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rainbowfic2015-08-01 02:57 pm
kay_brooke) wrote in rainbowfic2015-08-01 02:57 pm
Aurora #21, Burgundy #9, White Cross #6
Name: kay_brooke
Story: The Myrrosta
Colors: Aurora #21 (Meridian), Burgundy #9 (oak), White Cross #6 (Shining Cross)
Styles/Supplies: Eraser, Seed Beads, Frame, Graffiti (Duck Gallery)
Word Count: 1,025
Rating/Warnings: PG-13; no standard warnings apply
Summary: Ava's strange day continues.
Notes: Part two of this. Constructive criticism is welcome, either through comments or PM.
The walk through the forest had not been a long one, but Ava thought she would remember it in her dreams for years to come. Even more so than stepping beneath the first arch that marked the entrance to the city surrounding Lenthyn, because as she walked forward, arch after arch, the forest, massive oaks and sycamores stretching far into the sky, never left.
The city was not a city in the way she was familiar with them: she knew human cities, spread out across flat plains, cozied up to the edges of rivers, in one instance cut into the very cliffs that lined the eastern sea. But this city was nearly invisible, dwellings blended into the trees and the underbrush, so that when the arches stopped and she realized she was in the city proper, it seemed she was still in the middle of a forest. Only the path was there, leading inexorably to the temple, the only thing in this place that looked like a true structure, of the type she was used to.
She wondered why only the temple should be what humans expected. Was it about spectacle? That did not seem the salkiy way, though it was true the only one she had ever known was her father.
It might have been a wondrous journey, even, except for the salkiys at her back.
There were only two now, the tall leader and one other. The rest had melted away when the party reached the arches, she assumed to again take up their positions watching the roads. Were the salkiys at war then, to have patrols watching for humans approaching the temple? Or were they simply guarding it jealously?
She didn’t dare ask her captors her questions. She only walked, and soon they came to a clearing wherein lay several squat buildings, and beyond them the steps up to the temple itself.
There was a group of salkiys waiting for them in the clearing, all dressed in blue robes, longer than the ones her captors wore. She remember vaguely her father teaching her that robe were a bit as uniforms for salkiys at work, and that their colors meant different things. She could not remember what they were.
But the blue robes seemed to be higher than the green robes, one blue robe in particular, worn by a short salkiy woman, shorter than Ava herself, with hair the greenish-brown of moss and two gold earrings set along the outer rim of her left ear. Ava was familiar with that placement: it matched the scars in her own father’s left ear.
Her two captors dropped to their knees, though their weapons remained pointed at Ava. “Araithus,” said the tall one. “We did not expect to meet you here.”
The Araithus looked from one to the other, then at Ava. She seemed annoyed. “Yes, we were in the middle of something.” She flicked her wrist and the other blue robes murmured something and set off, some disappearing back into the temple, some heading toward the city. “What is this?”
“We found this one on the road to the temple,” said the tall salkiy. “She claims to be a half-breed, but not a spy. She speaks our tongue.”
“I see.” The Araithus peered at Ava, and though the other woman was a fingerlength shorter than she, Ava felt like she had shrunk beneath that penetrating gaze. “If you are not a spy, then why did you learn our tongue?”
“My father taught me,” said Ava, after an encouraging poke from the blunt end of the tall salkiy’s sword. “Why would I not learn it?”
“You and your father belong to the human world,” said the Araithus. “You would not have need of it.”
“I haven’t,” Ava admitted. “But it has come in useful today.”
“Perhaps.” The Araithus nodded to the guards. “Return to what you were doing.”
“Araithus, I insist at least one of us remains for your protection,” said the tall salkiy.
“Protection from whom? This half-breed?” The Araithus laughed. “Please go. Your protection is more sorely needed at our gates.”
The two guards stood and left. Now it was only Ava and the Araithus in a strangely silent clearing. That was another thing which unsettled her: there were no city sounds, no one bustling about on their daily business. It was as if the city was abandoned.
“Few live here the whole year round,” said the Araithus, and Ava remembered that some salkiys could hear thoughts as if they had been spoken aloud. “If it can be found, salkiys don’t like to stay there. It’s a bad habit, I’m afraid, but a thousand years in the making.” She gestured toward Ava. “Who are you?”
“I am Avashel Mortague,” said Ava, though the significance of her family name would mean nothing to the salkiy. “I am called Ava. I was in Maston only just earlier today. That’s across the eastern sea.” She paused. “The western sea, I suppose you would know it as, if you know it at all.”
“We do have maps,” said the Araithus dryly, but there was a light in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. “Tell me, how does one cross the western sea and come to Lenthyn in the space of a day?”
“I don’t know,” said Ava. “I told the other salkiys the truth. I woke up in these woods. They captured me. My last memory is of being outside my own home. I cannot say what happened in between.”
“Perhaps nothing,” said the Araithus, looking thoughtful. “Tell me, this salkiy father of yours, does he have a name?”
“Of course,” said Ava. “He’s known as Merrus.”
The Araithus’s eyes went wide and she clasped her hand to her chest, palm outward, in a gesture Ava didn’t know. She had learned the words that went with her father’s people, but the accompanying hand gestures she had never quite managed. “Then it worked, after a fashion.”
“What worked?” asked Ava.
“I believe you that you are not a spy,” said the Araithus. “I’m afraid I’m the reason for your presence here.”
“How is that?”
The Araithus gestured toward the temple. “Come inside with me, and I’ll explain.”
kay_brookeStory: The Myrrosta
Colors: Aurora #21 (Meridian), Burgundy #9 (oak), White Cross #6 (Shining Cross)
Styles/Supplies: Eraser, Seed Beads, Frame, Graffiti (Duck Gallery)
Word Count: 1,025
Rating/Warnings: PG-13; no standard warnings apply
Summary: Ava's strange day continues.
Notes: Part two of this. Constructive criticism is welcome, either through comments or PM.
The walk through the forest had not been a long one, but Ava thought she would remember it in her dreams for years to come. Even more so than stepping beneath the first arch that marked the entrance to the city surrounding Lenthyn, because as she walked forward, arch after arch, the forest, massive oaks and sycamores stretching far into the sky, never left.
The city was not a city in the way she was familiar with them: she knew human cities, spread out across flat plains, cozied up to the edges of rivers, in one instance cut into the very cliffs that lined the eastern sea. But this city was nearly invisible, dwellings blended into the trees and the underbrush, so that when the arches stopped and she realized she was in the city proper, it seemed she was still in the middle of a forest. Only the path was there, leading inexorably to the temple, the only thing in this place that looked like a true structure, of the type she was used to.
She wondered why only the temple should be what humans expected. Was it about spectacle? That did not seem the salkiy way, though it was true the only one she had ever known was her father.
It might have been a wondrous journey, even, except for the salkiys at her back.
There were only two now, the tall leader and one other. The rest had melted away when the party reached the arches, she assumed to again take up their positions watching the roads. Were the salkiys at war then, to have patrols watching for humans approaching the temple? Or were they simply guarding it jealously?
She didn’t dare ask her captors her questions. She only walked, and soon they came to a clearing wherein lay several squat buildings, and beyond them the steps up to the temple itself.
There was a group of salkiys waiting for them in the clearing, all dressed in blue robes, longer than the ones her captors wore. She remember vaguely her father teaching her that robe were a bit as uniforms for salkiys at work, and that their colors meant different things. She could not remember what they were.
But the blue robes seemed to be higher than the green robes, one blue robe in particular, worn by a short salkiy woman, shorter than Ava herself, with hair the greenish-brown of moss and two gold earrings set along the outer rim of her left ear. Ava was familiar with that placement: it matched the scars in her own father’s left ear.
Her two captors dropped to their knees, though their weapons remained pointed at Ava. “Araithus,” said the tall one. “We did not expect to meet you here.”
The Araithus looked from one to the other, then at Ava. She seemed annoyed. “Yes, we were in the middle of something.” She flicked her wrist and the other blue robes murmured something and set off, some disappearing back into the temple, some heading toward the city. “What is this?”
“We found this one on the road to the temple,” said the tall salkiy. “She claims to be a half-breed, but not a spy. She speaks our tongue.”
“I see.” The Araithus peered at Ava, and though the other woman was a fingerlength shorter than she, Ava felt like she had shrunk beneath that penetrating gaze. “If you are not a spy, then why did you learn our tongue?”
“My father taught me,” said Ava, after an encouraging poke from the blunt end of the tall salkiy’s sword. “Why would I not learn it?”
“You and your father belong to the human world,” said the Araithus. “You would not have need of it.”
“I haven’t,” Ava admitted. “But it has come in useful today.”
“Perhaps.” The Araithus nodded to the guards. “Return to what you were doing.”
“Araithus, I insist at least one of us remains for your protection,” said the tall salkiy.
“Protection from whom? This half-breed?” The Araithus laughed. “Please go. Your protection is more sorely needed at our gates.”
The two guards stood and left. Now it was only Ava and the Araithus in a strangely silent clearing. That was another thing which unsettled her: there were no city sounds, no one bustling about on their daily business. It was as if the city was abandoned.
“Few live here the whole year round,” said the Araithus, and Ava remembered that some salkiys could hear thoughts as if they had been spoken aloud. “If it can be found, salkiys don’t like to stay there. It’s a bad habit, I’m afraid, but a thousand years in the making.” She gestured toward Ava. “Who are you?”
“I am Avashel Mortague,” said Ava, though the significance of her family name would mean nothing to the salkiy. “I am called Ava. I was in Maston only just earlier today. That’s across the eastern sea.” She paused. “The western sea, I suppose you would know it as, if you know it at all.”
“We do have maps,” said the Araithus dryly, but there was a light in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. “Tell me, how does one cross the western sea and come to Lenthyn in the space of a day?”
“I don’t know,” said Ava. “I told the other salkiys the truth. I woke up in these woods. They captured me. My last memory is of being outside my own home. I cannot say what happened in between.”
“Perhaps nothing,” said the Araithus, looking thoughtful. “Tell me, this salkiy father of yours, does he have a name?”
“Of course,” said Ava. “He’s known as Merrus.”
The Araithus’s eyes went wide and she clasped her hand to her chest, palm outward, in a gesture Ava didn’t know. She had learned the words that went with her father’s people, but the accompanying hand gestures she had never quite managed. “Then it worked, after a fashion.”
“What worked?” asked Ava.
“I believe you that you are not a spy,” said the Araithus. “I’m afraid I’m the reason for your presence here.”
“How is that?”
The Araithus gestured toward the temple. “Come inside with me, and I’ll explain.”
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I'm really interested in what's going on here!
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