A Wilderness Road Archive 1

Reglin could take the compliment at face value, unlike Myra he didn't blush but brimmed with pride at the recognition of it. He had began into his food taking rather large bites but still managing to close his mouth and keep his mead out of his beard. A servant girl poured Vith's cup for him and settled the bottle down. The make of it was obviously elven with a decanter rounded out at the bottom and a slim handle that was much too delicate for the dwarves liking. "We value our builders," Reglin would tell him, "It takes not only a warrior to protect a land but a man who can work with his hands to build it from within."

Myra on the other side of Vith remained quiet unless spoken to by the council member on her other side. He spoke only a thick dwarvish and it gave Vith the first sense that beyond what he thought she knew it was but scratching the surface. She spoke without their thick brutish accent her own voice working through the words with a lithe pleasure in speaking them. They flowed from her like water and she laughed brightly at something that was spoken. Her attention split she made sure to look to Vith often, if only to assure him that as he wanted she would lend herself to his needs.

Reglin had no need for a translator or for Myra's presence other than he enjoyed it and her being a seat down meant that speaking to her would mean to speak around the Prince. Besides such he had other questions to answer, "Why do the elves keep to their trees and forests?" His response was benign in nature no insult given, "As you choose to keep your own gifts to yourselves we also do the same. Though we do not need your stars to guide us but the thrum of the earth beneath us. It tremors and moves at times shaking the land and guiding the mountains to new heights. It is a different life we lead here Vithkun Almear," his full name spoken this was not as the elves might do to honor him but to show him he was not afraid to utter it on his lips, that he considered him equal but only just so in a sense, "A life that even your friend there might be able to be accustomed to."

Myra had but half an ear for his side of the table but when he asked for her to partake in the wine as well she admitted, “I have to say I have some curiosity after that tea, thank you, your highness.”

Her term of half endearment and frustration for him was not spoken insultingly this time. In mixed company his rank should be given respect. To address him as the King had done would be unheard of unless she believed herself his equal. Despite that she’d yet to say his name as she had promised herself before she would not. Accepting the wine she took only a small sip realizing why the Prince delighted in it so. It was sweet and savory in a way she had not had before tasted and aligned with all of the good she felt in the world as it warmed her thoroughly. Realizing it was dangerous because of the pure elation that came with many of the things elves made she promised herself only to partake in a small amount.

Reglin on the other hand had only waved it off in agreement, it was not something he cared for and was not truly worried about their stores. He’d only brought it up after Myra had suggested to Davil they try something a bit less rough on the senses than the dwarven ale so highly prized by those around them.

“It does,” despite not being interested in the wine itself he did have other answers to provide for him, “I am afraid that visit was before I was even a thought in my mothers eye but I have heard she was of your people, raven haired they said. Loriedaine I believe was the name but it has been some time since that tale has been told. It said she followed a lover that came from afar in some hope he might change his mind, or she might change it.”

Myra had been listening to this part finding it exceedingly romantic until her other talking companion drew her back to his side of the table asking a question to which she responded to politely not hearing the next part Vith spoke of.

“All can feel if it you descend deep enough into the ground itself. I feel it here but it is because I have been trained to focus upon it. Even if you are not here to discuss much else other than travel I would call upon you once again once you have returned to your station. If only to perhaps have that very discussion.”

"No, It's not horrible," Myra was fully teasing him at that point about the wine. He had been right but admitting such without giving him some sort of go around first would be unlike her. Besides it was not a lie to say it wasn't horrible because it was not. She paid a bit more attention to their words then catching the name of the woman. His sing song voice at the very telling of the story was fascinating telling her he had much more laying in wait within it. Would he be surprised at her own prowess or at the very song she chose? The story of the jewel itself was marvelous and yet both sides had decided to tell lies about its very origin but she knew the truth and had collected the piece she was going to perform with great care from the older tales.

"I have heard the name as well," Myra would interject,"But I do not believe it to be from a song."

Racking her mind there came no answers but she was sure they would discover them with time. The King on the other hand had no such amusement or care for the topic other than in passing thought and he humored it further by agreeing with Vith, "Perhaps it is the latter and her fate was one of good fortune."

Dwarves were not overly loving in the daylight but they had their own way of appreciating the beauty of it if just not in such song as they did. "In the morning," he agreed as the young man spoke of listening for it but he would chuckle slightly, "Though you will not require your ears for such, you will feel it I assure you. Though I have been told that you will need them shortly, I hear you have a gift for us Myra?"

"I do, your highness," Myra would be settling down her cup and fork, finishing her meal as her conversation had not been so involved.

Myra laughed when he called her crafty as he answered his own question with the library. The young woman had certainly sneaked into many places she should not have been when within the city walls as well as did her own research outside of them. Drow and Elves were not the only ones who kept the rumors of the world within sight. A traveling mage had been most helpful once in exchange for a lock of her hair. Now that she reflected back on the incident she worried that it had been a mistake to give it so freely.

Reglin laughed as well his entire being placed into the very state of it as one hand grasped his stomach, "I had the very same thought on her last visit after I heard what she asked of Davil, practically over interested in a way but I knew of her asking to be innocent."

He nodded when he spoke of feeling it below. It was not often one of his kind would be willing to travel to such depths but they had the lift that would take them up and down without fail to make the journey much easier. One used to have to descend by foot and sometimes crawl through spaces to fully experience it but he wished for all dwarves to know of their lifeblood. Myra had ventured to it during her last visit but insisted on going the old way. Taking the lift back up after some thought she had ventured alone as no one wished to make the difficult journey other than those seeking the old ways themselves. Reglin found it an odd request but one that he humored because he had believed she would never make it all the way and turn back. When she had returned it was without words and he understood why.

"A gift," Myra smiled to Vith and to the King, while the drinking would go on into the night most were already finishing with their own. It would be but a few more moments of small talk and conversation left. After if she did not hurry they would break out into their own song once the councilmen had made their way from the table, "If I may your highness?"

Getting permission to rise she did so moving around the table away from them to the opposite side. Once she was clear of the chairs she had a path to the middle of the steps that was unencumbered. To sing only for the King would have been a fine gift in and by itself but to sing for the court and the people was to want to not only impress but to give to them all and it was a mighty thing to have such a skill to be able to do so. She knew the dwarves would find it so and therefore it had been decided. As she moved to the center turning to face the King there began to be quiet within the hall. Voices that were murmuring became soft and then non-existent. The only sound that existed was the gentle placing down of cups as most silver was upon the plates finished with. The main table had been cleared while she made her way around as well but it had not been enough to hide her form as she moved long legs and an ease to the way her hips turned took away the severe stomping of her battle stance and replaced it with a saunter. Standing still now she bowed the King, rose and spoke to all in the room while still facing him, "I have a gift for your highness, I have no wealth to offer, nor any goods that might be worthy of you, therefore I would like to sing for you."

Reglin nodded, a stern expression only for looks as his approval was given.

Clasping her hands before her she would not sing in dwarvish, or elvish, but in the language of the Drows. In Aleath. A somber sort of language that had deep vowels and a lilting tone that while was beautiful was haunting when sung because it required a slightly lower register to perform correctly. It has also not been spoken outside of Drow lands in some time as it was rare to see one of her people beyond the borders.

When she sang the King could feel the sadness of the tale, feel the ebb and flow of a once happy time and the change into madness and then sorrow at a loss. It could be mistaken for that of a lovers fate like Loriedaine but it was not. If Vithkun understood Drow he would know she spoke of their people, of a love shared between them. Of the sharing of their fate and the once sharing of their lands as they coexisted in friendship and prosperity. Then the change, in the hearts of the people, a jewel that was stolen from its place and taken beyond the borders and reach of both races. The sorrow of the song might have been for the loss of the jewel itself but she did not feel it so, she sang of the loss between those who were brothers in spirit.

Her voice rose and fell flowing through the notes like a gentle brook a slightly rasp to the edge of it as if it had hit the current too hard and was taken by the undertow if but for a moment. She had a soft gentle way of reaching down to the lowest part of her registers and a strong high that was as pure as the morning dew. It would make a regular man weep to hear the sadness laid within it and a few of the dwarves were rubbing at their eyes as if there was something within it. Reglin watched with rapt attention his lips parting not in a frown but in an expression of uncertainty. He had expected a happy tune from the young woman but the woe he felt there reached farther than he cared for it too. Despite his uncertainty of that he had no right to deny it had been beautiful and the silence that encompassed the room after astounding. No one had reached for a glass, no one coughed or fidgeted. Everyone stared at the woman as if she had drawn all of the world to her if only for a moment.

The applause was odd for one such as herself but taking things with grace was part of the station of the lower. Being looked down upon she'd kept her neck bent for what little of her life she had led so far and therefore she bowed as necessary to the King and made her way back around without too much attention paid to the fanfare other than a small smile of satisfaction at the thought of it. Davil sitting beside the King on the opposite side let out a whistle in appreciation his dark eyes following her form as she took her place back upon the table. Never noticing the attention of it she was busy thanking Vithkun instead her cheeks once again flushed as she met his praise without the same grace, "Thank you," she would say retaking her seat and grinning broadly.

The King would give the same sort of fanfare speaking over Vithkun, "A beautiful piece, though a sadness now fills my hall. I would be glad if you should be able to lighten it," he referred to the young elf who had offered another. If Vithkun also had a song of mourning and longing it might be too much for even him to hold back the tide of emotions.

Imagery appearing in her mind at first she resisted the very feeling of it. The tug was too strong to keep it up for long and seeing as how Vith had no ill intention by attempting to place them she relaxed. Besides his voice was a beautiful as it was gentle persuading her that it was worth the bit of trust that needed to be placed.

King Reglin on the other hand did not attempt to keep the Prince out because it took him a moment to realize he was under a spell. He’d simply been enjoying the manner in which it flowed until images came to him. Curiosity afterwards made him allow the onslaught. After he finished he would be the first to clap. Myra did not as she seemed rather focused on her lap.

Vithkun joined her behind the table shortly and she was forced to look upward then. His whisper was met with a rather short, “You weren’t.”

No compliment laid in store for him, at least not right away, for as she opened her mouth to speak but the King interrupted her by speaking to Vith directly, “A wonderful exhibition,” he told the Prince before rising to his feet, “I take my leave of this hall but as is customary you are all welcome within it.”

The rest of the council began to file out other than Davil. The main area would also do so as they had been waiting upon the King to take his leave. The next day would be a day of rest within the city after a celebration as this but it did not mean that everyone was able to be given such leave. Reglin would only pause long enough to tell Vith, “I will have one of my servants call upon you in the morning as promised.”

Vith being rather loquacious he required Myra to draw herself out of the funk. Struggling the thick mire of it was broken through by his offer to remain with her but she was uncertain inwardly why such an offer would brighten her mood. Growing slightly fond of the young elf was not in the plans that had been so carefully calculated before he'd ever gallivanted into the picture in a drunken state that did not need repeating. Letting loose the tight hold on the reins and allowing herself to give way to a night where nothing was expected the dwarves would certainly not remember much should they indulge as usual. Therefore there was little fear of embarrassing herself to where it would come up again.

"I have," as Vith said his goodbyes to the King she'd remained silent until he referred to her,"I am sure-"

Interrupted by the very devil that had been brought up in conversation Davil had walked around Vith to the opposite side of Myra so he was not insulting the Prince by speaking over him. Clasping his hand on the edge of the short back he would be slightly above the girl in this position giving him a vantage point of her looking up, "Myra," his voice had been warm the first time he greeted her but now it was strengthened by drink a slight flush already to his cheeks as if he had indulged too far already, "Tauny is bringing in the rests around the fire, will you join us?"

Vith had already agreed to stay and wished to be introduced, the opportunity would be too perfect to avoid, "I would be happy to Davil, the prince will be joining us as well, I am sure he will enjoy hearing you sing in return."

Being positioned between the two men who were beginning a standoff she felt how precarious her position was to be settled there. Vith rightly accused Davil of being rude but the alcohol already on his breath spoke of too much liquid courage and his response might be less than savory. Intervening now would prevent a private war between the two men and the way that Vith spoke reminded her too much of the weight he threw around in his position.

"I'm sure that Davil meant no disrespect," meek in tone as she attempted Davil went to open his mouth but she had moved her foot around the edge of her chair and slammed it onto his own. The toe of his boots were thick and almost impenetrable but the way she landed on the upper arch was painful and his face contorted even as he'd been opening his mouth to speak.

Closing the rather open gaping mouth a scowl forming beneath the edge of it he held no stock in the Princes royal arse as being any more important than any other but he was right, Reglin would tan his hide for insolence as he had been accused of so therefore he let out a half-assed apology, "My sincerest apologies, your highness, it appears I've already indulged a bit much. I meant no disrespect and I would be glad if you would join us."

The word glad was numb across his tongue but Myra was looking to Vithkun with a silent pleading. What progress had been made could be destroyed in moments and for the life of her she cared more than she should have.

'As they come.' Hearing the frank lie she felt a surge of gratefulness and yet hesitation at the same moment. Incapable of deception in her words and in her writing she felt almost ashamed for him. For all of the harm caused by such a curse it had made her wish for honesty in herself if it was ever broken. Such a trait had only served to strengthen her conviction in the truth and Davil's unmeant apology was simply another chip in the rock that she carried that begged of her to continue that very train of thought. What followed his words was a thinly veiled acceptance of his offer which within it laid irritation. Myra had known Vith for a few weeks but being constantly in his presence she read his expressions and his words well. The enigma that he originally had became was unraveling but to give him cause to renege his words was another mistake and she would not repeat this one.

Davil had a tendency to allow mistakes to happen purposefully. Insulting the elf and acting like he was much drunker than her certainly was may not have been fully realized by either of the two fairer folk. Still he half-grunted before readjusting his belt glancing to the fire in the main hall. The table had been moved back replaced by low stools with a softer top. There was currently a game occurring involving stones and tossing them up in the air in the center. Low tables had been placed throughout where there was plenty of ale to go around.

Myra stood from the table rather quickly grabbing the rest of the wine that Vith had been working upon demolishing and even taking his hand if he rose to draw him away from Davil and towards the main table. "Let's go then," she was smiling now having followed Davil's gaze. The stone throwing was a rather odd game involving a fair bit of skill and sometimes just pure luck. She figured Vith might enjoy such an odd little piece of the people here and she would smile to Davil as well, "Shall I show you that I am still an excellent shot?"