| Logs |
2004 September 26
| Idlewild |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
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| Realms: Idlewild Logs |
September 26
In the darkness after the pale glow from the rift disappears, Aiden's good nightsight takes a moment to readjust. Melierel is still clear enough, though, for Aiden to tell that he has sunk to his knees, raising his hands to his face. All traces of the rift are gone, and only the usual sounds of the night come drifting quietly on the slight, cool breeze.
Only Seodil and Steven are awake with Aiden. Both look at him silently, as if asking a question.
Aiden glances at Seodil, then leans over to give the silver elf a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back soon. I won't get out of shouting distance." Aiden stands and walks over towards Melierel, not bothering to quiet his steps, as he doesn't want to startle Mel.
As Melierel looks up at Aiden, hands falling slowly from his face, his eyes are dry. He does, however, look years older... weary rather than stern. He waits silently for Aiden to approach, looking away from Aiden's face after the first glance, to stare instead into the middle distance at some spot in the air where the rift is no longer.
Aiden walks closer and says quietly, "I thought you could maybe use this.." He kneels in front of Melierel and hugs him, hopefully before the other elf has a chance to protest.
Whatever Melierel was expecting, it clearly wasn't that. He is perfectly still for a moment, visibly startled, and then gives a surprisingly good hug right back. Aiden can feel the muscles-- and as Lauren's noticed, there are quite a few of them-- in the older elf's back relax some as he reciprocates. Up close, his dark hair smells faintly of cloves.
Aiden lets Melierel set the duration of the hug, pulling back only when the older elf does. He doesn't ask questions. It's not really his business. It involves his home, yes, but not his life. He just wanted to give Melierel something that he seemed to be strongly in need of.
The thoughtful look on Melierel's face is almost a question out loud on its own when he does pull back-- after a longer hug than only politeness would have dictated. The question doesn't stay unspoken, though. Head tilted, Melierel says "Why?" in quiet, neutral tones. And settles into a cross-legged seat, shifting smoothly out of his kneel.
Aiden, not being nearly so pointed about his grace, simply tilts backwards, landing with a soft "fwump" on his rear on the ground. He shrugs, "That's just what I was raised to do. I don't know why."
Melierel has a soft laugh, uncertain as if rarely used. He looks barely older than Kip when he lets it out. His face stays relaxed when it's over. Still quiet, he says "Where were you raised, Aiden? It sounds restful."
Aiden chews on his bottom lip. "Well. It was a little fishing town on the coast. Harbour Grace it was called.. It.. uhm. Well. It was in a place called Newfoundland. In the Grey World, actually." Aiden looks smaller somehow, having made this admission. Probably the hunched shoulders.
Melierel just nods in the dark. Aiden's eyes have readjusted now to see that Melierel is neither visibly surprised nor upset. He says softly, "I don't know where she is. I could hope it were there, but I don't think so. A shame."
Aiden nods, "Buses. I couldn't see much, not that I'd know where she was, but that doesn't narrow it down much, unfortunately."
Melierel nods back. "She moves around a lot." The corners of his eyes tighten, crinkling with hurt. "Looks for a way back."
Aiden says, "There has to be a way back. I ended up here. That seems to suggest that it goes both ways."
"Well that I travel with you, then," Melierel says unsmiling. "Perhaps it was meant to be. You are, perhaps, my chance to atone and correct." His eyes on Aiden narrow. It could definitely be described as "hungrily."
Aiden's heartrate goes right up, immediately. His nerves have been terrible and he has anxiety problems. That hungry look, without an explaination, is not helping. "Erm. Atone how?"
Either Melierel doesn't notice-- or he does, and wants to avoid scaring his atonement clean off. He answers immediately, "Get her back. It's my fault she's there. It should have been me."
Aiden nods. He's not going to press for a couple of reasons. Firstly, he's worried about Melierel's reaction and secondly because it's really not his business. "Well. I'll do what I can to help.. I'm not going back though, Melierel."
Now Melierel looks surprised. "You're not?" It sounds plaintive. "But..." He swallows, and his voice turns pleading. "Can you tell me how you came here, then? I... I need to know. I don't know where else to look for a way... nothing thrown returns to me. The answer is not here, but if it would come to anyone I think it will be drawn to you. ...One of you." His eyes narrow just a little. "How many of you came from there?"
Aiden's fear starts to show strongly on his face this time. "I'm not going back, there's nothing for me to go back to. I don't know how I got here. Everything I know about myself and my connection to the Grey World is wrong and I can't leave them.. I won't leave them.." By the end he's starting to babble a bit. He sounds like he's having a mild panic attack, actually.
Melierel reaches out to Aiden this time, and has him in a careful hug before Aiden can move away. It's loose, ready to end as soon as Aiden ends it. The Fall elf's voice is ashamed. "Hush, Aiden, I won't send you there. I don't want to send you there. I can't send you there, shh. I only want a way back here, and I should not have pressed you, I'm sorry. I have no intent to wrong you. You held my life in your hands and spared it, I will not bring you harm."
Aiden's shaking like a leaf by the time Melierel gets him into a hug. "I wish I knew how I got here. I wish I could get her back for you. This place is so much better than there." He doesn't stay in the hug long, squirming out to put some space between them. "Look.. I'm sorry. I just.. There's just been so much.. Sorry."
Melierel lets Aiden go easily and stays put. For someone with a powerful- if elven- build, he's doing an excellent job of looking nonthreatening. "There's been so much what?" His voice is soft, as soothing as when he held and reassured a crying Kip last night.
Aiden's gotten to the point where he doesn't trust anyone outside of his "safe" group, but somehow.. somehow, Melierel feels safe.. It sort of spills out unintentionally. "Summer.. they were trying to frame us for something.. and they hurt me to find out what I knew, then made me watch them torture Seodil..." The terms he's chosen are deliberate.
Meleriel's eyes harden, but it's obviously not at Aiden. He nods, slowly. "It's always worse when it's someone else, isn't it? Someone you love." Melierel's voice is all sympathy and understanding. "I know, Aiden. It was never so bad when Anisaire's kin had me, long ago, as when they had Kip. He won't scar; I did. And it's still far worse that it happened to him. I do know how you feel."
Aiden nods. "'m really sorry that it happened to you, Melierel. I'd have given anything to have had them leave him alone. They hardly did anything to me. A few scrapes.. Nothing really."
Melierel shrugs and says, "Torture, by definition, entertains only one side of its participants." It's quite matter-of-fact; he even smiles at Aiden reassuringly. "Mine's long gone, yours is quite recent, no?" He touches Aiden's knee, hand warm and then gone again. "You will mend again. And he seems strong. Still, please, Aiden... if you would talk, you can wake me from sleep if you wish. I will listen, and I may have advice." Another quick smile, just enough to warm Melierel's face and make his offer sincere. "You will be yourself again."
Aiden nods, "Just about a week or so maybe? I lose track." He does manage a smile, at the offer, "Thanks. I might take you up on that, but the wounds are recovered and I don't really feel any different. Maybe just a bit more cautious. That's to my benefit, though. I'm too impulsive. That's why it happened in the first place. I appreciate the offer, anyway.. thanks."
Melierel doesn't push it, whether or not he actually believes Aiden's assurances of recovery. He nods. And rises, dusting off his knees. "The offer stands... and I thank you for your own comfort. I will not lie; it has been markedly less lonely since Kip and his companions returned to my woods. I could get used to it." The Fall elf reaches out to offer Aiden a hand up, too.
Aiden takes the hand up, though he doesn't use much of the leverage. "Thanks." He dusts himself off once he's up. "We have our moments of cohesiveness. You'll get used to us fast. We're siblings, though, and these days we have times when we argue like it.."
Deadpan, Melierel says "I advise taking advantage of the time when they are still shorter and lighter than you. Kipyranyllie improved noticeably after I dangled him from a balcony by his feet one particularly annoying day. Charming child most of the time, now."
Aiden cracks right up with laughter. "Well.. That's a.. very nice thought.. but they're all taller than me, except for Lauren. She's liable to bite."
Aiden mutters, "Older, too."
Melierel gives Aiden an evil grin. "The same Lauren that's giving our Anisaire such wonderful advice? Let me give you another piece of advice: never underestimate the importance of having allies." Even in the dark, there's a gleam in that grey eye.
Aiden laughs softly. "She's pretty new here and having a hard time adjusting. I try to cut her some slack, but less and less recently. I have a short fuse the last few days, unfortunately. She's a good person, though.. her heart's usually in the right place."
"She has been very quiet today after Kip spoke to her," Melierel notes. "Perhaps it's had an effect." He shrugs. "I don't doubt that she's of good heart, but have you ever kept dogs? Similar principles apply to us. We all need guidance from our pack in order to get along and find our place." He grins faintly. "And I tell you this, you who travel with a wolf... heh. Was he a wolf or an elf first, by the way? I confess curiousity."
Aiden says quietly. "Elf first, I'm pretty sure. I met him as an elf first. I can shift too. 's why I was naked when you caught us. I'd just shifted back."
Melierel looks interested. "It's extremely unpopular where I hail from, and you did well to hide it in my family's woods... but I have been reading what I can of magic since before Kip was born, and I think no less of any of you for it."
Aiden smiles. "Your brother was pretty.. adamantly against us when we first met him. He's relaxed. I think the two of you do your family credit.."
Melierel snorts. "I thank you, but two of us do not a peace make with the outside world. Do you know that I have never been where the Nameless is taking us?"
Aiden frowns, "What's the Nameless?" He looks at Melierel out of the corner of his eye, "Well. I've never been anywhere but the places I've been either, but it's been a - mostly - good adventure and I've got some wonderful things to show for it. Wandering can't be all that bad, right?"
Melierel says, "The blue-haired one is of the Nameless; it is their mark. I don't know what they call themselves." He starts walking back to camp. "Wandering... well. It brought Kip back. I shall see where it takes me." He smiles, a little determinedly.
Aiden says, "Hey.. At least you're not alone. We make pretty good friends."
Melierel's smile improves, and he nods as he touches Aiden's shoulder briefly. "You do, at that."
Aiden comes back into camp looking a little less drawn. He sits down next to Seodil, bumping his shoulder up against the silver elf's affectionately once he's seated.
Steven glances up from his meditations as Aiden and Mel return, giving them a quick glance to make sure they're both all right and not having been in a fight, then turns back to his thoughts.
Melierel smiles briefly at Steven as he passes by, walking back to his own blankets.
Seodil gives Melierel a covert glance, opening closed eyes as Aiden returns... then he leans on the Grey-Worlder and resumes quiet conversation until Aiden chooses to sleep.
The rest of the night passes quietly, as does the next... and the next. The party travels smoothly, the groups established on the first day remaining fairly distinct. Kip and Melierel spend a great deal of time together, although both are warm to the other men-- and ignore the women almost entirely, save for Kip making a point of keeping his bargain with Anisaire by spending time conversing with her once daily. They separate from the group of women when they do, Lauren being fairly avoidant of Kip ever since the morning when he dressed her down. Although Lauren stays quiet around Kip, she does manifest an apparent compulsion to cook. For everyone. Every group meal. She isn't actually bad at it.
Woodsmoke heralds the presence of the Foxcatcher camp before Zhi needs to say anything. It smells comforting even to the Grey-Worlders-- and there's definitely something cooking on at least one of those fires.
Aiden pauses at the first smell of woodsmoke. He closes his eyes and breathes in deeply. He glances back at Zhi, "Do we just.. walk in?"
Zhi nods. "No shooting this time. I promise. I called ahead." His face is very sober, even apologetic.
Aiden shrugs a little. "I wasn't worried about that. There's just nowhere to.. knock."
Steven smiles a little at Zhi's comment, and nods a little, waking with the group to the camp. "I daresay they've noticed us long before we noticed them."
Zhi grins. "No doors down here. By the time you reached one, everyone would know you were there anyway. They'll be under a sentry tree, but I'm afraid it's tents and campfire cooking and precious little else here. This isn't a permanent camp, so close to the border."
Kip pokes Steven in the ribs, gently, and nods. "Look up. They're following us." He doesn't sound alarmed.
Aiden nods at Zhi. "Oh, that's fine by me. I'm just as happy sleeping on the ground."
Zhi nods, and quiets. He seems just a trifle uncomfortable around Aiden.
Steven blinks to Kip, and does indeed look up.
Aiden frowns a bit at that realisation.
Aiden says, "Hey, Zhi?"
Overhead, at least forty feet up, two people are going through the branches in leaps and bounds, clearly descended from either frogs or squirrels. They're awfully hard to make out when they still to spring; they're patterned in bands and slashes of brown that blends in with the trunks. Although Steven mananged to spot them immediately, he's not quite sure whether the camoflouge is paint, natural, or clothing-- they're just too high up. No one appears to have told them that heights are dangerous, however, from their fine disregard of gravity.
Zhi turns to not-quite-meet Aiden's eyes with a smile. "Yes, Aiden?" The flinch is almost imperceptible.
Aiden sighs. That flinch was probably the worst part of all. "I don't hate you.. I don't have hard feelings about what happened. I'm sorry. I've had a short fuse and I shouldn't be taking things out on anyone around me and I have been. No one feels worse about it than me.."
Steven blinks, watching the ... fliers? swingers? leapers? for a few moments more, before moving to catch up woith the others.
Zhi's eyes widen, and he looks guilty. Then apologetic. It segues to embarassment, and he smiles at Aiden anyway. "No offense taken, Aiden, I assure you." He glances around at the rest of the party, and shrugs very slightly. "I wouldn't blame you if you did have ill feelings. I..." he sighs. "Honestly, I left you to your own devices because you had strong support already, and others didn't. In effect, I forgot to factor you in at a point when I really should have. I'm sorry, and I appreciate your forgiveness more than you probably think." He shoots Aiden a sober look.
As Steven catches back up, Kip grins at him like a little kid in a candy shop. He confesses, "I like the Foxcatchers. They're a little crazy, but they're welcoming as anything. Zhi said you wanted to look for something while we're here finding Lotte?"
Aiden shrugs a bit. "Carrying around grudges is more weight than I need and mistakes aren't the end of the world. It's not like it's something we don't all do."
Steven smiles to Kip, and nods. "Yes, I did. Something... a gift, actually."
Zhi pauses to bow shallowly to Aiden from the waist, a more adult gesture than the mohawked elf usually makes. He just nods, expression respectful. "Despite everything, you are older than Kip." He smiles.
Oblivious to Aiden and Zhi's quiet conversation, Kip bounces a little as he walks beside Steven. "Right! For the slinky one you're marrying." He grins. "Leather dress?"
Aiden half-smiles. "Nah. He doesn't carry a grudge either. He hasn't called us names in a while and he hasn't killed Lauren yet. He's got great restraint."
Zhi calls out over his shoulder, "Thigh boots. With spurs." Looking back to Aiden, Zhi chuckles. "Oh, I meant no insult to Kip. He does well. But he's older than you, Aiden... except he isn't. That is what's worth remarking on. You do a lot with your years."
Aiden makes an dismissive gesture with his hand. "Thanks."
Steven's foot is on it's way down when Kip says that. In the half-second it takes, he blinks, looks at Kip,a nd almost stumbles. Zhi's comment finishes him off, though to his credit he manages to remain upright instead of prone. He coughs. "Ah... nothing that... er, exotic, really." His glance takes in both Kip and Zhi, before he furrows his brow in thought. "Something... I'm not sure how to put it. SOmethign that speaks volumes of how I feel, and yet can speak it in a breath." He shakes his head. "Sorry, my teacher loved koans, riddles like that." He looks at the two again. "... I'll ask later what made you two suggest that, though!" he adds, chuckliong softly.
Zhi smiles at Aiden, and says "Trust a friend to notice." The camp is plainly visible now, and sizable-- at least sixty tents, and at a respectful distance in the center, a large fire. Smaller fires are scattered here and there, and there's something on the breeze that isn't meat cooking. Fall elves might actually have discovered vegetables, unlike Sol's Winter propensity to retrieve only meat for the communal pot.
Kip says immediately, "Vanity. She likes pretty things, and Summer likes to play at the exotic-- they wouldn't leave me alone. Always touching." He wrinkles his nose, but the expression clears as he adds, "Not Sarete in particular. No offense was meant to your lady."
Aiden smiles and bobs his head. "I'm really not. I'm just good at faking it." He winks and then turns to look the camp over with eyes widened like a child's.
A female elf with bright blue hair and vibrant green eyes is making her way out from between the tents, heading straight toward the party. She moves daintily, til she gets closer, grins and dashes to catch Zhi in a bearhug. Aiden hears Zhi's back crack; the woman's wiry with muscle. Zhi introduces her as Gloris, and she greets everyone with a combination of cheer and a feeling that she's going to remember every single name the first time.
Aiden greets Gloris politely. He's reserved about it though, a habit he's fallen into recently. He simply introduces himself and half bows.
Steven nods, still in good humor. "None taken at all. And I think I can understand a little bit." His nose twitches, and he turns to look around the camp. Oooh, whatever it is, it smells delicious, almost like the meals teacher used to cook! Pity there's no meat.... He blinks a bit, wondering where that twinge of carnivorousness came from, before he shakes his head, and focusses on the camp again, telling the inner cat that even he can't live by meat alone. He greets Gloris warmly and politely, already starting to feel a little more at ease.
Gloris doesn't push Aiden's boundaries at all, and gives Steven the warmer greeting that he offers her first before suggesting they all come in and have a sitdown by the fire. "Rice is almost ready, and they'll have meat tonight. Everyone knows you're here, so don't worry about fitting in. I can pass names on if you don't mind, or you can introduce yourselves. Entirely up to you." She looks at Steven. "You, Steven, are in luck-- we have a few crafters you might want to see. I hear you're looking." And with that, the group finds themselves ushered slowly and companionably into the heart of the Foxcatcher camp. Nearly everyone but Gloris is some shade of redhead, from blood to palest strawberry blonde.
Steven blinks, taken aback for a moment, but then beams. "Thank you, I am, and I look forward to speaking with them." Wow, guess word gets around quick!
Aiden finds himself ushered in towards the fire. He doesn't argue, just goes to sit quietly at the fire and drink in his surroundings. It's reminiscent of the old Aiden.. the one that was so shy.
Gloris grins at Steven. "Zhi mentioned it."
Steven says, "Oh! I see, thank you." He smiles to Zhi. "Both of you."
Zhi winks at Steven and runs a hand along his bright blue crest. "It's what we're good for." Wooden bowls are passed around, and the entire party finds themselves seated wherever they settle, being inarguably plied with a delicious-smelling wild rice concoction. Sol sits in front of Aiden, leaning back against his legs; Seodil and Steven are on either side of Aiden directly, hemming him in with familiarity.
Zhi claims Steven's other side, though his head is mostly turned to chatter in oddly broken sentences with Gloris. Most sentences don't actually get finished before they're moving on to the next subject, smiling gaily as they catch up.
Aiden lets one of his hands drop into Sol's hair, playing with the short strands. He's not particularly nervous, just a little shy.
Steven wonders, not for the first time, if Zhi and Gloris are related, since no other elf in this camp has blue hair. He isn't sure how to broach the subject, however.
Steven waits for a time when Zhi and Gloris aren't finishing each others' sentences, or in the middle of a conversation, to ask, hopefully politely, of Zhi and Gloris, "This might be a silly question, but are you two related?"
Sol leans comfortably back; Seodil takes Aiden's free hand in his for a moment and smiles as he releases it with a pat and a curiously pleased expression.
A tiny glint of silver shines at Aiden's wrist.
Aiden glances down at his wrist for a moment, then over to Seodil and smiles, looking a little misty.
Zhi and Gloris turn immediately to grin at Steven, apparently not minding the interruption in the slightest. "No," says Zhi. "Not by blood," Gloris explains. "By profession." She touches her hair. "I was born with silver hair." Zhi blinks, starts to say something, and looks chagrined. "I've... forgotten, honestly."
Aiden leans in close to Seodil, chin tilted up as if he's whispering in Seodil's ear.
Steven uhohs to himself. Oh, heck, change the subject, bad something here! "Oh! I see," he says, smiling, trying to plow forward. "So, ah, I guess my next silly question would be what your profession is. Are. Professions are."
Gloris snorts and says, "I hear the mind goes when you get to be his age." She grins at Steven and says, "We're the heralds and arbiters of Fall... the ribbon that binds together, and the net that catches fallers. The blue is a change we voluntarily undertake when we take on the duty; there's no official name to the job because Fall doesn't really use titles. We have no royalty, you see. It wouldn't do. You are what you need to be, and... well, it's not that there aren't any titles at all, but you get the drift?"
Steven nods slowly, "Yes, I think I do." You are who you are. Sounds like somethign teacher said a lot.
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