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 Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:20 pm
"Oh goddess..." It was a curse and a prayer, all in one, tortured breath.
"Marissa, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen. It's just as soon as I put this on.." she grabbed at the medallion, pulling it up off her neck in an almost violent gesture, ready to dash it to the ground... when Kale suddenly moved.
His arms stopped twitching, and the clouds in his eyes rolled on, as if blown by a healing wind. He looked up to his mother and blinked, suprised to see her- as if it were a dream.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:27 pm
The gypsy was stunned. He was back. She saw the lights flicker in his mind, his eyes lit...and he blinked, peering about in the darkness. Marissa gasped quietly. She didn't know where to look- Kale, her baby, or the medallion in Oq's unsuspecting grasp. She grabbed Kale's hand and stared at the jewlery. It glimmered placidly in the barely visible candlelight.
Kale, catching the target of his mother's gaze, grinned suddenly. He giggled, and tottered forwards, hands outstretched. When he reached Oq, he smiled up at her and wrapped his chubby hands around hers, fingering his medallion, and looked at her as if in thanks for returning his precious object.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:31 pm
Oqaia ran shuddering fingers through her snowy pink hair, releasing the pendant to the infant's grasp with the other. She found it hard to regain her composure, and it was coming back to her only in shreds.
Oqaia shook her head softly at Marissa. "I... I'll need some time to think on this, and speak to Valelldia. I think in the meantime- you should either keep that pendant with Kale... or for the goddess' sake, hide it. It's not safe on anyone else's neck." She ventured out into the dark of night, only turning over her shoulder on the steps to say sagely, darkly... "Not even yours."
And then, the gypsy was gone.
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Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:34 am
Marissa had spent the night awake. She sat in the oak rocking chair all night, following its cadence, back and forth, back and forth. Kale was in her arms; she'd refused to let him sleep on his own, and, despite his initial protests, he eventually fell victim to slumber.
She'd tried to hide the Firos medallion. She put it on top of cabinets, in locked boxes, under the bed, behind the bureau- but no matter where, Kale's keen senses and detailed knowledge of every nook and crannie in the wagon aided him in finding it again. Finally she let him keep it, but held him so tight as he did so that he furrowed his brow and whined. The rest of the night had passed in the rocking chair, silent.
Morning finally came, and Kale was disgruntled when his mother scooped him up and carried him to Blessed Change, where she was to meet Oqaia and/or Valleldia.
"Hello?" she called softly.
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 4:55 pm
"Marissa..." Oqaia said, breathless. She had been sifting through countless books that Valelldia had given her, and didn't realize it was already morning.
"Come in, please!"
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 5:05 pm
Marissa swept in and with her brought the dull pink light of sunrise. She smiled shakily at Oqaia and took a seat. Kale grasped her pinky finger and sucke his thumb, bleary-eyed. He held the medallion.
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 5:20 pm
Oqaia saw a mirror of herself in Marissa. They were both weary-eyed and shaken, bags under their eyes and heavy pauses between each languid blink. Oqaia didn't doubt that Marissa hadn't received a wink of sleep.
"After what happened, I went straight to Val's... and she just gave me all these books to pour through." She indicated the dozen yellowed, ancient tomes with a heavy hand, and tapped the cover of the one in her lap pointedly. "Most of the information about Queen Firos is rather... pithy. Legend, mostly. One of these books said she used to eat whole lizards and gold coins." The gypsy rolled her eyes. "But some of the information seems promising. ...Some sources don't list her as Queen Firos, but say that she was only called that after she came into her powers. Before, she was called Mazela. But that was only in one or two of these... so I searched for any other mention of the name Mazela, and information about her powers- specifically, her jewelry. This is the only thing I found that seems to be helpful.."
Oqaia passed the book to Marissa, turning it over on the table and opening to the section she meant, leaving the fox-mother to read it herself.
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 5:32 pm
The Fers tribe produced three priestesses of note, the most well-known and likely influencal of which was Mazela Fers- who took the clan name as her own when her rule extended beyond the middle colonies of the Aompor- presumably so as to retain her heritage and preserve her clan name.
Her reign of fire terror was second to none in her unique, albeit identity-robbing techniques of fire manipulation. Her armies of fire elements, though well-maintained, had to be steadily replenished, as the effects of her spells would render her minions catatonic after prolonged exposure to them. The scroll "Dead Flame" contains dozens of minstrel's songs which are devoted to this topic.
Mazela's powers are said to have established themselves at birth- but it is assumed she used metallics to strengthen them, as well. She controlled many of the lowland-Gelm gold mines, and would have hammered gold medallions and armor sculpted for many of her armies. She wore gold herself- most notably of which were a pair of firestone earrings, a bloodring, gold and ruby anklets, and a gold and Firos medallion about her neck. It is unknown whether these were decorative or useful- however, in points of extremely high magical concentration, Mazela would lose control of her armies.
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 5:53 pm
The gypsy reads, slowly, as if her eyes are bogged down by molasses. In her mind the words come alive, rolling forth like a play in her head. She reads the words and thinks, they've been written for centuries, lying dormant between the pages of the eldered books, unsuspecting... Never had they guessed they would impact the gypsy and her son in the largest way.
When she speaks, she sounds like hoarse wind, raspy and frightened. The clutch on her son's hand tightens, but she can't look at him. If she did, she'd have to look at that acursed necklace, as well.
"...Oq," she begins, the last paragraph tumbling in her head, "That's...that's the medallion. My baby's medallion. It belonged to this wicked creature...it says it controlled armies! Armies!; He's just a baby!" she chokes. The words are jumbled, nonsense, but they spill out of her mouth like water. "Just a baby...Oqaia...how could this happen?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:02 pm
Oqaia put a hand out as if to calm the woman- but wondered what power the gesture held... since she wasn't entirely calm herself.
"We can't jump to conclusions and think that she controlled the armies with the medallion. Or any of the jewelry, for that matter. Not that I can find it one way or another," she muttered, frustrated that her night of searching had come up with so little, "but by what that passage says, it seems like she just used the gold to strengthen her powers. ...And what was that about it doing strange things in areas of high magic?" Oqaia had just remembered something, and turned the book to mouth the words aloud to herself- making sure she had remembered correctly. She looked up at Marissa with a slightly dazed expression on.
"Isn't PhoenixSong in the higher balance of power now?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:15 pm
The gypsy stopped and took a deep breath. "You're right...be calm..." she muttered, though her heart still raced. She listened to Oqaia's word and searched for a glimmer of hope. When Oqaia's tone changed, Marissa's ear's perked, and when she heard the question, her answer was fervent:
"Yes, yes, we're up in the fifth place," she breathed.
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:23 pm
"Well, I don't know quite how it works- it's a Val thing- but doesn't that mean that magic works more virulently there where you are, in the strong end of the power balance? ...That's a little... strange." Her eyes flitted down across the text again. "Here, it says that Mazela lost control of her armies when she was in an area of high magic. ...But didn't Kale become in control when the pendant was used?" She furrowed her brows in wonder.
"Or was he in control at all? ...Did he do anything, besides stand there? ...Did he seem ... controlled?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:31 pm
Marissa thought hard. She tried to recall what Kale looked like, felt like, when he was standing in the wagon doorway the night before. She pulled her son up onto her lap and looked into his black eyes.
"Kale?" she asked gently, "Do you remember last night? How you were feeling?" Kale was silent for a moment, then crossed his eyes and giggled. Marissa sighed. It was no use.
"I..I don't recall," she said slowly. "He stood...very erect, very still. Sort of like he was waiting, for something...and his arms twitched some, I think...but..." Marissa laid her head in her hand, straining to remember.
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Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 1:47 pm
(sorry, not switching accounts. I'm lazy. XD)
"So... maybe he wasn't actually being controlled. Maybe it just put him in a daze to have it activated. ...Well, what I'm trying to say is...' she searched for the words to convey the confusion and hopeful breakthrough that she had. "maybe, if he keeps it for himself- he can learn to use it to... enhance his abilities. And it's probably the safest way to keep it out of anyone else's hands."
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Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 2:00 pm
The gypsy woman listened, petting Kale's hair. The fox-boy had dozed off again; it was still early, anyway.
"You... may be right," Marissa said quietly, as if reaching a revelation. "You saw what he did when you put the necklace on. If he wears it..." She could only imagine.
There was a stretch of silence, and then, "He's still so young..." It was whispered as an afterthought.
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