White Lightning

Sky above, Earth below, Fire within

Thunder rumbled on the horizon. A storm was brewing and the hot, dry Longheat air prickled with pent up energy. Everything felt electric, even the wind that pushed the yellowed grasses into frothing waves, occasionally flattening them entirely to the ground. As precarious of a place as it was to linger in, the prickly sensation suited Maea's mood well. She had been stalking through the grassland for a good while by now, with one eye on the sky and one on the tracks of a hare, and as the saying went it had left her empty handed and in a sour state of mind. With bloodlust only partially to blame, she longed to take it out on something, as she clearly seemed to lack the poise, grace and perseverance to just suck anything up and endure. Go figure.

A motion on the ground disturbed the wind-swept vegetation. Slowing down and crouching low, Maea readied her throwing disc. It hummed softly while picking up speed on her fingertip, and the second she spotted the hare, Lasracha sped off towards the target. Wasting no time she followed after it as fast as her legs could carry. Breathing hard by the time she caught up to where the weapon had collided with its target, the woman stared at the animal for a moment. Split nearly in two by the sharp edge, crimson had stained the ground and thirsty soil was quickly drinking its fill. And maybe it was the perfect time to wax poetic about how well suited she was to this place, and how she could learn some lessons from the land - but she really wasn't in the mood. She just picked up the dead animal instead, shoved past the initial nausea and began to eat.

She didn't have to like it. Didn't have to hate it either. Out here, without prying eyes, she could almost let go of the dregs of learned morals and sentiments that kept getting in the way of acquired instincts. Not for the first time, she wondered what it would be like to just... melt away into the molten tiger's pale guise, embrace its nature and never return.

maea

REMI

Had it not been for the brewing storm it was entirely likely that Remi and Maea's paths might not have crossed, and yet, because of the lightning stretching curious fingers from the darkening clouds, the Lullaby had been forced to walk rather than fly.

When last Remi had laid eyes on Maea he'd been naked and had believed her to be a ghost at best, or a ward to be returned to Mort at worst. The time before that it had been on the Arclight before she'd slipped beneath the waves in a silent twist of fate. Now here she was, transformed thrice over, skirting death at every opportunity. One might have thought her time finally up, but hers was not the name on the paper the Lullaby carried in his pocket, and so from him at least, she was safe.

Not one to shy from the scent of death, Remi nearly thought it was Isla crouched low in the yellow grasses but for the bone-white of the horns that protruded from Maea's skull. It was only the strange porcelain complexion that gave the Lullaby any real clue as to whom he'd just interrupted, and though it seemed utterly impossible that she should be here now, it was all too easy to superimpose the image of a young girl showing him flowers in her garden onto the predator sinking her teeth into her fresh kill.

"Maea?" He ventured softly.

Who are you? They ask. Death?
Sometimes... I say. But not today

Sky above, Earth below, Fire within

Blood stained her lips and dribbled down the chin when her name was thrown to the wind, soft as a question. She would never have expected to see Remi, not in a million years. Not here, not now - her heart raced as Maea stood up, guiltily wiping at the gore around her mouth. Not poised enough to feign a confidence she didn't possess.

"Remi. Hello."

The sight of him brought back memories she would be happier not to recall. Whale hunts aside, the last time they met she had felt immense threat from his presence. It was hard to shake off, hard to remember that they weren't on opposite ends of a war anymore. And there was the matter of him being Ludo's demigod, too. Once, she had been jealous about it; now she wasn't sure what to feel. Between the guilt and the shame and the sense of coming full circle yet again, she couldn't help but think how different they both were from the people who had met in a garden not so far away from here.

"Are you well?"

maea

REMI

That it was Maea had the Lullaby inhaling softly with surprise. "I wasn't sure that you'd ... " Pausing, the boyish smile that had tentatively been sweeping across his lips halted as he swallowed. Gods the War had been a terrible thing, but not only that, it had been a confusing thing as well. "..made it." He concluded lamely, wincing a touch at how hollow his words sounded.

"Well enough with another disaster on our shores." Remi replies with a small shrug, taking a step closer before pushing his hands into his pockets as if to silently affirm he meant the ancient no harm. "Sorry, I did not mean to interrupt." Nosing toward the bloodied rabbit and offering Maea a half smile, as a predator and friend to a few ancients, he was under no illusions about how quickly or strongly bloodlust could come on.

Who are you? They ask. Death?
Sometimes... I say. But not today

Sky above, Earth below, Fire within

Was that a smile? Gods, it was always a surprise to be met with even a hint of positivity. She still had Sunjata's 'welcome' in fresh memory the first time she returned, and it was difficult to shake off.
"I got lucky," Maea replied quietly, relaxing slightly when no immediate reproach was hurled her way. "Spent the past few years decorating the Brambles... perhaps to the better. It is easier to regain footing when there are others around to ask for help."

Even with disasters brewing like another storm on the horizon, life had a way of moving along. Allowing herself to look properly at the Lullaby, Maea wished she knew him well enough to notice any changes. But Remi seemed much the same as always to her; a bit larger than life, with his legend weaving about him like a tattered banner, yet so down to earth that it seemed unreal that he was one of the strongest people in the known world. Or were - recent competition might overturn the ranking faster than anyone was prepared for.

"I heard that you had a rough time... It's good to see you up and about. What brings you to the Grounds?"

Glancing at her meal, Maea shrugged and offered half of it - the unchewed half - to Remi. Not really expecting him to want it - most probably wouldn't - but it couldn't hurt, right? For her own part she sank down to sit cross-legged on the ground and tore off a chunk of red meat off a haunch, chewing while gazing steadily at her company.

maea

REMI

"Mmmm." He hummed respectfully, knowing that luck was probably putting far too blunt an edge to it but knowing that there was nothing else really to say. They'd all been lucky in some ways and ruined beyond repair in others. "I'm glad you made it."

Laughing at that, Remi rubs at his forehead and nods. "Rough is one way of putting it." Whether she was speaking in general about how his life had turned out or of more recent events on a certain island, it hardly mattered. "When I tell you that I have never felt so absolutely ineffective in the face of danger..." Looking up into the sky, he gives his head a little shake. Exhaling softly, he returned his gaze and offered the ancient an apologetic smile.

"I am here on...Ludo business." Remi answered, thumbing at the piece of paper in his pocket. "All yours. I have already eaten, and my daughter has recently told me that I need to be in better shape, so, no snacking."

Who are you? They ask. Death?
Sometimes... I say. But not today

Sky above, Earth below, Fire within

Believe it or not, she could related to the feeling of being powerless. Humming with sympathy, Maea shrugged at the decline of the offered hare and tried her best to swallow any pang of regret along with the morsel of food when he mentioned Ludo.

"I wish I could be of more use," she said seriously. "But if you are powerless then I'm nothing more than a gnat in the face of this Outlander. I was thinking of doing some research on the void creatures, see if I can figure anything out - but probably don't get your hopes up." She was not Jigano; never knew what questions to ask, or how to interpret the answers she found in any collected data. It wouldn't keep her from trying, but she knew better than to promise results.

Licking off a streak of red from the base of her thumb, Maea hesitated before prying. "Is it okay if I ask... what kind of business?" Sadness lingered in her smile, and longing. "I probably don't have the right to anymore, but... I miss Ludo."

maea

REMI

"Well, if pure strength is not enough to beat these things, there is every reason to think someone like you might be the answer." Remi had never been an overly clever man, nor was he even the sort to be aware of his own blindspots. He had a few tricks in his bag now, one of which being obnoxious strength and stamina, but if those weren't enough, then perhaps it wasn't men like Remi who were meant to save Caido this time around. Perhaps it was those like Maea who would prove the world's saviour.

Though Remi keeps his smile where it is, the corners of his mouth grow strained with the effort. Pulling out the piece of paper from his pocket, he holds it out. It had a single name on it, perhaps one Maea might recognize, perhaps not. "The only thing I do for it is kill." The Lullaby says in a low and slow voice. "What abilities I have that are not meant to end a life, are to make that ending as sweet as possible.

Would you like to see?"

Who are you? They ask. Death?
Sometimes... I say. But not today

Sky above, Earth below, Fire within

The sentiment of being more useful than the fighters gave her pause, stilling her in the midst of tearing off a chunk of meat from the rabbit's haunch. Finishing the motion with a jerk of the head, she chewed slowly and considered, fighting against the urge ro dismiss herself as having any use at all. It went beyond individuals, really, into a matter of strategy versus tactic. There were many ways of waging war; gathering information might just prove as important this time as in the last one. The thought sent a shudder down her spine; was that really where they were headed? Already?
"I'll see what I can dig up," she replied, quieter this time when she felt the weight of what any find might do to those who would be in the front line. No longer a question of mere curiosity, she would give the matter more thought; "What would be useful to know? I've thought of testing infection rates, reactions to fire and other forms of magic... and ways to heal void damage, though I've heard that only the gods are able to so far..." Setting her meal aside, hunger gone in favor of focus, she could have easily gotten lost in planning experiments forthe rest of the day.

But she had asked other questions too, and the little paper note with the singular name on it chased all other thought from her mind. Searching Remi's face for any sign of this being a joke... but no. No joke. And the offer...

Drawing a breath that was surprisingly steady, Maea nodded. "... sure." Heart hammering in her chest, unsure whether she was afraid or excited - of which emotion would render her more sane - she slowly got to her feet. The strain of his smile did not go unnoticed though, and perverse curiosity took an immediate backseat in favor of Remi's well being.
"If it is difficult for you, I don't need to," she said, gently offering a way out if he changed his mind.

maea

REMI

"My daughter was infected by a bite from a void fyrrhund, and Rae did heal her when other means did not." The Lullaby agrees. "Perhaps Rea's lilies might..?" Understanding how impossibly rare they were, acquiring some much less trying to test the effects...would someone need to be infected, and then...Sighing, the confusion on his face has the Lullaby chuckling despite himself. "I will leave it to minds like yours to piece that together."

As Maea stood, Remi couldn't help but notice how slight she looked at his side, but knew better than to mistake her physical appearance for any indication of whether she could handle what it was she might see. "It is always difficult for me." Remi admits softly; killing was not something men like Remi Taliesin got used to, no matter how often it was done, how good they were at it, or whether it was divinely ordained. Perhaps that's why Ludo had picked him for this task in the first place. "Come on, it is not too far. But remember, you cannot interfere." Believing, rightly or wrongly that Maea wouldn't, Remi led them on.

The house the pair arrived at was unremarkable in that it was precisely like every other little house on the street. A lantern burned merrily outside of the door, and through the large front window, a family could be seen within. The father, presumably, was bundling up two young children to take them for a stroll while a fresh-faced woman kissed them and waved them off in order to do the dishes. Waiting until they had left the woman alone, Remi nodded that Maea should look in from the window as he went to knock on the door.

What followed was a flurry of magic and experience on Remi's part, and no sooner had he extended his hand for the young woman to shake in greeting, than the interior of the home dissolved and became something new entirely. The woman turned, running into the arms of her father who she'd not seen since his death twenty summers previously, believing herself to be in her childhood home. Laughing, with his strong arms wrapped around her and his words of love filling her ears and her soul, only Maea would see the flash of the Lullaby's scorpion tail as it neatly stung the woman painlessly in the neck. Still, with the illusion of her father smoothing down her hair as she whispered something about feeling sleepy, did the illusion fade away.

There she would stay for her family to find, and gods the way the knowledge of that weakened his knees as he made his way from the house. With tears shiny in his sea-glass stare, the Lullaby opened his mouth to say something—perhaps about how she'd felt no pain, perhaps about the instructions Ludo gave to him, perhaps about how he tried always to fill their last moments with love and laughter—but was unable to speak, and so just dropped his eyes and slowly shook his head.

Who are you? They ask. Death?
Sometimes... I say. But not today

Sky above, Earth below, Fire within

Accepting the responsibility with a wry smile, Maea let the subject matter drop. She wasn't convinced that her mind was any better suited to the task than any other - but would not hurt her to at least try. She wanted to be useful anyway; this seemed a better cause than most to apply herself to.

Her promise not to get in the way was easy to make and the hardest thing she'd ever done to keep. Being a bystander to death and tragedy tore at her, so much that she wondered if it would be easier to be in Remi's place. At least accepting the weight of his task had to be better than standing empty handed, with only confused emotion for company as the scene unfolded. The tears glistening on his cheeks afterward suggested otherwise however, and the white haired woman found herself helpless yet again, when the Lullaby could offer nothing but grieved silence in the wake of the grim deed.

If she was bolder, Maea would have reached up to stroke his hair, in the soothing, comforting way she imagined a friend or sister might. But she didn't dare; felt the lack of familiarity like a wall that prevented intimacy no matter how much she wished it to be different. All she had to offer was acceptance; of him, and the Herald they had in common, and of the hopeless tangle of morals and emotions death embodied.

"You know... I've been on all sides of that," she sighed eventually. "I've lost my family. I've seen their ghosts. I've died, and gone where she went - and I've been the one to deal the finishing blow." Memories floated to the surface with each account - the empty house full of blood after a LongNight away from home, dancing with Ludo in her brother's guise one Flowerbirth eve, fading from the world like a shimmer of light over the Archlight ocean, and finally feeling the heart of a Fae peter out beneath her hands, as blood cooled on the skin - and she wondered why she wasn't crying, too.

"Dying is easy. Grieving a natural end is easy too. It's the unfinished life that's hard to bear; the words left unsaid, and deeds left undone. Or so I've found." In truth, it was the half-finished tasks that led to her standing here right now. "Would you... fault someone for returning, for the chance to see those left behind?"

Maea couldn't quite bring herself to look at Remi, afraid of what the answer might be. After going through so much pain to delivery a mercy like this, only to have the soul come traipsing back... And that was without betraying the Old Gods, without turning the back on family and friends and all you had ever believed in.

She wasn't asking for forgiveness, not really. That would be beyond foolish, because Maea couldn't forgive herself. Yet she had to ask. Needed to know the gravity of her sins like someone prodding a bruise to ascertain just how deep the damage went.

maea

REMI

Raising his eyes as she began to speak, he thought he remembered a conversation once about her grandmother, or her mother even, spoken in loving tones. Perhaps he was wrong though; gods it was all so long ago now. "I have heard that." He agrees softly. He'd been there when Ronin had died, when he'd killed Isla. Both had reported what a non-event it had been, all things considered.

Her question has him barking out a laugh that has lines of pain banishing the boyish look of grief and replacing it with one of mere pain. "No, never. I show up to the Festival of Lights with my lanterns each year—" His growing collection of lanterns. "—hoping for just that. My son...he died during the war and I begged until Mort let us all see him one more time. Closure for our family as much as for him."  Clearing his throat, the Lullaby shakes his head softly. "As a predator I know what fear does to the body at the end." How it sours and toughens the meat. "I can only imagine what it does to the mind and soul, which is why I..." Looking back toward the window, the Lullaby swallows and stiffens against the bite of tears that claw at the back of his eyes.

"..but no. I could never find fault in someone giving up a happy lie for the pain of seeing those they loved one more time."

Who are you? They ask. Death?
Sometimes... I say. But not today

Sky above, Earth below, Fire within

Listening mutely, Maea's expression was as still and quiet as the rest of her. Revealing nothing of what she was thinking, which could be loud enough to those who usually read her like an open book. And she reached out, burn-scarred hand grazing his sleeve in gratitude, in sympathy - barrier or no barrier, this time she couldn't resist.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Remi," she murmured softly. "My brother - Amun - he... I don't know if he made it. I understand the need for closure. Even when the answers you get arent the ones you wanted, it's better than not knowing." Like finding your lover happily married and resenting you for dying, as if had been a planned act. That one still stung. And the weight of waiting, the burn of promises made that kept her chained to the last place she'd seen Amun - just knowing for certain what his fate was would be a relief.

Standing in quiet contemplation for a moment, she thought of Ronin, and the duality of the famous pair. Life and death, opposites united, the wonderful balance - and it struck her how complicated it must be for two demigods to stay together when the very nature of their Heralds should be tearing them apart.

"It's not really my place to ask, so you don't have to answer... but do you ever have problems with the other gods, for doing Ludo's work? Safrin, for example... I hear she can be difficult." An understatement; but then, Maea didn't know any details, only that Sunjata and Harper both had turned away from the Lady of the stars.

maea

REMI

That it was his sleeve her fingers brushed instead of skin was likely a blessing for them both; Remi's emotion magic was rarely dampened down, such that Maea would feel his emotions as clearly as if they were her own, and in turn, he'd feel hers as well.

"Amun?" Looking up, an image flashed in the back of the Lullaby's mind of a dark-eyed man who'd once taken over the first guild that Remi had ever started. "The...potter?" Frowning, not quite sure if that was right or not, Remi nods his head gently. "I could ask Ludo for you, if you like. Or, I recall that you were close before. I am sure it would answer you."

Raising his eyebrows softly in the brief pause between her words to indicate she could ask him whatever she liked, it was with a hollow bark of laughter that he began his answer. "Safrin dislikes me for more than just my work with Ludo." The dark laughter makes Remi look older than he should, and it's with a slight sneer that he raises his eyes up toward the night sky and sighs. "She would have Ronin all to herself if she could, and I am sure had she the power to kill me, I would already be gone.

Working with Ludo certainly complicates things, if only because there seems to be...this giant competition between the heralds that only Safrin cares about."

Who are you? They ask. Death?
Sometimes... I say. But not today