shamara
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Posts posted by shamara
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Yes you may use me.
I am shamara in game and also in forums.
I am female and not pregnant in real life.
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I started playing in September of 2005 so just short of 3 years. Remember the fuss and feathers when cooldown was introduced, but big crash was before my time....not something I really mind having missed.
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Yeehaw!!! With distance and reflection distance both set to 40 I can see sky. Thanks Roja! And you guys have a safe and good trip.
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I can run in isometric view but when I turn it off it looks like this:
http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=skytooclosezd6.jpg
It doesn't seem to matter whether I have sky, clouds, etc. checked or unchecked.
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Wow......what a pretty wedding. I love the clothing colors for the wedding party! Sorry I couldn't be there but congratulations anyway you two!!
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It will be very interesting to see how the new gods fit into game play patterns....some nice suggestions for more effects from gods......seems like gods would have as much impact as stars (astrology) on lives of players. And yes to having gods who show up in game
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I use Linux Mepis because it works well with my Nvidia graphics and was easy for my newb level Linux ability.
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I have no perks.....reset at OA 90 to get rid of the ones I took as a Newb and don't plan to get any sort of perk again.
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Nub1 was hit by the staff of <tailor gods name>, but for some reason lost 50 health to flailing baggy pants instead.lmao
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Jamin I am so sorry. My heart is breaking for you.....like you I believe we will meet those we love on the other side...how could it be perfect there otherwise? But it is such a far place from here and a long road till we get there. You have wonderful memories with Rachel and a beautiful little girl and I know right now none of that is probably enough. You also have many friends in the gaming world who are sending you as much good energy as they can and will be happy to see you again if you ever feel like joining us. Thank you so much for taking time to let us know about Katryel.
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I now live in a small town in the middle of oregon that doesn't make most mapsHehehe. You don't live in Boring do you? Nah that is more east than middle.
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Portland, Oregon is a very pretty city and you can see beautiful Mt Hood from almost anywhere. It rains quite a bit there but rarely gets below 0 farenheit. The Columbia Gorge,east of city, is one of the least know natural wonders in the USA, I think, with towering basalt cliffs and cascading waterfalls. Eugene, further south in the Willamette Valley, is another Oregon city you might consider. I no longer live in Oregon but grew up there and still consider it one of the finest states in the union.
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Very nice essay Erma......and so pertinent to the postings we often see on forums.
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I wait and wait for a Peace Day so I can safely harvest hydro ore. Once your overall gets up into the 100's in EL a new pick point only comes around every few months and there are some things requiring nexus I would like to be able to do a little sooner than in 3 or 4 years. But I could just carry a rostie and go other times or I can sell things and buy the hydro ore. Or maybe for simplicity I could just find somebody willing to trade some hydro ore for a rostogol stone. You see all this talk about Peace Day is making me think. I happen to believe that making people think is a good thing, so feel this thread is of value. Yes it is a bit misleading to describe Peace Day as one in which we may cause no harm. Probably the description should be changed and that bit left out now that there are mines.
EL will always be my internet MMORPG home. Twas the first I ever played and I have met some wonderful people here. You notice I said "my" home. That is the misconception that is causing problems here. We all get to feeling it is in some way "our" game........but it is not. It is Radu's game and brilliantly designed or none of us would be here. So if he has decided that there will be no safety for quiet harvesters and mixers we are just going to have to put up with it........or go play another game or do something in real life. In the world of EL, Radu is indeed teh god (though I am sure I do not completely agree with his notion of the nature of god, since he models a kind of cranky and evil deity). In that context having backdoor ways to kill people on what is supposed to be a "peace" day is perfectly consistent, as is a man eating leopard lurking in dark places. It is indeed a challenge to remain a player of peace and honor in such an environment.
So far the beauties of EL outweigh it's uglier parts for me, and that includes the attitudes of people. If someone thinks they can build a better world than Radu has, one where honor and kindness are higher values than rape and pillage and rewarded accordingly.....then please let me know where I can download that game when you have it completed. EL has been designed more according to the way real life is and in real life people get blown up, robbed and disappointed. If you think peace days or treaties work in the real world, I am sure there are some grieving Palestinian and Israeli families who would disagree with you.
Hmmm I didn't mean to write so much here. I love to see discussion of ideas and Jez's post sure stirred up people's brains. To me that is one of the great things about the EL community.....that regardless of flames or idiotic remarks.....people talk about ideas. People from all over the world discussing ideas together......just regular people who live ordinary lives. Some of you are the ages of my grandchildren (and Radu you are only a few years older than the eldest of them
). When I was your age something like this was no more than a dream.You and your exchange of ideas are more powerful than you imagine. I think talking together you will find a way to solve the very big problems our planet and our human community is facing. So thank you to Radu and Roja and all others who make places to share ideas. Maybe someday ideas will develop that allow there to be more real peace days ........... everywhere.
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Go ahead and name her Optimus Prime then give her a nickname like O.P. or Primie or Oppie.
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It is very sad, but also true, that there are many children who suffer abuse at the hands of older siblings and sometimes even parents. Now and then we hear a news story about some young person who has committed suicide over psychological abuse suffered at the hands (on the keyboard) of other people.
When people think this sort of thing is funny it shows a cruelty and lack of compassion that is appalling. The older kids are psychologically torturing the young boy. Were they doing the same thing on a physical level they would be jailed for it.
It isn't funny. Period.
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Real Name : Kathryn
Age : 61
Country : USA
Race : Why do we need to race? What's the hurry?
Hair : brown with silver streaks
Eyes : 4.....plastic ones with purple frame are removable
Height : 5'5 1/2"
Weight : less than it was and more than i like
Body Type : svelte
ABOUT ME:
Star Sign : Sagittarius/Scorpio cusp
Interests : music, gardening, birdwatching, computer stuff, reading
Profession : former 911 dispatcher and bookkeeper...now homemaker/retired
Cigarettes : yes
Alcohol : very rarely
Drugs : god knows what they are putting in our food nowdays....don't understand a lot of the listed ingredients
Makes Me Happy : kindness
Makes Me Sad : cruelty
Bad Habits : nose picking
Personality : when i must
MY FAVOURITES:
Food : sometimes .... when i remember
Music : eclectic....probably like some songs in any category
TV Show : Medium, Heroes
Author : Charles De Lint, Anne McCaffrey, Sherman Alexie, Barbara Kingsolver, Tony Hillerman, C. S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien ......many others
Movie : Everafter, Back to the Future, Breakfast At Tiffany's, Coal Miner's Daughter, etc.
Animal : human
Holiday : seaside
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WOW!!!
Congratulations Blodoks!
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No!!! Not Desdemona! A bit of brightness gone now just out of sight. My prayers for healing of all the hearts that are sad missiing her.......in real life and in EL. 
How wonderful for her family to see that so many here cared for her.
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I'll come in your state and demand that they add Romanian as an official language too,
Hahaha. That would sure surprise the residents of Washington. You might be one of the only native Romanian speakers here.
Seriously, Ent, I have no problem with English as the official language, but have witnessed a couple instances where ppl coming from other places thought their children ought to forget their first language and feel that is just wrong.
And btw been paying attention when I see info or interviews with Ron Paul (saw him on Jay Leno and on the Colbert report) and he does have some really good ideas.
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Isn't that what I said?The president should have no say in the official language debate, and each state should have whatever language they want.
Well yes....but I was thinking more of qualifications for presidential candidates. Since president is a federal position I am not sure how 50 different states could each decide what the qualifications should be.....
Just for the record, I think that the more languages a person can speak the better and I do not understand why people get so determined that English should be the only language in use. In many parts of the world most people have a working knowledge of several languages. Of course those living in a nation where English is the dominant language need to learn it, but why does that mean (to some) that they need to give up the language they first learned? A person who can speak more than one language is richer in thinking than a person who speaks just one language.
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I think that shold be a matter for the states to decide, not for the federal government.???
Doubtless many things should be decided/managed at state level...but job of president is federal position......
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Came out: Joseph Biden, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich. Of those, the only one I know enough about to vote for would be Kucinich.
They didn't ask one question I would like to see....which is: Do any of candidates have a working use of any language besides English? I would not vote, of course on that alone, but it has always been a puzzle to me why we do not consider any sort of language requirement for the nation's top diplomat.
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Shamara's Story
She was gathering herbs for her grandmother when she heard the boys coming
down the hill. Quickly she picked up her basket and looked around for a
place to hide. She recognized the loudest voice as Bork, the pig farmers
son, and had no desire to meet him and his pals alone in the woods. Glancing
across the small creek she saw a tree with branches low to the ground.
Hopping across the water she ran to the tree and climbed quickly up to where
the foliage was thick enough to conceal her and just in time as four boys
came into the clearing.
They were all near her own age, boys she recognized from the village school,
and sure enough the biggest loudest one was Bork. "There's nobody here,"
said the smallest boy.
"I saw her come down here" Bork replied. "You guys spread out and look
around. I bet she's hiding somewhere."
Shamara edged a little closer to the trunk of the tree and tried to breath
very quietly. Bork's father had already approached her grandmother about
making a marriage between her and his son. Grandmother had put him off but
according to the customs of their land, if a young man could capture the girl
he wanted and give her a child, she would be his no matter what her elders
said. Bork was the meanest boy in school, always teasing and tormenting the
smaller boys. The thought of having to spend her whole life as his wife and
servant made her feel like throwing up. The boy called Grot, Bork's best
friend and as big a bully as Bork, came and stood under her tree. She
shuddered a bit and the slight movement made her lose her balance on the
branch. She grabbed for the trunk to steady herself and as she did forgot
about the basket of herbs she had set on the branch. Horrified she watched
as it slipped off the branch and fell straight onto Grot's head.
"She's up here!" he yelled "in the tree!"
Shamara looked down into the mocking faces of the four boys. "You might as
well come down little wife," Bork told her, "we've got you now. Just come
on down and see what you're missing. We can have some fun." Bork put his
foot on the first branch and started to climb.
Maybe she could outrun them. Better to climb down on her own and try than to
be pulled down. If she could get across the creek before they caught her she
might have a chance. Shamara scrambled down the tree, dodged Borks reaching
hands and began running. But the boys were faster and worse, Bork had
circled the clearing and was cutting off her path to the trail. They were
sure to catch her if she tried to push her way through the underbrush. Bork
caught her arm and she could smell his sour breath. She watched his eyes go
wide and closed hers. She was caught. She would be a pig farmers wife
forever and nothing she could do to save herself.
"AAAAAAH!" screamed the smallest boy.
"Oh my god....run!" yelled Grot.
Shamara felt Bork loosen his grip on her arm and then suddenly all four boys
took off running. She slowly opened her eyes not sure what to expect. There
was a chuffling sound behind her and she turned to see a big brown bear
sniffing at her basket. It stared back at her but made no move toward her.
She slowly backed away up the trail and as soon as the bear was out of sight
began running for home.
The women back at the farm shook their heads and clucked their tongues when
Shamara told them what had happened with the boys in the woods. "It is
time" they told her grandmother. "The girl is not safe here any longer now
that she is a young woman."
So it was that the following day Shamara sat on the high seat of a trader's
wagon saying farewell to the only world she knew. "You will be fine. There
are different customs there and women are treated as equals and not as
property," Grandmother told her. "We have taught you all we know of
healing and you know the uses of herbs, but there is more. My friend's son
Morganwg has been there for some time now. Find him and he will show you the
way to those who can teach you magic. There is much for you discover in
Draia."
They traveled through woods and stony places and across the edge of a desert,
camping beside small streams each night. The traders were polite and Shamara
kept mostly to herself thinking about her future. She barely remembered
Morganwg from the time or two they had met as children. It was evening of
the sixth day when the caravan stopped to let her off. The trader handed
her down her carry pack and bade her godspeed. "If you go to the campfire,"
he said "there will be people there who can help you find what you need."
Shamara walked past a vegetable garden where all sorts of people were busily
harvesting pumpkins and tomatoes. A girl dressed in leather pants and shirt
passed her carrying a brace of rabbits and entered the tavern. She found the
fire with a group of people sitting around it talking. To shy to speak, she
sat a little apart listening to the conversation.
"So my pack is full," a young elf was saying. "Is there somewhere I can
store my extra things?"
"Yes," answered a blond woman who was wearing a white cape. "Raven manages
the storage at Grahm's village. You can take the boat to Lakeside and walk
from there. But you are young and it isn't safe there at night when the
gargoyle walks in the land. Better you wait till daybreak."
"But I have all these vegetables," the young elf protested. "I don't want to
just sit here with them all night."
"You can't put food in the storage anyway," the blond woman told him. "There
is no way yet of keeping them from spoiling there. Best just take them to
the tavern and sell them if you have more than you need for eating."
"How can we become strong enough to be safe from the gargoyles?" asked a
dwarf in a yellow shirt.
"Kill rabbits," answered a tall man wearing shiny armor, "and rats and deer.
You will gain strength and when you become stronger they will ignore you.
Gargoyles, like many of the creatures here, are bullies and only attack the
weak."
Shamara thought of Bork and wondered if the gargoyles were as ugly as he was.
She didn't really like killing animals but if it would protect her from
bullies she would have to. She wandered away from the fire in search of a
rabbit. There were bags lying around everywhere on the ground. She saw
others picking them up so she looked inside of one. Nothing but a bone in
it, so she left it and looked in the next one which had a rabbit fur and a
piece of meat which she picked up and put in her pack. Near a rowboat she
found several more bags that held bread and coins. An elf girl was picking
them up and offered to share with Shamara. "Go ahead," the elf girl told
her. "take some. They are gifts from the gods for us."
Shamara spent the night gathering vegetables and selling them. She killed
some rabbits. They were pretty hard to catch and harder still to kill but as
she practised she noticed that it began to get easier. Just before dawn she
spied a deer and decided to try and kill it. It was easier to catch than the
rabbits but one of its horns caught her under her right arm and she fell.
Then it's feet were trampling her and suddenly everything went black. When
she opened her eyes she was in a place of heat and flames. Bones lay on the
ground and the air smelled of sulfur. Her pack, which had been full with
furs and meat and some bread and coins, contained only a single tomato.
Looking around she saw a wounded warrior in chain mail striding past and she
jumped up and began to follow him. He wound through the rivers of molten
rock eventually reaching a stairway flanked by torchlights and went up it and
through a door at the top. Following him, Shamara opened the door and found
herself back beside the campfire, very hungry and feeling a bit bruised.
She ate the tomato, and as she was trying to decide what to do next, felt a
tickling sensation and suddenly her bruises disappeared. She touched her
cheek where the tip of the deer's horn had made a deep gouge and the wound
was gone. She looked around and saw a tall woman with blue hair holding a
wand and smiling at her. "What happened?" Shamara asked the woman.
"You were hurt so I healed you with magic" the woman replied.
"Thank you so much," Shamara said. Here was the beginning of the knowledge
she had come to discover. "How can I learn to do that?"
"You will need sigils to heal with magic," the blue haired lady told
her, "and health essences. You can buy all the things you need in the shops
on Whitestone where the boat takes you. But you must learn to heal yourself
before you can heal others."
All her money was gone....lost when the deer had killed her. Shamara knew
she would need more food too. The tomato had barely taken the edge off her
hunger. She headed for the garden. After filling her pack several times and
selling the produce, she noticed that the water next to the fence had turned
a soft gold color. The lamp in front of the tavern dimmed and went out. Day
had come and the gargoyles would be safely dormant now. She started down the
road toward the docks. She would find the storage place kept by the woman
named Raven and leave her coins safely there while she explored this new
land. Now that day had come she could see how beautiful it was. She wanted
to see more and to find the ways of magical healing.
In the next few days Shamara learned where to find lilacs and more vegetable
gardens. When she tired of picking vegetables she gathered lilacs to sell to
the lady in the flower shop. She busied herself harvesting and selling and
becoming more skilled at hunting. There were bears and foxes about but they
never bothered her and she knew better than to try and kill anything that
large after her experience with the deer. Some of the rabbits in Whitestone
were white and had the prettiest softest furs she had ever seen. At night
she returned to the first island and concentrated on earning more coins.
Sigils and health essences were expensive she had discovered, but undaunted,
she set about the business of becoming ready to use magic. She had seen
nothing of Morganwg and the few people she was brave enough to ask about him
didn't know him at all.
It was late one evening. Shamara had discovered a book sitting beside the
fire and was reading the story written there when she felt a touch on her
shoulder. Looking up she saw a young man with a pleasant face and dark
hair. He was wearing leather clothes and he smiled. "You must be Shamara,"
he said. "I am sorry I could not get here sooner. I was delayed in
trading."
She could see in his face the traces of the boy she remembered slightly, but
this was a young man, no boy. She felt her heart do a little flip flop when
she looked into his kind eyes. "Morganwg," she said and smiled up at
him. "You have grown."
"As have you, milady," he replied sitting down beside her.
They talked until the lamps dimmed and daylight began turning the sky pink.
Morganwg was a trader in these lands, had traveled widely and knew the best
routes to go safely from one place to another. "There are some parts of this
world where brigands and thieves lurk to rob unwary travelers," he told
her. "It is not only the goblins and gargoyles that are a danger." Sometime
during their conversation, Morganwg took her hand and held it in his and she
did not object. It felt so nice to have a friend.
Morganwg had to leave her at the dock while he went to complete a trade in
the Valley of the Dwarves, but they arranged to meet by Raven when the sun
was noon high. Shamara arrived a little early and sat under a tree watching
the people come and go by storage. One of the bears wandered past, then
stopped and looked at Shamara. She looked back and seemed to see an
intelligence in its eyes. The bear walked over to her and sat down, laying
its head in her lap. Amazed she could only stroke its fur softly and wonder
and that was when Morganwg came up to her. "You have a friend," he said. "I
don't think I have ever seen a bear do that before." The bear blinked at
the sound of Morganwg's voice and shook itself. It stood up and ambled off
into the woods.
"My grandmother says bear is my totem animal," Shamara told him. "A bear
saved me once...." and she told him about the incident with Bork and his
friends.
"No," he told her when she was done. "You do not belong on a pig farm, nor
in the arms of a brute like Bork." He slid closer to her and put his arm
around her shoulders. "I am very glad the women sent you here."
She was picking up bags again on the first island. Mostly she found only
bones and sometimes meat and furs. But now and then the gods gift bags
yielded coins or armor or essences and one time a sword. She had discovered
a bag containing a goodly number of coins and some furs and essences and was
about to pick it up when a dark haired elf came rushing up to
her. "Bagjumper!" he said sneering. Shamara stepped away from the bag and
looked at the elf, startled.
"What do you mean?" she asked wondering why he looked so angry. "The gods
give gifts to all.....you can have these things if you want them so much..."
The elf snatched the bag. "They are my things!" he exclaimed. "I lost them
when a deer killed me. People like you make me sick stealing death bags
like this." And the elf gave her a last angry look and strode off.
Shamara was horrified. She had never intended to steal. She remembered her
chagrin when all her hard work had disappeared after she was killed by a
deer. No one had told her about death bags and she had not known it was
possible to go back and reclaim items dropped when someone died. Her first
impulse was to go to storage, get the sword and armor she had found, get rid
of them somehow. She was not a thief and the idea that the things she had
believed were gifts from gods were stolen from people who died made her want
to run away and hide somewhere. Hanging her head she wandered to the dock
and went to Whitestone. She was too upset to read or harvest, too upset to
think. She was a thief, a common thief and it made all her hard work seem
for naught when she considered that accusation.
It was in that state of mind that she came to sit beside a pool with an
island in the middle. She had heard that a god lived on that island and was
considering how to find the god and ask how to make amends when Morganwg
found her. He saw the tears still lingering on her cheeks and asked what was
wrong.
"The deathbags," she told him haltingly. "I have been taking them, thinking
they were gifts and I was so wrong." She could not keep back the tears. "I
am going to talk to the god out there and find out how to make it right."
"Not all the gods are good," Morganwg told her. He sat down and put his arm
around her shoulders and took her hand and held it. "The god on that island
is a god of greed. You will not find the answers you want from him. You
didn't know and there is no way to find those whose bags you took to return
the things so long afterwards. And now that you realize it is stealing you
will not take bags again. I am sorry. I didn't even think to warn you
about deathbags." They sat by the pool and talked for a long time until
Shamara felt calmer. She resolved in her heart never again to take anything
that was not clearly and freely given to her.
During the next months Shamara grew stronger. Before long the deer were no
longer able to hurt her and she saved enough coins to buy the sigils she
needed not only to heal herself but to heal others. She worked and bought
the books she needed to learn how to make her own health essences and magic
essences. When she had completed the lessons required to harvest emeralds,
Morganwg said he would show her the mine but she needed a magic cape to
protect her from the orcs and skeletons that guarded the catacombs. He was
going on a trading trip for a few days and when he returned would try to
locate a cape for her so that she could safely go to the emerald mine. The
green cape she needed was not sold in any of the shops but could only be
found by killing some monsters that were much too strong for her. Still
Shamara decided to try and find a cape on her own so she could surprise
Morganwg when he returned. When she inquired about capes in the market, the
men there laughed at her. The traders used special words for things, words
she did not know, and they mocked her and pretended not to understand her
questions. She wondered if perhaps these men were the brigands and thieves
Morganwg had warned her about. They reminded her of Bork and his gang with
their bad manners and rude comments. She did manage to glean from them the
information that the green cape, if anyone had one to sell, would cost her
about 6000 coins. Books and sigils and essences had depleted her money so
she set off to harvest yet more lilacs. She was beginning to be tired of
the scent of them after gathering so many, even though they were sweet
smelling. She had managed to accumulate about half the needed coins for her
cape when a very tall and rather severe looking person came and stopped
beside her. He had white hair and beard and a fierce looking face, not quite
human and not elf or dwarf. She stared at him wondering what he wanted. The
big fellow chuckled at her look "I am orchan" he said and he handed her a
package. "Go ahead. Open it," he encouraged her. "Your grandmother has
sent you a gift, which I am pleased to deliver."
Carefully, Shamara untied the string and removed the paper to find inside a
note from her grandmother and a bright green cape! "Oh!" she
exclaimed, "But how did she know? It is just what I need!"
The big orchan just smiled. "Enjoy" he told her and disappeared.
Her grandmother's note explained that a dwarf staying at the womens hostel
told them about the magic cape and how it could allow one to travel safely in
Draia. So the women had sent money to purchase and deliver what
they knew she would need. They hoped she was doing well in her studies and
would try to send her other items from time to time as they learned of her
needs. Oh and that pig farmers son, Bork, had finally found a girl to
marry. She came from one of the villages to the north where the women are
warriors. Rumor had it that she made him do all the housework and cooking
while she hunted and fished all day. The neighbors said they could hear her
in the evenings screaming at him for forgetting some household chore.
Shamara had to giggle a bit at the thought of Bork being pushed around by a
woman.
With her cape, Shamara gained the freedom to travel in new parts of the land.
So long as she stayed away from the places where thieves lurked, she was safe
from any monster. She began to be recognized as a healer and sometimes when
monsters invaded the land she went and healed the warriors wounded defending
their home. And always she watched for Morganwg, who had found a strong
place in her heart. But Morganwg traveled further and further in his
trading. Sometimes she did not see him for weeks at a time now. And when he
came he grumbled about the changes in the land. It was becoming increasingly
difficult he said for a trader to make a living here. One night she stood by
the window in one of the taverns waiting for hours and looking at two places
set at a table. They were supposed to have dinner together. Morganwg never
came that night and not for several nights after. When she finally saw him
again he was distant and distracted and he did not hold her hand.
"I have to go away for a while" Morganwg told her. "I will be passing by
your grandmother's hostel if you want to send anything to her."
Shamara sent a letter with Morganwg and some fire essences and silver rings
she had made. And she found that the land seemed empty without the chance of
a meeting with her friend. In her travels she often passed places they had
been together and tears would come to her eyes knowing he was no longer near.
Morganwg had wakened a part of her she had not known was even there and his
absence dimmed the beauty of the land for her. So when she heard of a new
land being discovered she decided it was time to have a look at someplace
not so full of memories.
The new land called Irilion was even more vast and beautiful than the places
she had seen so far in Draia. Few people had discovered the secret
way there and she often wandered for hours without seeing anyone at all.
There were new flowers to see and lands with snow and strange creatures.
She found new places to mine the minerals and ores she needed to make her
healing and other magic things. As time went on she returned less and less
often to Whitestone and the lands around it, going only when she needed to
shop for things not obtainable in the new lands. Each time she returned to
Iriliion she felt a deep peace of being home again. And there were no
memories of Morganwg in the new land to haunt her, so she began to feel
cheerful and started to make new friends. She was becoming stronger all the
time. She could carry more weight, kill stronger creatures and best of all
she had grown in magic enough to be able to teleport, which saved her hours
of walking. She learned to call foxes and wolves to keep her company and
hunt for her while she harvested and always she practised the art of healing
whenever she saw a person who was injured.
One day Shamara received an urgent message from a warrior she knew slightly,
one she had healed many times. He said she must come to meet with him.
Puzzled she agreed to go to Mynadar. When she arrived there was a small
group of people awaiting her, all of them smiling. They were tough grizzled
warriors, men and women who had stood the test of many battles, who were not
afraid of the places where thieves lurked. They stood around her and looked
to the warrior who had invited Shamara to come. He cleared his throat "You
have healed us many times, Shamara," he said and all the group around her
smiled and nodded. "So we have decided to give you a gift in appreciation,"
and the warrior presented her with a crooked staff embedded with a
jewel. "It is a mage staff," he told her "a fitting gift for one who so
freely shares her magic with others." Overwhelmed, Shamara could only smile
and say thank you. Her heart felt full at the recognition and honor she was
being shown. The warriors took her to one of the thieves lands where she
felt safe with their strong protection all around her. She watched them
practise their battle moves and joke with one another until it was time for
her to return to Irilion again.
It was several months later that she was doing errands on Whitestone and
caught a flash of dark hair and red shirt and her heart leaped. Morganwg!!
He looked tired and a bit travel worn but dear and familiar. "Come to
storage with me," he said when he saw her. They sat facing each other and
he took her hand and looked into her eyes. "I must give you some things" he
said and he began pulling items from his pack and piling them around her.
There were rubies and emeralds and swords and ores and flowers. As the pile
grew larger her heart began to sink and she started to cry.
"You are going to leave me," she sobbed. "Morganwg....you can't go..." and
she held tight to his hand. "All these, these things.....I don't want
them.... I would rather have you."
Morganwg gently withdrew his hand from hers and continued adding things to
the pile....armor and rings and essences, his fortune at her feet. "I cannot
stay," he told her gently. "For long now my trading here has gone badly. I
only came back to give these things to you. I know you will use them well.
You have grown in strength quickly and you have friends and honor here. It
has been a pleasure to help you on your way, but it is time for me to move
on." Morganwg finished piling treasure at her feet and closed his storage.
He stood and tipped his hat to her, kissed her hand and vanished, leaving her
with tears dropping onto his pile of treasure.
Irilion was a consolation for her once again.....a place of no painful
memories. Shamara threw all her energy into her studies and weapons
training. Younger students asked her for advice and friends invited her to
attend their weddings. But Shamara was alone and it suited her to be alone.
She was not blind to the advances and smiles of some of the young men, but
she pretended to be and they found other ladies to sit with at storage. With
all notions of romance put aside she found it was easy to be friendly and
even affectionate to those she trained and studied with. Sometimes she spent
hours in deep conversations with one friend or another and sometimes they
shared their hearts concerns with her.
She did not even notice that she was spending more time with any one than
with others. She did not notice until one day she was walking along and she
heard her heart singing a little song with his name in it. "Pardu," her
heart said "Pardu." He was a man she had talked with about many things, a
man with a way of making her smile, a good friend, just a friend, nothing
more. But her heart kept singing its song and doing a little dance when she
saw him. They visited beautiful secret shrines and waterfalls and talked of
everything under the sun. They sat on the dock together and watched the
sunset and talked some more. Shamara told her heart to hush, told her heart
he was a very nice man but only a friend. When she saw him sitting at
storage with another lady, she told her heart again about how he was only a
friend. And they still sometimes talked and watched the sunset and sometimes
she would see him sitting with his lady friend in the mine and smile and
visit with them both. Shamara told her heart how happy she was that her
friend had found romance and her heart hummed quietly to itself. And every
time she saw Pardu with his lady friend, Shamara's heart pinched her.
It is very hard to ignore a heart that keeps pinching you, so Shamara began
to avoid seeing Pardu when he was with his lady. That stopped the pinching
and she was learning to ignore the humming. She visited with other friends,
studied hard and grew stronger. Sometimes she could not avoid running into
her friend and his lady and she would see him sometimes watching her hurry
away. And she began to wonder why it was, when they had shared so many
conversations and sunsets that he had never wanted to hold her hand. Because
they still shared sunsets sometimes and it always felt so comfortable just
being together. Shamara wondered about that for a long long time until one
day she happened to run into Pardu at the mine when no one else was around.
Her heart gave her such a hard pinch that she just blurted out "How come you
never wanted to hold hands with Shamara?" That was when everything changed.
Turned out he did want to hold her hand after all, but had been fooled by her
careful distancing. "I didn't think you would be interested," he told her.
The things they said to each other then were sweet and private and Pardu held
her hand.
After several years of studying and learning, Shamara began to feel a little
restless. She was too timid to continue with her warrior training. There
were thieves and brigands in more and more of the land and even her green
cape was no protection from the likes of them. Many of her friends had
completed their studies and moved on to wider worlds. One day she started
to enter the magic school and the door was barred. She contacted the dean of
students and asked why. "Oh it was something an elf said," the dean
replied. "You know we have tightened the rules because of all the thieves
that are around now." The dean went on to explain that an elf had brought
allegations of thieving against Shamara from that time, so long ago, before
she had learned about death bags. "We must enforce the rules, Shamara, and
cannot make exceptions. No bagjumpers may enter the magic school."
Shamara walked away from the school in a daze. No more magic studies? How
could that be? It seemed so unfair to hold against her something that had
happened so long ago. She tried to lose herself in harvesting and mining.
She talked for hours with Pardu about what she might do. Nothing interested
her very much and she stopped going to the taverns and storages where
conversations were lighthearted. Sooner or later someone always began to
talk about magic and it hurt too much to be on the outside. More and more of
her closest friends were departing....some banished because of the new
enforcement of rules, some just ready to explore beyond the boundaries of
Draia. Shamara began to wonder whether it was time for her to
broaden her horizons. One day she strapped on her pack, filled it from
storage with things she thought she might need on her journey. She knew what
road some of her friends had taken. Perhaps they had found a land without so
many thieves, where rules were kinder and a mistake could be forgiven. She
told Pardu of her plan and he kissed her and said he would probably be coming
to join her soon as he finished up a bit of business.
Shamara walked down the familiar roads. She passed through Whitestone at
night and the gargoyle snorted as she went by but left her alone...no more
need for her green cape with him for a long time now. She was no longer
weak. Draia had taught her much and opened a whole world of
wonderful things she never imagined. It was hard to be leaving, even knowing
she would probably return one day. As she neared the docks two bears came up
and paced beside her and she touched her wand and vanished.
Depletable Resources Poll
in General Chat
Posted · Report reply
Some of us spend too much time on EL because it is fun and relaxing. Might be better for us to go read a book or something. Those who feel depletable resources will frustrate them and make EL less fun and relaxing should go to the library.