The Elf
"He came from the North, over Oceanus, wearing those weird hats demons sometimes wear, though alot more 'clean'."
"I heard he had skin as pale as limestone, and features as fine as them fancy folk up at the Academy."
"He definitely had things covering his feet. Not from round here. Though he was walking through town like he owned the place."
Inspector-Hunter Djacq had been called for a theft from the newly made Hall of Memories - where some of the great prototypes of Gracetown were being stored. His ochre coloured eyes scan the building from, the outside as he listens to the spectators mull and talk about the rumours and appearance of the stranger who had brazenly robbed the Hall, letting them tell him the story before his own presence ruins the details with a low disinterest.
He lets his heavily burn-scarred hands dip into the paint pot at his hip, tracing a long series of circuits into the organic ground of Gracetown's living treehouse, watching as a massive oval of shimmering blue fans out to border the hall and keep those mulling out. Sweat creases behind his ears at the endeavour, though with a few breaths he is able to hide the magic drain, rolling back his shoulders and giving his long ears a carefree and apathetic twitch.
He steps through the barrier will closing it behind him as he moves to talk to the man who would one day have a title, but for now just watches and arranges the Hall for the community. Gracetown guards patrol inside the barrier at the behest of the Grandmother, but Djacq knows that they arrived much to late on the scene to be of help. Plus, the brazen act of the outsider means that this will be much more 'chase' than puzzle. The only thing Djacq needs from the reedy foliad who is nervously straightening his outfit is a description of the object taken.
"Every moment you stutter is a moment the thief has to hide or run. You have a city guard with a broken nose, you have a Hunter who just happened to be in the area, and you have a town that is easy to isolate. If you tell me what has been taken, I can tell you how I'm going to get it back." Djacq reflexively mirrors the nervous man before him, tugging at the lapels of his sleeveless tan over-coat, letting its heavy greshire weight tap the backs of the knees of his squat form. Running has never been a friend to Djacq and looking at the victim, Djacq sees alot of running in his future and is disgusted by the thought.
"I-I-I." The nervous man is useless, and Djacq gives him a few more moments of nervous stammering before he strides past him, a moving mass of hair and burn scars and greshire and determination. He gets inside the hall, barely giving the massive membrane a moment to unfurl before he zeroes in on a small-for-a-troll woman in purple robes and large reeding-specs.
"You, are you guest or worker?" He jabs a finger in the air at the woman, and almost joyful when she pulls herself straighter in afront.
"I am the one who delivered the artifacts from around Gracetown and Solaris, so decide what you will from that." The almost regal troll, with her well kept lush lichen shoulders and ornate tusk caps, pushes back, not giving a name, but then again Djacq does not need one for his hunt of the artifact and the thief attached to it.
"And what then, did the thief take?" He can see the hard indentation of the footwear on the floor beneath them slowly fading, knowing that this might help when he gets closer, but for the large of it, will just be a curiosity for the Hunter.
"He took the first seed. The preserved last seed in the batch of seeds that made the base of the trees that support Gracetown. The thing we would need if the city ever started to fall." The woman says with an air that makes Djacq feel that this seed while the most valuable thing in the exhibit, was not the thing this woman would have indicated to first given the same choice. It is, after all, just a seed.
Still, it is stolen, and Djacq is required by his position to lead the hunt for this foreign thief. Retrieving the object might be hard though, once the man realises how useless the seed is for trading on, and how normal the seed is without a mage's magic. He moves to the terminal and paints in a description of the pale thief, telling the guard to watch and be ready for a fight.
He heads towards the platform down to the forest floor, the Grandmother's guards on lockdown now and one side of the closing walls that will stop his prey from escaping - that is until he sees the heavy boots draped by their lacings over one of the bioluminescent vines stringing through the mid level canopy.
Djacq picks up pace, cursing in every dialect he knows, hearing the sounds of shock as a trader of robes is calling out in alarm for a guard, while a few paces on a tanner is trying to clean up a spilled staining liquor. When the path detours from the way out of the lift, the Inspector curves sharply, knowing of only two other ways down from the city.
His eyes scan, looking for signs of disturbance, but expecting none - with the elf stained 'accidently' brown, and wearing a robe over his obvious guise. He looks for signs of dripping or smearing first - knowing the man would need to get seriously wet in order to hide hair that vibrant - or a large and loud hat.
There's a hattery rimward of the tanner that is just out of sight, but both escapes are closer to the trader. Cursing his height, Djacq clumsily scales the side of one of the stalls (to the alarmed cries of its owner), trying to see from this new vantage point any moments of chaos, or people moving against the flow of the crowd.
He sees the man heading for the NookGlider station, and takes a moment to breathe before he throws his own chaos into the mix. "Hey you!" He shouts loudly, beginning to leap and jump from stall canopy to canopy, catching himself awkwardly with each leap but watching in delight as the once pale thief breaks cover, robe flying behind him as the more vibrant blue coat fans behind him. Djacq despite the mess he is making is faster, both in the knowing and in the dodging the crowds below that his prey has to fight through now, though the Inspector knows it will be tight, and hopes the sheer height of Gracetown gives the thief pause before he goes for the leap.
Djacq comes out ahead, spinning his path to make sure he keeps eyes on the blue coat with the shining yellow all over it. Definitely a strange outfit for a strange... the hood comes back and the inspector is gaze to gaze with a stunned young woman. A stunned young Foliad woman. Not his prey but wearing his coat.
He hears a comotion to his left and sees the other escape - a man using magic to hang himself over the edge of the town to work on the garden is now sitting with a man standing crouched in his lap. With a flash of something sharp, one side of the swing comes loose and the pale man - splattered with tanners liquor, is dropping, all hope on whether the Gardener can work his magic in time but thief and treasure lost to the forest below.
The Inspector sighs and rubs his elbows, bruised from the chase, and considers the mutual loss of them all - the thief with a useless price, the hall without its relic, and the Hunter without his prey. Still, the thief might think twice before committing taboo - though with the city holding his coat, Djacq doubts that.
"I heard he had skin as pale as limestone, and features as fine as them fancy folk up at the Academy."
"He definitely had things covering his feet. Not from round here. Though he was walking through town like he owned the place."
Inspector-Hunter Djacq had been called for a theft from the newly made Hall of Memories - where some of the great prototypes of Gracetown were being stored. His ochre coloured eyes scan the building from, the outside as he listens to the spectators mull and talk about the rumours and appearance of the stranger who had brazenly robbed the Hall, letting them tell him the story before his own presence ruins the details with a low disinterest.
He lets his heavily burn-scarred hands dip into the paint pot at his hip, tracing a long series of circuits into the organic ground of Gracetown's living treehouse, watching as a massive oval of shimmering blue fans out to border the hall and keep those mulling out. Sweat creases behind his ears at the endeavour, though with a few breaths he is able to hide the magic drain, rolling back his shoulders and giving his long ears a carefree and apathetic twitch.
He steps through the barrier will closing it behind him as he moves to talk to the man who would one day have a title, but for now just watches and arranges the Hall for the community. Gracetown guards patrol inside the barrier at the behest of the Grandmother, but Djacq knows that they arrived much to late on the scene to be of help. Plus, the brazen act of the outsider means that this will be much more 'chase' than puzzle. The only thing Djacq needs from the reedy foliad who is nervously straightening his outfit is a description of the object taken.
"Every moment you stutter is a moment the thief has to hide or run. You have a city guard with a broken nose, you have a Hunter who just happened to be in the area, and you have a town that is easy to isolate. If you tell me what has been taken, I can tell you how I'm going to get it back." Djacq reflexively mirrors the nervous man before him, tugging at the lapels of his sleeveless tan over-coat, letting its heavy greshire weight tap the backs of the knees of his squat form. Running has never been a friend to Djacq and looking at the victim, Djacq sees alot of running in his future and is disgusted by the thought.
"I-I-I." The nervous man is useless, and Djacq gives him a few more moments of nervous stammering before he strides past him, a moving mass of hair and burn scars and greshire and determination. He gets inside the hall, barely giving the massive membrane a moment to unfurl before he zeroes in on a small-for-a-troll woman in purple robes and large reeding-specs.
"You, are you guest or worker?" He jabs a finger in the air at the woman, and almost joyful when she pulls herself straighter in afront.
"I am the one who delivered the artifacts from around Gracetown and Solaris, so decide what you will from that." The almost regal troll, with her well kept lush lichen shoulders and ornate tusk caps, pushes back, not giving a name, but then again Djacq does not need one for his hunt of the artifact and the thief attached to it.
"And what then, did the thief take?" He can see the hard indentation of the footwear on the floor beneath them slowly fading, knowing that this might help when he gets closer, but for the large of it, will just be a curiosity for the Hunter.
"He took the first seed. The preserved last seed in the batch of seeds that made the base of the trees that support Gracetown. The thing we would need if the city ever started to fall." The woman says with an air that makes Djacq feel that this seed while the most valuable thing in the exhibit, was not the thing this woman would have indicated to first given the same choice. It is, after all, just a seed.
Still, it is stolen, and Djacq is required by his position to lead the hunt for this foreign thief. Retrieving the object might be hard though, once the man realises how useless the seed is for trading on, and how normal the seed is without a mage's magic. He moves to the terminal and paints in a description of the pale thief, telling the guard to watch and be ready for a fight.
He heads towards the platform down to the forest floor, the Grandmother's guards on lockdown now and one side of the closing walls that will stop his prey from escaping - that is until he sees the heavy boots draped by their lacings over one of the bioluminescent vines stringing through the mid level canopy.
Djacq picks up pace, cursing in every dialect he knows, hearing the sounds of shock as a trader of robes is calling out in alarm for a guard, while a few paces on a tanner is trying to clean up a spilled staining liquor. When the path detours from the way out of the lift, the Inspector curves sharply, knowing of only two other ways down from the city.
His eyes scan, looking for signs of disturbance, but expecting none - with the elf stained 'accidently' brown, and wearing a robe over his obvious guise. He looks for signs of dripping or smearing first - knowing the man would need to get seriously wet in order to hide hair that vibrant - or a large and loud hat.
There's a hattery rimward of the tanner that is just out of sight, but both escapes are closer to the trader. Cursing his height, Djacq clumsily scales the side of one of the stalls (to the alarmed cries of its owner), trying to see from this new vantage point any moments of chaos, or people moving against the flow of the crowd.
He sees the man heading for the NookGlider station, and takes a moment to breathe before he throws his own chaos into the mix. "Hey you!" He shouts loudly, beginning to leap and jump from stall canopy to canopy, catching himself awkwardly with each leap but watching in delight as the once pale thief breaks cover, robe flying behind him as the more vibrant blue coat fans behind him. Djacq despite the mess he is making is faster, both in the knowing and in the dodging the crowds below that his prey has to fight through now, though the Inspector knows it will be tight, and hopes the sheer height of Gracetown gives the thief pause before he goes for the leap.
Djacq comes out ahead, spinning his path to make sure he keeps eyes on the blue coat with the shining yellow all over it. Definitely a strange outfit for a strange... the hood comes back and the inspector is gaze to gaze with a stunned young woman. A stunned young Foliad woman. Not his prey but wearing his coat.
He hears a comotion to his left and sees the other escape - a man using magic to hang himself over the edge of the town to work on the garden is now sitting with a man standing crouched in his lap. With a flash of something sharp, one side of the swing comes loose and the pale man - splattered with tanners liquor, is dropping, all hope on whether the Gardener can work his magic in time but thief and treasure lost to the forest below.
The Inspector sighs and rubs his elbows, bruised from the chase, and considers the mutual loss of them all - the thief with a useless price, the hall without its relic, and the Hunter without his prey. Still, the thief might think twice before committing taboo - though with the city holding his coat, Djacq doubts that.
Summary
The retelling is about another strange being coming to Levis and the trouble breaching the taboo of thievery brings on all involved. This story is also meant to highlight how good the Hunters are and the positive effect of the Grandmother's guard.
In Art
The binding that has the myth has a lovely back to back picture of Inspector Djacq and the thief. Since the production of the myth, several pictures and fan-art have popped up on various places, often by younger women, often hand painted by the smitten to various quality.
Related Locations
Thank you for reading, feel free to give feedback.
This might be the article of you that I like most. The story was so interesting and good to follow. I would love to read more about the hunter. Hopefully, at a later point, he will catch his prey. Please continue this!