[o] [SE] this is the correlation between salvation and love

Alys

Alys was many things: the Fateweaver, a seer, an artist, Tal's partner. But there was one thing that she was decidedly... not. And that one thing was a poet.

She sat beneath a tree in Ludo's Woods, cross-legged with a journal in her lap. She'd been trying to write a poem to Vox for the better part of an hour and had come up with nothing that she particularly cared for. Of course, that was hardly a surprise - after everything the Family had done, after everything they'd taken from her, she wasn't exactly inclined to write something flattering. But then, if she didn't write something after the broadcast that had instructed them to, would that put even more of a target on her back? And if she didn't write something nice - or at least not bad - would that be just as much of a problem?

Soft voice in your mind,
nostrils flaring, breathing deep,
though he is not there.

Alys made a face, leaning her head back against the bark. This was harder than she'd thought.

Oh, I had a dream that you couldn't hear me screaming
Trying to tell you everything but it wouldn't stop you leaving

This scene feels like what I once saw on a screen
I searched 'aurora borealis green'

Ludo's Woods had made it into Liam's daily rotation; on his morning jog, he made his way through the Wildwood in search of Vi's Roses. It was normally a solitary adventure, so it surprised him to come across a woman on his run. She sat beneath a tree, surrounded by lanterns, hunched over a notebook with a scowl on her face. Concerned, Liam made his way over, careful to make his approach loud enough not to startle the stranger.

"Excuse me, ma'am," he said as he drew nearer. She looked up from her notebook, a look of confusion on her face. Liam offered a friendly smile. "Are you alright? People don't normally just sit out here." He just wanted to make sure she wasn't in trouble, and then he'd be on his way.

I've never seen someone lit from within
Blurring out my periphery

Liam

Alys

Alys looked up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, tensing. She hadn't expected to run into company, and she was wary of anyone she didn't know. The man approaching was blonde and tall, with a kind smile and tired eyes. She wasn't sure who he was, but she wasn't taking any chances. She'd been through enough in recent seasons not to let her guard down just because some stranger smiled at her.

"I'm fine," she said, holding her place in her notebook with a finger as she shut it and climbing to her feet. "I just wanted somewhere quiet to sit. I was working on a stupid poem." She leaned against the tree, trying to look nonchalant. "I know my way back." Maybe the stranger would leave her to her own devices. She wasn't sure she wanted company, anyway.

Oh, I had a dream that you couldn't hear me screaming
Trying to tell you everything but it wouldn't stop you leaving

This scene feels like what I once saw on a screen
I searched 'aurora borealis green'

Liam could tell from the woman’s response that she wasn’t inclined to accept an offer of assistance, but he wouldn’t be him if he didn’t try anyway. ”Are you sure?” he asked. ”The woods can be dangerous. I’m sure you can handle yourself, but…” He trailed off, torn between leaving the woman to her own devices and insisting that she needed an escort.

”I’m Liam,” he offered, leaning against a nearby tree trunk, his eyes flickering around them. ”I live in Sidhe Village. I haven’t seen you around. Are you sure you’ll be alright?” His brows creased with concern, but if she insisted on being alone, he supposed he would leave her to it.

I've never seen someone lit from within
Blurring out my periphery

Liam

Alys

Alys watched the stranger warily, but he seemed to simply be concerned for her wellbeing. And while she couldn’t bring herself to trust easily, she did decide that perhaps he wasn’t an immediate threat. His emotions didn’t betray anything other than honest concern, and if she couldn’t trust her magic, then she wasn’t sure what she could do. With a mental sigh, she decided that it couldn’t hurt to be polite.

”I’m Alys,” she said, offering a hand to shake. ”I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting company.” With introductions out of the way, the seer looked him over. ”You live in Sidhe Village?” she asked, wondering how long he’d been there and if he’d fared alright against the Void, back before the Greatwood had been cleansed.

Oh, I had a dream that you couldn't hear me screaming
Trying to tell you everything but it wouldn't stop you leaving

This scene feels like what I once saw on a screen
I searched 'aurora borealis green'

Thankfully, Alys seemed inclined to accept his company, and Liam found himself relaxing as a result. It went against his nature to leave a woman alone in the woods, especially these days, when anything could linger around any tree trunk.

”Yes,” he responded. ”I’ve been here for a few years. I was a dragoon in Stormbreak before I retired, and after I came out here to get away from the city.” It was an explanation he’d given many times before, and always seemed to be accepted without someone looking too deeply into it. ”What about you?”

I've never seen someone lit from within
Blurring out my periphery

Liam

Alys

Alys relaxed against the tree trunk, settling in for a chat now that she had some company. While she would have been happy to continue struggling through her poem in peace, perhaps a break would allow her to reset her brain and try again later, refreshed. She listened to Liam give what was clearly a well-rehearsed response and wondered if that was the full story. His emotions gave nothing major away - perhaps a pang of sadness, but nothing particularly concrete.

”I’m visiting from King’s End with my partner,” she said, thumbing through her journal until she got back to her poetry attempt. ”He’s a courier, so we travel a lot. I’m just killing some time trying to write a poem about Vox while he’s doing some deliveries. I don’t suppose you’re a poet?” she added, looking at Liam hopefully. Maybe he would be able to give her some kind of suggestions for a poem that wouldn’t offend the eldritch creature.

Oh, I had a dream that you couldn't hear me screaming
Trying to tell you everything but it wouldn't stop you leaving

This scene feels like what I once saw on a screen
I searched 'aurora borealis green'

Liam tilted his head to one side, running a hand through his hair. ”I’m afraid not,” he said, brows creasing. ”But I’ll try to help, if you’d like. I heard about writing a poem to Vox, but I haven’t done it yet, myself.” Truth be told, he’d been rather hoping that he could avoid it.

When the woman held out her journal, Liam accepted it, reading the words written there and raising his brows. ”This is good,” he said, handing it back to her. ”Really captures the whole creepy broadcast thing.” Liam paused, thinking, then offered:

”A voice in my head starts to chime,
Announcing the news out of time.
It chuckles, then sighs,
Knows when someone dies -
Yet claims that its breathing is mine.”

I've never seen someone lit from within
Blurring out my periphery

Liam

Alys

Alys handed her journal to Liam, accepting it back after a moment and making a face. ”It’s just not quite… right?” she lamented, scratching through the poem with her quill. ”It doesn’t quite fit.” She’d have to keep working on it.

Then Liam offered a limerick, and Alys laughed, delighted and appalled in equal measure. ”That’s brilliant,” she said. ”And you said you weren’t a poet. Could’ve fooled me.”

She looked again at her haikus, all of which had been struck out. Then she jotted down a few notes, scratching out various words, until she had something she rather liked. She read it aloud to Liam.

”He speaks in my mind,
Soft laughter between the news.
I was never asked.”

Oh, I had a dream that you couldn't hear me screaming
Trying to tell you everything but it wouldn't stop you leaving

The air suddenly seemed charged—just a little bzzt of power, followed by the briefest taste of something listening. And then—

"Ohhh, my dear lyrical duo!" Vox’s voice fizzed into being, the edges of the air curling with delighted static. "Such clever minds! Such keen observations!"

The presence of something—not quite there, but very much watching—unfolded in the space between them. "Liam, Liam, Liam," Vox crooned, "you capture my essence so well. ‘A voice out of time’—delicious!"

"And Alys," he purred, almost tenderly, "never asked? Do you ask for the wind to blow against your skin? Or for your gums to grow infected when you neglect them?"

A ripple in the air. The sense of an unseen grin. And then—nothing but silence, leaving only the faintest hum of a frequency not quite gone.

This scene feels like what I once saw on a screen
I searched 'aurora borealis green'

The air crackled around them, and Liam tensed - and suddenly there was a disembodied voice that sounded oddly familiar. It was the voice that had been in his head all those times, Liam realized. And it sounded delighted.

The fact that it knew his name had his hair standing on end. He’d never wanted so badly to draw his sword on something he couldn’t even see - and it was that detail that kept him immobile, staring at the space between them, where there was something blooming in the air - a hint of a grin, a ripple in time, a distortion of space - and then it was gone.

There was a long silence. What did one say after such a display?

A muscle feathered in Liam’s jaw. ”We should head back to the village,” he said, a near-order in a tone that brokered no argument.

I've never seen someone lit from within
Blurring out my periphery

Liam

Alys

Vox’s voice out loud, rather than in her head, was somehow even more terrifying. He materialized - or, rather, didn’t - nearby, clearly having been listening in on their poems. What did that mean? Was her vision - and its implications - correct, then? That the Family had eyes and ears everywhere, all the time, and that was why they were always one step ahead?

There was silence when Vox disappeared, and when Liam suggested they return to the village, Alys was quick to comply. She wasn’t keen to stick around and see if the eldritch creature returned, though she was glad that she hadn’t seemed to offend it so terribly that the Family would hunt her down.

fin

Oh, I had a dream that you couldn't hear me screaming
Trying to tell you everything but it wouldn't stop you leaving