*Squees* This is just the first small part, my character isn't here yet, but he's going to be
But thank you, you two.
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Alright, part 2. Sorry it took so long!
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Part 2 – Althar in Peace A small white furred hand traces it's way along a wall, feeling the ripples in the wood, a purple eyed Tree Spirit staring intently at every bump and nodule as it moves along.
“Kirion?” a soft male voice beckons from outside “Kirion? Are you even awake?” the questions causing Kirion to let out a gentle sigh.
“Yes, I'm awake. I'll be out in a moment” returns Kirion, taking his hand from the wall and quickly patting himself down to make sure his fur is smoothed. Finally satisfied he pads to the entrance of his little hollow in the roots of the Great Tree and smiles as he sees the familiar face of his friend, giving him a warm “Morning, Aeron!”
“About time you got up, Kiri!” he chirps with a hint of affection, his bright green eyes shimmering as he gives a small playful chuckle. “The Elders are calling any and all to the centre of town.” stated Aeron as he begins walking alongside Kirion towards town, he then adds “Looks like Elder Felaran has finally made his decision on a successor for his role.”
The pair walk on a fair distance with nothing but the sounds of the forest and the light twinkle of the veil high overhead before Aeron breaks the silence again, by querying “So who do you think Felaran will name?”
“I don't know.” Kirion swiftly replied.
“Then why not take a guess?” a happy Aeron pushed, causing Kirion to sigh softly, never able to resist answering Aeron.
“Well, Elder Ornia would be a good choice, or maybe Elder Rasal” He starts, “Below Felaran, they have the most experience.”
Aeron lets out another small snicker before responding, “What, not going to include He'Taash in there? If experience is what you're basing your guesses off of, shouldn't he be...”
“Why would I cast my vote on Felaran picking that old grouch?” Kirion snaps back, before letting out a small giggle of his own.
The pair finally arrive at a dirt pathway that twists it's way into Althar, on either side of the start of this path stands a fellow Tree Spirit, standing to attention, wearing intricately carved winged Elderwood helms, a rich brown in colour. They give a nod to the pair of young tree spirits, nobody speaks, but Aeron's eyes shimmer slightly at the sight of the helms on their heads before the duo move on.
“What about N'Rtara?” Aeron inquires with a true hint of curiosity in his voice.
“N'Rtara? She's still young, even for an elder, you know that. Everyone does.”
The calm of the forest slowly fading the further they follow the path, passing carved home and small floating spheres of soft blue light. The sounds of wind rustling the grass and branches leaves slowly being replaced with the distinct sound of chatter. A lot of it. It finally comes in view, several hundred Spirits, all gathered for the announcement, their fur making it look like a soft white ocean, dotted with an array of bright colours in all of their eyes.
“Looks like we made it on time, sleepy!” Aeron quipped over his shoulder as he walked slightly ahead of Kirion to get a good view of the stone podium and stage the elders frequently use when addressing the residents of Althar.
The duo wormed their way through the crowd to find some space to catch a good view. The elders were in sight and making their way towards the gathering already, so Kirion hastened to keep up with Aeron, before suddenly bumping into someone, knocking them down.
“Ah! Hey, be careful!” exclaimed a bewildered Aglaeca.
“Oh, sorry!” is Kirion's quick response, offering a hand to help the stranger back up, which Aglaeca accepts, pulling himself back up.
“You just... be more careful, alright?”
Kirion continues through the crowd with a “I will!” over his shoulder, still set on keeping up with Aeron. He finally catches up to him in a small space nearer the makeshift stage, and the two look on as the village elders slowly finish taking their places on it.
“Woah, look Kirion! Elder Felaran has brought his Whitewood staff!” Aeron whispers whilst nudging Kirion to direct his attention, “If he's got that, then he must have made a choice, you know the...”
“My fellow Treeborn! Settle down!” cries an authoritative Elder Ornia, and when the crowd had given her it's full attention, she continued “We are gathered here today for our passing of the torch and title of Keeper of the Veil!” the crowd lets out a small cheer before quieting again at one of Ornia's hand signalling for silence once more. “For many years our Elder Felaran has served as the Keeper, but now he has finally decided to pass the responsibility on to one of his fellow Elders. We all trust in whatever choice he makes!”
Silence remains as Elder Ornia takes a step back, quickly scratching one of her ears behind her antlers and looking to Elder Felaran who is slowly stepping forward. He was old, even for a species that in the old stories could live for so long. His ears were largely tufted, his horns slightly gnarled and his whiskers long and reminiscent of the whiskers of the serpentine like dragons that had not been seen in the forest for centuries, not even before the veil was raised. His silver eyes looked ever in thought no matter what he was doing. He steps forward with his carved Whitewood staff in his hand, made of a fallen branch of the Great Tree long ago and taps it on the stage a few times, causing the crowd to fall into dead silence out of respect.
“Thank you, Ornia” his soft voice starts “Yes, I feel it is time for me to pass this responsibility on to one younger, more able than myself to maintain the Veil.” some small whispers are heard amongst the crowd as he speaks, “The responsibility has been tiring me in recent years, so it is time...” he begins walking past his fellow Elders, who are all standing in a line watching his movements. “I will continue to serve as an Elder however, so that I may continue in helping to guide my beloved fellow Treeborn.
Some more quiet chatter and whispers can be heard in the crowd all around Kirion and Aeron. This is it, he's going to pass his Whitewood staff on to one of the Elders on stage with him, and name them the new Keeper of the Veil. One who tends to the magic barrier swirling around and overhead the large chunk of forest and encapsulating all of the Treeborn. Sparing them from whatever lies beyond. All of the Elders were supposedly good choices, each and every one of them powerful in the way of magic, and highly knowledgeable.
The crowd watches intently, still swapping whispers as Felaran walks down the line slowly, stopping at each Elder and whispering something in each of their ears and every time he did, the Elder in question would soften their expression and nod their head in agreement with something. Elder He'Taash visibly questioned Felaran at first, but then with Felaran's hand on his shoulder, Elder He'Taash gave a resolute nod. It continued until Felaran reached N'Rtara.
N'Rtara was young for the position of village Elder, but she held her role and performed it as best she could. Always learning from the other Elders who were at least twice her age if not more. In this situation though, she looked as nervous as a fledgling spirit. Her golden eyes blinking often, and desperately looking around finding something to focus on to calm herself.
“N'Rtara?” a quizzical Felaran looking directly at her asks, before putting a hand on her shoulder and speaking softly, “You will be fine, but I am sorry. I have chosen you.” He gives her a small playful smile as her mouth drops a bit, preparing to protest, but Felaran stops her with a finger gently on her nose “You're about to argue you're too young, you're too inexperienced.” he tells her, to which she can only nod in agreement, which causes Felaran to continue, “But you are wrong, N'Rtara. I was near your age when I took up this responsibility, so please trust me when I say that you will do fine” he finishes and takes her by the hand to the head of the stage. She looks back at the other Elders still carrying her look of worry, only receive affirming nods from them, and a small hand signal from Elder Rasal to face the crowd.
“And this, is my choice, my fellow Treeborn.” announces Felaran.
Aeron nudges Kirion and whispers “I knew it!” before Felaran continues his speech.
“N'Rtara is young, yes, but age and knowledge isn't what defines an Elder, and it cannot be what defines the Keeper of the Veil. It is what is unknown and how you handle it that defines you.” with that Felaran passes his Whitewood staff in front of N'Rtara, the intricate carvings along its lengths lighting a soft blue, with the a runic symbol for 'Light' etched around the top several times exuding a soft arcane haze. She puts one hand on the staff and nods. With that, Felaran lets it go and starts applauding for N'Rtara with claps. The Elders join Felaran in doing so, and then suddenly the crowd of spirits let out cheers for her.
She can do naught but smile weakly, her own concerns still present, but slowly washing away in the moment.
Kirion, Aeron along with the large gathering of Spirits all clapping their hands, Kirion leans to Aeron to reply with, “Well I've been wrong before!”
Felaran lets the crowd cheer for the new Keeper of the Veil for a while, before raising both of his hands and slowly lowering them the call of quiet again, before resuming his speech, “I am certain that N'Rtara will perform her new charge to the best of her abilities and beyond. I thank all who came here to witness this, but there are some matters that the new Keeper must tend to.” He finishes and turns to lead Veil Keeper N'Rtara and the other gathered Elders towards a hollow in one of the many roots of the Great Tree.
The crowd slowly begins to disperse and the air fills with the happy chatter of the main event of the day. Aeron taps Kirion on the shoulder to point a break in the crowd they can slip through to get on with their day.
“Wow, so the youngest of them all was chosen. Did you see He'Taash? He clearly wasn't too happy with it!” giggles Aeron, leading Kirion away from the town centre.
“I wouldn't have expected that, but I don't think we've ever seen Elder Felaran be wrong”
“Yup! But now that that's over, how about you help me out on...”
“Another one of your schemes?” Kirion finished, knowing all too well that Aeron was up to something already. “Let me guess this time. An Elderwood helmet. I saw the way you looked at that Guardian on the way into town...”
“Yes! Those carved Elderwood helmets look great!”
“And they are locked up in the Guardian Spirits Hollow with the rest of their equipment, and we aren't allowed in.” Kirion sighs before rubbing his eyes with one hand, “And I'll just guess again you have a great plan to get in and
borrow some of their equipment, right?”
“As a matter of fact, I do!” Aeron beckons Kirion over to a quiet space down behind some of the carved structures of the town, “I've found an old tunnel that leads under the Guardian's Hollow. So we just follow it along, climb up and in and grab a few things to mess around with” Aeron finishes with a big smile, and his fox like tail swinging happily. “So are you in, Kiri?”
Kirion puts a hand on his hip and rolls his eyes in thought for a moment before return with a, “Fine.” and letting out a short sigh, “But if we get caught I'll be blaming you again!”
“Wouldn't have it any other way, Kiri!” Aeron giggles, leading Kirion on, “Come on then, we need to move now, this tunnel is tucked away on the far side of Il'Shan, by one of her roots.” With a spring in his step, Aeron heads on with Kirion in tow.
Coming out of the spot they were nestled in to talk, they nearly bump into Aglaeca again, who steps back to avoid being knocked down again.
“Hey, I told you to be careful!”
The duo let out a “Sorry!” in unison as they continue onward, Aeron grabbing one of the many small blue orbs of light. Aglaeca watching them for a moment before continuing on his way.
Both the young Treeborns stop after circumnavigating the Great Tree for what seemed like hours. Both are out of breath, but Aeron had signalled a stop.
“Here! It's here” gasped Aeron, pointing to a small crevice, tightly tucked away against a root of the tree, before going over to it and squeezing his way through on to a ledge. “Pass me the light orb, Kiri!” Kirion does so, and it allows Aeron to light up a sizeable cavern under the root with many passage opening leading in several directions. “All right, come on down!”
Kirion squeezes himself through the slim crevice after some effort and the pair climb down into the cavern proper.
“Okay, so now we're down here, Aer. What one takes us to the Guardian's Hollow?” this question causes Aeron to let out a small giggle and a shrug.
“I don't know” he states in a proud tone “but one of them must do right? Lets find out!”
“You don't...” Kirion starts in a huff “So you have no idea what's down here? Should have known better...”
“Hey come on, now that we're here, lets explore and find
out what's here! Remember what Falaran said at the gathering. 'It's what you don't know and how you handle it'” Aeron giggles. “Aren't you at least a little bit curious? Where's that sense of adventure I know you have?”
“It's still there, but what if this place is dangerous?”
“Not much of an adventure if there's no danger, Kiri!” Aeron throws over his shoulder as he boldly walks on down one of the passageways, into the unknown. Kirion sighs, but his own curiosity is peaked. He follows Aeron closely into the darkened tunnels under the Great Tree.
Topic: Under Il'Shan (Read 1801 times)