Vitae Memorandum

08-Another Beginning

Shadows were clinging to the walls, dancing in tune to the bright torchlight. Dinner had recently ended, and the evening was fast upon them.

"That was the best meal of my life!" "Lwyn, my cooking isn't that good! I... I have no idea idea what all the big fuss is about." "Seriously, oh my word. Hey, what about you two?" Lwyn and Mhyl were chatting idly while packing up. "I don't know, I mean, I've been spoiled rotten my whole life, so competing.. wouldn't exactly be fair.." "I think you're both missing something important. Lwyn has been through so much suffering, in comparison.. this would be paradise." Qheria interrupted Thanrie while Lwyn still looked like she was in bliss. That was probably the most relaxing meal she'd.. ever had. None of them wanted to besmirch her accomplishment.

"Lwyn.. Lwyn.. we know you're secretly a cat, but you can stop making those noises." "Uh, wha?" "Oh, you're back, that's great. Everyone is finished packing, we need to keep moving." "Oh, oh, sorry. ... what do you mean, secretly a cat." "What, do you honestly believed you could hide it after we all got to see you prancing up that wall? You moved like a cat." "Wait, I can't secretly be a cat, they don't exist." "They do now." Thanrie couldn't help but torment Lwyn for her climbing abilities earlier. Thanrie was still irritated with the whole climb, because she had happened to forget she was still wearing a dress until the last minute. Mhyl had struggled for similar reasons, but she wasn't as caught off guard. Of the two, being the one familiar with the problems with dresses in her earth-side made her fully aware of how foolish her attire was. Qheria was thankful that her line of work didn't leave her in a dress as frequently, Lwyn the only one actually having consciously prepared for this problem. Mhyl was getting apprehensive about getting to work with the change of styles she got for everyone, it would be far more sensible than what she was currently wearing.

"Lwyn, instead of making any more fools of ourselves, I figure it might be an important subject to get informed about. Can you tell us a few more things about elves?" "Oh! Oh! Lwyn, I still want you to teach me Izhaethyx. Everything is going to be a pain until I can work that out." Qheria and Mhyl jumped Lwyn with the next subject of discussion. Lwyn was the obvious choice on getting information for this sort of material. Qheria was still concerned about exactly how much difference there was between the stamina of humans and elves, and was working out how she would need to compensate for an unknown difference.

"Okay, let's see. Oh, if you're thinking elves like earth-legends, you're probably already making one pretty insulting mistake. Maybe let's get THAT out of the way before someone makes me feel bad." Qheria was already concerned, and she didn't even have the details yet. Thanrie was quickly recounting in her head what sort of stereotypes existed about elves back at earth. "It's probably not height, neither of you too look especially taller... or shorter actually. There are legends about both. Actually, Lwyn is the shortest one here, and Mhyl is the tallest. Qheria, which of us is taller, me right?" "No, but you're pretty close." "Please don't just go guessing, or you're going to hurt someone." Thanrie was already feeling hurt, she didn't want to be shorter.

"It's age, isn't it?" Mhyl was still receptive to earth fantasy, and it was topic of the subject she had actually learned from a Celesi book. "Oh right, so then you two are actually..." "Thanrie, shut up, right now, before you screw up exactly how I warned you not to. DO NOT GUESS!!" Thanrie was being impatient at Lwyn's reluctance, but she was only trying to proceed with care. But after Lwyn's clear insight, Thanrie decided she could be a little more patient. "Earth fiction paints elves as some long-lived ancient race, living for something like thousands of years. Real elves actually live about as long as humans." "I think I read that the human life expectancy was a few years longer than elves, but that's probably because humans put more effort on medicines. Though, statistically, because medicine progress is much worse than on earth, Celesi lifespans probably are worse. I'm not exactly certain." Mhyl provided a bit more insight to what Lwyn offered.