Strange Beasts (Crim)

[Lisenet]

Tellen couldn’t help smirking when she saw that he was half-undressed already. Gently raised as she was, she should probably have been more scandalized than amused. But this was her room, so he should have been more careful. She had nothing to be ashamed of. ”I wish I could say this was a first,” she said instead. Let him take from that what he would.

Striding forward, she unhooked the sodden dress and cloak from her arm and threw them over the lower end of one of the rafters—she always requested a top floor room if one was available. ”I don’t know what you think gives you the right to choose the bed in a room that’s not yours,” she continued. ”Therefore….” She kicked the thick shim out from underneath one of the legs at the head of the bed and swept it into her hand, swiped her small dagger out of her satchel, flipped it so she held the blade itself, and held the handle underneath his chin. ”I’m claustrophobic, I get the bed by the window. If I have to I’ll just move you over bed and all and sleep on the floor.” She smiled peaceably down at him, wondering how he’d respond. Most women make such demands of women. ”And if there’s more than one arrow in that bed, I’m not the one with problems.” She jerked a thumb. ”Come on. Out, and I’ll talk to you gladly.”

Tellen glanced up as she waited for him to heed her. Most men stood up well enough to their own kind, but when confronted with a woman—most of the time herself or one of the ones she’d taken into her precise tutelage—they often didn’t know what to do, and caved. It was an advantage she had no qualms about abusing. You couldn’t abuse something they brought upon themselves.

The moon was just barely leaking milky light through the fog now. The lull in the storm was only temporary, she could see that already. The air was still too cool for it to have passed them completely by. The thunder would be nice to listen to as she slept. It had never frightened her, thunder. Sounds didn’t frighten her.

No, what frightened Tellen were people she didn’t know what to do with or how to react around. Another good reason to look at the moon was that it gave her a reason not to look at how the moon loved to run its pale fingers over the swarthy skin of the man in the bed she’d already claimed as hers. An amusing thought, having a man in her bed, even if she wasn’t in it with him. Regardless, not looking at him was certainly the better option. Let the moon love him; she didn’t have the time to. And she owed the world a piece of whatever she could offer before she could offer loyalty to any one man in particular, or woman, though her tastes had never wandered toward them.

[.:[Crim]:.]

Crim's eyes flashed as he saw her striding towards him, his body tensed. his mind and body like a suddenly coiled spring . His eyes were astute as he saw her bring back her leg and start a forward motion. Half guessing what she was going to do he just allowed the bed to suddenly go lopsided in one corner, but as he did so he loosened his body and just lay there, his gear suddenly shifting closer to his head. Quiver, bow, belts, buckles and cloth all came rushing at him. he laughed sullenly as he was encased in the meager prison. Shambling to his feet he looked at Tellen with a new interest, but as she had decided to stay near the bed post when she kicked it and was going on about carrying the whole bed over he stood up anyways. his presence immediately filling her personal space, as he was mere fingers away from her. Golden orbs flashing slightly down at her he laughed again.

"So you do get angry?" he asked her absentmindedly as he brought a hand up to his own hair and ruffled it heavily, Cursing to himself mentally as he realized that it might have revealed his ears, which even as a half elf were still far to pointy to be human. he looked into her eyes, still just a handbreadth away from her and said "ok then, your bed. my shim." and with that he flashed his hand from twirling a wayward strand of hair to the shim, latching on with fingers that were used to pulling his ludicrously weighty bow. he then as if not wanting to take the game to far got out of her space and sauntered off to his new bed collapsing on it.

He again propped his head up with his palm, the other twirling the shim absentmindedly, believing full well that she would not be able to snatch it from him, he left his gear on the floor, it wasn't damaged and he was far to curious to even care. he looked at her, standing there, the moonlight was hauntingly white against her skin and his eyes traced the lines it made there. he noticed the way she had refused to look at him during the spectacle. it made him intrigued but unwilling to pursue at least that topic right now.

Taunting her with the shim he said "So here's the deal after you so suddenly nearly break my bow, which I might add is irreplaceable and incredibly ancient. a trade for a trade, I sleep on this bed, and I may choose to give you back this shim for a Story, one pertaining to yourself, and your upbringing. I would hear much of what led a woman to Wander on a beach in a city known for criminals, a woman who apparently loves animals, and more importantly has decided to at least put up with my what was the word.... ridiculousness." he gazed at her intently as if waiting for an answer before also adding hastily
"and toss me the bottom layer of my tunic if you would?"

[Lisenet]

He had a pleasant laugh. But Tellen did her best not to notice. ”So, do you get angry?” She lifted her chin. It was blunter than her mother would have liked, but it suited Tellen just fine. ”No. I get results.” He lifted a hand to tousle his hair and it brought the moonlight around to cup the muscles in his upper arm and shoulder.

It was her own fault. If she hadn’t been noticing the moonlight she would have seen his hand as it flashed out and stole her shim. Refusing to allow him to vex her, she stuck her nose in the air and made a point of throwing her sheets back with a flourish as she got into bed, shoving the pillow onto the floor and not bothering to pick it up. She was so used to not using them that she’d grown fond of their absence. They made her neck ache in the morning.

Crim held up the bit of wood she’d used to keep the bed from wobbling—it was steady now only because she’d kept all of her weight to the far side of it. Clearly he had something to say. …. A story. Well, that was one of the deepest questions he could have asked her to answer. So many parts of this world were so very shallow, but stories weren’t, especially the true ones. That was what made them so dangerous. ”Well, since you ask for so much,” she replied slowly, ”I’ll tell you what. I’ll tell you a story and you’ll give me back the shim, no choosing involved. When the story’s done it’s mine.” She waited patiently for his answer, having never been the impatient sort, and leaned over to where she’d dropped her satchel next to the bed. There was an unrecognizable lump of wood in the bottom of it, so once she found it she sat up against the headboard and tapped at it with her dagger. It was a little thing, the blade, only a little bit longer than her middle finger. But she rarely needed it for defense and it was wonderfully easy to hide, so she didn’t mind.

She couldn’t tell the difference between any of the mangled parts of his discarded clothes, so she stuck her foot under all of them and shoved them across the worn floorboards. ”I do believe your clothing is more complicated than any woman’s that I have ever seen,” she commented, before retrieving the pillow and stuffing it into the space at her back. ”All right, a story.” She began to whittle. While holding still for long periods of time wasn’t terribly difficult for her mindset, when speaking at such length she preferred to have something to do with her hands. It gave her something to focus on other than her own words, gave them the cadence of truth.

”I had a dog when I was young, a magnificent, mischievous fellow, if a bit daft. But a few years before him my father found me a batch of goose eggs that had been abandoned, apparently. We managed to get most of them to hatch after asking around to see what we should do with them. The trick is to get them wet every day, it keeps them moist inside.

“Anyway, out of seven goose eggs, five of them hatched. They grew so fast, and they had such big awkward feet, you wouldn’t believe it. They walked like they weren’t sure the ground would still be there when their next step fell. And it took them the longest time to learn how to walk up the ramp into the old chicken coop. We had to pick them up to put them in, and they didn’t like that one bit. Their feet were heavier than they looked and they left bruises all over the backs of my hands for months until they figured out the ramp worked better from the bottom up.

“Eventually they got more used to being held. I’d thought they might think I was their ma, being as they hatched with me, and they followed me whenever I was out in the yard, but they didn’t care for being held. Later on they would climb into my lap if I was sitting down. They were always too fat to fly, though. Everyone else thought they were identical but I could tell them apart. One would walk crookedly, one honked while another was prone to squeaking, and one liked to bite more than the others. They were individuals, like children. I thought of them as my children.”

Tellen paused for a few breaths, thinking, working a few more curls from the bit of wood in her lap. ”I suppose he was more of a family dog than mine. But I spent the most time with him when I was young, or my brother and I. But my elder brother had other things to attend to and I was the one who least minded having mud on my clothes. So we got to be the best of friends, that dog and I.

“He wasn’t the best around my birds though. They flapped or looked at him funny and he thought it was the best of games to chase them and chase them. Soon we got him so he was more used to them, and they to him, and we started leaving them alone together in the yard because they were doing so well with each other. Just one day we left them for too long without checking on them and when I next came out one of them was pushing itself along with its wings because its spine was out and its legs wouldn’t work, half dead and still trying to get back to the others while my dog pushed it along with his nose from behind.

“He didn’t mean anything by it. He’s a dog, that’s what they do. My father killed the goose because I couldn’t do it, and locked the dog in the cellar for the rest of the day. The dog cried and cried downstairs while I cried and cried upstairs, both of us miserable. He didn’t understand what he’d done wrong and I was so sad that I couldn’t explain why I halfway hated him for a while. I couldn’t hate him all the way, I loved him. But I loved that bird too, and what are you supposed to do when one thing you love ruins another thing you love?

“That’s a part of why I left. I didn’t notice when I was young, but as I grew up I began to see how much people hurt each other because they didn’t understand each other. I understood what caused my dog to go after my birds so I couldn’t truly hate him. So I have this idea fixed in my head that if I figure out why we—the humans, the elves, the Riders, whoever else might be out there—are so determined to go our own ways, perhaps we won’t hate each other so much for how we blaze our individual trails.” She heaved a deep sigh. ”And there it is.” Her eyes flashed up. ”I think you owe me a story now too. And my shim.”

She tried to suppress the faint frown pressing itself into her mouth and couldn’t. She had built her most recent lives on lies, and had intended to continue doing so. But the story she’d told this stranger was entirely true.

This was why stories were dangerous.

[.:[Crim]:.]

Crim sighed inwardly as he chucked the shim at her sheets. His eyes twinkling he leaned his head a little deeper into his palm and thought about what she had said. He agreed with her, at least partially that there could be peace... after evil was put out of the world. Crim knew that people were at least slightly inherently evil, he thought it could change but he did not see it happening soon. pondering still whether or not he should tell her a story from his childhood, it was dangerous that much he was certain of, It would be apparent that he was Half-elven for sure, or so he thought.

His mind raced as he searched for something that would share much of the human elements that were in child hood, learning to speak to animals with his mind, the ancient language and his affinity for calisthenics and outdoors were going to be pretty much off-limits. Searching his mind he thought he might have something that would at least explain his love for archery.


Adjusting his bangs back a bit he spoke in a low voice and told his tale. "Well, where do I begin? In the forests and especially the mountains that surround my birthplace it is not uncommon for young children like myself to fall deeply in love with nature and the arts. I was romanced by the sweet falling of autumn, the gentle quiet of winter, the emergence of life in spring, and the pale sun shafts that befall the trees in summer. My father and mother lived alone in a house many miles from the nearest settlement. We had few neighbors and those we did generally chose to stay within their own dwellings. Thus it allowed me to explore, to run, to swim. I fell, scraped, broke, sprained, and cut myself as a kid, but then again which kid who soars over a waterfall in a laundry bucket doesn't?"

"My mother was very loving, too much so in fact. I knew I was wrong in doing so but I began to loathe the lessons she made me learn every day before I could run freely. mathematics, writing and reading. politics and housekeeping where all things that interested her, and to an extent because she taught me I was forced to be interested in them as well. Much of my early years passed on in such fashion, until I was around twelve."

"My father however was quite the outdoors man, and would often disappear for days gathering the things we would need from the land. Every time he left I knew no harm would become of him, he was too skilled with his bow, which I now carry."


Crim paused as he noticed the moon had fully risen now and burned through the fog with its mournful gaze. he readjusted himself a decent amount and then continued.


"Soon after that my Father began teaching me to use his bow. The weight far exceeded the childhood toys I had carved myself often enough. the length as you can see is nearly as tall as I am now, though I have not grown much since I was sixteen or so. My father was a harsh teacher, and thus I excelled, ready for a challenge and to prove myself to him in a way I suppose, at fifteen I could hit a grouse as it flew into the sky from over a hundred yards."

"Seventeen was the age I was when my father gave me his final test, or so I thought. With him standing to the side he flipped a coin high into the air, challenging me to not just hit it with the arrow, but put the head through the kings head, after I did so he declared my accuracy was at least nominal and he moved to my speed. Forcing myself to memorize sightline grids, understanding the winds that blew through our wood, and adjust for the speed of the object that I was hitting I began to slowly excel. my speed grew slowly, he said too slowly, he was wrong. 'Twas to be the final day of my training when.... No, I am sorry I cannot."


Crim ended his tale abruptly, hoping that she didn't ask for more. Trying to ease the tension he thought he created he said " It is not nearly as fun as goslings and other animals. My child hood was filled with he outdoors and exercise and expected perfection, at least with my archery lessons. Do not get me wrong there were many wonderful events, many shared laughs as my mother was inclined to through food at my father whenever she so choose, the resulting food fight was always fun and interesting to clean. By the way soup is bad for your hair..."


Crim raised himself up so that he sat up in the bed that was being loaned to him by a human woman. a human woman. His mind was curious to know many things about the human culture he had been denied growing up, but was asking her and following her if she allowed it too much? Was he biting off more than he could chew? Crim stared complacently at the window and it was another hour before he spoke again as if emerging from deep thought.


"Tellen?" His voice the whisper of feather bestirred by the wind. His eyes sought hers and he realized she had fallen asleep. The sheets tugged around weirdly as if she slept slightly folded over at the waist. Her form was relaxed, which was surprising as she slept with a man she barely knew nigh ten foot from her. Withdrawing the question that was nearing his lips he stirred, the buckles on his breeches cascading softly down to hang around his legs, his tunic rumpling slightly at the collarbone.

Moving as quietly as he did when he stalked pray he sauntered to the window and gazed out of the slightly dirt covered pane of glass. The one crack that it had was infected with mold, as if a wound in its flesh had become infected. Still it allowed for him to view the stars. Night skies were among his favorite things in the world and he often walked under them his face heavenward. he lost himself in thought again.


"I know not nearly as much as I thought I did about this world. Was it a mistake to come here? Am I dishonoring my parents by choosing to wander as my only path? I know that I could do good in this world, but which good is really good? Every one claims they are good and yet they are evil to someone else. I have no real skills beyond my bow, I am average with a sword, but still...

Shall I return to my homeland and play the incessant and stupid game that they do? I could never forgive them, my own people for what they did. I never even said goodbye... Bah, Come on Crim get a hold of yourself. You do know what you want in your life, but right now I do need to learn everything I can. There is still much that I don't know."


A sudden breeze cajoled itself against the glass and it rattled slightly, he hissed softly, it was disturbing the near silence that he enjoyed, but then as if noticing it for the first time it was not silent. A slow rise and fall of the merest whisper was audible to him. It was Tellen of course, sleeping silently, but regardless for some reason it gave him reason to believe that maybe he could accompany her for a while and learn what he could.

After all he was sleeping in the same room with her. Yes, his mind might betray him from time to time with thoughts he did not approve of but he was comfortable with her to a degree. She had her suspicions about his mental abilities, of that he was sure. How would she act when it was found out that he was Half-elven? he did not know. Crim continued to stare at the wonderfully inexplicable night sky until the slightest of pink started to adorn its eastern edge, and noticing so he sauntered back into his loaned bed and entered his waking dreams.

[Lisenet]

She caught the shim and immediately leaned over to jam it underneath the short leg. Straightening to her hunched position against the headboard, she continued curling small shavings of pale wood onto the sheet draped over her lap. It was thin for the summer but she felt decently warm. She settled in comfortably and listened as he slowly began to speak. It was a pleasant sort of voice, with a middling tone, not scraping over the lower sounds.

His story wasn’t what she had expected. A laundry basket over a waterfall, mountains, neighbors that stayed inside? And an archer who could hit the specified face of a coin thrown in the air? Where had he grown up that the people living in such a beautiful place wanted to spend more time inside than see it?

She was surprised when he cut himself off somewhere near the end of his story. ”You should raise some animals someday,” she suggested. ”They can’t argue with you like littles can.” She eased slowly down against the headboard. Weariness was creeping in. ”They’ll get nearly anything into your hair without even trying.” Tellen tucked the dagger against the mattress at her side and ran her fingers over the new grooves she’d put into it.

Tellen barely noticed when she slid sideways into sleep, into dreams of swimming, with fins for hair, scales for fingernails, and a sun more green than orange. It was a magnificent dream, and she was reluctant to let it go. But she wanted to wake up first, just in case Crim was an early riser.

Waking early had never been difficult for her. Any light tended to wake her up rather quickly. When saw saw Crim still sleeping she noted curiously how he, unlike most other young adults, looked older when he was asleep. He could have been thirty years old already.

As soon as she stood up she took her dry dress down from the rafters and took herself and her satchel back down to an unused room on the ground floor, where she changed back into her dress, folded the innkeeper’s wife’s nightgown and left it next to their door. Then she tossed her cloak loosely over her shoulders and went into the market for food. She’d decided she was going to hunt for that ring after all. It looked just like Crim’s, and she doubted he would give her his, so if she did indeed dislike the granddaughter she would quite happily tell her she hadn’t been able to find the ring. It wasn’t like the ungrateful granddaughter would know the difference.

Tellen bought a few hot rolls and a cup of sliced rhubarb to chew on to wake herself up before she returned to the inn. She paused on the landing to chat with the innkeeper's wife, laughing as the older woman regaled her with a story of the longterm lodger they'd had years ago who insisted upon airing out his drawers on a stick hanging out his window and couldn't understand why the pigeons kept pooping on them, and the next winter they found an old swallow nest in the eave above his window.

Finally she had to excuse herself and she stepped back up to her room, unlocking it with the key she hadn’t even thought to leave for Crim so he could get out and entered, throwing a still-warm roll at him. ”I’ve decided,” she announced. ”I’m going to fetch that ring. I could use the money. So unfortunately this room no longer belongs to me.” She reached up and brushed the tangled hair out of her face, then tugged a tie out of one of her cloak pockets so she could bind it out of her way. Her skin was too warm for the day's weather, and between her head and her bones she wasn't sure what ached more, but sickness had never lasted long with her. She would be right as a rainbow by evening.

[.:[Crim]:.]

Crim was Aware when Tellen rose and left the room, he wasn't too worried so he continued to slumber on. his waking dreams were usually just recollections of his last day at his childhood home, and as such they were never really waking dreams. They were more of waking nightmares, he never rested well during the actual night, that is one of the reasons he always chose to travel at such a time. he sighed and lowered his head deeper into the pillow as if welcoming a restful sleep fairy that was of course, non existent.

Several moments later after hearing footsteps outside the door and a key turning, wait. She had locked him in here? Regardless he quickly brought his mind back to the present. It was a good thing he did so as he at the last second was able to blur his hand while sitting up violently to catch a projectile that was steaming towards his face. he gripped it to hard however and.... squished? Crim looked down at his hand. a roll...

Crim laughed and swept his legs out from on top of the sheets, which is where he had decided to slumber. His feet hit the floor with a muffled thud and he stood stretching. his hand hitting the ceiling as he stretched scraping his knuckles. "well," he said interjected with a yawn before his next line, "Might as well call me muffin slayer now eh?"

He winked slyly then frowned as he noticed her pale skin which had just yesterday been healthy looking, now looked flush and Tellen looked ill rested. Crim decided he would say nothing on the subject unless it grew worse. hearing her statements about how she was leaving to go find the blasted ring he stepped out the miniature aisle created between the two beds. his tawny skin and well muscled torso still bare he turned around and began buckling his gear back on, it took him just a few moments as he knew every aspect of his kit better than his own name. Thus having donned his clothes, he slipped his bow onto his back, and the quiver to his left thigh.

"Well, would you by chance need an accomplished bowmen on such a journey? I'm handy at scouting and I could find a trail faster than a bloodhound." he went on for a bit about the reasons he should come with her absentmindedly he ruffled his hair again, then suddenly cursing himself as he did so... again.

[Lisenet]

Tellen was in the process of knotting her hair underneath a light, warm-brown kerchief to keep it entirely off her neck and face when Crim shot up and snatched the roll she’d chucked at him out of the air in a move that seemed almost too fast to be realistically possible. Her brows rose as she tied the loose ends of the kerchief up too, and she slung her satchel back over her back. ”Damn. Better get the word out, I’m sure there are some very frightened bakers out there waiting for you to come vanquish all their stale goods.” She kept her eyes pointedly on the calluses on her hands as he stretched, narrow muscles sliding easily under skin. Well, with the way he moved and the thickness of that bow, she supposed she wasn’t terribly surprised.

”….by chance need an accomplished bowman….?” Her gaze skipped up in surprise. ”You want to come?” She remembered the sum offered for the presentation of the ring. ”If you’d like to I suppose you’re welcome to it. At any rate I can’t stop you. I’d like to leave now but I can wait an hour if you have anything else to tie up.” And she wouldn’t mind having company on her small quest, though it wasn’t likely she’d be going far. Either way even she got tired of being alone every now and then. And a woman in the company of a tall and rather questionable-looking male was much less likely to gain attention than a woman on her own, her only failing in her ongoing journey for national comprehension.

She turned for the door, twirling the ring on her finger. ”Got everything? Good. Keep mussing you hair like that and you’ll just have to wash it more often.” Skipping down the stairs, Tellen paused just long enough to return the key to the innkeeper’s wife and murmur to her, ”If anyone stops by with any messages, will you have them write them down or take them for me? I shouldn’t be gone long. My thanks, love.” She kissed the friendly old woman on her soft cheek and continued on to the door. ”I think the caves and the bluffs are our best bet,” she said to Crim as she led them briskly toward the nearest well to fill her flask. ”A lot of scholars like high-up places, I’ve found, and there are a few in between here and the fields beyond where lots of grains are grown.”

After cranking up the bucket Tellen coated her palm in some of the frigid water and wiped it over the back of her neck, the cold water a relief in contrast to the mild irritant it had been the night before, and assuredly the reason she felt as though she’d sprinted the entire way here now. ”Have you any ideas?”

[.:[Crim]:.]

Crim was dumbfounded she even had to ask. So he replied that he had nothing to pack and left a few gold coins on the bed he had used and followed her out the door. He smiled inwardly at the affection she showed the old inn mistress. His mind betraying him that he should be shown affection. Crim ghosted in her steps like some weird looking retainer, and Everywhere they went his clothes stood out a desert league. Crim was used to stares by now and didn't really mind them, unless there was a knife in his ribs he could outdraw even a slightly decent thief and shoot them through the eye. One such quartet of eyes that looked at him belonged to a rather scruffy looking male couple, they seemed geared for a long trek, one had a missing finger and the other half his beard had been burnt off, he dismissed them readily and paid them no further thought

Crim followed somewhat obediently, being led by Tellen was amusing in the least she walked with purpose yet never seemed to make any bold strides or anything that would catch someone's eye. He wondered if he would have been able to notice her in a packed crowd if he really wanted to, the answer was yes of course now that he knew her. However Crim doubted even his abilities if he had not and only been given her description. he sighed and his exotic tunic crinkled slowly, noises of leather creaking in his slight movement. He absentmindedly fiddled with the end of his bow, wishing he had oiled it the night previously.

As she drew water from the well he could see that her neck had gotten flushed as well as her face now, Deciding it was time to mention something Crim stepped forward to her side and whispered. "I've been thinking miss Tellen, you were rather soaked last night... Did you not sleep well or are you feeling sick?" here soak this cloth and use it?" he said extending his rag cloth that he carried in one of the many folds of his tunic.

Tellen reached out to accept the Cloth from her strange companion, not really excited about that fact that he had noticed when suddenly Crim's other hand clamped on top of her wrist and he used the hand that had just released the rag cloth to take her pulse. Crim sighed as she glared daggers at him and he counted...

"your pulse is a bit fast, you sure you rather not lie down for today? or may haps just walk a few leagues at most? we can always pick up the trail as we go? It would be rather bothersome if I had to do all the work now wouldn't it" he spoke mischievously not really meaning any offense by it. Crim quickly let go of her wrist, fully aware that he had probably broken her personal space by some huge fraction and was going to get yelled at.

Regardless towards the southern gate the trudged and plotted, Making good time in the early morning crowd as traders, workmen and even a few nobles rushed along the cobbled streets, a pair of horses trod down the middle making a clickity-clack noise as they passed. Crim actually had found himself starting to Like Teirm, it was far better than any of the hamlets he had visited on his way down here.
After passing through the southern gate he ambled slowly on occasionally pointing out birds he knew to Tellen and mentioning all the facts he knew about them.
his arm raised after such one location he finished his sentence " and That golden gray one is called a Watcher hawk, they are said to watch after travelers from above and ensure a safe passage, as they always dive for cover if they see something that they are unaccustomed too"

And so it was that the odd duo covered roughly two leagues that day and the time was nearing sunset

[Lisenet]

Finally, he remembered not to call her Lady. Tellen closed her eyes and lightly shook her head, faintly smiling at his attention. Reaching out to take the cloth he let her, then snatched her wrist before she could take it back. The muscles under his hand spasmed once in surprise—why was it that she could predict virtually anything any other stranger was about to do and not this odd man?—then quieted. In that single half-motion she already knew she wouldn’t get her wrist back until he chose to release it. Instead she just heaved a sigh as he found the spot where her blood beat closest to the surface.

She accepted the wet cloth and smoothed it over the back of her neck, tying it above her collarbones as she would a kerchief. ”I had the most wonderful dream last night, actually. And I feel delightful, thank you.” And she already paid up for the room and wasn’t about to laze about all day like a vagabond. She had more important things to attend to than her comfort.

Luckily for him he didn’t argue with her further on the point of her health, which she knew better than he anyway, and they made swift progress once they escaped the throngs of other travelers swarming the gates in both directions. Their conversation was lighter than she would have expected, and she welcomed the gift of it. Rare was the person who realized that silence wasn’t an awful thing, but neither was conversation. They went back and forth as their observations and interests dictated. Crim had an expansive knowledge of wildlife, and often pointed out the names of the birds they saw. Birds having a special place in Tellen’s heart, she liked to see that they were given the honor of being recognized by someone.

”I don’t know about you,” She said at last, as they followed the river toward Leona Lake, ”but I’ll only be able to see for another forty minutes or so. What do you say we make camp and find something to eat?” She had purchased few food items, since she could usually scavenge or catch anything she felt like eating, and if he was the clever traveler she suspected he was he was used to the same naturally-provided amenities. She clenched a yawn in her jaw so he wouldn’t see it and pushed some of her escaped hair back up under its scarf. Then, planting her hands on her hips, she looked about them for possible places to bed down without being in the middle of anyone else’s notice. At the toes of the Spine the foothills were sharply formed, with deep valleys and abrupt curvature unlike any other in Alagaesia. A lovely place, really. The river came and went from their relatively direct path, but she was more wondering which of these valleys would prove best to settle into. ”Do you want to start a fire or fetch supper?” she asked him then. ”I’ll be pleased with either.”

Knowing him, he would offer to hunt. Either he didn’t expect her to be capable of it or (and possibly additionally) he so chivalrously wanted to give her time to rest. Admittedly she would appreciate a moment of calm, but out of a desire to prove she was just as capable when feeling vaguely ill as any other day of the week she had pushed herself at a headier pace than she usually bothered with. At the end of a decent day’s travel up and down all the steep hills and gullies, she wasn’t sure yet if she had forced the sickness out of herself or if the adrenaline was just keeping it temporarily at bay.

[.:[Crim]:.]

"I'm Telling you man I saw her grab that poster and I'm telling you that Those two were the same we saw at the well not five minutes ago. They going to get it mate!!" Mel spoke loudly to his companion, Del. Mel sat in the unoccupied room of a lonely warehouse conversing over an empty spool of shipping rope. The spool made a nice table for them to lean, eat, and gamble on. They did this often, the small Abandoned warehouse where they stayed turned into quite the little hotspot during dismal sailing conditions.

Lowlifes, Ruffians and thugs all gathered from any ship in port to try a hand at the local card game known only as "Warehouse." It's rules were simple to a degree but they left quite a bit of grey area, which often resulted in fistfights and even the occasional stabbing. Del having given it some thought asked in a rather hoarse voice "and your shure dis is the one our boss is afters?" If it was Del and Mel might just be able to clear the gambling debts with the captain. "Das what I'm tellin ya, ya great lousy oarsmen!" After conversing for several more minutes they packed their gear and set off in hot pursuit of the Odd duo that had unbeknownst to them attracted the attention of the two vagabonds.

After a few hours of following the two just far enough behind so that they went out of sight with every dip turn bend and arc in the land, they noticed that the pair was slowing down. Del got excited and started whispering to his companion "Aye mate, it's nawt goin be long now!" the pair put on a little speed to catch sight of their quarry who had gone into one of the hillocks surronding the road on the side opposite the river. Del and Mel grey even more excited, the fools had been stupendously easy to track thanks to the man's oddly colored tunic, it stuck out like a sheep among cows, or at least that is what Mel thought.

Stopping for a few moments the two laid out their plan, they would wait till the saw the fire 'agoin and then rush in and force the pair to tell'em everything they knew about the ring that they was searching for. Not long later the pair exclaimed in triumph as they saw a warm ember glow coming from the trees not far from where they had seen the duo disappear. The vagabond crew rushed forward, a pickaxe and a Saxe knife drawn back!

~~~~~~
Crim grumbled to himself as she mentioned that she would only be able to see for under an hour more, 'Was it so with all humans?' he thought to himself. Acknowledging her and then pointing and discussing the various benefits of camping on a hill surrounded by woods. taking the lead for a bit he drudged through the narrow game trails that led in an upwardly direction. They soon passed into the velvet emerald that was the closely nestled between the great foothills of the Spine. Their world grew to resemble that of a deep valley, with sky only showing at the very apex of their sightlines. the Trees even astride the small hillock they would camp at where nowhere near reaching even the sides of the great rift in which the company had passed.

Turning aside the somewhat dense foliage Crim turned to his companion, They had remained silent for some time, Yet it was not an uncomfortable silence. Thus studying her again and saying "Not much further" he decided they would stop short at the apex of a small hill before them. Right before they reached their new destination Crim decided to share something with his new found friend, even if she didn't want to hear it, which he highly doubted. Thus on the last leg of their journey and it ending with the first step into a clearing he sang a favorite song for a few minutes


Let us go now into the forest.
the pine trees that never change:
the old wounded springs that spring
If they could, the trees would lift you
and carry you from valley to valley.


It was a short verse but one his father was very fond of, it repeated twice and it gave Crim something to do. He hoped that Tellen would enjoy it as much as he had. Finally at their resting place Crim knew that it was still not yet time to retire. drawing his bow he Answered Tellen's previous question. "I can hunt... and make the fire, you walked far today. Rest, please." his eyes sought hers and he tried to make her understand that he could do the work for both of them. "I will be gone ten minutes, no more no less. I will call like the watcher hawk we saw this afternoon when I am near"

and thus leaving her in the clearing he ghosted into the birch-wood, His tunic now at twilight finally making sense. the grays whites and blacks made it nigh impossible to see him in the imperfect light. Crim could see fine however, his eyes caught every detail his nose every scent, his feet felt every upturned twig underneath them. Crim walked for a short distance than started to search for food, They did not need much, Certainly not the deer that he had startled as he seemed to materialize in front of a tree. and certainly not the turkey that was bedded down for the night.

Crim sought something else entirely. And Alas he found it, A brace of rabbits. Drawing and sighting he took the first through the eye, a perfect kill, the second he struck on the right hind leg, breaking it. Using the razor-sharp arrowheads he cleaned and gutted each animal, the skin acting as a bag for him to carry it back to camp. where he would find a stone and attempt to fry them. the wind which had died off now that they were in a valley and on a hill suddenly gusted strongly and he smelled something wrong. cheese wine and musk.... Crim started racing back towards the camp, his fears becoming more concrete as he saw the obvious intrusion.

[Lisenet]

She turned to watch him silently when Crim unbidden recited a single verse from a song she’d never heard before. Its meter was slightly off from those she normally heard, so she wondered again just where in Alagaesia he’d been born to have learned it. Nodding her appreciation, she murmured a verse of her own, half-forgotten, her memory of the tune itself eaten away as if by moths.

“Golden rain drips upon the eaves
And silver powder dusts the leaves,
Green waves that crash upon the shore,
Blue memories of places lost evermore.”

She nodded, pleased with the small bit that she did remember, even if the tune was lost to her. But then he had to go and ruin it by telling her—as she chose to understand it—he didn’t consider her strong enough to get even a simple fire going. As if he didn’t walk just as far as she had. But she only lifted a slim brow at him as he ambled off. ”What, do you think I’m going to shoot you with something if you don’t warn me first?” she called after him, amused, as she took her hair down from its kerchief. Then, shaking her head, she adjusted the straps on her satchel and strode confidently down toward the river, which created a natural barrier on one hem of the deep valley they had situated themselves inside. Like eggs in a nest, she thought as she glanced once over her shoulder. That river should be full of fish this time of early summer.

It took only a couple of minutes of hanging over a rock with her arm hanging limply in the water to convince a rather sumptuous-looking trout to have a nibble at her fingers. As soon as it did she stuffed said finger in its mouth, hooked it through its gill, and hurled it over her shoulder and up onto the grass. Laughing, she ran to it and smashed it once over the head with a rock, determined that it shouldn’t suffer for her hubris. Crim sounded like a very proficient archer, so she was fairly certain he would bring back something for them to eat, but if he kept treating her like a porcelain statue they were never going to get anything productive done. She thought it best he learn now that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, and didn’t require coddling.

Although it was nice to be treated like a lady again. Just a little bit.

Tellen trudged back up a little ways to the grassy spot they’d chosen for their camp. There was a nice, dead tree fallen down in a copse on top of the hill, so she stomped back up the hill and broke off what dry branches she could carry and dragged them back down. She had a tinderbox and flint in her satchel and with the branches being so dry, she was able to catch the twigs alight in only minutes. Another five minutes of coaxing, as the sky waned into a dark indigo evening, and she was sitting comfortably with her arms around her knees as she poked at it, wondering what the mighty Crim was going to bring back from his brief hunting expedition.

Later Tellen would berate herself at length for not paying more attention to the world outside the light of her small fire. But self-immolation by profanity wasn’t first on her mind when two rough hands surfaced out of the darkness unexpectedly and shoved her forward.

Tellen dropped her prodding-stick and shot her hands out in front of her, diving forward over the adolescent fire, rolling to her feet and drawing her short knife together. There were two men, of a harsher life than she lived, approaching her, one on either side. Her having a knife had slowed them up, but with both of them armed and her with only one small weapon, her chances weren’t the most optimistic. Still, most people didn’t fight like Tellen. She knew the odds weren’t in her favor, and she used that against others. Those on the winning side of the coin never reached the bottom half to reach out and tweak their nose.

The man with the ax—did it have to be an ax? Heavy weapons were so unrefined. And so hard to predict. But they were slower too, and that was always easy to abuse—dove for her with a yell. Tellen yelled back, shouting into his face as she brought up her knife and slashed at the top of his arm after stepping aside and letting the ax head bite into the loam at her feet. The knifeman came at her while his comrade was digging his weapon out of the dirt. Tellen dipped back, away from his wild swing, and managed to swipe a cut in the top of his thigh while his arm was still catching up with his over-exuberant momentum. When he swung next she ducked then smacked the back of his elbow with the pommel of her dagger. His arm went numb and he howled.

Axman had gotten his thicker blade up and swung it at her again. Tellen just missed sacrificing most of her foot to his irritation and swung her own blade at him. This time he was waiting for her to do just that and she missed, but that was all right because the light of the fire had reflected off the blade and he’d made the mistake of watching it as it passed. While his eyes adjusted she struck him once in the throat with her fist.

Knifeman grabbed her by her loose hair, yanking her back before she could do any more to his gurgling companion, and shoved the blunt side of his knife against her throat. ”Where is he?” he snarled in her ear. ”Where’s your man?”

Tellen filled her lungs. ”CRIM!” she bellowed. ”For once I could use some help!” She stomped on Knifeman’s foot, shoved an elbow into the bottom of his ribcage, and slammed her head backward into his face. He released her with another howl—he was clearly the more vocal of the two of them—and she fell forward, momentarily unbalanced.

Axman launched himself at her before she could fully recover and caught her with his shoulder in her stomach. She fell back into the grass, the air huffing out of her in one breath. She raised the arm he hadn’t grabbed to guard her face as he brought his ax down, arching her back to throw him off. She unbalanced him enough that the ax buried itself in the dirt next to her head, catching on a few strands of her hair, but the handle just below the blade slammed into her forearm, breaking it, or putting a crack in the bone at least. She growled her frustration—she’d never had much patience with her own injuries—and swept one of her legs up. The move didn’t work as well in a skirt as it did in trousers, but she still managed to catch him at the shoulders and pin him between her legs.

A dark shape appeared, flashing through just the edge of her vision, its movement too refined and practiced to be one of the men she’d been fighting. Praying it was Crim, because she was too tired and all-over aching Tellen contented herself to restraining the squirming man stuck between her calves and collapsed onto her side, right arm pressed into her stomach and left hand clenched around her knife. ”You stomped on my fish,” she told Axman. ”You bloody bastard, that was my pride prize.”

[.:[Crim]:.]

Crim bounded through the ghosts of white and black that were the Birch trees surrounding the campsite. He had hung the rabbits from a branch just a few footfalls ago. Thus it was that Bow in hand and arrow already half drawn he sailed into the clearing an Archer's eyes taking in everything around him at once, Tellen you fool. Crim thought to himself. Had she been ambushed because she wasn't aware? or because these two were actually somewhat skilled? Crim highly doubted the latter.

Taking the situation into stock he paused as the man wielding a knife yelled something that sounded like "there's your man now eh?" Crim paused, as if debating what Tellen would say, and then drew back the arrow and released it, it traveled no more than ten feet but it struck and then went through the man's calf. It wasn't a fatal wound, but Crim kind of wanted to ask the man some questions. Facing the Bigger problem was the axmen that Tellen had restrained between her calves. He could shoot him, but Tellen seemed to have him at least restrained, and so With his mate bloodied and clutching at his leg Crim approached the man wielding the pickaxe, so that his towering figure loomed over the man making him stop struggling. Crim drew an arrow and nocked it, drawing it slightly back and spoke

"Alright now that you have ruined my meal time and my companion's mood I think it's time we spoke plainly with one another. Know this I am Crim Harrowmont, and if I so choose I would put this arrow through your eye at a thousand yards."
Crim smiled and his white teeth flashed eerily in the strange light of the warm embers. His tunic was ruffled and his hair awry but he looked to be in his element. Crim was furious with himself however, the shot in the leg had been an inch to the left of where he wanted it, sure the guy had moved but still.
~~
Del lay on the ground with a strange woman restraining him with her legs. How in the blasted name of the big blue whale had this happened. The woman didn't seem tough but not only had she cut him and his mate she now had him pinned like she was wrestling a small boy. and then the man, He had appeared from nowhere as if just suddenly appearing from between the trees and only seconds later shot Mel through the leg. Del felt bad for Mel, who... was walking towards the newcomer dagger in hand? Hoping to distract the man he said
"Yall nevuh get meh to talk mate, might as well shoot meh!" Which the tall white haired stranger complied with, one arrow straight to the eye killing him instantly.
~~
Crim released the shot, it going straight through the eye killing the sod instantly. Crim sighed and relaxed his shoulder when he heard a shout behind him and he turned. It was the turn that saved him, the heavy saxe knife ripped through the flesh at his collarbone giving him a deep gash. Winded Crim drew an arrow and not bothering to knock it shoved it through the mans adams apple then collapsed blood pooling from his wound.

[Lisenet]

When Crim drew a close arrow on the man she barely contained, her ankles twisted together to keep him from thrashing free, his weapon well out of his reach at her shoulder, Tellen felt a curl of unease even though she wasn’t the one he was aiming at. She’d always hated conflict. Well, that wasn’t true. The conflict she created herself and with a purpose, she thrived upon. That which others brought to her she reviled. How dare they sully her day with their dishonest intentions?

”What are you even here for?” she complained, legs going numb from his shifting weight. He ignored her, answering Crim’s unspoken question, which she had repeated, instead.

Obviously deciding that the man was worth more trouble than profit alive, Crim put his strung arrow, arm not even quivering from holding it taut for so long, cleanly through his eye. Tellen thought she might even have heard the arrowhead scrape bone on the inside of his skull as it struck the back, but wasn’t about to look. Instead she slumped back, glad to be rid of him though not pleased with the loss of life, and wondered if her arm was broken or cracked.

She forgot entirely about Knifeman until he hollered at the death of his comrade and threw himself at Crim. Her friend turned just in time to save his life, though not his skin. He killed the man just as simply as he’d killed the other, though not nearly as cleanly, and toppled into the shadowy grass.

With a groan Tellen untangled her legs from Axman’s corpse and hauled herself over to him, sitting at his side, grabbing his tunic at the chest and leaning on it just in case he felt like sitting up. ”What a bloody mess we seem to have gotten ourselves into,” she sighed wearily. ”Want me to look at it or do it yourself?” Her discarded headscarf was lying nearby so she wadded it up—one-handed—and pressed it down into the slice opened up in his collarbone, beneath his shoulder. Noting how quickly the blood soaked through the bottom layers of it, she cursed again—it was a night for being foulmouthed—and fetched her satchel, finding needle and thread. ”I could burn it closed too,” she said, ”But only if you beg because I hate the smell of it.” Not being able to lift or reliably use her pounding right arm was a hassle, but Tellen managed to thread the needle and knot the thread anyway.

”Sorry about this,” she added, then sat on the edge of his chest and his upper arm so he’d be less likely to move. She had no idea what kind of experience he may have with personal injuries and the tending they may or may not have required, so wasting time or effort explaining herself and asking questions, she decided, wasn’t worth the effort. ”So,” she said conversationally, holding her right arm close into her stomach and one-handedly fiddling with all of the buckles and buttons on his tunic, ”is our supper nearby or shall I catch another fish? This one, I fear, is quite ruined. And your clothes are a pain in the arse, I’ll have you know.” She managed to reveal the wound—it didn’t look quite deep enough to have chipped the bone, she was glad to observe—and wasted no time in beginning to sew it shut just as she had with the porpoise. ”Also,” she said, bending closer so she could see in the dim, orange light cast by the fire, ”if you’re able, I would greatly appreciate some help with my arm. I can tie knots with one hand but I hate having thread fibers in my teeth.”

His head moved as he tipped it to look at something and Tellen swallowed tightly, throat abruptly dry, then going hot with irritation. His ears were pointed. He was an elf? That explained how quickly he moved then, and how damned peculiar he was in the first place. She wondered if all elves had two different colors of eyes, but decided not to ask. It wasn't her right to know something he hadn't chosen to tell her, and admittedly she could see why he wouldn't. What human woman would trust an elven man? Women were far weaker than men to begin with, but at least against her own species she would have a chance to fend him off if he wanted something she didn't want to give. Already she knew that this odd one wasn't about to threaten her, but either way she wasn't about to antagonize him intentionally....much. Even reminding herself that knowing him for only a day and a half didn't give her the right to harass him for keeping secrets--as she did as a matter of course--she couldn't help wanting to. She didn't believe she'd ever met an elf before. It would be interesting to see how he reacted. The dipshod, no wonder he didn't seem to know what was appropriate for human interactions. If he wanted to pass for human she would probably have to teach him. But was it fair to help him learn how to better deceive others? Doubtful. If it benefited her that he stood out just a little bit less than he already did, though, she may put forth the effort. It depended on how long they traveled together.

[.:[Crim]:.]

Crim cursed himself a fool as he laid there bleeding from his shoulder. In actuality he was lucky beyond all reason if the cut had been three centimeters to either side it would have hit muscle and he would have been unable to draw his bow. Crim laid there for mere second before Tellen went scurrying about getting a rag and promptly sitting on him. Crim's eyes and cheeks flushed as he noticed that she was closer than usual and he had to make a concerted effort not to stare at her.

"Sew it shut, there is a chance there will not be a scar that way, and I would be unhappy if one marred my skin." he grit his teeth as she began and to take his mind off things he replied to her question. "Yes I can look at your arm although since you can move your fingers I know it's not broken, You will probably just need a splint" he cursed violently in the ancient language as she went a little deeper than normal his right arm convulsing. withdrawing into himself he muttered lessons from his father to ease his mind.
Coming out of it seconds later he also added " A brace of rabbits hang not twenty yards beyond the clearing, north northwest look for them at eye level of myself."

Then as if realizing it suddenly for the first time he noticed just where she was working and that she would have a view of his ears. he cursed, playing it off as pain as his mind raced
' Has she seen them? and if so does she still trust me, can I trust her to do what is right and over look them or am I about to be yelled and shunned because I am of a different race? '

Noticing that she was done he moved his arm experimentally, finding it painful but doable he resigned himself to draw with his other hand for now. "Come let me look at that arm." She offered it to him and he looked with a practiced eye at it. Cautiously he set the splint, which he fashioned from two relatively clean sticks. "dinner is this way" and he set off at a jog into the woods, She accompanied him which he was glad for.
"so why do you think those two were after us?"

[Lisenet]

As soon as she tied off her string—letting the last several inches dangle because she couldn’t cut it with only one strong hand, and she wasn’t about to lean over and bite it off—Tellen slipped sideways off Crim’s chest, glad that he hadn’t flinched enough to jostle her off before. Knowing what he was explained his fluency with the elven language, at least, though she wondered why he used it in front of her if he was trying to pass for human. He must be very young for an elf, to be so careless. She heard they lived halfway to forever. At least he was a proficient enough curser to earn some of her respect.

”What language is that?” she asked instead, slicing through the threads at the seam along her sleeve, then briskly rolling it up. Chances were fair that she’d get her arms and hands wet again before the cracked bone righted itself, and having wet fabric pressed against her skin for that long was an unpleasant thought. Crim wasn’t a fusser at least as he lined up a pair of stiff, thin branches, stripped of bark and twigs, on either side of her arm to hold it where it was less likely to break itself properly, if it was only cracked. She didn’t see why broken bones—unless they were well and truly split, with bits poking out of place—would prevent anyone from moving nearby muscles through anything but the pain caused by doing so. Either way she wasn’t in the mood to argue with him. About that, at least.

Since he asked his question as he trekked back up into the woods, Tellen sighed and followed him. She could no longer see, but the bit of light reflecting off his damnabley complicated tunic at least kept her from losing herself too quickly. ”I haven’t the faintest idea,” she grumbled, circumventing a wide-based tree. ”Neither one of them said anything particularly insightful to me. They were after both of us though; they asked me where you were just before you showed up.” When he tugged down his prizes—in so much better shape than hers, which now lay mangled and trampled next to their inflectionless fire—from the branch he’d installed them on she wasted no time in turning around and trudging back toward the glimmer of yellow that identified their camp from the many miles of other nooks and valleys.

When they reached the fireside again Tellen sat heavily down against her pack with a grumble of irritation. Between her bone-rending exhaustion, they steady thudding in her right arm, and her recent revelation, she wasn’t in the mood to be terribly polite. ”Crim,” she said then, waiting for him to glance at her. ”Your parents.” She waited just long enough to gauge his expression, and seeing it, softened her tone. ”I’m sorry about what happened to them, whatever it was. And I’m not trying to trick you into telling me, I just wanted you to know.”

So much for using them against him, because his catch survived and hers didn’t. She couldn’t in good conscience use dead loved ones against anyone who didn’t wholly deserve it, and so far she knew the majority of the reasons for her vexation were not his fault.

[.:[Crim]:.]

"Your parents...I’m sorry about what happened to them, whatever it was. And I’m not trying to trick you into telling me, I just wanted you to know.” Crim's mind reeled as she said such a simple thing, His mind flashed back to when he had grown up... Looking at Tellen he saw something that put him both on guard and at ease. He made his choice and said "Gather around cause I will only relive this once. It is only fair that you know my story, and your other questions are answered by it as well" he said, referencing her what language is that line.


Crim sat next to the fire, in front of it actually the blaze warming his back as he sat cross-legged in front of it. Crim adjusted his tunic slightly and when he was comfortable his eyes grew sad and he related the tale


"Not long ago on a mighty forests southern edge lived a woman, beautiful as the spring and as fierce as the winter. She was travelling along the very edge of the forest when she happened onto a man, he had chopped down a tree branch wide as himself and was carving a tree branch from it. She approached him and demanded that he destroy his creation, When we would not she was taken aback as He told her a tale of how he wanted to build a house in the woods. set high among the trees where he could see the game and respect them as he lived off the bounties of nature. She let him be for many months and his tale came true, slowly a house and a smaller estate, a pond, and a few farm animals surrounded his little property. The man invited her to his house for a holiday that he called "Grace day" where he gave thanks for the years luck and given things. she talked to him much that day and they fell into a slight romance."


His eyes grew somewhat lighter as he talked about his parents, the fire reflecting off his orbs mysteriously. "They loved each other very much and to my mother. They lived peacefully in his cabin in the woods for many years. until I was born. My mother had something change in her when I was born. but yet there I was a itty bitty pudgeball with white hair and heterochromatic eyes".


"Some of what happened when I was growing up I told you, we lived peacefully until my 19th birthday. On the day of my final archery test with my father a detachment of troops made their way to our home. Demanding that my mother come with them and sever her connection with my family. When she refused they murdered my Father and Mother. In front of me. Mothers' black hair and sad eyes were all I could make out from the pool of blood before they set it on fire. I ran, and they did not pursue me. I have wandered since then. Still unsure of all things except for my skill with the bow."

Adding as if uncomfortably "I mean you no harm Tellen, and have come to grown to like you as my companion. I wish it to stay this way"

Crim ended his story and then as if on afterthought.
"let me show you... please do not resist" And with that Crim sent his thoughts reaching for hers. they were easy to find and instead of trying to read her emotions, he simply bombarded her with image after image of his childhood, the good times and the not so good times, the image of his mother broken and bleeding, his eventual wandering, that party. and then her. With his mind Crim could not be dishonest and it was all laid bare for her to judge or not judge as she see fit. He withdrew from her mind and noticed that the clearing suddenly was a lot more silent

[Lisenet]

”I will only relive this once.” She opened her mouth to protest—that wasn’t what she’d wanted. ”And your other questions are answered by it as well.” Well….if he was going to answer questions, her unabiding interest in all things informational made her let her mouth drift slowly closed.

Again, as he began to speak, she let her mind wander with the sound of his voice. It was an easy one to listen to, to wrap yourself up in so reality couldn’t distract you. Noticing that the hares lay abandoned in the grass, she brushed dirt off a somewhat-flat slab of rock and managed to drag it over to the fire, using her knife to spread the meat into smaller cutlets, wiping it on the grass and listening closely all the while. Sitting with the rock of frying meat to her left, her knees drawn up beneath her chin, and Crim with his back to the fire on her right, it was easy to think the world was small, existing only in the two pockets of time that they and the story held. She must have been important, his mother, to have an entire regiment of soldiers marching out to fetch her. And she must have been valuable, so much so that her own people couldn’t allow her to fall into the company of outsiders. Were there different clans among the elves?

She had only one question at the end of his sad story, but before she could ask it his pause ended. ”I mean you no harm.” Of that she had already been sure, why would he feel the need to say it? And then another statement, equally unexpected. Before she had the chance to question him on just what he intended to show her, the oddest sensation swelled in her mind, as though something exterior to it were exhibiting a gentle force. She gasped, hands clenching, and she barely remembered Crim’s request. Thoughts not her own began to assail her, doubling over what she could already see as she looked down at her knees. The basket over the waterfall; the tidy, lovely little house; a coin twisting slowly at the top of its arc high in the air greened by the heights of so many tall trees, taller than she had ever seen before. And fragments of the way blood dried around the edges of its spread across the ground. A small tear that never fell caught in a bright-dull eye. Tellen already knew that blood dried faster than water, but the stain it left took considerably longer to wash away. And the sensation of another mind eased against hers was so....foreign. She suspected every one must feel different, but there was something just slightly....off with the way his felt. Perhaps all elves were just strange through and through.

Tellen knocked her forehead against her knees, wetness gathering in her own eyes, and was surprised by a last image of herself seen from afar, waist-deep in the surf and leaning over what she now realized had been an alien creature to him until she’d told him what it was. She took a few moments to herself, to reorganize her thoughts about the odd man—elf—she sat with. Finally she rested her chin back on her knees and asked softly a question she needed an answer to rather than wanted. ”Are the people who took them from you looking for you too?” If so, she wasn’t sure she wanted to stay with him. Her intentions had always been to avoid notice, and having an army as an entourage rather defeated that point.

She laid her cheek against her knees. ”Crim, you should also know, I don’t have the right to take information from you that you don’t want to give. Or I’ll probably rarely have that right," she amended. "Especially when I say you don’t need to elaborate on something, I mean it. And….” She’d lifted her hand, hesitating. She wouldn’t have hesitated before seeing his ears, but now she felt she had to. Resolving herself, she rested her hand over the back of his, her skin nearly white in the darkness, his nearly orange. ”I’m sorry,” she finished. She sighed. ”It reminds me of another song. ‘There’s a soft sore place in the middle of my heart, I know it’s not a sure thing but we’ve got a clear start….’ I’m afraid I don’t remember the rest.”

[.:[Crim]:.]

Crim was troubled by having revealed himself so much. So much that he Ended up answering in a very curt matter. "No, they were, but no longer." his eyes ghosted back to that battle and he wondered if she could see the emotions play in the light reflected by the fire. he moved his hand slowly up to his face and rested it there as if thinking...

Dinner was done shortly after, Not saying a word Crim grab an arrowhead and began slicing the little chunks of meat into more manageable pieces. Tellen got two legs, and the whole breast. While Crim took just two legs and then some of the odd cuts as well. He ate in Silence still very moody about what had transpired. he decided after several long minutes of eating that he was going to bed right after dinner. and as such when the time came that he popped the last grilse of fat into his mouth and wiped his hand off on the grass he looked over to Tellen and said
"I'm getting some sleep. I doubt there are any more idiots nearby, we can bury them in the morning. or leave them in front of the road to Teirm. However I think it's a good idea that we check their pockets before we do either."

And with that Crim paced a little farther from the fire and promptly fell over. Almost immediately asleep

[Lisenet]

Tellen watched curiously, thoughtfully, as Crim threw himself into the grass and for all appearances fell asleep. Rolling over and pounding the grass into less uncomfortable lumps, she did the same.

Tellen was the first up, but then she almost always was one of the earliest risers she knew. Her father had been the only one to rise earlier than she did, and she strongly suspected he did it only when she was around, just to vex her. After kicking apart the cold sticks their fire had left behind, she went down to the river to scrub her hands and her face to continue the process of waking fully, then returned to camp and sat beside Axman because there was less blood on him than on Knifeman, and began poking through his pockets as Crim had suggested. She found a few betting slips from a cockfight—she disapproved highly—a broken toothpick, dirt, lint, a battered pocket watch, a cigar stub, and a folded bit of parchment. It looked like a map when she opened it up, but the light was still too dim for her to read it properly.

When Crim got up not long after her, she tossed the map into his lap and let him do the search on Knifeman. She wasn’t fond of the mess around the man’s throat, so she did her best to ignore it. In the end they decided to haul the bodies to the road—not that Tellen was much help, with only one strong arm. Part of her wanted to leave them as they were so no one had known that two destructive people had passed this way, but she knew the men might have family and that family had done nothing to earn her resentment, so to the road they went. Let the next passersby deal with them.

Crim had better luck deciphering the map than she had, with its faint marks and stains from drinks spilled over it more than once. She didn’t mind letting him lead as they headed further down the road, and only sighed when they finally had to leave it. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t done more than her share of off-road trekking already, she just preferred to remain near the paths when they existed. Then she could choose whether or not to be seen or found, whereas up in the wilderness, if something happened to the both of them, chances were they would never be found. The wolves and voles weren’t going to drag their bodies down to the road for their families to see. And by the sound of it, only one family might come.

The forest wasn’t the worst to hike through when the foothills were relatively gentle, but after the afternoon passed—and a lunch of rabbit remnants—the gentle foothills roughened into what often became a near-vertical climb.

”No wonder the granddaughter has put such a high price on this ring,” Tellen groaned as she pulled herself up and over a boulder. She stood at the top, panting, a moment before following him. Crim didn’t seem nearly as winded by their itinerant climbs as she was. How dare he not be human, she thought wearily. How dare he make me feel weak and how dare I not be able to begrudge him for his birth. She hopped down the other side of the boulder and up onto the slick, weather-beaten trunk of a fallen tree that leaned against a sturdy pine. An odd thrumming sound caught her attention like a fishhook in her ear and she turned, seeking its source. When she saw it she gasped with delight: an emerald green hummingbird sat and hummed around her nest in bursts, clearly frightened by their presence but unwilling to leave her one tiny off-white egg, perched in a nest wrapped around the top of an unfurling pinecone. ”Crim come look at this!” she said softly, beckoning with a wave of her hand for him to come back. She felt the suspended tree dip under his weight as he stood on one of the thicker branches.

When they had had their look—although Tellen felt she could watch the tiny nest forever—Crim hopped down from the branch and she reluctantly backed away from the anxious mother bird. The bounce from his weight leaving startled her, and her boots slipped on the smooth wood, and over she went with a startled cry, windmilling into the very person who had jostled the tree.

[.:[Crim]:.]

Crim woke groggily the next morning, having slept in his tunic he felt almost completely warm. He decided he would take a walk and see if he could find a spot to jump in the river at. Shaking his arms to and fro to get the blood pumping he caught the map she threw at him and then tucked it away to look at later. Thus taking his bow and arrows he sauntered off into the woods.


"why the hell did you tell her all that stuff!" he was furious with himself. She's going to know, she's going to hate you, She's going to leave! These and other thoughts were apparently the only ones he could have today. he grumbled unhappily as he took off his tunic and breeches and slid into the water at a still pond. he submerged himself in the icy cold water and delighted that it woke him up near completely. Opening his eyes underwater he looked at the skin on his arms and wondered why it appeared almost green. breaking the surface suddenly with a mop of now wet and smoothed down white hair he wondered at the feeling of swimming again. He rubbed water over his limbs in an attempt to clean himself and caught a frog as it swam past lazily.


Deciding his morning had taken far too long already he sauntered back to camp his Hair now done into a lose ponytail behind him. which showcased his face and its different colored eyes. He helped himself to some berries that he had picked on the way back and decided to take a look at the map that Tellen had thrown at him. "If this is right than we are not too far away, maybe a third of a day's journey in the direction we are already heading." He searched the body that he had stabbed and found nothing of import just detritus that would only foul the pockets of his tunic or take up space in Tellen's Pack.


"We should move these bodies to the road, I know I killed them and frankly I am somewhat torn by it. It was necessary but being inhuman and letting not even their families find out is against my better nature, Will you help me Tellen?" He cast his eyes away as he realized he was not exactly looking her in the eyes....


Crim Swung the man with throat wound up over his good shoulder and carried him like that until the road at Teirm. Tellen had opted to grab the man with the pickaxe and she moved slower than he. So slow that Crim had to actually help her lift him across several logs at one point.


Their chore done Crim set off down the road in Tellen's company after making sure her splint had not come loose. they walked on the road and Crim found himself wondering a bit more about Tellen's past even though he was fearful that she suspected what he was. He was at war with himself to tell her and be ostracized, or at best acknowledged. Walking just a half league they came to the turn off that the map indicated and he swung up and off the trail. soon moving to rougher and rougher terrain. about half way up their ascent when he had just left an upturned tree Tellen called out to him. She had found a Humming bird.


It was a beautiful creature, a throaty strawberry pink glistened in its feathers and it darted nearby its nest which had a lone egg in it. Crim was astounded at the mere beauty of the animal and watched it for several minutes when he noticed that Tellen was equally interested in the animal. After that he had a hard time noticing the bird... Leaping suddenly from the branch he set down onto the ground with a light thunk that accompanied his weight and gear. Turning as he heard the sound of a shoe leaving branch he caught Tellen bridal style and prevented her from hitting the ground.


He was holding her, Her face nestled on his right arm. merely inches from his own. Her scent washed over him and he caught his mind reeling. She squirmed slightly and he looked down at her, Suddenly smiling a very mischievously. Deciding he would tease her a bit he said


"If you wanted to be held all you had to do was ask Tellen" He promptly set her down and then walked by her side upwards again. After a few more close calls including a point where Crim had to scale a short crag and then lower some vines down to Tellen they reached the cave marked on the map.


It was an odd affair, set in the middle of one of the mighty roots of the Spine. The entrance was adorned with an old crumbling entryway. whose chiseled features were adorned with the Ancient Language. Crim recognized them instantly and read silently to himself "May all who enter by accompanied" It was very cryptic, and he enjoyed in the fact. Deeper into the black of the cave there came a whooshing as if there was another entrance somewhere and the cave was breathing life into its ever crevasse. Striking a odd length of metal Crim quickly lit a torch he had found near the entrance covered in cobble webs and proceeded. Glad that Tellen was still with him he said to her softly "This should be it Tellen, You can have the reward money, I did this for another reason"


They walked forward just a few more moments when they reached a low table, set upon the very middle in an odd circle was a puzzle ring, not too much unlike his own. This one was adorned in rubies. each facet of the Puzzle had a different shade of Rubies and he was marveled by it.


Reaching slowly, his tunic creaking as it accompanied his movement he reached forward and touched the ring. when suddenly a voice fell upon his mind and his ears as if they wanted nothing more than to have him for lunch.


'Who dares disturb the Ring of my love! Know this mortal for you have sinned. This ring is sacred to me and I Curse you. May you be legally and magically married to the first person you see! Whether Man or Dwarf Elf or Urgal your Future shall belong to them and theirs to you! May you find such unhappiness in your companionship that you perish beneath the folly of coming here!' The voice filled the cavern and it extinguished Crim's torch as if it was a plaything. Turning to Tellen he looked into her eyes and knew in that instant that their world was about to change