CHAPTER 1 - INITIAL FINDINGS
Sympiny shivered and rubbed her arms. The bitter cold of the Shiverpeaks was something she hadn't planned for. She had taken a heavy cloak with her, but she hadn't thought it would get this frigid. Being an Asura, she's more used to the warm environment of the Tarnished Coast around Rata Sum.
But recently, her interests turned to Norn society. Never one to travel with a Krewe, Sympiny was an explorer and a curious spirit. She enjoyed seeing new places and exploring parts of the world. After finishing a recent study of Sylvari daily life and family, she moved forward with the next part of her quest to catalogue the major races of Tyria.
"Jeez, how do they live up here." Sympiny grumbled, breathing into her hands. A ball of fire filled them and warmed her a little. Part of her interest in exploring the world drew her to become an elementalist, skilled with fire and lightning magic.
Beneath the heavy white cloak, she wore a poofy indigo pants, trimmed in clean white. Her top was a thick, similarly indigo, vest with white edges. She wore an Asuran Magitech gauntlet on her right arm made of heavy bronze and set with large purple crystal at her elbow. It was clothing definitely not made for this frigid of weather.
Her skin was a grayish-white, very common for Asura, and she had dark gray markings across her forehead. Her ears were long and curled away from her head, almost touching her shoulders and like most Asura, they were prehensile enough that she could curl and move them. They were currently pressed tightly to the back of her head beneath the fur-lined white hood.
Blowing another fireball into her hands, she trudged on through the snowstorm. The thought had crossed her mind to stop and set up her tent to wait out the storm, but according to her map Hoelbrak, the Norn 'capital', was only a mile down the road. The blizzard was thick, but she figured she would be able to make it and that might've been a mistake. The foot deep snow was slow going. Sympiny was small for an Asura, her stature a miniscule three feet tall. This meant she was past her knees in snow, when the Norns of these parts might only be up to their ankles.
It took her nearly an hour to shove her way through the blowing snow and into the gates of Hoelbrak. The guards that stood at them were nine feet tall and they looked completely unphased by the snowstorm. Their sharp eyes acknowledged Sympiny as she pushed through and on down the road. Only a little distance down and she found a tavern. The sound of loud laughter and merrymaking came from the building and she walked up to the door.
She looked up and groaned. In the human and Sylvari lands, she could at least reach doorknobs and such, but here in the north, things were built for the eight to ten foot Norn. The doorknob was half-way up the ten foot door. Luckily enough, Asura were fairly agile and they could jump and climb quite nimbly. She leapt and grabbed the handle, pushing it open slightly before falling back down. Another shove and the door bounced open, letting in a rush of wind and a swirl of snowflakes.
Sympiny hurried inside and shoved the door closed, taking in the warmth of the tavern. A large fire built in a stone-lined pit burned brightly in the center of the room. She could feel it's warmth seeping into her frigid body even as far away as she was.
The tavern was huge, full of laughing, drunken Norns. Some sat around tables, others stood in groups around the fire. Every one of them had a drink in their hand. The Norn were an almost barbaric people, wearing the pelts of conquered beasts and wielding the largest and most dangerous weapons on Tyria. Many of them wore little more than pants or heavy kilts, showing muscled bare chests and a plethora of intricate and wild tattoos.
The female norns were no different. Their bodies were just as muscled, just as much skin showing, if not more. They weren't indecent, but they didn't cover themselves with much more than what the Asura would consider to be underwear. The Norn prided themselves on their resistance to cold and their powerful looking bodies. Tattoos were a way of life, many Norn recieved them as early as birth.
Sympiny walked through the crowd, completely unnoticed by the towering Norn around her. She found the bar and skillfully clambered up a stool to perch atop it's five-foot height.
"Oh wow! Don't see many of your kind in here." The woman behind the bar said in surprise when Sympiny sat up, "What'll you have little guy?"
"I'm a girl, thank you. I'll have some hot tea if you have it." Sympiny said, pulling back her snowy hood. Her sharp purple eyes looked down the bar and she brushed the flakes of snow from her shoulder-length dark, navy hair. She could feel her ears again and she twitched them about to try and warm them up more.
"Leave it to an Asura to come into the greatest Norn tavern ever and order tea. Sorry, hon we have brew, we have whiskey, we even have a few bottles of Sylvari wine! But, no tea." The barmaid laughed loudly.
"That's fine, just bring me some hot water." Sympiny said, pulling off her cloak. She tossed it over the stool next to her and pulled off the heavy pack that had been hidden beneath it. It carried her traveling gear as well as a number of things to help her study here in Hoelbrak. She had also packed a small box of some of the finest tea found in the Sylvari land, made from a mixture of tea and mint leaves. She pulled out the wood box and set the pack on top of her cloak.
"Here you go." The barmaid said, putting a mug and a steaming kettle up on the bar.
"Thanks." Sympiny sighed, looking at the mug that was as big as her head.
"Oh, sorry. Didn't think about that... uhh... kids mugs... here we go." The barmaid chuckled, pulling out a considerably smaller cup, one that Sympiny could actually use, "That'll be a copper."
"Here." Sympiny said, tossing one up on the counter.
"So you're an Asura. You know I've seen your people before, but never this far north. I'm impressed to see that you survived the blizzard out there. It's starting to get a little chilly out there." A large Norn woman said, sitting down on the stool opposite Sympiny's pack.
She had long white hair that flowed down her shoulders and her cold blue eyes looked over Sympiny. She set a long bow on the bar and took her quiver off her shoulder.
"If I had anticipated the blizzard, I would've brought better gear. The fur cloak is adequate for cold weather, but not for those kinds of winds. Luckily enough I'm good with fire magic." Sympiny said, sprinkling tea leaves in the mug.
"I'll get that for you." The Norn said, grabbing the kettle and filling her mug, "Hey Hlifa, bring me another beer would you?"
"Coming right up." The barmaid said.
"Thank you." Sympiny said, taking a drink of her tea once it had mixed in a bit.
"So what on Tyria would bring a little one like you up here?" The Norn asked as she watched Hlifa the barmaid pour her a rather large beer.
"You presume we Asura are incapable of simply traversing the world on an indiscriminate hypothosis." Sympiny observed, taking a sip. The hot tea soothed her cold body and warmed her from the inside out.
"I what?" The Norn said, confusion covering her face.
"What if I just felt like it?" Sympiny said flatly, groaning in the stupidity that surrounded her. The Norn were definitely not known for their smarts.
"I don't know." The Norn said, scratching her head.
"What's your name?" Sympiny asked.
"I'm Svala Swiftwing, ranger and guard of Hoelbrak." She said.
Sympiny glanced over her. The Norn woman was tall, like all Norns, and she wore little clothing. A thick bra made of black and gray leather and white fur wrapped around her chest. Below she wore a similar black leather and white fur panties, barely covering her pelvis and bottom. Her long, slender legs were covered by black leggings and heavy leather boots. Her back and sides were covered in intricate blue tattoos, making beautiful knots and beautiful patterns up her back and across her shoulders. It curled down beneath her bra and spread in a thin strip down to her crotch. Leaning back a bit further, Sympiny saw that the tattoos went down her back and beneath the other side of her bottoms.
"Enjoying my tattoos?" Svala asked, raising one of her white eyebrows, "I can show you in better detail if you want."
"No thanks. I'm Sympiny. I'm here to study the Norn, what your life and families are like." Sympiny said, shaking her head in a manner that made her ears flop about a little.
"Study the Norn? I thought you Asura knew everything. Every time I've talked to one of you, I can't understand what you're saying." Svala chuckled.
"We know your physiology and your combat styles. Your spirits and even the biology of your birth. But we don't know what your day to day lives are like. Call it a study of your culture." Sympiny said with a shrug.
"You know about Norn birth. What could possibly make you study that?" Svala laughed, "I wouldn't have pegged Asura as pervs!"
"It's not perverted. If we know how you are born, then we can increase our knowledge of your physiology. Thus we learn how we can better fight or heal your kind. There are many needs for such information." Sympiny said sharply.
"Uh-huh. Whatever." Svala shrugged, taking a long drink of beer.
"Look, can I get a room here? I want to get some sleep and when this blizard blows over, I want to talk to Knut Whitebear. I was told that he leads Hoelbrak." Sympiny said to Hlifa. She was getting tired of feeling her IQ drop while trying to explain her interest to this Norn. The Sylvari at least offered an intriguing view of the world and a very philsophical mentality.
"No, sorry. We don't offer rooms, just drinks. You're free to sleep on the floor or in a corner though. Enough people do." Hlifa said, pointing at a far corner.
"I'm likely to get stepped on." Sympiny grumbled.
"Come stay at my hut. You sure don't take up much space." Svala chuckled, ruffling Sympiny's hair with a large hand.
"Aaagh~! Damn it! Don't do that! I'm tired of being treated like I'm a toy!" Sympiny finally snapped, shoving Svala's hands away, "I understand that people can't build the whole world to suit those as small as Asura, but you don't have to treat us like children! I'm a grown woman of twenty-six with an IQ of a hundred and seventy-five!"
