"So you're saying you went hunting...and all you came back with is a single rabbit?" Tiberius asked Thokk, smiling widely as they rode down the trail towards Icewatch. The morning air was chilly and a light fog could be seen as they exhaled.
Thokk rolled his eyes, "Yes..yes ok, I wasn't successful. What do you want?" He snapped, with a little more heat than he intended.
Tiberius had more to say, but he let silence fall between them rather than pursue it for now. Eyes forward he began scanning the trail for any signs of life having passed by recently and as always, any sort of danger. Nothing moved save small animals startled by their passage and soon the human found his mind wandering. Dark thoughts began to creep in, images of dead faces and battle-scenes played out before his vision before he angrily forced them back into his memories. His face set in stoic disinterest, Tiberius kept his mind on the road and refused the ghosts of memories entry into his thoughts again.
A splash as the horses hooves hit soft marshy ground drove the party out of their silent revere. The base of the mountain long behind them, a cold wet swamp now lay between the group and their goal. Seeing a wooden boardwalk built into the ground nearby, spanning the brackish water, the party quickly dismounted and began walking down the blessedly solid trail.
Raven lowered her hood, the thick fog blocking the weak sunlight filtering through the tree tops. She felt the cool moist air on her face and smiled, it was always nice to be so free in the daytime, she hated that part of her nature the most. Not being able to see or feel the sun without pain was something that had haunted her all of her life. Her father had understood. His vampiric heritage made it impossible for him to be in the light of the sun for any length of time. He encouraged his daughter to endure it as much as she could so that she could see the world bathed in golden rays and not always in darkness and shadow. Remembering her father made her smile, his kind eyes had always made her feel better. The hollow ache of his loss then rose up in her throat threatening to choke her with emotion. Savagely she pulled her hood back up to hide her face from her companions and she fell back to the rear of the party noticed only by Aila.
Cirrus drew in a deep breath and instantly regretted it, the thick sludgy air smelled of rotting wood and fish. He stopped breathing to avoid the smell, an ability he'd learned as a child when he'd fallen in the river. The water tumbled him over and over, he was unable to swim to the surface. He knew he was going to drown...but he didn't. The breath he held he managed to hold for the several minutes it took for his mother to fish him out of the water downstream. Her tear streaked face told him she'd been afraid for her son's life as well and the severity of her hug showed him how happy she was that he was alright. Her wide dwarven face had been bathed in sunlight as she finally pulled him back and looked him in the eyes. She had smiled and Cirrus remembered her hair caught the light and looked angelic as she lightly scolded him for scaring her like that. He found himself smiling at the memory and a wave of homesickness washed over him. How he missed her...it had been just the two of them for his entire life. But he was enjoying his new path, and she was proud of him. He knew it. Pushing through the homesickness, he found his spirits lifted by the sight of a few crudely made buildings ahead, marking the edge of a small fishing village.
Two elven children, dirty from playing in the mud, approached the group. Their pointed ears seemed almost too big for their heads, their eyes wide with curiosity at the appearance of such an odd band of travelers. The older of the two, a young boy seemingly around the age of 6 took a step towards Tiberius who was chewing on his ever-present cigar. He examined the big man's armor, weapons and features with saphire blue eyes, his sister peeking out from behind him as he did so.
"What do you want kid?" Tiberius asked through teeth clamped around the end of the cigar. He leaned down, making eye contact with the tiny elven boy.
