and some by virtue fall; Elysteria

[Kushiel]

Kushiel wasn’t easily offended. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he was offended in the slightest. For all his faults, he could take as well as he gave. Now, however, he could admit a twinge of offense. 


She had, after all, flown away.

Plenty of women had walked away from conversations with Kushiel. One or two had even run away, but none had ever flown away. Perhaps, he just hadn’t had enough opportunities to annoy winged women, but regardless, this was a new position Kushiel found himself in. As a true conisyuour of life, there were few situations Kushiel hadn’t had the opportunity to experience. The novelty alone was enough to get him off his ass and headed towards the Dale.

Luckily, it was not a very long walk. Unfortunately, Kushiel’s habit of idleness meant he was not in peak physical condition. Don’t misunderstand, he looked fantastic, sleek and sinewy, you might think him well conditioned, but you would know better if you saw him pick up a trot and hold on to it for more than a few minutes.

Kushiel wasn’t sure if he simply wasn’t made for manual labor or if he had inhaled too much smoke during his nearly nightly burnings. It was times like this that made him wonder if he should attempt to amend his ways. That thought was quickly dismissed. No, all this would be fine if Elysteria hadn’t flown away. Kushiel shook his head violently. Now a woman was making him question himself.

He really was losing it.

Without much thought for propriety, or for diplomacy, Kushiel stomped into the Dale, not bothering to wait at the border or introduce himself. He didn’t even look around much, though he had never been here before. No, he was a man on a mission. Once he had plainly positioned himself in the middle of her kingdom, Kushiel bawled at the top of his voice, hoping she was lurking somewhere, probably feeling smug about having ditched him. It had taken him a while to muster the energy to come, but now he had, and he managed to dredge up his grievances.

“Elysteria! If you think flying away is enough for me to take the hint, you sorely underestimate me.”  He smirked, a strong hint of the devil in his eye.

“I do know where you live after all.” That right there, was her first mistake, telling him where she lived. Granted, they had met first in the Field when they both attempted to recruit the same mare, and again when she came on a diplomatic visit to his kingdom, which he had done his best to ruin by dragging her away. They were off to a fine start.  

[Elysteria]

love is a temporary madness...

Today she is feeling every one of her years. Perhaps if she had actually slept the previous night, she might be feeling a bit less achy this morning. But then, that is what had prevented her from sleeping in the first place. The pain, the remembered fear, the self-recrimination. It had made her particularly morbid, inspiring a trip to the beach. What she had found there was not even remotely close to what she had expected. Only now is she returning, body sore and aching, a limp quite noticeable as she heavily favors her right shoulder. And behind her trails a filly. No doubt many would mistake the child as hers. Though the teal points marking her body are distinctly unique, the bright red shade of her coat is a perfect match for Elysteria’s.

The filly is nearly as tired as she is. The sun is high in the sky, warming the earth and filling the Dale with its mercilessly bright rays. They had been traveling much of the morning, and now Elysteria longs for little more than a nap. Whether she will actually be able to sleep is another story.

She is just settling the tired girl in for a nap when she hears the voice. She easily recognizes it. Stiffening, she jerks her small head up, wild gaze scanning the surrounding landscape. He is close. And, clearly, he would not leave without what he came for.

Of course he knows where she lives. How could he not? She had boldly announced it both times they had previously met. That he might show up here, trespassing upon their land uninvited, had never occurred to her. Apparently she had affected him as much as he had affected (irritated) her. The thought is not precisely comforting.

She considers ignoring him, but in the end, she does not. Someone else would come then, and that was a disaster waiting to happen. She does not need to be the cause of a war (however inadvertent) between their kingdoms. Nor will she let him be either. So she stumbles forward on aching legs. He is very close, much more so than she had previously thought. She halts, russet gaze fixing upon him in mild aggravation.

She has changed since their last meeting, and not in a good way. She is certain she had fractured her shoulder in the fall (in addition to a few ribs), which makes walking incredibly painful. But she will deal with the pain for now. Much better than the soul-shattering fear flying had induced lately. Wounds litter her once unblemished skin, mostly shallow scrapes that would heal interspersed with a few deeper slices that would scar. All courtesy of the rocks and roots jutting from the ground that had broken her fall. The ragged white circle stands out starkly against her chest, an old scar, but somehow more prominent today. Her features are drawn, weariness etched into the delicate lines of her body. All in all, she looks rather rough.

“Kushiel.”

The word comes out sounding more fragile than she had intended. She straightens slightly, imbuing her tone with increased authority as she continues.

“Is there a reason you are here? Other than to torment me some more?”

elysteria

image c nadyabird.deviantart.com; html c Insane

[Kushiel]

Kushiel heard her coming and gave an expectant swish of his tail. He hadn’t expected her to flatly refuse to see him, but through his hubris he had admitted it may be a possibility. As it turns out, he was still as irresistible as ever.

However, as she approached, Kushiel narrowed his eyes slightly. When they had last met, not too long ago, she had appeared to be in the peak of health. That was clearly not the case now. Soberly, for he wasn’t completely heartless, he spoke.

“Elysteria.” He said in response to his own name. Now that she was closer he could look at her properly. Something clearly had happened between the Chamber and the Dale. What that something could be he could only begin to guess. He studied her for another long moment, taking in her limp, and generally bedraggled appearance.

“What the hell happened to you?” It was not the most gentle of inquiries, but it was sincere. Slowly, he began to circle her, looking for further damage. Everywhere he looked he seemed to find it. His first thought was that she could have participated in some mock battle. But no, injuries sustained in mocks were not this severe. A real battle then? He sighed, and spoke, not unkindly.

“You know, Ellie, when diplomatic missions fail, you’re not supposed to simply resort to all out war. Is this a ‘you should see the other guy’ situation or what?” Kushiel wasn’t the “defend your honor type.” He usually found physical exertion of any kind distasteful, but he could admit that he felt a twinge of unease in thinking that someone had hurt her. He fully believed her more capable of defending herself than he could, he was a bit of a feminist when the choice was to believe her capable or do it himself, but the idea sat ill with him none the less.

He let his eyes wander aimlessly for a second, thinking, when they landed on the little filly. He sighed again, this time exasperated, for clearly there was a lot that he didn’t know about her. He wasn’t sure why that bothered him, they hadn’t had much in the way of meaningful conversation, but he huffed in frustration none the less.

“Are you keeping secrets? I didn’t know you had a daughter.” Again, this was absurd, because keeping secrets and not telling every little detail of your life were two very different things. But, Kushiel didn’t see it that way, and to demonstrate that, he looked at her sternly. Despite himself, real concern lurked behind his bluster. He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to harass her at every opportunity, but he did none the less, and felt some sort of proprietorship over the honor.

[Elysteria]

love is a temporary madness...

She isn’t entirely certain she has the fortitude to deal with this today, but nonetheless she will. Despite appearances, she is a strong woman. She will carry on just as generations before her have done. But then Kushiel surprises her. (When isn’t he surprising her?) Her name is followed by a gruff question about her appearance. It is not the question that astonishes her, but rather the emotion behind it. Her ability is growing stronger, and even when she might not wish to feel such things, when she is in such close proximity, it is impossible not to. He is actually concerned for her.

As he begins to circle her, inspecting her battered frame, she can only stare at him in surprise. Fortunately, he continues without waiting for her answer. His trademark humor is very much in evidence today. Having had time to reflect however, she has come to the conclusion that he uses his wit and sarcasm as a mask of sorts. For whatever reason, he seems to believe it better that others see him as irresponsible and brash rather intelligent and (mostly) competent. That is one thing she doubts she will ever understand about him.

His next question gives her pause. She briefly considers lying about what had happened. But she is a terrible liar. She has rarely had the need to do so. She also contemplates simply remaining mute on the point, but knowing him, he would pester her about it until she could no longer take it. So, in the end, she does tell him, albeit a greatly abbreviated version of the tale.

“I never saw the other guy. It was an accident, I think. He… he was inside my head.”

She is more than capable of defending herself. Deadly, in fact, should she so choose. But it is impossible to fight an assailant you cannot see, an assailant who can control your body at will. She shudders at the memory, the action starting a shiver across her body as though it were the depths of winter. The remembered fear lurches within her wildly before she hastily tamps it down. The only thing that makes the entire experience even remotely less traumatizing is the fact that she does not believe the stallion controlling her had done any of it intentionally. It seems to have been more of an accident on his part, a reflex of sorts.

Fortunately his next words manage to bring her back from the brink. She comes back to reality with a jolt. It takes her moment to process the words, but when she does, she laughs. It is a rather hollow laugh, mostly devoid of humor. It seems she is to have no secrets from him. Rather than irritating her, the thought is oddly comforting. She is not sure if it is the circumstance, or if he is actually affecting her so strongly, but she finds herself wanting to lean on him, on his strength.

“I do have a daughter.”

The words hang heavily in the air for a long moment before she clarifies them, turning her gaze onto the sleeping filly.

“But this is not she. This is my sister, Lirren. I… just found her.”

She stops then, unable to continue around the lump in her throat. She had not expected to find her mother after all of these years. And then to find her, only to watch her die. She wonders if these torments will ever end.

elysteria

image c nadyabird.deviantart.com; html c Insane

[Kushiel]

Kushiel watched her with a thoughtful, slightly strained expression. He knew a thing or two about crazy. He knew about the way flames leaked from his body into his mind, and from his mind to his soul, like a sneaky little worm that wanted to keep him idle and drowsy. He knew crazy so well that he was pretty sure it would be able to sniff it out on Elysteria. Furthermore, Kushiel was rather a good judge of character, and her character didn’t seem crazy. True, he usually chose to associate with the worst of characters, but he wasn’t blind to their natures. He just liked them that way.

He didn’t know Elysteria particularly well, but he thought he knew her well enough to know if she was crazy. It was a toss up of course, she could be a functioning lunatic who occasionally recovered from her fantasies enough to put in a good showing. Perhaps, she had relapsed again. Still, he was inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. His own father, after all, fancied himself a dark lord. You didn’t get a lot crazier than that.


“Now, when you say it was an accident, do you mean your condition was an accident or that…” This was the bit Kushiel had a hard time with. Yet, he was determined to do her the courtesy of not being overly skeptical.

“It was an accident that he was in your head. Furthermore, who on earth is he?” Kushiel, trying to stay positive about Elysteria’s mental faculties, flipped through the ways in which someone could be “in your head.” The most obvious answer was that someone had managed to worm his way into her confidence and then manipulated her. Kushiel could attest to how unlike that was. He, himself, had attempted to do something similar when they had met. Granted, his motives weren’t malicious so much as lecherous. Still, he had very little success. He couldn’t imagine that another could succeed where he had failed. So, another explanation then? He could think of a few, and each was more fanciful than the last. Still, he knew enough of magic to know that what seemed impossible was really quite simple

As he pondered her strange condition Kushiel turned his attention back to the filly. She certainly looked like Elysteria, save for the girl’s teal points. Elysteria explained, and he looked at her with interest.


“Well aren’t you full of surprises? A daughter and a sister.” He looked at the little filly. Certainly, Elysteria was capable of babysitting, but didn’t children usually stay with their parents? Kushiel couldn’t be sure, he was forever wandering away from his own mother as a child. The difference was that his mother could read minds, and used her powers without discretion to spy on him.

“Where are her parents? Your parents as well, I suppose.” Again, Kushiel was aware that he could be opening another box of mental anguish he wasn’t prepared to sooth. Nonetheless, the big stallion demanded answers, and hoarded them away like a kid with candy.

[Elysteria]

love is a temporary madness...

Sometimes she feels crazy. Her life is once again spiraling out of her control. Just when she had thought she had a chance for true happiness, events had conspired against her. And now she is lost in a maelstrom of new and ancient memories, horrors that she would rather not have revisited. What better way to describe her mental state than crazy? In the actual sense of the word however, one could only describe her as perfectly sane. Despite everything that has happened to her, she still has managed to retain her sense.

She can well understand Kushiel’s skepticism. She had not told him the full story. Of course, she isn’t quite certain she knows the full story herself. And just as those ancient memories that had resurfaced, it is not something she particularly wishes to dwell upon. The memory of falling is too fresh, too sickening. Flight has always been a solace to her, feeling the wind on her face, caressing her body, tugging at her dark tresses, had been as soothing as it was freeing. But that had been taken from her so brutally, at a time when she could use it most.

There is no smile on her lips today, no brightness in her russet eyes. No, today those eyes are haunted, dark, the brightness within her diminished to near nonexistence. Ironic isn’t it? She could blaze as bright as the sun if she so chose, and yet she feels the very opposite.

Kushiel is trying to make sense of her situation, asking what she had meant by accident. If she could have mustered the energy, she would have laughed. He is trying to understand a situation she has little understanding of herself.

“Both, I think.”

There is a hint of sardonic humor in her words as she speaks.

“I felt his emotions, heard some of his thoughts. I’m certain he could hear mine as well. I don’t know how he did it, or why. But he was… confused.”

It hurts to say that, the irony of the entire situation as awful as the outcome. She is quiet for a moment as painful memories replay in her head, as she searches for a name. But there is nothing. Who he was, why, she has answers to none of those questions.

“I wish I could tell you.”

His attention turns to her oddly colored sister then as he assesses her. She wouldn’t necessarily say that she is full of surprises. She simply has never had a reason to tell him of her daughter, just as she has never mentioned Tiphon. Her heart aches at the thought of him. He is gone, where she knows not. But in her time of need, he is nowhere to be found.

Kushiel asks the obvious question then, of where her parents are, why they are not caring for Lirren. In truth, she does not know who Lirren’s father is (though she has a strong suspicion). As for her own, that is not something she wishes to delve into at the moment.

“My mother… she died giving birth to Lirren.”

The words are halting, her grief still too new. She blinks back tears, clearing her throat before she continues.

“I don’t know who Lirren’s father is, and as for mine, he is not someone who deserves a place in my life.”

Her voice hardens on the words. After the way he had treated her daughter, his granddaughter, she has no desire to give him the time of day, much less anything more. And as much as she’d like to deliver to him the comeuppance he so deserves, she knows enough about him to know that she will never be strong enough to do that. Better to let sleeping dogs lie, as they say.

elysteria

image c nadyabird.deviantart.com; html c Insane

[Kushiel]

Kushiel is not known for saying the right thing, or even saying a good thing. Most days, he took pride in this. Other days, he wished he could get it right for a change. Today he felt the latter, for however much he liked to tease Elysteria, she was a good solider, and more patient then most. If only she would wise up and come join the Chamber. Then she would be perfect. Good things, it would seem, did not always happen to good people. Kushiel was living proof of that. His life had been nothing but good since the moment he stood his shaky little hooves on the ground.

On that day, the devil had looked up and said, “oh shit.”

While Elysteria’s story sounded more than a little far fetched, Kushiel didn’t doubt it. Stranger things had happened. He looked at her closely, and hoped she had some friends in powerful and magical places.

“It sounds like you got on the bad side of a magician.” Kushiel paused, considering this. He had recently had a rather uncomfortable run in with a magician. He had been dumped unceremoniously in the Deserts and had to walk home. No, it was not a tale of woe to equal hers, but it was blasted annoying none the less.

“I can think of only a few magicians, and none that you would want to speak too.” That much, at least, was true. Kushiel did lot of stupid things on a daily basis, but even he wasn’t foolhardy enough to confront some of the more powerful magic users in Beqanna. Scary bastards, the lot of them.

Kushiel ended his musing on magicians when Elysteria answered his next question. His face went from sober to dreadfully so. There weren’t a lot of things that Kushiel held dear in this world, and as much as he would never, ever admit it, his mother was at the stop of that list. As tortuous as she was, Kushiel would rather have her meddling in his life than all the peace and quiet in the world. He offered her a sympathetic smile, for all the good it would do her.

“I’m sorry Elysteria, truly I am. A mother’s love may be a heavy burden, but I wouldn’t inflict it’s lack on anyone.” He looked back at the little filly. She was lucky to have a sister to pick up the slack. Children in similar situations often weren’t so lucky. He was still looking at the little girl when Elysteria spoke of fathers. He snorted loudly, for he knew a thing or two about deadbeat dads.

“Tell me about it, sister. It’s impossible to find a good man these days, am I right?” He was trying to make her smile, and maybe it was he wrong tone to strike. Kushiel couldn’t really do sweet, and he had a hard time with comforting, the jokes, however, came easy. It would be well within her right to fly away, he wouldn’t even be mad, but you know what they say, laughter is the best medicine.

[Elysteria]

Elysteria

Love is a temporary madness,
it erupts like a volcano, then subsides.
And when it subsides, you have to make a decision.

He’s being far too nice to her. She had not expected nice, not after their previous encounters. She wonders briefly if it’s a product of her injuries, or if he is genuinely growing to respect her. She rather hopes it’s the second option. She would hate to be pitied, especially by him. She is not weak. Not by a long shot. But with these terrible things that keep happening to her, she has to wonder. What is it about her that attracts such tragedy?

He is incredibly fortunate that fate had smiled kindly upon him. Very few are so lucky. She certainly never had been. Nor, apparently, are any of her family destined to lead happy, uneventful lives. But she hopes, prays, that she can change that for Lirren, even while fearing that she will not.

He continues then, snapping her back to the present, out of her depressing thoughts. Her russet gaze jerks to his as he speaks, his words taking a moment to sink in. A magician. A short, hollow laugh escapes her. The thought had occurred to her. But if it had been a magician, it had either been the most cruel, vindictive magician she had ever encountered, or the most inept. But then, considering her father, she doesn’t doubt magicians could be cruel or vindictive.

But it hadn’t felt like a magician, and that is what bothers her.

“Yes, I’m familiar with a number of magicians. I try to avoid them as a rule.”

She doesn’t mention that she’s indebted to one. That isn’t a story he needs to hear. Still, Eight had no need to torture her. All he need do is make a request. She is beholden to him for a single favor, any favor he might ask. He had no need to coerce or torture her into anything. The others however, she could not speak for.

And then he continues, sympathizing with her loss, an understanding sorrow in his gaze. He has or had a mother he loves, of this she is certain. It startles her, this realization. The humanization of him is not something she had expected, not something she is prepared for. She stares at him for several long minutes, hearing his joke but ignoring it as she continues to gaze at him in silent bafflement. When she finally does speak, her words are soft, a note of confusion edging into her tone.

“Why are you being so kind to me?”

You have to work out whether your roots
have so entwined together
that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
Because this is what love is.