"Don't ever let a man build you a house; for as long as you stay there, he'll stay with you."

The basis for all of this is that Gems have elemental magic. They are born with an elemental affinity and it is intrinsically part of them, whether they like it or not. Therefore, it follows that the element would affect them in some way.

What I am not including is actual, real-life shit. Science is a good starting point, but at the end of the day, this is fantasy. I'm not writing an anthropological dissertation on the societal interpretations of ethnic traits.

The basic idea is this: It's more common for your personality to associate with your element than not. This does not rule out exceptions, but it also doesn't mean those exceptions are considered normal.

Now, there are two factors that cause this: genetic affinity and societal influence. (No, I am not going to debate nature vs. nurture with you. That's still hotly debated by people with much more education than I)

Genetic affinity is the fact that Gems are born with an element. Unlike the Drakken, whose elements don't really affect them (for lore reasons I'm not getting into in this explanation), Gems are much more tuned to their elements by nature (hence their increase in control). This means that, more often than not, some of the vague traits of that element will seep into the Gem. For example, Fire gems tend to be more reactive and Water gems tend to be more calm. These do not so much affect specific personality traits as they do general disposition.

Then there's societal influence. The Gems (due to that aforementioned disposition link) associate certain values and traits with certain elements, and this is where it becomes more of a cultural thing than directly elemental. Water Gems as a group hold such values as wisdom, temperance, and persistence (and to an extent, forethought and memory) in high regard. Likewise Earth gems tend to value solidarity, loyalty, empathy, and compassion. Fire gems could appreciate resolve, action, confidence, etc., and Air gems things like flexibility, innovation, freedom of expression, adventurous-ness etc. Definitely not an exhaustive list but you get the idea. In any case, when you're raised with certain sets of morals and ideals (and role models who embody them), you come to value and appreciate them, which in turn affects how you think and act. (This is where you can get some cool cultural variations between Gems raised in mono-elemental villages and mixed-elemental cities)

Of course, there are always outliers. It's entirely possible to get an airheaded water gem with a quick temper, but they would probably get looked at funny by others of their community and feel as if they don't really fit in. They may feel disconnected from their element. The level of affinity one feels for their element may vary too - perhaps a fire gem feels connected to fire and feels the disposition pull, but is still shy.

Now, this doesn't mean that the elemental affinities aren't common. It would be uncommon to find a gem like the water one above, but of course it could happen. This is why the elemental affinity thing isn't really a stereotype; it has more truth and substance to it than a stereotype. It's more of a very general average - it would be more common to find a gem that mostly fits their element than one who clearly does not. Kind of like how Caucasian people tend to be medium-height. It's not a stereotype because it's true for a large portion of the population, but you still get some very short and very tall Caucasians.

russian cosmonaut up in his tiny little shuttle, sees the curvature of the earth and is the first human ever to look at the planet. Then he hears a ticking noise coming from the control panel. He rips it open, tries to find it and fix it, but he can't find it. Hours go by, and the ticking continues. It's getting on his nerves. Days go by, the ticking never stops. What can he do? He's in space, with 25 days left in this space-closet, and he's going to lose his mind. He knows the only way to hold onto his sanity is to fall in love with that sound. So he closes his eyes, and focuses for a few minutes.

When he opens them, he doesn't hear the ticking anymore. Instead, he hears music, and he spends the rest of his journey floating through space, in total bliss.

-shamelessly ripped from a scifi movie and maybe reality idk

•Vivari was the founder of all the races.
•When the world was young and fertile she gave birth to many creatures; most she loved and nurtured.
•These loved ones were the first races, beautiful and gentle, they represented their mother's gentleness and kindness.
•But the Great Mother's violent side became manifest in her next children, who were vile and delighted in attempting to destroy or enslave the other races.
•Three of these children, Drun, Krenta, and Sorrak, became gods themselves, having drawn great power from the suffering they caused.
•Horrified at what she had created, the Great Mother birthed three others, Naia, Pyrus, and Auram, to try and stop the three hated ones. Into these three good children she poured all of her strength.
•They were to bring balance, but her violent children were themselves too strong, and created their own children from the flesh of their Mother, weakening her. From the Mother's flesh many vile races were born, overpowering the Elder children. They nearly destroyed their Mother and younger siblings.
•As a final bargain, Great Mother Vivari offered her vile sons valiant, strong enemies to fight in the south, the place that was blighted. But in exchange for this hunting they had to keep their offspring away from the north.
•They agreed, but Vivari knew her children would test her will and power, so she made the Great Spine to at least forestall the inevitable.
•The mountains of the Spine were as high and as deadly as the one who made them; as protective of the Gemmenite realm as any mother would be to her favorite daughters.
•To the north of these mountains Vivari and her three children ruled justly and brought prosperity back to their lands.

In the beginning, there was only one god. Later, she would come to be known as Vivari.

Vivari spent many eons alone, ruling over an empty world in silence. But as time passed by, Vivari tired of the stillness and grew lonely. To combat her loneliness, Vivari gave birth to many creatures, to whom she gave her most fertile lands so that they might thrive under her care. These creatures she loved dearly, and for many years she was happy. These loved ones were the first peoples, and they were beautiful and peaceful; they had embodied their mother's gentleness. The Great Mother cherished them like precious jewels; hence, her favourites were named the Gems.

However, the Great Mother's violent side became manifest in her next children, who were brutish and strong, delighting in their attempts to enslave and destroy their gentler brethren. Having drawn great power from the suffering at their hands, three of these children - Krenta, Drun, and Sorrak - became gods themselves.

Horrified by what she had created, Vivari gave birth to three others; gods in their own right, into these new children she poured all her strength. The first she named Naia, and she was dutiful, steady, and wise. To this eldest daughter Vivari entrusted the largest portion of her domain: the Water which fed the world and sustained life for those upon it.

The second child was a son of great strength and energy, who sprung forth from the womb with such vigour that the very earth cracked and bled molten rock at the moment of his birth. Inspired, Vivari named him Pyrus and gave him dominion over Fire, that he might put his great force of will to good use keeping it in check.

Vivari's third and youngest child was meeker than the rest, with moods that changed with the turn of the wind. This daughter was called Auram, and was given the realm of Air so she could hold her quiet vigil over all places where her siblings could not follow.

Vivari thought that the birth of her three youngest children would once again bring balance to the world. However, her older children grew stronger yet; as a final act of defiance, they created children of their own in their image, sculpted out of flesh torn from Vivari herself. These children were called the Drakken, and they wreaked havoc on the weaker peoples of the world - very nearly destroying them.

Greatly weakened, Vivari realized that her older children would never be satisfied until they held the world's peoples in their iron grasp. As a bargain, she gave them strong, valiant enemies in the blighted lands of the West to serve as worthy adversaries under one condition: That they stay away from her beloved lands in the East. They agreed.

While they were placated for a time, the Great Mother knew her stronger children would continue to test her will and power. As a final effort to protect her favoured lands and children, Vivari pulled a great mountain range out of the earth, longer and taller than any others the world had ever seen. It stretched from the North-most point to the South-most along the backbone of the world, separating the holy lands of the East from the forsaken lands of the West. She populated the mountain range (which would later come to be known as The Great Spine) with monsters of every shape and size, formidable to Drakken and Gems alike, and gave them one sacred duty: Guard the Spine against any who dare cross it.

**let's just say there's some sort of guardian monster migration or some shit at one time of the year and that's why the drakken only reap once a year

TBD

Hi I'm here as per @obscene symphony's request. As I said, at @obscene symphony's request. I'm totally only here on official business for @obscene symphony. C:

As before, here per @obscene symphony's request, helpin her test sommat.

Alright! Before we go live, your wise and merciful GMs thought it fit to provide you guys with a post template! See, those of you who have been with us before will remember that this IC can get to a lot of long posts real fast. In our experience of the past three iterations, we've figured out that the following format is the best for making posts easy to read, easy to find, and easy for involved players to be notified of. This format allows people to know exactly which posts require their attention and makes it easier to tell which post belongs to whom when reading through.

Alright, here she is:

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer venenatis euismod ligula, in tristique nunc congue vitae. Proin sit amet neque sit amet lacus commodo eleifend eu eu massa. Vestibulum viverra tincidunt orci a ullamcorper. Aliquam sit amet venenatis eros, non maximus mi. Aliquam id massa a enim consequat iaculis ac sit amet lacus. Pellentesque vestibulum nulla quis nibh cursus, a ornare diam vestibulum. Proin non vehicula ligula, eget interdum ligula. Suspendisse sodales, risus ac pharetra interdum, justo leo aliquam justo, vel molestie risus urna lacinia lectus. Ut aliquam suscipit risus sit amet suscipit. Maecenas faucibus urna tortor, vel blandit lorem rutrum in. Cras sed elit ligula. Cras egestas risus sagittis tortor consequat gravida. Vestibulum purus massa, tempus sed facilisis et, pharetra vitae nunc.

Sed eget nunc nec tortor posuere tincidunt. Ut consequat velit ac venenatis rhoncus. Fusce id consequat libero. Maecenas luctus arcu eget sollicitudin sodales. Nam in nisi eu sapien porttitor tristique. Curabitur a felis felis. Curabitur quis auctor orci, quis mattis massa. Curabitur ac nisi ex. Sed vitae velit ligula. Curabitur eu dolor vitae massa fermentum ultricies in convallis metus.

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Ignore the latin, it's a placeholder for post content. Also, the horizontal lines aren't part of the post format, just there to make this post look neater.






- I know the code seems squished, but if you add line breaks in editing it'll make your spacing weird. Keeping it compact keeps it easier to read and easier to scroll past when you're looking for a specific post!

- Along that same vein, make sure you write your actual post directly below your header code. If you add a line break, the space between the header and the post gets all weirdly stretched out. (I find it helpful to write the post first and the header formatting after)

- To format your post with the raw code provided, just replace everything in square brackets "[ ]" with whatever it says to insert there (like names). (Of course you want to keep those square brackets around mentions to they still work, lol)

- If you're using colours for your dialogue, feel free to apply the same colour to your header text. Some people even like to put their related characters' names in those characters' colours, (for example, in the post above I could have put Azilon's name in blue instead of Lienna's purple) but that's a lot of work and is definitely not required.

- Speaking of colours, you're welcome to use them for dialogue and headers! Just make sure your entire post isn't coloured, and please note that if a GM deems your choice of colour to be difficult to see, you will be asked to change it.

- If you are including multiple different characters' POVs in your post, make sure to separate them with horizontal lines using the code "[ hr ]" (remove spaces) and use the proper header format for each new POV.

- Please make sure that, like the example, the body of your post is aligned to the left.

- Finally, don't worry about mentioning people multiple times. I tested it, and no matter how many times you mention the same person in a post, it still only goes through once.

Alright! If you have read this post and understand, you know what to do. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me here or on Discord (Discord will be quicker). Now get hype! Today's the day!

Spring was always such an odd time in the North, especially as far north as Hima. It was the "morning of the year-long day," as the locals called it; the six months of constant night that were the winter were yielding to the dawn of spring. However, spring was of little comfort to the people of Hima. The winter's cold had yet to release its frigid grip, and the only real buzz surrounding spring was the greatly anticipated return of daylight.

It was proof that the world kept on moving.

For Lienna, nothing really changed. She woke up early, as usual (although without the sun to serve as a reliable timepiece, "early" was a relative term), stoked the fire, and started preparing the morning tea - all very quietly, with practiced ease. Soon, she had two small cups of herbs steeping, just in time for her grandmother to wake up on her own.

She didn't say anything. Lienna didn't either. She just handed the frail old woman her tea, and sipped her own silently in the morning gloom. Their days of cheerful morning talk were long gone.

With tea finished (and after having coaxed something into her grandmother's stomach) Lienna tucked her grandmother once more under her mountain of firs to go back to sleep. Sleeping seemed to be all she did these days, but at least it kept her from wandering.

"I'm going to town, Uma," Lienna whispered, pulling on her boots and strapping snowshoes under them, "I'll be back soon."

Her grandmother made no response. It was just as well; Lienna hadn't expected any.

---

"Ten pieces?" Lienna crossed her arms. "Absolutely not. Five."

The walk to town wasn't too long, but the fresh snow made it arduous. However, tiring as it may have been, Lienna reached town before too many people were awake to glare at her. Still, she had kept her face securely covered, both against the biting wind and the prying eyes of onlookers, as she made her way to the local butcher's.

"The winter was hard," replied the butcher, unhelpfully. "The price had to go up."

Lienna rolled her eyes. ”Really?” she challenged, ”Strange, I saw no shortage of elk.”

"Don't get smart with me," the butcher replied, "The price is ten. Take it or leave it."

Lienna scowled at the butcher, and snuck a glance over his shoulder at his wife, who sat in the back of the igloo cutting meat into long strips. She was short, stout and oddly proportioned, with a lumpy face and bulbous nose, and she kept sneaking disdainful looks at Lienna.

Crossing her arms, Lienna crinkled up her nose and stared for a moment at the various dried meats the butcher had to offer. Truth be told, the dried elk she was after did look good, but she knew that the price would lower back to five pieces the second she left the igloo. Such was life in Hima; the community was strong and close-knit, which made it easy for them to unite against you.

Finally, she grew tired of her battle of wills. "Fine," she sighed, defeated. "What will five pieces get me?"

The butcher glanced at his wares, thought for a moment, and replied, "About two pounds of dried seal."

Lienna groaned inwardly. Seal was tough and gamey, but it was cheap and fatty and would hold them out for a little while. Exasperated, she pulled her purse out from the folds of her furs, fishing out five round pieces of amber. She handed them to the butcher, along with a small sack to fill with her purchase.

By the time she left the butcher's, Lienna expected to see more people out and around, going about their morning chores and appreciating the new sunlight. However, when she emerged, the town was eerily empty. Even the people she'd seen on her way in had made their way back to their homes. Items such as bags and tools lay in the street, and the contents of a sack of spruce needles flew underfoot in the frigid wind. It looked like people had left in a hurry.

Turning around slowly, Lienna expected to see a pack of arctic cats or a large bear, or something of the powerful and scary sort that usually sent the residents of Hima into hiding. What she saw instead, she would have gladly traded for a nose-to-nose meeting with an angry bear.

It was impossible to miss; the large black carriage and tall, black-clad figures atop it stuck out of the otherwise white landscape like a fire at night. It lumbered through the snow like a lumbering monster, stopping every now and then as the wheels struggled against the snow. The beasts pulling it were clearly not suited to Northern conditions, and the beasts driving it were no better.

Reapers.

Lienna nearly dropped her bag and backpedaled, wide-eyed and frantic, to the nearest igloo, only to find it blocked by a still-hardening barricade of ice. One by one every nearby igloo in the village shut her out, leaving her exposed in the square, open to the wind and the Reapers. She wasn't surprised, of course. Many of these villagers had drowned their own daughters as babies to avoid the horror of the Reaping; it stood to reason that they didn't want anyone else's daughter dragged out of their homes either.

All Lienna could do was stand there and wait. To get home, she would have to pass right by the Reapers, and even if she could outrun them, where could she go? Back to her grandmother's igloo? They would only follow her there and punish her for running. There was nowhere else to hide: It was nothing but ice fields all the way to the black forest on the horizon.

So she waited.

They arrived quicker than Lienna would have guessed, cursing the cold and everything that lived in it. Stopping mere metres from her, one massive Drakkan hopped down from the carriage and approached Lienna, closing the distance in just a few strides.

"Uncover your face." He ordered.

With a trembling hand Lienna complied, and with a gloved hand the Drakkan roughly took hold of her jaw, turning her face this way and that to examine it. Once he had, he nodded and grunted to his partner, "She'll do."

As soon as he released her, Lienna hurried to cover her face once more, as even that brief exposure to the wind had left it stinging. She didn't know what else to do; what just happened barely registered.

"You have one hour to gather your belongings and say your goodbyes," boomed the Drakkan, "Which way is your home?" It was more of a demand than a question.

Lienna blinked, and slowly looked around. Home was almost an hour's walk away in this snow. By the time she arrived, she would barely have time to wake her grandmother and say goodbye before she was torn away, and that wouldn't do. She had more important matters to take care of if she was to be leaving.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she pointed to the butcher's igloo. "That one."

If the Drakkan had noticed that she had just been barricaded from every igloo in the area, he didn't care. He simply nodded sharply and barked, "Go on then, and be quick about it." He turned back to the carriage, muttering, "Fucking wind."

It took a second for Lienna's feet to move, but soon she was throwing her fists against the wall of ice in the igloo's entrance, giving a push with both her magic and her hands and breaking in. Before she was even all the way through the short tunnel, the butcher's wife started shouting, "No, no! You get out! I won't have those beasts breaking down my walls to get at you!"

Despite the wife's protests and the comically small slivering blade she brandished, Lienna pushed into the igloo. "Stop!" she shouted back, hands outstretched defensively, [color-baa7c7]"Naia's love, woman, relax! They've already chosen me!"[/color]

She sank to her knees, then, onto the fur-lined floor. "Naia's love," she repeated, voice much softer now. Tears threatened at the corners of her eyes and her throat burned. "I've been chosen..."

The butcher and his wife said nothing, and for a moment Lienna could only look down at her mittened hands in shock. The gravity of the situation was beginning to hit her, and a million thoughts raced through her mind.

Snapping out of her reverie, Lienna sniffed and wiped her eyes urgently with her mitten before looking back up at the butcher. "I need your help."

The butcher opened his mouth to protest, but Lienna stopped him. "I'm not asking you to hide me, or help me escape," she reasoned, "I'm only asking for your kindness."

"You know my grandmother is ill," she began, "She can't take care of herself. She relies on me. Without me to take care of her, she'll die." She pulled her purse once more from her coat and put it on the table between them. "This is all the money we have. Take it - I don't need it anymore. But please, speak to your father about her. I know he sits on the village council, he could help her. You could all help her." She made a point to look at the butcher's wife with that statement.

They didn't particularly like her, sure. The whole town could have said the same. But there was little more heartbreaking to a Water Gem than to witness the loss of one's memories, one's wisdom. Stories and knowledge lost to the ages were enough to arouse fear and pity in even the most judgemental of them. Lienna was confident that every Hima resident would agree: the loss of one's mind was far worse than the loss of one's life. She prayed they would take pity on her grandmother.

The butcher thought for a moment, glanced to his wife, and reached for the purse. "Very well," he replied, tossing the bag behind him, "Consider it done."

Lienna almost burst into tears, and stood up to take the butcher's hand. "Thank you," she professed, "Naia blessed, thank you."

She turned to leave, but the butcher stopped her. "Wait," he stated, "Give me your bag."

Hesitantly, Lienna handed over the sack that he so recently had filled with dried seal. The butcher turned, rummaged for a moment, and turned back again, returning the bag to her somewhat heavier. "For your trip," he stated.

Lienna welled up once more as she took the bag, and nodded her thanks. She could barely muster a breath, but the butcher seemed to understand. He simply nodded as she made her way out.

She emerged to find a Drakkan, a different one than had examined her, waiting outside. Just as she stood, his companion appeared, murmuring, "Not a single other one worth a damn, can you believe it?" Peeking around his massive figure, Lienna saw various faces poking out of the entrances of various igloos, watching with morbid curiosity.

The Drakkan looked down at her, and then her sack. "Is that all you have?"

Lienna swallowed hard. "Yes."

"Come on then." The Drakkan grabbed her roughly by the arm, not that he'd needed to, and dragged her to the carriage. Lienna didn't fight. She didn't even look back. The only thing she looked for as she was shoved in the carriage and carted away was the dot of an igloo on the horizon.



By the time they reached Shadow Worth, Lienna was elated. Not about their destination, of course, but because she could finally get out of that wretched carriage and plant her feet on unmoving ground.

The trip from Hima to the Spine had taken fourteen days. Fourteen. Days. Two weeks of her life, spent cooped up in a dark wooden box, fighting down waves of nausea as the rickety thing pitched to and fro over every bump. Over the first day or so she had wept - how could anyone not have? - but the tears soon dried up. She hadn't been sure if she was crying of sadness for her old life, or fear for her new one, or something else altogether. Truth be told, her heart wasn't in it. To her, it almost felt like she cried because that was what people did when they were ripped from their lives and thrown into slavery. That was what was expected. The most appropriate response, surely.

It wasn't that she wasn't sad, or scared. Of course she was. She'd heard the horror stories of how Gem Brides rarely lived through the season once in the grip of their captors, how the Drakken loved pretty things because they loved to see them break. She also hadn't been able to say goodbye to her grandmother, which would have crushed her so much more if she thought her grandmother would have understood the situation and cried with her. But honestly, Lienna thought it better this way. This way, her grandmother wouldn't have to be distressed, would be taken care of, and probably wouldn't even notice her absence.

As for her former life, there wasn't much to mourn. She loved her grandmother, of course, but taking care of her was a heavy burden, and allowed for little else than constant care and vigilance. Lienna's life at home was a job she did out of respect, and out of the debt she felt she owed her grandmother for taking her in as a baby. Still, the job killed her a little every day. The pain of looking into her grandmother's eyes, which once had shone with such wisdom and love, and seeing no recognition, no sign of clarity, was like a spike in Lienna's heart. Watching her struggle to dress or feed herself with hands that had once deftly made water fly and shadows dance made Lienna's gut twist. Truth be told, she had mourned her grandmother years ago; the body she had taken care of until now was but a cruel shadow of a distant memory.

The rest of the ride had been nothing but a chore, bumping through various countrysides, weather getting hotter all the time. Lienna had marvelled at the grass and flowers and trees as they pressed southward, but the bucking of the carriage eventually redirected her attention from the wonders outside the window to keeping her food down. When finally they reached Shadow Worth, Lienna welcomed the mountain wind and cold like an old friend and pressed on into the castle of her own accord (under the eyes of guards, of course), eager to put as much distance between her and the carriage as possible.

She stood stoically through the speech, relatively unperturbed (she'd heard it all before in stories, and the truth of it all hadn't quite yet sunk in) and allowed herself to be herded into a room. Once inside, she stripped down eagerly, did what she could to wash off the past two weeks and changed into the plain grey clothes provided without protest. Perhaps she might be hesitant to shed her furs if her journey had been shorter, but after two weeks? She was ready to burn them. Clean clothes, then, were a welcome commodity.

Exhausted from travel, Lienna wasted no time getting to sleep. The relief of being able to stretch out in a room that didn't sway and jerk or move at all overcame her dread of the days to come, and for the first night in two weeks, she slept soundly.



For the first time in years, Lienna didn't wake up on her own. Instead, she was jerked quite rudely from sleep by the pounding on her door. Once more (though less happily, having resented being torn from her slumber) she followed the herd of teary-eyed Gems all the way to the dining hall, where tables were made up with foods she'd never seen or even learned the names of.

Even having been able to sleep soundly and wearing clean clothes, Lienna was still too irritated from the trip to bear sitting next to any of the many sobbing girls around the room. Instead, she scanned the crowd for a less crowded space, until her eyes landed on a flash of white among the sea of grey. Intrigued, Lienna made her way over.

It was a girl (obviously), with stark white hair and pale skin much like Lienna's, framing a set of vibrant blue eyes. Lienna took the seat across from her, taking small portions from whichever dishes looked most foreign. Surely many Gems present were seeking out familiar foods, but Lienna had grown very tired of the salted dried meat of her homeland and was eager to try something juicy and colourful.

Plate full, she glanced up at the girl opposite her, icy lilac eyes meeting her blue ones. "Excuse me," she asked between bites, "Are you from Maanku?"

The Story so far:

Lienna had just opened her mouth to reply when her new companion, Amalia, was rudely interrupted by a sobbing Earth Gem. She watched their exchange with her head high, remarking that while Amalia was kind and generous for consoling the girl, she herself might not have tolerated such hysterics so easily.

Amalia gave the girl a lovely speech about perseverance and positivity, and Lienna couldn't help but notice that it sounded somehow rehearsed, as if Amalia herself had been repeating the words to herself as well as others. No doubt she had, but Lienna couldn't blame her; she did the same with her own favourite proverbs. They were good teachings in any case, if a bit idealistic.

"Be still," Lienna hissed to the girl, "You think the gods have abandoned us? Tell me: when the sun sets, do you lose faith in the morning?"

Lienna reached for her cup, focusing her gaze on the food before her but still directing her words to the girl. "Where I come from, the sun goes down for months at a time; if we lost faith in it, we would never survive the night."

Leaving the girl to quiver in Amalia's arms, Lienna turned her attention back to their former conversation. "A pleasure, Amalia. My name is Lienna. I'm from Hima, in the farthest reaches of the North." She offered Amalia a half smile and a glance as she reached for a bun with a sweet-looking glaze. "Forgive me for mistaking you, you look so much like a Northerner I could have sworn you had to be one."

"Besides," she continued, grinning darkly, "You couldn't have been from Hima; you're much too pretty to have survived."

She took a bite of her bun nonchalantly before continuing, having to pause a moment as she struggled to chew, and using the time to scope out the table for any herbs worth steeping.

"And yes," she continued when her mouth was no longer full, "Of course I pray, though mainly to Naia. I mean no disrespect, but I've found her wisdom to be the most potent. Of course..."

She paused and called the water in her cup to her, smirking smartly and twisting it in the air like a ribbon over the table.

"...I may be biased."

Lienna was quite enjoying her chat with Amalia. It was the first time in... Oh, it must have been years, that she'd been able to have an intelligent conversation with someone, and Water gems such as herself craved that sort of connection. Her comment about worshiping multiple gods almost made Lienna laugh. How absurd! Of course one could pray to two gods. It was practically required - after all, it simply would not do to revere the Children without paying respects to the Mother. It would not do not to thank Pyrus for the fire that warmed their homes, or acknowledge Auram for the wind which sculpted the tundra, even if Naia was the goddess whom she most honoured.

Amalia's next words, however, were bittersweet. What she said about Water gems was touching, but she went on to vent her woes. It was true, the land they'd been thrust into had been forsaken by Vivari herself, never intended to house her most precious children. It was a hostile land, not just in its harsh climate and vicious wildlife; no, the land itself felt sick, like it would suck the life from any who dared venture too close. It had an oppressive aura that hung in the air like a rancid fog. Gems were not meant to be here.

Amalia's sorrow saddened Lienna in turn, and she truly felt for her. She had begun to reach out a hand in comfort when the hall was interrupted by a hard voice, commanding them to bow.

There it was, then. The deciding moment. Steadily, Lienna rose from her seat. She did not tremble. She did not weep. She did not question it. Instead, she knelt the way they did at home, before the Council, settling on her knees and lowering her face parallel to the floor with her hands supporting her. She closed her eyes.

Water always finds a way.

She did raise her head a little when the ruckus began, sparing a peek or two around the room, observing which Gems stood, which did not. To most of the defiant ones, she allowed little more than a judgemental glance. The purple-haired girl who wore a sash should have known to expect a punishment; the ones who stood, the one who was made an example of, they had let their petty desires cloud their judgement, and had only made things worse for themselves as a result. Perhaps they thought they had won their little victories, but Lienna was not convinced. One had been beaten, others had been stripped or mutilated. What had been gained here? Could they not see they were only playing into the hands of their captors? Why give them the satisfaction?

However, when she noticed that Amalia had remained standing, Lienna's heart couldn't help but soften a touch. She could tell that Amalia wasn't trying to make a show of bravado like the other foolish girls; no, even from their brief conversation, Lienna knew she was smarter than that. Why, then, hadn't she knelt? Why had she let this fate befall her?

When they were ushered out, Lienna tried to fall in step with her breakfast companion, but she seemed so consumed by her pain that she scarcely noticed. There, too, was the fact that Lienna was frightened to offer aid in plain view of the drakken, lest the same fate befall her.

No, she couldn't help her. Not yet. As cruel as it may have sounded to someone else, Lienna knew that to survive this, she had to put herself first for once. Hadn't she earned a touch of self interest? The gods themselves had watched her work for it for years. Her heart still hurt for her companion, but she couldn't jeopardize herself to offer aid that she could never give before punishment befell her, too. She just couldn't justify it.



As the day wore on, the Gems of Shadow Worth were subjected to such "lessons" as hours of blasphemy of the highest order, during which their keepers scorned the Great Mother and the elemental gods, disparaging them as weak and conniving and greedy. Lienna was insulted, but not moved. She was willing to obey them, to bow to them, to behave and make the most out of however little her new life had to offer, but her faith was strong. It would not be rocked by the insults of scorned, bitter children.

Their lesson on childbirth, however, was a different tale altogether. Lienna knew that Gems in her village had regularly died in childbirth, and that was with normal infants, infants who were made for and belonged in the Gem womb. These Drakkan children, it seemed, would be nub-horned monsters the moment they were born. Lienna's hand had instinctively gone to her abdomen during that lesson; she had felt her guts twisting at the thought.

Finally, the day ended and they were ushered back to the hall. Lienna forced herself to eat (though she was still a tad queasy) and, while she sat with Amalia again (well, sat near where she stood) she couldn't seem to get a peep out of the poor girl. So, having eaten her fill, Lienna allowed herself to be herded back to the rooms for the night.

Sleep came like an old friend, but stayed like an unwelcome intruder. The sounds she'd heard at breakfast, the things she'd learned about childbirth, the blasphemy drilled into their heads; it all swirled in her mind, haunting her.

The second Aurelia closed her chamber door, she leaned against it and dropped her confident façade, breaking into quiet laughter. Only then did she notice her heart pounding, the butterflies in her stomach, the rush of adrenaline from what she'd pulled. Her handmaids made their way into her bedroom via the discreet staff passages, all with mixes of horror and shock on their faces, only to find their mistress in a fit of giggles by the door.

What she'd done had been crazy, and so far outside of the acceptable behaviour of women of her stature, but she couldn't help but be childishly proud of herself. Not only had it been great fun to watch Ser Asher squirm, but it had been

The second Aurelia closed her chamber door, she leaned against it and dropped her confident façade, breaking into quiet laughter. Only then did she notice her heart pounding, the butterflies in her stomach, the rush of adrenaline from what she'd pulled. Her handmaids made their way into her bedroom via the discreet staff passages, all with mixes of horror and shock on their faces, only to find their mistress in a fit of giggles by the door.

What she'd done had been crazy, and so far outside of the acceptable behaviour of women of her stature, but she couldn't help but be childishly proud of herself. Not only had it been great fun to watch Ser Asher squirm, but it had been exciting. Come to think of it, it was the first time anyone aside from her closest staff had ever seen her naked. And yet she'd done it, prowling over to him, barely covered, close enough to smell him, close enough that he could have touched her. Yet, the binds of duty, invisible as they were, were strong. That was what excited her most, knowing that she could pull such stunts without repercussion, that size and strength mattered not when one held the power of the crown.

It was exhilarating.

She rode her adrenaline high only as long as it took her to get ready for bed, egged on by the buzz of excitement from her handmaids as they chattered giddily about what they'd just seen. By the time they had stopped, the novelty of the situation had quite outlasted its welcome. It had been a fun distraction, but it was only a matter of time before Aurelia's thoughts returned to her future, and dread crept back into her gut.

She dismissed her handmaids, telling the most senior of them to send word the moment her father became available, and was suddenly plunged into solitude. It had never bothered her much - in fact, after a day surrounded by hovering attendants it was usually quite welcome - but the silence that came with it disturbed her. Without the quiet chatter of her attendants, or at least the faint sounds of them going about their chores, Aurelia had nothing to distract her from the gravity of her situation.

She knew she should sleep, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Even if she thought she could fall asleep in the first place (which she doubted, given the quivering in her gut) she didn't want to miss her father before he retired himself. So, Aurelia decided to abandon her bed for the time being and take up a place on her favourite lounge, taking with her a book of poetry she'd loved since childhood.

However, when her chamber door quietly opened only about an hour later, Aurelia had fallen victim to the exhaustion of stress, and somehow managed to fall asleep, curled up in her chair. It was then that her father crept in, as gently and quietly as his old bones would let him, and took a seat on a nearby couch, not wanting to disturb her. When she awoke a few minutes later, he offered her a sad smile, and her eyes welled up with tears.

The two talked for some time, Aurelia moving to sit closer to him. She held her father's hand, embraced him. They each took turns in tears, laughter, and quiet conversation, until the sky began to lighten with the oncoming dawn. It was only then, having said everything she thought she could have said, that Aurelia willingly slept, and her father crept out one last time.

Amalia woke to pain. It seemed that was her whole world now. It was still dark outside but the first light of dawn could be seen blushing the sky. Amalia wrapped her blanket around her and went to stand at the small window, looking out at the few stars beginning to wink out. Much like the will of the more headstrong girls here would begin to fade out before disappearing altogether.
Putting weight on her heels made her wince, but it was at least bearable. She ran her fingers through her hair, attempting to make it presentable. Would it be too much to request something to comb her hair with? Probably. Best not to ask for anything. Better to wait until they felt like providing it.

The door was thrown open as rudely as the day before, but it was expected. Amalia followed the other women to the dining hall, biting her lip to keep from whimpering with every step.
Unlike the fruits and brightly colored offerings from the day before, now she only saw meats and other heavy foods of the Drakken. The smell of it made her sick to her stomach. She had never eaten meat before. Her father's land had been on the sea so fish had abounded, along with vegetables and some fruit traded with other nearby holdings. But meat? They had never had a need for it. What was she to do? She couldn't not eat. But she also didn't want to become ill.
One guard eyed her sharply as she hesitated over the meat. Not wanting to get into any more trouble Amalia put some on her plate along with bread. Most Gems were eating the meat without issue. Amalia's stomach lurched at the sight of the fatty juice dripping onto the plates. The smell was offputting as well, not enticing to her in the slightest.

Her eyes scanned the room and she spotted the girl from the day before, Lienna. Amalia felt terrible. She had been in so much pain the day before that she had not responded when Lienna tried to speak to her. It had been so rude and that was one thing Amalia never wanted to be.

Carefully making her way over, Amalia sat across from Lienna.
"Please forgive me. My pain distracted me yesterday and I fear I ignored you. I am so very sorry. It was unintentional, please believe me."

She looked around at the other Gems who were eating the meat and swallowed past her suddenly very dry throat. "Have you... ever eaten this?" she asked, then realized how strange the question must have sounded. "My home was by the sea. We ate fish and vegetables and sometimes fruit. I have never had meat before," she explained, poking at it with her fork. "Will this make me ill?"

After a few minutes talking with Lienna a hush fell over the room as the warden entered. Amalia paled, if such a thing was even possible with her fair skin. Her heels pained her too much to leap up quickly to kneel. What if she was punished again?
Panicked, Amalia leaned over the bench she sat upon with her face near the seat, praying it was enough to avoid angering the Drakken.
Her fears were unfounded. He barely acknowledged the women as he passed by. Amalia sat upright again, her hands shaking with a mixture of anxiety and relief. His announcement was a shock to say the least. A hot spring? And they were being allowed to enjoy it? To actually enjoy something?
Amalia looked at Lienna with fearful worry. What if it was a trick? A cruel joke to excite them only to dash their hopes? Another tactic to break down their spirits?

"What if they lie?" she whispered to Lienna, not wanting to be heard at any cost. "What if this is a veiled cruelty? Lienna," she said, reaching across to take the other woman's hand. "I am afraid. I do not want to be. I want to be strong as I was trained to be. My whole life my parents were preparing me for this, for the time I would be taken by the Drakken. But now that is has actually happened... I am so afraid."

Amalia wakes to pain and goes to breakfast. She wonders and asks Lienna if the meat will make her ill since she has never had it before. When the warden makes the hot springs announcement Amalia doesn't trust it and confides to Lienna that she is afraid.

Lienna woke with a start when a guard jolted her awake with his banging, no less surprising than it had been the day before. However, after the pounding of her heart subsided, Lienna was actually grateful for the awakening. It wasn't quite like waking from a nightmare, but a similar sense of relief washed over her when she realized that the things she'd been dreaming about - blasphemous words, vile, horned infants clawing their way out of her abdomen - she was almost happy to be met with harmless cold air and stone walls.

She shuffled to breakfast as usual, making a point to move with purpose despite the maddeningly slow pace these terrified girls insisted on taking. After all, a spring may flow along the path of least resistance, but it did so of its own accord.

Much of the exotic Gem foods from before had been replaced by Drakkan foods, Lienna noted, and while she was disappointed (after all, she wasn't thrilled about going back to dried meat after two straight weeks of the stuff) she wasn't nearly as forlorn as some of the other girls appeared to be. She supposed she could understand; for many of these girls, the colourful foods of Gemmenia were probably a precious remnant of home. As for Lienna, meats were as ordinary as it could get.

Soon after she sat down, as she looked over the table in search of choice morsels, the girl she'd spoken to the day before sat across from her, looking pained. Lienna could guess why - she'd seen the treatment she'd gotten after standing yesterday - but it piqued her interest nonetheless. Was it only the pain in her feet that was bothering her, or something else?

To Lienna's surprise, Amalia apologized profusely for her attitude the day before - something Lienna hadn't even given a second thought. Of course she'd been preoccupied! The poor girl had her heels seared and was forced to stand all day. And it wasn't as if Lienna had gone to great lengths to reach out to her. And yet, she apologized. It was a deed so odd to Lienna's ears she almost didn't know what to say.

"Don't you dare apologize," she replied, perhaps a little coldly, "Your first priority should be yourself now, tending to your own needs and seeing to it that you survive this ordeal with as little strife as possible. Don't you be casting yourself aside to worry about me."

Despite her tone, Lienna held no ill will toward Amalia. In fact, she found her empathy to be admirable, if a little misplaced. Perhaps she just had the tendency to come off a little harsh.

Amalia wasted no time changing the subject. It was as if she were as uncomfortable with apologies as Lienna was.

"Have you... ever eaten this?" Amalia asked, "My home was by the sea. We ate fish and vegetables and sometimes fruit. I have never had meat before," she explained, poking at it with her fork. "Will this make me ill?"

Lienna had to fight down the urge to furrow her brow in confusion. This girl had never eaten meat before? In her life? She almost laughed out loud. Meat was almost all there was in the North, aside from the occasional fish and the valuable herbs which could be wrenched from the frozen forests.

She couldn't help but smile, and picked a few strips of dried meat from a nearby platter, as well as some much fresher, steaming cuts of what looked to be some sort of wild dog. She heaped most of the fresh meat onto her own plate, glancing longingly at the juices that quickly flooded it, and handed a strip of dried meat to her friend.

"Unless Drakkan meats are uniquely toxic, I am sure none of this will hurt you." she gestured with the dried meat, beckoning Amalia to take it. "Here, start with this. It will be easier on your stomach at first."

Lienna then took a bite of her own food, taking a moment to savour it. Drakkan or not, she had to admit it was good. "In fact," she added after swallowing, "You're probably better off eating this than some of the food in Hima. Do you know it's a delicacy to bury seal flanks in the ground all winter and eat them in the spring?"

She laughed. "The elders of the Council swore by it, but I could never get past the rancid fat. Awful stuff." She screwed up her face for good measure.

Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately for Amalia), Lienna's best excuse for banter was cut off by an announcement by the head Drakkan of Shadow Worth. Apparently, in their boundless kindness, they were offering the Gems a day in the hot springs.

Lienna's gut reaction was optimistic; Amalia's was one of fear.

"What if they lie?" Amalia whispered, "What if this is a veiled cruelty? Lienna," she said, reaching across to take the other woman's hand. "I am afraid. I do not want to be. I want to be strong as I was trained to be. My whole life my parents were preparing me for this, for the time I would be taken by the Drakken. But now that is has actually happened... I am so afraid."

Lienna couldn't help but be moved by the poor girl's plea. She grasped her hand, placing her other on top of it. She paused, unsure of what she could say to ease Amalia's mind. It took her a moment to come up with an answer.

"There are things in life which no one and nothing could ever prepare us for," she replied finally. "You can't just wish away your fear. I don't know what's to come of this, of any of it, now or in the days to come. All I know is that fighting a riptide will only serve to drown you."

She locked her eyes on Amalia's, making sure that Amalia met her gaze. "All you can do is take things as they come. Don't fight it. Comply, and in doing so, preserve yourself.

"You wish to be strong? Some of these girls think they are strong with their acts of defiance, their petty outbursts which only serve to hurt them in the end. No, the strong choice is to do everything in your power to help yourself." Lienna squeezed Amalia's hand. "If you bend, they cannot break you."