I, Kylan, Son of Galdor and Galadriël Ancalime, Beseech you all to listen to my story, for it is a grave tale of the passing of my parents. I was not present during this event, If I was I am sure that my father and mother would have lived through the event. No, t’was not me, but my brother, Loch, who was a part of this tragedy. We are not… We are not the oldest of elves, we are probably the youngest alive, my age only of 6 and 120 years, his of 13 years less. We still have much power inside of us waiting to grow.
Let me begin by saying that my parents were good parents. Our father raised us to be strong, but to be clever. To wind your way around a problem like a snake would wind its way around its prey. I did not adopt the cleverness of my father as my own, for that I am sad. While our father taught us to be strong, our mother taught us how to be caring, subtle, to love, and all of the feelings that ignite the passion within us. She taught us nature, about the trees, about the history.
Though our parents were good with my brother and I, by the stars they were not well with each other. If they were together for more than an hour they would fight. They loved eachother, but they just could NOT co-exist. My father was too stubborn, a trait passed onto his sons, our mother too caring, almost to the point of obsession with one thing at a time. Their personalities clashed.
(Kylans eyes grow hard, his face evens out, the emotion draining, this happens quickly. He is used to entering this state. His voice is nothing more than a whisper as he speaks the next set of sentences.)
I would stop their fights, before my brother could say anything. My brother is too kind, he would not raise a hand to stop them, and it is a trait which I wish he would have kept. But one day I wasn’t there. I had gone to Oren, to live there for a while under the apprenticeship of a very successful architect. I did not get to stay long.
(Now Kylans control seems to slip, his voice becomes lacerated with a fury only an orc could surpass. His eyebrows dip slightly, he sighs before he continues, maybe as an effort to calm himself down, he says the first part of the sentence with scorn, and a false playfulness)
And while I was out playing with my buildings, my parents fought again, they were not supposed to be together for those months, as a promise they made to me, but they wanted to see each other. They fought, and while they fought, outside somebody decided it would be a good PRANK to tip one of the light-stone lamps over. This was before the great Wandering Wizard had shown us how to place fire wards around the princedom, and the lamp ignited the dead leaves on the ground.
(His voice grows even more flat, deadlier, but with a hint of weariness.)
The house burned, like wood does when you stick a fire to it. They couldn’t even tell what was happening until it was already surrounded. My parents were close when the structure weakened, according to my brother they were trapped under a beam. He did his best to save them, but only gained himself a great amount of remorse. He escaped by jumping out a window through the flames. He got his scar because of how late he had waited to jump, attempting to save our parents life. As he flew through the air, flame flickered up, causing his face to burn. He couldn't get to the water fast enough before his skin turned into parchment.
After I received the news of the death, I ran home, I didn’t ride, I ran, through forests, swam oceans, climbed mountains. I ran withou stopping. And when I got here I tracked that miserable bastard down. It was a Human, one who wasn’t part of any city or family. A rogue, who had escaped a prison cell. Near him was the dead body of a human woman, completely naked. That is what ruined any thought from me.
(Kylan pulls out his sword and lifts it to the air.)
And I’ll tell you what I did to him. I lost all of my humanity, or is it elf-manity… Either way… I burned his face in a nearby fire…
(He moves his sword across his body, and letting out a near savage roar, slams it into the trunk of a nearby tree)
Then I beheaded him. I learned that day that what my mother taught me was valuable. That I couldn’t rely on being clever, sometimes, when all cleverness fails, you have to embrace nature. Trust your instincts, allow the beast on the inside control. I don’t want any of your sympathy for this story, spare me and my brother that.
And before anyone jumps to conclusions, I do not hate the humans, They had nothing to do with the fire.
