Welcome to Gaia! ::

Okay, so we got knocked out of the Lost Children Contest. Dissappointing, of course, but I know that the finalists were all awesome, and that it must have been a tough time, when you only can choose 15, out of...what, *how* many entries?

But this is not about my self pity. Honestly, it isn't, guv'nor.

This is about moving forward a little, and sharing my plans.

What I'm thinking about doing, is using the prompts from the writing contest, and writing them all. Just so I can get a better feel for my character.

So without further ado, here's #1 - which was my entry for the Lost Children contest.



“Well, little one,” Harry said, as he picked up the tiny bundle, “I’m not the idea of a perfect father, but I hope this is what your poor mother intended.” The baby merely looked at him with those strange grey eyes, before falling asleep in his arms. Well, that was that. Harry settled himself and his new baby girl down in the straw, listening to the broodmare and her own new arrival move around above him.
One thing was for sure. Lord Chantlei would be surprised when he came down in the morning.

**

“You found WHAT!”
To say that Lord Chantlei was surprised and more than a wee bit upset, would be like saying that Aster was pretty, or that his Lordship was a mage.
In other words, stating the obvious.

Harry stood sheepishly, brushing stray bits of straw off his clothes with one hand. The baby, surprisingly enough, did not even stir.
“A baby, sir,” he repeated.
“I can see that, Peters.” Lord Chantlei looked at him through narrowed eyes. “Is there something that you need to tell me, Harry? Some skeleton in the closet, hmmm?”
Harry blanched. “No sir,” he said, still flushing. Though if Chantlei thought that, well, heaven knows what the rest of the village would make of his new charge… “I found her next to the broodmare.”

Lord Chantlei peered around the corner, into the darkness of the stall.
“I trust that it was no false alarm. Or worse,” he added, “some sort of malicious spell.”

Hmmm. Harry hadn’t thought about that. Being a relatively practical person (well, as far as someone born and raised in the Isles went, anyway) he had not even considered the possibility that the baby might be under some form of spell.
”I wouldn’t know, sir,” he admitted.
The broodmare chose this time to appear, nosing his Lordship’s pockets for treats. A small dark nose peered around the corner, apparently curious about this new stranger.

Lord Chantlei surprised Harry, by pulling some sugar lumps out of his (well tailored) suit pocket, and giving the old mare a scratch behind the ears. “Well well, Lady my old girl,” he smiled, “you did good.” He turned to Harry. “This will be her last foal, so I was worried about her. This little one shows much promise. Colt or filly?”
”Filly, sir,” came Harry’s reply. He felt a tug, and looked down to see that the filly had obviously overcome her shyness, and was chewing on the end of the blanket. “A cheeky little thing, but a filly nonetheless.”
"Well, Prince and Lady have always been quite a handful.” He chuckled. “What I am letting myself in for, breeding from them both?” He peered at the bundle still snoozing in Harry’s arms. “Let me have a look at that.”

Slightly reluctantly (although he wasn’t quite sure why), Harry carefully passed the baby over. She stirred, and opened those strange grey eyes.
"Hmmm." Lord Chantlei waved a free hand over the baby. There were one or two small sparks, but nothing else happened. The child did not spontaneously combust, or suddenly laden his Lordship with an armful of spindly foal. Or worse.

After a while, he passed the baby back. The instant she was in Harry’s arms again, she moved around and settled back into sleep.
"Well, she certainly likes the look of you," Lord Chantlei remarked. “There’s a hint of something powerful, but it’s not malicious. Any clue as to who she is? A note, or anything?”
Harry shook his head. “I found her lying there, wrapped in nought but the blanket, and the pendant.”
"What I want to know,” Lord Chantlei said, passing the broodmare a sugar lump, “is how this little one got here. I had the best security system installed in here. No-one can breathe without setting the alarms off.” He frowned. “Were they on when you arrived?”
Harry grimaced. “Were they ever.”

The security system in the foaling barns was the best money could buy, and it was a complicated process to gain access, involving everything from pass cards, to mage identity checks.

"I thought I could sense the faintest whiff of a portal spell…but it was only very faint." He shook his head. “It can’t be right either, as what I could sense seemed like pretty powerful magic, to waste on something as trivial as a portal spell.”
Inwardly, Harry winced, remembering the many times he had been forced to travel via magic. Only a mage would call the use of a portal spell ‘trivial’….

Lord Chantlei interrupted his thoughts. “So what are you going to do with her?”
"Who?"
"The baby, Peters. What are you going to do with the baby? I know of some excellent foster homes that will not ask too many questions, especially if the baby comes from the House of Chantlei and…”
Harry looked down at the bundle in his arms. “I was intending on keeping her.”
Lord Chantlei moved across to where he was standing. “Are you sure, lad?” he asked. “You do know what some of those idiots in the village will say. A young unmarried man, suddenly looking after a newborn baby, who was found in the very place where he works?” He chuckled. “People will talk.”
Harry shrugged. “Let them.”
“Aster can’t stand babies, you know.”
"Well, she’ll just have to learn, won’t she?” He fingered the pendant that hung very loosely around the baby’s neck. “The baby stays.”

Lord Chantlei moved away from the door, then stopped and turned.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Harry,” he said seriously. “We don’t know where this baby has come from, or why she was left. Here of all places. I’d like to know how they managed to bypass an alarm, without setting it off and…” he paused. “In short, Peters, there are a great many things about that child that I would like to know, before I feel safe enough to let it onto my estate.”

Harry clutched the end of the blanket tightly. He wasn’t sure quite why he was feeling so nervous. Only that he knew that he couldn’t let this child out of his sight. “I don’t know any more about her than you do, sir,” he said. “Then again, what parents are born knowing everything about their child?”
”Well, hopefully most parents can pinpoint where their child comes from, at least,” Lord Chantlei observed dryly. “Although the jury’s still out on Aster,” he added with a wry smile. “We don’t even know who this one’s parents are.”

Harry straightened slightly. He didn’t normally do such things, but it was urgent. His Lordship was obviously not convinced that the child was safe. And if you couldn’t convince the local ‘squire’ and mage, well, he could forget about the rest of the village. “Then let me vouch for her,” he said finally. “I swear that the child known as…Rowena,” (the name came to him all of a sudden. Strangely appropriate, giving such a child his mage grandmother’s name), “is perfectly safe, and shall do no harm to this village, or the persons living in it.”

Lord Chantlei stepped forward. “You do realise the consequences for taking such an oath?” If the oath was broken, then both Harry and the girl had to leave the village. Maybe even the Isle.
Harry gulped, and nodded. “I do. And I swear it wholeheartedly.”
"Very well." Lord Chantlei sighed. “I, Lord Aramis Chantlei, under the power bestowed upon me by the Earl of Kinnara and His Majesty the King, do hear this oath, and hold the bearer, Henry Arthur George Peters, responsible.” He held Harry’s hand, and he could feel the warmth of the magical bindings. “Keep this oath sacred at all times,” he said, “or suffer the consequences.”

It was done. Harry gasped. “Will that satisfy his Lordship?”
Lord Chantlei nodded. “For now.” He turned back towards the house. “Oh, and Harry…”
"Sir?"
"Stop by my study later. We can work out some sort of cover story.”
Harry looked puzzled.
He winked. "So that we give the village less to talk about, eh?”
Understanding, Harry nodded. “Thank you, sir.” That was what he liked about working for Lord Chantlei. He may be a gruff old bugger at times, but he was fair and just.
The lord waved a hand. “Enough of that, young lad. Back to work with you. I want a full vet report on that filly. And while you’re here, there’s a couple of mares I want you to have a look at.”
Harry threw him a mock salute. “Aye, sir.”

And so, life went on as normal.
Harry kept his baby, and raised her as best he could.
The village still talked, despite the best efforts and a watertight cover story. But then again, it wouldn’t be Greendale if they didn’t.
Aster didn’t like the child, baby or otherwise.

And as for the child herself?
Well, that’s another story.

story coming your way soon.

For you! =D Now, some shallow crit and comments.

Admittedly, I am not the biggest expert on the myth of Rhiannon, but some of the links you put up that I browsed through labelled her a goddess of the moon. Is there a reason why you chose to disregard that? Considering some of the death/life themes you want to take (tying in with the waxing/waning cycles of the moon), it seems like it could be very well an essential and interesting part of her. She doesn't even have to have any direct powers stemming from it (though, if you wanted to, you could have something like her own power waxing and waning along with the cycles of the moon. Something like that.)

Also, an association with birds has also been given as an important part of her... Though I can certainly see (and approve of) the connection with horses, why not birds as well?

I am not sure if I completely buy your justification for her minor healing ability. It seems overfluous and -- to be honest -- we already have quite a few Fa'e with healing abilities, both major and minor.

Her possessions -- and companions (I dare not call Trouble a pet) are interesting; I like how they reveal aspects of her personality. That bit is really well-done.

I'm.. not sure how I feel about this "Fear of relationships" thing. Exactly how would the subject of her past two husbands even ever come up -- that is, will she have remembered them by the time she's a teen? Will she still have feelings for both of them? I can understand an outright disinterest in relationships, but I am not sure how any of this would inspire 'fear'. It's rather cliche, to be honest. If it's honestly very important to you that she fear relationships, I would try to think of a better way to justify it.

I think what you need to think about most at this point is -- what makes Rhiannon stand out from everyone else, including other existing Fa'e and present Fa'e quests? What particular niche in the community can she fill that isn't at all yet?

Otherwise, keep up the great work, you have some really interesting stuff here heart

Considering some of the rather blood-thirsty Fa'e we have -- and the fact that battles are pretty regular -- I think her fear of blood is alright and could prove to be interesting. (True phobias are always irrational anyway.)

Ok, that explains her relationships with males a whole lot better. Having her two past husbands as ambiguously being her guardians sounds interesting too.

I was actually thinking the other day myself, whether it was possible for a Fa'e, while pregnant, to travel to another world and give birth there, and then possibly freak out and leave the child in that world, effectively abandoning it and leaving it to be raised as if it were a Lost Child. I'm not sure how effective this would actually be though, since the guardian would pretty much be.. left to solo all by him/herself until either the Fa'e's mother returned or a search party was sent out to track it down. :<

..Ok that was a pretty long tangent, but my point is that you don't necessarily have to entirely discount your Lost Child storylines! Even with a Second Gen, it may be possible that your guardian can be from your Lost Child world -- and though, yeah, they will have to relocate to Gaia, there's nothing saying the second gen Fa'e can't go back and visit, and grow up knowing that culture anyway.

Nothing much to report at the moment, except that I'm loving the pretty Lost Children that are turning up now wink

Once I get my scanner working, I might add some pics I've been doing, both of Rowena, and her Guardian(s). Yes, that's right - I've finally got that pic up of both Harry AND Scotty! Yay for me!

Oh, and the guy on my arm? That's, boy!Rowena.

...no, I'm quite serious. When the Feb items came out, I thought "hey, that guy looks alot like what I imagine Rowena to be. If she were a guy." And there you have it.

I like to think of 'him' as my lucky charm heart