[NOT THE END!]
The "couple" returned back to their table, just as the barbequed pork shanks were being served to the guests. Delicious!
Osirio, hungry and in high spirits, proceeded to tell Ava some things about his childhood...well, the good parts anyway.
"You know I am a man of the desert, far to the South of our Aretrian...the desert they call the "Bonedrifts", because of the pure white sand that stretches for miles unto miles-in truth, my elders said it was made from the powder of long dead stones of a long dead sea, turned to dust after uncounted millenia. A desert that was once an ocean, if you believe the tales.
It is not as hot as you might imagine, though, nor as desolate. There is water, and where there is water there is life...I was born to an Elven mother who fell for the rouges charm of a Human sorcerer during a summer dance. Ah, my father was a good man, but he couldn't be bothered to stick about-all true, the Elven clan my mother belonged too...well, they did not like the idea, to be sure. I spent most of my youth wishing my father would come home-as he sometimes did, every year or so-and take me away on his adventures...he told me so much about the world I could not hope to understand, of his own travels and dangers...I wanted to follow. He would bring me and my mother small treasures, but I loved the books most of all. I could not understand half the languages they were written in, at first, but they were like magic portals into other worlds. One step, and Osirio was lost...
Oh, there are other joys in the sands, do not think otherwise. You have already learned to enjoy Osirio's cooking-I must one day introduce to you to Jerboa Stew, the most choice of dishes! There are powerful Blue Dragons who live under the sands, and they protect all those who dwell in peace in the desert, as long as they pay proper respect and tribute...they are very useful to talk to, and trade with, if they do not eat you. Osirio used to practice riddle games against the Blues-the price of a beautiful gem, worth the taste his own hide. High risk games, for very foolish young men...and foolish young dragons, who were left poorer.
And, you have not lived until you've ridden a Slingsail. It rides over the dunes like a ship on the waves-very fast, very dangerous...very fun. Osirio only had a small one, fit for himself, but he has heard some afford them as large as seagoing vessels. Once upon a time, Osirio dreamed of owning his very own-becoming a trader, maybe...or a sand pirate. "
Osirio laughs.
"Well, I saw my father last on my fifteenth birthday, and never again. After two years I was forced to leave on my own, to spare my poor mother-she will still be young, long after Osirio is dust. This is painful for any mother...to lose a son. I do not hope to ever see her again, but I hope she is well. I miss her, dearly...but, the clan was always against us. We could have no peace.
...You must see-to an Elf clan, what was Osirio but a half-breed of a nuisance? Why bother getting to know him when he will die in a mayfly's span, at least according to their reckoning? It was most vexing...and, of course, my cursed powers marked me as a threat. I had always thought to inherit a portion of power from my father by blood, but what I got, I could not control. Bad things happened around me-and when people bothered me, they would have accidents...I was blamed, though I did not know these things I did. I became...angry, and introverted..."
He pauses to spear a pork shank with his fork.
"I lashed out, like an angry child-I must admit-and with every day they turned more so against me. So, I was driven away, and a hex on them I say. Osirio then promised to have no family, to bind himself to no friends, to seek nothing, but escape from this vale of tears...you see? Osirio was once a bitter, confused boy. He did much harm, to himself and others. Osirio would have become a monster, surely, but...to say-he was saved, though only by a monster worse than himself...though I could not tell she was a monster at first. That is a story for another day, however.
What of your childhood, Ava? Is it something you feel you can talk about?" He asked.
Author
Topic: City of Aretrian - IC Thread (Read 58815 times)