Idina Doc
Wildgardian
Could we start again, please?
Posts: 258
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Post by Idina Doc on Nov 28, 2014 16:37:49 GMT -6
Idina's posture loosened as the half-elf recalled the Faljere she knew - it was becoming uncanny how many people the two of them knew mutually. "That sounds like the Faljere I met, too." A part of her had been hopeful that the elf as Jennis had described him would return to Wildgard since his disappearance almost a year and a half ago, though recently that wish has shifted to just hoping he would heal from the trauma of war.
"I know not where he got his opposition towards the Church," she admitted, "or when. He told me very little about his own past when I knew him: it basically boiled down to him showing me on a map where he had come from." The green girl paused for a moment, a new thought coming to her. "In fact, he had not even told me he knew you or Sarea, though I am at a loss as to why he would keep that to himself..." Shaking her head, she pulled herself out of her thinking. "My apologies, I may be thinking out loud too much."
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Post by Jennis Mul Moongem on Nov 28, 2014 16:55:36 GMT -6
Jennis shook her head. "Had you not known?" she asked as if Idina had lost all wit. "Faljere is of the Highland Elven Race, which lives on average for two to three thousand years. He has long outlived me, and not just because of my death, but because of his incredible life span. His travels have taken him all over the world, and he has met almost everyone there is to meet."
The warrior calmed down and smiled, but still her voice was persistent and strong. "If you're thinking that you were the first, I'm afraid that you are very wrong. He has had travelling companions before, and girls who looked upon as he would his own children. There were people he loved so long ago that you couldn't even fathom their existence. There were others before you, I hope you know that. I wouldn't feel too left out that he didn't mention anyone."
Her mind shifted gears entirely when she thought about all the people in Faljere's past, and how many of them must've been here now. Goodness, how aged a man he was now. Weathered by endless years of travel and the darkest of hours taking place all around him, only to be repeated in another generation. How many plagues had he lived through? How many conquests had he witnessed? How many lives did he save, or in opposition fail to save?
"I'd like to take you to meet someone, Idina Doc," the warrior told her. "I'm sure he might know what Faljere's true reason for hating the Church of Her is..." With a light sigh, she added: "And I'd like you to meet one of the first."
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Idina Doc
Wildgardian
Could we start again, please?
Posts: 258
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Post by Idina Doc on Nov 28, 2014 18:33:29 GMT -6
Flabbergasted was not a strong enough word to describe how the little spirit felt upon being told the monk's story. There was some hurt, intrigue, and confusion in the mix with the awe, as well as a sense of loss at the idea of her own age being barely a small fraction of his; for some reason, she couldn't make that thought click in her mind as truth. But the hurt came from the fact that she was hearing this story from the mouth of someone other than Faljere himself. Perhaps he had thought his past to not have been interesting to her, or perhaps he was hiding something for which he had thought she would think less of him. Either way, Idina would have preferred to hear the tale from the man himself.
However, she would be lying if she said the snippet of his story that Jennis had given her didn't intrigue her. A man living for centuries upon centuries, travelling the world for millennia, caring for many others before anyone as far back in her own family as anyone now could remember was even a thought in someone's head. This was a story she was eager to hear, and if it wouldn't come from Faljere, then she would take it from those he had known. If what the warrior had said about his exploits was true - and she wholeheartedly trusted it was - then her afterlife held plenty of opportunity for her to learn of it from those who had come before herself.
Her spiritual light had become a soft green again, although the thought of meeting 'one of the first', as Jennis had put it, gave a nuanced brightness to it. "Alright," she decided. Around her, the focus in the scenery of the afterlife changed, from her birth village to an expanse of plains with a forest covering the hills in the distance; she was prepared now to leave and discover anew. "I am ready when you are."
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Post by Jennis Mul Moongem on Dec 4, 2014 20:18:20 GMT -6
She led Idina though the plains to the forest, an image which they could both see, although one that probably seemed slightly different in her mind. From her perspective, the hill was steep, rocky, and misted, like they had appeared in the highlands. The forest had short trees, most of them with nearly grey bark, but the floor of the wood was covered mostly in ferns and wet weeds, giving it an almost threatening air. To anyone not accustomed to the highlands, at least. To the Celtic men and elves, this was paradise. This was home.
"This man that you are to meet," Jennis began, "is the one who found me in the insubstantial plane in the months after my death. A noble heart, and surprisingly one of the few people up here not having his life ended in a terrible way. For that, I envy him. Still, it is my thought that he may have gotten the short end of the afterlife stick." That last phrase was said with a coy smile.
"He spent many years with Faljere, although this is a story I'd rather you hear from him." As she finished, they arrived at a massive clearing, where, upon a vine and bark stool, sat a man with stern features and noble robes. His hair was black with flecks of grey, pulled back behind his head to reveal a thick yet well-groomed beard. He looked up at them with thoughtful magenta eyes as he sipped drink from a clay cup; the eyes matched his spiritual glow, much like how Jennis' orange eyes matched the light emitting from her wound.
"King Jaden of Mara Villa," she smiled as she knelt in front of him, "you're absolutely radiant, as always."
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Post by Jaden of Mara Villa on Dec 4, 2014 20:27:06 GMT -6
Ah, yes. The puns.
Jennis Mul Moongem was quite adept with puns.
He'd known her from only a short period of time, considering his lengthy time spent in the afterlife. After all, he was nearly five-hundred years dead, ad his death had not been so sudden like her own. He knew when it was going to happen, so even then, he considered himself already on his way to paradise.
When he'd finally been given the option to find one of the new spirits on their way to the afterlife a few years back, it was because the one who had been meant to retrieve her had gotten lazy. A few months lazy, in fact. At the time, he'd not known that Jennis had once been friends with his husband,which he truthfully admitted was an interesting thing to learn about.
He welcomed her as a sister, and then treated her as he would treat his own, Adrianna; however, she treated him much like she would a brother, which wasn't quite the best for the level-headed, stern man when her signs of sibling affection involved making light of him.
"Jennis Mul Moongem," he greeted, standing from his marble throne and striding towards the elf, his bejeweled chalice of wine in between his middle and ring finger, whereupon rested a golden band laced with jade. "To what do I owe this...pleasure? And who might you be, milady?" He stuck his free hand out to the beautiful girl who stood, bewildered, beside his comrade. His mouth was stretched into a friendly smile that parted his beard.
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Idina Doc
Wildgardian
Could we start again, please?
Posts: 258
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Post by Idina Doc on Dec 4, 2014 21:34:49 GMT -6
As she had been told very little of this man that she was now meeting, Idina had been unbiased upon entering the clearing, and she had let the realm decide for her how she should perceive her surroundings. What presented itself to her seemed to be the remnants of a castle; chunks of what could have been marble or clay was scattered on the edges and covered in ferns and weeds, crumbling walls providing climbing terrain for vines. This was to her a friendly atmosphere, one that promised continuation after a great fall. Jaden's welcoming gesture and expression put her at ease as well.
She placed her own hand lightly in the king's, bending her knees and bowing her head in a curtsy as she did so. "I am Idina Doc," she said once she stood straight again. "I was a Healer from the Western Lands, and I am now a, uh, relatively new arrival to the afterlife." She paused, turning her head back to Jennis for a moment, although it seemed to her that the half-elf wasn't going to answer Jaden's questions. "And, well, Jennis brought me here so that I might gain insight on a mutual friend of ours. She told me you knew well of Faljere D'ael Elderbaden. ...Sir," she added, almost as an afterthought. The formality felt unusual in her mouth, although to be fair, it wasn't exactly usual for her to meet nobility, alive or dead, much less kings.
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Post by Jaden of Mara Villa on Dec 6, 2014 21:27:38 GMT -6
Jaden clasped his hand around the healer's tighter than before. "There is no need to call me sir, young lady, for you are as equal in this realm as I am. I must say, you've got a beautiful face. It's a wonder how someone so young and fair wound up with that wound..." His hands slipped away from hers as he backed towards his chair, now being enveloped in vine and moss. It was most likely an influence of this girl, so spiritual in nature that even she could turn his marble palace into a place of natural beauty.
He picked up a goblet and a pitcher of silk-smooth wine and poured it into the waiting cup before presenting it to the healer. "Would you care for some wine, milady?"
He then picked up his seated position again and crossed his left leg over the other, his face pensive and studious. This girl was of the Western Lands, yet wished to know more of Faljere D'ael Elderbaden. He knew that the elf was a traveler, weary from ages that had felt only like days to the deceased king, and that he would never stay in one place for the life of him. Living with Jaden was one exception to this rule, it seemed, but what might have been a blissful forty years for him could easily have been a blink in the eye of an elf.
"So, you wish to know more about Faljere, do you?" he inquired, his hand resting on his cheek. "Then tell me what draws your curiosity of this man?"
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Idina Doc
Wildgardian
Could we start again, please?
Posts: 258
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Post by Idina Doc on Dec 7, 2014 13:25:00 GMT -6
The smell of alcohol, small though the concentration of it in the goblet may have been, was still enough to give Idina a headache. It was mild, especially compared to the one she had awoken to on the morning before she was murdered, but it was there, and memories of that same day were brought forth by it. After correcting the grimace that she had subconsciously adopted in reaction to the drink, she brought a hand up between herself and the goblet. "Thank you for the offer, but for personal reasons, I... I must decline." She shook her head a couple of times, hoping to clear her mind.
Now able to think beyond the circumstances of her death, she pondered over how to answer Jaden's other question. Of course, she'd like to know as much as this man might have to offer about the elf monk, but she had come with a specific inquiry. Ideally, however, she should get to a place in conversation where she could ask it naturally. "Faljere was a good friend of mine," she began. "At least, I like to think so. He was like a guardian to me, in fact. And there have been some odd goings-on in the city we had both made our homes that have taken their toll on the both of us." As she spoke the latter half of that sentence, she gestured with a pointed finger to the slit on the left side of her throat. "Tell me, then, if you can: have you heard of the Church of Her?"
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Post by Jaden of Mara Villa on Dec 7, 2014 21:13:27 GMT -6
Jaden looked at the slit upon her neck and hummed thoughtfully. That name rang no bells to him, yet if Faljere somehow found himself involved with a church that killed people, then something was surely wrong.
He leaned forwards and looked at the girl's wound. "I cannot say that I have heard of this church, I'm afraid." He lowered his head, his deep brow facing Idina like a bull. "You claimed that he is like a guardian to you, but would it surprise you to know that he has a guardian up here? I pray that my husband remains safe, but if he's involved himself in a group of murderers...I don't know what to think."
Even saying those words surprised him. He was always level-headed, ever since a young age. He would analyse the battlefield and make plans that would shed minimal blood on either side to get what was needed, and never did he take anything that wasn't. He could explain to people logical situations while maintaining a kind approach to things, but thinking about how his husband could be in danger despite not having seen him for five hundred years had him worrying.
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Idina Doc
Wildgardian
Could we start again, please?
Posts: 258
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Post by Idina Doc on Dec 8, 2014 0:07:05 GMT -6
The word "husband" stuck out to the young girl, sending a small jolt through her body. Faljere had never mentioned being married! This was excellent news-- She exhaled hard to call her thoughts back to her situation. She would give her friend hell at some point for withholding such crucial information; for now, she had to explain what had been happening in Wildgard.
And explain she did. She was quite adept at storytelling, and especially in a situation like this, she could string words into phrases with flow and ease. In this manner, she told Jennis and the king everything she could that she seemed relevant. The arrival of the Minister in Wildgard. His rings, and the people Idina had seen wearing them before him. The example Faljere - as Clanless - had shown in throwing a book and kicking a ring of the Church in disgust and anger. The arrival of the masked and mad murderer, the Raven. Her final topic was the unmasking of same, both for the sake of chronology and for she knew recalling those painful events would take a significant amount of her energy.
"I knew he could not be the true Raven; if he had such an aversion to the Church as to throw a book that held information about it, there was no way he would affiliate with it as the Raven did. And posing as that man took a toll on him, for when he was unmasked, he spoke..." The blonde hoped very strongly that the shaking in her limbs as she spoke wouldn't be too obvious - she tried to suppress this, as well as the voice in her head that babbled on about everyone wanting him dead, especially her. "...Nonsense. That is the only way I can describe it; he spoke nonsense. The mask itself had done a number on his mind... But once he stopped wearing it, he began to heal!" She spoke now of the last time she had seen him before she was killed, and of how his mutterings then had seemed more like thinking aloud than arguing with himself. Even just retelling the tale and reliving the memories brought her a great sense of relief; for the past several months, all she had wanted of Faljere was for him to find peace of mind, and any progress towards it was cause for celebration as far as she was concerned.
After she had finished this, she sighed before straightening her posture again and meeting Jaden's eyes. "Though I may have been killed by the Church, and though the Minister has been manipulating others close to both myself and Jennis, I believe Faljere might have more claim to this man's fate than the rest. A man being forced to represent everything he is against by outside forces strikes me as a man who is being used for the enjoyment of the Minister. I was hoping to find the source of his grudge against the Church, although perhaps I am not done looking for that. Regardless... Have I made my point of view clear? Am I making sense?"
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Post by Jennis Mul Moongem on Dec 8, 2014 18:27:18 GMT -6
The half-elf remained uncharacteristically silent to the point where one could hear a pin drop inside her chest in lieu of her heart. Such a tale of woe was not uncommon among the wood elves--after all, they were a stubborn people--but to hear that it had traveled further from their borders brought only anguish to her glow.
Faljere was in danger, this healer was dead, and Sarea was being tortured by her own emotions. Goodness, her poor Sarea...
She shook her head, wiping away the waxy tear forming in the corner of her left eye, and stepped forwards. "Surely, King Jaden, there must be some information on the topic that you can share with us. Although Idina may know more about this Church than either of us, there is no doubt that you knew Faljere far better than either of us."
She twirled he fingers around her thumbs as she paced back and forth, waiting for the king to reply. If he had anything to say, then it would bring Idina peace, and hopefully, it would bring Jennis peace as well.
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Post by Jaden of Mara Villa on Dec 8, 2014 18:46:03 GMT -6
He regarded the words of both women with a nod: Idina's tale of the Church was most disturbing, and he worried for Faljere. To hear that it was a ruse set up to give the elf a bad name made the king slightly more upset, but he knew that there was nothing to be done about it.
It had been five hundred years since his death. Surely the monk would have forgotten all about him...about them. With that idea in his mind and clearly shown on his face, even thinking of helping him was futile. As a spirit, there wasn't much he could do. As a ghost, there was even less.
Still, he found no reason to withhold information that only he knew. "Faljere...my Faljere...came to me from from the Elven Nation. When I first met him, our empire was at war with an outside force so great...but it was he, among others, who helped me as best as they could in defending my people and the people of other lands.
"He was a fugitive of his own past. There was much that he couldn't tell me, but what I did know was that he had been an enemy of the Elven Nation for quite some time, and the only way to escape was to hide. To run. He spoke often of a raven, yet I didn't think much of it. Only now do I realise that this Raven that you speak of and the one he spoke of must be one and the same...was he an ordinary man?"
There were holes in his story for sure, but the king knew that there were some things that could easily be figured out by putting together the pieces of the puzzle, whereas other things needed only to be left alone.
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Idina Doc
Wildgardian
Could we start again, please?
Posts: 258
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Post by Idina Doc on Dec 8, 2014 21:21:38 GMT -6
The anxiousness both people in her company now displayed was one Idina should have seen coming, and in fact she had, but the thought that her words were was was causing this distress made her uneasy as well. She would have love to be able to tell Jaden that his husband had spoken of him to her, feeling as though saying that might brighten his glow. However, saying such things would be lying, and she had begun to realize that she had never been much good at lying. Besides, he had asked another question, and this one she could answer.
"He seemed human enough. Much taller than I would have liked, and maybe a little creepy, but aside from that he seemed relatively normal as a human being." She stood on her toes and raised her left hand as high as she could, palm parallel to the ground, to try and show how tall O'Donnel had been, but she was still a few inches off the mark due to her own height. "Perhaps even taller than a man his age ought to be," she mused, lowering herself back onto the ground.
With that statement, an idea came to her mind: how old had the Minister been, exactly? His face had been ancient, crow's feet and laugh lines abundant on his face, and he had a slouch, though that was faked to discourage suspicion and not an effect of age, she knew now. In fact, despite a weathered face, much of this man still seemed quite young and full of energy, much like he was while he wore the mask. As the Raven, he was lithe, foreboding, precise; as the Minister, he was clumsier, friendly on the surface. How much of the man relied on the mask...?
Or perhaps there was something else that he was relying on.
Her tone was dark when she spoke up again: "He keeps in his Church a number of small red stones. He called them the Philosopher's Stone. I am certain you have heard the legends of such a stone. Turn lead to gold, heal any wound, revive a dead loved one," - she looked back apologetically at Jennis. "I saw it heal a friend of mine of a terrible plague, but I am unconvinced that it can revive the dead. However... What if this stone is what is keeping him alive..." She delved deeper into thinking at this, but kept an ear open for anything her companions might have to say.
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Post by Jaden of Mara Villa on Dec 9, 2014 21:42:28 GMT -6
Holes in stories were always interesting places to begin. He'd been looking for holes ever since he was able to understand the concept of a linear story. If something happened, there was a reason, whether it be as minute as boredom or as granidose as a lust for power and vengeance.
He was content to see Idina filling the holes in her own story. For one, they'd been bothering him from the very minute she told the tale. A man cam to Wildgard with rings to help people, and at the same time a man came to kill him. There two men were the same people, obviously a ruse to convince the residents of the city to remain on the Minister's good side. But how had Faljere known of the Raven enough to not only distrust and fear him, but to be the assassin's target?
He was also pleased because he could see that Idina, while perhaps a hippie flower child, was no mere fool. He could see that she was able to make connections from things she knew already, and although she may have been wrong or right, she was able to think rather than do what she was told without question. This was the sign of a true ally.
Jaden leaned forwards in his chair and looked the girl up and down. "Yes, yes. That seems like a valid theory," he told her, stroking his beard. "I've heard of this stone, and I've known about its magnificent power to retain life in a person. This Minister could be very old, as far as we know. Maybe as old as Faljere himself, or older, even, all thanks to this precious stone. Tell me, how old was this Minister, and how old did he seem when he presented himself as the Raven? For all we know, this stone could be changing his very appearance and age...that could prove dangerous. By Titus' beard, this is..."
He sighed in frustration and sat back in his chair, running his hands through his mane of hair. Biting his lower lip, he pondered the things that Faljere had told him about himself when he was still alive. Although he did fall in love with the man that he'd met--the one that showed his traitorous brother's true colours and who helped him win the war--there was not much that he'd known about that man's past. A Wood Elf of Briton, yes, and a renouncer of his previously violent ways in favour of a life of peace. But where had he come from, and where was he going?
"I am older than you, my love. Far older than you'd care to believe. And I've made my mistakes...I wish I had the time to change them, and that is why I am running from them."
The king shook his head. "Of course..." he grumbled, rubbing his forehead. "Faljere claimed that he'd been running from his mistakes. But what if the Raven--the man that killed you and is trying to kill my husband--is the root of those mistakes? Perhaps Faljere was part of that Church and defected, or maybe...I'm not sure. But it would make sense for this man to be an old enemy who has held onto Faljere's mistakes for too long!"
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Post by Jennis Mul Moongem on Dec 9, 2014 22:10:16 GMT -6
She smiled at Jaden's concept, although she did manage to withhold herself from punching the air in glee. Much of what Jaden had theorised made sense in the mind of an ex-mercenary and Wood Elf.
"In my days as a sword for hire, I'd met many men who'd claim it was their mission in life to bring about a certain criminal to justice, or to wipe out a certain enclave of people. They called it loyalty. I called it stupidity. This is an action pursued not by the loyal, but by the vengeful. Could it be that a mistake was made on Faljere's part so grand that this man had to find him and bring him to whatever justice he served? Now was justice would that be..."
Her mind wandered to her youth; a young girl and her parents traveling Silv-Anir, the cosmopolitan heart of the Elven Nation. To explore every inch of one district would surely take a week's time at least, and that was not only where Jennis picked up her first blade, but also where she learned valuable lessons of elven history.
Almost as if telling and ancient tale, she began speaking everything that came to mind. "The Sky Elves were the first elves to come to our realm, nearly direct descendants of the eldar. Masters of the arcane, they eventually broke off into different areas of the world to be in-tune with its spirit, or...I don't remember, but it was something like that. Anyways, one group arrived in Briton and became the first Wood Elves. They lived off the land and became in tune with the woods through which they climbed and walked and battled.
"There were then the High Elves, later to arrive than the rest of the groups. It was the High Elves who broke from the mould of spirituality set before them by other generations, and they were the first to meet man and his greed, his politics...his religion. They were corrupted by the will of these beings and created the first great elven empire, known as the Elven Nation. That Nation was brought along only by a church that served a goddess of greed, a goddess who offered possessions over guidance."
Her eyes widened as if she'd suddenly made a relisation. "And the Elven Nation," she began, her hands racing around the air in figure-eights, "came to unite all elven groups together once more. It was by force that they obtained the Wood Elves, because the Wood Elves wished not for unity through assimilation. Yes! I remember now! Faljere was a member of the rebellion that first struck out against the Elven Nation, which at the time was led by a church. At the time, he and his comrades called themselves all the Clanless by covering their clan tattoos and sharing a name in order to evade exact identification upon capture! Yes, yes, yes! Faljere was defeated, his comrades killed, by a champion of the church whose face was that of a carrion fowl's! When he escaped, he left a rebellion in his wake, and almost instantly the church that governed the empire was chased away!"
She dug her head into her palm as she crumpled to the ground, screaming in excitement. "How could I be so stupid to forget our nation's history?! This man...he must be the champion of the church from so long ago, using a Philosopher's Stone to keep himself alive! Oh, I'm a genius!"
She began rolling on the ground, laughing hysterically at her epiphany before stopping and looking up at Jaden and Idina. "This makes him all the more dangerous."
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