"Accord Reached in Song" Log Date: 2/16/02, 2/18/02 Log Cast: Vardeus, Raven Log Intro: It takes a great deal to severely disconcert Vardeus Alirreus: something on the scale of getting his beloved ship lost at sea, or attacked by a monster out of nightmare. But in the days he's had to spend stranded on the island of the Raft Elf tribe, he's found himself having to adjust his view of the world he knows it to include strange little point-eared beings unlike any kind of people he has ever known before -- beings who possess strange abilities as well, the power to shape rock and metal with a touch, and the power to talk to one another in their thoughts. They have another power as well, though, the ability to heal damaged bone and flesh. The she-elf called Splash, discovering that Vardeus has been recovering from cracks to his ribs, has invoked her healing magic to take care of this little problem for him; Splash, however, is a less than gentle healer, and so the human captain has had a rather painful introduction to this particular talent of the elves. Clinging to the remnants of pride already in tatters from the fact that he'd allowed himself to break down in front of Quietharm and Flashfire night before, Vardeus has fled the clearing where Splash healed him, and sought the refuge of a quiet place atop the island cliffs. There, he now struggles to pull himself back together... even as another of his elfin friends, Raven, comes after him and finds a way to reach out to the human she's taken under her protection.... ---------- Star Watching Cliffs - Surface - Raft Holt The view from the top of the cliff is absolutely spectacular. Down below you lays a pool of water and the surrounding lush forests. It is an ocean of blues and greens, the color of water and the color of the wildlife blending in a brilliant harmony of color. The sounds of falling water blend with the sounds of wildlife to bring forth a brilliant symphony of sound. Water rushes from a stream in front of you down the face of the cliff to form the spectacular waterfall. The area here is full of life, lush grass surrounding you all the way to the water's edge. Trees and flowers are scattered about up here, lending more color to the whole scene. When the daystar is up the light from it and the mist from the waterfall create the image of a rainbow. The whole picture is one of peace and serenity, a perfect place for relaxation. When you are done relaxing you can even move to the edge of the cliff and jump down into the pool of water below, there is even a thick vine which you can swing yourself further out with. The water is deep enough to accommodate for the drop. For the less daring, the path back down the cliff is relatively easy and far less wet. Evening at last and the first moon rises setting the world aglo with the silver light. There is a soft breeze, warm and gentle over the ground. The starry outlines of the Human Hunter begin to come out as the dimming red light of sunset fills the cool autumn skies. The setting sun. dancing attendance. Contents: Raven(#6358PJUXceo-0) Obvious exits: Dive Path Down Rather ironic, isn't it, sailor, that you've managed to find your way up to the clifftops after all, only to have to collapse beneath a tree once you've gotten there? Which is exactly what has happened to the Vraeyan captain Vardeus. Having fled the painful healing he's received at the hands of Splash, acutely embarrassed by the prospect of showing himself in such a state to any of his hosts after shaming himself with tears in front of Quietharm and Flashfire the night before, Vardeus has collapsed in a clumsy heap at the base of one of the trees that dots the clifftop, his entire frame slumped against the support of the trunk, every muscle in his torso aching with the aftermath of what has been done to his bones. Of course, news of the tall human's healing has been spread a bit through the tribe and, having been one of the ones to find him and his companion on the beach, Raven is curious as to where he's gotten himself off to. It hasn't been all that difficult to follow his trail once she found it since humans definately have a distinct scent that differs from that of an elf (Not to mention that the don't pass through the forest as well either). Slowly, she makes her way up the cliff path emerging at the top with only a whisper of sound to mark her footsteps. He doesn't hear her coming -- but then again, that's not a surprise. Human hearing isn't as sharp as elfin, and furthermore, Vardeus is exhausted. He'd do well to hear an entire fleet of Rensi pirates sneaking up on him, in the state he's in. Moreover, as the she-elf reaches the top of the cliff following the path of scent and other signs he's left by his passing, her coming is further disguised by the fact that he is _singing_. Not loudly, but the sound of it carries quite clearly to elfin ears: ragged singing, this, ever so slightly manic. Vardeus manages to cling to a semblance of pitch and cadence -- he's too much of a sailor to abandon his rhythm entirely -- but it's the singing of a man who is desperately trying to remind himself of something familiar. "((We'll rant an' we'll roar like true lads o' Shalros... we'll rant an' we'll roar, o-on deck an' below...))" Raven pauses at the top of the cliff and listens to the song and though she doesn't understand a word of it, the melody (though it contrasts with anything she's heard before) is oddly enchanting. She watches their odd guest for a moment before deciding to just keep quiet til he's sung his song; at which point, she simply settles herself on the ground at the top of the path and silently keeps a sort of vigil. "((Till we strikes bottom inside th' twa sunkers... w... when straight t' Ca-tra-ni-des Harbor we'll go...))" His voice gives out after he holds that final note for a while, and Vardeus frowns wearily at himself. He's already gone through half the shanties he can remember off the top of his head, and his hands itch horribly for the presence of his lyre. Somewhere behind his chest is a tight, aching realization that he'd even put up with Tiana's hassling him about his playing right now, if it meant he could actually make music with his crew again -- but no. His exhausted mind shies away from that, demanding on its own accord that he avoid thinking about it till this fit of exhaustion and turmoil and stress that has undone him passes. He can ride this out, he sternly urges himself. Just don't think. Sing. Sing anything. _C'mon, man, you know more songs than this...!_ Raven listens as that last note is held and he ends the song. She tips her head to one side and watches his expression for just a moment before she starts to sing, very quietly so as not to startle him. " Once we followed the star-ways, we children of light The high ones, yes, they knew the reason. Now we run on the ground and we hunt in the night, Uncaring we follow the seasons...." She watches to see what sort of reaction the song of her kind brings about in this strange human that washed up on the beach. The reaction it gets her is that Vardeus' eyes fly open, and his head swivels around in search of the source of that ethereal voice. For a fraction of an instant a bolt of something that tastes almost like panic shoots through him: someone's found him after all? Then the rest of his thoughts tackle that one and pummel it senseless, for he needs no explanation for what Raven is offering. It's _singing_. A sign that the Little People have _music_, and all at once he is so ridiculously glad to make this discovery that he could almost leap to his feet and shout out loud. He doesn't, though. His body is too tired to let him do anything of the kind. And so he tips his head back against the tree trunk instead, blanking his mind of all else except that sweet eldritch voice and trying to work out the rhythm of the song. A ways in, he begins to rumble a wordless harmony, a good two octaves down from the she-elf's voice. The blend isn't perfect, not like the uncanny melding of the howls of a wolf-pack in full throat at the moons... but it's there. Raven's eyes widen a bit and a glad twinkle finds its way into her bright green eyes as she breaks into the chorus allowing full voice now that Vardeus is joining into the song and seems slightly happy at sharing the harmony with her. "And we howl at the moons and we run to the kill, With companions of fur and of cunning. We survive in the ruin, and take pride in our skill, And find freedom and joy in the running...". Happy, perhaps, is not the precise word. Relieved for a distraction is closer. Relieved, too, to find out that his kind have at least something else in common with the pointed-eared Others, and that whoever it is singing now doesn't seem to object to his voice joining in, human though he may be. Vardeus doesn't know the words, but he doesn't have to; he manages a harmony anyway, keeping it deliberately simple and finding the melody seeming to soothe places inside him he hadn't quite realized were seemingly scoured and flayed. Raven decides to sing just a bit more of the song since Vardeus really does seem to have picked up the harmony though his deep voice, mingled with her own, high pitched one, does make an odd sort of couterpoint with it. " Deep in our blood runs the dream of our race, Memories rise up unbidden. The question is, "Why did we come to this place?" The answer must still remain hidden. ". 'Why did we come to this place?' A good question that would be, and one with which Vardeus could well sympathize if he but understood the words of the song. Still, something in it speaks to him, and for the moment, he is content to pour out his tension into what little he can contribute to the music. His voice rolls along under the high sweet singing, following the rhythm Raven establishes, now hitting deeper cousins of the notes she chooses, now diverging off by a third or a fifth to strike a rough but not unpleasant chord. Raven sings the rest of the song and ends it, letting the last note trail just a bit, though not nearly as long as the last note of the song Vardeus was singing when she arrived. As she finishes the song, she aims a smile at the human and speaks with sympathy, not pity, in her voice, "You miss your people, don't you?" Raven, Vardeus realizes at last, squinting at her through the moonlit darkness even as his brow crinkles up at her words. Not sure he quite understands what she's asked, hoping his guess is a true one because he doesn't have the energy to try to puzzle together the speech of the Little People right now, he lets out a hoarse sigh and breathes, eyes closing, "Vardeus... hurt, nae see home. Nae see ((cre--))... tribe. Much days." Raven rises from her spot at the top of the path and moves over to where Vardeus is sitting. She offers him a kindred smile as she sits, folding herself onto a small patch of grass. She nods in understanding before she speaks again, "I knew no home before coming here. My home before was wherever I slept when the daystar rose." "Raven... home, here," Vardeus mutters, just enough to try to relay that he heard and understood. Sort of. His eyes open again, but their pensive gaze goes out into the distance and the night, out to where the sea would be visible to him if the sun were up. Raven's expression changes a bit as she follows the trail of Vardeus's gaze and she frowns ever so slightly, "((Var-dee-oos)) misses ((Tee-ah-nah))?" she queries as she turns her gaze back to the stranded human. Oh gods. Not Raven, too? The human abruptly reddens, his mouth twisting in dismay as he asks warily, "What... 'misses'?" Then again, he's not entirely sure either that he wants that word explained. Not if the she-elf has uttered it in connection with his feisty second in command. Raven frowns a bit then holds up both her hands. She moves her left and says "((Var-dee-oos))," then moves her right saying, "((Tee-ah-nah))". She holds her hands side by side and says, "((Var-dee-oos)) happy.." and she smiles to indicate the meaning of that word.. then moves her hands far apart as her expression grows very sad, "((Var-dee-oos)) sad.. misses ((Tee-ah-nah))". Well, it could have been worse. She could have just tried to ask whether Vardeus and Tiana were married and had a horde of bouncing baby sailo -- er. He doesn't want to let his thoughts go in that direction, does he? Still blushing, Vardeus blurts unthinkingly, "((Aye--))" WAIT. No! That did _not_ come out right. Aghast at himself, the human shakes his head rapidly as if trying to clear it, certain his weariness must have made him lose control over his tongue. "T... Tiana ((crew)), Tiana tribe, Little Capta--" Gods, what's the matter with him? He's babbling. He's actually _babbling_. Forcibly Vardeus cuts himself off and finishes with a hoarsely muttered, "Miss crew. Home." Aye, that's it then. Raven arches a dark brow as she listens to Vardeus answer quickly then sputter about trying to answer her. Slowly a smile begins to spread across her features as she lowers her hands before letting out a bright trill of laughter. She's seen tribesmates and friends act very similarly and it usually means the one thing they don't want to admit,"((Var-dee-oos)), you are a funny human." The human for a moment or two perhaps seems unsure as to how exactly to take that. Then he smirks a bit, and tilts his head back against the tree behind him once again, rasping as he does in a tone whose irony is undiminished by his apparent weariness, "Good... Vardeus think." He falls silent. And stays that way for a few more moments, before he adds tiredly, "Raven come, search for Vardeus?" Raven nods her head as her expression shifts to a more serious sort, "Yes, I had heard that your healing didn't go easily," she says. She cants her head to the side in a birdlike manner as if trying to see beneath the surface of the human called Vardeus. His posture doesn't ostensibly shift, nor does Vardeus even really move at all, yet nevertheless there comes into his slumped form a slightly more stoic, wary sort of set. He does open his eyes again, though, sliding a hooded look at the she-elf: the sort of look one might perhaps expect from an outsider wolf warily considering overtures of permission to enter a pack. There's a bit of consternation lurking behind his eyes, though. Perhaps it's borne of needing to work his way through Raven's words, but then again, it might also be from what she's _said_. And that latter becomes a bit more obvious a conclusion as he gruffly answers, "Raevun say 'heal', think, elf take pain, Vardeus no hurt?" With that, he glances down at himself, with a bit more of that consternation, as if not entirely believing what he's experienced quite literally in the flesh. "Shayla say, elf help. Woolfelf say, elf help." Raven nods her head, "Yes! Heal.. make hurts go away.." she replies trying to help Vardeus understand the word 'heal'. "Yes, Splash healed you. You will be well now." If the look on the human's face is any indication, he doesn't quite buy the veracity of this claim. "Vardeus... see, after sleep. Pain gone, Vardeus go," he mutters, looking out again into the night and to the sea that murmurs far below the clifftop. Raven nods quietly and watches as Vardeus's gaze moves back toward the unseen VastDeep. After several moments, her voice gently breaks the silence again though she speaks in a sage tone of voice, "((Vardeeoos)) misses ((Teeahnah)).. he wishes she were his mate.." It is not posed as a question but, as a statement of fact. Vardeus makes a sudden startled sound that suggests he's just swallowed a fish bone the wrong way. His head swivels back to Raven; his eyes fly open, going round in his exhausted face. "((What?!))" he yelps, momentarily forgetting to try to stay with the elfin tongue, simultaneously alarmed by what he thinks has just been said to him and certain he probably really doesn't want it translated. Raven simply sits there with a small, knowing smile curling the corners of her mouth as she allows her gaze to turn toward the distant ocean. She lifts a hand to brush a stray strand of hair away from her face. Her entire attitude is one that is in complete contrast to Vardeus's. Slowly, her gaze shifts back to meet the widened one of the stranded captain's, "Your ears are not broken," she states coolly. It's impossible. Bloody well impossible. Not only does the she-elf look nothing _like_ his second, not only is Raven _hands_ shorter than Tiana, she is moreover as near as he can tell a different kind of being _entirely_. He isn't sure of some of her last uttered words. And nevertheless, that tone sounds _exactly_ like many a tone he's heard out of the mouth of Tiana Pagonis. The reminder provokes him into leaning swiftly forward from the tree, shooting a forefinger out to point sternly at the Wolfrider while an involuntary explosion of Vraeyan bursts out of him: "((Tiana Pagonis wouldnae have me if I were th' last man sailin' th' waves! She hates me, she does! And besides--))" Just as abruptly, he wrenches his gaze away from Raven's apparently all-too-perceptive regard and adds, eyes abruptly anguished, "((Besides, I cannae have 'er. Pledged m'self to Tyra Yfantis, though by all the gods it isnae likely I'll make it home again to keep me vow!))" Raven shakes her head and lifts her hands in a gesture that matches her words, "I don't understand what you said." Vardeus doesn't meet the eyes of his small companion, not entirely. Out of the corner of his eye he does espy that gesture of her hands, and as his jaw tightens grimly, he ponders for a long moment what exactly to say. Finally, tightly, roughly, he mutters, "What 'mate'?" Raven chuckles softly, as she thinks for a moment, "Quietharm and Morningtide are mates," She replies with a calm smile fastened firmly on her features. Kyethaerm and Maernantayde. He's seen them, noticed the patterns in their behavior to one another -- and that's the best, simplest explanation Vardeus could possibly need. It also sends a distinctly disturbed shadow passing across his expression, as he keeps staring out into the distance as if his very life and soul were out there somewhere far beyond the range of his sight. "Vardeus nae make Tiana mate. Vardeus say, in Vrae, make Tyra mate. Vardeus _say_. Make Tiana mate, Vardeus say _bad_. Nae say bad." He pauses then, scowling, exasperated with his own primitive phrasing as well as with this habit he seems to have fallen into of showing the most vulnerable parts of himself to his bizarre hosts. His eyes close, while that stoic expression tightens on his features. And at last, after a long silence, he concludes hoarsely, "Vardeus say Tiana be mate, Tiana nae say yes." Raven listens intently to Vardeus's explaination before she shifts on her patch of grass and moves even closer to the much large human. There is calm in her bright, green eyes as she reaches up with both hands and takes hold of the captain's face, making certain that he must look at her as her brow dips slightly, "((Teeahnah)) is always angry with ((Vardeeoos))?" she asks as she seems to search for something in his expression. Vardeus lets his face be taken, lets it be turned about so that his blue eyes come level with Raven's own emerald green ones. Yet again, he has to parse through the words. But... 'angry'. Quietharm's pantomimed that one at him. He can make a guess at 'always'. And so for a long moment he just stares at Raven, wondering if the bleak sense of lostness that has engulfed his heart as of late can be seen in his face, and wondering why the she-elf is concerned about it all, and too tired and too stiff and sore and aching to even try to hide it from her. All he says is a single breathed "((Aye))," but then again, that may well be enough. Raven knows that word ((Aye)) she's heard it enough to be familiar with it. Her mouth curls into a knowing smile as her eyes twinkle with an amused sort of wisdom.. the sort of expression one might see on a seasoned elder's face.. though she doesn't look as if she's any older than the human before her. (In fact, if compared to the way a human ages, she doesn't look as if she could be older than Vardeus's second.) She continues to hold the sides of Vardeus's face as she tries to convey what she's got to say in a way that he can understand, "I have seen this many times... those who wish to be mates but can not say it, often get angry." She pauses for a moment to let this sink in before continuing, "If such is the way with her.. She is not angry with you.. but.. with herself." Vardeus has, in fact, begun to wonder exactly how old the Little People on this island are. So many of its inhabitants are no taller than children to him, and _all_ of their faces are timeless in their ethereal beauty... and yet, there is an uncanny knowing, an uncanny wisdom, in many of those youthful-seeming faces whenever they turn to him. He sees it again now -- and by contrast, shaken, _he_ looks quite young. "Vardeus... nae make Tiana mate," he repeats then, awkwardly, not knowing what else he could possibly say. His last words, however, come out of him in a softer whisper and his eyes grow bleaker as he says them. "Vardeus nae... make say to Tyra bad. Make say bad, make _Vardeus_ bad." Raven tsks and shakes her head as she lowers her hands from Vardeus's face and sits back on her heels. "((Vardeeoos)) will keep looking to the water for what will always be lost then." Though he may not understand everything of what she says, there is a sense of pity in the tone of her clear, bell-like voice. No, most of those words are beyond him -- but he can hear the tone of Raven's words, indeed, and it calls up a blush beneath his tan. Vardeus does not look away, though. Instead, he hauls in a breath and wears an expression not at all unlike the one he'd borne when facing the power of Splash: stoic readiness to face and endure something he full well understands is going to hurt. "Vardeus nae make bad say, hurt Tiana, hurt Tyra. Find ((crew)). Find home." Nothing else matters. And damned if Vardeus Alirreus is going to let his apparently treacherously rampaging sentiments stand in the way of upholding a promise. Raven nods slowly and her expression shifts to another smile, "I will help you find ((croo)). Many here have seen the big land but, not many have seen as much as I have." She states that as if there will be no arguement. She feels sort of responsible for the big fellow since she did find him and offer help without her chief's input on the matter beforehand. It's only right that she make sure that he's back with his ((croo)) safely. "Raven good to Vardeus, Maerro... make tent big. Bring Vardeus, when hurt..." The human sighs, adding plaintively, "((Lass, I dinnae know how to say 'thank you.'))" One corner of his mouth curls in a ghost of something that might have been a smile, if he were not exhausted of body and mind and heart. "Kyethaerm also say come, Shayla say hilp. Kyethaerm say, Kephissa, Valnek come. Vardeus see Kephissa, Valnek come... go, find ((crew))." Raven smiles as if she understood the thank you; and, though she's not heard that term before, she does understand the tone of voice. She chuckles softly, "I had to make the tent big. You and ((Mayehroh)) were all that it would hold before... and we can take it when we go to find ((croo))." Wearily, quite wearily, the human nods. And all at once the notion of being able to lay down somewhere quiet begins to hold an appeal for him that it hadn't had, when he'd fled the clearing that held the elf that touched him, that made his flesh move beneath her fingers. But before he can succumb to the notion of sleep, before he has to force himself to get up and move his aching body to somewhere where he can in fact comfortably curl up, the captain studies the she-elf consideringly. And finally says, "Raevun hilp Vardeus... Raevun say, Vardeus hilp Raevun. Elfs give Vardeus food... Vardeus find food for elfs? Fish?" Raven grins as she gets to her feet and holds her hand out toward Vardeus offering to help him to his feet as well. She nods her head, "Fish tomorrow.. You need sleep now and your furs are waiting." The human closes his big five-fingered hand around the four-fingered one offered; for a moment, he just stares at the pair of interlocked hands, aware of their differences, quite aware of how Shay'la had used that same visual aid to point out the differences between _elf_ and _huimin_. He isn't convinced, not yet, that most of the elves are exactly happy to have him and his lad Maerro around... and yet, there are elves who have reached out to take them in. Shay'la, Quietharm... and Raven. He squeezes that hand she's given him, once, though he finds he doesn't exactly need the slight leverage it will give him to make it to his feet. His body still hurts; the arm he unthinkingly loops around his chest attests to that. But though he still moves as though he's undergone great physical hardship... there's a difference now. A hint of something that may well be strength and grace, when he is fully recovered. And once he's on his feet, a hint of what his spirit might be like when it too is fully recovered glimmers down on Raven for a moment as he half-smiles. "Vardeus know... elf, huimin, diff-uh-rent. Raven, Kyethaerm, Shayla nae think Vardeus bad... is good." And in his own tongue, "((Lass, I dinnae know how to say 'friend', either.))" Raven replies by patting the much larger hand holding hers and responding to that bit of pressure with a surprisingly firm squeeze of her own. She smiles up at Vardeus and nods her head in agreement, "Yes.. Is good." That said, she starts for the cliff path, giving the sea captain's hand a tug, urging him to come along back to the beach. Well, what can he say to that? He lets himself be led, then, for he'll need all the strength he's got left to make it back down to the tent and lay himself out for sorely needed rest... _And at any rate, man,_ Vardeus tells himself as he goes with his diminutive companion, _sometimes you talk too much anyway._ [End log.]