Eye of the Dragon
DreamLyrics Play-by-Post
Who's Online Now
1 members (Miales), 12 guests, and 12 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
ShoutChat
Comment Guidelines: Do post respectful and insightful comments. Don't flame, hate, spam.
Dice Roller
You will need to enable Javascript in order to view the Dice Roller.
Games Recruiting List










Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,667
Wolf Offline OP
Moderator
OP Offline
Moderator
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,667
The Heartwood
Bordertown
Midwinter’s Hill
Restday, the Twenty-Fifth day of Crown of Ice


Daxia and Lady Kara

While Tree Girl teased Lyric, Daxia had her chance to speak with Lady Kara. At her first words, Lady Kara just shook her head and gave the Dayalan Knight a bright and friendly and completely unexpected hug.

"Oh, it's fine, sweety. There's nothing to forgive. First, My Lady and I, we are nothing if not patient. I chose to believe that it is very nice that she is getting a chance to know that life is so much more than just steel and blood."

What followed though, was a long moment of silence.

"She did not stay with us very long, dear."

Lady Kara managed a small and poignant smile.

"The war with the East shattered the House Allaine. Think. Just who was your apprentice's beloved liege? In some ways The Snowqueen was a lot like you: hidden away just in case that very thing happened. The first time she saw Dawnview Castle was when they told her she was their Khorall and it was her duty to save her people from the Empire.

"Misha. That was her name. Misha."

"She was just a farmer's daughter."

For a moment, a breath, it was silent as the night's music ended.

"My Lady is a kind one.

"I like to think her spirit once again walks the terraced fields of the Jambles, with her shepherd's crook and bell and a black and white ruff at her side, surrounded by her beloved sheep."

Lady Kara looked up to the night sky, at the stars that watched over the most southern reaches of the Black Mountains.

Last edited by Wolf; Sun 29/07/18 17:45 UTC.
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 7,944
Kel Offline
Sower of Insanity
Moderator
Offline
Sower of Insanity
Moderator
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 7,944
Daxia Yurisdotter, hidden, found, profoundly disturbed

“She was powerfully confused at first,” Daxia said of Kay. “Heartbroken, too, I think.” She glanced at Kisa for an instant. “I can understand that. But she’s so bright and quick that sometimes it’s easy to forget she’s not just another of Poppy’s students.” She looked at the Spear constellation. “Oh, ya, she is finding out that there’s more to life than steel and blood.” The Dayalan’s smile was full of affection and even a little bit of pride.

“She’s learning the same strange lesson I did — that you can be a Dayalan and still love an Easterner.”

Dazi looked at Kara as Morning Star pranced to her side. “This one still pretends to find Romana far too distressing for his delicate sensibilities,” she said, snickering. “But her generosity with apples and her genuinely good heart won even him over.”

As she ran a hand down her Companion’s neck, she gave him a small smile. “Unicorns are black and white, and in the heat of battle can forget that there are shades of gray. Romana reminded him. And she’s reminding Kay just as she reminded me.”

Then she sighed and closed her eyes. “Misha...”

It was a rare thing when she saw tiles falling as well or as quickly and furiously as Kisa could. Normally, she could only see branching Paths. But between the Snowqueen’s name and Kara’s comments about her, those tiles were set up at the moment she left Dawnview Vale — and they fell into a Pattern that Linnell must have seen... something Kisa might have seen.

“Hidden. Kisa hinted at something of that when I was asking about my family. She had misunderstood how tightly I was focusing my inquiries. I only wanted to know more about my mother; she was speculating on how distantly we were related.

“I don’t understand how I could have been hidden if I was right there in the Vale, in the Temple. Perhaps that isn’t your purview... to know the interconnected pieces of families.”

The Dayalan blinked several times quickly.

“My mother, my father... I remember them, of course. It’s a child’s memory. My father was tall and handsome, and he smelled good, and he felt like love. My mother was the most beautiful woman in the world, she adored my father and my sister and me, and her voice was the embodiment of love.

“She was so broken and sad after he died. My only wish, once I got over wishing to have them back with me, was that they slept together in peace and joy with your Lady.”


"Everything is bad except unicorns." -- Phoebe
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,667
Wolf Offline OP
Moderator
OP Offline
Moderator
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,667
The Heartwood
Bordertown
Midwinter’s Hill
Restday, the Twenty-Fifth day of Crown of Ice


Daxia and Lady Kara

The priestess smiled softly. "I remember our Ghost; at least that is how she is remembered in this town. But I chose not to think of her as the one who stood on the town walls upon that bloody night, but the girl who could not choose which market stall for her noon meal and ended up with an armful of everything.

"Your apprentice, I suspect, needs someone to show her how bright life can be. And the girl in the floppy hat? An anchor, to show her that when you have all possible choices, one is no better than another."

As the conversation went on, however, Lady Kara offered Daxia a small, honest, but somewhat poignant smile.

"I wish I could answer all your questions; well, actually I probably could, if I asked my Lady direct. But I can share what I suspect. That wherever they are, if that is how you remember them, it is a comfort. If they have found their way back into this world, when they look across the lands where you walk, pass through the fields where you grew up, while they may not remember or recognize, they will have a comfortable and nostalgic feeling.

"And if you believe that they were two souls truly meant for each other?

"My Lady is kind.

"You may safely believe that they have found each other again."

Then Kara nodded, looking across the way where Kisa, Dominic, and Emerald were talking.

"Now your red-headed friend over there. I suspect this may be her first time. Don't ask me how or why that can be. But the cues are all there. Smart. Caring. Kind. Insightful. Yet equally clumsy, awkward, naive and not able to see what's right in front of her nose.

"But that's forgivable, aye?"

Last edited by Wolf; Tue 31/07/18 01:26 UTC.
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 7,944
Kel Offline
Sower of Insanity
Moderator
Offline
Sower of Insanity
Moderator
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 7,944
Daxia Yurisdotter, hidden, found, profoundly disturbed

“To be sure, I prefer to think of Talesain’s Ghost on the Hill as the girl who still dislikes mornings more than most people and yet wakes to greet her Lady when my apprentice rises to greet ours. You know, there are times I believe she wandered the markets — here, in Talatal, in Talesan’s Village, in the tiny hamlets between here and the sea — choosing not to choose, sharing the little wealth she still has with the merchants, and then returning to share her bounty with those who have less than she does.

“Sometimes, I think she might have been born in the wrong place. And yet, had someone else been the daughter of her Father, she might not have had the fortitude to escape her prison.” Daxia shrugged philosophically. “Perhaps it was a lesson I learned from my mother, or perhaps Kassia or Gilly or maybe even in a dream, but maybe our lives need to be the way they are, maybe we need to be born into the circumstances we find, in order to become the ones who change the world for the better.

“I think my friends and I have been doing that, but I still often wonder if we are — changing the world for the better, I mean. After all, an Eastern princess taught me that they are people, too. They’re just very different from us and generally not very pleasant. By our standards, anyway.

“Maybe we’re just adjusting the delicate balance between Order and Chaos.”

Daxia chuckled. “I’ve been told time and again that I think too much, by everyone except Kassia. Even the Font of All Knowledge and my dear Kisa have mentioned it. But why refrain from thinking and wondering about the nature of the world if I was given the capacity to ask the questions and appreciate the answers?”

Dayala’s priestess shrugged and then studied Krysta’s priestess for a moment before finally nodding. “I believe my parents were two souls that were meant to be together. When mother died, everyone — the neighbors, all the village folk, the priestesses at the Temple — said that she died of a broken heart because she couldn’t bear to be without father any longer.” Daxia smiled sadly. “I think not all of us have the luxury of dying when we’d prefer to do so.”

Leaning against Morning Star, she was quiet for a moment. “His Magnificence has informed me that I’m expected to live a very, very long time. I told him early on that I wanted to learn everything, and apparently one can’t do that in a mere fifty or sixty or even seventy years.” She nodded toward Kisa. “If my beloved liege were to die, I would want to chase after her, which is exactly what she would not want me to do. So. I do not have the luxury my mother did.”

Dazi sighed as her smile brightened slightly. “Souls return time and again to live in the world as the Coveners teach? Before leaving the Vale, I might have believed that idea to be ridiculous. Now? Now, I wonder why I ever thought it would have been foolishness. Even if my parents and I could not recognize one another as we passed on the road or in a market, to think they might be sitting under the stars and marveling at the Guardians of the Dark Patch as I do each night...” She shook her head. “As you said, your Lady is kind, and that kindness may even rival that of my sister’s Lady.

“And if there is always a young shepherdess in the Jambles tending to her sheep with her faithful ruff at her side? That is truly a kindness for a soul torn from her home and family to make decisions she was not trained to make.”

She, too, watched Kisa as she talked with the newlyweds. Daxia smiled before answering Kara’s question, continuing to observe her beloved as she spoke.

“Even Kisa at her most vexatious is easy to forgive. She tries so hard to do what she is the best and right thing. How can I fault her for that?

“She does see what’s in front of her nose because it’s always a book or a scroll.” Daxia chuckled softly. “She’s had to lift her head from her books a bit on this journey. She likes to look at her tiles and patterns. Having seen some of those patterns she lays out with her tiles, I can see why it’s hard to step back from them. They’re beautiful. Some are terrifying, but they’re still beautiful.”

Finally, the Dayalan looked at Kara again. “I may not be as patient as you and your Lady, but I do have patience when it comes to my liege. I have as much faith in her to see what ought to be seen as she has in me to do the things I need to do in the world. And because I have faith in her, I can be patient while she figures out that I love her and am terrified of loving her.

“But perhaps that’s why my Lady sent His Magnificence to harass me,” she said, grinning. “I have been accustomed to following my heart to know what is right and wrong, to know which Path to take, to keep me honest. Gilly always said that the Unicorns keep us honest, and in this matter, I think she was right. Loving Kisa terrifies me because I’m not sure my own heart can keep me honest anymore. So I must rely on Morning Star to remind me.”


"Everything is bad except unicorns." -- Phoebe
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,667
Wolf Offline OP
Moderator
OP Offline
Moderator
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,667
The Heartwood
Bordertown
Midwinter’s Hill
Restday, the Twenty-Fifth day of Crown of Ice


Daxia and Lady Kara

Lady Kara listened. And she was a good listener, attentive, considering and she didn't interrupt. In truth, there was much to be listened to and most of it was simply acknowledging the chain of Daxia's logic, the conclusions that she came too, logical, precise and well ordered. Almost like the fall of Kisa's tiles. At the very end, however, she simply smiled.

"There is not much I can add. You seemed to have conjured out most of those matters on your own.".

"I would not worry about your parents. Things like that have a way of working themselves out from one generation to the next. Sometimes it takes a while, still, eventually, they will find themselves together again. As for your other concern, there's only one piece of advice I can give you."

The Priestess nodded to Kisa Allaine.

"Though it's not truly advice or something you probably don't already know.

"Love her for who she is, not who you wish her to be.

"If that is true, everything else will follow."

She then gave the Dayalan a long and very measuring look.

"As for you. There are those who seek glory, with a belief in themselves as a special rank, that they, simply by who they are, are people deserving minstrel songs and the accolades of Those Of Good Standing.

"Those who wish to be heroes, they find themselves wondering who is this beautiful dark haired lady they are dancing with and it takes them quite a while to accept just where their journey has taken them.

"Then there are other folks. Those who find themselves with no other choice but to do what they believe its right.

"They usually have a different fate.

"And that, I think, is the true gift behind certain companions, especially those with a distinct fondness for apples.

"You don't find them. They find you."





Last edited by Wolf; Fri 03/08/18 00:34 UTC.
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 7,944
Kel Offline
Sower of Insanity
Moderator
Offline
Sower of Insanity
Moderator
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 7,944
Daxia Yurisdotter, hidden, found, profoundly disturbed

Daxia smiled at Lady Kara’s words.

“Worrying about things over which one has no control is something I try not to do. I don’t always succeed, of course. But I was called a cobble block for such things often enough that I have looked over my shoulder to be sure Kassia isn’t peering at me when such thoughts do occur. Rather than worry about my parents, I have spent my life missing them and hoping they were happy together.

“I don’t think there is anything disturbing or distressing about either thing. I remember them for who they were, for the love they showed each other and their daughters, for little things that were unique to them. The tweaking of my heart when I realize that Bekkah’s smile looks just like Mama’s or the tugging when I smell the same mint that Papa carried as I walk through a market are things that bring a smile to my face. It is good.”

She studied Krysta’s priestess for a moment before turning a smile on Kisa.

“How could I not love her for who I wish her to be when I all I wish for her to be is herself? It has been an interesting thing to watch her grow into the Khorall her people need while maintaining the kindness of heart she needs to be true to herself. Loving her is not the hard part, Lady Kara. Understanding her sometimes is.” She shrugged with a touch of self-deprecation. “I am not the cobble block Kassia called me with great regularity, but keep up with Kisa sometimes feels as strenuous as an afternoon of swordwork with Captain Reena.” Daxia chucked. “Would I wish her to change? Oh, goodness, no! My brain needs a workout just as much as my sword arm!”

Dazi raised an eyebrow at Kara’s final words.

“Those other folks also find no value in minstrel songs beyond the happiness they might bring those who enjoy the tales. These other folks prefer that accolades, if such must be given, are shared equally. Some singular person among these other folks puzzled out the identity of the dark-haired dancer and marvels at the joy that brought Her to the hill tonight.”

Then she leaned her head back against her apple-loving companion’s neck and grinned. “It’s possible that I have surprised a certain companion with a distinct fondness for apples on more than one occasion. Only once did he have moderately harsh words for me when it came to a choice I made. But we were newly-met at the time and his brother...” Daxia sobered. “I understand why he thought my friend was a gift to him, perhaps meant to atone for the sins of her ancestors. But he is a true friend and, while we tease one another quite often, trusts my heart as much as I trust his wisdom. That’s quite a bit, by the way.”

Daxia looked around at the gathered guests.

“Sometimes... sometimes we find one another.”


"Everything is bad except unicorns." -- Phoebe
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,667
Wolf Offline OP
Moderator
OP Offline
Moderator
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,667
The Heartwood
Bordertown
Midwinter’s Hill
Restday, the Twenty-Fifth day of Crown of Ice


Daxia and Lady Kara

"I am sure Dominic and Emerald never expected they would find each other. One had no future and one had a future others would gladly plan. But I am glad they did. It is not often I am able to give the bride away."

Lady Kara folded her arms behind her as she watches the newlyweds dance. It was kind of nice, that Dominic had found someone just a little shorter than he and the Mouse? Someone who didn't step on her tail. There were some things - or perhaps one item - in Daxia's conversation she let slip by. Perhaps for proprieties sake, or perhaps, not to jinx a night of smiles and scare one of the guests away.

"I am sure yon apple loving companion never expected to find a kind-hearted Easterner. Nor you a Khorall's heart.

"If life was as everyone expects, it would not be half as interesting as it is.


Moderated by  Wolf 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Newest Members
Talon475, Randal Trimmer, Kimf, Yvon, Xiang Chin
177 Registered Users
Today's Birthdays
There are no members with birthdays on this day.
Member Spotlight
AJ
AJ
Hertfordshire, UK
Posts: 27,597
Joined: May 2000
Forum Statistics
Forums103
Topics2,816
Posts139,468
Members177
Most Online296
Jan 19th, 2020
March
S M T W T F S
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
†Restricted forums can only be accessed by DreamLyrics members of the age of 18 years or older. Access which is granted by the Behind Closed Doors Procedure.
™DreamLyrics Play-by-Post. DreamLyrics Play-by-Post does not own copyright on DreamLyrics texts or graphics, except trademarked DreamLyrics logos and logotypes. The works contained in DreamLyrics are copyrighted (automatically, under the Berne Convention) by the original authors and may be available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence. (See Copyrights for details.)
Privacy Policy
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5