Eliel exited his home, shutting the heavy doors to his tower behind him. Gwen stood next to him, ready as always. Eliel patted the Umbra on the head, sweeping his black piwafwi over himself. He tied back his white hair, using a thin leather strip. He made it into a single ponytail, tucking it under his collar. After making sure Lan de Yue Jia and his Scimitar were safely strapped on, as well as his couple daggers, Eliel drew his hood over himself, ready to hunt.

He slung his leg over gwen's back, sitting atop the enormous cat. She gathered herself and took off into the forest, evening air whipping against their faces. She made little sound and had excellent sense of where she was going. Between her visual, sonic, and telepathic sight, she knew exactly where everything was ahead of time, ready to doge it. The ability made her able to run through the forest like no other, unhindered.

They came upon their prey, a deer. Eliel had her stop ahead of time, using his drow infra vision to watch it. Luckily for them, the thing hadn't heard them yet. Eliel dismounted and crept off to the side. Eliel looked at Gwen, sending her simple images of the steps in his plan. She nodded and crouched down.

Eliel picked up a stone and threw it across the grassy clearing. The deer perked up and ran, off to Eliel's far left. Gwen threw an orb of darkness where it was headed, making it turn to run directly at Gwen. The Umbra leapt, tackling the deer head-on.

She held the deer down as Eliel approached. They wanted it intact, so it did not bleed or make a mess in the forest. Eliel kneeled down and placed a gentle hand on the back of the deer's head, his armored hand on it's mouth. He waited a second for it to relax, then snapped his arms in opposite directions, snapping it's neck. A quick and painless death.

Rose walked through forest, her familiar Twi gracefully walking next to her. The two made an interesting pair when walking to together. Both of them had black hair (fur in Twi’s case) and golden eyes. They also walked in the same manor, like a cat. The walked together in silence, letting the evening settle around them. [i[Rose[/i] Twi asked Are we going to stop soon?

Rose glance down at the cat, “Are you getting tired?”

No, but I want to know how much longer do we plan on wandering today.

“I’m not quite sure. I’d like to find some dinner before we settle down,” she was quiet for a while before continuing. “I’m thinking fox. You?”

I’ll get myself a nice crunchy bird. She answered before bounding off and up a tree. A startled chirp and the rustling of leaves were heard from the tree then silence. A few dead bird bodies fell out of the tree and onto the forest floor. Twi jumped down after them I’ve got my dinner.

Rose smiled, “We’ll sleep here. I’ll go see what I can find.” She ran off into the woods just barely getting Twi’s last communication to her.

Don’t get lost.

She bound off, bouncing off the roots of the trees, listening to the night. She saw a clearing up a head and decided to skirt the edges to look for wandering animals. A loud ‘snap’ from the clearing, though, made her drop to the ground out of instinct. She crawled to the edge and looked to see a large cat and a person standing over the body of a dear. “I guess I’m not the only one hunting,” she whispered to herself. She looked closer at the man, trying to see what he was.

Her blood froze, she felt her breath catch. “He’s an…elf.” She felt fear creep into her. “I better run.” She was about to slip away, hopefully unnoticed but then a loud growl issued from her stomach. “Oh, crap!” she murmured.

Eliel smiled at Gwen, dropping his hood to reveal the obsidian skin and white hair of a Drow. He knelt down, checking the deer's heartbeat. It was a goner. Once Eliel told Gwen, she got up off the body and stood, looking around curiously. Eliel chuckled.

“This should be good for tonight, eh?” He said, punching Gwen on the shoulder. The great cat seemed to wear a smile. Eliel chuckled at it and knelt down to tie up the deer with a piece of rope.

A warning coursed through his head as Gwen 's head snapped towards a bush. Eliel would never have known the girl was there if it weren't for Gwen's hearing. He walked towards the bush, right hand resting on Lan de Yue Jia's hilt. He drew it, emitting a very faint glow. He slid it into the bush and pushed it to the side, showing the area behind it.

A girl stood not far away, seeming to be an elf. He frowned while he looked at her, observing her strangely rounded features for an elf, who usually had sharp, angular faces. He sighed and stepped closer, sheathing his blade.

“Hello there. I don't want any trouble, now.” He said, putting his hands a little in the air to show he was unarmed. To anybody who did not know him, it would seem strange he only wore a single gauntlet, on his left hand.

“I am Eraspeola Usreanac. Eliel for short.” He said with a graceful bow.

Rose was dead frozen. She saw now that he must be a Drow, recognizing the features. She watched him closely as he surveyed her. She noted the frown upon his face while he did so. 'Does he already guess what I am?' she thought. 'I should run but..' she glanced at the cat and at his weapon, 'That won't do much good.' When his hand dropped from the sword and he introduced himself she put herself on even higher alert. 'Okay, be nice, don't do anything stupid. Then, when you can, run like hell.' She did her best to cover her fear and replied. "My name is Rose," she replied, nodding her head slightly.

Eliel sighed as she looked over his weapons and Gwen. Not helping. He could nearly smell the fear off her. Her poise itself was stiff as ice. Eliel frowned again as she spoke. Poor girl. He hadn't received such a reaction in some time. Everybody up here knew him just about.

Deciding the best approach was to come right out with it, Eliel called Gwen over. The huge cat padded over, eyeing Rose. She knew what Eliel was thinking and agreed. He could handle his own with her. Eliel unbuckled his belt, pulling it off with a rattle. Both swords were strapped to it, sheathed. He handed it to Gwen, who took it in her mouth and lay down. Eliel pulled a dagger from his sash, a dagger from his boot, and his wand, setting them in front of the cat.

“i know what you're thinking. Don't judge who I might be because I'm a Drow. Too many do. Too many make the wrong move and try to play hero.” He said, trying to make it sound as little as a threat as possible.

Eliel stepped away from Gwen and smiled faintly.

'Okay, no more weapons. No sword, no wand, no nothing,' she mentally told herself. 'Now we just have to worry about that cat. I think I should be able to handle it for a while and then be able to get away. IF it comes to that.' She noted how he seemed upset by her uptight attitude. She calmed herself and relaxed her body a bit, trying to not seem scared. "Please excuse me sir. I don't mean to offend you. I always asked this way around people," she said to him. 'Elf people that is,' she thought to herself. "I apologize for my rudeness."

Eliel smiled at her and nodded. The only weapon he had now was his gauntlet, which couldn't come off. He sighed relived as she apologized. “It's fine, dear. I don't blame you. I know what I am.” He said with a smile.

Eliel looked at her curiously. “Don't worry yourself about elves. Most of us are quite kind, even to half-elves.” He said kindly. “You may encounter a couple problems with a couple of them, but don't worry yourself over it.” He said, trying to maintain a calm voice.

Eliel looked at Gwen for a moment and she nodded, collecting the weapons and moving back to the deer. She kept them all there, leaving Eliel and Rose alone.

“Say rose, do you live here? I could have sworn I've seen someone like you around a couple times. If that's so, then we may both benefit from becoming friends. I live in the tower just a little ways north of the lake, maybe half a mile.” He said, wondering if she'd seen his tower.

Rose did her best to relax, but it was hard to do. 'Most of us are kind,' she thought to herself. 'What is he playing at? He mentioned half elves...does he suspect what I am!? I better check. But about the tower...I think I've seen it...we'll just have to see where he's going with this. The cat's gone now so running is an option again.'

"Yes, I have seen your tower before. And it's no surprise that you've possibly seen me before now. I use that tower as a marking to how far I travel in that direction. I don't like wandering too far from familiar trails." She pause, thinking over what to say next. However an unexpected turn of fate took her mind off her words as a sharp wind suddenly cut through the trees and sent her long hair flailing wildly around her face, reveling her slightly pointed ears.

She smiled grimly and decided to make the best of this occurrence. "Well, you can probably guess what I am now," she looked him in eyes and finished with, "Does it disgust you to be speaking with a lowly half-breed?"

Eliel felt the wind and closed his eyes to embrace it for a second, opening them to see Rose with her hair blowing, revealing pointed ears. So it was true, she was a half-elf. No matter. None of it mattered to him. Eliel did not care who his friends were by looks or race. He judged them by potential and who they were.

“You say that like it's such a bad thing.” Eliel said to her with a friendly smile. “I don't care what you are. To me, it's who you are. Trust me. You believe yourself to be an abomination, no? Well, I'm thought of by others to be a coldblooded killer, not caring who falls to my blade. Because I am a drow. Do you want to be an abomination, or do you want to be a person?”

Eliel asked her with a very serious look. He understood she may be the slightest intimidated by meeting a drow alone out in the woods, but she shouldn't be.

“I don't regret what I am. I'm just happy with who I am. You should do the same.”

Rose listened to Eliel, surprised by what he was saying. Do you want to be an abomination, or do you want to be a person? His words hit her hard. 'He is a full elf, yet he doesn't...hate me. Judging me by WHO I am not what I am.' She looked back at him. "You're the first full elf to ever have said that to me," she told him, her voice catching a hint of bitterness. "Those that I have met chase me away, they are disgusted by me. Even my own..." she trailed of for a moment before whispering, "Even my own father did that. You can imagine how hard under those conditions it is to not think yourself a freak.

"But," she finished, removing the bitterness from her tone, "I do really wish that didn't think that." She smiled at Eliel, doing her best to bring out her real smile. The one that only Twi had ever seen.

Eliel smiled at the girl. He'd seemed to have reached her. She seemed a bit confused by it, but apparently he had made her happy. “It's better than what I did. My family drove me to the brink of madness. Then they sentenced by only loved one, my sister, to a fate worse than death. The taunted me and pushed. I snapped and quited them forever. I'd disobeyed my people and my god. My first true love tried to kill me for the money on my head.” He said.

“After that sort of thing, one tries to help others as much as he can. To help them to not make the same mistake.” Eliel said with a smile. Gwen padded over, sensing the mood had calmed.

Eliel scratched her neck and grinned. “Gwen has been my friend and companion for years now. Saved my life on countless occasions. A really nice girl, save for the protectiveness. Thinks she's my mother, apparently.”

Rose laughed at what he said. "I know what you mean. My familiar Twi-" Rose suddenly stopped speaking, suddenly remembering Twi. "Oh...crap...she's going to freaking kill me!" Rose screamed. She looked up at the sky and saw that the bright evening rainbow had vanished and was now replaced by the Twilight's blue haze. "Yup, I'm definitely going to die." Rose paced back and forth, panic on her face. "Oh goddess what should I do? If I go back maybe I'll get off with saying I'm lost. Oh, but even then she would STILL rip my arms off. But if I don't go back now it'll be worse later," she paused and shuddered, "she...she'll probably scratch my eyes out." Rose collapsed onto the ground with a gloom cloud hanging over her. She groaned, "Oh, what am I going to do now?"

-Back with Twi-

Atchoo! Twi sneezed loudly. Ugh, what a pain. Where is that girl at? When she gets back she better have found something and not just gotten distracted. Or else.. She cut off and let evil plans fill her head.