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First Night

Travelling with Rophan was fairly uneventful. At first he was mainly just too excited at the prospect of following his supposed destiny to really be a bother. He would keep talking incessantly most of the time but much of it was not trying to pry into my own life. Most of it at first was him describing at great length just how proud of him his family will all be. It is an odd thing how he would name each person and how he knew them and quite a few of them all seemed to have the exact same name. When I inquired about it he told me that for elves only that particular elf may tell someone their own name, that telling someone another elf's name is seen as offensive. As such when referring to each other they only state that elf's title.

He was useful a bit whenever it seemed to suit him. Once he got bored of talking about his people he started going on and on about which plants were edible, which ones served as a good spices or additives to which food and which ones were poisonous. As much as he did keep talking seemingly non-stop when I had caught a bear's scent and felt it approaching he did stay completely quiet when I told him to. Once the trouble was done, however, he went back to rambling endlessly.

Most of the time that he'd keep talking I just ignored him and kept to my own thoughts, which was fine enough since he didn't really ask much input from me in his conversations. It was getting to the extent that I was actually starting to try and learn how to simply tune him out altogether and if that offended him he could always just leave. He obviously is someone that is important to my death, but given the warnings about elves I'm very reluctant to trust this one all that much. Even though he has shown no competence at being able to be a danger to me in any way – aside of course from talking so much as to alert anyone in the near vicinity of our exact location – and shows no talent for magic as far as I can tell I still keep one ear on him. He seems to take this as a sign I'm listening to him when really what I'm doing is I'm listening for a change, perhaps the sound of his voice trailing off as he moves in closer accompanied with the sound of metal.

Either way he never does this and in fact still seems completely clueless. Eventually when it is starting to look like it's going to be getting dark soon I find a good spot to spend the night and place down my pack and head off to go try and find some dinner. There must not be many small game predators in this area because I manage to catch one hare completely unaware and after a begrudging argument with myself it doesn't take me long to find another. This one does see me but is very fat and can't move as fast as I can.

By the time I return with the hares Rophan had apparently already gone through the effort of creating a fire pit, starting a fire and constructing a rudimentary shelter for himself. I look at him quizzically for a moment before dropping the hares. When he sees the hares he insists on cooking them in a stew rather than eating them as they are. Personally I would have been fine enough eating raw meat but I shrug and let him do it. As the food cooks I decide I might as well bring up a topic of conversation that had been bothering me.

“You're not at all what I expected from an elf."

“Yeah, I know. I'm a bit of an outcast amongst my people. You see I have absolutely no magic in me and so to compensate I've gone to great extents on learning how to be useful in other ways. I can't track as well but I know enough about all the flora and fauna that I can get by."

“If that's the case then how can you understand what I'm saying and speak it so clearly? Have you been studying my language?"

“Oh, no, no, no. Even if I did know the language, I wouldn't actually use it. I doubt that I can do it any sort of justice as I am," he comments before reaching into his shirt and pulling out a necklace with an ornate stone on it. “This is how I do it. It's been enchanted to translate your language for me and make it so you can understand what I'm saying too."

“Can I see it for a second?" I ask, somewhat curious at the object and realizing that that is something that would be useful for me to have as well.

He takes it off and makes a somewhat chirping sound before holding it out to me. Not wanting to seem like I'm stealing it and not wanting to damage it if it's fragile I move in close and sniff at it, trying to get at the feel of the magical workings within it. Thankfully it actually seems a rather simple design. It is definitely something I'm sure I can now reproduce it. I nod and he pulls it back towards him and puts it back around his neck before starting to add bits and pieces of some of the plants he had been collecting all day into the stew. I suddenly remember something and quickly go digging through my pack for a stone attached to a thin leather cord and place it next to the fire pit as close to the stew pot as I can. The stone isn't nearly as elegant looking as the elf's but the magics involved are a lot more complex and a bit more important.

“What does yours do?" he asks when I sit back down again.

“I'm not as skilled at plants as you are. So one of the Siira back home made me this. It's telling me whether or not there is anything near it that would be bad for anyone of my species to eat."

“But it's not doing anything."

“Exactly. That tells me that your stew is safe. If something is magicked to have an effect once ingested it would create a quiet little hum. If there's something that is toxic then it'll glow."

“Well I don't really see the need for it. I'm not going to poison you. Not after all of the effort spent just finding you."

“Maybe not directly," I shrug. “But I am not an elf and what might be completely harmless to an elf might make me very sick."

My statement seems to be something that makes Rophan very uncomfortable as for the first time since I've met him he stays completely quiet without me demanding him to. As I watch him continue to cook and silently promise my belly that it will be filled soon I reflect on the silence. In particular how much the concept that he may have been unknowingly harming me seems to bother him. And I especially have to consider what it means on whether he'll be one I should collect or avoid. My blood burning at first sight definitely means he'll play a role in my death. But I'm not sure to what extent and his devotion is based on me being something I'm not. It isn't until after we start eating that I break the silence.

“So tell me about this vision of yours."

“Well it wasn't through my own power if that's what you're asking. I got the vision thanks to a particular kind of ritual using Draaknei blood and designed to let someone know the path that is set out for them by the goddess of fate, Ulyra. For me it showed me sitting in the clearing you found me. There I was greeted by a blinding white light that created a path of gold lined with mythril. Odass said that the light represented a fae. And then when I went to wait for this light you show up and lead me just as the vision predicted. Well, you didn't create a road made of gold but I never expected you to in the first place."

“What are Draaknei?" I ask, not recognizing the species name.

“Oh, they're just one of the most horrid creatures out there. They are devout worshippers of Gerhart, the god of death. They devote their entire lives to see that His dominion is enlarged and bring death wherever they go. If you ever see one of these evil little bastards your best course of action is either kill it on sight or run away before it unleashes death upon you. Personally I think the world would be a much better place if every last one of the Draaknei were removed from this plane and sent back to their Lord. The only good thing about them is their blood. Their blood does wonders as an ingredient for potions and spells since their blood is almost overflowing with magic. A result I'm guessing as a boon for serving Gerhart so dutifully. The blood is toxic in a raw form, of course and not as potent as dragon's blood. But it is a lot less risky to purify it and make it useable. Take some Draaknei blood, dry it out into a powder, mix it with some wax and a few other ingredients and then the candle made from that wax can give the vision I had when burned as an incense."

I'm made a little uncomfortable about his description of these Draaknei. Though it doesn't accurately describe my people it is far closer to what we are than I'm comfortable with, especially with someone saying that we all deserve to be killed. I'm starting to wonder if perhaps this is a slip and everything has been just a ruse to get me comfortable with him where he'll then kill me in his sleep.

“Why are they called Draaknei?"

“Oh," he fidgets a bit while he collects the now empty bowls, as if trying to remember. “I should know this one. Oh yeah. They're named after Lord Saneji Draaknei who was the first known person to have killed one. He's also the one that discovered that their blood has magical properties."

“Doesn't that seem a bit rude to you? To name something based on what kills it first. How do you think they feel about being named as such? Don't you think they'd have a name for their own species that they'd prefer having used?"

“I don't really understand why it's bothering you so much. They like being called Draaknei as they believe that which kills has the right to name. But I can understand if the notion of killing is unsettling for you. Fae are renown to be rather peaceful creatures. Rest assured if I ever find a Draaknei I will kill it without hesitation. But if you have any more questions it'll have to wait till tomorrow. I'm tired."

As I watch Rophan begin to bundle himself up in some sort of thick cloth and lie down I come to the decision on what course of action I should take regarding this elf.