Journal notes of Isendel J'ien

[jmh147]

'I gazed across the arena floor at my opponent. Her arrogance had brought us here. Words were exchanged and a challenge was made. I could not back down, not without losing honour. Neither would I, not to an isolent human. Her taunts from previous meetings ring in my ears. As Master Siolalas used to say, humans only understand power. It was time for me to show this human mine.
I snapped back to reality as the witness asked if I was ready. I nodded that I was, and the duel began. She stepped in quickly with a head butt that would have dropped me if I hadn't dodged it. She moves quick for a human. I saw her blade swing towards me seemly in slow motion. I raised my own blade, naturally falling into the form of parry but I was unprepared for the awesome strength behind her blow. Her sword smashed through my guard and bit deep into my shoulder.
The rest of the duel was a blur of blood and steel, I counted twice more her sword bitting into my flesh. Near the end I managed to land a grazing blow, before an upward swing took me off my feet and left me lying on the floor in a pool of blood. My last thoughts before darkness claimed me, "how could I have been defeated..?"

[jmh147]

'..my Master was accurate in his discription of the lesser races. I have based myself in the settlement of Hlint. Ramsackled buildings blight the town. They look like they had been hastely thrown together. Considering the haste that humans seem to approach most tasks, I doubt this assessment is far from the truth. The one redeeming feature of the town is the temple of Ilsare, but then I have never really had much time for the divine, a feeling Im sure is reciprocated..'

[jmh147]

'..a young Elf dandy in a red feathered cap, so far had been a simple trail to follow. Until Hlint. His trail has gone cold. Perhaps he has grown wise of me of perhaps something untoward has befallen him. Mother would be most displeased should I return with anything less than success..

[jmh147]

'..The long months of travel had taken their toll on my body. I have taken work from many of the locals of Hlint.  Their petty problems sicken me, dont they see that in but a century they will all be dust along with any hopes and dreams the may have? How can these short lived creatures hope to achieve anything of substance in the time they have? Is this what I have been reduced to? A common mercenary? One must survive but there must be a better way. I see my fellow Elves associating freely with the lesser races around them. How can they base themselves so? Many have been amongst the humans longer than I. How long before I discard my principles? Have I begun to already? I throw myself into the motions of the patterns. The forms, practiced for so long in the war room begin to take shape in the outside world. The feel of my blade slicing through flesh and bone. No amount of time spent dueling summoned creatures can prepare one for the thrill of a live combatant. The intensity in your opponents eyes and the sudden realisation as my blade slides home. I move through the forms flowing from one to another, faster and faster, smooth like water, I glide..'

[jmh147]

'..it was in Hlint that I met her. She was gathering components for some project she was working on and I naturally offered my services as a protector as she worked. While travelling, I watched her as she spoke. Her movements, as graceful as any of our folk, seemed ethereal, making the world around her clumsy by comparison. Perhaps it is because I am so far from my homeland and that I am longing for the familiar, perhaps it is something more. I feel the raging fires within myself soothed by her words of reason..'

[jmh147]

'...am I becoming faster or is the world around me slowing down? I do not feel different, and yet forms that seemed near impossible come to me in the heat of battle. Instinct? Or perhaps the decades of training are gaining a new awareness, now that they are put to practical use. All my fear, my rage, my hate, harden within me as I work the patterns, they shrink until my mind is pure. As I dance through the forms my blade sings and my soul sings with it. We are one...'

[jmh147]

'...she asked me if I enjoyed the rain. Her question confused me. How long has it been? Has my focus blinded me to the simple beauty of the world...'

'...I share with her as I have shared with no other except perhaps my Master. Her words are so different from the teachings of Siolalas. One must divide the world  into light and dark, order and chaos. Any compromise leads down a path of weakness that your foes will exploit. I know and understand this to my core being, and yet when she is near I feel my tenets melting. Is she my strength or weakness?...'