That and try to stay out of trouble.
The former worked, the latter (alas) did not.
As he had once heard, 'the best laid plans of dwarves and dragons -'
What Pewter didn't know was that he was going to be kept an eye on. This part of his adventuring wasn't that unexpected among silver dragons, though he was a bit precocious in this regard.
So the next day Ranma snuck off, rationalizing that he hadn't been forbidden - and that this time he would sneak up on that humanoid in a shape that would pass muster. He'd seen these creatures before and would be able to pull off the mimicry without any flaw this time.
Sinda inspected her lean-to and had to admit it looked pretty shabby. It wasn't as if she'd been able to study this stuff before coming out here to some extent.
Well, this would change when she contacted the rest of her group of companions. They Who Harped had arranged this meeting and the others all knew exactly what and who they were getting. Then they had this little mission, but that was all right as they were all just starting out their careers basically. Little missions were just fine.
And she got to sit here amongst these great old trees, smelling fresh air and all the different rich scents the breeze brought her, and she could...
Sinda looked at the songbird that had just walked into her camp. (snort. giggle.)
The songbird began looking over itself as if trying to figure out what the joke was.
Sinda began giggling, a sound that those familiar with drow would hardly ever expect to hear from such a creature.
In the forest, a watchful eagle stared with its beak open as the drow proceeded from giggling to a completely undignified belly laugh.
(hee hee) "I'm sorry..." (giggle) "but you do realize that even if I've only been in The World Above for a few weeks -" (titter) "-that birds like that don't normally come in forty kilo varieties?"
The bird grunted, closed his eyes and began shrinking till it was only five times the size of its brethren.
(giggle) "I'm so sorry-" (snort) "-a fine pair we must make. An elf who knows little woodcraft but what I've read in books, and who sought the sky when my homeland is all caverns, and a shapechanger like yourself who misses the oddest details."
The bird gave the bird form up as a lost cause and decided to try hunting lion.
"MUCH better," said Sinda, who hadn't seen one of these silver-furred beasts before and therefore assumed it was the creature's natural shape. Looked fairly attractive at that. "My name is Sinda. Formerly Sindarekajaille Vekthira of Chad Nasad, but after hearing my name mangled by that innkeep - I've shortened it. New life, new name, eh? So what's your name, shapeshifting hunter?"
Pewter considered briefly, then decided it couldn't do any harm. "Pewter."
"For the silvery coat?" Sinda asked. "Very well, I -"
Sinda's stomach growled.
"Oh fuss and bother," said Sinda.
"Hungry?" asked Pewter.
"Yes," admitted Sinda. "I haven't been able to hunt much. Everything is so unfamiliar and there were some mushrooms that I really wish I had NOT sampled."
"Just a moment," said Pewter, vanishing into the forest.
Hunting was not a problem from the air, and he quickly spotted something that looked 'food-like' and swooped down to make sure it wasn't intelligent.
The beast attacked him, growling and snapping, but Pewter was a dragon if just a hatchling and a brown bear was simply not up to the challenge.
Flying back was a bit more of a challenge, as carrying a heavy weight was simply not something he could manage, but for some reason an updraft seemed to come along and help him carry the weight.
Unseen by Ranma, the eagle merely finished the levitation spell and shook its head at the antics of youth.
She was quite familiar with dragons. Night dragons, deep dragons, even a particularly nasty and voracious red. The drow of Chad Nasad would deal with any of the above in their political wranglings, and Sinda had seen prisoners of other houses sent off as dinner as part of the latest deal. Though there were whispers of other and even darker uses the dragons would put their new slaves to.
"Food," said Pewter, wondering if the elf were cold the way she was shivering like that.
"NOT food!" insisted Sinda.
"It's not?" Pewter nosed at the dead animal. He took a tentative bite, ripping a rear leg off to bite into the thigh. "Needs cooked."
Sinda slowly edged out of her shelter. "You were referring to this? Not me?"
Pewter made a face. "You not make much sense."
The dark elf sagged as the relevation that she was not a menu item sank in. Wait. That might mean - this and that. Was that a kid's voice though? Then it couldn't be that. So was it after something else?
"Make fire, cook food?" asked Pewter of the dark elf.
"Yes, I think I've got a book on how to do that," said Sinda as she turned to the task. "Let's see. Flint. Steel. Wood shavings."
The eagle made an amused noise as an owl landed next to it. "You call that a disguise?"
"It'll do. A dark elf?"
WHAM! "Owie owie owie!"
"A clumsy dark elf?" qualified the owl.
"I've been watching them for about two hours," confided the eagle. "The young elfmaid is indeed drow. She regularly consults books on woodcraft and at one point managed to tie her own fingers to that support pole where she's roasting bear meat."
"You're kidding me," said the owl, disbelieving that an elf could be that clumsy.
"I nearly fell off my perch," admitted the eagle. "She seems to have that elvish grace at some times, whereas in other moments she is as clumsy as a hatchling fresh from the shell."
"There! Finished." (twang) "YaaaaaAAAAaaaa! Uhm. I meant to do that," said the young drow being watched.
"You meant to make a snare, catch yourself in it, and hang upside down like that?" asked Pewter's voice.
"It's... uhm... an ancient dark elven training technique! Naturally, as an outsider, you wouldn't be expected to understand."
"She's got to be kidding," said the owl to the eagle.
The eagle rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Wow!" said Pewter, impressed that his new friend was showing him such things.
"I'll just let myself down." (twang) "eeep" (WHAM) "owie"
"When I saw a dark elf, I was concerned for Pewter," admitted the owl. "Perhaps I should be more concerned that his new friend appears to be missing a few levels from her dungeon."
"Check out her alignment," offered the eagle.
The owl did one better and groaned. "That isn't possible."
"What happened? That was a True Seeing?" the eagle asked.
"Yes. Somehow or other, Pewter has run across:"
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(Posted Sun, 11 Apr 2004 04:13)
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