Althanian
EXP: 10,250, Level: 4
Level completed: 25%,
EXP required for next Level: 3,750
Through the thunderous booming, the sharp shrieking and the dischordant howling of the storm, she quietly sang her song of loneliness and isolation to herself, that should have been a melody of celebration but in the midst of an ongoing war, desolation and many unknowns, she murmured it to herself and herself alone.
"It's your birthday today. You were born on this day. Another year to say - it's your birthday today."
Plucking the pale pink petals from the single flower that her drow friend and companion Vaminar had managed to scavenge for her from the miles of rock, mountain and bracken around them in the small fort, Celandine thought of how she would be celebrating, were it not for the demon incursion. It was her tenth birthday after all - not significant for some, but for a being who was maturing many times faster than a normal mortal it was something momentous. Her mother would have thrown a mighty ceremony for her back at the old fortress, with cake and candles and drinking into the long hours of the dark night. Instead the young faun and scholar was within this elven fortress that had been claimed as an outpost for the dwarves, within a small and simple box room.
Soon all the petals of the flower lay on the rough blanket before her. Due to a lack of wool or any other substitute in the past few days Celandine had not been able to knit herself anything more comfortable. Thus, she had been stuck with a dwarf made cover that proved scratchy although was warm. The bearded beings had spoken of their fluffy goats that they had left back home, but the ones they had brought into the fort were short haired and unsuitable for shearing.
With a sigh she swept the petals carelessly onto the floor, and cast aside the naked stem. Shaking her head she looked up out of the window to observe the cloudy deep grey sky of the night outside, with the pinpricks of light from the camps within the fort like a blanket that had stolen the stars. Pursing her lips she thought about the days that had passed since she had said goodbye to Umbra, and the weeks that she had been in Alerar. She thought about the drow, and how he seemed to be consciously growing closer to her even though romance had never been a consideration before for her. And she thought about the possibility of their mission working alongside the wise dwarf Garrett, who was a mistress of history and culture, who was deadly keen at their ability to make a replacement sword for the one that had been claimed from the seal within the well, that had been magically holding closed a portal to demons realms which were now open and the denizens running havoc in the whole land.
A bright flash of lightning and a rolling boom preceded a surge of wind that slammed against the window, shaking the glass in its wooden frame. Celandine jumped, gasping in surprise. She seemed to have caught the storm in an ebb when she looked out, for now it was wild and back in force - the fires below blustering wildly, flags and standards bending and a lone few objects rattling down the street where they would be missed. By morning she was sure many trees and lamps or so would be upset and more than one building damaged. Or perhaps there would be more - but now was not to worry. She herself at least was in a stable building with four steady walls and thus she ran to the window, and slammed the shutters closed on the world and refused to acknowledge it.
Because things had changed. Because times had changed. No longer was she a princess in a fortress - she had chosen to come here to Alerar as a diplomatic representative for the state of Corone, and the brutal onslaught of demons had led her to become a rogue, a rescuer, and a revolutionary.
Last edited by Celandine; 02-15-2022 at 03:19 AM.