[CU] Melidora's Chambers

[karma_k]

Melidora Is Freed From His Curse

Majestrix Nox perched in the branches of a tree at the edges of the forest outside of Barton Town. She hated coming to Gaia, where she was only 4 inches tall, but it was necessary to hunt down the blood relatives of her still-cursed people.

The Cait Eibhilin, Maleficent, had successfully ferreted through some more of Nox's Kithain's paperwork researching bloodlines. She'd been very interested in some woman named Karma, who ran some sort of adoption service that had resulted in the Cait getting her tail chewed on by a 'goat'. Sajhiri hadn't been able to find any Sun Court ties to the woman, which meant there was a good chance she had Moon Court blood if the seraph had sensed something.

Nox pointed out that it was in fact a sheep, not a goat, but the feline didn't seem to care about distinctions when her tail was being chewed like a cud. Nox had sent Maleficent off to deliver a missive to the address of the Fourth Wall center, asking Karma to come to this location to claim an inheritance. It wasn't a lie so to speak, it was her heritage afterall.

The fairy watched and waited, a tiny asp curled about her shoulders. "Soon, Diablo..." she murmured to it. "She'll be here soon."

As though on cue, there was the sound of foliage rustling and crushing underfoot as someone, obviously not accustomed to travelling outside of the comfort of a beaten path, made their way closer.

Karma's first thought upon recieving the letter had been that it was some sort of scam. Failing that, simply junk mail. However, the fact that someone had taken the time to hand-write it had piqued her curiousity and, after a couple of hours of debate, had made her decision to at least go and have a look. If it turned out to be some sort of elaborate attempt at mugging, after all, she'd left her on-person valuables and money back at the office just in case.

An especially-sharp branch jabbed through her jacketsleeve as she passed by, making the foxcoon draw in a hiss of pain. She paused twenty or so paces from the tree that Nox had perched in to cast a slightly-sour look about herself and then fumble the paper out of her pocket to read it over once more.

This....seemed to be where it had said to meet them. A good distance out of the public eye and just far enough from society that nobody would hear her cry for help. How convenient...maybe she DID have 'sucker' printed on her forehead, she thought dismally as she tucked the paper back into her pocket and crossed her arms over her chest to wait.

Nox studied the foxcoon curiously for a moment. The woman was not human, or at least not fully. Much like Astra and Feles' kithain. This seemed to be a trend with many of the Moon Court. Her lilting, cool-toned voice drifted on the air.

"I am glad you came, Karma of Gaia. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Majestrix Nox, Grand High Ruler of the Luna Regia of Tir Nan Og." She launched herself from the branch, wings fluttering to let her hover at eye height near the woman. "I have contacted you to awaken you to the blood heritage you carry in your veins."

For a moment, Karma had no clue where the diminuative voice had been coming from and had perked her ears, swivelling them on the air alertly. Just as she thought she'd pinpointed the location, Nox was flying toward her. One's first impulse when they're in the woods and see something rather large on insectile wings flying toward them at a high speed would be to swat at it maniacally...

Karma, however, managed to restrain herself and settled for simply putting up her hands protectively in front of her face.

When the inevitable insect attack didn't arrive, and the voice continued to speak, closer now, she slowly lowered them again, blinking owlishly at the smallish fey woman hovering before her.

"Its...its a pleasure to meet you." she managed when silence fell between them as it seemed Nox obviously expected her to reply to the statement. "I...uhm..." she cleared her throat, trying to collect her scattered wits and graduate past the shock of the fact that what appeared to be a fairy was speaking to her.

"I'm sorry, 'blood heritage'?" she inquired, cocking her head at an angle that advertised her confusion.

Nox inwardly savored the confusion for a moment, letting it override the irritation she always felt at having to explain to the uninitiated about the other realm. "Perhaps you have heard of Tir Nan Og in tales and stories. It is a fey realm, connected to this one by thin threaded portals known in mundane terms as 'fairy rings'. You are a few feet from one right now..."

The fey gestured towards a strange ring of mushrooms, an unbroken ring, which was blooming and healthy even now, in the midst of winter. There was a slight tugging sensation for Karma, as if it was drawing her to it.

"Those of fey blood, no matter how little they may possess, can cross through a fairy ring into Tir Nan Og, and from Tir Nan Og to Gaia. I believe you to be the descendant of one of the lines of my people. And because of that, you are much needed. A thousand years ago we were cursed, and all the children of my world were trapped in prisons of glass, captive in two dimensions as part of windows in our castle. It was only less than 2 years ago that one of my own family descendents found her way there, and inadvertantly broke the curse, freeing me. Others were freed following, as she sought out their kithain, or blood kin, here on Gaia.

In order to break the curse, someone of the same bloodline must offer up a small bit of their life essence, their soul if you will. That sacrifice, that familial bond, is enough to undo the evil that was wrought. I ask that you come with me to my world, to see if you are indeed, one of these blooded Kithain, and if you will be drawn to your ancestor. If so, you may choose to free them or not, as you wish."

A medly of expressions crossed Karma's face during the course of the explanation. The first being surprise as she turned her head to regard the ring of mushrooms nearby, the next being slight skepticism at Nox's assumption that she was a descendant of one of her people, followed quickly by one of rapt interest and chased by a look of sympathy at the explanation of the curse.

When silence, again, fell, Karma spoke again. "I'd be happy to help if I can..." she said, following it with a quick nod as though she was trying to also convince herself of this. Or perhaps she was just badly distracted. Her eye kept straying to the ring of mushrooms nearby and her tail twitched behind her in agitation. She seemed to just barely be resisting the urge to charge headlong into it.

"How do we get there?" she inquired, trying not to sound overly eager, though her eyes never left the mushroom ring. "Do we just step through, or...?" her experience with portals was limited only to the ones which connected Gaia to Earth, and she used those as little as was possible.

Inwardly Nox crowed that she'd convinced the woman to come. She was never really sure if a person would think she was insane, or a hallucination, or just try to eat her. For the most part, Kithain seemed predisposed to helping their ancestors, and for that she was grateful. Except for the fact hers happened to be one of the bloody seraphim.

She dipped her head in the affirmative. "Correct, you need but step into the ring. If you are fey blooded, it will bring you to the edge of the woods near Castellum Umbra in Tir Nan Og, and once there, you will feel drawn towards the resting place of your cursed ancestor. If not, you'll simply be standing in the middle of that ring here in Gaia."

The fairy queen zipped around Karma once before darting towards the ring. "Cross if you can, and I shall await you in the throne room of the castle after you find your kin. I shall be best pleased if you bring them with you to see me."

With that, she dove into the ring, and vanished.

"Wait! I--" but it was too late. Nox was gone. For a moment, Karma stood where she was, hearing only the muted sounds of the slumbering forest nearby.

Had it all been a dream, she wondered? Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, she took a step toward the mushroom ring....

....and almost immediately, she was overcome by the sensation once more. Her heartbeat quickened slightly and every inch of her being seemed to be reaching toward the ring.

Go. GO NOW. some unseen voice within her head murmured, just as audibly as if someone behind her had whispered in her ear. And go she did as her steps carried her to the mushroom ring's edge. Once there, she hesitated only a moment before stepping gingerly into the unbroken circle of fungi.

The sensation was immediate and disorienting. She hadn't moved, and yet, she felt as though she'd crossed miles. In the time it took her to blink twice, things had changed. She was still standing at a forest's edge, to be sure, but it was not the same forest.

And this was not Gaia.

It occurred to Karma then that Nox had never told her how to go BACK and her chest began to tighten with panic. Stupid...!! Her hand met her brow loudly and her teeth gritted. One of these days, she would learn to "read the fine print", so to speak, before agreeing to these things.

The pull from the ring was gone, but seemed to have redirected itself and was now openly commanding her to turn around. Reluctantly, she did so, and found herself in dumb shock to see the stoic behemoth of a castle not far in the distance.

She hadn't been lied to...it was real...!!

It was also demanding as, quite on their own, her feet began to plant themselves one in front of the other toward it. In what seemed no time at all, she had reached and passed through an open portcullis, only finally stopping to take in her surroundings when she was, at last, inside.

Ordinarily she would have been horrifically squeamish about treading into someone else's dwelling without them being there to welcome her, but she couldn't seem to help herself in these circumstances. Just as Nox had said, there was something here that called to her. NEEDED her.

The magnificent black marble of the castle walls was studded with pale silver, making the ceilings almost resemble a night sky. Torches flickered in sconces on the walls, lighting the way. The dust and cobwebs that had once enveloped the structure had since been scoured away by the diligence of the seneschal, and everything gleamed darkly.

The castle was large, and it's number of current residents miniscule in the scheme of what it was designed to hold...so Karma was greeted with eerie silence.

In the shadows, Diablo, Nox's familiar, slithered, trailing the kithain to keep tabs on her for his Mistress. The asp was silent as death in it's movements.

"Hello?" It seemed such a horribly cliche thing to call into an empty corridor as they did it in almost every movie she'd ever seen, but the silence made her feel horribly isolated in such a large place and prickled at her in a way that was almost stronger than the ever-growing pull she felt.

Her voice did not echo so much as it seemed to fall dead a few inches from her lips. And, save for the dancing flicker and muted crackle of the torches, her meager greeting was met with no response.

The foxcoon began to move forward again, tentatively now and unaware that she was being watched. She had the crazy urge to try and remove one of the torches from the wall and carry it with her, but...there seemed no need for it. It was not due to lack of light that this castle was dark, after all.

An involuntary shudder passed through her as she rounded a corner, finding herself looking up into the black void of a narrow stairwell. Her stomach fluttered and flipped within her as the pull seemed stronger here. Much stronger, in fact.

She began up the stairs at a quiet tiptoe, giving way to a brisk trot about halfway up them, and nearly having broke into a full-tilt run by the time she reached the top, panting slightly. The nearer she drew, it seemed, the more clearly the severity of the situation was defined for her.

What had started out, in her mind, as some sort of extravagant favor for a bizzare little creature had quickly graduated itself into recognizing her duty and obligation to free one of her own distant family. One who could not free themselves and, due to her dawdling, suffered all the longer for it.

But where -were- they...??

The long corridor stretched out before Karma, each door closed against her view. But one was open, at the end of the hall, and through it dim light, colored light, gleamed, through a window.

A stained glass window, depicting a dark castle under a starry sky. A window emblazoned with the likeness of a Kingfisher. It was the window that seemed to call to her, as if a thread were wound round her sternum and she was being reeled in towards it.

Instinct led her directly to the open door from which the pastel purples and blues radiated on the walls from the darkly-colored window. It was the first thing to catch her attention upon arriving at the threshold of the door, being that it was the only source of color in the otherwise-drab room. However, it was quickly realized that not only was the window pleasing to look at, but also the reason she was here.

The roughly-hewn visage of the brown-and-cream bird seemed to study her through the twinkling blue glass of its trapezoidal eye as she drew near, standing there for a moment in awe. She was aware that her hands were lifting then, placing themselves on the cold smoothness of the glass and delicately tracing its contours and angles. The pull had ceased, and what she felt now was a deep-seated feeling of rightness.

It was here. HE was here.

As Karma touched the window, it seemed to glow from within a tiny bit. Around it were scattered musical instruments of every shape and size. This appeared to have been some kind of music room.

Suddenly, a voice spoke, directionless, genderless, etheral. It seemed to be speaking inside of Karma's mind, and it's question was direct, simple, and held a power all it's own.

"Do you, Karma, give freely of your spirit and essence, to free Melidora, son of Vates and Fidicina, of his dread curse?"

The voice made her start, jerking her fingers away from the window's surface as a gasp caught in her throat. The voice had been enormous, seeming to come from every corner of the room, and yet somehow she knew that even if others had been near, she would have been the only one to hear it.

And, suddenly, there was indecision. Melidora...the name was not familiar to her and did not inspire any feelings of long-lost kinship. Did she...? What if she was giving something vital? Or more than had been bargained for? Did she really want to...?

On their own, her hands planted themselves on the window again, more firmly this time as she looked on with a desperate sort of helplessness. You came all that way... a voice in her head crooned. All of that walking, all of that desperation to get here, and now you are unsure...?

"Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die." the words, quite unbidden, spilled from her mouth before she could stop them.

Why had she said that...?

The spirits, however, did not see this as a valid answer as the same voice repeated the same question in the same tone.

"Do you, Karma, give freely of your spirit and essence, to free Melidora, son of Vates and Fidicina, of his dread curse?"

"Yes." she said before she could get to thinking about it again. "I do."

At the affirmative response, starlight began to glitter through the avian form molded into the window. Where the glittering occurred, the color, even the leadlines, seemed to lift from the glass itself, and drift into the air, leaving behind an empty spot. The shimmering particles began to run, like sand in an hourglass, into a pool on the floor. The pool became animate, surging and growing, changing shape, gaining definition. A brilliant violet light burst around the shape, blinding in it's intensity.

Then the light faded suddenly, leaving in it's place a child shaking in pain and exhaustion from the transformation. A head covered in hair that almost appeared to be downy feathers like those of his totem, tiny wing fluttering at his temples, and an avian tail which fanned out behind him, below the pair of delicate insectoid wings. Unlike Nox had been in Gaia, this was a human sized child here in Tir Nan Og.

In the shadows, Diablo took note, then slithered off to inform his mistress of the release.

Karma had been spellbound by the window's sudden reaction to her words and was hardly aware of the deep-seated feeling of loss as something was drawn from the deep well of her being and taken away.

The magnificent transformation was over as quickly as it had begun and, a moment later, she found herself in the presense of what looked to be a very exhausted young boy.

The dingy music room fell into silence, broken only by the faint alto whimpers of his breathing. What did she do...? Part of her immediately wanted to sweep him into her arms and comfort him, but another part of her worried that it might somehow make things worse. Especially if he was in pain.

"Hello...?" she asked tentatively, taking a step toward the boy. "Are you all right?"

The small tanned face shot up suddenly, regarding her with unsettlingly-blue eyes that stood out starkly against his tanned skin. Before she had time to react, he had lunged at her as though he'd known her for years and buried his face against her stomach, clinging to her tightly with quivering arms.

.....well....!!

Karma gingerly put her arms around the boy, soothing him as best as she could. "Shhh....its all right." she whispered, kneeling to hold him better as he nestled his head between the crook of her neck and shoulder. "Are you hurt?"

She felt his head shake in the negative against her shoulder, then hesitate, and nod in the positive.

"Where?"

"All...over." Melidora said in a voice that was tremulous and weak. That was to be expected -- he hadn't spoken in many, many years. "Where are Mother and Father...? Have you seen them?"

It was like someone had twisted her arm suddenly as Karma winced. She could only assume that they were dead if Nox had resorted to coming to HER to free him. She hadn't gotten nor asked for the specifics on the Curse the dark fey woman had spoken of.

"I don't know." she settled on, as it was truthful and the safest answer.

"Oh." Melidora fell silent. "Where's Astra?"

"I don't know." she said again, furrowing her brow. Who was Astra...? Perhaps a pet of his? This was obviously not going to be a very smooth adjustment period for him.

"Oh." he repeated, falling into ponderous silence as he processed this information.

"Melidora...?" Karma asked, trying the name out.

"M'tired." he muttered, collapsing against her bonelessly as she quickly juggled his weight between her arms to better-support him.

"Rest, then." she told him, gingerly lifting him and finding him not as heavy as she thought he might be. "Let's see if there's somewhere for you to lay down..."

Melidora didn't answer, already having fallen into a deeply-exhausted sleep.  

[karma_k]

Roaming a strange castle with a sleeping boy slung over your shoulder is not an easy task. I'm sure, in some forgotten country somewhere, there's an Olympic event centered around it somehow. If that's the case, I wouldn't have even placed today. I'm STILL sore.

But we managed to find what looked like an unoccupied room with a bed in it. I'm sure if we are not welcome here, someone will be by sooner or later to tell us so.

For now, Melidora is still sleeping. I found some paper in the drawer here and happened to still have my pen in my pocket, so I'm writing for lack of better things to do while I wait for him to wake up.

Honestly, I don't know WHY I'm waiting....I freed him, that was all I had to do, right? People are probably wondering where I've gone and I have no idea if I can even get home from here. I tried finding the throne room where Nox said she would be waiting for us, but the only royal thing I managed to find myself was royally lost. The fact I found my way back here at all is a minor miracle.

On a different note, I really have no idea what I'm going to tell Meli when he wakes up. He'll have questions, no doubt, and I've got no answers for him. Hell, I have questions of my own, really.

Maybe HE'LL know how to find the throne room...

--Karma  

[karma_k]

A First Meeting

The black voids of the hallways seemed to stretch forever in every direction as Melidora attempted to navigate Castellum Umbra's labyrinth of corridors and passages, half-heartedly seeking familiar faces and places.

Where WAS everyone? He seemed to remember much more bustle and activity before the curse had befallen him and now there was nobody at all. Maybe Astra had scared them all off with her primadonna tantrums when no one cared to pause long enough to hear her sing.

Or maybe she had left with their parents after he had been trapped in that blasted window. Well, what was done was done. It didn't matter and Melidora wasn't particularly one to dwell on things that couldn't be changed. He just liked to better understand HOW things had changed, that was all.

As he passed one of the arched windows, he paused to examine its sill in curiosity. Amid the dust and cobwebs was the huddled corpse of a small mouse that had, perhaps, died in the night's chilled draft.

He extended a finger and gingerly turned the tiny beast over, examining it more closely with the same sort of rapt attention a young boy might read a good book. He noted the lack of luster in its eyes, and the way its limbs had stiffened, frantically committing all he saw to memory.

His fingers itched to write and he was suddenly very annoyed at himself for not having pen and paper handy. There was nothing quite so inspiring, he found, as tragedy and death. Or both. It had been the subject of nearly all of his songs, scribbles, and poems from the time he'd been old enough to write.

Unbidden, he hummed faintly as he continued to study the dead mouse. The song was in a minor key, somewhat sporadic in beat, but without any lyrics, his youthful voice made it hold a certain sweetness.

Dionaea sighed, the deafening silence of Castellum Umbra's dead hallways only compounding her depression. Everything was so still, everything so dead and quiet. She was wandering the halls, hoping to happen upon something alive to make her feel anything but useless, but so far nothing helped her mood. She finally gave up and turned her back to the wall, pressing herself up against its cold, unforgiving surface and let herself slide down until she touched the floor.

The Flytrap pulled her knees inward, resting her head upon it. It mattered not to her if someone saw her in such an undignified position. Her depression was an ache deep in her bones. She was about to close her eyes and sink into another one of her frightful dreams, something sweet and beautiful pricked her ears. It was familiar, yet not. A sweet sensation not felt in far too long. She bolted to her feet to investigate.

The music pulled her along like a sheep to her shepard, her eyes hardly focused. It was her ears that guided her. A smile crept to her once sorrowful face as she rounded corner after corner, the sweet music becoming louder. Finally, she reached the last corner before she would find the source. Dionaea weighed the options - peek around the corner and potentially frighten the singer, or stand back and listen.

She couldn't take it.

Dionaea took a small step around the corner and swallowed her confusion at seeing a small child kneeling. A small boy was singing something so sweet? How odd. She did not want to interupt his song, and instead stood as a quiet audience, eyes closed, swaying slightly to the melody.

Melidora continued humming, completely unaware of Dionaea's presense as he tweezed the tail of the mouse between his thumb and forefinger, lifting the small body into the air to look at it from that angle as well.

To an onlooker, it might have seemed incredibly disturbing, but that was the way Meli was built -- death, to him, was one of the most beautiful puzzles offered. It was something that no one ever truly understood until it came upon them, and then they could never share their comprehension with anyone else because they would never return from it.

Meli himself did not understand death very well due to his young age, but he knew that it was powerful. And in its power, was beautiful.

Gingerly, he laid the mouse back where he'd found it, trying to adjust it so that it was in precisely the same position and location.

As though the encounter had elated him, the humming swelled into full-fledged song as he turned from the sill to continue on his way.

"And the reaper passes through the gate
To his appointed place
A realm created through bitter hate
Behind an empty face...."

...But that was an -old- song, he needed badly to write a new one.

Dionaea nodded in time with the lyrics, as if she completely agreed. Her purple hair swayed behind her. Her eyes fluttered open at the end of the first stanza to watch the small boy swell into song. Although he was moving, his song seemed to permiate every nook and cranny of the corridor. As he moved further along his course, Dionaea kept her distance, but still followed.

The music was the water of life to her, the air she needed to breathe, and there would be hell to pay if something were to take that life away from her. She crept quietly along, but remained silent, as polite as she could be. The lyrics intruiged her. He must've been a new member of the Court. Had to be. It saddened her to think that she hadn't seen anyone in a great span of time.

Like her totem, she wouldn't this one go.

Suddenly and without warning, Melidora stopped in his tracks and changed his direction back the way he'd come, the words tapering off to humming once more. He'd already been this way, he was sure. It was easy to lose your barings in a place like this, after all.

His china blue eyes were drawn to the sill once more as he passed it, but then, out of the tail of his vision, there was something else. Something that contrasted against the black and flecks of starry white of the castle.

Something rouge. He turned his head reflexively to bring whatever or whoever it was into his field of vision.

Dionaea stepped back, giving him a wide berth. She had a vast amount of respect for him, despite not even knowing his name. She backed up and leaned against the far wall, leaving herself open for inspection. That was something she rarely did, but she didn't mind his not knowing the significance of such a gesture.

The Flytrap hazarded to speak, but the last thing she wanted was a frightened young boy. It grew quiet when he stopped singing, and it pained her more than she wanted to admit. But his eyes seemed to plead for an explaination, and she would give one to him.

Her voice seemed primitive and ungainly in light of his performance. "I do hope you don't mind an audience. I couldn't help but follow you when I heard you sing. I am Dionaea. Who might you be?"

His brows shot upward as he both saw and heard the stranger nearby. There WERE others! His delight at this remained inward, though, betrayed only by a smile as he inclined his head slightly.

"I'm Melidora." he told her, following it with a gaudy sort of bow that only a performer would be capable of. While his mother had taught him the finer points of singing, his father had been the one to teach him about stage presense...and that you should always conclude a performance, no matter how bad, with a bow.

"I was starting to think there wasn't anyone else." he admitted, righting himself again. "Its as quiet as--" the grave, he nearly said "--midnight here."

Dionaea bowed her head, completely agreeing. The silence was what threw her into the black void of depression she'd been toiling in for weeks. Procyon and Pteryx were nowhere to be found, and she had all but given up hope. But this new child was polite and talented. His singing could make up for the loneliness running rampant within the castle walls.

"Indeed. It's been far too quiet for my tastes. It's been still, but never so dead. It begs me to wonder if something happened to everyone. I hear whisperings, but never see a soul anymore." she trailed off, thinking instead of the companionship she found briefly with this child.

She cocked her head a moment, smiling. "When did you arrive, Melidora?"

"Today." he answered immediately. "....or maybe it was yesterday." a hand strayed upward to scratch idly at his tawny feather-like hair. He couldn't remember. Sleep did a good job of making one lose track of time.

"Dionaea..." he murmured, trying the name out. And then, switching tracks... "You haven't seen anyone named Vates or Fidicina, have you? Or Astra?" He knew the answer would likely be no, but it was better to be disappointed than to be left wondering. If his family was still in existance, surely -someone- would have heard of them. The castle couldn't be THAT big.

If not, then he would carry on on his own. There wasn't much of a choice when you came down to it.

Dionaea shifted her weight to the other foot, hand coming up beneath her jaw line to think. None of the names sounded familiar, and she had only met a select few members of the Moon Court. But still. She remembered a voice. She always remembered a voice.

"I remember a song. Someone, a female, would sing sometimes in the night. I would stay up and listen to her, but her song was much different than yours. I don't know if that's any assistance to you, Melidora. I've only met a few of our allies."

His brow furrowed a bit as he realized that this didn't help him at all. Hm. Oh well. Perhaps he'd run across the source of said songs as he continued his wandering. Even if it wasn't one of his family, it would be interesting to meet someone with like interests.

And an open mind would be nice too. Those were hard to come by if his previous experience with his poetry readings and song performances had been an indication.

Speaking of which...

"I have other songs," he said, changing the subject once again. He didn't seem to like to linger on any one topic too terribly long. "Poems as well. If you would like, that is." A captive audience was hard to come by (even moreso if he and Dionaea were the only ones in the castle) and the attention-monger in him made itself known by the twinkle in one blue eye.

If only he had a lute, he would feel right at home. For now, he had only his voice and it would have to do.

She nodded, intruiged by his proposition. Listening to someone else, instead of her own thoughts, was a very pleasant change. Perhaps his voice could bring everyone else out of hiding too. She'd never heard poetry before, and her Kithain was never too keen on the arts. At least, none verbal. She flashed an almost childish grin. If she weren't so self-conscious in the presence of one so young, she might've jumped up and down with glee.

But no. One's elders must set an example.

"I would love to hear your poetry, Melidora. If you do not mind an audience, that is." Dionaea replied as tactifully as she could. "Are your chambers nearby? Or do you prefer to perform in hallways?"

His gold-and-blue membranous wings fluttered a bit on his shoulders at her willingness to hear. He was already pulling to mind some of his favorites that he had thought were some of his best work and that his mother had called 'brilliant', even if they HAD indirectly been the cause of two members of one of his recitals attacking one another.

As long as he could remember, his writing had had that sort of effect on people -- if they didn't shy away from it entirely, it seemed to stir feelings of anger and hatred.

But he would recite for her, yes.

"There is no wrong place to perform." he chirped. "That's what Father used to say."

Dionaea cocked her head in surprise. The curse struck when she was but a year old. She remembered next to nothing of her parents, but Melidora was one of the lucky few. Lucky, or unlucky, depending. Memory was a double-edged sword.

But she had to ask about it.

"You remember your parents? I only know my parents' names. I was far too young when we became trapped to know who they were. Were they great performers like you?"

She was prepared to follow him, should he chose a different stage. It mattered not to her. The conversation alone was her sanity's saving grace. Sometimes she wished she could be a performer, but in a way, she was. A performer in the shadows, a dancer no one could see.

The twinkle in his eye at being called a great performer gave way to a slightly wistful look as he brought the memory of Vates and Fidicina to mind.

"Mother liked to take her harp into the woods, write about what she saw and then come back and play them in the tower. Father would walk the castle and sometimes go on journeys looking for new people to perform for."

Of the two, his father had most definitely been the performer and where Melidora had picked up much of his presense from. His mother, while she took great pride in her talent for the harp, was less concerned with audiences and more concerned with perfecting her songs to her own ideals, whether it was in the presense of listeners or by herself.

"They were going to teach me and my sister, Astra, everything they knew, but..." he shrugged. He didn't need to tell her about the curse as obviously she'd gone through it herself.

Dionaea smiled inwardly. It seemed to do Melidora and his sister good to learn from their parents. She idly wondered what she would be like, had she known her parents at all. Would she have been a better spy? She smoothed her hair behind her.

"My mother was a spy and was always away from my father, but somehow they still managed to concieve." She shrugged. Really mattered not to her how she came to be, just that she was.

The flytrap Fey took a small step forward. "What sorts of songs did you learn to make from your parents?" She was truly curious. She'd heard the song of the female echoing through the walls of the castle sometimes, late at night, but she couldn't always decifer the lyrics.

Melidora's pointed ears seemed to p***k slightly with intrigue. A spy? That sounded like an interesting life. It was something he would never pursue, of course, since he had far too great of a need to let everyone in the room know that he had arrived. But it was interesting, none the less.

"My father taught me to play the lute." he explained. "Mother tried to teach me the harp, but it hurt my fingers too much. Astra learned, though. And the lute. And others, I'm sure..."

Astra had always been much more determined in her craft than he had. He sang, performed, and wrote because it pleased him. She sang, performed, and wrote because she thrived on the attention it elicted.

"Everyone loved Astra's songs," he went on. "She sang about the night, the stars, the moon, the nightingale, heroes, and everyone always wanted more."

He paused then, quirking the corner of his mouth up in a half-smile "Nobody ever wanted to hear mine. They made people angry." He then gave a shrug, as if to say What can you do? He did not give any indication of being jealous of his sister's success as a performer and his own failure, because success was in the eye of the beholder.

And if his carefully-measured words and notes alone could provoke two perfectly reasonable adults into flying at one another with their claws out, he deemed himself a success.

Dionaea raised an eyebrow. This small child had the power to evoke anger with a mere song? Such a powerful ability for one so small! But then again, each one of them had been freed of their curse being adept in something or other. But she'd never heard of such an ability. Both intruiging and frightening.

"Your songs cause anger? Does this happen with anyone who hears them, or just certain people?" She simply had to know. If mere words evoked such a response, Melidora would be quite useful in the court.

She would have to look into this Astra person. Maybe she was the one who sometimes sang in the night? She never did find the songstress. Perhaps Procyon or Mephiti would have met her.

Instead of giving Dionaea a proper answer, Melidora broke into song once more, suddenly and uninvited. It DID seem the most effective way to answer her question, after all.

He sang to her of war, of pestillence, of those who travelled by shadow, cloaked in black with their hand on a knife meant for someone's throat, of the inky ravens that would arrive to pluck the last meat from one's bones, of the silvery whites of innocent eyes still frozen wide in fright though the last breath had been stolen from their body.

All of this was delivered in a hauntingly-minor key, offset chillingly by his young voice.

A sinister smile crept to the flytrap Fey's lips. His song was chilling, chilling ot the bone. But it wasn't a fearful chill. More of a winter's cold ache, and that impressed her. Only the Moon Court bards could make death and killing sound so breathtakingly beautiful. She would always remember Melidora, his voice and his talent. He had to have met the Majestrix. If not, she would love to hear of this new development.

She bowed her head in time with the lyrics, appreciating the way his voice reverberated across the walls of stone. Her hair swung behind her with the movement of her head, barely and audible swish beneath the haunting melody.

After a few moments of polite silence, she could not help but mouth her appreciation. "Beautiful. Simply beautiful."

He reached the song's end, holding the last note out a bit longer than necessary before ceasing entirely. His chest swelled with pride at her compliment and he felt simple satisfaction. This Dionaea was a rare one...he was accustomed to people leaving in the midst of a performance or squirming uncomfortably until his poem or song had finished before telling him that it was very nice before quickly remembering someplace else that they had to be.

But this was the first time that anyone save his mother and father had told him that his music was beautiful.

"Once I find my lute, I'll start writing new songs again." he promised. "Maybe I'll have something new to show you next time we meet." He didn't doubt that would be the case. Writing songs, when he was properly inspired, only took a matter of hours. Sometimes minutes if the muse was strong enough.

"I would like that very much. I might have a thing or two for you as well, next time we meet." While she didn't have the ability to craft or recieve any sort of musical instrument (or anything remotely musical, for that matter) she could procure some writing impliments. That would be good enough, she thought, for writing poetry and song lyrics.

Dionaea flicked a piece of hair back absently. No one beyond Procyon was this friendly, that she could remember. And at least she could find him, if she so wished. His voice would give him away indefinately. Tapping her chin idly, she wondered if she could locate a lute for him. Perhaps.

"I'm sure you're acquainted with at least some of the castle? My chambers aren't too far down this hallway." Dionaea gestured to the corridor from which she came. It was one of the far doors, but relatively easy to find. "If you ever wish to have an audience, I'm always willing."

He made mental note of this, as a ready and willing audience was never something he would say no to.

"Then hopefully, I'll be able to find this hallway again." he told her, his smile broadening a notch. "I wasn't allowed to go wandering by myself when Mother and Father were here, and I'm still learning my way around. So is the one that freed me...but I think she's left now." As though to make sure of this, he cast an idle look over his shoulder and, unsurprisingly, did not see the masked foxwoman anywhere.

He wondered if she planned to return, or if she'd gone back to wherever it was she hailed from for good. He supposed it didn't matter either way as her being here would only have been the blind leading the blind anyway.

He made another flourishing bow, not of respect, but of the true flounce and flamboyancy of a bard. All he'd needed was a wide-brimmed hat with a ridiculously-large feather in it and the illusion would have been complete.

"I will sing for you again, Dionaea." he assured her. "But for now, I need to go. I have a feeling there is still a lot of walking ahead of me."

And there was no telling what there was to be found in the other windowsills either...

"If you have trouble, I can always find you. I hear most everything that goes on within the walls of this castle. I'm sure I could locate you again. Your singing would be easy to track." she explained, and chuckled slightly. She might have to try and find this Astra girl, if Melidora so desired.

She nodded in response to his bow, not wanting to imitate it for fear of embarassing herself. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Melidora." She turned slightly and stood, lingering a moment. She then began the walk back to her chambers to plot and gather up some items that may prove useful to the new Moon Court bard.  

[karma_k]

Dear Diary,

I am writing from home because I simply didn't feel up to trekking to the middle of the woods today and trying to make my way around in that damned castle. Having had a chance to get to know him a little better, I'm not honestly sure I can say whether Melidora and I are getting along or not. He hasn't given me any concrete reason to say that I DISlike him, but when I'm around him, he manages to make me very uneasy.

I cut my hand on the dagger I'd brought for him, for example. He didn't even bother trying to help me, he just wrote a poem about it and asked me to bring him more sharp things. You'd think I'd have had the sense to say "hell" and "no" and yet I spent most of today out, filtering through the shopping center and buying every ornamental blade I could find.

I guess I'll deliver them tomorrow. I also picked him up a pair of journals to write in, since it seems to be a tradition of mine with family members. I wasn't sure if he would have preferred the stars or the moon more, so I'll give him both and let him choose. I imagine he won't say no to having extra paper if his behavior is any indication.

The maddening part of all of this is, I think, the simple knowledge that somehow I was a descendant of his. I keep finding myself comparing my own little quirks with his and wondering if I inherited them. I know that's silly to think, but who knows? My love of horror movies and books had to stem from someplace.

Anyway, I'll bring these things to him tomorrow, as I said. For now, I'm exhausted and I'm sure he's getting on fine by himself. He strikes me as a very independant child.

--Karma  

[karma_k]

Dearest Luna,

Something is about to happen. I can feel it. In fact, it would seem the very castle can feel it and doesn't care for it much. I can think of no other reason it would lead its people astray in the corridors that have been familiar and constant for so many years. I have heard whispers in the halls that perhaps this is the tentative first step into the long-awaited war with the Sun Court.

Interesting that such fawns of virtue and light would initiate what will ultimately result in darkness being brought upon them. It would seem to me that they would want to act in their own best interest, which would not involve poking at a waspsnest that has yet to sting them.

No, I do not believe that this has anything at all to do with the Sun Court. I believe that this is something much deeper. Something that will effect the Sun Court, The Moon Court, and perhaps all of fey itself.

Something is about to happen, Dear Luna.

And I can hardly wait.


~Melidora  

[karma_k]

Pattering heart and gleaming eyes
With plumed tail do you run
All too quick to win demise
When lost your race with the sun

Death came for you on silent wings
And mouth of razor point
He revels now in your undone things
With your blood does he anoint

This dark reaper, he cares not
From your flesh he now is fed
He turns from you as now you rot
He does not mourn the dead.