Orren woke gently as the first ray of the sun slipped over the eastern horizon, its unhindered warmth bathing his face. He often slept against a parapet upon the keep's roof, a habit he had made within his first few weeks in the Sodality. He had nothing against the cushion of a feather mattress - which was strange, but not uncomfortable in the least - but rather the entrapment he felt between four walls and a roof, wherein he could no longer hear or taste the night. The guild's watchmen no longer questioned it as they did their rounds.
The woodsman sniffed the air as he rose, keen for signs of danger, then stretched his back and limbs. Any lethargy left him immediately; his focus returned to him instantly. It was a trait he learned watching wolves as a child, how they were able to bound into action without pause, contrasting the drowsy weakness most of mankind possessed after slumber. It had saved the wolves' lives, and Orren's own, countless times, and was a necessary thing when living as an animal.
Satisfied that the morning held no immediate threat, Orren departed, moving toward the stairs that descended back into the keep.
"Good morning," Orren said to a sleepy watchman. His lessons in the common tongue were progressing, and he had learned much, but his speech still slurred and he growled more than spoke, and he sounded more a beast trying to speak than a man. Still, his tutor had told him that he must always practice, and so he practiced.
"Good morning," Orren said again to the watchman beside the first. And he said it again to a man he passed on the stairs. And again, to every person he saw, regardless of where they were, or what they were doing. He saw a woman emerge from a room across the keep's great hall, too far yet to discern her face, yet still he shouted to her. "Good morning!" He had to practice.
He greeted several other people on his way down to the second story before he found who he was looking for. Orren's tutor, Evelyn, was in her usual place, already accompanied by another familiar dragonslayer known as Rhoo.
"Good morning, Rhoo," Orren said as he approached the two, smiling at the young woman. He liked her name - it was easy to remember and easy to say.
He quickly turned to Evelyn. Her name, however, was not easy to remember, or easy to say. But Orren had finally been able to memorize it after several months, and he was practiced in speaking it.
"Good morning," Orren started, smiling in turn at Evelyn. Then he stopped, eyes widening as if forgetting something. He stepped back, making a short and mocking bow. "Little master." He grinned at his tutor with sharp teeth and gleaming eyes.
@Absolute Grace@xxrhoo