[The Rearing Stallion}{Open} A strange lullaby

[Ethne]

She couldn't help but laugh a bit when Etrius was whispering curses. Looking through her bag, she scrounged out a rag and held it out to him.
"I'm sorry, again."
She added, smiling at him. Well, one couldn't say that the Ferret wasn't an excellent protector of her bag.

[Etrius]

"Thanks. And I told you, it's fine." He twice wrapped the rag around his hand and tied it off. Flexing his injured hand, he glanced towards Ethne and her pet. She was stroking its fur gently, which it obviously enjoyed, even though it still glared venomously at Etrius. All this recent excitement had made him forget what he was about to tell Ethne so he decided to continue the conversation. "So what's that little guy's name anyway?"

The sun had now completely given way to the dark of night. Although Etrius enjoyed talking with Ethne, he was beginning to grow tired. The soothing darkness combined with the memory of Ethne's sweet lullaby was making it difficult for him to keep his eyes open.

[Ethne]

Ethne laughed at him and answered.
"This is Fauzi, I found him a few years ago half drowned from a flood. After nursing him back to health, he wouldn't leave me. Fauzi means attainment, I think, and he has attained life. I don't know, it kind of fitted. I try to scold him in Isur so he does not think that I am scolding everyone when I speak in Common."
She looked over at Etrius and noticed he appeared to be getting tired. That was normal, she was beginning to become tired as well. Standing up, she thought of a way to get home and not have to completely break off their conversation as well, so she asked him.
"Well Etrius, I am headed back to the Welcome Home, want to come along?"

[Etrius]

Ethne's laugh somehow brought a smile to Etrius' face. One thing that brought him joy was the joy of other people, no matter how well he knew them. "I think that, when Fauzi attained life, you attained a lifelong friend. That much is easy to see." A deep, piercing thought entered Etrius' mind. Friends were things that were hard to come by, especially for someone like Etrius. He wondered, for a moment, if Ethne felt the same way. She was now standing, asking him if he wanted to accompany her home. Not wanting to quite yet say goodbye to his newfound friend, he agreed. Standing and walking beside her, he examined her from the corner of his eye. The little girl seemed perfectly content, happy.

Etrius went silent once more, extremely annoyed at his inability to come up with something to say. He decided to wait and see if his companion had anything left to say.

[Ethne]

The Welcome Home really wasn't far from the Rearing Stallion, thus they reached it in only a couple of minutes. Etrius was silent the whole time, and Ethne couldn't really think of anything either. Once they reached the steps, Ethne began walking towards the large doors, then stopped. Looked back at Etrius, she asked.
"So, how about you meet me in the Stone Garden tomorrow and we'll see about a rematch. I mean, come on, a thirteen year old girl who isn't even five feet tall can't beat a six foot tall, eighteen-nineteen year old guy like you twice, right?"

[Etrius]

Etrius cracked a small grin at Ethne's suggestion of sparring tomorrow. The grin turned into a full smile when she teased him about getting beat up by her. "Deal." He raised his left hand, indicating the bloody rag wrapped around it. "I don't suppose you want this back. I'll see you in the Garden tomorrow." With that, he turned and began walking towards the gate. Odd, he felt happier than usual. Maybe it came from being around people he could get along with. He decided to banish the thought for now. He only wanted to do two things now: read and sleep. The distance between him and the Welcome Home grew until he turned a corner, and it went completely out of sight.

[Chevalier]

Ethne

LORE

• Being Courteous

EXPERIENCE

Skill	XP Earned
Shakuhatchi	2
Rhetoric	2
Interrogation	1

Etrius

LORE

• Angering Ferrets

EXPERIENCE

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	1
Rhetoric	2
Interrogation	3

Storyteller Notes

Secret :

Alrighty, just a few things. Ethne, a lot of times your thread partner can only respond so much to incredibly short posts. Brevity can be great, and really you should watch that you don’t over populate your post with flowery fluff, but there are times when you go beyond brevity and leave your partner with little more than a skeleton of a post. So it’s good to trim the fat, so to speak, but when you are done you want your post to be lean and fit! Feel free to throw in some descriptions though, about the environment, the people, your actions and reactions. Imagery and all that. Also, the more that happens in your posts, the more I can reward xp and lores for. That’s it!