You and me (N'all)

[Min]

The 10th day of the Winter season, 512 It had been quite a day, and Min felt inclined to unwind a bit over some sort of alcoholic beverage. A co-worker at the spa had given her directions to a tavern and she had made her way there after her work at the Soothing Waters was done. In Taloba, Min had never felt much of a compulsion to frequent the ‘watering holes’ in search of either getting buzzed or for companionship – of any variety. But on the other hand, she wasn’t averse to doing so now, when she had no other social outlets here in a city where she knew almost no-one. She had some feeling that knowing more about humans might well prove useful, in one way or another. Even if that should prove not to be the case, she was interested, in a clinical kind of way, of learning more about human behavior. To date, she had formed the opinion that the males were even less bold than their Myrian counterparts, and in her culture, of course, males were already deemed slightly inferior to the females – who were the leaders of all aspects of Myrian society. After all, their queen – their goddess – was a female, and did that not prove that females were meant to be in charge? She had been stunned to see that here in Syliras that seemed not to be the case. Oh, she had been told that this was so. But it still had been a bit hard to stomach to actually see the way men in this city treated the women – almost like slaves, or possessions! Still, as always, Min reminded herself that she was here to watch and listen and learn, and so she bit back her words again and again. She was beginning to feel as if she might bite her own tongue clean through by the time she left this place. However, she was nothing, if not disciplined. So she entered the tavern with assurance and no sign of timidity or bashfulness. Scanning the room, she went up to the bar counter and ordered a cup of ale*. Taking it up when the server brought it, she turned and looked about. Most of the tables had at least one person sat at them. Many had two or three or more. She didn't spot a single one that was empty, but she wasn't shy - not at all. At one table, a dark haired young man sat, fairly well encased in a grey cloak. He didn't appear to look like he especially wanted any company. Perhaps it was with a bit of perverse amusement that for that reason, Min headed to his table. "This place is packed," she observed, raising one eyebrow. "Mind if I join you?" *deducted 1 sm from ledger

[N'all Rivent]

N'all sat a table in the corner of the tavern, thinking of what to write in his journal as he studied his table. He hadn't had anything to write about for a few weeks, something that rarely happens, and it was starting to get to him.

He was looking at a particularly interesting segment of the table when a tan woman approached his table. "This place is packed," she said. "People do enjoy their ale," he replied as he reclined in his seat. "Not at all," N'all said after she asked to join him, a rare occurrence seeing as N'all was usually surrounded by the calm and eerily silent fog of loneliness. His life wasn't very social.

He wondered why anyone would want to sit with a gray cloak covered loner, but he didn't complain. Whatever possessed this woman to join him couldn't be that bad, he hoped.

[Min]

Min had barely waited for the young man to acquiesce to her request, and was quickly seated, choosing the chair next to him and not across as might have been expected. He had made one brief comment about those who came to drink, as the obvious reason that the tavern was full up. Min wrinkled her nose in contempt as she looked down into her own cup. “It tastes like I would imagine rat urine would. Is ale a popular drink here, in your city?” She had no idea if this was actually the man’s place of residence. Unlike Taloba, Syliras welcomed travelers from all over the world, and the young man could well be from some other place entirely. But Min assumed that if this were the case, he would soon correct her.

[N'all Rivent]

"Rat urine may test better," he said as he thought of the flavor of ale, a taste he wasn't very fond of. "Certainly seems like it," he replied as he looked at the many cups that littered most of the tables. "I wouldn't know," he said, "I've only been here for a week or two, still debating whether or not to stay."

He looked at the woman wondering where she was from for a moment before deciding to ask."Are you from around here," he questioned, slightly raising one of his eyebrows.

[Min]

Min pushed the cup of ale from her with a little expression of disdain, saying, “No. I am from Taloba, where we drink kallu – it is…” She pondered, wondering how to explain a wine made of fermented sap from the date palm tree. But her vocabulary wasn’t sufficient. “It is a drink, from the juice – of a tree. Dates.” Her brow puckered in vexation at not knowing the words she needed, and she made a note to self to somehow become more fluent in the Common tongue. She could not do that this very minute though, so she turned her attention back to her companion. The obvious question was, “You are from where?” She tacked on, “You are human?” with a bit of a lifted eyebrow, as if she questioned something he had not even yet asserted. Was it rude to ask a stranger their race? Well, she was Myrian, and they were not the most polite people in the world.

[N'all Rivent]

"I'm from, well, I don't remember the name," he thought hard for a moment, trying to think of what his home town looked like. "Some small town in the middle of nowhere, that's all I remember, my memories not that good." He stared at the table for a second, realizing that he hadn't thought about his old home for a long while. He hadn't tried not to think about it, he just hadn't.

He looked up focusing on the other question. "Im Kelvic," he replied in a monotone voice, "A crow to be exact", he looked at the table, his brow slightly furrowing. "I don't remember much from my past except for my foster dad and what he taught me," he said, "Just felt like I should share that." He looked across the table, his expression changing back to a blank emotionless stare, watching what everyone else in the tavern was doing.

[Min]

Min’s brow furrowed at her table mate’s reply, and her eyes narrowed as she gave him a sharp look. But she held her tongue, for the moment, and listened, thinking at the same time. If his memory was that bad, perhaps he had suffered a head injury? Even being Kelvic would not have made for such a lack as this young man seemed to have in his memories. Perhaps he had been traumatized in some other way? It happened – a shock of horrific proportions, or chronic exposure to traumatic situations could cause all sorts of problems for the brain’s functions. She tilted her head to the side a bit, watching him and wondering what could account for this lapse. “That is strange,” she said, bluntly. “Most people know where they come from. Do you remember why you left your home? Or why you are here, in this city?” She leaned forward, coming closer to him. “Do you know your name, crow?”

[N'all Rivent]

"Of course I know my name, my name is N'all," he replied looking at the woman as he sifted through the right and wrong answers in his head. "I left because my "father" died, I took what he left me and ran away," he said his eyes wandering towards the center of the table. He remembered the day he left, one of the few crystal clear memories he had.

"I wandered around for a bit, not knowing where I was going," he said in a slow slightly wavering voice, "I passed through a few settlements and then ended up here." He looked up turning his head towards the woman, "I guess I have no reason for being here." He hadn't thought of why he was here, he had just stopped here for some reason.

[Min]

Min looked at the young man with frank curiosity. What he was saying was not normal, and being a healer, she was intrigued, and sympathetic too. This man, N’all, he seemed…lost – in more ways than one. The Myrian put out her hand and her long, slender fingers lightly touched the sleeve of his shirt where his arm rested on the table. “N’all, what you tell me – it is not right. You should have more memories. Have you been in a fight? Did you hit your head?” Min paused a moment, and asked, “Did you fly here? Or did you walk to Syliras?”

[N'all Rivent]

"I've never had anything like that happen in life," he said as he looked through his memories finding most to be faded except for a few clear ones. He hadn't looked back on his memories much, now that he did he realized how much of it was missing. "I rode here," he replied raising his hands and putting them together in front of his chin, leaning slightly forward as he did so.

He wondered why this woman was so concerned, at least as far as he could tell she was. He sat thinking for a minute before realizing he didn't know her name. "What is your name," he said turning his head and eyes slightly so that he was looking at her.