silver flames

You made yourself a bed
At the bottom of the blackest hole

It had been a long time since Alys had been home, and had it not been for Tal, she probably wouldn't be standing here today. It was raining - because of course it was - and the seer stood under the eaves of one of the many buildings in the Inner Quarter looking out at the great deluge with a frown. The Hollowed Grounds had always been a miserable place - at least for her - and nothing seemed to have changed in the time she'd been away.

Tal was somewhere in the Grounds taking care of this or that, and Alys had promised him that she'd be fine for a few hours while he ran his errands. She hadn't lied, exactly, but she hadn't wanted to be a burden, either, so while he was off doing gods-knew-what, she stood. In the rain. Watching the passersby with a rather sour expression and waiting for him to return.

Did it make her a little pitiful, that she'd grown so used to his presence that she wasn't quite sure what to do without it? Maybe.

Did she have it in her to care? Not so much.

And convinced yourself that
It's not the reason you don't see the sun anymore

Alys

Maea

Rest against my pillow
like the aging winter sun

The single biggest drawback to having a physical body that craved sustenance was that she had to work for a living. Maea didn't really have any practical skills, nor was she clear on what she wanted to do with herself going forward, and that left her with the sole option of doing odd jobs that no one else had time for. It was fine, really. Most of the tasks were menial and low effort, cleaning and carrying, sorting and tending - tasks that occupied the hands and let the thoughts wander freely.

It suited her for now, and that was how she found herself struggling through the marketplace with a basket full of groceries in one arm and a small sack of flour on the other. The rain had soaked through her cloak in the first hour of stepping outside, and the damp had started to trickle down her neck and spine. Mingling with sweat brought on by straining herself with the luggage, Maea felt as though she ought to steam in the unseasonably cold weather. With still a few more items to fetch from the list, she also needed a breather. Huffing softly, she came to a halt under the relative shelter and set the basket down. There was another woman there already, but Maea was too tired to be bothered by it.

"What a weather," she murmured, just in passing to acknowledge their presence. Leaning back against the wall, she too gazed out at the rain. Ceaselessly falling, rushing, pouring; if it didn't stop soon, there were going to be problems.

Only wake each morning to
remember that you're gone

You made yourself a bed
At the bottom of the blackest hole

Alys remembered what it had been like before her departure, and she couldn't remember ever having seen rain like this in her years growing up in the Hollowed Grounds. Oh, sure, they had spring rains like anyone else, but to have this monstrous deluge for days on end? She'd be lucky if she dried out by the end of Longheat.

So when the stranger joined her beneath the eaves in an obvious attempt to get out of the downpour, Alys gladly made room. She wasn't prepared for the other woman to speak, though, and she glanced over with something like surprise. "It's never been like this that I can remember," she mused, dark eyes keen on the stranger's face. "Has it been raining like this all season?"

And convinced yourself that
It's not the reason you don't see the sun anymore

Alys

Maea

Rest against my pillow
like the aging winter sun

Meeting the glance of the other woman, Maea shook her head in shared consternation. "Nor I. Not a day of sunshine the whole season, or so I'm told. The magna vermis are drowning in their own puddles. I heard a farmer say the crops won't grow at this rate."

Wiping wet strands of hair from her face, a gesture made clumsy by the horns that protruded horizontally from the sides of her head, Maea glanced surreptitiously at the woman. There was something familiar about her, though she couldn't put a name to the face; once she had known most people who lived in the Grounds, back in the days where it was the whole of her world. Since it fell though, she'd deliberately stopped interacting with most of the grounders, so determined to leave her old life behind.

"I'm Maea," she introduced herself, setting aside her awkwardness around strangers for the benefit of curiosity. "You... are from here, yes? My family used to have a farm, out in the Fields... I don't know why but you seem familiar." Producing wool, meat and cider, the Valair's had been a respectable family, once upon a time. Until they perished during a LongNight many years ago.

Only wake each morning to
remember that you're gone

With the Hollowed Grounds’ alterations in landscape, some of the animals have grown a bit wilder. A bit bolder.

So while it may surprise some, and others not at all, a crow swoops down, snatching at clothing and bags with sharp, irritating, and annoying talons. Maybe you just lost a piece of bread, or a valuable keepsake!

Whoops. Best go try to get it back!

You made yourself a bed
At the bottom of the blackest hole

Alys pursed her lips at the news, considering. Strange flora, strange weather, the disappearance of a herald... it was all too much. Something undoubtedly stirred on the horizon, but even her Sight wouldn't be enough to tell her what. It was like an itch she couldn't scratch, and she shifted uncomfortably beside the stranger as though that would help dispel the feeling.

"I'm Alys," she said. "My family are merchants in the area. I left... gods, it's been seasons. A year ago? More?" She paused, considering that. It had been so long ago that she'd left the Grounds, and yet a year was no time at all in the grand scheme of things. "Anyway, I live in Halo now. I'm just visiting with a friend." She peered at Maea. Now that the other woman had mentioned it, she did look familiar. After all, Alys wasn't likely to forget an individual with such a unique coloration. Maybe she'd seen Maea around, back before she'd left. It was hard to remember sometimes; she hadn't been the most social of people, after all.

Suddenly, a crow swooped down from the torrential rain to snatch at the bracelet Alys wore on her wrist. The seer yelped with surprise, swatting at the bird, but it was too late - the dark creature retreated into the rain, Alys's bracelet in its beak.

And convinced yourself that
It's not the reason you don't see the sun anymore

Alys

Maea

Rest against my pillow
like the aging winter sun

"Ah, that would explain it," Maea nodded. No particulars came to mind but she'd had enough dealings with merchants in the past that the resemblance could be of Alys or a relative with similar features. "I've been away for some time, myself. What is Halo like, these –"

Suddenly the air was full of wings. It went straight for Alys, drawn to some trinket about her wrist, and in a flurry of dark feathers it was off, bauble in it's beak. Without thinking Maea dropped the flour sack and hauled a shoe from her foot, and threw it at the bird. Tumbling through the rain, the projectile smacked cleanly into the bird's head, and it crashed to the ground.

Limping from the height discrepancy of being one-shod, Maea hurried over. Before the crow could get up, she hastily pulled the bracelet from the beak. But as the was standing over the avian, staring down at it, some impulse made her pick it up. Heavy in her hands, the feathers were silky and damp and clung to her fingers. Maea could feel the tiny heartbeats fluttering against her palm, felt the blood pumping... and stood paralyzed in the street, as an urge to spill that very same blood grew like a sweet ache in her.

It felt wrong. It felt right. Danta's face came to mind, telling her of the bloodlust and the consequences of ignoring it. And yet... she was torn. It felt so... wanton. Cruel. Had she become cruel, after all these years?

Was life no longer precious?

Only wake each morning to
remember that you're gone

You made yourself a bed
At the bottom of the blackest hole

Whatever conversation they might have had about Halo disappeared with the arrival of the crow. As surprised as Alys was, she wasn't particularly bothered by it; she'd always liked crows, and she didn't have much of an attachment to that particular bracelet. She would have been more than happy to allow the creature to escape with the bauble, but it seemed like her new companion had a different idea.

The Ancient moved faster than Alys would have dreamed possible, dropping the sack she carried, palming a shoe, and hurling it at the bird's head in one fluid motion, leaving Alys to stand under the eaves, slack-jawed. The crow crashed to the ground and Maea freed the bracelet before picking up the bird. Then she just stood there, holding the creature in the rain.

Alys swallowed hard, then stepped out into the rain. "Is it hurt?" she asked as she stepped closer to Maea. "I can heal it if it is." Maybe that would shake the woman out of her seeming trance.

And convinced yourself that
It's not the reason you don't see the sun anymore

Alys

Maea

Rest against my pillow
like the aging winter sun

Turning her head slowly at the sound of the woman's voice, Maea found it disconcerting how the bloodlust only rose upon filling her vision with the sight of a person. A vision of another sweet, innocent looking girl came to mind, one that she had ambushed and assaulted in an alley long before she had any convenient excuses like inherited bloodlust and dark goddesses. What kept her from doing it all over again? What if she just...

What if, indeed.

The crow twisted in her hands. Shook its head and flapped wide wings, growing more frantic as it realized it was stuck. Drawing a deep breath, Maea forced her gaze back to the bird, and in one swift motion seized it around the neck and twisted. The snap as its neck broke resounded sharply in the air, and something within Maea eased too. Not completely, but enough that she could shake her head and turn back to Alys with an apologetic grimace.

"I'm sorry," she lied, "it probably could be saved. But I need it. Hard times..." Tucking the limp heap of feathers beneath one arm, the Ancient offered the bracelet back to Alys. Her hand shook slightly, adrenaline coursing through her veins. Why was she making up stories? Why did it feel kind of good to deny the woman a chance to do what Maea herself couldn't? Jealousy... Why didn't she have the ability to heal?

It should have been her own gift. Could have been, once when Maea too was Abandoned. But not anymore.

"I should go find my shoe..."

Only wake each morning to
remember that you're gone

You made yourself a bed
At the bottom of the blackest hole

Alys resisted the urge to take a step back as Maea's hungry gaze found her. She'd never met an Ancient, though the telltale horns gave the woman away, but she'd heard of their bloodlust. Her adrenaline spiked as she considered that she might be in danger, and that the only weapons she had at her disposal was a single dagger she wore on her belt and her pitiable hand-to-hand combat skills. She really needed to spend more time training.

And maybe a visit to the gods to get some armor would be good, too.

But she raised her head a little higher, refusing to retreat, and had just opened her mouth to offer healing again when Maea moved again - this time, to snap the bird's neck. A startled gasp fell from Alys's lips, the sharp intake of breath stark in the air between them as her dark eyes fell to the crow's mangled neck. A deep sense of sorrow took root in her chest - but not anger. Maea couldn't help that she'd been made into a predator. And predators had to eat.

It didn't mean Alys had to like it.

She swallowed the nausea that suddenly threatened - after all, if Maea could snap the crow's neck so easily, what might she do to a human? - and forced a nod. There was an awkwardness between them now that hadn't been there before, but Alys forced herself to stay in the rain for another moment, taking the offered bracelet with a hand that trembled slightly. "Do you need any help?" she asked.

And convinced yourself that
It's not the reason you don't see the sun anymore

Alys

Maea

Rest against my pillow
like the aging winter sun

A faint sigh passed from the Ancient's pale lips. This was the part she hated. The moment after she did something, and gazes turned on her. She should ask Hotaru how she dealt with it, sometime. Or maybe she could take a page out of Danta's book and simply smile while people drew their own conclusion. Gazing at Alys, pale faced and afraid, Maea didn't know what to do. Neither approach really suited her.

It wasn't even that she was appalled and didn't recognize what she had become. It was that she knew exactly how she had wound up in this place, this moment, and there wasn't a thing she could do about it now. Except maybe apologize... But she couldn't bring herself to.

Water streamed down the pale face, as the torrential rain kept falling. Wiping it out of her eyes, she shrugged coolly and turned away from the woman, drawing her cloak tighter around herself. "Don't force yourself," she replied, drawing in on herself. Steeling for the moment where she inevitably wound up alone. "If you are afraid, you should go."

Looking around, she searched for the missing shoe in the gutters. It couldn't have bounced that far off.

Only wake each morning to
remember that you're gone

You made yourself a bed
At the bottom of the blackest hole

Maea's eyes shuttered, and Alys felt something a lot like shame. She hadn't meant to be quite so obvious in her distaste for the killing. After all, how was it any different from the times she had hunted luxere with Noah? Her hands were not clean any more than Maea's. Besides, it was less the action itself that scared her, she realized; it was the potential for further violence, and a lack of understanding of Ancients and their bloodlust. And that wasn't fair to Maea.

Alys blinked once, then steeled herself. "I'm not afraid," she said, and it was only half a lie. "I'm sorry," she added. "You just - surprised me, is all." She looked around for the missing shoe and found it. She walked over to pick it up, then held it out to the Ancient like a flag of truce, a small smile on her lips. Her eyes flicked up to Maea's horns, and then back to the woman's eyes. "I've never met an Ancient before," she said, as casually as she could. "I don't know a lot about you. Have you ever noticed that things people don't know make them uncomfortable?"

And convinced yourself that
It's not the reason you don't see the sun anymore

Alys

Maea

Rest against my pillow
like the aging winter sun

Arching a sceptical brow at Alys at the half-lie, Maea watched her fetch the shoe in silence. Accepting it quietly, the gazed at it in her hand for a moment, contemplating the time where simply being near an Ascended had made her heart race. She had hurt a friend badly by taking so long to accept him. Struggled daily still with her inability to love herself for making the choice to ascend. That she wasn't anymore was something Maea had yet to fully internalize.

"It's okay to be afraid," she mumbled. Balancing on one leg, the rain washed mud and dirt from her foot, and the waited until it was clean before putting the shoe back on. "Maybe you should be, at least a bit. I don't know much about myself, either. I wasn't born like this... and I'm still learning what to make of it." Glancing at Alys, she was relieved to find that the itch beneath her skin was fading. Not gone entirely, but manageable. Drawing air into her lungs, her breath steamed in the cool air; too cold for her taste, which was weird - she'd been perfectly content in Halo weather, once.

"You don't owe me anything, though. So if it becomes too much, I wouldn't blame anyone for walking away." They were nothing but strangers in the street. What difference would it make if this was the last time they ever spoke? She didn't expect anything, didn't want anything from Alys - they just happened to be in the same place at the same time.  Talking about the weather.

Only wake each morning to
remember that you're gone

You made yourself a bed
At the bottom of the blackest hole

The seer listened contemplatively, her dark eyes unreadable as she watched Maea wash off her foot and shove it back into her shoe. She made a mental note to learn more about the Ancients - all she knew was rumor, at best, and she should be the first to know that rumors were often untrue. And, more often than not, cruel. So she thought about Maea's declaration that they owed one another nothing, and while that was strictly true, Alys had not come so far in the past year by avoiding chances to get to know strangers.

"There was a year that my family fell on hard times. There was a bad harvest or something, so they didn't have as much to sell, and there wasn't as much coin coming in. My grandparents blamed me. I had magic, and that meant I was tainted, and they were convinced that the gods were punishing us all for my sins." She couldn't help but curl her lip at that last word. "I was eight."

She paused to consider her words. "Sometimes we can't help what we're born with or what we're made into or what the people around us think of us, but... I wouldn't be where I am now if everyone I'd met had walked away from me." She thought of Tal, and Ru, and Deimos, and their unquestioned acceptance of everything she was. Then she shrugged. Extending a hand only worked if the other person was willing to take it. "Just... something to think about."

And convinced yourself that
It's not the reason you don't see the sun anymore

Alys