Thaelyn (lvl3)

He sat alone that night taking a table away from the from the loud drunks and tales spun by the adventurers who had come to Falcon’s Hallow in hopes of fame and fortune. It was the kind of night at the Sitting Duck that mimic’s every other night. A handful of patrons had just started a fresh game of knivesies and mig-a-mug-tug was in full swing on the other side. Had it been the kind of night that mimicked most of his own he would have been hustling some poor kid fresh off the boat in a game of cards, but this wasn’t one of those nights for him.

Thaelyn called for fifth tankard of dark wood leaf and opened the letter for the fourth time since he had came in. It was a late night call for him, but he had picked up Bailey from Andrea’s and tucked her in for the night. Making sure she was sound asleep he made his way to the Duck drown his sorrows and with any luck one more memory.

See, it wasn’t for lack of love for his daughter that Thaelyn found ways to spend so much time away as it was a love for the woman he buried beneath an old willow tree. When a man loses the one thing in this world that had completed him, the one thing that ever truly made him feel as if he was worth a damn he finds it impossible to let go. Bailey was so much like her mother that the child that filled his heart with joy also broke it every time he saw that smiling face. He couldn’t let go of what he had lost to appreciate what he had gained.

Turning the letter over once more silent tears began to roll down his cheeks and he lowered his head down to the table and closed his eyes.

“Sing Thaelyn.” he could hear in his head. Not his own inner workings, but her voice asking the same way she always had. That tender voice so filled with love.

It started as mumbles fighting through the silent sobs and slowly building until it could no longer be held in his chest. Thaelyn sat up and leaned back in his chair filling his lungs with the smoky air of the tavern he let out a haunting melody that slowly overtook it until all eyes and all ears were on him. As he continued a Bard who had been sitting at the bar contemplating his own ideals of love picked up his mandolin and began to play a haunting tune for this haunting song. It wasn’t long until “The Twins” a pair of local bards had joined in on their shawm and lyre. By now almost the entire bar had joined in, but Thaelyn continued oblivious to it all. His eyes closed, he was only thinking of the woman who wanted to hear him sing.

When he finished he laid his head back down on the table and slowly the tavern returned to their nightly revelry. Still Thaelyn only sat there and mumbled to himself until the bard who had played the mandolin walked over and placed his hand on Thaelyn’s shoulder. Raising his head halfway all he could see through the tears and the beer was the symbol of Sarenrae tattooed on his inner arm. Leaning down he slowly whispered something into his ear and with a smile returned to his stool at the bar.

Drying his eyes and wiping his face off Thaelyn dropped a couple silver coins on the table and staggered his way home. Quietly opening the door and moving his way through the house he went to his daughters room and looked in on her from the doorway. After a while had passed she rolled over in her bed and lazily opened her eyes to the figure at the door.

“Daddy?” she yawned.

“Yeah baby?” he smiled.

“What’s wrong?”

Thaelyn walked into the room and pulled the covers back up over her and then sat on the side of her bed. He closed his eyes and lifted his head towards the sky with a chuckle he thought of what seemed like Sarenrae had whispered in his ear.

“Nothings wrong, but how would you like it if your old man sang you a lullaby?”

Bailey inched closer to her Dad and curled her body under the covers around him and smiled, “I think I’d like that a lot.”