<div class="floatleft">(http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd461/rikk_319/Character%20Images/Viking_Warrior_by_severeene.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Aelfgar<br/><strong>Location:</strong>The Reach, just outside of Markarth<br/><strong>Time:</strong>Early evening, dusk.<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Drake, Iljana, Moric, open<br/><br/><br/>Aelfgar caught the arching brow of Drake; she'd done it a couple of times already and it brought an attractive expression to her already-attractive face.  Above those heavy lashes, the slim eyebrows made a most pleasant contrast...but that was what elves were known for--those angelic faces untouched by the typical diseases of humanity, and their limber, youthful bodies.  Aelfgar wondered then what her body looked like under her cleverly segmented armor--likely as lithe and toothsome as any elven maid he'd been lucky enough to see unclothed...though she was a warrior, and he was sure she sported some fine muscle as well.  She was certain to be a step above the softer, untrained elven women he'd bedded in his past.  And if his mind slipped to thoughts of more carnal delights, he had to be forgiven the roughness of his culture, which held such things as natural and unnecessary to hide behind civilized taboos, regardless of his steady and upright honor.  Yes, he was sure she'd be a delight untasted before by his heady palate.<br/><br/>"I've spent more time in the tales of our distant and less recent past, as my family is storied like yours, though likely not storied with as many years.  I do know of the Companions somewhat, but...being as solitary as I have been for most of my life, was uninterested in what they might offer...until now."  He mused on the words she'd spoken, then gazed out, as she had so briefly before, on the darkened horizon.  "Do you feel it in the air?"  It was more than his were-developed sense of smell.  "War is coming.  The two factions in my land are coming closer to breaching the gates of Death with oaths and deeds of blood.  Most of it I have no need or interest in...rulers rule from behind walls of stone, and pay little heed to the lives of the rest of us; I have small use for kings and lords upon the mountainsides of my homeland, where I walk alone and chieftain of my own life.  If the Companions harken to deeds of honor, though, that makes them a worthy and respectable fellowship to attain.  Such allies would be a boon to belong to in the coming dark days.  At the least, the glory to win in death would be greater under their banner."<br/><br/>He turned to Iljana and Moric.  "<em>One new companion an accident, two an act of the gods</em>, or so says our<em>Book of Exalted Deeds</em>."  He knew Iljana would be familiar with the phrase of Nordic religious text.  "What does that make three?  I've already had enough godly interference to sate a lifetime, but if we meet thus in a nondescript portion of Forsaken land, who is to say what more may come?  Let us make the quick distance to Markarth, and at the least lodge in relative safety within its walls.  I feel a fire and a tankard of ale is the least we all deserve tonight."