The day was coming to an end as the sun slowly began to make it’s descend from the sky while the streets still seemed to bubble with life. The cold night air began to tug at Leila’s cloak as she slowly meandered through the still busy streets. She ignored any comments that were directed at her but still remained unsure whether or not she was the intended target. Checking to make sure the hood of her cloak was hanging just over her eyes she let the uneven path guide her through the streets. Occasionally when sensing she was in good company would stop to ask for directions to the nearest inn. While she could not see their hand gestures showing her how to get there, she was still able to contain all the information. Even though she was lacking in sight, Leila made up for it in her sharp hearing and sensibility.

Most would think it to be uncommon that someone like her could move gracefully along but it naturally made up for anything else she lacked and was grateful at that. In her head she counted steps and constantly felt for turns until at least she reached forward and felt a door. Pushing it open she was greeted with welcoming sounds and knew she had found the right place. Once inside, Leila carefully guided her way among tables and chairs. Only once did she trip when catching the leg of chair that was supposedly sticking out at a different angle then the rest. Leila could feel the heat rising up to her cheeks and hoped that whoever’s chair she had collided with wouldn’t be too upset. “I’m very sorry about that…” she would have continued to apologize further but thought it best to reach an empty spot and sit down. Once finding a table that was not occupied Leila sat down and removed the hood of her cloak no longer cold. Her dark brown hair cascaded down her shoulders and letting out a sigh let her dark blue eyes vacantly look down, still feeling embarrassed about the matter.

(ooc - What race is your character, by the way? I'm not sure what a silver is to be half of... Anyway...)

The roast was, as always, exquisite. Istian Firewater, or whatever the barkeep wanted to call the marvelous stuff, went well with it and was a fine way to finish the day. He'd killed three people, and needed as many good things as he could squeeze into his day to get over having three potentials wind up as failures.

With a piece of roast halfway to his waiting mouth, someone knocked into his chair and nearly spilled him to the floor. He dropped his fork, grabbed ahold of the table and turned to counter that blasted chair leg. Figured he'd get stuck with the bum chair, but when he came in the place was filled and he was lucky to have a chair. Things had slowed down and emptied a bit since then, however.

The girl who nearly knocked him over, had found a seat not far from him and sat down. He wondered for a moment what she'd be having, and then quashed the thought as random uselessness.

I've seen her before. Xrtchwdg said from under the table. No idea where I've seen her, but definitely somewhere. Go say hello.

He resisted the impulse to kick the incorporeal demon, and stood up from the table. If Xrtchwdg had seen her somewhere, then she definitely got around. Or Xrtchwdg did. He never really said where he went when he deserted Melmoth, but he was probably up to no good.

Melmoth walked over to her table, andextended his hand. "Hi, I'm Melmoth. Nice to meet you." He didn't really expect much from so forward a greeting, but it beat the hell out of always meeting new people in the middle of fights.

The sound of footsteps approaching did not draw her attention, knowing full well that she remained seated in a tavern only guessed that it was someone merely passing by. She wasn’t sure how full or empty the place had become, but the sounds of people getting up and down did nothing but have her guessing at the number. Giving up she leaned back in the chair and found herself seeing nothing but darkness. Sometimes if she tried to concentrate Leila was almost certain that in the darkness she could make out outlines of things moving before her. Although this was most likely impossible she assumed that it could only be her mind playing tricks on her.

What she didn’t expect was the original footsteps she had heard, stop directly near her. Leila jumped and wondered how high or if it was even noticeable, knowing that she did not do so well in most confrontations. Their name was Melmoth and Leila knew for certain that he could only be talking to her, and looking up hoped that she was facing the right direction. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you Melmoth…my name’s Leila.” She said hesitantly wondering what brought Melmoth over to where she was sitting. Then a sudden thought occurred to her and she winced. “Oh…it wasn’t by chance your table I ran into was it? I’m terribly sorry about that…I guess you could say I have a tendency to not look where I’m going.” As she said this Leila was not even aware of the hand stretched before, as she went on to apologize.
(ooc: and I am half silver elf sorry about that)

(ooc - actually, you'd have a hard time hearing Melmoth approach at all, since he's wearing the Boots of Elvenkind, but meh. I get to mess with a blind character. :hehe: )

His face wasn't that bad, Melmoth thought as Leila apologized yet again for the chair incindent. Most people didn't apologize a second time to him unless he had blades drawn. By then, the time for appology was far past.

She was one strange girl, he concluded. Overly embarassed for a small slight, and something else he couldn't quite put his finger on. She was worth looking into, he decided. She didn't look like a horribly huge threat, and had that air that said "potential" to him. Unfortunate for her.

"The one bad chair in the establishment, and I get stuck with it. Figures. You have a good chair here, if you don't mind sharing a table with me." He smiled his most disarming smile and continued to hold out his hand for a handshake.

She was ignoring him, he thought for a moment, after he'd had his hand held out for longer than was needed. Strangely enough, she wasn't looking straight at him either. Sort of over his shoulder. He took a quick glance in the direction she was staring, and noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

You really don't see it? Xrtchwdg said, suddenly behind Melmoth. He twiched, nearly slamming an elbow through his irritating partner. Really, Melmoth, you're getting far too soft-headed if you're not getting it by now. He chuckled and passed through the wall and out into the street, leaving Melmoth to consider his partner's words.

She remained perplexed and somewhat dazed as to the fact that someone was actually speaking to her. Not that it wasn’t common, she exchanged words with many people whenever she was walking about but somehow this was different. Leila wasn’t sure as to what to say to Melmoth for she didn’t even know him apart from his name. Still it was nice to have company for once, and let herself relax a little more.

“Well it figures that I would have collided into that one bad chair.” She remarked as gave in to a small smile. “I don’t mind at all…besides I did manage to run into your chair so it’s the least I can do.” Feeling more at ease speaking up now, drummed her fingers along the table feeling the wooden surface.

In her mind she secretly hoped she wasn’t facing a wall and completely turned away from Melmoth. How strange would it be to have a conversation with someone who was addressing an inanimate object? Luckily she knew this wasn’t the case because she was seated in the right direction, but that didn’t mean she was speaking directly at him either. Deciding that she didn’t want to risk looking foolish or even insane, looked down at what she thought was the table. Every couple of minuses she let her gaze drift up to acknowledge the conversation and not appear to be rude in any way. “If may ask what brings you here?” Leila asked propping her elbows on the surface of the table, and cupping her chin in her hands.

(ooc: your right! I forgot how tricky it can be when your blind. shouldnt take long to get used to it though)

(ooc - It's also so much easier to mess with blind people too. I can make illusion sounds for one thing. :} Also, why didn't you pick the blind-fight feat?)

He sat and looked at the woman as she talked. She never looked quite into his eyes, always near them or at the table. This strange habit of looking down, and then every little bit bobbing her head up. It was as if...

Should've known. She does a good bit to disguise it, but never moving her eyes just killed it.

He smiled his unseen smile. She definitely had potential. Her loss, his gain. He had to keep up apperances, however. He'd let his continual cheerful banter turn slowly to more dangerous things.

"Truth be told, I'm here because of you. Not so much the chair as something else... I have a talent for finding potential in people, and occasionaly I like to see what I can do to help that along. The question is, what are you here for? Besides a meal, of course."

This could be the most interesting his sights had ever set upon. If she couldn't see him, then he could follow her and keep an eye on his investment so much easier. Could this blind girl be the one? Even if she turned out to be a failure he wouldn't have to kill her. If she hadn't seen his form, why not let her live to spread his message of fear?

Leila frowned at his words and took a moment to consider what Melomth had just said, she couldn’t picture her as someone with potential for anything really. There was no way knowing the more she thought about it, still shaking her head she straightened up in her chair. “You have talent for finding people? Well I have certainly never heard of anyone who has that sort of talent. But a Potential? I’m not so sure what you mean by that. I’m sure there are others with more of this potential than I will ever have.” Leila still had a feeling that there was possibly more behind his reasoning to join her at the table. This time she let her eyes drift up from the table and let them rest in any direction without worrying about what she was looking at.

Tracing her finger along the surface, Leila tried to find the best answer for his next question. It proved to be more difficult than any challenge she had faced. “I suppose I just ended up here by mistake, I’m not sure what I am really doing in this place. I overheard the name and decided to find it, which didn’t take too long.” What was she really doing here? Leila now became curious as to why she ended up here, supposing it was her curious strange of direction. Whenever she heard of a new place it was almost instinctive to go in search for it. “You said you were here for me but it was only by accident that I ran into your chair, before that you weren’t even aware that I had entered the room.” She challenged him now hoping that from it, she could learn more.

(ooc: Somehow I did not see that one, I wonder if I could switch them.)

(ooc - switch the feats. you haven't used the one you have yet, and nobody'll fault you for not seeing it.)

Melmoth shook his head and considered banding it into the table a few times. She'd not taken his words the way he'd meant them, and he may have misunderstood as well.

"I am here at this table, because of you. As I said, I have a talent for seeing potential in people, possibilities. There are people out there with more potential than you, but they're not within easy traveling distance at the moment. I came the this fine eatery to consume mass quantities of the roast."

True enough. There were always people with massive amounts of potential to mesh well with his plans, but not a one in the tavern fix quite so well as this Leila. All had some little flaw that he could plainly see, and he had struck them off his list the moment he entered the tavern. As most people, she had potential to do great things. The potential he spoke of could be confused with the potential for great deeds, and he frequently used this ambiguousness to his advantage to keep from truely lying. If they confused his meaning with the one they assumed, then it was their loss.

"My question to you was given with a different meaning than you took from it. Not so much why you are at the Elfsong today, why you are anywhere. What your major goal is."

It took some time to go over this making sure she didn’t leave room for confusion this time, which she plainly did at times. Shifting in her seat she thought over her goals if she had any, probing further into that subject Leila realized she didn’t have any. Her life consisted of wandering around from one destination to the next, and if some quest or other found her she gladly accepted it as the next best challenge. Leila found that when she didn’t linger too long in one location it made up for a lot of things, even though she couldn’t see she had found this to be no reason to limit herself. After all there were many things that were just waiting for someone to come along and discover them.

“Well then that makes sense. To answer your question then, I’d have to say my point is being everywhere. I just drift from place to place until something comes along and sooner or later it does. So what potential is this, and what’s your story?” Leila asked this with a deceptive casual tone, though really she was curious as to his goals if having any. For some reason Leila could not help but sense a challenge somewhere and thoroughly interested in finding out just what it was. Patiently she sat waiting for him to explain.

(ooc:that sounds like a good idea)

"You haven't found you purpose yet. Find that and you're set. As for me... I want to live forever."

He laughed a short merry laugh and leaned back in his chair. He knew it would sound absurd, but for him it was anything but. Dying was not something he looked forward to, and would do anything to avoid it. Just like most people actually, now that he thought about it.

"I am Melmoth, a wandering blademaster from Kellen. I know Imythess from my years of travel, and am most likely going to fail in my quest very soon, unless I can finally get my hands on a life extending magical object. Unlikely that I'll find one of those anytime soon though." He sighed and wondered exactly how much time he had left. He was old, and time was catching up to him. None of his many expiditions for fabled immortality solutions had paid off yet, though he still had a few going. The one for the Amulet of Yendor had failed hard, that one potion he'd tried hadn't done a thing, and his infusion hadn't done it either, despite it's other features. He could feel himself growing closer to his death.

Nothing seemed to work for him. He was bound by his humanity to die eventually, and little could change that.

Just hearing the words of death sent chills down her spine, was there even a price that could be paid? Leila shuddered to think that there was and knew nothing good could from it, but deep inside her curiosity flickered. She had heard of quests for other items that were well valued and of the danger lying in wait. She should have been afraid of what he was interested in finding, instead determination flared in her eyes. Even without being able to see her expression now she could easily guess what her face did look like. To live forever, held a power that Leila could not even began to comprehend. The mere thought of it though was enough to leave her interested. Leila leaned in forward causing the chair to scrape along the floor. The sound of shifting bodies in the room had her guessing that a few had looked over in their direction before glancing away.

“A Blade master, what’s that like? Incredible is only what I could imagine. Then again I only carry around a quarterstaff protection.” She only said this to lighten the mood before continuing on, she had a feeling that this conversation was about to get complicated. “How do you know if this quest will fail when you are only sitting here? But if this object is somewhere then it can’t be impossible to find more of like a challenge or test set before you. All this talk of living forever has me just as curious now. Then again, I’m not sure how long I will live."
She was half elf so her years were not as limited; still she wasn’t sure if she would one day die. Her only fear was to have to live through changes, and witnessing events that could prove to be far too much for Leila. These thoughts were the ones that pushed her to overcome challenges and take on quests while she still could. As she sat there with Melmoth discussing life and death, she became uneasy. This was only because she didn’t know where life had started for her. Maybe that was why she wandered everywhere.

A thoughtfull barmaid brought Melmoth a glass of Firewater, and took his coin in exchange. The small tip he added insured he would not want for drink as long as he stayed and continued to tip well. So easy to please some people. Not him, though. Thoughts of his own mortality infused everything he did, and spoiled the nicest of days. His soul burned with it.

"Death is something one tries to avoid, and I want to avoid it forever. Living is too good to end up dead."

He sat for a moment in silence and mentally kicked himself for falling into this foul mood. He'd get out of it and pull himself back on track.

"You'll live a long time. No more of this. Is there nothing you want to do, nothing you want to be? Tell me there's at least something. I don't want to find out my intuition is going as I age."

If there really was nothing she wanted to do except wander, then there was not much he could do with her. He could probably search for mention of sight giving magics, and that might spur her on, but such things were most likely rare. Most mages didn't have the disability of being blind. It interfered with reading spellbooks and the like. Perhaps a cleric somewhere had tried to make something like that to help the blind. He made a mental note to check the library before he left the city.

Leila froze as soon as she knew someone was approaching the table, and waited to see if they would stay or only pass by. She waited for her answer when whoever it was had walked away leaving her puzzled but not for long. Switching her attention back over to Melmoth she could tell that he wasn’t in the greatest of moods. This did not bother her though and Leila found herself almost ignoring the change in behavior.

“There are many things I’d like to do and a countless number of things that I want to be. You could even say that I’m exploring my options currently. Although when one doesn’t know their own history it changes everything. Which is why I’ve been trying to figure it out, so don’t worry your intuition doesn’t seem to be fading” She exclaimed softly but almost in rush.

Reaching out to her side she checked to make sure her quarterstaff was still within reach, this was just another habit of hers. Knowing that it was next to her always made her feel protected and not so nervous when in company.

Thinking back on what she really wanted to be made many feelings surface, Leila had always wanted to be a number of things but could never decide what path she wanted to follow. At times she could find herself in trouble because of this, but to some sense she lived to find herself as a part of the danger. The other half of her though told her to stay away from this though. Either way she looked at Leila was never sure which side she belonged.

Success. She had made a slip and told him something very usefull, possibly all he needed. She didn't know her past, and wanted to. All he needed was a want, one that overrid everything else, and perhaps her desire to know herself was enough. Or her eyes. He didn't really have a way to give her her sight back yet, but if he could...

His thoughts wandered down their dark trail, searching for appropriate trades. The idea was always to get more than you gave, and in giving something that was hugely important to them, you usually got what you asked for. He made a mental note to begin researching her thouroughly the moment he was out of her sight. What informants he had would be recieving new orders within the month. Not that he expected to find much, when she didn't know herself.

"Perhaps you don't know your past for a reason.", he dared venture, hoping it would have the desired effect. "Some things are best left forgotten..."

He expected a definite no, and would gauge his opportunities by her reaction. If he could just push her into a serious quest for he past, then all sorts of fun things would happen. Driven people always had so much going on with them that could be manipulated.

He just didn't know how well he could make her dance to his tune yet.



(ooc - sorry for the late reply)

Even though she couldn’t see Leila could feel her eye become wide with astonishment at this. She wasn’t sure if she should feel angry or not but at that moment she couldn’t find anything to say and gaped. Struggling with something to say back at Melmoth she shifted in her chair uncomfortably while searching for a response. Leila hadn’t realized that in saying what she had it could bring up a new curiosity, it was different from the one she already had.

“I don’t know it for a reason? Well if that was supposed to be the reasoning then I shouldn’t even know that I had past. However, I do have one which gives me all the more reason to find it somehow. As for being left forgotten I’m not so sure this is true, I’ve spent most of my time forming possibilities together. This brings me to think that maybe someone else thought it better if I did forget the past. I’m not sure what but that’s why I have to know.” She was determined to know and made sure to make a point of that.

She remained unsettled at the thought that some believed it was better to never know what happened in their own past. Sure it could help resolve many regrets or discomforting memories but that left out the links to that person’s life. Not knowing them was in some way like starting to read material from the middle, the rest would never add up without the beginning. Even if it did somehow there would still be pieces missing and Leila shuddered to think about what those pieces were.