Log cast: Rayek, Minx, Yun
Log date: 9/9/1998 

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:
Petalwing(#3061qj)
Obvious exits:
Corridor  Winding Stairway  Doorway<Out>  

Minx steps in from outside.
Minx moves away from the huge stone structure nearby.
Minx has arrived.

[Minx]
Minx is young, tall and willowy. Dark brown hair with golden highlights
 falls shaggily down, forsaking her mother's curls, into brilliant gold
 eyes. Her eyes hold a lupine slant, reminding some of her 
 great-grandsire Bearclaw. Her skin is naturally tanned, very lightly,
 evidence of her Sun Villager blood, though she scents and runs with the
 pack as well as any Wolfrider. The wolf-blood runs strong in this young
 chieftess-to-be.
She wears light tan leathers that sit tightly on her slender frame. Pale
 green leaves border the collar and the sleeveless shoulders of the
 tunic. She prefers going barefoot in the heat of summer.
Light catches her golden lupine eyes with startling brightness,
 betraying a look of mischief.
Carrying:
Shadow
Worn bone knife
Bow and arrows
Small Wolfshead Necklace

Rayek is just stepping out from the corridor, looking half-awake as he
 laces his cloak into place.

Minx looks at you for a moment.
Minx stands near the entrance, looking every bit the lurker. As Rayek
 enters, she frowns a little, then takes a deep breath.

The brown-skinned elf takes no apparent notice of the Wolfrider, his
 attention absorbed by picking apart a knot caught in one of the laces.
 Rayek frowns to himself, brows furrowed as his attempts only succeed in
 bunching it up further.

Minx pads quietly closer. "There's two ways of fixing that, you know."

[Rayek]
Tall, graceful, but sort of gangly in a way you can't quite tell. His
 obsidian hair, occasionally flashing an indigo highlight or two,
 cascades over his shoulders and settles somewhere just above the small
 of his back. His eyes are slanted, almost serpentine, with long lashes
 framing golden-amber irises, a down-tilted nose set evenly between
 them. His face is finely chiseled and perhaps a little long, wisps of
 black hair curling slightly to frame his face, his skin a smooth, milk
 chocolate tone. A pair of upward sloping ears peek out from beneath his
 obsidian mane, elegant points on each tip.
Gone are the yellowy garments of Glider-make, instead replaced with Sun
 Folk-woven cloth dyed simply in black and white. He wears a tunic with
 laces through the collar, tied loosely with the ends trailing down his
 front. The tunic tucks into a pair of black, formfitting leggings that,
 in turn, tuck into a pair of above-the-knee boots. A black cloak,
 deliberately cut ragged, is tied about his shoulders.

Rayek glances up at the voice, then down again at Minx's approach,
 pausing briefly. His eyebrows arch slowly. "Hmm?"

Minx points to the tangle, and grins. "One of them is patience and
 clever fingers."

A corner of Rayek's lips quirks slightly upward, twitching slightly as
 if amused. "And the other?" he inquires, taking the bait.

Minx grins even more widely, and pulls out her bone knife, offering it
 to Rayek. "The quick solution."

He blinks, then his half-smirk grows slightly, resembling more of a
 half-smile now, golden-amber eyes aglitter with amusement. "Hah! I
 think not." Rayek smirks again, turning his gaze back to the knotted
 laces. "I'll take my chances with patience and clever fingers, thank
 you."

Minx flips her knife around, putting it back in her belt. "That's the
 kind of problem I like. A small one."

"Heh." Some lacing comes loose and the airwalker pulls; a moment later,
 Rayek succeeds in half-finishing the unknotting. Preoccupied, he
 murmurs in response, "Those are the best kind."

Minx locksends ** What kind of problems do you have? **

The golden-eyed hunter glances up sharply, black eyebrows lifting high.
 "Pardon?"

Minx looks around for someplace suitable to sit. Finding none nearby,
 she leans against a wall instead. "Why're you hiding out here? Not like
 you can use the Palace for anything, anymore."

Eyebrows arching still higher, Rayek studies the maiden's face for a
 long moment until he finally gives indication that he believes her
 serious. His face clouds. fingers nimbly succeeding in undoing the rest
 of the knot, the laces free. "The Palace is the first home of the elves
 and the final resting place of the High Ones and their children," he
 answers crisply.

Minx raises an eyebrow. "So? Most folks move out of their parents dens
 when they're grown. And don't hang around them when they die, either."

Irritation darkens the airwalker's eyes, but his voice is kept carefully
 neutral. "Would you rather it be abandoned once again? To be stolen by
 trolls or violated by humans? Or be taken by the likes of Winnowill or
 Morganthe, the spirits within at their mercy?"

Minx scratches her neck. "You know, seems to me that keeping the Palace
 out here in the open is a pretty good invitation for Winnowill or
 anybody to come wandering by someday. Think you can defend it by being
 here yourself?"

"I must," Rayek answers shortly. "I cannot force any other to stand
 alongside me should the need to arise."

Minx says "Yup, that's the complicated way to solve the problem." She
 leans a little closer. "Why don't you, or whoever does these things,
 move the Palace someplace hidden?"
Minx taps her knife, meaningfully.

Rayek's voice turns shorter still. "Because I am not Master of the
 Palace and she who is is lost to the Scrolls."

Minx says "Why don't you take it back, then? If she can't stop you or
 anything... That's like a chief not being able to look after his tribe,
 or something."

Rayek smirks darkly, throwing his cloak over his shoulder and tying the
 laces together, the black material rustling faintly before it falls
 still about him. "And you are so certain that I am?"

Minx frowns. "Huh? You mean, you don't think you can do anything with
 the Palace?"
Minx locksends ** And are you so sure Winnowill isn't in control
 already? **
Minx gives Rayek a challenging stare with that send.

"As I said, it is not-" Rayek starts to answer before he cuts off
 sharply, eyes blinking before narrowing to yellow slits. He looks down
 at the golden-brunette maiden, that half-smirk of his fading into an
 insulted, surprised scowl. "Excuse me?"

Minx pulls herself up to her best height, still not match for Rayek's,
 and places her hands at her hips. "This place has more gliders than any
 place outside of Blue Mountain. Gliders are *sneaky*, they don't need
 to attack. They just need to whisper sweet lies until you start
 believing them." She looks him bravely in the eye. "Do you believe
 them?"

Yun steps in from outside.
Yun moves away from the huge stone structure nearby.
Yun has arrived.

Minx confronts Rayek, giving him a challenging stare.
Minx locksends ** Maybe they are making you *think* you can't move the
 Palace. **

The Airwalker meets the Wolfrider's challenging gaze with one of his
 own, expression transformed with anger and surprise, and his 
 yellow-gold eyes are hot with argument and denial. Like the serpent he
 has been compared to behind his back, Rayek hisses, "You speak of
 things you know nothing about. The Gliders that dwell here are unlike
 those that live within the Mountain."

Minx snorts in disbelief. "That's what they want you to think!"
Minx says "Gliders can't be trusted. Everyone knows that."

Rayek's fingers curl into a fist, tucked to his chest where it hovers,
 shaking slightly. His voice is like ice. "Those loyal to Winnowill,
 yes. I will give you that. But not all. And certainly not these."

Yun hangs around the corner of the doorway, listening.

Minx says "Then I have only one question for you, Rayek: Are you the one
 who wants to remain at the Palace... or are they? Tell them you're
 moving back to Sorrow's End, and see what happens. That will show you
 their true faces."
Minx touches her small wolfshead necklace, scowling faintly.
Minx looks at you for a moment.

Rayek returns the scowl, but his is anything but faint. It is dark and
 great, spread over his face like a mask. But he does not answer her,
 not verbally, instead turning with a sharp sweep of his cloak, his back
 to her as he abandons the amber-eyed Wolfrider to instead approach the
 stairway.

Minx mutters to herself. "Knew it." She turns herself and strides out,
 telling Yun in an aside. "I'll tell you later."
Minx steps through the doorway outside.
Minx approaches the huge stone structure.
Minx has left.

Yun rounds the corner, arms crossed over her chest looking at Rayek's
 back. Ineed, she's curious to what the cub has to say.

Briefly, the taller elf looks over his shoulder to see whom Minx speaks;
 his gold-amber gaze falls on Yun, meeting hers for barely a half-second
 before whipping about again in front of him, ascending the stairway
 stiffly.

[end log]