[Durelin]

The Great Krysello was quite amazed to find someone who seemed to enjoy his endless chatter, his uncanny way of telling an entire biography to all whom asked to know of his travels. He was sure they got too much more than they had asked for. This elf was sitting down at his table to hear his life-long tale. He hadn't expected an interest from anyone in the events of his life, most enjoyed the dramatically stretched fantastical adventures of long dead heroes of old, or completely fictitious ones.

"Well, I am always filled with joy when I have an eager audience," he said grinning, "I am more used to reluctant audiences when it comes to my idle talk of my trivial travels..." He stopped and stared for a moment, reminiscing, thinking of all the things that had happened to him or around him. Krysello was surprised to find how interesting those events actually were.

"Now," he continued, "where was I? Oh, yes, the lass, yes, well, I used to fancy this lass and I used to follow her around sometimes, trying to work up the courage to speak with her. You see, this was a very pretty lass, and of course all the lads saw that, and they were all normal lads, unlike me, trained with the sword and bow and fist fighting and wrestling with the others all the time. My father taught me a bit of swordsmanship, but after he began teaching me that, he decided not to bother with the bow and arrow. And, eventually, he stopped trying to train me with a blade, even before he died when I was twelve. After that, well, my mother wasn't going to bother finding someone to teach me weaponry, and she had always loved lore so. She wrote her own tales and songs and poetry sometimes, and she always encouraged me to sing. So, instead of slashing with a sword, I read books and wrote. Mother tutored me and I was considered 'soft', of course."

The Great Krysello paused for a moment as if catching his breath, then he chuckled under his breath and said, "A thousand apologies, m'lady, I rambled on a bit more than I should have, now I will get back to the lass..." He cleared his throat and continued once again, "One day, when I had finally plucked up the courage, I followed her from far behind and then, suddenly, she disappeared. Well, she seemed to. She had hid behind a large pile of snow, and in my naiv-ness, I did not realize it. She then pelted me with large pieces of ice like large stones. She had to be the best aim in the village because every one of those stones of ice hit me in the face. Needless to say, I didn't bother talking to this lass and found her a bit uglier than before."

"I ran home with welts all over my face, made very red and puffy by the cold. My mother also had an interest in the study of herbs and healing, so I felt that I was safe from any more pain. But, telling her the truth of how I received the welts -- as the honest young man that I was," Krysello stopped to grin mischievously. "Well, she was not happy for she said that I had been horribly rude to follow a lady like that, and for a punishment, she refused to care for my welts, saying they would heal, in time, on their own. That was a day that sticks out clearly in my mind. Welts are the nastiest, most treacherous, most hideous forms of injury come from the deepest, darkest, bloodiest and muddiest pits of the Forsaken Lands!" Exclaiming this in a loud, furious voice, the 'great' entertainer rose to his feet, then coming to his conclusion with a short, grunting "humph!" he sat down once again, staring at Pio.

Calmed once again, the blond Krysello continued, "When I turned 17, my mother died during the harsh winter of that year. With no one left, and a desire to escape the small, and in my mind, boring village, I left to travel the lands. Since I was a skilled sort of minstrel, I had dreams of travelling to the White City, working my way up to a bard, hoping to perform before the Steward. But, destiny led me to meet a strange old man, just outside the Old Forest, and found immediately that I absolutely loved him like a grandfather. So, when I discovered he was travelling southeast also, I was eager to travel with him, and was extremely excited to find that he would be happy to have my company. His name was Nevyn, and he appeared as an herbman, but as I traveled with him, I discovered that there was much more to him. I concluded that he was a magician, possibly even a wizard. When I revealed that I knew this, old Nevyn said, almost immediately, that I was worthy of studying the dweomer-craft. He said that it had to be fate that made us meet on such a empty path."

Once again, the Great Krysello cleared his throat and wet it with a swig of ale. "Now, I was completely taken aback by this, of course, but I was also bewildered in an excited sort of way. I had always dreamed of becoming like the sorcerers in the old tales, and finding that I could, I was dancing with glee. But, I also thought of the seriousness of this. This was a very complex craft and I had to be determined not to give up and not to treat it as a game. I promised myself this so that I could learn the vast knowledge of the wizarding world. I lived with Nevyn for six years, studying and studying lore, languages, and dweomer. Then, Nevyn told me that I had to learn on my own, that the ability to accomplish, achieve, and learn completely alone was an immeasurably important thing. So, I traveled off on my own, but not without a large number of books and notes, all given to me by the old wizard. With those and the dangers and challenges life and the land brings, I have learned much. Now, thirteen years later, I am a much more achieved minstrel, performer, man, loremaster -- actually more of a lore apprentice, I do not think I have reached the height of master -- and I have become much more of a magician, closer to a wizard, though still far away."

Another sip of ale, and Krysello was off again, "Oh! I have forgotten an important matter, what I did during the War of the Ring. Well, I though of becoming a soldier, for I felt a need to serve in this war since it was a war over Middle-earth. But, I had the calling of my services to become a healer. My path was to Gondor the entire time, so, when the great siege on Minas Tirith began, I was there to be a healer. I was mainly a healer to the women and children and those too old to fight, but when there were so many wounded, I helped there also. Then, I watched from a far distance as the true king received his throne and joined in on some celebrating. But, soon I left to wandering once again. Travelling from inn to inn, marketplace to marketplace, and sometimes performing at parties in people's homes. Besides that, nothing more has happened to me, until I found my way here and met a beautiful elfin maiden who would listen to my chatter."

Grinning broadly, the entertainer swigged down the last of his ale. "Actually, I recently have found -- after some significant digging -- prophecies from during the War of the Ring. They truly are interesting..." His mind wandering, Krysello stared idly at the tavern room wall, then snapped to attention. "Forgive me for engrossing my thoughts into the prophecies of the Lady of Light, I find that I stray into deep though at most untimely times. Well," he said taking a deep breath, slowing himself down. "How did you like my little tale? A bit confusing I'm sure, I haven't gotten all the details in order yet..."