Log Cast: Rayek, Haikari
Log Date: 7/3/98 

Entry Hall(#8823RAF)
High-ceilinged, airy, this chamber widens out from the doorway that
 serves as its entrance from outside to an expansive room, filled with
 little more than strangely ornate walls and the occasional column,
 rising up to the ceiling far overhead. Closer inspection of the walls
 reveals patterns shaped into their surfaces, sometimes of wings, or
 flowers, or the lithe forms of elves -- and sometimes of images that
 defy description. The air is full of a subliminal shimmer that plays at
 the edge of elfin senses, a tingle that feels welcoming even in its
 eldritch oddness. Among the fanciful shapings in this wide chamber can
 be viewed a 'black spiral' of rock resting on a low column.
A long winding stairway twines its way up out of this chamber and into
 the upper heights of this place; you might be able to find other ways
 out of here, but the only other exit in immediate sight is the archway
 and doors that lead outside.
Contents:
Haikari
Obvious exits:
Corridor  Winding Stairway  Doorway<Out>  

Haikari enters the palace, pausing for a moment while her eyes adjust to
 the dimness. She pauses even longer as she absorbs the majesty
 surrounding her, staring with widened eyes around the entry hall.

At the end of the winding stairway, seated on the second stair from the
 bottom, a pair of golden eyes lift to steady on Haikari. They are dark
 with thought, though his face is smoothened after finally relaxing with
 Ktai into some much needed sleep, but the events of the night before
 still earn thought and it is given. Without greeting, the once Master
 of the Palace watches the Glider as she takes in the Palace's
 surrounding beauty.

Haikari finally shifts her attention to the one seated on the steps.
 "This place... it is more beautiful than I had imagined. It feels so, I
 don't know, warm and inviting, somehow."

"It is the Palace of the High Ones, the true home of elves." There is a
 level, though low, of wry amusement to the dark-skinned Airwalker's
 voice as he inclines his head to the Glider maiden. "What is not warm
 and inviting about coming Home?"

Haikari nods, dipping her chin to her chest a a blush colours her
 cheeks. She knows so little, of how to deal with others. Even Suntop
 couldn't give her much to go on, as introspect as -he- was. "How long
 have you lived here?" She whispers. To give any words full voice seems
 wrong here.

That brings a pause, muted as Rayek tries to count. Has it been so long?
 "Many turns of the seasons.. and then some."

[Haikari]
Haikari wears a soft dark blue fabric that clings to her figure and
 accentuates it to the fullest and bells at the waist in a sweeping
 gown. Her nearly black hair falls to her waist, held back by three
 rings of silver. A silvery band circles her brow, with three small,
 black feathers attached to the right side. Her boots are black and
 cover her legs almost to mid-thigh. She looks as though she knows
 exactly what she wants, ambition putting a hard edge on her delicate
 features. Her eyes are a startling blue that seems to pierce to the
 core of anyone she happens to look at. There is obvious disdain in her
 eyes for anyone she deems less than worthy.

Haikari sighs softly. ** But you don't think I belong. You would be
 pleased if I left, wouldn't you? **

Rayek's black eyebrows arch until they seem to meet his hairline, all
 but vanishing beneath the errant strands of black that fall over his
 eyes. "The Palace is home to all elves. It is /open/ to all elves."

Haikari looks up at you. "But you don't like me. Or Rayeon. Why? As I
 said before, we have done you no harm."

Rayek's voice ripples in a soft chuckle, though it is dry and somewhat
 ragged. "If you knew anything of the tension between myself and your
 Mountain home, Glider, you would understand," he answers, gold melting
 into liquifed amber.

Haikari tucks her feet beneath her, still floating in the air. ** Would
 I? Suntop seemed to think that I would never understand. **

The reaction to that name is apparent as Rayek's chin lifts slightly,
 but sharply, his attention focusing on Haikari. "Suntop?"

Haikari backs up a step, but nods. This one may not be as old as she,
 but he has such authority here, and she owes him the truth.

And so he seems to demand it, for Rayek will not look away from her.
 "Suntop is in the Mountain?"

Haikari sighs heavily, unwilling to part with her side of the stpry very
 easily. ** He..was, for a time. **

"And he is no longer?" Good. In that, at least, Rayek takes comfort. It
 has been a few turns since last he saw Suntop, since the two parted on
 that bitter note. Yet what minimal relief was in his voice fades to icy
 warning. "Did She get hold of him?"
 
Haikari backs up another few feet. ** Tsoran brought him to the
 Mountain. **

** Tsoran. ** Anger, hatred, fear; a sudden boil of emotion floods
 Rayek's sending as he repeats that name. The Chosen that hurt his son,
 that threatened his family, that threatened Eveshka, that wants the
 Palace - .Tsoran. "/That/ one is here."

Haikari flinches back, landing on her booted feet with a *click* She
 puts some little distance between you at the look on your face, knowing
 she did someting wrong, and wanting desperately to correct it. ** I'm
 sorry... I didn't know. **

"He arrived after you and your companion did." Idly, the storm fading
 slightly from his eyes, Rayek's eyes search the Palace ceiling.
 Petalwing is not here.. which Glider does it spy upon, he wonders?
 Chosen Reon or Chosen Tsoran? His gaze shifts back to her. "Is the
 other Chosen much like Tsoran?"

Haikari chews on her lip uncertainly. ** Rayeon? He is kind to me, and
 would teach me the things I need to know. He brought me here, because I
 asked it of him, he is not...is /not/ like Tsoran. **

"Good." Rayek rises to his feet, his own form equal to Haikari in both
 height and grace of movement. "He trains you to be Chosen then?"

Haikari shakes her head. ** He tries to teach me how dangerous the
 Outside is. I am not meant to be Chosen, I would guess. **

There is no mistaking the harshness in Rayek's tone. "Then you are
 fortunate."

Haikari frowns, his attitude is pricking her temper, whether he means to
 or not. ** I respect Rayeon, Dark One, you should too. He has
 his..faults, but is a good Chosen. **

"A pity that you cannot say the same for the rest of the Chosen Eight,"
 Rayek answers back, just as sharply in verbal tone. Unspoken is the
 added: Nor the rest of Blue Mountain.

Haikari flushes, but this time with anger. ** Or myself? Is that what
 you say? **

Rayek's voice is cold. "I do not play mind games like the fouler
 examples of your race, maiden."

Haikari sinks to a sitting postion on the floor. ** Foul. My, what kind
 of opinion should I form of myself if everyone I meet despises me. **
 An there is a wistful tone in her send, and unshed tears in the corners
 of her eyes. ** Reon was right, no one Outsied /wants/ to understand. **

Rayek's mouth thins into a straight line, somewhat uncomfortable at the
 maiden's slightly erratic changes in mood. "You twist words to fit your
 ideals, maiden. I said 'fouler', not 'foul' -- not all of your kind is
 cruel." Just most of them.

Haikari remains melencholy despite his words. They weren't reassuring,
 simply another way of saying the same thing. ** Suntop was like you. I
 wish I had never made friends with him. I wouldn't have learned what
 hope is. **

Rayek looks disgusted and frustrated at the same time. Gliders, he
 thinks bitterly. The Snake has their minds so tangled they refuse to
 see or hear anything except what they like. His patience is suddenly
 spent and exhausted with her last words, for they are not unlike
 Eveshka's from the night before; but Eveshka's problems were true and
 she managed to solve them, while this one seems more content to wallow
 in self-pity. The similarities between that and other things that are
 bitter in memory are too much and the Airwalker's back turns to face
 the stairway. ** If you choose to believe that every word spoken to you
 is against you, then perhaps you are right. **

[Haikari's player had to go, so the log ends here for the timebeing.]