T'ung's Return
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A firm breeze finds its way along the river, sending tufts of spray toward the stars from the exposed rocks, launching a cascade of leaves fluttering into the water, and coaxing a gentle chorus from the reeds.
On a scant tree which reaches over the water, a large grey owl alights, taking a moment from its hunt to bask in the fresh wind, and to enjoy the music that nature has made for him.
After only a few seconds, however, the wind spirals and shifts, turning back up the river, sending up higher plumes of spray, scattering the shower of leaves, and lowering the chord played by the reeds.
The owl ruffles at the disruption, then cocks his head, as though he suddenly caught something on the air. The wind evens out, as does the song from the reeds, revealing a sort of rhythmic discordance in the whistling. One moment, the tune is pleasantly harmonious, and the next, something intrudes in the air, creating an off-key tone which seems to pulsate in the ears.
The owl ruffles again, and takes flight, bravely seeking the source of this unpleasant sound. As it soars downstream, the discordance grows stronger and more pronounced. As the owl rounds a bend in the stream, its source is revealed.
A large figure, sits on a rock in the middle of the river, just upstream from a series of waterfalls leading to a human village.
As the owl flies closer, he can see, even in the obscured moonlight, that the figure's body heaves slightly in time with the discordance.
Giving a gentle hoot as he flies past the figure, he circles wide and turns back toward the figure. He alights upon a tree on the nearest bank to observe the figure.
T'ung takes a deeper breath, catching the scent of the owl as he passes, and removing his whistle from the air as he flares his nostrils. He doesn't react to the visit from the owl, sensing no threat, but continues his meditation, and resumes his rhythmic breathing.
The whistling is a gift from his orc heritage. He was born with diminuitive nostrils, with only a slight protrusion for a nose. Normally, Tung would breathe through his mouth, but he has been taught that to reach truly deep contemplation, one must breathe through the nose.
The owl hoots at him from the bank, expressing his desire for T'ung to stop the racket. T'ung smirks and reaches a large, gnarled hand up to a tattered rag which is tied over his eyes. He lifts the right side of the rag onto his brow to reveal a yellowed eye, and turns to the owl, throwing a mock-glare at him, with a prounced blast of a nose-whistle, for effect.
Once again, the owl ruffles, this time directly at T'ung, and takes off into the woods, resuming his hunt.
While his eye is still free, T'ung glances to the river bank, to ensure that his pack and staff are still there. He then gazes over the waterfall, down into the valley containing the small town of Jiyyd–the place that T'ung had chosen as his home, so long ago.
He returns the rag over his eye to continue his meditation. As he does, his hand strays to his left eye, still covered by the rag. He no longer feels any pain from it, though it's certainly no good to him anymore. His remaining eye doesn't do as much for him as it used to, either.
He finds himself wondering if the people of Jiyyd will even remember him. He also wonders how many of his friends remain.
He heaves a whistling sigh and returns to his contemplation, meditating over the events that took him away from this place, and, ultimately, allowed him to come back...
to be continued…
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No worries
Reviewed - XP Pending.
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Login is Tung, and char name is T'ung.
I hadn't remade the character at the time of writing. My apologies.
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I cannot review this until you edit in your NWN Username and your full character's name.
