The Solitary Arrow Ch. 10
Trevir jerked a thumb at his mentor and said, "Harlen showed me from a book." His face was so bright and guileless. "He said that you were going to be staying a while yet, and would need a place to practice your faith." Then his smile widened more, which was impressive, indeed. "So I built one."
She wiped a wayward tear from her eye and walked to stand in front of the youth. It always amazed her how large humans are. This boy, not even beginning, yet, his final growth to manhood, stood as tall as she, and even more broadly built. She put her arms around him in a mighty hug, and he squirmed, but hugged her back. "You are a wonderful man." She said to him as she pressed her head to his shoulder. Her eyes were on Harlen, and her lips near Trevir's ear. Both knew it was him being complimented and they both beamed.
She looked at it some more, fussing over some of the details he had put within it, and pointing out one small mistake which Trevir immediately went to run for tools to fix. As the house's door slammed she said. "How did you know I was missing my practices?" She asked Harlen. "I had not mentioned them."
He shrugged. "I would be, were I in Windir." He replied. "So, I figured you missed yours, and borrowed a book from one of my friends that had a picture of a shrine, the book said elves were inclined to pray at such, and I let the nimblest hands I control take over from there." He said, grinning as the lad bolted from the house with a small hammer and saw in his hands.
After he finished, she declared it now perfect, and promised she would use it very soon. Trevir was beside himself and asked when that might be.
She looked at him seriously. "Do you wish to participate?" She asked him.
He looked at Harlen for guidance. His mentor smiled and nodded, then Trevir repeated the gesture, grinning. Then he stopped. "It's not unclad, is it?" He asked, looking frightened.
She giggled at that. "No, Trevir. It is a clothed thing. Only boys birthdays are cause for the boy going unclad to the altar." Then she broke into full laughter as a look of utter dismay crossed his face.
"B...Birthdays?" He asked. "Why would they do that?"
She straightened up her face and said, with an almost serious expression. "Because everyone needs to see how he is coming along. Whether he is growing up to be a strong and healthy lad." She looked him over appraisingly. Trevir seemed very glad his birthday had just passed.
Trevir excused himself, saying that it was time to go buy the day's consumables, then ran off. Harlen looked at Hyandai suspiciously. "Do they really make boys come to the altar on their birthday unclad?" He asked.
She nodded. "Indeed, they do." She said. Then she smiled widely. "Actually, all ceremonies are traditionally skyclad, but it is not utterly required." She grinned at him. "I will keep my clothes on for poor Trevir, he has had enough surprises from me."
As they walked back to the house. "I sure wish an elven woman had 'surprised' me a few times as I grew up." Harlen murmured.
They entered the house again, and none too soon, as they sky began to fall again as they walked from the yard. Harlen declared he needed to speak to Tammer, and Hyandai begged tiredness and went to nap a bit in their massive bed, so he left off alone. As he walked the graveled road, the rain spattering off his oilskin poncho, he realized that they did not part company much at all, and he did not mind that with her. He smiled back at the house, and was already wanting to go back and be with Hyandai. He fought that urge and went on toward the core of the village. He had things to discuss with his old mentor, and they were best discussed during the day, when the tavern would be very sparsely populated.
"Ho, Harlen." Said the old man as he entered. "Back so soon?" He added, slamming down a large mug of beer in front of him as he sat at a stool.
He nodded. "Yes, Tammer, my old friend and master." He said, trying to sound respectful.
Tammer laughed. "Old, undoubtedly; friend, definately; but I hear few can master you these days, and your hunting skills are now regarded highly, indeed."
Harlen shrugged. "So they say, but I was bested by a mere few orcs, and Hyandai suffered for it most grievously." He watched the old man pull up a stool to his side of the bar.
"Don't be so rough on yourself, lad." He said, smiling at the hunter. "Orcs are not to be trifled with, they're powerful, cunning, and tough." He said. "I'd not cross one if I could help it. Besides, a good huntsman is not necessarily a good man of war." He looked serious now. "Fighting foes like orcs is a very different skill to killing a wild boar, or even a mountain bear."
Harlen agreed with a nod.
"But, something tells me you're not here to talk hunting with me, lest it be something about bringing down a wild elf." Tammer said.
Harlen nodded again. "There you have it, my friend." He said. "Exactly what I came to you to ask about."
The old man laughed. "Then out with it, lad. I've not all day to answer sad heart questions." He then added, "Also, be careful with my advise. Note that I do not have an elven bride on my arm this day, so my skill with the fair folk, especially the fair sex among them is suspect."
Harlen nodded. "I wanted to ask about the 'fey.'"
Tammer nodded slowly. "Told you about that, has she?" He asked. "She is decided on her part, then."
The hunter nodded. "I thought it might be something they didn't share with just anyone." He said.
"Well, lad," Said the old man, "Unless her fey is war, you're in good shape, relatively speaking."
Harlen chuckled. "No, it's far from war." He said, smiling.
Tammer leaned in conspiratorially. "Her sister's fey was thievery, if you can believe that." He said. "I spent most of my money paying for stuff she filched in those days." He looked at Harlen. "If you know her fey, then you know what to expect, though, and I was always ready with a quick word and a quicker purse when she would get cought."
Harlen looked down at his half full mug. "If only Hyandai's was so simple to work with."
The old man nodded. "I will not ask you, Harlen, what it might be, for some are rather embarrassing to bear." He said. "But know that it is core to her, and without it she would not be who she is." He grinned widely. "But I think I know what it is, for her behavior marks her with it. Her sister gave me no kiss by proxy." He said, smiling. "Her fey is love, lust, or romance, or I'm a wet-eared whelp."
Harlen nodded. "But it is just how she is then." He said. "Then I don't want to do anything about it, including make her behave against its nature."
Tammer's hand laid on his own on the counter. "It'd be like her asking you to stop being a man and wear a dress and squeeze out pups." He grinned widely again. "And, by the One, I'll shoot you myself if I see you in a dress."
The hunter finished his beer, and payed Tammer despite his protests. He took his leave of his old friend, and headed back for his home. On the way he stopped to speak to a couple of the other hunters who were in town trading, they stood together under a porch that ran the front of one of the general goods stores, and they discussed more of the events and of how the orcs had grown more bold of late. It was decided that they would soon send an envoy to the duke to petition him to spare some troops to 'thin the herd.'
He arrived home just before the evening meal time, and smelled venison cooking, and vegetables, maybe squash, being boiled. He walked toward the kitchen to find Hyandai there, wearing an apron about her waist. His heart nearly burst at that image of domestic normalcy. "Did you and Tammer have a good talk?" She asked, smiling at him and stirring the small pot of squash.
"Indeed, we did." He replied, putting his arms about her from behind and kissing her neck. She wriggled in his grip, but did not protest, or try to move. "I don't wish to turn you into a normal housewife, my lover, but by the One, you look marvelous in that apron." He whispered into her ear.
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LADIES IN NUDE
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LADIES IN NUDE
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