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Date Posted: 12:42:50 01/09/02 Wed
Author: Rowan
Subject: A little off balance
In reply to: Marz and co. 's message, "Makeup artists" on 10:03:14 01/09/02 Wed

When Erlic mentioned assassins and shado in the same sentence, Rowan felt himself stiffen slightly. There had always been those back home who had referred to his kind as assassins, those who thought little of the ways, that is. Many argued that the shado had lost touch with all their religious purposes and now played solely in the hands of the High Consul and his nobles.

Rubbish, Rowan always argued. Weren’t their abilities god-touched, their ancient practices divinely inspired? Yes, they killed, killed the enemies of the people, who were pointed out by the High Consul, son of an ancient lineage installed by the gods themselves. They were not simply assassins.

It became obvious, however, that Erlic was merely searching for the full extent of his abilities, whatever they may be, so that he might better understand how the enemy might be combated. Rowan relaxed somewhat, laughing inwardly at himself for tensing up in the first place. He wasn’t at home, anymore. Things were different here, and he was with a new group of people, people who needed his talents. Not revolutionaries, who only wanted his name, or the members of the Order, who had never quite taken him seriously, but good people, his fellow adventurers, his friends.

Unfortunately, the truth was that Rowan was not allowed to practice shado arts during outside situations. Your inner strength was put there by the gods, he remembered Jaeger instructing him, And thus should only be used in their defense. Funny how a person can twist the meaning of words to suit himself, he mused, thinking of how his own master had turned traitor not long afterward.

Of course, Rowan tried to do the right thing, but sometimes he couldn’t help it if things just happened. After all, he had only reached jantu, the apprentice level, and then the revolution had struck, leaving him and his sister homeless and on the run. Since he’d never actually completed the training, he figured it was okay to break the rules every now and then. There were times when he found himself in a heap of trouble and couldn’t help it if the power leaked out and helped him keep his head on his shoulders. Maybe he’d end up going to hell for it, but at least he was going to try and stay alive as long as he possibly could!

He was about to open his mouth and tell Erlic everything, about how he couldn’t help him, not like he imagined, but at that moment that Jann sheik appeared, announcing his decision to assist them on their search for the branches. Rowan’s eyes lit up with joy at the description of Twilight, city of jewels, and the “vaults heaped with treasures.” Where was Tia? He turned and tried to catch her eye, but she wasn’t looking in his direction.

Most of what else the sheik was saying went right through one ear and out the other as visions of sparkling grandeur flashed before his slightly unfocused eyes. During his exile, Rowan had finally learned the true value of money, and now he, like most thieves, nearly keeled over from excitement at the mere thought of such luxuriant riches ripe for the taking. No doubt there would be guards and all sorts of magical booby traps set to veer treasure hunters from their course, but he thought that would only make the task that much more fun.

Once the sheik finally finished speaking, it became apparent that Erlic was, as well. Ravin appeared to drag the man away, leaving Rowan to ponder his sudden interest in his past profession. Clearly, Erlic was under the impression that being shado implied some knowledge of the art of professional killing. Obviously, in some ways that was true. In fact, Rowan had been hired out as an assassin, once he’d fled his homeland and learned to live among the humans. But he would still have to tell Erlic that it was simply beyond him to use his own god-touched powers for personal interest.

Yet still, that same nagging thought continued to nip at the back of his head: He wasn’t at home, anymore.

He was shaken from his musings by Tia, who suddenly appeared from nowhere to wrap her arms around him. “I can see! I can see!” she was singing, and he gladly embraced her back, a huge smile replacing the contemplative frown on his face. He was rather shocked when she stood on tiptoe and actually kissed him on the mouth—for one instant, he was again caught by the memory of the first time they’d met, when she’d plopped down into his lap and pretended to be his lover to escape notice. A second later, the moment was broken, and she pulled back, her cheeks turning slightly pink.

She apologized quickly while he continued to stare down wonderingly at her, trying to understand why she suddenly seemed so flustered. Next thing he knew, she was mentioning something about where to find Jeremy, though he didn’t remember asking for the kid’s whereabouts.

“Jeremy?” he asked, snapping out of his daze to give her a funny look. “Why the hell should I care where he is?” The confused look on her face troubled him, making him feel bad for throwing her off when she was apparently just trying to be helpful.

“Sorry,” he said, echoing her earlier apology. Now his wistful expression matched hers, and they just both sort of stood there, staring at each other for no particular reason. “Didn’t mean to bite your head off. I mean I, uh…I just….”

Come on, Silvertree! he screamed at himself, Pull your brains out from under your ass and start thinking again! He scratched his head, feeling somewhat confused, and wondered if she wasn’t accidentally employing some of that nymph magic of hers. Yeah, that had to be why his stomach felt kind of queasy right now. He sure as hell couldn’t be nervous!

He actually laughed aloud at the very thought, drawing an even more bewildered look from Tia. “Sorry,” he said again, then he winced, because now he was starting to sound like an idiot. “See, that’s what happens when you go and kiss me like that.” He laughed again. “Guess that’s what I get for making friends with a nymph.”

Oh, real smooth, hotstuff! his inner voice screamed, and he groaned at the humiliated expression on Tia’s face. He remembered that she sometimes felt bad about what her nymph powers did to men, and he hastened to reassure her.

“No, no,” he said quickly, “I mean, it’s a good thing, I swear, a really, really good thing!” He walked up to her and took one of her hands in his, bending down to give her a kiss on the cheek. “I like kissing you, Tia. Hell, I thought you were the one who didn’t like kissing me.”

There was a moderately uncomfortable silence for a few seconds, before he cleared his throat a little. “Ahh, want to go for a walk or something? Just you and me?” Well that sounded dumb, since they couldn’t really leave the perimeter of the camp due to the assassins. “I mean, you know, scope out this genie camp,” he amended, “See if it’s got anything interesting to offer a couple of inquiring sets of hands.”

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Replies:

  • Finally losing it -- Tristan, 14:02:03 01/09/02 Wed
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