The hour is late, and most decent folks have gone to bed. However, elves don’t truly sleep and few have ever accused her of being decent. Arafel perches on a high wall near the center of Sandavol.
It’s a good spot.
From this vantage point she can watch as the little town move and breathe as it settles down to sleep. She has a view of The Wyverns Tail, the last of its patrons slowly trickling out under Tarstis’ watchful eye, and the barber shop, where she imagines that the journeyman is still up working. She looks out across the vast black ocean stretching endlessly into the dark. No land mass mars it, its rough surface is made of only waves and the churning sea. On the far horizon, the skyline is splashed with light from Shelzar. The city itself is too distant to be seen, but so bright in its decadence it still colors the sky on this clear night.
It’s a good place for contemplation.
The nomads, the necromancers (possibly), the rats (with reluctance and only so far), perhaps our dirt dwelling cousins… Our allies are few. We will need much and more to weather what is coming, and even more than that to push forward on what really matters, finding the shards.
But her mind can not stay on one track for long, her thoughts quickly flitting to other matters of import.
And then there is the intent of the priest to look for the shards. What possible interest could the First Healer have in us finding the shards? It can’t be out of charity for her lost kin, if that was the case she would have helped long before now. Perhaps she hopes to change the balance of power among the gods. If we can succeed in resurrecting the nameless, add some one new to the field, an ancient enemy of the Charduni,….. No. I think not. It’s far more likely that she want mortals to do the work for her. The Shards impart power, likely she sees fit to give them to her own followers for an upper hand in the fight against the Great Slaver. That will have to be watched. I can not allow them to be given to others.
It’s a dark night, Belsameth’s night.
A night like this one would greatly benefit us in our move against Asuras. Humans see poorly in the dark. Only the knight, the priest, and the journeyman would be hindered. They will manage. That is the least of the details I must attend to.
More pressing, I must speak to Faziel, find out if he has procured the young elves we need to pull off this ruse. Time is running short.
Her eyes dart in the direction of the room he shares with Nuri, and their infant.
Likely as not he is up comforting his babe. Now is as good a time as any for a private meeting.
With this parting thought, she is up, quick as a smidgen, running along the top of the wall. Soon, Faziel will find her sitting in his window, as he has oft times before but for once it is to see him, and not to watch the shard and his sleeping wife.