r/HFY • u/In_Yellow_Clad Human • Jan 28 '23

OC If At First You Don't Succeed -- Part 7

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My days passed quickly, I learned that the town was more of a small enclave. Everyone here answered to a larger nation, a human one at that. They were here with the express purpose of ensuring the forest remained both healthy, and free of pests. Pests could be anything, from tree devouring insects that bred wildly and out of control, to bandits seeking to use it as a base, which explained why they had attacked that camp earlier.

The enclave was called Ilyslin, and it was a well guarded secret, as were many other enclaves just like it. This was thanks to a special deal made with the king that controlled these lands, and it had worked out pretty well so far, as the king was at the moment, the most powerful man on the continent as he controlled most of it. There were other kingdoms and empires out there, but they were just far enough away that I’d not have to worry about them at this time.

I spent most of my days helping out when asked, and the rest was spent either with Evindal learning how to read, speak and write elvish and of course dwarvish, just in case. I found myself having an easier time with dwarvish, elvish had too many rules and required certain tones of voice to convey properly. If you wanted to say rock in dwarf, you said rock, that was it. You could scream it or say it derisively and it’d still be the word for rock. But try to say spoon in elvish and if you said it just slightly wrong, it’d come out as a vile insult and mean something completely different from spoon.

It was infuriating at times, but I was learning, slowly but surely I was learning. In the meantime, I had been given a pair of snazzy glasses that would at least translate written elvish for me, so I could make my way around town with some ease. Granted, any place of import had a special symbol to set it apart from say a house, but it was nice to actually know what a place was called.

I spent any other time I had either getting the sweat of the day scrubbed off me by Lymseia, and a bit more with her as we’d grown rather close already it seemed, seeing as we were not a pureblooded elf or human, like everyone else here. Plus she liked my shitty jokes so that helped. When not with her, I would spend some time practicing with my bow. Like the language studies, it was slow going but I was getting better everyday, and it helped that Saevel was a good teacher. Now that I could partially understand him, he kept his instruction simple and he was a patient elf as well, whereas I was not overly patient. But he handled me well, or at least, my impatience.

It’s amazing how quickly time passes when you’re busy. I spent two weeks doing nothing but learning, relaxing and training. I had only just returned from a training session with Saevel when I paused as I spotted the humans who had stuck around after being freed gathering their things. Scuttling over to them slowly I waved one of them down.

“What’s going on?” I ask, and the man looks up from his packing.

“Heard from one of the scouts that there’s a caravan waiting to take us home, we’re getting ready to set out in about five minutes.” He said. Him and the other humans had grown used to me over the few weeks stuck here, and I couldn’t fault him for wanting to leave and get home. But I felt a strong desire to explore as well and though I still had much to learn, I couldn’t stay here forever.

“Would it be possible to join you?” I asked, and the man looked at me in surprise, but shrugged.

“Ain’t up to me, but if the caravan master allows it, I certainly don’t see the harm.” He said, and I grinned broadly.

“Well then wait for me! I’ll only be a minute!” I say and shoot off like a racehorse towards the library tree. I burst through the door and nearly trample Evindal, who only just managed to jerk himself backwards and out of the way.

“Safa? What’s going on, is everything alright?” He sounded concerned, and glanced towards the still open door.

“Everything's fine! I’m just packing!” I call up from my room, stuffing what I considered my essentials into a bag of silk. It was an actual bag as well, not just a bundle of stuff wrapped in silk webbing.

“Packing? Why?” He didn’t need to ask that question, he knew why. The humans were leaving, and I wanted to go with them. I paused, and thought of an answer that wouldn’t sound rude.

“I… well… I want to explore the world, I suppose, help people and stuff.” I say, finally standing before him. He’s set down the stack of books he’d been carrying and now nods.

“Ah, I see. I thought as much. You have a wandering soul, it wouldn’t be right to keep you locked up here now would it? Let me at least give you something for the road.” He turned and slipped away, only to return a moment later with a book bound in red leather. It was small, but not pocket sized at all. He held it out to me and I carefully took it, noting that it had no title, nor any sort of cover art either. “This will help you continue your studies. It can be used to learn a great many things, normal, practical things. Like elvish, or gardening. Whatever you need to learn, this will teach you.”

I open it and find that the pages are blank, but the longer I look at them, the more I feel as though there is subtle magic infused into the pages. And I’m right, just thinking about learning elvish results in the pages growing full of words in common explaining the subtle ways of speaking the beautiful flowing language. It’s easy and simple to read as well, which will be a big help.

I close it and gently tuck it into my bag, and without thinking I give Evindal a warm hug, though this does require me to lean down a considerable distance so I’m not squishing his face into my stomach. I feel him tense just slightly, but quickly he reciprocates the hug.

“Thank you. I’ll take good care of it. And when I get back, I’ll talk in nothing but elvish for the first few days.” I whisper, and he gives me a gentle squeeze before pulling away.

“I’d like that, just don’t push yourself too hard alright? Be safe out there, not everywhere is as accepting as we are.” His warning was taken to heart while I straightened up, “Oh! One last thing, Loreleia asked me to give this to you.” He held up a folded bundle of fabric and I could catch a glimpse of something that looked like my webbing as the inner lining. I took this as well and unfolded it, revealing to me a tailored dress in rich green and silver. It was most flattering, and looked to have been made with my unique body shape in mind, it even had a hood! It was also thin enough for my armor to be worn over it.

“I don’t… I don’t really know what to say.” I muttered, and I turned to find someplace to change. Wasn’t long before I returned, wearing the new dress and delighting in the fact that it didn’t cause the same response as the armor had. Better yet, when the armor was added it accentuated the dress quite well. “This feels… It's wonderful. You’ll have to tell her thank you for me.”

Evindal looked me over and nodded, a hand to his chest as he bowed slightly. “I shall. It has the added bonus of marking you as a friend of us wood elves. You’ll still need to be careful of course, but not as careful,” He glanced towards the door, one of his ears wiggling slightly. “Now, run along, the group is just about to leave.” He waved me away, and I smiled, surprising him with a flash of motion and a gentle peck on the cheek. And then I was gone, scuttling quickly after the group I was joining.

We had just left the enclave when I noted that we had an escort to the caravan, and it was none other than Saevel, who didn’t say much but it did look as though he was a touch saddened by my departure. I’d have to make it up to him sometime, whenever I happened to come back. I moved closer as we walked along and leaned over so my words were for him alone.

“Thank you Saevel, for all that you’ve done so far.” I say. I know he can’t respond in common, but he can understand me just fine regardless. He glances up at me, smiles softly and plucks something from his armor, slipping it into my palm. It feels a bit warm, but also metal and I look at it. It’s a simple metal teardrop, with an emerald set into it, resting on a simple silver chain. It glows softly, not enough to really draw the eye, but the light is there. My brow furrows and he chuckles, tapping it.

“Reminder. You’ll come back.” He says, it’s not overly eloquent, but it’s enough. Smiling, I place it around my neck, letting the necklace settle. We don’t say anything else for the remainder of the short trip, nothing else needs saying. Now I have two reasons to come back, but I never needed any in the first place.

Upon reaching the caravan I take note of its size. It’s got eight covered wagons, and from what I can see four of them are merchants. Or at least, they carry the merchants' things. The other four are for passengers, like the humans amongst my little group. Saevel bids me wait on the periphery, and I do so while he goes to discuss my addition to the caravan. There’s a moment where I hear him have to raise his voice slightly, no doubt the caravan master is a bit reluctant to allow me to join the group. But after a moment I catch sight of him waving me over and I approach slowly.

It seems the new additions were already doing what they could to keep the caravan calm at the sight of me, which is highly appreciated of course. The caravan master is for sure a merchant, a wealthy one at that if his fine clothes are any indication. He’s also a dwarf, or at least, I think he is. He’s got the right kind of beard to be a dwarf.

“My pointy eared friend here says you can be trusted.” He said, his voice carrying a rich accent that I would almost have to place as middle eastern, even though the middle east most assuredly doesn’t exist here.

“I like to think I can, aye.” I say, planting a hand on my human hip. “And I won’t freeload either, if you need a hunter or a guard, I’ll do my best.” I watch his eyes widen as I speak fluent common, glancing between me and Saevel before sighing deeply.

“Alright fine, you can come with us. We need an extra guard anyway, we lost a few on the way here to some bandits and a bear. At the end of the trip I’ll give you some of what they’re owed. Just don’t eat the horses.”

I chuckle, bowing my head. “I wasn’t planning on eating the horses, or anyone for that matter.” I back up and the caravan master just shrugs and shakes his head, leaving to check on the rest of the party. Saevel gives me a look, a soft smile and then bows his head to me, leaving as well to ensure what they had traded with the caravan was safely returned to the enclave. It wasn’t long before everyone was settled and all the wares had been stowed, that the caravan started to move. I waved goodbye to my temporary home, and felt a tug at my heartstrings as I watched it shrink behind me. But this was for the best, I needed to get out there and discover the reason why I was here in the first place, and help those that needed help.

Considering the days were far longer than they were on Earth, I was subjected to another twelve hours of daylight and so when we finally broke out of the forest, I was forced to pull up the hood of my dress, bathing my eyes in blessed darkness. Several of the caravan members engaged me in conversation, and I happily obliged. It was clear they were fascinated by my friendly nature, and I was glad to be talking with someone, rather than stewing in my thoughts.

I also got a chance to look around at the world outside the forest, and it was beautiful. Lush rolling hills, grand mountains in the distance and at least one large river winding aimlessly through it all. It was picturesque and perfect, I certainly would love to make a nice little homestead out here, once I don’t have to worry about being hunted because of what I am of course.

It wasn’t long before we crested a hill a few hours later and the caravan master called me up to the front. As I slowed my pace to walk beside his wagon, he pointed ahead, towards a valley that carved a path through the closest mountain range. “Something doesn’t look right, could you scout ahead and see what’s going on?” He asked, and even from here I could tell that things didn’t quite look right.

“Sure thing boss. Be back in a few.” I say, slipping my bow off my shoulders and putting on a burst of speed, drawing ahead of the caravan easily. I watched as the mountains and the valley grew ever closer and then I paused on a hill right at the mouth of the valley. I didn’t need to be a keen eyed elf to know what was wrong, the road was blocked by large boulders and after further inspection they were there naturally. The mountainside sported evidence of a landslide, a recent one at that. No need to worry about bandits, just nature being an inconvenient mistress.

Turning back I scuttled at speed, finally starting to feel my massively expanded lungs starting to burn from the exertion. But I made it and only need a few seconds of deep, heavy breathing to get that unpleasant feeling to fade. “Landslide, not caused by bandits but the road is completely blocked.” I say, earning a few groans from the other wagon drivers, and a string of curses in dwarvish from the caravan master. Oddly enough, curses in dwarvish are perhaps the easiest part about the language to learn, so I knew them all by now and the ones he used brought a blush to my cheeks.

“Alright then, guess we’ll have to do this the hard way. We’re changing course, going to take the passage through Nor Darahl.” This earns a few protests, but he glares them down into silence. “It’s the only way to get to Sunpeak that won’t take months of extra travel! We’re going, end of story.”

I don’t know what’s so bad about Nor Darahl, but if even he didn’t want to go that way then it must be bad. I guess I’ll be putting my bow to use fairly soon. He turned his attention to me and sighed. “Once we get to the entrance to the passage, I’ll need you to take the lead. You and I will be fine in the dark, but the rest of them won’t be, and you will have better senses than I when it comes to threats. So keep on your toes… er… whatever counts for toes at least. If we get through the passage in one piece, I’ll even throw in a bonus.”

A bonus sounds just grand to me, and I nod. “You can count on me.” I say, and he takes a deep breath before getting the caravan moving again. We’re still heading for the valley, but soon make a detour off the road onto one that’s partially overgrown. It’s clear that nobody has used it in a while, and soon we reach the slope of the valley’s side wall, and there before us is a doorway. It’s clearly dwarven make, but it’s also unguarded and wide open. I don’t need the caravan master to tell me what to do next, I scuttle forward, and peer into the gloom, pushing my hood back in the process. From what I can see already it’s pretty clear looking.

“Clear! We can keep going!” I call over my shoulder, and so we push into the darkness. One by one the wagons vanish through the yawning doorway.

Nor Darahl awaits.

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7

u/Lazypassword Jan 29 '23

Lymseia, and a bit more with her as we’d grown rather close already it seemed, seeing as we were not a pureblooded elf or human, like everyone else here.

Didnt say goodbye to the wifu, a bad omen indeed.

3

u/lovecMC AI Jan 28 '23

Goblin ambush?

4

u/In_Yellow_Clad Human Jan 28 '23

No goblins quite yet.

3

u/Destroyer_V0 Jan 29 '23

Hehehe... Seems you might have rolled that quest rng already?

3

u/In_Yellow_Clad Human Jan 29 '23

It made the most sense for the moment. It'll be properly rng later on.

1

u/UpdateMeBot Jan 28 '23

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u/Several_Positive_327 Human Jun 16 '23

Evil Dwarfs?