Character Castle 2.0
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Isella
There was a roar that sent new thunderings through her brain. She blinked long. the water had helped, and so had the sleep, but she still felt weak and a little ill, and she was cold.
She looked in the direction of the noise.
There were two figures about as small as a child, and one the size of a man, but they looked nothing like the children or men Isella had seen. The shorter one was green, with large ears. It spoke with a voice that sounded young and cheerful, as any girl Isella had seen in Archendale might sound, but her looks!
Isella squinted. I’m delirious. She looked around the room. Everyone else saw them, too.
The man seemed more normal. His skin seemed tanned, and he wore almost no clothing, but otherwise–
In an instant he changed. He pushed the shorter one behind him, confirming Isella’s belief that it was younger than he was. First he vanished into a raven, flying around the cavern, darting at people. The women ducked, the men reached for their weapons.
Then he grew. Wings formed, and hair took over his skin, and with a snarl he was a wolf, fanged, winged, and terrible.
From the shadows a man started coming toward him. It was the man who had rescued Isella. His face was drawn and white, and he limped a little, but on he came, straight at the monster.
It leaped, and before he could discover where it was flying in the dark, it was on him. With one slash of it’s great paw, he stumbled back, bloody clawmarks etched in his shirt.
He’s hurt!
One other man–the one in the armor–began stalking toward the creature with a determination that was almost awful. No one else moved.
Her rescuer was lying on the floor, the red stain on his shirt growing. Who knew? Maybe he was dead. If the armored man fought, either he or the beast would be killed, and something at the back of her mind nagged at her.
This one isn’t like the dragon.
She remembered the little gesture as he pushed the girl behind him, just before he had become a monster. And the words he’d roared from the heap of stone as he faced them.
“Choose. Live free, run, or die.”
They were hard words, desperate words. The words of a fighter, maybe a rebel. But they were not the words of a despot or a monster.
In an instant Isella made up her mind. She staggered to her feet, ignoring the reeling of the cave as she tottered forward. She half walked, half stumbled to the base of the rock where the creature stood.
A burst of ice spurted out from it and stopped inches before it reached her, warning her to stay back.
She stood still, swaying a little. The only sounds in the cave were the wounded man’s labored breathing and the clank clank of the armored man’s shoes as he strode up.
Isella closed her eyes, trying to concentrate, trying to form the connection with Time she knew she could.
A thought pricked her. If you do this, they will know. They’ll see what you are. Nothing will be safe then.
She clenched her hands into fists. Then it came. the yellow-white glow that made her hands look translucent, growing stronger until every bone was visible.
The creature on the rock raised itself, its dark wings adding to the shadow. It snarled, and began descending on her, white ice coming before it.
Then she lifted her hands. In the dark cave the light was almost blinding, but it did it’s work: Time itself bent around her, stopping its motion for the creature, but leaving the rest of the cave in it’s grip.
The steady footsteps carried on, the ice and the creature moved forward. But the ice never reached her, it stopped, foiled by the disparity of Time between her and its master. She saw a look of wonder, even fear, enter the creature’s eyes.
“We don’t want to hurt you.” Her voice was thin but steady. “I don’t know why you’re here; I don’t know why I’m here. But if we don’t work together we will all die. These people–” she gestured toward the group of open-mouthed people on the other side of Time–“they helped me. That man you hurt saved me from the dragon.”
The world began to swirl about her, and the strain of forcing Time was almost suffocating. She couldn’t control it much longer. A pain sprung into her side, but she clapped one of her hands to it and went on:
“I know you are not a monster, but these people don’t. They didn’t see the…girl.” she hoped she hadn’t mistaken the shorter figure she had seen. “They see only your ice and the monster you’re hiding inside. Turn back into yourself, or someone will get killed, either you, or one of the people who helped me.”
She had no reason to hope he would believe her, but she hadn’t a moment longer. The light between her fingers faded, and Time reclaimed his seat. She stumbled back and leaned against a rock, too exhausted to even see if what she’d said had done any good.
~~
@jared-williams I hope this wasn’t too out of character for Abirami. just as a note, Isella has limited power over time, so that’s what happened there. I can explain something further if the scene didn’t make sense.IDK if Lorcan getting hurt is something you want to keep, but it was really cool, so I added it in. It somehow doesn’t seem like him, but I’ll let you decide.
@rusted-knight. The armored man is Klein again. You can decide if it was characteristic or not. 🙂Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"
https://silverpenstrokes.wordpress.com(huff… perhaps it was the urls… is there a limit to one url per post or something?)
Yep, there is, I forgot to mention that 😅
Oops… didn’t realize should only have one character in at a time… hehe. Let me fix that.
You can have two in at a time! Though, some people have had three in at a time for short periods of time. The rules are more like guidelines, and if you can break them with style it’s fine XD Sometimes two characters are easier because they can always interact with each other.
Hope that’s acceptable…
I know it might feel like I’m pulling this too far into my world, but I figured Abirami is completely confused as to what’s going on, so he’s going to assume he’s still in his world… hope that’s alright. never done anything like this before. lol.
That was great! Castles are always a steep learning curve, that was good!
Don’t worry, all characters do that XD It’s especially funny when characters from worlds with no magic see other characters use special abilities. (Or even Sci-fi characters’ technology for that matter XD) There’s always a “W I T C H C R A F T?!?!!?” moment XD
@everyone
Whew, things are moving fast again! I’ll see if I can write something up tonight, but otherwise I’ll try for tomorrow!
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
@jared-williams I hope this wasn’t too out of character for Abirami. just as a note, Isella has limited power over time, so that’s what happened there. I can explain something further if the scene didn’t make sense.
That was awesome… as long as I attacked after I warned them, then it would be within character, I think. He assumes they are under the command of an evil emperor, so if they didn’t take to his warning and approached with raised weapons, he’d attack.
What page are Klein and Lorcan’s descriptions… I would love to know who is in the room with us… I found Isella’s… but those two seem further back. Also wondering how many are in the room currently. Five? (me included)
You can have two in at a time!
oh yay!
I can see I’m going to have a lot of fun with this (tapping tips of fingers together with palms touching, a big grin on my face. hehehehe.)
points of notice
– essence is my word for magic.
-vaelintrien is the same race the evil emperor (the dhaiga) is, and they control elements like fire, wind, water, earth, etc.
– artifacts are magically imbued objects, and curses are a form of magic that effects someone else in a long term manner. Both artifacts and curses are rare and have been lost to the ages – lost to myth and legend, but recently dug up to a limited extent.
– Garb is my word for a tradition robe that aygiff’s wear.
– augment means to take the characteristic of without transforming physically – so the skin of the crayfish means Abirami’s skin becomes really hard (but doesn’t transform or visibly change)
– nyuki is a large bee Ku’Aya uses to transport messages across long distances
Abirami
No sooner had the words left my maw, that a figure moved within the shadows.
Close. Much too close. If the dhaiga had truly armed these faehins with artifacts or curses, who knew what vile effects they may have.
Rising up into the air, I used the darkness to my advantage. He looked for me.
Please, my mind begged, just leave. I don’t want to kill you.
A glint of metal caught my eye, just under his shirt. Must be an artifact. If I could destroy it first…
Swooping down, my claw struck the man. The distinct resistance told me I’d hit my mark. The man stumbled back and fell. It’d be a win-win as long as my claws hadn’t gone too deep.
This form once produced a snow storm atop a mountain, just from the force of its wings. Controlling that strength was even harder than holding the essence of it.
Even then, I could feel my strength slowly ebb away. I still couldn’t hold this form for long. My limit had grown over the past year, but… 10 minutes. That’d be my guess.
A faehin in a metal suit followed my flight path. What kind of artifact was that?
Whatever it was, it made him obnoxiously slow. Landing, I prepared to try something new. If it worked, I would call it a frost wall. My stomach churned as I built up the liquid within me.
A female faehin with green eyes and blond, braided hair shuffled forward. She was tall for a faehin, and her face reminded me of Semiramis.
The poor lady could barely walk. She stumbled over her own feet, and I wondered how she remained standing. The tannink’esh had done a job on her, yet still she came.
A knot formed in the pit of my heart. Just what had the dhaiga done to get them to be this desperate?
I set aside the mass of ice I’d formed and spit a warning shot at her.
She stopped and raised her hands.
I flexed, but she had no objects in her grasp. A curse?
Her hands began to glow, like the eyes of a vaelintrien while casting. White meant wind essence. But how? Had the dhiaga found a way to transfer his powers to others? And why just her hands and not the eyes?
I hadn’t the time to think on these things. She was about to attack, and the armored man was just behind her.
I pounced, spitting my creeping ice at her, hoping it would catch her before she cast her wind at me.
But then everything stopped. Like a puppet on a string, I was left stranded in the air, as if frozen by my own ice. But that wasn’t possible. I stared at the woman with wide eyed wonder. What was this?
How was this possible? Even my spittle had stopped, though everything behind her was moving apace. Could she stop all before her? But then I wondered why I was still breathing. Stupid thought. Should be grateful for something I can’t explain and could never answer.
The young woman’s voice reached my ears. The accent was foreign, as was the tongue, but somehow I understood.
“We don’t want to hurt you.” Her voice was firm but warm, despite being a bit shaky. It was thick with desperation, but something about it was off… I didn’t think she was lying.
“I don’t know why you’re here; I don’t know why I’m here. But if we don’t work together we will all die. These people–” she gestured behind her–“they helped me. That man you hurt saved me from the dragon.”
They aren’t together then? And what’s a dragon.
She continued to reason with me.
Frozen, I finally had the chance to get a good look at these faehins. They didn’t wear any clothes I was familiar with. They had no emblems or signs of the dhaiga, in fact, there were designs I’d never seen before. Were they long distance travelers? Perhaps from across the sea? But then how would they not be traveling together. And how could they reach so far into the empire without the dhiaga’s influence?
Her words seemed illogical, yet I was inclined to at least believe she didn’t wish me harm. She had me completely at her mercy. No reason for subterfuge at this point.
The flash of light disappeared. I cringed and reeled as I fell, realizing I had inadvertently let go of the aemirok’s essence. I thrust my hands down as I reverted back. I quickly focused upon the essence of a mouse. It held, and I changed once more.
Oh, I hope no one saw. How embarrassing. That’s why I HATED using that form in battle.
The lady was frozen to the side of a rock. My last moment shot must have continued along its path after the light vanished. My heart filled with regret.
I had to move quickly.
The man clothed in metal was panning his head back and forth, and he was watching the sky, which hopefully meant he had missed that embarrassing moment. Thank the Maker!
Scurrying over to where I had left my gaaban, I released the essence of the mouse and slipped it on. With a sigh of relief, I jumped, transformed into a raven, and flew back toward the entrance.
Releasing the essence, I landed in front of my garb, now back to normal. Rummaging through the pocket, I took out the vial and left the garb lying on the ground. I still didn’t trust these people fully.
Turning, I walked toward the frozen lady. Her face reminded me of Semiramis, but something about her stature had me thinking of princess Puabi. The metaled man moved between me and the lady, but I didn’t stop. It was the least I could do.
The man raised his weapon, and I augmented the skin of the crayfish. He lashed out, and I blocked. His weapon slammed into my forearm, but stopped there. A thin trickle of blood dripped down as I stared into his eyes.
We stood there. I didn’t make to move my arm, and neither did he retract his weapon. As if silent messages were being sent, we stared at each other. After a long moment of silence, he withdrew his weapon, and I continued my walk toward the lady.
As I walked, I released the crayfish essence and connected with the axolotl. It wasn’t deep, but no need to allow the cut to continue when I could regenerate it much faster.
Kneeling, I unstopped the vial and poured it first upon her face.
She gasped as the ice melted from around her nostrils and mouth. Her eyes remained closed, but her mouth opened slightly, so I tapped two small droplets into her mouth. The rest I tried to use sparingly across the rest of the ice, hoping one vial would suffice.
With her life now out of danger, I looked for the man I had previously injured, but then a window crashed, and a nyuki flew in and headed straight for me.
It was coming in too fast.
“Plysky,” I said in a tone of warning as I took a step back.
The nyuki flew around me and landed on my open hand. It’s body stretched from my finger tip down to my wrist.
Detatching the capsule, I pulled out the scroll and a small piece of charcoal. The paper said,
“Had your fun, now is it safe? Or should I flood the floors with termites and bullet ants?”
My eyes widened. Not good.
Yeah, she was still angry. I quickly wrote a response and reattached the capsule. “It’s safe,” was all I’d written.
I always pitied anyone who had to go up against Ku and her bugs. A shiver went down my spine. She played dirty.
I heard footsteps behind me. Quickly focusing upon the bat, I let loose a click. Someone was standing just behind me, their arms at their side. Augmenting the exoskeleton of the crayfish, just in case, I turned.
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
Mr.Trip Williams wrote:
That was awesome… as long as I attacked after I warned them, then it would be within character, I think. He assumes they are under the command of an evil emperor, so if they didn’t take to his warning and approached with raised weapons, he’d attack.
I’m glad! This ought to be interesting!Mr.Trip Williams wrote:
What page are Klein and Lorcan’s descriptions… I would love to know who is in the room with us… I found Isella’s… but those two seem further back. Also wondering how many are in the room currently. Five? (me included)
They were in the castle before I was, so I don’t know. But I’ll give you the lowdown of all the characters, and the authors can help clarify/correct what I say as they choose~Active Characters:
Isella–my own; you know her.
Klein– @rusted-knight ‘s. He’s a biologically enhanced ex-marine. He is a giant of a man, who is prepared for almost anything. (hence the armor).
Lorcan— Neasa’s, @irishcelticredflowercrown . He’s an assassin struggling with a dark past. He’s tall, blond, and rather extraordinarily handsome. He’s wearing a trench coat, and has the ability to teleport. And a Donegal accent. And he’s pretty shook up from the recent death of someone in the castle (yes, we do that) whom he’d been forming a romantic attachment with.
Daire–Also Neasa’s. Shorter than Lorcan, but I’m afraid I’m foggy on his looks. He is in a perpetual state of hero-worship of Lorcan, which drives Lorcan crazy. He also seems to be a little bit out of it in general.
Mejt–(pronounced May-et. Goes by May.) Rose’s. @rose-colored-fancy . light blonde hair that is curly. blue/green/gray eyes. Plus sized. She’s a lighthouse-keeper’s daughter, and a little bitter about life. She’s Scandinavian, but is an immigrant in another country. I believe her introduction is on the previous page or two.
Enydd Skovgaard— @inkhorn ‘s. I don’t know her yet, so here is her introduction from the previous page:
Age: around 20
Appearance: 5′ 6″ with a thin face, black eyes, dark, curly hair, tanned skin from all of her traveling; she’s wearing a simple, earth-tone colored dress; has a leather bag filled with paper, pencils, food, water, bandages, and anything she deems to be valuable
Personality: quick to laugh, content, avoids conflict, confident, surprisingly bold, easily annoyed and frustrated though these feelings are quickly overcome by her optimism
Other random things about her: loves being with other people but has grown to be fine with just being by herself; is not strong at all; athletic abilities are pretty much nonexistent though, as she likes to claim; she’s a good walker/hiker; will hum whenever thinking deep thoughts
~Currently Less-Active Characters:
Ruan–Laura K. Abeid’s @mamaauthoress . Tall with flaming red hair, which really does burst into flame occasionally. He has horrible memories after watching his half brother kill his sister and capture his mother. (Did I get it right, Laura?) he has a sword that he has named, but otherwise I don’t know much about him.
Basil— @calidris ‘s. Biologically enhanced and with a traumatic past. He’s a germophobic. Black curly hair, and dark eyes (?). He has the best intentions but sometimes comes off as socially awkward.
Calidris has another character in the castle I think??? but I always confuse her name with another characters, and I don’t know her much yet, except that she’s really small, so I won’t try describing her.
Evie–Denali Christianson’s. (who is on a technology fast. After that her characters will likely be more active). I…don’t remember what she looks like, but she’s a good fighter with a traumatic past which she has overcome.
Niarok–also Denali’s. An ex-assassin who is now a doctor with a heart big enough to take in the whole world. His sister (the one Lorcan had a crush on) just died and he feels like it’s his fault even though he got hurt defending her.
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"
https://silverpenstrokes.wordpress.comSE isn’t behaving, so the above post looks a little odd. Sorry about that.
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"
https://silverpenstrokes.wordpress.comoh, that’s awesome. Thank you so much! That’s helpful. So… lol. Klein… is his weapon a gun? he coulda shot me out of the sky or shot me before I got close. … eek. lol. oh well, hope what I’ve written works…
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
ooh you were so close XD so Lorcan actually has short wavyish black hair heehee, and its sort of an undercut style. He also has gorgeous dark eyes that reminds you of a starry night when you look at them😊 I think i posted a drawing of him somewhere, ill see if I can find it XD
As for Daire, he has ginger hair tied in a very short ponytail at the back and blue eyes XD
otherwise your descriptions were pretty accurate 😄 well done!
@jared-williams lovely to meet you!! Welcome aboard!
@calidris ‘ other character is called Saskia! She’s also a genetically enhanced supersoldier, though not as much altered as Basil. Skia is 5’3″, with brown skin and chin-length curly black hair, and dark eyes.Also, one correction, Basil isn’t germophobic, though he came across that way at the beginning XD He’s mostly just very whiny when he feels out of control.
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
Mejt
The girl didn’t reply, but she seemed to be trying to say something.
“Not–my–name. My–name–is–Isella–Christine–Aumardel.”
I scowled. With a name like that, she was definitely nobility. Why had she told me?
Suddenly, the realization dawned on me and I snorted a laugh.
“I didn’t mean– Delya means–” I fumbled for a synonym in the same language “It means Lady.”
It was odd that she didn’t know it. Wasn’t it common knowledge?
The man handed me the water and I took it without comment and gave it to the girl. She wouldn’t let go of my hand, and I tolerated it.
The girl finally lapsed into sleep and I disentangled my hand from hers. Neither of us would bring that up when she woke.
She shivered in her sleep.
I sighed and mentally ran through a list of curse words, none of which I would utter out loud. Growing up in a port city, surrounded by sailors, had given me an impressive vocabulary, but I never put it to use.
As soon as I’d finished with that, I unpinned the dull blue jacket I wore over my stays and shift. It was late spring, and still too cold to go just in my stays, but she needed it more than I did. I draped the wool jacket around her shoulders. That was good enough.
(Author’s note: I find it hilarious how Mejt seems to be kind against her will XD)
“Thank you!” A girl cried. She had long dark hair, and thankfully she was dressed simply. I almost gave a breath of relief, then remembered that I didn’t like people.
“You don’t know what a relief it is to see you! I’d go mad if there wasn’t anyone else here! Well, not mad, but maybe depressed. Or scared. Or maybe both. But, anyway, I’m just so glad I’m not the only one here!”
She was grinning, swinging the leather pouch by her side.
I stood and crossed my arms, raising an eyebrow at her. She was being incredibly optimistic for someone trapped in a nightmare like the rest of us. Besides, being with people didn’t sound like something to be thankful for. If anything, I was cursing every moment in the presence of these strangers.
She seemed to realize her mistake and smiled.
“Forgive me for my enthusiasm. I didn’t mean to make any of you uncomfortable. I’m Enydd Skvogaard. Who are you guys?”
Odd name. Perhaps from Tirbren? (I’m sticking with the names from Liorah’s world because I haven’t created any new ones XD Gosh, Mejt’s underdeveloped world is making this just a degree more chaotic than usual XD)
Tirbrennians weren’t better than those from Liqeni. They’d long been allies, and our enemies. They looked down on us as much as anyone else.
“I’m May,” I said, briefly. My real name, Mejt Eirlyssen, echoed in my mind, but I pushed it down. It was too decidedly Shykvallian, they’d notice. (I made up that name on the spot XD I’m winging this more than usual XD)
“I’m from Mara. Where are you from?” Enydd said.
I’d never heard of it. Was it a city? I knew more about geography than most people expected of me. Names of foreign cities and faraway places had flown through the lighthouse like gulls for as long as I could remember.
“Varseina, from the Lighthouse,” I said, briefly. I couldn’t help the splinter of pride that bored into the statement. I was proud of our lighthouse. It was ours, no matter what anyone said. Wasn’t it Father who had lit the light every day for as long as I could remember? Wasn’t it Mother and I who had helped him count for the fog bell, even in the middle of the night, when the wind seemed ready to tip it into the sea once and for all?
The girl’s eyes flicked to someone standing at the other end of the cave. He was tall, with tan skin and dark hair.
He saw us too, but as soon as he did, a raven took his place, swooping up and around a pillar. I glanced at the floor, then the ceiling, trying to figure out where the man had gone. He couldn’t be– Only his clothing was left where he’d stood.
The raven morphed into a wolf with wings, giant, roaring, with claws like knives. My eyebrows slowly pulled upward. This was getting truly ridiculous.
“Why follow evil dhiaga?” It growled. “I have power to free you.”
“Come again?” I said, my tone automatically slipping into the flat dialect more common among the shore folk. I seldom used it, it made people think I was stupid, and I didn’t need anything else to add to that already constant perception. However, it was the only way I could express my sheer incredulous surprise.
“Choose. Live free, run, or die.”
I glanced up at the creature. I was fully convinced I was dreaming. Considering that this was a dream, I did the only logical thing. I sat down against the wall, crossed my arms, and watched the debacle unfold.
Someone charged the wolf, and it slashed at him. It also seemed capable of producing ice, which was quite unexpected. I’d never seen ice, but I recognized it from my parents’ stories.
The force of it’s wings was as strong as a summer gale. It brought tears to my eyes and goosebumps raised on my bare arms.
The noble– Isella– got up, stumbling toward it. I sighed. Nobles had no sense. If she wanted to die, I wasn’t going to save her again. I was sick and tired of it already.
She tripped and almost fell. I sighed, cursed myself, and got up to help her. What was wrong with me? I supposed I just couldn’t stand suffering, even if it was inflicted by someone’s own stupidity.
Before I could reach her, she raised her hands, which were now glowing white. I stopped, uncertain. This all looked like something I didn’t want to get involved in. If I did, I’d get blamed for it, no matter what happened. I was too used to being a convenient scapegoat.
The creature stopped, as though frozen. It seemed to want to move, but couldn’t. Isella was visibly struggling with the effort of whatever she was doing, but managed to speak.
“We don’t want to hurt you. I don’t know why you’re here; I don’t know why I’m here. But if we don’t work together we will all die. These people–” she gestured behind her–“they helped me. That man you hurt saved me from the dragon.”
Helped her against my own will, at best. Why was she trying to be nice to it? If she’d ignore it long enough, it would become someone else’s problem.
The blinding light vanished, and so did the wolf, I caught a glimpse of the man, before it morphed into a mouse.
Some of the ice had flashed forward, toward Isella. She seemed trapped in it. I carefully inched forward. Was she alright?
A raven flew out of the corner, then morphed back into a man. He paused and rummaged around in his clothing.
The man approached Isella. The man in metal tried to get between them, even trying to slash at him. He seemed impenetrable, taking the almost-lethal cut in stride.
I got out of his way, but kept my eyes fixed on him in a decidedly hostile way. It was all I could do.
He poured some of the liquid on her face. She gasped in relief. Thank goodness, she’d be fine.
The man caught a creature, read the message on its leg, wrote something back, and sent it off.
I didn’t stop staring at him.
“Where I’m from, we call that a dramatic overreaction.”
He turned and stared at me.
Oh, heavens. I’d said that out loud. That was rather an issue.
I stared back at him, so scared I was bold.
____________
SHEESH this took me long to write XD
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
Hahaha.
your character’s cynicism is great! I don’t think I’ve ever laughed at dry negativism before. Quite excellently written. lol.
Is it okay to borrow other characters when it comes to conversations? I’m wondering if I should respond, since the scene’s halted with us facing each other…. or wait for others to join in? Or perhaps just a short scene?
Is there a typical curtesy limit as to how fast one writes a new post from one to the next? (lol. just asking since I’ve written a few so far already…)
Figure one short one might be okay here? … Hope I can borrow Enydd for this scene… Can you borrow other people’s characters for conversations? hope I do her character justice… please let me know if I do something wrong.
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
Figure one short one might be okay here? … Hope I can borrow Enydd for this scene… Can you borrow other people’s characters for conversations? hope I do her character justice… please let me know if I do something wrong.
You’re welcome to borrow Enydd! I’d love to see your take on her!
Somethings wrong. It keeps blocking me when I try to post it… something about WordPress?
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
I don’t know what it is censoring… so, forgive the annoyance, but I’ll try posting it in sections…
Abirami
Turning around, I stood to find a well-endowed, young, blond faehin standing before me. Her right eyebrow was slightly raised, and her lips were as straight as a whip. Her expression reminded me of Yaxkin’s resting face… the eternal frown.
Ha. I chuckled inwardly. Yaxkin had a talent. He could make a smile look unhappy, and I wondered who would win in a staring context; him, or this fierce-looking faehin. But this was no time for reminiscence or daydreams.
What had the lady said? “Where I’m from, we call that a dramatic overreaction.”
Did she mean the attack? Well, I had assumed they were hostile.
Bending slightly at the waist, I bowed and placed two fingers to my sternum. “My apologies, my lady.”
She took a step back, angling herself away from me. “It’s… fine.”
When she did not respond with the return curtesy, I wondered once more if they were travelers. It would explain the strange reaction to the formality.
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
(Continued)
Perhaps she was from the desert region, or perhaps the far corners of the Kemet. Trying the formal greeting of the desert, I held my hands at the waist a shoulder-length apart, bent my wrists down, fingers spread, palms up, then brought them up till they were parallel with the top of my shoulders.
“Forgive me.”
She took a few more steps back, looking as if a wild beast had just stood on its hind legs and asked her to dance.
“Are you traveling peddlers?”
Her eyes squinted into shadows. “Are you daft?”
My hands dropped, and I cocked my head to the side. Had I done something wrong?
The lady’s eyes rolled up into her head before closing, then she sighed. “We’re not travelers, we’re trapped here.”
I stared at the floor. Trapped? Then why the dead tannink’esh? And why not just leave? Coming in, I hadn’t seen any issues with leaving by the front door.
“And we’re not together.”
My eyes peered into hers. The other faehin’s words echoed that sentiment… and it didn’t seem like she was lying either. How could that be? Were they all trapped here?
“Then what brought you here?” I asked.
She scoffed and turned her face away. “Let me know when you figure that out.”
“Then the dhaiga didn’t send you?” I asked for extra clarification.
“Who?”
A dark-haired faehin skipped out from behind a pillar and walked up to us. She stopped behind and just to the side of the blond woman. She was just a bit shorter and wore a earthy dress. She bounced on her heels with her hands behind her back.
“Hi, my name’s Enydd.” Her eyes slid from my face down my arms and chest and back up again. “You won’t attack us again, will you?”
“My apologies.” Out of habit, I placed two fingers to my chest once more and bowed. “It was a mistake. It won’t happen again.”
“Oh, good.” She awkwardly placed her hand over her heart and dipped her head, mimicking my action.
“My name is Abirami,” I said, straightening up. “So you are trapped here as well?”
“Hmm… maybe.” She placed a finger to her lips and looked around, then bounced on her toes and leaned in as she stared into my eyes. “Oh, it was was the strangest thing. I was just walking through the forest, just having a wonderful time, when, you’d never guess, I fell from that arch there.” She pointed to a nearby overhang. “Then the walls closed in around me, and, boop. Here I am.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Boop?”
She nodded gregariously. “Yeah. Boop.”
The blond lady sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
Enydd rocked back and forth on her heels. “So, are you an elf? Oh, I’ve always wanted to meet an elf, but I just thought they were fairy tales. Please tell me you’re real, or are your ears just fake?”
“Um…” What are elves? “I… they’re real. I’m an aygiff.”
“An aygiff?” She tilted her head to the side. The blond lady looked just as puzzled, with her shadowy glare.
“May I ask where you faehin are from?” I asked. Who hadn’t heard of an aygiff.
“Excuse me?” Enydd put her hand to her chest and looked indignant. “I am a human girl, not a fairy-whats-it.”
The blond lady just looked us both over like we were some form of stupid.
Enydd lowered her hand and took a deep breath. “But I’m from Mara.” She then pointed to the blond lady. “And this is May. She’s from a lighthouse! In…”
May glanced over at May, her face unchanging. “Varseina.”
“Oh. Sorry, never heard of those places. I’m kind of from all over. But I was born in the kingdom of Vael.”
“Vael? I’ve never heard of it. You said it’s a kingdom? Like a state, or a country?”
“What are those?” I asked.
“What are…” May scoffed. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“By the maker, I’ve never heard of those places you said, and I’ve read maps from all over the world of Kaphar.”
“World of Kaphar?” Enydd rubbed her temple, her cheeks getting red from the concentration. “What’s that?”
“You know,” I said, pointing to the ground. “The world. Kaphar.”
“The planet?” asked May.
I nodded.
“You mean earth. The planet earth.”
I shook my head. A sense of vertigo threatened my balance. Were they from a completely different world?
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
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