Adventures in Swords and Sorcery

[Thomas_III]

Ilena giggles softly as the child falls backward into the water, her hand still stroking the large horse's muscular back and rear. When the boy finally asks her the question that she's been expecting, she brings her hand down from the animal and closes it. When it opens again, a small flame appears in her palm as she starts to approach him. It's nothing more than a token spell, but should be enough to explain the talents that she likely possesses.


“How do you think?”


She steps up calmly to the boy. Closing her hand, the flame disperses and extinguishes. She then opens it once more and extends it to the boy, moving it close to the top of his head. She then slowly brings her down the boy's body, keeping it less than a foot away from him at all times. As her hand drops lower, the water collected on his body, including that drenched in his hair and clothes, starts to coalesce and flow down in tandem with her outstretched fingers. As she moves down past his feet, the collected water splashes down to the ground below, leaving the boy dry. She glances up to meet with his gaze.


“You're very pretty, for a candy thief, that is. It would seem to me that someone with your talents would be able to earn enough money to buy your own sweets. You had the audience enraptured. Not only could you earn a respectable living, but you wouldn't have upset citizens coming to find you when you steal from them.”


The attractive young woman stands back up to her full height, extending her hand back to the boy with her palm upwards, as if waiting for something to be placed in it.


“Ahem....”

[Pirate's Plunder]

Tempo watched her warily his ears slipping backwards. her kindness seemed to play off of as slightly eerie to him haven't known the cruelty of pixie's behind resembling guise. He pulled his shoes back on to his bear feet and Stood up. He slipped a foot in to a superhighway, only he placed it in reverse. He pulled his other leg over and was now mounted backwards. "I've spent too many year behind cold, closed walls and placed behind a cage to want to be on display... A cage is a cage no matter how beautiful the bars." Tempo said as he began to toy with the saddle bag. His voice was strange sort of high pitched tone with a soft scratchiness to it that seemed to reverberate. It was natural for him. "Do you know why the caged song bird sings?" He asked. "It's a pitiful and woe struck cry for release." Tempo said pulling out the pouch. he eyed it over in his hands wondering why candy of all things would be so important to an enchantress. "And what fun would freedom be iwth out a little risk?" He asked as a mavrick sort of smile etched it's way on to those delicate features. He tossed her the bag in a very slow and gentle motion.

"I will admit you're a very pretty enchantress. . . I wouldn't have guessed you'd follow me and I'll admit to the idea I was surprised that brute you were with didn't follow. "

[Thomas_III]

Ilena catches the pouch in her open hand, quickly opening it to examine the contents. She is quite pleased to find that at least most, if not all, of her precious sweets are still present and accounted for. She frowns slightly at the cut ends of the pouch's strings, but makes a simple repair so she can return it to her hip. Once she has it securely in place, she once again returns her attention to the young boy, hoping that he doesn't think that the entire situation is forgotten so easily.


“I followed you because you took something that was important to me, in principle if not in actual monetary value. Justamir, my brother, doesn't share my opinion of the pouch's value, so he didn't take my loss very seriously. Besides, I can move faster than him with my spells. I could have brought him, but I didn't see the need for it. He's much more abrasive than I am, so you should be glad that I left him behind. He wouldn't be as nice to you.”


She steps to the side of the horse that he mounted, once again stroking the giant's haunches as she looks up to the boy.


“Please come back down. I'm not finished speaking to you.”

[Pirate's Plunder]

Tempo posed her a strange look as soft elongated ears twitched and he just about wiggle his nose at like much to the affect of a bunny rabbit. He seemed wary of the request but decided it rude to be up on a horse when someone is trying to speak to you so he stepped down curious as to what she might have to say. "I agree with your sibling then; if it were a loss it wouldn't be of great value." Tempo stated as if returning to the subject thinking perhaps she wanted to talk about that debatable tid bit. He slung the rains forward and tied the horse on a quick release knot.
"Why is it you hold so much monetary value in sweets?" He asked ears flicking upwards as he eyed Ilena over.

[Thomas_III]

Ilena shakes her head once more in response to his question, as she really doesn't hold much monetary value to the sweets. She could easily buy another sack just by stopping at one of the city's candy shops. That's not the point, though. When he returns to the ground, she takes a step forward so she can speak directly to him, and not from a distance. She's quite pleased that she doesn't have to fight with him over staying for her to finish her discussion with him.


“I already told you that it's not about the money. Chocolates are relatively cheap, and I could easily get more at any time. It's the principle of the matter, young man. You took something that didn't belong to you. Besides, chocolates are yummy.”


As if to prove her point, she pops a piece of candy out of the small sack and slips it between her lips, letting the creamy chocolate melt over her tongue as she savors the delectable flavor. After a moment of holding her eyes closed, they open once more and turn to Tempo with a smile.


“You stole something from me, who you didn't even know, when you could simply have asked me and I'd have given you some.”


To prove her point, she pops another piece of chocolate out of the bag, holding it out to the boy's mouth to pop it in if he'd like a taste.

[Pirate's Plunder]

Tempo listens to her offering her the respect of his full attention this time around. He catches on quick she was getting at she was upset with him stealing rather than what he was stealing. As he offers him a sweet his ears bend backwards he stepped back and shook his head gently. "No; No thank you." He offered softly. "What did you say your name was again?" He asked moving his red eyes up to her pretty face once again. It was apparent this boy had a bit of an attention problem. More than likely he over thought things internally and was distracted from what was going on around him.

"Won't your brother be wondering where you are? I wouldn't want to keep you." Tempo said stepping back once again getting a strange vibe from the situation. He was like a fox about ready to flee.

[Thomas_III]

“Suit yourself.”


Ilena pops the piece of chocolate into her own mouth, savoring it quietly for a few seconds before returning her eyes to Tempo.


“My name's Ilena. Ilena Whitethorn. My brother, Justamir, won't be worrying about me unless he sees a fireball erupt in the square. He's quite confident with my abilities.”


Seeing the boy start to backpedal, the girl's voice takes on a much more authoritative tone as she points a slender finger to the ground in front of her.


“Right back here, young man, and don't even think of moving a muscle until we're finished. I found you once, and I can find you, again. Now, I've told you my name, so don't you think that it's about time that I know yours, candy thief?”

[Pirate's Plunder]

Tempo felt his blood run cold as her tone shifted and his boots came to scrapping halt and he visibly winced and stepped forward. "My name?" he repeated as a parrot would. "My full name?" he half asked as if looking for some sort or indication or implication as to what was expected of him. He decided since she had given her own in full it would be poor manners to not do the same.

"My name is Tempo, Wulfwood-Musica of the Elmdoor family and I have from Winter Haven of Havenlyn." Tempo explained as he moved to pocket his hands noot exactly feeling at ease being chided.

[Thomas_III]

Ilena smiles softly at the boy now that she has his name, feeling that they should both feel a bit more comfortable now that they've exchanged pleasantries. Of course, Tempo doesn't appear to be as at ease as she'd like, but that's understandable under the circumstances.


“Well, Tempo, now we can discuss how to handle this situation between us. You stole from me, which is wrong. As I've said already, I don't think that we need to involve the city guard in this problem. You're certainly not a hardened criminal, and the theft of my candy would be a minor offense, at best. We could just be wasting their time. Plus, I just don't think that you deserve that. You're just a misguided youth who made a bad choice. I do, however, have an idea of what you truly deserve, and we can handle that between ourselves, I think. If you don't agree, then we can still call the guard, instead.”

[Pirate's Plunder]

Tempo's ears perked up at the suggestion not quiet following. Rather than just agreeing right away to some unknown choice he seemed to be hesitant of offering an answer. "Well. . . What would that entail?" Tempo asked pocketing his hands. The fidgety little dragon-kin had good reason to ask before accepting unknown terms. And yet he some how felt that Ilena was not horrible person.