The Tale of Amythyst
(OOC Note: Elven vocabulary for the untrained....atar'=father, atara=mother, verno'=husband)
A baby's shrill screams pierced the air, wrecking the calm tranquility of the wood elf town of Kelethin. The people gathered around the mother and baby with a collective, "Oooooh....how beautiful!" as the baby girl opened her eyes and gave everyone the infant equivalency of an indignant glare with eyes the color of flawless amethysts. Any ideas of other names went out with the rest of the garbage, as the squawling baby's parents proudly named their daughter Amythyst.
5 years later....
Guard Windwalker watched over the two children like an indulgent mother hen, trying not to show his amusement as the little girl named Amythyst and her childhood companion, a wood elf boy by the name of Llethyr, chased each other over the trail in front of him, giggling. As the new guard recruit came down the lift, he briefly gave him a nod and instructions to watch over the two children, as well as the high elven cleric who was brielfy visiting the small town. Watching over two children simply had to be the easiest job that he could give a new recruit.
Twenty minutes later, the recruit came up the lift and sprinted into the tavern nearby.
"They're gone! I just turned my back for a second!"
"You idiot!"
Windwalker grabbed his longsword and ran for the lift. As he hit the ground, he heard the distant death screams of an orc pawn, followed by the eerie howl of a wolf. He and the recruit ran towards the sound, instinct leading his feet. The two lost children sat unharmed on the ground, three black wolves standing guard around them, one nuzzling the boy's cheek, as another sniffed at the girl, checking for injury. A large alpha male stood growling over a bloody ripped carcass of what could have been recently an orc pawn.
7 years after that....
Amythyst looked at herself in the reflection of the pool in the high elf city. Her body had only recently started changing its look. Now instead of the gangly, awkward elf-child she once was, she was slowly turning into a shapely elven woman...one that she dimly wondered if males would find intriguing. She turned back to her two companions: her childhood friend Llethyr and the third generation cub of the alpha male who had once saved their lives. With a grin and a shake of her head, she put out of her mind any ideas of finding a mate. She was yet too young, and still found the thought of mating to be.....ambiguous....at times she was disgusted, other times she was confused, and still others she was eager.
57 years later....
"Atar'! I did it! They accepted me!"
Amythyst ran up to her father, the head of the clerics of Tunare the Mother, and hugged him tightly. Dancing around him, she showed off her new dark green tunic, the sign of the Ranger guild of Kelethin.
"And Ran, the lady in there with the fairy dragon, even gave me this!"
She showed off her shiny new short sword that was almost too heavy for her to wield properly, trying to swing it with ease....a resounding crash reverberated through the small home as a vase was hit by the tip of the sword.
The door swung open just at that moment. A beautiful wood elf woman stood in the doorway, looking in dismay at the wreckage of one of her favorite vases. Her blue eyes took in the scene before her...her tinu staring at the wreckage in dismay, the short sword forgotten in her slim hand, and her verno' looking into his wife's eyes with an apology in his own.
"Amythyst, I take it there is a monster of some sort in the house, perhaps an orc priest, that your father couldn't take care of, and that is why you're swinging a sword in the house....is that correct?"
A tone of stern reprimand laced the usually soft-spoken words. Amythyst looked down at the ground in shame, shaking her head softly. Her mother was always the gentle one, but when her voice took that tone in it, Amythyst knew she was in deep trouble.
"Then, I ask you why you were swinging a sword in the house, tinu."
Amythyst looked into her mother's eyes and took a deep breath, telling her of her acceptance to the ranger guild. As her mother listened to the story, she took out a sheet of parchment and a quill, and started to write a letter. When the story finished, she handed the sheet of parchment to her tinu.
"This is a letter to Ran Sunfire. As councilwoman of the Druids of this city, I hereby order you to deliver this note to her. As a beginning ranger, you must learn to think before you do things. I expect Ran will give you some sort of work to achieve this goal. Now, go, while your father cleans up this mess."
Amythyst trudged out with a nod, putting her new, shiny short sword in its scabbard, heading for the ranger guildhouse.
To be continued
