Log cast: Rayek, Minx, Suntop, Yun
Log date: 8/28/98 

Entry Hall(#8823RAF)
High-ceilinged, airy, this chamber widens out from the doorway that
 serves as its entrance from outside to an expansive room, filled with
 little more than strangely ornate walls and the occasional column,
 rising up to the ceiling far overhead. Closer inspection of the walls
 reveals patterns shaped into their surfaces, sometimes of wings, or
 flowers, or the lithe forms of elves -- and sometimes of images that
 defy description. The air is full of a subliminal shimmer that plays at
 the edge of elfin senses, a tingle that feels welcoming even in its
 eldritch oddness. Among the fanciful shapings in this wide chamber can
 be viewed a 'black spiral' of rock resting on a low column.
A long winding stairway twines its way up out of this chamber and into
 the upper heights of this place; you might be able to find other ways
 out of here, but the only other exit in immediate sight is the archway
 and doors that lead outside.
Contents:
Obvious exits:
Corridor  Winding Stairway  Doorway<Out>  

Minx steps in from outside.
Minx moves away from the huge stone structure nearby.
Minx has arrived.

Suntop steps in from outside.
Suntop moves away from the huge stone structure nearby.
Suntop has arrived.
Suntop darts in after Minx, "If you're so concerned shouldn't we wait--"
 he starts to ask her but stops as he crosses through the doorway.

Yun steps in from outside.
Yun moves away from the huge stone structure nearby.
Yun has arrived.
Yun trudges in after them.

Rayek is little more than a tall figure at the top of the winding
 stairway, back turned at their entrance, but moving to face them at the
 sound of voices echoing against the walls.

Minx stops a few steps within the Palace entrance, then steps aside to
 let the others enter.
Minx looks at you for a moment.

[Minx]
Minx is young, tall and willowy. Dark brown hair with golden highlights
 falls shaggily down, forsaking her mother's curls, into brilliant gold
 eyes. Her eyes hold a lupine slant, reminding some of her 
 great-grandsire Bearclaw. Her skin is naturally tanned, very lightly,
 evidence of her Sun Villager blood, though she scents and runs with the
 pack as well as any Wolfrider. The wolf-blood runs strong in this young
 chieftess-to-be.
She is bundled up into warm, pale tan leathers, their darker tan fur
 lining keeping her warm against the cold. White mittens cover her
 hands, a necessity for making snowballs.
Light catches her golden lupine eyes with startling brightness,
 betraying a look of mischief.
Carrying:
Shadow
Worn bone knife
Bow and arrows
Small Wolfshead Necklace

[Rayek]
Tall, graceful, but sort of gangly in a way you can't quite tell. His
 obsidian hair, occasionally flashing an indigo highlight or two,
 cascades over his shoulders and settles somewhere just above the small
 of his back. His eyes are slanted, almost serpentine, with long lashes 
 framing golden-amber irises, a down-tilted nose set evenly between
 them. His face is finely chiseled and perhaps a little long, wisps of
 black hair curling slightly to frame his face, his skin a smooth, milk
 chocolate tone. A pair of upward sloping ears peek out from beneath his
 obsidian mane, elegant points on each tip.
Gone are the yellowy garments of Glider-make, instead replaced with Sun
 Folk-woven cloth dyed simply in black and white. He wears a tunic with
 laces through the collar, tied loosely with the ends trailing down his
 front. The tunic tucks into a pair of black, formfitting leggings that,
 in turn, tuck into a pair of above-the-knee boots. A black cloak,
 deliberately cut ragged, is tied about his shoulders.

Yun nods at a send and looks at the Palace warily - although she has
 spent time here before.

Minx looks around, gaze finally settling on the figure on the staircase,
 and she says gruffly. "Well, somebody's home."

Yun follows Minx's gaze upward.

Suntop sighs and sets his pack down, looking about, eyes pausing at the
 figure on the stairs. A muttered, "Puckernuts" could be heard by those
 closest to him...

The Glider-tall Airwalker makes no move to descend the stairway until
 after one of the new arrivals has caught sight of him. Only then does
 Rayek move down, his sending flickering out over the trio. ** Welcome. **

Minx glances to Suntop, then stays where she is, watching Rayek's
 descent.

Suntop moves further into the hall, glancing up as the taller figure
 descends. ** Shade, Rayek... ** he sends, ** You seem to have been
 doing well... **

Yun smirks.

Suntop looks at you for a moment.

Rayek says nothing, at first. He continues his way down until he pauses
 at the final step, arms and hands coming up to fold and arrange
 themselves over his chest. A corner of his lip twitches into a smirk of
 his own, slightly crooked. "As do you. Suntop."

Minx inches over to Yun.

Rayek's golden gaze abruptly shifts from the sun-haired mystic, settling
 on the two maidens that accompany him. His attitude doesn't change in
 the slightest, but his tone does. "Welcome to the Palace," he says
 again.

Yun says "Yea, the old place doesn't change much, does it?"

Minx clears her throat. "Um. Yeah. Thanks."

The mystic's nose twitches slightly as he catches a new scent...must be
 Rayek's. He nods in response to Rayek and looks slightly past him to
 look beyond the staircase, "How is Ktai? And she must have a young one
 by now..." He gives Yun a quick glance but turns back to Rayek.

Golden eyes focus on Yun. Rayek tilts his head slightly, eyebrows
 lifting. "Should it?"

Yun says "Perhaps it should, Rayek. Everyone and everything else does.
 Even this was not it's first form."

Suntop's question, it seems, goes unanswered as Rayek's attention
 settles on Yun, taking a seat on the second-to-final step of the
 stairway, arms over his knees and hands clasped together. "It's first
 form was meant for the stars," the Airwalker answers her, a slight dry
 note to his tone. "Many seem to prefer it as it is, and where it is."

Suntop chuckles softly at Yun's comment and approaches the staircase,
 perhaps to climb it. He attempts to go around the now-seated 
 Air-walker...

[Minx disconnected abruptly.  It is assumed she stayed quiet for the 
 duration of the scene.]

Yun says "I don't care where it is, Rayek. And you, as usual, have no
 humor left in your stretched brittle bones."

Rayek is seated in the center of the steps. He does not try to stop
 Suntop from ascending the stairway, but nor does he move out of the
 way. To Yun's comment he only smirks.

And that's all Yun wished to see. She stands protectively over the
 quieted Minx.

Suntop looks back at Yun's comment as well and tries very hard not to
 laugh. He then looks back up the stairs. "I heard rumors that both 
 scrolls were back...is it true?" This question might get an answer from
 the vague Rayek...

The Airwalker nods. Once. ** They are, ** he answers a moment, perhaps
 two, later.

At that answer, Suntop sprints up the stairs to see for himself.
Suntop makes his way up the long staircase.
Suntop has left.

Rayek's lips curl in a faint smile, gaze dropping to regard his clasped
 hands. He still takes note of the two maidens, Yun and Minx, and sends
 openly once Suntop has safely cleared the stairway. ** Will you follow? **

Suntop hops down the stairway after poking his head into the Scroll
 Chamber. He smiles and already seems a little more relaxed than he did
 during the journey.

Yun says "No, we're fine. You go ahead about your business."

Suntop glances now to Rayek, "Who else is here?" He seems to have
 noticed quite a few unfamiliar scents...fairly recent, about the upper
 chambers.

The brown-skinned elf nods once, again, then rises to his feet again.
 Suntop is cast an over-the-shoulder glance briefly, then the 
 golden-eyed hunter descends the final step and starts to move aside to
 disappear down another hall until Suntop's query catches him. ** We
 have had very few visitors of late. Talyrath isn't here any longer, and
 we did have a few Gliders here some moons ago, but.. They are gone. **

Suntop glances to the silent Minx and Yun, then looks back to Rayek. **
 What did they want? **

** Two came to commune with the spirits of their loved ones. The 
 third.. ** Rayek's lips purse. ** ..was something of a.. nuisance. **

Suntop nods, and then asks, ** Did Eveshka leave with Talyrath? ** He
 knows the two were close...

The eyes of the once Master of the Palace darken almost immediately,
 like the brewing of a thundercloud before a storm. ** No. He left of
 his own accord and without telling anyone. **

Suntop ohs softly. ** So Ktai and Eveshka are here then...? **

Rayek nods. Once.

Suntop sends openly ** And Ktai's cu-child? **

Yun looks at you for a moment.

Rayek's head tilts, looking down at the younger mystic, eyes narrowed
 faintly, but betraying no malice within them. However, it is not the
 most warmest of gazes either. ** What of him? **

[Yun]
At first glance, you might underestimate the mellow-looking, 
 forest-dwelling Go-Back, but you shouldn't. Draw closer and you'll see
 that her grey eyes sparkle with cleverness and humor and she meets your
 gaze unflinchingly, albeit briefly. Yet with a smirk she has seen all
 she needed to know something about you, her nose - honed in past turns
 by living with the wolfriders - tells her a little more.
	She wears a tawny and brown-grey tunic - tawny along her shoulders
 to just above her breasts and also along the bottom hem as well as the
 hem of her sleeves, the brown-grey leather forming the body. Cut
 straight across the top, the neckline falls slightly in a mock cowl.
 The tunic is belted at her waist holding whatever necessary pouches and
 her short-sword. On the shoulder of each sleeve is stitched the symbol
 of her parentage - a wolf's head on the right, a hart's head on the
 left - they are also detachable for the warmer weather. The matching
 light colored leather of her pants are tucked into a darker grey boots
 just beneath her knees. Etched into each boots top, hard to see unless
 you were quite close, is a star with "shine" lines stretching out from
 it.
	Her mass of shoulder-length honey-colored hair is held back by a
 grey headband. Sewn onto it by her right temple is a bone bead.
	She moves with an easy and controlled grace marking her as
 huntress and warrior. The last look she gives you back is curious and
 pondering, quick and sensual.

Suntop smiles, ** Ah! So it was a male cub! I did not know. How old is
 he now? ** He attempts to keep his tone conversational for now.

Yun has disconnected.

The golden-eyed hunter says shortly, "Three turns, nearly four."

Suntop watches Rayek in a moment's silence, his smile fading. ** Do you
 think I would do anything to the cub? Rayek...you know me better than
 that...I would never harm him. **

In response his arms fold over his chest again, and his stance shifts so
 that his weight lies predominantly one foot, the other touching the
 floor lightly. His gaze, if anything, turns all the more stonier. 
 ** No, ** he answers curtly. ** You wouldn't. **

[Suntop]
     Named for the sun-bright golden hair which now falls freely to the
 middle of his back, Suntop, although no longer a child, still retains a
 bit of innocence linked with that past time. But upon a closer, deeper
 look into his brilliant blue eyes, that innocence seems to be
 intertwined with an unlearned, unstudied wisdom and power that seems
 far too old for his seemingly young age. Of late, these eyes seem
 darker, wilder; Not in color, for they still shine brightly,
 contrasting with his dusky skin, nor in intensity, but somewhere deeper
 inside this mystic's mind. That is not the only change this young elf
 has seen. His movements seem sharper, less relaxed than they had been,
 and his slight scent has grown stronger. His clothes are a mixture of
 desert and forest, in the bright colors this elf favors. .

Suntop steps off of the last step and goes to retrieve his pack. ** It's
 no wonder there haven't been many visitors here if you give them the
 same warm reception you gave us. ** He sends with more than a trace of
 sarcasm as he starts back up the stairs.

Rayek offers nothing in reply save a quiet, watchful look.

Suntop climbs the stairs with less exuberance this time. With a soft
 sigh, he looks back over his shoulder at the Airwalker and says, "The
 feeling might not be mutual, but it's good to see you again, Rayek."

This time there is a reaction, though it is slight. The aforementioned
 Airwalker nods slightly, a few strands of ebon falling over his eyes.
 He retreats backwards a step himself, then tilts his head thoughtfully
 after the yellow-haired Suntop. ** How long will you and yours be
 staying? **

Suntop shakes his head and gives a small shrug. " I don't know." is the
 best answer he can give right now.

Rayek offers cleverly in response, "Ah."

Suntop hazards a question..."Do you not want us to stay?"

Black eyebrows arch, seemingly to disappear beneath the thin curtain of
 black hair. "All elves are welcome within these halls so far as they do
 not profane them," he says, evading the question.

Suntop's blue eyes meet Rayek's golden ones for a moment before he says,
 "Good." and disappears into the Scroll Chamber.

[end log]