-search and quickly drawing up his mental defenses.
Taken by his curiosity, however, Kelran angled towards the person, looking to be a very alert woman.

[polean]

Polean felt three minds a couple hundred feet ahead of her on the path, but as quickly as she had noticed them, two of them split off to the east, and she could feel the third put up a wall in his mind. The wall was not one of a person new to this strange ability, but one of a person who had years upon years of practice. Not trying to pry, she backed off and sent a pulse, from her mind, and in the direction of his. Piggybacked on the pulse was a picture message, showing a picture of him with a question mark and words below it saying "spell in mind", and then a picture of her signing her name, her right hand, index finger extended to the left on a horizontal, and the middle finger pointing diagonally left and down, and the thumb between the two with the rest clenched down to the palm. That hand turned on its side and the middle finger flicked back and forth from its original position to the palm and back, as if plucking the string of a bow.

As to her dress, she had her bow in a tube on her back, with a mid-sized curved blade on either hip, with a closed quiver connected to the tube. She wore a green shirt of woven cloth, and a light brown pair of pants.

The most interesting aspect to one who was observant enough was that she had no response to any sounds around her.

[Vedrit{(==)}Kelran]

Kelran had no idea what the image was about, but could quickly understand that either the woman was deaf, or preferred not to exchange words. But Kelran was still a bit cautious. Even if she were deaf, she obviously had other means of knowing what was going on around her, and could be hostile.

Again making sure his hood covered his ears, Kelran approached the woman and made a small bow.
'Greetings. What brings you far out this way?' Kelran spelled out on a thread of thought, ready to throw up tougher defenses at the sign of intrusion.

[polean]

Polean nodded, returning the bow, and then sent another thread of thought. It was a moving picture, with the words "Home" and "Surda" on opposite sides. A dashed line made its way from the former word to the latter, ending in an arrow pointed from one to the other. She paused and looked at the man, finding something wierd, and then spelled out another phrase her best friend from home had taught her. It spelled out in a cursive transcription that was recognizably in the ancient language, "Atra esterni ono thelduin." She paused a little, trying to figure out the right words from what her friend had taught her, then, "eka fricai. Fricai onr?"

(Translation: "may good fortune rule over you", and "I am a friend. You friend?")

(NRPG: I thought a little knowledge of the ancient language would be appropriate for a person whose best friend was fathered by a magician)

[Vedrit{(==)}Kelran]

Kelran was a bit surprised by the womans knowledge of even that much of the anceint language, and had to wonder if she learned to cast magic with her mind. Even more surprised, however, that she had spoken the elven greeting.
Bound by his upbringing, Kelran replied in kind, using the written ancient language, in his own flowing caligraphy, "Mor'ranr lifa unin hjarta onr. Eka fricai."
Restraining from digging around in her mind, Kelran wondered how she had come to know how he was an elf, and how she knew the greeting. So few ever entered the forests of his home, such things shouldn't be....common knowledge.

[polean]

"Un du evarinya ono varda." Polean ended the formal greeting, which she had been taught could tell you if a person were a magician. Most non-magic users would not recognize the language, and, at least from her friend's father's view, if a person were a magician, they would automatically respond as this person she had just met. However, immediately recognizable in her posture was a guarded stance, which, while she had not the training to do so with her mind, the touch carried a slight measure of distrust from her side. She continued in the common tongue, having exhausted her knowledge of Ancient syntax rules and spelled out on a thread, "Think I, we forgot right introduction. I Polean. Who you are?" Now, however, the message was accompanied by her moving her hands about swiftly.

(Yes, the dialogue is skewed a little, if you need a translation, let me know)

[Vedrit{(==)}Kelran]

((There is a noteable difference between a magician being able to teach ancient language, and teaching formal elven introductions.))
"I am Kelran. How do you know the ancient language?" He responded the same way, though without the hand movements, ignoring hers. He doesnt know sign-language.

Kelran noticed her shift in position, and dismissed it as her accpetance of his claim of "friendship"

[polean]

(I understand that, but my character only has it on the words of a friend for what they taught. She would dismiss the existence of elves immediately even if it was told to her that they existed. Besides, the friend didn't say anything about elves. It was supposed by her that everyone who knew magic uses it. Misconceptions abound in real people, so this one is going to have some. It shows her gap from the world via communication.)

Polean answered the question quickly. "Best friend mine had magic user for father. Teach he me words in old-old language, want used to teach me magic. I not want, but he said that was a phrase magic users understand would. Think I that it important to know it, so I remember it."

She then thought to herself a bit, and said, "Why how you learn old-old language? Call you it...'Ancient'?"

[Vedrit{(==)}Kelran]

((But again. Few people, magician or not, would know it unless they were in good standing with the elves. Knowing the ancient language isnt the issue, but knowing elven greetings, thats an issue when theres nothing that would say that her friends father was in good standing with the elves. If he was, then I suggest you add that to your history))

A magician? That explained much, and answered a few questions. What human mage would dapple with something that few elves dared to use? Aside from Galbatorix, may he do it and it end his life.
"To most who know it, they know it as the ancient language." Kelran explained, his words carefully "written" for her "Where I come from, it is used more often than common."
After a pause, Kelran added "Few would know what you said. And there are some who, if they did, would do you harm. Be careful when you use it." he warned, adding the emotion of worry to emphasize it.

[polean]

(Yeah, it is just something she didn't know.)

"Really?" Polean looked a little surprised. She chose to stash the help away for remembrance. "Why do they use it there?

[Vedrit{(==)}Kelran]

"Its just how we are raised." Kelran replied. Come to think of it, he knew of no reason other than the usual one "Because no lies can be told in it."
Oh well. It was a rich and complex language, much more artful than the common language, even if none know all of it.

[polean]

Polean looked at Kelran oddly. "Interesting that must. Where you raised?" Polean resumed walking now, expecting that since they seemed to share a common direction, he would follow suit. She continued again to scan the surrounding area for any other people than the men who had been accompanying Kelran.

[Vedrit{(==)}Kelran]

"Id rather not day." Kelran replied, following Polean. She was more interesting than anything else he was doing or planning to do, "What about you? Where are you from?"
Part of his curiosity was who would teach what some humans thought as precious knowledge?

[polean]

Unable to remember a name outside of the signed name she had given to her home, she sent a thought picture. It started at Dras-Leona, and another dotted line started to draw itself, showing the route she had taken in reverse. At the northern end of the line, it ended at a place marked with the common word, "home", and a sign using two hands, palms facing in at eachother, with the index finger and pinky extended, and the rest drawn in at the palm. The hands flicked off of eachother, touching at the extended fingers, then bouncing back.

[Vedrit{(==)}Kelran]

Kelran had no idea what places were in the area of where she marked, and her hand signals were confusing as well. With a mental shrug to himself, Kelran let it be, "Perhaps I'll visit there someday." he said. Some parts of the north were still largely untouched by human hands, and would probably still be worth seeing.

[polean]

Sensing his confusion, she added to the map from names she had seen on signs or felt in thoughts and tagged them to locations in the map. The name of one of the closeby cities was Yazuac, and another, further north from both her home and the city was a city called Therrinsford. Her home was east and north from Yazuac, and further east and south from Therrinsford. South was a large lake, which she had not gotten a name for, with another city, again, unnamed. A river flowed into the lake originating south of Yazuac, flowing north by the city, then east and south into the lake.


(That is as good as I can describe the area north of Isenstar. Her home is on the border of the woods there. A small semi-permanent camp set there.)

[Vedrit{(==)}Kelran]

Kel shrugged. He hadnt paid much attention to maps when it came to remote areas, even though those were the best places for him while in the Empire.
Almost without noticing, Kelran was sending back images of the places the listed, if he had visited them.
"So, where are you headed?" He asked