Journal Entry #85: The child from Jatta [Text RP]

It seemed much the same affair as any other when the group found respite, each splintering off into their smaller groups through which they found comfort. Perhaps then it was odd for Aniks when Burdyr, of all people, would approach him; And not alone. Walking hand-in-hand with him was the small, snow-elven child, and Talindë flanking at his other side. When the dwarf spoke, he leant down just slightly to be closer with the child Azsire, speaking in a quieter tone-- In elvish. "[This one is called Aniks, hm? You must be sure to behave with him now.]" as he rose back upright, he'd meet the drow's gaze. It was dwarvish he spoke this time, and in a far less gentle tone than he had addressed the boy with. "Me an Thalsam have tae discuss something, away from smaller ears. I'm sure yae appreciate the boy cannae be left alone. Would yae watch over him fer us?" he had barely waited for his answer, before ushering Azsire forward. "[This one likes dragons, I hear. Perhaps you could ask him about them?]"
 
In hearing Burdyr’s words a gentle smile had crossed his face. From current and past memories “[It won’t be a problem at all.]” The drow had put up his ink and quill and left the book out to dry. His attention now turned to the small boy known as Azsire being ushered in front of him. The drow, now somewhat on the same level as the child, spoke in Elven “you like dragons?”
 
The child looked up at the dark elf with no small amount of doubt and distrust, tempered only by the encouragement from the two he'd bonded quite quickly with. He frowned. "Atya told me dragons eat people if we wake them up. That's why we have to learn how to be quiet outside, 'cos the dragons and the mountains can't get woken up or it's bad. Why do you like them?" To follow that up, he shot an equally distrustful glance to the two dragons currently wandering around the room; the child seemed to be quite happy to have been kept well away from them.
 
And it was worth noting - the Elvish he used was quite different to that Aniks was familiar with. Different pronunciations, different words. Not as much a problem when speaking with the adult Azsire, but the child - well. There were almost certainly going to be words lost between them.
Talindë's expression could have perhaps been mistaken for amusement. "I suspect you do not yet realise the level of curiosity you deal with. He is aware of his future self - speak with care," he commented in Dwarven. Azsire glanced at all three every time they switched language, aware of the discussions that he couldn't understand and apparently trying to figure out if the words held any meaning, if the curious glint in his eyes was any indicator.
 
Celuriel observed all of this from where she had sat down with a book. She seemed not to care for the idea of getting involved.
“Avariel was born curious wrym, and Alain even more than her. So my kids got me use to extremely curious children.” His dwarven paused for a moment before continuing with a nod to Tal “I will tread carefully with what I say.”
 
Aniks turned to look at the dragons before changing to elven. The drow gave the mini-Azsire’s question some thought before answering and turned to face the small icy elf. “Well I like them because I am raising a dragon as my daughter. My big sister can turn into a huge dragon and few are even my friends, but I have fought dragons that eat people. It is smart to be careful around dragons, especially a sleeping one. Have you ever met one before Azsire?”
 
The distrustful curiousity very swiftly lost its curious edge in favour of horror. The child looked at both Burdyr and Talindë to see if they could explain that better, then when no explanation was immediately forthcoming, shot an immensely suspicious look at the purple elf. "The icecasters make magic ones fky around and the helcëvandar explode them with their súlehtë because that's how you deal with dragons. Because they eat people. Do you eat people too? Is that why you're purple?"
 
Burdyr shot Aniks a glare that yelled what the fuck are you doing in every way except verbally, as he knelt down besides the snow elf. He spoke again in far softer, quiet elvish. "[Some dragons are quite friendly, child. We treat them carefully, yes. But they are as the snow, and winds. Beautiful, sometimes fun, but to be taken with care, mm? I believe this is what Aniks tried to say. The ones in here are just our friends, dressed as dragons.]" He shot the drow another glare at that, before rising.
 
Then, he spoke in tense, but calm dwarven. "He is innocent. Treat him as such an' don't try tae fuckin' scare him, yae damn oaf."
Talindë was at least relieved his partner had stepped in first. "...Perhaps magic would be an easier topic than dragons," he suggested in Elven, managing to excise enough of the tension he wore from his voice that it did not sound too far from normal - all in the name of not upsetting the child.
 
Said child gave the shining dwarf a cautious nod of understanding, and stared back at the drow as if judging him. "...Are your dragon-people why you look weird or is that magic? Some of us are blue but that's different. You're purple-grey-dark. Why?"
That apparently felt safer than dragons, for the minute.
 
Before Aniks could offer his apologies upon seeing the horror cross the child’s face, Burdyr had piped up, and then Talinde. So he listened instead of saying something. Tal had said to speak with care, Aniks just thought it meant avoiding shard topics or his future self. Now that had expanded a fair bit. Then Azsire asked his questions.
 
Nope, lying was the only option with those questions. Anything resembling the truth, even a partial truth, about drow Aniks could tell this young elf would be far worse than dragon talk.
 
“No dragon people or magic, I’m just a dark elf.” Aniks sat down completely, crossing his legs. Palms up, Aniks cast Prestidigitation. Five small very simple painted wooden drow formed in his hand. One was lilac, another deep purple, one a dusky grey like himself, dark blue and indigo. Aniks raised them to Azsire to see “It’s just how my people are.”
 
The child looked at the figures, then back at Aniks. Figures. Aniks. "...My people are snow elves because we live in really snowy places. And the Lady paints us in snow colours so we always look like home. Do your people all live in the dark? With dragons?" It looked like there was another question there, but he was just barely avoiding saying it. Probably because Talindë was there, if the way he looked back at specifically him meant something. Instead, he gave Aniks a surprisingly intense look for a child, and went down a different line of questioning.
 
"...Can you make other cool things with magic too? Like they can? Like big crystals?"
 
“Most live under Istralar’s surface,” Aniks said, placing the magic figurines on the floor between himself and Azsire “in dark cavern cities. Drows see twice as well in the dark, so we never worry about living underground. Others, like myself, live above ground.”
 
Upon placing the last figurine, this one being a Kazric look-alike. Only to look up and be met with an intense look. Leave it to a child to have a soul-piercing stare that could rival Pharasma’s own. Aniks considered Azsire’s latest question for a moment about what cool things he could make. In truth, not much unless he drew on Pharasma’s powers. ”I can shape water and ice into anything if I focus. When I discovered my magic, I unknowingly made a sword a couple of days after.” Aniks gestured to the sheathed sword leaning against a scythe near his wife. ”So a few things, but we might think different things are cool.”
 
With a measure more of confidence in the direction this conversation was going, Burdyr gave the drow a quiet yet firm nod, before looking back to his elf. "I believe that's our cue.." He whispered in dwarven, giving the child a couple assured pats upon his shoulder, as he turned with Talindë to make their exit.
 
"Good luck."
 
Talindë followed his partner's example of giving the child one last assuring touch, and managed a faint smile when Azsire looked back at them before they could leave. "..We will just be outside, if needed," he murmured, and moved to leave.
 
The loss of his guardians seemed to dent Azsire's mood, even with the mention of Aniks's magic. He watched the door close, and seemed to need a moment to gather the threads of his thoughts back together before he turned around with a frown. "...You can do ice magic? But you're not an icecaster. What can you do?? Is the sword ice-magic too?" Another brief pause. "...Why are your people underground? It's dangerous there!! Are they safe 'cos of the dragons?"
 
“Correct, I am not an icecaster.” Aniks said getting up off the floor, and debating on if he should use Pharasma’s Domains. Remembering Skien would like to be annoyed by it, the option seemed more reasonable.
 
Aniks collected a few things and returned to the floor, with Silver across his lap. “I know a few spells that are cold, but nothing fancy, it’s not my specialty. A blizzard here, a flurry icy there, a snowball to throw, and a few other things in a pinch if needed. Silver…” Aniks gestured to the blade in his lap “was not made from ice magic, they claim they were made from my power. I can, however, make the blade super cold though.”
Aniks considered the next part. He had to remember how often he’d seen dragons in the Underdark. Not often. “Hmm… It’s a good question Azsire. We’ve grown accustomed to it, it became easier for us to live underground than on the surface. We might live in a dangerous place, but many of us have learned to defend ourselves against that danger with magic and living in cities. As for those dragons, no. Dragons that protect people, are far more common on the surface and I don’t remember ever seeing one underground.”
 
Children were always unnaturally perceptive at times. Unfortunately for the drow, this was one such time. "Does your sword talk? How... does it say things? I heard about spirit-weapons from atya," The child eyed the sword with suspicious apprehension, as if waiting for it to do something on its own. "It sounds.. better than dragons. Are your family above ground 'cos you said your sister is above ground? Why don't the rest of them go up so they don't get... bad things happening?" There were clearly more questions he wanted to ask, and the mention of magic had him visibly curious, but there were priorities here.
 
Oh, how child-like curiosity kept adults on their toes.
 
“Only one of my siblings is above ground, that would be Daeris.” Plucking her wooden figure from the ground. “She’s the one that uses her magic to turn into a dragon to protect people. The others, well my family is tied to many things making it hard to move above ground. Bad things and all, they call that place home. It’s important to them. As for your other question..”
 
“Too much.” The drow said with all the built-up annoyance and exasperation he muster in those words. He sighed as he rummage through his bag pulling out a waterskin and laying it across his lap. “They talk far too much. Silver speaks telepathically because of the bond we share. Do your spirit-weapons speak like Silver does?”
 
Azsire took in all of the answers with good grace, though he still seemed very doubtful of the dragon. Definitely a few stories about dragons in snow elven myth, then. He watched the waterskin in vague confusion, then went back to staring up at Aniks (or at the sword, he did keep switching) instead. "Spirit-weapons only speak to their warrior and people that are..." He seemed to be struggling to find the word, making an almost familiar face of annoyance when he couldn't figure out whatever it was his father had told him. "People that they need to talk to? For their thing. Um... their... goal. Because they didn't want to go to the stars yet so they get to stay longer. Atya told us about them when we went home last time because the lelyaquenta had one." And that brought a smile back to him, the memory clearly a good one.
 
Which then turned straight back into curiosity as he peered back at Silver. "...What if they talk to you only because you haven't found the rest of their people yet and they can't talk to anyone else, like ours?"
 
A single gray index finger pressed was against his lips as Azsire spoke. Curiosity clear across his face as he spoke of spirit-weapons. Aniks couldn’t deny the similarities between the two. Despite how strange Silver’s beginning were, Silver was still a black blade. He removed his contemplative finger before speaking. “Sounds similar to Silver, though I’ve tried asking about their goals. They haven’t said anything about it. Silver doesn’t like talking about themselves, and we haven’t meet another black blade for them to talk to. If that’s what you meant by their people?”
 
The child thought about it hard enough that by the time he had an answer, his expression had become a deep frown of confusion. He gave Aniks a worried shrug. "Um... I think atya just meant people..? The lelyaquenta had one speaking to her daughter at the end... You could ask immo alanwa when they're back! The others told me a lot about them and they sound like they know a lot so maybe they'll help." That idea had wiped most of the confusion away in its wake, leaving a sort of nervous excitement. "Um. Are you all friends too..?"
 
“I would love to meet another person Silver would talk to.” Then working the words out in his head, mostly not to mispronounce them. He at least wanted to get the meaning of that last word meaning correct. Aniks was about to raise a finger to point to the couple that wandered off… but no that wasn’t it. The drow lowered his hand realizing what the words meant. Immo alanwa was Azsire, just not this one.
 
“No were not.” A slight frown across his face. A sigh escaped before he continued “I haven’t spoken to them often enough to call them a friend, you and I have spoken more. Besides I upset them recently so I’ll have to make it up to them and their friends before I can be friends with them. I can't say how they feel about the rest of the people we travel with.”
 
Well, the obvious question had been provoked. The child blinked up at him with another frown - this one not happy with the news that Aniks had apparently upset his older self. "...Why did you upset immo alanwa? Were you being mean..? Emya made me clean vials for a week when I made someone upset and I had to apologise... Even though she started it and her hair did look weird. If you made them sad, why didn't you make up for it..?"
 
“No, I wasn’t being mean” The drow said softly. Aniks lips pressed into a thin line, as he quickly chopped up the events in his head. Couldn’t give the real explanation, he didn’t have their side of what happened besides he almost killed someone. A simplified version would work.
 
“Azsire, the older one, was holding on to something super important. See they were the only one who could keep it safe because of how powerful they were. While I was here, I had disturbed what Azsire was keeping safe. I wasn’t the only one, but I was started it. So they had to calm it down again, and… people got hurt. I didn’t even know, or even could possibly conceive that I could disturbed…”
 
Aniks scratched the back of his head, a bit awkward as he stopped. Then more honestly said to the Mini-Azsire in front of him “As adults, it is harder to make up. It’s not as simple as you made someone cry because of something you’ve said. What happened was complicated. Polishing vials wouldn’t be enough, and sometime even apologizes won’t do. I haven’t had a real chance to apologize since I’ve seen them, tired apologizing to Burdyr before that.”
 
The child visibly didn't really know what to say now. The events of his future were... pretty obviously complicated, and yet the way Aniks had simplified it was enough to earn him a dismayed frown for his efforts. He twirled the ends of his hair around with one hand, trying to do his best to not nudge the accessory in so doing, and made at least an attempt at understanding those mysterious beasts called adults. "...Maybe they won't be mad if you explain all of that..?" he tried, though he sounded doubtful. "Um, and you could ask them if there's.. anything you can do to help make it better? There's always something that matches what was done. Emya said so because, um, I... asked... a lot about it." The retreat to the familiar topic was at least a refuge from the nervous energy. "...Did your family do things weird with that because they're underground..?"
 
“How about I make you a promise?” It would be a simple promise from the drow, but not one he couldn’t easily walk away from. “When I get the chance, I will ask if I can help them in any way and try to explain. It might not be soon as they return. As I believe we will be busy. But I will speak with your older self to mend things. That I can promise you.”
 
The Mini-Azsire would have to wait a long time before they got to see this promise reach its end. It would be much sooner for Aniks. But the family question was asked and Aniks was grateful to be moving on.
 
“My Family? Are you asking what happened to me and my siblings if we got into trouble growing up underground?”
 
The child at least looked satisfied with the promise, nodding as Aniks said it. "I'm not going to be here to see the promise, so... I'm going to tell his friends. And they can keep the promise safe so it doesn't get lost." There was some hand motion accompanying that - cupping the promise and holding it close, it seemed like.
 
The question came next, and they nodded almost shyly at his clarification. "Emya and atya have different ways of doing stuff and they're bound. Is.. it even more different in the scary place? You don't need to fight dragons..?"
 
A smile crossed the dark elf’s' face. You would be, you're just taking the longer route to see the promise. Though the question of if this younger incarnation would even remember this talk…Regardless the promise was made and Aniks planned on keeping it.
 
"No, I didn't need to fight dragons..." Then Aniks made a face of consideration. Not completely sure how often he got in trouble. Memories sprung to the surface, but no..."My family was rather strict, I tended to listen and do as I was told. I did get in trouble but that just made lessons last longer and difficult. My younger sister had her title taken from her a few decades ago. Besides cleaning vials what else to Emya have you do?”