Missing Pieces
Log Info
- Title: Missing Pieces
- Emitter: Elleandra
- Characters: Cryosanthia, Braelnoir, Elleandra, Kamaria
- Place: W01: Wayfarer's Inn
- Time: Tuesday, August 11, 2020, 9:48 PM
- Summary: Cryo, Braelnoir, Elleandra and Kamaria meet up at the Wayfarer's Inn, to celebrate a local holiday and discuss how adventuring has changed them and their friends, and the power of sadness.
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The inn's main room is large yet cosy, with plaster walls and a low ceiling supported by sturdy oaken beams. The decor is sparse: there's little other furniture save for a few rough-hewn wooden tables and chairs, and the only real object of 'ornamentation' is the large, moth-eaten moose head that's set above the kitchen door at the far end of the room. Still, the inn is pleasant in a simple, rustic way, and the delicious smell of food cooking makes it all the more inviting; the place seems to be more of a restaurant than a tavern, and a bar is nowhere in sight
The innkeeper's counter sits in the east corner, within a few paces of the main entrance. Behind the counter is a small storeroom where one can purchase traveling supplies. The west corner of the room is occupied by a spiral staircase that leads to the second storey.
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing, in Order =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Cryosanthia 6'9" 267 Lb Sith-Makar Female A dashingly tall, elegant white-scaled lizard woman. Braelnoir 5'11" 146 Lb Human Female A tall, pale Acanian woman, branded in silver. Elleandra Kamaria -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
It's a lovely night, the stars light the sky, and lanterns are hung up outside the inn. Around these, numerous braziers have been lit, giving off a pleasant scent that tingles the senses and happily drives off insects, as well. Tables are set out this night and many of the people of the city have gathered to celebrate a local holiday.
The tables are being tended by someone who only recently returned. It's Kamaria, and though she's not really a waitress at heart, she serves well enough. Besides, she's become a favorite in the small town, so they are forgiving if she occasionally should drop a glass. Elleandra, having set the kitchen in order, is also outside, tending a fire over which she is set to work, a smile on her face and sweat on her brow as she roasts pheasants, one after another.
The setup for the festival has largely gone unnoticed to a certain whitescaled sith-makar. Cryosanthia has been using the Wayfarer's Inn as a base for her work with the Explorer's Guild, who have been sending her teams to map the corruption of the woods, and the fading of Salina's influence. Something else is going on, however, as the Druids of the Grove have become distant and occupied. However, that something hasn't been explained to her and she's once more in the dark and feeling unsupported. When the tavern started to get busy she retreated to a room to work on updating the map with what the teams brought back. With the information transferred, she's ready to return to Mictlan and emerges. She is taken aback by the decorations, they weren't there this morning, and stares. Her fingers tightening on her pack.
With the sort of knock at the doorsill that indicated in past times that the muted serpent woman was about to make her entrance, this time, the door opens to alow entrance to Brae in a more bipedal form, dripping in her usually aray of arms and armour, she lifts a left hand to cheer, "'ello, m'luvlies, don't be 'fraid now!" With a quick look over the, regardless, slightly startled crowd to see Cryo and Kamaria, "'hey girls, how is?" with a big grin.
Kamaria barely remembers to set down her tray before rushing towards Cryosanthia. Hopefully the sith makar is ready for a very forceful hug. "Cryosanthia! Hi!" she calls out loudly just as she crashes into the woman. She looks over to Braelnoir with a warm smile and waves, "Hey honey! Things are going well. Are you hungry?"
Elleandra looks up at the commotion and laughs. She can't quite step away from her work right away, but in short order she gets another girl to tend things so she can join everyone else. "Wow! I'm so happy to see you all tonight! This is a joyful meeting." She dips into a curtsey and laughs at herself. She'll never be as good at that as Kamaria is.
Cryosanthia is not ready for a sudden hug, she is mentally switching gears when Kamira embraces her. Still, she's hard to move and stable on her feet and ends up absorbing her crashing in. She blinks, looking between Kamira, Elleandra and Braelnoir, "Y... yes? This one is hungry. Hello, hello all. There is a festival?"
Braelnoir shifts her outfit as she reindexes the scythe and holds the haft to her back, the new garment encompassing it in such a way as to serve as a workable sheath for the moment, spreading her arms wide to snare whoever she catches first in a firm hug, then cycling through the others, little kisses coming with each, "Missed ya, luvs." She looks at the decorations, "What's the occaision?"
"We think it's something to do with midsummer," says Kamaria. "I've studied the origins, and it seems it's been a tradition ever since people lived here, but the best I can figure is that it started with a desire to stay outside at night. To keep the wild dangers at bay, everyone lit lanterns and started fires. Which continues to this day, it seems, though the wild is not what it was." Kamaria trails off and blushes. As she enjoys a Braelnoir hug, adding an extra squeeze or two, she asks, "Nobody wanted to know that, did they?"
Elleandra hugs Cryosanthia tightly, smiling even more. She hugs Braelnoir, as well, winking playfully at her before turning back to Kamaria. "It's okay, you are adorable when you share your interests." The comment draws a giggle from the other girl and she sticks out her tongue at Elly as well. "So.. food then!" says Elleandra. "I'd best arrange that."
"Interesting," Cryosanthia says, moving between hugs, embracing Elly after Braenoir, then standing there, "No, this one wanted to know. The people see in the dark, so it does not hold the same terrors for us. Am'shere during the day has its own threats. This one could stay for food, yes." She's wearing her old leather armour, which seems to have been adjusted to fit her more properly, and none of her other things besides her haversack.
Braelnoir has a hand on each woman by the time she choses to respond, touch gentle, but fond, "Well, sounds like a lovely night t'be had, then." she says with a wink. She looks to Cryo, eyeing her equipment, but she doesn't remark on it, instead, "Ya look good." with a little smile for her sister, then to Kami, "Likewise, keepin' Elly on'er toes?" she winks.
Kami laughs suddenly, "Trying to. She seems offended if I do things to distract her while cooking. Though everyone else thinks it's cute." She watches Elleandra slip away. The druid's walk is.. different. She's clearly started to pick-up the same walk that Kamaria uses. Which makes Kami's response more amusing, "And she walks like that! When did she start doing that? It gives me ideas.." She shakes herself slightly and gestures to a table, "We can rest over here!"
Elleandra looks back over her shoulder with a smirk. Catching Kami looking, she knows she's getting better. Still, there's food to be prepared, and she won't suffer any failures. Once settled in by the fire, she's sending instructions back to the kitchen and the serving girls are hopping as drinks and food start moving in every direction.
Cryo watches Elly walk away, the differences in the sway of her hips, the similarity to Kamaria's movements. She nods to Brealnoir, still seeming a little subdued in her responses, "Thanks. You are looking great also." She moves over to the indicated table, her own gait incorporates a tail-sway which generates significantly more rocking motions. She'll also side-step between tables, and finally settles. She looks askance, down at the rocks in front of the fireplace. One of her arcane-marks stares back at her, a mark left long ago, for her. "This one needs to return to Mictlan soon, but can share drinks, food, before going."
Braelnoir grins a bit at that, glancing at 'the Walk' and gives Kami a light knuckle bump to the arm, "Think sh's onta ya now, luv." chuckle. As Cryo replies, still seeming a little down, she gives a concerned look, but she follows, as her own tail undulates behind her, gleaming in the light., though, she doesn't settle in a chair, just yet, but continues to follow until the Sith stops. A hand settles on her shoulder, another further down her back. She glances over her shoulder, then growls in a more archaic take on the draconic tongue /Sister, what weighs so upon you?/
Kamaria has to help with serving, but she's not away long before she is excused. It seems that she was only considered temporary help. She settles at the table, looking from Braelnoir to Cryosanthia. She's missed the comment from Braelnoir, and wouldn't understand the tongue in any case. She did bring water and greens, plus bowls and utensils. There's also a generous bowl of fruit that was gathered just today.
Cryo looks over and thinks, what is the answer? And none comes, her inner thoughts and emotions a vast, empty landscape that cold winds blow through. Her eyes lower as she looks over Braelnoir's scales, their silver reflecting her distored white. There are no answers there either. /The Tower remains more a prison than a strength./ She says finally, looking up.
She immediately attempts to sound cheerful, "So this all-night festival, songs are sung? Do you know them? Do they need lights and noise?"
Elly is essentially dancing around the fire, keeping up a side conversation.. or story tale, if her gestures and the audience--all children--is any measure of the truth. She loves it, and loses herself in the moment. So much so that it seems the food must suffer. But it doesn't. She's divided her attention perfectly between her two callings.
Braelnoir frowns, but nods, her hands gently stroking the natural scales, though ignorant of the appraisal through her own. She rumbles a soft /It will be difficult, my sister, but you have it in you./ before looking to watch the festivities begin, taking to a thoughtful smile, at first.
Kamaria fills the silence, as she is wont to do. "You both look lovely tonight," she begins. "This will go on until deep into the night, so there's no need to rush. All the paths will be lit, and lanterns are placed out even out a few paces into the forest. From a distance, I bet they look like fireflies." She sighs deeply, her eyes drifting past the table to watch Elly and the children. Her eyes flicker and for just a moment, she looks uncomfortable. It is gone very quickly, "So, would you like a song? A story?"
"This one is not worried by dark," Cryo says, nodding to Kamaria. She noticed her glance at Elly and the children, and she ends up watching them as well. An effort that drags her attention away. She snaps back, "Yes, a story would be pleasant. This one could use more stories." She leans into the touch against her scales, exhaling. She seems about to say more, then doesn't, nodding, "Yes, a story or song, either is good."
Elleandra finishes her work, at least for now, and once again steps away, bearing a plate with plenty of piping-hot roast pheasant, well seasoned, with glasses of sweet wine that the locals use on this occasion. She sets the table with care, then places herself in a seat between Kamaria and Cryosanthia. "Well, I hope I didn't miss very much," she says at a last. She dabs a kerchief at her forehead, dabbing away her perspiration. "I'm terribly sorry for taking so long."
Braelnoir considers Elly and kami for a moment as she eses into Cryo's side, leaning against her big sister to offer comfort, curling her tail about the larger's as once was the opposite that night in the Fernwood. "Yer fine, luv... it smells great!"
Kamaria frowns in worry. She knows secondhand many of the things that have happened, but her knowledge trailed off as of weeks ago. She accepts the wine and the food gratefully, though she's a bit too distracted to offer her usual praise. It seems this doesn't bother Elleandra at all. She senses the mood at the table is more serious. "You know, perhaps I should consider the proper tale for us this evening.."
Cryo sits there, her tail hanging down behind her, limply, though it curls towards Braelnoir's when hers touches. She nods, smiling at Elleandra as the food is brought, "Nothing was missed, the food smells delightful. We were discussing a good tale for the evening, and the lanterns."
The white sith exhales, murmuring in draconic, /No thing is wrong. This one no longer fits./
Elleandra begins simple, "Once there was a small woman walking along a dusty trail. She likely was already quite old, but she had a spring in her step and a smile as brilliant and fresh as a young girl. Along the way, she stopped by a huddled figure and looked down. That figure seemed hardly to even have a body. The small woman bent down and asked, 'Who are you?' A pair of nearly lifeless eyes met her gaze and answered, 'Me? I am the Sadness,' in a flat voice, the sound barely audible."
"You remain well fit in our hearts, sister." Braelnoir growls in a soft, trilling rumble and she smiles up into her sister's eyes before she regards the others, "Most o'my stories won't do fer the kiddies." she notes with a little shrug as her tail tightens it's spiral around the palescale's for a brief squeeze.
Elleandra goes on, her expression changing subtely as she gets into the role, "In a happy shout, the small woman replied, 'Oh! The Sadness!' The Sadness, suspicious, asked, 'You know me?' The small woman replied, 'Of course I know you! Often you have accompanied me!' Even more suspicious, the Sadness said, 'Yes, but... shouldn't you run away from me? Aren't you afraid of me?' The small woman seemed puzzled, asking, 'Why should I run away from you, dear? Surely you know that you can catch anyone. But tell me, why are you so discouraged?' The Sadness let out a faint sigh and answered in a frail voice, 'I... am sad.' The old woman sat beside her. 'So you are sad. Tell me what depresses you.' To this, the Sadness let out a profoud sigh. Could someone truly wish to hear her? Could her dearest wish come at last? 'It's just that nobody likes me. I must go to people and remain with them for a certain time. When I come to them, they are afraid. They avoid me as if I were a plague. They have invented phrases hoping to banish me.'"
Cryo nods her head slowly, holding Braelnoir's gaze. She smiles, but it's an expression she puts on, making it a more a mask. Her head turns to listen to Elleandra's story. Her breathing is slow, very regular. Finally commenting quietly, "This one has met the Sadness and does not like her."
The druidess continues, and around her a silence grows. She pays it no mind, lost in her telling. 'They say: Rubbish! Life is fun. They laugh fake laughs and cramp their stomachs. They say to praise that which makes us tough. They get pain in their hearts. They say you mush pull yourself together! The pain reaches their shoulders and backs. Then they say, only weaklings cry! Their heads nearly burst as they dam their tears. Or they numb themselves with drugs and drink so that they do not have to feel me.' The old woman nodded and said, 'Oh yes, I have seen many people such as those.' The Sadness settled down and explained, 'But I only want to help people. When I am close, they may find themselves. I help them build a nest to heal their wounds. Sad people have thin skins, some sorrows are opened up again like badly healed wounds. It hurts a lot. And yet.. only someone who allows Sadness and cries all their bottled tears can really heal. People do not want me to help them. They favor garish laughter over their scars. They encase themselves in armor of bitterness.' The Sadness said nothing; her weeping was first soft, then grew stronger and finally desperate."
Kamaria lowers her eyes; the story is known to her. It's clear that she, too, has faced a telling of this, and though she smiles, there's a tinge of sadness in the expression. She reaches out offering her hands to any who might hold them. Whatever she is feeling this night, she doesn't wish to feel it alone.
Braelnoir stays close as Cryo smiles at her and she sniffs a little bit before her eyes seek Elleandra once more. The tale is not one she knows and it brushes against things she understands to a point in her own way, but there is some truth to it. Another glance sidelong to the palescale, likely by far more scarred than she herself as she speaks, where the chimera says nothing. Not this time, though she holds close and watches, while she gently takes Kami's hand in hers.
"The small woman encircled the sunken down figure in her comforting arms. She was so soft, so tender as she caressed the quivering bundle. 'Just weep, my Sadness,' she whispered lovingly. 'Rest a little bit, so that you can regain some strength again. From this day, you will never walk alone again. I will accompany you, so that this discouragement does not gain power.' The Sadness stopped weeping, sitting up and looking in astonishment at her new companion, 'But.. but who are you?' 'Me?' the small said, grinning. Then she answers, smiling easily like a little girl, 'I am the Hope.' Elleandra looks at each of her friends, smiling warmly. "You have all been hurt. Hurt badly. I cannot cry your tears for you, but I will be there, at your side, every step of the way, if you will have me."
Few scents come off the white sith, and she sits quietly at the table, watching and listening as Elleandra speaks. It's a good story and a part of her mind is tucking it away for re-telling, although she's not entirely absorbing it. Listening and not listening. "It is a good story, Elly. This one is glad you are here and to see you." She shrugs a little, "This one is not sad. This one is..." Cryou hesitates, looks over at a table at the edge of the inn and recalls a moment decades and months ago, "Maskurwarayuslih. Broken."
Kamaria squeezes Braelnoir's hand gently, offering a grateful look to her. It's a relief to be understood and cared for. She finds her other hand held by Elleandra a moment later. A tremulous sigh she didn't expect escapes her. "We should stay closer," she says gently. "And try to understand.. well, everything. I realize there's so much I want to share."
Braelnoir glances to Kami on her squeeze, turning in time to meet her eyes with a little smile, then she turns to squeeze Cryo on her words, "Broken ain't destroyed, luv. Not destroyed. Not alone." The chimera turns to Elleandra and she gives a thoughtful smile her way, "Words ta think on, luv. Good words."
Elleandra looks to Cryosanthia, reaching out to gently caress her cheek. "I think we need each other, dear one. All of us. This kind of healing can take a long time, but I believe it will come. If you run away, I will pursue you." She laughs softly, but tears slide down her cheeks, "I have been away weeks. It feels like years have passed. I will not let any of you get out of my reach for long. I've been seperated from someone I loved once. I won't let it happen again."
Cryo lets her hand be squeezed, and looks at it, her left hand, the scales clean and pristine. "The words are good, of worth." She scratches at the table. "She was missing a piece. A piece that would let her understand the sufferings of others. I guess, because it was a dream, for her. It was not, for me. The Paladins are missing a piece, that lets them feel fear. With fear, comes doubt, without it they are always sure. They are inhuman too. She is immortal, and the missing mortality means she saw mortals differently, and I saw it too, day after day. There is a certain kind of insanity that breeds when you're in the same small number of rooms, when nothing changes. Time passes, and doesn't. I saw my horns grown, and I thought I lost you all to the years, then I stepped back into my life, except I didn't fit." She looks over at the fireplace, "This one had a foundling, a child. He is grown and now dead. I tried to kill him, but my mate, my cihuaa did instead. I doomed him, by loving him, to suffer the same things I did. He said I was selfish, and he left me. I could wait eighty years in the tower for him to touch me, but could not wait four weeks once we were freed. I said I forgave her... for what she did to me... and I lied. I haven't. I am missing a piece now too, and I don't know what it is. It just is. This one has no nest. This one knows the path I took to get here, but I'm still lost. I'm not sad. I just, exist."
Kamaria rises slowly, walking around the table to wrap her arms around Cryosanthia from behind. She hugs her friend tightly. "Let's look for it together," she says gently. "Even if you are lost, you don't have to be alone. Even if all we can do is just sit there and be with you, we will be. I know a little of time fading and loves seeming lost forever. I will never turn a deaf ear to you, Cryosanthia. None of us will. We love you."
Braelnoir nods to Elly as she speaks good words, then she looks up to Cryo at her response, still touching, still there with her as she couldn't before. She frowns some as Cryo speaks, and it deepends as she continues, but she turns into her and enwraps the larger female in her limbs. A nuzzle, and she looks up to her, "We can find it, together, Cryo...."
The druidess watches for a moment, considering. "Unless I miss my guess, we are all missing something some of the time. Some part of us, in time, breaks. Perhaps that is why we need others as much as we do. We can see in them what we have lost and find it once more. What makes it so difficult is that what we seek most is so very near at hand." She finds herself joining the embrace, pressing a soft kiss to Cryosanthia's snout. "We aren't going away, my dear friend. I don't know what help I can give, but I'm not going away."
Cryo is hugged, and it helps, although the sith is rather cold in temperature. "Thanks," she says quietly, then barks a painful laugh, "Pretty sure I forever lost that. I still care for him, but he desires us to be apart, mourned me as if I'm dead. I called for him in anguish to come to me, and he wouldn't. That is the end of the story. Those thoughts are to be put in a box and on a shelf and away, there is no hope there. Hope is that I can look at hatchlings and not feel emptiness." She blinks as she is kissed, taking Elleandra's hand and squeezing it, repeating, "Thanks."
Kamaria just stays there. The hug feels good. She waits some time before letting go, actually. When she does, she laughs softly, raising a hand to wipe at the corner of her eyes. "Sorry, just.. feeling really emotional. I blame the upcoming.. event." She feels less nervous if she doesn't have to say wedding. "And I fear I had better rest. They tell me if I'm to be ready, I need to have plenty of rest and gain some weight. Well, I'm not going to get fat for them, but I will sleep. Please don't stray far, and please make sure you come here often."
Braelnoir also kisses her softly, a lingering thing as she gives a fond squeeze, "I know." There's and soft sigh and she twists some, loosing some of her limbs to encompass all the women, all the love in one rmbrace, "We're here for you, sis. We're here fer each other."
"You need to be round for your wedding?" Cryo asks, coming back from wherever she mentally drifted. Perhaps she was thinking about eggs. She blinks, trying to piece that into the puzzle, her focus was all on letting the embraces do their work and trying to repair some damage. "We should go, Braelnoir, if we are to make Mictlan before midnight. Others will be up but will get upset if we enter the tent late and noisy. Thank you Elly, Kami, for being here. This one is sorry she is not better company."
"No matter what, Cryosanthia, you are welcome company, and we are lucky to have you in our hearts," replies Elleandra. She takes hold of Kamaria's hand, drawing her beloved near. "We will hope to see you both very soon. The wedding fast approaches. I have seen to the last matters, my mother is now satisfied. My grandmother's wrath has been avoided narrowly, and.. thank goodness there's nothing else to worry about before then." She and Kamaria take turns embracing their friends tightly before they finally start to withdraw to the inn. "Travel with care! I went scouting just this morning. There were no signs of trouble nearby, and the owlbears were persuaded to move farther away from the trail, so I expect you will have no adventures on the way." With yet another embrace for each of them, and more soft kisses on cheeks, the two finally bid their friends farewell, making for the comfort of their room.
