Closed Nothing is as it seems

[Shadyn]

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56th of Fall, 515 AV

After the woman left, he shrugged. You can't win them all...but at least that was fun. Turning, he decided to make the best of the night and enjoy some drinks at The Stallion's Rear. He made a couple of quick signs to Xarrt, who descended lightly upon the roofline of the narrow building, settling his wings against his sides and surveying the street.

He strode into the building, being careful to remain in moonlight. He turned immediately in the door and sat down at a tiny table in front of the solitary window. He blew out the candle...just in case.

Waving over a waiter -- a young woman who seemed not quite fully human -- Shadyn ordered himself a quart of their best ale and settled himself into the seat when she returned with the large mug. He let his gaze roam around the room, observing the variety of people there, deciding if Alvadas would be a good market for what he could sell. His gaze settled on the glass window he was sitting beside, then focused on the street beyond, where a young woman was looking up at the roofline...at Xarrt, he presumed. That bird has gotten me more attention on this journey than anything I could have done. Wouldn't you know that when I want publicity all I need to do is fly in and let my mount do the rest....it's genius!

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[Aislyn Leavold]

56th of Fall, 515 AV

It had been a long season. Long, treacherous, and rather trying of Aislyn’s faith. Not in Ionu, of course- her faith in the deity never wavered- but rather in the more mortal creatures of Alvadas. From the beginning of the season, she’d had encounters with a rather unpleasant Akalak, then her least favourite Dhani. After that, the depressing atmosphere of a city taken by illness, before a sudden endless night.
Of course, there had happened to be an endless day part of Alvadas as well, but Aislyn had only to see it once. The rest of her days, her house had been a proud denizen of the night side, forever under Leth’s light. Which was fantastic, until adventures in the darkness grew into a loss of the sense of time, countless sleep-deprived hours, and Thief’s mindset growing ever invasive. It seemed, unlike Maya, Thief stuck around after she faded from existence. And since the night was her realm, she’d been in existence an awful lot, meaning she stuck around an awful lot.

For another night yet, Aislyn had donned Thief, along with an outfit of red and black, before heading out to explore what Alvadas had in store that “day”. The answer was quite a few dark houses, a few dark inns, and one, surprisingly bright, tavern.

Oh, and one big bird.

As Aislyn strolled past, a rather peculiar sight caught her eye. On top of the brightly lit tavern, a gigantic bird. Just… Sitting there.
Of course, the woman was curious.

There weren’t a lot of terribly large animals in Alvadas. Not inside the city, at least. Outside the city, only Ionu knew, but inside was relatively secluded. Aside from the occasional Kelvic, it was rather desolate in the fauna department. Eagles weren’t unnatural, of course, it being rather mountainous around the city, but this bird seemed… off. Too big, though that could have just been a matter of perspective. She’d have to get closer to investigate.

As she did, it appeared that, if it was an illusion, there was no punchline. It was, plain and simple, a giant bird. Not a hint of colour other than the mundane in the wings, the talons, the feathers. Aislyn had a certain fondness for birds, but this was different. It was no crow, and nothing particularly extraordinary apart from its sheer size. That begged the question, where did it come from? Who had left a bird, patiently waiting, outside the Stallion’s Rear? Was the owner inside?

For a moment, she cast a glance inside the tavern, just in time to see a candle at a windowside table blow out. Suspicious, especially given the circumstances, though not exactly incriminating.

Once again, she raised her eyes to meet the bird’s. She was interested now, and made no attempt to hide it. After all, she was Thief, not Maya. She had no reputation to uphold if any sort of danger arose. Besides, how much trouble could one bird be?

[Shadyn]

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Did anyone ever tell you that staring is impolite? If you are that curious, you could just ask a question about why I’m sitting up here.

Xarrt made a point of trying to make his telepathy as powerfully focused as possible. It didn’t particular matter to him when people stared…he had grown used to it. Rather, when he was bored, he enjoyed using his telepathy to play upon the unexpected in people’s minds. After all…attending an Endal often entailed a good deal of waiting while his rider took care of whatever business or amusements suited him, leaving Xarrt to find his own forms of entertainment. One could only muse upon the matters of life, stare at their surroundings, and nap for so long…other diversions were needed. And this meant that random people – though especially if they showed interest in him – would suddenly find a powerfully arresting burst of telepathy in their mind.

It was totally innocent unless he perceived them as a threat…which this young woman most certainly was not. Her bearing was that of one who my cause trouble…but not actually a threat to Shadyn. Particularly now with Leth’s water in him. A strange…smile…spread across his features, such as only a Wind Eagle can do. Perhaps it was just how he moved his feathers combined with the look in his eyes, but it most certainly was the exact same emotion and expression as a smile.



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[Aislyn Leavold]

Did anyone ever tell you that staring is impolite? If you are that curious, you could just ask a question about why I’m sitting up here.

That was a voice in her head.
A voice that, of course, Aislyn did not like. It had come out of nowhere, though nowhere was a rather ineffective way to describe it. Of course it had come out of somewhere; it obviously was no thought of her own, and she hadn't heard it with her ears, but it had no discernible source. Which led to the conclusion of nowhere. Other than the bird, which was staring rather intensely at her.
Aislyn had a bad history with voices in her head, especially those that were most definitely not hers. Which, the voice that was speaking to her at that moment, definitely was not. Surprisingly, it was not a particularly angry voice, more of a mocking one, annoyingly. Almost definitely the bird, then.

Though she flinched slightly, the woman made a decent attempt to hide the fact that the voice had startled her. It was unexpected, after all. Anyone would have been startled by the sudden invasion of their mind. Yet, though shaken, Aislyn wasn't really all that surprised.
It was almost as if she was getting used to voices in her head that didn't belong to her.

Though, granted, no one could truly get used to a telepathic voice in their head giving them lessons on what was considered impolite in society. It was strange, really, for such an animal to lecture her on what was impolite. One of them was an animal in that situation, and it almost certainly wasn't Aislyn.

As she broke eye contact with the bird, her focus was once again drawn to the darkened tavern window. There was, after all, a chance that the voice wasn't that of the bird's, but in fact that of it's owner, or at least one with knowledge of the bird's existence.

Aislyn couldn't decide which was worse- the idea that a bird was talking to her, or the prospect of someone tricking her into thinking that a bird was talking to her. Then again, birds that didn't talk didn't smile. Or grimace; the expression, after all, was rather muddled on the face of a bird. Still, she wondered.

It was possible that the bird had no owner after all, considering the fact that it was obviously capable of thought, speech, and what could, in theory, be facial expressions. Any bird of that caliber could easily be intelligent enough to survive in a city alone, without the need of human interaction at all. That was assuming it wasn’t an illusion. Which it was still entirely possible that it was, though Aislyn wasn’t getting any answers from wondering.

”Why are you sitting up there, then?”

There was no harm in asking. Or, at least, she hoped there wasn’t. How much trouble could one talking bird be?

[Shadyn]

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Xarrt ruffled his feathers, shifting himself in the tight space between buildings, eyeing the woman. He was pleased that he had startled her, and also pleased that he she decided to interact with him. In the times past when he had been to other cities besides Wind Reach, most people did not acknowledge him whatsoever, aside from shock, fear, or curiosity. This girl was apparently different.

I’m up here waiting for my Endal. Where he goes, I go, more or less. Simple matter, really. Honestly, do you think I would just randomly decide to roost here? This tiny little building is far from the most comfortable spot around, and certainly not an advantageous vantage point. Oh, by the way, you might want to move out of the middle of the street…talking to random birds in the middle of the night is would not exactly be viewed as sane behavior…that, of course, is your decision, but take a suggestion from me, since I’m obviously the one with experience in telepathy.

As soon as the woman spoke and then began listening, apparently, Shadyn laughed heartily as he sipped his ale. Xarrt certainly did provide a good bit of humor. The poor girl looked absolutely ludicrous standing out there holding a conversation with nothing. He leaned back in his chair, regarding her carefully. He would, of course, need to eventually speak to her. Or should, at least. So…it was best to know what he would be getting himself into.

From what he could tell in the moonlight, she appeared to be somewhere around twenty…maybe a bit younger. Her clothing was rather dull and drab, though not poor, per se. Her features were attractive, though not especially eye-catching, and her hair was pulled back into some style he could not distinguish. There were no visible weapons…although that meant quite little. At least here, with the apparent antipathy to magic, he would not need to be worried about that. A concealed blade was likely the worst thing he would face.

It occurred to him, then, that he did not need to be worried about anything whatsoever…except perhaps magic, since he had no idea what powers that might hold. He was still under the effects of Leth’s water. He snorted as he realized that it was a good thing he remembered…going to sleep this way would not be pleasant…although the walk back would have most likely alerted him to this. So…why not go ahead and have some fun?

He stood, and was about to take his mug with him when he decided that if he needed to vanish shattering it on the cobblestones would end up costing him more than it was worth. Thus, he quickly guzzled what was left of the beverage, and returned it to the table. He waved down a passing waitress. “Lady…keep my table. I might be back.”

She nodded, and he moved over to the doorway, casually strolling out into the street towards the woman. He carefully molded his steps to follow the moonlight. Gesturing up to Xarrt, he grinned. “Xarrt giving you a hard time, or just having fun?”



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[Aislyn Leavold]

Endal. She had heard that word before. It rung some sort of bell, though what she wasn't sure. It was certainly a unique word, that much was certain. Though the very unique word was followed by some less unique, rather unpleasant words as the bird judged her for her lack of bird knowledge. She, of course, didn’t know where a bird such as him would ‘roost’, nor what constituted a good roosting spot. After all, she hadn’t intend to be having this conversation to begin with.

Then began the mention of talking to a bird. He was correct, though Aislyn wasn’t particularly intent on whispering into the bird’s ear, nor was she risking getting any closer. Besides, if the bird believed someone talking to themselves was the most ludicrous thing one could see in Alvadas, he must have been a newcomer, or a traveler. There were certainly more unusual things on the streets than a woman talking to a bird.
What was unusual, however, was the man that emerged a few ticks after the last word the bird spoke. ‘Spoke’ being a loose term, of course. Luckily for Aislyn, however, the man spoke perfectly fine. No telepathy to be found.
The unusualness of the man began in his appearance, and how he carried himself with an attitude the woman had an iffy feeling about. This unusualness also continued into his voice.

Had he said Heart? Was his bird named Heart? Was he even referring to the bird? The man’s accent was strong, coating his words heavily, though it was not entirely unplaceable. It was vaguely familiar, in a way, but not familiar enough for her to instantly pinpoint it. She could certainly say she'd heard it before, the question was where. Unfortunately, there were more pressing matters than where Aislyn had heard the stranger's accent before, as the man obviously expected a response. She was in too deep to bail, it seemed.

”No, just having a pleasant… Chat.” She looked up at ’Heart’ again, wondering if he was speaking to his apparent owner in the same way he had spoken to her. There was no way to tell, really, but it wasn’t as if it was an impossible thing for a telepathic bird to do. After receiving a strange look from the bird that somehow managed to achieve facial expressions, Aislyn turned back to the less animalistic part of the duo.
”I presume you’re the Endal, then?”

Mentally, Aislyn had already began preparing a name. She briefly ran through the alphabet, before stopping on H. Heart was such a peculiar name, and it brought the fact that she’d never used an H name before to her attention. Granted, she’d also never used an B, C, D, E, or F name before, either, but it was an H kind of night, it seemed. If he was Heart, she was H… Ha- something.
That was a good start.

”Hayal.”
Sticking out a hand, Aislyn silently prayed she wouldn’t end up regretting this. She had an H name now, at least. Next all she needed was a name for the other seventeen letters she had yet to use. With all the usage Thief had been getting recently, though, it didn’t seem all that impossible.
”And you are...?”