Laughing Labyrinths [Smoky] [Abba]

[atrb=border,0,false][bg=black] Serendipity Many people are mysterious. There are those who try hard to be illusive. There are those whose lifestyles simply make them hard to pin down. The third are those who enjoy the aura and mystique of being different just because they were born that way. The rare creature, such as the one now in question, contains all three in a simplistic form that fails to raise eyebrows when seen. Forma Silvestris' self-proclaimed keeper of secrets didn't look like much, but she was quite capable of holding her own. After all, she lived in the downright scariest part of the land, in her dark little cave wedged between the cliffs of slate. Not that it was always black as pitch. When she remembered to fetch wood she had fires, such as this late afternoon, though she wished she had apprentices to fetch such things for her. Gone were the glory days of the bards, though the histories still existed in charcoal pictures and words on the walls of the archives. The archives were a beautiful collection of caverns that led backwards from her own darling little enclosure. The oldest pieces of history resided in the main room, a cave at the very end, near the surface, where if one were to fall in they would surely die. It had maybe a fifty-foot opening to the sky, where light trickled in and ignited the shadows. Where this opening was in the lands, Serendipity was at a loss for knowledge. She had never come across it in her apprentice wanderings, and she'd heard no rumor of it in the voices of others. It remained to be seen if any would stumble across this opening, though it would be best if they didn't. The fall, at least several hundred feet, would likely kill. Voices in the passageway that her cave was attached to caused her ears to flick forward in shock. Only the alphas knew where the cave could be located, and she recognized little about the voices coming towards her dwelling. A cough ruptured a moment of silence, and then a feminine voice spoke. "How much longer do you think?" It was a long ways to the end of the passage, though that could be what travelers were looking for. Not that anyone intentionally wound there way into Ramaskith's land. No, her gut told her that it would be best if she confronted these travelers. Even if they were not searching for her Hall of Legends, they most certainly should be turned from the dark path the East was on. Not that if Ramaskith came to her requesting help she could deny. She was a servant of the Alphas, though a non fighting one. She had approved the appointment of each leader, though with many only in her refusal to retaliate against their ascension. Sooner or later they all learned of the bard, or in the old days bards, and came looking. History, power, greed, fame through the ages. Each came with a different purpose, though none, not even Ramaskith, had tried to harm her. That fact made her feel safe, and snatching up a lit branch with her teeth, she exited the cave into the Quisque Requiem. She could not judge how far away the creatures were until she saw a daemon scamper up and stop at the sight of her. She almost giggled, which would have caused her to drop her torch, at the sight of a snow leopard being the slightest bit undignified. She could not explain the daemon's actions, nor could she control them, though the mere presence did imply an owner close at hand. Shapes began to form in the low light though, shadowy as the emerged into the arc of light her torch cast. A stallion and a mare, perhaps strange companions, greeted Serendipity's green eyes. "Welcome travelers. You've come a long way, I think, in search of something. Name that which you seek and I will direct you on your path."