Carol's Story

[Celiwyn]

Celiwyn runs into the room, panting, sweat beading down upon her brow.

 

"Sorry to keep you waiting so long..."

 

A glance up and down her shows signs of a long travel, her clothes are dirty, tattered and in some places torn from random battles... in her hands she held several pieces of paper.

 

"I managed to copy down a story from the bard from a town a few months from here... She tended to make the girl sounded more like a hero then she really was... the sorceress from the story was really nothing more then a common thief. I hope to return with the more... accurate... story."

 

With that she sets down the paper and walks off. The papers reads as follows...

 

 

***

 

Creeping slowly along the alley I carefully watched the small figure huddled in my little shack of a home. I could see a glimpse of red hair and some sticking out of the figures head. Anger crept over me, even if I had nothing of value to loot at my lean-to boarded sleeping place, it was The matter of principal. No one steals from the thief and lives to tell about it.

 

Folding my hands together I drew into myself, pulling upon the icy power within. With a slight, almost silent murmer I hurled a ray of icicles toward the figure, smirking as it hit square in the back. The figure turned around, unaffected by my icy blast. The moment its body even twitched I hid myself behind some alley way rubbish, studying my enemies every move.

 

The face of a young boy looked back at me. At a first glance he seemed almost normal, except of the set of small horns growing from the young boy’s head. The horns looked slightly out of place on this pale boy’s body. Upon further inspection I realized this was no thief, just a homeless kid trying to get some sleep. A glance to my cat confirmed this as Shaw seemed relaxed and unruffled by the presence of the boy.

 

“Who’s there?” He asked in a small childlike voice. From the tone of his voice I guessed the boy must be younger then ten years of age. In his hand he held something that seemed to be a small knife, but from the way he was holding it I could clearly tell he had no idea how to use it. Slowly I walked toward him, holding up my hands as if I didn’t have any weapons at all. I kept my ice spell on the top of my mind as I crept closer.

 

“What’s the matter? My spell not cold enough for you… this is my home, why are you here?!”

 

The boy looked at me with a slight bit of defiance, “That was not cold at all! I was just trying to find somewhere to rest… I would not have stopped had I known someone resided here.”

 

“Rather fancy wording from someone so young….” Looking closely at the boy I noted his clothes were not the normal clothing for a street child, but rather seemed to have some nobility to his dress.

 

“What are you doing, you do not look like you live in the streets, child… where are you from?”

 

“Doesn’t matter anymore, I’m running away from there.”

 

“If you plan on living in the streets, first thing is first, that dagger… or… is that a butter knife… good grief… you look in worse state then I was at your age.” I motioned for the child to sit down as I sat down next to him. “The name’s Carol… Carol Traywin.”

 

“It is a pleasure to meet you Carol, my name is Keleth T’Vrule.” The young boy reached out his hand, waiting to shake his with mine. Inwardly I flinched at the idea of shaking hands, remembering the frozen icicles that formed on the fingers of the last person I shook hands with… but after a moments hesitation I took his hand, smiling slightly.

 

“Aren’t my hands cold?” I asked puzzled as I noted the boy did not flinch a bit.

 

“No, they actually feel kind of warm, why do you ask?”

 

“It’s a long story Kel.”

 

“I’d like to hear it.” Just as he said that his stomach growled violently.

 

“When is the last time you ate?”

 

“I think two days ago… not really sure.”

 

With that I pulled some of my food from my backpack, creating a meager, but decent tasting meal for the boy and myself.

 

“Why is such a pretty elf like you helping someone like me? I don’t even see why someone so beautiful as yourself is even living on the streets like this…”

 

With a slight blush I realized he could not see through the disguise my ribbon gave me. It was a rather handy trinket I had stolen from a noble woman a few years back, but for some reason I felt bad fooling this young boy. I reached for the ribbon pulling it from my hair as the image of a beautiful elf maiden faded into a rather simple sixteen year old human girl, the silver highlights fading to my normal dark black hair, my ears becoming smaller and rounded. The boy’s eyes widened slightly as I showed him the ribbon. “It’s just a simple magic trick, this is how I really look, and why wouldn’t I help you? You’re a well mannered young boy.”

 

Before long Kel and I became close friends. Sitting huddled in my little shack that night, I found myself trusting this boy, opening up to him as I had no other. Before long Kel wanted to know more about my life. Sighing slightly I nodded replying, “Well, I guess I should really start from the beginning.”

 

“The beginning is always a good place to start.” Kel said as he settled onto the edge of my bed mat, listening intently.

 

“I don’t remember my parents or anything like that. I think once upon a time I might have had a sister, but even that is too vague to remember well. All I know is the ring on my finger came from my family. The first memory I can clearly recall is being hungry and alone on the corner of the street. After managing to beg for enough coins to get me a small piece of bread I headed toward the town bakery. I remember feeling something at the edge of my hip as a pickpocket attempted to steal all the money I had. I tried to scream and the man covered my mouth and pulled me into a near by alley.

 

"He told me to be silent because he did not wish to dodge the guards of the town and gave me back my purse. I turned to him and asked how he managed to lift my purse like that. The man was nothing more then a simple pickpocket, but he took pity on me and taught me all he knew, before long I easily surpassed him. But I, unlike him, did not steal out of greed. I only ever took enough to pay for my bread and once in awhile a bath. After a while I took on a new profession. Many others like me, often referred to as “rogues” had been stealing not just from the wealthy nobles, but from some of the other homeless kids like myself. I began to steal from the thieves, until even that became easy and boring. Finally out of true boredom I began to earn my money by doing little tricks on the streets and stealing the oddest things. Instead of lifting people’s coin purses I would steal a button off their jacket, or instead of stealing the necklace of a person’s neck I would snatch the buckle of their shoe.”

 

Kel listened with amusement at the kind of things I stole, but still from the look on his face I could tell he did not particularly like the fact that I stole.

 

“That’s how I got the ribbon. There was this arrogant annoying noble woman who liked to daily parade about in fine clothing and jewels, showing off her “beautiful… slim… perfect figure” Apparently she was trying to find a husband, but still, her too perfect beauty wasn’t what bothered me… it was the way she mocked the poor beggar on the corner or looked down upon the “common” good the market had to offer, even when it was the little shopkeepers finest work. So I decided I was going to knock down her ego a few notches, she had all kinds of guards and escorts… if she got something stolen from her right in front of her guards… that would be embarrassing. But I got a nicer shot than that at her. I took her hair ribbon from right under her guard’s noses. And the moment the bow left her hair she instantly gained a few hundred pounds and has never been seen in public again.”

 

“Things went well for awhile after that until one day at an inn. I went to shake a shopkeeper’s hand and felt a slight strange stir in me. He instantly pulled his hand away as I saw that he had little ice crystals forming on his hand. It only got worse from there… I’d try to light a fire and cold frost would come from my hands, putting it out. I’d try to pick a pocket and the person would shiver and almost catch me. It was about this time I met my cat Shaw.”

 

“One of the times I had been caught it was in a back alley by a woman who had been traveling alone for some time. She laughed at me and asked where I had learned my ice spell from since it was not very well crafted. After telling her a bit about my “icy hands” and begging her not to turn me in she told me about sorcery. She said I should come over to where she was staying with some relatives so she could teach me a few “tricks”. I went to her house that day and began to train with her for a while so that I could learn to control my new found “trick.” She was a kind lady, and even taught me how to do real magic tricks for my street shows. She had a black cat, her “familiar”, when I first went to her house her cat had been heavy with a litter. When her cat delivered the kittens she told me to pick one. After a few months of training I too had a familiar of my own…” Smiling affectionately I reached down and scratched my cat’s ears.

 

“What’s his name?” Kel asked.

 

“Shaw.”

 

“Oh… ok… sorry to interrupt..”

 

“No, it’s ok Kel… the rest of the story is simple enough, the sorceress went back to her travels, I still visit her relatives from time to time, and here I am, living in my little make shift shack.”

 

Kel smiled slightly as he yawned. Seeing the fatigue in the young boys eyes I decided to call it a night and for the first time in a long time I gave up my bedroll and slept on the floor.

 

***

[Peredhil]

Leaving a hug lurking for a time when it won't interrupt Celiwyn, Peredhil sits to listen for as long as he can make time. He sets his beeper to silent; better to suffer beepilepsy than to interrupt the enchanting tale.

[Ayshela]

Ayshela tiptoes in with a large bowl of popcorn for sharing, leaves an extra-large-economy-sized hug lurking to pounce Celiwyn at an appropriate moment, and settles in to enjoy the story.

 

 

 

ooc: beepilepsy... *chortle, guffaw*

[Celiwyn]

*has been double super duper hugged and is offically scared* Next time I rebuild my computer remind me to save my links folder... all I remembered was the "pen" part and forgot to fix my favorites links... glad to be back ya all.