Given a Chance!

[erathel]

"Messenger for you M'lord."

Lord Erathel looked up wearily from one of the many papers on his desk. Glad of a break from the many needs of the large host of men under his command.

"Thank you Ben, let him in.." He leaned back in his chair as a young man bearing a sealed letter came into the room. "Sir!" he said pounding fist to chest in a quick solute "Summons from Lady Nasuada." Erath smiled as he took the letter from the boys eager hands. With surprise he noticed the red velvet ribbon wrapped around it, knowing too well what it meant. This was an invitation to be a part of the next egg ceremony! Every year the dragon eggs would be ferried between the Varden and the Elves in an attempt to have them hatch for someone. They would chose the most promising candidates in either Farthen Dur or Du Weldenvarden and have them all spend 2 days with each of the eggs hoping one would hatch. It was always a great honor to be given the opportunity to impress a dragon egg, for if you were chosen you would join the prodigious ranks of the Dragon Riders. After carefully moving a couple of papers listing the inventories of weapons and their costs aside he found his letter opener. Cutting the ribbon and opening the invitation he quickly read;

"Lord Erathel,
On behalf of the Varden and the free peoples of Alagaesia, we would be honored to have you join us in the center of Tronjhiem for the Dragon Egg's Ceremony. The Ceremony will take place in two days time at dusk. Please be aware that this matter is one of great importance and if you are unable to attend we will need to know at once so we might find another to fill the position -Lady Nasuada and the Council of Elders."

Looking up from the letter he found the boy still at attention. "Thank you for bringing me this, i have long awaited the day that i might get my chance at the eggs. Please tell My Lady Nasuada that i will be honored to attend." Again the boy pounded his fist to his chest in solute, "Thank you Sir!" he said, then quickly left the room.

Erath rose and called Ben back in. Ben was his steward and long time friend and he would need his help. "What was that all about?" Ben said, jerking his finger over his shoulder. In explanation Erath distractedly held up the letter in one hand while searching for blank parchment with his other. Ben's eyes widened as he too saw the ribbon. "I knew you would get one of those, im just surprised its taken them so long." Finally finding what he was looking for Erath quickly began copying out three sets of orders to the men who would be in charge of the night watch. "Ben, i need you to do the rounds for me while i attend. Check on the men, i dont want them getting slack with their responsibilities while im gone. You know the usual stuff, can i count on you?" he looked up to see Ben watching him with his arms crossed. "You know you can, but who is going to check on YOU when you leave?" Erath frowned, they were camped about a days ride from the entrance of Farthen Dhur, not a huge distance for something to go amiss but these days anything could happen. "Ill get a few men to accompany me, ill be fine!". Ben continued, "And who is going to take care of your clothes and make sure you dont go stomping into this ceremony wearing your ARMOR, if not for me i bet you wouldnt even take it off when you went to bed!" Erath Scratched distractedly at a spot of dirt on the steel plate covering his legs and shrugged "It makes it a lot harder for someone to put a knife in my ribs.." Both men laughed. "Fine, Fine.." Ben conceded "I'll set aside an outfit tonight. Promise me you'll wear it, this is a political event not a battle with Urgals." Erath nodded and passed the three sets of now finished orders to him. "Make sure the Watch leaders get these, i want a double guard posted until i return." Ben bowed and taking the orders, left the tent. Erathel wasted no time himself, he buckled on his sword and wrapped up his bedroll. Finally grabbing the invitation he went out into the sunlight. Once out of the tent he sent orders for his horse to be saddled, for rations to be packed, and for the 10 men who were to accompany him. As they set out for Farthen Dur, Erath absentmindedly wondered who else might have gotten that little letter with the tell tale red velvet ribbon.

((We Shall Seee OOoooOooOoOoOooooo. lol jk, if anyone wants to join this they are fully welcome to. Write up your own version of getting the invitation and how you got your dragon egg. By the way i made up just about everything when it came to the egg ceremony. i have no idea how it actually goes as its not in any of the books. Its just that it took Eragon was with saphira's egg for 2 days before it hatched for him. I dont think an egg would hatch for someone if they were all in a line and all they do is touch it for a couple seconds then move on to the next person. I will be adding to this up until Erath's Egg actually hatches for him. i just thought it might be fun for other people to have a go as well.))

[Aisling]

And then there was light!

Aisling was so entirely giddy as the emerged from the dark tunnels in Tarnag. The closest city to Farthen Dur. After being in the tunnels for a day or two (she really couldn't tell), she was ready to see the sun, or something remotely resembling natural light. To be honest she just wanted to be out in open space. She took a deep breath, over joyed with the success of reaching their destenation. She looked over at Wikvaya smiling brightly. She was very glad that they haven't gotten on each other's nerves. In fact, it was quite the pleasant trip. Aisling considered the werecat to be her friend now and was quite grateful that he had lead her through the tunnels.

Their travel wasn't entirely without event. Their were many strange things in those tunnels, things that Aisling had never seen before. And quite frankily had no desire to ever see again. They encountered very few other travelers, except one who was a strange blind dwarf. Very strange indeed. The talk between Aisling and Wikvaya had been a mixture of witty banter and flirting. She did not question about his past, she didn't wish to pry no matter how curious she was. She would eventually find out.

"We've made it," Aisling said, rubbing her eyes as they adjusted somewhat to the light, "Without a lot of hitches really."

She watched dwarves scurry about, moving through their daily motions. She was almost a bit envious of their simple lives. But being simple is rather boring. At least her life was filled with some sort of excitement, good or bad. The homes in the mountain were made more of stone really, will in Dalgon their a was bit more wood in architecture. She really did find dwarf archtectiure strange.

Aisling felt her heart leap again at the thought that now she and Faeon would soon be reunited. She opened her mind to the whole Beor Mountains searching for the consciousness she had known so well. It was difficult being so far into the mountains, and there were so many people...she had to shift through all the minds. She eventually found the consciousness that felt so familiar. Faeon! her mind shouted with excitment. She was to far to establish a connectionbut she was sure he heard her and that they would be able to join together once more. She receded back into her own mind.

Then she realized how dirty she was, how dusty. She even felt that her hair wasn't even white anymore but a dusky white, and it bothered her. She even felt that she had a new layer of dust on her skin.

"Perhaps we should find shelter and get cleaned up."

[Wikvaya]

And then there was light. Why did it have to be light?

Wikvaya was unnerved. He usually robbed people in his human form, you see. Robbed them blind, in fact. He looked, in contrast, quite sullen. Especially since Tarnag was a frequent heist city for him. You see, Tarnag wasn't that wealthy in and of itself, but it was the center of the Dwarven Faith in the Beor Mountains. And Dwarves just loved to glorify their gods, with the prettiest trinkets you ever did see, too. He just had to have a go at them. Luckily, these Dwarves were just as easy to cheat as any other Dwarf. The problem was, he had built quite a name for himself in Tarnag. Quite a name, indeed.

Wikvaya would've preferred staying with the blind Dwarf.

"Oh yes, we've made it," he said quite sarcastically, looking at the city."The hitches are what come soon, if we don't act." This was true. A dragon rider was a big deal, after all, moreso given the fact that she was going to support the Varden. And that she was an elf. And then there was the dashing werecat that walked with her, tragically misunderstood by those who couldn't suffer a few missing trinkets. Nevertheless, he was forced to shift form. The golden trinkets and flashing gems he adorned himself with blurred, and grew into fur. His body contracted until finally taking the form of a modestly sized cat with tufty ears and a wicked grin. Let's see those Dwarves see through this disguise.

However, there was the problem of speaking. He was forced to reach out with his mind to her, and curiously found her searching. Ah, so she was excited to find her dragon again. Understandable.

He reached out to her again and spoke. "Don't open your mind quite yet, Dear. After all, you never know who might be watching."

And then she commented on her dirt. Eh, he was all for style, but if one didn't roll around in the dirt once and a while things got to stagnant. Wikvaya enjoyed having a good roll. It was a great stress reliever, the dirt is comfortable if you dig for a bit, and it was marvelous for stretching out anything that was exhausted. Really, he couldn't fathom why more Humans or Elves or even Dwarves for that matter didn't roll. They just didn't know how to have a good time.

"If you say so. Perhaps there's somewhere here where we could get a room."

[Aisling]

"Oh yes, we've made it," he said quite sarcastically, looking at the city."The hitches are what come soon, if we don't act."

"Oh come now Wikvaya, sarcasm doesn't fit such a pretty voice," Aisling said with a sly smile.

But he was right, the hitches were about to come. There was no doubt about it. Tarnag was busy, dwarves bustling around doing their own dwarf thing. Aisling never really understood dwarf culture, it was far distant from the elves and even farther from The Gold Face tribe. She noticed a small group of dwarf priests shuffling, their heads bowed, on their way to their temple. Aisling frowned and shook her head, if they gave half of what they gave to those nonexistent gods than perhaps there wouldn't be any poor. She understood the desire to find ways to explain the unknown, and to believe there is a 'plan' for your life. But the dwarfs took it to the next level, it was way to elaborate and way to frivolous.

Aisling looked to the sky and called out to Faeon. When she had closed her mind once again, she caught the all the priests staring at her through the crowd through the corner of her eye. Now she really did stick out. She looked over at Wikvaya, but found a moderately sized cat in his place. She frowned. Yes, now she was the only obvious non dwarf in the city she was sure. And boy was she obvious.

Thanks for making me stick out even more, Aisling said as she reached out to the werecat's mind, At least in your other form we balanced each other out

Aisling sighed, there was very little she could do magically to make herself stick out less. But she said a few words in the ancient language, and her ears began to round. The toll on her energy was enough to make her cringe. Her ears stung as the changed shape. Now she was a strange tattooed human. No one ever batted an eye at a human. Especially since Farthen Dur is their strong hold, many humans were wandering about.

Then Wikvaya said something about not opening her mind quite yet. She frowned at her own foolishness. She didn't even think of that.
Your right I didn't quite think that one through, She answered.

She felt an alien presence trying to e weasel it's way into her mind. She immediately threw up her a mental walls, and the presence floated away.

We are being watched, we best get out of site. Aisling said as she began walking toward the street looking for an inn.

[Wikvaya]

"Ho-ho-ho," He laughed sarcastically, using his mind, as he was now in his cat form. "Do enjoy your jokes while they last, Dear."

Wikvaya was indeed wishing her well with her jokes. Though she had but mimicked his own previous words, she had done so in a far less playful setting. True, Wikvaya himself had been wanted for theft (again) at the time, and was currently being tracked by a mob of angry dwarves who were probably going to kill him if they had their way. Tarnag, however... Tarnag was different.

As was previously mentioned, Wikvaya had had a bad name in Tarnag. It was here that he had stolen flawlessly carved ruby dice of such a pretty nature... they were just too good to pass up. However, the priest he stole them from had a knack for remembering faces. Indeed, when Wikvaya came back later to try and filch something else he was recognized immediately and had to flee.

Damn Dwarves. Always so hostile over little things like priceless rubies.

Nevertheless, to ease Aisling's concerns and undoubtedly soothe her anxieties, he put on his best cute face and dragged his cheek across her leg, purring. Well, this wasn't just for her, of course. He was trying to blend in like a normal cat. Plus he wanted to see if she'd get offended by his cat-forwardness. Silly girl.

"Oh, it can't possibly be that bad," he replied. "After all, you could be an ELF in a Dwarven City." He didn't mean this as an insult. More as an assurance that her human-illusion precautions were less attention grabbing than her true elvish form.

And then they were being watched. Perhaps they were being watched this whole time. Wikvaya felt a mental consciousness prod at him, as well, and merely let the feeble attack slide around his consciousness like it were lathered in butter. Mmmm... butter.

"Indeed," he replied (to her watched statement,) just as they rounded a corner, on which he spotted a sign with what appeared to be a Feldunost Calf (or a really inebriated one) on it.

"The Wobbly Feldunost. Lovely. I'll let you do the talking."

[Aisling]

Aisling felt something brushing up against her leg, she looked down to see Wikvaya rubbing on her leg. She couldn't help but smile, she did have a soft spot for animals. Even though Wikvaya was the farthest thing from an animal by a long shot, she still was a bit charmed by the cat exterior. She bent down and scratched him behind the ears and stood back up.

"Oh, it can't possibly be that bad," he replied. "After all, you could be an ELF in a Dwarven City."

Aisling took that comment as a sign that her magic had made her less conspicious. Though she'd rather be elf than a human any day. But she had to let go of that vainity of hers and just blend in awhile. It was hard for her, she's never blended in her whole life. No matter where she went she was 'different' or 'special'. She always was the odd duck. Even with her twin brother, she was the odd twin. It was just her nature.

She was also curious by nature. And she was dangerously curious who would dare to try and enter her mnd. Didn't they know if you enter an elf's mind you could go mad? And if this someone entered her mind they would most certainly go mad. For her mind was a very dangerous place to tread. Sometimes she herself had trouble understanding it. Aisling did not only use mental walls but she guarded her mind with intense storms of emotions. That when the strange consciousness entered hers they would be filled with that emotion, consumed by it. It was a trick that Alphon had taught her during their training, and se was most adept at it.

The Wobbly Feldunost. A typical dwarf inn. Stone walls and everything. She looked at the door, it was barely past her own height. It was so strange how short dwarfs were. So strange.
If you did the talking, Wikvaya, all the dwarfs in there will think they've eaten some bad mushrooms, she replied as she opened the wooden door and entered.

There was loud drunken singing, dancing, card games, and all sorts of drinking merriment. She could see why it was call the Wobbly Feldunost...everyone and everything in it was wobbly. She strode up to the bar, ignoring the strange looks from the inebriated dwarves. were the in keeper was serving mead from a barrel. She didn't understand the whole thing about drinking, seemed like a waste of time to her.

The inn keeper looked at Aisling with an eyebrow raised, as he slapped two frothing mugs down on the wooden bar.
"Well, 'ello thur strangeh. Wot can aye do foa yeh?" he mumbled in broken human language, "Jost a faieh warnin' some of us don take ta kindly ta strangehs. Eyem Dolgrin, at yer service."

"Eleanor of Fienster, at your service," Aisling replied, her own melodic voice taking on a more scratchy tone, "I Need a room for a night."

"Jost fer oneh night eh?" Dolgrin said with a toothy grin, "It's offelly dangerous for a ladeh to beh travelin' by herselfs."

She looked around as the dwarves of the tavern, and much to her surprise there were a few humans mixed in, watching her. She sighed and focused her attention back onto the inn keeper, she just needed a room. She watched Dolgrin eye Wikvaya with suspicion. "We don like cats hereh, miss, they beh a bad lot."

Aisling placed five gold crowns on the bar, and looked at Dolgrin sternly. She was tired of his comments and his broken speaking habits. The inn keeper smiled that toothy grin again, and reached down under the bar and took out a key. "Hereh ya go, miss, forgive me foreh not showin' ya to yer room, Eyem a bit busey. Go up the theh stairs, it is labeled with the numbeh two. And yer bloody cat can go wit ya."
And with that returned his attention to filling mugs with mead.

Aisling snatched they key and under her breath said, "Thanks."

She immediately headed for the stair, feeling pairs of eyes following her as she went.

[Wikvaya]

And there was that infernally heavenly scratching again. And right behind the ear, too. Everyone knew his weakness. That or everyone knew that cats had that weakness. Nevertheless, he had that weakness too, and in infuriated him just as it ever had. Problem being, it also felt like a divine hand was stretching down and stroking the small space between his ear and his head. This presented quite a problem. Quite a problem indeed. And Wikvaya had to work on that, someday. For now? He was content as a cucumber to just let the scratching continue.

However, it soon ended. Wikvaya looked up at Aisling, almost disappointed. He continued to rub himself against her legs, almost begging for the blessed scratching to continue. He had a serious problem that needed addressing. Yes, he was addicted to ear scratching. No ifs, ands or buts about it. However, he didn't necessarily think this was a problem that would be fixed right now. Go figure.

And then they entered the tavern. It was a rather boisterous place. And as Aisling most correctly pointed out, people were rather wobbly in it. It had a suitable name, then. At least the name wasn't lying. It was a good place to get drunk and everyone knew it. Which is why it was so boisterous. And so packed. Wikvaya detached himself from Aisling's leg and scampered over to the roaring fire that the Dwarves had lit (Incidentally, right next to the stairs) while Aisling talked to the bartender. Now, any ordinary person would think that this was the time for Wikvaya to steal something and thus get them run out of Tarnag faster than you could say "thief". However, he did not.

Why, you may ask?

Well, for one, there was nothing of particular value here. Sure, there may have been a shiny ring or two here or there, but it's not like he could cheat that out of someone's possession. Not without changing into his human form, and that would just ignite a storm of "you!"'s and "that werecat!"'s and "where the hell are my ruby dice?"'s. In any event, he sat. And he watched the flames as they danced and swirled around the stone prism. His head seemed to dart back and forth to drunken passerbies, as though trying to look at something hidden in the flames. He wasn't. They were just pretty.

But anyways, the sound of Aisling's feet going up the stairs caused him to pad after her. Once they reached their room, Wikvaya noticed that it was a one bedroom room. He let out an annoyed murr and hopped up onto the bed, crawling up on the pillow.

"Well now. It would seem we have reached an impasse." He winked at her and nodded to the bathtub in the corner. "It would also seem as though you can help yourself. Don't worry. None of those pesky dwarves will peep on you while i'm around." It was interesting to note that Wikvaya's inspection of Dolgrin's mind did in fact hold dirty thoughts for Aisling of a bathing nature.

Go figure.

[Aisling]

And of course it was a one bedroom room. Aisling didn't even think about two beds, though it would've been strange since it was just her and a cat. She closed the door and locked it. She cast a few wards on the door to prevent it from being broken into. Just an extra precaution, in case someone decided to enter where they shouldn't. Though Aisling could easily defend herself, she still didn't want to be in that situation.

Aisling watched Wikvaya jump up on the pillow. Well, at least she was sharing a bed with a cat. Not a full fledged human. That threw away any awkward situations that could come out of that.
"Sorry about having to share a bed, it didn't even occur to me," Aisling replied to the werecat as she unstrapped her sword and removed her bow and quiver from over her shoulder. She almost felt a bit naked without her weapons. They seemed to be attached to her now.

She looked over at the tub in the corner, it was similar to the ones the elves had back home. Aisling laughed a bit at Wikvaya's comment. "I'm not really worried about the dwarves. What they may think is under these travel worn clothes, is not the actual truth."

Aisling was refering to the knotted scar on her lower back. The scar that had haunted her since the Fall. She could've sung it away, but she decided to keep it for memories sake, and it still wasn't fully healed. It was that gnarly. She approached the lone mirror next to the bath tub. She gingerly placed a hand on her face, before muttering a few words in the Ancient Language. Her golden tattoo's were absorbed into her skin, leaving a smoth complexion behind. Once she was in Farthen Dur she would go back to her orginal appearance.

Aisling was shocked by her own face, she hadn't seen her face untattooed in a very very very long time. This is what she looked like when she was born. It was such a strange concept. She turned on the facet thing for the tub. Sitting on the edge, she pulled of her boots and tossed them gently over to her weapons. As the water reached the appropriate level she stopped the water. She stood up and but her back to Wikvaya, her hands at the edge of her tunic.

"I'm assuming you will look away until I tell you can look, right?" she said to him, her inner voice callm but stern. She didn't particularly care if he say her naked just as long as he didn't see that scar that mared her back.

She pulled her tunic off and folding it neatly, she did the same thing for her leggings. She gathered her white hair in her hand and sat in the hot water. It fell so good to be clean. To sit in warm water. The last time she had bathed it was in a stream off by the edge of the Beor's.
"You may look now. Just as long as you tell me why you are so imfamous here in Tarnag?"

[Wikvaya]

Wikvaya didn't like being forgotten. Well, it really depended on the situation. Any other day he'd be happy as a clam to be the forgotten one. But when someone you considered a friend and someone you liked to tease forgets to get a bed for you? That's cold. That's real cold. Good thing Wikvaya wasn't even mad. If anything, this presented a finer opportunity to tease and flirt with her further, especially since she was now, having locked and warded the door, going to have to submit herself to a werecat's scrutiny.

Oh, you might not think so at first, but werecats were a scrutinizing race. They might be looking away, but they were still noticing every little detail about what was going on around them. Truthfully, Wikvaya would have done it even if he didn't want to. It was just something werecats did. It didn't matter whether they actually desired to learn things about boring people or interesting people or beautiful people or theatrical people.

And so Wikvaya sat.

... What? That pillow was comfy.

Oh. And he also replied to her. "Oh, it's quite all right. This way me and you get to bond real well. Clothing is, of course, optional in the bonding process." Easy for him to say. As a cat, he wasn't wearing anything anyways. It was for this reason (and to disrupt her plans of being okay with sleeping next to a cat, as he was getting something about that) that his form blurred until a mischievously smiling, tan skinned (and quite shirtless, as Wikvaya never cared for shirts) man sat on the bed, legs casually crossed. "Oops. Did I do that?" He inquired, ever the innocent one. "It would seem that predators and peepers lurked all around."

That it would. Oh, did you think he meant himself? Maybe you're right. We'll wait and see.

Turns out you're not right after all, as he amusedly looked away as she began to strip. Not because he particularly cared about her naked form (beautiful as it was), he merely felt like respecting her wishes in order to keep in her good graces, as it were. After all, there WAS only one bed here, and he wasn't going to sleep on the floor. Not at all.

And that's when he got something about what Aisling didn't want him to see. Of course it couldn't have been helped at all. Wikvaya just got things about people sometimes. Especially when he felt like knowing things about them. And this one had a rather juicy texture. In other words, it was a vital bit of information Wikvaya received, one he could use to better understand this woman. It was like solving a puzzle, only aspects of the person's personality were the pieces as opposed to actual pieces. Actual puzzles were boring.

Nevertheless, having gotten something, he had to make a comment about it. "You don't have to hide anything from me, you know. Tragic pasts are bound to come up, but I don't mind, provided you have something to tell me."

[Aisling]

Aisling looked over at the bed to see Wikvaya sitting in his human form, shirtless of course. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"You just love to prove me wrong," she said shaking her head.

She looked at her feet, playing and manipulating a stream of water in the air with magic. This werecat was way to good at finding things out. She didn't even know why she even bothered anymore. Maybe it was that elven sensibility that she was born with that made her so secretive and cautious of what she revealed to people, friends or strangers. Or maybe it was the fact that she herself had barely come to terms with her own past. The world was so different now.

"I'm setting the ground rules right now," she said, as the water moved to form a ball as it hovered in mid-air, "Clothing is not optional unless you give me a good reason to reconsider."

She always just slept in her tunic unless she was traveling then she would always sleep fully clothed, never knowing what might spring up. She felt no need to cover up more than that really, even with the flirtatious werecat. He wouldn't try anything. He was strange, yes, but he was most certainly not stupid.

"And I'm being kind," she said with a sly smile, "Most women would make you sleep on the floor."

The water formed back into a dancing stream, before Aisling released the magic that held it. Simple magic like that reminded her so much of her training in Iliera. Back in the good ol' days. Before evil tyrants and death. Way before it all. She missed those days terribly. She wished she could've had more of them. She sighed and lowered herself more in the water as she began to bathe herself. Her thoughts went out to Faeon again. She wondered if he had heard call to him. He could be anywhere now. She immediately lowered head into the water and washed her white hair, as she washed she tried to get the memories to flow out of her head like the water.

No such luck.

Aisling took a deep breath as she emerged from the water and sighed at Wikvaya's comment about her past.

"My past is not tragic," she said softly, "Just being at the wrong place at the wrong time and I'm lucky to be alive."

She felt very clean now, or cleaner than she had before. She grabbed the towel that was near by. She stood up her back facing the werecat, and with elven speed, wrapped the towel around her. Water dripped of her body steadily, she could easily dry herself off with magic, but she wished to tease the werecat a bit, since he was doing the same to her.

She stepped out the tub, towel wrapped around her. She wrung out her hair, closing her eyes as she combed through it with her fingers. She open her eyes and looked at Wikvaya, eye's half lidded as memories of the origins of her scar flashed through her mind with such force she could not bear to open her own eyes.

"Can you live with curiosity? Or will you die if you can not see what I hide? I will show you my secret, but you owe me one as well."

[Wikvaya]

"I wouldn't say I love to prove you wrong," Wikvaya replied, an amused light flickering through his pupils. "But do I ever love to flirt with you."

It was true, too. Wikvaya enjoyed that very much about their relationship. He would never make a serious romantic approach for her (unless prompted to, of course), but that didn't stop him from flirting with every beautiful woman he came across. Not to mention that they themselves had grown to be very fast friends during their travels through the mountain range. If anything, Wikvaya may even romantically approach her on his own. Doubtful, since he considered the act of being in a permanent relationship to be the essence of evil, but she could always hope.

Or she could set ground rules. Ground rules were no fun. Especially when they involved inhibiting Wikvaya's capacity to flirt without being offensive. And he would undoubtedly offend her if he were to press the issue. Cursed Elves. Why did they always have to put him in such predicaments? The pretty ones were always the worst. Oh... wait... every elf was pretty. Go figure.

He must roll with the punches! "Well, the night is young, and you're so beautiful. So perhaps reconsideration will happen eventually." Very smooth. Now, all we needed was a suitable line that was funny... but sincere.

And sincerity was nowhere to be found in comedy. So Wikvaya just stared at her as she manipulated the fluids around her magically, gathering what information he could while he watched. He was getting something... and it was pretty big. She was a very beautiful woman. What? Obvious humor not good enough? Wikvaya would have to work on his act then. When she lowered her head into the water, he decided to stand up and stride into her direction. It wasn't long before she got out and quickly wrapped herself in a towel, but Wikvaya didn't really care.

And then they were close. Not terribly close. But close enough.

He smiled mischievously again.

"Curiosity killed the cat, as the saying goes." Eh, it was a fair enough deal. Not many were able to wrestle answers from werecats like that. He inwardly applauded her for a well played game. "Fair trade. What would you like to know?"

[Aisling]

Aisling's widened a bit in surprise at the werecat's sudden closeness, but to be honest she should've known that he would take a more... active approach to flirting with her as if he was always trying to get a rise out of her. Aisling was not a human woman or a woman of weak emotion, she could stay cool and calm better than the rest of them. While most women would blush and look away, Aisling smiled slyly and actually got closer. It was about time the elf had the upper hand. Well, she always has the upper hand. Obviously.

She knew how to play the flirting game, regardless of whatever emotion she felt for the mysterious werecat, she rather enjoyed their friendship, as strange and flirtacious it was. But Aisling really had no desire to find love, she had a good few hundred years left to find such a thing. If she ever did. Elves were so fickle that love never really truly lasted. She often was curious if her own parents were still together.

Aisling looked Wikvaya in the eyes, what to ask the werecat that he would answer straightly. Werecat's were tricky creatures and could talk circles around people, leaving them dizzy and robbed. She could tell that Wikvaya was quite adept at this, from firsthand knowledge and just looking into his eyes. The eyes were the portal to a person's true nature, if you knew how to read eyes you could read anyone.

"Tell me, how do werecats know what they know?" Aisling asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

She shivered a bit, the room was somewhat cold and she was wet and cold. Aisling was always cold now that she had left the desert. She missed the desert sun like no other. But for now she must hold her ground, she wanted her question answered.

[Wikvaya]

So it was a game of flirt chicken, was it? Wikvaya never lost flirt chicken. Why, you may ask? Merely because he had no shame at all, whatsoever. He would grin in the eye of Galbatorix himself as he drops his trousers and moons him. Wikvaya would wager that he'd be killed a second after doing so, but it doesn't matter. That whole statement was just to underscore his shamelessness.

As though to further play the game, he lay his hand on her shoulders, exposed or not, and gives her a sly smile in return. She more than likely believed herself to have the upper hand. Well Wikvaya could play the game well, far better than she gave him credit for. Due mostly in part to his shamelessness. He had mentioned that before, hadn't he?

And then the question fell.

A curious question. How do they know what they knew? Why, they knew it. There really wasn't a way to explain it. He supposed, if he had to put it into words, they had a sort of sense that told them about people? It was how they could tell the future, and how they could find out things. Did this mean he had to explain it like that? Perhaps. He didn't really want to, but he would. Fair was fair.

"You know that immense, overpowering sense of foreboding you get before something happens? It's like that, only more detailed." This was true. It wasn't that whole explained bit of nonsense, but it was true.

He tilted his head at her coldness and walked over to the bed. Pulling up a blanket, he returned to their close positioning and wrapped it around her, wet or not. It would help her get dry if she were wet, and it would keep her warm if she were dry.

Win win, in Wikvaya's opinion.

[Aisling]

As always, Wikvaya took it step further. Aisling's upperhand was challenged with the contact. The hands on her shoulders felt...strange to her. She hadn't really been touched in such away for a long while. She could tell right away that Wikvaya was no fighter and nor was he a worker. His hands were way to soft for that. It reminded her of the hands of many of the elves. Aisling's own hands were a bit more rough and hard from fighting and wandering, not that it mattered anyway, she was just shocked he would out right touch her.

Aisling did her best to not react to the sudden touching but she was sure something slipped out onto her face. Her face and emotions seemed to have a mind of their own sometimes. Sometimes it felt like her mind and heart worked without her control.

He answered her question, but Aisling was disappointed with the answer. She had hoped for the greatest of mysteries to be revealed to her, but it wasn't. She should've known that perhaps Wikvaya did not really know the answer himself. Or he did and could not put it into words. Sometimes all people and creatures just can not put all their true nature into words. Even their true names could never really fully cover all aspects of a person.

Though, she was a bit jealous of the werecat. It must be nice to just know everything.

Aisling was grateful for the blanket, she had dried off quite a bit but she still felt moisture transfer into the fabric. She could easily dry it off with magic. Everything was easy with magic.

"Thank you," she said with a smile.
Not sly not flirtatious but quite genuine. It was an honour for an elf to smile at you with truly good intentions. Especially if your non-elf.

Ah, but now she had to tell a secret herself. She felt as if though he would be a good person to tell her secrets too. She could tell the werecat knew the value of a secret...and other things that he had a tendency to steal.

"Alright, I shall keep my end of the bargain as well."

Aisling unwrapped herself from the blanket, dropping it to the floor. She was already missing the warmth. She stood in her towel for a moment before turning around. She lowered the towel until her lower back was revealed.

And there the beast of a scar rested. It had re-opened in some parts when she had gotten out of the tub. Aisling no longer felt it re open it was as if the whole area was numb now, dead even. The scar itself was black, it was a thick scar about 4 inches tall and 5 inches long. The sword that stabbed her had been coated in sether oil, and even for over 70 years the skin was still dead and gone. Aisling looked down as a drop of blood landed on the ground,, this scar was her curse for not staying and fighting. It was her curse for turning her back to her brethren. She could never get rid of it. It was a part of her history now.

[Wikvaya]

Wikvaya was certainly not a fighter. He could fight, but he wasn't a fighter. And he certainly wasn't a worker. Not even really a lover. He never actually fell in love, nor even seduced to the point of making it. No, Wikvaya's true talents lied in seducing and stealing. He was more charming than most women gave him credit for and was faster with his hands than the quickest eye could catch. He could leave you with none of your valuables in less than a second if it pleased him. He was tooting is own horn, but there you go.

However, he wished to do neither of these things with Aisling here.

That didn't stop his actions from taking effect. He caught a faint color of red on her face and grinned immensely, almost triumphantly. But then the color was lost in the look of disappointment. Well, Wikvaya answered her question at least. Whether the answer was to her liking was not his problem. After all, he wasn't a miracle worker.

Nevertheless, he replied. "You're quite welcome. It was my pleasure." He bowed low and sarcastically, but when he stood up again, his smile was no longer mischievous but friendly and rather caring.

Ah, how good it was that someone keeps their end of the bargain. Wikvaya would sometimes make bargains for what he wanted, but he quickly learned the idiocy of it. People regularly tried to cheat him in their dealings, for they were greedy and didn't have the courtesy to steal things like the men they were. It was only after Wikvaya had outsmarted them in every aspect did they try and take what they wanted by force, at which time Wikvaya was forced to discipline them. He usually ended off the better for it. But it was nice to know that bargaining wasn't completely useless.

He got on his knees to examine the scar proper. It was black, it was gross, and it smelled of the worst kind of oil: Seithr Oil. He didn't flinch at any of this fact, merely examined it. He nodded thoughtfully to himself and stood again. "I have concluded..." He said. "That this isn't a bad thing to have at all. And I don't think you should try and hide that or anything from little old me." He nodded to her and to himself.

And without another word, began to strip. What? She the only one that gets a bath? Not a chance.

Unlike her, he didn't care whether she looked away or not. He had nothing on his body to hide, after all, unlike her. He strode away from her and swung himself into the bath, producing a splash. He didn't really mind, and sank into the water.

[Aisling]

Aisling snorted bitterly at his comment. Not a bad thing to have at all, ha. Though she no longer felt the pain of the scar, she was pretty sure Faeon did. Or he at least felt the pain of the memory. She had spent years trying to erase the memory from her mind, but in the end gave up. It was too important to her to just throw away. It had shaped into her who she was. Would she have been different had she escaped unharmed? Probably. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, all Aisling knew was that she could've done without the pain.

Aisling bent down and grabbed her folded tunic, her back still to the werecat. She dropped the towel and pulled the tunic over body. It hung loosely on her and fell to mid thigh. She then combed through her white hair with her fingers, making sure all the knots were out. She turned and faced him. Her best, 'I'm an elf and you can't read my emotions' face on and said, "I'd like to say that one day you would understand, but I would not wish such thing upon a friend. Pain is usually the biggest secret."

Shock appeared all over her face, as Wikvaya stripped in front of her. She after a moment of shock, and perhaps inspection, she averted her eyes. Aisling had seen a few naked men in her life time, and to be honest she had no rush to see anymore. She didn't mond the male form at all, it was just...the lower half that always took her by surprise.

She heard a splash in the tub and she looked over at him, shaking her head a laughing smile on her face.

"You are too bold good sir, too bold."

[Wikvaya]

And then she was irritated. Not good at all. He hadn't meant it as an insult, of course. He never meant things as insults, unless he did. He realized that it must have been a very hard time for her. A very hard, and if he might say very painful experience. He was merely referring to her embarrassment over it. She should not cover it up so and be ashamed, for without pride in one's self, where would one be? Probably Therinsford. A lot of prideless people went to Therinsford.

And she began to cover up. Apparently the moment of teasing had passed, given way to cold indifference. Wikvaya frowned noticeably. She turned to him, and he eyed her up and down, trying his best to get a reading on her. He was getting something... and it was pain. Not physical, but emotional. This was a bad sign.

Nevertheless, he spoke. "I meant that you didn't have to hide it from me, Dear," he said, still frowning. "After all, what am I if not a simple werecat?"

And technically he was a simple werecat. Some might say he was not for he did something so un-werecatlike, which was piss off numerous races, yet werecats have had a history of that. By stealing? No. But werecats still did what they wanted to do, and that's exactly what he did. At least he was able to break the stagnation via stripping. She was cute when she was surprised.

That was always good.

"Well, we can't all have scars to hide. I have nothing really to hide, unless you're uncomfortable?"

[Aisling]

Aisling mental slapped herself, she always had a tendency to allow bitter memories to shape her mood. She was almost bi-polar in that sense. She really had no filter on her thoughts and they would often attack at will. But she had snapped at the werecat. Not vocally but her indifference was probably more hurtful. But that was how she handled those types of situations. No emotion. It was scarier than anger and more heart wrenching than tears. It was always a good strategy make a point. And it did.

Aisling sensed Wikvaya's disappointment at her putting on clothes. She had lost all desire to tease at that point. But she really did enjoy teasing him probably just as much as enjoyed teasing her. The white haired elf was a tough nit to crack but when one got closer to her, she truly was a trickster and light hearted. To be honest Aisling rather liked the male attention, she hadn't had male attention in a very long time and she rather missed it.

Aisling, couldn't help but notice that the werecat was attractive. Not as attractive as an elf, but he attractive none the less. She knew that he would hold it over her head if he caught her checking him out.

"No, I'm not uncomfortable. You are not the first man I have seen. I can assure you," Aisling said with a sly smile.

She walked over to the tub and sat on the edge. Now she was going to lighten the mood abnd resume the teasing. Why not? What did she have to lose now. Nothing really. She had shared her hidden scare with him, might as well up the aunty of their flirting game.

"Now I thought cats didn't like water," she said tossing her hair, leaning in a little bit.

[Wikvaya]

Wikvaya didn't mind all that much. Everyone, even him, was prone to anger at one time or another. Elves just did a better job at hiding it. And of course, the pains and injustices of the past always influenced them. Wikvaya didn't mind about that either. He might never understand what she was going through, but he would be damned a thousand times before he let her suffer the pains on the past for his miscalculation.

It was part of the reason why he stripped and took a bath.

Yes, it was true. He absolutely abhorred water. He couldn't stand the sight, smell, taste, or anything of it. It was cold, and so very very wet. When he went in it, his fur stuck together uncomfortably and then when he got dry his hair made him look like a stuffed animal. But it was more than all that, terrible as all that may be. He absolutely loathed how vulnerable the water made him feel. Especially rivers. He felt like a river could sweep him up and deposit him on the other side of Alagaesia if it wished, and most probably could. It made him grimace at the thought.

In his human form, however, it wasn't half bad. He could at least keep his footing.

And thus he smiled at her. "Oh? That's good. Hopefully i'm not the last. Or hopefully I AM the last." He chuckles.

And then the ante was upped. He grinned up at her and sat back in the tub, extending a foot upward to poke her. "Oh, it isn't all that bad. Not when you have skin to enjoy it with."

[Aisling]

"Ah skin is good for a lot of things. I have no complaints for the most part," Aisling said as she swatted gently at his foot.

She had chosen tactfully, to not respond to his previous comment. The elf preferred to keep things up in the air, it made things interesting. If they weren't interesting enough. Aisling particularly liked to keep things interesting with Wikvaya. She had mostly had Faeon for a companion for her whole life. And though she loved him dearly, it was nice to have someone other than a wise dragon to talk too.

Aisling placed her hand in the water and splashed the werecat lightly. Before he could react she stood up and walked over to the bed. It was a bit on the small side. But it would only be fore one night, and sure beat sleeping in a tunnel or on the cold ground of the forest.

Aisling found her and the rest of her race rather spoiled when it came to nature. They slept in a forest, in tree houses with warm running water. It defintely wasn't a true wilderness living. So when she lived amongst the Golden Faced Tribe, she learned a lot about living in the wild, desert or forest, the wild was the wild.

The elf winked at Wikvaya and laughed. Her melodic elven laugh. She couldn;t help but laugh at her own capricious mood changes. She was quite happy that Wikvaya brought out her lighter side. And she had no doubt Faeon would approve of him. Though Faeon wasn't really a fan of cats. But Aisling knew that the white dragin would look past that fact.

Aisling touched her mind with the werecat's and said, I think my dragon would like you.