Drexella

It intruded into his sleep, that soft wailing sound. He turned over onto his other side, muttering something about wind when the sound came again. Suddenly his eyes flew open as he realized it was a child he was hearing, plaintively crying somewhere out in the night. Scrambling from his bed and throwing on only a heavy blanket about himself he went to the front room and opened the door. Frigid cold air caused his breath to draw in sharply but he ignored it to peer out into the street, searching for the source of the disturbing noise that had awaken him. Finally he saw the waif, huddled up into a ball just at the entrance to a nearby alley and without another thought he sprinted across the frozen cobblestones toward her. The child shrieked in surprise as he scooped her up into his arms, a cry quickly muffled by his hand as he dashed back to the warmth behind his front door. As he struggled to latch the door securely with the squirming bundle in his arms he heard the soft footsteps of his mother approach.

'Kyrsian', her gentle, lilting voice came.. 'Do you realize who's child that is?' The young elf, barely grown into adolescence glanced at her and then back down at the shivering girl still squirming in his arms and his voice was oddly tender as he replied. 'Yes, Mother.. I know she is the supposed 'cursed one' but would you have me let her die from neglect?' He kept his eyes on the child, meeting her wide-eyed frightened gaze with a reassuring smile of his own. The older woman just sighed once, almost whispering 'No, of course not.. but she cannot live here Kyrsian I will tell you that right now. You may feed her, and find her warm things to wear but she must stay in her own home even if there is no one there now to tend to her. Only on the coldest of nights may you bring her here, understood?'

Kyrsian nodded, and toted the child off to his own room to wrap her up in warmth for this one night... already planning ahead as to how he would see to her needs as time went on. As he tucked her into his own still-warm bed he mused on all the rumors he'd heard about this young girl. Murmuring softly to her, in the voice only reserved for his mother and sisters Kyrsian worked to calm her fears and stroked her tangled hair gently as she drifted off into sleep. His mind drifted back in time, to five years prior when this child came into the world...

Everyone in the city knew that the father was a mercenary.. hired killer with cold eyes and a hard heart. He'd only taken a bride to have an heir, not for any misplaced reasons of love or devotion. His young wife was a small mousy woman who rarely spoke but she always had a timid smile for everyone she met. When he was gone, she could be seen about the market place silently watching the goings on with wistful eyes, but when he was home it was a given that she never left their small cottage that sat in an almost deserted part of town. Both of them were handsome people, humans but oddly matched.. her with her pale green eyes and long, platinum blonde hair.. him with his silver eyes and bright red shock of closely cropped curls.

Rumor had it that years ago he'd killed a gypsy, in his usual ruthless fashion and as a result was cursed. Whispers occasionally flew through the gossip circles--when not much else was going on--of what shape the supposed curse would take. As his young bride began to obviously show with pregnancy the speculations flew of whether or not the curse would somehow affect the child. An answer was not long in coming...

'That.. is.. not.. my.. offspring' Words spat out through clenched teeth and spread through the city like wildfire as a direct quote from him after he was witnessed storming out the gates. Never again was he to be seen, leaving his young sickly wife and tiny child, named Drexella to fend for themselves. The mother did her best to care for her child as long as she could. Sometime toward the end of summer during the child's fourth year of existence, the house was left empty and abandoned.. firewood stacked by the small hearth and loaves of bread similarly stacked in the pantry. The child could be seen roaming the streets and back alleyways all alone, her ragged clothing and tangled locks making her already odd appearance even more frightening. No one ventured forth to help the young girl, a primal fear of her supposed curse keeping all but the bravest and/or kindest from even smiling at the waif.

Skin of darkest night, hair of freshly fallen snow with eyes as black as coal yet burning with an inner light of anger and fear were what people saw when they gazed upon the young girl.. when they could bring themselves to do so. Only Kyrsian and those closest to him seemed to see different. As the child grew, she was welcomed more and more into the elven home to share in the warmth, meals and feeling of family. When she would slip into the front door, always practicing to be as silent and stealthy as her young hero a change would come over her. Her shoulders would lift, her eyes growing soft as she made certain to give each person a touch or a hug of affection. Sometimes an echo of sighs could be heard as she would turn to leave, her demeanor growing hard again as she seemed to pull a cloak of anger about her to protect her from the cruelty of her world.

Time passed and she grew up, learning to fight to defend herself.. learning to hunt for food.. and learning that she had no place in her city of birth. With tears, hugs and well wishes she bade her only family goodbye and ventured forth to find a place that she could be comfortable in.. a place where no one knew her or her past. After much traveling she found herself in the port city of The Crossing and looked about at all the diversity in appearance and culture. Perhaps here... Only a few weeks after joining the barbarian guild (it was the most natural choice of professions) she was almost killed by a herd of musk hogs. Battered and bleeding she lay in the dirt, trampled over and over again and feeling too weak to stand. Suddenly, from the shadows came a the shocking tingle of magical energy as bolts of fire and light blasted into the herd, shredding every last hog before her eyes. As he finally stepped out into the light to help her up, he smiled and offered his assistance in her training. She had to admit to a feeling of gratitude and respect for this unexpected savior and somewhat reluctantly agreed.

In time he worked his way past her walls of defense and the couple were engaged to be married. He'd even convinced her that someday she would bear his children. He seemed to enjoy her odd appearance, calling her exotic and beautiful.. words she'd never heard growing up. But alas, not all was as it appeared and trouble arose. The man she'd grown to feel love for had weaknesses of his own.. the worst two being a penchant for other women and a fretfulness of other's opinions. The first one could be forgiven.. once. The second however finally lead him to abandon the one he claimed to love. This desertion came shortly after he'd implored her to join an Order with him.. which soon gave Drex a purpose when all else had failed.

To this day, Drexella remains seemingly cold and aloft.. spurning all sign of affection save from one person.. the brave soul that had ventured forth from his warm bed one cold, snow-filled night to rescue a small girl from the streets and give her a sense of belonging.

Last Revised: 04/30/04