Through The Eyes Of A Child

[Celandine]

Open to one or two. I'll be using Celandine and Vaeron in this thread.

She looked like a child because she was, in reality, a child. Her soft chestnut brown hair was picked up and played with by the soft wind like an excited dog, eager for attention. Standing on the walls of her castle she was a maiden no longer waiting for her knight in shining armour, because he had already come. Come in the form of her mother that the lady in the grass green dress had told her about.

Celandine leant over the edge of the battlements, peering straight down to the steadily dropping cliff edge. What had been carved out was a path that zig-zagged down the cliff edge with sharp lines, and showed anyone watching where Celandine was if people approached the fortress. Up the only path, hidden amongst the trees, lost in the vast, rugged, mountainous landscape of where the Concordia forest touched the Jagged Peaks. She knew that far above, where the cliff became firm, buildable land, there was a permanent camp of at least ten women.

Hrrmmmmm.

A low moan, calling out a noise that echoed off the stone walls of the cliff-side fortress. Immediately Celandine stood up tall and rushed to the other side of the battlements, looking down into the courtyard. Her tiny hooves balanced her growing body well. Growing so much that in the past month at being in the fortress she had gained a full inches in height and now knew around a quarter of her species' language.

She let out a cheer when she saw her four foot tall (to the shoulder) juvenile tera'k - a bovine musk-oxen like creature from the high mountains, that her mother said was a traditional mount of fauns.

"Erik!" she cried out in joy and launched for the steps.

Very quickly she thundered down them, hooves making a clippity-clop noise. Running into the courtyard she launched her little arms around the tera'k, a small version of his father - Philomel's, Celandine's mothers, own. On his back was a waiting leather saddle, made with straps that could be extended as the creature grew. Usually he was not here, usually he was left to roam the fields to the front of the cliff. It was only when there was a planned trip out that Celandine found him with his saddle.

Looking around she tried to find the person who she brought her animal here. Expecting to see Gosling, her governess, she did not see for the first instance the image of her very father striding over and leading his own huge horse. Megladon.

Celandine's jaw dropped. Vaeron - she was not allowed to call him 'father' - never spent time with her alone. Still hugging Erik she stared.

"Are - are we ... Going out together?"

"While your mother is out fighting vampires you're going to get some real world experience, little princess," he grunted, bringing Megladon up beisde Erik. Erik, despite his bulk, shied. Vaeron gave him, then Celandine, a long, meaningful look. "Just with me. We're going to a mining town called Stonevale. That's all."

There was silence, and a stunned little girl.

"That ... Okay?"

She shrieked and ran for him, arms out. Vaeron cringed and was forced to suffer the joys of a miniature excited faun.

"No screaming or I'm not taking you anywhere."

Celandine bit her lip but still hugged his leg, looking up with enormous, adorable eyes.

He groaned and gestured to Erik. "Get on him. It's a long ride."

[Vaeron]

The town of Stonevale sat perfectly and happily between the winding path of a river and the side of a vast hill. Part of the hill itself had been carved out, with holes dotted over its surface like indecent cheese. Suitably a mining town, with laden barges flowing up and down the water to connect to the other parts of Corone, it was a town which Vaeron deemed harmless enough for a young faun like Celandine to not make too much trouble in. And too small to get lost in.

Naturally, he vastly underestimated her. After all, an heiress in her prime, flowing with dreams of a glorious lady in grass green, and the ability to learn fast and precise could not be constrained to stay on one street. Even though they steadily walked into town side by side, coming down from the hills with the presence of two mighty warriors, the young faun was already thinking about what delights awaited her.

Peopls scattered like frightened doves before the juvenile, but still massive, tera'k and the plough horse that trodded beside him. Each of Megladon's hooves was the size of an ontate dinner place, capable of crushing any man's skull to dust. His rider, proud and unyielding watched the scurrying people before them with the unamusement of a priest of the Etheral Sway. In some ways he was a priest, but of Earlon, the Raiaeran star god of the sea. Not that he had any association with the Etheral Sway at all. Infact, he detested them, and all he had heard of them and their practises from Philomel's mouth.

"Stay close," he grumbled in a low voice, looking over to his daughter.

Erik and she were already over the other side fo the street, staring hungrily at a stall of fresh fruit. Already and only ten metres into the town.

Letting out a long sigh, Vaeron yanked Megladon's reigns. The horse snorted loudly with distate, and even though he followed his master's call it still frightened a few villagers, who scuttled past. Not even the mightiest of the miners seemed willing to bare up against the brown haired, well-toned mage and his steed.

"Not happening," Vaeron growled, reaching over to grab Erik's halter. Calmly the bovine beast followed where he was told and veered away from the apples he had been sniffing.

"Ohhh, but fath-" Celandine caught herself and looked ashamed. "Sorry Mr Vaeron," she said quietly. And she folded inwards and looked down to her lap.

Vaeron watched her for a moment, but said nothing. Guiding Erik back to the middle of the street, where people still gave them a wide berth, he settled them back into a leisurely pace. "We are here to do shopping. To get you a knife, and that is it."

[Nevin]

Nevin blinked as people ran by his shop outside, sprinting past the glass windows. It wasn't quite the sheer terror that had accompanied the recent attack by Goblins, where utter panic had gripped the citizenry, but it was a bit more than the normal rush that normally happened at this time of day. The alchemist groaned and got up, Aphrael gliding to his shoulder as he made his way to the front door and opened it. Since everyone seemed to he fleeing from the same point he turned in that direction - and paused, eyebrows raising.

The two were quite clearly outsiders - not only by their garb, but also by their mounts. One was a truly enormous horse, while the other was some kind of cow offshoot, distantly related at best - and it was also quite large, large enough in fact to utterly dwarf the small figure riding on its back. Despite the fear and unease in the townsfolk, neither rider nor their mounts seemed at all interested in what was going on. Though the man did notice it, his eyes flicking across the crowd every so often, but they kept returning to the smaller figure riding the other beast. A guard perhaps? A parent taking a child out on a day trip?

Either way, they did not seem to be actively hostile, so Nevin didn't feel any particular ocular urgency in confronting them. He did remain outside though, and some of the people who were rushing by did seem to calm down as they passed him. Probably trusting the healer on his calm, he thought idly. Aphrael trilled a question to him, and he shrugged slightly.

"No, can't say that I do recognize either of them. Or what that bovine being is. I don't typically worry about animals unless it's a common pet people ask for medicine for, or I can use parts in Alchemy." This settled the bird, who joined her master in watching the strange duo from just outside of his shop.

[Celandine]

Now very grumpy Celandine sulked in her saddle. She had come to Stonevale for fun, not to be shouted at. All she had wanted to do was look at the fruit and lovely vegetables - and Erik wanted some too, very much.

But Vaeron would not allow it. He kept his hand on Erik's halter for quite a while, and the big, but young creature followed like a well-behaved dog. The tera'k was so gentle and brave that would do as he was told, but also never run in a battle. It was natural for a tera'k to put up a fight against hunters - their huge horns were not useless after all - yet it was not entirely natural for them, when truly threatened, to stay. Erik seemed to be different. Different from his father.

"Vaeron," Celandine said after a while in a quiet voice. She was looking around and people were rather more relaxed now. Less eyes were watching their constant movements.

"Hmm?" the huge man looked at her, his hands intertwined into Megladon's reigns again. It was only then that she noticed he wasn't guiding Erik and her anymore.

"Um ... Can I get yummy things?"

He looked at her, frowning. For a brief moment he then looked over to see one person still staring at them - a crimson haired lad with a ... big crow by him. A rather unusual size, but if Vaeron had not been used to his massive horse, if he had never seen Philomel's pet rabbit, Mao, grow massive, or if he had never actually seen Delath the dragon, he might have been surprised.

Blinking, he looked back to his daughter. "We're getting you a knife, kid. Not sweets."

He said if getting a knife was far more reasonable a gift for a child than sugar.

"But ..." And she looked at him with adorable eyes. The ones that melted anyone else's heart in the fortress. But Vaeron ...

"Nope," he said, glancing back at the red-haired man. As Celandine fell into another grump he raised an eyebrow.

"And what do you want?" Vaeron asked Nevin.

[Nevin]

Now that they were closer, Nevin had been able to watch them and actually know what he was looking at. The little girl was tiny, not quite human, and patently upset. Her little arms were folded across her chest in a pout, and she kept shooting little looks at the man who was riding the massive horse next to her. It was... A small child looking for reassurance, and not receiving it and being upset about it. Hm.

As the remaining people had calmed down, taking comfort in his own serene observation, the girl had seemed to perk up, looking around the street more energetically as it emptied. Going out was probably a rare occurrence for her. It was when her eyes slid over him, and over his shop, that she blinked and looked back, her gaze fixation on him. No, not on him. On the sign next to him - proclaiming that candy was sold in his store. Ah.

She twisted, asked for "yummy" treats, and was soundly rebuffed. The man had looked in his direction for a moment before responding - that they were there for one reason, and one reason only. Disappointing to the girl no doubt, but Nevin wasn't about to butt in.

"And what do you want?" at least, he wasn't going to butt in without being asked for his input. The man's tone was brusque, curt and stiff like he didn't see a reason to be talking with Nevin. That, or he didn't talk with people very often. He wasn't outright rude, but did seem to want to be on his way.

Nevin shrugged one shoulder - the one that Aphrael wasn't currently on - before replying. The man was at least being courteous enough to stop and wait for his answer, and not just continuing down the street.

"Just came out to see what the hullabaloo was about out here. The local guard isn't exactly the best, so people running in the streets could mean any number of things. That aside, my name is Nevin." He bowed, Aphrael flying off of his shoulder as he did so. The black-and-red corvid flew over to the girl, perching carefully on one of her mount's horns as she trilled a cheerfully greeting to the small child."And that is Aphrael. Not precisely my place sir, but isn't it a bit of a waste to have traveled as far as you obviously have, and only purchase on thing? Perhaps understandable if you were acquiring a rare item of some repute, but I don't think anything like that stands out here in our little mining village." He smiled, though a keen observer could likely tell that the expression was plastic, forced - something a shopkeeper was expected to do. The smile never reached his eyes, after all.

[Vaeron]

Vaeron just looked at the young man, both brows raised. If he could, were it not for the two dark scars across his cheeks, he would have smiled. Smirked, rather and perhaps even sneered at the obstinate red-head. For what it was, however, he only could stare, and grind his eyes into the skull of 'Nevin'. A man who said words like, 'hullabaloo,' and spoke of the town guard like it was worthless. Well, perhaps it was. After all they had not come to greet him and his small faun companion, despite the interference they were making. Vaeron blamed it entirely on the fact that Philomel had given Celandine the tera'k. The cow thing was honestly just a call for attention, not a real mount like a horse.

Of course the mage had never told Philomel of his opinion on tera'k's. It would never go down well. And even if he did manage to persuade her to stop riding the thing ... well she might just start riding Delath permanantly. And what a change that would make. For the worse.

Out of the corner of his eye Vaeron watched the large crow settle on one of Erik's massive horns. He ground his teeth together with unease and continued to glare.

"What is that any bother to you that I bring the girl here? I am providing your little town with some business. Is that not a good thing?"

"Eeeee!"

Quickly looking over in reaction - and in doing so freaked people out again by yanking Megladon's reigns and making the mighty horse snort noisily - Vaeron found himself facing a brave Celandine. She had leaned over to prod the crow's feathers and was currently squeeing because the crow had - well, unsurprisingly - moved. Rolling his eyes Vaeron leant over and began flapping at the thing.

"Oh come on, get off. You are getting her over excited. Shoo."

"Nooo, he is nice," Celandine moaned, shoving his huge hand away with her two tiny ones. "I want a crow. Mum has a dragon. Why can't I have a crow?"

"You have a cow," Vaeron replied. Then he paused and looked at Nevin once more. "Where is the best blacksmith in town?"

[Nevin]

Aphrael trilled happily, shimmying out of the way of Vaeron's hands. She shuffled across the cow and behind Celandine, butting her head against the small child and piping amused flute notes as she stared at the man over the girl's shoulder. Nevin raised an eyebrow at this by-play. He tended to forget that the bird herself was still a youngling by her race's standards, so playing around with another small child seemed to amuse her greatly. He focused back onto the guardian.

"Oh, it's no concern of mine, as I said. Simply put you seem like a busy man, so traveling all this way for just one item seems wasteful. And while I might say business is always welcome, the town was recently attacked so someone coming in on what has to be the largest horse they've ever seen is a bit disruptive to most, unfortunately. No fault of yours, just bad timing on that. Aphrael - behave girl, or no candied insects for you tonight." An offering of amnesty - the man seemed to want Aphrael away from the girl, so he obliged him in that. The bird nudged the girl again and flapped her way back over to Nevin, trilling at him. The redhead rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know most of the town's kids give you a wide berth, but that doesn't mean you can attach yourself to the first traveling child that comes through. And that's not my business so don't tell me, I won't listen." With that admonishment he turned his gaze back to the mounted duo.

"As for the best smith in town, that is probably Yark. You'll find his place actually back a ways on the route that you came in - but he's on an off-street from this main road, about two streets down from where we are now. You'll know you've found it if you find a smithy proclaiming Elven-made goods can be found there; one of the Journeymen working in the shop is an Elf from a nearby tribe. If you have any alchemical needs - or if you decide to grant the child a boon - my store is probably your best option for those. Anything else sir?" Nevin didn't think the girl would know what a boon was - but the man might. Give him a chance to think about it perhaps, without the child realizing what Nevin had said. Aphrael sang out again, cheery flute notes, and began preening at Nevin's red hair.

[Celandine]

As Vaeron began to curl his lip again Celandine decided it was time to be polite. She pushed Erik forwards, urging him with a firm kick of her hooves into his flanks. They were thick from the pounds of muscle and fur that were attached to the creature. Generations of hiking through cold mountain peaks had required them to be hardy. They were the perfect beasts for Salvar - but ones who lived outside of Salvar. Tough. Strong. Never failing.

She brought the tera'k around, making it very clear to the man that she was not human at all. To one casual observer she might seem human, with only tiny nubs for horns and tapered ears hidden beneath mounds of brown fluff hair. It was only when someone saw her legs that they properly realised.

"I'm Celandine, but everyone calls me Dine. That's Vaeron. He's my dad but he doesn't like being reminded of it," she thumbed the air towards the human, who immediately stiffened. "He rides Megladon, I ride Erik. Mostly because I'm a faun," she grinned a gorgeous smile.

Then she pointed at Aphrael. "I like your crow. She's big like my mum's dragon. Vaeron says that-"

"Right that's enough, you!"

Suddenly there was a big hand and this time Erik's reigns were wrenched from her hands entirely. Vaeron looked visibly annoyed and was glaring at Celandine. When she saw his expression she deflated somewhat and went utterly quiet.

"We're here for weapons, not to make friends, little princess. We can't afford that now." He paused, looking at the girl completely defeated and sorrowful and took in a long breath.

He looked at Nevin again. "Can you show is the blacksmith?"

[Nevin]

Nevin blinked, a little taken aback by the girl's sudden forthrightness. It did make some of the interactions between the two of them more understandable - she was his daughter and sought his approval, and for some reason he didn't like to think about it? Odd. Though there was also the information of her race - Nevin hadn't been paying attention to the newscriers recently, but he thought he had heard something about Fauns in Stonevale recently, was this child here for the same reason? No, the man, Vaeron - now he had a name - was very much blatant about the fact that they were here for a weapon for the child. Still, the man seemed rather upset that Celandine had spilled that information, so Nevin was going to just file it away in the back of his head for now, paying it no heed for the time being. Though... a dragon? Maybe a child's imagination running rampant.

"Indeed, she is rather large, isn't she? Apparently she's not done growing yet though. Now then, Sir Vaeron - I can indeed show you the way to the blacksmith. Give me a moment to lock up my shop before I go." He ducked back into the store and grabbed his cloak, taking a moment to place a few candies wrapped in a cloth scrap into a pocket and walked back towards the front of the shop, pulling the dark brown hooded affair up and on in moments as he dragged the key out of the pocket. He stepped back outside, Aphrael resettling herself on his shoulder once more, and locked the door firmly shut. He started to walk in front of the man on his mount - and paused, tilting his head to one side.

"If the townsfolk causing noise is problematic, perhaps you at least should dismount sir? I understand your reason for not having the child do so." That was all Nevin would say about it though as he started walking down the street towards Yark's smithy.

[Vaeron]

Uncomfortably riding in silence, they followed Nevin at a slow and steady pace. Megladon kept snorting, and indeed eventually Vaeron did take Nevin's advice and came off the huge beast. Maybe it was something about the way the blood mage spoke that enticed him, or maybe it was that Vaeron actually realised that he had a point.

Celandine, on the other hand, refused to get off Erik. She protested loudly and clung to his saddle rather than the reigns, yelling she'd, "Rather die than be forced to dismount her devoted tera'k." Just how devoted Erik was to her was still to be seen - the two had not yet been in an actual battle.

But still, Celandine got her way. As she was apt to doing. Vaeron gave up when the moaning for too noisome and simply grabbed Erik's reigns to guide the two steeds by himself. Plod, plod, went the animals and he strode easily just behind Nevin, two humans in this world of strangers.

Soon enough they got to the blacksmiths. A great sign declaring, "Yark," proclaimed it enough. Vaeron looked at Nevin a while pausing with the reigns of the animals, then seemed to decide something else. Still without speaking he tied both leads to a rusted loop set in the wall, then gestured to Celandine.

"Come on, kid," he said.

She huffed stuffily, but undid her hooves from the stirrups and slid down to the ground. With a splash she landed in a puddle and sent a small wave of dirty water at Vaeron's trousers.

For a moment the fury was clear on his face ... Then it vanished as she snatched up her hand.

"Thank you ... Nevin," he said in a short, terse tone. "We will ... Thank you. We may come by your store."

"I want to go," Celandine mumbled.

Vaeron lifted his chin and nodded once to the other human. "Thank you again."

He did not move.

Awkwardness reigned as he tried to remember how to be polite to a shopkeeper.