Forever Wandering [Cheesigator, Private]

[Whim]

The stone cottages and thatch-roofs of La'marri were a welcome sight for Ewan. The boy had spent a year in Kishahn and months at sea. His tanned skin and colorful loin cloth made him look a stranger in his home village. Looks from passersby only cemented that fact. He was on his way to see Meribald the of the Hedges. The crotchety old wizard lived in a windmill amidst a field of thorns and thickets. What he milled was anyone's guess; though he was an expert on Fell, faeries, and old magic.  Ewan earned more than a few scratches weaving his way up the path. The wizard answered, sour-faced, with a scratchy beard and weathervane atop his cap. "Go away."

"Meribald? Its me, Ewan. The one who turned himself young. You remember, yeah?"

Meribald snorted. "You're back I see. Had you enough of running about with little savages for the amusement of that fickle goddess?"

"Was almost fun for a bit. " The boy cracked a smirk. "Didn't learn what I wanted down there. No luck giving them eternal youth either. Its why I'm here. Grimoire talked about Cauldron belonging to some old King from Fell. Made him immortal; might be the missing piece!"

Meribald snorted, "You are in no condition to go exploring Fell. Be content you're healthy and fresh-faced after flummoxing it. Go tip a cow or paint a fence and leave me."

"You don't understand! If we find it we-" the door slammed in Ewan's face. Tiny fists pounded on it but to no avail. With a sigh of exasperation the boy trudged down the path, loitering contemplatively on a fence-post.

[Cheesigator]

La'marri was one of the few places that Kirkley could actually say he had rarely visited throughout his very long lifespan. It was a place for mages, people who could control their magic, and for someone like Kirkley going there was a moot point.

However, he did so like traveling. And he had realized a good few weeks ago that it had been a very long time since he had last checked on the city of mages--listen to him, sounding like some kind of ancient guard dog or something, ugh. But he did like to see how things changed over time, so it seemed La'marri was well overdue for a visit.

He'd traveled there mostly in his beast form, because it was faster and easier to hunt and deal with dangers on the road that way, but when he got close enough to the town he changed back to two legs and got dressed. After a few solid weeks spent as some giant primordial dog, it sometimes took a while to get used to walking on two legs again. Once or twice he caught himself pausing to try and lift a leg to scratch behind his ear; thankfully it was far enough away from the city he didn't think anyone saw. Oops.

There was absolutely no denying it in Kirkley's mind; this place was magical. It held properties and life and energy that you just couldn't find anywhere else on this planet--well, no. Kirkley could think of one place, but that was the complete antithesis of here.

The air made the ancient magic inside of him stir again, almost buzzing and humming within him like it was being revitalized with new life, and he kind of wondered why he didn't stay here more often--it put an extra spring in his step, made him feel more excitable and energetic. And the scenery here was quite different for a change--many of the buildings were made of stone, there were even stones set into the road, the trees and grass were bright and green, the sun was shining, it really was a nice place here.

Right as he was thinking he ought to stay for a bit, however, he happened to overhear the high-pitched cry of a young boy not too far away; he looked and saw the kid pounding on the door of some cottage he was just passing.

Finding it interesting enough to investigate, Kirkley paused for a moment, watching the boy. I wonder what it's like to be that young? He thought; if only he knew.

Finally the kid seemed to give up, heaving a big sigh and starting to trudge back down the path, towards Kirkley. The kid couldn't have come up barely past his knee, so he knelt down (and still felt tall) in order to catch the boy's attention.

"Hey, what's the matter with you, looking so glum like that? It's a nice day out; did your mom kick you out of the house or something?" He asked, glancing back at the cottage behind the boy.

[Whim]

Ewan's mind was awash with plans and possibilities. Were there other scholars who'd know the way to the Cauldron? How would he even meet them on foot without money? There were always the daemons and faeries of Niahi. What could he give them? And suddenly an enormous shape loomed over the boy. He yelped in surprise and scuttled back.

"Sorry! Thought you were a bear. Or something." Ewan blushed and looked the giant of a man up and down. The tattoos, braided hair, and unusual features branded him a stranger to La'marri.

"And no, my ma didn't send me out to play," he cracked a smile at the notion, and jerked a thumb toward Meribald's mill. "Needed help from the wizard over there. Just a map, really, and the old goat won't lift a finger! Its an awful long story, uh- sir."

It was usually easier to be sweet and give grownups - adults - some deference. The man didn't look like trouble but you could never tell. All the same Ewan clutched his bookstrap close. If Kirkley were particularly observant... he might notice the youth holding a thick, brassbound grimoire. Clearly expensive, if not outright sorcerous, and certainly nothing a small boy should own.

[Cheesigator]

There was definitely something that was slightly off about this kid. He had a kind of air about him that made Kirkley question his age, or the idea that he might be human at all. He'd heard of demons and other mischievous creatures taking the form of children before in order to catch prey off-guard; but he doubted that was the case here in a fairly busy town on an open street.

The kid was small enough it was easy to give him a quick once-over look, and he did take note of what he held in his bag.

His eyebrows raised slightly, and he smiled at the kid.

"A long story, huh? Well you've piqued my interest--you're pretty eloquent, for a kid. How old are you?"

Hopefully that didn't come off as too prying into personal things, some people got touchy when you asked their age, though most kids were proud to rattle off how many years they'd graced this earth with their presence. Then again, this guy might not necessarily be a kid. Who knew, in these days. Magic would forever confuse Kirkley to the ends of time, or so it seemed.

[Whim]

Eloquent. At least he was differentiable from the local stableboy. He turned his gaze to Kirkley and pondered an answer. Ordinarily he tried to be careful for fear of slavefs or kidnappers. But La'marri was filled with provincials and strange as the giant was he didn't look like a bandit.

"Twenty five," he gave Kirkley an impish smirk, stretching as he took in the man's reaction.

"I made myself little with a spell. Tying to work out how to do it over - er - replicate it." the boy reddened with embarassment. Then a thought came; the large man didn't look it but maybe he had the coin or muscle to change Meribald's mind. "It's why I need the wizard's notes. It could mean... eternal youth if done right you know."

Ewan cleared his throat after that mouthful "Sorry. Haven't been properly introduced. I'm Ewan." He extended a scrawny hand.

[Cheesigator]

Kirkley gave the kid a flat stare for a solid moment or two, considering everything the boy had just said very carefully.

Either he was telling the truth or he was being a little shit and pulling some kind of terrible practical joke.

But the idea wasn't that outlandish; mages were a thing, and so were young ones who occasionally did stupid things without thinking of the consequences. But when the boy--Ewan, it turned out--mentioned eternal youth being a possible byproduct, that just confirmed it for Kirkley; no real child would give a rat's ass about eternal youth. Honestly, no human should. He knew far too much about living for an eternity: It wasn't worth it.

He took the kid's hand, which was so incredibly tiny in his own that he was nearly afraid he would break it just by touching it, and gave it a gentle shake.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Ewan. I'm Kirkley." He said with a smile. "So you're after eternal youth, is that it?"

His legs were starting to hurt from crouching so he stood up, towering over the child by no less than three feet easily. "For someone as young as you, even if you're really 25, I guess thinking of the consequences to living for an eternity wouldn't really occur to you yet."

Kirkley didn't really remember how he'd ended up like this, but something tugged at the back of his brain and he had a feeling that it was something very similar to this--he'd probably been young and stupid, hadn't thought of the consequences, and gone and got himself cursed. And it looked like this kid was on the very same road; history does like repeating itself, after all.

[Whim]

"Pleasure meeting you, Kirkley!" Ewan took a step back so as not to crane his neck, nearly tripping before steadying himself on a fence-post.

The boy bristled a little at Kirkley's tone. What did this scruffy traveler know of magic? Then again he'd ought to be used strangers condescending to him...

"Consequences? I took precautions. But I suppose if you do the spell wrong you might end up a rotten corpse forever. Or petrified. Or turned into a dragon," he counted off on his fingers. "I think I turned out pretty good. Mostly aiming to undo than redo the spell because its hard working magic in this body. I'd be willing to share the spoils..."

[Cheesigator]

Kirkley held back the urge to let out a soft snort as the boy almost tripped over himself, trying to maintain eye contact. Yeah, definitely an adult in a child's body. At least he had respect and knew how to hold a conversation.

He noted the defensive tone in the kid's voice and sighed. Wait, willing to share the spoils?

Kirkley gave the kid a good, long look before glancing up at the cottage and back down to Ewan. "You want my help to get a map from that old wizard?" He asked, a rather unamused tone in his voice. Ugh.

"Alright, fine, I'll help you but I really don't need any more immortality than I already have. You should seriously reconsider it kid, it's not nearly the fun everyone cracks it up to be." In fact, it was nothing short of miserable, as the tone in his voice might heavily suggest.

That being said though, he would at the very least help the kid get on the right track to restoring his body to the proper age, or at least try to. He didn't remember what it was like to be a child, but he imagined it must be a pain in the ass to have to go through a second time.

"So what'll you have me do, scare the life out of the poor guy?" He asked with a raised eyebrow as he crossed his arms over his chest, eyeing Ewan carefully.

[Whim]

"Really? You'll help?" Ewan's face lit up with surprise and delight. He wasn't really expecting anyone to offer help, "I'm not looking to rob anyone! Meribald just spouted some nonsense about me being too small to go to Fell on my own. Maybe you coming along'll convince him."

"He's really not such a pat-patern-uh-friendly sort. Bet he just wants money I don't have," the boy rolled his eyes and gestured to his garb. Judging by the threadbare garments and moth-eaten ruckstack he hadn't much in the way of gold.

It was only after Ewan explained the minutia of his negotiations that Kirkley's words struck him. Was he joking? He sounded too grim to be joking, and on closer inspection his faded tattoos and golden eyes marked him as no ordinary man. "And wait... wait... you're not just teasing me, right? How old are you?"

[Cheesigator]

Fell? Fell? This child wanted to go to Fell?

Even for creatures like himself, who weren't mages, the Fell was no place you'd ever want to go for a Sunday picnic. The magic that intoxicated the area was corrupt, and the name Chaos Magic suited it well. It seemed like Kirkley had memories of being there before it was what it was today, when it was still a big city teeming with life, but it hadn't been his favorite place to dwell so what he did remember was minimal, flashes of images and the sort.

"Well of course he wouldn't want you to go to Fell, that place is dangerous, even for someone like me." He said with a sigh, pinching at the bridge of his nose and nodding when Ewan pointed out his obvious lack of money. That made two of them--the difference being that Kirkley was self-sufficient and didn't need money to get by.

He started to take a step towards the cottage when Ewan spoke up and asked him old he really was and he stopped. He chewed at his lower lip for a minute before turning and looking at the kid, who was staring at him so inquisitively.

"I don't know anymore. I lost count thousands of years ago." He turned back to the cottage to go up to the door, having to bend down a little to have a quick glance through one of the windows. "My dragon friend wagers that I'm older than her, and she's 20,000, I think."

But after 10 words didn't really have a meaning anymore; they were just words, you didn't really understand them because it was hard to wrap your head around the concepts they represented without some kind of visual aid to guide you. So to him, his true age didn't really matter. And part of him really didn't want to know how old he was.

[Whim]

Ewan screwed up his face. The boy knew he'd ought to be awash with suspicion, but a deeper part of him badly wanted to believe it was all true. The giant's melancholy didn't phase him as he pondered all the cities and wonders and people and secrets he'd see. But of course there were questions...

"If you're so old, and keeping dragons as company, what are you doing out here? Its an awful lot of time to work on amassing riches or building a kingdom or-" he didn't want to out and out say he'd expect someone who lived that long to be less travel-worn, but sort of did. "Still, I bet you know all sorts of spells and secrets. How'd you manage it? I might need even need to find Maelryn's Cauldron after all..."

He chattered away, brimming with excitement and questions, undifferentiable from just another curious child.