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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1401513" data-attributes="member: 15043">Of Promises MadeSaddling up quickly, the party rode off hard into the desert, but only got a few miles before nightfall. Shaun was all for riding as fast and as far as they could away from the temple ruins, but Elenya was completely exhausted, and asked if they could please stop for the night. Considering all that she had been through, they agreed, and pulled up their horses near a small stone outcropping. As the party set about putting up a camp, Shaun pulled Elenya aside, and whispered in her ear, “Hon... I need to talk to you for a minute.”  She gave him a thin, but genuine smile.“About what?” she asked quietly, looking up, trying to read his eyes.  She frowned, as she evidently couldn’t deign his underlying plan.“Um... can we talk a little away from the party?  Its something kinda... um... private I want to tell you.”  Please be patient, Elenya, I’ve never told you this before... and its kind of dear to my heart... Siabrey is the only one that knows...“Um... ok?” she said cautiously as he led her about 50 feet away from the rest of hte party, quietly so they were out of earshot.“Elenya,” he said, turning to face her, “I’d like to tell you about a dream I used to have.”  She looked around, and found a resting spot on a large flat rock, and she sat looking up at him.  Nervously, Shaun started to pace, as he recalled his terrible dreams of darkness and laughter, his frightening childhood.“Elenya,” he said finally,  dropping down next to her, “after I met you... the dreams changed.  Instead of laughter, there was love.  Instead of darkness, there was light.  In my dream, you came and you opened the door, and filled that dark room with your love...  and I love you more than anything in this world!”The two hugged tightly, and Shaun felt her mouth the words, “I love you too,” into his shoulder.  As her grip tightened, he released on his pulling away, brushing a tear from his eye.   Elenya, please don’t  be mad at me....“I have more to tell you,” he said, his voice a little husky.  “I...well... was under a lot of... um... stress... when we pulled you from the Temple.  And I didn’t react when you said you were pregnant... I apologize for th...”“Ssshhh,” she calmly whispered, putting a finger over his moving lips.  “I understand.... and it is your child, do not worry about that.  My only wish was that I would have had a chance to tell you under much happier circumstances,” she sighed, then looked into his eyes.  “Do you...”“Yes, I still love you,” he smiled, his hand slowly moving her finger away from his mouth.  “I.... I need something from you.”  Elenya cocked an eyebrow.  She gave a slight grin, though she said, “I appreciate the sentiment, but honestly Shaun I’d much rather cuddle...”“The necklace,” Shaun gestured.  Elenya’s slight grin changed to confusion.“Why?” she asked as she took off the fine silver chain with the pierced gold coin attached.  True, it was not a finely wrought piece of jewelry, but it had been her connection to him through the dark days in the Temple.“This,” he said as he broke the necklace on the ground, “was the first gold coin I ever stole.  Came from a rich merchant’s pocket in Haripania.  I wore it was a symbol of my strengths... what I was proud of.  I have a new life now,” he wrapped his arms around her, “and I need a new symbol.”“Are you partial to people being symbols,” Elenya smiled, understanding the transformation he had undertaken. He nodded, pulling her tight.“I would lie if I claimed I wasn’t scared to be a future parent,” Shaun whispered into the top of her head.  “I’m young, I have no clue how to raise a child...”  He felt her shake from a chuckle as she rested her head on his chest.“Well then,” she said, leaning back, a genuine smile on her face, “its better being scared together than scared apart,” she quipped.  Shaun laughed, and pulled her tight again.  The gods have blessed me with the perfect person by my side!  I love you Elenya... and you too... little.. um... what name will we call it?  He?  She?  Um... he stopped worrying, and isntead focused on the warmth of love coming from the short girl by his side.Siabrey watched the whole encounter between Shaun and Elenya with a sick feeling in her gut. The guilt that had been consuming her over the past two days was coming alive again. As Shaun and Elenya walked back to their camp, hands happily linked, she ran over, apologized to Shaun, and dragged Elenya back down the hill.Tess meanwhile had been digging through her bag. Where is it! I know it’s in here somewhere… She thought frustratedly before her fingers connected with a large smooth surface and with a small cry she pulled out the ring that she had found in the High Priest’s quarters. Let’s see, I know that this thing is called the ‘Ring of Elumarra’, and it makes one seem prettier while reflecting their face inside its stone…Seems perfect to me! She walked over to Shaun and thrust the ring into his hands. He looked down at it blankly then back up at her. She sighed and rolled her eyes. “It’s for you to propose to Elenya, stupid.” “Oh…oh!” Shaun suddenly smiled crazily and took off down the hill to where Elenya and Siabrey were talking. “Elenya, I don’t know if you realize this yet, but….it wasn’t you they were after.” Siabrey blurted out once they were alone, unable to look Elenya in the face. “It was me.”Elanya smiled sadly and reached out to touch Siabrey’s arm. “I know. It was really obvious once we got back to the temple that they weren’t glad to see me. They kept mumbling about ‘the fire-eyed one’.” Siabrey swallowed past the lump in her throat and gazed at the ground through blurred eyes.“I’m so sorry, Elenya. If it weren’t for me…” she turned away slightly and muttered, half to herself. “I’m sorry that I’m still here…Can you ever forgive me?” Elenya reached out and grabbed Siabrey’s shoulders firmly, much in the same way that Shaun had. “There is nothing to forgive, Siabrey. You fought as hard as anyone to get me out of there and defend me. In fact.” She smiled ruefully. “I remember it was you that helped rip the bars off my cell door.” Siabrey glanced up at her, misgivings still dancing in her eyes, but at that moment Shaun came running down the hill, a strange mixture of joy and anticipation in his eyes.“Can we have a moment, Siabrey?” he asked without looking at her, having eyes only for Elenya.“Uh…yeah, sure.” Eyes still darkened with despair, Siabrey backed away and headed back uphill to stand beside Lucius, who immediately wrapped an arm around her in an attempt to draw her out of her revere.Down below, Shaun faced his love, butterflies doing cartwheels in his stomach. Elenya’s eyes danced with merriment as she gazed up at him. “So what is it, Shaun? You seem awfully happy.  Last time that happened you tossed a desert grasshopper in my bodice…”He shook his head, completely at a loss at how to begin. “No, no pranks this time... I... uh... well...”  How do I go about this? he thought, and after a moment of stumbling with words, settled on some with a determined sigh.  “Elenya, I have something else very important to ask you.”“I could be cheesy with this... like I could do this upside down with the slippers on,” she giggled at the memory of their fun time with those slippers. “But I don’t want to do that.” He laughed nervously. “I haven't done this before... but then again, neither have you... so hey!  Let’s jump into this together!"“Shauny, what are you talking about?” Elenya punched his shoulder gently. Her eyebrow had raised once again in her questioning mode.He caught her hand and fingered it with his own, stroking its smoothness softly. “Well, you see, these past couple of months have been…well to be honest, some of the scariest of my life. I’ve met and fought more vile things than I care to remember. But through it all…you were there for me. Elenya, I love you more deeply then anything that life or death could offer, and I’d be honored if you’d share it all with me.”Her shining eyes were glimmering now as bright as the stars above. He dropped to one knee and reached into his pocket, pulled out the ring, and slipped it onto her finger.“Elenya…” he whispered softly, staring up into her beautiful eyes. “Will you marry me?”The moment seemed to hang in infinity before it tipped over as Elenya cried out. “Yes!” and dropped to her knees in the sand, wrapping him up in a tight bear hug. “Oh Shaun, ever since that first night that I met you, I knew that you were the one for me!” she sobbed happily into his shoulder.Relieved, Shaun pulled her close and hugged her back as their tears of happiness flowed.Up on the hill, everyone smiled down on the newly engaged couple. Pellaron nudged Tess and whispered to her softly. “Do you think I should offer my services?”“What?” Tess looked at him curiously. The paladin shruged. “I AM a cleric, I have the ability to officiate a wedding.”“Hmm…” Tess thought. “Why don’t you ask them?”Shaun and Elenya came up the hill still hugging and smiling broadly. Pallaron jogged up to them and gave a small bow. Tess couldn’t hear his words but it was plain from the looks on the couple’s faces that they were considering his option. A glance at each other a moment later decided it for them though.“Nay,” Shaun said, his arm around Elenya’s waist pulling her close. “I think we’ll wait till we’re back in a more ‘civilized area’.”“Besides,” Elenya giggled. “My parents would kill me if I got married without some sort of big bash for them to blow a lot of money on.”“Very well,” Pellaron said. “But hey, when we do do the deed.” Shaun grinned at his choice of words. “You can be the one to make it official then.”“I wouldn’t want any other cleric.” Elenya touched Pellaron’s arm with a smile, and the paladin blushed.“Thank you, ma’am. I would be honored.”The rest of the party had hug back, watching the exchange and feeling very happy for the couple.“It’s nice to see that the strength of Kord can still create love in spite of such recent sorrow!” the half-orc yelled. Lucius winced and looked up at Grumki. “The strength of Kord requires love?”Grumki smiled wisely. “Oh yes. Strength of any kind is sacred to Kord.”Meanwhile, Siabrey had been walking back up to Elenya, still combating slightly with her guilt. Maybe I can’t take back the past, but I can be an even greater friend to Elenya to try to make up for it. Siabrey thought. As she reached the young women, she pulled her aside a few steps and shuffled her feet nervously in the sand before looking her in the eye. “Hey Elenya, I…I think it’s really cool, you being a were-raven and all.”Elenya smiled softly and lifted her arms. Her smooth skin appeared to melt like butter as feather-like patterns formed themselves onto her skin before lifting and becoming 3D tatoos. Her arms extended, feathers jutting out from their surface and cascading down into long shiny black wings. She lifted her chin as her black hair rippled in an invisible breeze. The feather patterns began to appear on her face and torso as her clothes reformed into a covering of black feathers. Her legs bent slightly as her ankles elongated and her five humans toes melted into three, each completed with a nasty-looking talon. Lastly, her face extended and condensed into a remarkably pretty blend of raven and human. “This is something called a ‘hybrid form’.” Elenya’s voice, normally smooth and sweet, carried an added grating edge that sounded something like a raven’s cry. “It’s inbetween my human and true raven forms.”Siabrey nodded appreciatively. “It really is quite nice.” And I mean it too. Elenya blushed. Her friends were taking to her new form much better than she had hoped. Siabrey suddenly smiled mischiviously, and turned her back to Elenya. Throwing back her shoulders, she extended her wings and beat them a few times while raising an eyebrow suggestively. Elenya smiled in understanding and turned her own back to Siabrey. The pair began flapping their wings in unison and giggling very loud. From a few feet away, Shaun and Lucius stared at them slightly slack-jawed. “Dude, I don’t know whether to think that that’s hot, or that our girlfriend’s are crazy.” Shaun mouthed out of the side of his mouth to Lucius, who simply nodded and tried to swallow.Tess stood a little off to the side, feeling very alone. She sighed deeply as Elenya and Siabrey finished their show and ran up to their boys, still giggling, as they threw their arms around their necks. “And I still have no one.” She complained under her breath saddly. Siabrey heard however, and took her leave of Lucius’s arms and jogged up to Tess.“Hey, Tess! It’ll be ok.” Siabrey threw a comforting arm around her friend’s shoulders and whispered confidantly in her ear. “There’s always Pellaron you know. The paladin has been eyeing you, and he’s very available…” Pelleron, who was nearby checking their mounts feet for any stones, suddenly gasped and dropped the hoof he was examining and stormed over to Siabrey and Tess.“Excuse me.” He muttered to Tess as he grabbed Siabrey’s shoulder and dragged her down to the bottom of a small hill.“Just what exactly do you think you’re doing?” he hissed once he had her alone, a look of something verging on panic in his eyes. Siabrey shrugged off his hand gently. “Just trying to hook you up. I’ve noticed you staring at Tess. Oh don’t look so surprised,” she added at his shocked expression. “It’s quite obvious if you know what to look for.”Pellaron turned half away from her and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “So what if I do.” He commented half to himself, gazing up to where Tess was still staring down at them, confused. “She’s smart, funny, beautiful…” he blushed slightly and turned back to Siabrey and threw up his arms in frustration. “But I’m a paladin! I have NO experience in these matters whatsoever?”“Wait, wait.” Siabrey held up a hand. “You’re 188, and you’ve never gotten any….EVER?” At Pelleron’s crestfallen look she tried hard to prevent herself from giggling. “Wait here.” Leaving the worried looking paladin, she dashed up to Shaun. “Where’s that book of Sune that I gave you?” she demanded. He gave her a funny look but went over and dug through his saddle pack, finally pulling out the leather-wrapped volume. Grabbing it with a hasty ‘thanks’, Siabrey ran back down to Pellaron and thrust the book into his hands. “Now then, here in the beginning is basic anatomy.” She began to instruct, flipping through a few pages. Pelleron’s face grew redder and redder, and the finally looked as though he might faint as Siabrey continued. “And here near the back…whoa, ok, there’s a few chapters that Shaun and Elenya scribbled…”  Her head turned to the side to get a better look, and she didn’t notice him closing his eyes and giving a groan of distaste.Up above on the hill, Tess had given up watching Siabrey and Pellaron. She had a pretty good idea what they were discussing, especially since she had seen the ‘Sune’ icon on the book when Siabrey had rushed past.Pellaron may be somewhat attractive, but he’s really not my type… she mused as she spread out her bedroll. Besides, I have other things on my mind right now other than romance… Dropping to her knees, she cupped her hands together and offered up a quiet prayer for Quinn as a single unnoticed tear trickled down her cheek. The Temple has been destroyed, Elenya has been returned.  But much remains to be done.   The Blackroses must be destroyed, the Countess must pay......and Rogar must suffer for his crimes...</blockquote>

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