"Elves are not so easily moved," Vulenk replies.  "Although, they moved here, easily enough."

One of the other Elves present hears this, and is not happy about it.   A wizened looking elder in simple robes, he objects.

"Vulenk, it's rude to present our history in such a light.  Elves have always lived here.  Yes, in older times we lived elsewhere too, eastward along the Rhine to the great lake, and well beyond, but those times are past.  We are here because with our present numbers, and with the world the way it is, this is what we can defend.  Huns, Romans, and the Germanic Humans were all unable to threaten us here."

"Well they are all the weaker for it, now," Vulenk says.  "Or so they say.  I've heard it's a new time, and there are opportunities that come with travel.  At least, we have traveling guests here now!  They seem to think that leaving home is good."

"For this one, home must be very far," says the Elven queen, walking towards Nofia.  "So dark, I have not seen another human like that.   You must be from a distant land."

Nwofia curtseys, a deep and extremely formal curtsey which, given what she was wearing at the time would probably be extremely embarrassing to anyone but Nwofia. "I am from a long way away Your Majesty.  Over the Middle Sea, past Carthage and past Africa and Numidia, across the Sea of Sand to the Lake of the Hippopotamus and even beyond that to the tribes of the South and West.  We call ourselves by a secret name, but our neighbours call us Mandinka."

She smiles a white-toothed smile.  "But the remains of the Empire is my home now.  That and this caravan.  I guess that makes me a nomad."

Alayna's eyes were wide with wonder. She had never thought to question where Nwofia came from, in as much as no one really questioned where she came from. Truly, she had no home.

"Some of us travel from necessity," she remarked. "And the joy of simply being alive."

She suddenly realized she was both interrupting and also not showing respect. Like Nwofia, she curtseyed deeply, staying down until noticed. Her head was bowed, and her very long silvery hair (with the green streaks) fell to one side, exposing one partially pointed ear.

As far as Topaz is concerned, regarding Vulenk, he wonders the Fey hasn't taken the shape of a troll, rather than a fox.  A fox, perhaps, is recognized as far less threatening most of the time.  Unless one is a goose, perhaps, then the tiny canid could be taken for an apex predator.  Here, he thinks, the creature is about spreading low-level discord under the guise of asking deeply philosophical questions, goading people into action.  With a slight smile and inclination of his head, the Faun recognizes a fellow provocateur.

He regards Vulenk curiously before asking, "Are you suggesting, then, that the Elves here should venture out from their forests?"

On the queen's entrance, the Faun offers an slight and rather elegant bow, though he maintains eye contact at all times.  "Your Majesty," he says in  formal greeting.  Afterward, he smiles and adds, "It's a fine day to again meet your regard, the dappled sun shining on the surface of a burbling stream."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:12, Tue 02 June 2020.

Marcos let his concentration end the illusion spell. While it was true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so to was a poor imitation a careless insult.

He shifted his focus to the illusion in his clothes, shifting the colors to compliment the surrounding terrain and season.

Looking to the fox fey he asks a question.

when does reality become nothing more then an illusion, and at what point does illusion become the commonly accepted reality? Like for example if I cast the illusion of a pit, and infused it with layers of reality with shadow. Could someone fall to the bottom of a pit that they know is an illusion, yet be unable to climb out.

Alayna looked up carefully, but didn't move. "I hope I have not offered offense, Your Majesty," she whispered in Elvish, trying not to cry. She was so afraid, now that she was before the Queen.

The queen actually looks surprised at the thought that she, an Elven wizard who has defended the Black Forest for centuries, seen everything, done everything, might be offended.  Or even surprised.  Elf queens are supposed to be neither.

Vulenk speaks quietly to Topaz; "Here, now, I would never suggest such a thing.  But if it were to come to pass, I could see only good coming from it. It is not healthy to be confined for long, no matter how grand and glorious the cage."

The fox seems eager to switch subjects when Marcos asks about illusions.

"I'm not great master wizard," Vulenk says.  "Theories and explanations reside in the archives of the great libraries, and I have never so much as opened a book in my life.  You see, I have no thumbs.  I could not turn a page if I tried.  So I am afraid I cannot speak of the hows and whys of magic.  Even if I have been known to craft an illusion or two myself.  I never ask myself how I do it.  Perhaps, if I did, I would realize that I cannot do it, and that would be that for me."

"Fox, you are up to something," the Queen announces.  "For the moment, I do not care what it is.  You may think you have our best interests in mind, but I know that I do.  So, this evening, I host strangers, a rare event, who tomorrow will show us the arts and songs of the world beyond the river. And this one, (she gestures to Nwofia) from much further than that!   Travelers, you are.  My people are not, nor dare we, our numbers are small and we must safeguard our home.  We do not go out, so I am glad that you have brought something in.  It is something we have not seen in a long time."

"Me?  Up to something?" Vulenk says defensively.  "I am chatting with guests.  About many things, like Gnomish Illusions and Elven Seclusions.  Idle speculation, of course, nothing more, not at all, I am not advocating that a journey of such an odd mixed assortment of performers is an opportunity for a... a reconnection with things lost, as it were.  I have not advocated it at all!"

There are a number of exasperated Elven stares at the Fox.

"Seriously, Vulenk, in front of these visitors?"  the Queen eventually asks.

"Well, considering that they'd be the ones most involved in such a thing it would be natural.  IF I was advocating that.  Which I am not.  I thought I made that clear."

Vulenk sighs.  With a hint of remorse, he says, "but oh, such wonders, the Rhein Falls... remember the Rhine Falls, your majesty?  It has been a while.  Such a place."

The Fox turns back to the performers.

"I do hope you have brought strange and exotic stories and songs.  I yearn for such things."

The queen nods to that.

Irkayo speaks up, possibly thinking that Alayna might not want to bring up her question.

"Your majesty, this half elven girl is Alayna, and she is one of the performers.  She knows next to nothing of her Elven heritage, but we wonder... is there some way by which we might learn?  Which kingdom, which clan?"

Alayna, who was still in a curtsy, looked up finally. "Your Majesty, I know not my home. I was orphaned at a very young age and grew up in human streets. I know not where my people are. It was a human woman who raised me until she died too soon. Am I one of yours? Or another group?"

Seeing no others still kneeling she effortlessly stood, her muscular thin legs raising her without strain. "Irkayo has seen me perform. Clearly, my human blood is visible, but so is my blood of Elves. Do you know?"

She was young, even by Elven standards, but she was old enough among humans to have a family. Her eyes were filled with hope, and the wonder of youth.

The Queen lowers her head for a moment, and her expression is one of sadness.

"Half Elves have tales of grief," she says.  "Somewhere in their tale, but it is always there.  Perhaps you were orphaned, perhaps abandoned... Elven parents can realize that in the years ahead, they will see their children age and die, and often this frightens them.  So much so that they hide..."

She stops, turns towards the Fox, understanding something.

"Vulenk?"

"I had no idea," the Fox admits.  "But go on, my queen, please, about hiding."

"For Elves, some things weigh on us more than time.  Time can pass, years and decades and centuries.  But what slowly grinds us down is loss we feel.  Humans race ahead into life, they are unafraid, because they have only a few years regardless.  Elves... for Elves it is different.  Your mother... perhaps your father but with these things it is usually the mother... may well have looked ahead and become afraid, and fled."

The queen takes an appraising look at Alayna.

"And your hair... is the green yours, or a dye?  It is not found in humans, nor in many Elves.  Only those lines that have been closest to the nature spirits.  Not many.  Silver is mostly in the Savoy Elves, but the green, that is special."

She looked at the Queen, trying to understand everything she said. "The green is my idea. It... felt right. With my friendship with my beautiful horse, and such, I feel closer to the forest than anything else. I was in the cities for so long, I wanted to feel... closer to the forest, so I dyed my hair. And I still do. I wear green makeup, and often wear green dresses, made to look like leaves. I want to feel closer. And coming here..."

She looked down in embarrassment. "I feel closer to what I am. One parent may have been human, but I feel closer to Elves. And I hope to entertain you in that way, in the best I can. I truly don't know if my parents left me or died. Either way, I am alone. This troop... they are now a family. And I am no longer afraid."

Nwofia waited politely to say it but something dug into her brain.  Not travellers and yet... "Your people are not travellers Your Majesty," she said, "And yet I have seen people who seem to be relatives of yours as I am related to these pale Northern humans.  We call them the Garamantes and they are much darker than I am but all the same, surely elves, albeit not so fair as those I see around me and without the love of nature.  Then again, the Garamantes live in the desert and I would imagine the desert is hard to love and perhaps I do not recognise that love when I see it.  Are the dark elves your kin, although distant I imagine?"

Tahra is listening, her eyes touching on Vulenk to gauge his reactions.

Marcos kept to the background allowing those gifted with tact and grace to carry the conversation, he hoped to not make a fool of himself or the troupe. Well not unless it was intended and part of a performance.

He stood quietly taking in the subtlety of the architecture and seemless blend with nature that few non elves could even hope to replicate.

Topaz recognizes a fellow provocateur in Vulenk, but he's uncertain who or what the "fox" may serve, or to what end he seeks to stir the Elves to motion.  Opening their forests or sending out their youth into the outer world can have great and unpredictable outcomes.  Such a thing is not something to be done casually, he expects, by the long-lived people.  For now, he holds his tongue on the topic.

While the Queen makes her rounds, inquiring of Alayna, Nwofia, and other performers, Topaz nods in acknowledgement, offering a soft, "Your Majesty" to her regard.  He's performed for her and for her court before, and has been her guest as embassy from the Brownie court of Nia Sian Rosedrake in Lutetia Parisiorum.

"By the shape of your face, ff your natural hair is silver, then you are very likely the child of a Savoy Elf, the Elves of the great Alps Mountains," the queen says to Alayna.  "More than that, without some divination, I cannot say."

Of all the Elven kingdoms, the Savoys are the most advanced in many ways- they build great cities of white stone and crystal, and their magic is intricate and powerful.  They call themselves the High Elves, though the Elves of the other kingdoms regard this as more than a little arrogant.  (The Savoy Elves courteously dodge this accusation, explaining that it is meant in terms of environment, a reference to the mountains they call home.)

"It is not often those folk come down from their mountains," the queen continues.  "Of late, as rarely as we do, though in older days they were travelers.  In arts and magic of many kind, a very accomplished people.  I cannot say how they would take you.. I cannot even say how ourselves would take someone in your circumstance, but if you enjoy the path you are on, it is for the best to stay on it.  But you are a guest here, I wish to see the arts of the world beyond our borders, and I have heard that you have great skill.  This evening, how may we host you?"

"Guests of the Black Forest Elf Queen, a rare and precious circumstance to find oneself in," Vulenk says.  "Make the best of such things!"

Irkayo speaks up.  "I thought I would show Alayna the Moss Gardens here.  It is one of our treasures."

"And I can tell a story or two that might interest you," Vulenk says.  "A Fox of my age knows many things."

The guests, if they choose to remain, can dine on Elven dumplings and drink Elven tea.  A few other Elves gather- close family and friends of the Queen, mostly to listen in.  Outsiders, and Vulenk telling stories, that doesn't happen every day.

After a little more social banter, and everyone settled, the Fox positions himself front and center.

"Shall I tell of the Fossegrim of the Rhinefalls?" he asks the Queen.  "After all, it is possible that our guests might be going in that direction, though it is not to be found on the roads of Humans."

The Elf Queen nods.

"Well then," Vulenk begins, "As we all know, there are still Elves... and Humans.. with the blood of Nature Spirits.  Once the Nature Spirits were everywhere upon the Earth.  But with time they withdrew.  Much like Elves.  And like Elves, to certain very special, and always very beautiful places.

"The Humans know of the Fossegrim.  At least some of them do, but sadly, they do not speak well of them.  This is because Nature Spirits can be slow to realize that although they are adept in their homes, those homes can be dangerous to the unprepared.  The Fossegrim skip and play in the waterfalls, and they are in no danger of tumbling off the rocks, or losing their footage.  They dance in waterfalls as squirrels in trees.  Often, they forget that others do not.  Lured by beauty, a few poor unfortunates have come to tragedy."

Tahra, having eaten with thanks, settles in. Klimmin leaves the shelter of her clothes and flutters off to search and feed.

The redhead listens raptly to Vulenk. However, her eyes regard the elves, observing hew they listen.

A Savoy Elf. Was her mother or father such? It would explain so much! But she blushed visibly when Irkayo offered to show her something wondrous. "I... I would be honored, both to perform and to see these wondrous Moss Gardens. And hear more of such other things. I want to learn all. I never thought to learn of my other parent, and to have such... I am so very lucky!"

In that moment, her youth showed. But she was soon to be 18, then perhaps, she could choose her path. But for now, performing for the show was more than she ever expected.

She filled her selves on dumplings and tea and anything else. It seemed amazing that such a thin girl could eat so much, but she often did, and then worked if off... being gifted with a high metabolism.

Nwofia too sits quietly after dining and with tea still in her hands, sipping now and then she is, listens to Vulenk's tale and observes the elves as they listen and she observes Tahra in turn as Tahra too observes the elves. Of course, she also observes those elves who observe Tahra and those observing Nwofia herself.

As the elves observe her observing them, she smiles a smile that owes as much to domestic cats as it does to leopards.

Topaz, for his part, enjoys the tea and sweetened treats.  Of all the folk among whom he travels, the Elves, perhaps the Dwarves, still recall and practice the obligation of hospitality.  The various Gallic peoples had learned it from the Elves.  From whom they learned it the Faun has no direct idea.

He listens to the discussions around him, of parentage, far deserts, of an offered and accepted liaison to occur in the romantic environs of the moss gardens, then to one of the danger of nature spirits to Humans.  When discussion turns obliquely to travelling and venturing outward, Topaz attends quite closely indeed.

He listens carefully to the story of the Fossergrim, looking thoughtful and waiting until Vulenk finishes his discourse.  The Fox treads the ground nearby a sensitive and sacred topic.  "Not all are free to wander in the way you suggest, Vulenk.  So many of us are tied to our cynosure, each according to their rank in the courts and their nature.  You know this to be true, at least for our folk.  Perhaps, I suspect it is with the Elves, that they too have something magical or precious to them beyond all other things that they're not free to leave behind without losing a certain part of themselves.  Not all have left, but have changed along with the places they once were.  Some are bitter with anger and sadness at that change as they've been forced to change with it."

More than that about the nature of Fey folk he won't venture here.  Much as the Vulenk's tale of the Fossergrim, some Humans and some Orcs know these things.  It's part of what made them so dangerous to his people.  He looks briefly to the Queen, then back to the Fox.  "Master Vulenk," he adds, "we've come as a travelling troupe, to perform for rude coin, or here, for the ancient gift of hospitality.  We offer diversion in exchange for an audience and a place to rest and refresh."

The Court of the Queen of the Black Forest Elves seems to have no special protocol about who gets to approach, any Elf in the area seems welcome to come and go as he or she pleases.
 But, with Vulenk the Fox telling a story, and peculiar visitors from... not only the outside world, but judging from Nwofia some parts of the outside world the Elves never knew existed... the local Elves are more coming than going.  The Queen's court gets crowded.

"The Rhinefalls, as we know, are a wondrous place of ineffable natural beauty," Vulenk continues.

He describes the waterfalls, often dipping into Elven for the benefit of the Elves present, as their language is rich with imagery for describing the natural world and he fears they may miss a nuance or two in the Human languages.  But he covers himself well in both languages, absolutely fluent.  He describes the falls, which is not a high waterfall, but because it is broad and the current is powerful, is a roaring beast of white spray and rushing current, broken by great rocks, the forest rising all around.

He describes the inhabitants, how they are water spirits, female nymphs and male fossegrim, beautiful as the river, quirky, playful and unpredictable, and gifted in music and song.

He tells of how Elves once lived along the bank, and built a bridge of portals, invisible and unknowable without magic sight.

Some Elves clearly long to see it for themselves, after hearing Vulenk.  Some of the older ones long to see it again.

Almost like a child, Alayna is enraptured by the tale. In her own mind, she feels half Sylph or Nymph anyway. And hearing of such a place fills her with longing. Perhaps, when her travels are over, she can see such places.

As it is, she sits and often puts her hands to her breast in wonder as she listens to the Fox speak.

"There are times I wish you could be more subtle, Vulenk," the Elf queen says as the fox finally wraps up his story.. more of a travel anthology about the inhabitants of the Rhine Falls than anything with a continuous plot.

"I am a silver white Fox," Vulenk says. "Nature has not equipped me for subtlety."

The Queen asks:  "Tell me, you have been beyond our current borders many times, have you not?  You visited the Rhine Falls recently?"

"Oh, I have.  As have a few of the Black Forest Elves.  You know this.  You certainly have the magical means yourself."

"Not in a while.  The world away from the land we defend... it seems... unfriendly.  Changed.  Not ours." the Queen replies.

"Perhaps that could change, one day," Vulenk says with a sigh.

Irkayo finds Alayna as the gathering shuffles, Vulenk's stories concluded.

"I feel I should tell you," he says quietly, "I am no great explorer, even though I know it is a wondrous place.  To bring you here, I volunteered.  But... I have a home and a place.  Here, I am glad to guide you and show you our forest.  There... well, but for now you are here, so I am still your guide."

The Queen addresses the group:

"I must pause for the evening, the day grows late, even Elf Queens need their rest.  I hope you have enjoyed the stories of our honored Vulenk, and I hope to enjoy your show tomorrow.  Continue with merriment if you wish, but for now I must leave you."

Tahra drops the Queen a curtsy, though keeping her eyes on the Queen's face.