The Darkest Hour ((LitShark & Sexual_Muse))

Some things are afraid of the dark, but Orion Avalyn had never been a thing of that sort. In fact, the darkness has been the only place that the dark elf ever felt truly at home. His devotion to the Dark God, Quasmaanik, had only expanded his appreciation of the darkness which pervaded his world. Orion had spent so many years in the opaque blackness of his unflinching faith that now he was finding himself anxious over the approach of dawn.

Over the years, Orion had earned distinction through his devotion to the teachings and tenants of his faith, rising up among other clergy to a position near the pinnacle of power as a Prince of the Church. Now, the Dark God required something wholly unexpected of him. For the sake of respite from a centuries old blood-feud with the Dirt-Worshippers, Orion was to marry one of them.

The Arch-Minister had been very clear, this was not to be a love marriage, Orion wasn’t to go gallivanting around their hated rivals’ village—courting and seducing some pretty thing who caught his eye. He was to find an influential and politically relevant female and bring her to task, bring her under thumb—as a husband ought with his new wife, and deliver her—mind, body and soul to the Dark Altar. If she wouldn’t be broken and converted, she would be destroyed.

All is for the glory and praise of Quasmaanik the infallible.

Beneath the wide open sky, as the comfortable blackness of night relented to the blue haze and creeping orange fingers of dawn, Orion felt unease setting in. He was outside of his element, exposed to a world much greater than himself, and it made him nervous. No longer was he revered and respected as an extension of the Dark One’s will, no longer was he able to bend lesser souls to his will by a snap of his fingers. He was just another foreign race, immigrant, alone on the roads at dawn.

Though he still had the support and protection of the faith, none of that would offer much defense against an arrow, he couldn’t threaten a stealthy blade into submission, and there was a fool born every minute who acted without regard for consequences. His ebony gauntlets and enchanted bronze belt would likely fetch a handsome price from a fence, if they weren’t so priceless to the devotees of Quasmaanik—thieves seldom listened to reason. The terrible fate which awaited any who sought to harm him would be cold comfort if Orion himself were dead on the side of this obscure stretch of road.

A swift motion of his hand summoned an ethereal bow into his palm, and he nocked a blue, glowing arrow to the string as the orange face of the sun peeked through the dense maze of trunks. His red eyes flitting around the treetops, vigilant of an ambush, pointed ears straining for the sound of creaking wood which would indicate bows being drawn.

Beyond the cluster of trees which grew just below the rail of a small, wooden bridge that followed the road over a small stream, Orion could see the archway of trimmed, living branches, which led down into the fertile valley where the murderers of his brothers kept their mud-loving camp. Not like the subterranean marvel that was Quasma—the Dark Lord’s glorious city for true believers.

As his gold gilded boots crunched into the bed of dead leaves, following the narrow stream into the cluster of trees, from the sleeve of his robe, Orion doused the tip of his summoned arrow in a potent frenzy poison, sure to make even the most level headed adversary forget their allies.

He didn’t get far at all, before Orion’s foot came dangerously near a trip wire of fragile thread. His toe felt out the trip-line ever so carefully, delicately, as he heard the sound of bows being drawn from treetops all around. He closed his fist, bow and arrow vanishing in a flicker of static into nothingness, the wasted poison falling to the ground in thick drops.

“I come in peace.” Orion announced, holding up his empty hands, letting the sleeves of his robe trail down his vein-laced, muscular, grey forearms. “I am Lord Orion from the republic of Quasma. I’ve been summoned by your leadership to negotiate a truce. As requested, I’ve come alone and unarmed.”

A sly smile tugged faintly at the corner of Orion’s mouth, remembering the words of his long dead tutor, murdered by these same tree-hugging infidels some years ago: A scholar of conjuration is never alone or unarmed.

“Will you betray your own mighty oaths and slay an envoy of peace?” Orion asked, turning to address a different group of unseen assailants. “Do you hold anything sacred in this hole you inhabit? I fear no death, so long as my life has been in service to the one true God. All praises, all devotion, all life belongs to Him. All is darkness in the beginning, so shall it all be in the end.”

With that, Orion closed his eyes and lifted his chin. If the truce were violated in this way, the recompense would be swift and terrible. He had served the Dark God as had been required of him, now his fate rested with the Lord of All Blood. Either they would show themselves, and escort him through the traps which had halted him, or they would pepper him with arrows and make a martyr of him. Orion was at peace, knowing that no matter what happened next, the Dark Will would be served. All praises, all devotion, all life to Quasmaanik.

In darkness the quietest of whispers travel the furthest.

It was a lesson Belisama had learned at a young age when her parents were killed in the dead of night but the followers of Quasmaanik. Her parents had no part in the sect feud being peaceful travelers in the wrong place at the wrong time yet because of their deaths it changed the life of the child wood elf in a way that she never would have expected.

It was just by chance that a Priestess of Aurcinah had found Beli while they both had been out hunting. A prize stag crossing the hidden spot that Beli had crafted out of fallen limbs and greenery, while a hunter stalked it. The first and only arrow to touch the stag that brought him down belonged to the youngster and the Priestess saw it as a sign. That day Beli's life as a Priestess of Aurcinah began.

Belisama learned Aurcinah's Creed and found comfort in something that she could believe in. A Goddess that she could relate to and devote her life to. Witnessed by the All Mother, Aurcinah was the Mistress of the dawn. Singer of twilight. Whisper to the dusk. Governed by The Huntress she was the Goddess of the hunt. Rider of the wilds. Protector of the balance. Two side neither of which good nor evil.

Together her followers protected the forest and all things born to it. The surround villages their ward and the secret of Aurcinah's Heart only a rumor they could not confirm.

For centuries Aurcinah and Quasmaanik had been at war and dependent on who you asked it was the fault of the other. No side claimed fault for the start of it and Beli wasn't sure anyone knew the real reason, the truth as to why they fought. Only that with every death the hatred grew between the two and the feud continued.

When Mor'ana rode off with Aurcinah at the end of her days and Belisama became The Huntress she had ventured into the roots of Aurcinah's Heart for the cause of the feud. Many of the high priestess given quarters withing the Heart believed that the quarrel between the two deities had started because Quasmaanik brought an unbalance to the world that was their place to fix. Beli's constant quest for the answer of all her whys and her prowess with the hunt was what made her The Huntress at such a young age when Mor'ana had passed. All Mother said that her questions were the coming dawn.

"With knowledge comes strength, passion, corruption and redemption. Be a light to that truth when you find it."

But Beli knew that the stronger the light the darker the shadows and that should she find something it would have to be handled with care. For in Beli's mind this was the way to an end. To come full circle and put a stop to the needless killing. To many had been killed in both deities' names and it was far past the time for this feud to finish.

As The Huntress Beli was second to only the All Mother and even so they shared the same tasks of upholding the balance of Aurcinah. The All Mother could hear the callings of Aurcinah and was the progressive step for The Huntress when the All Mother joined with Aurcinah.

That being, there was so much that Beli lacked to be the All Mother. As The Huntress she was no match but she had not connection to the spiritual being that Aurcinah was. In every other form Beli could feel Her, but the one that was need to become All Mother when the time came. Never before had there been an All Mother that hadn't first been The Huntress.

Belisama assumed it was the reason she was chosen for this task. For the first time in the histories an envoy of peace would be sent to the Priestess of Aurcinah. But more then that this envoy would be a believer of the Dark One. When the All Mother had spoken that morning an unrest had spread through the Heart. Fear was that he would be brought to the Heart but the All Mother calmed the priestess by removing their distress. The Huntress would meet this worshiper of Quasmaanik and together they would hold to the agreement of peace in a near by village.

After hours of discussion between the All Mother and Beli, the village of Žerŋiq had been chosen as the meeting spot. Like most villages in Hїŗůrâ homes were build harmoniously into the trees using their massive size and height as an advantage against attacks.

The moment Beli and her rangers arrived at Žerŋiq they rigged the grove surround the village with tripwires, spelled ward and fall pits in preparation of a battle. There was no telling what this devotee had planned and Belisama did all that she could to protect the rangers and the people of Žerŋiq against this unknown danger. She had been in countless battle with the Quasmaanik enemy and knew of their cunning tactics, powerful magics and cheating ways when the fight wasn't going their way. It was the last part that put Beli on edge. Even thought this was a peace talk it didn't meant that this wasn't some kind of trick meant to lure them in to a false sense of trust.

For an hour Belisama crouched in the cover of the canopy of trees waiting along side the handful of rangers. She wasn't sure what made her draw her bow dragonling but the feeling was rarely wrong and with her eyes closed she targeted on a spot beyond the trees and waited. Because she believed she knew her aim to be true and when a figure got close enough to see he walked cautiously into her cross hairs. With the blessing of Aurcinah flowing through her veins her hold stayed steady as she kept with her target.

Her rangers held still, watching as he summoned a bow and arrow. Belisama hadn't been sure at first who this dark elf was but the moment he casted that spell she knew him as a follow of Quasmaanik. A few steps more and he would walk into the trap laid out for him. As if he knew it was there before his foot fell he stopped and toed the tripwire, the following sound of the rangers drawing their bows alerting the man to the true danger he was in.

His self-confessed announcement that he came in peace was a mockery. There was no peace to be found in the hearts of one who followed the Dark One. As was his claim to be unarmed. Magic could not be seen and was a foe one had to be leery of. Belisama knew that if it came to a battle of magics they didn't have a chance of winning but a fight was rarely fought on one base.

The snort of one of the rangers gave away their position. True it was laughable that there was only one God and that Quasmaanik was it but that didn't excuse the noise made by the ranger. "Tri'as kardi." Beli growled at the ranger that had made the noise and she released her hold on her bow. The barb at their honor was insulting but that was to be expected and therefore easy to ignore. Truthfully she had planned on keeping sets drawn on the envoy but as she climbed out from her hidden spot in the tree canopy she gave the sign to stand down. This was after all a peaceful meeting and she put away her bow leaving her hands free.

Belisama had dressed as was appropriate for The Huntress. The supple leather of the dragonskin armor hugged her curves but didn't restrict her movements as she approached the man. Her bow shone with hours of polishing as did the sliver knives at both her sides. Her knee high booth broken in after years of wear were soundless over the dry leaves. In her hair looped, braided and twisted were gold adornments that Beli had to learned to walk in without making a sound. Gold earring glittered in her many ear piercings and the blue of the sapphires caught the light through the trees and sparkled. Most importantly of all were her facial markings that glowed with a soft warm brilliance. "Peace Lord Orion." It was a much of a welcome as Beli could muster. Greeting him with any blessing of Aurcinah seemed wrong and would fall upon deaf ears anyways. "I am The Huntress Belisama." She took a few more steps towards him with her palms to her sides, open and facing up. "I grant you safety within the lands of Hїŗůrâ." Beli promised knowing that once the words were spoken the rangers would withdraw and fall back to one of the villages within Hїŗůrâ. The grant would only last as long as Orion was peaceful and that the moment he showed aggression of any kind towards the people of Hїŗůrâ his life would be forfeit.

"The All Mother advised that we travel to the village of Žerŋiq to discuss this treaty of peace." Had Beli cared she would have waited for Orion to move ahead of her but since she didn't she started off through the woods not caring if this lord of Quasmaanik followed or not. "It's not far." She tossed over her shoulder picking her way through the traps. Her rangers would come by after them and collect and dismantle the traps they has set not wanting anyone from the village to trigger one and get hurt.

Orion’s fierce red eyes snapped open at the sound of whispered but harsh words, in some incomprehensible pigeon-tongue perversion of the High Ancient Speak, for which the mud-lovers were notorious. A smile spread across his lips as the dark elf watched a lithe wood elf descend the central tree that formed the grove he had arrived in. As he saw her, his eyes reluctantly departed her nubile form to take account of the rest of her kin. His eyes searched the trees, spotting the sight-lines keenly, fingers twitching as he counted them. There were four aside from the one climbing down, seemingly the leader, as it had been her who reprimanded the other.

It was tempting for Orion to cast a life detection spell, just to make sure that there weren’t others who escaped his notice, but he decided after one look into the leader’s fierce, quicksilver eyes that casting a spell of any type would be ill advised. She was very tense, wound tightly enough to snap at any moment, yet still managed to pass off the appearance of civility.

“May all pleasures find a home inside you, Huntress Belisama.” Orion grinned, crossing a forearm across his midsection and bowing his head forward, greeting her in his own custom. “And may peace be only the beginning of the pleasures we share.”

As he rose from his courteous bow, Orion heard Beli mention their highest matriarch—the All Mother. Orion had spent many seasons hunched over blood spattered scrolls and intercepted messages from the followers of Aurcinah, he’d himself authored the definitive edition of their ruling structure’s ranking system as a guide for defeating them in combat. If this Belisama truly was a Huntress as she claimed, she would be one of a very select few, two or three, who answered directly to the All Mother—their equivalent of a Necroweaver, Quasmaanik’s envoy on the living-plane.

“Yes, I’m very much looking forward to meeting this All Mother, within the legendary Heart of Aurcinah.” Orion remarked, his eyes watching eagerly as the Huntress’ hips shifted in fluid strides and her firm cheeks tensed and relaxed.

It wasn’t until he felt the faint resistance of another tripwire against the front of his robes that he realized there were other traps laid out for him, that her fluid strides were more than an amusing show for him. She was navigating a trap field, and not announcing where they were, merely expecting him to follow in her footsteps through the underbrush. Deceitful and beautiful—perhaps marrying one of these tree-huggers wouldn’t be as terrible as he’d previously assumed.

A snap of his fingers produced a glowing blue trail of haze along the forest floor, along with a whoosh that signaled the casting of a spell. The places where Beli’s soft boots had tread glowed brighter, and the trail followed them precisely. Stepping over the wire, Orion crouched down and quickly caught back up to the Huntress. From behind, he lifted his index finger to land gently on the underside of her bow.

“Fine bow you have here Belisama.” Orion remarked, ever so slightly lifting the bow from its moorings on her back so that her next step left the weapon behind, balanced delicately on the tip of his finger. “What is this forged of, Dragon’s Scales? You must know a remarkable smith.”

Orion stood back up, balancing the grip of the bow on the edge of his hand, letting it balance neatly horizontal, barely moving at all. When Beli noticed the lack of her prized weapon, Orion dropped the bow onto its bottom tip, bending just long enough on impact for his thumb to sweep under the top edge and unstring it. The bow bounced back into his hand, unstrung and rigid in its straight, useless form.

The dark elf just smiled and handed the straight pole and slack string back to its owner.

“I felt the need to relieve some of the tension. Hoping that you’ll follow your weapon’s lead and relax.” Orion grinned, as affable and charismatic as ever—even as the pangs of hunger from long travel began to nag at his middle. “Just how far is it to the Heart, anyway?”

Belisama hated the way he said the word pleasure, it was a slimy word that left a scuzzy residue on her skin. It was a chilling feeling that was only repeated when he said the word again. She didn't know why he was getting such a rise out her but he was and Beli couldn't wait to get these talks over with and get him out of her lands. She still didn't know the meaning of this way of peace that they were trying to strike but Belisama trusted in the All Mother and didn't question it.

Does he have no ears? When did her lips ever form the words Heart of Aurcinah? Did she not say that they would be heading to Žerŋiq? This Lord Orion was lacking of a sane mind if he thought he would be welcomed within the Heart. He was still an enemy to be watched and showing him the path to the Heart of Aurcinah would be foolish. Who was to say that he wouldn't just turn on his words, his honor and return to his sect to report where the Heart was and destroy it. No, it was too sacred a place to defile with his presence and Beli would be the last one to show him her home.

"I offered you no such destination." Beli correctly curtly. "We are heading to the village of Žerŋiq." As their culture demanded there would be a day of rest and relaxation before talks of peace would come. A feast had been prepared with some consideration to what foods a follower of Quasmaanik might eat. The All Mother would arrive with the sun the next morning and the work would begin. As much as Beli had wanted this to work before meeting his dark elf the moment had passed once greetings were made. She couldn't see how their people could get along much less make peace.

The tingle that ran up her spine preceded the sound of a spell being cast and Belisama's body coiled with a rank of stress and tension. Beli hadn't thought it possible to fit a single breath more of tension into her body but she soon came to realize how wrong she was. She had been to focused on the spell that he had cast that she had missed the feeling of his finger on her. It was the slightest of touched but had Beli been paying attention to all things instead of one she would have caught the shift of her bow before it left her back.

His words ever hollow of any worth as Beli spun on her heel to face the thief. Her eye narrowed in to dangerous rage filled slits and her hands balled at her sides, her nails biting into her palm painfully. The pain she forced upon herself helped keep her mind in check, to tether her to this world and this moment when she so badly wanted to lose herself to her anger against this man. His words soon turned to insult as he complimented the smith who made it, implying that she could not have been the one who made it.

All priests of Aurcinah could walk two paths, the one of the All Mother or the one of The Huntress. The All Mother was all but the Huntress was her will by which the balance was kept. Those who became rangers in following with The Huntress forged a bow of their own making in the Forge located within the Heart. When one became The Huntress the ranger is given a task, life endangering and testing of her limits. If she lived the bow made when she became a ranger was enchanted with the blessing of Aurcinah. Each blessing was different and individual to The Huntress and each bow a intimate thing to it's creator. To touch another's bow without their leave was an offence often followed with blood. That Orion would further handle her bow was beyond Belisama.

He knows nothing. She had to remind herself as he salted the wound by unstringing the bow before handing it back. Many would think that a bow once relaxed was harmless. It was quite the opposite as the length could be used much like a staff could and deliver blunt force damage. Feeling like this was some kind of test Beli looped the string over one limb and placed the other tip on the ground and nearest to the outside of her right foot. Holding the top end of the bow below the looped string Beli took a step forward moving all at once to achieve what she wanted. Her step forward placed her foot between the bow and the string and using the momentum of her flawless tumble she brought the hand resting near the top end of the bow at the same time that she bent the bow to form. Completing the roll and taking another step out freed her from between the string and bow allowing her to raise the bow against her target. Had this been more then just a show and not a real threat Beli could have drawn an arrow and nocked it in the same move but felt she made her point without having to do so.

"I would advise against touching another's bow." Beli was on her feet again and kept her arrow less draw on Orion longer then she needed to. She didn't like the way he grinned, like he was proud of what he had done. "To us it is more then just a weapon but a part of ourselves that we hold dear." Stepping back Beli mounted her bow back upon her back and frowned at the dark elf. "And yet another reason why I can not relax around you, you know nothing and seem to seek out every insult you can while please with yourself about speaking and doing such acts." She felt as if she were scolding a child, a dangerous child but nothing more then that.

Belisama only knew what was written and learned from afar but made the anger filled assumption that they ranked their followers by cockiness and rudeness.

"The Heart is beyond you as I have already said." Beli answered turning her body to the side. She would not make the same mistake at putting him at her back again. "The way to the village is clear." Waving her hand Beli gestured that she wanted him to walk ahead of her through the last thicket of woods. Just beyond, if he was not as blind as he was deaf, he would find a worn path of hard packed earth that they could follow to Žerŋiq. "And your welcome is waiting." She prodded wanting him to hurry. The quicker she got him to the village the soon she could pawn him off on another as watch from afar.

The Huntress Belisama reacted with anger to Orion’s liberties taken with her equipment, this was expected, but the demonstration of her formidable skill with which she restrung the weapon was surprising to the envoy. He laughed with glee at her show, the way her nimble body tumbled through the dirt en route to holding him at the end of an empty draw. He held up his palms playfully, continuing to laugh.

“Oh, don’t shoot! I meant no great offense.” Orion chuckled, playing along as if her posturing were true purpose and he some helpless prey of the hunt. “Such great traditions and deep-held concerns—a wonder, this culture of yours! You must tell me more as we approach.”

When urged to walk ahead, Orion seemed to oblige, draping his arm around Belisama’s shoulders when he was on the verge of passing her, taking her with him down the path toward the quaint little village. He used little force with her, but enough that her side met his as they walked, his eyes taking in the lush surroundings of the underbrush.

“My, such a beautiful village. These people are very lucky to live under the protection of your order.” Orion muttered, nudging Beli with his hip to keep her in lockstep with his stride, sizing up the people of the village as they approached. “So many women and children, a small party of bandits could devastate such a place, were it not for Aurcinah’s protection. Were it not for people like yourself.”

While the elders, the parents, the pillars of Zerniq made a great show of waving hello and presenting a façade of welcome, the youngest among them demonstrated their true feelings. Even under the auspices of peace talks, tensions ran high between the two cultures, many in this village had never seen a devotee of Quasmaanik (aside from the occasional pod of Hunter-Killers who sometimes blundered upon such gems in raiding missions). A young, wood-elf boy charged up to Orion as they approached, menacing him with a wooden dagger carved from a yew branch.

Orion just smiled, removing his arm from around Beli’s shoulder and crouching to eye level with the boy, who just stuck out his chest and raised the toy toward Orion’s face. Beli might have done the same if she’d had her druthers. Calmly and gently, the Prince of the Church of Quaasmanik placed his grey hands on either side of the boy’s tan hand. It wasn’t much of a struggle to wrest the wooden blade away from the small child. Just as the boy’s eyes filled with tears and he seemed destined to burst forth into sobs, the dark elf turned the blade over in one hand, casting an arcane alchemy spell on the dagger, converting the wood to iron. He turned the blade again, casting the same spell, this time the iron transmuted into smooth steel, a lethal blade now, capable of doing the work of a weapon—a toy no more.

Orion smiled as he handed the blade back to its owner.

The new weight of the knife caught the boy off guard and it fell from his feeble grasp into the dirt. As he struggled to lift it again, Orion snaked his arm around the small of Beli’s back, palm on her hip as they entered the village.

“So tell me, Lady Huntress. Are you wed to one of these humble, dependents or otherwise engaged? Or do you enjoy the freedom of the unencumbered as I do?” Orion asked conversationally, waving good natured greetings to the horrified woman who seemed to be the boy’s mother. “I must admit that I find your way quite enticing. If I had no other escort through these lands I should be glad of it.”

The smell of food nearby precluded any further flirting as it reminded Orion how long it had been since he’d last eaten. The journey had been arduous, remote roads like the one which brought him here were overgrown and plagued by wolves and bears.

“But this too can wait, I smell succulence which subverts my rationality. There is a feast nearby, lead on and escort me toward my satiation.”

This wasn't a thing to laugh about and it did nothing to warm Beli up to the man. That he wanted to know more about their way of life was pleasing but the way he asked after it with that chuckle sealed her mouth against speaking. Everything he did got on her nerves and built her hate towards him. And it was made even worse when he walked pasted her and grabbed her. She had never been touched in such a manor and for a number of steps she stumbled pressed to his side in shock.

Orion’s voice snapped her out of her daze and her body bristled with offence. To touch The Huntress, to drag her along to his will was against all that Belisama knew. It was so like a follower of Quasmaanik to ignore the manors of the people around him and steamroll them. Did he put no thought into what he did and how it could effect the people he interacted with? She couldn't understand it and she stewed in silence, swallowing her anger for the better good.

"These people are not as harmless and without means as you think them to be." Beli tried to keep her tone civil but it was far too evident of the effort it took to do so. Her clamped shut and her teeth ground together as she watched in horror as he turned a boy's wooden training dagger into one of sharpened steel. Again he was insulting their culture without even realizing it and the faces of his parents reflected the same anger that Beli felt within her heart.

Beli's hands danced in the air signing her apology. It was a sting of hand motions that had started as a language of the rangers, a way of speaking without sounds, that had turned into a common way of speaking within the villages that surrounded the Heart. The father nodded but the mother was withdrawn in her forgiveness and continued to glare at Orion.

"You should not have done that." Beli lectured pulling away from Orion's touch. She would not let him touch her again and kept her distance from him, letting him know that she did not appreciate his hand upon her. "The boy was not ready for a weapon. He has years yet before metal should grace his palm." Had Beli known the ways of magic she would have changed his knife back to what it was. Now the boy would be forced to remake a knife before he continued with his training.

"I am no Lady. I am The Huntress." Beli sighed feeling as if he only heard a part of what she had ever said and that his mind twisted what little he did hear into something else. And as for the question he asked, it was a very personal one and had he not offended her a dozen times before this she could have been shocked. But because he had she wasn't and she shrugged the question off. "I do not know what freedoms you might partake in but I can assure you that we do not enjoy the same freedoms." As The Huntress her life; body, mind and soul, was pledged to Aurcinah and to the oaths she had taken.

Reaching out Beli grabbed Orion's arm to stop him from walking. "I can not claim to know of your ways or even what your beliefs are in whole, nor what harm my actions inflict but I will ask this of you." Beli released his arm and resisted the urge to wipe her hand off on her pants. "Take in mind that my people, for all that they are within the arms of Aurcinah, are far from you in all ways. Those who have taken the oath to upkeep the balance must not be touched. You can not bend the will of a person's path like you did with that boy. A person's weapon is a thing crafted with their own hands and is part of themselves, do not touch it without permission like you did mine." Beli took a deep breath before going on. There was mush he had to learn before walking into this feast that she hadn't expected him not to know. "All that is placed before you is yours, take from it what you want but give no thanks for the bounty before you. You can not thank a person for life when they give you the means to live with food, water and shelter. It make what they do mean less with your thanks and gives the impression that you own them a returned favor. If you must favor them with thanks trade a story with the gathering, a show of your peaceful magics or a craft rare or unseen. Other wise do nothing." There was so much more she wanted to warn him of, many more rules that he seemed unaware of uncaring of that Beli felt she had to fix.

"Please, if you care for nothing else just do this one thing; think of your actions from the views of those around you." Beli begged, her eyes pleading with him to at least do this small thing. She keep eye contact with him longer then she wished to but she needed him to see the importance of what she was asking him.

In all of Beli's life she had only felt this feeling a handful of times and each time she did something grave followed it. That she feared this meeting with just the people of this village put her on edge once again as she stepped from Orion and towards the center tree where the feast and merriment was being held. It wasn't so much that they threw this feast for Orion, no it was an honoring of the coming winds and the changes and peace that this meeting promised. That was a thing worth celebrating and the unknown danger that they were allowing within their village, near their family and friends.

This night couldn't be over fast enough for Belisama. At one time, not so long ago she had a mind to leave Orion to his own under the protection and care of another but after his little displays Beli questioned if there was another, besides herself, that would take his advances as nothing more then lack of knowledge and not make a move against him. There were but a few and all that she trusted were not here with her. It meant that Belisama would keep to his man's side for the rest of the night and pray that the shadows that he cast would not cloak her to the light.

Orion made no attempt to restrain Belisama when she writhed from his grasp, it seemed that physical contact was not something that these people were comfortable with. It seemed odd to him that a sect of such compassionate involvement with the subtler motions of nature would disdain contact with their own species, but he realized the need for discretion. Beli arrested his advance, toward the smell of food, in order to chastise him for being different, or at least that seemed to be her general tone.

His teeth bit down, forming a cage around his tongue, lest it lash out and around his mouth, to remind this haughty, young thing that both of their cultures stood to benefit from an alliance and that Orion was risking his life to save even the lives of these elves—even the boy and his hateful mother. Instead, he just stood fast, head held high as he absorbed the motherly scolding.

When any more grinding seemed to put his back teeth in danger of shattering, Orion loosed the tension in his jaw, and before he could pinch down his lips, one of the tenants of Quasmaanik’s rigorous teaching fired from his tongue.

“It is far better to have a blade and not need one, than to need a blade and not have one.” Orion quickly corrected himself, remembering inwardly that such as this was the work of a politician. “I will endeavor to be more… considerate... in the future. You have my apologies.”

Orion pressed an open palm to his chest and tipped his head forward, making the mea culpa, hoping that would be an end to it. His eyes opened again as Beli told him that he could take as he pleased but should give no thanks, not that he found much in his reception so far to be grateful for. Nonetheless, he noted this bizarre custom along with their apparent lack of freedoms.

“It is strange, I’ll admit, to find myself among people so constrained by their faith. By my custom it is considered a sign of respect and courtesy to maintain physical contact with a person when addressing them. I’ve been raised believing that there was only one ‘freedom,’ and that is absolute freedom.” Orion recalled the words of many great philosophers of his order, Blarrida, Faddorno… “I sympathize with this great burden of judgment and shame that you bare. I’ll do my best to remember that these people are not as free as mine.”

With that, Orion turned toward the civic center on a grinding heel, coaxing a gritty snarl from the dirt path as he made his way toward the tables laden with roasted succulent meats and fire cooked vegetables. The tables were overflowing with glistening ripe fruits and sweating fowl, cooked to golden hues. After so long on the road, Orion felt like he might gnaw his own arm off if The Huntress kept him much longer from respite.

Music filled the area around the large tree at the village center, and Orion clapped his hands along with the tempo as he passed. It wasn’t at all like the long, sonorous dirges that spoke to his heart in his home—but the light, peppy music of these dirt-people was amusing at least.

Not caring much for seating arrangements, Orion took a seat at the head of one of the largest tables in the pavilion, wresting joints off of roasted beasts and piling his plate with food. He poured full the goblet which sat beside his plate and dove right in—weeks of lean travel making him ravenous.

As his belly became fuller, Orion glanced around the gathering, looking over the lithe forms of experienced dancers, or the bounteous chests of shy midwives. One of these elves would become his wife, would share his bed and wealth. He offered a silent prayer to the Dark One that whoever he was paired with would be nothing like this overbearing, shame-broken Huntress who’d lectured and scolded him—he who had risked his very life by sojourning into hostile territory, without any support or ambush in his wake. The nerve of her.

Nonetheless, as Orion’s hungry eyes found their way back to his reluctant host, he couldn’t deny that her beauty put the rest of her kin to shame. She was lovelier than all the dancers and midwives put together, seeming to possess the best attributes from each. Her despicable devotion to her lord of hypocrisy seemed the least admirable of her traits, in this way she seemed an unwise option for the marriage he was here to secure—but her pride and temper made her a worthy conquest for the visiting priest. One he would be loath to let slip by.

“Won’t you join me, Huntress?” Orion called to her with a full mouth. “There is plenty of food and wine to be enjoyed by two.”

Belisama could see how well the devotee of Quasmaanik took her words, it shamed her that she found so much pleasure in the discomfort that Orion gained at being lectured. He was just so proud but the same could be said about herself. She hadn't meant her warnings to sound as preaching as they may have sounded but she was glad to see that at least he heard her. For as much good as it would be later. He seemed to have a way of hearing what she said and understanding it in a different way completely.

"And it is just as foolish to arm yourself with said blade for a war that requires weapons of a different means." She smiled quick at returning a teaching of her own. "For a blade in the hands of the unsuited or untrained is just as dangerous as without." Beli didn't understand why she felt the need to meet Orion's every words with some of her own. Normally she said little and just listened and watched but it seemed her tongue had run off on her with a mind of it's own.

Was that an apology? He said the words but it was the thing that he did alongside his words that caught her eye. Orion's palm was flat to his chest and he had tipped his head down for a fraction of a second. It was a gesture she saw in the wilds between ranking animals. It was the last thing she would have expected from this Man of Darkness yet there it was and Beli was stilled by the motion. She didn't know what to do, what to say if one said anything back in him lands so she did nothing. Her silence was her acceptance of his tilt and she left it at that.

"I thank you for the show respect." She could understand how he was only trying to be polite within the customs of his own people but it was just so unlike her's that it showed differently when he did it to her. As for his views on their freedoms. "I am the balance." Belisama shrugged as if that was as clear of an answer to him as it was to her. Everyone around her that hadn't sworn in life had every freedom they could wish for but there had to be a balance to that and as The Huntress it was her duty to restrain herself where others did not. And even that had been her choice, she had been given every opportunity to walk a different path but she had picked this one as her destiny against all others. "I just think we have different views of freedom." Beli said ending the conversation at that and following after Orion.

The base of the center tree was carved out and made into a large open airy pavilion used for gathers like this. Inside the room was halved with one side of the room lined with creaking tables weighed down with a feast of foods and drinks. The tables inching in height the further from the center they were placed with a grand solo placed table at it's height for Orion. A center area took up equal parts of both sides and was slightly raised with places on either equator for musical instruments, chairs and large floor pillows. The clearing in the middle sparkled with millions of tiny lights that floated in the air with the cold but bright light of the stars, while candles with their warm soft glow covered the opened gaps on every table surface. The other side of the room was bare, giving people an area to sit, talk, dance, watch or provide sport of their own. Tonight though the bare side was ringed on the outer most edge with stand alone tables of arts and crafts. The inside was still left open for villagers who had yet to find an appetite or those who had found it and were already filled.

Without having to be told Orion made his way to the grand table set for him and the moment he sat down pulled from form every platter and filled the empty plate. When he surfaced for air he poured himself a goblet and drank deeply before returning to the mountain of food before him. He acted like he hadn't eaten for weeks and Beli observed him with a new set of eyes. Could his gruff and rough mannerisms been caused by hunger? Was there a different man on the other side of a filled stomach? She didn't know but made a point of watching, leaning against a pillar a step behind and to the side of him, a place where he could easily see her, she could easily see him and all those present could see her watching him. She didn't think going to such extremes was needed but after his speech of having a blade over naught she felt better knowing she was within sight.

Music was provided by the musicians of the village and skilled men, women and children danced in premade patterns. It was a joyous occasion and what weary and haunted eyes had followed Orion into the pavilion soon turned away in favor of food and drink, music and dance.

Youngsters approached Belisama with fried herd breads, cheeses, grilled fruits and a chilled ornate glass flask with a scrolling etched sterling silver overlay filled with clear sweet ice wine. When Yuv'aaz flew in and perched on her shoulder a plate of raw lamb was brought for him and he ditched his elf companion for the table where the food sat. Surrounded by laughing whispering children.

Yuv'aaz was her gift from Aurcunah, a golden creature formed in body, mind and essence like a dragon of old but small and tied to her soul like a familiar. He was a figurative anchor for Belisama and most favored hunting companion. Even in the long histories there wasn't ever a telling of a live creature as a gift but as he was born from the golden fire of the Heart none could argue his existence. When she had first rode with him upon her should there had been fear and panic at the sight of him but now everyone knew of him and loved him. The children taking the most pleasure from his tricks he preformed be it with fire or smoke.

All seemed well until the village musicians slowed their playing and ended their song on its last note. It was how it should be ended but instead of starting a new song they were gathering their instruments and stepping off the large rounded stage. Hushed voices raced from the outer reaches of the pavilion to the center and the excitement of the masses pitched to a new height.

Orion said something but his words were lost on the wood elf as she awaited what she knew was coming.

The starlight over the stage dimmed to darkness and with the sharp single beat of a drum all the candles went out leaving the pavilion void of light save what managed to come in from outside. The eerie wail of the tin whistle brought forth a single candle after a stung out moment of complete silence and darkness. The childlike melody of the reed pipes joined the tin whistle and more candles scattered randomly throughout the pavilion flared to life. String instruments lured the first starlights into showing and by the time the drums joined in all the lights were back on and a new group of musicians were seated were the older group had been.

When the last starlight burned the music changed. Strings started a fast but quite tempo nearly overpowered by the strong slow beats of drums. A dancer stepped onto the stage, his strides matching the beats of the base drum. He wore a tanned distressed leather breechcloth with matching leggings. His body was thinly dusted in gold and subtly painted to matching the dappled forest floor. He was the forest, the Stag of the Dance, proud and majestic and he showed off the power of his body flexing it with every step.

Belisama pushed off the post she was leaning on a wicked smile on her lips. She was the Huntress and she knew this dance well. A part of her couldn't believe the nerve of him, while the majority soared with excitement. This was her song, her composure and her patterns. Not his, yet he pranced on stage drilling her with his eyes. Teasing and taunting her all in the same look.

When Beli left her spot Lugus took her place watching as his Huntress stalked towards the raised platform. "The Khener haven't been the same without her." Lugus was an older wood-elf trusted by everyone and worldly even beyond his age. He claimed to have traveled the known world of his time and learn all that he could before returning to his brithlands. He took a seat next to the foreign elf and poured himself a goblet of honey mead. "I don't think Erimon ever forgave her for picking Aurcinah over him." He pointed with his chin as Belisama gracefully leaped onto the stage.

Erimon smirked to see Belisama accept the challenge, to see her on stage with him once again. He never doubted that she would let this insult pass and it was rewarding to see that fire in her eyes. He had worried that life as The Huntress would have dulled that flame within her and he fanned that flame with his knowledge of her. He circled her slowly head held high as his eyes took in every detail of her body. Nothing seemed to have changed on the outside but he could feel her energy and it belonged to a woman he almost did know.

The dance was a legend, a great hunter that was cursed into the body of a mighty Stag because he scorned the love of a Queen but Aurcinah saw through the curse and took pity on the man promising him that if he could catch her she would turn him into a man again. It also served the purpose of showing why those promised in oath to Aurcinah never paired. A sad story of a heartache that the Goddess felt to this day, a love never ending and a satisfaction never learned.

It was a long and complicated act timed to a fast set of sting musical instruments comprising of lifts, jumps, tumbles and sensual pairings mild enough not to require the shielding of young children's eyes. All the while urged on by the low beats of the drum, felt more in your bones of your body then heard with your ears. It had been Beli's masterpiece and finial gift to The Khener before she took her oaths and it had only been preformed once publicly and hadn't been done since. No one wanted to attempt the flawless routine that Belisama and Erimon had preformed once upon that full moon.

A violin's sharp high note motioned the start of the dance and the Stag's first move. Erimon darted out in an attempt to catch Belisama but she spun just out of reach at the last second, a coy smile on her lips. She turned her back to him and glided across the stage, pausing halfway to look over her shoulder to laugh at his attempt. It spurred Erimon to action as he tried again to capture Beli but over and over she escaped him without him so much as him touching her.

The Stag soon grew angry and his attempts became desperate and sloppy while in turn Aurcinah grew bored and too sure of herself. She was letting her guard down and allowing him much closer, his fingertips grazing her skin, threading through the ends of her hair and at one point even tugging on her clothes until he finally managed to grab her wrist.

The music stopped the lingering last notes floating on the tense air, the heavy breaths of the two dancers now the music of dance. Erimon held on to Belisama his eyes locked onto hers as he searched for a way in. He still carried a hope that she would once day return to him, be his and together live the life they should be living.

In her own mind Belisama reflected her life and her failures. This was why she would never be the All Mother. Her heart yearned for things she shouldn't, she was the balance, the sacrifice for the many but Beli knew deep down that she was everything she could be and that there was nothing in her that could kill the fire that burned for more. There was just too much she missed, would miss but before she could dive deeper into that realization the music started back up again.

The strings were an octave higher, faster and fanatic in it's playing. It was Aurcinah trying to escape, the fright of being caught but the Stag had his hold and he wasn't going to let go. The drums would go silent and the Stag would stand true as Aurcinah danced around him trying to pull free, a show of the flexibility and agile grace of the female dancer. When the drums beat back in a primal rhythm the stings whispered to a quite song and the Stag would in turn tease the Aurcinah at being caught. His part was the part of power and triumph and he threw her in the air, allowing her to be free for mere moments in time knowing that she would fall back to him and be captured again.

But the music changed yet again and the drums and stings found even grounds and a new element to the construction of the music was added, winds. The romance of the dance was Belisama's favorite part. The Stag stopped showing off and the Goddess stopped trying to escape and together they moved as one, the twists of their bodies molded to one another, while lifts showed the best of each other and the tumbles played at their vulnerabilities.

As the song slowed down the mood changed to something softer, happier but it didn't last long. There was a promise to be kept and unable to deny the truth that she had been captured by the Stag he was turned into a man once more, shaking free the forest and gold of his body. Loosing the ability to see the woman he had fallen for, his eyes too mortal to behold the Goddess an he danced around the stage looking for her with Aurcinah one step to any side of him mirroring his movements, both their faces reflecting the longing for the other. Gone was the sound of the winds as the drums and strings beat out conflicting notes off timed from each other and telling a different story of the same sorrow.

The dance ended when the once Stag grew old, his steps getting heaver, his jumps not as high. The drums slowed, grew quite as one after the other stopped until the last one finally gave out the same moment Erimon dropped to the stage still as death. The final heartbreaking cry of the strings carried out over the pavilion raising goosebumps on it's listeners skin as Aurcinah cried over his body.

Everything was silent and Belisama and Erimon kept their spots until the first sound from the crowd. It was as if no one wanted to break the spell their dance had woven but it was done and once the first man clapped the entire pavilion erupted in cheers. Both dancers recovered and bowed low in honor to those who had watched. Those who had seen the first showing of the dance had been stuck with amazement, unable to talk of nothing else for months. This time things had been different, deeper and more charged in ways that couldn't be explained making it more then it had before if it was even possible.

Lugus was one of those that had seen the first and the latest and his heart ached with what he knew, his eyes held the secrets of what that danced had exposed and he buried it deep within himself. Smiling to hide the truth. Despite what he had learned it had been a wonderful showing, far better then the first and the rest of the night would be shadowed by that dance but it mattered little to those performing because it was about enjoyment and the love for what they did.

"Blood-eyes." Lugus addressed Orion his voice sharp carrying a weight out of place at such a feast. "I know of your reasons, what brought you here." He clarified his face reflected his many years as he looked back at the stage as Erimon jumped off stage with a twist and flair before turning quickly to assist Belisama to the ground. "Learn the secrets of that woman or you will lose both." And before Orion could say anything or Belisama returned to her spot Lugus left.

Since the moment that the first beat of the drum to the last cry of the violin Belisama's mind had been as far from the follower of Quasmaanik as possible but as she returned to her post against the pillar nearest to the high table without sitting at his side everything came back to her and her walls built back up and her smile vanished and the mask of indifference returned. She didn't know if he had eaten his fill or quenched his thirst, she hadn't been taking note while dancing but she would follow his lead as the night carried on. A lead that kept her at arm's length.

Orion hadn’t realized how hungry he’d become until the first taste of food passed his lips, having gone so long without proper nutrition that he’d forgotten the feeling of satisfaction. He attributed the remarkable taste of the food and wine to his hunger, unwilling to credit his elven rivals with superiority in any regard—but as the flavors blended on his palate, he was forced to grudgingly admit that the servants of Aurcinah made better food and wine than his own people, though he’d never admit it out loud.

His guide and apparent babysitter, Beli spurned his offer to join him at the table, opting instead to recline against a nearby support pillar just within his periphery. Orion was dismayed that she was unwilling or unable to join him, but he gave no outward sign. Instead, he continued sampling the delicacies of these foreign elves, grateful to be able to feast his hunger and feast his eyes at the same time.

“If I didn’t know better, Huntress, I might think that you were trying to hunt me.” Orion muttered playfully as his companion was joined by a companion of her own.

The festive, lighthearted music changed abruptly, altering the mood from one of general conviviality to a more somber spectator event. The lighting dimmed and refocused, and the myriad conversations around the pavilion ceased. New musicians took over for the old, and a performer made his way to the stage, painted with gold and barely covered besides. He was tall for an elf, well-muscled and in full control of his every motion, a dancer in body and soul.

To Orion, it seemed strange—a man who’d devoted himself to the performing arts—since dancing, singing and sewing were all considered to be the realm of women among his people. Yet to those around him, it seemed perfectly normal—expected even—for this man to be dancing and prancing around the stage.

The dancer had talent, obviously honed through years of diligent and single minded focus on his craft, and performed admirably, moving with the rhythm. Glancing over toward Beli, Orion opened his mouth to make a snide remark about the performer’s masculinity, only to find her transfixed by the performer’s display—her mouth slightly parted for a very different reason. She was aroused. This dancer had captivated her, and some unknown, indecipherable conversation of love, sex and passion was taking place between their eyes.

Orion was distressed by this newfound liveliness in Beli, more distressed by the fact that it was some prancer and not himself that aroused this lust for life in her. As she mounted the stage, moving in undulating unison with her opposite, Orion at last glimpsed in her that appetite for pleasure and carnal desire which Quasmaanik had etched upon the soul of all living things. She was herself on the stage, no longer defined by her duty alone.

If Orion had been the type of elf prone to undiluted introspection, he might have realized that he was jealous of this unknown dancer and the sway he was able to wield over Beli. As it was, Orion recognized this other as a romantic rival, and as such became overwhelmed with a thirst for destruction and a desire to see his sleek dancer’s-body broken.

The two moved on stage like long-separated lovers, long stares embracing, writhing and intertwining even as their bodies continued to elude one another. Mouths were made to lie, but eyes always spoke the truth. In Beli’s radiant silver orbs, Orion could see her desire for this other elf and it enraged him.

The deeper, spiritual meaning of the dance was lost on Orion, not native to their lore and symbolism, the story of the dance and narrative of the forest was completely unnoticed by the outsider.

When another spoke to him, an old elf, not at all timid about using antiquated epithets to refer to his eye color, Orion whipped his head in the direction the voice had come. Before Orion could reply, the elf was gone.

Learn the secrets of that woman, he’d said—the one on stage with life glittering behind her reflective silver pools. That was what Orion wanted from the start, to draw closer to the true nature of this beguiling Huntress and draw out her inner bliss and come to know her pleasures intimately, but so far he’d been only frustrated in his attempts at piercing her cold, hard demeanor.

When the dance ended, Orion clapped his hands together with the rest, rising from his seat to express overmuch gratitude and appreciation for the display. When the applause died down, however, he left his place at the table in search of the old elf.

If this old timer was so knowledgeable about the inner workings and desires of not only Orion’s mind, but Beli’s as well, the dark elf would have words with him. He hoped that the old man would prove more hospitable than his previous host, but if not, there were tactics for extracting such information.

Orion pulled a long, ornate pipe from somewhere in his robe’s sleeve, packing the bowl with fragrant, flavored tobacco and struck a match, as was his custom after a meal. His eyes searched for the old-timer who had had the nerve to call him “Blood-eyes.”

Yuv'aaz was the first to greet Beli after the dance and he settled across her shoulder with a happy click of his jaw.

"Do you agree then?" She asked the tiny dragon as his tail swished over her chest and around her neck. It wasn't the answer she was hping for, then was a heavy tnesion in his body and a restless energy that she hadn't seen in him in ages.

From behind a voice answered her where Yuv'aaz did not. "I doubt any would voice a complaint." Lugus had a way of coming and going like the wind. He was the only person or creature for that matter that had the ability to sneak up on her. Beli never knew where he was or when, if even in some cases he would show up.

"But I am the balance."

For as old as Lugus claimed to be Belisama could count on one hand and still have fingers left over the times when he looked it. Right now, in the face of her words he looked it. "That you are." He said after a pregnant pause. "Though I struggle to see what you have tipped in favor of that dance."

"It was the dance itself." Of all people he should know the meaning of her words, the cost of that dance.

"It is a gift." He shrugged, the cracking of old joints accompanying the gesture.

"That which has been sacrificed." There was a tinge of anger in Belisama's voice, a heat in her eyes as she looked up a man she called a friend. "Why do you always speak in riddles?" There was so much in what little he said and even more so in what he did not.

Lugus laughed shedding years with every titter. "Eyes that see but do not see. Ears that hear but words are not. A mouth unable to speak but only truths are formed. All so alike but different."

Now that was a riddle and Lugus presented it because she was missing the greater picture. "What?" Her brow wrinkled as her mind processed his words, lips frowning when she could come up with no answer.

"It is a riddle, child."

Yuv'aaz snorted, his breath hot and full of fire and a cloud of foggy gray smoke billowed around Belisama's face. It cleared with the next breath of air but by then Lugus was gone, only the faint echo of his laughter a sign that he was here. "I swear you are on his side." Beli growled at her companion leaving her spot knowing that Lugus wouldn't be back. It was for the best anyways because when she turned back to watch Orion, he was gone.

Not that it was that difficult to find him with he odd ways of dressing and add height of the general mass. A thin trail of smoke seemed to follow him and she guessed that he was either playing with magicked fire or more rationally, smoking. Her natural assumption was to go with magicked fire. As if debating her assumption Yuv'aaz made a throaty grunt in the back of his throat.

"I was wrong." When she was within sight of Orion's face she spied the pipe that he was puffing from and the smoke of cloying sweetness. The smell seemed at odds with the man she thought him to be. It was another assumption on her part. "Have you eaten your fill? Quenched your thirst?" Beli asked when she was a few steps closer to Orion. "Is there anything that you need?" Maybe it was because she had broken down and abandoned her role as his watcher and Huntress that she took such great cares about the man now. Guilty at having left him for something she had left long ago.

Just out of reach Belisama stopped. The smell of what he smoked make her nose tickle and itch. But more then that she didn't want to be within touching distance. Knowing his fondness of reaching out to comfort or whatever it was that his culture displayed while in reach of each other.

On her shoulder she felt the low vibrating rumble of Yuv'aaz, a soundless growl of sorts that spoke of his dislike of that smell as well. That it got a reaction for Yuv'aaz made Beli question what it was that he was smoking. It wasn't as if the people within the village, and every village around didn't have a pipe and smoke but nothing she had ever come across smelled like that or got a reaction from the golden creature.

It was difficult—shrouded as the village was under thick forest canopy—to find even a patch of sky through the tangled and overlapping branches of trees, yet Orion had located a jagged opening in the foliage where the night sky could be seen. With lanterns and firelight casting dancing shadows through the underbrush many of the dense and subtle constellations were lost to the ambient light, but even in spite of all of this, enough stars were visible to satiate Orion’s affection for the night sky.

In his mind he was plotting coordinates, using his intimate knowledge of the stars and celestial groupings to gauge his present position in relation to where he’d left the road, taking careful measurement against meticulously memorized and scrutinized maps that he’d studied in preparation for his journey into the Aurachinian encampment. Making mental marks on his memory map, the rows of civilian homes, the central pavilion and elder tree, the pathway that led deeper into the forest, Orion took another pull from his long pipe.

The search for the older elf who’d spoken from the shadows was abandoned as soon as Orion stepped away from the table and not found him easily noticed. If the elf didn’t want to be found it wasn’t worth the commotion of pursuit. Not yet at least. But the sage seemed as likely a candidate as any for “interrogation,” if the peace attempts failed and a hostage was necessary for egress.

For now, recon was sufficient to make Orion feel as though he’d spent his evening productively. He looked up to try and estimate the height and girth of the massive central tree and was startled to see Beli approaching. He felt abruptly guilty, his after-dinner repast suffusing a hint of paranoia into his strategic musings, he felt as though he’d been caught, needing a moment of reflection to reassure himself that even the beguiling host couldn’t read his thoughts.

“I’m well satiated, thank you.” Orion smiled, breathing smoke out of his nose as he nodded. “Look there.”

Orion pointed up through the canopy to the cluster of stars crowded into the narrow patch of sky. He leaned over toward Beli, but not too close as her pint-sized companion seemed poorly disposed to the smoke.

“Those three bright stars there, they form Orion’s belt, my namesake.” The dark elf smiled, trying hard to seem casual in spite of his indulgence’s alteration. “Which means that due north is that way, behind the trees of course, the North Star would be there.”

Orion leaned just a bit closer, as close as he dared, indicating the spot in the canopy which hid the North Star from his vision.

“I enjoyed your performance very much, it’s rare to find one with such dichotomous talents in performance and in combat.” Orion leaned back against the post of a nearby house, offering the still smoldering pipe to his host. “You may not believe it, but I think I understand what your dance meant—if you’ll indulge me.

“You used to love that man, perhaps you still do. But your duty precludes such involvement, or at least you believe it does. He desires you still, but you resist your urges, your desires, believing them counter to your necessary vigilance. So you go on, hurting each other, running away, teasing and enticing but never quite tasting until both your hearts are broken forever.” Orion looked away, realizing that the herb had allowed his tongue to escape his supervision. “Or something like that…

“You may not believe it of me, but I know a great deal about loss and sacrifice.” Orion muttered softly, pushing off from the post which had been sharing his weight. “I also know that it is both folly and sin to impose suffering on one’s self just because you’re afraid. For such a fierce warrior, you seem to be a coward of the heart Huntress. Who hurt you? Why are you so afraid to let yourself be happy, to let yourself be loved?”

Belisama followed to where he pointed surprised that it seemed to be at the stars. She had expected it to be something far more sinister then that. Maybe even something of his own doing that he would be proud of and her offend over.

"Aye." She agreed nodding her head. Lugus had taught the starts by every name that he knew and she recognized the ones he named. "Betelgeuse." She pointed at the red start making the man's right shoulder. "Meissa." The blue star at his neck. "Bellatrix." Another blue star serving as Orion's right shoulder and she made her point mot by pointing it out in the sky but tapping his respective shoulder. This belt was made up of three stars, "Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka." She didn't touch him this time but she still used his body to point out what they represented. "Saiph, your right foot and Rigel your left. I know your stars just as well as I know my own." Beli's manor was just as cocky as his normally was and it sparkled in her silvery eyes.

There was a time, when she was younger, that she would climb the highest tree and balance upon it's highest limb to better see the stars. To her people they were the souls of the mighty, the true and honorable. Of every child killed before their time and all the ones that never even got their first breaths.

"We call him Menelvagor." She told him. "And you are right." She smiled leaning back in inches for as many as he leaned closer. "That is north."

Orion had been the last person Belisama would have expected to receive a compliment from and at first she had assumed that she had misheard. But the words were no lie, he had said them and they effected her strangely. It wasn't a purely pleasing feeling nor was it aggravating. A mixture of the two that she wasn't quite sure how to take. Where she would have pondered it's meaning, he interrupted it by claiming to know the dance's truth. As it's creature she was curious to know how an outsider would see it. Little did she know that this would be her last smile of the night. "Then please, regale me with your interpretation."

The more he spoke the deeper Beli's frown was etched. He knew nothing, saw with eyes that did not see and she told him so her words fiery. "You know nothing. You think you see and yet you are as blind as a babe." It was insulting for the babe but there was nothing she felt safe to compare him to. Anything she did would be an insult, at least a babe knew no better. "You know nothing." She spat.

Belisama needed to explain, didn't want to be it needed to be done. "Erimon was a man cursed into the form of a stag. He represented the forest." As if that hadn't been demonstrably clear. "I was honored to play the Goddess in form." She wanted to say as little as possible but found herself telling him the whole tale. "The man was cured by a Queen scorned, she had loved him but was evil at her heart. Knowing that he rejected her and she turned him into a stag to be hunted and killed for her next feast." The more she spoke the calmer she got. "Aurcinah heard what had happened and struck a deal with the man, as he had done no great ill he was deserving of at least a chance to live as he once was." She wanted to smil but didn't as she replayed the recent dance in her head. "If the man turned stag could catch the Goddess she would turn him into a man once again." How different was that really from what he had claimed to have seen? In her mind there was a huge difference because in reality there was. It was a sign of how different they were even on their baser beliefs. "There was no love between the two, only a man striving for what he thought he wanted and a Goddess amused by her newest game. But over time, as the moon grew whole then waned over and over a seed was planted and from it love grew. The man forgot that there was a prize other then the Goddess at the end of this game and Aurcinah forgot her promise to make him a man again. It wasn't until he captured her that the spell was broken and the man was once again a man." Her heart always ached at this part of the story. "He was no longer of the forest and could no longer see his love. He had assumed that she was just else where and spent his whole life trying to find her again. All the while she never strayed from his side, seeing him and all his pains but not being able to do anything about them."

"That is what you should have seen." Beli lectured when she was done with her legend telling. "What love you saw from me, was for the dance. Not the man, never the man." She scoffed, making it known that her words were true. "My urges, these desires that you claim to have seen mean nothing. I have no desires beyond what I have. What I am." In so many ways that was true but it was still a have truth and as much as Beli wished it to be nothing but truth she still yearned to dance every time she heard music. "And even though it is not your concern, my heart is whole." Never had she loved, never was it broken.

"I do not know what you know of loss but it is not something that I know. Every choice that lead me here was mine and mine alone to make and each and every single one I would make again. I am the Huntress," Yuv'aaz had been stone still since her smile faded and he awoke with a puff of smoke. "And if you ever call me a coward again..." The dragon's back arched and golden fire jetted from his mouth, whorls of silver and red coloring the flames that narrowly missed Orion's head. "I will take great pleasure at proving you wrong." Beli whispered knowing her voice carried just far enough for Orion to hear.

The night had ended on a sour note. The dance had been spoiled, it's memory tainted with what Orion had made it into. The only comfort was in the heavy darkness that warred at the edges of the light. It matched her mood and without even turning back to festivities she stormed off towards a tree armed in iron bark. "If you wish to sleep in shelter follow me. Memorize my steps if you rather come at a later date." She didn't tell him that if he didn't make his way to the correct tree, to the top most rooms that were theirs he would be left out for the night. No one in the village would shelter him, it was their way and she knew no one would break their way for a follower of Quasmaanik.

Orion smirked like the Lusty Argonian Maid when Beli joined in his limited but meaningful stargazing attempt. When she began indicating the astral bodies on his, Orion turned his hips, allowing her ready access to his “belt” if she so desired to touch the comparable places as she’d done with his shoulders. He was slightly disappointed when she indicated her reference points from a distance, but no less entertained.

Things then took a sour turn after Orion indulged her curiosity about his take on the performance piece, apparently he’d neglected some homework in dirt-worshiping lore that he didn’t realize he’d been assigned. Belissama was quite adamant about the correct interpretation of her people’s performance art, it seemed. Perhaps more likely was that the dark elf’s words had cut a little too deep into her heart, her mind—she was clinging to the fable as much as she was correcting his interpretation. Nonetheless, it seemed very evident that the subject of dance and most particularly the term “coward.” Orion made mental notes of both of these facts, following his now irate host as she thrashed her way through the dark underbrush.

Her disgusting reptile companion spat some petulant excuse for a flame spell at him unexpectedly, barely allowing Orion enough time to cast a low level ward spell which easily swept up the fire harmlessly into the center of the undulating shield of protection. Orion imagined the disgusting little lizard as a pair of spats.

“Truly Huntress, I meant no offence. I only noted a sincerity to your performance that I meant to compliment. I’m sure you’re right, it was the love of dance as you said.” Orion all but chuckled, projecting bemused surprise while inwardly imagining the color of the mouthy wood elf’s blood. “Again I feel obliged to remind you that I come from a different culture than you, no one in my church or in the entire Grand Stronghold City would ever dream of speaking with such contempt to an invited guest. Much less allowing their pets from directing hostile magic at a foreigner. We True Believers value commerce and mercantilism, making tolerance a keystone virtue. Yet I forgive your… tantrum; and I pray that you’ll forgive my lack of awareness regarding your cultural fables.”

The hiss of magic filled the forest in an abrupt and deliberately alarming flash as Orion cast a night vision spell on himself, to be better able to follow his guide’s exact steps. It was almost completely dark in the deeper woods, but Beli seemed to know the way by heart. Orion quickly caught up once his eyed adjusted to the purple and black contrast of night-vision.

“Will I be staying at your residence, Huntress—or are there quarters that have been prepared for my use?” Orion asked, his lips very near to Belissama’s ear in the dark.

There was something about him that got under her skin. A simple trigger that would send her over the edge and seeing red. He wasn't the only person she had ever met outside of the worshipings of Aurcinah, true he was the first of Quasmaanik but still no one had set her aflame quite like him. Belisama hated that when it came to him and her anger it seemed she had no control of herself. Worse was that her lack of discipline was effecting Yuv'aaz and if nothing else bothered her that would have been troubling enough. She spurred Yuv'aaz into action in anyway but the timing of his attack would have suggested other wise.

Orion's voice just fueled the inner fire within herself, she didn't want to hear his voice or see his face. All she wanted was space, quite and a perch on the highest tree to stare at the stars. "Zu' drakal fah aaz'derem fah zu' fent lerr da'ar bruni'ikon peiianey ahrk dur ekii soli vokubriiur." Belisama prayed, putting all her faith in over coming this elf shaped trial. She heard him point out what she already knew, he was an outsider and knew nothing. Maybe he didn't say it in those words but that was how she heard them.

"So am I to assume," Beli spun on her heel and faced him once again. "That in your Grand Stronghold City insults given are an acceptable form of flattery?" She questioned with a slight raised of her brows. There was so much about him that she had issues with. Everything he had just said she found a fault with. "And who are you to assume you know a person, to know what is within them, to belittle the purity of a person's heart." Her words were her attack and she stepped towards him with every breath. "You can no call this a tantrum when you do not know it's cause, the wrong in what you have done and said." True Belisama had overreacted a touch but she had for a second let her guard down and the moment she did he used that moment against her.

At the end of her rant she realized how close she had gotten to Orion and stepped back hastily, she was well within reach for him and she knew his nature to grab at her. "And Yuv'aaz is not a pet. He his is own creature with a mind of his own, wild and free to do as he will when he wishes it. That we are soul tied does not make him a pet." She knew her love of Yuv'aaz was a weakness, that over the years there had been times where she would have died without him there and there was a certain respect between the two that was deeper then words. "If he attacked you it was as a warning, had he wanted to hit you he would have." Beli said it with the confidence of firsthand accounts. The time when he had killed the deer twice the distance of her bow's range with a singe word or the time he had calmed the winds of the mountain with a whisper.

Knowing that he followed her, Belisama's steps weren't as fast. Her anger at the whole situation hadn't dimmed in the least but she didn't want him to enter another's home and if be her fault. The hiss of magic sent a shiver down her spine and it was echoed by his voice in her ear. "Must you always be so close?" Beli snapped waving her hand in his general direction to shoo him away. "Let it be a new rule that you must stay a minimum arms reach from me at all times. In life endangering moments the rule can be brother but no other reason then that." She didn't ask him if that sounded okay to him because it wasn't a negotiation where he could offer terms that would make him happy.

"And I do not live here, my home is in the Heart. The Sentinel Tree is where the rangers stay, the top most floors in any tree are always reserved for the All Mother and The Huntress. We will be staying there." The Sentinel Tree wasn't the largest tree but it was the tallest covered in iron bark with gray-green needles and a smokey pine scent. The sap that oozed from the bark the last week of autumn was collected and make into a flame retardant to combat fire both natural and magicked. "You will have your own quarters on one side of the tree and I will have one on the other. The space between the quarters are shared common areas." She could have just as easily given him his own floor but she didn't want to deal with the repercussions of him being left alone for an entire night.

Yuv'aaz clicked his jaw and flashed his teeth, his body flaring with warmth a second before his wings opened and he dropped from Belisama's shoulder and into the night's sky. She didn't know where he was going, was worried because like every morning since she had been gifted with him he was there when she woke up. "I would get a good night's sleep if I were you." She smiled to herself failing to mention that the All Mother would be here at first day's light.

Orion’s lips curled back from his teeth as Belisama continued to rail against his every word and action, the long hours spent on the road and full day of this Huntress’ badgering had eroded away the last of Orion’s patience to the point of near madness. He reminded himself that he had a job to do, that he was a representative of all of his people, but even the burden of his duty was insufficient to smother the flames of his wrath as she stormed toward him, accusing him of countless offences.

“My words? My actions? What have I said, aside from honeyed compliments and praise for your scant amenities and rudimentary art-forms? How have I given offence? By reading the subtext of your little dance instead of the idiotic fable which was intended? For your part, you’ve treated me as little more than a hostage since I’ve been here, now you dare to reprimand me for my words and actions?” Orion seethed, his tongue running away from his discretion.

Beli’s assurance that her little pet would have hit him with his fire spell if such had been his intent did little to comfort the visiting dark elf, but he bit his tongue and held back his rage. If the lizard was its own being as she suggested, he wondered how she would feel about him hunting the cursed thing. The hunt was sacred to them, and she herself wore the skin and bore weapons made from the bones of the dragon’s distant relatives—the hypocrisy of these dirt-worshippers knew no limit.

They approached the towering tree which she explained was an outpost, and that her and the All Mother were afforded space in every residence—just in case they should require lodging. To Orion this seemed beyond ridiculous, to waste space and resources on the possibility that the highest church elders should require lodging. Folly. These people, their faith—it was all made of folly.

Reaching the tree, Orion did his best to observe the mandated distance between him and the Huntress, no longer interested even in watching her well-defined backside ascending the staircase wrought out of the large tree trunk—not to say that he didn’t, only that he was no longer interested. As he ascended, an arm’s length behind, Orion laid his hand on the side of the stairwell and flattened his palm into revolting, sticky tree sap.

“These lodgings sound satisfactory. Do your people bathe, or do you believe filth to be blessed of the holy stag’s shit, or some such nonsense? I would clean my body before resting, as is our custom.” Orion was far too exhausted and frustrated to remain on his best behavior, since he was already outcast by this impossible elf for his words and actions, he saw no reason to continue censoring his true feelings about his treatment.

Even as his temper got the better of his discretion, Orion found himself slightly awed by the interior of the tree in which he was to stay. Carved right into the living wood, the stairwell opened up to a massive floor of timber built outward from the trunk staircase between branches. He couldn’t help but be a little impressed, even as they continued up to the higher floors.

“I must confide, Huntress, that if you are indicative of your people’s tolerance for people unlike yourselves, the prospect of peace is looking more and more grim by the moment.” Orion mused as they ascended, beginning to work at unclasping his heavy clerical robes, revealing his well-defined grey chest, clothed only in a sleeveless, black mesh designed for ease of movement. “Perhaps someday soon you’ll have an opportunity to try and do all these things you’ve threatened me with since my arrival, unless there’s a decisive change in attitude by tomorrow.”

Had he not been traveling for days to arrive there, Orion would have already left to go home, scuttling the peace talks altogether. There could be no peace, only bloodshed. And this petulant little Huntress had reawakened his bloodthirst like he’d never felt before. He wanted to see her blood running down his arms, dripping from his elbows—to hear her screams and pleas for mercy. He wanted to harm her, deeply and in ways that would never heal—but that would all have to wait, at least for the night.

When they arrived at the floor they were to share, Orion unclasped his heavy, enchanted belt from around his waist and draped it over the nearest bit of furnishings, followed by his heavy, metal-reinforced robe which he meticulously found a place to hang. Now vulnerable, wearing only his mesh tank-top and the baggy clerical pants which matched his robes, he looked back at Beli, his red eyes expectant—hoping for an indication where he might bathe himself.

Belisama rolled her eyes too tired to fight him anymore. They were two people born to different worlds, they weren't meant to get alone and that they didn't proved just how impossible these talks of peace would be. As much as she wanted to see the end of all these death, to be a part in stopping the fighting, Beli knew herself enough to know that if he was the elf she had to work with for this to come to fruition it would be doomed to end before it even started. She had never been happier to have the All Mother taking care of this particular task.

"Forget it." She sighed waving her hand in the air. "You have tried to respect me in the ways you believe to be appropriate and while I have given to some of effort to treat you as I should I realize I haven't been the most gracious of hosts." It was as close as she would ever come to apologizing to the man and he would have to be happy with it because it was all she would give me. "Far from a hostage but lacking as a guest of honor."Belisama's pride was a fault in her and she knew it but controlling that pride and the anger she had thought she had lost years ago was near to impossible around Orion.

In the silence that followed Belisama reviewed her day since she first set eyes Orion. The All Mother would be ashamed of her many times over and that knowledge hit her like an early winter wind. She had tried at one point to be the host that her position and his arrival required but somewhere down the road Belisama had stopped trying and forgot her place as The Huntress and reacted like a woman. Filled with emotions and delicate feelings, unruly and rash in both words and actions. She clicked her tongue at herself climbing the stairs to the top of tree. She wasn't representing her people very well and that she knew better only made the situation worse. Maybe in some small part Orion was right. Belisama would never agree to it out loud but in the confines of her own mind she could confess that she had acted badly on several occasions.

At this point, after realizing her wrongs as easily as she had pointed out his, everything just seemed like too much and she reacted to it with laughter. "Stag's piss mixed with mud." Beli corrected with a shake of her head. "And we rub ourselves nightly with the pellets from owls to exfoliate our skin." She continued to tease leading the way to a covered balcony, a screen walling in the area that was thick enough to hide a person from view but still let in the light. Multiple brass pipes jutted from between the layers of bark at different levels of height with even a few scattered above head. The space was large enough for three grown adults with a bench to one side that would sit two. The floor was pebbled with smooth river rocks and live moss between them. All the water that would fall would just be collected by the tree to be filtered and used again in other areas of the village.

When her laughter died away Beli pointed out a carved out shelf where bottles of soaps and lotions were held. "You can turn on the water here." She showed him the lever and explained that the water flow would be controlled by how high he lifted or lowered the lever. "The temperature is as warm as the tree itself but should you want it hotter or colder it can be adjusted here." Beli showed him the blue and red colored twistable knobs.

She sighed hearing the words so similar to the ones she had just thought to herself being repeated by Orion. "I don't remember ever threatening you." She had cautioned him against calling her a coward again but it wasn't a threat. And then there had been the draw of her empty bow but she had explained herself and hadn't thought that to be a threat. But she sighed again and waved her hand in the air, a sign she didn't want to fight. "I don't like all this fighting between us, between our people and all this death and killing." Belisama was haunted by the face of every person she had killed, weighted down by the knowledge that she had taken someone from another be it a family member, loved one or friend.

"I am not the best reflection of the wishes and wants of my people." Belisama confessed her throat tightening, trying to cut her words off so she could not speak them. "I have not fully considered you part and place in these talks of peace and have instead judged you as I would one of my own and it was unfair of me." She she guessed she wasn't done apologizing yet. The only saving grace was that the All Mother would be here in the morning and she would fit and undo all that Beli had done today. "The All Mother is pure in her wants and the needs of our people. I am still a hunter tied to the primal form." Her words weighted heavy as she said them. After all these years as The Huntress she still needed the All Mother to pick up after her like a spoiled child.

Tendrils of doubt wormed their way into Belisama's heart and mind. It wasn't the first time she doubted the whys of being picked. There was still so much she needed to work on to become the All Mother one day and it went beyond the spiritual nature and gentle hum that she seemed to lack. "Tomorrow the sun will greet us with a new day." She walked back into the quarters and set out a towel, a robe and a set of soft cotton sleepwear out for him. "Maybe the sun will shed new light on our problems and we will see them shift like the shadows." And with that Beli left Orion alone.

On the other side of the tree Beli brewed a mixture of teas in a pot and strained them into cup. The tonic would help clear her mind and bring tranquility to the darkness inside of her heart and mind. It was something she maybe should have drank earlier but she didn't expect to dislike Orion so much, for him to be so difficult to deal with. For him to be so different. Because in the end that was what it was all about. He was too different from her. They shared nothing, had no common ground and the realization chilled her blood despite the steaming cup of tea that she sipped on. How would this be possible if even she couldn't accept him as he was? If she asked others to do the same and expect them to do differently then she had today.

All these thoughts were giving her a headache. At this point there couldn't be anything she could so about what had already been done. She didn't have control over time and doubted if she had to go though this again if it would end any differently. Belisama paced the room and exited out on to the observation deck when it felt like the walls were closing in. From this height she could see the entire village but wasn't high enough to see thought the canopy to the stars. Belisama knew the path to her favorite branch above the canopy, could walk it with her eyes closed and backwards but she stayed where she was compromising with what she wanted with what should be done. Beli had to be here when Orion was finished washing himself, not stargazing where he couldn't see her. So she instead leaped up onto the banister and balanced there as she drank her tea, dancing on the narrow piece of wood as she collected herself for tomorrow.

Orion’s jaw nearly hit the ground when he heard Beli admitting fault and skirting very near to an apology for her curt treatment of the outsider. Sure, it was buried under a mountain of excuses and unwarranted indictments against his behavior, but as far as an apology went, it was more than he’d hoped for. He let go of an earnest chuckle as she answered his petulant remark about her faith in kind, sarcastically suggesting quite deplorable methods of maintaining personal hygiene among the followers of her faith. He hoped she was being sarcastic, at least.

“My earnest gratitude for your capitulation, I beg your forgiveness for my own outburst. It has been a challenging journey to get here. I trust that the dawn will greet us both in kinder and more understanding spirits.” Orion nodded, gathering the offered towels and sleeping clothes—that he slept naked was not a vital fact to bring up, lest it mar this detante between the new rivals. “Thank you for all you’ve done, Huntress.”

Talking toward the way she had gone, Orion looked over the bathing apparatus, no longer feeling the need to keep his awe at the wood elves’ primitive ingenuity masked. He turned one handle and cold water ran, turned the other and hot—such a marvel! All through the tree she’d said, he tried to guess at what sort of magic must have also been involved in the process. Truly, it was a wonder.

Orion removed his mesh shirt that he wore under his heavy, armored robe, to avoid the heavy metal lattices from sinking into his skin over long wear. Last he removed his pants and underbreeches, stepping into the steaming hot flow of cool water. It tasted vaguely of maple, but left behind no residue at all (as unboiled cave water often did).

He emerged from the shower, feeling like a man-new—deciding that he’d wear the provided clothes, at least until he was ready to slumber. Perhaps it would be a show of trust and gratitude to wear them before Beli, that he would be utterly defenseless if she chose then to strike at him with a blade or bow.

Moving from his designated quarters into the shared part of the floor, Orion worried briefly that Beli may have well retired to bed in her own quarters. If that had been the case, he would have simply gone to sleep and hoped for better relations with her and her kind in the morning. But at last, it seemed that luck was beginning to favor Orion, he spotted her, dancing along the bannister on the exterior balcony.

With his long, silver hair unbound and draped across his shoulders and his muscular chest out-thrust against the night-clothes which had been cut for a smaller breed of elf, Orion strode out in bare feet to greet his host.

“Your residence, or—outpost here is truly a marvel. One day you must tell me how the water is heated.” Orion smiled, leaning onto the rail in Beli’s path, but not in her way. “Might I join you up there? You seem to have a better view of the sky than I do from here.”

The sight of Orion had Beli muffling an uncontrollable laugh. The pants rode high up his calves and the shirt, though the largest that was supplied strained across his chest like a busty maiden. “I am sorry.” She chuckled shielding herself behind her tea cup. “You just look unlike yourself and uncomfortable.” Beli’s laughter subsided and she once again looked Orion over. He looked much less a Lord of the Dark God but a man. It was a nice change but more a mask then anything. “Learn to smile with warmth and there might be a lady brave enough to draw your attention.”

“Each village had a Sentinel Tree, some have more but all are a place for the rangers to call home when they are from the Heart. Oracles have a place here as well but they often invited into homes for rest.” Beli instructed, mentioning the path of followers that were not rangers. But the Sentinel Tree was more than just a way station for those who called the Heart their home. It was a barrack for protectors and guards. A place of refuge for strangers and the lost alike. When the year was generous the abundance was stored on the ground level for any and all to take from as they needed regardless if they were from that village or not. “I have spent many nights here but it does not compare to the Heart. What you will see there I doubt you will be able to find elsewhere.” She smiled fondly.

“I cannot help you in answering that question.” Beli blushed for the first time embarrassed at the lack of knowledge she had in this field. “Magic and I have no love for each other. There had been a time in my youth that I wanted to learn the skill of enchantments but found out rather quickly that it was a talent set I was not born for. Other than the sense of nature that seems to come naturally to me and the odd healing salves and basic curing potions, I have not a single drop of magic in my veins. Sadly that applies to the theories of magic as well.” It just wasn’t something that Beli could get her mind wrapped around and understand, let alone recalled in any useful way. “Lugus would be a good mentor if you can ever find him when you want him.”

At Orion’s mention of the sky, Beli looked up and frowned. “Of the village my view is second to none, but the sky.” She clicked her tongue crouching down and setting her cup off to the side. With a smile on her Beli took one more look at the tree covered view of the sky before turning back to Orion straightening up. “Are you scared of heights?” Beli offered her hand almost like a challenge. The deck went around the entirety of the tree and half way round was a sister, much younger Sentinel Tree untouched in its growth. An easy jump from the deck to one of the outstretched branches. From there it was be an easy hop from tree to tree heading north, north-west. There a wise old spidery banyan tree with a wide spread of comfortable branches stretched out. While not the tallest tree it was the widest around and provided enough open space to freely gaze at the stars. Of course if Orion wasn’t the tree climbing elf such as she the walk there was nice and if taking the long was wound by a little stream and the climb up the tree itself wasn’t difficult.

Orion smiled a good-natured smile as Beli laughed at his appearance, holding out his arms and doing a brief flourish turn to let her see the full effect of the tight night clothes on his appearance. Her comment about gaining the attention of another lady elf was unexpected and left him briefly speechless, as he’d failed to consider that the poorly fitted clothes might be an improvement on his ceremonial robes—he also realized how comforting the sound of Beli’s laugh was to him, he realized that he cared little for the thoughts or feelings of other elves from her tribe. She was growing on him, and perhaps it was mutual.

It was a mercy that Beli casually changed subjects before Orion was forced to make reply, she confirmed his suspicion that the water heating function of the tree they occupied was governed by magic, while also admitting that she herself was not well-versed in the realm of destruction magic. Orion smiled in response to her suggestion that he seek out another of her tribe for mentorship in the magical arts.

“I thought that it was the result of a destruction spell, a fire rune perhaps…” Orion remarked contemplatively, “if you’d like, I could mentor you in the arcane arts. I know a great many fire spells.”

It was a great relief for Orion to find a subject which Beli could admit a lack of knowledge in—for so much of the day she’d kept up the stern façade of control, Orion was glad to be getting to know her on a personal level. He felt himself growing closer to her, relating to her in a way that he hadn’t anticipated when he set out to begin peace talks with his hated elven rivals. It seemed these wood elves were very much like his own brethren—perhaps this was the point of these talks.

“I am afraid of few things,” Orion smirked in response to Beli’s playful challenge about heights, “I’ve faced most of them today, but heights are not numbered among them. I once climbed the Throat of the World in Skyrim hunting a malicious dragon priest.”

Orion had to appreciate how light Beli was on her feet as she leapt off of the balcony and sprung along the foliage of the neighboring tree, seeking a higher branch. Orion had casually waved off Beli’s offered hand, but quickly had second thoughts as he stood on the rail of the wooden balcony. He was a larger breed of elf than she, and while it was an amusing side-note in his wardrobe, it could be a fatal miscalculation in trying to follow her through the branches of this so-called heart tree. He sighed in resignation, rubbing his palms together furiously to psyche himself up for the leap.

Letting go of a faint grunt as he launched off of the balcony rail, Orion’s fears were quickly confirmed as his foot landed where Beli had lightly perched and moved from and the branch let out a terrifying snap. He flailed for a moment, fearing that the branch had broken away completely. Fortunately, the branch only snapped partway through and he was able to scramble upward before the full mass of his weight sent him falling.

At last, he was able to join Beli in the sturdy eaves of the banyan tree with the full pantheon of the sky spread out around them—it was true, this view was second to none he’d seen in this area. Though he was sweating lightly and panting audibly, the view proved to be worth the effort.

“Beautiful,” Orion sighed, scanning the horizon for a long moment and letting his gaze finally come to rest on Beli.

Beli simply shrugged her shoulders. “It would seem logical that the magic is applied to that effect but I cannot confirm nor deny that.” A small smile touched Beli’s lips. “If you find out maybe you could let me know.” It was likely to be useless as it wouldn’t be the first time she was informed to the works for one and many things in the magical realm and not recall a single stitch of it. “Oh I wouldn’t wish that upon you. I’m a horrible student and with my past in arcane arts you’ll be lucky only to lose your eyebrows.” Beli laughed with only a small bit of honesty. “Plus I have Yuv'aaz when I need fire.” There had been a woman from her childhood memories that had healing powers that she had envied but it was her sister that sat in the corner playing with lightening that caught Beli’s imagination. “But a few lessons might not hurt. Knowledge gained is never wasted.”

“What fears have you faced today?” Beli found herself asking before his comment about the Throat of Skyrim snared her attention. “Skyrim?” That would have been quite the journey, if the maps she had studied were correct it was nearly on the other side of the known world. Suddenly Beli’s heart clenched, the life Orion had and the stories he could share. It wasn’t that Beli wished for a different life but to be able to say that you’ve climbed the Throat of the World… There was a part of her that had always wished to see more of the world and not just fight through it all. “When we get a chance will you share your tale with me? You must have seen a great many things in your life…” She sighed turning away from Orion and to the stars before leaping off the balcony.

The first leap looked to be a hard one for Orion and Beli took care to take in his size and comfortability in the trees when she picked out her path. He was heavier then he looked as the first branch struggled under his weight. “Doing okay back there?” Beli laughed from the neighboring tree. Mindful of Orion she went slow and picked an easy path for him to follow until they reached the banyan tree. Near the top of the tree was a perfectly formed “Y” that Beli comfortably nested in as she waited for Orion to catch up.

“It is, isn’t.” Beli agreed turning to look at Orion, startled by the look on his face as she stared at her. “I-…” Her brows wrinkled as she weighed the gaze upon her. “Yes the, the stars are beautiful.” Beli stammered quickly looking away from Orion. Certainly he had meant the stars, right… “I, um.” She suddenly felt uncomfortable and she looked up at the stars tracing their familiar patterns to calm her. “When the moon is full you can see the Mountains of Sēnlín from here, it looks like they glow but really it’s their crystal tops reflect the light of the moon.” The moon had already passed the zenith, nor was it a full moon but it was still worth mentioning if he were ever to revisit.

“What is it like in your home?” There was so much about his culture, so much that she didn’t understand about their beliefs or the point of all this fighting. Did either side know why they were even fighting? And his god, what was he like from someone who gave his life to him? So many questions and not nearly enough time to get the questions to all of them before the morning and the All Mother’s arrival.

Orion’s smile broadened at Beli’s admission of her shortcoming within the realm of magic, it was endearing to see this other side of her, admitting fault and even—perhaps—enjoying herself instead of regarding him so suspiciously. It helped to keep him mindful that she—in fact all of her ilk, were elves like he and his, separated only by superficial features like size, skin color and religion, against the grand scope of the night sky these things all seemed so inconsequential and silly even, yet so many had died because of these differences. It was enough to give him pause.

“I’d be delighted for the opportunity to show you some spells. Though I am merely a journeyman in the Destruction school of magic, I am a master of Conjuration—I’m certain that you could wield a bound bow as well as any school-educated mage—perhaps better even,” Orion answered, finally finding his bearings among the branches.

When asked about what fears he’d faced that day, Orion let go of a gentle chuckle as he followed Beli’s steps precisely, making sure not to stray from the route through the treetops that she was making ahead of him, “well this morning I faced down a hunting party of archers, all aiming from elevated positions behind cover without casting so much as a Stoneskin spell on myself, then I navigated a trap laden forest into the camp of my lifelong enemies… now I’m climbing through treetops in the dead of night, without anyone even knowing where I am… I’d say it’s been a full day of facing my fears.”

Orion smiled, good-naturedly though he doubted that Beli could see it, occupied as she was with navigating their route through the treetops. It took some considerable willpower on Orion’s part not to stare at Beli’s muscular backside as he followed her, but despite a few brief and furtive glances, he was able to remain respectful of her and her body as she led him to the large banyan tree.

When Beli seemed to become flustered at his remark, blushing under the heat of his gaze, he didn’t recoil at her nervousness, instead he smiled again, the same good-natured smile she’d missed before. She turned away abruptly and quickly changed the subject as efficiently as she could, commenting on the horizon, the distant mountains and anything that wasn’t the two of them alone together, as they were.

“My home?” Orion smiled as he tucked himself into the Y-shaped center of the tree, leaning against one of the sides and subtly inclining his head at the vacant space he’d left for Beli to make herself comfortable as well, though the shape of the tree ensured that they’d be very close together if both of them were to make themselves comfortable, “my people mostly live beneath the Quasmanian mountain ranges, we tend to stay out of the open air if we can avoid it. It keeps us safe from any roving highwaymen or feral dreadbeasts that might mean us harm—the great peak of Quasma being our seat of power…”

Orion stopped abruptly, realizing that he was speaking clinically, the sheer physics of his village which was not at all what Beli was asking—not really. He cleared his throat and tried to give her a more… sentimental view into what his people’s lives were like.

“Our faith is strong, and families are sacred to us. During the full moon cycle we often host grand celebrations with music and dancing and spectacles of fire and magelight… perhaps someday you could see it yourself. The festival of Quasmaanik is but a week from tonight…”

There was still so much that Orion was uncertain of, though he and Beli seemed for now to have pushed past their suspicion of each other, he didn’t know how she’d respond to the idea of attending his religious festival. After all, religion was the primary factor that had divided them for so long, the cause of all the spilled blood between them, yet Orion’s faith was as strong as Beli’s—it wasn’t something he could easily extricate from who he or his people were. At their core, they were elves of faith.

“There’s a rumor that the undercroft was originally built by the dwemer and that if you go deep enough there are still old, blind Falmer sniffing around down there and cooking poisons—but it’s only a rumor.” Orion turned his head to seek out eye contact from Beli, perhaps he just wanted to see her again as well. It was hard to admit, but he was beginning to feel some decidedly soft feelings for this elf who belonged to the tribe of his lifelong enemies.

“A bound bow?” Beli thought about it for a moment but it felt wrong but an arrow… “Does it have to be a bow? Can you magic arrows?” She asked genuinely interested in the idea of losing what weighted her down the most. Her confidence in her ability was still weaker then what Orion’s seemed to be in her but it fared well that someone who would be her teacher had such faith in her. “What manor of things can you conjure? Where are the limitations?” For surely everything had to have a limit, a balance to what can and cannot be done.

Belisama didn’t mean any malic behind her laughter but she couldn’t help it. “When you put it like that I have no choice but to applaud your bravery.” But behind her laugher she really did give him credit. From his point of view he had gone through more than she had even considered. Put in his robes she wasn’t sure she could have handled the day with the same elegance as he had. It made how she treated him all that much worse and the smile faded from her lips as shame welled up in her chest.

There were many mountains within the arms of Aurcinah's protection but none that she had seen that matched the vastness of the Quasmanian mountain ranges, or so she read. The view from the top must have been beyond anything she could imagine and a part of Beli’s soul ached to venture to this faraway place and witness such marvels for herself. Unaware of her movements Beli moved over to the space that Orion nodded at waiting upon his pause. Beli’s embarrassment forgotten in never ending quest for knowledge.

There was much in his simple statement about his people that Beli could agree with. They too were strong in their faith with family second to none. The festivals during the full moon was also something that they shared, not all full moons where celebrated with the same amount of glee but they all held special meaning to her and her people. “A week from tonight?” Did that mean Orion expected talks to go well in the morning and for there to be some kind of kinship between the two of them? Beli dearly hoped so because neither side could keep this up forever. “If I am free to do so, I would very much like the idea of attending this festival of yours.”

“The dwemer?” Beli leaned in closer, she had a deep fascination with the dwemer and their mechanical creations. “That would be a rumor I would seek out to uncover.” She smiled. “To see a falmer first hand, to spy upon them and learn their poison skills.” Beli was lost in a dream where she was not The Hunter, where there was no war and a person was free to their own life. It was sad tale, the history of the falmers and much of their skill and talents had been lost and were unknown to the world today.

“You know I believe there are more similarities between the two of our people then they want to admit.” She sighed looking up at the night’s sky. “But is it possible to seam those differences together in light of what we have in common?” Beli spoke more to herself then to Orion yet it was spoken out loud for him to speak on should he wish it.

Orion smiled at Beli’s curiosity about summoning magic, at last a subject on which he was a genuine expert, though he found himself somewhat flummoxed by her assertion that she’d like to somehow split the spell in half and utilize only bound arrows, “I’ve never heard of such a spell, but when a marksman summons a bound bow, even the most feeble iron or tribal arrows can be fired with the accuracy and impact of Daedric arrows. Still, the spell caster would need to utilize their bound equipment, otherwise the arrows would return to their shabby forms.”

It warmed his heart to see that Beli had a genuine interest in conjuration, he resolved to teach her a few spells as soon as he was reunited with his belongings, he’d brought several tomes with him for offerings to his hosts and Beli was as deserving as anyone. “In some senses there is a limit—in other senses there are none. A mage is limited only by his ability and capacity for magika—a beginner wizard might struggle to muster the magika cost to summon a flame atrinoch, a master wizard might have the ability to summon a Dremora Lord, a weapon and a suit of armor with leftover magika to fire off some destruction spells. In my life I’ve never heard of anyone summoning a dragon before, but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be done… there are so many realms, and anything from outside of our Mundus is able to be summoned into ours through Conjuration…”

A heat rose up in Orion’s face as he looked over at Beli and realized he’d been rambling, that and she was sitting so close to him now it was hard not to feel at least a little bashful, with her impressive bosoms pressing against his shoulder. But as she mentioned wanting to join them for their great festival Orion straightened back up and extended his arm to the other side of the tree, gently draping his arm across her shoulders and also helping to keep her upright.

“I thought that you would have been told already, the same agreement that brought me here has bound someone from your tribe to join us for our great festival—some of our scholars theorized that the closeness of your ceremony and ours suggests some overlapping ideology… more study was needed, but our people know too little about your ceremony and vise versa.” Orion left off there, if her elders had not informed her of the marriage pact and his role in it, he didn’t want to bring it up, at least not yet. “If I were to recommend you, I know for certain you would not just be permitted, but sent and received as the sole representative of your community.”

When Beli came around to her realization about how much more their people had in common than differences between them, Orion turned in the eaves of the tree to face her more fully, “I would not be here if I didn’t believe there was a way for our two people to live in harmony, we mer have feuded for too long. We are far more formidable together than we ever could be alone.”

With this, Orion leaned forward, while Beli was still looking up toward the stars, he used his free hand to gently turn her face toward him and gently kissed her lips. It wasn’t overly sexual or crude, merely sweet, entreating and exploratory. The moment seemed right to him so he took a risk, the kind of risk which would have surely gotten him killed that same morning—he was now venturing such a feat in earnest.

Belisama frowned at her inability to even describe what she wanted in terms of spellcasting. “No.” She sighed shaking her head. “What I meant was if you can produce a bound bow from nothing can you not do the same with arrows? To conjure bound arrows from nothing?” Beli tried explaining feeling like a calf walking for the first time. “I have no care for my accuracy or impact, I fair overly well in both aspects but the weight freed from not having to carry arrows is appealing.” Because nothing you did ever completely silences the rattle of arrows when at a full gallop mid-draw.

“So a person’s will and ability to learn and master such a skill is where the limitations spawn?” Beli clarified. He had never heard of anyone summoning a dragon before… She thought of Yuv'aaz, her gift from Aurcinah and wondered what Orion would think if he knew the creation and/or birth of her soulbond. “Then it seems in that I may have seen more.” She smiled distantly as a shrill call pierced the night’s silence.

Beli’s brows wrinkled, she hadn’t been told such a thing but she quickly brushed it off. If the All Mother hadn’t told her then it meant it didn’t affect her and the one who it did relate to had already been informed. It was as simple as that in her mind. “But we don’t celebrate this moon or even the next.” Did that mean that Orion was to return? And who would be going with him? Beli knew her place was within Aurcinah's hold but still her mind lingered on such a thought as going. “The recommendation would be well received but my place is here.” The sudden and surprising jolt of pain that stabbed Beli in the heart caused a ripple of concern and worry to fracture the peace in her soul.

“In that I agree.” Beli nodded. “From what I have found of our histories it reads as if there are pieces missing. And not just a page or a gap but like the other half to something as deep and precious as a heart or a mind.” That Orion felt the same, if only in his own way gave her more hope than she would have expected to feel after the beginning of the day.

We watch the same sun rise and the same moon set if it must be so that is as good of a play as any to forge a beginning. She thought to herself tracing the shapes in the sky that calmed the disturbance within her.

The feel of Orion’s hand on her chin startled her, when had she moved close enough to touch? Or had he moved and she hadn’t noticed? She started to question when her mind was wiped clear of all thoughts as his lips met hers.

Rage. Surprise. Confusion. Disbelief. Horror.

Emotions blended like colors in her mind until it was muddy and impossible to untangle.

Her body moved with practiced ease, the knife shape and deadly snaked between their bodies. The tender skin at his throat threatened by the sharp edge of her silver edge. Eyes clouded with blind rage at the freedom he dared take with her. Walls rebuilt in a second and hackles once again in place as the voice inside her lectured her at the folly of relaxing around him. She was The Hunter, the balance to Aurcinah's will and promise. Destined to one day be The All Mother, soul linked with Aurcinah herself.

But what she saw in her mind was only a movie, a playout of what should have been. A justified reaction to his disrespect of her but instead she was stock still.

That was the second of all kisses given and both were unwanted. The first had been pressed by Erimon the night before she had become a priestess, he had meant it as a show of her feelings for him but it only spurred her away from him. And now Orion. His reasoning was unknown and lost to her but the way it made her feel…

Beli paused, her train of thought fractured. How did she feel? She sat back eyes wide as her mind whirled. Finally her eyes focused and narrowed pinning Orion with a cold look. “That was beyond your reach and not for you to take.” She said formally.

And like that she slid from the branch they shared to the one below, body falling with graceful intent before landing on her feel silently. The stars in her mind had faded and Beli no long wanted to spend the night seaming their two futures together. The one to accompany him to his festival could have him and all the luck to her. She growled stomping off in the direction of the village. She was getting angrier and angrier with every step and like a child she was taking it out on the fallen leaves with repeated and very satisfying crunches.