Oh, you say you have to fall apart to really be someone
It was still early in the day when Maea reached the shore of the Black Lake. She had risen before dawn and packed her things before the sun had fully risen, eager to be done with this last stretch of the journey back home. Traveling by foot had instilled in her a new appreciation for the vastness of the continent, and while it had sated some of the restlessness she also longed for the days when a thought was all it took to jump across time and space as she pleased. Not that it would keep her in the Grounds for that long; she still had business to attend to elsewhere. But for now, she was able to simply relax and enjoy the relative familiarity of the landscape. There were new landmarks, of course, such as this lake; it hadn't been here when she grew up, and she found it jarring to gaze across the pitch surface and see the Spire reflected like a black needle far in the distance.
Trying to recall what had been here before, she stripped off her shoes and dropped both backpack and ratty coat out of the water's reach and headed down to the waterline to explore. A short stretch of sun-warm beach soon gave way to far deeper depths that made her feet ache to come in contact with. A light breeze sweeping in from the lake made a mess of her hair; absently Maea raked it back from her eyes as she examined what cliffs and stones had wrought with her homeland. The powers it must have taken sent chills down her spine, of dread and awe and other sentiments she didn't have name for.
When the water lost her interest, she found an outcropping of dark stone that jutted out over the surface and made herself comfortable there. Some gathered driftwood and a quick strike of flint and steel gave her something to occupy herself while she waited for Danta; more amusement to be found in the feeding of the flame than any necessity, especially now that she could literally play with the fire. Humming happily to herself and with the pale tail coiling around her feet, she reached for the fire, made it ripple and dance over her fingers and tried to shape it into little ravens, like the one she'd sent ahead to let the Maverick know that she was back and ready for their planned excursion. Unlike the real bird however, these ones didn't last and didn't look much like anything at all; her grasp of the flame was still too basic.
Maea didn't mind. The mere presence of the spark within her was enough to make her happy; a return of something precious she'd thought lost and gone forever. It gave her hope for the future, even as it remained hazed with uncertainty.
RQ to gather stones from the Black Lake.
Dantalion
Ophelia
Trying to recall what had been here before, she stripped off her shoes and dropped both backpack and ratty coat out of the water's reach and headed down to the waterline to explore. A short stretch of sun-warm beach soon gave way to far deeper depths that made her feet ache to come in contact with. A light breeze sweeping in from the lake made a mess of her hair; absently Maea raked it back from her eyes as she examined what cliffs and stones had wrought with her homeland. The powers it must have taken sent chills down her spine, of dread and awe and other sentiments she didn't have name for.
When the water lost her interest, she found an outcropping of dark stone that jutted out over the surface and made herself comfortable there. Some gathered driftwood and a quick strike of flint and steel gave her something to occupy herself while she waited for Danta; more amusement to be found in the feeding of the flame than any necessity, especially now that she could literally play with the fire. Humming happily to herself and with the pale tail coiling around her feet, she reached for the fire, made it ripple and dance over her fingers and tried to shape it into little ravens, like the one she'd sent ahead to let the Maverick know that she was back and ready for their planned excursion. Unlike the real bird however, these ones didn't last and didn't look much like anything at all; her grasp of the flame was still too basic.
Maea didn't mind. The mere presence of the spark within her was enough to make her happy; a return of something precious she'd thought lost and gone forever. It gave her hope for the future, even as it remained hazed with uncertainty.
RQ to gather stones from the Black Lake.
Dantalion
Ophelia
