Welcome to Gaia! ::

Vince nodded knowingly before putting down his carving. The chunk of wood had turned into a detailed wooden dragon. It would be impossible to tell from the real thing, if it wasn't for it's color and size. After setting the carving at his feet, he started search his bag, eventually ending up with a few small bottles of paint in a rolled up cloth case, with a brush included. Very carefully, Vince began to paint his creation, starting with the general, crimson color of the body. "I guess I should share then too, huh? My name is Vince. I was raised in this city by my mother..... I never knew my father, since he left before I was even born. My mother was a merchant, so when she died.... I started to run the shop, which is just a small stall really. She also taught me how to carve things, since it's mainly what we sell and trade, and some blacksmiths trade with us for them, giving us metal objects to sell. She was killed last year by a raiding party when she tried to take our goods to another town in person...... I've been by myself since then." Vince put the crimson paint away and started to paint the finer details, switching paints often to get the right shade. The grass was turning all sorts of colors from the paint he wiped off his brush. "Sorry, I didn't mean to rant."

Curbing her curiosity for the moment, Alicia smiled brilliantly at the half-elf in response to the complement on her dancing. She really loved to dance! Lionel had taught her when she was eight-- she stood on his feet while he did all the real work. She danced herself over to Vince and did one more twirl, gracefully falling to the ground in the process. Looking down at what he was working on, she gave a low whistle.

"That is so beautiful! You say your mother taught you? It's amazing!" She then looked up at the half-elf... and realized that she still didn't know what her name was. "What is your name, by the way? And you know Eldalie? If we have time, you'll teach me more, right?"

Then her curiosity got the better of her and she turned back. "Okay, Acolyte Maerye. I'll take the bait! Where is this sacred place and why are we going to save the world? And... this world? You know you're implying that there's more than one, right?"

Lendelea shook her head sadly. “Only enough to pass for a, light conversation. I have much to learn,” Lendelea said in response to Alicia’s question. Her next question also caught her attention, what was it they were supposed to do all together? This was something that needed to be answered… “Perhaps it would be better to answer that question when the others arrive?” Lendelea asked scanning the few people milling about the temple like themselves, no one seemed to be paying any notice to the small group up front.

"You aren't telling us anything else are you? At least not until the others, whoever they are, get here, right?" Alicia stood and stretched. She didn't wait for an answer before she reached up and grabbed a low-hanging branch from the tree. As she hauled herself up into the leaves, some loose twigs fell. She looked down and saw that one of the rather heavier ones only just missed the carving of the dragon. Oops, that was close! she thought with a wince.

She continued to go higher in the tree, branches occasionally tugging at her clothes or scratching her legs, but she didn't mind. It was like that until she reached the top, where she sat in a V where two of the top-most branched met. She then took the half-eaten apple out of her hip pack, where she'd put it half-way through her climb, and looked around. Her eyes widened.

"Wow! You guys should really see this! You can see the whole city and palace from here! And the woods outside the city walls!" If she squinted, she could make out what looked like the pointed top of a building. Frowning, Alicia called down, "Hey! I still don't know your name, so I'm just going to call you Mellon for now. Anyway, Mellon, elves' eyesight is better than humans' right? Could you come up here and look at something?"

Maerye didn't move, smiling. It wasn't like she could see it anyway. "Or I just wanted you to find it for yourself."

She stood up, though, after she had spoken, straightening her robes. "We'll depart soon enough. We'll first recieve a blessing from the priest here, after we get a chance to regroup and find all of the outcasts." She said the word as if it held a different meaning for her, and punctuated it with a smile.

"There's so much you can learn, if you just seek the knowledge yourself..."

"Oh, yes," Lendelea gave Alicia a sheepish grin. "I was thinking of the ah... English word for it." Lendelea gazed at the tower in puzzlement.
"Is it abandoned?" She asked looking closer and leaning forward slightly in the trees nearly making her fall off if it weren't for the fact that her legs held tightly to the branches. "Because it seems that someone is climbing down on a rope from the tower... and there are soldiers headed this way as well!" Lendelea gasped in fright. They didn't look like friendly soldiers at all! Quickly she grabbed a branch, did a neat flip, and landed soundly on the ground so she could grab her bow and arrows made specially for long distant shoots. "Just in case worse comes to worse..." She thought with unease.

Vince grinned and slipped the small dragon into the bag at his side before grabbing the staff from the one on his back. He twirled it in the air, clearly used to useing such weapons. "The balance is a little different than what I'm used to, but I guess it'll have to do, won't it? I don't seem to have a sword with me, after all........" He let the staff point towards the ground, hopeing that at the very least they would mistake him for a cripple or something else. "Hey, about how many soldiers are there?"

Vince nodded, but kept out his staff. "Ya, I don't guess the odds are favorable, are they? Better alive than dead from a pointless battle, I guess. Sides, I don't have a favorable weapon on me......" Vince turned towards the temple and slowly begain the walk to the temple doors.

((Sorry, not much else to post....))