with a reverence unimpaired

Delah's eyes do not see and in a sense she hears nothing either. So at one is she with the other fae, with the air and the falling starwhale, that Delah ceases to be anything other than a breath in this sea of song.

A current of air rises upwards, warm and full of inviting voices that curl around the falling child and Amalia as well by extension. It creates a pillar of easy and smooth current for the calf to swim through, narrowing its haphazard circles back to an easy line towards their net.

Coding base by Sky!

Crooning a note of curiousity and confusion, the calf continues to sway slightly. However as the pillar of air wraps around it it seems to cease all movements and merely allows itself to be pulled along. Rocketing towards the ground, the galactic fire around its body suddenly stops and its freefall grows slow. A trail of stardust showers around them, the ultraviolet sheen of it brilliant against the night hues. Together the owl and the whale fall like rain towards the net and into its buoyant tendrils, they crash.

Like the net it was meant to be, it yields beneath the force of the calf, bowing down into the pit before expanding back up, tossing the baby into the air. With a raucous call the calf does a flip in the moonlight, landing on its belly the calf bobs gently on the current of air.

Coding base by Sky!

Something grabs her, wrapping around her like an embrace, warm and welcoming air. As the calf falls into it Amalia lets herself be caught up to, attention still on the falling child, wings still extended to act as a shield. It is only when the burning stops that the owl pulls away, drawing back in wondering awe at the starlit creature beside her. It is a pinpoint of starlight brought to earth, cosmic and galactic in its splendor, childlike and pure in its joy. Amalia has never seen anything more beautiful in her life. At last they crash into the net of air, which bows and bends beneath their weight before springing lightly back up. Extending her wings Amalia catches a current of air, gliding down and around the whale as she reassures herself it is healthy, safe. Then the owl descends to the ground, coming to a stop behind Delah before resuming her human form. "Thank you," she murmurs to the chief, sincere and ardent, before looking back at the calf. "Is there any way to return it to the stars?" Amalia Her eyes, they know too much. She'll treat you like somebody but you just can't touch.

Her strength no longer needed, as Amalia lands behind her, Delah rounds on her immediate. "Liar. She spits, verdant eyes nearly black with anger. Lying is not a thing that she is capable of—that any of them are capable of—and it only highlites the difference between the fae and this attuned.

With a hand suddenly clad in black fur with long talons stretching from her fingers she shoves Amalia back against a tree, a snarl on her lips.

"They die when they fall." She snaps, her anger only tempered slightly by a raw anguish that tries to soften the lines of her face. "If it wasn't for you we might have been able to save it. We might have—"

—but Delah's growls are cut off by the softly glowing calf hovering behind her shoulder. Turning around with wide eyes, she inhales sharply, releasing Amalia and immediately bowing before the starry creature.

Coding base by Sky!

Bobbing gently as if on an unseen current, the starwhale regards the dark-eyed woman with a warm and softly understanding stare. There is shocking intelligence in those eyes despite the youthful appearance. With a wave of its fin it thrusts light towards Delah, a cosmis shower of starlight falling around her and creating a calming effect. Turning its gaze towards Amalia it swims forward, letting itself coast towards her, closer and closer and closer until—

—boop. Its snout touched her nose, and it licks the side of her cheek.

---

Charks is using 600MP for a starwhale companion!

Coding base by Sky!

"I did not-" lie, she means to finish, but before she can finish the protest a great paw shoves against her, sending her sprawling back. With a gasp Amalia hits the tree, her body easily succumbing to the smaller woman's strength: she is tired, weary from fighting that morning and flying again now. Still anger rises in her chest, tempered by exhaustion but blazing nonetheless. I came back! she wants to say. I had to do it, but I kept my word! But then the fae woman speaks again and all her protests, all her wrath, dies upon her lips. "No-" she chokes, shaking her head, disbelieving. It is not true - cannot be true-- "It was already falling-- we can send it back, we can go to Vi, to Safrin, and--" What was she meant to have done? What action would they have had her take? Shaking, Amalia clenches her fists. She cannot have doomed this creature to die. She cannot have failed now, when she came so close to success. She cannot-- A sputter of starlight surrounds the pair, radiant, sparkling, and Amalia immediately feels calm. As Delah spins and bows to the calf, Amalia can only stare, her black eyes caught by its galactic gaze, starlit and serene and wise and wondering. Frozen in awe and relief, the girl watches as the starwhale floats nearer, growing closer and closer to her face until-- --boop!-- A bond is formed, and a part of her heart she did not know was broken knits together and becomes whole. Reaching up to caress the whale behind its fin, Amalia begins to laugh, tears of joy tracking down her face as her new soulmate spins and trills. Amalia Her eyes, they know too much. She'll treat you like somebody but you just can't touch.

Delah looks up at Amalia, her expression one of mingled fear, confusion, and jealousy. Even though the fae live for centuries seeing a starwhale is still rare for them. And never, not in all of her long years or in the teachings of her grandmothers has she ever heard of this.

She wants to hate Amalia in that moment and nearly succeeds. This woman coming into her woods, Delah stupidly letting her out of the pit to witness the momentous event in a moment of softness, only to have this?

Her warriors whisper around her, crowding in now. Their hands are still clenched tightly together, and as Delah rises and looks over her shoulder, all eyes are on the black-eyed woman and the whale. No one looks to Delah for their orders. Clenching her teeth together she barks at them, her words like a snake shooting through the grass and immediately they scatter leaving Amalia and Delah alone.

Turning towards the almond-eyed woman, Delah crosses her arms. Though Amalia is much taller than she, the fae-chief is no less an intimidating presence.

"Can you hear its soul?" She asks, her question actually, is it bonded to you?

Coding base by Sky!

Amalia does not see the ring of watching fae until they hurry away, sent scuttling by Delah's snake-like words. She is wrapped in the starwhale, the feeling of it on her skin but also in her soul, like another heartbeat beside her own. The creature is delightfully playful, its - her - voice a song on the breeze, coos and clicks and rumbling notes unlike a anything Amalia has ever heard. Then they are alone, the baker and the warrior and the whale. Amalia peers over the starwhale's back, blinking as though seeing Delah for the first time. "Yes," she answers simply, and knows it to be true. "Her name is Jyoti." This, too, she knows to be true. Reaching out with slender fingers, Amalia strokes Jyoti's belly, sending the calf into a fit of squirming coos. Excitedly she darts away, circling twice around Delah before returning to the baker's side, stardust in her wake. Amalia Her eyes, they know too much. She'll treat you like somebody but you just can't touch.

Delah feels a sense of calm descend around her. Her mind wants to fight the peace that the creature is creating but she is helpless. As much as she wants to keep her arms tightly wound about her body and her jaw set in a stern line, she feels herself relaxing, and soon her hands are dropped to her side and she merely stares at the creature with a sort of child-like wonder.

"If you have been chosen by such a creature, then you are free to pass in our Woods. It does not mean that you are welcome though." She adds, wanting to bristle but finding her shoulders much too relaxed.

Coding base by Sky!

Amalia, too, feels strangely calm, though the young baker does not yet know why. There is something in Jyoti's presence that soothes her terror, puts her anxious mind at ease and relaxes her weary mind. Watching the dark-haired fae's posture soften, she wonders if perhaps she has judged them wrong. They are frightened, perhaps, if not of them then of change, the slow and insidious creep of contamination which threatens to spill out, now that the barrier is down. Letting her own hands fall to her side, Amalia tilts her head toward Delah, utterly bemused by this unexpected turn of events. "Why?" It is a soft murmur, less accusing than curious, seeking desperately to understand. "Why am I free now? Why did she choose me? Why is Ianto welcome, but not us?" She sighs, anxiety rising back in her shoulders, a million more questions racing through her mind. Letting Jyoti swim into her arms, Amalia strokes the starwhale absently, her dark gaze returning to the night sky. She had spent so long reading about the outside world, trying to understand a thing she thought she would never see. And yet now that she is finally living in those legends, she is just as lost and alone as before. Well, she thinks, turning loving eyes back to the child dozing in her arms. Not alone, at least. Amalia Her eyes, they know too much. She'll treat you like somebody but you just can't touch.

DELAH

Why. It is such an easy question for the fae to get around, as were all of Amalia's questions, as open-ended as they were. "There is something in you." Delah says tensely, eyeing the calf as it happily floats by Amalia. "Ianto?" The chieftess repeats, her lips quirking softly into a smirk. "He has been...vouched for." Delah replies, the thought of Arduinna stilling her smirk from spreading and instead sending a cold chill through her body.

"Just as this creature vouches for you, though not in the same way."

In places deep
With roots entwined
I live the life I left behind

The fae remains elusive, giving answers that do nothing to ease her anxious mind. Frowning, Amalia contracts further to herself, wondering if she ought to give up. She is free, and that should be enough: she needs to take her own and go, be before the chieftess changes her mind. And yet... "When we were in the barrier, I used to imagine what was outside. I read whatever I could- I even found a map, with Safrin's help. But this-" Amalia turns her gaze to the trees, the sky, the whale beside her, "-is more than I could have imagined." Shaking her tawny head, she sighs, wrapping slender arms around herself. She is cold, so cold, and tired. "I'll take my friends and go," she murmurs, looking back at Delah, "But I want to come back and learn more- about this place, and you." Amalia Her eyes, they know too much. She'll treat you like somebody but you just can't touch.

DELAH

"No." Delah says, apparently unmoved by the baker's bookish ways. "They remain. They have not been chosen." She said with little room for negotiation, her arms rising and crossing once more.

For a still second the fae regards the long and lean almond-eyed woman. Delah seems on the verge of some decision, moss-eyes narrowing ever so slightly as she internally ponders something. "We do not exist for your amusement or interest. I don't care that you want to learn more." She says at last, fighting against the soothing silent strains of the starwhale, wanting to hide inside of her animosity.

In places deep
With roots entwined
I live the life I left behind

"Why?" Amalia asks again, but this time there is fire in her voice, irritation unsoothed even by Jyoti's calming presence pulling muscles tight within her chest. "You say you want nothing to do with us, that we trespassed, but now you refuse to let us go?" The baker's eyes are flinty as she glares down at the fae. It is only the gentle song of the starwhale and a fresh fall of stardust which keeps her from breaking, falling into the frustration and exhaustion and fear in her heart. Taking a deep breath again, Amalia reaches out for the whale, gentle fingers stroking soothingly at its back. "We share the world with you now. The barrier is down. Don't you want to know how that happened? What it means?" Amalia Her eyes, they know too much. She'll treat you like somebody but you just can't touch.