"Would you side with these people against me?? You are just like me! Trufel!"
I am nothing like you. I believe in compassion.
"They will hate you and destroy everything you love!"
And I will forgive them.
"WHY??"
Because someone has to be the first to let go of the hate and try something else. -- Anon Guest
[AN: I looked up 'Trufel' and couldn't find more than a corruption of 'truffle' So I'm assuming that's a name]
Trufel took a deep breath to steady their shaking bones. Fearing Akaju's wrath. "I'm going," they said. "You can't stop me."
Akaju seethed, but ze seethed without lashing out. "This ongoing war has killed too many with it's battles. Too many have already been sacrificed in the battles between Elf and Dragon. Between Elf and Troll. Between Elf and D'varuv. Between Elf and Harukh. And you will now throw yourself against the devils they summoned to drive us to extinction?"
Trufel found it increasingly easy to swallow the urge to throw a tantrum about Akaju's speciesism. No Elves had had a whole family for thousands of years. "If someone doesn't try another way," they said, "Who will?"
"I will not bury you," said Akaju. "Take what you think you need, but you are already dead. The devils that the Humans keep will gnaw your bones." Ze cut Trufel dead, returning to taking inventory of their supplies. "May your next incarnation possess more sense."
Well. Trufel had leave to take what they needed. So they took a holy symbol, a simple wand, and all the protection they could equip before they also took a cross-country pack. They left a note for those who cared about them, and set out.
Looking for trouble, maybe, but looking for trouble to solve.
They also took one of the riding deer. One of the sports who lacked antlers. All the better to send a message to the Human Barbarians.
One message - I am not here to hurt - that Trufel hoped would carry across. They wove a concealment spell around themself, and set forth. Into enemy territory.
It took weeks to leave the current protected territory and find the Human settlements. Crude buildings shaped by tools and constructed by the hands of teams. Food cooked with fire instead of spells. Land cleared and brutalised instead of bent and encouraged by magic and will.
Trufel decided against bothering a Human settlement. That was a sure way to start another battle. What they needed was an Adventurer or their party. Preferably one in trouble, so they could prove that they wanted to help.
When Trufel found what they sought, the two Adventurers were not off to a great start. They tried to shoot her deer.
Nothing worthwhile was ever, ever easy.
[Photo by Matt Palmer on Unsplash]
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