Elftown Water Fountain:

Elftown Water Fountain I...

Elwyne also grinned and called out, "Hi!" waving enthusiastically.

The elf steps toward them and extends her hand. She leans her head to the side, and then drops it for forward, bending at the knees a bit. "I would be pleased to join you. I couldn't help but notice how beautifully you play. I am Civalya De Sairafaen." She rises back up to her full height, 6 feet tall, impressive for an elf. She smiles gently and then stares longingly into the fountain.

Airadonia looks up at the elf, "Hello, my name is Airadonia. Would you like a seat?" Airadonia gestures to the space next to her on the fountian edge.

Elwyne grinned and blushed a little at the praise to her playing. "I'm Elwyne! I'm glad you liked my playing! You're a really good dancer, too!"

As Aelia walks towards the fountain she begans to feel slightly nervous and anxiously tugs at one of the sleeves of her crossed arms. The gentle breeze soothes her anxiety and she finally works up the courage to cry out a greeting, "Good Morrow, fellow country men!"

Elwyne spun around in surprise, nearly falling into the fountain.

Airadonia reaches out and steadies Elwyne while laughing lightly. "Don't fall in little one, you don't want to get wet!" She starts laughing again with a playful glint in her eyes.

Elwyne giggled at her own clumsiness and turned to the newcomer somewhat more carefully. "Hi!" She greeted.

Sylvien stood in the shadows of the trees on the outskirts of the fountain, watching those that sat near its soothing waters. The cowl of her dark cloak was pulled forward to keep the harsh light of the sun out of her deep burgundy maroon eyes. She was sure that she had been spotted by the women surrounding the fountain, and she would have to make her presence known sooner or later.

Airadonia looked up from steadying Elwyne and saw the person in the shadows. Airadonia smiles and waves the person to come near, "Don't leave yourself out of the fun. Come join us."

She nodded...sure that it went unnoticd, "I am sorry, the light hurts my eyes, if you do not mind the rude covering of my face I shall join you." She said as she walked from the shadows a little but pulled the cowl closer to her face.

Elwyne grinned in her direction as well, cheerfully ready to greet anyone or anything that crossed her path. "It's no problem!"

Sylvien made her way to the side of the fountain where the women sat. Her movements gracefull despide the thick cloak that she kept on her body at all times. The parts of her that were visible, she was sure made them wonder. The nails on her fingers black and slightly pointed, and the long braid of her hair the color of distilled moonlight. At last she sat beside them. "I am called Sylvien. Again, I am sorry, the light is very painful to my eyes."

Airadonia looks at Sylvien, "It's no problem. We don't mind." Airadonia smiled in an understanding way and put her pale hand into the water of the fountian and let the coolness soothe her.

Elwyne smiled again at everone around her and settled into her own cloak a bit. She wondered if her music had something to do with bringing these people together, then decided against it. She'd have been glad if it had, but she had been playing for one and it likely hadn't really traveled that far.

Illari entered and eyed the water fountain thoughtfully. "Is this a decent puddle?"

She moved closer and peeled a bit of bark off her already almost bare stick, dropping it into the fountain. It fell down...down...splash! She watched in breathless anticipation. Would it finally work?

Deciding watching bark in breathless anticipation for several weeks would get old, Illari turned her attention to the other beings standing around.

Elwyne was also staring with interest at the bark, wondering what the newest person in the area was doing with it. When the woman looked up, El looked at her and smiled. Then she decided to let her curiousity get the better of her. "What was that for?" She asked pointing at the bark.

"Cloth." Illari pronounced as if it were the answer to everything. "Your pool looks like it might actually do the trick, for once."

Airadonia looked over as if she had been woken from a dream then asked, "Cloth? What do you mean 'cloth'? That's bark and water..." She stared at the bark as if it held the answer from her and she watched intently waiting for it to speak.

"It's bark and water now ." Illari agreed. "Just give it a few weeks, though, and if it's not like all the other blasted useless puddles in this confuddled land, it'll be proper cloth."

Airadonia looked confused but shrugged it off and took her attention from the bark. She looked to the new comer and smiled, "I'm Airadonia. Nice to meet you."

"Illari. Nice to meet you, too." Illari looked around at the others for the first time after her arrival. "Who are they?"

Elwyne smiled brightly at Illari and said, "I'm Elwyne Verahs. I'm a bard." Then interested in what Illari had said she turned her back and began to watch the bark in the water with a furious intensity, as if her watching would somehow make the process of bark turning into cloth go faster.

"I told you, it takes a few weeks." Illari reminded her. "Nice to meet you, Elwyne."

Elwyne continued to watch the bark, but she smiled again and answred. "It's very nice to meet you too, Miss Illari!"

"So what brings you here, Elwyne?" Illari asked, poking at the fountain with her staff. After a few moments, the poking became more intent, as though it had spontaneously turned into some sort of game. It also started splashing more.

Elwyne giggled as one of the splashes got her wet. She turned to look at Illari again. "I'm just traveling through. Maybe I can get some money for my playing, and can get a place to stay at an Inn tonight! I don't see any other players trying to play here."

Airadonia looks to Elwyne, "I think that's a great idea. I don't think that we are the only people that enjoy your music. Just put out something to catch money in front of you so that people will put money in it!" Airadonia looked around frantically to try and find one.

Elwyne smiled. She had already tucked her flute away, now instead she pulled from her pack her fiddle. She opened the case and set the case on the ground, while she tuned the fiddle and stretched her fingers getting ready to play.

Illari took a seat on the edge of the water fountain and, taking a quick glance to see if the bark had done anything (it hadn't; as she had said, it took several weeks for it to transform properly even with the proper water), prepared to listen.

Elwyne looked around smiling, "Any requests?"

Airadonia looked at Elwyne and smiled, anticipating the performance, "What's your favorite?"

Elwyne stared upward for a moment smiling, before answering. "I like songs of hope. They make me feel better when I'm sad."

Illari tried to envision Elwyne sad from what she had seen of her and failed. Perhaps she was not very good at envisioning people other ways. "How 'bout " - Illari racked her brain for a cheerful ballad that was not a drinking song and found a classic, and also found she had forgotten its name - "uh...I forget. Something like Sparrow Cowl. Forest guy who played with sticks on trees and got dumped in the water? Something about bows, too." [OOC: Robin Hood, unless you'd like to give him a different name for this world]

Elwyne looked confused, "I'm supposed to have such a good memory for songs, but that doesn't really sound familiar. Do you know any of the words?"

"Umm..." Illari thought. "Haven't a clue. Oh well, never mind."

Elwyne shrugged and grinned, "Do you have a favorite type of song? Maybe I can think of something similar!"

Illari gave up on trying to find a cheerful ballad. "D'you know Binnorie?" She asked.

"Binnorie?" Elwyne wilted, thinking that she couldn't be a very good bard if she didn't know much in the way of good music. Binnorie sounded like another language to her.

That one Illari could help her with. "The one about the two sister-princesses, and the knight who comes to woo them. 'A mother lived by the north sea shore / Daughters were the babes she bore / One grew radiant as the sun / Darker grew the other one.' Do you know it?"

Elwyne shook her head despondently, but then perked up a little. "No, but... but it sounds lovely! Maybe if you sing it for me? I can play the music for it! I pick things up real fast!"

"Okay!" Illari agreed. "I only know one version, and not all the words, but..." Illari loved 'classic tales of love, romance, and murder'. She launched into the song.

A mother lived by the north sea shore
Daughters were the babes she bore
One grew radiant as the sun
Darker grew the other one.

A knight came riding to their door
He traveled far to be their wooer
He courted both with golden rings
But loved the younger o'er all things.

"Sister, won't you walk with me
To watch the ships sail o'er sea?"
As they walked along the shore
The darker pushed her sister o'er.

"Sister, sister, let me live,
All that's mine I'll surely give"
"Thy bridegroom I will take and more
That thou shalt never come ashore."

Off she floated like a swan
The salt sea bore her body on
You could not see her lily feet
Her golden fringes were so deep.

A minstrel walking by the strand
Saw her body float to land
And when he looked that lady on
He sighed and made a heavy moan.

He made a harp of her breast bone
The sight would melt a heart of stone
He took three strands of her bright hair
And with it strung his harp so rare.

He took the harp to the wedding hall
There to play before them all
And when he set it on a stone
The harp began to play alone.

The strings let out a dreadful sound
"The bride her younger sister drowned.
Now her secret you all know
Her guilty tears will surely flow."

Elwyne finished the playing and stared happily at Illari for a moment. "I like your singing! You have a nice voice!" She said gleefully.

Illari looked rather stunned by this. "Oh." She commented. "I do?"

Elwyne nodded, "I think so!" Then she turned to the others around the fountain. "Don't you?" She asked confidently.

"I would have to agree with Elwyne. You have a very lovely voice." Airadonia seemed entranced by the song that had just been sung.

Illari was not sure how to deal with this, so she fell into the fountain.

She did not exactly mean to fall into the fountain. She merely forgot that she was sitting on the edge and leaned backwards for reasons unknown. A moment later, she surfaced, blinking in surprise. "Oops." She commented, and climbed out of the fountain, which was rather deeper than she had thought before.

"Oh!" Elwyne turned and crawled on her hands and knees along the rim of the fountain until she could make sure that Illari was all right. "Are you ok? Really?"

Illari climbed up onto the rim and over. "I'm okay. Just surprised." She replied, and flicked a finger. A warm breeze started to blow in drying circles around her. Illari grinned. "I've never tried that before. This is fun! Would you like to try?"

Elwyne shook her head after looking into the fountain and shuddering. "If I fell in there I don't think I'd ever be able to get out. I'm much too small."

"No, the wind." Illari told her. "It kinda - tickles, I guess. Would you like to try some?"

Airadonia smiled, "I can do that, too." She closed her eyes as a breeze wrapped around her...but she seemed to lay down and the air lifts her slightly off the fountian. She had a look of pure joy on her face as the wind lifted her and she starts to laugh lightly.

Sylvien looked on at the joyful happenings of those around her, and could feel their gazes upon her cloaked face, as though asking her what she could do, what she could contribute to the beauty and joy of the fountain. The sun was covered as a few clouds passed overhead and she pulled the cloak away from her face, revealing her features to the cool breeze. Her silver hair fell around her as though made of liquid and her strange eyes blinked at those around her. "I have enjoyed your songs and playing. It brings joy to an old soul that has not seen such things in a very long time. For that I thank you." For a moment, as she looked into the eyes of those around her, her eyes seemed to change taking on the look of a reptile, her pupil just a vertical slit in the color of her iris, and then it was gone, and as the sun came from behind the cloud, the cowl of the cloak had returned to its former position and the mystic moment had passed.

"You're welcome!" Elwyne grinned cheekily at Sylvien. And she looked at the other two giggling as they played with wind. "I wish I could play with wind too, but all I can do really is Heal and play with music and emotions."

"Not a problem." Illari assured her, and sent a breeze to twine around the hobbit before turning back with delight to Airadonia. She had not met another wind mage before. "Can you do this?" She swung her staff up and behind her back and twisted the grip. Wings rolled out, and she popped into the air happily.

Airadonia watched as Illari passed her in the sky and flew up to her, "No I can't grow wings. But I can fly. I am an elementalist of wind." Airadonia did some spirals in the air then swooped down to Elwyne, "Want to join us? You said you wish you could. I can make it so." And as she finished that Elwyne started to float off the ground with a spiral of wind playing at her feet, making swirls of dust on the ground.

Elwyne yiped at first with suprise then giggled and wiggled her toes delightedly. Then she looked up smiling, but with a trace of worry in her eyes. "I won't fall?" She asked carefully.

"No you will not." Airadonia said light heartedly. "As long as I live you will not fall from this air." And with that Airadonia reached out a hand to Elwyne to take her up to Illari.