Rhiannon D'Inafae - The search for answers.
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Player: JerrickRafe
PC: Rhiannon D'inafae
Rhiannon D'Inafae - The search for answers.It happened first at about age 5. Looking too small by human standards, the child with the already abnormal hair and ears was getting stranger every day. It began with her first words, which didn't come until she was two. Before that, she was fond of making hissing noises, and even the occsional growl of irritation.
Those words were more often than not, "why" and "how", and this small child showed an aptitude early on for simply having a knack for doing things all on her own, even things noone had ever shown her. Those words soon became "Why not" amd "How come" however, as some of those things she had affinities for began to manifest. No mother enjoys drapes afire, or ice water boiling, or an image of the house cat on fire while it slept soundly, obvlivious to the dancing flames upon it that died away when Rhiannon turned her attention elsewhere. From magical missles to forms of fairie fire, the child was swiftly showing arcane prowess in many forms, despite having never seen any do magic before.
Luckily for her foster mother, Rhiannon made it a habit to be scarce most of the time. When other children were playing at feeding the birds near the village, Rhiannon made it a habit to go out to the rock face by the sea, and drop pieces of meat into the crevices just below the cliff lip. She was caught by one of the other children's parents, a hedge sorcerer of sorts, whom she quickly ended up befriending. Nobody really cared what the village healer and curse breaker did when he wasn't at home or plying his trade, so long as he was around once in a while to tend to their ailments and the like. Once Rhiannon began to spend more and more time with him, she received the same treatment as he, and took it suprisingly well for her age. She was more interested in other things anyhow.
There were dragons by the cliffs. Little dragons, who chirped and squawked and talked in voices like people sometimes, or at least Rhiannon said they sounded like it. She always seemed to know what they wanted, what was bothering them, and how to approach them, unlike the old hedgemage, who simply observed them all day and took notes.
"Magnificent, aren't they little one?" he would ask, and keep on scribbling away. He would bring lunch, and they would share it together, watching the dragons cavort and practice breathing fire and such at one another.
The little half-elf girl, who lives only with a kindly woman in the village who didn't understand her, came to see the old fellow as a father figure, as well as a friend. A friend whose long greay beard would occasionally get attacked by the younger, more fiesty and daring wyrms when he dropped food into his beard and left it unattended. The first time, he nearly fell into the sea in surprise!The years went by, and the young girl remained in that small village, and all knew who she was. Sure, very few actually KNEW her, but the others would speak of "The strange blue haired child" and how she's always "Running off and doing Gods know what!" The truth is, in all those years they spent together, chatting and watching the pseudodragons, as he called them, he was cultivating her to live a life of knowledge, and the pursuit of it.
"Young lady, one day you're going to have questions about these little fellows you can't answer. Even I still don't know what they are here for, or how they came about, or if they're even truly related to the great dragons they resemble… but I think You'll find out. Something great, and terrible will happen this day, and I want you to remember it always, and learn from it. I have only seen part of what happens, and I did not see your image in the knowledge I gleaned. Stay here, with our friends, and remember the spells I taught you .You, are a sorceress. Remember that always. These spells are not the tricks and things I taught you as a little one, these will save your life, someday. For now, just look forward, never behind, and never forget me."
With that, the old man turned towards the cliff, and walked to the VERY edge, teetering for a moment, before regaining his balance, and simply stood there, arms out, and whispering to himself. Hours passed. He moved not. It was the smell of smoke, and the sound of rushing wind buffeting her that rose Rhiannon from her nap she had not intended to take.
The village to the east of her, HER village, was completely aflame, and only the last screams of the dying could be heard in the distance. Speaking of distance, the old man was still merely feet away, although he was prostrate on the ground, and mumbling fervently to someone she could not see. She could only catch snippets, since it was so quiet, but she realized he was speaking the tongue she had learned over the years, but it was spoken with great reverence.
"Yes, I will go with you! I have lived to learn all I can of all of your kind, and... well, I think she will do it too. I mean, she already knows so much!"
The old fellow was nodding excitedly, and did not realize that Rhiannon was sitting up, watching and listening, until he looked directly at her. A pair of gigantic lantern eyes suddenly made themselves apparent to her, and swung in her direction. "Find me little one, when you have the talent... develop it. I wish to speak to one when you are grown! "A terrific rush of air bowled her over backwards, and a dragon seemingly the size of half the village flew off and above the town, clutching her mentor and friend gently in footclaws, and snatched up a screaming human in his teeth as he flew low over the town, and away.
She awoke some time later to a headache, and lots of tiny dragons licking her, and pawing her awake. "Oh no! HOME!"
Running back to the town showed a few survivors milling about, most with stunned looks on their faces, and buckets in their hands. "Where were you?" her mother figure asked, almost just as a reaction, rather than true caring, possibly because of the traumatic events that just happened. "Well, nevermind, you're safe anyway, and the bandits didn't get you. That's good at least. Hair like yours, they'll sell you quickly.... bastards."The woman walked away before Rhiannon could ask about it, but eventually the story came out. Even though it had looked like a dragon raiding the town at first... it was really just marauding bandits, setting fire to the village and butchering townsfolk. When the dragon passed by on his way to who knows where, he just happened to take an interest in the raiders besieging the innocent villagers, and dropped in for a snack, killing many and scattering all of them.
That was the last she had seen of the dragon so far, although she is searching for it now.
[[It's a longer story than all that, but is best told over a meal with some time to kill. Mostly, these were the events that set the young half-elf on her way to pursuing dragons, and all things magical that may pertain to them as well. Perhaps one day, she'll find her old mentor, or the dragon who spoke to her, and she'll learn the things she's been seeking all along.]]
She is often seen in the company of one or more of these small dragons, who make it a point to follow her about whenever possible, making her even easier to spot in a crowd, as if very pretty features and dark blue hair weren't enough.
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Reviewed, XP pending
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Sorry for the unusually fractured and prolly typo'ed post.
Split my hand open today, and on painkillers and have it jerry-rigged up so it doesn;t bleed, but can;t go get stitches b/c insurance ran out. ^_^
Bleh… ready for review tho.--EDITED!--
Came back to it with more cohenrency this time, and cleaned it up! Hopefully it;s worth a re-read now. Ready for Review!