Hey Guys, sorry about the couple week delay. Holidays were busy and I forgot to get my message up for the brief hiatus. I'm back though and i'm hoping to be back on regular schedule again!
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Careful brush strokes crossed the wood surface of the lute, golden liquid sliding off the bristles of the crudely made tool. Light shadows moved across the dark city, small lanterns sat embedded in rocky crevices and hung from a few posts that extended out. The elf's hand would stop moving every so often when the shadows would make it to dark to see, only resuming one the light was back on her work. The lines weren't the smoothest, any professionally decorated lute would have been done in a shop, held down on a table with no movement, the artist using practically a single hair brush to assure perfection in their line work. But for sitting on a wall and painting by hand, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, Ylva didn't mind it either since she wasn't trying to present it to someone to sell. It was her own instrument so as long as it was to her liking, then that's what she wanted.
She lowered the brush to the stone, freeing her hands to lift up the instrument and look at it. The wet paint shimmered in the lantern light of the city, the gold dripping just a tiny bit in some places near the bottom of it. She lowered it back into her lap, eyes training on the worn stones of the bridge, examining the tiny plants that grew between the cracks as her mind traveled.
"I thought you said we wouldn't have to worry about the storm" Oren grumbled from ahead of Ylva, his hand up to shield some of the weather from his face. The storm had come back over the mountains, fiercer than before as it brought sharp winds and light hail. The elf ducked her head to the flakes that hit her face, the storm had seemed so much farther away, they shouldn't have come back towards them.
"That's because I didn't think we would have to" She tried to tell him over the sounds of the angry sky. Branches creaked and bent above them, the strong pines only willing to take so much. Her silver gaze move from the snow under her feet to the trees, warily keeping an eye on them. They hadn't been freed from the tomb that long ago, she didn't wish to get trapped under a tree or simply be crushed to death by one.
The mountain side down had no clear cut trail down it, though that was unsurprising to those who scaled the mountain areas. Most places this far up rarely had a path marker, or if it did it was buried with the snow. The smooth white ground made it difficult to differentiate which parts were lower than others, Oren had taken a stick into one hand and was using it ahead of himself to get a better judgment of what sections dropped down. Ylva tried to stay behind in his tracks, walking carefully in the footsteps he had left behind, also partially using him as a shield for wind at times.
Oren's trail took them down the mountain slowly, the sight of life down below seemed so far away still, but it was better than nothing. Cliff edges appeared on their right side pushing them closer to the rock face on their left. Ylva placed a hand against the cold black stone, using it as her guide to keep her steady as she followed the man. The bard stepped forward into the next print in the snow, light fur boots meeting the smooth mountain rock beneath it. Unlike Oren's boot which had sharper metal portions near the toe and heel, hers lacked most any grip against smooth surfaces. He boot met the rock only temporarily before going right back into the air. Her body sliding to the right followed by a thought of
Guess I'll beat the others to the bottom
One could only hope the snow would be thick enough to provide a soft rolling fall for most of the way down. Once past the snow and into the rocky grass ground below, then there wasn't much hope, but if she could slow down before she was out of the snow maybe it would be okay.
Vyron's hand wrapped around her wrist, the skeletal fingers almost as cold as the current storm, was this was death's grasp actually felt like. The undead pulled her back towards the wall, his other hand having grasped onto the stone wall.
How in the name of Shor did was he gripping such a slick surface for anchoring like that
She stare for a long moment, heart still feeling like it might collapse from almost tumbling off a cliff, until Vyron let go of her wrist. Oren stopped and turned around briefly oblivious to the bard almost having cascaded off the mountainside. Though it may have been due to the loud storm obstructing most interaction if you weren't right next to the other person. Ylva blinked again before clearing her throat and muttering a soft thanks before turning to continue down the mountain, feeling as if she was being babysat the rest of the way down.
She looked at the lute to see if it had dried at least a bit, the colors hadn't run together so that was a good sign as she tucked her legs up onto the bridges wall./p
"You're a bard not an adventurer, why do you continue out in the world?" Vyron asked having placed himself on the wall right next to her. She tensed up quickly almost biting her tongue.
"Gods- you're still here" She raised her hand up to her face and took in a slow breath "That was rude of me..I mean I expected you to have joined Oren at the inn" She explained watching a few stray people below. She may have been mad at him for his behavior in the market and his stubborn view on things, but twice already he had saved her life and she didn't want to seem ungrateful for that.
"Did I mention I don't really sleep? Or was that to Oren..did I even actually say that out loud.." he mused into the air, rubbing a hand against his chin under his mask. He shook his head, lowering his hand back down to his lap "Well now I've mentioned it, so yes I am here because sleep is rather boring especially when it's what you've been doing the last few hundred years against your will"
"Ylva watched a man leave the inn and stumble through the small creek and curse drunkenly. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at the skeleton, cracking the smallest amused smiled before forcing it back down. "That's a point I can't find any flaw with" she responded adjusting herself to face the other, her hands still tucked into her lap.
"Back to my previous inquiry though, what's the point of..you" He said motioning out the black gloved hand, the faintest outline of the bones visible with the movement.
"I'm a bard, you said it yourself. I should be at the college listening to older people telling me how my lute isn't good enough or how my stories don't have enough interest to be used" she placed her hands on the edges of her boots, fingers pulling at the fur lined coverings. "But that feels drab, I don't want to recite the same stories that everyone else does. It's a tired old time to sit in an inn and know you might hear about Ragnar the red's stupid head rolling away for the 80th time in a week"
Vyron raised a brow under his mask at the resentment in her tone, it wasn't up front, but more smothered like she was trying to keep the bitter tone out of her voice.
"So you decided to follow an adventurer to gain some stories for yourself?" he said calmly reaching up to pull the edge of his dark blue robe back into place. The purple gaze watched the smaller elf who chewed on her lip before nodding.
"Exactly, though I'm not entirely worthless..I know enough useful spells to be a basic mage for Oren" She murmured, looking down at her boots.
"Ah yes, I did see your little magic spells around the tomb" He said letting go of the edge of the robe and waving his hand in a small circle. "They weren't bad, sturdy and well formed, but it was clearly obvious you were casting on a life or death mentality. That's why you depleted your magic so quickly"
Ylva raised her head, scrunching her brow briefly at the others insight into her magic. "That's strange..to just..I mean how could you.." she bit her tounge, she really needed to stop doing that, if she kept it up the habit would end up taking her tounge.
"Undead darling, walking talking skeleton, I have access to quite a bit of knowledge" he said with a chuckle as he reached the gloved hands forward and covered her eyes causing her to flinch a little. Confusion filled her as her gaze was met with the dark of the gloves. "Don't get so flustered though little elf, I could almost feel your heart explode in the tomb in the dark..you're not in danger this time though, so what's got your pulse racing."