Fefnir ran up to the top of the hill, leaving Eliel and the Umbra behind. His cloak billowing behind him and longsword tapping against his leg with every step, he hurried up to the top of the hill, luscious grass on either side of the dirt path.
Up at the top, the boy saw their destination, it was the drow's tower. The dirt path led straight to its door, which was made of solid oak. It was tall, rising four stories up into the azure sky. It was made of stones, gray and rectangular. Higher up on the outside, there was a balcony, presumably leading to a bedroom or study. Growing from the bottom, shining green vines extended their reach up the tower's form. It seemed slightly cold, possibly intimidating, but at least it wasn't that god-forsaken forest.
Turning back, he called to his host. Is this it? he yelled, the sun making his hair shine brilliantly.

((Sorry for the shortness, heat's getting to me. I'll make up for it with my other posts, promise.))

Eliel watched the excitable boy run up the hill in an attempt to beat him to the door. Eliel chuckled an looked at Gwen simply. The great cat nodded and took off at a dead run, bounding towards the boy. She cast a globe of darkness over him and lay down to trip the eager boy.

Eliel walked by the globe and reached the front door with a chuckle. He gently placed a a hand on the door and pushed it open, creaking quietly. He walked into the huge room, a comfortable-looking living area. It contained comfortable couches, a few armchairs, a large table in the center, and a fireplace. There were shelves of books and tapestries covering the walls. Much of the furnishing looked very elven in origin, made by the drow.

The tapestries displayed images of many aspects of drow life, hunting parties, Sorcere, Menzoberranzan. One of them had a basilisk on it. Eliel sat on a couch, sinking into the finely crafted seat. A ball of fur jerked to life, running over Eliel's lap and over to the door, a limbless pet. It made strange wheezing barks as it approached the boy.

“Come on in.” He gestured.

Kai's world went dark when the orb was cast, and he fell to the ground once the umbra tripped him.
"Hey..." he said, pushing himself off the ground, "No fair..." Laughing, he ruffled the large cat's fur, the part between its ears, and mad his way towards the open door. When the mass of fur charged at him, he was shocked, but decided that it wasn't a threat. He dropped to one knee down, offering the creature his hand as one would to a dog.
"What is this thing?" he asked, looking up at Eliel.
As he listened to the drow explain, Fefnir looked around the room. The fireplace was crackling, filling the room, and probably the house, with sweet warmth. The many couches and armchairs that could be found scattered across the room looked plush, begging to be sat on. On the walls were a number of exquisite works of art, depictions of drow life, all the people black-skinned.
This was some place he'd made for himself...

Eliel chuckled as Gwen tripped the boy, and actually letting him pet her. He grunted in wonder for a second, shaking it off and looking around. He got up and put up his piwifwi, setting it on a hook. He set the elven sword on a display, setting it in place. He set the rest of his equipment away, leaving himself in his normal clothes, black pants and a loose white linen shirt, a thin belt, and his oiled leather boots, containing a dagger.

He smiled at Roy. “That, is a furfur. His name is Roy, he guards my tower from any unwanted guests. Mostly just alerts me, Gwen, or Silendra. Can't do too much harm. Yet.” He grinned. He had plans for the little creature.

Eliel waved a hand as Roy nibbled at the boy's finger. “Take a seat if you like. We can hang around, spar, whatever you like. I don't get many guests, and they are quite often... not too friendly.”

Fefnir walked in, careful of his footing with Roy underfoot, and pulled off his cloak. Hanging it on a hook beside Eliel's, he stood in his regular clothing. Black pants and a black, silk shirt, both were embroidered in Gold thread around the edges.
His mother had made the outfit for him, spinning the silk for weeks. She had known he had been destined for greater things, things outside that god-forsaken farm.
He left his sword by the door, propped up against the wall below his cloak.
Walking into the room, warmth seemed to envelope him, coming from all sides to surround him. It was a nice feeling, a familiar one.
Plopping himself down in the soft embrace of a nearby armchair, Fefnir looked to Eliel.
"Really? Why not?" he asked. The house seemed nice, and the drow... well, he took a bit of getting used to. But then again, nothing got you used to someone like a battle with hordes of giant spiders.
"What do you do out here, if you don't get many visitors? Do you just sit here with Roy, Gwen, and Silendra?" A pause.
"Who... what... Where is Silendra, anyway?"

Eliel smiled at him. “I am wanted by the drow. I have had a sizable bounty on my head for a few years now, so not as many come after me as they used to. I've moved many furnishings from my house in Menzoberranzan to here. Most everything you see was drow-made. For pleasure and comfort. The drow are a luxurious folk.”

Eliel chuckled as he asked his question. “Silendra? Oh, I haven't explained it have I? I'm engaged to a drow woman. An assassin that was after my head. But that's all over now.” He chuckled.

“Oh, I have plenty of fun here. If I am here, I'm usually relaxing, wrestling with Gwen, sleeping. When I'm not here, I'm usually in life-threatening situations, so it's good to have a place to lay back. Mind, this tower is near unbreachable. The wrestling may have to stop, soon though.” He patted Gwen on the head, letting her climb up on the couch. Her head lay in his lap.

“At first, we thought she was a panther. Turns out, however, that she is an Umbra, a rather large cat that grows to the size of ride ability. Only a kitten at the moment, she will grow to a rather larger size.” He chuckled, imagining her any bigger.

“So what would you like to do?”

Fefnir sat there, staring at the drow. It all seemed to fantastic, to grand, too foreign, like something out of a story book. A price on his head? Marrying an assassin sent after him? Exiled from his home, forced to live apart from his people...
It was like the man had taken a storybook from the boy's childhood and had begun reading.
And then a question, what did he like to do? Well... that was an awkward question.
"Well... uh, I like to do magic..." he said, twiddling his thumbs. He wasn't much of a mage, but he was getting there, his spells gaining potency with every attempt. "And I like to practice swordplay..." Nothing much else, he never had time for anything else. He had grown up around animals, he was trying to prove himself.
Well, this was quite a step in his journey. Meeting a drow, meeting with one in his house... He looked around, taking in the sights of the room again.
He'd never had much down time, time to do things that he liked to do. He's stayed up late in his childhood to take up the art of magic, stolen moments to learn the art of the sword.
A sigh escaped the boy's lips as he realized something. He was really dull.

Eliel smiled at him. “I like magic as well, I just don't find as much use for it in my life. I have the blade and need no counter spells. Mages are not very effective against me. On the other hand, neither are swordsmen. I'm pretty much covered, I guess.” He chuckled.

“If you ever wish to practice your swordsmanship, you know where I am.” He waved an arm around the room in a careless gesture. Gwen nipped at his hand as he clipped her ear. Eliel jerked it back before her small nip took his hand off at the wrist. “Right. Well, then. You go upstairs. Perhaps the spider stomping made you tired.” The Umbra watched him with one warning eye.

Gwen sniffed, head held high, and walked upstairs in a royal fashion, making a show of it. She went through the arch and into the small stairway behind it.

Eliel watched her go up to the bedroom and chuckled, winking at Fefnir. “I love that cat.”

Fefnir smiled, watching as the large kitten sauntered off haughtily up the stairs.
I love that cat.
Fefnir laughed, nodding. "I like her. She's..." he stopped, unable to think of anything.
What the drow had said was true, magic didn't have much use in every day life. But then again, Fefnir's life wasn't one you heard about every day. He had no home, no job, and he just traveled around. It was the dream of most children, but Fefnir had no choice but to live it. At least he had chosen it for himself. But what would become of him? Would he become a great mage? A swordman? Or would he succumb to dark powers? Or, worst of all, would he simply die before he had the chance of becoming great?
Only time would tell.
"Lucky for you that nothing's truly effective against you..." he teased, embracing the softness of the chair he sat in. It was like a little cloud, all for him. "Some of us have to work hard not to get killed." he chuckled.
A sigh escaped his lips, the silence around him growing. He hadn't had silence like this in a long time. Not the silence of the night outside, with creatures prowling around you. Not the silence of empty streets, echoing with what had been said. No, the silence that was full of warmth, radiating comfort, bursting with calmness...
The kind of silence that can only occur in a place that someone calls home.

Eliel smiled at his unfinished sentence. “She's what? Beautiful? Proud? Full of herself? Any of those would fit.” He laughed, causing Roy to stir from his spot on Eliel's lap. An ebony-skinned hand ruffled his fur lovingly and calmed the small creature. Eliel grinned at the boy and sighed, completely relaxed. Here, in his home, his fortress, nothing could reach him. The toils and burdens of the outside world were stopped at the doorway.

Eliel laughed at his comment. “Well, I thank you for that, but I'm as vulnerable as the next man. Believe me, I'm no god. I can be hurt as well as any other man. Just harder to hit.” Eliel winked, then his face grew serious.

“Fefnir, I've devoted my life to the blade. Once I was weak, and that weakness nearly caused me my life and places myself in a constant state of danger. At any time, I must be ready for a blade in the shadows. A harmless stranger can stab me in the back. So I've become strong. At a price.” He nodded.

“If you want to excel, to truly become a master of something, you have to devote yourself to it.” Eliel smiled and reached to the opposite side of the couch, an iron wine holder sitting there. He pulled a bottle free of it's web-decorated frame and popped the top, pulling up a couple of glasses.

“Would you like a glass? What happens here, stays here. My home is a place to relax.” He said, pouring himself a glass and tipping the bottle fefnir's way.

Fefnir accepted the glass with a smile, "Thank you..." he said.
He had devoted himself to this, to magic, to the sword. He'd given up his home, his family, his friends, everything... everything for a chance to become something, all because he refused to accept what cards life had dealt him. He would accept nothing more than the stuff of dreams, the things most people only imagined. He would become the best, he knew it. He could feel it.
"I have devoted myself... to both the blade, and to magic. I have devoted myself truly and completely..."
It was strange, seeing the drow so relaxed, so... in his element. When they had first met, it had seemed that the man had been relaxed, at ease with everything around him. Maybe a bit high-strung, but not ready to snap. But compared to the way he acted here, in his home, his domain, it seemed that he always walked around, tight as the string on a lute, and only came unwound here, within these walls.
"My my. You sure seem relaxed." Fefnir teased. He knew what it was like, to have a place to call your own, a place where nothing can harm you, or those you call friend. A place where everything is alright, where nothing bad can happen to you... It's called home. Fefnir hadn't had one in a while.
Intoxicated by the warmth of the place, the boy's grass-green eyes twinkled a bit. He took a sip of the liquid Eliel had handed to him.

Eliel chuckled. “Then there may be hope for you yet, boy. If that is true you may grow strong in both areas. Perhaps not the best in either, but still.” He chuckled. He himself found little use for magic, only a couple petty spells and a spell to get him out of very tight spots.

“Aye, relaxed I am. This is my home. Between me, Gwen, and the front doors, nothing is getting in. Unless I wish it, of course.” He chuckled. “There is nothing to fear here. Even if you proved hostile. My attention is focused on you. Even if things got out of hand, I have several hundred pounds of muscle and claw at my call. Besides, I'm not as relaxed as I may look.”

Eliel winked at the boy, sipping at the glass held delicately in his right hand. “Say. Would you like to spar a bit? Get some practice in? Or is it too soon? You may spend the night here if you like.” Eliel smiled at him.

Fefnir smiled, was this man for real?
He'd been on the road for weeks, maybe even a couple of months, and nobody had been quite so friendly as the ebony-skinned man. He'd helped Fefnir fight off a swarm of spiders, taken him to his home, and was offering a place to stay, to spar, it was more than Fefnir could handle.
"No... No, I couldn't intrude on you and your wife..." he said, smiling and shaking his head. He could manage on his own, but this man was just... He would have never expected the man who had greeted him with a sword pointed to his face to be this kind.
"But as for the sparring.... I could definitely use some practice..." he said, chuckling a bit. This man knew, he wasn't exactly the best with the sword. True, he was on par with most, but that wasn't enough to accomplish his dreams, and he would reach them. A dream burned inside him, he would be the best, he would not quit, no matter the cost. A arm, a leg, his mind, his soul, he had devoted himself to this, he was going to go through with it.
"What do you have to say? About your success, about your prowess? What did you do, what makes you so special that everything seems to come so easily to you. When we fought, your fighting came as if it were second nature, how?"