CHALLENGE 3!
Prompt: Gold/silver bars.
This could be why he likes them, what he does with them or uses them for, or just Zevran sitting on a pile of bling. Let's set the time limit at 45 minutes.[/quote]
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(woo, I actually managed a submission!)
Oghren had told her the elf was polishing his silver bar. Knowing Oghren (and knowing Zevran), Asleena wasn’t entirely sure what she’d see when she circled around the tents with a slightly cautious tread. Zevran was indeed where the dwarf had indicated, sitting on a log in the sun with his long legs sprawled before him. In his hands was a slender bar of silver they’d found somewhere. She’d noticed him appraising the block of metal with more interest than he eyed jewels, blades or any leather that wasn’t of superior Antivan craftsmanship, and so offered it to him. He had seemed quite pleased. Since then, a number of ingots had come into his possession, some of gold and others silver like the first.
He was angling the bar carefully against the sunlight and squinting across the surface with his face close to the silver, but glanced over at her approach and smiled his languid smile.
“Grey Warden,” he said, the bar remaining in its curious position as he greeted her.
“Hello Zevran.” Asleena paused. She’d picked up some poison recipes she thought he could use, but the glinting silver distracted her. “Do you mind if I ask what you’re doing?”
The Antivan chuckled. “Admiring a work of art, my dear. But if you mean specifically, I was looking for imperfections in the metal. Some of the other you have been kind enough to give me have scratches and indents or were cast more crudely, but I think this one is the finest.”
“All this just to figure out which one is the best?”
“Oh no, no. Best is perhaps the wrong word. I like them all, but I would rather say that this bar pleases me the most.”
“Why do you like them so much, though?” she asked curiously. “Aesthetics?”
Zevran shrugged. “In part. Here, my Warden. Remove your gloves and then take the bar in your bare hands. Let your skin caress the metal like you would your lover’s skin, and then tell me what you feel.”
Asleena felt herself flush a little at his choice of words, but did as he said. The first thing she noticed was the cool temperature, although warmed where Zevran had been holding it, and of course its weight. With a glance at the elf’s grin and golden-brown eyes, she followed his instructions and ran her fingers across the surface, edges and corners.
It felt…smooth. Perfectly smooth. The lines that defined its shape were flawless, precise and so simple that she unconsciously retraced the outer edge two, three times without realising. It was, she thought, like finding a fabric with a pleasing weave that begged to be touched and stroked.
“Ah,” Zevran said, watching her closely. “You see? It is pleasing to touch as well as gaze upon, yes?”
“You don’t cuddle up with them at night, do you?” she asked with a grin as she handed it back, and he laughed.
“Alas, they prove to be quite uncomfortable bed-mates if you roll over them in the middle of the night.” He turned the ingot over in his hands, held it between his open palms and looked at it. “When I touch this smooth silver, Asleena I feel no marks, no scars, no history but the forge and the crucible. The ore could have been raw metal, impurities and all, or it could have been some noble’s expensive dinner service.” He flashed a grin. “I do not know, but it does not matter.”
“A new start?”
There seemed to be a breath of hesitation, but he nodded. “Perhaps that, yes. Maybe one day it will be melted down again into another handsome set of knives and forks, perhaps it will serve exactly the same purpose as it once did…but it will not be exactly as it was before. It will be interesting to see what becomes of it.”
She tilted her head a little, regarding him with new interest. “I agree,” she murmured.
Zevran smiled once more. “But come, my dear, you did not seek me out to discuss silver and gold, surely?”
“No,” she agreed, smiling, and pulled out the poison recipes she’d purchased.
Modifié par Shadow of Light Dragon, 12 août 2010 - 04:41 .
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Does one need to join to post? I'm EccentricSage on LJ as well. And is there art postings, or only text? I have so much catching up to do since I was gone.
I like the idea of your Warden giving Zev jewellery and then noticing he's not wearing any of it, heh. And Zev thinking of using his hoard to get custom pieces done for her is sweet.
