The Trouble With Bears...

[Kelski]

Timestamp: Early Winter, 514 A.V.

Kelski was often lonely. Sometimes she was fine with the condition, but often times her loneliness drove her into the city and into the places where people converged. One of her favorite places was The Scholar's Demise. The place was clean, cavernous, and often had artists that preformed music, dance, and her favorite thing; storytelling. Usually she just watched, bright eyed and interested as life happened around her. She'd find a quiet corner where she could hear well, then lean in and listen. The woman had developed a fine taste in wine and she usually ordered a glass and sipped at it, sometimes even adding one of The Scholar's Demise' Meals which weren't half bad.

Today there was supposed to be a storyteller of some repute in the building. She'd shown up early, ordered wine, and had a basket of some sort potatoes and pieces of fried fish in front of her. Kelski wasn't sure what the food was called, but she liked it. Munching on the potatoes, she watched the Demise fill up and the storyteller take the stage. She leaned forward when he started, and looked on eagerly knowing within the first few lines of the story that it would be a good one.

"Most people don't know this about bears... but they have unusual talents. Those huge snouts they have hold even larger noses. And with those noses, they have an almost arcane ability to sniff out precious metals and gems. It's one of the closest guarded secrets of bears. And the story I'm about to tell you is about a boy, a bear, and how the boy discovered a certain very talented bears stash of gold and the antics that followed." The storyteller said, introducing his story and rising up off his stool which had been his perch for the last few moments while he was waiting to begin. Kelski tilted her head, interested, not only because this was a tale about animals, but it seemed a tale about a boy too.

This storyteller Kelski knew she was going to like. He had brought props in the form of a large felted bear and a smaller felted figure - both looking like dolls - to aid in the story. Kelski leaned closer, picking up a piece of her fish to nibble on and noticing that the Scholar's Demise was getting rather crowded. It was so crowded in fact that people were having to double up tables. Before long, she was worried, someone would be asking her to share. She was glad her table was somewhat private, off to the side, though it still had a good view and was within good hearing of the storyteller who continued his tale.

The bard held the felted bear doll aloft and continued his introduction.

"This bear, you see, was very old and had been hording his gold and jewel finds for years. Rumor had it that his stash took up the entire inside of a cavern and that he made his winter bed smack dab in the middle of it. Gold you see has a special secret to bears. It sings to them, deep in their blood, like the best love song or the saddest ballad you've ever heard. To them, the smell and the music of the metal and gemstones are addicting." The bard continued, his voice echoing out into The Scholar's Demise.

He went on, describing the bear's lair, his winter home, and how in trade off of the nose and the music, bears had to sleep through the winter months. It was a wholly magical tale to Kelski, one she'd grown enthralled at as the opening lines of the tale unfolded. And while she didn't know about the bears exactly sleeping, she did realize suddenly she hadn't seen any since fall. In her mind that lent the storyteller credibility.

Then, with the bear fully introduced, he traded the felted bear for the felted boy doll and began speaking about the boy. The boy, of course, was no ordinary soul.

[Estlin Holde]

Estlin Holde Estlin found that Lhavit wasn't simply a city, it was an experience. From the dense forests to the misty peaks, Lhavit was entirely individual and exotic. The people of Lhavit were even more so, and Estlin found himself spending more and more time in the city its self, rather than on the waves below. Today he was in the Scholars Demise, a homely tavern not so unlike those he had encountered before. The Tavern was packed, which seemed odd this early in the day, but Estlin was coming to accept the oddities of Lhavit as they were. It was apparent that it wasn't only the good food and drink that drew patrons at this hour, but also free entertainment; a story teller had set up shop, as many bards do, in the Scholar's main room. Ordering a drink, Estlin found himself lucky enough to have entered near the beginning of a tale. Carefully holding his glass, the Svefra weaved his way through the occupied tables, looking for somewhere to sit with a good view. As a Svefra and sailor, Estlin greatly enjoyed hearing stories. So when an opportunity like this was presented to him, he took it with the eagerness of a child. Finding a good place to hear and watch from was a challenge; he kept getting pushed and pulled away from the bard. Because of this, it was difficult to follow the beginning of the story, though he caught the gist of it. Finally he spied an empty seat and almost fell onto it, barely managing to keep his drink from sloshing out of its glass. A moment after his ungraceful landing he realized he wasn't alone at the table. He looked down into steel gray eyes, and blinked a few times as his brain caught up with him. "Oh, sorry, was this seat taken? Do you mind if I sit here?" He asked in an intentional Svefra accent, setting his glass of beer down and running a hand through his already ruffled hair. The story continued, and Estlin was pleased that he could now see and hear the story unfold. "...The boys name is lost in time, as you see this story is as ancient as bears and men. What the story tells of him, though, is that he was a great explorer and adventurer, perhaps even a wizard. This boy was also born with a special gift; he could speak with beasts and reason with them; some say that he once got a serpent to tie its self in a knot, though that is a story for another time..." While the storyteller continued, Estlin took a moment to take a closer look at his chance companion: Long black and white hair framed a pale face with full lips and piercing eyes. The woman was stunning; she was also the sort of unusual person he had grown to expect in Lhavit. Though, as he watched her out of the corner of his eye, Estlin noted that she stood out from the throng of people. Her bearing was different, as well as her coloring. Estlin hated to interrupt the rapt attention to the story, but he still felt a tad rude. He also couldn't keep his mouth shut for very long. "Ahem," he said, unintentionally being rude once more, "I'm Estlin."

[Kelski]

Kelski looked up and met a set of curiously intelligent eyes. Her gaze traveled down, past his shoulders and arms to his hands, noting they looked like a working person’s hands, rough with callouses and marred by the use of them. She liked that. They reminded her of her own hands. Kelski was always suspicious of folks with smooth hands, smooth faces, and smiles that didn’t light up their eyes. She didn’t mind that he was ungraceful, and awkward in his landing. He made her smile at that, something warm and welcoming, because he didn’t manage to drench her in beer and because he asked before he got himself too comfortable.

“No, of course not. I suspect it would be glad to have you make use of it. I know I would not mind the company at all.” Kelski said, doing what she thought was right as she pushed what remained of her fish and fried potatoes towards him. She had no liquor either in the form of wine or a beer. Instead a tall glass of water sat by her right elbow, its crystalline form sweating slightly in the warm air.

It was dark in the club, so Kelski couldn’t quite decide if his hair was black or simply a very dark brown. Sea Eagles weren’t known for their night vision and evidently neither were humans. “If you are hungry….” She said, nudging the basket of food and taking another fried potato from it. The kelvic nibbled on it and glanced at the storyteller, adjusting her seat so that Estlin could sit where he could see just as easily as she could.

Grey eyes. Kelski wondered at them, noting the obvious fact that he probably wouldn’t have been accepted into her family either. But he seemed to not suffer any because his clothes were well made and his body fleshed out. No one would call him heavy, but he looked like he had a big frame, something that was uncommon among the Lhavitians who tended to run on the small side.

He gave her his name, another surprise, and Kelski smiled in return. “Estlin?” She mused for a second before she nodded. It was his name. The kelvic almost flushed. She should be better at strangers than this now. “I’m Kelski. You are welcome to sit here. The storyteller is good. A bear and a boy right?” She said then lifted her chin and nodded towards the storyteller. He continued on with his tale.

“And because the boy could hear bears and talk with him, it wasn’t a surprise that he could also hear the music of the gold as the bears heard it. He never would have, you see, except that one day he was out hunting in the woods and walked past a bear den. He would have never known it was a den, save that he could hear the slumbering bear – its dreams as it slept – and the song of the gold the bear rested on The boy stopped at his hunting then, and simply leaned on his bow. He gazed into the distance listening to the dreams of the bear and the song of the gold. He didn’t know that the song came from gold, of course, but he was a courageous boy and wanted to indeed see what made the music.” The storyteller said, smiling at the crowd and pausing briefly.

“Have you ever heard such a tale? Bears and gold and boys that could hear their thoughts like worlds?" Kelski asked the newcomer, somewhat charmed at the idea of bears hoarding gold and the gold singing to them. “I would love to see such a thing….. hear it too…” She whispered to the man at the table.

[Estlin Holde]

Estlin Holde "A bear and a boy..." Estlin repeated, sounding both intrigued and mystified. He kept one ear and eye turned to the storyteller. It was an adventurous story, and he had in fact heard a tale like it, somewhere. Estlin could faintly recall a story where a bear cub had swallowed a gold cup and several huntsmen chased it through the wilderness. He hoped this story had a better ending than that one had. He took a fried potato. Gripping it delicately between two fingers, he nodded graciously to Kelski in thanks. "He is quite good. Good storyteller's can be hard to find, though I suppose in a place like this they're as common as..." He tried to think of something common in Lhavit. "Common as statues." It was an eccentric comparison, but Estlin had been called eccentric before; he had been called a lot of things before, many of which he didn't care to think about, but eccentric was fine. He was sadly not eccentric enough to understand bears, or gold. Those would be magnificent abilities though. "Aye, the adventure too. Nothin' like a good adventure." He said, a little to loud. A woman at a near table glared at him. He ducked his head to avoid her gaze and returned to watching the show. Estlin's had his fair share of adventures, and something made him feel that his companion here had had a few as well. Her name sounded unusual yet familiar. Kelski seemed like a wild, adventurous name; as rough or calm as the sea; a Svefra name. He met her pale gray eyes again. It was a relief and a disappointment that she wasn't of his people, but she did somehow feel like kin. "Kelski," he said in a rough Svefra accent, trying out her name as she had his. "I have heard a lot of stories, and one did involve bears and gold. I'm sure its a coincidence though, theres no other similarities." Probably a coincidence, right? The story continued and the storyteller gradually raised the volume of his voice for impact. "The boy ventured into the den, where it was very dark. It was cold as well, and the boy shivered, but went on, deeper, the song of gold singing to him. He entered an almost dream-like state in the cave; the deeper he went the louder the bears dreams became. He felt the bears muscular power, its deep breathing resonating through the cave, and through the boy. For a few bells in that cave, it was as if the boy and the bear were one, they shared a dream, though the bear didn't know it. As the boy entered the cavern of the bears den, the bear shifted in its sleep, scattering gold and silver kinas across the floor. The boy knelt, still almost in a dream, and picked a piece up; it was real and it sang to him. He looked up and the bears vast hoard of treasure, stored for many seasons, lay before him. Then the bears dream ended." Estlin waited as the storyteller paused for dramatic effect, his hands raised above his head holding the bear and the boy. "What happens next?" He asked himself quietly, then turned and asked of Kelski: "Have you heard this story before?"