[complete] I'll follow you down till the sound of my voice will haunt you

[Ciri]

Ciri

In the days that follow from her encounter with Gale (or rather The Thing that was Not Gale) she is left with a bitter realization that she had failed. She had failed her friend, failed Nashua and the Isle, and failed herself. This was nothing like what she had faced in the Underneath. At least in the suffocating darkness the things she had fought could be injured by blows from her hooves. But not the thing that wore Gale’s face. It was as if nothing could truly touch him and her star aura could only defend her to an extent, it gave her no power to cut a wound on the magical stallion that might actually bring him pain.

For days she seethed in her hurt ego, nursed her grief for the loss of the friend she had known, and tried desperately to think of someway to become stronger. If only she could wield the power she had in the Underneath, the brilliant blaze of starlight that had saved her when the Siren would have destroyed her in seconds. The moment when she had figured out what she was.

There had been several times when she wondered why she couldn’t access that power again, that she had been left with just a fragment of what she had wielded on the dark waters of the otherworldly lake. It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried, she had… so many times. She couldn’t seem to latch on to that thread that Islas was connected to and she finds herself thinking of the ethereal white mare more and more. How one of the last times she had spoken to Gale had been after she had met Islas. There is an ache in her chest as she remembers the way he had lit up when she had told him of finding another star. Another star….

She knows the patterns of the night sky well and when she is feeling better, she finally makes the long trek for the Mountain when she knows the night will be clear. The climb might be exhausting for some but she is a warrior through and through and is no stranger to grueling training practices. Her body had become leaner and fit with the rough conditions of the Isle and so the climb is not as treacherous as it might be for others. Her muscles are sore by the time she finds the summit but she is not winded or gasping for breath when she approaches the rumored area of where faeries lurk.

“I need your help.” She calls into the darkness and gets a sense that even if she can’t see anything, something might be listening nearby. “Years ago I fell into the Underneath. I discovered what I am and what I am capable of.” She hesitates and then pulls the star shield down around her, something she has grown so use to doing that it’s just a reflex response by now. “Please…” She falters and then draws her courage as she looks up at the sky. “The power I wielded down there… May I please have it back? To defend my home and my friends. And myself. If I gave up this one in exchange, is there a chance you can make me stronger?”

all of time and space, everywhere and anywhere, every star that ever was

Ciri is asking to quest to upgrade her Star Aura to Equus Astrea so she can protect the Isle and her friends from the Curse

The most recent posts mentioning her star connection and recent events (she basically mentions it in every post I write lol):
https://beqanna.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=29642&page=2 (7 posts)
https://beqanna.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=29579 (5 posts)
https://beqanna.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=29285 (4 posts)

I'm including the Quest where she wielded the power before just for good measure
https://beqanna.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15847&highlight=ciri

@Officials

[Wysteria Fairy]

One of these days, she'd really love if someone came to her with a new reason. Protection, defense, strength. It was all very predictable...and boring. Can you really blame her? She is ancient and ageless and sometimes, she'd just like something to be interesting. Alas, this is not one of those cases, but still she comes, though without much flourish today. Though suddenly appearing out of nowhere might be considered flourish..."It is an endless circle in which you walk. You ask for strength to protect those you love, and then soon those you protect them against will come to us and seek the same thing, to protect their own. It never ends until there is nothing left to protect at all. So first, I require that you learn what it means to protect others without the use of magic. When you have figured that out, return to me." Then she disappears, as suddenly as she had come.

***
You have received a quest! You must have (at least) 4 threads learning to protect others without the use of magic.

[Ciri]

all of time and space, everywhere and anywhere, every star that ever was

Years ago she had come to the Mountain… Scared, hurt. Furious. What a challenge the fairy had given her, to protect others without magic. It had been something she had done for years, long before the Underneath. Yet the task seemed nearly impossible now with all that rage and revenge broiling in her belly. Still, she had tried.

1. She had, despite her loss of innocence, still tried to protect others from the Curse at her own expense.
2. With Leokadia, she had remembered a simpler time when protecting another with the gentle use of her words and body had been enough before she had discovered her past and its magic.
3. There is regret with Nash's mother, when she had tried to protect her from the Curse and succeeded mostly in making her cry.
4. She had thrown down her pride and reached out to someone she had considered an enemy in the interest of protecting the North and destroying the Curse once and for all.
5. Jokull's happiness managed to slip enough through her painful anger to make her remember old protective mothering instincts
6. But it was Kestrell that had irritatingly reminded her that she had become so toxic that putting another before her own anger was the best and simplest way to protect someone from herself. And that she was losing her will to make the entire world suffer for her pain.

Most of all, she had learned that she could not protect anyone until she truly started protecting and caring for herself.

"Technically we can all heal ourselves, some of us are just faster than others." For some reason that phrase had stayed with her. It had followed her all the way back to the Mountain. What she had learned, what she had gone through, would it be enough?

-- Ciri

Image by Phil Botha

I deleted the original post since I have an idea with that lol. Sorry about that!

@Officials
@Wysteria Fairy

[Wysteria Fairy]

She does not need to ask for what the mare has learned. She can read it plain as day for herself. Wysteria appears, materializing before the mare out of thin air as if she just popped into existence, or perhaps as if she has always been there. The latter is far more likely to be true. "Well done," she says simply, offering the mare a nod and then disappearing as quickly as she came. Well, huh. There is no mention of a reward, no obvious magical change. But not all magic comes with fanfare and glitter. Some creeps, and some has to be found in it's own time and in it's own way. Or perhaps nothing has changed at all...

****
Quest successful. You have been granted Equus Astrea. Please post in updates