Tense First Meetings [Jackie Cat]

[Ethereal-Star]

The bright elf stiffened at the contact, but did not do anything else. Still shaking in anger, she made no attempt to reign it in and promptly threw a flaming ball at the dead basilisk, the corpse quickly going up in flames.

Several moments passed as she tried to get a grip on her emotions, and it was obvious to anyone that this was not something she was used to doing. Her emotions and egocentric behavior had driven her onward for much of her life and Calabell was finding it to be extremely difficult to control it. Whether or not she would try to change some of this remained to be seen.

Finally after at least five minutes had passed, she looked up, an expression of sadness and melancholy present on her face, her golden-bronze eyes telling a story all their own. They spoke of hopelessness, loss and resentment, these feelings she had been dealing with for well over a hundred years now.

Taking a shaky breath, Calabell finally said something. "Why do you even care? After all, I did try to kill you."

The elf was completely uncertain about this entire situation. She didn't make befriending those beneath her a habit of hers. Even among her own kind, Greyden had been the only other aether elf she had felt a connection with, thus them having had become good friends while he was still alive. Now he wasn't here anymore, with Calabell being unable to go back to the way things were. Change was certainly a bitch. she mentally concluded, a certain sort of cynicism present in that thought.

[JackieCat]

Kirl raised her eyebrows as the elf's magic engulfed the basilisk, but she sat in silence next to the elf until the other spoke, asking why she cared.

Kirl smiled. "Why do I care?  Why do I care." Kirl took a moment to reply. "Because, because, well, first of all, I care because I care about lives and I care about yours.  And I think that you deserve it, at least in some way.  You tried to kill me, yes, and you may have killed others in the past, you lied to me, but I want to give you another chance.  When you were fighting me, trying to kill me, I only saw one side of you.  Perhaps it was an evil side, a terrible side, but people are not one face, they are made up of several faces that make their being.  I wanted to see another side of you," Kirl smiled, "and I have.  Now I see you as a person, rather than a soulless killer."

[Ethereal-Star]

Calabell snorted in derision, but didn't comment.

After another minute though, she got up and brushed off her trousers from all the dirt and grime covering them before making her way over to the waterfall by her cave home, just staring idly at the rushing water. She still didn't say anything though, but kept staring in front of her, her back turned to Kirl and Oax. It would be difficult to tell what she was thinking now.

[JackieCat]

Kirl stayed sitting on the rock when the elf stood and walked away a bit, the girl watched her, but the elf said nothing, she just stood there.

After a moment of silence and stillness, Oax stood up from where she had bee sitting on the ground next to Kirl and walked over to the elf.  They hyena sat down right next to her, her fur just brushing the elf's leg.  Then Oax leaned sideways so she was putting much of her weight on the elf.  She looked up, as a dog would look up when it wanted to be petted, with its eyes wide, but Oax's large eyes were not filled with longing, they were more filled with pity and comfort.

[Ethereal-Star]

"It is strange." Calabell commented, still looking ahead of her at the flowing water. "I never thought I'd allow myself to talk to a human before, much less about my life prior to now."

She went silent again, then looked down at Oax curled up against her leg. "Many of my kind do not take kindly to those different than us. We are after all, a proud people, proud of our race and cultures. We do not let outsiders in at all." The bright elf meant this in both a literal as well as a figurative way.

"I suppose change is bound to happen when one is kicked out of their home without mercy."

[JackieCat]

Kirl listened in silence until the elf had finished, then she nodded, almost to herself. "Change definitely came for me," she said, looking down at her hands, which rested in her lap.  "And it was a scary thing indeed.  I was twelve, still a child.  I had to grow up very fast, out in the world.  All alone except for Oax, who really, I guess, was all that I needed.  It's not easy being cast out.  I guess you just have to find a place somewhere else then.  That's what I did.  And even though I don't live anywhere, don't really have a family anymore, I have a place in this world.  Adventuring around, traveling, that's what I do."

[Ethereal-Star]

"This cave, this forest is all I have left." Calabell seethed once more. "And those who have tried to take it from me met their end at my hand. They deserved nothing less. It wasn't their place."

Calabell paused here, but turned her head slightly towards Kirl. "But you... you seem to be different than those vermin."

And truth be told it was something that greatly puzzled the bright elf. All her life, she had been taught about the viciousness and inferiority of others, humans in particular. No respect for what wasn't theirs. Of course living on another plane of existence Calabell had been fortunate enough not to meet too many of them in the Aether. There had only been a couple if she recalled correctly, and they were just like what she had been told about. Cruel, worthless scumbags who cared nothing for her home or her kind in general. Although to be fair, Calabell's people were no less prejudiced to them. One of them had been killed, head severed from his body for trespassing without their consent, while the other had managed to escape. Her people had never found where that one went. As long as it didn't come back, Calabell could care less about what became of the creature.

Being dumped here in the mortal world had been a complete shock to her and for many months she had completely flipped, killing many no matter who they were. Age, gender, race or species, to her it didn't matter. Calabell had been utterly furious and took her rage out on all she saw. Whether or not there was a bounty on her head she didn't know nor did she care. As long as they didn't show their face here, she would be happy enough. After some time had passed she had calmed down and managed to find her current home. After that, the story was more or less straightforward from there on out.

Hearing the other's words, the elf considered this carefully. She still did not trust Kirl or her hyena to come into her dwelling but there was the hint that she was starting to warm up to the idea. But perhaps, there could be something they could do for each other. But at this time, she had no idea what that could be. Sharing a similar history though, it was interesting.

Turning around fully, Calabell looked down at Oax curled against her leg, the barest hint of a smile showing, although it seemed more like a grimace. "Do hyenas usually act like that?" Motioning her head to the animal in question.

[JackieCat]

Kirl partially raised her eyebrows when the elf said, that she seemed to be different from the others who had come here and been killed by the elf.

'One of the large differences is that I'm not dead, I was probably just lucky,' Kirl thought in silence, then she frowned slightly. 'But maybe not, perhaps Oax and were meant to come here. . .' her thoughts trailed off as the elf spoke again, this time about Oax.

The young woman smiled, and Oax, seeming to understand the elf's words, leaned even heavier on the her leg.

"Not usually," Kirl said. "She's very friendly, to nearly everyone." Oax made a strange little laughing noise and licked the elf's pant leg and nudged her hand.

[Ethereal-Star]

Calabell stiffened again, before she slowly and hesitantly petted the hyena, but the act of doing so was a bit awkward for her. She stopped then, hand stilling by her side once more.

"Is that so." she mused, looking down at Oax.

Looking back at Kirl, she said, "I'd apologize for trying to kill you earlier but that is not something I've really ever had to do much before. At least not with those who are not kin of mine." Breathing a sigh, she went on. "But you and your pet did help to save my life, so I guess I owe you something for that." Smiling tightly, but again looking more like a half-smile, half-grimace instead of a true expression of one. "So I...I apologize." The words tasting rather bitter in her mouth as she said them.

[JackieCat]

Oax made a sort of purring noise as the elf petted her.

Kirl smiled as the elf apologised.  The young woman was surprised that the elf had, but glad as well.

"Thank you," she said. "I think I at least partially understand what you are feeling.  My name is Kirl, Kirl Moonharbor, and that's Oax."

[Ethereal-Star]

"You are not the only one who is surprised." Calabell said, noticing the expression on Kirl's face. "You are honestly the first human I've ever apologized to. The rest bit the dust either by my knife or by a fire spell. And sometimes even my bow."

Thinking back, Calabell continued. "A couple orc scouts as well. I moved their charred corpses far away from my home to ensure my safety. Couldn't have a band of orc savages tear my home down and kill me, now could I?"

After a couple minutes of hesitation, Calabell also gave her name. "I am Calabell White-Star. I used to live in the Aether, a different plane of existence." A moment passed. "I still can't get over the fact how different everything looks here."

[JackieCat]

Kirl nodded when Calabell introduced herself.  "What did it look like there?" Kirl asked. "Was it very different?"

Kirl knew of a few different planes, but had only heard of the Aether in passing, and had never delved deeper into knowledge about it.

[Ethereal-Star]

"You could say that." Calabell pondered on how best to explain it. "It is more bright there, as though its very foundation has an inner light to it, giving everything a transparent glow. While the part I lived in was for the most part solid, other areas were not nearly as much. Some places are more intangible the further away from the cities one goes, but the ground is always solid."

Sitting down on the ground, the bright elf glanced over to Oax briefly, before tracing random patterns with her finger into the dirt by her feet absently. "There are different kinds of flora and fauna there too, some that do not exist here."

[JackieCat]

Kirl nodded. "I't sounds very interesting.  Can people from your plane travel to this one any time they want?  Or do your people only come down here every once in a while?"

As Kirl spoke, Oax laid down next to Calabell and rested her head on the elf's lap.

[Ethereal-Star]

Hesitantly petting the hyena for a couple seconds, Calabell responded to the question posed by the human. "No, my people rarely come down here. In fact, the mortal plane usually only serves as punishment for those who have wronged our own kind." She scowled, and spat out a curse in Clarion, her native tongue. "Curse them all..." she muttered.

Calabell wasn't sure she'd ever fully accept the circumstances of her exile. It had after all been one hundred fifty years since then. She still remembered being shoved through the portal that was constructed by the Elite Magi. A one way portal no less. "Either that or they just execute us for poor conduct. With the executed ones' heads mounted on pikes to serve as an example to the rest of us."

But that was just the way of her people. It had always been that way, just that Calabell had hoped never to be on the receiving end of it. Of course, things didn't turn out that way. While she was glad she wasn't executed like Grayden and most of the others had been, she sometimes wondered if maybe that would have been a better fate than being cast out. But the Aether elf supposed she would never know the answer to that. What was done was done. But she was still very peeved about the whole thing, and likely would be for a long time to come.

[JackieCat]

"I know I can't really judge, but from what little I know, you're people don't sound very nice," Kirl said. "Though I guess here isn't much better, but here you can at least get away.  What I've learned in my short time here, is that there is always, always someone who will accept you."

She looked up at Calabell and smiled crookedly. "All you have to do is look."

[Ethereal-Star]

Calabell said nothing, as her emotions were starting to take hold of her again. Swallowing a lump in her throat, she looked back at Kirl. "I wouldn't know since I've never taken the time to really speak to anyone. Except for you."

Silence passed before she spoke again. "I'm not sure what I want to do with the rest of my life now. Starting a family with one of my own kind is no longer an option for me, and there's no way I will ever subject myself to doing so with anyone else." By the Dream Lords, the very thought was just...unacceptable.

[JackieCat]

"Having a family is not the only course open to you, other than staying here," Kirl said. "You could wander, like I do, or settle down, make a living somewhere, and, who knows, you might come across some one you want to spend the rest of your life with.  I've met many people who swore they would never be with another outside of their own kind, but then later broken their promise because they met just the right person."

[Ethereal-Star]

As much as Calabell did not want to give the human that kind of credit, Kirl did have a point. At least about the first part. "The only way for me to settle down with anyone and have a family is if I met another Aether elf down here. But that seems highly unlikely. Although...not entirely impossible." she finished slowly, thinking.

And if the bright elf did meet another of her kind here, she would consider that a rare blessing.

[JackieCat]

Kirl shrugged. "You never know what might happen."

She sat down on the ground as well, playing with a piece of grass she pulled from the ground. "What do you plan to do now?" She asked. "Are you going to stay here?"