The clash of steel, laughter, the feeling of hands against him,
"Tis only a light jest, surely the great Hasslet is not as delicate as glass?"
The dull throb he feels at the back of his head,
A bright doorway, silver eyes stare back and a cruel smirk, beautiful, yay, but dark and fey.
The sound of birds chirping, of insects, a forest, one very much alive and then…Hasslet wakes up.
It is a struggle at first, trying to push back against the throbbing he feels at the back of his head.
As if waking up from a long dream, he finally opens his eyes. He is in a forest that is certain but besides that everything else is difficult to make out.
Tall trees block the skies and only allow a fleck of sunlight to illuminate the forest. Hasslet's first coherent thought is-
'Dull, tis so dull,' with great effort Hasslet tries to sit up, only to realize he is surrounded by foliage, covered in leaves, this could not be, was he discarded in a bush?
'Surely some sort of jest to put me in a bush.'
Once his thoughts have been gathered, he takes in the world around him once more, dreary and dark but, at least the forest is alive, he makes to stand up but quickly sits back down, his head, the dull pain, he reaches for it and feels warm liquid, blood.
He stares down at his hand, in disbelief, what could have done this?
A quiet sigh and slight movement drag him out of his thoughts and when he looks to his side, there lays a human, he was already quite certain this was not his realm, the human next to him all but confirms it.
Hasslet does nothing, not that he could if he wanted to, the situation was all so bizarre to him, lost in a foreign place with an injury and laying next to what was clearly a human girl, the Gods were most certainly not in his favor. If he were to be so bold to presume, he would surely think they would laugh at his misfortune. He could pinpoint the exact cause of all this, listening to Adair.
Upon closer inspection she was coloured similar to those of Adair and his folk.
Skin a rich russet brown, she was clothed in red embellished with gold, a beautiful dress though not one he thinks is suited for long walks in a forest.
Mayhaps this was some sort of cultural thing for humans, he would have to read more about this, fearing his knowledge to be more than a little outdated.
Once again his thoughts are halted as it becomes apparent that the human was leaving the realm of sleep. Hasslet's study of their language was sure to come in handy.
The faint rays of sunlight against Perryn's face forced her to wake up, lingering in the forest was not going to aid her in finding the town. She sits up and lets out a large yawn that seems to have triggered the sleeping beauty. A mixture of sound, somewhere between a snort and laugh makes Perryn instantly alert.
She turns quickly towards the Elf and sure enough, her sleeping beauty is wide awake, leaves and such sticking to his golden hair, it does little to deter his beauty.
They stare at each other for what felt like an eternity, like they had both been placed under an enchantment oblivious to the world around them.
Perryn decides to make the first move. She slowly begins reaching out to him and he snaps back into reality, like a spell broken.
He leans away from her and further into his leafy home, the look on his face can only be described as discomfort, clearly, Perryn had messed up somewhere, that or her little Elf friend was just like her, laying eyes on something foreign , something they never thought they would see.
Seeing his clear discomfort, Perryn begins to move away from him until he lets out a shout, truly the only way Perryn could describe the sound made, before she can make sense of what is going on, the Elf starts prancing about, twirling and bowing, he begins to sing in a language Perryn obviously was not familiar with.
She is once again enchanted, the birds above fly below and effortlessly sync with the Elf's song, chirping in all the right places, the forest creatures from birds and rabbits, to deer and foxes keep a safe distance as they watch the Elf continue his dance. The one-word Perryn had managed to grab, as it was repeated quite often, was "Hasslet".
With a final twirl and an over exaggerated bow, the wondrous melody comes to an end, Perryn could do nothing but stare, baffled really. She wants to believe that this encounter was a fever dream, alas, she has passed that phase, this was very much real.
The long silence between them is once again broken by her,
"I…didn't quite catch what was said, it was a lovely song nevertheless." There, an appropriate response, though she was not certain the Elf even understood her.
The Elf slowly blinks, a sudden realization and a slight frown-
"Forgive me fair lady, I speaketh my mother tongue when I meant to sing in the tongue of man," the Elf twirls once more and gets into a familiar position, "I shall sing once more in a tongue thou would be familiar with."
Before he could go any further Perryn points out the obvious,
"Are you aware you are bleeding? All that twirling and bowing cannot possibly be good for you."
The Elf blinks once more before he sways, he falls to the floor, a puppet whose strings have been cut. The trance is broken and the forest creatures scatter, no longer dazzled by the Elfs performance.
Perryn cautiously makes her way towards him, honestly from all she had read about Fae creatures she thought he would have been healed by now. The books she read constantly mentioned how superior they were when it came to magic.
She gently reaches out to him again, not to provide comfort and more to inspect him for further injuries, this time there is no discomfort present.
"Tis unlike me to behave in such a manner, if introductions are to be had, mine name is Hasslet."
Perryn was ready to do the same until she remembered those tales, being bound to a Fae once your name was given. She stares at him, skeptical of his intentions.
He did not seem like those wicked Fae she read about, then again, it was not unheard of to be deceived by such beauty.
As if sensing her thoughts, Hasslet argues back, "Tis not the way of us Elves to hold thy name in contract, my word I give to you."
After a moment of hesitation, Perryn sighed, "If that is so, you can call me Perryn."
He gave a soft smile at that, humans, they were all so peculiar to him.