Ergonia: The Beginning

Walking to the bed he reached under it and pulled his pack and clothing out, pulling on his leather jacket and tying it off. "I merely wished to no longer be with my kind, I much like it here on the surface." He answered her as he pulled on his dark forest green cloak, turning so his back was to her he fixed his things properly and to his liking, how he was used to it before setting his stuff back down and turning back to her. "It seems I won't be going anywhere, my wound will take at least three days to fully heal, I shall stay and help around your..village till then." He told her, not asking but just stating and whistling he started to head for the door to go back outside.

Chrystiana watched him collect his belongings and move them around. She couldn't help but be curious about him. "Well thats a fair trade, just be wary people around here tend to be..uptight about anything they aren't accustomed to. You'll end up getting beaten with a broom by some fool old woman." she regarded as she stood to follow him out. She stopped short as she realized what time of day it was. She would be in for the scolding of her life if she didn't rush to the archery field and make some progress to show her mentor when she got home. Hiding the pale tone on her face at the thought of her father coming home today to the news his youngest was a failure would not be pretty. "I'll um..catch up with you later, I have something to deal with. If you find yourself lost or bored, you're welcome to come find me." she started off as she wedged past him, nodding to the medic on her way nervously out the door. She started walking at a deliberately calm pace as she followed the path.

Etherlam watched as she walked past him and he squinted while he got outside, he thought of how terrible this bright sphere of light was that hung in the sky and having nothing better to do he wandered around the town, admiring the type of structures he had never seen before, use to the purple coloring and oddly shaped buildings of the drow society. He as well realized this village had now walls and thought this cuirous, how would it defend against an attack by a nieghboring town or other settlement? He would ask Chrystina about it when he saw her again, such an strange society. The dark elf stopped by a building and scaled the wall till he was sitting on the top of the roof and laying his bag down beside him, laid down himself, pulling his hood over his head to keep the light from his eyes.

Chrystiana grabbed her bow and arrows out of a nearby tree and stared angrily at the target. She'd shot that arrow at least a dozen times without any luck at hitting the bulls-eye the last time she attempted it. Now she stood precisely how she was taught and sent the arrow hurdling toward the target, it hit the inner rim. Rolling her eyes and feeling the mockery of the other people around her she sat down under the tree behind her and stared at the still vibrating arrow. "Maybe I should just go practice alone in the woods." she thought to herself. The woods were definitely more dangerous for her to be alone, many of the outlaws of the area camped just outside the ring of the village. But, somehow getting mocked for her mistakes sounded far worse to her in the short term, so she headed off toward the path behind the buildings. The path wasn't obscured by much so she ran between the spaces between buildings trying to keep out of sight. Once she was hidden by the cover of wildlife, Chrystiana stopped and rested her arrows down, and took aim for a tree.

Before Christina could loose her arrow, a smaller, thinner arrow hit the tree she was aiming at, Etherlam walking out from behind her, having not made any sound as he moved along, pulling the dart from the trunk of the tree before turning back to her. "Why did you leave? I thought you did well with the bow." He told her, walking back, this time the leaves and twigs breaking under his feet until he stood behind her, looking at the tree he just shot before back at her. "Training are you? What seems to be the problem, fairy girl. Is archery this important in your village?." He asked, filled with questions and curious about her socities values and standings.

Chrystiana was thankful for the deep breath she'd taken before shooting the arrow. If it hadn't been for it she'd have screamed loud enough to wake every bird within six miles when Etherlam's arrow passed her and hit the tree. She blinked in surprise at his voice and got her voice under control to reply to him. "I..well, I left because I don't like all of those people watching me practice, they laugh at me." She turned to face him as he stood behind her. "Ok, I'm not sure how things are done where you're from but around here all younglings are taught to master as many talents as possible by the time they reach adulthood. Different creature's children are taught different things. In my family, I'm the youngest of a great many annoyingly talented siblings and my father is on the High Council. I'm under some pressure to be better than all of them," She paused to look down, then around them, and settled on his face again clearly exhausted by the stress she'd never really shared before. "I guess you could say I'm not exactly a good student and I spend a lot of time being scolded for my mistakes." Chrystiana turned back to the tree and just stared at it. "I broke a dam yesterday, sent a small stream flowing into a few merchant tents. Around here the only secrets are public ones." She was facinated with how much she'd divulged to someone she knew less than two days.

Etherlam just watched her questioningly and laughed, shaking his head, he had never heard such a concept before, it was amusing to him. "Where I come from only the females get all the special training and skills, males get what they get, if we're good at something we're trained in that one area untill its perfect and not even praised for it, just put to use, they sacerfice the males, thats how useless we are to them." He explained to her and then looked at her stance and thought it was strange looking so he appraoched, raising her bow arm straight up, taking the arm that held the string and bent it as he helped pull the string back with the arrow nocked, adjusting her waist so she was turned slightly before straightening her head. " There no try it." He instructed her, thinking how weird fairies taught themselves to shoot arrows.

Chrystiana's eyes were wide with horror filled fascination of his worlds customs. She couldn't say much to him on it apart from nodding her understanding. It was humbling, knowing the extent of the terrors of dark elves. Her books hadn't taught her much obviously. "I'm glad you survived it then." she stated quietly. She stiffened at first as his strong arms took hold of hers before relaxing and allowing him to move her body into place. She couldn't help but blush warmly as he adjusted her waist. Slowly, Chrystiana took a deep breath in concentration and let go of the arrow sending it sailing exactly where she'd wanted it to. Nearly speechlessly she turned around to look at him. "Thank you, for life of me nobody would take two minutes to teach me that. I'm guessing out of fear of me." She laughed oddly, her blush and frustration blowing away from her as the cool wind grazed her face.

"Well don't thank me, you're family and teachers might not accept that way, its how drow archers take aim, its almost cheating, you line your eye and tip of the arrow exactly up togather so where you're staring at, the arrow will hit exactly in that same place, its almost cheating." He explained to her before holding up his arm, showing a small crossbow attached to one of his bracers. "Or you do it my way, small crossbows are always accurate." Ether explained before flinching his wrist and the crossbow hid itself back against the bracer, looking as it it belonged there and was part of the material and then lowering his hand and pointing at the tree, showing where he hit it that part of the trunk dissolved slightly and steam rose.

She raised an eyebrow at the tree melting away in a spot. "My mentor doesn't pay enough attention to praise me no matter what way I shoot an arrow, though I'll stick to arrows that don't harm the wildlife." Chrystiana then looked past the tree at the sun setting slightly on the horizon. "You should find a place to stay for the night and I feel the need to tell you, things up here are far more relaxed then anything you've experienced. Nobody wants anyone dead and war hasn't raged on in the open in almost a hundred years." she stated. "Come on, lets go back before the outlaws try to turn me into a nightlight." Chrystiana started walking and automatically pulled him by the hand at first as she went along the path. Her father would be home for dinner tonight and that in itself scared the living daylights out of her.

Etherlam followed her along the path, giving a soft yawn in boredom as he walked with her. "No war? How do villages achomplish rank and standing then? That makes no sense." He questioned her, not sure what its like to live without constant violence it was the reason he has to carry so many weapons and dress the way he did, he knew nothing else and it worried him a bit, he wouldn't fit in to well if all he knew how to do was fight. Then he started thinking of where he would stay for the night and without saying anything, he took off into the afternoon night without so much as distrubing a single leaf in its place as he ran.

Chrystiana thought on his question a moment and came up with a reason. " Villages gain rank and standing but being trustworthy and honest, we have a High Council for anything else." She stated and turned around to look at him. Only he'd vanished into thin air. She looked around fairly puzzled and sighed. Hopefully, she wasn't the reason he'd run off. She walked off the path and opening her wings flew home landing in a meadow just outside her families home. Things were peaceful yet she noticed the handful of unfamiliar faces and knew without a doubt her father was home for dinner tonight. She took the backway inside, tiptoed to her room and sat down on her bed in a huff. School books and notes littered the floor everywhere but by the door and window. Somehow she'd managed to keep those spots clean.

From up in her room, Christyina could hear shouts and a few objects thrown and break against the wall, Etherlam held up his hands, trying to explain himself after he had just flipped threw the open window in the dinning, scaring every member in the room, being the only drow seen on the surface for a very long time. A chair shattered against the wall and Ether was ducking and flipping through the room, trying to avoid getting hit or caught by the various grabbing hands.

Chrystiana jumped off the bed at the sound of panic coming from the dining room, racing down the stairs she couldn't believe her eyes. Etherlam was fighting for his life against everyone for a reason she couldn't wait to find out. "Stop!" she yelled. "He's harmless and my friend!" she continued and turned pale staring straight at Etherlam in warning as the murmurs began. Everyone stopped grabbing at Etherlam, only watching him cautiously while the rest stared angrily and perhaps worriedly at her. "I can explain." she said to her father who'd come to stand closest to her. "Chrystiana as fascinated as I am by what you've probably got to say, save the story." he said to her sternly.

Etherlam tilted his head slightly off to the side as he watched the man tell Christyina what to do before speaking. "Males have power upon the surface? Thats a strange concept." He thought loudly with a raised eyebrow, looking at all the people in the room. "I was only going to ask if I could stay for the night, Chrystiana told me to and I'm afraid I am not quite familiar with you're strange brown buildings, I can't tell whats what around here." Etherlam shrugged but the motion activtated his hidden crossbow and shot a dart into the cieling that began to disolve in that certain spot. "Uh...oops..I can fix that." He offered awkwardly as he quickly hid the crossbow back against his bracer.

Chrystiana's eyes went wide, knowing full well her next words made the difference between his life, her life, and both of them hanging by their boots. Her fathers face held that collected and calm killer look about him. Yet instead of staring at him, he was watching her which frightened her all the more. "I did," she whispered. "You did what, Chrystiana? expose your family to a creature who could potentially harm it? He's loaded with weapons." Her father replied. "What good is it being forced to read and copy down a full chapter on the life of a drow if I'm not supposed to act educated on them. He's run away from his life, his family, and the only grace any of you give him is a wanting to kill him. HA, Yea I invited him to stay with us in one of the warrior cabins. They can surely accommodate him." her heart was beating out of her chest with the anticipation of their response. The only one that was given was a nod by her father showing his agreement and everyone sat down at the table, a chair left next to Chrystiana stood empty for Etherlam. She couldn't help but notice the small glint to her older sibling's and father's eyes. Perhaps she was showing leadership after all. "Sit Etherlam, I've put myself on the line, the least you can do is sit down and compliment my mother and sisters on their cooking." she spoke to him softly and then looked down at her plate.

Etherlam watched with confusion as Chrystina and her father spoked heatedly, he thought of how he and his father were, at that moment any good feeling left in Ether vanished at the terrible memory and he nodded gently before sitting next to Chrystiana and looked down at the plate befoe him before mentally taking a deep breath and putting on his best grin, eating hungirly into the food and stopped, he had never had such meats or fruits before and it tasted good, just strange and he was not familiar on how to react and he looked questioningly to Chrystiana, hoping she'd show him what to do.

Chrystiana raised an eyebrow at Etherlam's demenor. He was being watched by everyone. They both were. "It's ok to like it and compliment the cook. Men are in charge of safety and protection on the surface, women are not. They scold us more than our mothers." she told him, remembering something she'd read once. She turned to her mother, hoping for a bit of kindness from her. "May I be excused with Etherlam, I'd like to show him where he'll be staying." she asked as calmly as she could to which her mother nodded a yes. Chrystiana was happy to leave the room and gestured for him to follow when he was done.

The dark elf quickly finished what remained on his plate and nodded his thanks to Chrystiana's mother before hopping up and joining Chrystiana outside, only to happy to leave the awkward tension in the room behind him. Walking beside his fairy companion he asked, "So where are we going?" He glanced at her before turning his eyes back to the road, seeing the sun was down and was glad, the white sphere in the sky didnt hurt his eyes as much as the golden one did, he wasn't sure but he believed this to be nightime, it fit right, this was around the time he'd be asleep but he didn't ask, the drow didn't feel like to admitting not paying attention to much to his surface world studies back in the Underdark.

Chrystiana exhaled relief when they both finally got out of the grips of her family. She thought they were both dead back there. "We are going to the small gathering of homes in the trees that are up this path." she replied to his question. The place she was searching for was only a small distance from her home. It was where the men in charge of safety slept during a time of high alert. Nobody would be there now to disturb him. She knew he couldn't fly, he couldn't possibly. "Wait here, I have to fly to the top and drop the ladder." she soared up, taking her time and spinning around the tree before finding it and dropping it down. "Look out below!" she giggled and waited at the top sitting on the edge of the look out deck.

Etherlam raised an eyebrow and tapped her shoulder as he stood behind her, a bit confused on why she needed to drop the ladder down when they were both up here. "Is someone else coming too?" He asked, turning around and going into the building, seeing it was empty and had been for some time it looked as if it hadn't been used in years, figuring they must use it rarely, so during time of need or trouble. "Whats this building for?"

Chrystiana shook her head and rolled the ladder back up. "This is a look out tower. During war time, the protectors of our people live and sleep up here so they can keep watch over the grounds. Plus, as long as the opposing force can't fly, climbing up here is difficult. They put a barbed mesh down the trunk of the tree." she stated, looking around the cabin. "When me and my siblings were younger we would come up here and play, it's a nice spot for peace." she continued, reminiscing over a certain corner where her doll was hidden. The cabin had eight bunks, a place for maps and storage as well as a command link to surrounding buildings by lighting.

"Is that what that stuff was?" He held up his hands, his black gloves padded against such measures, he wandered how long it would take her to figure out he was fully armed and armored for almost anything, he's encountered many of these same obstacles back in the caverns and he was always thinking of new protections to try. "Its been empty for a while, I guess there hasn't been many actual threats of late." He said, walking around, feeling along the walls.

"The last battle was many years ago during the dark times. I wasn't alive for those." she replied, noticing with curiosity that Etherlam had quite a bulky outfit for such warm times. "Hey um..why don't you take off a few layers, I imagine that's quite warm" she suggested. Chrystiana thought she'd offer some of her brother's clothes but decided not to involve them so soon in his life. She walked over to one of the beds and made it up for him. The thought of going into her house yet almost freaked her out. "So Etherlam, where are you headed? I mean, the nearest land from here is at least four days off into the woods." she turned to him.

Etherlam shrugged slightly, not looking at her, he kept exploring the building, running his hands along the alls and tables, sitting down on one of the bed and watched the dust rise up around him. "Who needs a heading, I'll go wherever I end up, and that is real adventure my dear." He explained with a grin, taking off his weapons and setting them aside, the pile grew large, for he had many weapons still hidden in different areas, some small and others large.