From a Place Far, Far Away. (Velrogh)

[Anonymous]

Riera walked with her head high, as usual. She looked strong and the independant type. Her tanned skin looked even darker in the dim light of the moon, and her yellow-gold eyes almost seemed to glow. It gave her an otherworldly appearence. Her raven-black hair was long and hung down onto her back. She entered the tavern, and sat down at a stool. Men's eyes were on her, but she was used to that. If you can look like anyone, why not look good? She ordered a drink and thought about her day. It had been a long trip from the mountains where she was before, but it didn't bother her too much. She stared into space and her eyes had sparks of intelligence and strength in them. She got her drink and took a sip of it. It was good. Her eyes scanned the other people in a casual manner.

[Anonymous]

"You're up." said a rough voice belonging to the innkeeper.

It was accompanied by a rude shake that woke Bairn from his reverie. He removed his feet from the table and got up, all in a very graceful and aristocratic movement for one who had been dozing off just a second before, and looked around. He was still where he had fallen asleep, and not in some random alley. Twirling his moustache he realized that this was to be expected in Serendipity's capital city. He could get used to this kind of place again... Furthermore, from the look of things, no 'interesting turn of events' had taken place yet.

Yet.
That was the keyword here. Something was bound to happen.

Shrugging off his weariness, he fanned his cloak dramatically and picked up his violin from the seat next to his, where it had lain ready for his performance. He combed his hair idly with one hand, even though it had long since been frozen into its present state, and strode gracefully towards the small stage, shoving the grumbling innkeeper aside.

People were watching him now. He arched a furry eyebrow and sniffed scornfully: they were barely people at all, mostly lowlife scum from the outskirts of town, and some shady types from out of town. But they were still a crowd, and he was here to perform. His cloak made a rehearsed 'whoosh' sound as he dropped an exquisite bow to his expecting audience. In an impressive flurry, he had the small instrument cocked perfectly beneath his chin and fine arch poised lightly over it. Bairn took a deep breath, and started playing.

It was a cheerful, rowdy song he had learned on a border town, but it seemed people here also knew the lyrics to it, and soon people were singing along happily. Awhile later, he switched tunes to a more elegant and deep interpretation of 'the Mountain's Sunset' (written by him of course). He suddenly noticed the dazzling young lady sitting at a table not far away and with a charming grin, finished the song.

Some clapped, others got back to their drinks, but Bairn wasn't done.

"For my next number, I require a beautiful young maiden to b my volunteer assistant!"  he announced with another 'whoosh' of his ragged cloak.

[Anonymous]

Riera looked up at the stage the minute the man walked up there.She sat back and watched. She loved music. Especially violin. It reminded her of where she used to live. She looked rather thoughtful. She clapped when the song ended. Then, when she was about to turn and go back to her drink, he spoke again. She turned back around. She wasn't usually the type to take part in such things, and she stood up and flashed a smile. Her teeth were pretty white and straight. "Hey,I'll be your volunteer."

[Anonymous]

A huge grin illuminated Bairn's face as soon as the young lady got up and volunteered for his trick. Smoothly, he paced up to her table and before she could stop him, he had her hand in his and was sweeping a deep bow once more to kiss it, and just as quickly was once again flashing a white smile not even a salesman could rival.

"Bairn Cauth, Bard extraordinaire at your service, madam." He said, his eyes giving away some of the dangerous madness that steered him most of the time. Yet most people did not notice this brief slip and once more he was flurrying his cloak and gesturing dramatically towards his audience. "This charming and courageous young maiden will now assist me in most bedazzling spectacle! The Incredible Powers I command will amaze and stupefy!" he heralded vigorously, while gently leading the young woman back to the stage.

Now in front of all the expecting faces once more, Bairn flourished his hands in a complicated motion, and searched the room for a man he needed.

"You!" he shouted once he found him, (a thin looking chap gambling with some fellows) "Roll those dices!". Startled, the gambler grabbed his set of six dices and rolled them promptly.

Before the dice stopped moving, Bairn started pulling roses out of thin air (apparently), and juggling them high above his head while he counted out loud: "One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten! Eleven!". As he finished, all the roses packed carefully in one hand, he pointed elaborately at the dice on the table, which had stopped moving now.

"What's the total score, lad?" Bairn demanded, smirking. The thin chap stared back at his dice and his eyes widened. "Ele...Eleven!" he announced, stunned. The rest of the inn gasped in admiration. But the bard just smiled on: it was such an easy trick...

Spinning round in a graceful pirouette, he offered the roses to his young volunteer. "Now, for the next amazing performance, I will require a personal object of yours! Anything really, it can be a ring, a scarf or even a love letter!" Bairn joked, while politely stretching forward his opened hand.

Something tingled in the back of his head: IT was about to happen. He had developed a sensing ability for this kind of thing.

[Anonymous]

Reira stood tall, almost in a noble way, and politely nodded. She saw the flash of madness in his eyes, even though it didn't last very long at all. She felt something wasn't going to happen as planned. Just something was going to turn out wrong. She almost sighed at that. She almost smirked at the use of the word charming used towards her. She was only that when she wished to be.

She could only wonder what was on this guy's mind. Usually it was easy to tell what people were going to do, but definatly not this time. She watched the trick as he got roses out of 'thin air' (she had seen such a trick before) and then nodded in admiration at him when he correctly said, 'eleven'. She had seen this one also, but it was only because she had been to many places such as these. She couldn't help but wonder what the next trick was.

When Bairn handed the roses to her, she took them, looking at him expectantly. Then, she gave him a little wooden box when he asked for an object. The box was polished dark wood. It had a silver clasp holding it shut. She hoped the sensation of something 'interesting to come' in her mind was wrong.

[Anonymous]

Corking an eyebrow at the small box Bairn bowed once more as he took it from her. It was an odd sort of object for a young lady such as this one to be carrying about, but he had seen a lot of strange things in his life so this wasn't about to set him off. What did worry him, was that persisting feeling that a Random Occurrence was about to take place and, as was often the case, he would be running for his life without even getting a good night's sleep. At least he had convinced the landlord to pay him in advance.

The box was in his hand though, and the crowd was frowning at him wearily, especially the large bulky man called Billy who stood by the door. "The show must go on, they say..." Bairn muttered under his breath. He actually wondered who 'they' were, because if he ever found out, 'they' would be in big trouble.

"Now I will need you to-"

Bairn never finished his sentence. At that moment, the door burst open and several really belligerent men rushed in. The leading one pointed a large threatening finger towards the stage and shouted after the fleeting figure that leaped through a window in the same instant.

The dark alley behind the tavern was thankfully deserted. It seemed these goons weren't as smart as the ones back in Zantaric, but he wasn't about to give them a chance to make up for their mistake. In a much practiced movement, Bairn was cutting the nearest corner, followed closely by the shouts of angry men.

Two things went through his mind, all of a sudden. The first was, why was it that the shopkeepers he conned yesterday out of a really fat purse of money end up bursting into the inn where he was performing? And where did they get the angry mob and pitchforks? The second one was harder to identify, and could only be explained as the feeling one gets when he knows he is forgetting something. Something that could prove dangerous.

[Anonymous]

Riera was not expecting the angry mob to come in after Bairn. She realized in an instant that this meant he probabaly wasn't going to give that box back. She ran ofstage and were nobody could see she turned into a hawk. It had the same yellow eyes that she had as a human. She flew out the window and into an alley, turning into a wolf. She ran after the mob, and when they were almost chasing him out the city, used her magic to scatter them with thunderbolts. Thinking it was Bairn using the magic, they scattered to avoid being attacked. She turned back into a human and pulled him behind some bushes, away from the veiws of the angry mob. "I need that box back", she said in an annoyed whisper.

[Anonymous]

Something flashed behind Bairn. The bright light was followed by a shift in the tone of the voices chasing him: now, they faded away, sounding terrified instead of angry.

An amateur runner would've considered this a sign to find somewhere to hide or would've turned around to see what was happening. However, Bairn knew precisely how much his resistance to the wind increased when he glanced over his shoulder and was aware that hiding was just a temporary solution. Therefore, he decided to keep on running, feeling it would be more helpful to clear as much distance as he could before the mob got back on his trail.

He did not expect the creature that lunged at him from the shadows, dragging him along into some bushes in a quiet part of town. He as not so much stunned by the shock of having been caught (one could not dally on such trivialities when it might mean his life), as by the blow he took to the head when he hit the ground. Bairn's head ringed and he had trouble focusing his sight, but when he finally managed to get a clear image, he still blinked several times to convince himself he was not imagining things.

Instead of the huge thug he had expected, or the angry guard dog, a beautiful young lady stood before him, looking impatient. More precisely, the young woman that had served as his assistance for that night's show. She seemed to be saying something about a box of some sort, Cauth wasn't too sure because his ears were having a hard time processing sound waves.

"Woah, I certainly appreciate the attention, m'lady, but I'm rather busy at the moment. I'll return to you one day, do not despair!"

Bairn got back to his feet in an acrobatic flip as soon as he sorted out his legs and was already flashing a delightful smirk, has he reached for his small pack, which had been tossed a few feet away, when he noticed the small wooden object sticking out. Everything suddenly slapped him in the face.

Startled, he snatched his bag off the grass and hid it carefully behind his back. Maybe it was valuable.

"Box? Oh that one? I dropped it on the way out, I'm sure it's still there somewhere, now if you'll excuse me..." Bairn lied as he tried to sidestep the woman and resume his dashing flight. Suddenly, the feeling he had got earlier about the woman came back as he noticed her eyes: could they be glowing?

[Anonymous]

Riera gave him a look and blocked his path. Static bolts flew from her fingertips. She said, "Excuse me, but I don't like when people lie. Give me that box, sir. It's important to me." Her eyes flashed, quite literally. "I'm asking nicely. Please give me the box." She held out her hand demandingly. In the box was a ring. It used to be her mother's. It was valuble to her.

[Anonymous]

The ringing in his head had stopped by now, but Bairn still didn't hear the woman's words. The static bolts that flew from her fingertips spoke over it. He gave a start, realizing that the lady in front of her was a mage, and that last time one of them had gotten this irritated with him people had turned into chickens and flower pots.

Luckily, he was a fast thinker when in life-threatening situations and his mind was already racing to find a back exit of some sort. Here is the conclusion to which it came:

I could try to loose her in the alleys while dodging lightning bolts, but that probably won't work. I could give her the box and be on my way, but the mob will probably bump into me and hang me on the spot. Guess there is only one solution left: parley.

"My apologies, O venerable mage, I didn't know one such as you would be frequenting that sort of establishment. I realize that that box might be valuable to you, but I find myself in a predicament as well." Bairn said, being as diplomatic as he could. Mages didn't like violent manners, well, those he had met didn't. "You see, those ruthless and violent peasants whom you so kindly saved me from just a while ago are after me due to a terrible misunderstanding that can only be slightly considered my fault." How was he to know that the rocks he had sold those shopkeepers were not actually meteorite ore or enchanted gems? "If you could be so kind as to escort me out of town safely, I would gladly return the box of which you speak to your wise lordship."

One thing had to be said about Bairn, he had a way with words (or at least he thought he did). But nothing was to stop the mage from killing him to take the box back, which she probably would do without even blinking. Now was when his renowned acting skills came into fruition.

"I must warn you, my lady: I'd advise against trying to harm this most humble man to retrieve your box. A mage once put a curse on me that backfired and made anything surrounding me as normal as three-eyed-silk-eating-giant-fanged duck. If anything were to happen to me, what's to stop the sealed curse to spring out?"

[Anonymous]

Riera gave him a look that showed that she obviously did not beleive him. The whole time he had been talking, she had been giving him this look and the doubt in it had been increasing throughout. "Really." She said, "I don't beleive a word you just said, but I will, however, make a little deal with you." She looked into his eyes. "I will help you out of town safely, but only if you give me the ring before that. Because of the lies you just spun into what you thought was a nice little excuse, I don't trust you to give it to me afterward." She sighed. THIS is why she usually didn't go to these kind of places. "If you don't agree, I'll just give you to the mob."

[Anonymous]

A brief speck of hesitance flashed across Bairn's face at the mention of the remote possibility that he could be making a deal with the devil. Yet even his suspicious nature couldn't find a fatal flaw in her suggestion. Something about her made him trust her enough to see him safely out of the city.

Yet the feeling that something would turn horribly wrong persisted. Carefully, he poked his head over her shoulder and then glanced down both side of the street, as if expecting a mad charge of wild beasts followed my a surge of very dramatic explosions. They did not come. He shook off that uncomfortable feeling, and handed over the box, even if his sharp eyes still checked every corner for hiding elephants.

With a sigh, he realized he had no choice. "It's a deal then, my lady! I can hardly refute such convincing arguments." He mumbled half-heartedly, as the rough voices slowly approached, along with the men that would surely lynch him rather than arrest him. "I must warn you though, that what I said about the curse is mostly true and that if anything out of the ordinary occurs, you'd be better off dodging it than blowing it up."

What he had wanted was a quiet night away from the troubles of the road in a civilized town; he had even told Fog that he could take the night off. Suddenly, Bairn came to the conclusion that that might be the source of all his problems. Sighing more audibly this time, he glanced at the mage beside him: she did seem the reasonable feet-on-the-ground sort of person.

"Bairn Cauth, travelling bard and experienced adventurer." He introduced himself, sweeping his cloak in a deep, flourishing bow.

[Anonymous]

Riera nodded at his introduction. "I'm Riera. As for 'what' I am, it doesn't matter too much right now." She took the box with satisfaction and tucked it away in her pocket. She said, "First, lets get the hell out of here." She began to lead him away quietly through the bushes.

When they were a fair distance away from the mob, she looked around cautiously. "Well, there's one thing that I need to tell you.. I'm a shapeshifter." Then, she realized that some of the mob had broke off to look for them in the direction they went. She cursed, and said, "Here they are." Right as they came out of the bushes, she used static bolts to paralyze them. She said, "They're not gonna move for a sec, but that's not all of them."

 She ran away in a different direction, and found the other half of the mob. She cursed again. "This isn't working. The other half is gonna be here soon" She ran away from the two, leading herself and Bairn into a little clearing, where both sides met to attack them after a few seconds of peace. She turned into a giant bird and grumbled, "Hop on." The looked a lot like a normal hawk, but...larger.

[Anonymous]

"-.. I'm a shapeshifter."

Bairn missed a step. A shapeshifter? The curse had to be exceptionally strong today. Shapeshifters were even worse than mages, because they were always unexpected. The old bard had come to loathe what he could not see coming over the years. Anyone would, after having their socks turn into watermelons on several embarrassing occasions.

Yet he did not linger long in these considerations. Suddenly, a couple of their assailants cut off their escape and more seemed to pour around them by the second. Desperately looking around for a hole in the human circle he could crawl through, Bairn noticed the huge hawk beside him, where the woman had just been.

"Hop on." It croaked, and the bard promptly obeyed, sometimes the unexpected seemed to come in his aid, however rarely that was.

[Anonymous]

Riera flew away from the mob, leaving them as confused spectators. Who wouldn't be confused if suddenly a woman turned into a bird?

She landed quite a distance away, the mob could not get them here. She said, "So, gonna thank me?" Her hawk eyes stared into his with the same intensity that they had as a human. She sighed. "Well, thank you for giving me back the ring. I guess that was nice of you, even though it was a good idea, you didn't have to."

[Anonymous]

Bairn leaped from the hawk's back as soon as its claws were firmly back on the good solid ground. He loathed flying. Having 30 feet of really untrustworthy footing between him and the Earth reminded him of how inseparable they were.

He took a few moments to straighten his outfit then turned to face the staring shapeshifter, or woman or whatever else she was. It was still hawk-shaped, but its eyes were very much the same, which was bizarre. "So, gonna thank me?" it asked, keeping her regular human voice. Beside her, the Nevermore crow was merely odd.

"Well, thank you for giving me back the ring. I guess that was nice of you, even though it was a good idea, you didn't have to." Bairn gulped and averted his gaze from her eyes. It wasn't really honest of him to keep up the masquerade after she just saved his life. The bard retrieved something from one of his many small pockets in his drake-skin jerkin and flipped it at her.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself..." he apologised meekly, shrugging innocently. It was a ring. The box he had given her was empty.

Bairn spun around, flourishing his cloak, before she could react properly. All traces of meekness were already replaced by his usual eccentric persona. "I thank you for your help Riera the shapeshifter! Hmm, that's a rather fancy name for an ode...! I will yet write of you one day, m'lady!" the old man said, trailing off aimlessly down the nearest road.

He seemed to remember something, though, and glanced over his shoulder. "I suspect we will meet again, under different circumstances perhaps..." it sounded cliché, but it was most likely true, with his cursed luck...

[Anonymous]

Riera turned into a wolf, following him, and growling. "Just for that, I should bite you. But, I won't. In fact, I'll follow you in case you get in any more trouble, just for now." She sighed. "You're not the only one getting into situations all the time."  She glanced around in a rather cautious matter. "How about this? We watch each other's backs, just in case angry people for either of us burst out the bushes."

[Anonymous]

Bairn gave a start as the huge wolf leaped besides him and the shapeshifter announced her intentions. It seemed he would not be left alone so soon...  A nagging feeling told him that he should've just kept the bloody ring and ran away as fast as he could as soon as he was clear of her line of sight. It might have worked.

But it probably wouldn't. The bard sighed; he might as well try to look on the bright side: at least no bandits would be troubling them, nor any other wild animals. Unfortunately, they weren't going to clear any road that night, it was pitch dark, and even if she could prowl around without stumbling every second step he sure as hell would not take any chances. Bairn had gotten lost several times; apparently, when you were alone in the middle of nowhere reality was much easier to shove aside.

He shivered at the very memory of what usually happened.

"Come on then, we best set up camp then, it's too dark to travel..." Bairn grunted, examining the forest line for a small clearing big enough for a fire and a bedroll. After a few minutes, he found one, about twenty paces from the road and immediately began gathering a few dead branches for a fire. "Could you... you know, light it?" he asked grudgingly when it was done.

[Anonymous]

Riera sat patiently beside him as he set up the branches for the fire. She wondered when she'd be lazy, bored, or annoyed enough to just stop bothering him. She had not much better to do....at the moment, anyway. She figured this was a sort of 'punishment' for him stealing the ring. She broke from her thoughts when she was asked to light it. She rolled her eyes a little. Then, she opened her mouth and a concentrated static bolt set the branches on fire. She curled up next to the fire, saying quietly, "Goodnight." In a minute, she was fast asleep. She hoped he wouldn't do anything rediculous so she'd have to wake up.