[Nevros] An Audience of a Different Kind [Open to all]

[The Mad Professor]

Earth's Day, on the Third Week of Adiennus

Nevros was ever a remote region. Legends in the more civilized fiefdoms of Andragoria and Arameia told of the horrible things which walked the land here. The tall, green hills of this land stretched out as far as the eye could see in every direction. Hidden in these deep hills, beneath the pine forests and stone outcroppings was a very innocuous stone circle. The only path leading through the woods was little more than an elongated clearing. No one travelled here, these were the wild lands of Nevros, given over to the creatures of the wild, except on this day.

The pilgrims moved uncertainly down the cleared path. No axe had come here, chopping down trees, no one had made a path here, the trees had simply decided to leave a path open. There were rules at play here. Rules as ancient as these hills themselves. None dared break a twig off the trees here. Those who went into the woods to scavenge for firewood restrained themselves to branches that had fallen to the ground. No one strayed from the path. Too many knew the price of getting lost here. And every step they walked into these deep woods, they could feel eyes on them. These were the deep woods, where the faeries roamed wild and they could hear them, occasionally, snickering as the pilgrims passed by.

Everyone knew the faeries would not harm them though. This day it was against the rules. On this day, the faeries would hurt no one. On this day, it was safe. As long as they did not stray from the path. And did not hurt the trees.

The pilgrims halted outside an unassuming stone circle. Speaking in hushed whispers and gathering in small groups. Some were refugees from the war brewing in the south. Others were merchants and pedlars. Some were scholars. Others were fools. They all wanted the Queen's favour. A few small fires were lit, but the conversation was quiet and subdued. They waited for nightfall and the appearance of the Queen of Faerie. No one dared to enter the stone circle, for the shadows there twisted and turned in strange ways as the sun slowly crept towards the horizon. When dusk came she would reveal herself, not before. Till then there was little to do but wait, wait for the Queen of Faeries.

[Isabella]

It had been a very long time since she had shown herself to the rest of the human world, but the human world was where she was born -- perhaps as a mistake, perhaps as a kind of cruel trick of fate. In the woods she was shielded, where there were no other humans to criticise her, to look at her sideways, to turn up their noses at her. In the woods, she was at home.

But there were humans here today, and Isabella was careful to avoid them at mosts costs, her humble, precious little bundle held tightly yet delicately in her arms, for fear that she or someone else might break it. She had draped the best cloth she could find over top of it to keep the dust and dirt off of it, but even Isabella's best was coarse and vulgar, and she just knew it would look terrible next to everything else in the... whatever it was she was going in to. Things there shone and sparkled and were beautiful, and she was not.

And yet, she was not ashamed, because the bundle in her arms was something she had been making for well over a year, collecting materials and piecing them together. She had worked hard on this, and now that it was done she would do what she had planned to do with it from the beginning. After all, she had come this far. Might as well finish.

It was the other people that made her nervous -- so Isabella crept off to the side of things and leaned down to look at a tree trunk.

"May I sit here?" She asked politely.

The tree was silent.

Isabella beamed. "Thank you very much! I'll keep your feet nice and warm, okay?"

And with that she sat down, cradling her gift in her lap. After a few moments a crow fluttered down and pecked irritably at her toes.

[Roderic]

Dusk, 4219
ooc {roderick was his name before his memory loss}

Roderick made his way down the path studiously following his master. He had no idea where he was going this day only that his master deemed it very important. He had been training under the master's tuleage for well over 7 years now and was becoming quite the adept ranger. His master had repeated to him countless times to stay on the path and dont touch the trees and Roderick heeded those words well for fear of not retribution from the faery but of his stern master. And so the young boy of only 23 years followed the footsteps of his master bypassing groups of peasants and other folk along the way. He occasionally eavesdroped on a few of their idle chatter and remained wary of his enviornment and those around him. He looked at the large bundle under his arm and wondered what was inside of it. His master gave it to him to carry at the begining of there treck and ever since then his curiosity had been growing.

He knew better than to look tho so he kept to himself and followed his master. They began to near a large crowd of people and he became even more confused about what was going on and why his master said this day was very important. He sliped through the crowd making his way through it with a slight more difficulty than his master and eventually found his way by his side again. Leaving him to stare at the strange stone circle that his master was examining.