Moonshadow; Legend, Myth, Paragon.

The tavern, two nights later.

The Bard settled into her place as the sun started its descent and looked at the crowd. She knew instantly that the gathering Conor had spoken of had started, because this was not her regular crowd. Most of the regulars were townsfolk, normal people who never had an adventure unless something happened to the town they lived in.

Some of those people were here tonight, but there were nearly thirty people that had the look of experienced adventurers, that casual confidence that came from having been there, done that so often that the truly bizarre was normal to them. "Lass, I have a question for you, before you start tonight." The bard looked at the older grizzled man that had spoken and waited for his question. "Conor told us all that he had a Kal'Droth bard, and that you would be telling us tales of your people, but he forgot to mention one little thing, mostly because he never asked you. What is your name?"

The bard smiled, flicking a glance toward Conor, who was looking embarrassed. "I am called Windsong, good sir."

The older man frowned, looking at her. "You say you are called such, not that it is your name."

Windsong shrugged. "Every Kal'Droth has a Name," and everyone there could hear the capital letter in Name, "which is only known to your family and people you trust with it. To everyone else in the world, we have usenames, and that is our name for all practical purposes."

The man nodded, filing that bit of information away in his memory. "So, Windsong, what tale will you tell us tonight?"

Windsong smiled, pulling her lute from her back and tuning it with sure motions borne of years of experience. "I had in mind to tell you a myth, something no one can prove any more, saving only one, and no one knows if she lives still." The bard looked up and smiled at the absolute attention she had from the Questers. "Of all the Kal'Droth born, the outside world knows of a handful, and the valley people know of a thousand more, but only one name is common to both the outside and the valley, and that name is Moonshadow."

The bard watched with interest as two of the Questers sat up, staring intently at her. "I cannot prove much of this tale, only the beginning, written in the histories of the valley, more than seven thousand years ago."

Moonshadow

In the days of Moonshadow's birth, there were still a very few of the Kal'Ranious left, but the end of that race was written plain for all to see. Many of the Kal'Droth were mated now, and they were thriving in the confines of the valley, more so than the Kal'Ranious ever had.

Despite changing their name, and the centuries of adapting to live in the valley without other peoples, the Kal'Ranious were Elves at heart, and they simply were not suited for the life the valley forced on them. The Kal'Droth on the other hand, were a new breed of being, and perfectly suited to living in this place. None of them could miss the things they'd never had, and as more of them were born with the ability to sense the currents and patterns of the winds that swirled endlessly around the valley, they could explore further than anyone had since the days they had been exiled here.

Moonshadow's birth was a remarkable first for one reason: she was the first Kal'Droth born of two Kal'Droth parents, both of whom had two Kal'Droth parents. She was considered the first true Kal'Droth, and watched closely as she grew up.

Of her early years, almost no tales remain, only the records of the valley, and they are more in the nature of histories, without the flavouring of a tale. One thing is made plain though, and that was that Moonshadow was different from any other Kal'Droth ever born, and even the ones that came after her were not as she was.

Moonshadow was faster, stronger and more agile than many full grown adults before she was in her sixty-ninth year, noticeably so. She exhibited other abilities as well, innate abilities than no other Kal'Droth before or since has had, and her command of the normal gifts of the Kal'Droth were great. She learned quicker than most, and remembered what she'd heard, even if she only heard it once. In fact, there was nothing she couldn't do, and by the time she was ending her first century, the rest of the valley had given up on trying to control her, or keep up with her.

No one was surprised when she simply disappeared.

Moonshadow had been restless for nearly a decade, flying as far out as any other, and wondering what was on the other side of the mountains she could see. Finally, she determined that she would go out and see what was out there. She laid her plans well, going into the old mines and scraping up gems and precious metals from them, knowing from the records that the people outside the valley bartered or bought things with 'money' a concept not much needed in the valley, and mostly gone.

Everyone in the valley had to contribute in the early days, and that had evolved into the current situation, where everyone did something, and put a share in the community pot. After you had done so, you could take things out of the community share, things you couldn't make yourself. A weaver might add a rug, and take an axe made by a blacksmith, while a farmer would add food while taking a chit for a healer's services for his family. Since you could not use the things and goods there without giving, it was a fair system, and few didn't contribute in one way or another.

Moonshadow knew she would be taking some of the things out of the valley and possibly never bringing them back, so she made things that would last, that could be recirculated over and over. When she was finally ready, she took stock of what she had and what she could do. Since she had no idea what the gems would be worth in the world beyond the valley, she took fifty or each of the gems, cut and polished, the finest she could finish and left the rest. She also took more than thirty pounds of the three metals that could be mined in the local mountains, gold, platinum and copper.

Besides the things she had, Moonshadow took several talents out of the valley. She was a good gem cutter, able to make fine jewellery and other gemstone things, including focuses for spells and wands. Moonshadow was a bard with some other skills, that much everyone knew, but very few knew then that she had studied everything in the valley, and knew at least a smattering of every skill she could learn.

Only one wizard knew something else about her as well. Moonshadow had gone to him for training in the ways of magic and during her lessons, they had discovered that she could absorb magic, and use the energy of magic as a blue magical fire. A little trial and a lot of error showed her the limits of this talent, and she didn't tell anyone about it, as it could be circumvented very easily, if you knew about it.

She took a spellbook from the mage as well, with his blessings. Moonshadow couldn't use most of the spells in the book, but the mage was certain that anyone with the talent she showed for magic would be able to work out the spells fairly soon, and he put a lot of very useful spells in the book, including scribed copies of spells that had been common before the Kal'ranious were exiled. She had not told him her plans, but it was obvious to him.

With any other person, he might have tried to prevent them leaving the valley, but Moonshadow was not any other person. If anyone could go out into the world and come back, this woman could, and if she couldn't, then the Kal'Droth needed to know that as well.

The day came that she was ready, and Moonshadow gathered her things and put them in the magic haversack that held so much more than it appeared to, while remaining light enough that flying would not be affected by the things she carried. Moonshadow paused at the edge of the Kal'Droth territory, looking back.

She loved her people, but the valley was too small to hold her spirit. She gave her home one last look and turned toward the outside.

In just a few seconds she was battling the gusting winds and swirling eddies called the Shearwinds that made leaving the confines of the valley so very difficult. Moonshadow was a great flier, easily the best in the valley, and still she was covered in sweat and shaking with the strain before she finally cleared the winds and could land in the forest covering the mountains outside the Aerie Valley.

She landed in a tree and rested, wondering which direction to go in. She finally chose to go south, as the cold winters of the valley indicated that it was in the northern part of the continent. Moonshadow flew for three days without seeing any sign of other people, and she was beginning to wonder if she'd gone the wrong way when she found her first sign of others. It was a rude shack, made of hewn logs, a sight that distressed the elf.

What manner of people would cut down a tree, rather than live in it? She took a minute to cast a spell of invisibility over herself, not wanting to show herself to these beings if they were evil, and flew closer. She saw the occupants of the building and landed in a tree to observe them. It didn't take her long to be confused.

These beings didn't match the description of any of the races she knew of. She ran through the list of characteristics she'd memorized before leaving the valley. They were not elves of any sort, nor dwarves, or any other race that she had ever heard of.

Lost in their isolation, the Kal'Droth had not known that another race had come to Grame Manifesto, a race called Humans.

She observed them for two days, and decided that she would continue, looking for a race she knew of, preferably elven. Her travels went faster now, as she could follow the trails of this race she didn't know, although she stayed out of sight of all the people on the trail. The trail soon became larger, and she saw more of the new people, many more of them.

Mixed in with them she also saw dwarves and a few of the elven kind she sought, but they were always around the new race and she avoided them. It was nearly a week later that she found her first elven community, and she settled into a tree outside the village to observe.

By the end of the day, she had decided to approach this group. They acted like the stories of elves in the histories, and they lived in the trees, not cutting them down like the others had. The next morning, Moonshadow landed outside the village and prepared two spells, just in case something went wrong, or she had to run. She took a deep breath and faced the village, quashing the nerves that said she was doing something wrong. She started toward the village.

Soveliss Nailo was on watch at the gate of the village and he was bored silly. The village was out of the way, had no real exports, and was simply too small to be important to anyone in his considered opinion. Soveliss was barely an adult by his people's standards, and filled with a desire to see more of the world than one little backwater community.

He glanced up as he caught a motion out of the corner of his eye and froze. He'd never seen a drow, but only one race of elves had that midnight black skin. He blinked, having never heard that drow had wings, but he knew his job. He shut the gates and sounded the alarm.

Moonshadow had seen the elf long before he'd seen her, and she'd had time to watch him for a few minutes as she walked slowly toward the gate. She'd seen the pure panic that had crossed his face when he finally looked up and saw her, and his actions directly there after.

She stopped and cast the first spell she had prepared, a ward against arrows and other projectile weapons and stood in the middle of the road, waiting for someone to do some thing. She really hoped they did something quick, because she really wanted to use a convenient tree right now.

Inside the gate, the village had come swarming at the alarm, and were listening to Soveliss babble about the drow on the road. One of the village elders frowned. Long ago, he'd fought the drow, in the Sundering War, and he knew they did not have wings, nor did they walk openly in broad daylight if they were planning something underhanded.

"Open the gate," he commanded quietly, and everyone that heard him looked at him. He shrugged, and spoke his mind. "If we are the starting point of some drow plot, we need to know it, and I am one of the last here that speak their language." He looked around, noting the unreasoning hate on many faces. "Besides, I have seen thousands of the drow, and I have yet to see one with wings. I would see this oddity for myself, and ask him how he gained wings."

Soveliss blinked, and muttered, "her. The drow out there is a female."

The elder nodded. "Her then. Open the gate, so I may see this for myself. It has been far too long since I saw something new, and this is very new to me."

The others looked at each other at his words, thinking they finally understood why the elder would risk himself like this. When one lived for as long as you could avoid injury or disease, after awhile you had seen most things, and studied them. That could lead to a terminal boredom setting in.

Elves might be immortal, but nothing helped them stave off the horror of decades of boredom. Among elves over ten thousand years of age, suicide was the leading cause of death, that and taking extreme risks, which amounted to the same thing.

The militia commander set two archers to cover the elder and opened the gate enough for him to slip out. The elder stepped out and looked down the road. He saw the winged being standing there and stared for a minute. She was indeed of the drow race, with that skin, but he'd never heard any tale of a dark elf with wings, and the girl in front of him definitely had wings.

Moonshadow saw him step out and she stared at him as well. He was old, with that air of calm acceptance that only came with having thousands of years of experience, and she bowed slightly, offering him the respect she would give any elder.

Aust Liadon saw the girl bow in an odd way, ans started toward her slowly, figuring that anyone that would offer courtesy like that was not going to cut him down without warning. He stopped a few feet away and nodded to her. He had been right about one thing, this person was just a girl, possibly not even of age yet.

Despite that, he could feel the sheer presence of her nearly as strongly as any elder. He had a sudden chilling thought. If she was a drow up to no good, and there were many more like her around, the village was in deep trouble. He reached into his memories and spoke in the old High Elven, that had been lost to the elven people since the Sundering. No one spoke it any more, since they didn't want to have even a language in common with the hated drow. "Hail and well met, traveller. I am Aust Liadon, elder of this village. May I know your name?"

Moonshadow nearly sighed with relief as the other elf spoke in the old version of the common tongue of the Kal'Droth. Few people knew the classic form of the language these days, but Moonshadow had learned it since she couldn't expect outsiders to speak the evolved form of this same language. "I am called Moonshadow, my lord, and it is my pleasure to greet you."

Aust blinked to hear such a young child, and young she was, with that pitch to her voice, speaking fluent High Elven. "I know it is unseemly to rush you like this, Moonshadow, but may I ask of your family and race? I have not seen anyone like you before."

Moonshadow estimated the age of the Elf in front of her. "You may, Elder, but it is a long tale in the telling. Will you sit with me, and partake of refreshments while I tell it?"

Aust hesitated, until an old memory came back to him. "Are you asking for the Hours of Peace, Moonshadow?"

Moonshadow smiled. "I am, and I am glad that the custom has not been lost to the outside world. I was worried about that."

Aust sighed. "Had you found a younger elf, my lady, it would have been lost knowledge to them. It has not been used since the Sundering." He examined her, thinking about the way she looked and acted. She wore bright colours and carried a harp and a lute, sure signs of a bard, for while someone pretending to be a bard might carry one instrument, it was highly unlikely that they would carry two. Her phrasing was strange for a drow as well.

The drow referred to the surface world as being above, or by euphemisms, yet this child called it the 'outside', a term generally used by people in enclosed areas, like prisons and natural enclosures. He was beginning to have an idea about what he was seeing, but he wanted to hear this tale first hand. "I will accept your offer. Would you mind if I brought a few more with me? I wish the other elders to hear this tale for themselves." Aust smiled wryly. "I can talk, but the telling of tales, and the ability to do them justice is not one of my gifts. It would mean far more coming from you."

Moonshadow grinned at him, recognizing the unspoken comment that her looks alone would make a far more convincing tale than anything she could say. "Bring them along, and we will sit and talk of things." He started to turn away, and Moonshadow stopped him. "I would know how many you bring, Elder. I must lay out the food and drink, and I need to know how many places to set."

"There will be four of us, and another, younger elf, who commands the militia, and will want to see and hear you for himself."

Moonshadow cocked her head to the side, puzzled by the one word, it not having been in her vocabulary. "What is a militia?" she asked, "It's not a word in our language."

Aust stared at her. "Do you know any of these words? Armies, war, murder, soldiers, combat?"

Moonshadow frowned. "Murder I know, although it has been three hundred years since there was a murder in the valley."

Aust shook his head in wonder. A sentient race that didn't have a word for war in their language. No other race could say that, not that he knew of, and that meant that they didn't have war wherever this lady was from. It is the nature of verbalizing beings that if they have a concept, like war, they will have a word for it. He sighed.

That would change quickly, if they made contact with other races. Maybe he would have a quiet word with the woman and let her know about some of the more violent tendencies of the world. She was far too trusting of others.

He went into the village and called for the others he wanted at this meeting. While they came forward he had a word with the officer in charge of the guard right now. He told him that they would be having a meeting in front of the palisade, and not to do anything. "It is an old ritual we are doing, from before the Sundering, and I do not think it will be broken by the young lady." The elder looked at the guard commander. "I will be very upset if anyone on our side breaks this peace. Even during the Sundering, this peace was never broken, by either side. I will not be responsible for breaking a tradition. Do we understand each other, Captain?"

The guard commander frowned. "I don't like you having all the elders and the commander of the guard out there at once, but I will not allow your meeting to be disrupted by our people."

Outside the walls Moonshadow was busy preparing a place for the meeting she was about to have. She made a mental note to try and find some spells to transfigure things as she laid out a cloth and dug around in her magic bag. She had known that she would be meeting with people when she left the valley and she'd brought a few things that would make people feel more at ease. She put down a platter and six matching cups. All of the items had a simple poison detection spell on them and would glow in the presence of any poison. There was no real need for these things in the valley and she had not had to give much for them, but she figured they would be invaluable in her meetings with others.

She reached into her bag and brought out her favourite treat from the valley, a kind or sweetbread that would not offend anybody, as it was made entirely of grains and fruits. She sighed and dug her best bottle of Tree Dew wine out of the bag. She looked at it mournfully. It was the only one she had, as collecting enough Dew to make it was a long and expensive task, but she couldn't offer anything less than her best for this meal.

She finished and waited for the people that were just coming out of the gate. She took a minute to study the people walking toward her.

Aust of course, was in front and she concentrated on the others.

The 'militia' commander was easy to spot. A younger male elf, he was wearing a sword and two daggers in plain sight and Moonshadow was certain that there were more weapons on his person somewhere. He was dressed in some odd metal chain shirt that she assumed was armour of some kind. She was slightly envious of the wealth showing in that single piece as the cost of metal in the valley made that chain shirt he was wearing worth a year, possibly two year's of shares in the community pot. She passed over him and looked at the others.

All of them were older elves, although none was as old as Aust but only one of them stood out as anything more than elders. That one was a female and she had hatred in her eyes as she stared at Moonshadow. Moonshadow didn't know why this woman hated her, but she obviously did. Moonshadow made note of her and looked at the other two.

One of them looked curious and had the intent stare she recognized from scholars confronting a new puzzle. That one would be asking questions forever, she thought, but they would be intelligent questions.

She frowned slightly as she looked at the other one. This man was a complete blank, allowing nothing at all to show on his face or in his eyes. Moonshadow made a mental note to watch him. Open hate was easy to deal with, but people that didn't show anything to you left nothing to work with and could be your best friend or your worst nightmare.

As the group reached the place Moonshadow had set up her cloth, Moonshadow bowed, holding her wings back and down, so she could see the group. "I am Moonshadow Cinthallia, of Clan Astarri. I would ask that we sit and eat in the peace of mutual wants and in good faith."

Aust smiled faintly, hearing a ritual that had not been spoken by the elves in more than twenty thousand years, and he dredged the proper response out of his memory. "I am Aust Liadon, of Clan Liadon, and these are my companions."

The woman showing open hate was Lia Xiloscient, and she merely nodded abruptly at her introduction.

The blank man was Tharivol Holimion and he bowed slightly as they were introduced.

The scholar was Qillathe Amakiir and she smiled slightly, her eyes on Moonshadow's wings and Moonshadow could almost see her cataloguing the anatomy that would allow an elf to fly.

The commander was Aramil Nailo, and he bowed, but like Moonshadow, his eyes never left her as he did. He didn't look hostile, but she could tell her was wary.

Moonshadow sighed. Hatred and open suspicion was not a good way to begin this meeting. She didn't understand why they had these problems, but she would find out.

Aust finished introducing his companion and completed the ritual that would bind them to do no harm to each other for one day after the meeting ended. "We will sit and eat, talking of matters dear to us both, in peace and with an open heart."

Moonshadow remained standing as they sat around her cloth and then poured a small amount of the Tree Dew in each cup. She noted the puzzled looks some of the elves had over the small amount she poured. Aust picked up his cup, mirroring Moonshadow's actions and the other followed his lead.

Moonshadow held the cup, warming the wine with her body heat until it reached the right temperature. The wine in her cup glowed for a second, emitting a well remembered fragrance, the scent of home to Moonshadow and she breathed it deeply, seeking the touch of the familiar to calm her nerves. The others watched in surprise as their cups did the same as they held them.

Aust breathed in the scent, as he'd seen Moonshadow do, and caught the smell of a forest, although it had some exotic scents that he didn't recognize, driving home the fact that this being was far from home. He shot a glance at Qillathe, smiling slightly as he could see that she was reining in a host of questions by sheer will alone. The thought crossed his mind that she might very well explode soon if she was not allowed to ask Moonshadow something.

The commander was examining the cup curiously, feeling the magic on it. He found a single stone that didn't look like any of the others on the cup and pressed it. Suddenly he could feel magic at work and he knew that his drink was safe, with no poisons in it. He noted Moonshadow looking at him when he activated the cup and he looked at her, seeing the slight challenge that lay behind her eyes.

He nodded gravely and tipped his cup to her as he took a sip. He froze, with the touch of the wine on his lips. It was soft, sweet and sour all at once, and suddenly he had a clear memory, from nearly five hundred years ago, of the day he was made the commander of the militia. He saw it again, remembering every minute of the pride and joy he felt, the responsibility for the village and his determination that he would never fail the people that trusted him.

He looked at Moonshadow, and saw that she was looking at something that no one else could see as well. The rest of them were lost in visions as well and Aramil sighed. No wonder the ... he frowned. That was not a drow, he was certain of that, but he had no idea what she was. He shook his head slightly and went back to his thoughts. No wonder Moonshadow had poured so little of the wine, if every sip would bring back memories like that. He found himself hesitating, not wanting to lose the feelings from that day. It had been a long time since he felt that way, and he was hesitant to lose it so soon.

Moonshadow was watching the group and spoke as she saw most of them looking at the cups hesitantly. "There will only be the one memory. Each sip you take of this will be a reinforcement of the memory you saw, so that it not lost to you. I do not understand all of the magic of the wine, but it is used to recall something of great importance, something that is relevant to the mood of the hour."

Aust nodded. Long ago, Moondrop wine would do the same thing, but the secrets of making it had been lost over the centuries. It had been a long time since he had had any of the wine of memories and he hoped to trade Moonshadow something for some more after the meeting was over.

Moonshadow waited until everyone had taken the second sip of wine, and spoke softly. "You may be wondering at my appearance, since most of you have never seen a dark skinned elf, and I feel quite certain that none of you have ever seen one with wings, as they are new in our race's history."

The others looked at each other and it was Lia, the woman that had shown such blatant hatred that spoke first. "Winged elves, no. Drow, black skinned elves we have seen too many times, and their hearts are as black as their skin."

Moonshadow blinked in open puzzlement. "Has Corellon Larethian then rescinded his exile of the Ssri-tel-quessir? I have not seen any signs of them."

Aust raised an eyebrow. He had not heard the original name of the drow in centuries. "I think we both have stories to tell. As our host, would you tell us of your people since the Sundering?"

Moonshadow nodded slowly, and reached for her lute. "I am no historian, and I only know one way to tell this tale, in the learning ballads of the bards I trained with." Moonshadow started with the simplest of the teaching songs and was soon lost in her performance.

The others were caught up as well, as the music and Moonshadow's voice swirled together, capturing them in the song. Elves had many forms of art and music, dozens of ways to make beauty and they were good at all of them.

The Kal'Droth, for many centuries had only one way to make beauty and they had pursued it with the same passion that elves in the outside had pursued all the forms of art. With this one form, no elf from the outside could match the art of the Kal'Droth, and Moonshadow was one of the best in the valley at song.

She finished her song and rested, watching the others come out of their reverie. Aust looked at her, considering the song, and what it had said.

Qillathe simply couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Are you saying that you are the first of the people from your Aerie to meet an outsider since the Sundering?"

Moonshadow nodded, "Saving only the Avariel that came to our valley and never left, yes."

Qillathe made a small noise, but Aust interrupted her. "Qillathe, there will be time for your studies later, if Moonshadow is willing. Right now, I think we need to tell her about her cousins, and what has happened to them."

Aust started speaking, and the longer he talked, the more distressed Moonshadow became. The Ssri-tel-quessir had become known as the Drow, a word that was made from the Elven word for traitor and Araushnee was now Lloth, a chaotic evil Goddess of the Drow and spiders. Corellon Larethian had not relented in his exile, but the drow were coming to the surface at night, killing and plundering people and things to take back under the earth to the land known as the Underdark. No one had yet met a Drow that was not evil, and it was assumed that any elf with the dark skin was evil, and most people on the surface fought with them on sight, simply to save themselves.

Moonshadow listened to the summary of the outside world's history and sighed. "What of Eilistraee's people? She was not, and is not evil. Has she no worshippers outside the valley?"

Aust frowned sadly. "If she does, they have remained hidden from everyone, as your people have."

Moonshadow sighed. "Then it would not be a good thing for my people to leave the valley in numbers at this time. Your races would see them as just another type of Drow and cause them harm."

The woman that had shown such hate was watching Moonshadow with a frown. "And what of your loyalty to those you call Ssri-tel-quessir? Would you not side with your cousins?" The group waited for Moonshadow's words.

She frowned. "I would not side with anyone that openly committed evil acts, but I also cannot believe that every single member of a race is evil. Could it be that the evil has the control of the Underdark at this time, and that somewhere down there are people who are not Drow, but Ssri-tel-quessir still?"

The commander spoke for the first time. "It could be so, but since the only ones that come above the ground are evil, it does not make any difference to us right now. If such a group does exist, and they can make peaceful contact with us, we might have to reconsider our notions, but until then we have to defend ourselves."

Moonshadow nodded slowly. She could see his point. Sometimes, giving an enemy the benefit of the doubt simply led to you dying.

Aust looked at Moonshadow. "What of you, personally? How were you chosen to be the one that came outside the valley and meet others first? Forgive me, but you seem to be very young for such an important mission."

Moonshadow smiled. "I was not chosen. I decided to do it. There have been thoughts of leaving the valley for several decades, and it will be several more before anything is decided, so I came out to see what the world was like. I was not expecting such hatred of my skin colour though, nor of a race. I will have to go back and warn my people that we may want to stay in the valley until this anger passes."

Aramil raised one slow eyebrow. "You are an optimist, if you think this anger will pass," he said bluntly. "As long as the drow continue to raid our lands, we will continue to fight."

"It will pass," Moonshadow said calmly, "in one thousand or one million years, sooner or later it will pass."

The group continued to talk, asking questions about each other's customs and ways, with only Tharivol remaining silent and Qillathe asking the most questions. She also gave the most complete answers and Moonshadow liked her. After an hour or so of talk, it was Qillathe that invited Moonshadow to stay with her for a few days. The others glanced at her and then at each other. Qillathe ignored them and Moonshadow accepted her invitation.

The meeting broke up shortly after that and Qillathe led Moonshadow into the village. Moonshadow was looking around as eagerly as the elves of the village were looking at her. Qillathe ignored them all and led her to a smaller treehouse set near the back gate. The next two weeks flew by as the two scholars explored each other's history and lives.

Moonshadow found that Qillathe was quick of mind, and able to follow a chain of logic to its conclusion.

For her part, Qillathe was astounded at the sheer intelligence of Moonshadow, and her leaps of logic, allowing her to take the smallest clues and make the right answer out of them.

She found the Kal'Droth had several differences from elves, most of which were related to their ability to fly. They had a limited darkvision and their lowlight vision was half of what it was for elves. Their visual acuity was remarkable, until you realized that sharp eyes were required when a Kal'Droth might be four or five hundred metres above the ground. Kal'Droth were physically a bit weaker than than elves from the waist down, but their upper body, backed by the muscles that allowed them to fly, was far stronger.

The Kal'Droth also had several innate spell like abilities, evolved over the centuries to help them hunt or fly better. They could outline prey in faerie fire, to make the prey easier to track from the air, and a type of mage hand, that could lift any object up to ten pounds. They also had a type of tracking sense, allowing them to detect life within twenty metres of themselves. By far, the one thing that made them very different from any other surface elf was the ability to see the patterns in the air, the currents and heat patterns that made up the shifting air. This was the one of their abilities that they could not turn off, and it made them see the world differently, as well as making it much easier to tell what the weather would be like, up to a week ahead.

The wings of a Kal'Droth were large enough to cover the body of the individual with, and in an adult would span between ten to fourteen feet from wing tip to wing tip. Even with those wings, Kal'Droth weighed less than an elf of the same size, since their bones were hollow, like the bones of other flyers that did not use magic to fly. The wings were mostly muscle and skin under the feathers, and thin, with thousands of small veins pumping blood through them to keep them warm. The downside of that was that if a Kal'Droth suffered a wing injury, it was difficult to stop the bleeding.

Most Kal'Droth had black feathers, the colour of their skin, but rarely, one would be born with wings the colour of their hair, which was white. Moonshadow was a bit different from most of her kind, having additional spell like abilities that no other Kal'Droth did, but she was unwilling to let anyone know about that, just as she hid the blue fire ability that she had.

During the time that Qillathe was learning about Moonshadow, Moonshadow was catching up on the history of the elves and the rest of the races from the surface of Faerun.

She learned about the Humans, who had come to Faerun from somewhere else, another plane of existence just thirty-five hundred years after the Sundering, and had been spreading across Faerun ever since. They had an incredible drive to do things, which most likely came from their short lives. A Kal'Droth born on the same day as a human would not even be an adult when the human died of old age, unless the human was one of the rare few that lived an extraordinary life span.

Like most elves, Kal'Droth were immortal, only dying of disease or injury. At least, they thought they were, as they had roughly the same childhood and adolescence, but the oldest Kal'Droth was only a few thousand years old right now, and they might start to age still.

Qillathe had many visitors during the weeks that the two of them studied each other, more than she'd had in the previous three hundred years. The two scholars were polite for the most part, even though they kept the visits to the absolute minimum allowed by manners. There was simply too much work to do to allow curious people to stare at Moonshadow for hours on end, especially since Moonshadow would not be staying long, a couple of months at most.

Moonshadow did end up staying longer than she had planned, simply because the rainy season started while she was in the village, and while Moonshadow could get her feathers wet, she much preferred not to, as drying them out took roughly forever and her flight was difficult until they did dry.

It was just in the beginning of the winter that Moonshadow flew south, intending on spending the winter months exploring the southern lands of Chult and the other countries that were merely names on a map to her. She did spend a bit of her money buying books and maps of as much of the world as she could, including many volumes on the history of the world, making sure she bought the best ones available. She read most of them first, but the books and maps served another purpose.

They would help Moonshadow convince her kin that they might want to take precautions about coming out of the valley. The more Moonshadow learned about the outside, the more she thought the Kal'Droth should stay where they were. They had fights in the valley, and anger, and some thievery, but they didn't have murders, or wars or any one of a dozen other things that were purely evil in Moonshadow's opinion.

Coming out of the valley meant exposure to all of those things, and to races who went to war over words, and sometimes, less than that served as the excuse for wars. Moonshadow knew that she and her people were innocent, and she didn't think that was a bad thing, but it wasn't a good thing in dealing with other races either. They needed to know at least a bit about the other races and cultures that spread across the world, and from what she'd been learning, it would not be a bad thing to learn quite a lot about these humans.

Humans, according to everything she read and the people she'd talked to, were endlessly capable of being anything, and they were changing the face of the planet slowly but surely. They could be friendly one day and your worst enemy the next day, a fact that did not make any of the elven kind happy, not with the numbers of them that were growing across the planet. Moonshadow was very interested in meeting a few humans so she could form her own opinion of them.

The rainy season turned into winter and Moonshadow took advantage of a warm week to fly south, a departure that led to Qillathe making a few jokes about birds migrating south. Moonshadow spent the winter below the equator, and returned to the northern countries in the spring.

She saw Silverymoon and Waterdeep, flew past the Ten Towns and nearly died at the claws of a dragon in the Forest of Wyrms. During her travels, she met dozens of Humans and Elves, Dwarves and Halflings and other races stranger still.

She even had a tense conversation late one night with a drow, who thought she was one of his kind, until he saw her wings. By then, Moonshadow had her weapons ready, and it was the work of a few minutes to tie the drow up.

Moonshadow was very skilled with the four weapons common to her people, and at least familiar with a few others. The Kal'Droth used whips and lassos from the air, tangling and tying prey from a diving run. On the ground, they used the favoured weapon of their goddess, Eilistraee, the bastard sword. They also learned to use a small crossbow of unusual design. It was covered, and required that the bolt be placed in the small hole in the front of the weapon and pushed back until it caught. They used this weapon for ranged attacks on fast prey. It had one large advantage over a regular crossbow. The bolt would not fall out even during the wildest flight.

Moonshadow released the drow at the end of their talk, only to have him attack her with a hidden dagger as soon as she turned her back on him. She had heard enough about the drow that he did not catch her by surprise, but she was unable to lift off, and was forced to kill the drow to save her own life.

Moonshadow returned to the valley one year to the day, from the time she left and went to the council about her travels. She showed them the books and the maps, telling them about her travels, what she'd seen and experienced. She told them what had seen herself, and the things that were hearsay, and that she had not seen, so they would know that she was not exaggerating the situation.

The council listened to her, and read the books. They brought her back every day for a week, asking her to clarify this or that point, until they had drained her of everything that she remembered about the outside. They debated the information for two weeks after that, but could not come to a decision, until it was clear that they could not reach a decision about this.

For the first time in the valley's history, the council called for an open meeting. Every person that was not needed to be somewhere, doing something was gathered together and the information that Moonshadow had brought back was shown to them all. It took nearly six months for everyone to stop asking questions and then the valley voted.

It was decided that the Kal'Droth were too few to risk a war, or even allowing someone to find their valley home. They also listened to Moonshadow telling them about the hatred of any elf with dark skin, and they decided that they would expand around the valley, but not into the lands where the other races lived yet.

First, they had to find a way to keep their people from being attacked just because they had dark skin. They also had to find a way to be able to defend the valley, in case of an attack. The winds and terrain would be their best allies in that, but Moonshadow had brought back spells to create things called portals, which would allow someone to built a hole in space and put people right inside the valley. She'd also found a gate spell, that would open a gate in the air and allow people in the valley. Add the teleportation spells that the Kal'Droth already knew about, and that made for a lot of ways for a person who had been to the valley to come back.

The Kal'Droth were not willing to risk their lives to expand. Their numbers were far too few to risk losing anyone that that could save. The subject was debated for another two years, among small groups, at work sites, anywhere two or more Kal'Droth gathered.

Finally, a majority approved a plan of action. They would send a few of the best of the fledglings out each year to explore the world. They would be sent out to learn things, but more important, they would allow the world to find out about Kal'Droth slowly, and let them know that the winged ones were not drow, or friends of the drow.

These travellers would be good people, trained as well as the best teachers in the valley could train them, and sent out with specific goals in mind. Some would concentrate on magical learnings, while others would learn about cultures and countries, insuring that they had at least an idea about what most people would do. After the decision was reached, it took nearly ten years to implement it, and no one was really surprised that Moonshadow was already gone again before the first traveller went out.

What did surprise them, was her returning and giving them a crash course in money as used in the outside world., and making sure that each traveller had some funds to start with that did not point to them being from some place far away. Once she did that, she disappeared again, and she was not heard of again until two centuries later.

The bard looked at her audience, almost half of which looked to be scribbling notes on various bits of parchment and paper. "The sun is rising, folks, and that means it is time for night owls such as myself to hunt our beds, that we can come out again tonight."

One of the people in the audience looked at her. "When you come back tonight, will you speak of the twin Kal'Droth?"

Someone else disagreed. "I would hear more of this Moonshadow. I have heard rumours that say she still lives, and learns new things, that her thirst for knowledge matches that of Tammar himself."

Someone else said, "I would hear the tale of how Songlight became the only mage in a human city. That would be a tale."

The bard raised her hands. "I will tell a tale, or possibly two, but we can discuss which ones I will tell tomorrow." She smiled, taking the sting out of her words. "Especially since some of you have short attention spans and might change your mind before I return tonight."

She stood and headed for the door, flicking a glance at the woman that had scribed her tale. The woman saw her looking and smiled, giving her a good signal, meaning that the scribing had gone perfectly this time. Windsong walked out and launched herself into the air, stretching and exercising wings that did not get enough of either with her spending night after night in the tavern trying to tell the history of the Kal'Droth in tales that did not truly convey the fears of the early Kal'Droth, or the loneliness of those few brave enough to leave the valley, knowing that they might not see another of their kind for decades at a time.

There were many tales of those travellers that returned, but sadder still were the names that had left the valley, only to be lost, never to be heard of again. Windsong shivered as she remembered the names of those that had died or disappeared forever, engraved on the rock walls of the valley, so that everyone would remember the names of those that paid the ultimate price for their people.

Few stories remained to mark the histories of those people, and fewer still were the known endings of those people. She pushed the thought of the lost ones away as she landed on the roof of the tavern and sat down to watch the sunrise. She saw the moon, nearly full, and reminding her that in a few more days she would have to take a night off from telling tales to follow the worship of Eilistraee, or miss yet another full moon.

She tried not to do that too often, but sometimes her calling caused her to miss a Hunt, and she had already missed two this year. She was not willing to miss another, especially since she had welcome prey this time.

One of the travellers staying in the tavern had mentioned that a group of Chult slavers had been seen nearby, and Windsong fully intended to make sure that they remembered not to hunt Kal'Droth, or take them as slaves.

Windsong had known the young Winglight, before he was stolen from the valley, and she'd seen him when he was still Winglight, and living in Cormyr.

Since she'd heard about what he went though, she'd spent the odd week hunting slavers, always leaving one alive to return and tell his people that hunting Kal'Droth had a high cost. Windsong knew of four Kal'Droth that had been abused by the slavers, and she was sworn to avenge them, at forty dead slavers for each of them.

So far she'd killed eighty-three of the one hundred and sixty that she'd promised to kill, and it had been nearly two months since she'd gotten one.

It was time to change that.