“So you have come to me about Aluin have you?” asks Celeste. She peers at you from under her gray hair. “Why are you interested in that young man, m’lord?” She asks as she straitens up from the poor orphan she was working on, to inspect you more closely.

“He interests me m’lady healer, that is all. He just interests me. Can you tell me more of him?” The young lord asks. The lord is not as finely dressed as some in Stonegate, but is not as poorly dressed as the orphans of the under street. He bears a sword at his side, and the glint of mail can be seen from beneath his cloak.

“You lords are always a curious bunch. But never here when we need you.” Celeste says accusingly. “What will you give me for this information? Huh? How will you help me here with the poor?” Celeste watches the young lord as she waits for him to answer.

The young lord shifts uncomfortably. “ I can send you some goods, and food, if that would suffice? Or perhaps gold?” The youth answers with a question.

Celeste nods. “Send your men for the items, and I will tell you the tale of Aluin.”

The young lord looks at one of his bodyguards and nods. The older man bows and heads towards the surface streets, while the other bodyguard continues to scan the area in a vigilant manner.

Celeste settled down on a box in the hallway, and arranged her robes around her. Some of the children came to sit and hear this tale. For this tale was almost a legend among the orphans.

Aluin, he has such a sad beginning. His mother died here you know. She was a lovely half elf, a daughter of a blacksmith here in the city. But the goblin wars changed much, and her with it. She was taken in a raid.

Her imprisonment was short, for they didn’t get far before fighters from the city beset them. But by then the damage had been done. They had her for 2 days. The orcs had ravaged her. The party of fighters that freed her were so disgusted that such a thing had occurred that they refused to even assist to bring her home.

She felt so ashamed of her situation she never went home. She came to me here in the under street. I cared for her, and she helped me care for the children here. When it came time for her child to be born, it was a very hard labor. She could not survive it.

Aluin became an orphan, and as such, I cared for him. He grew stronger then the other children here. He earned his name one day when one of the smaller children got lost and had wandered into the bat caves north of the city. He, as one of the oldest, went to find the child. He killed the troll that had cornered the little one, and brought her home. When she returned she started to call him Trollslayer. And since then all of the orphans called him that.

Now as he has gone out among the rest of Stonegate, he is making his way the best he can. He has a deep distrust of the noble houses. They did not help his mother when they could have. And most people have no use for his mix race. His blood gives him a roughness to his personality, and a paranoia that he will be done wrong by those who think they are of a fairer race. He has a distrust and hatred of his father’s blood.

He is very much a lone bear. He will protect those who need protecting, but when angered he is slow to cool.

“Take care young lord with Aluin. Do him wrong and you will have an enemy you will never be rid of. “ Celeste warns as the older bodyguard appears with the goods promised.

The young lord removes a small pouch from his belt, and hands it to Celeste. “Here m’lady, for your time, and information. He is indeed an interesting man.”

The young lord turns to leave, not noticing the large figure that has been watching the whole scene from the nearby shadows.

Once the young man has gone, Aluin steps out of the shadows to Celeste, “Thank you for sending a runner, Celeste. It is nice to know who is asking after me.” Before leaving Aluin gives Celeste a chaste kiss on her wrinkled cheek.

She smiles up at Aluin, “Take care my son. May the blessings of the Totems be with you.”