The Birth of the Redlarks and the Beacon's First Light

[Into Dust]

The first thing to strike Kiete was the startling humidity. From the moment his eyes saw the faintest glimpse of Talmhaidh, the port city of Dheathain, beads of sweat formed along the side of his head and rolled down the side of his cheek. With every meter that the ship swam towards land, perspiration increased again and again, exponentially, bathing the ranger’s head. By the time anchor had dropped and feet touched Dheathain soil, Kiete was drenched. He was panting and his clothes clung to his skin, his lips were dying for water and worst of all, the heat only seemed to get worse the more steps he took away from his boat.

“Not from around here, are you?” a voice chattered in his ears. It was almost like a song for the words rolled off the female voice like a beautiful melody.

“How’d you guess?” Kiete said, his lips turning into a sincere smile. Turning around, he noticed that the one who had encouraged him was a female, but not one that he had seen too often. She was humanoid and the ranger would have thought that she was a young elf or human until she noticed the magnificent wings growing from her back. She was a fae, and a pretty one at that.

“The gallons of sweat pouring out of your skin, the quiet trepidation that you walk with, the fact that you only brought one – now empty – bottle of water,” she giggled, her voice temporarily taking away the discomfort that plagued Kiete. “I could go on…”

“There’s no need,” the ranger laughed back, his feet finally bringing him across the dock and onto Talmhaidh proper. He wiped his sweaty palms vigorously on the only dry patch on him, the material that covered his thighs. Then, with a charming smile across his face, Kiete thrust his hand forward, fingers outstretched. “The name’s Kiete Woodbraith.”

“Well, new friend… I think you need this more than me.” The fae took his rough hand in her dainty ones and smiled back, reaching for her backpack and giving him a small water bottle. “My name is Saore and I work with crystals here in Dheathain. What is your business here?”

Kiete took a hearty drink from the water, one of the most refreshing drinks he had ever had in his entire life. “I’m a ranger, love. I’m on my own personal mission to see the world.”

At this, Saore seemed to giggle almost uncontrollably. “Then, new friend Kiete the ranger, you absolutely need to go to the Synthesis shop! It’s a perfect excuse to roam over Dheathain!”

Before the ranger could speak, ask or basically move, the fae was running away. “No goodbyes,” she called back to him. “I’ll see you there!”

------------------

Kiete had no chance to catch her, or maybe he did not have the heart to. He did not know which.

It took him a good few hours and directions from a few less than helpful Draconians, but the ranger finally reached the Synthesis shop that Saore had spoken about.

“Hello,” Kiete said as he pushed the door open. “I hear you give reasons to roam Dheathain.”

[Lasair Anubail]

Lasair hummed quietly to herself as she organized the books along the shelf in the front room. It was not exactly alphabetical order, more in order of the context that each one represented to her mind. There was a chance that anyone one else other than her would get rather confused trying to find a specific book along this shelf, but she didn’t mind. She was the only one who needed to use these anyway. As her soft voice filled the room with a lovely tune that only she knew; the gentle glow of a multitude of soft, blue crystals illuminated the dark wooden floors and shelves for her. Some of them were shaped to look like magnificent creatures found here in Dheathain. Dragons and Algora and wyrms and wyrven. They all littered the shelves and the counter along the back wall, keeping the shop lit enough to see, but not very well. It was dim and gave it that mysterious look that she wanted.

“Oh, Lasair here.”

Turning at the sound at the voice, Lasair caught a large tome in her hand as Avery let go of it. The nine inch plushie then turned and flew away, passed the heavy, dark purple curtain which separated the back of her shop from the front. Glancing at what the tome held, the small Fae then reached up and placed it within its right position in the shelf. At least it was right for now. It might change.

Hearing the front door open, the small, fiery haired Fae watched as a human wandered into her store. She was getting so many of them yesterday that she was almost growing used to it. Almost. But the race still intrigued her. His words made her giggle though; he must have been directed here by one of her friends.

“Hiya!” Lasair called out to him rather cheerfully. Jumping down from the ladder she was on in a flutter of flowing, green material from her dress, Lasair hurried over to the human as her bare feet thudded lightly on the floor. “Can I help you with something?”

[Into Dust]

The sight of yet another pretty fae would have made any normal man’s heart skip a beat, but the experienced ranger had seen the world a dozen times over. A beautiful girl, no matter how special or unique, was never one to distract him for very long. He did take half a moment to experience this latest fae’s beauty, though only half a moment did that thought stay in his mind. Kiete quickly dismissed those thoughts, never again to be brought up.

“Why, hello there, Lasair,” the ranger said, with a smile across his chiseled face. “My name is Kiete Woodbraith.”

Kiete had always been one to practice honesty and politeness to all he knew, even for those who were only in his life for barely a minute. It was just the way he had always been.

“I hear that you have the talents to play with powerful enchantments,” Kiete repeated, the information being reproduced from the conversations he had with strangers on the way to the synthesis shop. From what he had heard, the ranger was excited to see what the fae of Dheathain could do. Without further ado, he reached around his neck and placed the solid gold coin that a generous merchant had fashioned into a necklace for him and placed it on the table. “Let’s test that out, shall we?”

“Where would I need to go to get the items that would give this amulet the power primarily glow brightly even in the dark, and secondarily steady my hand so that I can be better with my bow and other throwing weapons?” the ranger asked, the child within him reeling at the thought of being able to get one of his childhood fantasy items. If Lasair was really as skilled as the strangers who had guided him here said, then this would be no problem. Then perhaps, the ranger should try something a little more challenging…

“Although I guess, that isn’t too hard, is it? Ever since I was a wee boy, I have dreamed of this. I’m not sure whether you could do it, but it’d be amazing and I’d be grateful if you could help me make it,” Kiete said with an immature smile across his weathered face. He took a deep breath, simultaneously trying to save breath for what he was about to say and trying to compose the messy thoughts in his head.

“What I’ve always wanted is a pair of gloves that could materialize the knives already in my inventory. What I have heard is that you can make bags that can store things that are way past their weight and size, so this should be no problem? I want my gloves to be able to store all my short blades in itself and materialize them in my fingers on queue,” the ranger said, gasping for air now that he had finished. That had been difficult, but he had finally said it. Kiete probably hadn’t described that childhood dream since he was a boy.

“If that’s too easy, which I’m sure it is for a girl of your supposed skill, then make it so the gloves can store blades up to the length of my sword as well.”

The ranger knew it was a formidable task for the fae in front of him and would surely be an even more difficult task for him to find the things that he would need to synthesize such effective items. But, hey…

“Give me your worst, love. I’ve fought dragons, titans, demi-gods, medusas and Thayne knows how many vampires. Don’t you worry about me.”

These were the dreams of his childhood and he’d do anything to get them.

If it's not clear, this is what I want:

The Beacon: Enchant my solid gold coin so that it has the glow brightly, even in the darkest of caves and also steady Kiete's hand when it comes to projectile weapons.

Redlarks: A pair of gloves that can hide weapons inside themselves and also materialize them on queue.

[Lasair Anubail]

His requests didn’t seem too hard. In fact, the one about his gloves was something she had come across before not too long ago. She believed the man’s name was Travis, or something along those lines. He had come in wishing for her to pretty much do the exact same thing and well, she had improvised and given him something quite close to it. The problem with making gloves out of the same material as her Never-Ending rucksack, was that well, things couldn’t just materialize out of the rucksack on command. One had to stick their hand in it and search around until they found the weapon they wanted. Lasair supposed she could make something like that which would allow him to do such a thing, but she was unsure of the ingredients off the top of her head. Besides, it would be best to ask him if he really wanted Never-Ending gloves, or something similar to what she had given the other human.

“The gloves are not entirely a new request for me. I had someone ask something similar not too long ago. However, there are a few problems with making gloves on the same basis as the never-ending rucksack. I may be able to remedy those problems, or I may not.” The small Fae placed her index finger on her lips as her golden eyes got a bit of a faraway look to them.

Then without saying another word, she turned and walked through a curtained door along the back wall of her shop, leaving the human standing there. After a few seconds and some thumps from the room, she returned with three large tomes on her hands that looked so big and heavy it was a miracle she could carry them all without falling over.

Slamming them down on the counter with quite the thud, the small Fae turned her attention back towards the polite human name Kiete.

“Before I start trying to figure out what to use on the gloves, I‘m going to offer you the same thing I offered to the other human, Kiete. It’s a small crystal on the end of a leather string that’s tied around the wrist. Upon command one can call forth your weapons from the crystals and then return them when they you are done. If that is not satisfac—satiastic—if that is not good enough for you, I shall see what I can do without a crystal.”

[Into Dust]

There was something about exotic places that just made Kiete’s heart race. The weather, the locales, the sights but most of all the people. The ranger considered himself quite lucky that he had the resources and skills to travel the world and se all these sights. Dheathain was a place that had always piqued his interest and he was pleasantly surprised that he was not at all disappointed. These fae were amusing to him. They looked like human adults, but there was a childish quality about them that was just so endearing. When Lasair talked, Kiete only seemed to half listen. He was very preoccupied not with what she was actually saying, but the way that she talked. It was more than enough to put a smile on his face.

Seeing her think hard and help him solve his problem only served to widen that childish grin, which stayed on the ranger’s face for quite some time. Even when the fae turned and walked off, he could not stop smiling. This place and their people were amazing. Kiete was about to speak up, telling her not to bother, because he was more than satisfied, but she had already gone, busy and happy in her work.

When she returned with tomes that made Kiete’s muscles tinge, the ranger wanted to help her, but his reflexes were too slow and she had finished by the time his tongue could move.

“That sounds amazing, Lasair and thanks so much for helping me with these,” the ranger said, his widening smile threatening to engulf his ears. “But, I need them to be gloves. I know I’m an old lad nowadays but these gloves, they’re a bit of a childhood fantasy of mine. I guess that light’s never gonna go out.”

Then, out of the corner of his eyes, Kiete saw his gold coin, still lying on the counter.

“What about my coin amulet enchantment? That sounds pretty easy, I don’t think you’ll have a problem with that, will you?”

[Lasair Anubail]

She had been hoping he would be okay with the crystal. She already knew the ingredients he would need for it and it would be a rather simple synthesis. But the human was being stubborn in the fact that he wanted it to be made from and for his gloves. Which was only going to make her life more difficult, but if there was one thing Lasair liked it was a good challenge. She just needed to figure out a way to synthesize this so that the gloves didn’t absorb his hands as well as the sword. Oh, that would be very, very bad. She wasn’t even entirely sure what would happen in such a situation and whether or not he would even be able to grip things properly. Unless of course she created some kind of pocket on the glove, oh no... that would just be weird. Maybe if she used a crystal and then embedded it into the very fabric of the gloves...

Lasair’s thoughts were cut off when the human started talking again about his other item. It was the coin that he wanted her to work on as well, which she was rather certain would be simple. At least she thought it would. Then again, when she actually went to look for the ingredients and such things could become drastically more complicated.

Grabbing one of the books she had brought back with her, the small Fae began to leaf through the old and yellowed pages, taking great care not to rip or tear any of them and yet be as fast as possible all at the same time. Her eyes ran over the information quickly and her mind just absorbed it right along with all the other information she had, adding to the library of her head. When she came across her first interesting item, she grabbed a piece of parchment and quill from a drawer along the counter and began scribbling down the information. She would then quickly move on to something else before writing some more down. Occasionally she would cross off an item and then add something else until the list was finished and surprisingly not very long at all.

“I’m done!” Lasair said rather cheerfully as she picked up the parchment and handed it over to the human. “That’s for the coin, rather simple list, yes? While you look that over, I’ll get to work on the ingredients for the gloves but umm... err....”

As Kiete reached out for the parchment, Lasair grabbed his hand and began examining the glove that was still attached to him arm. She pulled it up and looked at the underside, turned it to the side, the other side, twisted it a bit, perhaps a bit uncomfortably for the human not that she seemingly noticed. After a few more seconds of examination, she released him as then turned her attention back to another book.



The Coin
• Two fireflies
• One clear crystal
• One green draconian scale
• Lonraigh crystal (usually found in wet environments and caves that constantly glows)
• The ears and tail of a coinin (cute, bunny like creature that can be found almost anywhere)
• A handful with Fuilleach moss (moss that grows in Luthmor, usually on rocks, and is an almost black colour)