Riddle Heights elation

I really, sorely, apologize. For the longest while Tannis couldn't tell me a story, then I went on vacation, etc. Old-School RoWers might recognize this... ;) Tannis just has no idea that it was inspired by actual RoW history - to him, he simply just made it up.

“Do yah know any gwood swories?” the boy asked next. Tannis stalled for what could have been considered an eternity. A long time ago, the Andreas had known lots of stories - fables, tales, narratives, myths, legends, and even some shortened sagas that told of adventures filled with danger, risk, and daring feats undertaken by the protagonist. Nowadays, Tannis couldn't even be sure what was real anymore. Every villain had morphed into that wretched harpy of a woman, Verona. Every backstabbing traitor had become a shadow of his father and every time the main character succumbed to a point in their journey in which they felt like they would never recover or attain their goal, Tannis thought of himself.

Good stories, he repeated to himself in his head. His brow furrowed, heartened as he comprehended now that what little Wren said was true - that everyone was special. And, surely, no one knew as many stories as Tannis did. This was his chance to prove it... to himself and to Wren.

"Erm," he began, slowly taking a seat now. "Let's see... There once was a lonely mountain king. He had come to inherit his kingdom by mistake when his Lord and Leader had mysteriously disappeared. In time he had gained the trust of his kingdom, gathering followers to the Plateau until he was able to recruit a wandering knight." Now, whether or not the boy could fully understand the story, Tannis had yet to see, but he continued on in a slow, leisurely tone, allowing his story to unfold before Wren in a flurry of imagined pictures behind his eyes in sunrise orange and dark midnight purple. "This wandering knight had come from faraway lands in search of someone to serve. He was young and dashing, he could have had anyone he wanted, but he had fallen in love with a lady in the wildflowers beyond the kingdom. The knight stole her away, taking her back to the Plateau. There, they faced the king and his newfound queen, who accepted them without question as both proved to be loyal. The king was very happy and the pack thrived, that was... until the knight went away, taking the lady with him. This made the queen very sad. She didn't feel safe, so when the prince and princess were born, she left." Here, he braced himself, trying to glean from Wren's face if he would become sad from this next part of the story.

"The king was alone and he had a son and daughter to look after. He didn't have the knight to help him; and, he was attacked by a ferocious cougar. The loyal wolves who so loved the king took the prince and princess without question out of harm's way. They took the cubs away on the king's command where they were raised by the knight and his lady into bright and exceptional wolves. The prince left to find his own destiny, perhaps dreaming of the mountain where he had been born, but his sister, the princess, loved her new home. She stayed. Then, one day, an old man showed up in the forest where the knight had laid his claim on the land."

"The princess asked for him to stay, begging the knight, her adoptive father, to change his mind. He relented. Then, one day, when the princess was playing by the stream, the old man took a moment to talk to her. She noticed that they had same colored eyes!" In a storyteller's tone, adopting the higher-pitched voice as the princess for a short while, "'You look very familiar,' the princess said. The old man started to tell her about the daughter he had lost and the kingdom he had once ruled. She remembered what her brother had said about his memories of cold, rocky place and there was no doubt that this man was the king! Her destiny had come for her.'"

"Even though she had hoped her brother had been with her, the princess made her own decisions. She would ask her father, the knight, to leave home and find for herself a life of her own; and, she would take her real father with her. The knight had no choice but to let her go. Out into the Relic Lore wilderness they went, spanning miles of woodland, tundra, riverbanks, the shores of lakes, and meadows. After sometime, a young man - one who was just like the knight in his yearling months - came upon the king and his daughter. He offered his loyalty and his service; the king would not dare to let history repeat itself. He turned the man away; and, oh, how the princess cried and howled and wailed!"

"It was with a wary heart and well-guarded stance that he let the young man join them as they ventured onward. For what seemed like ages, they traveled until the man asked for them to stop. That the woods they were in were ideal to call home. He could see that it offered protection from the winter's cutting winds and shade from the summer sun. The king agreed and they established their new territory. For the longest time the king had been so bitter and resentful of the knight that he had not even considered just how well he had raised the princess in his stead and that the man who had come to join them was nothing compared to the knight from so long ago. As helpful and courteous as he was, he also never thought to take the beloved princess away from the king. Things were different; they were better and, in time, the princess had sons and daughters of her own... As the queen after her father, she took the throne with her mate, the young loner who had joined them, the new king of the arbor. They lived happily ever after."

Tannis' tail waved hopefully behind him, wondering if the story was enough to captivate the cub. He was somewhat certain the morals of being good and right, making sacrifices, and letting go of grudges were lost on him for the time being. Maybe when Wren was old enough and Tannis revisited the story, he would understand. For now, though, it was just a story about a king who had loved his daughter with all his heart.

@Tannis AWWWWWW :D ;~;

The small little furball sat there intently, listening and soaking up everything that the older man said, the story keeping his mind at ease as he listened to the valiant tale. There were gasps of shock at certain points where he would start to speak, maybe a syllable or two at most before he shut his trap, figuring that maybe everything would work out in the end of the story like they did in his mother’s tales. Thump. Thump. Thump. The boy’s tail beat against the ground as he grinned a lopsided and goofy puppy grin at the man who seemed to be one of the most interesting wolves he met, despite the fact that he hadn’t really met any interesting wolves. He had always thought both his parents too busy to be interesting.

Then it reached the point in the story where the queen turned sad, and Wren frowned, feeling sorry for the queen because the knight and the fair lady had left them. Then there was a gasp, another one when a cougar attacked the king. His eyes widened as he started to fear for the king. There was a small giggle when Tannis got to the higher pitched voice for the princess. Silly Tannis! The boy said in his head before listening to the rest of the story. The story had its highs and lows as Wren felt for each of the characters. But in the end, they lived happily ever after. “Dat was reelly good, Tannis!” The boy said with a giant grin and a tail wagging fiercer than before. “Dew we awl get happily ever aftas?” The boy asked out of curiosity, wanting to be as happy as the new king in the end with the queen at his side.

Swift as a Deer. Quiet as a Shadow.

Wren Destine-Caravello

Fear Cuts Deeper Than Swords.