The many Trails of Elrith

Game Master icehawk333

16 years ago, in the vast gardens of Erith...

a young kobold sits next to a river under a shady tree, with a blueberry bush growing not too far from her. Her dull, yellow scales lack any dragon's sheen, and she's already two and a half feet tall- even by kobold standards, a freak.
"Hmm?"
Ayda looks to the person who just arrived, as she traces her finger across the water of the river flowing nearby.
"Oh."
she looks away, with a sigh, plucking a berry from a nearby bush.
"I figured no-one knew about this spot. Guess I was wrong. Did you come to laugh? To throw rocks? What?"
she narrows her eyes.
"Just hurry up, and get it over with, whatever it is."

The human child looks confused "why would I laugh? Did you tell a joke? I suppose I could throw rocks, that's pretty fun, seeing how many times it'll skip on the water."

Ayda stares, a while.
"... You're messing with me, aren't you."
she struggles, a moment, to find something else to say- torn between driving The human off or taking his ignorance at face value.
"But... Uh, I guess... If you're serious, you can sit over here. There's room under the tree."

He goes over to her and sits. After a short pause he asks "are you like a dragon?"

adya pauses, a while, then sighs.
"... Yes. I'm like a dragon. Are you going to run away now? Laugh?"
she rolls a blueberry between her clawed fingers, muttering
"Everyone does, really."

"Nah, you don't look like an evil dragon, not even scary really," he shrugs and picks up a loose stone to chuck into the river. "If you want me to go that's different, but I'm not going to run away, you're even smaller than me"

she looks at Antony a little funny.
"According to most people around here, there's no such thing as a non-evil dragon."
dispite what she says, there's a hint of something resembling a smile creeping on her face.

"According to most people not from around here there's no such thing as a not evil demon," he says sticking his tongue out childishly but then he thinks "but they can think right? That means they got choices about how to act just like me and just like you. So that means that at least some of them were probably good"

"According to most people not from around here there's no such thing as a not evil demon," he says sticking his tongue out childishly but then he thinks "but they can think right? That means they got choices about how to act just like me and just like you. So that means that at least some of them were probably good"

she finally relaxes a bit.

"I don't suppose many still alive have. " he says as he takes the offered blueberry and eats it before looking around for a particularly flat smooth stone to offer to her to throw. "Maybe some elves or something like that"

"... My great grandmother was a Dragonslayer. My mom told me stories that had been passed down from her."
she takes a deep breath, and wipes her eyes quickly, trying to hide her rather wet eyes.

"That's pretty cool, ma said my great great great" he begins counting on his fingers "great..uh lotsa great granpa was one, we have her sword as an heirloom, it's bigger than me" he pauses "something wrong?"

she pauses, a while.
"... Mother died last month."

"Ah... I'm sorry... Anything I can do to help..?"

she runs her finger around in the water some more.
"Not really. The Druids that tend the garden at least tolerate me. I just sorta live here now. I mean, I've still got mom's house, but there's no-one there. So I just... Stay here. Eat the various thigns the Druids grow. I'm just glad they let me, I guess. It's.. Not too bad. I was raised elven, so this is rather... Normal. The whole nature thing, anyway. We came here all the time."
she pauses, a while.
"It's nice that you care, you know? Not many people do."

he pauses unsure of what to make of her statement "well someone should... care I mean.... everyone should have someone who cares about them." he pauses seemingly concerned "what do you do when it rains if you live out here?"

"I just deal with it."
she shrugs.
"Not like being wet's gonna kill me."

"It would if you got sick from being out in the rain all night." He stands up at this "look, come with me and you can stay at my place, I'm sure of it"

"something tells me that your parents aren't gonna like me."
she pauses.
"Or you associating with me."

"What makes you think that?"

"You really don't understand what people tend to do when they see me, do you?"
she sighs again.

"Not really.no. But from what you've said it doesn't sound like they've very nice"

"People don't like kobolds. Or half-kobolds, in my case."
she taps a claw on the ground.

"That's silly.. Wait.. what's the other half"

"I'm half kobold, quarter human, and quarter elf... Not that anyone sees either of the other two."

"Well there's one thing you are 100% you're... Uh... I just realized that I don't actually know your name"

she downright laughs.
"I'm ayda."

"Well then, you're one hundred percent Ayda." he juts his chest out proudly and says "and I'm Anthony"

she snickers.

"Nice to meet you, I guess. Properly, anyway. So, uhm. What's your family like?"

improvisation time! "mom's a Druid, dad's in the town guard, but he used to be an adventurer. they're good people, they tell me that the best way to be happy is to make other people happy, and ignore when people think little of you and pay attention to when they think big of you. somerimes when the weather's nice we go out hiking and we camp out under the stars, and roast food over the fire as dad tells stories from his old adventuring days. last time we went there was a meatiaor shower"

she pauses, a while.
"That's really neat. They sound nice."

"They are" he smiles. "What way your mom like... Uh if you don't mind me asking I mean"

" my mother was nice enough. She tried to defend me when she could. But.. Really, she got no respect. From her family, or anyone here. She had a nice grasp on magic, but I could never seem to pick it up. But she manage to teach me a little bit about her sword. So at least I'm not totally useless."

He actually looks mildly angry at this "hey now, don't talk like that,nobody's useless unless they give up before they start. Not all jobs are glamorous like powerful mages and adventurers but most of them are really important, even the people who just stand on the town wall, or build or fix things, or people who sell stuff or people who just clean up garbage. But if you want more than that in life you gotta work at it! Put your nose I the grindstone and never give up no matter how hard and no matter how much you hurt. You gotta pick yourself back up and try again. When life gives you lemons you kick life in the nads and make lemonade anyway, and I'll help" he looks around for a pair of sticks and throws one to her.
Anthony's impassioned speach fills you with determination!

adya pauses, a moment.
"You done, now?"

fine no determination for you :P
He deflates at her dismissal saying "it's just... It's insulting to your mom to talk like that... And sad just in general... I don't want people to be sad so I try to help..."

fine no determination for you :P

He deflates at her dismissal saying "it's just... It's insulting to your mom to talk like that... And sad just in general... I don't want people to be sad so I try to help..."

He rubs his noose confused "if you appreciate it why'd you do that to my nose" he doesn't seem hurt mostly just mildly confused.

she pauses, quite a while, trying to figure out how to explain the expression, but comes up short.
"Uh."
is basically all she manages.

He looks back at her and tries to hold it in but her expression was too funny he couldn't help it and he begins laughing.

she smiles. This was much better then trying to explain, yes.

"See, not to hard too smile every once and a while"

"haven't had much of a reason to in quite a while."
she leans back, looking up at the leaves blowing around in the wind.
"Hmm."

"There's always a reason.... Sometimes it's just harder to find than others..."

"Maybe. I guess... So uh. Hay. If you're so eager to help, wanna come help me get my mother's sword off the wall back home?"

"If you want to, sure"

"I mean, it's just sitting there, collecting dust. I know she didn't like using it, or having me use it, but... I mean, it's better then having it be useless..."

"Let's have at it"

"Now I've just got to figure out how to get there with you following..."