Darkest Light

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His eyes adjusted to the dark quickly - all Dark Elves were in their element at night - and Kana looked around carefully, making sure he want all the way to the back of the cave before he was satisfied that there was nothing inside. The Prince came back out, smiling slightly. "All clear."

He looked back up at the sky, at the graying clouds and sighed. "We should get settled before it hits." With those words, he took Darkstep's reigns and led the stallion into the cavern. There was already wood there, left over from the last traveler to stay the night and Kana got the wood arranged before anything else, flashing Elidi a smile in the darkness, only given some glow by the fire in her hand. "Light it, please." he requested before standing and going to work on the two horses.

Once he'd accomplished that, Kana went about making the beds, getting some food and out and pulling out the warmer clothes and setting them where Elidi would see. The wind had started to pick up outside and the Prince went toward the entrance of the cave, looking out at the first signs of swirling snow, small flakes at the moment, but he knew they'd get bigger as time went on.

The storm had started.
 
"Great," Elidi said with a small smile, also looking at the sky. She nodded slightly but watched the clouds for a few seconds more before leading Glaweth inside as well. Once the wood was arranged and she was requested to start the fire, she nodded and quickly did so, making sure it'd stay lit before pulling back. It was going to be a cold night indeed, and Elidi hurried on her feet as Kana prepared the beds and everything else. Once he laid out the clothes for her, she grabbed them and watched as Kana went to the entrance. She could also see the small snowflakes and she figured she'd change now.

Knowing it wouldn't make much of a difference if she stayed by the fire or went to a darker area since Dark Elves naturally averted to the dark, she let the prince know she was going to change before going to where Glaweth was laying down. She sat down behind her with the princess's back facing Ekanath - the least she could do was cover her lower regions. Then she stripped from her shirt she was already wearing, and if the Dark Elf's eyes happened to watch the princess disrobe, he might just see the white tattoo on her back before she changed into the warmer piece of clothing.
 
Kana had no intention of looking back, he really, sincerely didn't, but Darkstep snorted in alarm, half-rearing - it would turn on that the horse had discovered a bat that had flown out in front of him - and the elf spun. His eyes quickly took in the horse, unharmed and then they flickered to Elidi of their own volition. He caught only the smooth skin of her pale back, the white tattoo seeming to shine to him in the darkness and then he turned away, flushing, feeling instant guilt at looking at all.

Still, it had been an accident and the Prince was instantly curious about her markings, just like she'd been about his. Maybe they could discuss both as the storm raged outside. When he got the all-clear to turn around again, Kana rubbed the back of his neck nervously, glancing up through his white hair as he came closer to the fire and to the Princess.

"I...when Darkstep alarmed I turned and...I saw your back. That was it, though! I swear." He bit his lip, sitting on his own bedding and tilting his head much like a wolf might have, interested in something that soon became clear to the female elf. "Does your tattoo hold any meaning in the culture of your own people?"
 
Elidi jumped at the sudden snort from Darkstep, covering her front instinctively with her arms even though there was no need to. She looked behind her quickly to make sure everything was all right before turning her head back around and continuing to put her warmer shirt on. She was unaware that Kana had caught a glimpse of her back. Once she had gotten her torso layered, she removed her lower clothes while sitting down so that Glaweth covered everything. She quickly pulled on the warmer, thicker white pants before standing and folding her old clothes to put away in a bag. She also took off her golden headband and put it away as well since it was uncomfortable to wear while sleeping.

She gave the clear to the waiting prince and sat near the fire as she began to braid her brown hair. She looked to him as he started talking and she blushed a little bit as he told her what happened. But she shook it off and became slightly amused by his wolfish turn of the head, a small smile on her face. "That's okay," she said lightly. "In my culture, people usually only get tattoos for certain meanings, so you'd have to ask them directly. But sometimes there isn't one. I don't really hold meaning in mine." she shrugged lightly as she sat in her bedding.
 
Kana made a thoughtful sound, his arms on his crossed knees and in that moment, head tilted, expression serious, gold eyes intense in thought, he truly did look very wolfish and it was easy to see why he might have earned the name-title 'StormWolf' - among other reasons as well, of course. The male elf spoke after a moment, looking back up at Elidi, that same intensity not having faded out of his gaze yet, though, he didn't mean anything by it.

"So tattoos...are not something one has when they are born? It is something your people acquire?" If so, that was not something he'd known about Light Elves and while that wasn't significant, it did show that he had a lot to learn still, that despite being with this species of elves for almost fifty years, they could still surprise him.

Only time would tell if that was an encouraging thing or not.
 
Elidi watched Kana, tilting her head to the side and squinting her eyes as she hugged her knees to her chest loosely. He looked very serious yet thoughtful; it was always nice to see people with their own expressions, especially when they rarely showed certain expressions at all. She rocked back a bit before going back to the ground, her liquid golden eyes meeting Kana's.

"No, they're not," she answered as she shook her head slightly. "Some people are born with particular markings - not just simple birthmarks or anything of the sort - and that's usually a sign of what they might bring to our society. But tattoos, yes, they are acquired," she sighed as she tried to think of a better explanation in her head.

"Some people are given tattoos and they cannot necessarily deny them. Because of my skills, I was given the tattoo, which I suppose holds meaning in certain people's eyes, but it doesn't hold meaning in mine, you see? It marks me as a healer, a skilled royalty," she shrugged, not really sure. "Like my brother, Hasterien, he's blind but he's an incredible warrior and senses things most people cannot. He got a tattoo on his bicep that's specifically chosen to let people know what rank of a warrior he is, but that was his choice to acquire it. My eldest brother, Ascal, he was given his tattoo on his chest, but he has many others that he only acquired due to his choice."
 
Kana nodded slowly, pretty sure he understood what she was saying; people in her culture were not born with the markings on their skin like his people were, they acquired them later in life by their own choice or were given such markings early on in life - or later - because of something someone else saw in them, some skill they had or something they'd done. Or at least, that's what he'd gotten out of what Elidi had said. It seemed markings one was born with was rarer among the Light Elves.

The Prince smiled slightly, looking at the fire for a long moment before he spoke. "I understand. Our species are...similar but very different, too, it seems." He tilted his head again, his curiosity truly awake this evening and perhaps it was the building storm outside making him more lively. After all, such a thing was his element, almost like a burst of energy for the ice-powered male. Or perhaps it was because he truly found Elidi interesting.

It could have been both in all truthfulness.

"So I am born with my markings and they have meaning, grow as I get older while your people are given or choose theirs according to your skills. Is it the same with your powers? Can you choose those or are you born with them? Do they come later in your life or in childhood?"
 
Elidi was glad that Ekanath seemed to understand her explanation about markings and tattoos; even though she was a princess, she still had trouble explaining herself at times.

"Yes, they are," the female elf said with a small smile as she looked into the fire. The storm had gotten a bit worse outside through everything getting prepared and between the elves talking. But the fire kept her warm enough, at least for now. She shook her head in response to the male elf's question about choosing powers. "We are born with our powers, we have no choice in that. It's like our powers choose us. We usually show signs of our powers in childhood, and from there we are trained to control them. But not everybody gets powers like us - a lot of elves are just simple beings, others are skilled in weaponry and the sort. Some have both powers and skill in weaponry.

"What about your people? Do they get to choose their powers?" she asked curiously. She never heard of an elf choosing their powers and it was a very interesting topic.
 
"My people...well, we....it's both a yes and no answer."

Kana frowned, trying to think how best to explain and after a minute or two of silence, he finally felt he had a grasp over how he was going to do this. He glanced at his shoulder, looking at the black markings peeking out from under his clothes and then back at the fire, starting off quietly. "My people aren't born with powers other than our preferences as Dark Elves. When we come to our fiftieth birth day, five marks appear on our skin. Mine were on my wrist. These marks are choices, five different powers and they all vary depending on the elf they appear on. The powers are suited to the elf in question, they are what our bodies can tolerate, what we have the strength for and over the course of a year we are allowed to have all five powers, to use them and understand them. At the end of the year, our bodies choose for us which powers its adapted to the best. We can't have more than three, but most elves only end up with one."

He shrugged lightly. "So we both do and do not choose our powers and after we acquire them, then they grow and it's up to us to learn how to control them."
 
The princess looked at the Dark Elf curiously as he tried to explain the answer. Once he started, it was almost like she was in awe as she listened to him carefully. How interesting! It made her wonder what powers she would have if she were born as a Dark Elf - would she have the same? Would she have both her fire and healing capabilities? Even though she knew of her companion's culture... there was still so much to learn, so much more to teach than what she was taught. If only both their peoples knew more about each other, understood more, then maybe they'd be able to get along. At least a little better, and judgment wouldn't be passed on so harshly.

"And you only have two, correct?" she asked, recalling both his ice and shadow powers. "Or do you have a third?"
 
"I have three. Ice, shadow and the speech of animals, though, predators are easier for me to understand than herbivores." Kana glanced at Darkstep then and the stallion snorted, lowering his head again to doze off and the Dark Elf smiled faintly, looking back at Elidi. "For a while it was thought that I'd only have two, shadow and the speech because I didn't show any sign of having kept the ice power, but it emerged again quite suddenly fifty years later, during my first battle."

He pulled down his tunic over his shoulder, showing the marks on his neck. "I was supposed to go see an Elder before the fight, but I didn't want to know my fate so I didn't get the warning written out on my skin." The place he indicated was in the swirling pattern of what looked like a snowflake, but instead of soft edges, it was jagged and sharp and seemed to spit projectiles away from itself. Drop-like patterns fell from these sharp marks and it was easy to imagine what they might be. Blood certainly came to mind.

Kana looked troubled, even pained by the memory, but he seemed to accept it, too. Said marks, said events were part of his past, part of him and there wasn't anything he could do to change that.
 
"Ohh," Elidi said as she nodded her head. Predators were easier for him to understand, huh? She hid a smirk; it was so appealing to his nature. She looked to Kana, watching as his pulled down his tunic and told a small explanation. She looked over the indicated marking, seeing the snowflake that looked rather more like a jagged weapon of some sort with some sort of drops spilling from the edges. She furrowed her brows slightly in confusion before looking up to his face and noting the uneasy expression. The Light Elf wanted to sit next to him and trace her fingers over the markings, but she withheld the impulse.

"What happened...?" she asked carefully, hesitantly, as she cocked her head slightly. Of course, Kana didn't have to answer if he didn't want to, but she was curious. It was in her nature.
 
Kana looked away at her question, down at his hands and his voice was quiet, but not unsteady. "It was Centaurs. Their former ruler wanted to expand into our land, ignoring the peace treaty that had been drawn up by his father and my grandfather so war broke out between our species. I wasn't really even supposed to be in the fighting, but I didn't always....listen to my elders and I went with the army anyway with a group of my friends."

He paused then, memories flashing before his eyes; red and white, screams and the clash of swords, cries of anger and pain, the smell of blood...and then silence. Such startling silence.

"We joined the fighting well into the battle and we tried to stay together. We were young, though. Some of them hadn't even reached their hundredth birth day yet. They fell. I watched them fall and I couldn't...stop it. I don't really know what happened after that. I remember being cold and angry...livid and everything went white, there were screams and then it was just...quiet." Kana took a shaky breath and shook his head, refusing to look up. "I came back to myself to see the land around me covered in ice and snow all across the plain. Everything but my people had frozen solid, died and even the elves were still on the ground. They lived, but they did not rise until three days later. They nearly died of the cold."

The Prince moved slowly then, lifting his tunic up so he could point out the marking on his chest, an unassuming thing, just a swirling pattern to anyone who couldn't read it. Kana knew what it was, though, and he told Elidi, finally looking up at her. "This mark means 'Berserker' and when I don't have my powers dampened in some way, I am capable of great destruction. I believe your father knew that and that is why I was brought to your kingdom, contained."
 
The princess recalled the war that raged between the two different races, how the Centaurs ignored the peace treaty between the two lands and went to war with the Dark Elves. It seemed so long ago, more so because the Light Elves weren't significantly part of it.

As Kana spoke, Elidi tried to imagine the scenario in her mind but also paid attention to the prince across from her, trying to read his expressions and body language even though he did not look to her. It was easy to tell that this was no mere story; it was one that pained the dark prince and possibly even one that wouldn't be told if he hadn't trusted her to some extent. Maybe that was just a stupid feeling she had, but it made her glad to think that maybe he might just trust her, at least a little bit.

She was sort of surprised at the power Kana held within him, how much damage he could really do if his powers weren't weakened. She looked over the swirling pattern and then was finally met by his eyes, letting their contact last for a few seconds before she looked away at her father's mention. Even though she had nothing to do with it, she still felt guilty how Ekanath and his people were treated and wished she had done something more.

"So... before the bracelets and toxins were given to you, how did you dampen your powers?" Elidi asked as she looked to him again.
 
She didn't look at him in horror, didn't flinch away, didn't accuse him and Kana found himself uncoiling, relieved beyond anything he'd thought he'd feel at knowing she wasn't upset with him. He'd taken a risk telling her what he had, opening up to her and it was a story not many got to hear. It was something he'd not even wanted to tell his own family about, but Elidi...once again he felt drawn to her, like he could trust her and the Dark Elf felt a peace settle inside him.

"Another bracelet. It was different than this one, though. I had control of it's function. My father had it made for me and he told me that he trusted that I would use it wisely, that he was confident in my judgement. From that day on, I never took it off and...I never let my power over anything I couldn't control without it's influence. I wanted him to be proud of me."

Even as he spoke the words, something he'd never said out loud to anyone, Kana felt his shoulder and chest start to burn. He gasped through his teeth and looked down, watching as a glowing swirl worked its way from the moon-mark on his chest to the sun-mark on his shoulder, connecting, binding the two symbols. The glow and the familiar burning faded a moment later and the Prince stared at the new black marking on his skin. This had happened before - new markings - but this time...

Kana had no idea why this one had appeared.
 
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Elidi glanced at his wrists but didn't find the bracelet he was talking about. Then she shifted so she was sitting on her calves, and she sat up straight as a habit. "I think your father would be proud," she said lightly along with a small smile. "Where's the bracelet now?" she asked, hoping that guards or some sort hadn't thrown it away but knowing that it might as well just be the case.

She looked at him slightly confused at the gasp, wondering why he had done so before her eyes caught sight of a glow coming from beneath his shirt. Amazed, she slowly brought her legs out from under her and almost crawled to Kana. She looked from his eyes to his chest, not being able to see what had exactly happened since his shirt blocked her view. But the prince was staring at his chest and she blinked - had he just gotten a new mark??

"What happened?" she asked, wanting to reach out and look for herself but not wanting to violate his personal space.
 
Kana looked up at Elidi at her question and he almost felt like the new mark on his body solidified, a feeling he'd only ever come across when the future his markings told came to pass. It was a startling thing for him and he struggled with the answer for a moment before shaking his head slowly, his gold eyes never leaving the Princess' own. "I'm not..sure." he admitted before looking back down and then removing his tunic completely so she could see the marking. While the rest were black, this one was red for the time being. It would darken fade like old blood to a black color like the rest, but at the moment it was fresh and clearly visible.

The swirling tendril drew great attention now to the sun and moon marks on his dark skin, connected by nothing else but that new tattoo and Kana bit his lip, studying it. The new mark pulsed with heat and he knew THAT wasn't exactly natural. It was supposed to be cold and when he reached to touch it, the heat intensified, making him draw back with a frown.

Strange.

He looked up again, wondering if he should just ignore it, but finding it hard to. "Umm...the bracelet is with your father. And....I don't know why this mark is here..."
 
Elidi was just as shaken as Kana was. She looked at him curiously as he said he wasn't sure and then her eyes flickered down to his chest as he removed his tunic. Yes, there was definitely a fresh mark there, one that was red unlike the others - Elidi guessed it was because it was so fresh. The red swirl connected the moon and the sun marks together and she studied it carefully as Kana's hand went to touch it but pulled back. She looked up at him questioningly before putting her own hand to the mark and feeling the warmth coming from it. She didn't know much about the markings, but she wasn't sure if it was right for a Dark Elf - a being who needed the cold and darkness as much as the Light Elves need warmth from the sun - to have such a heated mark on him.

"Is it warm like this because it is fresh?" she asked, trailing her finger over it tenderly as the appendage moved from the moon to the sun, following the red swirling connection, ready to pull back if the heat would intensify and hurt Kana. The bracelet wasn't much on her mind anymore, so she tucked it away in the back to bring it up later.
 
Her touch made the mark heat again and he could feel that it almost burned against his flesh...but didn't at the same time and it didn't hurt. It should have, but it didn't. The mystery was deepening and Kana shook his head at her question, voice soft with speculation and just quiet because it felt right in some odd way as he watched her. "No. It's not supposed to be warm." He made to reach for the mark again but then decided against it. Her touch didn't cause pain...his own did. "Or pulse." the Prince added, biting his lip, uncertain.

Was this..bad?

The thought fled as Elidi's finger trailed over the marking, following the swirling pattern. There was a brief surge of heat, something that she'd feel clearly as it traveled up her fingers like fire, but following it was a chill that made Kana shudder in relief, feeling it work its way through his body in a sweeping way. The mark still pulsed, like a second heartbeat and the male elf honestly wasn't sure what to make of it.

He looked up, realizing something and his gold eyes were concerned. "It didn't...did you feel the cold?" He hoped not. That was the last thing she needed in this weather.
 
Elidi could feel the heat surging to her fingers but it didn't burn, it was like the heat attached to the pads of her fingers and pulled her in. And it didn't seem to hurt the Dark Elf when she touched it, so she continued. She looked up to Kana when he said the marking wasn't supposed to be warm and then her golden eyes flickered back to it before glancing back to Ekanath, pausing in her trailing of the mark.

"You can feel it pulse?" she asked as she put just a little bit more pressure on it. And then she could feel the pulsing as well and she pulled back but kept her fingers to it as she stared at the peculiar red marking. She didn't know if it was bad or if it was good, and it was apparent that Kana didn't know what was going on either. Her golden eyes showed nothing but thoughtfulness and interest and amazement. When the rush of heat came, she felt it just as directly as Kana might have and almost smiled at the feeling before she felt something different follow it. It was cold, something she would have pulled completely away from, but... it hadn't been sharp like Elidi guessed it would be. Instead, it was just simply there.

"I... I felt it," Elidi said as she looked up to him once more. "But... it wasn't - it was cold, but it wasn't cold," she said, wondering if he understood what she meant.
 
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