Astalder walked along the side of the steaming hot pool of water where on of the biggest waterfalls he had ever seen fell. The water crashed down hard onto the pool creating a foamy cascade of bubbles where the falls meet the pool. The sound was very loud, yet still calming some how. He smiled as he found the entrance to the Crystal Caves.

Astalder slipped behind the water of the falls and into the bright, crystal walled cave. The walls were glassy and carved naturally. Their were so many crystals that he saw reflections of himself every direction he faced. Even the ceiling of the cave had shiney crystals embedded in the top. So many Astalder's made him a bit quesy, but as he progressed to the heart of the cave he got used to it. The center of the caves was much more brighter than the entrance of the caves.

Astalder noticed a large gray rock jutting out of the crystal floor. A white light shown doewn from the ceiling onto the gray rock. The was an indent in the middle of the stone, as if something was encrusted into the rock. But now, nothing was in the middle, like it was stolen perhaps.

"This must have been where the great crystal was found... Well it looks like some one got to it before I happened to stumble on it... Oh well, it must not have been to powerful if it was this easy to find..." Astalder said to himself. He walked over to a wall and took out his harp. He began strumming on the strings, improvising as he went along.

Rianna’s ears flattened back along her skull, twitching slightly at the loud, almost rambunctious noise of the waterfall. She walked along the side for a time, pacing back and forth, flinching every time the mist wafted over her. By the time she finally got up the nerve to move past the waterfall and into the cave beyond, she was thoroughly drenched. Why she had chosen to come here, she did not know, but her immense, insatiable curiosity had finally gotten the better of her. She had no choice now but to go through with her original plan and go into the crystal cave. Her feet slipped on the slick rocks as she clambered her way up onto the ledge that disappeared behind the curtain of water, and she clung to the rock wall, her features drawn, tight, her ears flicking of their own accord.

It was with a sigh of relief that she stepped into the cave, and moments later had to figuratively pick her jaw up from the floor of the cavern. Her emerald eye reflected the thousands upon thousands of crystals that lined the cave walls, and her blue eye, uncovered, for once, almost seemed to glow with a soft light. Once her ears adjusted to the dulled sounds of the cave, they picked up on a soft, melodic sound. Was that…an instrument? Surely the cave itself couldn’t be playing music. Her eyes narrowed as she automatically crouched, looking around for the source of the music.

It wasn’t hard to spot the elf, as he (she?) hadn’t bothered to hide. Rianna frowned and backed away a little, her pale blue eye closing halfway, as if she wanted to hide it. One hand patted her pockets, looking for the discarded patch, and she found it and hurriedly slipped it on, covering her right eye. She was not a vain person, but there were certain things she was sensitive about, and her daemon eye was one of them.

((OOC: *cough* he *cough* lol, it's all under the 'Specific Information' part of my sig ^_^))

Astalder tapped his foot gently on the crystalline floor to keep tempo of the slow moving song. The whimsical sounds bounced off the walls echoing all the way down where he had entered the cave.

When Astalder felt the song should be done, he stopped playing on the strings and packed his tiny harp away. He stretched out his wings and they both barely touched opposite sides of the cave wall. He then folded them, neatly on his back and frowned. He had heard no sound of anyone coming near him as he played the music. He could however hear the unmistakeable drip of water drops falling into a puddle of himself. He didn't know how close or far the drops were because the acuostics of the cave magnified the sound, making it appear like it was right next him. He wondered if it was a leak in the ceiling somewhere or if some one who had passed right through the waterfall was somewhere nearby.

Astalder started to walk back the way he came when something caught his eye. Their, hiding behind a wall on his left was a woman. Astalder turned to her, to get a better look. She had a patch over one eye, as if it were lost in battle or something. The other eye was a bright, emerald green which seemed to glow in the blue/white caves. She had pointed tip ears, but not so much as an elf's would be. Her hair was black and came down to about her (shoulders?). She was soaking wet and their, right beside her foot was a puddle of water where her hand was dripping.

Astalder had a confused look on his face. She looked to be spying on him. "May I help you?" He asked.

( *chuckles* The (she?) was part of the character's thoughts. Sorry, my post is kinda short ^^; )

Rianna shuddered, cold, and shook her head vigorously, a movement followed briefly by the rest of her body. A spray of water flew from her form, showering the cave. The pool at her feet continued to grow, however, as her sodden clothing dripped itself dry. She looked up to see the man - she could tell that it was a male, now - and blinked once, startled. She hadn't heard the music stop. Indeed, it still echoed faintly through the cave, magnified by the crystals within. Gingerly, she pulled her tunic from her skin, almost as if peeling it away, and a faint twitch started on her cheek. "I'm sorry. I didn't know anyone was in here," she said, turning slightly as she began to wring out her shirt and cloak. The trousers would have to wait, though now, because they were soaked, the distinct outline of a tail could be seen twined around her right leg, ending somewhere above the knee. "I was just exploring. Did not mean to intrude."

She took a step foward, toward a ledge, and heard water sloshing in her boots. A small, aggrieved sigh followed this discovery, followed by a very long and soft string of oaths and curses as she sat down and pulled off her boots, upending them on the floor to rid them of the inch or so of water that had pooled in the bottom. Her feet were not shaped like a human's - instead, they were the rear paws of a feline, and her claws scratched against the floor. Rianna shook each foot, sending another spray of water forth, and sighed. Not dry enough, but it would have to do. The boots were placed back on shortly after, hiding her inhuman feet once again.

((OOC: No problem. My posts haven't been up to their normal lengths either))

Astalder covered his eyes as the some water sprayed him. Normally, one would get annoyed and aggravated but Astalder wasn't normal. Instead he gave a soft chuckle and wiped some of the water off of his purple tunic. He stared at the back of her head, trying to read her thoughts, but she didn't seem to mean any harm. She didn't seem to be like a bounty hunter, or one of Mith's spies. He softened his gaze, and as he did this he watched her drain the water from her boots.

"It's ok. I've just been very cautious of who I meet ever since I was attacked by a horde of bandits, and a Black Dragon... But that is a story I wish not to tell. I was also exploring myself. I've never been to the Crystal Caves before, and I thought I'd check it out. I've found it's a very nice place." Astalder's long ear twitched a little as the last note he had played before he stopped lingered in the air and slowly died away. "It's also is a nice place to write music."

Astalder's wings shuddered from the coldness of the water tat had collected on them. The water sprayed off and onto the crystal wall behind him.

"You must forgive me. I've forgotten my manners. My name is Astalder and it is a pleasure to meet you." He gave her a warm smile as she boot her boots back on.

“A black dragon, hm?” she said absently, pressing a hand into the base of her spine and pushing. She was rewarded by a series of soft pops as her joints cracked. A sigh of relief followed before she considered the problem of her tail. What to do, what to do? “That must have been interesting. I’ve never seen a dragon before, but I’ve heard about them. I think I should like to see one,” came her next response, accompanied by a dry smile. Rianna grimaced and backed into a corner for a moment, modesty demanding it as she reached behind her to pull her tail out and allow it to dry. When it was out, she wrapped it around her waist like a belt, the tip of the almost prehensile tail occasionally twitching. Her tongue worked in her mouth as she forced herself not to do what was natural and clean it. That could always wait.

She turned and smiled at him, nodding slightly. “Greetings, Astalder. I am called Rianna. I take it you are a musician?” she asked, eyeing his harp, her head tilted to the side, curiosity evident on her face. Her trousers continued to drip dry, each droplet plinking into a small puddle at her feet. A grimace passed over her features, but overall, she ignored the cool liquid. Oh, how she hated getting wet, though! Her emerald eye flashed briefly with aggravation at herself, but it passed and returned to normal.

Astalder chuckled at Rianna's fearless way of speaking.

"Well, I can tell you right now, this dragon did not want to conversate and have tea with me. More like, destroy my very existance to make it so I told no one of a man's secret. But I would rather not risk another innocent's life."

Astalder then unsheathed his uniquely shaped blade and jabbed it into the crystal floor. He then lay his harp against the wall and leaned back on it. His wings were surpressed as he did this and he put his foot up on the wall. He pushed some loose hair away from his face and the one braided part behind his ear. It was then that he noticed that Rianna had a tail, much like a cat. He didn't bother to ask about it though, afraid that she might be sensitive about it. He then looked down and answered her next question.

"I suppose you could call me that. Where I came from, I was one out of about three musicians. The Lands of Faitheniir was rarely touched by the talent of musical intelligence. Instead, it was strong for it's army and massive number of well trained warriors. I was always a multi-tasker though. I could play the harp as well as I can weild this blade. But when I came here to Imythess I noticed their were much more musicians than I would have thought." Astalder paused and changed the subject just a bit. "I haven't played the harp in a long time. I missed it dearly, but so much as been going on, I'm afraid their wasn't enough time for me to even multi-task."

“Oh, I’ve no doubts about that. From what I’ve heard, they must be very fearsome creatures to come upon. But I still want to see one.” Rianna never held too much stock in what people said about this or that, especially if they claimed to have seen it themselves. Travelers often had the tendency to over-exaggerate what they’d seen or done – especially the latter – and could not be trusted to tell the complete truth no matter what. So, she, in all her curiosity, had decided one day that she would see all of it for herself. And she fully intended to.

She looked over his blade, raising an eyebrow appreciatively. She had a decent eye for weaponry, especially blades, though she had know idea how she’d gained this knowledge, and to her eye, it seemed well-balanced. A good weapon. She tossed her head, her hair, still damp, flinging out still more water before it tumbled down, just a little past her shoulders, and hung there loosely. “Such an interesting land you come from. Few musicians. Were you held in high regards?” The silent question was, of course – was he ridiculed for his gift?

She leaned against the wall, contorting her body to fit around some of the more aggravating crystals that poked at her back. Her tail unwrapped itself from her waist and absently shifted around some loose powdery substance that rested in bits on the floor of the cave. “I, personally, haven’t a clue how to play any instrument. The only things I know how to use with any effect are my teeth, my nails, and my sword.” Nails. That was an understatement. She glanced down at her hands, peering at the ever-sharp tips of what she’d come to consider her claws, because they could not be anything but, especially considering what she was.

"Actually, I'd play in solitude. Training to be a swordsman was an everyday thing. I don't believe anyone in Faitheniir knew I was a musician. But here in Imythess I'm much more open about it."

Astalder paused and looked at Riana's almost claw like finger nails. She was quite a unique character. She had a tail and claw like hands. He took it that she was some sort of feline/human. He smiled a little. He'd never met some one who was part animal. It was very interesting.

((OOC: Sorry for the EXTREMELY short post. I just hit a major writers block.))

Rianna’s long black, red-ringed-and-tipped tail twitched slightly and swished a little, and she absently played with it, running her claws through the fur to comb it out. “That doesn’t sound good to me. I think music should be played and enjoyed by all. I love music.” She paused and looked at her hands, suddenly embarrassed. “I’m afraid I don’t know how to play any instrument, though. At least, I don’t think I can.” If she’d been able to play before the change, she couldn’t remember, because her memory eluded her, like one of those annoying, bouncy rodents.

“I’ve never thought to learn, honestly. I don’t know whether or not I would be able to play well at all.” She smiled slightly, taking care to keep her teeth covered so her lips would cover the six sharp canines at the fore of her mouth.


<Sorry for taking so long to respond. I tend to disappear on the weekends.>

((OOC: No problem))

Astalder stared at Riana's long nails, concentrating. He would be risking it but he thought it might do some good... Astalder walked over to a small sack that was his pack and retrieved a very poorly made flute. It was made out of oak and was anything BUT straight. Astalder had widdled it himself, determined to play the flute in Faitheniir. He played just as well as any other flute, but because of its off shape it was a bit harder to play. Astalder whirled it around in his fingers and spoke:

"Wow, I haven't played this old thing in centuries..." Astalder held it up to his lips and blew. It made a hollow, but crisp high pitched sound. Astalder's fingers moved quickly over the open wholes that were the keys. His thirty second notes were off but that was to be expected. "Heh... Well, as long as you have fingers, you can play a flute. And if you can play THIS piece of junk, you can play any flute." Astalder said with a chuckle. "As long as you're willing to learn, I'm willing to teach you how to play the flute. I'm pretty confident you could go far with this." Astalder finished with a warm smile.

He looked at Rianna hoping she would say yes. She would be his first ever student of learning an instrument. "Oh!" Astalder added quickly, "Their of course will not be any charge of any kind."

At the high-pitched sound that came from the flute, Rianna yowled softly, covering her sensitive ears while she allowed herself to get used to the high notes. She hesitantly reached out with one hand and wrapped her long, slender fingers around the instrument. Almost automatically, she mimicked the way he’d held it, frowning in concentration as she adjusted her fingers to an approximation of how she thought his had been held. Her eyebrow raised in silent query, a slightly anxious look on her face as she waited to see if she was correct in holding the flute.

“If you can teach me, I would be happy to learn,” she said, glad that he’d added in that he wouldn’t charge. She didn’t have much gold with her, wanting instead to save it up for a better sword or some other useful item. As much as the chaotic daemon wanted to learn how to play an instrument, if he’d asked for a fee, she would not have accepted his help. However, it seemed that he loved music, and was only wanting to share his love and knowledge of music with another person. She honestly could not blame him for that – if it were possible for her to share her hunting techniques with other people, she would quite happily teach them. However, she’d not yet run across anyone with the ability to hunt like herself, and so was left alone, unable to chase down prey in the teams she knew instinctively how to form.

Astalder adjusted Rianna's fingers over some of the key holes on the flute so they completely covered the gaps. Other than the minors adjustments that Astalder fixed, Rianna could be easily mistaken as a professional already.

"Your fingerings look great. Are you sure you've never touched an instrument before?" Astalder said jokingly. He then fixed her fingers in a Concert D position. "Now, for the hard part. Try to playe a note on the flute. To do so, act like your smiling, and keep your upper lip above your lower. Then just blow downwards into the mouth piece... Hope That wasn't too confusing," Astalder said, just noticing that he was rambling the sentence before. Astalder awaited to see if she would make a note on her first try. It was very doubted though. First timers usually had a hard time trying to make a sound on a wind instrument, especially the flute.

((OOC: Grr! I don't know why my posts have been so small lately >.< Sorry))

Her emerald eye stared, fixated, at the finger positions. She had them locked in her mind, the feel of her fingers on the flute branded into her memory, as if she could pull up a phantom of what it felt like at any time. She smiled tightly at his small joke, only slightly amused. If she’d ever touched an instrument before this point in time, it had been before her reawakening. It was possible that she’d known how to play before, in her past ‘life’, and that was how she knew, vaguely, where to place her fingers. But she doubted it, somewhere in the back of her mind. It didn’t click the way even a basic clue to her long-forgotten memories often did.

She pursed her lips somewhat the way he told her to, though it was a bit awkward, and she blew into the mouthpiece, wincing openly at the terrible sound that came out of the instrument. She took that to mean that she’d done it wrong, and she frowned for a moment, considering, and tried again, though she still was not quite satisfied with the note that she created. She sighed, shaking her head, and looked up at Astalder, crestfallen, and shrugged one slender shoulder. “I don’t think I’m doing it right,” was all she said, her eyes wide, noticeably upset.


<Don't worry about it. I seem to be having "short post day", too. Or maybe week. Can't tell yet.>

Astalder didn't flinch a bit when Rianna played a very high pitched and off note. Instead of frowning like Rianna, he smiled, very happy for her actually. It was very rare to find some one make a sound on their first try. He was very pleased. He knew that Rianna was going to make a magnificent musician in a matter of months, maybe even weeks.

"Actually, Rianna, I'm very impressed. It is very hard to find some one who can make a sound during their first try. Usually all they do is push air through the instrument and that's all you can hear. I think you just need to loosen up your mouth and everything will be ok."

Astalder listened as the high pitched squeel slowly died away. The sounded had been bouncing all over the walls of the cave as he was spoking. Astalder stroked Concert D on his harp.

"That is the sound we should get if you are perfectly in tune. But you won't be. I can't even be perfectly in tune on first tries. You will probably be a little sharp or a little flat if you get this sound..." Astalder stroked at the Concert D string once again so it was well in her head.

Loosen my lips? Just like that? she thought, sighing slightly. He must think that’s an easy task, the way he says it. However, she was not the kind of person to give up, and so she raised the flute to her mouth again, listening to his note, trying to set it in her mind. She fixed her fingers over the holes and pursed her lips again. Her nostrils flared as she took a deep breath, and then she let it out, blowing into the mouthpiece. This time, however, the only sound the instrument emitted was that of blowing air. A slow chuckle rose in the back of her throat, a self-deprecating expression flickering over her face. “Well, I think I just failed that little quiz,” she said, one corner of her mouth twitching into a dry grin, revealing two of her six sharp teeth.

The roar of the waterfall reached her ears, a dull, thundering sound that seemed to pound in the back of her skull. Absently, she flipped her tail, shaking what little water remained out of the fur before she allowed it to swish behind her, brushing against the wall behind her. The tips of her ears flicked, and one slender finger tapped the flute, her annoyance at herself quite obvious. Her lips thinned and tightened as she concentrated on the wooden instrument, and after another moment had passed, she once more raised it to her lips.

On her next try, she still did not manage to make a sound, and so she held her pose, loosening her lips, as Astalder had said, and then blew again. One clear, true note seemed to flow out of the flute, and it bounced around the crystal-lined cave for a time, echoing softly. She was pleased, but still glanced toward Astalder, raising one eyebrow to see if she’d done it properly.

The ends of Astalder's eyebrows fell a little and a tiny frown spread across his face. Perhaps she had her lips a bit too loose... He could tell the Rianna was getting annoyed, which in return made Astalder's frown into a smile.

"Don't worry about it. Don't get annoyed at yourself. This will take time, a lot of time. You'll get it soon enough. Expect to practice everyday though. I don't want you just to come to me every week or so without any practice. I'll have to know you want to do this, and to do that, you must practice." Astalder said and watched as Rianna prepared for her third attempt.

Her third try wasn't much better than her second, but in the midst of the flowing air, Astalder noticed a very very faint Concert D. It wasn't a squeek or anything, but Rianna didn't seem to notice as she cut it short and started again.

Fourth try was the charm. A full, crisp, loud note came out of the flute as Rianna blew naturally into it. Astalder grinned widely as he heard the note nearly match that of his harp. It was a bit flat, but that was because it was cold in the caves and it was winter. This made the instrument expand a little and cause it to be flat, but Astalder didn't care, he was happy. Rianna was really beginning to impress him, it should be a matter of weeks until she was an expert. He would probably buy her a flute to practice once she was a bit more advanced.

"Well done, Rianna! You've just passed the hardest part of playing the flute. I'm quite poud of you. Notice how hard it was to keep that note out for a long time. It felt like it depleted your air almost instantly, right? You'll be able to control that. But it is your choice now. Would you like to learn to read music or control your breathes with long tones? Each will help you in different ways. Which one would you like to do?"

((OOC: Sorry it took me so long to post back, I got caught up in a project, sorry >.<)

The note that bounced off the sides of the cave sounded a touch different from what he had strummed on his harp, once she allowed herself to focus on it. Was it different because it had been played on a different instrument? Or because of something else? Now that the question was in her mind, it would not go away until it had been answered. Her sensitive ears flicked slightly, mostly in annoyance. “Why does it sound different?” she ventured, almost hesitantly, not wanting to upset her teacher. A pause, and she tried not to grin. She had a teacher. It was almost more than she could handle. She’d never had a teacher before, at least, not since her awakening.

She smiled slightly, finally allowing herself to actually respond to his words. “Practice? I know that word. If it’s required of me, I will practice,” she said slowly, eyeing the flute a bit warily. She inhaled deeply and let it out slowly, repeating until she was sure her heart had slowed enough. It had indeed been quite hard to hold that note for the length of time she’d done it. She considered her options and actually seemed to pout for a brief moment – a split second and then it was gone. “You mean, I can’t learn both?” she asked, a bit upset if that was the case. She was a very curious person, and enjoyed learning new things. And here, Rianna had been presented not one, but two things to learn! But she could only do one? That wasn’t quite fair, in her opinion.

She considered her dilemma for a long moment, and then shrugged slightly, glancing back down at the flute. “I want to learn how to play it, simple as that. Whatever I need to do so that I can play, I’ll be more than happy to work on,” she said firmly, nodding in emphasis. “So… what will I have to learn?”

<Don't worry about it. Perfectly understandable.>

Astalder completely forgot to tell Rianna why her note was a bit off pitch. He let out a small chuckle and patted her shoulder gently.

"Don't worry about it. Your note was just a little flat is all, which is perfectly normal. The cold weather made the instrument expand a bit and that is what makes a note flat, or under the pitch. If it his hot or humid out, the flute will tighten up ever so slightly and it will be played sharp, or a bit over the original pitch. If the weather normal, or about inn temperature, your note would have been perfectly in tune. You will learn to fix youself as you progress though. It just comes naturally."

Astalder then smiled brightly. "I'm very glad to hear you will practice in your spare time. Practice makes perfect. But sometimes that could be a bad thing. Just make sure you practice correctly, and you will be perfectly playing correctly." He let out a little shuckle as he heard Rianna's next words. "Of course you will be learning both! Their is nothing in music that we won't cover in our your studies. It just which one would you like to do first? Would you like to learn how to learn to read music and how to play different notes. Or would you like to build up your breathing and learn to play for longer periods of time. You will learn both, that is for sure, the question is which one would you like to learn first?"

Rianna blinked, her emerald eye widening slightly. Sadness was replaced by happy curiosity when she was told she could learn both, but only one at a time. Still, she frowned at the choices and eventually shrugged, looking up at Astalder, her head tilted to one side. “Which one would you recommend I learn first?” she asked, thinking that would be best. She wanted to learn both, of course, but couldn’t decide which to do first. Her innate curiosity wanted both at the same time, but she knew that would be tricky, if not all but impossible. “You, being the more knowledgeable, ought to know which would be the best route to take, yes?”

Almost absently, she twirled the flute through her fingers, weaving it over and under and over and under, her sensitive ears picking up the soft swoosh of air as it passed through the various holes of the instrument. After a time, she stopped, amused, and then began to twirl it back in the other direction. She couldn’t remember where she’d learned to do that, but it was a nice game and occupied her when she was lonely. Various twigs or anything long and skinny enough worked; she found the flute, while larger than what she normally twirled, was not too large for her slender fingers.

Her tail swished back and forth, brushing against the wall, and when she tired of twirling the flute, she reached forward with the long, black and red appendage and grabbed it, curling the tip of her tail around the instrument and holding it like that to allow her hands more freedom. For once, her prehensile tail was useful, if only barely. She’d not often had the opportunity to use it, since she normally kept it hidden within her overlarge, exceedingly loose trousers.

Astalder watched as Rianna wove the flute in and out of her fingers. She was a very fast learner. That was both a good thing, and a bad thing. He'd learned somewhere that fast learners never like to perfect their work. As long as they know how to do something, that's all that matters. Astalder hoped that Rianna could prove them wrong.

"I'd suggest that we start with learning how to read music. Long tones are usually a private thing that one would practice on their own time. We will start from the basics."

Astalder clapped his hands in a steady rythem. Clap...clap...clap...clap... "Everytime you hear me clapping is a quarter note. If I had a quill and some paper I'd show you what a quarter note looks like. Their are many kinds of notes. We are only going to learn 4 for right now, and you already know one." Now Astalder was tapping his foot in time with his hand. "My clapping is the quarter note, my foot tapping will be the other kinds of notes. The next kind of note I'll teach is the half note." Astalder tapped his foot every two claps. "As you can tell, a half note his like two quarter notes combined. Am I going to fast?" Astalder asked, noticing he was sort of rambling.

She nodded, listening to Astalder, glad that she’d asked his opinion. He quite obviously knew more than she, and so she would learn what he felt was best to begin with. Her head tilted to one side as she listened to his clapping, her eyes focusing carefully, and she felt she’d somewhat gotten the beat down. However, when he started stamping his foot on the ground, she went cross-eyed, her ears twitching as she caught the reflected beats as they bounced around the cave. “Whoa! Maybe this isn’t the best place to do that?” she said, blinking and rubbing behind her ears. “I can’t follow, especially with the echoes…”

Rianna had a good ear, a good eye, and a good memory, but there was a limit, and she’d just reached it. Her tail twitched, the flute jerking with the movement, and she brought her tail forward and grabbed the instrument in her hand, once again beginning the idle twirling, as if it helped her to concentrate.

“Could you go over the… quarter note… again?” she asked, hesitating with the name, as if making sure she’d gotten it right. “I don’t think I caught it well enough the first time,” Rianna said, almost apologetically.

Astakder's ear twitched as the clapping noise, mixed with the foot tapping noise. Their seemed to be ten different beats going on at once. Astalder laughed at himself. He had completely forgot that the caves echoed sound and clapping was one of the things that it echoed the best. He buckled his belt that held his sword sheathe and packed away is harp.

"I'm sorry. I completely forgot about the acoustics in here. Perhaps we could some other place to go where it's quiter. Where would you like to go?" Astalder questioned.

<Short post, much? *L*>

Rianna gave the tiniest of smirks as Astalder heard the echoes of the clapping. She found it slightly amusing that a musician would forget about something as important as the acoustics of an area. Her long tail came forward and took the flute from her hand, leaving her free to move about and not worry overmuch about the instrument. Absently, she tapped her chin with one finger, considering where they could move to for better practice. "Perhaps we could move a little ways down along the lakeshore, just far enough from the falls so that your beats could be heard." She shrugged one shoulder and moved toward the entrance to the cave, peering out at the heavy curtain of water that fell mere inches from her face.

"It's really up to you. I don't know much about ... these lands," she said, stopping herself before she said 'the lands of the light', as she'd come to consider any place outside of Balefire. She doubted he would be amused at the name, and it could spark up questions she'd rather not answer.

((OOC: Sorry, this is the absence I was talking about in the Absence forums. Plus I wa waiting for the quill and book to arrive so Astalder could actually right stuff down. Sorry if I caused any trouble >.<))

Astalder thought for a moment thinking where he could go. The arena in Tarars should be empty. That place was very big and wide so they would be in cramped cornors. He thought for a moment and thought against it. The Arena probably had wors acoustics than the echoing caves.

Astalder scratched his head and thought back to past events he had with people. When he had met Kli, it had been by the Black River. That place seemed nice and quite. Light shouldn't be a problem sice it was dawn by now. The place he and Kli met didn't have many trees so the sun light would break through the leaves easier.

"I doubt you can run fast, no offence, but their has only been one person I've ever met that was as quick as me. I'll carry you to the Black River where our studies shall continue. That place will suit our conditions quite nicely."

That being said, Astalder stood up and and grabbed Rianna as if he were carrying his bride through the doors. One arm under her legs and another across her back. Astalder zipped off, moving faster than three panthers combined. Everything in front of him blurred, but he knew where to dodge trees and such. In a matter of minutes they should reach their destination.

<Not a problem. Sorry this post is kinda short...>

Rianna hissed in surprise at being scooped up, and struggled at first, nearly falling. She didn’t like to be touched if she could help it, and this man, this elf had picked her up without a by-your-leave! Several minutes later, when they’d arrived at the place he was talking about, she pushed away from him with her legs, leaping into a sort of backward somersault, which she wasn’t quite prepared for. However, she straightened herself just in time and landed feet first, hands placed between her boots. She didn’t move from her crouch, instead just staring at him, growling low in her throat, her tail swishing back and forth at a quick pace, jerking on occasion from her anger.

One hand reached up and she tugged furiously on her eye patch, which had slipped during the jostling she’d received. Now more than ever, she didn’t want this elf to see what lie under the patch of cloth. “And why were you so anxious to get here that you felt you had to run and carry me?” she asked, scowling, the tips of her upper canines showing below her lip. “We could have just walked, you know,” she said, a bit huffily, her chin tilting up just slightly in a haughty air all-too reminiscent of most felines. Her nostrils flared slightly and she looked away from him, her pride and dignity obviously stung by what she considered a low blow. Only cubs were carried. Fully grown adults were not unless they were injured, and she most certainly had not been injured.