Topaz notices that Tahra has a pet bat.

Alayna, aside from her offer for to help with the puppets, offers nothing else. She doubts the Elves can help her part of the show, unless they can ride and maybe do catches and tumbling. She practices enough that they can see her antics, and see she is very very good at what she does. Nimble enough on the ground, she is simply more on her horse. And they compliment each other.

She blushes at Topaz's glances. He is attractive, if a bit odd, and she is young enough to be intrigued. She wonders if music would accent her show, and she goes to him to discuss it. She deliberately wears her snug bodysuit, hugging her fit body, making sure to look her best.

"It seems you are a skilled musician, good sir," she began, trying to not be shy. "If you have seen my show... do you think music could make it better? Or perhaps we could work something... together?"
This message was lightly edited by the player at 14:45, Tue 17 Dec 2019.

In reply to Topaz (msg # 108):

Nwofia begins by dancing along to the rhythm of Topaz' tail but unfortunately, too late, she realises that he is moving his tail in 6/8 time rather than the 5/4 or 4/4 she is more used to.
 She falls over and picks herself up with some embarrassment.  Nevertheless, when, when he asks after the kind of music she would prefer she says, "I know many dances, and am happy to dance with those you know and love, but if you know the music of Afrika or of Cyrenaicia, then I would be overwhelmed with delight."  She curtseys then, a deep dip combined with a bow that that bends her like a wheat stalk in the wind.

Topaz would be the first to admit he's not positive about the significance of Tahra's bat.  He's known others who've kept unusual pets.  Snakes, wolves, owls, and various mustelids have been common.  One old woman even had a large pet toad, enchanted to defend her.  He's still reminded of someone who's experienced far too much tragedy.

---

With Alayna later, he looks her over curiously, then smiles slightly.  The unmistakable scent of equine about her betrays her act.  "You're the vaulter, then, miss?"

He considers thoughtfully before suggesting easily, "Music underlies most everything and you can hear it, if you listen just right.  I've not seen your performance in person, but it would be a simple enough thing to complement it and that of your partner"

He asks, "Perhaps we're asking the wrong question, miss.  Elves are long-lived and have seen many things.  A well-trained horse or skilled rider with music would not surprise them.  The height of your art should delight even someone as jaded as an elf.  You've dancing and tumbling, as well, and can guide your friend with gesture and voice?"

"The Elves love their sublime beauty, even if it brings them sadness in the moment.  Tone key with the old folk is to tell them a story and make them feel.  Before I speak, or play, tell me what story you'd tell someone who's seen a hundred turns of the year, something that could move then to tears in beauty."

He thinks aloud, "Perhaps we're asking the wrong question, anyway.  Elves are long-lived and have seen many things.  A well-trained horse and skilled rider with music would not surprise them.  The height of your art should delight even someone as jaded as an elf.  You've dancing and tumbling, as well, and can guide your friend with gesture and voice?  Dance for them together, mayhap a tale they already know, that lives in their memory but has turned to myth in the common telling?"

The Faun considers the young woman a moment, short tail resuming its earlier flit.  "Perhaps a dance of the coming of night, acting as Nótt and Hrímfaxi?  We're not so far from the Frisian lands so the Elves will have their own version of the tale.  Sing your own tale as you dance, maybe in Germanic?  If you don't speak the tongue, perhaps words aren't required.  Sing your mood and heart to the world, a darkness that comes with your eternal circling of the world and bestowal of the morning dew."

"Then Allfather took Night, and Day her son, and gave to them two horses and two chariots, and sent them up into the heavens, to ride round about the earth every two half-days. Night rides before with the horse named Frosty-Mane, and on each morning he bedews the earth with the foam from his bit. The horse that Day has is called Sheen-Mane, and he illumines all the air and the earth from his mane.  But this is the tale of the passing of day and the coming of his mother," Topaz speaks aloud in Germanic.  "Wherever you go from there, I can follow, miss."


---

Timing.

At first, Topaz is uncertain whether he's been the butt of a prank, a comedic pratfall taken by a talented dancer.  Not to be caught out, he offers a hand and helps Nwofia rise.  He is as genteel as any courtier, formally courteous and gracious.

"Thank you, madame, for your indulgence," he says easily, as if the fall were planned from the outset.

He listens while Nwofia explains her experience before responding, "I know of neither, save as names for places far away.  Dance a dance you know, madame, and I'll follow your lead.  But tell me first what you mean to say when you mean.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 18:30, Wed 18 Dec 2019.

"Of course", says Nwofia as she begins to move her feet in the steps of the Ahwach, a dance of Numidia.  "The Ahwach is a communal dance of the people of Africa and Numidia," she says, "But I am one alone and I have stolen the steps and mixed them with the Shikat dance of Africa and Libya".

With that said, she raises her arms and moves every part of her in syncopation with the steps of the Ahwach, her ass, her belly, her shoulders and head, her arms, legs and hands all moving together in a highly provocative and yet stylised belly dance.

"The key is unique to Africa or so I believe.".

10:15, Today: Nwofia Barandi rolled 24 using 1d20+9.  perform showmanship.

She begins to ululate, making sound and tune in time with her dance but in a strange key, hoping that Topaz can follow.

Esher continues his preparations for his performance.

While he is grateful for those that volunteered to assist, he understands that every one has skills and not all lie in the same direction. But at times he wondered if some of his companions were aware of how much his skills could augment theirs.

He is greatful for the company of the small golems, and the constant offer of a warm towel brings up a question about the method used to clean and replace the soiled towels.

As limited as the small golems are, he decided to test the limit of thier understanding. Asking them to fetch tools and components from his tool box, just a few ft away.

His intentionally limits certain aspects of his illusions during the preparation for the show, so that his Illusion never dance, sing, or do things better then the troop can do, unless it is done to draw attention to the awesome skills of the troop members.

Admittedly unfamiliar with the words and the languages from which they derive, Topaz watches intently, golden eyes flecked emerald green with the season.  More importantly, he listens, bending to the sound Nwofia's dancing as seedlings quest in search of the sun.

The Faun has travelled broadly, the length and breadth of Gaul, Germania, even to a few of the higher and dryer portions of Hispania.  It's in the rhythms of that last arid land he recognizes a distant cousin of the dances Nwofia blends.  The connection is electric, a moment of enlightenment flashing through him.  This is the music or the Travelling People and other foreigners living in lands not their own, wagon folk in lands of wind, sun, and stone!  Be it from Afrika or Europa, he recognizes its entire family lineage.  He exclaims in surprise and delight, "Oh!"

Topaz upturns a bucket and sits, taking up a rapid percussive rhythm of hoof-on-stone, rapid single taps at first, punctuating Nwofia's steps and turns.  Continuing that cadence, he reaches for his fiddle.  This music, he knows, is constructed of a rapid sequence of notes, syncopation, and triplets, woven through with complex flourishes.

He's not by training a percussionist, but keeping a rhythm for a dancer is like breathing.  Besides following, then setting a rhythm, the Faun explores the dialog between musician and dancer.  He attends sharply to the queues in her motion for a change in tempo, up or down.  This is a dance from a land where fire and sun reign, and that is reflected in his music, whether it be the slowly dying embers of a campfire or a roaring, leaping blaze welcoming the return of the sun on the winter solstice.

Music, and dancing alike, are acts of passion, raw emotion given expression.  He both strokes and strikes his instrument as well as the ground, giving eager little whoops of raw exuberance at crescendos.  His hair falls between his horns and over his eyes as he surrenders to the ecstatic trance of the moment.  He entices anyone standing nearby and watching to to clap or tap the urgent rhythm of the dance, thudding out a rhythm for them to follow before returning to his own joyous embellishment.

So long as she'll dance, Topaz embraces Nwofia in a passionate musical embrace that encircles the Middle Sea, ranging from familiar African rhythms, through styles later generations might know as Gypsy Jazz, Flamenco, Hellenic Wedding tunes, and Klezmer, but always cleaves to it's percussive beginning.  It's only when Nwofia calls for the end that the Faun emerges from beneath the waves of the music.

Topaz absently brushes the hair back from his face, then smiles, somewhere between sheepish embarrassment and impish amusement.  "Will that do?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:05, Wed 18 Dec 2019.

Nwofia grins a white-toothed grin in the obsidian softness of her face.  "That'll do, Topaz, that'll do."

Alayna nodded. She was wearing skin-tight leggings and and a simple tight dress that left her shoulders bare, showing the vine and leaf tattoos that adorned her arms and shoulders. "Angel is very smart, and the two of us function almost as one. She knows my every movement." He could likely tell her love of her horse in her voice.



This was weighty thinking for the young half-breed, and clearly, she had to wrap her mind around it. "My tricks are both of fantasy and the moment. Even someone who is very old, which for me is everyone," she added with a giggle, "Remembers the flash and rush of youth. That is me. Those who know tricks watch me to see if I can truly do what I do, and appreciate, I think, that I am nimble and young enough to try them. Those who are younger often watch me for me, delighting in my movements because they like to see me dressed as such," she noted, indicating what she wore as she talked.



She listened as he told the tale, then smiled. "I don't know if I have enough time to learn the tale... perhaps you tell it? And I shall tumble and turn to accompany it? I can tint Angel in dark, and wear my outfit of black and silver. With my hair, it is very striking. I can learn a few key words, but perhaps I can be but the picture, while you paint the story with words and music." She smiled, happy with the visual she had just created.

Topaz looks Alayna over curiously, tail resuming its rapid wagging.  He shrugs easily.

"You already know the story of night following day, I'm guessing.  Happens every evening.  It's not my story to tell, really, but yours if it's one you choose to tell."

"There are endless tales to be told, miss," he adds.  "Elves to love their magics so.  Not the rude sort of magic, like items and spells, but the special sort that retells a story or myth, perhaps in a new way."

He takes up his seat on the upturned bucket, encouraging Alayna to her art.  A skilled tumbler is one thing, a talented vaulter another yet.  The Faun looks for the artist behind those, the one who loses herself to motion.  Easily, he says, "This isn't my story, miss, it's yours and your companions.  A virtuoso performance doesn't take the breath away from someone a century old before we were born, but passion does.  Tell them why you tumble and turn with your companion, but tell them with the doing itself.  That's what I'd like to see, your passion and you lost to the ecstasy of performing."

Just how old are these little Golems, anyway...
They remember back over two hundred years, to a time when the Empire firmly ruled here.  They know they were older, but is as far back as their clear memories go.

"Isn't it interesting," one says, "that the time we know is the same for all of us.  But I don't think we were made all at once. Are we not great time and effort to create?"

It is a very ungolemly thing for a golem to be considering.  "Where did I come from?" is a question no construct bothers to ask.

** ** ** ** ** **

They work out their routines during the day, having a relaxing day of it anyway after the long overnight trek.  It's a good thing, because the pace has been taxing, and the less constitutionally gifted members of the troupe are already tired.  There are more off notes from the musicians than usual.

Phileas directs the set up of the stage in the clearing in front of the bath house.  There isn't any kind of traditional theater here, although they are common in areas that were once part of the Empire.  This was apparently a spa village, and never had the people to justify such a thing.

It is time for the evening meal and the end of the work day when an Elven messenger arrives.  He has news: Word of this has reached the royalty of the Black Forest Elves.  Elven royal families are not like their human counterparts.  With the oldest Elves having hundreds of years, families often span six, seven, or eight generations.  The "Royal Family" with its descendants can be very large.  Some will be here tomorrow.  If they like what they see, they will let the Queen know, and then the group will be invited to perform for the Queen of the Black Forest Elves, Latheer.

Another thing about Elven royalty... great magic runs in their blood.  Elven Kings and especially Queens are known to be very powerful magic users.  Or so they say.

Phileas inquires about where they would have to go for this.  It would be northeast, through the forest.  He is skeptical.  "We have large wagons, that are not suitable for forests and mountains such as I understand you have in your realm," he says politely.

"There is a road through our lands.  Old, made by Humans, under truce.  We will take you there."

He discusses the matter with the troupe over dinner.

"Performing for the most powerful is generally a thing sought after," he says.  "Even though the Elves are shy and hidden, it will only help our reputation.  So we must earn it tomorrow.  I hope we are ready?  We should make sure we get plenty of rest."

Does Tahra have two elves who agree to perform with her?

Considering everything Topaz had said, and considering how tired she had been, Alayna kept her practice short, and chose to mostly duplicate her previous show. Now that she had landed the flying dismount, and the flying remount, she decided that for the Elves she should simply do her best on things she could do well. She also decided not to wear her new outfit, saving that for the show after. Again, just showing the Elves her 'passion' and skill seemed enough... and best, with her being tired.

She considered having time for another bath before showtime...

They spend the day in practice and preparation, resting, and possibly bathing, with the little golem-dolls being their helpful selves to whoever uses the bathhouse.

The next day is breezy and cloudy, not the best of days for a performance outdoors, but certainly not the worst, as it isn't raining.  The Elves use some magic which gives warms the immediate area, the bathhouse and its surroundings.

A few hundred of them are here, now, gathered in little groups, gossiping and chatting as they await the performance.  The curiosity is evident and everywhere.  The Black Forest Elves have not been very open to outsiders, lately.  Some of them have gone to trade and debate with neighboring Humans, but the contact has been limited, and Human traders haven't often been permitted in.  So a great many Elves, especially younger ones, are intently curious.  They'd be fascinated even if the performances were terrible.

Escher has one of the damaged golems restored, Willo, and there is much hope among the Golems that he will be able to restore the other two damaged Golems.

But they see a problem.

"He has been asked to perform for the queen of the Black Forest Elves," Oli reminds the others.  "It is important.  Like... a command for us.. he will not refuse."

"He can refuse," Lili points out.  "He is not... like us."

Others nod.  Whatever will and spirit the doll-golems have, they do not refuse their commands.  No Gnomish automaton would.

"But he will not," Oli says.  "It is important.  It would cause much trouble for him, for his friends.  That would not be good."

"We should not be a cause for trouble for him," Nelli says.  "For Willo, much is owed."

"Then for the others to be repaired as well, we must find another way," Lili says.

** ** ** ** ** **

Tahra gets the assistance of two young Elves, a brother and sister, both with some performance skills of their own.  Elven dance, mostly.  But they are of adventurous spirit, and curious, and willing to help.

As the hour approaches, the Argentoses supervise the setup and preparations.  Last checks of costume and instruments.  And, of course, the young Elves want to know what it is they are supposed to do.

17:23, Today: Marcos Conner Esher rolled 25. concentration check to maintain the grand illusion.

As the sun is still above the horizon Esher steps onto the stage, lifting his hand and gesturing to the assembled crowds he speaks in a voice amplified by the power of illusion.

Good evening to all, please take your seats wherever is comfortable within the two circles facing outwards.

As his gesture continues he tosses a single gold coin on the ground which "ignites" 2 lines of gold coins as they appear on the ground. One encircles the stage wagon at a distance of 100 ft and another at 400 ft. the outer circle includes arches made of stacked gold coins each placed at equidistant spacing.

After seeing most people moving to within and between the two circles. He gestures to the ground which begins to emit a fog that extends from the ground beginning at the 400 ft line but leaving a tunnel radiating outward from the golden arches, and extending further away by an additional 200 ft through a dense fog shell surrounding the audience.

I am here to tell you the truth, but not any truth you know. But a truth so real you wont believe it is as anything but fiction.

With a gesture the fog begins to change gaining a smoothness of Italian marble. The stage wagon then lights up, and the shell of "marble" fog lights up mirroring the stage but expanded to scales that make Esher who is standing on the stage wagon appear 20 ft tall and the puppets on the stage just as large.

Ladies and Gent, hobos and tramps, cross-eyed mosquitoes and bow-legged ants; I have come before you, to stand behind you, to tell you about something i know nothing about...with out further ado...

The illusion magnified stage bursts to life with colors only possible in illusion, as the play begins, shifting from one of five magnified stages allowing for a seamless story moving from one stare to the next. As an illusion of a 168 part orchestra plays the full orchestral accompaniment score in a floating balcony 30 ft above the central stage wagon.

ACT I

SCENE I. Athens. The palace of THESEUS.

Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, and Attendants

...the play proceeded for a full 5 acts; lasting over an hour and a half. But some how appearing to be the passage of 4 days as simulated days and nights passed within the illusion shell.


PUCK
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

following the performance  conclusion, the illusion fades into simple illusion lights over the stage wagon and each puppeteer is invited out to receive their recognition and applause for their contribution and skill as Esher simply served as a magnifying mirror for their skills.

long after the applause has died the lined of gold coins remain, save but the arches which simply form an unbroken line with the outer line they are part of.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:25, Sat 11 Jan 2020.

[Aplogies for being so slow]

Tahra and the two elves present, for possible approval, a rehearsal of the playlet below:

Act I
Scene 1
Forest glade by a stream. Setting moon, dawning.
Enter elven couple singing of what their life might be should they wed. The bachelor mentions that it would be a new experience, the maid that life would continue more deeply.
They see a something by the stream.
Sun rises and shines on an emaciated mortal woman, long red hair, clad in a robe of deepest red.
The elves wonder at the sight and discuss what to do. They decide to take her to their enclave, nurse her until she is escorted to the border of elven lands.
The bachelor sings about “at last, something new”. The maid about love and mercy.

When the woman’s eyes open, they are brilliant green.

Scene 2
The much-improved convalescent woman walks, regaining her strength, with the elves commenting on the beauty that surrounds them how hard it will be to leave, and how precious the memory will be. The bachelor and maid talk of how elven and human women differ. The maid says the human has her own beauty, but it’s the beauty of a flower., purposeful but short of days The bachelor agrees: Elven women are like yews, slender and evergreen-lovely while this human women is impossible to miss. He is close by her; indeed, she stumbles. He takes hold of her elbow. She thanks him and lays a hand on his arm to remain steady.  The bachelor is startled but then smiles. The maid asks the woman for her name and what happened.

“My name...call me Iunomaga. I was being carried to Death’s destination. An ooportunity presented itself, and I took to my heels. But Death is a persistent pursuer; and, though I had water, no nourishment had I until you rescued me….”

The bachelor listened with fascination while the maid looked on with foreboding, which increased when her beloved now walked on hand in hand with this scarlet woman.

Scene 3

It is night. In total darkness (or behind a screen), the woman sings an ecstatic song passing from cooing through urgencies to an explosion of delight.  The bachelor accompanies her with guttural, rhythmic soundings.

Time passes, the bachelor walks with the pregnant woman, full of life. The maid sings her anguish over  love abandoned.

Act 2

Scene 1
Behind a screen, the woman now cries and groans with childbirth pain. The bachelor hurries out to the maid. “She is in labor. Please, please, help her!”

The maid replies that now he comes to her. But all mothers, of whatever race, are akin in bringing forth life. The maid goes to help.

Her soothing words, and urges to push-push-push are intermingles with the woman’s cries, until there is silence except for two tiny wailings. Silence. A gray vague shape appears and goes behind the screen.  The woman says clearly, “So you show yourself. I am ready, for I have accomplished the needful.
Scene 2
The maid appears with two bundles. “She is dead. Here are your twin daughters.” The bachelor is taken aback. “I’m so sorry for leaving you so. I felt such and attraction, compulsion…. Please forgive me. I loved her while loving you….”

The maid kissed him on the lips. “Hush. What’s done is done is done and should not be undone. We shall raise them. Then they shall have to make their way in the wider world.”

The man takes one of the bundles in one arm; the other embraces the maid. “So it shall be.

On these words the woman appears standing in midair. Her hair gray, her raiment gray, lines of ancient age on her face and hands. However her eyes are still the green of life.

She speaks. “A matter of necessity. Their names are Abeonal and Adional. They shall be alike and yet different. Needful, for they can be, if allowed, a bridge between elves and humans. For the weal of both, let there be peace, respect, and respecting. My thanks and blessing to you both. My, this life is done. Fare you well…” (This last said in diminishing voice as the woman goes back, fading away.)

The couple turn to the audience. “Now this story is ended, but the story of life, and dealing with life, goes on. How will you shape your part in it?”

Elves make for a patient and focused audience.  They do not need constant pandering and spectacle, they understand how things must be seen through to their ends, they try to look for the context and meaning behind each element.

The older Elves, at least.   The younger ones are very much human like.

But the younger Elves seem in short supply.  It is normal, according to those who know Elves.  While Elves can live for centuries, they will not have any more children over their long lives than Humans will, and possibly fewer.  The population, in the long run, is just as stable, though it is slower to recover after a loss.  But it means a far smaller fraction of any Elven population is composed of children.  An Elf child's siblings will likely be young adults.  In a Human population children are everywhere, but the very old are few.  Here, most are well over a century of age, and the children are very few.

It makes for some profound differences in the way Humans and Elves see the world, and how they value things.  Perhaps these differences are greater than those between Humans and Orcs, but in a different direction.

Elves are also less impressed with magic unless it is accompanied by artistic skill.  They are much more exposed to magic than are Humans.  To them, casting a spell is, on its own, no more impressive than plucking the string of a lute.  Lots of people can make noise, making music is something different. They are moved by skill, not power.

Argentos adjusts the flow of his show to the Elven rhythm.  Fewer performers are featured at once; the show is quieter, spot lighting one at a time instead of barraging the audience with sight and sound.   When it is Alayna's turn, it is only Alayna, her horse, and subtle musical and light accompaniment.

The Elves are very much impressed, and the performers find themselves swarmed by new fans, who have all kinds of technical questions- everything from details of spell casting to the sewing of the costumes.

A few want to know what it is like to be travelling so far.  Elves generally do not do this.

Tahra thanks her fellow elven actors and waits for anybody to approach. She now appears as her normal self, costume and makeup gone.

Nwofia finds Topaz and once again, joins him in a dance that would later be Gypsy Jazz except those people do not come from Egypt and neither does the dance.  Nevertheless, it is redolent of travel, of the desert and the red rocks of the Atlas mountains.

Alayna had been careful, doing her very best tricks but taking no chances. As it happened, she still landed every move, though she did a backflip and landed seated rather than standing on her horse's back, which was now starting to ache as she watched the end of the show. Her costume was a favorite, the silvery bodysuit with green leaves woven in, with her hair braided with flowers. Slightly green makeup gave her a dryad-like appearance.

Still in costume and still catching her breath, she walked gingerly out to see if anyone wanted to talk. She hoped the elves would talk to her, but she was not sure.

Elves do have questions for everyone, and the biggest center of attention for the younger ones is Alayna.

There is also something going on with the Argentoses, they are talking to representatives of the Queen.

Rumor escapes from that little clutch, as one of the Elves around Alayna, a young male Elf possibly in his 20's... or 40's... 50's?  It's so hard to tell with Elves... discloses:

"They want you to perform for the queen next," he says.  "She'd like the show you just did.  I could show you the way there, and tell you about her, if you want."

*** *** ***

For the Black Forest Elves, the idea that one can make a living traveling and performing is very interesting.  Older Elves scold the younger ones several times, when the young ones seem to express too much of an interest in that.

"We do not leave our home, it needs us.  We care for it and protect it.  We do not leave it," one mature Elven woman tells two younger Elves.

Tahra and a few of the other more traveled characters know empirically that this is not true.  Black Forest Elves DO leave their home.  Maybe not for long, but they do leave.  At the very least, they go to Cambete and other places to trade.  But maybe the Elf woman was referring to long term departures.  Then again, what is long, for them?

The Elf woman, apparently seeing a potential tactic to discourage adventurous young Elves, asks, "The long roads are dangerous.  Even here in our lands, things must be much worse beyond our forest.  How do you protect yourselves on your journeys?  Has it been difficult?"

Topaz has performed for the Elves before, though not in the context of a formalized program of entertainment.  He joins other musicians in their accompaniment of the performers, playing in manner to highlight their own displays.  Where he can, he joins in a dialog with an individual performer at dance or in song, circling around the work of his fellow musicians in flourishes and trills reminiscent of the highlighted acts.

The Faun plunges into a flowing river where music rolls as water, as magic, as life itself.  This night, he pours forth the story of that river, from it's source, a rivulet drip-drip-dripping from a glacier from spring-time melt high in the Alps.  The faun's music grows, tripping over itself merrily in as it becomes a brook, dropping in sudden cataracts, crashing against stones, and burbling its way through alpine meadows.

The brook joins a stream, the stream a fast river, the river the mighty flowing torrent of the Rhein. At each confluence, the Faun weaves another theme into the warp and weft of the tapestry of sound he coaxes from his fiddle.  Eventually, the Rhein spreads out over the broad plains and splits into a myriad of fingers, dividing and rejoining endlessly until it meets the rolling and gentle breakers of the Frisian Sea.

Throughout the journey from the roof of the world to the shore of the sea, the Faun recounts the secret name of the mighty river, revealed to the listeners as the first drippings of ancient snows from the high glaciers in the pizzicato pluck-pluck-pluck of a string with his little finger.  At the end, he emerges, drenched with the sweat from his exertions, an intimation of the droplets falling to the sea from mountains far away.  He lets the Rhein swirl away into the sea, salt and fresh mingling indistinct each into the other.

He concludes, rising from the same bucket he occupied for his earlier performance with Nwofia.  While it's not his finest work ever, but it'll do for an evening with the Elves.

Later, when Nwofia finds Topaz, he's both happy to play and to dance himself.  Though it is far from his specialty, she may find him as capable at the arts as she herself and he joyously dances to the tunes other musicians play as the evening winds on.

"There's the show, come and gone," he says easily, before adding, "While there's not a tavern, perhaps there's a fire and a small revel.  The Elves have performers of their own and they may come out to play.  We might hear a tale of further up the road."

OOC: 18:40, Today: Topaz rolled 35 using 1d20+21.  Perform (Strings)
This message was last edited by the player at 03:18, Mon 13 Jan 2020.

Alayna was delighted with all the 'young' elves, knowing that she truly was the young one among them. But she told them of her orphanship, her love of her horse, her delight at being adopted and then learning to ride. She did not hold back in telling that her childhood was difficult, and that the world was harsh. But she was now happy and worked every day to be better at what she did.

The young elf that came to see her, the male, was the one that made her blush. He truly was handsome, even if she wasn't sure if was a year or a century older. "I want to perform for the Queen. And I would love to see her... if you will take me," she added coquettishly. After all, she was a teenager, and why not flirt?

Marcos may fool the senses and befuddles the mind with his magic, but lie he does not do. So when asked by the elven elder, he responds honestly not hiding his answers for the curious young elves.

My road has been long, but doing things the right way takes time. My road was hard, but if it were easy it would not have been worth doing.

I have seen more hazards on the road then I have years behind me; and in more then a few of them I have lost friends, heck in one of them I died. But I am still here. My best defense was and still is, not traveling the road alone, and never traveling unprepared for the worst the road has.

The ways of my ancestors, are old and seem outdated, but there is a reason elders have lived to be called old, I have never forgotten that. we all learned lessens; many of which were passed down to them by our elders. The elders may not know everything but never assume we don't know what we are talking about.

the greatest lesson I taught my family, and ended up teaching my self while i was young,...sometimes the very young don't always do as their told.

In my youth my greatest mistakes were the direct result of my ego, and my pride. I am grateful to have survived my mistakes because I made a lot of them, but I learned a lot.

the greatest pearl of wisdom i can give is this...you have time to make mistakes and learn from them, but don't be in so much of a hurry that you make all your mistakes at the same time.

Nwofia undulates shrugs at the question.  "Sometimes it is dangerous to travel", she says, "but sometimes it is more dangerous to stay at home.  I come from the land at the edge of the Desert, to the South of the Middle Sea.  There are no orcs there, but there are lizard people in the desert and humans called the Tuareg and black elves called the Garamantes."