Once Upon a Time...

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Linnor had been near to tears when Aurea wrapped her arms around him. Barely feeling her body against his, he only noticed when she was gone. Blinking back tears, he hung his head, his eyebrows pressed together in anger, sadness, and confusion. Hearing a rustling in the leaves above him, he looked up as a white and grey bird alighted on his shoulder. Immediately, he recognized it. "Yarseh," he mumbled softly, raising his opposite hand to gently run his fingers along its head. It nuzzled his hand, making a loud call. The bird had been his father's, and he had used it mostly when hunting. A popular idea among the tribe had been that the bird had a spiritual connection with his father, that they could see what the other saw. "I'm not my father," he told the bird as it pulled at his sleeve with its talons. Memories of playing with the bird when he was younger filled him, and soon the tears were gone from his eyes.

As the bird made itself comfortable, making a few small tears in his shirt, he looked to Aurea. "This...Yarseh was my father's bird...a long time ago...I'm sort of surprised he's still around here." Forcing himself not to look at the valley floor again, he focused on the greys, whites, and pale blues of the bird's feathers, glad that something had survived here.
 
Her heart twisted in pain as she looked upon his sorrowful form. However, a sound from above made her look up with him and she watched the bird land on his shoulder. She couldn't help but give a small smile at the interaction between the bird and the elf. One thing had pulled away from the destruction of the valley and lived to see another day. That one small bird could have lived through the extended breaking of Linnor's former home... it was comforting. Something good, however tiny compared to the valley, had come from the bad.

Aurea stepped closer to Linnor as he explained who the bird was, but she didn't touch him again. Instead, she studied Yarseh and his feathers. He seemed well groomed for being in such a place, but she gave another smile. "He's lovely," she said. She didn't think the bird would appreciate her touching him, so she didn't. She did notice that Linnor's hand where Yarseh had nuzzled him was free of flour. "Maybe you can get Yarseh to help you with the flour." Her words were accompanied by a soft giggle, hoping to pull Linnor away from the thoughts that came with the sight of the ruined valley.
 
Smiling at Aurea, he sighed softly, reaching up to pet the bird again. Instead of letting him, Yarseh snapped at his fingers, letting out a screech, his pale red eyes scanning Linnor's. "What is it?" he asked the bird, as if he understood him. "You can't be hungry...I remember you hunted for yourself, bird." Wincing as the bird sunk its talons into his shoulders, he frowned at it, admonishing Yarseh in the Old Tongue, thinking that he might understand him better that way.

Focusing completely on the bird and not the valley of death below, Linnor smiled as the bird stretched out its wings, flapping them a couple times, tousling Linnor's hair slightly. Chuckling softly, he attempted petting the bird again. This time, the bird let himself be touched, and even leaned into his touch a bit. Bending slightly, Linnor said, "You can try to pet him if you want...I don't think he'd bite if he's around me..."

((This is sort of what Yarseh is supposed to look like: http://ibc.lynxeds.com/files/pictures/DSCF7834.JPG))
 
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The interaction between the two was sweet, even if Yarseh was making noises at him. Aurea lifted her hand against her mouth to hide another slight laugh as he reprimanded the bird in his language. She was quiet as she watched the two before Linnor spoke. "Are you sure?" she asked, not wishing to irritate the bird. Still, she reached a tentative hand up, brushing her finger lightly over Yarseh's head feathers before pulling back. If the bird accepted her touch, she would continue.

He really was quite a lovely bird, and she had never seen feathers like his before. The guards who protected the Lord Regent hated birds and they were often shot at with arrows. The Lord Regent himself kept powerful falcons to hunt animals with, but they weren't for petting. Yarseh was different in that regard.

((He's adorable. :3))
 
At first, Yarseh had shied away at Aurea's touch, before realizing that her hands were softer than Linnor's, which were slightly rough from the callouses on his fingers. Leaning into her touch, he fluttered to Linnor's forearm so he could be closer to Aurea. Obligingly, Linnor held his arm in front of him, letting Aurea continue petting the bird. Watching the two made Linnor smile softly. His father's bird and one of his few friends, interacting with each other, made him feel rather happy inside, and that happiness spilled over.

When Aurea stopped petting him, Yarseh stretched his beak out towards her, opening it slightly and showing his mouth, moving it closer to Aurea's fingers. Before she could do anything else, he had taken to the air again, alighting on the lowest branch of a tree, regarding the two with a curious sort of look on his face, if birds could have such a look.

"Yarseh," Linnor said, raising a hand. "Come back down here...a young lady wants to pet you!"

((My brother found one before the summer...some asshole kid had shot him with a BB gun and he couldn't fly, but he was so pretty...))
 
Aurea saw the smile on Linnor's face. It seemed to be a true smile, stemming from the interaction between her and Yarseh. The bird enjoyed it as well until she pulled away and he fluttered away, landing on a branch near them. As he studied them and Linnor tried to get him to come back down, Aurea laughed. She stepped past Linnor and closer to Yarseh. She regarded him with a glance before she whistled. It was a clear sound with a soft pitch, something not too loud so she wouldn't startle anyone.

Maybe Yarseh thought she was mocking him, but she'd seen her mother whistle to birds before and they seemed to be attracted to her. Rinath was one of the few who still liked the feathered animals and she would throw scraps at them sometimes when Falyen wasn't looking. "You should come down," Aurea called lightly. "I think a bird as brave as you deserves some affection." It was a teasing statement, but she never knew what went through any animal's head. Maybe Yarseh liked the attention.
 
Linnor couldn't help but laugh softly as Aurea attempted to make Yarseh fly back down to them. Instead of following her instructions, he screeched down at her before taking flight again, circling the area for a moment before coming to rest on Linnor's shoulder again. "I'm sorry, Yarseh," he murmured. "But I'm not my father...I don't have that same connection he had with you..." A slightly sad light coming to his eyes, he sighed before adding, "I may be the tribeleader now, but I can't do what he did..."

The bird regarded him with a sort of old wiseness, cocking its head towards him before biting at his ear, tugging at the lobe. He hadn't cut his skin, but it hurt nonetheless, and Linnor brought up a hand to swat away the bird's mouth. "There's a lake nearby," Linnor told Aurea when Yarseh had stopped biting him. "I need to get this flour off of me before going back into the city," he added, attempting to wipe some of it off of him. Turning, he started down the path, glad to have the sight of his former home gone from his vision.
 
It seemed that Aurea did not have her mother's touch with animals, but Yarseh flew back to Linnor anyway. She turned and watched him speak to the bird in a soft voice, her hair spilling around her shoulder as she tilted her head. She couldn't help another smile as the bird bit at him, but there was no damage done. Linnor, however, had started moving again, and Aurea stood, casting one last glance at the ruined valley. She would get her father to fix it, for Linnor's sake, and every last one of the wild elves.

She followed after him, happy for the prospect of a lake. The valley seemed to be the only thing touched by the city elves, and she could only hope the same for the water. "Um... Thank you...," she said with a quiet voice. "F-For bringing me out here, I mean. I... I don't get out a lot because of my father. And yet you did, even you're you're hurt." Even if the valley was hurt, just like Linnor, she was still glad, in a way, to have seen it. It meant that she did know the truth and one day she would confront her father and demand to know why they had done what they did all those years ago.
 
Linnor smiled at her words. "It wasn't a problem," he said," turning his head to look at her the same moment Yarseh cocked his head towards her. Smiling for her, he was soon turned back towards the direction of the lake, gradually going down the large hill. Soon, they came upon a crystal clear lake that ran into a small river on its north side. "It's still here," Linnor said, as if in surprise. Letting a smile grow across his face once more, he quickened his step slightly, until he realized that it hurt his leg too bad.

Once they were by its side, Linnor pulled his shirt off, wincing as his ribs shifted, but not crying out. Turning his head to see the bruises on his side, he winced at them before placing a wary hand on them, seeing how badly it hurt. Pulling his shoes off, and having a bit of trouble with his right one, he rolled his pants up to the knees, showing his real skin tone underneath his clothes. Stepping into the water, he flashed a smile towards her before saying, "You can get into the water, too, if you want..."
 
Aurea was already obliging that statement, having undone the laces on her boots and untied the ribbons holding her dress up. There was a white shift underneath so she wasn't completely naked before him. She wasn't sure how much Linnor would appreciate that one. She dipped her feet into the cool water beside him before she decided that wasn't good enough and took a few steps farther out. The lovely and clear liquid swirled around her knees, and when she dipped her hand into the water, it grew cloudy with flour. However, it dissipated into the depths quickly, so she didn't feel very bad about it.

Tying her hair in a loose braid, she turned and seemed to actually notice the city elf was not wearing his shirt. Even with the blotchy bruises from his beating, his body still had a certain... niceness to it. Realizing that she was probably studying, or staring, too much, she turned away with a blush before she dipped her entire body in the water, head and all. Popping back up, she shook her head, water droplets flinging from the tips of her darkened red locks, showering the water with floury liquid.

"It's beautiful," she said, despite the murkiness of the water in her immediate vicinity. "I've never seen anything quite like this place, even much farther out of the city."
 
As soon as Aurea began taking off her dress, Linnor felt heat spreading across his cheeks, and he let himself sink underwater in order to hide it, keeping his good leg on the lake's floor. As clouds of the flour came off of him, sinking quickly, he held his breath until it became unbearable. Resurfacing, he looked at Aurea, glad that she hadn't completely undressed. Glancing up at Yarseh, who had perched upon a willow tree, he focused back on Aurea, who seemed to be watching him with some intensity.

Liking the feeling of the cool water on his body, he ran a hand through his hair before smiling towards Aurea. "When we lived here, the children would play here when we didn't have anything else to do. In the winter, it would freeze over, and we would dare each other to go out onto the ice and see who would go farthest..." Losing himself in his memories, he checked his leg to make sure the sticks were still in place, not wanting to walk all the way back home without them.

The late-afternoon sun bearing down on them, he dipped beneath the water again, now almost completely clean of the flour.
 
It seemed like such fun, and she thought about her own, rather dull childhood. It was all teaching and schooling for her, and every possible way on how to act correctly. Rinath had often doted on her when Aurea wasn't being taught, but after her twin brothers came into the world, her mother's attention went to them. It was Aurea and her father, and she had already told Linnor what happened there.

Instead of bringing the conversation back to her, she only said, "Well, I'm glad this place hasn't changed." She dipped under the water several times after that, enjoying the way it moved with her. She could open her eyes with no pain and see with a crystal gaze many of the parts that made up the lake. After some time, she resurfaced, catching her breath. Once she was satisfied every last little speck of flour was in the lake and not on her, she swam to the bank and hauled herself out of the water. The slow process of wringing out her dress began, but the material had the gall to cling to her body as wet fabric often did. Aurea tried in vain to puff it out so it wouldn't and gave up after it kept sticking.
 
Floating on his back while Aurea tried to wring out her shift, he couldn't help but notice the way that it clung to her still wet skin, and forced himself to focus on the setting sun rather than her. As the soft orange and yellows shifted to pinks and purples that reflected themselves on the clouds, he sighed softly, his eyes half-lidded against the light. After a while, he decided that all the flour was off of him, and he made his way back towards the shore, his pants dripping water down his legs. Shaking out his hair, he pulled on his shirt, gingerly avoiding irritating his ribs.

His damp hair creating dark spots on his shirt, he smiled towards Aurea before leaning against a tree and asking, "Do you want to go home yet? We don't have to, but it'd be best to be off the mountain before night is here fully..."
 
Aurea flipped her hair back as he spoke, turning to face him. She looked down for a moment before shaking her head. She should go home, but she didn't want to. She didn't want to tell her father where she'd been all day. "If you think it wise that we leave soon, then that's fine," she said, giving a light smile in return. "I... I do not wish to go home right away, though." She paused, picking up her boots and brushing her feet off with the hem of her outer dress. Once they were free of grass and water, she slipped into the dark blue dress, lacing it up with loose knots so it wasn't tight around her. It grew damp with the shift, but she paid it no mind.

Sliding one boot on, she explained, "I don't think my father would like it if I told him I was with you, and I know if he's not resting, he's waiting for me to go home." She winced as the thoughts about her father made her cinch the boot too tight around her feet and she pulled the strings out, loosening it again so she could walk freely. She slipped the other on and continued speaking. "Despite that... I did have a wonderful time. This place is gorgeous... Can we come back here again sometime?"
 
"Of course," Linnor said, nodding. Leading her back down the hill, he glanced up as the sun fell behind the mountains of the valley, the sky taking on an orange hue. "If you don't want to go home yet," he said, just as Yarseh alighted on his shoulder, "we can spend the night out here...Unless you don't want to, of course...there's other stuff we could do..."

Brushing his hair out of his face, he smiled towards her, trying to appear inviting and open.
 
Aurea had never stayed out in the open, but it seemed like an exciting prospect. She smiled back at him and nodded. "I've not done anything like this before. It's... Fun," she said as she walked beside him. Aurea didn't really have fun as a child, but Linnor seemed to ease out of her when she was with him. She fell silent for a few moments, taking the time to look around. The sky was painted with new colors at every turn, and she was glad she'd taken him up on the offer to come out here.

"What other sorts of things do you do out here?" Aurea asked, letting her hand trail over leaves of the ground plants as they walked.
 
Linnor smiled at her curiosity. "When I was a child, we were expected to all help the tribe, so we would gather berries and other things that we needed, like water and wood for our fires. When the day's work was done, we were allowed to play, so we would explore the forest and come up with games, find out who could climb the highest on a tree...you know, kid stuff." Smiling, he led her to a small copse in the woods that had been used as a place to learn how to climb trees. The ground here was flat and devoid of rocks, and you could get a perfect view of the stars at night.

Smiling slightly, he leaned against one of the trees, running his fingers over the list of names on the tallest of the trees. It had been a testament to which of the children had been able to get to the top and spit on someone's head at the bottom. Nightvine was one of the names on the tree, and though he couldn't see it in the dimming light, he remembered fondly the day that he had made it to the top, how he had almost fallen near the top.
 
Aurea wished she knew what kid stuff was. For her, it was schooling and learning how to act and just... be. Her little twin brothers got less reprimanding and more time to explore, and Aurea always had something expected of her. She thought it was due to the age gap, but maybe there was something else to it.

Still, she smiled at his description. Her expression grew happier and more in awe as they reached the clearing. It was free of rocks and not hilly like before. No leaves obscured the view above them, and the stars twinkled like they had hidden and superior knowledge of the world below them. Aurea had never been to such a lovely and peaceful spot. Aurea pulled her eyes away from the sky, seeing Linnor next to one of the trees.

"Were you one of those children to always get to the top?" she asked with a soft laugh in her voice. She couldn't imagine climbing to the top and keeping steady. It was tall and narrowed at the tree's zenith, and it didn't look like it would support any amount of weight, even a child.

((I must know what your sig is from. xD))
 
Smiling, he nodded. "Yeah...up until about ten feet high, we would push and shove each other off of the branches, but any higher and we grew more serious...I once broke my arm because someone pushed me off near the top and I fell...I think that's part of the reason no one pushed each other that high, since my father got so angry. It was mostly at me, since I broke my good arm, but the other children decided that that sort of thing shouldn't happen anymore..." he grinned at his shoes before speaking again. "I was the youngest to ever make it to the top...everyone else had been scared of heights then, but I did it on a dare by one of the older children...I think I won a bunch of peanuts or something..." How simple things were back then...Linnor suddenly wished that he was a little kid again, when his father was still around and he was able to live as he wanted, without people in the city calling him rude names. A sad light coming to his eyes, he shook it away before asking, "Are you hungry? I could probably find a blueberry bush nearby."

((It's from Detroit Metal City, an anime so metal that it makes everything better xD I cosplayed as the guy with the guitar once xD))
 
His childhood sounded so simplistic and carefree, and it made her smile. She looked up and down the length of the tree as he talked about his past. Not even her brothers had that much freedom due to the household laws her father laid down for everyone. Even if his father had gotten angry with him for breaking his arm, Linnor had something a long time ago that neither one of them really seemed to have now: a small chance at freedom. This, their walk, would be a time Aurea would not forget, simply because she wasn't under the rule of her father, and Linnor didn't have a tribe to worry and take care of, even if it wasn't for a long time.

Aurea pulled herself from her thoughts as he mentioned food. All the walking and swimming and even talking had made her hungry. "Blueberries sound great," she said, stepping away from the tree to look back up at the stars. It was also to give Linnor room to move, since the stick used to help him walk often opened the path more than if his leg wasn't broken.

((That sounds awesome, and yay for cosplay! :D I wish I had a con in my area to cosplay to. I would go as... someone. xD))
 
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