#cityelfweek24

~ 5th of August - 11th of August ~

Here are some optional prompts for next week! Please feel free to do whatever you like with them. Remember to tag @cityelfweek or use the tag #cityelfweek24!

Day 1 - Vhenadahl

- A pillar of many alienage communities. Firewood in others.

Day 2 - Folklore and History

- Show the folklore that city elves have created over time. Superstitions, stories, heroes, villains... anything!

Day 3 - Community

- Close-knit family, or claustrophobic little box?

Day 4 - Customs and Traditions

- Andrastian? Dalish? Somewhere in between, or something all new?

Day 5 - Alienage

- The only home many city elves ever know.

Day 6 - OC

- A day to celebrate original city elf characters!

Day 7 - Free Day

- All things city elf!

Mi amor,

By the time this letter reaches you, if it reaches you at all, I will be far away.

I tire of shadows, yet I am more weary of danger, or to be more precise, the danger my presence puts others in. My time among the Dalish was short, and were it not for the intervention of another, may have ended with blood. Innocent blood, that is. There was no shortage of Crow blood to be had. Pray my time in Ansburg is peaceful.

The city’s elves have made me feel quite at home. The elder herself has given me shelter under her roof. Each morning I find children at my doorstep, coveting my attention like I am a hero worthy of their aspirations. I do not tell them what I truly am, though I suspect their elders know.

They live humbly here, but I think you would enjoy yourself— the Minanter flows more freely than your beloved Drakon, and we are far enough north that all manner of fruits and vegetables come through the city’s markets. True, I have not the coin to buy them, but what is the harm in relieving a merchant of a peach here and there?

I will beg the Maker for forgiveness later.

I once told you I considered myself lucky for an orphan, and in many ways that still holds true. I often wonder, however, what would have happened if I was trusted not to the brothel, but my people. I do not remember the Alienage in Antiva City, or, indeed, in Rialto. Would they have guarded me so closely there, as they do here? Would I have been safe? Would I have been happy?

Ah, but what use is there in wondering? You know poverty’s sting as well as I, mi amor. I might have been happy, yes, but I am happy now, knowing your warm embrace awaits me in cold Amaranthine.

Con cariño, Zevran

Day 5: Alienage

As the eldest Tabris cousin, it is Novhen's familial duty to show his younger cousin Shianni the ropes around Denerim, and in his rogueish mind, this obviously includes how to scam the city's human population. 2666 words.

"Come on, Astala!" Tehriel whispered. "You said you would do it!"

Astala Tabris peered over the edge of the roof the five of them were currently huddled on, straight into the vhenadahl's thick canopy. Her da had once told her that, because the roots of the vhenadahl were where the ashes of the dead were scattered, the vhenadahl was the collective soul of the Alienage. It was a huge tree; it held the ashes of countless people. Suddenly, even though she was one of the tallest girls in the Alienage, Astala felt very small, and not at all like she wanted to actually jump from this rooftop onto the vhenadahl. The feeling immediately clashed against the presence of Nessa, Tehriel, Doher and Elva, who crouched around her, and in front of whom she couldn't just back down. She'd been the one bragging!

"Tabris," Doher said, mocking concern in his voice, "don't tell me you are getting cold feet."

City Elf Appreciation Week will take place between the 5th of August and the 11th of August 2024!

Day 6: Original Characters

The week is soon coming to a close, so while i rush to finish what i can of the other two fics i hope to be able to post for this, i thought it'd be nice to bring back out Novhen's retelling of the city elf origin! Who doesn't love a wedding? 30,069 words.