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The Lay of the Grandmasters Way
by Pyewacket
Act 4 The Lay of Rivena
It is hard to imagine the solitary existence of an outcast. Most people, regardless of their race, like to think they can sympathize, or at the very least pretend to have the ability to empathize, but few indeed know the truth of the matter, of the heart rending seclusion from one's friends and family, even one's own people, whether by choice or ill favored fortune.
But from the dust of coal are diamonds made, and Rivena was never one to bow to pressure, nor crack under the strain of intolerance. Academically speaking, she was quite an adept, learning the ways of her kin as all elves must, if they wished to proceed into wood magery. Caring for the homelands of the elves was no easy task, and the training alone ensured that those whom set forth to protect their lands were well equipped to do so, with more that just bow and woodcraft to aid them. The ability to call forth the very essence and nature of the trees and woods around them in defense of their realm was a dire and all to often relied upon necessity. This and other things Rivena learnt with not so much a passion as a determination that she would at least be seen an equal to those who seemed to find it far easier to master the way of the elven mages, than she herself did.
Her talents and aptitude for certain spells were varied, and oft times puzzling to her stoic tutors. It was, they said to each other in their private discussions on student matters, almost as if she was ill matched for magery, yet possessed the latent ability of magic to a degree that seemed flawless when untried, foundering only upon its application into anything of a practical nature.
Such was the words that were used to describe her abilities, when a report was made to her father of her progress, or, in certain areas, her lack thereof.
Ill pleased, to say the least, was her father's reaction to these tidings, and he arranged private tutelage to begin without delay, to avert the disaster of disgrace at having so "wayward and inconsistent a daughter".
But alas, these too proved ineffective in teaching Rivena how to master those very magics that were the basis of all Masters of the Woods. He was recommended therefore to send her to learn of alchemy in the local areas.
The very nerve of it. A daughter of his to go and be some common powder-grinder! He was once again displeased, almost as much with Rivena and her inability to focus herself, as with the tutors he had arranged at no small cost to himself for suggesting such monstrous things. Yet, in the end, he believed it futile to try and continue inviting Mage and Master around to impress into Rivena the things she was lacking as a student. He considered it a far easier lie to live with by sending her off as recommended, to learn Alchemy. Yet to all who inquired, Rivena was, of course, merely visiting distant relatives.
The most convenient, and therefore expeditious method of maintaining this deception, was to send her to be 'prenticed by an Alchemist on the outskirts of Grahm's village. "Old Ursul" was the one he should try, he had been told. He had, of course, absolutely no knowledge of how old Ursul was, nor indeed anything else in the way of knowledge about this person, other than she was an Alchemist and had contacts as high up as the Grandmaster of Water.
Had he known at the time that this "Old Ursul" was a dwarf, and that Alchemy was a mere hobby of hers, and her means for support came not from her skills as an Alchemist but rather from being a washer dwarf, he would have probably thrown the tutor who suggested her, bodily out of the treehome he lived in. It would have been, of course, the only proper thing to do, for as any elf knows, theres "no trusting in one who digs beneath the roots".
Of course, by the time he DID discover Ursul's nature and true profession, he had other, far more immediate concerns regarding his daughter. But that came later.
Rivena herself was intensely ashamed at having failed not only her fathers will, but also her own self made goals. But in spite of this, or perhaps because of it, she did as her father bade and journeyed away from the home she had known so long, and made her way to the south-western regions of White Stone.
Ursul herself was not as Rivena had expected, for she, like her father, knew nothing of the old dwarf woman beyond that she would take in a 'prentice for Alchemic studies. It was something of a shock to Rivena, truth be told, to find she was taken on, not for the aspect of the teacher wishing to share knowledge acquired through long study, but rather because, as "Old Ursul" put it bluntly:
"Nowt wrong with earnin' a bit o spare beer gold on the side, eh? EH?"
Nevertheless, Rivena adjusted quickly enough, and, for all the old dwarf woman's raucous and annoying laughter, and tendencies to "get legless then I don't look so small", Rivena learnt much from Ursul.
As time passed, Ursul began to shy away from more traditional Alchemic studies and, noting Rivena had a propensity to magic without a focus for it, Ursul began testing Rivena on a variety of lesser Earth magics. At first, these were mundane enough to be loosely associated with Alchemy; such as the mixing of powders that, when a spell was spoken over them, allowed the powders to emit enough light for a miner to work in, underground.
But as the year progressed, Rivena soon found her studies contained more of practical magic than Alchemy and, surprisingly, that it was easier to master than she had ever thought possible of any magics.
That is not to say that her Alchemy studies discontinued, for Ursul still insisted that her fathers wishes in that area be complied with, and on many an occasion, she sent Rivena off to collect various ingredients from suppliers in the area, local and otherwise.
On one such occasion, Rivena was sent to arrange a delivery of sulfur from the Blacksmith to the far east of Ursul's humble hovel, and to negotiate payment in much needed fire essences, which the Smith was all too pleased to accept in kind. Whilst there, the lad working away on the bellows caught Rivena's eye. Although a human, she found him captivating, and became quickly enamored of this wayward youth.
His restless nature and unending determination were things she identified with on so many levels, and it was not long before the two fast became friends, and then more. Despite knowing that her father would doubtless explode with fury if he...when he found out, she allowed their love to flourish. And flourish it did, throughout the summer months Rivena knew happiness with Jerun. Days in the sun and the tempered winds, and the air like wine, filling them with the joy of living, peace surrounding them between their hours of toil, Rivena at the mortar and pestle, Jerun at the bellows.
Ursul, being somewhat wiser in the ways of the world, knew of the trouble to come before they did, however. So when Rivena's father summoned her to return home, it came as no shock to Ursul. She simply ensured that Rivena took with her a letter to her father, in which Ursul assured Rivenas' father that the progress made by the "wayward and inconsistent a daughter" had turned Rivena into a promising Alchemist, but that her studies would need to continue for a while longer before she could be considered a Master of the Mortar.
In this way, Ursul managed to ensure Rivena's return to her. The condition, of course, was that Rivena was forbidden to continue this dalliance that her father had heard rumors of, from traders with the human village around which Rivena had been seen consorting and fraternizing with this bellow's boy. But this condition was set to Rivena, not Ursul. Had her father outlined that, then things may have turned out quite differently, for Rivena, for Jerun and for poor Ursul.
There was, of course, no holding Rivena to such a condition, however emphatically her father insisted upon it, but when it came to covering the truth up, she had learned by this point to be her fathers equal, if not his better.
Therefore, despite having had to endure his wrath and raging fury for a short time, she was released back to Ursul once more to resume her studies. Old Ursul, in keeping with her worldly ways, no longer sent Rivena to the smiths for trading. But instead, much to Rivena's delight and everlasting gratitude to the old dwarf, Ursul arranged for the ingredients from the smith to be delivered to her home instead. This delivery, of course, was arranged by Ursul herself to be made by Jerun, and the lovers were then free to continue their romance unhindered by those who would report back to Rivena's father, for the sake of a few coin or more favorable trades from the elves.
Time, however, is a fickle thing, and apt to run out on those who think they have it in abundance.
Ursul, forewarned by her art in Earth magic, knew there was a change in the stones, in the rock and soil around her. Casting minor fortune spells to try to glean the source of the change, she was amazed to see the coming of the Air Grandmaster within her very presence, and it was to be soon. With mere days to prepare, she enhanced as much of Rivena's Earthcasting knowledge as she could, ensuring that Rivena once again carried with her at all times a letter that was for Rivena's eyes only, should anything happen.
"Ah don't-chew fret so, lass. I's an ole dwarf, and none too limber anymore, so i b'aint. Time mayhaps come one day when I don't be gettin' up from me bed, then you's'll need to know where to go from here. For I will not be having any truck with you skipping your training just coz I be laying with me Ahn-Sess-Tahs. Oh no, me gal. You WILL keep goin' on the path you is on. Its in the stones now."
With that, she had bidden Rivena to leave for home that last time, and, puzzlingly enough to Rivena, Ursul remained behind this time, seemingly to talk to Jerun.
She had been home a few days, once again undergoing the sniggering of those advanced students and Masters around her, her fathers disdain, the old stigma never letting up, when she heard the news.
A more subtle manner might well have saved the taunting youth who imparted the news of Ursul's demise to Rivena. But, with jeering friends about him, encouraged by the fact that this lowly girl who was fit only to lay with humans and grind them as much as powders, this half-wit child who had no mastery of the wood that was the right, nay the very nature of the elves, could do nothing to him in retaliation. Even if she dared, he had jibed, she would lack the basic ability, why even his own pet woodsprite had greater power in its smallest digit. Why on earth, he had said, is she even pretending to be able to read that letter she is holding?
It is of note that this elven youth's body still stands in Tirnwood even now, centuries after. His stone face staring in eternal disbelief at the forces that were unleashed by his unwitting error in underestimating how hard diamonds can prove to be, when they are squeezed hard enough by pressures beyond normal endurance. For, although the jibes themselves had not unsettled the fair Rivena, it was the letter which she had read whilst this taunting was being endured.
"Me dearest Rivena.
Time has come for me, and I gots to hang up me pegs for teh lastest time. The stones dont lie, me gal, and I knows whats to come. No doubt you will here of Jerun and what has happened and no doubt it'll all be twisted up in the telling as these things oft are where folks is meddling into others business. So you listen up now, lass, and heed me, Jerun is not to blame. I knows you wont find it in you to forgive him, it aint in you. Hard as diamonds you is, but as unforgiving too, I seen it in your eyes first day I saw thee. He got his path to follow now, coz of whats gone on, but so's you. And go on you MUST. Theres a path laid for you that aint no use tryin to turn from nor dally over no matter. You will finds a map on the other side of this here letter that'll take you to the one who will train that rage you now got into something worthwhile. Right now though, you need to know, you have the Mastery of Earth in you, and always have had though you dint knows of it. Nor would you, if I had done meself a service and kept Jerun aways. Guess things never work the way we wants eh?
Focus that will of yours into the Earth, not the woods, me girl, and you will see where your path leads you.
Now dont be sheddin no tears for me neither. Wont be having no truck with that and you knows it gal. Time for you to polish your edges on somethin more worthy.
Your friend,
Ursul Dunnikin-Diver (widow)"
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