Day 5 - Alienage for @cityelfweek
- The only home many city elves ever know.
>Post Tabris origin scene<
The dawn had barely made a break of the horizon when the alienage began to wake. The lazy watch stumbled through their version of a patrol, the nightly curfew at an end. (Not that it stopped whom the lord wanted, just the innocent scared of what the humans might do to them and theirs.)
The first to stir were the hawkers, workers gathered, booths propped up, baskets and crates of goods set out. Next came the errand kids, their mothers at home stoking the hearths. Coin and trades swapped hands, bread and eggs for a coin, apples for a “found” silver knife.
Chatter begins. News from the night prior making its way through the people. Ears prick up, eyes cast wary glances.
‘Trouble up at the Keep’
‘Someone did what? Couldn’t have been an elf.’
“This better not bring those guards back here. Stirring up trouble.’
‘Mamae, I want a honey roll!’
'Hush child!’
The sun continues to rise, more people come out, news continues to spread. Cicadas scream as the heat swells and the din of the market picks up to a fever pitch. Guards patrol, no more than usual, yet. The elves of the alienage are apprehensive, waiting for the angry shouts, the unjust punishments to be doled out. Even the cut purses seem leery. But it is yet to come, almost normal.
If the patrols notice the ‘knife-ears’ acting especially cautious, they turn a blind eye. There’s ale and cards to get back too.
Whispers of a Grey Warden add further fuel to the gossip as the sun begins to set. The wariness of the day sends the shops into early closure, more goods then coins in their coffers. The errand child called home before the lamps were even lit.
A crier shuffles hastily to the announcement board, stained parchment and hammer under arm. The lamp lighters spare him a curious glance, then continue with their nightly work.
Hammer falls against creaking boards disturb the dusk, shutters cracking open to watch, wait. He stops, nodding at the notice posted, then shuffles back out. The alienage gate slamming shut, loud as a thunder clamp.
[ NOTICE: DENERIM ALIENAGE TO BE KEPT BARRED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!]