Welcome to Gaia! ::

(( I am Jill's sense of guilt. cry

It has been far too long since I've posted anything at all RPing. And it makes me sad. And it makes me feel bad for having made you wait, if you have. sweatdrop

Now, to appease my guilt, I throw myself at your RP mercy. Or something like that. xp sweatdrop ))



"Th-thank you, ma'am!" the girl said quickly; almost doubling over as she pulled the garment against her chest and bowed her head feverishly to the elderly woman. Her cheeks flushed red with embarssment, but no matter how much her toes fiddled or her feet refused to keep from squirming on the floor, the girl kept her head bowed and continued to mutter pleasant thank-yous to Granny.

"I-I-I... I really don't know what to say, ma'am, except that... well... I'm grateful for the hospitality, ma'am... really, I am, so very much, ma'am... and... and..." Her knees were shaking just a bit as she stammered out the words, trying to get them to an end, but not being able to find a way to bring herself there. She stopped for a few moments, taking deep breaths, before raising her head a bit to look at the diminutive woman with a meek smile.

"Thank-thank you, ma'am. I'll do whatever you ask to repay you, just put me to work! sweatdrop "


The girl stumbled when the elderly woman asked that of her; taking a step back with her right to catch herself as she began to fall, and nearly dropping the garment that Granny had picked out for her in the process. Her face turned white as a sheet suddenly, and then quickly filled again with heated blood until she was glowing red with in the cheeks.

"Erp... um..." she said, shaking her head a little bit as she tried to fight off the panic that always came with trying to explain her position... not to mention that she had been absent from her job for the past month or so, which wasn't a far shot to say that it wasn't her job any longer.

"Well, ma'am... I'm... or... I was... but..." Rebecca tried to keep her feet together on the floor, so that she wouldn't fidget as she spoke, but it was hard to do when she felt so out of place and so much like an unwelcome and undeserving guest. "I had a job, at a market in town. But I... um... I was injured and... and hospitalized..." her right foot began to twist and turn to the side as she clutched the garment tighter to her chest; looking down at her feet and her squirming toes instead of towards her hostess, "I think... ma'am... I don't think I have that job anymore."

Six days after opening the new Feimurgan book-cafe and library Lucind was on her way to Magpie Valley, as usual sitting in the swaying cabin on the Wyvern's - called Iyove - back. But this time the male beast carried another guest: Evan White was seated next to her. She had send a message to Hetel two days ago that she was finally coming to undergo the test and that she brought a guest with her, stating who Evan was.

During the three hours-flight she found time to tell him a bit about her clan, how many Sirens lived on the plateau, that the Siren race was in fact a matriarchal one, about the prejudices about it living in human tales.

Lucind also explained what the lohr'aven was, to give him an idea what her problem - the new, unusual connection - actually was.
The lhor'aven, the collective unconscious, was the pivot, the center of a female fullblood Siren. They 'swam' in it to locate hurt or damaged souls or to contact other Sirens. On a deeper level was the sphere were they had been collecting memories since the beginning of their existance.
Furthermore, it contained a region the Siren's soul reached after dying, called lhor'kuraim, 'the last sea'.
The First Five had been a manifestation of the lhor'aven.
Sirens spent many hours of a day connected to this spiritual sphere, getting mental and thus also physical power from it.

Like she had done when traveling to the valley with Rebecca, Lucind then leaded Evan from the 'dragon-station' into the next village were they took a carriage to Feimurgin. Once they arrived, Lucind directly headed for Gryffith's forge to get two horses for them.
"Are you familiar with sitting on a horse's back?" She smiled at Evan.

"Ah, good to hear that!"
Lucind saddled the stallion Caleph, which she could almost call her pet by now, and Griffith asked Evan to choose his horse after realizing the man had some knowledge about this field.

After almost an hour of a calm ride they reached the zigzag-path which led up into the wood which covered the South-East of the plateau.
Once inside of it, they met the guards Murn'al and Jardem who had left their hidden cabin high up in an oak and were now sitting on a small clearing, having pratridge and rabbit for lunch, together with broth and some potatoes which cooked in the fire's ash.

"Naah, what about constant vigilance guys?!"

"Hah, you don't think we've heard and seen you long time ago, do you, Lucind," Jaren grinned while gnawing flesh off of bones. His shiny blue hair was completely braided into 'rasta locks', with tiny dark pearls worked in here and there, and tied at the back of his head.

Murn'al stood up and wrapped his hooded coat tighter around him.
"Hello, Lucind. - Good day sir,"he addressed Evan and nodded,"I suppose you are the announced guest. My name is Murn'al - nice to meet you." He nodded again, then looked back at the woman. "Hope you find some time to come out here after settling your things."

"Of course - as usual^^ See you later then!"
Both mal Sirens said goodbye to them and continued with their meal.

Lucind then lead Evan to the Siren village itself, riding along its border towards the stable.



((I ask you to go into the Siren thread, page two, post no.6, there's a short description of the village, the stables and the forge^^))

((Well, in fact I didn't send her away^^ But if you think it's better to quit here due to your lack of time I'm also fine with that. Dun worry pirate ))

((@Nye: Sorry I didn't finish the story above ._. - Btw, what I wrote in italics, the conversation between the Sirens, it's not meant to be some sort of telepathy but simply indicates they're using their native language.))

Around six months after the attack on Latent



Lucind wondered when her birthplace felt that strange and 'new' to her the last time. She had missed two seasons colouring Magpie Valley and the plateau, where her clan lived, in their own fashion - that hadn't happened in a long time. The woman let her horse strolling along the path, taking for granted the fine mare knew where she had to go, after using this route up the plateau so many years, while Lucind herself relaxed, breathing in the fresh air, scented with resin, soil and wet moss.

Hetel had called, so now she was here, still tired from the journey by car, train and dargon, crossing the continent to reach the West Coast. It was a tad colder here than it had been in Latent during the last weeks and the familiar breeze the Half-Siren had grown up with was blowing - altogether quite enjoyable for her. And most likely a compensation for the gathering which was to start in the early evening. A meeting of all clanleaders of Gaia, and also a few from the other continents, in the lhor aven to discuss the most important issue which currently existed in the Siren world: the arrival of two Sirens and a halfblood of Azum in Latent, right on the day the town was attacked by necromancers and hordes of undead creatures.

A squirrel crossed the path and the horse jumped a bit but directly fell back in her lazy pace when the woman mumbled something soothing.

Azum...

It was one of those stories you get to know as soon as you're old enough to show curiosity for the adults' conversations:

They've broken the code.

They've done murder.

They had to be punished.

How often had she heard those comments? Just like, 'None of them survived.' And when you asked directly, hefting those innocent eyes of a child on your mother or aunt, you never got an answer beyond those being made for fairytales. Later on, everyone, Lucind as well, became satisfied with the official explanation:

Two clans, one dedicated to Odenai, the other to Var, were banned from Gaia and from the Siren society for using forbidden techniques which had led to the death of seven Sirens. They had to emigrate to Azum and there to an area where they wouldn't get into physical contact with other Sirens.

All this happend nearly five hundred years ago.

Late in the following night...or very early the next morning, a few fires on the platform were still burning, sending sparks into the darkness which tried to compete with the stars. It was a chilly night. A thin layer of frost covered grass and other low plants, glistening in the light of the half moon.

Close to one of those fires, that was placed at the outskirts of the village where no house was to be seen anymore, two figures sat on knee high stools, wrapped in thick, dark brown capes.

"If you do it, I won't let you go alone." It was the first thing to be spoken since the twins had settled down there, right next to the small memorial of their mother: a marble plate, skilfully decorated with patterns and saying carved in the stone.

"Yea...I'd be glad to have you by my side..." Peeking out of her large hood, Lucind softly smiled at her brother, who was a bit surprised to not hear one the woman's usual comments, mocking his urge to play her guardian. Larhien grinned, his faintly flushed cheeks indicating he was proud, and took a sip out of a leather drinking bag before passing it over.

Lucind grimaced when this heavy version of Siren wine ran down her throat and finally burned in her stomach quite pleasantly.
"It's a trap...

"A trap rather." The man nodded, exposing his head to the harsh wind. "And Hetel doesn't like the idea of you leading the mission. ...but what else was there to do for her then agree with the other tennin? They want to find out what you're capable of, if you're 'worthy' of messing around with 'their' lhor aven. I mean, with you having always been prone to stumble from one chaos into the next...and now even having access to the psionic plane - no wonder you got detention. He chuckled wryly.

"Let's face it: one big mistake - and I'm out. And if I really caused trouble within the lhor aven it's only their right to expel me. I might be a special case..the only halfblood having access to...still, no one - I can't allow me to be a threat to our world. I'm living a dangerous life, so I really don't mind being observed, but..." Another sip.

"Hetel didn't come out with all reasons...like she does so often...really annoying..."

Rubbing his hands, Larhien stared into the fire through squinted eyes.
"This time even I noticed. ... All those hidden warnings...between the lines - that's what I dun like 'bout women: why can't they just tell you what's wrong?? I'm a sucker for interpreting those strange female code..."

"If it helps you: even I don't have a clue what exactly's the matter" The woman laughed quietly. "Yet... This time something's telling me we have to be careful - extremely careful. Like I said: I think it's a trap - there's more going on behind the scenes and Hetel isn't sure how much she can tell...or if she's just seeing ghosts. The same goes for our aunt.

"And you say you didn't have a clue..? o_ô "

"Heh...just a feeling." Lucind gave the drinking bag back and wrapped the cape tighter around her.

For a while they fell back into silence, until the woman stopped sucking on her lower lip.
"'Find companions over there. Allies. Not for us, but for yourself.'"

"...?"

"It's what Hetel said to me before she went back into her house."

"Well, seems it isn't going to be an easy walk then," Larhien shrugged. "Maybe we should start searching for help directly here...or in Latent. It's still a month before we set off.

"I was going to, yes. And I think I already know whom I'm gonna ask. Only problem is to find them..."

"And to persuade them to risk whatever they have to give." He laughed.

"Ah no...that would be the least problem." Lucind grinned mieschivously, her eyes reflecting the flames.