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Description
Julian emerged from the small stuffy room, his eyes stung and he was still seeing things. He glanced over to Megil, her body was engulfed in a blue aura just like his, he could see clearer the white cord of light that extended from each of their wrists and entwined together rising up into the roof. As she looked up her ears twitched and the white cords of light suddenly tightened closer together.
He tried to focus on it but his eyes were stinging and as he blinked the images slowly faded. Soon they were gone, he rubbed his eyes to get rid of the stinging as Megil came over. He felt Noldo’s hand on his back.
“Don’t worry it’ll stop soon… Megil my dear, Julian is now an official guest, he’s now Kallo-Julian. He’ll be staying for a while, make sure he gets a place to sleep and is at home” Julian felt the irritation in his eyes fade and he looked at Megil as she bowed her head slightly in acceptance of his words.
“Yes Elder-Noldo, follow me Kallo-Julian” she turned to him and mentioned towards the door with her head before leading him out the doorway.
“Thank you Elder-Noldo” Noldo gave him a smile and waved as Julian hurried to catch up with Megil.

Outside Julian un-tethered Arauka from where he’d left her as Megil started leading Julian towards the bar they had passed on the way to see the Elder.
“Kallo-Julian, can I ask you something?” Julian looked at her, surprised by the sudden formalities she was showing.
“Come on, you can call me Julian, and sure you can.” Megil looked at him for a moment before nodding.
“Ok Julian, you told me your father gave you that armor and sword, yet Noldo said you lost him when you were ten?” Julian looked away, as if focusing on something a long way away. He was silent for a moment before answering.
“My dad died in this armor, while defending my home town with this sword, they are family heirlooms, dad used to tell me about how he got it from my grandfather, and he from his father and so on… He told me about how much he was looking forward to teaching me to use it with the armor to protect people… that was before the Mori-Mongers came, I lived in Krystall the first town hit by a Mori-Monger horde.” Julian continued staring into the distance he could still hear the sounds of battle, once again he could heard his fathers cries for them to flee. He was brought back to reality by Megil.
“If he died in Krystall, how did you get those off him?” Julian turned and looked at her.
“I had to get them from him… it’s a long story perhaps I could tell you later? But what of this new name? ‘Kallo’, what does it mean?” Megil watched him for a while before nodding her head as if accepting to hear the tale later.
“Kallo is the term given to honored guests, it means you are no longer an outsider but as much a part of this tribe as a human can be.” She answered with a small smile as if to assure him it was a good thing.
“I see, so does that mean I still have to refer to everyone by their proper titles?” Megil thought for a moment before answering.
“Well yes and no, your technically part of the tribe and thus are equal to most, so you can refer to others by their true names, but it is considered ill mannered to do so without their permission, and given certain… animosities between some of our people it’s best you use peoples titles unless given permission to do otherwise.” Julian nodded his head in understanding.
“I see… does this mean I may call you by your name now?” Julian looked at her hopefully, Megil returned his gaze before letting a small smile cross her face.
“Very well, you may call me Megil” Julian grinned.
“Thank you Megil” Megil glanced at him as he said her name, he much preferred the way her name rolled of his tongue without it’s prefix, the look on her face said she preferred it too but she quickly hid it and turned into the bar, apparently it was also an inn where he could get a bed for the night, he once more tethered Arauka outside as there didn’t seem to be any sort of stable around anywhere.

“How does the inn make any money? I thought you didn’t usually let outsiders in these walls?” Julian looked around the inn, it was relatively simple, a few wooden tables and chairs seated several Nephil, all of which turned to look at him as he entered, one he recognized as ‘Fitz’ the doorman, obviously no longer on duty.
“It’s not like one of your taverns, the only money it makes is from selling ale, the rooms are for guests and visitors from other tribes, it’s free to stay as long as you keep after yourself.” As she spoke she lead Julian to the bar where a small female Nephil with small wisps of gray through her hair and on the tips of her ears was just finishing wiping away a spill.
“Megil, how are you dear, who’s this? My not often we get humans here… in fact last human had to be three decades ago, before your time dear child…” The Nephil had the eyes of someone who had seen a lot in her time, she watched the two of them intently.
“Julian this is Naru-Helena, Naru-Helena this is Kallo-Julian” Megil motioned towards Julian with her hand, Helena looked him up and down, sizing him up before speaking once more.
“Julian eh? Well I suppose you need a place to stay while you’re here, you’re welcome to a bedroom upstairs but you have to take care of it yourself, and I want it to be clean when you leave too” Julian noticed she hadn’t bothered with the ‘Kallo’ part of his name, which meant she was either rude or higher up the ladder than he was, he assumed the latter.
“Thank you Naru-Helena, I also have a horse I’ve tied up outside, I didn’t see a stable anywhere, will that be a problem?” Julian pointed back outside with his thumb as he spoke but Helena just shook her head.
“Don’t worry about that I’m sure it will be fine, but you’ll have to take care of it, I don’t know where I’ll get any sort of food for it.” Julian smiled, something about this Helena agreed with him, despite her complaining she seemed nice.
“Don’t worry I have my own feed, should I just bring my gear in now?” Helena just raised an eyebrow at him like he just asked a silly question.
“No I need time to purify the room so your gear doesn’t taint it’s holy soil… of course you can, I’m not going to make you leave it out there to rust” She shooed him out to retrieve his gear shaking her head at his supposed foolishness. Although it was a reasonable question given she owned the establishment Julian felt his ears burn slightly at her scolding.
As he removed his leggings and helmet from Arauka’s back, as well as her saddle and pack, it dawned on him that it was probably just her way of letting him know he was welcome to treat her house as his own. As he finished unstrapping his gear from Arauka he hear a collective cheer from inside, he lugged his heavy equipment back inside and noticed Helena appeared to be getting ready to serve lunch, his stomach growled in protestation for it would rather sit down and eat than carry his burden up the stairway into one of the rooms. He licked his lips but took his gear up the stairs anyway, he could eat after seeing to his equipment.
On the second floor he found a hallway with four rooms, each one had little hooks screwed into them, obviously for hanging some kind of sign, one of these doorways was holding such a sign, it was a simple flat piece of wood with two holes drilled through to which the hooks clung, carved into this wood was a simple circle, Julian assumed this meant the room was occupied. He chose the first room on the right, it was simply furnished but Julian never cared for extravagant sleeping arrangements, countless nights sleeping on the ground had made him accustomed to simplicity, it also meant he no longer found a comfortable nights rest on a bed that was too soft, fortunately for him the bed was old, it’s straw packed tightly giving a firm feel. It was perfect, not too soft but not as hard as the ground meaning he’d find it extremely comfortable while still getting a firm enough support to get a good nights sleep. He didn’t have anywhere specific to store his gear so he unceremoniously dumped it in the corner.
He had a strong urge to charge back down the stairs to get some food but exercised some restraint and stopped to remove his arm guards and chest plate, it felt good to remove the restricting armor, outside in the forests he felt naked and exposed without it but here he was comfortable enough to go without it, his sword however remained at his waste, even when sleeping he kept it right next to him, he found comfort in it’s song when the drew it even in the darkest night.
Dressed now in a plain white tunic and brown leggings he made his way back downstairs. Megil was already seated, at the same table as he doorman ‘fitz’, as he came down the stairway she waved him over, Helena was busy serving out some sort of stew, it was obviously a favorite amongst the patrons for everyone seemed to purchasing a bowl and devouring it hungrily. There was already a bowl waiting for him next to Megil. He sat down and carefully and deliberatly took a spoonful and took it into his mouth, it was absolutely delicious, in fact it was the best stew he’d eaten in a long time… he’d never been that good a cook.
“Wow this is fantastic” he found himself exclaiming, Megil and Fitz both grinned at him amused by his response.
“Helena has been cooking for a long time, she says she was perfecting the use of herbs and spices long before we knew what food was.” Megil said seeing to her own bowl of steaming stew.
“But where are my mannors, I haven’t properly introduced you… this is Poldora-Fitz. Fitz this is Kallo-Julian” Megil motioned towards each of them as she spoke their names with her spoon Julian looked at fitz dubiously but most his earlier suspicions seemed to have vanished.
“If Elder-Noldo thinks your good enough to stay then that’s enough for me, greetings to you Kallo-Julian” He extended his hand and Julian and Julian grinned before they clasped wrists like old friends.
“Greetings to you Poldora-Fitz, and please call me Julian, Kallo-Julian just seems to… formal” Julian was about to say ‘awkward’ but he didn’t want to seem like he didn’t appreciate being an honored guest.
“And you may call me fitz… IF you can beat my in the combat circle…” Fitz let out a deep burst of laughter as Julian grinned, he found himself liking this large Nephil warrior.
“don’t worry about that, it’s a condition he sets for everyone, few people actually get to call him Fitz” Megil interjected after scooping up the last of her stew.
“You being one of them…” Julian replied pointedly.
“Ah that was a fluke, beginners luck, she wasn’t even an Adu back then…” Fitz protested loudly but with a grin on his face regardless.
“Yeah, I hooked a rope around his feet and he fell out of the circle… still he knows I can beat him now anyway” Fitz looked ready to object again but stopped before nodding his head in acceptance. Julian chuckled, obviously amused at their relationship, they must have been friends since childhood.
“I’ll have to take you up on your challenge sometime Poldora-Fitz” This sparked a huge grin from Fitz.
“Excellent, why not right away, once you finish your stew the battle circle always gives priority to challenges… unless of course you’d rather let your stomach settle first?” Julian looked down at his bowl, there was one last chunk of meat swimming in a small puddle of broth as it’s bottom, he tilted the bowl forward and scooped it up, quickly finishing his bowl.
“Not at all, lets get started…”

Description
Julian emerged from the small stuffy room, his eyes stung and he was still seeing things. He glanced over to Megil, her body was engulfed in a blue aura just like his, he could see clearer the white cord of light that extended from each of their wrists and entwined together rising up into the roof. As she looked up her ears twitched and the white cords of light suddenly tightened closer together.
He tried to focus on it but his eyes were stinging and as he blinked the images slowly faded. Soon they were gone, he rubbed his eyes to get rid of the stinging as Megil came over. He felt Noldo’s hand on his back.
“Don’t worry it’ll stop soon… Megil my dear, Julian is now an official guest, he’s now Kallo-Julian. He’ll be staying for a while, make sure he gets a place to sleep and is at home” Julian felt the irritation in his eyes fade and he looked at Megil as she bowed her head slightly in acceptance of his words.
“Yes Elder-Noldo, follow me Kallo-Julian” she turned to him and mentioned towards the door with her head before leading him out the doorway.
“Thank you Elder-Noldo” Noldo gave him a smile and waved as Julian hurried to catch up with Megil.

Outside Julian un-tethered Arauka from where he’d left her as Megil started leading Julian towards the bar they had passed on the way to see the Elder.
“Kallo-Julian, can I ask you something?” Julian looked at her, surprised by the sudden formalities she was showing.
“Come on, you can call me Julian, and sure you can.” Megil looked at him for a moment before nodding.
“Ok Julian, you told me your father gave you that armor and sword, yet Noldo said you lost him when you were ten?” Julian looked away, as if focusing on something a long way away. He was silent for a moment before answering.
“My dad died in this armor, while defending my home town with this sword, they are family heirlooms, dad used to tell me about how he got it from my grandfather, and he from his father and so on… He told me about how much he was looking forward to teaching me to use it with the armor to protect people… that was before the Mori-Mongers came, I lived in Krystall the first town hit by a Mori-Monger horde.” Julian continued staring into the distance he could still hear the sounds of battle, once again he could heard his fathers cries for them to flee. He was brought back to reality by Megil.
“If he died in Krystall, how did you get those off him?” Julian turned and looked at her.
“I had to get them from him… it’s a long story perhaps I could tell you later? But what of this new name? ‘Kallo’, what does it mean?” Megil watched him for a while before nodding her head as if accepting to hear the tale later.
“Kallo is the term given to honored guests, it means you are no longer an outsider but as much a part of this tribe as a human can be.” She answered with a small smile as if to assure him it was a good thing.
“I see, so does that mean I still have to refer to everyone by their proper titles?” Megil thought for a moment before answering.
“Well yes and no, your technically part of the tribe and thus are equal to most, so you can refer to others by their true names, but it is considered ill mannered to do so without their permission, and given certain… animosities between some of our people it’s best you use peoples titles unless given permission to do otherwise.” Julian nodded his head in understanding.
“I see… does this mean I may call you by your name now?” Julian looked at her hopefully, Megil returned his gaze before letting a small smile cross her face.
“Very well, you may call me Megil” Julian grinned.
“Thank you Megil” Megil glanced at him as he said her name, he much preferred the way her name rolled of his tongue without it’s prefix, the look on her face said she preferred it too but she quickly hid it and turned into the bar, apparently it was also an inn where he could get a bed for the night, he once more tethered Arauka outside as there didn’t seem to be any sort of stable around anywhere.

“How does the inn make any money? I thought you didn’t usually let outsiders in these walls?” Julian looked around the inn, it was relatively simple, a few wooden tables and chairs seated several Nephil, all of which turned to look at him as he entered, one he recognized as ‘Fitz’ the doorman, obviously no longer on duty.
“It’s not like one of your taverns, the only money it makes is from selling ale, the rooms are for guests and visitors from other tribes, it’s free to stay as long as you keep after yourself.” As she spoke she lead Julian to the bar where a small female Nephil with small wisps of gray through her hair and on the tips of her ears was just finishing wiping away a spill.
“Megil, how are you dear, who’s this? My not often we get humans here… in fact last human had to be three decades ago, before your time dear child…” The Nephil had the eyes of someone who had seen a lot in her time, she watched the two of them intently.
“Julian this is Naru-Helena, Naru-Helena this is Kallo-Julian” Megil motioned towards Julian with her hand, Helena looked him up and down, sizing him up before speaking once more.
“Julian eh? Well I suppose you need a place to stay while you’re here, you’re welcome to a bedroom upstairs but you have to take care of it yourself, and I want it to be clean when you leave too” Julian noticed she hadn’t bothered with the ‘Kallo’ part of his name, which meant she was either rude or higher up the ladder than he was, he assumed the latter.
“Thank you Naru-Helena, I also have a horse I’ve tied up outside, I didn’t see a stable anywhere, will that be a problem?” Julian pointed back outside with his thumb as he spoke but Helena just shook her head.
“Don’t worry about that I’m sure it will be fine, but you’ll have to take care of it, I don’t know where I’ll get any sort of food for it.” Julian smiled, something about this Helena agreed with him, despite her complaining she seemed nice.
“Don’t worry I have my own feed, should I just bring my gear in now?” Helena just raised an eyebrow at him like he just asked a silly question.
“No I need time to purify the room so your gear doesn’t taint it’s holy soil… of course you can, I’m not going to make you leave it out there to rust” She shooed him out to retrieve his gear shaking her head at his supposed foolishness. Although it was a reasonable question given she owned the establishment Julian felt his ears burn slightly at her scolding.
As he removed his leggings and helmet from Arauka’s back, as well as her saddle and pack, it dawned on him that it was probably just her way of letting him know he was welcome to treat her house as his own. As he finished unstrapping his gear from Arauka he hear a collective cheer from inside, he lugged his heavy equipment back inside and noticed Helena appeared to be getting ready to serve lunch, his stomach growled in protestation for it would rather sit down and eat than carry his burden up the stairway into one of the rooms. He licked his lips but took his gear up the stairs anyway, he could eat after seeing to his equipment.
On the second floor he found a hallway with four rooms, each one had little hooks screwed into them, obviously for hanging some kind of sign, one of these doorways was holding such a sign, it was a simple flat piece of wood with two holes drilled through to which the hooks clung, carved into this wood was a simple circle, Julian assumed this meant the room was occupied. He chose the first room on the right, it was simply furnished but Julian never cared for extravagant sleeping arrangements, countless nights sleeping on the ground had made him accustomed to simplicity, it also meant he no longer found a comfortable nights rest on a bed that was too soft, fortunately for him the bed was old, it’s straw packed tightly giving a firm feel. It was perfect, not too soft but not as hard as the ground meaning he’d find it extremely comfortable while still getting a firm enough support to get a good nights sleep. He didn’t have anywhere specific to store his gear so he unceremoniously dumped it in the corner.
He had a strong urge to charge back down the stairs to get some food but exercised some restraint and stopped to remove his arm guards and chest plate, it felt good to remove the restricting armor, outside in the forests he felt naked and exposed without it but here he was comfortable enough to go without it, his sword however remained at his waste, even when sleeping he kept it right next to him, he found comfort in it’s song when the drew it even in the darkest night.
Dressed now in a plain white tunic and brown leggings he made his way back downstairs. Megil was already seated, at the same table as he doorman ‘fitz’, as he came down the stairway she waved him over, Helena was busy serving out some sort of stew, it was obviously a favorite amongst the patrons for everyone seemed to purchasing a bowl and devouring it hungrily. There was already a bowl waiting for him next to Megil. He sat down and carefully and deliberatly took a spoonful and took it into his mouth, it was absolutely delicious, in fact it was the best stew he’d eaten in a long time… he’d never been that good a cook.
“Wow this is fantastic” he found himself exclaiming, Megil and Fitz both grinned at him amused by his response.
“Helena has been cooking for a long time, she says she was perfecting the use of herbs and spices long before we knew what food was.” Megil said seeing to her own bowl of steaming stew.
“But where are my mannors, I haven’t properly introduced you… this is Poldora-Fitz. Fitz this is Kallo-Julian” Megil motioned towards each of them as she spoke their names with her spoon Julian looked at fitz dubiously but most his earlier suspicions seemed to have vanished.
“If Elder-Noldo thinks your good enough to stay then that’s enough for me, greetings to you Kallo-Julian” He extended his hand and Julian and Julian grinned before they clasped wrists like old friends.
“Greetings to you Poldora-Fitz, and please call me Julian, Kallo-Julian just seems to… formal” Julian was about to say ‘awkward’ but he didn’t want to seem like he didn’t appreciate being an honored guest.
“And you may call me fitz… IF you can beat my in the combat circle…” Fitz let out a deep burst of laughter as Julian grinned, he found himself liking this large Nephil warrior.
“don’t worry about that, it’s a condition he sets for everyone, few people actually get to call him Fitz” Megil interjected after scooping up the last of her stew.
“You being one of them…” Julian replied pointedly.
“Ah that was a fluke, beginners luck, she wasn’t even an Adu back then…” Fitz protested loudly but with a grin on his face regardless.
“Yeah, I hooked a rope around his feet and he fell out of the circle… still he knows I can beat him now anyway” Fitz looked ready to object again but stopped before nodding his head in acceptance. Julian chuckled, obviously amused at their relationship, they must have been friends since childhood.
“I’ll have to take you up on your challenge sometime Poldora-Fitz” This sparked a huge grin from Fitz.
“Excellent, why not right away, once you finish your stew the battle circle always gives priority to challenges… unless of course you’d rather let your stomach settle first?” Julian looked down at his bowl, there was one last chunk of meat swimming in a small puddle of broth as it’s bottom, he tilted the bowl forward and scooped it up, quickly finishing his bowl.
“Not at all, lets get started…”