Elf Maiden - Closed for RedDeeDee

[nick_slaughter]

It all seemed very, very tense, up until the moment when it didn't and the girls laughed their attractive faces off. Although relieved I felt disconcerted somehow, my nerves always tugged taut by one tense encounter to the other. It wears on you. Especially if you don't understand the lingo.

Speaking of which, they were talking fast, like two besties, almost talking over each other, finishing each other sentences... The amount of th's and s's in the language somehow made it all sound vaguely like leaves rustling and I thought it sounded endearing, even though I understood not a word of course and they could be discussing my ritual death for all I knew.

They turned and smiled and I smiled back. How could i not, two sets of those indescribable eyes staring at me... The red one offered something, a leaf, suggesting I should lick it. I didn't think it over, i did it immediately. What the hell, drugs might offer some sense into it all because sobriety provided zilch. I offered the leaf back...

"Is that what you meant me to do?"

 

[RedDeeDee]

The redhead nodded, then took the leaf and swallowed it.

And then she asked Nick, "You me understand talk?"

 

[nick_slaughter]

I blinked in confusion

"Why, yes, yes I do. Sentence is a bit off but, yes I do"

What better way to get people to understand each other, I thought... Well this side of Babelfish, but still, as Babelfish don't exist, this is pure gold. I looked over to my blonde host, then to the kind redhead.

"Can both of you understand me or it only works with however licked the leaf? How long does it last anyway..."

I had millions of questions and they all came bubbling up so I figured i better stop babbling

 

[RedDeeDee]

"Slow talk," the redhead said, while Valindra watched on intensely. "Vocabulary know, syntax not yours, mine. Take time. Again questions?"

 

[nick_slaughter]

I composed, trying to be as succinct and clear as possible. Hard when you want to ask million things. So I talked slow, using my hands a lot to try to make things clearer, hoping I don't achieve the opposite.

"My name is Nick..."

And I was stumped. I straightened, looked at the blonde, turned to her, glancing at the red woman, hoping she'd translate

"Thank you for your help..."

And suddenly it hit me how out of place I am, so addressing both of them i finally asked

"Do you know how I can get home?"

 

[RedDeeDee]

Vilandra looked like she wanted to interrupt but the redhead waved her quiet.

"Nick, Kadruna, pleasure me is. Help pleasure be."

Kadruna gave Nick a puzzled look when he asked how to get home.

"Understand not," she replied. "Came you here horse, go return horse. Came you here walk, go return walk. Came you here boat, go return boat. Someone blocking dangerous you?"

 

[nick_slaughter]

"Pleasure to meet you Kadruna" I smiled, earning a slightly bemused look from the blonde woman who was my only help through this whole ordeal so far. I cleared my throat, trying to be as clear as possible.

"Well I walked... But I don't think I can find my way back... You see your friend found me and brought me here, I... I don't think we live in the same worlds actually"

I drifted off, nervous. Well of course we don't. We can't, surely. Unless of course Matt and his roleplaying pals smoked some weird stuff and this was all a hallucination... It lasts way long for that it seems. I just stood, silent, looking nervously at the two women, hoping that portals and doors to other worlds were something that's not entirely insane in this neck of the woods. Being insane was not something I relished being at all.

 

[RedDeeDee]

The two women stepped aside, quietly discussing something with each other in whispered tones, with one or both of them more than occasionally looking up at Nick. After about ten minutes, Kadruna gave a curt nod and the two returned to Nick.

"We magi," Kadruna began. "Small magi. My friend, light and season. Me, words and stored knowledge. That why I talk you and she does not even if syntax bad. Get better more we talk. You come from other. Not small magi. Large magic. Someone king's court come, one fortnight, two?" Kadruna shrugged, indicating her ignorance of the timetable that whoever would come from the king's court would use.

'Today Valindra talk council about you staying. That why stop her. My job. Ceremonial guard. Make sure her purpose important." Kadruna turned back and exchanged a smile with her blonde friend. "Just for show. Know my best friend mean business. But ceremony observed. You I wait outside while she inside talking council But we talk more. Syntax better. Agreed?" Kalundra asked.

 

[nick_slaughter]

I felt bad for even mentioning the odd way she spoke English. I should have been lucky to get someone to understand me in the first place. And I was, I was over the moon, just unsure how to explain that in as little words as possible to avoid confusion. So I tried...

"Thank you very much, both of you. It's a relief that someone can understand my language."

I stopped, thinking something over.

"If... something bad happens, and Valindra can't explain them how I got here, what then? If the Council says that I can't stay, then... What happens then?"

 

[RedDeeDee]

Valindra and Kadruna exchanged a few quiet words, and then Kardruna turned back to Nick, chuckling.

"Not need to worry, Nick," Kadruna told him, with a smile. "Only one who want oppose Valindra is my brother. He is..." Kadruna paused, searching for the right phrase in her newly acquired language. "He is major asshole."

There was a chiming behind the doors that Kadruna had been blocking earlier. Valindra hurriedly told Nick "Nutifak grila Nick. Ami flinapol inscurt timpa." With that, the doors opened for Valindra and closed as soon as she entered.

"She say not worry, Nick. She back back soon. All good." Kadruna paused, then asked, "So is your world different from mine?"

 

[nick_slaughter]

They were extremely reassuring which relaxed me. Something nagged though, life, especially recently, seemed to have the knack of making the worse of two solutions every time. But, hey, maybe here that too is different.

I wanted to say thanks and bye to Valindra, but she disappeared before I had the chance.

"Different? Ah yes, it is" I wondered for a second on how to describe, figured it impossible, but tried anyway.

"Well for start, it's much much greener over here, back home, everything is more... gray really" I edged towards the window and stared out of it for inspiration "... the land looks the same, but here it's much more wilder and, well natural over here." I turned to face her as she stood next "... and people dress much much more differently... and we have none of this magic you people seem to have"

 

[RedDeeDee]

"Not magic. Skill. Some skill---" Kadruna paused, then corrected herself. "Some have skill growing things. Some have skill climbing things. I have skills talking, writing. Valindra has skills with wind, fire, secret energies. Maybe what you call magic exists your world. Just people have lost skills."

Kadruna paused, turning to look at the doors that Valindra had gone through. "Maybe some time. Council will have questions for things beside you. Valindra has lot responsibilities. Would you like something eat? Drink?"

 

[nick_slaughter]

I stopped to consider things back home that these people would not be able to discern from magic and I had to agree with her. On top of that, both drinks and food sounded like just the very thing I needed.

"Oh, sure, I'd like something to eat, will you join me?"

 

[RedDeeDee]

"Adun mankaris ivin, varugam," Kadruna told the empty air. Within minutes, elven men and women in simple garb brought out a table, and placed plates containing bread and what looked like purple apples and bowls of red honey.

One of the elven ladies who set up the table poured both Kadruna and Nick a cup of blue liquid.

"It is juice of---" Kadruna paused, a quizzical look on her face. "Not word for it in your language. Call it 'persica.' Tell me what think."

 

[nick_slaughter]

I lifted the glass, marveled at the pure color.

"Looks like Blue Curacao" i said, chuckling, then tasted it. It was nothing like Blue Curacao. It wasn't just not horrible, it was bot sweet and bitter and balmy in just the right amounts.

"Tastes nothing like Blue Curacao" i said, looking at the glass, surprised... "Great taste, really" i said, licking up one drop of liquid that tried to escape on my lip "What did you say it was, persika?"

 

[RedDeeDee]

"Persika," Kadruna repeated in agreement. "It ripens this time year. Some harvested for juice, other fermented, bottled and served later. In the evening, when the last roses of the sun seen, is best time for wine. But juice is good now. Invigorating."

 

[nick_slaughter]

I smacked my lips, truly feeling invigorating, felt altogether lighter on my feet, I turned to Kadruna smiling

"Seems like I picked the right season to be trapped in this place."

 

[RedDeeDee]

"You think yourself trapped, Nick?" Kadruna asked, her eyebrows furrowed. "Then perhaps you look wrong." Kadruna paused, then corrected herself. "Perhaps you look at it wrong. Your circumstances. If you were home, what would you be doing now? Would it be better or worse than here?"

 

[nick_slaughter]

"True. You're correct, in a sense. It's just... I like it here, don't get me wrong, everyone here has been nothing but polite to me, but... Have you ever been someplace strange where it was plainly obvious you're the stranger? There is so much to see here and learn..." I raise the glass with the blue drink "... how to make these for instance... Yet... I don't truly belong here, I know nothing about you or your world and I fear I won't ever find a way home"

 

[RedDeeDee]

Kadruna pondered Nick's words for a moment before asking, "So what is at your home you wish return so fervently, Nick?"

 

[nick_slaughter]

"It's not really something fervent. There are people there who would worry when they find out I'm missing, who I don't want to be worried. At the very least I'd like to be able to somehow tell them I'm safe."

 

[RedDeeDee]

"I don't know that is possible," Kadruna answered. "We ask Valindra when she returns. I know words. She knows other things. Are there things words I could explain, Nick?"

 

[nick_slaughter]

I was leaning on the wall - well actually on the inner side of the tree trunk - near the window and I gazed outside for a moment before I spoke.

"Well, tell me about this place. Where are we, how is it called? What do you do, for a living, for fun?" I smiled "Essentially tell me all about your people and your history... Perhaps not all of it in one go"

 

[RedDeeDee]

"Well, this home," Kadruna said with a smile, her gentle laughter musical. "My people don't use..." Kadruna paused, frowning, before finding the right word "...nomenclature for places like your people do. What humans travel here, call it Parvasionem. Humans call us elves," she continued, pushing her aside to reveal the pointy tip of her ear. "And as to what we do here, we live. We laugh, we sing, we cry, we mourn, as all people do, in their own way."

"Here, I serve my people," Kadruna continued. "My skill, my magic, you call it, is with words and songs, I not only one who have it, but my skill broad, my memory deep, and I can draw words from other, like I do with you."

"And what do you do, in your world Nick?" she asked.

 

[nick_slaughter]

I looked at Kadruna's ear and I suddenly felt how I am wasting my life back home.

"Not much, to be honest. Now, I live in a box, travel in a box to work in a box where i program a box to quantify reality into numbers. I guess some people think of it as magic, though it's nowhere near as flashy or effective like yours and Vilandra's..." I paused, reflecting. "Come to think of it, I guess we do the same thing, just that you manage to do it somehow naturally, while we have to bend and break the world to understand it... But you said there are humans here, where do they come from?"