Gyrfalcon

Timothy turned around and looked at Gyrfalcon. "Sorry, Gyrfalcon... it looks like Elena was right." Gyrfalcon looked puzzled, then took the note that Timothy handed him. He read the graceful, flowing hand that could only be Kaleyra's with growing disbelief. Finally, he shook his head and growled something in the rolling Dwarvern language. He held his breath for a long moment, his eyes closed, then slowly let it out, slumping slightly. The half-elf opened his eyes and looked at Elena. "Well, it seems you were right. Kaleyra and Myth, our companion who you have not yet met, are traveling towards the Pool. Myth killed a member of the other party, but our other companion, Y'Tren, died during that struggle." Elena shook her head and sighed, as if to say See? It never works out... She looked grim "So now there are three groups, it seems. Hopefully your companions and this other party will listen to reason, or can be tricked away from the Pool." Gyrfalcon took a deep breath, then let it out. "I hope that this hold true for my companions, but the others... I doubt." Elena shook her head and looked grim. "We must get to the Pool as quickly as possible, before anyone else can reach it. Come, follow me." She strode from the clearing without looking back at the other two. Gyrfalcon and Timothy exchanged glances for a long moment, then Timothy walked after Elena. As he passed Gyrfalcon, he stopped. "Ideals fall hard, don't they?" Timothy asked softly, his tone almost... compassionate. Without waiting for a response, Timothy departed the clearing, pausing only to collect the filled canteens that Kaleyra had left behind for them. Gyrfalcon closed his eyes and sighed, alone in the clearing now. He couldn't believe that Kaleyra would abandon the rest of the group, though he understood that Myth would. That Y'Tren was dead was likewise a surprise. But Kaleyra... Why, Kaleyra? Why would you abandon us... and me? Gyrfalcon stopped at the thought and shook his head. He liked the scholarly Avian and was astonished by how much she knew, even more so for the fact she was not an Archmage and did not have their endless lifetimes to learn. He wondered if there had been something growing between them that he had missed. Lost in his thoughts, Gyrfalcon didn't hear the shuffling thumps of footfalls until they were close. Spinning around, the half-elf drew and slashed with his katana, but the zombie raised an arm to block. Normally, that would have presented no problem to Gyrfalcon's heavily enchanted blade. This obviously wasn't 'normally'. The blade cut through unfeeling flesh, but glanced off the bone and deflected away. Almost gaping, Gyrfalcon barely managed to get out of the way as the zombie clubbed at him with its arms. Gyrfalcon learned quickly that this zombie was much stronger then normal as his arms nearly buckled after he tried to block one clubbing attack. Dancing backwards, he parried and deflected the zombie's blows, countering with quick slashes but unable to get the space to counter with a heavy enough blow to really harm the zombie. The half-elf was nearly struck by the zombie when the brush rustled right behind him. Darting out of the path of whoever was coming, Gyrfalcon deflected another blow from the zombie as it turned to continue its attack. There was a silvery flash, and the zombie's head tumbled forward, mostly severed from its neck. With a yelp, Timothy hit it again with his oversized sword, finally severing its head from its shoulders. The zombie flailed blindly for a moment or two longer, then collapsed. Gyrfalcon grounded his katana and panted for breath. "Thanks... Timothy. How'd you... know to... come back?" Timothy edged away from the zombie, looking slightly green. "I looked back a minute or two down the trail and you weren't there, so I decided to check back to see if you somehow missed the path." Elena strode into the clearing, angry and impatient. "What are you two dawdling over?! We have to get to the-" She caught sight of the zombie. "Oh." Faintly, Gyrfalcon could hear brush rustle and crackle, and he straightened. "I think more of them are coming. I suggest we leave now." Timothy nodded vigorously, and Elena nodded as well. "No time to waste, we must get to the Pool." She said firmly. The three set off down the trail, moving rapidly, each knowing that somewhere, an hourglass had been turned, and that it was now a race between themselves, Kaleyra and Myth, and the church burners.

"Celes, Tasslehoff, Cerulean and Ayshela- thanks to you as well for your wishes." the half-elf said with a broad smile before he popped the celebratory strawberry into his mouth.

If you really, really like the 'Riot' name, make it a nickname. It'll give you something interesting to include in his backstory as to *how* he ended up with a nickname like 'Riot'.

Hm... do you wish this to be a point of debate among the members of the Pen or is it your character's monologue?

I don't know why, but Harry Potter has *never* appealed to me in any fashion. Its strange, but I don't debate it. *shrugs and grins* So no, Stick, you aren't alone.

Gyrfalcon bends down and helps Psimon and Gwaihir to their feet. "Thank you both for your birthday wishes! Next year, you hopefully won't have to rush so hard!" Gyrfalcon accepted the small black box carefully and put it aside. Detailed analysis would have to wait for later, when he had the box in a heavily reinforced room. "Damon, Racouol and Falcon- Thank you also for your best wishes!"

Gyrfalcon smiles and motions for the butterfly to *not* maul the spider as it lets go. Instead, the butterfly swoops around it a few times before settling on the potted vine. "Thank you, Canid, for the potted vine. It will be nice to have something green in my room, near the window I think." The half-elf then exclaims "Whoot!" as he is hugged by Alaeha, and he hugs back. "Thank you for your birthday wishes, Alaeha." He then walks to the window and looks down to see Wyvern sticking feet-first out of one of rosebushes under the window. Wincing, Gyrfalcon shook his head. "Thank you for the everlasting scroll of debt-tracking, Wyvern! With you, I think it will be put to very good use." "Vlad and Zool, thank you also for your wishes. As well to you Peredhil- I thank you for your birthday wishes and for the poem. And you are always welcome and appreciated wherever I am!" "Finally, Annael, thank you for your gift." He looks a little nervous at the butterfly. "Hopefully, we'll get along as well as you and your butterflies do. " he says with a smile. Gyrfalcon reaches out and polishes Annael's halo a little brighter before turning to the community at large. "Thank you one and all, for your gifts and words of well wishing. I had an excellent birthday, and you were part of that. Thank you!"

Amazing... two people in the same place, born on the same day. I'm officially a little freaked out now. Happy Birthday, though. *grins*

Pretty good story, Falcon. Are you planning to write another? *grins* There's shades of Urza in this story- like Urza, Caryon is an excellent artificier, and I believe Urza created a mechanical songbird similar to Caryon's... (well, actually, I think it was Urza's assistant...) Good story, though there's a question to be asked: is Caryon partially or fully a machine himself? After all, he should be able to convert himself into a machine.

Heh, thanks for the critique, Orlan. As for Yui-chan's and my treatment of Timothy... well, when Ozymandias had to depart suddenly, we were left with a character we wanted to keep in the story for Ozy's return... but not a lot of knowledge about Timothy, his motivations, and his real thoughts and feelings. All we had was the impression of a rough and/or abrasive individual, and we weren't sure if it was a pose or how he really was. Not apologizing, but it does explain why he comes off as an ass a lot... and yes, he is a poor unfortuant human, lacking elven grace or beautiful feathers, so I suppose he should feel slighted... (And yes, I am joking! ) Anyway, something I'd like to do (though how we'd do it in comittee is anyone's guess...) is go back through the story after we're done, read it, look for plot and character incosistences and resolve them. I'm sure that looking back, I could do a better job on the early Gyrfalcon parts.

Happy Birthday, Xaious! And I agree, teach us the secret of managing to work while asleep- I'd be amazed at what I could get done!

Gyrfalcon tucked his feet under himself and stood up, stretching to work out a kink from the landing. "With a mage of illusions as powerful as you are, Ozymandias? Indeed, I can understand why we all wish for your dreams to be peaceful and serene." Daryl stepped forward with an easy grin, holding the wooden equivalents of paired long knives easily. "Mind if I spar with you, Ozymandias?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders to loosen them. Gyrfalcon went to the benches along the wall where Annael stood and sat down near her, breathing heavily as he drew a cup of water from the bucket of fresh water Annael had helpfully drawn as he and Ozymandias had sparred. "Gyrfalcon..." Annael said quietly, and he looked over to her. "Yes, Annael? And thank you for the water." Annael nodded "You're welcome. I was wondering if you could do me a favor, though..." she said softly as wood clacked against wood on the sparring mat. Annael held out a hand and opened it slowly, to reveal a black feather that could only have come from one of her wings. "Could you see if you could do anything about my wings? I don't want to lose any more feathers..." she said with a helpless shrug, ruffling her wings as she did so. "Of course." Gyrfalcon said, stripping off his practice gloves and placing them on the bench beside him. He wiped his hands off on a towel and gestured. "If you'd sit facing away from me, I'll see what I can do about your wings." he reached into his Bag of Holding and after fishing around for a few moments, he pulled out a feather care kit. Placing it between Annael and himself, the half-elf opened the kit but left it alone for the moment. Instead, he reached forward and began to inspect one of Annael's wings, carefully moving each feather and testing each feather. Any feather that seemed even the littlest bit loose was treated with a small bit of salve at the base that acted partially as a healing agent and partially to help keep the feather attached until the healing could do its work. On some of the looser feathers, Gyrfalcon concentrated and added a touch of natural energy, though he was slightly short of breath when he was done as the nearest thing to nature was fifty feet away through three walls. Finishing with strengthening Annael's feathers, Gyrfalcon had just pulled out a light oilcloth when Annael spoke for the first time since he had begun working on her wings. "So, about the dream we seem to have shared..." Gyrfalcon's light brushing with the oilcloth paused for a moment before continuing. "I don't know. I don't think it was directed specifically at us. At least, I don't have any enemies right now who could walk into my dreams like that and manipulate them. Do you?" Annael shook her head after a long moment. "I don't think so." Gyrfalcon frowned. "Besides... it really felt like the dream was directed at Salinye rather then you, I, or any of the others. I think we should go find Salinye and talk with her. I know for a fact that Daryl had bad dreams last night, and I'd wager he had the same dream you and I did. There, that should help you wings for the moment." Annael looked over her shoulder as she fluttered her wings, noting hopefully that not a feather even felt like it wanted to fall away. "Do you think she might know why we shared this dream?" Gyrfalcon shrugged as he replaced the kit in his Bag of Holding. "Honestly... I don't know. But since she seemed to be the focus of the dream, she's our best bet for finding out why we had the dream. If not her though, Tamaranis might know." Annael nodded "You think he'd have the dream? He is a vampire, and they don't normally dream as you or even I would..." Gyrfalcon nodded "A good point, and a reason to ask him. If he *did* have the same dream we did, it would mean that someone was manipulating our dreams, because as you noted, vampires and the other undead don't see the world the same as you or I would, and their dreams are decidedly different from anything we'd have when they have them." A thump from the training area brought their heads around to see Daryl flat on his back, with Ozymandias' sword at his throat. "You win." Daryl admits.

See you later Tasslehoff... and we will see you later, for the lure of the Dark Side is too strong to resist! Mwahahahahaha! *Yui-chan whispers in Gyrfalcon's ear, and he half-turns* Are you sure? *She whispers again, then disappears* Er... what I meant to say is that you'll return to the Pen. We all do.

Happy Birthday, my wolf-y friend.

Well, it isn't listed here, but it is indeed Falcon2k1's birthday. You may know him as Falcon, Cioden, William or 'that crazy guy who bit me!' , but it happens to be his birthday. So, Falcon, all I wish to say is... Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Falcon, Happy Birthday to you!

Happy (post) Birthday!

*applauds* I thought it was good work. Personally, I've never been a real fan of the Shinnara world, mostly due to the confusing plotlines. All in all, a good story- please, continue.

Happy belated birthday wishes, Deg. Hope your birthday was good.

Excellently written- I feel saddened for Miriya, abandoned so young and then murdered by the hunters of the demon lords. I do think I'd like to debat the 'kitsune as demons' bit, though. Excellently written... I sort of hope to see these particular get brutally killed. I'll help, too.

Yaa-kub? Interesting way to say your name, I'll try to remember to think it when I see your name, Jakob.

Racouol! It's been a long time, my friend... It's good to see you here. Sit back, relax, and the first drink is on me.

Bhurin! *Gyrfalcon bows deeply in respect for a long-lost friend* It's good to see you back among us, my friend.

Gyrfalcon sat at a table in Celes' cafe, finishing his breakfast. With some amusement, the half-elven ranger noticed that his more or less permanent house guest, Daryl, was onto his third bowl of cereal. Annael sat quietly, her black wings folded in tightly. Both Daryl and Gyrfalcon had made attempts to draw her into their conversation, but after a few words, Annael had faded out again. The two had respected her silence and stopped thier attempts to draw her out... for the moment. "Where do you put all that food?" Gyrfalcon asked Daryl, his voice light with suppressed humor. Daryl, currently in his human form, paused to swallow his latest mouthful, then shrugged. "I don't know, but you make me run around enough that it's not like it has time to stick at all!" Gyrfalcon laughed softly. "It's nice to have the help on the patrols. Thanks, Daryl." Daryl grumbled good-naturedly "Oh please, your way of getting me out on patrol with you was "Time for you to earn your keep." You didn't sound like you wanted the company." Gyrfalcon smiled and shrugged "What can I say? There were more orcs then I wanted to handle alone. Besides, you didn't really mind taking care of them." Daryl shrugged, then looked past Gyrfalcon. "Hello." he said cautiously. Gyrfalcon half-turned and smiled "Ozymandias! How are you this morning?" The Loremaster looked tired, with dark circles under his eyes. "I'm fine, Gyrfalcon. Daryl, Annael, hello to both of you as well." "Please, sit." Gyrfalcon said, gesturing to the next seat around the table. Ozymandias took the seat with a murmured thank you and requested a coffee from the server who came over. Within a few minutes, the coffee arrived, and Ozymandias sipped it gratefully. The three chatted quietly for a half hour until Ozymandias had worked his way through his third cup of coffee. Finally deciding that he was alert enough to put up some sort of fight, Ozymandias looked at Gyrfalcon and said "So, ready to be soundly drubbed, my friend?" "Any time you can manage it, Ozymandias." Gyrfalcon said with an easy grin. "How about right now?" the phantasm mage said. "Sure. East training room?" "Sounds good." Annael stood. "I think I'll be going now." she said, a hint of disappointment in her voice. Daryl stood quickly and grinned "Why? In fact, you have to go with me! Otherwise, one of these fighter people might hurt me!" the werefox said. Annael smirked at him and shook her head. "Really..." Daryl opened his eyes wide and looked at Annael "Please?" he quavered. Annael giggled "Oh, very well, but stop that!" Daryl grinned, content in his victory "Alright. I think I'll heckle from the sidelines." he explained. "Are you trying to make work for me?" Annael demanded as she and Daryl trailed Ozymandias and Gyrfalcon. "Yep!" Daryl replied cheerfully. The four quickly made their way to the east training room. After a few minutes to warm up, Gyrfalcon and Ozymandias faced each other holding sparring weapons and dressed in practice armor. Gyrfalcon bowed formally to his opponent, and Ozymandias returned the formality by saluting with his weapon. Then the two dropped into crouches, weapons ready. "Fight!" Daryl called from the sidelines. The two fighters moved smoothly towards each other to meet, weapons clacking loudly against each other, the harmony of steel played out in wooden tones.

Well, Geer-falcon is actually the best way to say it- my appologies for the confusion, I just decided to use the word Jeer to give the general sense of how I say the first three letters of my name without noting that it's a 'g' rather then 'j' start.

Moved to the Banquet Hall.