"Oh, they are, are they? Wanna go out and see them? I could use a bit of a break." He responded, closing the book he was reading. When he stood, he stretching his deep grey wings, the hints of gold at the edges of the feathers showing his large amount of Hvierd. He was getting tall. He was almost as tall as Mama despite only being 14.
"Yess!!" She exclaimed, running over and running over and hugging her brother around the waist, then grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the door.
"Let's go! Let's go! Hurry up!" She said.
"Alright, alright! Slow down a moment, let me take my spectacles off!" He said with a laugh, quickly grabbing the jade spectacles that were resting on his nose and placing them on the table. They were a gift from the Lorekeepers to celebrate his initiation. She remembered that day, he was all smiles, she'd never seen him so happy before, except when he was telling her one of his stories.
They ran outside, the light of the Sky Father, Fagra-Hvel, bathing the land in its warmth. As they looked up, she saw them, drifting across the sky. The Flutter-Fluff! Roughly about 2 dozen of them.
She loved the Flutter-Fluff; they were so cute! With their long ears, poofy wool, and their little cotton tails like clouds made of afla fuff. As they flew through the sky, their wool expanded outwards as they descended slowly. Then, somehow, it constricted, forcing all the air out and shooting them up into the air, a small golden pulse accompanying each propulsion.
Her brother picked her up and placed her on his shoulders. She laughed. The little giggle made óeinn smile. This smile was her favorite. It was gentle and soft, like him! Father was soft too, but that was because he was fat. But óeinn was soft because he was óeinn! And also, unlike Father, óeinn had soft hands! Father's hands were all rough and coarse when he touched her, just like the wood Mama used for her handles. Well, before Mama made them smooth like stone.
"Do you tink Mama caught any Flutter-Fluff today? I'd love some soup!" Caecilia asked her brother, playing with his hair, pulling the strands apart and stroking the down inside.
"Couldn't even begin to guess. She said she was hunting Afla, ours aren't able to be sheared yet, and she said she needed the wool for-" óeinn cut himself off, as if he said something he shouldn't have. Suspicious.
"óeinn... What are you and Mama plottin dis time?" She asked, poking the top of his head multiple times to make her point.
"Did I ever tell you the story of The Great Aerrabbit?" He asked, clearly trying to change the subject. No! Not today! She would not let herself-
"It was the first-ever Flutter-Fluff! A gift from Fagra-Hvel himself to us! Haven't you ever wondered why the pulse with his light whenever they float?" Continued óeinn. And she promptly let herself get swept up into another story of his, forgetting the suspicious comment from before entirely.
Time passed as he told the story. The tale of a creature from the world of man. A creature given power to claim the skies and join them in Elysium. A tale full of wonder. This was before their people had met the humans, before the great betrayal. They had risen from the Ether below, appearing through the mist like a great creature bigger than the capital island, one made of tens of thousands of Flutter-Fluffs. It was said that they traveled in unison for a long time before StórAeils-Hvalr broke them into the herds they travel in now, spreading them across the land.
By the time the story had finished, the Flutter-Fluff herd had moved on, passing out of sight, but Caecilia still stared into the distance where they had gone, mesmerized by the idea of a giant group of them. A group of them so large that it could rival even the biggest place she knew of? Mind-boggling.
"But there are some tales that say that instead of the Flutter-Fluff coming from the land of men, it was actually men who took the Flutter-Fluff from us, taking their flight and restricting them to the ground, calling them 'Rabbits', for they had removed the Aer from their souls." óeinn finished, but Caecilia was distracted by the familiar sounds of the front door opening, followed by heavy footfalls.
"Where are my little ones?" A booming voice echoed from inside the house. It was Father! His voice was as if thunder were kind.
"Father is home!" Caecilia shouted, falling backwards off óeinn's back, letting her wings glide her backwards towards the house, throwing the door open, and sprinting inside.
"Father! Father! óeinn and I watched a Flutter-Fluff herd! They flew around and disappeared over the ridge!" She continued jumping up and hugging her father around the neck, feeling the softness of his chest and belly, firm muscle buried underneath all that squish, and the scratchiness of his short beard against her head.
"Oh? Did you now? Sounds like you've had a nice day!" He said, wrapping his hands around her. And giving her a small kiss on the forehead.
"But remember, Lia, you need to try not to distract him from his studies. That brother of yours is doing his best to become a great lorekeeper, just like your Uncle Mim." Oh? Father didn't talk much about Uncle Mim. Father hadn't even seen his brother since before óeinn was born. He said it was something about 'needing to protect father'. She'd heard Mama and Father talking about it one night when they thought she and óeinn were asleep.
"Yes Father..." Caecilia grumbled, dropping to the floor and trying to land. Instead, her wing clipped the edge of a table, and she tumbled to the floor, banging her chin and elbow on it. Before she knew what was happening, her father was stooping, checking on her, making sure she was okay.
"Lia! Are you okay? Does it hurt? Oh sweetheart, please be okay-" He was always like this! She was almost 5 now! She wasn't a baby. He'd never treated óeinn like this...
"Let me heal that, give me just a moment." He continued, placing a finger and thumb on her chin and pouring some of his Hvierd into her. As always, it wasn't very effective, even if it did help it sting less. But that being said, it was always really pretty seeing Father's hair down glow its distinct silver-blue. She didn't have the blue, but the silver was the same silver of her wings! Dark and metallic. She was the only person in her family with fully metal-looking wings, and it made her feel special!
"I'm okay, Father! I'm not a baby! I'm a big womma now!" She yelled in protest, standing up, feeling a little wobbly after hitting her chin. His face was terrified for a moment, but he managed to cover it well, giving her a smile.
"You sure are Lia." He said, ruffling her hair and standing up. He leaned back to stretch, then breathed in deeply, and Caecilia heard a few pops from his back.
"Now, have either of you seen your mother? She said she'd be back by about this time..." Father asked, addressing both her and óeinn, who had walked in through the door that Caecilia had sprinted through only moments before. They both shook their heads and gave varying degrees of "No" or "nuh-uh".
At that moment, Caecilia thought she might have heard a slight sound, but in reality, óeinn was probably just stretching his wings. Father looked over at him, and his eyebrows raised a slight fraction before a tiny smile crossed his face.
"Well, if neither of you has seen her, perhaps... óeinn, would you mind looking outside for her?" Father said, thinking visibly. Something about his tone was a bit strange, as if it was a bit more exaggerated than usual.
"You're strange Father." She responded, accenting the sound of her brother walking out the door. She wasn't looking at him, but knowing óeinn he probably waved a quiet 'goodbye' or something.
"Now that's not nice, you might hurt this old mascyl's feelings!" He said dramatically, placing one hand over his chest and the other palm-out against his forehead. After a moment, he cracked an eye and smiled at her, but she just looked up at him with a flat look.
"Oh alright, maybe I'm a bit strange, ja." He said with a chuckle, then ruffled her hair again.
"Your mother is probably the only 'normal' person in this house, all things considered." He said, then sat down at the table, a big sigh escaping his mouth, like a wind blowing through a hollow cave in an island, but with a certain... rumble to it.
Some time passed while Father brewed some tea, all the while Caecilia returned to usual pastimes of intermittently playing war with her dolls, and looking out the window longingly. She always wanted to go outside, but she wasn't allowed to without one of her family members with her. And so she just stared. Watching the clouds. Occasionally, she'd see some kind of creature fly by. She had seen some odd ones for sure. Every time she had asked about it, óeinn had either told her what it was and watched it with her for a while, or said he didn't know.
There was once, though, when she had seen an odd dark creature. It looked like a Lifandi-Vindr, except that instead of being made of soft, gentle clouds blowing people and creatures around, this one was all sharp edges and odd blue glows. When she had told óeinn, he grabbed her and pulled her away from the window very forcefully. It had scared her pretty badly. He had pulled open the hatch in the floor and hid them both away in the preserves cellar. He, even to this day, hadn't explained why he had done that. He would always just look at her a bit worried a say: "You'll know when you're older." But she would be 5 soon, and then she could know!
Eventually, óeinn and Mama returned home, and they ate dinner. Mama had caught an Afla, and had apparently already skinned it... and cooked it... When had she done that? Mama never did strange stuff like that, so this was kind of abnormal. Father and óeinn alwas called Mama "normal", but Caecilia never felt like her Mama was "normal".
Caecilia's Mama was so strong! She always told her that she had a "normal" level of Hvierd, but compared to Father and óeinn? She was AMAZING! Things Father would struggle to lift, she could pick up one-handed! Galdra performed by Mama made even óeinn's look like they were... were... Well, they were just weaker, and Mama and Father recently been saying that óeinn had really powerful Hvierd, so she never understood why his was powerful, and Mama's was "normal".
Despite the strength of her Mama's Hvierd, even she couldn't fully heal Caecilia's scrapes, though she did a lot better than Father. It tingled. "Like trying to hold water with a sieve, where does it even go?" Mama had frustratedly muttered to herself while she performed the healing Galdra on Caecilia. When she was done, the scrape on her elbow had mostly gone away; now it was just a pale spot on her arm, and she had assumed that her chin was about the same. They still ached slightly, but it was better than the stinging it was before.
She slept that night with a smile on her face, cuddled up to her parents on the shared bed in the house. It was all very cozy here. She missed when óeinn had slept with them, too, but he had a room at the hall of lore. He only stopped by home during the days when both Mama and Father would be out of the house, like today. Regardless, it was her birthday in a few days, so he had better show up, or else she's have to kick his shins! She was turning 5! And she'd been begging her parents to let her go visit the town! They always seemed to give each other this strange look whenever she asked that, but she couldn't figure out what it was. If it was anyone else, she might have assumed that it was fear, and it was true that Father sometimes got a bit scared, but Caecilia had never seen her Mama be scared of anything!
Caecilia's eyes drifted open. Her head hurt. Did she fly into another tree or something? She needed to stop doing that. Her eyes drifted around the room, but it looked unfamiliar. The wood was odd and dark. So much more brown than any wood she knew. It was actually quite pretty. She heard footsteps, and so looked over in their direction. Was that Father? That was annoying. Did he have to rescue her again? That overprotective mascyl, she really needed him to stop fussing-
"" Said the figure. Medium height, thin frame. No battle presence. A Mascyl. No wings.
No wings? Did she know anyone without-
She remembered falling, remembered WHERE she had fallen. If they didn't have any wings, that must mean this this was... A HUMAN.
She jumped, and felt at her back, searching for her wings, had they taken her wings?
No, they were still there. She breathed a sigh of relief. She still had her wings, though one was bound tightly in some sort of contraption. A cage? But why capture only one wing? No, some kind of medical device then? She stretched it experimentally, and it still hurt a lot. She figured she'd let it stay in there.
"" She didn't know what he said, but he was clearly laughing at her. That monster. She would make him pay for this-
Wait, no. This wasn't a human. That was all she needed to know. This didn't look like she had imagined them, or how they were depicted in stories. So once she realized that this wasn't a human, she was able to calm down a bit. As soon as she wasn't worried that her wings would be taken from her, she was able to take a second look around the room, now more awake and able to process everything.
As she had noted while waking up, it was made of an unfamiliar wood. It was deep and rich in color. The room itself was not all that large, with multiple exits. Two windows and a door. Not a bad place to live for sure. There was a table across from the bed, and on it was a bunch of papers. There was another table that was smaller and off to the side near the foot of the cot. Across from it was the doorway.
"Where am I?" She asked. Still checking her surroundings. She sat up to cover the motion of her covertly checking herself. She needed to see if she still had any of her weapons on her. Her side knife was gone, but she could still feel the one she kept tucked underneath her pant leg. She kept it in case she ever was in a situation where she lost her side knife, just like this one. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of leaving her Fallaite Knife in with her things. She'd have to locate it when she found her bag. She'd spent a whole jade piece on that!
Seeing that there was no response from the strange-looking not-human that was sitting on the bed, she decided to address him directly.
"Who are you?" As she asked, she examined him a bit closer. After only a few moments, she recognized that he really wasn't a human. His hair was not only strangely thin, almost like down, it was a shade of orange that she had never seen before for hair. Bright, but with odd stripes of black and white mixed in. He also had a strange, mostly white beard that went around the sides of his face, extending outwards from his jaw and cheeks.
The second thing she noticed was his nose. It was wide and triangular. Unlike her people, it stayed the same thickness all the way from the brow down to the tip, where it tapered down into the triangular shape. It looked somewhat similar to the nose of a flutter-fluff, but bigger, and pink. He didn't look like anything she'd ever seen before, and so it was a bit odd for her. After a few moments of staring, she could help but ask:
"...What are you?" The words slipped out as her eyes scanned him up and down. He didn't have any wings, but he did have a long, fuzzy, worm-like thing that extended from somewhere behind him. Was that some kind of tail? Maybe some kind of weapon? His hands were soft-looking without a callous in sight; more of that hair on the back and trailing down the fingers.
"" He spoke again. His voice wasn't really deep or high-pitched, but it had an unusual trilling quality to it, like the sound of a rolled "rr", but the sound came from somewhere deep inside his throat or chest. She wasn't sure how to respond, and the way he was looking at her made her feel a bit strange. She couldn't quite describe the feeling other than nervous, but not wanting to come off as rude, she did her best to smile, even if she'd never been very good at social situations.
After a moment, she realized she should probably respond, but with her not understanding what he was saying, she didn't know what she should say, so after a small second or two of deliberation, she just decided to be honest.
"I do not understand what you are saying." She apologized. In response, he held up one finger, than opened both hands and presented the palms to her in a gesture of... showing he didn't have any weapons? No, wait, that was a stilling gesture, like one would make at a child you wanted to calm down. He wasn't treating her like a child, was he? After that, he stood and walked over to a bag she hadn't noticed sitting under the bed. She wasn't great at seeing in the dark, so it had caught her off guard. Instinctively, she reached down and gripped the knife handle in her pant leg in case he was grabbing some kind of weapon.
At that same moment, there was a gentle knock on the door, and it swung open, revealing a shadowed face. Grey skin; Large, bulbous nose; heavy brow.
"INVADER!" She cried out in rage. These creatures were encroaching on her people. Invading her home above. Desecrating their holy grounds and killing them. They had shot her out of the sky, and now they had come to finish the job. She jumped up and drew the stone knife in one fluid motion, lunging at the horrific creature.
Casually, with the grace of a practiced warrior, they stepped to the side. For the tiniest moment, she detected that they had a rather practiced battle aura. A femyl. Good to know. Unfortunately, as she was preparing for a difficult fight against a likely very superior foe, she suddenly ran face-first into a wall.
The wall hadn't been there a moment ago, and with the way her head jerked backwards while her body kept moving forward, it was more like something had slammed forward into her face. Despite the dazed feeling that overtook her, she felt a vice-like grip close around her head. Then she was suddenly, violently, pulled head-first out the door and lifted into the air.
After her head cleared, she could feel a trickle of blood run from her nose. And she realized she could just barely see through a gap in what was holding her. It was some sort of armored warrior. Her massive hand was gripping Caecilia by the face. Immediately, she began to boast in order to intimidate her opponent and initiate a battle. Was this maybe a human woman?
"Armored monster! Put me down so that I can gut you like a snake!" She said, thinking of the flying serpents that swam through the air without any sort of wings. She had killed one of the small ones once, and she was incredibly proud of it. She hoped that the human; the monster; might assuming she was speaking of one of the great serpents that leveled towns and be sufficiently submissive to let her down so that she may take its head in honorable combat.
After it didn't so much as flinch, Caecilia flailed, attacking the hand and arm of the monster. Eventually, she managed to throw her dagger and it perfectly jammed itself right into one of the eyeholes of the helmet they were wearing. She had aimed for the glowing red spot she could see deep within and hit it directly! Finally, she could kill it and become a hero!
Any moment now it would drop...
...Instead of having the decency to die like any normal creature would when stabbed through the eye, it had the audacity to reach up with its other hand and casually pull the dagger out. The human then simply tossed it to the ground out of her line of sight.
Despair.
She slumped. What could she do to fight this thing? Humans truly were formidable. No wonder they were able to destroy as many of her people as they had. She was weak. She was a coward. Should she just use the gem? Run? Hide? Flee like she had when the invaders-
NO! She wasn't fleeing! She was warning the local women of the attack so that they could prepare for battle. She couldn't beat herself up about that. She had done her duty-
No, she hadn't done her duty. She had fallen from Elysium.
At that moment, the horror of what must have happened to the settlement set in. She had failed them.
Coward.
Failure.
Burden.
Runt.
Behind her, the Invader said something with their buzzing, humming voice, and the armored monster responded in some rumbling and clicking voice. She was, at the time, too deep in her own despair to pay it any heed. That is, until she felt herself being lowered... and lowered... and lowered. By the sky-father's blinding rays, how large was this thing? It was way too big to be a human, that was for sure.
She resolved herself. She'd have to knock it off balance in order to escape. With something this big, she'd have to sweep pretty hard in order to de-stabilize it. She gathered all of her Hvierd into her legs. The moment she was released from it's grasp, she kicked with all her strength at its foot.
CRACK
"Soreinn!" She cried out. There was a powerful throb in her foot which increased when she set it on the ground, but she couldn't give up. She remembered in that moment what óeinn had told her. 'Creatures in the land of men did not fly other than the small feathered ones whos wings were too small to interest the humans'. That meant that their weight would all be on their feet, meaning that if she could tackle it and knock it over, she could escape. She HAD to try.
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Without missing a beat, she lunged forward and tackled the giant. It was sturdy, like Mother.
She pushed anyway. She needed to escape, and this thing could just grab her again without her being able to stop it if she retreated.
She kept pushing, channeling her Hvierd across her body and doing everything she could to keep ahold of it without it slipping away. There was no budge. Tears welled in her eyes from the pain of her foot, as well as the other wounds she had suffered.
She felt something slow, but inevitable, grip the back of her head and pry her off. It lifted her into the air again, and after the force of her Hvierd, she felt drained.
In front of her stood the invader. This creature probably wanted to gloat at it's victory. Fine. She would bare it like she bore every other mockery in her life. All of it. But her hate would not be replaced. She would not become subservient to these monsters. She-
The person standing in front of her, the invader, didn't look the same as the ones she had seen above. Looking again now that they were standing in the light, she could see that their skin wasn't actually grey. It was a tan color, like the skin of some mascyls she had seen who spent a lot of time out in the sun. Also, the invaders above had deep, almost glowing, dark blue eyes. But this one instead had shimmering green eyes, like her brother.
"Wait, are you not an invader?" She asked, the realization softening all the stress, fear, and rage she had felt only moments before. In response to this, the person in front of her smiled warmly. Kindly. It reminded her of her brother so much-
"" The metal creature put her down gently. But by that point, with all the stress she had suffered in such a short time, her legs had lost their strength, so she was just somewhat sprawled there.
So many things flashed in her mind. She couldn't help but glance at them and look away. So many memories. Where were the humans? Wasn't this supposed to be the land of Men? This creature in front of her with the kind green eyes didn't look human. The head was too long, and the nose was far too big. And what of the thin hair covered creature who had been there when she woke up? She didn't know anything that looked like him. She felt herself begin to panic. Nothing was right. She wasn't right. She was wrong. Wrong about everything. Wrong for existing. Maybe she'd be better off not existing. Maybe-
"Who are you all? Where am I? Where am I? Where AM I?" The edges of her vision began to grow dark and blurry. She buried her face in her knees. When had she curled up into a ball? She had wrapped her arms around them. Her left wing hurt. Why did it have to hurt. Everything hurt. Why couldn't she just be a proper Femyl? She was just a Runt. A filthy, disgusting, useless Runt. Her right wing enclosed her, simultaneously hiding her and revealing her shame. Silver Wings. The only other person with metal wings that she knew was her brother with his golden trim. Gold. A beautiful metal. It reminded her of the sun. But she wasn't like that. She was just a disgusting Runt. Not worthy of gold. Not worthy to be a Valkyrie. Not worthy to live. She-
"." That humming voice again. More melodic than the invaders. She looked up and stopped repeating her question. Had she just been muttering it this whole time? As she met their eyes, she was once again reminded of her brother. She hadn't seen him in a little over a year now. With her delivery job, she hadn't been home during his last visit. She missed him. It was in that moment, with their hand outstretched like that? It reminded her-
"." They said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She jumped visibly at the touch, but then realized that something about it felt familiar... Right after she crashed... they...
This is the one who had saved her life! And she had attacked them?? No. She needed to make up for this, but with how dazed she was, she could thank them or even think, so she just nodded and let them guide her to her feet. She then retreated back into her thoughts.
Next thing she knew, the kind-eyed one was handing her a drink. She jumped again. When had she sat down? Where was she? Oh, right. She was in the building where she woke up. Everything was hazy. The drink was tasty, but she couldn't consider that at the current moment. Her head was simultaneously full of a buzzing sound of thoughts, but also feeling hollow, as if she couldn't even attempt to focus on anything specific.
Buzzing.
(where was she? This place was wonderful.)
(this place was awful. Terrible. Far away and sickening)
Just like her.
Buzzing.
(Why was she like this? Still so useless...)
(Mother could have fought that metal creature. She could have destroyed it easily.)
(Father could probably even hold his own. They were all so much better than her.)
(Why couldn't she just be strong like them? She was a failure. She was sad. She was-)
Eventually, the drink ran out. She put the cup off to the side and folded her arms, resting her chin against them and staring at the table in front of her. Was there even any purpose in thinking? All it did was make her spiral and pity herself. Had she ever been happy?
Yes, but that was all a lie. That was all fake. It was before she had known what she was. Before she knew what a runt was.
Why couldn't she have been like óeinn? Or like Mother? Or even like Father. Anyone but who she really was. A failure. A Coward. A Runt. A-
She caught a glimpse through the window. The sky was changing color. It was beautiful at first, until she realized that it was getting darker. The sunlight wasn't just moving; the shadows were overtaking the village. At that point, the sky was a shade of purple. It was beautiful but so wrong. She stood up suddenly, startling the strange-looking stranger, and dashing up to the window to look up at the sky.
"Where has Fagra-Hvel gone??" Caecilia asked him aloud, eyes still locked on the fading light in the distance.
"Why has god abandoned us?" Caecilia continued. At some point, she had begun trembling from the terror of what was happening. Fagra-Hvel was leaving her. She was going to die. Wither and die and forever reside in the Halls of Hel. The kingdom of the afterlife that was reserved specifically for runts like her-
The stranger placed his hand on Caecilia's shoulder, causing her to look over at him, eyes wide, tears beginning to well up in the corners. But his face was calm. As if everything was okay. Did he not see Fagra-Hvel leaving? Did he not see her being abandoned?
"" He said. As always, she couldn't understand a word of it all. But something about his eyes, the lack of anxiety, the compassion told her that things would be okay. Maybe it was normally like this? Maybe Fagra-Hvel had come down to comfort her but was going back up into Elysium to help her people? This was all too much. She couldn't-
Caecilia, feeling hollow, walked over to the cot and laid down. She couldn't sleep, though. Too much was going on in her head. Caecilia only stared at the leg of the bed in front of her face, the bed that the stranger had sat on earlier. The stranger himself was sitting at the desk on the opposite side of the room and flipping through papers. The sound of it reminded Caecilia of her brother and his studies. That memory, once nice, now stabbed at her chest like a knife of ice. She couldn't let herself think. No. Not right now.
For a time, Caecilia did nothing. She didn't think. She didn't feel. She had become only a husk; A shell.
Eventually, the stranger walked from the desk and laid down on the bed. At this point, Caecilia was in a ball, her good wing curled up in front of her. Was he going to be sleeping? Finally, her brain had something to focus on. She had to wait. Caecilia needed him to be asleep before she could enact her plan for freedom, her plan to be free from this ache. She knew what she needed to do, but Valkyrie code demanded that she be alone. Something that was not an option here.
More time passed. At this point, the light was all gone, the only source of illumination left was some kind of fire, likely a torch, that was outside in the street. His breathing had slowed. It was calm and steady. As quietly as she could, Caecilia stood and stepped up to his sleeping form, examining him extensively.
After determining that the stranger was still asleep, Caecilia stepped back to the cot and laid down.
Finally.
Caecilia let herself feel. She had it trickle in at first, as she couldn't let herself wake the stranger and reveal her vulnerability. But after only a few minutes, the feelings began to break through on their own, and she couldn't help but lose control of her breathing.
For the first time in over a year, Caecilia let herself cry and feel all the pain.
Caecilia strolled through the town. It was a beautiful day! Fagra-Hvel, as always, was spinning slowly in the sky above, bathing everything in warmth. Caecilia couldn't help but grin. For today, her wings were beautiful. Pure, pristine white, just like Mother's. Just like Mama's.
Why had she called her Mother? Mama said she could call her that, so she did! It made her Mama happy, so Lia called her Mama.
Speaking of Mama, she was there with Lia! Father too! And even óeinn! Oh, happy day!
Her wings. Lia's Wings. They were fluffy. The fluffiest and softest wings she had ever seen. She loved them so much. They were a gift after all! The other Femyls had white wings too of course, but hers were better than theirs.
There were others there, too. The townsfolk! They loved Lia's Mama and Father. The Loved óeinn. They loved her wings.
Lia received so many compliments about the beauty and size of her wings, as they should. They were beautiful after all. She loved the feeling of their compliments; The feeling of their praise. She was beautiful. Powerful.
Eventually, somebody, a Mascyl with the head of a horned Afla. asked to feel her wings. Lia, being a gracious and kind Femyl, granted them permission.
Suddenly, Lia felt a tearing sensation. He was pulling her wings off! She was shoved to the ground, and they fully tore free.
No no no no no no no!
Underneath the wings, there was a horror. Shame. A Silver skeleton was hiding beneath them. The bones of wings, made of solid silver.
The smiles of the townsfolk all vanished. Their mouths too. They only had eyes. Rage-filled eyes, all directed at Lia. Caecilia.
"Monster!" One of them cried.
"Runt!" Another accused.
Mama- Mother, stepped in front of her. Their cries of anger and digust turned to her instead. Demanding. How could she have brought this filth into the world?
Father joined Mother, standing there. óeinn did as well, on Mother's other side.
She wasn't worthy of their love.
Caecilia fled. If she wasn't around, maybe her family would be free of the rage directed at them. Free of her filth. She ran away, but bumped into a giant figure. A Femyl clad in gorgeous golden armor stood there, her wings a shimmering pearlescent white, as if glowing with an inner light.
"Do they hate you my child?" The Femyl asked.
"It is only natural for them to hate you."
"But I love you, my child. And I fear for you."
"Your innate cowardice causes the Hvierd to flee before you."
"Your parents should not have let you live. If they had killed you when you were a baby, you could have reached the Halls of Valor."
"Instead, you are bound for the Halls of Hel, where Mimir gathers the lost souls and condemns them to eternal suffering."
"I fear for you my child. Let your cowardice protect you."
"Never let yourself die."
The Femyl was kind, but harsh. Her words were true. Caecilia shouldn't be alive, but now that she was, she had to stay alive.
Caecilia was cast out from the presence of the great golden Femyl, unworthy to remain in her sight.
Caecilia flew for a while on her awful silver wings as they whispered to her. They told her that wicked awful fate that awaited her. It would be better if she just severed them and passed into Oblivion forever.
Caecilia flew into something. A great flying building of wood and wool. Inside were the invaders. She couldn't die. She couldn't.
Caecilia fled, but the invaders had other plans. They fired sticks at her. More and more. She could see that one would hit her, and so raised her wing to shield her body.
Caecilia fell.
As she fell, her unworthy eyes fell upon the great Fagra-Hvel above. That was a blasphemous act.
"My child. This is not real."
Of course it was real. Caecilia was dying. She was falling to Hel where she would be tortured for eternity. She could feel it. The world around her was disintegrating.
"Awake. This is a dream. You do not deserve this agony."
"AWAKEN"
There was something warm on Caecilia's face, and light was piercing its way though her eyelids. She cracked the outer two for a moment and the light burned her eyes, so she closed them again. Was that... Fagra-Hvel? Caecilia sat up, bringing her face out of the light and opening her eyes to see the rays of sun. They had streamed across the floor and up onto the cot where her head was. He had returned! Fagra-Hvel was back!
Crying out in joy, she ran up to the window to stick her head out and bask in the light. Unfortunately for her, she instead smashed her face into some invisible wall. She reached up and pressed her hand against it, and it left an odd print the exact size and shape of her hand floating in the air. She punched the wall, and it left a spiderweb of cracks hanging in the air. Cracks. In the air. Was this some kind of Galdra?
Murmur was having the most pleasant dream. He was about to dig into a beautiful piece of Chicken fruit fresh off the stem, when suddenly, there was a scream, and he found his mind returned rather forcefully back into his body. What time even was it? He pressed a pillow over his head to muffle the world outside when he heard an odd thudding sound, like somebody running into glass.
The thing that brought Murmur back to full consciousness though, was the sound of cracking glass. The surprise of the sound caused him to sit bolt-right upwards in bed and look over at the girl. The girl that was cautiously inspecting the freshly cracked window sitting in it's frame. What? How?! That glass was at least a half inch thick! How did she crack that?! Finally, the thing that broke him out of his stupor was her raising her fist again and winding up for a punch.
"What are you doing??!" Murmur shouted, and the girl jumped visibly, looking over at him. At the same time, Murmur was frantically fiddling with his covers in an attempt to throw them off and stand up.
"Er tetta einhvers konar Galdra?" The girl asked in her odd melodic language. She didn't sound angry, more confused, but at least she lowered her fist. That was it, he was getting the rod. Clearly she had recovered from whatever stupor had stunned her from last night, so it was time.
Once he had gotten out of bed, Murmur knelt next to it and pulled out his bag of valuables, reaching inside to grab the Rod of Thoughts. After he pulled it out, he stepped over to her, outstretching the Rod. In response the girl instinctively reached for a knife she didn't have, then raised her fist once she realized it wasn't there.
Ah. Right. Murmur supposed that if somebody approached him looking angry and carrying a metal rod in their hand, he'd assume they might be trying to attack him too.
Murmur put his hands in the air, then took a breath to calm himself. After that, he grabbed the Rod, which was segmented into 3 sections, by one side, and gestured for her to grab the opposite side. The only response was a confused look. Right, she thought this was a weapon.
In order to better demonstrate, he grabbed it by the middle, then pointed at her, then grabbed it by the side closest to her. He then pointed at himself, and grabbed the side closest to him, then released his other hand from the middle. Hopefully that would help her get the message, and it seemed that after a few moments, she did figure it out. She reached down and, very hesitantly wrapped her hand around the section closest to her. Immediately, he felt her emotions.
[Caution. Suspicion. A spike of Fear.]
The girl reacted very quickly, pulling her hand away from the rod and looking up at him.
"Hvat er tetta? Hvat var tat í huganum mínum!?" The girl exclaimed, sounding demanding, projecting as much authority as her small frame could accomplish. While it was a bit more intimidating that he thought it would be... It wasn't a very high bar to cross, so he still wasn't scared.
In response to her demand, he pointed at her, then himself, then mimed talking with his hand, and finished by pointing at the Rod again. He could see her mind working on it for a moment. Suddenly, her eyes widened in realization, and she pointed at her head, then at his head. He nodded. She got the message. She grasped the rod eagerly. It seemed to Murmur that she was as eager to communicate as he himself was.
The girl sent: [Image of the sun; Reverence; Confusion; Image of the Sun gone with dark sky; Fear]
Night? No, the focus was on the sun. Confusion about the sun... disappearing? And the reverence? It made the sun seem like a loving father of sorts, or at least, that is his closest interpretation of the feeling.
Murmur sent her: {Confusion; A series of images of the sun setting, rising, and setting again. Over and over.}
[Confusion; Shock; An image of the sun in pale blue-green sky. It spun and spun and spun in wide circles, but it never set; At the edges there were faint impressions of land, a series of floating islands]
Was that her home? It seemed bizarre. Alien.
[Mild offense; Image of the land from the sky; Bizarre odd feeling of unfamiliarity]
Ah, she caught that. He supposed that yeah, to her, his land seemed pretty alien too. Also, was that how it looked from high up? That was rather beautiful actually. But that was off topic.
{Confusion; Image of the moon in the sky}
Was there a moon? He was somewhat curious to see if she even knew what it was.
[Mental effort; Recollection; Image of the moon in a book; Feeling of age or old]
The Moon is old? Or is the story old? Probably the book, considering that she hadn't shown him an image of the actual moon. Weird. Wait- Not weird, just not normal for him. She seemed to accept that at least. It seems she wasn't used to the sun setting, which now that he thought about it, her fear made a lot more sense.
Regardless, he supposed that he should at least ask her name.
{Image of the Girl; Confusion}
[Confusion]
Right, that probably wasn't the most clear way of going about it. He figured he should probably give her an example.
{Image of Murmur} "Murmur" He spoke aloud.
[Disgust; Fear; Pity; Hatred; An image of a book. Inside that book was a drawing of a shirtless man who was probably of her species. The man himself though, didn't have any wings; Another image of this man, the place his wings would have been instead bore scars; Image of this man offering a pair of dark grey wings to a figure that looked vaguely human]
Alright, not the expected response. thankfully, it didn't feel that the hate and disgust was directed at him as much as it was to the figure. He wasn't sure what brought up this story, but he offered condolences. The look on her face was one of pity for him.
He hadn't liked this form of communication. It was so imperfect he wished there was a way to better convey ideas or words between people.
[Pity]
No, he wasn't frustrated about the name-
[Image of the Girl] "Caecilia." She said.
Ah, so she had figured it out then. Seems he didn't give her intelligence enough credit yesterday
"Caecilia?" He asked, pointing at her. She nodded, a small smile on her face.
"...Mur... Mur-Mur?" She asked, pausing before saying, and taking a moment to shudder at the name. The feeling of disgust intensified for a moment, and he felt the tiniest hint of a shiver run down his own spine. Wow, it transferred a physical sensation? She must REALLY hate this other Murmur from the story
This form of communication was weird. They had been 'talking' like this for a while now, and she'd come to figure out a few things about this land and this Specific Mascyl. She'd slowly adjusted to the communication, and had gotten better, even learning tricks like visualizing a larger picture, to give context, then zooming into the specific aspect of the image she wanted to convey. It wasn't so difficult once she got the hang of it, and they'd began to simply discuss language. Sending an image and saying a word aloud. Occasionally, he'd pull out a notebook and take notes, scribbling in some strange script.
Caecilia couldn't read very well, but óeinn had made sure she had the basics. Even with that limited knowledge though, she still had no idea what this "Mur-Mur" was writing. It looked nothing like the runes she knew.
That was another thing! His name. It was similar to Mimir, the Original Traitor. The Herald of Oblivion. Even thinking about him made her feel sick. She'd need to find something else to call him if she would be staying here for any extended amount of time. Not that she would if she could help it though. She just needed to gather her Hvierd to heal. She'd been sure not to exert herself. This had felt fine though so far though, so she wasn't worried.
After communicating roughly for a few hours, the kind stranger arrived and talked with Mur... Actually, just 'Mur' would work for her for now, at least until she found something better. Anyway, Mur and the stranger chatted for a bit, and as much as she tried to keep up, it all sounded like gibberish to her. Admittedly, there were a few words she recognized from when she and Mur had interacted before, but the meaning was still vague, and she didn't have enough practice, so it seemed a bit like a futile effort.
Mur's mannerisms seemed to change between how he interacted with her, and how he interacted with this other stranger. It was honestly somewhat fascinating to watch. She'd slowly learned to pick up on social cues from her trading job, but from what Caecilia could see, Mur was very good at matching the tone of voice and posture of the other stranger.
At some point, Mur noticed her gaze on them, then seemed to remember that she was there. Once he had, he stood, gesturing towards her. He said a few short words followed by her name, 'Caecilia'. He then turned to her and gestured towards the other stranger. Unlike with her introduction, he said only 2 words: "Cleric Shareaz". She didn't know exactly what it meant, but she assumed that it was their name. Out of acknowledgment, she gave the stranger known as 'Cleric Shareaz' a nod. In return, they smiled at her again with that oh-so-familiar smile, and a moment later had dipped into a deep and respectful bow.
Mur and cleric talked a bit longer before cleric left, leaving the two of them behind again. Once they were alone, they spent a good few hours doing more language study. Eventually though, she asked to stop because she was beginning to feel restless. After that, she stood, stretched, and stepped outside. Mur followed close behind her, curious about what Caecilia was doing, but she didn't mind. She just sat herself in front of the sun and meditated for a short time, letting the golden rays bathe her in their warmth.
It was nice to be able to recharge again. It had been a while since she'd taken the time to just meditate. She'd learned that as long as she didn't actively channel her Hvierd, it wouldn't drain away and tire her out. It was peaceful. She let herself pretend that everything was okay, and that she was back home for a moment. Unfortunately, he thought of that, of her home, caused her to feel a swell of anguish rise in her heart for a moment. She shoved it down, only feeling a single tear run down her cheek. Now was not the time to be vulnerable.
The girl, Caecilia, just sat there, sunbathing. There was a certain strangeness with her and the sun, so Murmur decided to ask her about it when they resumed their language work.
Thankfully didn't take too much longer. After a few more minutes, she looked back at him and made some gestures indicating the Rod, then miming as if to bring it outside. Seemed she wanted to continue outside, which, considering how nice the day was out here, he didn't really mind.
After bringing it outside, they began their conversation.
Caecilia sent: [Gratitude; Peace; Warmth]
Seemed she had enjoyed the sun, that was nice to know. With this sun worship business, he supposed he should see if he could inquire about it.
{Confusion; Curiosity; Image of the sun; Reverence; Love; Confusion}
[Image of the sun; Strength; An image of a picture in a book depicting the sun seemingly giving life to a winged person; Old]
An old story maybe? More mythology? It really was interesting. What was that word she was using before? Oh! That was right! It was-
"Fagra-Hvel" Murmur muttered to himself aloud, remembering the word.
[Rage]
Whoops-
That rage was so powerful, it made the sunlight feel like fire on his skin. Had he said something he shouldn't of? Her attempt to intimidate him earlier in the day hadn't scared him in the slightest, but this feeling? It rocked him to his core. Had he ever felt this angry before? And even that, he was feeling this second-hand-
[Image of Murmur; Rage; Indignation; Offense; Image of Caecilia] She gave a smile and a thumbs up, though her rage was still burning loudly. [Image of Murmur] Thumbs down, face angry.
Ah, he didn't have the right to use that word.
{Sorrow; Sincerity; Guilt}
He didn't understand what exactly he had done to upset her, but he figured it would be best to not push the issue.
After that little exchange, she had let go of the Rod and refused to hold it again. An hour had passed before anything changed. The sun had began to set behind the hill and cast them into shade. The moment she was no longer being able to sit in the sun, the girl stood up and walked back into the building. She had still been angry, so he decided to just try again the next day and hope things were better then.
Her rage continued, lasting even into the night. But having been awoken earlier than he would have liked in the morning, Murmur was exhausted. The moment his head hit the pillow, he was already drifting into unconsciousness. What a weird day...