Tender Kyss (open)

[Kender Bard]

Kyss snorted before erupting into laughter at that thought. "Oh, my!" She held her bowl carefully, having almost spilled it on her lap. "He must have been absolutely furious with you!"

[Devon]

Cye nods with a fond smile. "He was, he was. Ryo and Rowen had to stop him from chasing me down. Kento wouldn't admit it, but I know he thought it was funny later." Cye adjusts himself in his chair and finally starts to dig into the stew. "This is really good by the way. How did you become such a good cook?"

[Kender Bard]

"I'm surprised you liked it so well," Kyss admits. "One of the books I acquired was a cookbook. It was rather dry reading, as you can imagine, but when one has nothing much better to do." She shrugged. "I experimented and managed to fashion myself a few quaint meals. Nothing too elaborate. But when you learn to work with herbs, you learn more than just the medicine properties of them. For example, I added some barely to the stew. Which of your friends is generally the cook?"

[Devon]

"I do and sometimes Rowen helps me," Cye replies. Shaking his head, he mutters, "I'm not too good at it though. It's enough for us to get by, but it is nothing close to what you cooked here."

[Kender Bard]

"Thank you," Kyss murmured, looking at the floor as though it had suddenly caught her interest. "You speak of these other men.. You must have been very close to one another from the sound of things."

[Devon]

Cye nods, "Yup we're all the best of friends I'd say. " Shuffling in his seat he leans to the side lazily. "We all met when we were younger and ended up traveling around together. Yup the five us, Ryo, Sage, Rowen, Kento, and my self."

[Kender Bard]

Kyss finished her stew and set the bowl aside on the floor for collection later. She twisted around in her seat until her feet rest against the other arm rest, and she was leaning against the side of the chair. "How did you all meet?"

[Devon]

"At a temple, " he replied. "I used to live in Ronduin, but I left when the Clear war started and all ended up meeting outside of a Efil temple in Ilyamen."

[Kender Bard]

"That's coincidental," Kyss noted, but there was a faint strain in her voice now that the Clear War had been mentioned. She chose her words with utmost of care. "Why did you leave? Did you wish to be soldiers or seek the safety of Ilyamen?"

[Devon]

"We don't really talk about it that often, "Cye said. For the first time since Kyss had met him, she could notice a sad look in his eyes. "I'm sure we all left for our own reasons during the war. I left Ronduin because I had to."

[Kender Bard]

Kyss hugged her knees to her chest and studied Cye closely. "If you don't mind, I would like to ask why. But if it's too painful to speak of, I will not pry and we can talk about something else."

[Devon]

Cye continues, having no problem telling what happened. "At the time of the war Khelek was allied with Lacuna and my father was an Ice elemental, while my mother was a Water elemental. We all lived together in Ronduin and when the war broke out, people started suspecting him of being a spy. Ronduin is normally a nice place, but the war made everyone a little crazy. My father got into an argument with a couple of guys from the tavern and embarrassed them."

Cye pauses and looks down as he finishes. "That night they got a little drunk and decided to get back at my father from earlier. They broke into our home and attacked my dad. He tried to defend my mom and I, but there was an accident and both of my parents were killed. I was scared so I ran away at dawn."

[Kender Bard]

"Oh Cye," Kyss murmurs, at a loss of words. Nothing she can think of to say seems comforting enough, and nothing great enough to pardon her fellow Ice types for their atrocious mistake. She curls closer on herself in her chair as tears well in her eyes and drip from her eyelashes. Voice shaking, she said, "Jokull did more harm than he could ever imagine with his disastrous alliance."

[Devon]

Cye shakes his head, "It wasn't his fault. Not entirely. He may have made that alliance, but he didn't make those men in Ronduin paranoid. Thank you though, for your concern." Closing his eyes he covers his face with his hands. When he removes them, that hint of sadness in his eyes is replaced by his usual look.

"Sorry that was probably such a downer. Now we have to do something really silly so you can laugh. Maybe I could cook something, but that wouldn't make you laugh..you might get sick I am pretty bad at it."

[Kender Bard]

Kyss just shook her head. What she wanted to do was go to the man and hug him and beg his forgiveness for the foolish things her people had done in their paranoid, obsessive need for isolation. But she didn't know him well enough, and if she did, she wouldn't have had to.

"Perhaps it's time to turn in for the night," she suggested softly.