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 Posted: Sat May 02, 2015 10:58 am
T A B L E . O F . C O N T E N T S A dance Between Friends
Fight In The Marketplace!
Chapter 7: Rising Storm
Say Goodbye
Chapter 7: Rising Storm
Welcome Home
I Know You!
Come Play
Farewell Reunion
You Again?
A New Schedule Part 1
A New Schedule Part 2
A New Schedule Part 3
Monsters?
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Posted: Sat May 02, 2015 11:27 am
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Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 12:49 pm
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 10:04 am
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2015 6:39 am
S A Y. G O O D B Y E Aseara could not ask others to fight a war that was her own, she simply could not stand by while Nuri and others fought and possibly died for the Wind Earthlings while she was back in Oba relaxing and enjoying life as if nothing had happened. But war was happening, it was a real thing and Aseara was old enough to understand it far better now than before. Perhaps she was following in her parents footsteps by trying to run off to war, perhaps she would never return to Oba, perhaps she would die. However, she still had to try even a little to help as much as she possibly could.
As the Wind Earthling made her way back to the Red Amaryllis, Aseara tried to think of how she could explain this to Afsana. The woman had saved her from her previous home, brought here here to Oba and given her everything she could possibly have wanted. How would she react now seeing Aseara want to return to that very place she had dreamed of leaving? Not good, that was for sure. She was one of her top dancers; she would not be able to leave without a good fight with the woman. Aseara was ready though, she was determined to leave and help.
There were few people left in the building when Aseara got there, many of the dancers were still out celebrating the festival. Afsana would probably be in her office and that’s where she headed first. Giving a soft knock, Aseara waited for Afsana to let her in and pushed the door open.
“Oh Aseara, I thought you’d be at the festival all day. Come in, come in.” Afsana shuffled a few papers motioning for Aseara to come in. Closing the door behind her, the Wind Earthling went to take a seat.
“Have you heard?”
“Have I heard what?”
“The Alkidikes plan on taking Sauti, the Obans are going to war. The king has passed a decree.”
“Ah well, I’ll worry about them once they’re at our borders. Did you need anything sweetheart?”
“I want to go.” Afsana paused her movement, looking up to observe Aseara and removing her glasses to drop the on the desk before her.
“I’m sorry; did you just say you wanted to go?”
“Yes, I want to go.” Aseara said more insistent this time.
“You’re not a fighter, you’re a dancer. Your place is here with us.”
“The Wind Earthlings are my people.”
“And you abandoned them the moment you took my offer,” Afsana leaned back, crossing her arms. “Aseara, you came to me almost begging to join us. You wanted to leave Sauti and I gave you a new home. You could die out there Aseara, you could never come back.”
“I still need to try.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t just let you go waltzing into a war zone when you can’t even protect yourself.”
“Afsana,” Aseara pleaded. “Please, I promise I will come back.” She couldn’t just stay here arguing with her!
“Isn’t that the same promise your parents made to you?”
Aseara recoiled back as if she’d been slapped by Afsana, feelings bubbled up. Anger, sadness, fear… She didn’t know how to react to the attack. She took hold of her anger, gripped it with force and shaped it into a weapon. She got up and used her hands to swipe across the desk and throw everything on the ground. Afsana stood up, shouting something Aseara didn’t hear or didn’t want to hear her say.
“I am not my parents! I will come back, you can’t hold me here. I am leaving.” Without another word or listening to what Afsana was telling her, Aseara walked out.
It was like fire had taken a hold of her; she wanted to hit things and didn’t understand why. Anger burned her from the inside and she didn’t know how to stop it from spreading and consuming everything around her. She made it to her room and collapsed, shedding her clothing and curling up in a ball and simply letting her emotions wash over her. Aseara broke out into large heavy sobs and screamed into her covers over and over again.
Why?
Why had her parents left her? And now she was reliving the exact same thing with Nuri, one of her closes friends here. Who else would go off to war that she knew? Never to return and leaving her all alone. Alone and cold and hungry. Between her screaming and crying, Aseara didn’t notice that someone had stepped into the room and was hugging her, holding her even as she cried. Finally, the heavy sobs, because crying and then whimpers which died down to nothing but silent tears.
“Aseara, my poor fragile Aseara.” Afsana held onto the Wind Earthling and gently pet her hair. The girl was practically like her daughter now. The Oban sighed softly. “I will never leave you, I will always be here. If you want to leave to Sauti, you must promise me on thing.” Aseara stood up and looked at Afsana with a teary eyed expression. “You must promise me that you will never, ever step foot outside of Oba once you return.” Aseara’s brows furrowed in confusion. “You will forever say goodbye to Sauti, to the Win Earthlings, to your past. Everything Aseara, you must cut all of your ties that link you back there. You must forget your parents and think of this place as your new, permanent home.”
“What?”
“You can go if you promise that once you’ve returned back here, you will never ever look back.”
Would it be so bad to forget everything from the past? Aseara didn’t know. It would save her a lot of pain but it meant she could never leave Oba. Was she okay with that? It took Aseara a couple of minutes to think it over. She felt it was worth it, there was nothing left for her in Sauti, no family, no friends.
Absolutely nothing. So Aseara began to pack.Word Count :: 1,006
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2015 8:02 am
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:10 am
W E L C O M E. H O M E The Red Amaryllis had not changed since she had left for the war; even in the darkness it was beautiful. The lights had been lite and bounced off the deep amorous red of the building’s façade. There was loud music and drunken laughter playing in the air meaning the Red Amaryllis was doing quite well on this night. She wondered how much she had missed while away on her trip. Her clients had probably wondered where she’d run off too, she’d have to ask Afsana to set up some special meetings so she could asure them of her return. So much to do…
Aseara stared up at the building hidden under her cape; this was where she would probably be spending the rest of her life. She had told Afsana she would forget her past and live in the present from this moment on and she was okay with that. Truly, being back in Sauti had no rekindled any longing for her to stay there. She had also felt no attachment to any of her people, she had seen no one that she remembered and she was fine with this. It had made things so much easier for her than she had expected.
Moving again, Aseara made her way to the front door and entered into the lobby. Afsana was dealing with a client, but once she had removed her hood the woman’s eyes seemed to greedily latch onto her and her expression faltered.
“Aseara!”
The man she had been serving turned and Aseara recognized him as one of her clients. Her demeanor changed, Aseara straightened up and smiled removing the cape from her shoulders and handing it to one of the servants as she approached them.
“Afsana,” she turned to her client and offered him a warm smile. “Raelar it is so nice to see you again, how have you been?”
“Afsana was just telling me how you were indisposed, again. I see you are back however, so that solves that little dilemma don’t you think Afsana?” It was obvious by his tone that he would not be refused once again.
“I do apologize Raelar, I’ve been gone far longer than I had anticipated. I would be more than happy to offer you an exclusive dance free of charge.” She didn’t like digging into her reserves for clients, but he was obviously upset which meant there were others who would be too.
“Good, I shall be waiting in the parlour. I want you to look your best.” He glanced down at her travel weary clothing and Aseara knew he disapproved greatly.
Afsana immediately grabbed onto her arm and pulled her down the corridor, they had to be quick.
“I’m very glad to see you back home.” Afsana said, glance behind at Aseara. Her voice was not angry as Aseara had expected.
“I’m glad to be back home.”
Afsana took her to the baths and got the water ready as Aseara stripped from the dirty clothing and got into the water. She dipped her head under and when she came back up, Afsana was there ready to help her wash.
“It’ll be faster if I wash your hair while you wash yourself.” And so they worked as a team, Aseara making sure to get every last spec of dirt off herself while Afsana took care of her hair. It didn’t take long for her to be once again as clean as a newborn baby and just as soft.
“I will do you hair, we’ll have to pin it up because it won’t dry fast enough.” Aseara did not argue and let Afsana take care of her as a mother took care of her daughter. Aseara felt this was where their relationship had evolved to and she was okay with that. Afsana even helped her pick a dress and helped her get ready. They worked in silence, but it was a heavy silence that weighed heavily upon Aseara.
“I’d like to see you once you’ve seen your client. There are things we need to speak about.” There it was, Aseara knew it was coming and she was okay with it.
“Of course, I’ll come back as soon as I see him off.”
With that done, Aseara headed to the parlour as fast as she could manage. Thanks to Afsana they’d been able to cut her preparation time considerably and her client was happy to see her. She chatted him up easily, telling him where she had gone and he was impressed with her. She told him about her new dance, one that she was working on as a group to talk of this war. Of course he was intrigued and wanted to see part of it. She took him to a private room and began the dance he’d made up in her mind, one that was supposed to represent the war. She’d have to ask Afsana if she could form a group and put on shows. Once done, Aseara prompted him to leave and then made her way back to Afsana’s office. Aseara entered and took a seat.
“So, looks like we won this one.”
“Indeed.”
“Do you remember our Agreement Aseara?”
“I do.”
“Good because from now on you’re going to be helping me manage,” Afsana raised her hand before Aseara could argue. “You won’t lose any clients, but I do want you to take one some more managerial positions. I need help, Veyma had to… Leave under certain circumstances and I feel you’re the only one capable of taking over her duties.”
“I don’t want to lose any clients.”
“Which is why we’ll be modifying your contract, you’ll be earning money in other ways to compensate for the clients that you lose. This isn’t permanent Aseara, I need to train an Oban born girl to replace me one day. This is just until then.”
“I will still get to dance?”
“Yes of course and do much more.”
“Alright then. I guess I could use the extra work.”
“Good good, better get to bed. We start in the early afternoon.”
Aseara stood up to leave but paused when Afsana spook up again.
“And Aseara, it’s good to have you back.”Word Count :: 1,030
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 6:17 am
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 9:48 am
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 9:49 am
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Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 8:00 am
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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 4:00 pm
A . N E W. S C H E D U L E . P A R T. 1 Aseara starred up at the ceiling and sighed softly. The sun still wasn’t up but she’d gotten so used to a daytime schedule that she awoke before the sun was up. She was also getting used to being up in the morning to do a couple of chores before sleeping the afternoon away and then being awake again at night. It separated her days into halves and she was really starting to wonder when she’d be able to go back to dancing. Aseara sighed again and rolled on to her side to gaze out of her window to watch the sun go up. The new room with an amazing view was probably the only perk to being an assistant.
As the dark skin began to turn golden and Aseara could feel the heat starting to rise up, she pulled the covers off of herself and began to get ready for the morning. She dressed quickly, pinning her hair up in a messy bun before heading down to the back where the days delivery would have arrived. The day staff waved good morning to her and she nodded at them, she’d been told she was much more pleasant than the last assistant and hoped it would stay that why. Aseara had not commented on it, it wasn’t her place to criticize Afsana’s choice.
“Good day Aseara! Beautiful morning isn’t it?” The merchant was a burly man, always in a good mood. He smiled at her and she nodded with a yawn.
“That it is Xuwan. Were you able to get everything for me today?” The last shipment had a few things missing and she didn’t want a repeat.
"Of course, everything for you is right here my dear."
“Good, I’ll get your money.” Aseara waved the kitchen staff to help get all the crates of goods while she went to the office to fetch the gold. She returned and paid the man.
“Always a pleasure doing business with the Red Amaryllis.”
The Wind girl waved him off before setting foot into the kitchen. She needed to check in with the kitchen staff so they were ready for the evening. All the head cooks seemed to be on point about prepping and she let them do their thing. If things were going well she wasn’t the type to hover over the other staff, she didn’t like to micromanage those who were obviously already doing a good job. The other manager had and it had felt stuffy.
While in the kitchen, Aseara grabbed a quick breakfast and headed for her usual round to check on the cleaning staff. Usually this was where she found and fixed most of the problems. Staff leaders came up to her with their issues and she went from there while checking on cleaning. Everything was running smoothly which meant she’d be able to get to her usual afternoon lunch and then nap. Hopefully she wouldn’t get waken up, it happened and she’d gotten used to that as well. Staff tried not to wake her up but she had to insist they do. If Afsana woke up and there was something wrong she was the first person to hear about it.Word Count :: 532
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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 4:22 pm
A . N E W. S C H E D U L E . P A R T. 2 Aseara was able to settle down for her nap after lunch and slept through the day. Someone came to wake her up as soon as the sun had gone down and this time she took her time to get ready. A quick trip to the bathes before she slipped into her dress and went up to meet with Afsana. As Aseara passed one pf the rooms where the girls bunked, she paused in the door way wondering why people had gathered.
“Ladies?” She inquired while looking at them. They all turned in horror and shrunk away from her, unable to look her in the eye.
“What’s wrong?” Aseara stepped in, looking at all of them. No one spoke up. “Can someone tell me what’s going on.”
The youngest and newest of the girls glanced nervously around before she began blurting things out. “Miran is pregnant!” All the other girls gave her looks of horror that she’d given them away. Miran began crying uncontrollably and some of the girls moved even further away from her as if they themselves would become pregnant if they touched her. It was all silly really, but it meant serious trouble for all of them. Aseara bent down and picked up Miran.
“Are you pregnant?”
“Yes.” The girl managed between sobs.
“Oh Miran…” The Wind girl pulled her into a hug.
“I am so sorry; I didn’t know what to do. I was hoping that with Afsana gone I’d be able to give birth without knowing. Except…” And here she began crying hard again while Aseara held her. “She’s still here, she hasn’t left and I’ll be showing soon.”
Aseara rubbed her face, she didn’t know what to do. Duty told her that she had to tell Afsana, she had no choice in the matter. But her heart… Her heart told her to keep quiet and wait for Afsana to be gone so they could give themselves more time to think. It was unfair to throw the girls out onto the streets pregnant without a job and so far from home.
“Please don’t tell.”
“I won’t, but what are you going to do? Do you know who it belongs to?”
“Of course I know who it belongs to!” The girl shrieked, pushing away from Aseara to throw herself onto the bed.
“Miran, you know the rules.” Some of the girls had begun to shuffle out of the room one by one.
“Please don’t tell her Aseara, please.” The girl sobbed. Someone knocked on the door and Aseara turned.
“Yes?”
“Afsana is on her way down.” The girl was gone just as quickly as she’d come.
Aseara swore profusely. This was not the time for this to be happening. Grabbing Miran by the arm, Aseara peeked out of the hallway and dragged the girl down the opposite direction she knew Afsana would come from.
“You need to quit your crying. If Afsana catches you, or both of us we’re both out and I can’t afford that right now.” Aseara continued to pull the girl along down hallways until they reached the showers.
“Why are we here? I already showered.” Miran sniffled.
“Well you’re going to shower again and pretend that you slept in late. I’ve been dragged into this by all of you and now I am going to get us out of it. Afsana is leaving soon and we can think of things later but right now I need to hide you to the best of my ability.” It was a truly horrible plan but Aseara didn’t know what else to do, all they needed was more time.
“Aseara,” a new girl popped her head out into the bathes.
“Yes what is it?” It was hard to hide the irritability from her voice.
“Afsana has been looking for you all over and she is angry. And I mean really really angry.”
“Thank you, please find her and tell her I was getting Miran up and ready. She woke up too late and is behind on the schedule. Tell her I’ll be with her in a few.” The girl nodded and disappeared. Aseara glanced at Miran and sighed while glaring at her.
“This better be the quickest bath you take in your life.” This was going all so horribly when the day had started out so well. The girl nodded and began to undress so fast Aseara thought she was going to rip the clothing off of her back. “I need to get going now. You better hurry.” Aseara turned to walk out but Miran called out to her.
“Aseara…” she paused. “Thank you. Thank you for keeping this a secret. This place would be better if you were running it.” The wind girl nodded and left the bathroom to head for the top floor where Afsana was surely waiting for her.
She was going to be royally pissed and Aseara didn’t know if her story was going to be good enough to cover both herself and Miran. It was especially horrible timing considering Afsana was on edge about leaving the establishment to Aseara for so long. It made dealing with the woman a whole lot harder than it usually was and that meant everyone was paying the price. She knew that people enjoyed her being the assistant much more than the last Oban girl. No one had really said anything to her face until Miran had and she took the girls words to heart.
Going up the stairs as quickly as possible, Aseara paused in front of the office doors. She couldn’t hear a thing from within which only meant that a storm was brewing. A dark and angry storm that Aseara was going to have to face for Miran. Running her hands on her dress, Aseara straightened up her back and took a deep breath.
Maybe Afsana wouldn’t come back from her journey; maybe Afsana would die and never return. The Red Amaryllis would be a better place without her, but did Aseara have what it took to take up the mantle?
Now that was the real question wasn’t it.Word Count :: 1,015
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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 4:39 pm
A . N E W. S C H E D U L E . P A R T. 3 “What took you so long?!” Afsana seethed. “You know you’re supposed to be here on time!”
“I am truly sorry, Miran somehow managed to sleep in and wasn’t up when I passed her room. I made sure she was back on schedule.”
“This is the kind of thing I do not want you doing Janeska. Being late. You will never be late when I call you.” Afsana was waving her arms like a crazy person she was so angry. Janeska nodded and glared at Aseara.
“You can’t expect impeccable work from someone of her background.” The younger Oban girl said as she made a disgusted face at Aseara.
“Aseara you are so much better than this!” Afsana continued her tirade.
“I know and I again apologize for the misconduct.” Aseara looked at the Oban girl and glared back at her. “May I ask who our guest is?” Her voice was hard, she was starting to get angry with the new woman.
“She’s my replacement. Janeska. Comes from a very good Oban family. I am taking her on my travels to the new world so she can learn and when we come bac you will step down and she will take over for you.”
“So nice to meet you.” Aseara said through gritted teeth.
“Hmph.” The girl rolled her eyes.
“In any case, now that we’re late on schedule I’ll have to make this quick.” Afsana waved for the girls to sit down. “I am honestly not quite sure when I’ll be returning, but I do plan on returning and I do expect this place to be in tip top shape when I return. I expect daily reports sent to me Aseara. Daily reports! I will be leaving you with a list of places where you can send your letters and they will insure that I receive them.”
“Of course.” Aseara hadn’t bothered sitting down, she wanted to stand for this.
“I expect all the girls to follow the rules while I am gone.” Afsana gave Aseara a stern look. “There is to be no debaucheries while I am gone, do you hear me?”
“Yes of course.” Aseara nodded.
“Otherwise, I’ve left you with a pile of information as well as a to do list. You’ve been doing well with your other tasks so far so I expect you’ll do fine when I am gone. We are leaving in a week’s time. Now I had more things to add, but we’re running late and I need you to make sure the girls are all in order while I show Janeska around.” Afsana waved her and Aseara nodded, giving a slight bow before moving away and out of the office.
Janeska didn’t look like good news; she looked exactly like the kid of girl Afsana would want as her replacement. Better she tell the girls now than they find out by meeting her. Everyone was going to have to be on their best behavior until Afsana was gone.
Until then, they held their breaths. Word Count :: 502
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Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2015 1:19 pm
M O N S T E R S ? Monsters? With the recently discovered Yaeli, the land of Tendaji has been abuzz with talk and gossip about their new neighbors. They're odd, they're strange and skittish, their eyes glow - but that can't possibly be true most say - the word on the street is that they're starting to leave their island. Those that had met the Yaeli know that it's an odd thing to hear. They were terrified of the outsiders, why would they leave their safe villages... Rumors are filling the toxic island where the Alkidikes extremists were banished along with the Matron. Rumors of monsters clawing their way out of the earth with oil black skin and glowing evil eyes that are even weirder than the strange monsters that landed upon their shores just one year ago. The Yaeli say that their gaze can steal the soul of any person dumb enough to get too close and they're vicious beings trying to take their children. These rumors have reached the main land as well, mostly through the few Yaeli that have decided they would rather face the scary but similar earthling races than to have to find out what the terrifying monsters want with them and their land. Is there any truth to these rumors or are the Yaelian's seeing things?
I am happy to hear about this month’s revenue, you have been doing an excellent job in my absence. It is a shame you were not born Oban as I would have loved to have you in charge once I am too old to take care of the place myself. I have sent letters to the nobles you previously mentioned in your letters, I am not surprised that they have been acting up a bit with the girls. I have warned them on your behalf that if their behavior does not improve once I have returned that I will ban them from the Red Amaryllis.
Any other issue I will see to myself next month upon my return.
I am excited to report that I have finally found some Yaeli! They aren’t the friendliest of creatures let me tell you, but I think I’ve found one to my liking. Their eyes glow! Did you know this? It is very odd, but I think it will be good for the clients. We’ve had to get some guards though with our little caravan, very strange rumors of creatures that are coming forth from the earth have surfaced. The Yaeli are scared as well, can’t ever be a good sign. I do want to come back in once piece!
I wish I had known the Yaeli were leaving, I wouldn’t have bothered coming. I think it is safer on the main land at this point; I’ll be back sooner though.
Please continue to keep me updated!
Afsana
Aseara put down the letter and sighed heavily. At least the nobles would be taken care of; she didn’t want any more trouble with them. One had already hit one of the girls and she hadn’t allowed him back inside since after throwing him out. He had threatened to have her removed once Afsana was back, but she doubt Afsana would judge in his favor. She would never side with someone who had hit one of her girls and most likely she would find a way to get back at this man upon her return.
There were other things that bothered Aseara however, first the fact that Afsana was planning on bringing back a Yaeli to the Red. Just the idea of having some creature with glowing eyes around them was enough to send a chill down her back. She didn’t want any Yaeli here, how could they be trusted coming from a toxic place? What if they tried to poison everyone here? No Aseara did not think it was a good idea and she was stuck not being able to tell Afsana either. The woman would do anything to please her clients, and this was one of the ways she did so.
The strange rumors Afsana was talking about was another concern of hers. Creatures that came out of the earth with glowing eyes that could steal a soul? Why would anyone want to ever step foot on that island? But worst of all, why were they coming out now? Had they always been there? What if they managed to come to the mainland? Why was everyone bothering these so called creatures? Why couldn’t they just let the Yaeli take care of them, it was their home after all! The Yaeli were cowards for leaving, or maybe they planned on taking over the mainland…
Aseara leaned back into her chair and rubbed her temples.
The thing that bothered her the most about everything however, was the fact that Nuri was in Yaeli right this moment. He was in danger, it was obvious to her. Between the Yaeli and their creepy glowing eyes and these other monsters with glowing eyes, she felt he was in deep danger. Had no one made the connection yet that the Yaeli had glowing eyes and the monsters had glowing eyes so obviously they had to be related?! Aseara feared for Nuri, what if he didn’t come back? What if he was struck down by a glowing eyed crazy?
She couldn’t think like that, he would return to her in one piece. She certainly didn’t wish the same for the Yaeli that Afsana was returning with, that thing needed to stay where it belonged and that was on that gods forsaken island. Maybe Afsana planned on keeping it in a cage? Or at least separate from the others, none of the other dancers and such were comfortable with the idea of a Yaeli in their mix. Aseara had told them of course, they had needed to know the danger Afsana was returning with.
Still, all she could do from this point on was prey for Nuri to return uninjured and hope that the Yaeli coming to the mainland would not destroy them all.Word Count :: 794
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