3. On A Wing And A Prayer

On A Wing And A Prayer


  • ((Bleh, it takes me too long to write this stuff. The "Then" parts of this will function as Therean's background story. Thanks and apologies to anybody who struggles through this.))

    THEN

    Therean Ferather raised himself upright and looked back down the mountain ridge. The wild elf stood not quite six feet tall and even though he was lean and muscular, he was still taller, thicker (and heavier) than most other elves in the mountaintop community spread out below him. His hair was dark with hints and brown and green, and his skin held the ruddy complexion he had inheirited from the parents he barely remembered. He wore soft brown knee-high goatskin boots, fine brown linen trousers, an off-white linen undertunic and a light gray wool tunic cinched with a simple leather belt that kept a few small pouches and a dagger within easy reach. He was kept warm in the cool mountain air by a light-blue hooded wool novice robe with silver buttons that were undone, letting the body of the robe billow around him with the comings and goings of the wind. He carried a basket in one hand and a wool blanket tucked under his other arm.

    The aerie he was looking at was alive with movement. Nestled in a clearing near the mountain's summit, the avariel home included a number of sturdy, albeit temporary structures. These structures reflected the avariel's need to avoid feeling constricted and were all made of elegant poles and arches that interlocked with a discreet and clever series of tabs and slots and either were wrapped with goatskin walls or covered with a goatskin ceiling, but never both. These structures were easy to quickly assemble and disassemble, allowing the avariel to strike camp in just a few minutes to drift along wherever the wind carried them. Flitting about the clearing and it's makeshift buildings were the avariel themselves and a number of birds and intelligent flying creatures… mostly giant eagles, but a few hippogriffs and even a radiant white pegasus.

    "Are you giving up already? We're almost there!"

    Therean turned his brown eyes to look at his pretty avariel companion. She was further up the ridge and giving him a playfully mocking smile. Standing a few inches over five feet tall, the young woman had light skin and hair that he realized was every bit the reason for the expression "like spun gold", cascading in soft curls and braids decorated with beads and eagle feathers around her heart-shaped face. Her light blue-gray eyes held a friendly twinkle in them. She was wearing kidskin ankle boots with a narrow raised heel and black linen leggings tied tightly up the sides of each leg. She had a beige scoop-neck linen undertunic, and a brown soft leather bodice, laced up the front and cinched with a more decorative leather belt and silver buckle. For warmth she wore an almost white cropped goat-hair vest with a silk lining stuffed with down. She had a long knife in a sheathe on her left forearm and strapped around her torso both a quiver of arrows and what for him would be a shortbow. He gave her a sardonic smirk that quickly turned into a smile.

    "Ar'ela, you could take the blanket at least."

    Therean's feet moved lightly over the sharp rocks as he hurried to catch up. This was difficult because Ar'ela's wings and hollow bones allowed her to catch currents rising up each side of the ridge and almost glide forward, her feet only touching down occasionally while Therean had to maintain his footing while nearly jogging over the jagged terrain just to keep pace, each step carrying the risk of serious injury.

    "Uh uh, girls do not have to carry stuff on dates, Therean."

    His cheeks flushed but his smile grew a little bigger. He hadn't called it a date when he asked her to have lunch with him, but she had started calling it that and he wasn't about to argue with her over it.

    They soon reached the spot they were headed for, a large flat rock covered in dirt and grass jutting out from the side of the ridge with enough room on it for a handful of elves. They spread out the blanket and he sat down, starting to pull some items from the basket. He had packed a bottle of wine, some roasted quail, a couple apples and some hard goat cheese. She alit close to him and settled her wings, the tips dangling over the edge of the large rock.

    They ate and they talked under the Winged Mothers expansive domain with the sun shining through the clouds as other avariel and their mounts frolicked or trained in the sky nearby. He caught her looking at him and they shared a warm and happy smile.

    It was turning out to be a pretty good day.


  • _Take my love, take my dreams
    Just because I don't have wings
    I don't care, I'm still free
    You can't take the sky from me

    Got my faith, got my pack
    I know you're not looking back
    I may not have a family
    But you can't take the sky from me

    There's no place that I can't be
    Since I found Mother Aerdrie
    And you can't take the sky from me…_

    Firefly original music by Joss Whedon.


  • ((I clearly ripped off the name-bolding from others, but it just seemed useful for this post at least. Note1: This isn't necessarily how things happened, just writing it as how Therean remembers it. Note2: If I missed some people (which I no doubt did) I'm sorry. I didn't log it and I don't have a screenshot so I'm going off my own crappy memory.))

    NOW
    "Name Dropping"

    Therean sat on the bench and looked around, smiling cheerfully at the last revelers, talking and laughing and saying their goodbyes as the band started to pack up their instruments and the dance finished on a successful note.

    Arlan was off to the side chatting with Shakes, distracting her from helping her bandmates clean up, though she didn't seem to mind.

    Ael'Que and Elsbeth were talking and smiling. Therean was happy they both had had such a good time, spending a lot of time dancing together. Ael'Que had been sad earlier that Uniel had drawn guard duty at the last minute, but had pulled himself out of his disappointment and had a good time, even putting on a brief showing at the archery tournament.

    Therean was surprised that they had been unable to convince Valdor to compete, however, but he only seemed to be having a good time anyway, mingling with so many other elves.

    Raryldor, after getting things started with what to Therean had been a stirring blessing in honor of Corellon and the Seldarine, had seemed to be content to keep to the fringe of activity and watch his kinfolk enjoy themselves.

    Therean looked over his shoulder and saw Tindra, Fadia and Rith sitting together under a tree and looking for all the world just to be happy to be sharing each other's company. Therean's gaze stayed on Rith for a few extra moments, trying to get a read on her. He had developed a sense of concern over her after Thorn had enlisted him to help address a problem she was having and he had done his best with a diagnosis, even though he knew what he had learned would not be news that was well received. He made a note to ask Thorn if they would start to collect the ingredients for the potion.

    Standing off by herself, a little away from the three close friends under the tree was La'ali, one of a couple of women in attendance that had rejected his request for a dance. She was a pretty little thing, if a bit frail looking, and seemed to be quietly looking around for somebody or something.

    Yana had also turned him down, indicating she was on duty, and possibly even appearing somewhat annoyed by his request. She'd been kept company for much of the night by Aelthas, Rico and Ronan, as far as Therean had been able to tell, but he didn't remember seeing her smile once the whole night.

    The purple-clad Trough ((sic)), on the other hand, he -had- seen smile. Maybe even twice. Which was a nice change of pace, Therean thought. But dancing with Ama'bael could do that to anybody. Therean chuckled softly.

    Nebriyewyn had shown up during the archery tournament and was chatting amiably with anybody that would listen. Therean thought the aspiring mage's cheerfulness was infectious. If only he could learn when to cast a spell and when not to.

    Gone already was Jin… and that bizarre wand Ama had given him. Therean and Jin had possibly gotten off on the wrong foot when they had met in Norwick, but he thought Ael'Que had helped to clear the air. Besides, it was hard to stay mad at a man that would allow himself to go out in public in pants that were THAT tight. Therean almost laughed out loud as he thought about the red-haired rogue's… inability... to accept a dance request from Ama, and wondered how many others had noticed. But what had he expected, after spending much of the evening using that wand on himself.

    Gone, too, was the woman many called "Squeaks", the first person he had turned to after Ama suggested to him that they start asking others to dance to get more people involved. He was pleasantly surprised to discover a different side of her than he'd been expecting, considering her reputation. As it turns out, she was a wonderful dancer, which she blamed on her age, and gave him a delightful conversation. Therean had been disappointed to see her leave so early.

    He'd also been disappointed that he had not gotten to dance with Yuki, or with Cara who had already left for distand lands, Delorfith and Dondiah, or with Uniel of course, but he was happy to have shared a couple dances with Elsbeth, who was fun and smiling and seemed to be having as good a time as any of her elven friends.

    In the end he hadn't gotten to dance with Ama'bael as much as he would have liked, but as the dance organizer he understood she had a lot of responsibilities and he found himself happily watching her tending to all the little details to make sure the evening went off almost perfectly. And she still had found time to recite a lovely poem for all the guests! She still had not noticed the small lily entwined in his braid that was now just barely clinging to life, but he was resolved not to remove it. He hoped she would soon ask Uniel about it.

    He wasn't sure why she had wanted to spend the last two songs dancing with Meril, and he suppressed a pang of jealousy at the thought, but the result had been an opportunity to dance with a barefooted Eluriel, who it turned out was very fun to dance with and seemed to enjoy dancing as much as, if not more than, he. Therean could see why Sy'wyn seemed to be so smitten with her, in his own quiet way.

    Sy'wyn, who had told the story of the creation of the elves in his halting voice, was standing with Meril and Eluriel, and Therean briefly watched them with curiosity. He did not understand the dynamic of their relationship, and why Eluriel seemed to delight in almost taunting Meril with it as she had done during the archery tournament that she won. Therean caught Fadia looking at them also with concern written on her face, and he looked away before she noticed.

    Therean stood and went to look for Ama'bael. He found her and Ael'Que and Elsbeth and the four friends stepped outside of the park to exchange hugs and smiles and congratulate each other on a successful evening. After a few moments, Ama asked to have a moment alone with Therean, and the two drifted southwards on the plain, sharing soft private words under a tree near the stable.

    Therean wore a dazed smile on his face for a long time afterwards, and the pang he had felt earlier was gone.