Regarding Beauty (5 Oct 2001) Lord Explorer Thomas and Lady Seeress Raven share a private moment to discuss the beauty in nature.

Thomas's lantern illuminates the corridors of what might have been a placeonce inhabited by men ... or by fey folk, perhaps. These are ruins oftimes gone by. Perhaps they mined star-silver here. The immediate areaseems abandoned at the moment.

From above, Lady Raven descends the rope, hand over hand with grace thatbelies her dress and courtly mien.

Thomas smiles and goes over to Raven. "Welcome, Lady Raven," he says andshines the light about. "Incredible, isn't it? This place must've beenbeautiful once."

Raven returns Thom's smile, following the lantern's light with her eyes."I do not think I share your vision, m'lord. It seems a very close placeto me, though doubtless dwarfs or gnomes would love it well.

"I've spent many a day in close confines like this. It's amazing, thebeauty you will begin to find there," Thomas says softly, looking at LadyRaven. "Even a simple stone has many colors and facets to it. Look beyondjust what you initially see." He laughs softly, shaking his head. "Sorry.I forget not many live the kind of life I do."

The fey woman smiles. "You have nothing to apologize for, Lord Explorer.It is an honor to have a chance to see life through your eyes."

"Thank you, Lady Raven," Thomas replies, turning away to gaze into thedarkness. "It can sometimes be lonely to see the wonders of the world, andhave no one else to show them to." He takes a breath and shrugs. "Bah,listen to me. I need to focus on our mission here, not wax about regretsof my life."

The other woman looks about the tunnel, tracing her finger along onemined-out vein in the rocky wall. "I do not think it folly, Thomas. Wehave a few moments, while we wait for the others, when we may talk ofother things, do we not?" she replies, looking to Tom again. "Should wenot take advantage of such moments, while we have them, to reflect?"

"You are right, milady," Thomas replies, looking back. "I just tend to notwant to burden friends with such things." He takes a breath and looks up,watching for the princess. "Do you know why I became an explorer? It wasa long time ago now, long ago since I started to walk this path. I waswith my parents out enjoying a beautiful autumn day. In my excitement, Iwandered too far from them and became lost in the woods near our home. Iwalked for what seemed like hours, terrified and alone." He pauses andtakes a breath. "But, I stumbled out into a clearing overlooking anamazing sight: a waterfall pouring down ... the mist rising slowly into theair, forming rainbows of light. The trees there had just begun to change,and the whole place was alive with color. It was then, that moment, thatset my life's path. To know such places of incredible beauty existed ...I had to find them. The small perfect places in the world where timeseemed to stand still."

Lady Raven leans against the tunnel wall, watching Tom speak with a smileon her face. "How wonderful, my Lord. I ..." She hesitates, as if at aloss for words, just watching him. Above them, Princess Angel is slowlylowered on the rope.

Thomas glances back and smiles sadly, saying quietly, "I forgot there areother things in this world that are beautiful, Lady Raven. It need notjust be places. Funny, the things you learn." His attention turns backupward, watching the Princess descend, and growing silent.

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This site serves as a chronicle of sessions in an online roleplaying campaign moderated by Conrad "Lynx" Wong and May "Rowan" Wasserman. The contents of this site are (c) 2001, 2002 by Conrad Wong and May Wasserman except where stated otherwise. Despite the "children's fantasy" theme of this campaign, this site is not intended for young readership, due to mild language and violence.