What remains
Maea Valair
Hollowed Grounds Ambassador / Loreseeker

Age: 29 | Height: 156 cm / 5'1 ft | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 2 - Strg: 22 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 25 - Luck: 20 - Int:
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Posts: 3,025 | Total: 5,767
MP: 1897
#1




















When the light of the sun broke over the horizon on the first day of flowerbirth, Maea packed up her belongings and left the Sanctuary. Longnight was over, but she could not relax yet. Not until she had made sure that her family was alright, that the house still stood and everything was as it should be. She traveled as fast as she could, but trudging through the snow on foot was slow and it still took her the better part of a day before the climbed a till and saw the house sit quietly in the dale below.

Right away, the girl could tell something was wrong. The farm should have been abuzz with activity, her brother and sister-in-law busy with looking över the animals and the buildings, with the kids underfoot and doing what they could to help. But the yard was empty and no trace of footprints could be seen in the snow, and the silence lay heavy over the house. The glow of a pale afternoon sun just about to set did little to ease the lump in her throat as she hurried down the slope. Slipping and sliding as her feet liked up the pace, Maea  whispered prayers under her breath, heart racing as she ran up to the house.

"Noah?" she called. "NOAH!? LIN? Where are you!?"

There was no reply. Then she spotted the front door, torn halfway off its hinges with chips and scratchmarks scarring the surface, and with a cry Maea threw herself in through the opening, hoping, wishing, praying that she would find herself face to face with a bewildered brother and the laughing gaggle of children come to greet her....

But all she found was an empty house. Dark and cold and silent.

The pale haired girl was only faintly aware of her knees giving out under her. Terror slowly worked it's way through her, a cold and clawing monster that made her insides ache. This... this could not be true. The nightmare was supposed to be over now, so why was she still so knotted up inside? Why... why?

She was so numb from the shock that she could not even cry. It couldn't be real, there must be some mistake.

MAEA
Sometimes darkness can show you the light
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Nat haniel Sterling
Hunter

Age: 37 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#2
NATHANIEL
It's probably best to forget it.
In some respects, the worst part of Longnight is the aftermath. The empty doorways, darkened windows. Rain pattering on hollow houses. Nathaniel rarely ventures across the fields to visit his neighbors. Most of them enjoy the isolation as he does, and there is always work to do at home. But the first days of Flowerbirth are different. Checking in with the neighbors is a ritual, an important tradition, one he carries on now even though no one remains to force him to it.

After so long trapped indoors, traveling across the empty fields is strange. Dead earth, rotten snow. The sky so high and far above him it feels as if he could fall in if only he stares long enough. Strange, too, being alone after spending a week in the company of the dog, her old joints no longer holding up to the deepest depths of the cold. Nate carries a light pack over one shoulder, a rudimentary first aid kit and some food, some spare clothes. Things he might need, but usually doesn’t. Those living out here are mostly Naturals, and they know what they are doing.

Still, tragedy strikes everyone, and it strikes with abandon. He can almost feel it hanging like a fog over the Valair house, as if the darkness of the windows is a shadow cast. Not just an absence of light but a hole, still swallowing.

He knows what he will find. And also what he won’t, but he thinks he hears a voice, someone calling, high and distraught. A woman. Maybe a survivor, maybe another neighbor stopping by. He descends anyway, down the slope of a shallow hill toward the gaping doorway.

“Hello?” he calls. His voice is a slow boom in the shadowed space. It smells cold. How long has it been vacant? There would have been children. All of them —

He swallows around something in his throat. They are not his people, but it’s still a bitter thing to find. Slowly, Nathaniel steps forward, the floor settling under his weight. He doesn’t see the girl at first. She’s so quiet — a slash of white light like a lost dove on the floor. But then he does, and he stills, tension running up and down his back.

He doesn’t know the white-haired girl, not well, not any better than he knows most people. But he feels suddenly intrusive, wishes he hadn’t come or could run away. She won’t want him here — he feels this like a tangible force pushing him away. But he cannot leave.

He steps forward instead. Once. Giving her space. “Maea.” He hopes that is her name, hopes he isn't remembering wrong. “I’m sorry.” He can’t think of anything better to say.
It's probably best to let go.
Maea Valair
Hollowed Grounds Ambassador / Loreseeker

Age: 29 | Height: 156 cm / 5'1 ft | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 2 - Strg: 22 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 25 - Luck: 20 - Int:
Played by: Chan Offline
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Posts: 3,025 | Total: 5,767
MP: 1897
#3




















Footsteps made the floor creak behind her. Maea spun around, a painful hope bright in her eyes as she raked her gaze across the shadow in the doorway. Maybe it was all a bad joke, maybe the clawmarks belonged to a bear and they were all returning from a hunt, maybe, maybe maybe...

But the man that stood behind her was not Noah, and the life in her expression wilted with the dying light. Too tall, was the first thought that crossed her mind. Noah was short, only half a head taller than herself. Almost as pale, but blonde and golden skinned with gray eyes that always smiled... The opposite of this looming shadow so black that he could have been a product of the Long Night itself.

Maea could have hated Nathaniel for not being her brother at that moment. Had hated him once, when she was very young and sick and he was a restless kid with too much pent up emotions and nothing good to do with himself. Things had not... been good between them. But time had a way of changing things, and though he was not really a friend, she couldn't muster any resentment at all as she stared up at him from her spot on the floor, eyes dry and blank from the inability to understand this new reality.

"Oh. It's you." He had made it then. Unlike... unlike her family... The thought cut as if she'd stepped on glass, and tears slowly pooled in her eyes. Hot, unbidden, far more in tune with the situation than Maea was. The girl clapped her hands over her face and turned away, shoulders quivering under the strain of holding back the sobs.

MAEA
Sometimes darkness can show you the light
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Nat haniel Sterling
Hunter

Age: 37 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#4
NATHANIEL
It's probably best to forget it.
Nathaniel is silent as he watches the light flare and burn out in her eyes. An old, hollow feeling opens up in him: a sudden need to be smaller. If he could vanish, could rework the last few minutes and avoid the house and the girl inside, he would. Instead, he stands here chained to the twin burdens of his own worry and her sorrow. Sorry, he thinks again but doesn’t say.

Sorry he’s alive and they’re not.

A familiar knowledge: he isn’t what anyone wants, who anyone wants to see. He swallows, and prepares for her to yell, to say something, but when she does her tone is dead as the silent house. It would be better if she screamed, he thinks. He knows how to deal with that. But this — this silent, fragile, quivering… Nathaniel has never known how to deal with this.

She turns away, and he is still silent in the doorway, unable to move. Hardly any time has passed at all, and yet it feels like days. He can’t tell if she sobs or if she somehow manages to hold it back. There on the floor, wracked with grief, she looks terribly frail. He almost fears that even speaking aloud will break her.

Inertia only holds him for so long, though. He needs to act or he fears he’ll be stuck in this house, in this moment, forever. “Are you…” He draws in a steadying breath. Ok is so absolutely the wrong word. “Are you hurt?” Nathaniel can guess Maea spent Longnight elsewhere, but he cannot tell if she suffers anything external. He rubs awkwardly at the back of his neck. “I’ll… go check the animals.” There, an escape. He drifts back, each step slow. If she does speak up, say she needs some more specific kind of help, he will remain. But he wants to give her space if she prefers to have that, and anyway, someone ought to check the rest of the farm. Keep those who still survive alive.
It's probably best to let go.
Maea Valair
Hollowed Grounds Ambassador / Loreseeker

Age: 29 | Height: 156 cm / 5'1 ft | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 2 - Strg: 22 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 25 - Luck: 20 - Int:
Played by: Chan Offline
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Posts: 3,025 | Total: 5,767
MP: 1897
#5




















The silence is tangible. Sticky, the way it clings like grease to the senses and distorts everything. The house feels larger now, without the press of bodies within it to add warmth, without voices and laughter to fill the rooms with life. The floor is cold under her. How long ago the fire in the hearth had gone out she doesn't know... a day, maybe three, maybe a whole week. When had it happened? How had the monsters gotten in? Why had the luxere not come this year? Questions were pointless, really. There would be no answer, and even if she found out the how and the why, what did it matter? It was too late now. Maea had seen it before, had grown up knowing that this might happen. That it did happen, only never to them. Bad things happened, but somehow she had felt safe anyway, becuse they were always careful, always prepared and in her heart she had believed that the worst would never really happen.

Now it had. Even as she cried Maea felt more resigned than sad. Of course it hurt, oh gods how it hurt! But she couldn't curse, couldn't rage or place the blame on anyone, because who's fault was it? The monsters? The gods? Her family's, for failing in some crucial part of the preparations? Or... hers, for not being there to scream and fight and die along with them? Because they had, of that she was sure. Noah would not go down without a fight, not would Lin let anything happen to her children without doing everything in her power to stop it. And the kids...

Oh gods, the kids.

Drowning. She was drowning in the madness of it all, and Nathaniel's voice was like a glimmer of light that reminded her of the surface. This way to rise up. Drawing in a shuddering breath, she shook her head in response - no, the was not hurt. Not in any physical way at least - but her voice would not carry to say anything, and when the silence dragged on he muttered about the animals and left, boots scraping against the wooden floor.

Maea wasn't sure how long she sat there. A long time, probably, because when she looked up the shadows har grown longer and her hands were numb with cold. Long Night was over but Flowerbirth had only just begun, and there would be many cold nights to come yet.

The animals. She should look at the animals. Find out where Nate had gone.

Stiffly the colorless girl stumbled to her feet and went outside. Only a little light remained, the sun already set though some light still lingered, and the touch of red over the clouds cast everything in a strange rosy hue. It was beautiful, really, and it seemed horribly wrong that she would think that, when something so horrible had happened.

Nathaniel har left footprints in the snow, and the followed them towards the sheep shed. As she came closer, Maea found that this door too was broken, with signs of disturbance on the ground outside. Snow had fallen since and almost erased the tracks, but not completely. Inside, she could hear a dog whimpering, and that pitiful whine alone gave her the courage to look inside.

MAEA
Sometimes darkness can show you the light
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Nat haniel Sterling
Hunter

Age: 37 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#6
NATHANIEL
It's probably best to forget it.
Again, he wishes he had the dog. Her nose, her ability to know just when a person needed her press up against them or when to lie down at a watchful distance or when to see to other things. Nathaniel is not half so wise as the dog. He can only step back outside into the snow, frowning as the last of the day's sunlight glances off every white surface, as he scours the property, wondering where he ought to start.

He ends up moving toward the nearest outbuilding. A barn of some sort, he thinks, trying to remember what sort of animals they had. Sheep, was it? Were there cows? Chickens? They must have had dogs. A few lazy flakes drift over his shoulders as he moves. Like the house, the barn is terribly silent. The silence of a carcass picked clean.

Nathaniel pauses outside the door, noting scuff marks on the wood. Could someone have run out here? He cannot recall the monsters ever troubling themselves too much for animals, but maybe someone tried to escape the house. Unbidden, his mind conjures the image: one of the children maybe, gaining time as the adults took the brunt of the damage themselves, scrambling desperately for the nearest shelter. Of course, it would not have been enough. It was never enough.

A heavy breath. The door whines as he pushes it open, and inside is dark, earthy with the smell of animals no longer present. The sheep would have escaped, frightened probably by the blood and the noise. They can be found later — some of them, at least. Nathaniel's eyes scan the space anyway, as if one of Maea's family might appear. As if a miracle has ever happened in Caido.

When he does see movement, he startles, his eyes widening, though his body hardly moves. He steps forward immediately, some kind of exclamation building in him, but it isn't a person. It's an animal, a sheep dog, curled in one corner and pushing itself farther away from the sudden movement. Something about the way it moves is strange, wrong. The earth and straw beneath it dark.

"Hey..." Nathaniel's voice goes soft the way it only does with things like dogs. Instinctively, he falls into a crouch, reducing his height. Suddenly nothing else exists except for himself and the wounded animal, the wary crescent of white at the corner of its nearest eye. Slowly, carefully, Nathaniel edges sideways toward it, talking softly all the while. When he's near enough, he shrugs off his pack and sets it carefully on the floor, within reach.

Touching the dog is the hardest part. It bares its teeth, and its voice escapes in a painful whine when he extends his hand. One paw is curled protectively beneath it, the rest of the legs braced, and it pushes itself into the wall as if it wants to disappear. He spends a long time talking to the dog before he finally trusts its posture enough to place his palm on its head, stroke the matted fur along the back of its neck. "It's okay," he tells it, his voice low. "You did everything you could." Eventually, he works his hand down to the injured leg, brings the paw forward.

Blood has soaked and matted in the fur, making the wound beneath impossible to find. Pulling a folding knife from his pocket, Nathaniel works slowly, the sharp blade shearing away filthy hair. Every now and then, he pulls the wrong way, and the dog cries out, jerking its foot away. Then he has to work all over again at regaining the foot. He isn't sure how much time has pssed when he hears the door move behind him and glances over his shoulder. Maea there, her face swollen but surprisingly composed.

"Can you help me with this?" he asks. "It knows you better than me."
It's probably best to let go.
Maea Valair
Hollowed Grounds Ambassador / Loreseeker

Age: 29 | Height: 156 cm / 5'1 ft | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 2 - Strg: 22 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 25 - Luck: 20 - Int:
Played by: Chan Offline
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Posts: 3,025 | Total: 5,767
MP: 1897
#7




















For a moment the girl merely stood there, her feet rooted to the ground as she took in the empty shed. The smell of wool fat, sheep dung and blood was overpowering, yet still not so much as she had feared and half expected. Her red rimmed eyes took in the lumps in the hay that betrayed the presence of dead animals, those who had not been lucky enough to escape, but inevitably her gaze was drawn towards Nate and the trembling dog under his hands.

His instruction was welcome; she nodded without a word and disappeared outside again, returning only a moment later with a bucket of water in one hand and a rag in the other. Picking her way over to them, Maea set down her burdens and hunched down on her heels, heart aching at the sight of the dog.

"Frost... hey, sweet girl, you're alright now. Easy lass, let us have a look at you..."

Tears began rolling unbidden down her cheeks again as she pressed herself in between the dog and the barn wall, letting the warm body nestle into her as she stroke the matted fur. So much blood and dirt... The shepherd was supposed to be white, but only patches of her actual color could be seen now.

"I'll hold her" she told Nathaniel, sniffling a little but not bothering to wipe the tears from her face. Her hands were needed elsewhere, and they stroke the trembling body of the dog as if nothing else existed.

MAEA
Sometimes darkness can show you the light
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Nat haniel Sterling
Hunter

Age: 37 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#8
NATHANIEL
It's probably best to forget it.
She moves as instructed — a positive sign. Nathaniel shifts just slightly to give her space. Something softens in him as he sees the dog nestle into her, two trembling dirty bodies caught together, anchored only by each other. He ignores the tears. He would not want anyone to mention his own, if he were crying. He extends Maea the same courtesy. He wouldn't know what to say, anyway.

He knows what to do with his hands, and that is good. He pulls bandages and a small flask of water fom his pack and begins to clean and dress the wound, each movement slow. Considered. "It doesn't look too deep," he says aloud, hoping this fact will comfort her.

Once finished, Nathaniel stands back and away, giving the dog space to test its patched limb. His gaze sweeps the shed, sober. "We should burn them," he says quietly. The meat will go bad as the temperature rises. It will attract other things. And the living sheep — there will be living sheep — won't want to return with the dead still inside. "Do you... feel up to it?" Is that a cruel thing to ask?

Does he have a choice?
It's probably best to let go.
Maea Valair
Hollowed Grounds Ambassador / Loreseeker

Age: 29 | Height: 156 cm / 5'1 ft | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 2 - Strg: 22 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 25 - Luck: 20 - Int:
Played by: Chan Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,025 | Total: 5,767
MP: 1897
#9




















She watched him work without saying anything. The silence here was not as bad as it har been inside the house. She could hear the dog's heart beat, accompanied by the occasional whimper as Nate cleaned the wound and dressed it. She felt the rise and fall of it's sides beneath her hands and was enthralled by the sight of if, of Nate's hands as he worked. They looked so big, at least twice the size of her own, yet moved very gently. A soft touch, to cause minimal distress... when had that happened? All Maea could recall was a brat of a lanky teen who nicked apples and distracted the dogs so that the sheep scattered into the grain fields.

Was this really the same person?

He spoke, and the girl almost flinched at the sound. But she nodded and tugged Frost a bit tighter; relief in her eyes even though she did not say anything. This was - har been - her brothers favorite dog. He har teased her about having the same hair color as the dog, and said that be would have to treat the dog like a sister now... and somehow 'little sister' had become the nickname everyone called Frost by. Now she was all that remained of the family. A wounded dog and an empty house, a barn full of dead sheep and some apple trees.

And Maea.

She sat up once the wound was taken care of, and followed Nate's gaze to the shadowy lumps that littered the floor. The thought of moving anything made her stomach twist painfully, but the knew as well as he what might happen if the bodies were allowed to rot.

"I... Yes. It has to be done. Have to count them too, see how many... how many got away."

She got slowly to her feet, wondering at how numb her limbs had become. The world spun around her, and Maea reached out to steady herself against whatever was nearest when her knees threatened to buckle under her weight.

MAEA
Sometimes darkness can show you the light
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Nat haniel Sterling
Hunter

Age: 37 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 1 - Strg: 14 - Dext: 9 - Endr: 16 - Luck: 6 - Int:
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#10
NATHANIEL
It's probably best to forget it.
Surely someone else would have kind words for the girl. Nathaniel tries to imagine what it will be like to live in an empty house one remembers only as full. He has never had a family as such. He cannot fathom the loss, so he gives up trying. Easier to mourn are the animals, quantifiable and necessary. No emotional output to fabricate when so much wool and meat are gone.

“I’ll help,” he tells her. “Nothing else to do today.” His own house needs work, of course, but the chickens are loose in the yard and the dog will be keeping a watchful eye. He expected to spend most of his day out, naming the dead.

Nathaniel steps back as she rises. It may be a mistake, as he notices her balance falter, but rather than move in to help her, he eases his weight in the opposite direction, expression wary. Then of course he feels some weird combination of embarrassed and confused, and decides to concentrate on the sheep, instead. He moves across the shed without making eye contact to begin the mournful task of pulling out the bodies and giving them to the sky.
It's probably best to let go.
Maea Valair
Hollowed Grounds Ambassador / Loreseeker

Age: 29 | Height: 156 cm / 5'1 ft | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 2 - Strg: 22 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 25 - Luck: 20 - Int:
Played by: Chan Offline
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Posts: 3,025 | Total: 5,767
MP: 1897
#11




















Should she be grateful, offended, angry or glad for the company during the gruesome task? All of those emotions swirled around within Maea... and died away, swallowed by the waves of weariness thst frightened her more than the silence. Nate did not move to help her when she stumbled, but at least he remained to watch her fall... and that was reason enough to stay on her feet. Stubbornness might be the only thing the woman had left now.

"Let's drag them outside. There's wood around the back... I need the shed, or I'd just torch the whole thing."

Her mouth set into a grim like that might be desperate or merely determined, and set to work. A wheelbarrow helped her bring the wood they needed, and left the heavy lifting of mauled sheep for the tall, strong man to handle. After days in the intense cold of Deepfrost the bodies would still be frozen, but it was still something she regretted having to ask of him.

At one point Maea peered into the shed and found the body of the other dog lying half covered by hay. That almost broke her; she cried helplessly with the small animal cradled in her arms, rocking back and forth until the tears ran out and only dry sobs continued to shake her thin shoulders. At this point she couldn't care less whether Nathaniel saw her or found her weak, because it didn't matter anymore.

Nothing mattered, everything she had ever cared about was gone. What did she have left?

MAEA
Sometimes darkness can show you the light
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Nat haniel Sterling
Hunter

Age: 37 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 1 - Strg: 14 - Dext: 9 - Endr: 16 - Luck: 6 - Int:
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#12
NATHANIEL
It's probably best to forget it.
Nathaniel just nodded in response to her instructions. He had survived enough Longnights to expect the necessary steps: drag out the half-frozen carcasses, pile them up, set them all ablaze. He hoped Maea had enough dry wood to take care of it all today. Leaving the sheep any longer would be too cruel to Maea, too messy as the flesh defrosted.

Nate shed his outer layers and got to work, hoisting the dead animals two at a time, placing them with as much reverence as he could muster into a clear space away from the shed. Fortunately, the cold had preserved them well. Dirty wool and bits of straw stuck to his clothes, but he ignored them.

He was glad to see Maea busying herself with the wood. No need to take on the extra burden of lifting the sheep herself. Even if they weren't pets, the loss of such important livestock would weigh on top of all the others losses combined. A crippling burden.

Nathaniel was nearly finished, only one more lump left to uncover, when he saw Maea wander past him. She must have brought all the wood she could muster. He busied himself outside for a time, stacking it all, creating the best arrangement to funnel the flames into a bonfire. When he had finished, Maea still had not appeared. Worry prickling at him, he returned to the shed.

There he found her, fresh tears rolling down her face, the body of the dog cradled to hers. Nathaniel paused in the doorway, wincing. Glanced at Frost nearby, not quite three-legged but certainly hurting.

With a deep breath, Nate approached and knelt in the straw next to Maea. "I'm sorry," he said again, stupidly. His voice was too deep to suitably soften. "Mort will keep him," he offered, something he had been told when he was younger. "He'll be waiting for you when your time comes." Even as he said it, it felt like a hollow sentiment. Something you said when there was nothing else to say.

"We should take care of his body," he added, standing up. "We could bury him, if you want to." That way he would always be part of the farm, giving life to new growth. He had buried the last dog he saw die. A deep hole of loamy earth under the sheltering leaves of the wood.

Regardless of her decision, Nate left her side to search in his pack for a lighter, and stepped back out of the shed to finish with the sheep.
It's probably best to let go.
Maea Valair
Hollowed Grounds Ambassador / Loreseeker

Age: 29 | Height: 156 cm / 5'1 ft | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 2 - Strg: 22 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 25 - Luck: 20 - Int:
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#13




















In the end, it was the cold practicality ingrained into the girl that brought her back to her senses. Slowly, with movements so sluggish her limbs appeared half frozen, Maea staggered to her feet with the dog still cradled in her arms, and shook her head. No, no burials. It was the season of Frey now, but she would honor him with seeds and plants, not bodies. This dog har been a shepherd, living and working with the sheep every day since he was taken from his mother... Better he was sent off with the sheep as well. Later the ashes of the pyre would be scattered in the fields, to replenish the earth and close the circle...

But the animls were the only ones to receive that closure.

When she came back, Maea had dried her eyes. Though she still sniffled occasionally and her eyes retained that vacant distance that whispered of shock, her face was calm and set, a look that was vaguely stubborn and altogether brittle.

"Let's get this over with" she said. Darkness had already fallen around them, the clouds overhead obscuring Safrin's stars; it could have been Long Night all over again, and the girl fumbled with the flint and steel in her haste to kindle the fire. She needed light, and warmth and to get this done, and then Frost needed food and the house required cleaning and....

And she would have to do it alone. Nate... Maea glanced at him. He was kind, and had helped her more than he probably knew, but.... it wasn't as though he planned to stick around forever. He had his own place, and she.... She had one thing that needed doing before any of the other things could become important.

"A lantern... I'll have to make a lantern now."

The ghost of an old melody crept through her mind, and as the fire caught in the kindling and began to lick the piled up wood, she sang the words in a quiet, quivering voice.


"But what shall I do if the demons still come
If the demons still come for my sweetling?
Ne'er luxere
Nor snowmoss
Nor prayers to all
Will return from the darkness my sweet love"

"Bring a lantern for Ludo, for Ludo my love
Bring a candle to light in the evening
You'll see me
And hold me
Again one last time
Bring a light and a lantern for Ludo...."

MAEA
Sometimes darkness can show you the light
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Nat haniel Sterling
Hunter

Age: 37 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#14
NATHANIEL
It's probably best to forget it.
Nathaniel was patient. He waited until Maea was able to answer, and accepted the answer without judgment. It was her loss; they would give the animals all to the sky if Maea preferred. He followed her outside to the pyre, and there he was content to watch the flames when they finally rose, licking at the underside of a darkening spring sky.

Something about the fire filled Nate with peace. Closure — he didn’t envy Maea, couldn’t, but it must be nice to have your endings all tied up like that. Not just trailing along behind you, knotted and filthy… He found it easier to watch the flames than it was to look at her, or the wounded dog. Easier to pretend he was watching out for stray sparks (which might ignite… the melting snow?).

In time, though, Maea spoke again. No — not spoke, but began to sing. Nathaniel turned toward her, startled, his features for just a moment unguarded. It was a song he recognized, and though he didn’t think to join in, Nate approved. He listened in reverent silence. Maea had a good voice for song.

When she finished, he nodded. “They would be proud.” He felt safe making this assumption about her family. “Do you need any more help?” With… anything else. Anything quick, as the sun was already setting. Night was upon them. Nate needed to be home. “I’ll come check in,” he added, a little awkwardly. “In a few days.” If she brushed off his offer of further help, Nathaniel would see this as his cue to leave. If not, he was happy to linger and to help her until the night deepened a little further.
It's probably best to let go.


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