For the record, I actually would really like to get ahold of Timmy and Elodie and bring the whole crew barging in on Samael as the last part of today's story. I think it would be hilarious when they bring Elodie as a BOGO and then there could be a confrontation between her and Samael.
Anarion
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Kazelia must have been very good at going places that she didn't belong, I thought. She certainly wasn't supposed to be here with me now. She was under Oberon's protection. He was very dashing. A bit much sometimes, I thought, quite loud, but he was the embodiment of one of those pieces of truth in the universe and that made him someone special. It doesn't matter to me, of course, whether that truth is the unbridled arrogance of the cold and the dark that believes it owns something or whether it's a shining heart that believes bonds of friendship and light transcend all worlds. At least, I don't think it matters to me? It feels like maybe it will start mattering sometime soon, as I sit here and watch myself, or watch Kazelia moving about lost in the dark.
Back then, you see, her heart was still buried. She was so subsumed in Oberon's truth that it was hard to reach anything else. The only reason I could do that at all was that she had come here unannounced, without the usual entourage that Oberon brought with him, and without his regalia of power to fix his will into all the travelers.
But without that, I got to look into Kazelia. Really look. I'm very good at seeing all the falseness of people, you see. She was full of jealousy when she wandered in here, but all I had to do was pick at one little thread to see that jealousy was nothing but the product of living with Azora and Oberon for so long. It was hardly core to Kazelia, and as soon as you pulled that tiny gauze of association off of her, it was gone like so much dust blown away on a sunless wind.
It was odd though. I hadn't seen a case like this one in a very long time. I was all ready to tell her that there was simply nothing to her at all. I'd picked apart her loyalty (magically induced, worthless) and her training (nothing but drills). I enjoyed the taste of her wanderlust, but that had been imposed on her and she had not, at least at that time, adopted it in her heart, there was no joy in it yet you see, and so it wasn't real. But right when I thought I was done, there was something that my searching little fingernail bounced off of. That was rare, you know. Less than one in a thousand who visited me. But it happened. This though, it was an odd case. Kazelia didn't know she had it, you see. Normally I receive some kind of defense. There's a dialogue, I pick apart the threads, and the person sees that core of themselves and lets me glimpse their truth, if they have one. But Kazelia, she had one without knowing it herself. That must have been Oberon's influence. Her passion was buried beneath his shadow.
Hmm, yes, that seemed a cruelty even to me. Truth should not be hidden, it was a rare enough thing without trying to stamp it down. I really didn't like that. I don't like that. I believe in passion and freedom you see. I do now. Maybe I always have. I knew that the girl there needed something special. She needed to feel something to unlock that passion within her. Ah how rare indeed for me, of all things in the universe, to think about adding something to a person. And yet, I knew that she needed to feel and few emotions were permitted to her. So I took away the stars from her. I do that for many riders, but they see the falling stars in their eyes, the strange light and darkness of the void. From Kazelia, I took them all, a sight robbed from her that would leave a keening pain in her heart.
I cannot say that I can see the future, but then again, this is the past so it's not at all a difficult vision. She would feel that pain, that loss dearly. She would ask her father about it, and Oberon, who did love his favorite daughters in his way, would promise her that she could get them back. He would plant a seed for her, a seed that would become anger and frustration. She would go somewhere full of magic and expect more and she would see her father fail and realize that he was not everything to her, could never be everything to her. Nourishment for a seed within a heart that would admire a flame and beat an ancient song. I could hear it, can hear it now, so gentle and so strong. Pulsing with the flame in our heart.
I took her stars and sent her back, even as her sister thought to tackle her and remove the book from her hands. And the rest, as we say, is history.
Back then, you see, her heart was still buried. She was so subsumed in Oberon's truth that it was hard to reach anything else. The only reason I could do that at all was that she had come here unannounced, without the usual entourage that Oberon brought with him, and without his regalia of power to fix his will into all the travelers.
But without that, I got to look into Kazelia. Really look. I'm very good at seeing all the falseness of people, you see. She was full of jealousy when she wandered in here, but all I had to do was pick at one little thread to see that jealousy was nothing but the product of living with Azora and Oberon for so long. It was hardly core to Kazelia, and as soon as you pulled that tiny gauze of association off of her, it was gone like so much dust blown away on a sunless wind.
It was odd though. I hadn't seen a case like this one in a very long time. I was all ready to tell her that there was simply nothing to her at all. I'd picked apart her loyalty (magically induced, worthless) and her training (nothing but drills). I enjoyed the taste of her wanderlust, but that had been imposed on her and she had not, at least at that time, adopted it in her heart, there was no joy in it yet you see, and so it wasn't real. But right when I thought I was done, there was something that my searching little fingernail bounced off of. That was rare, you know. Less than one in a thousand who visited me. But it happened. This though, it was an odd case. Kazelia didn't know she had it, you see. Normally I receive some kind of defense. There's a dialogue, I pick apart the threads, and the person sees that core of themselves and lets me glimpse their truth, if they have one. But Kazelia, she had one without knowing it herself. That must have been Oberon's influence. Her passion was buried beneath his shadow.
Hmm, yes, that seemed a cruelty even to me. Truth should not be hidden, it was a rare enough thing without trying to stamp it down. I really didn't like that. I don't like that. I believe in passion and freedom you see. I do now. Maybe I always have. I knew that the girl there needed something special. She needed to feel something to unlock that passion within her. Ah how rare indeed for me, of all things in the universe, to think about adding something to a person. And yet, I knew that she needed to feel and few emotions were permitted to her. So I took away the stars from her. I do that for many riders, but they see the falling stars in their eyes, the strange light and darkness of the void. From Kazelia, I took them all, a sight robbed from her that would leave a keening pain in her heart.
I cannot say that I can see the future, but then again, this is the past so it's not at all a difficult vision. She would feel that pain, that loss dearly. She would ask her father about it, and Oberon, who did love his favorite daughters in his way, would promise her that she could get them back. He would plant a seed for her, a seed that would become anger and frustration. She would go somewhere full of magic and expect more and she would see her father fail and realize that he was not everything to her, could never be everything to her. Nourishment for a seed within a heart that would admire a flame and beat an ancient song. I could hear it, can hear it now, so gentle and so strong. Pulsing with the flame in our heart.
I took her stars and sent her back, even as her sister thought to tackle her and remove the book from her hands. And the rest, as we say, is history.
"You're not...you can't be serious." Annalee lets out a long sigh. The kind of long-suffering sigh that lets a whole extremely long day pile up on itself all at once like a sack of rocks. She's ready to just relax, but master Samael needs to see Timothy and she needs to find him. She had been right there! Right! There! But no, somehow he had been invisible at the time. And now that she knows where he is (or where he was at this point, though she was sure he'd be near Elodie after that little run-in) now there were obstacles. Hells below, did people who couldn't fly have to do this every time they came to the school?
"I'm an enrolled student, I was tossed outside the walls with a werewolf along with that spider girl you just let inside, and I've got an errand from both one of the TAs and the Angel, so get out of the way and let me inside." She gives the sphinx a look that says I am extremely tired and it is a bad time to mess with me.
"I'm an enrolled student, I was tossed outside the walls with a werewolf along with that spider girl you just let inside, and I've got an errand from both one of the TAs and the Angel, so get out of the way and let me inside." She gives the sphinx a look that says I am extremely tired and it is a bad time to mess with me.
Plus. Y'know. Never a bad idea to give emotional teenagers an open-ended question to try and answer. :D
I believe what you meant to say is that this is a bad idea in 100% of situations and nobody should ever do it.
deleted text for accidental double post
It was...another book. Hidden in a secret compartment. Kazelia looks disappointed. “Another book? You’ve got an entire library, and yet you went ‘oh I know, I’ll stick something in my secret compartment because I’m just out of room for books now?’” Kazelia rolls her eyes, kicks the elven sage again for good measure and picks up the book to take a look at what the big deal is, since she’s standing right there.
“No dont!” Azora shouts, but Kazelia has already flipped it open, too late, too late. You see, the sage was doing a better job than Kazelia had been giving him credit for. He had been napping the stars every night for a long time on his little world. Where they were. And...where they weren’t. This book was a book of absences, a chronicle of the spaces in the void. And as such it was an attempt to give shape to the shapeless, to map the nothingness that was and was not Mother void all at once.
When this had happened the first time, Kazelia had found herself standing before Mother. This had been the moment when she had lost the stars, traded them for a piece of that great darkness that she could call her own. Her magic had grown here, moved past parlor tricks to that great and terrible darkness that had sat within her all that time. And then Azora had snatched the book from her hands before she learn more, had sent Kazelia flying away from that book and pinned her to a wall with invisible bonds of force. She had left Kazelia like that, arms and legs splayed out in a V shape above and below her. Then Azora had murdered the elf and wiped the minds of every member of Kazelia’s unit present there. She had left her sister alone in that place for a full nigjt, until her magic had worn off with the wan, pale sunrise on that dying world.
Things might be a little different this time though. After all, Mother is already here and Kazelia’s heart and soul are different. Perhaps nothing happens when she touches that book. Or perhaps she relives that memory and she’s ready for Azora this time, conscious of herself in two different planes at once. Or perhaps she knows better than to pick it up at all this time and bows subserviently to her sister at the last moment instead. What do you think?
“No dont!” Azora shouts, but Kazelia has already flipped it open, too late, too late. You see, the sage was doing a better job than Kazelia had been giving him credit for. He had been napping the stars every night for a long time on his little world. Where they were. And...where they weren’t. This book was a book of absences, a chronicle of the spaces in the void. And as such it was an attempt to give shape to the shapeless, to map the nothingness that was and was not Mother void all at once.
When this had happened the first time, Kazelia had found herself standing before Mother. This had been the moment when she had lost the stars, traded them for a piece of that great darkness that she could call her own. Her magic had grown here, moved past parlor tricks to that great and terrible darkness that had sat within her all that time. And then Azora had snatched the book from her hands before she learn more, had sent Kazelia flying away from that book and pinned her to a wall with invisible bonds of force. She had left Kazelia like that, arms and legs splayed out in a V shape above and below her. Then Azora had murdered the elf and wiped the minds of every member of Kazelia’s unit present there. She had left her sister alone in that place for a full nigjt, until her magic had worn off with the wan, pale sunrise on that dying world.
Things might be a little different this time though. After all, Mother is already here and Kazelia’s heart and soul are different. Perhaps nothing happens when she touches that book. Or perhaps she relives that memory and she’s ready for Azora this time, conscious of herself in two different planes at once. Or perhaps she knows better than to pick it up at all this time and bows subserviently to her sister at the last moment instead. What do you think?
The @Sarasylph post was an emotional rollercoaster.
Kazelia gives the elf a kick and then uses her newly positioned toe to unceremoniously roll him over. He curls up in his brown cloak, instinct leading him to try and shelter himself in the only way he still can. Kazelia frowns in disgust, but doesn't kick him any further. If he blacks out, he'll be of even less value than he current is, if such a thing were even possible.
"I cannot for the life of me understand how these people can call you a 'sage' when all you've got are a handful of spyglasses and a few shelves of dusty books. You haven't even managed to map the void correctly, and this list of so-called 'constellations' is worthless. I can only assume you're hiding something, so I'm going to give you one last chance to tell me what you've really been doing here. I hope for your sake that you've got something to offer. My sister is far less kind than I am, and you'll wish I'd simply stabbed you long before she's done."
Azora had always been creative. In her punishments, of course, but really in everything. Kazelia didn't really remember a time before traveling in service to Oberon, but somehow she knew that Azora had been the first of them to learn how to cook own and for a time she had done all the cooking for the whole family because she was a wizard in the kitchen. She kept coming up with new combinations of spices and making all sorts of cakes and pies that even delighted Oberon. Kazelia couldn't have told you this now, but it was one of the few times that he had genuinely smiled in those days, a strange delight in the actual thing mixed with a sense of possession in this, a most ingenious daughter who was completely his lighting up his face in those moments. Briefly, of course. Oberon was never content with his things.
That vague memory just made Kazelia more frustrated here. Azora was busy directing the searchers and Kazelia was confident her sister would find something of value in this idiotic observatory. The idea that Azora could have directed them somewhere that was a waste of time didn't even cross Kazelia's mind (it might have a few hundred years prior, but after spending a month with only one arm while the other sat perfectly preserved in the freezing void she had been convinced never to think it again). Instead, Kazelia's rising worry was that she would fail to produce anything useful and Azora would have to be the one to find value in the place herself. That would lower Kazelia in her sister's estimation, perhaps even cause her to lose favor as the second-best in favor of Eska or perhaps Morgina. Azora had always liked Morgina for her loyalty. That wasn't acceptable when Kazelia was this close to another lesson on matter-shaping from such a master.
The elf groaned and Kazelia used a magical wind to lift him up, not deigning to touch him herself. "Tell me now, or you will greatly regret it."
"I cannot for the life of me understand how these people can call you a 'sage' when all you've got are a handful of spyglasses and a few shelves of dusty books. You haven't even managed to map the void correctly, and this list of so-called 'constellations' is worthless. I can only assume you're hiding something, so I'm going to give you one last chance to tell me what you've really been doing here. I hope for your sake that you've got something to offer. My sister is far less kind than I am, and you'll wish I'd simply stabbed you long before she's done."
Azora had always been creative. In her punishments, of course, but really in everything. Kazelia didn't really remember a time before traveling in service to Oberon, but somehow she knew that Azora had been the first of them to learn how to cook own and for a time she had done all the cooking for the whole family because she was a wizard in the kitchen. She kept coming up with new combinations of spices and making all sorts of cakes and pies that even delighted Oberon. Kazelia couldn't have told you this now, but it was one of the few times that he had genuinely smiled in those days, a strange delight in the actual thing mixed with a sense of possession in this, a most ingenious daughter who was completely his lighting up his face in those moments. Briefly, of course. Oberon was never content with his things.
That vague memory just made Kazelia more frustrated here. Azora was busy directing the searchers and Kazelia was confident her sister would find something of value in this idiotic observatory. The idea that Azora could have directed them somewhere that was a waste of time didn't even cross Kazelia's mind (it might have a few hundred years prior, but after spending a month with only one arm while the other sat perfectly preserved in the freezing void she had been convinced never to think it again). Instead, Kazelia's rising worry was that she would fail to produce anything useful and Azora would have to be the one to find value in the place herself. That would lower Kazelia in her sister's estimation, perhaps even cause her to lose favor as the second-best in favor of Eska or perhaps Morgina. Azora had always liked Morgina for her loyalty. That wasn't acceptable when Kazelia was this close to another lesson on matter-shaping from such a master.
The elf groaned and Kazelia used a magical wind to lift him up, not deigning to touch him herself. "Tell me now, or you will greatly regret it."
Have some tasty Baba Yaga background while Annalee prowls.
Annalee is beginning to wonder just how one normally gets into Sleepshy Academy. Baba Sockolov had flown her into the castle the first time (she was absolutely going to learn how to mount a cauldron properly, but Baba insisted that she needed to gain her freshmen fifteen first, otherwise the cauldron would laugh and just throw her off of it because her thighs weren't strong enough). Right, castle entrance. How did the people who couldn't fly get inside?
She starts circling. She hopes maybe G'eldriia heard her and will know a way in now that she's not worried about avoiding the Angel. The spider quiz captain seemed entirely motivated by avoiding punishment as much as possible, so doing exactly what the Angel wanted seemed like it would be right up her alley. If not, Annalee was pretty done with her for now, and was simply going to walk away and circle the place. No way was she climbing those slippery stones, she'd had enough injuries already and she bruised very easily (this was also a reason Baba said she couldn't fly a cauldron yet).
Ugh, this was so frustrating. She finally had a bead on Timmy and it had been RIGHT WHERE SHE WAS. Oh she was going to get whoever had been hiding him, mark her words. She just needed to find a way into this dumb castle. If she didn't find something soon, she was going to have to just blow a hole into the dungeons.
She starts circling. She hopes maybe G'eldriia heard her and will know a way in now that she's not worried about avoiding the Angel. The spider quiz captain seemed entirely motivated by avoiding punishment as much as possible, so doing exactly what the Angel wanted seemed like it would be right up her alley. If not, Annalee was pretty done with her for now, and was simply going to walk away and circle the place. No way was she climbing those slippery stones, she'd had enough injuries already and she bruised very easily (this was also a reason Baba said she couldn't fly a cauldron yet).
Ugh, this was so frustrating. She finally had a bead on Timmy and it had been RIGHT WHERE SHE WAS. Oh she was going to get whoever had been hiding him, mark her words. She just needed to find a way into this dumb castle. If she didn't find something soon, she was going to have to just blow a hole into the dungeons.
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