The Council's Decision

Arannis’s head whipped toward the cave entrance. His eyes grew wide with terror when he realized the sound was the growling and snarling of an animal. A LARGE animal. He poured through his repertoire of spells and his eyes grew wider still. He had no spells left that were capable of even phasing something of that size.
The elf’s fear stricken eyes slowly turned to look at Ascarer. The man’s sly smile could be seen from within the deep shadows of his hood.
Fear turned to shock when Ascarer announced that his roommate had arrived. Then the man whispered something that Arannis didn’t quite catch.
The snarling became louder as the creature entered the cave.
The mage gasped and shrank against the wall.

I slowly stalked torwards the men in my hidden paradise, the blood of the migrating deer heavy on my muzzle. My sight locked onto brother's face and was perturbed by his level of fortitude. "Fine..." I growled as I prowled closer to the one cuddling my somnolent boulder.

By Corellon!!
The creature was an enormous bear, with blood covering its muzzle!
Arannis reached inside himself, to the part of himself that still had a tie to the Feywild, and blinked out of reality. The elf reappeared behind Ascarer and latched onto his cloak like a man drowning.
"This is your roommate?!", Arannis asked, his eyes glued to the bloody bear.

Wilcome was having a pleasant dream. In the dream he was in a grassy field resting his head on a silken pillow with goose down feathers and then a giant blanket came over him. Then as if responding to his thoughts the blanket rose up as if to smother him with warmness. Then he was flying across the field. It was not until he had slammed into the cave wall and crashed on the ground that he had actually been sleeping with one eye open and that it had been influencing his dreams. The pillow had been a rock, the field was Ascarer's cave, and the blanket was actually a bear. Getting up he felt a sharp pain in his side. Upon further review he had found that crimson liquid pouring out of his side. Gritting his teeth he stood up to face the soon to be coat only to find three of them. He turned to Arranis to find three of him all looking at him in shock. "What sort of spell is thi....hahahaha." With that Wilcome realized that he was passing out from blood loss.

I noted the enormous bears clumsy grace as he thudded on his side. His pillow free he had already fell into a bear coma.

"This is Slamjaw, my companion. We have seen many things together. The crazy thing about him is that he has been with me for over 30 years and he hasn't slowed for a second. I'm not yet sure what to think of it. Be it magic or breeding he has many uses." I approached my employer's companion to check his wounds.
"We should get the stupid one to a hospital, he has sustained much blood loss. Unless you are trained in surgery?"

“I am trained in the healing arts. How do you suppose I restored my arm after you ripped the bolt out of it?” Arannis replied.
The elf did his best to roll up his voluminous sleeves as he approached his fallen comrade. Wilcome had large gashes in his side and blood was already beginning to pool around him. Arannis knelt down and placed his hands over the man’s gaping wound, grimacing as the blood began to flow over his hands. The cleric-mage began singing a hymn to Corellon in a clear tenor voice. The blood flowing out of the wound lessened, then stopped altogether as the flesh began to knit itself together again.
Arannis wiped his blood-drenched hands on Wilcome’s clothes before standing and making his way to his pack on the floor. He removed a waterskin and a clean rag then crouched at the downed man’s side again. The elf began cleaning the blood from the man to make sure the healing had been completed. There was no longer any wounds, but there were three ugly scars in their place.
Arannis couldn't leave something so hideous behind. So he placed his hands over the scars and drew breath to sing again.

"I take it you have formal training then? The elves are a proud race who tend to be on a quest to ever further their knowledge and skills, yet you are young and out of your element. We do not have many elves pass through here. You speak of saving the world...Explain yourself, Elf." I was growing very suspicious suddenly. There was something strange about this elf. I looked deep into his eyes to find a clue and studied his stature...his pupil-less eyes might hold a secret. Was he in fact an Eladrin?

He was being laughed at. Like bells ringing the laughter pervaded the space around him. He knew that laugh. It was closer than it had been in a while. Slowly he began to shrink away from it and return to where he so longed to remain. Away from the laughter. Away from the darkness. Away from where he felt so safe.

Ascarer’s words stopped Arannis from beginning his healing spell. Wilcome was stable now, the scar could be removed later. The hooded man was staring at the young elf, was staring though him. Arannis did not feel comfortable kneeling on the floor with this imposing figure standing over him. The mage-cleric rose and took a few steps back from Ascarer trying to appear calm.
“How far back would you have me start, Human?” he responded, overemphasizing the word in a parody of what the man had called him.
Arannis returned Ascarer’s stare. He could almost understand why the man had become so suspicious. Humans did not generally trust wizards or elves, and Arannis was both.

"Human?" I chuckled at the word. "Whatever you say, dear employer." I laughed at the pure naivety of the Eladrin. His miscalculation was not far from the truth, but far enough to cost him. The knowledge of my heredity was a well guarded secret that I intended to keep. "Start from the beginning then."

The man chuckled at Arannis’s use of the word ‘Human’. Was this man, in-fact, some other race? He had the build of a human, but no melody melody in his voice, So he could not be an elf. He was much too tall to be a halfling. He was to thin to be an orc. Perhaps he was only half human.
“Before I recount my tale, could I trouble you to pull down your hood?” Arannis asked Ascarer.

A confident smile leaped across my face. "Who needs who here?" I laughed again.
But there was something about the man I trusted. His pupil less eyes gleamed honestly in what little light crept into the cave. I brought my hands to my cowl and lowered it slowly. My unkempt hair outlined my tan face, defined and strong and etched with a smirk. My eyes were more sincere than I hoped them to be and calmed most wary of my company. But it was not my eyes that caught the young Eladrin's attention. He first noted the three-pronged scar that ran down my jaw, evidently a bear's paw. And the pointed ears that escaped the sea of ruffled salt and peppered hair hidden from most. He was also evidently confused by my skin tone. So without a word I brought my hood back over my face.

Still groggy from a recent event that Wilcome couldn't really remember with a dull ache on his side Wilcome sat up and managed to articulate "mhmmhgrfmm what did I miss" not waiting for an answer his eyes rolled back and he fell asleep once again.

"Your a Halfbr- half human." Arannis stated. He had almost used the term "halfbreed" but thought better of it. Half-elves aged at a much slower rate than humans, yet at a much faster pace than eladrin or even Wild Elves. So the slight greying of Ascarer's hair indicated he was older than the young wizard.
Arannis dipped his head to show his thanks for the half-elf's unrevealing himself.
"I was born in the Feywild to a noble family. There I underwent and completed my training. I later came to this plane to distance myself from my unchanging people. Soon after arriving I met Aarivan during one of my excursions to buy supplies in a nearby town. He was a wizard of great skill and the two of us became good friends, discussing the various intricacies of magic and perfecting our art. After several years spent in this manner, Aarivan told me he was a member of an exclusive organization that was interested in my abilities. I was tested and found acceptable to join. The Council offered me many riches and powerful allies, which I used for one short year. Then not to long ago, the council came to a decision that they were going to destroy this kingdom and raise an empire of magic in its place. I alone did not approve, and so was assaulted by my fellow council members. I fled. The rest should be clear"

"Feywild, you say? Then I was right. Young Eladrin, the ones in power mean little to me. As long as the humans remain in this town, a rash bunch always anxious to get ahead, I will have work. The ones that are in power mean nothing to me. Besides, the journey sounds like making it back alive isn't likely. Maybe a change of scenery wouldn't be so bad. Though the people I grew up with rarely delved into wizardry, maybe things might get interesting." I let the words sink into the mage. He looked disappointed, but resolute. So with a smirk I added, "But my life in this cave can only sustain my interests for so long. The sole company of these human idiots and my ever hibernating companion has left me tired of this mundane life. Name the price you are willing and let us be off when our less than active mates return to us."

An unenthused "Hooray" that sounded like a mixture of Ascarer's cyinic tone and Arranis's sarcasm was uttered from Wilcomes still unconcious mouth.

"I'll give you half of the contense of my coin pouch for your role." Arannis said.
"Now, we should retire and awake early tomorrow to purchase supplies for our trip."
That being said, Arannis found a relatively clean spot next to the wall. He sat down and got comfortable. Within moments he was deep in reverie.

*ehem*

"ADVENTURE THYME!" Wilcome shouted as he passed an herb and spices stall startling the shopkeeper and deafening the others at the stand. The group had split up to get provisions for the journey beyond the mountains to... to... Wilcome paused to think about why they were going across the mountains. It seemed like the discussion had been ages ago. "Hey Ecouter do you remember what it was?" This address caused many streetwalkers to glance at Wilcome and whomever he was talking to only to have them shake their heads and move on. Ecouter was Wilcome's shadow. Wilcome had found that his shadow was unlike everyone else’s which made everyone else weird. Most of the time it was darker than the ones around it and would change size more drastically as well. Sometimes while he is thinking it would waver and move. As such Wilcome gave it a name and used it to help think when he himself was having trouble. Of course it never actually offered advice but it was more out of habit than anything else.
After some time Wilcome gave up trying to think of the reason and meant to continue looking for supplies. However he became distracted with a glint of something shiny on the rooftops and went off to get the trinket.