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Standing on the edge of the pool, Silverthorn regarded the lime green colour of the water with deep suspicion. Water was never lime green, she thought. The elf had changed in the pool house and now wore a simple black costume that was obviously designed more for practicality than decoration. Crouching down, she prodded the surface with a finger and sighed when she felt the peculiar texture. Which idiot had put jello in the pool? she wondered. However, she still wanted to swim so she straightened and concentrated. A fine silvery mist seemed to settle over the pool. The jello slowly separated from the water, rising above it in a lumpy ball. She said a sharp word of command and the ball disappeared. She gave a cool smile as she wondered where it had gone to. Her sense of humour tended to be a little peculiar at times, particularly when she was in a bad mood anyway, so she had returned the jello to whoever had put it there.
Shrugging, she dived into the water of the pool and began to swim a series of brisk laps.
Y'roden came upon Silverthorn as she was 'cleaning up' the pool He paused, even through the haze his mind was still in, and watched in fascination. The half-elf had just taken out his temper on his home in the Chinook complex, it was going to be one hell of a clean up. He had come down here to hit the work out room and burn off some of his frustration. It seemed he wasn't the only one.
"Well done," he commented to Silverthorn as he neared the pool, "That stuff is rather net resistant." He eyed her curiously, thinking that the only way she could swim any faster is if they attached her to an outboard motor.
Pausing Silverthorn looked at the half-elf, her legs kicking gently to keep herself afloat. "Well, its someone else's problem now" she said, a wicked gleam appearing in her green eyes. "I sent it back to whoever put it there." She studied Yroden consideringly. He didn't seem to be in any better mood than she was herself.
"You did?," an bright gleam lit in the half-elf's eyes, "Conor should be getting a nasty surprise right about now then." He pulled his brandy flask from his shirt and took a drink while he watched her, "Can you clean up messes that way? My apartment seems to be in disrepair. Drink?" He held the flask out in Silverthorn's direction. Sure he could have cleaned up his apartment himself, but it took away the satisfaction of blowing up things in the first place.
Why does it not surprise me that the jello was Conor's fault?" Silverthorn said drily. She swam over to the side and hauled herself out. Sitting on the edge, she shook her head as Yroden offered her the brandy flask. "No, thanks. It probably wouldn't be a good idea at the moment. Besides, I promised Bran I wouldn't get drunk." She looked up at him curiously, "It would probably work on most messes I suppose. What did you do to your apartment?"
Sitting down Y'roden kicked off his boots, "Well," he cleared his throat as he rolled up his pant legs and let his feet dangle in the water, "Lets just say I took an extreme dislike to the living room. I think I broke my chicken beyond repair this time." He managed a bit of a smile, "How about you? I don't think I've ever seen anyone swim that... intently."
Deciding
she wasn't even going to ask about the chicken, Silverthorn shrugged a little uncomfortably. "Bad day" she said simply. She paused and stared out across the water for a moment before saying in a quiet voice, "families are strange things at times."
Y'roden went quiet for a moment, studying the look on Silverthorn's face. She almost looked... vulnerable, not an expression he had ever seen on the female elf's face before. "Yes they are," he agreed, pushing back the pain that had caused his own little rampage. A smile quirked the edge of his lip, "Try being a D'riel, or being related to the Alcarin's, then you'll see strange."
Twisting the lid back onto his flask he set it down. "Anything you want to talk about? I'm a good listener, when I happen to shut up."
A small smilecrossed Silverthorn's face. "You can't get a lot stranger than the D'riels and Alcarins" she agreed with a soft chuckle. But then the smile died and she turned her face away again. "Fionna wants answers that I can't give" she said in a quiet tone. "Even if I did, I don't think she would like them."
Y'roden grinned along with her, both families did indeed have a tendancy to be a bit off the wall. Her sudden loss of humor cast a shadow over his mood, and he resisted the temptation to touch her. Silverthorn was a bit of an enigma to him, and he had no wish to tick her off.
"Well, I don't know the situation, so its hard for me to say. But sometimes answers you don't like are better then no answers at all. It's a painful thing to hurt someone, but its better then leaving them in the dark." He paused, "You can just tell me to shut up if you like."
I couldSilverthorn agreed, "Unfortunately you're probably right so what would be the point. Bran and Fionna might at least shut up and give me some peace then at any rate." She shrugged and a wry smile crossed her face. "I'm sorry, I'm not usually quite as depressive as this."
"Me either," Y'roden grinned, "Life certainly has its pitfalls. You win or you lose... unfortunately I seem to be losing more than I'm winning these days." He winked at Silverthorn, "You know, I believe this is the first time we've actually had a conversation. You aren't nearly as frightening an elf as you seem from a distance."
He leaned in towards her and whispered, "You scare the hell out of Galain, I like that about you."
Laughing Silverthorn said, "Galain deserves to be scared occasionally. It only seems fair." A gleam that was pure devilment appeared in the green eyes, "besides it means that he doesn't usually try to play any of his more manic stunts on me."
"Well you're lucky there," Y'roden said, "I don't enjoy such immunity, and I have the scars to prove it." Well, he had alot of scars, but he was sure Galain was responsible for at least one or two... not nearly as many as Railen. "I know who to hide behind the next time he gets that look in his eye."
Ashamed of hiding behind a woman? Hell no, not the women he knew, it was more dangerous to stand in front of them.
Oh I never said I was immune" she said wryly. "After all, Galain does like to push his luck sometimes. He knows that I'll get revenge though." She laughed, "Bounce him off the walls a few times and the message starts to sink into even Galain's thick skull."
"I've tried that tactic," Y'roden mused, "It only incites him. I have the weight advantage though, its always proven useful... with Railen at least. What can I say, I bring out the worst in people." He winked at her, "How does a face this innocent incite such violence?"
Still sporting an impish look he started taking off his shirt, "I think a swim is in order, I have energy to burn. Feel like doing a few more laps?"
Somehow I've never yet needed the weight advantage" Silverthorn said with a grin. This was probably because she never let anyone close enough for it to come into effect. She shook her head, "as for you being innocent.." The grin turned a little wicked, "somehow I doubt that."
She turned and dived smoothly into the water. "Race you?" she said as she came up to the surface again.
By the time Silverthorn dove in Y'roden was down to his swim trunks. "Ooo! A challenge," he chuckled, a gleam lighting his emerald eyes, "You're on." He was thinking she had hit the nail on the head where his innocent status was concerned, and he rather liked that wicked little grin of hers.
Diving in he surfaced along side her, paused to wink at her, then struck out for the opposite end of the pool. Ro's half Elven, half human human gene's gave him amazing upper body strength and he cut through the water with surprising speed for his size.
Striking out for the other side of the pool, Silverthorn put her head down and kicked hard after him. The half-elf was not surprisingly a lot stronger than her but she was not exactly a weakling herself, at least not for a woman her size anyway.
Y'roden tapped the edge of the pool, and was surprised to find Silverthorn right there with him. He mentally smecked himself, she was a tall woman at six feet with good muscle structure. It was no surprise that she could keep up with him really.
Laughing he took a deep breath and dunked under the water. Snagging the other elf by the ankle he dragged her down with him, probably not a wise move, but it was fun to cheat.
The hand on her foot took Silverthorn by surprise and she disappeared beneath the surface after a desperate last gasp for air. She was not surprised to spot the culprit, however. A dangerous smile crossed her face and she lashed out. Her other foot kicked him solidly in the chest.
She had a good solid kick, in his opinion, enough to force most of the air out of his lungs. It didn't help that he was laughing like an idiot. The half-elf loved playing with fire, and he was toying with certain death when he retained his hold on Silverthorn's foot and experimented with the idea that she might indeed be ticklish there.
The tickling settled the matter. No way was she going to play nice now. Tugging at her trapped leg didn't seem to achieve anything so she tried for the opposite option. Letting herself drift closer, she grabbed hold of his hair with one hand and kicked him solidly in the groin with her free foot.
Yow! Well so much for breathing, the half-elf went down for the count. He still didn't let go though, surfacing he flipped Silverthorn around once, then let go. Laughing like a hysterical hyena Ro reached for the side and clung to it. He would have said something, but he was suffering from a serious lack of air. Besides, whatever it was likely would have come out soprano.
Surfacing Silverthorn gasped for breath before swimming over to the side. "You're completely insane" she said, shaking her head slightly as she watched him laugh himself silly.
Catching his breath Y'roden leaned his head on the side of the pool and gazed at her with a twinkle in his eyes. "This is the first you've noticed?," he asked. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend, I'm just a bastard sometimes, or so I've been told." The impish expression was back on his face, "It isn't often I come across a woman that can stand up to me when I play rough."
Laughing Silverthorn shook her head, "no, strangely this isn't the first time I've noticed you're insane" she said with a grin. She wasn't really in a bad mood or even offended. Her fight back had come more from instinct than anything else. "Besides you're forgetting what I do for a living. Given that my version of playing rough usually involves knives then I think you're safe enough so far."
"I like knives," he said a bit too brightly, "Cant' you tell?" He looked down at himself, raisiing an eyebrow at the light spiderwebbing of scars across his chest, abdomen and arms from various blades. "Or maybe they like me."
Two of the most prominent scars were the jagged slash across his stomach left by Samara, and the puncture mark over his heart where Ghetsuhm had driven Ro's own dagger into his heart. There were a few smaller one's there as well, if one didn't know any better they would think alot of people wanted to see the half-elf dead.
"So why did you take up Mercenary work?," he asked, "I have a feeling you are rather good at it."
It is possible for knives to like you too much" she said drily as she studied the scars. At his question she shrugged, "I suppose I am" she said quietly. She wasn't boasting but she did have a realistic view of her own abilities in that area. "It was kind of an accident really." She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment and it was difficult to know what was going through her mind. "I trained with a sorceror originally" she continued, "but life rarely goes the way you expect. A troop of mercenaries found me when my life had come apart somewhat. As I didn't know what else to do I took up their offer of a position as an archer and it just sort of went from there."
"Another victim of circumstance, so to speak," he murmured, "We all seem to be made by accidents of Fate." Pulling himself up on the edge he sat with his legs still in the water, then reached down to offer her a hand out. "I'm hungry, how about you? Want to head over to the Apex for something to eat?"
Accepting the hand Silverthorn pulled herself out of the pool. "Sure, why not" she said with a smile. Now that she thought about it the elf couldn't really remember the last time she had something to eat.
"Great!," he grinned, "Give me a minute to shower and dress, chlorine is hell on my hair." Getting up he scooped up two towels off a nearby chair and tossed one to Silverthorn before he rubbed himself down and tied the other around his waist.
Gathering up his clothing he headed for the poolhouse, "I'll meet you back out here in ten."
Wrapping the towel around her waist, Silverthorn wandered off to get changed herself.
About ten minutes later she reappeared dressed in her more usual clothing.
Freshly scrubbed and redressed Y'roden sauntered back out of the poolhouse doing up the last few buttons on his jet black shirt. "Ready," he asked as he adjusted the dagger under his left sleeve, "Damn, I have to get Tay to refit that, the leather is wearing out."
Looking down at Silverthorn, which wasn't really so far down at all, he smiled and offered her his arm.
"Shall we?"
Insane? Yes, but oddly a proper gentleman at times.
Gentlemanly behaviour was a fairly unusual experience for Silverthorn so there was a heartbeat's pause of startled surprise before she gave a small smile and slipped her arm through his. "Certainly" she said.
The place was rather quiet when Y'roden and Silverthorn strolled in. Ro was still quietly amused by the look of surprise on her face when he had offered her his arm, he was thinking he should try that more often.
"Would you rather eat on the patio or in one of the dining rooms?," he inquired. The half-elf wasn't fussy either way, and the place was empty so it looked like they had their choice of seating.
Looking around Silverthorn said, "I think the patio, if that's alright with you?" She was aware of Yroden's amusement and had considered poking him in the ribs but she was on her best behaviour at the moment so she had refrained.
"The patio is fine with me," Y'roden replied, guiding her off in that direction, "I've never eaten out here before. Have you? It's rather nice don't you think?" Babbling? Y'roden? Always.
Finding a table to their liking he held out a chair for Silverthorn while the waiter brought the menu's and filled the water glasses.
Yes, it is nice Silverthorn replied as she looked around. "I haven't been out here before either. I only went in the bar the last time I visited the Apex." She accepted a menu off of the waiter with a polite smile. She glanced down at the list curiously. She hadn't been any further than the bar so far so she wasn't entirely sure what the restaurant served.
Y'roden seated himself and opened the menu the waiter held out to him. "Well," he commented, "They seem to have a bit of everything don't they?" The half-elf was leaning towards a steak himself. "Would you like some wine?," he asked his companion, "Or we can go non-alcoholic if you wish." He remembered she had made a promise to Bran, and wasn't quite sure if a little wine with dinner was off the list too.
"Yes, it all sounds nice. I'm not quite sure what to order" she said. She smiled, "wine would be fine. I promised I wouldn't get drunk, I don't think a glass of wine with dinner really counts."
"Oh good," Y'roden grinned, "I was hoping you would say that." Setting the menu down he settled in his chair and watched her for a moment. "How long have we known each other?," he asked suddenly, "I travelled to Berelath what? Just over a thousand years ago? It seems odd we've only gotten around to talking now doesn't it?"
The half-elf's eyes took on a far away look for a moment, "It's been a long millenia." Three children and several heartbreaks later... he thought to himself. Returning his attention to Silverthorn he smiled. The dark haired elf really was quite lovely, and she had a strength he respected.
A lot of things can happen in a millenia" Silverthorn agreed quietly. "If someone had told me half the things that what happen over that time I'm not sure I would have believed them." She shrugged, "although I imagine a lot of people would say the same." She smiled at Yroden, "not everything was bad" she said. "Although some of the events could probably go down in the really odd category." The smile grew a little bit wicked, "actually most of those ones seem to have a Driel or an Alcarin involved in them somewhere."
Y'roden chuckled and leaned forward, "What can I say," he said softly, a glint of mischief in his eye, "We tend to attract trouble." The light in his eyes grew brighter and his lip curled with amusement, "And you, my lady, are definatly trouble. Of the best kind of course."
"Trouble? me? whatever gave you that idea?" Silverthorn said, a glint of laughter in her green eyes. "I'm sweet and innocent and..." She laughed, "well, maybe not."
"Well," Y'roden said, "It could be all the knives, or the fact that you beat the tar out of a fellow for tickling your feet. Not that I'm complaining," he added, with a wriggle of his eyebrows. "Can we do that again later?" The expression in his eyes was absolutely wicked. "And what type of wine would you like?" he threw in.
Laughing Silverthorn said, "oh, I don't know. Beating the tar out of someone for tickling my feet tends to be a spontaneous decision. There's no telling when I might get the notion to do it again." She considered the question of wine, "white please."
Y'roden laughed, not quite able to get the grin off of his face, "Well then, I'll just have to keep experimenting to see what sort of reactions I can get." He waved the Waiter over, "White wine for the lady please, and I'll have the red."
He watched the fellow hurry off and then turned his attention back to Silverthorn. "Have you decided on something to eat?"
Smiling Silverthorn glanced down again at the menu, "I think I'll have the chicken" she said. Given the foul mood she had been in earlier, she was slightly surprised to find that she was actually enjoying herself but she was. She placed the menu down on the table. "Experimenting can be fun" she agreed.
The twinkle in Y'roden's eyes only grew brighter, "Remember you said that," he chuckled. Studying the other elf's expression he grinned, it seemed they both were feeling better then they had before. There were very few people that had an uplifting effect on his mood, but it seemed Silverthorn was in that little group.
The waiter appeared to pour the wine and take their orders before returning to the kitchen again. Y'roden watched him go as he lifted his glass to taste the wine. "Hmmm, not bad," he observed, "How's yours?"
A small smile crossed Silverthorn's face, "I usually have a fairly good memory" she said. "It helps to be able to remember all the incriminating things I've been silly enough to say."
Taking a sip of her wine she nodded, "not bad at all" she agreed.
"Oh?," Y'roden raised an eyebrow, "Do you make a habit of saying incriminating things?" It was a habit of his as well, but she knew that.
"Silme-nasse," he said softly, translating Silverthorn's name to the Elven tongue, a thoughtful look on his face. "Is that your real name?"
"I have been known to say all sorts of dumb things" she admitted with a smile. "Particularly if I wasn't paying attention."
She shook her head at his question. "It was a nickname Bran gave me when we were young" she said. "My real name, Arianne, means silver. The rest was from my general personality I think."
"Arianne," Y'roden said it aloud, a smile tugging at the edge of his lip, "That's lovely." He paused for a moment, then laughed, "Well I certainly can't see why Thorn would have anything to do with your personality," the half-elf said with an impish grin. "And does that mean I lost your attention for a moment back there? I guess I'll have to try harder."
Shrugging Silverthorn said, "Its a nice enough name as names go I suppose. I've kind of got out of the habit of answering to though. I haven't used it for a very long time." She grinned, "I think the thorny part came after I'd smacked him aside the ear once too often."
"Can he still hear properly?," Y'roden asked curiously as the watier appeared and set their plates in front of them. "You're lucky though," he said, "I didn't get to grow up with An'Thaya. We lost eight hundred years of sibling rivalry, I often wonder what things might have been like if Tallin hadn't interfered."
I didn't feel lucky at the time" Silverthorn replied drily. "Bran could be the most annoying person when he wanted to be. You're right though, it would seem strange for him not to have been there." There was an expression of sympathy in her eyes as she looked at him but she simply said, "not that sibling rivalry is always a great thing."
"Well that's true," Y'roden said as he cut his steak, "Especially when your sister is an Amazon." He winked at Silverthorn and shrugged, "But if Tallin hadn't interfered she would never have been one. She would simply be Princess An'Thaya D'riel of Corin." His eyes darkened slightly and he stabbed the meat with his fork, "And I would simply be Prince Y'roden, Crown Prince of Corin."
He paused to chew, then looked up at her with a half smile, "Funny how circumstances always land you in the most painful positions." He studied her face for a moment, "How about you, given the chance, what would you want for yourself? Who would you want to be?"
For a moment Silverthorn sat silent, her face thoughtful. "I'm not sure" she said eventually. "When I was younger the plan was that I was going to train as a mage. I did in fact. Even then I wasn't really sure what I was going to be. I just intended to go home and I probably would have stayed there most of the time." She shrugged, "odd isn't it? Now I rarely stay in one place for any length of time at all."
"Not so strange," Rodi said softly, "It seems to come with the territory really." Setting his fork down he watched her eat, "From what I've seen you are a talented mage, I can feel it." Lifting his glass he took a sip of wine.
"Where is home? What planet?"
Neatly Silverthorn sliced into her chicken. "I was born in an area that the elves called the Tauremorna, the Dark Woods in Common. It didn't belong to any kingdom because no-one had ever really been able to conquer it. The forest was too wild for the armies to successfully navigate."
Y'roden furrowed his brow, "I don't think I've ever heard of it. When was the last time you went back there? I'd love to see it." There was the undeniable D'riel curiousity rearing its head again.
Its been awhile Silverthorn said. "I don't really have any reason to go back. My family's dead so its not as if I have any visits to make."
Y'roden nearly spilled his wine, "Oh." Sympathy shone in his eyes and he tenativly covered one of her hands with his, "I'm sorry." He was slowly beginning to understand the dark haired elf, but there was a long way to go, and much more to learn about her. Studying Silverthorn's deep green eyes he suddenly realized he wanted to know everything about her, and it wasn't just the D'riel curiousity talking. At the same time he didn't want to scare her off...
Its okay Silverthorn said quietly. "It was a very long time ago. I'd only just passed my first century at the time." Her lips quirked into a faint smile but deep in her eyes was the faint trace of what still was an horrific memory. Her dark lashes dropped briefly to conceal her expression and when they lifted again that shadow was no longer visible.
Y'roden held Silverthorn's gaze when she looked up again, wondering what had happened that left that deep a scar. "Maybe someday when you are more comfortable with me you can tell me about it," he said gently. Giving her fingers a hesitant squeeze he withdrew his hand.
"But for now, start thinking about what you would like for dessert."
Glad the subject had been dropped for now, Silverthorn's smile became far more convincing. "Desserts can be dangerous things" she said with a laugh.
"Well sure," Y'roden laughed, "If you are eating Baked Alaska or Cherries Jubilee you run a good risk of a second degree burn. But otherwise I think we are safe." The mischievious sparkle was back in his eyes, "Although I must admit to have witnessed horrible whipcream and keylime pie accidents."
I'm fairly sure that the details of those incidents I really don't need to know" Silverthorn replied with a grin. "I'd probably be traumatised for life."
The waiter reappeared with the dessert menus. Accepting hers, Silverthorn looked at it curiously.
Y'roden simply grinned and waggled his eyebrows at Silverthorn before looking down at his dessert menu. "Hmmm," he mused, "Not a bad selection." He mused over the list for a moment, then looked back up. "I'll have the chocolat mousse," he told the waiter, then looked over at Silverthorn, "And you?"
Consideringly Silverthorn said, "the same for me as well I think." She smiled and handed the menu over to the waiter.
Ro settled back in his chair while they waited for the waiter to return and smiled at Silverthorn. "So, what are your plans for this evening?"
Smiling wryly she said, "what, besides avoiding annoyed relatives who I managed to upset earlier in the day you mean?" She knew she still had to deal with that particular situation but as she still had no real answer to it she was trying to put it off for a bit.
At that point the waiter arrived with the dessert and Y'roden quietly thanked him before he turned his attention back to Silverthorn. "Avoiding the inevitable hmm?," he asked, "Can't blame you there." The half-elf chuckled and shrugged, "You can always hide out at my place, I could use your help mending my living room."
The inevitable argument, definitely," Silverthorn said wryly. She looked at him, "I don't mind helping" she said. A slight hint of amusement showed in her eyes, "but how much of a mess did you make?"
Y'roden actually blushed, "Uhm, well, you'll have to see it to beleive it." He hid behind a spoonful of mousse, "I really have to work on controlling my temper."
Now that was something I'd never thought to see. A D'riel blushing" she said with a hint of mischief. "It must be bad."
"Oh we blush quite often," Y'roden told her, "We just do it in private usually." There was a twinkle in his eye as he pushed his empty dish back and sighed. "Well that was good. How was yours?"
Smiling Silverthorn said, "it was delicious." She pushed her bowl forward out of the way. The waiter appeared and began to collect their empty dishes.
"Just bill it to my room," Ro told the Waiter before he disappeared again. Turning back to his companion he grinned, "Well, are you ready to brave the disaster that is my living room?" He rose and came around to pull Silverthorn's chair out for her.
"How bad can it be?"Silverthorn said with a shrug although there was a hint of amusement in her eyes as she rose to her feet. "After all, I'm assuming that the room at least has to be still standing."
"Well," Y'roden said as he offered her his arm and guided her towards the Turbo Portals, "Most of it is." He frowned as they stepped out of the restaurant, their sensitive Elven ears assailed by an alarm going off in the security office. "How much you want to bet that's either Galain, Glory, or Cully?," he asked.
That is a bet.. I have absolutely no intention of taking" Silverthorn said drily. "The likelihood of it being anyone else is well nigh nil." The elf looked at the controls. "Where are we going?"
Y'roden chuckled, "You're right, since I'm right here with you it can't possibly have been me." He grinned impishly and pointed near the bottom of the panel, "The Chinook complex."
Pressing the button. Silverthorn laughed. "True" she said. "That was another possibility but you have an alibi."
The second Silverthorn pushed the button both elves were shot back into the wall, and Y'roden was cursing Connor's name the entire time. In elvish (several dialects), common, dwarvish, dragon, Centaurian, drow.....
What the..? ..exclaimed Silverthorn as she was suddenly plastered to the wall. Her companion's cursing brought an amused light to her eyes. The portal stopped abruptly and she found herself sliding down the wall, hitting the floor with a bump. "Remind me to take the stairs next time" she said drily
Y'roden was seeing pretty little birdies, and it had nothing to do with the common area that opened up in front of them. "Remind ME to throttle Conor next time we run across him," the half-elf said dazedly. "Although I must admit, that was kinda fun."
Next time he'd be ready for it. He might even bring popcorn.
"Well here we are," he said, stumbling to his feet and offering Silverthorn a hand up before stepping out into the Chinook complex common area.
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