The vines hung heavy as she moved through the tangled grove. Birds called from above, signalling their calls to one another in sweet melodies. Trees swayed with the flight of their wings as a branch of a silver tree twisted to its side with a snap, cold and quick. The leaves fell as it bounced into place, the silver wood letting go of its many colourful children.
The gravel was soft under her feet, moss overgrowing the sharp rocks now worn in time. Her pale gray skin fell gently on every step as she moved quietly towards the monument. Before her was a large and torn stone. Carvings of old etched into its grand designs. Masonry of great lengths towards nearby, a ring of pillars of different sizes stood before a great opening. It was a temple of sorts, large and perhaps once very grand, now turned by time and fate to nothing more than ruins.
"I do wonder Lill" her voice was soft and hushed as her hand brushed the green stones "What this was used for, such a grand building."
At her side was a beast, a neck small and legs strong. Its fur mane large and wide as its torso settled with a saddle sat behind it. Its eyes were wide and bright, blue and hazel colours mixed with its black ouoils so seamlessly. This was a liantha. A known riding mammal of the Alene. Lill made a sofgt moan to its masters words, as if understanding them in its own way, a special connecting piece between the two.
"Do you think they used it for magic? Or perhaps rituals of some sort?" The master riders voice trailed in a hum as she continued into the ruins. Her steps still small and cautious of the rubble before her when the footsteps stopped to a voice behind her. "Alor Vei!" a young man called out "Careful!"
"I am just fine Renold" Alor Vei replied with a dissatisfied huff in her voice. "Must you always accompany me on auch meaningless travels?"
"If it is what his Majesty requests, then yes"
"Then try to make it lesser known your here Renold. or I shall tell him myself of your... Incompitence to obey" her voice dropped and a frown lined her gentle face. This made the other cease continuing the conversation immediately.
It wasn't Alor Vei disliked the boy, she did at some points enjoy his company. But she hated how he always had to follow her to every little point of existence in her eyes. All because some king said so. It was ridiculous to her. "And when we return, I ask you inform the king I am well enough on my own, is that understood?"
A nod came as she looked behind her to the boy. His face looking down to the ground in shame. His light curly hair tucked neatly behind his ears, each with a silver pead in them. "As you wish Alor Vei".
With a satisfied smile she turned back to the ruins. silent now as she climbed a fallen pillar. Standing around five and a half feet or so, she wasn't small but a pillar so bulky and rough did give her a struggle, even if a few feet tall her than her. At the top she could see a little more than before. The moss and overgrown life around had made it difficult to see everything but she could see enough bits and pieces to put the picture together.
Before her must of stood a grand temple, a capital of a people long ago. So old, it was forgotten in time and its name no longer carried in memory or writing they could understand. The pillars must of taken ages to build. Even with her kind having access to great measures of equipment it would still be a grand feat to make such marvelous columns and such a large building. But she had to assume the people who made such were a people of older technology. Tools crafted by hand and more people than they would need njow due to the lack of equipment to be shared. It must of taken years, or maybe decades to build it. Or, perhaps, even over a century. She had no idea how long as the etchings in the stones, if indeed a language, were not comprehensible to her kind. No matter how long she starred at them, tried to read them, it was all just lines and pictures to her. Nothing else.
"If only I could go in, I could find the meaning to this place" she whispered to herself.
"Would not be wise m'lady" Renold spoke up, having heard her whisper as he looked up to her from below on the ground. "You know the King has forbidden such travels to the gates of this structure. We have gone more than that."
It was true, the king of the land had indeed forbidden travel to the temple. It was a restricted are aonly few ever got access to. And even then, it was only to go so far in.
"But are you not curious? Of what's inside Renold?" She asked slowly beginning her descent to her collegues level. "What if there is an answer to everything inside? What if it has libraries of knowledge that could be of use? Not just to us but every one around?!"
Alor Vei was always curious, always wanting to learn more. But it seemed no one else shared her yearn for knowledge anymore. "Come on, just a peak? It wont hurt"
"My command is my command. It is well past return, we must go".
A sad and heartbroken she turned to the grand forest before the entrance of the ruins. "You are right, I do not wish to gain trouble with the king on your behalf. Lets go". she spoke quietly as she took the reigns of her liantha and mounted it gracefully. Her boots to the side as she offered Renold her hand.
The boy took it as she pulled him up, before stroking the great beasts mane twice to signal it to go. Within an instance it went off, its padded hooves hitting the gravel path with loud and pride full strides. The ride on the back however was smooth and calming as the wind kicked into Alor Vei's face. Her plum eyes on the surrounding trees as her steed led the way in memory. She kept her hair to her side, the long braids tucked into her robes as not to gather dust from the trail. "Look around Renold, tell me what do you see?" She asked.
Renold looked around. his eyes scanning the way before and behind them. "I see trees m'lady, and creatures in them" his answer was honest and true, that was what was there. "What do you see?".
"Life" she replied satisfied that he asked the question back. "In what you see as trees I see life. Grand Priloni dropping their leaves, the fertilizer of the ground" she pointed to the big and colourful leaves around them. "This gives life to the forest ground, and in return feeds the mother Rythan, who nurses her young for winter, to help gather the branches for a nest to keep them safe".
Above flew yellow and green birds, Rythan. A species native to the forests of Aleon. Renold could see the bird and its offspring, twigs of the Priloni trees in their black beaks. "I see that too" he replied to her message.
"Do you see the way the Baroln watchs them? In hopes to find its next meal?"
Below, hidden in the shrubs was a small weasle like creature. Eyes black like the night and fur white as snow. Its feet small and sharp as it followed the rythan pair. "If will find the nest, and take the berries the two have been storing. It will plant the seeds it drops to hide the evidence" Alor Vei smiled as she spoke, "This, is life. As the seed will grow and restart the cycle again".
Renold nodded. "Your wise Alor Vei, just as the people say".
"You are only as wise as your willingness to learn from the world around you" She said as she tapped her liantha to speed up. "Learn from the world Renold, it's the best teacher one can ever ask for"
"Greater than the priests and counsel?" He asked confused and curious. They were considered some of the wisest of their kind.
"Even greater than them, yes'
"Understood Alor Vei. Thank you". He would take it to heart to remember that, and she hoped he would never for get it.