Nevendaar The Vast Chapter I - The Crossroad City
The Crossroad City, Town Hall
'Twas quite a mess that raged within the confines of an unnamed city's town hall. Scribes, scholars and secretaries scurried this way and that, carrying various papers, letters and documents with themselves in a rush to prepare for a grand event. Among all this chaos, as dozens of shuffling feet passed by one another and tapped along the wooden floor, all but one seemed rather excited. In the following week, the council members would arrive and claim leadership of the city. It was an optimistic week, if anything, though, there was one elf among the menagerie of attentive scholars that welcomed the change more calmly, even slightly warily.
Drussilla'an was never quite a normal elf. It took only one moment for any man to see that, for none of her kin shared the light violet hue of her skin, and only the eldest of her kind had locks of steel and silver as she did. She was not old, however, nor was she too tired to join in the excitement. Since the days of the wars, this once exuberant and gentle creature had grown distant and cold, looking through a black lens at most of what transpired on Nevendaar. After so much death everywhere, truly, who would have expected it all to just end one day? As the first cousin to the queen Illumielle and a vocal advocate of peace during the times of war, when the elves would march to the west, she was chosen to deal with the administrative duties of the town, until the council was selected in full. And this week, she would step down to the position of advisor. She only had to wonder if any would heed her advice as her words fell on deaf ears only a handful of years before.
Drussilla'an stood from the chair she was sitting on and beheld the smooth, polished surface of the council's table. It was a humble piece, functional and lined with six chairs to fit its role. She had received letters with the names and history of the future council members, but she'd just barely forced herself to read them. No letter would have told her who these people are and she knew more than most that her queen had not always displayed the best judgment. Words she'd never speak in public, perhaps, if only to save herself the backlash and the crumbling of the already fragile relations with her cousin on the throne. She turned then, and took small, leisurely steps toward a rather ornate wooden door, its surface etched with floral patterns. She stepped through it and found herself on a small balcony overlooking the cobbled square below. She was glad to see it was busier than the day she first arrived, several months ago. Then she raised her eyes to the horizon. Her lips quirked upward somewhat as elven eyes could just barely make out a column of large dots in the distance. As they approached, they grew in detail, taking humanoid shapes.
"At last, they're here." the elf murmured to herself, raising her hands to her hips, if but for a moment, she too allowed herself a moment of optimism.