Log cast: Rayek, Eveshka Log date: 11/3/98 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: Eveshka Obvious exits: Corridor Winding Stairway Doorway The sunbrowned elf makes his way slowly into the entry hall, moving out of the corridor at a sluggish pace. His eyes are weary with sleep as he rubs a hand against them, clumsily tying the lacing of his tunic up one-handedly. He walks, his noticeably bare feet making no noise against the Palace floor. The small elfin figure in the shadows under the stars peers out, blinking several times before smiling and drifting out from her niche very much as if she were one of the spirits which inhabited the Palace. Rayek yawns again, then hand moving from his eye to cover his mouth, muffling it, and leans against the Palace wall. Since his return from Blue Mountain turns ago, the airwalker has been prone to erratic bouts of no sleep, wandering the halls like a shadowy ghost for days until it finally catches up to him and he crashes, sleeping like the dead. It seems he has been roused from such a sleep, for tire still blurs his eyes, making him miss the figure drifting out from the niche. ** Rayek...? Father? ** Drifts the soft bell-like send. Golden eyes shift up at the silvery voice and a smile pulls at the edges of his lips, smoothening his chiseled face of some of its wear and tear. ** You send that so easily, ** the airwalker notes with a wry touch to his sending. She ducks her head softly. ** It comes easily when love is there. ** "Hmm," comes the answer with a noncommital shrug of Rayek's shoulders as he moves forward again a few steps, finishing in lacing up his tunic. He glances up at her again. ** How are you this eve? ** Eveshka sends openly ** I... I am well. And you? ** ** Heh. Tired. ** She drifts the rest of the way out of the shadow, a faint smile on her lips. ** And why are you so? ** ** Probably because I haven't slept for the past few days, I'd imagine. ** There's a bit of dryness to the amusement tingling around the edges of his sending, but it's good-natured and seems appropriate for the half-smirk upon the airwalker's face. Eveshka tilts her head and drifts nearer. ** Why is that, father? Is something disturbing your dreams? ** Rayek's shoulders lift and fall in another light shrug. "It happens from time to time. Can't sleep, disturbing dreams, bad meat. It happens. High Ones know why." ** So ask them. ** He misses it at first, blinking, then looks up at Eveshka with arched brows. "What? Why?" She lands with a soft *ffft* of silks against stone. Pale lips part, meet, then part again. "Ask them why you cannot sleep." The black-haired elf considers this for a moment, then discards the thought quickly, waving a brown hand. "It is not worth their time. Besides, I am not bothered by it." It is good that he chooses speech rather than sending, for the statement would be obvious for a lie if one were to judge the truth of it on his appearance mere moments ago. "Indeed." She muses, pursing her lips. "You certainly -looked- bothered by it earlier." His eyes slip to their corners, looking at her sidelong with an impenetrable golden regard. "Appearances can be very decieving." Her silvery-lavendar eyes are quiet in response, eyes that seem far older than she looks... but then again, she -is- far older than she looks. ** Yes, father. But then there is mother... who never wakes without searching for you first. Can you look at her and tell her that you are simply wandering the halls of the Palace because you feel like it? I remember the Mountain, father. The dreamless sleep where you would rather stay awake for countless days rather than to sleep the sleep of death. And then I remember death being preferable to that. She is not here to feed off your dreams, father. And if she were, It would be all within my power given to keep those dreams safe. ** The golden regard considers her for a long moment, then seems to take on a coppery sheen before it slips away, studying the wall as if enthralled by a mere crack along it's shimmering finish. He starts to send something, ** ..... ** but it sifts through his fingers and dances out of reach before he can put to form, leaving an uneasy silence in its wake. The send is contrite. ** Forgive me, father. She must have been nearly impossible to resist. I have watched her break so many... it is almost beyond my ability to understand how you resisted her. You must love mother very much. ** ** I do. ** A sending in its purest form: truth. The airwalker lifts a shaking brown hand, touching it to his forehead as if a great weight were upon him, a tired smile pulling halfheartedly at his lips. ** I do. ** She moves so lightly, in the air briefly, then down beside him. ** Father... what is it? ** The minute sound of slippered feet is enough to draw him out of whatever he fell into. Rayek looks up again, shoulders thrown back and chin lifted. "Nothing," he answers firmly, looking around to her, and softening a slight bit. He repeats, gentler, "Nothing. I'm just tired, that's all." Her hand is offered. ** Please, tell me? I'm not as good at talking as mother is... but I'd like to help... ** Slowly, the airwalker's gaze shifts to study the offered pale hand, then lifts to meet the silver-flecked lavender gaze. A fragile smile pulls one edge of his lips up, but the other remains down, smiling lopsidedly at her as he repeats quietly, "Just tired, Eveshka. Don't worry." Her hand falters slightly, she turns her face to regard the wall herself now. Lisya softly soulsends ** But I do worry. You mean so much to mother and Tyree... ** Rayek's head turns sharply to look at the pale Glider beside him, his copper-gold eyes blinking rapidly for quite a few moments. . o O (.....) His mouth opens, hangs agape for a moment, then slowly closes again without uttering a sound. He looks away again, a hand lifting to smoothen back his black tresses. She isn't looking at him. Rather, she is studying a carving on the wall as if nothing had happened. "Eveshka.." Rayek starts to say, but his voice falters before more than her name can be said, trailing off awkwardly. She turns her head, pale eyes looking to him quietly. Without intending it, she has a similar expression to Savah's serene gaze. "Yes?" It startles him for a moment, golden eyes growing wide for a moment before resuming their normal width, blinking a few times before he settles. "You.." he starts to say, stops, then tries again, releasing a breath so that it seems to flow together. "You... put too much faith in me." "Perhaps. But you have proven yourself worthy of such." [To be continued...]