A Land Far Away

I'm going to use this to post Mia's work, backstory, and thoughts as she goes through her adventures.

Mia stood, staring at the small scrap of paper, the advertisement posted on the Trumpet bulletin board that she had liberated earlier that day. A grimace on her face as she looked around. The tavern having its own ominous name, just like it's location in the less than savory part of the city. The smell of salt and unwashed chamber pots filled the air. The threat of rain not enough for her to venture inside. The tavern looked weathered, not too much unlike all the buildings in the dock district, neglected and battered from the salt water of the ocean she had traveled upon to get here. The sign to the tavern was crooked hanging on by a single hinge threatening to fall off at any moment. She regretted her decision to come here already. Not just to this wretched part of town but to this city in general. She'd been here two days and had yet to see the City of Splendor as it was advertised to her.

But she needed this, the dismal amount of coin she had arrived with was already dried up, even if she had spent most of her time fretting over it and counting her coins trying to be as frugal as possible. She had never known how expensive it was to simply keep herself alive. Most of her coin had gone to the captain of the ship she'd traveled on, but that could not be helped, she needed to get as far away from home as possible and this was hopefully enough distance to give her a chance. The elven girl swallowed hard, her throat dry and her eyes watering as she bit forcefully on her bottom lip. Her hands shaking slightly with anxiety. Her book of elven poetry held firmly under her arm. The weight comforting as she looked around herself, and saw another place of employment, the whore house next door. No. She couldn't end up there, but the threat of the elements, hunger, and thirst would eventually send her there if she didn't kill herself first.



To be surrounded by humans. The sailors on the trip to Waterdeep had been a crude bunch no doubt these would be as well. Her anxiety rose. She needed to get this over with, to stride forth with the confidence her parents had instilled in her. She wiped her free forearm across her face and steadied herself. She could do this, she needed to do this. What was the alternative? The whorehouse or returning home? Home to him? No. Anything besides that. She'd kill herself first. She knew that. So instead, she cleared her throat, her feet a little shaky and less graceful than she had been taught, her movements more than a little jerky, she could hear her governess now, "No-No do it again Mialee, are you a flatfooted human or an elf? Hmmh,"

The voice was sharp and practiced and made her flinch a little, the words cutting into her. She wasn't a human. She was an Elf, and she could do this. Working up the courage she yanked open the door. Her heart beating rapidly in her chest as she ventured forth into the unknown. She had to start somewhere, she had to make it, sink or swim. It was time to swim.

Mia smiled, an honest to Seldarine real smile for the first time in what felt like forever. Her lips moving up and a laugh wiggling its way up her throat at his words. It felt foreign, all smiles and pleasantries faked for so long she was surprised she even remembered how to. She wasn't opposed to being happy, at least she liked to tell herself that. It had started out small, one day she would be happy, just not today. Today had turned into a week, a week into a month a month into a year and so forth until she hadn't imagined that she could be happy even if she tried. Yet, the smile had come so naturally it had surprised her. Nuro, surprised her. He wasn't all glib and bullshit and rainbows. He could be rude, snide, even a little crude when he didn't think anyone was listening. In fact, Nuro was not even always nice to her, a mix between complements and chastising. Maybe that's why she liked him? Sought out his company when she was feeling lonely and like the world was threatening to swallow her up?

She shook her head, blowing softly on her hot teacup as she sat in an overstuffed chair at the Unicorn tavern. She hadn't been able to afford such a luxury, but things had been changing in her life. For once it seemed like her life might actually work out. Even if she was still performing at the dockside tavern with the ominous name and less than savory crowd, the money was good. She was for once in her life in control of her own finances. She had been frugal, pinching each gold coin away into her elven purse with the promise of a better future. Her future, her choice.

She had even gone as far as taking up a room above the Copper Cup, it was one gold piece a night, for the unholy reason that it was a strip club downstairs. She would never admit this to anyone, she could hardly admit it to herself, but it had been the frugal choice. Her pissed off demeanor enough to keep the innkeeper from asking more than once if she wanted a job. Men like that usually didn't stop at once, never the humans, but he seemed to get the message with her dagger gaze and elven words slicing through the air like arrows in the wind.

Even though she was making money in the tavern, 400 gold in total she didn't dare spend it. So she squared it away, until finally the idea of staying in that inn soured her so much that she decided to take Nuro up on his offer. It wasn't the best of situations, but neither was living above a strip club. She was meeting people, she had fans now... The idea was weird to her, regulars coming to her poetry readings. People paying for her words. So the idea that someone might recognize her had been so ill in her mind that she had decided the sometimes-sour elf might have a point. Even if this meant that she needed to go into the rathills to practice. She had been taught the way of the bow before, a lesson or two on behest of her father, limited in training due to the unladylike fashion her mother had deemed it. She was to be a proper noble elf, one who married rich and did the finer crafts of elven women.

When she had deemed Nuro's offer offensive to the senses he had scolded her. "Taverns don't pay enough to live off of, not starting out" he had told her she wasn't too good for rats. She'd brushed him off harshly at first, who did this stranger think he was, kindred or not? But the Copper Cup was proof enough that he was right. So, she had decided to take him up on his offer of training her in archery. Something he was adapt at and willing to share with her. Even if she had mocked him for his target of plague-ridden rats. Located at the human wasteland they called a dump. Miles of trash piled higher than the tallest trees, the proof of human destruction upon the land.

So she had gone, he had been patient, kind, funny even, something that made her heart hurt in a way she couldn't describe, he wasn't above razzing her either. It had felt so familiar, but she hadn't been able to capture the thought of why until they had slayed more than 50 of the vile things and were heading back to town. Diseased corpses in tow to sell to the guard. She had made very little off the bodies, but the experience was much needed. The hills strewn with decomposing corpses of those humans who had foolishly met their ends. Bloated, maggot covered filth stripped of all their clothing and possessions by scavengers wearing the face of men. It had given her an idea for a short story. Something that she could create on her own, whether it would be good was up for grabs, but nevertheless she had felt satisfied, even if they were covered in sewage and reeking of death. She had done something, something new, she'd survived the ordeal and had connected with Nuro as if they were old friends. She liked this, even if he acted like a KnowItAll sometimes. There it was. Hiding so far in the back of her mind that she stopped in her tracks, her heart racing as Dorian flashed into the forefront of her mind and she felt a sudden need to cry. That's why she had been so drawn to Nuro. It was impossible not to see now. The flashy clothing, the smirk instead of a smile, the way he laughed, the way he boasted about having more fans than her yet still took her under his wing like it was natural. Their banter sliding into place like a missing puzzle piece. She had excused herself then, melting into the human tavern in the city center, uncorking a bottle of moonwine, her other bottle recently handed over to her new friend. She had almost chugged it. "Ladies do not drink like that, they sample the wine, whisk it so the aroma-" she cut out her governess' lecture instead searching the faces until she had found a kindred amongst the crowd. Vail she was called, the new meeting of another elf enough to help her bury Nuro from her mind and push Dorian back into his place, out of sight out of thought, the wine helping accomplish that.

And then came the Wizard, the ancient wrinkly human promising gold in exchange for the table's services. She was thankful for the quest and even more thankful for the promise of more gold to come. It helped her stop thinking of the past and instead focus on what laid ahead.