Glade Elf in Rhydin

[Lucelei]

My trips to Rhydin are infrequent, but I do enjoy the time I get to spend there. This trip I headed back to the arena with the hope of running into the elf Dimitri that I’d met before. He was great fun to talk to, and perhaps I’ll get lucky and meet up with him again, although, since he is in the military, I may not.

When I got down the stairs, I was greeted by a blue skinned, pointy eared imp! He looked at me and started yelling “Woman!!! Woman!!! Woman!!!!” Then it started running at me.

Dimitri quickly threw up an invisible barrier to stop the imp from getting to me.

I smiled at him, and went to the bar to get a glass of white wine. And Imp began going after the blonde woman they called Azjah. She kicked her shoes off and ran behind the sofa. She asked Imp how the engagement with Onyx was going, and I almost felt sorry for Imp when he lamented, “She doesn’t want me.” Poor Imp. But he was not dissuaded and turned immediately to Azjah, “sooooo… you want a piece of this P’Imp?”

The woman laughed and told Imp she didn’t think her boy friend would like that because he didn’t share. Imp told her that he’d get used to it, and draped an arm around her shoulders. The woman was clearly not happy about having him that close.

I was happy to no longer be the imp’s focus, and Dimitri struck up conversation with me. “Lucelei, how have you been?” We began catching up on what we had each been doing, and he’d had the excitement of saving a friend from execution. While we were talking about his adventures, and my lack of them, the door slammed open, and a man wearing a long duster coat and sun glasses strode into the room.

Dimitri glared at the newcomer, and the man removed his sun glasses, exposing piercing blue eyes and smirked, “Still moping about your little girlfriend?”

Dimitri didn’t bother to respond to the man, and I stood at the bar, studying the clash between these two. I refilled my glass, and as the man strode toward the bar, his duster snapping in his wake. “You, ah, make quite an entrance.” He grabbed a bottle of vodka and a rocks glass, turned toward me and smirked. “I presume you’re talking to me.”

Well, he obviously likes to be snide, so I looked around him, and then behind him, “Well, it would seem so.”

“Smartass, eh?”

If anyone was being a smartass, it was he. “Not usually, but some people do bring out the imp in me,” I quipped back.

The man was utterly impossible to talk with, and as we exchanged snide comments, he shifted to an assault on Dimitri. I’d asked Dimitri who he was, and quietly he told me his name was Caleb, an evil person.

Caleb glanced at Dimitri with a sarcastic smirk. Then he asked me to duel, and I took the opportunity to do so. He looked me over insolently as our match began. We dueled, and when it was over I returned to the bar to refill my glass of wine. As I studied Caleb, he looked over at me with a challenge in his voice, “What are you looking at?” Then he announced that my friend, Dimitri, seemed paranoid.

I looked at Dimitri and then back at Caleb. “I have not found him to be so. He’s been nothing but very nice.”

Caleb laughed, believing that my comment was naïve, because a person could be nice and still be paranoid. He leaned toward me abruptly, and with a deceptively soft voice, “look closer and you’ll see paranoia.”

I studied the cold man, and did not let him intimidate me, “But I wonder what passes between you both that is so cold. I have looked closely, and what I see is not what you see. Why are you so antagonistic?”

He gave me a thin smile and leaned back, took a drink of his vodka, “Why are you so innocent? Or should I say, naïve?”

“Why are you so callous?”

“Why not?”

This was pointless, and I told him his attitude was unbecoming, which he interpreted as being common, and darkly stated to me, “girl, nothing good, nor fun, comes from being common.”

I studied him, “Little good or fun comes from being so negative”

“You’re wrong” he told me, “come.. ask your friend about my negativity.. it saved his little girlfriend's life.”

I glanced quickly at Dimitri, then back at Caleb, “His girl friend?”

He gave me a shocked look, “he didn’t tell you?”

“I never asked,” I told him, but my gaze traveled back to Dimitri. He ground his teeth hearing Caleb deliberately baiting me. Looking back at Caleb, “You know, honorable would not have tried to make something out of nothing. Do you always seek trouble?”

He laughed, and intimated that perhaps Dimitri was waiting to get me inebriated before making a move on my person. How crass this man is. I asked him if he would do just that given the opportunity, and he glared at me, “girl, I could care less bout you, there are…. Others, that capture my attention.”

I was growing tired of his bad attitude, and told him it was probably a good thing. With that, I headed toward Dimitri, but that took me right past Caleb, and I whispered softly, “You are to be pitied.”

His smile was dark, with a quick gleam in his eyes, “only as much as you yourself, girl.”

Looking at him, “I am not so callus and unfeeling. I yet live. My heart still beats.”

He held my gaze, “and yet... here I stand before you.. alive. And girl, all hearts stop.”

Setting my wine glass down, I walked back toward Caleb, pausing directly in front of him, I reached up and laid my hand flat on his chest where his heart would be, "there is no heart worth discussing that beats beneath my hand.”

His hand was quick, nearly elven reflexes, and he pressed a blade between my breasts, “nor beneath mine.” His threat was explicit, my life meant absolutely nothing to him, and he would not hold back if he deemed it important enough to thrust that blade into my heart.

I did not flinch, and trusted in the Valar to protect me from him as I gave ground, backing slowly away from him. “You would not recognize a whole beating heart if it reached out and slapped you upside the head.” He stood there with his eyes locked on my own, and I heard Dimitri tell him to put the dagger away.

The blade was gone as quickly as it had been produced, “I have seen many whole beating hearts girl.”

I did not dare look away from him, “No Caleb, you’ve seen hearts stop beating, but you have not seen one that beats true, you are too jaded to even recognize one. I do not know what you once were, but what you are now is unspeakably cold.”

His smile was cooler than any I’ve seen before, “so I have been told.”

He kept insisting that I speak to Dimitri about his actions with this girl, the source of the animosity between Caleb and Dimitri, yet he himself would not explain to me his side of the tale. At last I joined Dimitri and we spoke of it. It seems Caleb kidnapped the woman, and cured her of a poison. I do not understand Dimitri’s ire over his actions. It would seem that what Caleb did was a good thing to me, but there is more to this than either man will tell me.

I left the arena, happy to have seen Dimitri again, and yet surprised that he’d not told me of his girl friend previously. I was also unsettled over Caleb. The man was unspeakably cold, but there is part of me that would like to understand why. It is unnatural to be so cold and unfeeling without reason.

[Lucelei]

The arenas hold a fascination as I return to the city. There are interesting people in abundance, and mysterious people who hold a fascination that is difficult to explain. One such fascinating soul is a morose man who continues to frequent the Arenas despite his voiced contempt for everyone within.

Caleb is outwardly quite cold, to the point of rudeness. I cannot figure out why, but I do enjoy the brief talks we have had, despite his very negative attitude. I ran into him again last night, and attempted to get off on a better footing with him.

He was sitting in a corner, as though protecting his back, wearing his trade mark Oakley sunglasses inside. Putting on a brave front, I approached him, "You've come back I see."

The air around him was cool, "What's it to you?"

I laughed lightly, "I am simply surprised, you seem to despise us all so much."

He chuckled darkly, "So that is grounds for not being here?"

"Makes no sense if you think so lowly of us."

"Makes plenty of sense," he retorted.

"Perhpas to you, but I was surprised to see you back." I nodded at an empty chair. "May I?"

"Would it matter?" came his snide response.

"Of course it matters."

"But it wouldn't stop you from sitting, would it?"

I shrugged, "I just thought I'd try getting off to a better start. You know, the tough guy thing won't go very far toward making friends."

"Who said I wanted friends?" He gave me a cold look.

"If you wish to be alone here, I can go away. And no one said you wanted friends." I was curiously drawn to this perverse conversation.

"So what do you want?" He lifted his glass of vodka, turning, he pulled a second rocks glass from the overhang, flipped it onto the table and poured it full, as well as refilling his.

I set my wine glass on the table, and glanced at the second glass. "I said I wanted a chance to get off on the right foot since we started out on such a bad one the other day."

He kicked his feet up and leaned back.

"You don't seem to much care."

"Call it a hazard of my position," he maintained a chill expression.

"What would that hazard be?" I studied him intently.

"Not caring, or rather, caring."

"Why is it such a hazard to care?" I took a sip of my wine.

He remained completely impassive. "Why do you care?"

I looked at him levelly, "Because you seem so separate, so very alone, and that's not a good thing."

"for?" His tone was challenging again.

"You don't care about much of anything at least on the outside, do you?" I finished my wine and slid the glass across the table.

"as I said, a hazard."

"Yes, you said that, but a hazard to what? Your heart? Your mind? Your soul?"

"You ask too many questions, elf." He held a stoney expression.

I laughed, "call it a hazard of my job."

"and what, exactly, is that?"

"Me? Nothing fancy." I told him.

"Then you wouldn't mind telling me," he drawled.

"Not at all, I run the glade as a ranger/watcher."

"Then your persistent questioning is not a hazard to your job, it's an annoyance of your personality. Watchers do not speak elf."

"Actually, it is a hazard, because I spend so much time alone, when I do meet people, I enjoy the chance to talk."

"So you make up for your loneliness by annoying others who would appear to be lonely to you." He was enjoying being snide.

I glanced at the second glass of vodka, then back at Caleb, "I see no harm in admitting that I enjoy company, and yes, you looked lonely. So, why is it such a hazard for you?"

He finally lifted his hand and removed the Romeo's, sliding them into the inner pocket of his leather duster, he continued to watch her, but now, he watched her with his piercing ice blue eyes. "What?"

We discussed the idea of caring, and how it was important to me that one have something to care about to live life to it's fullest potential, but Caleb felt I was erroneous in my sentiments. He's so detatched. It is very sad actually.

He told me I'd made a blunt presumption that he cared for nothing, and maybe there is something he cares for, but finding it will be difficult.

He smirked at me, "presumptions will lead you to trouble elf."

I tensed as he rose, "Probably, but we will see."

He headed for the door, and I glanced again at the untouched glass of vodka, and back at his retreating back. This is going to be a serious challenge.

[Lucelei]

I found a place near the outskirts of the city where I could watch the comings and goings of certain people. But the one of interest did not move as the rest did. Caleb found alternative means of moving around in the city that intrigue me.

The man is utterly insufferable. Rude and giving airs of being so worldly wise that he's bored with it, or that it simply does not matter. It would be a terrible way to live, believing that nothing matters.

He makes me sad. Not that he would care, but the fact remains that for all his outward disdain, the hollowness that must reside within saddens me.

The gargoyle sits atop the building, ever watchful over the comings and goings of the Temple.

With a smile, I remain within my sheltered place, simply watching.

[Lucelei]

I’d been watching for weeks, and tonight I headed into the arena. I found Dimitri contemplating drowning his worries in a whiskey bottle. “Dimitri, you can’t drown your troubles in that stuff you know.”

He looked up at me, “what troubles do I have?” He finished the glass in one gulp, and then proceeded to refill his glass. ”How come sometimes you know me too well?”

I laughed softly, “Well, this is pretty obvious actually.”

“How?” He finally looked at me.

“Your expression, the fact that you don’t usually drink whiskey, and the way you’re drinking it.” I told him then took a sip of my wine.

“I always drink whiskey,” he told me, although all I’d ever seen him drink was tequila.

“Not like that, at least never when I’ve been around. Want to talk about it?” I asked him.

“Maybe.” He was definitely unhappy, but not overly inclined to talk to me about whatever it was that was troubling him. He drained a second glass.

I leaned against the bar, sipping my wine, “Well, if you do, you know I’ll listen.”

He smiled, “you’re always here to listen.”

“Well, not always, but now and then. So, what’s got you drinking whiskey like water?” I paused in mid sentence as the doors crashed open, and in walked CaIeb. His usual condescending smirk was in place as he walked resolutely toward the bar. On an impulse, I picked up a bottle of his preferred vodka and tossed it at him, “Catch.”

He neatly sidestepped the bottle and let it crash onto the stone floor, a lift of a brow was his only acknowledgement that he’d seen the vodka coming at him. I laughed, “knew he couldn’t catch.” Dimitri swirled his whiskey, “You won’t be able to catch either if you keep that up Dimitri.”

CaIeb walked past me and headed for his usual spot at the end of the bar, where the wall was at his back and pulled a second bottle of Belvedere down and poured himself a generous helping. I smiled, I don’t know why CaIeb brings out the worst in me, but he does, “Too bad you can’t catch, that was what you let hit the stone floor.”

His voice was completely neutral, “yes, and I trust what someone throws at me.”

I gave him my best smile, “People have a habit of throwing things at you?” I mean really, it's not like I have any of those little explosive marbles T3 carries around!

“You have a habit of throwing things at people?”

“Just you,” and I smiled before taking a sip of the wine.

“Interesting,” was all he managed.

“You bring out the bad side of me,” I told him.

“I thought it was just the annoying side,” he countered.

“Well, you call it annoying,”

“I’m sure others do as well.”

I glanced at Dimitri as he continued to drink his whiskey as though it was simply water, “am I annoying?”

“No, you’re not,” he responded with a glare at CaIeb.

CaIeb gave me a smirk, “and you truly believe that his word is worth anything?”

I lifted a brow, “yes, I do. The problem is that you don’t think anyone’s word is worth anything.”

“Ah, so you still choose to stay blind to the truth he doesn’t tell you.” His smug expression remained unruffled and unreadable.

“That would be?” I asked him with a slight shrug.

“What truth?” Dimitri chimed in.

CaIeb shrugged, “it is not my truth to tell.”

Dimitri’s expression was one of confusion, “I don’t even know what truth I need to know and tell.”

I winked at Dimitri, "neither does he.”

CaIeb lifted a brow, as though only he knew what he was referring to, but refusing to speak about it with us. He kept his secret to himself, as usual.

I asked him if I could join him, and again, he avoids a direct response, “it isn’t my bar to say you can or cannot.”

I sat down and gave him a level look, “you keep interesting habits CaIeb.”

His gaze slid to mine, “do I now?”

“What truth did you refer to earlier, there are so very many, and I am curious.”

“It matters not, as I said, it is not for me to say.” He took a healthy drink of the vodka.

Yet, I held his attention, so I pressed him, “Why do you sit as a gargoyle? What are you watching?”

His gaze hardened slightly, “Gargoyle? Ahh…what am I watching.”

I laughed as I took a sip of the wine, “I do believe that was the question.”Dimitri muttered something but I was focused on CaIeb, and only later did I realize what he'd said. So, there was something between Dimitri and CaIeb still?

“I am watching… life.” He told me.

“Life in general, or a specific life?”

“Life is general, be it one or many,” came his enigmatic reply.

“So, you sit up there and just watch the general lives go by?” I do not buy that, he’s watching someone for a particular reason.

“Do you not do the same, ‘watcher’?” His expression seldom changes, and there was no discernable emotion, but the taunt was clear.

I gave him a slow smile, “But not sitting atop a roof day in and out.”

He curled his lips in what might be a smile, "and the difference between my woods and yours…..?”

I laughed, “mine lives and grows and I can talk to them, yours are cold stone and harvested wood, lifeless, souless.”

“Ahh, but mine do live, and they even grow, and quite often inhabited by many souls.”

I gave him a skeptical look, “how can you say they live and grow?”

“Have you ever listened to the words the stone’s speak?” His smile held the chill of a frozen waste land.

“Living stone does speak, but this is not living stone used here. This is all lifeless and soulless.”

“Stone does not have to live to speak, elf.” He was sneering again, as though I were some innocent child that could not grasp his meaning.

I leaned on one elbow, “So, what does this stone tell you?”

He smirked, “ask them.”

“I’m asking you.”

“Why?”

“Because you tell me it speaks.”

“Just because you are deaf to their words does not mean they do not, come, an elf should know this philosophy.” He kept cold eyes on me, unnerving in their complete lack of emotion.

“So, enlighten me since I am deaf to what they have to say.” About then, Dimitri tossed an empty bottle of whiskey against the wall where it shattered. I looked at him and saw he had another 7 glasses lined up, then I looked at CaIeb, “He’s going to have a terrible headache tomorrow.”

He shrugged, “I could give him something else to worry about if you like.” His smile was carefully clipped, and was colder than anything I’d ever seen. It sent a chill down my spine.

“Now, I do not doubt that, but you’re evading the question.” I wanted his focus on something else besides whatever actions he’d considered for Dimitri.

“Evading and refusing to answer are two different things, elf.”

“Very true, which are you doing?”

“Would it matter either way? The end result would be the same for you.”

I laughed, “I’ve figured out what it is about you!” The man’s completely devoted to being antisocial, and as obdurate as possible. That combination is simply too much for me to resist. I leaned closer to him, “Who are you watching?”

He smirked, "does it matter?"

“Not one wit!” I rose and headed back to the bar to refill my wine.

“Then don’t bother asking,” he retorted.

I looked back at him over my shoulder, “Ah, but that is half the fun CaIeb!”

He rose, his smile a thin line of ice, “then allow me to return to ‘half the fun’” and he moved toward the door to return to his ‘watching’.

I set down the glass, and on an impulse, slipped into the night to follow him.

The man is good, very, very good. He lost me in the streets of RhyDin within moments, and so I took up a watchers post atop the rooftops near the Temple where I’d seen the gargoyle several times. In the morning, the rooftops were littered with stone monsters, and I had to laugh. The man is utterly incorrigible!

[Lucelei]

As I looked around the roof tops and saw all of the stone monsters, mirth bubbled forth. It bothered him that I'd been watching, and had seen him. This was not something he'd been expecting.

Did the person he was watching know they were the object of his attention?

This show of new stone monsters might attract attention, but may prove to be even better camouflage.

I smiled and slid under the eaves of the old Catholic church to wait.

[Lucelei]

I reached the landing at the bottom of the stairs and saw one of Queen Teleperien’s men in the arena. I’d never seen him before, but he was one of the Eldar! As I stood there looking at him, he crossed one arm over his chest and bowed to me. I know I blushed, I had been caught staring at him!

I moved then toward the bar, and along the way, I gave him a deep bow in return. He looked so serious, and spent most of his time studying the one known as Vanion. If the rumors were true, Vanion was holding Queen Teleperien hostage, which would explain the Captain of the Guard’s presence at the Arena.

Dimitri was also present, and once more deeply into a bottle of whiskey. He told me he’d been arrested in Azilla, and even as we spoke, one of his golems was sitting in an Azillian cell waiting for the sentencing and verdict of his innocence or guilt.

I finished my wine, and headed back into the night, once more in search of CaIeb, and trying to figure out just who he was so intently watching, and why.

[Lucelei]

Something is off kilter in RhyDin. The growing presence of darker entities seems more and more pronounced, as though something about RhyDin is attracting them. There have been seen 3 Drow of recent times, the vampiric elf Vanion has resurfaced, and the growing number of Temple initiates seems to be ever increasing.

I was witness to several fights breaking out over small matters, and people seem to lack the patience they had when first I arrived.

The Queen of Eldicor has been kidnapped, and several persons long known residents of RhyDin have gone missing.

I frowned as I sat enjoying my glass of wine when Sartan entered the bar. He had his music turned up loud enough to be annoying to me, and yet he wore devices in his ears that fed the loud music directly to his ear drums. How the man will avoid deafness is beyond me, but he was clearly very unhappy, and grew even more unhappy when Rory approahed him. She seemed at odds with him, and yet she clearly staked her claim to the man, hustling him off quickly toward the back room.

Tension is running high in RhyDin. The question is, why?

[Lucelei]

RhyDin continues to mystify me. For all the people who come and go, there are regular ebbs and flows of the life around me, and after weeks of watching Caleb when I could find him, we finally ran into one another inthe dueling venue. I walked right past him as I headed toward the bar.

He smirked and I almost laughed at him, but instead I poured a glass of white wine, turned around, leaned my hip against the bar and then bid him a good evening.

His chuckle was almost rusty, as though he'd not spoken to anyone for a very long time as he asked me if I'd been looking for someone.

I flashed him a smile, "maybe."

"Haven't found'em, have ya?" He smirked.

I sipped my wine, two could play the vague game, "depends. Have you found your quarry?"

He moved down the stairs toward the bar, "what quarry?"

I smiled, told him I knew he was watching one of the Temple priestesses and he gave me a dark laugh, reminding me that he watched life.

Finding a bottle of his favorite vodka, I slid it across the bar towards him, having learned previously not to toss hima anything. "Yes, you did tell me. What life do you find the most intriguing?"

He quirked a brow at me, "does there need to be just one?"

I laughed, when you ask someone for an answer clarifying "most", you usually get a singular answer, but never are things so simple with Caleb. He ignored my query, so I prompted him, "no luck then?"

He looked at me before taking a solid drink of his vodka. When I told him I'd take that as a 'no', he gave me a bored look, "life is all around, elf, so I believe I have found my quarry. Life I believe is general elf, not specific."

Crossing one ankle over the other, "still haven't learned my name, hmm?"

"I have."

"But you prefer the more distant 'elf'?" We were not making any progress in learning how to talk to one another, and I am beginning to wonder why I continue to try. "By the Valar Caleb, no one gets close to you I would be willing to wager."

He did lift a brow at that, the first real emotional response I'd seen, and in his eyes was a cold fire that was quickly masked over. "Or am I wrong in my interpretation?"

His smile was hard and cold, "you are wrong on many things elf."

"Oh, in your view, I have no doubt. But, my own view differs greatly from yours."

"that is because you have a very narrow view." He was withdrawn and cold once more, and I was left to wonder if there'd really been any fire there at all.

I gave him a skeptical look, "Actually, I think it's not so narrow as it is less jaded than some." I leaned over onto both elbows to study him, "Why?"

We kept up that line of banter, never allowing me to ask him questions. Always he turns discussion away from himself, and back on the person speaking with him. His views about me are certainly less than complimentary, and infact crosses the line into outright denigration.

At length, he leveled a look at me over his glass, "so what is it about me that intrigues you enough to try and tail me, elf?"

I set my glass down to give him a serious answer, "You are the most unusual person I've ever met. While you watch life, I interact with it." I do not believe that he was happy at all that I watch him, and he goes to great lengths to try to prevent me from doing so, but every now and then I do find him, and do watch him. He tried hard to convince me that I had not seen him, but, I am a watcher, and even one as gifted as he cannot remain hidden all of the time. "Careful elf that you are not watching the wrong shadow." he admonished me.

Through the course of the night, he did let loose of his rigid self control to smile, a genuine smile. It did not fit him. It was completely foreign on his features, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. He's been trailing me, and his words confirmed it.

[Lucelei]

I've been in RhyDin for many weeks now, and my innate curiosity had me trying to follow Caleb. He was good. Really good. There were days on end when I couldn't find him, nor even a trace of him. I'd been following him, learning new tricks to remaining invisible, skills that every ranger needs to perfect. And in Caleb I'd found a talent above any others I'd encountered.

I am not sure why seeing Caleb with Anne the other night took me by such surprise. He'd never been in the company of a woman before. He watched several, closely, but never had he kissed one. That was a shock for me. But, now that I think about it, he's always been annoyed by my talking with him, trying to get to know him just a little.

The reason is clear now.

Time to find something else to do in RhyDin.

[Lucelei]

I met Anne the other night. Held her daughter for a few moments. The woman is stressed to the breaking point. From what I hear around town, she is in serious trouble, and has been through much. No one should have to suffer the travails I've heard around the city streets.

I headed toward the Temple. The priestess that Caleb watches comes and goes according to a fairly set schedule, and every now and then she looks around as though she feels watched. What I learned from Caleb has improved my abilities.

Some day, I may tell him thank you.

[Lucelei]

The Annex was free of people I didn’t want to run into, so I slipped inside, and as I moved toward the bar for my glass of white wine, I ran into Dimitri. I have not seen him in a very long time, and he looked worn and drawn. “Good evening Dimitri, how are you?” He looked up at me, “I am doing worse than usual.”

I gave him a worried look, “How do you know?” He shook his head, “because the phase changes are me fighting to keep him in me.” This was troubling news indeed. I asked him if he’s had any help in trying to get the Nyadd out of his body, and he had just begun to tell me when I spotted a man stepping through the door wearing only the finest of materials, and the cloak that was hemmed in living leaves. I blinked. Could it really be??

The man’s face was never clearly visible to me, and at length even Dimitri could not tell me if I was right or not. But that man had an uncanny aura about him. If it was Oberon, I will certainly be very curious to know what has brought our King to RhyDin!

Dimitri and I spoke further, he asked me to go seek out Rakeesh, to ask for the Paladin’s help to rid him of the Nyadd that inhabits his body. I will go in the morning to seek his help for my friend.

As I sipped my wine, the doors came crashing in, and I did not even have to look up to know who’d entered the room. Caleb. It was time to go. I went to the sink and poured out the remainder of my wine, and silently made my way toward the doors, hoping to slip out without incident

That was not to be. “Leaving so soon, elf?” I froze in my tracks as he continued to lean over the railing that I would have to pass to reach the doors. “So what ya running from?”

I gave him my best indignant look, “I was not running, I was departing.”

He didn’t really laugh, it was more of a grunt of acknowledgement, “if that’s what you’d like to call it, and your wine poured down the drain.”

I tried to slip behind him, reaching for the door, he smirked, “something on your mind?”

Well, I may as well tell him and get him to let me by, “You are very good. Just wanted to tell you one day, but, you already knew that.”

He stood up, gave me a long look, although behind the mirrored Oakley’s I could not see his eyes, “no, but I plan to find out.” And he moved out the doors with the tails of his duster lifting in his wake.

Alright, so just what did he mean by that? Before I could think about it more, I vanished out the door behind him, once again trying to shadow the man in his world of dark secrets.

[Lucelei]

The Isle had a few patrons, and no sign of Caleb when I stepped through the portal and headed for the bar and a glass of white wine.

Almost immediately after that, Anne walked in and strode determinedly to the bar. I stepped aside as she grabbed for a glass of lemon water. "You look like you really want something else." I said softly.

She gave me a look and took a huge gulp of the water.

"Caleb still following?" I inquired. I know she resents his protection. She narrowed her eyes at me, "Still tailing him?"

I shrugged, "he said something interesting, I started again." Now I have to wonder just how much he's said to Anne about me.

"I would be glad to get rid of him. I didn't even ask for his so called protection. I wasn't even planning on asking him. He assumes things."

She was very clearly no happy with being Caleb's focus. I told her that he didn't wait to be asked, and besides, she'd captured his interest.

"I don't want his interest. Plain. And. Simple."

I studied her a moment before telling her that it seemed to me that she didn't want anyone's help.

She got very cold, telling me that I seemed to know a lot of things. I smiled, "I have similar hobbies to Mr. Feren," shrugging slightly.

She told me she pities me, but in point of fact, I think her pity is misdirected.

She got very angry when several others tried to point out to her that this course of action would only lead to ruin, but she's determined, and no one seems able to convince her otherwise.

Caleb arrived sometime later, and true to his form, he shocked me by heading straight for me rather than Anne. I dumped my wine, and made for the beach when his voice lifted, "Ar Lindua."

Pausing and slowly turning around, "Feren."

"I have a proposition for you."

I gave him a skeptical look as he told me he needed me to take him up on his offer. "For how long?" I asked.

He glanced at Anne and then back at me, "an unknown amount of time."

"fair enough" after hearing his need I accepted, "you know how to find me when you wish to take back up this one. Will the person paying you mind?"

"I will deal with them," and he lifted his hand.

"Just watching for now?" I was still looking at his offered hand.

"And protection if needed," he told me.

Great. I get to follow the priestess around on her daily routine, and she definitely has a set routine. I placed my hand in his as he handed me a brown, wrapped parcel, "an advancement, for whatever you need to arrange yourself."

I glanced at him, "I don't need much."

He left me immediately and headed for Anne. I have to wonder what this has cost him because help is not something Caleb willingly accepts, and is certainly not used to having.

Anne didn't rescue him with any warmth, and I wonder why he feels so strongly about a woman who wants no part of him.

I watched him for a few more minutes before leaving the Isle, and taking up the job Caleb's hired me to do. An employer/employee relationship.

[Lucelei]

The Priestess walks each day from Temple to Hospice and back. Caleb has requested me to watch a very boring person. Watching the Priestess, I cannot fathom that protection would ever be needed, but today she did
something unusual. Her path led us into a residential area along a street
called "Gold Dragon Way." It is a wide, shaded boulevard, with grand
residences on either side of the street.

She stopped in front of a home with tall walls separating the public side
from the private. There is a very large mithril gate, now over grown with
vines, covered in white star like flowers.

The Priestess stood there a very long time, simply watching the gate, as
though she half expected to see them open, but they did not.

A large white house sat way back behind the gates. I sat upon my tree limb half wishing I knew what she was thinking. I'll have to find out who owns this property, and I should probably get word to Caleb. This is a new development.

[Lucelei]

Cold crept across the tree branch, and as I sought the source of the unseasonable chill, I caught sight of a wispy presence floating in the same tree.

It seemed focused on the Priestess, but it did not make any aggressive moves toward her. Caleb had not mentioned a ghost.

Wonderful. The Priestess has a stalking ghost?

I remained unmoving, the ghost seemed not to sense my presence.

[Lucelei]

The scent of smoke drifted lazily across the roof tops, and the elf's eyes scanned the district surrounding the hospice. There had been multiple reports of fire in 3 sections of town. The Golden Ivy, Badside, and Dragon's Gate had all suffered at the hands of an arsonist. Only one though had someone claiming responsibility. The others remained unclaimed by the culprit. Dark clouds of rising ash reached skyward, giving the evening skyline a surreal aura as the red-orange sun slid slowly but inexorably lower behind the ever widening columns of soot and ash.

She diligently watched from the roof top of a restaurant across from the Hospice, but her thoughts wandered as she considered the fires. Some of the areas in Dockside had lost entire blocks to the flames, and so far, the responsible person had not been caught. People were growing restless. Fear was mounting among the common folk, and she worried for them.

While she preferred the open glades of home, the thought of destruction by fire of everything these people owned mader her edgy as well.

The Priestess left the Hospice on que, and she gave a wry smile. Nothing like a well ordered life.