Trailo Milner was born and experienced his younger years in the city of Chorster. It was a medium-sized city, and his family was content together. His father, Vicril Milner, served as a cleric in the city, helping those in need.
One day, at the age of seven, Trailo's mother disappeared suddenly. His father took Trailo and moved to Foabur shortly after. At his young age, Trailo knew little of the situation and circumstances of his mother's disappearance, but he now wears a pendent around his neck as a memento of his lost, or deceased, mother.
While in Foabur, Vicril continued his clericship, and the previous cleric who had been aging decided to retire into being an apothecary. As Trailo grew more, it was obvious he had little interest in continuing his father's work as a cleric. He much preferred fighting with other kids, but his father was very controlling and as such Trailo ended up apprenticing for the blacksmith of Foabur.
They have now lived in the town for ten years. Since arriving, they have rarely left the town center, only venturing to farms for clerical work when needed. For the most part they lived quietly and simply, but Trailo was beginning to seek more from life than blacksmithing...
For the last four years, being a blacksmith's apprentice has toned and built his body. His arms are strong, his back sturdy, and his legs stable, but he has never been in a battle, and rarely gets into fist-fights nowadays. Trailo was doing various menial tasks for the blacksmith in the back of the forge one day, when a strange man in a dark cloak entered.
He began speaking with the blacksmith for some time. In between moving tools or materials around, Trailo would try to catch a glimpse of the man. The man was ordering 20 steel arrowheads, which caught Trailo's attention. Archery was rare to see, and he didn't know of any others in Foabur with such a skill.
Trailo kept this information in case it might help him later. The man noticed Trailo looking at him and simply nodded in acknowledgement, and soon the man left. As he walked out the door, Trailo caught sight of a large wolf following the man. He hadn't seen it before due to the counter blocking his view, but now that he saw it his interest was truly piqued.
The blacksmith showed Trailo the process for making arrowheads and left him to make them. During making them, Trailo decided that he wanted an opportunity to speak to the man and so made several of the arrowheads intentionally crude. The work took several hours, and during that time the stranger returned and began whittling some sticks. The blacksmith eventually returned and helped finish the last few arrowheads, gathered them, and handed them to the stranger in a bag.
The stranger examined them briefly and then picked out the six defective arrowheads, saying, "I am sorry, but I use my arrows for a living. Without proper equipment, I cannot make my living. Also, these arrowheads may not puncture an animal properly, leaving them to suffer, which I am against. I will pay for the rest full price though."
The blacksmith took a look at the arrowheads. His brow furrowed as he inspected them, and he then turned to the stranger and apologized, blaming it fully on his lackluster apprentice whom is still learning the trade. Trailo stays in the back room and swallows hard, beginning to regret his earlier decision.
After the man with the wolf left, the blacksmith sighed loudly. He came into the back room, immediately berating Trailo for the terrible workmanship. After a few minutes of this, he signs again and tells Trailo just to go home for the day.
Feeling a bit disheartened, Trailo began walking down the street. He then remembered that his father needed some herbs for his clerical work, so Trailo instead headed west toward the woods. He'd gather what he needed quick and be home before dark.
Trailo always kept his hammer near him just in case, but he rarely has any issues in the forest. He's comfortable with it after the 4 years as an apprentice, and while he has been begging for some action in his life he isn't overly eager to experience actual combat.
He always gathered herbs from the western woods. They were quiet, and he knew where the common herbs always grew and begin picking them. He was near the edge of the Endless Woods, which he tried to never enter. It was foreboding, eerily dark and densely wooded, and just the sight of it usually turned him away.
The edge of the Endless Woods was nearly a straight line, north to south, of tall and wide deciduous trees, very closely packed together. Going from the normal forest towards it, it appeared as nearly a solid wall, and was almost as dense throughout the entirety of it, or at least as far as Trailo was aware.
Within the Endless Woods, the thick foliage blocks the sky completely, leaving the ground in eternal twilight during even the brightest of days, and at night it blocked any and all light from the moon or stars, leaving the area in darkness.
The herbs Trailo needed, thankfully, could all be found outside of the Endless Woods. He was within sight of the edge, but never got too close.
Suddenly, he hears a noise behind him and whips around. A wild boar is about 15 yards away, looking quite angrily at him. Trailo was stunned for a second, but slowly stood up and drew his hammer. The boar roars loudly and begins charging straight at him.
Panicking slightly, Trailo tried to jump behind a tree and ready his hammer to keep it at bay, but he foot caught a root. In the sudden fall he lost grip of his hammer. He turned toward the charging boar, and the situation overwhelmed him. He puts his arms in front of his face and screams as the boar approaches.
It collided hard, shoving Trailo to the ground, and began biting on his left forearm, digging its teeth in and shaking it viciously as if trying to tear it from the shoulder. In shock and terror at this point, Trailo can't do much and the boar refuses to release him.
After several seconds, he notices something flew past the boar, and sees an arrow embedded in a nearby tree. Trailo thought he heard someone yelling nearby, but couldn't make it out. His ears were ringing, his head was light, and the world around him grew dark as his vision faded, along with his consciousness.
The first thing Trailo feels is immense pain from his arm. He lets out a low moan as a result. Disoriented and confused, his eyes take several moments to focus, but eventually he realizes that he is back home, in the main room where his father always treats patients.
Looking at a window, he realizes that it is well into the night now. Glad to be alive, he breathes a heavy sigh. His left arm hurt so bad that it was hard to focus on anything, but after a moment he gritted his teeth and painfully sat upright.
Breathing heavily, he looked around the room. After a few moments, he noticed someone else was in the room, silent and staring at him. It appeared to be another patient in a bed on the far side of the room, sitting up just as he was. The candlelight is barely illuminating the person, and Trailo's eyes slowly focus.
What he saw could only be described as perfection. She is the prettiest woman he has ever seen in your life, and he could do nothing but continue staring back at her for several moments. She remained watching him, and he eventually pulled himself together, jerked his eyes away, and laid back down. He had never been very comfortable around women, and today was no exception.
The sudden movement of laying back down brings pain back from the arm, and he grimaces but stays silent. Several moments later, he hears her getting up from the bed, heading toward the door. She still has not said a word, and Trailo stays silent and listens as she leaves, which she does shortly after.
He feels drowsiness overwhelming him, and after a few minutes slips back into sleep.
Eventually Trailo wakes up, his father shaking him gently. As he opens his eyes, Vicril says, "You, boy, are lucky to be alive! You better thank that man Jothal that saved you next time you see him."
He is holding breakfast, some thin porridge, which he commonly gives to patients to help avoid them throwing stuff back up. Trailo's arm ached deeply, but he was quite hungry and begin eating slowly.
Shortly after, he realized there were other voices nearby. Five or six people were gathered around the bed on the far side of the room, speaking with the beautiful woman from the night. He had thought she was merely a dream, and was a bit stunned to see that she really existed.
"Popular, isn't she?" his father said, "she came in with the caravan a few hours before that ranger carried you back here. Some bandit got her with a poisoned arrow, but thankfully they made it here in time for the antidote to save her."
Processing this information, he thinks back to the previous day a bit, and then turned to his father. "Ranger? Did he have a wolf by his side?"
A bit shocked, Vicril replied, "Yes, now that you mention it he did. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, though. Do you know the man?"
"He came to the blacksmith yesterday... Wanted some arrowheads..." His voice trails off as someone knocks on the door. Your father opens it and that same ranger steps into the room.
The man approached Trailo's bed, bowed his head, and said, "Trailo, I came to see how you were doing. That was quite a nasty wound on your arm. What were you doing out there anyway?"
Before he can say anything, though, the man noticed the group across the room for the first time, and sees the woman sitting up in the bed. He stares at her for several seconds, just a few moments long enough for it to be a bit awkward. He puts one hand on the wolf's head, scratching it gently, and eventually speaks, "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. Is there something personal going on?"
After a moment, a man from the group speaks up, "No, no, we were just making sure our friend was alright. Our caravan came into town yesterday, and she had been injured during a bandit attack on the road. If you'll allow me to ask, though, is... is that a wolf?"
The stranger seems to be about to respond, but the woman on the bed speaks up, "Indeed it is, Gregor. This is a timber wolf, and quite a healthy-looking one at that." As she said this, she rose from the bed and walked over. Trailo noticed her clothing appeared quite ornate, and he had never seen anything like it, but it seems that it also offered a fair bit of protection, similar to leather armor but fancy enough to be something a noble would wear.
Her hair was silverous and flowed below her shoulders. He noticed that her left arm wasn't moving much, and realizes that it is probably the injury from the bandits.
Once she is halfway across the room, Jothal's wolf begins to walk forward, toward her. She reaches forward and rubs his neck a bit, looking him over. She is utterly unafraid of the wolf, and the wolf appears quite comfortable with her as well.
Jothal appeared to be more surprised than anyone else, and excitement bled into his voice, "W-who are you?"
After he spoke, she continued looking over the wolf a bit. Seemingly satisfied, she turned to face the ranger, her clear voice continuing, "You have a great friend here in Ash. Try to keep him close." She approached a few more feet and bowed ever so slightly, "You can call me Alithana. It's a pleasure to meet you, Jothal."
Still a bit stunned, Jothals responds with his own introduction, "I am Jothal, of the Wilds," he says as he bows. After a few moments, he continued, "H-how... how did you know his name was Ash?"
Her smile lessened a bit. She hesitated for just a moment as she considered how to respond, then answered, "Ash told me himself. I sometimes can hear the thoughts of animals around me. He thinks highly of you."
This information catches the attention of everyone in the room. It takes Trailo awhile to process the information, but Jothal seems to respond faster than anyone else could, "That is quite some gift you have. Are you some kind of Mage, Alithana?"
Her smile faded completely. She took several moments to consider her response, during which she turned back to Ash and scratched behind his ear. Ash appeared quite content.
Turning back to face Jothal, she spoke clearly, her voice sounding serious, "Ash trusts you, so I hope you are worthy of that..." Before she continues, she turned to face Trailo, staring at him for several seconds. He had been trying to follow the situation but has had a bit of a hard time not being overwhelmed by it all.
After a few moments of considering, she then spoke to the whole group inside the room, everyone paying full attention to her words, "My name is Alithana. I have traveled vast distances to get here from the west..." She brushes back her hair, exposing her elven ear to Trailo and Jothal, "I am an Elf, and I need to reach the city of Triln as quickly as possible." She pauses, looking around the room at everyone, and continues, "However, the Elders will be sending others, trying to find me and bring me back... Time is short, will you give me your aid, humans?"
The others began speaking, but Trailo was focused exclusively on his own situation, trying to figure things out. This was an opportunity... a chance to get away from this town and make something of himself. He had some money stashed away in case, but he wasn't sure if the Elf was even including him, and his injury wasn't going to be helping him convince them to allow him to come along. And of course, his father would never approve of something like this...
Trailo then noticed that she was now looking at him, expecting a response. A bit unprepared, he took a deep breathe before answering, "I... I don't know how much help I could be, but I want to do what I can, if you will have me."
He tried to be enthusiastic about it, but his father spoke up in response, "Absolutely not! Trailo is too young, not to mention injured! I'm going to be taking care of him here, and he is also several years into his apprenticeship with the blacksmith. He isn't fit to travel, and you said you were being chased. I am not willing to put my son in that situation."
Alithana turned to him, speaking calmy, "He has come of age, has he not? Meaning his decisions are his own. On the issue of his injury, as it stands now he will never use that arm again, and a one-armed blacksmith's apprentice would merely be in the way." She pauses for a moment and continues, "It is a decision you two will need to come to terms with, but sooner or later he will need to learn to live on his own, Vicril. You cannot shield him from the world forever."
Trailo was grateful that she had spoken up for him. Alithana had turned to speak with the others, but his attention was on his father. He was stoic and unmoving, and Trailo didn't think he would be easy to convince.
After a few seconds, the others all begin to leave the room, Alithana and Jothal included. Just before Jothal leaves, he turns to Vicril, "I know Trailo is your son, but if what they say is true and his arm will not heal, I feel like this is an opportunity for him to start anew. For whatever reason, fate has decided to entangle our destinies together and I think there is a lot he could learn by coming along." Jothal then leaves and Vicril closed the door.
He sighed and looks to Trailo, who asked, quite unhappily, "Why? I am useless here in Foabur!"
His father sighs again, considering how to answer, "I just want you to be safe. Who knows what dangers they may face... You encountered a mere boar and look at you! I don't want to relegate my son to merely taking an arrow for that elf! You have a full life ahead of you to live, and I'm not going to let you throw it away like that!"
Trailo responded, "Father, if I can't continue my apprenticeship what do you expect me to do here? If I go with them to Triln I'll learn a lot, I'll have others to potentially help somehow and have a purpose. I'd rather do SOMETHING for them after what happened to me instead of sitting around the house. You know you aren't gonna let me go get herbs ever again. Just let me go. I'll promise to come back some day."
After a few more minutes of arguing, a knock comes from the door. His father sighed one last time and opened the door...
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