59th of Ash, Year 119
Elindra.
We finally made it.
Those were his first thoughts as his eyes came upon the full majesty of the white-spired city, so grand before him from atop the hill he viewed it from. It was incredible to him; that it could still look the way it did. That the walls still stood high, the buildings of old still peaked far above their surrounding confinement, and that the energy of the ancient Ald'norai structures still appeared to radiate within the dwelling as if it were blood pumping through the veins of the land.
And in that city... he quickly had a number of experiences that changed his view of the world. Rather than becoming a forlorn memory, Elven culture still -- in some ways -- thrived, with half-Siltori children playing on the streets and decorating thistle wreaths with the imagery of the Eldhan Weald. As much as the Daravain hated them.
He met with a few of his peers. One, a full-blooded Siltori like him, named Miran. Then Timothie, Valerie and Michele. All half-bloods, save for the final, who was a pure-blooded human. Taelian became the source of commotion among them, for a while; they could not seem to forget his origins, so drawn to where he had emerged from. The legendary if dreaded Sil-Elaine, filled with stories of grim things and atrocities that invoked bitter tears. Yes -- his origins were dark, he confessed, though not as dark as he had originally thought. The rest of the world... seemed to really be in pain, too.
The five of them ventured to the hills to the west of Arlain, with a warm summery breeze blowing through despite the season and with green and golden hues surrounding them. And, so many more things; the beauty of cypress and poplar trees lining the edges of the earthly mounds; vineyards with gardens adjacent to them of olives and other alien things. There were farming villas, marvelous estates, all manner of wonders both natural and man-made. Daravin was as beautiful a land as he could have ever imagined, and he constantly reminded himself of that fact.
He felt strange acknowledging the human architecture surrounding him as beautiful, but it was. The villas were charming, simple yet delightful, and only complimented the warmth of the sun that so often stared down on them. Taelian realized he could have stayed here for a lifetime. And he wanted to.
Eventually, they all arrived upon the peak of the hill they committed to finding, known to the locals as Velasheila. Taelian, informing all of them that he was to leave on this night for Amoren, was offered the chance to see one more beautiful thing before he left. To spend one more night with people who felt that he mattered to them, even if his appreciation was limited in return. However much he could from his Famished heart, he valued the people he had met in the last two weeks in Arlain. They showed him the beauty of the city, the heritage he had come from, and the future they were working to build.
Even Michele, a human, was a part of that. It made him hopeful that things really could change.
