A night at the lake

[Ramona]

Ramona stretched out along the shore of the lake, once again; she had slipped form the watchful eye of her personal guardian, Zak. She had a very bad habit of this, though to her, it had become a sort of game, just to see how long it would take him to find her. Not once, when she slipped away, did she do so to avoid him, she did rather like his company, but it was the excitement of the game, that in her mind was the fun.

She now lay against a large tree trunk, letting her head lean against the soft bark, her eyes watching the silent passing of the darkening clouds over the moonlit sky. Her cloak was wrapped around her slender shoulders, her most interestingly dark locks settled about her, resting over her shoulders to hang down to her knees.

She was in a pensive mood and hummed a sad song of old, her voice sounding every bit as mysterious and dark as her mind. She cared not who heard, though she was certain there wouldn’t be many to listen to her heart, as the lake, this time of night, was really rather deserted of most creatures.

As was the usual, she kept her Katana close at her hip, ready to use, if the need arise, her crossbow laying against the trunk of the tree, next to her quiver of black tipped arrows. Her bright emerald eyes, most unusual for her race, seemed to be watching everything, and nothing at all.

She listened, not to her song, but the sounds of the night, the fish that jumped, here and there, perhaps catching bugs off the surface of the lake, she heard the frogs singing their own deep throated tunes and the owls as they flew from the tress to go and catch their nights dinner. It was not too long after she had started her song, that she heard too, the crackling steps of another being, perhaps human, or Elvin, maybe Zak. She wasn’t sure, but she knew, someone was there.

[Zaknafei Stalak]

Zak stormed his way through the forest, cracking down heavily on the twiggy underbrush to project his frustration through the snapping.

"Ramona," he grumbled, his voice melodious, "Why must you make me chase you all over the surface world. If you do, at least get captured by some dirty human scum. Then I'll have a reason to kill something."

He made his way to the tree and looked down at her, his own eyes red, like the majority of his race.

"Though," he said, "I do enjoy your singing. All I wish is that you let me know when you leave. That's not to much to ask, Your Highness. That way I'll have more time to instruct students at Melee Magthere, and we all know that our students need as much instruction as they can get."

[Ramona]

Ramona winced, and a slight smile crossed her lips, before he actually came into view. She was quick to extinguish the smile though, putting on the pretense that she was not all too pleased at being found, though truly, she was.

“Once again Zak, I must apologize, it is rather selfish of me to make you worry so.” She started, putting, for now, her tune on hold to converse with him. “I know, and you are also correct in the thinking that the students, it seems, do need ever more training, perhaps sometime, you should bring a few along with you the next time I slip away.” She continued, not denying the fact the she would, indeed be doing it again. “Then at least, they would have a bit of field training in tracking, and then, maybe it would take you longer to find me.” She said in a light, jokingly way.

Ramona let her emerald orbs turn form the sky to meet his, as they stared down at her in frustration. “Thank you.” She said, to his comment about her singing. Then she tilted her head to the side slightly. “And just where would the fun be in letting you know where I am?” She asked then, patting the ground next to her. “Sit with me a while, would you?” She inquired.

[Zaknafei Stalak]

Zak sat down on the ground next to her. He looekd over at her. She sat so peacefully.

"Why do you like the surface world so much, Ramona? Could ruling the entire Drow empire be that restricting? People who live for you, die for you, and yet here you are, slipping off to the surface world again and again. I don't understand."

[Ramona]

Ramona was silent for a moment before answering his question, as she would, and honestly. She let her gaze once again fall on the lake, she liked how the moon shown on its still surface, how the water lapped against the shore, so peaceful, so luring. She knew that she shouldn’t love it up here so much, but she couldn’t quite help it, she seemed to always be drawn out form her home, to seek the vast sky and the wonders of the world above.

“I just seem to be drawn here, from night to night, I don’t know exactly what it is.” She started, her eyes still watching the water. “All my life, I have been different from the rest of my kind.” She went on, running a slender hand through her dark locks as she spoke. “Do not get me wrong, I do love my home, my people, and would gladly lay my life down for them….” She trailed off. “You of all people should know I live for my people.” She went on. “From the lowliest Drow slave to the mightiest warrior, they are all my children but…” She trailed off again, the hand in her hair stopping as well and returning to her lap. “I feel alone, even when my court is full and my people are laughing, I am alone.” She finished then sighed.

[Jaeli]

Lord did the young Elven Priestess know some sort of similarity to how the woman felt. Although she was seated a good distance away from the two drows, the elf's sensitive ears picked up whatever sound played across the night in a good hundred yard radius around her.

A gown of silver hung off her slim form, catching the moonlight every so often to glint beside the reflections on the lake's surface. A ring of white was tattooed around the upper area of her right arm, designed in two significant twirls, marking her position of royalty.

This was half covered as her arms grabbed each other and her knees were tucked up beneath her. The priestess let her chin settle on the top of her knees and dipped her closed lilac-sapphire eyes into her arms to hide her tears. She was silent in comparison to the night, only pearly streaks of silver tears stained her cheeks, no sound was uttered from her pale lips.

Her long fair hair lay still around her bare shoulders as she continued to hug herself against the cold of the night, occasionally looking up to glance at the beautiful moon.

[Ramona]

Ramona suddenly closed her mouth and then looked around. “Oh, dear me, seems we are not alone, after all, perhaps we should go home.” She said to Zak, not liking the fact that she, the Spider Queen, had just let known one of her personal thoughts to anyone, besides Zak, as it seemed to her, that no one else, would even care.

Ramona stood, dusted off her clothes and then whistled to her horse who, trotted over obediently to her side.

“Care for a lift back Zak?” She asked with a slight smile.

[Zaknafei Stalak]

Zak kept tense, "I'll stay on my feet, Your Highness."

He saw no reason not to slay the foul surface dweller that was so near to them. Vile surface elf, so weak in their arrogance and pitiful in their weakness. His hand bent itself into a claw coiled to draw steel from sheath and sate the bloodlust he felt. It had been so long since a surface elf had fallen beneath his blade. Why should this one not?

"Ride ahead, my Queen. I'll follow behind."

[Synesen Iskadar]

Synesan had been meditating on the banks of the lake not far from where the Raeli was. Her arrival, however, had slightly disturbed him from his trancelike state. He turned his head to look towards her and saw, to his chagrin, a pair of Drow not far away. As he focused more on the pair of them, he became aware that they had noticed Raeli.

"Foolish girl," he said under his breath as he began to prepare a shielding spell to protect her.

[Ramona]

Ramona gracefully hopped on her horse then, grasping the reigns, she turned him, facing the surface Elf and she smiled, looking down at Zak.

“Are you certain, you would not like me to wait a bit?” She inquired, her smile fading to darkness, her hand twitching slightly towards her Crossbow.

Just about then, she sensed another in their presence and whirled her horse about on his haunches, her emerald eyes catching the silvery rays of the moon, reflecting back the same color, with something else behind, something dark, burning beneath what looked to be the normal vision of a regular Drow as her orbs landed on the Wizard.

“She’s not alone.” Ramona hissed.

[Jaeli]

Ooc: It's Jaeli, not Raeli Synesen.

Ic: Jaeli caught her breath as she heard the woman's next words, obviously her presence had been detected, and to no surprise. Silently, Jaeli huddled her face deeper into her arms and knees, not wishing for trouble, but knowing it was about to arise. The words of the second drow brought her head back up quickly, and she bit her bottom lip.

The woman she'd overheard was the Drow Spider Queen, and the other drow, no doubt, was her protector. Jaeli gasped inwardly and placed her hands on the ground, preparing to get up and leave before they managed to find her. His words 'I'll follow behind' brought fear to the priestess, for she knew he would come searching for her, to kill her.

Again, she had done nothing, and the pristess was certain these were neutral grounds. Her sapphire gaze suddenly snapped to the left as she spotted and heard the cruel words of another figure. Another high elf. Then, Jaeli heard the spider queen's informative reply to her company that the pristess wasn't alone, unfortunately for all.

Letting loose a hopeless utter of frustration, Jaeli cried out uncontrollably, a simple word, that might stop or start a night of fighting. "Stop!" Her voice echoed around the surrounding area, and she swallowed heavily afterwards, her glassy eyes full of tense anticipation as she waited, for something, anything, and she prayed it wouldn't be the sound of a weapon.