Sharing

    Time: Sunday night after JdS; about ten o´clock
    Place: A crossroad outside Porto Habana
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    Naira is waiting for the Drow to pick her up, leaving her Northern friends to travel to Gwo`s homeland. No one has seen her, when she left the camp. She leaves it to the Uruks to transport her tent and belongings, as usual... Only a short letter to Mahrukkaa, wihtout explanations, waits on the chest with the blue herbs... The Uruk will find it in time and understand, Naira knows. "Naira has to go her own way", the greenskin had told her that night... Well, she surely would...


    She is wearing a simple long, brown dress and her brown hunting coat and pocket. Standing below a tree next to the road, she is almost merging with the growing darkness...

    After a short waiting time, a whisper rise from her left.


    "Good, no one followed you"
    The Drow merge form a night shadow, he's wearing a comfortable dark leather armor made for long and swift travel. On his back lay a travel bag and bow rolled into a blanket. Two swords and a certains number of daggers are hanging here and there. All his stuff is black. The only thing that shine in the dark are his blue eyes.


    The moon is rising from the East, with her, the night is giving to the suddern lands some well appreciated fresh and salty wind.


    Gwo move are quick and soft, he approches and stands in front of Naira.
    The Drow seems to hesitate for a second then put his right hand onto Naira shoulder.

    She raised her hand, too, and put it, slightly hesitating and softly, against his shoulder.
    The greeting - "we belong together".


    Alcohol, pain and words of loneliness and hunt had been her companions fot the decision to go with him...
    The following day had found her confused about her own feelings. The darkness... the darkness attracted her once again, as she had been by the Kherankor before...
    "Thereutes en skoto"... Hunter in darkness...


    Secretly following Gwo through the town, she had felt the old blood rise inside of her, growing with his calm words and cautious moves... it had been stronger than ever before, suddenly overwhelming and claiming the will of the Lethi... "theran"... doing what you where meant to do...
    Did it feel like this - "going in circle", as she put it - which meant following the faith of Terra?
    No thought had been left in her, just the will to continue the dark way - or more: to find her own way, as Mahrukkaa had demanded it.


    Yes, hadn`t she gained her right for an own way at last, after the hunt in the depth of Terra, side by side with the Kherankor?


    She was a grown-up now! And even if she had not felt the strange impulse to go with the drow, she had to admit her change:


    The smell of her skin had grown stronger since the hunt, a sweet, dark scent like wild black currants... that odor which made her so dangerous for the Uruks...


    Gwo also could notice this breath coming from her warm skin. She smelled like the depth, or like herbs or mushrooms to him... something he knew from below but was bewildering as well.

    For Gwo the night and the southern lands are full of new and sometime disappointing fragrances. Therefore when a familiar smell come to his nose and brake the salty wind. The Drow suddenly feel that something strange is happening and instinctively steps back.


    He looks quickly around their position seeking for a threat, a change or a movement. Half trying to figure out why he’s so nervous, half trying to release his nerves focusing on the nearby environment.


    Finally he turns again and faces Naira. Staring at her, he realizes that she might has been the purpose of this fragrance change. The strange hot feeling related to their physical contact might explain the fact that he felt dizzy for a very short moment. Nothing to worry, no one except both of them are in the area… for the moment at least.


    “Naira… let’s move from here. The forest is near and the woods are safer. I’ve spotted an old ruin where we would be able to set a little fire and talk quietly. Protected from winds and ears”

    He leads her through the valley, not far from their previous meeting point.
    After a while he starts following some animals tracks that drive them directly into the nearly woods.


    In this forest the trees are old and high and darkness eats quickly the two elfs.
    While they still following the path, from time to time a moonlight manage to find a hole inbetween the natrual cover and bring a thin line of glowing light onto their way.


    Finally, in a clairing embrassed by the moonlight Naira can see the remains of some old stone house.


    The fireplace and two-third of the west walls are proudly defending themself against the vegetation and the age.


    Gwo starts a small fire, point out a old pot full of rain water and unpack a piece of brown bread.


    "Ok, white elf, let's talk, I will go straight to the point : I have thousand of questions"


    "We have all the night but let's begin with the basic"


    "What do you know about Drows and what do you know about your own kind ? "


    "What do you think Drows are doing when they catch a little thing like you"

    The white elf sits quietly down beside him, examining his belongings with her dark eyes. A blueish light glows now, as it is twilight, inside of them, like the shimmering eyes of a beast of prey.
    "When the elves came into this world", she began hesitantly, "first there were two tribes, spreading their kind all over the plains and meadows. They were proud and adventuresome, longing for the horizons of the continents, to explore and master the world they came into..."


    She became more confident and used her hands to describe it for Gwo. Her small fingers drew lines and waves through the air, while her eyes began to sparkle with excitement.
    The white elf loved to tell stories, he understood.
    "Finally there was created the third tribe, the Teleuoi - the perfect ones, as they called themselves, or Teleutaioi, the last ones, as others put it. But to you they may have become reknown under the name of Lethoi or Lethi - the lost. But the word, you know, also means "the forgotten ones", and this is what happened to them."


    She realized she was going too fast, so she tried to put it into the right order:
    "One day", Naira seemed to start again, "the elves began to leave their homes, spreading all over the plains and meadows. And the two tribes, who were first, were eager to rule the areas of land and road, being lords and ladies of the creatures they met. And they even mixed with them, bringing forth halflings and mortal life as well...
    But not the Teleutaioi - they were steady and sure about their way - they followed the Great River through the foreign land, staying near it and living by it as it was meant to be. They never left their way and they never mixed up with the others. They had no will to rule or to spawn..."
    Her fingers were moving gently and slowly, creating the river in her constant flow.
    "And the Great River led them through dark and dangerous regions; the other two tribes felt too frightful to go there."


    The gaze of her eyes seemed to get lost for a moment, as she thought about the meaning of fear in the elfish history...


    "Beasts and monsters crossed their steady path, and many Teleutaioi were killed in battle. That´s when the third tribe was forced to separate, leaving behind those, who were too weak and hurt to fight.
    They hid away into the shadows of the woods, hoping to find the trek again when it would be time. Moon after moon passed, and the little groups of Teleuoi kept quiet and patient while they waited for the moment..."
    Naira closed her hands in front of her body, symbolizing the concealing.
    "Years passed, and the Teleutaioi, who had been left behind, continued their journey. They followed the Great River again, in the footsteps of the predecessors or on some other secret paths they maybe mistook for the footsteps..."
    She closed her eyes, feeling the pain of this fatal misunderstanding again...


    It was quiet for a moment.


    "I have been and am believing, for some time", she whispered, keeping her eyes closed, "that the Drow are descendants of one part of the Teleutaioi - the ones who arrived at the sea and where slayed and forced into war by the other tribes... I have heard about it, the kinslaying...or even one of those elves, who where bold enough to follow the Great River under the mountains, as my own clan was..."


    She opened her eyes and looked directly at him, observing.
    "My clan discovered creatures with pointed ears and black skin in the realms above ours, "S´pho-droi" they called your folk - vehement and hasty ones. I believed them to be some kind of cats... We were not allowed to go where they lived, and we were hiding away in the shadow of the stones, when we unintentionally crossed the way of a Sphodro..."
    The white elf held her head to the side and examined the "S´pho-dro" she had found with a deeper, interested look.


    "The wood elves who picked me up from the depth battled against the S´pho-droi that night, so I think I know what your kind is likely to do with white elves in general, when they come into their ways. But, since the wood elves and the high elves of the first two tribes alike do not regard me as a member of their species, I do not know what you Drow have to fear... I heard the Drow queen could be angry to learn we are kindred... just because my skin is white?"

    The drow say quiet and listen carefully to Naria story, nodding periodically in order to reinforce her self confidence and press her to continue further.


    When she mentions the Drow queen, he seems to wake up from the long dream where Naira's history leads him.


    "Well technically the Drow Queen essence is Chaos, therefore there is a lot of things that may turn her angry" A sarcastic smile appears on Gwo's face.


    "I suppose she has been angry since Corellon Larethian, her husband, banished her"


    The smile do not last more than a few seconds and Gwo's face become again neutral.


    "We will come back to the Drow society later, let's finish our story first. When your talking about the kingslaying are your referring to what most of us call the Crown war ?"

    She seems to be a little confused.
    "The other tribes wanted to travel the ocean, claiming the ships of the Teleutaioi who had managed to get to the coasts... That´s what I heard about the cause of the kinslaying. The Teleutaioi were against leaving the old paths of course - elves had never been used to sail and rule the water, but to let the wave go it`s own way..."

    "The ship story you told me should be linked with the blue elfe and the island of Evermeet. Which bring your story far before the Crown wars.


    Based on what Ryzzil told me, in the old time the Elven kingdoms enter into a big and bloody war called the Crown wars.


    The white elf, too proud and ambitious, started the war apparently against the green elfe on a minor territory dispute. The drows leaded a savage counter attack. Apparently the high elf and the sun elf manage to accuse our folk to be Ilythiiri and banished us.


    They ask Corellon’s help, with him the most powerful high mages and clerics joined together to perform a high magic ritual that altered the Ilythiiri's bodies to match the corruption of their souls. Although the conclave had intended to punish only the Ilythiiri, the ritual altered all the dark elves.


    This event, known as the Descent, mirrored the fall of Lolth and her offspring and thus helped to seal our loyalty to our Spider Queen. The word dhaerow--which once meant traitor--was likewise corrupted to "drow", which became the name of our folk.
    The common belief is that all dark elves, and not just the Ilythiiri, were transformed into drows. Ryzzil believes it was an unintended consequence of the sort that always seems to occur when the Fair Folk overreach themselves in the application of high magic. And it’s also the reason why the high elf decided to forget and forbid the use of high magic. If your story is right apparently some of your kind, the Lethi may have been “forgotten” by the history."

    She follows his words with deepest interest and attention, but soon seems to loose track. There is so much new to hear – blue elves and green elves white and sun elves...


    “I think the wood elves – what you call green elves – must be descendants of the other two tribes, when they mixed their blood with other creatures...” she starts thoughtful and like talking to herself. “My skin is darker than the bodies of those, who call themseves “high elves” nowadays. The Teleutaioi have always had golden skin, dark or silver hair, instead of the white skin and yellow hair of the others. We are smaller and have been praised to be excellent hunters and singers – keepers of wisdom. If the bad high elves planned to transform all elves with darker skin, they maybe have not reached he Lethoi with their evil magic, because we have been to far away in the depth of Terra...”


    “But”, she returns to Gwo, “the Ilyseri, is this the name of your family? How has it been to get black skin suddenly? Have you known, what happened to you, when it happened?”

    Gwo realize that he had talk a bit fast and that both history: the one from Naira and the one Ryzzil' told him, have significant correlation. However noon of them explain everything and surely not why his kind has a black skin. However it was not exactly where he wanted to lead the discussion on.


    He takes some breath, swallows and reply to Naira


    "To be honest it's unclear for me, some say that we our kind have black skin from the beginning, some say it was a gift from the Spider Queen, others that the ritual that banished us colored our skin."


    Without warning Gwo starts to speak again with a monotonous voice, like if he has learned his text by heart.


    "However, after their exile below ground, our folk lived as nomads, scavengers, and feral beasts. Through the guidance of Lolth, we drew ourselves together as a race and began to make the best of our situation, colonizing large portions of the Underdark. In time, we built dozens of magnificent, terrifying cities deep underground, which is quite an achievement for us, as we are predisposed and push by Lolth toward treachery, infighting, and civil war. Recently, we have begun to extend our influence to the surface in greater numbers than ever before, moving into abandoned elves cities and homes. We have begun training and conditioning to allow ourselves to function in the brilliant surface world. Much to our surprise and delight, we have found that due to the elves retreat, the presence of surface elves is much smaller and more poorly organized than anticipated. "


    He stops himself and wait until the eyes of Naira connect his eye again. To be sure that she will listen the following. His story is now totally alive and full of passion.


    "So the nobel house Jaelre sent the Jabbuk Ryzzil and his warriors. Like the human settlers we discover a new land to conquer, the elements and their magic, the north and the Nyame. The city of Shalzad his temple and thousand of Drows warriors training, ready to fight for the glory of Lolth."


    As Gwo kneel and start to whisper to the Lethi ears
    "With the Jaelre Quellar we manage to get our land in the North by pleasing the Nyame and Lolth. We had to adapt and we are still discovering things about who the people here are behaving and living."


    Gwo stands up and turns his back in a quick and swift movement, he stays a while slient before continuing


    "Here on the surface our goddess influence is weak. I’ve seen a lot of Drows that do not follow our rite and tradition, even praying the element instead of Lolth. "


    Naira noticed that his voice is neutral again, neutral but maybe also a taint with a little bit of sadness...


    "All are traitors and shall be punished by death. Even if the elements are ruling this world of Mythodea. Lolth is here with us and her plans are unpredictable. Maybe all the drows on the surface of Mythodea are grabbing the element’s powers and act as good believers of the element for the glory of Lolth. We cannot know."


    Gwo's facing now Naira again


    "Because that is in our nature, we always been told to adapt and betray others for the glory of Lolth."


    Gwo quickly withdraw a long hunt knife and leave Naira for a few seconds for the cover of the dark woods


    When he returns to her, he is holding an old book with a leather cover.


    "Ryzzil gave me clear orders. This for you"


    Gwo bring book in front Naira, when she looks at the book cover, she see a heraldic symbol: two montains surrounding a river and a rising sun. Black and red.


    "Please read it but I must warn you that this book may bring death to you and others"


    "So, please Naira, this is one of the things that you have to do as an adult, read carefully in-between the line. Based on what I’ve said understand what is behind the shadow of every Drows in Mythodea and maybe you will be able to survive within our family"

    For Naira it seems to be beyond comprehension that an elf could not know about his origin – that his blood could be clouded with painful secret – that he could live like a mortal human – ephemeral, without a past, without ancestors... (every ancestor of hers has been part of her clan she lived with... only few had died before she was born)


    It does cross her mind Gwo could seldom feel the old blood inside of him... or has never felt it...
    Will he be a good companion, if he can not summon the blood?
    Is he perhaps not yet initiated into adulthood – has he not yet deserved to choose a companion to make their way through the shadows side by side as hunters...?


    Sure enough – the drow have lost their singers, their wise people …. how will they react to meet one, like she, Naira, is...?


    Back then, in that night, when she crawled to the surface, through the mist of high-elfish magick, that had sealed the ground for decades and was dissolved by elves again that night... in that night she had expected to be recognized by them and greeted as a long lost family member – but they – had accounted her to be a drow!
    What will the drow believe her to be now…?!


    Her eyes are filling with tears and she heras only half of his citation about the legend, the cities below ground, the lolth.


    „The grombasha worship a quite similar god“, she mentions with the childish voice that reminds one of the Kender language... “You have to do treachery, slaying and evil humour to be a good Grombasha.”


    Then she listens again. Yes, she understands – he follows the path of faith, just as Alnock does it – to BELONG to something, to have a REASON for living and a reason to die... clinging to one personification, like Terra, Ignis, Aeris, Aqua... while the Lethoi have just stayed part of star and wave..


    She sees his fire and his anger. But she also feels that something is missing still… something not yet fulfilled and allowed or awarded...
    His soul seems alien and animated by the height and will of others... short-lived and changeful is this alien character – he doesn`t feel yet the black wave, the eternal will, that unites the Lethoi.


    She listens to him until he ends, but her senses are beginning to vibrate. the old blood rises again, like it did fort he first tim in yonder night, when she heard the hunter`s voice in the dark and followed...


    As he hands the book over to her, she is sitting still for a long moment, not moving. Then she too jumps up and graps his hand – leading it to her skin, right beneath her neck.
    Touching her, he can feel what is going on inside the white elf...

    Swirling billows, waves that effervesce in confusion – a wild chaos of water, frowning and aimless. Like torn wings the crests are quivering all around his consciousness. There is no top and down.


    Slowly the masses are sinking, regressing from a stream... a movement from beneath. A single wave comes rising, pitch-black and glossy. It is swellng with breath-taking elegance, absolutely soundless it is bending aloft, higher and higher... a colossus of darkness.


    The power of this stream – this inexplorable will... deep down in the wave he sees a glaze – points of light, of white clarity, fluorescing like crystals.... In the depth... >Lethoi<... the hidden ones…


    And then there comes the noise… like a whisper first, a fizzling, a hissing is swelling along. A base drag arises as the wave is preparing to break... it demands forward...
    It would sweep along everything, would suck it down, bury it under its overwhelming drive.... or carry it high to the highest crest, far beyond all other things, forth – wherever it would like...


    The masses of water are roaring fiercely more and more, and words are in them… they call something. Someone...


    Blacker yet the hill of waves is darkening – up to the background of the nightly sky they rise..


    … and suddenly stand still.


    The great stream has found its middle – the wave is waiting above the two elves, completely dark... but even darker is, what is spreading like ink quietly and mighty from beyond... Gwo feels the will of the Lethoi.

    In front of Gwo's eye a dark shadow pass by. The book fall but he doesn't notice.
    Above the two elfs the stars cross the skies faster and faster. The moon pass by from left to right several time.


    Gwo can fell his own blood raging and rising and then stays still as the dark wave is waiting above him.


    Ryzzil told him about the high magic but this one is unutterable. Thousands and thousands of years separate Gwo from the high elfish magic. But it's upon him, around him, inside of him...


    The Lethoi... Would it be this quiet strength that always stays in the deepest shadow when he grows up in the underdark.
    Is the river the same as the one they were all waiting for ? Would the wave bring the path ? Would the darkness recognize his blood. Would he survives to the hunt ?


    Gwo breathe deeply and gather his will and strength before letting the Lethoi's will in.

    He stares into the black wave, and the darkness, bending above them, seems to look at him vice versa… The lights inside the stream are glistening. There are the whispering voices again – forming a word… “P´terou”
    He does not know the word but he understands that it calls him… the voices give him a name in the forgotten language of the Lethoi.
    It feels like the will of the wave is uniting with his own, raising him, carrying him softly and steadily, while its furious strength is below his feet… He concentrates on the lights, the little hidden stars inside the wave… approaching… is one of them Naira`s soul or are they just magical signs or forces of the ancient belief?


    “I have been born to tell… to speak… to the elves at the surface.”, he suddenly hears Nairas voice in a distance. She steps back and lets go off his hand – he can see how she is shaking herself from this transcendental experience…“Our life in the depth... it had become too burdensome.”
    She looks at the book at his feet, but has to end her own story first…
    “Maybe... I mean, this idea came to me some weeks ago and I don`t feel good to verbalize it... maybe our path had come to an end. The elders had not found a passage through the rock for a very long time... and although we Lethoi are patient and trust the will to lead us a new way, time after time, something must have changed their opinion. They let there be children, after an era of just being and staying in the depth, the Lethi walked in the circle of life again – I have been born, and I was meant to learn everything the Lethoi had passed on to their children since the beginning. I have been an apprentice of wisdom, and I was dedicated to reach the surface, when I would have ended my studies and become a grown-up.”


    Carefully and respectfully she picks up the folio, like it would be a thing of great worth to her.
    “The place we lived in at that time, you know, has been called DrowsRock - or DrosRock as the humans say. We did not know about all this. We were living in the depth, below the dwellings of the black elves, and below the huts and tents of the wood elves, who reigned this part of the continent that is called the Middlelands.
    The wood elves had settled there some time ago, and the legend goes there had been a star falling from the sky, becoming seed for a garden, which the wood elves took care for then –a magical and holy place for them. Then there was war, between the elves and their enemies – maybe the drow, I don`t know exactly. They just told me that the high priest or magician of their tribe formed a magical mist all around the place, so no one would be able to enter the garden in those times of danger...
    But fourteen summers before now, the wood elves were desperate, because the drow had begun to leave their caves and conquer the surface of DrosRock... So the queen of the wood elves, Lothana ip Melhood, set an expedition to the magical garden, for to pray to their wood elfish gods for help. And they made a ritual, opening a passage through the mist… however, it did not just open the entrance to the garden, but the sealed ground… So our elders took the chance… that´s how I came into the world you live in, P´terou.”


    She hangs her head and sighs. “And again… I think it must have be wrong… we had lost the path… because it was before my time. I was a child then, and I was not done with what I would have needed to achieve my aim. I have failed, at least when it comes to reuniting with the other Teleutaioi.”

    As Naira is ending her sentence. Gwo seems to awake like after a too long and too sweet sleep.
    Some old and dark whispers are still resonating in his mind.


    He grab Naira's right hand a dark shadow pass by his eyes and says with a loud and ancient accent


    "You cannot fail, if you follow the path"


    The Drow looks like surprised by his own voice.


    Inside of him something is rumbling. An iron will, hardened in some icy and dark fire, leads deeply into his mind.

    She is astonished about his determined behaviour - until now she has considered him to be quite shy, elusive and ambivalent - a character quite similar to her recent thoughts and changes... But now, he acts as if he knew very well... He takes the role of the companion - the companion, who leads the way, even when the other has doubts about it...


    For a moment, she stares back into his eyes, a pale blue glimpse from almost black eyes into the shining blue eyes of the drow.
    Then she responds to the squeeze of his hand, raising both of their hands between them, in front of their faces.
    She opens her hand, pressing the palm of her hand to his.


    "Nomid´soa se, koinonos ejs: Syr´chrejn - synek´hejn - syn-w´ergejn!", she declaims with utter conviction.

    "I believe in you, you are the companion: flowing together - sticking together - acting together!"    , she whispers in addition.




    After a long moment of deep accordance, she detaches herself from him. She smiles, warmly and confident. Then she sits down, opens the book and begins to read...


    ~ end of scene ~


    OT: Naira ist ab diesem Moment bis zur Szene "Das Spitzohr trifft ein" auf Reisen.