Chapter three has arrived, happy happy; joy joy. And here their journey actually begins. Let's take a look.
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Raine surveyed Meltokio from outside the capital city, shaking her head. The cool fall breeze tossled her hair, and the travelling cloak of blue she wore, and she let it. While the hair in her face was rather annoying, the wind was nice. In one hand, she held the staff that had been fastened across her back the other day, its but resting in the swaying grass. She couldn't say she'd particularly miss the city. On the contrary, the people there were known for their very strong negative views on Half-Elves. There, and in Sybak.
Regal approached slowly. He hated to disturb her, she looked deep in thoughts and memories, but everything was ready to go. It was early morning, and the sun was rising on the horizon, casting hazy glares everywhere, and giving her already blue-tinted silver hair a pink outline too. He tilted his head, his hands once more clasped behind his back.
After a few more moments of silence, he coughed quietly. "Raine," he prodded, gently. When she turned, he gestured with his head toward the two Rheairds.
"Oh - right. I'm sorry," she said, sounding a little embarassed, and looking it too as she walked past him. Regal watched her, bemused, and followed after a few seconds.
"If you don't mind my asking," he went on as they walked the short distance. "You looked very preoccupied. Is something bothering you?"
"...I was just remembering what all had happened there in that city, regarding the treatment of Half-Elves. And Sybak, too. Which reminds me - have we heard from Kate recently?" She turned her violet-blue eyes on him, a curiousity reflected in them.
"I have not," replied the President. "However, that doesn't mean one of the others has not been contacted either. I was not, shall we say, very close to her."
"Mm." Raine sighed. "Nor was I, actually, despite what one might think." She halted at the Rheairds, and mounted one. "To Flanoir, then?" she inquired.
Regal nodded. They had decided the previous night that the snowy city would be their destination this time; it had been a very, very long time since either one of them had paid it a visit. Boarding his own vehicle, they were off. It wasn't a terribly long trip to Flanoir by air, but what time they did spend was spent in silence. Of course, one couldn't very well have a conversation with someone when both were on two different crafts.
The pair touched down in the snow a small distance from the city, deciding it best not to get too close, and picked their way carefully toward civilization. "This brings back quite a few memories, too," she remarked as they entered the city side-by-side.
"Yes, it does. Finding out who Mithos was led to the injury of the dwarf, Altessa. We had to come here to get a Doctor."
Raine nodded, pulling her cloak tighter about herself in the cold air. "I believe the same Doctor is still here, no?"
"I think so, yes." Regal held open the door of the inn for her, and followed after a second. He brushed the loose snow off on his shoulders, watching as she unfastened the cloak and shook it out a bit. They both took seats near the fire, and she gazed into the flames. "I can't believe it's been two years," she murmerred, so quietly it was difficult to make out exactly what she'd said.
When he had deciphered it, he nodded again. "It does not seem like so much time could have passed," he agreed, "since the reunification of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. Since Mithos, and Kratos. Since the tragic end that led to salvation." He sighed dismally.
"Are you trying to depress me?" she asked, a half-smile forming. But he was saved from having to say anything by a commotion outside.
"And stay out, Half-Elf!"
"Hey! Calm down!"
"Get out of my way!"
Raine and Regal shared a meanigful glance, and stood. She grabbed her cloak and in a flash they were out the door. In front of them was a man on his knees, presumably the Half-Elf, while another stood fuming at a door. The noble moved forward before Raine could, and stepped between the two, staring down the attacker until he turned to go back inside.
Raine crouched by the victim. "Are you alright?" she asked, helping him up. Her anger boiled in the pit of her stomach - that assault had been totally uncalled for. It wasn't right.
"I'm fine," he replied. "Thank you." This he added to Regal, before he turned to slink away under the stares and glares of various Flanoir citizens. Raine watched him go, scowling. She hardly noticed when Regal took her arm and led her back into the inn. There, in the mostly-empty room, she turned to him angrilly.
"That's exactly the kind of arrogance we've been trying to prevent," she growled. She didn't know why the man had been thrown out of the shop, but it didn't matter. He had referred to him as "Half-Elf," and his tone of voice did not suggest admiration in the least.
"I know," he said softly, but she almost ignored him.
"What does it matter what race we are? We're still sentient beings, aren't we? We still need to purchase things. It isn't right to throw someone out because he doesn't completely share your blood!"
"I know," he said again, letting her rant. It helped, and he knew it.
"Air byr thas, eil si cyrn air! Shia tal si shys byr eilaer iar? Cyrn tal--" Raine stopped, her eyes widening. She had spoken in Elvish. Her mother's language.
Regal winced at her expression. "Raine?" he prodded.
"I...I didn't realize that...I still remembered," she breathed, obviously greatly startled. It had unnerved her more than she'd care to admit, hearing the old language pass her lips - she hadn't spoken in Elvish in nearly nineteen years, since she was thirteen.
"Are you alright?"
"I-I'm fine. Pardon me...I'm going to take a walk. I want to be...alone." Raine lowered her gaze, fastened the cloak, and left in a whirl of blue as Regal watched her leave.
"I'm sorry," he said to the air. Exactly what he was apologizing for, he didn't know. But it seemed fitting to tell her that he was, even if she couldn't hear him.
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Bitter cold, more discrimination, and...Raine's old memories resurfacing? The Elvish language comes out, and shocks her. Raine walks off into the night, feeling to need to think by herself for a while...
/ Elvish translations courtesy of - coveworld. net/ eberron/ aerenaltranslator. html - (No, I didn't make up the words. They did. Oh, and for those who really want to know what she said, it was literally
"Is not fair, and they know it! Why can the world not accept us? How can--" /
