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Feb. 2nd, 2006 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
triple_flame*Pouts* Technically my pretty waist corset should have arrived today (see first corset link in the last couple of posts)...pretty purple velvet cloak turned up but no corset. Ah well, maybe tomorrow, at least parcel post arrives before I have to leave for work.
I'm slowly getting some work done on my short, it just doesn't seem to be flowing as well as Pryde and Honour did, maybe because I don't have a reward at the end of my goal. I originally gave myself until saturday to finish the 10,000 words, well that one seems to have gone right out of the window since it would require 4,000 each day tomorrow and saturday (minus whatever I might get done this evening). Not likely to happen while I'm at work. I just can't seem to settle at the moment and there is no where in the house that I'm finding comfortable enough to sit and light candles. Maybe a few gems to stir things up would help, maybe just sitting with my deck and a list of turning points/questions would also work. Really I feel like I need to get Galath into the main settlement really before I start on anything else...
Galath halted at the brow of a hill, the midsummer sun beating down on the back of his head and the boarder lands of Ellyrion spread out before him. The mere sight of the encircling forest was enough to bring a lump to his throat and his breathing quickened despite the months he had spent trying to convince his mind that this was not a home-coming. The heavy green scent of the trees drifted lazily on the light summer breeze that seemed to be welcoming him; it breathed the name that he had been known by before he left this place so many years ago. Kazuki.
Kazuki's people were the elves, ancient, proud and long hidden from the eyes of men. They had not always been so, once the two peoples had lived side by side if not always in perfect harmony. The elves had ever been rooted by their traditions though, unwilling to change and resentful when change was forced upon them. Scholars theorised that much of this stasis stemmed from their ties to the earth; nature moves in cycles but those cycles seldom change without great violence. When their human counterparts began to show a startling ability for adaptation, indeed a fondness for what they soon termed progress, the elves found themselves at a loss for how to react. They had tried to halt the rapid evolution going on about them and been beaten back like a lone tree trying to halt the flow of a river in flood. Eventually they chose to draw away from the lands where humankinds' inventions held sway; retreating to the deep forests and high mountains, the wild places of the world where the land itself resisted the changes that people would force upon it.
To the long lived elves only a few generations had passed since this withdrawal, some of the oldest among the Elders still held vague memories from childhoods spent among the humans. Part of the reason humans were so open to change was the brief span of their time in each body though, word had passed from parent to child and onwards until the tales of elves were garbled almost beyond recognition and awarded a legendary status even as they faded into mere stories to amuse children. This he knew from his years walking among them. Those years had also taught him that, for a race that embraced change, humans were remarkably resistant to ideas that challenged their preconceived notion of the world they lived in.
Galath shook his head trying to bring himself back to the present. Standing here on the cusp of his two worlds he could feel both of them pulling at him; the time was long past for his return home although he had a sneaking suspicion that some of the Elders would not agree with him.
His feet seemed to find the path with no conscious direction from his mind so he allowed his eyes to drink in the sights that he had feared lost from him for ever and scenes populated with the ghosts of his memories. Ellyrion was not the only place his people had retreated to and the various elven lands were as different from one another as the seasons. They were all connected to the great glade though and all seemed to have a certain aura of calm about them, besides, this was his home, it represented his childhood. To Galath the sight and smell of forest that had not changed in millennia encompassed all that he had lost when he was cast out.
"Halt stranger!"
The voice shook him from his thoughts, he had become used to the noise of a human's approach and forgotten that his own kind could move like a spring breeze through the forests, making no sound and barely disturbing the leaves with their passing. He managed to draw his steps to a halt just before running onto the spear that seemed to materialise out of nothing in front of him. Raising his eyes past the gleaming point of the weapon, the face of the woman holding it was something of a shock; he had become used to his own face in the glass, the slender jawline, slanted eyes and delicatly pointed ears that all marked him as being so obviously different, this was not his own reflection though. The woman before him had stunning turquoise eyes surrounded by silver lashes that seemed to shimmer with half glimpsed colours. Likewise the moonbeam hair in a tight braid hanging over one shoulder. Her chin had a certain angularity to it that gave her a determined expression, the ears were mirrors of his own, gently tapering to slender points; only hers were graced with several hoops crafted from some crystal that caught the sunlight filtering through the treetops and split it into rainbows.
"...here stranger?"
Her voice was far smoother than those he had become used to in the human lands, there was a sense of music to it that humans seemed to have lost long ago. Even though her tone has been challenging he could have happily replayed the sound in his mind forever.
It was not until he noticed that dangerous glint in her narrowed eyes that he realised he had been staring, not only that, he had no idea what she had just said to him. As though reading his mind she repeated herself, the words slow and precise. "What are you doing here stranger? What is your business in these lands?"
Stranger? She did not recognise him, nor he her; she was young then, born since his exile. Her eyes reminded him a little of Linh-Mai, perhaps she had finally found a man capable of living up to her expectations then. The whistled breath of impatience certainly sounded like Linh-Mai. "My name is Gal...Kazuki." It had been so long that he had automatically given the name he went by in the human lands. "Also known as Exile, Path-forger and Galath. This place was once my home and I must speak with the elders."
The woman took an involuntary step backwards, lowering her spear to a defensive stance as she took in his features. "Kazuki, the exiled one? But you were never to return." Kazuki smiled, "The world seldom runs to the plans that we would make for it." She stared at him in silence for a long while, examining him as he had done her only moments before. Finally she broke the quiet. "I...you had better come with me, I'll take you to the Council, no doubt they will know what I should do with you." His smile broadened a notch, that had been his original request afterall. It appeared that she was almost as distracted by his appearance as he was by seeing another of his own kind after so long.
She took up a position behind him, spear leveled at his back; apparently her indecision was leading her to treat him, at least partially, as an intruder. They strode through the boarder forests in silence, not even the sound of a footfall disturbing an ages old hush. Kazuki could sense the tension of the woman behind him like the pressure of an approaching thunderstorm.
The first section is a little info dump-ish but that can get cleaned up in editing.
I'm slowly getting some work done on my short, it just doesn't seem to be flowing as well as Pryde and Honour did, maybe because I don't have a reward at the end of my goal. I originally gave myself until saturday to finish the 10,000 words, well that one seems to have gone right out of the window since it would require 4,000 each day tomorrow and saturday (minus whatever I might get done this evening). Not likely to happen while I'm at work. I just can't seem to settle at the moment and there is no where in the house that I'm finding comfortable enough to sit and light candles. Maybe a few gems to stir things up would help, maybe just sitting with my deck and a list of turning points/questions would also work. Really I feel like I need to get Galath into the main settlement really before I start on anything else...
Galath halted at the brow of a hill, the midsummer sun beating down on the back of his head and the boarder lands of Ellyrion spread out before him. The mere sight of the encircling forest was enough to bring a lump to his throat and his breathing quickened despite the months he had spent trying to convince his mind that this was not a home-coming. The heavy green scent of the trees drifted lazily on the light summer breeze that seemed to be welcoming him; it breathed the name that he had been known by before he left this place so many years ago. Kazuki.
Kazuki's people were the elves, ancient, proud and long hidden from the eyes of men. They had not always been so, once the two peoples had lived side by side if not always in perfect harmony. The elves had ever been rooted by their traditions though, unwilling to change and resentful when change was forced upon them. Scholars theorised that much of this stasis stemmed from their ties to the earth; nature moves in cycles but those cycles seldom change without great violence. When their human counterparts began to show a startling ability for adaptation, indeed a fondness for what they soon termed progress, the elves found themselves at a loss for how to react. They had tried to halt the rapid evolution going on about them and been beaten back like a lone tree trying to halt the flow of a river in flood. Eventually they chose to draw away from the lands where humankinds' inventions held sway; retreating to the deep forests and high mountains, the wild places of the world where the land itself resisted the changes that people would force upon it.
To the long lived elves only a few generations had passed since this withdrawal, some of the oldest among the Elders still held vague memories from childhoods spent among the humans. Part of the reason humans were so open to change was the brief span of their time in each body though, word had passed from parent to child and onwards until the tales of elves were garbled almost beyond recognition and awarded a legendary status even as they faded into mere stories to amuse children. This he knew from his years walking among them. Those years had also taught him that, for a race that embraced change, humans were remarkably resistant to ideas that challenged their preconceived notion of the world they lived in.
Galath shook his head trying to bring himself back to the present. Standing here on the cusp of his two worlds he could feel both of them pulling at him; the time was long past for his return home although he had a sneaking suspicion that some of the Elders would not agree with him.
His feet seemed to find the path with no conscious direction from his mind so he allowed his eyes to drink in the sights that he had feared lost from him for ever and scenes populated with the ghosts of his memories. Ellyrion was not the only place his people had retreated to and the various elven lands were as different from one another as the seasons. They were all connected to the great glade though and all seemed to have a certain aura of calm about them, besides, this was his home, it represented his childhood. To Galath the sight and smell of forest that had not changed in millennia encompassed all that he had lost when he was cast out.
"Halt stranger!"
The voice shook him from his thoughts, he had become used to the noise of a human's approach and forgotten that his own kind could move like a spring breeze through the forests, making no sound and barely disturbing the leaves with their passing. He managed to draw his steps to a halt just before running onto the spear that seemed to materialise out of nothing in front of him. Raising his eyes past the gleaming point of the weapon, the face of the woman holding it was something of a shock; he had become used to his own face in the glass, the slender jawline, slanted eyes and delicatly pointed ears that all marked him as being so obviously different, this was not his own reflection though. The woman before him had stunning turquoise eyes surrounded by silver lashes that seemed to shimmer with half glimpsed colours. Likewise the moonbeam hair in a tight braid hanging over one shoulder. Her chin had a certain angularity to it that gave her a determined expression, the ears were mirrors of his own, gently tapering to slender points; only hers were graced with several hoops crafted from some crystal that caught the sunlight filtering through the treetops and split it into rainbows.
"...here stranger?"
Her voice was far smoother than those he had become used to in the human lands, there was a sense of music to it that humans seemed to have lost long ago. Even though her tone has been challenging he could have happily replayed the sound in his mind forever.
It was not until he noticed that dangerous glint in her narrowed eyes that he realised he had been staring, not only that, he had no idea what she had just said to him. As though reading his mind she repeated herself, the words slow and precise. "What are you doing here stranger? What is your business in these lands?"
Stranger? She did not recognise him, nor he her; she was young then, born since his exile. Her eyes reminded him a little of Linh-Mai, perhaps she had finally found a man capable of living up to her expectations then. The whistled breath of impatience certainly sounded like Linh-Mai. "My name is Gal...Kazuki." It had been so long that he had automatically given the name he went by in the human lands. "Also known as Exile, Path-forger and Galath. This place was once my home and I must speak with the elders."
The woman took an involuntary step backwards, lowering her spear to a defensive stance as she took in his features. "Kazuki, the exiled one? But you were never to return." Kazuki smiled, "The world seldom runs to the plans that we would make for it." She stared at him in silence for a long while, examining him as he had done her only moments before. Finally she broke the quiet. "I...you had better come with me, I'll take you to the Council, no doubt they will know what I should do with you." His smile broadened a notch, that had been his original request afterall. It appeared that she was almost as distracted by his appearance as he was by seeing another of his own kind after so long.
She took up a position behind him, spear leveled at his back; apparently her indecision was leading her to treat him, at least partially, as an intruder. They strode through the boarder forests in silence, not even the sound of a footfall disturbing an ages old hush. Kazuki could sense the tension of the woman behind him like the pressure of an approaching thunderstorm.
The first section is a little info dump-ish but that can get cleaned up in editing.
