[Durelin]

"Oh, just give me another reason and opportunity to kill you, pretty Elf."

Snyd couldn't help it, by then. His smile had grown with each sentence, and now he sniggered openly, standing behind Jaheira and trying to suppress the laughter. She stopped grinning fiercely -- grinning fiercely. Who would've known anyone could grin fiercely? -- to turn and shoot a disgusted look at Snyd. That was it; he doubled over laughing. She turned back to the elf, and as soon as he could catch his breath, he joined her, crouching down to peer into the elf's eyes. What he saw sent him back off his heals, hitting the ground hard to sprawl in the grass. Still, he immediately rose up on his elbows to hold the elf's gaze again. He held it for a moment...but all of a sudden he was examining his boot. He blinked. The eyes were still there. He peered into the trees around him, and eyes looked back at him. Cold, icy grey eyes, swirling with the deepest of sorrow and pain. Snyd had never been the most intelligent man, but somehow he knew that it was not any bodily pain that seemed to be slowly eating away the elf's soul. It certainly was infesting the elf's eyes, and Snyd had heard that they were the only true 'doorways to the soul.' If elves had souls. This one seemed to, if it was... Snyd shivered. What was happening to it, to the elf?

Suddenly he felt other eyes on him. He could feel a tingle on the back of his neck, and that feeling had never failed him. Rising up to a crouch again, he turned to look into the fierce eyes of Jaheira. She looked both surprised and angry. Mostly angry, Snyd saw with immense disappointment. "Er...I think I need to work on my balance. I hit my head there..." The elf was still looking at him. Snyd's eyes were drawn back to the elf's, and he saw...sorrow, yes, but above that...loathing. Snyd almost fell back again. This elf did have a soul, and a very nasty one. He should've never belived those tales of elves and their undying beauty and their greatness and how much they hekp in fighting off Sauron. "Bah!" He had said that out loud, and now the elf looked a bit confused. Oh, but there was still hate in that frigid grey, so much hate. "Is all of this pointy ear's whining really just about some love?" The elves eyes lost all their confusion and gained rage. Rage and hate. They blended all too well, and they looked all too right in those eyes. Those emotions fit. Snyd almost shivered again, but he remembered the loathing. "He probably thinks it's some undying love or some such nonsense, but even with him living forever, love doesn't last, or even really exist most of the time. I wouldn't think these elves could love. They go sailing off to some island, and live in trees! In trees! They seem more like squirrels to me, even though they don't look like 'em. Squirrels do have pointy ears, though, now don't they?"

Snyd was smiling again. Jaheira was too. Fiercely, as always. The woman would've been pretty -- pretty like the ones he liked to have a bit of fun with -- if only she wouldn't be like a bloody vulture all the time. A vulture...that fit Jaheira well. He seemed to be finding amazing comparisons between people and animals, just now. Not very good, but he was not very smart, as he kept reminding himself. It seemed as good an excuse as any for most of his troubles. He leaned closer to Jaheira to whisper in her ear. "I hope that stuff you put on sheep-gut stung. I feel better knowing there's a reason behind all that wailing." He came close to cackling with laughter. Jaheira smiled, but she still looked at him in an exasperated way. Leave me alone, woman. I'm not the wisest man in the woods... It was as good an excuse as any. A tingling ran up his spine to the back of his neck. He looked behind him in surprise and jumped when he saw Vlad. Glad that he hadn't fallen backward again, he grinned at the man. But as he looked into Vlad's one eye, his smile quickly faded. Anger and disgust, hate. It all warred in the man's eye and on his face, none overcoming another. At least it did not come close to matching the elf's eyes. He could feel those on his back, still. Would they ever go away? At least he could understand the elf, in a way, but Vlad...why Vlad? He didn't really like the man, but...

He felt another pair of eyes on him, and knew they were fierce ones. The eyes of a vulture. Only then did he realize how close he was to Jaheira. Really, he wasn't that close, but he wasn't about to say that to Vlad. He rose, trying to seem normal, bringing back his easy grin. Now it was not so easy, but he tried. "Fare thee well, mellon." He sniggered to the elf, turning for a moment, but avoiding the eyes. Strolling past Vlad a bit too quickly, Snyd decided to find a nice rock to sit on. He had to think. A tingle ran up and down his spine. Three pairs of eyes followed him. Fierce, enraged, loathing. Would he ever look into someone's eyes and see... What?, he thought, See what? Love? He stumbled on nothing, and his questions were answered. I didn't think so. The tingling no longer ran along his entire spine, but it remained on the back of his neck. All he had to do was close his eyes, and he saw those grey eyes. He closed his eyes to see more eyes.

He found his rock under the tips of the spreading branches of a maple tree. Sitting there, he knew the others could not see him. Here, he would be able to think. He needed a lot of time to think. He wasn't very smart, now was he? As he sat, resting his chin on his fists, a tingle ran up his spine. Or the memory of one. The memory of so many eyes.

[ August 24, 2003: Message edited by: Durelin ]