Holiday Event: Sintih

[Nymph]

Holiday Event Notice

This post was provided to you because you are participating in the holiday event. In this post, you will receive your gift whether you reply to this thread or not. You are welcome to reply to the post to react to your gift if it is a new thread, and it is encouraged; however, skill points will not be awarded for this thread. There will only be one post from Saoire. As a gift, everyone that participated will receive the same knowledges as provided. Sintih, you are receiving the following:

A Custom Painting by Tristan Venora and Summer Nights
A Red Velvet Cloak lined with Fur

Knowledges

• Saoire: The Holiday Woman
• Saoire: The Beauty of a Gift
• Saoire: Wear Variable Holiday Crowns
• Holiday Gift: From Tristan Venora

When she had picked up the gift, she had gotten a chuckle out of the explanation. Tristan had gone through great lengths to paint this portrait with a particularly unique partner. What had really sent her into a giggling fit was the fact that he had taken a rather well made cloak to wrap it up in, as if the painting was more important than the cloak itself. Which, in Tristan’s case, was probably very true. He was incredibly vain after all, but it suited him for a noble. She had left with the gift in hand to seek out its recipient in hopes that she would not have to be responsible for the artistic piece for too long.

She appeared before Sintih in the same fashion as she appeared before others - in an elusive and unseen fashion. Saoire has a habit of just appearing from behind something tall that might have hidden her form. Only the scent of juniper and warm spices hinted at her coming. When she stepped from behind her hiding place, a cool mist seemed to build up around her as if she were some ghost.

“Sintih, I have a gift for you. I certainly hope you enjoy it as it was tenderly made for you by a prestigious artist,” Saoire stated sweetly, unwrapping the painting for him. The packaging material was a red velvet, fur-lined cloak fit for nobility. “He sends this cloak and a letter for you as well.”

When he looked back up, he would only find a few flakes of snow and a bit of mist where Saoire had stood.

Dear Sintih,

The painting before you is a collaboration between me and Summer Nights. She is a very talented artist despite the fact that she has four legs and no hands. I hope that you will find a special place for it in your home and enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed making it. There will never be another painting like it again as I doubt that Summer Nights will agree to work for me a second time.

The cape may not be as creative a gift, but it will keep you warm during those cold Zi’da trials, and it will also make you look all noble and important. The ladies like men who look all noble and important. Besides, I needed something to wrap the painting with so that it won’t be damaged. It is a very valuable painting.

Yours,
Tristan Venora

[Sintih]

It was late, which meant dark this time of the arc. It was also cold, like always it seemed. With his cloak wrapped around him, Sin was heading back from the library to his home after having worked his way through some books to pass the time. While in thought, he almost didn't see the woman in front of him when she stepped out and into his path. The surprise was evident on Sin's face when he looked up at her. She seemed very much out of place in this cold weather, without thick winter clothes and her strange headwear. Her ghostly smile didn't match the sweet sound of her voice but Sin didn't feel threatened by her presence at all.

She unwrapped a red velvet, fur lined wrapping to present him with a carefully rolled up parchment. A gift from a prestigious artist? What was going on here. Sin raised his head to accept the red velvet wrapping which turned out to be a cloak and a letter as well. A letter for him? Maybe it would provide him with a proper explanation as to what was going on. He looked down at the envelope to nothing written on it that would explain things so he looked back up to ask the woman but found nothing but empty space in front of him. There was some mist starting up, though, so Sin pulled himself from the surprise and pulled his cloak back around him, painting and velvet cloak in his arms underneath. The walk home went uneventful.

When he got home, Sin hung his cloak up after closing the door. He placed the rolled up painting on the table, on top of a bunch of other notes, papers, scrolls and books. The cloak he hung over one of the many chairs. He grabbed the letter first and opened it. Where he would normally have gone straight down to the name of the writer, Sin's eyes got stuck on the first line and then the second. As the writer explained the painting, Sin got ever more curious and he kept reading. Who was this Summer Nights the person kept talking about? The cape was explained as well and Sin glanced away from the words to the red cloak before moving back to the text. When he finally got to the end of the letter he looked down to the signature and the name. The clicking of his tongue was involuntary as he saw the noble family name that it came from. A Venora? Why would he be sending gifts to Sintih?

Sin tossed the letter aside onto one of the chairs and picked up the painting, slowly unrolling it. According to the letter it was a one of a kind valuable painting but as Sin unrolled it fully, he could not be more disappointed. Where those animal paws? The things looked like little more than a child had gone wild without a paintbrush. He tried to turn the painting left and right to maybe find the right angle for this 'masterpiece' but couldn't see it no matter how he tried. He even let go on one end so it could fall upside down but nothing changed. Those were actually animal paws. The painting rolled itself up once he let go of one side and Sin tossed it on the bed. He gave another look towards the red cloak hanging over his chair before releasing a sigh.

Whoever thought this was funny obviously didn't know Sintih very well. Who even wore red? The color alone drew too much attention to it, let alone the velvet and fur lining that it was designed with. For now, he left the cloak where it was. Maybe one day he needed to provide a gift for someone who would like red velvet cloaks with fur linings. He picked the letter up once more and read over it again, trying to see if maybe he suddenly knew who it might have been from. Neither Heran nor anyone in his unit had penmanship like this and a Venora would never actually write him because he'd never met one. He also didn't want to meet one if he could help it. He put the letter back down and turned towards his bed, where the rolled up painting was lying.

He stepped over to it and opened it up, giving it another try to determine which part of it was valuable like the letter stated. He looked at it from all angles, trying to determine if it wasn't upside down or sideways somehow. He stretched his arms as far forward as he could, trying to see the whole thing but nothing changed his opinion. He turned it around to look at the empty back of it. Maybe there was something here? Sin held it up to what little light came in through from the moon but he couldn't see anything on it. Holding the empty back of the painting towards him for several trills, Sin tried to figure out the reason for this "gift". He gave up after a while and rolled the painting up inside out before putting it on the table with the rest of the scrap paper.