Oh but to please a god though you know not his name.
Cool winds whipped over the top of the plateau making the scraggly grass sway back and forth like waves beat upon a shoreline. Small insects floated on the breeze while others trilled in the small trees and brush that clung for life in the plateaus edge.
The once haphazard wooden walk way on one of the plateaus edge had been remade and now a wyvern roost had been added for those working here could come and go as they pleased without needing to wait on a mage or perhaps walk down the steep pathway cut into the side of the cliff. Sea birds caught wind streams that brought them from the waters below high up the cliff face to hover effortlessly above Thal'anil as he laid back in the tall grass. Glasses rested on his chest as an arm was draped over his eyes to cut out the mid day sun.
It had been several weeks now that he had been left here high above the world, given a ramshackle hut and a team of people who at first seemed amused that they were to work with this boy though they never out right complained or spoke in hushed tones that would be cut short in his presence. No this group while they had been slow to warm up to him had taught him as much as he had instructed them in the time they were together.
It wasnt as if he had been without the mingling of other races while growing up. In fact the Academy had had students from all races in attendance. All children whos parents somehow knew his father and were now enrolled in classes and protected within the Academy. These same children often left and while now and again he could remember seeing a familiar face resurface and the way they looked at his father upon seeing him out in the streets was one of an odd reverence that he never quite understood. His father was a Magister and Head Master of the Academy but the way some people looked at him went well beyond the joy of seeing a beloved teacher or benefactor or even that of a high ranking official.
His meandering thoughts were interrupted as foot steps crunched through the grass stopping just above his head. "Mister Thal'anil.." He moved his arm to look upwards, the semi blurred vision of a face he knew he knew but only became clearer as glasses were fumbled onto his face. It was a goblin called Morty Cazwrench. "Yes Mister Cazwrench?"
"The boys an I was gonna head on down to tha island fer some drinks an we was wonderin if there was anything ya needed from us for tha rest of tha day?"
Thal'anil pushed up onto his elbows and then sat up, turning to face Cazwrench as he did "Oh. Um no I think we're all good for the day. In fact I think we're actually pretty done. Other than some clean up for when the Head Master shows up to inspect our work the big things are all complete."
Cazwrench nodded "Oh well in that case Ill let tha boys know we can jet." he went to turn around but stopped to look back at Thal'anil "Ya did alright kid. Tha De-" he paused "Tha Head Master oughta be happy witcha work." with that small deflection he waved a hand over his head and sauntered off "We's in tha clear boys lets go get hammered!"
Thal'anil adjusted his glasses before standing up and dusting himself off. He turned to look at the house. It was no longer a ramshackle hut but a decent looking little house. He hoped that his efforts would be acceptable. Long days of disappointments and failures before success too root and accomplishments became the norm rather than a surprise. He was sure his mother would have stern but kind words. And while she was often quiet and watchful her words were always true even if she took the round about way of using loving but cryptic phrasing that had taken a life time to weasel out the underlying meaning.
His father on the other hand would be the one he would have to hinge his success or failure of this little project on. His often distant approach to his existence had once made him feel as if he had done something to earn such a hand off approach to his place in their dynamic but through the years of quiet observation he would deduce that his parents more than likely lived some sort of secret life that kept them aloof like many other Sindorei noble parents. Though at least unlike his peers who quite often never saw their parents except for public events or for a family portrait where their presence was to show them off to prove a line of breeding or some other such nonsense, his parents at least at at the same table as them.
His parents were a strange contridiction of outwardly proper Sindorei etiquette while behind closed doors they were more hands on, well at least as far as his mother went. His father was an ever present presence within the house and his life, though not one of fear but rather something larger than life in a quiet sort of way. Those that worked within the Bloodcrest house seemed to work as if it was a honor to step across the threshhold and not meerely a job one clocks into and out of. There was always something underlying every interaction with the servants, his mother even Nezzok when he graced their doorstep to complain to his father. Something he could never quite put his finger on but he knew was there none the less.
Then there was that night that he had been privy to the horror of seeing his mother covered in a sheen of black gore as she howled and screeched for Nezzok as she cradled a writhing mass that would be his father. Her calm and collected explaination of such horrors later on when they had both come to realise he had seen things he was not meant to see had left him with more questions to be answered. Answers that he knew he would become more indepth now that he was older and was promised an unedited version at such a time.
So here he waited. Windswept on top of the world staring at his work that he could only hope was worthy of praise from one he desired it from the most. Now all that was left to do was send one of his small shadow moths off to find his father or mother and let them know he awaited their arrival.
