Our ranger companion Wynlynn remains a little mysterious to me. She has flowing white hair, tied back in ornate braids that show off her fine facial features, basically the sort of ethereal beauty that one expects of a high elf. Her deep green eyes have a liquid quality that reminds me of a vernal pool from which something surprising could emerge at any moment. She moves with a speed and grace that make me look like a bumbling cow by comparison – nothing new there.
Val is a bold, brave fighter with beautiful black tresses that are perpetually spilling half over her face, in contrast to Wynlynn’s neat, strictly braided style. The pair are a sort of yin and yang, black and white, loud and quiet, rough and smooth — but both quite lethal. In combat, Val is a dangerous dancer, moving with the fluid grace of her elven ancestors and a slashing fury that’s both terrifying and exciting to behold. Her eyes are oddly light in color, which makes her face quite arresting, and she has odd ridges along her forehead, usually covered by her unruly hair. It suggests some other inheritance that I can’t quite guess, as does her hot-headed approach to pretty much everything.
Wynlynn and Val showed up at The Glade together, presumably traveling companions, which is nothing unusual for adventurers. Val is the brash, showy one, while Wynlynn always follows a pace behind, watching Val with a silent intensity that’s easy to initially brush off as a bond of sisterhood or servitude. But there is clearly something else between them, some shared history beyond a convenient travel arrangement, and whatever is behind them is not entirely in the past. Seems there’s something they aren’t revealing, but that’s their business, and I’m certain they’re not the only ones keeping quiet about something.
Wynlynn only has eyes for Val: in a little over a year, she’s never so much as batted a lash at our comely paladin or the sweet youthful druid, nor spared a glance toward the ragged but exceedingly handsome cleric we picked up along the way. She seems quietly desperate to my eye, but I may not be reading her right. Her panic at the succubus’ theft of her companion would seem to confirm it, though. While I only saw Wynlynn cradling Val like a dwarf embraces gold, Agenar said he saw them kissing moments before, and there’s no reason to think the claim is fabricated.
Even so, I’ve never seen Wynlynn’s attentions reciprocated. Neither has Val shown any indication of interest in anyone else, so my guess is that Wynlynn’s unwavering attentions have been known to Val but unrequited, illicit kiss aside. How awkward for them, and yet it would explain much about how they interact.
Prior to the encounter with the succubus, the others didn’t seem to have noticed the tension between the elven gals. It’s been painfully obvious to me, since the guys in our company offer eye candy for pretty much every palate, mine included. And women who can’t spare a sidelong glance for such finely formed fellows are clearly cut from a different cloth.
Even a romance as star-crossed as theirs seems enviable at times, but only for a moment here and there. This band of comrades is the closest I’ve come to having a tribe since I was a wee one, so their complicated companionship is already a bit overwhelming.
UNOMAHA D&D 