I Remember Hatching

Log Info

• Title: I Remember Hatching
• Emitter: Kira
• Characters: Kira, Faranmidahn, Cryosanthia
• Place: A10: Temple of Althea
• Time: Thursday, July 09, 2020, 12:59 PM, Friday, July 10, 2020, 12:53 PM
• Summary: Kira and Faranmidahn are washing the floor in a hallway of the Temple of Althea and discussing Kira's recent demise. Cryosanthia arrives, and confirms what the Sentinel conveyed. Salina was deserving of Mercy, got some, escaped punishment and left the heroes to face off against a Demon Duke of Hell who had enough legions to hold off the Celestial Hosts and the Fae Monarchs to his whim. It was a slaughter, all heroes fled or fell. Their redeeming acts were to keep Mortal Death away from the Demon Duke, forcing him to remain bound to Salina's destruction which is once more beyond his abilities with her in her full awakened power. The topic moves to lighter ones, as Faran asks about Hatchling and Cryo happily gushes about them. The sith then reveals that not only did the Fae Apple bring back her memories in the tower, but all memories back to her first thoughts, which she can now analyze with full adult understanding. She describes as best she can her experience in her egg, and hatching, and what the world was like on first experience, including the important decision every sith-makar must make, which is to break into it.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--<* A10: Temple of Althea *>=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

The term 'marble temple' only holds up insofar as the temple's outer edifice is concerned. Twin statues of Althea, each of them bearing gently glowing blue staves, provide welcome either side of the entrance, a door which has never been closed in recent memory. A place of community and warmth, a sense of warmth and welcome quickly overtakes most visitors upon entry.

Serrielite and Angorite devotees guard the outside entrances, while blue star-robed Hearthguard wander just inside, performing and guiding various charitable tasks. One can even see a smaller, more discrete entrance if one looks, from whence comes and go the Mourners of Vardama, carrying their somber burdens.

Designed to be open and welcoming, the place is a bustle of family and community-centered activity. A great, central oven serves the double duties of fireplace and food preparation on a grand scale that makes the temple a favorite for gatherings. Althean worshippers and Hearthguards alike tirelessly bake and cook for the less fortunate, while younger Hearthguards sit on comfortably cushioned divans with worshippers and petitioners, dispensing advice and Althea's kind words. Wreaths of herbs hang from the ceilings, giving a pleasant scent, while a pool fed by a small artificial waterfall provides fresh water for bathing wounds or blessing of children and worshippers. A procession of doors and halls lead off to various rooms. While many lead to places such as rooms, offices, and libraries for the Hearthguard, there is also a well-known hospice, as well as the transient bunks, and even counseling rooms for when a family member nears their end. This last area is overseen by Hearthguard and Mourner alike, in respectful accordance with local customs.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  Appearing, in Order  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Kira         5'0"     120 Lb     Human             Female    Blonde woman in simple robes with an eye patch.
Faranmidahn  3'3"     35 Lb      Halfling          Female    Albino Lucht woman in black leather armor with a BIG spider
Cryosanthia  6'9"     267 Lb     Sith-Makar        Female    A dashingly tall, elegant white-scaled lizard woman.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

Kira and Faranmidahn are out in the hallway, washing the floor before Cryosanthia arrives.

Kira blinks at Faran. "What do you mean?" Her smile broadens warmly. "I've never felt that you weren't. There's no reason for you to apologize, or feel bad..."

Faranmidahn looks the larger woman over again, "But... you got hurt..." She sighs, "I should have been there, but...."

Kira and Faran stand in a hall of the patients' wing, not too far from Kira's room. A bucket of water and brush are near her feet, and spots of the floor are damp. Her smile turns sympathetic and she crouches, now offering a fresh hug back to the lucht. "Faran... I'm very thankful you weren't there," her voice quiets. "Everyone fell... I never wanted that to happen, and certainly not to you."

Cryosanthia approaches, catching the last of the conversation. She's wearing a tight swashbuckling outfit, with a small cape that flutters behind her. "Faran, Kira, Peace. This one overheard correctly? You are discussing the confrontation with Salina and the Demon Duke?"

Faranmidahn gives her a squeeze in turn and a little sigh, "Still... " She lets her go slowly, "I'm glad they could bring you back." She turns at Cryo's hail and she smiles up at her sister before padding over to embrace her, "Hello! Ah..." a quick, sheepish look to Kira, thn, "We, ah... kinda.... yeah, we were..." Ahem, "How are you?"

Kira straightens after the release and turns her smile to Cryosanthia. "Hello. We were, a little. How are you?" Yes, Faran just asked that, but Kira is curious and happy to learn the answer and change to brighter topics, respectively.

"This one is fine. This one was thanking the Nest-Mother that Kira has returned. Also, on an errand to drop a contract at the Explorer's guild. I'm glad to see you Faran." The white sith drops into a hug, embracing the lucht knight, cool and firmly. She smiles over at Kira, "Peace on your Nest, sister. You are cleaning the hard way again?"

Stroking Faran's hair, she exhales a long, cool breath, sounding distant, "Acedia was distraught her first action as a Paladin was to run, Sir Seldan corrected her, that her first action was to remind him to keep his vows. It was not a good encounter, Faran. She barely acknowledged Seldan and Mikilos, who freed her, we extracted only vague promises she would undo what she dreamed before she left to protect her villagers and left us alone with her Demon. She did not notice me, even after this one said words. Your vow to slay her would have been as frustrated as mine and there were no apologies."

The sith shakes her head, "Kira's efforts are to be praised, we would be in a much worse situation but even Seldan, Malik proved impotent. At best you could witness, and be left with a tale you don't want to tell."

Faranmidahn smiles and gives Cryo a squeeze, letting her eyes drift closed as her hair is stroked, "I understand... that pain." she says softly. She sighs, "Instead, how many more promises do I break....?" She releases her hold on the sith and shakes her head, "I promised to kill her, a blood oath, yet... I promised to be there for the final battle...."

Kira doesn't quite blush, though lowers her eye a bit awkwardly, perhaps guiltily. First, at the question of her cleaning, though the rest of the comments don't make her feel much improved, even with Cryo's praise. She steps forward to put a hand to each of them.

"She was deserving of mercy, Faran. Some of us hoped this, but none of us knew until we were there. In the end, she is the one who ended the plague and is undoing its harm." She exhales a soft sigh. "I understand Acedia's worries, too. All any of us could do was to run. Serene, Mikilos, and I did little more than try to keep away from him."

Cryo slowly shakes her head, pulling Faran into a tighter embrace. There is a lot of sith-makar in the crouch and she surrounds the smaller knight, and holds her. Her eyes closed, her head resting on top of the lucht's, she murmurs, "As Kira says. There was no final battle. She was sleeping, she awoke. Sir Seldan was the Dreaming Dragon's answer to her prayers, for mercy. All we battled was the dream-self of a child, destroyed upon awakening. It would be a crime to hold accountable to her dreams, but she still escaped deserved punishment. No words, no recompense, no regret, no resolution. No final battle, only a slaughter. Three heroes against a Demon Duke and legions of hell that even the heavenly hosts and Fae armies could not resist. All Fell. It will stain my soul forever and I will always feel incomplete. There is little consolation in saying 'I was there and did nothing of importance.'"

The whitescale keeps stroking Albino hair, "Celebrate Kira's return, Mikilos', Merek's! He is back also! That their suffering was not too great," She looks at the visible scars on Kira, the infernal words, "... not too great. You saved Ea a greater fate, Kira, never doubt. I'm sure a Mortal Weapon in an unbound Duke of Hell's hands would have upset the cosmos. He was already god-like without it. This one is thankful she's not worth noticing."

Faranmidahn closes her eyes, lashes glittering soon after, and she melts, under the touch, under their words. So much out of control, so much without reason, or justice.... just... so much.

Kira shifts a little to offer her best attempt at adding to the hugs for both. She nods to Cryo's words, acknowledging the note of Merek's return, and her smile flares wider briefly as well. "I only wanted to help ensure peace.," she notes softly to them both. "I think all deserve that, and I hope we can all find it... even if it takes some time."

"Merek did ask after you Kira, he is in The Dreaming Dragon's care, so you both know." Cryo surrounds Faran, holding her protectively and still stroking her hair, solid and cool with even her tail wrapped around. She briefly holds the back of Faran's armour and tries lifting her, then snorts and grins, "This one tried picking up Acedia and my hand slipped. Your armour is the best for grabbing."

The whitescale stretches her neck up, "Blame Silvermoon, is the best I am left with. Their efforts to avert her and their time travel wobbliness caused a self-fulfilling prophesy as near as I can tell. They received the worst of the plague. The Demon Duke is still bound by them to destroy Salina, and she is fully awake an in her power, so that may keep him in check for a long time. Small consolations. This one has been exploring the woods, to see how much corruption remains and some still does. I have been spending my time in Mictlan. It's helping."

Faranmidahn sighs and nods , returning the hugs as she can. With Cryo's sudden experiment the knight dangles like a cat for a moment, blinking with some surprise at the sudden alleviation from burdening the floor. She looks up as she's set down, listening to her words, then, after laying a hand lightly on Kira, she looks to her sister, "Did you see the hatchlings?"

"We spoke," Kira informs them both on Merek, or her interaction with him, smile growing again. It was for the first time since... well, since. She tries not to giggle at Faran's bit of dangling (again, not -at- her), but some leaks out. "I'm glad that you are spending time there, and that it's helping." A blink and piqued interest. "Hatchlings?"

"Yes! This one did! No hatchings, and many are grown to Nestling size but they were great to see. There are some eggs still deciding if the world is worth it, so this one hopes to see a few." Cryo smiles widely with lots of teeth, her tail wagging and sweeping the floor behind her. A series of swift expressions move across her face, something distant then something hopeful.

"This one and Zeke are no longer together. He needs time apart, no contact. This one had hoped our time together in the Tower would have accustomed him to me, but it only made things worse. I called him. He would not come. He touches Sir Seldan, he will not touch me. He says he cannot give me a nest. That I think cihuaa too much in softskin terms and he is not mine."

The white sith shrugs her shoulders, sweeping her arms wide. "This one can always do something embarassing, should his mind not change. I will see where our paths lead."

She looks over at Kira, nodding, "Hatchings are in the spring, after the Season in the fall. It is usually an anxious time, and very joyous."

Faranmidahn blushes slightly, but only fidgets a little before she looks between the women. SHe's.. still unsure about Merek, now, but, it's well that he's safe, too. A sigh and, "I'm sorry...." and she hugs Cryo, tucking her face in until she can get her sorrow at the developments off of it, again.

"Oh! I... didn't know." Kira knows the basics of midwifing, but that probably doesn't really apply to Sith-makar. Still, children are children and she nods. "I'm sure it's both of those, for any parents, and family." She reacts to Cryo's words in somewhat reverse order. Her smile wavers at the news of Zeke, though she doesn't let it fade completely. She isn't sure what to say to that, thought tries to think a moment. In the end, she can only echo Faran's comiseration. "I'm sorry, too."

"The Egg-Watchers help a lot. Sometimes the males are allowed in." Cryo says, sitting on her tail and leaning back against the wall. It places her a little above Faran's height, she's still largely in a crouch. "They are clumsy, nestlings are fast and small and often underfoot. It's best that way."

The whitescale looks around, "Do you need assistance washing? This one still has to bother Serriel's Temple, regarding Serene..."

Faranmidahn finaly emerges from her shelter, reaching up to gently scritch at Cryo's scales as she does, "Underfoot isn't always the best place to be." she concedes, but, she looks between the two at Cryo's question, "Is there anything I can help with?"

Cryo moves onto her knees, waves her hands through a quick motion and her gloves glow. She follows up with washing motions, magically cleaning the area around. A grin is directed towards Faran, with a tilt of her head, "You would be very helpful I think. It is very frightening, as a nestling, with everything so large and loud."

The white sith moves a little in the hallway, "My earliest memories came back also, with the Fae Memory fruit. They are strange to think upon."

"I don't get to be the big girl very often." Faran replies with a little smirk. Look, she flexes! Fierce! She sighs a bit, then and runs her hand back through her hair, "I can imagine, everything must be like when you sampled our memories, feeling things for the first time, like our clothes and hair, only back then, for you, it was everything."

"Mmhmmm." Cryo nods, her tail curling about, "Very much. Smells, sights. Even not understanding where I end and the others begin, we are very wriggly in the nest. Then senses developing, which I understand now. Hands! So large."

She splays her own, reaching towards Faran, grinning with her nose dipped, "This one should get more scrolls, they are fun memories. You should know what it's like to hatch, sister. With everything being new."

Blink. Hmm, "I... never thought about that. That could be interesting?" Faran replies thoughtfully, gently rubbing Cryo's back, "I can't remember that far, anymore."

"I remember my first thought," Cryosanthia says, sitting up and back, resting on her tail again, gazing a the wall. Her expressions are often minimal, again she becomes a lizard breathing, watching with no indication of what's going on in her head. "Before, a sort of awareness that is hard to describe. I was the egg and it was me and that was the whole world. Then the distinction, there is me and not me, and the not-me... is... active. These thoughts are not clear and hard to describe, it is only the awareness now, when I focus on them and bring them back that I understand I was hearing, and also smelling things. They were worried about us. Am'shere has many nest-thieves, we were not a large village, the New-Mothers and Egg-Watchers were exhausted from vigilance."

"This one discovered she could move, make noise. It made the other noises much louder, they were happy and encouraging. This one can hear her clutch-mates moving through their shells." The white sith sounds wistful, "Perhaps we are not meant to remember, but they are pleasing and strange. I feel like I do when I find something new, except it was all the time then, always new. Can you guess the first thing this one thought?"

Faranmidahn gives that a few moments thought, then, with a cant of her head, "Who am I?" she wonders gently. She hasn't spent a lot of time with babies, but seems like that would be a fair guess.

Cryosanthia shakes her head, smiling again with wicked teeth, "No. It was 'What's That?' This one had that thought often at anything that moved or made noise. Then the thought grew, after the Hatching. Before, that thought, then moving in the egg, rolling over. This one did not understand it could be fought, that the everything else, the not-me, was more than one thing. They are telling us to break free, singing calls, encouraging scents leaking through the shells. None of these made any sense to me at the time, except the smells which made me restless. To do something this one does not know what."

"That was... my second guess." Faran replies with a blush. She considers something then, "As much as our sensations were new to you... I can only imagine how smells are practically another language for you, you don't learn it, you just... know it." A shrug, "Kinda. I know some beings communicate that way, but it's hard for me to imagine how things would be different for me."

"Your senses are very interesting! Skin and Silk! So distracting! Like scale-mites but the sensations are pleasant. This one has no idea how you concentrate, and the heaviness of armour! Weight on limbs that does not move freely with it." Cryo nods, agreeing and explaining. She reaches out and brushes Faran's hair again, scaley hand gently curled behind it, petting lightly down to her back. "Smells are like a language of gestures. It is not a sentence, it is an impression of the other's feelings and influences your own. This is why..."

She hesitates, her hand halting, the air around her getting a little cooler, "this is why Zeke's distress scents, whenever I was close or he thought I would touch him, or Salina was discussed, were so upsetting. His words, his gestures, were encouraging and this one had hope, but himself at a core level was telling me he wanted me to go away. This one tried to tell her very lizard brain, the scent lies, but the doubt kept growing back. This one is growing familiar with Softskin scents. The difference is you might know things before you are told, but this one finds the words come most of the times. The people do not always have to speak why they are upset to each other, it is... understood."

Faranmidahn cants her head, "Scale mites sound like fleas..." she muses with a shudder, then reaches out to gently scritch at her scales with both hands, "I haven't done a lot with heavier armor... casting with what I have is often chancy enough." She closes her eyes again as her sister's hand moves along her hair, it's always been a soft spot of hers. When Cryo's explaination of scents veers into the developments with Zeke, her eyes open and she looks with sympathy up into Cryo's face, which she reaches up to take between her palms and tiptoes up to kiss the tip of her snout, "We must have been pretty puzzling for a while..." she muses, trying to steer her away from the recent upheaval, even as she herself mourns the dissolution. She wanted them to be happy, but maybe it wasn't to be, wasn't for her to yearn for, but, still...

Cryo can be steered by her nose, her head is dipped for Faran's kiss, her heavy mass of horns making her solid and easy to hold onto. She flickers out her tongue as the Lucht pulls away. Her thoughts take a little longer to be dragged off course, her head easier to move than her mind. "In the Tower, we were both distressed and would also smell of comfort. We were together, mates should be together in scents. Outside, this one could smell strong, confident, but Zeke would not join me... he was... still trapped. I could not reach him..."

She shakes her head, exhales a long sigh of visible breath, "This one had a special tooth, for breaking out of the egg. This one stabbed, then cut, then the light, the noise, the smells! So Much! So many large moving things! The Not-Me became so much. This one lost herself. The 'What's That?' thoughts became 'what's that? is it food?', 'what's that? is it me?', 'what's that? is that my tail?'. This one bit so many tails before finding my own, every creche-mate bit mine. It is still tender. So many things, this one stared uncomprehending. This one did not hatch first, but was early. This one can hear they are impressed with my scale colour. Oh my Nest-Mother, she is very proud. Then the running happened." She grins widely.

A giggle, "What's that.... over -there-?" Faran guesses with a big grin as she looks up to her sister's face, an eyebrow high. The luchtstrokes the white scales lovingly and, "I... still get a bit like that, now and then."

Cryo nods, and laughs. Still in a crouch, she quick stomps her feet, left, right and says, "I did not know what this sensation was, that it was moving my legs. Only that suddenly everything streamed by me very fast. The more I did it, the more new things came to me. Oh the noises behind me! This one, the other hatchlings, all running to see the world as they try to catch!"

The white sith smiles happily, stroking at Faran, "This one will get the spell, so you can see, the reward and joy this one felt when she chose to enter this world. All the Eggs, in the eggs, must choose to break into the world."

"I wonder if that's why I like poking things with my dagger. I poked a lot of things with my tooth before it fell off."

Faranmidahn closes her eyes and sighs dreamily, trying, if for a moment, to recapture memories of her own, innocent first tastes of the world. Alas. Still, it sounds like a wonderous, quite literally, way to view the world.

Cryosanthia also seems lost in her thoughts, some of which include head lunges with her chin. Suddenly she exclaims loudly, "HA! River Stone! This one sees Nestling Him! He is a block! Round like his whole egg. This one hides behind him! He protects me from the start!"

The whitescale tilts her head up, staring at the ceiling with her mouth agape. A wide smile on her snout, and light trickles along her body. Her highlight scales catching the sun that filters in, or glowing with their own cold illumination. "It is worth remembering these. What is a literal and good start to my first century, to be the metaphorical start for my second. We have hatched together sisters, broken through an ordeal, to face the world anew."

The little knight reaches out to take the two in her arms, within the limits of her tiny grasp and gives a thoughtful sigh as she nuzzles in, thinking back to her father's words:

/Anyone can share friendship under the sun, little Spring, true friends are rare, and you should treasure them always, especially in the darkest nights./

Faran's snuggling deepens, considering the bleak season and torments they've endured, and she looks between the two to suggest, "Let's face it well. Together."

Kira does her best to visualize this. Hatching is a bit foreign to her... but the innocence, wonderment, and eagerness to explore of a child... that she can certainly digest and envision. Her sithster's recounting is even more intriguing, and delightful with the unfamiliar aspects. "It's beautiful.." is all that comes to form words, and they don't do it justice.

Maybe Kira still has some of those traits, herself, even still... despite all that's happened. Which makes her sister's... sisters' words all the more wise and true. They have hatched, and endured, and will face new things to explore. "Together," she nods to both , tears in her eye, and gives both a squeeze in their ...egg-like embrace?