Part 1 with Better Paragraph breaks

Before Telesta became known for incredible powers of inebriation there had been some oddities about her. Those oddities were now masked and hidden beneath years of an altered frame of mind, and if she were ever to be sober again what parts of that mind that would remain are impossible to conjecture.


Her birth had held no peculiar portents, other than the strange mark on her that no one could explain. It wasn't in any of the books her village had had access too, and so it wasn't anything they really cared much about. She spent most of her youth merely perplexing her parents with a strange quiet that had most who didn't live with her to believe she was deaf and mute. People were confused when she'd smile knowingly at conversations she was within earshot of, and were shocked when she did anything more than nod to them. All in all, she was actually kind of creepy in a completely non-threatening way to her fellow elves.


It only got worse when she started talking to herself, and for nearly three month people were sure she was going insane. One rumor that had been started was that she was killing small woodland creatures and using the blood to dye her clothes. Where this rumor came from she didn't know, nor how anyone would get that idea, but all it did. Before she knew it people were speaking of her as if she was the incarnate of a devil come to plague them. And other than momentary pangs of guilt when her parents were targeted by these rumors she really didn't care. The fact was she'd begun communing with the spirits around her, and the things they told her and were willing to teach her were far more interesting than anything anyone else ever had to say.


For Telesta there were no mentors other than them. They were willing to teach her what she needed to know about them, and odd visions filled her head of ceremonies she'd never witnessed. These she accounted to the spirits as well, and for most of it that was likely, though for some it might have been related to that unexplainable mark on her flesh. Either way, the result was her secluding herself further, and the fueling of rumors that grew increasingly worse. Finally an elder was chosen to go quell their insecurities, and he followed her out one morning soon thereafter when she went for a walk. When they were away enough from the village that he was sure all was private he made himself known to her.


"Telesta, can I have a word with you?" he'd given the girl a very gentle and genuine smile.


She turned to face him and for a moment just stared at him, green eyes nearly blank of emotion, then in a voice that let him know that she was greatly annoyed she spoke, "I have to find something right now. Maybe later."


"Well it's important... " he began, but he didn't get very far before she interrupted again.


"So is this, probably more important than whatever would prompt you to talk to me. My guess is it's my odd behavior and the stories that people can't seem to stop making larger and larger. IF you don't worry that I'll lead you off to some devilish sacrificial altar you can follow me while I'm looking, and when I find it maybe you'll get some answers. Either through what you witness or from words," it was more than she'd probably spoken at a given time in her life.


She wandered him around for several hours, and all of it in what he saw as a completely unnecessary amount of quiet. She'd stop occasionally and mumble to herself in a very quiet way, and he'd ask her if she'd been talking to him. She'd turn and give him a look that told him he was being foolish before continuing on.


Finally, nearing the end of his patience, he asked her at one of her momentary mumbles, "If you aren't talking to me then who exactly ARE you talking to? "


She sighed with an audible amount of frustration herself, then look up to him, "You feel nature around you I'm sure, to a degree, I've heard the others talking of it affectionately. And we're very careful of our forest and the other inhabitants thereof."


"So you're talking to the trees?"


"No."


"Then you're talking to whom?"


"Spirits."


"Ahhh, so you're following the path of the druid, well that explains a lot of your particular attitude." Druids came in many types it was true but they were often secretive and loners.


To this Telesta tensed up a bit, "I'm not a druid. And whatever I am I'm not fully that yet either. That's why I'm out here. I'm looking to make a simple totem that will let me. I'm asking the spirits for guidance. Once I find the totem, they tell me there's a spirit that would like to travel with me."
"Hmmm, well that sounds a bit more like a shaman, they've been known to have spirit companions. They also however tend to have a calling to lead, which you don't seem to have the slightest compulsion to do," he thought she might take that poorly, in spite of being honest it did seem it could come of as rude or maybe cynical.


"You do realize not everyone chooses what they're meant to do? Or maybe it's simply that not everyone is meant to do one thing, and so they have the choice? Whatever the case, the spirits are leading me, if they choose to have me lead others later it will happen, if not I'm sure my companion and I will find a place. It's not like this world lacks a needed for whatever help is offered," she stated that and then began to walk again.


"Well, in that much you're certainly right. One way or another I'll be glad to tell your fellows you haven't been off stealing human babies and using their eyes to peer into the nine hells," and part of him was relieved in spite of the audacity of the stories that indeed she was not.


"Hadn't heard that one yet."


They wandered some ways and the silence she slipped back into the silence she was used to, not really sure why she'd bothered to speak at all. She once again took to stopping and conferring with the spirits. It was dark when she finally stopped next to a rather ordinary limb of a tree that had fallen not too long ago, though it was no longer green or wet. IT was about the length and width of her forearm.


"This is it," she said as she lifted it up with a nod.


"It looks rather... ordinary."


"It is, it's not like I can impart it with any special power. If it were it could be any old piece of wood, but it's going to be part of my rite to summon the spirit that they've been telling me about. More of a personal journey than any sort of magic. All the same, it has some connection to the spirit," she turned it over and long scratch marks were through the side that had been facing the ground.


"I'd say it was more likely than not a wild cat that marked that," he remarked after coming in for a closer look.


"You can leave anytime you know. I'm sure you've heard what you need to get them off your back about me."


He nodded but just stood there anyway, and she narrowed her eyes at him slightly. She looked to the piece of wood and pulled out a dagger, "You can stay until I'm done carving this, but once I'm done you get the hells back, my little ceremony will be a private matter, if for no other fact than that I'm going to be bumbling with it and I don't particularly feel like looking like an idiot. Besides, I'm sure seeing as it's getting late their starting to wonder if I've murdered you in these woods, and I'd rather not come back to my home and parents to torches being waved at me. You can tell them I'm not dangerously insane and I can finally be let to my own business."


"You're a strange one Telesta. You could have said all this much sooner and had your peace," he commented. He'd been thinking it for some time.


She sat down right there on the ground and began carving, she didn't think or plan, but was just letting the shape choose itself, "You'd think so, but until I was sure the voices I heard weren't in my head I didn't want to say anything. People start getting expectations, and I also didn't much feel like being sent to another elven village, or worse some human village, where there was someone who they thought could teach me. I would much rather do things the way the spirits are teaching me than some old master. As old and wise as they might be, and as well meaning, the spirits are older. Also, I'm not much of a talker. I don't know why I keep talking to you right now, it's actually frustrating."


He thought for a moment then gave a small chuckle. "What so bad about a human village that it would be so much worse?"


"It's nothing against them and you know it. I already have a hard enough time fitting in among our own people," the sound of the wood being shaved filled the silence in between her words, "I don't know how to relate to this world, just the spirits, and I fear what I would become if I ever did find a way. If it meant losing them, if it meant not knowing that they want me to listen for whatever their reasons, I'd be lost."


It was hours of work that she did while he just watched, why he was so intent Telesta wasn't sure. Then he began to build a fire as the night wore on and a blanket of fluffy clouds threatened to remove the moonlight she was working under. She'd look up at him occasionally. She was barely at this point fourteen, and his age was something she couldn't begin to guess. He might have been thirty and only be an elder by title, or he might have been one-hundred and some. Either way she was aware he was full of more youthful life than she'd managed to muster yet. And he wasn't a particularly unnatractive specimen either. The corner of her lip pulled up just slightly as she laughed inwardly at herself for that.


Dawn had come and gone by the time the totem was completed, and she was really very tired. even the elder had fallen asleep some time ago, in spite of his strange fascination with her completely tedious work. She went and shook him awake, exhausted or not it was time to do what had to be done, and so he had to get going.


"Disrespectful as I've been this is probably the worst of it," she said to herself. He refused to waken and she pinched her fingers over his nose, "It's time for you to get up Sir Elder."


He at last did awake with a shock, and she found out why he probably had a place as an elder. He'd instantly begun a spell and the crackle of magic faded from him when he saw who had roused him, "What did you just call me? We've been talking all this time and I haven't been properly introduced to you?" Whatever indignation he was feeling he managed to hide it well, maybe because he felt slightly guilty that he almost blasted her head off.


"If I'd wanted to know it I would have asked. It was enough that you knew mine for our purposes, and I knew enough about who you were if not your name," she checked to make sure the fire was out, though it had faded to soft embers not long before the sun had come up.


"None the less, it's Tandrus," he saw her shrug indifferently and wondered if any of the conversation they'd had made any difference to her, if she saw him at all as an ally or if she'd decided over the night to dismiss him the way she'd always every other person save her parents.


She showed him the totem she'd been carving all night. While it was crude it had a sort of appeal to it. The thing was clearly the head of a wild cat, a panther he would guess if asked to. The claw marks and the spirits connection made more sense to him then.


"It's done, and you have to go now. If I'd expected it would take this long I would have had you leave much sooner."


He nodded his head and began to gather the few things he'd brought with him. It didn't take very long at all. "When can we expect you back?"


"I couldn't say exactly, but I'll need food eventually, and I didn't bring much for provisions. So I definitely won't be longer than another two days. And thank you for staying all this time, Tandrus, you didn't have to. I'm well aware that I'm not particularly pleasant company."


"Well, there were no evil sacrifices or dark rituals, so not as unpleasant company as some think," he gave her a pleasant and teasing smile before bidding her farewell and heading back through the woods.


The rites, as passed down to her through the spirits were complicated. She spent the half the day gathering the items she would need to perform them. They were a variety of different berries and plants, some that she knew would probably have some sort of hallucinogenic effect on her. When she had all she needed to start, she decided it would be a much better idea if she slept, for fear she might pass out at some important moment. It was dark again when she awoke, and under the moon she felt closer to Sehanine.

Though she was not the most devout of worshippers, holding the spirits closer to her heart, she hoped for the goddesses help in her task. Her mind then wandered to her parents, and how unnecessarily difficult she'd made their lives. When she got back, she would know more who she was. Then she swore, she would be different. She would make an effort to make things better if for their sakes alone. She would tell them everything if Tandrus hadn't already.


She began preparing a mixture of the items she'd procured as her thoughts continued along that path. Occasionally she would stop to consult them, and then continue. When it was done she began to draw shapes representing the different spirits she was familiar with over her body, and the largest on her stomach was that of a panther. She prepared in the area Tandrus had set the fire with a new flame. She began to chant words without the assistance of the spirits, that felt more like a memory than anything, as if she'd known them all her life and had only been waiting for the appropriate moment for them to leap from her lips. She tied her brown hair back so that it wouldn't whip into her face and consumed what remained of the odd and truly disgusting paste before beginning to dance.


At first she did feel as ridiculous as she was sure she had to look, and then the heat of the fire felt like it was entering her skin. It wasn't painful or frightening, just warm and relaxing. The world began to haze and soon she wasn't sure if it was the world spinning around her or her making circles in her dance. Colors were more intense, the stars and moon were brighter than she could ever have imagined. It was wild, it was untamed, and in short it was primal. She swore in words she didn't even understand over and overagain that she would be a servant to the spirits, that whatever may happen she would follow where they led her, and in a strange and cold flash there was the panther.


A strange creature so black it was blue and still she could see through it as if it weren't there. It laid down in fron of her with it's head raised and she in turn laid in front of it. Both lowered their heads and she felt something like a breath coming from it. She breathed it in deeply and she felt as if it was a part of her. Some part that had been missing all her life. It wasn't just her spirit companion, it was her soul. Content for the first time she knew of, she slept, knowing that it was with her and when she needed it it would be at her side.

The following morning was a much more painful experience. She began it by heaving, but there was little left in her stomach. She feared to eat and give her body something to reject. And all around her was a true quiet she'd never felt. At first it was unsettling, but when she called to them and they answered she knew what had happened. She had gained control. No more were they whispering unbidden into her ears, telling her waht she had to do. They still cared, they were stil there, but she had now joined them and whatever urgency there had been for her to do so was no longer required. She called for the panther, and it simply appeared. With the spirit creature by her side she began her way back towards her village. What she didn't expect was the warning that was the only intrusion the spirits made to her that day.


Before she was within a mile they were urging her to turn in a different direction, telling her what she must do one final time. She listened, as she always had and followed down a stream. There she saw somthing that hurt her beyond what she thought she could feel. Maybe the day before she wouldn't have.


Her father lay with some grevious wounds at the side of the stream, she and the panther ran to him. She was moving in to help him in whatever way she could when he held up his hand.


"You have to go. Get as far away from the village as you can, there's a city not too far, you'll be safer there than here."


"What happened? Why are you hurt?" She shook her head at him.


"Tandrus never returned, they've been searching for you, and him, for the better part of three days, how they didn't find you I don't know. They think you killed him, I know you wouldn't."


"Tandrus, the elder Tandrus?" she was wsasting words, of course the elder. Why else would they think she killed him, stupid question. "What about mother?" she asked before he could answer the Tandrus question.


"They've taken her into custody, that's all they would have done to me too, but I had to warn you and I resisted. You've made a prime suspect out of yourself, Telesta, and I'm afraid that until Tandrus is found it might be better for you to go elsewhere. "


"Let me help you get out of here," She started to pul him up and once more he held out his hand.


"I'll be fine, they'll find me and take me back, and other than an arrest and some questioning make sure I get back to health. If your mother weren't involved I'd go with you, but something is wrong with the village, it's like they're looking for someone to persecute and I can't leave her alone in that," Telesta could only nod as he spoke, "Now get out of here, before they search this area for me."


"But how will I know when it's safe to come back? How will I know if they find Tandrus?" She asked, her eyes were now spilling over tears. All the things she wanted to telll them and now it was too late, she didn't have time to fix anything.


"I'll send word. we'll find a way to tell you when things aren't so intense. Just go, I hope they wouldn't do anything awful to you in their haste, but I don't want to risk that."


"I love you father, tell mother that too, please," she gave him a kiss on the forehead, he pressed a bag of gold into her hands, then the urgency of the spirits welled up again, and she ran.


The inn where she spent her first night was brightly lit, she'd sent the panther spirit away before entering the small town, a human settlement. She'd bought a small amount of food and a large amount of drink before overhearing some complaints from a few villagers about some beast hunting their wildlife. Apparently there was a reward of gold, and the way the wine felt in her stomach was warm and relieving. She thought she would take up the job to help supplement her expenses until word came from her parents. The good drink would help her pass the time without fretting too much until it did. Her father had, after all, assured her he would be fine. She just needed to wait it out until all was sorted out. Tandrus would be found, word would be sent, and she would soon enough be home as long as she didn't make things worse. She'd done plenty of that already.


More days went by, more drink was needed to keep her from worrying. More weeks went by, larger ammounts of drink were needed to make her forget why she was worried. Months went by, and she was thinking only of paying for her her drink. The great cat never received a proper name she was in no condition to give it one. She'd taken to calling it kitty, and it didn't seem to mind as long as she didn't stay in one place too long and continued to help others. If there were a questionable task she was about to take on it would growl a low growl to let her know it's disapproval and she would back away from it politely to return to her drinks. She began chatting to anyone who may have a drink she could attain or be heading in the direction of a town she hadn't yet been too the taverns of.


The wandering happened for years, she'd gone in and out of groups of adventurers, and on occassions when she found herself alone in the woods with only her drink to accompany her she would perform the rites to see where the spirits might lead her. And though she no longer even thought of her parents and the village she'd left behind word still never came. People who meant her ill often found themselves facing an adversary who was unexpectedly difficult and rarely worth the trouble she brought about. Through all this the spirits were still loyal guardians as she was a loyal servant.


Wandering the woods one day, the spirits gently guided her in the direction of a passing caravan, heading in the direction of a town called Loudwater, and the men with their goods told her that if her supply was running low they couldn't help her indefinitely, but there would be drink where they were going. Telesta gave them some coin to take her with, and she and the panther were on their way to a city that she in all honesty couldn't have told a soul if she'd ever been there before or not. She laughed and sang with the men when they made camp, and they made good sport of teasing her.
When they reached town she settled into the nearest place with a bottle and there began to drink her mind numb of the thoughts that once had been so prevalent.


Were her parents alright? Had it all been some ruse to get rid of her? Was Tandrus alive or dead? Would word ever come? Had the few people who cared simply forgotten her? Or did they simply not want her back? She'll just have another drink, some questions are better left unanswered.

Thank you for doing this. I've deleted the old thread, by the way!

AMdG